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Hemp Videos, Hemp News At Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Web Site

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 18:14:42 -0800
From: "D. Paul Stanford" (stanford@crrh.org)
To: 'Restore Hemp!' (octa99@crrh.org)
Subject: Hemp videos, Hemp News on web. Restore Hemp!

Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH,) sponsors of the
Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA,) now offers streaming video in real time on
our free web site. Now tune in for CNN's special on Hemp BC in Vancouver,
Canada, and other video clips at http://www.crrh.org/video.html Our video
server is located at http://www.hemp.pdx.edu We also have video clips
available in Quicktime .mov files. We are in the process of bringing a
great variety of streaming videos about cannabis to the internet. Tune in
to get Web TV Hemp News.

Our group, CRRH, is an Oregon political committee seeking to legally
regulate medical and recreational marijuana and restore industrial hemp. We
are doing this through the initiative petition process with OCTA. We now
(11/27/97) have over 18,000 signatures turned in to our Portland office,
and we need to collect 73,261 by July 2, 1997 to qualify for the Oregon
ballot on November 3, 1998. Our petitions can be printed from our web site
using an Adobe Acrobat plug-in to your web browser (available free via our
web site.) Only registered Oregon voters can sign the OCTA petition.

For an update of our recent activities, please browse
http://www.crrh.org/update.html

For information concerning the referendum on Oregon House Bill 3643 to
increase penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, go to
http://www.crrh.org/referendum.html We urge you to vote no on our
referendum, circulate and sign the OCTA petition and vote yes on the Oregon
Cannabis Tax Act.

Our electronic magazine, Hemp News, is the oldest publication on the
internet, since 1992. It is all archived in text at our web site at
http://www.crrh.org/HN_0.html , and the current issues can be seen and
printed using an Adobe Acrobat plug-in to your web browser (available free
via our web site.) We also print 20,000 copies as a tabloid newspaper in
Oregon, USA.

If you would like to help us, please go to
http://www.crrh.org/volunteer_form.html

We have our own Usenet conference at alt.hemp.octa

You may subscribe to our e-mail list by replying via mail to this message.

Thanks!

We need your help to put this important issue on the ballot in Oregon!

November 3, 1998 ballot question on the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, drafted by
the Oregon Attorney General's office:

"Yes" vote permits state-licensed cultivation, sale of marijuana for medical
purposes and to adults.

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

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Police On Menominee Reservation Arrest 25 Juveniles In A 'War Over Drugs'
(Gun Battle In Wisconsin Community Of 3,300 Among More Than 30 Youths
Ages 12-17 Laid To Their Gangs' Trafficking Rivalry)

Subj: US WI: Police On Menominee Reservation Arrest 25 Juveniles In A War Over Drugs
From: "Frank S. World" 
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 15:28:42 -0500
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" 
Pubdate: 28 Nov 1997
Source: Star Tribune, Minneapolis
Contact: opinion@startribune.com

POLICE ON MENOMINEE RESERVATION ARREST 25 JUVENILES IN A ''WAR OVER DRUGS"

KESHENA, Wis. (AP) -- Police on the Menominee Reservation arrested 25 youth
following a gun battle between two gangs in which at least 50 shots were
fired, authorities said.

''This is a state of emergency,'' Tribal Police Chief Karen
Neconish-Gardner said. ''It is a war over drugs.''

The confrontation between more than 30 members of the Gangster Disciples
and Latin Kings, who were armed with pistols and sawed-off shotguns,
occurred early Wednesday morning, she said.

No one was injured, Neconish-Gardner said.

The youth, all residents of the reservation just north of Shawano, ranged
in age from 12 to 17, she said. More suspects were being sought. The FBI is
assisting in the investigation, she said.

A spokesman for the FBI in Milwaukee did not immediately return a telephone
call for comment Friday.

The Latin Kings and Gangster Disciples are two of several gangs involved in
selling marijuana and cocaine on the reservation, Neconish-Gardner said.

''Where you have a gang problem, you have a drug problem,'' she said.
''This is not about using. This is about trafficking. It is all about
criminal activity -- about drugs and crime and power.''

About 3,300 people live on the reservation.

Several weapons were recovered after Wednesday's shootout, including a
pistol used in a robbery earlier this year in Oconto County,
Neconish-Gardner said.

Gangs have been active on the reservation for three generations, Menominee
County Sheriff Beth Moses said.

''We've got little kids flashing gang signs in day care,'' Moses said.
''They are going to grow up thinking this is part of their heritage.''

Reservation law enforcement officials have appealed to the community for
help.

But only three people attended a neighborhood watch organizational meeting
held last week, organizer Frank Teller said.

All said they were afraid to join a citizen's patrol because they feared
gang retaliation, Teller said.

''What I told them is the reality is there may be retaliation,'' Teller
said. ''We, as a community, have to act. Maybe things are not so bad yet,
but as the gang behavior becomes more intense, things are getting worse.''

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The Lost War On Drugs (Britain's 'Guardian' Observes That The US-Instigated
Destruction Of Large South American Trafficking Cartels Has Led To
Smaller-Scale Smuggling, Creating New Problems For Anti-Narcotics Agencies
Around The World And Generating Fierce Criticism Of US Policy - Production
Of Cocaine And Heroin In Andes Has Risen Steadily For Five Years While Prices
Of Raw Materials Have Fallen)

Subject: MN: The Lost War on Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: World Press Review
Article from "The Guardian", London, Nov. 28, 1997
Authors: Jeremy Lennard and Steven Ambrus
Republished in World Press Review, February 1998

Intro: Colombia 's most notorious drug lords are either dead or in jail,
but the multibillion- dollar drug trade is flourishing, and their
successors are proving more elusive to law enforcement. Is U.S. drug
policy a failure? ask the following articles from the British press. And
from France, an argument in favor of decriminalization of drug use:

THE LOST WAR ON DRUGS

I n 1995, United States drug-enforcement officials were congratulating
themselves. Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, leaders of the Cali
cocaine cartel -- the world's most powerful criminal organization -- were
behind bars. The Call cartel had once drawn in cocaine from all over the
Andean region and controlled many of the key smuggling routes north. Their
domination and expansion of the South American narcotics industry was over.

But the U.S. market still demands cocaine and lots of it. In the power
vacuum left by the Cali cartel, other organizations have rushed to take
control of supplies. The result has been a reshuffle among Latin American
mobs, the opening up of new smuggling routes, and the appearance of new
players, notably the Russian mafia. While the capture of the Rodriguez
Orejuelas may have helped reduce corruption, it may prove a setback in
terms of stemming the flow of drugs from the Andean region.

Within Colombia, the Cali cartel has spawned a series of much smaller
operations with production capability but little regional clout. Enter the
Mexicans, who in the past were paid by the Colombians to move their cocaine
across the U.S. border. Now the Mexicans frequently take Colombian cocaine
from source to point of sale and return a commission to their Colombian
suppliers. Peru and Bolivia, which used to ship coca to Colombia for
processing and distribution, are increasingly autonomous.

Mexico suffered a setback last summer with the death of its top trafficker,
Amado Carrillo Fuentes, prompting a bloody battle for power in his home
city of JuBrez. But Colombian intelligence sources suggest his death has
had little effect on Mexico's regional influence. Meanwhile, Colombian
traffickers, unused to their subordinate role and vastly reduced profits,
are seeking new partners to break the Mexican monopoly. As smuggling to the
U.S. becomes increasingly convoluted and expensive, many are looking to the
European market, a senior intelligence source said.

In the past, the Cali cartel operated routes from Colom bia's Pacific ports
to Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. They also rode piggyback on
shipments from Mexican ports and worked extensively with the Italian Mafia.
Post-Cali Colombian traffickers have set up smaller-scale routes via
Argentina, Brazil, and Guatemala. They have also begun to take advantage of
the European connections on the Caribbean islands of Antigua, Aruba, and
St. Martin.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has opened up a huge narcotics market, and
the Russian underworld has moved into the Caribbean to do business with the
Colombians. With the Italian Mafia weakened by a crackdown on both sides
of the Atlantic in the past 20 years, the Russians--many of them former KGB
experts in clandestine operations--have made worrying inroads into Western
Europe. According to Interpol, they dominate arms smuggling across the
continent and are well placed to take a grip on the drug trade. The biggest
fear of anti-narcotics agents is the emerging alliance between Colombian
and Russian traffickers.

The demand for heroin, which is increasing in the U.S. and skyrocketing in
Eastern Europe, provides further cause for concern. As the U.S.
concentrates on coca eradication in Colombia, poppy cultivation has
increased rapidly, and Colombia has taken over from East Asia as chief
supplier to the U.S. east coast. Heroin is worth nine times as much as
cocaine, making small quantities highly profitable and removing the need
for bulk shipments. Traffickers use "mules" to carry 80 percent of
Colombia's heroin direct to the U.S. and Europe, in their luggage or their
stomachs.

The fragmentation of the Latin American drug industry and a move toward
small-scale smuggling methods has created new problems for anti-narcotics
agencies around the world. It has also generated fierce criticism of U.S.
policy in the region. Despite the war on drugs, the production of cocaine
and heroin in the Andes has risen steadily in the past five years, while
the prices of raw materials have fallen. One Colombian intelligence source
likened lopping the head off the Cali cartel to taking a hammer to a blob
of mercury. " A blob of mercury is a large, single mass and easy to see,"
he said. "Hit it with a hammer, and it splatters into tiny drops that are
much more difficult to spot, but it doesn't stop being mercury."

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