Experts turn against war on drugs

Advocates of drug law reform had reason to celebrate today after public statements by senior figures in the medical and legal community suggested the argument was turning in their favour.

The chair of the Bar Council argued in his most recent report that decriminalising drug use would have substantial public benefits, while the editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the UK's most well-respected medical publication, came out publicly in support of drug law reform.

The twin developments come at an exciting time for those calling for a more liberal drug policy. Both deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and prime minister David Cameron are on record questioning the effectiveness of Britain's drug laws. Activists hope reform might be in the pipeline.

In his most recent report the chair of the Bar Council, Nicholas Green QC, argued that decriminalising drugs did not lead to greater use and would have the effect of cutting crime.

"A growing body of comparative evidence suggests that decriminalising personal use can have positive consequences; it can free up huge amounts of police resources, reduce crime and recidivism and improve public health," he said.

"All this can be achieved without any overall increase in drug usage. If this is so, then it would be rational to follow suit. And this will save money and mean that there is less pressure on the justice system.

"A rational approach is not usually the response of large parts of the media when it comes to issues relating to criminal justice," he continued.

"This is something the Bar Council can address. We are apolitical; we act for the prosecution and the defence and most of the judiciary are former members. We can speak out in favour of an approach which urges policies which work and not those which simply play to the gallery."

The comments came at the same time as a special edition of the BMJ in which the editor, Fiona Godlee, endorses an article by Steve Rolles of Transform, a group which lobbies for reform of the UK's drugs laws.



"In a beautifully argued essay Stephen Rolles calls on us to envisage an alternative to the hopelessly failed war on drugs," she writes.

"He says, and I agree, that we must regulate drug use, not criminalise it."

Danny Kushlick, head of external affairs at Transform, said: "The war on drugs is in deep crisis. These comments show that support for drug policy reform is becoming more and more mainstream, and fundamental change is now inevitable.

"With a prime minster and deputy prime minister both longstanding supporters of alternatives to the war on drugs, at the very least the government must initiate an impact assessment comparing prohibition with decriminalisation and strict legal regulation."

In 2007, Mr Clegg - then Lib Dem home affairs spokesman - said the "so-called war on drugs is failing" following a critical RSA report into drug prohibition.

David Cameron voted in favour of recommendation 24 in the home affairs committee's inquiry into drug misuse in 2002, which read: "We recommend that the government initiates a discussion within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of alternative ways-including the possibility of legalisation and regulation-to tackle the global drugs dilemma."

Activists may be disappointed if they expect a sea-change in policy on the back of the coalition government's legislative agenda, however.

While Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron have previously expressed a sympathetic view of the arguments calling for drug law reform, neither will be keen to trigger the media attack which would result from a move to liberalise drug laws.

Recent comments from home secretary Theresa May to the home affairs committee suggest the government is moving in precisely the opposite direction, and is ready to pass legislation allowing for temporary bans to be imposed on legal highs while the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) establishes their legal status.

- politics.co.uk

Ganja growers: If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em

Local governments in California and other Western states have tried to clamp down on medical marijuana, but Oakland has taken a different approach.

If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em.

After becoming the first US city to impose a special tax on medical marijuana dispensaries, Oakland soon could become the first to sanction and tax commercial pot growing operations. Selling and growing marijuana remain illegal under federal law.

Two City Council members are preparing legislation, expected to be introduced next month, that would allow at least three industrial-scale growing operations.

One of the authors, Councilman Larry Reid, said the proposal is more of an effort to bring in money than an endorsement of legalising marijuana use - although the council has unanimously supported that, too.

The city is facing a $42-million (about R321.6-million) budget shortfall. The tax voters approved last summer on the four medical marijuana clubs allowed under Oakland law is expected to contribute $1-million to its coffers in the first year, Reid said. A tax on growers' sales to the clubs could bring in substantially more, he said.

"Looking at the economic analysis, we will generate a considerable amount of additional revenues, and that will certainly help us weather the hard economic times that all urban areas are having to deal with," Reid said.

How much money is at stake isn't clear because the tax rate and the number of facilities the law would allow haven't been decided. A report prepared for AgraMed Incorporated, one of the companies planning to seek a grower's license, said its proposed 100 000-square-foot (9 290-square-meter) project near the Oakland Coliseum would produce more than $2-million in city taxes each year.

Given their likely locations in empty warehouses in industrial neighbourhoods, the marijuana nurseries under consideration would have more in common with factories than rural pot farms.

Dhar Mann, the founder of an Oakland hydroponics equipment store called iGrow, and Derek Peterson, a former stock broker who now sells luxury trailers outfitted for growing pot as a co-founder of GrowOp Enterprises, have hired an architect to draft plans for two warehouses where marijuana would be grown and processed year-round.

Their vision includes using lights, trays and other equipment manufactured by iGrow and creating an online system that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to see what pot strains are in stock, place orders and track deliveries.

"We are emulating the wine industry, but instead of 'from grape to bottle,' it's 'from plant to pipe,"' Mann said.

"Or seed to sack," offered Peterson.

The pair say they intend to operate the pot-growing business they have dubbed GROPECH - Grass Roots of Oakland Philanthropic and Economic Coalition for Humanity - as a not-for-profit. They anticipate gross sales reaching $70-million a year. After paying their expenses, they'd funnel the money to local charities and non-profits through a competitive grant process.

The discussion in Oakland comes amid a statewide campaign to make California the first state to legalise the recreational use of marijuana and to authorise cities to sell and tax sales to adults. Another Oakland pot entrepreneur, Richard Lee, is sponsoring a ballot measure voters will consider in November.

Lee, who owns two of Oakland's four dispensaries as well as Oaksterdam University, a trade school for the medical marijuana industry, hopes to secure one of the cultivation permits, but he thinks the city should opt for having more, smaller sites instead of a handful of large ones.

"We need to legalise and tax and regulate the production side as well as the retail side," Lee said. "It's a natural step."

Other supporters say licensed growers would create hundreds of well-paying jobs. The local branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers union already has signed up about 100 medical marijuana workers, and the growers are expected to have union shops as well, said Dan Rush, special operations director of UFCW Local 5.

"I think Oakland's intention is to make Oakland the leader and the trendsetter in how this industry can be effective in all of California," Rush said.

Allowing medical marijuana to be grown openly also could give patients a better idea of where their pot is coming from. Now, many growers hide their identities to avoid federal prosecution.

Oakland has already developed a reputation as one of the nation's most pot-friendly cities. Legislation on the city's books includes a declaration of a public health emergency after federal crackdowns on marijuana clubs and a ballot measure instructing police to make marijuana their lowest enforcement priority.

Self-described "guru of ganja" Ed Rosenthal, a popular writer of pot-growing how-to books, lived in Oakland for 25 years before moving recently to a more affluent borough nearby. He credits the city's positive attitude toward marijuana to a critical mass of activists who have flocked there since the 1970s.

"The whole population of Oakland is just very progressive," Rosenthal said. "It's the radicals who couldn't afford Berkeley or San Francisco who all moved to Oakland."

- Sapa-AP

Moms enlisted to help legalise dope

Denver - Moms got tougher drunk-driving laws on the books and were directly responsible for passing and then repealing alcohol Prohibition.

Now marijuana activists are trying to enlist the nation's mothers in legalisation efforts with a sales pitch that pot is safer than booze.

The nation's largest marijuana legalisation lobby recently started a women's group. The Moms4Marijuana website draws thousands. And just in time for Mother's Day, a pot legalisation group in Denver has created a pink-carnation web card asking moms to support legalisation.

These marijuana moms argue that pot is no worse than alcohol, that teens shouldn't face jail time for experimenting with it and that marijuana can even help new mothers treat postpartum depression.

"I know so many mothers who support this but aren't willing to come out and say it," said Sabrina Fendrick, head of the Women's Alliance at the Washington-based National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

Marijuana activists say they need more moms to publicly back pot use if they are to succeed with public officials.

"The mother is the first teacher, who you turn to for direction in life," said Serra Frank, a 27-year-old mother of two, who founded Moms4Marijuana in 2005. It has no formal membership, but Frank says its website has had more than 12 000 visitors.

Pot activists say both genders sometimes find it easier to attend protests or lobby lawmakers about pot than to tell their mothers they smoke weed. So legalisation groups hope that if moms, arguably the nation's most powerful lobby, get on board with making pot legal, laws will change in a hurry.

"All the things moms get behind, people listen," said Diane Irwin, 48, a medical marijuana grower who also is a mother of two.

There's still a marijuana gender gap. According to an Associated Press-CNBC poll released last month, women opposed legalisation in greater numbers than men. Just under half - 48 percent - of male poll respondents opposed legalisation to 63 percent of women.

"We have enough problems with alcohol. I feel if we legalised it, it would make people say it's okay," said 37-year-old mother Amanda Leonard, one of the poll respondents

Trying to soften moms up a bit, Denver-based Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, or SAFER, is asking members to "come out" about their pot use this Mother's Day and argue that pot is safer than booze. The group says it has about 20 000 members nationwide.

SAFER's online Mother's Day card has a typical start - "Thank you for raising me to be thoughtful and compassionate" - then transitions to: "I want to share some news that might surprise you, but should not upset you: I believe marijuana should be legal."

For $10 (about 70), card senders can add a book for their moms titled "Marijuana is Safer." The book, published last year, argues that marijuana is healthier than booze. SAFER says several thousand copies have been sold, and group members handed out free copies as Mother's Day gifts to Colorado's 37 female lawmakers last week.

There's no good national count of how many mothers use pot, but anecdotal evidence suggests plenty do. Moms from Florida to Washington are facing criminal charges for using marijuana or supplying it to their children.

In February, 51-year-old Alaska mom Jane C. Cain was arrested along with her 29-year-old son for allegedly growing pot in the house. Cain says she initially feared reprisals from neighbours and didn't answer the door.

"But it turned out people were just coming by to bring homemade food, casseroles and cakes and such," Cain said with a laugh. Her case is still pending, but Cain says that even conservative neighbours say she's not wrong to use marijuana for her frequent migraines, though medical marijuana isn't legal in Alaska.

"Now I go wherever I want and hold my head up high," Cain said. "Five or 10 years from now, people who oppose marijuana will be considered old-fashioned. It's a benign substance, so why shouldn't we have it?"

Irwin, the Colorado medical pot grower, said mothers who use marijuana face a stigma men don't. Irwin says she secretly used marijuana while pregnant to fight morning sickness and after giving birth to battle postpartum depression. Since she started growing pot, Irwin said she's run into many moms who admit to using the drug. She argues that even children could benefit from marijuana use, though Irwin never gave either of her kids pot nor smoked it in front of them.

In fact, she remembers flushing her son's pot down the toilet when he was a teen. But last year, after her now-grown son started a Denver marijuana dispensary, Irwin sold her hair salon, bought a greenhouse and started raising pot for him.

"I look at the kids now who are so medicated, on Ritalin and all the rest, and I'm wondering why we don't explore what's natural, and that's marijuana," said Irwin, who is moving to Denver to work full-time at her older son's dispensary.

- Sapa-AP

Swazi dagga a threat to 2010 World Cup

MBABANE –Swaziland has been cited as one of two countries that grow dagga for the Southern African market.

The other country linked to the dagga growing is ironically another kingdom, Lesotho. The shocking revelation was made by the South African Ceantral Drug Authority National Co-ordinator Johan Kruger.

Speaking to South African media, Kruger said; “Swaziland and Lesotho are the countries that grow cannabis for South Africa. The region has actually been dubbed a net exporter of cannabis to other countries and there is also a danger that the 2010 World Cup will worsen drug trafficking”, said Kruger

Police PRO Vusi Masuku confirmed that they cannot rule out that possibility.
“We have had instances where the army has captured people smuggling dagga out of the country to neighboring South Africa,” said Masuku.

“Locals and other nationals have also been arrested for trying to smuggle large quantities of dagga. The anti-drug unit has been engaged in a vigorous campaign that is aimed at eradicating dagga. The unit has conducted raids often in a number of forests across the regions and found dagga plants which they subsequently destroyed,” added Masuku.
South African Deputy Chairman of the Central Drug Authority David Bayever said, “Cannabis use was three times the global average in South Africa. Drugs and substance abuse problems were the underlying causes of ills such as HIV/AIDS, violence and crime. Our youth are going to be on holiday and they are going to be targeted. During the tournament law enforcement and customs officials will be under pressure due to massive tourist inflows. We need to handle substance abuse”.

In the past couple of months, local police have confirmed to have destroyed large hectares of dagga worth millions of Emalangeni in street value.

“The latest dagga destroyed was worth a street value of E7.2million which was found in Ndzingeni, Mabhindzi and Mgungundlovu. In previous years we have worked hand-in-hand with our South African counterparts in destroying various large fields of dagga using helicopters and spraying chemicals,” said Masuku.

With South Africa hosting the biggest sporting event globally in three months time, the country is on high alert where drug trafficking and any other criminal offences that are bound to paint a negative image are concerned.

- Times of Swaziland

New Study Confirms Cannabis as an Effective Painkiller

A new California state-sponsored study has found that medical cannabis can reduce pain for patients suffering from HIV/Aids, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.

“This study confirms all of the anecdotal evidence that those of us who have been in the midst of this epidemic for many decades now," San Francisco Democratic State Senator Mark Leno told Capital Public Radio, "how lives have been saved and pain has been eased as a result of medical marijuana.”

Researchers at The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC-San Diego say the experiments, which involved two-hundred people participating in five different test groups, show that cannabis was just as good or better than traditional pain medications.

A news release from The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research says the group "was created in 2000 (through the passage of SB847) to conduct clinical and pre-clinical trials of cannabinoids, including smoked marijuana, to provide evidence, one way or the other, to answer the question 'Does marijuana have therapeutic value?'"

“We focused on illnesses where current medical treatment does not provide adequate relief or coverage of symptoms,” said Dr. Igor Grant, CMCR director and Executive Vice-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine. “These findings provide a strong, science-based context in which policy makers and the public can begin discussing the place of cannabis in medical care.”

“These scientists created an unparalleled program of systematic research, focused on science-based answers rather than political or social beliefs,” Senator John Vasconcellos said in the release. Vasconcellos was the original author of The Medical Marijuana Research Act of 1999 (SB847), which led to the creation of the CMCR.

The study (PDF) was presented to the California legislature and public on February 17, 2010.

Scare mongor Bayever at it again

South Africa is in danger of becoming a major hub for drug trafficking, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Thursday.

West African syndicates had recently become major drug traffickers after Central American cartels began using them due to difficulty with their traditional routes, the office's Jonathan Lucas said at the release of the International Narcotics Control Board's annual report.

"Increased surveillance on traditional routes had made them become unprofitable."
He said if these new routes through West Africa were successfully dealt with by authorities, Central American cartels would again look for other alternatives.

"When they are diverted, will they come to South Africa? Maybe."
There was also a danger the 2010 World Cup would worsen drug trafficking.
During the tournament law enforcement and customs officials would be under pressure due to massive tourist inflows.

"We are aware it is going to be a big problem for us," said Central Drug Authority deputy chairman David Bayever.

He described trafficking cartels as "well-researched guys that know where the loopholes are".
Despite these threats SA's drug problem remained primarily a domestic one, with alcohol and dagga use being well above global averages.

"Cannabis use was three times the global average in South Africa and its alcohol consumption put it in the top 10 of countries."

{it's alcohol consumption put it in the top 10 countries... ehm SA's alcohol
consupmtion has INCREASED 10 FOLD since Bayever has been head of the CDA,
likewise our "above the global average" cannabis consumption: IE what you - YES
YOU DAVID BAYEVER are doing IS NOT WORKING!!!!!!}

Bayever said drugs and substance abuse problems were the underlying causes of such ills as HIV and Aids, violence and crime.

"It is not the result of these problems, but the cause of them. In order to deal with these problems we need to handle substance abuse."

Most of South Africa's cannabis was grown in Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa, said the office's national co-ordinator Johan Kruger. The region was actually a net exporter of cannabis to other countries.

Bayever said an additional problem would be the extension of school holidays during the World Cup. In addition to being at risk for substance abuse, children may also be lured into prostitution.

"Our youth are going to be on holiday and they are going to be targeted to become prostitutes," said Bayever. - Sapa

BREAKING NEWS–CA Supreme Court Strikes Down Medical Marijuana Limits

Unanimously the California Supreme Court struck down a law that looked to impose limits on the amount of weed a medical patient can legally possess! As a result of the voter-approved Proposition 215, passed in 1996, patients with a doctor’s recommendation were allowed to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana.

In 2003, there was this Legislation created to give law enforcement a guideline on when to make marijuana possession busts. The Legislature decided that patients could have up to 8 ounces of dried marijuana and grow as many as six mature or 12 immature plants. The law did allow, however, a patient to have more if a doctor stated that amount was insufficient and individual cities had the power to allow patients to grow and possess more marijuana, but not less.

This morning the California Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers were wrong to change provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 215. The high court says only voters can change amendments that they’ve added to California’s constitution through the initiative process.

“The California Supreme Court did the right thing by abolishing limits on medical marijuana possession and cultivation,” said Joe Elford, the top lawyer for the marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. “At the same time, the Court may have left too much discretion to law enforcement in deciding what are reasonable amounts of medicine for patients to possess and cultivate.”

The Supreme Court’s decision this morning was the result of Patrick Kelly’s bust. Kelly, from So Cal, was a qualified medical marijuana patient who was arrested back in October of 2005 for 12 ounces of weed and seven plants when a “confidential informant” snitched on him. CA’s Second Appellate District Court overturned Kelly’s conviction saying that legislatively-imposed limits for possession and cultivation of medical herb are an unconstitutional restriction to a voter approved initiative. Today’s decision upholds that ruling agreeing with Kelly’s attorney and the State Attorney General that medical marijuana limits should be abolished as unconstitutional.

Congratulations medical marijuana patients of the Great State of California…you can now possess and grow as much weed as you need!

- ohhburn

Live blowjobs (just kidding)

JOHANNESBURG - The attack on e.tv for screening an interview with two supposed criminals, apparently intent on making a small fortune from tourists around for the football world cup later this year, is an event of bizarre beauty. The South African police have subpoenaed two staffers from e.tv; the apparent link man between e.tv and the supposed criminals has been found dead in Soweto, after an overdose, so the story goes, of heavy duty rat poison. Swallow that; grubby story to follow soon.

Ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, ANC politicians and their sidekicks have descended into a freebooting hysteria, and gushed out hot gobbledegook in industrial quantities. Police minister Nathi Mthethwa accused e.tv of sensationalism and "harbouring" criminals. ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu has been quoted saying that should e.tv not adhere to the ANC's requests, "they [e.tv] cannot be different from these criminals themselves" and would be "hid[ing] behind journalistic ethics and media freedoms".

This is desperate stuff, all right. But the significant degree of public "free speech" debate around this e.tv issue has been half-cocked, and dripping sick with surly and confused emotion. There has been some sense; about the most useful comment has come from Professor Anton Harber, who put it so: "Journalists should examine, expose and explain criminality and highlight threats, such as those made by these criminals. Sometimes this is awkward and embarrassing for the police".

According to Lindiwe Mazibuko, an MP and a member of the official opposition, "there have been the suggestions from some politicians that journalists in the run-up to the World Cup should engage in ‘patriotic' reporting". The really big issue for e.tv is whether or not the supposed criminals are in fact criminals, a subject that has apparently not arisen for public debate.

The bigger picture is huge; let's focus on just one criminal area, illicit drugs. Not being in the mood for some grubby subpoena, let's refer to information in the public domain. According to the most recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, South Africa is one of the world's major growers - and, more to the point, exporters - of cannabis ("dagga", "boom", "grass", etc). Cannabis is the world's biggest drug, by weight, and is characterized by a high degree of local and intra regional production and distribution.

Countries producing for export remain limited, and are largely excluded to South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Cool countries, these. While the availability of cheap and freely-available cannabis will no doubt delight certain attendees of world cup matches, the average South African appears to know as much about the country's leading status as a cannabis exporter as he or she does about what planet mars is made of.

Then there is the status of organised crime. Leaving aside those who review the latest motor vehicle, and newest tourist hotspot, perhaps the most wretched part of working in and around what is loosely known as journalism in South Africa is the near-daily ordeal of dealing with certain people that are all of, or a mixture of, cheap, tasteless, gaudy, gimcrack, bent and twisted. Some of these people are crooks, or, technically, criminals.

Take a smoking gun on one or more of these individuals to the police, or any number of regulatory authorities, and take a bet that the chance of anything materialising runs at about 0.01%. Again, to avoid the goons, just one sample that's in the public domain. Late in 1996, your humble reporter called the Johannesburg bourse, known as the JSE, and complained about securities fraud connected to Randgold & Exploration (R&E), a listed entity, in respect of its acquisition of gold assets in Mali. The JSE laughed it off.

The main character involved was Brett Kebble, later murdered in September 2005. According to summarised forensic reports since published by R&E in the public domain, R&E alone was looted by Kebble and his cronies of R1.9bn in cash, by way of shares stolen from R&E, laundered mainly through JCI (another listed entity), and then sold on the open markets for cash. According to R&E, it was effectively looted of a further R1bn in other ways. To date, not a single direct prosecution has been made. So put that cheap cannabis in your pipe, smoke it, and watch the law enforcement jackboots through the haze, as they rave on with their World Cup spin.

- MoneyWeb

Woman's grassing cops dope thieves

Three Atteridgeville police reservists were arrested after a woman complained that they had stolen her dagga, police said yesterday.

Inspector Daniel Mavimbela said the 37-year-old woman arrived at the Atteridgeville police station complaining about her missing dagga.

"She alleged that the suspects were police officials of which one of them was known to her and was spotted by a witness taking the dagga from the woman's shack."

Mavimbela said three police reservists were questioned but denied any knowledge of the dagga.

Police officers found 60kg of dagga worth an estimated R60 000 at the home of one reservist.

Two other reservists, a man, 26, and woman, 29, were arrested on charges of defeating the ends of justice, corruption and possession of dagga.

The woman who complained was also charged with dealing in drugs. - Sapa

GDP turns the corner with 0.9% growth

A long hoped for recovery in manufacturing has helped South Africa emerge from recession. Statistics SA yesterday reported growth of 0.9 percent in the third quarter, after adjustment for inflation.

Stats SA deputy director-general of economic statistics Rashad Cassim said the figure represented a turning point in the economy, after three consecutive quarters of contraction. But he warned it should be treated with caution.

"It is a seasonally adjusted quarterly change of 0.2 percent, which has been annualised (multiplied by four), which exaggerated the trend," he said.

When gross domestic product (GDP) is measured against the same quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 2.1 percent...
- Business Report

R1m dagga bust in the Eastern Cape

Three men were arrested when police discovered dagga plants worth R1-million in Pola Park near Mthatha, Eastern Cape police said.

The men were arrested on Saturday during an operation in areas around Mthatha which started at 8am until 6.30pm, said spokesman Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela.

The men aged 21, 30 and 32 would appear in the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Monday.- Sapa

Matric bust with R1.8m of dagga

East London - A matriculant and three others were arrested at the weekend for being in possession of dagga worth R1.8m, the Daily Dispatch reported on Monday.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said the four were arrested on Friday night at a local shop at Chalumna, East London.

The group were in possession of 47 and a half bags of dagga weighing 1.117 tons.

The suspects were aged between 18 and 38.

Marais said the 18-year-old was in Grade 12 and busy writing his matric exams.

The four were expected to appear in the East London Magistrate's Court Monday. - SAPA

SA includes illegal, underground economies in GDP

Statistics South Africa has decided to include illegal and underground economies, when calculating the countries’ gross domestic product.

Cannabis farming will now form part of the agricultural sector while prostitution falls within the personal services sector.

It is understood the inclusion of illegal economies into GDP is already a global practice.

“Theoretically it is absolutely correct to include as much of the production in the economy as possible when you calculate GDP growth, so theoretically there is nothing wrong with including things like dagga sales in your economic statistics,” says Efficient Group Economist Dawie Roodt.

- Eyewitness News

Wikileaks South African CDA Cannabis position paper

Herewith the South African Central Drug Authority Cannabis Position Paper. - Wikileaks

Please note those in charge in “the know” – wrote this paper

SAFERCIA is not responsible for the misrepresentation of the Canadian Senate report; or the glaring absence of number of related deaths; No serious consideration of a drug would exclude the number of deaths... or not.... from that drug

It would pertinent to note that the CDA are the people who reported back to the UN for the 2009 World Drug Report:

The only systematic monitoring of drug use in Africa is taking place in South Africa, based on treatment demand. Data for South Africa suggest that treatment demand for cannabis use increased over the first two quarters of 2008.

Including alcohol, cannabis accounted for 23.5% of substance abuse-related treatment demand in South Africa during this period. - UN World Drug Report 2009 Cannabis Market

Excluding alcohol, What is the demand for cannabis substance abuse treatment?

I thought we were talking about systematic monitoring ... considering 51% of the people that die in South Africa do so DRUNK.

Science chief backs cannabis view

The UK government's chief science adviser has told BBC News that he supports the former chief drugs adviser's scientific view on cannabis.

Professor John Beddington, the UK's chief scientist, would not be drawn on whether the Home Secretary was wrong to sack Professor David Nutt.

David Nutt was chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

He was fired after using a lecture to say cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

Asked whether he agreed with Professor Nutt's view that cannabis was less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol, Professor Beddington replied: "I think the scientific evidence is absolutely clear cut. I would agree with it."

“ This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD ”
Professor John Beddington

Professor Beddington is the man ultimately responsible for scientific advice in government.

He said that he believed that the sacking had occurred because of a breakdown in trust between Professor Nutt and the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

"I think it's very difficult - when clearly trust had broken down between the Home Secretary and Professor Nutt - to see how that could go on," he told BBC News.

He stressed the importance placed by government on obtaining clear-cut scientific advice from experts.

He added: "I think it's fair to say we need to make a distinction between scientific advice and evidence - which is the role of experts and scientific committees and the role of ministers - which is to make policy."

Inner workings

He said he did not believe that the incident revealed an underlying problem in the way government used scientific advice.

"There has been a lot of concern in the media that this is in some sense an undermining of the way in which government uses scientific advice. Let me put it in context: there are more than 75 scientific advisory committees," he said.

"This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD."

Professor Beddington said that he would urgently consult with other heads of expert committees to see if they had experienced difficulties in their role.

However, some senior scientists who advise government feel that the Nutt affair is reflective of the inner workings of providing scientific advice in Whitehall.

Many of the advisers I spoke to felt that their committees produce reports whose conclusions are inadequately reported because the publicity is tightly controlled by government press officers. These advisers did not want to be quoted.

Scientists are sometimes required to sign confidentiality agreements - a practise said to exist for commercial reasons. But critics claim the agreements can act as a legal gag on scientists who speak out on government initiatives.

"I'm going to be talking to the advisory committees, I'm going to get feedback from the chairmen. There are going to be cases where there has to be non-disclosure," Professor Beddington said.

"I want to know whether those cases are appropriate - if there is commercial confidentiality or there are sensitivities - or whether they are blanket."

He added: "If there was so many problems, we would not get the quality of scientific advice we get." - BBC NEWS

Kid killed for a joint.

Pretoria police have again been accused of shooting and killing an innocent man, according to a newspaper report.

According to The Sowetan, the family of Kgothatso Ndobe (21) say he had been polishing his shoes when the police arrived and said they wanted to question him and his friend, Xolani Bhoya.

Ndobe apparently panicked and ran away. A trainee officer then shot him in the head.

The trainee officer allegedly fled the scene after he realised what he had done.

Bhoya says the reason Ndobe ran away was because he had been smoking dagga when the police arrived.

Eye-witnesses say a senior officer on scene, Inspector Skosana, refused to call an ambulance or transport Ndobe to hospital.

Later still, officers at the Atteridgeville police station apparently told Bhoya that he could not open a case because the person who was supposed to open it was dead.

The latest shooting comes after Pretoria police shot at the unarmed occupants of a VW Golf last weekend after they mistook the occupants for robbers. A fortnight before that Pretoria police shot and killed Olga Kekana (29) after mistaking her and her companions for hijackers.

- TimesLive

Booze 'more harmful than LSD'

Alcohol and cigarettes were more dangerous than illegal drugs such as cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, the British government's top drugs adviser said yesterday.

Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College London, called for a new system of classifying drugs to enable the public to better understand the relative harm of legal and illegal substances.

Alcohol would rank as the fifth most harmful drug after heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and methadone, he said in a briefing paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London.

Tobacco would come ninth and dagga, LSD and ecstasy 11th, 14th and 18th respectively. The ranking is based on physical harm, dependence and social harm.

"No one is suggesting drugs are not harmful. The critical question is one of scale and degree," said Nutt, the chairman of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

"We have to accept young people like to experiment with drugs and other potentially harmful activities, and what we should be doing... is protecting them from harm.

"We therefore have to provide more accurate information. If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you are probably wrong."

Nutt caused controversy earlier this year by saying that taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horse riding, a claim he repeated in his paper. - Sapa-AFP

Informer rats out cops

The South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday heard how senior organised crime officers raided flats around Gauteng for drugs only to sell them to drug lords.

At one point, a man who had collected the drugs to sell for the officers was arrested by another police unit for drug possession, only to be released without any charges a day later.

This was the testimony of Norman Kokoeng, who told the court he was recruited by Senior Superintendent Dumisani Jwara.

"He called to say he was promoted from Vereeniging to a Senior Superintendent in the West Rand and suggested that he should de-register me as an informant in Vereeniging and register me as his informer in the West Rand... and told me not to worry as we will operate like we did in the Vaal," Kokoeng said.

Once this was done, they and other officers continued to raid residential flats in search for drugs.

"We usually found drugs, money and 419 scam documents... Depending on the amount of money, we sometimes took the cash only and left the drugs," he said.

It was after one of the raids that Kokoeng and another man identified only as Kenneth drove to a church in Mohlakeng, Randfontein, where Captain Victor Jwili gave them drugs including crack, cocaine, mandrax and ecstasy.

Jwili continued conducting the church choir while the two left with the drugs.

Kenneth was later arrested for drug possession, but released without charge a day later - leading to charges of defeating the ends of justice against the three senior police officers on trial.

Senior Superintendent Dumisani Jwara, 43, Captain Landro Mokgosani and Captain Victor Jwili, 38, have pleaded not guilty to 13 charges against them, among them drug dealing, fraud and theft. A fourth accused, Captain Sakhepi Caiphus Shange, died in police custody in July.

- SAPA

New medical marijuana policy issued

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries -- businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.

A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.

"This is a major step forward," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality."

At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.

In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.

And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.

The memo, officials said, is designed to give a sense of prosecutorial priorities to U.S. Attorneys in the states that allow medical marijuana. It notes that pot sales in the United States are the largest source of money for violent Mexican drug cartels, but adds that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources.

Medical marijuana advocates have been anxious to see exactly how the administration would implement candidate Barack Obama's repeated promises to change the policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.

Shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans.

- Yahoo Finance

Jails do more harm than good

The government should consider community service for those convicted of non-violent, petty crimes, because most people emerge from jail more damaged than before, Jody Kollapen, former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, has said.

He was speaking at a public seminar on "Human Rights in African Prisons", at the Centre for the Book last night.

He acknowledged that most South Africans were angry about crime and did not want to be concerned with conditions in prison, but said that doing so was ultimately in everyone's best interests.

Kollapen, who chaired the seminar, said "we should be sending petty offenders to (work at ) hospitals and other organisations where there is a lack of staff and resources".

"These organisations can benefit from people who are doing volunteer work, while the taxpayers do not have to pay their board and lodging," he said.

"It is in our best interests as a society that people are rehabilitated."

Kollapen acknowledged the need for prisons, but said they should be reserved for those who were dangerous, those who raped and murdered, and who should spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

"Let's send people to prison who deserve to be in prison."

Dr Jeremy Sarkin, head of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Cape Town, said one in every 700 people in the world was behind bars.

The world's prison population was more than nine million people.

Never before had there been so many problems in penal systems, or such large numbers of people behind bars.

Sarkin emphasised that African prisons were not the worst in the world. Conditions in Latin America, central and eastern Europe, and central Asia were far worse.

Although prisons in Africa were often considered the worst in the world, many other prison systems were more violent and overcrowded. But this did not mean that African prisons were human rights-friendly, Sarkin said.

"Many prisons are in a dilapidated condition and their practices are at odds with human rights standards," he said.

"Africa is home to 53 countries, roughly 3 000 prisons and approximately one million prisoners.

"Most prisons suffer from massive overcrowding, decaying infrastructure, a lack of medical care and hygiene, corruption and violence."

Gideon Morris, who is the director for the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons, said South Africa should also reconsider legislation on minimum sentences.

He said 68 percent of the prison population in South Africa was serving more than five years.

"If you have more people coming into prison than those leaving, your prisons will continue to fill up until at the end of the day they overflow and there is total breakdown of the system.

"In the next few years we are going to have a serious overcrowding crisis."

- Cape Argus