The World Wide War on Drugs #7 - Uruguay is tegen, wie volgt?

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Op zondag 22 juni 2014 17:27 schreef Individual het volgende:

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Ben je zelf een (nu nog) illegale drugsdealer? Dan gaat legalisatie je een hoop geld kosten en zou ik ook protesteren op alle mogelijke manieren.

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Op zondag 22 juni 2014 18:09 schreef heiden6 het volgende:

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Nee, ik ben geen drugsdealer, hoezo?

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Op zondag 22 juni 2014 18:23 schreef Individual het volgende:

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Haha ik had niet verwacht dat je het zou toegeven hoor!

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US police departments are increasingly militarised, finds report

• ACLU cites soaring use of war zone equipment and tactics
• Swat teams increasingly deployed in local police raids
• Seven civilians killed and 46 injured in incidents since 2010

At 3am on 28 May, Alecia Phonesavanh was asleep in the room she was temporarily occupying together with her husband and four children in the small town of Cornelia, Georgia. Her baby, 18-month-old Bou Bou, was sleeping peacefully in his cot.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and several strangers dressed in black burst into the room. A blinding flash burst out with a deafening roar from the direction of the cot. Amid the confusion, Phonesavanh could see her husband pinned down and handcuffed under one of the men in black, and while her son was being held by another. Everyone was yelling, screaming, crying. “I kept asking the officers to let me have my baby, but they said shut up and sit down,” she said.

As the pandemonium died down, it became clear that the strangers in black were a Swat team of police officers from the local Habersham County force – they had raided the house on the incorrect assumption that occupants were involved in drugs. It also became clear to Phonesavanh that something had happened to Bou Bou and that the officers had taken him away.

“They told me that they had taken my baby to the hospital. They said he was fine he had only lost a tooth, but they wanted him in for observation,” Phonesavanh said.

When she got to the hospital she was horrified by what she saw. Bou Bou was in a medically-induced coma in the intensive care unit of Brady Memorial hospital. “His face was blown open. He had a hole in his chest that left his rib-cage visible.”

The Swat team that burst into the Phonesavanh’s room looking for a drug dealer had deployed a tactic commonly used by the US military in warzones, and increasingly by domestic police forces across the US. They threw an explosive device called a flashbang that is designed to distract and temporarily blind suspects to allow officers to overpower and detain them. The device had landed in Bou Bou’s cot and detonated in the baby’s face.

“My son is clinging to life. He’s hurting and there’s nothing I can do to help him,” Phonesavanh said. “It breaks you, it breaks your spirit.”

Bou Bou is not alone. A growing number of innocent people, many of them children and a high proportion African American, are becoming caught up in violent law enforcement raids that are part of an ongoing trend in America towards paramilitary policing.

The American Civil Liberties Union has released the results of its new survey into the use of Swat teams by police forces across the country. It concludes that policing has become dangerously and unnecessarily militarized, literally so with equipment and strategies being imported directly from the US army.

The findings set up a striking and troubling paradox. The Obama administration is completing its withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the US is on the verge of being free from war for the first time in more than a decade; yet at the same time the hardware and tactics of the war zone are quietly proliferating at home.

The ACLU’s report, War Comes Home, looks at 818 Swat incidents that were carried out by more than 20 law enforcement agencies in 11 states. The raids spanned the period from July 2010 to last October.

At the very least, the ACLU finds, the growing use of battering rams to smash down doors is causing property damage to the homes that are raided. At worst, people are dying or being injured by police teams deploying the techniques of the battlefield.

The survey, which covered only a small snapshot of what is going on around the country each year, found seven cases where civilians died in connection with the deployment of the Swat teams, two of which appeared to be suicides. A further 46 civilians were injured, often due to use of force by officers.

The victims include Aiyana Stanley-Jones, seven, who was killed in 2010 when a Swat team threw a flashbang grenade like the one that injured Bou Bou into the room where she was sleeping. The device set fire to Aiyana’s blanket and when officers burst into the room they shot at the flames and hit her.

Then there was Tarika Wilson who was shot dead by Swat officers as she was holding her 14-month-old son in Lima, Ohio; the baby was injured but survived. And Eurie Stamp, a grandfather of 12, who was sitting watching baseball on TV in his pajamas in Farmington, Massachusetts, in January 2011 when a Swat team battered down his door, threw a flashbang device into the room and forced him to lie facedown on the floor. One of the officers’ guns discharged and killed Stamp, who was not the man they had come to apprehend, as he lay there.

Also in 2011, Jose Guerena, a veteran of the Iraq war, was shot 22 times in his kitchen at home in Tucson, Arizona, by officers in a Swat team that was searching the neighbourhood for drugs. Nothing was found in the Guerena home.

Swat teams were a late 1960s invention that emerged out of the Los Angeles police department. Initially, they were designed to help officers react to perilous situations such as riots, hostage taking and where an active shooter was barricaded into a house.

But they have developed into something entirely different. The ACLU survey found that 62% of Swat team call-outs were for drug searches. Some 79% involved raids on private homes, and a similar proportion were done on the back of warrants authorizing searches. By contrast, only about 7% fell into those categories for which the technique was originally intended, such as hostage situations or barricades.


“Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using paramilitary squads to search people’s homes for drugs,” the ACLU writes. It adds: “Neighbourhoods are not war zones and our police officers should not be treating us like wartime enemies.”

Research by Peter Kraska, a professor at Kentucky University, has tracked the exponential growth in the use of paramilitary tactics in the US. In the 1980s there were as few as 3,000 Swat raids a year, but by around 2005 that number had leapt to 45,000.

Such a rapid proliferation has been actively encouraged by the federal government, particularly by the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, and by the Defense Department. The Pentagon channels military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan to domestic police forces under its 1033 programme, which the ACLU found had transmitted 15,000 items of battle uniforms and personal protective gear during the survey period.

The amount of equipment handed over can be substantial. North Little Rock police force in Arkansas, for instance, was granted 34 automatic and semi-automatic rifles, two MARCbot robots from Afghanistan that can be weaponised, helmets for ground troops and a tactical armoured vehicle.

Armoured personnel carriers, or APCs, have proliferated dramatically under the 1033 programme. About 500 law enforcement agencies believed to have received military vehicles built specifically to resist roadside bombs. The local police for Ohio state university even has an APC for use on American football match days.

Once the equipment has been handed over, the temptation is to use it. That certainly was the case for the mayor of Peoria, Illinois, who in April sent a Swat team to search the house of someone who had poked fun at him in a satirical Twitter account.

As the ACLU notes: “if the federal government gives the police a huge cache of military-style weaponry, they are highly likely to use it, even if they do not really need to.”

As for the infant, Bou Bou Phonesavanh, he remains in intensive care after having been through a series of operations. “Everything is touch and go. Nothing is determined, nothing is decided,” Alecia Phonesavanh said.

The Phonesavanhs’ lawyer, Mawuli Davis, said the Swat team should have known that young children were present in the room they were raiding as there were clear tell-tale signs: a playpen outside the door and a van parked outside with four child seats in it. “We have to address the way that police in this country are armed as if they are invading a foreign land,” Mawuli said. “It’s disturbing, and innocent people are hurting.”

A few hours after the raid took place, police located the suspect they had been seeking at a different house in the neighbourhood. The officers knocked on the door, the suspect opened it, and agreed peacefully to come in for questioning.

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June 22, 2014 |
A piece in the Washington Post highlights the growing backlog of untested rape test kits that are sitting in police storage units while rapists run free and victims suffer. Missing from the story, however, is one of the biggest contributors to this backlog, the enormous amount of police and tax resources spent targeting drug crimes, particularly marijuana possession.

The backlog is a disgrace. The total number of rape test kits that have never been sent to laboratories for testing exceeds 100,000. In some cases, the kits have been sitting in storage for decades. From the Washington Post:

“In 2009, authorities found more than 11,000 unprocessed kits at the Detroit crime lab after it was closed for improperly handling weapons evidence. After testing the first 2,000 kits, authorities identified 127 serial rapists and made 473 matches overall to known convicts or arrestees, or to unknown people whose genetic material was found at crime scenes.”

The real question is why does this backlog exist at all? Cities and states claim they don’t have the money or other resources, but they sure do have plenty of time and money to arrest people for drugs.

About 1.5 million Americans are arrested for drugs annually - about 660,000 for nothing more than possession of marijuana for personal use. It takes up to three hours to process someone after an arrest. And since most arrests involve multiple officers in multiple police cars it’s potentially dozens of lost police hours just to arrest one person for marijuana.

It costs an estimated $10,000 to arrest, process, and convict someone for marijuana possession. Then there’s the cost of keeping thousands of drug task forces operational, most of which do nothing but bust people for marijuana or other low-level drug offenses. New York City claims to not have enough money to test all its rape test kits but spends millions each year randomly searching young people of color for marijuana.
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Artikel gaat verder

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Grootste heroïnevangst ooit in Zuid-Afrika

De Zuid-Afrikaanse politie heeft bij een inval in de buurt van de stad Durban een drugsvangst gedaan die wordt gezien als de grootste ooit in Zuid-Afrika. In de plaats Kloof vonden agenten gisteravond een hoeveelheid heroïne aan die een straatwaarde vertegenwoordigt van zo'n 2 miljard rand (bijna 140 miljoen euro), meldden diverse Zuid-Afrikaanse media vandaag.

Behalve de heroïne, die in ruim 100 zakken van zo'n 40 kilo zou zijn verpakt, trof de politie ook laboratoriummateriaal en chemicaliën aan. Drie mannen zijn gearresteerd, van wie er twee de Chinese nationaliteit zouden hebben.

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'Softdrugsbeleid moet op de schop'

De PvdA-Eerste Kamerfractie wil niet meewerken aan het strenge softdrugsbeleid van minister Ivo Opstelten. Senator Guusje ter Horst vindt dat het totale softdrugsbeleid op de schop moet.

Het telen van softdrugs is niet meer in de hand te houden, onder- en bovenwereld zijn bijna niet meer van elkaar te onderscheiden en de nieuwe wet zal dat niet verbeteren, zegt Ter Horst tegen Nieuwsuur.

Ze wil de minister oproepen om binnen een half jaar een regio aan te wijzen voor een proef met gereguleerde en gecertificeerde hennepteelt ten behoeve van coffeeshops. De niet-gecertificeerde hennepteelt zou dan keihard worden aangepakt.

In een wetsvoorstel wil Opstelten het beleid juist aanscherpen. Het wordt na de zomer in de Eerste Kamer besproken.

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Op donderdag 26 juni 2014 17:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Worldwide Protests Erupt Over the Racist, Devastating, Failed War on Drugs

Today, over 100 cities in at least 46 countries will speak out.

Today, over 100 cities in at least 46 countries will speak out against the war on drugs.

It is difficult to overstate how much of a failure the War on Drugs has been. By any reasonable standard it has done much more harm than good. Drug trafficking-related violence has soared, our prisons are stuffed with drug offenders (many of them non-violent), with minorities disproportionately represented. It is a costly, global economic disaster with economic gains from cannabis and other drugs restricted to the black market.

Scientists are kept from studying cannabis, a plant that has proven to ease the suffering of countless medical patients—and those patients are forced break federal law if they want to obtain their medicine. Even by the drug war’s own misguided metrics, the project has failed. The US alone has invested $51 billion annually but drug use and availability have not decreased. Drug potency has steeply risen over the last several decades and the public is not safer for the drug war’s efforts.

Other countries, while not spending this absurd amount, have seen similar self-inflicted harm from their repressive drug policies. Criminalization has not done anything to stem the demand for mind-altering substances. Rather, it has created an ecosystem that fosters gang activity on a neighborhood level, and violent, politically connected cartels on a countrywide scale.

The final, and in a way, most tragic piece of this picture is that the drug war’s failures are common knowledge, yet politicians in the U.S. and worldwide (with parts of Latin America emerging as notable exceptions) seem almost entirely impotent when it comes to obvious reforms, namely ending cannabis prohibition.

The drug war’s colossal failure and near-global reach is inspiring an equally global movement pushing for reform. Protests, demonstrations, teachouts and other actions are being organized across the world in over 100 cities this week to protest senseless and harmful drug policies.

Support Don’t Punish, the campaign that unites these cities, seeks to change the narrative around drug users from criminals to people who may need social and medical assistance. The global day of action is timed to match the U.N. International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Political leaders have often used this day as a time for cruel demonstrations against drug users and the drug trade. Now, organizers across the world are working to reframe the debate on this internationally recognized drug day.

“To be honest, I don’t think we ever imagined it would be taken up on this scale,” lead organizer Jamie Bridge said.

Different countries are tailoring their message and actions to fit their specific situations. England, the U.S. and many other countries in the Americas are focused on pressuring legislators to consider alternatives to drug criminalization. Other countries are calling attention to the spread of HIV and other diseases through dirty needles. France and Australia are campaigning around “drug consumption rooms”—safe spaces where people may go to use drugs with clean equipment and receive social support. The French campaign notes that use of these rooms tends to lessen drug use and save public money through reduced crime and healthcare costs.

Still others are using the day of action to cultivate support through teach outs and citizen education movements. This tactic may prove especially necessary in Peru where many people support the repressive policies of the government despite its “tough on crime” stance having only a superficial effect, according to political science professor Juan Manuel Torres.

“There is complete ignorance of the dynamics of the phenomenon and the most convenient ways to fix it,” said Torres of the drug war and its social costs. (Prof. Torres’ quotes are translated from Spanish.) “One ton of cocaine impounded at the international airport is an achievement that will benefit the government in power politically, but it will not solve the underlying problem of drug trafficking in the long term.”

These politically popular but ultimately meaningless victories in the war on drugs are hardly restricted to Peru.

Niamh Eastwood, an organizer at Release, a London-based drug reform advocacy group, said in a press release: “In the UK…the two main parties – the Conservatives and Labour – are reluctant to engage in the debate preferring a ‘tough on crime, tough on drugs’ stance. That is why it is the job of civil society in the UK to highlight the damage the current criminal justice approach does and why, especially the Labour Party, needs to consider how our drug laws are interconnected with issues of social justice.”

Organizers in Mexico City found that the sheer number of street protests and demonstrations in Mexico makes people tune them out, so instead they are using the June 26 day to launch a microsite (a small, targeted website) packed with interviews, infographics and op-eds on why Mexico’s drug policies are detrimental to every one of its citizens.

“On July 28-31, the Congress is putting together a series of hearings on drug reform,” says Aram Barra, a drug reform organizer in Mexico City. “They want to have an open and very dynamic discussion. We talked to them, and we want the microsite to create the groundwork for the next month.”

The global campaign is spreading on social media via the hashtag #supportdontpunish. In Colombia, organizers are collecting pictures people have been posting with the Spanish translation, #apoyenocastigue, to use for a book and site launch planned for June 26. The day will culminate in an event featuring Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro, who advocates for progressive drug policies.

If each of these events is notable, the sheer number of them is staggering. The Americas and Europe are represented, but so are Kenya, Cambodia, Egypt, Macedonia and six cities in India, to name just a few.

“When we started last year, we set an ambitious target of enrolling seven cities,” Bridge said. “We ended up with 41, and have more than doubled that for 2014.”

The larger project at work here is to change the dominant paradigm around drug use and abuse from one of crime and punishment to one of public health and social support. Drug users ought to be seen on a continuum from people who have a harmless hobby to people who are putting themselves and others at risk. Millions of people around the world understand this, and are making themselves known. It is time for the politicians that represent them to start listening.

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Day of Action 2014

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Thursday June 26th 2014 will be the second “Global Day of Action”. This is the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, but also the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

The “Global Day of Action” will highlight how people who use drugs continue to be abused, stigmatised, tortured, beaten and even killed in the name of the ‘war on drugs’. The video below summarises what was achieved in 2013, and how you can get involved.

Support. Don't Punish -- Lets Make 2014 Even Bigger

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Op donderdag 26 juni 2014 20:29 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
New York:

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Op donderdag 26 juni 2014 19:02 schreef Linkse_Boomknuffelaar het volgende:

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Goede zaak.

In Noord-Korea is softdrugs legaal, in Uruguay ook. Nu Nederland nog.

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Op vrijdag 27 juni 2014 01:12 schreef El_Matador het volgende:

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In a 2006 raid in Sugarland, Texas, police deployed a grenade that set a room in the house on fire, causing $5,000 in damage. They also shot the family’s golden retriever. They found two joints.



In 1996, a SWAT team in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (population 39,102) burned down an entire apartment complex with a flashbang they used during a drug raid. Six police officers were injured and 24 people were left homeless. Several officers were cited for bravery.



When police in St. Paul, Minnesota, raided the home of Larelle Steward in 2010, they demanded that he and his mother drop to the ground. When Steward attempted to explain that his mother had just had surgery, and wasnt able to lay down, they repeatedly kicked him in the face, breaking his nose. Afterward, they put a pillowcase over his head. They then fired a flash grenade at Stewards mother, catching her on fire. She suffered third-degree burns on her legs. The police had received a tip that someone was selling cocaine in the house. They found 2.8 grams of marijuana. The city approved a $400,000 settlement in 2012.

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Op donderdag 26 juni 2014 20:29 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
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Deep Cover: Alice Goffman’s ‘On the Run’

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“On the Run” serves as a kind of coda to our war on drugs, an effort whose very rhetoric suggested it was us against them. The criminal justice system became a kind of invading force, aimed mostly at young black men. There was, of course, the inexplicable sentencing disparity between those caught with powdered cocaine and those caught with crack cocaine. States were emboldened to be equally punitive.In Illinois, for instance, the Legislature passed a law that automatically transferred a juvenile to adult court if caught with drugs within 1,000 feet of a public housing complex — a law clearly directed at African-American teenagers. The war on drugs mangled, if not destroyed, any trust between residents of distressed urban communities and the authorities. And when we speak of the authorities, it’s the police who on a day-to-day basis must contend with the rubble left behind from more than two decades of disturbingly misguided public policy. Goffman describes how “a climate of fear and suspicion pervades everyday life,” with the result that “a new social fabric is emerging under the threat of confinement: one woven in suspicion, distrust and the paranoiac practices of secrecy, evasion and unpredictability.” To her credit, she didn’t set out with this notion; rather, it’s where she landed after six years of up-close observation.

Goffman spent her time in a Philadelphia community she calls 6th Street, which consists of a commercial strip and five residential blocks. There she came to know the locals intimately, not only the young men but also their girlfriends and families. She became so embedded in the community that she witnessed 24 police raids, including one in which she herself was handcuffed. Her guide is a man in his 20s she calls Mike (Goffman changed everyone’s name), who introduces her to friends as his adopted sister. Mike has a low-paying warehouse job and supplements his income by selling crack, getting in and out of trouble with the law. Like the others we meet, he’s neither hero nor villain. He’s simply trying to get by.

The level of detail in this book and Goffman’s ability to understand her subjects’ motivations are astonishing — and riveting. Indeed, it’s a power of “On the Run” that her insights and conclusions feel so honest to what she’s seen and heard. She depicts a community where trust has evaporated, where young men like Mike often avoid girlfriends for fear that the women, for their own reasons, might turn their paramours in. And she describes an underground economy that has sprung up around what she calls the fugitive life, including entrepreneurs who sell their clean urine to those on parole. (One entrepreneur jokes that his trade encourages him to stay clean: “If you sell one dirty bag, you’re done.”) More than anything, Goffman helps us understand why residents of this neighborhood make the seemingly cockeyed choices they do, often for very rational reasons, often because they know well the repercussions of the alternative. She learns that many refuse to call the police not because of a cultural aversion to “snitching,” but because they fear it will only expose them, especially if they’re on parole or have an outstanding warrant. You can’t read this book without a growing sense of understanding as well as outrage.

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Ex drugsagent wordt cannabisactivist.
The times they are a-changin´...? Je zou het bijna denken. In ieder geval liegen de voortekenen in de Verenigde Staten er niet om. Oud-agent Frank Serpico, kort geleden nog in Amsterdam, vecht al jaren tegen de corruptie bij de Amerikaanse politie, en met name de rol die de War on Drugs daarin speelt. Barry Cooper, eveneens ex-politieman, gaat nog een stap verder. Acht jaar lang maakte hij zijn thuisstaat Texas onveilig als de fanatiekste agent van de dope brigade. Sinds kort trekt de kleurrijke ex-cop minstens net zo fanatiek ten strijde tegen zijn voormalige collega's. En dat is niet zonder gevaar...
In zijn internetshow Backtalk with Barry and Candi, die Cooper samen met mevrouw Cooper presenteert, maakt de voormalig agent flink reclame voor zijn eigen dvd's met de veelzeggende titels Never Get Busted en Never Get Raided. Deze dvd's leggen je haarfijn uit hoe je er zonder gepakt te worden een 'cannabis lifestyle' op na kunt houden, of zelfs op grote schaal dope kunt kweken.

Spraakwaterval
Grappend in zijn lijzige Texaanse tongval loopt Coopers spraakwaterval regelmatig stotterend vast - kwestie van teveel lettergrepen in een woord - waarna Candi hem liefdevol weer op gang trekt. "Rehabilitatie, bedoel je?" Ze herhaalt het desnoods drie keer, net zolang tot het Cooper zelf ook lukt. Vijf Coopertjes heeft ze al ter wereld gebracht, maar dat is de kittige Texaanse niet aan te zien. Haar decolleté doet Coopers kijkcijfers ongetwijfeld geen kwaad. Ongedwongen kletsen de echtelieden hun show bij elkaar. Vertellen over hun blowende dochter van 16, die desondanks uitstekende resultaten op school behaalt. Ze behandelen vragen van kijkers, die willen weten wat je rechten zijn als je wordt aangehouden bij een verkeerscontrole. "Ja, als er een gegrond vermoeden bestaat dat er geblowd is heeft de politie ook toegang tot het kruisgebied.

Daarom raad ik aan je pot te besproeien met Blunt Magic Spray." "Het werkt écht!", benadrukt Candi. "Zeker weten, ik heb het zelf net nog gebruikt", flapt Cooper er uit. Het is de zoveelste keer dat een van beiden de loftrompet steekt over dit ge-wel-di-ge product dat je op wiet kan spuiten, waarna die bij verbranding volmaakt neutraal ruikt. Sinds Coopers populariteit nationale dimensies heeft aangenomen krijgt het echtpaar tientallen producten toegestuurd om daar hun stempel van goedkeuring aan te geven. Slechts weinige zijn bijzonder genoeg om de show te halen, zegt Cooper streng.

KopBusters
In Texas kunnen de smerissen zijn bloed wel drinken. Wie zich in Amerika als ex-politie tegen zijn collega's keert neemt risico's. Frank Serpico's onkreukbaarheid werd hem bijna fataal toen hij tijdens een bust in zijn gezicht werd geschoten en collega's bewust verzuimden een ambulance te bellen. Cooper, die niet alleen zijn oude nest bevuilt, gaat nog een paar stappen verder door de wantoestanden voor zijn programma KopBusters met de verborgen camera te filmen. Maar tot nog toe komt Cooper er spectaculair mee weg. Pogingen van politiezijde om uitzending te voorkomen liepen dood op de in Amerika heilige vrijheid van meningsuiting. KopBusters legt zich toe op het ontmaskeren van politiecorruptie en onwettig optreden. Zo laat een van zijn filmpjes zien hoe Coopers team een fake wietkwekerij opzet, met twee kerstboompjes onder een kweeklamp. Al snel happen de locale wouten toe, maar laten daarbij duidelijk zien dat de inval bepaald niet volgens de wettelijke regels verloopt. Bij een andere aflevering van 'cannasplit' laten ze een tas met nep dope en cash bij een tankstation achter, waarna blijkt dat het geld in de zakken van de dienstdoende agent is verdwenen.

Bekering
Coopers bekering is des te opmerkelijker omdat hij ooit een van de meest rabiate drugsbestrijders van Texas was. Na een kalm begin op de telefoonkamer van het locale politiebureau hadden zijn superieuren al snel door dat er meer in de jongen zat. Hij verkaste naar het naburige Big Sandy, waar hij met grote toewijding zijn eigen drugshond trainde en uitgroeide tot een van de meest succesvolle highway-wouten van de staat Texas. Hoewel zijn jachtgebied maar een stukje snelweg van een kilometer of zeven besloeg, was hij al snel de trotse houder van het county-record, met bijna honderd drugsarrestaties en de grootste hoeveelheid marihuana die ooit in een keer in beslag was genomen.

Coopers fanatisme bleef ook elders niet onopgemerkt, en hij werd gevraagd voor de Drug Task Force in Odessa, dat de jurisdictie had over 19 counties. Hier werd hij pas een echte mean motherfucker en leerde hij gecompliceerde operaties op te zetten met het ATF, de DEA, de FBI, het leger en de grenspolitie. De theorie werd evenmin verwaarloosd: Cooper scoorde hoge cijfers voor alle vakken die op de drugspolitieschool werden gegeven: undercover operaties, werken met huiszoekingsbevelen en drugshonden, verkeerscontroles en het onderscheppen van drugstransporten per bus of vliegtuig. Dankzij zijn vakkennis, ervaring en toen al mediagenieke uitstraling werd hij een populair instructeur op politieacademies. Volgens de standaard overeenkomst moest hij eerst twee of drie dagen voor de klas, waarna hij op een praktijkdag moest bewijzen wat hij werkelijk waard was; lukte het niet een drugsarrestatie te verrichten, dan zou hij zijn vergoeding niet ontvangen. Natuurlijk faalde Cooper nooit.

Wroeging
Nadat was gebleken dat de politie door politici werd gebruikt om politieke rekeningen te vereffenen knapte er iets bij Cooper. Hij nam ontslag. Na acht jaar on the force stond zijn meter op meer dan 300 criminele drugsarrestaties, 500 drugsovertredingen en de inbeslagname van vijftig voertuigen en miljoenen aan geld en bezittingen. Al tijdens zijn werk bij de politie werd Cooper gekweld door gewetenswroeging, als hij zag hoe hardwerkende niet-gewelddadige burgers van huis en gezin werden losgerukt en in de bajes belandden. "Ik wist dat wat ik deed verkeerd was, maar mijn behoefte aan roem en erkenning door mijn collega's was sterker dan mijn geweten." Eindelijk drong het tot Cooper door dat hij niet tegen drugs had gevochten, maar tegen mensen. "Het is een mislukt beleid. De gevolgen van de War on Drugs zijn veel schadelijker dan de drugs zelf. Er zitten meer mensen in gevangenissen dan ooit tevoren, maar zelfs de DEA geeft toe dat er nog nooit zoveel drugs zijn geweest."

Na zijn vertrek bij de politie ging Cooper als ondernemer aan de slag. Het werd een kleurrijk verhaal van twaalf ambachten, dertien ongelukken. Nadat hij het als autohandelaar had geprobeerd, beproefde hij zijn geluk met autobanden, een nachtclub, een limousineservice en als organisator van kooigevechten. Uiteindelijk moest hij erkennen dat hij zijn ware roeping niet langer kon ontlopen: Cooper zou gaan vechten voor degenen die hij eerder had kapotgemaakt. Als burger was het hem al opgevallen dat de corruptie en het machtsmisbruik bij de politie steeds ernstiger werden. Zelf werd hij zonder gegronde redenen vijfmaal gearresteerd, waarvan eenmaal wegens 'diefstal'; dat wil zeggen, het te laat terugbrengen van twee Jeepers Creepers videobanden naar de locale videotheek. Barry erkent dat hij wellicht straf had verdiend voor zijn filmsmaak, maar niet voor het te laat terugbrengen van de banden.
Hoewel hij een stuk mellower is dan voorheen, is Cooper nog steeds geen softie als het om misdaad gaat. "Als we alle niet-gewelddadige drugsgevangenen vrijlaten hebben we meer ruimte voor echte criminelen en kunnen vredelievende drugsgebruikers bij hun gezinnen blijven, naar school gaan en werken."

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Op woensdag 2 juli 2014 07:25 schreef Blue_Panther_Ninja het volgende:
5 Startling Numbers Reveal the Militarization of U.S. Drug Policy
The US spends $5 billion more annually on the drug war than on the war in Afghanistan.

Drug War - A Huge Success?!?

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Op zondag 29 juni 2014 11:28 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Six months after marijuana legalization: Colorado tax revenue skyrockets as crime falls

DENVER (Reuters) – At the Native Roots Apothecary, a discreet marijuana shop in a grand old building in Denver’s busy 16th street shopping mall, business is so brisk that customers are given a number before taking a seat to wait their turn.

There are young men in ball caps, nervous-looking professionals in suits, and the frail and elderly. Staff say customers have been flocking to their outlets since Colorado voted to allow recreational pot use for adults from January.

Six months on, Colorado’s marijuana shops are mushrooming, with support from local consumers, weed tourists and federal government taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Tax dollars are pouring in, crime is down in Denver, and few of the early concerns about social breakdown have materialized – at least so far.

“The sky hasn’t fallen, but we’re a long way from knowing the unintended consequences,” said Andrew Freeman, director of marijuana coordination for Colorado. “This is a huge social and economic question.”

Denver, dubbed the “Mile High” city, now has about 340 recreational and medicinal pot shops. They tout the relaxing, powerful or introspective attributes of the crystal-encased buds with names like Jilly Bean, Sour Diesel and Silverback Kush.

In the first four months, marijuana sales amounted to more than $202 million, about a third of them recreational. Taxes from recreational sales were almost $11 million.

Despite some critics’ fears of a pot-driven crime explosion, Denver police say burglaries and robberies were down by between 4 and 5 percent in the first four months of the year.

THE DOWN SIDE

On the down side, sheriff’s deputies in neighboring Nebraska say pot seizures near the Colorado border have shot up 400 percent in three years, while Wyoming and New Mexico report no significant increases.

In May, controls on marijuana edibles were tightened after two people died. In one case, a college student jumped from a hotel balcony after eating six times the suggested maximum amount of pot-laced cookies. In the other, a Denver man was charged with shooting dead his wife after apparently getting high from eating marijuana-infused candy.

As Colorado passes the six-month mark, Washington state is approaching with some trepidation the launch next week of the nation’s second recreational pot market.

Up to 20 retail marijuana stores are due to receive licenses on July 7, fueling concerns about long lines, high prices, and the possibility of inadequate supplies when doors open the following day. Washington state officials have received some 2,600 applications from would-be weed growers, but say they have approved fewer than 80.

A recreational pot initiative will be on the ballot in Alaska this fall, and legalization bills look likely to pass in Oregon and the District of Columbia.

Although the Colorado law sanctioned pot sales only to those over the age of 21, one of the biggest concerns is the effect on teens.

Gina Carbone helped to found Smart Colorado, a non-profit aimed at informing young people.

She said the state’s commercialization of pot put the business interests of the marijuana industry at the forefront, and that youngsters’ perception of harm from the drug had been dramatically reduced.

Even before recreational retail sales began, Carbone said, rates of marijuana use among eighth-graders were significantly higher in Colorado than in other states.

“They are receiving messaging that this is medicine, that this is healthy,” she said. “A lot of people that even voted for (legalization) are saying, ‘Gosh, I didn’t know it was going to look like this.’”

Visitors at Denver weed stores have their ID checked, often more than once. Some 20 recent sting operations have failed to catch any shops selling to under-21s.

Store workers at Native Roots, among the most well-established outlets, say they’ve seen a diverse range of recreational buyers, from heavy-lidded students, to curious middle-class couples, and seniors.

Native Roots sells cannabis in child-proof plastic containers priced at about $60 for 1/8th of an ounce, as well as pot-infused cookies and candy and marijuana e-cigarettes.

“This will help your pain,” long-haired salesman Rob Folse told an older woman with a cane and a few tattered bank notes. “We’re giving you a discount, Dear, because we understand your situation.”

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The paradox of Iran’s war on drugs and its progressive treatment of addiction

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There are stories some people might not expect to read about Iran – and its progressive drugs policy is one. As a number of countries begin to slowly reconsider their approach towards illicit drugs, following the avant-gardiste move of José Mujica’s Uruguay, the issue of drugs and treatment of drug abuse might be one where Iran could provide some meaningful contribution to the rest of the world.

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Politie en leger vallen binnen bij coffeeshops Grass Company

De politie is bezig met een grote actie tegen de Brabantse coffeeshopketen Grass Company. De politie is onder andere binnengevallen bij de vier coffeeshops in Tilburg en Den Bosch en het kantoor in Tilburg.

Het bedrijf wordt verdacht van witwassen, hennephandel, valsheid in geschrifte, corruptie en belastingfraude. De politie zoekt naar drugs, administratie en contant geld. Het leger helpt mee.

Eerder deze week is in het buitenland al beslag gelegd op grote geldbedragen. Er is niemand aangehouden.

Het bedrijf en de coffeeshops zijn vaak doelwit geweest van acties van de politie. Vorig jaar was er al een inval in het kantoorpand in Tilburg. Het onderzoek vrijdag staat los van de eerdere actie, zei een politiewoordvoerder.

In 2011 werd de voorraad van het bedrijf opgerold. De politie noemde dat toeval. Het bedrijf meende dat gericht jacht werd gemaakt op de voorraad.

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Op donderdag 3 juli 2014 23:51 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Tax dollars are pouring in

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Man vlucht voor politie en overlijdt na sprong uit raam

Een persoon is vandaag overleden na een sprong uit het raam vanaf de tweede verdieping van de Fazendadreef in Utrecht. De politie was daar om poolshoogte te nemen na meldingen over een hennepkwekerij.

Een tweede man raakte door de sprong gewond en moest naar het ziekenhuis. Hij heeft letsel aan zijn arm, maar was wel aanspreekbaar.

De mannen sprongen vanaf het balkon aan de achterkant van de flat. Er werd overigens inderdaad een hennepkwekerij aangetroffen.

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A 48-year-old terminal cancer patient was rushed to the hospital from an Iowa courthouse Monday during his trial over felony charges for growing marijuana he uses as a treatment for his rare condition.

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Despite Mackenzie’s deteriorating condition, his trial is expected to be completed Friday, Linda Bowman, the judicial trial court supervisor at the Scott County Clerk’s Office, told The Huffington Post. If Mackenzie is found guilty, he faces at least three years in prison — a punishment that he’s said equates to a death sentence . . .

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District Court Judge Henry Latham ruled in May that Mackenzie is barred from using his condition as a defense in court during his trial as a reason for why he was growing marijuana, the Associated Press reported.

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Seattle's first marijuana shop closes after running out of stock in three days

Producers struggle to meet demand after Washington becomes second US state to allow recreational pot sales to adults

Seattle's first and only recreational marijuana store had to close on Friday after running out of stock in just three days after Washington became the second US state to allow pot sales to adults.

Cannabis City opened in Seattle on Tuesday with at least 4.5kg (10 pounds) of marijuana for sale, and by close of business on Thursday it was all gone. A message on the store's phone line said it would re-open on 21 July.

There were widespread concerns that shortages of pot would afflict retailers this week after the state issued its first 25 licences to outlets, under a heavily regulated and taxed system approved by voters in November 2012.

Some business owners planned to limit the amount of marijuana early customers could buy to try to make stocks last.

Amber McGowan, manager at Cannabis City, told Reuters on Thursday the store would probably not have enough inventory to stay open for all of its regularly scheduled business hours until a delivery that was due next week.

She said the shop was only able to stay open as long as it had by limiting customers to six grams per purchase, rather than the legal limit of 28 grams.

The roll-out of recreational sales in Colorado and then Washington comes as a broader trend of liberalisation and pro-pot activism takes hold in the United States.

Progress in Washington has been slow, however, with state regulators still processing more than 300 licence applications, and approved growers producing only limited harvests so far.

Industry insiders say the shortages are likely to be only temporary, caused in part by the short notice many retailers had to prepare for opening, and a surge of pent-up demand.

This week, Colorado estimated that the state's total marijuana demand for this year at 130 tonnes.

"A year from now, product is likely going to be far more available," said Sean Green, chief executive officer of Kouchlock Productions, a marijuana producer in Washington.

Another local supplier, Wow Weed, said they were trying to help the stores, but that there was only so much they could do.

"We have been hearing from retailers off the hook. My voice mail is full every single day," said Wow's Susy Wilson. "It's the same people calling over and over, hoping I'll pull something out of thin air."

Frustrated consumers in Seattle, a city of some 630,000 people, made light of the shortages, with one Twitter user urging outlets to adopt a green "Pot Light" system for their windows to show they had stock – similar to the Hot Light employed by a well-known donut brand.

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America's Drug Companies Are Bankrolling The Crusade Against Legal Weed

As more U.S. states legalize marijuana, special interest groups that have a financial stake in the fight have been pushing back under the guise of fighting drug abuse.

Last week, The Nation published an interesting look at who's driving the fight against the legalization of marijuana.

Pharmaceutical companies that make billions off painkillers and police unions are two big heavy hitters in the fight against marijuana legalization. They throw their monetary support behind groups that fight legislation that would legalize pot — even medical marijuana — and lobby Congress.

From The Nation:

It’s more than a little odd that [the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America] and the other groups leading the fight against relaxing marijuana laws, including the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids (formerly the Partnership for a Drug-Free America), derive a significant portion of their budget from opioid manufacturers and other pharmaceutical companies. According to critics, this funding has shaped the organization’s policy goals: CADCA takes a softer approach toward prescription-drug abuse, limiting its advocacy to a call for more educational programs, and has failed to join the efforts to change prescription guidelines in order to curb abuse. In contrast, CADCA and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids have adopted a hard-line approach to marijuana, opposing even limited legalization and supporting increased police powers.

It may seem counterintuitive that an anti-drug group would take a soft approach towards prescription drug abuse considering the rising number of people who are abusing painkillers and other pills. Prescription drugs kill more people than heroin and cocaine combined, and painkillers have been linked to a rise in heroin abuse. Marijuana is still used more widely, but it's not addictive in most people and isn't linked to deaths.

Legalizing marijuana could, however, hurt the bottom line of drug companies that make money off drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin. Medical marijuana could be a less-addictive alternative to treating lower-level pain that might otherwise be treated with prescription painkillers.

Police unions are also fighting legalization. As the author of The Nation article pointed out on Republic Report, local police departments have become dependent on federal funding from the war on drugs, which includes marijuana. Police unions have also lobbied for harsher penalties for marijuana-related crimes.

While some groups are lobbying to legalize pot, others are lobbying against powerful painkillers coming into the drug market. Their motives may not always be pure, though.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has sought to block the approval of the powerful and controversial new painkiller Zohydro, has a daughter who is the CEO of competing drug company Mylan Inc. The company is also a major campaign contributor.

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DEA may be losing the war on marijuana politics

For narcotics agents, who often confront hostile situations, Capitol Hill has been a refuge where lawmakers stand ready to salute efforts in the nation's war on drugs.

Lately, however, the Drug Enforcement Administration has found itself under attack in Congress as it holds its ground against marijuana legalization while the resolve of longtime political allies — and the White House and Justice Department to which it reports — rapidly fades.

"For 13 of the 14 years I have worked on this issue, when the DEA came to a hearing, committee members jumped over themselves to cheerlead," said Bill Piper, a lobbyist with the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group. "Now the lawmakers are not just asking tough questions, but also getting aggressive with their arguments."

So far this year, the DEA's role in the seizure of industrial hemp seeds bound for research facilities in Kentucky drew angry rebukes from the Senate's most powerful Republican. The GOP-controlled House recently voted to prohibit federal agents from busting medical marijuana operations that are legal under state laws. And that measure, which demonstrated a shared distaste for the DEA's approach to marijuana, brought one of the Senate's most conservative members together with one of its most liberal in a rare bipartisan alliance.

How much the agency's stock has fallen was readily apparent in the House debate, when Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) denounced the agency's longtime chief.

"She is a terrible agency head," Polis said of Administrator Michele Leonhart.

The two had previously clashed over the DEA's insistence that marijuana continue to be classified as among the most dangerous narcotics in existence.

"She has repeatedly embarrassed her agency before this body," Polis said.

Leonhart, who declined through a spokesman to be interviewed, is not getting much backup from the White House.

This year, she complained that President Obama seemed alarmingly blase about what she sees as a pot epidemic. Her remarks to dozens of sheriffs gathered at a conference in Washington came soon after Obama told the New Yorker magazine that marijuana seemed no more dangerous to him than alcohol.

"She said, 'I am so angry the president said what he said and completely ignored the science,'" recalled Thomas Hodgson, the sheriff of Bristol County, Mass.

Her remarks were so frank, Hodgson said, that another sheriff who had been attending such meetings for three decades interrupted Leonhart to tell the crowd what a risk she was taking. The audience then gave her a standing ovation, Hodgson said.

Leonhart went on to complain about a softball game White House staff had participated in with marijuana advocates, and declared that one of the low points of her career had been seeing a hemp flag fly over the Capitol — a display Polis had requested.

When Leonhart left, Hodgson said, she got another standing ovation.

The enthusiasm from law enforcement agents suggests why Leonhart, a holdover from the George W. Bush administration, where she served as acting DEA chief, remains ensconced in her post even as more than 42,400 people have signed a petition demanding her resignation.

"The Obama administration has to walk this tightrope," said Sam Kamin, a law professor at the University of Denver. "The youth vote and a number of populous states are moving in one direction, and elements of law enforcement are not."

He added: "These are people who have spent their lives enforcing marijuana laws. To say we are going to let the states decide what federal law is, is difficult for them to swallow."

The DEA also is operating amid mixed signals.

Many lawmakers think marijuana should no longer be classified among the most dangerous drugs, but they're reluctant to vote to change federal narcotics law. And despite cautious acceptance of state legalization laws by the White House, its enforcement strategy is ambiguous. The statutes that guided narcotics agents at the height of the war on drugs to aggressively go after pot remain on the books.

After word spread in May that Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. had called Leonhart in for a private chat and admonished her to stop contradicting the administration, Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) rushed to her defense.

Wolf accused Holder's office of a "Nixonian effort to pressure a career law enforcement leader into changing her congressional testimony."

Leonhart "has done an outstanding job leading this agency during a challenging time," Wolf wrote in a letter to Holder.

But that view no longer commands a clear majority in Washington, as the agency repeatedly has run into congressional opposition.

The usually unexcitable Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, reprimanded the DEA after it impounded 250 pounds of hemp seeds en route to the University of Kentucky from Italy. The seeds were to be used by researchers exploring the possibility of reintroducing the hemp industry in the U.S.

Hemp, the fiber of a non-psychoactive cannabis plant, can be manufactured into clothing and numerous other products. One thing it can't do is make a person high. Nonetheless, the DEA deemed the seeds a controlled substance.

McConnell said the agency was wasting limited resources on the seizure "at the very time Kentucky is facing growing threats from heroin addiction and other drug abuse."

Amid political pressure and a lawsuit from Kentucky's Department of Agriculture, the agency granted the university an expedited controlled-substances permit.

The hemp offensive bewildered even some longtime DEA allies.

"It is an unnecessary fight," said Robert Stutman, a retired director of the agency's New York division. "It doesn't affect the drug issue one way or another."

The hemp case also irritated Kentucky's other senator, tea party favorite Rand Paul, who signed on to sponsor the Senate version of a House measure that would curb raids on medical marijuana dispensaries.

A desire to rein in the DEA has kindled an intriguing political alliance between Paul and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the chamber's most liberal members, who is cosponsoring the measure.

As the DEA has struggled with the politics of marijuana, it also has faced a spate of incidents requiring administration officials to clean up after agents.

The Justice Department last year agreed to a $4.1-million settlement with a man whom DEA agents left handcuffed in a San Diego holding cell without food or water for five days. And federal investigators are looking into charges that the agency has been improperly collecting phone company data and concealing from defendants how the information was used against them.

But neither those problems nor changes in public opinion have caused the agency to shift its ground. The DEA's latest policy paper on pot declares the medical marijuana movement, which has won victories in 22 states, to be a fraud.

"Organizers," it says, "did not really concern themselves with marijuana as a medicine — they just saw it as a means to an end, which is the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes."

Displayed prominently in the DEA Museum at its Arlington, Va., headquarters is part of a California dispensary that narcotics agents raided and shut down. It sits alongside the rebuilt front of a crack house.

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Misdaad piekt in Brabant, Limburg

De georganiseerde criminaliteit in Noord-Brabant en Limburg dreigt onbeheersbaar te worden. Meerdere burgemeesters worden bedreigd door onderwereldfiguren en criminelen proberen via stromannen, soms oud-politici, greep te krijgen op de bovenwereld.

Achter de schermen werken burgemeesters, politie en Openbaar Ministerie in beide provincies aan een plan tegen de criminaliteit. Ze willen meer geld voor de opsporing en meer mogelijkheden voor de aanpak van bijvoorbeeld eigenaren van panden waarin drugslaboratoria zijn aangetroffen. Ook opperen ze dat er net als bij de aanpak van terrorisme, een nationaal coördinator misdaadbestrijding moet komen.

Dat blijkt uit gesprekken die de NOS heeft gevoerd met bestuurders en medewerkers van politie en justitie.

WK moest wijken

De urgentie is zo groot dat er zelfs tijdens WK-wedstrijden van Oranje over het probleem werd vergaderd. Zo ontmoetten politiechefs en hoofdofficieren van justitie in Brabant en Limburg elkaar in Driebergen tijdens de wedstrijd van Nederland tegen Australië. Ook de baas van het Openbaar Ministerie, Herman Bolhaar, en de plaatsvervangend chef van de Nationale Politie Bik waren daarbij.

Enkele dagen later, tijdens de wedstrijd Nederland tegen Chili kwamen de burgemeesters van vijf grote gemeenten bij elkaar. Ze werken aan een actieplan, zo bevestigen bronnen tegen de NOS.

Het beeld dat tijdens de bijeenkomsten is geschetst, is zeer ernstig. In de twee provincies zitten niet alleen de grootste wietproducenten van het land, ook de meeste synthetische drugs worden er geproduceerd. Motorclubs als Satudarah en No Surrender hebben vaste voet aan de grond. Bij invallen in woonwagenkampen worden telkens hennepkwekerijen, wapens, gestolen spullen en miljoenen euro's cash geld aangetroffen.

Miljardairs

Hoeveel geld er omgaat in de georganiseerde criminaliteit staat niet vast, maar volgens deskundigen gaat het om miljarden. Alleen al in de wietteelt in de regio Tilburg wordt jaarlijks, volgens een onderzoek van de universiteit Tilburg, zo'n 800 miljoen verdiend met de hennepteelt. Geschat wordt dat er in Tilburg dagelijks zo'n 2500 mensen in de wietteelt actief zijn. Enkele topfiguren zouden het zelfs geschopt hebben tot miljardair.

De grote zorg van bestuurders, politie en OM is dat de onderwereld in de bovenwereld infiltreert. Soms gaat het subtiel, bijvoorbeeld door een crimineel die een amateurvoetbalclub sponsort om zo aanzien in de samenleving te krijgen.

Intimidatie en corruptie

Maar volgens bronnen bij politie, justitie en de lokale overheid proberen criminelen ook rechtstreeks burgemeesters en wethouders te beïnvloeden. Zo is er een oud-wethouder die als adviseur optreedt voor mensen die bij xtc-productie betrokken zijn. Ook is er sprake van een wethouder wiens broer nauwe banden heeft met criminelen en die hem naar voren schuiven om hun belangen te behartigen. Ook zouden er politiemensen worden omgekocht. En burgemeesters die optreden tegen criminelen, worden bedreigd en geïntimideerd.

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Senaat: Ministers moeten problemen rond hennep serieus nemen

De ministers Ivo Opstelten (Veiligheid en Justitie) en Ronald Plasterk (Binnenlandse Zaken) moeten praten met de burgemeesters die 'met lede ogen aanzien aan dat steeds meer inwoners bij de productie van hennep worden betrokken en zo in de armen van criminele organisaties worden gedreven.' Dat schrijft de justitiecommissie van de Eerste Kamer in een open brief.

'De commissie is van mening dat het bij behoorlijke bestuurlijke verhoudingen hoort dat de regering een open oor heeft voor de gemeenten in Nederland', klinkt het verwijtend uit de Senaat. De ministers moeten de burgemeesters serieuzer nemen.

De Senaat wil op 9 september van het duo horen 'wat u reeds gedaan heeft om de problemen die gemeenten rond het softdrugsbeleid ervaren, op te lossen en wat u op dit vlak voornemens bent in concreto te doen'.

Strafbaar
De Senaat heeft voor oktober de behandeling van het wetsvoorstel op de agenda staan dat alle handelingen die illegale hennepteelt voorbereiden en bevorderen strafbaar maakt met een gevangenisstraf tot 3 jaar of een geldboete. Het gaat dan om personen en bedrijven die geld verdienen met de levering van goederen of diensten en de financiering van illegale hennepteelt: growshops, transport- en distributiebedrijven, verhuurders van loodsen en schuren, elektriciens die illegale elektrische installaties aanleggen of de handelaars in kant-en-klaar ingerichte kasten voor de illegale hennepteelt.

Intussen is er van verschillende burgemeesters ook een heftig pleidooi geweest voor gereguleerde hennepteelt. 'Het pleidooi dat deze burgemeesters bij u hebben gehouden, heeft niet geleid tot een gewijzigd inzicht bij u', mopperen de senatoren tegen Opstelten en zijn vakbroeder.

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"If a house is burning, people will jump out the window": The war on drugs and the border crisis

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A spectacle at the border drew the world’s attention: dozens of far-right protesters in the southern California desert held signs and chanted while attempting to block busloads of children from entering their town. Murrieta, California was suddenly on the map.

This is a struggle over “illegal” immigration, a problem related to border control, we are told. The media coverage has largely focused on the political questions raised by an influx of mostly Central American children—unaccompanied by their parents or other adults—into the United States. The numbers are indeed shocking: from 6,800 children in 2013 to almost 100,000 this year, if projections are correct.

Most republican elected officials, predictably, say to deport them all. The crisis is Obama’s fault, they claim, pretending the president in his first six years hasn’t deported more people than all prior office holders combined. The GOP narrative says that Obama’s generous immigration policies sent the message to Central Americans that their children will be accepted in the United States, and granted citizenship.

The facts about the Obama administration's actual policies don't fit into the hallucinatory narrative that he's "soft" on immigration, but that doesn't matter much for the spectacle. No matter that Obama has deported nearly four million people and is seeking funds and expanded powers to deport these children, too. No matter that Obama is asking congress to repeal a Bush administration law making it slightly more difficult to deport Central American children seeking asylum. The political narrative doesn't have space for these inconvenient truths.

But besides misrepresenting basic facts about policy positions on both "sides" of the immigration debate, the cynical political theater around the Murrieta crisis obscures the central issue at stake in the influx of Central American refugee children into the United States.

At the heart of the crisis lies the decades old war on drugs.

Sonia Nozario's must read op-ed in the New York Times describes the situation in Honduras, which many of the children are fleeing:

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The Children of the Drug Wars

A Refugee Crisis, Not an Immigration Crisis

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Politie verder met ontmanteling groot drugslab

De politie heeft vanochtend de ontmanteling van een groot drugslaboratorium in het Brabantse dorp Hoogerheide hervat. Het werk werd gisteravond laat gestaakt en het bedrijfspand werd in de nacht bewaakt.

Het drugslaboratorium is een van de grootste dat ooit in Nederland is gevonden. Via verschillende productielijnen werd drugsgrondstof en eindproduct (speed) gemaakt.

Het lab dat volop in bedrijf was, werd maandagavond laat ontdekt toen een voorbijganger de brandweer alarmeerde vanwege rookontwikkeling. Vier aanwezigen werden aangehouden. De politie denkt dat er meer mensen betrokken zijn geweest.

Er stonden 23 grote tanks met chemische stoffen en veel jerrycans in de loods. Volgens de politie moeten vier vrachtwagens de spullen afvoeren. De politie hoopt het werk woensdag af te ronden.

Zangeres Zonder Naam - Mexico

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'Hollandse misdaad' verschuift naar het zuiden

De traditionele Hollandse criminele netwerken verschuiven hun activiteiten naar het zuiden van Nederland. Daarom zijn de criminele acties als liquidaties, drugshandel en witwassen daar toegenomen. Het gaat dan met name om Brabant en Limburg, lieten politiebaas Gerard Bouman en OM-baas Herman Bolhaar vandaag weten.

Onder anderen leden van de zogenoemde outlaw motorclubs maken zich hieraan schuldig, stellen ze. 'De oude traditionele Hollandse netwerken hebben steeds meer bemoeienis in het zuiden van Nederland', zegt Bouwman. In totaal zijn er bijvoorbeeld niet of nauwelijks meer criminele moorden in Nederland.

Meer geweld
Deze misdaad zorgt voor onveiligheid in de samenleving. Het gaat namelijk om onder meer geweld, dealen van drugs, dumpen van gevaarlijke grondstoffen voor drugs, bemoeienis van de misdaad in de horeca, en bedreiging, onder meer van burgemeesters.

Om deze georganiseerde misdaad in het zuiden en de rest van het land te kunnen bestrijden zijn OM en politie vorig jaar begonnen met een bredere aanpak. Niet alleen het strafrecht, maar ook de Belastingdienst en gemeenten moeten helpen bij het bestrijden van de criminaliteit die de Nederlandse samenleving 'ondermijnt'. De eerste resultaten afgelopen jaar zijn positief, concludeert Bolhaar.

Bredere aanpak
Minister Ivo Opstelten (Veiligheid en Justitie) heeft eerder als doelstelling neergelegd dat er in 2014 twee keer zoveel criminele samenwerkingsverbanden moeten worden aangepakt als in 2009. OM en politie gaven toen aan slechts 20 procent van de bekende criminele netwerken te kunnen aanpakken, onder meer door de schaarse opsporingscapaciteit.

Door de bredere aanpak slaagden politie en justitie vorig jaar in die doelstelling al bijna te halen. Door samen te werken met andere organisaties blijkt de capaciteit slimmer te kunnen worden ingezet om 'criminelen zoveel mogelijk te raken'.

Bolhaar houdt er rekening mee dat in 2014 gegeven de beschikbare capaciteit, het plafond voor opsporing is bereikt.

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This ban on khat is another idiotic salvo in the UK's disastrous war on drugs

Making this mild natural stimulant a banned class C drug will only benefit criminal gangs and damage race relations

Khat has been legally imported into this country for 60 years, a mild natural stimulant chewed by a tiny slice of the population at hundreds of community cafes around the country. You may not have noticed these places, since they do not provoke the tension and violence associated with some pubs. But on Tuesday, the bitter-tasting plant became a banned class C drug – the latest example of the idiocy of the damaging war on drugs.

The impact will be felt largely among the Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities, but we should all be concerned. For as 25 countries loosen drug laws and evidence grows from around the globe of the harm caused by prohibition in terms of lives lost and communities wrecked, this shows again how Britain is locked into a futile and backfiring battle that flies in the face of evidence, human rights and logic.

The decision to outlaw khat was taken last year by Theresa May, the home secretary. She ignored her own advisers on drug misuse who told her that it would be "inappropriate and disproportionate" to ban an innocuous trade that earns the Treasury a couple of million pounds a year in taxes. She brushed aside concerns from the Commons home affairs select committee, which concluded that it would make more sense to license importers than drive them underground.

Ministers admitted that it was hard to find evidence to back their ban; even the World Health Organisation says khat use carries low risk of harm. They ignored pleading – and a legal challenge – from Kenya, where farmers cultivating the herb in an impoverished corner of the country fear the decision will make their lives harder. Some tribal leaders called the act "a declaration of war" and threatened reprisals. Meanwhile the coalition boasts about its commitment to helping the Horn of Africa and curbing terrorism.

This myopic move comes as more progressive nations see that regulation is a more sensible solution than prohibition to the human desire to get high. After four decades, the war on drugs has cost hundreds of billions of pounds and thousands of lives. Anne-Marie Cockburn, whose teenage daughter died tragically from over-strong ecstasy, is the latest bereaved mother to jointhe campaign for reform; little wonder many doctors, police officers, intelligence officials and even politicians privately back her brave stance.

What will happen now? No doubt some people will stop chewing khat. Most traders in a thriving £15m-a-year sector will close down successful businesses, forcing scores of staff into unemployment. But others may carry on trading, joining the inevitable black market that springs up when something is banned. In the United States, where khat is already a controlled substance, it sells for 10 times its price on British streets; clearly, there will be hefty profits for any criminal gangs stepping in to meet demand.

As some MPs and community leaders have pointed out, asking the police to enforce a ban that only affects specific ethnic minorities also risks damaging race relations. There is a grave danger that outlawing khat risks further alienating sections of the Somali and Yemeni communities, already among the most marginalised groups in Britain and coming under increased pressure amid alarm over Islamic militancy.

There were claims of links between the khat trade and terrorism, but these seem tenuous. After all, al-Shabaab also bans its usage while the government's own drug experts have repeatedly said there is no evidence of criminal or terrorist involvement. They added, however, that they feared this might change following a ban; terror gangs have raised millions elsewhere in Africa by exploiting the drug market.

Such is the stupidity of Britain's latest salvo in the silly war on drugs. This will cost the country cash, put people out of work, increase communal tensions and may even help fund terrorism. One thing is sure: it will not terminate use of the banned substance.

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EXCLUSIVE: The Counterinsurgency War on—and Inside—Our Borders

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The Mexican police helicopter that flew into Arizona last month and fired shots near U.S. Border Patrol agents was no fluke—such incursions have become so frequent they amount to an internationalized shooting war along our southern border.

It’s not just Mexican police helicopters; Mexican military aircraft entered U.S. territory 49 times from 2010 through 2012. That’s according to a Customs and Border Protection list acquired through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by WhoWhatWhy.

Along with other documents obtained independently by WikiLeaks, the recent incidents confirm that the U.S. has been taking a full-bore counterinsurgency approach to the border drug war. The possibility that was happening is something we told you about earlier.

Official statements and media reports about the Arizona incident have not come close to explaining the real significance of such cross-border operations. The facts are now clear: the Pentagon’s push to use counterinsurgency tactics against drug traffickers is giving Mexican armed forces the leeway to operate in the airspace above U.S. territory.

***

Specific Mexican military helicopter incursions and near-incursions are detailed in intelligence reports obtained by WikiLeaks and assessed by WhoWhatWhy. The reports were created by the Border Security Operations Center, an Austin nerve center run by the Texas state police that oversees hundreds of intelligence analysts and manages untold surveillance cameras. The reports came to WikiLeaks after hackers broke into the servers of private intelligence firm Stratfor, which got the documents from its sources.

These revelations about the extent of the cross-border war on drugs are the latest fruit of our investigative partnership with WikiLeaks to carefully assess selected documents from its vast trove. (Take a look at our earlier collaborations with the whistleblower group here and here.)

The Rio Grande Firefight

As the Pentagon faces sequestration funding cuts and a fighting force exhausted from Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military is relying more and more on foreign armed forces, police and private contractors like Stratfor.

The close cooperation between U.S. and Mexican forces against drug traffickers follows from modern counterinsurgency strategy, which dictates that police should function like soldiers when necessary to deny funds to whichever rebels—or drug cartels—are out of favor.

This approach is on display in part of a report published by the Austin center on May 6, 2011. The document is marked “Law Enforcement Sensitive.” This means it was intended for law enforcement eyes only, according to intelligence analyst Kendra Miller. She was a contact point for those seeking access to the reports. [Email-ID 1966867, May 9, 2011]

The document describes a firefight about 30 miles from McAllen, Texas, during which a police chopper from that state provided targeting assistance to the Mexican military as an alleged drug smuggler was killed. It includes this photograph of a Mexican Air Force chopper flying above the Rio Grande:

CaptureThis apparent incursion, or near-incursion, was not included on the Customs and Border Protection list we obtained in response to our Freedom of Information request – indicating that Mexican military operations along the U.S. border are even more numerous than the FOIA document suggests.

It’s not clear if that Mexican chopper flew into U.S. airspace. But there’s no doubt the Americans took part in the gun battle, because the Texas state police helicopter guided the Mexican chopper and ground forces to the suspects, including one who was hiding in the brush.

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World Health Organisation calls for the decriminalisation of drug use

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This month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) – the UN agency that coordinates international health responses – launched a new set of guidelines for HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations. The new document is the culmination of months of consultation and review, and pulls together existing guidance for five groups: men who have sex with men, people in prisons and other closed settings, sex workers, transgender people, and people who inject drugs. These key populations are the most-at-risk of HIV, yet the least likely to access services – a fact that “threatens global progress on the HIV response” according to WHO. By consolidating previous guidance, the document is able to highlight common barriers and needs – including recommendations for legal reforms to support service delivery.

The guidance puts forward a “comprehensive” package of interventions that governments should provide:

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Crucially, the WHO Guidance also recommends that Laws, policies and practices should be reviewed and, where necessary, revised by policymakers and government leaders, with meaningful engagement of stakeholders from key population groups. Within this so-called critical enabler (see graphic) is an explicit calls for the decriminalisation of drug use in order to reduce incarceration as well as calls to reform laws and policies that block harm reduction services, and the end of compulsory treatment for people who use drugs. The Guidance also cites the experience of Portugal in terms of decriminalisation citing successes such as the increase in people accessing treatment, the fall in HIV cases among people who use drugs (from 907 cases in 2000 to 267 in 2008), reductions in drug use and less overcrowding within the criminal justice system. According to the press release accompanying the Guidance, Bold policies can deliver bold results.

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Drugsmokkelaars opgehangen in Singapore

Twee drugssmokkelaars zijn vandaag in Singapore opgehangen. Het waren de eerste executies in meer dan 3 jaar tijd. De smokkelaars van 36 en 28 jaar oud kwamen uit Singapore. Ze waren gepakt met heroïne en zijn in de Changi-gevangenis terechtgesteld.

Singapore heeft alle doodstraffen in 2011 opgeschort vanwege een herzieningen van de plicht voor rechters om drugssmokkelaars de doodstraf te geven.

Rechters hebben inmiddels meer armslag gekregen. Zo werd in november voor het eerst een doodstraf van een veroordeelde drugssmokkelaar omgezet in gevangenisstraf.

Nieuw proces
Door de nieuwe regels konden alle ter dood veroordeelden proberen een nieuw proces te krijgen. De twee opgehangen criminelen zagen daar zelf vanaf.

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Obama says he ended the ‘War on Drugs.’ Don’t believe him

If the Obama administration is to be believed, America’s infamous “War on Drugs” is over.

In its most recent National Drug Control Strategy, released last week, officials promised a more humane and sympathetic approach to drug users and addiction. Out, the report suggests, are “tough on crime” policies. Rather than more police and more prisons, officials talk about public health and education. They promise to use evidence-based practices to combat drug abuse. And they want to use compassionate messaging and successful reentry programs to reduce the stigma drug offenders and addicts face.

Unfortunately, the government’s actions don’t jibe with their rhetoric.

For decades, the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and its allies have used government resources to marginalize, stigmatize, and demonize drug users. There were the nonsensical ads like “this is your brain on drugs” and inexplicable demonstrations like torching cars and valued possessions. The ONDCP, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the Ad Council, and Above the Influence portrayed small time dealers as snakes and users as rats.

This Is Your Brain On Drugs (Original)

They also showed drug use as a gateway to prostitution and, in the wake of 9/11, explicitly linked casual drug users to supporting terrorism and cop killing. The United States has spent millions stigmatizing drug use, sale and abuse — all before one even begins to calculate the costs to arrest, try, and incarcerate offenders for the past 40 years. This, of course, comes in addition to the stigma that comes with incarceration and criminal records.

The Obama administration says it wants to de-stigmatize drug addiction. But no matter how hard it tries, it’s virtually impossible to de-stigmatize behavior that is still a crime.

And the administration is doing little to actually de-stigmatize drug use. Despite their supposed adherence to “evidence-based practices,” officials steadfastly refuse to consider legalization or decriminalization, even though the evidence unambiguously shows drug prohibition has been a disaster.

Prohibition-related violence has killed thousands in this country and multiples of that number more in supplier nations like Colombia, Mexico and Afghanistan. In the United States, incarceration rates have become so onerous (over 700 adults per 100,000) that research suggests they’re probably doing harm to society by pulling too many workers out of the economy, breaking up families and making offenders less employable upon release.

Although “alternatives to incarceration” are touted throughout the latest strategy, suggestions for fully or even partially separating nonviolent drug use from the criminal realm altogether are absent. Indeed, the marijuana liberalization in Colorado and Washington State are mentioned only as adding “challenges” the ONDCP’s efforts to maintain the perception of the drug’s harm.

Though the ONDCP repeatedly states that drug addiction is a disease, police and incarceration remain the primary instruments to treat its myriad manifestations. (After all, you can’t get to drug court without being arrested first.) Unless the government plans to start selling MRAPs to the American Cancer Society, it’s fair to say that disease takes a backseat to the still-aggressive law enforcement tactics as the first weapon against American drug use and sale — even if the rhetoric sounds less harsh than it used to.

Supposing the old commercials and posters are relics of the past and the ONDCP has legitimately turned over a new leaf, there are others within the Obama administration that still haven’t received the memo. Seemingly everyone can agree that some drugs are more harmful than others, but the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration was unable or unwilling to say to Congress that marijuana was less harmful than methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin.

Even under a prohibition regime like the United States’s, it is absurd to suggest that an honest, relative assessment of harms and consequences is unknown to the people in charge of setting and executing drug policy. Yet the nation’s top drug enforcement agent can’t say a drug on which is virtually impossible to fatally overdose is less harmful than drugs that kill thousands of Americans each year.

Clearly, this is not yet a federal government willing to apply compassion, embrace evidence, and repudiate years of drug misinformation.

If this administration is serious about ending the stigma associated with drug addiction and is truly dedicated to education and evidence-based methods to fight drug abuse, it must first address and then reject the rank dishonesty and propaganda that has defined the American drug war for decades. The ONDCP’s language seems to be moving in the right direction, but the government remains unable to be honest with itself, let alone the general public. As people in recovery might suggest, getting past entrenched denial is a requisite first step toward fixing America’s drug war problem.

This is your government on drugs. Any questions?

twitter:

vprogids twitterde op zaterdag 19-07-2014 om 20:00:20 In het Mexicaanse Chihuahua is de Amerikaanse ‘war on drugs’ totaal uit de hand gelopen. (Vranckx, Canvas, 20.10) reageer retweet

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Op zondag 20 juli 2014 03:42 schreef El_Matador het volgende:

[..]

Ik praat het uiteraard niet goed, maar heroine is klotespul. Wiet en ecstacy zijn echt compleet andere middelen. Vind dat er veel beter onderscheid gemaakt moet worden naar het soort drugs.

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Op zondag 20 juli 2014 09:00 schreef El_Matador het volgende:

[..]

Het is al verboden.

Maar doen alsof alle drugs hetzelfde zijn

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Duitse patiënten mogen zelf cannabis kweken

Chronisch zieke patiënten mogen in Duitsland in beginsel onder voorwaarden cannabis verbouwen ter bestrijding van pijn. Dit heeft een rechter in Keulen vandaag bepaald.

De administratieve rechtbank oordeelde in een zaak van vijf patiënten tegen medische autoriteiten. Die hadden hun toestemming geweigerd om thuis cannabis te verbouwen voor pijnbestrijding.

De rechter stelde drie van de vijf klagers in het gelijk en bepaalde dat de autoriteiten hun weigering moeten herzien, meldde de krant Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.

Verboden
Cannabisgebruik is in Duitsland verboden. Wel mogen zo'n 270 mensen de drug in de apotheek kopen omdat voor hun aandoening, meestal pijnklachten, geen andere werkzame behandeling beschikbaar is.

De overheidsinstantie BfArM die daar vergunningen voor afgeeft, vindt productie thuis onveilig. Het zou kunnen gebeuren dat patiënten hun woningen onvoldoende beveiligen. De advocaat van de chronisch zieke patiënten houdt er dan ook rekening mee dat de staat in beroep gaat tegen de beslissing van dinsdag.

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Satelliet moet genadeklap worden voor hennepteelt in open lucht

Politie en gemeenten in Limburg willen satellieten gaan inzetten voor de opsporing van hennep in maïsvelden en natuurgebieden.

Er loopt al een proef met het gebruik van satellietbeelden. Wanneer die test naar tevredenheid verloopt, is de hennepteelt in de buitenlucht binnen een paar jaar verleden tijd.

Dat zegt burgemeester Antoin Scholten van Venlo, die in Limburg de bestuurlijke aanpak van de wietteelt coördineert.

Vliegtuigen

Sinds 2005 spoort de politie al vanuit vliegtuigen en helikopters wietplanten op. Maar daarmee worden lang niet alle openluchtkwekerijen gevonden.

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Op donderdag 31 juli 2014 14:00 schreef Tism het volgende:

[..]

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http://www.nu.nl/festival(...)stival-roermond.html
Tien aanhoudingen bij Solar festival Roermond
De politie heeft vrijdag op het terrein van het Solar Festival in Roermond tien mensen aangehouden. Ze bleken in het bezit van kleine hoeveelheden harddrugs.
Tien aanhoudingen bij Solar festival Roermond
Foto: ANP
Volgens een woordvoerder van de politie kunnen ze een boete tegemoet zien van tussen de vijfhonderd en duizend euro.
Bovendien mogen ze het festivalterrein niet meer op. Tijdens deze tiende editie van het muziek- en creativiteitsfestival Solar aan de Maasplassen bij Roermond wordt streng gecontroleerd op drugs. Donderdag pakte de politie een dealer met ruim honderd xtc-pillen op. Hij kreeg via snelrecht een werkstraf van honderd dagen opgelegd.

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Op vrijdag 1 augustus 2014 19:31 schreef OllieWilliams het volgende:
Zero-tolerance bij festivals anno 2014

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Paris police lose 51kg of seized cocaine from their own headquarters

Drugs worth £2m vanish from force's famous HQ at 36 Quai des Orfèvres, just months after building was mired in rape allegation

Paris police are investigating the disappearance of 51kg of cocaine from a supposedly locked and sealed room in their own headquarters on the banks of the Seine.

The cocaine "bricks" with a street value of around ¤2.5m (£2m) were seized a month ago after officers smashed a drug trafficking network in the capital.

They were supposed to be under lock and key at the force's legendary headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfèvres, for ever associated with the fictional French detective Maigret.

Officials say the cocaine, placed in numbered evidence bags, was definitely still in the secured store room on 23 July when it was last checked, but was definitely missing on Thursday.

Police chiefs immediately ordered an inquiry, and the force's own internal investigations squad was sent into the building with sniffer dogs. So far, there have been no leads.

It is the second time this year that 36 Quai des Orfèvres has made damaging headlines.

In April, two officers belonging to an "anti-gang crime" squad were put under official investigation for the alleged rape of a 34-year-old Canadian woman visiting Paris. She had met the men during an evening of heavy drinking at a nearby Irish pub. The officers said she agreed to follow them to their headquarters, just across the Seine from the pub. Once there she said she was raped. One of the police officers charged admitted having sex with the woman, but claimed she had consented. The investigation is ongoing.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has ordered the national police investigation squad to leave no stone unturned in its search for the missing drugs and promised the culprits would be treated with "the utmost severity".

In a statement, the prefecture of police said: "This investigation will look into whether the relevant rules were followed for the management of evidence in the offices of this brigade in particular, and at 36 Quai des Orfèvres in general."

It promised "very firm measures" would be immediately taken "if the investigation shows the law has been broken".

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French drug squad officer arrested over missing cocaine

Narcotics officer held near Spanish border over disappearance of ¤2m-worth of drugs from Paris police headquarters


A French narcotics police officer has been arrested on suspicion of stealing over 50kg of seized cocaine from Paris police headquarters in a major embarrasment for the force.

The 34-year-old officer was believed to have made off with the illegal drugs – which have a street value of up to ¤2m (£1.6m) – after security cameras spotted a person resembling the officer entering police HQ with two bags, according to a statement from police and prosecutors.

The officer, who works with the Paris drug squad, was arrested near Perpignan, close to the Spanish border, where he was on holiday. He is being questioned by officers in the region before being transferred to Paris.

The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, has called the allegations "extremely serious", and said the officer had been suspended pending an investigation.

"If the investigation confirms his involvement, and as soon as I have any news on the conclusions of the inquiry, I will not hesitate in taking all the necessary measures," he said.

The missing cocaine has become a major embarrassment, with French media describing its disappearance as a real-life heist worthy of a crime movie.

Police sources said several searches were taking place, both in Perpignan and at the officer's Paris home.

Colleagues expressed surprise at the arrest, describing the suspect as "unassuming" and "trustworthy".

The drug cache was seized in a Paris raid in early July that led to several arrests.

On Thursday, police learnt the drugs had gone missing from a secure room at police headquarters, which overlooks the river Seine close to the Notre Dame cathedral.

The haul had been kept in a high-security area, with security procedures requiring anyone entering the room to sign in and be accompanied by another officer authorised to have a key.

A number of elite police officers were questioned on Friday about the incident by a team from the national police's internal affairs division.

The Paris police headquarters attracted unwelcome attention in April when two elite French officers were charged with raping a Canadian tourist there in a case that sent shock waves across France.

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Dope in the USA - in pictures

Denver County Fair in Colorado made history this weekend by including America’s first Pot Pavilion. Over 21s could experience speed-rolling and Dorito-eating competitions, live music, pot-themed vendors and entertainment. In compliance with Denver’s new laws, there was no marijuana at the event so fair goers left the site to consume the legal recreational variety. The Observer despatched its non-inhaling photographer to check it out.

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Barcelona's booming cannabis clubs turn Spain into 'Holland of the South'

Catalonia health agency's move to tighten rules follows freeze on licences as clubs' membership in region soars to 165,000

Catalonia's public health agency has proposed strict new measures to regulate cannabis clubs in the region, amid claims that Barcelona is on its way to rivalling Amsterdam as a smoker's haven.

Amsterdam has tightened restrictions on cannabis sales just as the number of clubs in Spain has proliferated from some 40 in 2010 to more than 700 today, say smokers' groups. The Catalan capital is home to more than half of these clubs.

From swanky clubs that span three floors to others with a small room and a few plastic chairs, the clubs take advantage of a provision in Spain's drug laws that allow marijuana to be grown and consumed for private use.

The clause has turned Spain – and especially Barcelona – into what Spanish media call the "Holland of the South". But unlike Amsterdam's coffee shops, which are open to the public, Spain's clubs are for members only.

Skirting the membership policy is fairly easy; while many clubs stick to a policy of requiring new members to be sponsored by existing ones, a number of clubs allow prospective members to register online or via telephone. Some clubs have employees who hand out promotional flyers in the street, promising to ease the registration process.

The past two years have seen hundreds of these cannabis clubs spring up in Barcelona, creating a thriving industry as other sectors suffered the economic crisis. Catalonia's cannabis clubs now count some 165,000 members, who rack up an estimated ¤5m (£4m) in sales each month, according to El País newspaper.

Local officials in Barcelona have been watching closely. In June, the city imposed a one-year moratorium on new licences for cannabis clubs. Calling it a "preventative" measure, deputy mayor Joaquim Forn said it would give the city some breathing space to regulate the industry and "avoid it becoming a serious problem".

A first draft of the regulations, drawn up by the public health agency of Catalonia and obtained by El País, sets out strict regulations on the cultivation and transport of the drug and clubs' membership in an effort to chip away at the legal grey zone in which the clubs currently operate.

Memberships will be limited to Spanish residents, taking aim at the region's growing reputation for cannabis tourism. Members will have to be 21 years of age or older and belong to the club for at least 15 days before being given access to marijuana.

Other measures include forcing clubs to register their plants and undergo an annual inspection, in an attempt to give regional authorities a more complete idea of the product on offer in the region.

The maximum quantity that members will be allowed to access each month has yet to be determined, said the proposal, but is expected to be somewhere between 60 to 100 grams a month (2-3.5 ounces). With some clubs currently with as many as 5,000 users, the draft noted that a maximum number of members must also be determined.

The proposed regulations were welcomed by the Catalonia Federation of Cannabis Associations, one of many associations that has been pushing the government to better regulate the sector. While the association took issue with the draft regulations' proposal of a fixed schedule that would force the clubs to close for a three-hour lunch each day and close by 8pm most days, the regulations were "positive in general", a spokesman, Jaume Xaus, told El País. Many of the clubs, he noted, already follow similar regulations.

One notable omission, he said, was to set a criteria for municipal licences. Without this, he worried, the granting of permits would be left to individual mayors, allowing for discrepancies to arise.

Cannabis clubs have also become popular in the Basque country in recent years, registering more than 10,000 members and leading the regional government to begin drawing up regulations for the clubs earlier this year.

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Marijuana lobby group push for legalization at first New York meetup

National Cannabis Industry Association lobbyists told ‘You are representatives of the great American tradition of free enterprise’

Talk of the cannabis industry still sparks snickers and jokes from onlookers who expect business leaders in Birkenstocks and dreadlocks. But on Thursday afternoon, at the first New York meeting of the National Cannabis Industry Association, a lobbying group that supports the federal legalization of marijuana, it was collared shirts, suits and white tablecloths.

The well-tailored crowd of NCIA members had gathered in Manhattan for a fundraiser, at which they were joined by local politicians who have been pushing for legalization.

Politicians in attendance included New York assemblyman Steve Katz, who had opposed medical marijuana before he was arrested for unlawful possession of the drug in March 2013. “You are representatives of the great American tradition of free enterprise, entrepreneurialism, and yes, dare I say it, free-market capitalism,” Katz told the crowd.

Katz seized on the energy of the cannabis-oriented businesspeople in attendance who believe the industry has enormous potential. Their enthusiasm has strengthened in recent months, as recreational use became legal in Colorado and Washington this year, and a Gallup poll last fall showed for the first time a majority of Americans favoring legalization.

Some people at the meeting, however, said that starting in the industry isn’t a simple matter, and that it requires substantial capital.

“A new person coming into the industry is definitely going to need millions,” said Julie Dooley, the president and co-creator of Julie & Kate Baked Goods, a company that makes edibles – treats laced with marijuana. Standing near a basket of “non-medicated” samples of her sticky treats, Dooley explained that her business started on a “shoestring” budget, but said cannabis-business hopefuls need much more money to get started these days.

Part of that need is being filled by Silicon Valley-esque Angel Investors, who are banking on increased national support for legalization as they pour funds into marijuana startups in states like Colorado and Washington.

One of these angel investors, ArcView Group, has valued the legal marijuana US market at $1.53bn, and believes that the number could grow, as legalization becomes a reality in more US states.

But like most US industries, this one is currently dominated by white men. The women at the event said they were hoping that they can change that by seizing on the relative newness of the industry.

“No one knows what’s going on right now,” said Jane West, owner of the cannabis-themed events company Edible Events. “As long as you have the right connections and funding you can make anything you want happen.”

Of course, ventures promoting recreational use are operating in a two-state market. That is something supportive politicians and industry leaders are hoping to change, as they tout the medicinal benefits of cannabis, including studies showing it could help children who experience severe epilepsy.

Another of the keynote speakers, New York state senator Diane Savino, who sponsored the state’s Compassionate Care Act that would legalize medical marijuana, became involved with the cause when some of her family members began using the drug to cope with illness.

Savino called on Congress to support federal marijuana legalization, but said she believed change in New York would be enough to spur movement in other states.

“New York is a watershed state – as we go, so go the other states,” Savino said.

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Nick Clegg In Bold Call For Radical Overhaul Of 'Utterly Senseless' Drug Laws

Nick Clegg has claimed "we are never going to win the war on drugs" in a powerful call for reform of the UK's "utterly senseless" drug laws.

Drug prevention charities have praised the Lib Dem leader for highlighting the current failure of existing policies after he pledged Friday to abolish prison sentences for the possession of drugs for personal use - even Class A substances like heroin and cocaine.

While Britain currently locks up youngsters and burdens them with criminal records for possessing small quantities of drugs – usually cannabis – the deputy prime minister has pledged to approach the problem as a health issue, rather than a law and order issue - stating that imprisoning someone for drug use "should no longer be an option."

Mr Clegg made the controversial commitment as he outlined aspects of the Liberal Democrats manifesto in a dramatic call to fight organised crime.

[code]How The NHS Giving Heroin Addicts Free Foils Could Help The Fight Against Drugs[/code]

"Addicts need treatment, not locking up," Mr Clegg said. "It is a nonsense to waste scarce resources on prison cells for cannabis users."

The Lib Dems said that imprisonment does nothing to help addicts become drug free and is a waste of public money that could be better spent on tackling the problem in the community.

“We are never going to win a ‘war on drugs’," Mr Clegg added. "Illegal drugs still cause immense harm to the people who use them and to the communities they live in. We need a radically smarter approach if we are serious about tackling this problem."

At the moment, more than 1,000 people a year in England and Wales are jailed for possession of drugs for their own personal use - a move Mr Clegg branded "utterly senseless."

The party are calling for an immediate end to prison sentences for people whose only crime is the possession of drugs for personal use. Under the proposals, users would instead receive non-custodial sentences and appropriate medical treatment.

He said under the current system, drug legislation mean we are "chucking the people who need treatment behind bars so they simply become even more vulnerable to the criminal gangs who exploited them in the first place."

“Liberal Democrats believe in a stronger economy and a fairer society. These liberal reforms will ensure that drug users get the help they need and that taxpayers don’t foot the bill for a system that doesn’t work.”

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Tilburgse drugshandelaren vrijuit na foute huiszoeking


Een Tilburgs stel dat werd opgepakt omdat ze drugs zouden dealen, is vrijuit gegaan omdat het 'bezoek' van agenten en ambtenaren onrechtmatig was.

Twee gemeentemedewerkers en twee agenten gingen langs bij het huis aan de Jagerslaan en vonden amfetamine, cocaïne en xtc-pillen. Maar, het viertal had helemaal niet het recht om de woning binnen te gaan.

De rechtbank in Breda sprak het duo daarom vrij. Dat één van de verdachten toestemming gaf voor de huiszoeking is volgens de rechter niet te beschouwen als 'vrijwillig', omdat vier mensen imponerend over kunnen komen.

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The Immigration Crisis: Just Another Byproduct of the Drug War

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The thousands of Central American children being apprehended along our southern border are the refugees from our own War on Drugs, fleeing grotesque violence that is the direct product of our failed policy of interdiction. Until we alter our drug strategy, we can expect more murder and mayhem south of our border -- and greater numbers of immigrants fleeing north for safety.

A decade ago, Los Angeles Times reporter Sonia Nozario won the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles and a book, "Enrique's Journey," about the Honduran children who flee to the United States atop northbound Central American freight trains -- "el tren de la muerte," or "the train of death" where homicide, rape and vicious assault are common.

In those days, Nozario documented, the journey was an economic one, brought on by crushing poverty at home and a desire to join parents who had fled north years before. Today, however, the 10-year-olds who flee Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are fleeing a vicious war that is being waged in their schoolyards and on their streets.

In testimony last month before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Nozario described her first visit in 10 years to the Nueva Suyapa neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras:

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End the Drug War "For the Kids" Coalition Forms

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In a move precipitated by the child immigration border crisis, but informed by the ongoing damage done to children on both sides of the border by law enforcement-heavy, militarized anti-drug policies, a broad coalition of more than 80 civil rights, immigration, criminal justice, racial justice, human rights, libertarian and religious organizations came together late last week to call for an end to the war on drugs in the name of protecting the kids.

"The quality of a society can and should be measured by how its most vulnerable are treated, beginning with our children," said Asha Bandele of the Drug Policy Alliance, the organization that coordinated the letter. "Children have every right to expect that we will care for, love and nurture them into maturity. The drug war is among the policies that disrupts our responsibility to that calling."

The groups, as well as prominent individuals such as The New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander, signed on to a letter of support for new policies aimed at ending the war on drugs.

"In recent weeks," the letter says, "the plight of the 52,000 unaccompanied children apprehended at the US border since last October, many of whom are fleeing drug war violence in Central America, has permeated our national consciousness. The devastating consequences of the drug war have not only been felt in Latin America, they are also having ravaging effects here at home. All too often, children are on the frontlines of this misguided war that knows no borders or color lines."

Organizations signing the letter include a broad range of groups representing different issues and interests, but all are united in seeing the war on drugs as an obstacle to improvement. They include the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Center for Constitutional Rights, the Institute of the Black World, Presente.org, Students for Liberty, United We Dream, the William C. Velasquez Institute, and the Working Families Organization. For a complete list of signatories, click here. [Disclosure: StoptheDrugwar.org, the organization publishing this article, is a signatory.]

In the past few months, more than 50,000 minors fleeing record levels of violence in the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have arrived at the US border seeking either to start a new life or to reconnect with family members already in the country. The causes of the violence in Central America are complex and historically-rooted, but one of them is clearly the US war on drugs, heavy-handedly exported to countries throughout the Western Hemisphere in the past several decades.

Those northern Central American countries -- the so-called Northern Triangle -- have been especially hard hit by drug prohibition-related violence since about 2008, when, after the US helped Mexico bulk up its war on the drug cartels via the $2.4 billion Plan Merida assistance package (President Obama wants another $115 million for it next year), the cartels began expanding their operations into the weaker Central American states. Already high crime levels went through the roof.

Honduras's second largest city, San Pedro Sula, now has the dubious distinction of boasting the world's highest murder rate, while the three national capitals, Guatemala City, San Salvador, and Tegucigalpa, are all in the top 10 deadliest cities worldwide. Many of the victims are minors, who are often targeted because of their membership in drug trade-affiliated street gangs (or because they refuse to join the gangs).

The impact of the war on drugs on kids in the United States is less dramatic, but no less deleterious. Hundreds of thousands of American children have one or both parents behind bars for drug offenses, suffering not only the stigma and emotional trauma of being a prisoner's child, but also the collateral consequences of impoverishment and familial and community instability. Millions more face the prospect of navigating the mean streets of American cities where, despite some recent retreat from the drug war's most serious excesses, the war on drugs continues to make some neighborhoods extremely dangerous places.

"In the face of this spiraling tragedy that continues to disproportionately consume the lives and futures of black and brown children," the letter concludes, "it is imperative to end the nefarious militarization and mass incarceration occurring in the name of the war on drugs. So often, repressive drug policies are touted as measures to protect the welfare of our children, but in reality, they do little more than serve as one great big Child Endangerment Act. On behalf of the children, it is time to rethink the war on drugs."

Although the signatory groups represent diverse interests and constituencies, coming together around the common issue of protecting children could lay the groundwork for a more enduring coalition, said Jeronimo Saldana, a legislative and organizing coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance.

"The idea was to get folks together to make a statement. Now, we have to figure out how to move forward. The letter was the first step," he said.

"The groups have been very positive," Saldana continued. "They're glad someone was speaking up and putting it all together. What's going on in Central American and Mexico is tied into what's happening in our own cities and communities. This crosses partisan lines; it's really obvious that the failed policies of the war on drugs affects people of all walks of life, and the images of the kids really brings it home. We hope to build on this to get some traction. We want folks to continue to make these connections."

Different signatories do have different missions, but a pair of California groups that signed the letter provide examples of how the drug war unites them.

"We have a history of working on behalf of youth involved in the criminal justice system and their families," said Azadeh Zohrabi, national campaigner for the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. "We see desperate families trying to stay connected, strong, and healthy, but mass incarceration is really making that difficult. We work both with families whos kids are involved in the justice system and with families with one or both parents in prison or who have lost custody of their kids because of their involvement in the criminal justice system," she explained.

"We are working to combat this, and we think the war on drugs overall has had disastrous consequences for families, both here and abroad," Zohrabi continued. "The trillions poured into policing and militarization has just produced more misery. It's time for drugs to be dealt with as a public health issue, not a crime."

"We signed on because the letter is very clear in addressing an important component of the discussion that hasn't really been out there," said Arturo Carmona, executive director of the Latino social justice group Presente.org. "This crisis on the border is not the result of deferring actions against immigrant child arrivals, as many right-wing Republicans have been saying, but is the result of one of the most deadly peaks in crime and violence in the Northern Triangle in recent memory," he argued.

"The violence there is one of the main push factors, and when we talk about this in the US, it's critical that we acknowledge these push factors, many of which are connected to the war on drugs," Carmona continued. "You'll notice that the kids aren't coming from Nicaragua, where we haven't been supporting the war on drugs, but from countries that we've assisted and advised on the drug war, where we've provided weaponry. This is very well-documented."

While Presente.org is very concerned with the immigration issue, said Carmona, there is no escaping the role of the war on drugs in making things worse -- not only in Central America and at the border, but inside the US as well.

"We're very concerned about the chickens coming home to roost for our failed war on drugs policy," he said. "The American public needs to be made very aware of this, and we are starting to see a greater understanding that this is a failed policy -- not only in the way we criminalize our young Latino and African-American kids here in the US, but also in the way this policy affects other countries in our neighborhood. As Nicaragua shows, our lack of involvement there has seen a lower crime rate. Our military involvement through the drug war is an abysmal failure, as the record deaths not only in Central America, but also in Mexico, shows."

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Chinese celebrities caught in net of drugs crackdown

Authorities conduct random drugs tests and pressure organisations to not hire people with histories of drug use amid clampdown

Chinese authorities have intensified one of the country's biggest crackdowns on drugs in recent memory, detaining celebrities, conducting random drugs tests at bars, and putting pressure on institutions to ensure that they will not hire people with histories of drug use.

Nine Chinese celebrities have been detained for drug-related offences in the first half of the year, state media reported on Thursday. Earlier this month, authorities detained Gao Hu, a 40 year-old actor who played a minor part in the 2011 Zhang Yimou film The Flowers of War, for possession of marijuana and methamphetamines. In June, police detained Zhang Yuan, a film director, after he attempted to evade a random drugs check at a Beijing train station. They detained the writer Chen Wanning for using meth. "Taking ice is harmful to the body. If I stop taking it from now on, my life will get better," he reportedly said in a confession. In the spring, authorities sentenced the reality TV star Li Daimo to nine months in prison for "hosting crystal meth parties at his apartment".

More than 40 performing arts organisations in Beijing have signed agreements with municipal police, promising that they would not employ any performers who are "involved with drugs", the state-run Beijing News reported on Thursday. These performers, the newspaper said, "have had a harmful influence on society."

"Of course, as celebrities these people often sacrifice their privacy," said Shen Tingting, advocacy programme director for Asia Catalyst, an NGO campaigning for the rights of drug users, sex workers and people with HIV/Aids. "But in these cases, [the government's] main purpose is to show that this is a crackdown on the use of drugs, and even celebrities cannot get out of it."

Over the past two years, China's president, Xi Jinping, has overseen crackdowns on a variety of perceived social ills, from corruption to prostitution, pornography and, increasingly, drugs. In late June, Xi called for "forceful measures to wipe [drugs] out"; the country's prime minister, Li Keqiang, called drugs a "common enemy to humanity".

Shen said that while heroin accounts for the majority of drug use in China, the use of "party drugs" such as crystal meth is rising rapidly, especially among young, educated people with disposable incomes.

Chen and Zhang both received the typical sentence for first-time offenders of recreational drug-related crimes: administrative detention, which can last a maximum of 15 days. But if the police consider a detainee an addict, they may force them to undergo compulsory rehabilitation for up to three years.

According to a Health and Human Rights investigation from 2013, people held in rehab centres are frequently "subject to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment". Physical beatings and solitary confinement are common; some centres require detainees to perform forced labour. "The detox centre is a factory," Du, a former detainee from southern Guangxi province, told the organisation. "We work every day, until late in the night, even if we are sick, even if we have Aids."

Beijing police raided a popular bar on Saturday night, forcing party-goers to undergo a random drugs test, according to widely-forwarded social media posts and local expat magazines. The police showed up at the bar – 2Kolegas, an established indie music venue – at about 2am. They blocked the exits, and forced everybody inside to urinate in plastic bottles; the police then held the bottles up to the light for an instant result. About nine people tested positive. Many of them were handcuffed; all were bundled into vans.

The foreigners are currently in administrative detention, and will likely be deported immediately on release.

Although estimates vary, China could be keeping hundreds of thousands of people in detention for drug-related crimes. The country sentenced nearly 40,000 criminals for "drug offences" in the first five months of this year, up 27.8% year on year, according to the supreme people's court in Beijing. Over 9,000 were sentenced to "more than five years imprisonment or death", Xinhua reported.

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Tientallen aanhoudingen op dancefestival Decibel om drugs

Op het dancefeest Decibel in Hilvarenbeek zijn gisteren zo'n zeventig mensen aangehouden. De meeste aanhoudingen waren vanwege drugsbezit, meldt het Openbaar Ministerie (OM).

Bezoekers die wapens of drugs bij zich hadden konden zich meteen melden bij een op het festival aanwezig team van het OM. De meeste zaken werden daarafgehandeld met een een boete van maximaal 500 euro. Het OM inde in totaal ongeveer 6000 euro. Negen mensen gingen akkoord met een taakstraf. Drie anderen moeten voor de rechter verschijnen.

Vrijdag waren al twee mensen op het campingterrein aangehouden die GHB en 200 xtc-pillen bij zich hadden. Zij moeten voor de rechter komen. Alle aangehouden festivalgangers waren, nadat hun zaak behandeld was, niet meer welkom op het feestterrein.

Volgens het OM waren er ongeveer 60.000 bezoekers op het festival. Vorig jaar waren er 28 aanhoudingen. Het OM inde toen in totaal 7500 euro.

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Honderden kilo's cocaïne in beslag genomen in Paraguay

Bij een grote antidrugsoperatie in Paraguay heeft de politie 847 kilo cocaïne in beslag genomen. Dat maakte de minister van Binnenlandse Zaken vandaag bekend.

De drugs zaten in twee containers met zakken rijst, die in een privéhaven niet ver de hoofdstad Asuncion stonden. De containers zouden net verscheept worden naar een Afrikaans land.

De coke heeft een straatwaarde van zo'n 75 miljoen euro. Paraguay onderzoekt nog wie er achter de drugshandel zit.

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After Treating Son's Head Injury With Cannabis Oil, Minnesota Mom Faces Jail Time

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Ever since Angela Brown’s son suffered a severe brain injury in 2011, he's been complaining of excruciating pain. Brown tried everything to ease her son’s suffering, but said nothing worked except cannabis oil. Although the 38-year-old Minnesota mother seemingly had good intentions, she's now being charged with possession of a controlled illegal substance and child endangerment. She could now face up to two years in jail and a $6,000 fine.

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Vermont Quits War on Drugs to Treat Heroin Abuse as Health Issue

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State address in January to what he called Vermont’s “full-blown heroin crisis.” Since 2000, he said, the state had seen a 250 percent increase in addicts receiving treatment. The courts were swamped with heroin-related cases. In 2013 the number of people charged with heroin trafficking in federal court in Vermont increased 135 percent from the year before, according to federal records. Shumlin, a Democrat, urged the legislature to approve a new set of drug policies that go beyond the never-ending cat-and-mouse between cops and dealers. Along with a crackdown on traffickers, he proposed rigorous addiction prevention programs in schools and doctors’ offices, as well as more rehabilitation options for addicts. “We must address it as a public health crisis,” Shumlin said, “providing treatment and support rather than simply doling out punishment, claiming victory, and moving on to our next conviction.”

Vermont has passed a battery of reforms that have turned the tiny state of about 627,000 people into a national proving ground for a less punitive approach to getting hard drugs under control. Under policies now in effect or soon to take hold, people caught using or in possession of heroin will be offered the chance to avoid prosecution by enrolling in treatment. Addicts, including some prisoners, will have greater access to synthetic heroin substitutes to help them reduce their dependency on illegal narcotics or kick the habit. A good Samaritan law will shield heroin users from arrest when they call an ambulance to help someone who’s overdosed. The drug naloxone, which can reverse the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose, will be carried by cops, EMTs, and state troopers. It will also be available at pharmacies without a prescription. “This is an experiment,” Shumlin says. “And we’re not going to really know the results for a while.”

Leniency won’t apply to traffickers or major drug suppliers. “The culture hasn’t shifted if you’re a heroin dealer,” says South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple. “If you’re trafficking hundreds of bags of heroin a day in our community, we’re probably not going to [think] much about, you know, ‘How can we help you?’ ”

Vermont isn’t the first place to test such harm-reduction policies, as they’ve come to be known. About half of U.S. states allow some distribution of naloxone, and at least 20 have a version of the good Samaritan law. Cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee offer certain people charged with drug crimes alternatives to incarceration. But Vermont is going further, investing in harm reduction as a primary method of battling heroin addiction and drug-related crime statewide. In an e-mail, Lindsay LaSalle, an attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance who has helped draft legislation in several states, said, “Vermont has emerged as the leading state in the country in addressing opioid overdose through broadscale and comprehensive overdose prevention legislation.”

Harm reduction has typically found broader support among academics who study addiction and criminal justice than among cops and politicians. “The way I was brought up is that people have to accept responsibility for their actions,” says Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux Jr., who’s fine with having his officers carry naloxone but skeptical of letting people caught with illegal narcotics off the hook. “When I arrest somebody for doing heroin or having heroin, [and] he tells me, ‘It’s not my fault, I’m an addict,’ I don’t buy that.”

Despite such skepticism, Vermont’s new policies passed the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature without much opposition from law enforcement groups. Even Marcoux says he’s “got an open mind to it” and will be “waiting to see what statistics tell us about the success rate.” One champion of the over-the-counter naloxone legislation was Republican Representative Thomas Burditt, a libertarian. “I was surprised,” he says, because the new naloxone rule “just flew right through.” He calls it “a no-brainer,” and says he got no pushback from voters. “As everybody knows, the war on drugs is lost, pretty much. It’s time to go down a new road.”

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Drug decriminalisation in Portugal: setting the record straight

^{Submitted by: George Murkin
Post Date: 11th Jun 2014}

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Portugal decriminalised the possession of all drugs for personal use in 2001, and there now exists a significant body of evidence on what happened following the move. Both opponents and advocates of drug policy reform are sometimes guilty of misrepresenting this evidence, with the former ignoring or incorrectly disputing the benefits of reform, and the latter tending to overstate them.

The reality is that Portugal’s drug situation has improved significantly in several key areas. Most notably, HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use feared by some has failed to materialise. However, such improvements are not solely the result of the decriminalisation policy; Portugal’s shift towards a more health-centred approach to drugs, as well as wider health and social policy changes, are equally, if not more, responsible for the positive changes observed. Drawing on the most up-to-date evidence, this briefing clarifies the extent of Portugal’s achievement, and debunks some of the erroneous claims made about the country’s innovative approach to drugs.