Drug War Chronicle, Issue #482 (fulltext version)

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #482 -- 4/20/07
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith [at] drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482

A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, borden [at] drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

DRCNET BOOK OFFER: LIES, DAMN LIES, AND DRUG WAR STATISTICS:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/lies_damn_lies_and_drug_war_statistics_book_offer

DO YOU LIVE IN AK, CO, CT, GA, IL, IA, KS, MD, MA, NH, NM, NY,
NC, OH, OK, RI, TN, UT, VT, WA OR WY? IF SO, WE NEED YOUR HELP:
http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/senate

Table of Contents:

1. EDITORIAL: IGNORANCE LEADING TO SUFFERING, INJUSTICE AND
DEATH
Numbers and analysis on both sides of the ocean show the drug
war to be a failure based on the weakest of assumptions.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/editorial_ignorance_leading_to_suffering_injustice_and_death

2. FEATURE: PUNK ROCKER'S JAILING RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT FIELD
DRUG TESTS
It's kind of ironic when a Germ gets busted for soap, but Don
Bolles isn't laughing after a bad field drug test said his Dr.
Bronner's Magic Soap contained GHB. Neither is Dr. Bronner's.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/punk_rocker_don_bolles_arrest_ghb_drug_test_questions

3. FEATURE: IN BRITAIN, LABOR'S DECADE-LONG DRUG WAR A FAILURE,
NEW REPORT FINDS
As Britain's 10-year drug strategy comes up for renewal or
replacement next year, the latest in a long line of reports
assailing it has come out.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/british_drug_policy_failure_UK_drug_policy_commission_report_says

4. ALERT: DO YOU LIVE IN AK, CO, CT, GA, IL, IA, KS, MD, MA, NH,
NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, RI, TN, UT, VT, WA OR WY? IF SO, WE NEED
YOUR HELP
E-mails and phone calls are urgently needed to certain US
senators to help repeal a bad law at the juncture of drug policy
and education.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/help_repeal_drug_conviction_financial_aid_law_by_contacting_senate_now

5. BOOK OFFER: LIES, DAMN LIES, AND DRUG WAR STATISTICS
An important new book debunks literally years of statistical
legerdemain by the nation's central drug policy office -- and is
DRCNet's latest premium for our members.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/lies_damn_lies_and_drug_war_statistics_book_offer

6. PAIN MEDICINE: JUDGE DISMISSES MOST SERIOUS CHARGES IN
HURWITZ RETRIAL
The judge presiding over the retrial of Northern Virginia pain
specialist Dr. William Hurwitz has thrown out the most serious
charges.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/judge_in_hurwitz_retrial_throws_out_most_serious_charges

7. LATIN AMERICA: MORE TROUBLE IN PERU'S COCA FIELDS
Tensions are rising in Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley coca fields,
as government eradicators come under attack, growers go on
strike, and the Garcia government vows to take a hard line.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/tensions_grow_peru_coca_fields

8. THE DRUG DEBATE: REPUBLICAN FORMER SENATOR CALLS FOR NEW LOOK
AT DRUG POLICIES
Former US Senator Lincoln Chafee spoke out on the need for
changes in drug policy at the SSDP Northeast Regional Conference
last weekend.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/senator_lincoln_chafee_calls_for_new_look_drug_policy

9. SENTENCING: NEW YORK ASSEMBLY PASSES NEW ROCKEFELLER LAW
REFORMS
A bill that would significantly expand the so far modest reforms
of New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws has passed the
state Assembly.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/new_york_assembly_passes_new_rockefeller_law_reform_bill

10. SENTENCING: MARYLAND PASSES REFORM MEASURE FOR DRUG
OFFENDERS
With a big push from reform organizations, the Maryland
legislature has passed a measure that will help more than 1,000
drug offenders have a chance to get out early.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/maryland_passes_sentencing_reform_bill

11. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: FEDS TO RETRY ED ROSENTHAL IN FUTILE
PROSECUTION
Vindictive federal prosecutors are determined to go after Ed
Rosenthal, even though they can't send him to prison and the
judge told them not to.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/feds_to_retry_ed_rosenthal_medical_marijuana_case

12. SALVIA DIVINORUM: VERMONT TOWN GETS FIGHT OVER SALES BAN
Last week, the Middlebury, Vermont, town council blindsided the
Emporium Tobacco and Gift Shop with a sudden order to cease and
desist from selling salvia divinorum. Now, the shop owner is
fighting back.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/vermont_town_gets_fight_over_salvia_sales_ban

13. EUROPE: BRITISH JUNIOR DOCS CALL FOR MARIJUANA-BASED
MEDICINE PRESCRIPTIONS
The British Medical Association Junior Members Forum has called
for cannabis-based medicines to be prescribed by the National
Health Service.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/british_junior_docs_call_for_cannabis_on_NHS

14. MEDIA: THE DRUG TRUTH NETWORK ON YOUTUBE
The underground radio Drug Truth Network is now doing video,
using the popular service YouTube.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_truth_network_on_youtube

15. WEB SCAN
Vermont DA, Cannabinoid Chonicles, Arianna Huffington, Emperor
of Hemp trailer, LSD chemical warfare experiments, Kirsten
Dunst, Dow Jones on medical marijuana research, Tony Papa on
John Valverde case, Ethan Nadelmann on NPR, GOOD magazine,
Patients Out of Time on YouTube
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_links

16. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_war_history

17. ANNOUNCEMENT: DRCNET CONTENT SYNDICATION FEEDS NOW AVAILABLE
FOR YOUR WEB SITE!
Support the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
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18. ANNOUNCEMENT: DRCNET RSS FEEDS NOW AVAILABLE
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
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http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

19. ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW FORMAT FOR THE REFORMER'S CALENDAR
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
the events coming up the soonest, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_reform_calendar

(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)

================

1. Editorial: Ignorance Leading to Suffering, Injustice and
Death
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/editorial_ignorance_leading_to_suffering_injustice_and_death

When discussing the idea of drug legalization with those who are
unfamiliar with the issue, I am commonly asked, "Wouldn't more
people use drugs if they were legal?" or "Wouldn't all the
problems increase if drugs were legal?"

The reaction is a simplistic one. It's possible -- not a given
-- that drug use will increase after prohibition is ended. But
that's the bare beginning of the analysis, not the conclusion of
it. Whatever happens to drug use rates, the many devastating
harms rising from prohibition will end -- the violence and
public disorder of the illegal drug trade, the poisonings and
the overdoses from uncertain purity, the desperate straits of
addicts who can't afford high street prices, just to name a few.
Richard Dennis, a famed financial trader who was an early major
supporter of this movement, wrote that addiction rates could
double with legalization but the total harm still decrease. I
don't know what the math is or if there is any good math on the
subject. But even if we knew what would happen with drug use
rates or drug addiction rates -- which we don't -- to make that
the only measure of the policy, much less the primary one, does
not do justice to the complexity or the importance of drug
policy.

My prediction is that experimental or casual use of certain
drugs would increase, but would mostly involve lower potency
forms of the drugs than are widely available now, and would be
counter-balanced by decreased use of other currently legal drugs
like alcohol (the "substitution" effect). But that's just a
guess, albeit an educated one.

Brian Bennett, publisher of the "truth: the Anti-drugwar" web
site, featuring extensive compilations and charting of drug war
data (http://www.briancbennett.com/pagelist.htm), pointed out in
an e-mail this morning that in 1979, the year when drug use is
said to have peaked, there were 7,101 recorded deaths from all
illegal drugs combined. In 2004, the latest year for which data
is available (and for which Bennett just uploaded a
presentation), the total was up to 30,711, more than four times
as many. Clearly, there's a lot more to things than mere usage
rates.

The stinging report of the UK Drug Policy Commission
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/british_drug_policy_failure_UK_drug_policy_commission_report_says)
released this week provides some insight, even if tentative, to
the question of whether huge numbers of people would become drug
users who are not users now if drugs were legalized. According
to the report, which was coauthored by a prominent American
academic, Peter Reuter, and a prominent British academic, Alex
Stevens, "There is little evidence from the UK, or any other
country, that drug policy influences either the number of drug
users or the share of users who are dependent." Other factors --
cultural and social, the report cites -- appear to play a more
important determining role than laws and policies.

Reuter and Stevens presumably had analyzed the differences only
between different prohibitionist systems, since there are no
extant legalization systems with which to compare the data. To
switch to a legalization system is a more fundamental change
than to switch between one prohibition system and another, even
between a harsher one like ours and a more tolerant one such as
the policies in the Netherlands or Switzerland. Still, at a
minimum such a finding calls into question the _assumption_ that
drug use would skyrocket following legalization -- it's just not
obvious at all that that would happen.

Reuter and Stevens also point out that governments _can_ make a
difference in "reducing the levels of drug-related harms?
through the expansion of and innovation in treatment and harm
reduction services." That is to say, drug-related deaths need
not have more than quadrupled in the US during a quarter-century
in which the drug-using percentage of the population has
decreased, if only policymakers would be a little more
thoughtful about what they are doing. That last sentence is my
interpretation; I don't want to put words in the authors'
mouths. But I think it follows from their own words pretty
straightforwardly.

It is understandable for a rank-and-file citizen who hasn't
studied drug policy to not immediately show the same degree of
sophistication in the issue as a scholar or advocate. After all,
many of drug policy reform's basic tenets are counterintuitive
-- it did not occur to me that drug legalization could reduce
crime until I read about the idea, for example.

But for policymakers to continue to base policies that affect
large numbers of people on the most simplistic reactions or
slogans is downright irresponsible -- as Bennett's numbers
prove. The consequence of ignorance or politicization in drug
policy is suffering, injustice and death. Shame on our "leaders"
who have willfully allowed it happen.

================

2. Feature: Punk Rocker's Jailing Raises Questions About Field
Drug Tests
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/punk_rocker_don_bolles_arrest_ghb_drug_test_questions

Don Bolles, drummer for the legendary punk bank the Dr.
Bronner's Magic Soap (http://www.drbronner.com/main.html).
According to a police field drug test, the soap contained GHB
(gamma hydroxyl butyrate), a so-called date rape drug illegal
under state and federal law.

Despite Bolles' disbelieving protests of innocence, he was
arrested and charged with possession of GHB. The aging punk
spent three and a half days in a series of Orange County jails
before being bailed out, and another 10 days facing felony
charges before a confirmation test done by the Orange County
Sheriff's Department Crime Lab came back negative and
prosecutors announced they were dropping the charges.

The field test was performed by a kit manufactured by Armor
Forensics/ODV called the Narcopouch 928
(http://www.odvinc.com/GHB.html). Armor Forensics/ODV did not
respond to calls from the Chronicle about the false positives
reported by its product. One man at ODV who refused to identify
himself said only that he could not comment because of possible
legal action.

The Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association
(http://www.datia.org) did not respond to Chronicle queries
about accuracy standards within the industry. In the group's
defense, however, it should be noted that they were all out of
the office this week attending a national drug testing industry
convention.

The Newport Beach Police Department did not respond to calls
from the Chronicle about the accuracy of the GHB field test.

Bolles is out from under the long arm of the law now, but he's
not happy about his experience. Neither is Dr. Bronner's Magic
Soaps, whose president, David Bronner, is also a leading figure
in the hemp movement and a friend of drug policy reform. Bronner
offered Bolles legal assistance when he heard the news, and Dr.
Bronner's began a public campaign to clear its name and put the
drug testing industry on the defensive.

Bolles couldn't believe he was being arrested for drug
possession, he told the Chronicle. "I knew it wasn't GHB, I knew
it was soap; I used it that morning," he said. "It was
ridiculous."

Ridiculous it may have been, but Bolles' three and a half day
journey through the jails of Southern California was no laughing
matter. "They kept me in several different jails, and it was a
pretty hardcore experience for me," he said. "There was some
28-hour, weird booking procedure; you have to sit around in a
concrete cubicle with other prisoners, they wake you up every
half hour. It was pretty horrifying."

When Dr. Bronner's heard about Bolles' predicament on April 9 it
issued the first of a series of press releases decrying his
arrest and flatly denying that its product contained GHB. "This
clearly is a case of profiling by the Newport Beach police of a
person who doesn't look like the people who live in that town,"
said vice-president Michael Bronner. "We are paying the cost of
Mr. Bolles' lawyer, and we demand the charges be dropped or
proof from the police forensics lab of GHB contamination be
immediately provided to us," he stated.

David Bronner derided the police for their bizarre notion that
soap was a good place to put GHB. "We cannot imagine anyone
putting GHB, or any other drug for that matter, into a rinse-off
soap product that is lathered and rinsed off the body
immediately," he said. "The Newport Beach police should see how
much of a buzz putting beer in their shampoo gives them, and get
a grip and apologize on their hands and knees to Mr. Bolles."

"This is ridiculous," Bronner told the Chronicle. "Not only is
drug testing an incredible intrusion into people's privacy --
countries like Canada and Europe don't allow this -- but this
test is completely unreliable, causing false positives with
things like soap. What kind of standards are these tests subject
to before they are placed on the market?"

"The testing of substances for drugs is basically unregulated,"
Kevin Zeese, a prominent long-time drug reformer and political
activist with expertise in the intersection of law and drug
testing. "If it were the feds, the DEA would set the standards,
but at the local level, it's state and local police who make the
decisions. This all takes place within the criminal justice
system; there is no regulation by the FDA or any other agency
apart from law enforcement agencies," he told the Chronicle.

"There have been lots of cases of these sorts of tests not being
accurate and causing problems, so this is not surprising," said
Zeese. "Now, the local police are going to have to do something
to correct their standards so they don't falsely accuse people.
If they don't, this kind of thing ends up being regulated by the
courts."

Bronner had another, disturbing question. "What else can cause a
false positive, and how many people have been thrown in jail
because of that?" he asked. "Don came under a whole lot of
pressure to just plead. According to the drug testing company
literature, you can get a conviction based on just a field test
and a confession. The confirmation tests have lower cut-offs, so
the cops try to get you to confess based on the field test."

Bronner's campaign isn't ending with Bolles' exoneration. At
least four other soaps have resulted in false positives in the
Narcopouch 928 GHB test kit, including Neutrogena and Tom's of
Maine. "We are testing more products and videotaping those
tests. Products from Johnson & Johnson and Palmolive are testing
positive, so we'll go to the Cosmetics, Toiletries and
Fragrances Association (http://www.ctfa.org), show them these
products are testing positive, and then work through them to
explore options for addressing the situation with these field
drug test kits. Ideally, we could force a product recall, but we
need at least a disclaimer if this product is going to continue
to be sold. If they don't know soap tests positive, what else
don't they know?"

He is also calling for law enforcement to quit using the
Narcopouch 928. "Police departments across the country should
stop using that immediately," he said.

Bolles rose to fame in the late 1970s as a member of the LA punk
band the Germs, whose influence was widespread in the scene and
who are credited with popularizing the Mohawk haircut. The band
broke up in 1980 after lead singer Darby Crash killed himself.
The surviving members reunited two years ago and will tour this
summer.

Bolles has not washed his hands of the case yet, either. "The
lawyers and David and I have been consulting about our best
legal strategy," he said. "We haven't decided which direction to
go yet. But what happened to me shouldn't happen to anybody
else."

================

3. Feature: In Britain, Labor's Decade-Long Drug War a Failure,
New Report Finds
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/british_drug_policy_failure_UK_drug_policy_commission_report_says

With Britain's 10-year UK Drug Strategy up for renewal or
replacement next year, a series of reports detailing its flaws
have appeared in recent months. Now, we can add one more to the
list. This week, a new independent panel on drug policy issued a
report saying that a decade of Labor's drug war had failed to
curb the social problems and criminality related to drug abuse
under prohibition.

The report, An Analysis of UK Drug Policy
(http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/docs/UKDPC%20drug%20policy%20review.pdf)
was authored by University of Maryland drug policy analyst Peter
Reuter and Alex Stevens of the University of Kent, for the UK
Drug Policy Commission (http://www.ukdpc.org/uk). Headed by
long-time drug reform proponent Dame Ruth Runciman, the
commission describes its mission as "to provide independent and
objective analysis of drug policy and find ways to help the
public and policy makers better understand the implications and
options for future policy."

If the commission's report is any indicator, policy makers can
use the help. Labor's strategy of education campaigns, forced
drug treatment, some harm reduction measures, and harsher prison
sentences has not made an appreciable dent in drug use. Britain
has the highest level of dependent drug users in Europe, the
report found, and heroin use has skyrocketed from 5,000 people
in 1975 to an estimated 280,000 now.

The report estimated the size of the British drug market at more
than $10 billion a year and the cost of drug-related crime at
more than $25 billion a year. It also found that Britain's drug
use rates were among the highest in Europe.

While Reuters and Stevens were highly skeptical of the ability
of drug policy to influence drug use, they praised harm
reduction measures. "Government policies have only limited
impact on rates of drug use itself," they wrote. "However, the
UK has introduced evidence-based measures, notably the expansion
of treatment and harm reduction, that have reduced the harms
that would otherwise have occurred. On the other hand it
operates measures, such as classifying drugs to deter use and
increasing use of imprisonment, that have little or no support
from available research."

The number of people in drug treatment had increased from 85,000
to 181,000 between 1998 and 2005, much of that increase driven
by the criminal justice system, the authors noted. But the
number of drug war prisoners has also increased by 111% in the
past decade, and sentences are nearly a third longer than when
Tony Blair took office.

The report's executive analysis section on policy implications
is worth quoting at length:

"There is little evidence from the UK, or any other country,
that drug policy influences either the number of drug users or
the share of users who are dependent. There are numerous other
cultural and social factors that appear to be more important. It
is notable that two European countries that are often used as
contrasting examples of tough or liberal drug policies, Sweden
and the Netherlands, both have lower rates of overall and
problematic drug use than the UK.

"Given the international evidence as to the limited ability of
drug policy to influence national trends in drug use and drug
dependence, it is unreasonable to judge the performance of a
country's drug policy by the levels of drug use in that country.
Yet that is the indictor to which the media and public
instinctively turn. However, this is not to say that drug policy
is irrelevant.

"The arena where government drug policy needs to focus further
effort and where it can make an impact is in reducing the levels
of drug-related harms (crime, death and disease and other
associated problems) through the expansion of and innovation in
treatment and harm reduction services.

"We know very little about the effectiveness and impact of most
enforcement efforts, whether they are directed at reducing the
availability of drugs or at enforcing the law over possession
and supply. Imprisoning drug offenders for relatively
substantial periods does not appear to represent a cost
effective response.

"Transparency in resource allocations is urgently needed if the
overall and relative balance of supply and demand reduction
interventions is to be considered.

"The UK invests remarkably little in independent evaluation of
the impact of drug policies, especially enforcement. This needs
redressing if policy makers are to be able to identify and
introduce effective measures in the future."

Unsurprisingly, the Blair government rejected the report's
findings. "The British Crime Survey shows that drug use has
fallen by 16% since 1998 and drug use among adults has fallen by
21%," a Home Office statement said. "We are determined to build
on this progress by continuing to take more drugs off our
streets, put more dealers behind bars and make sure young people
are informed about the harms drugs cause," he said.

Equally unsurprisingly, the opposition Tories called the report
"a shocking indictment" of Blair's drug policy. "After ten years
in power this is a shocking indictment of the government's
failure and shows that Tony Blair has utterly failed in his
pledge to get tough on the 'causes' of crime," said Tory Shadow
Home Secretary David Davis in a press release
(http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.press.release.page&obj_id=136366).
"The consequences of this failure are not just that hundreds of
thousands of young lives are being ruined -- drugs also fuel
much of the gun and knife related violence on our streets today,
thus destroying communities."

But the Tories would only offer more of the same, the press
release indicated. "Conservatives would take real action to
combat this scourge on society. Not only would we increase the
amount of residential drug rehab beds and increase the prison
capacity so that offenders can settle and complete their drug
rehab courses, we would also establish a dedicated UK border
police to stop drugs simply flowing in through our porous
borders. This force would also act to detect and prosecute those
who smuggle drugs into our country."

Danny Kushlick, director of Transform Drug Policy Foundation
(http://www.tdpf.org.uk), which advocates legalization, had a
different solution. "We know from evidence that misuse of drugs
is related significantly to social ill-being and social
deprivation," he told the Guardian
(http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2057585,00.html).
"You cannot deal with that stuff with education and prevention
or through teaching younger and younger children. You deal with
it by redistributing wealth and improving wellbeing."

Britain has seen report after report detailing the failures of
prohibitionist drug policy in the last two years. Next year, it
will have the opportunity to put the lessons learned into
practice. When was the last time we had such an overview of drug
policy in the United States?

================

4. Alert: Do You Live in AK, CO, CT, GA, IL, IA, KS, MD, MA, NH,
NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, RI, TN, UT, VT, WA or WY? If So, We Need
Your Help
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/help_repeal_drug_conviction_financial_aid_law_by_contacting_senate_now

Earlier this week, DRCNet issued action alerts to our
subscribers from 21 different states that are represented on the
US Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)
Committee, asking for phone calls to be made and e-mails sent in
support of including full repeal of the Higher Education Act's
(HEA) drug provision in the pending Senate HEA reauthorization
bill. Special thanks to the hundreds of you who responded to
this call to action -- we have reason to believe it has made a
difference!

If you are from one of the applicable states, and have not yet
e-mailed your senator who is a member of HELP, please visit
http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/senate to speak up (or
http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com to learn more about the issue).
Those states are: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia,
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode
Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.

Also, please call your senator's office to register your opinion
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talking points and further information to help with your call.
The senator's phone numbers are as follows:

Alaska: Senator Lisa Murkowki, (202) 224-4654
Colorado: Senator Wayne Allard, (202) 224-5941
Connecticut: Senator Christopher Dodd, (202) 224-2823
Georgia: Senator Johnny Isakson, (202) 224-3643
Illinois: Senator Barack Obama, (202) 224-2854
Iowa: Senator Tom Harkin, (202) 224-3254
Kansas: Senator Pat Roberts, (202) 224-4774
Maryland: Senator Barbara Mikulski, (202) 224-4654
Massachusetts: Senator Ted Kennedy, (202) 224-4543
New Hampshire: Senator Judd Gregg, (202) 224-3324
New Mexico: Senator Jeff Bingaman, (202) 224-5521
New York: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, (202) 224-4451
North Carolina: Senator Richard Burr, (202) 224-3154
Ohio: Senator Sherrod Brown, (202) 224-2315
Oklahoma: Senator Tom Coburn, (202) 224-5754
Rhode Island: Senator Jack Reed, (202) 224-4642
Tennessee: Senator Lamar Alexander, (202) 224-4944
Utah: Senator Orrin Hatch, (202) 224-5251
Vermont: Senator Bernard Sanders, (202) 224-5141
Washington: Senator Patty Murray, (202) 224-2621
Wyoming: Senator Michael Enzi, (202) 224-3424

Thank you for taking action. DRCNet has been fighting against
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================

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http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/lies_damn_lies_and_drug_war_statistics_book_offer

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online.

================

6. Pain Medicine: Judge Dismisses Most Serious Charges in
Hurwitz Retrial
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/judge_in_hurwitz_retrial_throws_out_most_serious_charges

The judge presiding over the retrial of prominent Northern
Virginia pain specialist Dr. William Hurwitz has dismissed the
most serious charges against him. On Wednesday, as the defense
rested in the month-long retrial, Judge Leonie Brinkema granted
a defense request to dismiss charges of causing bodily injury or
death. Hurwitz still faces dozens of drug trafficking counts
linked to his pain management medical practice.

Hurwitz was originally convicted in November 2004 and sentenced
to 25 years in prison. He has been there ever since, even though
the original verdict was overturned on appeal. While he could
still face substantial prison time if found guilty again, he
will not face the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence that the
charge of causing bodily injury or death carries.

In dismissing the charges, Brinkema agreed with two arguments
advanced by the defense. First was that prosecutors had not
proven the pain relievers prescribed by Hurwitz caused death or
injury. Second was that the US Supreme Court in its decision
upholding Oregon's right to die law last year ruled that federal
drug laws did not give the Justice Department the power "to
define general standards of medical practice."

That is precisely what federal prosecutors have done in dozens
of cases like Hurwitz's. Prosecutors repeatedly -- and often
successfully -- argued that doctors prescribing high dose of
opioid pain relievers were outside the bounds of "accepted
medical practice," and thus drug dealers, not doctors.

Now it will be more difficult for prosecutors to win a new
conviction against Hurwitz. They must show that he knew the
drugs he prescribed would be resold or abused and prescribed
them anyway. Hurwitz has steadfastly denied that. Now
prosecutors will have to prove that his problem patients were so
obviously drug addicts and dealers that he had to have known his
prescriptions were being diverted.

================

7. Latin America: More Trouble in Peru's Coca Fields
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/tensions_grow_peru_coca_fields

Tensions continue to rise in the coca fields of Peru's Upper
Huallaga Valley, with a coca eradication team attacked over the
weekend, a strike by growers bubbling up in Huanuco state, more
tough talk from President Alan Garcia, and a Wednesday
announcement by the Peruvian police that they had found the link
between growers and the violent remnants of the Shining Path
guerrilla movement.

The unrest comes just three weeks after a similar strike in
Tocache province in San Martin state. That strike was settled by
an agreement to halt forced eradication of coca crops, but the
Garcia government ended that moratorium last week, with the
president himself calling for the "bombing" of coca fields and
maceration pits.

Last weekend, as eradication commenced again, a team of almost
200 civilian and police eradicators were ambushed in Yanajanca
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6554421.stm) in the Tocache
district, leaving one civilian eradicator dead and five police
wounded. While the identity of the attackers remains unknown,
police were quick to note that the area where the attack
occurred is an area where a Shining Path remnant led by "Comrade
Artemio" operates.

On Tuesday, coca farmers in Tingo Maria and Aucayacu went on
strike, as did their comrades in Leoncio Prado province. Few
reports were in by mid-week, but farmers had vowed to block
highways. Among other things, they are asking for a meeting with
a high-level government delegation.

But President Garcia Tuesday dismissed that call
(http://www.livinginperu.com/news-3622-peru-perus-garcia-government-will-not-negotiate-with-striking-coca-farmers).
"What delegation of high ranking officials?" he scoffed. "There
is nothing to dialogue about because Peru needs to promote
responsible agricultural development with alternative crop
programs that will help put an end to drug production."

Drug traffickers are behind the strike, Garcia claimed. "It is
evident that drug lords are orchestrating the strike. Just as in
Colombia where drug lords have purchased the protection of
para-military guerrilla groups to protect their illicit
operations, they have done same with groups of coca farmers who
run around protesting, 'let me grow whatever I feel like
growing' and I am here to tell you that is not how it works,"
the Peruvian leader said.

By Wednesday, Peruvian authorities had switched from traffickers
to the Shining Path as the culprits. In a loudly trumpeted (and
conveniently timed) bust
(http://www.livinginperu.com/news/3634), Peruvian Police
announced they had "finally placed the link" between restive
coca farmers and the Shining Path. Police claimed two Shining
Path members were arrested in Aucayacu as they awaited a meeting
with coca farmer representatives. Police said they found
weapons, ammunition, Shining Path propaganda, and detailed plans
for blocking roads during protests.

Peru is the world's second largest producer of coca behind
Colombia. Some 60,000 peasant families grow about 100 tons of
the bushy plant, much more than is bought up by the state coca
monopoly as a legitimate crop.

================

8. The Drug Debate: Republican Former Senator Calls for New Look
at Drug Policies
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/senator_lincoln_chafee_calls_for_new_look_drug_policy

The drug war should be reevaluated in a global context, former
US Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) told attendees at the Students
for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org) Northeast
Regional Conference last Friday night. The conference, which
went through Sunday, was held at Brown University in Providence.

"We're at the point now where we really need to assess whether
or not it's working," Chafee told the crowd of about 120. "There
are a lot of people who will tell you it's not working. We
should be open and honest with ourselves and what are our
options."

Chafee, who was the sole Republican Senator to vote against the
Iraq War and had a strong in-state approval rating, was
nevertheless defeated for reelection by a Democratic challenger
in last year's campaign. During his tenure in the Senate, Chafee
served as chairman of both the Western Hemisphere and Middle
East subcommittees, where he has become familiar with drug
policy issues. During his 1999 Senate campaign, he admitted
smoking marijuana as a college student.

The key to effective drug policy is to have a uniform global
policy, he said (ignoring the fact that that is precisely what
we have now). "The doors are open to a different way of looking
at the war on drugs," he said. "It has to be done in unison,
with a lot of other countries."

Chafee also called for the reassessment of federal laws
governing mandatory sentencing during the forum. And he called
for repeal of the Higher Education Act's anti-drug provision,
which bars students with drug convictions from receiving
financial aid for specified periods.

"[When someone is released from prison] the first thing they
want to get is a skill and you get that by going to school,"
Chafee said. "To forbid them from getting school aid because
they have a conviction is backwards. I'm sure those laws were
put into place with good intentions, but we're at a point where
we're saying let's try something different. When you hear
politicians talk about the war on drugs, they always say they're
doing it to protect the children."

Chafee's remarks were published in the Providence Journal
(http://www.projo.com/news/content/DRUG_CONFERENCE_04-14-07_KP58G9H.3311363.html),
which also provided some well-deserved ink for the conference
and SSDP. The newspaper even provided the address for the event.

It also quoted SSDP communications director Tom Angell
encouraging young people to participate in politics. "It's
important for young people to be involved in the movement since
it impacts our generation," he said. "When you hear politicians
talk about the war on drugs, they always say they're doing it to
protect the children. This war is waged in our names."

Though Chafee stopped short of addressing the prohibition
question, he did, in response to a question about former
Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle's call for drug legalization
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/166/uruguay.shtml),
reveal that he was sitting opposite a podium from President
Batlle at the December 2000 press event where Batlle made that
comment. Chafee said that he was "stunned" by Batlle's remarks,
but considered it "courageous" and that we need to "consider new
ways of thinking."

================

9. Sentencing: New York Assembly Passes New Rockefeller Law
Reforms
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/new_york_assembly_passes_new_rockefeller_law_reform_bill

The continuing effort to undo New York's draconian Rockefeller
drug laws took another step forward Wednesday as the state
Assembly passed a bill that would expand the availability of
drug treatment and give judges greater discretion in sentencing.
The push comes three years after the legislature enacted modest
initial reforms, but since then only 177 of the state's 15,000
drug prisoners have won sentence reductions.

The new bill would:

* Increase judges' discretion and allow some people convicted
of first- and second-time drug offenses to receive treatment and
probation instead of prison terms.

* Set up drug courts in every county, to make efforts to get
drug offenders into treatment programs.

* Raise the weight thresholds for certain drug offenses so that
the possible sentence times are reduced.

* Create or expand "second chance" programs for low-level drug
defendants, such as the Court Approved Drug Abuse Treatment
program, in which offenders' cases can be dismissed or reduced
to misdemeanors upon successful completion of treatment.

* Create enhanced penalties for violent drug dealers and people
who sell drugs to children.

"The modest reform to the Rockefeller Drug Laws enacted in 2004
and the extension in 2005 to provide for the re-sentencing of
some class A-II offenders was a beginning, but unfortunately,
despite pledges made by then Gov. George Pataki and the Senate
to make additional changes, no further action was taken. The
Assembly's repeated passage of significant drug law reform
legislation for years went unnoticed by the former executive and
the other house," said Speaker Sheldon Silver as the vote
neared.

"This bill provides reforms that are long overdue," he
continued. "It would expand the availability of drug treatment
programs, allow judges to order non-violent, lower-level
offenders into mandatory treatment for addiction and substance
abuse and assure that prisons are most often used for serious
drug offenders, offenders with violent histories and those who
cannot or will not succeed in drug abuse treatment. We are
confident that with the help of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the
Assembly's long-standing commitment to make the state's drug
laws smarter, fairer and more effective will become a reality,"
added Silver.

"The opposition will say we are soft on crime," said Jeffrion
Aubrey (D-Queens) who chairs the Assembly Committee on
Correction and who authored the bill. "But we understand the
revolving door of criminal justice and we want to shut that
door."

================

10. Sentencing: Maryland Passes Reform Measure for Drug
Offenders
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/maryland_passes_sentencing_reform_bill

Some Maryland drug offenders will be serving less time under a
bill that passed the state legislature before the session ended
earlier this week. The measure, HB 992
(http://mlis.state.md.us/2007rs/billfile/hb0992.htm), would
allow second-time nonviolent drug offenders sentenced under
mandatory minimum sentences to seek parole. With just under
5,000 drug offenders in prison in Maryland, the result will be
an unanticipated opportunity for early release for some.

Under current state law, second-time drug sales offenders face a
mandatory minimum 10 years in prison. HB 992 will allow all but
those also convicted of crimes of violence to seek parole.

According to a Justice Policy Institute (JPI) report on
Maryland's mandatory minimums
(http://www.justicepolicy.org/reports_jl/2-26-07_md_drugsentencing/MD_MinDrugSentencing_022507.pdf)
released in February as part of an effort to prod legislators to
pass such a measure, more than 1,200 people have entered the
Maryland prison system sentenced under mandatory minimum drug
laws in the past 11 years. That same report found that in the
last five years, 89% of the 500 sentenced under those laws were
black.

The bill was backed by the Partnership for Treatment Not
Incarceration, an alliance of organizations headed by JPI and
the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org). DRCNet is
a member, as are the Maryland Office of the Public Defender,
Americans for Safe Access, Sensible Drug Policy Maryland, Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition, the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, Power Inside, Students for Sensible
Drug Policy University of Maryland Chapter, Interfaith Drug
Policy Initiative, and the Marijuana Policy Project.

================

11. Medical Marijuana: Feds to Retry Ed Rosenthal in Futile
Prosecution
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/feds_to_retry_ed_rosenthal_medical_marijuana_case

Federal prosecutors in the Ed Rosenthal medical marijuana
cultivation case announced last Friday they will retry the guru
of ganja, even though they cannot send him to prison and even
though the presiding judge urged them to drop the case and
admonished them for vindictively prosecuting him. US District
Court Judge Charles Breyer, who has overseen the case from the
beginning, demanded that prosecutors tell him who in the Justice
Department had authorized this new prosecution.

Rosenthal was convicted in federal court in San Francisco in
2003 on marijuana cultivation charges after Breyer ruled he
could not present evidence showing he was cultivating medicinal
marijuana legally under California law and with the approval of
local authorities. When jury members heard the rest of the story
after they convicted him, they held a news conference to
denounce their own verdict.

In the wake of the juror rebellion, Judge Breyer sentenced
Rosenthal to one day in jail, which he had already served. While
his original conviction was overturned because of juror
misconduct, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
one-day sentence, which prosecutors had appealed.

But that same ruling affirmed the federal government's right to
prosecute medical marijuana violators, and the prosecutors, led
by US Attorney Scott Schools, apparently irked by Rosenthal's
high profile criticisms of them, decided to retry him on the
cultivation charges and throw in four counts of money laundering
and five counts of filing a false federal income tax return as
well. Breyer threw out the new charges last month, saying they
were solely to punish Rosenthal for winning his appeal.

"This isn't a criminal case, this is a political case,"
Rosenthal told reporters
(http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/state/article_1652181.php)
as he arrived at the courthouse dressed in a blue wizard's robe
with a golden marijuana leaf emblazoned over the breast. "I may
as well get my money's worth and have a trial."

================

12. Salvia Divinorum: Vermont Town Gets Fight Over Sales Ban
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/vermont_town_gets_fight_over_salvia_sales_ban

Last week, Drug War Chronicle reported on an escalating campaign
to criminalize salvia divinorum
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/481/war_on_salvia_divinorum_heats_up),
the fast- and short-acting hallucinogenic Mexican member of the
mint family whose use has seeped into the popular consciousness
among North American pyschonauts in the past decade. The story
opened with the town of Middlebury, Vermont, declaring a public
health emergency to stop a local tobacconist from selling the
potent herb.

Now, the store owner is fighting back. The day our story ran,
James Stone, proprietor of the Emporium Tobacco and Gift Shop,
announced he will appeal the order
(http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/04/13/tobacco_store_owner_to_fight_ban_on_salvia_sales/)
and has hired an attorney to fight it. "If they had come to me
first, I would have worked with them," Stone said.

But that's not what happened. The town council acted on the
matter without notifying Stone, who only learned of the ban when
a reporter called him the next day. The council acted after
Police Chief Tom Hanley reported that the town school resource
officer had become aware that teenagers were using salvia. While
Hanley could not name any cases where anyone had suffered any
adverse effects from ingesting the drug, he urged the council
not to take that chance. "It's a tragedy waiting to happen," he
said.

Hanley also made the odd claim that the hallucinogenic effects
of salvia, which last for less than 20 minutes, can be extended
for several hours if the user is drinking alcohol. "You can't
have kids with developing brains putting this stuff in their
bodies," Hanley warned. "The effects are different for different
individuals and you just don't know what's going to happen."

But the Middlebury ban is not just against sales to minors. It
is a total ban.

Salvia has been a "substance of concern" for the DEA for several
years, but remains legal under federal law. Five states and a
handful of municipalities have criminalized it, and similar
efforts are afoot in seven other states this year. But
Middlebury is unique in having chosen the public health
emergency route.

That's raising eyebrows among civil libertarians. "It sounds
very arbitrary and very broad and very subjective," said Allen
Gilbert, executive director of Vermont's chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union. "How does one person make the
determination that something is a danger?" Gilbert said.

================

13. Europe: British Junior Docs Call for Marijuana-Based
Medicine Prescriptions
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/british_junior_docs_call_for_cannabis_on_NHS

The British Medical Association's (BMA) Junior Members Forum
(http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubjuniordoctors) voted
Sunday in favor of marijuana-based medicines being prescribed by
the National Health Service (NHS) to ease the suffering of
patients. The group called on the BMA to lobby the British
government to change the laws to allow research to develop
treatments with cannabinoids, the active ingredients in the
plant.

In the British medical system, junior doctors are those who have
received a medical degree and are in postgraduate training.
While the term seems to imply callow youth, junior doctors in
Britain may in fact have logged years treating patients at the
NHS.

The vote in Dundee, Scotland, came after the forum heard from
Dr. Andrew Thomson, a Scottish General Practitioner and
prominent member of the BMA, who told of a patient of his
suffering terrible pain who he was unable to help with cannabis
because of the state of the law. "A lot of our patients turn to
using cannabis to try to relieve their pain -- let's not make
them criminals," he said. "Let's not turn pain into punishment."

His patient, a professional woman who suffered from multiple
sclerosis, knew of the evidence about cannabis relieving pain,
but could not commit a criminal act, Thomson told the forum
(http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1330153.0.0.php).
"It was frustrating to see it but I could not encourage her to
use it," he said. "I know what is best for my patient
potentially but I am not allowed by the system to use what would
relieve the suffering."

================

14. Media: The Drug Truth Network on YouTube
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_truth_network_on_youtube

Houston drug reformer Dean Becker's Drug Truth Network
(http://www.drugtruth.net) is expanding its reach to encompass
the popular video-posting and -viewing web site YouTube. The
Drug Truth Network already gets its pro-reform message out via a
web site, Internet radio, several dozen broadcast radio
stations, and podcasts.

As of Tuesday, Drug Truth has a six-minute video
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB1DS25K2Qk) on YouTube
featuring Tommy Chong, among others. That video is designed to
entice viewers to visit an hour-long video from a panel
discussion including a federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area (HIDTA) member, Marcia Baker of Phoenix House, and Becker
himself, representing Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(http://www.leap.cc).

Becker's Drug Truth Network also includes the Cultural Baggage
radio program and the 4:20 Drug War News. Check 'em out!

================

15. Web Scan
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_links

interview with pro-legalization Vermont DA Robert Sand, by Ethan
Nadelmann, podcast from DPA:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/040907nadelmannsand.mp3

April 2007 issue of Cannabinoid Chronicles:
http://www.thevics.com/publications/vol4/VICSNews4_7.pdf

Arianna Huffington says that Democratic Candidates are
Deafeningly Silent on the Drug War, Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-other-war-democratic_b_44063.html

new trailer for Emperor of Hemp, Jeff Meyers documentary on Jack
Herer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZmqxaiS21o

USA Today article on new book about the government's LSD
chemical warfare experiments:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070406/a_drugs06.art.htm

Actress Kirsten Dunst praises value of moderate marijuana use,
AOL Movie News:
http://news.aol.com/entertainment/movies/articles/_a/kirsten-dunst-praises-virtues-of-pot/20070410122009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Dow Jones news on the growing evidence supporting medical
marijuana:
http://www.nasdaq.com//aspxcontent/newsstory.aspx?textpath=20070415%5CACQDJON200704151817DOWJONESDJONLINE000320.htm&cdtime=04%2F15%2F2007%20+6%3A17PM

former drug war prisoner Anthony Papa speaks out on another
injustice, the case of John Valverde:
http://www.counterpunch.org/papa04192007.html

Making the Case for Legalizing Marijuana , Ethan Nadelmann on
NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9434794

Siobhan O'Connor on Chains of Love, GOOD Magazine:
http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/chains_of_love

Patients Out of Time YouTube site on cannabis therapeutics:
http://www.youtube.com/cannabistherapeutics

================

16. Weekly: This Week in History
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_war_history

April 25, 1894: The Indian Hemp Drug Commission concludes that
cannabis has no addictive properties, some medical uses, and a
number of positive emotional and social benefits.

April 23, 1998: The Ottawa Citizen reports that Canadians who
tell US border officials the truth about their past use of
marijuana will be denied entry to America indefinitely.

April 25, 2000: Despite the formal opposition of the Hawaiian
Catholic Church, the Hawaii State Senate passes medical
marijuana legislation, joining California, Oregon, Washington,
Maine, Alaska, and Arizona in shielding medical marijuana
patients from criminal prosecution.

April 20, 2001: American Christian missionary Veronica Bowers
and her seven month-old daughter, Charity, are killed when their
small plane is shot out of the sky by a Peruvian military jet as
part of a CIA-backed program that patrols the Amazon Basin for
drug couriers. The Senate Intelligence Committee investigates
and concludes the missionary pilot did nothing wrong and should
not have come under fire.

April 24, 2001: In Oklahoma, Will Foster, 42, a medical
marijuana patient who in 1995 was sentenced to 93 years in
prison for growing 39 marijuana plants in his basement, is
released on parole. Foster used marijuana to relieve chronic
pain caused by acute rheumatoid arthritis. "My medical use of
marijuana never interfered with my work, I ran a successful
business," said Foster. He added, "I was minding my own business
taking care of my health and my family. What was I doing to
anybody that got me 93 years?"

April 20, 2002: Robin Prosser of Missoula, Montana begins a
hunger strike demanding access to government grown marijuana to
help her treat symptoms of Lupus. Prosser says that marijuana
helps combat the illness and relieves her pain and stress.

April 21, 2004: US Circuit Court Judge Jeremy Fogel bars the US
Dept. of Justice from interfering with Mike and Valerie Corral,
heads of a medical marijuana hospice near Santa Cruz,
California, with their 250 patients, or with their marijuana
garden. Judge Fogel cites Raich v. Ashcroft, a 2004 Ninth
Circuit decision which found the federal government has no
jurisdiction over patients who grow their own plants.

April 22, 2004: The Pacific edition of the magazine Stars and
Stripes reports that twenty sailors assigned to Commander, Naval
Forces Marianas (Guam) were arrested on drug-related charges
since late 2003 alone.

================

17. Announcement: DRCNet Content Syndication Feeds Now Available
for YOUR Web Site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available

Are you a fan of DRCNet, and do you have a web site you'd like
to use to spread the word more forcefully than a single link to
our site can achieve? We are pleased to announce that DRCNet
content syndication feeds are now available. Whether your
readers' interest is in-depth reporting as in Drug War
Chronicle, the ongoing commentary in our blogs, or info on
specific drug war subtopics, we are now able to provide
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your blog or web site to run automatically updating links to
DRCNet educational content.

For example, if you're a big fan of Drug War Chronicle and you
think your readers would benefit from it, you can have the
latest issue's headlines, or a portion of them, automatically
show up and refresh when each new issue comes out.

If your site is devoted to marijuana policy, you can run our
topical archive, featuring links to every item we post to our
site about marijuana -- Chronicle articles, blog posts, event
listings, outside news links, more. The same for harm reduction,
asset forfeiture, drug trade violence, needle exchange programs,
Canada, ballot initiatives, roughly a hundred different topics
we are now tracking on an ongoing basis. (Visit the Chronicle
main page (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle), right-hand
column, to see the complete current list.)

If you're especially into our new Speakeasy blog section, new
content coming out every day dealing with all the issues, you
can run links to those posts or to subsections of the Speakeasy.

Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/feeds to view a sample of what
is available -- please note that the length, the look and other
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Please also note that we will be happy to make additional
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automatic feed generator, online here
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/feed2js/build.php).

Contact us for assistance (http://stopthedrugwar.org/contact) or
to let us know what you are running and where. And thank you in
advance for your support.

================

18. Announcement: DRCNet RSS Feeds Now Available
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

RSS feeds are the wave of the future -- and DRCNet now offers
them! The latest Drug War Chronicle issue is now available using
RSS at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/feed online.

We have many other RSS feeds available as well, following about
a hundred different drug policy subtopics that we began tracking
since the relaunch of our web site this summer -- indexing not
only Drug War Chronicle articles but also Speakeasy blog posts,
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Site Map (http://stopthedrugwar.org/sitemap) page to peruse the
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Thank you for tuning in to DRCNet and drug policy reform!

================

19. Announcement: New Format for the Reformer's Calendar
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_reform_calendar

With the launch of our new web site, The Reformer's Calendar no
longer appears as part of the Drug War Chronicle newsletter but
is instead maintained as a section of our new web site:

* Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org each day and you'll see a
listing of upcoming events in the page's righthand column with
the number of days remaining until the next several events
coming up and a link to more.

* Check our new online calendar section to view all of them by
month, week or a range of different views
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/event).

* We request and invite you to submit your event listings
directly (http://stopthedrugwar.org/node/add/event) on our web
site. Note that our new system allows you to post not only a
short description as we currently do, but also the entire text
of your announcement.

The Reformer's Calendar publishes events large and small of
interest to drug policy reformers around the world. Whether it's
a major international conference, a demonstration bringing
together people from around the region or a forum at the local
college, we want to know so we can let others know, too.

But we need your help to keep the calendar current, so please
make sure to contact us and don't assume that we already know
about the event or that we'll hear about it from someone else,
because that doesn't always happen.

We look forward to apprising you of more new features on our web
site as they become available.

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