-------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Mexican Banks Snared In US Drug-Money Sting ('Washington Post'
Article In 'International Herald Tribune' Notes The United States
Used 'About 200 Undercover US Customs Agents' To Produce Indictments
Charging Three Of Mexico's Largest Banks And Officials From 12
Of The Country's 19 Largest Banks Of Knowingly Aiding People
In The Illegal Drug Industry Launder Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars)
Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 20:31:06 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: IHT: 3 Mexican Banks Snared In US Drug-money Sting
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Peter Webster
Pubdate: Wed, 20 May 1998
Source: International Herald Tribune
Contact: iht@iht.com
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Author: Douglas Farah Washington Post Service
3 MEXICAN BANKS SNARED IN U.S. DRUG-MONEY STING
WASHINGTON---The United States has accused three of Mexico's largest banks
of knowingly aiding drug traffickers in laundering hundreds of millions of
dollars in illicit proceeds from the United States and painted a grim
picture of the Mexican financial sector's complicity in the drug trade.
In an indictment, the government said the banks were charged after a
three-year sting operation in which about 200 undercover U.S. Customs
agents helped Mexican bankers launder millions of dollars through an
elaborate scheme of shuffling the money between U.S. and Mexican bank
accounts.
In addition to charging three banks with knowingly aiding drug traffickers,
the indictment alleges that officials from 12 of Mexico's 19 largest
banking institutions were involved in money-laundering activities.
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Attorney General Janet Reno said that
the indictment, which was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles,
was the culmination of "the largest, most comprehensive drug money
laundering case in the history of U.S. law enforcement."
The investigation, they said, directly linked Mexican banks and bank
officials for the first time to laundering U.S. drug profits.
The operation netted only a small fraction of the $40 billion to $60
billion in illicit drug proceeds reaped from U.S. sales each year, much of
which finds its way to traffickers:in Mexico and Colombia. But senior law
enforcement officials said the case provided the best view U.S. officials
have yet had into the increasingly sophisticated world of drug-related
money laundering.
The MeXican bankers allegedly worked on behalf of the Juarez cartel in
Mexico and the Cali cocaine and heroin syndicate in Colombia, officials
said.
U.S. authorities arrested 70 people over the weekend, including 14 Mexican
banking of ficials. About $35 million was seized and an additional $122
million is expected to be recovered from more than 100 bank accounts frozen
in the United States and Europe, of ficials said.
Most of those arrested were lured to either Las Vegas or Los Angeles by
undercover agents who offered to show them new ways to launder money
through casinos and promised them dinner and a big party, senior law
enforcement officials said.
No U.S. banks or citizens were indicted, apd U.S. of ficials said that
Mexican officials had not been informed of the operation. Ms. Reno said
that she and other senior U.S. of ficials had contacted their Mexican
counterparts Monday to tell them of the operation and that the Mexican
government had promised its "full cooperation."
Money laundering is the process whereby criminals take their illegal
proceeds and put them into the financial sector in different ways so the
money appears to have a legitimate origin. For their services, law
enforcement officials said, the banks received a cut of 4 percent to 5
percent of the money deposited.
In this case, officials said, drug traffickers would collect the drug money
off the streets in the United States, and undercover agents would then
deposit the money into accounts in Los Angeles. The money was then
transferred by wire and accumulated in Mexican bank accounts, where bankers
allegedly were aware that the money had come from drug trafficking.
Mexican bankers then issued bank drafts under fictitious names and mailed
or hand-delivered the drafts to undercover agents in Los Angeles, who
redeposited the money into the accounts. Because the money appeared as
"clean" deposits from Mexico, it could be wire-transferred or
hand-delivered to drug traffickers in Mexico.
Mr. Rubin said that the banks indicted were Bancomer, Mexico's
secondlargest bank- Banca Serfin, the country's third-largest bank; and
Confia, which is arnong the top 20 banks.
Carlos Gomez, president of the Mexican Bankers Association, said, "These
are operations from some employees and of ficials acting in an individual
way, and it doesn't represent any systematic operations of the banks
themselves."
In addition to the indictments, the Federal Reserve announced it had issued
temporary "cease and desist" orders suspending the U.S. operations of the
three banks that were indicted, as well as those of Banco Nacional de
Mexico, or Banamex, Mexico's largest bank; Bital, the country's
fourth-largest bank, and Banco Santander the fifth-largest Mexican bank.
The banks have "serious deficiencies in their anti-money laundering
programs," according to a statement by the Federeal Reserve.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexicans Stunned By US Drug Arrests (Britain's 'Guardian'
Suggests The Mexican Government Is Shocked, Shocked
That 'Operation Casablanca' Discovered Improprieties -
See The Next Article To Find Out What Usual Suspects
Got Rounded Up)
Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 00:57:08 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Mexico: Mexicans Stunned By Us Drug Arrests
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Martin Cooke
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Pubdate: 20 May 1998
Author: Phil Gunson in Mexico City
MEXICANS STUNNED BY US DRUG ARRESTS
The Mexican government, stunned by revelations that the country's biggest
banks are involved in laundering drug money, yesterday promised "full
co-operation" with Operation Casablanca, the United States' massive
anti-drugs sweep which has netted more than 130 suspects so far. More
arrests are said to be imminent.
Jose Angel Gurria, the finance minister, said: "The Mexican authorities
will do everything to punish those guilty of committing crimes in Mexican
territory, as well as to continue the fight against this part of the
drug-trafficking chain."
The statement came a day after the US charged staff from some of Mexico's
biggest banks with involvement in laundering US drug profits reaped by
Colombian and Mexican drug lords.
Twenty-two middle-ranking Mexican bankers were held at the weekend after a
three-year operation, about which the Mexican authorities were never informed.
According to the US attorney-general, Janet Reno, and the treasury
secretary, Robert Rubin, another 112 people had been arrested and $35
million (£24 million) seized, along with two tonnes of cocaine and four
tonnes of marijuana.
It was not only the most extensive operation mounted against the
money-launderers but the first in which Mexican bankers had been shown to
be "directly linked to laundering the Cali and Juarez cartels' drug
profits", the US said.
At least another 40 arrests are anticipated, along with the seizure of
another $110 million in US accounts held by Mexican banks.
Among the banks whose employees are involved are Bancomer, Serfin and
Confia, all of whose US operations are now under official supervision.
Confia has just been bought by Citibank, itself the subject of a separate
money-laundering inquiry.
Despite the much-vaunted co-operation between US and Mexican authorities in
combating the cartels, the Mexican government - as well as the banks
concerned - were kept in the dark, in what amounts to a resounding vote of
no-confidence.
No mention was made of Operation Casablanca at any of the meetings of the
"high-level contact group" set up over two years ago to co-ordinate
anti-drugs operations between the two countries.
The Mexican attorney-general's office, the leading anti-drugs agency here,
was reduced to repeating the information made public in Washington and
expressing its supposed "satisfaction" at the news.
The bomb dropped just as the Mexican congress was beginning to react to the
$63 billion cost of rescuing the recently privatised banks from
irresponsible lending policies and fraudulent operations.
The bankers themselves, whose public image is not much better than that of
the drug traffickers, responded to the news from Washington by minimising
its significance and promising to co-operate.
"We have unanimously decided to co-operate with the US authorities in
following up this investigation, in co-ordination with the Mexican
authorities," the chairman of the bankers' association, Carlos Gomez y
Gomez, said.
Philip Willan in Rome adds: Five people were arrested in the Italian end of
Operation Casablanca after Carabinieri in the northern city of Bergamo
posed as financiers willing to participate in money-laundering operations
on behalf of the Colombian drug cartels, said Pierluigi Dell'Osso, a
prosecutor at the National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office in Rome who
helped to co-ordinate the inquiry.
Three major Italian banks and three Milanese goldsmiths are under
investigation in connection with the alleged money-laundering.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subpoena Planned In Border Shooting (According To The Austin, Texas,
'American-Statesman' US Representative Lamar Smith, A Republican
From San Antonio, Is Frustrated With The Answers He Has Received So Far
About The Killing Of Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., 18, One Year Ago Today
By US Marines Patrolling The Border With Mexico, And Said Tuesday
He Will Seek To Subpoena The Justice Department For More Information)
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 23:03:18 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Subpoena Planned In Border Shooting
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: isenberd@DynCorp.com (Isenberg, David)
Source: Austin American-Statesman
Pubdate: 20 May 1998
Contact: letters@statesman.com
Website: http://www.Austin360.com/
Author: Christi Harlan American-Statesman Washington Staff
SUBPOENA PLANNED IN BORDER SHOOTING
Congressman vows legal action to get Justice Department files on death
of Esequiel Hernandez
WASHINGTON -- Frustrated with the answers he has received so far, Rep.
Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said Tuesday that he will seek to subpoena
the Justice Department for more information about the shooting death
last year of a Texas teen-ager by U.S. Marines patrolling the border
with Mexico.
Esequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, was shot to death a year ago today while
he was tending his family's goats near the border town of Redford,
about 200 miles southeast of El Paso. The Marines have said Cpl.
Clemente Banuelos shot Hernandez after Hernandez fired his .22-caliber
rifle in their direction while they were working with the Border
Patrol during routine anti-smuggling operations.
Smith, chairman of the House immigration subcommittee, has been
waiting for almost a year to convene a hearing on the shooting to
examine the Border Patrol's oversight of the Marines. Smith delayed
the hearings at the request of Attorney General Janet Reno while
criminal investigations were under way. Those investigations ended
more than three months ago without any charges, and Smith said he is
now entitled to answers.
"The Border Patrol was supposed to brief the Marines, supervise them
and respond to emergencies," Smith said. "But that didn't help
Esequiel Hernandez."
The Marines "didn't yell either a greeting or a warning" after they
encountered Hernandez, Smith said Tuesday. "Instead, one of the
Marines radioed their command center and said they were "taking him'
if he raised his gun again. The response was, "Roger. Fire back.' "
Smith said he obtained the information from radio logs provided by the
Marines, but he wants more from the Justice Department, which is the
parent agency of the Border Patrol.
"The Justice Department refuses to provide basic documents like the
written statements made by the Marines and Border Patrol agents
involved in the killing and even refuses to allow those agents to be
interviewed," Smith said. "Unless the requested documents and
explanations are immediately forthcoming, Thursday morning I will seek
subpoenas to force the Justice Department to disclose those facts to
Congress and the American people."
Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said he couldn't comment on
whether the Justice Department would deliver more information in time
to head off Smith's plans to seek subpoenas.
"We produced some documents back in August for the congressman, but we
were engaged in an ongoing criminal investigation at that time,"
Marlin said. "We're at this point reviewing a significant number of
documents to be sure that we don't release any grand jury-protected
information."
Marlin said that cooperation with Smith's inquiry was delayed by two
separate grand jury investigations of the shooting. A Presidio County
grand jury found no grounds for criminal charges against Banuelos in
August. A federal grand jury convened in December to consider possible
criminal violations of Hernandez's civil rights but ended its work in
January without returning charges.
Smith needs a majority vote of the 12-member immigration subcommittee
for authority to issue subpoenas. He leads a majority of seven
Republicans on the committee but said he hopes for a bipartisan vote
if the subpoenas must be issued.
"I have had two briefings and have written the Justice Department five
letters asking for information, but I am still waiting for more
answers," Smith said. "Apparently, we can no longer rely on the
good-faith cooperation of the Justice Department."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From San Diego To Brownsville - Human Rights Violations
On The USA-Mexico Border (News Release From Amnesty International
Describes The Organization's New Report, Which Says The United States
Is Violating International Treaties In Its Enforcement Of Immigration Laws,
Aggravating The Turbulence And Friction That Have Characterized The Region
Throughout This Century)
Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 07:08:02 EDT
Errors-To: manager@drcnet.org
Reply-To: vignes@monaco.mc
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
Precedence: first-class
From: Peter Webster (vignes@monaco.mc)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: Amnesty Intl report on US-Mexico border
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI INDEX: AMR 51/33/98
20 MAY 1998
From San Diego to Brownsville: Human rights violations on the USA-Mexico
border
SAN DIEGO -- Populations either side of the California to Texas line have
much in common -- including family ties -- but the manner in which the
United States is enforcing immigration laws is aggravating the turbulence
and friction that have characterized the region throughout this century,
says a new Amnesty International report.
The report -- which focuses on incidents of ill-treatment and
brutality by officers of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) -- examines the recent history of the US-Mexico border region, the
INS' human rights record during the 1990's, and some of the steps it has
taken to acknowledge the seriousness of the problems.
The INS has had a long and troubled history in the US-Mexico border
region, with many allegations of officer misconduct including unlawful
lethal shootings, physical assaults and ill-treatment of detainees in
custody. Amnesty International's report indicates that steps taken in
recent years to seal the border, coupled with the US army's role in
assisting the INS in the so-called "War on Drugs", have increased the
chances of human rights violations against people suspected of being
illegal immigrants.
Allegations highlighted in the report include people being struck with
batons, fists and feet -- often as a punishment for attempting to run away
from Border Patrol agents -- denial of food, water, blankets and medical
attention for long hours, sexual abuse, and abusive or racist conduct
sometimes resulting in the wrongful deportation of US citizens to Mexico.
Those reporting ill-treatment include men, women and children, almost
exclusively of Latin American descent. They also include citizens and
legal permanent residents of the USA and members of four Native American
nations whose tribal lands span the US-Mexico border.
People of Latin American descent have been ill-treated, detained,
interrogated, searched and harassed because of their ethnic origin.
Unaccompanied juveniles in INS detention often find it difficult to obtain
adequate legal advice and representation, despite being recognized
internationally as an especially vulnerable group, and detained children
have no right to a lawyer.
Pressed by economic and social problems, many thousands of Mexicans in
particular, but also people from other Latin American countries, go in
search of better livelihood north of the border every year. While Amnesty
International does not take issue with the right of the United States to
police its international borders, the organization insists this should be
done in compliance with the country's international human rights
obligations.
Cases in which such obligations have been violated span the spectrum
of circumstances in which the Border Patrol and INS officers have come into
contact with the public:
Jorge Soriano Bautista: chased by a Border Patrol vehicle which
allegedly hit him in the back resulting in his arm being broken. Despite
his broken arm, the agents pushed him back under the fence into Mexico.
"...medical care and treatment shall be provided whenever necessary."
Principle 24, UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons
under Any Form of Detention
David, a juvenile from El Salvador: arrested in New Mexico and -- in
violation of INS policy, US law and international standards -- handed over
to the Mexican authorities, who held him for three days, allegedly without
food and water, and hit him.
"Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to
prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance...."
Article 37(d) UN Convention on the Rights of the child.
Daniel Rodriguez Biurquiz: apprehended by the Border Patrol
which, when he tried to run away, beat him with their batons. He was
deported immediately, allegedly without being processed, photographed or
fingerprinted, and he believes this was done because of his highly visible
broken nose, and heavy bruising to his face, body and legs.
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment." Article 7, International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
Luz Lopez and Norma Contreras, both aged 23, from Guatemala: a
Border Patrol agent handcuffed and detained them in his vehicle. He
allegedly sexually assaulted both women for several hours -- on one
occasion in full view of a second agent -- and afterwards gave the women
one dollar each and released them into the USA. Article 7, ICCPR.
The Border Patrol has been a powerful presence in the border region
for generations. It is a place where some parents of Latin American
origin, fearing an accidental deportation do not let their children leave
home in the morning without their birth certificates.
Amnesty International stresses that the steady growth of the Border
Patrol -- numbering more than 6,300 agents in 1997 and aiming to increase
its staff by 1,000 officers per year until 2,001 -- should be accompanied
by instruction on international human rights standards if further human
rights violations are to be avoided.
ENDS...
***
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text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting
Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the
list subscription message may be removed.
***
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug Epidemic On Way - Book ('The Evening Post' In Wellington, New Zealand,
Publicizes A Sensational New Australian Book, 'Drug Precipice,'
Full Of Classic Prohibitionist Biases - Plus A Draft Of A Letter To The Editor
In Response By A New Zealand Physician Who Says Instead Of Continuing
With Prohibition, Society Should Try To Make Cannabis Boring -
'Fueling The Fires Of Teenage Curiosity With Claims That The Sky Is Falling . . .
Only Makes Teenagers Want To Rush Outside And Look Up')
Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 16:43:25 +1200 (NZST)
To: drugtalk@adca.org.au, maptalk@mapinc.org, mattalk@islandnet.com
From: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Subject: Article on Australian prohibitionist book
The nutters are coming out all over the place in Australia, and their debris
is washing up across the Tasman. A few letters to the Post's prohibitionist
editor, Suzanne Carty, would be appreciated. My own effort is appended
following the article, FYI. Any comments on this letter, which I won't send
out 'til tomorrow, would be appreciated.
David
***
Pubdate: Wed, 20 May 1998
Source: Evening Post (Wellington, NZ)
Contact: editor@evpost.co.nz
Drug epidemic on way - book
SYDNEY - Australia is one of the worst nations in the world for cannabis
abuse and is on the brink of a drug-use epidemic, a new book warns.
Drug Precipice, by former organised crime royal commissioner Athol Moffit,
QC, pharmacist John Malouf and New South Wales magistrate John Thompson,
argues that law enforcement alone is not enough to solve the nation's
illegal drug problem.
But legalising drugs was not the answer either. The focus should be on
reducing demand, they say.
"Every one of the proposals to repeal or lighten the severity of drug
legislation would make things worse overall," the book says.
"Well-organised publicity and some debate by the anti-prohibition movements
[seek] to dismantle prohibition gradually - starting with the
decriminalisation of the use of marijuana."
"However, the publicity is mostly confined to appalling generalities
designed to change public opinion . . . many arguments are selective and not
backed by a close scrutiny of the critical context or ultimate consequences."
The book paints a graphic picture of the health risks, particularly of
cannabis abuse: from mental illness to memory loss, sexual dysfunction and
motivational problems.
Despite this, the rate of cannabis use - particularly among young people -
is soaring, Mr Thompson says.
"There is an appalling ignorance about drugs and what they can do to people
and their lives, an ignorance shared by users and non-users alike," he says.
"People are unaware that most new users are children who are experimenting
with a drug supplied by another child . . . after that no one can foretell
who will end up an addict."
The authors cite a United Nations report last year which found the
prevalence of cannabis use in Australia was among the highest in the world.
- AAP
[end]
My letter:
To the editor:
By choosing to advertise (in the guise of a news story) the latest scarily
sensational anti-drugs book ("Drug epidemic on way - book"; 20.5.98), the
Evening Post has once again ill-served our young people. As all drug
educators know - and as I have personally informed the editor in response to
the Post's recurrent anti-cannabis features - the kind of rhetorical
excesses and exaggerated anti-drug messages contained in this book (and in
others before it) inevitably *increase* drug use by young people.
Instead of fueling the fires of teenage curiosity with claims that the sky
is falling (which only makes teenagers want to rush outside and look up),
society should try to make cannabis boring - something used by (some)
parents and other "old people". This is what has happened in The
Netherlands, where 22 years of normalised cannabis sales to adults has
reduced cannabis use by teenagers to amongst the lowest levels in the
developed world.
The authors of Drug Precipice wish us to believe that any method of drug
control other than strict prohibition would "make things worse overall".
Like anti-drugs campaigners everywhere, these authors ignore the mountain of
scholarly evidence showing that prohibition is in fact the source - directly
or indirectly - of most of the harms produced by illicit drug use. This is
especially true of cannabis.
Perhaps the Post was correct in thinking that publication of Drug Precipice
was newsworthy. But the true significance of the story is that the kind of
scare tactic anti-drug messages known to increase drug use by children
continue to be tolerated - even rewarded financially - by modern societies.
David Hadorn
[contact details]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, Number 47 (Summary Of Drug Policy News For Activists,
From DrugSense)
Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 09:18:46 -0700
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly May 20, 1998 #047
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly
May 20, 1998 #047
***
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Feature Article
Drug War News Not Fit To Print
by Michael Levine
Weekly News In Review
Drug War Policy-
Drug Abuse Costs US $246 Billion A Year, Study Says
Scientists See New Link To Cocaine Addiction
Farmers Will Sue to Legalize Hemp Crops
Law Enforcement-
Battle Rages Over New Prisons
Another Day, Another Atrocity
Wiretap Requests Hit Record
Alcohol-
At Michigan State, a Protest Escalates Into a Night of Fires, Tear
Gas, and Arrests.
At Connecticut's Party Weekend, Days of Music Replaced by Nights of
Vandalism.
Some Experts Say Colleges Share the Responsibility for the Recent Riots
Medical Marijuana-
Pot Clubs Vow To Defy Judge's Order
US Agents Raid Peron's Pot Farm
Man Who Sold Pot To The Sick Convicted
Tobacco-
Tobacco Settlement Fund Battle
International News-
FBI To Join Latin America In Fighting Crime
'Global Drug Trafficking Exploding'
Heroin Hooks Children of New Russian Rich
Hot Off The 'Net
Oregon MMJ Act posted
DrugSense Tip Of The Week
Quote of the Week
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
***
DRUG WAR NEWS NOT FIT TO PRINT
by Michael Levine
Host: of THE EXPERT WITNESS radio show WBAI, 99.5 FM, Tuesdays, 7-8pm New
York City
Author: of Deep Cover, the Big White Lie and Triangle of Death
I have always marveled at how we spent almost $1 trillion, taxpayer dollars
since President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1972, and tolerate having
absolutely nothing to show for that money. Worse yet: a recent poll indicates
that 66 percent of us want to spend more money to fight drugs.
How can that possibly be?
Answer: Mainstream media sells us a war on drugs that they need a lot more
than we do. Before you dismiss what I've just said, check my facts.
A glaring example of that sell appeared on the front page of last Sunday's
New York Times (5/10/98) a headline article entitled "Dominicans Allow
Drugs Easy Sailing."
Apparently the Times has rediscovered for twentieth time in fifteen years
that the Dominican Republic is an "important" part of the route cocaine
follows to the U.S..
As a test that this "news" article is really a revenue inspired con job,
review about five years of New York Times drug war articles and compare them
to this one and the game becomes apparent.
Note that virtually every country in the world is mentioned as a drug-
trafficking "problem," (some in multiple articles); likewise, every criminal
cartel known to man; likewise, every international criminal ever "leaked" by
a federal bureaucracy - yet the "news" story is basically exactly the same fill-
in-the-blanks duplicate to the Sunday Times article, including a space for
maps with arrows and diagrams to illustrate drug routes.
And it is not just the Times. This pro forma drug story is reprinted weekly
by all the other mainstream magazines and newspapers and retold ad nauseam by
every mainstream media broadcasting company. All deliver virtually the same
message that the Times piece ended with: "...It's going to be a catastrophe."
Now let's examine some major news stories from the past:
"SOVIET ACCUSED OF PLOT TO CONTROL WORLD'S DOPE SUPPLY," from the Universal
News Service on February 20, 1931.
Or, "TONS OF ILLICIT NARCOTICS FROM EUROPE-NEW MENACE TO U.S., EXPERT
REVEALS," also from Universal News Service, picked up by many US newspapers,
12/9/34:
I defy anyone to find a difference between these 64+ year old stories other
than locations, names and quantities and the Sunday Times headline story. And
these are only two of tens of thousands published during the past 75 years.
During my long career I was always struck by the startling difference between
the reality of the so-called war on drugs, and the way it is presented to the
world through easily manipulated media coverage. What I came to realize was
that both the taxpayer funded bureaucracies and the mainstream media vendors
of drug war "news" have a common customer, or as we say on the street,
"mark" the American taxpayer.
This explains why in 1965, the federal and state combined drug war budgets
were less than $10 million, and the current one is in excess of $50
billion, with absolutely nothing to show for it.
And this at a time that deserving children cannot afford a college education,
the social security system is in danger of collapsing, hard working Americans
cannot get health insurance, millions are without homes and adequate food,
the national debt will impoverish future generations and our nation's public
education systems have fallen behind most of the other industrialized
nations.
I just can't wait to see the next thrilling drug war story.
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Domestic News- The Drug War
***
COMMENT:
Three articles illustrate the surreal quality of our
drug war as policy: the first is an attempt to justify
its cost by estimating what the drugs cost society, while
neglecting to note that it's the illegal markets created
by the policy which leads to crime; directly through violent
competition, and indirectly through high drug prices.
The second is a report on mouse research which suggests
a genetic basis for drug dependency. Isn't it gratifying
to learn that we may have been criminalizing a
genetically mediated behavioral tendency all these years?
True to form, Leshner is still trumpeting that drug
addiction is a "disease" but ignoring the logical
implications his own statement.
As the Kentucky lawsuit unfolds, the public will learn
how the DEA has lobbied shamelessly against hemp for
years. Will it be surprise them to learn that the
Agency's professional expertise isn't limited to law
enforcement and medicine, but also includes economics
and agriculture? Will they care?
***
DRUG ABUSE COSTS US $246 BILLION A YEAR, STUDY SAYS
Abuse of Alcohol and other drugs costs the United States more than
$246 billion a year, a government study published Wednesday found.
That worked out to $965 for every man, woman and child in the
country, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said.
[snip]
Source: Orange County Register ( CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 14 May 1998
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n361.a02.html
***
SCIENTISTS SEE NEW LINK TO COCAINE ADDICTION
LOS ANGELES -- A chemical messenger called serotonin is turning out
to be a bigger player in cocaine addiction than previously thought,
according to two studies that could help researchers find new
approaches to treating and preventing drug abuse.
The studies released Wednesday looked at the roles of dopamine and
serotonin in laboratory mice that pressed levers to get doses of
cocaine.
Researchers long have held that increases in the brain of dopamine
- a chemical associated with movement, thought, motivation and
pleasure - produce some of the euphoria and addictive effects of
cocaine.
Serotonin - involved in emotions, mood, and probably sleep and
aggression - was thought to play some role in achieving a high. But
the new studies show it provides an important component to how
vulnerable an animal - or human may be.
[snip]
Source: Oakland Tribune
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Author: Associated Press
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n354.a02.html
***
FARMERS WILL SUE TO LEGALIZE HEMP CROPS
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- More than 25 years after hemp was last grown in
America legally, a group of farmers and trade organizations plans
to sue the federal government on Friday to make hemp a lawful crop
again. The plaintiffs intend to argue in U.S. District Court here
that the illegal status of hemp, by definition of the Controlled
Substances Act of 1972, violates a 1937 determination by Congress
that the plant poses none of the psychoactive problems caused by
its cousin, marijuana.
[snip]
Source: New York Times
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: May 15, 1998
Author: Michael Janofsky
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n359.a04.html
***
Law Enforcement
***
COMMENT:
Speaking of surreal, it's long been known in California that
the three-strikes law was ultimately unaffordable without either
further drastic cuts in education (already suffering), or
increased taxes; nevertheless, the denial goes on. It's
become so blatant that private prison companies are building new
facilities on spec, without a contract, knowing that, without
amnesty, the business will be there.
On the right coast, Bob Herbert seems to be waging a one-man
crusade against police drug raids in NYC and the NYPD is
obliging by continuing to batter down the doors of innocent
people.
According to the GOP, Clinton's Justice Department is "soft on
drugs," yet it's setting all sorts of police-state records,
first for marijuana arrests, now for wire-taps.
***
BATTLE RAGES OVER NEW PRISONS
CALIFORNIA voters have demanded - by passing the three strikes and
you're out measure, that more felons be locked up for longer terms.
But when it comes to building the prisons to house those felons,
voters have been much less enthusiastic. They rejected the last
state prison bond issue in 1990. Since then, new jails have been
constructed through a convoluted leasing arrangement in which a
state agency issues "revenue bonds" to build prisons, then rents
them to the Department of Corrections.
But even that approach has run out of money, and as inmates
continue to pour into the prison system -- there are about 150,000
now it's reaching the limits of physical capacity.
State prison officials estimate dial by 2000, the system will hit
200 percent of design capacity with every non-maximum security cell
housing two inmates and every gymnasium and other space filled with
beds.
[snip]
Source: Oakland Tribune
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Pubdate: Mon, 11 May 1998
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n349.a01.html
***
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ATROCITY.
This time the gun-waving storm troopers from the Police Department
smashed in the door and invaded the apartment of a quiet and
law-abiding family in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The
cops, in riot-type gear, set off a stun grenade, which gives the
impression that the apartment is being bombed, and then handcuffed
everybody, including a petrified mentally retarded teen-aged girl
who was pulled naked from a bathtub. As the family members trembled
and wept, the cops began their search, rummaging arrogantly through
the most personal of items.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sun, 10 May 1998
Source: New York Times ( NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Bob Herbert
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n339.a03.html
***
WIRETAP REQUESTS HIT RECORD
Two million private conversations were monitored in '97, a
government report shows.
Washington- Law enforcement agents sought a record number of court
orders last year to allow them to listen in secretly on more than 2
million private conversations, a government wiretap report shows.
The 1,186 wiretap requests approved by federal and state judges in
1997 marked a 3 percent increase over 1996 and surpassed the 1,154
logged in 1994. The total is believed to be the highest since
Congress in 1968 started requiring the Administrative Office of the
U.S. Courts to compile such records.
As in past years, the bulk of the wiretap requests - 73 percent -
were spurred by narcotics investigations.
[snip]
Source: Orange County Register ( CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 9 May 1998
Author: Richard Carelli - The Associated Press
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n338.a02.htm
***
Alcohol
***
COMMENT:
Since the legal age is 21, most college undergraduates
aren't old enough to drink legally, despite the fact
that 80% of them do so regularly. This creates problems
for university officials and campus police, especially
this year when heightened awareness of underage smoking and
drug use plus two alcohol-overdose deaths of undergraduates
stepped up pressure to "crack down" on underage drinking.
When school officials tried to do so, they were often
confronted with rowdy behavior and demonstrations as
reported in the May 15 Journal of Higher Education.
It's a complex issue, beset by the same problems plaguing
all juvenile prohibitions. (The best overview is in the
UCONN article ).
***
AT MICHIGAN STATE, A PROTEST ESCALATES INTO A NIGHT OF FIRES, TEAR
GAS, AND ARRESTS
EAST LANSING, MICH. - Many people at Michigan State University
expected something big to happen at Munn Field on the night of
May1. They just didn't know what.
E-mail messages had been flying all week, urging people to gather
at Munn to protest the administration's recent decision to ban
alcohol there during football season. The open, grassy field is a
popular spot for students and some alumni to gather for tailgate
parties on game days.
Many students wanted to demand a greater voice in such decisions.
Others were just curious and wanted to watch from a safe distance.
But many planned to come packing beer, ready to let loose after the
last day of classes before exams.
[snip]
***
AT CONNECTICUT'S PARTY WEEKEND, DAYS OF MUSIC REPLACED BY NIGHTS OF
VANDALISM
STORRS, CONN.- The 80 police officers did not move last month as
bottles, cans, and rocks were lobbed at them by a crowd of students
and their friends partying in a dirt parking lot that adjoins the
University of Connecticut campus.
When some in the crowd of 2,000 people overturned a black Honda
Accord, the police, from university, local, and state forces, stood
their ground. Even when some men set a couch on fire, the police
remained on the edge of the lot.
Only when the students put the burning couch on the Honda --
raising the possibility that its gas tank would explode -- did the
police move in, using pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
The torching of the Honda on Saturday, April 25, marked the climax
of a riotous weekend here.
[snip]
***
SOME EXPERTS SAY COLLEGES SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RECENT
RIOTS
Although many people are quick to chastise the students involved in
recent riots in several states, colleges share some of the blame,
according to administrators and alcohol experts.
For many years, college officials looked the other way when
underage students drank. But a string of high-profile,
alcohol-related deaths in recent years -- including one last fall
at Louisiana State University, and another at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology -- has prompted colleges to crack down on
minors who drink. Alcohol arrests on college campuses jumped by 10
per cent in 1996, the latest year for which data are available,
according to a recent survey by The Chronicle (May 8).
[snip]
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Authors: Kit Lively (Mich State), Ben Gose (UCONN), Editors.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n345.a01.html
***
Medical Marijuana
***
COMMENT:
In California, law enforcement continued its brutal
treatment of Prop 215, last week with help from the
federal Bench. The fate of the San Francisco Buyers'
Club will be decided by a complex algorithm which depends on
further judicial ruling and a possible jury trial.
The goal of California law enforcement seems to be to
deny patients any recourse except the criminal market
and risk of arrest. The legislature and judiciary have
aided and abetted the narcs and sheriffs.
***
POT CLUBS VOW TO DEFY JUDGE'S ORDER
Citing federal laws, court is demanding they stop giving out
medical marijuana
Another crushing blow for proponents of medical marijuana, another
defiant pledge to keep going.
But keeping the doors open to four pot clubs across Northern
California isn't going to be so easy in the wake of the strongest
legal setback yet delivered by a federal judge.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with
the federal government's argument that the Cannabis Healing Center
and three other clubs in Northern California are violating federal
drug laws and he ordered the clubs shut down.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner ( CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Ray Delgado, Examiner Staff
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n358.a02.html
***
U.S. AGENTS RAID PERON'S POT FARM
250 Plants Seized On Eve Of Replanting Ceremony
Federal drug agents seized 250 marijuana plants yesterday morning
from a rural Lake County ``resort'' run by gubernatorial candidate
Dennis Peron.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 16 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle ( CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Torri Minton, Chronicle Staff Writer
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n358.a05.htm
***
MAN WHO SOLD POT TO THE SICK CONVICTED
The judge rules that Prop. 215 allows only the use, not the sale of
marijuana for medical purposes.
A Santa Ana man was convicted Wednesday of felony marijuana sales
for distributing the drug to sick people who had obtained doctors'
prescriptions after the 1996 approval of California's
medical-marijuana law.
[snip]
Source: Orange County Register ( CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 14 May 1998
Author: Stuart Pfeifer
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n361.a03.html
***
Tobacco
***
COMMENT:
Both parties sense that the tobacco industry is
badly wounded. The GOP is trying to keep it alive,
while the Dems just want to make political hay. It's
hard to know if either side really believes the industry
can reduce teen cigarette use. Since no one has ever
demonstrated success in that arena, it's unlikely that
the industry selling them to kids will be the first to
do so. What nonsense.
***
TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FUND BATTLE
Congressional grab for money imperils opportunity for legislative
accord
WASHINGTON - Efforts in Congress to curb teen smoking are being
endangered by a fight over how the government should spend the
billions of dollars that any new federal tobacco law would exact
from the cigarette companies.
Some lawmakers want the money to pay for tax cuts, boost the
Medicare system or pay down the national debt. President Clinton
wants to spend it for child care tax credits, more teachers and
school construction.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 11 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner ( CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Judy Holland
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n344.a04.html
***
International News
***
COMMENT:
Remember the Cold War, when the FBI was ordered to stay
at home and leave the overseas stuff to the CIA? The drug
war has the FBI involved in South America! The Interpol
report should (but won't) serve as a reality check for
ONDCP which is busy claiming success in the drug war.
Finally, it's taken a while, but the Russians are starting
to enjoy the benefits of capitalism. One no longer needs
party membership to acquire drugs- money is all that's
necessary.
***
FBI TO JOIN LATIN AMERICA IN FIGHTING CRIME, FREEH SAYS
BUENOS AIRES - Concerned that Argentina's border with Paraguay and
Brazil has become a haven for terrorists and mobsters, the FBI will
join authorities in those nations in a crackdown intended as a
model for regional cooperation in Latin America, FBI Director Louis
Freeh said yesterday.
The lawless border region exemplifies the dangers of globalized
crime and the need for a coordinated response in the hemisphere,
Freeh said in an interview during a five-day trip through South
America, the first by an FBI director.
[snip]
Source: Seattle Times ( WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Sebastian Rotella
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n349.a08.html
***
'GLOBAL DRUG TRAFFICKING EXPLODING'
Crack Down On Money-Laundering: Interpol
International dealing in illegal drugs is exploding as drugs become
cheaper, purer and deadlier, a police conference in Toronto was
told yesterday.
Interpol drug consultant Ramachandra Sunda said heroin is
considered a serious problem in 150 of the 177 member nations of
the international police service.
[snip]
Source: Seattle Times ( WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Sebastian Rotella
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n349.a08.html
***
HEROIN HOOKS CHILDREN OF NEW RUSSIAN RICH
'There are still 2 million junkies but at least heroin is not
fashionable any more'
The wealthy young patients at the Kundola medical centre, in thick
woods a few miles outside the Russian capital, live according to a
strict regime. Their comfortable suites in the clean, bright clinic
in a heavily-guarded compound have the air of a gilded cage.
The 24-hour security cordon and camera-monitored perimeter fence
exist not to stop them running away nor to protect them from
attack, but to defend them against the temptation that brought them
here: heroin, which dealers and friends of the addicts have been
known to smuggle in or throw over the fence.
The Kundola centre, where a three-week course of treatment costs at
least #2,500 - more than an average Russian earns in a year - is a
symptom of the drugs craze blighting the children of Russia's
richest families.
[snip]
Source: Seattle Times ( WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998
Author: Sebastian Rotella
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n349.a08.html
***
HOT OFF THE 'NET
***
Oregon MMJ Act posted
Oregonians for Medical Rights website has just been put up. It includes the
complete copy of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act., etc. Please pass along
the
URL www.teleport.com/~omr
Any comments, corrections, etc. are welcome.
As far as we know, this is the first complete listing on the web of two
important medical articles on the value of inhaled marijuana and THC in the
papers by Vinciguerra, et al. and Chang et al. respectively. Look under the
medical journal articles in the bibliography.
Please forward this website URL to anyone interested in patient advocacy and
medical marijuana. Thanks.
Web Master:
Rick Bayer, MD
6800 SW Canyon Drive
Portland, OR 97225
503-292-1035 (voice)
503-297-0754 (fax)
ricbayer@teleport.com
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
***
We have installed a new link at:
http://www.mapinc.org/kudos.htm
It is a collection of articles on DrugSense and MAP. The idea is to archive
positive press coverage, accolades, and acknowledgements relevant to what
DrugSense members are accomplishing. If you come across any such coverage
or have any archived please forward it directly to the DrugSense Web Master
Matt Elrod at Creator@islandnet.com
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
***
"No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road - turn back."
- Turkish Proverb
***
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:
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for May 14-21