Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 11:49:01 -0700
Subject:TN: U.S. Court Supports 'Pot Farm' Searches Up TOC

Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Sat, 03 Aug 2002
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Contact: letters@gomemphis.com
Copyright: 2002 The Commercial Appeal
Website: http://www.gomemphis.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Bill Dries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

U.S. COURT SUPPORTS 'POT FARM' SEARCHES

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that police acted properly in their
1996 search and seizure of marijuana from four Memphis "pot farms."

The ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a decision
by U.S. Dist. Court Judge Bernice Donald that threw out evidence seized by
police at two of the four locations allegedly controlled by James and Carol
Elkins, both of whom are serving prison terms.

The appeals court ruling means the couple could face new charges, though
Asst. U.S. Atty. Thomas Colthurst declined comment Friday on the
possibility of new charges or the appeals court ruling.

The court also affirmed Donald's decision that searches of the other two
indoor growing operations were legal and the evidence seized could be used
in court.

The farms were among the most sophisticated and extensive ever uncovered by
Memphis police, who seized more than 1,000 marijuana plants, processed
marijuana, shotguns, a crossbow and plant growing equipment in four
separate raids on Aug. 21, 1996.

James Elkins had hired several off-duty police officers to guard the
facilities, prompting a federal and local investigation that later found
the off-duty cops had no knowledge of what they were guarding.

Elkins pleaded guilty in 2000 to federal drug, money laundering and
firearms charges. He was sentenced to 15 years and eight months.

Carol Elkins, his wife, pleaded guilty to a money laundering count and is
serving a five-year sentence.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 15:00:55 -0700
Subject:Canada: U.S. agents run roughshod over our laws Up TOC

Newshawk: Canadian Media Awareness Project (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap/)
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Date: August 9, 2002
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Address: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Copyright: 2002 The Vancouver Sun
Fax: (604) 605-2323
Author: Paul Willcocks

                     U.S. agents run roughshod over our laws

If U.S. police are prepared to walk all over Canadian law, why is the
federal government willing to allow more of them into the country?


The charges of abuse don't come from some alarmist.  They are part of B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon's ruling on a U.S. bid to extradite
Brent (Dave) Licht to California to face cocaine charges.

She said no, in part because an illegal operation by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency in White Rock was a shocking abuse of Canadian law.  "The
illegal conduct is extremely offensive because of the violation of Canadian
sovereignty without explanation or apology," she wrote.

The DEA took aim at would-be Canadian cocaine importers in 1999, setting a
reverse sting in Los Angeles DEA civilian agents - paid informers  - posed
as Colombian dealers with lots of cocaine to sell.  The bait soon attracted
three men who said they wanted to buy $1 million worth of coke a month for
delivery to Vancouver.  But first the sellers would have to meet the "main
guy" in Canada, the trio said.

The rules for a DEA operation in Canada are clear.  A U.S. - Canada
agreement requires DEA agents to get RCMP consent before launching an
investigation here.  They also needed a special permit from the immigration
minister because the undercover agent had a criminal record.

And they also needed approval from the RCMP's top drug officer to pretend
they had drugs for sale.  The tactic is illegal in Canada except under tight
controls, because of the risk of police creating a crime where one would not
have otherwise occurred.

The Mounties said yes.  The phoney dealer and his DEA handler came up, and
with their RCMP shadows - part of the agreement - they tried to meet the
"main guy."  Instead they met two other men who grumbled about delays and
only wanted to buy one kilogram at a time.

It was a flop.  When the immigration permit expired the Mounties put the
Americans on a plane.  The DEA asked to continue the operation and the RCMP
said no.  A major investigation aimed at small dealers wasn't a priority.

The DEA seemed to accept the ruling.  But a month later one of the
undercover agents entered Canada and met with several people about selling
them cocaine - including Mr. Licht, according to the court.

The agent entered the country illegally, didn't get RCMP consent and broke
Canadian law by offering drugs for sale.  He knew what the legal
requirements were and simply ignored them, Justice Dillon found.

After the meet Mr. Licht travelled to California and arranged to pay
$450,000 cash and 115 pounds of marijuana for 50 kilograms of cocaine.  But
when the DEA swooped in on the buyu later in the day, Mr. Licht wasn't
there.  So the U.S. set out to extradite him on conspiracy charges.

Forget it, said Justice Dillon, in a scathing rebuke.  The Americans
knowingly broke Canadian law and violated international agreements.  They
conducted an illegal reverse sting operation aimed at Mr. Licht even though
they had never heard he was drug dealer.  They tried to conceal the
information from him and the court.  The American's behaviour met the test
for serious abuse, ruled Justice Dillon, "an act so wrong that it violates
the conscience of the community."

This was no isolated incident.  Documents showed the RCMP felt pressured to
approve the first operation because it feared that if it didn't say yes
quickly, the DEA would go ahead illegally.

And only a month ago the B.C. Appeal Court found misconduct by Internal
Revenue Service agents working in Canada on an American tax fraud
investigation, and denied them evidence seized in a Vancouver search.

Two cases in one month, and in each no explanation from the U.S. - or
Canada.

It's hard to tell if anyone is taking this seriously.  The DEA referred
calls to the American embassy: the embassy wanted more time to investigate.
Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon was unavailable; justice staff had
no answers.

And yet more U.S. police and security forces are being welcomed into Canada,
on top of the alphabet soup of agents already here.

Every one of those officers is working under strict Canadian controls, of
course.  But that's no comfort when U.S. government agents have demonstrated
not only a willingness to ignore our laws, but a reluctance to acknowledge
that those laws apply to them.

------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 15:18:14 -0700
Subject:UK: Police Will Jump On Joint Smokers Up TOC

Newshawk: ccguide.org.uk
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Aug 2002
Source: Portsmouth News (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Portsmouth News.
Contact: http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ContactUs.asp
Website: http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2411
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POLICE WILL JUMP ON JOINT SMOKERS

Police will clamp down on people smoking cannabis at tomorrow's Smokey
Bears Picnic, senior officers have said.

The annual pro-cannabis rally at Southsea Common is expected to attract
hundreds of protesters despite Home Secretary David Blunkett pledging to
reclassify the class B drug.

Marijuana is expected to become a class C drug the same as steroids and
anti-depressants by July 2003.

And while government critics say that effectively means decriminalising the
drug, police in Hampshire insist cannabis is still illegal and have
promised to act accordingly.

Chief Inspector John Happel said: 'We will have police officers on duty.
Our view is still that public breaking of the law will be dealt with,
smoking and dealing in cannabis is still a criminal offence and until such
time as that position changes then we will continue to enforce the law.'

Southsea town councillor Peter Montague, who runs an ice cream shop by the
common, said he was against the protest. He added: 'I don't agree with it
at all.'

The Smokey Bears Picnic started in 1994 in protest against the Criminal
Justice Bill.

But organisers say it is still relevant because the government is only
planning to reclassify the drug not make it legal.

A spokesman for the group accused the government of 'fudging' the issue by
failing to either bring in stricter controls on the drug or legalise it.

Controversy has dogged the event throughout its nine-year history. Three
years ago scuffles broke out when some 50 police officers squared up to 150
demonstrators. There were 10 arrests at last year's picnic.

Just two years ago taxpayers funded a UKP 2,700 court case in which Andrew
Slater was accused of smoking a UKP 2 joint he was cleared. Protester Jon
Neil was also arrested two years ago after he made fun of an officer who
was wearing a ginger wig.

Mr Neil went on to win UKP 1,200 compensation from police, who libelled him
by saying he had been arrested for possessing drugs.

The Southsea resident spent around UKP 100 of the compensation on buying
ice creams and food for the demonstrators at last year's event.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 15:10:22 -0700
Subject:Canada: Police, BC Ferries went off the deep end Up TOC

Newshawk: Canadian Media Awareness Project (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap/)
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Date: August 7, 2002
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Address: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Copyright: 2002 The Vancouver Sun
Fax: (604) 605-2323
Author: Paul Willcocks

                      Police, BC Ferries went off the deep end

It's hard to know what is stranger, the eagerness of police to stage a
costly and likely illegal search of B.C. Ferries customers' cars, or the
Crown corporation's willingness to allow the alarming exercise.

Well-run companies put their customers first.  They cooperate with police,
but they also expect officers to have obtained the proper legal
authorization before invading their customers' privacy.

In this case, police would have had to explain to a judge why a search
warrant was justified.

Not B.C. Ferries.  Police didn't get a warrant before they launched
Operation High Seas on the ferries between Nanaimo and Horseshoe Bay, using
drug dogs to check the cars of unsuspecting passengers.  They simply asked
B.C. Ferries, and management said, sure, come on board.

A company that put customers first would have made a different decision.
Some travellers may be fine with police dogs sniffing around their cars,
without their consent.  But many B.C. Ferries customers considered the
search intrusive and unreasonable.  They don't want police poking around
their vehicle without cause, and they don't want the ferry corporation
acting as a police agent without telling its customers.

It shouldn't have been a tough decision for B.C. Ferries. Sorry, officers,
but we don't think our customers would welcome this, and we put them first.
Why don't you go to a judge, explain why you have probable cause and come
back with a warrant?

That police didn't take that step - which also would have helped ensure
successful prosecutions - provides the answer.  No judge would approve a
plan to randomly search more than a thousand cars, on private property
without any reason to suspect any individuals.

Operation High Seas raises equally troubling questions about police
priorities.  A dozen officers from five detachments, with five dogs, spent
the day in search of ferry customers with marijuana.  They made seven
seizures, worth around $30,000.  Only two resulted in charges; in the other
five cases police just took the drugs.

What exactly was accomplished?  The drugs are gone, an inconvenience for the
people who lost them.  No one will likely go to jail, or even be convicted.
The courts tend to toss out cases based on questionable searches.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association's John Dixon believes the searches wer
illegal, and wonders about police priorities.  "If you can't find anything
else for police officers to do than ride around on the ferries, in the hope
of busting somebody for having some dope in their car, then West Vancouver
obviously needs fewer police officers," he said.

It's a good point.  A dozen officers could have accomplished quite a ot in a
day to make the community safer.  It's hard to see what they achieved on the
ferries.

But then it's hard to see what we're accomplishing generally when it comes
to dealing with the marijuana industry..  And it's worrying how far police
have drifted from the traditional goal of gathering evidence that would
allow people to be prosecuted for crimes.

Vancouver city council is being asked to come up with $480,000 a year to
continue funding Growbusters, a special police until that targets marijuana
growing operations for another three. years.  (That doesn't include the cost
of six police officers assigned to the unit.)  The Growbusters team has
charged almost no one in two years.  It raided grow ops - more than 1,100 -
seized the plants and equipment and moved on.  It didn't gather evidence or
arrest people.  It just tries to make it slightly more difficult for
growers.

Growbusters personnel are typical police foot soldiers in a losing battle.
Last fall, B.C.'s Organized Crime Agency reported there were 15,000 to
20,000 grow ops in the province, fuelling a wholesale trade worth $6 billion
- - about five per cent of the province's GDP.  Police efforts had succeeded
mainly in pushing the operations out of the Lower Mainland and into the rest
of the province, and in encouraging the serious criminals to switch to
producing chemical drugs like speed and Ecstasy.

Another study last year found police were too busy even to investigate
one-quarter of the reports they received about growing operations.  They
laid charges in less than half the cases they did find, and fewer than half
those charges resulted in convictions.  Among those convicted, only 20 per
cent got jail time.

Police have to enforce the law. but they also have to make choices. And
tackling a host of crimes, from cocaine trafficking to car break-ins to
youth violence, should come before spending a day randomly checking cars on
the ferries.

------------------------------
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 16:34:09 -0700
Subject:Canada: Pot Activist Enlists Help of Cancer Specialist in Court Up TOC

Newshawk: http://www.pot-tv.net
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Aug 2002
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Coast Reporter
Contact: Jane Seyd <janeeditor@dccnet.com>
Website: http://www.suncoastbc.net/news_info/index.html

POT ACTIVIST ENLISTS HELP OF CANCER SPECIALIST IN COURT
By Jane Seyd

American pot "refugee" Steve Kubby has applied for a Health Canada exemption
which would legally allow him to smoke marijuana and enlisted the support of
a B.C. cancer specialist as he gears up for a legal fight over his medical
marijuana use.

Kubby, who faces criminal charges of cultivating pot in Sechelt, plans to
ask the B.C. Supreme Court for an exemption to Canada's drug laws, that
would allow him to smoke pot, on "life and death" medical grounds.

Kubby also wants to ask the judge to order police to hand back pot seized by
Sechelt RCMP.

Kubby, who suffers from a rare form of adrenal gland cancer, says smoking
pot is the only thing that protects him from heart attacks and strokes which
can result when his cancer cells start producing extra adrenaline and other
hormones.

Kubby is basing his legal case on a recent decision by a B.C. Supreme Court
judge which appeared to set a precedent for a lower standard for medicinal
pot use.

Police raided Wes Winchester's home in September of 2000 and seized 96
plants, charging Winchester with cultivation and trafficking.  But on June
25, a B.C. Supreme Court judge dismissed drug charges against Winchester who
suffers from AIDS and three types of hepatitis, saying his post smoking is
"reasonably necessary for therapeutic use".  Winchester's lawyer argued
smoking marijuana is the only way his client can keep his daily cocktail of
67 pills down.

Recently, Kubby won support for his legal battle from Dr. Joseph Connors, a
clinical professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and
medical oncologist at the B.C. Cancer Agency.

Connors said Kubby's pot smoking controls the blood pressure spikes, rapid
heart beats, severe headaches and chest pains which can result when his
adrenal cancer cells produce too much adrenaline or other hormones.

Marijuana appears to be unique in that it controls all the symptoms at the
same time, said Connors.

Connors said he doesn't know why the pot works - it may block some receptors
in the brain for the harmful levels of hormone - or if it would work in a
similar fashion for other patients.

He said he'd never heard of pot as a treatment for the symptoms of adrenal
cancer prior to meeting Kubby, about a month ago.

In Kubby's case, however, the marijuana does have a medicinal effect, said
Connors.

Last week, Kubby's hearing was adjourned by a judge for the second time,
from Aug. 6 to Aug. 19.

After that, Michele Kubby says she and her husband won't bother waiting for
permission to grow the pot her husband needs.  "We're just going to grow
it," she said.

The Kubby's, high-profile medicinal pot activists from California, moved to
the Sunshine Coast last year with their children, aged six and two.

Steve Kubby was arrested on an immigration warrant in April after coming to
the attention of Sechelt RCMP in media reports about medicinal marijuana.

U.S. officials want Steve Kubby to serve a four-month jail sentence for a
California conviction for possessing a trace amount of hallucinogenic
mushroom.

The Kubby's say that isn't possible because Kubby wouldn't be allowed access
to the marijuana they say is keeping him alive.

Following immigration hearing on the Lower Mainland, the couple returned to
the Coast and applied for political refugee status as members of a
persecuted group.

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 00:44:33 -0700
Subject:Scotland: No Dope, Pal Up TOC

Newshawk: krinklyfig
Pubdate: Sun, 04 Aug 2002
Source: Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact: mailbox@sundaymail.co.uk
Website: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2260
Author: Brian Lironi And Stephen Rafferty
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

NO DOPE, PAL

We'll Shut Down Your Hash Cafe

A POLICE chief has warned he will close Scotland's first cannabis cafe as
soon as it opens and arrest the owner.

Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood has written to Edinburgh publisher Kevin
Williamson to warn him he will be breaking the law if he opens a hash cafe
before the end of the year.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said last month that cannabis would be
downgraded to a class C drug, making it highly unlikely anyone caught with
it would be prosecuted.

But yesterday, the Lothian and Borders chief warned anyone thinking his
force was relaxing its attitude to cannabis was gravely mistaken.

He targeted Williamson, 34, who helped launch Trainspotting author Irvine
Welsh's career , over plans to open a members-only cafe for over-18s with
facilities like chessboards, an art gallery, cinema and bookshop.

Williamson claims backers have stumped up UKP40,000 and he has signed a
lease on a secret city centre property.

But in his letter, Wood warned him: "I know that you have openly stated you
intend to open and operate a cannabis cafe in Edinburgh.

"I wish to make it quite clear the offences committed by any person
attempting to open or operate a cannabis cafe and what actions police would
take."

Williamson could face up to five years in jail for selling a class C drug.

Wood told the Sunday Mail: "There has been a lot of misinformation about
cannabis since the Home Secretary made his announcement and we don't want
people to be under any illusion as to what action we will take and what we
will do."

Describing his cafe on his website Williamson said: "We don't want it to
look like some seedy drugs den but instead to be a bright, well-lit,
cultural place, that will be worth dropping in to whether you smoked dope
or not and a place you wouldn't feel embarrassed about taking your granny."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:17:47 -0700
Subject: Jamaica: US Grant to Provide $57-m more for drug fight Up TOC

 From Paul Chang   paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

Jamaica Observer
Saturday August 10 2002
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/


$57-m more for drug fight
US grant to provide training, equipment


THE US embassy here yesterday announced a J$57-million grant to Jamaica to
strengthen the island's anti-narcotics programme by providing training and
equipment for law enforcement agencies and repairing Jamaican Coast Guard
vessels.

The embassy said that the agreement for the funds, although only now being
announced, was signed a week ago, on August 2, by Ambassador Sue Cobb and
Jamaica's national security minister, Dr Peter Phillips.

Phillips has made the anti-narcotics drive his central strategy since
assuming the portfolio last November, on the basis that drug smuggling is
the major contributor to the country's serious problem of violent crime and
the source of most of its illegal guns.

Jamaica, because of its geographic location, has become a major
transshipment point for cocaine from South America to North America and
Europe. Law enforcement officials estimate that up to 10 per cent of the
cocaine produced in Colombia passes through the island.

Phillips, as part of his initiative, has quickly forged strong alliances
with the British, who are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into
training and equipment for Jamaica's law enforcement agencies. He is
attempting to do the same with the United States.

The Americans, in their statement, pointed out, however that yesterday's $57
million to the anti-narcotics programme was in addition to J$106 million the
US government provided last year to support the island's anti-narcotics
progamme.

The money now being made available will provide the Jamaica Defence Force
Coast Guards with advanced training from the US Coast Guard, new equipment
and maintenance for its boats.

The agreement, the embassy said, will also boost the Jamaica Constabulary
Force's investigative abilities, particularly in case investigation,
analysis and record-keeping. It will also strengthen as well, its
counter-narcotics, ganja eradication and fugitive apprehension programmes.

The US has also promised help to improve Jamaica's port security and will
also fund a survey to determine the extent of drug use in Jamaica.


~~~~~   ~~~  ~  ~~~  ~~~~~

Paul Chang
Legalize Ganja Campaign Jamaica
National Alliance for the Legalization of Ganja in Jamaica
NORML Jamaica

tel  876.972-0817  or  876.794-8086  .  fax  876.794-8087
pobox 24, laughlands, st ann, jamaica
paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:20:17 -0700
Subject:Switzerland Defends Cannabis Decrim Up TOC

    via Paul Chang  paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

    The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #249 -- August 9, 2002
      A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network

   "Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

           Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org
       David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
        Gabriel Froymovich, Intern, froymovich@drcnet.org

Subscribe:  http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html
Unsubscribe or change address:  mailto:listhelp@drcnet.org
This issue on the web:  http://www.drcnet.org/wol/249.html


Switzerland Defends Cannabis Decrim, Tells UN Narcocrats to
    Buzz Off
    http://www.drcnet.org/wol/249.html#swissdecrim

As Switzerland moves forward with its plans to decriminalize the
possession and some sales of cannabis, the International Narcotics
Control Board (INCB) is in a snit.  But the independent-minded
Swiss have told the global prohibition enforcers to take a hike.
Under the decrim plan, supported by the Swiss government and
already passed by the Swiss Senate, possession and growing of
cannabis for personal use will be permitted, as will limited sales
of the drug.  But cannabis imports and exports will be banned, as
will advertising.

The INCB (http://www.incb.org) is an independent, quasi-judicial
body set up under the UN Single Convention of 1961 to enforce the
global prohibition regime whose backbone is the Single Convention
and two later treaties.  In its latest annual report, the INCB
called the Swiss move to treat cannabis like alcohol or tobacco "a
historic mistake" and warned that it would "amount to an
unprecedented move towards legalization of the consumption,
cultivation, manufacture, possession, purchase and sale of
cannabis for non-medical purposes."

Worse yet in the INCB's eyes, such a move would contravene the UN
Single Convention.  "Allowing people to sell cannabis to anybody
for non-medical reasons is simply not in line with the
conventions," INCB secretary Herbert Schaepe told Swiss Radio
International.  "If this is the case, it goes against the 1961
Convention on Narcotic Drugs.  It would not be acceptable, since
Switzerland's neighbors don't seem to be going down the same
road," Schaepe added -- seemingly unaware of the wave of drug
reform sweeping the continent.

The Swiss aren't buying it.  "I've heard more people say it was a
historic mistake to put cannabis on the list of substances that
are totally prohibited," said Ueli Locher, deputy director of the
Federal Office for Public Health.  "We have to adapt to the
changes in our society.  We know more about how harmful -- or
harmless -- cannabis is," he told Swiss Radio.  "We cannot
continue to treat it like heroin and cocaine."

The Swiss government has also had four independent legal
assessments of the proposed cannabis law, and it said all four
found the law to be consistent with the conventions.  Under the
law, cultivation and sale would technically remain illegal, but
prosecutions would be few and far between.  Sellers would be
arrested only for selling to minors, selling hard drugs at the
same time, or creating a public nuisance.  The proposed law would
only codify what is a de facto -- if differentially enforced --
decriminalization now.  With an estimated half-million Swiss
smoking cannabis, the herb is currently available under a variety
of transparent guises, such as cannabis "potpourri" or aromatic
cannabis pillows filled with kind bud.  The assumption is that
most pillow purchasers are smoking the contents rather than
resting their heads on them.

INCB secretary Schaepe warned that it is the obligation of
governments to uphold the conventions, but also added some words
that indicate the global drug warriors may be beginning to see the
handwriting on the wall.  "The conventions are not cast in stone.
They can be amended," he conceded.  "Ultimately, it is in the
hands of governments to decide future drug policies."  But, global
prohibition bureaucrat that he is, Schaepe added, "there is a
procedure that has to be followed.  We cannot have a lawless
situation at the international level."

For the health office's Locher, the move is pragmatic response to
Swiss social reality.  "We are trying to deal with the reality --
to have and honest and consistent approach to a problem -- and not
continue to have laws which are not applied," he said.  "Time will
tell whether cannabis is also reconsidered at the level of
international conventions."

~~~~~   ~~~  ~  ~~~  ~~~~~

Paul Chang
Legalize Ganja Campaign Jamaica
National Alliance for the Legalization of Ganja in Jamaica
NORML Jamaica

tel  876.972-0817  or  876.794-8086  .  fax  876.794-8087
pobox 24, laughlands, st ann, jamaica
paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:21:50 -0700
Subject: Russia: Radical Party Moscow Activists Go to Trial for Marijuana Legalization Rally Up TOC

via Paul Chang

RUSSIA: Radical Party Moscow Activists Go to Trial for
     Marijuana Legalization Rally -- Free Speech at Heart of Case
     http://www.drcnet.org/wol/249.html#moscowprotest

The Transnational Radical Party (TRP) is giving Russian
authorities fits as it agitates against that country's onerous
drug laws.  Just two weeks ago, the Radicals held a sidewalk poll
on cannabis legalization, prompting howls of protest from Russian
anti-drug officials (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/247.html#moscow).
This week, the Radicals began an internet petition drive to
legalize cannabis and provoked Moscow authorities into banning a
planned cannabis legalization rally, transmuting their drug reform
effort into a broader struggle over free speech in the former
Communist heartland.

On Monday, the Russian Radicals kicked off their petition drive
with a rally at Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow -- despite local
authorities' earlier orders that the rally not be held.  As the
Radicals noted in a press release from Moscow:  "As was promised
earlier, the Radicals decided not to obey the illegal prohibition
by the [local authorities] of the anti-prohibitionist rally
demanding to legalize hemp and its derivatives.  For the first
time, the authorities prohibited a rally of Radicals on openly
political grounds, having violated the basic constitutional right
to freedom of demonstrations and expression of one's opinion."

According to the Radicals, the press conference went off despite
the presence of several burly Moscow special militia.  Radical
leader Nikolaj Khramov told the cops and assembled bystanders that
the order to bar the rally violated numerous sections of Russian
law.  But when the press conference was finished and the
participants tried to unroll a banner saying "To legalize
marijuana," they were placed under arrest by the militiamen.

Russian Radical Party members Khramov, Anna Zaytseva, Alyona
Asayeva, Ilya Malkov and Leonid Positselsky were detained in the
Tverskoy militia station before being released later Monday
evening.  They were charged with violating Russian laws regulating
assemblies, rallies, demonstrations and similar events.  The
Moscow Five faced trials Thursday.  (This article went to press
before DRCNet could confirm the results of the trials.)

Read the text of the Russian cannabis legalization petition at
http://www.radikaly.ru/news/?text=1035 on the Russian Radical
Party web site, and visit http://www.radicalparty.org to learn
more about the TRP.

~~~~~~~

The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #249 -- August 9, 2002
      A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network

   "Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

           Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org
       David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
        Gabriel Froymovich, Intern, froymovich@drcnet.org

Subscribe:  http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html
Unsubscribe or change address:  mailto:listhelp@drcnet.org
This issue on the web:  http://www.drcnet.org/wol/249.html

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



~~~~~   ~~~  ~  ~~~  ~~~~~

Paul Chang
Legalize Ganja Campaign Jamaica
National Alliance for the Legalization of Ganja in Jamaica
NORML Jamaica

tel  876.972-0817  or  876.794-8086  .  fax  876.794-8087
pobox 24, laughlands, st ann, jamaica
paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:23:28 -0700
Subject: Jamaica: Taxi driver, passenger on ganja charges get bail Up TOC

from Paul Chang paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

Jamaica Observer
Friday August 9 2002
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/

TWO STORIES:

~~~~~~~

Taxi driver, passenger on ganja charges get bail
Observer Reporter
Thursday, August 08, 2002


WESTERN BUREAU -- Two residents of Cornwall Courts in Montego Bay were
granted $70,000 bail each on Monday when they appeared in the Montego Bay
Resident Magistrate's Court on ganja possession charges.

The court was told that Leroy Reid and Stacey-Ann Owen were caught with 39
pounds of ganja on the city's Hip Strip on Emancipation Day at about 12:05
pm.

Police said they stopped and searched a Toyota Corolla motor car owned and
operated by 34 year-old Reid as a taxi and found the weed in a black plastic
bag. Owen, 24, was a passenger in the car.

In court Monday, attorney Kenneth McLeod, who represented the accused duo,
told the court that Owen had gone downtown to buy fried chicken for her
three children and was unaware of the contents of the car at the time of the
find. The lawyer also argued that the drug did not belong to Reid.

According to the attorney, the drug was placed in the car by a third person
who had stopped the car and asked Reid to transport a bag of clothes to Rose
Mount.

Reid had travelled about a chain from where he had stopped for that third
person when he was stopped by the police.

In light of the circumstances, McLeod asked that the court grant his clients
bail pending the outcome of the trial.

RM Valerie Stephens offered the duo bail and gave a new mention date of
August 27.

~~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~~~

Drug couriers sentenced, receive heavy fines
Observer Reporter
Friday, August 09, 2002


TWO male cocaine couriers and a woman who were caught trying to export ganja
through the Norman Manley International Airport were on Monday given varying
prison sentences and fined a combined total of more than J$500,000 in the
Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

The three -- 38 year-old Dorothy Brown, 23 year-old Patrick Small and 48
year-old Valroy Dawkins -- all had flights booked on British Airways to
Gatwick airport, London.

Brown was held on August 2 after a urine sample she was asked to give,
showed up cocaine. When she was taken to hospital, she expelled 30 packets
of cocaine weighing one pound.

The accused woman told the court she was a resident of Montego Bay and a
mother of five children. She begged the court for leniency for her
children's sake and told the court that she was a dressmaker who had not
been in trouble with the law on any previous occasion.

"I am begging a little mercy, if even for the sake of my children," she
pleaded.

Resident Magistrate Jennifer Straw was not moved. "Where you left them when
you were swallowing the cocaine?" she asked.

"With my sister," Brown replied.

"Suppose you had died? What would have happened to them?" the judge asked.

Brown also asked the magistrate if there was a way for her to get her phone
from the police, to which RM Straw replied: "You might have to make your
family members claim it from the police, because I don't think you can carry
the phone where you are going."

Brown pleaded guilty to the charges and was fined $80,000 or six months for
the charge of cocaine possession and $160,000 for taking steps to export the
drug. In addition, she was slapped with a mandatory custodial sentence of
two years. If the fines are not paid, they will run concurrently.

Small was given an identical sentence by the court. He, too, was held with
one pound of the drug and eventually passed out 57 pellets.

Small also pleaded guilty to the charges. He told the court he was from
Lodge district in St Ann and that he had taken the chance because hunger was
rife in his home and the bills were piling up.

"Someone came to me and tempted me and the temptation of making money made
me do it," Small explained.

"While you are trying to help your family, you are destroying others," RM
Straw told the man.

Dawkins was held with four pounds of ganja packaged in 19 parcels in his
luggage.

He was fined $6,400 or 14 days for possession and $32,000 or six months for
the charge of taking steps to export. In accordance with the law stating
that anyone found trying to export an illegal substance must serve time,
Dawkins was sentenced to six months in prison.

In all three cases, the guilty parties were admonished and discharged on the
charge of dealing.



~~~~~   ~~~  ~  ~~~  ~~~~~

Paul Chang
Legalize Ganja Campaign Jamaica
National Alliance for the Legalization of Ganja in Jamaica
NORML Jamaica

tel  876.972-0817  or  876.794-8086  .  fax  876.794-8087
pobox 24, laughlands, st ann, jamaica
paul_chang@cwjamaica.com

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:30:57 -0700
Subject: UK: Easing of Marijuana Laws Angers Many Britons Up TOC

Newshawk: Amanda
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Aug 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Sarah Lyall
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

EASING OF MARIJUANA LAWS ANGERS MANY BRITONS

LONDON, Aug. 9 - At the run-down Stockwell housing project here, the
potheads were complaining about the smackheads.

"Right down there, I saw a guy injecting a girl into her neck," said James
Haind, 28, his indignation wrapped in a cloud of smoke. Hanging out recently
at the project's skateboard park with his friends, their skateboards and
their stashes of weed, he offered himself as living proof that marijuana
does not lead inevitably to harder drugs.

"A sensible, stable person will not turn to heroin," declared Mr. Haind, an
out-of-work sign painter who estimates that he has been getting high for
half his life. "That's for the more stupid people."

That is just the message the government seems to have sent to Brixton, in
South London, where a six-month experiment in loosening the national drug
laws has just ended. The program pleased Brixton's smokers, and even the
police. But it left many residents feeling that their neighborhood had
turned into an open-air drug bazaar, where teenagers brazenly smoke on the
street and dealers set up shop next to fruit sellers in the market, hissing
"skunk weed, skunk weed" at pedestrians.

"People started smoking openly, whereas before they'd have their little
hideaways," said the Rev. Chris Andre-Watson, pastor of the Brixton Baptist
Church, who runs a mentoring program for teenage boys and says the drug
experiment has left many youths "zombied out."

Partly as a result of Brixton's trial, the government recently announced
plans to downgrade the criminal penalties for smoking pot in a country where
an estimated five million people are habitual users. Although the plan is an
acknowledgment that drugs like heroin and cocaine are far more harmful than
marijuana, the mixed reviews here raise a host of questions about loosening
marijuana laws.

Under the experiment, people caught smoking marijuana in Lambeth Borough,
which includes Brixton, got off with warnings rather than arrests, leaving
the police free to pursue more serious criminals. The police said it led to
an overall decline in crime and saved much police time.

Mr. Haind and his smoking companions were thrilled. "For me and my friends,
it's all good ? we don't have to worry about getting hassled if we want to
smoke a little herb," said David Reading, 21, a would-be record producer
just out of college.

But others were angry at the way pot-selling and smoking had been thrust so
clearly in the open.

Ros Griffiths, director of the Employment Cafe, a job center and Internet
coffee shop, said she was unsure what had offended her more: when a dealer
grabbed a loudspeaker at the weekly farmer's market and yelled, "Come and
get your weed here!" - or when a teenager sauntered through her door and
sought advice on setting up a cannabis cafe.

"By the time I finished with him, he was suddenly put off the idea," she
recalled grimly.

Ms. Griffiths said she resented the way the drug experiment transformed
Brixton, long the center of London's black population and now an
increasingly vibrant multiracial community, into a magnet for drug use.
"Suddenly people were thinking, `Yeah - let's go to Brixton and smoke
cannabis!' " she said.

Mr. Andre-Watson was waiting at a bus stop recently when a pair of teenagers
lit up in front of an elderly lady. "I said, `Do you know that it's actually
still illegal?' " the pastor recalled. "And they said, `Everbody's doing it,
and no one's doing anything about it.' "

He and other residents complained so bitterly about drug dealing that after
negative newspaper stories, the police finally sent officers this month to
clear the streets.

But how long the stepped-up presence will persist is anybody's guess. When
London as a whole relaxes its marijuana policy under the new legislation,
people in Brixton are predicting that the open-air dealers will be back, at
the busy subway station and up and down Coldharbour Lane.

Indeed, until this week, there were dozens of opportunities to buy pot on a
Brixton street crowded with families and stores. Few people were under the
illusion that marijuana was the sole product being offered.

"It's not like people stand on one side of the street dealing cannabis, and
on the other side they're dealing crack and cocaine," Ms. Griffiths said.
"It's the same person."

Trying to address that problem, the new drug law, whose passage by the
Labor-controlled Parliament is a sure thing in the next legislative session,
provides for increased penalties for pushing drugs, particularly hard drugs.

That hardly affects the youths doing daredevil stunts on skateboards and BMX
bikes at the skateboard park, who say they mostly grow their own pot anyway.

"We really don't see it as a drug at all," said Mr. Reading, helping himself
to a fat joint filled with skunk, a souped-up form of marijuana. The drug
helps him find his skateboarding groove, he said.

"It's not a dis - what's the word? - well, I still have my balance," he
explained. "Although sometimes days go by - and before you know it a week's
gone by, and you haven't done anything you're supposed to do, like get a
job."

Ashley Finnegan, 30, a nursery school teacher who lives in the Stockwell
housing project, said she far prefers the stoned guys at the skating park to
the alcoholics and addicts along her hallway. She grows pot at home and
smokes a joint or two a night, although never in front of her 4-year-old
son, she said.

"Alcoholics in this area are far more likely to be abusive, to be begging on
the streets," she said. "If anything, pot mellows people down."

Mr. Haind, the sign painter, agreed. "There'd be a full-scale riot here if
we weren't all stoned," he said.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Josh

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 16:44:03 -0700
Subject: Nevada Police Group Reverses Endorsement Of Marijuana Up TOC

Newshawk: ZuniZoni Krissy www.mpp.org  MCAGiraffe
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Aug 2002
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Contact: rgjmail@nevadanet.com
Copyright: 2002 Reno Gazette-Journal
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author: Ken Ritter, AP
Note: Several hawked AP wire copies coalesced in this print version.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?162  (Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

NEVADA POLICE GROUP REVERSES ENDORSEMENT OF MARIJUANA MEASURE

Nevada's largest police organization ousted its president Friday and
reversed his endorsement of a statewide initiative that would let adults
legally possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana.

The Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs issued a statement blaming
former president Andy Anderson for a"misunderstanding"and declared that the
executive board had not endorsed decriminalizing marijuana when Anderson
polled them Tuesday.

"NCOPS does not endorse Question 9,"it said, referring to the measure's
number on the Nov. 5 ballot,"nor will it support any measure for the
decriminalization or legalization of marijuana."

Anderson, one of the founding members of the 23-year-old advocacy
organization, could not immediately be reached for comment. NCOPS
represents about 3,000 mostly southern Nevada law enforcement officers _
about two-thirds of police in the state.

Billy Rogers, head of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, the main
political group supporting the measure, insisted that the NCOPS board had
unanimously supported Question 9 before Anderson made the endorsement public.

"There was tremendous pressure from the politicians and the law enforcement
establishment to get these board members to change their minds,"Rogers said
Friday.

The NCOPS endorsement had echoed the Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement position that taxpayer dollars and law enforcement time are
wasted prosecuting minor drug offenders.

"Its a priority issue,"Anderson told The Associated Press on Tuesday."We
just feel we could use our resources better. Why waste our time with
marijuana arrests?"

The position drew national media attention and howls from police and
prosecutors, including Deputy Clark County District Attorney Gary Booker
who said Friday that 3 ounces of marijuana can make 200 or more marijuana
cigarettes _ far more than needed for personal use. Passing Question 9
would undercut drunken-driving prosecutions, Booker has said.

The endorsement also raised the profile of a campaign that has drawn recent
visits to Nevada from federal Drug Enforcement Agency Director Asa
Hutchinson and federal"drug czar"John P. Walters to underscore the Bush
administration's opposition to the measure.

Two statewide polls in recent weeks have found voters evenly split on the
proposal, with about 10 percent undecided.

Until last year, Nevada had the strictest marijuana law in the nation _
making it a felony to possess a single marijuana cigarette. Now, possessing
an ounce or less is a misdemeanor.

The initiative would allow marijuana to be sold only in state-licensed and
taxed smoke shops. Possession by minors would still be a crime, public use
would be banned and driving under the influence would be illegal. Sales by
private individuals would be prohibited.

The measure would have to pass twice _ in November and again in 2004 _ to
become law.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #164
********************************