Friday, August 20, 2004
Oregon Smokers Aid Oregon Coffers
The growing number of medical marijuana users in Oregon is helping pad state coffers -- to the point that the state now enjoys a rare surplus.
del.icio.us
Digg it.Just How Many Laws Can a State Break at Once?
A newborn child has been taken from her parents because the hospital surreptitiously tested the mother for THC during her pregnancy:
At the core of the state's case for taking a 3-day-old baby from Najwa and Chris Cryderman are drug-test results that paint the parents as marijuana users. But the couple -- neither of whom has ever been charged with a drug-related crime -- has adamantly denied using drugs, calling into question the methods used to analyze their urine.So the hospital conducted illegal (and frequent) drug tests of the mother and took the baby away. If the story is to be believed, then it's clear that the Najwas did not have an ideal home environment. Just as clear: that is not the point. If the medical community can decide, based in whole or in part on a patient's drug use, what is best for them and their family, then civil liberties, medical treatment, and family life will suffer permanent harm.
"There is no way possible (THC was in my body) unless they put it there," Najwa Cryderman said.
During her pregnancy, Cryderman suffered asthmatic symptoms, according to medical records. She was using an Albuterol inhaler and taking the prescription drug Singulair to help her breathe.
The 24-year-old admits she smoked marijuana when she was younger, but said it had been several years since she touched pot. Twice during her pregnancy, test results indicate she was positive for THC -- the main active ingredient in marijuana -- but Cryderman said the assertion she used drugs while pregnant is ridiculous.
Officials at Cox South hospital said the confirmed test results don't lie. They also noted that Najwa admitted to alcohol use in an initial interview with her primary care physician, Dr. Patricia Dix, in February.
Medical records show Najwa told Dix she had never used marijuana and that she drank wine coolers once or twice a week. Najwa said she had not had a drink in about a week.
Najwa doesn't recall giving Dix explicit consent to test her urine for drugs.
But Cox spokeswoman Laurie Cunningham said Dix explained to Najwa she tests all pregnant patients for drugs as a matter of policy. Cunningham also pointed to a general consent form Najwa signed allowing the tests.
That document, however, is dated July 27 -- the day Christopher was born.
Read the whole sickening story here.
Norman Forfeits the Truth
It's always refreshing when a slip of the tongue reveals the truth. As happened here, when Taylor Norman, purchasing agent for the city of Amarillo, TX, described how asset forfeiture works to benefit the city:
"When federal agencies seize items for whatever illegal reason, that's who ends up with them," Norman said.Yes, Norman, the reasons (and actions) that federal agents use to seize the property of the drug-involved are illegal.
Read the rest of the piece, announcing an auction of illegally seized property, by clicking here.
I'm 'Really Cute'
Impunity in Goose Creek School Drug Raid
ABB(oK)
Drug-policy reform groups are lining up behind John Kerry, at least according to this Boston Globe headline: Marijuana rights group uniting behind Kerry. Support for Kerry may rest mostly in the possible hope for intessimal improvements in federal drug policy that could maybe happen in a pie-in-the-sky-kind-of-way if Kerry were to win in November, but don't hold your breath:
"When it comes to the drug war, the Bush administration is a disaster," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which promotes harm reduction and treatment as alternatives to the current punitive approach to drug use. While Kerry seems more sympathetic on topics like medical marijuana, needle exchange, and reforming mandatory minimum sentencing statutes, "we know going in he will disappoint us," Nadelmann said.Read the whole article here.
Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that, "all of us recognize that there is no question that marijuana reform policies would be better served with someone else in office other than George Bush."
But he added that the movement is committed to reaching out to all political parties. "It would be a terrible mistake to let the [marijuana reform] issue be perceived as a Democratic issue," he said.
Yesterday's News is Tomorrow's News Today
Here's some anti-marijuana confusion and hysteria courtesy of an editorial in tomorrow's The Age of Melbourne, Australia:
Like alcohol, cannabis induces a feeling of relaxation and wellbeing, along with a loss of inhibitions. Like alcohol, heavy use may cause paranoia, confusion and anxiety. Like tobacco, it is implicated in the risk of lung cancer. Those who believe it is hypocritical that cannabis remains illegal while alcohol and tobacco are not may have a point. The latest research indicates, however, that cannabis is not the harmless, soft drug it was once thought to be. There is a case for the therapeutic use of marijuana to alleviate the pain and suffering of people with terminal cancer or other severe medical conditions. There appears to be no case for the relaxation of the legal prohibition of its general use. Indeed, given the widespread and increasing use of cannabis, there needs to be an education campaign warning of its potential for harm.This is factually inaccurate old news masquerading as thoughtful commentary. If you live where the water drains a different way and want to fire off a letter to the editor, do so here.
Read the whole sorry editorial here.
Legalization in the Last Frontier?
As many of you already know, Alaska voters could make the state the first in the nation to essentially legalize marijuana. Fox News reports on it today:
Backers of a controversial ballot initiative want pot to be treated just like alcohol. If voters pass the measure, it would be legal to grow, smoke and sell any amount of marijuana so long as one is 21 years of age. The state would regulate the cannabis industry just like it licenses booze and cigarettes.But Fox closes with this factoid:
Alaskans can currently possess small amounts of pot for use in their homes and medical marijuana (search) is allowed. But the state has the highest drug addiction in the country and is among the nation's leaders in unemployment, child abuse and domestic violence. [Emphasis added.]It's also, I'm guessing, the nation's leader in Alaskans, mooses, bears, salmon, and untapped oil reserves, but I'm not sure those figures are any more relevant to the story than mentions of unemployement, child abuse, or domestic violence.
Also, what exactly is the meaning of "the highest drug addiction in the country"? Is that the rate of drug addiction? Or is Fox suggesting that one of our least populated states has more "addicts" than any other state? I have no idea what they are trying to say, but it doesn't seem very fair or balanced.
Read the whole story (and watch the accompanying video) here. The video, which is only slightly less antagonistic than the article to the idea of legalization, has an excellent quote by the state attorney general in which he claims that "you don't socially use marijuana..."
(Thanks to reader Travis for the tip.)
So That's Trafficking, eh?
Canada may have liberalized its marijuana laws, but that hasn't stopped the country from prosecuting people for things like this:
One of Canada's best-known marijuana activists was sentenced yesterday to three months in jail after pleading guilty to trafficking when he passed a marijuana cigarette to a supporter.I wonder if the supporter was this guy?
Marc Emery, president of the B.C. Marijuana Party, was charged with trafficking after he spoke at a political rally at the University of Saskatchewan in March.
Read the whole story here.
Big Easy Harm Reduction Conference
Just found out that the web team, including me, is headed to New Orleans in November for the 5th National Harm Reduction Conference. Should be interesting. This year's conference comes as the ever-troublesome congressman Mark Souder is encouraging sponsors -- with some apparent success -- to boycott the conference.
More from Reason on Pain
Maia Szalavitz's excellent piece detailing the DEA war on pain-management doctors and patients at Reason Online yesterday is followed today by a piece from Jacob Sullum attacking hypocritical DEA pain-management policies:
During the same press briefing in which the DEA's Patricia Good denied that drug law enforcement has a chilling effect on pain treatment, David Joranson, one of the experts who helped produce the pamphlet, noted that "the medical and regulatory environment for pain management seems to be worsening," with physicians increasingly fearful of investigation and reluctant to prescribe opioids. "In some ways," he said, "the use of pain medications has become a crime story when it really should be a health care story."Everything about the drug war is wrong, but it just seems that much more evil when the government uses it to justify attacking sick and dying patients.
Oil Away, Boys and Girls
Maj. Gen Joseph Kelley of the United States Air Force has brought a sigh of relief to the promoters and producers of hemp skin care products.
In a story we first brought you back in May, the internal newsletter of Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico went external in its claim that service members should avoid hemp lotions and suntan oils.
The reason? Some officers at the base thought the hemp products could cause a failed drug test or an alert by a drug-sniffing dog.
"While the lotion was not used with intent to break any laws and is not illegal, the fact that a military working dog alerts on your car or your person creates a perception that nobody wants," the article warned.
More than two dozen news outlets around the country picked up the story, causing major jitters in the hemp world. (False, easily-disproven) rumors about failed drug tests aren't the best medicine for an industry trying to establish itself and fight off senseless governmental restrictions.
But this week, Maj. Kelley came through with a letter setting the record straight. The Air Force bans foods containing hemp because of its concern about drug tests. Though the letter made no mention of a similar ban on foods containing poppy seeds (because there isn't one), it did note that hemp oils and lotions are perfectly ok in the eyes of the Air Force.
Thank goodness.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Mounds of Coca
Here's a shot of me in a pile of coca in Cochabamba, at the city's legal coca market. And here's one of former Brasilian drug czar Walter Maierovitch -- a fantastic guy -- in same pile. Also one of me above a lake about 15,000 ft. up on the way to the Chapare. All photos courtesy of super photojournalist Jeremy Bigwood.
Dogs Gone
The dog may be man's best friend, but man doesn't always return the favor. Especially when the man happens to be The Man. Thus the death of one drug-sniffing dog left in a hot car by its police handler and that of a second -- a "daft" and "keen" dog -- due to a suspected drug overdose.
Marijuana is...
An effective medicine... the cause of government hysteria and teen sex... not the cause of schizophrenia, as the government has claimed... no longer able to ruin political careers... able to dissolve the spines of elected officials... the ruin of the rugby-loving minds of indigineous New Zealanders... worse than a virus...
Know Pain, No Gain
Maia Szalavitz of George Mason University's Stats (Motto: "We check out the facts and figures behind the news") has an utterly fantastic article up at Reason Online about the DEA's cruelly zealous crackdown on pain doctors. Szalavitz nails what doctors are up against these days:
Each prescription of a controlled substance can be made into several crimes. In addition to drug distribution, it can be described as health care fraud because charging or billing third parties for practices that aren't really medicine is illegal. If the prescription or a bill has been sent through the mail, it can also be mail fraud. Every deposit of the physician's paycheck becomes money laundering. Seeing a patient who turns out to be a drug dealer or addict can lead to a conspiracy count, as can working with one's colleagues. Most shocking of all, any death that can in any way be connected to use of the doctor's prescriptions becomes a charge of drug dispensing resulting in death or serious injury -- even if the person who died stole the drug from a legitimate patient, lied to get the drug, used it with other drugs or alcohol, or expired while suffering from a potentially fatal illness.This is essential reading, and could be the best of more than three dozen articles I've read so far on the government's illegal crackdown on pain-management providers and patients.
Perusing the Stats website, I also see that Szalavitz has published a fair and thoughful myth-debunking section on drug use. This is a fantastic lens through which to critically view news coverage of drugs and the drug war.
[Full disclosure: After college, I worked as a research assistant for about 9 months for The Center for Media and Public Affairs, which is affliliated with Stats.]
Don't Tell Tony About "Nicotini's"
Our communications director, Tony Newman, has a heart-wrenching story on AlterNet.org detailing his struggle to overcome nicotine addiction. As the type of person Tony envies (I only smoke when I drink, if at all), I can't even begin to understand the battle he is waging. All I can do is offer my support.
His story, however, isn't just a story about one man's relationship to cigarettes. It's also a story about American hypocrisy. Tony has already tried to quit smoking thirteen times and failed. His relationship to nicotine is damaging his relationships with loved ones. He is, by his own admission, an addict. But, there is a crucial distinction between him and other addicts. He writes:
One difference between me and other substance abusers is that my drug is legal. I will never be threatened with jail for my addiction. I will never have to break into a house to get money to pay for a pack of smokes. I will not lose my kids because of my struggles with nicotine. So why is it that we arrest people who have addictions to illicit drugs? It can't be because these illegal drugs are more lethal; cigarettes kill far more people than all illicit drugs combined. And thank God we don't treat cigarettes like other drugs. I guarantee you that if we made cigarettes illegal, you would not only fail to keep people from smoking, but you would also create a similar black market filled with violence and shootings and prisons filled with tobacco addicts.While Tony doesn't mention it, tobacco prohibition would also most likely lead to stronger and more dangerous nicotine products being sold on the streets. Florida's anti-smoking ban has already led some bars to start serving "nicotini's," potent (and potentially harmful) nicotine-infused martinis (yum!). Full-fledged tobacco prohibition could lead to drug dealers extracting nicotine from tobacco leaves the way cocaine is extracted from coca leaves, producing a cheap, powerful high similar to crack cocaine (for a fascinating account of how this could be done, see NucNews.
For a good overview of how even high cigarette taxes are creating a black market filled with violence and shootings, see the Cato Institute's recent report.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Smurfalicious Candy Center
As far as I can tell, members of the New Zealand drug culture have found a new use for a Cadbury Creme Egg-like candy known as Kinder Surprise. So says the New Zealand Herald:
A hidden stash of Kinder Surprise toy eggs lived up to their name when police discovered they contained cannabis oil while raiding a Palmerston North home.According to Stuff, the adulterated chocolates can sell for up to $1,000 per egg.
The High Court at Palmerston North yesterday was told five of the eggs found at Jason Andre Hikaka's home contained 35g of cannabis oil.
To make this more confusing, the story somehow involves the Smurfs. (Which of course leads me to bring up the disturbing instructions to this game.)
Update: Though this is weird, it's not unprecedented.
Your "To Do" List
Want to do a huge favor for drug-policy reform? The Alliance needs about $21,000 to help fund drug-policy reform ads in NYC papers, to appear in the New York Sun and Roll Call during the Republican convention. We need this pile of cash by the end of the week. Click here to donate.
Poppy.mil
Parsing the words of U.S. military leaders, it sounds like American forces in Afghanistan may paricipate in opium-poppy-eradication efforts, according to statements made by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (might) and Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson (are not now), commander of a joint task force in Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld, in a rare break from self-interrogation**, lapsed into dreaded passive voice when talking about U.S. eradication efforts in the war-torn country:
Speaking to reporters en route to Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said, "plans are being fashioned now" to address the problem but skirted the issue of whether U.S. troops would be involved.I seriously doubt that a master plan would be drafted that included no U.S. troop involvement. Plans are courses of action, not inaction.
"I don't want to get into whose troops could do what," Rumsfeld stated in the transcript. "We've got a lot we're doing with respect to the terrorist networks. It requires an overall master plan and that is what's being developed."
Maj. Gen. Olson, meanwhile, had this to say:
At this point in time, U.S. troops will not be involved in counterdrug or counternarcotic operations at all.The particularly interesting part of the story is that these vagaries appear in Stars & Stripes, a publication sanctioned by the U.S. military. Read the whole article here.
**For example, here is my favorite of several Rummy solo Q&A sessions from a 2003 transcript: "RUMSFELD: No. I shouldn't say no. Will I be suggesting it? Might it come up? It might come up. Are we making a proposal or a request? No. Not in that calculus."
Aren't You That Guy Who...
None other than this guy was on my flight from Miami-DC yesterday. Made me feel extra safe. I wanted to ask him about the "drugs and thugs" thing, but he was in first class, surrounded by some very large and muscular men.
Drugs on the [i]nternet
I'm back in the U.S. and not paying outrageous ($0.75) sums for hourly Internet -- or as my colleague and co-blogger Alan points out -- internet access. So with a little time to peruse the blogwaves, I now bring you the work of others:
1) Jacob Sullum at Hit & Run has an excellent analysis of the flaws of new DEA pain-treatment guidlines and another on MPP's depressing new fact sheet on three decades of marijuana availability, use and arrest figures.
2) Pete Guither at Drug WarRant fisks a Volokh Conspiracy post on crime and poverty.
3) Libby Spencer at Last One Speaks (and the Detroit News politics blog) talks about the lawsuit filed in California yesterday by medical-marijuana patients who want the government to give them back their pot.
Good stuff.
Bouncing off the Seattleites
Arresting people for smoking marijuana is an important tactic in preventing even more people from using the drug, right? The federal government says so. Well, then, of course it's not true. According to today's Seattle Times:
Seattleites aren't going to pot -- or jail -- since voters passed I-75, the initiative that made marijuana the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.What's more, even opponents of the initiative are pleased with its outcome:
The number of people prosecuted for pot possession has plummeted, and despite predictions of naysayers, there is no evidence of widespread public pot consumption as a result of the measure, which voters approved last year. [Emphasis added.]
The initiative appears to be working as intended, according to Holden and City Attorney Tom Carr, an outspoken opponent of I-75.The Times article goes on to point out how much more fun this weekend's Hempfest will be as a result of the pot initiative. (For those of you who plan on being in England instead of Seattle this weekend -- and who have some extra pot lying around that you'd like to give to the police -- this might be fun.)
Statistics for the first six months of 2004 show that the city has prosecuted just 18 cases of marijuana possession compared with roughly 70 during the same time period last year.
"The early indication is that I-75 has been highly effective. That seems the only way you could explain the drastic reduction in cases," said Holden, a member of the city-sanctioned Marijuana Policy Review Panel created by the initiative.
Travelblogue: Bolivia
Dispatch from Peru | Wednesday July 28, 2004
I am under no illusions that this post will earn me entrance to the pantheon of great travel dispatch writers (Ernies Pyle and Hemingway). Still, for your enjoyment...
I am blogging from an airport cybercafe in Lima, Peru. The speed is somewhere between dial-up and DSL. $4 per hour. No complaints, at least about that. However... This keyboard is populated by dozens of wacky keys -- some Spanish, some French, and some I have never seen. And the apostrophe key does not work. Other gripes? My flight last night from Miami was delayed four hours. My flight to Cochabamba, Bolivia via La Paz is currently delayed. My last two meals have consisted of coffee and cigarettes. I need a shower.
In today-apostrophe-s el Ojo (the Eye), a top Lima daily I picked up, I was greeted by comments from Adolfo Franco of USAID, the top Latino in the Bush administration. Franco said that the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a violent Maoist group that terrorized Peru for decades, and which had been mostly wiped out, could now enjoy a renaissance as a drug-trafficking organization, much the way that terrorist groups in Colombia have done.
Franco also made these surprising comments (which I badly translate) about indigineous use of coca:
You can read the whole article (in Spanish) here.
Required Bolivia Reading | Thursday, July 29, 2004
Greetings from Cochabamba, Bolivia. I've spent much of the last two days touring this amazing city. Tomorrow, I head to the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism on the outskirts of the city.
In reading up today on the nexus of coca, cocaleros (people who grow coca), and the U.S. drug war, I found a few good articles from the last few days.
From the Seattle Times by way of Newsday:
I am under no illusions that this post will earn me entrance to the pantheon of great travel dispatch writers (Ernies Pyle and Hemingway). Still, for your enjoyment...
I am blogging from an airport cybercafe in Lima, Peru. The speed is somewhere between dial-up and DSL. $4 per hour. No complaints, at least about that. However... This keyboard is populated by dozens of wacky keys -- some Spanish, some French, and some I have never seen. And the apostrophe key does not work. Other gripes? My flight last night from Miami was delayed four hours. My flight to Cochabamba, Bolivia via La Paz is currently delayed. My last two meals have consisted of coffee and cigarettes. I need a shower.
In today-apostrophe-s el Ojo (the Eye), a top Lima daily I picked up, I was greeted by comments from Adolfo Franco of USAID, the top Latino in the Bush administration. Franco said that the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a violent Maoist group that terrorized Peru for decades, and which had been mostly wiped out, could now enjoy a renaissance as a drug-trafficking organization, much the way that terrorist groups in Colombia have done.
Franco also made these surprising comments (which I badly translate) about indigineous use of coca:
We are conscious that no alternative development product will have the same value as the coca leaf. It is impossible, and that is the first thing we tell farmers when we plant the replacement crops alongside coca, but the people must understand that it is better to run the risks of change than leave the illegality (coca.)Franco goes on to say that the U.S. respects the historical place of coca in Peruvian and Bolivian society. How about some policies that demonstrate that respect!
You can read the whole article (in Spanish) here.
Required Bolivia Reading | Thursday, July 29, 2004
Greetings from Cochabamba, Bolivia. I've spent much of the last two days touring this amazing city. Tomorrow, I head to the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism on the outskirts of the city.
In reading up today on the nexus of coca, cocaleros (people who grow coca), and the U.S. drug war, I found a few good articles from the last few days.
From the Seattle Times by way of Newsday:
"If radicals continue to hijack the indigenous movement, we could find ourselves faced with a narco-state that supports the uncontrolled cultivation of coca," Gen. James Hill, chief of the U.S. military's Southern Command, told the U.S. Congress in March.From Reuters:
Coca cultivation in Bolivia, the world's third-largest coca producer, is rising again after dropping dramatically in the past couple of decades.(Evo) Morales' policy of legalizing coca -- the raw material used to make cocaine -- makes him an enemy of Washington. But he has been feted by Latin American leaders like Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who believe his embracing of the ballot box holds a key to Bolivia's stability.And from Knight Ridder:After nearly a decade of forced eradication of coca, the plant from which cocaine is made, Bolivia wants instead to try to persuade poor farmers to abandon illicit crops in favor of coffee and cocoa.You may note that each article highlights Evo Morales, a former cocalero, political leader, and once-and-future presidential candidate who is popular among many of the indigenous cocaleros. I expect to meet Evo, as he is known, during the Narco News program. Feel free to add a suggested question for him in the comments section below. I'll ask him the best ones and report back with his comments.
The strategy shift, outlined in a report obtained by Knight Ridder exclusively, is tacit acknowledgement that unpopular forced eradication has come with too high a social and political cost for the country once hailed as the Andean leader in the U.S.-backed drug war.
The United States and Europe, which will be asked to pay for most of President Carlos Mesa's new $969 million, five-year antidrug plan, are grudgingly sympathetic. Successful past eradication efforts, in which military troops uproot coca plants, have taken an estimated $400 million out of Bolivia's small economy in recent years, causing scattered violence, disruptive roadblocks and political and social unrest.
In other news, I have yet to try the famous chica cochambambina, which is a strong corn liquor, or chew the coca leaves that are on sale at the sprawling markets across the city. But I will. Hasta luego.
Episode Three, in Which I Try Coca | Saturday, July 31, 2004
The Narco News School of Authentic Journism has begun in full. I arrived yesterday and joined instructors and other students from Bolivia, the U.S., Mexico, Italy, Sweden, Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, and South Africa for the 10-day program on journalism, the drug war, and Latin America.
The four tracks that make up the program include radio, filmmaking, debunking and improving the mainstream media, and investigative journalism & the drug war. I feel quite at home to be a member of the latter. The instructors for my track include a cocalero advocate, the editor of Narco News, and the former drug czar of Brasil. (Not to worry. He, like former Peruvian drug czar Hernando de Soto, actually made a habit of opposing the ridiculous U.S. drug war policies.)
Among the topics we focused on today were the validity of drug research, accuracy in media, and blogging. After a break -- which I am on right now -- we reconvene in an hour to continue with these threads. (I will abbreviate this post since the weather is hot, the beer is cold, and the pool looks inviting.)
Before I go, I have some firsthand thoughts I want to share on coca -- having used it for the first time last night.
The Chew | Grade: C-
I chewed about a dozen leaves for about an hour. (This is less than half the recommended dose.) While the taste was not unpleasant, it failed to produce any real effects. No buzz, no heightened energy, and no tingling sensation in the mouth (a la novocaine, which is derived from coca). A mediocre experience.
The Tea | Grade: C+
This morning I moved on to coca tea. I put the recommended three commecially available tea bags (hierba de coca, or coca-herb tea, which is rumored to be the drink of choice at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz) into a cup, soaked with hot water, let sit, and drank. This was actually much more pleasant tasting than the leaves, but too produced no effects beyond being a satisfying morning drink.
The Candy | Grade: A-
This afternoon I tried coca-based candy. (An aside: a cow just mooed outside the window next to me.) This had a real kick. I am told that the candy contains twice the active ingredients of a typical pinch of coca leaves. The taste was good -- sweet but not too much so, with a hint of sour -- and it left my tongue feeling numb. I felt more energetic than the 5-6 hours of sleep I got last night would justify.
More on the hotel, wild dogs, drug policy, writing, peers, the pool, and other thoughts tomorrow.
Everything in Moderation | Sunday, August 01, 2004
I just found out that I am co-moderating a panel on the drug war tomorrow morning here at the Narco News program. Panelists include the former drug czar of Brazil. I am very honored and excited and will be uploading or linking to audio of the panel as soon as possible. Stay tuned.
In other news, I chewed coca leaves again -- this time, a wad of about 100 -- and found the experience to be quite energizing. The fact that I am still coherent at 1:00 a.m. -- and going strong after 16 hours of classes, some chicha cochambambina, panel discussions and some time by the pool -- is testimony to that. I hope to feel this well at 9 a.m. when I help lead the panel.
In still other news, I came across a disgusting blog post by Julian Sanchez at Hit & Run, the Reason magazine blog. (The topic, not the Sanchez post, is what disgusts me.) According to the Seattle Times, the feds are doing wonderful things with the PATRIOT Act -- which the government insists has nothing to do with drugs -- to keep our shores safe from marijuana, that terrorist scourge.
From the Mountains, to the Jungle | Sunday, August 01, 2004
I, along with my classmates, am leaving Cochabamba for three days tomorrow to go to the volatile Chapare region of Bolivia. The Chapare is the center of the U.S. war on drugs in Bolivia and, with perhaps the exception of Colombia, in the world. Since it is quite literally a jungle out there, I will be away from the tricky South American keyboard until Wednesday night.
(It is not just in Peru, I have found, but everywhere that the keys do not match up with the icon displayed on them. For instance, hitting shift and left parens results in a right parens being displayed. One must hit shift and asterisk to get a left parens. Also, I have given up trying to figure out how to form an apostrophe, having tried every combination of keys. Perhaps this is why Spanish speakers refer to something owned by Juan as, literally, of Juan, rather than attempting an exhaustive and ultimately fruitless search for the apostrophe key on their keyboard to write Juan-apostrophe-s. If anyone knows where to find a South American keyboard heiroglyph, or if such a thing has yet been discovered, please write.)
A few things now on the last day or so. The panel I helped lead this morning -- which did not cause me much work -- was incredible. The three panelists, two instructors and a classmate from my drug war investigative journalism class, spoke of the history of the war on drugs in Latin America, the role of international bodies like the United Nations in propagating the drug war, and a firsthand account of a remarkable harm-reduction program in Argentina. Great stuff. You will have the audio just as soon as I do.
I did not swim yesterday because the water was just too cold. With the daily weather fluctuating between about 32F and 75F, the water goes through a perpetual process of starting to freeze, thawing, almost becoming tepid, and then starting to freeze again.
The wild dogs story that I teased yesterday is a bit overblown. Everywhere ones goes, they are warned to watch out for angry dogs. While it is true there are feral dogs running around Bolivia, they seem pretty harmless. They are too skinny and malnourished to be much of a threat.
More later. Evo Morales is about to speak.
Wild Monkey Alert | Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Yeah, it is all fun and games here. (Notice that after a cold shower before seven this morning, I have been awake and working for nearly 19 hours.)
I returned to Cochabamba this afternoon from Villa Tunari, in the coca-growing Chapare region (pronounced cha-PAR-ee). This was my first real look at the drug war from the perspective of those who live by farming coca.
Our 6-hour bus ride across the incredibly scenic Cochabamba-Chapare Road brought us from 8,500 ft. to the cold, clear mountains at more than 14,000 ft., before dropping down to Villa Tunari, a sleepy sub-tropical paradise which stands at just 1,000 ft. (All told, I counted 48 roadside crosses marking places where motorists had died navigating the treacherous road.) With the air so thin in the mountains, climbing just a few feet up a mountainside at 14,000 ft. to get a better angle for a photograph was exhausting. Villa Tunari was the opposite -- the air felt so thick you could drink it.
One of the highlights of the trip so far was havig to stop at an army roadblock as we entered the Chapare region. This is one of the main exit points for coca and entry points for chemicals used to turn coca into cocaine. Our bus had a flat tire, which had to be fixed before we could descend on dirt roads through mountain passes, giving us more than enough time to explore the checkpoint. What we saw were armed guards on alert, searching trucks, buses and cars with drug-sniffing dogs; anti-drug propaganda; and a general state of alert. Our tax dollars at work... Without any sense of irony -- and right alongside the guards -- stood indigenous vendors selling coca leaves, along with fruits, vegetables, soda and other treats. (I highly recommend the mandarin orange soda.)
In and near Villa Tunari, we heard from the mayor, himself a cocalero; another man, a union member and cocalero who was shot by the government several years ago during a protest; and two leaders of a coca union of women. We also visited a small coca farm -- perhaps 60 ft. x 30 ft. -- and met the owners and other local growers.
Next, we traveled to an alternative development project full of starfruit, palm, and banana. Under nearly every banana tree grew a coca bush. I presume that the long leaves of the banana plant are used to hide the coca leaves from the military helicopters and satellites that are on constant lookout for illegal coca farms. (While coca is legal to buy, sell, and use everywhere in Bolivia, and is sold in nearly every corner store and vendor stall, it is only legal to grow the crop in the Yungas, located near La Paz, and Vandiola, a small region in the Chapare.)
We ended the day with a swim in a river that empties into the Amazon River. On the short walk to the river, we saw a dozen wild monkeys and thousands of ants the size of small dogs.
Two other interesting things worth noting:
1) There is apparently a decree that, in preparation for the Bolivian independence day celebrations, which begin tomorrow night, all high school bands throughout the country must play the Battle Hymn of the Republic ad nauseum.
2) I promised an update on chicha cochambambina, the tasty local brew. I had heard that the drink was made by small producers who chew corn, spit it out, add a few ingredients, and then allow it to ferment. Apparently that was the case but is no longer. Though it was cool to think I was drinking the fermented spit of people I had never met, the drink goes down a lot easier knowing that not to be the case.
Tomorrow I will answer some excellent reader comments and try to mine the news for a good story or two for you. Stay tuned.
Comments on Comments | Thursday, August 05, 2004
Reader Loretta wrote the other day that she is travleling to Colombia later this month and appreciated my explanation of Latin American keyboards. Reader Renate helpfully and correctly explained how to make the keyboard work and, lo and behold, I found someone here who said the same thing. Not that I will anytime soon be throwing any apostrophes into the blog. Also, I am not sure that this would work in a cybercafe, where the proprietors often lock the browser preferences.
Reader Luis asked if I had seen any t-shirts depicting socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales or current president Carlos Mesa anywhere. Unfortunately, I have not seen any, though I have come across a mountain of graffiti both in favor of and opposing both. (Example from downtown Cochabamba: "Evo = Traidor.") By the way Luis, in case I come across a t-shirt, what size are you looking for, and just how much would you pay?
Renate also wondered about the Argentine harm reduction group I mentioned in a post. They are known as la Asociacion de Reduccion de Danos de la Argentina (ARDA), which translates as the Argentine Harm Reduction Association. (Sorry but Blogger messed up the accents and tilda, so I took them out. Im thinking about not using them when I get back to the states, either. Such a burden.) Their website is here, and you can read more about my brilliant classmate Romina Trincheri, a university professor who works extensively with ARDA, here.
Also, Renate and others, the drug-war panel audio should be posted soon. I will link when it is up.
Playing Journalist | Thursday, August 05, 2004
I went into the city of Cochabamba today to interview Kathryn Ledubur of the Andean Information Network (AIN). Here is her bio from the Washington Office on Latin America website:
Kathryn Ledebur studied Andean History at FLACSO in Quito, Ecuador. She has collaborated with a series of human rights and drug policy organizations in the United States and Latin America. She has worked at the Andean Information Network in Cochabamba, Bolivia since 1997, and been director since 1999. The Andean Information Network seeks peaceful long-term solutions to social conflicts, injustices and inequalities created and exacerbated by the U.S. war on drugs in Bolivia. AIN is dedicated to investigation, analysis, education and dialogue on the impacts of U.S.-funded drug control policy.It was a great time, though my tape recorder mysteriously ate a good part of the tape. I am trying to fix the problem. With any luck, the feature will be up at the NarcoSphere blog tomorrow. I will link when it is published.
I also went to the main square in the city today and tested the limits of my Spanish abilities by interviewing five or six Cochabamba residents about coca and the drug war. What started out as one or two people from differnt backgrounds apprehensively talking to me quickly turned into -- no kidding -- a crowd of 40-50 people surrounding me in lively discussions. It was truly amazing. Definitely the highlight of my trip. The interview lasts about an hour and is entirely in Spanish. I may try to translate it myself or, preferably, get someone here to do it. But I will post the transcript as soon as I can because it is a fantastic discussion on a host of drug-policy and other issues pertinent to Bolivia.
I think that it is as good as it is because I stayed out of it and just let the people guide the discussion. I also think that people -- some of whom went on the record -- were more apt to speak to me because of the Narco News press pass around my neck. Stay tuned. (I seem to be writing that a lot lately.)
I Danced, and Other Observations | Saturday, August 07, 2004
Yesterday was Bolivian Independence Day. This was made even more special because this year the holiday fell on the first Friday of the month, which is a holy day for the indigineous Quechua people.
After spending much of the day working on assignment deadlines, a large group of us -- including Maria, a Quechuan participating in the Narco News program -- got a cab and went to a chicharria, a fun and rowdy bar where chicha cochabambina is the drink of choice. Another Bolivian in the program brought along a rare treat -- chicha made with cinnamon, cloves, and other festive spices.
Though chicha is generally palatable, this special chicha deserves a place in the pantheon of fantastic intoxicants. (It is right up there with an excellent Scotch whisky, Campari with mineral water and lime, and great beers like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Mickeys Malt Liquor, and Goose Island Honkers Ale.) Also along for the trip -- though I am not sure how it got there or who brought it -- was a three-gallon bag filled with coca.
In Cochabamba, we quickly noticed, in the Quechuan tradition, burning embers placed on a metal plate outside of every Quechuan-owned business and home in the city. As the night wore on, I had to be careful not to step on the embers several times. The chicha makes this much more difficult.
Inside the chicharria, we watched several ritual celebrations. These included people dressed in traditional clothing who danced, sang, and played Andean flutes and other instruments. We gave offerings of chicha to Pachamama. We also listened as Maria and others conducted brief prayer services, which center on offerings to Pachamama, the deity they believe to be mother earth. (It is notable that coca is believed by both the Quechua and Aymara people to be a direct gift to them from Pachamama.) The plate of burning embers, brought inside, played a part in the offerings.
At about midnight, we left for a nearby club where the local rock group Atajo, known throughout the country for their blend of progressive rock and politics, played a set before a packed crowd. I am not sure if it was the music, good times, or just the booze, but I ended up dancing along with my classmates. Though this violates one of the most important tenets of my existence -- Do Not Dance -- I have to admit that it was pretty fun.
We returned to the hotel after 3 a.m. and I slept well, until 8:30 this morning when a 20-odd-piece band began playing in the soccer field next to my hotel.
When I finally awoke this afternoon, I counted how much money I had spent last night and was astonished by the amount. Here is the breakdown (prices are estimates, and given in US dollars):
2 packs of cigarettes -- $1.35 (total!)
1.5 gallon bucket of chicha -- $1.25
Small bag of coca -- $0.50
Admission to chicharria -- $0.75
Rock concert -- $1.25
Beer at concert -- $1.25
My portion of 12-mile round-trip cab fare -- $1.00
Total: $7.35
Wow.
In about an hour, the closing festivities at the hotel begin. Tomorrow the program ends, and I will be again off on my own to explore Bolivia. I do not have a plan as to where I am going yet, though it seems likely that I will travel first to La Paz to the northwest and then to Potosi in the south. I should have easy blog access in both places, so please check back for further updates.
Proof I Have Been Working | Saturday, August 07, 2004
My interview with Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network is up at the Narco News website (not at their blog, as I had previously reported it would be.)
A big thanks to Kathryn for taking the time to email some of her answers to me after my tape mysteriously ate a chunk of our in-person talk.
Also note that I got my first-ever photo credit!
Anyone Got a Lung to Spare? | Tuesday, August 10, 2004
So I was in a theater last night watching Kill Bill 2. During final scene, Uma Thurman finally meets her daughter. The father of the girl, played by David Carradine, tells the daughter, B.B., to tell mommy about the untimely demise of her goldfish.
To make a long story short, B.B. explains she had taken the goldfish out of the bowl, let it flap around on the carpet for a minute or two, and then stepped on it. Then B.B. goes to sleep and mommy kills daddy.
I use this introduction to try to explain just what it is like trying to climb one of the 500 uphill street here in beautiful La Paz. I struggle for oxygen. I flap about. My lungs burn. My legs burn. I begin to disassociate from my surroundings. My life flashes before my eyes. Except for the part about having legs, I am the fish. (I suppose I could have used a Faith No More flapping-fish-video analogy, but that is just so 90s.) I only wish for someone to step on me and end my pain.
As you have probably figured by now, I am in La Paz, Bolivia, having taken a long but fascinating bus ride from Cochabamba (about 8500 ft. above sea level) on Sunday up to this city, which sits about 13,000 feet above sea level. We were probably a couple of thousand feet higher on the trip, actually -- having winded our way through ominous mountain passes and curvy roads where the barriers had long since been mutilated by cars repeatedly plunging off the roadside -- but I was so oxygen-deprived that I really could not tell for sure.
Having acclimated, I am feeling much better now. I can actually walk!
The turning point in my acclimitization came last night a little after midnight, at the end of my two-mile walk home from the movie. I approached the steep fifty-odd steps on Avenida Tarija, with my hotel lying at the top. I popped a coca candy from the Museo de Coca (more on that later) into my mouth and began the climb. Three times before this dreaded hill had beaten me. But this time, with my lungs finally working, and with the coca providing fortitude, I made it to the top without stopping.
I can only think of two instances in history where such long and insurmountable odds were overcome: the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team victory and the scene in Rocky where the protagonist finally catches the chicken. I raised my arms in victory, and then passed out in my room from exhaustion.
(Random thought: Did Jack Kerouac ever write at altitude?)
Here is a list of the best of La Paz so far:
1. The pigeons are very clean. It is as if they are groomed.
2. The crowds here are officially throngs. In some of the tighter spaces in the markets, you are forced by the sea of people to become much closer than you would like to other people, beef hearts, garbage, and llama fetuses.
3. Llama fetuses? (Or feti?) Yes, that is correct. They are good luck. You bury them under any newly constructed building, for instance, in order to bring fortune. For those in need of a point of reference, they look sort of like Ren the Chihuahua.
4. Plazaamericacemetarioelaltoprado! Every mini-bus has its own barker, who shouts auctioneer-style out the window the destinations there the trufi bus is headed. It always comes out as one long incomprehensible word.
5. Coca candy. I am sure that it was instrumental in beating the Russians and Apollo Creed.
Now, a surprising low-light: the Museo de Coca (Coca Museum) was really awful. It reminded my of a collection of mediocre seventh-grade science projects. In a tiny room were the coca-using-miner mannequin, the wired 80s-coke-sniffing-guy mannequin, a couple of pictures, and some dated information. Just terrible. The only redeeming quality is the coca candy, which as far as I can tell is not sold elsewhere.
I am looking forward to seeing more of the city and the region these next few days. I plan to check out the coca market, prison, and perhaps go out to the Yungas region, where much of the legal coca in Bolivia is grown. Stay tuned.
What am I Doing Here? | Wednesday, August 11, 2004
I'm not sure where to begin here and so I'll just jump right in. The first thing you'll notice is that I'm using apostrophes like they're going out of style. Even in place's where they don't belong! Yike's! I'm just so happy to have found a Dell keyboard where everything is as it should be.
The real news is that, during the past 24 hours I have met with a source here -- yes, Baylen of diminutive talent now has sources. Or at least a source. But bear with me. This source, a correspondent in La Paz I will call Luis, because that is his name and Deep Throat is already taken, put me in touch with a staffer in the Bolivian house of deputies, the equivalent of the US House of Representatives. Which led me to meet that staffer today, speak with him at length, and interview his boss, an influential deputy. The interview, which revolved around coca and the drug war, is pretty darn good. (It would have been even better had I not yet again been felled by tape-recorder problems.) This is all very weird.
To add to this excitement, I am accompanying the staffer tomorrow to the La Paz coca market, which I am told is the country's largest. And after that, with the help of yet another staffer in the house of deputies, I am hoping to gain entry to the prison in the city in order to interview at least two people imprisoned on drug charges.
There is also a very good chance that I will be traveling to the deputy's home district, in the country's only legal coca-growing region, the Yungas, in order to do some primary reseach, interviews, and photography there, too.
As you may well understand, I am being intentionaly vague here and will let on more if and when things happen. But even if I accomplish nothing more for the rest of my journey, today was a very good day -- though a long and tiring one.
In other news...
1) I was in the office of one E. Morales today and took a photo of a giant coca-leaf banner above his desk.
2) Today I witnessed a large group of miners take over Murillo Square, outside the legislative and executive offices. The police, in full military gear, seemed to outnumber the miners by at least 2:1. The miners were angry but very peaceful. The police did not seem at all agressive.
3) Inside the legislature, where I was given a behind-the-scenes tour, I saw re-construction of a portion of the building that was blown off a few months ago in a bomb blast.
So that's about that. If I am indeed in the Yungas, beginning in a couple of days, I probably won't blog. But if I go, I sure will have lots to write about afterwards.
Coca Tour Rolls On | Thursday, August 12, 2004
I am indeed headed to the Yungas tomorrow -- I am catching a bus in about seven hours. I will be returning to La Paz on Saturday.
Today, with the help of a friend named Nelson -- who has sacrificed much these last few days to put me in contact with some interesting folks here -- I interviewed a lawyer, doctor, coca leader, coca grower, formerly accused and incarcerated terrorist, and author. (The amazing thing is that I just described one person!)
I also spoke with the second-in-command at the La Paz coca market, and took a bunch of cool photos. (What do you think the U.S. government would say about the coca market being directly next to a school?)
Since I am being brief, I will let others do the (more eloquent) talking for me...
First, Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute, writing in National Review Online:
Plan Colombia has not succeeded any better than earlier anti-drug initiatives. And contrary to the drug czar's tenacious optimism, that pattern is not likely to improve in the next year -- or the next ten years. One wonders how many times U.S. officials have to travel down the road of failed prohibitionism before they realize that it always leads to a dead end. Given the huge profit margin that exists because drugs are illegal, supply-side campaigns are doomed to fail. It is time that Walters and other policymakers recognize that reality.Second, Stan White, for all I know a "regular guy," in a letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
The original Prohibition was clearly bad for the people, bad for police and good only for the underground economy, which brought us organized crime and Al Capone.Bravo, Stan. We need more like you.
The problem is the discredited laws and the people who support them.
Not Mine | Sunday August 15, 2004
I mentioned earlier that I would try to make it to the mining town of Potosi, in the south of Bolivia. But time, distance, and altitude (more than 16,000 ft.) make that impossible. For those who want to read about the city's miners, there's an excellent article in today's La Razon. Whole article, in Spanish, is here.
My Trip to La Asunta | Sunday, August 15, 2004
There is nothing like waking up at 3:45 a.m.; catching a 5 a.m. bus; having that bus leave more than a half-hour late; nearly freezing to death as the bus ascends to more than 16,000 ft. without a working heater; then being subjected to parts of the World's Most Dangerous Road (according to the Inter-American Development Bank); then veering off to travel the world's least safe road, which I call because it was no more unsafe than the other road; then having the bus ride take almost four hours more (11) than it was supposed to; arriving to find that all of the no-star motels are booked; being castigated by a room full of coca growers; sleeping in an apartment with complete strangers; and then waking up at 4 the next morning to repeat the arduous bus ride.
All that said, now that the trip is over, I got some excellent audio, video, and photos from the meeting of the Asociacion Departamental de Productores de Coca (ADEPCOCA) and
am very glad I went.
Tomorrow I head to Lake Titikaka. No drug-policy angle there that I know of, except that coca is now being smuggled from Peru around the lake and into Bolivia because of the U.S./Bolivia crackdown on coca production in this country.
Probably nothing from me until I return to work on Wednesday, unless the drug war ends or some such news.
*The IADB calls the road the world's most dangerous because of the combination of its width, only 10 ft.; its height, at times more than 1000 ft. above a rocky gorge; the waterfalls that pour over the road; and the great number of vehicles that plunge off the roadside -- about 25 each year-- which has no guardrail.
FIN
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Marijuana For Men
Self-described men's portal AskMen.com, home to interviews, travel tips and a sex column by someone named "The Player," has provided a handy guide to marijuana use for those with a Y chromosome.
"Are you sick of hearing your girlfriend nagging you about letting go of your pot pasttime? Have you been hearing a lot of negative things about the use of marijuana lately? Would you like to know what the real deal is behind the use of this infamous drug? Then read on because you're in for a surprise."
What follows is actually a fairly extensive rundown of facts and figures about marijuana. While it's hardly Erowid, the manly men's site has done a good job capturing the essence of an often-maligned, much misunderstood herb.
Full text here.Sunday, August 15, 2004
My Trip to La Asunta
There is nothing like waking up at 3:45 a.m.; catching a 5 a.m. bus; having that bus leave more than a half-hour late; nearly freezing to death as the bus ascends to more than 16,000 ft. without a working heater; then being subjected to parts of the World's Most Dangerous Road (according to the Inter-American Development Bank); then veering off to travel the world's least safe road, which I call because it was no more unsafe than the other road; then having the bus ride take almost four hours more (11) than it was supposed to; arriving to find that all of the no-star motels are booked; being castigated by a room full of coca growers; sleeping in an apartment with complete strangers; and then waking up at 4 the next morning to repeat the arduous bus ride.
All that said, now that the trip is over, I got some excellent audio, video, and photos from the meeting of the Asociacion Departamental de Productores de Coca (ADEPCOCA) and
am very glad I went.
Tomorrow I head to Lake Titikaka. No drug-policy angle there that I know of, except that coca is now being smuggled from Peru around the lake and into Bolivia because of the U.S./Bolivia crackdown on coca production in this country.
Probably nothing from me until I return to work on Wednesday, unless the drug war ends or some such news.
*The IADB calls the road the world's most dangerous because of the combination of its width, only 10 ft.; its height, at times more than 1000 ft. above a rocky gorge; the waterfalls that pour over the road; and the great number of vehicles that plunge off the roadside -- about 25 each year-- which has no guardrail.
Utah Paper Scores Again
Last month, we pointed you to a story in the Provo, Utah Daily Herald on the fallacies of the drug war. Today, that same paper has an excellent editorial calling for a complete re-assessment of the state's marijuana laws.
The punishments clearly do not reflect the true effect of marijuana in society. It's just not particularly dangerous. While it has been argued that marijuana is a gateway to other more serious drugs, marijuana in and of itself appears less harmful than alcohol. Unlike the meth lab operator, a marijuana grower doesn't turn his home and yard into a toxic waste dump that requires a hazardous materials team to dismantle and decontaminate.Read the whole thing here.
We're not suggesting that marijuana be legalized, though that would not be catastrophic. What we are saying is that punishments should be proportional to the damage, or potential damage, inflicted on society. People may have gotten a little overwrought about marijuana during the youth rebellions of the 1960s and '70s.
Locking people up for marijuana crimes only adds to prison overcrowding, which can result in some truly bad people being released to make room for the new arrivals. Incarceration doesn't help with rehabilitation efforts either.
A better approach is to refer low-level marijuana offenders to drug courts, with an emphasis on rehabilitation. The courts would save money: It costs between $20,000 and $50,000 to incarcerate an offender for a year, while a drug court system only costs $2,500-$4,000 per year.
Marijuana should be reclassified to be viewed more like alcohol and tobacco, which its effects on a user more closely match. In Utah, illegally serving someone more than one alcoholic drink is only a class-C misdemeanor, which is half the punishment that a marijuana user gets for possessing less than 1 ounce of the stuff.
It's just not worth it. We should reserve legal sledge hammers for bigger bugs and save ourselves a lot of money.
Not Mine
I mentioned earlier that I would try to make it to the mining town of Potosi, in the south of Bolivia. But time, distance, and altitude (more than 16,000 ft.) make that impossible. For those who want to read about the city's miners, there's an excellent article in today's La Razon. Whole article, in Spanish, is here.
More Proof Pot Belongs in the Medicine Bag
In addition to the multitude of current medical uses for marijuana, i.e, helping patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and chronic pain, scientists at Madrid's Complutense University have published new research which adds brain cancer to the list, according to the New Scientist.
Cannabis extracts may shrink brain tumours and other cancers by blocking the growth of the blood vessels which feed them, suggests a new study.New findings in Australia also point to the effectiveness and popularity of marijuana as a medicine, says the Sun-Herald.
An active component of the street drug has previously been shown to improve brain tumours in rats. But now Manuel Guzmán at Complutense University, Spain, and colleagues have demonstrated how the cannabis extracts block a key chemical needed for tumours to sprout blood vessels -- a process called angiogenesis.
And for the first time, the team has shown the cannabinoids impede this chemical in people with the most aggressive form of brain cancer - glioblastoma multiforme.
Nearly two-thirds of people using marijuana for medical reasons had decreased or stopped taking other medications early, results of a State Government survey show.How exactly does drug czar John Walters keep a straight face with his marijuana canards?
The survey, an Australian first, was conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
Participants reported cannabis was useful in preventing side effects caused by conventional medicines.