• Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Snitch Site For Marijuana Informers Backfires In Utah

    The state made it easy with a website with helpful links to assist its deputized citizenry in identifying marijuana and signs of grow operations, reports Greg Campbell at dscriber.

    “Did you know marijuana is being illegally grown in Utah?” the site, with a keen grasp of the obvious, ominously warns. “Have you ever been hiking or camping and seen what looks like an illegal marijuana growing operation? We have created this website to make it easier for people to report this illegal activity, so we can crack down and keep these illegal drugs out of our state and off our streets.”

    Yeah, it seemed like a great idea. That is, until NORML posted a story about Utah’s misguided efforts. Within 24 hours, pot-friendly visitors flooded the site with fake tips.

  • Focus Alerts

    ALERT: 468 Now There Are 16 States

    NOW THERE ARE 16 STATES

    **********************************************************************

    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #468 – Saturday, May 14th, 2011

    Today the front page of The News Journal, Delaware’s major newspaper,
    printed the article below. Will this, the most restrictive law any
    state has, ever actually help patients? Will the federal government
    allow the state to have three not-for-profit dispensaries?

    You may read the law at
    http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS146.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+17

    If you have been following the news at http://www.mapinc.org/find?253
    you know that the feds are continuing to attack medicinal marijuana
    providers in various ways. Until Congress passes a law supporting
    medical cannabis that is not likely to change.

    Please consider House vote tallies for the Hinchey/Rohrabacher
    medical marijuana amendment at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll733.xml

    You will notice which party tends to give medical marijuana the most
    support. The vote also shows that much needs to be done before
    federal laws will be changed.

    Please contact your Members of Congress. Please write letters to the
    editor of newspapers. It Is Not What Others Do, It Is What You Do.

    If you need medicinal cannabis facts please visit
    http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54

    **********************************************************************

    DELAWARE GOV. JACK MARKELL SIGNS LAW ALLOWING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

    Regulatory, Licensing Process Begins for Three Dispensaries

    Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation Friday legalizing marijuana
    growing, distribution and use in Delaware for limited medical purposes.

    The General Assembly sent Markell the medical-marijuana legislation
    on Wednesday.

    The governor signed the bill Friday morning without the usual
    ceremony in order to initiate a one-year regulatory and licensing
    process for three not-for-profit dispensaries that will be authorized
    to sell marijuana to qualified patients, according to his office.

    Under Senate Bill 17, physicians could recommend marijuana for
    patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis,
    amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease and
    post-traumatic stress disorder.

    People with other chronic disease or debilitating medical conditions
    could qualify if other medicines or surgical procedures have failed
    to relieve their pain or caused seizures, severe or persistent muscle
    spasms and intractable nausea.

    Physicians and patients would have to have a “bona fide
    physician-patient relationship” and other medical treatments would
    have to be exhausted before marijuana is recommended, according to
    the bill and its legislative sponsors.

    Qualified patients who get a doctor’s recommendation and a
    state-issued identification card will be able to purchase up to six
    ounces of marijuana at one of the dispensaries.

    Marijuana growing and purchases will be limited to the dispensaries.
    Patients will not be allowed to grow their own cannabis.

    “We made clear that this would need to be very limited in scope and
    actively targeted to only Delawareans with profound and chronic
    illness like cancer and ALS. It is. This bill needed to be about
    giving targeted help to the most sick in a way that made medical
    sense, and it is,” Markell said in a written statement.

    **********************************************************************

    Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

    ===
    .
    DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
    free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media
    Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
    server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards
    and Paypal. Or, mail your check or money order to:
    .
    DrugSense
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    Irvine, CA 92604-0326.
    (800) 266 5759
    .
    DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
    awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
    Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

  • Drug Policy

    Insite’s Fate And A History Of Safe Injection Sites

    This explainer provides an overview and background information about Insite, North America’s only supervised injection site for drug users. It is the subject of a May 2011 Supreme Court of Canada hearing that will determine the future of the operation. This post will be updated as new information becomes available.

  • Letter of the Week

    Letter Of The Week

    WAR ON DRUGS NO ANSWER

    Thank you for the editorial, Insite’s proven benefits ignored in
    political fray (SP, April 25). The safe injection site operates in
    Vancouver with the support of local and provincial governments, but is
    under continual assault by the federal Conservatives.

    Insite has kept operating only through repeated victories in the
    courts – victories based on clear evidence that it saves lives and
    reduces drug use.

    While some people foolishly believe that harsh measures are the only
    way to deal with the drugs we have made illegal, that approach has
    been tried in many places and had led only to more drug use, crime,
    death.

    Over the decades-long drug war, drug use rates have risen while drug
    costs have fallen and drug purity has risen.

    We are in the midst of an inquisition run by fanatics who believe that
    drugs can be eliminated and drug users saved if only we can make their
    world painful enough. There is simply no evidence to support this
    belief. How many more people must die, spend their lives in prison, or
    be corrupted and destroyed in the drug underworld before we bring this
    insanity to an end?

    Legalization and regulation is the answer.

    Ken Sailor

    Saskatoon

    Pubdate: Thu, 5 May 2011

    Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)

    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11.n285.a11.html

  • Question of the Week

    What are model laws?

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 5-11-11

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 5-11-11. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3382

    Question of the Week: What are model laws?

    According to a 2007 review in the American Journal of Public Health,

    “Model and uniform laws have a long pedigree. The original impetus for US uniform laws was the provision of the 1878 constitution of the American Bar Association that it promote “uniformity of legislation throughout the Union,” leading to the creation of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws [NCCUSL] …

    “The NCCUSL defines a uniform law as “one in which uniformity of the provisions of the act among the various jurisdictions is a principal and compelling objective” and a model law as one whose “principal provisions . . . can be substantially achieved even though it is not adopted in its entirety by every state.

    “The NACCSUL issued more than 200 “uniform laws,”

    The Office of National Drug Control Policy funds the National Alliance of Model State Drug Laws. In 2010, the Alliance’s budget request equaled $1.25 million for a mission to

    “prepare and conduct state model law summits and assist state officials in the promotion and adoption of summit-based laws.”

    The Website for the Alliance contains links a number pre-composed model laws such as the Underage Alcohol Consumption Reduction Act, Revocation of Professional or Business License for Alcohol and Other Drug Convictions Act, Model Drug-Free Private Sector Workplace Act, and the Model Driving While Under the Influence of Alcohol and Other Drugs Act, among many others.

    However, the American Journal of Public Health reviewed many of these laws, concluded,

    “It is striking, in this digital age, that [the sponsors of these laws] present little information on methods, adoption, and effectiveness…” of them.

    These facts and others like them can be found in the United States chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 4-20-11

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 4-20-11.

  • Drug Policy - Hot Off The 'Net

    VANDU v. AG Canada – Insite Case

    On May 12, 2011 an historic case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. As many of you know, Canada permitted the operation of a “safer injection site” for those using unlawful injection drugs under
    supervision. This facility, which is known as “Insite” was originally a scientific experiment permitted pursuant to section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The Harper Conservative government declined to allow Insite to continue to operate after the initial exemption ran out despite overwhelming evidence that it
    reduces overdose, saves lives, reduces unsafe injection practices and a host of other good results. Accordingly various people and organizations went to court.

    The battle was won at trial, won again on appeal and now heads to Canada’s highest Court. There are a number of arguments being advanced including that it is drug prohibition itself that causes the most harm to those dealing with the disease of addiction and that, therefore, the prohibition laws violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and are invalid.

    You can watch the arguments live, commencing at 9:30am EST, streamed over the web:

    http://scc-csc.insinc.com/web/scc_live_stream.php?lan=EN&resolution=HI

    Please see the Supreme Court of Canada website for more information about the case:

    http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/cms-sgd/sum-som-eng.aspx?cas=33556.

    Kirk Tousaw
    Executive Director
    Beyond Prohibition Foundation
    www.whyprohibition.ca

  • International

    Following Arab World’s Lead, Mexicans Rise Up

    The men and women took to the stage in the Mexico City’s vast plaza and tearfully told stories of how they lost their loved ones: how a son was kidnapped, tortured and dumped dead in a car trunk; how a brother was killed for standing up to gangsters; how a child died in crossfire.

    But while such stories have become tragically common in Mexico, this was the first time the mourners could vent their grief in front of tens of thousands of sympathizers and TV cameras from across the world.

    And in this media spotlight, the protesters made a new demand — amid the failure of the government to provide security, they cried, the Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna must resign.

    “We don’t want more dead. We don’t want more hate,” protest leader Javier Sicilia told the crowd. “President Felipe Calderon — show you are listening to us and make the public safety secretary resign.”

    The demand announced at Sunday’s rally gave a new edge to a movement that has been steadily rising amid the massacres and mass graves of Mexico’s drug war.