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

Man enters guilty plea in fatal crash (The Oregonian says James J. Parkins,
27, will spend at least the next three years in prison after pleading guilty
Thursday to criminally negligent homicide for a drunken-driving crash in
Portland that killed a passenger in his car.)

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Man enters guilty plea in fatal crash

Friday February 19, 1999

From staff reports

A man pleaded guilty Thursday to criminally negligent homicide for a
drunken-driving crash that killed a passenger in his car.

James J. Parkins, 27, agreed to a prison sentence of six years and three
months. However, he is eligible for boot camp after 21/2 years and could be
released after the six-month boot camp.

Parkins also pleaded guilty to drunken driving and reckless driving.

Police said Parkins was driving his 1987 Mazda 323 near the 5300 block of
Northeast Columbia Boulevard on Nov. 20 when he lost control, plowed through
a fence and struck a tree. The passenger in his car, 22-year-old David M.
Pizzarello of Portland, died.

Parkins was thrown from the vehicle and seriously injured. He spent four
days in Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

Parkins had a blood-alcohol level of .27 percent when measured three hours
after the accident, said his attorney, Randall Vogt. That is more than three
times the limit of .08 percent, which is presumed intoxicated in
drunken-driving cases.

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

Two will file complaint against Eugene police (The Oregonian says two women
are suing police to make them stop demanding people's Social Security numbers
as an "alternative form of identification." The federal Privacy Act states
that it is unlawful to deny an individual's rights because of that person's
refusal to disclose a Social Security number. But according to Eugene police
spokeswoman Jan Powers, "There's no law that prevents us from asking. If a
person refuses . . . we have the right to take that person in and ask for
anything that confirms that person's identity.")

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Two will file complaint against Eugene police

* The women object to police demands to reveal their Social Security
numbers, saying it's an invasion of privacy

Friday February 19, 1999

By Debra Gwartney
Correspondent
The Oregonian

EUGENE -- Two women who say their privacy was violated when Eugene police
demanded their Social Security numbers will file a formal complaint with the
city, they announced at a news conference Thursday.

Cristel A. Glade, 22, said that in early January she was stopped by a Eugene
Rapid Deployment Unit officer for a bicycle infraction. Glade said she gave
the officer her driver's license when it was requested. But when he asked
for her Social Security number she relented only when she felt threatened
and after the officer had called for backup officers, she said.

Glade, who was not cited during that incident, said she thought now that
under the federal Privacy Act she was not required to give the officer her
number at all. That act states that it is unlawful to deny an individual's
rights because of that person's refusal to disclose a Social Security number.

"I realized then it was necessary to stand up for my rights," she said.

Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Jan Powers said police have asked for
Social Security numbers as an alternative form of identification for years.
With more worldwide acceptance of using the numbers as confirmation on
everything from university grades to checking accounts, police departments
have begun to rely more heavily on using Social Security numbers to identify
people, she said.

"There's no law that prevents us from asking," she said. "If a person
refuses, but the investigation has an element of crime, we have the right to
take that person in and ask for anything that confirms that person's identity."

Powers said Social Security numbers help police positively identify suspects
and those being questioned, and they also help avoid false arrests.

But Polly Nelson, the southern district coordinator of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Oregon, said she is troubled by the growing trend of
relying on Social Security numbers as a form of identification. She said she
knows of no particular statute that gives police the right to ask for numbers.

"The police need to cite exactly what their authority is for asking," she said.

Nelson said the ACLU has long felt uncomfortable about the wide use of
Social Security numbers.

"They're used so often for what they weren't intended for," she said. "The
public has become complacent and doesn't object when they're asked to give
over that number."

The second woman filing a complaint, 33-year-old Kari Johnson, said she
decided to come forward over a late July incident with Eugene police when
she recently realized that she had the right not to disclose her Social
Security number.

Johnson, who was one of about 40 bicycle riders participating in the summer
Critical Mass ride, said she was stopped by a police officer, who demanded
her number.

When she refused, she was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car. About 10
minutes later, she said, the officer told her she would be released if she
consented to being fingerprinted. After giving a print, Johnson was cited
for failure to obtain a parade permit.

Do you have news of inland Douglas or inland Lane counties?You can reach
Debra Gwartney at 541-342-7797 or by e-mail at gwartney@rio.com.

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

ACLU Is Off Base On City Drug Tests (A staff editorial in the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer opposes the American Civil Liberties Union's attempt to
block mandatory drug testing of Seattle municipal job applicants. The civil
rights group is appealing the ruling last month by King County Superior Court
Judge R. Joseph Wesley upholdng the city's revised policy.)

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 05:11:29 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: Editorial: ACLU Is Off Base On City Drug Tests
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Contact: editpage@seattle-pi.com
Website: http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Author: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board

ACLU IS OFF BASE ON CITY DRUG TESTS

Although we often share the moral high ground with the American
CivilLiberties Union, we part company on the subject of mandatory drug
testing for job applicants in the public sector. We're for it, the
ACLU is against it.

So far the loyal opposition is batting .500. After filing a lawsuit
claiming that universal testing is unconstitutional, the organization
persuaded the Seattle City Council to overturn its 18-month-old policy
and limit the screening to applicants for sensitive jobs, such as
public safety or operating motor vehicles and heavy equipment.

In its second turn at bat, the ACLU wasn't as successful. Last month
King County Superior Court Judge R. Joseph Wesley upheld the city's
revised testing policy.

The city "carefully crafted a program significantly tailored to
address specific, documented concerns over drug use by potential
employees," Wesley said. In other words, the decision to screen
applicants for unwanted behaviors that would negatively affect city
government wasn't a knee-jerk invasion of privacy by overly suspicious
bureaucrats.

That's well-grounded. City personnel managers who had supported
universal testing reported the nascent policy had cut accidents by 70
percent in the Seattle Conservation Corps and reduced sick-leave time
among those with commercial driver's licenses. According to the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug-using employees are more than
three times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident and
five times more likely to file a workers' compensation claim.

Neither state nor federal constitutions prohibit Seattle from drug
testing because it is within the city's legislative purview, the judge
added. In other words, it is within the council's power to respond in
a legal manner to a taxpaying public that doesn't want to subsidize
additional health care costs, property damage and lost worker
productivity associated with illegal behaviors.

The ACLU plans to appeal the ruling. We think the organization should
declare its work here finished and give it up.

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

Pot Eradication Opponents Eager For Program Review (The Hawaii Tribune Herald
says Hawaii County's delay in undertaking a review of its marijuana
eradication program has left reform advocates who have long demanded the
investigation questioning if it will ever be finished.)

Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 05:17:39 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US HI: Pot Eradication Opponents Eager For Program Review
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Roger Christie pakaloha@gte.net
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Hawaii Tribune-Herald (HI)
Copyright: Hawaii Tribune Herald.
Contact: dave@hilohawaiitribune.com
Website: http://www.hilohawaiitribune.com/
Author: Jason Armstrong

POT ERADICATION OPPONENTS EAGER FOR PROGRAM REVIEW

Hawaii County's delay in undertaking a critical review of its
marijuana eradication program has left those who have long demanded
the investigation questioning if it ever will be finished.

Legislative Auditor Connie Kiriu, whom the County Council directed in
December to investigate the eradication program, said she started the
assignment about two weeks ago.

"We're still in the preliminary stages," Kiriu said Thursday. "But we
have made some contacts with the Poplice Department, and we're getting
documents ready to review. We're in good shape."

However, some marijuana advocates, who have alleged the program is
being grossly mismanaged, disagreed with Kiriu's assessment.

Jonathan Adler of Puna called the county study a "farce," adding he is
not surprised in the least that little work has been done.

"It will never be completed," Adler said. "They know exactly what's
required and they have danced around it again."

Adler said he wants to file a lawsuit against the county over its
failure to conduct a program review mandated by the County Charter,
but cannot afford the legal costs.

Dennis Shields of Captain Cook, another marijuana advocate who called
for the study, complained that it does not examine environmental
damage he said occurs from aerial spraying done to kill illegal pot
plants.

"I think it's lip service," Shields said Thursday, while complaining
two eradication helicopters flew low over his home one day after he
testified before the Legislature in support of legalizing the use of
marijuana for medical purposes.

Kiriu said she was delayed in beginning the study because her staff
first had to finish auditing the county's glass recycling program,
complete a time-consuming review of the Zoning Code and also become
adjusted to new positions.

Kiriu, who estimated at least 400 hours of staff time will be needed
to finish studying the county's marijuana eradication program, said
she does not know when the project will be completed.

The council did not set a deadline to finish the investigation when it
adopted a resolution directing Kiriu and her staff to conduct the
study and report their findings.

The "special study" is to examine six points, including whether the
Police Department met the objectives of the federal eradication grants
that, along with county funds, totaled $339,000 for the period from
January 1997 through June 1998.

How the money was spent, if police have internal controls for
confiscating marijuana and also how the department handles public
complaints of aerial eradication missions also are to be part of the
study.

Those against the eradication missions have claimed the use of
helicopters creates privacy invasions, harms livestock and results in
a safety hazard should a malfunction occur with one of the low-flying
helicopters.

Law enforcement officials say the eradication program is essential to
curbing the cultivation of illegal marijuana, while also keeping
public lands safe for hunters and hikers.

Between 1995 and 1997, Big Island police recorded declines in the
number of plants destroyed, arrests made and amount of marijuana
seized as a result of the eradication efforts, police Lt. Chad Fukui
said.

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

Hemp Takes Root In Senate Committee (The West Central Tribune, in Minnesota,
says the state senate's Agriculture and Rural Development Committee voted
unanimously Thursday to legalize hemp production. Senate Majority Leader
Roger Moe introduced the bill. Sen. Dallas Sams, chairman of the agriculture
committee, said the legislation has been endorsed by the Farm Bureau, Farmers
Union and a host of other farm organizations. A similar bill is moving
through the house.)

Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 13:18:53 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MN: Hemp Takes Root In Senate Committee
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: 19 Feb 1999
Source: West Central Tribune (MN)
Copyright: Forum Communications Company 1999
Contact: feedback@wctrib.com
Website: http://www.wctrib.com/

HEMP TAKES ROOT IN SENATE COMMITTEE

ST. PAUL - A new farm crop, industrial hemp, took root in the Senate
Agriculture and Rural Development Committee Thursday.

The committee voted unanimously to legalize hemp production, even though
the crop is closely related to marijuana.

Law enforcement officials oppose the change. They maintain that widespread
hemp production would make it more difficult to enforce the laws against
using and possessing marijuana, since the two plants have a similar
appearance.

The bill's author - Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, DFL-Erskine -
suggested that the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was being too cautious.
He said enough safeguards can be incorporated into the law to protect
against "shenanigans with illegal drugs."

Hemp not a new crop in the U.S. It was grown here before World War II.

The crop fell out of favor after the war and only recently has been
rediscovered.

Canada harvested its first hemp crop in 60 years last year. Hemp fields
there are tested three times a season to ensure that the hallucinogenic
qualities of the crop are low enough.

Moe said an estimated 29 countries are growing hemp.

"It is an unbelievable product that has a lot of byproducts," he said.

Hemp is used in the production of cosmetics, clothing, shoes, paper, and car.

"As we know, agriculture is changing," Moe said. "Markets are changing and
consumer tastes are changing."

Sam Baxter, whose store at the Mall of America in Bloomington specializes
in hemp-based clothing, said the product line has become very popular.

When he opened his store, he said, his line of clothing attracted mainly
young people looking for something unusual. Today, his clientele also
includes a lot of older people, he said.

In one year, he said, his sales have increased 100 percent. His Christmas
sales are up 35 percent.

"We need an alternative crop," Baxter said. "When Canada can make it
profitable, we know we can do it here."

Moe said hemp production is not a panacea for the farm crisis. It is an
option for farmers, he said.

"But when you look at the rural economy, you have to look at a lot of
different options," Moe said.

It is not the first time the committee voted for legalizing hemp production.

Moe introduced an identical bill last year. The legislation was approved by
both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by former Gov. Arne Carlson.

Sen. Dallas Sams, DFL-Staples, chairman of the agriculture committee, said
the legislation has been endorsed by the Farm Bureau, Farmers Union and a
host of other farm organizations.

The bill was forwarded to the Senate floor for a vote. A similar bill is
moving through the House.

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

Police Release Marijuana Figures For 1998 (According to an Associated Press
body count in the Bangor Daily News, Roy McKinney, the head of the Maine Drug
Enforcement Agency, said this week that Maine law enforcement agencies last
year seized a total of 9,900 marijuana plants worth an estimated $23 million,
seized 127 pounds of processed marijuana, 117 guns and nearly $250,000 in
cash. They also made 87 marijuana-related arrests.)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 21:58:57 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US ME: Police Release Marijuana Figures For 1998
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: 19 Feb 1999
Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)
Copyright: 1999, Bangor Daily News Inc.
Contact: bdnmail@bangornews.infi.net
Author: Associated Press
Website: http://www.bangornews.com/

POLICE RELEASE MARIJUANA FIGURES FOR 1998

PORTLAND -- Maine law enforcement agencies seized 9,900 marijuana plants
worth an estimated $23 million last year, according to the head of the
Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Roy McKinney said Maine law enforcement officers also seized 127 pounds of
processed marijuana, 117 guns and nearly $250,000 in cash. They also made
87 arrests.

McKinney released the numbers this week at the Maine Criminal Justice
Academy in Waterville.

Law enforcement agencies who participated in the fight against marijuana
include state and local police, sheriff's departments, Maine Warden
Service, Civil Air Patrol and federal agencies.

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

DEA Chief: Interdiction Won't Succeed - Drug Fight Lacks Desire (According to
USA Today, DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine, in an interview Thursday,
said the nation has neither the will nor the resources to win the drug war.
Despite the confiscation of record amounts of drugs at the borders,
Constantine said interdiction will not solve the problem. "The key is not in
the source countries," he said. "The key is in the United States, within
those things we can control.")

From: Ty Trippet (TTrippet@sorosny.org)
Subject: USA Today: DEA Chief: Interdiction Won't Succeed
Drug Fight Lacks Desire
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 10:09:56 -0500
Sender: owner-tlc-activist@mailhost.soros.org

From Today's USA Today:
Friday, February 19, 1999
[Letters to editor information follows]

DEA chief: Drug fight lacks desire
by Gary Fields

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration
says the nation has neither the will nor the resources to win
the drug war.

DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine, in an interview Thursday,
said that curbing drug use is not a high enough priority with
the American people. He also said the nation has not made the
financial commitment to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the
USA.

"The use of drugs is really a prevention issue, and the long-term
solution for this nation is when our own citizens, families, teachers
and employers take this as seriously as they do the Y2K (Year
2000 computer) problem," he said.

Constantine said he has faith that one day the nation will focus
on the issue, but at this point "I just don't think that we've
paid enough attention to it."

Despite having an army of 8,000 employees and a $1.4 billion budget,
Constantine said the DEA has fewer resources than international
drug rings.

"I know one drug mafia in Mexico alone that makes $2 billion
every single year selling cocaine and methamphetamine in the United
States, and it has better technical equipment and countersurveillance
equipment and armored cars than we do."

Despite the confiscation of record amounts of drugs at the borders,
Constantine said interdiction will not solve the problem. "The
key is not in the source countries," he said. "The key is in
the United States, within those things we can control."

Many of Constantine's comments echo those of White House drug
czar Barry McCaffrey, who recently released a plan focusing on
drug awareness education and the treatment of addicts.

Constantine thinks "vigorous law enforcement is part and parcel
of the treatment," McCaffrey said Thursday. "But he, like I,
think it is the parents and coalitions of folks who talk prevention
who at the end of the day will make the difference."

Constantine's views on interdiction, however, are not shared by
members of Congress, who last year approved nearly $ 3 billion
for drug interdiction in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. The author
of the bill that provided the funding, Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.,
has criticized the Clinton administration for not doing enough
to slow the flow of drugs.

McCollum was not available Thursday for comment.

In 1998, DEA arrests and seizures of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine
and marijuana set records for the 25-year-old agency. The DEA
arrested 36,835 people last year, an 11% increase from 1997, when
the agency made 33,160 arrests.

***

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Only letters that include name, address and day and evening phone numbers
and that are verified by USA Today, can be considered for publication. You
should fax your letter to 703-247-3108 or email to editor@usatoday.com.

Ty Trippet
Director of Communications
The Lindesmith Center

400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
212-548-0604
212-548-4670-fax
mailto: ttrippet@sorosny.org
http://www.lindesmith.org

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

Border Patrol Adds High-Tech Tools to Its Arsenal (The Washington Post says
the U.S. Border Patrol, after years of waging a losing battle to control the
2,000-mile border with Mexico, is increasingly throwing high technology into
its fight against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. According to the
newspaper, the high-tech equipment, much of it originally developed for the
military, combined with a major increase in manpower, is making the agency
more "efficient" - without having turned the tide. People and drugs still
flow across the border in large volumes, as does all sorts of contraband from
Freon to avocados.)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 11:30:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WP: Border Patrol Adds High-Tech Tools to Its Arsenal
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Page: A21
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: William Branigin, Washington Post Staff Writer

BORDER PATROL ADDS HIGH-TECH TOOLS TO ITS ARSENAL

Surveillance Scopes, Sensors Join Force's War on Smuggling

BROWNSVILLE, Tex.--Sitting in front of a small screen in a cramped metal
box 20 feet above the ground, senior Border Patrol agent Rey Abrego watches
a human form moving through riverbank brush on the Mexican side of the Rio
Grande. It is pitch dark outside, but the form shows up as white light
against the green glow of the monitor, which is connected to a Loris
infrared night-vision scope overlooking the river.

Hours later, the shape on the screen crosses the river into Texas and runs
into Border Patrol agents who have been directed to the scene by radio from
Abrego's olive-green "Skywatch" box. They arrest a young Mexican man and
find 16 pounds of marijuana in his backpack.

After years of waging a losing battle to control the 2,000-mile line
between the United States and Mexico, the Border Patrol increasingly is
throwing high technology into its fight against illegal immigration and
drug trafficking.

The high-tech equipment, much of it originally developed for military use,
has not yet turned the tide. People and drugs still flow across the border
in large volumes, as does all sorts of contraband from Freon to avocados.
But Border Patrol agents say the gadgetry, combined with a major increase
in manpower, is helping to make the formerly neglected agency more
efficient in its task of guarding the nation's borders.

The Border Patrol has more than doubled in size from 1993 to last year,
reaching nearly 8,000 agents. A thousand more are scheduled to be added
this year. Yet their ranks continue to be stretched thin, considering that
they must cover more than 6,000 miles of land border in the continental
United States alone.

Accompanying the personnel buildup has been an infusion of new high-tech
gear, including night-vision scopes, ground sensors, low-light TV cameras,
computerized identification systems and license-plate scanners. In
addition, the Border Patrol has acquired new vehicles, river patrol boats
and even helicopters.

The agency now has 185 infrared heat-detecting scopes deployed along the
southwestern border, a five-fold increase from four years ago. More than
8,600 seismic sensors are buried near border crossing points to detect
movements by illegal immigrants, nearly double the number in 1994.

In its latest budget request, the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
the Border Patrol's parent agency, is seeking $50 million for additional
technology, including 176 low-light "remote video surveillance" cameras to
be positioned along the border.

The high-tech equipment serves as "force multipliers," increasing agents'
productivity, according to a Border Patrol report. "The use of
technological resources such as low-light TV, infrared night scopes,
sensors and encrypted radios has moved the Border Patrol into the 21st
century of law enforcement."

Even so, agents still often resort to 19th-century methods reminiscent of
the Old West as they pursue their quarry along riverbanks and through ranch
lands adjoining the border. The Border Patrol still uses agents designated
as "sign cutters" to examine footprints and other evidence of passage to
help track down illegal aliens and smugglers.

A key technological advance in this area is the Skywatch, a mobile
observation post that can be towed behind a Border Patrol vehicle and set
up to keep an eye on crossing points. A hydraulic lift elevates a box
containing a monitor and communications gear, with windows on all sides.
Mounted on the roof of the metal box is a heat-detecting night scope with a
range of more than a mile. The operator can use it to pan across the
landscape or zoom in on suspicious objects.

A quiet-running generator powers the equipment, which includes
air-conditioning for the hot summers here and powerful outside lights that
can be turned on to illuminate illegal crossers or deter them from trying.

The Border Patrol's McAllen sector, which covers 280 miles of border and
includes Brownsville, now has about 40 Skywatches and relies heavily on
them to detect illegal crossers at night, said Jose E. Garza, sector chief.

"The night-vision equipment has made a tremendous impact," Garza said. "It
allows our folks to take the night away from the aliens and the smugglers.
It helps us do a much better job than we could in the past."

The devices have helped the sector lead the southwestern border in
narcotics seizures, he said. Last year, agents in the sector seized 132
tons of marijuana and more than three tons of cocaine worth a total of $408
million. So far this fiscal year, they have captured 59 tons of marijuana
and a ton and a half of cocaine with a combined value of $193 million.

Other infrared scopes used by the Border Patrol elevate from the back of
four-wheel-drive vehicles and produce images on a screen beside the driver.
Some agents also carry night-vision goggles that work like binoculars and
radio scanners to detect transmissions among alien-smugglers or drug runners.

"We've had great success with the scanners," said John Gunnoe, a
supervisory Border Patrol agent in Brownsville. Agents have used them to
pick up radio traffic from lookouts who are sent by drug traffickers to
scout official crossing points. The lookouts are sometimes heard speaking
to comrades in a crude code, using such nicknames as "el ronoso" (the mangy
one) for a drug-sniffing dog.

One source of frustration for the Border Patrol is a ban on its equipment
in riverside sanctuaries run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"They've also become sanctuaries for illegal aliens," said Garza. "We don't
want to interfere with the habitat of nocturnal animals. But the aliens and
the smugglers don't care."

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

Mexico's Troubadors Hail New Kind Of Hero (A New York Times article in the
Orange County Register says hundreds of Mexican country bands are playing
drug ballads, known in Spanish as narco-corridos, that chronicle
illegal-drug traffickers' daily lives and violent routines. The extraordinary
popularity of their music in Mexico and the United States shows how deeply
the "drug" industry has sunk roots into North American popular culture. The
phenomenon suggests that millions of fans quietly admire the smugglers'
fabled wealth, anti-establishment bravura and bold entrepreneurial skills.)

Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 05:15:49 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Mexico'S Troubadors Hail New Kind Of Hero
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: 19 Feb. 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: Sam Dillon, New York Times
Section: News, page 26

MEXICO'S TROUBADORS HAIL NEW KIND OF HERO

Culture: Bands sell millions of CDs celebrating drug traffickers' fabled
wealth and violent,anti-establishment lifestyle.

San Luis Potosi,Mexico-As Mario Quintero steps to the microphone,
strums his guitar and begins singing about the pleasures of snorting
cocaine after a few drinks, scores of teenage girls crowd the outdoor
stage screaming, " I love you, Mario!"

Quintero and his wildly popular band, the Tucanes de Tijuana, or
Toucans of Tijuana, follow with a song about a smuggler's love for his
rooster, parrot and goat, underworld symbols for marijuana,cocaine and
heroin.

"I live off my three fine animals," Quintero sings to roars of
approval from thousands of cowboy-hatted fans packed into an outdoor
concert grounds here. His next ballad in "Most Wanted Men," in which
he assumes the voice of a powerful trafficker who boasts about bribing
politicians and police "to control whole countries."

The Tucanes are one of the most successful of hundreds of Mexican
country bands whose lyrics chronicle traffickers' daily lives and
violent routines. The extraordinary popularity of their music here and
in the United States underscores the profound roots the drug industry
has sunk into North American popular culture, suggesting that millions
of fans quietly admire the smugglers' fabled wealth,
anti-establishment bravura and bold entrepreneurial skills.

"The drug trade has permeated our social fabric," said Manuel
Valenzuela, a professor at a research institute in Tijuana who studies
the drug ballads, known in Spanish as narco-corridos.

"The political elite, the army, the church and the bakes have all been
corrupted, and in this context many young people see in narcotics
their route to early wealth, even if they fear dying before they're
25. The corridos just reflect this evolution."

Mexican songwriters have been composing corridos for at least a
century, chronicling the heroic deeds of revolutionary generals and
border brigands. Marijuana and opium smugglers became the subjects of
choice in the 1970s, with the early corridos often concluding with
morality lessons about the evils of the drug trade.

But in the '90s, young musicians like the Tucanes have carried the
corridos toward overt celebration of the narcotics culture,
punctuating many recordings with machine-gun fire and police sirens.

Lidia Salazar, a marketing executive for EMI Music Mexico, said the
Tucanes sold 2.5 million CDs in 1997 and might have exceeded that
record last year had the government not barred corridos from the airwaves.

Quintero, 28, and his three fellow musicians were born in the hills of
Sinaloa, the state that is a major opium and marijuana producer and is
the birthplace of most major Mexican traffickers. Like many other
Sinaloans, they migrated to Tijuana as teenagers, working for a time
in factories there before forming the Tucanes in 1987 to play for
local dances and house parties.

Their first hit was in 1992, "Clave Privada," or "Private Pin." It
chronicled the exploding use of beepers among drug wholesalers and
their street salesmen in Mexico and the United States.

Quintero, who writes all the Tucanes material, said he gleaned his
material from the daily press.

"This is like news writing," he said, asserting that fans, like
newspaper readers, are fascinated by the details of the top
traffickers' lives. "Just their names sell recordings," he said.

At the San Luis Potosi concert grounds, Luis Gaspar Perez, 30, the
manager of a grocery store, explained his devotion to the Tucanes.

"They tell the truth about our society," Gaspar said.

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

Mexico's Troubadors Turn From Amor to Drugs (The original New York Times
version)

Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Sam Dillon

MEXICO'S TROUBADORS TURN FROM AMOR TO DRUGS

SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico -- As Mario Quintero steps to the microphone, strums
his guitar and begins singing about the pleasures of snorting cocaine after
a few drinks, scores of teen-age girls crowd the outdoor stage screaming, "I
love you, Mario!"

Quintero and his wildly popular band, the Tucanes de Tijuana, or Toucans of
Tijuana, follow with a song about a smuggler's love for his rooster, parrot
and goat, underworld symbols for marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

"I live off my three fine animals," Quintero sings to roars of approval from
thousands of cowboy-hatted fans packed into an outdoor concert grounds here.
His next ballad is "Most Wanted Men," in which he assumes the voice of a
powerful trafficker who boasts about bribing politicians and the police "to
control whole countries."

The Tucanes are one of the most successful of hundreds of Mexican country
bands whose lyrics chronicle traffickers' daily lives and violent routines.
The extraordinary popularity of their music here and in the United States
underscores the profound roots the drug industry has sunk into North
American popular culture, suggesting that millions of fans quietly admire
the smugglers' fabled wealth, anti-establishment bravura and bold
entrepreneurial skills.

"The drug trade has permeated our social fabric," said Manuel Valenzuela, a
professor at a research institute in Tijuana who studies the drug ballads,
known in Spanish as narco-corridos.

"The political elite, the army, the church and the banks have all been
corrupted, and in this context many young people see in narcotics their
route to early wealth, even if they fear dying before they're 25. The
corridos just reflect this evolution."

Mexican songwriters have been composing corridos for at least a century,
chronicling the heroic deeds of revolutionary generals and border brigands.
Marijuana and opium smugglers became the subjects of choice in the 1970s,
with the early corridos often concluding with morality lessons about the
evils of the drug trade.

But in the '90s, young musicians like the Tucanes have carried the corridos
toward overt celebration of the narcotics culture, punctuating many
recordings with machine-gun fire and police sirens.

Lidia Salazar, a marketing executive for EMI Music Mexico, said the Tucanes
sold 2.5 million CDs in 1997 and might have exceeded that record last year
had the government not barred corridos from the airwaves.

"Radio stations all over Mexico have told us that the Interior Ministry has
forbidden them from playing the corridos," Ms. Salazar said.

A senior government official said there was no formal ban. But the official
acknowledged that Interior Minister Francisco Labastida Ochoa had repeatedly
met the owners of radio stations and leaders of the National Chamber of the
Radio and Television Industry to condemn the corridos.

Ochoa was expressing his view "that making drug traffickers into heroes is
damaging to Mexican youth."

Quintero, 28, and his three fellow musicians were born in the hills of
Sinaloa, the state that is a major opium and marijuana producer and is the
birthplace of most major Mexican traffickers.

Like many other Sinaloans, they migrated to Tijuana as teen-agers, working
for a time in factories there before forming the Tucanes in 1987 to play for
local dances and house parties.

Their first hit was in 1992, "Clave Privada," or "Private Pin." It
chronicled the exploding use of beepers among drug wholesalers and their
street salesmen in Mexico and the United States.

Their notoriety spread in 1997, when a magazine, Proceso, published the
confession of an accused trafficker, Alejandro Hodoyan, who in a lurid
description of the Tijuana drug underworld said Quintero had composed many
corridos that documented killings carried out by the Arellano Felix
brothers, who are said to control the drug trade in northwestern Mexico.

Quintero's corridos outline a code of behavior for traffickers, Hodoyan
said, adding: "If you listen carefully, the songs tell how the Arellanos
killed these people. I don't know how he gets his information. But through
the corridos comes the philosophy, how the members of the cartel have to
behave. They tell you what they did wrong. Why they were killed. You learn
what you have to do so they won't kill you."

In appreciation of the Tucanes' insightful work, the Arellanos bought them
uniforms, sound equipment and a touring bus, Hodoyan said.

In a preconcert interview in their bus in San Luis Potosi, Quintero denied
knowing the Arellanos.

"We worked for years playing private parties in Tijuana," he said. "We don't
know everyone who hired us, and we didn't ask to see their police records."

Quintero, who writes all the Tucanes material, said he gleaned his material
from the daily press.

"This is like news writing," he said, asserting that fans, like newspaper
readers, are fascinated by the details of the top traffickers' lives. "Just
their names sell recordings," he said.

On the concert tour, the Tucanes appear to be models of clean living. They
pump up before performances by guzzling fruit milkshakes, and on stage they
drink only bottled water.

"I want to be a good example to my children," said Clemente Flores, the bass
player.

But they cultivate a violent image, pretending in their music videos to be
the gunslinging traffickers of their ballads. In one popular video, Quintero
and his accordion player kill several police officers with automatic rifles.
In another, they appear alongside a man tied to a chair who is being
tortured, apparently by traffickers.

Other corrido singers have blurred the distinction between life and art,
with violent consequences.

Chalino Sanchez, a corrido singer from Los Angeles who liked to keep a
pistol thrust in his belt at performances, was killed by gunmen in Culiacan,
Sinaloa, after a concert in May 1992.

The violent backdrop of the music has prompted academic debate.

"In seminars people stand up and say, 'Corridos are terrible, they glorify
criminals,"' a professor in Mexico City, Jorge Chabat, said. "And they do,
of course. But people like them, and this is related to the Mexican psyche.
People see traffickers as men of humble origins who defy the power
structure. That can be attractive. Traffickers are a kind of self-made man,
Mexican style."

Another professor, Maria Herrera-Sobek, argued at a conference at the
University of California at Los Angeles last year that corridos celebrate
the same masculine virtues assigned to war heroes in the United States and
Europe.

"They attribute to traffickers characteristics that indicate a high degree
of respect, including bravery, manliness, justice and candor," Professor
Herrera-Sobek said. "Others that are not necessarily tied to morality but
are positive values within our culture are cunning, strength, fame and
ferocity."

At the San Luis Potosi concert grounds, Luis Gaspar Perez, 30, the manager
of a grocery store, stood watching the performance, his breath hanging heavy
in the chill night air as he explained his devotion to the Tucanes.

"They tell the truth about our society," Gaspar said.

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

Addicts Fuel 7 Bil. Industry (The Herald Sun says a study by Access Economics
found that "The illegal drugs industry in Australia is a major industry,
equivalent in size to the oil industry and larger than the tobacco industry."
However, the war on some drugs is an even bigger business. Taxpayers paid an
average of $13 billion annually over the past 15 years to fight the drug war,
spread across law enforcement services, public health, treatment and
counselling services, crime, prisons, social security and costs to families.
Despite the massive cost, crime authorities admit the fight against drugs
under present policy has been lost.)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 03:29:58 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Addicts Fuel 7 Bil. Industry
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Russell.Ken.KW@bhp.com.au (Russell, Ken KW)
Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Herald Sun (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 1999
Contact: hseditor@hwt.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/
Author: Glenn Mitchell, John Ferguson and Fran Cusworth

ADDICTS FUEL 7 BIL. INDUSTRY

AUSTRALIA'S illegal drug trade rivals the country's biggest
industries.

The $7 billion illegal drug trade is equal in size to the oil industry
and bigger than the tobacco industry.

It also represents more money than Australians spend on gas,
electricity and fuel each year.

Economic analysts said the drug trade could be worth up to
$9.6 billion.

An amazing 2000kg of cut heroin - worth about $2 billion - is poured
into Australia each year.

The massive heroin flood is part of a $7 billion illegal trade to
Australia, with Melbourne accounting for at least a third.

The $7 billion translates to about seven tonnes of heroin imported to
Australia annually. One kilo of heroin has a street value of $1 million.

But the figure combines the value of the imported heroin, cocaine and
marijuana to Australia.

It does not include the trade in locally produced drugs, estimated at
$2 billion a year.

About $85 billion worth of illegal drugs have been imported into
Australia in the past 15 years. Another $30 billion has been produced
locally.

But fighting the drug war has cost more than $200 billion since 1984.

Despite the massive cost, crime authorities admit the fight against
drugs under present policy has been lost.

The enormous taxpayer cost has been spread across law enforcement
services, public health, treatment and counselling services, crime,
prisons, social security and costs to families.

Associate Professor Robert Marks, of NSW University, found heroin
addicts obtained the bulk of their money from drug dealing, crime,
prostitution and social security.

"This is a guide to the extent of crime caused by those supporting a
drug habit," he found.

An examination of the trade by Access Economics found about 90 per cent
of Australia's drug revenue went into the hands of organised crime.

"The illegal drugs industry in Australia is a major industry,
equivalent in size to the oil industry and larger than the tobacco
industry," Access Economics found.

"It generates substantial costs for society, while generating no
government revenue. Prohibition appears to have failed to prevent its
growth."

Taxpayers have footed an average $13 billion bill annually over the
past 15 years to fight the drug war. But despite the huge cost, some
authorities hold little hope of stemming the flow of narcotics into
Australia.

Authorities admit last year's 400kg heroin seizure did not dent local
supply of the drug.

"It would be very optimistic to think that seizure would dramatically
affect heroin supply," said Australian Federal Police commissioner
Mick Palmer.

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

The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 79 (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action
includes - Less than three weeks left to defeat "Know Your Customer" rules;
ABA to Congress: stop federalizing drime; Connecticut addressing racial
disparities in drug enforcement, sentencing; U.S. Customs Service report
acknowledges corruption; Man shot dead in home by police, small amount of
marijuana found; Medical marijuana opponents mount challenges in Oregon,
Washington; Hemp beer served on Air Force One; Oregon schools to pay students
for anonymous tips; Rally: mothers in prison, children in crisis, New York
City, May 9; and an editorial by Adam J. Smith: Another isolated incident)

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 01:13:57 -0500
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #79
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org

The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #79 -- February 19, 1999
A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network

-------- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --------

(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:kfish@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)

(This issue can be also be read on our web site at
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html. Check out the DRCNN
weekly radio segment at http://www.drcnet.org/drcnn/ -- this
Friday's issue features interviews with former U.S. Attorney
General Edwin Meese, Connecticut Assembly Judiciary
Committee chairman Rep. Michael Lawlor, and former New Haven
police chief Nicholas Pastore.)

PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the
contents of The Week Online is hereby granted. We ask that
any use of these materials include proper credit and, where
appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If
your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet
requests checks payable to the organization. If your
publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use
the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification
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has appeared in print. Contact: Drug Reform Coordination
Network, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036,
(202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail
drcnet@drcnet.org. Thank you.

Articles of a purely educational nature in The Week Online
appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise
noted.

ERRATA: Last week's article on the Mexican drug war and the
congressional certification debate stated that Mexico was
decertified last year but granted a national security waiver
(http://www.drcnet.org/wol/078.html#totalwar). This was
incorrect -- Mexico was in fact certified, though amid
controversy and opposition from some members of Congress.
It was Colombia that was decertified last year and granted
the waiver.

A SPECIAL THANKS to those of you who responded to our appeal
for non-tax-deductible donations to our 501(c)(4) lobbying
network to enable us to continue our exciting campaign to
reverse the drug provision in the Higher Education Act of
1998. Your generosity has brought the organization
thousands of much-needed lobbying dollars. This, together
with other new funding, will allow the HEA reform project
and our other lobbying work to continue -- for now. Conti-
nuing support from our readers is needed to ensure that the
campaign can continue at full blast all the way to the end.
If you've been reading DRCNet but haven't yet made a
donation, please consider taking a moment today to support
the cause! To donate, visit our online registration form
at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to print out a form to
mail in or submit your credit card info. Or just mail your
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Less Than Three Weeks Left to Defeat "Know Your Customer"
Rules!
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#defeatkyc

2. ABA to Congress: Stop Federalizing Crime
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#abareport

3. Connecticut Addressing Racial Disparities in Drug
Enforcement, Sentencing
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#connecticut

4. U.S. Customs Service Report Acknowledges Corruption
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#customs

5. Man Shot Dead in Home by Police, Small Amount of
Marijuana Found
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#shooting

6. Medical Marijuana Opponents Mount Challenges in Oregon,
Washington
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#medmjchallenge

7. Hemp Beer Served on Air Force One
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#airforceone

8. Oregon Schools to Pay Students for Anonymous Tips
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#payfortips

9. RALLY: Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis, NYC, May 9
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#rally

10. Editorial: Another Isolated Incident
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/079.html#editorial

***

1. Less Than Three Weeks Left to Defeat "Know Your Customer"
Rules!

Three weeks ago, we reported on the FDIC's controversial
"Know Your Customer" banking rules proposal, and provided
addresses for you to voice your objections to federal
regulators (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/076.html#kyc). "Know
Your Customer" is advocated by people who are frustrated at
the failure of supply-side interdiction efforts to restrict
the illicit drug supply, but who haven't yet admitted that
anti-money laundering programs like KYC are also doomed to
failure for extremely similar reasons.

Fewer than 20 days are now left to contact the FDIC and
demand that it drop the proposed "Know Your Customer" rule.
The Libertarian Party has put up a new web site to make this
especially easy -- http://www.defendyourprivacy.com -- so
please take a few moments right now to sign the online
petition, and then to forward this message to any friends,
family, co-workers, neighbors, or other people you know
personally who may be interested. Your petition will be
submitted directly to the FDIC, and a copy will also be sent
to your representative in the U.S. House and to both your
U.S. Senators.

Please also send us an e-mail at alert-feedback@drcnet.org
to let us know that you've taken action -- we need your
feedback to assess our impact and demonstrate our
effectiveness to our funders.

***

2. ABA to Congress: Stop Federalizing Crime

In a report released in Washington this week, an American
Bar Association panel admonished Congress to stop generating
federal criminal statutes as a way to prove they are tough
on crime. The findings of "The Federalization of Criminal
Law" echo a warning from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice
William Rehnquist, who said in his State of the Judiciary
address this year that "the pressure on Congress to appear
responsive to every highly publicized societal ill or
sensational crime" has led to massive increases in federal
caseloads and changed the relationship between federal and
local law enforcement (see previous Week Online article at
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/073.html#rehnquist).

The ABA report notes that 40 percent of federal criminal
laws passed since the Civil War were passed after 1970.
During the same period, the number of federal prosecutors in
U.S. Attorneys offices increased from 3,000 to 8,000. From
1982 to 1993, federal criminal justice system expenditures
grew by 317 percent -- nearly double the rate of increase in
state spending during that time. Some of the laws, rushed
through Congress in response to widespread media attention
on crimes like car jacking and drive-by shootings, have
rarely been used. Others are more popular, such as federal
drug trafficking statutes, which accounted for a full 28% of
federal charges against individuals in 1997. Overall, the
report says, the federalizing trend has hurt civil
litigants, who must endure longer waits because priority is
given to criminal trials. Yet the federalization of crime
has failed to have a significant effect on the violent
crimes of most concern to the public, "because in practice
federal law enforcement can only reach a small percentage of
such activity."

According to the report, one of the greatest dangers of
making federal statutes which duplicate existing state laws
is that it threatens to undermine "the careful
decentralization of criminal law authority that has worked
well for all of our constitutional history" by creating
confusion about the roles and responsibilities of federal
law enforcement in local criminal matters. Former Attorney
General Edwin Meese III, who led the ABA panel which
produced the report, told the Week Online, "There's a real
danger of the concentration of federal police power in the
national government. We've always been opposed to a
national police force because there's much less control.
We've always believed in local control, where the police are
closer to the people." The impact of a loss of this control
on constitutional rights and individual liberties, he said
is "a serious threat. And it also diverts congressional
attention and other federal agencies from those criminal
activities that only the federal government can handle."

Meese was Attorney General during the second term of the
Reagan presidency, when lawmakers responded to public outcry
over the cocaine-related death of college basketball star
Len Bias by including severe mandatory minimum sentences for
drug crimes in the 1986 omnibus crime bill. The ABA report
does not mention mandatory minimums, which Meese said were
brought on in part by frustration with judges who were
"unduly lenient" in their sentencing practices. Meese said
he was not a fan of rigid minimum sentencing, but felt that
federal sentencing guidelines alone were not enough at the
time. "I feel that there should be guidelines for judges,
but that judges should have a certain amount of discretion
and flexibility for unusual cases," he said. "But this was
something the judges in effect had brought on themselves."
He added, "I think now might be a good time, roughly 10 or
15 years later, to take a look at the sentences and see what
the impact has been."

Ultimately, Meese said, the panel hopes that its report will
help create a climate in which congress can consider the
effects of federalizing crime without the political hazards
of being labeled "soft on crime." "We're trying to provide
both statistical data and convincing arguments that would
support members of congress and other public officials who
are willing to stand up for constitutional fidelity as well
as realistically appraising what federal crimes do and don't
do."

Copies of "The Federalization of Criminal Law" are available
from the American Bar Association for $10 apiece. To order,
call (312) 988-5000. A report released by the ABA two weeks
ago found that increased prison sentences don't deter drug
use (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/077.html#abastudy). Visit
the ABA on the web at http://www.abanet.org.

***

3. Connecticut Addressing Racial Disparities in Drug
Enforcement, Sentencing

A bipartisan effort is underway in the Connecticut General
Assembly to address reports of racial disparities in the
ways that drug laws are enforced and prosecuted, according
to Mike Lawlor, House chairman of the Assembly's judiciary
committee. Studies conducted for the Assembly's Office of
Legislative Research have found that African Americans, who
constitute only 8 percent of Connecticut's population, make
up 39 percent of those arrested for drug offenses, and 58%
of drug convictions. Whites account for 62 percent of the
population and nearly 50 percent of drug arrests, but only
11 percent of convictions.

"I think it's no secret that in recent years, racial
tensions have been exacerbated around the criminal justice
system," Lawlor told the Week Online. "Between the racial
profiling on the highways, some of the recent police
shootings, and what's clearly a huge disparity in the prison
population. We know that there's a problem. People can
disagree about what has caused it and what might solve it,
but for the moment at least we know that this crisis of
confidence in the criminal justice system is undermining the
system's ability to function properly."

Lawlor said the Assembly hopes to change both the perception
and the reality of the problem without affecting public
safety by increasing funding for programs with proven
effectiveness, like drug courts, community-based diversion
treatment, and drug treatment within prisons. On the
enforcement level, he said, the Assembly is working with
police to develop alternatives to arrest, such as writing
referrals to drug treatment. In terms of the courts, he
said, "We're talking about giving the judges more discretion
with mandatory minimum penalties."

Lawlor said the bi-partisan atmosphere of legislative work
on drug policy in Connecticut doesn't surprise him, but he
realizes it's unique given the tenor of the debate on the
national stage. "My experience has been that behind closed
doors, even the most outspoken drug warriors will
acknowledge that 'it's not doing any good, but we have to be
tough on crime.' But wouldn't you rather be doing something
that's going to work?" In Connecticut, he said, "we have an
unusual coalition of frustrated police officers, crime
victims, conservative republicans and liberal democrats, all
saying that we could do a much better job if we could just
de-politicize this issue a little."

Nick Pastore, research fellow in police policy for the
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation and former police chief
of New Haven, Connecticut, applauded the efforts by the
Assembly. "We can prove fiscally, as well as
developmentally, that alternatives to incarceration work.
And 'alternatives to incarceration' starts a philosophical
mind-change that breaks away from the mind set of draconian,
lock 'em up punishment." He said he hopes this will lead to
real changes in policing. "The way the police do business
in America has to be continually under the microscope.
We've got to say we're going change the way we do police
work, and especially how we treat people with different
backgrounds -- including people who have been arrested."

The Connecticut Law Revision Commission, empaneled by the
General Assembly, conducts an ongoing review of state
statutes. Their reports and recommendations are on the web
at http://www.cga.state.ct.us/lrc/. The Criminal Justice
Policy Foundation is on the web at http://www.cjpf.org.
You'll also find an interview with Nick Pastore from the
Spring, 1998 issue of the Drug Policy Letter on the DRCNet
web site, at http://www.drcnet.org/cops/.

***

4. U.S. Customs Service Report Acknowledges Corruption

The U.S. Customs Service, in a report to Congress this week
(2/16), admitted that it was unsure of just how pervasive
the problem of corruption in its ranks had become as illicit
drugs continue to pour over the border.

"The large amounts of illegal drugs that pass through U.S.
Customs land, sea and air ports of entry and the enormous
amount of money at the disposal of drug traffickers to
corrupt law enforcement personnel place Customs and its
employees at great risk to (sic) corruption" the report
said.

The U.S. Customs Service, which monitors points of entry to
and departure from the U.S. has over 12,000 agents in the
field. According to the New York Times, eight Customs
agents have been convicted of taking bribes from drug
traffickers in the past ten years, but the report indicated
that the agency's internal investigations have not kept up
with demand, and that it is likely that much corruption that
does occur goes unnoticed.

The report pointed to a "long history of strife and
infighting" between the agency's investigative unit and its
internal affairs division, which has had "a debilitating
effect on their (internal affairs officers') ability to
perform their jobs diligently." The agency also announced
that the head of their IA division, Homer J. Williams, would
be replaced this week and replaced by former federal
prosecutor William A. Keefer. Williams had been under
investigation for allegedly tipping off another Customs
agent that she was under investigation by his division.

The report was compiled by the Treasury Department, and is
not yet available to the public. A spokesman for the
Customs Service told The Week Online that the report
suggests that corruption is not occurring systemically, but
rather in isolated incidents. The report's main concern,
according to Customs is the service's "vulnerability to
corruption." When asked whether the it was Customs' opinion
that corruption in its ranks could be kept under control,
given improvements in its internal affairs division, he
answered "yes."

But the vulnerability described in the report is endemic to
the Drug War, as according to the Times, more than 17
million cargo shipments are processed each year, and
corruption is often a simple matter of waving a specific car
or truck through a check point, nothing different than is
done with countless other vehicles day after day on the
border.

***

5. Man Shot Dead at Home by Police, Small Amount of
Marijuana Found

Willie Heard, 46, of Osawatomie, Kansas was shot dead in his
home on Saturday (2/13), by officers who were enforcing a
no-knock search warrant. Officers from the Osawatomie and
Paola police departments as well as sheriff's deputies from
Miami County took part in the middle of the night raid.

The search warrant indicated crack cocaine, pipes, scales
and paraphernalia as the items sought, but a search of the
house after the shooting, including the use of a drug-
sniffing dog, turned up only "two or three" marijuana
cigarette butts.

According to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the
officers announced their identities upon entering and found
Mr. Heard in his bedroom with a .22 caliber rifle. Heard's
16 year-old daughter told the Topeka Capital-Journal that
the officers never identified themselves.

"When they came in, all I heard them say was 'get down!
Freeze!'" she told the Journal. "I screamed, 'Daddy!' and I
think he thought (I) was in danger. He didn't know they
were police officers, because he wouldn't hurt a police
officer."

William Delaney, spokesperson for the Kansas Bureau of
Investigation, told The Week Online that his office was just
beginning its investigation, but that video and audio tapes
of the raid were made by police, which he had not seen yet.
Delaney did confirm that none of the items specified by the
warrant were found in the home.

Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the Missouri chapter
of the ACLU, told The Week Online that the judgment shown by
the Kansas police was questionable.

"For some reason, the police in this case felt that it was
necessary to enter the home at 1:30 in the morning, when the
family was sleeping, on a no-knock warrant. Mr. Heard, one
would have to assume, thought that his home was being
violated and grabbed his rifle to defend it, for which he
was shot to death. On top of that, it would appear that the
evidence with which the police attained the warrant was
faulty as they found none of what they were looking for. No
cocaine, no cocaine paraphernalia, just traces of smoked
marijuana."

Mr. Kurtenbach noted that drug law enforcement in the region
seems to be getting more aggressive. "Most of the
complaints that we get here have to do with state police
stops on I-70 in Kansas and Missouri and on I-44 in Southern
Missouri. Typically, the police have made an alleged
traffic stop and then seek permission to search the car.
Motorists are often threatened with arrest if they refuse to
consent to a search, which is their right. These complaints
seem to be on the upswing around here."

***

6. Medical Marijuana Opponents Mount Challenges in Oregon,
Washington

(reprinted from the NORML Weekly News, http://www.norml.org)

February 18, 1999, Portland, OR: Legislators in Oregon and
Washington are proposing legislation to restrict patients'
ability to use medical marijuana legally under initiatives
passed in November.

"This is completely unnecessary," said Oregon initiative
backer Geoff Sugerman. "This is an effort to open the door
to wholesale changes to a law the voters passed just a
couple of months ago."

Robert Killian, a Tacoma physician who spearheaded the
Washington campaign, voiced similar concern. "It's a blind-
sided attempt to basically bring the government back into
regulation of patients' and doctors' relationships," he
said.

Oregon's new law allows patients holding state permits to
possess limited quantities of medical marijuana, and
provides a legal defense for non-registered patients who use
the drug under a doctor's supervision.

The state Health Division is responsible for issuing
registration cards to patients, but has not yet done so.
Proposed legislative changes to the law drafted by Rep.
Kevin Mannix (R-Salem) would remove legal protections for
patients who possess more than one ounce of medical
marijuana or cultivate more than three mature plants at one
time. House Bill 3052 also eliminates provisions requiring
police to return medical marijuana to patients if they
seized it improperly.

Washington's law allows patients who have a doctor's
recommendation to possess up to a 60 day supply of medical
marijuana. Proposed changes to the law in S.B. 5771 would
require physicians who recommend marijuana to a patient to
notify the state each time they do so. It would also allow
law enforcement access to the records of all patients and
physicians who use or recommend medical marijuana.

"Senate Bill 5771 will make it as difficult as possible for
patients and doctors to use medical marijuana," said Dave
Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights. "This bill is all
about regulating and intimidating doctors and patients so
severely that they will not take advantage of Washington's
new state law."

***

7. Hemp Beer Served on Air Force One

President Clinton, congressional leaders and members of the
press were among those heading home from Mexico aboard Air
Force One on Monday (2/15), after a day of high-level
meetings on the issue of the drug war, when stewards on the
aircraft began taking food and drink orders. Ironically,
among the beers being offered was a new label from the
Frederick Brewery in Frederick, MD, called Hemp Golden Beer
(http://www.hempenale.com). Hemp Golden Beer, as the name
suggests, is brewed with seeds from the hemp plant, a cousin
of marijuana (with only trace amounts of the high-inducing
THC), the cultivation of which has been outlawed in the
United States for decades.

Hemp, once a staple crop in many parts of the country, has a
growing following among American farmers searching for
alternative crops in an age of falling commodities prices,
as well as environmentalists, who tout hemp's versatility
end eco-friendliness. Industrial hemp production is legal
in many parts of the world and in 1998, Canada instituted an
experimental program under which farmers are growing the
crop. Under pressure from the DEA, however, the U.S.
federal government has thus far refused to consider
legalizing its production, contending that hemp's
resemblance to its psychoactive cousin will make marijuana
eradication more difficult.

Interestingly, the Air Force, which operates Air Force One,
recently instituted a policy forbidding air force personnel
from ingesting any food or nutritional supplement containing
hemp, on concern that such substances can lead to false-
positive drug tests. The Week Online spoke with a
representative of the Air Force and was told that the White
House was responsible for all food and beverage services
aboard the presidential aircraft. When asked whether hemp
beer was included in the recent ban, Lt. Col. Worley said
that the Air Force was operating under the assumption that
it was, but that they were waiting for official word from
their attorneys.

Despite increasing calls for the legalization of industrial
hemp in America by farmers in a number of states, the Office
of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and its director,
Barry McCaffrey, have repeatedly insisted that hemp is not a
viable crop, and that support for its legalization is little
more than a thinly-disguised attempt to legalize marijuana.

When asked about hemp beer being served on Air Force One,
Bob Weiner, spokesman for ONDCP would say only "we have
spoken with the people responsible for these things and it
will not happen again."

The White House told The Week Online that despite the Air
Force's denial, it is in fact the Air Force, and not the
White House Travel Office, that is responsible for ordering
food and beverages aboard AF1. They also noted that the
beer would not be served again aboard the craft, saying that
despite the beverage's legality in the U.S., its appearance
on the President's plane was "inappropriate".

(Read about the University of Kentucky's recent report on
the viability of industrial hemp, in the 7/2/98 issue of The
Week Online at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/048.html#ky-hemp.
Also read about the Vermont State Auditor's report on the
federal government's marijuana eradication program at
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/041.html#ditchweed -- the report
found that over 99% of the "marijuana" eradicated was
wild hemp.)

***

8. Oregon Schools to Pay Students for Anonymous Tips

A new program in Portland, Oregon school districts rewards
students who inform on their classmates. Campus Crime
Stoppers, a spin-off of the Crime Stoppers programs
operating around the world, provides students with a hotline
to call school police, and offers kids up to $1,000 for
anonymous tips about classmates involved with drugs,
weapons, vandalism, or other criminal activity.

Sergeant Larry Linne, the Portland school police officer in
charge of the program, told the Oregonian newspaper that
district standards will insure that students' Fourth
Amendment rights are not violated, but some students are
wary of a program they say could turn classmates into narcs
and snitches. "I don't trust the authorities," one 17-year-
old told the paper. "It depends on if someone got hurt or
not."

Crime Stoppers International is online at
http://www.c-s-i.org.

***

9. RALLY: Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis, NYC, May 9

Rally on Friday, May 9, to highlight the need for in-house
drug rehabilitation as an alternative to prison for mothers
with dependent children, 9:00am, 100 Centre St., New York,
NY, aponsored by the JusticeWorks Community. For further
information, call (718) 499-6704, fax (718) 832-2832, e-mail
justicew@interport.net, or visit http://www.justiceworks.org
on the web.

***

10. Editorial: Another Isolated Incident

Adam J. Smith, DRCNet Associate Director, ajsmith@drcnet.org

Last week the New York Times carried an item about a woman
in New York City who shows up every time there is a protest
against the use of unreasonable force by police. She comes
alone and carries a sign, always the same one. Her sign
reads simply, "Another Isolated Incident." The fact that
this woman and her ironic sign have become well-known is a
testament to the truth of the point she is trying to make.

Attending each and every anti-police brutality protest in
New York City can certainly keep a person busy, but with the
aggressive prosecution of the drug war a political priority
across the country, that woman might want to consider
starting a franchise.

In the town of Osawatomie, Kansas (pop. 4,500) last week,
Willie Heard, a forty-six year-old man, was shot to death in
his bedroom at one-thirty in the morning by police who had
stormed into the home to execute a search warrant. Heard's
sixteen year-old daughter claims that the officers failed to
identify themselves other than to shout "freeze!" and "get
down!" The police, after kicking in the front door, entered
the bedroom and came upon Mr. Heard clutching his twenty-two
caliber rifle. They shot. He died.

The warrant said that the police were to search for crack
cocaine and related items. None was found. A probe is
underway by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to determine
whether police acted improperly in killing Mr. Heard.

Whatever that investigation reveals, there should be no
question that when Americans are being killed in their homes
by agents of the government, something is inherently wrong.
The investigation of the shooting will not call into
question the impact of the issuance of no-knock warrants in
pursuit of drugs; nor will it likely question the methods
used by law enforcement agents across the country to gather
the evidence to obtain such warrants; and it will certainly
not delve into the question of why, after decades of
experience which shows it to be ineffective in reducing the
amount of drugs on our streets or our children's access to
them, we are still fighting a war against our own citizens
and endangering both police and civilians by our ever more
aggressive efforts and intrusions.

The killing of Willie Heard in his own bedroom may well have
been a first for the tiny town of Osawatomie, but it is
hardly an isolated incident. Tragedies such as this are
endemic to the drug war. They are the product of the errant
notion that if we just crack down hard enough, build enough
prisons, kick in enough doors, then certainly the drugs will
disappear. But they haven't. And they won't. And we are
left with the blood of hundreds of innocents on our
collective hands, slain by police, or caught in the
crossfire, or killed in the line of duty. They are the
casualties of our dirty little war, their families its
refugees. It is highly unlikely that the shame of these
senseless deaths will ever be acknowledged by those who
perpetuate the war. But in New York City, a solitary woman
carries a sign marking their passage. They are all just
isolated incidents. Again and again and again.

(Read Adam's May '98 editorial on a similar topic, "Bad
Raids," http://www.drcnet.org/wol/043.html#editorial.)

***

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