Criminal Justice : Drug Policy & issues of criminalization |
Rationality of the “war on drugs” as an effective deterrent to drug use, alternative approaches to control, degree of drug involvement in different environments; drug trafficking effects of drug war on producer nations.
12/8/08 According to a prevailing "media narrative," the escalation of murders in Juarez and other border Mexican towns is the product of a "turf war" between rival drug distribution gangs. Bill Conroy for the Narco News uncovers a very different interpretation: that the violence may well be part of the very Mexican government "crackdown" against the drug trade, abetted by a U.S. "Plan Mexico" project similar to the "Plan Colombia" to combat drug operations in that country. In this interpretation, it is the emerging "military cartel" associated with a corrupt Mexican government that is putting critics in jail (if they are lucky, killed if they are not). Conroy notes the rumor that U.S. "Iraqi veterans" are involved in this cartel, an idea somewhat supported by the prevalence of domestic U.S. gang members on military installations, and the access of many of them to weapons in the government's military arsenal.
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Analysis & views: 12/8/08 According to a prevailing "media narrative," the escalation of murders in Juarez and other border Mexican towns is the product of a "turf war" between rival drug distribution gangs. Bill Conroy for the Narco News uncovers a very different interpretation: that the violence may well be part of the very Mexican government "crackdown" against the drug trade, abetted by a U.S. "Plan Mexico" project similar to the "Plan Colombia" to combat drug operations in that country. In this interpretation, it is the emerging "military cartel" associated with a corrupt Mexican government that is putting critics in jail (if they are lucky, killed if they are not). Conroy notes the rumor that U.S. "Iraqi veterans" are involved in this cartel, an idea somewhat supported by the prevalence of domestic U.S. gang members on military installations, and the access of many of them to weapons in the government's military arsenal. 4/4/08 U.S. unveiling a controversial Plan Merida as a drug-control program to target Mexico and central American countries like Guatemala and Costa Rica as supposed "transhipment" points for drug traffic from south America. http://www.latinamericapress.org/Article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=5544 3/25/08 Bolivians are defiant of international narcotics control forces in their growing of coca plants: Indigenous people of the Andes have grown coca for centuries and have integrated its use into native health and welfare practices, including the chewing of coca leaves with medicinal effects that include combatting fatigue and altitude sickness. Coca cultivation is vital to the agrarian economy of the country and recent efforts at international control are being resisted as violations of their sovereignty as guaranteed by UN Declarations. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41708 10/16/07 "Prohibition isn't working" says former UK chief inspector of prisons, noting the huge number of people in the country's prisons for drug law violations, and advocates the repeal of thesen laws. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3063804.ece 10/6/07 Defense Secretary Gates tries to peddle a new anti-drug surveillance air base in South America: With President Rafael Correa of Ecuador having announced that his country will not renew the U.S. lease on Manta base after 2009, the Secretary visits with several reluctant countries, including Peru and Colombia. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21102633/ 7/3/07 Morocco seeks to eliminate cannabis production by promoting the planting of alternative crops. http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=312798&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/ 2/8/07 Vigilante militia groups in Brazil are taking over the "security" of drug-infested streets, suppressing the drug trafficking while making profits for themselves and terrorizing people in urban neighborhoods. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0208/p04s01-woam.html 2/1/07 Efforts to control opium production in Afghanistan are nearly impossible because nearly all of the country's poppy fields are located in areas controlled by the Taliban. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IB01Df03.html 3/1/06 Election of Bolivian President, Evo Morales opens opportunities for changes in US drug policy. http://columns.ink19.com/minorityreport/thatFiendishCocalero.html
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Websites U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration: Drug policy: http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/drugpolicy.htm ReConsider: Forum on Drug Policy:
Analysis & views: 11/17/08 Pot smoking: Why is this increasing in frequency while cigarette smoking has been cut in half?: Paul Armentado draws the "obvious" conclusion. The massive effort to eradicate marihuana use by criminalizing its use has only filled the jails with users and failed to stop the use. Fully legalized but also well regulated and taxed cigarette sales have resulted in people voluntarily deciding against beginning or continuing their tobacco use. Is there a lesson for public policy in this? http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/107323/x 5/10/08 Salvia Divinorum: A "drug of concern" for U.S. drug enforcers: : This designation by USDEA for an herbal drug from Mexico of "shamanistic" origins, widely used by teenagers for its hallucinogenic properties, is seen as the first step toward prohibition of the drug, which is widely advocated by concerned parents. In the unusual dynamic of prohibition, the anticipated outlawing of the drug is inducing street vendors to hold "going out of business" sales which actually jack up the price in anticipation of a looming shortage. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0509/p02s01-usgn.html 2/1/08 Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have a history of involvement in drug usage in their personal or family backgrounds, so would they de-criminalize drug possession? Not likely, says the "drug reporter" for Alternet, noting that they both have relatively "soft" views on medical marihuana and have recognized the race and class inequities in drug law enforcement, but oppose de-criminalization of laws that might have landed Obama or Clinton's husband in jail had those laws been enforced in their own cases. http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/75524/ 1/6/08 Where can I find me some cocaine, Oxycontin or marijuana? Try the Boston Police Department. A wide ranging investigation is now being conducted of nearly a thousand cases during the last 14 years in which drug evidence at the department has been "disappeared" as some police agent or agents have likely been involved in illegal sale of it. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/05/police_find_widespread_drug_tampering 12/12/07 Christmas cards from Peru arriving in Philadelphia contain more than greetings, also cocaine, resulting in local arrests. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20071212_Cocaine_cards_bring_2_arrests.html 12/2/07 Mayor-elect of Philadelphia wants to build on success of a program of early release from incarceration that rehabilitates ex-cons and relieves the economic burdens of maintaining an inmate population. 11/27/07 Plan for random steroids testing for Texas high school athletes may be unveiled today. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5330838.html 10/22/07 DEA engages in massive effort to curb marijuana use by "informing" the public that the pot now available is twice as potent (so allegedly twice as dangerous) as that in the heyday of hippie smokers. In doing this, they may inadvertently be providing a great source of free advertising for marihuana producers whose customers are more motivated than ever to get the truly "right stuff." http://alternet.org/drugreporter/65594/ 10/22/07 Southeast Texas is being now being called a "mecca" of availability of often-abused anti-pain and anti-anxiety drugs. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5233402.html 8/4/07 Creative drug marketing: NYC man arrested for using an ice cream truck parked outside a school to sell cocaine and other drugs. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-03-icecream-drugs_N.htm 7/5/07 Worker with incarcerated youth describes the evolution of Ecstasy from a drug being considered as benign to its coronation in a thizz culture that may partially account for the escalating homicide rate and other forms of violence in Oakland. http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070703_its_the_ecstasy_stupid/ 6/14/07 New York state legislature is close to passage of a bill legalizing medical marijuana, but two houses are at odds on details of implementation. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-stbrun0614,0,263498.story?coll=ny-li-bigpix 5/16/07 If you commit a crime, you do the time? Not if you are an executive of the pharmaceutical company that was charged with illegal marketing of OxyContin with fraudulent claims about its lack of danger of addiction. These executives were fined but allowed to escape jail time and they even engaged in a complex legal maneuver that allowed the company's product to retain re-imbursements under Medicare. http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/bigpharma051507.htm 5/16/07 Tribal leaders in North Dakota say they need a tripling of police force in order to combat methamphetamine abuse on reservations. http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414999 5/15/07 "Say it ain't so, Joe" may be the cry of sports fans on learning their heroes are involved with drug usage, but four professional U.S. sports leagues are teaming up with federal enforcement agencies in more aggressive efforts to determine when such usage among athletes is so. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051401650.html?referrer=email 5/15/07 Federal agents on Long Island NY are engaged in a "crackdown" on oxycontin dealers. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-bzoxy0515,0,1931763.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines 5/15/07 Video documents a "sloppy" police action in a drug arrest of a man in a wheelchair in Seattle. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/315711_robert15x.html 2/23/07 Marijuana and pain: The medical research evidence is starting to come in. Prescribed doses of marijuana use provide significant pain relief from the neuropathy associated with HIV/AIDS and other medical conditions. http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/48322/ 1/15/07 North Dakota man seeks to be the nation's first licensed industrial hemp grower but, given the product's kinship to marijuana, he must prove he has no criminal record in order to get the license. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070115/ap_on_fe_st/farm_scene 8/12/06 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is engaged in a controversial advertising campaign to associate drug trafficking with terrorism. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/11/AR2006081101524.html?referrer=email 7/3/06 Pot with your Ghirardelli? Fight is on in San Francisco whether to allow one of the city's cannabis clubs that sell marijuana on a doctor's prescription to locate in the tourist area of Fisherman's Wharf. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/us/03green.html?th&emc=th 6/25/06 Republican candidate for U.S. Senator from Vermont pledges support for marijuana legalization, and makes it one of her top campaign issues. A GOPer??!! Strange...: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/06/25/18282775.php 6/10/06 Maine man sells two oxycodone pills, gets 4 years in jail. http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=135576 Maybe the judge was influenced by Rush Limbaugh who was a chronic oxycodone user who demanded harsh penalties for other users http://www.bradleyreport.net/commentary/StonedRush.htm 6/3/06 Methamphetamine use in the United States involves only .2% of the population, yet many communities define meth use as their "top problem," and Bush administration advocates random school drug testing and vigorous enforcement in cooperation with principal source, Mexico. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060101331.html 4/21/06 FDA overturns earlier medical panel and says there are no credible tests showing marijuana has any medically useful effect; scientists say they can't get such tests funded and that it's another case of "politics trumping science." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/health/21marijuana.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 4/14/06 Harvard economist says U.S. spends $2.4 billion per year on enforcement of laws against marihuana use, with no appreciable effect on public health: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/34929/ 4/14/06 $20 sale of marihuana to undercover cop lands an 18 year old Massachusetts man in jail for two years: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/34814/ 3/28/06 Suit in federal court challenges denial of financial aids to students with drug convictions: http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2998 3/23/06 Widely used "Drug-Free Zones" in cities are racist, not effective at controlling drug use, and lead to explosive growth in prison populations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/32202213.html 3/19/06 DEA busts target minor league "Pot Tart" sellers while pharmaceutical companies continue to drug millions of children a year with anti-depressants and behavioral control medicines: http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner03182006.html 2/26/06 Walter Cronkite urges opposition to failed drug war policy http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0224-10.htm 2/23/06 Massachusetts Legislators propose lesser punishments for marijuana possession: 2/23/06 Missouri House bill filed to legalize medicinal marijuana http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=18537 2/22/06 Supreme Court ruling allows use of hallucigens by religious group: http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3533789 1/9/06 Ineffectual drug crackdown, San Diego: http://counterpunch.org/gardner01072006.html
1/8/06 War on drugs and felon voting rights: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/EDITORIALS0101/201080309/1097/editorials
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Analysis & views: 1/1/08 Supreme Court decision on cocaine sentencing could lead to early release for 1,500 Floridians imprisoned for crack cocaine possession. http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/123107/D8TSH9D80.shtml 12/4/07 Data shows large disparity in rates of incarceration of blacks and whites for drug convictions. In central Florida these range from Polk and Orange Counties where black incarceration rates are 4 times those of whites to Volusia, where they are 22 times. 6/22/07 DEA and local police officials are dealing with what is described as an upswing in the number of Florida homes in which marihuana is being grown. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_MARIJUANA_GROW_HOUSES_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
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Analysis and views: St. Petersburg: 12/23/07 Home growing of marihuana is noted as an increasing tendency in Pinellas County. http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/23/Hernando/The_pot_crop_is_next_.shtml Cape Coral 9/1/06 As marijuana-growing houses flourish in Cape Coral, police chief promises a crackdown (if he can get 40 more cops): "We take their house. We take their cars. If they come into Cape Coral we're going to take them for everything they own." http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060831/NEWS0101/609010302/1075 Tampa: 3/8/06 Enforcement sting locates indoor marihuana growing network in Tampa Bay area: http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBICLH6JKE.html
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