SACRAMENTO -- California voters spoke loudly in Tuesday's election in favor of a new approach toward fighting the war on drugs that emphasizes rehabilitating users rather than locking them up. Now the sponsors of Proposition 36, which diverts nonviolent drug users from incarceration to treatment, plan to use their victory to try to persuade other states, including Ohio, Michigan and New York, to change their drug laws. Supporters point out that Tuesday's vote represents a significant departure from the tough-on-crime policies generally favored by California voters and politicians. [continues 696 words]
TAMPA - Opening Statements Are Made In The Trial Of Four Colombians Facing Cocaine Distribution Charges Federal prosecutors outlined their case Tuesday against four Colombians arrested and brought to Tampa as part of a long string of cocaine seizures off the coast of Ecuador, but shed no light on the mystery shrouding the case. The case involves one of many vessels seized and brought to Florida by federal agents in the eastern Pacific this year. Agents have confiscated more than 17 tons of cocaine and charged 40 crewman, but have refused to say what sparked the seizures or why the cases are being prosecuted in Tampa. [continues 391 words]
An even more dangerous version of the drug ecstasy which has been circulating in Europe is threatening to enter the Dublin drugs scene. A number of seizures of the drug, paramethoxyamphetamine or PMA, which looks identical to the ecstasy tablet, have been made in Europe. The British National Criminal Intelligence Service yesterday confirmed some had been made in Britain. The drug has not been detected in recent seizures in Ireland. The drug is released more slowly into the system than regular ecstasy. This could lead a person to believe a tablet is having no effect and take another. [continues 241 words]
Judges Concerned That Without Threat Of Jail Time, There's No Teeth To Laws Two Placer County judges say the passage of Proposition 36 jeopardizes the future of the county's drug court. The newly passed measure orders treatment for first- and second-time drug offenses rather than jail. The state analyst predicts a $200 million annual savings statewide from cuts in jailing would-be offenders. But Placer County Superior Court Judge Joe O'Flaherty called Prop. 36 a "very bad idea." [continues 409 words]
UKIAH -- Mendocino County's vote to decriminalize pot for personal use will have national significance, advocates said Wednesday. "It's a message that will be hard to ignore," said former Rep. Dan Hamburg of Ukiah, a Measure G proponent. But local, state and federal authorities said they are making no change in how they go about enforcing pot laws following Tuesday's approval of the Green Party-sponsored ballot measure by a 58-42 percent margin. "Nothing changes. Absolutely nothing. State and federal laws treating marijuana as an illegal substance remain in effect," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer. [continues 316 words]
Mendocino County Proposition Adopted With 25-plant Limitation UKIAH -- Voters in Mendocino County, where the chief cash crop is marijuana, decided it's high time to let people grow their own pot. It's the first such ballot measure in the nation to pass. The measure, which faced no organized opposition and passed Tuesday with 58 percent of the vote, would allow residents of this verdant county on California's northern coast to cultivate up to 25 marijuana plants each. While a few liberal college towns such as Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Amherst, Mass., have decriminalized smoking marijuana, Mendocino is the first community to vote to allow the growing of pot, said the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. [continues 194 words]
Voters Mandate Radical Change In Drug Strategy. On Election Day, California voters grown weary of business as usual in the war on drugs sent politicians an unmistakable message: "Time out. Let's rethink our strategy." A huge majority of voters -- more than 60% -- approved Proposition 36, which requires judges to sentence nonviolent first-time drug users to treatment rather than to jail or prison. Voter approval signals a remarkable turning point. Nearly every law enforcement interest in California strongly opposed Proposition 36. Police, prosecutors and judges issued dire warnings that the initiative would lead to greater drug abuse. Gov. Gray Davis opposed the measure, as did Attorney General Bill Lockyer. The state's newspapers were nearly unanimous in opposition. [continues 271 words]
TABATINGA, Brazil -- Until recently, this town sitting on the corner of the frontiers of Brazil, Peru and Colombia was one of the most sleepy, remote and overlooked parts of the Amazon. But that was before the fighting upriver among army troops, guerrillas and paramilitary forces on Colombia's side of a largely unmarked, 1,021-mile border started to intensify. Suddenly, the Brazilian government is stepping up river patrols and air surveillance and destroying clandestine airstrips, driven by a concern that the $1.3 billion the United States has promised Colombia to bolster its army may further fuel the long war against drug traffickers and their guerrilla allies and send it spilling into Brazil. [continues 1037 words]
Silicon Valley Advocate Of Voucher Proposition Rejected By Voters Says He Isn't Finished With The Issue. Two ballot initiatives that emerged from Tuesday's election could dramatically transform California's law enforcement and educational landscape. Proposition 36 promises fundamental changes in how California deals with nonviolent drug users. The measure requires that people convicted of nonviolent drug possession offenses be placed on probation and sent to treatment rather than prison. It also appropriates $120 million a year to fund treatment programs. [continues 821 words]
