------------------------------------------------------------------- Kim Keist Continues To Battle - The Healing Process Is A Slow One (Newscast By KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, About Portland Police Officer Wounded During Warrantless Break-In By Marijuana Task Force) Found at http://www.koin.com/ Kim Keist Continues To Battle - The Healing Process Is A Slow One PORTLAND, Posted 8:20 p.m. February 09, 1998 -- Kim Keist, the Portland police officer seriously injured in last months' police shooting is making steady progress. But her husband Noble Keist tells KOIN-TV she is still very sick with a serious abdominal infection. He also says the couple's nine-year-old boy is trying to cope with his mother's injury. Noble Keist told KOIN their son is handling it as well as can be expected. He has been losing a little sleep but they're getting that down to a routine. Accused cop killer Steven Dons is also in the hospital. Noble Keist says his wife has seen news reports about Dons and the biggest reaction she's had is to roll her eyes. Related Stories: Jan. 28: Shooting Sparks Gun Control Issue Jan. 28: City Mourns Officer's Death Jan. 27: Katz and Moose Respond to Tragedy Jan. 27: Police Officer Fatally Shot Compiled by Channel 6000 Staff
------------------------------------------------------------------- Medicinal Cannabis Gardens (News Release From Ted Tuk Says Berkeley RxCannabis Growers Collective Opening Membership For Medical Marijuana Patients Protected By California Compassionate Use Act - Won't Sell Anything, Just Provide Support So Patients Can Grow Their Own - Cost To Rent Four-Square-Foot Plot In Northern California Is $150, Or $340 Per Year For Nine Square Feet) Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 16:23:56 EST Originator: medmj@drcnet.org Sender: medmj@drcnet.org From: "Ted Tuk, dir. B.Rx.C.G.C." (Ted@rxcannabis.org) To: Multiple recipients of listSubject: Medicinal Cannabis Gardens BERKELEY, California (February 9, 1998) The Berkeley RxCannabis Growers Collective today announces opening of membership. The members receive support that makes it possible to cultivate and control one's own medicinal cannabis. We do not sell cannabis, but instead share resources with fellow members to make cultivation available to all patients. With the federal government's attack on "buyers clubs," we feel that it is necessary at this time to provide alternative access to medicine for patients of Proposition 215. Therefore, we will do all we can in order to help facilitate patients' personal cultivation. Farm RxCannabis is located in Northern California at the Church of the Living Tree. The Church's paper mill makes handmade paper from hemp and other alternative fibers, and has applied to the DEA for a permit to cultivate fiber hemp for their paper mill since 1993. They have all the fencing in place, and have been in federal compliance with all regulations for over a year. Since the passage of Proposition 215, California patients have the right to cultivate marijuana for their personal use, as recommended by their doctors, making the present project in full compliance with all state as well as federal cultivation regulations. The plots will be made available to qualifying medicinal cannabis users. Cost to rent plots is $150 per year for a four square foot Plot (limit three Plots per patient), or $340 per year for a nine square foot Plot (limit two Plots per patient). The B.Rx.C.G.C. is leading the way for patients' independence of the "black market," advocating the personal cultivation of medicinal cannabis as permitted under Proposition 215. For Further Information Contact Ted Tuk 510 420-0215, email BRXCGC@rxcannabis.org. www.rxcannabis.org P.O. Box 136 Berkeley, CA 94701
------------------------------------------------------------------- US-BC Drug Smuggling Sparks Probe ('Vancouver Sun' Says Politicians And Attorneys General From Saskatchewan, Manitoba, The Yukon, Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, Nevada And Alaska Will Meet In Washington State To Discuss More Interdiction Efforts - Increase In Heroin Deaths Apparently Basis For Belief 'Border Has Become Such A Serious Problem') Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 08:26:28 -0800 To: maptalk@mapinc.org From: Pat DolanSubject: U.S.-B.C. drug smuggling sparks probe Cc: mattalk@islandnet.com Newshawk: Pat Dolan Source: Vancouver Sun Front Page PubDate: Feb.09,1998 Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca Author: Marina Jimenez (Van. Sun and Canadian Press) U.S.-B.C. drug smuggling sparks probe Marina Jimenez Vancouver Sun and Canadian Press Drug smuggling across the B.C.-United States border has become such a serious problem that politicians and police from both countries will soon meet to discuss how to control Canada's most vulnerable section, B.C.'s attorney-general said Sunday. Ujjal Dosanjh and Christine Gregoire, attorney-general for Washington state, will set up a meeting with top police officials, they announced during a meeting of 10 attorneys-general and justice ministers from Western Canada and western U.S. states. "It is a very serious problem for us," Dosanjh said during a break in the meeting. "There are over 300 overdose deaths a year in British Columbia and I understand the problems are increasing in Washington state as well." The meeting of high-level officials will take place sometime over the next few weeks in Washington, where drug-related deaths are on the rise. "The border county prosecutor told me there is a new strain of heroin and coke of a magnitude that we've not seen before," said Gregoire. B.C. and Washington officials hope to devise a strategy to ensure they're not exporting their problems, allowing drugs and criminals to slip across the border. Gregoire believes heroin and cocaine are coming into Washington state from Vancouver, while Dosanjh said it's his understanding the drugs are coming the other way. "However, as you know, the Vancouver port is now known for drug smuggling . . . it may be that it hits here first and then goes back to the U.S.," he added. Police recently reported that the Hells Angels motorcycle gang has infiltrated Vancouver's container port and helped turn it into a major North American entry point for illegal drugs. The other trend officials discussed is the migration of U.S. marijuana growers into B.C., where they're setting up hydroponic operations and then taking their product back south. "I have been advised by police sources that marijuana growing operations are under the control of biker gangs and organized crime and the crop is then shipped into the U.S.," said Dosanjh. Dosanjh, Gregoire and other officials also discussed Internet crime -- including gambling and child pornography -- telemarketing fraud, and lottery sales. "Those who would commit telemarketing fraud and other types of crime don't know the border," said Gregoire, who noted that recently B.C. and Washington worked together to stop a major B.C. telemarketing racket that bilked Washingtonians of several million dollars. "I'm ashamed to say that British Columbia jurisdiction is being utilized by perpetrators of fraud of vulnerable, elderly citizens of the United States of America, of our neighbors," Dosanjh said. The ministers held a closed session Sunday with no staff or outsiders present in order to have candid talks, said Dosanjh. Ministers from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota, Nevada and Alaska also attended .
------------------------------------------------------------------- Re - US-BC Drug Smuggling Sparks Probe (Letter To Editor Of 'Vancouver Sun' Says Efforts To Stymie Law Of Supply And Demand Doomed With Regard To Cannabis - Canadians Should Take Advantage Of Spasmodic US Experiment In Social Control Just As They Did During Alcohol Prohibition) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 14:02:27 EST Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org From: Gerald SutliffTo: Multiple recipients of list Subject: SENT LTE: Vancouver Sun Editor Vancouver Sun RE: U.S.-B.C. drug smuggling sparks probe by Marina Jimenez (2/9/98) Dear Editor, In the above referenced article you reported as follows: "I have been advised by police sources that marijuana growing operations are under the control of biker gangs and organized crime and the crop is then shipped into the U.S.," said Dosanjh (B.C.'s attorney-general). A worrisome thing, but readers must wonder why he didn't suggest some reasons for this. The root cause is the U.S.'s Prohibitionist policies and our desire for marijuana. This, coupled with Canada's (and British Columbia's) reluctance to legalize the growing, packaging and retailing of marijuana guarantees that "biker gangs" and other outside-the-law organizations will take over that economic activity. They also reap the benefits of the trade. During the 1920s, the era of another U.S. spasmodic experiment in social control, Canadian liquor manufacturers benefited from their legal activity by selling their products to "rum runners" who took the risks and made obscene profits. A solution for Mr. Dosanjh's concern about bikers suggests itself here. Incidentally, illegal traffic goes both ways. I have met Canadian citizens and residents visiting in Reno, Nevada who readily admit they "defray expenses" by buying a lot of liquor there for transport home. Must I add that Nevada is a low liquor tax and a no sales tax state? Mr. Dosanjh needs to wake up, smell the roses and stop being a toady to the U.S.'s doomed Prohibition policy. Sincerely yours Gerald M. Sutliff 6400 Christie Ave., #1409 Emeryville, CA 94608 510-652-7929
------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Upcoming Colorado Events (News Release From Colorado Hemp Initiative Project On Events February 11, 24 & March 13-15, Including Debate Wednesday Night In Boulder Between NORML's Allen St. Pierre And Former DEA Head Peter Bensinger) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:33:12 -0700 (MST) From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org) To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org) Subject: Upcoming Events THREE UPCOMING COLORADO EVENTS Wed. Feb. 11, 1998 7:30 pm Marijuana Legalization Debate Peter Bensinger, former administrator of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Allen St. Pierre, asst. director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Glen Miller Ballroom University Memorial Center (UMC) NE corner of Broadway and Euclid University of Colorado, Boulder Sponsored by the CU Cultural Events Board *** Tuesday, February 24, 1998 7:00 pm Author Dan Baum speaks on U.S. Drug Policy and his book, "Smoke and Mirrors" Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center 1520 Euclid Boulder, CO (303) 444-6981 Sponsored by the: Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center "Thirteen years of working for nonviolent social change" *** Weekend, March 13-15 Policing, Detention, and Prisons Conference: Part II of "Unfinished Liberation: Critical Perspectives on Feminism, Coalitions, and Black Freedom" Featuring Angela Davis, Ward Churchill, and Geronimo Platt Friday: Film forum Saturday and Sunday: Twelve panel discussions on topics including "Media and Prisons", "Political Prisoners", "Death Penalty", "Policing Radicalism in the 60s to the 90s", and the "Drug Alcohol Wars". Panelists include: - Paul Butler, George Washington Univ. Law School - Jim Vander Wall, Co-editor, COINTELPRO Papers - Gary Webb, Investigative Reporter & Author, Dark Alliance - Dan Williams, Attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal Registration: A $10 donation is requested; however, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Send Registration form and check (payable to Dept. of Ethnic Studies) to: Unfinished Liberation Conference Campus Box 339 University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80310-0339 Directed by the: CU Ethnic Studies Department CU Campus, Boulder Ketchum Room 30 Phone: (303) 492-7051 Email: liberate@colorado.edu Web: http://spot.colorado.edu/~liberate *** Re-distributed as a public service by the: Colorado Hemp Initiative Project P.O. Box 729, Nederland, CO 80466 Hotline: (303) 784-5632 Email: (cohip@levellers.org) Web: http://www.welcomehome.org/cohip.html "Fighting over 60 years of lies and dis-information with 10,000 years of history and fact." ARE YOU REGISTERED TO VOTE??? *** To be added to or removed from our mailing list, send email with the word SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the title.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Return Of Some Old Friends (List Subscriber Notes Prohibitionist Crusaders, Lambdon Families In Action, Is Now Marijuana: Advances In Research, In Omaha, Nebraska - Still Associated With Drug Watch International) Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 20:06:03 -0800 From: Pierre HoneymanTo: mattalk@islandnet.com Subject: Return of some old friends Remember Lambdon Families in Action? Well, they're back with a new name and a prominent link at Drug Watch International (but based out of Omaha, Nebraska). They now call themselves "Marijuana: Advances in Research" although, from what I can tell, their site is exactly the same as it was 6 months ago. They include such nuggets as, "Australian Methadone Program Fail", which is really a report on the use of private methadone clinics in Australia and contains absolutely no language to the effect of failure. In fact, it concluded that well organized clinics were rated better by the patients and had better results than ones that were less well organized and had some unsurprising results in that unemployed heroin users were the first to leave programs at private clinics since they couldn't pay. Other mysterious items include an item about the discovery of the gene which may cause schizophrenia, although what it has to do with drug use is quite beyond me since it clearly states that many schizophrenics are heavy smokers and that they are, in fact, trying to self medicate. How this indicates that drugs are dangerous (the category this item is found under) is quite mysterious. It's really not that surprising to find these folks mentioned at Drug Watch, since almost all of the research they cite comes from Drug Watch members (primarily E. Voth and Janet Lapey (who I haven't actually seen any original research from). One thing I did notice is that they are claiming all the research which indicates marijuana is not a monster is old and outdated. Quite funny considering some of the best nails in that coffin have come out in the past two years, mainly the study done at UCLA which indicates that marijuana smokers lung function does not decrease over time (1997), the study in Australia which finds that the general health of marijuana smokers is approximately the same as the general population, indicating no real health risks from smoking, and the study by Kaiser-Permanente, also of last year, which found no increased risk of morbidity (although it did find that more marijuana smokers were AIDS patients, really not all that surprising) from smoking marijuana. Pierre
------------------------------------------------------------------- Test Can Detect Heavy Drinkers ('Milwaukee Journal Sentinel' Says Research Using Hundreds Of Milwaukee Test Subjects, Published In 'Journal Of Clinical Epidemiology,' Has Discovered Combination Of Inexpensive Tests That Can Identify Heavy Drinkers With 98 Percent Accuracy) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:15:40 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: US WI: Test Can Detect Heavy Drinkers Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: "Frank S. World" Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Author: John Fauber Contact: jsedit@onwis.com Fax: (414) 224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ TEST CAN DETECT HEAVY DRINKERS Discovery raises concerns about privacy, Medical College researchers admit Researchers who used hundreds of Milwaukee area drinkers as test subjects say they have developed a battery of common, inexpensive tests that can identify heavy drinkers with 98% accuracy -- for as long as a week after the last drink. The researchers readily admit the potential for invading privacy by improper use of their discovery, the research for which was partially paid for by the Technology Development Fund of the Wisconsin Department of Development. "It could be abused, yes," said Andre Balla, an associate professor of pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "That is one of the concerns." But the test -- which can be done for less than $50 -- could help identify people with drinking problems and get them the help they need, said Balla and James Harasymiw, a Big Bend psychologist who developed the test and holds a patent on it. The study was conducted by researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa and the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. It was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. For their study, the researchers located 426 heavy drinkers and 188 light drinkers -- all men -- mostly by recruiting them through Milwaukee area community organizations. The heavy drinkers came from detoxification centers, churches and outpatient treatment facilities. There were not enough women recruited to produce a valid sample, so all women were dropped from the study. Harasymiw said the test is a good way to determine whether people who are in treatment for drinking are truthful about abstaining. He is working to modify the test so it can be used with pregnant women to help prevent fetal alcohol syndrome. "The idea is to use it to benefit people," he said. Volunteers from detoxification centers were given vouchers for food or gifts for participating. Community organizations were paid for the volunteers they recruited. Light drinkers were recruited from four churches, support groups for recovering alcoholics and drug abusers, a college campus, a golf outing and a work setting. Who's a Heavy Drinker? A heavy drinker was defined as someone who consumed more than 700 ounces of alcohol in the past year -- the equivalent of about four drinks a day. However, the mean consumption among the Milwaukee heavy drinkers was more than five times that amount. The light drinkers consumed a mean of 39 ounces of alcohol, or about 80 drinks a year. After identifying the heavy drinkers through interviews, the researchers ran a battery of 40 tests on their blood samples. Eventually, they found that 10 of those tests, taken as a whole, could be used to develop a mathematical model that would identify the heavy drinkers. The 10 tests include HDL cholesterol, a white blood cell test, kidney and liver function tests and hydration tests. Individually, the tests can't accurately predict drinking habits. But taken together, they were 98% accurate in identifying heavy drinkers and 95% accurate in identifying light drinkers. For a smaller group of heavy drinkers who had not consumed alcohol for a period of one week to one month, the test still proved 88% accurate. The test's accuracy was greater when it was used for heavy drinkers of lower socioeconomic status than middle class heavy drinkers, for whom the test was about 85% accurate. That's largely due to the poorer nutrition and health habits of heavy drinkers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, said Arthur Hartz, the study's main author and a former professor of family medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He now is a professor of family medicine at the University of Iowa. In addition, there is some evidence that low-income heavy drinkers abuse alcohol more than middle-class heavy drinkers, Hartz said. In terms of accuracy, the test "blows away" other methods used to determine whether someone has engaged in heavy drinking, Harasymiw said. The best test now on the market has an accuracy range of 60% to 80%, he said. Aside from any legal considerations, employers likely would have an interest in using such a test, especially employers that are concerned about safety and absenteeism issues, said Beth McFarland, vice president of staffing services at ProStaff, a Milwaukee employment firm.
------------------------------------------------------------------- DUI Cops' New Ploy ('Tacoma News Tribune' Says Police 'Emphasis Patrol' This Friday, February 13, In East Pierce County, Washington, Will Be First In Nation To Hand Out Not Only Citations And Warnings But Also Leaflets Detailing Lives Of People Killed Or Seriously Injured In Drunken-Driving Accidents) From: "W.H.E.N."To: "Hemp Talk" Subject: HT: ART: WA DUI cops new ploy Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 21:25:54 -0800 Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net Tacoma News Tribune Tacoma, Washington Drunken-driving patrol to be armed with sobering proof of what's at stake Area officers to hand out leaflets detailing lives of victims of highway drunks Anthony K. Albert The News Tribune If you're caught in Friday's crackdown on drunken driving, expect to get a very somber lesson in traffic safety. In what they say is a first in the nation, local law enforcement officers will hand out not only citations and warnings but also leaflets detailing the life of a person killed or seriously injured in a drunken-driving accident. The Feb. 13 emphasis patrol will be dedicated to Roger Conant, whose car was rear-ended by a drunken driver in 1971 in California. Conant survived but with severe head injuries that left him with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. Though emphasis patrols aren't new, it's a new approach to force suspected drunken drivers to so vividly face the consequences of their actions, said Sheri Badger, coordinator of the East Pierce County DUI Emphasis Patrol. Many drunken drivers think of themselves as casualties of the system and don't realize there's another side of the story until they're told about their victims and the victims' families, said Badger, who thought up the new approach. "I'm hoping we can show them why we're doing this," she said. "We're not out to get people. We're out to save people." Badger said the idea came to her a year ago when she read about a special event dedicated to victims of drunken-driving crashes. John Moffat, Washington Traffic Safety Commission director, endorses the idea of calling attention to the losses families and communities have suffered. During December's monthlong emphasis patrol, there were no drunken-driving fatalities in the state for the first time since 1980, said Badger who quoted statistics from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. With that success, officers from Fife, Puyallup, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Pierce County and the Washington State Patrol decided to continue the patrols in each agency's jurisdiction once a month throughout the year. "They feel like they've made a dent in the problem they see all the time," Badger said. This week's emphasis patrol will be from 8 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday. Officers did not reveal which jurisdiction will be closely patrolled. Handing out leaflets during the checks will make a difference, officers say. "It's gonna bring it home to the people we talk to, anytime you can put a face on a victim," said Puyallup police officer Mike Henry. "Education is 100 percent of the job," said Pierce County sheriff's Sgt. Roger Gooch. The most recent emphasis patrol took place Jan. 24 in Fife. In a nine-hour period, 12 officers made 173 traffic stops. Within a 6 1/2-hour period that night, officers made 17 DUI arrests - four times the average on a weekend night. The officers issued 31 infractions, sent 11 people to jail for criminal traffic violations, arrested two people on warrants, performed one drug-related arrest and arrested two people on alcohol-related charges. And no alcohol-related traffic accidents happened that night. "It went extremely well," said Fife police Sgt. Brad Blackburn. The first drunken driver was caught 20 minutes after the patrol started, Henry said. And one man driving a van with a burned-out headlight was stopped three times. "Hey, what's going on tonight?" the man asked officers, Puyallup police officer Bob Thompson recalled. "Tonight's not a good night to drive through Fife." * Anyone interested in dedicating an emphasis patrol to a victim of a drunken-driving accident should call Sheri Badger at 798-6112.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Drugs And Alcohol - Deadly Duo For Teens (Sermon In 'San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune' Inspired By Recent CASA Study, 'Behind Bars,' Notes Leading Substance Abuse Crime In US Is Drunken Driving, With 1.4 Million Arrests Annually Costing Legal System $5.2 Billion) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:25:48 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson) Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: Drugs And Alcohol: Deadly Duo For Teens Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison Source: San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune Contact: slott@slnt01.sanluisobispo.com Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Author: Robert Wallace Ed. D. Page: B-3, SLO County Section DRUGS AND ALCOHOL: DEADLY DUO FOR TEENS The teen years are a time to venture out into the world, to test your independence and make decisions without the help of your parents. Yes, it's a time to experiment, and experiments involve trial and error - making mistakes. But some experiments may not be worth it, especially those involving alcohol and drugs. It's not enough to be told, "Just say no." Teens feel indestructible and rarely think of the long-range danger of becoming addicted to a chemical substance. But getting high can exact a stiff price. Of the 1.7 million men and women behind bars in the United States, 80 percent are there at least partly because of drugs or alcohol. That's a staggering statistic. A recent study by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that almost 1.4 million offenders in state and federal prisons and local jails had violated drug or alcohol laws. They either stole property to purchase drugs or alcohol, were high when they committed a crime or had a history of abuse and addiction. For many of the inmates, all three were the case, according to Joseph Califano, chairman of the Columbia Center and former secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Furthermore, many hundreds of thousands of these inmates would be law-abiding, working, tax-paying citizens and responsible parents if they had lived sober lives. Substance abuse was the sole factor behind their criminal conviction. The leading substance abuse crime in the United States is drunken driving, accounting for over 1.4 million arrests yearly, at a cost to the legal system of $5.2 billion. Alcohol is also more closely associated with violent crime than any other drug, followed by crack cocaine, powder cocaine and heroin. Teens, I know that some of you will experiment with alcohol and drugs with the philosophy that "I'm going to try it just to see what it's like. I don't plan to get hooked." Just remember that many of those now behind bars had the same philosophy. Be wise; stay drug-free!
------------------------------------------------------------------- Parents And Drugs (Letter To Editor Of 'San Francisco Examiner' Says Parents Not To Blame For Juveniles Getting Involved In Drugs - Control Not Possible When Society 'Gives More Rights To Minors' Than To Parents) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 19:08:31 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: US CA: LTE: Parents And Drugs Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: "Frank S. World" Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: San Francisco Examiner Contact: letters@examiner.com Website: http://www.examiner.com PARENTS AND DRUGS Eugene Del Carlo (letter, Feb. 1) asks, "Where are the parents of all these juveniles who are getting involved in drugs?" He adds, "Probably most of these parents can't even conduct their own lives responsibly, much less have children." In response to him: "Most of us" are trying to raise our children in a society that would appear to give more rights to minors than to us. We are trying to provide them with a happy childhood in an environment that is constantly bombarding them with horrific acts of violence and conflicting images relative to alcohol and drug usage. If we suspect drug use, we cannot have our child tested without his or her consent. Why? It would violate their "rights." We are trying to raise our children in a society that constantly second-guesses our motives. Please don't make assumptions about who or where "the parents" are. Instead, ensure that parents be included in those actions having to do with their children. Parents should have faith in their parenting skills. They should get involved and speak up for their families' rights. Diana Garcia San Francisco
------------------------------------------------------------------- The Jails Are Full (Letter To Editor Of 'Orange County Register' Says That's Reason Behind Crime Reduction In California, United States) Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 19:30:19 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson) Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: The Jails Are Full Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk:John W.Black Source: Orange County Register Contact: letters@link.freedom.com Pubdate: Mon, 9 Feb, 1998 THE JAILS ARE FULL Just figured out why there has been a reduction of crime in California and The United States. All the hard-core and petty criminals are in jail. We will have to wait for a new generation of hard-core and petty criminals to take their place. John Calcara Jr. Orange
------------------------------------------------------------------- Teen On Life Support After Heroin Overdose (From 'Dallas Morning News' Account, It Seems Brain-Dead 17-Year-Old Texas Girl Actually Mixed Cocaine, Heroin, After An Evening Drinking Alcohol) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:11:44 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson) Subject: MN: US TX: Teen On Life Support After Heroin Overdose Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Chris Clayand adbryan@onramp.net Source: Dallas Morning News Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com Website: http://www.dallasnews.com Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Author: Andy Kehoe, Dallas Morning News TEEN ON LIFE SUPPORT AFTER HEROIN OVERDOSE Friend discovers Plano girl unconscious after party A 17-year-old Plano girl was brain-dead and on life support Sunday night after suffering an apparent heroin and cocaine overdose the night before, a representative of her family said. Natacha Marie Campbell was rushed to Baylor Richardson Medical Center around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when a friend discovered her unconscious after a party. "At this point, it would be miraculous for her to make a full recovery," said Patricia Riley, a Dallas lawyer who spoke from the hospital on behalf of Natacha's family. "Her organs are failing and her brain is not functioning. She's not doing anything on her own. Her heart rate is stable, but she's currently on a respirator." Natacha's family was expected to meet with doctors Monday afternoon to decide whether to take her off life support, Mrs. Riley said. "The percentages [for recovery] are low, like slim to none," said Natacha's brother, 23-year-old Lance Campbell. "We're just all here tonight, praying and hoping for a miracle." At least 11 other people with Plano connections have died of heroin overdoses since 1996, and several more fatal overdoses have been reported in northeast Tarrant County. Mrs. Riley said two of the victims were friends of Natacha's whose funerals she had attended. Mrs. Riley said Natacha had spent Friday night at a friend's house. Witnesses told Mrs. Riley that the group had been drinking and using marijuana and cocaine. Some, including Natacha, also ingested a form of heroin known as chiva, Mrs. Riley said. Natacha lost consciousness while riding home from the party in a friend's car. Her friend, 18-year-old Kelly Marie Smith, called 911 after seeing blood coming from Natacha's nose, Mrs. Riley said. Ms. Smith was later arrested on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. She was released Sunday morning on $425 bail, Mrs. Riley said. Mrs. Riley said she believes the incident could have been avoided if the friends Natacha was with had been prepared. "She died from these people not knowing what to do," the attorney said. "It was 100 percent preventable. These people have no common sense, except to call 911. They have no real knowledge." Mrs. Riley said she wanted the Richardson police to consider a charge of negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter against any or all of the people who were at the house on Friday night. But both charges were refused, she said. "They said they could never make a case of this because she voluntarily took this stuff. But, I'll tell you, I'm going to push as hard as I can." Sgt. Steve Upchurch, a police spokesman, said officers were still trying to determine where and how the group got the drugs. Natacha had attended Plano Senior High School last fall but had recently dropped out. She was working at part-time jobs and hanging around with an older crowd of former Plano students, Mrs. Riley said. Natacha was between jobs had been living with another family in Plano, said Mrs. Riley, who said she has known the Campbell family for 15 years. She described Natacha as very social and nonjudgmental. She said she met many of her friends while the teenager briefly lived with her. "Natacha was not an angel. She did some dumb things from time to time," Mrs. Riley said. "The only thing she's guilty of is bad judgment. But that shouldn't be punishable by death."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Overdose Risk After Prison Release ('Reuters' Summary Of 'British Medical Journal' Report On Heroin 'Overdose' Phenomenon)Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 10:05:30 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: Overdose Risk After Prison Release Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family Source: Reuters Pubdate: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 OVERDOSE RISK AFTER PRISON RELEASE NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Recently incarcerated, HIV-infected intravenous drug-users have an eight times greater risk of fatal overdose during the first two weeks after prison release than in the subsequent 10 weeks, researchers say. Investigators led by Dr. S.R. Seaman of the Institute of Public Health at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England, believe that "lives could be saved" through research into intervention programs that might "reduce the number of deaths from overdose that occur soon after release." Their study, published in the current issue of the British Medical Journal, focused on the death rates of 316 Scottish HIV-infected intravenous drug users between 1983-1994. The researchers say 75% of those addicts served prison sentences during that time. Thirty-three of the study subjects died from non-AIDS causes during the study period. Twenty-six of those men had spent time in prison. The UK investigators say three of them died "within 2 days of release, two at 5 days after release, (with) one death each at 9, 12, 66, and 74 days after release. The remaining deaths occurred more than 100 days after release." Of the seven deaths occurring within two weeks of release, six were overdose-related, while the seventh arose from direct injection into an artery. The researchers say that when fatal overdose rates in the first two weeks after release were compared with rates over a longer 12-week postrelease period, overdose risks were still eight times higher during those first 14 days compared with the following 10-week period. The study authors speculate that "the time immediately after release is one of intensified risk (for drug-abusing prisoners), probably caused by a decrease in tolerance to drugs as a result of less frequent injecting while in prison, or the lower purity of drugs found in prison." They advocate the development of prison-based interventions which might educate inmates as to the heightened risks of overdose which occur just after release. Services like these "might reduce the risk of recently released inmates (of) dying from overdose," the study authors say. SOURCE: British Medical Journal (1998;316:10-12)
------------------------------------------------------------------- Conditional Sentencing Probed - Answers Sought To Tough Questions About Controversial Alternative ('Halifax Daily News' Says It Costs $55,000 To Incarcerate Average Inmate In Nova Scotia, $4,000 For Community Supervision) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:25:22 -0400 (AST) Sender: Chris DonaldFrom: Chris Donald To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com cc: editor@mapinc.org Subject: CAN: prison cost and conditional sentencing stats. Halifax Daily News letterstoeditor@hfxnews.southam.ca Monday, February 9, 1998 Conditional sentencing probed Answers sought to tough questions about controversial alternative By RACHEL BOOMER-- The Daily News It's a sentencing option that has stirred much controversy since its inception in September 1996. In Nova Scotia, it has kept convicted wife-beater Vernon Hatcher, drunk driver Ralph Parker, and gambling cop Edward Sisk out of jail. Some complain it's an easy way out, while others say it helps criminals get their lives back on track. It's conditional sentencing - an option that lets criminals serve their time at home instead of behind bars - and it may be due for some fine-tuning, says the Ottawa group in charge of sentencing reform. "We've been looking at ways of improving the enforcement mechanism in particular,'' says David Daubney, sentencing reform team co-ordinator for the federal justice department. He says the group will present its suggestions to Justice Minister Anne McLellan shortly. "There's a fair amount of breach activity, I would say .... I think it means that the conditional sentences are being enforced, which is important for credibility,'' Daubney continues. The national breach rate is 10 to 12 per cent. It's no secret that putting a person in jail is expensive. It costs an average of $55,000 a year to jail a criminal. Supervising them in the community costs only $4,000. But Daubney says cost wasn't the driving factor behind the law, which only applies to offenders serving non-violent crimes that would normally net them less than two years in prison. He says they're more likely to get help for what causes them to commit crimes in the first place - drug and alcohol addiction, sexual abuse, or poorly controlled anger - in the community. As of last August, judges had handed down 13,000 conditional sentences across Canada for crimes ranging from fraud and first-time impaired driving to drug-related offences. Offenders are given a list of conditions to follow, including curfews, mandatory counselling or community service. If authorities suspect they've breached those conditions, it's the offender's responsibility to prove otherwise to a judge. Fail that test, and they could spend the rest of their sentence behind bars. Most legal professionals say they support conditional sentences as a way to get repeat offenders out of the system once and for all. But they say the sentences haven't been without problems. Because breaching a conditional sentence isn't a crime in itself, it's unclear whether police can arrest an offender if it happens, or if courts can issue warrants for them to appear in court. It's questions such as those that Daubney's team is trying to answer. "It's been a real eye-opener, especially for some of the offenders who've been through the system before and think that a conditional sentence is going to be a cakewalk,'' says Dartmouth parole supervisor Janis Aitken. "For some, conditional sentences are a real break and they really value it." "Stan" is one of those people. Two years ago, he got into a heated argument with his mother, pushing her and throwing her TV, VCR and religious textbooks out of an apartment window. She called police and had him charged with assault. An alcoholic, drug abuser and habitual offender who had been in and out of jail since he was 16, Stan was fully prepared to go to jail again - and nearly fell off his chair when the judge gave him an 18-month conditional sentence. He's finishing the last few months of his sentence, and has been sober for most of that time. "I had to get busy. If I'd been in jail, I would've just been laying around, living off the government. I wouldn't have done anything about my addictions, I wouldn't have taken any hard looks at the choices I've made .... Here, I'm making things happen,'' explained the 40-year-old, who didn't want his real name used.
------------------------------------------------------------------- A Drug-Free State Just Isn't Normal (Essay In Britain's 'New Statesman' Says 'War On Drugs Is Unwinnable, Based On False Premises And Puritanism') Date: Sat, 07 Feb 1998 14:41:54 -0500 To: DrugSense News ServiceFrom: Richard Lake Subject: MN: UK: A Drug-free State Just Isn't Normal Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Steve Young Pubdate: Jan. 9, 1998 Source: New Statesman Mail: New Statesman, 7th Floor, Victoria Station House, 191 Victoria Street, London SW1E5NE Page: 24-25 Contact: new-statesman@geo2.poptel.org.uk A DRUG-FREE STATE JUST ISN'T NORMAL The war on drugs is unwinnable, based on false premises and puritanism. But begin from a different assumption and we might solve the problem. No one can envy the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, and his drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, in their "struggle" against drugs. Law-makers, like physicians, must be seen to be decisive even in the absence of robust data, and what an awesome thing to have to legislate on matters so intransigent and intricate, and yet so significant. Whatever they do will lead to trouble of one kind or another and they, in the end, will take the blame. They deserve our sympathy. But they would deserve it more if they gave any sign of open-mindedness. The "war" against drugs has been waged as forceful as any since the Crusades but in no sense is it being won. Indeed it is unwinnable" it is impossible even to imagine what "victory" would look like. What is obviously needed more than anything else - legislation, policemen, or "drugs education" for four year olds - is to rethink all our beliefs about drugs from first principles, and our attitudes towards them. Once we truly put our preconceptions up for grabs and ask on what they are founded, the drugs "problem" starts to look very different. To be sure, the heavyweight drugs are frightening. They take us on a Faustian journey of dreams in which we can lose sight of "reality," with no apparent guarantee of return. Yet it is naive and biologically odd to suppose that it is normal, or natural, for the brain to be free of psychotropic agents. It is not sophistry to point out that the body itself constantly assails the brain with such substances: adrenaline, testosterone, progesterone, endorphins. These agents are the stuff of emotions. Of course we cannot feel without them but also, more intriguingly, we can hardly be said to think without them. because the emotions are the ultimate arbiters of truth, and without emotion our thoughts have no guidance. We are swayed by evidence, but in the end we believe what we "feel" is right. Computers are stupid not because the cannot calculate - of course the can - but because the have no emotion and so do not know or care what is true. The substances that assail our brains are part of the thinking process. Without them we can have no concept of truth. Surely, though, we can distinguish between the self-generated agents that our bodies and nerves produce for their own purpose and those that we introduce from outside? In practice the distinction is not so obvious. Human beings, like all other living creatures, are evolved, an we carry the physiological inheritance of our ancestors. Our primate forebears were largely herbivorous, and the plants they ate were wild. Wild plants are shot through with pharmacologically powerful agents, most of which evolved to repel importunate herbivores and many of which focus on the nervous system. Most drugs of all kinds, and virtually all psychotropic agents, derive from plants or fungi. Many of these seep through the blood-brain barrier - otherwise they would have no effect. In other words, the brains of our ancestors evolved over 50 million years in the presence of psychotropic agents. If we were not adapted to them, we would not have survived. Typically, in evolution, such adaptation first takes the form of detoxification, for these agents (teleologically speaking) are intended to poison. But evolution is nothing if not opportunist: the things that creatures at first learn to dispose of, they later learn to use; and when they use, they soon come to depend on. this is why our bodies now require the bizarre shortlist of agents known as vitamins - extraneous materials produced in nature by plants and microbes, to which we have adapted, and on which we have come to rely. The agents we call "drugs" can be seen as vitamin analogues that happen to be focused on the nervous system. When our ancestors became full-time farmers, they produced crops that were high-yielding and therefore bland - for high yields and fancy chemistry each require energy and so are in conflict. Nowadays we consider a diet free of psychotropic agents to be "normal," and any addition as an imposition. Yet evolution suggests the reverse: that modern, civiliised, people are in a constant state of pharmacological impoverishment. The condition we consider normal is one of deprivation. Our bodies know this. That is why the desire for drugs is so hard to contain. Their absence is against our nature. Of course, the notion that constant assault by psychotropic agents is "natural" does not imply that it is right. As David Hume observed in the 18th century: "'Is' is not 'ought.'" Yet such a realisation encourages a shift in our attitudes. To ban drugs is not, as we commonly perceive, to revert to the norm. It is a positive act of asceticism, Puritanism in action. I tend to be rather puritanical myself, and am no druggie, sating myself with brisk walks and the occasional Bell's whisky. But such Puritanism seems odd in this otherwise most unpuritanical age. Surely, though, such musing is dwarfed by the facts: the deaths, the addiction, the sheer misery? Well, I have children, too, and am as anxious as anybody to reduce the dangers. But what are these "facts"? Of course people become horribly addicted to heroin, and die from it. But is this really typical, or even particularly common? American soldiers in Vietnam took "serious" drugs in the perfectly reasonable belief that for them there might be no tomorrow; yet most of them, when they got home, simply stopped taking them in the way that any of us might give up tequila after a holiday in Mexico. Tequila is what we drink abroad; at home we drink beer. Brian Jones of the Stones died of too many drugs, but Johnny Rotten, world champion of punks, simply gave up. He says he was lucky - but perhaps it is truer to suggest that Jones was unlucky. Of course all this is anecdotal, but that is precisely the point. For so, disgracefully, is the evidence which says that addiction and the horrors that ensue is the norm. We simply do not know how often, or how inevitably, drug-taking turns bad. This could indeed be the norm, but equally probably it is rare. By the same token, relatively few drinkers become alcoholics. If we saw only the down-and out boozers, alcohol would seem as bad to us as heroin does now. But is there really no good evidence? Surely there are hundreds of studies of heavy drugs and many thousands of cases? Indeed so, but all are deeply flawed by what statisticians call confounding variables. If medicinal drugs were judges so sloppily, nothing could ever be prescibed. Because the street drugs are illegal, they are unregulated: what is outside the law is beyond its reach. All the refinements that make doctors' drugs relatively safe are missing from street drugs. They are impure, not to say adulterated. The dose of active components can easily vary by a thousandfold. Preparation and presentation are left to hazard. Every pharmacologist knows that content is only half what matters, and the other half is formulation: the refinements that modify absorption and metabolism. this is why medicinal drugs are expensive. The drugs that doctors prescribe are heavy-duty and they would be horrific, too, if they were not so pure and administered in beautifully regulated structure and dose. So what do the studies that affect to show the horrors of street drugs actually signify? Are they better than the anecdotes from Vietnam? Is it sensible to wage "war" on such a basis? Shouldn't we at least have some proper data? Then again, because the street drugs are illegal they are unsocialised. although the influence of socialisation is hard to judge, it is clearly crucial. We might all drink ourselves into pleasant oblivion at any time, and high among the reasons that most of us do not is shame. Our friends wouldn't talk to us if we got ourselves drunk too often or unpleasantly. Social control, in short, is finely tuned. But on the street there isn't any - just pressure to take more. What would alcohol be like without socialisation? Would it be better than heroin? So what should we do? Well, to legalize all existing drugs overnight would obviously be precipitate, although we should, to set the ball rolling, lift the nonsense that surrounds marijuana. this does not mean removing legal restraint, but imposing it: the same kinds of regulations that restrict alcohol. We should, however, declare intent. Begin by framing the principle: that, in general, it is better to allow than to prohibit and that proscription is a mark of failure. the we could approach the principal drugs case by case. First we have to find what they actually do to people - the vital knowledge which at present is entrusted to anecdote. We need to know more pharmacology, to find out exactly what each part of each molecule contributes, and to make adjustments: perhaps enhance those parts that bring sweet dreams and remove the parts that promote addiction, for there is no reason to assume a priori that the two are ineluctably linked. Modern pharmacology could transform the picture: it is a high-class act. Image would be important though, for we are talking of social drugs. Bass Charrington might be a more appropriate manufacturer than say, Glaxo Wellcome. Then, in a few decades, we would be able to see how the drugs that at present excite such terror behave when they are well-made, sold in respectable places and socialised. we would of course eliminate huge areas of organised crime, as only the very stupid would pay a fortune for junk when they could get the real McCoy for the price of a beer. The results of such an initiative could hardly be worse than the present scenario. When we have some proper facts we could take stock. Jack Straw and Keith Hellawell are facing their respective tasks heroically. but it would be better, and a great novelty, to base political endeavor on ideas that were true.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Saddam's Son Made Millions Shipping Cocaine To Britain (Britain's 'Sunday Times' Alleges Oldest Son Of Saddam Hussein Part Of Iraqi Plot To Flood Britain, Europe With The Drug) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:16:30 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: UK: Saddam's Son Made Millions Shipping Cocaine To Britain Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Zosimos Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Subj: Saddam's son made millions shipping cocaine to Britain Source: Sunday Times (UK) Contact: editor@sunday-times.co.uk SADDAM'S SOM MADE MILLIONS SHIPPING COCAINE TO BRITAIN SADDAM HUSSEIN'S elder son, Uday, helped to run a multi-million-pound racket smuggling cocaine into Britain and the rest of Europe, according to lawyers for a high-ranking Iraqi defector. Details of the alleged Iraqi plot to flood Britain and Europe with the drug are said to have been provided to the British and American authorities by Majid al-Samarra'i, a former Iraqi ambassador in Venezuela, whose family is close to Saddam. Solicitors for the defector, who is talking to the intelligence services about the operation of the Iraqi secret services, claim they have seen documents showing how some of the cocaine was transported from Venezuela on British Airways flights to Heathrow. Officials at MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, said that, while they were aware of Samarra'i's presence in Britain, they could not discuss his case. The Home Office confirmed that an application from him for political asylum was being considered by Jack Straw, the home secretary. Samarra'i was held at Heathrow three months ago after trying to enter Britain on a false Venezuelan passport. He was detained for six weeks before being released to pursue his claim for asylum. His lawyers say he has documents that relate to alleged shipments of cocaine from Venezuela to Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. They give details of secret bank accounts in which the Iraqi security service is thought to have stashed millions of dollars. According to legal sources, one document purports to show a shipment of more than 140kg - worth between £3.5m and £4.2m at current street prices - on a BA flight from Caracas to Heathrow two years ago. Samarra'i told his solicitors that Uday Hussein had "indirect" control over the trade. It is well established that Uday and Qusay, Saddam's younger son, oversee a number of international smuggling operations to help to finance their family's extravagant lifestyle. Uday's jealous control of the sanctions-busting business has led to blood feuds among his relatives and is thought to be connected to the murder of eight Iraqis in Amman, Jordan, last month. The defector says he faces certain death if he returns to Iraq; but he is being shunned by Iraqi exiles, who are convinced he has been planted as a spy. Samarra'i, 49, is one of the most senior Iraqi officials to defect to the West in recent years. He fled his post in Caracas last year after an alleged assassination attempt at his home. He claims supporters smuggled him out of the country and over the next 11 months he travelled a circuitous route via the Dutch Antilles, Cuba and Portugal to England. Maria Garcia, his Venezuelan mistress, has travelled with him. His wife, who lives in Libya with his children, is said to be a distant relative of Saddam. General Wafiq al-Samarra'i, former head of Iraq's military intelligence, said he could vouch for Majid, who is not a relative, although he could not say whether the drug allegations were true. Yesterday Samarra'i was in hiding in a flat in Knightsbridge. Initially he declined to comment but later he told The Sunday Times that detailed statements to journalists by Ghazi Khan, his solicitor, linking him to knowledge of the drug trade were unauthorised. He denied being involved in the trade. "I'm a diplomat and I have no connection with this. I am not a businessman or a trader. How do I know such a thing?" Samarra'i said his full case would be heard later this month. His lawyers have suggested that, if Britain rejects his asylum plea, he may be offered asylum in America. A senior Iraqi opposition source said it was known that Samarra'i had been recruited by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the early 1990s and his activities had been reported back to Baghdad after his wife reportedly found $40,000 (£24,000) and secret papers in his safe. Asked whether he had ever worked for the CIA, Samarra'i said: "I am an Iraqi diplomat and ex-ambassador. I came here to seek asylum."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Heroin Victim, 13, Was Drugs Courier ('Sunday Times' Says Britain's Youngest Heroin Fatality Delivered Drugs Around Glasgow Housing Estate For Seller Trying To Protect Himself From Prohibition Laws)Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:16:07 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: UK: Heroin Victim, 13 'Was Drugs Courier' Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Zosimos Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: Sunday Times (UK) Author: Stephen McGinty and Lucy Adamson Contact: editor@sunday-times.co.uk HEROIN VICTIM, 13 'WAS DRUGS COURIER' THE 13-year-old boy who became Britain's youngest heroin victim was forced to deliver drugs around a Glasgow housing estate, according to residents. Allan Harper, who died of a heroin overdose five weeks ago, was bullied into making drug drops by a dealer on the Cranhill estate. The dealer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have used young boys and girls as look-outs and runners who carried heroin to neighbouring drug addicts and other dealers. The children, some as young as 11 or 12, were paid in cash or drugs by the dealer. One woman said: "It's just horrific, the children either got cash or drugs for doing the deliveries. This makes it almost impossible for parents to protect them. Temptation is put in their way." A neighbour also reported seeing Harper regularly arriving and leaving the dealer's flat. It is understood Harper was used by the dealer to deliver the drugs as he would not be suspected by police because of his youth. One man said: "Allan was exploited by this guy. He was used to drop off bags of smack [heroin] as nobody would suspect a boy like him. People think he started dabbling because of the running." Harper was found dead on January 3 in a top-floor flat in Startpoint Street, Cranhill, the home of Stephen Young, the former boyfriend of Harper's mother, Jacqueline Ford. Harper had died of a heroin overdose and his body had been partially eaten by Young's Japanese fighting dogs. The dealer responsible has since fled the estate after death threats from rival dealers, whose lucrative trade has been disrupted by the heavy police presence in the area. More than 76 arrests have been made and 100 drug offences reported since police began swamping the area after Harper's death. On Tuesday raids by Strathclyde police on houses in the Greater Easterhouse area, into which Cranhill falls, uncovered heroin, cannabis and temazepam with a street value of £500,000. A handgun has also been recovered. Louis Munn, chief superintendent of Greater Easterhouse, would not be drawn on any suggestions made against Harper, but said the police remained anxious to trace the drugs that killed him. He encouraged anyone with information to come forward. Ford reacted angrily yesterday to the suggestion that herson had been involved in the drugs trade. "This is the first I have heard of this. Allan would not do such a thing and if he did I would have known. People are talking and they don't know what they are saying. It is rubbish," she said. A group of mothers in Cranhill launched a campaign to reclaim their area from drug dealers and addicts with a candle-lit march on Thursday night. On the pavement a solitary figure, with a scarf covering his mouth and his fingers drawn into the shape of a gun, cocked and pushed against his head, delivered a warning to the women: "You're dead". Illuminated by candles and lanterns, mothers, grandmothers and sisters last week marched in silent protest against those who threatened their community, known as "smack city". The feeling was simple but unanimous: the time had come to fight back. "We're not scared any more of idiots," said Rose McKay, 40, a cleaner and mother of two, who dismissed the shadowy figure as she marched along the dark route. "Instead we want our homes back, we want the dealers out and our streets safe to walk along." They sought inspiration for the march from the women of Northern Ireland, where in the early 1990s an organisation united women on both sides of the religious divide to march for peace. Behind the scenes of the demonstrations two local women have been actively fighting to clean up their community, quietly tipping off police about dealers for the past year and a half. Angered by pushers hanging around schools and openly selling heroin in the streets, they have been having regular monthly meetings with Strathclyde police, health and social workers from Glasgow council and various other community organisations in order to pass on information. One woman who took part in the meetings was scared of the possible consequences. "I was frightened doing this," she said. "I would leave if I had the money. I'm not ashamed to say that if I had a choice I would stop this campaigning and get out of here. It's like living in a gangster movie." In order to avoid confrontation, men were not invited. Helen McGuiness, a 35-year-old mother of two, explained: "The worry was if men walked with us, someone might shout something nasty and they would react. "A fight would do us no good. We thought it would have more impact with just women and children." The women will now be pushing to change the law to allow anyone caught in possession of drugs to be evicted. The issues will be raised at a public meeting attended by residents, police, religious leaders and council officials tomorrow night. However, it is the children in their own streets whom they most wish to reach. During the march, a lanky youth in a baseball cap and designer jeans shrugged and laughed: "If the cops can't stop the dealers, what good is someone's ma?"
------------------------------------------------------------------- Man Claims He Uses Cannabis To Relieve Pain Of Cancer (Ireland's 'Examiner' Makes It Sound Like Nobody Has Ever Used Cannabis For Such A Purpose Before) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 17:07:19 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: Ireland: Man Claims He Uses Cannabis To Relieve Pain Of Cancer Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Zosimos Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: The Examiner (Ireland) Author: Michael Commins Contact: exam_letters@examiner.ie MAN CLAIMS HE USES CANNABIS TO RELIEVE PAIN OF CANCER A MAN charged with possession of cannabis resin claimed that he smoked it to relieve the pain of cancer. The Dubliner who now lives in County Mayo appeared before Ballinrobe Court, where the case was adjourned for a probation report. Liam Boyle, of Kildotia, was charged with the possession of cannabis resin on May 5 last year. Garda Frank Kelly told the court that with garda Eileen Joyce he searched the premises of Mary McNeill and Boyle, who live in two mobile homes near The Neale. In Ms McNeill's mobile home they found a container with a brown substance that proved to be cannabis resin. The quantity was about 10 grams. Ms McNeill told them that it was not her property. She said it belonged to Mr Boyle. "He acknowledged that it was his property," Garda Kelly said. "He said he had cancer and that the cannabis helped to alleviate the pain." Mr Boyle told the court that he had suffered severe injuries in a motorbike accident. He said he had had 17 sessions of radium treatment and had been in a lot of pain. Sean Foy, solicitor, said this was his client's first offence and he asked that Mr Boyle's medical condition be taken into consideration. Judge Shiels wondered whether there was any way that the defendant's condition could be alleviated rather than by using cannabis, as it is a prohibited drug. He adjourned the case for a probation report until April 7.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-IRA Drugs Enforcer In £5M Cannabis Deal (Britain's 'Sunday Times' Says Man Who Has Become Significant Player In Cork Drugs Scene, Dealing In Cannabis, Ecstasy, Had Begun Easing Away From Irish Republican Army After 20 Years) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:16:53 -0800 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: Olafur BrentmarSubject: MN: IRELAND: Ex-IRA Drugs Enforcer In 5m Cannabis Deal Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Zosimos Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 Source: Sunday Times (UK) Contact: editor@sunday-times.co.uk EX-IRA DRUGS ENFORCER IN 5M CANNABIS DEAL ONE of the men behind the £5m drugs consignment seized near Cahir, Co Tipperary, last weekend is a former member of the IRA in Cork and was involved in attacks on drug dealers in the city in the late 1980s, writes Barry Roche. The man, who is married and in his forties, had been a senior IRA figure in the city for 20 years. He took part in a raid on the Ford factory in the late 1970s and the abduction of John Corcoran, the IRA informer, in 1985. He was also involved in vigilante-style punishment beatings against drug dealers in the city. Together with his brother, he beat up one member of a well-known family of dealers in the Knocknaheeny area. The man, who lives in the north of the city, has been easing himself out of republican activity over the past 18 months and has become a significant player in the Cork drugs scene, dealing in cannabis and ecstasy. Gardai believe the seized drugs were co-financed by the former IRA man and three other dealers on the northside, each putting up about £300,000 to buy the 500kg of cannabis resin at a wholesale price of £1.25m. The former IRA member is also believed to have owned cannabis worth £400,000 found by gardai in a wood in east Cork last month. Gardai say recent seizures are having a significant impact on the cannabis trade and have forced the wholesale price for a kilo up from £1,800 to £3,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
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