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Measure 67 Bad / Measure 67 Good ('Willamette Week' In Portland
Once Again Shows Its Utter Lack Of Journalistic Ethics By Printing A Letter
To The Editor Opposing The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act
That Is So Factually Challenged Even The Newspaper Flinches -
Plus A More Reasonable Letter In Support Of Medical Marijuana)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 20:42:01 -0700 (PDT)
To: DRCNet Medical Marijuana Forum (medmj@drcnet.org)
Subject: LTE: Measure 67 Bad / Measure 67 Good
Reply-To: medmj@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
newshawk note: Patty Wentz, who responds to the first letter to the editor
below, is the person who wrote "Dope With Dignity," the subject of both
these letters.
***
Measure 67 Bad / Measure 67 Good
Willamette Week
822 SW 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
Tel. (503) 243-2122
Fax (503) 243-1115
Letters to the Editor:
Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com
Web: http://www.wweek.com/
Note: Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or
fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street
address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to
letters of 250 words or less.
Letters
Weds., Sept. 9, 1998
MEASURE 67 BAD
While it was reassuring to hear the good Dr. Bayer say he is against
recreational use of marijuana ["Dope with Dignity," WW, Aug. 12, 1998], he
apparently doesn't understand Measure 67 will allow exactly that and much
more. Careful reading of Ballot Measure 67 shows it contains these provisions:
1. Allows doctors, massage therapists, tattoo artists, bartenders,
coffeehouse operators and others to grow and provide marijuana to their
clients with impunity.
2. Prevents state licensing boards from disciplining members of 134
occupations who grow and use marijuana (surgeons, truck drivers, teachers,
boilermakers, electricians, river pilots and others).
3. Does not require a person to visit a doctor to obtain marijuana privileges.
4. Does not involve a written prescription.
5. Bypasses the protection of the FDA drug-approval process which is based
on scientific research.
6. Does not require a marijuana user to have a registration card in order to
be protected from legal consequences.
7. Allows marijuana use for conditions as vague as general ill health.
8. Allows marijuana use for any other unspecified condition for which a user
chooses to request approval.
9. Allows marijuana possession in any amount.
10. Allows possession and use of hashish and concentrated hash oil.
11. Provides protection against prosecution for other unspecified criminal
acts if marijuana is involved.
12. Allows Oregon prison inmates to use marijuana.
13. Allows Oregon children to legally use marijuana.
Marijuana use by Oregon eighth graders has tripled since 1990 and is 36
percent above national use levels. It is the number-one problem drug for
teenagers entering drug addiction treatment programs in Oregon. Teens who
use marijuana are six times more likely to bring guns to school, four times
more likely to physically attack another person, three times more likely to
engage in sex (unprotected), twice as likely to attempt suicide and 85 times
more likely to use cocaine. As if we don't already have enough drug problems
in Oregon, some misguided persons want to add even more.
Measure 67 is not about medicine. It is about legalizing marijuana for any
Oregonian to use with impunity.
Voters who understand the impacts of Measure 67 will reject the
ill-conceived proposal.
Roger Burt
Southeast 17th Avenue
Patty Wentz responds: There are some points in Mr. Burt's letter that need
to be addressed.
1. Measure 67 does not allow public distribution of marijuana, and it
explicitly prohibits public smoking of marijuana. The only people who will
be exempted from state laws against possession and distribution of marijuana
will be the patients or approved primary caregivers.
2. The measure requires doctor approval before patients can apply to the
Oregon Health Division for a medical-marijuana card.
3. The debilitating conditions defined under the law are specific.
4. The measure does not address hash or hashish oil, and it gives specific
quantity limits on marijuana possession. Patients arrested possessing or
growing more than the limit have to prove that their medical conditions
justify the larger quantities.
***
[Portland NORML notes - The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act doesn't stop police
from arresting, or district attorneys from prosecuting anyone, except maybe
those patients who obtain registry cards from the state and who abide by all
the onerous statutory requirements. Even then, it would seem possible for a
zealous prosecutor to file charges against a patient/cultivator in connection
with obtaining cannabis seeds or starts illegally. Will medical marijuana
patients who grow the legal number of plants still be charged with child
neglect and/or child endangerment if they have minors in their house, as
illegal cultivators routinely are? Note that prosecutors can also hand off
cases to federal law enforcers, as has happened in California. But even Mr.
Burt doesn't seem to have a problem with AIDS or cancer patients who meet all
the statutory requirements. For anyone else, all the OMMA does is provide the
right to mount an affirmative defense. Even then, the defense must be
presented in accordance with the narrow limits established by Oregon's
"Choice of Evils" statute, which poses such problems as the "imminence"
clause requiring the crisis to be immediate and dire. Thus the most
recent case in Oregon in which a medical marijuana patient was allowed to
invoke the "Choice of Evils" statute resulted in the defendant's conviction.
In fact, it's likely many bona fide medical marijuana patients would still be
convicted under Measure 67 despite the trauma, expense, and risks
of a jury trial. No public defender is going to squander resources on such
a defense unless the prospects of acquittal are realistic. Such patients
would alternatively need to hire a competent lawyer, and all patients would
need to have their regular Oregon physician testify in court on their behalf.
McCaffrey v. Conant is still being litigated, so such physicians
also still face losing their medical practices, not to mention professional
accreditation and ostracism - and losing at trial - if they testify in bad
faith during court proceedings. Why would any physician risk his or her
livelihood to enable someone's recreational pot use? As the history of
Proposition 215 in California suggests, it's more likely that any attempt
by patients or caregivers to push the envelope would result in prosecutors
and judges simply ruling out the defense before a trial began. Dr. Rick
Bayer, the OMMA's chief petitioner, has estimated that Measure 67 would
protect about 500 sick and dying Oregonians, about one third of 1 percent
of the estimated 150,040 past-month marijuana consumers in Oregon. In that
context, the primary importance of Measure 67 is that it would "send a
message" to the federal government that the people want cannabis to be made
available to sick people whose physicians recommend it. When marking your
ballot, though, remember that Measure 67 pits the real suffering of 500
Oregonians against the imagined fears of zealots and liars such as Roger
Burt.]
***
MEASURE 67 GOOD
Thank you for the interesting article about Dr. Richard Bayer and the battle
for physician and patient rights to use medical marijuana for sick and dying
people ["Dope with Dignity," WW, Aug. 12, 1998]. You did a good job
preparing your readers for this important debate. Medical marijuana is a
complex issue and an emotional one on both sides. Learning the known medical
facts and rebutting the myths and propaganda we see and hear often will make
this issue much easier to decide.
God bless Dr. Bayer for his compassion for human suffering and courage to
stand up and speak the truth in the debate against the powerful
vested-interest opponents.
The scientific evidence and patient testimonies are persuasive. In September
1988 Drug Enforcement Administration Administrative Law Judge Francis L.
Young, after reviewing the scientific studies and taking testimony from
patients for two years, issued a 69-page ruling. Judge Young called
marijuana "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man"
and recommended the drug be made legally available for some medical
purposes, including treatment of cancer patients.
"The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted
as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people,
and doing so with safety under medical supervision," Judge Young wrote. "It
would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the D.E.A. to continue
to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light
of the evidence in this record."
The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act will provide physicians, patients and
society a safe, natural and inexpensive solution to this controversial question.
George N. Whittington
Southwest 10th Avenue
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Urgent - Will Foster Parole Order Going To Governor!
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network Asks You To Write A Letter
To Oklahoma Governor Keating Supporting The Parole
Of The Medical Marijuana Patient Sentenced To 93 Years
For Growing His Own Medicine)
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 00:46:40 -0400
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: URGENT: Will Foster Parole Order Going to Governor!
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org
(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:drcnet@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
ALERT: WILL FOSTER PAROLE ORDER TO GO BEFORE OKLAHOMA GOV.
***
Date: September 9, 1998
To: DRCNet Members and Other Advocates of Compassionate
Drug Policy Reform
From: David Borden and Adam Smith
Re: Parole Board Votes to Free Will Foster, Letters
and Phone Calls Urgently Needed
Those of you have been with us awhile may remember our alert
of February 6, 1997, informing our readers of the case of
Will Foster, a patient who used marijuana to relieve the
pain of his rheumatoid arthritis, sentenced to 93 years in
prison by an Oklahoma jury encouraged by the prosecutor to
"pick any number and add two or three zeroes to it."
Last month, an appeals court judge found that Foster's
century-long sentence "shocked the conscience" and reduced
the term to 20 years, which under Oklahoma law makes him
eligible for parole now. Last Sunday, NBC's Dateline news
magazine aired a 20-minute report on the Foster case,
featuring interviews with Will and Meg Foster, as well as
the prosecutor, and reporting that the parole board has
voted unanimously to set Will Foster free. While Dateline
reporters expressed skepticism as to whether Foster's case
was purely about medical use, the show's unambiguous
conclusion was that the sentence was unjust in any case.
The parole board's recommendation is now in the Governor's
hands, to sign and enact, or reject.
We often ask our readers to pick up a phone or pen a letter
and urge their elected officials to do that which is right
and just. This alert is especially important, as a 39-year-
old husband and father of two can be reunited with his
family, soon, if only the Governor follows the parole
board's recommendations as he normally would. Foster
gaining his freedom will also serve as a symbolic victory
that will energize the drug policy reform movement, proof
that we _can_ help the undeserving victims of America's
repressive Drug War, and that we _can_ go on to change these
laws and end this cruel chapter of history. Please, call
write or fax Gov. Keating today and urge him to do the right
thing, to sign the parole order and free Will Foster.
To reach the Governor, call (405) 521-2342, e-mail
governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us (the governor's e-mail has
bounced in the past, so we don't know for sure whether it
works now -- click on mailto:governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us if
your browser recognizes URL's), fax to (405) 521-3317, 523-
4224 or 522-3492, or write to:
Governor Frank Keating
State Capitol Building, Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Very important: Be polite! Remember, there is no reason to
assume he is against us at this point, and we need to always
present ourselves as credible and reasonable.
Also important: Please send us copies of your letters, or
send us e-mail letting us know that you have corresponded.
Contact us at alert-feedback@drcnet.org and send us the text
of your letters, or just a note letting us know that you've
called or faxed or mailed a letter or sent an e-mail. (You
can click on mailto:alert-feedback@drcnet.org from here if
your browser recognizes URL's.) This is very important to
us because we are now reporting these statistics to our
major donors on a monthly basis, and we need to be able to
demonstrate our effectiveness in order to be able to keep
their support and bring in new supporters.
For further background on the Will Foster case, check out
Adam Smith's article in Reason Magazine, May 1997, at
http://www.reasonmag.com/9705/col.smith.html -- the first
major article on the case; the Free Will Foster web site at
http://www.gnv.fdt.net/~jrdawson/willfoster.htm (appeared on
last weekend's Dateline report), and our original alert at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1997/2-6-1.html (also appeared
on Dateline).
***
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***
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hernandez Shooting - Marine Mistakes Led To Death ('The Associated Press'
Says An Internal Military Report Obtained Through The Freedom Of Information
Act By 'The San Antonio Current' Indicates US Marines
On An Anti-Drug 'Surveillance' Patrol Who Fatally Shot Esequiel Hernandez,
Jr., A West Texas Teen-Ager, Were Not Adequately Trained
For An Anti-Drug Operation That Placed The Combat-Ready Troops
Among Civilians)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 18:45:53 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: WIRE: Hernandez Shooting:
Marine Mistakes Led to Death
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net (kevin b. zeese)
Pubdate: Wed, 09 Sep 1998
Source: Associated Press
REPORT: MARINES INADEQUATELY TRAINED FOR MISSION THAT ENDED IN DEATH
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - Marines involved in the fatal shooting of a West
Texas teen-ager were not adequately trained for an anti-drug operation
that placed the combat-ready troops among civilians, a military report says.
In the harshest official criticism of the operation yet released, the
internal report also said commanders did not do enough to prevent
escalation of the Marines' encounter last year with Esequiel Hernandez, Jr.
The mission ``appears to have been viewed at every level of Marine
Corps command as more of a training opportunity than a real world
deployment. The failure to appreciate the difference had tragic
consequences,'' wrote retired Marine Maj. Gen. John T. Coyne,
who investigated the shooting.
The report was initially obtained through the Freedom of Information
Act by the San Antonio Current, a weekly newspaper.
The report specifically said brief training on the appropriate use of
force did not balance combat responses drilled into Marines.
``Basic Marine Corps combat training instills an aggressive spirit
while teaching combat skills,'' Coyne said. ``More is needed to
place young fully armed Marines in a domestic environment to perform
non-combat duties.''
Calls to the military requesting comment Wednesday were referred to
Lt. Col. Scott Campbell at Marine Corps headquarters. Campbell did not
return a phone call Wednesday from The Associated Press.
The Marine Corps has previously rebutted the report in a written
response denying the contention that military officials failed to
recognize the operation as a real mission.
The rebuttal further argues that Coyne arbitrarily concluded the
training was inadequate.
It notes several investigations, including those conducted by state
and federal grand juries, which concluded the Marines followed
established rules of engagement and civil rules regarding the use of
force.
``Mr. Hernandez is dead neither because of inadequate training, nor
insufficient training time, nor improper adherence to the ''rules of
engagement, the Marine Corps response said. Hernandez, 18, was killed
May 20, 1997, after crossing paths with a four-man Marine team
conducting anti-drug surveillance in Redford, 200 miles southeast of
El Paso, at the request of the Border Patrol.
Hernandez, who was herding goats near the Rio Grande, fired at the
Marines twice and had raised his .22-caliber rifle a third time when
team leader Cpl. Clemente Banuelos shot him once with an M-16,
according to the military.
No motive was ever given for Hernandez's actions and his family
disputes the military's story. Relatives said the 10th grader would
never knowingly have shot at anyone and only carried the rifle to
protect his livestock from wild dogs and occasionally shoot targets.
The shooting led to the suspension of armed military patrols on the
border and a national outcry among civil rights advocates, who said
the report Wednesday proves the patrols are wrong.
``The whole sense of the report was that the military should not be
involved in domestic law enforcement,'' said Kevin Zeese, president of
Common Sense for Drug Policy, a nonprofit educational group based in
Falls Church, Va. ``They are not prepared for it. They're not trained
for it. They're inappropriate for it.''
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, who supports the use
of troops in drug interdiction, said the shooting underscored the
need for good training, but does not mean the military should not be
used.
``Just about every month in America there's going to be an accidental
shooting by law enforcement officers. It happens,'' said Traficant
chief of staff Paul Marcone. ``Does that mean you stop doing aggressive
law enforcement? No. It just means you give proper training.''
Coyne's investigation did not address the appropriateness of the
Redford mission, focusing instead on the specific actions leading to
the shooting.
He agreed Banuelos was acting according to his training and had
committed no crime. The report did question some of Banuelos' actions,
including his decision to follow Hernandez after the initial gunfire.
Coyne also said mission commander Capt. Lance McDaniel, who was
tracking the situation by radio from a command center more than 60
miles away, was too passive in deferring to Banuelos' judgment.
The investigation said the commander and other supervisors had
disagreed with a corporal's decision in the command center to authorize
Banuelos to return fire, but did not immediately correct it.
``He (McDaniel) should have made a more aggressive effort to obtain
the facts and control the tactical decision making process,'' the
report said.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee,
who has launched an independent investigation, said the report shows
Hernandez's death was the result of a botched operation. ``There was
poor training and preparation, inept coordination and a lack of
management control,'' Smith said in a statement. ``While I don't
agree with all the conclusions of the report, at least it is an effort
by the Department of Defense to find the truth and hold people
accountable.''
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Couple Ask For Bail During Appeals (An 'Associated Press' Article
In 'The New Haven Register' Says Lawyers For James V. Monaco, 79,
Of Branford, Connecticut, And His Wife Of 50 Years, Mary, 72,
Both Imprisoned At Medical Facilities In Texas, Asked An Appeals Court
In New York Tuesday To Release Them On Bail Pending Their Appeal
Of Federal Convictions For Laundering Illegal Drug Profits
For Their 'Evil Son')
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 14:18:34 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY/CT: Couple Ask For Bail During Appeals
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Source: New Haven Register (CT)
Contact: editor@ctcentral.com
Website: http://www.ctcentral.com/
Pubdate: 9 Sep 1998
Author: Associated Press
COUPLE ASK FOR BAIL DURING APPEALS
NEW YORK - Lawyers for an elderly and ailing Connecticut couple asked an
appeals court Tuesday to release them on bail pending appeal of federal
convictions for laundering illegal drug profits for their "evil son."
James V. Monaco, 79, of Branford, Conn., and his wife of 50 years, Mary,
72, were convicted in Hartford, Conn., in February. Monaco was sentenced in
July to five years in prison, and Mary Monaco to five years and 10 months.
Both are imprisoned at medical facilities in Texas.
Monaco has about two years to live, defense lawyer Jeremiah Donovan told
the judges. "He has congestive heart trouble and can't walk a city block,"
Donovan said. "He takes 11 different medicines every day."
Donovan said Monaco also has high-blood pressure, diabetes, kidney
problems, gout and arthritis. He said his client, a house painter until he
was 70, lived in the same community virtually all of his life before his
imprisonment at the Federal Medical Center for Men at Fort Worth.
William T. Koch Jr., Mary Monaco's lawyer, told the judges that his client,
imprisoned at the Carswell Federal Medical Center for Women, took care of
her husband at home despite her own medical problems.
He said Mary Monaco has a heart blockage and needs treatment. She also
suffers from depression, hypertension, numbness in her hands, dizzy spells,
and back and shoulder problems, he said.
Donovan told the judges that the Monacos "have an evil son in Florida," a
reference to James R. "Jimmy" Monaco, 49, who is serving 55 years in a
federal prison in Illinois for drug trafficking in Florida.
"Every time he went to jail he would send them a big chunk of money,"
Donovan said. When he wanted the money or property returned, they would
give it to him, Donovan said.
Koch argued that prosecutors had never shown the Monacos took part in any
illegal transactions after the October 1986 date that the money laundering
statute, under which they were convicted, took effect.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark G. Califano said the Monacos carried out
dozens of transactions after October 1986 and had hidden assets, including
a Ferrari and large sums of money, that have never been recovered.
Califano also noted that the Monacos continue to be able to afford private
defense and appellate lawyers even though they are in prison.
The three judges reserved decision on the bail applications.
The Monacos have four children and four grandchildren. Their son, David,
and their daughter, Linda DeMaio, also were imprisoned in connection with
the conspiracy. David J. Monaco, 38, joined his parents in requesting bail
pending appeal. DeMaio, 46, did not.
David Monaco is serving 61/2 years at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa., for his
role in the drug operation. DeMaio, a former Middlefield, Conn. town clerk,
is in a prison in Alderson, W. Va., serving a 5-year sentence.
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Drug Treatment Works, Should Be Funded - US Study ('Reuters'
Says A Report Released Wednesday By SAMHSA, The Substance Abuse And Mental
Health Services Administration, Shows Treatment For Adult 'Drug Abusers'
Works, Is Cheaper And More Effective Than Jail, And Should Receive More
Funding - But Drug Treatment Programs Do Not Seem To Help Adolescents,
Who Increased Alcohol Use By 14 Percent And Crack Cocaine Use By More
Than 200 Percent After Treatment - No Mention Is Made Of Who Was Coerced
Into Treatment, Who Sought It, And How Their Outcomes May Have Differed)
From: "Todd McCormick" (todd@a-vision.com)
To: "DRC LIST" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: Drug treatment works, should be funded - US study
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 18:01:36 -0700
Wednesday September 9, 3:53 pm Eastern Time
Drug treatment works, should be funded - US study
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Treatment for drug abusers works, is cheaper
and more effective than jail, and should receive more funding, a report
released on Wednesday shows.
The report, timed to coincide with the final budget battles in Congress, is
the first long-term look at whether treatment for substance abuse works.
It does, at least for adults. There is a big exception. Drug treatment
programs do not seem to help adolescents -- who increased alcohol use by 14
percent and crack use by more than 200 percent after treatment.
But Camille Barry, acting director of the Center for Substance Abuse
Treatment, told a news conference that the long-term effects of treatment
are better than expected.
``We found that five years after treatment there is a 21 percent reduction
in illicit drug use and a 14 percent drop in alcohol use, in spite of the
fact that 44 percent of those in the sample had been in treatment less than
one month,'' she said.
The study, based on interviews with 1,799 people five years after they
underwent drug treatment programs, found a 45 percent drop in cocaine use, a
28 percent drop in marijuana use and a 14 percent decrease in heroin use.
``What we found was that five years following treatment there were 156,000
fewer users of any illicit drug, and those that did continue to use alcohol
or illicit drugs used them less frequently than before,'' Barry added.
``Alcohol and drug treatment programs produce results. They have long
lasting, enduring benefits for people in need of help,'' said Nelba Chavez,
administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), which conducted the study, told the news
conference.
The report found criminal behavior by drug users and alcoholics dropped by
between 23 and 38 percent after treatment. It showed many had better
physical and mental health, more reliable housing and managed to keep
custody of their children, or win it back.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
said the study showed treatment prevented ``a gigantic amount of damage to
American society''.
``It certainly works better than locking them up,'' he added - pointing out
that it costs more than $100,000 a year, on average, to keep someone in
jail.
McCaffrey noted the weaknesses in the program. ``We're not very smart about
dealing with children,'' he said. ``We have got to do better on dealing with
adolescent drug addiction behavior because they are costing us a fortune.''
He said he was meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala to figure out ways to get more money for drug treatment programs. He
said both House and Senate committees working on the budget had turned down
provisions for $200 million for drug treatment programs.
``If we don't put that $200 million investment into it I guarantee you there
is going to be increased suffering and you and I are going to pay for it,''
he said.
McCaffrey said about 4 million Americans are ``screwed up beyond belief'' by
drug and alcohol addiction. ``We manage them through emergency rooms and the
prison system. If they get HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) we'll probably
pay a quarter of a million dollars to manage them through a painful death,''
he added.
Treatment facilities included methadone clinics, which give out a legal
substitute for heroin, hospital inpatient clinics and outpatient clinics.
Long-term residential treatment programs worked the best, the study found,
except for crack and heroin users.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Teens Ready To Run Risks Of Drug Use (Britain's 'Guardian'
Says A New Book Published Today, 'Illegal Leisure,' By Fiona Measham
And Judith Aldridge, Which Took Five Years To Research, Shows British
Teenagers Are Not Deterred From Using Either Legal Or Illegal Drugs
By The Risk Of Arrest, And That Most Teenagers Make Rational Decisions
On Drug Use On A 'Cost Benefit' Assessment, And Are Aware
Of The Medical Risks)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 18:41:02 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Teens Ready To Run Risks Of Drug Use
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Pubdate: Wed, 09 Sep 1998
Author: Duncan Campbell, Crime Correspondent
TEENS READY TO RUN RISKS OF DRUG USE
Teenagers are not deterred from drug taking by the risk of arrest,
according to a book published today. Alcohol is their most popular drug and
regular teenage drinkers are consuming more than ever before, according to
the survey.
By the age of 18, according to the report, around three out of 10 are
regular illegal drug users and twice as many have tried illegal drugs. The
survey found that most teenagers made rational decisions on drug use on a
"cost benefit" assessment, and were aware of the medical risks.
The book, Illegal Leisure, is an account of research over five years which
started with a group of 700 14-year-olds at eight schools in the North-west
of England. More than 500 stayed with the survey, which is the longest
study of its kind in this country.
"We live in a society where recreational drug use is becoming normalised,"
said Fiona Measham, one of the study's authors. "There is a blurring
between the illegal like cannabis and the legal like alcohol and tobacco."
Fellow author Judith Aldridge, said: "Most (teenagers) are careful and
rational consumers, who plan their drug use to occur with friends and in
places they feel safe and secure. They often report feeling relaxed,
friendly, happy, carefree and confident. These good experiences many times
outweigh the bad, especially for drugs like cannabis, amphetamines and
ecstasy."
The book notes that the risk of being arrested, fined or jailed is not a
major deterrent. "The illegality of drug use is... rarely perceived as a
key risk factor. This, interestingly, is despite the fact that, in 1996,
40,000 people were cautioned for cannabis possession in England and Wales,
compared with 4,000 in 1986."
Alcohol, says the report, is usually the first and the most widely used
psychoactive drug tried by young people. Around 42 per cent nominated it or
tobacco as their "favourite drug". One boy, asked to name his favourite
drug, said: "Alcohol. Saying that, I'm not addicted to alcohol like I'm
addicted to cigarettes. I really enjoy going out and getting legless
because it's so social and you can have a good time."
From the age of 14, six out of 10 of those surveyed forgot things after
drinking. About a third were worried about a sexual experience when drunk.
One girl said: "You know when you're out and that and you're bladdered and
you think 'oh, that person's gorgeous', and then you come home and you
don't remember a thing. And then when you're out the next week people say
'that's the fella you got off with', and you're just like 'oh, I never'."
The small minority who had never had a drink by the age of 16 gave
religion, mainly Islam, as a main reason not to indulge.
Howard Parker of Manchester University, who led the study, said: "Young
people make and remake decisions about drugs from when they reach secondary
school right through adolescence and into their twenties... Even so we find
young people who have said no to drugs right through their schooldays only
to take their first E (ecstasy) in a nightclub during their first term at
university."
The authors are critical of government strategy on drugs. "The important
public policy issues - about how we deal with otherwise law-abiding young
citizens caught with drugs in their possession, and about how we ensure the
health and safety of young people who use drugs - remain unresolved."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, Number 63 (A Summary Of Drug Policy News
From The Media Awareness Project)
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 12:33:33 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly, September 9, 1998 No. 063
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
In about 10 minutes a week you can stay aware and informed on drug policy
developments worldwide.
Consider investing another 10 minutes to write a letter to the editor
using the email addresses provided in this publication.
You CAN make a difference!
***
DrugSense Weekly, September 9, 1998, No. 063
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org/
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Feature Article
A Review of the London Conference On Med MJ
by Dr. Tom O'Connell
*Weekly News In Review
National News-
Marijuana: A New Phase
Medical Marijuana Battles Continue
Police-Growers Enter the Harvest Season
The Drug War Continues to Prove Itself Bad for Kids
National Guard Lobbying for Bigger Drug War Role
International and Border News-
Iran Proves Death Penalty for Drug Doesn't Work
Another Czar Proposed
CIA Working With Smugglers Seems Premeditated
* Hot Off The 'Net
Medical Marijuana Initiative Campaigns on the Web
* DrugSense Tip Of The Week
"Planet Know" Does Not Know
* Obituaries:
AIDS Movement Loses Two Leaders
* Quote of the Week
Jello Biafra
* Fact of the Week
Your Money at Work (NOT)
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
A Review of the London Medicinal Marijuana Conference
By Dr. Tom O'Connell
On Sept. 5th, the first-ever international conference devoted entirely
to policy issues surrounding medical use of cannabis was held here at
Regent s College in London. Like every other item on the drug policy
reform agenda, formal efforts to provide sick patients with access to
Cannabis despite a reigning global prohibition paradigm is complicated
by the involvement of multiple disciplines and plagued by cultural and
national differences.
Despite these difficulties, and the fact that what should have been a
two or three day agenda was squeezed into one, this remarkable meeting
sponsored jointly by London-based Release and New York's Lindesmith
Center, was a solid success.
By just persuading activists from all over the world to take time from
their busy schedules to share information on the experiences acquired
in their current efforts on behalf of medical cannabis, the conference
dramatized growing recognition of a reality that drug prohibitionists
are increasingly hard-pressed to deny: cannabis safely provides unique
therapeutic benefits to a large and diverse number of patients. Beyond
that, the conferees also discovered that many quite different
approaches are currently proving successful. One immediate conclusion
that could be drawn is that local realities are more important than
abstract policy statements in determining what strategies work best.
Another is that the importance of purely medical use of cannabis
becomes most important as a discrete issue in those countries like The
US and Canada where rigorous enforcement practices create a substantial
arrest hazard for patients. In those countries where the likelihood of
arrest is low, the need for protective legislation has not come up and
the emphasis has been on moving toward the legalization of recreational
use.
The issues of prohibition rhetoric, particularly as it relates to
juvenile access and use, were all discussed, as were potential
alternative models for Cannabis regulation. As may be imagined, no firm
recommendations in these areas were possible. The conference was
recorded and summaries will be published on both the Release and
Lindesmith web sites. It s clear to this attendee that the information
will be very useful.
Tom O'Connell
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
EDITOR'S NOTE: Many thanks to Kevin Zeese for editing this week's news and
comments while Tom O'Connell was in London for the MMJ conference.
***
COMMENT:
Marijuana seems to be entering a new phase in the political life of
western nations. In England a conference was held on how to regulate
cannabis in the 21st century -- a change from the more traditional
question of "whether to" do so. Candidates for attorney general in New
York and Arizona admit past marijuana use and say it is not an issue.
In New York, Republican Governor Pataki and his Lt. Governor running
mate also admitted past use.
***
TAXING TALK ON CANNABIS
First global conference to address problems of legalised drug
If cannabis was legal, who would sell it? How would it be taxed? What
restrictions would there be on advertising it? And how would its use be
regulated?
[snip]
Scientists, doctors and lawyers from Europe, Australia and North
America are gathering in London for the Cannabis Congress next
Saturday, which is being hosted by Release, the drugs advice agency and
charity and the Lindesmith Centre, a New York-based drug policy
research institute funded by the financier George Soros.
[snip]
Lindesmith Centre director, Ethan Nadelmann, said: "As support for
cannabis reform grows, more policy makers throughout the world are
being faced with the challenge of regulating both the use and the
distribution of cannabis. This conference will address the challenge
of cannabis control and seek practical alternatives as cannabis
prohibition continues."
[snip]
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Author: By Duncan Campbell
Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n766.a03.html
Related Articles:
***
A CONTROVERSIAL DRUG WHICH CAN HEAL
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Sat, 5 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a09.html
***
CANNABIS CONGRESS EXPLORES HOW TO LEGALISE
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Pubdate: Sun, 06 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n771.a01.html
***
ATTORNEY GENERAL HOPEFULS ADMIT POT USE
3 out of 4 Democrats running for attorney general say they used
marijuana in college
Eliot Spitzer smoked pot, and even inhaled.
Catherine Abate experimented with marijuana as a college student.
Evan Davis smoked some weed at a few parties.
At least three of the Democrats who want to be attorney general, the
highest law officer in the state, admit to having broken the law -- the
same admission that a decade ago forced Supreme Court nominee Douglas
H. Ginsburg to withdraw from consideration for the high court.
Oliver Koppell simply won't discuss the subject.
Today, however, past pot use is apparently a political irrelevancy:
Gov. George Pataki recently revealed that he used to mix his marijuana
in baked beans, and his running mate, Judge Mary Donohue, admits she
smoked in college.
[snip]
Source: Times Union (NY)
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Fax: 518-454-5628
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 05 Sep 1998
Author: JOHN CAHER, State editor
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n767.a06.html
***
KAITES CALLS PRIMARY FOE A CRIMINAL, ADMITS SMOKING POT
PHOENIX - Attorney general hopeful John Kaites insists his opponent's
arrest 15 years ago makes him a criminal - even though prosecutors
dropped the charges.
[snip]
But McGovern, while lashing out at Kaites for slinging mud, then signed
an affidavit saying he has never smoked marijuana. Attorney General
Grant Woods, who backs McGovern, also signed the affidavit - even as he
said the issue of someone smoking marijuana is irrelevant to the
question of who should be his successor.
[snip]
. . . His press aide, Kim Harris, later admitted Kaites, while in high
school in Pennsylvania, tried marijuana ``once,'' adding that ``he didn't
like it.''
[snip]
McGovern was charged with possession of a weapon after police,
investigating a bar fight in which McGovern was not involved, found a
pellet gun in his trunk. The drug charge stems from marijuana residue
found in the ashtray of the vehicle he was driving, a car McGovern said
belonged to his brother.
[snip]
Source: Arizona Daily Star (AZ)
Contact: letters@azstarnet.com
Website: http://www.azstarnet.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
Author: Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a03.html
***
Medical Marijuana Battles Continue
COMMENT:
The DC initiative won a court battle and has a chance to be on the
ballot this November. You will recall that in Nevada the reformers also won
in court recently. Now, Colorado is getting sued for the way it handled
signatures gathered by reformers. The federal lawsuit against selected
California buyer's clubs continued this week as a stalemate. The court
refused to grant the clubs motion to dismiss the case and told the feds they
should expect a jury trial if they want to hold the clubs in contempt. The
agency relationship between the Oakland club and the city did not pass
muster with the court. Too bad because it was a great opportunity for the
availability of controlled medical cannabis. The proprietor of the Oakland
Club, Jeff Jones, continued to get great press. In Canada the debate
continued with the Pharmacy Journal weighing in while an AIDS patient
got busted. In England a medical marijuana farm got off the ground.
***
POT PETITIONERS SUE BUCKLEY
Supporters of a measure that would legalize the medicinal use of
marijuana sued Secretary of State Vikki Buckley on Friday, claiming
Buckley has improperly kept the issue off November's ballot.
The lawsuit claims that an embattled Buckley, whose office has seen a
spate of resignations and firings in the past few years, conducted an
error-plagued review of the 88,815 signatures submitted to her by
Coloradans for Medical Rights. Using a random sampling technique,
Buckley ruled that only 47,960 of the 88,815 signatures were valid and
did not meet the 54,242 signatures needed to put the measure on the
ballot.
[snip]
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Contact: letters@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com
Pubdate: Sat, 05 Sep 1998
Author:: Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a10.html
***
JUDGE REJECTS OAKLAND'S POT CLUB BUT DENIES IMMEDIATE SHUTDOWN
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday rejected Oakland's
attempt to shield its medical marijuana club from federal drug laws by
making it part of city government, but refused to order the immediate
shutdown of clubs in Oakland and two other cities.
Instead, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he may allow a jury to
decide whether patients at the clubs need marijuana to relieve pain and
survive treatment for cancer, AIDS and other illnesses.
Breyer rejected both a request by the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative to dismiss the federal government's suit and a motion by
the government to declare the clubs in contempt of court and close them
without a trial.
[snip]
The club had hoped to win immunity from federal prosecution as a result
of Oakland's apparently unprecedented action Aug. 13, previously
authorized by the City Council, declaring club officials to be city
agents who were distributing marijuana to patients on the city's behalf.
In court, the club invoked a federal drug law that protects state and
local officers from legal liability while legally enforcing
drug-related laws. That law was intended to shield police from
prosecution for undercover drug transactions, but its wording also
covers city agents who distribute medical marijuana, argued Gerald
Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor representing the club.
[snip]
Breyer called the argument "creative" but "not persuasive." He said
club employees are not legally enforcing a drug-related law when their
"purpose is to violate federal law."
Uelmen said the club would appeal the ruling, though he did not know
whether an immediate appeal was possible.
But Breyer rejected government lawyers' arguments that there was
conclusive evidence the clubs were violating his injunction and should
be shut down immediately.
[snip]
Source: Sacramento Bee
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Tues,1 Sep 1998
Author: BOB EGELKO, Associated Press Writer
***
JUDGE REJECTS OAKLAND TRY TO SHIELD MEDICAL-POT CLUB
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: 1 Sep 1998
Author: Claire Cooper
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n754.a08.html
***
OAKLAND LOSES BID TO SHIELD MEDICAL POT CLUB FROM U.S.
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Tue, 1 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n756.a03.html
***
OAKLAND'S EFFORT TO SHIELD POT CLUB REJECTED
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Tue, 1 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n757.a01.html
***
THE QUIET CRUSADER
Jeff Jones has good reason for taking the heat in the medicinal
marijuana battle
As the cancer stole his father away bit by bit, 14-year-old Jeff Jones
would sit by his bedside in their South Dakota home and talk about
fishing and camping and other ordinary things a boy might discuss with
his father, as though time wasn't running out.
[snip]
Soft-spoken and shy, Jones, the co-founder and executive director of
Oakland's Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, seems an unlikely person to be
at the center of one of the biggest political battles in California.
[snip]
. . Jones' cooperative has been labeled a model program and Oakland
has willingly put itself at legal risk for the club by declaring it a
city agency in an attempt to shield it from federal attempts to shut it
down.
[snip]
. . . Breyer rejected the Oakland club's novel legal argument that it
should be immune from prosecution because its staff had been designated
as ``officers of the city'' by Oakland last month -- a status,
attorneys for the club argued, that gave it protection under a
provision of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.
Oakland officials say that despite Breyer's ruling, the club will
remain a city-sanctioned agency.
[snip]
Then he thinks of his father. And he is grounded.
[snip]
``I know what I'm doing now is right.''
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Friday, September 4, 1998
Author: Thaai Walker, Chronicle Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n769.a03.html
***
POT AND POLICY
[snip]
.. . if the polls are correct, a strong majority (83%) of Canadians
support legalizing marijuana for medical use, while 51 per cent want it
legalized outright. There is some backing in the courts as well, an
Ontario judge ruling in December that it is unconstitutional to deprive
Terry Parker, a 42-year-old epileptic man, of marijuana for his illness.
The decision sends a strong message, and only the most stubborn critics
can slight the ruling or the claims of AIDS patients, and those with
multiple sclerosis or cancer, who say that smoking pot eases their
suffering.
[snip]
Source: Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal
(Official journal of the Canadian Pharmacists Association)
Pubdate: February 1998 (Volume 131 Number 1)
Section: Editorial, page 3
Author: Andrew Reinboldt
Contact: cpj@cyberus.ca
Note: The cover story 'The Case for Medical Marijuana,' discussed in
this editorial is at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n768.a07.html
***
POLICE BUST AIDS PATIENT WHOSE DOCTORS ADVISED POT USE
A Vanier man with AIDS who smokes marijuana on the advice of his
doctors was marched out of his house with his wife and 12-year-old son
-- hands on their heads -- and arrested shortly before midnight
Monday.
[snip]
"When they came for me, I said 'Oh no, not again,' " Mr. Pariseau said
from his home yesterday. "I don't know why they bother me again. I only
use it myself and I need it to live."
Mr. Pariseau's case received national attention after his first arrest.
In November 1997, a group of doctors and lawyers filed a
ground-breaking application to the federal government asking that he be
allowed to use marijuana because it was prolonging his life.
[snip]
Source: Ottawa Citizen (Canada)
Contact: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Pubdate: 02 Sept 1998
Author: Jeremy Mercer, The Ottawa Citizen
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a04.html
[continues: 86 lines]
***
PHARMACOLOGY: HERB REMEDY
Exploring ways to administer marijuana as a medicine
The exact location is a secret. But somewhere between London and
Brighton a compound ringed by high fences and razor wire will house the
world's only pot farm primarily devoted to commercial drug development.
In June the British Home Office gave a startup pharmaceutical company a
license to grow 20,000 marijuana plants of varied strains.
[snip]
Source: Scientific American (US)
Contact: editors@sciam.com
Website: http://www.sciam.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 5 Sep 1998
http://www.sciam.com/1998/0998issue/0998scicit1.html
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a11.html
***
Police-Growers Enter the Harvest Season
COMMENT:
The annual ritual begins again. The outdoor marijuana harvest is
hitting North America. Police in Canada and the US are beginning their
annual futile effort to eradicate a weed that can grow anywhere. In
the end, the police will get enough to make them feel like they did
their job, but the marijuana market will have another bountiful crop.
The only difference this year is that the police may begin to experiment with
herbicide spraying in the continental US.
***
MARIJUANA HARVEST BRINGS OUT THE AUTHORITIES
Helicopters are a sure sign of a fall harvest in Ohio, which ranks
among the top 10 states in marijuana growth.
Law enforcement officers take to the air to search cornfields for the
tall, green plants that stand out and above the yellow ears of corn and
tassels.
[snip]
Source: Cleveland Live News Flash (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Contact: news@cleveland.com
Website: http://www.cleveland.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n765.a05.html
***
POLICE GET BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF POT FIELDS
"You look down into a cornfield and you can see the pot plants in small
patches . . . like holes punched out in the middle of the field."
[snip]
The target: a 5-foot leafy green marijuana plant nestled amid row after
row of corn. An officer armed with a machete hacked it down and dragged
it away, along with about a half-dozen others.
Surrounded by rows of 8-foot cornstalks, the marijuana was all but
invisible to anyone on the ground, but not to Wolf, who was looking
down at the field from about 500 feet in the air.
[snip]
Source: Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)
Contact: gazette@dailygazette.com
Website: http://www.dailygazette.com
Pubdate: Fri, 04 Sep 1998
Author: Brian Nearing - Gazette Reporter
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n767.a05.html
***
ILLEGAL CROPS SMOKED OUT
Regional drug squad officers gave local marijuana growers a harvest
downer yesterday after a pair of raids.
In two separate strikes against the booming Ottawa Valley reefer
business, police seized plants worth more than $1.7 million -- the
bounty of a three-month probe.
[snip]
In recent years, marijuana cultivation has exploded in the Ottawa Valley.
"It's more prevalent for a number of reasons," Davidson said. "The main
things are that the overhead is low and there's a very high rate of
return."
He said police occasionally do flyovers looking for marijuana crops.
Pubdate: Sat, 05 Sep 1998
Source: Ottawa Sun (Canada)
Contact: oped@sunpub.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaSun
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n772.a03.html
***
The Drug War Continues to Prove Itself Bad for Kids
COMMENT:
Mounting evidence that the DARE program doesn't work joined by new
evidence that the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act is being
misused. The evidence shows that money we could be using to invest in our
kids is
being wasted on the drug war. Further, kids are being used in
undercover stings and getting killed and in Australia parents are
spending tens of thousands to hire spies to monitor their kids.
***
DARE PROGRAM TO BE REVIEWED FOR CHANGES
Houston's $3.7 million DARE program, called "only marginally
successful" in a recent report, will not be instituted at area schools
again in it present form, Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford said
Wednesday.
[snip]
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
Author: S.K. BARDWELL
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n762.a03.html
Related story:
DARE TO END INEFFECTIVE ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM IN HOUSTON
Pubdate: Sun, 30 Aug 1998
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n748.a01.html
***
SUNDAY REPORT
FAILING GRADE FOR SAFE SCHOOLS PLAN
U.S. has given $6 billion to combat drugs, violence. With little
oversight, money has gone for marginally successful programs,
investigation finds.
WASHINGTON--Over the last dozen years, the U.S. Department of Education
has poured nearly $6 billion into an ambitious yet flawed program that
has fallen far short of its mission to control violence and narcotics
abuse in the nation's public schools.
[snip]
. . . the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act provided an
average of $500 million annually to local school districts with
virtually no strings attached. The result: Much of the money has been
spent on initiatives that either are ineffective or appear to have
little to do with reducing youth violence and substance abuse, records
and interviews show.
. . . taxpayer dollars paid for motivational speakers, puppet shows,
tickets to Disneyland, resort weekends and a $6,500 toy police car.
Federal funds also are routinely spent on dunking booths, lifeguards
and entertainers, including magicians, clowns and a Southern beauty
queen, who serenades students with pop hits.
[snip]
The Los Angeles Unified School District used some of its $8-million
grant last year to purchase a new car, four guns, ammunition and an
ultrasonic firearms cleaner at the request of a detective who rarely
steps foot on school grounds.
[snip]
In Richmond, Va . . . state education officials spent $16,000 to
publish a drug-free party guide that recommends staging activities such
as Jell-O wrestling and pageants "where guys dress up in women's wear."
[snip]
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 06 Sep 1998
Author: RALPH FRAMMOLINO, Times Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n771.a07.html
***
TEEN WAS STRIPPED FOR WIRE, GIRL SAYS
Testimony: She says the three suspects accused Chad MacDonald of
working for the police, then robbed, beat and killed him.
The killers of teen-age police informant Chad MacDonald strip-searched
him while hunting for a hidden wire and accused him of working for the
police, his girlfriend testified Thursday.
The 17-year-old girl's testimony was the first indication - outside of
accusations by MacDonald's family - that the boy's work for Brea police
could have played a role in his death March 3.
[snip]
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: 4 Sep 98
Author:Stuart Pfeifer-OCR
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n766.a07.html
***
PARENTS HIRE DRUG SPIES
BRISBANE parents are paying private detectives up to $20,000 to spy on
their children and find out whether they are using drugs.
The detectives are also using private school teenagers to infiltrate
peer groups and track other students' drug habits.
[snip]
Source: Herald Sun (Australia
Contact: hseditor@ozemail.com.au
Pubdate: Thur, 3 Sep 1998
Author: Ali Lawlor
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n760.a08.html
***
National Guard Lobbying for Bigger Drug War Role
COMMENT:
The National Guard could search your car in seconds -- if you gave them
more tax dollars; they could give your police a helicopter, with fuel,
maintenance and manpower -- for more money; and they can build your grass
roots drug war lobby -- for more money. What looked like cuts in National
Guard drug war funding is turning into increases as the Guard becomes
an aggressive election year lobbyist, supported by drug war parents
groups. You may not want it, but the National Guard will soon be in
your backyard.
***
NATIONAL GUARD DRUG WAR HITS SNAG
ANNVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- With high-tech bomb-detection gear, Pennsylvania
National Guard experts can help police narcotics units tell in seconds
whether a car door or even a dollar bill contains traces of illegal drugs.
[snip]
But counter drug programs run by the National Guard in Pennsylvania and
other states are reaching a crossroads. The outcome of a budget
struggle in Washington could shape governors' future role in the drug
war through troops under their command. President Clinton asked
Congress to fund National Guard counter drug programs at $148 million
in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, down $13 million from this year.
That would represent an 18 percent cut since 1997, when the programs
got $180 million. States already have had to pull back Guard personnel
assigned to counter drug missions, and officials say they cannot absorb
additional cuts without permanently losing skilled soldiers.
[snip]
Once publicity-shy Guard officers, used to playing a support role in
the drug war while leaving the headlines to other agencies, have
stepped up their lobbying.
Officers from several states brought their anti-drug gear to the
Capitol in March, and some have invited lawmakers and their staffs to
tour the facilities at home.
There are signs the campaign is working.
Before beginning its August recess, the Senate passed a defense budget
that adds $20 million to the president's request. The House added about
$10 million in related National Guard support.
[snip]
McCaffrey said the Guard has a role, through a demand-reduction
component that reaches 8,000 communities, but most prevention and
treatment programs are run through other federal agencies.
Nationwide, up to 4,000 Guard personnel support thousands of
drug-control missions each year, helping to train law enforcement
personnel, translate conversations from other languages, lend
night-vision photographic equipment and trail suspects by helicopter.
[snip]
Source: (AP)
Pubdate: Sat, 05 Sep 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n770.a08.html
***
International News
Iran Proves Death Penalty for Drugs Doesn't Work
COMMENT:
Iran has been a country that uses the death penalty to enforce its
drug laws. With the addict population growing, it is one more piece of
evidence that even the most brutal drug laws don't work.
***
IRAN HAS 1.2 MLN DRUG ADDICTS - OFFICIAL
TEHRAN (Reuters) - There are some 1.2 million drug addicts among Iran's
60 million people, a senior official said in remarks published
Wednesday. The daily Iran newspaper quoted Mohammad Fallah, the
country's top official in charge of fighting drugs, as saying educating
the youth would be far more efficient in fighting drugs than using
force.
Iran is a major transit route for opium and heroin headed to Europe
from Afghanistan and Pakistan - the so-called "Golden Crescent."
Iranian police killed seven armed drug smugglers in two separate
clashes near the Afghan border in the last week, newspapers reported.
Pubdate: Wed, 2 Sep 199
Source: Reuters
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n764.a03.html
***
Another Drug Czar Proposed
COMMENT:
How many drug czars does it take to win the drug war? Barry McCaffery,
the national czar, is calling for another czar to handle the Southwest
border. As if the problem is a lack of czars. McCaffery knows better.
He was in charge of interdiction in the Americas when he was a four
star general. He saw first hand that it did not work. Now he is proposing
to beef up the failed interdiction policy with more bureaucracy.
McCaffery has proven himself good at one thing -- building the drug war
apparatus. A czar for the border will mean another lobbyist for
interdiction money and the beginning of other areas calling for czars --
the west coast, east coast, Florida, Canadian border, mountain areas
and deserts are all czarless but not for long.
***
DRUG AGENCIES URGED TO TEAM UP
WASHINGTON -- Barry McCaffrey, the nation's director of drug policy,
recalled his astonishment during his first tour of U.S.-Mexico border
crossings two years ago.
"You've got 800 people working at these border crossings," he said,
pausing for a moment as he leaned forward in his chair and whispered
with wide eyes, "And nobody's in charge."
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 1998
Source: San Antonio Express News
Contact: letters@expressnews.com
Website: http://www.expressnews.com
Author: Mark Helm
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n749.a02.html
***
BORDER IDEA IS TOUTED HERE
A multi state drug chief, overseeing more law enforcers using better
technology, would curtail drug trafficking, corruption and illegal
immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border, Barry R. McCaffrey said
Monday.
McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's director of drug policy, was in
San Antonio to stump for what he called a new, long-term initiative to
"change the nature of law and order on the border."
[snip]
Source: San Antonio News-Express
Contact: letters@express-news.net
Website: http://www.expressnews.com/
Pubdate: 31 Aug 1998
Author: Susana Hayward and Nathalie Trepanier Express-News Staff Writers
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n753.a05.html
***
CIA Working With Smugglers Seems Premeditated
COMMENT:
The explosive issue of whether the CIA knew it was allowing drugs to
be smuggled into the United States continues to simmer. A recent
letter from the Casey-era CIA shows they wanted to avoid liability for
drug crimes. The iF Magazine website contains a series of articles on
the issue.
***
CONTRA-COCAINE: EVIDENCE OF PREMEDITATION
New evidence, now in the public record, strongly suggests that the
Reagan administration's tolerance of drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan
contras and other clients in the 1980s was premeditated.
With almost no notice in the national press, a 1982 letter was
introduced into the Congressional Record revealing how CIA Director
William J. Casey secretly engineered an exemption sparing the CIA from
a legal requirement to report on drug smuggling by agency assets.
The exemption was granted by Attorney General William French Smith on
Feb. 11, 1982, only two months after President Reagan authorized
covert CIA support for the Nicaraguan contra army and some eight months
before the first known documentary evidence revealing that the contras
had started collaborating with drug traffickers.
The exemption suggests that the CIA's tolerance of illicit drug
smuggling by its clients during the 1980s was official policy
anticipated from the outset, not just an unintended consequence
followed by an ad hoc cover-up.
[snip]
. . . the newly released letter, placed into the Congressional Record
by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on May 7, establishes that Casey
foresaw the legal dilemma which the CIA would encounter should federal
law require it to report on illicit narcotics smuggling by its agents.
Pubdate: July/August 1998
Source: iF Magazine
Contact: parry@ix.netcom.com
Website: http://www.consortiumnews.com/
Author: Robert Parry
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n759.a07.html
***
HOT OFF THE NET
The medical marijuana initiative states are getting on the web. You can
view the various campaigns at:
Alaska campaign web site:
http://www.alaskalife.net/AKMR/
Colorado campaign web site:
http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/
DC campaign web site:
http://www.actupdc.org/
Oregon campaign web site:
http://www.teleport.com/~omr/
Washington campaign web site:
http://www.eventure.com/i692/
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
Planet Know - Does Not Know
Forwarded from NewsHawk David Isenberg
EDUCATION?
Planet-Know
http://www.planet-know.net/
Planet-Know is a federal government supported site designed to educate and
encourage youth about the dangers of drug use.
From: "Tom Hawkins" (thawkins65@email.msn.com)
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 23:26:59 -0700
Here's the e-mail addresses for feedback to Planet Know, the teen anti-drug
site, as gleaned from their feedback form. Let 'em have it. :-)
bkeating@health.org
lew@health.org
John_S._Hale@ondcp.eop.gov
Keep fighting peacefully,
Tom Hawkins
***
OBITUARIES
AIDS Movement Loses Two Leaders
This week the AIDS movement lost two leaders.
First, Renee Edginton, the founder of the first needle exchange program
in Los Angeles died after an automobile accident in South Africa. She
was returning from the wedding of a friend.
Second, Jonathan Mann and his wife, Mary-Lou Clements Mann, an AIDS
researcher died in the Swissair crash. Mann understood how human rights
and health were connected. (He made sure Harvard Medical School students
were given the Universal Declaration of Human Rights along with the
Hippocratic oath upon graduation.) At a Drug Policy Foundation conference
several years ago when discussing how drug policy affected human rights
he made the point that the current drug war not only violated human
rights -- it also undermined health. His approach to drugs recognized
that people who use drugs should be treated with dignity and respect,
and provided with basic health care (i.e. have their basic human rights
recognized.) An Associated Press story on Jonathan Mann is reprinted
below.
***
September 3, 1998
AIDS Researcher Among Jet Victims
By The Associated Press
Dr. Jonathan Mann, who became known as the outspoken head of the World
Health Organization's AIDS program when the disease exploded in the
1980s, was among the 229 people killed in the crash of Swissair Flight
111.
Mann, 51, was dean of Allegheny University of the Health Sciences'
School of Public Health in Philadelphia, formerly known as Hahnemann
University Hospital.
Mann resigned in December from Harvard University's School of Public
Health, where he was a professor of international health and
epidemiology. He was also director of Harvard's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud
Center of Health and Human Rights.
The Boston native headed the WHO's AIDS program from 1986 until 1990,
when he resigned amid a bitter clash with Hiroshi Nakajima, then WHO's
director-general. Nakajima's attitude ``completely paralyzed our
efforts,'' Mann said then.
``It's a terrific loss for the whole AIDS community because his name
and voice are very familiar to anybody who works on this issue,'' Larry
Kessler, executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Boston, said
of Mann's death.
``I think his only regret was that he could never find enough money
worldwide that would make a big enough dent in this epidemic,'' he
said.
Mary-Lou Clements-Mann, who was with her husband on the plane, also was
a noted AIDS researcher who taught at Johns Hopkins University School
of Public Health. She was working on developing AIDS vaccines.
Mann had intended as a medical student to become an eye doctor, but fast
became interested in public health when he went to New Mexico after
graduation to work for the Centers for Disease Control. Two years later,
in 1977, he moved to the state's public health department and held
various positions, including state epidemiologist. He stayed in New
Mexico for 10 years and was credited with helping control bubonic
plague there.
After that, Mann said he needed a change and took an offer to spend a
year in Zaire setting up an AIDS research facility under the auspices
of the WHO.
A memorial observance was scheduled for today, Leclair said.
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
`Don't hate the media. Become the media' - Jello Biafra
***
FACT OF THE WEEK
From 1985 to 1995, the federal drug control budget has increased almost
five-fold, from about $2.7 billion to about $13.25 billion. Yet, in that
same period the percentage of 12th grade students that reported marijuana
as "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain increased from 85.5% in 1985 to
89.6% in 1995.
Sources: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Drug Control
Strategy, 1997, Budget Summary, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office (1997, February), p. 22; Johnston, L., Bachman, J. &; O'Malley, P.,
National Survey Results from the Monitoring the Future Study, Washington
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1996), Vol. 1, p. 270, Table 30.
***
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[End]
to the 1998 Daily News index for September 3-9