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Federal officials forge anti-drug partnership with Maryland, Oregon (The
Associated Press says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey,
signed an agreement Friday with Maryland to make the state, along with
Oregon, a national model for a joint federal-state partnership in the war on
some drug users. The partnership agreement does not involve any funding
commitments. It does set up a series of committees and working groups with
representatives from the state and federal governments, and commits the
groups to work together to cut illegal drug use in half by 2007.)
Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
Federal officials forge anti-drug partnership with Maryland, Oregon
The Associated Press
4/3/99 4:08 AM
By TOM STUCKEY
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey signed an agreement
Friday with Maryland to make the state, along with Oregon, a national model
for a joint federal-state partnership in the battle against drug abuse.
McCaffrey said he will follow up by signing a similar agreement with Oregon.
"What we hope to do is use Maryland and Oregon as a model for the other 54
states and territories," he said at a ceremony where he and Lt. Gov.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend signed the agreement.
McCaffrey said the nation's drug problems cannot be solved by the federal
government.
"At the end of the day, the drug problem will be solved by the counties and
cities of Maryland...," McCaffrey said.
The partnership commits the states and the federal government to work
together to cut illegal drug use in half by 2007. The agreement specifically
targets drug use by young people and by people convicted of crimes.
McCaffrey said the goals can be achieved.
"They are not political slogans. This is what we owe the people," he said.
Ms. Townsend also said the goals contained in the agreement "are not just
predictions that will be shelved."
She said new programs being developed at the state and federal levels can
work to cut drug use.
The partnership agreement does not carry any funding commitments by either
party. It sets up a series of committees and working groups with
representatives from the state and federal governments.
Ms. Townsend and McCaffrey offered statistics to show the extent of the drug
problem and the cost to the nation of drug use.
Barbara Mason of Harford County, whose 20-year-old son, Elliott, died of a
heroin overdose just over a year ago, put a human face on the tragedies
associated with drug use.
Displaying a framed picture of her son, Ms. Mason said he was out with some
friends when "he tried heroin for the first time and died from it."
When he started having respiratory problems, his friends brought him home,
and she sent him to bed, Ms. Mason said.
"I knew nothing about it because I was not educated about drugs," she told
state and local officials, parents and students who attended the event in
the State House.
When she found him barely clinging to life the next morning, nothing could
be done to save him.
"Tell parents they need to get educated. Tell kids to make the right
choice," Ms. Mason said.
(c) 1999 Oregon Live LLC
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
***
[Is Oregon an "open" society or a "closed" society? To find out, wait for a
news story identifying which representatives of state government get
themselves appointed to the committees and working groups mentioned above.
In an "open" society, such politicians who want to expand the war on some
drug users would be identified, and could be removed from office by voters.
In a "closed" society, such people are never identified, and no more news
about the committees and working groups would be disseminated, at least until
such groups announce some new policy to be carried out by government without
any real public input. - Portland NORML]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Court of Appeals affirms decision against physician (The Oregonian says the
Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed the state Board of Medical Examiners'
actions in disciplining a Corvallis internist for his role in a euthanasia
case. The board had reprimanded and temporarily suspended the medical license
of Dr. James Gallant in 1997 for unprofessional or dishonorable conduct in
allowing a nurse to give a dying and comatose patient a lethal injection.
Gallant has said that his patient "was adamant in obtaining my promise that I
would not let her suffer should she become ill with no hope of recovery to a
meaningful life.")
Newshawk: Phil Smith (pdxnorml@pdxnorml.org)
Pubdate: Sat, Apr 03 1999
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Author: Erin Hoover Barnett
of The Oregonian staff
Court of Appeals affirms decision against physician
* The case involves a Corvallis internist who allowed a nurse to give a
dying and comatose patient a lethal drug injection
The Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed the state Board of Medical
Examiners' actions in disciplining a Corvallis internist for his role in a
euthanasia case.
The board had reprimanded and temporarily suspended the medical license of
Dr. James Gallant in 1997 for unprofessional or dishonorable conduct in
allowing a nurse to give a dying and comatose patient a lethal injection.
Gallant's Eugene attorneys, Win Calkins and Eric S. DeFreest, appealed the
case, claiming the board erred in its disciplinary process and that the
decision should be reversed.
Gallant's 78-year-old patient was hospitalized and unconscious after a blood
vessel burst in her brain on March 22, 1996. Doctors determined that she had
little hope for recovery.
The patient previously had told Gallant, her longtime physician, that she
did not want to be kept alive through artificial or extraordinary means
should she become terminally ill. That wish was also noted on an advance
directive, though the directive was never signed.
Gallant has said that his patient "was adamant in obtaining my promise that
I would not let her suffer should she become ill with no hope of recovery to
a meaningful life." He said he was acting on the wishes of his patient and
her family when he approved the injection of the drug, succinylcholine,
which paralyzes the diaphragm and stops a person's breathing.
The patient's daughter, who was also the patient's health care
representative, was with her mother at the hospital. The daughter feared
that her mother was suffering after her ventilator was removed and she
continued to breathe.
The daughter expressed her concern to the nurse. The nurse called Gallant
and suggested the use of succinylcholine. The daughter has continuously
supported the nurse's actions and Gallant's actions.
In November 1996, the Oregon Board of Nursing suspended the nurse, Gerald
Keuneke, for one month and placed him on probation for his role in the case.
The Lane County district attorney decided Dec. 10, 1997 not to criminally
prosecute Gallant, Keuneke or anyone else involved in the case. The case was
referred to Lane County because the Benton County district attorney was a
patient of Gallant's.
The Oregon Court of Appeals discussed only two of the seven errors that
Gallant's attorneys accused the medical board of committing. In the first
instance, detailed in the March 17 court opinion, the court decided that the
board correctly applied the preponderance of evidence standard of proof in
the Gallant case.
In the second instance, the court decided that the board allowed a
disqualified board member, Dr. Bruce Williams, to be present during board
deliberations on Gallant's case on a particular day. Williams practices in
the same town as Gallant and recused himself from the case.
But the court decided there was no evidence that Williams actually
participated in the deliberations on the day in question. The court decided
that "more than simply the appearance of unfairness must be established" and
concluded that Gallant's attorneys failed to demonstrate that the board's
actions must be reversed.
Gallant could not be reached at his office Friday. DeFreest, one of
Gallant's attorneys, deferred any comment to Calkins, who also could not be
reached. Gallant's attorneys could choose to appeal the court's opinion to
the Oregon Supreme Court.
Kathleen Haley, executive director of the medical board, said the Gallant
case was a difficult one and that the board members were glad to have the
case behind them.
The case drew particular attention because it happened in the midst of the
debate over physician-assisted suicide and the extent to which patients
should have control over life's end.
Gallant's actions, however, did not constitute physician-assisted suicide
and would not have been allowed under Oregon's assisted suicide law. The law
does not allow lethal injection because that could put the control of this
final act in the hands of someone other than the patient. The
assisted-suicide law allows a doctor to assist a qualified patient in ending
his or her life only by writing the patient a prescription for a lethal dose
of medication that the patient can then decide to swallow.
You can reach Erin Hoover Barnett at 503-294-5011 or by e-mail at
ehbarnett@news.oregonian.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Enough Prisons? (A staff editorial in the Fresno Bee says there's widespread
agreement, and considerable evidence, that jailing more violent and repeat
criminals has contributed to the sharp drop in crime against both persons and
property. But as John J. Dilulio Jr., a leading conservative criminologist,
pointed out recently, the same evidence suggests that we've now reached the
point where jailing more offenders, particularly nonviolent ones, draws
dollars away from more promising and efficient crime-control spending: drug
treatment, policing, improved probation and parole and programs aimed at
preventing juvenile crime.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 11:56:55 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: Enough Prisons?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: 3 Apr 1999
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Fresno Bee
Contact: letters@fresnobee.com
Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/
ENOUGH PRISONS?
Over the last two decades we Americans showed our disgust with crime in a
very American way: We threw money at the problem, most notably by turning
prisons and jails into a growth industry. Now, with the crime rate falling
and the number of Americans behind bars at 1.8 million, more than the
combined populations of Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming, there's a budding
sense on both left and right that the law, of diminishing returns applies
as much to imprisonment as other human endeavors.
The raw outline of the imprisonment boom are by now familiar. Since 1978
the number of prison and jail inmates has tripled; in states like
California, it's grown sixfold. Likewise, the total annual bill for prisons
and jails has grown about sixfold, to $31 billion, pushing costs in state
budgets to levels that rival spending for higher education.
But some facts are less well known. As the liberal Justice Policy Institute
reported in a study last month, 1 million prisoners, more than half of the
total, are behind bars for offenses that involved neither harm, nor threat
of harm, to someone else. Twenty years ago, 57% of prisoners were being
held for violent offenses; today violent criminals are in a minority in
jails. A disproportionate share of the prison growth has been nonviolent
inmates convicted of drug offenses.
Few Americans can be proud of the waste of human and economic potential
represented by soaring prison populations, but there's widespread
agreement, and considerable evidence, that jailing more violent and repeat
criminals has contributed to the sharp drop in crime against both persons
and property.
But as John J. Dilulio Jr., a leading conservative criminologist, pointed
out recently, the same evidence suggests that we've now reached the point
where jailing more offenders, particularly nonviolent ones, draws dollars
away from more promising and efficient crime-control spending: drug
treatment, policing, improved probation and parole and programs aimed at
preventing juvenile crime.
The hard part of changing our criminal justice policy is not knowing what
to do. As Dilulio and others point out, research has shown the potential of
programs that can change destructive behavior at less cost and with less
harm to families and communities.
The tough task will be changing our political dialogue. The language of
politics on crime is still stuck in the early 1980s, when a politician was
"tough" for pushing prisons and "soft on crime" for opposing longer
sentences for more and more crimes.
Having learned to deploy that language in ways that appealed to voters,
politicians face the risky challenge of backing away from the words when
they no longer fit the policy facts. As hard as that will be, it's an
essential job for the state's and nation's leaders if we are to stop
throwing money in the wrong place.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
San Francisco May 1 Event Announcements (A news release from California NORML
publicizes events scheduled in conjunction with the global Million Marijuana
March reform rally, including speakers, music and a dance party. Volunteers
are needed!)
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 19:54:44 -0800
To: canorml@igc.org
From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Subject: SF May 1st Event Announcements
***
MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH AND RALLY ANNOUNCEMENT
***
Come out to San Francisco!
Stand up and march for the rights of
millions of marijuana users!
THE MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH AND RALLY
***
Medical Marijuana * Industrial Hemp * Personal Freedom
* Pot Smoker's Rights * Drug Peace
***
May 1st 1999 - May Day is Jay Day!
San Francisco Civic Center Plaza
Gather at High Noon
Pot Pride Parade at 4:20pm
'Dance for Pot' Party on the Plaza!
Fun for all!
Speakers and Entertainment:
***
Chris Conrad, BACH * Dale Gieringer, California NORML
* Mikki Norris, Human Rights and the Drug War * Richard Evans,
medical marijuana provider * David Ford, author of "Marijuana:
Not Guilty As Charged" * Julia Carter, the Drug Peace Campaign
MC: The Woodnymph
'Dance for Pot' Party, DJs and Sound System by Radio-V.com
Live music by Ten Ton Chicken starts at noon!
Drum Circle * Human Rights & the Drug War Exhibit
Information Tables * Booths * Free Speech Platform
* Pot Song-a-Thon
For more info check out our Website at:
http://www.drugpeace.org/mmm
E-mail us at: SFmmm@hotmail.com;
Or leave a Voice Mail on: (415) 971-3573
***
Event Sponsors and Organizers:
***
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML),
Californians For Compassionate Use, The Drug Peace Campaign,
The Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH), Cures-Not-Wars,
Human Rights and the Drug War Exhibit, Radio-V.com, The Legalize!
Initiative, Positive Solutions, Hemp Town USA, The Cannabis Action
Network, C.H.A.M.P.
***
Volunteering:
***
Volunteers are needed to help with publicising the event and to assist
during the event itself. To help spread the word, please forward this
e-mail to your interested friends. We also have 4x6" flyers and 8.5x11"
posters to distribute for the SF event, as well as large 'May Day is Jay
Day' posters that are available in exchange for a donation.
E-mail sfmmm@hotmail.com or call (415) 971-3573 to offer assistance.
***
DANCE PARTY ANNOUNCEMENT
***
MAY DAY IS JAY DAY - DANCE AT THE MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH & RALLY
Saturday, May 1st - Radio-V.com presents May Day is Jay Day!
Tom (Koinonea), Rob Rayle (Sacred Dance Society, Koinonea) , Tim (CCC).
Join the Dance For Pot Party at the Million Marijuana March and Rally!
Featuring: speakers, exhibits, live music, pot song-a-thon, Dance for Pot
Party all day and the Pot Pride Parade at 4:20pm.
Fun for all! Come out to San Francisco and dance for pot!
Email: sfmmm@hotmail.com
High noon-5pm * Civic Center Plaza, SF. http://www.drugpeace.org/mmm
415.971.3573
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
***
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 1999 14:42:06 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: Hand out MAP Fyers at MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH
Anyone wishing to pass out DrugSense/MAP flyers at this event can print them
from http://www.mapinc.org/map4up.pdf
(designed for front and back 4-to-a-page to get an easy to pocket and
economical hand out)
We will reimburse any print costs upon presentation of a receipt from the
printer. We will also have this ad in the official program. About 3,000
attendance expected.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Utah Meth Problem Gets Publicity While Rising Use Of Marijuana Goes Unnoticed
(The Salt Lake Tribune says Utah ranks third in the nation for meth lab
seizures, but a survey of 10,000 students in grades seven through 12 in May
1997 by Brigham Young University shows marijuana use by Utah children has
gone up 50 percent in the last 13 years.)
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 19:30:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US UT: Utah Meth Problem Gets Publicity While Rising Use Of
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: 3 Apr 1999
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 1999, The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact: letters@sltrib.com
Website: http://utahonline.sltrib.com/
Forum: http://utahonline.sltrib.com/tribtalk/
Author: Kelly Kennedy
UTAH METH PROBLEM GETS PUBLICITY WHILE RISING USE OF MARIJUANA GOES UNNOTICED
A creeping Utah drug problem has gone undetected because police busts of
methamphetamine labs have grabbed the headlines.
Yet the illegal use of marijuana is growing too. In fact, police say they
busted two people this week in Salt Lake County for growing marijuana.
"As far as investigations, meth has swept the headlines, but the other
problems do exist," said Don Mendrala, Drug Enforcement Agency resident
agent in charge.
Though Utah ranks third in the nation for meth lab seizures, a recent study
shows marijuana use by Utah children in grades seven through 12 has gone up
by 50 percent in the past 13 years, according to a new study by Brigham
Young University.
On Monday, Salt Lake police seized 11 marijuana plants, 18 grams of dried
marijuana and three pounds of marijuana leaves at a Salt Lake home, while
Sandy police and the DEA found 69 plants at the suspect's brother's home in
Sandy.
Each plant is worth $1,000, and each pound of dried leaves equals between
300 and 500 joints.
"Unlike coke and meth, [marijuana] involves cultivation," said Salt Lake
police Sgt. Ken Hansen.
Marijuana can be grown outside in a field, but it's hard to monitor,
Mendrala said. Anyone could find it, take it or report it. And growing it
indoors can be more problematic.
"The stench in the Sandy home about knocked us over," Mendrala said. "If
you're going to grow enough plants to make it worth it financially, people
are going to find out."
Mendrala said calls have come in from neighbors, delivery boys -- even Girl
Scouts selling cookies who have smelled the stench while standing at
someone's door.
"You can't hide that stuff if you're growing enough to make money," said
Pat Fleming, assistant director of the state division of substance abuse.
Fleming said most Utah marijuana is imported on Interstates 15 and 70
because growing it is so difficult. At the same time, Utah laws may make
the state one of the easiest places to make meth.
"It's an open-market state where the ingredients to make meth are easier to
get," Fleming said. "It's not that law enforcement is doing a bad job
catching the guys growing pot, it's just easier and cheaper to make meth."
There is a distinct line between the hard-core users who go for heroin,
meth and cocaine and those who smoke pot.
The problem with marijuana, Fleming said, is that it is a gateway drug that
can lead to those hard-core drugs. And Utah's biggest problem is that more
children are smoking cigarettes.
"In this culture, smoking is a big step," Fleming said. "They've already
been alienated from their friends and families because of the cigarettes,
so marijuana is no big deal."
The BYU study, which was filled out anonymously by 10,000 Utah students in
May of 1997, shows marijuana use is going up at the same rate as smoking.
In 1984, 10 percent of Utah students said they were smoking tobacco and 6
percent said they were smoking marijuana. In 1997, 15 percent said they
were smoking tobacco and 10 percent were smoking marijuana.
"Marijuana is five times stronger than it was in the '60s and '70s -- it's
a whole new drug," Fleming said. "Kids don't realize that. And teenagers
aren't as afraid of pot because they know people who have done it, and they
haven't turned into drug fiends. But that gateway effect is definitely
there."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
City Betrayed Officers In Oregon Case, Fired Cop Says (According to the
Houston Chronicle, James Willis, the lone officer charged in connection with
the shooting death of Pedro Oregon Navarro during a warrantless break-in by
six prohibition agents, says Houston city and police officials betrayed him
and his fellow officers to avoid taking political heat.)
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 12:34:38 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: City Betrayed Officers In Oregon Case, Fired Cop Says
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: GALAN@prodigy.net (G. A ROBISON)
Pubdate: 3 Apr 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Steve Brewer
Section: Front Page
CITY BETRAYED OFFICERS IN OREGON CASE, FIRED COP SAYS
The lone officer charged in connection with the shooting death of Pedro
Oregon Navarro says Houston city and police officials betrayed him and his
fellow officers to avoid taking political heat.
In his first interview since being acquitted last week of misdemeanor
criminal trespass charges in the July 12 shooting, James Willis told the
Chronicle that he and the other five officers were fired by Police Chief
C.O. Bradford to "appease" protesters critical of the department.
Willis says Houston Police Department brass didn't have all the facts and
didn't want them to come out.
"Bradford's comments were the ultimate blow. It was like someone going in
your chest and ripping your heart out," Willis said. "We're not crooks. We
weren't out there doing criminal activities ... We were out there trying to
do our jobs and catch a crook. We weren't out there raping or killing or
doing dope. Granted, it didn't turn out great, but it wasn't something we
didn't do in the past."
He also claimed that the betrayal took a dangerous turn when Hispanic gang
members threatened to kill officers in southwest Houston after Oregon's
death, specifically mentioning Willis and the other five officers.
Willis, 29, said no one from HPD contacted him or the others about the
threats, but he had learned about them from friends.
An HPD spokesman said he wasn't aware of the threats but was sure Willis
and the others would have been told if they were, in fact, threatened.
Police officials also deny that the officers were fired because of
political concerns but because they were guilty of misconduct.
Since the incident, Willis says he has been called everything from a liar
and racist to a cold-blooded killer cop. Because he faced a criminal
charge, Willis said he could not respond and until his trial people only
heard the "spin" from the attorneys for the Oregon family.
Though he still faces possible federal charges and the city is being sued
by the family, he said he wants to tell the officers' side of the story.
Willis says his bosses and city officials gave him and the other officers
in his task force nothing but praise when they were arresting gang members.
But all that ended on July 12.
Tipped by an informant that Pedro Oregon's brother, Rogelio, was dealing
crack cocaine, Willis and five other officers set up a meeting with Rogelio
and went to his apartment.
Having no warrant, the officers got the informant to knock on the door.
Rogelio opened it, saw the uniformed officers behind the man and darted off.
Thinking Rogelio was going for a gun or about to destroy evidence, Willis
has said, he followed his partner inside.
Willis restrained Rogelio and covered another man while the other officers
went to the back of the apartment. That's where he says they saw an armed
Pedro Oregon.
One officer fired, but the bullet hit his partner. The other officers
thought Pedro had shot at them, so they opened fire, hitting him with 12 of
33 shots, nine of them in the back. One officer fired 24 times.
Pedro's gun was not fired, and there were no drugs in the apartment.
After a lengthy investigation, a state grand jury indicted only Willis. The
Oregon family and their supporters were enraged.
Willis said the officers were only trying to get Rogelio Oregon's consent
to search his apartment. If he refused, Willis said, the officers would
have left.
"We were there doing our jobs," said Willis, denying that the police had
illegally created a justification to enter the home. "Rogelio knew he was
busted, and he knew what was going to happen. That's why he ran."
In Willis' trial, prosecutors argued that the officers were trying to pad
drug arrest statistics to keep federal grant money flowing into the task
force.
Willis denies it: "We weren't pressured to make good numbers. We wanted to
make the numbers. It made us look good, so we made the numbers."
Asked why the state grand jury indicted only him and for only a
misdemeanor, Willis said, "My theory is the grand jury heard what had
happened, and they were OK with what happened. But because of the publicity
the case received and because the protesters got involved so fast and
because politicians got involved so fast, they must have felt like the
facts had to come out."
The only way the grand jury could accomplish that was to indict one of the
officers and let the issue be aired at trial, he said.
Willis denied that he was arrogant during his nine hours in front of the
grand jury and said maybe the panel felt he had the least to lose.
Willis said the indictment was frustrating, but he was more upset by the
criticism leveled by Bradford and others without having heard their grand
jury testimony.
An HPD spokesman responded that Bradford had the benefit of investigations
by the homicide division and internal affairs.
Though he did not see the gunfire, Willis said, "A terrible thing happened
that night. No one wanted Pedro to die. But what choice did he leave those
officers?"
Willis said that if what the officers did was so wrong, then Rogelio Oregon
should have testified in his trial. Rogelio was called as a witness for the
state, but he took the Fifth Amendment. Oregon family attorneys have said
Rogelio didn't think the state was prosecuting in good faith.
Willis says the lawyers for the Oregon family have vilified him but are
afraid to have their client answer tough questions.
Rogelio, Willis said, is their "gold mine."
"I bet you if their daughters were buying dope from Rogelio and strung out
on crack that they'd be saying something different."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oregon's Family Clears A Hurdle (The Houston Chronicle says the federal civil
rights lawsuit over the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro hasn't gone to court
yet, but his family's lawyers have already won a small victory. By keeping
Oregon's brother, Rogelio, off the stand in the misdemeanor criminal trespass
trial of former Houston police Officer James Willis, attorneys for the family
have protected their key witness in the civil rights suit, several criminal
defense lawyers agree.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 16:48:07 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: Oregon's Family Clears A Hurdle
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Art Smart (ArtSmart@NEOSOFT.COM)
Pubdate: Sat, 03 Apr 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Steve Brewer
OREGON'S FAMILY CLEARS A HURDLE
Keeping Brother Off Stand Helps Suit
The federal civil rights lawsuit over the death of Pedro Oregon
Navarro hasn't gone to court yet, but his family's lawyers have
already won a small victory.
By keeping Oregon's brother, Rogelio, off the stand in the recent
misdemeanor criminal trespass trial of former Houston police Officer
James Willis, attorneys for the family have protected their key
witness in the civil rights suit, several criminal defense lawyers
agree.
Though lawyers for the Oregon family deny that keeping Rogelio from
testifying was done with that in mind, it did mean that he did not
have to confront publicly allegations that he and his brothers were
crack dealers.
"Oh boy, did you want to keep him off the stand," said Stanley
Schneider, a Houston criminal defense lawyer who has handled several
high-profile cases. "That's because once he starts testifying, it's
open season."
Brian Wice, a local defense attorney and legal analyst for a Houston
television station, agreed.
Rogelio Oregon answered the door July 12 when six uniformed police
officers, acting on an informant's tip, but without a warrant, came to
his apartment looking for drugs. One of the officers testified that
Rogelio tried to run but was grabbed by the first officers in the
door. The other officers moved quickly to the back of the apartment
and found Pedro Oregon in a bedroom.
The officers have said Pedro pointed a gun at them. One officer fired,
hitting a partner. The other officers thought Pedro had fired and they
fired, hitting Pedro with 12 of 33 shots, nine to the back. One
officer fired 24 times.
No drugs were found. The officers have all been fired, but only Willis
was charged, and that was just a misdemeanor.
That has outraged the family and activists. A federal grand jury probe
has begun and the family has sued the city.
Rogelio Oregon's lawyers tried to get Harris County District Attorney
John B. Holmes Jr. to drop the charge against Willis, calling it an
insult to the family, and defer to the federal probe. Holmes refused.
Furthermore, Ed Porter, who was prosecuting Willis, said he had to
have Rogelio testify about how the police got into the apartment,
which was the key issue in the trespass charge.
Richard Mithoff, the lead attorney representing the family in the
civil suit, and Flood both say it was important to keep Rogelio off
the stand, because he had no faith in the state's prosecution of
Willis. They said he thought his brother's death deserved more serious
charges, and he preferred to cooperate with the federal
investigation.
Mithoff and Flood vehemently deny that keeping him from testifying had
anything to do with the fact that earlier in the trial jurors had
heard testimony that he had been dealing drugs. They challenged the
validity of that testimony.
After dodging a subpoena for weeks, Rogelio eventually was brought to
the stand.
Porter offered him "use immunity" -- a promise that he would not be
charged for drug dealing in exchange for truthful testimony -- to
compel his testimony.
Flood then argued to Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law Judge Neel
Richardson that Porter couldn't compel the testimony merely by
offering use immunity.
Flood said he was not worried about the allegations of drug dealing,
but rather that his client might be prosecuted for minor
inconsistencies between what he might say and his testimony to the
state grand jury.
Even though state law makes a perjury prosecution on such grounds
unrealistic, Richardson allowed Rogelio to take the Fifth Amendment.
Schneider, Wice and other lawyers say keeping Rogelio from testifying
was a deft move that allowed the attorneys to respond to the drug
allegations by criticizing Porter's case without exposing Rogelio to
cross-examination from Brian Benken, Willis' attorney.
And because Rogelio didn't testify, Benken couldn't call three other
witnesses who were ready to say they had bought drugs from Rogelio.
Because he had not testified he had not been dealing drugs, they
couldn't be called to impeach his testimony.
It also possibly puts the attorneys representing the city in the civil
suit in a tough spot, legal observers say. Rogelio Oregon has only
testified in front of state and federal grand juries. That testimony
would only be available to attorneys for the police officers if they
were indicted for criminal charges in federal court.
And because he didn't testify in Willis' case, they have nothing to
use against him when and if he gets on the stand in civil court,
Schneider and Wice agreed.
Mithoff insists that wasn't the objective, saying he and Flood were
only trying to respect Rogelio's wish not to testify in Willis' case.
But Mithoff does acknowledge that keeping Rogelio from testifying did
make good legal sense:
"I don't think any lawyer wants to see his client asked the same
questions on four different occasions."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Semi-Legal Drugs - A Field Full Of Buttons (The Economist, in Britain,
examines the peyote industry sanctioned by Congress for American Indians
only. In the United States, the peyote cactus - Lophophora williamsii -
grows naturally only in four counties in Texas, and it cannot be cultivated
successfully elsewhere. The Texas Department of Public Safety regulates the
harvesting and transportation of peyote buttons by licensing seven people -
peyoteros - and monitors them on a quarterly basis. But the supply of peyote
is shrinking even as Native American Church demand increases. There is an
easy solution: using peyote stocks that stretch 300 miles or more into
Mexico, a reserve that might produce twice the output of the United States.
Yet, ironically for a government that has often run into trouble with
American officials for enforcing drug laws too weakly, Mexico continues to
stand firm on peyote, preventing any harvesting or possession of the cactus
on its side of the border.)
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 01:48:23 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Semi-Legal Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: D. Paul Stanford http://www.crrh.org/
Pubdate: Sat, 3 April 1999
Source: Economist, The (UK)
Copyright: 1999. The Economist Newspaper Limited.
Contact: letters@economist.com
Website: http://www.economist.com/
SEMI-LEGAL DRUGS
A Field Full Of Buttons
MIRANDO CITY, TEXAS - Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg and Starr Counties, all in
Texas, look much like the rest of the American south-west--lots of parched
rangeland, dotted with mesquite, cacti and the occasional ranch. In this
desolate region, people are far outnumbered by "buttons" of America's most
unusual crop: peyote, a small, mind-altering cactus used for 10,000 years as
an Indian religious sacrament.
Peyote - officially known to botanists as Lophophora williamsii - grows
naturally only in these four counties, and it cannot be successfully
cultivated anywhere. For non-Indians, possession is illegal and punishable
by stiff narcotics laws. But the religious use of peyote is allowed for
members of the Native American Church, a pan-tribal religion derived from
the practices of native peoples who inhabited what is now southern Texas and
northern Mexico.
The peyote church, as it is sometimes called, began to spread through Indian
country in the late 1870s. Adherents eat peyote in a powdery form or drink
it in tea during communal sessions that last from evening until dawn.
Members of the 400,000-member church do not report feeling a
high--pharmacologists say actual hallucinations are uncommon--but rather a
period of intense inward reflection. "To me it's a medicine," says Earl
Arkinson, the church president, a Chippewa-Cree Indian from Montana who is a
police chief in his other life. "It's a spiritual feeling."
Until recently, the legal status of peyote was a headache for church
members. Congregants who wished to avoid being stopped for possession of
peyote were obliged to drive through a loose patchwork of states in which
church-sanctioned uses of peyote were legal. Then, in 1990, the Supreme
Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect the religious use of
peyote by the Native American Church.
Four years later, Congress--backed by the Drug Enforcement Agency and other
federal law-enforcement officials--rebuked the high court by reaffirming the
right to use peyote in religious ways, and by preventing states from
cracking down on the transport of peyote. Indirectly, that legislation also
ensured that the small band of predominantly Latino peyote harvesters, or
peyoteros, in south Texas would be able to continue their trade.
The peyoteros' techniques are learned from family members or neighbours.
Since the plant lies close to the ground, harvesting--slicing the
drug-containing "buttons" from the roots--is backbreaking work. Experienced
harvesters, however, can pick 1,000 buttons in an hour. Once collected, the
buttons are either used immediately or dried naturally on long, slanted
tables, a process that can take as long as a month or as little as a week in
the searing summer temperatures of south Texas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety licenses seven peyoteros and monitors
them on a quarterly basis. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency keeps an eye
on things too, and reports very little abuse of the drug by non-Indians.
Advocates of peyote say it actually reduces alcoholism among Indians, a
serious health problem in most tribes.
Salvador Johnson, of tiny Mirando City, is one of the youngest peyoteros; he
is 52. He employs up to a dozen labourers, most of them relatives, to pick
peyote buttons all year round on about 30,000 acres. His business is
booming. "You can have 100 church members come down in a weekend," he says,
"and the least that each of them will take is probably a couple of thousand
buttons." Mr Johnson himself may not supply all those customers, but at $150
for 1,000 fresh buttons--or $170 for 1,000 dried buttons--the maths works
out well enough. "By June, I take a break because I'm exhausted," he says.
In addition to affording the harvesters a living, the peyote business helps
funnel the dollars of Indian peyote-seekers to restaurants and hotels in
large cities like Laredo as well as small towns like Rio Grande City, which
is home to five of the seven licensed harvesters. But trouble lurks.
Although some of the ranchers whom Mr Johnson and his fellow-peyoteros work
with have been leasing them peyote-rich land for decades, others are
increasingly unwilling to do so. They can make much more money from renting
their lands to big-game hunters than to peyote harvesters.
With fewer lands available to harvest, the supply of peyote is shrinking
even as church demand increases. There is an easy solution: using peyote
stocks that stretch 300 miles or more into Mexico, a reserve that might
produce twice the output of the United States. Yet, ironically for a
government that has often run into trouble with American officials for
enforcing drug laws too weakly, Mexico continues to stand firm on peyote,
preventing any harvesting or possession of the cactus on its side of the border.
If Mexico were to liberalise its peyote laws, or if the Native American
Church were to buy land and harvest its own peyote, America's seven licensed
peyoteros could suffer from falling prices. But Mr Johnson says he would be
willing to put up with that if it meant an increased supply of peyote for
congregants who need it. "We will never have enough to meet the demand," he
says. "There's no way in the world we can meet it. It's sad, because this is
something these people use for their church. And without peyote, there is no
church."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Beyond DARE - Dane County Communities Search For New Ways To Prevent Teen
Drug Abuse (The Wisconsin State Journal looks back on the 16 years since the
nation's first crop of fifth-graders DARE'd to be substance free. It's been
13 years since Nancy Reagan pleaded with Generation X-ers to "Just Say No."
Use of alcohol and marijuana is increasing. There is no evidence that the
Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has had any more beneficial effect
than Nancy Reagan's attempt to shift public attention away from the news that
her astrologer was running the country. Three Dane County school districts -
Madison, Deerfield and Mt. Horeb - have dropped DARE. So has Lodi in Columbia
County. Those who still back DARE no longer view it as an end-all. Some say
answers lie in a new buzzword for the millennium: assets. But even those
buying into it admit there's little proof that it works either.)
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 22:22:40 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: Beyond Dare Dane County Communities Search For New Ways
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Sat, 03 Apr 1999
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Contact: wsjopine@statejournal.madison.com
Website: http://www.madison.com/
Copyright: Madison Newspapers, Inc. 1999
Author: Karyn Saemann
BEYOND DARE DANE COUNTY COMMUNITIES SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS TO PREVENT TEEN
DRUG ABUSE
This is as subtle as it got a decade ago: television spots that
likened addiction to fried eggs.
It's been 13 years since Nancy Reagan pleaded with Generation X- ers
to "Just Say No," and 16 years since the nation's first crop of
fifth-graders DARE'd to be substance free.
Like the children it first targeted, drug education has come of age
with new research and new philosophies.
But has anything really changed? Recent surveys show that local
teenagers are increasingly trying marijuana and binge drinking at an
alarming rate.
Some say answers lie in a new buzzword for the millennium: assets.
In a 1990 report and 1997 follow-up, researchers at Minneapolis'
Search Institute said kids with enough "positive assets" in their
lives - defined as everything from caring neighbors to high self-
esteem and community service opportunities - were more likely to make
healthy choices on a range of issues from alcohol use to overeating to
sex.
The concept revolutionized drug and alcohol education after a
generation of the spotlight being on factors that put young people at
risk.
The news reverberated throughout Wisconsin and Dane County.
"What we're looking at is concentrating on positive strengths, rather
than looking at children as damaged goods," said Carol Klopp, alcohol,
tobacco and other drug abuse coordinator for Cooperative Educational
Service Agency-2 in Dane County.
The shift is so new that those buying into it admit there's little
proof that it works in practice. They can point only to evidence that
it has made an impact in clinical situations.
The breakthrough came as other research suggested DARE - Drug Abuse
Resistance Education - was costing a lot of money, with no definitive
proof that it was keeping teenagers from abusing drugs. Studies did
show it was having a nominal effect on teenage tobacco use.
Three Dane County school districts - Madison, Deerfield and Mt. Horeb
- have dropped DARE So has Lodi in Columbia County.
Those who still back DARE no longer view it as an end-all.
"We still do DARE. We like DARE. But DARE can't stand alone. You need to
do more," said Kim Hegstrom, alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse
coordinator for the Belleville School District. "I think the picture
is bigger than that."
"I think the reason that DARE fails at a lot of schools is that they
just do DARE," agreed Dennis Steed, student assistance program
coordinator for the Stoughton Area School District.
As they weigh whether to keep DARE, school districts are wading
through an explosion of new "asset-based" curriculums that focus on
strengthening kids and teaching them to make lifelong healthy choices.
The programs also stress resiliency - the notion that even kids who
don't have much going for them are capable of making it.
Gone are the days where drug education meant showing middle schoolers
an array of colored pills laid out in a glass case like a bug
collection. Today the focus is on raising consciousness about wise
choices for the long term.
"You are never going to have a program that is going to stop kids from
experimenting," said Lynn Reining, alcohol and drug coordinator for
the Middleton-Cross Plains School District. "What you hope is that if
they do experiment, they are not going to drive drunk."
"We don't talk about alcohol being a drug. We talk about how alcohol
can cause health-related problems and impairment problems," said Linda
Sanders, a guidance counselor at Lodi Middle School.
"With young kids, we talk about how it can make you stumble and fall.
We talk in high school about how it can affect relationships with people."
Eighth-graders in Belleville discuss the economics of tobacco.
Madison fifth-graders get an eye-opening look at what it would mean to
live on minimum wage if parenthood or alcohol or drug abuse
short-circuited their education. The lessons are part of C.O.P.S., or
Classes on Personal Safety, which debuted last fall as a replacement
for DARE.
"We start going through food and utilities, and kids are coming up
with about 33 cents per day to have fun with," said Madison Safety
Education Officer Maryanne Thurber. "All of a sudden I hear kids say,
`I'm not going to get pregnant. I'm staying in high school.'"
Madison high schoolers who see that their parents turned out fine
after using marijuana in the 1960s are taught that a joint today is 14
times more potent and addictive than 30 years ago, said Joan Lerman,
alcohol and other drug program support person for the Madison
Metropolitan School District.
Home help: At the core of the Search Institute's assets concept is the
idea that community and parent involvement is critical to keeping
children free of alcohol and drug problems later in life.
"We can support what the parents are trying to do and they can support
what we are trying to do. That's where it starts," said Julie Taylor,
Wisconsin Heights School District alcohol and drug abuse
coordinator.
Parents in Mt. Horeb, Madison, Evansville and Deerfield have been
offered an in-depth evening course called "Talking with Your Kids
About Alcohol," developed by the Kentucky-based Prevention Research
Institute.
Pat Werk, of Deerfield, whose children are 11, 13 and 16, said the
class "made me comfortable. I felt more knowledgeable. I felt I had
some tools to work with. I know what points I need to make."
While short-term issues such as a family's moral expectations that a
teenager will not drink alcohol fit into the discussion, the ultimate
intent is to help young people prepare for adulthood.
"It is to help parents reduce their children's risk of ever developing
an alcohol problem any time in life," said Katie Albrecht, alcohol and
other drug abuse coordinator for the Deerfield School District.
Participants are forced to examine the example they set.
"It challenges adults to look at what they consider to be responsible
drinking," parent Larry Sexe said.
"The minute you start talking about drinking in this state, you press
all kinds of buttons," said drug educator Klopp. "The reality is
they're watching everything you do. No matter what I say, if I don't
back it up with my deeds, I might as well quit saying it."
Marshall and Madison offer a course called "Active Parenting," which
deals with issues from alcohol to sexuality.
Evansville, Mt. Horeb and Lodi offer a related classroom course called
"Talking with Your Students About Alcohol." It will be offered in
Middleton next year.
In an effort to arm parents with needed information, school districts
throughout Dane County have set up resource rooms offering literature
for check-out, Internet access and a chance for parents to network.
Verona and McFarland have Partners in Prevention. It offers asset
training for parents and tries to raise awareness of drug and alcohol
use among area teens.
The Wisconsin Heights School District has brought in detectives and
University Hospital officials to share their medical and law
enforcement expertise with parents and staff members.
Marshall recently offered an evening seminar with Michael McGowan, a
Pewaukee-based consultant who specializes in alcohol, drug and family
issues.
Madison offers F.A.S.T. - Families and Schools Together, an evening
program that brings entire families together one night a week for
eight to 10 weeks. The sessions include dinner, family communication
games and straight talk about drug and alcohol use.
Similarly, Middleton offers "Family Talk," an in-depth discussion of
alcohol and drugs for parents of adolescents.
And Mt. Horeb has "Joining Forces for Families," which brings together
a social worker, public health nurse, police officers and others to
talk about how local families can be strengthened.
In the long run, however, will these new approaches make a difference?
Checking results: No one knows for sure, admitted Elise Frattura
Kampshroer, director of student services for the Verona Area School
District.
"I could list 10 things under every grade level that we do. We do a
lot. Our question is, is it helpful?" Frattura Kampshroer said. "Is it
meeting the needs of our kids?"
Verona is hoping to amass some information through a survey this
spring of seventh-to 12th-graders.
"Over the past five or six years, we've been putting services into
place. It was time to stop the merry-go-round to see if we had built
it right," Frattura Kampshroer said.
But Ron Biendseil, youth services coordinator for the Dane County
Youth Commission, said most school districts don't have the money to
independently research whether their programs are working. They're
counting on the research done ahead of time by the curriculum developers.
"What schools and community groups are trying to do is latch on to
those kinds of programs that have had some kind of evaluation, usually
in another community or state. That's about the best we can do,"
Biendseil said.
With its asset model, the Search Institute has "been able to document
at least correlations" between assets and healthy choices, Biendseil
said. "They are saying we seem to have found some things that make
sense."
"We're really in the infancy in so much of this area in terms of what
works. Each year we learn a little more. It takes time and resources
and money and trial and error and people coming together to share
anecdotes to see if there is some consensus that this is working,"
Biendseil said.
A federally funded project that brought Dane County school districts
together for two years between 1994 and 1996 was a huge step in
understanding what works, CESA2's Klopp said.
"When I started working here, there was a large amount of frustration
among our coordinators over the issue of `Is what we're doing right?
We don't know,' " Klopp said.
Backed by a $465,000 federal grant, school district and CESA2
officials spent a year sifting through 40 years of published material
on prevention research.
The effort, dubbed Project Four Square, picked apart scores of canned
curriculums, including DARE.
"We found that there were things that schools were doing that didn't
work. As a matter of fact, some stuff is detrimental," Klopp said.
The group came away with an asset-based model for alcohol and drug
education that has become the basis for much of what's now taught in
area schools. A similar framework was recently developed by the state
Department of Public Instruction.
Klopp said Project Four Square resulted in new confidence among school
district alcohol and drug coordinators.
"We're in this period of change in which districts are asking some
very hard questions. They're no longer willing to accept surface
answers," Klopp said. "We now have the ability to say, `What research
have you done on this?' We're no longer saying, `That looks pretty
good to us.'"
A new Dane County youth survey to be published next year may offer the
first benchmark on whether the project was on the right track.
The survey is done every five years by a host of area agencies
including the Dane County Youth Commission, UW-Extension, area school
districts, CESA2 and Partners in Prevention.
Other answers may be slower in coming.
At universities around the nation, researchers are just beginning to
delve into the effectiveness of some of the new curriculums.
DARE had been around for nearly 15 years before researchers began to
debunk it, Stoughton's Steed pointed out.
"It took 25 years for smoking to come to the awareness it has today,"
Steed said.
Research at the national level has begun to show that community policy
changes - such as raising alcohol taxes, raising drinking ages and
adopting zero tolerance laws - may have as Page 4A much impact on
kids' choices as school programs, said Paul Moberg, director of the
Center for Health Policy and Program Evaluation at the University of
Wisconsin Medical School.
There is also evidence that hands-on programs and those that allow
students to take a leadership role may have more impact than lectures,
said Cheryl Perry, an epidemiology professor at the University of
Minnesota. Perry was involved in a lengthy trial that began in 1991,
and trained middle schoolers to put on alcohol-free community fun nights.
Initial results showed a significant reduction in alcohol use among
eighth-graders.
"I think what happened is we started to re-create their social
environment so that they didn't think the only way to have fun was to
drink," Perry said.
Moberg is involved in a three-year research project that is looking at
what happens when initial F.A.S.T. money dries up and critical pieces
of the program, such as community dinners, are cut out.
Meanwhile, school districts are becoming familiar enough with the
programs to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
Kay Nightingale, safe and drug free school coordinator for the Beloit
School District and a certified trainer for the Prevention Research
Institute who has taught guidance counselors all over the state to
use its programs, said "Talking with Your Kids About Alcohol" tops
her list of nationally known programs.
"It's the best stuff I've ever seen by far," she said.
But while Deerfield's Albrecht praised "Talking with Your Kids About
Alcohol," the related student component got mixed reviews.
"Kids can get bored with it. It's very lecture oriented with slides,"
Albrecht said. "They need to do some revision on how the program is
delivered, to make it more palatable."
Mt. Horeb apathy: But at least Deerfield has had enough interest to
offer the course for parents.
Mt. Horeb alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse coordinator Carol
Clavey said her district has tried to offer "Talking with Your Kids
About Alcohol" for years.
The last time it had enough parental interest to hold a class was in
1996.
"It's been frustrating," Clavey said. "Parents aren't seeing it as a
priority."
"I have talked to parents and said, `Why don't you want to take it?'
They say, `I have already talked to my kids.' `What did you tell
them?' `Not to do it.' "
Sometimes there are surprises, however.
Despite a small turnout for "Talking with Your Kids About Alcohol," a
separate panel discussion on teenage drug use drew 50 Deerfield
parents last year, Albrecht said.
"Historically - and I'm sure this is true in many communities -
there's a lot of denial that we have a problem," Albrecht said. "This
was a sign of success."
There are many signs, in fact, that area communities are taking their
role seriously - such as an increasing recognition that summer
festivals need not revolve around beer tents and a recent push to
establish youth centers.
"I would say that communities are taking off the blinders," Steed
said.
Stoughton has offered some of the county's most innovative programs,
including an exchange program with inmates from the Rock County Jail,
in which students see first hand the impacts of unwise choices.
Stoughton has a peer jury and was one of the county's first
communities to have a youth center.
It also has S.A.D.D. - which begins in the middle school as Students
Against Dangerous Decisions and evolves into Students Against Drunk
Driving in high school.
Biendseil calls Stoughton "our poster child."
But even that community has seen bumps in the road.
An award-winning effort to have liquor stores and taverns sign a
pledge to not sell alcohol to minors has seen "limited follow-up,"
Steed admitted.
It's just one example of the work that remains to be done.
Despite the recent publicity about local youth centers, only one-
quarter of middle school students in Dane County currently have access
to such places, Biendseil pointed out.
And no one believes that there's a silver bullet out there.
"We recognize that this is a piece of work that will never be done,"
Thurber said.
INHALING AND IMBIBING
Recent surveys show marked increases in teenage marijuana use.
In 1995, a survey of 6,800 Dane County seventh-to 12th-graders showed
that 26 percent had used marijuana, up from 20 percent in 1990.
That mirrored a statewide rise in teenage marijuana use between 1993
and 1997 from 23 percent to 36 percent. Nationwide, the number of high
school seniors having used marijuana rose from 41 percent to 50
percent between 1990 and 1997.
Additionally, in a recent study, the State Medical Society of
Wisconsin said adults in Wisconsin ranked first in the nation in binge
drinking - commonly defined as five or more drinks in a row for men
and four for women.
The 1995 Dane County Youth Survey showed that 27 percent of local
teenagers had binged in the past month. Similarly, the 1997 statewide
survey showed that 31 percent of Wisconsin teenagers had binged in the
past 30 days, and 17 percent had taken their first drink at age 10 or
younger.
The state survey did show small to moderate decreases in teenage use
of tobacco, crack cocaine and alcohol since 1990.
"While we have made a lot of strides, we have seen some backsliding
there," said Steve Fernan, prevention education consultant with the
state Department of Public Instruction.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Providence Police Lack Records On Seized Cars (The Providence
Journal-Bulletin, in Rhode Island, says its investigation into how a 1991
Honda Accord obtained in a drug arrest wound up in private hands has led
Capt. John J. Ryan, the Providence Police Department's director of
administration, to disclose that over the past eight years, the department
has sold 250 cars seized in drug arrests, but has almost no records of how
much the cars were sold for, or who bought them.)
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 12:39:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US RI: Providence Police Lack Records On Seized Cars
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison Dunbar
Pubdate: 3 Apr 1999
Source: Providence Journal-Bulletin (RI)
Copyright: 1999 The Providence Journal Company
Contact: letters@projo.com
Website: http://projo.com/
Author: W. Zachary Malinowski and Jonathan D. Rockoff, Journal Staff Writers
PROVIDENCE POLICE LACK RECORDS ON SEIZED CARS
The Department's Failure To Account For Hundreds Of Cars Comes To Light
After Questions Are Raised About The Trail Of A 1991 Honda Seized In A Drug
Case.
PROVIDENCE -- Over the past eight years, the Providence Police Department
says, it has sold 250 cars seized in drug arrests.
But the department has almost no records of how much the cars were sold
for, or who bought them.
Capt. John J. Ryan, the department's director of administration, said the
police did not begin keeping records until the most recent car auction --
last July.
"Does this embarrass us?" Ryan said. "Of course it does. But then we fix it."
The disclosure raises new issues with how the state's largest police
department handles evidence seized in raids.
Last month, Ryan acknowledged that the department had lost 16 items seized
during a raid of a pawnshop in the Washington Park section of the city.
And the pawnshop's owner, who won a court order forcing the police to
return its merchandise, said some of the goods came back used.
The sides are negotiating over compensation for the missing and used property.
The department's failure to account for seized cars surfaced as a result of
inquiries by The Providence Journal into how a 1991 Honda Accord obtained
in a drug arrest wound up in private hands.
THE HONDA, with 147,272 miles, came into the possession of the Providence
police as the result of a drug investigation two years ago.
On June 18, 1997, police arrested two men on charges that they were selling
heroin from a garage at Eddy and Chapman Streets.
Police seized 200 packets of heroin, $473, and the Honda that the suspects
used to deal the drugs.
About a month later, on July 24, the state attorney general's office moved
to confiscate the money and car.
Under state law, suspected drug dealers may be forced to forfeit cars,
money and other property allegedly connected to their crimes. The
forfeiture process involves the police, the attorney general and the state
treasurer's office.
In August 1997, as required by law, the attorney general's office ran three
legal notices in The Providence Journal announcing a series of drug-related
property seizures across the state. The ad specifically mentioned the $473
and the 1991 Honda.
The forfeiture was completed Sept. 25, 1997. The money and car officially
became the property of the Providence police.
Four months later, on Jan. 30, 1998, the Providence police submitted an
annual report to the state treasurer's office. State law requires detailed
reports of money and property seized in the previous year.
Providence's six-page document was signed by Col. Urbano Prignano Jr., the
Providence police chief. It listed $211,580 in property and money seized by
the department in 1997.
The report mentions the $473 seized in the June 18 drug arrest.
Not listed: the 1991 Honda.
THREE WEEKS later, the car was sold twice -- within 48 hours.
On Feb. 17, 1998, the Providence police held an auction at the Providence
Civic Center to sell 17 cars. The department publicized the auction.
Because the police have not kept records of their car sales, only Richard
Autiello can say what happened to the 1991 Honda. Autiello is co-owner of
Four A's Enterprises, a garage and car dealership in Providence that holds
a three-year, $1.75-million contract to provide service for the fleet of
city police vehicles.
Autiello said he always attends the auctions, but seldom buys any cars.
The Honda was put up for auction that day, but nobody bid on it, according
to Autiello. Afterwards, as he was "kibitzing" with police officers,
Autiello said, he decided to buy the Honda. He said he haggled with the
police and got the Honda for $450.
"It started up, but it didn't move," Autiello said.
He had the Honda towed to his garage on Cranston Street. He said he planned
to use the car for parts. "It was blowing black smoke."
But the next day, Autiello said, a buyer for the car walked into his
garage: Sandra L. Morgero, 45, then of 34 Spenstone St., Cranston.
Morgero, he said, was driving an older Honda.
"She had some toilet she was driving, some kind of junk box," Autiello said.
Autiello said he asked Morgero how much money she wanted to spend and that
she told him $3,000.
THE MECHANICS at Four A's went to work. Autiello said they spent at least a
week repairing a severe oil leak, rebuilding the transmission and replacing
the clutch.
He estimated that he spent more than $1,500 on repairs.
Records from the state Registry of Motor Vehicles show that Morgero bought
the car Feb. 18, the same day she stopped by the garage.
She had the car registered the next day.
Autiello said he didn't know why she bought the car and had it registered
before she could drive it.
"I was wondering that myself," he said.
Last September, Morgero joined the payroll of the city's Public Safety
Department. She works as a laborer earning $13 an hour at the Providence
Animal Control Center.
She drives the Honda to her job at the city dog pound. Approached early
this week by two reporters and asked about her purchase of the Honda,
Morgero declined to comment. "I'm sorry, that's personal information," she
said.
Within an hour, Ryan, of the Providence police, called one of the reporters
to announce that the dog pound is off-limits to reporters.
ON THURSDAY, Ryan was interviewed about police property procedures.
The department could not produce any records concerning the Feb. 17 sale of
the 1991 Honda.
When asked why the car's seizure and sale were not reported to the state
treasurer, Ryan placed a telephone call to Detective Wayne Ferland, who
oversees property seized by the department.
"Can you tell me how this would happen?" Ryan asked.
Ferland, who could be heard on a speaker phone, couldn't provide Ryan with
answers.
Ryan instructed Ferland to address the problem immediately and compile an
amended report for the state treasurer.
Then Ryan leafed through the department's internal list of seized cars to
see if there were other contradictions with the 1998 and 1999 reports to
the state treasurer. Within a minute, he found four other cars that were
not reported.
"It certainly isn't on purpose," Ryan said. "We wouldn't violate a state
law that requires us to report."
When the subject of the Feb. 17 auction came up in the interview, Ryan
again telephoned Ferland. This time, he spoke with Ferland over the
handset, not the speaker.
"What records do you have?" Ryan asked.
"Do you have a record of any car sold that day at the auction?"
"So how do we keep track of how much we get from it?"
"So what you're saying is we don't have a record of selling that car for
$450?"
"Do we have a total amount for that auction?"
Ryan said he did not know how many property auctions the department has
conducted since the forfeiture law was enacted 10 years ago. He said the
Providence police have been seizing cars since 1988. He said that since
1991, the department has seized 480 cars and has sold 250. He said the
police have records of one auction: the last one, held July 25, 1998. The
police report to the state treasurer said that eight cars were sold.
Ryan, during the interview, vowed to correct the problem of inaccurate
reports to the state treasurer. He said that the problem should be solved
by the pending installation of computer software.
Ryan later telephoned to report that, while there was no record of the sale
price of any car, records showed that the police deposited $15,209.53 in a
bank account after the auction on Feb. 17, 1998.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Chief Turns Against His Men (The New York Times says Alexander V.
Oriente, the former police chief in West New York, New Jersey, a small
blue-collar town across the Hudson River from Manhattan's Upper West Side,
has already admitted to payoffs, kickbacks, shakedowns and bribes. He has
declared himself a liar, a loan shark, even a common thief. Even more
surprising, for more than a week, Oriente has been testifying as a government
witness against four of his former officers accused of taking bribes and
kickbacks. The indictments in the case paint a detective-novel picture of
illicit after-hours bars, illegal video gambling dens and police-protected
prostitution rings. With its shady characters and film noir backdrop,
Oriente's tale is exceptionally noir. For nearly a decade, prosecutors say,
Oriente and his officers turned their department into a bustling organized
crime enterprise that collected and shared as much as $1.5 million in illegal
gains.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Former Chief Turns Against Force
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 18:03:00 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
April 3, 1999
New York Times
Former Chief Turns Against His Men
By ALAN FEUER
AMDEN, N.J. -- He has admitted everything: the payoffs, the kickbacks, the
shakedowns and the bribes. In his resigned and raspy voice, he has declared
himself a liar, a loan shark, even a common thief.
But Alexander V. Oriente has been forced to do more than simply offer his
confessions on the witness stand in Federal District Court here. He has had
to break the code of his profession and testify against his own.
For more than a week, Oriente, the former chief of police in West New York,
N.J., has been appearing as a Government witness in the trial of four of his
former officers, who stand accused of taking thousands of dollars in bribes
and kickbacks on the job. Although Oriente led the department during the
years in which his officers are charged with breaking the law, he avoided a
trial in the sprawling corruption case by pleading guilty to single counts
of racketeering and tax fraud last March.
No one expected a lofty contest of ideals when the four officers -- Lieut.
Richard Hess, Sgts. John Morrow and Arthur Pena and Detective Carlos
Rivera -- went on trial last week. After all, the indictments in the case
painted a detective-novel picture of illicit after-hours bars, illegal video
gambling dens and police-protected prostitution rings. But even in a case
like this, with its shady characters and film noir backdrop, Oriente's tale
is exceptionally noir.
The case, which erupted in January 1997 with the arrests of 9 officers and
10 residents of West New York, a small blue-collar town across the Hudson
River from Manhattan's Upper West Side, is the largest police corruption
scandal in New Jersey history. For nearly a decade, prosecutors say, Oriente
and his officers turned their department into a bustling organized crime
enterprise that collected and shared as much as $1.5 million in illegal
gains.
More than 30 people, about half of them police officers, were eventually
charged in the case. But most entered plea agreements with the Federal
Government, and only the four accused remain on trial.
The trial is expected to last into the summer and feature a cast of
characters that could include a father-and-son team of convicted Cuban
gamblers and an officer who helped the Government by secretly tape-recording
his colleagues and friends.
But for now, Oriente, 65, of Ridgefield, is the Government's star witness.
When he first took the stand last week, he implicated each of the four
defendants and testified that he himself had taken bribes from virtually his
first day on the job, more than 40 years ago.
"It was normal procedure," he told the jury matter-of-factly. "If someone
was brought in, you'd take their money, put it in your pocket or share it
with your partner."
Defense lawyers have tried to portray Oriente as a serial liar who cut a
deal with the Government to avoid a long prison term.
In his opening statement, Vincent Nuzzi, the lawyer for Lieutenant Hess,
referred to Oriente and his fellow witnesses as "lowlifes" and added,
"Calling these people rats would be doing a disservice to the rodents."
On Wednesday, Peter Willis, a lawyer for Sergeant Morrow, peppered Oriente
with stinging questions about lying on his tax returns and betraying
everything from his sworn oath as an officer to his marriage vows.
But even under harsh cross-examination, the witness was serene in
acknowledging these misdeeds. Indeed, Oriente's deadpan confessions, offered
with wry shrugs that bunched the shoulders of his gray business suit, seemed
to prove that he had become a man beyond embarrassment and shame.
On the stand, he has told how he joined the police force in 1956 and worked
his way up from patrolman to captain and eventually to chief. Along the way,
he told the jury, he took part in the civic life of West New York, lecturing
on public safety to the P.T.A. and on the dangers of drugs to family groups.
(His own family includes three children, one of whom, Alexander Oriente Jr.,
is a former West New York police officer who pleaded guilty in the case.)
But the former chief also admitted that he led a double life, scouring the
streets in uniform looking for illicit deals. Over the years, he said, he
lent millions of dollars as a loan shark, took kickbacks to protect illegal
gambling and received at least $200 a week from a local madam, whom he
admitted sleeping with and protecting when her neighbors complained about
the business. (The woman, who was charged in the case, suffered a nervous
breakdown in jail and Government psychologists declared her incompetent to
stand trial.)
Oriente resigned in 1997 under the shadow of a Federal investigation, and in
January state officials revoked his $80,000 annual pension. He now works an
$8.50-an-hour job at a home for the elderly, he said. While it remains
unclear how much he made from his crimes, he said under cross-examination
that he is now "busted, broke, just plain out of cash."
The sight of Oriente on the witness stand describing the crooked ways of his
department has shocked some law enforcement experts, who say it is
exceedingly rare for a police chief to testify against his employees.
"I don't think I've ever seen it before," said Michael Chertoff, the United
States Attorney for New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. "It sounds like the
underlings waited a little too long to cooperate, and the chief just beat
them to the punch."
Most police officers in West New York have refused to discuss the case,
though the handful of officers willing to talk have painted a picture of a
department where morale is low and paranoia is high.
"It's depressing to everyone," one officer said on the condition of
anonymity. "And I'm sure, for certain individuals, it's very scary. All I
want now is to do my last seven years and get off the job as quickly as I
can."
For Oriente, the trial is a chance to reduce the amount of time, if any, he
will have to spend in prison; his maximum possible sentence is 25 years. But
the trial is also an opportunity, he says, to clear his conscience after
more than four decades as a corrupt police officer.
"I come here," he told the jury with a rare strain of emotion in his voice,
"and I tell the truth. I come clean with everything. I tell what's really
going on."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana (A typically duplicitous staff editorial in the
Washington Post about the March 17 Institute of Medicine report says "There
are good reasons to be skeptical of the movement for medical marijuana. The
issue has become a kind of stalking horse for marijuana legalization
generally, one that avoids the serious public policy questions legalization
presents." This after more than 25 years of activists' efforts to get
government to confront "the serious public policy questions legalization
presents" and a lengthier period of stonewalling by government, including,
most recently, the quashing of voters' rights in Washington, D.C.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 11:29:00 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Editorial: Medical Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kevin Zeese http://www.csdp.org/
Pubdate: Sat, 3 Apr 1998
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1998 The Washington Post Company
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Page: A14, Editorial
Medical Marijuana
THE REPORT by the Institute of Medicine on medical uses of marijuana
provides guidance on a subject that has been politicized beyond both
its actual medical promise and its actual law enforcement
implications. The report has been spun as a victory by all sides, but
its contents are neither a ringing endorsement nor an outright
rejection of marijuana's therapeutic qualities.
Its authors conclude that while marijuana-derived chemicals such as
THC and other cannabinoids may be useful for a variety of symptoms,
smoked marijuana is "a crude THC delivery system that also delivers
harmful substances." The goal in studying "smoked marijuana would not
be to develop marijuana as a licensed drug," they write, but "as a
first step towards . . . nonsmoked, rapid-onset cannabinoid delivery
systems."
There are good reasons to be skeptical of the movement for medical
marijuana. The issue has become a kind of stalking horse for marijuana
legalization generally, one that avoids the serious public policy
questions legalization presents.
Moreover, THC is already available commercially in oral form with a
prescription, and the FDA has approved other drugs to treat many
symptoms marijuana is said to relieve.
Something is wrongheaded about the notion of drug availability as a
subject for referenda, rather than for a regulatory process in which
data from rigorous clinical trials are evaluated.
The flip side, as the institute's report suggests, is that the class
of patients seems to be limited, generally, to terminally ill people
suffering from chronic pain, nausea from chemotherapy, or appetite
suppression from AIDS or advanced cancers who don't respond to
standard therapies but do respond to marijuana.
It seems wrong, in the name of fighting the war on drugs, to withhold
from these patients a drug, however imperfect, that offers relief.
And it should be possible to arrange for access to marijuana by people
who may benefit from it -- as compassionate-use programs have allowed
access to many unapproved therapies -- without a general relaxation of
drug laws.
The institute's report recommends that marijuana and its constituent
compounds be studied further, with trials of smoked marijuana
examining only short-term use to avoid the health consequences of
longer-term marijuana smoking.
No reasonable objection can be made to this idea, particularly insofar
as further studies could lead to cannabinoid delivery systems that
lack the unhealthful qualities of smoking.
The report also recommends that access to marijuana be permitted for
patients who have failed to respond to standard treatments and whose
doctors approve their use of it. This too seems reasonable. Key,
however, is that such expanded access not become a system -- such as
the buyers' clubs that followed the referendum in California -- under
which marijuana is made openly available even to those with no medical
need for it. If marijuana is to be medicine, it should be under tight
controls and used only by those who cannot avail themselves of other
drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
FDA Approves Drugs Even When Experts On Its Advisory Raise Safety Questions
(A letter to the editor of the British Medical Journal questions the
journal's conclusion that the Food and Drug Administration is "probably not"
approving drugs too fast. For example, the transcript of the meeting of the
FDA's advisory committee for mibefradil, which is available at the
administration's website, supports the increasingly common view that the FDA
has become the pharmaceutical industry's partner rather than its watchdog.)
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 18:02:11 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: LTE: FDA Approves Drugs Even When Experts On Its Advisory
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)
Pubdate: Sat, 3 Apr 1999
Source: British Medical Journal (UK)
Section: Letters
Copyright: 1999 by the British Medical Journal.
Contact: bmj@bmj.com
Website: http://www.bmj.com/
Author: Dr. Laurence Landow
FDA APPROVES DRUGS EVEN WHEN EXPERTS ON ITS ADVISORY PANELS RAISE
SAFETY QUESTIONS
EDITOR
After reading the editorial questioning whether the Food and
Drug Administration is approving drugs too fast I was perplexed by the
conclusion "probably not." [ref 1] Apparently the authors failed to read
the transcript of the meeting of the administration's advisory
committee for mibefradil (NDA 20-689), which is on the
administration's website one of three drugs recently recalled by the
administration because of deaths and serious morbidity.
If they had read this transcript they would have been overwhelmed by
the number of disturbing signals from committee members throughout the
document (page numbers refer to the Acrobat version): "I'm afraid that
we are rushing into this" (p 199); "I think it's concerning that the
mortality data look the way they do right now" (p 202); "given the
fact that there are a lot of other effective therapies out there, why
not be safe with the public?" (p 205); "I think it's premature [to
approve the product] (p 209); "aren't we obligated to provide some
assurance that the ECG (electrocardiographic) changes we've seen here
today are not ultimately lethal?" (p 127); "I sure don't feel good
about what I've seen" [referring to electrocardiographic changes] (p
126); "you have 8 deaths in the patients treated with mibefradil and 1
death in the placebo or control populations" (p 135); "are you really
comfortable, with so little mortality data, ... that it's safe?" (p
138), etc.
To conclude, as the editorial does, that serious adverse events are
inevitable and "one more bittersweet fact of medical progress" is too
facile. A more plausible explanation recognises that, for some time,
formidable forces both political and economic have insisted that new
drugs and devices be approved more quickly than ever before by the
administration. This interpretation agrees with the view held by many
healthcare policy academics, patient advocate organisations, and
consumer watchdog groups. They argue that in the past few years the
Food and Drug Administration's role has changed. Rather than
regulating the drug industry to protect the health of consumers of
prescription drugs, the administration has become the industry's
partner, rapidly approving drugs for marketing even when medical
experts on its own advisory panels raise serious safety questions.
Although one may not entirely agree with this outlook, it does provide
an explanation for much of the evidence that Kleinke and Gottlieb seem
to have overlooked.
Laurence Landow, Instructor in anesthesia, Harvard Medical School.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA
elmrfudd@erols.com
From 1996 to 1998 Dr Landow was a medical officer and acting team
leader in the Anesthetic and Critical Care Drugs Section of the Center
for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug
Administration.
Reference
1.Kleinke JD, Gottlieb S. Is the FDA approving drugs too fast? BMJ
1998; 317: 899. (3 October.)
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for April 2-8