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Drug WarRant
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Friday, December 17, 2004 |
Trusting Doctor could get life
Jacob Sullom discusses the Hurwitz case at Reason Online in Trust Busters: A pain doctor's drug trafficking conviction sets a chilling precedent
... the prosecutors got the jury to overlook the obvious weaknesses in their case and convict Hurwitz, in essence, of trusting his patients too much.
That verdict sends a clear message to doctors that it's better to err on the side of suspicion. Knowing they could be prosecuted for believing a patient who turned out to be an addict or a dealer, doctors will be even less inclined to take the risk, compounding the already appalling problem of people in pain who suffer needlessly because physicians are afraid to help them.
Hurwitz was not afraid, which is why desperate patients flocked to him. Inevitably, he also attracted people who sought to take advantage of his compassion. Yet none of the surreptitiously recorded conversations with patients-turned-informants that the prosecution presented included any acknowledgment of the conspiracy Hurwitz supposedly led.
6:51:35 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Thursday, December 16, 2004 |
Link Blogging
My "Return of the King" extended DVD gift set arrived today, so my evening is planned. Here are a few things to read.
 Hurwitz Convicted. A pain doctor has been convicted of drug trafficking and could get life. Bad news for future people in pain. This will make doctors even more likely to under-prescribe. My recommendation (from If I were Contrarian King):
DEA agents who investigate doctors for prescribing pain medication must have other DEA agents perform any medical procedures (like heart transplants and brain surgery) that are needed by the agents. After all, if DEA agents know so much about medicine...
Australia has started roadside driving tests for drug use. decrimwatch shows here and here that it isn't working so well to start out.
Scott Hensen at Grits for Breakfast has news that Texas may consider ending Byrne drug task forces. Wow!
NORML reports
The district attorney for the city of Anchorage, at the
behest of Gov. Frank Murkowski, is requesting a judge to re-examine a 1975
Alaska Supreme Court ruling (Ravin v. State) which determined that the
possession of marijuana by adults within the home is a constitutionally
protected activity.
Interestingly,
The state appeals courts have acknowledged that they would be "willing to
consider Ravin if presented with compelling new evidence that small amounts of
marijuana are harmful," according to a report this week in the Anchorage Daily
News.
I wonder how they'll manage to show that?
(from Scott) First-ever Safety Study Of Medical Cannabis Use In Canada Launched
A first-of-its-kind study of safety issues surrounding the medical use of cannabis has just been launched. Known as the COMPASS study (Cannabis for the management of pain: assessment of safety study), the research initiative will follow 1400 chronic pain patients, 350 of whom use cannabis as part of their pain management strategy, for a one-year period. Seven participating pain clinics across Canada are now enrolling patients for this study.
This will be specifically for pain patients (not including medical marijuana use for cancer, etc.).
7:31:43 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Wednesday, December 15, 2004 |
Death Penalty
Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
Fujairah criminal court has awarded the death sentence to Lisa Tray, who delivered a package containing about 5 ounces of narcotics to an undercover cop. The woman claimed to be unaware of the contents that had been given to her by her step-father.
While there are a few countries who regularly execute people for selling drugs, that's not yet true in the U.S. (although Newt Gingrich once proposed the death penalty for smuggling marijuana in certain circumstances).
So far, the U.S. tends to stick with long sentences, such as the 55 years for selling three bags of pot, and now in Virginia, a man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison and $500,000 fine for possession of 14 rocks of crack cocaine.
8:19:05 AM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Monday, December 13, 2004 |
Raich v. Ashcroft transcript Available
Oral Argument transcript available online. (pdf)
I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'll be talking about it more later.
Updates: First reaction. The Justices went after Clements (government side) a lot harder than was widely reported.
Line that made me laugh (and gag at the same time):
Clements: And I think it's wrong to assume that there's any inherent hostility to the substances at issue here. I mean, the FDA, for example, rescheduled Marinol from Schedule II to Schedule III in a way that had the effect of making it easer to prescribe and more available.
Well, they clearly came after Barnett hard, but it could be because they are uncertain as to how to draw the line that must be drawn somewhere in this case.
I'm still optimistic -- anything could happen in this case, and I would give a lot to be in the private sessions with the Justices when they argue it amongst themselves.
7:34:45 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Christopher Hitchens gets it
In today's Slate, Hitchens writes Let the Afghan Poppies Bloom:
How the drug war is undermining the war on terrorism.
Do you know anyone who really believes in the "war on drugs" as it is supposedly waged in the United States? It is widely understood to be the main index of pointless and costly and unjust incarceration, a huge source of corruption in police departments, and a cause of crime in its own right as well as a source of tainted and "cut" narcotics. And that is before you even consider absurdities and cruelties like the denial of medical marijuana, or the diversion of personnel and resources from the war against more threatening gangsters. Our entire state policy, at home and abroad, is devoted not to stopping a trade that actually grows every year, but rather to ensuring that all its profitable means of production, distribution, and exchange remain the fiefdom of criminal elements. We consciously deny ourselves access to properly refined and labeled products and to the vast revenue that could accrue to the Treasury instead of to the mobsters here and overseas.
This demented legacy of the Nixon administration will have to be abandoned sooner or later, and I believe that the threatened sacrifice of Afghanistan to the dogma may be the "tipping point."
Well said.
7:11:36 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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DEA blocks research again
Jacob Sullum at Hit and Run discusses it, and there's much more detail in releases from MPP and Drug Policy Alliance:
The Marijuana Policy Project release headline lays it out in a powerful way:
DEA Ruling Makes FDA Approval of Medical Marijuana Impossible:
State and Federal Legislation Now Only Hope for Patients
This headline was clearly a rebuke of Justice Breyer's suggestion in Raich v. Ashcroft that systems exist to get FDA approval that might be more appropriate than going to the Supreme Court.
Here's the case in a nutshell:
On June 25, 2001, Dr. Craker, director of the university's Medicinal Plant Program, filed an application with the DEA for approval to establish a facility that would produce marijuana for FDA-approved research. Currently, all marijuana for research in the U.S. must come from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-contracted farm in Mississippi. NIDA's marijuana has been only inconsistently available to researchers and cannot be used for prescription sale. This makes FDA approval of marijuana effectively impossible unless an alternative source is made available, since testing would need to be done on the same product that is sold to patients.
The DEA's Dec. 10 letter to Dr. Craker said that approval of the application "would not be consistent with the public interest."
One of my favorite lines in the denial letter:
Marijuana is the most heavily abused of all Schedule 1 controlled substances, and limiting the supply of marijuana under these circumstances is reasonable."
This is absolutely ludicrous and they should be embarrassed to put it in a document. "Most heavily abused"? That's only because their definition of abuse includes using something that's illegal. And the notion that adding a controlled and guarded growing facility for research is going to somehow affect the availability of illegal marijuana nationally is also absurd.
They managed 3 1/2 years of stalling to write this stupid 6 page letter.
The good thing is that one more hurdle has been jumped so they can move to the next stage, which is an appeal to... drum roll please... the DEA.
Yep, now they can, within 30 days, file with the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration a request for a hearing.
Of course, the idea of all of this is for all the sick people who could be helped by medical marijuana to die before the governnment finishes stalling.
[Thanks to Scott for additional links.]
7:05:06 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Links
Go to Last One Speaks for the news that investigative reporter Gary Web has died. Also an update on Tommy Chong and a strange case of long-distance drug possession.
Martin at Media Crapola has an interesting post about a recent NY Times article on the drug war.
decrimwatch brings us an excellent article by Stanley Crouch.
What we need to do is legalize all the drugs and face the consequences. That's right. With drug dealers put out of business, I am sure those consequences would be much less dangerous - and much less expensive - to our society. Legalization could not even begin to approach the downside in the illegal dope world - torture, murder, beatings and sexual exploitation.
6:23:22 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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We WILL have Walters to kick around some more
John Walters, Drug Lord Czar extraordinaire, will be continuing for another term. The only thing that makes this bearable is that Walters is such a polarizing figure that his statements often serve to mobilize drug policy reformers.
He will undoubtedly continue his bizarre offensives against sick people, Canadians, and school children.
Baylen has more at D'Alliance.
Also check out Baylen's fun little experience with the TSA.
5:49:32 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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Sunday, December 12, 2004 |
Fighting Back
On September 13, 2003, John Perry Barlow was arrested on a flight he boarded in San Francisco (after attending Burning Man), and charged for possession of drugs found in the bottom of a bottle of Ibuprofen in his checked luggage.
While this type of thing happens a lot, the difference here is that John Barlow believes that the 4th Amendment still has some power left in this country.
There is a lot at stake here. Although, as I say, the 4th Amendment is in rough shape, it remains quite clear in its prohibition of "general warrants," which are searches of unspecified members of the public for evidence of random illegal activity. But, whether by design or "mission drift," this is what TSA's checked baggage searches increasingly resemble. They're not just looking for explosives, folks.
John is fighting the charge and finding that the government is trying to stall or claim national security every time the attorneys try to get information, and the Department of Homeland Security has instructed the private security company that discovered the alleged drugs to stonewall.
However, 15 months later, there will finally be a court hearing this Wednesday on the motion to suppress evidence.
This is one I'll be following.
Read John Perry Barlow's story A Taste of the System at his blog.
And just a reminder:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
[Thanks to Casey]
10:15:43 AM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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