Drug War Chronicle, Issue #483 (fulltext version)

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #483 -- 4/27/07
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith [at] drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483

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/483/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://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/help_repeal_drug_conviction_financial_aid_law_by_contacting_senate_now

Table of Contents:

1. OPEN LETTER: YOU SCREWED UP THE "SNITCH" STORY, ANDERSON
COOPER
A report by CNN's Anderson Cooper for Sixty Minutes on the "Stop
Snitching" movement missed the mark widely. In this open letter
to Cooper, DRCNet executive director David Borden lays out the
real deal.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/anderson_cooper_screwed_up_the_snitch_story

2. FEATURE: COCAINE PRICES DECLINE, PURITY RISES DESPITE
BILLIONS FOR INTERDICTION AND ERADICATION
Two years ago, drug czar John Walters trumpeted rising cocaine
prices as evidence the drug war was working. But the overall
trend is toward lower prices and higher purity, and Walters
doesn't want to talk about that.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/cocaine_price_down_purity_up_wola_report

3. FEATURE: CANNABIS NATION CELEBRATES 4/20 -- DOZENS OF CAMPUS
ACTIONS, MASS ARRESTS IN DENVER, FOILED IN LAS VEGAS
Last Friday was 4/20, the unofficial holiday for marijuana
aficionados. On campuses across the country, students came out.
In Denver and Las Vegas, though, there were problems.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/420_campus_events_denver_arrests_las_vegas_foiled

4. BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
In addition to the weekly reporting you see here in the
Chronicle, DRCNet also features daily content in the way of
blogging, news links, redistributed press releases and
announcements from our allies and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/blogging_at_the_speakeasy_every_day

5. 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/483/help_repeal_drug_conviction_financial_aid_law_by_contacting_senate_now

6. 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/483/lies_damn_lies_and_drug_war_statistics_book_offer

7. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
Three police officers and a prison guard arrested, and another
prison guard gets sent to prison. Once again, we present the
corrosive impact of the drug war on police ethics and morality
in all its mundane banality.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_police_corruption

8. SEARCH AND SEIZURE: SUPREME COURT TAKES UP RIGHTS OF VEHICLE
PASSENGERS
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case that
revolves around whether passengers in a vehicle stopped by
police are "seized" like the driver.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/supreme_court_hears_arguments_passengers_rights_case

9. SOUTHWEST ASIA: DRUG TRADE A PILLAR OF THE AFGHAN ECONOMY
The opium economy is the leading employer in Afghanistan,
despite limited eradication efforts funded by the west.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/opium_pillar_afghan_economy

10. EUROPE: BELGIUM, GERMANY NEED TO OPEN THEIR OWN CANNABIS
COFFEE SHOPS, SAYS DUTCH MAYOR
The Belgian and German governments are complaining about Dutch
border city coffee shops that cater to their citizens, but a
Dutch mayor suggests they just open their own.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/dutch_mayor_says_belgians_germans_need_own_coffee_shops

11. LATIN AMERICA: AS BLOOD CONTINUES TO FLOW, MEXICO'S
OPPOSITION CALLS FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION -- STARTING WITH THE US
With bloody drug prohibition-related violence unabated despite
the latest round of government military offensives, leading
members of Mexico's main opposition party are calling for drug
legalization as way out.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/mexico_opposition_party_calls_for_drug_legalization

12. WEB SCAN
Time on Ecstasy research, Radley Balko on Measuring
Prohibitions, new CannabisResource site, Oaksterdam News, Drug
Truth Network, HRC web site relaunch, Alternet on South America
drug war.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_policy_links

13. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_war_history

14. JOB OPPORTUNITY: PROGRAM OFFICER, HEALTH MEDIA PROJECT, OSI
The Open Society Institute seeks a full-time Program Officer in
its New York office to assist with their Health Media Project.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/osi_job_opportunity

15. 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!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available

16. ANNOUNCEMENT: DRCNET RSS FEEDS NOW AVAILABLE
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available

17. 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/483/drug_reform_calendar

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

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

1. Open Letter: You Screwed Up the "Snitch" Story, Anderson
Cooper
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/anderson_cooper_screwed_up_the_snitch_story

Dear Mr. Cooper:

As a CNN viewer who generally appreciates your work, I was
stunned by how badly your report on the "Stop Snitching"
movement missed the mark. It's easy to find someone willing to
make an extreme statement, as hip-hop artist Cameron Giles did
when he said he wouldn't report a serial murderer. But do you
really think the most extreme voice on the airwaves is the one
that merits such a large portion of the face time in your
report?

My issue is not with the criticisms leveled at people like Giles
or the Stop Snitching movement. My concern is over that which
was not said. For example, the most interesting moment in the
piece was David Kennedy's comment about police tactics in the
war on drugs. However, you did not offer even a second sentence
about that on the screen (at least in the CNN version) for Prof.
Kennedy to elaborate on what those tactics might be or why they
might have such an effect. Do you really consider those three
seconds to constitute an adequate fulfillment of your
professional responsibility to provide balanced and informative
reporting?

A real examination of the "snitching" issue was provided in Ofra
Bikel's 1999 documentary for Frontline, "Snitch"
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/). One of
the prisoners Bikel interviewed, Clarence Aaron, received three
life sentences while in college at age 23 because of a minor
role in a drug transaction -- "conspiracy," as the government
calls it. All the other participants got less time, even though
their responsibility level in the deal had been greater. Aaron's
cousin James, in fact, was sentenced to mere probation -- in
exchange for testifying against Aaron -- and walked out of the
courtroom a free man.

According to Aaron, his cousin told him that he "had to do what
[he] had to do" and that that included lying to the jury. One of
the objectives of prosecutor Deborah Griffin, apparently, was to
cause a mistrial and force Aaron to switch to a less skilled
attorney than the one he had, and she was able to use James to
manipulate the situation to bring that about. If James didn't
cooperate, he told Aaron, she threatened to "put [him] in prison
for the rest of [his] life."

Of course, Aaron is still in prison today. You can read a little
more about him in a column by the San Francisco Chronicle's
Debra Saunders here
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/25/EDG6MFSPHR1.DTL).
She writes about him every year, at Christmas pardon time, so
far to no avail.

Unfortunately, Aaron's case is unusual mainly for how much
attention it's gotten. The exchange of leniency -- or even money
-- for testimony that will help the prosecution is an absolutely
routine tactic in the drug war. The DEA, in fact, continued to
use a "super-snitch" named Andrew Chambers
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/161/supersnitch.shtml)
for numerous prosecutions after a court had determined him to be
a repeat perjurer. Common sense tells us that testimony acquired
in this way is not always reliable. It is a disgusting
commentary on the state of our justice system that prosecutors
would use a tactic like that so often. The fact that the
mandatory minimum laws that garnered Aaron his life sentences
were passed by Congress with neither hearings nor expert advice
in other forms (according to my colleague Eric Sterling who
appeared in Bikel's report), is equally troubling. The use of
these laws to imprison minor offenders for long periods of time
is also very common, but the term "mandatory minimum" did not
appear in your report even once. Nor did you mention it was an
anonymous informant's incorrect tip that led to the killing of
92-year old Kathryn Johnston by police officers in a no-knock
raid in CNN's own hometown of Atlanta last year.

Research by the Sentencing Project has found that literally one
in three young black men between the ages of 20 and 29 are under
the supervision of the criminal justice system -- prison, jail,
probation or parole -- on any given day. Here in Washington the
numbers are even higher. How difficult must it be for all of
these people with convictions on their records to go on to find
legitimate jobs? What kind of impact does such a massive and
ongoing operation have on the bonds of family, friendship, or
community? How many of these people go to jail or prison, what
kinds of things do they learn there, how many of them catch
serious diseases there and bring them back out? How often do
they receive harsh mandatory minimum sentences like Clarence
Aaron? At a conference I attended recently, a professor from
Morehouse College, lamenting the situation, delivered a talk
entitled "Where are the Men?" What should we be doing
differently, or for that matter what should we stop doing, in
order to address this? What does all of this do to change
people, mostly in ways that we don't want, to cause more crime?
I simply do not believe that one in three black men in this age
group are criminals in any meaningful sense of the word.

I respectfully suggest it is the overuse and misuse of the
criminal justice system -- not the words of some rappers -- that
are the primary reasons anti-police sentiment in some of our
communities runs so deep. I urge you to do a follow-up report to
take a deeper look at these issues. After all, just because Lou
Dobbs thinks we can stop drugs at the border doesn't make it so
-- and if we could people would just use more of the drugs that
can be grown or manufactured here. We therefore need to change
the way we deal with drugs in a fundamental sense. Ending the
disgraceful practice of purchasing or coercing testimony from
"snitches" to send people away for years or decades would be a
start.

Don't be a part of the problem, Mr. Cooper, be a part of the
solution -- talk about this.

Sincerely,

David Borden, Executive Director
Stop the Drug War
Washington, DC
http://stopthedrugwar.org

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

2. Feature: Cocaine Prices Decline, Purity Rises Despite
Billions for Interdiction and Eradication
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/cocaine_price_down_purity_up_wola_report

On Monday, the US Coast Guard unloaded nearly 20 tons of cocaine
it had seized last month off the coast of Central America, the
largest maritime drug bust in US history. Will it make any
difference? Not if the history of US cocaine interdiction
efforts is any indication.

Two years ago, the head of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy (http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov), John Walters,
proudly announced that interdiction and eradication efforts were
working based on a rise in cocaine prices. But in a
just-released study, "Connecting the Dots: ONDCP's (Reluctant)
Update on Cocaine Price and Purity,
(http://wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=339&Itemid=8)"
the Washington Office on Latin America's (http://www.wola.org)
John Walsh reports that Walters' loudly announced price increase
was only a blip that has since been reversed. Unlike his earlier
announcement, Walters has not trumpeted these findings.

Among the key points in the report:

* Preliminary US government data, quietly disclosed by ONDCP,
indicate that cocaine's price per pure gram on US streets fell
in 2006, while its purity increased. (Increasing purity
effectively constitutes an additional price decrease.)

* These latest estimates, continuing a 25-year trend, suggest
that cocaine supplies are stable or even increasing.

* This is so despite $31 billion spent on drug interdiction
and crop control efforts since 1997, including $5.4 billion
spent in Colombia -- the source of 90 percent of cocaine in the
United States -- since "Plan Colombia" began in 2000.

* The updated cocaine data fully reverse a short-lived price
increase that the White House drug czar's office heralded in
late 2005. That rise in prices and decline in purity, which
received much media attention at the time, proved to be a less
than impressive fluctuation, as skeptics at the time suggested
would be the case.

* The available evidence indicates that cocaine's continued low
and falling prices are driven largely by ongoing robust cocaine
supply, rather than by a slackening or collapse in demand.

* The new cocaine price and purity estimates offer further
evidence that the continued US emphasis on forced crop
eradication, with "Plan Colombia" as its most visible and costly
centerpiece, has failed to affect drug supplies at home.

America's supply-side efforts to reduce cocaine use by stopping
it from getting to the US have failed. Or, as Walsh put it: "A
perennial goal of US anti-drug policy has been to disrupt
supplies enough to constrain availability... this effort,
however, has consistently failed to achieve lasting increases in
drug prices or reductions in drug purity levels. Rather, cocaine
prices have been in general decline since 1982. And according to
new estimates, which the White House drug czar's office quietly
provided to a US senator in January, this decline continued
apace in 2006."

And while Walters and his fellow drug warriors are always
promising that progress is just around the next corner, the
annual Drug Threat Assessments from the National Drug
Intelligence Center (http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/) show that
little changes:

* April 2004: "Both powder and crack cocaine are readily
available throughout the country and overall availability
appears to be stable."

* January 2005: "Key indicators of domestic cocaine
availability show stable or slightly increased availability in
drug markets throughout the country..."

* January 2006: "Cocaine is widely available throughout most of
the nation, and cocaine supplies are relatively stable at levels
sufficient to meet current user demand."

* October 2006: Despite record levels of cocaine lost or seized
in transit toward the United States, "there have been no
sustained cocaine shortages or indications of stretched supplies
in domestic drug markets."

"It's way past time to bring our expectations for this kind of
drug control policy in line with reality," Walsh told Drug War
Chronicle. "That reality is that the record makes clear it is
extremely difficult to drive up prices for any length of time.
We need to put the supply control effort in proper perspective:
Even if in its best case scenario, it is preventing cocaine from
being much more readily available, it is marginal to the real
issue, which is the question of demand and the consequences of
drug use."

As Walsh shows in great detail in the report, ONDCP suppresses
the cocaine price and purity numbers that hurt it politically
and trumpets those that support its claims. That's no surprise
to Matt Robinson, professor of criminal justice at Appalachian
State University and co-author of "Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug
War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office
of National Drug Control Policy"
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/477/book_review_lies_damned_lies_drug_war_statistics).

"This is more of the same from ONDCP; it's not surprising at
all, although it's very disappointing," said Robinson. "What we
showed in our book is that they selectively choose and present
statistics that support their case and they ignore or downplay
statistics that don't support their case, and that's what this
report shows them doing as well," he told the Chronicle.

Robinson also noted that when Walters trumpeted a blip upward in
cocaine prices in 2005, ONDCP was up to its old trick of
cherry-picking short-term data that supported its case while
ignoring the overall trend over time. "Once again, we see a very
short-term focus on a specific time period while ignoring
long-term trends. That's exactly what we found historically."

"Unfortunately, this is not a surprise, more like par for the
course. As we found several times looking at ONDCP over several
years, this is a real typical pattern," said Renee Scherlen,
professor of political science at Appalachian State and
Robinson's coauthor. "In the present case, ONDCP chose to look
at a snippet that doesn't really reflect a trend."

Academics and analysts aren't the only critics of ONDCP's
"truthiness," to cite a term coined by Steven Colbert. Also
skeptical is Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who wrote Walters a
year ago asking for clarification of his claims. ONDCP may be
making selective use of statistics to "provide a rosier but not
necessarily more accurate picture of the current situation."
Grassley is still un-persuaded despite further correspondence
with ONDCP. "When it comes to statistics, I think it's fair to
say they cook the books," Sen. Grassley told National Public
Radio in a recent interview. "They use whatever statistics fit
their public relations program."

The cure for ONDCP's mendacity lies with Congress, said
Robinson. "The simplest thing is for Congress to hold them
accountable," he said. "Congress could mandate annual
performance evaluations, but it doesn't. Congress has a chance
to reauthorize ONDCP every five years or so, and that could be
another occasion, but Congress doesn't have to wait for that,"
he said.

"The idea of holding congressional hearings and asking for them
to be held accountable through oversight is one path to follow,"
Scherlen concurred. "To analyze policy, we have to have accurate
information. We want to know what works and what doesn't. You
don't have to oppose the war on drugs to request that we have
good information and that ONDCP present data that is truthful."

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

3. Feature: Cannabis Nation Celebrates 4/20 -- Dozens of Campus
Actions, Mass Arrests in Denver, Foiled in Las Vegas
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/420_campus_events_denver_arrests_las_vegas_foiled

Last Friday was April 20 (4/20), the unofficial national
marijuana smokers' holiday, and members of Cannabis Nation were
out in force on college campuses across the land. Non-campus
events took place, too, but some of them faced hostile reactions
from local authorities -- most notably in Denver, where police
cited more than 50 people on marijuana charges, and in Las
Vegas, where the city bureaucracy effectively stifled a
long-planned and costly two-day celebration of cannabis culture.

The on-campus actions were, for the most part, organized by
Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), the
Colorado-based group that has been working its "marijuana is
safer than alcohol" message on college campuses and in the
voting booth. According to the group, students on 50 campuses
(http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/553/1) participated in
4/20 events under the rubric of a "National Day for Education."

In the SAFER events, which in many cases were coordinated with
campus Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org)
and National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
(http://www.norml.org), students handed out literature comparing
the effects of marijuana and alcohol and called for campus
policies that do not punish marijuana use more severely than
alcohol use.

"The campus events seemed to go very well," said SAFER head
Mason Tvert. "All around the country, students handed out
thousands of pieces of literature and SAFER t-shirts," he told
Drug War Chronicle. "The literature contrasted the effects of
marijuana and alcohol -- no marijuana ODs, it doesn't contribute
to acts of violence and sexual assault, while alcohol is the
number one campus date rape drug.

Judging by the response this week, the action was a success,
Tvert said. "We've been getting lots of emails from people who
say that literature, and the NORML and SSDP chapters are
reporting that they signed on a lot of new members."

"Some of our chapters worked with SAFER to distribute
information about the relative effects of alcohol and
marijuana," SSDP field director Micah Daigle told the Chronicle.
Other chapters held or will hold hemp fests, he said.

While some SSDP chapters participated in 4/20 actions, others
were busy lobbying Congress in an effort to repeal the Higher
Education Act's anti-drug provision. "Last week was a week of
SSDP HEA action," said Daigle. "We sent out phone script cards
that people could use to encourage them to call the Senate HELP
Committee, which is reviewing HEA this week."

There were other 4/20 campus actions unrelated to the SAFER
campaign, although they hit some similar notes. In Amherst,
Massachusetts, hundreds of people gathered Saturday for the 16th
annual Extravaganja
(http://media.http://www.dailycollegian.com/media/storage/paper874/news/2007/04/24/News/Cannibis.Reform.Coalition.Hosts.Ganja.Festival-2875832.shtml),
organized by the University of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition (http://www.umasscrc.org).

CRC head John Werner touched on familiar themes as he addressed
the crowd. "People are being kept out of college for small
infractions," Werner said. He said that when people are jailed
for marijuana offenses, it's harder to find a job when they're
released. In turn, this may cause them to turn to crime.

The laws also takes resources away from combating more dangerous
drugs. "I think there are drugs that are dangerous, and
marijuana is not one of them," said Werner. "No one has ever
died from a marijuana overdose."

Werner also addressed campus marijuana policies. "There's a huge
problem with cops in dorms," said Werner. "There's a
skyrocketing arrest rate." According to Werner, at UMass any
student caught with marijuana is suspended immediately, which
severely interrupts academic work and leaves a stain on the
individual's record.

While the campus events were largely unmolested (six students at
the University of Colorado were arrested for publicly smoking
pot), it was a different story for 4/20 events in Denver and Las
Vegas. In Denver, dozens of public marijuana smokers were cited
by police, who massed in force around the peaceable rally
memorializing slain activist Ken Gorman
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/474/colorado_marijuana_activist_ken_gorman_killed).

"People who smoke marijuana in public have to be ready to pay
the consequences," said SAFER's Tvert. "But this is different
from past years and it certainly shows the police were going out
of their way to cite people. This was a peaceful gathering and
the only problem was the arrests," he said.

According to Denver police, more than 100 officers, including
the SWAT team, the mounted patrol, undercover members of the
vice and narcotics bureau, the gang unit and other departments
were on duty during the rally. "Even though marijuana smoking
isn't illegal in Denver, it's still illegal in Colorado," said
police spokeswoman Virginia Quinones.

But Tvert questioned the need for the massive police presence.
"Do they call out the SWAT team for bar closing on Friday
night?" he asked. "Do we get that much police presence at a
Broncos football game?"

Tvert said he plans to pursue the issue by demanding hearings at
the city council. SAFER was behind the successful 2005
legalization initiative ignored by city fathers, and Tvert
warned that the city could see further action, perhaps in the
form of a lowest law enforcement priority initiative, if the
city doesn't change its tune.

4/20 in Las Vegas was supposed to be a two-day festival with
dozens of live bands, vendors, and exhibitors, but instead
turned into a disaster for organizers after city permitting
officials stalled their permits, then shut them down completely
on the first day of the event.

Mikki Norris of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign
(http://www.cannabisconsumers.org) and her husband, cannabis
cultivation expert Chris Conrad, traveled from the San Francisco
Bay area to attend and address the event. They were expecting a
major bash, but "when we arrived, the event had significantly
reduced," Norris reported. "The venue, the Ice House, had been
contacted by the authorities and were told that no vending could
take place outside or inside, no speakers could speak, nobody
could table or hand out literature. There could only be music in
a place that holds a thousand people. Police were riding bikes
through the large parking lot area that only weeks before had
hosted an event by Snoop Dog and others. When the scent of
cannabis was sniffed in the outside air, the code-enforcement
person cancelled the event, threatening the owners of the Ice
House to suspend their licenses for 30 days if they didn't call
off the 4/20 event."

While Norris decried the hypocrisy of a city built on sex,
drinking, and gambling shutting down a marijuana event, the
damage was more than emotional. "Many people lost thousands of
dollars on this weekend," she noted. "Many vendors lost money,
the Ice House lost money, the musicians lost money, attendees
lost money, and we lost money getting there. Much money was to
be generated at this event, tourist dollars were going to be
spent all over town, and the message was to get out about
legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis in Nevada in the near
future. But, instead it was a big loss for everyone."

Nevada NORML (http://www.nevadanorml.org) organizers Billy and
Beth Soloe are not answering their phone this week and their
voicemail box is full. The couple stand to lose significant sums
on the thwarted event.

They are not to blame, said NORML founder Keith Stroup, who also
traveled to Las Vegas for the event."[The organizers] had an
agreement with the venue that the Icehouse would handle permit
issues because it's a venue that does these big events all the
time, and only 11 days before the event, the Icehouse told them
the permits weren't moving. At that point, Nevada NORML realized
it had a problem and tried to get it resolved, but all they got
was the runaround from city officials. They created an endless
series of hurdles; I think it is clear there was never any
intent to let this event happen."

Stroup wishes they had asked him for help. "I think the Nevada
NORML people were well-intentioned and worked very hard, but
they presumed city officials were dealing with them in good
faith, and that's clearly not the case," said Stroup. "They
should have called us for help when they realized this was a
crisis. Perhaps we could have acted to clear this up, but by the
time we got to town on the day of the event, it was too late to
fix things. I told them that if they want to try it again next
year and they don't have the permits six weeks out, bring us in
and we'll take them to court."

City officials apparently acted at the behest of a Mormon
anti-drug group that submitted a petition with 30 signatures
demanding that the event be canceled, Stroup reported. "Not
30,000 signatures, not 3,000, but 30 signatures!" he exclaimed.
"Clearly, they got to someone on the council, and mid-level
bureaucrats were told not to grant that permit. Someone decided
this wasn't healthy for the city, and they weren't going to let
the event happen," he said.

"This was clearly a case where somebody didn't like the
message," said Stroup. "The city was claiming this event was
going to bring the city to a screeching halt, but this is Las
Vegas. You've got to be kidding me. That was a bullshit
justification by the city. We may have to go back with guns
blazing next year."

To add insult to injury, city code enforcement officers even
forbade event participants from handing out literature. "That's
clearly unconstitutional," said Stroup. "If NORML wants to hand
out a brochure on private property, that is their constitutional
right."

Stroup said he spoke with the Icehouse manager and offered legal
assistance if the venue challenged the literature ban, but the
manager declined, saying city officials threatened to shut him
down for at least 30 days. "At that point, we didn't have the
option of challenging the city's bullshit decisions," Stroup
said. "They could have destroyed that business."

Nevada NORML and national NORML are weighing their legal options
at this point, Stroup said. "Suing for damages is not out of the
question. Some people took a real financial hit on this," he
said. "But if our main goal is to overcome these obstacles, we
have to ask if we want to spend the time and resources to teach
these people a lesson or would we be better off using that same
energy to really do it right next time and cram it down the
city's throat."

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

4. Blogging @ the Speakeasy
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/blogging_at_the_speakeasy_every_day

Along with our weekly in-depth Chronicle reporting, DRCNet has
since late summer also been providing daily content in the way
of blogging in the "Stop the Drug War Speakeasy," as well as
Latest News links (upper right-hand corner of most web pages),
event listings (lower right-hand corner) and other info. Check
out DRCNet every day to stay on top of the drug reform game!

Chronicle editor Phil Smith was traveling most of this week, and
so most of this week's blogging was done by content editor Scott
Morgan. Scott contributed "ONDCP Admits Exaggerating Marijuana
Potency," "Wanna Beat a Drug Test? Switch From Pot to
Oxycodone," and "False Positives: The Dark Secret of the Drug
Testing Regime."

Also joining us this week was Univ. of Las Vegas professor
Randall Shelden, who contributed "Review of Lies, Damned Lies
and Drug War Statistics by Matt B. Robinson and Renee G.
Scherlen (SUNY Press, 2007)."

Check them out at http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy -- we
encourage you to post comments.

Also check out our "In the Trenches" activist feed
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/trenches) for a plethora of
press releases, action alerts, job listings and other
interesting items reposted from many allied organizations around
the world. And please join our Reader Blogs
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/reader) where you can
become an author in the DRCNet community too.

Thanks for reading, and writing...

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

5. 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/483/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
that way too -- a phone call usually makes more of an impact
than an e-mail -- and drop us an e-mail at borden [at] drcnet.org to
let us know. Visit http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/senate for
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
this law since it was passed in 1998, and with your help we
could actually win it now!

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

6. Book Offer: Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/lies_damn_lies_and_drug_war_statistics_book_offer

Normally when we publish a book review in our Drug War Chronicle
newsletter, it gets readers but is not among the top stories
visited on the site. Recently we saw a big exception to that
rule when more than 2,700 of you read our review of the new book
Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis
of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Much of this reading took place during a week that had other
very popular articles as well, so clearly the topic of this
book, which was authored by respected academics Matthew Robinson
and Renee Scherlen, has struck a chord. As well it should.

Please help DRCNet continue our own work of debunking drug war
lies with a generous donation -- visit
http://stopthedrugwar.org/donate to donate online. If your
donation is $32 or more, we'll send you a complimentary copy of
Robinson and Scherlen's book to help you be able to debunk drug
war lies too.

Over the coming weeks I will be blogging
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy) on our web site about
things I've learned reading Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War
Statistics. Stay tuned!

Your donation will help DRCNet as we advance what we think is an
incredible two-year plan to substantially advance drug policy
reform and the cause of ending prohibition globally and in the
US. Please visit http://stopthedrugwar.org/donate to make a
generous donation today to help the cause! I know you will feel
the money was well spent after you see what DRCNet has in store.
Our online donation form lets you donate by credit card, by
PayPal, or to print out a form to send with your check or money
order by mail. Please note that contributions to the Drug Reform
Coordination Network, our lobbying entity, are not
tax-deductible. Tax-deductible donations can be made to DRCNet
Foundation, our educational wing. (Choosing a gift like Lies,
Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics will reduce the portion of
your donation that you can deduct by the retail cost of the
item.) Both groups receive member mail at: DRCNet, P.O. Box
18402, Washington, DC 20036.

Thank you for your support, and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

David Borden
Executive Director

P.S. You can read Chronicle editor Phil Smith's review of the
book at
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/477/book_review_lies_damned_lies_drug_war_statistics
online.

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

7. Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_police_corruption

Three police officers and a prison guard arrested, and another
prison guard gets sent to prison. Once again, we present the
corrosive impact of the drug war on police ethics and morality
in all its mundane banality. Let's get to it:

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the former police chief is charged
with leaking word of an impending drug raid
(http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=5&id=35778).
Former Chief Rolf Garcia and his 17-year-old son were arrested
April 19 on charges Garcia told his son about a looming raid in
February 2006, and his son called four other people to warn
them. As a result, two men escaped the residence that was the
target of the raid before they could be identified. Garcia told
a grand jury that while he never told his son the location of a
planned raid, he might have warned him to stay away from a
certain area. His son testified that he had provided false
information about drug busts in the past to obtain marijuana,
but he denied telling anyone about the raid in question. Garcia
and his son are charged with hindering apprehension or
prosecution, while Garcia is also charged with obstruction of
justice. A preliminary hearing is set for May 24. [Ed: Whether
reformers should be upset about Garcia's actions in this case is
another question.]

In Columbus, Ohio, a Columbus police officer has been arrested
for cocaine trafficking
(http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=6412639&nav=menu91_1_1).
Officer Larry Lightning, a 23-year veteran of the department,
was arrested last Friday after a two-year investigation by the
Columbus office of the FBI, the Columbus Police Department, the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Metro Narcotics Task
Force. He faces federal charges of conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute cocaine base, extortion by a public
official, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug
trafficking crime.

In Evansville, Indiana, an Evansville police officer will soon
face trial for allegedly stealing money from a drug suspect
(http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/apr/20/trial-set-for-officer-charged-with-theft).
Officer Gerald Rainey, 33, faces one count of felony theft for
allegedly taking $1,000 out of a backpack containing $19,500,
which he seized from a cocaine dealing suspect. The accused
dealer cried foul, police investigated, and they found the
missing $1,000 in Rainey's patrol car. He faces a June 27 court
date.

In Garden City, New York, a New York City jail guard was charged
with supplying heroin to the Shinnecock Indian Reservation
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267524,00.html). Gary
Morton, 25, surrendered to state police last Friday as part of
the roll-up of a drug distribution network on the reservation,
which is on the eastern end of Long Island. Morton was one of
more than a dozen people arrested. He is charged with
second-degree conspiracy. Authorities planned to arrest him at
his job at Rikers Island, but he didn't show up for work,
instead turning himself in later that day.

In Sacramento, a former prison guard was sentenced to prison for
smuggling methamphetamine in to inmates
(http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/159364.html). John Charles
Whittle, 47, a 22-year veteran of the California Department of
Corrections, pleaded guilty last month. He was busted after
internal affairs agents intercepted a package of meth sent to
Whittle's home, then raided the residence after he accepted
delivery. The former guard at Mule Creek State Prison admitted
to receiving more than $5,000 to smuggle drugs into the prison.
He will now serve two years himself.

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

8. Search and Seizure: Supreme Court Takes Up Rights of Vehicle
Passengers
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/supreme_court_hears_arguments_passengers_rights_case

When police pull over the driver of a vehicle, are they also
"seizing" the vehicle's passengers? That's the question the US
Supreme Court pondered Monday as it heard oral arguments
(transcript here
(http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/06-8120.pdf))
in the case of a California man arrested on methamphetamine
charges after the vehicle in which he was riding was pulled
over. Questions from the justices suggested they would not feel
free to leave if they were passengers in a vehicle pulled over
by police, and if that sentiment holds, the court could rule
that passengers have the right to make Fourth Amendment
challenges to any evidence seized and used against them.

The case pits the state of California against Bruce Brendlin, a
former convict wanted for parole violation. Brendlin was a
passenger in a car pulled over ostensibly to inspect possibly
expired inspection tags. The officer recognized Brendlin,
arrested him, searched the car, found methamphetamine supplies,
and added a drug offense to the charges.

Brendlin eventually pleaded guilty, but appealed on the ground
that the evidence should have been suppressed because the
traffic stop was later found to be bogus. (The officer already
knew the tags were good because he had stopped the car earlier
that same day). The California Supreme Court rejected Brendlin's
appeal, holding that only the driver had been "seized" during
the traffic stop -- not Brendlin -- and thus Brendlin had no
basis for challenging an illegal search.

Brendlin's attorney, Elizabeth Campbell, told the court that
when a police officer pulls over a vehicle, "he seizes not only
the driver of the car but also the car and every person and
everything in that car."

California Deputy Attorney General Clifford Zall argued that it
is only the driver, not the passenger, who is "seized" because
it is the driver who submits to the officer's authority. That
caused some skepticism among the justices, a majority of whom
indicated through their comments that they believe passengers as
well as the driver are "seized." That is also the position of
the courts in most states.

While Brendlin appears likely to prevail on this issue, he is
still likely to be imprisoned as a parole violator. Still, what
would likely be a symbolic victory for Brendlin could become a
substantive victory for the rest of us.

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

9. Southwest Asia: Drug Trade a Pillar of the Afghan Economy
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/opium_pillar_afghan_economy

The opium trade generates $6.7 billion a year, with much of
that money staying in the hands of farmers and local
traffickers, Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Mohammed Daud Daud
told reporters at a Kabul press conference
(http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?175670) last Friday.

The opium trade also generates jobs, creating posts for some
110,000 Afghans involved in the traffic, Daud said, citing
figures from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). That's
not including the two million people involved in poppy
production across the country. Daud estimated that farmers
garner about 20% of the money generated, or about $1.4 billion
last year, making opium far and away the country's top cash
crop.

The division of proceeds between Afghan and foreign traffickers
is unknown. Also unknown is just how much of the profits are
ending up in the coffers of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, although
all observers conclude they, too, are profiting from the trade.

They're not the only ones. Daud told the press conference
anti-drug forces had arrested more than a thousand people in the
past three years, including government officials.

Afghanistan provides more than 90% of the global opium supply,
from which heroin is derived. According to the UNODC, this
year's harvest will be another record-breaker, despite the
limited eradication efforts of the Afghan government and its
Western backers.

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

10. Europe: Belgium, Germany Need to Open Their Own Cannabis
Coffee Shops, Says Dutch Mayor
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/dutch_mayor_says_belgians_germans_need_own_coffee_shops

Gerd Leers, the mayor of the Dutch border town of Maastricht,
has called for neighboring Belgium and Germany to open their own
cannabis coffee shops and regulate the sale of marijuana in a
bid to reduce the flow of "drug tourists" pouring into his city.
He also said the regulation of cannabis is a problem that should
be addressed at the European level.

"The best way out of the problem is for Europe's political
leaders to sit together, listen to these problems and open their
eyes for a real solution," Leers said.

The German and Belgian governments have complained for years
that their citizens are going to Holland to purchase cannabis.
Dutch authorities, meanwhile, complain of crime and congestion
associated with foreigners at the coffee shops, and the
conservative Dutch government is considering various schemes to
bar foreigners from enjoying the shops. An estimated 1.5 million
"drug tourists" visit Maastricht each year, according to
official estimates.

Leers' comments came in an interview with EUX-TV
(http://www.bbj.hu/main/news_25635_maastricht+mayor%253A+belgium+germany+need+to+allow+regulated+sale+of+cannabis.html),
in which he responded to an angry letter sent by Belgian Prime
Minister Guy Verhoftstadt to Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter
Balkenende. Verhostadt was objecting about Maastricht plans to
relocate some of its coffee shops to within walking distance of
the Belgian border.

While Belgium has decriminalized marijuana possession, it has no
provision for the supply of cannabis. But Verhostadt's
complaints may have more to do with a pending Belgian
parliamentary election, and Belgium is part of the problem
anyway, said Leers.

"Verhofstadt should first carefully read my proposals and my
ideas, instead of presenting them in a simplistic way to the
people during an election campaign," he said. "The point is that
he does not have a clear idea about what I am doing. I invite
him to discuss this. We are not bringing our coffee shops to the
border... we are just trying to overcome the problems around the
coffee shops, to make them manageable," he said.

Belgium should deal with its marijuana users at home, Leers
said. "What he is doing, he is bringing his clients to
Maastricht, and then you should be fair. Either he bans the use
of drugs completely, and fights against it. Or he should give it
free and organize a way of selling these drugs to the people.
But he should not complain because Maastricht is trying to get
rid of all these problems that are caused by the Belgians
themselves," Leers complained. "They say that we are exporting
our drugs problems because we have our so-called coffee shops
where you can use small amounts of drugs. But it's exactly the
other way round. They are causing our problems because they are
sending their clients, their inhabitants because in Belgium and
Germany you can't buy it."

While conservative European governments insist that the Dutch
could solve the problem by shutting down their coffee shops,
Leers begged to differ. "If closing them were the solution, I
would be the first one to do it," he said. "But the point is --
and it's been proven -- is that if you 'say no to drugs,' it
goes underground. It becomes illegal and then the problem would
be even worse. I think it's better to regulate and keep your
hands on it than to close your eyes. Be open for new solutions,
because the way we are doing it now, we are losing, and the
criminals will be the winners, the big winners. They earn a lot
of money. Let's stop that. Let's organize it. Let's regulate it,
so that we can clear it up for our people."

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

11. Latin America: As Blood Continues to Flow, Mexico's
Opposition Calls for Drug Legalization -- Starting with the US
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/mexico_opposition_party_calls_for_drug_legalization

With the death toll from drug prohibition-related violence in
Mexico at around 600 so far this year, the country appears to be
on a path to match or exceed the 2,000 drug war deaths reported
last year. While military operations authorized by incoming
President Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN)
have led to arrests and drug seizures, they appear to have had
no substantive impact on the multi-billion dollar a year
business of supplying Americans with the illegal drugs they
demand.

Now, as the nation ponders a fundamental reform of the
government itself, the leading opposition party, the Party of
the Democratic Revolution (PRD) is calling for a National
Agreement to Combat Organized Crime (read: the drug trade),
which would include discussion of legalizing drugs.

The first rumblings came in the middle of last week, when Javier
Gonzalez Garza, the PRD's legislative coordinator in the
Assembly, called for an end to the drug war. The endless war
against the so-called drug cartels is fruitless, he said in an
interview posted on the party web site
(http://prdleg.diputados.gob.mx/diputado/javier_gonzalez/ent/entr1456.html).

"I believe that we cannot continue with this affair thinking we
are going to combat the problem of the drug traffic without more
radical measures," said Gonzalez Garza. "One of these has to be
the legalization of drugs in the United States. Then, we could
begin to change things. Those military operations during this
presidency, it's obvious that they are not obtaining results. I
think that the US is the largest market and because of that,
there is where we can achieve an international accord where we
can pass to the next level, to legalize the consumption of
certain types of drugs, and then eliminate this type of thing
that is happening. That's one part," he said.

"The other part has to do with being able to think of other
actions," Gonzalez Garza continued. "This war, as it is now
conceived, will cause us to lose everything; it doesn't make any
sense. There have to be changes in that."

Then, last Friday, PRD Sen. Rene Arce Islas, secretary of the
Senate's Public Security Commission, proposed the "National
Agreement to Combat Organized Crime
(http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/04/21/?section=politica&article=009n2pol&partner=rss),"
including drug legalization. Ending drug prohibition is
controversial, but reasonable, said Arce. "Evidently, that is a
radical action that generates much controversy, but if we
analyze it with maturity and serenity, evaluating the pros and
cons, the risks and potential benefits, you cannot discard being
able to arrive at an agreement that would, from our point of
view and many specialists, do away with the drug traffic and the
delinquency that accompanies it."

The PRD and its allies control 157 seats in the 500-seat
Assembly, while the PAN controls 206, and the party of the
former "perfect dictatorship," which ruled Mexico for seven
decades, the PRI, is reduced to third place with 106 seats. In
the last legislative session, a bill that would have
decriminalized drug possession in Mexico was on the verge of
passage when pressure from the United States caused then
President Vicente Fox to back away. Will another year's worth of
drug prohibition-related horrors lead to a different result this
time around?

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

12. Web Scan
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_policy_links

"Was Timothy Leary Right?" Time magazine article on the four
MAPS-prompted therapeutic Ecstasy studies in the US and Britain:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1612717,00.html

CannabisResource, new web site featuring an extensive
compilation of links, flyers and other info relating to
marijuana activism:
http://www.cannabisresource.com

Radley Balko on "Measuring Prohibitions":
http://www.reason.com/blog/show/119675.html

The Harm Reduction Coalition has relaunched its web site,
featuring training calendars, an online action center, a
searchable map to share harm reduction resources and services, a
job board, and more coming soon:
http://www.harmreduction.org

The Oaksterdam News, Spring 2007 Issue:
http://www.oaksterdamnews.com/AAA_Magazine_RawData/v3i2/odamnews3i2a.pdf

"The US 'War on Drugs' Is an Assault on South America's
Poorest," Benjamin Dangl of AKPress on Alternet:
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/50144/

Drug Truth Network update:
Cultural Baggage for 04/20/07 -- PANEL II: Are we winning the
war on drugs? with Stan Furce of HIDTA/ONDCP, Marcia Baker of
Phoenix House and DTN/LEAP member Dean Becker + Drug War Facts,
Bruce Mirken of MPP, Corrupt Cop Story, Poppygate, Tribute to
Albert Hoffman:
http://www.drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_042007.mp3

Century of Lies for 04/20/07 -- Steve Bloom, editor High Times
magazine + Irv Rosenfeld who has received 225 pounds of marijuna
FROM THE US GOVERNMENT and Phillippe Lucas of Vancouver Island
Compassion Society:
http://www.drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/COL_042007.mp3

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

13. Weekly: This Week in History
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/drug_war_history

April 27, 1937: In a statement before the US House of
Representative Ways and Means Committee, Clinton Hester
testifies that a Washington Times editorial published shortly
before Congress held its first hearing on the marijuana issue
argued: "The fatal marihuana cigarette must be recognized as a
deadly drug and American children must be protected against it."

May 1, 1972: Nobel Prize laureate for economics Milton Friedman
is quoted in Newsweek: "Legalizing drugs would simultaneously
reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law
enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would
accomplish so much to promote law and order?"

April 30, 1984: Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara
Bonilla, who had crusaded against the Medellin cartel, is
assassinated by motorcycle-riding contract killers. President
Belisario Betancur, who had opposed extradition, announces "We
will extradite Colombians." Carlos Lehder is the first to be put
on the list. The crackdown forces the Ochoa family, Escobar, and
Oscar Rodriguez Gacha to flee to Panama for several months. A
few months later, Escobar is indicted for Lara Bonilla's murder
and names the Ochoas and Rodriguez Gacha as material witnesses.

May 3, 1994: Dear Abby states publicly in her column that "Just
as bootleggers were forced out of business in 1933 when
Prohibition was repealed, making the sale of liquor legal (thus
eliminating racketeering), the legalization of drugs would put
drug dealers out of business. It also would guarantee government
approved quality, and the tax on drugs would provide an ongoing
source of revenue for drug-education programs."

April 29, 1996: At a speech at a Miami high school, President
Clinton calls for a war on drugs -- for the second time. Gen.
Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, told the Cleveland
Plain Dealer on May 1, that "everything the president has
announced is already being done. There's nothing new here."

May 2, 2001: The Louisiana Senate, voting 29-5, passes sweeping
legislation to bring relief to an overflowing state prison
system, including ending mandatory prison time for possession of
small quantities of drugs.

May 1, 2003: The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003
(IDAPA) is signed into law, among other things amending a
section of the Controlled Substances Act to target rave
organizers. It shifts the statute's emphasis from punishing
those who establish places where drugs are made and consumed,
such as "crack houses," to those who knowingly maintain
"drug-involved premises," including outdoor events such as rock
concerts. In addition to the criminal penalties in the original
statute, the amended statute adds a civil penalty, thereby
lowering the standard of proof from beyond a reasonable doubt to
a preponderance of evidence.

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

14. Job Opportunity: Program Officer, Health Media Project, OSI
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/osi_job_opportunity

The Open Society Institute seeks a full-time Program Officer in
its New York office to assist with the Institute's Public Health
Program's (PHP) Health Media Project. This cross-cutting project
aims to improve the capacity of public health NGOs to utilize
media and to communicate effectively with the public and policy
makers, and to facilitate the ability of media to raise
awareness about marginalized populations and stigmatized issues.
These issues include harm reduction, Roma health, palliative
care, sexual health and rights, and human rights and health.

The Public Health Program aims to promote health policies based
on social inclusion, human rights, justice, and scientific
evidence. The Program works with civil society organizations
within two fields: promoting the participation and interests of
socially marginalized groups in public health policy and
fostering greater government accountability and transparency
through civil society monitoring and advocacy, with a particular
emphasis on HIV and AIDS. Program areas focus on addressing the
human rights and health needs of marginalized persons,
facilitating access to health information, and advocating for a
strong civil society role in public health policy and practice.
For further information on PHP, visit
http://www.soros.org/health online.

The Health Media Program Officer will report to the PHP Deputy
Director in New York. Responsibilities include facilitating the
further development of PHP's health media funding strategy;
overseeing health media grant giving, including drafting of
requests for proposals, solicitation and evaluation of
proposals, preparation of documentation, follow-up with
grantees, program monitoring and evaluation; identifying and
facilitating media technical assistance for grantees and
partners; working with Soros foundations, OSI offices, experts
and partners on program development and collaboration;
developing joint initiatives with OSI's Media Program, which
seeks to promote independent, professional, and viable media and
quality journalism; organizing, coordinating, and traveling to
meetings, conferences, partnerships, and special events;
preparing background papers, literature reviews, and information
searches, planning, tracking and managing the health media
budget; and conducting other project activities as assigned.

Qualifications include a minimum of five years work experience
in media, communications, or journalism; a Master's degree in
media/journalism/communications preferred; previous NGO work
experience and knowledge of HIV/AIDS preferred; work experience
in CEE/FSU and/or southern/eastern Africa; excellent written,
verbal and organizational skills; a commitment to working as a
member of a team as well as commitment to excellence;
flexibility and willingness to work simultaneously on a wide
range of tasks and projects and ability to prioritize tasks; the
ability to listen and communicate clearly and effectively with
people from diverse cultures and backgrounds; attention to
detail and the ability to work well under pressure; a pleasant,
diplomatic manner and disposition in interacting with senior
management, co-workers and the general public; and knowledge of
at least one foreign language is a plus.

The salary is commensurate with experience, and the position
starts immediately.

To apply, send resume and cover letter to:
humanresources [at] sorosny.org -- be sure to include "PHP" in
subject line. You can also mail or fax: Open Society Institute,
Human Resources -- PHP, 400 West 59th Street, New York, New York
10019, fax: (212) 548-4675. No phone calls please. The Open
Society Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) works to build vibrant and
tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their
citizens. Open societies are characterized by the rule of law;
respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of
opinions; democratically elected governments; market economies
in which business and government are separate; and a civil
society that helps keep government power in check. To achieve
its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure
greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and
safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a
range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public
health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds
alliances across borders and continents on issues such as
corruption and freedom of information. OSI places high priority
on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and
communities.

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

15. Announcement: DRCNet Content Syndication Feeds Now Available
for YOUR Web Site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/483/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
customizable code for you to paste into appropriate spots on
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
details of how it will appear on your site can be customized to
match your needs and preferences.

Please also note that we will be happy to make additional
permutations of our content available to you upon request
(though we cannot promise immediate fulfillment of such requests
as the timing will in many cases depend on the availability of
our web site designer). Visit our Site Map
(http://stopthedrugwar.org/sitemap) page to see what is
currently availab