PRESS RELEASE - 22nd APRIL, 2004

Edition 36.

Cannabis News Items From Around the World

Nimbin MardiGrass Revellers in Safe Hands

Australian Red Cross NSW Media Statement
19th April, 2004
Revellers in Safe Hands

Revellers at this year's Nimbin MardiGrass can feel safe in the knowledge that there will be a host of volunteers trained in first aid techniques present throughout the celebrations.

In a joint initiative between the Hemp Embassy, the Jungle Patrol Community Safety Inc and Australian Red Cross NSW's (ARC NSW) HOPE program, volunteers are to be trained in first aid techniques specific to drug crisis' management. The sessions will be free of charge to volunteers in an effort to minimise any harm to individuals or the community during the three-day event.

Participants will be instructed on how to effectively respond to overdose situations ranging from substance induced anxiety through to unconsciousness.

Participants will be made aware of the risk factors that may contribute to an overdose as well as how to recognise the signs and symptoms of someone who is getting into trouble.

Organisers of the event, to be held over the first weekend of May, expect up to 10,000 revellers to converge on the tiny Nimbin community to take part in what is quickly becoming one of Australia's best-known alternative festivals.

Now in its 12th year, this year's festivities include the Kombi Konvoy, the Hemp Olympix, a Pot Psychosium Forum and a Street Protest Rally in support of cannabis law reforms.

"As the MardiGrass is an international cannabis cultural gathering it can be expected that some of the revellers attending will be partaking in or experimenting with drugs - predominately marijuana", Nimbin Jungle Patrol Coordinator Gil Schilling said adding, "the objective behind training the
volunteers in CPR is to ensure there is plenty of assistance at hand if required".

ARC NSW HOPE Program Coordinator Tomas O'Brien said that while the Australian Red Cross recognised that the best way to avoid substance related health issues was to abstain from using altogether, if party goers do choose to take drugs the HOPE program aims to reduce the risks involved.

"It is about minimising the harm caused to the users themselves, to the overall Nimbin community and the reputation of the event. Volunteers who undertake the training will not only be doing their bit for the reveller's safety, but will also receive full CPR accreditation, which they can take
away with them", O'Brien said.

To date the ARC NSW HOPE Program has successfully trained approximately 900 participants in recognising and responding to drug or alcohol overdose.

The Nimbin Jungle Patrol is currently calling for volunteers to undertake the first aid training and to act as Officers during the event. The Officers responsibilities will involve crowd control, distributing venue and event information and safety management.

The Australian Red Cross HOPE training is scheduled for April 27th, 28th and 29th and will be held at Nimbin Bowling Club.

If you are interested in becoming a Nimbin Jungle Patrol volunteer for this year's Nimbin MardiGrass, and undertaking the free CPR training call Gil Shilling from the Nimbin Jungle Patrol on (02) 66890567 or go to http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com


Tom O'Brien
HOPE Project Coordinator
Australian Red Cross
Ph 02 9229 4142
Mo 0419 250 815

NETHERLANDS MOVES TO OUTLAW SUPERSTRONG 'SKUNK' CANNABIS

Netherlands Moves to Outlaw Superstrong 'Skunk'
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n575.a02.html
Newshawk: JimmyGVotes: 0
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2004Source: Times, The
(UK)Copyright: 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: letters@thetimes.co.uk
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/454
Author: Anthony Browne
Cited: Trimbos Institute
http://www.trimbos.nl/default.asp?id=37
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/skunk
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Dutch

NETHERLANDS MOVES TO OUTLAW SUPERSTRONG 'SKUNK' CANNABIS

THE sale of certain types of cannabis could be banned in the Netherlands amid concern that they
have become so powerful they could have the same addictive and psychological impact as hard drugs. The Dutch Government said that it would ban the most powerful forms of cannabis, such as "skunk", after research showed that they had doubled in strength in the past few years and could now be classified as a hard drug. Levels of THC -- tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychologically active ingredient -- in skunk have almost doubled from 9 per cent in 1999 to 15 per cent now, according to the Trimbos Institute, a drug research institute that monitors cannabis sales for the Health Ministry. The rise is due to new professional growing techniques. The institute said: "It has almost doubled in strength but we don't know what the effect on public health is." Skunk has now become one of the most popular forms of cannabis on sale in the Netherlands. Between 2.5 per cent and 3
per cent of the Dutch population regularly use cannabis and there are between 30,000 and 80,000
cannabis addicts. However, it is not clear whether stronger cannabis means that more people are likely to become addicted or develop other psychological problems. The Dutch Cabinet agreed last week to commission research to determine whether skunk is as dangerous as hard drugs, and this week will lay legislation before parliament to ban its sale if it is found to be harmful. Opposition parties said that if soft drugs became illegal, authorities would lose supervision over their trade and use. The Government has agreed a series of measures to clamp down on the industry. Selling cannabis has been banned near schools and near Dutch borders with other countries, to try to stop smuggling. Police have closed half the coffee shops in Amsterdam in the past few years and ministers want to combat "cannabis tourism" by allowing cannabis to be sold only to Dutch nationals.

MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n575.a02.html

MARDIGRASS, MAY 1 AND 2, "JUST SAY KNOW".

NIMBIN HEMP EMBASSY 15 APRIL 2004.

MARDIGRASS MAY 1 AND 2 "JUST SAY KNOW"

Nimbin's Twelfth MardiGrass and 'Just Say Know' Cannabis Law Reform Weekend on the 1 and 2 May has already attracted early campers in the village.

"MardiGrass is now an international cultural event which is very popular in the backpackers' calendar as well," said Michael Balderstone, spokesperson for the annual Rally. "It is a unique event which suits our unique community. It's an added bonus that it has real purpose and meaning for a
lot of people."

This year's MardiGrass is tackling the difficult subject of cannabis and mental health with a "Pot Psychosium" to be held in the Nimbin Town Hall on Saturday 1 May from 12 noon.

"As the name suggests, the discussion will examine the mental health aspects of today's cannabis use in Australia. We have invited doctors and other health professionals and urge concerned parents and young cannabis users to also attend".

"We hope the mothers who were on the front page of The Northern Star a couple of times in the last year saying their children had ended up in Richmond Clinic after smoking cannabis will come forward and tell their stories, for example", said Michael.

John Howard, Director of Clinical Services for the Ted Noffs Foundation, will facilitate the discussion.

"'Cannabis psychosis' is the big stick used by prohibitionists these days and we hope to explore whether it's made of hardwood or hollow", said Michael.

"We hope to identify what is really going on from the experts in the field and gain some sort of consensus on what can be done to minimise harm, under the current constraints of prohibition."

The MardiGrass Opening Ceremony is in Peace Park at sunset on Friday, 30 April, with Bundjalung Elders and a Ganja Harvest Dance performance by local musicians and dancers, Voodoo Jive, followed by the Annual Picker's Ball.

The Hemp Olympix opens at 11am on Saturday for the now famous Joint Rolling, Bong Throwing and Growers' Iron Person Events. There are more heats on Sunday morning followed by the finals, again all compered by masters of laughter S Sorrensen and Alan Glover.

The rest of the weekend is a smorgasbord of book launches, film premieres, concerts, exhibitions, performances, the inaugural Marijuana Music Awards at the Rainbow Cafe, Pot Poetry and Pot Art, the Cannabis Cup, Harvest Festival Ball, MardiGrass Markets and much more all over and around the village which comes together for the Big Protest March and Rally for Cannabis Law Reform at 1pm on Sunday.

The Kombi Konvoy travels from Byron Bay this year on Saturday to arrive in Nimbin at 4.20pm to join the Million Marijuana March, happening simultaneously around the earth in almost 300 cities on the weekend.

MardiGrass is a grass roots movement and volunteers are its backbone. MardiGrass relies on local volunteers who can also guide international tourists who volunteer at MardiGrass.

An all weekend MardiGrass pass costs only $20, payable on arrival. The Nimbin HEMP Embassy is a non-profit group which believes this important cultural weekend should be accessible for all comers.

The latest program can be seen on www.nimbinmardigrass.com Anyone organising anything who wants to be in the program should forward details to the Nimbin HEMP Embassy within the next week. All enquiries to

nimbin HEMP embassy
51 Cullen St
Nimbin NSW 2480
ph/fax 02 6689 1842
www.hempembassy.net

RECORD POPPY CROP in AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan: Record Poppy Crop Makes Mockery of
Afghanistan's Jihad.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n594.a10.html
Newshawk: JimmyG
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Sun, 18 Apr 2004
Source: Independent (UK)
Copyright: 2004 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Nick Jackson in Kabul
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

RECORD POPPY CROP MAKES MOCKERY OF AFGHANISTAN'S
'JIHAD' ON OPIUM

Blossoms of ripe opium poppies blanket the valleys of Nangarhar province - colourful proof that another war is not working: Afghanistan's "jihad" against opium production.

President Hamid Karzai's promise that 25 per cent of the opium harvest in Afghanistan would be destroyed is no closer to being realised. Last year, the harvest provided three quarters of the world's heroin, and 95 per cent of Europe's. This year a record harvest is expected. Robert Charles, a narcotics expert from the US State Department, says that 300,000 acres of opium
poppies will be harvested, 30 per cent more than the previous highest. Already 10 million people worldwide are addicted to Afghan opiates.

At a conference in Berlin this month, US Secretary of State Colin Powell linked the aid package of $2.3bn pledged to Afghanistan for 2004-05 to the destruction of the opium harvest. It was then that Mr Karzai called on farmers to fight opium production with the same commitment as they would a holy war.

"This is not a real policy," says Haji Din Mohammad, the governor of Nangarhar. "We have only told farmers at the end of the season. It is only now being decided whose fields will be destroyed."

Anger at the destruction of the harvest has led to demonstrations by farmers, including a 3,000-strong street protest in Kama district in Nangarhar last week. The fact that the central government did not work out which plots were to be destroyed earlier has passed control of the destruction to local authorities.

District authorities are responsible for overseeing the destruction of the local harvest. Police chiefs
in Behsood district and Kama district have been ordered to destroy 600 acres of opium. The farmer is paid $2,500 for 12kg of opium that each acre of poppies provides. An acre of wheat is worth only $120. Each district of 50 villages faces losing more than $1.5m.

The local authorities do not have the funds to replace the massive revenues from opium farming. Hazrat Ali, the military commander of Nangarhar, admits that they are not doing their job. "Our local administration is lazy and corrupt when destroying opium," he says.
"They can be paid off." Bribes of about $100 per half acre are being paid to prevent the destruction of fields, according to reports from Kandahar.

It is only the big landlords who can afford to pay off the police chiefs in this way. All local authorities
in Nangarhar province talk of a negotiation with the local elders, the richest landlords. Abdul Rahib, the police chief in Behsood district, says they control the selection of fields to be destroyed. Haji Ajif Khan, District Mayor of Kama, adds: "Some people have 100 or 200 acres of land, and we take money from these people." He claims that it is then distributed to poorer farmers.

When the big landlords who own hundreds of acres of poppies are targeted, the fields have been carefully selected. In Behsood district only half an acre of local landlord Haji Jilal Gul's massive crop was being cut down. It is possible to tell if an opium bud can produce opium or not by the smell of its seeds. Ripe opium buds smell fresh, like wet grass; buds that have gone off have a sickly sweet smell. The field destroyed would have been unable to produce a significant crop. The field next to it, owned by the same man, was ripe and being harvested.

Local worthies use other methods to counter the opium jihad. Many fields targeted had already yielded up to 50 per cent of their opium. Every day the buds are cut with four small slits, the next day or the day after the opium that seeps out is collected and four more slits cut. A small opium bud can be harvested over three days, a large opium bud over eight days.

In Shergar village in Kama the opium buds of a local elder which were being destroyed had been harvested for at least four days. The opium that has been harvested from these fields is not destroyed. Neither are the stockpiles of opium that have been built up over the years, and can still be used to make heroin 10 years after they have been harvested.

One government did cut through the influence of local landlords and the notoriously corrupt Afghan civil service and radically reduce the opium harvest - the Taliban. Between 1999 and 2001 the opium harvest fell from 225,000 acres to 20,000 acres, according to UN estimates. But the executions carried out by the Taliban are not acceptable in the new Afghanistan.

Even imprisonment is considered a draconian measure, even though Hazrat Ali believes it would be the best way to stop the harvest.

This is a dramatic transition from the policy of compensation used in 2002 by the new government, which Hazrat Ali supported, offering $350 per acre destroyed.

With $28bn pledged to Afghanistan for development over the next few years at the Berlin conference, Haji Din Mohammad hopes that development projects and loans for new businesses will provide an alternative income for the country's 1.7 million poppy farmers.

But he presents no plan for displacing the million-dollar opium producers who control the local
destruction. "This is a tribal area, you have to be careful when you're doing anything," he says.
"Otherwise there will be conflict, security problems, between the government and the people, between the government and the tribes."

Govt push to tell 'truth' on cannabis

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/15/1081998298747.html
Send your letters to: letters@theage.com.au

Push to 'tell truth' on cannabis
By David Wroe
Canberra
April 16, 2004

The Howard Government's drug taskforce is launching a new offensive against marijuana, with a booklet that the taskforce's head says will "tell the truth" and combat the "trivialisation" of the drug's dangers.

Australian National Council on Drugs chairman Brian Watters yesterday said a "pro-marijuana lobby" had successfully promoted the idea that cannabis was no more dangerous than alcohol and should be legalised.

"I think there has been a really concerted effort in some quarters to trivialise its effects," he said.

"The pro-marijuana lobby have done very well. They are very, very active."

Major Watters said the booklet would counter these perceptions by bringing together all of the latest research in a balanced, non-ideological way.

"It's not going back to Reefer Madness," Major Watters said, referring to the 1936 cautionary film from the United States, which has gained a modern cult following. "But it's not going to be given the imprimatur of the hemp embassy at Nimbin either.

"It tells the truth... what the research really says about marijuana."

Marijuana is Australia's most widely used illicit drug. A third of Australians have tried it and one in eight have smoked it in the past year, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show.

Major Watters, a Salvation Army officer with extensive experience in drug management, said he was "very opposed" to marijuana because he had seen the damage it did.

But David Crosby, another member of the council who expressed a more liberal view, said the booklet would provide non-judgemental information that allowed people to decide.

"There's very different views (on the council) about what we should do in relation to cannabis," said Mr Crosby, who is also Odyssey House chief executive. Mr Crosby said heavy marijuana use was dangerous, but an "occasional joint" was probably no more harmful than an occasional drink, provided the casual user had no family history of mental illness. But because there was no summary of the latest research in Australia, a divided council decided the booklet was best, he said.

Marijuana has been linked with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, but opinion differs on whether it causes psychosis or simply triggers latent mental illness.

Major Watters dismissed the distinction. "I've always said, 'Who cares?' If my son suddenly develops schizophrenia, I don't care whether the marijuana caused it or triggered it," he said. "The result is he has a great deal of turmoil in his mind."

The council has commissioned the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre to create the booklet, expected to be published this year.

Centre spokesman Paul Dillon said the booklet would strive to avoid trivialising or demonising the drug.

"With everything we produce around cannabis, we try to keep a balance and give information that is accurate, up-to-date and does not push a barrow," he said.

Opinion Piece on Govt push to tell "truth" about drugs

With a friend like Brian Watters, who needs an enemy.

The next time that Major Brian Watters [ret] tells the truth about cannabis could be a first.

Since truth and adherence to an evidence-based approach to the problem of drug abuse was the first casualty of the PM's Tough on Drugs policy.

Why else would John Howard appoint a known idealogue who fervently believes that 'there are things worse than death for a heroin addict' to chair his 'expert advisory group', the Australian National Council on Drugs? (ANCD)

The evidence base: 'what the research really says about marijuana' is readily available and if the ANCD was lead by someone who was driven by it rather than a prohibitionist marching to the beat of His Master's Voice, it would have prepared the booklet itself instead of having to recruit NDARC as an honest broker,

Unlike the Prime Minister and Brian Watters, the Nimbin HEMP Embassy will genuinely seek to "examine the mental health aspects of today's cannabis use in Australia" at a Pot Psychosium at this year's MardiGrass and 'Just Say Know' Cannabis Law Reform Weekend on the 1 and 2 May.

"We have invited doctors and other health professionals and urge concerned parents and young cannabis users to also attend", said Michael Balderstone, spokesperson for the annual Rally yesterday.

Another John Howard, the Director of Clinical Services for the Ted Noffs Foundation, will facilitate the discussion and according to their spokesperson, "it is expected the Prime Minister's Chief Drug Adviser, Major Brian Watters, [will] also [be] attending".

The Pot Psychosium will attempt to achieve Maj Watters's stated objective for the booklet:

" bringing together all of the latest research in a balanced, non-ideological way."

If the PM's chief drug advisor wants to be remembered/known as a 'friend' rather than an 'enemy' of telling the truth on cannabis, he will attend and subject his own views to public and expert scrutiny.

(Major Watters has declined our invitation, and will not be attending MardiGrass this year.)

Pot Fan Peter Lewis Puts Up Cash to Help Defeat Bush

Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Webpage:
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/election/0404nation/15shadow.html
Copyright: 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: conedit@ajc.com
Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Bob Dart
Cited: America Coming Together http://www.americacomingtogether.com/
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?168 (Lewis, Peter)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT FAN PUTS UP CASH TO HELP DEFEAT BUSH

WASHINGTON - A chief contributor to a Democratic shadow campaign to defeat President Bush is a 70-year-old marijuana enthusiast who made a fortune selling car insurance to so-so drivers.

Peter Lewis now spends much of his time cruising international waters in a $16 million converted oceangoing tugboat named "The Lone Ranger."

He is also:

* A fitness fanatic who barely slowed his regimen of swimming and weightlifting after losing part of a leg to a circulation ailment.

* A former chief executive who tolerated office romances and admitted indulging in such affairs himself.

* A generous patron with an estimated worth of more than $1 billion whose interests include liberal politics, modern art and his alma mater, Princeton University.

Describing himself to Fortune magazine, Lewis declared, "I'm the best person to have been fired by, or divorced from, that I know."

Lewis, the retired head of the Progressive group of insurance companies, has given about $3 million to America Coming Together and pledged $10 million to the anti-Bush organization, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group that studies money in politics.

That makes Lewis a major player in a new political game that allows such independent political groups to solicit unlimited "soft money" political contributions from corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals.

Critics charge that these groups are circumventing campaign finance reforms that stopped political parties from raising and spending soft money. They claim that the groups, often run by veteran Democratic or Republican strategists, take advantage of a loophole in regulations to conduct
"shadow" campaigns, filling in with ads and messages when the parties can't afford to.

Reform Spawns Groups

The growth of these groups started after Congress enacted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Though the Republicans fought the act, they have had far more success raising the small "hard money" donations from individuals it allows. That has left the Democrats far more reliant on the
independent groups.

Through his representatives, Lewis declined to be interviewed for this article. But his donations make his political positions clear.

"His two big issues are getting Bush out of office and regulating marijuana," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group dedicated to decriminalizing adult pot use and placing it under regulations. Lewis has given $340,000 to the organization, according
to the Center for Responsive Politics.

"It takes a certain breed of person to be a philanthropist on the marijuana issue," explained Kampia, who described Lewis as "direct," "easygoing" and "high energy."

Jim Jordan, a spokesman for America Coming Together, said he could not comment on Lewis.

Lewis' history can be pieced together from articles in various publications over the years.

Growing up in upper-middle-class Cleveland Heights, Ohio, he listened to "The Lone Ranger" on the radio. He told The Cleveland Plain Dealer in an interview that he identifies with the masked cowboy who fought for good with silver bullets.

His father was a lawyer who co-founded Progressive Corp., an auto insurance company, in 1937. He died during Lewis' senior year at Princeton.

After his graduation, Lewis went to work at Progressive. By the time he turned 31, he had bought out his father's partner and become CEO.

Under his leadership over the next 35 years, Progressive grew from about 100 employees to about 25,000, becoming the fourth-largest auto insurer in the country. Much of its growth came from insuring high-risk drivers who pay high premiums.

"Peter Lewis is an extraordinary businessman," said Fortune magazine. But while focused on the bottom line -- and quick to fire underlings who fail to meet expectations -- Lewis was far from a typical executive.

For example, he believed that sexual relationships will occur in offices, even if officially banned, and that they were permissible as long as they didn't hinder efficiency.

"Intraoffice romances just happen," he told Fortune. "And I've had them, both inappropriately and appropriately."

Lewis and his wife, Toby, were divorced in 1981 after being married for 26 years and having three children. The pair maintain a friendship, however, and Toby Lewis is curator of Progressive's contemporary art collection.

Associated With Pot

Over the years, Lewis has been publicly associated with pot almost as often as with profits. He was arrested in New Zealand on marijuana charges in 2000 and featured in a Time magazine story titled "Has America Gone to Pot?"

"Based on the experience I've had with Scotch whisky, which is plenty, and the experience I've had with marijuana, which is plenty, I think it should be regulated the same way alcohol is," Lewis told The Princetonian, the student newspaper of his alma mater.

According to Kampia, Lewis believes "there is no downside to regulating marijuana. If you want to improve the world, it's the easy way to go. No one is going to get hurt."

Health concerns prompted Lewis to retire from the active leadership of Progressive. In 1998, a vascular ailment forced the amputation of his left leg below the knee.

Lewis now devotes his attention his philanthropic efforts.

He has contributed $116 million to Princeton, making him the university's largest single donor. He donated $36.9 million for a business school building at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He serves as chairman of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. And, of course, he contributes millions of dollars to political causes.

Meanwhile, he cruises the world's waters on "The Lone Ranger,' attended by a crew of 18.

"You have no idea how easy and luxurious it is," Lewis told The Plain Dealer. "Because these 18 people on the boat have only one objective: To make me happy."

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