Cannabis Politics and Government Policies,a view from the public gallery

'A slice through the politics and policies with regard to cannabis from accross the Globe, a sideways swipe at grass stupidity and the hidden agendas with a political slant, cannabis politics with a
whiff of the of hypocrisy, cannabis politics of the Christian right, cannabis politics of the far left, enjoy...

SANTIAGO, Mar 29 (IPS) - A court decision to drop all criminal charges against a man living with HIV/AIDS who was growing cannabis at home for therapeutic reasons has reopened the debate over medicinal marijuana in Chile.
Rafael Antonio D. J., 41, spent 53 days in prison in 2001 after being falsely accused of selling marijuana to schoolchildren. In fact, the marijuana in his possession was exclusively for his own personal use, as a means of counteracting the unpleasant side effects caused by the HIV/AIDS medications he was taking.
The Santiago Court of Appeals finally acquitted Rafael Antonio after a long legal battle, in which he and his attending physician, Juan Ballesteros, were able to demonstrate that they had attempted to import Marinol (dronabinol) -- a synthetic version of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana -- but that its entry was blocked by the country's customs authorities.
In a related case, María Luisa Velasco, 71, the ex-wife of former Christian Democrat senator and government minister Juan Hamilton, was arrested in February for growing 40 marijuana plants in the backyard of her home in Las Condes, one of Santiago's most elite neighbourhoods. Full Story........................

'allowing more stringent laws and sharper punishents'
Daily Post
Adrian Butler on what is a live issue as an election nears
March 30, 2005

Cannabis is shaping up to be an important issue in the coming general election. With crime always at the top of the agenda, Home Secretary

Charles Clarke last week ordered a review of his predecessor David Blunkett's decision to downgrade the drug to Class C in January, 2004. The decision madecannabis the same as drugs such as Valium in the eyes of the law. This meant that, although you can go to prison for 14 years for dealing in cannabis other penalties were reduced. The maximum sentence for posession has been cut from five to two years. There is also a presumption against arrest for adults found with the drug on themselves for personal use, which many interpreted as meaning the police are less likely to pursue them. In February, police officers discovered a cannabis factory in Anfield and police said at the time they "will not tolerate the cultivation and supply of cannabis" while Conservative leader Michael Howard has in recent weeks already called for cannabis to be reclassified as a Class B drug, allowing more stringent laws and sharper punishents to come into effect,,,,Read On...............

M-Dash

and Tilt make up NBD, I watched your DVD and noticed that you are avid smokers of marijuana. How do you compare pot with other drugs that rappers are promoting? One thing, it’s the breakfast of champions. You wake up and get loaded, its not like a morning high. At the same time, its from the earth. It ain’t nothing chopped up, or anything you shoot up your arm, it ain’t something that’s going up ya nose, its some good inhalation from the ground. Its that good old Bob Marley stuff. I’m a member of the cannabis Club, I’m an avid member and I support the 420 movement. Rap ON...............

'Blood-stained hands versus green fingers'

That said, if I was planning to rejoin the ranks of the criminal underworld now, I reckon I'd take my chances and head to Bali, where, if recent cases are any indication, you can mastermind a plot to blow away half the civilised world, Abu Bakar Bashir-style, serve your sentence, and still be home in time to catch the late news. Then again, I could find myself in Schapelle Corby's shoes, accused of smuggling

just on 4kg of marijuana into the country, and waiting to learn if my life was to end in a hail of marksmen's bullets. This insane situation presents something of a strange message to Bali-bound, would-be criminals: If you're going to do something, make sure it's really bad, or we'll have to punish you properly. But for the life of me, I can't figure out how someone accused of trafficking recreational drugs is facing a sentence of death, while someone else, with the blood of 202 people on his hands, can practically count the number of days left on his prison sentence on his red-stained fingers. Whichever way you spin it, there's no justification for the manifestly inadequate sentence handed down to Bashir, convicted early this month for his part in a "sinister conspiracy against the state" - the Bali bombings of October 12, 2002. In the aftermath of the terrorist attack, Australians confronted the end result of Bashir's handiwork, in the form of scores of coffins carrying innocent young holidaymakers, blown apart in the name of a cause they had never contemplated. And for his part in that most heinous of crimes, Bashir was sentenced to a whopping 2½ years imprisonment, a punishment met (understandably) with incredulity from his Australian victims. Full Story...

THE Tories' policy chief today denied the Party was split over the issue of re-classifying cannabis
David Cameron,

who originally backed calls for the drug to be downgraded from Class B to C, admitted the issue was "slightly awkward" for him He said there had been disagreements in the past but the Conservatives stood firm on reversing current Government policy cannabis was downgraded to Class C last year, placing it alongside anabolic steroids and prescription antibiotics. "The Conservative Party's had a very clear view for a long time about cannabis, which is that it shouldn't be reclassified from B to C," he told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby Programme. "This is slightly awkward for me. I'd sat on the Home Affairs Select Committee that suggested this should be, so this is an area where I've had in the past some disagreements. "I was on the Select Committee that looked at this issue and we thought on the basis of the science that that (re-classification) was right. "On the Select Committee we looked at a range of evidence. "I'm now in the Shadow Cabinet. I accept the collective Tee-Hee......More Backtracking.............

NORTH-WEST health experts are convinced there is a link between cannabis and psychiatric illness.
They say there is mounting evidence that the drug can worsen or even bring on conditions such as schizophrenia.
British, Dutch, Swedish and New Zealand-based projects have all concluded there is a definite association between the drug and mental illness.
No researcher has ever said that cannabis is the root cause of a long-term psychotic condition, but the general consensus is that people with a family history of psychiatric problems should avoid it.
Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health Trust medical director psychiatrist Dr Steve Colgan said: "There should be specific warnings for people vulnerable to psychosis, anxiety or depression. There's no doubt that there has been an increase in patients presenting with major psychotic disturbances and this has been related to drugs and alcohol. It's difficult to attribute it to one particular drug but cannabis is certainly the most commonly available.
"In an inner city area like this when you get young men coming in with schizophrenia,cannabis is frequently a feature and we counsel them about the dangers." He said what was needed was a major study More Anxiety ........................

Lobby and interest groups
Manufacturers of legal drugs
Law enforcement agencies
The judicial system

There is scant medical evidence that soft drugs such as cannabis or MDMA ("Ecstasy") - and even cocaine - have an irreversible effect on brain chemistry or functioning. Last month an almighty row erupted in Britain when Jon Cole, an addiction researcher at Liverpool University, claimed, to quote "The Economist" quoting the "Psychologist", that:
"Experimental evidence suggesting a link between Ecstasy use and problems such as nerve damage and brain impairment is flawed ... using this ill-substantiated cause-and-effect to tell the 'chemical generation' that they are brain damaged when they are not creates public health problems of its own."
Moreover, it is commonly accepted that alcohol abuse and nicotine abuse can be at least as harmful as the abuse of marijuana, for instance. Yet, though somewhat curbed, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are legal. In contrast, users of cocaine - only a century ago recommended by doctors as tranquilizer - face life in jail in many countries, death in others. Almost everywhere pot smokers are confronted with prison terms.
The "war on drugs" - one of the most expensive and protracted in history - has failed abysmally. Drugs are more abundant and cheaper than ever. The social costs have been staggering: the emergence of violent crime where none existed before, the destabilization of drug-producing countries, the collusion of drug traffickers with terrorists, and the death of millions - law enforcement agents, criminals, and users.
Few doubt that legalizing most drugs would have a beneficial effect. Crime empires would crumble overnight, users would be assured of the quality of the products they consume, and the addicted few would not be incarcerated or stigmatized - but rather treated and rehabilitated.
That soft, largely harmless, drugs continue to be illicit is the outcome of compounded political and economic pressures by lobby and interest groups of manufacturers of legal drugs, law enforcement agencies, the judicial system, and the aforementioned long list of those who benefit from the status quo.
Only a popular movement can lead to the decriminalization of the more innocuous drugs. But such a crusade should be part of a larger campaign to reverse the overall tide of criminalization. Many "crimes" should revert to their erstwhile status as civil torts. Others should be wiped off the statute books altogether. Hundreds of thousands should be pardoned and allowed to reintegrate in society, unencumbered by a past of transgressions against an inane and inflationary penal code.
This, admittedly, will reduce the leverage the state has today against its citizens and its ability to intrude on their lives, preferences, privacy, and leisure. Bureaucrats and politicians may find this abhorrent. Freedom loving people should rejoice. ....................Read On................

It gives waffles a double shot of nutritional goodies with its protein and essential fatty acids. It even turns a trendy, pricey blazer into an eco-friendly garment. Hemp is hip – and much tamer than its naughty cousin, marijuana. Thanks to the growing demand for all things healthy and natural, the marketplace for products containing hemp seeds, oil and fiber is expanding as well. The versatile plant has sprouted in everything from The Body Shop's hemp lotion to tote bags at Target and natural fiber clothing by Edun, the fashion line launched this month by U2 rocker Bono and his wife. It's popping up in the grocery aisles and industrial research labs. “A lot of people think of hemp and think of ‘hippie clothes' and other weird products – they don't realize how mainstream this is,” says Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, a non-profit group that promotes the use of hemp and is lobbying for hemp-farming legislation. Dubbed “industrial hemp,” the plant is grown legally as a cash crop in Canada, China, France, Russia and several other countries – but not in the United States because it's not distinguished from marijuana and therefore is classified as a drug, he says. More..................

Pre-election nerves are getting out of hand. Consider the weekend madness from the Home Office on drugs. The new Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, once confessed to The Times that he was eager not to appear a liberal. He has duly ordered a review of the classification of cannabis on the Government's list of banned drugs.

This follows "news"

that marijuana, particularly the strong strain of mostly home-grown skunk, might be more harmful than previously thought. The drug was reduced from class B to class C by Mr Clarke's predecessor, David Blunkett, just a year ago. The effect was ostensibly to save police time because possession of class C drugs was not an arrestable offence. However,

Mr Blunkett immediately negated the impact of the change by making class C possession arrestable. The change was almost entirely cosmetic, but had the effect of making the drug seem more safe - or seem so to those who had never tried it and might take any notice of Home Office classifications.The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act has long been the most harmful, counterproductive and politically mesmeric law on the British statute book. It has long borne no relation to reality. There is hardly a young person in the land who has not tried cannabis and some four million people use it regularly, undeterred by the most draconian drug laws in Europe. These laws have left drug distribution in the hands of criminals and made British cities, small towns, even rural villages the most drug-ridden in the Western world.Yet successive governments have refused to reform the 1971 Act. Even the right-wing press is now in favour of reform, as are numerous opinion polls. Two years ago, under pressure from reformers, Mr Full Story..................

Firstly, it would provide an alternative to drink. Less drunkenness would reduce the crime and health problems associated with alcohol.Secondly, the billions of pounds going to drug dealers every year would instead be going into the Treasury, providing more funds for the health service, education and more police.Thirdly, it would provide countries such as Afghanistan and Colombia with a legitimate cash crop, reducing the temptation for farmers to grow poppies and coca.I would also point out that friends of mine who use cannabis show a greater concern for the environment, human rights, social issues, world peace and racial and religious tolerance than the population as a whole. Nice One Frank.......................

Is pot far more potent than in the past?

The recent shooting deaths of four RCMP officers while investigating a suspected grow-op in Alberta has brought the marijuana debate to the front pages

of Canadian newspapers. The connection between the killings and marijuana proved to be tenuous at best – the “grow-op” turned out to have 20 plants, and the killer was known to have serious mental issues.However, the governing Liberal party have been forced to back away from plans to decriminalize possession. Instead, they are looking at imposing harsher minimum sentences for grow-ops.One political cartoon at the time showed two pot smokers rolling a joint. One said to the other, “You know what I love about marijuana? It's harmless.” On their coffee table sat a newspaper with the headline reading “Four Cops Killed.”These deaths have contributed to the myths about marijuana that are so pervasive, including the idea that grow-ops are havens for criminal gangs. Other myths that have resurfaced in Canada are those about the dangers of smoking weed.Ottawa Citizen reporter Dan Gardner often writes excellent analysis pieces, and this is one example. In this first part of a two-part story, Gardner neatly dissects the myth of increased pot potency as well as the idea that more potent marijuana is more harmful.The piece has relevance for Americans who live under a much harsher anti-marijuana regime than Canadians, and are often subjected to lies about Canadian weed being a cause of so many social ills. Gardner lays to waste these lies which are so frequently perpetuated by high placed government officials. Excellent Reading.......................

Cannabisis not safe' warns tragedy mum A DEVASTATED Sheffield mum has issued a warning to other parents about the dangers of cannabis use

following the suicide of her 23-year-old son. Angela Dallamore's son John, who regularly smoked cannabis and took ecstasy and amphetamines, killed himself after suffering depression which she believes was made worse by drugs. He began to suffer paranoia, believed he was "being filmed" and thought his life was being broadcast on television.
He tried to commit suicide twice before eventually hanging himself from a tree in woodland in Wombwell, Barnsley. Today Angela, 48, said: "You see young kids hanging around, drinking and taking drugs and this is just to tell people that this is what could happen. "Drugs were a big contributor - cannabis causes paranoia. They saycannabis is safe but it's not. Look what happened to John."
As a youngster John loved the cadets and had been desperate to become a soldier when he left school. But after joining the Army his life took a downward turn. More......................

WORLD TRADE 'MARIJUANA'
By Tim Wu
Posted Thursday, March 17, 2005, at 11:27 AM PT

In the United States, possession and distribution of marijuana is nominally illegal. But you don't have to be Tommy Chong to know that pot's legal status is cloudy and confused. Growing and using "medical" marijuana is legal in 11 states, and in cities like San Francisco it's easy enough to find locally grown product. In addition to being inconsistent, as critics have long pointed out, the federal ban is also irrational

. It treats marijuana differently than similar products for no obvious reason. People use prescription drugs, pot, and alcohol for the same purposes: to get high, relax, and dull pain. The consequences of abuse are similar: crashed cars, disease, and lots of wasted time. So, what makes marijuana special?The irrationality of U.S. marijuana policy is not news. Support of legalization has made bedfellows of people like Willie Nelson and William F. Buckley Jr. , backed up by Richard Posner and Dr. Dre. And a Supreme Court decision on whether the federal laws can trump state statutes in this area is expected any day. But the strange status of marijuana may also bring down the scrutiny of a different entity altogether: the World Trade Organization and its powerful condemnation of inconsistent national laws. The American ban on marijuana is what the WTO calls "a barrier to trade," raising the question: Can U.S. marijuana policy survive the tough scrutiny of world trade law? And there's More......................

Tanzania

is experiencing an increase in narcotics consumption, the United States warned last week. It attributed the rise to economic liberalisation and an upsurge in tourism, especially in Zanzibar.The new US report on the international narcotics trade implies that use of illegal drugs is growing more quickly in Tanzania than in Kenya or Uganda.However, when contacted by The EastAfrican last week, no Tanzanian official volunteered to comment on the accusations: The acting commissioner of the Anti-Drug Commission, Aida Tesha, said she was not its spokesperson. The commissioner, Christopher Shekiondo was in Geneva, Switzerland and was expected in the country on Tuesday this week.The office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) also declined comment. The spokesman, Read On.....................

AMSTERDAM — Maastricht

Mayor Gerd Leers has called for the toleration of soft drugs in the Netherlands to be extended to the production and supply of cannabis in a bid to reduce crime.Presently, both possession and the sale of cannabis at so-called "coffee shops" is tolerated, but the production of marijuana and the supply to coffee shops is banned.Leers said the ban on the cultivation and supply of cannabis leads to criminality, news agency ANP reported on Sunday. Small-scale cannabis cultivation for private use is already tolerated.Tolerating commercial production would decriminalise the industry and police resources would therefore be freed up for other tasks, heBut Leers also warned that extended toleration should be accompanied by greater inspections on the amount and quality of the drugs.Leers said drugs cannot be eliminated and should therefore be legalised and controlled. Cont.................................

POLICE believe

they have discovered a major cannabis factory in North Yorkshire. Chief Insp Richard Spedding said the local drug market would be severely disrupted after officers seized plants worth thousands of pounds in a raid on business premises in Harrogate. The operation began after a man was arrested in West Yorkshire. Police stopped the man last Friday and found a "large amount" of what was thought to be cannabis leaves in his car. The officers arrested the man and alerted North Yorkshire Police, who searched his home at Burton Leonard, near Boroughbridge, and seized a large number of cannabis plants. A woman at the address was arrested. The Tale cont.............

WASHINGTON – The number of American teenagers and adults ending up in emergency wards or seeking treatment because of marijuana use has soared in recent years and seems linked to “dramatically” growing imports of high-potency Canadian canabis, the White House drug czar said yesterday.John Walters estimated the industry is also funnelling “billions” of dollars into the pockets of organized crime north of the border and said Canadian prosecutors tell him they need tougher laws to combat the marijuana-growing bonanza.“It has grown dramatically,” he said of the northern marijuana trade. “The question that is always on our side of the border, and on theirs, when these problems arise is: ‘How many more people will suffer until we are able to change the trend line?' ”The elevated THC content—the intoxicating ingredient—of Canadian marijuana means it can no longer be considered a soft drug, argued Mr. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Full Story................

Woman charged over '$130,000 stash'

March 11, 2005 From: AAP

A WOMAN has been charged after police seized cannabis worth $130,000 during a raid on the central coast.Detectives searched the home in Taylors Road, Mandalong, near Morisset, at 9am (AEDT) yesterday, a NSW police spokesman said today.During the raid, police said they found more than 60 cannabis plants in the back garden.A 46-year-old woman was arrested and charged with cultivating a prohibited plant, two counts of possessing a prohibited plant and possessingdrug utensils.She was granted bail and was to face Toronto Local Court on March 30.

Morocco has made of the fight against drug cultivation and production a "national priority", said the Kingdom's permanent representative to the international organisation in Vienna, said MAP. Omar Zniber, who was speaking at the 48th session of the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission for Narcotic Drugs (CND), hosted by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna from March 7 to 11, said that Morocco is determined to adopt zero-tolerance against drugs cultivation in conformity with UN action plans. According to a press release of the Moroccan permanent delegation to international organisation in Vienna, Zniber highlighted Morocco's efforts to eradicate banned substances. He noted that indices showed that cannabis-cultivated land in Morocco dropped compared to 2003 and a socio-economic survey on cannabis culture will be published soon. Read On....................................................

Libyan given 22 years imprisonment.'not good'.
by Roberta Scerri, di-ve news (robsce@di-ve.com)

One

of them re-arrested after an accident on his way out of court
VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) -- March 08 2005 -- 1820CET - The jurors in the trial of the three Libyans charged with dealing in drugs, returned a guilty verdict against Salem Suleiman Shoaib Rida but acquitted Mohammed El Gamoudi Nabel and Saber Elkekli.Rida, 24 years old, was sent to 22 years imprisonment and fined Lm20,000 after he was found guilty of dealing in drugs and of having 5 kilos of cannabis resin in his possession.Mohammed El Gamoudi Nabel, 27 and Saber Elkekli, 25, were acquitted from all charges brought against them. Read on.....................................

The aim was to take a two-pronged approach, making it socially unacceptable to abuse drugs and creating social conditions in which it was possible for people to “develop and lead healthy life styles”.
Rainer Schmid, a member of the INCB board, said police, doctors and social services must therefore be enlisted in anti-drug campaigns.
“The most effective programs are early education interventions that are part of a broad-based curriculum, emphasize the risks involved in all forms of drug abuse, have political and societal support and are accompanied by strong supply reduction efforts”, the report said.
The INCB urged each government to set up a “central national authority with a balanced representation of supply and demand reduction agencies to coordinate efforts and to prioritize the distribution of financial and other resources among” police, schools, courts and social services.
It said anti-drug campaigns with a strong social component offered individuals an alternative to drug abuse and made it easier for them to an informed choice.
“Reducing the number of vulnerable individuals and the level of vulnerability will make it less likely that the emerging drug markets will become established, thus reducing the need for and ultimately the supply of illicit drugs”.
It noted that negative media coverage of drug abuse also helped, pointing out that articles written in the European Union about the risks associated with ecstasy “appears to have contributed to a downward trend in the abuse of that drug”.
Ghodse said the fight against drugs had suffered setbacks in 2004 from a new increase in the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan and from a surge in the sale on the Internet of medicines with a narcotic effect. Full Story.............

Prof panel posits pot policy progress

7th March 05
By Justin Trottier

Bill C-17 proposes to federally decriminalize personal use of marijuana while increasing the severity of penalties for growing and trafficking it. Though cannabis would still be illegal and dealt with through criminal law, possession of less than 15 grams of cannabis would be punishable with a relatively small fine.
The proposal to decriminalize was the result of two considerations, explained Patricia Begin of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). First, the number of people who have used marijuana has risen from 28.2 per cent in 1994 to 44.5 per cent in 2004. "The criminal justice approach was ineffective and extremely costly," said Begin.
Second, rates of use are highest amongst youth, with 70 per cent of young adults having used cannabis. "There is an acceptance that there will be a certain level of use in society, particularly experimentation amongst young people," says Begin. Given the negative implications of a permanent criminal record at an early point in life, the CCSA wanted an alternative to criminal law. Cont.......

New Delhi, March 6: An

international narcotics watchdog has expressed concern at inadequate controls in India for preventing diversion of approved narcotic drugs into the illegal market.A recent survey has pointed out that the country is witnessing increasing abuse of pharmaceutical drugs, ranging from injectable analgesics to codeine-based cough syrups and anxiolytics in tablet form, as well as leakage of acetic anhydride and potassium permanganate, chemicals needed to produce heroin and cocaine, said Gary Lewis, the South Asia representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.The International Narcotics Control Board's report, released last week, suggested that the problem was not unique to India. In Bangladesh, the number of seizures of codeine-based cough syrups from India was equal to that of cannabis herb.The report gave no figures but mentioned India and The tale cont........

WASHINGTON.Twenty years after a federal law took effect, authorizing the United States to penalize countries that do not control illicit narcotic production, the same countries, by and large, are producing large quantities of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other dangerous drugs, according to the State Department's annual drug trafficking report. . The United States has been providing anti-narcotics aid to more than a dozen nations for more than two decades - roughly $1 billion a year in recent years. Each year the government reports large-scale eradication of crops and seizures of illicit drugs. But this year, as every year, reports of progress are overwhelmed by the weight of the problem. . For example, the State Department said in 1985 that in Peru, one of the world's largest producers of coca leaf and cocaine products, the government had eradicated 3,035 hectares, or 7,500 acres, of coca plants, which are used to make cocaine, but that narcotics trafficking was nonetheless "flourishing." . Read On..........

Four Mounties die in Alberta

raid as anti- decriminalization lobby says drug laws need strengtheningThe deadly shooting of four Royal Canadian Mounted Police during an investigation of a marijuana grow operation has put an element of fear into an ongoing debate over the decriminalization of cannabis.
The four young officers -- who were the most Mounties killed in any one incident in Canada since the historic Northwest Rebellion of 1885 -- had been detailed to guard a secluded farm in the western province of Alberta after the RCMP had executed a search warrant on the place and discovered a large illegal grow op and a quantity of stolen goods. The owner was absent when police first arrived on the farm and they were apparently not expecting any trouble. The men left to guard a quonset hut containing as many as 20 marijuana plants were armed only with handguns. Full Story....

Consumption of cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine is increasing in Switzerland, according to a United Nations study.The annual report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also highlights the "intense market" for heroin in Switzerland.According to the INCB, Switzerland is in line with the rest of Europe regarding cannabis,'Good on you Switzerland' but is bucking the trend in other areas of drug abuse."In Western Europe, the country with the highest level of opiate abuse is Luxembourg, followed by Portugal, Britain, Italy and Switzerland," said the INCB. Read On......

WASHINGTON -- Twenty years after a federal law took effect authorizing the United States to penalize countries that do not control illicit narcotic production, the same countries are producing large quantities of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs, according to the State Department's annual drug trafficking report, published Friday.The United States has been providing anti-narcotics aid to more than a dozen nations for more than two decades. Each year, large-scale eradication and seizures of illicit drugs are reported, but the problem continues. Full Tale........................................... Keeps the DEA in work....

U.S. officials still concerned about increased Canadian marijuana shipments
04:26 AM EST Mar 05

WASHINGTON (CP) - U.S. officials remain concerned about potential increases in Canadian-produced marijuana crossing the border in light of proposed cannabis legislation, said a State Department report released Friday.There's already been an increase in U.S. seizures of Canadian marijuana, much of it more potent and profitable than what's grown south of the border. To combat that problem and others, officials want to share more intelligence with Canada, expand joint training and operations and work with Canadian officials to increase penalties for drug criminals, said the annual narcotics control strategy report.The report noted the two countries already have an "excellent" law-enforcement relationship and said 2004 was a "productive " year for Canada in fighting the drug trade. Full Story.....

The Drug Trail Ends in Kathmandu
Golden Tar Heroin and the Black Prince
By JOSEPH PIETRI

I first went to Nepal in 1970 it was the end of the now famous Hippie Trail that started overland from either Amsterdam or London. Buses full of Hippies would disembark at the end of New Road and to this day this street is called Freak Street. Nepal was Hippie nirvana being that marijuana and hashish were legal and sold openly in Government licensed shops! At the time there were no opium dens in Kathmandu nor is opium grown or heroin produced in Nepal! There was no such thing as a Nepalese junkie. was only illegal to export and Hippies caught at the airport were fined $100 USD and deported on the next flight out of Kathmandu. Full Story:

The number of people dealt with for

cocaine and crack offences has rocketed,is that the right term to use? Home Office figures show.
Rising figures come at a time of increased concern that use of cocaine is becoming more socially acceptable.
New Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned he will target middle-class cocaine use.
A record level of nearly 7,000 people were cautioned or convicted for cocaine offences in 2003, up from less than 5,800 the previous year.
And there were 2,260 crack offences - up from 1,800 in 2002 - compared with just 530 in 1997.cannabis
increase
There was also an increase in the number of people dealt with for cannabis
The figures showed 82,000 people were found guilty of or cautioned for cannabis offences in 2003, the highest for five years. FullStory

The Redistribution of Marijuana Wealth
Cannabis: the Goose that Lays Golden Eggs!
By JOE PIETRI March 1st 2005

Today the USA is the largest producers of marijuana in the world and it's not enough.

Marijuana has been quasi legal in Mexico the past 50 years and is grown commercially and exported to the US. Canadians would love to make marijuana legal and for the US to keep the status quo that would continue to generate billions of dollars going North.
The Californians complain that BC Bud is being dumped on the market and that wholesale prices have gone down 25%, which is great for the consumer. The drug Czar warns of the danger of Canadian weed and the high 20% THC content. (I guess he hasn't smoked any because BC Bud generally pales when compared to most Californian varieties.)

The DEA chomps at the bit in anticipation of kicking every medical marijuana grow ups door down and seizing everything as well as their souls. They well remember the 1980s when Reagan for the first time let the police sell you loads of marijuana as a way to infiltrate marijuana syndicates. And the biggest mass redistribution of wealth in the history of the US occurred when they shut down the good old boy marijuana networks that operated in the 1960's thru the late 1980s. It was Vietnam style body count, the more people they arrested the more possessions they confiscated. The best properties, the best of all the spoils went to further power the police state that had all ready been created when they declared a Drug War. They only other country in the history of mankind to have such search and seizure and confiscation and forfeiture laws was Nazi Germany.
Is it strange that we are still haunted by Richard Nixon's

drug war when his own Shaffer commission recommended legalizing under an ounce of Cannabis? This report infuriated Nixon who sent it back, and when it came back around the word legalize was changed to decriminalize and by 2005 millions of Americans have been sent to prison for marijuana possession some working at slave labor as we speak!

Stranger yet instead of attacking the Shaffer Commission NORML jumped on the decriminalization bandwagon, and in 1980 came out with their own report on the harmful affects of marijuana and I guess jumped on Nancy Reagan's Just say no bandwagon! Hey I thought they were for legalization?
The drug rehab racketeers and Judges that own the Halfway houses they sentence you to, then get money from you, the state and the government! The billions generated by one word illegal. Is it that so much money is being made because it's illegal that no one really wants it legal? Are they afraid to lose the Goose that lays golden eggs?

First thing I asked people is why is marijuana illegal? Marijuana is illegal because it promotes free thought and expression and the society we live in does not want us to think for ourselves. It's as simple as that!
The Patriot Act is an extension of the Drug War and really it's out to get you and I! The DEA is in a panic because California is wide open with some cannabis shops in Oakland featuring 60 or more strains of marijuana as well as hashish and all you need is a doctor's note! Can you believe that some of those guys are pulling a hundred grand a month. The Government has infiltrated the Medical marijuana movement completely! As an example Eddy Lepp sold one pound of pot to a friend and an undercover DEA agent. Lepp famous for his Medicinal Marijuana Garden was raided and over 32,000 legal plants were confiscated. Clearly Lepp was out of his league!

Everyday more and more extol the virtues of marijuana use and how it improves their lives. One medical patient went from 600 milligrams of morphine a day to just pot! Most profits that are made illegally in the marijuana trade are funneled back into our economy, except for the small percentage that goes to Canada and Mexico. The American marijuana trade does not fund terrorism but instead puts shoes on little Bobby or Suzie. The huge underground marijuana economy keeps many of us alive in these lean and mean times. The lies the government spreads about marijuana funding terrorism when the reality is that it helps keep the economy humming. The American marijuana industry is home grown.
cannabis has become the Golden goose and neither side is letting go, too much money on the table.

Twelve months on from reclassification. In 1997 Mr Clarke revealed he had smoked cannabis and in 2001 he told TV's Question Time that he tried the drug twice while on holiday in America, he inhaled, a step in the right direction then?

The number of people arrested for possessing cannabis has fallen by more than one third since the drugs laws were relaxed.
But the Home Office said the down-grading of cannabis, from a class-B to class-C drug exactly one year ago had made no difference to levels of use. There were an estimated 43,750 arrests over the past year, compared with 68,625 in the previous 12 months.
Ministers calculated the fall had saved about 200,000 hours of police time, freeing them to tackle the use of class-A drugs such as heroin and crack, not to mention the demon drink.

Following reclassification cannabis, is now ranked alongside anabolic steroids and some prescription anti-depressants. Although its possession is still a criminal offence, offenders are not usually arrested. According to details of the British Crime Survey which were published by the Home Office yesterday, 10.8 per cent of adults report taking cannabis over the past year, compared with 10.9 per cent in the previous 12 months.
It also discovered that the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds using the drug had fallen from 28.2 per cent to 24.8 per cent over the past five years.
Caroline Flint, a Home Office Minister, said: "The picture is encouraging, with significant savings in police time which can now be used to drive more serious drugs, including alcohol which is responsible for 89 per cent of violent crime, off our streets and make our communities safer."
Because each arrest takes an average of eight hours to process, the 24,875 fewer arrests saved 199,000 hours of police time. She added: "I'm pleased figures show that some predictions that cannabis use by young people would increase were wholly unfounded."

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