12 May 2012

ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI, PRESIDENT OF POLAND 1995-2005

Powerful op-ed: Former Polish President explains his journey from authorizing ‘one of Europe’s most conservative laws on drug policy’ in 2000, to becoming the first former premier to serve from Eastern Europe on the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Read the original article in the New York Times Edited highlights below.

We assumed that giving the criminal justice system the power to arrest, prosecute and jail people caught with even minuscule amounts of drugs… would improve police effectiveness in bringing to justice persons responsible for supplying illicit drugs. We also expected that the prospect of being put behind bars would deter people from abusing illegal drugs, and thus dampen demand.

We were mistaken…

More than a half of all arrests under the law were of people aged 24 and younger. The vast majority of those individuals were not drug dealers. Some of them, however, were adolescents whose prospects for careers as lawyers, public officials or teachers were suddenly blighted.

A cost-benefit analysis by a Polish think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs, showed that the statute cost about €20 million a year, with no positive effect.

It is my hope that political and community leaders in other countries, especially in Eastern Europe, will learn from Poland’s experience in criminalizing drug possession… Such a policy failure should not be repeated anywhere else in the world.

For this reason, I decided to join the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an effort by former heads of stat… [and]… encourage political leaders from other regions of the world to sign on and show their support for policies that actually protect citizens.

One of the main approaches that the commission supports is the decriminalization of drug use and possession of drugs for personal use.

I was one of the supporters of the effort in Poland to revise the drug possession law of 2000. It now protects users from prosecution for having small amounts of drugs for personal use and allows prosecutors to discontinue legal proceedings against drug users.

I then began to champion the idea that drug dependence ought to be treated as a disease rather than a criminal justice problem.

East European leaders should press for a halt to incarcerating people for possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use and should start treating drug addiction as a public health issue. Taking more effective action to end the H.I.V. epidemic driven by the abuse of injected drugs is vital. The spread of H.I.V. among people who inject drugs in Russia and Ukraine is a grave concern even beyond their borders…

Political leaders these days have ample evidence as to which approaches to drug policy actually help societies function better, and rigorous scientific investigation should always form the basis of policy making. Our role as politicians is to protect our communities and improve the functioning of our states. This may mean that we have to admit to having made mistakes. Fortunately now we know how to correct them.

14 May 2012, REUTERS — KABUL

Jack Kimball

Read original text here

Afghan government drug chief announces stepped-up security forces in effort to eradicate opium production. But warns: resulting higher prices will mean more violence.

To cash-strapped Afghan farmers, the opium trade is lucrative.

The more the security forces attempt to stamp out production, the more attractive the trade becomes, according to Zarar Ahmad Muqbel Osmani, the Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics.

Opium represents 15% of the Afghan economy. Drug barons sustain insurgents in the region. Afghanistan is responsible for 90% of the world’s opium, from which heroin is made.

As prices rise, Osmani anticipates more violence as efforts to sustain the trade intensify.

The Afghan poppy crop is also plagued by a fungus that further diminishes the opium yield and pushes up prices.

Low seizure rates in neighbouring countries (between 3 and 9 percent) encourage the trade.

The biggest consumer country is Russia, which supports Afghan eradication measures. The US opposes them.

Foreign troops are set to leave the region in 2014, taking their money and airpower with them. Eradication policies will then likely become more difficult to enforce.

By ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI

Published: May 10, 2012

The United States is isolated from Latin American leaders calling for drug reform.

Beckley Foundation public letter signatory Noam Chomsky on how US policy on drugs isolates it from its Central and South American neighbours, who bear must bear the effects.

This, Chomsky argues, was the real scandal of Cartagena, and not the secret service salaciousness.

See also the excellent article by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman in The Guardian on April 19 The real scandals of Obama’s Latin America summit in a similar vein.

10 May 2012

By Noam Chomsky

Though sidelined by the Secret Service scandal, last month’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, was an event of considerable significance. There are three major reasons: Cuba, the drug war and the isolation of the United States.

A headline in the Jamaica Observer read, “Summit shows how much Yanqui influence had waned.” The story reports that “the big items on the agenda were the lucrative and destructive drug trade and how the countries of the entire region could meet while excluding one country–Cuba.”

The meetings ended with no agreement because of U.S. opposition on those items–a drug-decriminalization policy and the Cuba ban. Continued U.S. obstructionism may well lead to the displacement of the Organization of American States by the newly-formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, from which the United States and Canada are excluded.

Cuba had agreed not to attend the summit because otherwise Washington would have boycotted it. But the meetings made clear that U.S. intransigence would not be long tolerated. The U.S. and Canada were alone in barring Cuban participation, on grounds of Cuba’s violations of democratic principles and human rights.

Latin Americans can evaluate these charges from ample experience. They are familiar with the U.S. record on human rights. Cuba especially has suffered from U.S. terrorist attacks and economic strangulation as punishment for its independence – its “successful defiance” of U.S. policies tracing back to the Monroe Doctrine.

Latin Americans don’t have to read U.S. scholarship to recognize that Washington supports democracy if, and only if, it conforms to strategic and economic objectives, and even when it does, favors “limited, top-down forms of democratic change that did not risk upsetting the traditional structures of power with which the United States has long been allied–[in] quite undemocratic societies,” as neo-Reaganite scholar Thomas Carothers points out.

At the Cartagena summit, the drug war became a key issue at the initiative of newly-elected Guatemalan President Gen. Perez Molina, whom no one would mistake for a soft-hearted liberal. He was joined by the summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and by others.

The concern is nothing new. Three years ago the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy published a report on the drug war by ex-Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, and Cesar Gaviria of Colombia calling for decriminalizing marijuana and treating drug use as a public-health problem.

Much research, including a widely quoted Rand Corporation study of 1994, has shown that prevention and treatment are considerably more cost-effective than the coercive measures that receive the bulk of funding. Such nonpunitive measures are also of course far more humane.

Experience conforms to these conclusions. By far the most lethal substance is tobacco, which also kills nonusers at a high rate (passive smoking). Usage has sharply declined among more educated sectors, not by criminalization but as a result of lifestyle changes.

One country, Portugal, decriminalized all drugs in 2001–meaning that they remain technically illegal but are considered administrative violations, removed from the criminal domain. A Cato Institute study by Glenn Greenwald found the results to be “a resounding success. Within this success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world.”

In dramatic contrast, the coercive procedures of the 40-year U.S. drug war have had virtually no effect on use or price of drugs in the United States, while creating havoc through the continent. The problem is primarily in the United States: both demand (for drugs) and supply (of arms). Latin Americans are the immediate victims, suffering appalling levels of violence and corruption, with addiction spreading through the transit routes.

When policies are pursued for many years with unremitting dedication though they are known to fail in terms of proclaimed objectives, and alternatives that are likely to be far more effective are systematically ignored, questions naturally arise about motives. One rational procedure is to explore predictable consequences. These have never been obscure.

In Colombia, the drug war has been a thin cover for counterinsurgency. Fumigation–a form of chemical warfare–has destroyed crops and rich biodiversity, and contributes to driving millions of poor peasants into urban slums, opening vast territories for mining, agribusiness, ranches and other benefits to the powerful.

Other drug-war beneficiaries are banks laundering massive amounts of money. In Mexico, the major drug cartels are involved in 80 percent of the productive sectors of the economy, according to academic researchers. Similar developments are occurring elsewhere.

In the U.S., the primary victims have been African-American males, increasingly also women and Hispanics–in short, those rendered superfluous by the economic changes instituted in the 1970s, shifting the economy toward financialization and offshoring of production.

Thanks largely to the highly selective drug war, minorities are dispatched to prison – the major factor in the radical rise of incarceration since the 1980s that has become an international scandal. The process resembles “social cleansing” in U.S. client states in Latin America, which gets rid of “undesirables.”

The isolation of the U.S. at Cartagena carries forward other turning-point developments of the past decade, as Latin America has at last begun to extricate itself from the control of the great powers, and even to address its shocking internal problems.

Latin America has long had a tradition of liberal jurisprudence and rebellion against imposed authority. The New Deal drew from that tradition. Latin Americans may yet again inspire progress in human rights in the United States.

Click here for original article at Nation of Change

By Nicholas Delaunay 8 May 2012

THE HAGUE-A week after a contentious rollout of a new Dutch law to stub out cannabis sales to foreigners, enforcement is in disarray as some police and Drug tourists are simply dodging the “cannabis card” law by heading elsewhere in the country for their fix, since the rule has entered into force in just three southern Dutch provinces so far.

“It takes time for everything to be put into place,” Justice and Safety Ministry spokeswoman Charlotte Menten admitted.

The new law came into effect on May 1 and effectively transforms coffee shops into private clubs as it requires around 80 cannabis cafes in the south to sell only to signed-up members who live in the country.

Its coverage widens nationwide to 590 other coffee shops in 2013, and is
aimed at curbing drug tourism linked disturbances such as late-night rabble
rousing, traffic jams and illegal drug pushing.

Each shop is allowed to have just 2,000 members, who must be over 18 years
old and permanent residents of the country.

But in the tourist-friendly city of Maastricht, now the focal point of a Dutch resistance against the new cannabis law, 14 coffee shops have shut their doors in protest, calling it “discriminatory” and bad for business.

Leading the Maastricht protest, Easy Going coffee shop was open on May 1 and
2 but promptly slapped with a note of summary closure by the municipality
for selling dope to Belgians and Germans.

Now “we’re going to court,” said Marc Josemans, Easy Going’s owner who also
chairs Maastricht’s association of coffee shops. “We were waiting for only one thing: the municipality to close us down.”

Willem Vugs, who chairs the southern university city of Tilburg’s association of coffee shops complained that “the government wants to implement a nationwide solution to address a local problem in Maastricht.”

He said that there is “little or no nuisance from coffee shops” in his city and that business was suffering due to the new law.

But enforcement of the new rule was also patchy, with police in Eindhoven
still undergoing training on cannabis checks.

In other areas like Den Bosch, Oss and Uden, police said “cannabis controls
are not a priority.”

The drug tourists are meanwhile simply going where the new rules do not yet
apply, such as Nijmegen, a city about 140 kilometres (87 miles) from Maastricht.

“In recent days, we are spotting cars with Belgian plates in the city centre, who are clearly there for the coffee shops,” said a Nijmegen police spokeswoman Florian Vingerhoeds.

“Before, we never saw Belgian plates.”

If the present trend is any indication the prices of poppy seeds in the international and Indian market are destined to soar given the short supply of the commodity of which the country is a major consumer.

According to upcountry dealers “poppy seeds markets are very firm with international prices zooming to $4,600 a tonne. Consequently, new import cost will be at Rs 350 a kg”. Local markets are already up from Rs 260-280 a kg in one day. “As reports of higher prices at origins spread all were covering locally”, they told Business Line.

To be in line with the soaring of prices in the international markets, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has also raised the tariff for imported poppy seeds to $3,680 a tonne with effect from Apr 16 from $2,850 a tonne a week before.

SMALL CROP

“This year crop are small, reports have come today that the new crop of Turkey is only 8,000 tonnes against usual 25,000 tonnes, India crop also failed, buying is low so prices moving up slowly, but will move up very fast in one month”, Bangalore-based dealers claimed.

The trade attributed the squeeze in supply to fall in output in major producing countries due to severe cold weather conditions coupled with reduction in growing areas.

They said India needs 45,000 tonnes of poppy seeds and against this Indian crop is estimated at around 10 per cent of the total demand and hence much of the requirement is met by imports.

Turkish exporters and farmers, they claimed, are very rich and hence they could hold huge stocks to push up the prices. Consequently the markets are likely to move up this month.

CROP RESTRICTIONS

According to latest information, Indian crop will be somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 tonnes this year following reduction in growing area by 50 per cent by the Narcotic Control Board. The Board, the trade said, does this every three years so as to restrict the opium availability in the country.

Such decisions are taken in line with the rules of the International Narcotic Control Board, Vienna, which is the global controlling body. Add to this, severe cold climate has inflicted damage to the existing crop and according to reports about 50 per cent of crop has been damaged, the trade claimed.

India has an annual requirement of an estimated 45,000 tonnes of poppy seeds and thus remains a net importer and one of the major consumers of this commodity in the world. It is used in sambhar, chutney, sweets, rice dishes, etc. Normally, the demand for poppy seeds starts from March to December, and Kolkata is the biggest buyer with a daily consumption of 1,000 bags, they said.

The crop in Turkey, the major supplier, is also reportedly less as growing area has been reduced there also on the directions of the INCB. The normal crop there is estimated at 25,000-30,000 tonnes but this year it is expected to be somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 tonnes i.e., below 50 per cent, they said.

In fact, the weather has played havoc in Europe and there was huge snowfall in many growing areas in the European Union leading to serious crop damages, they said.

In Europe, poppy seeds, both white and blue, are used in bakery products and the indirect uses are so many. Reports of poor crop and drop in availability will lead to aggressive buying by all including India and other Asian countries, they claimed.

Minority House of Representatives Leader Nancy Pelosi Condemns Obama Medical Marijuana Crackdown

original article viastopthedrugwar.org

Nancy Pelosi had Obama’s ear after he won the White House in 2008. Will he listen to her now?

“I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana,” Pelosi said.

The House Minority Leader said access to medical marijuana is “both a medical and a states’ rights issue” and that it has “proven medical uses,” including alleviating the suffering of AIDS patients.

There have been more than 200 SWAT-style raids on dispensaries, growers, and associated businesses since Obama took office in January 2009. Most of them have taken place since the administration unleashed its offensive in March 2011 with a series of DEA raids in Montana that decimated that state’s until-then booming medical marijuana industry.

Washington, DC, United States

original article via Helsingin Sanomat

A rare study of drug experts, conducted in Finland, has produced a forecast for drug use in Finland in 2020. The study was conducted by the Police College of Finland. It may also outline the future for drug use in similar political systems.

More than half those surveyed predicted there would be no punishment for possession of cannabis by 2020. A third thought this desirable. A further third wanted to keep cannabis possession as a punishable offence.

Two out of three ‘experts’ anticipate increased use of designer drugs.

Recreational use of pharmaceutical drugs is also expected to increase.

Experts predict the rise of criminal activity in drug production.

President of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), John Fahey, raises the possibility of amendment to international drug code to ban cannabis only in sports where it is proven to enhance performance.

Cannabis doping offences currently carry a two-year sanction.

original article from The Guardian

Report finds ability of public services to overcome addiction and break the cycle of illicit drug use and crime has been reduced