Sheep on Meth Shocked With Tasers
Cocaine is a hell of a drug, but getting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any white-knuckled cocaine experience hands down. And that's exactly what happened to some lucky sheep in a new study that tested the effects of Tasers on meth-addled targets, funded in part by Taser International.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/taser-shocks-meth-intoxicated-sheep-dont-harm-heart-taser-study-says
War on drugs is big business
The Obama administration is unable to show that the billions of dollars spent in the war on drugs have significantly stemmed the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts. "We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports. "I think we have wasted our money hugely," agreed Bruce Bagley, who studies US counter-narcotics efforts and chairs international studies at the University of Miami. "The effort has had corrosive effects on every country it has touched." The reports criticize the government's growing use of contractors, which were paid more than USD 3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment, and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America. The majority of US counter-narcotics contracts are awarded to five companies: DynCorp, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ITT, and ARINC. DynCorp received the largest total, USD 1.1 billion. Among other jobs, the US contractors train local police and investigators, provide logistical support to intelligence collection centers, and fly airplanes and helicopters that spray herbicides to eradicate coca crops grown to produce cocaine.
http://rdd.me/fp2b4s6n
National Commission on Ganja
Ten years ago, Jamaica's government-appointed National Commission on Ganja produced a report calling for marijuana decriminalization, which the government, under pressure from the US, promptly forgot about. But now, the government will again review those recommendations. The report, which was authored by academics and physicians, found that pot smoking was "culturally entrenched" in the island nation, and that most moderate users suffered no ill effects. While it called for decriminalization, the US Embassy in Kingston ensured that the notion died a quiet death. Ganja has broad public acceptance in Jamaica, where it is considered a sacrament by Rastafarians. But its possession or cultivation is illegal under Jamaican law. The US has long worked with Jamaican authorities to eradicate marijuana cultivation and smuggling from Jamaica to the US.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/apr/12/jamaica_look_again_decriminalizi
War on the Mexican People
Since 2006, violence has become intractable in Mexico, and almost 29,000 people have died. Human and civil rights have been this war's other casualty. Anti-drug laws are used against trade unions. Homes can be searched without a warrant. The army now virtually occupies communities throughout the country, carrying out functions that, under the constitution, are not the responsibility of the armed forces: it has set up checkpoints, de facto curfews, and inspections. The situation in several northern states resembles a state of siege. In Guerrero, military forces have engaged in low intensity warfare whose tactics include stealing crops, raping women, extrajudicial killings, and even forced sterilisation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/aug/12/drugs-war-on-mexican-people/print
Der Krieg ist vorbei
The United States has "ended its war on drugs" and is now moving its focus to prevention and treatment, the US drugs chief has told top Irish drug officials. President Barack Obama’s drugs adviser Gil Kerlikowske said the US had formally ended its much heralded -- and hugely expensive -- "war on drugs". "We've talked about a war on drugs for 40 years, since President Nixon. I ended the war," said Mr Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kfcwauqlqlid/
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