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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1203 -- 1/26/24
Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1203

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director,borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

After 30 years we still have work left. Will you support it? https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/21/what_are_we_after_30_years

Table of Contents:

1. SRI LANKA DRUG WAR SEES TENS OF THOUSANDS ARRESTED IN WEEKS [FEATURE]
A nasty drug war is brewing in this island nation off the coast of India. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/24/sri_lanka_drug_war_sees_tens

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Wisconsin Republican lawmakers tussle over medical marijuana, Delaware lawmakers move to expand that state's medical marijuana system, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/25/medical_marijuana_update

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
It's jailers gone wild this week. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/17/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. NJ MAGIC MUSHROOM BILL FILED, WI GOP AT ODDS OVER MEDMJ, MORE... (1/17/24) The Florida legislature meddles with foreign policy, Wisconsin Republicans remain in search of agreement on advancing medical marijuana, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/17/nj_magic_mushroom_bill_filed_wi

5. WV MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION BILL FILED, CO ASSET FORFEITURE REFORM BILL FILED, MORE... (1/18/24)
A bill to broadly legalize drug test strips advances in West Virginia, DOJ releases FY 2021 arrest and imprisonment stats, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/18/wv_marijuana_legalization_bill

6. OK ANTI-DRUG BILL LABELS HISPANIC RESIDENTS "TERRORISTS," ME BILL WOULD LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS, MORE... (1/19/24)
A Georgia bill would raise the age for medical marijuana, a South Dakota bill would clarify that workers in certain safety-sensitive positions can still be fired for medical marijuana use, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/19/ok_antidrug_bill_labels_hispanic

7. WV BILL REFELONIZES DRUG POSSESSION, OR MEASURE 110 AUDIT RELEASED, MORE... (1/22/24)
Wisconsin Republicans are at an impasse over medical marijuana, a Hawaii civil asset forfeiture reform bill gets filed, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/22/wv_bill_refelonizes_drug

8. US SENDING LETHAL AID TO ECUADOR TO FIGHT DRUG GANGS, HOUSE MEMBERS TARGET "GAS STATION HEROIN," MORE... (1/22/24)
The Justice Department seeks to throw out a challenge to federal marijuana prohibition, Mexico wants to know where military grade weaponry reaching drug cartels is coming from, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/23/us_sending_lethal_aid_ecuador

9. OR DEMS UNVEIL PROPOSAL TO RECRIMINALIZE DRUG POSSESSION, NY HOME GROW RULES, MORE... (1/24/24)
Ireland's first safe injection site will open in September, New York regulators release draft rules for adult use home grows, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/24/or_dems_unveil_proposal

10. FEDERAL "GAS STATION HEROIN" BILL FILED, AZ PSILOCYBIN STUDY BILL ADVANCES, MORE... (1/25/24)
A restrictive South Dakota medical marijuana bill is killed, a Florida Senate resolution designating Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations advances, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/25/federal_gas_station_heroin_bill

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1. SRI LANKA DRUG WAR SEES TENS OF THOUSANDS ARRESTED IN WEEKS [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/24/sri_lanka_drug_war_sees_tens

Sri Lanka police have arrested 40,000 people in anti-drug operations in the past few weeks, according to Acting police chief Deshabandu Tennakoon (https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-drug-raids-human-rights-4a2c267c246e89fe919335d927f68887). The
campaign, known as Operation Yukthiya (Justice), features heavily-armed police and soldiers using sniffer dogs to stage nighttime raids on homes, searching public transport, seizing drugs, and arresting not only drug users and dealers, but even people
whose only offense is having been arrested for drugs in the past.

The campaign has been replete with reports of unauthorized searches, arbitrary arrests, torture and even strip searches in public, and international concern and criticism is mounting.

Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council expressed its concerns with those reports, saying that (https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-drug-raids-human-rights-4a2c267c246e89fe919335d927f68887): "While drug use presents a serious challenge to
society, a heavy-handed law enforcement approach is not the solution. Abuse of drugs and the factors that lead to it are first and foremost public health and social issues."

And international civil society is joining in. In a joint statement (https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2024/01/240112%20Sri%20Lanka%20-%20Joint%20statement%20on%20Yukthiya.pdf) last week, more than 30 global human rights and drug reform
organizations including Amnesty International, Harm Reduction International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists expressed their concern with the "drastic intensification" of anti-drug operations, which they say is leading to
significant human rights violations.

"Alongside the Sri Lankan police, members of the armed forces have been supporting this operation, during which several human rights violations have been reported," the joint statement said. "These violations include alleged arbitrary arrests, primarily
against individuals from marginalized socio-economic communities; searches conducted without warrants or reasonable suspicion; and degrading treatment including strip searches in public as well as cavity searches. The searches and arrests have been
televised, in violation not only of the right to privacy (and of basic human dignity) but also of a person's right to be presumed innocent."

The groups point out that drug suspects are generally jailed after arrest, punishing them with loss of income and housing before they are even convicted of any crime, and stretching an already overcrowded prison system to the brink. Drug prisoners
account for nearly two-thirds of all persons convicted of crimes, according to Sri Lanka's Department of Prisons.

"Persons are being arrested primarily under Section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, an offence which is non-bailable. As a result, those arrested are bound to spend time (sometimes months) in pretrial detention, thereby
exacerbating already poor conditions of imprisonment in an overburdened prison system," the joint statement said.

But the joint statement's complaint that authorities had arrested 29,000 is already outdated. Another 11,000 have been arrested since the joint statement was released in mid-month.

The human rights groups also drew attention to Sri Lanka's use of forced drug treatment, noting that more than 1,600 people have been sent to compulsory drug rehab "in violation of several fundamental rights; including the right to the highest attainable
standard of health, which includes the right to consent to and withdraw from medical treatment."

And they painted Sri Lankan drug treatment centers as more akin to torture centers than medical facilities, even putting quotation marks around the words drug treatment in the Sri Lankan context.

"'Drug treatment' in these centers is abstinence-based, essential harm reduction services are not available, and persons undergo severe withdrawal symptoms without any medical assistance while in detention," the statement says. "The use of violence to
discipline and punish has been reported in at least two compulsory drug rehabilitation centers which are within the purview of the Bureau of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation and are operated by the military, which is in itself a violation of
international standards," it added.

Concerns over Sri Lankan drug treatment practices are longstanding, the groups noted.

"The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its statement at the conclusion of its visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 expressed concern regarding the involvement of military personnel in drug treatment and rehabilitation, the fact that strenuous physical
exercise was the core component of compulsory drug treatment, and at the lack of trained professionals to monitor the health of people in detention. Furthermore, the statement highlighted the irregularities in the judicial process by which persons were
sent to drug rehabilitation centers without a medical assessment."

The Sri Lankan war on drugs is putting the country outside the mainstream of global current thinking on drug policy, the groups argued, noting that "a punitive and militarized approach to drug control contravenes recognized international human rights
standards and guidelines, is ineffective to protect individual and public health, and ultimately fails to make communities safer."

The joint statement calls on the Sri Lankan government to immediately cease Operation Yukthiya, release people arrested without evidence or reasonable suspicion, release people forced into drug treatment centers, close those centers, repeal the laws that
allow those centers, and end the involvement of the armed forces in drug policing and drug treatment.

That would be a good beginning at righting a policy of drug war excess. But if Sri Lankan Public Security Minister Tiran Alles can be taken at his word, then the excesses will continue.

"We will not stop this operation. We will go ahead and we will do it the same way because we know that we are doing something good for the children of this country, for the women of this country and that is why the general public is wholeheartedly with
us in these operations," he told the Associated Press (https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-drug-raids-human-rights-4a2c267c246e89fe919335d927f68887).

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2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2024/jan/25/medical_marijuana_update

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers tussle over medical marijuana, Delaware lawmakers move to expand that state's medical marijuana system, and more.

Delaware

Delaware House Committee Advances Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill Ahead of Adult Use Sales Launch (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/delaware-house-committee-approves-bill-to-significantly-expand-medical-marijuana-program-ahead-of-adult-use-sales-launch/).
The House Health and Human Development Committee on Wednesday approved a bill to significantly expand the state's medical marijuana program. The measure is House Bill 285 (https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?legislationId=140809), from Rep. Ed
Osienski (D).

The bill would make a series of changes to Delaware's medical marijuana program, including removing limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors could issue marijuana recommendations for
any condition they see fit.

Osienski, who also led the successful push for adult use legalization, said this bill would allow the state's medical marijuana program "to be more successful as the state moves forward with recreational sales, and to make it less expensive and easier
for patients to access medical marijuana."

Georgia

Georgia Bill Would Raise Age for Medical Marijuana (https://www.wfxg.com/story/50352372/lawmakers-to-raise-age-for-medical-marijuana). Lawmakers have just filed legislation that would raise the age to buy medical marijuana products from 18 to 21.

The state only allows low-THC cannabis and hemp products under the rubric of medical marijuana.

The bill has yet to appear on the legislative web site.

Iowa

Iowa Bill Would Expand State Low-THC Medical Marijuana Program to Include Flower (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/iowa-bill-would-expand-state-medical-cannabis-program-to-include-raw-flower/). A bill that would change the state's definition of "medical
cannabidiol" to include forms of oral, topical, and inhalable cannabis, including raw flowers advanced in a subcommittee vote Tuesday. House Study Bill 532 (https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=90&ba=HSB532) now goes to the full Committee
on Public Safety.

Current state law requires medical cannabis products to be extracts, but proponents of the bill say that process is costly and allowing the use of other forms of the drug would lower costs for patients.

"We are the only state really left in the country that is requiring extracts in their products," said industry lobbyist Dane Schumann. "The reason other states have moved away from requiring that is because of what I just described, it's very expensive
to make patients have to buy that."

South Dakota

South Dakota House Committee Approves Bill Requiring Notice That Medical Marijuana Cardholders Cannot Legally Own Firearms (https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2024/01/12/house-committee-passes-bill-requiring-notice-that-medical-marijuana-card-holders-cannot-
legally-own-firearms/). The House Judiciary Committee has approved House Bill 1024 (https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24528), which would "require that an application for a medical marijuana registry identification card include a notice and
acknowledgement of federal law regarding firearms and the unlawful use of a controlled substance."

The committee also approved a companion bill, House Bill 1036 (https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24809), which would "require that a dispensary post notice of the federal law regarding possession of a firearm and the use of marijuana and to provide
a civil penalty."

Gun safety and concealed pistol permit instructor Rep. Kevin Jensen (R) sponsored both bills.

"The bill (HB 1024) only requires an additional statement on the medical marijuana card about firearms," Jensen said. "It's just an acknowledgment. Then it is up to the consumer."

The two bills now head for a House floor vote.

South Dakota House Approves Bills Warning Medical Marijuana Patients They Cannot Legally Buy Guns (https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2024/01/17/bills-alerting-medical-marijuana-card-holders-that-they-cant-purchase-firearms-passes-house/). The House on
Tuesday approved House Bill 1024 (https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24528), which would "require that an application for a medical marijuana registry identification card include a notice and acknowledgement of federal law regarding firearms and the
unlawful use of a controlled substance."

"All this bill (HB1024) would require on the application for a medical marijuana card is the same language used on the federal form (to purchase a firearm)," Jensen said.

The House also approved a companion bill, House Bill 1036 (https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24809), which would "require that a dispensary post notice of the federal law regarding possession of a firearm and the use of marijuana and to provide a
civil penalty." HB1036 would require a marijuana dispensary to post language similar to the federal firearm application that a medical cannabis cardholder cannot purchase a gun.

Jensen said to comply, all a dispensary would need to do is print out the language on a sheet of paper and post it near the cash register or the door.

The bills now head to the Senate.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Republicans Appear to Be at Impasse over Medical Marijuana Plan (https://www.beloitdailynews.com/news/wisconsin-news/wisconsin-republicans-appear-to-be-at-an-impasse-over-medical-marijuana-legalization-plan/article_13199395-f3a2-5197-b410-
347ad7fb48dd.html). Prospects for legalizing medical marijuana dimmed this week after Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) said Tuesday he would not compromise with Senate Republicans who oppose his proposal to create state-run dispensaries.

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) said last week that the state-run dispensaries were "a non-starter."

But Vos countered that "months and months of negotiation" had resulted in a "very detailed bill" that has the votes to pass among Republicans.

"Taking and renegotiating the bill means we probably lose votes in our caucus," Vos said. "So I'd rather get us through to keep the promise we made, which is to have a comprehensive bill that can actually become law as opposed to an ethereal idea that
maybe somebody could support someday but it never actually makes it anywhere."

Vos's bill is highly restrictive. It limits medical marijuana to people with a specified list of qualifying conditions, does not allow the use of smokeable marijuana, and would limit the number of dispensaries to five.

Wisconsin is one of only a dozen states that have yet to legalize medical marijuana.



================  ...


                                         ___________________

                                          It's time to correct the mistake:
                                        Truth:the Anti-drugwar
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                                      Cops say legalize drugs--find out
why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

                                       Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
                                       ___________________

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