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

Suspect In Slaying Of Political Activist Turns Himself In (The Associated
Press says Russell Wayne Dean turned himself in Wednesday in Baker County,
Oregon, after eluding a weeklong manhunt in a mountainous area near Florence.
Dean is suspected in the April 27 shooting death of James Rix Anderson, 55, a
well-known activist who once tried to recall the sheriff and accused county
officials of involvement in a drug ring.)

Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 00:55:38 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US OR: Wire: Suspect In Slaying Of Political Activist Turns
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Wed, May 12 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press

SUSPECT IN SLAYING OF POLITICAL ACTIVIST TURNS HIMSELF IN

BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) -- After a weeklong manhunt that sent investigators
deep into the forested mountains of the Oregon Coast, the suspect in the
shooting death of a local political activist turned himself in Wednesday.

Russell Wayne Dean, 54, surrendered to the Baker County Sheriff about 9:30
a.m. after hiding out in a mountainous area near Florence, more than 400
miles away.

Dean is suspected in the April 27 shooting death of James Rix Anderson, 55,
a well-known activist who once tried to recall the sheriff and accused
county officials of involvement in a drug ring. Police say Anderson and Dean
were once involved with the same woman.

Dean was indicted by the grand jury last week after witnesses and physical
evidence tied him to the crime scene.

After learning Dean was hiding out in Florence, three detectives flew to the
area Monday, only to find that Dean had left just hours before their
arrival. Dean's attorney contacted authorities Tuesday about his plans to
turn himself in.

According to District Attorney Greg Baxter, Anderson became romantically
involved with Dean's girlfriend last year while Dean was out of town. When
Dean returned in February, the woman ended her relationship with Anderson.

According to Baxter, Anderson then began sending her a series of letters
attacking her character and accusing her of committing various crimes. He
also linked the woman to Baker County Sheriff Terry Speelman, whom Anderson
tried unsuccessfully to recall in 1996.

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

Printers sue company, saying smokers should go outside (The Associated Press
says two employees have sued Sterling Business Forms in Medford, Oregon,
claiming they've been subjected to secondhand smoke because the company won't
give smokers breaks to go outside and light up.)

Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Wed, May 12 1999
Source: The Associated Press (OR)
Copyright: 1999 Oregon Live LLC
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Author: no byline

Printers sue company, saying smokers should go outside

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- Two employees have sued Sterling Business Forms,
claiming they've been subjected to secondhand smoke because the company
won't give smokers breaks to go outside to light up.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Jackson County Court, press operators Mike
Blackwell and John Lockman of Sterling's White City plant each seek $5,000
in medical expenses, $50,000 for pain and suffering, as well as $10,000 for
being treated with contempt and ridicule when they complained about the problem.

Blackwell said his health has suffered over the 13 years he has worked at
the company because management refuses to stop the presses periodically to
give workers outdoor smoking breaks. He added that the smokeless ashtrays
provided by the company aren't enough.

Sterling President Mike Jackson said he has not been served with the lawsuit
and cannot comment on it until he reads it.

Founded in the Rogue Valley, Sterling Business Forms employs about 300
people at plants in Medford, White City, Sacramento, Calif., and San Francisco.

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

Baldwins Get Hung Jury, DA Vows New Trial (A news release from
medical-marijuana patient/activist/defendant Steve Kubby says a Placer County
jury in Auburn, California, failed to convict patient/defendants Dr. Michael
Baldwin and his wife, Georgia, on marijuana trafficking charges related to
their cultivation bust. Another patient/defendant, Bob Ames, sends a
different account of the Baldwins' acquittal.)

Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 18:28:19 -0700
To: dpfca@drugsense.org, natlnorml@aol.com
From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Subject: DPFCA: Baldwins Get Hung Jury, DA Vows New Trial
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

5/12/99

(AUBURN, CA.) The jury in the Baldwin ended up hung in a 6-6 split on
Michael Baldwin and voted 7-5 to acquit Georgia Baldwin. Normally such an
even split in a hung jury would not be challenged, but the Placer County
D.A.'s office has already announced their intention to re-try the Baldwins.

Steve Kubby, who is scheduled to appear on similar charges in the same
court says, "Our hearts go out to Dr. Baldwin and his wife who have
suffered so terribly by this entire ordeal and must now go through this
painful experience again. Naturally, we are disappointing with the outcome
of what should have been an automatic acquittal, but it only strengthens
our resolve to win a decisive victory for ourselves and for seriously ill
patients everywhere."

***

K U B B Y D E F E N S E F U N D
15 Monarch Bay Plaza #375
Dana Point, CA 92629-3424
http://www.kubby.com

***

Join the Kubby Chronicles and get e-mail updates:
Simply write reply to this e-mail and write
"Subscribe" or "Unsubscribe" in the SUBJECT heading

***

Subject: DPFCA: Baldwins Hung Jury
To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 18:29:39 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: bob@rush.com
From: bob@rush.com (Bob Ames)
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

Greetings,

Late this afternoon, the jury in Doctor and Mrs. Baldwin's trial hung,
6 to 6 on Dr. Baldwin and 5 to 7 favoring acquittal for Mrs. Baldwin.

Jurors said that if they had seen the 6 tubs of cannabis butter, they
would have acquitted. Biggest question was: What happened to previous
harvest?

I'll post a more detailed account later.

My Very Own Trial begins in just 3 weeks here in Sacramento.

At my previous court appearance, police admitted that Sacramento Police
Policy is to Automatically Arrest All Patients and "let the courts sort
it out."

Bob Ames
bob@rush.com

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

Good News: No New Trial For Baldwins (A correction from Steve Kubby says the
Placer County District Attorney has not indicated any intention to re-try the
Baldwins, nor is there any reason to expect him to do so.)

From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: Good News: NO NEW TRIAL FOR BALDWINS
Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 13:00:58 PDT

Congratulations Mike & Georgia. Now maybe you can relax. Too bad you can't go
on a vacation, but I imagine you don't have alot of money left, after all the
expenses & the loss of your business. That is if they really don't refile
charges. According to Ryan Landers, the DA at the close of the trial made a
statement that they would be refiling.

Ralph

From: "Steve Kubby" (steve@kubby.org)
Subject: Good News: NO NEW TRIAL FOR BALDWINS
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 22:27:23 -0700

Good News: NO NEW TRIAL FOR BALDWINS

My previous story about the District Attorney re-filing charges against the
Baldwins was completely wrong.

The Placer County District Attorney has NOT indicated any intention to re-try
the Baldwins, nor is there any reason to expect him to do so.

I thought my earlier report was confirmed, but it was an unfortunate
miscommunication.

All of us are thrilled for Dr. Baldwin and his wife that they have been
vindicated and can finally get on with their lives. If you'd like to
congratulate Michael and Georgia Baldwin for their courageous victory, you
can reach them at muad-dib.cwo.com@cwo.com

--steve

***

K U B B Y D E F E N S E F U N D
15 Monarch Bay Plaza #375
Dana Point, CA 92629-3424
http://www.kubby.com

***

Join the Kubby Chronicles and get e-mail updates:
Simply write reply to this e-mail and write
"Subscribe" or "Unsubscribe" in the SUBJECT heading

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

Dalton Hearing In San Francisco (The Anderson Valley Advertiser, in
Boonville, California, says Redwood Valley resident John Dalton will receive
an evidentiary hearing Monday in federal court. Judge Susan Illston has
ordered the unprecedented hearng to explore the conduct of the Drug
Enforcement Administration agents who busted Dalton two years ago on charges
related to marijuana production. In his zeal to bust Dalton, DEA Special Agent
Mark Nelson allegedly seduced Dalton's mentally ill wife, a longtime cop
wannabe, and told her she had become a special agent for the DEA, even
assigning Dalton's wife a "special agent number" that the DEA refers to in
more than 30 internal reports.)

Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 16:36:46 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Dalton Hearing In San Francisco
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: combexeast@aol.com
Pubdate: 12 May 1999
Source: Anderson Valley Advertiser (CA)
Copyright: Anderson Valley Advertiser
Contact: ava@pacific.net
Tele: 707-895-3016
Fax: 707-895-3355
Author: Mark Heimann

DALTON HEARING IN SAN FRANCISCO

MONDAY, MAY 17 at 8 am Redwood Valley resident John Dalton will get a
full evidentiary hearing on Outrageous Government Conduct at the
Federal Courthouse on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Judge
Susan Illston has ordered the unprecedented hearng to explore the
conduct of the Drug Enforcement Administration agents who busted
Dalton two years ago on a variety of charges related to marijuana
production. In their zeal to bust Dalton, DEA Special Agent Mark
Nelson stepped way over the line of acceptable law enforcement
practices; he seduced Dalton's mentally ill wife, telling her she was
a special agent of the DEA. Nelson even assigned Dalton's wife,
Victoria "Tori" Horstman, a "special agent number," which the DEA
refers to in over 30 internal reports. The DEA now claims Horstman
was never a special agent, in spite of all the references to her by
her DEA ID number.

Agent Nelson convinced Horstman, a longtime cop wannabe, that she was
a "secret agent" so she would place a recording device underneath the
bed she shared with her husband, among other questionable practices.

Nelson, a married man with two children, manipulated an unbalanced
woman with a drinking problem to arrest Dalton. But Nelson and the
DEA can't have it both ways. If she was an agent, the evidence she
gathered was obtained illegally. If she's not an agent, the
information she gathered and turned over to Nelson was probably
gathered illegally. Either way whatever evidence against Mr. Dalton
was obtained by recording devices buried in the marital bower, it is
protected by marital privilege, and as such, should be tossed, gutting
the core of the government's case. And that's only one aspect of a
DEA investigation so outrageous the entire case risks being thrown out
by Judge Illston. Famed San Francisco attorney Tony Serra represents
Dalton, so Monday's hearing promises to be quite a show. Shari
Greenberger, of Serra's office, wrote the motions which won Dalton the
hearing --- a hearing believed to be unprecedented at the federal
level. That part of the public interested in tracking out-of-control
police agencies like the DEA, are encouraged to attend and lend John
Dalton and his attorneys their support.

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

Distinguished Citizens Commission to Examine U.S. War on Drugs (A news
release from the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based think tank,
says the Los Angeles Citizens' Fact Finding Commission on U.S. Drug Policy
will hold public hearings May 22-23 at the University of Southern California.
Sponsored by the IPS and a coalition of Los Angeles organizations, and
conceived in the wake of the CIA-Contra-Cocaine scandal, the hearings will
feature expert witnesses on drug policy presenting testimony to a panel of
six distinguished "citizen commissioners," including conservatives. Based on
the testimony, the Commission will issue a report analyzing the social impact
of U.S. drug policy and recommending policy alternatives. The news release
concludes with a letter of invitation from Harry Belafonte, the commission's
honorary chairperson.)

Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 06:43:02 EDT
Originator: friends@freecannabis.org
Sender: friends@freecannabis.org
From: "David Crockett Williams" (gear2000@lightspeed.net)
To: Multiple recipients of list (friends@freecannabis.org)
Subject: Citizens' Commission to Examine US War on Drugs

From: Michael Novick (part2001@usa.net)
To: Dana Beal (dana@cures-not-wars.org); mayday@onelist.com
(mayday@onelist.com)
Subject: Citizens' Commission to Examine US War on Drugs
Date: Friday, May 14, 1999 11:26 PM

From: Sanho Tree (stree@igc.org)
Subject: Distinguished Citizens' Commission to Examine US War on Drugs

Dear Friends,

Please forward this message to interested parties -- especially those in
Southern California -- and invite them to the hearings in Los Angeles.

***

Press Advisory May 12, 1999

For more information or to arrange interviews contact:
Prof. Robert Benson (Loyola Law School) 213-736-1094 or
Sanho Tree (Institute for Policy Studies) 202-234-9382 ext. 266

DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS' COMMISSION TO EXAMINE US WAR ON DRUGS

On May 22-23, the Los Angeles Citizens' Fact Finding Commission on US Drug
Policy will hold public hearings at the University of Southern California.
Expert witnesses on drug policy will present testimony to a panel of
distinguished "citizen commissioners." Based on the testimony, the
Commission will issue a report analyzing the social impact of US drug
policy and recommending policy alternatives.

"Over the last three decades, the 'War on Drugs' has done little more than
incarcerate hundreds of thousands of non-violent prisoners, militarize
government agencies and police forces around the world, and generally
advance a policy of 'harm maximization.' The problem of drug abuse and
addiction requires a public health and economic development response
instead of the current criminal 'justice' paradigm," argues Harry
Belafonte, the Commission's honorary chairperson.

Conceived in the wake of the CIA-Contra-Cocaine controversy, the
Commission - sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and a
coalition of Los Angeles organizations - will investigate issues beyond
those brought up in the 1996 news stories and examine the overall impact of
the so-called "War on Drugs," particularly on Los Angeles. "This
Commission begins a citizen inquiry and dialogue toward a sane drug
policy," said James Lafferty of the National Lawyers Guild, who is one of
the Commission organizers. The hearings will cover three main issue areas:
How does the drug industry operate? What has been the extent of government
corruption and complicity in the drug trade? What has been the societal
impact of US drug policy and what are some alternatives?

Although IPS is a progressive, multi-issue, Washington-based think tank,
it is working across ideological and regional lines to help foster a
wholesale reevaluation of US drug control policy. Several of the six
jurists serving as "Citizen Commissioners" are conservatives and among the
expert witnesses are analysts from the RAND Corporation and Hoover
Institution.

The six "Citizen Commissioners" presiding over the hearings and issuing
the final report are:

* Cruz Reynoso, former Justice of the California Supreme Court
* Shirley Fingerhood, former Justice of the New York Supreme (trial) Court
* James Gray, Superior Court Judge, Santa Ana, CA
* Volney Brown, retired Chief United States Magistrate Judge
* Carol Codrington, Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Municipal Court
* Alvin Bronstein, Esq., Director Emeritus of the National Prison Project

The hearings are free and open to the public and will be held in Room 201
of Taper Hall at USC's main campus on the weekend of May 22 (9 am-6 pm) and
May 23 (10 am-1:30 pm). A fundraising reception will be held at USC's
University Religious Center on Saturday, May 22 from 6:00-7:30 pm. It will
be followed at 8 pm by a free screening of the film "Slam" (Sundance Film
Festival Winner) and a Q&A session with "Slam" producer Richard Stratton.

***

PROGRAM:

The Los Angeles Citizens' Fact Finding Commission on US Drug Policy
May 22-23, 1999 - University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Saturday, May 22

***

I. HOW THE DRUG INDUSTRY OPERATES
9:00 am - 11:45 pm, 201 Taper Hall

* Who are the users? What are the myths? Michael A. Males, UC Irvine
sociologist

* What's the chain from wholesale production to retail distribution? Paul
Lewin, Research Director, Common Sense for Drug Policy

* How do the billions flow and who profits? "Legitimate" businesses and the
drug economy. Gordon A. Greenberg, LA attorney specializing in banking and
money laundering issues

11:45 - 1:15 pm Lunch Break

***

II. GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION AND COMPLICITY IN THE WAR ON DRUGS
1:15 - 6:00 pm, 201 Taper Hall

* "Police Gangsterism" -- Local and federal corruption in the drug war.
Joseph McNamara, Hoover Institution Fellow and former San Jose police chief

* Police misconduct and the erosion of civil liberties. Carol Watson, LA
civil rights attorney

* The CIA-Contra-Cocaine controversy: What do internal CIA and Justice
Department reports reveal? Peter Dale Scott, Prof. Emeritus, UC Berkeley
and co-author of Cocaine Politics

* Analysis of press coverage from mid-1980s to the present. What have
investigative journalists and researchers reliably documented about
government complicity? Robert Parry, Editor of IF Magazine and former AP
and Newsweek reporter

* Historical uses of race, class, gender and immigration in US drug control
policy. Craig Reinarman, UC Santa Cruz sociologist

***

Sunday, May 23

III. THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF DRUGS AND THE WAR ON DRUGS
10:00 am - 1:30 pm, 201 Taper Hall

* Impact of the "Drug War" on communities. Karen Bass, Director, Community
Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention, and Carrie Broadus, Minority AIDS
Project

* Inequality of prosecution and imprisonment. Franklin Ferguson, Jr.,
Loyola Law School and civil rights attorney

* Political and financial costs of the drug war for the public. Dan
Macallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

* Public health vs. criminalization policies: "Harm Reduction" or
"Zero-Tolerance." Ricky Bluthenthal, RAND Corporation

* What are workable alternatives for drug control policy? Mike Gray,
author of "Drug Crazy"

***

SATURDAY, MAY 23 RECEPTION AND FILM

6-7:30 pm Fundraising Reception, University Religious Center
Featuring Gary Webb
Please RSVP to (202)234-9382 ext. 230

8 pm "Slam" A feature film on the incarceration of a young
African-American poet and drug war prisoner (Winner of the
Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival, 1998). Introduction
by Producer/Co-Writer Richard Stratton, Room 201 Taper Hall

***

Sponsored by: Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, DC
Co-sponsors: National Lawyers Guild (LA Chapter); Project HEED (Human,
Economic & Environmental Defense); Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR);
Office of the Americas, USC Political Science Department; Center for
Religion and Civic Culture at USC; United Ministry at USC; Criminal Justice
Policy Foundation; Seven Stories Press; Crack the CIA Coalition

***

A LETTER OF INVITATION FROM HARRY BELAFONTE, HONORARY CHAIRPERSON:

Dear Friends,

I'm writing because you, like me, are among the growing number of people in
this country appalled at the impact of the "war on drugs" both abroad and
at home. I would like to invite your support and participation in a
creative and important series of events aimed at building a citizens'
movement to change US drug policy.

Over the last three decades, the "war on drugs" has done little more than
incarcerate hundreds of thousands of non-violent prisoners, militarize
government agencies and police forces around the world, and generally
advance a policy of "harm maximization." Just note, for instance, that:

* every 30 seconds someone in the US is arrested for drug violations

* the US has more prisoners than any other country in the world

* on average a new prison is built every week

* in California, five African-Americans males are in prison for every one
in a state university

* yet today more illegal drugs of higher quality and cheaper price are
entering the US than when the "drug war" began in the early 1970s

And, as journalists such as Gary Webb revealed - and the CIA's and Justice
Department's own recently released internal reports admit - the flow of
narcotics into the US has been facilitated, in part, by corrupt government
employees and by policies that permitted alliances with drug traffickers
for the sake of other foreign policy objectives.

The problem of drug abuse and addiction requires a public health and
economic development response instead of the current criminal "justice"
paradigm. To help turn the tide of this inhumane and hypocritical "drug
war," my friends at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), together with a
coalition of concerned Los Angeles citizens, are holding a public hearing
on May 22-23 at the University of Southern California. I invite you to
attend the important events detailed here. Although I will not be able to
attend, I would especially like to invite you to a fundraising reception to
be held at the USC's University Religious Center on Saturday, May 22, from
6 - 7:30 pm.

Let us work together solve those conditions that create these problems and
advance a humane, sustainable, and Constitutional alternative policy that
addresses the causes rather than punishes the symptoms. I urge you to
support the work of the IPS Drug Policy Project so that we will not lose
another generation to addiction and incarceration.

With Peace and Goodwill,
Harry Belafonte

***

People Against Racist Terror (PART) PO Box 1055 Culver City CA 90232
Tel.: 310-288-5003 E-mail: part2001@usa.net
URL: http://people.we.mediaone.net/part2001/index.html

Order our quarterly: "Turning the Tide:Journal of Anti-Racist Activism,
Research & Education"

End the racist death penalty! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Alejandrina Torres,
and all political prisoners and P.O.W.'s in U.S. prisons!

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

Firefighter Argues Girlfriend Spiked His Food (The Associated Press says Carl
Chestnut, a firefighter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who lost his job after
failing a drug test wants his job back, claiming his ex-girlfriend laced his
food with marijuana without his knowledge because of a dispute over custody
of their two children.)

Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 23:28:23 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: WIRE: Firefighter Argues Girlfriend Spiked His Food
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Frank S. World
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press

FIREFIGHTER ARGUES GIRLFRIEND SPIKED HIS FOOD WITH MARIJUANA

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A firefighter who lost his job after failing a drug test
said he should get his job back because his girlfriend laced his food with
marijuana without his knowledge.

"I'm very despondent -- angry and despondent," Carl Chestnut, a 20-year
veteran of the department, said Wednesday. "I feel victimized, that I
risked my life for the city and the department, and I'm not being given any
consideration. This is like a slap in the face."

On Tuesday, Chestnut filed an appeal with the Fire and Police Commission,
and a hearing is expected within the next three to four weeks, said Steve
Fronk, hearing examiner with the commission.

Chestnut said he tested positive for drugs in late April, because his now
ex-girlfriend laced brownies and salads with marijuana beginning in January.
She has admitted to trying to get him in trouble because of a dispute over
custody of their two children, Chestnut said.

Deputy Fire Chief Dan Shea said Chestnut was terminated on May 7, but he
would not say why.

"I don't want to say anything that's going to deter Carl Chestnut from
getting his job back through an appeal," Shea said.

Shea said the department has a zero-tolerance policy on drug use, based on a
labor-management agreement signed in 1994 that allows random drug testing to
be done several times a year.

"We're not trying to get anyone out of the department," Shea said. "The
intent is to have a drug-free department."

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

Survey: Teen Drug Use Has Dropped (The MetroWest Daily News says preliminary
results of a survey commissioned by the Massachusetts Interscholastic
Athletic Association show that use of alcohol and other drugs among Bay State
high school students is down across the board since 1996. The biggest drop
came in the use of pain medications, which fell 11 percent among
high-schoolers since 1996, from 28 percent to 17 percent. Those who smoke
cigarettes decreased from 64 percent to 58 percent. Use of alcohol at least
one day a week dropped from 67 percent to 60 percent. Use of marijuana fell
from 41 percent to 32 percent.)

Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 21:44:10 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MA: Survey: Teen Drug Use Has Dropped
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Epeggs
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: MetroWest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 1995-1999, Community Newspaper Company.
Website: http://www.townonline.com/metrowest/
Address: 33 New York Avenue, Framingham, MA 01701
Feedback: http://www.townonline.com/metrowest/misc/forms/metrolet.html
Fax: (508) 626-3885
Author: Brian Carovillano

SURVEY: TEEN DRUG USE HAS DROPPED

MILFORD -- Drug and alcohol use among Bay State high school students is down
across-the-board, according to the preliminary results of a survey
commissioned by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Teen use of 10 out of 12 illegal prescription and over-the-counter drugs was
down from a similar survey conducted in 1996. The other two, the
performance-enhancing substances creatine and androstenedione, were not
included in the 1996 survey.

"These numbers look very encouraging," MIAA Deputy Director Bill Gaine said
yesterday. "I haven't really had a chance to look them over (carefully) but
it looks impressive."

The biggest drop came in the use of pain medications, which fell 11 percent
among high-schoolers since 1996. Then, 28 percent of students said they used
them for a variety of reasons, while just 17 percent of the students
surveyed this year said they use painkillers.

Marijuana, which 32 percent of the students surveyed this year admitted to
using regularly, was down from 41 percent in 1996.

The number of high school students who drink alcohol at least one day a week
also dropped in three years, from 67 percent to 60 percent. And the number
of Bay State high school students who smoke cigarettes was down, 64 percent
to 58 percent.

"There appears to be some good news out there," said Boston University
sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky, who announced the 1999 MIAA
Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Survey results yesterday in Milford.

Zaichkowsky and doctoral candidate Adam Naylor teamed up with Gaine for the
survey, the fourth such survey conducted by the MIAA. The BU professor was
quick to point out that the results are merely a preliminary sampling, and
that research staff are still putting in the results.

In all, the survey now includes results from 805 Massachusetts students
surveyed in high schools across the state over the last year. The final
results, which will include as many as 1,600 students, will be released
early next month.

Still, the preliminary results offer enough of a representative sample to
declare the good news.

"Between 800 and 1,600, I don't think it's going to change a whole lot,"
Zaichkowsky said.

Naylor presented the results to teachers, coaches and administrators at the
MIAA's third annual Statewide Wellness Summit in the Radisson Hotel in
Milford.

The survey results include a breakdown of drug, alcohol and tobacco use
among athletes compared to non-athletes. For every substance included in the
survey, with the exception of creatine, use was lower among athletes than
non-athletes.

"Do athletics promote a healthy lifestyle?" Naylor said. "The results would
seem to indicate that, yes."

The substances included in the survey were broken down into two basic
categories: recreational drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana,
crack/cocaine and psychedelics; and ergogenic aids, including
anti-inflammatory medications, painkillers, barbiturates, amphetamines,
steroids, creatine and androstenedione.

In addition to the number of users, the survey also tested for the source of
the drugs, with whom the drugs are used, and why. Students reported getting
their drugs from friends, teammates, doctors and coaches.

The use of crack and cocaine is down in state high schools from 5.4 percent
to around 5 percent. The use of psychedelics, including LSD, ecstasy,
ketamine and mushrooms, was down from 15 percent to 10 percent.

The use of anabolic steroids is down from 5 percent to 2 percent. But in an
interesting side note, Zaichkowsky pointed out that in another survey he
recently conducted, 2.7 percent of middle school students admitted to using
steroids.

The MIAA Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Survey grew out of the public dismay of
the cocaine-related death of former Celtic draftee Len Bias in 1986. The
following year, Gaine and Zaichkowsky joined forces for the first such
survey, a feat that has been repeated by Zaichkowsky and his doctoral
students four times since.

Nationally, 15.6 percent of the U.S. population has engaged in illicit drug
use, said Naylor, and 76 percent of those users start before age 19.

But national percentages are only so useful in assessing the state of things
here in Massachusetts, Zaichkowsky said.

"The national data can be misleading," he said. "It's important that we look
at our own data here in Massachusetts."

The 805 students included in the preliminary results of the survey include
55 percent males and 45 percent females. The sampling is weighted toward
younger students, with 43 percent of those surveyed being high school
freshmen, while 20 percent are sophomores, 22 percent are juniors and 15
percent are seniors.

The ethnic breakdown of the survey results includes 81 percent white
students, 6 percent Asian-American, 7 percent Latin-American, 5 percent
African-American and 1 percent Native American.

The majority of the students surveyed, 72 percent, were athletes either in
school or extracurricular competition.

MIAA Wellness Coordinator Jack Westcott said the survey allows the
association to tailor its drug and alcohol intervention programs to the
needs of the state's students.

Some of the educators and students at yesterday's Wellness Summit said
they've seen evidence of the survey's encouraging results every day in the
classroom.

"I think more kids are realizing that you can have fun without drugs and
alcohol," said Joan Cowan, health coordinator for the Hopkinton School
Department. "And as more and more kids make that decision, it becomes easier
for them because it's more acceptable among their peers."

Cowan also said that schools are taking a more positive approach to drug
education these days. Rather than frightening students with war stories from
haggard ex-addicts, educators are emphasizing the positive results of a
drug-free lifestyle.

"I still see it going on in school," said Hopkinton High School sophomore
Connie Chace. "But what I don't see is the peer pressure. I think it's cool
now for people to say, no."

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

Investigation Of DEA Shooting Full Of Surprises (The Daily Press, in
Pennsylvania, describes the aftermath of an incident Jan. 14 in which Joseph
Armento, a drunken DEA agent, shot Jason Temple in Temple's car. On Tuesday
Hampton General District Judge Pat Patrick ruled invalid a subsequent search
of Temple's car that yielded marijuana and cocaine. However, Temple's
preliminary hearing raised more troubling questions about the Hampton Police
Department's handling of a very sensitive and controversial crime. Armento
was mad because he had been thrown out of Rooney's with two other agents for
acting drunk and disorderly. Then, he was angry that Temple and two friends
had dared to look at him and his fellow G-men as they fumed in the parking
lot. The confrontation was never about drugs, and Tuesday's hearing only
added to the mystery of how it got to be.)

Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 06:16:09 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US VA: Investigation Of DEA Shooting Full Of Surprises
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Anonymous
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: Daily Press (VA)
Copyright: 1999 The Daily Press
Contact: letters@dailypress.com.
Website: http://www.dailypress.com/
Author: Jim Spencer

INVESTIGATION OF DEA SHOOTING FULL OF SURPRISES

The drug dealing case against Jason Temple boiled down to this: 6 1/2
hours after a drunken Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot
Temple, Hampton police found 1.4 grams of cocaine and 23 grams of
marijuana on the floorboard of Temple's truck and digital scales under
his driver's seat.

Trouble was, when agent Joseph Armento opened fire on him Jan. 14,
Temple was not a suspect in a DEA investigation. Temple had been in
his truck a total of six seconds in the 12 hours before the cops
discovered the dope. During the same period, Temple's roommate and
another friend also had been in the truck. Furthermore, Temple's truck
sat for five hours unlocked in the parking lot outside Rooney's Grille
& Bar before Armento shot Temple.

Hampton General District Judge Pat Patrick's decision Tuesday to throw
out the two felony drug dealing charges against Temple was a
no-brainer. Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Curtis' announcement that
she probably will not seek a direct indictment of Temple by the grand
jury was no surprise either. Volumes of case law establish that
ownership of a vehicle does not by itself prove possession of any
illegal items inside.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office offered a scenario preposterously
reminiscent of something cooked up by O.J. Simpson's defense team:
Temple carried the drugs out of Rooney's in a bag and was trying to
get away after Armento accosted him. To legally establish possession,
the prosecution wanted Patrick to believe that in six seconds Temple
climbed into his truck, placed his drugs on the floorboard, started
the truck and backed it up 10 or 15 feet before being struck in the
chest by a bullet.

With apologies to Johnnie Cochran: If it doesn't make sense,
it's not an offense.

Legally, the dismissal of the charges against Temple was a slam dunk.

Logically, however, Temple's preliminary hearing raised more troubling
questions about the Hampton Police Department's handling of a very
sensitive and controversial crime.

The drug dealing charges against Temple seemed too convenient a
diversion in a case where the real offender is a federal drug agent
who got drunk, accosted three young men without provocation and then
shot two of them after one drew a gun. The fellow who drew the gun,
Joey Turk, already has been convicted of brandishing a firearm.
Because Turk drew first, Armento was not charged for wounding him,
even though Turk had placed his gun on the hood of Temple's truck and
was unarmed when Armento's bullet struck.

The self-defense theory offered by Hampton police in Turk's wounding
was a stretch, but believable. The drug charges against Temple always
seemed off the wall. The source of the drugs in Temple's truck has
been a matter of intrigue since they were discovered lying in plain
view six hours after the shooting. When he emptied the 13 rounds in
his government-issued 9mm semiautomatic pistol, Armento had no
professional interest in Temple. Armento was mad because he had been
thrown out of Rooney's with two other agents for acting drunk and
disorderly. Then, he was angry that Temple and two friends had dared
to look at him and his fellow G-men as they fumed in the parking lot.

The confrontation was never about drugs, and Tuesday's hearing only
added to the mystery of how it got to be. The evidence showed that
marijuana and cocaine were found in Temple's truck in a purple
velveteen bag advertising Crown Royal Canadian whiskey. The amount of
drugs was small enough to be considered for personal use. But because
the drugs inside the velveteen bag were packaged in several plastic
baggies, police decided somebody intended to sell them.

Who that somebody was is anybody's guess. Unfortunately, the hearing
did nothing to disprove conspiracy theorists who wonder if someone
with the DEA planted the drugs in order to protect Armento. Testimony
that the cops found a digital scale of the type used to measure drugs
under the front seat seemed to make the conspiracy theory more
tenuous. After all, it takes a lot longer to stick a scale under a
seat than it takes to drop a bag of dope on a floorboard.

At the same time, testimony by Temple's brother revealed that police
may not have controlled the crime scene as securely as they claim. A
Hampton officer, who kept a crime scene log, testified Tuesday that
only police and medics were admitted inside the crime scene tape in
the hours after the shooting. But Adam Temple testified that he came
to the crime scene around 6 a.m. and walked to his brother's truck
unchallenged by police.

Adam Temple testified that he startled two crime scene technicians
examining the truck. They told him angrily that he couldn't be there
and ordered him to move outside the yellow crime scene tape that
marked off the area of the shooting.

One of the technicians came to him later to apologize "for snapping at
me," Adam Temple testified.

An objection by assistant Commonwealth's Attorney James Gochenour kept
Temple from testifying what else the technician told him. After the
hearing, Jason Temple's lawyer, Robert Boester, explained that the
crime scene technician told Adam that "she had some doubt that the
crime scene had been properly maintained."

That conversation came as news to Curtis, when she was contacted in
her office after Jason Temple's hearing.

"This is the first I've heard of it," Curtis said. "Obviously, I have
to check it out."

She should check thoroughly. This is not the first gaffe that caught
the prosecutor unaware. She didn't realize that police failed to seize
the weapons of all DEA agents at the scene of the shooting. She also
didn't realize that an HPD forensics expert could name the makes of
only three of the six guns he eventually collected or that he sniffed
the barrel of only one gun to see if it had been recently fired.

Each new revelation chips away at credibility and reveals what's at
stake here. The commonwealth's upcoming prosecution of Joseph Armento
will only be as good as the investigation that supports it. If the
holes grow any larger or more plentiful, it may be time for an outside
agency to scrutinize police conduct in this case as zealously as the
cops seem to have investigated its victims.

- Jim Spencer can be reached at 247-4731 or by e-mail at
jlspencer@dailypress.com Or Talk Back to Jim Spencer at
http://dailypress.com/columnists/spencer.htm

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

Press Clips: Raving Lunatics (The Village Voice's media-criticism column
notes a newscast last Wednesday by WTTG-5, the Fox News affiliate in
Washington, D.C., sensationalized local raves as rife with "pulsating music,
illegal drugs, even sex." WTTG-5 emphasized the supposed dangers of MDMA and
luridly demonstrated the lax attitudes about it shown by off-duty D.C. police
who provide security at raves. But it turns out that in the District of
Columbia, ecstasy isn't illegal. Due to a nearly 10-year-old typo in D.C.
law, cops have no legal authority or obligation to arrest X users.)

Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 18:43:56 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US DC: Column: Press Clips: Raving Lunatics
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Pubdate: 12 - 18 May 1999
Source: Village Voice (NY)
Copyright: 1999 VV Publishing Corporation
Contact: editor@villagevoice.com
Address: 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
Feedback: http://www.villagevoice.com/aboutus/contact.shtml
Website: http://www.villagevoice.com/
Author: Jason Vest

Press Clips by jason vest

RAVING LUNATICS

It would be nice to think that, after mass-murder coverage that put
youth culture through the wringer, local news outlets might refrain
from lurid reporting that harks back to Reefer Madness. But, carrying
on in the grand tradition of William Randolph Hearst ("MARIJUANA MAKES
FIENDS OF BOYS IN 30 DAYS"), WTTG-5, Washington's Fox News affiliate,
presented a report last Wednesday night about "the underground of
raves," rife with "pulsating music, illegal drugs, even sex."
Declining to provide any historical context about young-adult drug
use-- such as the fact that, since the 1920s, teens have played with
everything from liquor to pot to coke to psychedelics to whippets,
etc., yet the Republic is still intact-- the report relied largely on
snuff-film grade hidden-camera footage and a matter-of-fact but
righteously indignant voiceover from reporter Elisabeth Leamy. Her
"revelations" about a drug that lends itself to a cool sensory
experience were punctuated by images sure to inspire horror in the
hearts of suburban parents everywhere: teens blissfully stroking each
other's faces and shoulders, grinding teeth on pacifiers, and
badgering bartenders for water.

The most arresting revelation of the "investigation," however, came
when the camera lens was trained on security personnel: off-duty D.C.
cops who, Leamy noted, "have full arrest powers even when they're off
duty," Yet (as the footage showed) they steadfastly decline to take
action against Ecstasy-popping ravers.

And this, Leamy later intoned, "even though [Ecstasy] has killed at
least 10 people nationwide." Tempting as it is to point out that more
people died from lightning strikes last year (OK, we yield to the
temptation), what Press Clips found most appalling was that a key
contextual fact was left out until the postreport anchor-reporter
chitchat: In the District of Columbia, Ecstasy isn't illegal.

Due to a nearly 10-year-old typo in D.C. law, cops have no legal
authority or obligation to arrest X users.

But no matter; suburbanites living outside the Capital of the Free
World will now sleep better knowing that, in a city coping with poorly
trained, trigger-happy cops to negligent care for the mentally
incapacitated to a street-drug problem exacerbated by the lack of
treatment programs, Fox 5 brought down "the rave underground."

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

Rock won't challenge pot ruling (The Toronto Star version)

Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 09:51:04 -0400
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
From: Dave Haans (haans@chass.utoronto.ca)
Subject: TorStar: Rock won't challenge pot ruling
Newshawk: Dave Haans
Source: The Toronto Star (Canada)
Pubdate: Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Page: A7
Website: http://www.thestar.com
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Author: Tim Harper, Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau

Rock won't challenge pot ruling

Guidelines on marijuana trials expected soon

OTTAWA - Health Minister Allan Rock will not appeal an Ontario Superior
Court ruling which allows Toronto AIDS activist Jim Wakeford to legally
smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Rock said yesterday he is proceeding with plans to begin clinical trials on
the medicinal use of marijuana and will announce details and guidelines for
the tests by the end of June.

``I've read the judgment. I don't want to appeal it,'' Rock said.

The court said Wakeford could carry and smoke marijuana in public until
Rock decides whether to grant Wakeford a special exemption under the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Rock said the court judgment affects only Wakeford and cannot be applied to
other victims claiming the need for marijuana for medicinal use.

Health Canada has 20 applications from Canadians who have chronic or
terminal illnesses who have applied to Rock for exemptions from marijuana
laws.

``We're going to start clinical trials, we're going to start making
marijuana available to people for medical purposes by the end of June,'' he
said.

``We're on that timetable.''

But an aide in Rock's office later cautioned that that did not necessarily
mean the trials would be under way by that time.

Although Rock will eventually make a decision regarding the exemption,
officials say he will try to show flexibility for those who need marijuana
for therapeutic purposes while Health Canada is testing the drug.

Health Canada is still grappling with issues such as where the pot will be
grown, by whom and under what conditions.

Wakeford, 54, had asked the court in February, 1998, for permission to use
marijuana.

He had applied to Rock for an exemption last September but his request has
been in bureaucratic limbo.

Carole Bouchard, a senior health department official, testified last week
that although Wakeford's application would be fast-tracked, she couldn't
say when a decision would be made.

Wakeford has been smoking marijuana daily since 1996. He has said it is the
only thing he has found that reduces nausea and makes him feel hungry
enough to keep eating.

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

Pot Bust (The Parksville/Qualicum Beach Morning Sun, in British Columbia,
says that on the heels of a major marijuana cultivation bust last week, the
Parksville RCMP have announced the formation of an "intensive enforcement
initiative to combat illegal marijuana production and distribution within the
area." Supposedly, police say the unit was formed in response to "several
violent incidents" involving individuals associated with the local drug
trade, but no details are provided.)

Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 19:16:37 -0800
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: "H. Couch" (hcouch@wkpowerlink.com)
Subject: Pot Bust

FYI -

Parksville/Qualicum Beach Morning Sun (B.C.) - Online edition of this
central Vancouver Island newspaper, updated every Wednesday with the top
local stories, columns and letters to the editor.

http://www.bcsupernet.com/sun/

Wednesday, May 12, 1999

Pot Bust

On the heels of a major bust of a marijuana grow operation last week,
Parksville RCMP have announced a new task force to stem the tide of the
illegal substance.

http://www.bcsupernet.com/sun/stories.htm

By Bruce Whitehead

On the heels of a major bust of a marijuana grow operation last week,
Parksville RCMP have announced a new task force to stem the tide of the
illegal substance.

On Wednesday, police seized some 700 plants and about $3,000 in
equipment from a commercial premises in Errington rented specifically for
the purpose of growing the illicit weed.

The same day, local police announced the formation of an "intensive
enforcement initiative to combat illegal marijuana production and
distribution within the area."

Police say the unit was formed in response to "several violent
incidents" recently perpetrated in the community involving individuals
associated with the local drug trade.

In the first month of operation, police report 20 search warrants
were executed. Grow operations that were discovered ranged from one light
bulb in a shed to a complex underground bunker with 10 rooms and 60 lights.

More than 4,000 plants were seized during those searches, along with
some $150,000 in sophisticated growing equipment.

Police say more busts may be coming soon as their investigations
continue. As well, the detachment stressed that local law enforcement
officers are working with a federal Crown prosecutor in Nanaimo to seek
severe penalties where a commercial operation can be proved or where
children have been endangered.

So far, the new unit, dubbed the "green team" has led to criminal
charges against 20 people, chiefly for possession and trafficking of
marijuana, as well as charges of possession of stolen property and theft of
electrical power.

According to police, grow operations in the area generally involve
rented buildings converted to the cause of pot production.

In many instances, hydro-electric power is stolen by by-passing meter
systems, or illegitimate occupants simply disappear before paying their
bills.

Damage to these buildings is common, and police report that some of
the rented houses have burned to the ground.

"Investigators were especially upset that in come cases small
children were living virtually surrounded by growing marijuana, chemicals
and unsafe high voltage lighting with open wires," says a report from the
Parksville RCMP detachment.

(c) Copyright 1999 The Parksville/Qualicum Morning Sun

Feedback and Comments Email: sun@parksville.net

***

From: "chuck beyer" (videomon@coolcom.com)
To: (mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com)
Subject: RE: Pot Bust
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 20:46:31 -0700

Another task force - ho hum. More committee meetings, more overtime, more
useless diatribe. More bureaucratic flatulence. And 10% of them will smoke
a big bomber after the meetings. Yawn ....

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

Hemp Activist Arrested For Hash (The Canadian Press says Jerzy Przytyk, the
president of the Industrial Hemp Council of Canada, was arrested in Montreal
after police seized 1,200 kilograms of hashish worth an estimated $18
million.)

Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 11:05:08 -0500
From: jmandalis (hmp@hemp.net)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: (no subject)
To: restore@crrh.org
Organization: fourtwenty

HEMP ACTIVIST ARRESTED FOR HASH

May 12, 1999
CP Wire

MONTREAL - Jerzy Przytyk, 53, an organic farmer who is the president of
the Industrial Hemp Council of Canada, a 600-member association made up
mostly of farmers which lobbies the federal government for the right to
produce hemp who has been pushing for the legalization of hemp in Canada,
along with four other men, has been arrested following the seizure of 1,200
kilograms of hashish worth an estimated $18 million.

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

The Real Criminals (An op-ed in Colombia's Revista Semana by Antonio
Caballero says that for years, he has received letters from Colombians
imprisoned for drugs in the United States. They all tell him terrifying
variations of the same story about the American criminal justice system.
The vast majority of the prisoners who write are poor couriers or low ranking
money launderers who are condemned to rot for two-and-a-half life sentences.
If they denounce the DEA agents who provided the drugs, or the Customs Agents
who allowed the drugs in, or the lawyers who convinced them to declare
themselves guilty, or the director of prisons who prohibits any visits, or
the prison priests who insist they convert to Presbyterianism - they'll be
even worse off. Americans invented drug abuse. Unable to make their own
citizens obey the law, they decided to export their laws. It's a fat
business. U.S. banks keep 95 percent of the drug profits. DEA agents, or
other undercover police, charge a commission on the confiscated drugs they
help to import, and a commission on the money they help launder. The
criminals are those that write the laws in the U.S. Congress.)

From: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
To: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
Subject: The truth from Columbia
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 07:19:49 -0700
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: REVISTA SEMANA (Colombia)
Copyright: 1999, REVISTA SEMANA
Email: info@semana.com.co
Website: http://www.semana.com.co/index.htm
Author: Antonio Caballero

THE REAL CRIMINALS

For years I've received letters from Colombians imprisoned for drugs in the
United States. They write from the depths of helplessness, after trying
lawyers, Colombian consulates, appellate courts, human rights organizations,
bishops, congressmen/women, the UN; like a person who, having exhausted the
resources of rational hope, throws a message in a bottle into the ocean.
They tell me to help them. But how? And there are hundreds.

They all tell me variations of the same story. The terrifying story of the
workings of the American criminal justice system, from entrapment (a
monstrous legal practice which allows the police to incite someone to commit
a crime in order to capture them for trying to commit it), to the
inescapable, final sentence: "life plus 50 years" in prison, or "two life
sentences plus thirty years." The only hope for change, equally monstrous,
is to incriminate others in exchange for prison benefits; one person
condemned to two life sentences plus 30 years had the chains taken off for a
few hours to walk around the prison yard, in exchange for information about
someone more important than himself.

Carlos Lehder, for example, has the right to see the sun thanks to his
testimony against Panamanian General Manuel Antonio Noriega. If Noriega
could testify, say, against the Cuban vice-president, Raul Castro, he might
be freed immediately and placed in the federal witness protection program.
Furthermore, he could be paid a salary.

But the vast majority of the prisoners who write me are poor couriers
captured with a couple of kilos of cocaine balls in their guts, or low
ranking money launderers. They can't snitch on Fidel, or Saddam Hussein, or
the Pope, so they're condemned to rot for two and a half lives in prison.
And if they denounce the people who convinced them to get into the
business -- from the DEA agents who provided the drugs, to the Customs
Agents who allowed the drugs in, to the lawyers who convinced them to
declare themselves guilty, to the social workers unable to obtain an
important name, to the director of prisons who prohibited any visits, to the
prison priests who insist they convert to the Presbyterian Church -- they'll
be even worse off.

The process has been the following:

Americans invented drug abuse. Drugs have always been consumed,
everywhere. But the massive consumption of drugs is a consequence of the
Californian counterculture of the sixties, of the Vietnam war, of Hollywood,
of rock music, and of the Wall Street yuppies. Drug abuse is part of the
American way of life.

Next, Americans instigated the massive production of drugs in Latin America.
Veteran Vietnam pilots arriving in Yucatan in Mexico, in Santa Marta in
Colombia, in Chapare in Bolivia, and in Huallaga in Peru, taught the local
people how to grow and refine coca. Indirectly, the production was driven by
the insatiable American market of 40 million habitual consumers of
marijuana, cocaine, crack, and heroin.

Then the US declared war against drugs. Unable to make their own citizens
obey the law, they decided to export their laws, to attack the production of
drugs abroad.

It's a fat business. US banks keep 95 percent of the drug profits, which
because they are illegal, are fabulous. Thanks to the international
prohibition on drug production, the governments of the drug-producing
countries generally submit to US demands: for air spaces, marine areas,
confiscation of investments abroad, weapons sales, and herbicides to combat
the crops. And miscellaneous things like the Panama Canal, which will be
kept after the deadline of the Carter-Torrijos treaty, under the pretext of
controlling the flow of illicit drugs.

DEA agents, or other undercover police, charge a commission on the
confiscated drugs that they help to import, and a commission on the money
they help launder. American lawyers charge their clients to give them false
hopes and bad advice. American legislators are re-elected based on the
prestige of defending American children from the harmful drugs with which
those evil foreigners from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Burma, Laos,
Afghanistan, Turkey, Cuba, and Pakistan try to poison them.

The criminals are not the ones in prison throwing bottled rescue letters
into the ocean. The criminals are those that write the laws in the US
Congress.

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

Call For Look At Use Of Cannabis (The Sydney Morning Herald says the National
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre is urging the Premier's Drug Summit May
17-21 in New South Wales not to focus solely on heroin issues. According to a
DARC spokesman, Mr Paul Dillon, a national survey last year showed that 39
per cent of the population said they had used cannabis, compared with 31 per
cent in 1995.)

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 19:08:49 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Call For Look At Use Of Cannabis
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kenneth William Russell
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact: letters@smh.fairfax.com.au
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Author: Paola Totaro

CALL FOR LOOK AT USE OF CANNABIS

Cannabis use among adolescents has risen sharply, a research body says, and
it has urged the Premier's Drug Summit not to focus solely on heroin.

A spokesman for the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Mr Paul
Dillon, said a national survey last year showed that 39 per cent of the
population said they had used cannabis, compared with 31 per cent in 1995.
Among young women the rise in use was much steeper, with 44.8 per cent of 14
to 19-year-olds last year saying that they had used the drug, compared with
24.4 per cent three years earlier.

In the same age category for males last year, 44.6 per cent reported using
cannabis, compared with 35.5 per cent in 1995.

The State Opposition Leader, Mrs Chikarovski, said yesterday that she had
tried cannabis in her university days, and she understood it was now up to
30 times stronger. Mr Dillon said: "There is anecdotal evidence that it is
stronger but, hopefully, at the summit people in power can understand and
learn the facts."

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

How I Took Pot Luck And Inhaled (The version in Australia's Daily Telegraph)

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 19:08:53 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: How I Took Pot Luck And Inhaled
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kenneth William Russell
Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 1999
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 1999
Contact: dtmletr@matp.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/

HOW I TOOK POT LUCK AND INHALED

Yes she inhaled. She had even exhaled but Opposition Leader Kerry
Chikarovski claimed her relationship with marijuana was short-lived.

On its first day back after the March 27 poll, it was not legislation that
consumed MPs - rather the drug taking habits of their colleagues.

"Okay, I have to admit that I both inhaled and exhaled," Mrs Chikarovski
said yesterday.

"Let me say that that was something that I did a number of years ago on a
couple of occasions and it's certainly not something that I would advocate
somebody do now."

After admitting she had used the drug in her days at swinging Sydney
University in the 1970s, Mrs Chikarovski has denied her youthful
experimentation sends the wrong message to the community with the
Government's landmark Drug Summit just days away.

"Perhaps what they might see it as is someone who's actually publicly
acknowledged that she tried it, recognised that it was something that she
wouldn't do again and is encouraging them not to try it as a result of my
experience," Mrs Chikarovski said.

"I had a couple of goes of marijuana when I was at uni and enough to make me
realise that this was not the sort of thing I liked to do."

The Opposition Leader said current anti-marijuana laws should be enforced
and she was against any change in the law.

"My view is we don't want to encourage people to use drugs and I would have
thought making it legal in fact encourages more use," Mrs Chikarovski said.

Upper House member Richard Jones said he believed at least six MPs smoked
marijuana and at least half the 135 MPs would have used marijuana.

He admitted to being under the influence of marijuana in Parliament House
once four or five years ago and now used the drug around every fortnight.

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

[End]