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An Evening Of Music And Progressive Politics Behind The Orange Curtain
Is Planned For July 11 (The Orange County Peace, Justice
And Environmental Movement Sponsors A Day Of Music, Political Speeches,
And Literature Tables Featuring Progressive Organizations
Throughout Orange County)
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 03:55:16 EDT
Errors-To: jnr@insightweb.com
Reply-To: friends@freecannabis.org
Originator: friends@freecannabis.org
Sender: friends@freecannabis.org
From: Tim Perkins
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: For Immediate Release
Organization: Cannabis Freedom Fund
June 7, 1998
Contact: Tim Carpenter
For Immediate Release
714-558-3329
"An Evening of Music and Progressive Politics Behind the
Orange Curtain" is planned for July 11th
The Orange County Peace, Justice and Environmental Movement is
organizing: "An Evening of Music and Progressive Politics Behind the
Orange Curtain" for Saturday, July 11 from 5:30 p.m. -10:00 p.m.
The event will take place on the grounds of the Brothers of Saint
Patrick, 7820 Bolsa Ave. in Midway City at the corner of Beach Blvd. and
Bolsa between the 405 and 22 Freeways. Admission to the event is $5.00.
Tickets may be ordered by calling (714)765-6671.
In addition to music and political speeches, the day will also include
food booths and literature tables from progressive organizations
throughout Orange County.
Music will be provided by Karen Gallanger, Ron Kobayashi and his Jazz
Trio and the Watts Prophets from South Central Los Angeles. Speakers
include: Larry Agran, former Mayor of Irvine; California State Senator
Tom Hayden; Dan Hamburg, Green Party Candidate for Governor; Public
Defender Carl Holmes; Will Swaim, Editor of the Orange County Weekly;
Christy Johnson, Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS);
Marion Pack, Alliance for Survival; Jonathan Parfrey, Physicians for
Social Responsibility, Los Angeles; Dwight Smith, Orange County Catholic
Worker; and David Clennon, star of television's "Thirtysomething."
The event is being sponsored by the Catholic Worker Community of Orange
County. Participating organizations include: The Orange County Green
Party, Families To Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS), Alliance
for Survival, Libertarian Party of Orange County, Death Penalty Focus of
Orange County and Amnesty International, Orange County chapter.
All proceeds from the event will benefit the Catholic Worker and
FACTS's efforts to limit the application of the Three Strikes law to
violent or serious felonies.
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Parents Should Be Honest With Their Kids About Pot (Letter To The Editor
Of 'The San Jose Mercury News' By Peter McWilliams Says The Reason
Adults Don't Talk To Their Kids About 'Drugs' Is That Kids Know More
About Drugs Than Their Parents)
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 07:40:12 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: Parents Should Be Honest
With Their Kids About Pot
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Peter McWilliams http://www.mcwilliams.com/
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Author: Peter McWilliams
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Sunday, 7 June 1998
PARENTS SHOULD BE HONEST WITH THEIR KIDS ABOUT POT
Katherine Lanpher completely misses the point in ``Baby boomers who fail to
warn kids about drugs feel squeamish, not guilty'' (Silicon Valley Life,
May 26). The reason adults don't talk to their kids about drugs is that
kids know more about drugs than their parents. For example, kids know
marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Do parents know this?
They did when they smoked pot. What happened to their long-term memory? Too
many years of marijuana abstinence ``for the good of the children'' has,
perhaps, addled their brains.
Meanwhile, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (using our tax dollars)
has scared parents into believing that the pot they smoked back in the '60s
was somehow different than the pot their kids use today (it may have been
weaker, but we smoked more). DARE teaches parents about the mythical
gateway theory (in fact, four out of five pot smokers never go on to even
try harder drugs). And let's not forget William Bennett's mantra,
``Marijuana is immoral. Marijuana is wrong.''
What's immoral is parents not finding out the facts about drugs rather than
accepting the pap from the various institutions that make their living
creating and then fighting the War on Drugs. What's wrong is lying to kids
about marijuana. When they find out how safe and enjoyable pot is, why
should they listen to us when we try to tell them that PCP, airplane glue
and other nasty drugs are, indeed, nasty?
Kids are smart, but if you treat them like idiots, they'll do dumb things.
Peter McWilliams
Los Angeles
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Cargo Theft Costs Increase ('The Associated Press' Quotes Trucking Officials
In Florida Who Indicate The War On Some Drugs Has Led Police
To Shift So Many Resources Away From Fighting Real Crime That Real Criminals
Are Switching To Ripping Off Truck Shipments, Which Involves A Lower
Perceived Risk Of Getting Caught And A Bigger Payoff)
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 10:59:11 -0700 (PDT)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
From: Kelley
Subject: HT: Drug traffickers are in it for the money!
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Sunday June 7, 2:07 pm Eastern Time
Cargo Theft Costs Increase
By JOHN PACENTI
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) -- Big rigs are disappearing faster than coffee at a truck stop
as cargo theft replaces drug trafficking as the crime du jour, with thieves
generally finding low risk and huge payoffs.
Law enforcement agencies estimate cargo theft losses at anywhere from $3.5
billion to $5 billion annually nationwide, but the trucking industry
believes it could be more than twice that amount.
``This problem is way out of control,'' said Gail Toth, executive director
of the Transportation Loss Prevention & Security Council of the American
Trucking Associations in Alexandria, Va.
``Your common cargo thief today is the ex-drug trafficker. They're like,
`Hey, you steal cargo and you are less likely to be prosecuted than if you
are trafficking drugs.'''
All this cargo theft translates into higher prices for consumers at the cash
register. As much as $125 paid for each personal computer is directly due to
cargo theft, said Ms. Toth, whose organization represents 40,000 trucking
companies nationwide.
New York, New Jersey, California and Florida -- with their numerous ports --
often take the hardest hits. Black markets in the former Soviet bloc and in
Latin America are prime collectors of the pricey loot, which sometimes is
moved out of the country within 24 hours.
Computers and other electronic equipment are often prime targets for
thieves, but so is clothing, perfumes, even seafood. The criminals sometimes
choose bizarre shipments, such as $80,000 worth of light bulbs.
Then there was that $90,000 load of veal stolen on April 19.
``It's an embarrassment,'' said Brian Kimball, a towing manager for Ed
Kimball and Sons of Homestead, which lost the 41,000 pounds of veal destined
for Winn-Dixie (NYSE:WIN - news) supermarkets.
Food is harder to track than say, electronic equipment, because it doesn't
have serial numbers and doesn't have a long shelf life. Ms. Toth said a
different crew of thieves would be responsible for repackaging the food and
shipping it out legitimately.
``It should be illegal to rent a warehouse by the hour,'' she said. ``Once
they repack them it's almost impossible to track.''
Every day a truck is stolen in Florida, often reappearing empty less than
two weeks later.
The Miami-Dade police TOMCATS (Tactical Operations Multiagency Cargo
Anti-Theft Squad) recovered just under $17 million in goods and made 130
arrests in 1997 -- up from $10 million and 103 arrests a year before.
The National Cargo Security Council, which keeps track of thefts in the
industry, estimates that more than $10 billion worth of goods are pilfered
annually in the United States.
Truckers are finding it more dangerous than ever to drive a big rig.
``You pull up somewhere and go to get out and somebody will have a gun and
order you back in the truck,'' said trucker Chuck Parsnick of Loxahatchee,
Fla. ``They will drive you out West somewhere where they can unload the
truck and tie you up to a tree and take the truck and leave.''
The industry is struggling to better research and document cargo thefts. A
national database is under construction, but there is no way to catalog
exactly how widespread it is.
Part of the problem is that police agencies classify cargo theft any numbers
of ways, from grand theft to armed robbery or burglary.
``Nobody has a sure handle on it,'' Ms. Toth said. ``All we know is that
cargo theft has increased in the last decade, more so in the last five
years. It has become a significant problem.''
Conferences were held for manufacturers, truckers and law enforcement
agencies last month in Miami and San Diego to determine how to fight cargo
theft.
The Cargo Theft Deterrence Act, a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., hopes to toughen the penalty for federal interstate
cargo theft, which currently carries a maximum sentence of a year.
Most cargo thieves, however, end up facing state charges of grand theft or
burglary, which can carry significantly lighter penalties.
For years cargo theft was the bastion of organized crime -- cigarettes,
liquor, even shirts were targeted. The crime was believed to be under
control in the early 1980s, but budget cuts for the National Cargo Security
Council opened the door again for criminals.
Today's cargo thieves are highly sophisticated, using savvy and brute force
to get their hands on semis. The fence who sells stolen products has been
replaced largely by brokers who rent space on a freighter and never touch
the ill-gotten goods.
``There is no big giant head. There are no goodfellas,'' said Keith Prager
of the U.S. Customs Service. ``It's just a bunch of thieves. Some are more
organized than others and they know each other from jail.''
Routinely in South Florida, a fictitious driver shows up with forged
paperwork at an exporter or importer. Hours later the real trucker shows up,
but the shipment is long gone.
``They are very brazen,'' said Lt. Ed Petow, who is in charge of TOMCATS.
Another way cargo disappears in South Florida is through ``leakage.'' A
trucker, working with the thieves, takes a shipment to a warehouse where the
pins and hinges of the container's sealed doors are drilled out and some of
the goods are taken.
The doors are replaced and painted to conceal the tampering. The cargo goes
to the port and is shipped overseas, where the buyer finds the seal intact
but half the product gone.
``Did it happen on the ship? Did it happen at the port, during
transportation? There's no way to find out,'' Petow said.
Miami-Dade County recently imposed tighter criminal checks on 4,700 Port of
Miami workers, but are considering scaling it back after opposition from
unions and political leaders.
Most frustrating for law enforcement is determining how cargo thieves get
their information on which shipment to target.
``We don't know if it's the longshoreman or what,'' Prager said. ``They know
what ship it's going to be on. They wait for it to come off the boat and
leave the port. They have somebody radio their buddies waiting on the street
to rip it off.''
The goods are then transferred to another truck at a warehouse and shipped
back to the port, where the criminals have already rented space on a cargo
ship.
Customs officials hope a high-tech machine gamma ray machine will help nab
hose who steal cargo. The machine, recently tested at the Port of Miami,
helps agents match the goods in a sealed container to those listed on a
manifest.
``It if comes through on the manifest as boxes of spaghetti and it looks
like high-tech equipment or a vehicle, then we'll know we got them,'' Petow
said.
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Plan To Eliminate Poppies, Coca Plants ('New York Times' Article
In 'The San Francisco Examiner' Notes One Goal To Be Proposed
At The International Drug War Summit This Week In New York
By Pino Arlacchi, The Executive Director Of The UN International
Drug Control Program, Is The Elimination Over A 10-Year Period
Of All Opium And Coca Plants From The Face Of The Earth,
As Well As A Substantial Reduction In Cannabis Sativa)
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 00:02:25 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: UN GE: Plan To Eliminate Poppies, Coca Plants
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Author: Christopher S. Wren, New York Times
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 7 Jun 1998
Plan To Eliminate Poppies, Coca Plants
U.N. Drug Official To Eliminate Source Material For Heroin And Cocaine
UNITED NATIONS - With President Clinton and other world leaders coming here
Monday for a session of the General Assembly on the word's drug problems,
the U.N.'s top anti-narcotics official has proposed a strategy moves beyond
the conventional approach of intercepting illegal drugs and arresting
traffickers.
Pino Arlacchi, the executive director of the U.N. International Drug
Control Program, proposes ambitious target of eliminating over a 10-Year
period opium and coca plants, the raw ingredients of heroin and cocaine,
as well as substantially reducing marijuana.
To achieve this, he advocates so-called alternative development programs
that would induce opium and coca growers to switch to less profitable legal
crops by bringing roads, hospitals, schools and a better life into remote
rural areas that depend on drug crops to survive.
Additionally, Arlacchi has Proposed that nations reduce the demand for
drugs by half over the next decade through prevention and treatment programs.
Neither idea is new, but Arlacchi said they had proved promising enough to
try on a broader scale. "These two cards have not been played in full," he
said in an interview.
Alternative development has sometimes been viewed as costly and
unrealistic, since opium and coca growers are reluctant to grow legal crops
that would earn less income and be harder to take to market. Middlemen make
the rounds of peasants to buy their raw opium and coca paste.
What is needed, Arlacchi said, is political authority to enforce
eradication and development involving more than crop substitution.
"We would propose an alternative way of life," he said. "They can be rich
peasants if they grow opium but they can die if they don't have roads and
hospitals."
Peru and Colombia have tried alternative development, Arlacchi said, and
Peru has reduced its coca fields by 40 percent in two years. Bolivia has
promised to phase out its coca over the next five years, he said.
Arlacchi said the cost would run far less than potential donors like the
United States anticipate. With Some programs already in place, he estimated
that alternative development would require an additional amount of less
than $250 million a year over the next decade. In comparison, the U.S.
government's annual drug-control budget exceeds $16 billion.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's anti-drug chief, said
that he agreed with demand reduction, but was not persuaded that it would
be easy to get Afghans and Burmese - who together grow 90 percent of the
world's opium - to change to other crops. But McCaffrey added, "We're
supportive of Pino Arlacch is focused high-energy leadership."
Arlacchi, whose enthusiasm belies a tough reputation earned fighting the
Mafia in his native Italy, cited what he said were some conspicuous
successes against drug trafficking in the last decade.
"We destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the drug cartels," he said.
He said that the Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels in Colombia had been
crushed and that some Asian opium warlords surrendered by striking deals
with the military government in Burma that let them keep their freedom and
money. Thailand virtually eliminated opium production through a
development, he added.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
UN Attempting To Wipe Out Poppies, Coca ('Reuters' Version)
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 22:15:53 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: WIRE: GE: U.N. Attempting To Wipe Out Poppies, Coca
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family
Source: Wire - Reuters
Pubdate: Sun, 7 Jun 1998
U.N. ATTEMPTING TO WIPE OUT POPPIES, COCA
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations wants political and financial
backing to eliminate nearly all coca bush and opium poppy growing in
10 years as crackdowns cannot end worldwide drug abuse.
The strategy, to be endorsed by presidents, prime ministers and other
government leaders at a World Drug Problem conference to be opened by
President Clinton Monday is not new. But the new U.N. drug czar
believes this time it will work.
Pino Arlacchi, Italy's foremost expert on the Mafia and now head of
the Vienna-based U.N. Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention,
wants to induce opium and coca growers to switch to legal crops and
offer poor farmers inducements such as roads, hospitals and schools.
``We want every farmer in the world involved in cultivation of illegal
crops to make a balance between the income he has and the quality of
life he can have by participating in the program,'' he told a news
conference.
The targets are the principal growing countries for both cocoa and
opium crops that collectively cover only a total of 1,800 square miles
of land in Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Vietnam, Colombia,
Bolivia and Peru.
The cost, Arlacchi estimated, would be about $5 billion over 10 years
but he said some countries in Latin America, such as Colombia and
Peru, were using some of their own funds.
In addition this amount could be offset from monies already flowing to
these countries for related programs so the total new expenditure
could be as low as $2.5 billion over 10 years.
``The major obstacle is not financial,'' he said. ``The major obstacle
is pessimism and skepticism that surrounds the issue of drug control.''
The pessimism was evident almost immediately after Arlacchi made a
deal last October with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders, who whip drug
users on the streets but also control areas where 1 million poppy
farmers supply 50 percent of Europe's heroin.
Last month he concluded a similar agreement with Myanmar.
Arlacchi has some problems with gaining support from the United States
and European nations because of their disdain for the Taliban and its
harsh Islamic purist rule in Kabul.
In Myanmar, which produces more opium than Afghanistan, giving money
to the military government is as unpalatable. But Arlacchi maintains
that it is not accidental the poppies are grown in remote areas of the
world. ``What's the alternative? Doing nothing at all?'' he said.
``If we support them, then in five, six years we could nearly
eliminate poppy production like we did in Pakistan.''
In Latin America, governments are already implementing the strategy in
some countries like Bolivia, where chewing coca leaves is part of the
fabric of life. More than 10,000 families are being moved out of the
main coca-growing region, amid charges that the farmers are losing
their land forever.
Ken Bluestone, head of the London-based Catholic Institute for
International Relations, argues that too many poor farmers are not
given a real choice between growing coca or poppies or alternative
livelihoods.
``Punishing them with crop eradication and repression is unfair and
does not meet the objective of halting the drugs trade,'' he said.
``There is a real danger that the positive rhetoric of the drugs
summit will be ignored when it comes to implementing U.N. anti-drugs
programs.''
The alternative crop program is not the only strategy world leaders
are expected to endorse. Others include:
-- demand reduction, aimed at cutting the number of drug users, mainly
through education and health programs. The United Nations estimates
that heroin, which it calls the most serious drug of abuse, is used by
eight million people; cocaine by some 13 million; and marijuana or
cannabis, the most widely used drug, by about 140 million.
-- money laundering, bank secrecy and offshore havens, all used to
camouflage huge sums of money from drug trafficking. A report has been
released that outlines the problem without giving definite
recommendations. U.N. officials say there has to be less bank secrecy
in offshore banks and that publicly fingering a bank might scare off
legitimate investors.
-- amphetamine-type stimulants, including synthetic drugs like speed
and ecstasy, that are becoming increasingly popular and are used by an
estimated 30 million people. The aim here would be to press drug
companies to know their customers.
-- judicial cooperation, to ensure drug traffickers cannot take
advantage of increasingly open borders and markets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
White House Demand Rejected By Drug Policy Reform Group (DrugSense
Says President Clinton Is Threatening A Lawsuit Against The Group
Common Sense For Drug Policy, Trying To Suppress Its Television Advertisement
Opposing The International Drug War - Here's The CSFDP Press Release,
Text Of The Ad, The White House Letter To DrugSense,
And CSFDP's Letter Responding To The White House)
From: Richard Lake
Subject: White House Demand Rejected by Drug Policy Reform Group
Newshawk: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/ungass.htm
Source: Common Sense For Drug Policy
Website: http://www.drugsense.org/csdp/
Pubdate: Sunday, 7 June 1998
Note: Below is (1) Today's press release from Common Sense For Drug Policy,
(2) text of the UN ad, (3) the White House letter to DrugSense, (4) the
letter to the White House from Common Sense For Drug Policy. We have
learned that ABC news has interviewed Kevin Zeese, has a copy of the ad,
and may do a story on the news tonight. Please send any coverage you see on
this to editor@mapinc.org
The ad is online in both Realvideo and MPEG format at:
http://www.legalize-usa.org/video4.htm
* * *
Common Sense For Drug Policy
3619 Tallwood Terrace
Falls Church, VA 22041
703-354-5694 (phone)
703-354-5695 (fax)
kevzeese@laser.net (email)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WHITE HOUSE LEGAL DEMAND THAT ISSUE ADVERTISEMENT BE PULLED IS EMPHATICALLY
REJECTED BY DRUG POLICY REFORM GROUP
Washington, D.C. - Stating that their publicly televised education messages
now airing on CNN and other outlets "will run, and we will not be
intimidated." Common Sense for Drug Policy has "emphatically rejected" a
White House demand that the organization pull its public education message
off the air. We do not believe that our President should ever seek to
curtail the First Amendment right of any American or any organization to
express political views plainly protected under the Constitution," said
Common Sense President Kevin Zeese.
The ad, produced by Zimmerman and Markman, the team that managed and
handled the media for the successful Medical Marijuana Initiative in
California, is part of a comprehensive effort to open the debate on drug
policy in advance of this week's UN General Assembly Special Session on
Drugs.
Common Sense for Drug Policy, a Virginia-based public policy organization
that opposes US and UN drug policies, began an issue advertisement campaign
on Thursday, June 4th, involving the purchase of $60,000 in commercial time
on CNN and other outlets. The advertisement expresses the organization's
policy belief that the drug war is a failure.
While the advertisement contains actual film footage of President Clinton
addressing the UN, it also features an audio track with an actor's voice
imitating the President as well as an explicit visual disclaimer making it
clear to viewers that it is not President Clinton giving an address urging
a change in drug policy. The ad can be viewed at www.drugsense.org ; video
copies in Beta, VHS and PAL formats are available on request.
An attorney representing the White House Office of Legal Counsel demanded
an allied organization withdraw the advertisements and threatened the
possibility of legal action. A copy of Meredith Cabe's letter is attached.
Kevin Zeese, President of Common Sense for Drug Policy, has responded with
a letter to Ms. Cabe "emphatically" rejecting the White House demand. A
copy of the Zeese letter is also attached.
Mr. Zeese writes: "The White House should not be engaged in an effort to
prevent us from expressing political views through the assertion of bogus
legal rights or remedies. Throughout history, governments incapable of
defending their policies on the merits stifle speech that expresses
opposition to their failed ideas. It is a great sadness to us that our
President, rather than engaging us in debate, would instead act to try and
prevent us from debating at all."
Saturday, over 500 global statesmen, including former UN General Secretary
Javier Perez de Cuellar and former Secretary of State George Shultz, Walter
Cronkite, former White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler, former Attorney General
Katzenbach and others wrote UN General Secretary Kofi Annan urging that the
UN's existing drug policy be reexamined and the debate be opened.
* * *
The script for the advertisement.
VIDEO: Clinton walking into UN and then speaking at podium
VOICE OVER: On June 8, the President Clinton will be addressing the
United Nations about the war on drugs, this is what he should say:
[Voice imitating Clinton is out of sync with his speaking]
Do you think the war on drugs is a complete failure? I do.
Do you think if we spend more money we'll win? Forget it.
We're wasting 17 billion dollars a year now. And, because we put hundreds
of thousands of people in prison for drug offenses, prisons are too full so
we put violent criminals out on the street.
Heck, we're causing more crime than we are stopping.
Isn't time for a drug policy based on Common Sense?"
Visit www.DrugSense.org
Paid for by Common Sense for Drug Policy
* * *
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
06/05/98 FRI 14.10 FAX
June 5, 1998
VIA FACSIMILE
Mr. Mark Greer
DrugSense
P.O. Box 651
Porterville, CA 93258
Dear Mr. Greer:
The Office of Counsel to the President has become aware that your
organization is running a television advertisement featuring video footage
of President Clinton, along with his name, but with a voice-over of an
impersonator's voice.
While the video shows President Clinton speaking, the words the viewer
hears are not the President's words. As you are no doubt aware, the
commercial also completely misstates the President's position on the
problem of illegal drugs in this country.
That advertisement violates a long standing White House policy against the
use of the image of the President in advertising or promotional materials
in any way that suggests a linkage between the President and the product,
service, or enterprise being advertised. Superimposing someone else's words
over videotape of the President speaking is confusing, if not deceptive,
and is potentially actionable.
Your organizations advertisement distorts the President's views and
threatens to create precisely the kind of false perception on behalf of the
viewing public the White House policy exists to avoid. We therefore insist
that your organization discontinue that advertisement, and any other
promotional material in which the name, likeness, words, or activities of
the President, his family or the White House is used.
Sincerely,
Meredith E. Cabe
Associate Counsel to the President
* * *
Common Sense For Drug Policy
3619 Tallwood Terrace
Falls Church, VA 22041
703-354-5694 (phone)
703-354-5695 (fax)
kevzeese@laser.net (email)
Robert E. Field - Chairman
Kevin B. Zeese - President
June 7, 1998
Meredith E. Cabe
Associate Counsel to the President
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Ms. Cabe:
Last Thursday, my organization, Common Sense for Drug Policy, began airing
a public education message as part of a $60,000 purchase of advertising
time on CNN and other outlets. Our message expresses our strongly held
policy belief that the drug war is a failure, and was run coincident with
the upcoming United Nations General Assembly Special Session known as "The
Drug Summit." While the message contains actual film footage of President
Clinton addressing the UN, it also features an audio track with an actor's
voice imitating the President as well as explicit audio and visual
disclaimers making it clear to viewers that it is not President Clinton
giving an address urging a change in drug policy.
On Friday, we received your startling letter demanding that the public
education message be withdrawn. Your letter asserts that our use of the
President's image violates White House policy. You have threatened us with
legal action, as a means, I suppose, of intimidating us into suspending
further broadcast of the advertisement. Because we believe the
advertisement embodies precisely the kind of political speech that is
protected under the First Amendment, we consulted legal counsel to
determine whether our rights as Americans to address a policy issue in an
advocacy advertisement would prevail against an assertion of White House
policy, stated without citing a single statute or legal precedent.
This weekend, we received an opinion letter from legal counsel which gives
us even more confidence in our right to run the public education message.
Our counsel was able to find several examples of commercial and political
speech which were published or presented over the objections of the
political figures whose names or images were depicted in the ads. Most
recently, for example, Mayor Giuliani was stopped by Federal District and
Federal Appellate Courts, when he sought to end a bus advertisement by New
York Magazine which used his name. A similar case involving a picture of
Vice President Mondale in 1984 led to the same result; namely the
protection of speech and the free expression of ideas.
On this basis, we emphatically reject your demand that we pull the ads. The
ad will run and we will not be intimated. We do not believe that our
President should ever seek to curtail the First Amendment right of any
American or any organization to express political views plainly protected
under the Constitution. My organization believes that the drug war is a
failure and effective alternatives exist. We will continue to express those
views as we see fit.
The White House should not be engaged in an effort to prevent us from
expressing political views through the assertion of bogus legal rights or
remedies. Throughout history, governments incapable of defending their
policies on the merits always try to stifle speech that expresses
opposition to their failed ideas. It is a great sadness that our President
rather than engage us in debate would instead act to prevent us from
debating at all.
I am making my letter and your letter publicly available on Sunday.
Sincerely,
Kevin Zeese
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On ABC Evening News - Common Sense UN Ad, Kevin Zeese, Ethan Nadelmann
(List Subscriber Notes ABC News Contrasted Coverage Of The United Nations'
Drug War Conference By Interviewing Two Leading Drug Policy Reform Advocates)
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 19:15:19 -0400
To: DPFT-L@TAMU.EDU, drctalk@drcnet.org, mattalk@islandnet.com,
hemp-talk@hemp.net, november-l@november.org, drugtalk@legalize.org,
global@legalize.org, usa@legalize.org, events@legalize.org
From: Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org)
Subject: ON ABC evening news: Common Sense UN Ad, Kevin Zeese, Ethan
Nadelmann
For those in the west, it was super! ABC opened interviewing Pino Arlacchi
telling how drugs could be wiped out in ten years.
Then Kevin and Ethan were interviewed.
The part of the ad shown covered:
[Voice imitating Clinton is out of sync with his speaking]
Do you think the war on drugs is a complete failure? I do.
Do you think if we spend more money we'll win? Forget it.
***
Then they showed the ad with the Public Letter to Kofi Annan
to be shown in Monday's New York Times, also!
* BIG SMILE *
Richard Lake
Senior Editor; MAPnews, MAPnews-Digest and DrugNews-Digest
email: rlake@MAPinc.org
http://www.DrugSense.org/drugnews/
For subscription information see:
http://www.MAPinc.org/lists/
Quick sign up for DrugNews-Digest, Focus Alerts or Newsletter:
http://www.DrugSense.org/hurry.htm
***
Check out the FACTS at:
http://www.drugsense.org/factbook.htm
***
Check out our Drug War Clock
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock/
***
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On The Record - Jesus Reyes Heroles ('Exito!' A Spanish-Language Weekly
In 'The Chicago Tribune,' Interviews A Mexican Official
About 'Operation Casablanca')
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:34:05 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Column: On the Record: Jesus Reyes Heroles
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Pubdate: June 7, 1998
Author: By Alejandro Escalona, !Exito! Editor. !Exito! is the Chicago
Tribune's Spanish-language weekly.
Section: Perspective, page 3
On the Record: JESUS REYES HEROLES
Attorney Gen. Janet Reno opened a can of worms recently when she announced
the arrest of Mexican bank officials and the seizure of $150 million in
laundered drug money after a 3-year sting called Operation Casablanca.
Mexican authorities, unaware of the operation, formally protested and
received an apology for the secrecy from President Clinton. But he did not
rule out similar future operations.
Mexico responded last week by demanding the U.S. turn over the customs
agents and informers responsible for Casablanca to face criminal charges
there.
Q: The Mexican government was criticized for responding slowly to the
announcement about Operation Casablanca. Why did it take two days to issue
an official protest?
A: It is necessary to distinguish various stages in the reaction to a
paradoxical situation given that both governments agree that combating the
money laundering is central to the struggle against drug trafficking. In
this sense, there have been a series of programs and investigations carried
out in a coordinated, binational manner.
Given this, it is inconceivable that this undercover operation was
implemented without the knowledge of our government. Our first reaction was
one of surprise and irritation because we had not been notified ahead of
time, and we started with the assumption that the operations had been
carried out in the United States.
Q: But is it not true that there was early evidence that the majority of
the operations was carried out in Mexican territory?
A: This information radically changed the situation. Then it became not an
issue of whether or not we believe it is important to combat money
laundering but one of trying to determine the implications that this
operation has on agreements concerning not only the fight against drug
trafficking but also, in broader terms, on bilateral relations.
I believe in these matters it is necessary to be prudent. It took hours for
the Mexican government to understand what was being announced. This is the
saddest part of the situation. The surprise could have been avoided by
working collaboratively as we do in many other cases of money laundering.
Nevertheless, the operation was carried out without our knowledge,
provoking a scandal with repercussions in other areas of bilateral
relations.
Q: Is President Clinton's apology adequate?
A: There has been an apology on behalf of President Clinton concerning that
he laments that events happened the way they did. I would think that the
U.S. response will continue. I believe that we have entered a complicated
moment because it is necessary to see the true nature and scope of the
operation that occurred in Mexico.
Q: Why didn't the U.S. consult with the Mexican government?
A: The question is not only why didn't the United States consult with
Mexico in its investigation but also why were so few people in the United
States aware of it? It is alleged that this is how undercover operations
work.
In any case, it appears to us that it was not done in the best spirit of
cooperation and does not reflect the nature of dialogue that we have in
many aspects of bilateral relations, including in the fight against drugs
and money laundering. This is what has been surprising to me in this
matter. This kind of operation was so unnecessary.
Q: Has the narcotics trade infiltrated the Mexican banking system?
A: It is necessary to evaluate the facts. It is estimated that more than
$200 billion are laundered internationally from the illegal sale of drugs
every year. The consumption of drugs in the United States is on the order
of $53 billion annually. Frankly it is ridiculous to talk about operations
that detected $120 million within these parameters. The people who were
arrested are managers of relatively minor bank branches in Jalisco, Baja
California and Sinaloa. They are individuals who are very low in the
Mexican banking hierarchy.
Q: Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
A: It is erroneous to use this evidence to deduce that the entire Mexican
banking system is a mechanism to launder money. One of the things that has
been the most surprising and irritating is the fact that this operation
reported no financial counterpart in the United States nor any other
country except for Venezuela. Not one U.S. citizen was implicated in this
operation.
Q: Should the United States conduct a similar operation in its territory?
A: If there is a follow-up to this investigation, it is naturally going to
land somewhere. Where is the $53 billion from illegal drug sales in the
United States laundered? The laundering is not done in the Mexican
financial system, but rather it begins in the U.S. financial system. The
facts indicate that Operation Casablanca has a much smaller scope. I am not
slighting the importance of the operation. It was good that there was
progress in this direction, but I believe that the facts demonstrate that
there was much less progress made than was promoted.
Q: Is the Mexican government going to demand a guarantee that similar
undercover operations will not be conducted within its borders?
A: As Secretary of Foreign Relations Rosario Green has pointed out, the
situation obligates Mexico to not only seek a precise explanation of the
facts about the operation but also implies a need to rethink the terms in
which bilateral cooperation can continue in the fight against illegal drug
trafficking and money laundering.
Q: Is there confidence on the part of U.S. business and financial sectors
in the Mexican banking system?
A: I would say there is even some sympathy in those sectors because of the
irritation Operation Casablanca provoked in Mexico.
On the other hand, our relationship with the U.S. is wide and complex. Now
we have a situation that must be solved, but it has nothing to do with
commerce, cultural exchanges and immigration issues.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ease Up On Drug Laws, UN Urged ('Canada Press' Article In 'The Toronto Star'
Notes Hundreds Of World Leaders, Including 80 Canadians, Have Signed
A Ground-Breaking Petition Circulated By The Lindesmith Center In New York,
Telling The UN That 'The Global War On Drugs Is Now Causing More Harm
Than Drug Abuse Itself')
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 15:06:50 -0400
From: Carey Ker
Subject: Canada GE: Ease up on drug laws, U.N. urged
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
Newshawk: carey.ker@utoronto.ca
Source: Toronto Star, Page A3
Contact: LetterToEd@thestar.com
Pubdate: Sunday 7 June 1998
Author: Canada Press
Canadians join world call for liberalization
OTTAWA (CP) -- Days before the United Nations is to announce its most ambitious
anti-drug program ever, hundreds of world leaders, including 80
Canadians, have signed a ground-breaking petition asking the UN to
support the liberalization of drug laws instead.
The petition, a rough draft of which has been obtained by the Citizen,
will be presented to the UN General Assembly when it convenes Monday
for what are expected to be hard-nosed discussions on how to crack
down on trade in illegal drugs.
The goal of the conference is to come up with a plan that will
eliminate the world's production of heroin, cocaine and marijuana
within the next 10 years by paying farmers who grow the drugs to
switch to legal crops.
The conference is expected to recommend spending an additional $3
billion to $4 billion to fight drugs.
But the signatories of the petition question the value of such
initiatives.
"We believe the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug
abuse itself," says a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
included in the petition.
"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."
The petition is intended to promote ways of dealing with drug problems other than
resorting to the expensive and overcrowded criminal justice system.
It includes the signatures of such dignitaries as former UN
secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar; former U.S. secretary of
state George Shultz; former U.S. surgeon general Jocelyn Elders; and
Edward Ellison, former head of the Scotland Yard Drug Squad.
Among the prominent Canadians to sign the petition are Senator Sharon
Carstairs, NDP Leader Alexa McDonough, former Ottawa mayor Marion
Dewar, lawyers Clayton Ruby and Edward Greenspan, noted urban-planning
author Jane Jacobs, and a dozen members of Parliament.
The most prominent names on the petition will be featured in a
two-page advertisement in Monday's New York Times.
The protest is the result of work by the Lindesmith Center, a New
York-based think-tank, and drug-policy reform groups from more than 20
countries.
"What we are trying to do is influence the UN and its member countries
to move away from these outrageous drug policies that serve only to
congest the court system and fuel the violence associated with the
illegal drug trade," said Eugene Oscapella, a spokesman for the
Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, which helped organize the
petition.
The petition's backers will also hold a series of conferences to help
promote alternative methods of dealing with drug problems.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What Does 'Virtually De-Criminalized' Mean Anyway? (Two Letters To The Editor
Of 'The Calgary Sun' Respond To The Editor's Parenthetical Comment
That 'Pot Is Already Virtually Decriminalized For Personal Use')
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: PUB LTE: What does "virtually de-criminalized"
mean anyway?
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 14:19:01 -0700
Lines: 44
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Calgary Sun
Contact: callet@sunpub.com
Pubdate: June 7, 1998
Comment: Parenthetical remarks by the Sun editor: headline by hawk
What does "virtually de-criminalized" mean anyway?
YOUR REJOINDER to letter writer Lynn Harichy's May 31 plea for legal
access to marijuana for medical purposes, "Pot is already virtually
decriminalized for personal use," while cute and perhaps true, demeans
her. What does "virtually de-criminalized" mean, anyway? So long as
using cannabis is officially illegal, those who use it are at risk.
Also, enforcement policy may change on a whim.
Gerald M. Sutliff
(For people like Harichy, pot should be made available through a
pharmacy.)
***
AFTER READING your comment on the letter from MS sufferer Lynn
Harichy of May 31, "Pot is already virtually decriminalized for
personal use," I reviewed the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of
1997 and I was unable to locate the schedule for virtually
decriminalized substances.
Speaking on the matter of cannabis decriminalization before the House of
Commons in 1981, then Minister of Justice Jean Chretien said: "We are in
the process of discussing this matter with the attorneys general for the
provinces, and we hope to be in a position to present legislation to
this House soon."
We are not spending 400 million virtual tax dollars per year to enforce
virtual laws. MS sufferers Grant Krieger and Lynn Harichy do not have a
virtually incurable disease. They do not need virtual medicine "soon"
and they are not facing virtual criminal records for using cannabis.
Matthew M. Elrod
(The possession of small amounts of pot are "virtually" never
prosecuted.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Campaign - Hope For Those In Pain (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday'
Continues Its Weekly Push For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws
By Noting The Growing Consensus About The Efficacy Of Marijuana
In The Alleviation Of Pain Was Strengthened Last Week When It Emerged
That A Report Commissioned By The Department Of Health
And Compiled By The Royal College Of Psychiatry Backs Its Therapeutic Use -
A Second Significant Boost Came When A Jury In The North Of England
Cleared A Man Who Admitted Smoking The Drug
To Alleviate His Chronic Back Pain)
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 01:48:56 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: UK: OPED: Cannabis Campaign - Hope for those in pain
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke
Source: Independent on Sunday
Pubdate: Sun, 07 Jun 1998
Contact: sundayletters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Author: Vanessa Thorpe
CANNABIS CAMPAIGN - HOPE FOR THOSE IN PAIN
THE growing consensus about the merits of cannabis in the alleviation
of pain was strengthened last week when it emerged that a
government-commissioned report backs its therapeutic use, writes
Vanessa Thorpe.
The Independent on Sunday campaign to decriminalise cannabis won a
second significant boost last week when a jury in the north of England
cleared a man who admitted to smoking the drug to alleviate his
chronic back pain.
The report, commissioned by the Department of Health and compiled by
the Royal College of Psychiatry, found that prescribing cannabis to
sufferers of some forms of cancer and Aids is merited. It states that
it would be "irrational" not to explore the use of cannabis in other
treatments as well. The report also calls for changes in the law to
allow properly controlled scientific studies.
News of the study's findings came the same day that Colin Davis, a
30-year-old joiner who broke his back four years ago when he fell from
a bridge near Stockport, was cleared by Manchester Crown Court of
drugs charges.
The court heard that when Mr Davis was arrested in November, police
found 18 cannabis plants in his bedroom. Mr Davis told the jury that
he had turned to the drug out of desperation when prescribed medicines
failed to cope with spasms of pain which threatened to immobilise him.
A verdict of not guilty of cultivating cannabis under the 1971 Misuse
of Drugs Act was returned by the court in only 40 minutes.
Mr Davis's solicitor, James Riley, said the case was ground breaking
and reflected changing attitudes to the use of cannabis in medical
cases.
At the time of Mr Davis's arrest last year the British Medical
Association released a report suggesting that the courts should not
penalise those who were driven to use the drug by chronic symptoms. Mr
Davis told the IoS he only started to grow the plants because he had
not liked the idea of buying from a dealer.
On another note, football supporters who are also fans of the IoS
campaign to decriminalise cannabis should be wary of taking up an
evangelical stance if they travel to France this summer.
Not only is smoking the drug there illegal, but so, too, is the public
display of the image of the cannabis leaf.
A team of aspiring British film-makers who drove down to Cannes to
raise money for a new project discovered this fact the hard way. Their
new film comedy, Amsterdam, written by London mini-cab driver Stephen
Loyd, tells of a group of working-class lads who spend time together
each year at the eponymous Dutch city's cannabis festival.
As part of the attempt to draw attention to it, Loyd and his
colleagues had painted the side of a 10-year-old BT van with the leaf
logo - an act for which they were promptly arrested by French police
and ordered to leave the country.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Women With Drug Habit To Escape Prison ('Scotland On Sunday'
Says Scottish Authorities Have Become Alarmed About The Growing Numbers
Of Young Women Who Have Committed Suicide While Being Held
At Cornton Vale, Near Stirling, The Country's Only Jail For Women,
And So Have Agreed To Launch An Experimental Programme
In Which Women Will, For The First Time, Avoid Charges
If They Undergo Intensive Drugs Counselling)
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:34:23 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: UK: Women With Drug Habit to Escape Prison
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: shug@shug.co.uk
Source: Scotland On Sunday
Contact: letters_sos@scotsman.com
Pubdate: Sun, 7 Jun 1998
Author: James Murray - Home Affairs Editor
WOMEN WITH DRUG HABIT TO ESCAPE PRISON
Counselling scheme will replace custodial sentences after increase in
female suicides
Women who commit crimes to finance a drug habit are to avoid being punished
by the courts under a new scheme to reduce the female prison population in
Scotland.
Scottish Office ministers have become alarmed about the growing numbers of
young women who have committed suicide while being held in Cornton Vale,
near Stirling, the country's only jail for women.
They have now agreed to launch an experimental programme under which women
will, for the first time, avoid charges if they undergo intensive drugs
counselling. Studies have revealed that jail sentences for women with drug
problems, many of them prostitutes, do nothing to end the pattern of
behaviour that leads to repeat offending.
The new scheme, to be unveiled by the Home Affairs minister Henry McLeish
later this month, will attempt to initiate changes in lifestyles that may
be more effective.
McLeish approved the scheme following a critical report by Clive
Fairweather, the chief inspector of prisons, and Angus Skinner, chief
inspector of social work for Scotland, on the use of custody for women
offenders. The numbers have been steadily rising since the late 1980s but
were brought into sharp focus by the deaths of seven young women, some of
them drug users, in Cornton Vale between 1995 and this year.
The trial will be carried out at the Glasgow Drugs Centre, which looks
after 400 women with severe drug-related problems. Financed by a 100,000
grant from Glasgow City Council, it follows interviews with women drug
users on how they could be effectively helped to break the cycle of crime.
Netta Maciver, director of the drugs organisation Turning Point, said: "I
listened carefully to their stories of how they came to use drugs and the
effect that it had on their lives. None of them felt that prison was the
answer to their problems and was not a deterrent."
Maciver insists that the project would only be suitable for women who are
committed to dealing with their drug habit and not to committing offences
in the future. It would not work for those women who do not have the will
to change. If a woman was arrested for offences such as soliciting, theft
or breach of the peace, a report would go to the procurator fiscal. The
fiscal would then receive a report from Maciver's team on whether the woman
should be considered for the project. It was then up to the fiscal to
decide. If the fiscal agreed that the project offered the best chance of
avoiding furhter offences, a detailed study of the woman's background would
be drawn up to plan a course of action.
"We will look at the women as a whole, their drug use and dependency, their
financial situation, housing situation and employment," Maciver said. "Once
we have the full picture then we will be able to look at ways of working
with them to improve their lives. For example, if they do not have a home,
we can try and help get accommodation and some stability."
If further offences are committed while the woman is on the project, the
fiscal will be informed. "It will be up to him or her to look at the
seriosness of the offence and to say whether the person should be taken off
the project and dealt with by the courts."
One of the women being considered for the project said if it had been
available to her when she was a teenager it might have saved her from a
life of prostitution and petty crime.
Libby, 22, a heroin user, said: "At last people seem to be trying to treat
us as people needing help instead of criminals who should be swept off the
streets and locked away."
Brought up in a succession of children's homes, she has more or less lived
on the streets since the age of 15, turning to prostitution to provide
money for drugs.
She was first sent to Cornton Vale at the age of 16 for a minor offence. "I
was pretty streetwise, but I was still a child really," she said. "Nothing
prepared me for prison and when I got inside it was awful. The other women
bullied me - they wanted my visitors to bring in drugs for them. When it
didn't happen, I got a severe beating. I was only in for three weeks but I
came out a different person, harder and tougher. It was no deterrent at
all."
A return visit to Cornton Vale four years later - for unpaid fines and
shoplifting - also failed to alter her behaviour.
"This time I knew what to expect. I let people know I was tougher and I did
some bullying. Prison was just a waste of time. It didn't stop me taking
heroin or straighten out my life."
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for June 4-10