The Drug Policy Alliance reported this past week that the U.S. Sentencing Commission in an unanimous vote recommended changes in the disparity between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine sentences; crack cocaine carries a sentence up to a hundred times greater than the same quantity of powered cocaine under current federal law. Also,  the U.S. Supreme Court, later in the week, ruled that federal judges may now sentence individuals below the mandatory minimum sentence in crack cocaine cases, though it will take an act of the U.S. Legislative branch to eliminate the law which has been in place for over 20 years. So, for the time being crack offenders will be at the mercy of judges in federal cases until Congress acts. So far, hearings are scheduled in the Senate for early 2008, but no hearings have been set for the House of Representatives on the issue.

Read more: Drug Policy Alliance

This past week Ecuador was invited to rejoin the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)  after a 13 year absence from the organization; Ecuador had been a member for thirty years from 1963–1993. Ecuador's membership should be officially approved during the upcoming OPEC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this November 17 - 18. Even though Ecuador never left the organization it ceased making membership payments in 1992, but decided to reactivate its membership while negotiating contracts with private oil companies after a recent change in the nation's law gives the country a greater share of oil profits due to the rise in worldwide oil prices. According to Presna Latina earlier this year approval by Ecaudorian president, Rafael Correa, is all that is needed for reintegration. A three-year payment plan for unpaid dues amounting to almost six million U.S. dollars has also been agreed upon with OPEC member nations.

According to Reuters-UK, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa vows not to extend the lease for the U.S. Military air base in Manta, Ecuador, which expires at the end of 2009 unless the U.S. allows for an Ecuadorian base in Miami. The base plays a major role in U.S. drug war operations under Plan Colombia, and is very unpopular among the Ecuadorian populace.

I've been back from Ecuador for 14 days now, so I can't give a ground report on Quito at the moment; I will however try to explain an Ecuadorian view towards politics and politicians. Please, remember this is from a gringo outsider, so my interpretation will be colored by that fact.

Though, I can't comment directly on the Supreme Court issue, since I did not follow too much of the event when I was there. I was aware crowds where being tear gassed outside the court house, and when I left via Quito the court building was blocked off by the police and military.

More than just clandestine drug labs hidden in the jungles of South America may pollute the environment such as, the legal worldwide narco company Eli-Lilly, the makers of Prozac.  It appears one the world's most popular drugs to treat depression Prozac (fluoxetine) may have potentially negative environmental effects.  A report from the
UK's Telegraph 8-8-04 states Prozac has been found in Briton's water supply. An earlier report last year in the U.S. is even more disturbing; in an article by Scott Streater of the Star-Telgram 10-17-03, Prozac was found in fish brains, along with some alarming effects from other common pharmaceuticals.

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