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

A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@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_b...

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...

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_t...

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_poli...

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_ai...

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_b...

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...

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_loo...

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...

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_marij...

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_sale...

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...

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!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/482/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_no...

18. 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/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...

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_poli...)
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...
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Go to the URL for the rest please.

later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.