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Drug War, Not Ballot Measure, Is Menace (A Letter To The Editor
Of 'The Columbian' In Vancouver, Washington, Rebuts An Earlier Letter
Opposed To Initiative 692, The Washington State Medical Marijuana
Ballot Measure)

Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 01:27:10 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: PUB LTE: Drug War, Not Ballot Measure, Is Menace
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: MAP
Source: The Columbian (WA)
Contact: editors@columbian.com
Website: http://www.columbian.com/
Pubdate: 15 July 1998
Author: Robert Harris

DRUG WAR, NOT BALLOT MEASURE, IS MENACE

Ann Donnelly's July 12 column, "Just say no to marijuana legalization," is
very interesting. I would like to clear up a few of the many factual errors
she writes as fact.

First, Donnelly complains about the lack of age restrictions in the
Compassionate Use Act of California. Unfortunately, there are no age
restrictions on terminal illnesses, either. Until Congress passes a law that
makes it illegal for children to get cancer, would Donnelly suggest not
treating children?

A law against childhood cancer would certainly be more productive than the
law against marijuana use. When the United States passed the marijuana tax
act in 1937, there were approximately 55,000 users in the country, according
to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. As of last year, after 60 years of
prohibition, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration estimates there are
70 million users.

Donnelly writes that under Washington's Initiative 692, marijuana would be
legalized for medicinal use without restrictions. In the next sentence she
writes that a doctor's recommendation would be required. A doctor's
recommendation isn't a "restriction"? All of the physicians I know take
their jobs very seriously and would no sooner prescribe marijuana to someone
who doesn't need it than they would Valium.

Donnelly claims that Arizona's medicinal marijuana campaign never made clear
the measure could also have legalized medical use of illegal drugs other
than marijuana. Is she suggesting that Arizona voters are too stupid to read
a ballot measure? The measure won by landslide, but Donnelly writes,
"Arizona lawmakers subsequently had to pass legislation to undo the damage."
What really occurred was that the legislature acted against the will of the
voting public.

Donnelly asks, "Is this movement fundamentally about expanding the U.S.
market for drugs?" We already have such a movement, led by the DEA, the U.S.
Customs Service and the CIA. Without the U.S. government' s policy of
prohibition, drug cartels wouldn't have the funds or the motivation to
corrupt entire countries like Mexico, Columbia, the Bahamas. Personal drug
use is bad, but compared to the wholesale corruption that billions of drug
dollars bring, it seems like a lesser evil.

Donnelly describes George Soros, a backer of medicinal marijuana
initiatives, as "harder to categorize." Apparently she doesn't realize that
Soros is probably the one person in the world most responsible for the end
of communism in Europe. He is highly intelligent, motivated and generous and
will go against political tides to push what is right, not what is expedient
or traditional.

Regulation and taxation

Despite Donnelly's implication, Soros doesn't support legalization of
marijuana. He just doesn't understand why we must allow participants in the
only unregulated market in the world to profit beyond the capabilities of
even the major regulated multinational corporations. He understands that the
illegal drug market could be crippled in one swift move, by regulating and
taxing it.

Donnelly suggests that anyone against driving under the influence of
intoxicants should be against the medical marijuana movement. Why? Would the
initiative remove restrictions against driving under the influence? No. Did
alcohol prohibition decrease driving under the influence of that substance?
No. I have a number of prescriptions in my medicine cabinet right now that
warn against using heavy machinery under the influence. What is so different
about marijuana?

In the course of my business, I spend a lot of time in Vancouver, B.C.,
Amsterdam, Germany and the New York City area. When I am in countries that
allow their citizens more freedom and that don't support the drug dealers, I
am much safer. I can walk on the streets of Amsterdam at 3 a.m. and not fear
for my life, yet there are coffee shops selling hashish, marijuana and
psychedelic mushrooms on every corner, sometimes up to six places in a
block. It doesn't lead to crime; it decreases crime.

In the past two years, Italy, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, and many
other countries have stopped enforcing personal possession drug crimes. As a
result, they live in safer communities. I challenge Donnelly to walk the
streets of Portland at 3 a.m. and tell me how safe she feels in a country
that spends $26 billion a year to fight the "drug menace."

Even police officers and FBI agents can see that the war on drugs is
fruitless and actually causes more damage that the drugs themselves. Using
anti-drug rhetoric to deny sick people access to a substance that the
American Medical Association was against making illegal in 1937 -- and which
the AMA announced just last week is helpful in treating stroke victims,
Alzheimer's patients and Parkinson's disease sufferers -- is beyond asinine.

Let's admit we have made mistakes, and fix them before it really is too
late.

Copyright 1998 The Columbian Publishing Co.

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Busted, Ravaged And Not Charged (A List Subscriber Forwards A Letter
From The Reverend Gene 'Merlin' Weeks, An Adelanto, California, Medical
Marijuana Patient Who Says He Was Busted With 22 Plants And Will Be Charged
With Intent To Sell - Detective Dvorik, Who Leads The Marijuana Eradication
Effort For The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Reportedly Said
That Proposition 215 Is Made Null And Void By Federal Law And Any And Every
Medical Patient Who Is Cultivating Will Be Arrested And Their Plants,
Medicine, Equipment, And Cash Will Be Seized)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 12:17:28 EDT
Errors-To: jnr@insightweb.com
Reply-To: friends@freecannabis.org
Originator: friends@freecannabis.org
Sender: friends@freecannabis.org
From: Remembers@webtv.net (Genie Brittingham)
To: Multiple recipients of list (friends@freecannabis.org)
Subject: Fwd: busted ravaged and not charged

I received this last night. Gene Weeks is an ordained minister who has
been organizing a cannabis co-op in Adelanto. He suffers from extreme
arthritis and recently has been forced to use a wheelchair to get
around, and is in extreme pain. I'm sure he could use our support, as do
all of our people who have been arrested, trying to supply, much needed,
medicine to patients, as a result of Prop. 215; most of whom are
patients themselves. ------------- By the way, if there's anyone out
there who could give me a ride out to Apple Valley, (my car won't make
it), this Saturday afternoon; I have the opportunity to interview Gene
and his attorney. Also attending will be Marvin Chavez (Orange County),
Scott McWilliams (San Diego), Andea Nagy (Ventura) and James Silva.
Please email me at remembers@webtv.net if you're available to make the
trip. ------------ Thanks, Genie -She Who-

She Who Remembers
remembers@webtv.net
www.remembers.com

Hey Genie,

This is rev Gene Weeks (Merlin) guess you heard by now I've been raided
arrested and not charged. They claim they are going to charge me with
cultivation w/intent to sell. Det. Dvorik who leads the mj eradication for
San Bernardino County Sheriffs dept said that 11362.5 is made null and void
by federal law and any and every medical patient who is cultivating will be
arrested and their plants, medicine, equipment, and cash will be seized.
I have been trying for 6 months to establish dialogue w/county law
enforcement including giving them the 215 along with my card w/my address
on it, and giving an interview to the local press ( THE DAILY PRESS in
Victorville) which resulted in a very positive front page article on Sunday,
June 14th. Their response to my plea for dialogue and cooperation was; on
Monday, June 29th at 3:40 the entire eradication team served a search
warrant on my home seizing my modest personal garden of 18 flowering
plants, 24 non rooted clones and 4 mother plants, all growing equipment,
$740 cash (all the money I had) for which I had a check stub from a semi
annual distribution of a trust account, my entire collection of High Times,
misc personal and intimate photos, and my personal medicine. They then at
4:20 pm arrested and transported me to west valley correctional facility in
Rancho Cucamonga where I was detained without even my diabetes medicine,
not to mention pain medication for my severely degenerated arthritic spine
or my wheelchair. I was released three days later broke, sick, not charged
with any crime and no medication. Thanks to a couple of angels named
Janette and Alan I had a ride home and some McDonalds burgers (jail food
isn't fit for my 8 yr. old dog, who was locked in my trailer alone while I
was in jail). They continue to terrorize me with the threat that they are
going to, at some juncture, charge me with cultivation with intent to sell
because they found scales and zip lock baggies in my home. I'm depressed
and confused as to the fact that I'm a Vietnam era veteran who is totally
disabled, and now my government, for which I volunteered to do war, is now
making war on me because I must use cannabis to make life and the painful
body I'm trapped in just bearable for one more day. I love my country and
the wonderful people that have the compassion to try to get our medicine
made legal. I don't however understand why my government has an interest in
the harassment and torture of the weakest most vulnerable of its
citizens. What ever happened to "of the people, by the people and for the
people" I've no criminal record and have spent most of my 51 painful years
on this planet serving my fellow man as a pastor and community worker (for
8 years I served the community of Venice Beach as a liason between the LAPD
pacific division and 3 warring gangs helping to stop the violence and
increase the peace, working with Michael Zinzun of CAPA
Kalil Shaw of Stop the Violence Increase the Peace, Mayor Reardon's office,
Melvin Haward of the Pearl White Theater, Serving on the board of directors
of Oakwood United and founding and Directing Positive Alternative Choices a
501c3 dedicated to keeping children in school and out of gangs. It seems a
travesty that I should now face homelessness, destitution, and possibly
prison for trying to reduce the pain with the only medicine that works;
cannabis.

Sincerely,
your fellow freedom fighter,
Rev. Gene "Merlin" Weeks

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Advertising This Hemp Beer Is Definitely Legal, Though Its Ads May Hint
Otherwise ('The Wall Street Journal' Says In The Advertising Business,
It's Beer Ads That Make Creative Reputations, So When Lee St. James,
Executive Creative Director At Ketchum Advertising In Pittsburgh, Heard About
A New Brew Called Kentucky Hemp Beer, He Quickly Bombarded The Brewer
With Unsolicited Advertising Ideas - The Results Show That For An Ambitious
Advertising Executive, The Near-Illegality Of Hemp In The United States
Spells Opportunity)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 20:50:08 +0000
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WSJ Hemp Beer Is Definitely Legal
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
NewsHawk: Mark Greer
Source: Wall Street Journal, Interactive Edition
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Contact: letter.editor@edit.wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Author: SALLY BEATTY Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

ADVERTISING THIS HEMP BEER IS DEFINITELY LEGAL, THOUGH ITS ADS MAY
HINT OTHERWISE

Car ads pay the bills on Madison Avenue, but it's beer ads that make
creative reputations. The problem is, there aren't enough plum beer
accounts to go around.

So when Lee St. James, executive creative director at Ketchum
Advertising in Pittsburgh, heard about a new brew called Kentucky Hemp
beer, he quickly bombarded the brewer with unsolicited advertising
ideas.

It wasn't long before the beer's maker, Lexington Brewing Co., in
Lexington, Ky., unveiled the result: a series of poster ads that use
drug imagery to play up hemp's illicit image.

Each ad has a psychedelic pattern in the background. Each features a
chilled bottle of Kentucky Hemp with a marijuana leaf on the label.
(Stalks of the hemp plant are used in rope; its leaves and flowers
produce marijuana.)

"Undetectable to police dogs," reads one poster. "Eliminates cotton
mouth," reads another, referring to a symptom experienced by pot
smokers. "This bud's for you," reads a third, alluding to the bud of
the hemp plant -- as well as Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser slogan. Each
poster carries a small tagline: "Brewed in Kentucky. Legal in all 50
states." Mr. St. James says about 1,500 poster ads have been printed
and are being distributed to bars and liquor stores in Kentucky,
southern Ohio and southern Indiana.

Hemp Is Hot

In case you haven't heard, hemp is a hot commodity these days. Tapping
into its naughty appeal, new-product designers are putting it into
everything from facial creams to clothing.

But growing hemp in the U.S. is another matter: It's illegal. Hemp
seeds -- like those imported from Turkey for use in Kentucky Hemp beer
-- can be brought into the U.S. only after the Drug Enforcement Agency
has certified that they have been sterilized so they can't be cultivated.

For an ambitious advertising executive, the situation spells
opportunity.

"It's kind of a short putt," says Mr. St. James. "If you can't do fun
ads for a product made out of marijuana seeds, what can you do?"

Still, the ads appear to violate voluntary beer-industry guidelines
barring marketing materials that "imply illegal activity of any kind."
Arthur DeCelle, general counsel at the Beer Institute, pointedly notes
that Lexington Brewing isn't a member of the association.

Anheuser, which is a member of the beer group, calls the "this bud's
for you" ad created by Mr. St. James a "clear violation of our
trademark rights." In a statement, Anheuser adds: "We are taking swift
and strong legal action to prevent this and further
violations."

Mike Hart, president of Kentucky Hemp Beer Co., owned by Lexington
Brewing, says he has heard from Anheuser's lawyers, and has no
intention of expanding the posters into a full-blown ad campaign.

Anheuser's ad agency DDB Needham, by the way, is a sister to the
Kentucky Hemp campaign's creator Ketchum; both are owned by Omnicom
Group.

Copyright issues aside, the Kentucky Hemp ads focus unwelcome
attention on beer advertising in general. "Like many other alcohol
products, this seems deliberately designed for a youth consumer base,"
says George Hacker of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a
consumer advocacy group in Washington, D. C. "Here's a beer being
passed off as a drug. I'm not sure that's a positive message -- but at
least it tells it like it is."

The Federal Trade Commission, which polices advertising content,
declined to comment on the new campaign. The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, which regulates the labeling of beer sold across
state lines, confirms that it approved Kentucky Hemp's marijuana-leaf
label but didn't offer further comment.

'Never Do That'

Rival brewers are less circumspect. "I would never do that -- we're
dealing with a controversial product to begin with. We need to be
responsible with it," insists Marjorie McGinnis, president of
Frederick Brewing Co. The Frederick, Md., brewer positions its own
hemp-spiked Hempen Ale and Hempen Gold as upscale microbrews, suitable
for beer snobs' discriminating palates. Ad copy brags about
"award-winning taste."

Alcoholic-beverage makers regularly resort to provocative imagery to
sell their wares for a simple reason: It works. Some recent efforts
have been protected by the courts. Bad Frog Brewery of Rose City,
Mich., made a name for itself last year with a label showing a frog
making a crude gesture. Bad Frog's slogan: "So good, it's bad." Eight
states immediately banned sales of the beer.

But in January, a federal appeals court in Albany, N.Y., upheld Bad
Frog's right to use its label on commercial free-speech grounds.

"The controversy will probably help them, especially if the product is
good," says Bad Frog's owner Jim Wauldron, reacting to Kentucky Hemp's
ads. "That's what happened to us."

He gets no argument from Mr. Hart of Kentucky Hemp Beer. "We like the
controversy; we like the association [with marijuana], because it gets
attention," Mr. Hart says. But he also says he has decided not to
distribute the poster about cotton mouth. "We do not want to titillate
kids with the marijuana association," he maintains.

Currently Mr. Hart says he is selling about 7,000 cases a month. He
expects that to rise to more than 10,000 cases a month by the fourth
quarter, hitting his maximum capacity.

Meanwhile, Ketchum's Mr. St. James is dreaming up ideas for future
Kentucky Hemp ads. Come September, he hopes to run ads showing beer
bottles in a clear plastic bag like those used to transport marijuana;
beer bottles in a planter under a lamp like those used to grow pot
indoors, and a beer clasped in a "roach" clip, a tweezer-like device
used to hold marijuana cigarettes.

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

Arundel Revises Seizure Policy ('The Baltimore Sun' Says That,
In The Wake Of Two Rulings By The Court Of Special Appeals
On Forfeiture Cases In Other Maryland Counties, That Cars Not Being Used
To Commit A Crime Should Not Be Forfeited, Chief Larry W. Tolliver
Ordered Anne Arundel County Police Yesterday To Stop Seizing Cars
In Simple Drug Possession Cases, A Rollback Of His Allegedly Popular
'Zero Tolerance' For Drug Trafficking)

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:59:27 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MD: Arundel Revises Seizure Policy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.sunspot.net/
Author: Tanya Jones, Sun Staff

ARUNDEL REVISES SEIZURE POLICY

Cars won't be confiscated in simple drug cases; `Zero tolerance' defended

Chief Larry W. Tolliver ordered Anne Arundel County Police yesterday to stop
seizing cars in simple drug possession cases, a rollback of his popular and
controversial "zero tolerance" for drug trafficking.

The move marked the first shift in a vigorous and highly publicized policy
that has evoked praise from residents tired of drug activity and criticism
from those who believe zero tolerance is overbearing and a threat to
constitutional protections of due process.

In a written directive issued in March 1997, Tolliver told officers to seize
vehicles if anyone inside had drugs or if drugs were found in the vehicle,
regardless of who owned the vehicle, or whether the owner knew of the drugs.

In one case that same month, county police seized a Ford Mustang belonging
to a woman whose daughter was arrested for altering prescriptions for the
painkiller Percocet. The daughter was arrested while driving the car. The
State's Attorney Office took two weeks to return the car to the mother, who
had to pay a $250 fee.

The seizure policy -- plus added narcotics officers -- led to a dramatic
jump in the number of cars, trucks and other vehicles taken from people
arrested for crimes ranging from drug possession to distribution.

Since January of this year, the department has seized 772 vehicles, nearly
three times the number for the same period last year.

Nearly two months ago, however, the county attorney asked Tolliver to review
department policy based on two rulings by the Court of Special Appeals on
forfeiture cases in other counties. Supervisors have been reviewing the
policy and state law since then, and Tolliver said he agreed to the change
after meeting Monday with County Attorney Philip F. Scheibe and Deputy
County Attorney David A. Plymyer.

The chief downplayed the effect of the changes he ordered.

"This is not going to hamper what we're doing as far as zero tolerance,"
said Tolliver, who was named chief in January 1997. "If you're caught with a
marijuana cigarette, you're going to be arrested, and we will continue to do
that. We will not back off."

In his memo to all personnel yesterday, the chief said police should
continue to seize cars used to distribute drugs or that have been bought
with drug money.

"I expect that each officer will continue to ferret out those persons
involved in drug activity," he wrote.

Guidelines for seizures in other cases will be provided in a few days,
according to the memo.

Scheibe provided examples of how the seizure policy should now be applied.

In a case where a person is found with 1 ounce of marijuana, but has no
prior drug violations and is not arrested in a known drug trafficking area,
the car he or she is in probably should not be seized, Scheibe said.
However, when a person is caught with 5 ounces of marijuana, thousands of
dollars in cash and is in a known drug trafficking area, that car would
likely be seized, he said.

After seizing a car, police usually recommend that the county State's
Attorney office seek forfeiture of the car, meaning the owner would
permanently lose it. If the car is not recommended for forfeiture, owners
typically wait three to seven days to get the car back, according to State's
Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.

In a January 1997 ruling the Court of Special Appeals reversed the
forfeiture of a car in a 1994 Dorchester County case in which the defendant
was driving his mother's BMW when police arrested him on an outstanding
warrant and found cocaine and marijuana in his pocket and more than $4,000
on him and in the car.

In a January 1998 ruling, the same court agreed with a Howard County Circuit
Court ruling that forfeiture was not warranted in a 1996 case in which
police found a crack pipe in a Corvette and crack and heroine in the
driver's pocket.

In both cases, the court said the cars were not being used to commit a crime
and, therefore, should not be forfeited.

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

Louisiana Boys' Prison Is Epitome Of Neglect And Abuse (Though It Doesn't Say
What Proportion Of Inmates Are Drug Offenders, A Lengthy 'New York Times'
Article Uses The Example Of The Tallulah Correctional Center For Youth
In Louisiana To Show How Juvenile Prisons Around The United States
Are Getting Both More Numerous And More Inhumane)

Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 09:52:10 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NYT: Louisiana Boys' Prison is Epitome of Neglect and Abuse
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Author: Fox Butterfield

LOUISIANA BOYS' PRISON IS EPITOME OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE

TALLULAH, La. -- Here in the middle of the impoverished Mississippi Delta
is a juvenile prison so rife with brutality, cronyism and neglect that many
legal experts say it is the worst in the nation.

The prison, the Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth, opened just four
years ago where a sawmill and cotton fields once stood. Behind rows of
razor wire, it houses 620 boys and young men, age 11 to 20, in stifling
corrugated-iron barracks jammed with bunks.

From the run-down homes and bars on the road that runs by it, Tallulah
appears unexceptional, one new cookie-cutter prison among scores built in
the United States this decade. But inside, inmates regularly appear at the
infirmary with black eyes, broken noses or jaws or perforated eardrums
from beatings by the poorly paid, poorly trained guards or from fights
with other boys.

Meals are so meager that many boys lose weight. Clothing is so scarce that
boys fight over shirts and shoes. Almost all of the teachers are
uncertified, instruction amounts to as little as an hour a day, and until
recently there were no books.

Up to a fourth of the inmates are mentally ill or retarded, but a
psychiatrist visits only one day a week. There is no therapy. Emotionally
disturbed boys who cannot follow guards' orders are locked in isolation
cells for weeks at a time or have their sentences arbitrarily extended.

These conditions, which are described in public documents and were
recounted by inmates and prison officials during a reporter's visit to
Tallulah, are extreme, a testament to Louisiana's well-documented violent
history and notoriously brutal prison system.

But what has happened at Tallulah is more than just the story of one bad
prison. Corrections officials say the forces that converged to create
Tallulah -- the incarceration of more and more mentally ill adolescents, a
rush by politicians to build new prisons while neglecting education and
psychiatric services, and states' handing responsibility for juveniles to
private prison companies -- have caused the deterioration of juvenile
prisons across the country.

Earl Dunlap, president of the National Juvenile Detention Association,
which represents the heads of the nation's juvenile jails, said, "The
issues of violence against offenders, lack of adequate education and mental
health, of crowding and of poorly paid and poorly trained staff are the
norm rather than the exception."

Recognizing the problem, the U.S. Justice Department has begun a series of
investigations into state juvenile systems, including not only Louisiana's
but also those of Kentucky, Puerto Rico and Georgia. At the same time,
private juvenile prisons in Colorado, Texas and South Carolina have been
successfully sued by individuals and groups or forced to give up their
licenses.

On July 9, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, an offshoot of the
Southern Poverty Law Center, filed suit against Tallulah in U.S. District
Court to stop the brutality and neglect.

In the investigations by the Justice Department, some of the harshest
criticism has been leveled at Georgia. The department threatened to take
over the state's juvenile system, charging a "pattern of egregious
conditions violating the federal rights of youth," including the use of
pepper spray to restrain mentally ill youths, a lack of textbooks, and
guards who routinely stripped young inmates and locked them in their cells
for days.

A surge in the inmate population forced Georgia's juvenile prison budget up
to $220 million from $80 million in just four years, but the money went to
building new prisons, with little left for education and psychiatric care.
"As we went through a period of rapid increase in juvenile crime and record
numbers of juvenile offenders," said Sherman Day, chairman of the Georgia
Department of Juvenile Justice, it was "much easier to get new facilities
from the Legislature than to get more programs."

After reacting defensively at first, Gov. Zell Miller moved quickly to
avert a takeover by agreeing to spend $10 million more this year to hire
teachers and medical workers and to increase guard salaries.

Louisiana, whose juvenile system is made up of Tallulah and three prisons
operated by the state, is the Justice Department's latest target. In
hundreds of pages of reports to a federal judge who oversees the state's
entire prison system under a 1971 consent decree, Justice Department
experts have depicted guards who routinely resort to beatings or pepper
spray as their only way to discipline inmates, and who pit inmates against
each other for sport.

In June, two years after the Justice Department began its investigation and
a year after it warned in its first public findings that Tallulah was "an
institution out of control," consultants for the department filed new
reports with the Judge Frank Polozola of U.S. District Court in Baton
Rouge, warning that despite some improvements, conditions had deteriorated
to "a particularly dangerous level."

Even a former warden at Louisiana's maximum-security prison, acting as a
consultant to Polozola, found conditions at Tallulah so serious that he
urged the judge to reject its request to add inmates.

"I do not make these recommendations because of any sympathy for these
offenders," former warden John Whitley wrote. "It shocks me to think" that
"these offenders and their problems are simply getting worse, and these
problems will be unleashed on the public when they are discharged from the
system."

THE PRIVATE PRISON

When the Profits Are the Priority

Some of the worst conditions in juvenile prisons can be found among the
growing number of privately operated prisons, whether those built
specifically for one state, like Tallulah, or ones that take juveniles from
across the country, like boot camps that have come under criticism in
Colorado and Arizona.

Only 5 percent of the nation's juvenile prisons are operated by private,
for-profit companies, Dunlap of the National Juvenile Detention Association
estimates. But as their numbers grow along with privately operated prisons
for adults, their regulation is becoming one of the most significant issues
in corrections. State corrections departments find themselves having to
police contractors who perform functions once the province of government,
from psychiatric care to discipline.

In April, Colorado officials shut down a juvenile prison operated by
Rebound Corp. after a mentally ill 13-year-old's suicide led to an
investigation that uncovered repeated instances of physical and sexual
abuse. The for-profit prison housed adolescent offenders from six states.

Both Arizona and California authorities are investigating a privately
operated boot camp in Arizona that California paid to take hundreds of
offenders. A 16-year-old boy died there, and authorities suspect the cause
was abuse by guards and poor medical care. California announced July 8 that
it was removing its juveniles from the camp.

And recently Arkansas canceled the contract of Associated Marine
Institutes, a company based in Florida, to run one juvenile institution,
following questions of financial control and accusations of abuse.

A series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions and state laws have long mandated
a higher standard for juvenile prisons than for adult prisons. There is
supposed to be more schooling, medical care and security because the young
inmates have been adjudged delinquent, rather than convicted of crimes like
adults, and so are held for rehabilitation instead of punishment.

But what has made problems worse here is that Tallulah, to earn a profit,
has scrimped on money for education and mental health treatment in a state
that already spends very little in those areas.

"It's incredibly perverse," said David Utter, director of the Juvenile
Justice Project of Louisiana. "They have this place that creates all these
injuries and they have all these kids with mental disorders, and then they
save money by not treating them."

Bill Roberts, the lawyer for Tallulah's owner, Trans-American Development
Associates, said that some of the Justice Department's demands, like hiring
more psychiatrists, are "unrealistic." The state is to blame for the
problems, he said, because "our place was not designed to take that kind of
inmate."

Still, Roberts said, "There has been a drastic improvement" in reducing
brutality by guards. As for fights between the inmates, he said, "Juveniles
are a little bit different from adults. You are never going to stop all
fights between boys."

In papers filed with Polozola responding to the Justice Department experts
and Whitley, the state attorney general's office disputed allegations of
brutality and of high numbers of retarded and mentally ill inmates at
Tallulah.

In a recent interview, Cheney Joseph, executive counsel to Gov. Mike
Foster, warned there were limits to what Louisiana was willing to do.
"There are certain situations the Department of Justice would like us to
take care of," he said, "that may not be financially feasible and may not
be required by federal law."

THE ENTREPRENEURS

An Idea Born of Patronage

The idea for a prison here was put forward in 1992 by James R. Brown, a
Tallulah businessman whose father was an influential state senator.

One of the poorest areas in a poor state, Tallulah wanted jobs, and like
other struggling cities across the country it saw the nation's
prison-building spree as its best hope.

Louisiana needed a new juvenile prison because the number of young people
being incarcerated was rising steeply; within a few years it more than
doubled. Adding to the number, mental health experts say, were hundreds of
juveniles who had no place else to go because of massive cuts in
psychiatric services outside of jail. Mental health authorities estimate
that 20 percent of juveniles incarcerated nationally have serious mental
illnesses.

To help win a no-bid contract to operate a prison, the company Brown formed
included two close friends of Gov. Edwin Edwards -- George Fischer and
Verdi Adam -- according to a businessman involved in the venture's early
stages, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

None of the men had any particular qualification to run a prison. Verdi was
a former chief engineer of the state Highway Department. Fischer had been
the governor's campaign manager, cabinet officer and occasional business
partner.

Tallulah opened in 1994, and the town of 10,000 got what it hoped for. The
prison became its largest employer and taxpayer.

From the beginning, the company formed by Brown, Trans-American, pursued a
strategy of maximizing its profit from the fixed amount it received from
the state for each inmate (in 1997, $24,448). The plan was to keep wages
and services at a minimum while taking in as many inmates as possible,
according to the businessman involved in the early stages.

For-profit prisons often try to economize. But the best-run companies have
come to recognize that operating with too small or poorly trained a staff
can spell trouble, and experts say state officials must pay close attention
to the level of services being provided.

"Ultimately, the responsibility belongs to the state," said Charles Thomas,
director of the Private Corrections Project at the University of Florida.

State officials say they monitored conditions at Tallulah and first
reported many of the problems there. But in fiscal year 1996-97, according
to the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Tallulah still
listed no money for recreation, treatment or planning inmates' return to
society. Twenty-nine percent of the budget went to construction loans.

By comparison, 45 percent of the $32,200 a year that California spends on
each juvenile goes to programs and caseworkers, and none to construction.
Nationally, construction costs average 7 percent of juvenile prison
budgets, Dunlap said.

"That means either that Tallulah's construction costs are terribly
inflated, or the services they are providing are extraordinarily low," he
said.

THE INSIDE

Hot, Crowded, Spartan, Neglectful

Part of Tallulah is a boot camp, with boys crammed so tightly in barracks
that there is room only for double bunks, a television set and a few steel
tables. Showers and urinals are open to the room, allowing boys who have
been incarcerated for sexual assault to attack other inmates, according to
a report in June by a Justice Department consultant, Dr. Bernard Hudson.

The only space for the few books that have recently been imported to try to
improve education is a makeshift shelf on top of the urinals. Among the
aging volumes that a visitor saw were "Inside the Third Reich," "The Short
Stories of Henry James" and "Heidi."

From their wakeup call at 5:30 a.m., the inmates, in white T-shirts and
loose green pants, spend almost all their time confined to the barracks.
They leave the barracks only for marching drills, one to three hours a day
of class and an occasional game of basketball. There is little
ventilation, and temperatures in Louisiana's long summers hover
permanently in the 90s.

The result, several boys told a visitor, is that some of them deliberately
start trouble in order to be disciplined and sent to the other section of
Tallulah, maximum-security cells that are air-conditioned.

Guards put inmates in solitary confinement so commonly that in one week in
May more than a quarter of all the boys spent at least a day in "lockdown,"
said Nancy Ray, another Justice Department expert. The average stay in
solitary is five to six weeks; some boys are kept indefinitely. While in
the tiny cells, the boys are stripped of all possessions and lie on worn,
thin mattresses resting on concrete blocks.

The crowding, heat and isolation are hardest on the 25 percent of the boys
who are mentally ill or retarded, said Dr. Hudson, a psychiatrist, tending
to increase their depression or psychosis.

Although Tallulah has made some improvements in its treatment of the
emotionally disturbed over the past year, Hudson said, it remains "grossly
inadequate."

The prison still does not properly screen new arrivals for mental illness
or retardation, he reported. The part-time doctor and psychiatrist are
there so infrequently that they have never met, Hudson said. Powerful
anti-psychotic medications are not monitored. Medical charts often cannot
be found.

And the infirmary is often closed because of a shortage of guards, whose
pay is so low -- $5.77 an hour -- that there has been 100 percent turnover
in the staff in the past year, the Justice Department experts said.

Other juvenile prisons that have come under investigation have also been
criticized for poor psychiatric treatment. But at Tallulah this neglect has
been compounded by everyday violence.

All these troubles are illustrated in the case of one former inmate, Travis
M., a slight 16-year-old who is mentally retarded and was also treated with
drugs for hallucinations.

Sometimes, Travis said in an interview after his release, guards hit him
because his medication made him sleepy and he did not stand to attention
when ordered. Sometimes they "snuck" him at night as he slept in his bunk,
knocking him to the cement floor. Sometimes they kicked him while he was
naked in the shower, telling him simply, "You owe me some licks."

Travis was originally sentenced by a judge to 90 days for shoplifting and
stealing a bicycle. But every time he failed to stand for a guard or even
called his grandmother to complain, officials at Tallulah put him in
solitary and added to his sentence.

After 15 months, a judge finally ordered him released so he could get
medical treatment. His eardrum had been perforated in a beating by a guard,
he has large scars on his arms, legs and face and his nose was so badly
broken that he speaks in a wheeze. A lawyer is scheduled to file suit
against Tallulah on behalf of Travis.

One reason these abuses have continued, Utter said, is that juveniles in
Louisiana, as in a number of states, often get poor legal representation.
One mentally ill boy from Eunice was sentenced without a lawyer, or even a
trial. Poorly paid public defenders seldom visit their clients after
sentencing, Utter said, and so are unaware of conditions at places like
Tallulah.

Another reason is that almost all Tallulah's inmates are from poor families
and 82 percent are black, Utter noted, a problem that afflicts prisons
nationwide to one degree or another. "They are disenfranchised and no one
cares about them," he said.

THE NEW GUARD

A Retreat From Brutality

In September, Tallulah hired as its new warden David Bonnette, a 25-year
veteran of Angola State Penitentiary who started there as a guard and rose
to assistant superintendent. A muscular, tobacco-chewing man with his
initials tattooed on a forearm, Bonnette brought several Angola colleagues
with him to impose better discipline.

"When I got here, there were a lot of perforated eardrums," he said.
"Actually, it seemed like everybody had a perforated eardrum, or a broken
nose." When boys wrote complaints, he said, guards put the forms in a box
and pulled out ones to investigate at random. Some were labeled, "Never to
be investigated."

But allegations of abuse by guards dropped to 52 a month this spring, from
more than 100 a month last summer, Bonnette said, as he has tried to carry
out a new state policy of zero tolerance for brutality. Fights between boys
have declined to 33 a month, from 129, he said.

In June, however, Ms. Ray, the Justice Department consultant, reported that
there had been a recent increase in "youth defiance and disobedience," with
the boys angry about Tallulah's "exceptionally high" use of isolation
cells.

Many guards have also become restive, the Justice Department experts found,
a result of poor pay and new restrictions on the use of force.

One guard who said he quit for those reasons said in an interview, "The
inmates are running the asylum now. You're not supposed to touch the kids,
but how are we supposed to control them without force?" He has relatives
working at Tallulah and so insisted on not being identified.

The frustration boiled over last week, during a tour by Sen. Paul
Wellstone, D-Minn., who is drafting legislation that would require
psychiatric care for all incarcerated juveniles who need it. Despite
intense security, a group of inmates climbed on a roof and shouted their
complaints at Wellstone, who was accompanied by Richard Stalder, the
secretary of Louisiana's Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Stalder said he planned to create a special unit for mentally ill juvenile
offenders. One likely candidate to run it, he said, is Trans-American --
the company that operates Tallulah.

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

This Is Your Brain On Heroin (An Anti-Prohibition Script
You're Not Likely To See Until The Revolution Is Televised)

Subj: anti prohibition advertising
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 08:46:19 +1000

How about this for a response ad to the "this is your brain on heroin ad"...

***

CUT TO SCENE

(Woman holding frying pan and egg in a kitchen)

WOMAN: This is your brain on heroin

(hold egg up - does nothing to it)

WOMAN: You can see it's fine. Heroin does not cause brain damage, unlike
alcohol.

(pause)

WOMAN: so you're fine.... that is until the government finds out your not
using the drugs it wants you to, then they send you to jail. Let me tell
you, if jail doesn't destroy your mind, nothing will.

(smashes egg, lets it dribble down)

WOMAN: but it doesn't stop there, your family is made to feel like
failures, pariahs, people will spit on them in the street.

(smashes plates)

WOMAN: you've lost your family, lost your freedom and you're close to
loosing your mind, down goes self respect, confidence, optimism.

(smashes just about everything else)

WOMAN: and then, thanks to our swanky new forfeiture laws

(kitchen disappears, leaves woman standing, penniless in a field miles
from anywhere)

WOMAN: you're left with nothing. Your house, car, stereo, fridge all gone.
But count yourself lucky - you've been saved from yourself.

VOICEOVER: Brought to you by the partnership for a drug free america
(except alcohol and tobacco and prescription), proudly f#cking you over for
30 years.

***

Anonymous

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

Just Say $1 Billion ('New York Times' Columnist Frank Rich
Ponders The US Government's New Anti-Drug Advertising Campaign,
Asking, 'If All The Merchandising Might Of Hollywood Couldn't Make America's
Teen-Agers Buy 'Godzilla,' Why Does Anyone Think That A Five-Year, $1 Billion
Government Ad Campaign Is Going To Make Kids Swear Off Drugs? - And Notes
The Industry Publication 'Brandweek' Has Challenged The Academic Studies
The Partnership For A Drug-Free America Trots Out To Defend The Efficacy
Of Its Ads, While 'Advertising Age' Says Most Of The First $90 Million
Installment Will Go To Disney Productions)

From: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
To: "Peter McWilliams" (peter@mcwilliams.com)
Subject: DPFCA: Wow! From Today's New York Times
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 10:44:15 +0100
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

July 15, 1998

JOURNAL / By FRANK RICH

Just Say $1 Billion

If all the merchandising might of Hollywood couldn't make America's
teen-agers buy "Godzilla," why does anyone think that a five-year, $1
billion government ad campaign is going to make kids swear off drugs?

Especially ads like these. No sooner was this new exercise in
bipartisan idiocy announced by Bill Clinton and seconded by Newt Gingrich
last week than the premiere commercial of the campaign hit the networks.

In this elegantly shot display of high-concept Madison Avenue
creativity, a young woman armed with a skillet angrily smashes an egg and
then an entire kitchen to dramatize the destructiveness of heroin. The ad is
an oh-so-hip variation on a Golden Oldie of Reagan-era anti-drug
advertising -- remember that fried egg once labeled "your brain on
drugs"? -- and it sends bizarrely mixed messages. The woman looks like
Winona Ryder; she's wearing a tight tank top; there are no visible track
marks on her junkie-thin arms; and the kitchen representing her drug-induced
hell is echt Pottery Barn, if not Williams-Sonoma.

Far from discouraging teen-agers from drug use, our anti-heroin
heroine -- so sexy when she gets mad -- may inspire some of them to seek out
a vixen like her for a date.

The mixed messages hardly end there.

Not only will these ads coexist on TV with those pushing beer and
pharmaceutical panaceas but with a commercial culture that in general
subliminally sells intoxication. "A lot of advertising equates products with
drug experiences," says Thomas Frank, the author of "The Conquest of Cool,"
a scintillating history of the modern ad biz. Whether it's a soft drink like
Fruitopia trading on psychedelic packaging or a stylish new car promising
its owner escape and speed or a Nike shoe bestowing enhanced physical
powers, the ubiquitous message of the advertising medium is Get High.

Though the new anti-drug campaign is the largest government
merchandising effort in history, it's hard to imagine how it will be heard
above the din surrounding it. Even at almost $400 million a year (half
public funds, half pro bono freebies from media participants), it's still a
far smaller campaign than McDonald's current and as yet inconclusive effort
to win back its youthful defectors. Meanwhile, the industry publication
Brandweek has challenged the methods of academic studies that the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America trots out to defend the efficacy of
anti-drug advertising. It calls the research "flimsy," adding that its
findings "would hardly justify launching a new stain remover, let alone a
program meant to help keep children sober and alive."

While partisans on all sides of the drug wars have condemned the new
ad campaign as wasteful, arguing that the money might be spent better on
either more law enforcement or on more after-school programs and drug
treatment, the public has been mum. This only encourages Washington to think
of advertising as the new instant remedy to fool voters into believing that
it is addressing intractable problems; Speaker Gingrich, proposing a new
tobacco bill to replace John McCain's, has already suggested that
anti-smoking ads be its centerpiece. What's next? An ad campaign to
brainwash Americans into believing that they can trust their H.M.O.'s? It's
enough to make you pine for the usual government gimmick of appointing
blue-ribbon commissions to finesse hard policy questions, whether about AIDS
or women in the military or Social Security. These commissions don't do
anything either, but at least they don't cost us a billion bucks.

Where is all that money going? To advertising agencies and their
media outlets, from newspapers to MTV. Advertising Age reports that most of
the first $90 million installment will go -- where else? -- to Disney. The
mouse will throw in some bonus public service announcements on ABC, a Web
site and, who knows, maybe an Epcot ride simulating the OD experience, in ex
change for a $50 million "multimedia, cross-property package." The idea of
Disney being on the Government dole is amusing enough, but it may also
introduce a new economic model to the long and tortured history of the drug
war. Where once we had companies that laundered drug money, now we have
corporations synergizing anti-drug money. Should its "Armageddon" not cross
the line into profit, Disney's share of this Washington bonanza may be just
the fix it needs to help it feel no pain.

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

Cynical Or Silly, These Ads Will Fry Your Brain ('San Jose Mercury News'
Columnist Jim Trotter Thinks The Government's New $2 Billion Drug-War
Advertising Blitz Is A Waste Of Money, And Quotes Lawrence Wallack,
A Professor Of Public Health At The University Of California At Berkeley:
'It's The Kind Of Strategy That Makes Everyone Feel Like Something
Is Being Done On The Problem - Everybody Is Happy, But It Is Just Not
Sufficient To Have An Impact On The Problem')

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 01:02:53 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Column: Cynical Or Silly, These Ads Will Fry Your Brain
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: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Author: Jim Trotter, Mercury News Staff Columnist

CYNICAL OR SILLY, THESE ADS WILL FRY YOUR BRAIN

BEING in the newspaper business, I certainly have no objections to
advertising. I understand the need for radio and TV spots. I'm even
tolerant toward those occasional media battles designed to win our hearts
and minds. On the other hand, I find two of the current campaigns fairly
despicable, and a huge waste of money, respectively. In the first, taken
from radio and TV, exasperated voices intone, ``Working people get stuck
paying all the taxes.''

``I think Washington's answer to everything is new taxes.''

``They're just basically milking that cash cow one more time. There's got
to be some other way.''

``Big taxes and government just aren't the way to go. The government is too
much involved in our lives as it is.''

``When are they going to get the message?''

``I don't know.'' End spot.

This message, playing throughout the Bay Area, is, pick one:

A. Newt Gingrich, recounting the glory days of the ``Contract With America.''

B. Testimony from the IRS reform bill hearings.

C. The tobacco industry discovering a new toehold.

D. President Reagan, recalling a nightmare involving Tip O'Neill and a
wheelbarrow full of tax bills.

OK, next spot. This ad is running in newspapers and on TV. In the newspaper
version, an apparently irritated young woman is holding a skillet with
which she has smashed an egg. On TV, being TV, the woman is swinging the
skillet wildly, smashing the egg, and quite possibly the toast and orange
marmalade.

THE message from this advertisement is:

A. Damn! Out of coffee again!

B. The little dog laughed to see such sport and the dish ran away with the
spoon.

C. This is what happens to your brain on drugs.

If you answered C. to both questions, go to the front of the class.

Only at the end of the ``big government'' spot do we hear that it has been
brought to us courtesy of the nation's largest tobacco companies, which
have spent millions in recent weeks to recast the proposed national
settlement on tobacco-related health costs as a regressive tax on working
families.

Since working-class families and the poor suffer disproportionately from
tobacco-related illnesses, this campaign seems particularly cynical and
disingenuous. But casting a catastrophic national health problem as ``big
government tax and spend'' appears to be working. Just witness the recent
death of the McCain bill in the U.S. Senate.

The campaign has been running over several months in other states, but only
recently in California, said a spokesman for BSMG Worldwide, the ad agency
that is handling the tobacco industry's perspective.

I find it reprehensible.

THE anti-drug spot, meanwhile, was the kickoff of a new $2 billion
advertising campaign President Clinton said is ``designed to knock America
upside the head and get America's attention.''

And it would be wonderful indeed to find an effective way to turn young
people away from drugs. But the first ad, at least, is very similar to the
``this is your brain on drugs'' campaign of a few years ago. The only
difference I see is that this time around, the egg is smashed, rather than
fried.

The previous campaign became the butt of jokes and T-shirt slogans from
coast to coast. Other than that, young people paid little attention.

``It's the kind of strategy that makes everyone feel like something is
being done on the problem,'' said Lawrence Wallack, a professor of public
health at the University of California-Berkeley. ``Everybody is happy, but
it is just not sufficient to have an impact on the problem.''

Indeed, you just have to wonder how much counseling and treatment you could
buy for $2 billion. Or how many school music and arts programs you could
restore, or how many after-school and summer recreation programs you could
fund. Two billion dollars should translate into many programs that could
actually make a difference.

Enough with the eggs already!

Write Jim Trotter at the San Jose Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park Drive, San
Jose, Calif. 95190; call (408) 920-5024 or send e-mail to
jtrotter@sjmercury.com .

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

Dutch Erupt At Speech By American Envoy - US Drug Czar Wrongly Cited
Higher Crime Rate In Holland ('The San Francisco Chronicle'
Says The Netherlands Reacted Angrily Yesterday To US Drug Czar
General Barry McCaffrey's Criticisms Of Dutch Drug Policies
And His Incorrect Claim That The Netherlands Has Much Higher Rates
Of Murder And Other Crime Than The United States)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 08:44:24 -0700 (PDT)
To: dpfca@drugsense.org, DPFT-L@TAMU.EDU
From: "Tom O'Connell" (tjeffoc@sirius.com)
Subject: DPFCA: MAP: McCaffrey Abroad
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

A quick check of the NYT & Wash Post suggests that so far, the SF Chronicle
may be the only US paper running this story. I suggest we spread it around
to our local news sources.

The initial claim (later abandoned) that liberal Dutch drug enforcement
practices endanger American children is eerily reminiscent of accusations
by Southern slave owners that abolitionist agitation in the North
endangered Southern women and children.

Tom O'Connell

***

Source:San Francisco Chronicle
PubDate:July 15, 1998
Page: A8

Dutch Erupt At Speech by American Envoy
U.S. drug czar wrongly cited higher crime rate in Holland

Chronicle News Services

Amsterdam

The Netherlands reacted angrily yesterday to critical remarks by U.S. drug
czar General Barry McCaffrey in which he blasted liberal Dutch narcotics
policies and incorrectly claimed that the Netherlands has much higher rates
of murder and other crime than the United States.

The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States. The per
capita crime rates are much higher than the United States," McCaffrey said
at a press briefing yesterday in Stockholm. He is due to travel to the
Netherlands tomorrow, but he may receive a cool reception after his wildly
inaccurate remarks.

He said the United States had 8.22 murders per 100,000 people in 1995
compared with 17.58 in the Netherlands and that overall per capita crime
rates in the United States were 5,278 per 100,000 compared with 7,928 in
the Netherlands.

"The overall crime rate in Holland is probably 40 percent higher than the
United States," said McCaffrey. That's drugs."

The Dutch government's Central Planning Bureau poured scorn on McCaffrey's
figures. Official data put the Dutch murder rate at 1.8 per 100,000 people
in 1996, up from 1.5 at the start of the decade. The Dutch say the U.S.
rate is 9.3 per 100,000.

"The figure (McCaffrey is using) is not right. He is adding in attempted
murders," a planning bureau spokesman said.

The Netherlands, a front-runner in drug tolerance, recently started giving
free heroin to hard-core addicts through a health ministry project.

Dutch law permits possession of up to five grams of light drugs for
personal consumption. Sale and consumption of hard drugs are not legally
permitted, but authorities have developed a pragmatic approach, putting the
emphasis on stopping drug-trafficking and helping addicts, who are treated
as medical cases and not as criminals.

A spokesman for McCaffrey, Robert Housman, said the drug czar would warn
Dutch authorities not to "put American children ... at risk" by allowing
its liberal drugs policies to be promoted abroad.

But three hours later, Housman telephoned news agencies to say the
statement "no longer stands" because it did not reflect McCaffrey's views.

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

US Drug Czar Seeks To Dampen Dutch Ire (A Brief 'Chicago Tribune' Version)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 10:30:10 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: U.S. Drug Czar Seeks to Dampen Dutch Ire
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998

U.S. DRUG CZAR SEEKS TO DAMPEN DUTCH IRE

NETHERLANDS -- U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey sought Tuesday to ease Dutch
anger over his criticism of the Netherlands' permissive drug laws, saying
he has "high respect" for the country despite differences over narcotics
policy.

McCaffrey, a retired general, is on an eight-day tour to examine European
drug treatment and prevention programs.

Last week, McCaffrey told CNN the Dutch policy was an "unmitigated
disaster" that had contributed to crime in the Netherlands -- comments that
prompted a sharp response from the Netherlands' ambassador to the U.S.,
Joris M. Vos.

On Tuesday, McCaffrey's spokesman, Robert Housman, issued a statement
expressing concern the Dutch government was being "pulled into an internal
political debate" in the United States by those who support decriminalizing
drugs.

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

US Drug Czar Eases Criticism Of Dutch (An Even Briefer
Illinois 'Daily Herald' Version)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 10:31:20 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: U.S. Drug Czar Eases Criticism of Dutch
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Contact: fencepost@dailyherald.com
Website: http://www.dailyherald.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Author: Robert C. Herguth

U.S. DRUG CZAR EASES CRITICISM OF DUTCH

VIENNA, Austria - U.S. drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey sought Tuesday to ease
Dutch anger over his criticism of the Netherlands' permissive drug laws,
saying he has "high respect" for the country despite differences over
narcotics policy. He had strongly criticized Dutch policy of allowing
marijuana and other drug use for therapeutic and recreational purposes.

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

More Slime From ONDCP (A List Subscriber Dogs US Drug Czar
General Barry McCaffrey's Missteps Through Europe, Quoting Excerpts From
'The Washington Post,' 'Washington Times,' 'Chicago Tribune'
And 'San Francisco Examiner')

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 18:50:34 GMT
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com)
Subject: More slime from ONDCP

As the Dutch dust-up continues to escalate, today's news brings:

* This lead from the Washington Times (July 15, p.A4) -- "...McCaffrey
rejected a rebuke from the Netherlands for calling liberal Dutch drug
policies a crime-ridden 'disaster' and pledged to repeat the charge --
backed with evidence -- in Amsterdam. In an unusual diplomatic showdown
planned for tomorrow, the retired Army general said he will jet into the
Netherlands with new Interpol drug and crime statistics to declare that
nation's drug policies a failure."

* Also from the Wash. Times -- McCaffrey spokesman James McDonough,
responding to a Dutch official who pointed out that the drug czar had used
the wrong number, _attempted_ homicide, instead of homicide, in comparing
crime stats between the U.S. and Netherlands, says: "Let's say she's right.
What you are left with is that they are a much more violent society and
more inept [at murder], and that's not much to brag about."

* Today's Chicago Tribune and SF Examiner both quote from a statement
issued by stand-in McCaffrey spokesman Robert Housman, which was later
retracted because it was unauthorized. The statement said something to the
effect that the Dutch were being used as a tool in the domestic U.S. drug
debate, and that Dutch ideas about drug policy threaten American kids. Here
are the quick references from each paper:

	-- SF Examiner: A spokesman for McCaffrey, Robert Housman, said
	the drug czar would warn Dutch authorities not to "put American
	children ... at risk" by allowing its liberal drug policies to be
	promoted abroad. But three hours later, Housman telephoned news
	agencies to say the statement "no longer stands" because it did
	not reflect McCaffrey's views.

	-- Chicago Tribune: On Tuesday, McCaffrey's spokesman, Robert
	Housman, issued a statement expressing concern the Dutch
	government was being "pulled into an internal political debate"
	in the United States by those who support decriminalizing drugs.

And finally, from misc. sources -- the Dutch embassy in Washington is none
too happy about McCaffrey's release of the letter of protest from its
ambassador. According to the embassy, the widely quoted letter was
confidential and private. McCaffrey's staff released it to international
press in Stockholm.

Rich...

-- dave fratello

***

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING:

"Let's say she's right. What you are left with is that they are a much more
violent society and more inept [at murder], and that's not much to brag
about."

-- McCaffrey spokesman James McDonough

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

McCaffrey Tries To Ease Dutch Anger On Visit
('The Orange County Register' Version)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 11:59:32 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: McCaffrey Tries To Ease Dutch Anger On Visit
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk:John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998

MCCAFFREY TRIES TO EASE DUTCH ANGER ON VISIT

U.S. drug czar Barry R.McCaffrey sought Tuesday to ease Dutch anger over
his criticism of the Netherlands' permissive drug laws, saying he has "high
respect" for the country despite differences over narcotics policy.

McCaffery, a retired general, visited the U.N. Drug Control Program in
Vienna, Austria, as part of a tour of European drug treatment and prevention
centers.

The visit has been overshadowed by the storm over his criticism of the
Netherlands for allowing marijuana and other drugs for therapeutic and
recreational purposes. He said it contributed to crime.

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

Dutch Disturbed By US Remarks On Lax Drug Laws
('The San Jose Mercury News' Version)

Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 09:47:02 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Dutch Disturbed by U.S. Remarks on Lax Drug Laws
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: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998

DUTCH DISTURBED BY U.S. REMARKS ON LAX DRUG LAWS

U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey sought Tuesday to ease Dutch anger over his
criticism of the Netherlands' permissive drug laws, saying he had ``high
respect'' for the country despite differences over narcotics policy.
McCaffrey, a retired general, visited the headquarters of the U.N. Drug
Control Program in Vienna, Austria, as part of an eight-day tour to examine
European drug-treatment and prevention programs.

But the visit has been overshadowed by McCaffrey's strong criticism of the
Dutch policy of allowing citizens to use marijuana and other drugs for
therapeutic and recreational purposes.

Last week, McCaffrey told CNN that the Dutch policy was an ``unmitigated
disaster'' that had contributed to crime in the Netherlands -- comments
that prompted a sharp response from the Netherlands' ambassador to the
United States, Joris Vos.

``I find the timing of your remarks, six days before your planned visit to
the Netherlands with a view to gaining firsthand knowledge'' of Dutch drug
policies, ``rather astonishing,'' Vos wrote McCaffrey. Tuesday, McCaffrey's
press secretary, Robert Housman, issued a statement that expressed concern
that the Dutch government was being ``pulled into an internal political
debate'' in the United States by those who support decriminalizing drugs.
Three hours later, Housman telephoned news agencies to say the statement
``no longer stands'' because it did not reflect McCaffrey's views.

He gave no further explanation.

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

US Chief Of Drug Effort Tries To Ease Dutch Anger ('The Associated Press'
Version In 'The Boston Globe')

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 19:02:21 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Austria: US Chief Of Drug Effort Tries To Ease Dutch Anger
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Author: Melissa Eddy, Associated Press

US CHIEF OF DRUG EFFORT TRIES TO EASE DUTCH ANGER

VIENNA - The US antidrug coordinator, Barry R. McCaffrey, tried yesterday to
ease Dutch anger at his criticism of the Netherlands' drug laws, saying he
has ''high respect'' for the country despite differences over narcotics
policy.

McCaffrey, a retired general, visited the headquarters of the UN Drug
Control Program in Vienna as part of an eight-day tour to examine European
drug treatment and prevention programs. The visit has been overshadowed by
McCaffrey's strong criticism of the Dutch policy of allowing citizens to use
marijuana and other drugs for therapeutic and recreational purposes.

Last week, McCaffrey told CNN the Dutch policy was an ''unmitigated
disaster'' that had contributed to crime in the Netherlands - comments that
prompted a sharp response from the Netherlands' ambassador to the United
States, Joris M. Vos.

''I find the timing of your remarks, six days before your planned visit to
the Netherlands with a view to gaining firsthand knowledge'' of Dutch drug
policies ''rather astonishing,'' Vos wrote McCaffrey.

McCaffrey's spokesman, Robert Housman, yesterday issued a statement that
expressed concern the Dutch government was being ''pulled into an internal
political debate'' in the United States by those who support decriminalizing
drugs.

''These legalizers put American children at risk,'' the statement said.
''The Dutch government should be renouncing them, not siding with them. ...
Every nation is free to set their own policies domestically. However, other
nations must respect the sovereignty of others and be keenly aware of the
impacts of their policies on the global community.''

Hours later, Housman phoned news agencies to say the statement ''no longer
stands'' because it did not reflect McCaffrey's views.

He gave no further explanation.

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

Drug Czar's Misstatements On Dutch Drug Policy Provoke Outrage From Dutch
Officials, US Drug Policy Experts (A Press Release From Common Sense For Drug
Policy, A Washington, DC-Based Public Education And Advocacy Organization)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 1998
Contact: Paul Lewin, 703-354-5694

Drug Czar's Misstatements on Dutch Drug Policy Provoke Outrage from Dutch
Officials, U.S. Drug Policy Experts

Gen. Barry McCaffrey's Eight-Day EuropeanTour of Anti-Drug Programs Dodged
by Protest over Inaccuracies

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Calling the Dutch drug policy an "unmitigated disaster"
and relying on erroneous statistics, White House Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey
embarked on an eight-day European tour of anti-drug programs amid criticism
from Dutch officials and U.S. drug policy reform groups who are urging him
to stick with the truth, not false facts.

"The fabrications the Drug Czar has put forward thus far are completely at
odds with the fact-finding nature of his mission in Europe," said Kevin
Zeese, President of Common Sense for Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based
public education and advocacy organization critical of the drug war.

"We wouldn't let a general this fuzzy with the facts lead an army into
battle. Yet we're allowing a general who has clearly lost his objectivity
to determine sweeping policy that impacts millions of Americans. We urge
McCaffrey to approach the remainder of his tour with a more open mind."

At the center of the controversy are statements McCaffrey made at Monday,
July 13 press conference in Stockholm. McCaffrey cited the murder rate in
the Netherlands as double that in the United States, and blamed drugs as a
major culprit. McCaffrey said the U.S. had 8.22 murders per 100,000 people
in 1995 compared to 17.58 murders in the Netherlands. The Dutch
government's Central Planning Bureau has disputed the claim, faulting
McCaffrey for including attempted murders in his figures. Accurate data put
the Dutch murder rate at 1.8 per 100,000. (see attached fact sheet)

The Stockholm conference came on the heels of similar misstatements
McCaffrey made on a July 9 CNN "Talkback Live" debate with Mike Gray,
author of Drug Crazy, a critically acclaimed account of the failures of the
drug war. McCaffrey called the Dutch drug policy an "unmitigated disaster"
that has resulted in escalating drug use among the Netherlands' youth - a
claim also at odds with the facts.

In a June 25th radio interview on the "Marc Cooper Show" (Pacifica KPFK in
Los Angeles), Jim McDonough, Counsel to the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, also claimed that the murder rate in the Netherlands was higher
than in the U.S. When asked by the Washington Times to respond to a Dutch
official's refutation of the claim, McDonough responded, "Let's say she's
right. What you're left with is that they are much more violent society and
more inept [at murder], and that's nothing to brag about."

"(McCaffrey's) statements show...that he is not coming totally unbiased,"
Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Birgitta Tazelaar told Reuters on
July 14. "We hope his opinions will...come more into line with the facts."

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

Are The Dutch Inept At Murder Compared To Americans? (List Subscribers
Inspired By An Egregiously Stupid Remark By McCaffrey Spokesman
James McDonough Research The Statistics On Attempted Murder Rates
In The Netherlands And The United States - The 1995 Dutch Rate Was 17.58
Per 100,000 While The US Rate Was 418.3 Per 100,000, More Than 20 Times
Higher)

From: "Barrington Daltrey" (basd@fastbk.com)
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 21:41:38 -0700
Subject: McCaffrey
Reply-to: basd@fastbk.com
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

Aren't these morons embarrassed to demonstrate that they have no logical
skills whatsoever? Wouldn't it be a really *good idea* to check the U.S.
"attempted murder" stat. before claiming the Dutch one proves it is a more
violent society? I find it pretty hard to believe all U.S. attempted murders are
*successful* so starting at 9.2 or whatever for successful ones, where do we
end up when we add in the unsuccessful ones?

Sure nice to know Americans lead the world in the skill level of their murderers,
if that is McCaffrey's point. Another technology we can export.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING:

"Let's say she's right. What you are left with is that they are a much more
violent society and more inept [at murder], and that's not much to brag
about."

-- McCaffrey spokesman James McDonough

***

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 09:04:53 -0500
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: James Hammett (james968@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu)
Subject: Re: More slime from ONDCP
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

At 10:50 PM -0500 on 7/15/98, you (Bob Ramsey) wrote:
>OK, so now we gotta dig up stats on something called "attempted murder,"
>which is rather squishy. Is it attempted murder is a victim complains, or
>if a D.A. presses charges?
>
> -Bob R

I remember a snippet that a Criminology prof made in one of his lectures,
it was something like:

Murder is basically an aggravated assault, where the victim dies.

or

Aggravated assault is a murder, where the victim survives.

(Or something like that). I think the Dutch statistics about attempted
murder, probably could be compared to aggravated assault.

later,
James

***

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 11:02:59 +0000
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "Adam J. Smith" (ajsmith@INTR.NET)
Subject: Dutch vs. US "attempted murder" stats
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

Friends,

As for Holland being more violent than the US, while the FBI doesn't keep
stats on "attempted murder" they do keep "aggravated assault" which they
define as assault, usually with a deadly weapon, which would be likely to
cause death or grievous injury. That sounds about like "attempted murder"
as the Dutch define it. Using those (arguably) analogous numbers, one
finds that while the Dutch (1995) rate was 17.58 per 100,000 the U.S. rate
(1995) was 418.3 per 100,000... More than 20 times higher.

Y'know... the drug warriors would save themselves a lot of grief if they
would only learn to say, "well, we made a mistake." But in a war, you
concede nothing... so much for McCaffrey's "cancer" metaphor.

- adam

Adam J. Smith, JD
Associate Director,
Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
2000 P Street, NW
Suite 615
Washington, DC 20036

V: (202) 293-8340
F: (202) 293-8344

http://www.drcnet.org

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org

http://www.druglibrary.org

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

US Drug Czar Criticizes Swiss Heroin Handouts ('Reuters' Says General
Barry McCaffrey Was In Zurich Wednesday And Dismissed
Switzerland's Heroin Distribution Program For Severe Addicts,
Lying Once Again When He Said, 'We Have Historical Experience
In The 1920s That It Did Not Work' - Plus List Subscriber Commentary)

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:44:52 GMT
To: MAP editor (editor@mapinc.org), drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com)
Subject: McC declines Dutch debate; moderates Swiss attacks
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

(I promise, I'll stop this soon, but tomorrow may prove irresistible....)

Highlights:

-- McCaffrey: "It's probably less helpful to continue a debate through the
press over the nature of Dutch drug policy than to have a face to face,
open evaluation of it."

and, despite the overall negative thrust of his comments on the Swiss:

-- ...[A] Swiss health official said ... McCaffrey had backed down from
some of his comments about addiction in Switzerland after his meetings.
Thomas Zeltner, head of the Swiss federal health bureau, said he told
McCaffrey that the maintenance program was limited to below 10 percent of
all chronic heroin users and that Swiss officials had produced data to show
that the U.S. adviser's conclusions about Swiss addiction rates were wrong.

-- translation of above: McCaffrey had suggested that the heroin
maintenance experiment had some causal role in the high Swiss addiction
rate; the honest spin was that the experiment was a _response_ to it; the
Swiss convinced McCaffrey to stop misleading people as he had... for now...

***

Reuters, Wednesday July 15 2:22 PM EDT

US drug czar criticizes Swiss heroin handouts

By Greg Calhoun

ZURICH (Reuters) - The top U.S. drug policy adviser on Wednesday criticized
Switzerland's heroin distribution program for severe addicts and said he
was anxious to see the results of the experiment several years from now.

"I'm very skeptical about the evidence of heroin maintenance. I think that
our own thinking is to strongly oppose this. We have historical experience
in the 1920s that it did not work," General Barry McCaffrey, the White
House drugs chief, told a news briefing in Zurich.

McCaffrey, who made headlines earlier in his five-country European tour by
slamming lenient Dutch drug policy, brushed aside a question from a Dutch
journalist on his critical comments.

"It's probably less helpful to continue a debate through the press over the
nature of Dutch drug policy than to have a face to face, open evaluation of
it," he said.

In Stockholm earlier this week, he blamed tolerant Dutch drug laws for much
higher rates of murder and other crimes than those in the United States.

The Netherlands on Tuesday rebuked McCaffrey for his statements, but said
he was welcome to learn from the Dutch experience.

McCaffrey had said there were 17.58 murders for every 100,000 inhabitants
in the Netherlands in 1995 compared with 8.22 in United States.

But the Dutch government's Central Planning Bureau put the rate at 1.8 per
100,000 in 1996 and said the U.S. adviser had apparently added in attempted
murders to his figures.

The Netherlands tolerates the small-scale production and sale of so-called
soft drugs but actively discourages the abuse of hard drugs.

After meetings with health and law enforcement officials in Zurich on
Wednesday, McCaffrey praised the overall approach to drug policy in
Switzerland and the cooperation between law enforcement and social
services.

But he said the practice of giving drugs to severe addicts was "like giving
alcohol to the alcoholic."

After a three-year study, the Swiss government decided earlier this year
that drug addicts who do not respond to other kinds of therapy should be
given state-provided heroin under medical supervision.

McCaffrey said that in his view such schemes provided the short-term
benefit of reducing crime, but ultimately led to an increase of drug use.

"Our own worry would be that in the longer term it will contribute to an
inexorable growth in the rate of heroin use and become a disfunctional
aspect of drug prevention in society at large," he said.

But a Swiss health official said after the news briefing that McCaffrey had
backed down from some of his comments about addiction in Switzerland after
his meetings.

Thomas Zeltner, head of the Swiss federal health bureau, said he told
McCaffrey that the maintenance program was limited to below 10 percent of
all chronic heroin users and that Swiss officials had produced data to show
that the U.S. adviser's conclusions about Swiss addiction rates were wrong.

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

McCaffrey's Resignation (One List Subscriber Thinks Lying
Will Get The US Drug Czar Fired - A Second Doesn't, And Writes Out
The Only Sort Of Message He Thinks Would Lead To McCaffrey's
Forced Resignation - An Admission That Current Policies Are A Failure,
And A Call For An End To The Drug War)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 19:34:39 -0700
To: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Gerald Sutliff (gsutliff@dnai.com)
Subject: McC's resignation, no longer whether
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

Dear Talkers,

By his recent antics he has made himself expendable. Who's taking bets on
date of his resignation?

vty, jerry sutliff

***

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 19:59:54 -0800
To: Gerald Sutliff (gsutliff@dnai.com)
From: chuck@mosquitonet.com (Charles Rollins Jr)
Subject: Re: McC's resignation, no longer whether
Cc: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

Jerry,

I have a feeling that McCaffrey, will be with us for awhile. Just take a
look at what some of his cohorts have done. I believe the only thing that
would cost him his job is the following, the truth shall set McCaffrey
free (from his job)

"My fellow Americans as a sane, rational, and compassionate people we
must change the current direction we are heading in drug policy. Our
children's future, the fate of the world, and the liberty we cherish so much
demands it. I propose the following

* The immediate legalization of cannabis for recreational, and medical use.
The War against this plant has caused more hell and heart ache than the
plant ever could.

* The immediate legalizing of industrial Hemp, industry be damned, our world
demands this.

* The immediate decriminalization of the use of soft drugs. The victims of
violent crime, who too often see the offender walk because their is no room
for them in prison demand this.

* The immediate change of policy nation wide, to treatment instead of
incarceration. Addicts should be allowed to make an informed choice of how
their treatment will be handled. All workable treatments options should be
available.

* The immediate implementation of a federally funded needle program. AIDS
and other infectious diseases have already claimed too many lives. We must
reduce infection by any means possible, all that is sacred demands it.

Tonight if you pray, pray to God for his forgiveness for what we have done
in the name of the "War On Drugs" .....Thank you"

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

Mexico Lets Former Police Director Testify In US
('The San Francisco Chronicle' Says Mexican Law Enforcement Officials
Have, In A Groundbreaking Collaboration, Allowed Former Police Director
Adrian Carrera Fuentes, The Jailed Former Head Of The Mexican Police,
To Travel Secretly To The United States To Testify About Drug Payoffs
At High Levels Of The Mexican Government)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 12:04:03 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US/Mexico: Mexico Let Former Police Director Testify in US
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 Chronicle (CA)
Page:A 8
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Author: Tim Golden New York Times

MEXICO LET FORMER POLICE DIRECTOR TESTIFY IN US

Collaboration On High-Ranking Drug Case A First

After years of blocking U.S. efforts to investigate corruption in their
ranks, Mexican law enforcement officials have allowed the jailed former
head of their national police to travel secretly to the United States to
testify about drug payoffs at high levels of the Mexican government.

In what U.S. officials described as a groundbreaking collaboration between
the two countries, former Police Director Adrian Carrera Fuentes told a
federal grand jury in Houston in June that he collected nearly $2 million
in drug bribes in 1993 and 1994 and turned the money over to a former
colleague)Mario Ruiz Massieu, two officials familiar with the testimony
said,

U.S. investigators said Carrera's account could be the evidence they have
long sought in what has been a frustrating effort to prosecute Ruiz
Massieu, who was arrested in New Jersey three years ago, or extradite him
to Mexico to face charges there.

Mexican officials took the case so seriously that they agreed to let
Carrera travel to the United States amid an angry dispute over the Clinton
administration's failure to alert them to a huge U.S. undercover operation
to stop money laundering by Mexican banks.

U.S. officials are hopeful that the testimony of Carrera and other new
witnesses may eventually prompt Ruiz Massieu to testify about allegations
of corruption in the inner circle of former President Carlos Salinas de
Gortari. The discovery of more than $130 million that was deposited in
Swiss banks by Salinas' elder brother, Raul, has led to corruption
investigations in Europe, the United States and Mexico.

But U.S. officials said Mexico's decision to allow Carrera to testify in
the United States was probably most important for the precedent it sets.

"This is extremely important to the relationship," one U.S. law enforcement
official said. "When you have as much cross-border crime as we and Mexico
have, the ability to share these witnesses is a significant breakthrough
for our ability to prosecute."

A lawyer for Ruiz Massieu, Cathy Fleming, said Carrera's reported testimony
contradicted previous sworn statements he had given. She said, "If he tells
the truth now, Mario will have no problems."

The two governments have paraded court witnesses and confidential
informants many times beore. But Carrera is the first witness to reach the
United States from the upper ranks of the Mexican government after taking
advantage of a new law that has modernized that country's justice system by
allowing prosecutors to protect cooperative witnesses and plea-bargain with
criminals.

His appearance is also notable because Mexican officials said they might
yet try again to extradite Ruiz Massieu to face drug or corruption charges
in Mexico. Ruiz Massieu's former secretary, Maria Dolores Mota, has also
begun to cooperate with the Mexican authorities after spending more than
three years as a fugitive.

Carrera, 55, held senior posts in Mexico's prison system and police force
during most of the six years Salinas was president. He also worked closely
with Ruiz Massieu,

who served twice as a deputy attorney general and who, during six months in
1994, supervised federal police and anti-drug operations.

After Ruiz Massieu fled Mexico in early 1995 and was arrested at Newark
International Airport, Carrera was charged in Mexico City with having
helped him to cover up the role of Raul Salinas in ordering a political
assassination.

Although the authorities never made a case against Carrera at that time, he
was arrested again in late March during a raid by the new Organized Crime
Unit of the police force he once led. Confronted with what was by then
considerable evidence of his involvement in drug trafficking and other
crimes, he opted to become the new squad's most important cooperating
witness to date.

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

Ex-Police Chief Cooperates In US Drug Probe ('The New York Times' Version
In 'The Orange County Register')

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 12:07:33 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US/Mexico: Ex-Police Chief Cooperates In U.S. Drug Probe
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk:John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Author: Tim Golden-The New York Times

EX-POLICE CHIEF COOPERATES IN U.S. DRUG PROBE

Crime: The former Mexican official says he accepted $2 million in bribes in
'93 and '94.

HOUSTON - Mexican law-enforcement officials have allowed the jailed former
head of their national police to travel secretly to the United States to
testify about drug payoffs, two officials familiar with the case said.

The former police director, Adrian Carrera, told a federal grand jury in
Houston in June that he collected nearly $2 million in drug bribes in 1993
and 1994 and turned the money over to a former colleague, Mario Ruiz
Massieu, the U.S. officials said.

The called it a ground breaking collaboration between the two countries.

U.S. investigators said Carrera's account could be the evidence they have
long sought in what has been a frustrating effort to prosecute Ruiz
Massieu, who was arrested in New Jersey three years ago, or extradite him
to Mexico to face charges.

Mexican officials took the case so seriously that they agreed to let
Carrera appear amid a dispute over the Clinton administration's failure to
alert them to a U.S. undercover operation to stop money laundering by
Mexican banks.

U.S. officials are hopeful that the testimony of Carrera and other new
witnesses will prompt Ruiz Massieu to testify about allegations of
corruption in the inner circle of former President Carlos Salinas. The
discovery of more than $130 million deposited in Swiss banks by Salinas'
elder brother, Raul, has led to corruption investigations in Europe, the
United States and Mexico.

A lawyer for Ruiz Massieu, Cathy Fleming, said the reported testimony
contradicted previous sworn statements by Carrera. "If he tells the truth
now," she said, "Mario will have no problems."

The two governments have traded court witnesses and confidential informants
many times before. But Carrera is the first high-level witness to reach the
United States after passage of a new law allowing prosecutors to protect
cooperative witnesses and plea-bargain with criminals.

Carrera, 55, held senior posts in Mexico's prison system and police force
during most of Salinas' six-year term. He also worked closely with Ruiz
Massieu, who supervised federal police and anti-drug operations.

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

Jailed Mexican Official Allowed To Testify In US (A Lengthier
'New York Times' Version In 'The San Jose Mercury News')

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 13:58:23 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Jailed Mexican Official Allowed To Testify In U.S.
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Tim Golden New York Times

JAILED MEXICAN OFFICIAL ALLOWED TO TESTIFY IN U.S.

HOUSTON -- After years of blocking U.S. efforts to investigate corruption in
their ranks, Mexican law enforcement officials have allowed the jailed
former head of their national police to travel secretly to the United States
to testify about drug payoffs at high levels of the Mexican government.

In what U.S. officials described as a ground-breaking collaboration between
the two countries, former Police Director Adrien Carrera Fuentes told a
federal grand jury in Houston in June that he collected nearly $2 million in
drug bribes in 1993 and 1994 and turned the money over to a former
colleague, Mario Ruiz Massieu, two officials familiar with the testimony said.

Key evidence

U.S. investigators said Carrera's account could be the evidence they had
long sought in what has been a frustrating effort to prosecute Ruiz Massieu,
who was arrested in New Jersey three years ago, or extradite him to Mexico
to face charges there.

Mexican officials took the case so seriously that they agreed to let Carrera
travel to the United States in the midst of an angry dispute over the
Clinton administration's failure to alert them to a huge U.S. undercover
operation to stop money-laundering by Mexican banks.

U.S. officials are hopeful that the testimony of Carrera and other new
witnesses may eventually prompt Ruiz Massieu to testify himself about
allegations of corruption in the inner circle of former President Carlos
Salinas de Gortari. The discovery of more than $130 million that was
deposited in Swiss banks by Salinas' brother, Ra=FAl, has led to corruption
investigations in Europe, the United States and Mexico.

But U.S. officials said Mexico's decision to allow Carrera to testify was
probably most important for the precedent it set.

``This is extremely important to the relationship,'' one U.S. law
enforcement official said. ``When you have as much cross-border crime as we
and Mexico have, the ability to share these witnesses is a significant
breakthrough.''

An attorney for Ruiz Massieu, Cathy Fleming, said Carrera's reported
testimony contradicted previous sworn statements he had given. She said,
``If he tells the truth now, Mario will have no problems.''

The two governments have traded court witnesses and confidential informants
many times before. But Carrera is the first witness to reach the United
States from the upper ranks of the Mexican government after taking advantage
of a new law that has modernized that country's justice system by allowing
prosecutors to protect cooperative witnesses and plea-bargain with criminals.

Senior official

Carrera, 55, held senior posts in Mexico's prison system and police force
during most of the six years Salinas was president. He also worked closely
with Ruiz Massieu, who served twice as a deputy attorney general and who,
during six months in 1994, supervised federal police and anti-drug operations.

After Ruiz Massieu fled Mexico in early 1995 and was arrested at Newark
International Airport, Carrera was charged in Mexico City with having helped
him to cover up the role of Ra=FAl Salinas in allegedly ordering a political
assassination.

Although the authorities never made a case against Carrera at that time, he
was arrested again in late March during a raid by the new Organized Crime
Unit of the police force he once led. Confronted with what was by then
considerable evidence of his involvement in drug trafficking and other
crimes, he opted to become the new squad's most important cooperating
witness to date.

Plea bargain

Carrera is now serving a four-year prison sentence as part of his plea
bargain. In court proceedings this year in Mexico City, he has confirmed
much of what U.S. officials long suspected about him.

At their own initiative, Mexican law enforcement officials arranged to bring
Carrera to Houston, where he testified June 3 to a federal grand jury that
was just starting to hear new evidence against Ruiz Massieu.

Some Mexican officials have hinted that in debriefings with the Organized
Crime Unit, Carrera has provided incriminating information against not only
Ruiz Massieu but also Rafael Salinas and others close to the former
president. Rafael Salinas remains in jail in Mexico on charges of ordering
the slaying of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, and officials in Switzerland
said they would soon confiscate more than $132 million that Salinas
deposited in banks there, asserting that it came from drug traffickers' bribes.

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

Jailed Top Mexico Cop Sent To US To Testify ('The Chicago Tribune' Version)

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 21:17:49 +0000
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Jailed Top Mexico Cop Sent To U.S. To Testify
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Pubdate: 15 July 1998
Section: sec. 1,
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Author: Tim Golden

JAILED TOP MEXICO COP SENT TO U.S. TO TESTIFY

HOUSTON -- After years of blocking U.S. efforts to investigate
corruption in their ranks, Mexican law-enforcement officials have
allowed the jailed former head of their national police to travel
secretly to the United States to testify about drug payoffs at high
levels of the Mexican government.

In what U.S. officials described as ground-breaking collaboration
between the countries, former Police Director Adrian Carrera Fuentes
was able to tell a federal grand jury in Houston last month that he
collected nearly $2 million in drug bribes in 1993 and 1994 and turned
over the money to a former colleague, Mario Ruiz Massieu, according to
two officials familiar with the testimony.

U.S. investigators said Carrera's account could be long-sought
evidence in a frustrating effort to prosecute Ruiz Massieu, who was
arrested in New Jersey three years ago, or extradite him to Mexico to
face charges there.

Mexican officials took the case so seriously that they agreed to let
Carrera travel to the United States during an angry dispute over the
Clinton administration's failure to alert them to a huge U.S.
undercover operation to stop money laundering by Mexican banks.

U.S. officials hope the testimony of Carrera and other new witnesses
eventually may prompt Ruiz Massieu to testify about allegations of
corruption in the inner circle of former President Carlos Salinas de
Gortari. The discovery of more than $130 million deposited in Swiss
banks by Salinas' elder brother, Raul, has led to corruption
investigations in Europe, the United States and Mexico.

But U.S. officials said Mexico's decision to allow Carrera to testify
in Houston probably was most important for the precedent it sets.

"This is extremely important to the relationship," said one U.S.
law-enforcement official. "When you have as much cross-border crime as
we and Mexico have, the ability to share these witnesses is a
significant breakthrough for our ability to prosecute."

A lawyer for Ruiz Massieu, Cathy Fleming, said Carrera's reported
testimony contradicted his previous sworn statements. "If he tells the
truth now, Mario will have no problems," she said.

The two governments have traded court witnesses and confidential
informants many times before. But Carrera is the first witness to
reach the United States from the upper ranks of the Mexican government
after taking advantage of a new law that modernized that country's
justice system by allowing prosecutors to protect cooperative
witnesses and plea-bargain with criminals.

Carrera, 55, held senior posts in Mexico's prison system and police
force during most of the six years Salinas was president. He also
worked closely with Ruiz Massieu, who served twice as a deputy
attorney general and who, during six months in 1994, supervised
federal police and anti-drug operations.

Carrera is now serving a four-year prison sentence as part of his plea
bargain. In court proceedings this year in Mexico City, he has
confirmed much of what U.S. officials long suspected about him.

While serving as the warden of the Mexico City prison where he is now
being held, Carrera told a Mexican court, he met several major drug
traffickers as inmates. Shortly after he took over as a commander in
the Federal Judicial Police, one inmate, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, had
been released and summoned him to a safehouse in a stylish Mexico City
neighborhood.

According to a summary of Carrera's testimony reported in the Mexico
City newspaper Reforma, "He asked whether he would be given protection
to continue in his drug-trafficking activities. Adrian Carrera told
the trafficker he would dispatch police agents to guard him and he
promised not to persecute him."

Carrera said he met Carrillo again in 1993 and repeated that he would
not bother him in Mexico City. The trafficker handed Carrera an
attache case containing more than $300,000 in cash and shouted to one
of his lieutenants to buy the police official a new Cadillac -- "the
most luxurious one there was."

Carrera also was quoted as saying he earned a commission of $1,500 for
every kilogram of cocaine he allowed to move freely to the U.S.
through Mexico.

If true, that account would underscore how payoffs to Mexican
officials exploded in the early 1990s.

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

Act On Drug Report, Urges PDA's Wilson (According To 'The Province'
In Vancouver, British Columbia, The Leader Of The Progressive Democratic
Alliance, Gordon Wilson, Told The Legislature Yesterday That The Number
Of Heroin-Related Deaths Was Heading To An All-Time High In BC,
And Urged The Government To Do Something About The Report Of Former Chief
Coroner Vince Cain, Who Called For A Program That Would Decriminalize Heroin
For Known Addicts)

From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: Canada: Act On Drug Report, Urges Pda's Wilson
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 21:39:09 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Wednesday, July 15,1998
Source: The Province (Vancouver, B.C.)
Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/newsite/news-c.html
Author: Barbara McLintock

ACT ON DRUG REPORT, URGES PDA'S WILSON

The number of deaths from drug overdoses is heading to an all-time high in
B.C., says the leader of the Progressive Democratic Alliance. Gordon Wilson
told the legislature yesterday drug overdoses have taken the lives of 201
people this year - more than one a day. He urged the government to do
something about the report of former chief coroner Vince Cain, who called
for a program that would decriminalize heroin for known addicts.He also
urged that drug addiction be treated as a medical and rehabilitation
problem, not a law enforcement one. Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh said he
agreed some drugs could be available "under controlled circumstances" but
only on a national scale and, he said, Ottawa has not picked up the ball.

B.C. recorded 331 deaths from drug overdoses in 1993.

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

Police Battle 'Dial-A-Doper' Trend (According To 'The Edmonton Sun,'
Edmonton, Alberta Police Say That Over The Last 18 Months,
Illegal Drug Sellers Using Cell Phones And Pagers Have Proliferated,
With Many Dealers On The Road Constantly, Making Deliveries)

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: POLICE BATTLE 'DIAL-A-DOPER' TREND
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:47:15 -0700
Lines: 35
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Edmonton Sun
Contact: sun.letters@ccinet.ab.ca
Pubdate: July 15, 1998

POLICE BATTLE 'DIAL-A-DOPER' TREND

By JEREMY LOOME -- Staff Writer

Mobile dope dealers are driving city cops to distraction and in one
neighborhood their customers are just as unpopular.

Police said over the last 18 months the so-called dial-a-doper
business has mushroomed, with many dealers on the road constantly,
using a cell phone or pager to arrange deliveries.

They're mobile and for the most part the profile is young adults or
youths," said Sgt. Bryan Boulanger.

Along 107, 111 and 118 avenues, certain pay phones are known drop-off
spots, said Gordon Stamp of the Alberta Avenue Business Association.
He wants Telus to yank them.

Telus would weigh any such request seriously, said spokesman Jeff
Welke, as long as it came in an official form.

Police are wary of backing such a move because many residents can't
afford a phone.

The most recent bust of an alleged "dial-a-doper" was July 9 when two
were contacted by cell phone, say police, and sold an undercover agent
5.5 grams of cocaine for $470.

Johnson Yiu, 34, and Taira Yvonne Ladouceur, 18, are charged with
trafficking.

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

Punishment Must Fit Crime (A Staff Editorial In The Irish 'Examiner'
Contrasts The Six-Year Prison Sentence Of An English Dealer
Who Attempted To Set Up A Heroin Network In Dublin
With The Nine-Year Term Handed Down Recently To A Woman Addict
Who Stole A Handbag, Unaware It Contained £10,000 In Cash And Jewellery,
And Seems To Endorse The Government's Proposed 10-Year Mandatory
Minimum For Anyone Possessing More Than £10,000 Worth Of 'Drugs')

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 01:07:32 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Ireland: OPED: Punishment Must Fit Crime
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Source: The Examiner (Ireland)
Contact: exam_letters@examiner.ie
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998

PUNISHMENT MUST FIT CRIME

FOR the third time in as many weeks, concern has been raised over the
disparity of sentencing within the judicial system.

Garda frustration and disappointment, as an English drug dealer received
only six years in jail for attempting to set up a heroin network in Dublin,
is perfectly understandable.

The leniency of this sentence contrasts sharply with the nine-year term
handed down recently to a female drug addict who stole a handbag, unaware
it contained £10,000 in cash and jewellery.

There is something wrong with a system which can impose a far harsher
prison term on an habitual thief than on a dealer who had £50,000 worth of
heroin in his possession.

That a person preying on unfortunate addicts in society, peddling in a
death-dealing drug, should get off so lightly, in view of the Government's
mandatory proposal for a minimum 10-year jail sentence for possession of
£10,000 worth of drugs, is a cause for considerable public concern.

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

Three Dutch Marines Arrested As Drug Smugglers (The New York Times
News Service Says The Three Tried To Smuggle 700 Pounds Of Cocaine
Into The Netherlands Aboard A Military Plane That Was Normally Used
In The Anti-Drug Campaign In The Dutch Antilles, The Islands
Off The Venezuelan Coast)

Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 13:54:40 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Netherlands: Wire: 3 Dutch
Marines Arrested As Drug Smugglers
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 1998
Source: New York Times News Service

3 DUTCH MARINES ARRESTED AS DRUG SMUGGLERS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Three Dutch marines involved in drug-control
efforts in the Caribbean have been arrested in connection with the smuggling
of close to 700 pounds of cocaine to the Netherlands.

The drugs were carried on a military plane that was normally used in the
anti-drug campaign in the Dutch Antilles, the islands off the Venezuelan coast.

Although the Dutch are known for their lenient policy toward soft drugs, the
discovery of the smuggling, which involved hard drugs that are strictly
outlawed, has infuriated the government. According to government
investigators, the marines apparently were acting as couriers for civilian
drug smugglers based in South America and the Netherlands.

They could apparently carry their goods with ease, because there is little
customs control over military forces on the Dutch island of Curacao, their
point of departure, or on the military air base in the Netherlands that was
their destination.

The discovery of the smuggling route is an embarrassment for the Dutch
government, which is expecting an official visit from Gen. Barry McCaffrey,
the American drugs policy adviser, on Thursday.

That visit has itself stirred anger in the government. Although the general
is ostensibly coming here to observe how the Dutch and other European
countries cope with drug use, before his arrival he condemned the Dutch drug
policy in an interview as ``an unmitigated disaster.''

So far, three marines and 11 civilians have been arrested in the last few
days in connection with the smuggling.

Government investigators apparently had been watching the network since
March before they intercepted a load of cocaine as marines brought it off
the plane in bags in the Netherlands. Another 100 pounds of cocaine were
found in the home of a Dutch sergeant major living in Curacao.

The minister of defense said the behavior of the marines was ``scandalous.''
He said that ``military who deal in drugs are fired.'' One of the arrested
men served aboard the Dutch frigate, Pieter Florisz, a ship that patrols the
Caribbean around the Antilles in order to intercept drug smuggling and
coordinate with similar American efforts.

Investigators said that they were struck by the casual and easy way the
couriers could operate: They simply carried military canvas bags holding the
drugs on to the plane they were taking from Curacao back to the Netherlands
or asked colleagues to take an extra bag for them.

At one point, one of the three men, the sergeant major, found that he had
too large a load to send on the plane, so he casually took the remainder
home, according to investigators who found about 100 pounds in the man's
home in Curacao.

Investigators said the military men had little idea where the drugs were
bought or where they would end up because they carried the drugs for an
organization of ``big guys'' based in Amsterdam.

A spokesman for the Dutch navy said that he could not be certain that
military aircraft or vessels had never been used before for drug smuggling
and that professional drug syndicates that operate in the Caribbean
``inevitably pose a risk.'' From now on, he said, all military luggage will
be closely inspected.