Drug War Roundup

In Colombia a few weeks ago, 10 undercover police officers working on an anti-drug operation were killed by Colombian troops.  President Alvaro Uribe, who was up for re-election on May 28, promised a swift investigation, saying that it was an unfortunate friendly fire incident.  The shooting occurred in the Valle Region of Colombia, southwest of Bogota, an area believed to be controlled by the main Colombian rebel group FARC.  Uribe's popularity has been largely are result of the unpopularity of left-wing groups like FARC, who have been guilty of numerous instances of terrorism and drug trafficking.  As expected, Uribe won his re-election handily, credited with keeping these rebel groups in check.

However, several days after Uribe's re-election, there was some more news on the shooting:

Colombian officials have arrested eight soldiers wanted in connection with last month's killing of 10 undercover police officers and a civilian in the south.

The authorities first said it was an accidental shooting, with the soldiers mistaking the police for traffickers.

But officials say preliminary inquires suggest links between the troops and drugs gangs operating in the region.

The basic storyline that we always hear in the media from Colombia is that left-wing rebel groups like FARC control the cocaine trafficking and that the Uribe government is united in its fight against it.  But the reality is more complicated.  From an earlier roundup, Gary Leech at the Columbia Journal Online explains:

The indictment of the FARC leaders further illustrates the Bush administration's strategy to portray the FARC as the greatest perpetrator of violence and drug trafficking in Colombia. The reality, however, is very different from the Bush White House's fictitious portrayal. The U.S. indictment provided no evidence to support its claim that FARC leaders have earned $25 billion from drug trafficking and are responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine shipped to the United States.

Meanwhile, most Colombia experts agree that the country's right-wing paramilitaries are far more deeply involved in drug trafficking than the rebels, a fact supported by the numerous drug busts in which the seized cocaine was traced back to paramilitary groups. In fact, former associates of Pablo Escobar, the notorious leader of the now-defunct Medellín cartel, established some of Colombia's most prominent paramilitary groups.

The BBC has reported on it as well, forcing the head of Colombia's intelligence service to issue a denial:

The head of Colombia's intelligence service has denied that right-wing paramilitaries are re-arming or joining the drug trade in large numbers.

The policy of dismantling paramilitary organisations had been a success, Das director Andres Penate told the BBC.

Analysts say the policy has contributed to President Alvaro Uribe's lead in polls ahead of elections on Sunday.

But rights groups accuse Mr Uribe of allowing paramilitaries guilty of atrocities off the hook.

As in much of South America these days, the U.S. approach to fighting illegal drugs is becoming more and more unpopular, even in Colombia, where many have long supported U.S. assistance in fighting the FARC.  This election saw a large increase in support for pro-legalization Democratic Pole Party candidate Carlos Gaviria Diaz, who captured 22% of the vote.  In the last election, the Democratic Pole candidate only received 6%, and that candidate, Luis Eduardo "Lucho" Garzon, is now the mayor of Bogota.  With this election, the Democratic Pole Party has overtaken the Liberals as the main opposition party.

It's not really hard to understand why the right-wing paramilitaries would be getting involved with the cocaine trafficking.  With the U.S. more concerned about economic cooperation from South America than anything else, it's easy for President Uribe to look the other way when it comes to these groups and just blame the usual suspects for the massive amounts of cocaine that still make their way to New York, Los Angeles, London, and Madrid.  In the end, there's one thing much more addictive than cocaine - the money you can make from it.

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In the news (for the past two weeks)...

How crazy is Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN)?  He's too extreme even for Drug Czar Walters, who refuses to back Souder in his idea for using the biological agent Fusarium as a way to combat coca and opium plants.

The recent History Channel documentaries on drugs can be viewed here and here.

The Department of Education is trying again to get the lawsuit over the Higher Education Act's Drug Provision thrown out of court.  The Nation takes on the issue and ridicules the drug warriors.

The CDC reports that over 2500 children visited emergency rooms in 2004 after talking ADHD drugs.  About 4-5 children die in the U.S. every year from those drugs.

Libby at Last One Speaks responds to a profile of DEA head Karen Tandy. Radley Balko piles on.  Libby also posts about a recent speech given by renowned drug warrior Andrea Barthwell, and suspects that the trends in forfeitures and federal drug arrests points to a trend of going after doctors.

Via Spiked Online, Radley Balko points out a scary trend with respect to how public officials in Europe view alcohol.

Tony Newman at Alternet shares the 10 things he knows about drugs.

Drug War Chronicle writes about 3 candidates with strong drug policy credentials, Loretta Nall in Alabama, Cliff Thornton in Connecticut, and Kevin Zeese in Maryland.

Flex Your Rights writes about the Supreme Court case Hudson v. Michigan, which involves the amount of time police must wait before entering a house to serve a drug warrant.

The November Coalition has graphs posted showing the grim statistics on our prison population.

Rob Wood at Rehabology wrote a really interesting post that questions some of the preconceived notions about opiate addiction, based on an article in the Wall Street Journal from Theodore Dalrymple.

UCLA researchers discovered something we've known for years: marijuana does not cause lung cancer.

Drug Law Blog discusses the situation for the legality of medical marijuana a year after Gonzalez v. Raich.  They also explain how to make drugs boring.

Gennady Stolyarov II of Hillsdale College explains why the War on Drugs is more of a danger than drugs themselves (and his opinion on the dangers of drug use is actually quite harsh).

Phil Smith reviews some new books that deal with drug policy.

More states are considering banning salvia divinorum.

Police arrested 17 people in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in a cocaine sting.

The owner of a New Hampshire car dealership was arrested after police found nearly a ton of marijuana in a warehouse.

Jessica Winter at the Boston Globe writes about Lyle Craker, the UMass-Amherst researcher who is finding out that the federal government only likes to help the researchers who are willing to promote their message on the dangers of marijuana.

The newly-elected President of the Student Association at SUNY New Paltz, Justin Holmes, is also an outspoken pro-marijuana activist.  As a result, he's finding that he no longer has the same rights as the average student leader.

The New York Times has an article about prison gerrymandering, the practice of counting prisoners as residents to pad the population numbers of rural areas.

Ronald Fraser in the Niagara Gazette writes about the huge gap between public opinion and political movement when it comes to the medical marijuana issue.

Megan Farrington finds a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial that comes to the right conclusion.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's wife was the Third Circuit Court judge who wrote the opinion in the ruling that 63-year-old pain specialist Bill Rottschaefer is a drug dealer who must spend the rest of his life behind bars.  For those who haven't followed this case, the prosecution's star witness already admitted to lying on the stand.

Eric Sterling has his letter printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the growth in drug trafficking in West Virginia.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that a metabolite of THC was found to be useful for certain bladder conditions.

Tara Geiger of Washington, DC writes to Flex Your Rights about ways to avoid becoming a victim of the police.  The best way to start?  Get their video.

A Hampton, VA daycare worker is facing charges after snorting cocaine in front of some pre-schoolers.

In Tampa, local news asses had a 12-year-old try to buy Vicodin on the internet in order to show how easy it is.

At a recent campaign event in Tuskegee, AL, Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall managed to get some law enforcement folks to admit that we need a different approach to drug law enforcement.  Sadly, one of her potential opponents in November prefers failure.

Meth cooks in Tennessee are using gel caps, which are still unrestricted, instead of the traditional cold medicines used to make meth.

A DeKalb County, TN Sheriff's Deputy was fired after having sex with a woman he was supposed to be arresting for a drug offense.

Two Oklahoma police officers were sentenced to prison for meth possession.

Marc Levin, of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, thinks that the state of Texas needs to look at shorter prison sentences for drug crimes and more treatment options.

Court TV will be covering the Hearne, TX drug task force case with a July 15 episode of The ACLU Freedom Files.

A former "Officer of the Year" from an East Texas town is accused of seizing marijuana from suspects for his own use.

Two Dallas teenagers were arrested after giving the faculty at their high school a batch of pot brownies.  They may face up to 20 years in prison.

Don Erler of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram explains that the Czech's drug policy works a lot better than ours for fighting the crime that surrounds the drug trade.

The overcrowding problem in the Houston jails has improved and now only about 350-500 prisoners are without beds (that's down from almost 2000 last year).

Officials found an SUV along the Rio Grande with $7.2 million worth of cocaine.

Members of the New Mexico House of Representatives are up for re-election this year, and the Drug Policy Alliance wants everyone to know which members voted down the medical marijuana initiative.

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana absolutely demolishes a silly argument from Speaker of the Nevada Assembly (and the city of Henderson's Chief of Police) Richard Perkins, who clearly shows that he has no interest at all in the safety of Nevadans, let alone his own officers.

The Utah legislature is questioning their drug free school zone laws.

Wyoming Congresswoman Barbara Cubin (R) introduced a bill for funding family-based treatment for meth offenders as an alternative to prison.

Former NFL running back and Super Bowl hero Timmy Smith was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in Federal Prison in Colorado.

South Dakota will have an initiative on the ballot in November to legalize medical marijuana.

The 8th Circuit Court rejected a challenge to a sentence for meth manufacturing based on the claim that the amount of meth found was inflated.  They also rejected a bid by a South Dakota Oglala Sioux Tribe member to be able to grow industrial hemp.

A woman from Washington State was arrested in South Dakota with 325 pounds of marijuana in a pickup heading for Illinois.

Cass County in northern Minnesota is dealing with meth abuse.

A father in St. Paul, MN is in some trouble after his 6-year-old soon showed up at school with his stash.

After Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) complained about the recent raid on another Congressman's office, Radley Balko recounted the long list of botched SWAT raids in his home state.

A man in Chicago is serving a long prison sentence after he had the brilliant idea to stop drug trafficking by trying to frame people by sending threatening letters with fake return addresses.

Convenience stores in Illinois weren't cooperating with the state's new law on pseudoephedrine as well as the pharmacies were.

Roy Caballes, the man whose arrest in Illinois led to the Supreme Court decision OK'ing drug dog searches of vehicles without a warrant, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Chuck Avery shows some good old-fashioned Indiana common sense.

Cincinnati's "Operation Put All the Black People in Jail" has netted 1080 people so far.

Detroit has become the latest community seeing overdose deaths related to drugs mixed with Fentanyl.  After incidents along the east coast and in Chicago, CDC officials are investigating.  David Borden explains that making drugs illegal is the cause of, not the solution to, this problem.  Libby Spencer also blogs about it at the Detroit News.

Dean Kuipers of the Los Angeles City Beat has written a book about the killing of two pro-pot activists by police in western Michigan.

Voters in Santa Cruz, CA will vote in November on an initiative to make marijuana enforcement the lowest priority for local police.

Pharmacists in California are becoming the pseudoephedrine police, while south of the border, the drug gangs are getting richer.

A medical marijuana caregiver on trial in Lassen County, CA will be allowed to present evidence that shows that he was following state law.

Washington State's anti-meth law has had the expected results: fewer home meth labs, more trafficking, more potent meth, more addicts, more teens using, more property crime, and more kids in foster care.  If you stop reading after the first one, mission accomplished!

Seattle has been cracking down on open-air drug markets.  I took the time to explain to my friend, who lives in one of the affected neighborhoods, why I think these efforts are futile.  In the Pioneer Square neighborhood, some artists took out an ad in The Stranger inviting Mayor Nickels and Police Chief Kerlikowski to check out their local open-air drug market.

Former head of the King County Bar Association's Drug Policy Project, Roger Goodman, is in the race for a legislative seat in Washington State.

Here's a good editorial from Alaska criticizing Governor Murkowski's efforts to overturn the privacy rulings that have kept marijuana use inside the home decriminalized since 1975.

Arrests for cocaine are on the rise in Oahu.  Roger Christie, a Hawaii resident and founder of the THC Ministry, is not happy about Hawaiian law enforcement.

On the U.S.-Canadian border, officials broke up an operation where marijuana from Canada was traded for cocaine from the U.S.

British Columbia officials don't believe that restricting pseudoephedrine will do anything about meth since so much comes in from Asia already.

Former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann called Toronto Argonauts running back Ricky Williams a disgrace because of his marijuana use.

Terry at the US Marijuana Party blog is as confused as I am why there was a boat full of Mexican marijuana off the coast of British Columbia.

A website called Mad Cow Morning News is claiming that the resignation of Porter Goss is related to a CIA plane discovered in Mexico with 5.5 tons of cocaine.  I'm with Libby on this.  It wouldn't even be mildly surprising to me if it were true, but unless I see anything else on it, I don't consider it a real story.

Mexican police made a large marijuana bust in Nuevo Leon.  Mexico's Attorney General, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, claims that marijuana trafficking has gone up in the country while cocaine trafficking has done down.

Mexican Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrada called for increased use of the army in combatting the drug gangs.

Emile Elias writes in the Trinidad and Tobago Express that we need to consider legalizing drugs as a way to fight the problems associated with it.

Talk Left writes about how the UK is considering heroin safe injection sites.  The proposal comes out of the conservative Tory party, which seems to have more in common these days with the American Green Party than American conservatives.

Random drug testing will be done at secondary schools all across Britain starting in September.

British authorities seized a large batch of GHB, the date-rape drug, in Livingston.

Scotland is considering giving Naloxone to heroin addicts on a trial basis.

Italy's minister for Social Policy spoke out on the need to distinguish between hard drugs and soft drugs.  Before the Winter Olympics, ex-PM (boy it's nice to write that) Silvio Berlusconi was able to push through legislation that eliminated the difference.

Russia is seeing a sharp increase in HIV cases, likely a result of drug users sharing needles.

Two Surinamese women, with nine kids between them, were arrested in Ghana for being drug mules.  Also in Ghana, some drugs have gone missing after a bust netted six men for smuggling.

Nearly 145 kg of heroin was seized in the Isfahan province of Iran.

Iran and Afghanistan hope to work together to combat drug trafficking.

An increasing amount of drugs is flowing through central Asia from Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Minister for Anti-Narcotics claims that there are no heroin labs in his country.

India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil travelled to Singapore to discuss ways that the two countries can cooperate in fighting drug trafficking.

A 90-year-old man from Taiwan was one of three people arrested in Cambodia on drug smuggling charges.

It cost a Malaysian woman nearly $200,000 in legal fees to defend herself after she was tricked into transporting drugs into Australia.

New Zealand's Drug Foundation claims that a recent meth bust is an indication of increased demand, but the statistics show no increase in use over the past five years.