8,000-plus plants worth $35 million are ripped out near Oakhurst. MADERA -- Madera County law enforcement authorities seized $35 million worth of marijuana plants this week, continuing a summerlong push against pot farms in the county's mountainous areas. Sheriff John P. Anderson said Wednesday that deputies and the county's Narcotics Enforcement Team raided marijuana gardens Monday in the Oakhurst area. The plants were seized just off Sky Ranch Road and in the Texas Flat area near Fresno Dome. [continues 282 words]
UNITED NATIONS -- Frustrated by declining support from Western donors and the indifference of the ruling Taliban, the United Nations is winding down efforts to persuade farmers in Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of opium, to switch to alternative, legal crops. Ghorak, Khakrez and Maiwand -- three districts of Qandahar province where the United Nations set up pilot programs promoting alternative crops -- have recorded decreases in poppy cultivation of at least 50 percent, according to the latest annual survey of the U.N. International Drug Control Program. [continues 555 words]
Two days after Angela Johnson moved into Stockton's Conway Homes housing project, a drug-related drive-by shooting shattered the peace in which she hoped to raise her 6-year-old daughter. But soon after that 1999 incident, Johnson said, the San Joaquin County Housing Authority, the federally funded agency that owns Conway Homes, moved to evict a tenant connected with the shooting. The agency applied a rule enabling it to evict tenants involved in or connected to drug activities. [continues 750 words]
Backers of the drug decriminalization ballot measure on the November ballot sought Wednesday to pressure Secretary of State Bill Jones not to speak at a conference their opponents are staging next month. Yes on 36 forces suggested that the nonprofit organization financing the Oct. 3-4 conference in Long Beach may be violating state campaign finance laws by paying for the conference. Under state and federal tax laws, nonprofit organizations are barred from political activity. Opponents countered that the conference is an "educational" and not a political event. And a spokesman for Jones said he plans to speak at the conference unless the Fair Political Practices Commission tells him it's a problem. [continues 409 words]
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) drug war drives the corrupt drug policy of many countries around the world. Maybe the politicians and media are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison and military-industrial complex, the drug-testing industry, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA and the politicians themselves can't live without the budget justification, not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The drug war also justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies, and is diminishing freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable according to the US constitution and bill of rights. Myron Von Hollingsworth- Fort Worth, Texas, USA [end]
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell believes it's a pretty innocuous request. The Silicon Valley congressman wants to debate with the incumbent he is challenging, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on the topic of drugs. So far, she hasn't agreed, he said. "It's a shame that she won't discuss this with me, because our drug policy is a matter of life and death, both at home and abroad," Campbell told The City Club of San Diego yesterday. [continues 345 words]
When Olympic equestrians mount their horses for competition on Sunday, Canadian Eric Lamaze will not be among them. The Canadian Olympic Association wisely ruled yesterday that it will not allow the admitted drug user to compete. It was the right decision for Canada but a devastating blow for this Toronto area rider who accepted the ruling but stressed that he is not a drug addict. "Cocaine is not part of my life," he said. Lamaze's rise from a troubled life to become a gifted rider is admirable. And the facts surrounding his case are complicated. One can certainly sympathize. But the fact remains that Lamaze used cocaine. While it's doubtful that the drug enhanced his performance, it was in clear violation of the athlete's agreement he had signed just weeks earlier. Tragically, Lamaze appears to have missed the lesson of four years ago when he was forced to miss the '96 Games for the very same reason cocaine use. [continues 130 words]
