-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hemp Advocate Paying For Minutes Of Fame ('Indianapolis Star'
Gives A Sanitized Account Of The Home Invasion By Police
Of Medical Marijuana Patient Doug Keenan In Noblesville, Indiana,
After Admitting To Marijuana Cultivation On PBS' 'Frontline' -
First Court Appearance Tomorrow)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 18:07:09 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US IN: Hemp Advocate Paying For Minutes Of Fame
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Uncle Hempy unclehempy@hotmail.com
Source: The Indianapolis Star
Page: One - Front Page
Contact: stareditor@starnews.com
Website: http://www.starnews.com
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Rob Schneider, staff writer
Note: Photo of Keenan holding cannabis leaf.
Caption: Multiple uses: Doug Keenan found that marijuana helped control his
nausea while he was being treated for cancer, and also touts the plant's
industrial possibilities. This leaf, however, is a fake one.
HEMP ADVOCATE PAYING FOR MINUTES OF FAME
Appearance on PBS' 'Frontline' leads to court appearance today, but
Noblesville man has no regrets.
Doug Keenan talks with a speed and passion of a man who has seen the light.
Even if it's an illegal one.
So when an opportunity arose to air his views on the subject, Keenan did.
On April 28, the electrical engineer showed off a handful of marijuana
plants in his Noblesville home for a PBS Frontline program: Busted:
America's War on Marijuana.
The program title was prophetic for Keenan
Police obtained a warrant to see just what was going on at the home, said
Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey D. Wehmueller.
"Although there may be some people who would like to see marijuana
legalized, until that happens, it's still illegal and we frown on that type
of behavior in Hamilton County," he said.
Keenan's segment of the program, which focuses on Indianapolis and Indiana,
was filmed just before Thanksgiving. Wearing a buttoned shirt and tie,
Keenan looks like a recruiting poster for computer programmers.
Knowing his name was being used and his face shown, Keenan said, he
disassembled his growing operation.
However, the day after the program aired, police descended on his home and
found a small amount of marijuana inside.
Keenan, 35, and his wife Theresa, 37, were charged with possession of less
than 30 grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and a felony charge of
maintaining a common nuisance.
Today they'll appear in court for the first time, before a Hamilton County
magistrate.
It all started when Keenan spotted a message on an Internet site that said
Frontline was looking for a Midwest marijuana grower.
He figured there had to be someone better than him because he had only a
few plants. But he let it be known that if no one else came forward, he'd
consider doing it.
After all, the timing seemed right.
In recent years, he and his wife had become outspoken advocates of hemp and
helped put on an annual hemp festival.
He had also been diagnosed with testicular cancer four years ago. It was
treated and is in remission. During his treatments, he found that eating
"hemp treats" helped him deal with the nausea.
But the experience left its mark.
"After you get cancer, your whole life is free," he said. "Every day you go
after that, you can devote it to whatever purposes you want to."
While the Frontline program focused on its recreational use - something
Keenan does not reject - he is drawn to its industrial and medicinal
qualities, too.
He believes hemp will become a viable crop and says Indiana could become a
production and manufacturing state. He skips through history and other
possibilities of its use, like a dealer fanning a deck of cards.
He figures others share his views. He's not really all that different from
his neighbors, he says.
"I was born here. Educated here. I wouldn't mind dying here. I love this
state."
A native of Martinsville, he has an electrical engineering degree from
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He is the father of two children, ages
14 and 9.
Among his accomplishments is a patent on the universal remote control for
the operation of a video-cassette recorder, cable box and television. He
acquired the patent, since sold, while working for RCA, now owned by
Thompson Consumer Electronics.
He left Thompson last year and has been writing a book. Most recently he
and his wife became partners in a Broad Ripple store called the Magic Bus,
which sells hemp clothes and other items.
He just thinks people are misguided about cannabis.
"When we first got into this, people asked, 'Why?'" Keenan said. The answer
was simple: "Because no one else is and someone has to."
Theresa. whose friends call her Tee, adds: "I found it amazing for a plant
that God put here, how did it ever get so out of hand."
It's not so much that the couple are for legalizing marijuana as they
believe society has to stop throwing people in prison for it.
"There's better uses for police resources," Keenan said.
Any marijuana he's grown has been only for the couple's use, and even his
arrest hasn't made him regret his decision to go public.
"If anything, it makes me sleep easier at night," he said. "The one thing
which I was keeping a secret in my life, I'm not keeping a secret anymore."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
High Court Overturns Drug Conviction ('Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'
Says The Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruled 4-3 Tuesday That Police,
Acting On The Word Of A Suspect's Father-In-Law Instead Of A Search Warrant,
Were Wrong To Assume They Could Legally Enter The Man's Living Quarters
To Look For Drugs, Even Though The Father-In-Law Owned The Property)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 00:40:42 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WI: High Court Overturns Drug Conviction
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Contact: jsedit@onwis.com
Fax: (414) 224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Author: Richard P. Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff
HIGH COURT OVERTURNS DRUG CONVICTION
MADISON -- A sharply divided Supreme Court overturned a Whitewater
man's drug conviction Tuesday, saying police lacked authority to
search his place even though the man's father-in-law, who owned the
property, allowed the search.
In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that authorities, acting on the
father-in-law's word instead of a search warrant, were wrong to assume
they could legally enter the man's living quarters to look for drugs.
Writing for the majority, Justice Janine Geske said the court was
troubled by the officers' actions. She said they should have paused to
ask the father-in-law a series of questions -- whether, for example,
he was free to enter the man's quarters.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Jon Wilcox said the ruling would
hamper law enforcement by requiring authorities to ask a litany of
questions.
Instead of imposing a rigid, impractical standard, the court should
let common sense prevail, he said.
On April 9, 1995, Robert Garlock let two Whitewater police officers
and a Walworth County deputy sheriff search his property for drugs.
Officers had arrested his son Scott Garlock for possession of
psilocybin mushrooms, a controlled substance.
According to court records:
Scott Garlock told authorities that he bought the drugs from a man
named John Zattera and that Zattera was staying with his family.
The Garlock property includes a detached garage with a loft. Robert
Garlock's daughter and son-in-law, Dawn and John Kieffer, slept in the
loft above the garage, and at the time, Zattera was staying with them.
Before entering the garage, officers asked Robert Garlock whether the
Kieffers paid rent. He said they sometimes helped pay the electric
bill but that there was no lease. Officers also learned the loft had
no plumbing or telephone.
Garlock led authorities to the garage, up the stairs and through the
loft door, which was unlocked.
Authorities and the Kieffers disagree on what happened next. Dawn
Kieffer testified that after the officers entered the loft, she asked
them whether they had a warrant.
She said they told her they didn't need one because her father let
them search the property. The officers testified they didn't remember
her asking them about a warrant.
In their search, officers found Zattera sleeping on the couch in the
living room with drug paraphernalia on a coffee table.
In the Kieffers' bedroom, one officer found several bags containing
psilocybin mushrooms, which police said John Kieffer admitted buying
from Zattera.
Kieffer ultimately pleaded guilty to drug possession but later
appealed, arguing that he in effect had a landlord-tenant relationship
with his father-in-law and that his father-in-law could not give
authorities permission to search the loft.
The court held that, to some extent, the Kieffers had established a
separate household in the garage loft. In the majority opinion, Geske
wrote that as a property owner Robert Garlock did not have authority
to allow the search.
However, Geske said the authorities asked only whether the Kieffers
paid rent and then acted on what she described as meager information
provided by Garlock.
If Garlock seemed upset and eager to rid his property of any drugs,
she said, his response may have been more because of his son-in-law's
arrest rather than a general anti-drug attitude.
"The officers could have asked whether Garlock considered himself to
be the Kieffers' 'landlord,' " she said. "The officers also could have
asked whether the loft had a lock on the door, and if so, whether
Garlock had a key to it."
In his dissent, Wilcox said the officers had reason to believe the
loft was more akin to a bedroom of the Garlock house than a separate
home. Such a rigid approach reduces the discretion of officers in the
field, he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jury Says Officer Is Liable ('Washington Post' Says A Jury Ordered
Prince George's County Police Officer Corporal Anthony Mills
To Pay $6,500 To Each Of Five Men In Their 40s And 50s
Strip-Searched In Public For Illegal Drugs - Mills' Department
Will Cover The Penalty)
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:23:53 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US DC: Jury Says Officer Is Liable
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net (kevin b. zeese)
Source: Washington Post
Website: http://www.washintonpost.com/
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Ruben Castaneda, Washington Post Staff Writer
JURY SAYS OFFICER IS LIABLE
Men Win Damages For Strip-Search
The five men in their forties and fifties were standing around outside a
Suitland apartment talking about sports on a hot summer night when suddenly
they were surrounded by several uniformed Prince George's County police
officers, some with their guns drawn.
Minutes later, one of the officers ordered them to drop their trousers and
underwear and pointed a flashlight at their genital areas while they stood
on a public sidewalk. No drugs were found during the strip-search.
When the men protested later to authorities, the officer who ordered them
to strip was given a letter of reprimand.
But now a federal jury has found that the officer invaded the privacy of
the five men and awarded each of them $6,500 in compensatory damages for
the August 1994 incident.
Although the judge found Cpl. Anthony Mills liable in the case, the damages
will be paid by Prince George's County, according to attorneys involved in
the case.
Mills testified during a civil trial in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt
that he conducted the search as described by the five men, attorneys said.
Mills testified that he was searching for drugs that he believed the men
might have been hiding in their genital areas, attorneys said.
Stephen A. Markey, a Bladensburg attorney who represented the five men,
said yesterday he was disappointed in the amount of damages awarded by the
jury on Thursday. He had asked for $500,000 for each of his clients in his
closing argument.
"It's a victory without a victory," Markey said. "It's more of a whisper
than a message."
"It's confusing," said Walter Williams, 59, one of the men who was
strip-searched. Awarded damages along with Williams were Dennis Weeden,
Donald Parker, Dannie Jackson and George Price.
In the lawsuit, the five men accused Mills of violating their civil rights
and imprisoning them falsely, as well as invading their privacy. The jury
found that no civil rights violations or false imprisonment had occurred.
"I'm gratified the jury did not find a civil rights violation," said Jay
Creech, the associate county attorney who defended Mills during a three-day
trial. Creech said he is reviewing the case to determine whether there are
grounds for an appeal.
There was little, if any, dispute between the two sides about what happened.
According to court records, attorneys and one of the plaintiffs, the five
men were hanging out near an apartment complex in the 3600 block of Parkway
Terrace Drive about 9 p.m. on Aug. 24, 1994.
The officers first ordered the men to turn around and place their hands on
a wooden fence and to provide identification, according to court records
and attorneys. Officers checked to see whether any of the men were the
subject of arrest warrants and found that none were.
However, one officer testified that a small glassine pouch believed to
contain marijuana was found on one of the men.
Mills testified that based on that discovery, the fact that the men were in
a known drug area and that one of the men was carrying $400, he believed he
had probable cause to conduct the strip-search, Creech said.
"I thought it wasn't right, but what could I do?" Williams said yesterday
in a brief interview. "We weren't doing nothing except talking about
sports, like we usually do."
"They acted like they were having fun, telling jokes," Williams said of the
officers.
Dozens of people drove by or were in the area during the strip-search,
including the daughter of one of the men, according to Markey and one of
the plaintiffs.
No drugs were found on any of the men, and no one was charged with any drug
offense. After an internal affairs investigation, Mills was given a written
reprimand. According to the police department's general orders,
strip-searches are to be conducted out of sight of the general public.
"One of the problems we have in law enforcement is a subculture among
police who work certain details in certain areas and do things which are
unreasonable, illegal and unethical," Chris Hertig, a member of the
American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers and a behavioral science
professor at York College in Pennsylvania, said yesterday.
(c) Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Kentucky Farmers To Sue US For Right To Grow Industrial Hemp
(News Release From Kentucky Hemp Growers Coop Says A Group
Of Kentucky Farmers Will File A Federal Lawsuit Friday
Against The Drug Enforcement Administration And The US Department Of Justice,
Seeking A Declaratory Judgment That Congress Never Intended To Ban
Nonpsychoactive Hemp)
From: cwagoner@bendnet.com
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 18:31:54 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: HT: HEMPTECH: Hemp News Service Digest
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 18:09:45 -0700 (PDT)
To: cwagoner@bendnet.com
From: maillist@SEE.MESSAGE.FOR.ADDRESS
Subject: HEMPTECH: Hemp News Service Digest
***
ARTICLE: Kentucky Farmers to Sue Us for Right to Grow Industrial Hemp
AUTHOR: Joe Hickey, KY Hemp Growers Coop
DATE: Wednesday, 13 May 1998, at 4:07 p.m.
On Friday, May 15th, a group of Kentucky farmers will file a federal
lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the US Department
of Justice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Kentucky. CBS evening news has scheduled a hemp story to air Friday
May 15th.
The lawsuit seek a series of declaratory judgments that would define
the rights and obligations of Kentucky farmers seeking to produce
industrial hemp. A news conference will be held immediately after
the filing of the suit on the courthouse steps in Lexington, Kentucky.
The plaintiffs base their suit on three principal grounds:
1) Congress never intended to prohibit the legitimate production of
industrial hemp and that therefore the defendants interpretation and
enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to prohibit industrial
hemp, violates the separation of powers.
2) Because Congress has never preempted the regulation of industrial
hemp, its production should be left to individual States and citizens,
and States may enact legislation regarding the production of industrial
hemp without violating federal law.
3) Hemp and marijuana are botanically and legally distinct products
of the cannabis plant and should be treated differently.
The plaintiffs in the case are small family farmers, principally tobacco
growers, who are facing hard economic times and who would like to
have the opportunity to explore industrial hemp for rural economic
development. They are joined by the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative
Association whose members want to produce industrial hemp and the
Hemp Company of America which can guarantee a market for these farmers
crop. Represented by leading New York attorney Michael Kennedy, the
plaintiffs say that the only thing preventing them from farming industrial
hemp is the fear that the federal government will charge them with
growing marijuana and seize their farms.
The farmer-plaintiffs, citing an uncertain market and increasingly
restrictive regulations, see industrial hemp, which was grown and
marketed in Kentucky from colonial times through the 1930's, as a
viable alternative. (A 1942 film produced by the Department of Defense,
"Hemp for Victory," praised Kentucky's illustrious history of successful
industrial hemp farming and encouraged Kentucky farmers to grow hundreds
of acres of industrial hemp as a crop "vital" to the war effort.)
Grown by historic figures including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,
industrial hemp is renowned as a multi-purpose and versatile plant.
Its seed can be converted into food, oil, animal feed, and cosmetics.
The fiber can be utilized textile, rope, carpets, paper products and
construction materials. It is considered an environmentally rotational
crop that is disease and pest-resistant. Remarkably, industrial hemp
is one of the few crops that can be grown in all 50 states.
The suit details the botanical and legal differences between industrial
hemp and marijuana pointing to distinctions noted by the United States
Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Services.
The case will also points out that under the international NAFTA and
GATT agreement industrial hemp is recognized as a valid agricultural
crop around the world.
The DEA argues that removing industrial hemp from regulatory control
would enable marijuana growers to camouflage their product. However,
contrary to their assertions, industrial hemp has been scientifically
demonstrated to cross-pollinate with marijuana, diminishing its quality.
In any event, industrial hemp has a minimal THC content, the psycho-active
ingredient in marijuana.
***
This is an automatically-generated notice. If you'd like to be removed
from the mailing list, please visit the HEMPTECH: Hemp News Service
at , or send
your request to TheNews@hemptech.com.Thank you!
***
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 12:57:47 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project"
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project"
Subject: KY Farmers Take DEA to Court (5/15/98)
For a good background on the legal theory contained in this lawsuit, see:
Ballanco, Thomas J., "The Colorado Hemp Production Act of 1995: Farms and
Forests Without Marijuana", University of Colorado Law Review, Volume 66,
Issue 4 (1995).
http://www.levellers.org/lawrev.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hemp Farming For Fun And Profit - O Canada! ('San Francisco Examiner'
Article By 'Providence Journal' Staff Writer Notes US Farmers Are Anxious
To Compete With Canadians In Growing Industrial Hemp - Up Until The 1980s,
Newport Was Using Colonial-Era Water Pipes Made Of Wood Wrapped In Hemp -
The Hemp Looked Pretty Good After 200 Years)
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 01:51:53 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: OPED: Hemp Farming For Fun And Profit: O Canada!
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May, 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Froma Harrop
Note: The author is a Providence Journal editorial writer and columnist.
Email for the Providence Journal is apancier@projo.com
HEMP FARMING FOR FUN AND PROFIT: O CANADA!
Hemp is a source of strong fibers and nutritious oils, say those who want to
resume cultivation of the crop in the United States. Hemp is the evil weed
known as marijuana, say others who want the ban to stay in place.
As far as Canadian farmers are concerned, those groups may go in a corner
and fight it out. Their government has lifted the prohibition, and they are
sowing their first crop of Cannabis sativa in 60 years. That they won't face
competition from American farmers pleases them no little.
Hemp is an herb native to Asia. It was a staple crop of colonial settlers.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp. Hemp paper was used in
early drafts of the Declaration of Independence, and hemp ropes kept
generations of American ships sailing the Seven Seas. Up until the 1980s,
Newport, was using colonial-era water pipes made of wood wrapped in hemp.
The hemp looked pretty good after 200 years.
Hemp's strength and versatility are appreciated today. It goes into paper,
auto parts, textiles, oils. Hemp is environmentally friendly. The plant
requires little in the way of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. A rug
maker, in Georgia plans to market a hemp carpet that could be turned into
compost.
The magazine Hemp Times carries ads for a hemp-material back-pack, marketed
by a company in Costa Mesa, Calif. And there's the Jefferson Shirt, made of
guess what, and sold by the Coalition for Hemp Awareness, in Chandler
Heights, Ariz. Were all these products rolled up into a giant joint, they
wouldn't produce much of a high.
Hemp's raffish reputation has made it a bit fashionable. The Galaxy
restaurant in Manhattan offers waffles flecked with hemp seeds and mesclun
with a vinaigrette of hemp seed oil. Hemp is said to taste like a cross
between hazelnut and walnut.
Canadian farmers are planting an industrial type of hemp, not the kind that
hippies smoke. Nevertheless, anti-marijuana groups fear that permitting any
hemp production would' open the door for legalization of pot.
Their concerns are not unfounded. The industrial hemp plant looks an awful
lot like its smokeable cousin, according to the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, in Washington. Who would ever find the euphoric versions of
the herb tucked into the acres of waving industrial hemp?
The Canadian government insists it is keeping close tabs on the production
of hemp. Farmers growing it must be licensed, and they may not produce.
plants that have more than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive ingredient. And
the Canadians will send around inspectors to ensure that farmers are growing
hemp intended for rope, not dope.
We will see.
American farmers feel left out. The North Dakota legislature last year voted
to have their state university study the p0-tential of industrial hemp as a
crop.
"Although lots of jokes persist, I am serious about" the bill, said
Republican Rep. David Monson. "This is as American as baseball and apple
pie." (Did he know that the Galaxy restaurant has apple pie with hemp-flour
crust on its menu?)
The University of Vermont asked Vermont farmers whether they would like to
grow hemp. They would.
Pro-pot activists are euphoric over the return of industrial hemp. They see
its potential for opening the door to marijuana legalization.
Agricultural groups have put distance between themselves and the weed
smokers. But would it be a bad thing if the legitimization of hemp led to
fewer sanctions against pot? Not in this opinion.
Marijuana has been smoked, albeit illicitly, for a long time. It does not
appear to be physically addictive. Researchers have yet to produce
convincing evidence that marijuana serves as a gateway to more serious drug
use. Domesticating pot production certainly would eliminate a bloody
smuggling trade that plagues our southern border.
The "Reefer Madness" movement, which froze hemp farming in 1936, deserves an
exhibition case at the Smithsonian with no hope for parole. Perhaps the time
has come to become grown up about hemp and resume cultivation of this
unnecessarily vilified herb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Life-Style Nazis Pick Their New Targets (Syndicated Columnist
Walter Williams Of Virginia In 'The Orange County Register'
Says Americans Are Increasingly Fed Up With Life-Style Nazis,
And Recounts Recent Anti-Smoking, Anti-Caffeine, And Anti-Chinese-Food
Skirmishes Involving Straight Edgers In Salt Lake City, Southern Californians
Against Bar Smoking, And The Center For Science In The Public Interest)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 17:05:46 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: OPED: The Life-Style Nazis Pick Their New Targets
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.co/
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Walter Williams - Mr Williams is a syndicated columnist and teaches
economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
THE LIFE-STYLE NAZIS PICK THEIR NEW TARGETS
In Salt Lake City, two college students were walking down the street
smoking cigarettes. A gang of 20 teen-ager thugs, calling themselves
Straight Edgers, ordered them to put out their cigarettes. Following an
exchange of words, the students were attacked with chains, bricks and
pepper spray. One student landed in the hospital after being beaten on the
head with a baseball bat. The Straight Edgers don't drink, smoke or take
drugs - they use violence to enforce their moral standards on others.
Many California bar owners have ignored the state ban on smoking. One bar
owner received a letter from Southern Californians Against Bar Smoking
(SCABS), saying: "We don't report smoking - we report drunk drivers leaving
smoking bars. Here's how our program works: We find bars that allow
smoking. We watch how your customers drink. When a drinker leaves and gets
into his car, we signal a SCABS member parked down the street. That member
follows your customer, using a cell phone to dial 911 and report a drunk
driver."
Americans who support private and government attacks on smokers should
recognize that a life-style Nazi's work is never done. They have more in
store, and one day you'll be the victim. If you think not, then listen up.
"Caffeine is the new drug of choice among kids," warns Helen Cordes writing
in the April 27 Nation magazine. "Caffeine Inc. (soda manufacturers) is
raking it in, often targeting teens and younger kids. ... The major
caffeine suppliers to kids have been throwing millions into advertising and
giveaways."
The left-wing Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) supports the
anti-caffeine movement and wants the FDA to regulate caffeine content in
soda, coffee, tea and chocolate. Michael Jacobson, CSPI's director, thinks
Mexican and Chinese restaurants offer servings much too large and says,
"It's high time the [restaurant] industry begins to bear some
responsibility for its contribution to obesity, heart disease and cancer."
If you support the government attack on smokers, it is not unreasonable to
also support the emerging attack on soda, coffee and tea drinkers, and you
should buy into government regulation of restaurant serving sizes. After
all, these and other lifestyle choices have an impact on our health-care
costs and endanger precious children, not to mention the addictiveness of
caffeine that's manipulated by the industry that spends millions of dollars
for advertisements aimed at children.
While we're on the subject of health care cost, there are some other
life-style regulations we might consider to protect our children. Hundreds
of thousands of teen-agers and young adults are injured, crippled or killed
each year playing basketball, baseball and football and swimming and
cycling. While safety equipment prevents some injuries, they cannot be
completely eliminated. Should we call for government regulations that
either ban sports activities or changes game rules so that no one can be
injured?
The people who want to regulate the lifestyles of others are cowards. You
say, "What do you mean, Williams?' I mean if Michael Jacobson, CSPI's
director, sees me at a restaurant starting on my fourth cup of coffee and
my fifth butter-laden biscuit, he should have the courage to walk up to the
table and take it from my plate. He probably figures, and rightly so, that
he'd be in for a hurtin' for certain. He refers using brutal government
force instead; that's safer for him.
You say, "Williams, you're beginning to sound violent." I say yes, and I'm
not by myself. There's an increasing number of Americans fed up to our
necks with these life-style Nazis.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethical Problems Of Mandatory Minimum Sentences -
Crime And Punishment Revisited (An Essay In The Journal 'Tikkun'
By David Dolinkom, A Professor At The UCLA School Of Law,
Who Says The Rigidity Of Such Sentences Is In Conflict With Basic Notions
Of Justice, Particularly The Principle That Like Cases
Are To Be Treated Alike, And Unlike Cases Are To Be Treated Differently)
Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 20:49:11 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Ethical problems of mandatory minimum sentences
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: enadelmann@sorosny.org
Source: Tikkun
Wesbite: http://www.tikkun.org/
Issue: No. 2, Vol. 13; Pg. 27; ISSN: 0887-9982
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 98
Author: David Dolinko
ETHICAL PROBLEMS OF MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES;
CRIME & PUNISHMENT REVISITED
Crime & Punishment Revisited
In January 1992, Johnny Patillo was arrested for trying to send a package
containing 681 grams of crack cocaine from Los Angeles to Dallas. Patillo,
a twenty-seven-year-old African American, subsequently pleaded guilty. He
had a college education, a steady job, and no prior criminal record.
Patillo said that desperation over mounting debts had driven him to accept
$ 500 from a neighbor for sending what he knew was a drug-laden package,
though he hadn't known which drug or how much was involved. His punishment:
ten years in a federal prison, without possibility of parole.
Federal District Judge J. Spencer Letts, who imposed that sentence,
believed that it was wildly excessive. Patillo had a spotless prior record
and committed a nonviolent, low level drug offense, yet would serve more
time than many rapists and armed robbers. Judge Letts - a Republican
appointed by Ronald Reagan - candidly acknowledged having postponed
sentencing several times while vainly seeking some way to avoid this
"barbaric" sentence. But he could not avoid it, because Congress had made
the ten-year sentence the mandatory minimum punishment for anyone convicted
of trafficking in more than fifty grams of crack.
A mandatory minimum statute requires anyone convicted of the crime it
covers to receive at least the prescribed term of imprisonment if the
criteria specified in the statute are met, no matter what other factors are
present in the case. (In theory, death could be the prescribed mandatory
penalty, but contemporary Supreme Court decisions have essentially held all
mandatory death-sentence statutes unconstitutional.) The criteria that
trigger the mandatory sentence may be features of the crime (like the
amount of drugs sold), of the criminal (like prior convictions), or of the
victim (like the age of a person to whom drugs are sold). These statutes
are not new in American law: Congress, for example, adopted its first
mandatory minimum statute (aimed at piracy) in 1790. But mandatory minimums
were relatively rare until recent years. Their enormous importance in the
federal system today stems from the "War on Drugs" of the Reagan era. Of
some sixty-odd federal mandatory minimum statutes, a mere four account for
more than 90 percent of the federal cases where mandatory sentences are
imposed: those dealing with the manufacture and distribution, possession,
and importation of illegal drugs, and a statute mandating extra terms of
imprisonment for the use of a gun in committing a drug offense or a crime
of violence.
States, too, have shown increasing fondness for mandatory minimum statutes
in recent years, beginning with Nelson Rockefeller's anti-drug law in New
York in 1973 and spreading during the following ten years to fourty-nine of
the fifty states. In recent years "three strikes" statutes, mandating life
imprisonment for repeat offenders, have been adopted in more than a quarter
of the states.
The principal moral problem posed by a mandatory minimum statute is the one
that Johnny Patillo's case illustrates: the judge must impose a
predetermined sentence for the crime in question, ignoring any features of
the defendant's character, history, and circumstances that might call for a
lesser punishment. As Judge Letts put it, it would make no difference to
Patillo's sentence if the day before his crime he "had rescued fifteen
children from a burning building, or had won the Congressional Medal of
Honor while defending his country." To adopt such a statute seems like an
act of hubris - a declaration that we are certain, in advance, that anyone
who commits the offense it covers must deserve the harsh sentence the
statute mandates, regardless of any mitigating factors or extenuating
circumstances in an individual case. Alternatively, the statute could be
seen as a declaration that there are overriding reasons why anyone who
commits the specified offense should be given the mandatory sentence even
if it does exceed what he or she deserves.
This problem of "rigidity," as I will call it, must infect any mandatory
minimum statute. If a judge were free to reduce the sentence whenever
mitigating factors made such leniency appropriate, there would be no
"mandatory" minimum at all! Before examining the rigidity issue further,
though, we should observe that many mandatory sentencing laws generate
their own specific additional problems. Often, these laws draw strikingly
unfair or irrational distinctions. An example of unfairness is the
notorious "100-to-1" disparity in the treatment of powder and crack cocaine
in the federal drug laws. There is a mandatory minimum sentence of ten
years for trafficking in 5000 grams of powder cocaine or in 50 grams of
crack, and a five-year minimum for 500 grams of powder or 5 grams of crack.
Because 90 percent of federal crack defendants are black while almost half
of the powder cocaine defendants are white, this disparity has had a
greatly disproportionate impact on black defendants. Yet the 100-to-1 ratio
lives on, having survived legal challenges on equal protection grounds, the
United States Sentencing Commission's recommendation that it be abolished,
and recent research suggesting that there is little scientific basis for
the distinction.
As for irrationality, consider the sentencing of LSD traffickers. As with
other drugs, the mandatory minimum sentence for the sale of LSD depends on
the amount sold ten years for ten grams or more, five years for amounts
between one and ten grams. LSD, however, is so potent - the average dose
contains only .05 milligrams, or one twenty-thousandth of a gram - that it
is normally transferred to a carrier medium, like blotter paper, gelatin,
or sugar cubes, and sold by the dose rather than by weight. But the Supreme
Court has held that the applicable mandatory minimum statute requires
taking into consideration the combined weight of the carrier medium and the
LSD dose. Thus a person who sells six doses of LSD on sugar cubes (which
weigh more than 2 grams apiece) is subject to the mandatory ten-year
minimum sentence, while someone who sells 19,000 doses in pure form would
escape even the five-year minimum!
Further potential for unfairness and irrationality in the federal mandatory
minimum laws lies in the very limited exception that these laws permit.
Generally, a defendant convicted under one of these statutes can receive
less than the mandatory minimum only if the prosecution moves for a lower
sentence in return for "substantial assistance" in prosecuting others. This
bonus for aiding the government creates what federal appellate judge Frank
Easterbrook has called the prospect of "inverted sentencing": "The more
serious the defendant's crimes, the lower the sentence - because the
greater his wrongs, the more information and assistance he has to offer a
prosecutor." Nor is this just a theoretical possibility, as the case of
twenty-year-old Nicole Richardson of Mobile, Alabama illustrates.
Richardson told a government informant where to find her boyfriend to
finalize an LSD sale. With no information to trade for a sentence
reduction, she was convicted of conspiracy to distribute 21.19 grams of LSD
and drew the ten-year mandatory minimum. Her boyfriend was able to help
prosecutors - and his sentence was reduced to five years.
Yet problems like "inverted sentencing," the crack/powder differential, and
the LSD absurdity are not at the heart of the qualms many people feel about
mandatory minimum sentences. These problems, after all, could be eliminated
without abandoning mandatory minimums altogether. Indeed, "inverted
sentencing" may have become less likely since Congress enacted a "safety
valve" provision in 1994, making the most frequently applied mandatory
minimum drug statutes inapplicable to a carefully defined category of
nonviolent, low level offenders with little or no prior criminal records.
What cannot so easily be remedied is the problem I earlier called
"rigidity." Mandatory minimum statutes, by their very nature, compel us to
disregard highly relevant aspects of the individual defendant's case. If we
look more carefully at this problem, we will see that it creates a conflict
with very basic notions of justice.
One of the ideas most frequently singled out as central to the concept of
justice is this: like cases are to be treated alike, and unlike cases are
to be treated differently. The belief that this is a - even the - crucial
aspect of justice can be traced back to Aristotle. Mandatory minimum
sentences violate both parts of this precept: they mete out the same
treatment to greatly differing cases, while sharply distinguishing between
situations that are virtually identical.
Treating unlike cases the same: Smith, once a champion boxer, is now
brain-damaged and broke, having lost most of his considerable earnings to
crafty, dishonest hangers-on. He's tried running a restaurant but it
failed, and the loan shark who'd advanced him his start-up capital is
threatening violence unless he gets a payment at once. In desperation,
Smith yields to a friend's importunings and agrees, for $ 1000, to drive an
auto from Mexico into California. Smith is pretty sure the car must contain
drugs, though he asks no questions. He's caught coming over the border.
There is a kilogram of heroin concealed in the car.
Jones, like Smith, has no prior criminal record and agrees to drive a
drug-laden car over the border. Jones, however, is wealthy; he's doing this
not for money, but because he craves the excitement and enjoys the thought
of flouting the law. Moreover, Jones was explicitly told that there is a
kilo of heroin in the car. Indeed, he volunteered to drive the car to San
Diego after hearing this, purely for the thrill.
Surely these are extremely different cases. Is it right that Smith and
Jones should receive the same ten-year prison sentence?
Treating like cases differently: Mark has been convicted in federal court
of possessing a small quantity of crack cocaine for personal use, and so
has Michael - 5 grams of crack in Mark's case, 5.01 grams in Michael's.
These cases may seem almost indistinguishable, but the trifling difference
in what they possessed makes a big difference in sentencing. Michael must
go to prison for five years, but Mark is not subject to any mandatory
minimum, and can at most be sentenced to one year in prison!
Here is a third example, which some people will think illustrates "treating
like cases differently" while others may view it as differentiating between
unlike cases - but in precisely the wrong way. Peter and Paul are two
California criminals. Peter, penniless in Los Angeles at age eighteen, was
convicted of grand theft for picking an acquaintance's pocket and stealing
$ 500. After his probation for this offense, he was caught burglarizing a
neighbor's house. Shortly after he'd served his burglary sentence, Peter
held up a liquor store at gunpoint.
Paul's crimes are the same, but in reverse chronological order. He was
convicted of armed robbery of a liquor store at age eighteen, and he
burglarized a neighbor's home after serving time for the robbery. After his
second prison term, Paul seemed to settle down to lawful employment. But
several years later, during a recession, he lost his job and, as an ex-con,
couldn't find another. Destitute, he stole a wallet containing $ 500 from
the pocket of a coat hanging in a restaurant.
One might say that these criminal records are, given the facts cited, "the
same": chronology is irrelevant. Or one might say that Peter's is the more
serious record because it exhibits a progression from nonviolent theft to
potentially violent burglary to actual use of a gun, while Paul's final
offense seems the product of circumstances and desperation more than of a
settled "career criminal" pattern. Under California's "three strikes"
sentencing law, however, it is only Paul who must receive a mandatory
twenty-five-year-to-life sentence. The law requires such a sentence for any
third felony provided the two prior felonies were "violent" or "serious."
Paul's priors - robbery and burglary - both qualify, but Peter's first
felony (grand theft) is neither violent nor serious. Peter will probably
receive a sentence of twelve years or less.
Examples like those I have offered strongly challenge the justice, and even
the rationality, of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Proponents of such
laws have various possible responses, but these seem unconvincing. They can
argue, for instance, that the Mark/Michael example proves nothing because
it doesn't really involve "treating like cases differently." The cases
differ in a respect - quantity of cocaine - made relevant by law. That it's
a very small difference merely confirms Justice Holmes's adage that
"Whenever the law draws a line there will be cases very near each other on
opposite sides." That is undoubtedly true, yet there's still something
unseemly if the consequences that turn on the line are grossly
disproportionate to the differences between the cases lying on either side
- especially where one could so easily avoid such disproportion (as by
making the sentence vary more smoothly in proportion to the amount of crack
possessed, with no sharp "cliff" at five grams).
Ironically, when a defendant charged with murder in a capital-punishment
state is convicted, the life-or-death sentencing conviction must rest on an
individualized examination of all relevant considerations, and the
sentencer must be allowed to weigh any potentially mitigating feature of
the killer's character or record or the circumstances of the crime. Why,
then, should those guilty of lesser crimes be subjected to lengthy prison
terms without any regard to the individual, potentially mitigating features
of their cases?
An advocate of mandatory minimum sentencing laws could dismiss all of my
examples by appealing to the criminal-law goal of deterrence. She could
argue that these laws are aimed at crimes (or patterns of crimes) so
dangerous and harmful that there is an imperative social. need to deter
anyone from committing them. And the way to deter potential wrongdoers is
to send the message that those caught engaging in such conduct will do
serious jail time, regardless of any other considerations - including
whether the injunction to "treat like cases alike" is thereby violated. In
essence, this amounts to arguing that the need for deterrence and crime
control trumps the claims of justice in the individual's case.
There are two flaws in this argument, one empirical and one conceptual.
Empirically, the evidence that stiff mandatory minimums are effective
crime-control mechanisms is simply lacking. An extensive study of the
federal mandatory-minimum laws, undertaken by the federal Sentencing
Commission, concluded in 1991 that these laws are applied so unevenly as to
dramatically reduce the certainty of punishment. (The uneven application
stems from the prosecutors' largely unfettered discretion to choose whether
or not to charge defendants with offenses carrying mandatory minimums.)
Since deterrence depends on certainty perhaps even more than on severity of
punishment, the mandatory sentence laws are unlikely to attain their
deterrent goals. More. recently, the Rand Corporation's Drug Policy
Research Center, focusing on cocaine sentences, concluded that mandatory
minimums are not cost-effective methods of reducing cocaine consumption and
drug-related crime. Researchers studying state mandatory-minimum laws have
likewise cast doubt on their deterrent success.
More fundamental, however, is the conceptual question of whether it is
morally proper to allow the pursuit of the common good - here, crime
control - to override the requirements of justice. Suppose that harsh
mandatory minimum sentences did decrease the crime rate, but that we also
believed such sentences rode roughshod over some basic principles of
justice. Is the sacrifice an acceptable one? If so, just how much further
might the readiness to sacrifice justice extend? Do we risk defending our
society against criminals at the price of destroying its moral legitimacy?
These are questions that I believe anyone pondering the wisdom of mandatory
minimum sentencing ought to confront.
David Dolinko is a Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law who has
written on the philosophical presuppositions of criminal law.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Economic Costs Of Alcohol And Drug Abuse Estimated At $246 Billion
In The United States (Press Release From NIDA Publicizes Its New Report -
Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism Generated About 60 Percent
Of The Estimated Costs, Or $148 Billion, While 'Drug Abuse And Dependence'
Accounted For The Remaining 40 Percent, Or $98 Billion, Undoubtedly Far Less
Than The Total Cost Of The War On Some Drug Users At The Local, State
And Federal Levels, Especially When Prison Costs Are Included -
More Than One-Half Of The Estimated Cost Of 'Drugs'
Was Attributed To Prohibition-Caused Crime, While Lost Productivity
Accounted For Only 14.5 Percent Of The Estimated Cost Of 'Drugs')
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 18:20:35 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Arthur Sobey (asobey@ncfcomm.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org>
Subject: Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Wednesday, May 13, 1998
Contact: NIDA Press
Office at 301-443-6245
NIAAA Press Office
at 301-443-3860
Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Estimated at $246 Billion
in The United States
A new study released today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), estimates that the
economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse was $246 billion in 1992, the
most recent year for which sufficient data were available. This estimate
represents $965 for every man, woman, and child living in the United
States in 1992. The new study reports that alcohol abuse and alcoholism
generated about 60 percent of the estimated costs ($148 billion), while
drug abuse and dependence accounted for the remaining 40 percent ($98
billion).
"This study confirms the enormous damage done to society by alcohol-
and drug-related problems," said NIAAA Director Enoch Gordis, M.D. "The
magnitude of these costs underscores the need to find better ways to
prevent and treat these disorders."
"Substance abuse and addiction have serious medical and social
consequences," said NIDA Director Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. "This study
indicates that emergence of health problems from the cocaine and HIV
epidemics during this period substantially increased drug-related costs
to society. The rising costs from these and other drug-related public
health issues warrant a strong, consistent, and continuous investment in
research on prevention and treatment."
Prior to this study, the most recent comprehensive estimates of these
costs were based on data for 1985. The new estimates are 42 percent
higher for alcohol and 50 percent higher for drugs than the estimates
reported in the earlier study, after accounting for the increases that
would be expected due to inflation and population growth. Over 80
percent of the increase in estimated costs of alcohol abuse can be
attributed to changes in data and methodology employed in the new study;
this suggests that the previous study significantly underestimated the
costs of alcohol abuse. In contrast, over 80 percent of the increase in
estimated costs of drug abuse is due to real changes in drug-related
emergency room episodes, criminal justice expenditures, and service
delivery patterns.
The authors also reviewed other earlier cost-to-society research.
After comparing their current findings to the four major cost studies
conducted in the past two decades, again adjusting for inflation and
population growth, they concluded that the alcohol estimates for 1992
were very similar to the average of cost estimates produced over the
past 20 years.
Estimates of the costs of drug abuse, however, have shown a steady
and strong pattern of increase since 1977. The authors state that rising
drug abuse costs can be explained by the emergence of the cocaine and
HIV epidemics, an eightfold increase in State and Federal incarcerations
for drug offenses, and about a three-fold increase in crimes
attributed to drugs.
The distribution of alcohol and drug costs differed significantly.
Two-thirds of the costs of alcohol abuse related to lost productivity,
either due to alcohol-related illness (45.7 percent) or premature death
(21.2 percent). Most of the remaining costs of alcohol abuse were in the
form of health care expenditures to treat alcohol use disorders and the
medical consequences of alcohol consumption (12.7 percent), property and
administrative costs of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes (9.2
percent), and various additional costs of alcohol-related crime (8.6
percent).
For drug abuse, more than one-half of the estimated costs were
associated with drug-related crime. These costs included lost
productivity of victims and incarcerated perpetrators of drug-related
crimes (20.4 percent); lost legitimate production due to drug-related
crime careers (19.7 percent); and other costs of drug-related crime,
including Federal drug traffic control, property damage, and police,
legal, and corrections services (18.4 percent). Most of the remaining
costs of drug abuse resulted from premature deaths (14.9 percent), lost
productivity due to drug-related illness (14.5 percent), and health care
expenditures (10.2 percent).
"Much of the economic burden of alcohol and drug problems falls on
the population that does not abuse alcohol and drugs," said study author
Henrick Harwood and his colleagues at The Lewin Group. About 45 percent
of the costs of alcohol abuse is borne by those who abuse alcohol and
members of their households; 39 percent by Federal, State, and local
governments; 10 percent by private insurance; and 6 percent by victims
of abusers. For drug abuse, 44 percent of the cost burden is carried by
those who abuse drugs and members of their households, 46 percent by
governments, 3 percent by private insurance, and 7 percent by victims of
drug abusers.
Because population increases and inflation have increased the costs
further since 1992, the study authors also projected the costs for
alcohol and drug abuse for 1995. By adjusting the 1992 estimates for
population growth and inflation, they estimated that the 1995 costs to
society were $276 billion.
NIDA and NIAAA are two of the 18 Institutes that comprise the
National Institutes of Health, the Nation's lead agency for biomedical
and behavioral health research. NIH is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Police Seize Pot Plants, Arrest Man ('London Free Press' In Ontario
Notes Local Eradication Of 400 Cannabis Plants Supposed To Be Worth
$50,000 To $60,000 At Maturity)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: POLICE SEIZE POT PLANTS, ARREST MAN
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 08:35:38 -0700
Lines: 17
Source: London Free Press
Contact: letters@lfpress.com
May 13, 1998
POLICE SEIZE POT PLANTS, ARREST MAN
Four hundred marijuana plants were seized by London police at 11:30
a.m. Tuesday in a raid at a Wellington Road address.
Growing equipment valued at $15,000 was also seized.
At maturity the plants would have had a street value of between
$50,000 and $60,000.
One man was arrested but his name has not been released by police.
***
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 12:18:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Roddy Heading (rheading@npiec.on.ca)
To: Matt Elrod (creator@islandnet.com)
cc: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Re:HOMEWORKCHECK:[?] POLICE SEIZE POT PLANTS, ARREST MAN
On Wed, 13 May 1998, Matt Elrod wrote:
> Source: London Free Press
> Contact: letters@lfpress.com
>
> May 13, 1998
>
> POLICE SEIZE POT PLANTS, ARREST MAN
WAR ON DRUGS HOMEWORK CHECK NETWORK.......
There is no need to guess the missing parts of the logic equation here
All the pieces are there, but they are scrambled up.. Can you find them?
Date... May 13.....about two weeks before transplantable size, plants may
be only a few inches tall, a month old and weighing
less than a few grams each...these are baby plants, no
doubt started early to be transplanted outside at the
end of the month........
Number....400 plants are 400 plants, but they are immature plants.......
dried for sale there would likely be less than 400 grams
(we will not insert a price per gram value here as this is
clearly immature tissue, not market ready, mature plants)
Value......$ 50,000.oo - $ 60,000.oo for 400 fingerling plants is not
likely. Someone is trying to put a market value
on "unfinished goods" worth nothing until "finished"
** 400 plants at maturity, @ 40 g per plant = 16,000 g
@ $5 g x 16,000g = $ 80,000.oo ( gross )
Deduct...lighting systems @ $ 15,000.oo = $ 65,000.oo potential at
maturity ( net )
Homework Check Network says this is poor homework. If Johnny has 400 eggs
and lots of lights and reflectors, fertilizer and greenhouse supplies,
how many chickens does he have?
Answer: Johnny has no chickens, just a lot of eggs...
Still...400 seedlings at maturity would make Johnny a rich boy in October
At minimum wage after deductions for income tax, how many years of
toil would Johnny have too work to make the same amount of money
this pot would bring him in only 16 weeks of observation and
watering?......really, what is the ratio of straight work to pot
farming work to achieve the same financial rewards? Any guesses?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, Number 46 (Summary Of Drug Policy News
For Activists, From DrugSense)
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 12:11:05 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly May 13, 1998 #046
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly
May 13, 1998
#046
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Feature Article
Tobacco bill Another Washington Boondoggle / By Mark Greer
* Weekly News In Reviews
Domestic News-
America's Drug Problem and Its Policy of Denial
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Sending Mixed Messages On Drugs
Is The Drug War Racist?
Drug Testing In Iowa: Does It Unfairly Target Employees?
Another Police Raid On A Home Yields No Drugs, But Much Trauma
Marijuana-
'Homegrown'- Dead Boss With Drug Cargo- A Stooge's Stuff of Dreams
Mendocino County To Keep Funds To Fight Pot
Marijuana Still Divides California
Tobacco-
Editorial: Land Of The Smoke-Free
Editorial- Thickening smoke
OPED: The New Political Scam - It's All For the Kids
International News-
Australia- Decriminalising Dope Produces No New Highs
Netherlands- Amsterdam In Purge On Sex And Drugs
UK-A Squandered Opportunity
UK Scotland: Addicts Swamp GP Surgeries
Colombia- Cocaine and the High Cost of Helicopters
Columbia- A Two-Edged Sword For The War On Drugs
UN- New Global War On Drugs Tackles A Losing Battle
Canada - War On Drugs Disastrous Failure
* Hot Off The 'Net
* DrugSense Tip Of The Week
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
Tobacco Bill Another Washington Boondoggle
By Mark Greer
***
The dissolution of the Congressional tobacco deal was completely
predictable.
It should be no surprise to anyone that the tobacco companies have
wisely chosen to withdraw from the latest power and money grab from
Washington under the guise of the disgustingly overused claim by
politicians that "We're protecting our children." Not only do the
tobacco companies realize that this precedent is the initial stage of
eventual prohibition of tobacco but any rational person should be able
to see how grossly these laws undermine personal freedom and free
enterprise. Regardless of what we think of tobacco, the laws themselves
are antithetical to American values and beliefs. Penalizing products we
don't like or that we think are potentially harmful is a dangerous and
demonstrably foolish course of action.
Watching the feeding frenzy from both sides of the isle is a testament
to how completely devoid of logic our so-called leaders have become. On
this weeks Meet the Press, Congressman Henry Waxman came as close as
anyone has to the heart of why this course of action is such folly by
saying "No one is talking about prohibition." Of course he got it
completely wrong because that is exactly what we are talking about.
Attempting to curb teen smoking by raising taxes by $1.10 per pack will
not only prove to be the same dismal failure that drug prohibition has
proven to be but we can expect the same dire results. A black market
will begin to emerge, criminals will become wealthy by selling stolen
and illicitly grown tobacco products and by undercutting the high
prices resulting from the new taxes. Another unholy alliance between
criminals, our "leaders," and the criminal justice system will ensue.
Children will be even more attracted to using the illicit cigarettes
because "drug dealers" have no compunction whatever over who they
market to and because we've taught our children that breaking the law
is fun and has little in the way of consequences.
The potential profit of $1.10 per pack is simply too good for criminals
to pass up. This is more than the average profit made per transaction
by street level crack dealers. The results are predictable and
inevitable. Soon after the passage of such laws the first reports of
hijacked cigarette shipments and underground tobacco products will
emerge. All of course to the hand wringing of the same short sighted
politicians that caused the problem.
We have a 70 year track record in trying to control peoples behavior.
It is euphemistically and inaccurately called the war on drugs. It, has
actually been a war on the poor, and minorities and has lead to this
country having more people in prison than any other industrialized
nation in the world. Another predictable result of this trillion
dollar boondoggle is that any half wit sixth grader can buy drugs at
will and teen drug use is at an all time high. American citizens had
better prepare for round two of this lunacy because that is exactly
where we are headed with tobacco.
If we allow those in power to proceed down this slippery slope of
increasing prohibition simply because we are addicted to the wishful
thinking that prohibition will help curb teenage smoking, drug use, or
anything else, then we deserve more of the same increased crime,
clogged judicial systems, increased teen use, and billions of wasted
law enforcement dollars that have resulted from drug prohibition.
Has someone passed a law against logical thinking in Washington?
Prohibition has never worked even once throughout the entire history of
man. It never can work because it is based on the flawed premise that
government can control peoples appetites. People get what they want.
That is an undeniable fact. Why is this so hard for politicians to
grasp?
The exact same arguments about the cruel and self-serving tobacco
companies could be made about nearly every fast food franchise in the
country or scores of other legitimate businesses. Fat has undoubtedly
killed many more people than tobacco ever will. It is not at all beyond
the imagination to envision some overweight Congressman thumping his
chest and extolling the virtues of his new bill the "Kiddie Fat
Reduction Act" which will protect our children by taxing all products
with a high fat content. I can hear the cheers now. What next eight
dollar Big Macs?
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Domestic News - The Drug War
***
COMMENT:
These six articles record drug policy insanity in ways that
range from the general to the highly specific. Mathea Falco's
entire piece is worth reading because it's a realistic
assessment of major US drug policy weaknesses from an intelligent
and reasonably honest observer who is herself in denial because
she thinks prohibition policy makes sense.
Hitz is the same IG who gave the CIA a clean bill of health
after Gary Webb's "Dark Alliance" series was aired. It's
clear that defining contract workers as not belonging to the
Agency was a key factor in "deniability" of Agency involvement.
The SJMN has long since recanted, Webb was disgraced and
forced out; how many people will ever read this belated admission?
Milloy's tongue-in-cheek piece is brilliant and also worth reading
in its entirety. As to whether the wod is racist, do bears poop in
the woods? It's important that two black intellectuals have
chosen to go public with something everyone knows, but black
politicians haven't yet been willing to touch. The new Iowa law
suggests that drug hysteria has been elevated to a frightening
intensity in the heartland. Finally, yet another mistaken NYPD
drug raid- time for Bob Herbert to chime in.
AMERICA'S DRUG PROBLEM AND ITS POLICY OF DENIAL
For almost 100 years, Americans have considered other countries the
primary source of their drug problems. When the first drug laws
were adopted in the early decades of this century, the public
associated drugs with immigrant groups and minorities: opium with
Chinese laborers in the west, cocaine with blacks, and marijuana
with Mexican immigrants in the southwest. These drugs were seen as
foreign threats to the social fabric, undermining traditional moral
values and political stability. Today this link between foreigners
and illicit drugs continues to influence United States
international drug policy, prompting the government to use
diplomacy, economic assistance, coercion, and military force to try
to stop drugs from entering the country.
[snip]
Source: Current History - April issue
Pubdate: April, 1998
Contact: chistory@aol.com
FAX: 215-482-9923
Mail: Current History Inc. 4225 Main Street Philadelphia, PA 19127
Website: http://www.currenthistory.com/
Author: Mathea Falco
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n323.a02.html/all
***
DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL
In testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence on March
16, the Central Intelligence Agency once again suffered a blow to its
reputation. This time the injury was self-inflicted. The CIA's own top
watchdog, Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz, admitted that although
"dozens of individuals and a number of companies" involved in the
agency's covert war against Nicaragua during the '80s were suspected
drug traffickers, the CIA had legal authority to ignore their crimes as
long as they were helping contra rebels fight the left-wing Sandinista
government.
Hitz revealed that between 1982 and 1995 the spy agency had an
agreement with the Justice Department, allowing it to ignore drug
trafficking by its "agents, assets and non-staff employees." The
directive, known as a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU), did not
exempt the agency's full-time, career employees, who are known as CIA
"officials." However, the agency did not have to tell the Justice
Department about the criminal activities of "agents" or "assets" --
terms used interchangeably to refer to its paid and unpaid spies. Also
exempt were CIA contractors, such as pilots, accountants and military
trainers, who supplied the agency with specific goods and services
rather than intelligence. "There was no official requirement to report
on allegations of drug trafficking with respect to non-employees of the
agency," Hitz told the committee.
[snip]
Source: In These Times
Contact: itt@inthesetimes.com
Website: http://www.inthesetimes.com/
Pubdate: 17 May 1998
Author: Martha Honey
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n328.a06.html
***
SENDING MIXED MESSAGES ON DRUGS
The new media messages about drugs are really blowing my mind.
On the radio, you can hear an anti-marijuana spot warning that the evil
weed causes memory loss. That's bad.
At the same time, you can read in news magazines that some legally
prescribed antidepressants also may have adverse side effects, such as
memory loss. But that's okay, because a new pill to enhance memory is
in the pipeline.
Cocaine and heroin are bad, we are told, because they artificially
stimulate or block natural biochemical functions. However, mood drugs
such as Zoloft and Prozac are good, even though they do the same thing.
Just say no to drugs, the media messages say, except to those made by
pharmaceutical companies.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 6 May 1998
Source: Washington Post
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Courtland Milloy
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n330.a04.html
***
IS THE DRUG WAR RACIST?
The government's policy has scorched the inner cities and put a
generation of young black men behind bars. Two leading African-
American scholars reflect on the damage done.
America's war on drugs has ravished the inner cities it aspired to
save. Without curbing drug traffic, the crusade has sent a generation
of young black males into the criminal-justice system, which offers
them not rehabilitation but firsthand instruction in violent crime.
While blacks make up thirteen percent of the national population and
thirteen percent of the country's monthly drug users, they account for
thirty-five percent of arrests for drug possession, fifty-five percent
of convictions and seventy-four percent of prison sentences, according
to the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that promotes criminal-justice
reform. Between 1986 and 1991, the number of blacks held in state
prisons on drug charges rose by 465 percent, the project also reported.
That increase partly reflects the inequality of federal sentencing
rules, under which a person convicted of possessing five grams of crack
cocaine receives the same five-year mandatory minimum as someone caught
selling 500 grams of powder cocaine.
Such evidence has turned Glenn C. Loury and Orlando Patterson into
vociferous critics of the war. Two of America's leading public
intellectuals, both men espouse cautious, unromantic liberalism on
issues like affirmative action are socially conservative about family
values.
[snip]
Pubdate: May 14, 1998
Source: Rolling Stone Magazine
Author: Samuel G. Freedman
Contact: letters@rollingstone.com
Website: http://www.rollingstone.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n334.a10.html
***
DRUG TESTING IN IOWA: DOES IT UNFAIRLY TARGET EMPLOYEES?
"Reasonable Suspicion" Grounds For Random Alcohol & Drug Testing;
Civic Employees Exempt From Law; Few Protection Measures For
Employees
Employers in Iowa now have much more power when it comes to testing
their employees and applicants for alcohol or drug use, due to the
signing of House Bill 299 by legislators, earlier this month.
The bill expands the right of private companies to randomly test sample
groups of employees for drugs or alcohol, as well as administer tests
to individual employees, based on the employer's "reasonable
suspicion." Refusal or failure of any test is grounds for suspension or
dismissal, depending on the employers policies.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 98
Source: River Cities' Reader ( IA)
Section: Business
Author: Devin Hansen
Fax: ( 319) 323-3101
Contact: rcreader@rcreader.com
Website: http://www.rcreader.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n335.a11.html
***
ANOTHER POLICE RAID ON A HOME YIELDS NO DRUGS, BUT MUCH TRAUMA
NEW YORK -- Police officers broke down the door of a Brooklyn
apartment, guns drawn, tossed a stun grenade into the front hall and
handcuffed everyone inside, including a mentally retarded 18-year-old
girl who was taking a shower. They were looking for guns and drugs.
They found only a terrified family.
[snip]
Source: New York Times ( NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 08 May 1998
Author: Michael Cooper
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n335.a03.html
***
Marijuana
***
COMMENT:
Pot, in its various guises, continues to be the most important battle
in the drug war. A just- released film about the Northern California
marijuana wars is apparently so focused on nonsense that there is no
residual policy message. On the real Mendocino battlefield, the board
of supervisors voted to accept federal bribes for at least another
year of warfare.
The CSM piece updates the San Francisco CBC soap opera fairly
accurately
***
'HOMEGROWN': DEAD BOSS WITH DRUG CARGO: A STOOGE'S STUFF OF DREAMS
Question: What happens when you cross "The Treasure of the Sierra
Madre" with the Three Stooges?
Answer: "Homegrown," a wacky farce noir about three babes in the
woods shepherding a huge marijuana crop to marketable maturity when
the murder of their wealthy boss fills their fool heads with dreams
of becoming the millionaires next door.
So, with Stephen Gyllenhaal as director and co-writer with Nicholas
Kazan, "Homegrown" is off and romping with its spirited cast through a
plot that mingles murder mystery, rustic comedy, outlaw sociology,
plant husbandry, lusty romance and layers of old-fashioned avarice,
which is to say old-fashioned business.
[snip]
Source: New York Times ( NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 1998
Author: Lawrence Van Gelder
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n335.a05.html
***
MENDOCINO COUNTY TO KEEP FUNDS TO FIGHT POT
UKIAH - After an emotional four-hour debate Tuesday, Mendocino
County supervisors decided to keep accepting yearly $250,000 state
allocations targeting marijuana growers rather than end an anti-pot
war local critics contend can't be won.
For the second year, Supervisors John Pinches and Charles Peterson
could not muster a third vote to become the first county in
California to say no to the pot money.
[snip]
Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat (CA)
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Mail: P.O. Box 569, Santa Rosa, 95402
Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/
Author: Mike Geniella
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n335.a06.html
***
MARIJUANA STILL DIVIDES CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite renewed efforts to shut down the nation's
most famous medicinal marijuana club, a gold stenciled pot leaf
remains boldly emblazoned across its store front facade and traffic
is as brisk as ever.
Upstairs, patrons with a physicians' recommendation buy various
grades of marijuana cigarettes, or baked goods, and consume them in
a setting that's more like a disco than a doctor's office.
The mood is relaxed and confident, seasoned by months of legal
challenge that show no sign of letting up. Last week, a California
bid to close the club immediately was denied, but a full hearing is
slated for June.
[snip]
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Contact: oped@csps.com
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Pubdate: Monday May 4, 1998
Author: Paul Van Slambrouck,
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n325.a02.html
***
Tobacco
***
COMMENT:
The obvious linkage between tobacco policy and drug policy continues
to be steadfastly ignored by most pundits, even as their own rhetoric
makes it ever more obvious. Krauthammer, an ardent supporter of
drug prohibition is almost comical in his excoriation of the "..but
what about the kids?" argument, clearly forgetting that it's the last
refuge of drug warriors under pressure to justify their lunacy.
LAND OF THE SMOKE-FREE
There is no case for stiff new penalties against America's tobacco
firms
The extraordinary political battle over the future of America's
tobacco industry seems likely to come to a climax over the next few
weeks. Will Bill Clinton work with Republicans on Capitol Hill to
impose drastic new penalties on the once-mighty industry? Or will
president and Congress settle for posturing - each aiming to outbid
the other ahead of this autumn's Congressional elections, proposing
ever more outlandish punishments, until the process collapses
without yielding legislation? The tobacco firms too have a choice
to make. Now that Congress has picked apart the deal they agreed
with state governments last June - a deal that, on any
disinterested assessment, was already harsh - should they refuse to
co-operate in seeking a national agreement, as they now threaten to
do? And, if so, should they fight their cases through the courts or
seek quick settlements state by state?
Complicated stuff. Let us simplify. The politicians are debating,
in effect, whether to thump the industry severely or beat it to
within an inch of its life. Perhaps even now it isn't too late to
point out there is no case for doing either.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 25 Apr 1998
Source: Economist, The ( US)
Contact: letters@economist.com
Website: http://www.economist.com
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n329.a02.html/all
***
THICKENING SMOKE
The latest strategy to derail tobacco legislation in Congress involves
loading it up with unrelated provisions aimed at illegal drug use. This
attempt to change the subject ( and to embarrass President Clinton as
soft on drugs in the process) is a cynical manipulation by Big Tobacco
and its allies in Congress. With a majority of Americans wanting a
meaningful tobacco control law this year, members need to resist
extraneous junk and stay focused on the mission, which is saving a new
generation of children from getting hooked on smoking. On Wednesday a
group of Senate Republican leaders, citing figures showing that high
school marijuana use is increasing faster than smoking, unveiled their
proposal to use tobacco industry revenues to enforce narcotics laws.
They said they would move to attach it to every tobacco bill that comes
up. In the House, meanwhile, Speaker Newt Gingrich is leaning toward
submerging his own long-promised teen smoking proposal into a broader
bill fighting drug abuse.
[snip]
Source: Boston Globe ( MA)
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n335.a04.html
***
THE NEW POLITICAL SCAM: IT'S ALL FOR THE KIDS
ONCE UPON a time, a politician would promise to do anything -- abolish
taxes, hold back the tides, run over his grandmother -- in the name of
the ``working man.'' Not anymore. Nowadays everything is done in the
name of ``families'' or, better still, for ``children.''
From Iraq to gun control, from global warming to air bags, there is
nary a public policy issue that is not sold as a way to protect
kids. Sure, gun locks might save an adult or two. But the important
thing is what they do for the little ones.
[snip]
Source: San Jose Mercury News ( CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 1998
Author: Charles Krauthammer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n337.a04.html
***
International News
***
COMMENT:
The first article (Australia) confirms other experience that benign
enforcement of marijuana laws is not associated with either increased
crime or addiction to "harder"drugs. The second (Netherlands) confirms
that while drugs remain illegal, benign enforcement is strictly a
matter of official forbearance and can change overnight.
In Britain, the Independent is championing decriminalization of
marijuana, but favors continued outlawing of "hard" drugs- a policy
which doesn't seem to be working any better in Aberdeen than in other
parts of the globe.
It appears that the benighted lunacy which passes for our
international drug policy is forging ahead with plans to make both
Colombia's civil war and environmental damage to even worse.
The headline writer in Toronto is not as sanguine about the prospects
of drug war victory as Pino Arlaachi. The upcoming UN special session
on drugs will be our best chance to call attention to the travesty of
a global criminal market created by US law and sustained UN treaty.
***
DECRIMINALISING DOPE PRODUCES NO NEW HIGHS
A TWO-YEAR national marijuana study has found decriminalisation has not
caused any increase in its use in Australia.
The findings of the study carried out by the Drug and Alcohol Services
Council of South Australia in conjunction with other national research
facilities for Australia's health and justice ministers was presented
to a meeting in Melbourne yesterday, but the ministers left any action
on the report up to individual jurisdictions.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 5 May 1998
Source: The Australian
Contact: ausletr@newscorp.com.au
Website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Author: John Kerin
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n326.a03.html
***
AMSTERDAM IN PURGE ON SEX AND DRUGS
FOR many visitors to Amsterdam, the most startling sights have long
been the "coffee shops" where marijuana is openly sold and the "window
brothels" that display prostitutes like mannequins. But the sex and
drugs capital of Europe is undergoing a purge to rid itself of its
reputation as a city where anything goes.
Nearly half the 400 cafes that supplied soft drugs have been shut down
on the orders of Schelto Patijn, the forceful mayor, mostly on the
grounds that they have broken rules governing the amount of stock on
the premises or have traded hard drugs.
[snip]
Source: Sunday Times ( UK)
Contact: editor@sunday-times.co.uk
Pubdate: Sun, 03 May 1998
Author: Peter Conradi
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n323.a05.html
***
A SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITY
Drug tsar Keith Hellawell's White Paper misses the point, argues Graham
Ball
TACKLING Drugs to Build a Better Britain, the title of drug tsar Keith
Hellawell's proposals for solving the country's biggest social crisis,
sounds like a spin-doctor's daydream.
The White Paper, unveiled last Monday, is long on rhetoric and
short on logic. For many involved in countering drug problems, it
represents a squandered opportunity.
[snip]
Source: Independent, The ( UK)
Contact: cannabis@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Author: Graham Ball
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n329.a11.html/all
***
ADDICTS SWAMP GP SURGERIES
Doctors tell of struggle to cope as Aberdeen suffers big rise in
numbers using hard drugs
Doctors in Aberdeen are struggling to cope with a huge surge in demand
for help from drug addicts, some as young as 14.
One inner-city practice has had a 100-fold increase in the number of
people requiring treatment in just five years. Addicts outside the GP
network are having to wait up to ten months to be seen by the city's
only dedicated drug abuse service.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 8 May 1998
Source: Scotsman ( UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: Farnk Urquhart
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n334.a03.html
***
COCAINE AND THE HIGH COST OF HELICOPTERS
SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia-On a government airstrip here in the
sweltering heart of a no man's land roamed by Marxist guerrillas, drug
traffickers and right-wing death squads sits a row of six UH-1H
helicopters, the primary weapon Colombian police have to combat both
the flow of drugs to the United States and the spread of lawlessness
here.
But the helicopters can't fly. They are part of an aging fleet of 36
"Hueys" provided to Colombia by the United States -- most of which have
been grounded over the past two months because of mechanical problems,
seriously eroding the ability of police to find and destroy cocaine and
heroin laboratories, detect clandestine airstrips and interdict drug
shipments flowing northward.
[snip]
Source: Washington Post
Contact:http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Douglas Farah
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n331.a04.html
***
A TWO-EDGED SWORD FOR THE WAR ON DRUGS
U.S. thinks deadly herbicide is just right for Colombia's fields
BOGOTA, Colombia - It is so strong that just a few granules sprinkled
over a pesky tuft of grass on a driveway in San Francisco killed an oak
tree several metres away.
Dow Agro Sciences, the manufacturer of the herbicide known as
Tebuthiuron, or Spike, warns customers never to apply it near trees,
water sources or any place where it can accidentally kill desirable
plant life. Dow specifically says this is not the product for
wide-scale eradication of illicit drug crops.
Which is how U.S. authorities want to see it used in Colombia.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tuesday, May 5, 1998
Source: Toronto Star ( Canada)
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Tod Robberson, Special to the Star
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n328.a09.html
***
NEW GLOBAL WAR ON DRUGS TACKLES A LOSING BATTLE
27 world leaders set to sign U.N. pledge next month
UNITED NATIONS - The world is about to go to war against drugs.
Again.
After years of fighting a losing battle against the $400 billion (U.S.)
global narcotics industry, the international community has come up with
a strategy it thinks could finally make a difference.
At least 27 leaders will sign a pledge in New York next month to
dramatically reduce drug addiction in their countries over the next
decade.
`The addiction problem we face now isn't a spontaneous expansion of
traditional culture. Today's world market has been created by forces
like organized crime.' - Pino Arlaachi, head of the United Nations Drug
Control Program
[snip]
Pubdate: May 4, 1998
Source: Toronto Star ( Canada)
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Stephen Handelman
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n325.a07.html
***
WAR ON DRUGS DISASTROUS FAILURE
Oppressive Fantasies Of Prohibition Create Criminals As Blinded
Leadership Remains Bogged In Inertia
Normally, when a course of action has proven such an overwhelming
failure that it feeds the problem, that approach is dropped in favor of
new ideas.
Not so with the war on drugs. This annual, multi-billion dollar debacle
whose prohibition fuels the engine of the black market is curiously
defended at all costs by the agents of inertia.
They'd rather ply the safe side of the political street than embark on
innovative policy requiring leadership.
Increasing numbers of law enforcement veterans and conservative pundits
are questioning the philosophy of criminalizing the personal use of
various drugs. So why do other conservatives worship personal
responsibility, yet insist on the criminalization of private choice?
[snip]
Pubdate: May 11, 1998
Source: Calgary Sun (Canada)
Contact: callet@sunpub.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/
Author: Bill Kaufmann -- Calgary Sun
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n341.a04.html
***
HOT OFF THE 'NET
***
A web page called TRAC has been designed to provide accurate and unbiased
evaluation of the DEA, FBI, ATF, and IRS.
About TRAC
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a data
gathering, data research and data distribution organization associated
with Syracuse University.
It is loaded with useful information, graphs, etc. (often not too
flattering) on these organizations. e.g. the DEA's efficiency has
dropped recently and over half of all cases handled by the FBI are
either drug or bank related.
http://www.trac.syr.edu/
***
On May 12, the New York Times Opinion section, contained a beautiful
ad, 6 1/2 inches (3 columns) by 11 inches high. It was the only ad on
the two opinion pages. The headline, in 1/2 inch type, read: 'Let me
ask you something... If you had a choice what would it be, Marijuana or
Martinis?'
The ad may be viewed on the ACLU web site along with commentary and a
public feedback area.
http://www.aclu.org/forms/nytimesad051298.html
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
***
There's a very good search engine type page at
http://www.sau.edu/cwis/internet/wild/index.htm
It can help new web surfers to discover a wide array of useful sites
including drug related info and much more.
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
***
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.'
- George Orwell -
***
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our
members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for
you.
News and COMMENTS Editor: Tom O'Connell (tjeffoc@drugsense.org)
Senior-Editor: Mark Greer (mgreer@drugsense.org)
We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks.
NOTICE:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
REMINDER:
Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug
related issue to editor@mapinc.org
PLEASE HELP:
DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE.
We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are
able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort please Make checks
payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/
Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.DrugSense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for May 7-13