Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 09:36:55 -0700

Subject:The Mix Is the Message V: Drug War Explosions  Up TOC
from Roger Dodger
The Mix Is the Message V: Drug War Explosions
Don Hazen, <http://www.alternet.org/>AlterNet
July 12, 2002

There is nothing more crazymaking in American society than the crashing 
crosscurrents of the drug war. On the one hand there is a population that 
has gone on record numerous times supporting decriminalization of pot and 
legal use of medical marijuana. On the other hand there is a rabid federal 
drug apparatus that clashes with local law enforcement and ignores public 
opinion expressed in statewide votes. Instead we are getting aggressive 
raids and punitive prosecutions. Between the clashing of these two world 
views, there is no middle ground.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court, led by Clarence Thomas, has extended the 
power of school districts to test and search students for drugs, 
underscoring once again, as 
<http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13564>Herman Schwartz writes in 
the Nation: "that for the Supreme Court, the rights of young people are 
shredded when they walk through the schoolhouse gates."

The latest crushing blow dealt by the Feds came on July 12 in Sacramento, 
Calif., where Bryan James Epis, a 35-year-old electrical engineer, was 
convicted for conspiracy and manufacturing of pot. Epis says he smokes pot 
for his own chronic pain and was cultivating it for other sick patients. He 
faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

Epis has been involved in a cannabis buyers club in Chico, which opened 
after voters in California approved a 1996 initiative that allowed the use 
of pot on the recommendation of a doctor. The jury found that Epis was 
planning to increase the number of pot plants he was growing to 1,000 in 
1999, and that his residence in Chico was within 1,000 feet of Chico High 
School, which could increase his penalty.

According to Sacramento Bee reporter Denny Walsh, who has been covering the 
case closely, this is the first federal criminal case involving an 
organization like the Cannabis Club to reach a jury. "U.S. District Judge 
Frank C. Damrell Jr. granted prosecutor Samuel Wong's motion that Epis be 
jailed pending sentencing. Wong pointed out that the law under which Epis 
was found guilty mandates immediate incarceration, and the judge agreed."

Organizers with the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRC Net) suggest that 
the trial could be a harbinger of things to come as California medical 
marijuana advocates find themselves in an increasingly tense and heated 
conflict with the federal government. The Sacramento case was marked by 
accusations of obstruction of justice against Epis and Oakland Cannabis 
Co-op head Jeff Jones; Jones attempted to familiarize jurors with the 
concept of jury nullification, and Epis was accused by Judge Damrell of 
doing so. Damrell dismissed one batch of potential jurors before the trial 
could get underway because of pamphleteering around the courthouse, and had 
Jones briefly arrested. Epis returns to Damrell's court on Aug. 1 for a 
hearing on the obstruction of justice charge.

The battle with the feds over pot will no doubt spread to other states that 
have passed medical pot laws or may soon do so. The newest wrinkle is that 
voters in Nevada, which until last year had the nation's strictest 
marijuana laws, will decide in November whether to let adults legally 
possess small amounts of pot. Under the proposal, marijuana would be sold 
in state-licensed shops. A distribution system also would be set up to 
provide low-cost pot for medical uses.

Meanwhile, other persecuted medical pot advocates in the U.S. are seeking 
refugee status in Canada. Renee Boje, 32, is probably the most famous 
American fugitive in Canada. According to a report by 
<http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13578>Ross Crockford on 
AlterNet.org, Boje is currently under U.S. extradition to face charges for 
conspiracy to cultivate hundreds of cannabis plants at the Los Angeles home 
of Todd McCormick, a cancer patient and medical marijuana activist.

If convicted, Boje faces the same mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years 
that Epis is likely to receive in Sacramento. The severity of the sentence, 
Crockford says, has made her the poster child for the increasing numbers of 
U.S. citizens heading north to take advantage of Canada's liberal pot laws. 
"There are hundreds of Americans here," Renee Boje says, "because they're 
being persecuted by their own government."

There is a major difference between how medical marijuana laws are applied 
in Canada and the U.S. The Canadian federal government has granted permits 
to possess or grow marijuana to more than 800 Canadians who suffer from 
AIDS, cancer or multiple sclerosis. Yet although California voters passed 
Prop. 215, the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996, the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Agency has used federal law to raid and prosecute medical marijuana clubs 
across the state. In May last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the DEA's 
actions, ruling that "marijuana has no medical benefits," and this June the 
U.S. government obtained an injunction shutting down the few remaining 
California clubs.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the British Labor Party, which controls 
the government, moved toward a far saner approach on the pot question, by 
in effect decriminalizing possession, even though English conservatives are 
nibbling around the edges of the policy change. British Home Secretary 
David Blunkett explained that the Blair government wished to distinguish 
"between drugs which kill and drugs that cause harm." Blunkett told the 
House of Commons that "cannabis possession remains a criminal offense," but 
in most cases users would not be arrested. The move would effectively 
extend the so-called "Lambeth experiment" (police in the south London 
borough of Lambeth do not arrest but merely cite cannabis offenders) to the 
entire nation.

According to <http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13585>DRCNet, 
former British drug czar Keith Hellawell took Blunkett's pronouncement as a 
chance to resign with some notice. "This would virtually be the 
decriminalization of cannabis and this is, quite frankly, giving out the 
wrong message," he said in a press release. "Cannabis is simply not a 
sensible substance to take."

What a mess. Saner countries like our neighbor Canada and our former 
colonial master, England, along with other European countries, are able to 
make rational judgments between dangerous drugs and benign ones.

Here in the U.S. however, an hysterical anti-intellectualism (and a 
philosophy that views all drugs as equally bad,) continues to astound many 
Americans by its fundamental stupidity. Even though there have been signs 
of lightening up, the era of Ashcroft and Bush has ratcheted up the drug 
war several notches, flexing the government's power to ruin lives, break up 
families and fill up jails. Despite the voices of millions of Americans who 
oppose the drug war, the end is not in sight, and those committed to the 
battle had better dig in for the long haul.

Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.org.
<http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13589>http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13589------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 12:28:26 -0700

Subject:DEA Urges Dutch To Crack Down On Ecstasy Dealers...  Up TOC
from Andrew Seidenfeld

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2002/07/15/usat-dutch-drugs.htm
07/15/2002 - Updated 11:01 AM ET

U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

photo: United States Customs Inspector Cecile Sosa-Pete works with "Ginny"
at Newark International Airport in New Jersey searching for drugs.

AMSTERDAM =8B The United States' anti-drug chief and a Dutch police=
 commander
were touring Amsterdam's red-light district recently when a man approached
the U.S. law enforcement delegation. "Ecstasy? Viagra? Cocaina?" he
whispered to a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman. The Dutch cop
shrugged. DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson grimaced. Drug dealers are bold
here. Drugs, especially the club drug Ecstasy, are cheap and plentiful.
Dutch police mostly look the other way, preferring to focus on property
crimes and public nuisances.
Read more below
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Graphic
*    Interactive guide to the latest illicit drugs
(http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gdrugs/frame.htm pretty high
tech, particularly informative is the Lingo for Users section)
*    See how Ecstasy affects the brain
http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gserotonin/frame.htm------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Photo gallery
*    See how drug smuggling has changed since Sept. 11
http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/drug-war/frame.htm------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
It's added up to a 100 million-pill-a-year problem for the USA, where
authorities have become increasingly frustrated at how the Netherlands'
laissez faire approach to drug enforcement has allowed Ecstasy labs to
flourish here.

The Netherlands has become the dominant supplier of the synthetic
hallucinogenic drug that has exploded in popularity among U.S. teens and
young adults. U.S. officials say about 80% of the 2 million Ecstasy pills
flowing into the USA each week are manufactured on Dutch soil. U.S. Customs
officers stationed in New York City-area airports, the most popular Ecstasy
smuggling hubs, say they can make a bust every other day just by targeting
passengers from flights that have passed through the Netherlands.

The percentage of teens in the USA who use Ecstasy has more than doubled
since 1995, a survey last year by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America
showed. In a nationwide survey of 6,937 youths ages 12-18, 12% said they had
used Ecstasy, up from 5% in 1995. It ranks behind only alcohol and marijuana
in teen popularity.

U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less hospitable to
Ecstasy's manufacturers and smugglers, but they have little power to make
that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally that cannot be pushed into
tougher drug enforcement with the promise of U.S. aid or the threat of
sanctions. Instead, U.S. officials are trying to politely persuade the Dutch
to see it their way.

Hutchinson, who visited the Netherlands for two days in June, hopes a more
conservative Dutch parliament elected May 15 and increasing pressure from
less permissive members of the European Union will prompt the Dutch to
pursue dealers and manufacturers more aggressively.

The Dutch have made significant busts since creating a synthetic-drug law
enforcement division in 1997. In 2000, Dutch authorities dismantled 23
Ecstasy labs, the U.S. State Department says. Dutch officials say they
intend to close more Ecstasy labs with five new anti-drug squads. The Dutch
parliament recently approved a five-year, $35 million program aimed at
reducing the Ecstasy supply, and the Dutch justice minister has suggested a
registration system for pillmaking machines.

U.S. officials appreciate the moves. But they say the Netherlands'
underlying tolerance of drugs undermines the crackdowns. Penalties for
dealing and manufacturing drugs are not stiff enough to discourage it, they
say.

"They have a permissive drug policy that has a natural way of attracting
those who want to engage in illegal behavior, and they have a weak law
enforcement structure," Hutchinson says.

Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, regard drug use
primarily as a health issue rather than as a crime problem, so they focus
their efforts on preventing drug use rather than law enforcement. Licensed
shops in the Netherlands sell marijuana for individual use, and the
government provides free needles and clean rooms where heroin addicts can
shoot up. Addicts who become a nuisance are steered toward treatment. The
large-scale dealers and manufacturers who are prosecuted rarely spend more
than a year or two in prison.

Dutch officials, when challenged on their priorities, refer to an insatiable
U.S. demand for drugs. "What we are doing is fighting some basic rules of an
economic market," says Steven van Hoogstraten, former director of drugs
policy at the Dutch Justice Ministry. Manufacturers want to smuggle drugs to
the market willing to pay the highest price, he says, alluding to the USA's
black market.

An Ecstasy pill typically sells for about 50 cents wholesale and $7 retail
in the Netherlands; it brings about $15 in the typical U.S. nightclub. Drug
prices in the Netherlands are the lowest in Western Europe, the United
Nations Office for Drug Control Policy says.

The Dutch police report that 40% of the Ecstasy they seized in 1999, about
1.5 million of 3.7 million tablets, was destined for the USA. Police data
indicate that 8.1 million Ecstasy tablets seized worldwide in 2000 could be
traced to the Netherlands, a State Department report says.

Manufacturers in the Netherlands usually buy used pill presses from Asia,
particularly India and Thailand. They import the chemicals from China, the
largest producer of chemicals used to make Ecstasy. The Chinese say they
produce the chemicals for making perfume, Dutch officials say.

"There is no legitimate use for the chemical" in the Netherlands, says David
Borah, the DEA attach=E9 based in The Hague. "So we know it's being used to
make Ecstasy."

Many smugglers who bring chemicals into the Netherlands find cover at
Rotterdam's port, the world's busiest. About 40% of the 6.5 million
containers that pass through the port each year contain chemicals. Loose
European borders mean that smugglers can bring the chemicals and pill
presses from Eastern Europe in tractor-trailers with little risk of
inspection.

Dutch customs officials X-ray 25,000 to 30,000 containers a year, less than
1% of the 6.5 million containers that pass through Rotterdam each year. They
say they usually need advance intelligence and luck to find Ecstasy pills in
containers the size of railroad cars.

"Try to find a bag of 10,000 pills in a 40-foot container of tomatoes," says
Kees Visscher of Dutch customs.


Front Page News Money Sports Life Tech Weather Shop
Terms of service Privacy Policy How to advertise About us
=A9 Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:29:56 -0700

Subject:Canada: Federal justice minister admits to smoking marijuana in his youth Up TOC

Federal justice minister admits to smoking marijuana in his youth

Canadian Press

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

OTTAWA (CP) - Justice Minister Martin Cauchon acknowledged smoking marijuana
in his youth Tuesday, a day after he suggested he's considering
decriminalizing the illegal substance. "I'm 39 years old . . . yes, of
course, I tried it," Cauchon said when asked after a cabinet meeting whether
he has ever tried marijuana.

"From my own experience, I can't tell you if it's harmful or not."

Cauchon declined to answer further questions about his use of marijuana,
saying only that he wants to see the findings of two parliamentary
committees before making a decision about whether to decriminalize it.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien said he has never tried to smoke dope.

"I don't smoke cigarettes, and when I was young the word marijuana did not
exist," he said outside the cabinet meeting Tuesday.

"I didn't know. I learned about the word long after that. It was too late to
try it."

Cauchon is only the latest Canadian politician to admit to trying marijuana.

Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, former Canadian
Alliance leader Stockwell Day, retiring federal NDP Leader Alexa McDonough,
both the opposition leaders in Ontario, and others have acknowledged using
the illegal weed, all of them saying they no longer indulge.

A Commons committee and a Senate committee are each exploring changes to
drug laws, including the possibility of decriminalizing marijuana.------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 18:32:51 -0700

Subject:CA: Medical Marijuana Proponents Protest Conviction Up TOC
Newshawk: openi420
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: chicoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://www.newsreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Chris Rizo, Capitol Correspondent

MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPONENTS PROTEST CONVICTION

SACRAMENTO - Decrying last week's conviction of a Chico medical
marijuana dispenser, dozens of activists protested outside the state
Department of Justice's headquarters Monday, calling on government to
keep its hands off their medicine.

On Thursday, a jury of eight women and four men found Bryan James Epis
guilty of federal charges of conspiring to grow more than 1,000
marijuana plants near a Chico school, for which the Chicoan now faces
a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

Epis, who plans to appeal the decision, is scheduled for sentencing on
Aug. 26. In the meantime he remains in custody.

Intensifying tensions between the federal government and local
advocates who point to a 1996 voter-approved state law that allows the
use of medically necessary marijuana, protesters Monday said they will
continue pressuring state authorities to challenge the federal law
that prohibits the use of cannabis for any purpose.

"This man's only crime is obeying California law, and his motive was
to reduce suffering of sick people," said Aundre Speciale of Americans
for Safe Access, a grass-roots group of medical marijuana supporters.

"What we want to know is what will Gov. Gray Davis and Attorney
General Bill Lockyer do to protect patients and to secure Bryan Epis'
freedom," Speciale continued.

Epis, who says he uses marijuana for neck pain resulting from a
near-fatal traffic crash, argued outside the courtroom he had the
right to dispense marijuana to seriously ill patients under provisions
of California's Compassionate Use Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell, however, forbid Epis'
attorney, the famous barrister J. Tony Serra, to use a medical
marijuana defense to justify Epis' conduct of illegal cultivation,
noting a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled such a defense
is not valid.

Don Duncan, a medical marijuana user who joined the protest from
Berkeley, said Epis' conviction is largely the consequence of an
uninformed jury, which was not allowed to consider the compassionate
circumstances surrounding the case.

"Had the jurors known that this was a medical marijuana case they
would have acquitted," Duncan said. "The jury had no idea that the
crime that they voted to convict on has a 10-year mandatory minimum
sentence."

Members of the Butte Alliance for Medical Marijuana said the case has
had a chilling effect on north state medical marijuana users.

"We have all gone to jail at some time for growing our own since
Bryan's arrest," said Mike Rogers, now of Live Oak, who faced
cultivating charges after being arrested in Cohasset in 1999. He was
acquitted in Butte County Superior Court two years later after he
presented a medical marijuana defense.

Added Dinah Coffman, director of BAMM: "This has had a ripple effect.
Now I have to try to grow my own medicine, and I have people trying to
break into my yard to get it."

The case against Epis, which is the first federal prosecution
involving a cannabis buyers' club, endured a string of procedural
challenges, including dismissal of the first jury pool after the
potential panel was tainted by pro-medical marijuana protesters
dispensing leaflets outside Sacramento's federal court building.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 19:42:55 -0700

Subject:Canada: Theft Makes Pot Grower Angry, Dopey Up TOC
Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/D83EDAE2-EFFF-4DD7-A411-D2E8E7B9BC99
Copyright: 2002 Times Colonist
Contact: letters@times-colonist.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481

THEFT MAKES POT GROWER ANGRY, DOPEY
It's straight out of Cheech and Chong.

A Saanich dope grower faces charges after indignantly complaining to police
that his marijuana grow operation had been stolen.

The cannabis cultivator went out for a few hours on Sunday night. When he
returned home about midnight, his indoor pot patch had been pilfered. He
phoned police.

But after the pot thinned, the plot thickened.

The appropriately named Const. Doug Weidman (pronounced Weedman) went to
the house in the 4000-block of Braefoot Road. He found the thief or thieves
had left some marijuana behind.

They arrested the 32-year-old resident for possession.

"It's surprising what some people will report to police," said Const. Peter
Lane. "It's kind of funny."

The 32-year-old has been released on a promise to appear in court in about
six weeks.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 23:13:57 -0700
From: webmaster@drugsense.org (DrugSense)
Subject:ALERT: #246 USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands Up TOC
DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002
USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands
*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************
DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002

DEA head Asa Hutchinson recently traveled to the Netherlands. USA Today
reported on the trip this week. The article not only lets Hutchinson
make absurd criticisms about the Dutch system without any challenge,
the reporter ignores a number of inconvenient facts, such as lower drug
use rates in the Netherlands.

The article states:

"U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less
hospitable to Ecstasy's manufacturers and smugglers, but they have
little power to make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally
that cannot be pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise of
U.S. aid or the threat of sanctions."

Surely the reporter knows that pushing countries into "tougher drug
enforcement" does not make a country "less hospitable" to drug
manufacturers - in Colombia such tactics have dramatically increased
drug production.

Please write a letter to USA Today asking why the newspaper is only
telling half the story on the Netherlands.

Thanks for your effort and support.
                   WRITE A LETTER TODAY
               It's not what others do it's what YOU do
***************************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
( Letter, Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter 
list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy 
directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not subscribed. Your letter will 
then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts 
and be motivated to follow suit.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to 
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as 
well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our 
impact and effectiveness.

************************************************************************
CONTACT INFO
Source: USA Today (US)
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
************************************************************************
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
- -----------------
U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy
Webpage: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2002/07/15/usat-dutch-drugs.htm
Pubdate: July 15, 2002
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA Today
U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy

AMSTERDAM The United States' anti-drug chief and a Dutch police
commander were touring Amsterdam's red-light district recently when a
man approached the U.S. law enforcement delegation. "Ecstasy? Viagra?
Cocaina?" he whispered to a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman.
The Dutch cop shrugged. DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson grimaced. Drug
dealers are bold here. Drugs, especially the club drug Ecstasy, are
cheap and plentiful. Dutch police mostly look the other way, preferring
to focus on property crimes and public nuisances.

It's added up to a 100 million-pill-a-year problem for the USA, where
authorities have become increasingly frustrated at how the Netherlands'
laissez faire approach to drug enforcement has allowed Ecstasy labs to
flourish here.

The Netherlands has become the dominant supplier of the synthetic
hallucinogenic drug that has exploded in popularity among U.S. teens
and young adults. U.S. officials say about 80% of the 2 million Ecstasy
pills flowing into the USA each week are manufactured on Dutch soil.
U.S. Customs officers stationed in New York City-area airports, the
most popular Ecstasy smuggling hubs, say they can make a bust every
other day just by targeting passengers from flights that have passed
through the Netherlands.

The percentage of teens in the USA who use Ecstasy has more than
doubled since 1995, a survey last year by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America showed. In a nationwide survey of 6,937 youths ages
12-18, 12% said they had used Ecstasy, up from 5% in 1995. It ranks
behind only alcohol and marijuana in teen popularity.

U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less hospitable
to Ecstasy's manufacturers and smugglers, but they have little power to
make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally that cannot be
pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise of U.S. aid or
the threat of sanctions. Instead, U.S. officials are trying to politely
persuade the Dutch to see it their way.

Hutchinson, who visited the Netherlands for two days in June, hopes a
more conservative Dutch parliament elected May 15 and increasing
pressure from less permissive members of the European Union will prompt
the Dutch to pursue dealers and manufacturers more aggressively.

The Dutch have made significant busts since creating a synthetic-drug
law enforcement division in 1997. In 2000, Dutch authorities dismantled
23 Ecstasy labs, the U.S. State Department says. Dutch officials say
they intend to close more Ecstasy labs with five new anti-drug squads.
The Dutch parliament recently approved a five-year, $35 million program
aimed at reducing the Ecstasy supply, and the Dutch justice minister
has suggested a registration system for pillmaking machines.

U.S. officials appreciate the moves. But they say the Netherlands'
underlying tolerance of drugs undermines the crackdowns. Penalties for
dealing and manufacturing drugs are not stiff enough to discourage it,
they say.

"They have a permissive drug policy that has a natural way of
attracting those who want to engage in illegal behavior, and they have
a weak law enforcement structure," Hutchinson says.

Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, regard drug
use primarily as a health issue rather than as a crime problem, so they
focus their efforts on preventing drug use rather than law enforcement.
Licensed shops in the Netherlands sell marijuana for individual use,
and the government provides free needles and clean rooms where heroin
addicts can shoot up. Addicts who become a nuisance are steered toward
treatment. The large-scale dealers and manufacturers who are prosecuted
rarely spend more than a year or two in prison.

Dutch officials, when challenged on their priorities, refer to an
insatiable U.S. demand for drugs. "What we are doing is fighting some
basic rules of an economic market," says Steven van Hoogstraten, former
director of drugs policy at the Dutch Justice Minister has suggested a
registration system for pillmaking machines.

U.S. officials appreciate the moves. But they say the Netherlands'
underlying tolerance of drugs undermines the crackdowns. Penalties for
dealing and manufacturing drugs are not stiff enough to discourage it, they
say.

"They have a permissive drug policy that has a natural way of attracting
those who want to engage in illegal behavior, and they have a weak law
enforcement structure," Hutchinson says.

Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, regard drug use
primarily as a health issue rather than as a crime problem, so they focus
their efforts on preventing drug use rather than law enforcement. Licensed
shops in the Netherlands sell marijuana for individual use, and the
government provides free needles and clean rooms where heroin addicts can
shoot up. Addicts who become a nuisance are steered toward treatment. The
large-scale dealers and manufacturers who are prosecuted rarely spend more
than a year or two in prison.

Dutch officials, when challenged on their priorities, refer to an insatiable
U.S. demand for drugs. "What we are doing is fighting some basic rules of an
economic market," says Steven van Hoogstraten, former director of drugs
policy at the Dutch Justice Ministry. Manufacturers want to smuggle drugs to
the market willing to pay the highest price, he says, alluding to the USA's
black market.

An Ecstasy pill typically sells for about 50 cents wholesale and $7 retail
in the Netherlands; it brings about $15 in the typical U.S. nightclub. Drug
prices in the Netherlands are the lowest in Western Europe, the United
Nations Office for Drug Control Policy says.

The Dutch police report that 40% of the Ecstasy they seized in 1999, about
1.5 million of 3.7 million tablets, was destined for the USA. Police data
indicate that 8.1 million Ecstasy tablets seized worldwide in 2000 could be
traced to the Netherlands, a State Department report says.

Manufacturers in the Netherlands usually buy used pill presses from Asia,
particularly India and Thailand. They import the chemicals from China, the
largest producer of chemicals used to make Ecstasy. The Chinese say they
produce the chemicals for making perfume, Dutch officials say.

"There is no legitimate use for the chemical" in the Netherlands, says David
Borah, the DEA attach=E9 based in The Hague. "So we know it's being used to
make Ecstasy."

Many smugglers who bring chemicals into the Netherlands find cover at
Rotterdam's port, the world's busiest. About 40% of the 6.5 million
containers that pass through the port each year contain chemicals. Loose
European borders mean that smugglers can bring the chemicals and pill
presses from Eastern Europe in tractor-trailers with little risk of
inspection.

Dutch customs officials X-ray 25,000 to 30,000 containers a year, less than
1% of the 6.5 million containers that pass through Rotterdam each year. They
say they usually need advance intelligence and luck to find Ecstasy pills in
containers the size of railroad cars.

"Try to find a bag of 10,000 pills in a 40-foot container of tomatoes," says
Kees Visscher of Dutch customs.


Front Page News Money Sports Life Tech Weather Shop
Terms of service Privacy Policy How to advertise About us
=A9 Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:29:56 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: Federal justice minister admits to smoking marijuana in his youth

Federal justice minister admits to smoking marijuana in his youth

Canadian Press

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

OTTAWA (CP) - Justice Minister Martin Cauchon acknowledged smoking marijuana
in his youth Tuesday, a day after he suggested he's considering
decriminalizing the illegal substance. "I'm 39 years old . . . yes, of
course, I tried it," Cauchon said when asked after a cabinet meeting whether
he has ever tried marijuana.

"From my own experience, I can't tell you if it's harmful or not."

Cauchon declined to answer further questions about his use of marijuana,
saying only that he wants to see the findings of two parliamentary
committees before making a decision about whether to decriminalize it.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien said he has never tried to smoke dope.

"I don't smoke cigarettes, and when I was young the word marijuana did not
exist," he said outside the cabinet meeting Tuesday.

"I didn't know. I learned about the word long after that. It was too late to
try it."

Cauchon is only the latest Canadian politician to admit to trying marijuana.

Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, former Canadian
Alliance leader Stockwell Day, retiring federal NDP Leader Alexa McDonough,
both the opposition leaders in Ontario, and others have acknowledged using
the illegal weed, all of them saying they no longer indulge.

A Commons committee and a Senate committee are each exploring changes to
drug laws, including the possibility of decriminalizing marijuana.------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 18:32:51 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: CA: Medical Marijuana Proponents Protest Conviction
Newshawk: openi420
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: chicoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://www.newsreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Chris Rizo, Capitol Correspondent

MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROPONENTS PROTEST CONVICTION

SACRAMENTO - Decrying last week's conviction of a Chico medical
marijuana dispenser, dozens of activists protested outside the state
Department of Justice's headquarters Monday, calling on government to
keep its hands off their medicine.

On Thursday, a jury of eight women and four men found Bryan James Epis
guilty of federal charges of conspiring to grow more than 1,000
marijuana plants near a Chico school, for which the Chicoan now faces
a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

Epis, who plans to appeal the decision, is scheduled for sentencing on
Aug. 26. In the meantime he remains in custody.

Intensifying tensions between the federal government and local
advocates who point to a 1996 voter-approved state law that allows the
use of medically necessary marijuana, protesters Monday said they will
continue pressuring state authorities to challenge the federal law
that prohibits the use of cannabis for any purpose.

"This man's only crime is obeying California law, and his motive was
to reduce suffering of sick people," said Aundre Speciale of Americans
for Safe Access, a grass-roots group of medical marijuana supporters.

"What we want to know is what will Gov. Gray Davis and Attorney
General Bill Lockyer do to protect patients and to secure Bryan Epis'
freedom," Speciale continued.

Epis, who says he uses marijuana for neck pain resulting from a
near-fatal traffic crash, argued outside the courtroom he had the
right to dispense marijuana to seriously ill patients under provisions
of California's Compassionate Use Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell, however, forbid Epis'
attorney, the famous barrister J. Tony Serra, to use a medical
marijuana defense to justify Epis' conduct of illegal cultivation,
noting a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled such a defense
is not valid.

Don Duncan, a medical marijuana user who joined the protest from
Berkeley, said Epis' conviction is largely the consequence of an
uninformed jury, which was not allowed to consider the compassionate
circumstances surrounding the case.

"Had the jurors known that this was a medical marijuana case they
would have acquitted," Duncan said. "The jury had no idea that the
crime that they voted to convict on has a 10-year mandatory minimum
sentence."

Members of the Butte Alliance for Medical Marijuana said the case has
had a chilling effect on north state medical marijuana users.

"We have all gone to jail at some time for growing our own since
Bryan's arrest," said Mike Rogers, now of Live Oak, who faced
cultivating charges after being arrested in Cohasset in 1999. He was
acquitted in Butte County Superior Court two years later after he
presented a medical marijuana defense.

Added Dinah Coffman, director of BAMM: "This has had a ripple effect.
Now I have to try to grow my own medicine, and I have people trying to
break into my yard to get it."

The case against Epis, which is the first federal prosecution
involving a cannabis buyers' club, endured a string of procedural
challenges, including dismissal of the first jury pool after the
potential panel was tainted by pro-medical marijuana protesters
dispensing leaflets outside Sacramento's federal court building.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 19:42:55 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: Theft Makes Pot Grower Angry, Dopey
Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/D83EDAE2-EFFF-4DD7-A411-D2E8E7B9BC99
Copyright: 2002 Times Colonist
Contact: letters@times-colonist.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481

THEFT MAKES POT GROWER ANGRY, DOPEY
It's straight out of Cheech and Chong.

A Saanich dope grower faces charges after indignantly complaining to police
that his marijuana grow operation had been stolen.

The cannabis cultivator went out for a few hours on Sunday night. When he
returned home about midnight, his indoor pot patch had been pilfered. He
phoned police.

But after the pot thinned, the plot thickened.

The appropriately named Const. Doug Weidman (pronounced Weedman) went to
the house in the 4000-block of Braefoot Road. He found the thief or thieves
had left some marijuana behind.

They arrested the 32-year-old resident for possession.

"It's surprising what some people will report to police," said Const. Peter
Lane. "It's kind of funny."

The 32-year-old has been released on a promise to appear in court in about
six weeks.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 23:13:57 -0700
From: webmaster@drugsense.org (DrugSense)
Subject: ALERT: #246 USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands
DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002
USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands
*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************
DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002

DEA head Asa Hutchinson recently traveled to the Netherlands. USA Today
reported on the trip this week. The article not only lets Hutchinson
make absurd criticisms about the Dutch system without any challenge,
the reporter ignores a number of inconvenient facts, such as lower drug
use rates in the Netherlands.

The article states:

"U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less
hospitable to Ecstasy's manufacturers and smugglers, but they have
little power to make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally
that cannot be pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise of
U.S. aid or the threat of sanctions."

Surely the reporter knows that pushing countries into "tougher drug
enforcement" does not make a country "less hospitable" to drug
manufacturers - in Colombia such tactics have dramatically increased
drug production.

Please write a letter to USA Today asking why the newspaper is only
telling half the story on the Netherlands.

Thanks for your effort and support.
                   WRITE A LETTER TODAY
               It's not what others do it's what YOU do
***************************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
( Letter, Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter 
list (sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy 
directly to MGreer@mapinc.org if you are not subscribed. Your letter will 
then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts 
and be motivated to follow suit.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list (sentlte@mapinc.org) will help you to 
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as 
well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our 
impact and effectiveness.

************************************************************************
CONTACT INFO
Source: USA Today (US)
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
************************************************************************
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
- -----------------
U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy
Webpage: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2002/07/15/usat-dutch-drugs.htm
Pubdate: July 15, 2002
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA Today
U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy

AMSTERDAM The United States' anti-drug chief and a Dutch police
commander were touring Amsterdam's red-light district recently when a
man approached the U.S. law enforcement delegation. "Ecstasy? Viagra?
Cocaina?" he whispered to a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman.
The Dutch cop shrugged. DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson grimaced. Drug
dealers are bold here. Drugs, especially the club drug Ecstasy, are
cheap and plentiful. Dutch police mostly look the other way, preferring
to focus on property crimes and public nuisances.

It's added up to a 100 million-pill-a-year problem for the USA, where
authorities have become increasingly frustrated at how the Netherlands'
laissez faire approach to drug enforcement has allowed Ecstasy labs to
flourish here.

The Netherlands has become the dominant supplier of the synthetic
hallucinogenic drug that has exploded in popularity among U.S. teens
and young adults. U.S. officials say about 80% of the 2 million Ecstasy
pills flowing into the USA each week are manufactured on Dutch soil.
U.S. Customs officers stationed in New York City-area airports, the
most popular Ecstasy smuggling hubs, say they can make a bust every
other day just by targeting passengers from flights that have passed
through the Netherlands.

The percentage of teens in the USA who use Ecstasy has more than
doubled since 1995, a survey last year by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America showed. In a nationwide survey of 6,937 youths ages
12-18, 12% said they had used Ecstasy, up from 5% in 1995. It ranks
behind only alcohol and marijuana in teen popularity.

U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less hospitable
to Ecstasy's manufacturers and smugglers, but they have little power to
make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally that cannot be
pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise of U.S. aid or
the threat of sanctions. Instead, U.S. officials are trying to politely
persuade the Dutch to see it their way.

Hutchinson, who visited the Netherlands for two days in June, hopes a
more conservative Dutch parliament elected May 15 and increasing
pressure from less permissive members of the European Union will prompt
the Dutch to pursue dealers and manufacturers more aggressively.

The Dutch have made significant busts since creating a synthetic-drug
law enforcement division in 1997. In 2000, Dutch authorities dismantled
23 Ecstasy labs, the U.S. State Department says. Dutch officials say
they intend to close more Ecstasy labs with five new anti-drug squads.
The Dutch parliament recently approved a five-year, $35 million program
aimed at reducing the Ecstasy supply, and the Dutch justice minister
has suggested a registration system for pillmaking machines.

U.S. officials appreciate the moves. But they say the Netherlands'
underlying tolerance of drugs undermines the crackdowns. Penalties for
dealing and manufacturing drugs are not stiff enough to discourage it,
they say.

"They have a permissive drug policy that has a natural way of
attracting those who want to engage in illegal behavior, and they have
a weak law enforcement structure," Hutchinson says.

Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, regard drug
use primarily as a health issue rather than as a crime problem, so they
focus their efforts on preventing drug use rather than law enforcement.
Licensed shops in the Netherlands sell marijuana for individual use,
and the government provides free needles and clean rooms where heroin
addicts can shoot up. Addicts who become a nuisance are steered toward
treatment. The large-scale dealers and manufacturers who are prosecuted
rarely spend more than a year or two in prison.

Dutch officials, when challenged on their priorities, refer to an
insatiable U.S. demand for drugs. "What we are doing is fighting some
basic rules of an economic market," says Steven van Hoogstraten, former
director of drugs policy at the Dutch Justice Ministry. Manufacturers
want to smuggle drugs to the market willing to pay the highest price,
he says, alluding to the USA's black market.

An Ecstasy pill typically sells for about 50 cents wholesale and $7
retail in the Netherlands; it brings about $15 in the typical U.S.
nightclub. Drug prices in the Netherlands are the lowest in Western
Europe, the United Nations Office for Drug Control Policy says.

The Dutch police report that 40% of the Ecstasy they seized in 1999,
about 1.5 million of 3.7 million tablets, was destined for the USA.
Police data indicate that 8.1 million Ecstasy tablets seized worldwide
in 2000 could be traced to the Netherlands, a State Department report
says.

Manufacturers in the Netherlands usually buy used pill presses from
Asia, particularly India and Thailand. They import the chemicals from
China, the largest producer of chemicals used to make Ecstasy. The
Chinese say they produce the chemicals for making perfume, Dutch
officials say.

"There is no legitimate use for the chemical" in the Netherlands, says
David Borah, the DEA attache based in The Hague. "So we know it's being
used to make Ecstasy."

Many smugglers who bring chemicals into the Netherlands find cover at
Rotterdam's port, the world's busiest. About 40% of the 6.5 million
containers that pass through the port each year contain chemicals.
Loose European borders mean that smugglers can bring the chemicals and
pill presses from Eastern Europe in tractor-trailers with little risk
of inspection.

Dutch customs officials X-ray 25,000 to 30,000 containers a year, less
than 1% of the 6.5 million containers that pass through Rotterdam each
year. They say they usually need advance intelligence and luck to find
Ecstasy pills in containers the size of railroad cars.

"Try to find a bag of 10,000 pills in a 40-foot container of tomatoes," 
says Kees Visscher of Dutch customs.

************************************************************************
ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts
3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm
Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm
************************************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER (SENT)

To the Editors of USA TODAY:

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson should be seeking advice on drug
policy from the Dutch, not giving it. ("U. S. Urges Dutch to Toughen
Drug Policy" 7-15-02).  The Dutch rate of recreational drug use and
abuse is substantially lower than U. S. rates. See:
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

If we stop drugs like ecstasy from coming from the Netherlands the
drugs will come from somewhere else.  As long as Americans want drugs
and we are willing to pay a substantial price for the drugs, someone
will produce them and someone will get the drugs to the willing buyers.  
Guaranteed.

Best regards,
Kirk Muse

IMPORTANT: Always remember to include your address and phone number.

NOTE: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at
least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of
the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for
his/her work.
************************************************************************
TARGET ANALYSIS USA Today

With a U.S. circulation of over 2.3 million, the readership
demographics are: Total Adult Readers 4.3 million. Male/Female 66/34%.
Median Age 41 years. Attended College 80%. Median HH Income $71, 661.

The average published letter would cost over $5,000 if purchased as an
ad.

The MAP published letter archive has 53 letters from USA Today. A
recent sample shows they tend to be short - about 40% being under 100
words. The average published is 169 words, and the largest about 300
words.

The published letters can be viewed here:

http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=USA+Today
************************************************************************
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
Please utilize the following URLs
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, Newshawks and letter
writing activists.
NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
REMINDER:
Please help MAP find news articles. Details at
http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm
===
NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE
DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE TO
PRODUCE.

We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our
convenient donation web site at
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

- -OR-

Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/
**************************** Just DO It!! ******************************
Prepared by Stephen Young - www.maximizingharm.com
DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist
************************************************************************
===
Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to editor@mapinc.org
See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for details
===
NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE

DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE
TO PRODUCE.

We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our
convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
********************* Just DO It!! **********************************
Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org/
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 03:07:03 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: MI: HEMP Operation Takes To The Air
Newshawk: M & M Family
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Source: Monroe Evening News (MI)
Contact: tom@monroenews.com
Copyright: 2002, The Monroe Evening News
Website: http://www.monroenews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2302

HEMP OPERATION TAKES TO THE AIR

State police spotted marijuana plants growing in Exeter Township Monday.

Michigan State Police got a bird's-eye view of Monroe County Monday during
an annual marijuana plant uprooting operation.

Using a helicopter to see from above, undercover agents directed officers on
the ground to plots of pot plants growing amid the county's crops.

Lt. Luke Davis of the Office of Monroe Narcotics Investigations (OMNI) said
14 plants were found at Ferder and Scofield Rds. in a rural section of
Exeter Township just west of Maybee.

The MSP chopper flew above the county for about five hours Monday in the
first of what could be several flights for Operation HEMP, or Help Eliminate
Marijuana Plants. The program is designed to eradicate pot plants that
people grow among corn.

Normally suspects are not developed because it's difficult to prove who
planted the weed. Moreover, HEMP is designed specifically for eradication.

Marijuana is clearly seen by the naked eye from above because of its
distinct green color. When crews in the chopper spot growing pot, they
notify officers on the ground and direct them to the illegal plants.

The location near Maybee was the only plot discovered Monday. The plants
were young, about three feet tall, Lt. Davis said. Additional operations are
expected later this year, he added.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk
------------------------------

Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 11:50:48 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: Marijuana Law Is Out Of Date
Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca  http://cannabislink.ca/
Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2002
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Contact: letters@therecord.com
Website: http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
MARIJUANA LAW IS OUT OF DATE

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has started what should become a major
debate about the best way for Canadians to handle the marijuana question.

To his credit, Cauchon has avoided jumping to conclusions about exactly
what new federal legislation should do with marijuana, but he has clearly
indicated that he finds the current law unacceptable. As it now stands,
simple possession of marijuana is a criminal offence, punishable by
imprisonment.

Believing this to be too harsh, the government is considering some form of
decriminalization, though possession would still be illegal. Presumably,
growing marijuana for commercial purposes in homes would remain illegal, as
it should be because it poses safety problems through the excessive use of
electricity and residues left in the homes. Trafficking would also be illegal.

The minister's interest in this subject comes -- perhaps not surprisingly
- -- one week after the British government said it would make possession of
marijuana a non-arrestable offence. There, police would arrest marijuana
users only if they caused public problems or threatened to harm children.
Other countries, such as Netherlands, have gone even further in
liberalizing marijuana laws.

The case against Canada's current law is strong. In terms of the physical
impact it has upon people as a drug, marijuana is not so different from
alcohol and tobacco. An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal
in May 2001 called marijuana an innocuous drug, with the exception of
ingredients such as tars that make it similar to tobacco from a health
perspective.

Indeed, the government is not thinking of going as far as to make
possession of marijuana legal. Cauchon wants to leave it as an illegal
drug, but not one with heavy, criminal penalties attached to it. Such an
approach makes sense. There is no good reason to make people who use
marijuana recreationally as criminals. And by shifting the focus of police
away from such users, the state could put more of its resources into its
battle against trafficking and, indeed, more dangerous drugs.

In the short term, Cauchon said the government will wait for the reports of
two parliamentary committees that have been studying marijuana. He has also
said the government will consult Canadians. On so controversial an issue,
this is a fair strategy.

Support for decriminalizing marijuana has come from Conservative Leader Joe
Clark and Keith Martin, the Alliance member of Parliament who introduced a
private member's bill on this subject. Perhaps the most interesting support
comes from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. The chiefs are
more concerned about police officers focusing their time on serious criminals.

The real debate in the months ahead should be about the details of the
forthcoming marijuana legislation, not on the principle of decriminalization.
__________________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------

End of Restore-Digest V2002 #138
********************************