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Oregon Scores Generally High Marks In Child Poverty Study
('Associated Press' Article About A Report Released Tuesday
By The National Center For Children In Poverty Notes The State Of Oregon
Spent $46.3 Million Last Year On Comprehensive Programs
For Young Children And Families, Less Than Multnomah County Spent
Just To Investigate, Arrest, Prosecute, Defend, Jail, Parole, And Drug-Test
Thousands Of Marijuana Offenders)
Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
05/12/98 4:56 PM Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oregon gets generally high marks in a child
poverty study prepared by Columbia University but falls short of
national averages in such areas as childhood vaccinations and
households with unemployed parents.
The report by the National Center for Children in Poverty was
released Tuesday.
The survey found that of the state's 256,487 children aged under
6:
-- 20.1 percent live in poverty compared with 24.7 percent
nationally.
--27.2 percent live in a single-parent household compared with
27.9 percent nationally.
--12.1 percent have a most-educated parent who did not finish
high school, against a national average of 14.6 percent.
--5.5 percent were born with a low birth weight compared with a
national average of 7.3 percent.
6.1 per 1,000 live births died before their first birthday compared
with 7.6 nationally.
--18.4 percent in low-income households lack health insurance
compared with a national average of 18.9 percent.
However, the study showed 30 percent were not vaccinated at
between 19 and 35 months while nationally the average is 23
percent. And in 36.6 percent of the households, neither parent
worked full-time, compared to a national average of 33 percent.
Oregon is one of 24 states reporting statewide comprehensive
programs for infants and toddlers and one of 34 with
comprehensive programs for preschoolers.
Twenty-five states, including Oregon, reported statewide
comprehensive family support or parent education programs on
behalf of young children or families.
However, Oregon is not among the 10 states linking
implementation of welfare reform and programs for young
children and families on welfare.
Oregon reported spending $46.3 million last year on
comprehensive programs for young children and families. Half of
the states reported spending $10 million or less while only seven
reported spending over $100 million.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Union Renews Opposition To Private Prisons
(According To 'The Associated Press,' Oregon's Largest Union
For Prison Guards, The American Federation Of State, County
And Municipal Employees, Is Saying Private Prisons Are A Bad Idea
And Voters Should Consider The Issue When Judging Candidates)
Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
By CHARLES E. BEGGS
The Associated Press
05/12/98 8:38 PM Eastern
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Turning prison operations over to private
business remains a bad idea that voters should consider when
judging candidates, officials of Oregon's largest corrections union
said Tuesday.
"Many candidates are trumpeting the virtues of privatization," said
Don Loving, Oregon public affairs director for the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
He said AFSCME has been holding news conferences around the
county to renew its campaign against privatization of prisons.
Voters should be aware of the drawbacks of such proposals when
they cast ballots in legislative races in which contenders might
support the idea, Loving said.
Some lawmakers have urged turning all or some prison services
over to private industry, but he proposal never has gotten very far
in the Legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Gene Derfler, R-Salem, said he hopes
lawmakers will authorize a pilot program next year.
"I think should we privatize at least one prison to check it out," he
said. "I don't see anything wrong with that. We're going to have
seven new prisons over the next few years."
Derfler said he understands the union's position because it doesn't
want jobs lost.
"I'm not interested in hurting employees. But I think taxpayers are
paying the bill and we at least owe them the opportunity to save
money," Derfler said.
Loving said he expects the idea to surface in the 1999 legislative
session. But state Corrections Department spokesman Jim
Lockwood said it won't be originated by his agency.
"We're not really an advocate at all," said Lockwood. "If the
Legislature wants to seriously look at it, we're willing to get
information."
Loving said a national report done by the union, which represents
corrections officers in more than 30 states, shows that claimed
savings by private operations often don't materialize.
"I don't think we need to copy someone else's mistakes," he said.
Loving acknowledged that the workers' self-interest is high among
the concerns.
"We never apologize that we look out for our members' jobs," he
said.
The report released by the union's national office says private
prison operators cut costs by paying inferior wages and benefits
and that for-profit institutions have higher rates of escapes and
violence.
"Private prisons do have their share of problems," Lockwood said.
"We agree with the unions that there are a lot of places where
people will cut corners."
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.
(feedback@thewire.ap.org)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Selling Marijuana ('Orange County Register'
Notes The Trial Of Medical Marijuana Defendant David Herrick
Of The Orange County Cannabis Co-Op Began Monday In A Courtroom
In Santa Ana, California)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:53:01 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Selling Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Author: Stuart Pfeifer
TRIAL BEGINS FOR MAN ACCUSED OF SELLING MARIJUANA
Mention Of Prop. 215, Allowing medical Use Of The Drug, Has Been Barred.
California's Proposition 215 is a forbidden defense strategy for accused
pot peddler David Lee Herrick. But overtones of the medical-marijuana
initiative filled a Santa Ana courtroom Monday as Herrick's marijuana sales
trial opened.
One of the prosecution witnesses is unavailable because he succumbed to
lung cancer that led him to Herrick's marijuana club in the first place,
defence attorney Sharon Petrosino said in her opening statement.
Clients of the Orange County Cannabis Co-Op listened to testimony with
crutches and walking canes scattered at their feet.
Petrosino said Herrick's only goal was to provide "medicine to ...
seriously ill and terminally ill Californians."
Herrick, 48, is charged with four counts of marijuana sales. Judge William
R. Froeberg has already ruled that Prop.215 cannot be used as a defense
because it does not allow for the sale of marijuana, only the use-by sick
people with a doctor's prescription.
Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust told the jury that the case is
simple: Herrick sold marijuana and broke California law. He faces up to
five years in state prison if convicted.
The trial is expected to conclude today.
Herrick, an officer of the Orange County Cannabis Co-Op, was arrested last
year after Santa Ana police found marijuana in plastic bags inside his
motel room. The bags were marked, "Not for sale. For medical purposes
only."
Petrosino told the jury the club provided marijuana to sick people with
prescriptions. It accepted donations, but they were not mandatory,
Petrosino said.
Armbrust disagreed: "You can call it what you want, donations or whatever,
it's still an exchange of marijuana for money."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Good News! (Local Correspondents Give Updates On Court Cases
Of Orange County Medical Marijuana Defendants Marvin Chavez,
David Herrick)
Subject: GOOD NEWS!
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 01:11:21 EDT
From: FilmMakerZ (FilmMakerZ@aol.com)
Went to court today for Dave's hearing. Public Defender Investigator John
Depko said that Carl Armbrust took the mailing charge for Marvin to the feds
and they didn't want to prosecute because it was too small an amount, so that
charge is gone!
Also, Armbrust questioned his two witnesses, both of whom said they don't
think they ever got mmj from, or gave money to, Dave. It looks good for him.
The jury even laughed at Armbrust when he tried to construe what one of the
witnesses said in to something else. The trial should end tomorrow. I'll let
you know what happens.
Mira
***
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:30:23 +0100
To: dpfca@drugsense.org, friends@freecannabis.org
From: Ellen Komp (ekomp@slonet.org)
Subject: DPFCA: DAVE HERRICK VERDICT TOMORROW?
Cc: wbritt420@aol.com, FilmMakerZ@aol.com
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
It's expected closing arguments, and possibly a verdict will be heard
tomorrow in the Dave Herrick case. Keep a light in your heart for
Dave! and come to OC tomorrow if you can! 9AM Courtroom 36, Santa Ana.
***
I got there mid-morning today. Hopefully Bill Britt and Mirna will
report also (they've been in court throughout the trial.)
PD Sharon Petrosino cross-examined DA investigator Andy Petrosa (sp?)
about testimony he took from patient Mr. Hoffer.
Petrosino grilled Petrosa about discrepancies in his reports,
suggesting he had lead the witness to say it was Herrick who had given
him marijuana. Exchanges went something like this:
Petrosa: I think the witness said so later in the interview...
Petrosino: So it's your testimony that somewhere on the tape of the
interview the witness said that?
Petrosa: Well, no...
Petrosino: Would looking at the transcript refresh you memory?
Petrosa: Yes
Whereupon she showed him the transcript and he had to admit that he got
it wrong. She kept after him until he finally begun to acquiesce to just
about everything she said. It was a beautiful thing.
It came out that Herrick signed patients up for membership and gave
them cards, and that patients gave "donations." They told the
investigator it was their understanding there was no correlation
between the amount of money donated and the amount of marijuana
obtained, and that there was no pressure to give money. $20 or $40 was
the highest transaction described, in exchange for one or two 1/8-oz.
baggies. Armburst liked to refer to it as $20 per 1/8, but Petrosino
established that it was not that cut and dried.
After re-direct and re-cross, the witness was about to be dismissed
when DA Armburst said, "I want to ask him about Jerry Pollard." The
Judge (William R. Froeberg) asked, "you want to re-open direct? I
didn't know we were splitting it up." No doubt Armburst knew he didn't
have much of a case left and needed to shore it up (also that the judge
would let him get away with such shenanigans).
Petrosino began asking if Petrosa was aware that caregiver Pollard had
been put under arrest for transporting marijuana to cancer patient Mr.
O'Rear at the time of their interview when the judge announced a
three-hour recess so that he could hear a verdict from another trial.
At 2:30 the judge heard motions. One involved intimidation of
witnesses, Evidence Code 413, Arizona vs. 488 US 51. The judge said
(dig this) "Police officers can lie to witnesses, there's nothing
improper about that." There was some talk I didn't follow about lesser
included verdicts--17.10, 17.49, 2.60 & 2.61. He is waiting to see more
verdicts. Lessening to giving away was mentioned [?] times
I think Mayra heard more of this.
The judge then sustained the DA's objection on grounds of irrelevancy
to all defense exhibits A-E: a pamphlet about the co-op, the membership
card, and letters of recommendation. He joked that he would hold onto the
exhibits since "people do (or don't?) have the right to appeal, you
know." Sharon said she had no comment on that.
The judge said he was inclined to instruct the jury that 1/2 oz. is
less than 28.5 g. No objection from DA. It looks like they might be
softening up...
Petrosa interviewed Pollard on October 14. His tape recorder
malfunctioned (he says) that day, so he wrote a report relying on a
written record he made during the interview and a second one he wrote
after returning to his office. He then made a tape recording of a
second interview on October 23. Petrosino pointed out discrepancies
between the reports.
After the October 14 interview, Pertosa wrote "Pollard states he never
met Herrick alone," and that he met Herrick and Chavez on April 17 (or
15) and signed up for a card, then "picked up" 10 days later at a
Barbecue at Chavez's house. Petrosa tried to say his notes indicated
that Pollard had perhaps also picked up pot on April 17. Sharon stayed
on him, asking, "Do you put periods at the end of sentences?" She then
read him his notes: Met Herrick & Chavez April 17 PERIOD. Picked up 10
days later PERIOD. He backed down.
Pollard wasn't sure how much marijuana he picked up, or what he
donated. "check the donation slips," he said, "every time I went, I had
to fill one out." Did you ask Pollard for the donation slips? Petrosino
asked Petrosa. No. did you subpoena the donation slips from Chavez? No.
It came out in hearings last week that Armburst himself has the donatin
slips and he objected every time they or Chavez came up (mostly
sustained.) But interestingly, at the end of the day, when Armburst
himself asked Petrosa why he didn't ask for the slips, Sharon objected
on grounds of irrelevancy.
Pollard said on tape he was "pretty sure" he gave Herrick money but he
"couldn't bet my mother's life on it. It could have been Chavez. . . .
you want me to be 100% correct. I couldn't say for sure."
Pollard said a couple of times he was "more worried about caring for
his sick friend" "You're really trying to pinpoint me. I really don't
give a shit about that stuff. I had a friend who was hurting." (O'Rear
has since died of cancer.)
In the October 23 interview, Pollard said he gave money to "a guy with
a beard" who he described as "rather big." Since Herrick is rather big
and Chavez is small, this is distinguishing. Whether or not the witness
was lead into remembering this will be, I suppose, for the jury to
decide.
The prosecution rested, Petrosa stepped down, and Petrosino called
witness Dana Taub, who was to testify only that Martin also had a
beard. Armburst once more halted proceedings, saying he wanted to ask
Petrosa one more question.
Armburst asked, You've seen Mr. Chavez. Is he bigger than Mr. Pollard?
No, he's much smaller, Petrosa replied. After cross, re-direct and
re-cross, it was 4:30 and recess was called until tomorrow 9 AM.
After it was over we ended up getting on an elevator with Armburst and
Petrosa. Andrea "ovaries-of-steel" Nagy said to Petrosa, "So did you
ever think about getting a real job?" He didn't know what to say, just
gave more of that smug face he'd treated us to all day (ugh). "You know
if you concentrated on prosecuting crimes that have victims, it would
be a better use of taxpayer's money." She had a good quote on Channel
50 (PBS) too. We're havin' fun y'all--come on down!
Ellen Komp
215 Reporter
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug Court Program Saving Taxpayers Money, Study Shows ('Associated Press'
Says A Report To Be Released Wednesday In Seattle By The King County
Drug Court Claims The Program That Purportedly Aims To Keep Drug Offenders
Out Of Jail Through Counseling And Addiction Treatment
Has Saved King County Taxpayers More Than $520,000 In Its First Three Years)
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 20:20:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WA: Wire: Drug Court Program Saving Taxpayers Money, Study
Shows
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Phil Smith (pdxnorml@pdxnorml.org)
Source: Associated Press
Contact: feedback@thewire.ap.org
Website: http://www.ap.org/
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
DRUG COURT PROGRAM SAVING TAXPAYERS MONEY, STUDY SHOWS
SEATTLE (AP) -- A court program that aims to keep drug offenders out of
jail through counseling and addiction treatment has saved King County
taxpayers more than $520,000 in its first three years, according to a new
report.
The program also helped to save money by avoiding case-processing costs in
the judicial system, said the report by an independent consultant.
On Wednesday, 14 people will receive their diplomas at the largest
graduation ceremony ever in the King County Drug Court program. The report
will be officially released then.
"It's very gratifying work when you see that there are people, who when
given the opportunity, take that opportunity and sincerely want to lead a
better life," said Denis O'Leary, the drug court prosecutor.
In the program, felony drug defendants are given the chance of avoiding
jail time by participating in treatment and counseling.
In return, they waive their rights to a speedy trial, admit to any evidence
against them and are informed of any sentence that could be imposed if they
reoffend or drop out.
Defendants with any prior convictions for sex or violent offenses or any
current charges for drug delivery are not allowed into the program.
The drug court judge takes an active role in the treatment process, talking
at length to defendants, determining how often they should be tested for
drugs, and deciding when they move from one phase of treatment to another.
If a participant drops out, the judge reviews the police report on the
participant's offense and determines the person's guilt or innocence. The
majority are found guilty, O'Leary said.
Far from being an easy out, the program can be much, much tougher than
serving a jail sentence, the prosecutor said.
Treatment is a three-part process that lasts 12 to 15 months. It can
include detoxification, group and individual counseling, urine tests for
drugs, methadone treatment, acupuncture and 12-step support meetings.
Defendants must change "who they hang out with, where they live, their
general philosophy, their perceptions of themselves," O'Leary said. "Many
see themselves not deserving of a better life.
"It's a lot of work and requires a lot more introspection than what they've
done during their drug abusing-life. By the time they graduate, it's huge
accomplishment."
A random sampling of 500 drug offenders assessed by the drug court produced
a profile of the average defendant: About 73 percent are male, with an
average age of 34. Approximately 60 percent of all participants are
minorities, with 83 percent claiming a high-school education or less.
About 66 percent of drug court participants do not work, though 75 percent
have permanent housing.
When compared to the average of the 150 programs nationwide, King County
came up slightly short in retention and graduation. The national average
for retaining participants is 71 percent, compared with King County's 64
percent.
And King County's graduation or completion rate is 36 percent, compared
with the national average of 48 percent.
The King County program has 109 graduates.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Sex Inquiry Nabs Agent ('The Oklahoman'
Says An Oklahoma City DEA Agent, Kevin Waters,
Was Charged Monday With Using The Internet
To Lure A 15-Year-Old Girl To Meet With Him For Sex)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:25:00 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US OK: Computer Sex Inquiry Nabs Agent
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Michael Pearson
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/?ed-writeus
Website: http://www.oklahoman.com/
Author: Ed Godfrey and Lillie-Beth Brinkman, Staff Writers
COMPUTER SEX INQUIRY NABS AGENT
LAWTON -- A federal drug agent was accused Monday in Comanche County of
using the Internet to lure a 15-year-old girl to meet with him for sex.
Kevin Waters, 36, an agent for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
in Oklahoma City, was charged Monday with using a computer to facilitate a
crime.
Lawton police arrested Waters on Saturday in Central Mall, where he had
arranged a meeting with the girl, Police Chief Bill Adamson said. Waters
had several "suggestive" conversations with the girl in an Internet chat
room, Adamson said.
At his initial appearance Monday, Waters pleaded not guilty to the charge
and Special District Judge David Lewis set his bond at $1,000. A
preliminary hearing is scheduled next month.
Waters' attorney, Irven R. Box, said his client didn't know the person he
was chatting with over the computer was a minor.
"Our position right now is we do not believe he propositioned a minor
child," Box said. "Her aunt was involved in receiving some of the messages
over the Internet and transmitting them."
Adamson said a relative of the girl noticed "disturbing information" on the
Internet and contacted police. Detectives reportedly told the relative to
continue talking to the suspect, whose identity they knew only through an
online code name, he said.
Robert Schulte, district attorney for Comanche and Cotton counties, said
the computer conversations were being monitored by law enforcement
officers. The defendant was told on more than one occasion that the girl he
was speaking with was 15, the prosecutor said.
After about two or three weeks of conversations over the computer, a
meeting was arranged, and police sent a 12-year-old decoy to meet Waters,
authorities said.
Waters and the girl, who was under surveillance, talked briefly and he
asked the girl to leave with him, authorities said. Schulte said Waters was
arrested when he and the girl attempted to leave the mall.
Police did not know Waters worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration until after the arrest, Schulte said.
DEA officials reportedly did call Monday to inquire about the case, but
they have not attempted to interfere and pledged to cooperate.
The charge carries a possible punishment of up to five years in prison.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Officer Guilty Of Faking Receipt ('The Oklahoman'
Says A Former Investigator For The Pottawatomie County
District Attorney's Office Pleaded Guilty Monday
To Submitting A False Receipt To The State For $1,300
In Drug Informant Funds)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:28:20 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US OK: Ex-Officer Guilty of Faking Receipt
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Michael Pearson
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/?ed-writeus
Website: http://www.oklahoman.com/
Author: Ed Godfrey, Staff Writer
EX-OFFICER GUILTY OF FAKING RECEIPT
SHAWNEE -- A former investigator for the Pottawatomie County district
attorney's office pleaded guilty Monday to submitting a false receipt to
the state for $1,300 in drug informant funds, a prosecutor said.
Lee Edward Smith, who turned 44 Monday, entered the plea before District
Judge Paul Vassar, special prosecutor Robert Mitchell said.
Smith entered a "blind plea," meaning there is no plea agreement with
prosecutors on his punishment, Mitchell said.
The charge carries a possible punishment of not less than one year and not
more than five years in prison, Mitchell said. Smith also can never hold a
state office again, he said.
Smith will be sentenced by the judge on July 14.
Smith admitted paying an informant $1,300 in 1994 to make an undercover
drug buy, but the informant never made the purchase and returned the money,
Mitchell said.
However, Smith still submitted a receipt to the drug task force for
reimbursement of the money, the prosecutor said.
Mitchell said the money is still "unaccounted for." Smith has agreed to
cooperate and make full restitution in this case and for "other amounts to
be determined," he said.
About $6,000 in drug task force funds are missing, he said.
Two other former drug investigators for then-District Attorney Miles
Zimmerman also were charged with the same crime.
Douglas Leroy Megehee, 50, pleaded guilty last year and received a
three-year suspended sentence. Jason Travis Palmer, 39, has a retrial
scheduled July 14, Mitchell said.
Palmer's first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a
unanimous verdict.
Zimmerman, who resigned in 1996, pleaded no contest last year to two counts
of diverting state funds in a separate case and received a three-year
deferred sentence.
Mitchell is an assistant district attorney in Oklahoma County. Oklahoma
County District Attorney Bob Macy's office was appointed as special
prosecutor by the state attorney general.
The case was investigated by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New York's Too-Tough Drug Laws (Staff Editorial In The Schenectady,
New York, 'Daily Gazette,' Says It Isn't Just Liberals Who Object To
New York's Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, Adopted 25 Years Ago -
Almost One-Third Of New York's 70,000 Prisoners Were Locked Up
For Non-Violent Drug Crimes, At An Annual Cost Of $600 Million)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:52:50 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NY: Editorial: New York's Too-Tough Drug Laws
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Walter F. Wouk
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Source: Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)
Contact: gazette@dailygazette.com
Website: http://www.dailygazette.com
NEW YORK'S TOO-TOUGH DRUG LAWS
It isn't just liberals who object to New York's Draconian "Rockefeller drug
laws," adopted 25 years ago. In 1995 George Pataki called for changing them
to allow more non-violent offenders to avoid long, mandatory prison terms,
and since becoming governor he has granted clemency in three of the more
egregious cases.
Although Pataki isn't about to make this a campaign issue, he is said to be
interested in reviewing the laws after the election, as are a growing
number of legislators. Any honest review would lead to the conclusion that
the laws need to be eased.
One of the laws compels state judges to give a sentence ranging from 15
years to life to anyone convicted of selling two ounces, or possessing four
ounces, of an illegal drug such as heroin or cocaine. Another requires long
prison terms for former drug felons who commit another felony within 10
years after serving their term, even if the new crime is unrelated to or
less serious than the first.
The intent of the laws was to reduce drug traffic by putting more big-time
dealers away, for longer. But that hasn't been the main effect. The main
effect has been to clog the prison system with many small-time users and
dealers, many of whom are addicts rather than violent felons. Meanwhile,
researchers and police investigators report that hard drugs are more widely
available in New York than they were 25 years ago. When a pusher is
arrested, there's always someone to take his place.
Almost one-third of New York's 70,000 prisoners were locked up for
non-violent drug crimes, at an annual cost of $600 million. While it's true
that some of these inmates would have committed violent crimes to pay for
their drugs, 25 percent of the new inmates entering prison in New York are
"drug-only" offenders, with no record of other types of crime.
Even a staunch law-and-order legislator like Sen. Dale Volker, who
continues to defend the Rockefeller drug laws, recognizes the need for at
least some change. He has co-sponsored legislation giving judges discretion
to impose a lesser sentence if the offense was confined to a single
incident and unconnected to broader drug trafficking. That's a small first
step for the Legislature to take while it conducts a broader review.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If You Had A Choice, What Would It Be, Marijuana or Martinis?
(ACLU News Notes The American Civil Liberties Union
Is Mounting A Year-Long Public Policy Advertising Campaign,
A First-Ever Effort For The 78-Year-Old Organization,
With Ads Scheduled To Appear On 'The New York Times' Op-Ed Page
Once A Month Through December 1998 - Each Ad Contains
A Briefly Worded Message From ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser
On Topical Subjects Ranging From The War On Drugs To Religious Freedom
To Government Intrusions In The Bedroom)
Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 00:34:33 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "Don Raichle"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: FW: ACLU News 05-18-98: Marijuana or Martinis, Profiling, More!
From ACLU News...
--Original Message--
From: owner-news@aclu.org [mailto:owner-news@aclu.org]
On Behalf Of ACLU
Newsfeed Owner
Sent: Monday, May 18, 1998 4:13 PM
To: news@aclu.org
Subject: ACLU News 05-18-98: Marijuana or Martinis, Profiling, More!
[snip]
New ACLU Ad Asks:
"If You Had a Choice, What Would it Be, Marijuana or Martinis?"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
NEW YORK -- With the fourth installment of its public policy advertising
campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union today challenged Americans
to question the government's criminal prohibition of marijuana.
"Millions of Americans who are highly productive and stable
clandestinely choose marijuana over martinis," the ad reads. "But while
the government classifies both substances as drugs, mysteriously one is
legal while the other is not. Why should that be so?"
In the past 30 years, 10 million people have been arrested for marijuana
offenses in the United States, the vast majority of them for possession
and use. In 1996, there were 641,600 marijuana arrests in this country,
85 percent of them for possession -- more than in any previous year.
"The criminal prohibition of marijuana represents an extraordinary
degree of government intrusion into the private lives of adults who
choose to use it," said ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser. "And
marijuana users are not the only victims of such a policy, because a
government that so easily crosses into this zone of personal behavior
will cross over into others."
"The same people who are drinking martinis after work are pushing laws
that would jail people who prefer a joint. Where's the morality in
that?" Glasser said.
Marijuana prohibition is also the cause of a host of serious civil
liberties violations, Glasser noted, including the drug testing of
millions of innocent employees and the civil forfeiture of people's
homes, cars and other assets on the grounds they were "used in the
commission of" a marijuana offense.
Since 1937, the government has criminalized marijuana use on the grounds
that it is a dangerous drug. But Glasser said this claim looks more and
more ludicrous with each passing year. Every independent commission
appointed to look into this claim has found that marijuana is relatively
benign.
For example, a commission appointed by President Nixon concluded in 1972
that, "There is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm"
from marijuana and recommended that marijuana for personal use be
decriminalized.
Ten years later, the National Academy of Sciences issued its finding
that, "Over the past forty years, marijuana has been accused of causing
an array of anti-social effects including ... provoking crime and
violence ... leading to heroin addiction ... and destroying the American
work ethic in young people. [These] beliefs...have not been
substantiated by scientific evidence."
In fact, scientific evidence has shown that marijuana has medicinal
value. Voters in Arizona and California agreed, and in 1996 passed
ballot initiatives legalizing the medical use of marijuana. Yet the
Clinton Administration aggressively fought the law's passage, and has
pledged to punish doctors who prescribe the drug for their patients with
AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, and other serious illnesses.
The ACLU said the Clinton Administration's uncompromising opposition to
legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes is out of step, not only
with the voters of Arizona and California, but with public opinion
nationwide.
In the ACLU op-ed, Glasser concludes: "Shouldn't adults have the right
to choose marijuana over martinis? Think about it."
The year-long campaign, a first-ever effort for the 78-year-old
organization, will appear in The New York Times op-ed page once a month
through December 1998. Each ad contains a briefly worded message from
ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser on topical subjects ranging from the
war on drugs to religious freedom to government intrusions in the
bedroom.
To further stimulate public discussion, the ads will have an interactive
component through "message boards" on the ACLU's Freedom Network Website
at http://www.aclu.org/forms/nytimesad051298.html. Visitors to the
website will be able to access background information on the subject of
that month's ad, and will be invited to post their own thoughts to an
interactive message board.
The remaining five op-ed ads are scheduled to run one Tuesday a month,
on June 2, September 1, October 6, November 10, and December 1 (with a
hiatus for the months of July and August).
The ACLU is a nationwide, non-partisan organization dedicated to
defending and preserving the Bill of Rights for all individuals through
litigation, legislation and public education. Headquartered in New York
City, the ACLU has 53 staffed affiliates in major cities, more than 300
chapters nationwide, and a legislative office in Washington, D.C. The
bulk of its $35 million annual budget is raised by contributions from
members -- 275,000 strong -- and gifts and grants from other individuals
and foundations. The ACLU does not accept government funds.
The new ACLU advertisement can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/forms/nytimesad051298.html
***
[snip]
***
ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE
***
ACLU Freedom Network Web Page: http://www.aclu.org.
America Online users should check out our live chats, auditorium events,
*very* active message boards, and complete news on civil liberties, at
keyword ACLU.
***
ACLU Newsfeed
American Civil Liberties Union National Office
125 Broad Street
New York, New York 10004
To subscribe to the ACLU Newsfeed, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org
with "subscribe News" in the body of the message. To terminate your
subscription, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe
News" in the body of the message.
For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org.
***
Phil Gutis
Communications Director
ACLU DC
122 Maryland Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002
Are you a card-carrying member of the ACLU?
Join us on the ACLU's Freedom Network at http://www.aclu.org!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Secret Evidence Shows How He Helped DEA (Virginia's 'Roanoke Times'
Says US District Judge James Turk On Monday Postponed The Sentencing
Of Cocaine Convict Javier Cruz So His Defense Lawyer Could Review
Confidential Information From The Drug Enforcement Administration
That Might Earn Cruz A Lighter Sentence)
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 20:36:37 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US VA: Secret evidence shows how he helped DEA
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Michael (Miguet@NOVEMBER.ORG)
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Contact: karent@roanoke.com
Website: http://www.roanoke.com/
Pubdate: Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Author: Jan Vertefeuille
SECRET EVIDENCE SHOWS HOW HE HELPED DEA
Agents say they can't afford to let "trade craft techniques' be revealed
Informant says secret evidence shows how he helped DEA
The judge postponed sentencing Javier Cruz so his defense lawyer could
review the information that might earn Cruz a lighter sentence.
Some of the information that will show a federal judge how much help
cocaine trafficker-turned informant Javier Cruz gave to drug agents could
jeopardize national security if it were made public, prosecutors say.
Cruz's attorney asked U.S. District Judge James Turk on Monday to look at
certain evidence privately before deciding Cruz's sentence. A federal
prosecutor said he would be reluctant to turn over the evidence if there
were a chance it would become public.
The judge postponed Cruz's sentencing from June 1 to July 22 so the defense
attorney could review the information.
A federal drug agent said he will have to review his files to see if there
is any such secret material that would be considered helpful to Cruz's case.
Don Lincoln, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,
told the judge that the evidence might include secret law-enforcement
methods that the U.S. government had promised "our allies" not to disclose.
"Basically, this is national security-type stuff," Lincoln said in a
meeting in Turk's chambers before a courtroom hearing.
Cruz's attorney, Bill Cleaveland, told the judge that the benefit to Cruz
of keeping the information secret "outweighs the public's right to know."
Cruz spent three or four years working undercover in Colombia for the DEA
beginning in 1992. He agreed to become an informant to work off a life
sentence after getting caught smuggling cocaine through Roanoke in 1991.
The attorneys did not specify what kind of law-enforcement techniques might
be disclosed in the evidence, but some of the evidence could refer to
results Cruz has been credited with that have never been mentioned in court.
For instance, Cruz said in a 1996 interview -- the only one he gave before
going into hiding -- that he had given the DEA the location of several
cocaine-processing laboratories in Colombia that were then bombed. He also
provided the government with pictures of submarine-type watercraft that he
said Colombian traffickers were using to smuggle cocaine through U.S. waters.
Prosecutors are required to turn over to the defense any evidence that
tends to exonerate a defendant. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott said
the government does not have to reveal "trade craft techniques" except
under narrow circumstances.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prevention At Heart Of Policy, Drug Czar Says ('Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'
Covers A Visit To Wisconsin By General Barry McCaffrey,
But Doesn't Let Anyone Challenge His Big Lie)
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 21:56:37 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Prevention At Heart Of Policy, Drug Czar Says
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Contact: jsedit@onwis.com
Fax: (414) 224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Author: Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel staff
PREVENTION AT HEART OF POLICY, DRUG CZAR SAYS
He may be a retired four-star Army general but federal drug czar Barry
McCaffrey dismisses the notion of a "war on drugs."
Instead, during a visit Monday to Milwaukee, he said he considers America's
drug problem a cancer that needs to be managed, treated and prevented.
Serious drug use in the U.S. peaked in 1979 when 14% of the population
abused drugs, he said. That figure has dropped to 6% of the population, or
about 13 million, with about 4 million suffering serious addictions, he
estimated.
Seven of 10 serious drug users have jobs, are white and mirror the general
U.S. population, said McCaffrey, the director of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy. "It is not a black, minority, poor, city, crazy
population -- and that's a fact that many find very surprising," he said.
Often a person can have a drug habit for 10 years before it becomes
apparent and their life begins to fall apart, he said during a meeting
later with the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board.
During a tour of the Clarke Street After School Program, at 2816 W. Clarke
St., he said one of the best ways to curb future drug use is by keeping
children safe from drugs and violence after school hours. If a child can
turn 18 and not have a drug problem, the chance of the adult developing a
drug problem greatly diminishes, he said.
"Prevention is the heart and soul of our policy," he said as the
after-school drill team went through its foot-stomping, hand-clapping paces
in the school gym.
Earlier, he talked with some second-grade children who were reading a story
about a fish while sitting with a volunteer tutor from the Boys and Girls
Club. If children are kept busy and away from what he calls the "gateway
drugs" of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, then there's a greater chance
those children will lead drug-free lives, he said.
Clarke Street School Principal Diane Neicheril explained to McCaffrey that
100 children are enrolled in the program, which is run in conjunction with
the Boys & Girls Clubs. The program, which includes tutoring and
recreation, costs about $100,000 a year and is subsidized with some federal
funds.
The nation's drug problem costs the country $70 billion a year, and each
year 16,000 people die as a result of it, he noted. During the last three
years, McCaffrey said Monday, his anti-drug budget has climbed from $13
billion to $17 billion, with 33% of that earmarked for prevention programs.
"With so many mothers working, this is the way to go," McCaffrey told
Neicheril. "It's a taxpayers delight," because it spends tax dollars to
involve children in activities during the often-idle hours of 3 to 7 p.m.
when many children get into trouble because of the lack of supervision and
positive alternatives. While after school programs such as the one at
Clarke School generally cost about $2,000 a year, the cost of a drug
addicted youth to society is about $2 million, he said.
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Rep. Tom Barrett (D-Wis.), U.S. Attorney Tom
Schneider, Milwaukee Public School Superintendent Allen Brown and others
from community groups joined McCaffrey on the tour. Brown said MPS hopes to
open 13 more safe havens this year and eventually expand that to 100
throughout the city.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Is Gateway Drug Theory Valid? (Columnist For 'Daily Hampshire Gazette'
In Northampton, Massachusetts, Says The Gateway Theory That Pot Use
Leads To Heroin Use Makes As Much Sense As Saying Bicycle Riding
Causes Motorcycle Riding)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 16:06:53 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MA: Column: Is Gateway Drug Theory Valid?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.)
Contact: letters@gazettenet.com
Website: http://www.gazettenet.com
Author: William C. Newman (columnist)
Note: Northampton attorney Bill Newman writes a monthly column for the Gazette.
IS GATEWAY DRUG THEORY VALID?
Gateway drugs? We've been hearing a lot about them recently. The gateway
drug theory used to be called the stepping-stone hypothesis. It postulates
that use of one drug leads to use of other more addictive and dangerous
ones. Marijuana to heroin is the usual example. As former Northampton
Police Officer, now an FBI agent, Tommy O'Connor said on this page last
month, "I have never dealt with a young person whose drug use began with
heroin."
And I'm sure that's true. Indeed, the Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University confirms that most heroin and crack addicts
have smoked marijuana.
But hold on just a minute. The fact that one event preceded another does
not necessarily mean that the first caused the second.
Most heroin and crack addicts also drank Coca-Cola and ate Oreos. The first
substance they ingested was mother's milk. Or formula. What does any of
this prove? Not much. Which is precisely the point. Although the gateway
theory intuitively makes some sense, in this case, intuition may mislead
us. Drs. Lynn Zimmer and John P. Morgan explain in their recent book,
"Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, A Review of the Scientific Evidence,"
that the gateway theory does not describe cause and effect. Rather, it
demonstrates a statistical relationship between a relatively common
occurrence - smoking marijuana, which 72 million Americans have done - and
an uncommon behavior - use of dangerously addictive drugs.
Most marijuana users, according to Zimmer and Morgan, never use any other
illegal drug. The statistics they cite show that less than one percent of
people who try marijuana become regular users of cocaine or heroin. Zimmer
and Morgan illustrate their point with an analogy. Most motorcyclists rode
bicycles, but it does not follow, they say, that "bicycle riding causes
motorcycle riding." Nor would we expect "an increase in the former to lead
automatically to an increase in the latter." If you wanted to cut down on
motorcycle traffic, would you prohibit bicycles?
This is not to imply that drug use - particularly among teenagers - doesn't
presage problems. It does. But the gateway theory, as a basis for
understanding drug abuse, provides a limited and often erroneous paradigm.
The scientific studies show that adult drug abusers, as adolescents, used a
lot of drugs. They used the readily available legal ones - caffeine,
nicotine, and alcohol. Many of them smoked marijuana and also swallowed
stimulants or sedatives.
Some raided an adult's medicine cabinet for pain killers, sleeping
medications, or diet pills. Others discovered steroids while training for a
sport, speed while studying for exams, and codeine in cough suppressants
while suffering through a cold.
A significant number inhaled glue vapors or helium from party balloons and
experimented with psychedelics. They stuck God-knows-what-else up their
noses, down their throats, or into their veins.
For psychological or physiological reasons they couldn't stop using heroin
or cocaine or alcohol. They became addicts.
Adults disdain and warn kids about alcoholism and drug abuse. But 80
percent of adults in America drink some alcohol.
Alcohol is a drug. Kids know that. Some kids, no matter what we say, are
going to try some drugs, too.
Way too many, in fact. And way too early. Fifty-four percent of
eighth-graders in America have used alcohol, and one in 12 gets drunk at
least once a month.
Gateway theorists have at least this much right - anyone, especially a kid,
using a lot of drugs is swimming in troubled waters. A recent government
study reports that adolescent drug users often commit delinquent acts,
exhibit eating disorders, and carry within themselves various psychological
problems. No parent wants his or her kids to get involved with drugs,
including alcohol. Drugs surely can't do a kid any good.
Most drugs, including alcohol for minors, are illegal. That reality, in and
of itself, poses dangers. Kids learn their way around a criminal
subculture. They may end up in jail.
Worse yet, drugs can kill. If the alcohol poisoning doesn't prove fatal,
the car crash could. If the heroin doesn't kill the kid, the shared needle
might. Some adults fear that if we draw distinctions among drugs, we may
tempt kids to try the not-as-inherently dangerous ones, the so-called
gateway drugs. So we, being well-intentioned, lump drugs together and
condemn them all equally. That is a mistake. Our apprehension about drugs
should not blind us to the differences in their legality, effect, and
addictive potential. Some kids, despite our lessons, will experiment with
cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana. Indoctrinating those kids with the
notion that there's no difference between alcohol and heroin, marijuana and
cocaine perpetrates a lie that is anything but benign. A kid who believes
that misinformation easily could pass through the gateway to drug
dependence and head down a pathway towards death.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Clinton Plots Anti-Crime Strategy ('Associated Press' Says The US President
Unveiled His International Crime Control Act Of 1998 Today
At The White House, Including $280 Million To Combat Drug Trafficking
And So Forth, About Two Hours Before He Was To Depart
For The G-8 Economic Summit In Birmingham, England,
Where The World's Leading Industrialized Nations Will Seek Ways
To Weaken And Disband International Crime Rings That Clinton Said
Are Preying On Weaker Governments And Threatening Democracy)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:39:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Clinton Plots Anti-Crime Strategy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
Source: Associated Press
CLINTON PLOTS ANTI-CRIME STRATEGY
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Calling on the world's nations to ``create a global
community of crimefighters,'' President Clinton today proposed a series of
steps to control the threat from international terrorism, drug trafficking,
illegal immigration and money laundering.
The president unveiled his International Crime Control Act of 1998 today at
the White House about two hours before he was to depart for Europe, where he
will attend the G-8 economic summit in Birmingham, England.
At that summit, the world's leading industrialized nations will seek ways to
weaken and disband international crime rings that Clinton said are preying
upon weaker governments and threatening democracy.
``International crime requires an international response,'' Clinton said.
``America is prepared to act alone when it must, but no nation can control
crime by itself anymore.''
In Europe, Clinton will stop first in Germany to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, which delivered food, clothes, medicine
and coal to the besieged city when the Red Army cut off all ground access.
On Thursday, the president will fly to Birmingham to join Russian President
Boris Yeltsin and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and
Japan.
It will be the first full discussion between Clinton and Yeltsin since they
met at last June's summit in Denver. Since then, relations between
Washington and Moscow have been strained by divisions over Iraq and Kosovo,
and the U.S. push to expand NATO.
At the G-8 summit, those nations will begin working on a plan to fight
international crime. Clinton said his eight-point strategy would serve as a
point of departure for those discussions.
It pinpoints such post-Cold War threats as trafficking in drugs and people,
money laundering, terrorism, possession or sales of weapons of mass
destruction and the transfer of U.S. technology to hostile nations.
``We must act broadly, decisively, consistent with our constitutional values
to leave criminals no place to run, no place to hide,'' Clinton said. ``We
must create a global community of crimefighters, dedicated to protecting the
innocent, bringing to justice the offenders.''
Under the strategy, U.S. officials would seek new international agreements
on extraditing criminals, step up prosecution of ``select criminal acts
committed abroad'' and bolster interdiction of illegal technology exports.
It calls for $280 million to help combat drug trafficking and illegal
immigration at U.S. borders, improve terrorism intelligence and target
havens for money launderers off U.S. shores.
Vice President Al Gore said an unfortunate consequence of the new global
economy is the fact that it ``also opened the door to illegal traffic in
arms, autos, drugs and human beings. Financial swindlers and outlaws have
now gone global.''
Aides cited increasing evidence that organized criminal elements are banding
together across ethnic and geographic lines, using the latest technology to
throw police off their trails.
They particularly noted links between Russian criminals and Colombian drug
traffickers, who are working together to get Russian weapons to Colombian
paramilitary groups and Colombian cocaine to Russia. In addition, aides
said, those two groups are working with others in Africa, Asia, Europe and
Mexico.
Clinton's strategy grew out of discussions begun at the 1996 economic summit
in Lyons, France, and the hastily arranged meeting on terrorism in Sharm
el-Sheik, Egypt.
Jim Steinberg, deputy national security adviser, said Clinton's strategy
would open discussion of 40 recommendations for fighting international crime
that were proposed by a working group assembled at the Lyon meeting.
Among matters to be addressed, Steinberg said, is improved extradition of
criminals, improved seizure and sharing of assets taken from money
launderers, making borders more secure and developing new ways to trace and
exchange evidence in high-tech crimes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Newly Available GAO Reports And Testimonies (US Government Accounting Office
Posts URL For Its May 4 Report, 'Cigarette Smuggling -
Information On Interstate And US-Canadian Activity')
From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:26:00 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Newly Available GAO Reports and Testimonies, May 12, 1998
To: drctalk@drcnet.org, mattalk@islandnet.com
-- Begin Included Message --
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 07:29:38 -0400
Message-Id: <9805121129.AA03448@www.gao.gov>
From: documents@gao.gov
To: daybook@www.gao.gov
Subject: Newly Available GAO Reports and Testimonies, May 12, 1998
Sender: owner-daybook@www.gao.gov
Reply-To: documents@gao.gov
May 12, 1998
The following items were added to GAO's World Wide Web site in
Portable Document (PDF) format.
- Cigarette Smuggling: Information on Interstate and U.S.-Canadian
Activity. T-RCED-98-182. 12 pp. May 4, 1998.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/rc98182t.pdf
These reports and testimonies will also be added to our
WAIS database in ASCII and PDF formats within the next 24 hours.
This database can be searched from the World Wide Web from the
search page at:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml
If you are using speech synthesizer equipment or lack World Wide
Web access you may search this database with GPO's public swais
client by telnetting to: swais.access.gpo.gov
Any individual report may be retrieved directly from that archive
in text and PDF formats with the following URL:
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?RPTNO
replacing RPTNO with the report number (e.g., GAO/OCG-98-1).
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the GAO Daybook mailing list, send an e-mail
message to: majordomo@www.gao.gov
with: unsubscribe daybook
in the message body. Please do not reply to this message to
unsubscribe from the mailing list.
Thank you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Troubled Mexican Governor Resigns ('Associated Press' Says Jorge Carrillo Olea,
The Governor Of The Central Mexican State Of Morelos,
Announced His Resignation Tuesday After Corruption And Drug-Trafficking
Allegations Were Made Against Him And Other State Law Enforcement Officials)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 22:19:13 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Mexico: WIRE: Troubled Mexican Governor Resigns
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 1998
TROUBLED MEXICAN GOVERNOR RESIGNS
CUERNAVACA, Mexico (AP) -- The governor of the central Mexican state of
Morelos announced his resignation Tuesday following corruption and
drug-trafficking allegations against him and state law enforcement officials.
Jorge Carrillo Olea had vowed not to quit, but said he changed his mind
because of his ``desire to honestly contribute to resolving this complex,
problematic political situation'' in Morelos. He denied any wrongdoing.
The resignation would be effective Wednesday, when he submits a formal
request to the state legislature. Lawmakers from his ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party said they would honor his request.
Pressure began building for him to step down in January after federal
police caught the commander of Morelos' anti-kidnapping unit, Armando
Martinez Salgado, and two other officers dumping the tortured, charred body
of a kidnapping suspect on a rural road in neighboring Guerrero state.
Martinez and other officials later were accused of working with kidnappers,
covering up crimes and failing to pursue kidnappers.
The National Human Rights Commission recently found that Morelos law
enforcement officials ``generated an atmosphere of insecurity among
residents, stemming from a wave of kidnappings, homicides, torture, abuse
of authority and other crimes, committed or permitted by them.''
Opposition parties that hold a third of the seats in the state legislature
have revived accusations that Carrillo Olea was linked to the late drug
lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes.
The New York Times linked Carrillo Olea to drug traffickers last year in
one of a series of stories that later won a Pulitzer Prize.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Trial Centres On 'Vague' Drug Laws (Saskatchewan 'Star Phoenix'
Covers The First Day Of The Trial Of Mike Spindloe, A Saskatoon Merchant
Charged Under A Controversial Law Of Selling Drug Paraphernalia,
Or Rather 'Instruments For Illicit Drug Use')
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: Trial centres on 'vague' drug laws
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 08:38:05 -0700
Lines: 81
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Saskatchewan Star Phoenix
Contact: doug.lcombe@saskstar.sk.ca
Pubdate: Tuesday, May 12, 1998
Page: 1
Author: James Parker, The Star Phoenix
Trial centres on 'vague' drug laws
If Mike Spindloe is going to be hauled into court for selling drug
paraphernalia, then so should the owners of hardware stores,
convenience stores and tobacco shops, Spindloe's lawyer suggested
Monday.
During the first day of Spindloe's provincial court trial on charges
of selling instruments for illicit drug use, Alan Young introduced as
evidence several pipes, rolling papers and "alligator" clips purchased
at stores throughout the city.
Young said the material was produced to show how vague the law
governing drug paraphernalia is. Spindloe, owner of the Vinyl Exchange
on Second Avenue North, was charged after a police raid on the store
about a year ago.
He is the second Saskatoon merchant to be charged under the
controversial law, which is based on a private member's bill
introduced in 1987 by Tory MP and former police officer Bob Horner.
Spindloe was also accused of selling literature promoting illicit drug
use, but that charge was dropped last month.
"It's incumbent on Parliament to very clearly tell us what is
prohibited and what is not," Young, an Osgoode Hall law professor,
told reporters.
"I was trying to demonstrate that there isn't a very clear line. We
need to know what that line is."
Seven boxes of materials taken from the Vinyl Exchange were introduced
as evidence by prosecutor Jim Plemel. They contained more than 100
pipes, small scales, small metal clips, glass vials, rolling paper,
hemp and cannabis cookbooks and other books and magazines. The
material has a retail value of between $6,000 and $8,000, says
Spindloe.
Const. Mike Robinson, the city police officer who oversaw the raid,
told court he saw the material while visiting the store on another
matter. On May 15, 1997, Robinson and four other officers executed a
search warrant on the Vinyl Exchange.
Robinson identified several stylized plastic pipes as "bongs," special
pipes used by marijuana smokers to maximum their pleasure. He said the
small metal clips were "roach clips" which are used by smokers when a
marijuana cigarette becomes too short to safely handle. He said the
scales seized are used to weigh drugs.
During cross-examination, Young accused Robinson of conducting an
"indiscriminate" search for anything remotely related to illegal drug
use. He said Robinson ordered the seizure of the magazines and books
even though an Ontario judge has ruled that the law prohibiting the
sale of literature on illegal drug use is unconstitutional.
Moreover, Robinson took the books and magazines without reading them
first, said Young, who stressed the Vinyl Exchange is primarily a
music store. Young said many of the items taken from the store were
not designed exclusively for illegal drug use.
"The purchaser of this item could use it for drugs," Young said of a
small glass vial.
"But there's nothing implicit in it's design that makes suitable for
illegal drug use."
As well, Young said there were technical deficiencies in the search
warrant, including the listing of a wrong address for the store.
RCMP Const. Grant Froyland, a member of the city's integrated drug
unit, said the pipes taken from the Vinyl Exchange are designed
specifically for illegal drug use. For example, water is used in a
"bong" pipe to cool the smoke produced by burning marijuana and boost
the drug's potency, said Froyland.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Still Suspected By US - Former Opium Warlord In Burma - Mr. Lo Insists
That He Deals Cars, Not Drugs (Article Reprinted In 'International Herald
Tribune' Suggests 'The New York Times' Traveled All The Way To Burma
To Find Someone It Could Libel Without Fear Of Legal Repercussion)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 04:43:56 +0000
To: press@drugtext.nl, editor@mapinc.org
From: Peter Webster
Subject: ART: IHT: Mr. Lo Insists That He Deals Cars, Not Drugs
Newshawk: Peter Webster
Source: International Herald Tribune
Contact: iht@iht.com
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Pubdate: May 12, 1998
Author: Christopher S. Wren
STILL SUSPECTED BY U.S./ FORMER OPIUM WARLORD IN BURMA
Mr. Lo Insists That He Deals Cars, Not Drugs
By Christopher S. Wren
New York Times Service
RANGOON - Chauffeured about town in his gleaming white sedan, Lo Hsing-han
befits his reputation as one of the most influential businessmen in Burma.
A business card identifies him as chairman of Asia World Co., a
conglomerate managed by his son, Steven Law. Their commercial empire
includes jade, ruby and teak concessions, real estate in Rangoon, its
renovated port facilities, a container-shipping business and toll booths on
the resurfaced Burma Road winding north to the Chinese border.
Mr. Lo has traveled far from his bare-knuckle origins as an opium warlord
of the Golden Triangle in the early 1960s, when U.S. drug officials linked
him to much of the heroin winding up on the streets of American cities. He
later survived seven years in a Burmese prison under sentence of death for
treason, but after his release in 1980 he earned the government's gratitude
for brokering a critical cease-fire with ethnic insurgents in 1989.
Now, Mr. Lo says, there is more profit in selling cars across the Chinese
border than in smuggling drugs.
The United States views Mr. Lo's prosperity as evidence that the Burmese
economy is awash in laundered drug money and that its military junta has
encouraged investment of drugs money in its development projects.
"Drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains down
jungle paths are now leading lights in Burma's new market economy and
leading figures in its new political order," Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright told the Association of South East Asian Nations, known as ASEAN,
in Kuala Lumpur last July.
Proving any current complicity by Mr. Lo is more difficult. "There are no
smoking guns, no evidence linking him to any investigation whatsoever" at
present, a Western official who follows narcotics conceded.
At the age of 64, Mr. Lo has not lost the nene that helped him thrive in
the opium trade. Told that several American reporters wanted to inteniew
him, he invited them to dinner. He denied any involvement now in
trafficking or money laundering.
"I welcome the whole world to investigate me," Mr. Lo said, promising
$5,000 to anyone who could link him to drugs in the last 25 years.
BARELY glancing at his diamond-studded gold Rolex wristwatch, Mr. Lo
fielded questions in Chinese while his chopsticks poked at a succession of
dishes. He reminisced about the late 1960s and early 1970s when his
opium-laden mule caravans stretched several miles across the mountainsides
and ravines of Kokang, his ethnic Chinese home region in northeast Burma.
What drove him, he contends, was not greed but benevolent concern for
Kokang's struggling poppy growers.
"I don't bother about eating, drinking or traveling," he said. "My whole
life has been spent just helping the poor." Mr. Lo is hardly the only
reputed drug trafficker to succeed in business in Burma. Khun Sa, the
world's biggest heroin producer, surrendered his rebel Shan army in January
1996 and moved into a villa in a government military compound in Rangoon.
The Burmese government refuses to extradite Khun Sa to the United States,
where he has been indicted for trying to smuggle 3,500 pounds (1,600
kilograms) of heroin into New York. He has described himself as a real
estate agent and his investments are said to include a new resort casino
and a bus route between Rangoon and Mandalay.
Mr. Lo's drug career began when he commanded a home guard unit battling
Communist insurgents. The only way to equip and feed his troops, he said,
was through the opium trade. "In the Kokang mountains, people earned their
living from poppy for over 100 years," he said. "Over that period,
poppy-growing and trading were legal. It was the only income for people."
As he tells it, rival traffickers demanded commissions of 25 percent or 30
percent to take the opium for refining in Thailand. He undercut them by
charging 20 percent.
Twice a year from 1963 to 1973, Mr. Lo said, he moved 10 to 20 tons of
opium to the Thai border, using his own troops and 800 to 1,000 mules for
each convoy. "It stretched out for three miles," he said. "If it went
smoothly, it took about 26 days."
He waved aside questions about how much he earned. "I was working for the
Kokang people and the poor people who were looking for a way to sell their
product," he said. "I did so much for them, and I felt it was honorable."
When the government ordered him to disband his troops, Mr. Lo refused.
"The Kokang people needed the opium market," he said. "I was their sole
agent so the Kokang farmers got a reasonable price."
In 1973 he was lured across the Thai border captured, extradited to
Rangoon and sentenced to death. "I didn't think any harm would come to me,"
he said. "The government didn't charge me with opium trafficking. They
charged me with treason and violating socialist economic law."
He served a month short of seven years in prison before being released in a
1980 amnesty. Mr. Lo opened a bakery in Rangoon, raised livestock in Lashio
and mined precious stones, using what he explained were family loans, not
drug profits.
In 1989, he persuaded Peng Jiasheng, who led Kokang's rebel army, to
accept a truce with the military junta. The junta rewarded Mr. Lo with
choice gem and timber concessions.
Since then, he said, "I have done a lot of import-export business, and also
Chinese-border trade," delivering new cars-from Rangoon to China's Yunnan
Province. Mr. Lo described his Asia World company as "doing quite well"
with an annual profit somewhere "over $1 million." He declined to say how
much more.
He said he did not need to traffic in drugs now. "Since the market
economy appeared in Burma, it is easier to earn money trading vehicles on
the Chinese border," he said. He estimated that he turns a profit of $2,500
on every car he sells to the Chinese.
Colonel Kyaw Thein, head of the government's drug control program, said of
Mr. Lo, "He's been out of the drug business since he was released from
prison, because he knows that every intelligence agency will be keeping
their eyes on him."
But a Western diplomat charged that the government let Mr. Lo launder his
money in legitimate businesses. "He has the connection with the banks," the
diplomat said.
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for May 7-13