"The American Medical Association (AMA) voted today to reverse its long-held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes," which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research."
Britain has become the online "designer drugs" capital of Europe with more than a third of all internet retailers that sell "legal highs" based in the UK, according to a report from the European Union's drug agency.
A medic from Holloman Air Force Base may have been attempting to treat wounded victims in a shooting when he was targeted and killed by gunmen inside a Juárez strip club, a friend of the airman said.
There is a point in every family when it's time for the talk. No, not that talk. Not that one either. I'm talking about the science and math talk. The kind of talk that should happen every time your child is having trouble or even just working on their homework. Though most parents, having been through primary school themselves at some point, have a difficult time with this talk. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted through the Intel Corporation parents are more comfortable talking with their kids about drugs than about science and math.http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/survey-shows-parents-would-rather-talk-drugs-than-... more
The latest pharmaceutical being sold on the street is a knock-you-out antipsychotic called Seroquel. Jeff Deeney talks to the dealers, users, and narcs in the “Suzie-Q” black market.The latest pharmaceutical being sold on the street is a knock-you-out antipsychotic... more
One of the most sensible arguments for a different approach the War on Drugs. Getting tough on drugs hasn't worked, lets get smart about drug policy.
From the article:
Three years before I became a Baltimore police officer in 1999, I started my research with the Amsterdam police. The Dutch approach toward drugs, by and large, works. Without declaring a war, authorities there have managed to lower addiction rates, limit use and save lives. The United States, by contrast, spends $50 billion a year on its war on drugs and leads the world in illegal drug use, with millions of Americans regularly using marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.
Clearly, what we're doing doesn't work.
There is little violence surrounding the private drug trade between friends, coworkers and family members. The real drug problem, along with addictive heroin and crystal meth, is illegal public dealing. In public drug markets, signs of violence are everywhere: Intimidating groups of youths stand on corners under graffiti memorializing slain friends; addicts roam the streets and squat in vacant buildings; "decent" people stay inside when gunshots ring out in the night.
...
In another neighborhood in Amsterdam, a man caught breaking into cars was released pending trial. The arresting officer returned to him, along with his shoelaces and personal property, his heroin and drug tools. I was amazed. The officer admitted he wasn't supposed to do that; heroin is illegal. But the officer had thought it through: "As soon as he runs out of his heroin, he'll break into another car to get money for his next hit."
For the addict, the problem was drugs. But for the police officer, the problem was crime. It made no sense, the officer told me, to take the drugs and hasten the addict's next crime. The addict was not a criminal when he had drugs (beyond possessing them); he was a criminal when he didn't have drugs.
I asked the officer if giving drugs to addicts sends the wrong message. He said his message was simple: "Stop breaking into cars!" With a subtle smirk in my direction, he added, "It is very strange that a country as violent as America is so obsessed with jailing drug addicts." Indeed, Dutch policymakers plan, regulate, fix and pragmatically debate harms and benefits. Police in the Netherlands are not involved in a drug war; they're too busy doing real police work.
....
Without federal control, states, cities and counties would be free to bar or regulate drugs as they saw fit. Just as with alcohol and tobacco regulation, one size does not fit all; we would see local solutions to local problems.
Even without federal pressure, most states and cities would undoubtedly start by maintaining the status quo against drugs. That's fine. In these cases, police with or without federal assistance should focus on reducing violence by pushing the drug trade off the streets. An effort to shift the nature of the illegal trade is different than declaring a war on drugs.
Regulating and controlling distribution is far more effective at clearing the corners of drug dealers than any SWAT crackdown. One can easily imagine that in some cities -- San Francisco, Portland and Seattle come to mind -- alternatives to arrest and incarceration could be tried. They could learn from the experience of the Dutch, and we could all learn from their successes and failures.
Regulation is hard work, but it's not a war. And it sure beats herding junkies.
Peter Moskos is an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the author of "Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District."One of the most sensible arguments for a different approach the War on Drugs. Getting... more
"Tim Lynch appeared on the CNN program Lou Dobbs Tonight last Thursday (Oct. 22) to discuss the medical marijuana issue and the drug war in general. There were two other guests: Peter Moskos from John Jay College and the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Barry McCaffrey, retired General of the U.S. Army and former “Drug Czar” under President Bill Clinton.
I was really astonished by the doubletalk coming from McCaffrey. "
In the article, Tim Lynch explain two of the worst examples so you can come to your own conclusions about this guy."Tim Lynch appeared on the CNN program Lou Dobbs Tonight last Thursday (Oct. 22) to... more
Why?... I know you've asked...This is why...
Message me..and if you are a supporter dont for get to join the various marijuana groups on his site, NORML, Make Marijuana matter, Marijuana Day... the list goes onWhy?... I know you've asked...This is why...
Message me..and if you are a supporter... more
The raids on Mexican drug cartels and the violence in Rio are just the latest examples of America’s failed drug war. Conor Friedersdorf on why ending prohibition is the only answer.
It isn't quite right to say that America has so far been able to avoid the costs of its War on Drugs. It's increased our murder rate, swelled our prison population, made our streets more violent, heightened corruption among law enforcement, undermined civil liberties, and utterly failed to prevent even the most destitute person desirous of drugs from getting high. (We can't even keep these substances out of our prisons. The idea that we'll ever succeed in keeping them from a free people is ludicrous.)by Conor Friedersdorf
The raids on Mexican drug cartels and the violence in Rio are... more
In a coordinated raid on the La Familia drug cartel, US forces arrested 303 people. In addition, 2,700 pounds of methamphetamine, 2,000 pounds of cocaine, and 16,000 pounds of marijuana were seized in the operation.
Attorney General Eric Holder asserted that the drugs were headed to US neighborhoods and guns were headed back to Mexico. "That’s why we are hitting them where it hurts the most — their revenue stream..."In a coordinated raid on the La Familia drug cartel, US forces arrested 303 people.... more
Juarez, Mexico has become a war zone featuring the sort of ghastly crimes Americans thought only happened in Africa a la 'Blood Diamond'. Drug cartels waging all-out war have plunged Juarez into a melee of retaliatory violence. The situation is worse than previously reported by Vanguard eight months ago. (http://current.com/items/89845362_narco-war-next-door.htm)
These are some of the most disturbing quotes:
" New figures released to CNN on Wednesday by Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz indicate the death toll for this year has already surpassed 2,000 homicides -- almost 400 more murders than the total count for 2008.
"It has been 22 months of this war, and it hasn't stopped. The violence has increased, and the possibility that it will stop is becoming more remote," Reyes Ferriz told CNN in a phone interview."
"A government source close to the investigation told CNN about a case where a relative of a drug cartel member was tied to two trucks and stretched until his arms where ripped apart. Dismemberments and beheadings have become a common method of retaliation."Juarez, Mexico has become a war zone featuring the sort of ghastly crimes Americans... more
The number of deaths continues to rise. 27 "suspected" gang members and 3 dead civilians in the cross fire. Will killing the street vendors prevent the drugs from reaching the streets? Is this more of a message to those who shot down the helicopter than a resolution? Blessings out to the police and people involved.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Police killed seven suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, bringing to 33 the total number of deaths since the city's worst recent outbreak of violence erupted over the weekend.
Three suspects were killed after they opened fire on police searching a slum in the north of the city for gang members linked to shooting down a police helicopter on Saturday, police spokesman Oderlei Santos said.
Four others were killed in separate operations in the city's wealthier southern zone, police said.
State authorities have mobilized several thousand police to secure the city and search for drug traffickers who brought the helicopter down, killing three police officers.
Twenty-seven suspected gang members and three residents caught in cross-fire between gangs have been killed since Saturday in violence that has tarnished Rio's image only a few weeks after it was awarded the 2016 Olympics.
The image of a dead suspected trafficker stuffed into a shopping cart and left on a road was carried by Brazilian and international newspapers on Wednesday, an example of the extreme gang violence and a sharp contrast to the scenes of joy on Copacabana beach broadcast around the world this month when Rio won the Olympics.The number of deaths continues to rise. 27 "suspected" gang members and 3 dead... more
Demand for medical marijuana in Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that it has outstripped the production of legal "grow" operations and is now probably being supplied by international drug cartels, say some local sheriffs and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
And as dispensaries proliferate throughout the state, police and lawyers say they are worried about the peripheral crime rising around the shops intended to function as pharmacies, selling medical marijuana prescribed to people who suffer one of eight conditions, ranging from chronic pain to glaucomaDemand for medical marijuana in Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that... more
A lot of innocent people are in jail because of marijuana -and these folks want to keep it that way.A lot of innocent people are in jail because of marijuana -and these folks want to... more
A group of civilly-disobedient hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested Tuesday morning while digging up the lawn to plant industrial hemp seeds at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
David Bronner, the president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a more than 60-year-old company that does tens of millions of dollars of business annually, was among those arrested.
Bronner buys the hemp used in his soaps from Canadian farmers. He was arrested outside the DEA museum, which shares space with the headquarters.
"Our kids are going to come to this museum and say, 'My God. Your generation was crazy. What the hell is wrong with you people?'" he said as Arlington County Police handcuffed him and walked him to a waiting car.
The group was arrested for trespassing.A group of civilly-disobedient hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested Tuesday... more
In an excerpt from Miami Babylon, Gerald Posner recalls 1980s South Beach, when it was a Wild West of drug cartels and sex parties that made Scarface look tame.In an excerpt from Miami Babylon, Gerald Posner recalls 1980s South Beach, when it was... more
Colorado Springs Police, working with the El Paso County Sherriff's Office and the FBI arrested 15 members of the La Familia street gang, seizing "nearly 2 pounds of methamphetamine - valued at $326,000 - and smaller quantities of cocaine, marijuana and mushrooms. Five guns and cash totaling $8,475 were also seized," according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
KKTV in Colorado Springs report s that 15 men were charged with conspiracy to distribute meth. Four of them were also charged with weapons offenses. Investigators dubbed the investigation "Operation Jeez Luis" after the gang's leader Jorge Luis Vega. http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/63855602.htmlColorado Springs Police, working with the El Paso County Sherriff's Office and the FBI... more
http://www.citizen.org A film by Brandon Augustin Ramirez, a student in the Digital Media Department of FIDM.http://www.citizen.org A film by Brandon Augustin Ramirez, a student in the Digital... more
State lawmakers will hear testimony next week in support of taxing and regulating the commercial production and distribution of marijuana for adults age 21 and older.
Yes we cannabis!State lawmakers will hear testimony next week in support of taxing and regulating the... more
Limited legalization of marijuana has put more of a hurt on Mexican drug gangs than all the law enforcement expenditure on arrests and interdiction.Limited legalization of marijuana has put more of a hurt on Mexican drug gangs than... more
