Portland NORML News - Monday, June 1, 1998
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Epitope Gets FDA Approval For Opiate Test ('Reuters'
Notes The Suburban Portland, Oregon, Company Is Almost Ready
To Market A Device That Will Supposedly Detect
Any Or All Drugs Of Abuse Using A Single Oral Specimen)
Link to earlier story
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:58:01 -0400 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) Subject: MN: US: Wire: Epitope Gets FDA Approval For Opiate Test Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: Patrick Henry Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 Source: Reuters EPITOPE GETS FDA APPROVAL FOR OPIATE TEST BEAVERTON, Ore., June 1 (Reuters) - Epitope Inc said Monday its research partner STC Technologies Inc has secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for use of a test for opiate use with Epitope's Orasure device. Orasure is used to collect oral specimens. The test approved is called STC Opiates Metabolite Micro-Plate EIA. The approval follows similar clearance for tests for marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines. Epitope is awaiting FDA clearance for a test for phencyclidine. Once that approval is granted Epitope plans to market a combined drugs-of-abuse panel that will detect any of the above drugs using a single OraSure specimen. In 1996, the worldwide market for laboratory-based, drugs-of-abuse testing was about $530 million, involving 35 million test panels.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Initiatives On Track, Others In Trouble ('Associated Press'
Says Medical Marijuana Initiative 692 In Washington State
Appears Headed For The Fall Ballot, Thanks To Strong Financial Backing -
As Of May 1, Supporters Had Raised Nearly $400,000)

From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-Hemp Talk" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: Med MJ initiative on track
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 17:44:01 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

Two initiatives on track, others in trouble

By HAL SPENCER
The Associated Press
06/01/98 5:43 PM Eastern

OLYMPIA (AP) -- A measure that would allow sick people to smoke marijuana
appears headed for the fall ballot as does a proposal to raise the minimum
wage. But other citizen initiatives are struggling.

Despite brave talk from backers, campaigns to repeal the state car tax, put
new controls on abortion, and roll back property taxes all are showing
signs they won't have enough voter signatures by the July 2 deadline to
qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot.

"If I were to bet, I'd say the marijuana initiative will make the ballot,
and maybe the minimum-wage measure too," Sherry Bockwinkel, a veteran
initiative campaigner, said Monday.

"I think its going to be another year when our state votes on one or two
measures, just like they have done historically," Bockwinkel said.

Initiative 692, the marijuana measure, has two things going for it --
strong financial backing and paid signature-gatherers.

The most recent state Public Disclosure Commission records show the
Initiative 692 campaign had raised nearly $400,000 by May 1, enough to
field paid signature-gatherers.

"It's really hard to get the signatures without paying people to do it,"
said the measure's main spokesman, Tacoma physician Rob Killian. "I don't
know anyone who can get anything on the ballot any more just with
volunteer" signature-gatherers.

Backers of the minimum-wage proposal, Initiative 688, are using only
volunteers and still expect to meet the deadline for gathering 179,248
signatures of registered voters, said campaign spokesman David Groves.

But Bockwinkel said that campaign is credible because it is backed by the
Washington State Labor Council.

"Even though they might not be paying people to get signatures, they have a
lot of people working on the campaign," she said. That effort had raised
about $55,000 by May 1, mostly from unions.

Groves said the campaign is strong because it includes many grassroots
groups, from labor to community and women's groups. The measure would
eventually boost the minimum wage to $6.50. It also provides for annual
increases to keep up with inflation.

Spokesmen for Initiative 691 -- to eliminate the motor vehicle excise tax
by 2000 -- did not return telephone calls left at their campaign office
Monday.

But Bockwinkel contends their campaign is in trouble. She noted they had
raised little money -- $14,623 by May 1.

"They don't have what it takes for this initiative," she said.

The campaign expressed optimism in a Monday news release.

"We've gathered signatures the old-fashioned way -- through blood, sweat
and volunteers. With a lot of hard work by a lot of people, we look forward
to qualifying the "No Car Tax" Initiative for the fall ballot," the release
said.

Another campaign to kill the car tax, Initiative 690, appears to be in
similar straits. It has little money and also has relied on volunteers to
collect signatures.

Initiative 694 , which would ban certain late term abortions -- what
backers call "partial-birth" abortions -- also appears unlikely to gather
the necessary signatures, Bockwinkel said.

"It's the first time I've done this," said Poulsbo family physician Robert
Bethel of his work heading the initiative campaign.

He said the effort has high hopes that its volunteers will be able to meet
the July deadline for petition signatures.

"I've been told we won't be able to it with volunteer" signature-gatherers,
Bethel said. "All we can do is wait and see."

A perennial effort by Thurston County resident Don Carter to roll back
property taxes and limit future increases appears to be dead.

Initiative 687 "is about 100,000 signatures short," Carter said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Arrested In Fatal Shooting ('The Associated Press'
Says A 47-Year-Old Tacoma Man And A 30-Year-Old Seattle Woman
Have Been Arrested In Tukwila, Washington, For Allegedly Killing
An Illegal 'Drug' Seller While Attempting To Rob Him)

From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-Hemp Talk" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: Two arrested in drug-prohibition shooting
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 17:41:09 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

Two arrested in fatal shooting
The Associated Press
06/01/98 9:28 AM Eastern

TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) -- Two people have been arrested in connection with the
fatal shooting of a 30-year-old Tukwila man during an apparent drug-related
dispute in his apartment.

A 47-year-old Tacoma man and a 30-year-old Seattle woman were being held at
the Regional Justice Center in Kent for investigation of homicide.

"We believe they were attempting to rob the victim," said Lt. Doug Partlow
of the Tukwila Police Department. "He had drugs and money the (arrested)
subjects wanted."

The identities of the victim and the pair arrested were not released.

Neighbors called police just before 4:30 a.m. Sunday to report sounds of a
struggle in the apartment.

When officers arrived, they found the victim on the floor with a gunshot
wound to his head. Medics could not revive him and he was pronounced dead
at the scene, Partlow said.

The Tacoma man and Seattle woman were also in the apartment and were
arrested without incident, Partlow said. Investigators believe they knew
the victim.

Two handguns were retrieved from the apartment floor. Partlow said one of
them may be the weapon used in the shooting.

He said he did not know what type of drugs were involved, but the arrested
man had drugs on him and more were found in the apartment.

The killing marks Tukwila's first homicide this year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Use Of Pot Legal In Colorado Until 1995 ('Rocky Mountain News'
Gives An Update On The Coloradans For Medical Rights Ballot Initiative
Campaign By Noting That Chris Paulson, Heading The Current Opposition
To The Initiative, Co-Sponsored A Medical Marijuana Law In 1979
That Survived For Nearly Two Decades, Useless, Until It Was Repealed
As 'Obsolete' In 1995)

Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 08:49:46 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CO: Medical Use Of Pot Legal In Colorado Until 1995
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: cohip@levellers.org (Colo. Hemp Init. Project)
Source: Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Author: Dan Luzadder, Rocky Mountain News Capitol Bureau
Contact: letters@denver-rmn.com
Mail: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204
Phone: (303) 892-5000
Fax: (303) 892-5499
Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/
Pubdate: Mon, 1 Jun 1998

MEDICAL USE OF POT LEGAL IN COLORADO UNTIL 1995

Even before it has won a spot on the November ballot, organized groups are
clashing over a proposal to allow marijuana use for people with serious
illnesses.

But what few Coloradans -- including proponents of the initiative --
realize is that for nearly two decades, Colorado had a medical marijuana
law that suspended criminal penalties for cancer and glaucoma patients who
possessed marijuana.

The 1979 law was repealed as "obsolete" in 1995.

Legislative records also show that former Republican House Majority Leader
Chris Paulson -- head of the citizen's group opposing the proposed
initiative -- was among those who backed the marijuana law.

Paulson voted for a bill in 1981 that made it clear that synthetic forms of
marijuana and street pot could be legally obtained by patients to treat
their symptoms.

Paulson, in fact, was a co-sponsor of the legislation. In his role as lead
critic of the marijuana initiative, Paulson said things have changed.

"Fortunately, we have learned a lot more (about marijuana) since then," he
said. "What we now know is that it is much more potent and damaging today
than the stuff that was available 20 years ago."

Coloradans for Medical Rights, the proponents of a well-financed medical
marijuana initiative, have begun collecting petition signatures statewide
to get the issue on the November ballot. It would allow marijuana use for
people suffering from cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other serious
illnesses.

Citizens Against the Legalization of Marijuana, backed by local police
agencies and district attorneys, is trying to keep the initiative from
reaching voters.

Colorado's earlier medical marijuana law apparently had little impact.

The law put responsibility for administering the marijuana program in the
hands of the chancellor of the University of Colorado Health Sciences
Center, a facility that focuses on cancer research.

Patients needed a doctor's certification and approval from a
university-based committee of cancer researchers to obtain the drug.

Dr. Vince Fulginiti, former UCHSC chancellor, asked lawmakers to repeal the
statute as "obsolete" in 1995.

Jeff Thompson, former public affairs director at the medical center, said
Fulginiti requested the repeal after receiving a letter from a cancer
patient in Breckenridge who and requested that he make marijuana available
to her.

"I don't think he (Fulginiti) really wanted to be caught up in supplying
marijuana to people," Thompson said.

Martin Chilcutt, a retired psychotherapist heading the group pushing the
medical marijuana initiative, said he was surprised to learn of the
now-defunct law.

Laura Kriho, author of another ballot initiative on medical marijuana, said
she was aware of the law but did not believe people seeking to use the drug
for medicine ever benefited from it.

Whether the program actually served any patients and, if so, how many,
remains unclear. The program's principal cancer researcher, Dr. William
Robinson, is now involved in cancer research in Australia. He could not be
reached.

Political battle lines in the marijuana initiative fight were drawn when
the Colorado House and Senate both passed a resolution condemning the
initiative, even before the signature drive began.

Paulson's group and prominent state Republicans, including front-running
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Owens, brought former U.S. drug czar William
Bennett to Colorado last month to speak against the initiative.

Chilcutt and his group -- who have modeled their initiative on successful
referendums in California and Arizona -- argue that many seriously ill
Coloradans cannot tolerate FDA-approved prescriptions for pain, nausea,
seizures and glaucoma, but can benefit from marijuana, used for centuries
to treat such symptoms.

Their initiative would allow certified patients to possess up to two ounces
of marijuana and to grow up to 6 marijuana plants in their homes.

Chilcutt's initiative would require doctors to certify that patients were
qualified to possess marijuana by virtue of specific medical conditions
outlined in the initiative. Identification cards would be issued and names
placed in a confidential registry.

Kriho's initiative would allow possession or cultivation of marijuana upon
a recommendation by a physician that it could be helpful for treating pain
or illness.

Both initiatives would amend the state Constitution.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Appeal Judge Rules Not Allowing Medical Necessity Defense For Marijuana
Is 'Immoral' - AIDS-Cancer Patient Peter McWilliams Ready For Trial (Bulletin
From The Best-Selling Author Himself Notes Wayne County Circuit Court Judge
Kym Worthy Ruled Today In Detroit That He Could Use The Medical Necessity
Defense In His Marijuana Possession Trial - With URLs For Related Articles)

Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 21:21:02 -0400
From: Scott Dykstra 
Reply-To: rumba2@earthlink.net
To: rumba2@earthlink.net
Subject: CanPat> [Fwd: Appeal Judge Rules Not Allowing
Medical Necessity Defense for Marijuana Is "Immoral."]

Forgive me if any of you have gotten this post earlier. I am just
trying to spread the word for Peter. I spoke with him tonight and his
spirit is positive. Amazingly, I'm not sure I could hold up so well
under the pressure.

Again, forgive me if this has double posted to any of you.

Peace.

Scott Dykstra

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9584/

***

From: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
To: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
Subject: Appeal Judge Rules Not Allowing Medical Necessity
Defense for Marijuana Is "Immoral."
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 17:46:21 +0100

June 1, 1998 - For Immediate Release

Appeal Judge Rules Not Allowing Medical Necessity Defense for Marijuana Is
"Immoral."

AIDS-Cancer Patient Peter McWilliams Ready for Trial.

Prosecution Balks.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kym Worthy ruled today that AIDS-cancer
patient Peter McWilliams may use medical necessity as a defense in his
marijuana possession trial. Judge Worthy ruled that, under current Michigan
law, it would be "not just improper but immoral" to deny McWilliams the
ability to present to a jury the fact that he uses marijuana to help treat
his life-threatening medical condition.

McWilliams was arrested for possession of seven "marijuana cigarettes" at
Detroit Metro Airport on December 12, 1996.

Original UPI story at: http://vh1380.infi.net/news/local/qdope19.htm)

Detroit News story at: http://detnews.com/1997/metro/9706/06/06060114.htm

Detroit Free Press Story at: http://vh1380.infi.net/news/health/qaids30.htm

In October 1997, Wayne County prosecutors moved to have any evidence or
testimony concerning McWilliams' medical condition banned from the
courtroom, including testimony from McWilliams' doctors who recommended
medical marijuana and supervise his use of it. In November 1997, the trial
judge, the Honorable Tina Brooks Green, chief judge of the 34th District
Court in Romulus, ruled that McWilliams could present his medical defense. A
week later, Judge Green reversed herself.

Detroit News Story at: http://detnews.com/1997/metro/9711/06/11060129.htm

McWilliams appealed to the Wayne County Circuit Court, and today's ruling by
Judge Worthy, a former Wayne County Prosecutor, reversed Judge Green's
decision. Judge Worthy ruled that Judge Green's first decision was correct
and that McWilliams should be allowed to present a medical necessity defense
even though there has been no law in Michigan specifically permitting
marijuana for medical use since 1987, when the state's previous medical
marijuana law expired.

"This allows us to present all the facts to a jury," said McWilliams'
attorney, Richard Lustig, who filed the successful appeal. "Today's ruling
does not say Mr. McWilliams was not guilty, but it does reaffirm his right
to present to a jury his reason for possessing marijuana."

Lustig based his appeal on Michigan law, rooted in English common law
stating that if a man steals a rowboat to save a drowning person, that man
is not guilty of stealing the boat. This is generally knows as the
"necessity defense." In the medical area, if a mother breaks the speed limit
to rush her child to the hospital, a jury is allowed to take the mother's
medical necessity into account when deciding her guilt or innocence to a
charge of speeding.

"If Mr. McWilliams' does not keep down his anti-AIDS medications, which
causes severe nausea, he will die," said Lustig. "Medical marijuana's
antinausea effect permits Mr. McWilliams to continue his lifesaving medical
treatment. Mr. McWilliams is breaking current drug laws in order to save his
life. This is his medical necessity defense and, as Judge Worthy confirmed
today, Michigan law already permits him to use it. Now it's up to a jury to
decide if Mr. McWilliams' medical necessity was reason enough for breaking
the law prohibiting the possession of marijuana."

"I could not be more pleased," said McWilliams. "I am confident that a jury,
knowing all the facts, will not send me to prison for taking the medication
that helps keep me alive."

However, Wayne County Appellate Prosecutor Jeff Kaminsky said his office
might appeal Judge Worthy's ruling. Wayne County Prosecutor James O'Hair
will make the ultimate decision. If an appeal is filed, it will delay
McWilliams' trial at least another a year. If the Prosecutor's Office
appeals that ruling, the trial will be put off until the next millennium.

"If they appeal Judge Worthy's decision, it will not be because they think a
higher court will rule differently," said McWilliams, "but because they want
to stall for more time. No one wants to be seen as trying to send an
AIDS-cancer patient to jail in an election year with public opinion
overwhelmingly on the side of medical marijuana." Public opinion polls
consistently show more than two-thirds of Americans believe an exception to
marijuana laws should be made when people are sick.

"At the same time," McWilliams continued, "the Prosecutor's Office hasn't
had the courage, compassion, or practical good sense to say, 'We have more
important crimes to spend our limited resources on than prosecuting sick
people for taking their medicine.' If the Prosecutor's Office appeals, it
will prove that they fear a jury's decision on this issue, that they want
the status quo to continue, and that they want to keep prosecuting sick
people while murderers, robbers, and rapists go free."

Wayne County, which includes the city of Detroit, has one of the highest
unprosecuted murder rates in the nation. "More people literally get away
with murder in Wayne County than almost anywhere else in the country,"
McWilliams said. "Rather than making sure murder convictions don't get
overturned, the Prosecutor's Office may use the appeal process keep a jury
from finding out I have AIDS. Does this make any sense?"

McWilliams, a best-selling author, was recently featured on the ABC News
John Stossel Special Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults.

http://www.abcnews.com/onair/abcnewsspecials/transcripts/specials_stossel980
526_trans.html

McWilliams is publisher of the Medical Marijuana Magazine Online
(www.marijuanamagazine.com) and is working on several books about medical
marijuana, including A Question of Compassion: An AIDS-Cancer Patient
Explores Medical Marijuana (http://www.mcwilliams.com/compassion.html)

"I want my day in court. It has been seventeen months since my arrest. Let's
put this matter before a Michigan jury, under current Michigan law, and let
the people speak. This is a life-and-death issue the Prosecutor's Office is
treating like a political football. Let a jury decide, and soon."

How would a Detroit jury rule? In November 1997, the Detroit News asked its
readers: "Should the state allow patients with cancer and other serious
illnesses to get a prescription to use marijuana for pain and nausea
relief?" The response was unanimous: Yes. Fourteen responses are at:

http://detnews.com/1997/metro/9711/13/11130038.htm

http://detnews.com/EDITPAGE/9711/28/letters/letters.htm

CONTACTS:

Peter McWilliams 213-650-8489

Richard Lustig 248-258-1600
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Cocaine Was A Killer 34 Times Last Year (Typical Piece Of Biased
Mainstream Journalism In 'The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'
About The 1997 Cocaine Body Count In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fails To Note
Such Things As Those Who Purposely Used The Drug To Commit Suicide,
Allows The Medical Examiner To Get Away With Attributing To Crack
Five Underweight Babies Probably Killed By Lack Of Social Services
And Prenatal Care, Neglects Mentioning That Hundreds Of People Die
From Alcohol, Tobacco And Prescription Drugs For Every Death
Attributed To Cocaine, And Fails To Provide A Cost-Benefit Analysis
Weighing The 34 Deaths Against The Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars
Milwaukee Is Probably Paying To Sustain Cocaine Prohibition)

Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 22:37:32 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WI: Cocaine Was A Killer 34 Times Last Year
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Contact: jsedit@onwis.com
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998
Author: Jamaal Abdul-Alim of the Journal Sentinel staff

COCAINE WAS A KILLER 34 TIMES LAST YEAR

It was the most lethal drug among those that claimed lives by accidental
overdose

Just months before Clerk of Circuit Court Gary Barczak found himself in the
spotlight in October for buying more than 12 grams of cocaine, the drug had
already claimed the lives of a counselor to juveniles and a Milwaukee
County social worker.

Those two people, as well as five babies of cocaine-abusing mothers, were
among the 34 people who died in accidental cocaine deaths in Milwaukee last
year. The deaths did not draw much attention -- certainly not the kind of
attention created by a public official such as Barczak getting caught just
buying the drug.

Nevertheless, the deaths give some insight into the impact the drug has in
Milwaukee.

According to the recently released Milwaukee County medical examiner's 1997
Activity and Statistical Report, cocaine alone was responsible for 27 -- or
45% -- of the 60 accidental drug deaths in 1997.

"And, cocaine in combination with another drug, or drugs, claimed another
seven lives in 1997," the report says. As a result, 57% of the accidental
drug deaths were attributed to cocaine or a combination of cocaine and
another drug.

For comparison, 24 of the 37 accidental drug deaths in 1996 -- 65% -- were
attributed to cocaine or a combination of cocaine and another drug. In
1995, 27 of 44 accidental drug deaths -- 61% -- were attributed to cocaine
or cocaine and another drug. And, in 1994, 40 of 67 accidental drug deaths
-- 60% -- were attributed to cocaine or cocaine and another drug.

In short, cocaine "continues to be the primary drug detected in drug deaths
certified as accidental," the report says.

The Journal Sentinel asked the medical examiner's office for more extensive
information on the cocaine-related deaths than was in the report.

That information shows that most of the accidental cocaine death victims in
Milwaukee County last year were adult males in their 40s. The victims were
single more often than married, and black more often than non-black. Most
worked in service-oriented or low-skill jobs, usually involving manual labor.

Two of the people who died from cocaine had careers in the field of social
work.

One of them, Gregory C. Kramoris, 50, worked as a Milwaukee County social
worker and was responsible for managing outpatients at the Milwaukee County
Mental Health Complex -- a job relatives said he "did not like."

The other, James Binns, 49, had worked as a counselor at Children's Court.
Binns apparently held the position until a cocaine injection he took with
some friends in February 1995 left him in a vegetative state. Binns died in
April 1997.

Among the cocaine-abusing mothers whose babies were born prematurely, one
woman gave birth to a premature boy on Christmas morning 1996. The boy,
named Lamont Jones Jr., died later that Christmas Day -- just three hours
after he entered the world with cocaine in his system. (His death is
considered a 1997 case because the medical examiner's office did not learn
about the case until early last year.)

Another woman left her baby -- born long before the pregnancy had reached
full term -- in a vacant lot at the corner of N. 24th and W. Center
streets. in December. The baby was later discovered by two neighborhood
children on their way to school. The mother has never been found.

The records also gave some demographic information about the
cocaine-related deaths.

Age and gender: Among adult women, who represented just five of the deaths,
the oldest was a 60-year-old forklift operator. The youngest woman was a
24-year-old nurse's assistant found in an alley on the north side. The
oldest male was a 57-year-old disabled veteran who died at his residence at
a public housing complex in the 1300 block of E. Kane Place. The man had
suffered from a post-traumatic stress syndrome. The youngest man was a
27-year-old temporary service employee who died in the emergency room at
St. Joseph's Hospital.

The youngest victims overall, of course, were the five babies born
prematurely because of their mother's cocaine abuse. One of those mothers
had been pregnant only 22 of the normal 40 weeks when she gave birth.

Marital status: Of the 29 adult victims, only six were married and one was
a widow. The rest were either divorced, separated, or never married.

Occupation: Most of the victims worked in manual labor, service-oriented or
low-skill jobs. Several of the victims had occupations listed simply as
"laborer," "handyman," or "maintenance worker."

The victims included four welders, a molder, two machine operators, a
security guard, a cab driver, a waitress, a salesperson, a janitor, a
painter, a nursing home orderly and a couple of auto body repairmen. At
least two of the victims were unemployed; one was disabled.

Ethnicity: Black men, many of whom were in their 40s and worked those
manual labor jobs, represented half of the county's cocaine death victims
in 1997, even though black people as a whole represent less than one-third
of the county population.

One of the victims was Hispanic; the rest were white.

Residence: Only two of the adult cocaine death victims resided outside
Milwaukee. One was from Elm Grove, the other from Muskego. Both men,
however, died while in Milwaukee.

As for the babies, one came from a woman living in Greenfield; the other
four were from Milwaukee women.

Time and place: Nearly half of the accidental cocaine deaths in 1997 took
place during weekends. Fourteen of the victims were pronounced dead at an
area hospital, nine of those in an emergency room.

One of the accidental cocaine deaths took place while the victim was in
police custody. Isaac Guillermo, 30, a self-employed auto mechanic, died
last April after he swallowed some cocaine in an attempt to hide it from
police.

District Attorney E. Michael McCann recently called that tactic, which he
described as being fairly common, as a "fiercely dangerous" thing to do.

McCann made the remark after an investigation into the death of Edward
Sims, 25, who died in police custody earlier this month after he apparently
swallowed an "eight ball" -- or an eighth of an ounce -- of cocaine.
Authorities say Sims swallowed the cocaine in an apparent last-ditch
attempt to hide the drug from police.

Sims will be on the medical examiner's report next year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Parents Urged To Lead By Example In Drug Fight ('The Chicago Tribune'
Discusses Drug-Use Prevention Strategies In The Context Of A Recent
National Telephone Survey Of 500 Parents, Released Last Week
By The Hazelden Foundation, The Minnesota-Based Coalition
Of Treatment Centers, Which Found Only 23 Percent Of Parents
Said They Forbid Their Children To Drink Alcohol Before They Reach
Legal Age - About 60 Percent Tell Their Children They Prefer They Not Drink,
But If They Do, The Parents Will Arrange For Transportation Home)

Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 01:56:21 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US IL: Parents Urged To Lead By Example In Drug Fight
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: Mon, 01 June 1998
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Author: Lisa Black and Jeff Coen

PARENTS URGED TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE IN DRUG FIGHT

As increasing numbers of teenagers experiment with drugs and alcohol,
families and counselors are searching for new ways to tackle a persistent,
insidious problem that has proved more complicated than urging youngsters to
"just say no."

Some urge a comprehensive approach of life-skills lessons, including classes
on coping and self-esteem, beginning in early childhood. Others urge tougher
enforcement of current laws and tougher discipline in the home.

One survey concludes that parents should practice what they preach,
particularly when it comes to alcohol use.

"A major problem in society is the mixed messages kids get," says David
Franson, assistant principal at Hinsdale Central High School. "By the time a
kid reaches a certain age, he or she has been exposed to a staggering number
of beer commercials."

A national survey released last week by the Hazelden Foundation, the
Minnesota-based coalition of treatment centers for drug and alcohol
dependency, found only 23 percent of parents say they forbid their children
to drink alcohol before they reach legal age. About 60 percent tell their
children they prefer they not drink, but that if they do, the parents will
arrange for transportation home, according to a recent telephone survey of
500 parents.

Hazelden officials encourage parents to talk to their children about drug
and alcohol use and develop a plan for special events such as proms.

Other experts warn that there is no one-stop preventive or cure.

"We have to ask ourselves, what are we doing in the school system to support
and enhance topics like relationships?" said Henry Tews, director of
Serenity House in Addison, which treats substance abusers.

Tews favors lifelong, self-help programs in school and at home.

"Self-sufficiency is important," he said. "You have to tell people it's time
to grow up and not run away and use drugs."

Lawrence Nikodem, clinical coordinator for addiction services at
Naperville's Linden Oaks Hospital, said parents hold the key to preventing
addiction. They should never become complacent in assessing their children's
behavior, he said.

While many symptoms of a drug or alcohol problem resemble typical adolescent
behavior, parents should never dismiss behavior changes casually, Nikodem said.

"You have to know who your kid is," Nikodem said, emphasizing the importance
of the parent-child relationship. "You have to talk to them."

Signs of trouble, experts say, include moodiness, a change in clothing
preferences and friends, a rapid loss of interest in sports or a decline in
grades.

Parents also should watch for classic physical manifestations of substance
abuse, such as heavy drowsiness or slurred speech, Nikodem said. If there
are indications of a likely problem, such as finding drug paraphernalia
among a child's belongings, the parent must confront the child, Nikodem said.

"Never ignore something you suspect is going on," Nikodem said. "It's OK to
be wrong when you confront your child, because if you don't, and there is a
problem, it's going to get worse. Confronting them may save a life."

Many DuPage County clinics, including Linden Oaks, offer free assessment
sessions for youths and their families. Nikodem said that during such
meetings, a counselor sits down with the teenager, and then with his or her
family, in an attempt to determine if more help is necessary.

Most clinics also offer drug screenings, he said, although some teenagers
refuse to submit to such testing.

"I tell parents who call me for advice to tell their kid they realize they
could be wrong," Nikodem said. "I tell them to say, `This assessment will
help me to understand more about what's going on. And if I'm wrong, this
will certainly reveal that.' "

Some parents who have dealt with a child's drug addiction recommend support
groups such as Families Anonymous, a 12-step program for parents of children
with drug abuse or behavior problems.

"Every parent comes in thinking, `I'm going to learn to fix my kid,' " said
one DuPage County mother, who asked not to be identified. "You learn the
program is for you and the family."

The mother said her daughter, now 20, began drinking in high school. The
family had to learn to set boundaries and let their daughter suffer the
consequences of her actions. For instance, the family is paying for the
daughter's college courses as long as she stays sober. But they will not pay
attorney costs that resulted from a DUI arrest.

Some parents have resorted to a more extreme measure of testing their
children's urine for drugs with home kits. One such test, Parent's Alert,
includes a home urine test that can be mailed to a laboratory for the
detection of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

One Naperville mother, who asked that her name not be used, said used a home
drug test three years ago when she suspected her then 15-year-old son was
using marijuana. She said she read about the test in a newspaper article and
had no qualms about using it.

"You're talking about the well-being of your child," she said. "It's not
anything horrible. You're saying that we have a problem, let's identify it
and move on."

The woman did uncover her son's drug problem and was able to get him to go
to a rehabilitation center.

Critics of home drug testing fear the tests can damage the relationship
between parents and children, but the Naperville woman said that didn't
happen in her case.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

UV Medical Defense - Marijuana Use In Mammals (List Subscriber Posts URL
For A Photo Showing Marijuana Use By A Cow, An Ancient Defense Adaptation
To An Illness Called Excito-Toxic Neuroendocrine Stress Response,
Caused By Harmful Ultraviolet Radiation And Other Sources
Of Chemical Free Radicals)
Link to earlier story
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 15:59:07 -0700 (PDT) From: bc616@scn.org (Darral Good) To: hemp-talk@hemp.net Subject: HT: UV medical defense - Marijuana use in mammals Reply-To: bc616@scn.org Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net Marijuana use in mammals is an ancient defense adaptation to an illness called excito-toxic neuroendocrine stress response (ENSR). This disease is caused by harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation and other sources of chemical free radicals. For proof that mammals eat marijuana see: Linkname: great hemp photos! see a cow eat some kind bud! http://hss.sd54.bc.ca/School/Pages/student/individual/Sonia/pictures.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------

President's Column - The National War On Drugs - Build Clinics, Not Prisons
(Anti-Drug-War Editorial In 'The ACP-ASIM Observer,'
Published By The American College Of Physicians, Urges Internists To Rethink
Their Attitudes Toward Addiction To Illicit Drugs - Plus Commentary
From Two Physicians)

Subj: Text of ACP Edirorial
From: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 01:38:33 +0100

ACP-ASIM Observer
June 1998

President's Column

The national war on drugs: Build clinics, not prisons

From the June 1998 ACP Observer, copyright A9 1998 by the American
College of Physicians.

By Harold C. Sox, FACP

Current thinking about how to treat drug addiction is in a state of rapid
flux. The basis of this revolution is the gradual accretion of knowledge
about the pathophysiology, treatment and social consequences of drug
addiction. All of this information is coming together into a coherent view
that points toward needed changes in public policy.

Since most drug addicts are adults with other medical disorders, internists
need to be part of this revolution. Internists need to adapt their practice
to new realities of treating drug addiction and must be leaders in seeking
changes in public policy. This article will lay out the basic facts and
their implications for physicians, patients and society.

Addiction is a chronic disorder. The decision to start taking drugs is
voluntary, although it is conditioned by heredity and environment. Most
first-time users do not become addicted, but many eventually lose the
ability to control their use of drugs and become addicted. Cure of the
essential feature of addiction - craving for drugs following withdrawal -
is possible but unlikely. In this sense, drug addiction is similar to
diabetes or hypertension.

The analogy between drug addiction and diseases like hypertension or
diabetes is appropriate because both conditions produce permanent anatomic
and functional changes that put the patient at risk for health problems.
Addictive drugs can produce changes in brain pathways that persist long
after a person stops taking drugs and place the individual at high risk of
relapse. Therefore, internists must think in terms of lifelong treatment of
drug addiction.

Drug addiction is similar to diseases like hypertension, diabetes and
asthma in other respects. Like many chronic diseases, successful treatment
requires behavioral change, and poor compliance is a constant threat. For
example, naltrexone is an opioid antagonist that works centrally to reduce
craving for alcohol and opioids. It markedly reduces recidivism among
alcoholics and opioid addicts, but opioid addicts show poor compliance
and alcoholics aren't much better.

Treatments

One way to successfully treat opioid addiction is methadone, which is a
weak-acting opioid agonist. Methadone does not produce euphoria, but it
blocks symptoms of opioid withdrawal and can be used in steadily reduced
doses to help opioid addicts withdraw from drug use.

However, the use of methadone that causes the most misunderstanding and
controversy is maintenance therapy, in which an addict takes a stable dose
indefinitely. When coupled with a comprehensive package of health benefits,
behavioral modification and social counseling, addicts using methadone
maintenance undergo a remarkable change, at least when viewed as a
population.

Consumption of all illicit drugs declines; heroin use drops to 40% of
pretreatment amounts in the first year and 15% in subsequent years.
Criminal behavior drops dramatically, to 70% of pretreatment levels. Other
health behaviors change, the most important of which is reduced use of
needles; while 26% of all untreated addicts become infected with HIV, only
5% of treated addicts become HIV-positive.

Because most studies of the effects of methadone maintenance therapy have
not been randomized trials, there are undoubtedly other factors that
contribute to these dramatic results. Nevertheless, it's a remarkable
success story for those who choose treatment.

Despite the successes attributed to methadone maintenance therapy, its use
is still limited. Many who want treatment cannot obtain it. The FDA, the
Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Health and Human
Services, and state and local governments all share in the task of
regulating methadone maintenance programs. Their regulations determine who
enters programs, acceptable doses and even the number of service sites. Ten
states forbid methadone maintenance programs entirely. Physicians who
dispense methadone must apply for a license every year, and programs are
subject to frequent inspections.

Because of these regulations, there are only 35,000 methadone maintenance
"slots" in New York City for approximately 200,000 injection drug addicts.
All of these slots are occupied at any given time. (New York has licensed
only five new methadone clinics in the past 20 years.) A 1995 Institute of
Medicine study concluded that such regulations are unnecessary and that
there are no medical reasons to regulate methadone any differently than any
other FDA-approved medication.

Societal costs

Society pays an enormous cost because of addiction to illicit drugs.
Shoplifting drives up the cost of goods. Muggings reduce tourism in our
large cities. HIV infection requires costly treatment and causes premature
death and reduced economic productivity.

Incarcerating large numbers of drug addicts is extremely costly. Prison
costs are the most rapidly increasing part of our federal drug budget;
because of harsh sentencing policies for drug users, two-thirds of all
prisoners are now addicts.

What can internists do? Probably the most important action is to rethink
our attitudes toward addiction to illicit drugs and to recognize it as a
chronic disease rather than a manifestation of psychological impairment.
As one expert has said, "Drug use is a choice, addiction is not." We need
to open our minds to methadone maintenance, which is a pharmacologically
sound approach to minimizing the harm from addiction.

Last July, a group of physician leaders, Physician Leadership on National
Drug Policy, issued a statement calling upon physicians to learn more about
substance abuse and its treatment. The group also called upon political
leaders to reallocate federal and state drug program resources toward
prevention and treatment, which reduces the demand for drugs, and away from
programs that have tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent illicit drugs from
entering the United States.

Changing government policy on such controversial issues will require the
support of physicians for adults. I hope ACP-ASIM will take up this matter
during the coming year and expend considerable effort to influence national
policy on illicit drugs. ACP-ASIM will need the support of its members if
we are to play our role as a professional organization whose first priority
is to address the needs of our patients, whatever their station and
whatever their affliction.

***

Subj: Re: LTE re: ACP Observer June 1998 pg.14 (Dr. Sox)
From: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 1998 20:48:08 +0100

Rick Bayer references an editorial which is appearing in the administrative
journal of the American College of Physicians, "ACP Observer;" it's a
bombshell.

For decades, one of the most important reasons for public acceptance of the
necessity for our destructive drug policy has been the passivity of
organized medicine. With the exception of a few courageous mavericks, like
Lester Grinspoon (a true hero), few well-known physicians have directly
challenged the validity of government pronouncements on drugs and drug
policy.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer's somewhat timid and restricted objection (NEJM, Feb.
'97) to their heavy-handed attempt to practice the usual intimidation in
the wake of 215 was huge. It arrested the process and got the issue of MJ
referred to the IOM, which will almost certainly give it a green light in
December. Experimental laboratory evidence is accumulating which casts
serious doubt on the validity of drug prohibition, despite the frantic
efforts of Leshner and others to put their pro-prohibition spin on it.
Undoubtedly, the generalized disenchantment with the drug war uncovered by
the UN session and the ad in the NYT have also had a major effect.

I urge all to read the editorial for yourselves and use the handy form at
the website to send a message to Dr. Sox. He deserves our both our praise
and congratulations. My letter to him will be posted separately. Rick's
appears below.

Tom O'Connell

>To the editor:
>
>Dr. Sox has written a very thoughtful and long overdue editorial in the
>ACP Observer, June 1998, President's Column titled: "The National War on
>Drugs: Build Clinics, Not Prisons"
>http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/jun98/drugwar.htm.
>
>The absolute failure of the War on Drugs is unquestioned by the majority
>of Americans. There are some estimates that the costs for this
>American-style law-enforcement prohibition exceed $100 billion dollars
>annually. In addition, we are destroying people and countries such as
>Colombia with Viet Nam style raids and defoliants. The actual health
>and environmental costs are unquantifiable and the loss of human life is
>both unnecessary and obscene. Substance abuse is a medical and public
>health problem and should be treated as such. The stroke of an ink pen
>in the White House could eliminate much of this carnage overnight. As
>Dr. Sox states, prisons, war, and violence are not the appropriate
>answer to this health problem.
>
>Dr. Sox did an excellent job explaining the facts about methadone
>maintenance. We need good clinical research into appropriate medical
>methods to minimize harm to all members of society. We need to know why
>the Dutch have half the regular consumption of cannabis that we in the
>U.S do along with very little "hard-drug" use and how the Swiss have cut
>crime with medically supervised heroin maintenance. Our own Health and
>Human Services Department recently acknowledged that needle exchange
>works to prevent HIV infection without encouraging IV drug use but for
>political reasons, offers no funding to help prevent AIDS in our
>communities. The California Medical Association recently called for
>rescheduling of marijuana out of Schedule I so doctors can prescribe it
>when it is the best treatment option for their patients. The time has
>come for "Drug Peace", while science continues its investigations.
>
>We physicians need to make sure that decisions regarding drugs and
>health care are made by compassionate physicians and other health care
>experts who have no political baggage about appearing "soft on crime".
>Decisions made by politicians and DEA police seldom have any scientific
>validity or compassion. The "War on Drugs" does not belong in the exam
>room and it should not be a "War on Patients and their Doctors".
>
>It may interest some to know that after the Harrison Narcotics Act of
>1914, the Treasury Department started putting doctors in prisons during
>the 1920s for continuing maintenance therapy to addicts and also that
>the AMA vigorously opposed the Cannabis Tax Act of 1937 which caused
>cannabis to be removed from the U.S. Drug Formulary in 1941. To get
>updated on this 20th Century phenomenon, I highly recommend "Drug
>Crazy" by Mike Gray (Random House 1998) and a visit to the website of
>Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy
>http://caas.caas.biomed.brown.edu/plndp/ to support their common-sense
>platform . In the mean time, the time has come to speak out for our
>patients, for our communities, and for our country. Again, I wish to
>thank Dr. Sox for educating our ACP, demonstrating leadership, and
>expressing those desirable clinical traits of scientific validity,
>compassion, and common-sense.
>
>Richard Bayer, MD
>Board Certified, Internal Medicine
>Member, ACP-ASIM
>6800 SW Canyon Drive
>Portland, OR 97225
>503-292-1035 (voice)
>503-297-0754 (fax)
>ricbayer@teleport.com

***

Subj: Letter to Dr. Sox
From: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 1998 20:50:39 +0100

Below is my letter to Dr. Ellis Sox, president of the ACP. I'm not sure
that he realizes the extent to which his editorial will stir the hornets'
nest. If he doesn't, he will soon enough. McC will have a cow when he reads
it.

Editorial is at: http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/jun98/drugwar.htm

Dear Dr. Sox,

Please accept the sincere congratulations of a surgical colleague on your
courageous editorial in the ACP Observer. Your acknowledgement of the
enormous societal and individual damage produced by doctrinaire
enforcement of our sadly misinformed federal drug policy is as welcome as
it is overdue. For far too long, the federal government has been a most
effective lobbyist for its own policy; able to intimidate potential
critics into a passive acceptance of drug prohibition, even as the cost of
its failures mounted and the size of the world-wide criminal market it
enables ultimately reached an estimated four hundred billion dollars.

When historians of the Twenty-First Century look back on the folly of this
policy run amok, they may well be tempted to equate its magnitude with
that of federally approved chattel slavery which endured for eight
decades after our founding and nearly cost our existence as a nation. They
will mark the beginning of its reversal as that time when courageous
medical editorialists like yourself and Dr. Jerome Kassirer added the
weight of their reputations to the lonely voice of Dr. Grinspoon and a few
others who have been articulating basic truths which most of us have known
for years.

Fiercely doctrinaire partisans of a military-style drug policy will have
extreme difficulty in resisting a searching, evidence-based review of our
drug policy when such has been demanded by sober and responsible leaders
of organized medicine, although they will undoubtedly try. Be prepared for
sharp criticism.

Congratulations on a brave decision which places you in the vanguard of
history .

Sincerely,
Thomas J. O'Connell, MD, FACS
contact info
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Focus Alert Number 64 - '60 Minutes' (DrugSense Asks You To Write A Letter
Protesting CBS News' Decision To Revive The 'Crack Baby' Myth -
Plus Lots Of Research To Cite)

Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 15:02:42 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: FOCUS Alert No. 64 Sixty Minutes

FOCUS Alert No .64 Sixty Minutes

WRITE A LETTER - HELP CHANGE THE WORLD

ABC ran "sex Drugs and Consenting Adults" last week and we gave them kudos.

CBS ran a piece last night (Sunday) on the old "Crack Baby" myth. Time to
slap their wrist. It was a rerun but they still need to be corrected.
Please write a brief note to them using one or more of the sites and facts
posted below.

Thanks to Kendra Wright and Common Sense for Drug Policy for the solid
research on the subject.


If not YOU, Who? If not NOW, When?

***

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post your letters or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you
are subscribed, or return a copy to this address by simply hitting
REPLY to this FOCUS Alert or E-mailing to MGreer@mapinc.org

***

CONTACT INFO

60 Minutes
Don Hewitt, Executive Producer
CBS-TV
524 West 57th Street
New York
NY 10019-2985
212-975-2006
212 975 2019 Fax
Email: 60M@cbsnews.com (Verified)

NOTE: We are told that the "M" in the email address must be a capitol "M."

***

NOTE: Scanned Doc - Typos are mine

Crack Baby Myth

Summary: Cocaine use, like other drug use, is not advisable during
pregnancy. Nonetheless, dozens of studies now indicate that (I) the
pharmacological impact of cocaine has been greatly exaggerated, (2) other
factors are responsible for many of the ms previously associated with
cocaine use, and (3) political and legal responses have done more to
exacerbate than alleviate the situation of poor and/or drug-using pregnant
women.

Observers participating in blind studies which do not identify which
infants have been exposed to cocaine, report cocaine exposed infants to be
indistinguishable from those who were not exposed.

Sources! Hadeed, A.J. & Siegel, S.R.. (1989). Maternal cocaine use during
pregnancy: effect on the newborn infant. Pediatrics 84. 205-210. Neuspiel,
D.R. & Hamel, S.C. (1991). Cocaine and infant behavior. Cocaine/Crack
Research Workina Groan Newsletter. 2. 14-25. Ryan, L., Stirlich, S. &
Finnegan, L. (1987). Cocaine abuse in pregnancy: effects on the fetus and
newborn. Neurotoxicolopy Teratology. 157. 686-690.

Well-controlled studies find minimal or no increased risk of Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS) among cocaine-exposed infants.

Sources:	Baucimer, H., Zuckennan, B., McClain, M.5 Frank, D~, Fried, L.E.,
& Kayne, H. (1988). Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome among infants with
in utero exposure to cocaine. Journal of Pediatrict 113.831-834. Note:
Early studies which reported a greatly increased risk of SIDS did not
control for socioeconomic characteristics). Chavez, C}.F~, Mulinare, J., &
Cordero, 3.F. (1989). Maternal cocaine use during early pregnancy as a risk
factor for congenital anomalies. JAMA. 262. 795-798. Chasnoff, 1.3., Hunt
C., & lucifer, R., et. al. (1986). Increased risk of 511)5 and respiratory
pattern abnormalities in cocaine-exposed infants. Pediatric Researcit
20.425 A. Riley, 5.0., Brodsl:y, N.L. & Porat R. (1988). Risk for SIDS in
infants with in utero cocaine exposure: a prospective study. Pediatric
Researc~ 23. 454A.

Among the general population there has been no detectable increase in birth
defects which may be associated with cocaine use during pregnancy.

Source:	Martin, M.L., Khowy, M.J., Cordero, S.F. & Waters, 0.D. (1992).
Trends in rates of multiple vascular disruption defects, Atlanta,
1968-1989. Teratology. 45.647-653.

The lack of quality prenatal care is associated with prematurity, low birth
weight, and other fetal development problems.

Klein, L., & Goldenberg, R.L. (1990). Prenatal care and its effect on
prcAerm birth and low birth weight. In: Merkatz:, I.R. & Thompson, J.E.,
eds. New perspectives on prenatal care 501-529. Elsevier. Mac(Gregor, S.N.,
Keith, L.G., Bachicha, J.A. & Chasnoffl I.J. (1989). Cocaine abuse during
pregnancy: correlation between prenatal care and prenatal outcome.
Obstetrics and Gvnecolopv. 74.882-885.

Provision of quality prenatal care to heavy cocaine users (with or without
drug treatment) has been shown to significantly improve fetal health and
development.

Source: Charotte, C., Youchah, I, & Freda. M.C (1995) Cocaine use during
pregnancy and low birth weight: the impact of prenatal care and drug
treatment Seminars in Perinatolopy. 19.293-300.

Criminalizing substance abuse during pregnancy discourages substance-using
or abusing women from seeking prenatal care, drug treatment, and other
social services, and sometimes leads to unnecessary abortions.

Sources.' Pollit K. (1990). Fetal rights: anew assault on feminism. (1990).
Natio~ 250.409-418. Cole, H.M. (1990). Legal interventions during
pregnancy: court-ordered medical treatment and legal penalties for
potentially harmful behavior by pregnant women. JAAM. 264.2663-2670. Polan,
M.L., Dombrowski, M.P., Ager, J.W., & Sokol, RJ. (1993). Pwii~pregnant drug
users: enhancing the flight from care. Druct and Alcohol Deoendence. 31
199-203. Koren, 0., Gladstone, D. Robeson, C. & Robjeux, I. (1992). The
perception of teratogenic risk of cocaine. Teratology. 46. 567-571.

Overloaded child welfare services are often unable to find homes for
otherwise healthy children branded as "crack babies."

Sources: (1990, May 19). New York Times. (1990, September21). New York
Times. Neuspiel, D. (1994). Infant 'abandonment' by drug-using mothers:
blaming the victims? Petteri. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine. 148.437-438. Neuspiel, D., Zingrnan, T.M., Templeton, V.H.,
DiStabile, P., & Drucker, E. (1993). Custody of cocaine-exposed newborns:
determinants of discharge decisions American Jolund of Public Heal~
83.1726-1729.

Pejoratively labeling children lowers teacher and parent expectations.

Sources: Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pvsunalion in the classroom:
teacher expectation and pupils' intellectual development~ New York: Holt
Rinehart & Winston. Neuspiel, D.R. On pejorative labeling of cocaine
exposed children. (1993). Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 10. 407.
Gillung, S. & Dwyer, A. (1977). Labels and teacher expectations.
Exceotional ChiidrCrL 43. 464465

Presented with children randomly labeled "cocaine-exposed" and "normal,"
child care professionals ranked the performance of the "cocaine-exposed"
children below that of "normal."

Source! Thurman, SW, Brobeil, RA., Duccette, J.P., & Hurt, H. (1994).
Prenatally exposed to cocaine: does the label matter? Journal of Earlv
intervention 18. 119-130.

***

Sample Letter (Sent)

Dear 60 Minutes:

The piece on last Sundays show about "crack babies" has helped to increase
the hysteria and inaccuracy that has been foisted upon the American public
for far too long on drug issues in general and the "Crack Baby myth" in
particular. I am amazed that a show with the reputation of 60 minutes could
go so far afield from facts, science, and reason as to air this nonsense
again.

Please see the FACTS below and consider contacting us as part of your
production and research process for any future segments pertaining to drug
issues. We can provide experts, facts, and accuracy. Whoever you used as an
information resource for this show apparently cannot.

Thank you

P.S. I suspect the ACLU letter writing effort that you referred to in the
same piece was more an attempt to get you to report accurately than one of
attempted censorship.

***

Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.DrugSense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dan Rather Tonight (Oregon Activist Says The CBS Evening News
Will Feature An Eight-Minute Story On Efforts By Kentucky Farmers
To Bring Back A Hemp Industry)

From: "sburbank" (sburbank@orednet.org)
Subject: Dan Rather tonite
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 14:11:50 -0700

NEWS RELEASE
	
CBS Television Network
	
"60 Minutes" to preview KY Hemp for Monday night's CBS Evening News
	
*Monday June 1, 1998
CBS Evening News
	
Monday night, Dan Rather will take an eight minute look into
issues surrounding Kentucky's effort to legalize industrial
hemp in the United States. The program will feature Andy
Graves, President of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative and
his father, Jake Graves, a hemp grower from the early 1940's.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather (The Transcript Of A Feature
By Sharyl Attkisson About Would-Be Kentucky Hemp Farmers)

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 07:28:52 +0000
From: pfx (jahemp@DAFFODIL.InfoChan.COM)
Reply-To: pfx@DAFFODIL.InfoChan.COM
Subject: CanPat - Fwd: Dan Rather, Hemp & Andy Graves
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com

Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 12:19:59 -0400
From: Joe Hickey (agfuture@kih.net)
Subject: Dan Rather, Hemp & Andy Graves

TRANSCRIPT

The CBS Evening News
June 1, 1998

DAN RATHER, anchor:

Tonight's Eye on America investigates a little known aspect of this
country's laws, attitudes and regulations about drugs. Case in point,
US farmers who want to switch cash crops from tobacco to hemp, used in
clothing and other products. The problem? Growing hemp is bad because
it's in the marijuana weed family. So is this reefer madness or wise
policy? CBS' Sharyl Attkisson looked into it.

SHARYL ATTKISSON reporting:

The Graves family has been farming this land, nestled in Kentucky horse
country, since the Civil War.

Mr. ANDY GRAVES: It's got some grain in it still.

Mr. JAKE GRAVES: Oh.

ATTKISSON: Now Andy Graves is running the farm, and he's coming to grips
with a new reality about the family's cash crop: tobacco.

Mr. A. GRAVES: It's such an unsure future, at this particular day and
time.

ATTKISSON: You think your future is not in tobacco?

Mr. A. GRAVES: Oh, I don't think so. No, I'm afraid I'd--I would be
foolish to think that--probably that there would be a great future in
growing tobacco.

ATTKISSON: So Andy thinks his future is in another crop once grown on
thisland...

Mr. A. GRAVES: Here it is.

ATTKISSON: ...a strong fiber called hemp that he thinks could help save
the family farm. Where did you get this?

Mr. A. GRAVES: That's from Ontario in Canada.

ATTKISSON: From Canada because it's illegal to grow hemp in the US.
Hemp is in the cannabis family, a non-narcotic look-alike of its close
cousin, marijuana. While the difference is clear to Andy Graves, he
can't seem to convince the government.

Mr. A. GRAVES: We've run into a man named McCaffrey, who may be a good
general but he doesn't know beans about farming.

ATTKISSON: That would be General Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug
czar. He insists anyone who wants to grow hemp has a hidden agenda: to
legalize pot.

General BARRY McCAFFREY (Drug Czar): It's just a subterfuge, to be
honest, to make it impossible for law enforcement to maintain the laws
of the United States against marijuana production.

(Footage of a vintage government film called "Hemp for Victory" touting
hemp production)

ATTKISSON: Ironically, the government once begged farmers to grow hemp,
producing this film during World War II.

(Footage of vintage government film, "Hemp for Victory")

ATTKISSON: Andy's father, Jake Graves...

Mr. J. GRAVES: Here I am weighing the hemp.

ATTKISSON: ...was one of the farmers who did his patriotic duty back
then.

Mr. J. GRAVES: They desperately needed it for the parachutes,
originally, because we did not have nylon and rayon at that time.

ATTKISSON: After the war, farmers turned to other crops and didn't
object in the 1970s when the US outlawed the growing of all cannabis,
including non-narcotic hemp. But in the '90s, hemp is being
rediscovered. It grows without pesticides, is biodegradable and is used
in everything from clothing to car parts. While Andy Graves fights for
a piece of the action, British farmers are planting their sixth crop,
firmly convinced that hemp is not a drug.

Mr. IAN LOWE (British Hemp Producer): If you do try to smoke it, you
would need a joint the size of a telegraph pole to--to get high on it.

ATTKISSON: But in the US, hemp can't seem to shake its negative image
because the cause has been embraced by the movement to legalize pot,
much to Andy Graves' dismay. Are you the kind of guy that is looking to
sort of legalize marijuana through the means of getting hemp grown?

Mr. A. GRAVES: Do I look like somebody that's doing that? Heavens, no.

ATTKISSON: To prove it, Graves is going to court. He's leading a group
of Kentucky farmers suing the federal government to bring back the crop
that was once their heritage. In Lexington, Kentucky, I'm Sharyl
Attkisson for Eye on America.

***

DAN RATHER, anchor:

And that's part of our world tonight. For the CBS EVENING NEWS, Dan
Rather reporting. Thank you for joining us. Good night.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Risky Herbicide (Staff Editorial In The Waco, Texas, 'Tribune-Herald'
Opposes The Use Of Tebuthiuron To Eradicate Cocaine In Columbia)

Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 00:14:20 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Editiorial: Risky Herbicide
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John Wilson (www.rxmarihuana.com)
Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald (TX)
Contact: letters@mail.iamerica.net
Author: Editorial Board, Rowland Nethaway, Senior Editor

RISKY HERBICIDE

As we found out in the Vietnam War and in Desert Storm, lethal chemicals can
be as villainous an enemy as the enemy itself. In Columbia, the enemy in
America's "drug war" cross-hairs is drug cultivation. U.S. and Columbian
officials must not unleash a poison that could add to the war's devastation.

The poison in question is Tebuthiuron, which is being considered as a new
weapon in the effort to eradicate coca and poppy crops.

Dow Chemical, which produces Tebuthiuron, warns that the substance is meant
only for pinpoint application, such as weeds on an industrial site. "It is
our desire that this product not be used for illicit crop eradication," said
a Dow spokesman.

Fears center around widespread contamination, water pollution, poisoning of
inhabitants around the targeted fields and more.

"Overkill" is not always a word that will deter plans in a war. But in the
"drug war," thoughts of mass-applying a dangerous substance like this should
be stopped dead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Still Seeing Red - The CIA Fosters Death Squads In Colombia
('The Progressive' Says In The Name Of Fighting Drugs,
The Central Intelligence Agency Financed New Military Intelligence Networks
In Colombia In 1991, But The New Networks Did Little
To Stop Drug Traffickers - Instead, They Incorporated
Illegal Paramilitary Groups Into Their Ranks And Fostered Death Squads)

Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 15:50:26 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US/Colombia: Still Seeing Red:
The CIA Fosters Death Squads In Colombia
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Paul Wolf (paulwolf@icdc.com)
Source: Progressive (WI)
Contact: progmag@igc.apc.org
Pubdate: June 1998
Author: Frank Smyth

STILL SEEING RED: THE CIA FOSTERS DEATH SQUADS IN COLOMBIA

Back in 1989, the CIA built its first counter-narcotics center in the
basement of its Directorate of Operations headquarters in Langley,
Virginia. Since then, the newly renamed "crime and narcotics center" has
increased four-fold, says CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher. She says she
cannot comment about any specific counter-drug operations, except to say
that the agency is now conducting them worldwide.

The CIA was established in 1947 as a frontline institution against the
Soviet Union. Today, nine years after the Berlin Wall fell, the agency is
seeking a new purpose to justify its $26.7 billion annual subsidy. Besides
the crime and narcotics center, the CIA now runs a counter-terrorism
center, a center to stymie the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, and even an ecology center to monitor global warming and
weather patterns, including El Nino.

George J. Tenet, the Clinton Administration's new Director of Central
Intelligence, recently told Congress the United States faces new threats in
"this post-Cold War world" that are "uniquely challenging for U.S. interests."

But the CIA remains a Cold War institution. Many officers, especially
within the clandestine operations wing, still see communists behind every
door. They maintain warm relationships with rightist military forces
worldwide that are engaging in widespread human-rights abuses. These ties
conflict with the agency's putative goal of fighting drugs, since many of
the rightist allies are themselves involved in the drug trade.

Take Colombia. In the name of fighting drugs, the CIA financed new military
intelligence networks there in 1991. But the new networks did little to
stop drug traffickers. Instead, they incorporated illegal paramilitary
groups into their ranks and fostered death squads. These death squads
killed trade unionists, peasant leaders, human-rights, journalists, and
other suspected "subversives." The evidence, including secret Colombian
military documents, suggests that the CIA may be more interested in
fighting a leftist resistance movement than in combating drugs.

Thousands of people have been killed by the death squads, and the killings
go on. In April, one of Colombia's foremost human rights lawyers, Eduardo
Umana Mendoza, was murdered in his office. Umana's clients included leaders
of Colombia's state oil workers' union. Reuters estimated that 10,000
people attended his funeral in Bogota.

Human rights groups suspect that Umana's murder may have been carried out
by members of the security forces supporting or operating in unison with
paramilitary forces. At the funeral, Daniel Garcia Pena, a Colombian
government official who was a friend of Umana's, told journalists that
before his death Umana had alerted authorities that state security
officials along with security officers from the state oil company were
planning to kill him.

The killings are mounting at a terrible pace. In February, a death squad
mowed down another leading human rights activist, Jesus Maria Valle
Jaramillo. He had pointed a finger at the military and some politicians for
sponsoring death squads.

"There is a clear, coordinated strategy of targeting anyone involved in the
defense of human rights," says Carlos Salinas of Amnesty International.
"Every statement of unconditional support by U.S. lawmakers only encourages
these kinds of attacks."

A new debate is taking place today between human rights groups and the
Clinton Administration over U.S. aid to Colombia. The Clinton
Administration has escalated military aid to Colombia to a record $136
million annually, making Colombia the leading recipient of U.S. military
aid in this hemisphere. Now the Administration is considering even more,
including helicopter gunships.

Colombia did not figure prominently on the world stage back in late 1990
and early 1991. Germany was in the process of reunification, Iraq's Saddam
Hussein had just invaded Kuwait, and El Salvador was negotiating an end to
its long civil war. But the Bush Administration was not ignoring Colombia.
It was increasing the number of U.S. Army Special Forces (or Green Beret)
advisers there. And the CIA was increasing the number of agents in its
station in Bogota -- which soon became the biggest station in Latin America.

"There was a very big debate going on [over how to allocate] money for
counter-narcotics operations in Colombia," says retired Colonel James S.
Roach Jr., the U.S. military attache and the Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA) country liaison in Bogota in the early 1990s. "The U.S. was looking
for a way to try to help. But if you're not going to be combatants
[yourselves], you have to find something to do."

The United States formed an inter-agency commission to study Colombia's
military intelligence system. The team included representatives of the U.S.
embassy's Military Advisory Group in Bogota, the U.S. Southern Command in
Panama, the DIA, and the CIA, says Roach, who was among the military
officers representing the DIA. The commission, according to a 1996 letter
from the Defense Department to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of
Vermont, recommended changes in Colombia's military intelligence networks
to make them "more efficient and effective."

In May 1991, Colombia completely reorganized its military intelligence
networks "based on the recommendations made by the commission of U.S.
military advisers," according to the secret Colombian reorganization order,
which Human Rights Watch made public in 1996. The U.S. commission of
advisers backed the reorganization plan ostensibly as part of the drug war.
Yet the secret Colombian order itself made no mention anywhere in its
sixteen pages or corresponding appendices about gathering intelligence
against drug traffickers. Instead, the order instructed the new
intelligence networks to focus on leftist guerrillas or "the armed
subversion."

The forty-one new intelligence networks created by the order directed their
energies toward unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the guerrillas.
One of these intelligence networks, in the oil refinery town of
Barrancabermeja in Colombia's strife-torn Magdalena Valley, assassinated at
least fifty-seven civilians in the first two years of operation. Victims
included the president, vice president, and treasurer of the local
transportation workers union, two leaders of the local oil workers union,
one leader of a local peasant workers union, two human rights monitors, and
one journalist.

Colonel Roach says the Defense Department never intended the intelligence
networks to foster death squads. But Roach says he can't speak for the CIA,
which was more involved in the intelligence reorganization and even
financed the new networks directly.

"The CIA set up the clandestine nets on their own," says Roach. "They had a
lot of money. It was kind of like Santa Claus had arrived."

The secret Colombian order instructed the military to maintain plausible
deniability from the networks and their crimes. Retired military officers
and other civilians were to act as clandestine liaisons between the
networks and the military commanders. All open communications "must be
avoided." There "must be no written contracts with informants or civilian
members of the network; everything must be agreed to orally." And the
entire chain of command "will be covert and compartmentalized, allowing for
the necessary flexibility to cover targets of interest."

Facts about the new intelligence networks became known only after four
former agents in Barrancabermeja began testifying in 1993 about the
intelligence network there. What compelled them to come forward? Each said
the military was actively trying to kill them in order to cover up the
network and its crimes. By then the military had "disappeared" four other
ex-agents in an attempt to keep the network and its operations secret.

Since the military was already trying to kill them, the agents decided that
testifying about the network and its crimes might help keep them alive.
Saulo Segura was one ex-agent who took this gamble. But rather than
prosecuting his superiors over his and others' testimony, Colombia's
judicial system charged and imprisoned Segura. In a 1996 interview in La
Modelo, Bogota's maximum-security jail, Segura told me he hadn't killed
anyone and that his job within the network was limited to renting office
space and handling money. Segura then glanced about nervously before
adding, "I hope they don't kill me."

Two months later, on Christmas Eve, Segura was murdered inside his
cellblock. His murder remains unsolved; the whereabouts of the other three
ex-agents is unknown. No Colombian officers have been prosecuted for
ordering the Barrancabermeja crimes.

In 1994, Amnesty International accused the Pentagon of allowing anti-drug
aid to be diverted to counterinsurgency operations that lead to human
rights abuses. U.S. officials including General Barry R. McCaffrey, the
Clinton Administration drug czar who was then in charge of the U.S.
Southern Command, publicly denied it. But back at the office, McCaffrey
ordered an internal audit. It found that thirteen out of fourteen Colombian
army units that Amnesty had specifically cited for abuses had previously
received either U.S. training or arms. Amnesty made these documents public
in 1996. (Full disclosure: I provided the internal U.S. documents to
Amnesty; Winifred Tate and I provided the secret Colombian order to Human
Rights Watch.)

Colombian military officers, along with some of their supporters in the
United States, say the line between counterinsurgency and counter-drug
operations in Colombia is blurry, as Colombia's leftist guerrillas are more
involved today than ever before in drug trafficking.

Indeed, they are. For years, about two-thirds of the forces of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and about half the forces of
the National Liberation Army (ELN) have been involved in the drug trade,
mainly protecting drug crops, according to both U.S. intelligence and
leftist sources.

Colombia's rightist paramilitary groups, however, are even more involved in
the drug trade, and they have been for a decade. Back in 1989, Colombia's
civilian government outlawed all paramilitary organizations after a
government investigation had found that the Medellin drug cartel led by the
late Pablo Escobar had taken over the largest ones.

At the time, Escobar and his associates were fiercely resisting U.S.
pressure on the Colombian government to make them stand trial in the United
States on trafficking charges. They took control of Colombia's strongest
paramilitaries and used them to wage a terrorist campaign against the
state. These same paramilitaries, based in the Magdalena Valley, were
behind a wave of violent crimes, including the 1989 bombing of Avianca
flight HK-1803, which killed 111 passengers. Investigators concluded that
Israeli, British, and other mercenaries, led by Israeli Reserve Army
Lieutenant Colonel Yair Klein, had trained the perpetrators in such
techniques. In February, Klein and three other former Israeli reserve
officers, along with two Colombians, were indicted in absentia for their
alleged involvement in these crimes.

The CIA bears some responsibility for the proliferation of drug trafficking
in the Magdalena Valley since it supported rightist counterinsurgency
forces who run drugs. But the CIA has also helped combat drug trafficking
in Colombia. In other words, different units within the agency have pursued
contrary goals.

The CIA's most notable success in the drug war was the 1995-1996 operations
that, with the help of the DEA, apprehended all top seven leaders of
Colombia's Cali drug cartel. One of those apprehended was Henry Loaiza,
also known as "The Scorpion," a top Colombian paramilitary leader. He
secretly collaborated with the CIA-backed intelligence networks to carry
out assassinations against suspected leftists.

A young, techno-minded CIA team led the Cali bust. Heading up the team was
a woman. "I'm just a secretary," she protested when I called her on the
phone at the time.

But despite her denials, she was not unappreciated. On September 19, 1995,
a courier delivered a white box to her at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. I
happened to be in the lobby at the time. She opened the box to find roses
inside. They had been sent by the head of Colombia's National Police,
General Rosso Jose Serrano.

Most other agency counter-drug operations, however, have yielded few
breakthroughs.

The net result of CIA involvement in Colombia has not been to slow down the
drug trade. Mainly, the agency has fueled a civil war that has taken an
appalling toll on civilians.

Colombia is not the only place where these two elements of the CIA nave
clashed with each other.

In Peru, the CIA coordinates all of its counter-drug efforts through the
office of the powerful intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos -- even
though DEA special agents have produced no fewer than forty-nine different
intelligence reports about Montesinos and his suspected narcotics
smuggling. It is no wonder that agency counter-drug efforts in Peru have
failed.

In Guatemala, the agency has played a strong role in both counterinsurgency
and counter-drug operations. As in Peru, the agency has worked with
Guatemala's office of military intelligence, even though DEA special agents
have formally accused a whopping thirty-one Guatemalan military officers of
drug trafficking. Despite the CIA's efforts, not even one suspected officer
has been tried.

The Clinton Administration finally cut off CIA counterinsurgency aid to
Guatemala in 1995 after revelations that an agency asset, Guatemalan Army
Colonel Julio Roberto Alpirez, had been involved in the murder of Michael
DeVine, a U.S. innkeeper, as well as in the murder of Efrain Bamaca
Velasquez, a leftist guerrilla who was married to the Harvard-educated
lawyer, Jennifer Harbury. But the Clinton Administration has allowed the
CIA to continue providing counter-drug aid to Guatemala.

Most of the major drug syndicates so far uncovered by the DEA have enjoyed
direct links to Guatemalan military officers. One of the largest
syndicates, exposed in 1996, "reached many parts of the military,"
according to the State Department.

This year, the State Department reports, "Guatemala is the preferred
location in Central America for storage and transshipment of South American
cocaine destined for the United States via Mexico."

Mexico is the next stop on the CIA counter-narcotics train. The fact that
Mexico's former top counter-drug officer, General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo,
was himself recently indicted for drug trafficking, raises the same old
question: What is U.S. policy really all about? Before Gutierrez was
busted, the DEA thought he was dirty, while U.S. officials, like General
McCaffrey, still sporting Cold War lenses, thought he was clean and vouched
for him shortly before his indictment.

Some DEA special agents question the CIA's priorities in counter-drug
programs. Human-rights groups remain suspicious of the same programs for
different reasons.

"There is no magic line dividing counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency
operations," says Salinas of Amnesty International. "Given the current
deterioration of human rights in Mexico," an expanded role in counter-drug
operations by the United States "could lead to a green light for further
violations."

Testifying before Congress in March, the CIA Inspector General, Frederick
R. Hitz, finally addressed allegations that the CIA once backed Cold War
allies like the Nicaraguan contras even though they ran drugs. Hitz
admitted that, at the very least, there have been "instances where CIA did
not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with
individuals supporting the contra program who were alleged to have engaged
in drug trafficking activity, or take action to resolve the allegations."

What CIA officials have yet to admit is that the agency is still doing the
same thing today.

Frank Smyth, a freelance journalist, has written a out the or drug
trafficking in The Village Voice, The New Republic, The Washington Post,
The Wall Street Journal, and Jane's Intelligence Review. He has also
contributed to "Crime in Uniform: Corruption and Impunity in Latin
America," published jointly by the Cochabomba-based Accion Andina and the
Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute.

Copyright 1998 Progressive Inc.

Source: Colombian Labor Monitor, clm@prairienet.org;
http://www.prairienet.org/clm
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Letter To Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations
(Text Of The Letter Calling For An End To The Global War On Drugs,
Written On The Occasion Of The United Nations General Assembly
Special Session On Drugs In New York June 8-10 - Including
The 500 World Leaders Who Signed It)

Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 18:12:20 EDT
Errors-To: manager@drcnet.org
Reply-To: rlake@mapinc.org
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Richard Lake 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Public Letter to Kofi Annan, Secretary General,
United Nations

Public Letter to Kofi Annan

June 1, 1998

Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General
United Nations
New York, New York
United States

Dear Secretary General,

On the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on
Drugs in New York on June 8-10, 1998, we seek your leadership in
stimulating a frank and honest evaluation of global drug control efforts.

We are all deeply concerned about the threat that drugs pose to our
children, our fellow citizens and our societies. There is no choice but to
work together, both within our countries and across borders, to reduce the
harms associated with drugs. The United Nations has a legitimate and
important role to play in this regard -- but only if it is willing to ask
and address tough questions about the success or failure of its efforts.

We believe that the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug
abuse itself.

Every decade the United Nations adopts new international conventions,
focused largely on criminalization and punishment, that restrict the
ability of individual nations to devise effective solutions to local drug
problems. Every year governments enact more punitive and costly drug
control measures. Every day politicians endorse harsher new drug war
strategies.

What is the result? U.N. agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by
the illegal drug industry at $400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly
eight per cent of total international trade. This industry has empowered
organized criminals, corrupted governments at all levels, eroded internal
security, stimulated violence, and distorted both economic markets and
moral values. These are the consequences not of drug use per se, but of
decades of failed and futile drug war policies.

In many parts of the world, drug war politics impede public health efforts
to stem the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other infectious diseases. Human
rights are violated, environmental assaults perpetrated and prisons
inundated with hundreds of thousands of drug law violators. Scarce
resources better expended on health, education and economic development are
squandered on ever more expensive interdiction efforts. Realistic proposals
to reduce drug-related crime, disease and death are abandoned in favor of
rhetorical proposals to create drug-free societies.

Persisting in our current policies will only result in more drug abuse,
more empowerment of drug markets and criminals, and more disease and
suffering. Too often those who call for open debate, rigorous analysis of
current policies, and serious consideration of alternatives are accused of
"surrendering." But the true surrender is when fear and inertia combine to
shut off debate, suppress critical analysis, and dismiss all alternatives
to current policies. Mr. Secretary General, we appeal to you to initiate a
truly open and honest dialogue regarding the future of global drug control
policies - one in which fear, prejudice and punitive prohibitions yield to
common sense, science, public health and human rights.

Sincerely,

ARGENTINA

Graciela Fernandez Meijide
Member of Congress

Irma Fidela Parentella
Member of Congress

Gustavo Hurtado
Coordinación Ejecutiva del Programa de Drogadependencia de la Ciudad de
Buenos Aires

Carlos Juan Moneta
Permanent Secretary of the Latin American Economic System (SELA)

Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Nobel Laureate (Peace)

Graciela TouzU
President, Intercambios

AUSTRALIA

Dick Adams
House of Representatives, National Parliament

Lyn Allison
Senator, National Parliament

Peter Baume
Former Cabinet Minister; Chancellor, Australian National University

Kevin Berry
Olympic Gold Medallist

Ald. Pru Bonham
Deputy Lord Mayor, Hobart

Ted Bramble
Lawyer, Civil Libertarian

Peter Brooks
Dean, Health Sciences, University of Queensland

John Brumby
Leader of the Opposition, Victoria

Ita Buttrose
Journalist, author

John Cain
Former Premier, Victoria

Dr. Greg B. Chesher
Pharmacologist

Assoc. Prof. Macdonald J. Christie
Department of Pharmacology, University of Sydney

Peter Cleeland
Former Politician

Barney Cooney
Senator from Victoria

Dr. Nick Crofts
Public researcher

Paul Deany
Executive Officer, Asian Harm Reduction Network

Mary Delahunty
Journalist

Ivor Deverson
Lord Mayor, Melbourne

Bob Douglas
Professor of Epidemiology, Australian National University

Alex Dr. Wodak
Physician

Phillip Dunn QC
Barrister

Paul Ellercamp
Journalist

Peter Fritz
Founder and Managing Director, TCG Group of Companies

Dr. Peter Graham
General Practitioner

Randolph Griffiths
Former Sydney City Councillor

Sir Rubert Hamer
Former Premier, Victoria

Susan Irvine
Senior Lecturer, Public Health

Harry Jenkins
House of Representatives, National Parliament

Michael Kirby, AC CMG
President, International Commission of Jurists

Joan Kirner
Former Premier, Victoria

John Konrads
Olympic Gold Medallist

Professor Jara Krivanek
Technical University of Ostrava Czech Republic

Richard Larkins
Chairman, National Health and Medical Research Council

Steve Leeder
Dean, Medical Faculty, Sydney University

Helen Lochhead
Architect

Frank Merlino
Mayor, City of Whittlesea

David Penington
Former Vice Chancellor, Melbourne University

Ron Penny
Professor of Immunology, University of New South Wales

Bronwyn Pike
Executive Officer, Evatt Centre

Phil Puna
Attorney

Dr. Adrian Reynolds

Robert Richter QC
Barrister

Leo Schofield
Director, Sydney Festival

Richard Smallwood
Former President, Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Dr. Nadia Solowij
National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre, University of NSW

John Spatchurst
Principal, Spatchurst Design Associates

Bill Stronach
Australian Drug Foundation

Kelvin Templeton
Sportsman and Sports Administrator

Charles Watson
Dean Health Sciences Curtin University

David White
Former Politician

Michael Willesee
TV Broadcaster

Charles Williams
Dean of Law, Monash University

Neville Wran
Former Premier, New South Wales

BELGIUM

Yves Cartuyvels
Professor of Penal Law, University of Saint-Louis, Brussels

Stanley Crossick
Chairman, European Policy Centre

Vincent Decroly
Member of Parliament, Brussels

Christine Guillain
Attorney, Researcher, School of the Criminological Sciences, Free
University of Brussels

Dan Kaminski
School of Criminology, Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve

Philippe Mary
Professor of Criminology, Vice-President, School of Crimininological
Sciences, Free University of Brussels

Patrick Moriau
University of Brussels Member of Parliament, Mayor of Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont

Ilya Prigogyne
Emeritus professor physical chemistry, Free University of Brussels; Nobel
Laureate (Chemistry, 1977)

Olivier Ralet
Former head, PEDDRO drug prevention project, UNESCO/European Union

Micheline Roelandt
Psychiatrist

Sonja Snacken
Ph.D., Professor of Criminology and Sociology of Law, Free University of
Brussels

Isabelle Stengers
Philosopher, Free University of Brussels; Winner "Grand Prix de
Philosophie de L'Académie Française

Lode Van Outrive
Emeritus Professor of Criminology, Leuven University; Former Member of the
European Parliament

BOLIVIA

Antonio Aranibar Quiroga
Former Foreign Minister

Edgar Camacho Omiste
Former Ambassador to the OAS

Roger Cortez-Hurtado
Former Member of Congress

Juan del Granado
Member of Congress

Alfonso Ferrufino Valderrama
Former Vice-President of the Bolivian House of Representatives

Horst Grebe Lopez
Former Cabinet Minister

Lidya Gueiler Tejada
Former President of Bolivia

Roberto Moscoso Valderrama
Member of Congress

Ricardo Paz Ballivian
Former Member of Congress

Carlos Julio Quiroga Blanco
Member of Congress

Guillermo Richter A.
Former Senator

Gonzalo Ruiz
Member of Congress

Manuel Suarez Avila
Member of Congress

Felix Vasquez Mamani
Member of Congress

BRAZIL

Ana Magnólia Bezerrá Mendés
Assistant Professor, University of Brasilia

Pedro Casaldaliga
Catholic Bishop of São Felix do Araquaia

Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva
Presidential Candidate, Brazil; Honorary President of the Workers Party

Fabio Mesquita
Researcher, University of São Paulo, Brasil; Executive Director of the Latin
American Harm Reduction Network

CANADA

Glenn A. Gilmour
Lawyer, Ottawa

James A. Wakeford
AIDS Activist, Toronto

Frank Addario
Criminal Lawyer

Chris Axworthy
Member of Parliament, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Marie-Andrée Bertrand
Professor Emeritus of Criminology, University of Montreal; President,
International Antiprohibitionist League, Montreal, Quebec

Barry L. Beyerstein, Ph.D.
Brain Behavior Laboratory, Simon Fraser University

Barry L. Beyerstein, PhD
Brain Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser
University, Burnaby, B.C.

Neil Boyd
Professor, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

J.A. Browne
Parent, Burlington, Ontario

C. Michael Bryan
Formerly Special Assistant, Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Mecial Use
of Drugs (Le Dain Commission); Senior Policy Analyst (Narcotic Control
Policy), Health Protection Branch, Health Canada

Paul Burstein
Criminal Lawyer

Sharon Carstairs
Senator, former Chair, Standing Senate Committee on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs, Sente of Canada

John W. Conroy
Barrister & Solicitor, Mission , B.C.

Paul Copeland
Lawyer; Columnist on Drug Law, Ontario Criminal Lawyers' Association
Newsletter, Toronto

Laura Cowan, RN
Executive Director of Street Health, Toronto, Ontario

Libby Davies
Member of Parliament, Vancouver-East

Jonathan Dawe
Barrister, Toronto, Ontario

Denise De Pape
Bev Desjarlais
Member of Parliament, Manitoba

Marion Dewar
HAIA Oxfam Canada, Ottawa

Jari Dvorek
Medical Marijuana Activist, Toronto

Richard Elliott
President, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Toronto

Patricia G. Erickson, PhD
Senior Scientist, Addiction Research Foundation, Division of the Addiction
and Mental Health Services Corporation, Professor of Sociology, University
of Toronto

Michael Farrance
Addictions Coordinator, City of Toronto Hostels Division, Toronto

Yvon Godin
Member of Parliament, Bathhurst, NB

Irene Goldstone
B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver

Dr. Richard Gould
Community Medicine Specialist, Toronto

Edward L. Greenspan, QC
Senior Partner, Greenspan, Nenein & White, Toronto

Catherine Hankins
Public Health Epidemiologist, Chair of the Canadian Task Force on HIV and
Injection Drug Use, Montreal

David Harvey
Oakville, Ontario

Shaun Hopkins
Manager, The Works

Andrew J. Rapoch
Former President, National Organization for the Reform of the Marijuana
Laws (NORML), Ottawa, Ontario

Jane Jacobs
Author

Ralf Jorgens
Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS, Legal Network, Montreal

J. Robertt. Kellerman
Law Union of Ontario, Steering Committee

Perry Kendall
Former president, Addiction Research Foundation, Victoria

Rick Laliberte
Member of Parliament, Churchill River, Beauval, Saskatchewan

Pierre Landreville
Professer of Criminology, University of Montreal

Wendy Lill
Member of Parliament, Dartmouth

Dennis Long
President, Ontario Federation of Community Addictions and Mental Health
Programs; Executive Director, Breakaway Substance Abuse Treatment Centre,
Toronto, Ontario

Paul MacPhee
Co-Chair AIDS Action Now!, Toronto, Ontario

Peter Mancini
Member or Parliament

Ron Mann
Filmmaker, Toronto

Patrick Martin
Member of Parliament, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Vishnu Mathur
T.V. Producer, Toronto

Alexa McDonough
Member of Parliament, Federal Leader of New Democratic Party, Ottawa, Canada

Ruth Morris
Education Director, Toronto

Lorne Nystrom
Member of Parliament, N.D.P., Qu'Appelle, Regina, Saskatchewan

Eugene Oscapella
Lawyer, former Chair, Law Reform Commission of Canada Drug Policy

George Panagpa
F.U.M Group - Parkdale Comunity Health Center

John C. Polanyi
Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1986), Toronto, Ontario

Gil Puder
Police Officer, Abbotsford, BC

Diane Riley, PhD
International Harm Reduction Association, Toronto

Svend Robinson
Member of Parliament, New Democratic Party of Canada, Burnaby-Douglas

Greg Robinson
Co-Chair AIDS Action Now!, Toronto

Dr. David Roy
Director, Centre for Bioethics, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal

Clayton Ruby
Lawyer, Toronto

Gordon S. Earle
Member of Parliament, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Dr. John S. Millar
Provincial Health Officer, Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for
Seniors, Victoria, British Columbia

Pat Sanagan
Substance Abuse Prevention Consultant

Jan Skirrow
Consultant; Former CEO Alberta Alcohol & Drug Abuse Commission; Deputy
Minister of Community and Occupational Health, Alberta; Founding CEO
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Duncan, BC

Robert St-Pierre
HIV Program Coordinator, Canadian Hemophilia Society, Montreal

Terence Stewart
Canadian Aids Society, Ottawa

Peter Stoffer
Member of Parliament - New Democratic Party of Canada

Neev Tapiero
Medical Cannabis Activist and Dispenser, Toronto

Jeannette Tossounian
MUM (Marijuana Used for Medicine), Kitchener, Ontario

Elaine Vautour
Counsellor, Toronto, Ontario

Judy Wasylycia-Leis
Member of Parliament, Winnipeg

Dr. Jonathan Wouk
Ottawa, Ontario

CHILE

Ariel Dorfman
Writer

CHINA

Spencer So
Community Drug Advisory Council

COLOMBIA

Arturo Alape
Writer

Gustavo Alvarez Gardeazabal
Governor, Department of Valle de Cauca

Belisario Betancur
Former President

Juan Manuel Santos
President, Fundacion Buen Gobierno

Alvaro Mutis
Writer

Augusto Ramirez Ocampo
Former Foreign Minister; National Recociliation Commission

COSTA RICA

Oscar Arias
Nobel Laureate (Peace); Former President of Costa Rica

DENMARK

Hans Henrik Brydensholt
High Court Judge, Former Director of the Danish Prison and Probation
Service, Former Head of Section in the Danish Ministry of Justice

Bjørn Elmquist
Former Member of Parliament and Chairman of Parliamentary Permanent
Committee on Justice

Jørgen Jepsen
Centre of Alcohol & Drug Research, University of Aarhus

Erik Merlung
District Attorney, Copenhagen

Erling Olsen
Former Minister of Justice, Former Chairman of the Danish Parliament, Former
Professor of Economics at the University of Copenhagen

Villy Søvndal
Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee
on Social Affairs

ECUADOR

Washington Herrera
Former Presidential Minister

FINLAND

Inkeri Anttila
Professor of Penal Law, University of Helsinki; Former Minister of Justice

Kauko Aromaa
Research Director, National Research Institute of Legal Policy

Pekka Koskinen
Professor of Penal Law, University of Helsinki

Klaus Maekelae
Research Director, Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies

Hannu Takala
Executive Secretary, National Council for Crime Prevention

Patrik Tornudd
Former Director of National Research Institute of Legal Policy

FRANCE

Claude Aiguevive, MD
Vice President, Médecins du Monde

Josefina Alvarez
Research Group on Criminal Policy, University of Montpellier I

Bruno Aubusson de Cavarlay
Research Engineer, Guyancourt

Dr. Elisbeth Avril
Médecins du Monde

Michèle Barzach
Former Minister of Health

Georges Berthoin
International Honarary Chairman of the European Movement, Paris France

Mario Bettati
Professor of International Law, Paris University

Francis Caballero
Professor of Law, Paris University

Jean-Pierre Changeux
Professor of Molecular Neurobiology, Pasteur Institute and College de France

Anne Coppel
Sociologist

Claude Faugeron
Research Director, Co-Director, CNRS Drug Research Group, Paris

Andre Glucksman
Philosopher

Marek Halter
Writer

Michel Kazatchkine
Professor of Immunology, Paris University

Catherine Lalumiere
MPE (Member of the European Parliament)

Jacques Lebas, MD
President, Institut de l'Humanitaire, Paris

Bertrand Lebeau
Head Centre Parmentier Paris

Thierry Levy
Attorney

William Lowenstein, MD
Head, Montecristo Center, Paris

Jacky Mamou
President, Médecins de Monde

Arnaud Marty Lavauzelle
President, AIDES

Monique Nahas
Professor, University of Paris VIII

GERMANY

Lorenz Böllinger
Professor of Law, University of Bremen

Daniel Cohn-Bendit
Member, European Parliament; Commission for Civil Rights and Internal Affairs

Barbara Duden
Professor of Historical Sociology, Hannover, Germany

Peter Frerichs
Vice President, Frankfurt Police

Prof. Dr. Monika Frommel
Criminal Law, School of Criminology, University of Kiel

Günter Grass
Writer

Prof. Dr. Axel Grönemeyer
Center for Social Problems, Public Health and Social Policy, University of
Bielefeld

Johannes Gross
Journalist, Author, Talk show host, former editor "Capital"

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Haffke
Criminal Law, University of Passau

Ivan Illich
Philosopher

Dr. Hans Harald Koerner
Public Prosecutor, Frankfurt

Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger
Former German Federal Minister of Justice, drug political speaker, FDP Party

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Former German Federal Minister of Justice

Heide Moser
Minister of Employment and Social Affairs, State of Schleswig-Holstein

Prof. Dr. Cornelius Nestler
University of Köln

Margarethe Nimsch
Former Minister for Health, State of Hessen, Germany

Prof. Dr. Cornelius Prittwitz
Criminal Law, University of Rostock

Prof. Dr. Stephan Quensel
Professor of Sociology, University of Bremen

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Scheerer
Aufbau- und Kontaktstudium Kriminologie, University of Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Konrad Schily
President, University of Witten-Herdecke

Hartmut Schneider
District Court Judge, Lübeck

Dierk-Henning Schnitzler
Police President, City of Bonn, Christian Democrate

GREECE

Alexis Grivas
Foreign Correspondent El Sol de Mexico Daily

Nicos Mouzelis
Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics, Athens

Nocis Papadakis
Press Counsellor, Greek Embassy in London

George Papandreou
Alternate Foreign Minister of Greece

Michaelis Papayannakis
Member European Parliament

Anthony D. Papayannides
Journalist, Publisher

James Pettifer
Visiting Professor, Institute of Balkan Studies, University of Thessaloniki

Voula Tsinorema
Professor of Philosophy, University of Ioannina

Georgos Votsis
Political Editor, Eleftherotypia Newpaper, Athens

GUATEMALA

Arnaldo Ortiz Moscoso
Former President of the Bar Association, Guatemala

HUNGARY

Jánes Kis
Philosopher

INDIA

Jimmy Dorabjee
Program Manager, Society for Serving the Urban Poor, New Delhi

IRELAND

Ivana Bacik
Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Trinity College, Dublin

Vincent Browne
Journalist; Lawyer

Tim Murphy
Lecturer in Law, University College, Cork

Daire O'Brien
Editor, Himself Magazine

Olaf Paul Tyaransen
Writer

ISREAL

Yossi Beilin
Former Minister, Member of Knesset, Tel Aviv

Haim Cohn
Former Deputy President of the Israel Supreme Court, Professor of Penal
Philosophy

Prof. Ruth Gavison
Haim Cohn Professor of Human Rights, Hebrew University; President of the
Israel Civil Rights Association; Member, International Commission of Jurists

Menachem Horovitz
Former Director of Correctional Services, Department of Welfare and
Labour; Research and Teaching Associate, Institute of Criminology, Hebrew
University

Leslie Sebba, JD
Associate Professor, Law Faculty, Hebrew University; former Chairperson of
the Criminology Council.

ITALY

Vittorio Agnoletto
President of the Italian League Against AIDS

Monica Bettoni-Brandani
Undersecretary of State for Health

Giovanni Bollea
Professor of Neuropsychiatry, University of Rome

Emma Bonino
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs

Nicoletta Braschi
Actress

Francesco Carella
President Health Commission of the Senate

Don Luigi Ciotti
President, Gruppo Abele, Torino

Dario Fo
Nobel Laureate (Literature 1997)

Luigi Manconi
Senator, President of the Green Party, Rome

Livio Pepino
President, Magistratura Democratica

Giuliano Pisapia
President, Justice Commission, Italian Parliament, Rome

Franca Rame
Actress

Stefano Rodota
President, Authority for Privacy

Ersilia Salvato
Vice-President, Senate, Rome

Grazia Zuffa
President, Forum Droghe; Former Member of Parliament, Florence

JAMAICA

Colonel (R) Trevor N.N. MacMillan, C.D.J.P.
Former Commissioner of Police, Jamaica Constabulary Force; Former
Director, Revenue Protection Division, Ministry of Finance

LUXEMBOURG

Renée Wagner
Member of Parliament, Luxemburg; President of the Green Party; Member,
Special Parliamentary Commssion on Drugs

MALAYSIA

Susan Chong
Malaysian AIDS Council

Hisham Hussein
Malaysian AIDS Council

G. Chacko Vadaketh
Chair, Law and Ethics Committee, Malaysian AIDS Council; Advocate and
Solicitor, Kuala Lumpur

MEXICO

Mariclare Acosta
President of the Mexican Comission for the Defense and Promotion of Human
Rights (CMDPDH)

Homero Aridjis
President, International Organization of Literary Writers & Editors

Carlos Heredia Zubieta
Member of Congress

Gilberto Lopez y Rivas
Member of Congress

Jesus Silva Herzog
Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States

NETHERLANDS

Andreas van Agt
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Former Minister of Justice;
Former Ambassador of the European Union to the United States

Janhuib Blans
Head of Jellinek Prevention; Assistant Professor of Parent Education and
Prevention, University of Amsterdam

Tim Boekhout van Solinge
Centre for Drug Research, University of Amsterdam

Frank Bovenkerk
Professor of criminology, University of Utrecht

Giel van Brussel
MPH Master Public Health, Amsterdam

Dr. Peter D.A. Cohen
Centre for Drug Research, University of Amsterdam

Hedy d'Ancona
Former Dutch Minister of Welfare, Health, and Culture; Member of the
European Parliament

Marcel van Dam
Publicist, Former Minister of Housing and Physical Planning, Putten,
Netherlands

Dr. Peter A. de Groot
Psychiatrist, Harderwijk

Jan F. Glastra van Loon
Professor, Senator, Former State Secretary of Justice

John Griffiths
Professor of Sociology of Law, University of Groningen

Sylvia van 't Hul
Public Prosecutor, Rotterdam

Louk Hulsman
Emeritus professor of Penal Law and Criminology, Erasmus University,
Rotterdam; Former President, European Commission for Criminal Problems,
Coucil of Europe

Constantijn Kelk, Ph.D.
Professor, Director, Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Sciences, Utrecht
University

Free le Poole
Member of the First Chamber of Parliament (Senate), Vice-President,
District Court, Assen

Ed Leuw
Researcher at the Ministry of Justice, The Hague

Freek Polak
Psychiatrist, Amsterdam

Felix Rottenberg
Amsterdam

Frits C.F. Rüter
Professor of Criminal Law, University of Amsterdam

E.H. Schuyer
Senator; Chairman of Democrats (D66), Senate

Jan G. van der Tas
Former Netherlands Ambassador to Germany

Ed. van Thijn
Former Mayor of Amsterdam; Professor, University of Amsterdam

J.M. vander Vaart
Judge, District Court of Amsterdam

Leon Wever
Board Member, Symbion (Addiction Care Rotterdam Region, Rijnmond); Former
Deputy Chief of Addiction Care, Ministry of Health

Dr. Pieter Winsemius
Former Netherlands Minister of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment
Policy


NEW ZEALAND

Tim Barnett
Member of Parliament, New Zealand

NICARAGUA

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
Former President of Nicaragua

Miguel d'Escoto Brockman
Former Foreign Minister; Fundeci Nicaraguan Foundation for Comprehensive
Community Development

Xabier Gorostiaga
Former Rector, University of Central America

NORWAY

Johannes Andenaes
Professor of Penal Law; Former Rector, University of Oslo; Former
Chairman, Permanent Penal Committee of Norway

Anders Bratholm
Professor of Penal Law, University of Oslo

Nils Christie
Professor of Criminology, University of Oslo, Former director of
Scandinavian Board of Criminology

Gunnar Garbo
Ambassador; Former Member of Parliament

Ragnar Hauge
Professor, Former Director, State Institute of Alcohol and Drug Research

Cecilie Hoigaard
Professor of Criminology, University of Oslo, Former Director,
Scandinavian Board of Criminology

Thomas Mathiesen
Professor of Sociology of Law, University of Oslo

Sturla Nordlund
Director, Norwegian State Institute of Alcohol and Drug Research

PERU

Javier Alva Orlandini
Member of Congress

Rolando Ames
Former Senator

Humberto Campodonico
Economist, University Professor (San Marcos)

Arturo Castillo Chirinos
Member of Congress

Julio Cotler
Director, Institute of Peruvian Studies

Javier Diez Canseco
Member of Congress

Fernando Eguren
Sociologist, Director of Quarterly Debate Agrario

Antero Flores Araoz
Member of Congress

Lourdes Flores Nano
Member of Congress

Ernesto Gamarra Olivares
Member of Congress

Diego Garcia-Sayan
Executive Director, Andean Commission of Jurists

Alfonso Grados Bertorini
Member of Congress, Peru

Gustavo Gutierrez
Theologian

Jutta Krause
German Technical Development Agency

Manuel Lajo
Member of Congress

Guido Lombardi
Anchor, Red Global TV

Javier Perez de Cuellar
Former Secretary General of the United Nations

Federico Salazar
Anchor, America TV

Alejandro Santa Maria
Member of Congress

Annel Townsend Diez Canseco
Member of Congress

Jose Ugaz
University Professor

Allan Wagner
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

POLAND

Marek Balicki
Psychiatrist, Former Deputy, Ministry of Health

Mikolaj Kozakiewicz
Former Speaker of Parliament (1989-1991); Vice-President of IPPFV

Krzysztof Krajewski
Professor, School of Criminology, University of Jagiellonski

Marek Nowicki
President, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights; Member, Helsinki Commitee
for Human Rights

Danuta Przywara
Secretary to the Board, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Andrzej Rzeplinski
Professor of Criminology, University of Warsaw; Deputy President, Helsinki
Foundation for Human Rights

Janusz Sieroslawski
Sociologist, Pompidou Group

PORTUGAL

Daniel Sampaio, MD, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Lisbon

SOUTH AFRICA

Malcolm Damon
Public Policy Liason Officer, South African Council of Churches

Neville Gabriel, C.S.S.R.
SACBC Parliamentary Office

Helen Suzman
Former Opposition Member of Parliament, Johannesburg

SPAIN

Jose Antonio Alonso Suarez
Judge. Juzgado de lo Penal n° 14 de Madrid

Gregorio Alvarez Alvarez
Judge. Juzgado de 1ª instancia e instrucción n° 2 de Salamanca

Francisco Javier Alvarez Garcia
Law Professor, Universidad de Cantabria

Perfecto Andrés Ibañez
Judge; Presidente de la Secc. 15. Audiencia provincial de Madrid

Heriberto Asencio Castillan
Judge. Audiencia provincial de Sevilla

Adela Asua Batarrita
Law Professor, Universidad de San Sebastiÿn

Ignacio Berdugo Goméz De La Torre
Dean and Law Professor, Universidad de Salamanca

Emilio Berlanga Ribelles
Judge. Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña

Ricardo Bodas Martin
Judge. Juzgado de lo Social n° 30 de Madrid

Javier Boix Reig
Law Professor - Universidad de Valencia

Antonio Caballero
Writer and journalist

Francisco Candil Jimenez
Law Professor, Universidad de Sevilla

Rocio Cantarero Bandres
Law Professor, Universidad de la Rioja

Juan Carlos Carbonell Mateu
Dean and Law Professor, Universidad de Valencia

Manuela Carmena Castrillo
Judge. Vocal del Consejo General del Poder judicial

Miguel Carmona Ruano
Judge, Presidente de la Audiencia provincial de Sevilla

Jose Cid Moline
Law Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

Candido Conde Pumpido
Judge. Sala 2ª del Tribunal Supremo

Antonio Contardo
Industrialist

Antonio Cuerda Riezu
Law Professor, Universidad de LeónLetrado del Tribunal Constitucional

Jose Luis De La Cuesta Arzamendi
Vice Dean and Law Professor Universidad del País Vasco

Juan Tomas De Salas
Lawyer and Journalist- Founder of the Grupo16, Publisher and Editor of
HisToria16, Editor of El Gato Encerrrado

Jose Luis Díez Ripollés
Law Professor, Universidad de MÿlagaCoordinador del Grupo de Estudios de
Política Criminal

Aurora Elosegui Sotos
Judge.Juzgado de 1ª Instancia n° 6 de San Sebastiÿn

Antonio Escohotado
Writer Professor of the Universidad a Distancia, Author of the best seller
"Historia de las Drogas"

Jesus Fernandez Entralgo
Judge. Secc. 17. Audiencia provincial de Madrid

Maria Dolores Fernandez Rodriguez
Law Professor, Universidad de Murcia

Juan Carlos Ferre Olivé
Law Professor, Universidad de Huelva

Rafael Fluiters Casado
Judge. Juzgado de 1ª instancia e instrucción n° 1 de Alcalÿ de Henares.
Madrid

Virginia Garcia Alarcon
Judge. Juzgado de lo Social n° 22 de Madrid

Mercedes García Arán
Law Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.Coordinadora del Grupo de
Estudios de Política Criminal

Antonio Gil Merino
Judge, Presidente de la Secc. 7. Audiencia provincial de Sevilla

Luis Gonzalez Guitián
Law Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Luis Gracia Martin
Law Professor, Universidad de Zaragoza

Gumersindo Guinarte Cabada
Law Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Hernan Hormazabal Malaree
Law Professor, Universidad de Gerona

Maria F Ibañez Solaz
Judge. Juzgado de Instrucción n° 16 de Valencia

Carmen Lamarca Perez
Law Professor, Universidad Carlos III

Gerardo Landrove Diaz
Law Professor, Universidad de Murcia

Elena Larrauri Pijoan
Law Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

Patricia Laurenzo Copello
Law Professor, Universidad de Mÿlaga

Jose Manuel Lorenzo Salgado
Law Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

Borja Mapelli Caffarena
Law Professor, Universidad de Sevilla

Maria Luisa Maqueda Abreu
Law Professor, Universidad de Almería

Antonio Martin Pallin
Judge. Sala 2ª del Tribunal Supremo

Javier Martinez Lazaro
Judge. Juzgado de lo Penal n° 4 de Madrid

Fermin Morales Prats
Law Professor, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

Manuel Moran Gonzalez
Judge. Audiencia Provincial de Salamanca

Julian Manuel Moreno Retamino
Judge. Tribunal Superior de Justicia, Sala Cont.-Adm. de Sevilla

Claudio Movilla Alvarez
Judge. Sala de lo Contencioso del Tribunal Supremo

Francisco Muñoz Conde
Law Professor, Universidad de Sevilla

Enrique Orts Berenguer
Law Professor, Universidad de Valencia

Felix Pantoja
Judge, Fiscal de Menores de Madrid

Jose Miguel De Paul Velasco
Judge. Audiencia Provincial de Sevilla

Jose Joaquin Perez-Beneyto Abad
Judge.Juzgado de lo Social n° 4 de Sevilla

Mario Pestana Perez
Judge. Juzgado de 1ª Ins. e Instrucción n° 1 de Leganés.
Madrid.Coordinador del Grupo de Estudios de Política Criminal

Miguel Polaino Navarrete
Law Professor, Universidad de Sevilla

Luis Rodriguez Ramos
Catedrático de Derecho Penal de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Horacio Roldÿn Barbero
Law Professor, Universidad de Córdoba

Juan Jose Romeo Laguna
Judge. Audiencia provincial, Sección VIII de Sevilla

Bernardo Del Rosal Blasco
Law Professor, Universidad de Alicante

Ramon Saez Valcarcel
Judge. Vocal del Consejo General del Poder judicial

Fernando Savater
Writer / Philosopher

Jose R. Serrano-Piedecasas
Law Professor, Universidad de Salamanca

Ascension Sole Puig
Judge.Juzgado de lo Social n° 28 de Barcelona

Josep Maria Tamarit Sumalla
Law Professor, Universidad de Lérida

Juan Terradillos Basoco
Law Professor, Universidad de Cÿdiz

Jose Manuel Valle Muñiz
Law Professor, Universidad de Lérida

Ramiro Ventura Faci
Judge.Juzgado de Instrucción n° 18 de Madrid

Luis Yañez-Barnuevo
Member of Parliament

Jose Miguel Zugaldia Espinar
Dean, and Law Professor, Universidad de Granada

SWEDEN

Anders Bergmark
Professor of social work, Stockholm University

Peter Curman
Former Chairman, Swedish Writer's Union

Ted Goldberg
Associate Professor of social work, Stockholm University

Olof Lagercrantz
Former Editor-In-Chief, Dagens Nyheter

Leif Lenke
Associate Professor of criminology, Stockholm University

Claes Örtendahl
Former Director General, Board of Health and Welfare, Sweden

Ingegmar Rexed
Judge,Svea Court of Appeal, Stockholm

Jerzy Sarnecki
Professor of criminology, Stockholm University

Sune Sunesson
Professor of social work, Lund University

Henrik Tham
Professor of criminology, Stockholm University

Per Ole Träskman
Professor of penal law, Lund University, Sweden

Hanns von Hofer
Professor of criminology, Stockholm University

SWITZERLAND

Peter Albrecht
Judge, Court of Bâle-Ville; Professor, University of Bâle

Pascal Bernheim
Second Manager, Radio Suisse Romande - La Première

Dr. Barbara Broers
Division of Substance Abuse, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital
of Geneva

Christian Brunier
Member of Parliament, Geneva; President, Geneva Socialist Party

Pierre Philippe Cadert
Journalist, Radio Suisse Romande

Maria Luisa Cesoni
Attorney, Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva

Jacqueline Cogne
Member of Parliament, Geneva

Herve Dessimoz
Congressman, Geneva Parliament

Dr Dominique Hausser, MD, MSc
Member of Parliament, Geneva; Co-president, Drug Policy Commission,
Socialist Party

Bohdan D. Hawrylyshyn
Chairman, International Renaissance Foundation

Michel Heiniger
Film Director; Reporter, Swiss TV - Geneva

Dr. Annie Mino
MD Head, Division of Substance, Department of Psychiatry, University
Hospital, Geneva

Christian Nils Robert
Professor, School of Law, Geneva; CPT Expert (Council of Europe)

Albert Rodrik
Member of Parliament, Geneva

Francoise Schenk-Gottret
Member of Parliament, Geneva

UNITED STATES

Morton Abramowitz
International Crisis Group

Bruce Ackerman
Sterling Professor of Law, Yale University

Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin State Representative, Candidate for Congress

Randy E. Barnett
Austin B.Fletcher Professor, Boston University School of Law

Jeremiah A Barondess MD
President, New York Academy of Medicine

Jim Baumohl
Bryn Mawr College

David H. Bayley
Dean, School of Criminal Justice State University of New York at Albany

Peter Beilenson
Baltimore City Health Commissioner

Ivan T. Berend
Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Robert L. Bernstein
Founding Chair, Human Rights Watch

Jagdish Bhagwati
Professor of Economics, Columbia University

Nicolaus Bloembergen
Nobel Laureate (Physics 1981)

Leon Botstein
President, Bard College

John Bound
Professor of Economics, University of Michigan

Willie Brown
Mayor of San Francisco

Richard Burt
Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC

Calvin Butts III
Pastor, Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York, NY

Geoffrey Canada
Rheedlen Center for Children & Families, Inc.

William J Chambliss
Professor, George Washington University

Allan Clear
Executive Director, Harm Reduction Coalition

Harvey Cox
Professor of Divinity, Harvard University

Alan Cranston
Former U.S. Senator

Walter Cronkite
Author, Broadcast Journalist

John Curtin
Federal Judge, Buffalo, NY

Lloyd N. Cutler
Lawyer, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering; Former Counsel to the President,
1979-1981, 1994

Richard Dennis
President, Dennis Trading Group

Adrian W. DeWind
Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison

Jameson Doig
Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Vincent Dole, MD
Professor Emeritus, Rockefeller University

Elizabeth K. Dollard
Professor of Law, Medicine & Psychiatry at NYU Law School

Ann Druyan
Federation of American Scientists

Steven Duke
Professor, Yale Law School

Troy Duster
Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

Jonathan Eaton
Chairman, Department of Economics, Boston University

Thomas Eissenberg, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University

Joycelyn Elders
Former U.S. Surgeon General

Ahmet Ertegun
Executive Chairman, Atlantic Records

Jonathan F. Fanton
President, New School University

John Ferejohn
Professor of Political Science, Stanford, Senior Fellow Hoover
Institution, Stanford University

Herman Feshbach
Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT

Robert Field
Chairman, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Hamilton Fish
President, Public Concern Foundation

Val L. Fitch
Professor Emeritus of Physics, Princeton University

Rev. Floyd Flake
Cathedral of the Allen AME Church, Pastor

Kathleen M. Foley
Project on Death in America

Milton Friedman
Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Insitution, Stanford University

Douglas Gale
Professor of Economics, New York University

H. Jack Geiger, MD
Professor of Community Medicine, City University of New York Medical School

Adrienne Germain
President, International Women's Health Coalition

Alfred G. Gilman, MD, PhD
Regental Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, University of
Texas

Ira Glasser
Executive Director, The American Civil Liberties Union

Ellen Goldberg
President, Santa Fe Institute

Marvin L. Goldberger
Dean, Division of Natural Sciences, University of California, San Diego

Stephen Jay Gould
Harvard University

Mike Gray
Author, "Drug Crazy"

Paul Greengard
Vincent Astor Professor of Neuroscience, Chief of the Laboratory of
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Rockefeller University

Lester Grinspoon
Harvard Medical School

Lani Guinier
Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania

Terrence Hallinan
District Attorney of San Francisco

Morton H. Halperin
Former Department of Defense and National Security Council Official

Susan Hammer
Mayor of San Jose

Vernon Henderson
Professor of Economics, Brown University

Arnold Hiatt
Stride Rite Foundation

H.J. Hoffer, PhD
Dean Emeritus, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Sher Horosko
Executive Director, Drug Policy Foundation

Douglas Husak
Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University

Alex Inkeles
Sociologist, Senior Fellow Emeritus Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Sut Jhally
Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Carole Joffe
Professor of Sociology at University of California

Howard Josepher, CSW
Executive Director, Exponents Inc.

John Kane
Federal Judge, Denver, CO

Nicholas Katzenbach
Former Attorney General

Donald Kennedy
President Emeritus Stanford University; Professor Bological Services,
Stanford

Rufus King, Sr.

Daniel Klein
Department of Economics, Santa Clara University

Whitman Knapp
Senior District Judge, Southern District of New York

Jeanne E. Kohl
Senator, Washington State

Melvyn Krauss
Economist, Senior Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Mike Lawlor
Chair Judiciary Committee, Connecticut House of Representatives

Joshua Lederberg
Professor, Rockefeller University

Phillip R. Lee
Professor Emeritus, School of Medicine, University of California, San
Francisco

David Lenson
Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Titus Levi
Assistant Professor, University of Southern California

Robin J. Lewis
Associate Dean, School of International Affairs, Columbia University

Peter Lewis
Chairman, CEO, The Progressive Corporation

Walter Loewenstern, Jr., PhD
Co-Founder ROLM Corporation, Overseer Hoover Institution, Stanford
University, President Vail Valley Institute

Robert E. Lucas, Jr.
Department of Economics, University of Chicago

Peter Lurie
University of Michigan

Paul Martin L.
Nobel Laureate (Physics)

Gary T. Marx
Professor Emeritus, M.I.T.; Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado

Joseph McNamara
Former Police Chief of Kansas City and San Jose, Research Fellow Hoover
Institution

Donal E. J. McNamara
Former President American Society of Criminology

Miguel Mendez
Professor of Law, Stanford University

Matthew Meselson
Harvard University

Ruth Messenger
Former Manhattan Borough President

Robert B. Millman
Soul P. Steinberg Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health,
Cornell University Medical College

Jeff Miron
Professor of Economics, Boston University

Toby Moffett
Former U.S. Congressman; Vice President, Monsanto Company, Washington, DC

Howard Moody
Reverend Emeritus, Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY

Thomas Moore
Economist, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Paul Moore, Jr.
Bishop (Retired), Episcopal Church of New York

Dr. John P. Morgan
Professor of Pharmacology, City University of New York Medical School

Andrew P. Morriss
Associate Professor of Law & Associate Professor of Economics, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Patrick Murphy
Former Police Commissioner of New York City

Charles Murray
American Enterprise Institute

Ethan Nadelmann, PhD
Director, The Lindesmith Center

Robert Newman
Continuum Health Partners

Roger Noll
Professor of Economics, Director of Public Policy Program, Stanford
University

Richard L. Ottinger
Former Congressman

Denise Paone, PhD
Assistant Director of Research, Asisstant Professor, Beth Israel Medical
Center

Claiborne Pell
Former U.S. Senator

Joan Petersilia
Professor of Criminology, University of California, Irvine

Gerard Piel
Former Editor/Publisher, Scientific American

Senator Anne Rand
Assistant Majority Leader, Maine Senate

David Rasmussen
Professor of Economics, Florida State University

William Ratliff
Political Scientist, Senior Research Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford
University

Craig Reinarman
Professor of Sociology, Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz

Timothy N. Robertson
Legislator, New Hampshire

Dean E. Robinson
Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

G. Alan Robison
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, University of Texas, Houston

Laurance Rockefeller

Ruth Rosen
Professor of History at the U. of California, Davis

Marsha Rosenbaum
Director The Lindesmith Center, San Francisco office

Allan Rosenfield
Dean, Columbia School of Public Health

Vernon W. Ruttan
Regents Professor, University of Minnesota

Oscar Schachter
Professor Emeritus of International Law and Diplomacy, Columbia University

Kurt Schmoke
Mayor of Baltimore

Sidney H. Schnoll, M.D., Ph.D.
Division of Substance Abuse Medicine, Medical College of Virginia

Carl E. Schorske
Professor of History, Princeton University

Herman Schwartz
Professor of Law, American University

George Shultz
Former Secretary of State, Dinstinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution

Henry Siegman
Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York

Richard E. Smalley
Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1996)

George Soros
Chairman, Soros Fund Management LCC; Chairman, Open Society Institute

John Sperling
Chairman and CEO, Apollo Group, Inc.

Eric Sterling
President, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C.

Robert S. Strauss
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld

Eve Sullivan
Founder, Parents' Forum

Leon H. Sullivan
Chairman, OIC of America

Robert Sweet
Federal Judge, New York, NY

Hon. James W. Symington
Attorney at Law

David J. Theroux
Founder/President, The Independent Institute

Brooks Thomas
Former Chairman and CEO Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.

John S. Toll
Chancellor Emeritus, University of Maryland System; President, Washington
College; Former President, Washington Academy of Sciences; Former
President, Universities Research Association

Arnold S. Trebach, J.D. , Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, American University; Founder, The Drug Policy Foundation

Donald Trunkey
MD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Surgery, Oregon Health Sciences
University

Richard Ullman
Professor , Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton Universtiy

J. Thomas Ungerleider, MD
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles,
Medical Center; Presidential Appointee (Nixon), National Commission on
Marijuana and Drug Abuse

Dr. Mark Vierra
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Stanford University

James Vorenberg
Professor, Harvard Law School

Faye Wattleton
Former Executive Director, Planned Parenthood

Andrew Weil
Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Arizona College of
Medicine; Author of "Spontaneous Healing" and "Natural Health, Natural
Healing"

Andrew Weiss
Professor of Economics, Boston University

Jann S. Wenner
Chairman, Wenner Media, Inc.

Cornel West
Professor, Harvard University

Sidney M. Wolfe, MD
Public Citizen's Health Research Group

Gavin Wright
Professor of Economics, Stanford University

Kevin B. Zeese
President, Common Sense for Drug Policy

George Zimmer
Chairman/CEO, Men's Wearhouse

Lynn Zimmer
Associate Professor of Sociology, Queens College, City University of New York

Franklin Zimring
Professor of Law, UC Berkeley

Jeffrey Zwiebel
Associate Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, Stanford
University

UNITED KINGDOM

Lord Rae
House of Lords

Austin N.E. Amissah
Judge, London

Rabbi Tony Bayfield
Director, Sternberg Centre for Judaism

Colin Blakemore
Professor; Fellow of the Royal Society; President, British Association for
the Advancement of Science

Colin Brewer
Medical Director, the Stapleford Centre

Rabbi Sidney Brichto
Senior Vice President of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues

Peter P. Burnett
Bodleian Library

Alison Downie
Chair of Release, Solicitor

Edward Ellison
Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Metropolitan Police, Operational
Head of Scotland Yard Drug Squad

Stephen Fineman
Professor, University of Bath

Paul Flynn
Member of Parliament, House of Commons

Mike Goodman
Director Release

Dr. Brian Iddon
Member of Parliament, London

Mike Jay
Chairman, Drug Policy Review Group

Nicholas Kurti
Fellow of the Royal Society

Danny Kushlick
Director, Transform

Reverend Dr. Kenneth Leech
Founder of Soho Drugs Group, Founder of Centrepoint

Robin Marris
Professor Emeritus, London University

Judi Marshall
Professor, Bath University

Austin Mitchell
Member of Parliament, UK

Edith Morgan
Mental Health Consultant, Order of the British Empire

Dr. Richard Newman
Professor of History, University of Wales Swansea

John Purcell
Professor, School of Human Resource Management, University of Bath

Lord Rae, MD
House of Lords

Anita Roddick, OBE
Founder, The Body Shop

Martin Short
Author

Nigel South
Professor of Sociology, University of Essex

Ian Sparks
Chief Executive, The Children's Society

Eleanor Stephens
Senior Lecturer, Media Journalism, University of Sheffield

Richard Stevenson
Professor of Health Economy, Liverpool University

Anthony Tibber
Judge, London

Carole Tongue
Member of European Parliament

Right Reverend Rowan Williams
Bishop of Monmouth

URUGUAY

Mario Benedetti
Writer

VENEZUELA

Simon Alberto Consalvi
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Diego Arria
Ambassador; Former Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations and
Security Council

***

Posted from this web document:
http://www.lindesmith.org/news/un.html

by:

Richard Lake
Senior Editor; MAPnews, MAPnews-Digest and DrugNews-Digest

***

The Media Awareness Project is proud to participate in the Global Coalition
for Alternatives to the Drug War. The 1998 Global Days against the Drug
War! - June 6, 7, 8 - Join the Coalition! Events in over 50 cities!
http://www.drugsense.org/ungass.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mexico's Police Seize 1.3 Tons Of Cocaine ('The Orange County Register'
Says Prohibition Agents In Tamaulipas State, Which Borders Texas,
Also Seized A Total Of More Than Seven Tons Of Marijuana
In Recent Weeks - The Largest Cocaine Bust Netted 1,128 Pounds)

From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: Mexico: Mexico's Police Seize 1.3 Tons Of Cocaine
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 23:13:47 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Pubdate:6-1-98
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/

MEXICO'S POLICE SEIZE 1.3 TONS OF COCAINE

Police in Mexico's Tamaulipas state have seized 1.3 tons of cocaine and more
than 7 tons of marijuana in recent weeks, state news agency Notimex reported
Sunday.

Notimex said police in the northern state of Tamaulipas, which borders the
U.S. state of Texas, had snatched 1,128 pounds of cocaine in a single
shipment at Matamoros, adjacent to Brownsville.

"Tamaulipas has been used by gangs of narcotics traffickers as a drug route
to the United States," Notimex reported.

In recent years, Mexico has become a conduit for cocaine shipped by
Colombian drug cartels on its way to the lucrative U.S. market. Mexico is
also a producer of marijuana.

Rival drug gangs have been battling in Mexican cities on the U.S.
border, which in recent months have been the scene of frequent shootouts that
often kill innocent bystanders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

The US At Odds With Itself On Mexico ('The Washington Post'
Says The Recent Massive Money-Laundering Sting
Against Mexican Bank Officials, 'Operation Casablanca,'
Surprised And Upset Various US Government Officials At The Highest Levels
Dealing With Mexico On Other Issues - Coordination Has Never Been
A Strong Point Of US Foreign Policy, But In The Case Of Mexico,
We Have Reached The Point Where Semi-Autonomous Law Enforcement Agencies
Such As US Customs And The Drug Enforcement Administration
Are In The Pilot's Seat)

Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 02:13:34 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: The U.S. at Odds with itself on Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net (kevin b. zeese)
Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998
Source: Washington Post
Section: A17
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: M. Delal Baer

THE U.S. AT ODDS WITH ITSELF ON MEXICO

Mexican government officials weren't the only ones caught by surprise by the
recent announcement of a massive sting operation ("Casablanca") against
Mexican bank officials for money laundering. Most of the American
government, at the highest levels, also was in the dark about the operation.

Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright, drug policy coordinator Barry McCaffrey and
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin rushed to make apologies and clarifications
to the Mexicans. Coordination has never been a strong point of U.S. foreign
policy, but in the case of Mexico, we have reached the point at which
semi-autonomous law enforcement agencies such as U.S. Customs and the Drug
Enforcement Agency are in the pilot's seat.

Frustrated by slow progress, DEA agents and the agency's administrator,
Thomas Constantine, point the finger at Mexican corruption during the annual
drug certification season, in an effort to incite Congress to decertify
Mexico. Sensitive to Mexico's historical fear of American intervention and
anxious to keep the complex bilateral agenda between Mexico and the United
States moving forward, the State Department fears that drugs have become the
tail that wags the dog. To the cops, overly solicitous U.S. officials sound
like cheerleaders for the Mexicans.

The lesson of Casablanca is that when American foreign policy toward Mexico
is dictated by law enforcement, the consequences cascade throughout the
whole bilateral relationship in a dangerously accidental way. For example,
the Casablanca announcement occurred at a delicate moment in President
Ernesto Zedillo's negotiations with the Mexican Congress over several key
pieces of financial legislation, including the bank rescue, opening the
banking sector to more foreign investment, legislating the autonomy of the
central bank and strengthening the Mexican bank regulatory agency. Was it
the intention of the Treasury Department to throw a monkey wrench into those
negotiations?

Moreover, the operation resulted in opposition party calls for the
resignation or impeachment of, among others, Mexican Attorney General Jorge
Madrazo and central bank governor Guillermo Ortiz. Was it the intention of
U.S. policy to precipitate calls for the resignation of senior Mexican
government officers?

The market capitalization of Mexican banks plunged by more than $800 million
after Reno's press conference panicked investors by suggesting that the U.S.
government lacked confidence in the Mexican financial system. Did the U.S.
Federal Reserve bail out Mexico and its financial system after the 1995
devaluation so that Customs could undermine it once again? I think not.

Conspiratorially minded Mexicans can be forgiven if they try to read devious
intentions into the destructive chaos of American foreign policy. It may not
be the job of U.S. law enforcement officials to give a damn about the
political or economic fallout of their unilateral operations, but it is the
job of their superiors to ensure that operations are conducted with at least
minimal respect for signed agreements and rules of bilateral cooperation. I
would like to meet the U.S. senator who graciously would accept the
undercover police of a foreign nation operating on American soil without
permission.

It is worrisome that some of the more frustrated elements of the U.S. law
enforcement community seem to be courting a crisis in bilateral antidrug
cooperation. Rumors are afoot that the DEA is prepared to withdraw all
agents over issues such as their right to bear arms in Mexico and be
accorded diplomatic immunity.

Thus the scene is set for another confrontation in the 1999 certification,
in which the DEA likely is to manipulate the terms of the congressional
debate and the diplomats will scramble to prevent the United States from
blundering toward the Armageddon of a possible Senate decertification.

What a victory for Janet Reno and Customs. They have proven that if U.S.
undercover agents wave $30 million at the bank branch managers of a poor
country, they can succeed in corrupting them as easily as do the drug
traffickers. For this brilliant revelation we put U.S.-Mexican relations at
risk?

The writer is director of the Mexico Project of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Readers Take Issue With My High School Bust Column (Andrew Dreschel
Of The 'Hamilton Spectator' In Ontario Ponders Again The Undercover
Drug Sting By Halton Police At Oakville's General Wolfe High School)

Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 08:35:14 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Canada: Column: Readers Take Issue
With My High School Bust Column
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: conlonkt@mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA (Kelly T. Conlon)
Source: Hamilton Spectator (Canada)
Contact: letters@spectator.southam.ca
Website: http://www.southam.com/hamiltonspectator/
Pubdate: 1 June 1998
Author: Andrew Dreschel
Note: Our newshawk writes: "Andrew Dreschel is taking a lot of heat for
questioning the wisdom of sending undercover officers into schools."

READERS TAKE ISSUE WITH MY HIGH SCHOOL BUST COLUMN

Reader response came fast and furious to last Friday's critical column of a
drug sting at Oakville's General Wolfe High School.

My point was that the two month investigation, which cost about $6000 but
netted only $1000 in soft drugs was both a misguided use of resources and
ethically questionable.

Police and Halton District School officials, who sanctioned dropping the
undercover cop into the school, obviously feel otherwise, and so did most
of the readers who took the time to pick up the phone to either express
their views or take a run at mine.

Police laid drug trafficking charges against 14 teenagers as a result of
the covert operation. Eleven are charged under the Young Offenders Act, the
three others are 18 year olds. Some of the alleged dealers are from General
Wolfe, some are from other schools, and some are no longer students.

One of the calls that lit up my office voice mail came from the father of
one of the accused. "My son was one of the kids arrested and charged with
trafficking," he began. "It has done him a lot of good. He guarantees me
he'll never be involved in drugs again. So if the big cost is such a
concern to you, it has saved my son. I don't care what the price is."

Another caller said he usually likes my stuff, but not this time.
"Teenagers have to know what the law is, and they are not supposed to sell
drugs at school. I think you have to start young when you start with
discipline. You don't do it when you are your age. Sir, I think you are
whacky. Goodbye and thank you."

Caller John Reid said he's diametrically opposed to my position and will
remain so as long as narcotics are illegal. He acknowledges that the war
against drugs is a losing battle, but he has no qualms about using
undercover cops in schools. "I don't understand why one side has to play by
the rules and the others don't," he said.

One anonymous caller shares the Halton police view that it's wrong to
measure the success of an undercover investigation by comparing the
expenses to the results. "It's an absolute absurdity that you would suggest
that there is some financial equivalent as to the cost of this thing versus
how much drugs they obtained in a bust. I just don't know where you're
coming from on this one."

Another reader who said he smoked pot in high school and college and admits
he still does said he was glad to see the sting operation questioned. He
said it was frivolous and not likely to deter anyone from using illicit drugs.

He was in the minority, though. So was the uncivil call from the anonymous
cop who sounded as if he was high on caffeine. Here it is in its entirety:

"Yeah, I'm glad I got the machine because I won't be interrupted this way.
I was reading your article about the Halton bust. Where did you get the
idea that there's a success rate when you go into something like this?

"Obviously, people like yourself who have no comprehension of what the
police do and have never been in this type of situation before are going to
criticize it.

"Anytime an undercover officer gets in, makes a buy, and gets out without
getting killed, it's a success. So that's how it has to be measured, not
the quantity, not the value.

"Unfortunately, ball-less idiots like you who sit behind a desk risking
paper cuts everyday have no comprehension what the police do, OK? It's bad
enough that we get criticized for everything else we do. If you're talking
about youths' rights, no one has fewer than a cop because we're under
scrutiny from everybody.

"Most of the kids today are great kids, but the ones that are screwing
things up have to be dealt with. If you can't understand that then you're
thicker than you sound in the paper. Have a good day, and I hope you're
never a victim of youth crime."

Thanks for the thought, but it's too late. Now let me clarify something for
you.

I'm not defending the kids who are selling drugs in school. I'm speaking up
for those who aren't, but are still subjected to having a cop parachuted
into their midst for what amounts to a fishing expedition.

There's a particular sound that I always associate with these kinds of
tactics. It's the same sound that I hear in my head when I read about
undercover prostitution stings. It's the sound of clumping boots forming an
iron ring of entrapment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mentally Ill Commit Less Crime Than Alcoholics (Britain's 'Independent'
Says A Study Published Today In 'The British Journal Of Psychiatry,'
Based On Statistical Research Carried Out In Australia, Shows The Risk
Of A Serious Crime Being Committed By Someone Who Is Mentally Ill
Is Similar To That Of Someone In Their Teens Or Twenties -
Alcoholics And Other Drug Addicts Are Twice As Likely To Commit
A Violent Crime As A Schizophrenic - But No Breakdown Is Offered
Of The Proportion Of Alcoholics Compared To Other 'Drug Abusers,'
Or What Other Drugs Were Abused, Or Even How Abuse Was Defined)

Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 02:16:36 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: UK: Mentally Ill Commit Less Crime Than Alcoholics
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Martin Cooke
Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jun 1998
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Author: Glenda Cooper, Social Affairs Correspondent

MENTALLY ILL COMMIT LESS CRIME THAN ALCOHOLICS

Alcoholics and drug addicts are twice as likely to commit a violent crime as
someone who suffers from schizophrenia, according to a new study.

The risk of a serious crime being committed by someone who is mentally ill
is similar to that of someone in their teens or twenties but according to
the authors does not justify submitting them to increased institutional care.

A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry today found that even
when mentally ill patients did offend, the incident was more likely to be
associated with drugs and alcohol abuse than their condition.

Any potential link between mental illness and violent crime has been
fiercely argued between those who point to a number of "care in the
community" tragedies where patients known to psychiatric services had harmed
others and campaigners who have said that mental patients are far more
likely to harm themselves than others.

While one-quarter of those convicted of serious crimes had had contact with
the mental health services, the vast bulk of these were either drug abusers
or alcoholics or suffered from personality disorders other than
schizophrenia or serious mental illnesses. Most had begun their criminal
career before having any contact with psychiatric services.

The study, which was carried out in Australia, linked two databases, the
first being all convictions between 1993 and 1995 and the second a
state-wide psychiatric case register.

Over the three years studied, 2,153 people were convicted for violent crimes
of whom 70 had had treatment for schizophrenia. For men, this was a rate of
some three to five times higher than for the general population. But when
substance abuse was taken into account, the picture altered.

Those with schizophrenia but not substance abuse problems were only
marginally more likely to receive convictions for violence and were no more
likely to commit violent offences than young people in their teens and
twenties. They were significantly less likely to offend in this manner than
alcohol and drug abusers without mental illness.

The authors conclude that the increase in serious criminal offending in
schizophrenia is "modest" and say that the relationship is so tenuous
between the illness and the crime that prediction of serious violence is
"virtually impossible".

"It does the mentally disordered a serious injury to confuse their behaviour
- which may indeed be frightening and distressing - with murderous behaviour
and call for measures which would only be justified to prevent the most
serious forms of violence to be applied to large groups of the mentally
ill," they say. The data reveals that those convicted of a violent offence
are more than twice as likely to have had a primary diagnosis of substance
misuse as of schizophrenia.

"This new research knocks on the head the idea that people with
schizophrenia are generally dangerous," said Liz Sayce, policy director of
the mental health charity Mind. "This assumption is deeply distressing to
people who have schizophrenia, most of whom have never committed an act of
violence in their lives."
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Riots In Geneva ('The Spotlight' Says Thousands Of Anti-Globalist Protesters
Rampaged Through The Streets May 16-17 In The Worst Public Disturbances
In Switzerland In Memory)

Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 03:28:54 -0700
From: Paul Freedom (nepal@teleport.com)
Organization: Oregon Libertarian Patriots
To: Cannabis Patriots (cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com),
"libnw@circuit.com" (libnw@circuit.com)
Subject: CanPat> [Fwd: Riots in Geneva]
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 12:56:38 -0500
To: butterb@connecti.com
From: Bill Utterback (butterb@connecti.com)
Subject: Riots in Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland - In the worst public disturbances in Switzerland
in memory, thousands of anti-globalist protesters rampaged through the
streets here May 16-17, smashing shops and cars and fighting with police
and Swiss army personnel brought in as reinforcements

Of particular shock to the Swiss government was the presence of many
Swiss citizens among the protesters. The protesters targeted all the
most representative emblems of globalism such as big banks, big
multi-national corporations, big international bureaucracies such as the
International Labor Organization and the World Trade Organization.

Many Swiss people and foreigners were amazed that the three day riot
was only covered in their local newspapers and television. Damage to
the city was calculated in the millions.

From the June 1st edition of THE SPOTLIGHT

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

[End]

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