The Drug Update

Democrats in the US Congress are considering changes to America's drug policy and trade agreements with the Latin American countries. A new strategy would cut the military spending to control the drug supply, and instead direct the money toward poverty alleviation, relocation of displaced Colombians, and incentives for coca farmers to grow alternative crops. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill explained the reasoning, "Six years and $4.7 billion later, the drug-control results are meager at best."

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The Office of National Drug Control Policy recently announced that it will start using the free video hosting website YouTube.com to post successful anti-drug advertising. ONDCP has been using non-traditional media as a means of targeting the young generation which relies increasingly on the newer media formats. Two years ago, ONDCP became the first blog for a Cabinet level agency, and they have also added podcasting.

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Estimates of opium cultivation hit an all-time high in Afghanistan this year. The area under cultivation increased drastically from 257,000 acres in 2005 to 370,650 acres this year. A report is due from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in September to determine the final figures as well as the amount yielded.

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Bolivian President Evo Morales came out against the US drug policy for the Andean region. The US will likely end its trade agreement with Bolivia that is contingent on Bolivia's cooperation with US drug policy of crop eradication and military enforcement. Morales said that the US is punishing his country for its ties to Cuba and Venezuela in a move that Morales equated to "blackmail".

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The House rejected the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment by a vote of 259 to 163. The amendment would have prohibited the Justice Department from prosecuting medical marijuana users in the 11 states that allow medical marijuana by state law.

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THe ONDCP has announced a new ad campaign that aims at Hispanic methamphetamine users. Teens in this minority group are twice as likely to have tried the drug than whites or blacks of the same age group, and a meager 49% of Hispanics see meth experimentation as a "great risk." The advertisements can be seen here.

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In a June 1st press release, the ONDCP announced the White House's first-ever synthetic drug control policy. The strategy outlines the White House's plan with the goal of reducing methamphetamine usage by 15% and domestic meth production by 25% in the next three years. The strategy has a three-pronged approach that consists of "effective implementation of the Combat Meth Act, signed into law by President Bush this March, which sets a national standard for restricting the retail sale of precursor chemicals within the United States; and strengthening law enforcement and border control activities, particularly with Mexico."

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A new Alaskan law prohibits the possession of small amounts of marijuana, ending Alaska's period of decriminalized marijauna. This law extends even into the privacy of the home, which had previously been a reason for overturning a similar law in the 1970s. The Alaskan Supreme Court had ruled that the right to privacy was much more important than the harm caused by marijuana. The current supporters of the law claim that marijuana is more potent now than it was in the 1970s, and thus it poses a greater threat. The ACLU is planning on challenging the law in the courts immediately. However, the second half of this law, methamphetamine restrictions, has received support. This portion of the law concerns the sale of the meth ingredient ephedrine. It requires that anyone buying products that include ephedrine sign into a logbook and be at least 16 years old.

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The Bush Administration has set a goal of reducing methamphetamine usage 15% in three years. While new restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine ingredients found in cold medicines have assisted in cutting the number of domestic meth labs, the reduced supply has been replaced by purer and more addictive Mexican methamphetamine.

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Colombia's president has been reelected in a landslide victory with 62% of the votes. The first Colombian president to be democratically elected to a second term, Uribe has been an ally to the United States in its War on Drugs. He has taken a hard stance on fighting the drug-funded Colombian guerrillas, which involves cutting down on Colombian coca production. This contrasts other South American leaders, who have favored coca farmers in their policies. Also, even the ONDCP's reports show an increase in Colombian coca. Still, Uribe is credited with reducing violence and boosting the nation's economy.

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Closing the door on domestic methamphetamine production has led to the import of purer foreign meth, thereby addicting more users and drastically increasing treatment admissions while actual use has been mostly constant over the period between 1993 and 2004. During that same time period, methamphetamine treatment admissions increased from 28,000 to 150,000. Foreign produced meth has typically come in the smokable "ice" version which is purer, more addictive and more damaging than traditionally injected or inhaled forms of the drug.

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The Associated Press reports that restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine ingredients commonly found in over-the-counter cold medicines has opened up the northwest drug markets to Mexican traffickers. Since 2000, meth labs and dump sites in Washington have decreased from 1,890 to 806. However, this does not decrease the number of addicts, leaving the market open to foreign production.

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The Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction of two Sioux men, Alex and Percy White Plume, for growing industrial hemp on federal trust land in spite of a Tribal penal code section that declared the activities legal. The court's ruling placed the burden for change on congress, explaining that the contentions favoring the allowance of industrial hemp cultivation are "policy arguments better suited for the congressional hearing room than the courtroom. Today we fulfill our role to interpret and apply the statute as written by Congress." The men did not procure a DEA certificate for hemp growth.

Thanks to the Drug Law Blog for the story.

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A study published in the May issue of Addictive Behavior found that college-age viewers responded to anti-marijuana advertisements by fostering a less negative attitude towards marijuana. This has tremendous implications for the program's funding; a 2003 appropriations conference report featured the caveat, "The conferees are deeply disturbed by the lack of evidence that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has had any appreciable impact on youth drug use," and a continued lack of evidence will lead "the Committee (to) be compelled to reevaluate the use of taxpayer money" in funding the campaign.

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The Office of National Drug Control Policy released two statements regarding Mexico on May 2nd and 4th. The first statement is an overview of Mexico's drug crop eradication numbers for 2005. The second statement concerns Mexico's latest drug legislation changes. The statement explains that Mexican president Vicente Fox will introduce amendments that ensure that drug use and possession in Mexico will still be crimes. The second statement also reiterates some crop eradication numbers from the first statement.

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At a conference in Canada, Albany District Attorney David Soares told the Canadian government that the US drug laws do not work, and that they should not follow the US example. Soares bases his criticism of the US drug laws on the belief that "law enforcement too often target low-level criminals, instead of going after the big time dealers." Soares drew swift rebukes from both the Mayor of Albany and the Chief of Police.

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Mexico's President Fox has stated that he will not sign the decriminalization bill in its current form. Fox would like "to make it absolutely clear that in our country the possession of drugs and their consumption are and continue to be crimes." The original bill was meant to strengthen the drug laws by defining the upper limits of legal possesion by addicts, and also by allowing the the state and local police to enforce the drug laws, which under the current law is only a federal crime. The bill was not meant as a relaxation of the drug laws. Fox will send the bill back to congress to make changes to the bill.

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Various news sources have been abuzz with reports of Mexico's new decriminalization bill, but with varying interpretations. Drug control policy expert Mark Kleiman tries to cut through the thick of the fog with a bit of well informed analysis; read on for his take, or simply go to his blog.

Continue reading "Clearing the Fog on Mexico's New Drug Laws" »

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A bill passed on Friday in Mexico legalizes possession of small amounts of drugs and requires treatment for addicts. Small amounts of heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote have all been legalized. The law allows judges to decide punishments on a case by case basis, with the intent of increasing the fairness of sentencing. The law also allows the prosecution of drug dealers by local instead of federal officials. If a user is caught with lower than the legal amount of drugs, they must go before a judge, prove that they have an addiction, and then enter treatment.

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The ONDCP posted a press release today that claims a 2/3 decline in Ecstacy use since 2001. In 2001, domestic seizures had reached 11 million, but have dropped to lower than 3 million tablets in the past 2 years. Drug Czar John Walters claims that the data shows how "balanced strategies against our drug threats make the drug problem smaller."

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Citing the financial dependence of over 30,000 families on coca crops, front-running Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala has pledged to stop the elimination of coca crops in Peru. His sentiments and proposed policies echo the recently elected Evo Morales of Bolivia, whose coca policy is described as "Zero Cocaine -- Not Zero Coca." If Humala is elected, Columbia will be the United States' sole ally in the Andes anti-drug effort.

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New legislation in Canada will make power consumption data available to law enforcement in hopes of tracking down more marijuana growing operations. Because marijuana farming requires so much energy, it can raise a home's energy consumption by a factor of 3 to 10. Law enforcement hopes to use this fact to their advantage by investigating homes whose energy consumption is unusually high.

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Meth has found its way onto American Indian reservations, including a Navajo reservation in Arizona. Statistics are difficult to come by on the reservations, but it has become generally accepted that the meth problem is growing. Furthermore, law enforcement has had great difficulty in curbing the growth due to the vastness of the reservations, and "FBI agents cannot blend in on the reservation the way they do in the big city."

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The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released a statement outlining the Colombian coca crop estimations for 2005. The area that was surveyed in 2004 and 2005 showed an 8% drop (from 114,100 to 105,400 hectares) in coca production. However, the 2005 study also surveyed 81% more land than before, and found an additional 39,000 hectares in the expanded surveyed area. The survey also showed that areas previously sprayed yielded about 10% less coca in 2005 than 2004, whereas areas not sprayed showed a 12% increase.

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Peter Letang, Deleware's former chief prosecutor, has outlined a concise criticism regarding the war on drugs. Letang suggests "that it is time to retool our focus. Legislating against some traits of human behavior, such as prostitution and prohibition, have been abysmal failures, and why should we think drugs are any different." He recommends removing the profit incentive from the illicit drugs market and lists a number of benefits from doing so:

The profit incentive drives the drug market, and a substantial portion of street violence and criminal activity are the result. Reduce a $200-a-day drug habit to $10 a day and the numbers of convenience-store and street robberies will be reduced. Street corner "turf" shootings will be impacted in that the flow of easy big money will dry up.

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A judge awarded a group of South Carolina high school students with a $1.2 million sum after their constitutional rights were violated. The violation occured when police raided the school with guns drawn but found no drugs. 59 families participated in the suit against the police and school district.

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The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion to have all remaining charges dropped in "Operation Meth Merchant" due to racial profiling. The implications of this investigation in North Georgia point to both the DEA and local officials who appeared to be targeting South Asian store owners. Of the twenty-four stores targeted in the investigation twenty-three are owned by South Asians, while eighty percent of the stores in the area are owned by other ethnic groups. Furthermore, the ACLU claims that investigators ignored tips and leads that were directed at white owners.

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The Department of Education agreed to settle with Students for a Sensible Drug Policy after they filed a lawsuit to obtain information for free. The Dept. of Education wanted the SSDP to pay a $4,000 fee to get information on state-by-state numbers of students who had been denied financial aid based on previous drug convictions. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the fee is meant to be used when a group is obtaining information for commercial purposes, not for educational or public interest causes.

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, in effect lifting the county's ban. The Board's decision to regulate is specific to the unicorporated areas of the county (the areas that fall only under only county laws, not city or local ordinances).

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The ACLU filed a lawsuit that challenges the Constitutionality of a federal law that prohibits college students with drug convictions from receiving financial aid. The main basis of the suit claims that the law is in violation of the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment since students have been punished already by the convicting court. The other complaint is that the rich are insulated from the law since they don't need the financial aid in the first place.

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Though advocacy groups like Drug Policy Alliance have been critical of too much supply-side funding at the expense of demand-side funding in the drug war, with the release of the 2006 National Drug Control Strategy, even law enforcement agencies have criticized the budget. The National Narcotics Officers Associations Coalition (NNOAC) has been critical of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for being denied access to policy decisions. Specifically, NNOAC criticized the lack of leadership in the growing meth problem, the budget cuts to the Byrne program, and to the proposed relocation of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program which could change its focus.

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Yesterday, we reported on a warning issued by the ONDCP Drug Czar regarding high schoolers, drug usage and spring break. Well, it turns out that statistics used to inspire compliance with the warning are faulty. The ONDCP faced similar criticism in its drugs and terrorism advertising campaign, where the office warned that drug users were supporting terrorism through their habit. As of yet, the office has failed to produce statistics that support such a claim.

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On March 14th, the Office of National Drug Control Policy issued a warning regarding teens and drug usage over spring break. The report stresses parental involvement to prevent teens from using drugs for the first time.

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A lab at UC Santa Barbara has made a breakthrough that may lead to palmtop-sized cocaine detection devices. The device has sensors that use various DNA sequences to detect cocaine in the bloodstream, and can be easily modified to sense other substances or even diseases by switching in different pieces of DNA.

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To cap off the ONDCP's recent claimed victories in its war on drugs, John Walters has participated in a public question and answer session online for which the transcript is available here. There are a number of questions regarding marijuana's health effects and relevant policies.

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An article published by Reuters contrasts the consistently upbeat reports made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy with statistics that show how drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana are just as widely available today as they were 16 years ago, with cheaper prices. The article examines the "one step forward, one step back" nature of the drug war, in addition to evaluating questionable data used by the ONDCP to make its optimistic claims.

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A new anti-drug effort, Students Taking Action Not Drugs (STAND), is geared towards students 18-25 years of age. Students' peers distribute hardcopy materials, hoping to reach "college students by relaying drug information they can understand within their own cultural context," says the program's creative director, Peter Klaus. Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. is conducting the project.

Continue reading "U.S. Health and Human Services Funds New Anti-Drug Campaign Aimed at College Students" »

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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) new Marijuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team concluded its first operation, targeting websites that sold marijuana seeds. The operation netted 200,000 cannibus seeds and seven were arrested. The Marijuana Grow Operations Enforcement Team is one of seven created in 2004 under the RCMP to combat marijuana in Canada.

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The new USA Patriot Act will prohibit the sale of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine unless it is behind the counter. Pseudophedrine is a key ingredient in the production of meth, and cold medicine is a common way of acquiring the substance. The Patriot Act will restrict the amount of pseudoephedrine a person can buy each day and each month. Furthermore, customers will be required to sign a log book and show valid identification.

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The State Department blamed Afghanistan's enormous drug trade for limiting the success of reconstruction efforts in the war-torn nation. A senior official in the department referred to Columbia as "paradise" when compared with Afghanistan, where the $5.9 billion 2005 GDP was put to shame by the $2.8 billion worth of illicit opium produced in the same period.

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Former CBS News Anchorman Walter Cronkite composed an opinion piece that is highly critical of U.S. drug policies. The famous anchor bashes the war on drugs, citing the some example cases of the consequences of unjust policies. He ends by urging readers to contribute to the Drug Policy Alliance.

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Idaho's state Senate passed a bill (it's awaiting a vote in the Idaho House) that would allow pregnant women to be incarcerated for using meth. The goal is to reduce the number of children born who are addicted to meth, or have even been exposed to it before birth. Opponents of the bill say that the legislation will only make meth addicts less likely to seek prenatal care for fear of being arrested. They cite the fact that when South Carolina passed a similar law, there was an 80% drop in pregnant women seeking drug treatment programs.

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The latest CESAR Fax reports on the proposed FY 2007 Federal Drug Control budget, which namely gives more money to drug courts, national drug-free school programs, anti-drug media campaigns, and methamphetamine lab clean-up programs. Some programs have their funding reduced, including the High Density Drug Trafficking Areas program, which has been touted for its cost effectiveness in the past, while many state and local programs have been eliminated altogether. Programs eliminated from the budget include enforcement of underage drinking, Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants, and Alcohol Abuse Reduction Programs.

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United States Director of National Drug Control Policy John P. Walters issued the following statement today:

The commitment of the Government of Colombia to attacking the international drug trade is unparalleled. Today's agreement further strengthens the partnership between our nations and our ability to reduce the threats that narcotics pose to both of our democracies. The job creation fostered by this free trade agreement will enhance the Colombian government's ability to move against illegal drug production. By fostering legitimate economic development in Colombia, we weaken the ability of terrorist groups to profit from the drug trade and inflict harm on the citizens of Colombia and the United States.

Information about the free trade agreement can be found at http://www.ustr.gov/.

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Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano announced plans to give $5 million to the Arizona Department of Public Safety to fight the growing meth abuse problems the state is seeing. The money will be used to "form three meth interdiction and investigation squads and provide support to our rural communities, which often have limited crime-fighting resources," the governor explained. Governor Napolitano also showed support for a bill that's making its way through the state legislature that would restrict the availability of pseudoephedrine. The proposal for controlling the sale of the ingredient follows Ohio, which just signed a similar bill, and Connecticut, which currently has a bill on the agenda.

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Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro decided to follow the examples of other states by restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine--one of the many common chemicals used to make meth. Ohio's specific restrictions put medicines containing the chemical behind the counter, allow only adults to purchase it, and allow only 9 grams per month to any single customer. The legislation comes at a time when meth use in Ohio is still small, but the occurrence of meth labs is increasing.

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The Drug Policy Alliance reports on 49 convenience store owners and their clerks who were arrested in Georgia for selling the legal ingredients of methamphetamine pro