On Question 2: We're considering here a plant that has been used in every recorded civilization and I can't really believe that the U.S. of A. got onto a magic secret in 1930 that made it worthwhile to destroy lives for its possession. Even now, in many states, if police confiscate assets in a search, they don't need to return these assets if the case is lost or not pursued. While this often does not include actual plant material, it does often include cash. Legislation encourages state/federal tension. [continues 79 words]
Amid a fragrant haze of hypocrisy, the line is that there will be no change, funding cuts aside, in UK drugs strategy. Meanwhile, police forces the length of these islands are improvising policies of their own IT could be a pub quiz question. What do Armenia and Argentina have in common? The Czech Republic and Chile? Paraguay and Poland? The answer isn't football. Each has decided, in some fashion, that if you just say no to drugs, you say nothing useful at all. Depending on the definitions used, there are between 25 and 30 such countries. Their laws, methods, aims and ambitions vary. Some have legalised drugs. Some have "re-legalised". A few never got around to prohibition to begin with. Most have experimented - for personal use, you understand - - with a gateway policy, decriminalisation. [continues 1117 words]
Mayor, U.K. entrepreneur Richard Branson join town hall-style panel in Balboa Park BALBOA PARK -- Mayor Bob Filner stopped short of calling for decriminalization of all drug use Thursday night but took a strong stand on local governments' right to choose how to address the issue. Filner was on a panel with British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who speaks passionately about what he calls our country's failed war on drugs. Branson arranged for Thursday's town hall-style discussion of the issue after a screening of the documentary "Breaking the Taboo" at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. [continues 432 words]
IT IS as well for the future of the nation that our politicians, without exception, enjoy a peculiar genetic advantage over the rest of us. Try as they might, not one of them - not a single one - is ever capable of enjoying cannabis. Back in the funky, distant days of youth - - never last week, for some reason - they "experimented". Alas, "it did nothing" for them; "it had no effect"; and the smoke, presumably, got in their eyes. Remarkable. Home secretary Jacqui Smith, and several fellow cabinet members, have joined the ranks of the confessing non-sinners, the Clintonite breathing-not-inhaling elite. In some political circles the admission is now almost a rite of passage, proof that you may know, roughly, what you're talking about when dope is mentioned. Since Smith is about to reclassify the drug from "not very" to "somewhat" dangerous, her own revelation is well-timed. But let's not call this a career high, as it were. [continues 1284 words]
The San Diego Libertarian Party, critical of the county's handling of its pension crisis, threw its support firmly behind a proposal to limit county supervisors' service to two terms. The action came during its annual convention here last weekend. Language for such a proposition, earmarked for the November ballot, already has been submitted to the Registrar of Voters by medical marijuana proponents. They're striking back at San Diego supervisors for not only refusing to implement a state proposition allowing medical marijuana use, but for filing a court action to overturn the measure. [continues 78 words]
The local school board and town council are taking heat over impending decisions related to youths and illegal substances. In each instance, the criticisms are undeserved. In the case of School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) trustees poised to adopt a drug and alcohol policy more than a year in the making are under attack from the District Parent Advisory Council. 'The DPAC is disappointed,' claims chairman Lenora Trenaman, in a statement read during last week's board meeting in Creston, that the "primary emphasis is punishment and not educating and supporting our children," [continues 801 words]
Whatever else changes during George Bush's second term, joyfully welcomed by eternal optimists yesterday, you can bet your life that the "war" on drugs will continue. You can also bet that, by no coincidence, the narcotics trade will go on growing. This undoubted fact tends not to appeal to politicians who believe that opposition to drugs is a policy second only to support for motherhood and apple pie. Drugs are "evil", after all. Yet if that's the case, pursuing a prohibition strategy that puts the trade into the hands of murderous criminals in every corner of the world scarcely sounds like virtue. [continues 602 words]
Public spending on drug- and alcohol-free celebrations for graduating high school students came under scrutiny during Monday's town council meeting. A dry grad event at Prince Charles Secondary School was among five proposals recommended to receive money from an ICBC road safety grant. But the issue was referred to committee for further discussion after councillors questioned the wisdom of compensating teenagers for simply choosing not to break the law. "I've always had a problem with rewarding students for doing the right thing," said Coun. John Thomas. "How can we reward them for complying with the laws of the country? It just doesn't make sense. [continues 340 words]
The proposed drug and alcohol policy for School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) isn't sitting well with all parents, according to Nelson resident Lenora Trenaman of the District Parent Advisory Council. She spoke against the draft during Tuesday's board meeting in Creston, saying it is too punitive, doesn't promote education or offer enough support, and isn't in the best interests of students. Nelson trustee Bob Henderson, however, served notice of motion to adopt the policy at the next board meeting Feb.1 in Nelson. [continues 262 words]
The "war on drugs" has been going on for most of my life. This is not my definition of a successful sort of war, or of even an intellectually respectable war. As Doctor Russell Newcombe of Liverpool's John Moores University remarked during Drugland (BBC2, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), if you pursue a policy for four decades "only to show that the problem got worse every year" you might want to trade your policy in for a new one. Not a bit of it. The drug trade is worth UKP8bn a year in the United Kingdom alone, and therefore finances a great many otherwise "legitimate" businesses. There are estimated to be five million regular users of narcotics in the country, and no fewer than 20,000 dealers serving London, far less every seaside town, housing scheme and country village on the map. Across Britain, according to Newcombe, half a million people are involved in the sale of drugs. [continues 1073 words]
Five years ago Tony Marasca was a drug addict sleeping behind a bush outside a church in Ocean Beach. Today, he is a pastor of Set Free Ministries, preaching every Friday evening from the pulpit of that same church to many people who, as he was, are down and out. Marasca's life journey was more like a slide than a roller coaster. He was just a few college credits shy of earning his BA when his mother got sick. He quit school to care for her. When she died, he slid into depression and purposelessness. He spent the money she had left him on a van and for traveling coastal California. [continues 767 words]
The Fairbanks City Council voted Monday night on a slightly watered-down resolution condemning the legalization of marijuana but stopped short of telling people how to vote on Proposition 2. Some council members expressed concern about whether or not it was the council's job to tell voters how to vote. But Mayor Steve Thompson and Councilman Jeff Johnson argued that marijuana use affects the health and safety of Fairbanks citizens and could affect the city budget. "We can regulate the alcohol content of alcoholic beverages, but you can't regulate how much THC is in marijuana," Thompson argued. [continues 410 words]
Describing drug use among local teenagers as rampant, one Creston parent is going public with a plea for help. "Three-quarters of the high school students are using some sort of drug," said Nancy Wassink, who comprised a one-woman delegation addressing Creston town council before its regular meeting Monday night. "It's not just pot and it starts in Grade 8. "It's a serious problem. I'm trying to do my part in this community for the youth." Wassink suggested an RCMP presence around the school grounds after classes let out for the day, and even in the hallways during lunch hour, might make some teens think twice about their habits, and curtail the more blatant efforts of dealers. She said more potent drugs like acid, mushrooms and Ecstasy are prevalent. [continues 364 words]
Joe Federowich admits to being a little battle worn after years of leading efforts to get a hemp fibre processing industry established in Manitoba. It's been an uphill struggle since the late 1990s, but don't expect Federowich to wave the white flag any time soon. He seems willing to take the odd scar if it means bringing a new industry that he thinks will benefit farmers and rural communities. "I honestly believe that once enough people see what we're doing, they'll come on-side," said Federowich, a producer at Ashville, Man., who chairs Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers. [continues 424 words]
Many Province readers as well as the paper's columnist Michael Smyth are missing a significant point in the debate over decriminalization of marijuana. When a product is illegal it drives up the price and makes it much more appealing to organized crime. If tougher penalties were imposed, it would mean a greater risk to the growers and, in turn, would increase the profit-margin for criminals. Legalization removes the criminal element and increases control. We don't seem to have a problem with alcohol being legal, although it has a greater negative effect on our society than all other drugs combined. The use of alcohol plays a major factor in increasing almost every type of violent crime, as well as being the No. 1 gateway drug. Decriminalization of pot is the first step in the right direction. Ian Campbell, West Vancouver [end]
Is it not extremely interesting that those who do not support safe-injection sites are the ones who have actually lived the life of an addict (Experts and others in the field weigh in on the proposed safe-injection site, Nov. 5)? It makes me sick when I hear the academia-driven spout off their data collection of research and evidence. What on earth is Perry Kendall, chief medical officer for B.C., thinking when he says there is no evidence that supervised injection sites encourage drug use? What an asinine comment. [continues 128 words]
Steve McWilliams, whose "medicinal" marijuana operation here was raided by police two years ago, has offered to drop his lawsuit against the city for damages. In exchange, he wants a seat on the city task force being assembled to study the prescription pot issue and draft guidelines for local law enforcement. The kicker is that McWilliams has hired lawyer David Songco to help him. The same David Songco who prosecuted him for distributing marijuana in 1999. (McWilliams pleaded guilty and is serving three years on probation.) Songco, who left the S.D. District Attorney's Office shortly thereafter, says McWilliams called him two weeks ago and asked for help. [continues 517 words]
In rejecting new powers for police in the fight against drugs (Herald, March 29), Cameron L. Murphy, of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, and Nick Meagher, of the NSW Law Society, obviously believe the maxim, "Better 100 drug pushers in their deadly trade on the street than one innocent man be convicted". Mr Murphy, in particular, has a problem with police being able to conduct medical examinations of those suspected of hiding drugs inside their person, and drug dogs will be deployed against the public for random searches. [continues 117 words]
The U.S. postmaster general is being urged to issue a stamp honoring slain DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. A special agent from Calexico, Camarena was working in Mexico when he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered 15 years ago by drug traffickers. Diana Holly, a Redlands fifth-grade teacher, started the campaign for a commemorative stamp, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein is firmly on board. Holly wants youngsters to know there was a real person behind Red Ribbon Week, the national anti-drug awareness campaign started after Camarena's death. Red Ribbon Week is in late October. [continues 128 words]
