Student sues DEA for 20 million after being abandoned in cell for almost five days

Daniel Chong is a University of California San Diego student. He is suing the U.S. Drug En­forcement Agency for 20 million in compensation after he was left in an empty jail cell for almost five days without food or water. No charges have ever been filed against Chong.

On April 20 Chong was arrested in a raid on a suspected ecstacy pill distribution center. Of eight arrested 7 were sent to another facility and one was let go but Chong was handcuffed and left in a 5 ft. by 10 ft. holding cell and then abandoned for four and a half days. He even tried to drink his own uring to survive and tried to eat glass.

Finally an agent opened the door to his cell and said: , "Where'd you come from?" Chong was covered in his own feces and had lost 15 points. He was sent immediately to a hospital where he spent three days in intensive care.

He was suffering from dehydration, kidney failure, and a perforated esophagus. The latter was caused when Chong tried to eat glass. Chong said:"I didn't care if I died," "I was completely insane."

The DEA offered an apology to Chong. Chong's lawyer sees it differently hence the suit for 20 million. The DEA says it was simply an accident. For more see this article.

Economists: Legalizing marijuana would save U.S,. 13.7 billion a year

You would think that any proposal that would save 13.7 billion a year would be immediately accepted by both parties given the humongous debt of the U.S. However, when the proposal involves legalizing marijuana there is bipartisan rejection of the proposal.

The war on drugs has been a failure most agree. Even the right wing government of Guatemala has promoted legalizing drugs as did the host government Colombia at the recent Summit of the Americas. However, Canada and the U.S. were the two countries opposed to the idea.

The signers of a petition that calls attention to a recent paper by economist Jeffrey Miron of Harvard, includes three Nobel winners. The legalization would save 7.7. billion annually through not having to enforce existing bans. If government taxed sales of marijuana at a similar rate similar to tobacco and tobacco another 6 billion in revenue would flow into government coffers. The petition itself does not specifically advocate legalization but demands a debate about the issue given the savings involved. For much more see this article.

U.S. and Canada only countries in favor of excluding Cuba from Summit of Americas

Canada and the U.S. stand alone on the issue of excluding Cuba from the Summit of the Americas and the two united also against decriminalizing drugs. The host country and a U.S. ally Colombia spoke out against excluding Cuba. President Juan Santos said that holding another meeting while excluding Cuba would be unacceptable.

Canada and its faithful ally Canada were the only two countries not to lobby for including Cuba. Interesting that a die hard conservative Stephen Harper and liberal Barack Obama see eye to eye on the matter. At one time Canada developed relations with Cuba in spite of U.S. objections. Even now we do not have travel or trade restrictions as does the U.S. Sherrit Gordon mines has extensive investments in Cuba.

Santos said: "The isolation, the embargo, the indifference, the looking the other way don't work," . "It's an anachronism that keeps us anchored in a Cold War era that was overcome decades ago." No doubt the U.S. position has to do with internal politics and expatriate Cuban voters.Canada's position is probably a function of Harper's wanting to curry favor with the U.S.

President Santos also wanted to have a debate on decriminalizing drugs. Stephen Harper said that he would not entertain any policy changes that would decriminalize drugs. In Canada Harper has consistently opposed even harm reduction strategies such as safe injection sites. Obama also claimed that legalization was not the answer. This liberal president again follows the same policies as our reactionary Canadian prime minister.

Harper waas mainly trying to sell Canada as a good source of natural resources for Latin America's growing economies. He stressed the fact that he has streamlined environmental regulations to make it easier and quicker for projects to be approved.

Of course Harper spins his "reforms" positively:"We cannot allow valid concerns about environmental protection to be used as an excuse to trap worthwhile projects in reviews without end," He also noted that Canadian banks were among the strongest in the world.

Meanwhile Latin American leaders have founded their own group that excludes Canada and the U.S. The group is called the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states. No doubt this will be a competitor to the Summit of the Americas In fact a number of nations have said that they will not even come to the next meeting of the Summit of the Americas if Cuba is still excluded. For more see this article.