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'I' Is For Initiative - An Unorthodox A To Z Guide To The Ballot Measures
That Made It (Excerpts From A 'Willamette Week' Article That Pertain
To The Medical Marijuana And Recriminalization-Repeal Initiatives On Oregon's
November Ballot)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:22:07 GMT
From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com)
Subject: Portland, OR, free weekly on inits

Willamette Week (Portland, OR), July 22, 1998

COVER STORY

"I" is for Initiative
An unorthodox A to Z guide to the ballot measures that made it

You think this year's batch of initiatives, which were approved for the ballot
this month, lacks sizzle?

It's true, we don't have explosive measures like assisted suicide, gay rights
and cougar killing, which heated up campaigns in recent years. But November's
ballot contains a few firecrackers nonetheless.

Five of the 11 measures on the ballot are likely to draw national attention.

The vote-by-mail and adoptee-rights measures are the first of their kind in
the country. The dueling union measures will bring out the big guns of
organized labor. The clear-cut ban will be watched by tree huggers and tree
cutters from here to Maine. And pot advocates say Oregon's decriminalization
measure is arguably the most important marijuana-related referendum in the
country.

Adoptees? Trees? Marijuana? You might be thinking the November ballot will be
about little more than electoral anarchy. And it's true--ballot measures have
increasingly been concocted to appeal to niche markets. That's what makes them
so exciting--and so confusing.

To help you make sense of this seemingly random crazy quilt, we present an
unorthodox A-to-Z guide to the ballot measures.

***

The Lineup

MEASURE 57

Seeks to repeal 1997 law that recriminalized possession of small amounts of
marijuana. (S)

MEASURE 58

Gives adopted people age 21 and over who were born in Oregon access to their
original birth certificates without consent from either birth parent. (S)

MEASURE 59

Prohibits the state from helping groups
collect political donations through union
paycheck deductions. (C)

MEASURE 60

Requires that all statewide elections are
conducted by mail balloting only. (S)

MEASURE 61

Sets minimum sentences for certain crimes and increases sentences for repeat
offenders. (S)

MEASURE 62

Strengthens contribution-disclosure regulations for ballot measures and
protects public employee unions from using paycheck deductions as a legal
means of fund-raising. (C)

MEASURE 63

Requires two-thirds of voters to vote yes on measures that mandate a
two-thirds voter turnout. (C)

MEASURE 64

Stops clear-cutting and restricts the use of chemical pesticides and
herbicides by logging companies. (S)

MEASURE 65

Allows citizens to challenge rules created by state agencies by petitioning
legislators. (C)

MEASURE 66

Sets aside 15 percent of all lottery revenues for parks and wildlife habitat
protection. (C)

MEASURE 67

Allows people with certain illnesses to cultivate and possess small amounts of
marijuana, if their doctor recommends it. (S)

***

[excerpts related to marijuana initiatives]

H is for Hungary

You may not be able to find it on a map, but you can be sure that this tiny
nation is influencing Oregon politics. New York financier and gazillionaire
George Soros was born there and remembers vividly its repressive regime. As a
result, he's campaigning against what he considers America's version of
repression--the War on Drugs. In California and Arizona, Soros' fat bankroll
translated into successful efforts to legalize medical marijuana. In Oregon,
he joined forces with University of Phoenix founder John Sperling and Ohio
insurance executive Peter Lewis, who together helped pony up $280,000 to put
two marijuana-related measures on the ballot.

Measure 67 would allow people with certain illnesses to use pot as treatment,
with their doctor's permission. Measure 57 is a citizen referendum that
decriminalizes possession of less than an ounce.

Expect to see more money flow from Soros, according to Measure 57 campaign
manager Todd Olson.

J is for Joint

Smoke a joint and you could take a trip to the joint. That's what Measure 57
is about. It asks voters to decide whether to recriminalize simple possession
of small amounts of the green buds.

If it weren't for some wimpiness on the part of Gov. John Kitzhaber, this
measure might never have reached the ballot.

For the last 25 years, possession of less than an ounce of pot hasn't been a
crime--instead, it's the equivalent of a really expensive traffic violation.
But last year, the Republican legislators decided to put the governor to a
test by passing a bill to recriminalize pot. This way, they could force the
jeans-wearing, guitar-playing guv to crack down on pot smokers; if he didn't,
and instead vetoed the bill, he'd be handing the Republicans a soft-on-drugs
club to use against him in the next election. The governor buckled.

"He chickened out," says Olson, who worked for Rep. George Eighmey in the '97
Legislature. Now Olson is in charge of the Campaign That Didn't Have To Be:
the referendum to repeal the recriminalization.

M is for Moonshine

That's what Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle envisions when he hears about
medical marijuana, which would be legal under Measure 67. "When you talk about
legalizing home-grown marijuana that could be any potency," he says, "this is
the equivalent of legalizing moonshine and trying to say that's medicine."

Supporters of Measure 67, such as retired internist Rick Bayer, the measure's
chief sponsor, say it's nothing of the sort. Unlike still-brewed hooch,
marijuana can be helpful to many ill people, particularly those undergoing
chemotherapy or wasting away from AIDS. Besides, Bayer says, this measure has
safeguards that make it entirely different from the initiative that created
controversy in California when it allowed storefront distribution to folks who
might not even be sick.

Z is for Zonked

Turnout among young Oregonians may get a boost from two pro-pot measures. WW's
own survey of 100 18-to-34-year-olds found that relaxation of drug laws was a
top priority for 14 percent of respondents. The question is whether these
people will be too relaxed themselves to vote. "These issues have youthful
appeal, but I don't know if they will motivate people not inclined to vote,"
says Portland political consultant Wiener. "Some of these people wouldn't vote
if you stuck a firecracker up their nose."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Herrick Verdict In (Ellen Komp Of 'The 215 Reporter' Forwards Excerpts From
The Periodic Newsletter Going Back As Far As February 1998, Documenting The
Prosecutorial And Judicial Bias In Orange County Against Medical Marijuana
Patient And Activist David Herrick, Just Sentenced To Four Years In Prison)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 22:20:28 EDT
Errors-To: jnr@insightweb.com
Reply-To: friends@freecannabis.org
Originator: friends@freecannabis.org
Sender: friends@freecannabis.org
From: Ellen Komp (ekomp@slonet.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (friends@freecannabis.org)
Subject: Fwd: Herrick Verdict In

Here are some details on Herrick, from my earlier posts to friends and DPCA.
We also printed letters from Herrick in the 215 Reporter. If anyone needs
copies, email me your snail mails.

All possible forms of protest are in order. It certainly doesn't look good
for Chavez in OC, since they have eight counts against him.

Ellen

(From February 215 Reporter)
HERRICK STILL BEHIND BARS

David Herrick just spent his 250th day in Orange County jail. Possessing
seven 1/4-ounce baggies of marijuana labeled for free distribution to
seriously ill patients.

Herrick was a volunteer at the Orange County buyer's club when he was caught
with the medicine. Herrick found marijuana useful for back pain after a
disabling accident, and worked to allow other patients access to their medicine.

Herrick is now charged with transportation and sales of marijuana. Both
charges are highly questionable. Transporatation has been ruled as covered
by the new law by the First District Court of Appeals in People v. Trippet.
And the Orange County Buyers Club did not sell marijuana; they accepted
nominal donations around $20. (Marijuana currently sells for as much as
$400/ounce on the black market.)

The length of time served over such a small amount of marijuana in this case
is greatly out of proportion, even without a medical defense. A fellow
prisoner serving an 8-month sentence (with 122 days likely to be served) for
transporting 50 pounds of marijuana through John Wayne Airport. Herrick has
already served nearly twice that time.

Herrick has written many letters to friends and fellow activists,
encouraging them to keep up the fight in his absence. In a letter dated
December 5, Herrick wrote, "When I got on the bus to go back to the jail on
Wed. I received an ovation for my cause, because some of the inmates saw
poor Mr. Realms come in, in his wheelchair with his oxygen tank, and noting
that he was in a hospice and dying." Realms was one of the patients to whom
Herrick gave marijuana.

Assistant District Attorney Armburst, it's rumored it's his last year head
narcotics DA and he wants to go out with a bang. He has vowed to to destroy
the so called "cancer" of buyers clubs

***

SANTA ANA, February 6, 1998--David Herrick was in court again today, but a
motion to let him out of jail was not heard. Herrick has served over 250
days in Orange County jail after being caught with seven 1/8-oz. packages of
marijuana labeled for medical distribution by the Orange County Patients
Co-Op where he was a volunteer.

The court date was scheduled to hear three motions filed by Herrick's public
defender Sharon Petrocino: a motion to dismiss on unethical practices by the
prosecution; second over prosecution's tactics of dropping and refiling
charges, which may make Petrocino unable to stay on the case; and third, to
release Herrick on his own regocnicance.

The unethical practices include harassing defense's witnesses, all patients,
threatening to arrest them if they did not appear as hostile witnesses. Of
eight charges filed, only one witness's testimony upheld a single charge of
distribution, and that witness was unsure whether Herrick or Martin Chavez
gave him the marijuana.

Unfortunately, Petrocino was called out on family matters today and
assistant District Attorney Armburst held fast to an all-or-nothing
position, refusing to argue the motion to release Herrick without the other
two. Public Defender James Landis said in court that Armburst had agreed
over telephone the previous night to hear the single motion. Superior Court
Div 36 Judge William R. Froeberg scolded the attorneys over the incident
allowed the motion to go unheard, and Herrick to remain in jail.

Herrick has become a major politicial ping pong ball between San Bernadino
and Orange counties. If Orange county releases him., he will be put on a bus
to San Bernadino, who has a warrant out on Herrick without bail, and Orange
county won't be able to try him. Herrick has a probation violation for
testing postive for marijuana after a possession charge of two ounces. He is
a medical user, being 80% disabled with dislocated discs.

For the first time in court today, Herrick, 48, was held in handcuff with
hand behind his back the entire time, a very uncomfortable position for
someone with his disability. His hair has turned completely gray during his
incarceration. There seems to be little hope of Herrick getting out of jail
until his trial is over.

Meanwhile a team of attorneys has taken on Martin Chavez's case. Some
speculate that Herrick will be let go now that Chavez has been arrested, but
how long that will take is anyone's guess.

***

(3/7/98)

Appeals Court To Hear Prosecutorial
Misconduct Charges in Herrick Trial

On March 5, the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ordered a stay of
prosecution in the case against David Herrick, the Orange County cannabis
co-op volunteer who has served 285 days in jail after being caught with less
than two ounces of pot for distribution to patients. The Court will hear
arguments that prosecutors improperly used evidence provided by the defense.

Originally "intent to sell" charges were filed against Herrick. When the
defense provided names of co-op patients to whom Herrick intended to
distribute marijuana, the prosecution dropped those charges and filed
"sales" charges against Herrick, using the defense witnesses against him.

Deputy Public Defender Sharon Petrosino said she was required by evidence
"discovery" laws to provide the information to the prosecution. "I don't
think we should be forced to provide discovery that ultimately hurts our
client," Petrosino said.

The defense motion also charged that the prosecution filed criminal charges
against the co-op's founder, Marvin Chavez, to prevent him from being used
as a defense witness.

The appellate court gave the prosecution until March 16 to respond to the
defense brief. The trial will be stayed until the appellate court rules.

(The appellate court later decided not to rule in the case until the trial
was over)

***

(May 12, 1998)

(Trial coverage--by this time Froeberg had disallowed a medical defense, but
defense attorney Petrosino, in cross examinations, got some testimony in
about it anyway. One prosecution witness was a patient, the other a
caregiver (the second patient had died of cancer.) No medical experts were
allowed to testify.)

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.

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." 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.

***

(May 15, 1998)

The day started with the defense resting. No witnesses were called because
all avenues for defense had been closed.

Judge William R. Froeberg then gave the jury their instructions. Jurors were
given standard instructions, including ordering them not to consider the
penalty, that they must apply the law as stated, whether or not they agree
with it. H&SC 11360 a&b was read, but not 11362.5 (The Compassionate Use Act
of 1996 a.k.a. Prop 215).

District Attorney Armburst, in his summation, said that sales mean trading
for money or favors and that "a donation is a favor." He compared the case
to that of a prostitute who can't accept money for her services but charges
$50 to pet her dog.

She argued that someone's mere presence at a crime does not constitute
aiding and abetting. To aid and abet, she said, must be "With knowledge of
unlawful purpose." In this case, she said the purpose was to provide
marijuana for seriously ill Californians. She noted that "no one disputes
that Mr. Hoffer and Mr. O'Rear required marijuana, that they were sick."

Petrosino compared accepting donations for a gift to the return address
stickers non-profit groups send to potential donors. The gifts are given
freely, and donations are not required in exchange. "There is no sale in
this case," she said.

She finished with a quote from "one of our Presidents": "What we need in
this Country is not division, not hatred. . . but compassion for those who
suffer." The Orange County Co-op, she said, felt compassion for those who
suffer and "shame on anyone who say they committed a crime."

He stated that there was nothing presented to show that marijuana prolonged
life, only that it ended pain. He said "Mr. Pollard bought marijuana for his
friend, and there's probably nothing wrong with that." He said the Petrosino
argued Herrick was "trying to help." That's true, he said, but "any street
dealer can make the same claim--I was just trying to help the guy out. . .
and we'd never convict anyone for marijuana, cocaine, heroin or
methamphetamine."

The jury returned after an hour's deliberation to ask why Prop 215 wasn't a
factor. Judge Froeberg read them the part of the law covering possession and
cultivation; nothing about asking the state for a distribution system. They
returned with a guilty verdict on one felony count; another count was
reduced to a misdemeanor charge of giving away. He was found not guilty on
two other charges.

***

Ellen Komp
215 Reporter

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ammo (A List Subscriber Re-Posts The County By County Yes-No Vote Percentages
For Proposition 215 In California In November 1996)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 23:30:37 -0700
To: R Givens (rgivens@mail.sirius.com)
From: R Givens (rgivens@sirius.com)
Subject: DPFCA: AMMO
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

Here are some files that come in handy when medical marijuana cases come
up. Some prosecutors and judges are going against the voters in their own
counties. For instance, Orange county has taken a very hard line against
Proposition 215, even though the electorate there approved medical
marijuana by a 51% margin.

Whenever some hotspur prosecutor or judge shoots his/her idiot mouth off
about medical marijuana, check the voting record for their county because
sometimes these Anslingerite bozos are completely out of touch with their
own community.

Remind people of the betrayal of democratic process by these Reefer
Manaics. Paint them as the totalitarians they really are. Expose their
lunatic delusions based on outrageous lies and myths. Expose their contempt
for the democratic process. Slash them to ribbons with the truth.

The 50% results are all very close, some going slightly yes and others
slightly no on Proposition 215. You'll have to see the attached gif map to
see exactly which way these counties voted. The gif file will open with
Netscape.

R Givens

save this file for future reference

PROPOSITION 215 RESULTS BY COUNTY
As of Nov 06 1996 16:30

Statewide:
YES		4,870,822		55.7%
NO		3,875,899		44.3%

Percent voting	YES**

Alameda		70
Alpine		56
Amador		44
Butte		49
Calaveras	49
Colusa		39
Contra Costa	63
Del Norte	49
El Dorado	51
Fresno		42
Glenn		39
Humboldt	57
Imperial	40
Inyo		42
Kern		42
Kings		41
Lake		52
Lassen		40
Los Angeles	55
Madera		41
Marin		73
Mariposa	48
Mendocino	64
Merced		56
Modoc		39
Mono		57
Monterey	58
Napa		59
Nevada		52
Orange		51
Placer		48
Plumas		47
Riverside	48
Sacramento	53
San Benito	57
San Bernadino	50
San Diego	52
San Francisco	78
San Joaquin	46
San Luis Obispo	50
San Mateo	66
Santa Barbara	53
Santa Clara	64
Santa Cruz	73
Shasta		41
Sierra		50
Siskiyou	41
Solano		55
Sonoma		69
Stanislaus	46
Sutter		39
Tehema		41
Trinity		50
Tulare		37
Tuolumne	48
Ventura		52
Yolo		58
Yuba		46

Note: counties with 50% votes were VERY CLOSE. The results were slightly
positive in some cases and in others slightly negative. See the attached
gif for exact positive and negative results for 50% county votes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Oakland Council Backs Pot In Two Votes ('The San Francisco Examiner' Version)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 12:09:42 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Oakland Council Backs Pot in 2 Votes
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Section: Bay Area Datelines - Compiled from Examiner staff and wire reports

OAKLAND COUNCIL BACKS POT IN 2 VOTES

Oakland The Oakland City Council voted 7-2 early Wednesday to reaffirm its
lenient policy on medical marijuana, even though Mayor Elihu Harris
expressed strong concerns about the amount of pot that users are allowed to
possess.

The council also approved a new provision aimed at shielding the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative from the federal government's bid to shut down
the club at an August 14 hearing in federal court.

Two weeks ago, the full council unanimously approved without discussion a
proposal allowing medical marijuana users to have 1-1/4 pounds of cannabis,
described as a three-month supply.

1998 San Francisco Examiner Page A 7

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Customs Yahoo Alert (California NORML Publicizes A Rude Letter
To A Licensed California Physician, Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D., By US Customs
Inspector Mark A Johnson, Informing Him The Federal Government
Doesn't Recognize The Protections Afforded Medical Marijuana Patients
By California Proposition 215)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 22:11:28 -0800
To: friends@freecannabis.org, dpfca@drugsense.org, mikuriya@igc.org
From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Subject: DPFCA: Customs Yahoo Alert
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

Following is an extremely obnoxious letter received by Dr. Tod Mikuriya
from a US Customs official who recently busted an unknown patient at the
border. It deserves a response from us.

						07/19/98
Mr. Mikuriya,

As a reminder you may want to tell your "patients" that although they may
have received a "prescription" for marijuana from your office it will hold
no weight so far as federal or state laws are concerned.

Such was the case a few days ago when we confiscated less than a gram of
marijuana from one of the people who had put their confidence in you.

As a result of what we in Customs call a "zero tolerance" seizure, the
vehicle in which the marijuana is transported (be it a seed or a tenth of a
gram) may be subject to seizure, remitted to the violator only after a fine
of $5000 is paid. This fine may be mitigated to a lower level, as was the
case this week, but it doesn't always have to work this way.

The person from whom we seized both marijuana and vehicle was under the
assumption that your signature was license to transport and use this
narcotic freely. This was a stiff $500 lesson for someone who probably
couldn't afford it, but erroneously placed their trust in you.

You may want to clarify the risks for your "patients" in the future.

Sincerely,
Mark A Johnson
Senior Inspector, U.S. Customs
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(360) 457-4311

***

Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114

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ACLU Challenges Oakland Seizure Ordinance ('The Contra Costa Times'
Says The American Civil Liberties Union Sued The City On Tuesday To Overturn
An Ordinance Allowing Police To Seize The Cars Of Suspected Drug Buyers
And Prostitution Customers)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 02:00:21 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: ACLU Challenges Oakland Seizure Ordinance
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Contact: cctletrs@netcom.com
Website: http://www.hotcoco.com/index.htm
Author: Associated Press

ACLU CHALLENGES OAKLAND SEIZURE ORDINANCE

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union sued Oakland on
Tuesday to overturn an ordinance allowing police to seize the cars of
suspected drug buyers and prostitution customers.

The ordinance took effect last September and is being closely watched by
officials in several other cities and counties. The ACLU said it violates
state laws that limit property forfeitures and require criminal convictions
before seizures. The city said state law imposes no such requirement.

"It is understandable that Oakland should take measures to deter crimes in
its neighborhoods," ACLU lawyer Alan Schlosser said in a statement.
"However, ignoring basic legal standards established by the Legislature to
protect individual rights and innocent people is the wrong way to pursue
this goal."

Deputy City Attorney Marcia Meyers said the city considers the ordinance
"legal and enforceable."

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Henry Needham scheduled a hearing Sept.
24 after denying the ACLU's request for an earlier hearing on whether to
block enforcement.

The ordinance allows police to seize vehicles used to acquire any illegal
drugs or solicit prostitution. The owner has 10 days to seek recovery, and
the city must then prove, by a majority of the evidence, that the vehicle
was used for the specified illegal purpose. The city then can sell the
vehicle and use the proceeds for law enforcement.

The forfeiture proceedings are separate from any criminal charges against
the owner. Criminal charges must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, a
higher standard than a majority of the evidence; as a result, the city could
keep vehicles in some cases if the owner was acquitted or never charged.

The ACLU said it had obtained city records showing at least 17 vehicle
seizures in the last few months involved the attempted purchase of $10 to
$30 worth of marijuana, a crime punishable by a $100 fine.

In March, Legislative Counsel Bion Gregory's office, the Legislature's legal
adviser, issued a non-binding opinion saying the Oakland ordinance
conflicted with state law.

One law cited by the opinion allows certain cities, including Oakland, to
pass ordinances allowing seizures of cars used for solicting prostitution.
But seizures are allowed only if the owner has been convicted, and the
vehicle can be held for no more than 48 hours.

Another state law allows forfeiture of vehicles used to buy illegal drugs.
But, the counsel's opinion said, it also requires a criminal conviction and
applies only to the purchase of large amounts of drugs -- 14.25 grams of
heroin or crack cocaine, or 10 pounds of marijuana. Oakland's ordinance
covers the purchase of any type or amount of illegal drugs.

Meyers, the city's lawyer, said the counsel's opinion and the ACLU's suit
misinterpreted state law. She said the state authorizes such local
ordinances as "nuisance abatement" measures and allows property forfeitures
without criminal convictions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ACLU Sues Oakland Over Car Seizures ('The San Francisco Examiner' Version)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 12:00:36 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: ACLU Sues Oakland Over Car Seizures
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Robert Selna

ACLU SUES OAKLAND OVER CAR SEIZURES

OAKLAND -- An Oakland ordinance allowing the city to sell cars seized in
drug and prostitution busts without charging owners with crimes has raised
constitutional concerns among residents and a local civil rights group.

The nuisance ordinance was created in 1997 as part of a crime reduction
plan called operation Beat Feet, in which undercover cops pose as drug
dealers and prostitutes in some of Oakland's highest crime areas. When
drivers or passengers ask to buy drugs or sex, they are arrested and the
car is confiscated.

Once a car is seized, the vehicle's registered owner -- regardless of
whether he or she was present at the bust -- has 10 days to negotiate a
price with the city for the car's return or it is sold at public auction.
Half of the proceeds go to the police and the other half to the city.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the
city in Alameda County Superior Court claiming the ordinance violates state
law by seizing property without a conviction. The ACLU filed the suit on
behalf of Oakland resident Sam C. Horton, a citizen concerned about the
ordinance as a taxpayer but not directly involved in a case.

"The California state Constitution says that local governments can't
preempt state law," said Alan Schlosser, managing attorney with the
Northern California ACLU.

Schlosser said state law includes two statutes that provide people basic
property rights and due process protections in seizure cases.

"The thing that is upsetting about the Oakland ordinance is that it shows a
total disregard for protections the state chose to engraft into state law,"
Schlosser said.

The protections, Schlosser explained, are the same that a person would
receive in a criminal trial. "People are not given a presumption of
innocence, they are not given a jury trial and they are not appointed a
lawyer if they can't afford one," Schlosser said of the city's civil
ordinance.

In the last year, the Oakland Police Department and its city attorney's
office have confiscated more than 70 cars allegedly involved in drug
purchases or prostitution in East and West Oakland neighborhoods, many
without a conviction.

The city said the operation was intended to eradicate the demand side of
drug and prostitution economics by removing consumers, many who drive from
outlying cities to parts of Oakland known as easy places to buy drugs and
hire prostitutes.

City officials say that so far, the strategy is working.

"When we first began the program, we were getting about 30 cars at a time,"
said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Andy Cuellar. "Last time we
did it we only got about eight. This shows that people are paying
attention." Cuellar contends that what the city is doing is within the law.

"The fact that the ordinance serves in part to deter crime does not
necessarily mean that it's a criminal ordinance," Cuellar said. "Civil
penalties can be imposed when people have engaged in criminal activity."

Cuellar argues that the city will survive the ACLU's legal challenge
because the state statutes do not require due process in all cases and the
state Constitution gives the city the power to create its own ordinances
that don't rely on statutes.

Steve Simirin, an Oakland attorney who has represented several plaintiffs
in forfeiture cases with the city, said the ordinance is dangerous because
it is too broad.

Simirin said he represented a woman whose husband took her new van for a
drive with a friend. The friend said he needed to get out of the car to
"talk to somebody," but what he did was buy drugs, Simirin said.

The van owner's husband was surrounded by cops, had to spend the night in
jail and pay a bail bondsman, even though the charges against him were
dropped, he said.

The next day, Simirin said, the couple went to the police station to get
the van. They were told they would have to go to court and pay a $200
filing fee to contest the forfeiture.

Eventually, Simirin negotiated a deal so that the woman -- who was not
present at the time of the bust -- paid $1,500 to get her car back and
about $1,100 for towing and storage. If the woman had not paid the fees,
the city would have sold her car. Simirin said the woman did not fight the
case because it would have taken more than a year to resolve and would have
included court and attorney fees. Part of getting the car back also
includes signing an agreement not to sue the city.

According to city records, in addition to the ACLU's case, eight forfeiture
suits have been filed against the city. City officials aren't fazed by such
suits.

"The ACLU should take us to court if they are so inclined, but we feel the
ordinance can withstand a legal challenge," said Nate Miley, an East
Oakland city councilman who is chairman of Oakland's public safety
committee.

Miley said he believes the ordinance may need to be reviewed to ensure its
fairness, but he thinks it is necessary to combat the drug trade plaguing
his district.

"Three-quarters of the cars we confiscated were from outside of Oakland,"
Miley said. "If word gets out that you can't come to Oakland to buy drugs,
that will be a big deterrent, because there won't be any market."

John Crew, director of the ACLU's police practices project, said that
although the ordinance may deter crime, it also may extort money from
innocent car owners.

"I am not comfortable with an ordinance that gives the police a fiscal
incentive to pick people up," Crew said.

The ordinance does not state criteria by which the city attorney determines
fines for confiscated cars, giving car owners little room to negotiate.
Assistant City Attorney Marcia Meyers said that she determines fines based
on several factors, but that each case is different.

"I see whether there is a good connection between the crime and the car,
the value of the car, whether they resisted arrest -- if the owner does not
think it's (the fine) fair, they can go to court," Meyers said.

Simirin said that several of his clients have decided to settle rather than
go to court, because the legal process is so expensive and time-consuming.

"In order to fight the case, they would have to lose the use of the car for
a year, because that's how long it takes to get through the courts,"
Simirin said. "They also have to pay an attorney and ultimately the case
might get ruled against them."

A Sept. 24 hearing date is set for the ACLU case.

1998 San Francisco Examiner

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Pot Petition Appeals To Secretary Of State ('The Las Vegas Sun'
Says Nevadans For Medical Rights On Tuesday Contested The Finding
Of Secretary Of State Dean Heller That The Initiative Campaign
Had Fallen Short By Seven Signatures In Lyon County And 36 Signatures
In Nye County - The Secretary Of State's Office Plans A Prompt Investigation)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 01:40:08 GMT
From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com)
Subject: NV: Las Vegas Sun on Petition Appel
Las Vegas Sun
Wednesday, July 22, 1998

Pot petition appeals to Secretary of State

By Cy Ryan
SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- The Secretary of State's office plans a prompt investigation
of claims that there are enough valid signatures on petitions in two rural
counties to qualify an initiative on the medical use of marijuana for the
November ballot.

Nevadans for Medical Rights on Tuesday contested the finding of Secretary
of State Dean Heller that the petitions had fallen short of the required
signatures in Lyon County by seven signers and in Nye County by 36
signatures.

The petitions seek to change the Nevada Constitution to permit a person,
upon the advice of a physician, to use marijuana for the treatment and
alleviation of pain of a variety of ailments. A minor would be required to
get the permission of a doctor and parents.

The organization, through its Las Vegas lawyer Donald Campbell, filed its
appeal minutes before the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline and asked Heller to
re-examine scores of signatures that had been declared invalid.

The group gathered more than 70,000 signatures in 13 of the state's 17
counties. The law requires 46,764 signatures of registered voters and 10
percent of voters in 13 of the 17 counties. Nye and Lyon originally
reported that the petitions had failed. Heller then asked that the figures
be re-examined and the names verified.

Lyon and Nye again reported the petitions were short.

But Campbell said another check shows more than adequate signatures in the
two counties.

Pamela Crowell, deputy secretary of state for elections, said it would
conduct an "expeditious" examination of the signatures in question to
determine whether they were, in fact, those of registered voters. If the
petition is denied again, the medical marijuana organization can appeal to
the courts.

In Lyon County, Angelo Paparella, a representative of Progressive Campaigns
Inc., which did the gathering of signatures, performed an independent
review of the signers who were declared invalid. He reported finding at
least 25 signatures that should have been counted.

He said Lyon County Deputy Clerk Tricia Umphries agreed that the 25 are
signatures of verified voters, which would put the petition over the top.
In addition, Paparella said, there were another six signatures that were
crossed out that should have been tallied.

In Nye County, Klinton Kinder also of Progressive Campaigns, found that the
county clerk had miscounted the number of valid signatures. He said there
should be 914, rather than the 890 reported. Kinder also said that at least
37 signatures, originally declared invalid for not being from registered
voters, were in fact from people who were registered at the time they
signed their names.

Kinder also found that 14 signatures were disqualified because they were
from people not registered to vote. But those people had registered to vote
at the same time they signed the petition and should be counted, he said.
Counting those signatures easily would put the petition over the top.

In addition, on the final day the signatures were to be turned into the
county clerk, June 16, Kinder said two women who had 90 signatures on a
petition were turned away in Nye County because they were less than two
minutes late.

The 90 additional signatures are locked in a safe in the law offices of
Campbell and should be counted, petition supporters said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Marijuana Advocates Appeal To Salvage Nevada Ballot Question
(The 'Associated Press' Version In 'The Las Vegas Sun')

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 12:05:56 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NV: Medical Marijuana Advocates
Appeal to Salvage Nevada Ballot Question
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Contact: letters@lasvegassun.com
Website: http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Brendan Riley - Associated Press

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES APPEAL TO SALVAGE NEVADA BALLOT QUESTION

CARSON CITY - Advocates of Nevada's medical marijuana ballot proposal,
rejected for the lack of just 43 valid signatures, appealed Tuesday and
presented audits to show they had enough names to qualify.

The appeal to Secretary of State Dean Heller was submitted by Las Vegas
lawyer Don Campbell, representing Nevadans for Medical Rights and Americans
for Medical Rights.

Heller said last week that a review he ordered showed the proposal was 36
signatures shy of the minimum needed in Nye County, and seven names short
in Lyon County.

Advocates of the plan submitted 74,466 signatures on their petition,
seemingly far above the minimum statewide total of 46,764 signatures for
any petitions seeking a spot on November's ballot.

But Nevada law requires that the total must include 10 percent of the
registered voters in 13 of Nevada's 17 counties. Signatures were gathered
only in the minimum 13, and the proponents couldn't afford to lose a single
county.

Campbell said Progressive Campaigns Inc., which collected the signatures,
performed independent reviews in both of the rural Nevada counties, and in
Lyon got a deputy clerk to agree that at least 25 rejected signatures were
valid. That more than erases the 7-name deficit, he said.

In Nye, Campbell said a combination of math errors and improperly rejected
signatures caused a shortfall, and when those names are included the
petitioners are at least three dozen signatures over the minimum - not 36
shy.

The count would climb even higher if Heller would direct Nye County to
accept 90 signatures delivered on the final day for submissions a few
minutes after the clerk's office closed in Tonopah, Campbell said. Two
women delivering those names were delayed by a traffic stop.

The appeal asks for a prompt investigation by the secretary of state. If
Heller goes ahead, that would mean a check of each of the names that
Campbell claims are valid.

If the appeal is rejected, the advocates could take their case to court.

The medical marijuana initiative would let people, on the advice of
physicians, use marijuana for curing or relieving pain in a number of
illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. Minors would have to receive permission
from their parents and the doctor.

A registry of patients authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes
would be available to police if they needed to verify a claim that it's
being legally used by someone.

The proposal needed voter approval this November and again in November 2000
before it could take effect.

The move in Nevada was started by members of the same group that launched a
successful 1996 medical marijuana petition in California. But a big legal
battle developed over distribution through "cannabis clubs" in that state.

However, the Nevada advocates had said the problems that occurred in
California wouldn't happen here.

And even though Nevada's laws against marijuana are much harsher than
California's, the advocates thought voters would support the initiative
because Nevadans are so protective of individual rights.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Failed Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Appeal
('The Las Vegas Review-Journal' Version)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 01:56:35 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NV: Failed Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsors Appeal
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com and Dave Fratello
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Contact: letters@lvrj.com
Fax: 702-383-4676
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/
Author: Sean Whaley, Donrey Capital Bureau

FAILED MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE SPONSORS APPEAL

CARSON CITY -- Supporters of a failed initiative to legalize the use of
marijuana for medical purposes in Nevada filed an appeal Tuesday with the
secretary of state in an effort to get the measure on the November ballot.

The appeal by Americans for Medical Rights asks Secretary of State Dean
Heller to review the signature counting by county clerks in Nye and Lyon
counties that resulted in rejection of the measure.

The ballot question was successful in 11 of 13 counties where it was
circulated. But the petition fell short by seven signatures in Lyon County
and 36 signatures in Nye County.

Heller declared the measure failed on July 13. The group needed to qualify
the petition in all 13 counties for the measure to go on the ballot.

The organization had workers in the field in both counties over the past
several days looking at the signatures and trying to find some that should
have been counted but were not. Workers found 25 potentially valid
signatures in Lyon County, and an additional 75 in Nye County, that if
counted, would qualify the petition for the November ballot, according to
the appeal.

"From our analysis, we think we have enough signatures," said Dan Hart, a
spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights. "Of course, it's not our
analysis that matters.

"But I think we have a rational argument that needs to be considered," he
said. "I think a reasonable person will find that we have enough signatures."

Heller does not have a time limit by which he must act to review the
petition results in the two counties. If the group's appeal is rejected by
Heller, it can challenge the decision in district court.

Lyon County officials earlier this month checked all 1,418 signatures on
petitions circulated by the group. Only 975 were from registered voters,
however, seven short of the 982 required, according to the review by the
county clerk.

The Nye County signature-checking process has been plagued with problems. A
number of signatures that were not counted there by the clerk were ordered
counted by Heller.

Even so, only 890 valid signatures of registered voters were found in a
total of 1,228, or 36 short of the 926 needed.

The medical marijuana initiative proposes to allow a patient to use, upon
the advice of a physician, marijuana for "treatment or alleviation" of
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, persistent nausea, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and
other medical problems. The proposal is one of several being pushed in
states across the nation.

The proposals have drawn opposition from people concerned that the ballot
questions are a step toward legalization of marijuana.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

MAP Focus Alert Number 73 - CNN 'TalkBack Live' (The Media Awareness Project
Asks You To Make A Quick Response To A Biased Cable News Network Newscast
And Online Poll Regarding Heroin Deaths In Plano, Texas)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 16:16:26 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: "Quick Action" Focus Alert and vote CNN TalkBack Live

PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE

FOCUS ALERT No. 73 CNN TalkBack Live

CNN ran a program on TalkBack Live today. It lacked balance, had no reform
spokespersons and promoted the following poll:

Should drug dealers be charged with murder when a buyer fatally overdoses?
as of this post the results were 52% yes 48% No
Please cast your vote at: http://cnn.com/CNN/Programs/TalkBack/index.html

***

CONTACT INFO

Email TalkBack about the unbalanced nature of the show at
cnn.feedback@cnn.com

"Extra Credit" See: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm
to find email addresses for your local newspapers and write a LTE

***

At 01:19 PM 7/22/98 -0700, Tom O'Connell wrote:

It now appears that the stimulus for the CNN "TalkBack Live" show today was
the arrest of some of the drug dealers which the involved federal
prosecutor (a grand-stander named Bradford) claims "knowingly" sold heroin
to kids. It appears that he wants to seek the death penalty (the CNN Poll
was running 2:1 in favor of death for dealers during the program). My guess
is that CNN cobbled together this show at the last minute, so it was
devoted EXCLUSIVELY to airing a hard line prohibitionist theme.

We should really let CNN hear about this. It's the kind of unbalanced
presentation which significantly sets back the cause of reform. It's the
worst recent example I can think of in which propaganda and news became so
inseparably intertwined.

Tom O'Connell

***

SAMPLE LETTER SENT WED 7/22/98

Dear Talkback Live

The inflammatory, uninformed, and biased show on the heroin deaths in Plano
Texas was a new high in inaccuracy for TalkBack Live and CNN. The people
who need to be tried for murder are federal prosecutors like Bradock and
others who continue to promote a failed, expensive and monumentally foolish
drug war and who have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of young
people and adults for decades. Heroin is dangerous and available to our
kids solely because of prohibition. If it were sensibly regulated,
accidental overdose deaths would be virtually unheard of.

The next time you do a show on drug matters please at least balance it with
representatives from Common Sense for Drug Policy or The Lindesmith Center
so a sensible policy which would have saved these childrens lives can be
discussed. Otherwise you're just as guilty as the government.

Also please get your producers to become aware of

http://www.drugsense.org

and

http://www.mapinc.org

so that you have at least a little accuracy to counter fools like Mr. Bradock

For this show at least you had all the strength of conviction and accuracy
of the National Inquirer. Shame on you.

***

Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.DrugSense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Plano Drug Crackdown Targets Heroin Dealers (WFAA In Texas,
An ABC Affiliate, Says Plano Police And The Drug Enforcement Administration
Arrested 29 Alleged Local Heroin Dealers And A Federal Grand Jury
Has Charged Them In Connection With Some Of The Heroin-Related Deaths
Of 14 Young People In Plano, Threatening Them With Mandatory Minimum
20-Years-To-Life Sentences - Plus Background From A Local Correspondent)

From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 18:19:45 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: MEDIA ALERT: Plano Drug Crackdown
To: dpft-l@tamu.edu, drctalk@drcnet.org, maptalk@MAPINC.ORG
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

They busted a bunch of freakin' kids, most of whom were heroin addicts.

See: http://www.wfaa.com/news/9807/22/heroin_bust.shtml

Thanks to Tom for the tip on the way CNN mishandled the situation. I
guess that's to be expected.

I just watched the ABC Evening News and they are continuing their
anti-drug warrior ways. They made a big deal about the DEA wanting
to charge these kids with distributing a drug that caused a death
which can double the 10-year sentence.

Those on the west coast can catch the ABC Evening News. The rest
of you that are interested should tune in Nightline, TONIGHT. It
will cover the Plano bust.

Chief Glasscock wants to charge them with murder. He thinks anyone
that distributes drugs that kill are murderers. I wonder if Glasscock
has the balls to go after liquor store owners?

This is the story from the website listed above. It's the local ABC
affiliate WFAA. Email is -- 8listens@wfaa.com.

***

Plano Drug Crackdown Targets Heroin Dealers

For comprehensive coverage, watch Channel 8
News at Daybreak, Midday, 5, 6 and 10pm.

Eight of the 29 people who have been arrested in the Plano drug
crackdown. (WFAA-TV)

PLANO, July 22 -- Federal authorities have announced a large-scale
crackdown on drug traffickers in Plano -- a Dallas suburb where heroin
use has taken at least 14 young lives.

The parents of four Plano heroin overdose victims now know who allegedly
supplied the deadly drug.

Plano Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested 29 alleged
heroin dealers in an unprecedented case to hold them responsible for the
deaths.

A federal grand jury in Sherman indicted them for conspiracy in the
deaths of 20-year-old Milan Malina; 19-year-old Wes Scott; 19-year-old
Rob Hill; and 16-year-old Erin Baker.

The alleged drug pushers face a minimum 20 year prison sentence up to
life under a little-used federal law.

The father of Wes Scott says his son was -- in effect -- murdered.
"Hatred. Hatred doesn't even come close to the way I feel," said Larry
Scott. "The people at the top, as I understand it, are not users.
They're in it strictly for the money. They're in it strictly for the
human misery they provide to other people at a price."

Investigators traced Plano's supply of black tar heroin to the opium
poppy fields of Mexico.

Two natives from a village near Acapulco have already been convicted on
lesser charges of running the deadly operation.

Ecliserio Martinez, 37, was the chief of smuggling.

Salvadore Piñeda, 26, distributed to all of Collin County.

They walked it across the border hidden in hollowed-out boot heels.

>From a house in a quiet McKinney neighborhood, the DEA says Piñeda and
Martinez made $30,000 a week.

Narcotics agents seized enough heroin there to supply 110,000 doses.

"They were killing a community," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Julio
Mercado. "It was like PacMan. They were just eating these kids slowly."

Plano narcotics officers and a homicide detective teamed up to back
track the heroin from each victim.

Piñeada's organization supplied distributors operating out of what was
known as the "Blue House" in east Plano, according to the indictment.

It's been re-painted since police shut it down and arrested six dealers
now accused of contributing to the overdose deaths.

They allegedly supplied open air heroin markets run out of apartments in
the heart of Plano near Central Expressway.

The last links in the heroin supply chain to the victims flowed through
ten young adults from Plano, Allen, and Dallas according to the
indictment.

In the case of Wes Scott, he was allegedly supplied with heroin to snort
at a party by two former classmates from Plano Senior High School:
19-year-old John Aaron Pruett and 20-year-old John Hughes Woodward.

Pruett is also accused of supplying the deadly overdose to 16-year-old
Erin Baker.

Pruett's parents have said that he, too, was a victim of drug addiction.

The indictment accuses Pruett of being a significant distributor.

The DEA says the young people were long-time dealers trying to get other
teenagers hooked on heroin.

"There comes a point where someone has to accept some responsibility,
and if they don't show any interest in rehabbing or serious about
getting clean, throw the book at them," said Larry Scott. "Throw the
book at them. And that would include my own son, Wes -- if he were
here."

Reporter: Robert Riggs
Last update: Wednesday, July 22 at 02:05 PM

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Arresting Officers Followed Rules (A Letter To The Editor
Of 'The Houston Chronicle' By Houston District Attorney John Holmes
Defends The Killers Of Pedro Oregon Navarro)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 10:03:44 -0700
To: maptalk-digest@mapinc.org
Sender: owner-maptalk-digest@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/
Subj: LTE: Arresting officers followed rules [says DA]
From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 06:54:28 -0500 (CDT)

Here's one from Houston D.A., "Long" (we're talkin' mustache) John Holmes.

Holmes states, "Each of the officers conducting the arrest were
dressed in Houston Police Department blue uniforms".

Can't I purchase one of these uniforms from the local police supply store?

7-22-98
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com
viewpoints@chron.com

***

Arresting officers followed rules

I read the July 18 Viewpoints letters ("HPD's lethal Rambo-ism") and was
disturbed that some members of the public believe the rule about using
deadly force came from my play-book.

However, the Texas Penal Code provides that the use of force against
another is not justified to resist an arrest or search that the actor
knows is being made by a peace officer, or by a person acting in a peace
officer's presence and at his direction, even though the arrest or
search is unlawful, unless the resistance is justified under Subsection
(c).

Subsection (c) provides that the use of force to resist an arrest or
search is justified if, before the actor offers any resistance, the
peace officer (or person acting at his direction) uses or attempts to
use greater force than necessary to make the arrest or search; and when
and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately
necessary to protect himself against the peace officer's (or other
person's) use or attempted use of greater force than necessary.

In the case of Pedro Oregon, [killed in a police raid at his home] (Page
one, July 17, "Cops may have had right to shoot; DA speaks about deadly
home raid"), I am unaware of any evidence suggesting that the persons in
the residence did not know the entry was gained by police officers.

Each of the officers conducting the arrest were dressed in Houston
Police Department blue uniforms.

The Legislature has provided criminal penalties for anyone who prevents
or obstructs a police officer from affecting an arrest or search, even
if that search was unlawful.

If the actor uses a deadly weapon to resist an arrest or search, it is a
felony of the third degree in accordance with the law.

John B. Holmes Jr.,
district attorney, Harris County

-------------------------------------------------------------------

DARE Program Could Lose Federal Funding Under New Policies
('The Dallas Morning News' Says Many School Districts In Texas And Elsewhere
Around The United States May Have To Rreplace Or Rethink Their Drug Education
Programs Over The Next Two Years Because The US Department Of Education
Has Labeled The Program Ineffective)

From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 06:54:01 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: ART: D.A.R.E. program could lose federal funding
To: dpft-l@tamu.edu, drctalk@drcnet.org, maptalk@MAPINC.ORG
Cc: editor@MAPINC.ORG
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

If the DMN is printing a negative DARE story on PAGE 1,
its days must be numbered.

7-22-98
Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com
letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com

***

Some anti-drug efforts called ineffective
D.A.R.E. program could lose federal funding under new policies

07/22/98

By Gayle Reaves / The Dallas Morning News

Many school districts in Texas and around the country may have to
replace or rethink their drug education programs over the next two years
because of recent action by the U.S. Department of Education.

The federal agency has just said no to spending hundreds of millions of
tax dollars on programs deemed ineffective in keeping kids off drugs.
This year, the government will spend $556 million on anti-drug programs,
including $40 million in Texas, through its Safe and Drug-Free Schools
initiative.

The most widely used program in Texas schools could be affected by the
new policies. The controversial D.A.R.E. program - Drug Abuse Resistance
Education - is used in more than half of Texas school districts but did
not make a list of programs researchers have labeled effective in
reducing or preventing drug use among young people.

D.A.R.E., used in Plano and several other North Texas districts, has
been criticized as ineffective and too restrictive. It is funded by a
variety of sources, but the $345,000 spent annually by its statewide
group to train police officers to teach its program comes from federal
funds.

The main program used in Dallas schools isn't on the list, either, but
officials said it shouldn't be affected because it does not use federal
money.

Law Enforcement Teaching Students - or LETS - was developed by the
Dallas Police Department and Dallas school officials. Several other area
school districts also use it.

"This is going to impact most of what everyone does," in terms of school
anti-drug programs, said Kay Beth Stavley of the Texas Education Agency.

Under rules that went into effect this month, the Department of
Education will require school districts and other agencies that receive
federal money to prove within two years that their programs reduce drug
use among students.

School districts will have to tackle the tough job of scientifically
justifying their current programs; choose programs that have already
been accepted as effective; or find a new source of funding.

Schools that don't use federal money or those that already use proven,
effective programs won't have to change, said Ms. Stavley, Texas
coordinator for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.

For others, "the reality is that schools need to seriously rethink what
they're doing, really look at where their dollars are going, what's the
best use of their funds," she said.

The education agency has given school and state officials a list of
programs that experts say have been proven effective by testing and
research. Education officials stress their list is partial and
preliminary, intended only as a guide to school officials.

D.A.R.E. leaders say they have been consulting with federal education
and Justice Department officials about what it would take to get their
program on the recommended list.

"We are putting in place research to prove our effectiveness," said Dave
Williams, statewide coordinator of the Texas D.A.R.E. Institute.

Officials with Fort Worth and Arlington, which use D.A.R.E., say they
are reviewing their participation in that and other drug programs.

"All our drug programs will be reviewed except those found to be
research-based," said Roy Griffin, coordinator of drug prevention
programs for Fort Worth schools. His district uses a variety of
anti-drug programs in various grades, including D.A.R.E., which is paid
for by the Fort Worth Police Department.

When proven programs are available, he said, he questions continued use
of curricula that may not work.

"If you know there's something that works and you're not using it, whose
fault is that?" he said. "It's like saying we're going to try a new
reading program for two years. If it doesn't work, we've lost two years
of teaching children to read."

William Modzeleski, director of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, said the
U.S. education agency became concerned "as we began to see drug use
[among young people] go up again after decreasing for a decade, going up
for four or five years in a row. We wanted to take a careful look at how
our dollars are being spent."

The effort to make drug programs accountable comes at the same time as a
new $195 million government anti-drug advertising campaign that is
delivering stark messages about the dangers of drug abuse through
newspapers, the Internet and broadcast media. Experts said it may take
as long as three years to determine this effort's effectiveness.

For federally funded programs in U.S. schools, Mr. Modzeleski said,
grant recipients must move beyond rating programs by popularity to
judging them by results.

In North Texas, school officials, police officers and parents whose
children have been through various anti-drug programs talked about how
well-received the programs are and how beneficial they thought it was
for police officers and students to interact in school. But they had
little grounds for comparing programs and little hard data about how the
programs affected drug use.

"I really feel the kids need all the kinds of information they can get,
wherever they can get it," said Brenda Barnes, whose daughter, Lindsey,
participated in D.A.R.E. at Short Elementary in Arlington.

"I know Lindsey talked real often about the police officers who taught
the program. I would rather my kids find out these kinds of things
through a great source than on the streets."

D.A.R.E. is only one of many programs that could be affected by the new
federal policy. But long-standing criticisms of D.A.R.E. are in part
responsible for the new policy.

Launched in 1983 in Los Angeles, D.A.R.E. is the largest and oldest and
one of the best-known drug education programs operating in American
schools. D.A.R.E. says its program is taught to 26 million U.S.
schoolchildren and 9 million in other countries. The set curriculum is
taught, usually in fifth grade, for an hour a week for 17 weeks by
uniformed police officers.

Plano Officer Jody Privett, a D.A.R.E. instructor, said the presence of
uniformed officers is one of the program's strengths.

"The way most people I know in D.A.R.E. look at it is, any prevention
[effort], whether D.A.R.E. or some other class, is great," he said.

But numerous studies over the last several years have found D.A.R.E. and
many other programs have done little or nothing to reduce or prevent
drug abuse by children and teens.

D.A.R.E. officials take exception to those studies. At the same time,
they say they are commissioning their own studies to show it does get
results.

In Texas, "we're doing a sampling evaluation," said Mr. Williams of the
state D.A.R.E. Institute. The study, by an outside firm, will look at
drug use by children who have taken D.A.R.E. classes compared with those
who haven't.

Other critics object to D.A.R.E.'s use of student pledges to abstain
from all drugs and alcohol and the program's teaching that drug use of
any kind is bad.

Larry Nickerson of Fort Worth said his daughter, in a discussion of
other school matters, volunteered that she didn't like D.A.R.E. because
of the required pledge and because "the D.A.R.E. people continually harp
on not using drugs and she already knows that, so why do they keep
saying this over and over?"

Mr. Nickerson said he dislikes D.A.R.E. and would like to see the nation
rethink all of its drug policies. He said he had not discussed his
feelings with his daughter.

College student Lee Johnson, 21, took D.A.R.E. classes in sixth grade in
a small town in Illinois. During the course, she said, rumors circulated
that the instructing officer was himself a drug user. According to local
newspaper articles, the officer resigned after being suspended and
investigated for "improprieties" amid allegations of marijuana use.

When she has kids, Ms. Johnson said, she will not let them participate
in D.A.R.E.

Of more than 40 kids in her sixth-grade class, she said, "I don't know
of any kid . . . that didn't try drugs at least once. And some, maybe
half, sell and/or use today. And I don't live in L.A. or anything. I
live in your typical small-town U.S.A."

She said she believes her classmates' decisions about drugs were
influenced by what happened to their D.A.R.E. instructor.

"A lot of what I heard was, 'How can you believe in something when the
person teaching you is doing the opposite?' " she said.

A number of cities, school districts and police departments around the
country have dropped D.A.R.E. because of concerns over its lack of
proven results and other issues.

"D.A.R.E. is an excellent program," said Sgt. Brent Caughron of the
Cedar Hill Police Department. But the city now uses other programs
instead.

Dallas police Sgt. Mike Marshall credits D.A.R.E. with being a
groundbreaker, "the program everybody learned from."

But after a few years of the early anti-drug programs, he said, police
and school officials "found we were educating some very smart drug
users. We were teaching kids how to recognize drugs, how to use them.
Over a period of years, we decided that wasn't the best thing to do."

LETS, used most in Dallas schools, was developed about 12 years ago to
incorporate more "life skills," which D.A.R.E. also now includes.

He said he has been told LETS "is one of the few programs taught in
schools that consistently gets outstanding reviews for quality and
content. But as to whether they [those schools] have an increase or
decrease in drug use, I don't know."

A quote from one of the scores of Web sites concerning D.A.R.E. sums up
the problem in measuring drug abuse prevention and the attitude toward
such measurement that the Department of Education rules seek to address.

"How do you prove a crime was prevented? How do you prove D.A.R.E.
classes kept youth from using drugs?" the D.A.R.E. supporter wrote. "How
do you catch a moonbeam?"

Not everyone is convinced that the new federal guidelines will bring
about substantial changes.

Glenn Brooks is director of justice programs for the criminal justice
division of the Texas governor's office, which distributes about $8
million of the federal drug education money.

"I've been around state and federal stuff a long time," he said. "This
may turn out to be wonderful or it may turn out to be nothing."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

DARE Ends At Keller District School ('The Fort Worth Star-Telegram'
Says Keller, Texas Police Chief Bill Griffith Made The Announcement,
Saying Recent Studies Have Shown The Program Is Effective Only If Taught
At All Grade Levels, Which The Keller Police Department Does Not Have
The Money To Do)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 01:52:18 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: D.A.R.E. Ends At Keller District School
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Contact: letters@star-telegram.com
Website: http://www.star-telegram.com/
Author: Matt Frazier Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Note: Matt Frazier, (817) 685-3852, frazier@star-telegram.com

D.A.R.E. ENDS AT KELLER DISTRICT SCHOOL

KELLER -- There will be no Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at Fossil
Hill Middle School in the 1998-1999 school year, police officials said.

Also, Keller Police Chief Bill Griffith's plan to replace D.A.R.E at Bear
Creek Intermediate School has been put on hold for at least a year, although
his plan to house a juvenile services substation at Keller Middle School
appears to be on track, he said yesterday.

Fort Worth police said that they will continue to teach D.A.R.E at Chisholm
Trail Intermediate School, but that they cannot afford to continue the
2-year-old program at Fossil Hill Middle School.

"We are downsizing the unit," said Sgt. D.L. Morton, D.A.R.E. unit
supervisor for the Fort Worth Police Department. "Instead of having one
full-time [officer] and one part-time [officer], we will just have one
full-time officer. It's an expensive program."

Griffith complained about D.A.R.E.'s cost in June when he asked Keller
district trustees to consider replacing the program at Bear Creek
Intermediate School.

"We can create a different program that would cover 12 years," Griffith told
trustees. "What we are looking at is expansion."

Keller police teach D.A.R.E. to fifth-graders. Griffith said recent studies
have shown that the program is only effective if taught at all grade levels,
which the Keller Police Department does not have the money to do.

School district officials said the district needs a more developed plan
before dumping D.A.R.E.

"Our plans at this point in time are to continue with D.A.R.E for this year
and have our curriculum people work with him [Griffith] to write a new
curriculum for next year," Superintendent Charles Bradberry said. The Keller
Police Department does not have enough money to continuing teaching D.A.R.E.
to Bear Creek Intermediate School's expanding fifth grade, so during the
1998-99 school year the department's officer now working at Keller High
School will spend two days a week at the intermediate school, Griffith said.

Griffith said he is committed to setting up a juvenile services substation
and holding facility at Keller Middle School.

The facility will not be a jail, but a room approved by the state as being
safe and proper to detain children "until their parents arrive," he said.

"We will have one sergeant and one investigator there and an approved
holding facility," he said. "I'm very committed to the personal contact
between the students and police officers."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Extensive Prison Raid Turns Up Little in Joliet ('The Daily Southtown'
In Illinois Says 235 Tactical Officers And 13 Drug-Sniffing Dogs
Searched Joliet Correctional Center Tuesday Turned Up Three Handmade Weapons
And Two Inmates' Urine That Tested Positive For Cannabis Metabolites -
Two Visitors Were Arrested On Unspecified Charges)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 11:48:24 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US IL: Extensive Prison Raid Turns Up Little in Joliet
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Daily Southtown (IL)
Contact: dstedit@interaccess.com
Website: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/
Pubdate: Wednesday, July 22, 1998

EXTENSIVE PRISON RAID TURNS UP LITTLE IN JOLIET

One of the largest prison raids ever in Illinois found very little contraband.

"I think we've established our goal to make Illinois prisons a drug-free
and safe place," Corrections Department spokesman Nic Howell said Tuesday
after 235 tactical officers and 13 drug-sniffing dogs descended on the
Joliet Correctional Center.

Officers found three handmade weapons and arrested two visitors. Drug tests
were given to 339 inmates; only two tested positive, both for marijuana.
Seven others refused to take the test and were reprimanded.

By contrast, in a May search at the medium-security Henry Hill prison in
Galesburg, 25 inmates tested positive for drugs and 31 others either
refused to take the test or were unable to provide a sample.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Some Residents Questioning Police Tactics In Dealing With Teens
('The Bangor Daily News' In Maine Shows How The Local War
On Some Drug Users Disturbs The Peace, Sows Discord
And Alienates Young People)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 01:00:00 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US ME: Some Residents Questioning
Police Tactics in Dealing With Teens
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: The Bangor Daily News (ME)
Contact: bdnmail@bangornews.infi.net
Website: http://www.bangornews.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Walter Griffin, Of the NEWS Staff

SOME RESIDENTS QUESTIONING POLICE TACTICS IN DEALING WITH TEENS

CAMDEN - Just as the town is divided over recent police actions, so is the
Board of Selectmen over the idea of forming a task force to review Police
Department policies. The selectmen voted 3-2 this week to create a task
force to review police policies in the aftermath of public complaints about
the way the department conducted a drug bust last month. Some in town
deplored the methods used, others commended police for working to keep the
town drug free.

The daylight raid on a Norwood Avenue apartment resulted in one adult being
charged with selling marijuana. Four local high school boys were also
inside when police forced their way into the smoke-filled house. The police
were heavily armed and wearing bulletproof vests. Forty packages of
marijuana were found in the apartment. The occupants were unarmed.

One of the teen-age boys present in the apartment told his parents police
were rough with him and cursed him and his friends during the bust. David
Clark, the 19-year-old charged with drug dealing, had arrived in Camden a
few months ago after being acquitted of attempted murder in Philadelphia.

The way the drug bust was handled outraged not only the parents of the
teen-agers, but also parents of many of their high school classmates.

A formal complaint filed by one parent against the police is being reviewed
by an independent, outside investigator. In addition, some parents held an
open forum at the First Congregational Church last week in an attempt to
resolve what they perceive as a growing gulf between the police and the
community's youth.

''We believe that our police force is taking an adversarial stance in many
situations and rather than be models of ethical behavior, helping and
safe-guarding the public, they have adopted belligerent attitudes and
language,'' a group of 40 parents told selectmen in a prepared statement.

Although no one is saying so publicly, it appears that a perception is
growing among area youth that the police have been handcuffed by the
parental criticism. Officers are being cursed on a regular basis and, last
weekend, two had the path of their cruiser blocked by a group of seven
young people on the public landing. Langston Beram, 20, of Warren was
charged with obstructing a public way and failure to disperse, but Sgt.
Glen Wakefield and Patrolman Alan King allowed the other youths and
juveniles to walk away.

Selectmen Brian Keefe, Peter Gross and Leonard Lookner agreed the task
force was necessary. Sid Lindsley and John French were opposed to the
proposal.

French called the decision an emotional reaction to a nonexistent problem.
He said that while ''there may be some room for community relations''
within the police department, a full review of existing policies was
unnecessary.

''I think this is too emotional right now and things need to settle down,''
French said. ''They are going about this for all the wrong reasons. If
we're going to have a community-wide look at the police, maybe we should
have a community-wide look at some of these parents. People have to take
responsibility for their children.''

Police Chief Terry Burgess, although leery about the task force, pledged to
assist its members. Burgess said Tuesday that the department's policies
were open for anyone to review and questioned the need to involve an
outside group.

''My objection is based on the fact that I don't have a good understanding
of what they want the task force to accomplish,'' Burgess said. ''Too often
people come forward because they have an issue. I think the makeup of this
group is going to be crucial to its ability to be objective. I guess we'll
just have to wait and see.''

The civilian task force is expected to look into police policies and
procedures, including the use of armed force in carrying out police duties.
The parents also want it to address the department's attitude toward
teen-agers.

''This group of concerned citizens has not taken the task of approaching
the Board of Selectmen on the matter of the current attitude and posture of
the Camden Police Department lightly,'' the parents stated. ''This group is
not made up of disgruntled parents who want their kids to get away with
anything. We fully realize and expect that our children must obey the law,
and that when they are caught breaking the law, we expect that they will
have to pay the consequences. Our intent is not to polarize our community
but to demand strong ethical behavior in policing. It is a difficult
issue.''

As selectmen view it, the task force will be composed of 10 to 12
residents. Interested residents may apply to serve on the panel by
notifying the town office by the end of next week. The selectmen will then
name the members and give them their instructions at their August 17
meeting. The task force will be given a specific period of time to complete
its work and then will be disbanded, according to Town Manager Roger Moody.

''The words I heard most were attitude and culture,'' Moody said after the
meeting. ''Right now I'm not sure what police policies relate to those
broadly defined issues or what attitudes are involved.''

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro-Marijuana Event Slated For Second Year ('The Daily Gazette'
In Schenectady, New York, Publicizes The Woodrock '98 Festival
Set For August 8 In Ephratah)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 00:41:45 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US PA: Pro-Marijuana Event Slated For 2nd Year
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Walter F. Wouk
Source: Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)
Contact: gazette@dailygazette.com
Website: http://www.dailygazette.com
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Jim McGuire - Gazette Reporter

PRO-MARIJUANA EVENT SLATED FOR 2ND YEAR

Woodrock '98 set for Aug. 8 in Ephratah; host hopes police will be more
cooperative

EPHRATAH - While achieving a measure of fame, Ina Kurz raised the blood
pressure of her neighbors last summer when she hosted "Woodrock '97," a
pro-marijuana festival.

The promoter plans a repeat of the festival, but added she is hoping for a
peaceful gathering.

"Woodrock '98" will kickoff about noon Aug. 8 on the grounds of her
Rockwood General Store at the intersection of routes 20 and 10.

"I'm not a quitter. I think it's a good cause," Kurz said Tuesday,
explaining her decision to organize a second festival. "Marijuana is not a
harmful drug," she asserted, arguing it should be decriminalized.

With five rock bands, vendors and an appearance by Thomas K. Leighton, the
Marijuana Reform Party's candidate for governor, Kurz is predicting better
attendance this year.

Last year, authorities were expecting as many as 10,000 people. Sheriff
Thomas J. Lorey, anticipating a possible calamity, set up a command post in
this western Fulton County town and deployed off-duty deputies to maintain
order.

Kurz claimed about 2,500 patrons came and went throughout the day, but
Lorey estimated attendance of several hundred.

This year, he said, Woodrock will not run up the department's overtime pay
budget, "Due to participation at last year's event, we'll keep a normal
patrol in the western part of the county. If they disturb the peace,
though, and get out of hand like they did last year, we will take the
appropriate steps," Lorey said.

Lorey shut down Woodrock '97.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Giuliani's Drive Against Methadone Called Unlikely To Prevail
('The New York Times' Says That New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
Continued For A Second Day His Attack On Methadone Treatment,
But Many Experts And Government Officials Pointed Out He Had Little Power
To Do Anything)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 13:43:32 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NYT: Giuliani's Drive
Against Methadone Called Unlikely to Prevail
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: nama@interport.net (Joycelyn Woods)
Source: New York Times
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Ian Fisher

GIULIANI'S DRIVE AGAINST METHADONE CALLED UNLIKELY TO PREVAIL

NEW YORK -- As Mayor Rudolph Giuliani began a second day of attacks on
methadone treatment, many experts and government officials said that he
could, in reality, do very little to force a retreat from the synthetic
drug that has been widely prescribed for 30 years to blunt heroin cravings.

While roughly 40,000 heroin addicts receive methadone in New York City, the
mayor has no control -- financial or regulatory -- over the programs that
serve the vast majority of those addicts, experts say.

Dr. Luis Marcos, president of the city's Health and Hospitals Corp., said
the city was re-evaluating its drug treatment programs in the few places
where it has direct authority, in the city jails and public hospitals. And
even if the mayor's ability to act was limited, he seemed to relish
repeating his condemnation of methadone, which he first expressed Monday in
apparently impromptu remarks, saying its use simply replaced one addictive
drug with another.

He pushed aside criticism from many experts on addiction and fears from
former heroin addicts themselves and said abstinence was a more "moral" and
"decent" way to cure heroin addiction.

"I don't get offended any longer when people call me crazy," Giuliani said
at a news conference, responding to the attack from one doctor. "But I
wonder about a doctor running a methadone program who, when a mayor raises
the idea that we should end methadone, which is a way of keeping people
dependent, describes my idea as crazy."

Aside from the broad attacks on methadone, its cost and its supporters, the
mayor and other city officials did not elaborate on what exactly he might
do.

Marcos, who runs the public hospital system, said that his department has
already started to adjust the goals of its drug treatment programs, and
that abstinence would become the city's new measure for success in treating
heroin addiction, just as it is for treating alcoholism.

He said that if not enough former heroin addicts were also able to quit
taking methadone, the city could stop offering it in drug programs in
public hospitals and jails, where the treatment is partly paid for by the
state and federal governments.

"It could be that one day we decide to stop offering methadone because we
consider we are not helping people and it is not ethical to provide a
service just because we are getting reimbursed," Marcos said.

But the numbers of people in these city programs underscored just how
little control Giuliani has over most methadone programs around the city.
The city pays directly for just one methadone program, which serves 4,300
prisoners a year in the city jail system, accounting for a scant 10 percent
of those taking methadone in New York City. The city could withhold
methadone from those addicts.

The city also serves 2,000 more people in 5 drug treatment programs in
public hospitals, and could stop providing methadone there. But those
patients are paid for mostly with federal and state dollars and would be
free to join other private programs.

About 34,000 more people receive methadone in 122 private programs licensed
and regulated by the state, not the city. This year, all the programs,
except the one in the jails, were paid for largely by a combination of
$30.6 million in direct state money, and another $103.2 million in Medicaid
money, which is paid for from federal, state and local governments,
according to the state Department of Health.

Although New York City contributed $25.8 million in local Medicaid money,
state health officials said the mayor could not stop paying for methadone
because Medicaid regulations require that it be covered.

The city does not "have the option to tailor Medicaid benefits," said
Frances Tarlton, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department.

Several drug addiction experts accused the mayor of playing politics with
the issue of methadone and overlooking what they contend are the benefits
of the drug: people on methadone, they say, are less likely to commit
crimes or contract HIV and more likely to be employed.

"I'm extraordinarily surprised to find that any public high-ranking
official of either party does not know of the 30 years of scientific and
clinical research documenting the safety and effectiveness of methadone
maintenance treatment," Dr. Mary Jean Kreek, who helped develop methadone
in the 1960s, said in a telephone interview.

"To deny treatment would be turn people who are able to work back into
potential street criminals," added Dr. Kreek, who heads the Laboratory of
the Biology of Addictive Diseases at Rockefeller University in New York.

Joycelyn Woods, executive vice president of the National Alliance of
Methadone Advocates, who has been taking methadone for 25 years, said she
was afraid the mayor's comments might make it harder to get the drug she
says helped to rebuild her life.

"This is a lifesaving medicine," said Ms. Woods, who has earned a master's
degree since overcoming heroin addiction. "To have it taken from you like
this, and to see somebody like the mayor say it, is like a knife in your
heart."

But even if many addiction experts condemned Giuliani, several did not,
saying that methadone treatment does indeed cost too much, and that many
people stay on it for years and remain addicted to other drugs.

"I think the mayor, even though he may not have meant to get into this area
quite this way, is really on the right track in the sense of wanting to get
at that large number of people who are really stuck and not making
progress," said Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal, president of Phoenix House, a
network of treatment facilities that do not use methadone. "In that sense,
I think he may be making a real contribution to rethinking this aspect of
public policy."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Giuliani's War On Methadone (A Staff Editorial In 'The New York Post'
Says That, Whether Methadone Should Be Gotten Rid Of Or Not,
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani Is Right About Requiring
Those In Treatment To Work)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 13:46:06 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NYPost: Editorial: Giuliani's War on Methadone
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: nama@interport.net (Joycelyn Woods)
Source: New York Post
Contact: letters@nypost.com
Website: http://nypostonline.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998

GIULIANI'S WAR ON METHADONE

Mayor Giuliani ignited a minor storm this week when he launched into an
attack on methadone, the synthetic analgesic widely used to dull the
effects of heroin withdrawal. The mayor blasted a treatment method that, he
said, focuses more on maintaining people on methadone than on encouraging
them to stop using drugs altogether.

No longer will participants in drug treatment programs be excluded from
workfare, the mayor said. And he wants to end the distribution of methadone
in New York City altogether within a few years.

The mayor was immediately blasted by the drug-treatment community, which
has been handing out methadone for more than three decades and made it a
public-policy sacred cow. There's no reason it should be beyond debate and
discussion.

Methadone is at the heart of a $50-million business in New York. Of the
115,000 authorized methadone "slots" nationwide, 43,000 are in New York
state (the overwhelming majority in the city). There's good reason for
this; it's one of the few treatment programs withany record of success. The
problem is that the record isn't a very good one studies show it varies
between 20 and 30 percent.

People invoke the term "drug treatment" as though it were a cure-all
solution to the drug problem. In truth, drug addiction has so far defeated
rational efforts at treatment, even a simple substitution system like
methadone.

Some drug-treatment experts think the methadone system needs an outright
overhaul in any case. Mark Kleiman of UCLA says one reason methadone
remains popular, despite the availability of substitutes thought to be
superior (such as LAAM), is because it is easily traded on the black market
for other drugs.

Whether methadone should be gotten rid of or not, the mayor is right about
requiring those in treatment to work. Many methadone patients lead
middle-class lives indistinguishable from those of their non-drug-using
neighbors. Treating heroin addicts as though they are the same as people
with severe physical disabilities is an act of moral condescension. The
mayor has done a service in bringing this critical issue to the public's
attention.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Methadone Works, Usually (Even Arch-Prohibitionist Dr. Sally Satel,
In A 'New York Times' Op-Ed, Thinks New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
Is Being Extreme In His New Campaign To Prohibit Methadone Maintenance
Programs)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 13:36:26 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NYT: Satel: Methadone Works, Usually
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: nama@interport.net (Joycelyn Woods)
Source: New York Times
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Sally L. Satel

METHADONE WORKS, USUALLY

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani alarmed drug policy experts on Monday when he said
he wanted to abolish all methadone programs for heroin addicts in New York
City. Methadone, he said, merely replaces one dependency with another. In
fact, he is both right and wrong to take this position.

I say this because I work in a methadone clinic and know the drug's
considerable benefits and shortcomings.

First, the benefits. I have treated many addicts who function perfectly
well as long as they take methadone daily. They are at our clinic at 6:30
A.M. so they can get to work by 8 A.M. This is not the way heroin addicts
act; it's the way people who need a life-saving, if habit-forming, medicine
behave.

Now, the downside. Methadone may quell a person's craving for heroin, but
it doesn't prevent the desire to get high when he or she is feeling bored,
depressed or anxious. Of the patients on methadone, a third or more will
also use cocaine or street sedatives, like Xanax. Indeed, sometimes the
money they save by not buying heroin is used to buy cocaine.

In this way, methadone can actually promote drug abuse. And many clinics
are too tolerant of methadone patients who use other drugs. Not only does
this make a mockery of the individual patient's treatment, it also hurts
the credibility of the clinic in the eyes of other patients, who see that
the staff cannot control the problem.

So, here are some suggestions for the Mayor.

First, don't alter the treatment of anyone on methadone who is doing well
-- working, caring for children, obeying the law. I'd even make it
available in pharmacies for specially approved patients. (This is already
taking place in some cities.)

Second, create more intensive residential treatment slots for hard-core
addicts. If there were more residential programs, like Phoenix House, then
maybe methadone treatment wouldn't be so crucial. The catch? Methadone
programs cost $3,000 a year; residential programs cost upward of $20,000.

Moreover, Medicaid doesn't pay for residential programs, but it does pay
for methadone, even when patients don't give up their other drugs.

Third, we clinicians need help. My methadone patients clean up their acts
when they understand there are real consequences for using drugs. For
instance, a mother who lost her welfare check when her youngest child
turned 18 had to get a job -- and she stopped using cocaine. Another addict
started testing negative for drugs when his employer started drug
screening. Addicts who continue to use drugs need to know that their habit
might take away their workfare check, for example, or kick them out of
public housing.

But neither workfare nor better residential treatment can rid us of the
need for methadone treatment altogether. Those who find that using
methadone is the only way they can lead a responsible and satisfying life
should not be prevented from taking it.

Sally L. Satel is a psychiatrist who works in a methadone clinic in Washington.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Appeal Of Search, Conviction Results In New Trial (The Fayetteville,
North Carolina, 'Observer-Times' Says The State Court Of Appeals
Ruled Tuesday A Woman Is Entitled To A New Trial Because Clinton Police
Didn't Have A Warrant When They Looked For Cocaine In A Soda Can
In Her Home)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 11:54:37 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NC: Appeal of Search, Conviction Results in New Trial
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times
Contact: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/foto/news/opinion/ltrmsg.htm
Website: http://www.fayettevillenc.com
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Mark Stinneford Raleigh bureau

APPEAL OF SEARCH, CONVICTION RESULTS IN NEW DRUG TRIAL

RALEIGH -- A woman is entitled to a new trial because Clinton police didn't
have a warrant when they looked for drugs in a soda can in her home, the
state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Sheila Ann Joyner was sentenced to six to eight months in prison last year
after being convicted of the possession charge and of running a drug house.

Evidence included 3.4 grams of cocaine that an officer pulled from the can,
court documents say. Superior Court Judge James D. Llewellyn denied a
defense motion to suppress the evidence.

Joyner's arrest came after police responded to a domestic violence call at
her home in October 1996. She and her former boyfriend were arguing as
police arrived. The boyfriend, identified only as 'Wilson,' told officers
that Joyner had been selling drugs in front of her children. The man
pointed out the soda can and said drugs were inside.

Drug evidence

A bag of a green leafy substance was on top of the can, court documents
say. Sgt. Timothy King identified the substance as marijuana. He
subsequently reached into the can, removed a peppery substance and then a
rock-like substance that turned out to be cocaine, according to documents.

The court ruled that the action did not fall under conditions for allowing
a warrantless search because the cocaine was not in sight of officers nor
was the search necessary to protect evidence from being destroyed.

The state argued that the search was valid because the marijuana and a pile
of cash were in plain view of the officers. The state said officers already
had enough evidence to arrest her for possession based on the marijuana and
the search was incidental to the arrest.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Aims To Reduce Drug Flow To USA (An 'Associated Press' Article
In 'USA Today' Says Senator Mike DeWine Of Ohio And Representative
Bill McCollum Of Florida, Both Republicans, Have Introduced Legislation
To Spend $2.6 Billion Over The Next Three Years To Reduce The Amount
Of Illegal Drugs Coming Into The Country By 80 Percent With 10 Radar Aircraft
To Monitor Airspace Over Peru, Bolivia And Colombia, Plus An Airbase
At An Undisclosed Location)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 01:47:16 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Bill Aims To Reduce Drug Flow To USA
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Paul Lewin
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Source: USA Today (US)
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author: Associated Press

BILL AIMS TO REDUCE DRUG FLOW TO USA

WASHINGTON - Two Republican members of Congress plan to introduce a bill
Wednesday to spend $2.6 billion over the next three years to reduce the
amount of illegal drugs coming into the country by 80%.

The bill, by Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.,
includes $430 million for 10 radar aircraft to monitor airspace over the
three major cocaine-producing countries - Peru, Bolivia and Colombia.

The Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act also would set aside $300
million for a new U.S. airbase to support counternarcotics efforts in the
Caribbean, northern South America and the Pacific coast of Central and South
America. No site has been chosen for the proposed facility.

The money, if approved by Congress, would be added to $51 billion to be
spent on the drug war over the next three years.

"Our objective is not to take away from other areas," DeWine said. "We're
not here saying we should do less in treatment and education."

The USA will also buy equipment and aircraft for other countries. For
example: $72 million for six helicopters for the Colombian National Police,
and $7 million for X-ray machines to scan for vehicles carrying drugs on the
main highway out of Bolivia's cocaine-producing region.

McCollum and DeWine say financing is needed because lower priority has been
given to stopping drugs from leaving producing countries and the destruction
of crops.

While the amount of money spent for eradication and interdiction has
remained steady, it has fallen as a percentage of total anti-drug spending.

DeWine said interdiction efforts throughout the years "have been off and on."

As part of the drug war, the U.S. Defense Department earmarked $504.5
million for interdiction in 1992, but that fell to $214.7 million in 1995.

That cut led to a reduction in flying hours by AWACS aircraft from 38,100
hours in 1992, to 17,713 in 1996, DeWine said.

At the same time, "there's not a ship, there's not a plane" patrolling the
Pacific coast of Central and South America, McCollum said. The Drug
Enforcement Administration says that 57% of the estimated 291 metric tons of
cocaine smuggled into the USA each year comes from that area.

Bob Weiner, spokesman for the Office of Drug Control Policy, said, "The
administration strongly supports interdiction and that's why there's a 9%
increase in the budget for interdiction this year." President Clinton has
asked for a 12% increase in interdiction funding next year.

Weiner said a second issue is "where is the money coming from for this
proposal. We haven't seen a specific answer on that and we need to find out.
. . . In addition, we have to be sure we're getting the biggest bang for the
buck."

By The Associated Press

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hill Group Offers Plan To Stanch Drug Flow
('The Washington Post' Version)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 00:40:59 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Hill Group Offers Plan to Stanch Drug Flow
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Source: Washington Post
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: Douglas Farah

HILL GROUP OFFERS PLAN TO STANCH DRUG FLOW

$2.6 Billion Sought For Aircraft, Vessels

Accusing the Clinton administration of doing too little to stem the flow of
cocaine and heroin to the United States from Latin America, congressional
Republicans yesterday proposed a $2.6 billion effort that they claim would
reduce the traffic by 80 percent in three years.

The plan, unveiled by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Rep. Bill McCollum
(R-Fla.), calls for the money to be spent on strengthening interdiction
efforts in the Caribbean region as well as along the Pacific coast of
Central America and Mexico. Bills that would implement the proposal will be
submitted in both the House and Senate today.

"The great untold story in recent years is the decline in interdiction
efforts," DeWine said, noting that spending on drug-use prevention programs
and anti-trafficking efforts in the United States has tripled since 1987,
while funding for interdiction has risen less than 20 percent.

Part of the reason for that, law enforcement officials say, is that the
Clinton administration chose to focus on blocking the transshipment of
drugs across the Mexican border and on expanding efforts to reduce the
demand for drugs at home rather than concentrating on reducing the supply
from drug-producing regions.

The Republican lawmakers, who have been joined in the Senate by Democrat
Bob Graham of Florida, say that funding for the effort would not come at
the expense of domestic prevention programs or law enforcement. Beyond
saying that House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) had promised to include
funding for the plan in a supplemental appropriations bill later this year,
however, they did not specify where the money would come from.

McCollum said the expenditure is necessary to intercept drugs before they
reach the United States and that the plan would greatly enhance the
capabilities of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Coast Guard and
the Customs Service to track and interdict illegal drug shipments. While
most of the money would be spent on equipment, some would be targeted at
improving intelligence-gathering functions, he said.

McCollum said law enforcement officials in the United States and across
Latin America had told him they could reduce the flow of drugs to the
United States by more than 50 percent within two years if they are given
the necessary resources. "The Clinton administration calls for a 50 percent
reduction in 10 years," McCollum said. "That is unacceptable; we are
calling for an 80 percent reduction in three years and think that is very
feasible."

Robert Weiner, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
said the administration "supports interdiction as part of a comprehensive
strategy to fight drug trafficking, but let's see where the money comes
from." Weiner said the plan's sponsors had yet to say how they would fund
the program and that the proposed allocation did not take into account that
the administration had increased funding for interdiction by 9 percent in
the past year.

DeWine said a large, quick infusion of money is necessary because Pentagon
funding for interdiction operations dropped by 57 percent from 1992 to 1995
-- $505 million to $215 million. During the same time, he said, the Coast
Guard's interdiction budget shrank from $444 million to $301 million. As a
result, DeWine and McCollum said, there are no radar systems to monitor
planes carrying cargoes of illegal drugs and no interdiction capabilities
along the Pacific coast from Peru to California.

"There is not a ship, not a plane out there," McCollum said.

Of the proposed expenditures, $580 million would be used to buy 20 P-3B
early-warning aircraft, and $300 million would be allocated to build a U.S.
military base at a site in Latin America that has not yet been selected.
The new outpost would replace U.S. bases that are being closed in Panama as
a result of the Panama Canal Treaty, which calls for all U.S. property
there to be turned over to Panama by the end of next year. An additional
$289 million would pay for six new Coast Guard patrol vessels.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Teen Anticrime Programs With Religious Base To Get Aid
('The Philadelphia Inquirer' Says President Clinton, Inspired
By A Boston Program Credited With Reducing Youth Killings,
Plans To Announce Today That He Is Awarding $2.2 Million To Groups
In 16 Cities, Including Philadelphia, That Have Been Working To Stem Crime
Among Juveniles - No Congressional Approval Is Required,
And Constitutional Qualms Will Be Avoided By Giving The Money
Not Directly To Religious Organizations But Rather To Groups
That Are Affiliated With Them)

Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 10:32:42 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Teen Anticrime Programs With Religious Base to Get Aid
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: blackbox@bbox.com (Jim Galasyn)
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Contact: Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Author: By Jodi Enda

TEEN ANTICRIME PROGRAMS WITH RELIGIOUS BASE TO GET AID

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton is reaching out to religious-based
organizations to help battle youth violence, gangs and truancy by promoting
positive values, White House officials said yesterday.

Inspired by a Boston program credited with reducing youth killings, Clinton
plans to announce today that he is awarding $2.2 million to groups in 16
cities, including Philadelphia, that have been working to stem crime among
juveniles.

While the dollars are relatively few for a government program, officials
said it was an attempt by the White House to try a new, creative way to
tackle a growing problem.

"It isn't much money; it's the innovation," said Rahm Emanuel, a top
adviser to the President.

The new crime-fighting program is minuscule compared with the $250 million
Clinton requested from Congress under a more comprehensive juvenile-crime
bill that remains bottled up in the Senate. Emanuel said Clinton's latest
proposal was part of a "patchwork" of things the President was trying to do
to circumvent a Congress that, he contended, is unwilling to take on the
National Rifle Association.

Under the new Values-Based Violence Prevention Initiative, which does not
require congressional approval, organizations in each of the 16 cities will
receive $135,000 for antiviolence programs. The groups are to use the money
to offer youths alternatives to guns and crime.

The Philadelphia recipient of the Justice Department money is United
Neighbors Against Drugs, led by Sister Carol Keck, director of the Norris
Square Neighborhood Project.

Money will also go to organizations in Miami; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.;
Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington; Baltimore; Indianapolis; Seattle;
Portland, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Richmond, Va.; Charleston, S.C.;
Salinas, Calif.; and Hempstead, N.Y.

Each of these cities already participates in other anticrime programs to
track illegal gun traffickers, combat juvenile gun use, and crack down on
gangs.

Clinton asked Emanuel and Attorney General Janet Reno to devise a plan for
the new program last month after reading about the successful partnership
between clergy members and community and law-enforcement officials in
Boston.

Because of constitutional requirements separating church and state, Emanuel
said, the money will go not directly to religious organizations but rather
to groups that are affiliated with them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Death Toll Mounts While Government Searches For Votes
('The Vancouver Province' Discusses The Political Situation In British Columbia
And Its Relation To The 201 People In The Province Who Have Died
In Heroin-Related Incidents In The First Six Months Of This Year,
A 37-Per-Cent Increase Over The Same Period Last Year)

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: Editorial: Death toll mounts while gov't searches for votes
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:16:33 -0700
Lines: 82
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Vancouver Province
Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
Pubdate: July 22, 1998
Author: Jim McNulty

Death toll mounts while gov't searches for votes

The latest figures on drug-overdose deaths in B.C. are out, and it comes as
no surprise to learn that this enormous problem is steadily getting worse.

In the first six months of this year, 201 people across the province died
from drug overdoses, a 37-per-cent increase over the same period last year.
In Vancouver, 116 people died from overdoses between January and June, 38
more than died in the first half of last year.

"If things keep up at this rate, there may well be over 400 deaths this
year," warns Larry Campbell, B.C.'s chief coroner. Meanwhile, the rate of
HIV infection among injection-drug users in Vancouver's downtown east side
continues to be among the world's worst.

The toll of this carnage, both in human and financial terms, is staggering.
And yet the federal government and its provincial and municipal cousins
continue to ignore repeated calls for bold action to reverse the trend and
start saving lives.

Ottawa's own Canada Drug Strategy identifies substance abuse as "primarily
a health issue," but the Chretien regime refuses to deal in any substantive
way with pleas from experts to allow the legal prescribing of heroin to
addicts. Perversely, it pushes on with a criminal-based "war on drugs"
while at the same time acknowledging that it hasn't worked.

Heroin is prescribed to addicts in parts of Switzerland and England, where
the approach is successful in reducing drug-related crime, boosting
employment among addicts, and getting users off the street and into a
medical setting to deal with the addiction.

Dr. Campbell wants it in B.C., as does his predecessor Dr. Vince Cain.
Others calling for it include provincial health officer Dr. John Millar,
the Health Officers Council of B.C., and former Vancouver deputy police
chief Ken Higgins.

The federal Liberals and provincial NDP, fearful of the politics involved,
have responded by wringing their hands and tossing the drug "file" back and
forth like a ping-pong ball.

"The community that is dying traditionally does not cast a lot of votes,"
says Vancouver police Const. Gil Puder. "That's the fundamental problem.
The policy-makers do not really care a whole lot about these people."

Nor does a society that sits by while the death toll mounts, content to
write off addicts as losers and misfits. Until society at large starts
showing concern and pressures politicians to do the right thing, nothing
will happen.

This is a curious world we live in. Alcohol is legal in Canada, even though
the cost of alcohol abuse is far greater than that of illegal drugs.
According to the Canada Drug Strategy, alcohol abuse racked up $7.52
billion worth of health, social and economic costs in 1992, while illicit
drugs were far behind at $1.37 billion.

"The worst drug we encounter in our job as police officers is not cocaine
or heroin, as many people think, but alcohol," Vancouver beat cops Toby
Hinton and Walter McKay wrote in a recent article.

North America once tried to stop alcohol consumption, but prohibition was a
miserable failure. Now, drinking is considered to be normal behavior.

North America is still trying to stop drug consumption, but it is also a
miserable failure. We won't be able to eliminate drugs any more than we
could alcohol.

Drug abuse certainly can't be considered normal behavior -- but a change in
approach will at least allow health workers to treat addicts as sick
people, and start reversing the body count.

If we gave a damn, that is.

By everyone's account, resources to deal with addiction are woefully
inadequate, and yet Ottawa and Victoria managed to find $75 million each
for leaky-condo owners. When new stucco becomes a higher priority than
saving human lives, we're in big trouble.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

An Officer And A Social Worker ('The Economist' In Britain
Portrays The US Drug Tsar, General Barry McCaffrey, And Comments On
The Government's New Billion-Dollar Drug War Advertising Blitz)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 16:54:33 -0700
To: maptalk@mapinc.org, drctalk@drcnet.org, november-l@november.org,
hemp-talk@hemp.net
From: "D. Paul Stanford" (stanford@crrh.org)
Subject: UK: The Economist: Barry McCaffrey
Subj: The Economist: Barry McCaffrey
From: CRRH (crrh@crrh.org)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Newshawk: D. Paul Stanford (stanford@crrh.org)
Source: The Economist
Contact: letters@economist.com
Website: http://www.economist.com
Pubdate: Tue 21 Jul 1998
Author: Economist writers are anonymous

Lexington: An officer and a social worker

AMERICA'S drug tsar, Barry McCaffrey, has a one-theme CV. He is a general. He
is the son of a general. His own son is a major; his daughter holds the rank
of captain in the National Guard. He has three Purple Hearts, awarded for
wounds received in battle; he has commanded the biggest mechanised advance in
history, leading a pincer of 26,000 soldiers behind Iraqi lines during the
Gulf war, then slaughtering the retreating Republican Guard. In 1996, when Mr
McCaffrey got the job of drugs tsar, he brought his background with him:
several army buddies came along to help run his new command. So it is not
surprising when the general is described, as he was this week in the leading
Dutch newspaper, as "the old war-horse of the repressive American drug
policy". For who better than a career officer to pursue, with military
bone-headedness, America's self-defeating war on drugs?

Or so you might think, until you meet him; for this general turns out to
demonstrate that CV is not destiny. He has a predictable military demeanour;
he is a tough boss, a tough talker, a tough man to interrupt. But, for the
most part, the drug tsar's message is decidedly unmilitary. Rather than
mouthing the slogans of the "drugs war", Mr McCaffrey prefers a medical
metaphor: he describes drug abuse by one in 17 Americans as a "cancer".
Rather than pouring ever more money into military counter-smuggling efforts,
Mr McCaffrey prefers to emphasise unmilitary campaigns to rehabilitate drug
addicts. "We were promised a general and got a social worker," a Republican
has complained.

On July 9th Mr McCaffrey confirmed the unmilitary nature of his methods by
launching a new ad campaign, the biggest ever plotted by the federal
government. Over the next five years, American taxpayers will contribute $1
billion towards an anti-drug publicity blitz on television and radio, in
newspapers and on the Internet; private donors will match that. Mr McCaffrey
claims that the target audience-young Americans and their parents-will see
an anti-drug message four times a week on average. If corporate America uses
ads to sell sneakers and sodas, Mr McCaffrey reasons, then America's
government should use ads to drive down drug abuse.

And not just ads. Mr McCaffrey hopes that the publicity campaign will
energise thousands of community organisations-from schools to churches to
boy-scout groups-that might spread the anti-drug gospel. At the moment, the
drug tsar's office works with 4,000 local groups that help to put the word
out; it aims to expand its network to 14,000 soon. There are plans to recruit
22m small businesses to a drug-abstention effort. The army has already proved
that a determined employer can make a difference-over 50% of soldiers abused
drugs in the 1970s, compared with around 3% in 1995-and Mr McCaffrey aims to
repeat that success among civilian firms.

None of this will silence the drug tsar's many critics. Republicans love to
paint the Clinton administration as soft on drugs, so they will no doubt
deride advertising as a wimpish alternative to tough law enforcement - even
though the law-enforcement budget has not in fact been cut. Legalisers, for
their part, predict that the ads will prove as ineffective as other
strategies against drugs.

It is possible that the legalisers will be proved right. Ethan Nadelmann, an
articulate legaliser at George Soros's Open Society Foundation, recalls an
old anti-drug ad that showed an egg in a frying pan, while the voice-over
intoned: "This is your brain on drugs." After a while, the ad appears to have
backfired: teenagers wore T-shirts with fried eggs on them, mocking the ad's
cautionary advice. The same thing could happen to Mr McCaffrey's commercials.
One shows a drug-crazed but attractive woman smashing up a kitchen. It is
intended to make the effects of drugs look frightening. To some teenagers, it
may make the effects look cool instead.

And yet, even if Mr McCaffrey's ads prove wanting, it is hard to quarrel with
the idea that some kind of advertising makes sense. The case for
legalisation, which The Economist has long supported, is precisely that drug
abuse can be kept down by regulation and education; and that a ban on drugs
(which fuels the profits of crime syndicates) is therefore unnecessary. A
legal-drugs policy would certainly include publicity campaigns about the
ravages of addiction. Indeed the Dutch, whose liberal regime Mr McCaffrey
criticised recently, have waged such campaigns for years.

And so, by launching his own ad offensive, Mr McCaffrey has taken an
important step. Without legalising drugs, he is accepting some of the
legalisers' arguments: that it is impossible to burn all the coca crops in
Latin America or track down every secret airstrip in the Caribbean, and
therefore that the best way to discourage drug abuse is to tackle demand
rather than supply. Demand, moreover, is best reduced by persuasion, not
coercion. So long as people want drugs, coercion will swell the prison
population faster than it reduces drug abuse. This is why the general refuses
to speak of a "drugs war", a metaphor that encourages the delusion that abuse
can be eliminated by force, and talks instead of gradually reducing the abuse
rate from 6% to 3%. This is why he favours drugs courts, which offer
drug-abusing criminals the option of going into treatment instead of jail.

And yet, despite these concessions, the war of words continues between Mr
McCaffrey and his legalising foes. The reason is not hard to fathom. The drug
tsar mixes moderation with flashes of obstinacy, which makes people think he
is just a bone-headed general after all. He rails against the medical use of
marijuana; he refuses to support needle exchanges, which reduce the spread of
AIDS among addicts. If only this war hero could repeat the boldness of his
days in uniform, and press his advance into the legalisers' territory a bit
more.

Copyright-The Economist Newspaper Limited-All rights reserved

***

We are working to regulate and tax adult marijuana sales, allow doctors to
prescribe cannabis and allow the unregulated production of industrial hemp!

Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp
CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286
Phone:(503) 235-4606 Fax:(503) 235-0120 Web: http://www.crrh.org/

-------------------------------------------------------------------

New Plea On Youth And Drugs (According To 'The Sydney Morning Herald,'
The President Of The Law Society Of New South Wales Said Yesterday
That Juveniles Charged With Illegal Drug Offences Should Be Cautioned
Rather Than Sent To Prison, To Prevent Them From Being Drawn Into
The Criminal Justice System, Where They Were Likely To Become
Hardened Criminals)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 03:49:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Australia: New Plea On Youth And Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Ken Russell
Pubdate: Wed 22 July, 1998
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact: letters@smh.fairfax.com.au
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Author: Nick Papadopoulos

NEW PLEA ON YOUTH AND DRUGS

Juveniles charged with drug offences including possession of heroin should
be cautioned rather than being sent to prison, the president of the Law
Society of NSW, Mr Ron Heinrich, said yesterday.

Mr Heinrich said that reform was needed to prevent juveniles from being
drawn into the criminal justice system where they were likely to become
hardened criminals.

The State Government's "lock 'em up" approach was not working.

The call follows Victoria's decision to caution first-time offenders caught
with small quantities of cannabis, rather than automatically charging them,
following a successful six-month pilot program in the Broadmeadows district.

Mr Heinrich urged the Premier, Mr Carr, to introduce a similar program in
NSW and to monitor closely a pilot program being launched in Victoria which
would see first-time heroin users cautioned as well.

These "innovative" Victorian programs reflected a positive step towards
minimising the harm associated with drug use, he said.

The Law Society has already written to Mr Carr and to the Police
Commissioner, Mr Ryan, urging the extension of the cautioning and
conferencing scheme in the Young Offenders Act to include minor drug offences.

The offences would include the supply and possession of a prescribed small
quantity of prohibited drugs ranging from cannabis to heroin and cocaine.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Marijuana 'A Social Issue' (According To 'The Australian,' Dr Hugh Seward,
President Of The Australian Football League Medical Officers' Association,
Said Marijuana Is Not A Performance Enhancing Drug, And Defended
The League's Decision Not To Sanction Five Players Who Have Tested Positive
So Far This Year)

Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:07:44 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: AUSTRALIA: Marijuana 'A Social Issue'
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Source: The Australian
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Contact: ausletr@matp.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Authors: Andrew Ramsey and Brian Burke

MARIJUANA 'A SOCIAL ISSUE'

MARIJUANA should not be included on the Australian Football League
list of banned substances even though five players have tested
positive to the drug this year, according to the league's leading
medical officer.

Dr Hugh Seward, president of the AFL Medical Officers' Association,
said that marijuana use was a social issue.

"It's not a performance-enhancing substance," Dr Seward said. "If
anything it would detract from athletic performance so it's not a
concern from a cheating point of view."

Professor Tim Stockwell, director of the National Centre for the
Research of Drug Abuse in Perth, supported the AFL stand, claiming it
was a moral issue.

"It's a controversial issue, but cannabis is not performance
enhancing," Professor Stockwell said.

"If the AFL was to punish players who tested positive to marijuana
would they consider banning players convicted of drunk driving, which
is arguably more dangerous to the community."

But the National Drugs and Research Centre said that the league
decision not to take action against the players involved was wrong
given that marijuana remained an illegal drug.

"The AFL is sending out a very damaging message to young people that
it's okay for some people to use marijuana but not okay for others,
and it's a message that's happening more and more," NDRC spokesman
Paul Dillon said.

Marijuana is listed as a class three prohibited substance by the
International Olympic Committee, which leaves individual sports
federations to decide whether they want to test for it.

An IOC task force was formed to consider whether marijuana should be
banned in the wake of the positive test by Canadian snowboarder Ross
Rebagliati at the Winter Olympics in Japan.

The AFL confirmed yesterday that five players, whose names and clubs
were not released, had tested positive to cannabinoids in the latest
round of screening conducted by the Australian Sports Drug Agency.

A spokeswoman for the AFL said that compared with two positive tests
in 1996 and one last year.

The spokeswoman said that the AFL had no plans to include marijuana on
its list of banned substances despite the latest results.

"With the number of positive tests that have come, and looking at that
in relation to its use in the general community, we don't see it as
widespread use among AFL footballers," the spokeswoman said.

Collingwood coach Tony Shaw said yesterday that he was opposed to
players using marijuana, and described smoking the drug for
recreational purposes as "totally unprofessional".

The AFL Players Association included the question of whether the drug
should be banned on a questionnaire circulated to members earlier this
year.

Results of the survey are expected to be known in September.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Scottish Prisons Worst In UK For Drug Use ('The Scotsman'
Says The Soon-To-Be-Released Scottish Prison Service's Annual Report
Includes The First Results Of Random Mandatory Drug Testing
In Scottish Prisons, Instituted In March 1997, Which Show Up To 46 Per Cent
Of Prisoners Are Testing Positive For 'Drugs' In Their Bloodstream,
Compared To An Average Of Roughly 20 Per Cent Of English And Welsh Prisoners)

Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 02:02:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: UK Scotland: Scottish Prisons Worst In UK For Drug Use
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: shug@shug.co.uk
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jul 1998
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: Jenny Booth Home Affairs Correspondent

SCOTTISH PRISONS WORST IN UK FOR DRUG USE

Scottish prisons have a drugs problem that is far worse than those in
England, according to random tests earned out on inmates. An average of
roughly 20 per cent of English and Welsh prisoners are testing positive for
drugs in their bloodstream, but in one of Scotland's jails the proportion is
as high as 46 per cent.

It is also believed that heroin is a much bigger problem in Scottish jails
than in English and Welsh prisons, where only 4 per cent tested positive for
opiates last year. In Scottish institutions, heroin use is believed to be
three times as high.

The figures emerged on the eve of the publication of the Scottish Prison
Service's annual report which includes for the first time the overall
results of random mandatory drug testing. or MDT which has been in place in
all Scottish prisons since March 1997.

According to information obtained by 'The Scotsman', the most drug-ridden
prison in Scotland is the 50-cell National Induction Centre, which lies
within the perimeter walls of Shotts Prison.

In mandatory testing, 46 per cent of the NIC's inmates - all of them serving
sentences of eight years and over for murder, rape. drug dealing and other
serious crimes - tested positively for controlled substances.

The NIC's governor. John Gerrie, has already acknowledged the high results
but pointed out that it had to be seen against a background of the hardened
nature of most of the prisoners and the fact they were coping with the
prospect of a very long time behind bars.

Just behind the NIC, on 45 per cent, came Dungavel prison, a semi-open
establishment which houses only offenders in low security categories who are
already part way through their sentence.

The jail, based in a Gothic shooting lodge which formerly belonged to the
dukes of Hamilton, was until recently an open prison where restrictions on
inmates were minimal.

Next comes Dumfries young offenders' institution, which takes criminals
under 21 who have committed more serious crimes, where 40 per cent are
testing positive for drugs - suggesting a very strong link between drugs and
serious offending among young people. Dumfries's results are nearly double
those for Polmont YOI, which takes young people serving shorter sentences.

Of the long-term male prisons it has been Glenochil which has in the past
acquired a reputation for high drug use, but in fact only 31 per cent of its
inmates are testing positive, compared to 37 per cent in Shotts, and 35 per
cent in Perth.