Thursday, January 13, 2005

Don't hide your marijuana in the engine Link Mexico City -- Smoke billowing from the engine compartment led police to discover a large stash of marijuana hidden aboard a luxury bus, the federal Public Security Department said Thursday. Police had seen the bus stopped along the Mexico City-Cuernavaca highway early Thursday and noticed that smoke was pouring out of the engine area, the agency said in a news release. They went to offer help, but found no driver or passengers. When they turned to putting out the flames, the officers discovered packages of burning marijuana that had been hidden in part of the engine compartment. You can bet the Mexican government is going to be proud to point out their seizure of that 660 pounds of pot. Ours would. 10:39:34 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

U.S. Backward in Economic Development Via NORML, a new Congressional Research Service Report (pdf) notes that the U.S. is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop. In all, more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America grow hemp, although most banned production for certain periods of time in the past. The United States is the only developed nation in which industrial hemp is not an established crop. Great Britain lifted its ban in 1993 and Germany followed suit in 1996. In order to help reestablish a hemp industry, the European Union instituted a subsidy program in the 1990s for hemp fiber production. ... The countries exporting hemp products to the United States vary considerably from year to year. Over the last five years, the most consistent exporters of raw and processed hemp fiber to the United States have been China, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Canada, and India. The leading exporters of hemp oil have been the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Republic of South Africa, and Italy. However, according to industry reports, Canadian growers are expanding production of varieties for health food and bodycare uses. Consequently, Canada could be poised to become a major source of U.S. hemp seed and oil imports. ... Strictly speaking, the CSA does not make Cannabis illegal; rather, it places the strictest controls on its production, making it illegal to grow the crop without a DEA permit. DEA officials confirm issuing a permit for an experimental plot in Hawaii in the 1990s (now expired), and they confirm that DEA still has not ruled on an application submitted in 1999 by a North Dakota researcher. Hemp industry officials assert that the security measures the DEA requires are substantial and costly, and deter both public and private interests from initiating research projects requiring growing plots. Why should we allow our farmers to compete in the world market? NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "This report should help to galvanize support among US farmers, industrialists, and environmentalists for the legalization and regulation of hemp as an agricultural commodity." 6:26:27 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Complex relationships with drugs and war Strange contradictions... I reported Tuesday about a videotape showing Sunni Muslims executing a drug dealer. Now we have a report in the LA Times that US officials are claiming that Sunni Muslim insurgents are not only smuggling drugs to finance the insurgency, but using drugs to allow them to keep fighting after they've been mortally wounded. Top military officials consider the discoveries to be evidence not just of drug use among insurgents, but also of smuggling operations that they say the Sunni Muslim rebels in Fallouja may have been using to finance the insurgency. "They are just as likely to be indications of drug smuggling as insurgents being doped up to provide stamina or have the courage to fight and die," a senior military official in Baghdad said. ... "One guy described it as like watching the 'Night of the Living Dead,' " corpsman Peter Melady said. "People who should have been dead were still alive." Of course, this may all be true. Sometimes it's just a matter of whether the drug activity is OK'd by your leaders. The U.S. Military has its own contradictory and complex relationship with drugs (and has historically as well). You've got situations like the Iowa National Guard story, where guardsmen who tested positive for drugs were sent to Iraq anyway, and then kicked out when they returned. And you've got the military's need for speed in order to keep pilots on edge. And don't forget Afghanistan, where the drug war is conflicting with the war on terrorism. Anybody know if there's been a good scholarly work done on this complicated military/drug relationship? Seems like there's some fascinating material there. 9:18:04 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []