Drug War Roundup - The Mutiny

This is my last Drug War Roundup for a little while.  My commentary this week is posted here.  It describes why I've been doing this and why I think this issue is so important.  I'm taking a break as I know I won't have enough time to do this over the next several months.  I want to thank everyone who's been reading this diary and recommending it.

For the last two weeks...

Major News

• The commander of U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan, Navy Admiral William J. Fallon, testified that the Taliban is busy assisting with the opium harvest before their usual spring offensive.
• The US Attorneys scandal is shedding more light on the Ed Rosenthal case, which highlights both the incompetence and the extreme authoritarianism of the Bush Administration's Justice Department.  In this new trial, jurors will once again not be informed that Rosenthal was growing medical marijuana for patients for the city of Oakland.
• The most serious charges against Virginia pain management doctor William Hurwitz were thrown out during his retrial.  The DEA still hasn't charged a Montana doctor who was raided two years ago and is no longer able to treat his pain patients.
• The ACLU filed an appeal in federal court in their attempt to prove that the Higher Education Act's drug penalties are unconstitutional.  Jamie Spencer provides some background on the case.  Jake at the National SSDP office shows how you can help.  Jesus' General's inner Frenchman explains why this law needs to be scrubbed.
• Three Atlanta police officers were indicted for their role in the botched drug raid that ended with the death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston.  Radley Balko has more and more here.
• John Walters led a summit in Las Vegas to promote drug testing in schools.  Scott Morgan points out why this is such a bad idea.
• The Mexican military arrested over 100 police officers in Nuevo Leon state who were suspected of working with drug traffickers.

Opinions and Blogposts

• Radley Balko responds to a Jonah Goldberg post about how important it is to reduce drug use.  David Borden has a nice editorial on the same topic.  Balko and Scott Henson post about the injustices that didn't get as much attention as the Duke Lacrosse case did.
• David Borden writes a letter to Anderson Cooper about his lazy coverage of the "Stop Snitching" phenomenon.
• Ethan Nadelmann makes the case on NPR for legalizing marijuana.
• Pete Guither writes about 420 and ridicules the former Speaker of the House.  He also has some theatre news.
• Jeff Woods writes about Tennessee medical marijuana advocate Bernie Ellis.
• Stephanie Armour writes about what companies are doing in response to having employees who are medical marijuana users.  Scott Morgan has more.
• Alex Coolman writes about how drugs and guns tend to be lumped together when dealing with 4th Amendment issues.
• Colin McDonald writes about a Somali immigrant in Seattle who was busted for importing khat.
• Jennifer Abel writes about medical marijuana in Connecticut.  A dim-witted Connecticut lawmaker isn't clear that when they make things illegal that that means that people actually go to jail.
• Bill Conroy writes about West Texas US Attorney Johnny Sutton and how he ended up being targeted by people across the political spectrum while waging the war on drugs.
• Dwight Abbott writes about the disaster that ensued after California tried to ban all tobacco products from their prisons.
• Marsha Rosenbaum talks about National D.A.R.E. Day.
• Jamie Spencer talks about a new documentary called "Damage Done" that looks at the failure of drug prohibition from the perspective of law enforcement.  He also writes about the shameful way that marijuana became illegal and finds an incoherent drug warrior.
• Scott Morgan responds to Bryan Preston's exasperation over the powerful Mexican drug gangs.
• Tanya Derbowka posts about a town that doesn't want a detox center near a school.  She also posts two homemade YouTube videos on the thin line between legal and illegal drugs.
• Jacob Sullum writes about recent studies on prescription medications meant to prevent depression in young people.  He also talks about Canada's new rules on people with drug convictions entering the country, and the U.S. response.
• Adam Isacson writes about the recent drop in the price of cocaine.
• Howard Woolridge talks about his recent travels as a spokesman for LEAP.
• Greg Francisco writes about medical marijuana in New Mexico and writes about why it would make sense for Michigan to legalize and tax marijuana.
• Kos diarist Jay Elias writes about race and justice in America.
• Kos diarist Elvish1 writes about drug task forces in Texas.
• The Fourth Amendment blog writes about an odd decision regarding how we interact with police and consenting to searches.
• Katherine Seligman writes about the growing interest in cannabis connoisseurship.
• 420 Guy writes about the drug policy platforms of the Canadian political parties and sends a letter to the Canadian government.
• Kelley Beaucar Vlahos writes about Bob Barr and his new alliance with drug law reformers.
• Jesse Leavenworth writes about the trend of large suburban indoor marijuana grow operations.
• John Aravosis posts about the database the federal government has for tracking prescription drug use among private citizens.
• Jon Katz writes about winning a case for a client involving drug paraphernalia found during a drug search with a police dog.
• Jim Leitzel posts about drug control and gun control.
• Scott Henson posts about how the Stop Snitching movement isn't just in inner cities.
• Tim Ferriss compares the effects of marijuana and Blackberries.
• Two brain-dead college students write in Human Events Online that the Bush Administration is not trying hard enough in the war on drugs,
• I posted about some of the recent findings on the medical benefits of marijuana.

Regional News - U.S. and Canada

• U.S. Government officials are trying to claim that marijuana is more dangerous than ever before.  They probably hope it will distract people from the drop in the price of cocaine.
• The FDA is now going after the makers of the new energy drink called Cocaine.  So is Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
• Some recent studies show the benefits of using vaporizers as a way to inhale THC without any of the harmful effects for normal smoking.
• It was revealed that three top NFL prospects in this weekend's draft admitted past marijuana use in what was supposed to be a confidential interview.
• The rate of HIV is very high among gay men who use crystal meth.
• A Washington State man won a settlement in a case where he brought charges against police officers who tampered with evidence in an attempt to convict him of drug dealing.
• The LA Times wants more support for the voter-initiated Proposition 36.
• The California Supreme Court granted review for a case where a medical marijuana patient is required to take his THC in capsule form.
• Lab tests done on Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap showed that Orange County police arrested Don Bolles of punk band The Germs for no reason at all.  Pete Guither has more on this ridiculous case.
• The Orange County Register reports on the debate over issuing medical marijuana IDs in the county.
• More suburban communities around Los Angeles are discovering that homes in their neighborhoods are being used for marijuana grows.
• Ten Arizona counties are collaborating on an anti-meth ad campaign similar to the one in Montana.
• Denver police arrested 78 people at a 4/20 rally meant to honor the recently murdered medical marijuana advocate Ken Gorman.
• A bill has been introduced to the Texas legislature to ban salvia divinorum.  A bill to allow needle exchanges is also moving through.
• Six men were arrested in Lubbock, TX for allegedly running a cocaine distribution ring.
• Dallas school officials say that they have a big problem with a heroin and cold medicine mixture called "cheese."  Since 2005, 17 Dallas County teenagers have died from overdoses.
• Editorials in St. Joseph, MO debate the pro and con of marijuana decriminalization.
• An Iowa man is still trying to keep his church alive, one which has used marijuana as part of its rituals.
• A medical marijuana bill passed out of Senate committee in Minnesota.
• A Presbyterian pastor in Rockford, IL supports the state's efforts to enact a medical marijuana law.  Among clergy, he is not alone.  The Chicago Sun-Times editorial board agrees with their view.
• A new law in Peoria Heights, IL gives law enforcement the leeway to just write citations for marijuana possession.
• Loretta Nall had the charges against her from a 2002 raid on her home dismissed on 4/20.  Phillip Smith has more.  Loretta also reminds people what not to do whenever you see a narcotics checkpoint sign on the highway.
• A 7-year-old in Tampa found $9,000 worth of crack in his jacket pocket.  I challenged anyone to explain how that could ever happen without prohibition.
• Three people died in the Florida Keys after a plane crashed into the wire tether for a blimp used to monitor drug flights.
• Federal officials say that Miami International Airport has been a major drug distribution hub since 2002.
• The father of the family that was executed along the Florida Turnpike was allegedly part of a large cocaine-distribution ring.
• South Carolina is seeing more of its drugs coming from Mexico rather than the Caribbean.
• The Maryland legislature passed a sentencing reform bill.
• The Police Chief in Jersey City, NJ is pushing back against the plan of a city councilman to seize the cars of johns and drug buyers.
• The New York state Assembly passed more reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
• A researcher from Oregon spoke to a crowd in Rockland County, NY about her theory that drug addiction in the black community is due to post-slavery trauma.
• Ulster County (NY) officials conducted a drug raid across the street from where local legislators were holding an awards ceremony.
• Trey Anastasio from Phish pled guilty to felony drug charges, but will avoid jail.
• Stamford, CT officials are worried that two recent overdose deaths are from tainted heroin.
• Former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee spoke to Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Providence about the need to rethink the drug war.
• A Vermont store-owner is challenging the attempts to get him to stop selling salvia divinorum.
• The Canadian government is significantly marking up the cost of the medical marijuana it grows in northern Manitoba.
• Senator and former Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell reiterated his support for legalizing marijuana.
• A judge in the Yukon Territories threw out a bunch of evidence in a case against some indoor marijuana growers.  Tanya Derbowka has more.
• Senator Ted Stevens is asking for more resources to be spent combatting meth use in Alaska.

Regional News - International

• Intravenous drug use is believed to be the major factor behind the spread of HIV worldwide.
• The UN has one more year to make the world drug free.
• Mexico's opposition party is starting to discuss drug legalization on both sides of the Rio Grande.
• The Coast Guard seized 40,000 pounds of cocaine off of the Central American coast.  Libby Spencer writes about this drop in the bucket.
• The State Department certified that Colombia has improved its human rights record despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary.
• A truck overturned in Medellin, Colombia, spilling cocaine all over the road.
• Coca growers in Peru are striking to protest the hardline rhetoric coming from President Alan Garcia.
• Over 20 people were killed in Rio de Janeiro in fighting between drug gangs and police.
• A report in Britain reported in the Independent claims that one-third of young people in the UK have tried cannabis by age 15.  Steve at Transform continues to refute the Independent's sloppy journalism.  A new survey by the Home Office is more proof that Britain's hard line stance against drugs is not working.  Steve crunches the numbers.
• A shitstorm has erupted in Britain over a food company referring to their mushrooms as "magic."
• A group of doctors in Scotland met to discuss having the British Government allow for medical cannabis to be prescribed through the government health system.
• Dutch coffeeshop owners are not worried that the smoking ban starting in 2008 will affect what people do in their establishments.  The mayor of Maastricht told officials in Germany and Belgium that if they wanted to stop Belgians and Germans from buying marijuana at Dutch coffeeshops, they should open their own.
• Liberian officials burned a seized stash of illegal drugs (the article oddly does not identify which illegal drug).
• Myanmar is working towards its goal of drug eradication by 2014.
• Opium farmers in northeastern India are not making as much money as they used to.
• A man is facing the death penalty in Malaysia for an arrest from 1990 when he was in possession of 1kg of marijuana.
• Schapelle Corby's sister and her family are remaining in Indonesia until Corby is released from the Indonesian jail where she continues to serve a long prison sentence for drug smuggling.
• A member of the Australian Parliament is caught in a scandal where he gave drugs to minors.
• Another member of the Australian Parliament lost her composure when having to face a drug policy expert.
• Police in Sydney busted a large scale ecstasy lab.
• Scientists in New Zealand are looking into ways that cannabis can be used to repair brain cells after a stroke.

Fun Stuff and Pop Culture

• Attorney General Gonzales could only seem to remember something about meth last week.
• The very dangerous criminal Willie Nelson will not be going to jail after cops recently found weed and mushrooms on his tour bus.
• Ali G talks to a British drug warrior.
• Dan Savage finds an odd attempt to show the dangers of pot.
• Somewhere in California, a firefighter is self-medicating.
• Here's a scene from Easy Rider on YouTube.