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Urban Pulse - 'H' Is For Hawthorne ('Willamette Week' In Portland
Notes Some Merchants Along Portland's Gentrified Southeast Hawthorne
Boulevard Are Finding Heroin Prohibition Is Making Their Lives
Increasingly Scary And Difficult - As A Consequence, The Young,
Poor And Homeless Face More Suspicion, Hostility)
Willamette Week
822 SW 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
Tel. (503) 243-2122
Fax (503) 243-1115
Letters to the Editor:
Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com
Web: http://www.wweek.com/
April 8, 1998
Context:
Jerry Shover, owner of Gold Door Antiques & Art at 1434 SE 37th Ave., says
last month's Starbucks heroin overdose is part of a "heroin epidemic."
Panhandling is legal in Portland. Aggressive panhandling, such as blocking
someone's path or refusing to take no for an answer, is illegal.
Several Hawthorne merchants have posted flyers discouraging shoppers from
giving money to panhandlers.
***
Urban Pulse - 'H' Is For Hawthorne
* A heroin overdose and gunpoint stickup
have Southeast merchants feeling
uncharitable toward panhandlers.
BY JOSH FEIT
jfeit@wweek.com
Photos: MARC CARLETON
Laura is an unlikely poster child for the
perceived crime wave on Southeast
Hawthorne Boulevard. A rag-doll
panhandler who looks like a lost Manson
family teen-ager, Laura was a daily fixture at the
corner of Hawthorne and Southeast 38th Avenue this
winter. From her perch outside the Bank of America,
she'd flash a melancholy smile and sad bright eyes,
asking strangers for money.
Panhandling is nothing new in the bustling Hawthorne District.
Nonetheless, Laura, 23 going on 40, has unnerved local
merchants.
Store owners like Greg Klaus, owner of Greg's at 3737 SE
Hawthorne Blvd., say Laura is part of a new wave of
panhandlers that has brought heroin and crime to a street that is
better known for handmade fettuccine and poetry readings.
Concerns peaked last month after a homeless man died of a
heroin overdose in the bathroom of Starbucks. According to a
police report, 46-year-old John Ellis Whitefoot disappeared into
the coffeeshop's bathroom at approximately 4:45 pm on March
2. Fifteen minutes later Starbucks staffers found him dead, a
needle and cook lid resting on the toilet.
For business owners on the busy shopping strip, the death
wasn't so much a wake-up call as the confirmation of a
creeping feeling that all is not groovy. In November, employees
at Oasis Pizza were forced to lie on the floor at gunpoint during
a drug-related robbery. Today rumors of two heroin deaths at
the Daily Grind health-food store are making the rounds of
Hawthorne-area shopkeepers (police deny the deaths). This is
all very new for a neighborhood where crime is generally
relegated to the mystery section of the local Powell's.
Last week a group of Hawthorne shopkeepers met to discuss
beefing up private security. On March 28 they started selling
$2 coupons for meals at the Sisters of the Road Cafe--a
low-cost eatery catering to the homeless--which customers can
purchase and give to panhandlers instead of money. In
addition, merchants say, they've contacted the police.
Merchants say that last week, two new bicycle officers arrived
and have been more active about discouraging aggressive
panhandling. Police say the new officers are part of a routine
spring patrol.
"The panhandling has become intense in the last two to three
months," says Daniel McDermott, co-owner of Sorel Vintages
Ltd. at 3713 SE Hawthorne Blvd. "It was like someone put
word out on the Internet that Hawthorne is a good place to
panhandle."
Julien Sorel, McDermott's business partner, says the store has
experienced a recent "mass of undesirables" and an "increase in
shoplifting." He says he has taken to watching people who
come into the store--"checking pupils."
Merchants say they've witnessed Laura doing drug deals on
Hawthorne.
"One day I saw the gal get in a nice car with guys in business
suits and then get out one block later," says Klaus. "What's not
right about that picture?"
Laura says she's not dealing drugs. She says she and her
boyfriend, Andrew Phillips, lost their jobs as janitors at OMSI
several months ago and have been living on the street ever
since.
Officer John Kuechler of the neighborhood response team says
the perception of drug dealing on Hawthorne is greater than the
reality. He says Phillips has been arrested once for possession
of a small amount of cocaine, but the couple is not dealing. "If
you're out there panhandling, you're not dealing heroin,"
Kuechler says.
Laura says the shopkeepers' accusations of drug dealing are
just an excuse to get rid of her. If so, they've succeeded. Last
week, she and Andrew set up shop in downtown Portland.
--Ruth Rowland contributed to this report.
***
[Portland NORML notes - The "OMSI" referred to in the preceding story
is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, once a major attraction
in Portland for kids and families that is gradually losing its various
sources of public funding and slowly fading away because of society's
shifting priorities, particularly the war on some drugs and the prisons and
other law-enforcement costs that result.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
GOP Senate Hopeful Slams Clinton, Boxer - Darrell Issa Criticizes Stand
On Drugs ('San Francisco Chronicle' Notes The Conservative Republican
Candidate For The US Senate, A Multimillionaire
Who Is Putting Up His Own Money For The Primary Race,
Forayed Into Northern California To Speak At A Lunch Meeting
Of The Comstock Club In San Francisco)
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 17:16:05 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: GOP Senate Hopeful Slams Clinton, Boxer
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World"
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 1998
Author: John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer
GOP SENATE HOPEFUL SLAMS CLINTON, BOXER
Darrell Issa criticizes stand on drugs
America's long-running war on drugs is one that President Clinton and other
Democratic politicians aren't willing to win, Republican Senate candidate
Darrell Issa said yesterday in one of his first campaign forays into
Northern California. At a lunchtime meeting of the Comstock Club, the San
Diego-area businessman slammed ``moral defeatists'' who say that the
country can't stop the flow of drugs across its borders and that adults
should be allowed to decide what they put into their bodies.
``The Clinton administration's policy of neglect sent a not-so-subtle
message to America's youth that drug use is no big deal,'' Issa said. ``If
America's president winks at drug use, we should not be surprised to find
more teens using drugs.''
Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who Issa will challenge if he wins his
party's primary in June, also took come lumps.
Boxer has called for pulling money away from drug interdiction programs at
the border and voted against a federal death penalty for large-scale drug
dealers, Issa said.
``Tragically, it seems Barbara Boxer is more concerned with saving dolphins
from Mexican fisherman than with saving our children from drug cartels,''
he said.
But the supporting information Issa's staff supplied with his speech
suggested that the attack on Boxer was overstated.
While Boxer in the past has called for reducing the amount of the money now
being spent for anti-drug efforts at the border, she has wanted those funds
to be shifted to drug abuse prevention and treatment programs in an effort
to dry up the demand for narcotics.
Issa also said there is a need for effective drug prevention programs,
although the efforts he suggested have had only limited effectiveness in
the past.
``Stopping the supply (of drugs) will be . . . impossible unless we also
reduce the demand for drugs here in America,'' he said.
Those methods include building anti-drug coalitions in local communities,
working on a national media campaign to let children know that drug use is
``dangerous, illegal and wrong,'' and combining stiff prison sentences for
drug dealers with tough, intensive treatment programs for users, Issa said.
``Strong families and vigorous institutions of civil society are the most
effective defenses against the drug culture,'' Issa said. ``By instilling
in our children the moral virtues that will inoculate them against
seduction by the drug culture, we will ultimately rid ourselves of the drug
scourge.''
It wasn't only Democrats that were lectured by Issa yesterday. He said the
Republican congressional leadership should be ashamed of their support for
a $217 billion transportation bill filled with special highway construction
goodies for legislators across the nation.
``Over $30 billion of that bill is not only pork, but re-election pieces of
pork (legislators) can take back to their districts,'' he said.
Issa, a multimillionaire who is putting up his own money for his primary
race, also called for lower taxes, especially on wealthy Americans,
``although I won't qualify as rich by the end of this campaign,'' he joked.
America's tax policy is designed to use class envy as an excuse for
sticking it to the rich, Issa said.
``Is it fair to say the rich should pay a bigger share of (the nation's)
support?'' he asked. ``That argument has been devisive since the income tax
came in, when it was used to stick it to the Rockefellers and the
Carnegies.''
Issa quickly ducked one controversial local issue when he declined to say
whether he supported construction of the Auburn Dam, a decades-long bone of
contention between environmentalists and state water interests.
``I'm not going to get involved in the internal politics of California,''
he said.
1998 San Francisco Chronicle
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Jail Inmates Use Meditation To Overcome Anger, Cravings
('San Diego Union Tribune' Says Petty Criminals, Alcoholics And Drug Addicts
At Seattle's North Rehabilitation Facility Sit Silently In A Dark Room
For 10 Hours A Day Engaged In Vipassana, 'The Marine Corps Of Meditation')
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: Jail inmates use meditation to overcome anger, cravings
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 1998 16:41:39 -0700
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Tom Murlowski
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 8 Apr 1998
Author: David Foster ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON THE INSIDE
JAIL INMATES USE MEDITATION TO OVERCOME ANGER
At Seattle's North Rehabilitation Facility, petty criminals, alcoholics and
drug addicts sit silently in a dark room for 10 hours a day, hoping to
bring inner peace to their messed-up lives.
For these dropouts of 12-step programs and halfway houses, it's worth a try.
"What else do I have to lose?" asked Rose Clinton, 31, one of seven women
who volunteered this month for the jail's second Vipassana course.
She has had two crack-addicted babies, one of whom died, and has lost count
of the times she has been in jail for drug dealing, prostitution, robbery
and assault.
Her forehead bears a jagged scar from a bottle hurled by an angry drug
dealer. Welts on her wrists remain from the day in 1992 when they took her
third baby away and she tried to slash her wrists with a broken crack pipe.
For most of Clinton's adult life, introspection has been limited to the
desperate, daily calculus of an addict: "You think about where your next
hit's gonna come from, or who you're gonna beat for some money."
For 10 days ended March 7, Clinton pursued purer thoughts. Waking at 4 a.m.
to the sound of a gong, she spent hours in "noble silence," sitting on a
cushion, her eyes closed, a blanket wrapped around her.
With help from a Vipassana instructor, she and her fellow students learned
to observe their breathing and other bodily sensations. They learned to
feel an itch and not scratch it, and they saw at least the possibility of
doing the same with the anger and craving that have ruled their lives.
"We call it mental boot camp," said jail administrator Lucia Meijer, who
authorized the program last fall after being persuaded to attend a 10-day
Vipassana course herself. Her first impression, as she struggled to hold a
meditation position for an hour, was that "these people must be sadists."
No magic, no pills
Later, she decided Vipassana meditation has the potential for building
inmates' self-discipline and insight.
"It's not a magic trick or a pill," Meijer said. "It's hard, conscious
effort. It teaches them how to control themselves, how to go inside and
deal with what's there."
Meditation comes in many forms, from the contemplations of Christian and
Buddhist monks to the secular Transcendental Meditation.
Vipassana is considered the Marine Corps of meditation. As taught today by
Indian teacher S.N. Goenka, it claims a direct lineage to techniques
practiced 2,500 years ago by Buddha.
Its nonsectarian approach welcomes students of any religious belief. But
its rigors put off most people: Of the 4,000 students who take courses each
year at the four Vipassana centers in the United States, only an estimated
10 percent embrace it permanently.
Adherents believe they have found a captive, eager audience in jails and
prisons -- if only they can convince skeptical jailers.
Even at Seattle's North Rehabilitation Facility, a minimum-security jail
with a reputation for innovation and a focus on treating chemical
dependency, the Vipassana program is a major disruption.
Prisoners separated
The students must be housed in a separate wing. Instructors and assistants
insist on living at the jail during the course. The kitchen must prepare
special vegetarian meals. Loudspeakers must be disconnected. Everyone who
works with the students, including guards, must be graduates of a 10-day
Vipassana course.
In the program's favor: It's free. All Vipassana courses are run by
volunteers.
It's too soon to tell how well the Seattle program keeps inmates on the
virtuous path after their release. But jail officials say behavior changes
were striking after the first course in November, which graduated 11 men.
Everyone mentions Ernest, a huge, menacing ghetto warrior who spoke in
grunts before the Vipassana course. Afterward, he was hugging everybody and
declaring that love is the answer.
Richard Jimerson, whose alcohol-related crimes have bounced him in and out
of jail for years, has attended two more Vipassana courses and volunteered
to help at three since his release from jail in December.
A year ago, Jimerson was "sad, lost, a waste," said Stephanie Maxwell, a
vocational specialist at the jail. Now, she said, he is "focused, honest,
thoughtful."
Jimerson, 31, put it this way: "The rattling in my brain got put to sleep."
Seven started, seven finished
Vivian Snyder, instructor for the women's Vipassana course, said her inmate
students were more chatty than those on the outside. But they were typical
in other ways: They fell asleep in the first days. They threatened to quit.
They thought they were being brainwashed. They were wracked by headaches
and nausea.
Lila Bowechop, 33, said one side of her face went numb -- the same feeling
she used to get after alcoholic binges -- and she thought she might die.
In the end, though, they rallied. Seven women started and seven finished,
an improvement over the men's course, which lost six students.
"They worked harder than any group I've seen," Snyder said. "They didn't
spend a lot of time on philosophical debates. They know they're suffering."
On the seventh day, rage boiled up within Clinton. It was a stew of old
pains and regrets, made all the more maddening because she thought she had
dealt with them long ago. She cursed. She cried. She knew she'd have to
quit.
And then the anger passed. Like an itch.
Clinton hopes to keep meditating on the outside. She hopes to get a high
school equivalency diploma. She'll settle for avoiding behavior of the sort
that put her away most recently: stabbing a woman with a screwdriver and a
knife.
"Now I know I don't have to get that mad," Clinton said. "I know there's a
way I can come out of that anger."
Copyright 1998 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Extortion Trial Witness Tells Of Police Abuses ('Boston Globe' Version)
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 23:59:02 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US MA: Extortion Trial Witness Tells of Police Abuses
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Dick Evans"
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Pubdate: Wed, 8 Apr 1998
Author: Patricia Nealon
EXTORTION TRIAL WITNESS TELLS OF POLICE ABUSES
A Boston police detective yesterday became the first officer to testify
publicly about the shady practices he learned from two former colleagues
who have admitted stealing more than $200,000 from drug dealers and other
criminals in an on-the-job crime spree.
Since Walter F. Robinson Jr. and Kenneth Acerra have pleaded guilty to
avoid trial, the testimony of Detective John Brazil offers the first
glimpse into the crooked world of phony search warrants and stolen drug
money perfected by his two mentors on the night shift.
Brazil was the lead government witness against attorney Joseph P. Murphy of
Milton, who is on trial in US District Court for allegedly engaging in an
extortion scheme with Robinson and Acerra.
Authorities say Murphy twice told defendants that drug charges could be
dropped or they could get out of jail before trial if they made payoffs to
the two detectives.
Brazil, currently on administrative leave from the Boston Police
Department, has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.
Last month, Robinson and Acerra each pleaded guilty to three counts of
conspiracy, civil rights violations and tax fraud shortly before they were
to stand trial. They did not plead guilty to the extortion charges
involving Murphy.
Under a plea agreement, the two detectives will serve three years in prison
and repay as much as $100,000 if US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock
accepts the deal at their sentencing May 21. Under the terms of the
agreement, the extortion charges against them involving Murphy will be
dismissed.
The federal investigation that prompted their indictment was sparked by a
Globe Spotlight Team report in February 1996.
On the witness stand yesterday, Brazil, 51, described how he met Robinson
and Acerra in the fall of 1991 while working at the Area E station, which
covers Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury.
''I wanted to learn how to do search warrants,'' Brazil testified.
So his supervisor, Sergeant Leonard W. Marquardt, put him in touch with
Robinson and Acerra, who were known for being ''efficient'' at preparing
search warrants, Brazil said.
That efficiency, Brazil testified, was grounded in a system of lying on
search warrant applications - using made-up informants and nonexistent
surveillance.
Soon, Brazil was filling out search warrant applications and affidavits for
Robinson and Acerra using the tricks of the trade they'd taught him. If he
needed informants' names to boost the credibility of an application, he was
told, ''Just put down the last person that you arrested,'' Brazil
testified.
He did just that on a May 6, 1992, application that is central to the case
against Murphy. That warrant was used to raid a Jamaica Plain apartment as
well as a taxi owned by Bruno Machore, a suspected drug dealer who will be
a key prosecution witness against Murphy. According to court documents
filed after the raid and admitted as evidence yesterday, Robinson, Acerra
and Brazil found four bags of cocaine and drug paraphernalia in the
apartment and $7,500 in cash in Machore's cab parked outside.
The government alleges that Murphy told Machore that if he paid Robinson
and Acerra $1,000 each, the case against him would be dismissed. That
happened after neither detective showed up in court.
Robinson later appeared before a judge and said that the money had been
taken for safekeeping and was not part of the search. It was returned to
Murphy, according to prosecutors.
Three weeks after the Jamaica Plain search, Robinson, Acerra and Brazil
raided two apartments on Edgemere Road in West Roxbury, where Machore was
arrested again.
Brazil testified that he broke open a strong box he'd found under the bed
and discovered about $8,000 packaged in eight bundles. He testified that he
gave the money to Robinson. But Robinson never mentioned the cash in an
incident report, and didn't fill out a form used to keep track of seized
money. And Acerra never listed the money - which prosecutors said could
have been as much as $17,000 - in a document filed in West Roxbury District
Court.
Brazil testified that he overheard Robinson and Acerra talking about the
money in the detective squad. Robinson said he knew Murphy, who was
Machore's attorney; before becoming a defense lawyer, Murphy was an
assistant clerk magistrate at West Roxbury District Court for 12 years.
''I'll talk to him,'' Robinson said, according to Brazil. ''We can work
this out.''
In the summer of 1992, prosecutors say, Murphy visited one of Machore's
co-defendants in prison four times and told him that for $50,000 - $25,000
each for Robinson and Acerra - they would be released from jail pending
trial. Neither paid the money but both were released.
Both are expected to testify.
In a related development, a Boston attorney yesterday filed a federal
lawsuit against Robinson, Brazil and the city of Boston, claiming that his
client, Jose de La Rosa, was falsely charged with cocaine trafficking and
robbed of $2,300 by Robinson and Brazil in September 1991.
The 11-page complaint filed by attorney Howard Friedman claims that
Robinson - after he and Brazil searched de La Rosa's apartment but found no
drugs - produced a bag of cocaine at the police station and said it would
be used as evidence against de La Rosa.
The encounter took place, according to the complaint, after de La Rosa
insisted he was not a drug dealer and could not ''set up'' a drug deal for
Robinson, Acerra and Brazil. In October, after the cocaine trafficking
charge against de La Rosa had been pending for six years, it was dismissed,
the complaint says.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prescription Drugs - Danger Within the Cure (Op-Ed In 'Los Angeles Times'
By Thomas J. Moore Of George Washington University Medical Center,
Author Of 'Prescription For Disaster - The Hidden Dangers
In Your Medicine Cabinet,' Says It Is Estimated More Than 100,000 Americans
Die Every Year From FDA-Approved Prescription Drugs,
And Another One Million Are So Severely Injured They Require Hospitalization,
Yet Just 54 Federal Employees With A Budget Of About $7 Million
Are Responsible For Monitoring The Safety Of 5,000 Prescription
And Over-The-Counter Drugs On The Market)
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 23:47:32 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: OPED: Prescription Drugs: Danger Within the Cure
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 8 Apr 1998
Author: Thomas J.Moore - a senior fellow in health policy at the George
Washington University Medical Center, is the author of "Prescription for
Disaster: The Hidden Dangers in Your Medicine Cabinet."
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: DANGER WITHIN THE CURE
Imagine a war on crime in which nobody knew how many murders occurred, or a
Federal Aviation Administration that was unaware of how many airplanes had
crashed. Suppose we were so casual about fatal automobile accidents that it
was not necessary to report one.
This is how we monitor the risks of prescription drugs, though they account
for more deaths each year than all murders, auto accidents and airplane
crashes combined. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people die every
year from the adverse effects of prescription drugs, and 1 million are
injured so severely they require hospitalization. Many of these deaths and
serious injuries could be prevented with better programs and policies to
limit the dangers involved.
Many people take pills confident the Food and Drug Administration has
ensured that only safe drugs reach consumers. While the FDA has a generally
competent and dedicated staff, this is not what happens. The FDA's job is
to make sure each new drug is tested thoroughly enough to identify its
risks, and provide substantial evidence that it has medical benefits.
This means approved drugs usually have their benefits celebrated in the
growing flood of direct-to-consumer advertising. But they also have major
risks that are inadequately monitored, often ignored by doctors and seldom
understood by consumers. The leading painkillers frequently cause
perforated ulcers, requiring emergency surgery and resulting in 70,000
hospitalizations a year. Digoxin, a best-selling heart drug, caused more
than 200,000 hospitalizations over a seven-year period. Even the awesome
power of antibiotics carries risks that must be managed. They can create
conditions in which intractable intestinal infections flourish or trigger a
life-threatening allergic reaction. Millions more are afflicted with
moderate side effects, including rashes, insomnia, nausea, hair loss,
depression and sexual dysfunction. Drugs are inherently risky, and from the
FDA to the consumer's medicine cabinet, were doing a poor job minimizing
those dangers.
The problem begins at the FDA, and the priorities imposed by limited budget
and congressional mandates. For years, the chief complaint was that the FDA
was too slow to approve new drugs. When given additional funds collected
from drug companies, the FDA responded impressively. With a 40% increase
in the drug-review staff since 1993, the FDA now approves new drugs as fast
or faster than in Europe.
Unfortunately, the narrow focus on new drugs has made worse the already
inadequate safety monitoring of drugs being taken by millions of consumers.
The FDA has more than 1,500 full-time employees with duties mainly related
to evaluating new drugs. However, a fulltime staff of just 54 is
responsible for monitoring the safety of the 5,000 prescription and
over-the -counter drugs already on the market. There are more full-time
federal employees in the U.S. Naval Academy laundry (a total of 107), than
assigned to monitor the risks of drugs taken by millions of consumers.
To detect drug-related injuries and deaths, the FDA relies mainly on a
voluntary system so widely ignored by health professionals that 99% of all
adverse effects are never reported. As a result, the FDA cannot say whether
deaths and serious injuries from drugs are increasing or reliably identify
which drugs require greater vigilance in their use. As the diet-drug
debacle with fenphen proved, without better monitoring, people may continue
to be harmed for decades before the danger is identified.
We have even more serious problems in the doctor's office than at the FDA.
The medical journals are filled with research that documents in horrifying
detail an err0r-plagued system. For example, studies show that one of five
elderly are prescribed at least one drug that is inappropriate or dangerous
in an older population. Another revealed that 21% of all prescriptions for
antibiotics were inappropriately given to combat the common cold, a virus
against which these drugs are risky and ineffective. Government surveys
show that more than two of three doctors fail to tell patients anything
about the risks of the drug they just prescribed, despite a legal and
ethical obligation to do so.
Of equal concern are the alarming number of simple medication errors in
hospitals, pharmacies and doctors' offices. Common mistakes include
confusing the drug name, getting the dose wrong or ignoring the results of
a diagnostic test or a plainly documented drug allergy. Reported deaths
from medication errors, now more than 7,000 a year, have nearly tripled in
a decade's time. Yet, many fatal medication blunders undoubtedly are never
reported on death certificates.
While the nation's hospitals are now paying more attention to the
drug-safety breakdown, the doctor's office remains dangerously error prone.
Without new tools and a better system, even the most conscientious of
doctors is likely to make an unacceptable number of errors.
In such a poorly managed, inherently dangerous system, consumers must pay
far more attention to risks and benefits of the drugs they take. Can thay
recognize the adverse effects of the drugs they're taking, especially the
subtle ones like fatigue or mild depression? Is this one of the drugs where
a small overdose is dangerous? Do consumers know when they take one of the
many drugs with alarming withdrawal effects if discontinued suddenly? These
are just a few of the many questions that must be answered to use drugs
wisely.
While individuals can do much to reduce their risks, an effective solution
requires action by a concerned nation the usually does not neglect
important safety issues. For example, we spend $3 billion annually to
install air bags in new automobiles, hoping to save about 300 lives a year.
Responding to the fatal crash of a TWA airliner near New York, in which
terrorism was not involved, the federal government launched a massive
counter-terrorism effort with 200 new employees at the FAA and another
1,300 at the FBI.
Yet, with 1 million severely harmed each year by prescription drugs, the
FDA monitoring program has a budget of about $7 million. You don't have to
an expert to grasp how many lives we could save, and injuries we might
prevent, with even a modest investment in drug safety.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, Number 41 (Summary Of Drug Policy News For Activists,
Including Original And Excellent Commentary Such As The Feature Article,
'Thoughts Inspired By A Visit To San Francisco,' By Kevin Zeese, President,
Common Sense For Drug Policy)
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 13:14:15 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer
Subject: DrugSense Weekly April 8, 1998 #041
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly #041
April 8, 1998
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org/
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Feature Article-
Thoughts Inspired by a Visit to San Francisco
by Kevin Zeese, President, Common Sense for Drug Policy
Weekly News In Review-
Medical Marijuana-
Felony Charges in Pot Case
News Analysis: Medical Privacy at Issue in Pot Club Records Seizure
Pot Candidate: High Hopes, High Visibility
Medical Marijuana Enthusiast Hauled To Jail
Cannabis-
Study: Marijuana Is Addictive
Corrections-
O.C. Jail Crowding Leads U.S.
Forfeiture-
ACLU Challenges Oakland Over Car-Seizure Law
Hemp-
LTE - Response to March 11th article -
Drug-Czar Blast Hemp-Crop Advocates
International News-
Crime Kings Meet To Carve Up Europe
Canada - Stirring The Pot With New Marijuana Club
Canada - Pot Trial of MS Sufferer on Hold
UK - Young Scots a Generation of Criminals
UK - Army Of Addicts Costs City 400M Pounds Each Year
Hot Off The 'Net
DrugSense Tip Of The Week
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
Thoughts Inspired by a Visit to San Francisco by Kevin Zeese,
President, Common Sense for Drug Policy, kevzeese@mapinc.org
A visit to San Francisco is refreshing for a Beltway insider like myself.
The day I arrived I heard this story: a medical marijuana patient goes
into a bar. An older women was smoking a cigarette (illegal in
Califoria bars since January 1). The patient asked the bartender if he
minded if he smoked his medicine. The bartender said "no problem." As
he lit the joint, the tobacco user said: "You're breaking the law." The
marijuana user replied, "No, you are."
The next day, a headline in the Examiner proclaimed: "Hallinan: Pot
Will Be Available." The top law enforcement official was promising
that if the federal government closed Cannabis Buyers' Clubs he would
personally assure that marijuana would be distributed by city officials.
When I discussed this with Hallinan, he said he considered safe access to
medical marijuana to be critical to the health of the many ill San
Franciscans who use it. When I discussed the issue with Dr. Mitchell Katz,
director of the Health Department, he agreed Hallinan was on the right
track.
When I come to California I joke with my hostess, Marsha Rosenbaum of
the Lindesmith Center, that there is so much drug news, reading The San
Francisco Chronicle is often like reading High Times. The next day the
Chronicle reported that four mayors (three from the Bay area the other
from West Hollywood) urging President Clinton to stop the prosecution
of the marijuana clubs. On the following day, the Chronicle
editorialized in support of the mayors and district attorney and
against more court battles over the humane use of marijuana.
The Bay area is often portrayed as so out of touch with the rest of
America, as to be irrelevant to national culture and politics. In
reality, the Bay area has been in the forefront of change, whether on
women's rights, gay rights, environmentalism, social justice, health
care, or economic development, Bay area trends have become national
policy more often than not.
When I spoke at a rally for the Compassionate 9 -- the marijuana
dispensary operators sued by the federal government -- I emphasized two
points. First, this was a national issue. The federal government knows
that if medical marijuana distribution succeeds in the Bay area many
states will follow suit and the federal government will lose control.
Secondly, I emphasized that moral authority is on the side of
reformers, who are protecting health by allowing safe access - not
criminal access, to medicine. Reformers are following the will of the
voters, not attempting to veto their vote. The federal government and
state attorney general are propping up failed drug prohibition in ways
that make seriously ill people suffer needlessly. Prohibitionists are
clearly the ones without moral authority.
Inside the Beltway, Congress is moving to pass resolutions against
medical marijuana, an idea supported by over 60% of the public in
national polls (In San Francisco 80% voted for Proposition 215, 78% in
Oakland). The Congressional Right is moving toward what they describe
as a World War II style drug war as the linchpin of this congressional
election year. This seems out-of-step with the public on drug issues.
They keep pursuing the drug war path as more and more of the public
recognizes the drug war cannot succeed.
For the first time in my twenty years working in drug policy, drug
warriors are less in tune with the public than reformers. The medical
marijuana issue is only one example. The Moyers TV series, while
imperfect, certainly made the point that policy makers are behind the
voters when it comes to recognizing the drug war is failing and public
health solutions are needed. Polls on medical marijuana, needle
exchange, treatment availability, education vs. prison all show support
for reform, but Congress, mired in the drug war past, continues to
pursue the same old failed strategies.
This fall will help tell us where we are. Will California Attorney
General Dan Lungren, the most outspoken opponent of medical marijuana
in the state, be elected governor? Will medical marijuana initiatives
likely to be on the ballot in six states and the District of Columbia
go in the direction of California or the resolutions of the Congress?
Will referenda in Oregon and Arizona challenging drug war legislation
on marijuana recriminalization in Oregon and overturning the 1996
Arizona initiative be successful?
Sometimes in politics, a bread and butter winning issue suddenly
becomes a political albatross and the politicians backing it become
national jokes. Southern politicians of another era who automatically
voted for Jim Crow laws and got re-elected by shouting nigger and
standing in the way of integration quickly became political
embarrassments. While a few David Dukes remain, they receive minimal
support and are anathema to mainstream politicians.
This November we'll be able to gauge public mood on the drug war as
never before. Are elected officials out of step and supporting
out-dated ideas?. If the votes go the way polls are suggesting, drug
war politicians may be becoming political embarrassments, just like
race baiting politicians. Are we about to take the first step in
transforming the "Drug War" from national policy into political history?
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Medical Marijuana
***
Felony Charges in Pot Case
News Analysis: Medical Privacy at Issue in Pot Club Records Seizure
Pot Candidate: High Hopes, High Visibility
Medical Marijuana Enthusiast Hauled To Jail
COMMENT:
This improbable grouping of news articles speaks volumes about the
impact of 215 in California and the savage response it has provoked
from fascists at both the state and federal levels. Three proprietors
of buyers' clubs have been charged with felonies; two are functionally
out of business, but the third, lucky enough to live in San Francisco
(See Feature Article) is not only in business, he's running for
governor!
In the most savage case of all, a chronically ill medical marijuana
advocate and user has been deliberately (and probably illegally), sent
back to jail by an inhuman federal judge who seems to have learned
justice from Torquemada and compassion from Adolf Eichmann.
FELONY CHARGES IN POT CASE
Ukiah--Yvette Rubio, the woman arrested last fall for growing marijuana
she said was for the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club, has been charged with
felony counts of possession and cultivation of marijuana for sale.
Rubio, 31, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Northern Lake County
Municipal Court. If convicted, she could be sentenced to three years in
state prison.
In September, authorities seized 51 plants from Rubio's property, which
is on the western border of Lake County.
[snip]
Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Pubdate: Thu, 2 Apr 1998
Author: Andrew LaMar Press Democrat Bureau
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n243.a04.html
***
NEWS ANALYSIS: MEDICAL PRIVACY AT ISSUE IN POT CLUB RECORDS SEIZURE
Civil liberty groups, doctors denounce San Jose police raid
It is one of an AIDS patient's worst nightmares: Medical records
bearing the intimate details of illness are seized by police and pored
over by strangers.
Last week, (1) it happened in San Jose to some 270 patrons of the Santa
Clara County Medical Cannabis Center, a club that provides marijuana to
chronically ill patients under the rules established by Proposition 215.
[snip]
(1) (Note- The March 25 San Jose Mercury-News report of CBC operator
Peter Baez's arrest on felony charges was commented on in last week's
DS Weekly)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Thu, 2 Apr 1998
Author: Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n239.a02.html
***
POT CANDIDATE: HIGH HOPES, HIGH VISIBILITY
SAN FRANCISCO--Here's one way the nation's best-known marijuana
distributor campaigns to be the Republican candidate for governor: He
goes to court. Actually, he is taken to court. As a defendant. For
distributing marijuana to the ailing. And one of the people who keeps
dragging him there is none other than his most powerful opponent in the
California gubernatorial race.
Dennis Peron--a chain-smoking, pot-toking, commune-living, gay,
vegetarian, Buddhist Vietnam veteran--is trying to make life miserable
these days for Dan Lungren, state attorney general, presumptive
Republican nominee for governor and none of the above.
[snip]
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 3 Apr 1998
Author: Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n243.a02.html
***
MEDICAL POT ACTIVIST RETURNED TO JAIL AFTER FAILING DRUG TESTS
Los Angeles (AP) - Medicinal marijuana activist Todd McCormick was
ordered back to jail Friday for violating bail by failing drug tests
three times this month.
"Your honor, putting me in jail will serve no one," McCormick said
through tears to U.S. Magistrate Judge James McMahon. "There is not
justice in this. I didn't use any illegal substances. I am not using
marijuana."
Judge Unmoved
The judge appeared unmoved by McCormick's sobs, and even refused to
allow McCormick to take his "special pillow" with him when marshals
took him into custody.
"I can't believe this," McCormick said, burying his face in his hands
as his attorney put his arms around him.
McCormick said the pillow, like marijuana, helps ease the pain of a
rare cancer he has suffered since childhood.
[snip]
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 4 Apr 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n249.a09.html
***
Marijuana
***
Study: Marijuana Is Addictive
COMMENT:
This is a continuation of the bogus campaign orchestrated by Alan
Leshner, the drug war's Josef Goebbels. It began with the July 1997
publication of rat brain research purchased by NIDA and shamefully
over interpreted by Leshner- its purpose is to convince voters that
marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin, at least to teens.
U.S. STUDY: MARIJUANA IS ADDICTIVE
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Troubled teenagers who use marijuana can
quickly become dependent on the drug, Colorado researchers reported
Tuesday.
More than two-thirds of teens referred for treatment by social service
or criminal justice agencies complained of withdrawal symptoms when
they stopped using marijuana, Dr. Thomas Crowley of the University of
Colorado and colleagues reported.
``This study provides additional important data to better illustrate
that marijuana is a dangerous drug that can be addictive,'' Dr. Alan
Leshner, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which
paid for the study, said in a statement.
``It also identifies the devastating impact marijuana dependence can
have on young people and highlights the fact that many both need and
want help dealing with their addiction,'' he added.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tuesday, March 31, 1998
Source: Reuters
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n234.a04.html
***
Corrections
***
O.C. Jail Crowding Leads U.S.
COMMENT:
Most stories about incarceration focus on conditions in the nation's
prisons. This one illustrates that local jails, which house up to 1/3
of those in custody, are not in any better shape.
O.C. JAIL CROWDING LEADS U.S.
Jammed local lockups are forced to release thousands of inmates early.
Hundreds are soon charged in new crimes.
Orange County has the most overcrowded jails among the 25 largest
county systems in the nation, resulting in the early release of
criminals, who sometimes are quickly arrested again for new offenses.
[snip]
The five-jail system run by the Sheriff's Department is at 140 percent
of its capacity, cramming a daily average of 5,368 inmates into what
was designed to hold 3,821.
That exceeds the packed conditions in jails in New York City and Los
Angeles County, and significantly outstrips the next most overcrowded
jail system, in Atlanta's Fulton County, which is at 133 percent of its
capacity, figures from the U.S. Justice Department show.
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Mar 1998
Author: David Parrish-OCR
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n232.a05.html
***
Forfeiture
***
ACLU Challenges Oakland Over Car-Seizure Law
COMMENT:
Oakland, in a creative extension of the forfeiture principle, is
targeting both illegal drug customers and suburban johns. I guess a
city stuck with the Warriors, Raiders, and As, has to find revenue
wherever it can.
ACLU CHALLENGES OAKLAND OVER CAR-SEIZURE LAW
Ordinance lets police take autos of alleged drug buyers
A pioneering Oakland city ordinance that allows police to seize alleged
drug buyers' cars is wobbly if not flat-out baseless under California
law, the American Civil Liberties Union said yesterday, citing an
opinion by state lawyers.
But the criticism was denounced with equal intensity by one of the
city's legal advisers, who told police they can continue to enforce the
law with confidence that there is no basis on which it could be
overturned.
[snip]
In January, in the first test of ``Beat Feet,'' police arrested 14 drug
buyers on East Oakland streets that have long served as a regional
drive-through drug market. Police seized the suspects' vehicles -- a
move sure to discourage others from coming to town to buy drugs, the
law's backers believe.
On Friday, a police sting on San Pablo Avenue netted 17 men on
suspicion of soliciting acts of prostitution. Many of them commuters on
their way home to the suburbs, these suspects, too, were deprived of
their vehicles and subjected to the mortification of ``Beat Feet.''
[snip]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 1998
Author: Rick DelVecchio, Chronicle Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n237.a05.html
***
Hemp
***
LTE: Response to March 11th Op-Ed; Drug-Czar Blast Hemp-Crop Advocates
COMMENT:
This LTE confirms the remarkable arrogance of US drug policy. Prior to
the '96 vote on 215. McC was tweaked editorially for "exceeding his
credentials" after he lectured on proper medical practice in the San
Francisco Chronicle. This year, in Kentucky he's opposed to
legalization of hemp, so he persuaded the Courier-Journal to provide a
platform from which to air his non-existent expertise in agricultural
economics.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In response to your March 11th article, "Drug-czar blast hemp-crop
advocates," it is evident that Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey's contention
that "the cultivation of hemp is economically not feasible in the
United States," is merely a personal opinion. Although he says he is
open to new evidence that proves otherwise, he has consistently refused
to meet with individuals who are truly knowledgeable regarding
industrial hemp.
It seems the only real reason the cultivation of industrial hemp is not
economically feasible in the United States is simply because of the
absurd restrictions imposed by the Drug Enforcement Administration,
i.e., high barbed wire fences, 24 hour armed guards and so forth. The
reality is, the United States is the only industrialized country that
effectively prohibits the cultivation of industrial hemp.
McCaffrey's belief that industrial hemp production "would completely
disarm all law enforcement from enforcing anti-marijuana production
laws," appears to be self-serving at best, since industrial hemp is
grown commercially in every industrialized country, including our
neighbors to the north, Canada.
[snip]
Source: The Louisville Courier-journal
Author: Andy Graves, President, KY Hemp Growers Co-op
Pubdate: 3 April 1998
Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/edletter.htm
Website: http://www.courier-journal.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n245.a01.html
***
International News
***
Crime Kings Meet To Carve Up Europe
COMMENT:
This may sound like a mixture of James Bond and Mario Puzo, but the
fact that it appeared in the London Times and carries an endorsement
from de Borchgrave gives it an aura of verisimilitude. Isn't it
comforting that our drug laws help make it all possible?
CRIME KINGS MEET TO CARVE UP EUROPE
"Dividing Europe's spoils of crime"
IN the ancient French town of Beaune, the strange mix of nationalities
and expensive limousines escaped the notice of most residents, who were
more interested in the price of wine at a nearby auction.
Only now has the reason for an autumn gathering of Russian, Chinese,
Japanese, Italian and Colombian "businessmen" at a hotel in the heart
of Burgundy become apparent. According to newly disclosed French
intelligence reports, representatives of the world's leading organised
crime syndicates were holding a summit to discuss carving up western
Europe for drugs, prostitution, smuggling and extortion rackets.
[snip]
Arnaud de Borchgrave, director of the global organised crime project at
the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in
Washington, said: "We know organised crime groups have met to carve up
the planet . . . There has been an astonishing growth in transnational
groups. The legal economy has gone global and the crime economy has
gone global as well."
[snip]
Source: Sunday Times (UK)
Contact: editor@sunday-times.co.uk
Pubdate: 29 March 1998
Authors: Andrew Alderson and Carey Scott, Paris
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n249.a01.html
***
Canada: Stirring The Pot With New Marijuana Club
Pot Trial of MS Sufferer on Hold
COMMENT:
In Canada, where hemp production was recently approved, Terry won the
right to use medicinal cannabis and the Constitutional challenge
by Chris Clay was a partial victory, Lynn Harichy's personal campaign
for medical marijuana is attracting increasingly favorable notice, as
these two articles attest. The postponement of her trial until
November is not seen as a setback.
STIRRING THE POT WITH NEW MARIJUANA CLUB
TORONTO (CP) - She knows firsthand the devastating effects of having
her home raided by police searching for pot.
That's why Lynn Harichy is willing to risk going through it again.
She's started a medical marijuana club that begins distributing pot
today, providing a service she hopes will stop anyone enduring what she
did.
[snip]
Members are given a quarter ounce of organically grown marijuana a week
or one ounce a month, said Harichy.
She says she's met both Health Minister Allan Rock and Prime Minister
Jean Chretien and she believes medical marijuana will soon be available.
Derek Kent, a spokesman for Rock, declined comment on Harichy's
club.
[snip]
Source: Canadian Press
Pubdate: March 31, 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n234.a02.html
***
POT TRIAL OF MS SUFFERER ON HOLD UNTIL RULING ON MEDICAL DEFENCE
Mindful that a milestone marijuana-as-medicine case is working its
way toward the Ontario Court of Appeal this fall, a judge has
postponed the trial of London's Lynn Harichy.
Harichy, 36, was to go on trial April 27 on a single charge of
possessing marijuana, which she insists she needs to ease the
spasms and pain of multiple sclerosis.
[snip]
Federal prosecutor Bill Buchner said the Crown agrees to the
adjournment sought by the defence team.
Harichy's four-day trial is now set for Nov. 17 to 19 and Nov. 23.
[snip]
Source: London Free Press (Canada)
Contact: letters@lfpress.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
Pubdate: Thu, 2 Apr 1998
Author: Don Murray -- Free Press Court Reporter
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n238.a02.html
***
UK: Young Scots a Generation of Criminals
UK: Army Of Addicts Costs City 400M Pounds Each Year
COMMENT:
There was an amazing display of tunnel vision in the March 31
Scotsman: one long article dealt with the staggering increase in
youthful prisoners, another with the equally staggering increase in
hard drug use among juveniles, yet the prison article didn't once
refer to drugs and the drug article didn't mention prisons.
YOUNG SCOTS A GENERATION OF CRIMINALS
One In Ten 18-Year-Olds Convicted In Court
CRIME is a young man's game, with a staggering one in ten of all
18-year-old Scottish youths convicted in the courts of serious crime in
1996.
Figures released by the Scottish Office yesterday showed how conviction
rates among 18-year-old males are more than 11 times the rate among men
over 40.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 31 Mar 1998
Source: The Scotsman
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com
Author: Jenny Booth, Home Affairs Correspondent
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n235.a08.html
***
ARMY OF ADDICTS COSTS CITY 400M EACH YEAR
About 400 million worth of goods are stolen every year in Glasgow to
buy supplies for the city's 10,000 hard-drug users.
The cost of the city's ever-increasing drug problem was tallied
yesterday by the Greater Glasgow Drug Action Team.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 31 Mar 1998
Source: The Scotsman
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com
Author: Karen McVeigh
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n235.a09.html
***
HOT OFF THE 'NET
***
MSNBC maintains a UK site, which this week is featuring a fascinating
seven part look at the criminal drug market in Britain as seen through
the various eyes of dealers, customers, cops, coroners, and do-gooders.
Go to: http://news.uk.msn.com/default.asp?feature=drugs
If this link is no longer active as you're reading this, the text of
the seven articles can be found at:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n247.a01.html
***
The Addiction Treatment Forum Web Site (http://www.atforum.com) was updated
on April 6. New News Briefs included for April are:
- New Gene Linked To Addiction
- Drug Markets Differ Dramatically
- Hardcore Drug Use Higher Than Thought
- Needle Program Needed, AIS Panel Says
- Experts At Odds With Public Over Addiction Tx
- Accept Pain, Commit To Valuable Life - New Treatment Commands
- Doc Gets Patent for Rapid Heroin Detox
- NEURAAD Rapid Heroin Detox in Tampa
- Quest For Potent Problem-Free Pain Relief
- Researchers Discover Two New, Natural Painkillers
- Epidemic of Drug Rebound Headaches Unrecognized
- Heredity Prompts Alcoholism In Women
- Hydromorphone Under Junkies' Skin
- Inmates Need Drug Treatment, Reno Says
A free subscription to the Addiction Treatment Forum newsletter is
available at the website.
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
by Mark Greer
***
WAYTAGO "REDFORD"!!
SF Chronicle circulation 518,000
Ad value $1,243
I'd like to make a few points to all those who are frustrated and want to
help bring about reform. Writing a letter to the editor is an excellent way
to take action that really can make a big difference. Especially when
combined with the efforts of thousands of others letter writers.
Sometimes we can take our individual efforts and successes for granted
because we are getting to where we see published reform LTEs in major
papers on a near daily basis but think about what Redford has done in the
letter below. Half a million people may have read this letter. It may have
made them think, or may have encouraged them to get active in reform or it
may simply have sent the message that status quo thinking may be flawed.
How many of us can afford to contribute $1,200 to reform in a given year?
Givens and hundreds of others have essentially taken out "ads" on behalf
the reform movement in the form of published letters. The value of these
letters is an impressive return on the time invested and both benefits the
entire reform movement and influences the media to give more attention to
reform issues.
What better way can the average reform minded person invest some time than
to browse through the DrugSense Weekly or the news archive, find an article
that gets them motivated and write a letter. If every reformer who receives
this post took that simple action once a week _No Matter What_ the
cumulative results would be nothing short of amazing.
Just DO it - It's FUN and it really makes a difference.
>At 10:35 PM 4/6/98 -0700, rgivens@sirius.com wrote:
>SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
>Pub: April 6, 1998
>Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
>NARCOMANIACS
Editor -- The police raid on the patient files of the
San Jose cannabis club is typical of the treachery
of narcotics enforcement. The San Jose
narcomaniacs have already reneged on their
agreement to respect the right of patients to
medical marijuana without police interference
under Proposition 215. The drug war is a colossal
failure and blaming medical marijuana for the
failure of Reefer Madness law enforcement to
stop drug use is the biggest of lies. Drug
prohibition is a catastrophe that has always
caused more trouble than it is worth. When these
marijuana madmen insist on depriving the sick
and dying of a valuable medicine they violate
fundamental human rights and go too far.
REDFORD GIVENS
San Francisco
***
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
In a column by Jack Anderson in the Washington Post, June 24, 1972, p.31,
Mr. Ingersoll had this to say about the subject of legalization....
"Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the
street but also to protect the public from HARMFUL IDEAS." (Emphasis added)
Robert Ingersoll...then Director of the Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs. (In 1974 he became the first Director of the DEA.)
Submitted by Erik Skidmore
Or how about this one from Newt Gingrich at the President's Day Republican
fundraiser:
"Totalitarianism is when people believe they can punish their way to
perfection."
Submitted by Donald Topping
***
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our
members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for
you.
COMMENTS Editor: Tom O'Connell (tjeffoc@drugsense.org)
Senior-Editor: Mark Greer (mgreer@drugsense.org)
We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks.
NOTICE:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
REMINDER:
Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug
related issue to editor@mapinc.org
PLEASE HELP:
DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE.
We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are
able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort please Make checks
payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
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Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for April 2-8