The drink favored by bohemians in the 19th century is making a comeback in a generation unfamiliar with its evils The Green Fairy is taking flight once again. Absinthe, nicknamed "La Fee Verte" or the Green Fairy, is arguably the most notorious alcoholic beverage ever created -- and the only one to be singled out in a near worldwide prohibition that endures to this day. Muse to the likes of Oscar Wilde and Vincent Van Gogh, the mysterious green liquid has been a symbol of artistic exploration -- as well as debauchery. Its next role could very well be the Comeback Kid. [continues 2441 words]
But would I smoke marijuana now? You bet, if there was a medical need. And like some people with AIDS and other diseases, I'd fight like hell to do it. Several years ago I was contacted by Terry Parker, a Toronto epilepsy sufferer. He told me that without smoking marijuana he was subject to three grand mal seizures and anywhere from 15 to 80 petit mal seizures a week! Parker wanted me to help in his fight to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. I was sympathetic. But at the time I was embroiled in a major fight to legalize the medical use of heroin for terminal cancer patients. I simply didn't have time to fight two battles at once. [continues 574 words]
An attempt to remove a Joliet city councilman from the April election ballot because he was convicted of a drug charge in Texas 22 years ago was rebuffed Thursday by the Joliet Electoral Board. David Gorman, a Joliet businessman who is seeking to unseat City Councilman Alex Ledesma for the council seat from Joliet's heavily Hispanic 4th District, had petitioned the board to remove Ledesma from the April 13 ballot. Gorman cited a state law that bars a person from holding municipal office if he has been convicted of a felony by any court in the nation. [continues 196 words]
JEANNETTE, Pa., Feb. 19 (UPI) - Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher says that approximately 25 law enforcement officers were in the process of capturing as many as 17 suspected crack cocaine dealers operating in the Jeannette area of Westmoreland County. Fisher said today's arrests are the result of a six-month investigation by agents of his Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force. He said the undercover investigation focused on street-level crack cocaine dealing throughout the Jeannette area. [continues 227 words]
MEXICO CITY, - A Mexican senator on Friday questioned the motives of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting this week to gather facts on Mexico's anti-drug efforts. "Receiving them will not be a very agreeable task, but I believe we must receive them, listen to them and give precise answers to what we believe are their mistaken appraisals," Martha Lara, president of Mexico's Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said. Florida Republican Representative John Mica, chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on criminal justice, drug policy and human resources, was in Mexico on Friday to lead an eight-member congressional delegation on a three-day trip. [continues 155 words]
Re: Marijuana use for the ill. I firmly believe that Canada will never legalize this substance in any form until they get permission from the U.S. The U.S. is still waging its "War on Drugs" (even though they will not consider any sort of firearm control) and think they are on the righteous track. A harm reduction program would make much more sense but don't hold your breath, we'll never get U.S. permission. It would be interesting to see Dr. Gifford-Jones write an article comparing the use of marijuanna with the use of alcohol. [continues 165 words]
SAN ANTONIO - U.S. Customs Service agents disclosed yesterday a crackdown on what they called a "grandiose scheme" to smuggle 75,000 pounds of the banned refrigerant Freon into the United States. The substance, which no longer can be imported into the country because of clean-air laws, originated in Venezuela and Mexico, said Leonard Lindheim, customs agent in charge in San Antonio. Much of the Freon arrived in tanks at the Port of Houston before ending up in a San Antonio-area warehouse and then being sold to legitimate customers, Lindheim said. [continues 266 words]
Drug War prisoners that I correspond with call themselves POWs. Some write "POW in America" in the corner of an envelope under the writer’s name and prison number. "Political prisoner" and "gulag" are terms that enter conversation. Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle and The Gulag Archipelago are works sometimes referred to. America’s vast network of prisons, boot camps, and jails invites comparison with the detention machinery of former totalitarian regimes. The certainty of conviction that an accusation of a drug law violation brings -- through confession (95 percent) or trial and a finding of guilt (the remaining 5 percent) -- matches the idea of automatic conviction that goes with popular belief about the nazi and communist systems. "Nazi" is a term used by Drug War prisoners and non-prisoners alike, as though it were a given that the mentality behind Nazi behavior a half-century ago and the operation of today ’s Drug War is no different. [continues 1379 words]
