• Letter of the Week

    Letter Of The Week – Mexican Killings: Legalize Drugs

    Newshawk: Published Letters Awards www.mapinc.org/lteaward.htm

    LETTER OF THE WEEK

    MEXICAN KILLINGS: LEGALIZE DRUGS

    In Thursday’s Voice of the People [“Drug Users, Cartel Killings”],
    Lakeland resident Frances Clark wrote, “Innocent people are dying by
    the thousands in Mexico because of the drug cartels, and we must ask why.”

    The why is money. Illegal drugs make money for gangs and cartels
    because they are illegal. Marijuana ( hemp ) represents 60 percent
    of the money earned by Mexican drug cartels. Members of said cartels
    are already upset by California’s legalization of marijuana for
    medical purposes because it is cutting into their profits.

    States should “think about the innocent people who are dying each day
    by these murderers in order to get their ‘product’ across our
    borders,” Clark wrote. That is because the drug cartels have no
    incentive to smuggle legal drugs.

    Alcohol prohibition created the economic base for Al Capone and his
    like to control citizens, politicians and police. The war on drugs
    has created the same environment.

    It’s past time to end the War on Drugs. In our economic climate,
    it’s time to legalize and tax them.

    Glenn Festog

    Lakeland

    Pubdate: Sun, 5 Sep 2010

    Source: Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL)

    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n000/a038.html

  • Focus Alerts

    #451 Our ‘War on Drugs’ Has Been an Abysmal Failure

    OUR ‘WAR ON DRUGS’ HAS BEEN AN ABYSMAL FAILURE

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    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #451 – Friday, September 10th, 2010

    Today The Guardian printed the informative column below.

    While much of the information may not be news to you perhaps it will
    be to the about 1,146,000 daily readers of the newspaper.

    Your letters to the editor will let the newspaper know you appreciate
    the column and articles about this topic.

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    Source: Guardian, The (UK)

    Page: 33 of the Main section

    Copyright: 2010 Guardian News and Media Limited

    Contact: [email protected]

    Author: Simon Jenkins

    OUR ‘WAR ON DRUGS’ HAS BEEN AN ABYSMAL FAILURE. JUST LOOK AT MEXICO

    The West’s Refusal to Countenance Drug Legalisation Has Fuelled
    Anarchy, Profiteering and Misery

  • 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.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    How is marijuana’s potency determined

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 9-6-10

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 9-6-10. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3052

    Question of the Week: How is marijuana’s potency determined?

    The World Drug Report 2009 states,

    “The amount of THC in a cannabis sample is generally used as a measure of ‘cannabis potency.’”

    As described in that report,

    “The secretion of THC is most abundant in the flowering heads and surrounding leaves. The amount of resin secreted is influenced by environmental conditions during growth …, sex of the plant, and time of harvest.”

    The report also notes that,

    “Most data on cannabis potency are derived from the analysis of seized [marijuana] samples. This means that these samples need to be representative of the entire seizure so that inferences and extrapolations can be made.”

    As described in a 2004 report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction,

    “Data on the THC content of cannabis products in the USA have been collected by [Dr.] ElSohly et al. (1984, 2000) for many years as part of the University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project. Samples were submitted by law enforcement agencies and it is assumed that they are representative of the market.”

    To assist data analysis, details concerning the aforementioned environmental conditions, the type of cannabis, and the size of the plant canopy if known accompany the seized samples to a lab at University of Mississippi’s School of Pharmacy. Here they are put through a series of chemical tests to determine their THC percentage, as well as percentages of the cannabinoids, CBD, CBN, and CBC. One of their recent reports read,

    “As of March 15, 2009, the Project has analyzed and compiled data on 65,247 Cannabis, 1365 Hashish, and 476 Hash Oil samples.”

    That’s since the project’s inception.

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

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

    is marijuana’s potency determined?
  • What You Can Do

    Stop Michele Leonhart

    DEA acting administrator Michele Leonhart is out of control, and it’s time to demand a response from President Obama. Tell the president that he needs to find a DEA administrator who respects patients’ rights and local sovereignty

  • Focus Alerts

    #450 Proposition 19 Could End Mexico’s Drug War

    Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2010
    Subject: #450 Proposition 19 Could End Mexico’s Drug War

    PROPOSITION 19 COULD END MEXICO’S DRUG WAR

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    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #450 – Sunday, September 5th, 2010

    Today the Washington Post printed the OPED below which provides a view
    of Proposition 19 from south of the border.

    Your letters to the editor will let the newspaper know you appreciate
    the newspaper’s providing readers with this viewpoint.

    Proposition 19 news clippings may be found at http://mapinc.org/find?272

    The Proposition 19 website is at http://yeson19.com/

  • Cannabis & Hemp - What You Can Do

    Stop the Lies about Marijuana Legalization

    Opponents of California’s Prop. 19 are already ramping up a misinformation campaign to scare voters with wild claims about the dangers of legalizing marijuana for adults 21 and up. Let’s fight back! Sign the petition below to tell the drug war fearmongers that the whole country is watching and their tactics aren’t fooling anybody.

    Shame on Prop. 19 opponents for distorting the facts about ending the failed war on marijuana. Misinformation and scare tactics have no place in the debate about changing California’s marijuana laws.

  • Letter of the Week

    Letter Of The Week – End Prohibition, California

    Newshawk: Published Letters Awards www.mapinc.org/lteaward.htm

    END PROHIBITION, CALIFORNIA

    Re “Legalizing is a dangerous choice” (Insight, Aug. 22): San Mateo
    Police Chief Susan Manheimer claims that after marijuana is
    legalized, drug cartels will continue to profit from selling
    it. That’s ridiculous.

    As a former police chief myself (Seattle, 1994-2000), I’d
    respectfully like to ask Manheimer to show us the wine cartels that
    grow grapes in our national parks to compete with the legal and
    regulated alcohol industry.

    Back here in reality, of course, we know that once America ended its
    failed experiment with alcohol prohibition, violent gangsters were no
    longer able to keep selling booze on the black market for a profit.

    Similarly, we can drive street dealers out of business when we take
    marijuana out of the shadows and place it under the control of safe,
    regulated, licensed businesses. Passing Proposition 19 will be good
    for police and for citizens who want safer streets. It’s the last
    thing the drug cartels want.

    Norm Stamper, Eastsound, Wash.

    Pubdate: Thu, 26 Aug 2010

    Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)

    Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n679/a06.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    Marijuana Gateway Risk Overblown: Study

    A young woman smokes a joint outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. New research suggests use of marijuana as a teen is not a major factor in using hard drugs later in life. (Jonathan Hayward)
    Ethnicity, employment better predictors of hard drug use

    Long-held fears that the use of marijuana will lead to harder drugs are overblown, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire.

    The research, in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found that other factors, such as whether or not a person has a job, or is facing severe stress, are far more predictive of future hard drug use than whether they smoked pot as a teenager.

    “Employment in young adulthood can protect people by closing the marijuana gateway, so over-criminalizing youth marijuana use might create more serious problems if it interferes with later employment opportunities,” said co-author Karen Van Gundy.