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From: bliss@mouse-potato.com

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #997 -- 11/17/17
Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/997

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

Table of Contents:

1. UPDATE AND ACTION ALERT: TRUMP, DUTERTE, CONGRESS, AND THE PHILIPPINE DRUG WAR KILLINGS
Please read this update to find out what we're doing to end Rodrigo Duterte's mass murder campaign, and how you can help. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/17/update_and_action_alert_trump

2. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
A leading Kentucky politican creates a panel to draft a medical marijuana bill,
New York approves medical marijuana for PTSD, Montana released new proposed rules for the industry, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/16/medical_marijuana_update

3. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A body cam catches an LAPD cop planting a bag of cocaine on a suspect, a Philadelphia cop gets nailed in a multi-cop drug dealing conspiracy, a Houston cop gets nailed for not turning in seized cocaine, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/16/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

4. CHRONICLE AM: SESSIONS ON STATE-LEGAL POT, TRUMP AND DUTERTE BUDDY UP, MORE... (11/14/17)
The US attorney general concedes that Obama-era pot policy is still in effect, New York approves medical marijuana for PTSD, the Bolivian high court upholds a
coca expansion law, Trump buddies up with drug war criminal Duterte, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/14/chronicle_am_sessions_statelegal

5. CHRONICLE AM: NH PANEL VOTES DOWN LEGALIZATION BILL, KRATOM BATTLE HEATS UP,
MORE... (11/15/17)
Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidates get behind legal weed, a New Hampshire House committee doesn't, Arizona gets sued over high medical marijuana permit fees, the kratom wars heat up, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/15/chronicle_am_nh_panel_votes_down

6. CHRONICLE AM: GA COUNTY PAYS BIG TIME FOR SCHOOL DRUG RAID, AFGHAN OPIUM CROP UP, MORE... (11/16/17)
California gets ready for legal marijuana, Michigan gets ready to put a legalization initiative on the ballot, a Georgia county pays big time for a raid on school students, Afghan opium production nearly doubles, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/16/chronicle_am_ga_county_pays_big

(Not subscribed? Visithttp://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)

================

1. UPDATE AND ACTION ALERT: TRUMP, DUTERTE, CONGRESS, AND THE PHILIPPINE DRUG WAR KILLINGS https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/17/update_and_action_alert_trump

Dear Reformer:

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte met for the first time, during the ASEAN Summit in Manila which Duterte
hosted. As predicted, Trump did not raise human rights during their meeting, although a White
House spokesperson claimed it came up "briefly" during a private discussion.

The top human rights issue Trump might have brought up with Duterte is the campaign of drug war killings that Duterte promised during his presidential campaign, and which he has followed through on since taking office in June last
year. Human rights
organizations and media have given estimates ranging from 7,000 to 14,000 killed already.

In a sign-on statement (https://stopthedrugwar.org/files/asean-philippines-sign-on-statement-november-2017.pdf) I organized, which has been endorsed by nearly 300 NGOs and prominent individuals and which we released this week in advance of the Trump-
Duterte meeting, we note that the Philippine National Police (PNP) acknowledge over 3,900 people have been killed in anti-drug operations under the Duterte administration, plus nearly 2,300 more drug-related murders and thousands still
"unexplained." Our
statement also notes the Philippines saw a roughly 50% increase in its official
homicide rate, starting immediately when Duterte took office - hard to explain in the absence of an official policy of extrajudicial killing.

The statement was covered in articles on four important Philippines news outlets, including the Inquirer (http://usa.inquirer.net/8011/global-coalition-calls-end-ejks-ahead-trumps-ph-visit), Rappler (https://www.rappler.com/nation/187940-international-
coalition-decisive-actions-philippines-drug-war-killings) (8th and 12th most read web sites in the Philippines respectively), the Philippine Star (http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/10/1757565/ahead-asean-international-coalition-calls-probe-drug-
war-killings) and InterAksyon (http://www.interaksyon.com/on-eve-of-asean-summit-more-than-270-groups-individuals-renew-calls-for-un-led-probe-of-drug-war-killings/). The Interaksyon article credited our coalition with renewing global calls for a UN-led
probe into the drug war killings. Leading human rights organizations in the Philippines, Filipino American groups, top NGOs like NOW and Doctors of the World, and many others supported the statement. More than 50 of the NGOs endorsing it are based in
Asia, including groups from a majority of the ASEAN states.

Should Trump have met individually with Duterte, and should he have pressed Duterte on human rights when he did? World leaders need to communicate with each other, and there's room for debate as to how best a US president should juggle competing
interests. Unfortunately, Trump's silence on human rights during ASEAN leaves standing some incredibly harmful statements he has made on the matter in the past:

* In December Trump and Duterte spoke on the phone, and Duterte claimed Trump
praised his drug policies (http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/03/politics/trump-duterte-phone-call/). While Duterte could have made that up, the Trump team never rebutted the claim.

* After Trump and Duterte spoke again in April, a statement on the White House web site (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/29/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-president-rodrigo-duterte) said they discussed " fighting very hard
to rid its country of drugs," with no qualification of that statement, implicit
praise for Duterte's policies.

* A transcript of the April conversation (https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/170775-duterte-trump-north-korea-phone-conversation-transcript) leaked to Rappler quotes Trump congratulating Duterte for doing an "'unbelievable job' in the war on
drugs."

We will never know for sure if Trump's implicit greenlighting of Duterte's mass
killing campaign led to more such killings, but it's possible. Clearly the president of Indonesia, who launched his own drug war mass murder campaign as part of a reelection
strategy in August, must have taken note (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/indonesia-might-be-copying-the-vigilante-violence-of-dutertes-drug-war/).

If the president won't lead on human rights, or even arguably helps to make things worse, then Congress should step in. That's why we are supporting S. 1055, "The Philippines Human Rights Accountability and Counternarcotics Act of 2017 (https://www. congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1055/cosponsors)," bipartisan legislation introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Although not perfect, S. 1055 would impose important human rights conditions on
law enforcement
assistance to the Philippines, and would fund positive health programs as well as the work of Philippine human rights defenders. Among the bill's supporters are Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the iDEFEND human rights coalition in the
Philippines, the Filipino American Human Rights Alliance, US Filipinos for Good
Governance, and our close partners the Drug Policy Alliance.

Along with sending you this update, I also have the following three requests:

* If you are a US voter, please write to Congress in support of S. 1055, using the online write-to-Congress form we've set up (https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2). Please follow up on your email by calling your state's two Senators
and your Representative. (But please do use the form too - this will enable us to contact you if you live in a key state or district.) The time to do this is now, because we are trying to influence the pending State and Foreign Operations Appropriations
bill, over the next few weeks.

* Please help to publicize our statement and S. 1055. You can use the set of sample social posts we've prepared for Facebook and Twitter, copied below my signature. You can also go straight to our Twitter page, @stopthedrugwar (http://twitter.com/
stopthedrugwar), where we have already retweeted some of these as posted by others. We'll be posting more to Twitter and to our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/pages/StoptheDrugWarorg-DRCNet/77796516946) later as well.

* We need your financial support for this effort (http://stopthedrugwar.org/donate), and for other work like publishing the Drug
War Chronicle (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle) newsletter, a key tool for advocates and many others in the issue. Tax-
deductible donations to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit, DRCNet Foundation, will support work like the Philippines statement and the newsletter. Non-deductible donations to our 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Drug Reform Coordination Network, will support our legislative
work directly supporting S. 1055, and other legislative matters in the US. If you would like to designate a gift for a specific program, please leave a note in the comment box on our donation form, or with your check if donating by mail. Links to both
nonprofits' donation forms can be found athttp://stopthedrugwar.org/donate, and
our mailing address is P.O. Box 9853, Washington, DC 20016.

Thank you for helping and for your time reading this update. As we noted in the
closing paragraphs of our Philippines statement, "Support for the global system
of responsibilities and rights has become uncertain… lawlessness and extrajudicial violence
must not become a model for more countries. When human rights are attacked, all
are called on to act… The time for action is now."

Sincerely,

David Borden, Executive Director
StoptheDrugWar.org
P.O. Box 9853 / Washington, DC 20016
http://stopthedrugwar.org
"U.S. and U.N. Drug Policy Reform"

Here are the sample social media posts:

Please help us by spreading the statement and news coverage on social media. Following are sample posts for Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter samples:

Posts highlighting S. 1055, the Philippines human rights appropriations bill in
the US Senate:

Congress should press Philippines @OfficialDuterte to stop drug war killings, if @realDonaldTrump won't:http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/633065/british-paper-s-banner-photo-of-trump-duterte-says-hand-in-hand-with-a-killer/story/ https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=Wibl5h2YZdM #StoptheKillings #StartTheHealing WRITE CONGRESS:https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2

@SenBobCorker @RepEdRoyce Please sponsor and move the Philippines Human Rights Accountability Act through your committees!http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/10/1757565/ahead-asean-international-coalition-calls-probe-drug-war-killings https://www.
congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1055 #StoptheKillings #StartTheHealing WRITE CONGRESS:https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2

Thank you @TLHumanRights Lantos Commission co-chairs @RepHultgren @RepMcGovern for highlighting Philippines extrajudicial drug war killings.https://www.rappler.com/nation/187940-international-coalition-decisive-actions-philippines-drug-war-killings
WRITE CONGRESS:https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2 #StopTheKillings #StartTheHealinghttps://humanrightscommission.house.gov/events/hearings/human-rights-consequences-war-drugs-philippines

@SenatorCardin @marcorubio Thank you for sponsoring Philippines Human Rights Accountability Act - civil society supports!http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/10/1757565/ahead-asean-international-coalition-calls-probe-drug-war-killings https://www.
congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1055 #StoptheKillings #StartTheHealing WRITE CONGRESS:https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2

@RepSpeier Thank you for speaking out against Philippines extrajudicial killings at @TLHumanRights - civil society supports!http://usa.inquirer.net/8011/global-coalition-calls-end-ejks-ahead-trumps-ph-visit #StopTheKillingshttps://humanrightscommission.
house.gov/events/hearings/human-rights-consequences-war-drugs-philippines WRITE CONGRESS:https://secure.everyaction.com/VuEJ0J0PW0uzZg1JzrB6bg2

Excerpts from the Statement:

Nearly 300 NGOs and prominent individuals say: "We call for a process of accountability, starting with a UN-led investigation. We... call on world leaders attending [#ASEANSummit] to unequivocally call for an end to the [Philippines drug war] killings..." https://www.rappler.com/nation/187940-international-coalition-decisive-actions-philippines-drug-war-killings @stopthedrugwar #StopTheKillings @UNHumanRights

Nearly 300 NGOs and prominent individuals say: "Since the Philippines escalated
its 'drug war'... over 3,900 people have been killed [by police] operations, with nearly 2,300 more drug-related murders and thousands still 'unexplained'" say police.http:// usa.inquirer.net/8011/global-coalition-calls-end-ejks-ahead-trumps-ph-visit @stopthedrugwar #StopTheKillings

Nearly 300 NGOs and prominent individuals say: "If a government is unwilling or
unable to seek justice, treaties allow for intervention by the International Criminal Court..."https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/nov/09/concern_over_philippine_
killings @stopthedrugwar #StopTheKillings @IntlCrimCourt

Nearly 300 NGOs and prominent individuals say: "When human rights are attacked,
all are called on to act... The time for action is now."http://www.interaksyon.com/on-eve-of-asean-summit-more-than-270-groups-individuals-renew-calls-for-un-led-probe-of-
drug-war-killings/ @stopthedrugwar #StopTheKillings #StartTheHealing


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