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Ecstasy

Ecstasy tablets. A federal judge has ruled that Ecstasy offenses are punished too harshly. (Image: Wikimedia.org)
Ecstasy tablets. A federal judge has ruled that Ecstasy offenses are punished too harshly. (Image: Wikimedia.org)

Federal Judge Rejects Ecstasy Sentencing Guidelines

The federal sentencing guidelines for Ecstasy offenses are too harsh and not supported by the scientific evidence, a federal district judge has ruled.

Law Student Sues St. John’s University for Rescinding Readmission Over Drug Charges

David Powers, an accountant who took time out of law school at St. John’s University, has sued the Roman Catholic university in New York after it refused to readmit him, saying that he had not been honest about a criminal conviction, since expunged, in his past. Three semesters into his law degree, Mr. Powers was granted a leave of absence to manage a $2-billion investment fund in Hong Kong.

The Promise of Psychedelic Healing: Entheogens, Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development

An evening with Neal Goldsmith and special guests John Perry Barlow, Julie Holland, Daniel Pinchbeck, Rick Doblin, and Ethan Nadelmann. And a dance party.

Join Evolver.net and Mangusta Productions for a mind expanding night of psychedelic exploration. Banned after promising research in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, the use of psychedelics as therapeutic catalysts is now being rediscovered -- a topic covered by Neal Goldsmith's new book, Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development (Inner Traditions, 2011). Come celebrate its publication with a kaleidoscopic conversation featuring five of the leading figures in this field, speaking on the latest theories, research, and legal developments.

How can psychedelic experiences shape personality and healing? Can psychedelic psychotherapy truly can be transformative, either individually or collectively? Can humanity change course from an impending human dieback and blossom to create a truly integral planet?

Come for a reading and discussion with:

Neal Goldsmith, Ph.D, Psychotherapist specializing in psychospiritual development. A frequent speaker on spiritual on spiritual emergence, drug policy reform, and post-modern society. Author of Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., President and Founder of Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Science (MAPS). His dissertation was on “The Regulation of the Medical Use of Psychedelics and Marijuana and his master’s thesis (Harvard) focused on the attitudes and experiences of oncologists concerning the medical use of marijuana.

John Perry Barlow, Visionary, former Grateful Dead lyricist, and a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization which promotes freedom of expression in digital media.

Julie Holland, M.D., Psychiatrist specializing in psychopharmacology. Author of Ecstasy: The Complete Guide and bestselling Weekends at Bellevue and editor of The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis and Ecstacy: The Complete Guide.

Daniel Pinchbeck, Bestselling author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Notes from the Edge of Time, and Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shaminism; Co-editor of Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age. Daniel is the editorial director of RealitySandwich.com, and co-founder of Evolver.net.

Ethan Nadelmann, Ph.D., founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the leading organization in the United States promoting alternatives to the war on drugs. Author of Cops Across Borders, the first scholarly study of the internationalization of U.S. criminal law enforcement, and co-author of Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations.

Dance Celebration follows discussion with live music performance by JahFurry & Kochie Banton with the I & I Drum Link. DJ sets by Krister Linder and Winslow Porter.

Cash bar – organic beer, wine and drinks.
Astoria's own Beyond Kombucha presents a special blend for the event.
Snacks by Xango.

Doors at 7:30, panel at 8:00, dance celebration 11pm – 2am

Price - $25, $20 for Evolver Social Network Members (e-mail [email protected]om for info); $15 after midnight.

To purchase tickets please go to http://psychedelichealing.eventbrite.com/. Tickets will sell out so to guarantee your entrance, get yours ahead of time.

Australia: Ecstasy Emerges As Secret Choice of Middle Age

Publicity about people being caught with party drugs usually concentrates on those in their teens and 20s. So when the Austalian Labor aide Matthew Chesher, 44, was charged with possessing one ecstasy tablet last week, the lid was lifted on a quite different phenomenon: the growing number of middle-aged ecstasy users. The generation that championed the drug in the '80s and '90s is getting older.

Study Explores Therapeutic Value of Ecstasy

The recreational drug known as ecstasy may have a medicinal role to play in helping people who have trouble connecting to others socially, new research suggests. In a study involving a small group of healthy people, investigators found that ecstasy prompted heightened feelings of friendliness, playfulness and love, and induced a lowering of the guard that might have therapeutic uses for improving social interactions. The researchers suggested that ecstasy might help people with post-traumatic stress disorder as well those with autism, schizophrenia or antisocial personality disorder cope with a variety of emotional difficulties.

Kansas: Ecstasy Possession now Felony

Action Alert: March 31, 2008 On Friday, the Senate passed a bill to make the second-time possession of ecstasy (MDMA) a felony in the state of Kansas by a vote of 40-0. This bill passed the House earlier by a vote of 117-2. The bill has been sent to the governor for her signature. Currently, a conviction for possession of ecstasy is a misdemeanor, no matter the number of convictions. Ecstasy now joins marijuana as a second-conviction felony, meaning the person will be sentenced under SB 123 to mandatory treatment - whether they need it or not - fines and possible jail time. Implementing this bill is expected to cost between $700,000 and $1,300,000 this year alone. Money that could be used for re-entry programs in the state. More information on HB 2545 can be found here, http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-bills/searchBillNumber.do It is fully expected that the KBI will ask next year to add LSD and mushrooms to this list - further criminalizing drug use, while not expending any additional tax-dollars on effective drug education. (Kansas school children in the majority of districts are still subjected to the research-proven ineffective DARE program.) In other drug policy-related legislation, Salvia divinorum or salvinorum, and Datura stramonium, commonly known as gypsum weed or jimson weed was moved to Schedule 1, thereby criminalizing the possession and sale of the drug. Read more about these new laws and all the drug control policy-related legislation on our website, http://www.dpfks.org/KSLeg.html. Sincerely, Laura A. Green, Executiver Director Please help us promote innovative drug policies by sending your tax-deductible donation today. Become a member: Add yourself to our mailing list by going to our web site www.dpfks.org. To unsubscribe, reply to this message with the word unsubscribe. Our mailing address is DPFKS, PO Box 357, Lawrence, Kansas 66044

Action Alert: Felony for Ecstasy Possession

[Courtesy of Drug Policy Forum of Kansas]

Action Alert

March 10, 2008

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider a bill to make the second possession of ecstasy a FELONY in Kansas even if the first offense was under a city ordinance - such as they have in Wichita. This bill passed the House 117-2.

Not only will this bill not deter drug abuse in Kansas, it is expensive and was put forward by legislators who only seek more people in our prisons - to allow the private prison industry to start building in Kansas.

Implementing this bill is expected to cost between $700,000 and $1,300,000 this year alone. Money that could be used for re-entry programs in the state. More information on HB 2545 can be found here, http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-bills/searchBillNumber.do 

Would you please take one minute to call or write a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them to oppose the HB 2545 which makes possession of Ecstacy a felony in Kansas? 

Click here to send an email to all the members at one time, or call --

Committee Chair, Senator John Vraitl, R-Overland Park, 785-296-7361

Vice Chair, Senator Terry Bruce,  R-Hutchinson, 785-296-7300

Senator Barbara Allen,  R-Overland Park,  785-296-7353

Senator Les Donovan,  R-Wichita, 785-296-7385 

Senator Phil Journey, R-Wichita, 785-296-7367

Senator Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, 785-296-7382

Senator Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, 785-296-2497

Senator Duane Umbarger, R-Thayer, 785-296-7389

Senator Greta Goodwin,R-Winfield, 785-296-7381

Senator Donald Betts, R-Wichita, 785-296-7387

Senator David Haley, D- Kansas City, 785-296-7376     

Sample letter or phone call:

Dear Senator, I am opposed to HB 2545, a bill to make the second-time possession of ecstasy a felony in Kansas.

This bill will not reduce drug abuse in Kansas in will only put more drug offenders in our prisons.

Reducing drug abuse can only be accomplished through some of the following; spending more on drug treatment programs in our prisons, providing effective drug education in our schools and early childhood education programs.

According to the governor's budget director, this bill will add an additional one million dollars to the corrections budget this year alone. This money could be better used to expand re-entry programs across the state.

Please support effective programs to reduce drug abuse in Kansas, not legislation designed to put more people in prison.

 

Please help us promote innovative drug policies by sending your tax-deductible donation today.

Become a member

Add yourself to our mailing list by going to our web site www.dpfks.org.

To unsubscribe, reply to this message with the word unsubscribe.

Our mailing address is DPFKS, PO Box 357,  Lawrence, Kansas  66044.

DrugSense FOCUS Alert: John Walters Caught Lying - Again

[Courtesy of DrugSense] One of the U.S. government's most persistently dishonest appointed officials - John Walters, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) - has been caught in yet another outright lie to the North American media. His office's first major press release of 2008 made a disturbing announcement. According to Drug Czar Walters, there is a "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada." The drug? - so called "Extreme Ecstasy." In a news release distributed in the U.S. and Canada, Walters warned that the use of ecstasy is being fueled by Canadian producers smuggling the illegal designer drug -- which is increasingly laced with crystal meth -- into the U.S. "Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," Walters said in the release. Scott Burns, the primary spokesperson for Walters' ONDCP office, echoed the alarming cry with "They are remarketing and packaging it and trying to glamorize it." Certainly gives the guise of being important information for Americans - especially parents of teenagers, right? Unfortunately, it seems that John Walters and the ONDCP created "extreme ecstasy" out of their own imaginations. The U.S. Drug Czar has been caught lying - again. And this time, the direct rebuttal of his lies comes from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Less than two weeks after the January 4th ONDCP press release, the head of the RCMP's national drug branch sternly rebuked the ONDCP claims. Supt. Paul Nadeau said he doesn't know why Walters would make such fictional statements without checking facts with Canadian officials. He added that he himself has never heard of "extreme Ecstasy.... it would appear that it's a term that somebody came up with in a boardroom in Washington, D.C." Please write a letter to newspapers that carry coverage of the false claims. Let your local and state or provincial media know that the United States Drug Czar is a very unreliable and frankly dishonest source of accurate information.
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