The World Wide War on Drugs #10 - Dag ter Bestrijding van Drugs

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Pro-Marijuana Lawmakers Form First Ever Congressional Cannabis Caucus

Now that marijuana is legal in some form or another — whether for recreational or medicinal use — in 28 states, a bipartisan group of four lawmakers have joined forces to create the first Congressional Cannabis Caucus, aimed at reconciling federal regulations banning marijuana with states’ laws.

In a Thursday press conference, Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (CA), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Don Young (AK), and Jared Polis (CO) announced the new caucus, the first of its kind (as if anyone had any doubts about that).

The goal of the group will be to “discuss, learn and work together to establish a better and more rational approach to federal cannabis policy.”

“The prohibition of cannabis has been a failure, and Americans across our nation are demanding a more sensible approach,” said Rep. Blumenauer. “Following the November election, federal laws are now out of step with 44 states. The time is now to come together and bring the federal government in line with the will of the American people.”

Rep. Rohrbacher says if the major changes they’re looking for happen, including a shift on how the country views cannabis use, “many people are going to live better lives, it’s going to be better for our country, better for people, and it makes economic sense at a time when every penny must count for government.”

Unsurprisingly, marijuana advocacy groups are pleased about the Cannabis Caucus. In a joint statement, the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, the National Cannabis Industry Association, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and others commended the lawmakers for leading the charge on cannabis policy, and said they look forward to working with the caucus members.

“The establishment of a Cannabis Caucus will allow members from both parties, who represent diverse constituencies from around the country, to join together for the purpose of advancing sensible cannabis policy reform,” the statement reads.

“The formation of this caucus is a testament to how far our country has come on the issue of cannabis policy,” the groups add. “There is a growing consensus that cannabis prohibition has failed, and it is time for a more sensible approach.”

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Houston D.A. Will No Longer Prosecute Pot Cases, Outraging Other Prosecutors

Texas' Harris County, which includes Houston, will no longer arrest or prosecute most marijuana possession cases under four ounces starting on March 1, the county district attorney and city officials said in a press conference Thursday.

Harris County D.A. Kim Ogg and Houston city officials instead unveiled a new diversion program they say will steer thousands of people away from jail and a permanent criminal record, while saving the county millions of dollars in court, jail, and drug lab costs. It will also make the third-most populous county in the U.S. one of the more progressive on policing marijuana offenses, at least among places where the drug remains illegal.

"At 107,000 cases over the last ten years, we have spent in excess of $250 million dollars collectively prosecuting a crime that has produced no tangible evidence of improved public safety," Ogg said. "Additionally, the collateral damage to our workforce is immeasurable—because what we have done is we have disqualified, unnecessarily, thousands of people from greater job, housing and education opportunities by giving them a criminal record for what is in effect a minor law violation."

Under the new program, those caught with marijuana will be required to take a four-hour diversion class and pay $150 (excepting indigent offenders). They will have no arrest or court record. The county will still prosecute marijuana possession in some instances, such as near school zones, and juveniles are not eligible for the program. However, it still widely expands the previous diversion program offered by the county, which only applied to first-time offenders caught with under two ounces of marijuana.

Criminal justice groups such as Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project applauded the news.

"Prior to today, a person found in possession of four ounces or less of marijuana in Houston faced arrest and possible jail time," Rob Smith, director of the Fair Punishment Project, says. "Even four or five days in jail could mean a lost job or an uncared for child or elderly parent. Today, District Attorney Kim Ogg took an important step toward making the justice system more humane and fair by recognizing that shuffling more people through the system for non-violent drug offenses was doing more harm than good."

Naturally, however, this upset other prosecutors who enjoy throwing long-hairs and beatniks in jail, such as Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon.

"Unlike Harris County, Montgomery County will not become a sanctuary for dope smokers," Ligon said in response to the new policy. "I swore an oath to follow the law—all the laws, as written by the Texas Legislature. I don't get to pick and choose which laws I enforce."

This is an oft-repeated line by prosecutors, suggesting that their hands are tied by what laws legislators pass, but here's the thing: Prosecutors do pick which laws they enforce. They do it every day. Prosecutors have freedom to choose whether to file or dismiss charges, and they often have several overlapping criminal statutes to choose from, allowing them to overcharge or undercharge a defendant as they see fit. For a defendant, this can be the difference between misdemeanor possession, possession with intent to distribute, or drug trafficking and distribution. If a defendant agrees to take a plea deal—and an overwhelming percentage of defendants take the deal because of the leverage prosecutors wield—prosecutors can make more serious charges disappear.

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Op dinsdag 21 februari 2017 15:40 schreef Basp1 het volgende:
Zou het dan toch ooit echt gebeuren in nederland.

En dat de nep liberalen van de VVD zich maar eens diep gaan schamen dat hun tegen stemmen.

http://nos.nl/artikel/215(...)ering-wietteelt.html

[..]

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White House compares recreational pot to opioid crisis, says DOJ will be 'taking action' - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com

WASHINGTON – White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at Thursday’s daily press briefing that he expects the Department of Justice will be “taking action” against states that have legalized recreational marijuana, and at the same time seemingly compared recreational use to the nationwide opioid crisis.

“There’s a big difference between [medical] and recreational marijuana,” Spicer said. “And I think that when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing that we should be doing is encouraging people.”

Spicer was addressing a question about medical marijuana from an Arkansas reporter. State voters legalized a medical marijuana program in the state last year.

“This president understands the pain and suffering that many people go through who are facing especially terminal diseases, and the comfort that some of these drugs, including medical marijuana, can bring them.”

But he added to the worry that some supporters of recreational marijuana have had since Jeff Sessions, who has in the past been a critic of legal recreational pot, was nominated and confirmed as the new U.S. attorney general.

Sessions is on record in the past saying that “Good people don’t smoke marijuana” and that “marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized” and that it is “a very real danger.”

“There is still a federal law that we need to abide by in kind of terms of when it comes to recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature,” Spicer said. “So I think there’s a big difference between medical marijuana, the states…that have set forth a process to administer and regulate that usage, versus recreational marijuana. And it’s a very, very different subject.”

He called on another reporter when the New York Times’ Glenn Thrush tried to follow up on Spicer’s statements, but that reporter also pressed Spicer on the marijuana comments.

“I do believe you will see greater enforcement of it,” Spicer said in regards to the DOJ’s stance on legalized recreational marijuana.

Eight states have now legalized recreational marijuana and 29 states allow medical marijuana, but Colorado has been the frontrunner in the industry since its voters approved medical marijuana in 2000 and recreational marijuana in 2012.

The recreational industry went active in 2014 and has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to Colorado each year until 2016, when the state sold $875 million of recreational pot and $438 million of medical marijuana.

The state brought in nearly $200 million in revenue off the 2016 sales, much of which goes to school construction projects and public health initiatives.

Swift reaction from marijuana industry, Colorado politicians

Colorado marijuana industry leader Kristi Kelly, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, told Denver7 earlier this month that she believed the dismantling of the legal recreational industry in the state would cause a recession.

“The economics of this are huge in Colorado,” Kelly said. “There is a billion-dollar economic impact in Colorado, which is directly attributable or affiliated with the cannabis industry, so that equates to 20,000 people licensed in trade.”

Marijuana industry leaders reacted swiftly to Spicer’s comments Thursday afternoon:

“Colorado is one of the only states in the nation that is seeing a decline in opioid deaths -- that's not a coincidence. Cannabis is a healthy alternative to pain pills and heroin, not a gateway to it,” said Isaac Dietrich, the CEO of MassRoots.

“The comments from Secretary Spicer are ignorant and disappointing, although not unexpected. The cannabis industry will fight any pressure from the federal government to set back the significant progress that's been made thus far,” said Jeffrey Zucker, President of Green Lion Partners.

Brian Ruden, who owns seven dispensaries in Denver, also said that such actions against the recreational industry would have far-reaching effects.

“There are thousands and thousands of jobs that rely on the marijuana industry indirectly,” Ruden said. “Electricians, plumbers, warehouse space – all things are impacted by the industry.”

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., issued the following statement in response to Spicer’s comments:

“The President has said time and again that the decision about marijuana needs to be left to the states,” Polis said. “Now either the President is flip-flopping or his staff is, once again, speaking out of turn, either way these comments leave doubt and uncertainty for the marijuana industry, stifling job growth in my state. The public has spoken on recreational marijuana, we’ve seen it work in Colorado, and now is the time to lift the federal prohibition.”

The office of the Colorado Attorney General also had something to say about Spicer's comments.

"Today’s comments by the White House Press Secretary were so general in nature that it’s impossible to discern what action the Administration actually will take on legalized recreational marijuana," said director of communications Annie Skinner. "Until the Department of Justice issues an official position, we won’t be able to chart a legal course of action for Colorado."

The Cannabis Business Alliance also issued a statement about Spicer’s comments.

“The legal cannabis industry takes power and money out of the hands of drug cartels and puts funds into state coffers and has the real potential to help offset the Federal Government’s budget shortfalls,” its executive director, Mark Malone, said in part in the statement. “Dialing back any level of legalization of marijuana would be extremely misguided and would turn back the enormous positive progress that has occurred over the last several years. Going after the legal marijuana industry would be a direct affront to the overwhelming numbers of Americans who have voted time after time to approve legal cannabis.”

“President Trump has said that this is a State issue so we expect him to be true to his word and continue to let States regulate cannabis,” Malone’s statement continued.

History of recreational and medical marijuana in regards to federal law

The Obama administration allowed states to operate medical and recreational marijuana business without much federal intervention, despite the plant still being classified as a Schedule I drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which Spicer was referring to in regards to the medical pot industry, prohibits the Justice Department from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. It was first introduced in 2003, but did not become law until December 2014.

Sessions has only said he would "review and address" the recreational laws, but the DOJ has yet to issue any statement on how it will address federal enforcement of marijuana laws.

Spicer’s comments came minutes after he said transgender bathroom guidelines were a “states’ rights issue.”

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Boekpresentatie ‘De kwaal is erger dan het middel’

Boekpresentatie in boekhandel Gianotten Mutsaers, Tilburg, op donderdag 23 februari
2017 om 16.00 uur. De eerste exemplaren worden in ontvangst genomen door ex-premier Dries van Agt en Tweede Kamerlid Vera Bergkamp.

Pamflet: tien opstellen van specialisten onder redactie van ex-psychiater Freek Polak. Met medewerking van Hulya Cigdem, Edward Tellegen, Hedy d’Ancona, Kaj Holleman, Peter Cohen, Victor Everhardt en Cees Maris. ‘De drugsbestrijding levert maatschappelijk meer schade op dan de middelen
waartegen ze wordt ingezet,’ aldus Freek Polak. ‘Het drugsverbod is onnodig, onrechtvaardig, onwerkzaam en ondermijnend.’ Of het nu gaat om gezondheidsrisico’s, overbelasting van rechters en het OM, onveiligheid in woonwijken met plantages, of weggegooid overheidsgeld, vermeerderd met gederfde belastinginkomsten – ons drugsbeleid blijkt desastreus. Het merendeel van de bevolking wil van het verbod af, het merendeel van de Tweede Kamerleden ook. In dit pamflet leggen deskundigen uit dat de argumenten van de droogleggers onhoudbaar zijn en dat drugshandel dus moet worden vrijgegeven – en hoe dan. Nu nota bene zelfs de VS een federaal gedoogbeleid voor cannabis hebben, is het de hoogste tijd om het Nederlandse beleid te veranderen. Ex-psychiater Freek Polak is medeoprichter en bestuurder van de Stichting Drugsbeleid (DSB) en van het Verbond voor Opheffing van het Cannabisverbod(VOC). Tevens vertegenwoordigde hij van 2007 tot 2013 als bestuurslid de European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD) bij internationale conferenties en vergaderingen van de VN en de EU.

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Huge cannabis farm 'was staffed by trafficked Vietnamese teenagers'

Three teenagers were found working in slave-like conditions at former nuclear bunker in Wiltshire, police say

A vast marijuana farm discovered in a former nuclear bunker in Wiltshire was staffed by trafficked Vietnamese teenagers working in slave-like conditions, police say.

The three teenagers, the youngest of whom was initially thought to be 15, and one adult in his 30s, were found working as gardeners inside the 1980s bunker after a midnight raid on Wednesday.

DI Paul Franklin from Wiltshire police said officers recognised that the four gardeners were victims, adding: “No one would do this by choice.” He described the living and working conditions in the 20-room bunker, hidden in the countryside, as “grim for anyone, let alone a 15-year-old”.

“This was slave labour. There is no natural light, no running water supplies, water had to be brought in. This is hard, manual labour – it’s not just a walk around with a watering can. I was shocked by the scale of it,” Franklin said. “There is no fresh air, just the cloying, sweet humid smell of the plants that permeates everything.”

Detectives were trying to establish whether the four men were able to come and go freely or were locked inside RGHQ Chilmark, built in 1985 to serve as the regional government headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. The two-storey underground site is no longer owned by the Ministry of Defence, but remains intact, with protective nuclear blast doors still in place.

It was unclear whether the workers had been held there for several months, since the cannabis plants were seedlings, or if they were working in rotation with other gardeners. There were several thousand plants, approximately 200 in each of the bunker’s 20 rooms, at various different stages of growth, and police estimated the street value of the cannabis was over £1m.

Three British men were charged on Friday afternoon with conspiracy to produce cannabis, and conspiring to hold another person in slavery or servitude. The four Vietnamese men were released from custody, and were told no further action would be taken against them. An age assessment conducted while they were in the police station provisionally put the three teenagers at about 19 years old.

There was plenty of food in a fridge in the bunker’s kitchen, police said, and a basic sleeping area in one room. “We believe they had no choice. I think they were held there in human-trafficking, slave conditions,” Franklin said. “We have never seen anything on this scale.” He said the men, who spoke no English, had been “very fearful and apprehensive” when they were arrested. Officers were trying to establish whether the men could be assigned to the national referral mechanism, the framework for identifying victims of human trafficking.

This week’s discovery is an extreme example of a phenomenon police have been aware of for the past decade: the large-scale trafficking by organised crime groups of vulnerable young people from Vietnam to the UK to work in cannabis farms. Often these farms are relatively small, located in terraced houses which have been stripped inside, fitted with complex ventilation, lighting and watering systems, and are tended by a lone gardener, who is often locked into the property, receiving food deliveries through the letterbox and gardening instructions by text message.

But police last year discovered a number of much larger operations, raiding an ex-Barclays bank in Grimsby, a disused sports centre in south Wales, and a recently emptied GP surgery in Cumbria that had all been turned into cannabis farms, tended by Vietnamese workers.

David Cameron visited Vietnam in 2015, and promised to crack down on the trafficking of children to work in UK nail bars and cannabis farms, but the flow of Vietnamese children into the country continues, and there has never been a prosecution of a people trafficker from Vietnam.

Franklin said there was a lack of public awareness about the conditions in which cannabis was produced for UK consumers. “On social media people are asking: ‘Why are police taking action on cannabis? It’s harmless.’ I think perhaps people don’t appreciate that these are the conditions people are working in, that people are being trafficked, and that this is what it takes to get that product on to the streets.”

Anne Read, the director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery at the Salvation Army, who has worked with Vietnamese people trafficked for cannabis cultivation over the past eight years, said their numbers had risen during the last two years.

“They tend to be young men, they are nearly always locked into a premises so they have no contact with the outside world. They don’t know where they are, what part of the country they are in, and they usually don’t speak English,” she said. “Sometimes their clothes are taken from them, so they are left in their shirts and underpants, making it harder to escape.”

Often young people were told in Vietnam they were going to be helped to find legitimate work in the UK, she said; sometimes they were unaware that this was an illegal activity, and were told they were growing Chinese medicinal herbs. “The traffickers encourage them to build up a debt over a period of time that they will never be able to pay off. Then they are trapped, threatened and frightened for their families.”

Chloe Setter, the policy head at children’s charity Ecpat UK, which specialises in child trafficking victims, said she was concerned that the age of the youngest teenager had been questioned: “Those found in cannabis factories are often teenagers from Vietnam who have no identity documents and whose ages are disbelieved. Such a culture of disbelief puts young people at risk and often leads to them being retrafficked.

“We are extremely concerned that, despite new legislation and oft-vaunted promises about eradicating modern slavery, there are still children and young people being exploited as ‘gardeners’ in cannabis factories across the UK, often right under our noses. Many people who smoke cannabis do not appreciate the exploitation that is involved in its production.”

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Novadic-Kentron is wél blij als er staatswiet komt

DEN BOSCH - De Brabantse verslavingszorginstelling Novadic-Kentron is wel degelijk voorstander van het reguleren van de wietteelt. De organisatie vindt dat het Rosmalense CDA-Kamerlid Madeleine van Toorenburg ten onrechte de indruk heeft gewekt dat Novadic-Kentron tégen is.

In één van de debatten in de Tweede Kamer citeerde Van Toorenburg Peter Greeven, hoofd behandelzaken van Novadic-Kentron. Die zei in januari tegen het Brabants Dagblad 'dat cannabis een sluipmoordenaar is die zich in een rustig hoekje schuilhoudt, maar ondertussen wel je hele leven laat stagneren.' Van Toorenburg voerde het citaat op als één van de argumenten tegen het reguleren van de wietteelt, waar het CDA fel op tegen is.

Uit de context
Novadic/Kentron betreurt het dat Van Toorenburg 'het citaat uit de context heeft gehaald'. En die context is dat Novadic/Kentron het juist prima vindt dat de overheid straks henneptelers gaan aanwijzen die de coffeeshops mogen bevoorraden. ,,De overheid kan dan invloed hebben op de producten die verkocht worden. Nu liggen de coffeeshops vol met opgefokte cannabis, vol met pesticiden", zegt Charles Dorpmans. Hij wijst er ook op dat volgens het dinsdag aangenomen wetsvoorstel van D66 gemeenten de mogelijkheid krijgen om extra eisen te stellen aan coffeeshops. ,,Het zou goed zijn om coffeeshops te verplichten om aan preventie te doen."

Verboden terrein
Als het wetsvoorstel ook door de Eerste Kamer wordt goedgekeurd, blijven coffeeshops verboden terrein voor jongeren onder de achttien jaar. Juist die groep had Peter Greeven op het oog toen hij het in januari had over 'cannabis als sluipmoordenaar'. ,,Die groep is het meest kwetsbaar voor cannabis", beaamt Dorpmans. ,,Jongeren van die leeftijd gaan aan het experimenteren. Dan kun je zeggen dat cannabis troep is en hartstikke slecht, maar dat is niet genoeg. Je moet die boodschap op een andere manier brengen." In de gemeenten Landerd en Someren is Novadic-Kentron daar druk mee bezig, zegt Dorpmans.

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A hidden cost of the war on drugs

AI just completed another paper (this time with my longtime partner in crime Vadim Kufenko) where we question an hypothesis advanced by Samuel Bowles regarding the cost of inequality. In the process, we proposed an alternative explanation which has implications for the evaluation of the war on drugs.

In recent years, Samuel Bowles (2012) has advanced a theory (well-embedded within neoclassical theoretical elements while remaining elegantly simple) whereby inequality increases distrust which in turn magnifies agency problems. This forces firms to expend more resources on supervision and protection which means an expansion of the “guard labor force” (or supervisory labor force). Basically, he argues there is an over-provision of security and supervision. That is the cost of inequality which Bowles presents as a coordination failure. We propose an alternative explanation for the size of the guard and supervisory labor forces.

Our alternative is that there can be over-provision of security and supervision, but this could also be the result of a government failure. We argue that the war on drugs leads to institutional decay and lower levels of trust which, in turn, force private actors to deploy resources to supervise workers and protect themselves. Basically, efforts at prohibiting illicit substances require that limited policing resources be spread more thinly which may force private actors to expend more resources on security for themselves (thus creating an overprovision of security). This represents a form of state failure, especially if the attempts at policing these illicit substances increase the level of crime to which populations are vulnerable. To counteract this, private actors invest more in protection and supervision.

Using some of the work of Jeffrey Miron and Katherine Waldock, we show that increases in the intensity of prohibition enforcement efforts (measured in dollars per capita) have significant effects on the demand for guard labor. Given that guards represent roughly 1 million individuals in the US labor market, that is not a negligible outcome. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the level of drug enforcement efforts increases the ratio of guards to the population by somewhere between 12.92% and 13.91% (which is the equivalent of roughly 100,000 workers).

While our paper concentrated on proposing an alternative to the argument advanced by Bowles regarding the cost of inequality, we (more or less accidentally) measured a hidden cost from the war on drugs. The insecurity (increased crime rates and spillovers from illegal markets into formal markets) brought forth by drug prohibition forces an over-provision of security and supervision (our supervision measure which includes workers that supervise other workers were smaller than with the security guard measure).

Basically, a hidden (private cost) of the war on drugs is that we must reallocate resources that we could have used otherwise. Its a little like when I say that it is meaningless to compare healthcare expenditures to GDP in Canada and the United States because Canadians assume costs in a hidden manner through rationing. Waiting lists in Canada are longer than in the US. The cost is lost wages and enduring pain and that cost will not appear in measures of expenditures to GDP. The war on drugs works the same way. There is a fiscal cost (expenditures dedicated to it and the taxes that we must impose), there is a crime cost (destruction of lives and property) and there is a reallocation cost of privately providing security which is hard to measure.

*The paper will be made public soon, its just under review for a WP series.

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Zo zou je LSD en andere hallucinerende drugs veilig kunnen reguleren

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Amerikaanse kustwacht doet megavangst cocaïne bij Suriname | NOS

In internationale wateren voor de kust van Suriname is 4,2 ton cocaïne onderschept. De drugs hebben een straatwaarde van bijna 120 miljoen euro en waren aan boord van een vissersschip uit Saint Vincent. Woordvoerder Ricardo Castrodad van de Amerikaanse kustwacht heeft dat tegenover de NOS bevestigd.

De vangst werd op 16 februari gedaan tijdens een gezamenlijke operatie van de kustwacht van de Verenigde Staten en die van Trinidad en Tobago. Het schip, de Lady Michelle, is naar Puerto Rico gesleept waar de lading is overgedragen aan de Amerikaanse drugsbestrijdingsdienst, de DEA. De vier opvarenden uit Guyana zijn gearresteerd en zitten vast.

Castrodrad zegt dat het onderzoek nog niet is afgerond en dat hij daarom nog niet kan zeggen waar het schip vandaan kwam en wat de bestemming was. Volgens de kustwacht is de vangst de grootste in de Atlantische regio sinds 1999.

De vertegenwoordiger van het Caribische kantoor van de DEA, James Dolby, wijst op de toename van de cocaïnestroom vanuit Zuid-Amerika. "Vanwege die toename moeten de drugsbestrijdingsdiensten in de regio hun krachten bundelen, zegt Dolby tegen het Spaanse persbureau Efe. "Deze actie is daar een mooi voorbeeld van."

Bron: nos.nl

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Jeff Sessions Wants to Bring Back 'Just Say No' - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Attorney General Jeff Sessions laid out a three-pronged approach to combatting illicit drug use today at the New Hampshire Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness.

"There are three main ways to fight back against this problem," Sessions said in his prepared remarks. "Prevention, criminal enforcement and treatment."

In contast with federal drug officials under Obama, Sessions doesn't seem too keen on treatment:

Treatment is also important, but treatment often comes too late. Individuals have already lost their jobs and flunked their tests. Then the struggle to defeat addiction can be a long process – and it can fail. Experts will tell you that recovery is not certain. For many, addiction can be a death sentence.

I have seen families spend all their savings and retirement money on treatment programs for their children—just to see these programs sometimes fail.

Ramped-up enforcement, however, is something he's much more enthusiastic about: "The President has issued an Executive Order to the Department of Justice to dismantle these organizations and gangs. We are going to get rid of them. Of that you can be sure."

Sessions also called for a revival of late 80s/early 90s anti-drug marketing, the most famous example of which is former First Lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign:

The most effective solution in the 1980s and early '90s—when, for example, we saw a significant decline in teen drug use—was the Prevention Campaign. People began to stop using drugs. Drug users were not cool. Crime fell dramatically, and addiction fell too.

The National Institute for Drug Abuse reported this past December—as in, three months ago—that past-year use of illicit drugs among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders "continu[es] to decline to the lowest level in the history of the survey." Meanwhile, buckets of studies have shown that Just Say No-era anti-drug programming doesn't work.

Bron: reason.com

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Aboutaleb wil extra agenten voor strijd tegen onzichtbare criminaliteit | NOS

De nationale politie moet er zeker 5000 agenten bij krijgen. Deze uitbreiding is nodig om zaken als ondermijning aan te kunnen pakken. Deze oproep doet burgemeester Ahmed Aboutaleb van Rotterdam aan het nieuwe kabinet. "We hebben geen lucht meer in het politiesysteem."

In zijn eigen regio heeft Aboutaleb behoefte aan zeker 400 tot 500 politiemensen extra. "Ik moet enorm dealen met de capaciteit door zaken als terreur, de spanningen in de samenleving, polarisatie, cybercrime en de drugs in de haven. Ook grote evenementen vreten capaciteit", stelt de burgemeester.

Om niet zichtbare, maar wel samenleving ondermijnende criminaliteit aan te pakken, zijn veel mensen nodig. Niet alleen van de gemeente maar ook van opsporingsdiensten. Een aanpak die volgens Aboutaleb broodnodig is om criminele activiteiten terug te dringen.

Een van die gebieden waar Aboutaleb een offensief is gestart tegen ondermijning is de Spaanse Polder op het grondgebied van Schiedam en Rotterdam. Met een kleine duizend ondernemers en bedrijven is dit het grootste aaneengesloten bedrijventerrein van West-Europa.

Een deel van de ondernemers is volgens Aboutaleb malafide. "We hebben dit gebied de afgelopen 15 jaar op zijn beloop gelaten. Er waren nauwelijks klachten, maar de schijn bedriegt."

Vooral in de autobranche is er veel mis. In het gebied zitten meer dan 200 autobedrijven, waaronder veel verhuurbedrijven. De burgemeester schat dat een groot deel hiervan zich met andere activiteiten bezighoudt. Auto’s worden geleased aan criminelen, in auto’s worden verborgen ruimtes aangebracht om drugs, wapens en geld te vervoeren, gestolen auto’s worden omgekat. Bij een garage werd zelfs op zolder een bordeel aangetroffen.

Deze bedrijven faciliteren de zwarte economie, waarvan de drugshandel een onderdeel is, stelt Aboutaleb. Hij wil de malafide bedrijven aanpakken. "Een aantal zal moeten opdoeken. Mijn boodschap aan hen is duidelijk: maak dat je wegkomt, anders ga je het merken."

Het aanpakken van ondermijning heeft grote prioriteit voor Aboutaleb. "Het vreet aan de wortel van de samenleving. Het gaat om immens grote vermogens. Criminelen huren peperdure appartementen om er alleen hun geld op te slaan. Maar de aanpak vergt een lange adem. Het gaat vaak om langdurige onderzoeken."

Bron: nos.nl

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Homeless blighted by 'legal high' £5-a-gram 'Spice'

Trade has not stopped after ban, but merely passed onto professional drug dealers.

Since the ban on 'legal highs' came into force last year, the emergency services in Manchester have recorded a drop in calls related to the drugs.

The 'head shops' have all closed, and the heavy users who would cluster around them are no longer a problem to police.

But the trade in 'legal highs' hasn't stopped. It has merely passed into the hands of professional drug dealers.

And with a stockpile of newly-banned drugs that they bought at a knockdown price, suddenly they have been able to flood the market with cheap psychoactive drugs - drugs known universally as `Spice'.

The customers are no longer the students, hipsters,office workers and partygoers who frequented the head shops. They are Manchester's homeless.

And for just a few pounds, begged on the streets of the city centre, they can suddenly afford to smoke themselves into oblivion.

In the last few weeks charity workers have noticed a sudden spike in the numbers of homeless admitted to hospital, suffering the effects of an apparent overdose.

They blame a new and powerful batch of Spice which has suddenly appeared, selling for as little as £5 for a gram.

During the daytime, users can be seen, swaying and barely conscious, or slumped and comatose in the street.

And every evening, the blue lights of ambulances light the streets as case after case is taken to hospital.

Today scientists at the city's Metropolitan University analysed a sample of the drug - in an attempt to understand exactly what is being peddled to the city's poorest and most vulnerable people.

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Spain Arrests, Drug Seizures Signal Colombia Cocaine Boom Could Hit Europe

Authorities in Spain seized over one ton of cocaine from a Colombian drug trafficking network and arrested dozens of its members, a potential sign that the surge in Colombia's cocaine production is altering trafficking patterns in yet another part of the world.

Spain's National Police captured 24 members of a Colombian drug trafficking group that was seeking to establish a new maritime route into Spain, reported EFE. The operation, which was carried out last weekend, also reportedly netted a seizure of 2,400 kilograms of cocaine.

"It is one of the most important operations against cocaine trafficking that has been carried out in Spain in recent years, not just because of the large quantity of drugs, but because of the number of people detained, some of whom are very important in international cocaine trafficking," said Ricardo Toro, the Director of the Special Response Group for Organized Crime.

"If [the authorities] hadn't triumphed with their operation, they probably would have installed themselves here, in Galicia and in other parts of Spain," Toro continued.

The investigation began in June 2016, according to EFE, when Spanish authorities identified a known Colombian drug trafficker who was attempting to open a permanent "oficina," or office, in Madrid.

More recently, the Spanish Civil Guard arrested 12 alleged members of a drug trafficking ring in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a city in one of the Canary Islands off the northwestern coast of Africa. Most of the suspects are of Colombian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian nationality, and are allegedly responsible for smuggling close to 400 kilograms of cocaine into Europe, EFE reported separately.

The raid of a Colombian drug ring in Spain is not exactly revelatory; the country has long served as the entry point for Colombian traffickers seeking a way into the lucrative European drug market. In 2014, Spanish police told InSight Crime that Colombians had set up between 12 and 20 "oficinas de cobro," which are criminal structures that are often involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

Still, the amount of cocaine seized and the number of Colombians involved suggests Spain may be beginning to feel the effects of spiking cocaine production back in Colombia. Both the United Nations and the United States have registered significant increases in coca cultivation in recent years, and US officials recently told El Tiempo they believe there is now more coca being sown in Colombian soil than at any other point in the country's history.

There are already indications that the huge rise in cocaine production has impacted trafficking patterns in Latin America and consumption habits in the United States. A recent report by the US State Department linked Colombia's cocaine boom to greater availability and usage of the drug in the United States, something that hasn't been seen in nearly a decade. Seizures are also on the upswing in Central America and Mexico, as are confiscations of multi-ton cocaine shipments, which had become increasingly rare in recent years.

But with the amount of cocaine now flooding the market, it appears traffickers are willing to take bigger risks by sending larger shipments to more profitable markets like the United States and Europe.

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Bron: www.insightcrime.org

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Israel gives green light to decriminalize marijuana use

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli government voted on Sunday in favor of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining some U.S. states and European countries who have adopted a similar approach.

"On the one hand we are opening ourselves up to the future. On the other hand, we understand the dangers and will try to balance the two," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in broadcast remarks.

According to the new policy, which must still be ratified by parliament, people caught smoking marijuana would be fined rather than arrested and prosecuted. Criminal procedures would be launched only against those caught repeatedly with the drug.

Selling and growing marijuana would remain criminal offences in Israel.

"Israel cannot shut its eyes to the changes being made across the world in respect to marijuana consumption and its effects," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a statement.

In the United States, 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical use and since 2012, several have also approved marijuana for recreational use.

Shaked said Israeli authorities would now put their focus on education about the possible harmful effects of drug use.

Marijuana use is fairly common in Israel. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said that almost nine percent of Israelis use cannabis, though some Israeli experts believe the numbers are higher.

Israeli police figures showed only 188 people were arrested in 2015 for recreational use of marijuana, a 56 percent drop since 2010, and many of those apprehended in that time were never charged.

About 25,000 people have a license to use the drug for medicinal purposes in Israel, one of the world leaders in medical marijuana research.

In February, a government committee gave an initial nod for the export of medical cannabis, though final legislative measures will likely take months.

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Pharmaceutical Giants Caught Supplying Cartels With Tons of Bulk Ingredients to Produce Meth



Prosecutors in Belgium have recently announced that executives with pharmaceutical companies based in the country will be charged with knowingly providing drug cartels with prescription drugs that were used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The companies are accused of providing the Mexican drug kingpin Ezio Figueroa Vazquez with several tons of ephedrine, knowing that it would be used in the production of methamphetamine.

Prosecutors have said that there are seven executives who were charged with crimes, but they have not named these executives or the companies that they represent. However, Reuters uncovered that Sterop and Andacon are two of the three companies involved in the charges.

The companies claim that they had no clue who was buying the drugs, but prosecutors say that they have evidence proving that the executives had full knowledge of what they were involved in. The evidence reportedly includes email and phone surveillance.

Prosecutors spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said that Ezio Figueroa Vazquez received large shipments of ephedrine from these companies between 2006 and 2011, which cost an estimated 360 million euros.

As we reported last month, according to neuroscientist Dr. Carl Hart, the top big pharma drug Adderall is nearly identical to crystal meth. Not only are these drugs similar, but it also seems that big pharma is the source of the cartel’s needed supply.

This arrangement makes sense because the only place to get massive quantities of a substance like ephedrine would be a pharmaceutical company, and most of these companies don’t really care who their customers are, especially if they are making millions of dollars on the deal.

Bron: thefreethoughtproject.com

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Now-Former Mayor Pleads Guilty After Drug Dealing ArrestNow-Former Mayor Pleads Guilty After Drug Dealing Arrest - Living Resistance

The former mayor of Fairfax, Virginia, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony drug distribution charge stemming from his arrest in August for selling methamphetamine to undercover officers in exchange for group sex.

Brandi Buchman | Courthouse News Service

Richard Silverthorne, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing crystal meth in Fairfax County Circuit Court. The former mayor of Fairfax is to remain in custody until his June 9 sentencing hearing where he faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

The scandal began after Silverthorne was caught up in a police sting at a Tyson’s Corner hotel.

Police said they received a tip last summer that Silverthorne was using an online dating site to arrange trysts with men in exchange for drugs. According to local police, Silverthorne gave an undercover officer two grams of meth after meeting at the hotel.

Free on bond since the beginning of his case, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Grace Carroll revoked the privilege Monday, much to the dismay of Silverthorne’s family and friends who were present during sentencing.

Silverthorne resigned from his city position after his arrest. He was also fired from the Fairfax County Public School system, where he worked as a substitute teacher.

The largely white, affluent suburb right outside Washington, D.C. is the second wealthiest county in the nation.

The county has roughly 1.2 million residents, and is also home to some of the nation’s most powerful federal agencies including the CIA.

Median income in Fairfax County hovers right around $115,000 and corporations like Capital One, Northrop Grumman and Volkswagen are among its most prominent employers.

Published by Courthouse News Service.

Bron: livingresistance.com

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The intoxicating drug of an Indian god

The cannabis plant’s role in Hindu mythology has authorities turning a blind eye to India’s drug shops.

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Although the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 prohibits the production, sale and consumption of certain parts of the cannabis plant, the leaves are an exception. There are even government-approved bhang shops in towns like Jaisalmer and Pushkar, and more than 200 such shops – including Pathak’s – exist year-round in Varanasi. The intoxicating ingredient has always been popular with India’s Brahmin community, who were traditionally forbidden from imbibing inebriants like alcohol. In some especially religious parts of the country, including Varanasi, it is common to see babas and sadhus (holy men) consuming bhang directly or smoking it from a clay pipe known as a chillum.

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Stop 'Tearing Apart Families': Congresswoman Introduces Act to Decriminalize Pot -- Nationally

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Calls for Federal Decriminalization of Marijuana

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"Mostly in poor and minority communities our current laws are turning everyday Americans into criminals, sending them to jail, ruining their lives, tearing apart families and wasting huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate people for marijuana use," Gabbard's statement said.

"The drug has been proven time and time again to be far less dangerous than alcohol, both for individual consumers as well as for the people around them," she adds.

The Hawaii congresswoman said the current laws surrounding marijuana put a strain on the justice system, and detailed her recent visits to prisons in Hawaii where she saw "crumbling infrastructure, the extreme overcrowding and facilities in dire need of upgrades."

Gabbard also highlighted the contradiction between federal law and those of individual states regarding marijuana, and how it has affected bankers and credit unions in Hawaii where marijuana is legalized but federal law prohibits them from dealing in financial transactions from marijuana.

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Marijuana raids are more deadly than the drug itself

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Heeft het verbieden van een partydrug wel zin? | Nieuwsuur

Wat voor effect heeft een verbod van de partydrug 4-FA? De voorstanders van het verbod, zoals staatssecretaris Martin van Rijn (Volksgezondheid), vinden het een belangrijk signaal aan gebruikers. "Met het verbod is de handel en het gebruik van 4-FA verboden. Er staan straffen op, dat helpt altijd", zegt Van Rijn. De tegenstanders zeggen juist dat het een gemiste kans is, omdat jongeren het toch wel blijven gebruiken.

Sinds 2010 is de populariteit van de psychoactieve stof 4-fluoramfetamine - in de volksmond 4-FA of 4-FMP - flink gestegen. Hiermee steeg ook het aantal ernstige incidenten. Twee mensen zouden zijn overleden na gebruik van 4-FA en er zijn ook berichten dat jongeren hersenbloedingen kregen na gebruik.

Volgens het Coördinatiepunt Assessment en Monitoring (CAM) is 4-FA een gevaar voor de volksgezondheid. Daarom wil de regering 4-FA vanaf 1 april verbieden. Tot nu toe is 4-FA nog legaal via internet te bestellen.

"Ik krijg een hele heldere geest. En ben heel erg empathisch", zegt Lyle Muns. Hij gebruikt 4-FA af en toe op een feestje. "Je bent niet bang. Je kunt dus gewoon iemand aanspreken in de club, je bent dan niet onzeker."

4-FA is er in de vorm van pillen, capsules of poeder. In het uitgaansleven is het populair, mede omdat het nu nog vrij verhandelbaar is. Gebruikers raken na een uur in een feestroes, die wel zes uur kan duren.

De populariteit van 4-FA is onder andere gestegen toen het bekend werd als XTC-light. Gebruikers zouden minder lang brak zijn na het gebruik. Juist die benaming van XTC-light is gevaarlijk, vindt verslavingsinstelling Novadic Kentron.

"Dat is een hele vervelende betiteling. Daarvan zou je dus kunnen denken dat het minder ernstig is. En dat is het niet", zegt Charles Dorpmans van Novadic Kentron.

"Je kunt oververhitting, hersenbloedingen en hartritmestoornissen krijgen. Aan oververhitting kun je gewoon dood gaan. Maar omdat het een lightversie wordt genoemd, is het in de beleving van de gebruikers minder erg. Dat is het lastige", zegt Dorpmans.

Novadic Kentron heeft daarom gelobbyd om 4-FA op de opiumlijst te krijgen. De bedoeling is vooral om aan gebruikers een signaal af te geven dat het gaat om een gevaarlijke stof.

"Totaal onzinnig", vindt Lyle Muns. Hij startte de Facebookpagina ‘Red 4-FA'. “Ik denk dat het echt een gemiste kans is. In plaats van criminaliseren kan je het ook reguleren. Nu zeg je: laat de dealers er maar in handelen, wij als overheid kijken daar niet meer naar”, vindt Muns.

Internetwinkels verkopen 4-FA nu nog, en naast 4-FA ook allerlei andere nieuwe psychoactieve stoffen. Verkoper Tom (echte naam bij de redactie bekend) van Legal Silk Road somt op: "1P-LSD, 3MMC, 6-APB, BX-2CB. Allemaal drugs die legaal te verkrijgen zijn."

De ene stof is nog niet verboden of de volgende drug is alweer op de markt. Een oneindig proces, denkt Tom, die voor regulering en betere voorlichting is. "Het komt gewoon binnen, het is dweilen met de kraan open. Dat doen we nu al tientallen jaren. De overheid is gewoon gek bezig, mijns inziens."

Nederland bekijkt bij elke nieuwe stof of die op de Opiumlijst moet komen. In een aantal andere Europese landen worden stoffen die lijken op bestaande drugs automatisch verboden. Dat is niet nodig vindt Dorpsmans. Alleen als er gevaar is voor de volksgezondheid, moet er worden ingegrepen.

"We volgen wat er speelt. We nemen gepaste actie waar nodig. Dat is onze houding. We voeren gelukkig nog steeds een pragmatisch beleid. Bij 4-FA zien we dat er ernstige risico’s aan zitten, ernstiger dan gedacht. Dat was de trigger om het te verbieden."

“Bij drugsbeleid ben je nooit klaar, helaas. Er worden altijd weer nieuwe dingen geproduceerd en nieuwe dingen uitgevonden. Dat betekent dat we er heel alert op zijn, aldus staatssecretaris Van Rijn.

Het ministerie van VWS heeft het verbod op 4-FA te laat aangemeld bij de Europese Commissie. Daardoor is het nog onduidelijk wanneer het verbod precies ingaat.

Bron: nos.nl

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Drugscrisis in Maryland: vader aan de pijnstillers, zoon spuit heroïne | NOS

"Vorige week kwamen drie bekenden om door een overdosis heroïne." Carin Miller wijst naar het huis aan de overkant van de straat in het stadje Frederick County in Maryland. "Onze buurjongen, een dag voor hij in rehab zou gaan, een vrouw van 28 en de dochter van een vriendin. Heroïne is net zo'n terroristische aanslag als 9/11. Het doodt alleen geen honderden mensen in een klap, maar neemt levens één voor één."

Heroïne en opiaten eisen meer en meer levens in de Amerikaanse staat. Vorig jaar stierven in de eerste negen maanden in Maryland 1468 mensen aan een overdosis, ruim 60 procent meer dan in dezelfde periode in 2015. De gouverneur riep recentelijk de noodtoestand uit. "Er is geen familie die hier niet wordt getroffen door heroïne", zegt sheriff Chuck Jenkins hoofdschuddend. Hij is al tien jaar sheriff van het stadje, maar dit heeft hij nog niet eerder meegemaakt.

De heroïnecrisis raakt volgens Carin Miller, moeder van vier kinderen, alle aspecten van het normale leven. "Zelfs het organiseren van een simpel etentje voor vrienden vraagt om maatregelen. Je moet het medicijnkastje van tevoren leeghalen, want de kans is groot dat een gast op zoek gaat naar pijnstillers."

De trend is onderdeel van wat de grootste drugcrisis in de geschiedenis van de Verenigde Staten wordt genoemd. "Het is met geen pen te beschrijven", zegt sheriff Jenkins. Aan de deur van zijn kantoor hangt een handgranaat waar 'trek een nummertje' op staat. "Er gaan meer mensen dood aan een overdosis dan aan wapengeweld en auto-ongelukken."

De meeste mensen die verslaafd raken aan heroïne of andere opiaten kregen aanvankelijk van hun arts pijnstillers voorgeschreven. Zo begon het ook bij de man van Carin.

"Hij liep een knieblessure op bij een auto-ongeluk en de dokter gaf hem zware pijnstillers mee." Carin zit aan haar keukentafel en neemt nog een hap van haar yoghurt. Het echtpaar wist toen nog niet dat opiaten na drie dagen al verslavend kunnen zijn.

"Na een tijdje begon mijn man zich vreemd te gedragen en er verdween elke dag 60 dollar uit mijn portemonnee. Hij ging de straat op om meer pillen te scoren bij dealers." Carin kwam erachter dat haar man een tolerantie had opgebouwd voor de pijnstillers die de dokter hem voorschreef. Hij was verslaafd geraakt.

Het gebruik van opiaten in de Verenigde Staten is buitensporig in vergelijking met andere westerse landen. Het probleem ligt voor een belangrijk deel bij de grote farmaceutische bedrijven. In hun concurrentiestrijd schuiven ze artsen geld toe om hun merk geneesmiddel aan patiënten voor te schrijven. "En als opiatengebruikers hun hunkering niet meer met pijnstillers kunnen stillen, stappen ze over naar heroïne", zegt sheriff Jenkins. "Dat is op straat goedkoper en eenvoudig verkrijgbaar."

Niet alleen Carins man werd getroffen, ook een van haar zoons. Ze wijst naar een familieportret aan de muur. "Ik had nooit gedacht dat een van hen hetzelfde zou overkomen als hun vader. Ze zagen immers hoe die eronder leed. Maar nota bene mijn meest voorbeeldige kind was de volgende."

Carin kan een snik niet onderdrukken. "Sorry, sorry. Ook al heb ik het al zo vaak verteld, het blijft heftig." Ze vertelt dat haar zoon Lucas zijn neus maar bleef ophalen. "Naïef als ik was, dacht ik dat hij een allergie had, maar het ging niet over."

Uiteindelijk bleek dat Lucas ook verslaafd was geraakt aan pillen, die hij via vriendjes op school kreeg. Die jongens kregen de pijnstillers op hun beurt voorgeschreven voor sportblessures. Toen Lucas zijn kick niet meer uit pillen kon halen, stapte hij over op heroïne. "Ik had dus een man die verslaafd was aan pijnstillers en een kind dat heroïne in zijn arm spoot."

"Ik verwijt mezelf dat ik er niet genoeg was", zegt Carin. "Ik schaamde me, probeerde de problemen van mijn gezin te verbergen voor familie en vrienden. Maar dat werkte averechts. Op een ochtend werd ik wakker en vroeg ik me af waar ik mee bezig was. Ik moest niet tégen ze vechten, maar vóór ze."

Carin begon bijeenkomsten voor familieleden van verslaafden te organiseren. Ze laat een aantal foldertjes zien. "Ik heb drie groepen opgezet die wekelijks samenkomen. Naasten van slachtoffers kampen vaak met stress-stoornissen en raken depressief. Erover praten helpt."

Het werk van de politie in Frederick is door de opiatencrisis enorm veranderd. "We halen vijf keer zoveel drugs van de straat als vijf jaar terug. Bovendien dienen we tegenwoordig vaker Naloxon toe dan dat we reanimeren", zegt Jenkins.

Nalaxone is een neusspray die de effecten van een overdosis kan opheffen. De sheriff haalt een zwart doosje met het medicijn uit zijn auto en doet voor hoe het werkt. "Het werkt binnen een paar minuten." Alle medewerkers op zijn kantoor zijn getraind in het toedienen ervan. "Maar ook de burgers kunnen cursussen volgen om een overdosis te herkennen en Nalaxone toe te dienen."

Wie de training met succes afrondt, krijgt een zwart doosje mee naar huis. "Ik heb het altijd in mijn tas zitten", zegt Carin Miller. "Mensen nemen een overdosis in de supermarkt of een restaurant. Je moet altijd voorbereid zijn."

President Trump maakte de bestrijding van de opiatencrisis een van de speerpunten van zijn campagne. Vorige week kondigde hij aan dat hij 500 miljoen dollar extra wil investeren in het voorkomen en behandelen van opiatenverslaafden. Tegelijkertijd wil hij bijna 15 miljard korten op het budget voor gezondheidszorg.

De gouverneur van Maryland trok onlangs 50 miljoen dollar extra uit voor het bestrijden van de crisis. "Het probleem wordt erkend, maar ik denk niet dat het genoeg is", zegt Miller. "Bij een natuurramp of terroristische aanslag schiet iedereen in de crisismodus. Er rukken troepen uit, er worden noodkampen opgezet en slachtoffers opgevangen. Het is hier ook crisis, maar niemand weet hoe die moet worden bestreden."

Sheriff Jenkins zegt dat hij alles probeert wat in zijn macht ligt. "Strengere controles, voorlichting, het controleren op drugsroutes, behandelingen. Maar de beste aanpak hebben we nog niet gevonden. Ik zie nog lang geen licht aan het einde van de tunnel", zegt hij aangedaan.

Met Carin en haar gezin gaat het iets beter. Haar zoon ondergaat behandelingen in Colorado. Haar man stelde ze voor een keuze. "Het was ik of de pillen. Hij koos mij. Hij probeert te stoppen, maar ironisch genoeg is hij verslaafd geraakt aan het afkickmiddel."

Bron: nos.nl

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Former premiers and Australian police chiefs call for drug decriminalisation

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A group of former premiers, police commissioners and legal advocates have luanched a push for decriminalisation as part of a widespread reform of drug laws.

The former Labor premier of NSW, Bob Carr, and the former Liberal Victoria premier, Jeff Kennett, launched the Australia 21 report on Monday, which calls for an end to criminalisation of drug users.

The report, entitled “Can Australia respond to drugs more effectively and safely?”, makes 13 recommendations around minimising drug-related harm and the burden on the criminal justice system.

Among them are reducing and, where possible, eliminating penalties for possession and use; expanding health and social assistance for young people struggling with drug addiction; and undermining the black market with a regulated “white” market.

It recommends pill-testing be trialled to work as “indirect quality control … on the drug market”.

At the launch of the report in Sydney, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said there had been no seminal advance in addressing the challenges for 40 to 50 years, with the exception of Sydney’s safe injecting facility.
“Anecdotally, it seems to be getting worse,” he said. “Yet where are the legislators today with the courage to try something different that might, in some way, bring about a change of direction in this particular area of pursuit?”
Kennett said the rise of drugs such as ice meant emergency service personnel were also forced to suffer the consequences of drug use.

Four former police commissioners and assistant commissioners, two former heads of corrective services, a former supreme court judge and a former director of public prosecution also put their names to the report.

It was born of a roundtable convened by Mick Palmer, former commissioner of the Australian federal police and Northern Territory police, at the University of Sydney in September 2015.

The current system was “badly broken, ineffective and even counterproductive” to the aim of harm minimisation, he said in a statement. “We must be courageous enough to consider a new and different approach.”

The Australia 21 report proposes redefining drugs as a health and social issue, rather than a criminal justice one – an approach that has been adopted in 11 states of the US, several western European countries, India, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and many other countries around the world.

“Australia has just looked on,” the report’s summary notes. “Our capacity for reform has been gridlocked.

“Meanwhile, Australia’s drug problems have grown steadily worse.”

It calls for a distinction to be made between “high-end production and trafficking” and personal use and possession, and for the “discretionary approach … already being adopted by frontline law enforcers” to be standardised.

Reform should be slow and incremental, and reevaluated at every step.

“A review of current attitudes and approaches should be a free-ranging attempt to legitimise the existing approach, tinker with it or replace it,” wrote Jack Johnston, former Tasmanian police commissioner.

But there was general agreement that some drugs – “100% pure” heroin, cocaine and ice – “should never and would never be subjected to regulated availability”, the report noted.

This is the third in a series of Australia 21 reports on drug law reform after the first two being released in 2012. All three were funded by an anonymous donor.

According to the Australian Crime Commission, 80,000 drug consumer arrests are made each year.

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Tunisia's proposed drug law spurs debate | | Al Jazeera

Amid rising prison numbers, legislators are considering a contentious new law to abolish sentences for some offenders.

As Tunisia grapples with prolonged economic stagnation and a 30 percent youth unemployment rate, officials have warned that drug use is on the rise - and so is the country's prison population.

A draft law has proposed the abolition of prison terms for first and second-time offenders arrested for drug consumption or possession for personal use. However, the proposed law - expected to go to a vote in the coming months - contains a number of controversial provisions that have been criticised for infringing civil rights.

In a recent televised interview, President Beji Caid Essebsi lauded the draft law, noting that an individual imprisoned for consuming cannabis "would enter prison clean and leave it as a criminal", referring to the dangers of mixing petty offenders with hardened criminals in jail.

The draft legislation seeks to replace Tunisia's current law on narcotics, Law 52, which imposes a mandatory minimum one-year prison sentence and hundreds of dollars in fines for anyone who possesses or uses illegal drugs, including cannabis, for the first time. Repeat offenders are sentenced to a minimum of five years and larger fines.

Last year, 6,700 people were arrested and detained for drug consumption in Tunisia - eight times more than in 2000, according to official figures from the Ministry of Justice. Those arrested for drug-related offences account for a third of the overall prison population.

Human rights groups say that Law 52, adopted in 1992 under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has provided a legal pretext to arrest and detain activists critical of the government. Law 52 "does not require any evidence" that a crime has been committed prior to arrest, said Amna Guellali, the Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch - a problem that is not remedied in the new draft law.

People can be arrested on streets or in cafes "on the very vague suspicion that they have consumed drugs", Guellali told Al Jazeera, noting that even if police fail to find any evidence on suspects, they often force them to take a urine test. The active ingredient in cannabis, known as THC, can be found in a person's urine as long as 67 days after consumption.

"This is quite telling about the widespread use of this law as a tool to arrest, detain, and imprison the population, especially young people, just for smoking a joint," Guellali said. "It is basically the easiest way to convict people in Tunisia."

The draft law, initially passed to parliament for legislative revision in late 2015, has been stalled for more than a year now as legislators have failed to reach a consensus. It has faced criticism for a number of controversial provisions.

While judges would have discretion under the draft law in allowing first-time offenders to choose between going to a public health institution for drug treatment or paying a monetary fine, second-time and third-time offenders would not have that option.

"For second-time and third-time offenders ... this relation between health and criminalisation is broken," Guellali said, citing a shortage in public health facilities in Tunisia and a lack of investment in health policies dealing with drug use.

In addition, the draft law criminalises refusing to take a urine test, making it punishable by up to a year in prison. The current law contains no such provision, even though police have been accused of using coercive tactics to make people take the test.

The concept of a mandatory urine test "violates a person's freedom and undermines human dignity," Ghazi Mrabet, a lawyer and activist calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis, told Al Jazeera.

The draft law also adds a new offence of "public incitement to commit drug-related offences" - a vague provision under which those who advocate for the decriminalisation or legalisation of drug use could be prosecuted. This kind of provision could be used to silence activists and human rights groups, Guellali noted.

Although Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011 amid widespread protests, some see Law 52 as a remnant of his authoritarian regime.

In September 2013, police raided the home of filmmaker Najib Abidi, arresting eight activists on suspicion of drug possession, just as they prepared to release a controversial documentary about the alleged involvement of police in the coastal city of Kabaria in people-smuggling to Europe.

Slim Abida, a Paris-based Tunisian musician who was among the activists arrested that night, said police did not find any drugs in the apartment, but he and three other artists were sentenced to a year in prison after being forced to take urine tests at the police station.

"I don't smoke cannabis. I was certain that my test result was going to be negative. It came out positive," Abida told Al Jazeera. "You could refuse to take the test. Then you would be beaten up and forced to take it. If you still resist and do not take it, you still test positive," he said, accusing police of falsifying test results.

A spokesperson for Tunisian police did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.

I don't smoke cannabis. I was certain that my test result was going to be negative. It came out positive.

The detention of the four artists triggered an outcry among human rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders, and raised questions about the real motives for the raid, during which police confiscated two hard drives containing footage for the documentary.

Others have argued that reforming Law 52 is necessary on security grounds. The country has faced an increase in cross-border weapons and drug smuggling with neighbouring Libya and Algeria, and with the return of Tunisian fighters from the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), experts fear that prisons are becoming hotbeds for radicalisation.

A 2016 report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cited significant overcrowding in Tunisian prisons, with some facilities running at 150 percent capacity. Overcrowding can lead to offenders in jail for minor drug offences sharing cells with people convicted of "terrorism"-related crimes.

Abida said that he shared a 40 square metre cell with 123 other prisoners. "I shared the cell with returnees from Syria, with murderers and with paedophiles. You don't differentiate [between inmates] in prison. You're all together," he said.

The infamous case of a rap singer, Marwen Douiri - better known by his stage name "Emino" - who joined ISIL in 2015 after eight months in prison for drug possession sent shock waves across the country. Douiri died last November during a battle in Mosul.

Meanwhile, the legislative debate around the Law 52 reforms remains highly divisive, with opposition parliamentarians arguing that drug use would skyrocket if the draft law passes - an argument rejected by proponents of the law.

However, wider issues, such as Tunisia's economic malaise and high levels of unemployment among its large young population, could exacerbate drug use, experts say.

"The problem is not the drug consumer; it is the environment and community that surround the drug consumer. You spend 19 years of your life getting an education to be unemployed at the end. Of course some people would escape to drug use - they want to forget their misery," Abida said.

"It is time for the country to focus on the big fish," he said, "not the addicted."


Bron: www.aljazeera.com

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Canadian government aims to legalise marijuana by 1 July 2018

Liberal lawmakers plan to reveal legislation in April to decriminalise and regulate recreational marijuana, one of Justin Trudeau’s campaign promises

The Canadian government is scrambling to craft legislation to legalise recreational marijuana by 1 July 2018 – a move that would fulfill a campaign promise by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

The Liberal government will reveal the legislation in the second week of April, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, putting Canada on course to become the first G7 country to fully legalise marijuana use.

Since becoming the Liberal leader in 2013, Trudeau has spoken out about the need to decriminalise and regulate recreational marijuana, arguing that it would help ensure that marijuana is kept away from children and that profits don’t end up in the hands of what he has described as “criminal elements”.

Shortly after taking power, his government signalled that legalisation remained a priority, promising to unveil legislation by spring. Medical marijuana is already legal in Canada.

The federal legislation is expected to task Ottawa with licensing producers and ensuring the safety of the marijuana supply, in keeping with the recommendations of a government-appointed taskforce. Canadians who want to grow their own marijuana will be limited to four plants per household.

It will be up to Canada’s provincial governments to decide how the drug will be sold and at what price. While the federal government will stipulate that buyers must be at least 18 years old, provinces will be able to set a higher age limit if they wish.

Given the scope of work that lies ahead for the provinces, the timeline of legalisation by mid-2018 is ambitious, a senior federal official told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. A date of 2019 is more likely, the official added.

The initiative has divided opinion in Canada, where analysts have estimated the country’s cannabis industry could eventually be worth somewhere between C$5bn and C$7bn annually.

Earlier this month, Saskatchewan’s justice minister said his provincial government continues to have “grave” concerns about legalisation.

“We do support medicinal uses of marijuana, but we also know that there’s going to be some significant issues that arise as a result of legalisation from a recreational perspective … not only with respect to impaired driving but with respect to a whole host of other issues,” Gordon Wyant told a convention in the province.

Saskatchewan’s minister of labour has also voiced concerns over how legalisation would affect workplace safety.

Others worry that legalisation will put Canada on a collision path with the administration of Donald Trump. While eight US states and the District of Columbia have voted to legalise recreational marijuana, the White House has hinted that the Department of Justice will do more to enforce federal laws prohibiting recreational marijuana, raising concerns over how Canada’s approach will coexist with a potential crackdown south of the border.

Nearly 400,000 people a day cross the shared border between Canada and the US, and any thickening of the border could have economic repercussions for Canada, which last year sent three-quarters of its exports to the US.

Trudeau has stressed that in the absence of legislation, recreational marijuana remains illegal across Canada. “Until we have a framework to control and regulate marijuana, the current laws apply,” he told reporters earlier this month.

The point was underscored days later as police carried out raids on more than a dozen marijuana dispensaries across the country, laying charges of possession and trafficking on nearly 20 people.

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Recordaantal vondsten drugsafval in Brabant | NOS

In de provincie Noord-Brabant is nog nooit zo vaak drugsafval gevonden als vorig jaar. Dat blijkt uit het jaarrapport van de politie. In 2016 werd 101 keer drugsafval aangetroffen, ten opzichte van slechts 47 een jaar eerder. Vaak ging het om vaten met chemisch afval uit xtc-labs.

De stijging zou vooral liggen aan een betere registratie van de dumpingen. In Limburg nam het aantal vondsten juist af.

De overlast van drugs is vorig jaar landelijk iets verder toegenomen. In 2015 waren er in 160 plaatsen waar drugsafval werd gevonden, vorig jaar waren dat er 177. Vaak werd het afval op parkeerplaatsen en in natuurgebieden achtergelaten.

Ook het aantal loodsen waarin de grondstoffen voor de drugs waren opgeslagen, nam toe. De politie ontmantelde vorig jaar een derde meer opslagplaatsen dan een jaar eerder. De stijging is vooral te zien in het oosten van Brabant. De politie zegt dat er meer inkopers van grondstoffen zijn opgepakt, die vervolgens naar de opslagplekken toeleiden.

Volgens de politie lijkt het erop dat de criminelen hun werkveld iets hebben verplaatst. De politie geeft drugscriminaliteit steeds meer prioriteit en deed vorig jaar zo'n 1000 interventies en verrichtte zo'n 700 aanhoudingen.

Wilbert Paulissen van de recherche zegt dat dit de lichte verschuiving naar het oosten kan verklaren. "Je ziet wel dat de criminele wereld in beroering brengt. Dat men beseft dat de aanpak er is", zegt hij.

In de online special Het DNA van MDMA volgt NOS op 3 het spoor van xtc-productie in Nederland. Bekijk de productie hieronder:

Bron: nos.nl

quote:

Mexicaanse krant stopt omdat zij veiligheid van journalisten niet kan garanderen

quote:

'In 27 jaar hebben we tegen de stroom in gevochten, zijn we het mikpunt geweest van aanvallen en straffen van personen en overheden omdat we hun slechte praktijken en corrupte daden aan het licht hebben gebracht. Wij streefden naar objectiviteit, eerlijkheid en transparantie voor de stad en haar inwoners. Maar we zijn aan ons lot overgelaten.'

quote:

Leun achterover en laat 'wiet-aandelen' het werk doen

Vandaag kan voor het eerst worden gehandeld in een beleggingsproduct dat de 'wiet-index' volgt. Ideaal voor beleggers die een slaatje willen slaan uit de langzaam ontluikende cannabisindustrie.

Vorige week heeft een Canadees fondshuis groen licht gekregen om een 'Marihuana-tracker' op de markt te brengen. Een tracker is een bundeltje aandelen dat de prestaties van een bepaalde index probeert te evenaren.

Groeimarkt?

Nu in de Verenigde Staten cannabis steeds vaker legaal gekocht én genuttigd mag worden, neemt het aantal bedrijven daarin ook toe. En die groei zet volgens analisten nog wel even door. Volgens The New York Times was de legale marihuanamarkt vorig jaar goed voor zeven miljard dollar, dat zal in 2020 zijn gegroeid tot 22 miljard.

Inmiddels zijn er ook twee indexen die inzicht bieden in deze ontluikende nieuwe markt: de North American Marijuana Index en de North American Medical Marhijuana Index.
Index-tracker

Voor wie durft mee te surfen op die groene ontwikkeling is er dus nu een index-tracker, waarmee je vanuit je luie stoel belegt in de wietbedrijven uit de Medical Marhijuana Index. Overigens is enige voorzichtigheid wel gepast nu er een nieuwe wind politieke door Amerika waait, die aanzienlijk minder groen is en daarmee roet in het eten kan gooien.

Al lijkt het feit dat 57 procent van de Amerikanen voor legalisatie is reden tot voorzichtig optimisme.

quote:

The New War on Drugs

Jeff Sessions and the DOJ are pushing for hard-line marijuana policies. Prosecutors across the country are pushing back.

quote:

The tension between federal and local authority here stems from the fact that both have the authority to enforce drug laws. Historically, the federal government has depended on states to enforce laws prohibiting low-level drug use, although the feds are technically well within their rights to enforce federal laws prohibiting such use.

In practice, the existence of programs like Ogg’s demonstrates the power that local district attorneys maintain when it comes to reform. The choice to prosecute low-level marijuana offenses—or not—remains in the hands of local prosecutors, and many local officials are choosing to move forward with reform efforts that are not in keeping with the harsh rhetoric emanating from the Trump White House and the Sessions Department of Justice.

quote:

Illegale anabolenhandel via internet, afhalen bij de snackbar | NOS

Bij een gezamenlijk onderzoek van de FIOD en de politie zijn drie mannen aangehouden die anabolen en geneesmiddelen aanboden via het internet. De bestelde producten konden worden afgehaald in openbare gelegenheden zoals snackbars of werden per post bezorgd. Er kon behalve met euro's ook worden betaald met bitcoins.

De politie begon het onderzoek naar de illegale handel in anabolen op grond van informatie uit een onderzoek naar een poging tot liquidatie.

De twee hoofdverdachten zijn 31 jaar. Ze worden verdacht van witwassen en overtreding van de Geneesmiddelenwet. Er werd beslag gelegd op 30.000 euro contant geld, bitcoins, medicijnen, anabolen, drie dure auto’s, de inventaris van een sportschool, horloges en sieraden, computers en administratie.

De FIOD en politie deden doorzoekingen in negen woningen in de omgeving van Rotterdam, Breda en in Wassenaar. Ook is een sportschool doorzocht in Ridderkerk en een schoonheidssalon in Wassenaar, onder meer met drugs- en geldhonden van de Douane. Het team vond wapens en een wietplantage.

Bron: nos.nl

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Uitzonderlijk groot drugslab ontdekt in Terborg | NOS

In een loods in Terborg is een laboratorium voor het maken van synthetische drugs ontdekt. De politie spreekt van een "uitzonderlijk groot" lab. De ontmanteling gaat waarschijnlijk dagen duren. Vijf mensen zijn aangehouden.

De politie heeft ook een bedrijfspand in Giesbeek en een woning in Doetinchem doorzocht. Omroep Gelderland schrijft dat in het bedrijfspand 400 hennepplanten stonden. Daar zijn nog eens drie mensen gearresteerd.

De verdachten zijn zeven mannen en een vrouw, in leeftijd variërend van 28 tot en met 56 jaar. Ze komen uit Giesbeek, Arnhem, Doetinchem en Gennep.

Bron: nos.nl

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Kopstukken No Surrender opgepakt voor liquidatiepoging | NOS

Bij invallen in Den Haag en Pijnacker heeft de politie twee kopstukken van motorclub No Surrender opgepakt. Ook zijn twee andere verdachten aangehouden. Ze worden verdacht van betrokkenheid bij een liquidatiepoging in Ridderkerk, in november.

Een van de verdachten is de president van de Haagse afdeling van No Surrender. Het andere kopstuk is de 'Sergeant at Arms', die verantwoordelijk is voor de discipline bij de motorclub.

De invallen waren vanochtend vroeg. Het is niet duidelijk of de politie spullen in beslag heeft genomen.

De verdachten zouden in november een 40-jarige inwoner van Den Haag met een mes hebben gestoken. Dat gebeurde in een illegaal laboratorium waar anabole steroïden werden gemaakt.

Het slachtoffer heeft de steekpartij maar net overleefd. Volgens de politie was het de bedoeling om hem te liquideren.

Bron: nos.nl

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Brabantse misdaadfamilies lastig aan te pakken | NOS

Misdaadfamilies in Noord-Brabant zijn vanwege hun gesloten cultuur en loyaliteit lastig te bestrijden, blijkt uit een onderzoek in het kader van het Programma Politie en Wetenschap. De kans dat de families van generatie op generatie criminelen voortbrengen is zeer groot. Repressief optreden werkt niet, concluderen de onderzoekers.

Medewerkers van EMMA (Experts in Media en Maatschappij) en de universiteit van Tilburg hebben zeven criminele familienetwerken in Noord-Brabant in kaart gebracht. Hun activiteiten geven de ontwikkeling weer die de georganiseerde misdaad in Brabant in de laatste decennia heeft doorgemaakt.

De families waren van oudsher bezig met vermogensmisdaden, tot ze in de jaren tachtig van de vorig eeuw ontdekten dat er ook veel geld te verdienen was met drugshandel. In de jaren negentig richtten ze zich op wietteelt en xtc-productie, maar de jongste generatie concentreert zich weer op de wietteelt.

De xtc-handel maakte wereldspelers van de Brabantse misdaadfamilies. Ze richtten hun eigen laboratoria op en werden wereldwijde groothandelaars. Door de jaren heen leerden ze steeds beter hoe ze de overheid op afstand konden houden, of juist voor hun eigen gewin konden inzetten.

In de families heerst een zwijgcultuur, schrijven de onderzoekers. De gesloten wereld van de familienetwerken levert betrouwbare contacten, maar ook huwelijkspartners en vrienden.

Ook de vrouwen blijken vaak een strafblad te hebben. Ze hebben volgens de onderzoekers een bijzondere voorkeur voor mannen die een forse criminele staat van dienst hebben.

De familienetwerken kosten de samenleving veel geld, concluderen de schrijvers van het rapport. Ze richten met hun misdaden aanzienlijke schade aan, en leveren de overheid ook heel veel werk op.

Aanhouding en strafoplegging werken niet, blijkt uit de rapportage; de overdracht van generatie op generatie is daarmee niet tegen te gaan. Overheidsinstanties moeten versterkt worden met private partijen om weerstand te bieden aan de misdaadfamilies.

Gewone burgers moeten beter bestand raken tegen intimidatie, voegen de onderzoekers eraan toe. Bovendien vereist elke familie maatwerk, een simpele oplossing is er niet, besluit het rapport.

Bron: nos.nl

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Gebruik zware pijnstiller flink toegenomen | NOS

Steeds meer mensen gebruiken de zware pijnstiller oxycodon. Uit cijfers (PDF) van de Stichting Farmaceutische Kengetallen (SFK) blijkt dat vorig jaar iets meer dan 440.000 mensen oxycodon, dat lijkt op morfine, innamen.

Het gebruik van het middel, dat wordt voorgeschreven na bijvoorbeeld operaties en in de palliatieve zorg, is sinds 2008 meer dan verviervoudigd. De toename was nooit zo sterk als afgelopen jaar: in 2015 werd oxycodon nog door ruim 350.000 mensen gebruikt.

Er worden in het algemeen meer zware pijnstillers gebruikt, zegt SFK. Dat heeft er mogelijk mee te maken dat mensen na een operatie eerder naar huis worden gestuurd, als ze vaak nog veel pijn hebben. Het geldt bijvoorbeeld ook voor middelen als morfine en fentanyl, al is de groei daar wel minder dan bij oxycodon. Het zijn medicijnen die pijnprikkels in het centrale zenuwstelsel onderdrukken.

Hoogleraar pijnbestrijding Albert Dahan van het Leidse LUMC waarschuwde onlangs voor de gevaren van het verkeerd gebruik van oxycodon. Het middel innemen in combinatie met alcohol of slaapmiddelen kan leiden tot ademhalingsproblemen.

Vooral voor ouderen kan dat riskant zijn. Dahan denkt dat huisartsen te gemakkelijk herhaalrecepten uitschrijven voor het middel. "Ik zou zeggen: neem na drie maanden een time-out, kijk of het ook beter gaat zonder deze medicijnen", zegt hij in Trouw.

Bron: nos.nl

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Oud-gevangenisdirecteur vast vanwege wietkwekerij thuis | NOS

Een hoge functionaris van Veiligheid en Justitie is geschorst nadat de politie bij hem thuis een hennepkwekerij had aangetroffen. Dat bevestigt een woordvoerder van het ministerie na berichtgeving in BN/De Stem. Agenten vonden dinsdag 114 planten in de woning van de man in Nieuw-Vossemeer. De ambtenaar en zijn vrouw zijn opgepakt.

De man was jaren plaatsvervangend directeur van meerdere gevangenissen, waaronder de zwaarbeveiligde inrichting in Vught. Hij zou nu een andere hoge functie hebben bij de automatiseringsdienst van de Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen.

De ambtenaar is geschorst gedurende het onderzoek van het OM. Of er verdere maatregelen worden genomen, hangt volgens een woordvoerder van het ministerie af van de uitkomst van dat onderzoek.

Bron: nos.nl

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Mexican governor accused of embezzling billions detained in Guatemala

Fugitive Javier Duarte fled Mexico in 2016, becoming a symbol of the country’s fight against corruption and impunity

A fugitive former Mexican governor was captured Saturday night in a Guatemala tourist town, ending a six-month manhunt for a politician accused of egregious acts of graft in a country accustomed to corruption scandals.

Javier Duarte was detained by Guatemala’s national police in Panajachel, 140km west of Guatemal City, acting on an Interpol warrant for his arrest. Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement it would ask for Duarte’s extradition.

Duarte previously governed the state of Veracruz from 2010 to 2016, but resigned in the waning months of his administration as accusations mounted – and after his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost control of the governor’s office for the first time.
Mexican state's drop in crime seemed too good to be true – because it was
Read more

He fled in a government helicopter allegedly lent by the interim governor who replaced him, Flavino Ríos, though Ríos denied assisting Duarte.

The escape came to encapsulate the challenge of corruption and impunity in Mexico, along with uncomfortable questions about whether the country’s political class would crackdown on one of their own.

President Enrique Peña Nieto previously lauded Duarte as an example of a “new generation” of leaders in their PRI party, which ruled Mexico uninterrupted until 2000, but is often lampooned with images of dinosaurs.

Duarte eventually became untenable. His administration generated outrage long before he resigned – especially over the 19 journalists murdered during his time in office, prompting press freedom groups to brand Veracruz the most dangerous place to practice journalism.

Violence escalated, along with forced disappearances – more than 250 skulls were recovered from one of the clandestine graves in the state.

Accusations of corruption were also rife. Federal auditors allege he misappropriated more than 55 billion pesos ($US2.97bn), while investigative reporters found a serious of shell companies his associates siphoned money into.

“Talking bad about Duarte has turned into the national pastime,” said Miguel Ángel Díaz, publisher of the online news site Plumas Libres in Veracruz state and a journalist who left the state during Duarte’s administration due to harassment.

“He’s become the laughing stock of Mexico, emblematic of the corruption here,” Díaz said.

Duarte was the second ex-governor to be captured on corruption accusations in less than a week. Tomás Yarrington, ex-governor of the state of Tamaulipas on the Texas border was arrested on 9 April in Italy over accusations he took bribes from the Gulf Cartel and the Mexican criminal syndicate, Los Zetas.

“It’s a system that incentivises acting illegally and generously pays people who stay in the game for power and money,” said Gerardo Priego, former congressman with the right-leaning National Action Party. Those caught, Priego added, are often those breaking unwritten rules or defying party leadership and subsequently “portrayed as thieves and tossed in prison and disgraced for the rest of their lives.”