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  Colombia Court Orders Aerial Eradication Suspended
Posted by FoM on July 27, 2001 at 17:58:53 PT
By Margarita Martinez, Associated Press Writer 
Source: Associated Press  

science A Colombian court on Friday ordered a suspension of aerial eradication of drug crops using the chemical glyphosate, the main prong of a U.S.-backed counterdrug offensive in the South American country. The ruling by a Bogota district court came in response to a petition by an organization representing Colombia's native Indian communities.

President Andres Pastrana said his legal experts were studying the ruling. He did not indicate whether he was ordering an immediate stop to the spraying against the plants used to make cocaine and heroin.

Addressing a news conference, Pastrana reiterated his government's official policy of spraying herbicides only against large-scale drug plantations and of inviting poor peasant farmers to join voluntary manual eradication programs.

But Indian groups, small farmers and environmentalist say that poor farmers' drug crops are also being wiped out by planes dumping herbicides and that the spraying is poisoning rivers and making people sick.

"As a provisional measure, all aerial fumigation with glyphosate is ordered suspended," the ruling said.

The court decision comes amid growing opposition in Colombia to herbicide use against drug crops and as Congress considers additional drug fighting aid for the country. Last year U.S. lawmakers approved a $1.3 billion package.

Washington is bankrolling the offensive against coca and poppy fields in Colombia. The aid program provides crop-dusting aircraft and escort helicopters that carry out spraying missions using glyphosate -- the main ingredient in the commonly used backyard fertilizers.

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota declined to comment on the ruling.

A court official, speaking on condition that he not be identified, emphasized that Friday's ruling was preliminary. He said it a more definitive verdict would be issued within 10 days.

The officials said the court would clarify as early as Monday whether the suspension applied to spraying in the entire country or only on Indian reservations. Judge Gilberto Reyes could not be reached for comment.

His ruling asked the government to respond within three days to a series of questions about the legal framework, precision and the possible health and environmental damage caused by the fumigation program against coca and poppy plantations.

Colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine and a growing exporter of heroin to the United States and Europe.

Also Friday, the first three of 16 Blackhawk helicopters being provided by Washington arrived in Colombia, the U.S. Embassy said. The rest are to be delivered by the end of the year.

Complete Title: Colombia Court Orders Aerial Eradication of Drug Crops Suspended

Source: Associated Press
Author: Margarita Martinez, Associated Press Writer
Published: Friday, July 27, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press

Related Articles & Web Site:

Colombia Drug War News
http://freedomtoexhale.com/colombia.htm

U.N. Wants Audit of Colombia Cocaine Spraying
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10400.shtml

Colombian Governors Demand Halt To Fumigation
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10333.shtml

CannabisNews Articles - Glyphosate
http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=glyphosate


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Comment #19 posted by freedom fighter on July 30, 2001 at 21:12:23 PT
Lehder, I did not realize
it was that same Harry Browne who wrote that book..
I still have his book on my bookshelf.

If I remember correctly, in that book, it explained how easy it is to freeze all 18 wheelers from entering Houston, Tx..

When I wrote most americans, by what I meant, is a minority of this once great country.. Our country is infested with amerikans.

I truly belive that it only take one sniper to freeze all 18 wheelers from entering any city in this country.

The reality is who among you the Amer-I-can will be the first sniper to freeze the "money" from moving one part of the country to another?

In my suitcase, it is only a blanket and a 9mm gun.

I admire you very much my friend despite your cynicism.

Take care
ff


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #18 posted by Lehder on July 30, 2001 at 05:07:57 PT
it's going to get worse, not better
and for a long time to come. Don't get me wrong - I take no pleasure in my cynical view, and I'm not here to rain on the parade or disturb the board. But that's how I see it.

Other countries are wising up, but the degree to which debate is stifled, and the extent that the war has been institutionalized and privatized with economic incentives here in the cradle of the drug war are far greater than in others.

I've seen nothing on TV national news about Portugal, and only one very brief report about the UK - and that along with words about "a very slippery slope." With the exception of Gary Johnson, you never see legalization proponents on TV unless they've been preselected for their grungy and dissolute appearance. The NORML guy I saw on TV complaining about how the city of Medina had disallowed his little information stand at the fair looked like a train wreck; the message from the TV - this is what mj will do to you. Marijuana has been so villified by the government-controlled media that the people who are really in need of more information would not be caught with a pamphlet or bulletin in their hand or come to this site any more than they'd care to go out of their way to walk through the city bowery.

ff is right - maybe not about "most Americans", but certainly a growing number are catching on, somewhat but not to the point of outrage. And he's definitely right that those who do know the truth feel pretty helpless: I know I do. What do you suggest? Even Hitler's generals who opposed the Nazi machine - and there were a lot of them - wound up dead or kept their mouths shut. Our situation is no different. This war is no less ugly or destructive and just as well entrenched. I think it was in 1968, maybe even 1967, when Walter Cronkite, the famous national newscaster whom all Americans respected and watched on TV every day, declared in no uncertain terms his personal opposition to the Vietnam war. Yet the war went on for years, even intensifying. It's still going on; this is just an extension of that same war and it's conducted by the same institutions and in exactly the same way.

And it's going to take more than a few deaths, more than a few tens of millions of lives ruined. Tens of thousands of Dead, not just imprisoned or financially destroyed, bodies for years had little effect on peoples' views of the Vietnam War; and the governments response to opposing views when they did arise in stupendous protest was to expand and intensify the war, bringing it to Cambodia as well as Vietnam. And, yes, even people who know the truth are often afraid to protest for fear of stigmatizing themselves, for fear of losing their jobs and being ostracized at work. Buying in to the stupidity of the war comes at a very high price still.

We have seen over and over how even when a majority of people vote for some small step in the way of reform the government steps in with increased repression, as in the case of medical mj. And when a majority of voters demand "treatment" in place of prison the government works to make "treatment" as much like prison as it possibly can.

The budget busting effect of the drug war seems to help some. The city of Albuquerque, I have read, spends a third of its budget on fighting drugs. This is the climate that spawned Gary Johnson who calls himself a cost analysis man or something to that effect. He's a guy who came to the right conclusions for valid but not fundamental reasons. Even so, most states are far better financed than NM which, so far as most Americans are concerned, is a foreign country.

And in the end I think it will be economic ruination that brings the war to an end, along with a good part of our cultural heritage and our respect in the world. Only when the countryside becomes as crime-ridden and unlivable as the cities, when millions more have lost their jobs and their homes, when gasoiline is $4 per gallon and all the mechanics are drug tested but unqualified to repair a car - only when life in America is far worse than it already is, only when the drug issue becomes a small part of and is properly associated with much bigger neglected problems - too numerous to list - that will make life here really unpleasant and hopeless will Americans find the courage and sense to vote the predators of civilization out.

The longer this war goes on, the greater becomes the contradiction between Reality and Politics and the greater the amount of the potential energy of contradiction is stored in our society. All this energy must be released eventually, and the war will not end until it is. This release is what Harry Browne calls "crisis." And the series of crises that we must manage and somehow survive as people and as a culture is not yet upon us.

I hope I'm wrong, but any Jew can tell you about the suitcase I keep packed beside the door.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #17 posted by freedom fighter on July 29, 2001 at 23:09:27 PT
Most americans know it but feel so powerless
"When will Americans recognize that our present course is not in our self-interest? What sort of a jolt or defeat or ruination will it take? "

Lehder, I think most americans know it.. It might take a death of one america family's child to jolt the true patriot into action..

Saw a movie called "The Patriot" played by mel gibson.. excellent film.. It is an example of what you are trying to say..

\/
ff


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #16 posted by dddd on July 28, 2001 at 09:08:31 PT
yes,,,,,,but....
"The crises we see are nothing more than the conflict between politics and reality. The crises occur because
governments assume that people won't act in their own self-interest."

This may be true,,,,but this was written in 1978,,nowdays, we now have a political problem that goes a bit beyond this.....Our government is now dominated by people who ARE acting in their own self interests,and they have made a science of maintaining their power by making sure to keep favor,amongst a certain faction of self interested people,who,,obviously,have a whole lot of money.

What am I trying to say...?.......I'm not sure,,,but at least I said it....ddddisorientated

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Comment #15 posted by Lehder on July 28, 2001 at 08:07:15 PT
Reality vs. Propaganda
America's Reign of Hatred is not 'utterly unstoppable'; in fact it is doomed. It's a question of how much damage and suffering must be inflicted on our own country and others before a sufficient number of Americans and other peoples will find the courage and the insight to a make a loud enough noise to stop it. As Harry Browne said,

The crises we see are nothing more than the conflict between politics and reality. The crises occur because governments assume that people won't act in their own self-interest.

Reality always triumphs over politics. But because we've been taught to believe otherwise, the triumph of reality appears to us as a crisis.
--New Profits from the Monetary Crisis 1978

It is the magnitude and destructiveness of the crisis that will be needed to halt government's moral and constitutional perfidy that give me pause. When will Americans recognize that our present course is not in our self-interest? What sort of a jolt or defeat or ruination will it take? Argument from facts and reason have gone unheard, are even dismissed with ridicule and slanders like "Puff-Daddy Johnson". Most of the population still believe the extraordinary propaganda that disloyalty to government unwisdom is unpatriotic and an acquiescence of an inevitable mass narcotic addiction of children. I am hoping that pressures from foreign leaders and press will somehow penetrate the government's stranglehold on debate and that enough wisdom, after new elections, can be found in Congress to cease the funding of the crimes of a shadow government that does not lead or uplift but only manipulates and exploits, and I'm hoping we will find our way before we must all suffer to the degree that the Colombians do. But, no, I am not optimistic about our near term prospects.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #14 posted by dddd on July 28, 2001 at 07:45:07 PT
GCW and FoM
..I feel the same.....It's true FoM,,that certain drugs seem to
inhibit spirituality,,and the only real,,effective,"treatment"
for a nasty addiction to drugs,is one that involves spirituality.

JAH Shine on You All

dddd

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #13 posted by FoM on July 28, 2001 at 07:28:00 PT
GCW
Hi GCW,
I avoid talking about religion so I don't upset anyone but I want to say I agree with you about Cannabis and Spirituality. I also believe other drugs can block Spirituality. Drugs like Meth, Coke etc. ( They overpower the person I think ) I believe natural herbs and plants don't even though my experience is very limited with them. I hope this makes sense.


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by The GCW on July 28, 2001 at 07:19:49 PT
kill the witches
King James was a competitive witch killer.

The way I smoke cannabis and thank God for it, while I read and study the Bible, getting a very close relationship w/ our Father... I would be regarded as a witch and put to death.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #11 posted by The GCW on July 28, 2001 at 07:16:30 PT
jorma nash et al.
quote from nash "it's not about drugs or lives or the Vietnamish quagmire. it's about Poison".

I am heading to the Biblical...as I study almost daily, with my Father. This is getting way easy to see. Poison, power, money etc. is all a sub-reason. The primary reason this is occuring is because we have not learned from our past mistakes, those that occured before the times of the written Bible. So when the Bible was written and it was said that: (Gen. 1:11-12 & 29-30), Then God said, ""Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;... This was all mentioned on the VERY 1st Page of the Bible, since it may have been way too important to put off for even the 2nd page! It even shows who will cross us later in 1 Timothy 4:1-5.

Is everyone aware of kaneh bosm? It is the "Missing", which is the more original term for cannabis used in the Bible scriptures before the King James Virsion, (James was opposed to witches, smoking cannabis etc. and tried to hide it's message). Kaneh bosm has been misstranslated in 5 places that include: Exodus 30:23; Song of Solomon 4:14; Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20; & Ezekiel 27:19. In our Bibles it is mistranslated as calamas, cane, sweet incense, frankincense, calamus with all the trees of frankincense etc.

Biblically it may all come down to a final war over kaneh bosm, God may crack the whip over His displeasure of some of his kids and their actions over disregard for the very 1st Page of the Bible. It is exactly through this disregard that the U.S. et al. are kiling humans for using plants. It does not get any more clear than that.

Crack Pot Bush, is stumbling on the very 1st Page of the Bible, which makes it elementary that God may not be leading him in a pleasing walk. The 1st Page helps us identify who walks according to God and who stumbles. It becomes a litmus test!

To put things in the proper order, God comes 1st! This seems to have happened before, the Bible made an attempt to give us insight to keep his children safe so it would not happen agin, yet it is disregarded. So we have selfishness.

It is even possable that the "Builders" have known about kaneh bosm for centuries, and it is hidden for the power that it brings is better when hogged by the oppressor thus kept from the masses. This is perhaps evident when we examine the Great Pyramid etc. There are too many things about the Great pyramid and their construction that may be answered with the element of kaneh bosm. The "builders" are the Secret Societies, thus the Masons, Skull & Bones and many others, that even King James was part of in the past and includes almost all upper politicians of today. Just one pyramid question to think about is the adhesive that glues the blocks together, which we can not reproduce today, yet has some qualities of cannabis.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #10 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on July 28, 2001 at 05:25:22 PT:

Couple of Points
The story's reference to glyphosate in fertilizer is probably accurate: Weed and Feed and similar products contain herbicides.

It is too bad that the ruling is not the final word. That allows Jorge W. Arbusto (that's Spanish for Dubya) and his coven of industrial piranhas to apply the thumbscrews in the meantime and get the thing overturned. Watch for that.

Should that not occur, and should the ruling apply to the whole country, it undermines the entire project and removes one leg of the "stool" of Amerikan policy. The problem is, we are leaving our stools everywhere around the world in the War on Drugs. In Colombia as elsewhere, countries need to say, "Your stool stinks. We don't want it anymore. Take your Yanqui stool and go home."

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by mayan on July 28, 2001 at 04:56:36 PT
kidnapping
I just heard that the "leftist" guerillas kidnapped some Columbian Senator's kids. They could get some pretty tall ransom I imagine. It's getting pretty crazy down there if they postponed the America's Cup soccer tournament. Those countries live & breath soccer. The scary thing is that most Americans have no clue that anything is going on down there.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by jorma nash on July 28, 2001 at 04:42:03 PT
how embarrassing for the narcomaniacs.
my reaction to this story was very much more hopeful than Lehder's.
this to me represents yet another serious poke in the eye to the Drug Warriors.

they'll have to crank their PR machine to Full Spin to explain just why
the united states' "help" has been ordered thrown out in a columbian court.
i expect, since there is no good spin,
they'll simply try to keep it as low key as possible.

i hope this is a signal that columbia is finally getting so disgusted with the US
that they figure being on Uncle Sam's blacklist couldn't possibly be any worse
than cooperating in the rain of poison from the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Washington is bankrolling the offensive against coca and poppy fields in Colombia."
BZZZZZZT! wrong.

it's not about drugs or lives or the Vietnamish quagmire.
it's about Poison, Inc, substantial contributor to all the right campaigns,
gorging themselves with taxpayers money.

these soulless zombies
who find dumping poison onto someone else's home quite profitable
aren't going to give up their Cash Cow without a fight.

Washington is bankrolling the business of the contributors who helped them get elected,
nothing more, nothing less.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i also found Lehder's post to be extremely impressive,
and i'll be the first to admit that his predictions may prove to be dead on.
however, i disagree with the basic premise that the Reign of Hatred is utterly unstoppable.
ultimately, it's not a matter of if it can be stopped, it's a matter of when.

i'll let victor hugo sum it up for me:
"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,
and that is an idea whose time has come."

we'll all find out within ten days, i guess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this and other recent stories compels me to reintroduce the tagline i was using months ago:

"There is as much chance of repealing the 18th Amendment
as there is for a hummingbird to fly to the planet Mars
with the Washington Monument tied to its tail."

------------Morris Sheppard, the congressman from Texas
who co-sponsored the original prohibition legislation, in 1930.

(alcohol prohibition ends: 1933)



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #7 posted by Lindy on July 28, 2001 at 01:49:40 PT:

AND I SECOND THAT!!
Mr.Lehder, might there some way your comments can be sent to the editor of the paper this article was printed in? FoM
do you have that information? This is important stuff guys. I'm going to try and notify the AUDUBON SOCIETY'and DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE. They are both doing some good work and having some real successes. I also know the Audubon Society is pro the cause here. It will take all of us from all sides to get the word out!!


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #6 posted by dddd on July 28, 2001 at 01:03:11 PT
Lehder
Outstandingly,,,, Right On Commentary....dddd

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #5 posted by Lehder on July 27, 2001 at 23:05:38 PT
"not definitive"
The people with nothing left to lose, the Colombian Indians who were among the world's poorest of the poor to begin with and who then had their small plots ravaged and their forests contaminated, have petitioned the U.S government for mercy. And who could be more impotent than they? Anyone else, anyone with anything at all to lose, must fear the usual treatment of 'marginalize, isolate, destroy': such are the consequences of decency. So the usual U.S. government pressure techniques will be applied to expendable and easily replaced court officials who have a little to lose and they'll decide in a few days that the ruling applies only to very small, special areas that were not actually targeted by the "eradication program" anyway. The ruling could not be clearer: STOP - yet we are told after the fact that it is not definitive, that in effect it means nothing. As long as the U.S. government has our money and our TV's, and as long as Enron, Monsanto, Occidental Petroleum can take their profits, the war will go on. Having learned what little it needed to learn from Vietnam, the U.S. is keeping its body bags to an abslolute minimum. It won't report and will not have to account for the few casualties of nameless private "contractors".

I should not have made light of the chemtrails earlier, not even in mocking myself - but what does it matter? I had seen, before I knew they had a name or that others were already watching, the craziest, prolific twistings of a dozen trails streaking the sky in unnatural non-patterns. What is plainer for everyone to see than the sky? Yet there is no answer. The government can spray paint the very firmament in the easy view of millions and no explanation is required, and if one can be demanded then it will say, "They don't exist."

It can send soldiers to shoot down children at Kent State, it can ship 18,000 Americans in body bags from Vietnam in a year, it can ignore the shutting down of hundreds of universities, it can imprison a quadrapelegic; when Congress forbids aid to contras, the mysterious shadows of government can fund them from cocaine sales; it can bar presidential candidates from debate; it can rig an election in Florida, and when that is not enough it can manipulate a packed Supreme Court - and who will stop it from spraying a few mestizos and their beans?



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by Robbie on July 27, 2001 at 20:41:33 PT
Colombia

I'm just glad that Colombians had enough courage and sense to put a stop to this horrible effort to stop drugs. Maybe now the US will give some money to the farmers instead of gassing them.


[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by knowitall on July 27, 2001 at 19:15:12 PT
glyphosate is wrong stuff to use
Glyphosate is the wrong stuff to use. We are spending $13 million dollars to clean up industrial hemp in Indiana. I don't know if that includes gloves and mask or is just labor. Anyway since we have all that we could grind that up and drop on them. That stuff is so dangerous they wouldn't even drink the water and finally admit that WARshington has won the War On Drugs.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 27, 2001 at 19:09:35 PT
Not Fertilizer
Dave,
I didn't see that in the article. That's a major error. Here are two fact sheets on Glyphosate.

Glyphosate Pesticide Fact Sheet
http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/pestcide/glyphos.html

Glyphosate/glifosato N-(phosphonylmethl) glycine/N-(fosfonometil) glicina
http://www.usfumigation.org/Chemical_Herbicides/Glyphosate/glyphosate.htm


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by Dave in Florida on July 27, 2001 at 18:54:30 PT
The AP need to research some more...
The aid program provides crop-dusting aircraft and escort helicopters that carry out spraying missions using glyphosate -- the main ingredient in the commonly used backyard fertilizers.

Damn, I was wondering why everytime I used that new fertilizer my grass died!

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