Drug War Chronicle, Issue #537 -- 5/23/08
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/psmith
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director,
http://stopthedrugwar.org/user/borden
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: NEW MEXICO'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW IS WORKING, BUT
THERE IS A HANG-UP OVER PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
Nearly a year after it went into effect, New Mexico's medical
marijuana program is registering and providing ID cards to
patients, but its innovative provisions for state-licensed,
-owned, or -operated marijuana production and distribution are
stalled in the regulatory process.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/new_mexico_medical_marijuana_program
2. FEATURE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA AT THE STATEHOUSE -- STALLED IN
ST. PAUL, PROGRESS IN PROVIDENCE, COMING OUT IN COLUMBUS
No one ever said it was going to be easy to get medical
marijuana bill through state legislatures, and recent events in
Minnesota and Rhode Island reinforce the notion that it's a
lengthy, arduous process. But it isn't going to happen at all if
you don't try, and that's what one Ohio legislator is doing.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/medical_marijuana_minnesota_ohio_rhode_island
3. STUDENTS: INTERN AT DRCNET AND HELP STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an intern****p at DRCNet for this fall (or spring), and
you could spend the semester fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/drcnet_intern****ps_to_stop_the_drug_war
4. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
On opposite sides of the country, crooked cops are headed for
long prison sentences, and another Atlanta narc is going to the
big house. Meanwhile, a Customs and Border Protection agent in
San Diego and a jail guard in the Florida panhandle get busted.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/police_drug_corruption
5. LAW ENFORCEMENT: MISSOURI RESIDENTS SUE OVER FAKE DEA AGENT
BUSTS
The DEA agent helped police in a Missouri do some COPS-style
raids earlier this year. There was only one problem: He wasn't a
DEA agent. Now the people busted are suing.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/fake_DEA_agent_lawsuit_gerald_missouri
6. PAIN MEDICINE: KANSAS DOCTOR FIGHTS BACK, ATTACKS FEDERAL
PROSECUTION AND CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Attorneys for Dr. Stephen Schneider, a Kansas physician indicted
by the feds as a "pill mill" operator, have now filed a motion
seeking dismissal of the indictment and challenging the
constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/stephen_schneider_pain_medicine_motion_dismiss_CSA
7. DRUG TREATMENT: MASSACHUSETTS SENATE PONDERS "SECURE
TREATMENT CENTERS"
Faced with high rates of opiate addiction and a rising overdose
toll, the Massachusetts Senate is considering funding a pair of
"secure treatment centers" for arrested drug users.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/massachusetts_senate_secure_drug_treatment_center
8. LATIN AMERICA: CHILEAN SENATOR CHALLENGES INCLUSION OF
MARIJUANA ON "DANGEROUS DRUGS" LIST
The Chilean government recently reclassified marijuana as a
"dangerous drug" like heroin or methamphetamine, but one senator
is crying foul.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/chile_senator_protests_marijuana_dangerous_drug
9. EUROPE: COLOMBIAN VICE-PRESIDENT WANTS DEBATE ON COCAINE
LEGALIZATION
Colombia's vice-president went to London to attend events
related to a new British campaign against cocaine consumption,
but while he was there, he suggested maybe legalization should
be part of the discussion.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/colombia_vice_president_santos_cocaine_legalization
10. EUROPE: NEW HEAD OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT DRUG ADVISORY COUNCIL
FAVORS DOWNGRADING ECSTASY
The British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the
government body charged with setting drug policy, has a new
chairman this week, and he has said he wants to downgrade
Ecstasy to a less serious drug classification.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/david_nutt_acmd_ecstasy
11. EUROPE: CALABRIAN MOB GROWS RICH AND POWERFUL ON COCAINE
PROFITS
Move over, Sicilian Mafia. The Calabrian mob, grown rich and
powerful off trafficking in black market cocaine, are the new
tough guys in Europe.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/calabria_mob_ndrangheta_cocaine_italy
12. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/drug_war_history
13. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
14. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE SPEAKEASY
"Rachel Hoffman's Family Issues an Urgent Call for Change," "If
You Write Bad Pro-Drug War Editorials, We Will Find Them and
Embarrass You," "The Obama Campaign Responds to My Criticism of
His Position on Marijuana Decriminalization," "Informant
Identified in Fatal Maple Tree/Marijuana Mix-up," "Virginia
Senator Jim Webb Speaks Out Against Marijuana Laws," "New
British Drug Czar Sup****ts Reducing Penalties for Ecstasy,"
"Drug Czars Say the Darndest Things," "Dick Morris Tells John
McCain to Propose Harsher Cocaine Laws," "'You Don't Want
This!'"
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
15. WEBMASTERS: HELP THE MOVEMENT BY RUNNING DRCNET SYNDICATION
FEEDS ON YOUR WEB SITE!
Sup****t the cause by featuring automatically-updating Drug War
Chronicle and other DRCNet content links on your web site!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/drug_policy_content_syndication_feeds_now_available
16. RESOURCE: DRCNET WEB SITE OFFERS WIDE ARRAY OF RSS FEEDS FOR
YOUR READER
A new way for you to receive DRCNet articles -- Drug War
Chronicle and more -- is now available.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/drug_policy_RSS_feeds_now_available
17. RESOURCE: REFORMER'S CALENDAR ACCESSIBLE THROUGH DRCNET WEB
SITE
Visit our new web site each day to see a running countdown to
the events coming up the soonest, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/drug_reform_calendar
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org
to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: New Mexico's Medical Marijuana Law Is Working, But
There Is a Hang-Up Over Production and Distribution
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/537/new_mexico_medical_marijuana_program
After an exhausting seven-year struggle, New Mexico joined the
ranks of the medical marijuana states last year. As of July 1,
the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program
(http://www.health.state.nm.us/marijuana.html)
will be a year
old, but while parts of the program are well underway --
patients are registering and obtaining ID cards -- the state
law's innovative system of state-licensed production and
distribution of medical marijuana is stalled in the regulatory
process, with no end in sight anytime soon.
Under the New Mexico law, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use
Act
(http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/07%20Regular/final/SB0523.pdf),
patients suffering from a narrowly cir***scribes set of
illnesses -- cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy,
spinal cord damage with intractable plasticity, and HIV/AIDS --
can, with a doctor's recommendation and upon registration with
the program, legally possess and use up to six ounces of
marijuana, four mature plants, and three seedlings. The law also
calls for a medical advisory board to determine whether other
conditions should be added to the list.
Some 147 patients have registered with the state as of
Wednesday, said Melissa Milam, head of the Medical Cannabis
Program. "We're the little program that could," she said. "We
just keep plugging along."
"The patients are really excited to get their ID cards and have
some legal protections," agreed Reena Szczepanski, head for the
Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org)
New Mexico
office, who has been intimately involved in the passage and
implementation of the law. "The Department of Health and the
Medical Cannabis Program are doing a great job of working with
the patients, and it's been very thoughtfully implemented in
terms of registration and the medical advisory board," she said.
But the law also provides for designated caregivers to be able
to grow for patients and for a system of state licensing of
production and distribution. Although the law called for the
Department of Health to promulgate regulations for production
and distribution by last October 1, that hasn't happened yet. As
a result, the provisions for caregivers and licensed production
and distribution have not gone into effect. That means patients
must either grow their own medicine or procure it on the black
market.
The Department of Health finally promulgated draft regulations
(http://www.health.state.nm.us/pdf/medicalmarijuanaregulations.pdf)
in December and held a public hearing on them on January 14.
Those draft rules provided for "five different kinds of licensed
producers: a qualified patient, a caregiver, an association of
persons, a private entity, or a state owned and/or operated
facility."
Based on the input it got in the hearing process, the department
has been crafting a revised draft of the regulations ever since.
"We're still working on that rule," said Deb Busemeyer,
spokesperson for the Department of Health. "We held a public
hearing and received written and oral comments, and we made some
revisions, and it looks like we'll probably hold another public
hearing to let people comment on our revisions."
Busemeyer was vague on a timeline, offering only that she
expects a hearing "some time this year" and resolutely declining
to predict when the regulations on production and distribution
would actually be implemented.
But he department is committed to crafting the production and
distribution regulations, Busemeyer said. "The governor was
really clear -- this is an im****tant program, and he wants us to
figure out how to implement the law. We've been working on hard
on this, we believe in this program, we're not dropping it by
any means, but we want a good strong law with the right kind of
rules, so we're taking our time," she said.
Still, Busemeyer conceded that the delay was hard on patients.
"They still have to get it the same way patients do in those
other medical marijuana states," she said.
"The biggest source of dissatisfaction among patients is where
do you get it?" said Szczepanski. "It's the same situation as in
so many other medical marijuana states. That's why the
legislature was keen on the state-licensed distribution system;
the intention was that New Mexico would be different."
It may well turn out to be different, but the question is when.
"I'm concerned that we don't have a date for when the rest of
the regulations are coming out," said Szczepanski. "I don't have
any reason to believe they won't implement it, but I'd like to
know the time frame."
Although Szczepanski bemoaned delays in drafting the
regulations, she said she is glad the department is holding
another public hearing. "My understanding is that they are
working on significant changes to the regs, and we are pleased
to have a formal op****tunity to have input," she said. "If there
are drastic changes from the first draft, it's better to have
another hearing."
While each of the five sorts of licensed producers and
distributors envisioned in the first draft of the regulations
has its advantages, there is a strong argument to be made for
including a state-owned or -operated component, said
Szczepanski. "We are a largely rural state and we have to be
concerned about equality of access," she noted. "New Mexico has
public health offices scattered around the state, and we have a
Department of Agriculture at our state university that knows how
to grow things. The possible downside to a single supplier is
that if it's producing poor quality medicine or not delivering a
range of products, what do you do?"
The best solution would be to have a mix of licensees as
envisioned in the first draft regulations, Szczepanski agued.
"Having a variety of options is im****tant for patients. If
you're in a small town with a public health office and only
using for a short time, that might work for you. But if you live
in Albuquerque and have a chronic condition with specific health
needs, you might want other options. We have to do what's best
for the patients," she said.
While Szczepanski chafed at the delays, she saw no sinister
forces at work. "The feds pushed back against us when we were in
the legislature, but I haven't heard any rumblings at all about
any pressure from Wa****ngton," she said. "Our local opponents
have also been very quiet. There's nothing for them to glom onto
to; there have been no scandals or abuses or outrages. The
program is working and the patients have their cards and are
protected," she said.
But they still need help growing their medicine while the
Department of Health ponders the regulations. The department
could take interim steps to ease their plight, said Szczepanski.
"If the department is going to wait much longer to produce the
production and distribution regulations, they need to start
certifying caregivers immediately," she said. "The department
says it doesn't have the authority to do that until the regs are
published, and we're not looking for hasty action, but the
caregiver regulations could be done now. There are already
applications pending."
================
later
bliss -- C O C O A Powered... (at california dot com)
--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco
"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cocoa that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.
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