A protected witness admitted yesterday he had got away "scot-free" from serious drug charges after agreeing to give evidence against Michael Kanaan, who is accused of a double murder outside the Five Dock Hotel. The witness, who has been given the pseudonym Alan Rossini, has told the Supreme Court that in June, 1999, he was arrested and charged with cocaine dealing. He had been called to the NSW Crime Commission the next month and decided to tell all he knew about the Five Dock shooting the previous year. He agreed with Mr Winston Terracini, SC, for Kanaan, that by co-operating with the authorities, "I was hoping I would get some help, yes". [continues 434 words]
MIAMI, Feb. 9 (AP) — The teenage son of a top Colombian antidrug official has been sentenced to nearly six years in a United States prison for trying to smuggle heroin. The youth, Andres Felipe Lafaurie Restrepo, 19, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 24. Mr. Lafaurie's mother, Maria Restrepo, heads the Colombian agency that helps create new livelihoods for farmers who agree to stop growing coca and poppy plants used to make cocaine and heroin. Mr. Lafaurie arrived at the Miami airport on a Nov. 22 flight from Colombia with 7.3 pounds of heroin taped to his legs. [end]
It wasn't the first time Irene had held a gun to someone's head. But this time was different. The man trembling at the barrel's end was a friend about to die because of a $40 drug debt. "A measly forty bucks," Irene says as she recalls her "moment of clarity." After committing dozens of armed hold-ups, witnessing a family friend shot dead, and beating up her mother, it was the barroom incident five years ago that finally convinced Irene her heroin habit was out of control. [continues 707 words]
"There were two separate incidents," he said. One took place Monday and Tuesday at the school and involved seven pupils, he said, and the other occurred Wednesday and involved four pupils. Besancon said officers were unable to recover any drugs in the first case, but seized "four white pills" in the second. He said investigators were trying to identify the drugs and planned to send them to the state Criminal Laboratory for analysis. "I think we're pretty much done" with the investigation, he said Thursday afternoon. Besancon said officers have made no arrests. He said the case will be presented to a juvenile court officer, who will give it to the prosecuting attorney to determine if criminal charges are filed. This article was published on Friday, February 9, 2001 [end]
Supporters came in wheelchairs and with walking sticks to push legislation that would allow the medical use of marijuana, but they left the state Capitol disappointed Thursday. The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee declined to recommend passage of House Bill 1303 by state Rep. Jim Lendall, D-Mabelvale. Opponents expressed fears that the measure would make it harder for law enforcement to prosecute illegal marijuana trafficking and could harm those who want to use the drug to treat their ailments. [continues 637 words]
Drug Produced For Health Canada Five Times Less Potent Than Home-Grown Health Canada will provide researchers with a weakened grade of medical marijuana that could force test subjects to ingest more toxic smoke to gain any benefit from the drug. The Health Department recently gave out a $5.75 million contract to a Saskatchewan firm to produce marijuana for use in clinical trials. The marijuana will allow researchers to test the drug's effectiveness in treating the symptoms of serious illnesses like AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. [continues 522 words]
This is admittedly an idea that takes some getting used to. For decades, police have crusaded against marijuana. Everything from infra-red cameras to helicopters has been used to locate illegal crops. Swat-team tactics have been used to raid indoor and outdoor growers. Now the state of Maine is being called upon to grow and distribute the stuff. What's up with that! While jarring at first, the idea is the natural offshoot of the medical marijuana law passed last year by Maine voters. [continues 282 words]
The Utah Court of Appeals has overturned the drug conviction of a man who argued prosecutors did not give him enough information about state experts who testified against him during trial. Although prosecutors showed the experts' toxicology report to the defendant, they failed to provide adequate information on the experts who had prepared the document, according to the ruling released Thursday. Narcisco Castillo Tolano Jr. was arrested in April 1999 after Salt Lake City police officers said they watched Tolano hand a motorist a package of white powder and receive money in return. Tolano, 20, was charged with distributing drugs after the Utah State Crime Laboratory identified the contents of the package as cocaine. [continues 295 words]
Negotiations Toward Ending The 37-year-old Civil War Ended In November. The U.s. Is Watching With Interest. LOS POZOS, Colombia - Trying to resuscitate Colombia's shaky peace process, President Andres Pastrana traveled yesterday to rebel territory, where he was embraced by guerrilla chief Manuel Marulanda. But the friendly greeting belied the challenges Pastrana faces in his quest to end Colombia's 37-year-old war. In his third face-to-face encounter with Marulanda, Pastrana was trying to get the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to return to formal peace talks it abandoned in November. [continues 463 words]
TOLIMA, Colombia -- Secretary of State Colin Powell recently affirmed the Bush administration's support for Plan Colombia — the plan inherited from the Clinton White House that pledged $1.3 billion to fight drugs in Colombia. But this plan — based almost entirely on military strategies — could well lead to America's next proxy war in Latin America. In Putumayo, the province with about half of the coca crop, recent aerial spraying of herbicides has already caused social and environmental havoc. In Strasbourg, France, last week, the European Parliament, worried by the human rights consequences of America's support for this approach and for an army that maintains links to drug-financed paramilitaries, voted 474 to 1 to reject Plan Colombia. [continues 580 words]
To date, no one has been held accountable for the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro, who died after being shot 1 2 times by Houston police officers in 1998. Harris County grand jurors indicted only one of the officers involved-for trespassing-and he was later acquitted. In a civil rights lawsuit filed by Oregon's family, a judge ruled that the city could not be held liable for his death. On the other hand, as the Houston Chronicle reported January 21, the civil rights suit did reveal that the police tactic that led to Oregon's death-barging into his apartment at night without a warrant-is typical procedure for narcotics investigators with the department. [continues 210 words]
