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

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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.