• Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net - International

    UN Expert Calls For A Fundamental Shift In Global Drug Control Policy

    At a press conference in New York on Tuesday 26 October, at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly, one of the UN’s key human rights experts will call for a fundamental rethink of international drug policy.

    Anand Grover, from India, is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, whose mandate is derived from the UN Human Rights Council. Mr Grover’s annual thematic report, to be presented on October 25/26, sets out the range of human rights abuses that have resulted from international drug control efforts, and calls on Governments to:

    * Ensure that all harm-reduction measures (as itemized by UNAIDS) and drug-dependence treatment services, particularly opioid substitution therapy, are available to people who use drugs, in particular those among incarcerated populations.

    * Decriminalize or de-penalize possession and use of drugs.

    * Repeal or substantially reform laws and policies inhibiting the delivery of essential health services to drug users, and review law enforcement initiatives around drug control to ensure compliance with human rights obligations.

    * Amend laws, regulations and policies to increase access to controlled essential medicines

    * To the UN drug control agencies, Mr Grover recommends the creation of an alternative drug regulatory framework based on a model such as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

    The report is the clearest statement to date from within the UN system about the harms that drug policies have caused and the need for a fundamental shift in drug policy.

    The report has been welcomed by the European Union in the EU statement on crime and drugs to the UN General Assembly.

  • Hot Off The 'Net - International

    Marc Emery US Federal Prison Blog #17: a tribute to an old friend

    http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/25052

    Marc Emery US Federal Prison Blog #17: Letter to Jodie
    October 5th, 2010

    Dear Jodie: I was saddened to hear that Michelle Rainey is possibly just weeks away from dying from her melanoma and lymphatic cancer, which has now reached critical proportions throughout her body. She’s only 37. Melanoma is such a vicious cancer, and cancer has been terrible on her brother, killing him young, and affecting others in her family. Considering Michelle battled Crohn’s Disease since she was a teenager, it’s a bitter blow for her, this life of suffering she’s had.

    Michelle was my #1 partner in so many of my great triumphs, which I hope she regards as her great triumphs too. Considering the considerable pain her health has given her, she was heroic in so many ways, in so many campaigns that helped so many and represented the movement with class and clout.

    With Matthew Johnson, Michelle and I ran the legendary and historic full-slate election campaign of 79 BC Marijuana Party candidates in the 2001 BC general election. You had to be there to believe it: in the campaign HQ, gathering all the candidates, getting the 40 signatures in each riding to qualify, having Richard Nixon’s old campaign bus tour the province with BCMP leader Brian Taylor (now Mayor of Grand Forks) on board. We nicknamed that old bus the “Cannabus”, and that campaign was when you got into politics, Jodie, going to your very first rally in Kamloops the day that bus came by Riverside Park.

  • Drug Policy - International

    Victoria Council Endorses the Vienna Declaration

    Supports Evidence-based Drug Policies

    Former RCMP Chief Superintendent, BC Health Officers Council Also Place Community Health and Safety Above the War on Drugs

    September 9, 2010 [Victoria, Canada] – Victoria City councillors will vote today to ratify their unanimous endorsement of the Vienna Declaration, a recently released document that highlights the failure of the global ‘War on Drugs’ and calls for a transparent review of the effectiveness of current drug policies.

    The City of Victoria voted to endorse the Vienna Declaration at its Governance and Priorities Committee meeting on September 2. With today’s ratification, Victoria will become the second city in Canada to support the Vienna Declaration, which has also been endorsed by Toronto, Ontario and over 17,000 people and organizations.

    “Scientific evidence shows that drug use is a public health issue that cannot be resolved through excessive reliance on law enforcement. We require a balanced and evidence-based approach to effectively deal with the issues surrounding illicit drugs,” said Victoria Coun. and acting Deputy Mayor Philippe Lucas.

    Widespread endorsement of the Vienna Declaration clearly demonstrates to policymakers and lawmakers the growing public support for an alternative to drug prohibition that is based on sound public health and scientific evidence of what works.

  • Hot Off The 'Net - International

    Mexico’s Presidents Are Considering Legalizing Drugs

    Will the U.S. Join the Debate?

    By Daniel Robelo, AlterNet

    The question of whether legalizing drugs would help reduce the killings in Mexico has made front page news this week and is causing unprecedented debate around the world.

    Last week, former Mexican President Vicente Fox called on his country “to legalize the production, distribution and sale of drugs” as the best way to weaken the drug cartels.

    Acknowledging that “radical prohibition strategies have never worked,” Fox’s recommendation echoes another former president of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, as well as past presidents of Colombia and Brazil, who last year issued a ringing condemnation of the failed war on drugs, in favor of alternatives that include the removal of legal penalties for marijuana possession.

    This latest endorsement of legalization also comes on the heels of current Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s own announcement that, while he opposes legalization, he nevertheless supports an open debate about ending prohibition – the root cause of the violence in Mexico that has now claimed over 28,000 lives.

    Sadly, however, legalization is not even part of the policy dialogue in D.C. In fact, the U.S. drug czar has repeatedly said it’s not even part of his or President Obama’s “vocabulary.”

    Yet despite Washington’s reticence to engage the topic, the debate about legalization is taking place in many communities throughout the U.S. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, like Calderon, has called for a debate about marijuana legalization, a proposal that Californians will vote on in November. In 2009, the City Council of El Paso, Texas – directly across the border from Ciudad Juarez, the world’s deadliest city and ground zero in Mexico’s drug war – passed a resolution “supporting an honest, open national debate on ending the prohibition on narcotics.”

    President Calderon’s openness to debating legalization comes amid new recognition that the cartels are not just killing each other, or members of the government, or innocent civilians – they are openly challenging the Mexican state and eroding its democratic institutions.

  • International - Question of the Week

    United States counternarcotics initiatives in Mexico

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 7-28-10

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 7-28-10. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2995

    Question of the Week: Are the United States’ counternarcotics initiatives in Mexico working?

    Drug war violence along the United States/Mexico border has been widely reported. A March 2010 report from the U.S. State Department calculated that,

    “Between January and September 2009, there were 5,874 drug-related murders in Mexico, an almost 5 percent increase over 2008 (5,600).”

    That’s a total of well over 11,000 for those two years.

    That same report also estimated that,

    “DTOs’ [drug trafficking organizations] annual gross revenue ranges between $15-30 billion from illicit drug sales in the U.S.”

    A 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office reviewed the Mérida Initiative, a multiyear security assistance package for Mexico and Central America set in motion in 2007 by U.S President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Under this initiative, Mexico was set to receive $1.4 billion in counternarcotics aid over several years, $400 million for fiscal year 2008 alone.

    But another just released report from the GAO concerning the Mérida Initiative concluded that the Department of State, which oversees the program,

    “generally lacks outcome-based measures that define success in the short term and the long term, making it difficult to determine effectiveness and leaving unclear when the Initiative’s goals will be met.”

    The report went on to state,

    “There are no timelines for future deliveries of some equipment and training,”

    causing the Mexican government to express concerns about the pace of delivery.

    So the short answer to this question is we don’t know if counternarcotics initiatives are working and won’t know until effective measurements of them have been put in place.

    These facts and others like them can be found in the Causes of Death, Economics, and United States International Policy chapters of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

    Questions concerning these or other facts concerning drug policy can be e-mailed to [email protected].

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net - International

    Comedic Immunity

    A Canadian newspaper chain has taken exception to Cheech and Chong criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his regressive cannabis policies.

    CHEECH AND CHONG, JUST SAY SO LONG

    It’s not an exhaustive list, but here are some things Canada needs, followed by something that this country does not need.

    Canada needs to return to its budding glory as a world leader in aerospace technology. When the Avro Arrow was cancelled in the 1950s, many of our best aerospace engineers and technicians followed the jobs to the U.S. It has not significantly turned around yet.

    [snip]

    Canada also needs a continued sense of self-worth. It has been growing of late, for which we can thank the 2010 Olympics, international success of our athletes, comedians, actors and musicians, financial stability in the midst of a global economic crisis, and worldwide humanitarian aid – again, well out of proportion to our population. There’s more, but here’s something we do not need: Americans offering us unsolicited advice.

    We don’t need Hilary Clinton telling us what our military obligations are in Afghanistan. We made our commitment, we’ve lived up to it, we stated our case and we’re leaving next year.

    [snip]

    And we don’t need a couple of stoners ( Tommy Chong, who is originally from Edmonton, and American Cheech Marin ), addicts or not, holding what can only be described as a “bitchfest” to gripe about Canada’s rules regarding marijuana.

    That anyone would come here and insult our national leader shows a gross lack of respect for a sovereign nation of which he is not a part. Marin was a guest for a comedy show in Montreal but he used the opportunity to insult the entire country. Whether we took offence or not ( and many wouldn’t ) doesn’t change the fact that it was crass and disrespectful.

    Canadians have long been criticized of having low self-esteem.

    Accepting such rudeness indicates the criticism is just.

    What gives them the right?

    It’s a secondary matter whether or not you like Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The office itself demands a certain amount of respect and if Canadians want to breach that standard, that’s our right because we’re citizens and we vote and we live here.

    But for anyone else to insult our leaders, our politics, our laws, our culture, well, that we don’t need.

    Here’s a map. Go home.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n573/a06.html

    Of course, it is not as though Canadian comedians who have gained international success have not cashed in on making fun of U.S. leaders, politics, laws and culture. See for example Rick Mercer talking to Americans.

    Or Canadian talk show hosts prank calling Sarah Palin.

    When did political leaders become immune from critics, comedians and satirists from other countries?

    Of course, Canadians do not like being bullied by Americans, but Cheech and Chong are comedians, and they did not insult Canadians or Canadian culture. American Cheech Marin called Harper a “douchebag” for trying to import U.S. drug policies, while Canadian Tommy Chong implied that Harper is a G.W. Bush wannabe, and they are right. When it comes to drug policy, Harper is an international embarrassment, and Canadians deserve to be reminded of that, especially by Americans.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - International

    When did Canada go from laid-back to straight-laced on marijuana policy?

    by Marc-Boris St.-Maurice Founder, Bloc Pot and the Marijuana Party of Canada.

    I can totally understand why legendary stoner comedians Cheech and Chong might be tempted to take a shot at Harper. OK, I think calling the prime minister a “douchebag” is overly harsh language – I always thought you could catch more flies with honey – but as actors they can get away with it.

    Of course, the real irony here is that they are not “acting” one bit. However crass the comment, it could not have been more sincere. In 2003, Chong and his son were arrested for the interstate distribution of drug paraphernalia – their company “Chong Glass” had been selling pipes and bongs with the icon’s image on them. Chong pleaded guilty and served nine months in jail to save his son from prosecution.

    Prior to the arrest, Tommy was somewhat vocal about legalization, but since his stint in the joint, he has become a full-blown activist. His show has gone from comedy classics to political theatre. Adversity breeds activism, and going to jail certainly qualifies as adverse.

    But when did Canada go from laid-back-ganja-cool to button-down-straight-laced?

  • Hot Off The 'Net - International

    ‘Plan Colombia’ Turns 10

    Looking at the Effects of Bill Clinton’s Signature Drug War Project

    By Phillip S. Smith, Drug War Chronicle

    The United States has been trying to suppress Colombian coca production and cocaine trafficking since at least the time of Ronald Reagan, but the contemporary phase of US intervention in Colombia in the name of the war on drugs celebrated its 10th anniversary this week. As Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) security analyst Adam Isaacson pointed out Wednesday in a cogent essay, “Colombia: Don’t Call It A Model,” it was on July 13, 2000, that President Bill Clinton signed into law a $1.3 billion package of mainly military assistance known as Plan Colombia.