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

Alliance Between Government, Media A Bad Move (Everett, Washington 'Herald'
Columnist James McCusker Is Suspicious Of The Government's New $2 Billion
Drug-War Advertising Blitz, Suggesting The Real Question Is Whether We Want
Our Government To Get VIP Treatment By Media Moguls, Noting Some Years Ago,
At The Forming Of The US Information Agency, Congress Expressed Concern
About Using Taxpayer Money For Domestic Propaganda)

Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 23:01:31 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WA: Column: Alliance Between Government, Media A Bad Move
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 1998
Source: The Herald, Everett (WA)
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
Website: http://www.heraldnet.com/
Author: James McCusker, Your Business

ALLIANCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT, MEDIA A BAD MOVE

Christina Simmons of the San Diego Zoo assures us that a camel's breath will
faithfully reflect his most recent meal. So, if you and your tentmates are
about to doze off and suddenly notice a distinctive odor, you should quickly
establish who ate what at dinner. if no one admits to the alfalfa and red
fescue combo plate, grab a flashlight and check around. There's a camel's
nose inside the tent.

If you consider mass marketing the tent, the nose in this instance belongs
to a camel named Uncle Sam. On July 9, President Clinton announced a $2
billion, five year media blitz to convince young people not to take drugs.
Half the money will come from the taxpayers; the rest, it is hoped, will be
donated by various media organizations.

Much of the discussion following the announcement focused on whether the ads
will have any effect. Any marketing expert will tell you that changing
deeply embedded behavior patterns through advertising isn't easy. And other
analysts point out hat over the past decade or so television networks have
donated more than $3 billion worth of air time to the anti-drug messages,
with underwhelming results.

Still, it might work. The old advertising program was dependent on public
service announcements that television stations tended to air during the
"insomniac hours." It was also dependent on the public spirit and generosity
of the networks. Whatever one thinks of the current state of those virtues
at the networks, the hard fact is that at-risk young people don't watch much
network TV.

The new anti-drug effort, with its $200 million annual budget, will purchase
time on television including cable TV, in specific time slots and on
specific programs that the target market -- young people of middle-school
age -- actually watch. There will also be advertisements placed in print
media, on billboards, and on the Internet.

The new anti-drug program is "for the children," and is therefore,
presumably, beyond criticism. That is why what little fire it has drawn has
been focused on the technical issues of advertising effectiveness. The
potential effectiveness of the new anti-drug program, though, is not the
real issue.

What is far more important is that the fundamental structure of the
anti-drug campaign is changing, and government's relationships to the media
industry, and to the public, are changing with it. The feds have suddenly
become a player in the media industry, a "client" with a $200 million a year
budget. Even with today's bloated media budgets, that will earn VIP
treatment by the media moguls.

The real question is whether we want our government to get VIP treatment by
the media moguls. And if it does get this treatment, how will that change
things? To start with, a client relationship is different from a regulatory
relationship. It is shaped by the needs and the character of the client. Big
advertising clients are legendary for being capricious, demanding and
difficult to please. (Just think of the clients Darren and Samantha had to
deal with in "Bewitched."}

A regulatory relationship, by contrast is shaped by the law that creates it.
For many years, the federal government's relationship with the broadcast
media was directly influenced by the laws that spelled out how radio and TBV
licenses would be granted and how, generally, the public interest in
broadcasting would be represented. Over the past two decades, thought, the
federal government has become less interested in regulating broadcasting,
and has increasingly viewed it as something that the market should and would
take care of. Whether or not that was a good idea is a matter of opinion.

Starting a new relationship, that of "client," however, is another matter.
Money buys influence. Newspapers and broadcasters frequently wrestle with
this problem when it comes to their own advertisers. Particularly when
dealing with bad news of any sort, it is a natural instinct to treat a
client differently from a stranger. Still, it's one thing for the local
weekly to give its major advertiser, "Vlads House of Garlic," the benefit of
the doubt with its health inspection results, and quite another for the
national news media to give a positive spin to its "client's" latest tax
plan or foreign policy adventure.

The relationship between politics and the media is already something of an
unholy alliance, and the introduction of a billion-dollar cash flow isn't
likely to improve its character. Worse, though, is that the government will
quickly become accustomed to treating the public as a "target market." When
the anti-drug campaign peters out, another program, to promote something
else that is good for us, will follow.

Some years ago, at the forming of the U.S. Information Agency, the Congress
expressed its concern about using taxpayer money for domestic propaganda.
Maybe they weren't wrong.

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

Grand Jury To Probe Shooting Of Mexican (United Press International
Says Mexican Consul General Manuel Perez Cardenas Was Told By Houston,
Texas Police That By August 17 A Grand Jury Would Hear The Case
Of Mexican National Pedro Oregon Navarro, An Innocent Man
Killed By Houston Prohibition Agents Who Shot Him 12 Times,
Nine Times In The Back, After Breaking Down His Door Without A Warrant)

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 01:08:20 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Grand Jury to Probe Shooting of Mexican
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Walter Latham (nbl@nr.infi.net)
Source: UPI Wire Report
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 1998

GRAND JURY TO PROBE SHOOTING OF MEXICAN

HOUSTON, July 19 (UPI) Officials of the Houston Police Department met with
Mexican Consul General Manuel Perez Cardenas to discuss the fatal shooting
of Mexican national Pedro Oregon in a drug raid on July 12, which resulted
in suspension of the six officers involved.

Cardenas says today that the assistant police chief promised him a grand
jury will hear the case by Aug. 17.

The meeting comes as funeral services are being held for Oregon at Iglasius
Julio Episcopal San Mateo, a church in Houston.

More than 30 rounds were fired in the raid. One officer suffered a bullet
bruise when a slug fired by another officer struck him in the shoulder.

The wounded officer, L.E. Tillery, a member of a police anti-gang unit, was
also suspended.

The investigation into the officers' use of deadly force seeks to determine
whether the officers violated department policy and possibly broke the law
in their handling of the raid.

The raid was reportedly set up with the aid of an informant who was not
registered with the police department.

Also, the officers allegedly had no warrant before they entered the
apartment where Oregon was shot.

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

Any Questions? ('The Minneapolis Star Tribune'
Interviews The Minneapolis Actress, Rachael Leigh Cook,
Your Tax Dollars Paid To Swing A Frying Pan
In The Ubiquitous New Anti-Heroin Television Advertisement
Produced By The Partnership For A Drug-Free America)

Reply-To: (mc.kiclark@WORLDNET.ATT.NET)
From: "MICHAEL C. CLARK" (mc.kiclark@WORLDNET.ATT.NET)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: Any questions?
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:49:20 -0700

The following article was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Entertainment section 7-19-98:

This is local actress Rachael Leigh Cook. This is local actress
Rachael Leigh Cook in an anti-drug ad:

Any Questions?

Television - Noel Holston

Rachael Leigh Cook doesn't shake and bake in the kitchen. She
doesn't slice and dice. She smashes and trashes.

The 18-year-old Minneapolis actress is the tough-talking, tank-topped
grrrl in what has quickly become the most talked about public-service
announcement (PSA) in the federal government's new five-year
campaign to discourage children and teens from using drugs.

Surely you've seen it by now. It's running everywhere from local
stations to MTV.

In a twist on an older "This is your brain on drugs" spot, Cook's
character stands in a kitchen holding an egg and a large frying pan.

"This is your brain," she says, carefully placing the egg on the counter.

"This is heroin," she says, abolishing the egg with a ferocious whack.

She holds up the pan. Yolk drips sickly from its underside. "This
is what happens to your brain after snorting heroin."

But that's not the end of it. Cook proceeds to do the sort of damage
one associates with Steven Seagal, demolishing a rack of dinner
plates, a clock and assorted household items ("This is what your
family goes through! Your friends!") before assuming a take-no-
prisoners stare and asking, "Any questions?"

In a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where she's about to
start work on a new film, Cook said the 30-second spot was shot
at someone's house, not on a set.

"We didn't break any of their stuff, thanks goodness," she said. "The
dishes were real, though, not breakaway props. They were hard to
break. It took about four takes just to get the dishes because they
wouldn't break. The director would go, `Rachael, you only got through
the first three plates. We've got to get all five.' And they'd set them
up again

Nice by nature

Acting like a raging bull didn't come easy to Cook. "I'm not a very
destructive person by nature," she said. "I don't think I've ever
broken anything on purpose. I never had temper tantrums as a kid."

Still, she jumped at the chance to do the spot - which is actually
titled "Frying Pan" - because she believes in the message and
because it allowed her to display her range. Who Knows? For an
actress whose early credits include "Tom and Huck" and "The
Baby-Sitter's Club," "Frying Pan" could be the ticket to Tarantinoville.

There are dozens of anti-drug PSAs in the campaign, which began
10 days ago. Their tone and approach vary widely. One spot shows
a mother and father assuming the roles of DJ and rapper, respectively,
in an effort to communicate with their son about drugs. The folks are
so ludicrous, they're almost touching.

Of course, the youths of America have a long history of rolling their
eyes in annoyance upon encountering adult attempts to sneak a
message past their radar, let alone pound them over the head. So
it seemed only proper to ask Cook, a teen herself, what she thought
of the campaign's potential.

Her best guess is that the variety of approaches increases the odds
of one anti-drug spot or another making a lasting impression. She
said she prefers the "gritty" spots, such as hers, and she considers
some of the others pretty cheesy.

"But I think we need to educate people as to the dangers of drugs
however we have to," she said. "People have to realize that most
kids do drugs in some form. I saw this really funny spot about
educating your children to the dangers of sniffing and, like, keeping
them away from cleaning products. It was really serious. You
might kind of laugh a little bit, but it's true."

Public(-service) access

Surprisingly, it has been almost a year since Cook taped her
kitchen rampage. Like many of the spots in the campaign's initial
phase, hers was finished but went largely unseen because TV
stations weren't running a lot of anti-drug PSAs.

"I'm not saying that television stations don't do public service,"
said Alan Levitt of the White House Office of Drug Policy, which
crafted the campaign in conjunction with the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America. "But it's different kinds of public service, and
the drug issue in the last five or six years has declined precipitously."

There's a simple explanation for the sudden ubiquity of the PSAs.
The government is buying TV time, just like the makers of Pringles
and Mountain Dew. More than two-thirds of the $195 million that
Congress allocated for the campaign's first year will go to TV spots.
Levitt said that buying the time ensures not only the frequency of
the spots but also better placement than PSAs often get.

But TV isn't totally profiteering from this new tactic in the war on
drugs. "When we buy time on a station or anywhere, we ask for
100-percent match in the form of public service time or space or
in the form of programming," Levitt said. "In the first six months
of this campaign, which was a test phase in 12 cities, we got
almost 100-percent match [of free air time]."

Now that the campaign has been taken national, Levitt said,
the plan is to turn the donated time over to local organizations:
"Starting in September, that will be handled by the American
Advertising Federation and the state alcohol-and drug-abuse
agencies. They'll meet and basically divvy up these pro bono
contributions from the stations."

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

Addicts Avoid AIDS Drugs, Fearing They Affect Methadone
(According To 'The New York Times,' Medical Experts And Advocates
For AIDS Patients Say Many Drug Addicts Infected With HIV Are Missing
The Benefits Of Powerful New AIDS Drugs Because Of Widespread Suspicion
On The Street That The Drugs Reduce The Calming Effect Of Methadone)

From: Holly Catania (hcatania@sorosny.org)
To: TLC_ACTIVIST (TLCACT@snake-eyes.soros.org)
Subject: Methadone Patients and AIDS Drugs
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 09:43:31 -0400
Sender: owner-tlc-activist@server.soros.org

All,

This story appeared in the Sunday, July 19 New York Times and was picked
up by UPI. To respond, address a short letter (no more than 150 words)
to the Editor at: letters@nytimes.com.

-----Original Message-----

Addicts Avoid AIDS Drugs, Fearing They Affect Methadone

By LYNDA RICHARDSON

NEW YORK -- Many drug addicts infected with HIV are missing the
benefits of powerful new AIDS drugs because of widespread suspicion on
the street that the drugs reduce the calming effect of methadone,
medical experts and advocates for AIDS patients say.

Nationwide, intravenous-drug use has directly or indirectly
accounted for 36 percent of the AIDS cases since the epidemic began
nearly two decades ago. The greatest problem is among minority groups,
with 38 percent of all AIDS cases related to drug injection among
blacks and 37 percent among Hispanic people, compared with 22 percent
of all cases among whites. The numbers for women are also striking.
Since 1981, at least 61 percent of all AIDS cases among women have
been attributed to intravenous-drug use or sex with partners who
inject drugs, compared with 31 percent of cases among men, according
to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

There is no concrete scientific evidence that the AIDS drugs, known
as protease inhibitors, interfere with methadone. But the perception
that they do adds yet another obstacle to treatment for a group that
is difficult to track and has historically been underrepresented in
clinical trials to test new drugs.

Among doctors, researchers, patient advocates and even some drug
users, there is much dispute over how much protease inhibitors affect
methadone. Some treatment specialists suggest that addicts' multiple
health problems play a more dominant role than the interaction of the
drugs. But few deny that many people on methadone believe otherwise.

Howard Josepher, executive director of Exponents, a nonprofit group
in Manhattan that provides counseling and support for drug users who
have AIDS, said suspicion of AIDS drugs was widespread on the street.

"We hear a good deal of trepidation and discomfort that some
methadone patients are experiencing," he said. "These are things we
just don't know much about. But we find a lot of people are really
skeptical about the medications."

In New York City, half of the estimated 200,000 intravenous-drug
users are HIV positive. Roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of the city's
drug users are enrolled in the 34,000 methadone treatment slots in the
city. There are 40,000 slots statewide.

Statistics vary on the number of drug users taking protease
inhibitors. Some estimates put the number at one-quarter to one-third
of all intravenous-drug users in the city. The number of addicts who
shun protease inhibitors altogether, or avoid them for brief periods,
is equally difficult to determine.

"The reality is that it's a hard group to pull together," said Dr.
Diana Williamson, the medical director of Harlem United, a nonprofit
advocacy group for people with AIDS, and also a clinical research
fellow at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

"Fears are generated and perpetuated by word-of-mouth and on the
street corners. Some are true. Some are not true. Some get validated.
Some don't. It doesn't matter. It's a world unto itself and they don't
get respected the way they should."

James Turner, 40, an addict with HIV, takes a dose of methadone each
morning to ease his heroin cravings. He also has a complex
pill-popping schedule that includes protease inhibitors. But he is
convinced that the protease inhibitors "eat up the methadone," as he
puts it. He said he had endured many sleepless nights in his cluttered
room, the size of a prison cell, in a Bronx hotel, because the
methadone wore off too quickly.

To reverse the effect, Turner said, he stopped taking the AIDS drugs
for three months this year. During that time, he said, he continued
taking methadone but was never sick. But when he decided to resume the
AIDS drugs in May because the amount of HIV in his blood shot up, he
felt sick again.

Addicts who inject drugs have made up the greatest number of AIDS
cases in New York City since 1988, outpacing gay men every year,
sometimes at more than double the number, according to the State
Health Department. Drug users account for 44.6 percent of all AIDS
cases in the state, but their circle of infection spreads much
further. They are linked to most heterosexual cases and virtually all
pediatric AIDS cases, state health officials said.

AIDS cases among drug users are more concentrated in Northeastern
states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, than on the
West Coast. In California, about 20 percent of the cases are related
to intravenous-drug use, while nearly 60 percent of AIDS patients are
gay men, according to California health officials.

Turner, the addict who has had trouble with his AIDS drug regimen,
said he had persuaded a Park Avenue psychiatrist to prescribe him the
tranquilizer Xanax to calm his body when the methadone wears off
around 8 each night. But other drug users, like Balil Haneef of
Manhattan, have not found such a creative way to compensate for their
needs.

Haneef, 40, a peer drug counselor who tested positive for HIV 14
years ago, said he quit both the AIDS drugs and methadone therapy two
months ago. He said the combination of drugs made him unbearably sick.

The other day, Haneef was preparing to lead a support group meeting
in a dingy patient lounge on the medical detoxification floor at St.
Clare's Hospital and Health Center in midtown Manhattan. But he seemed
a bit slow and hesitant in his speech. His doctor said he shows signs
of dementia related to advanced AIDS.

Haneef, who works for a nonprofit agency that helps drug users,
leads the support group meetings twice a day. With his experiences --
he overdosed four times and has an extensive prison record -- Haneef
said drug addicts can relate to him and he is comfortable around them.

In an interview, he said he uses "medical ebonics" -- his own street
patois -- to break down all the intimidating medical AIDS jargon. "I
don't have it prewritten," he said. "It comes natural."

He described the combination of protease inhibitors and methadone as
a bad mix, like milk and lemon juice.

"I was feeling really bad," Haneef said. "I just felt like I wasn't
getting the full effect" of the methadone.

Haneef, who said he has not used illegal drugs in seven years, knows
of other drug users who seem to be doing well on protease inhibitors.
He concedes that he took the AIDS drugs on and off for 18 months
before stopping cold two months ago.

At his doctor's urging, he has agreed to start fresh on protease
inhibitors soon because he is worried about his deteriorating health.
However, Haneef plans to stay off methadone. He said the rigidly
structured program was too controlling.

Yet the methadone programs, which involve daily trips to a clinic,
are an efficient way to monitor the health of infected people -- and
to prevent them from spreading the virus on the streets, many
treatment specialists say. Research shows that the longer drug users
are in methadone programs, the less likely they are to contract HIV.

If the epidemic is ever to be stemmed, experts say, it is critical
to collect more precise scientific information on the interaction
between protease inhibitors and other drugs, including methadone,
heroin and other street drugs.

"Until we have the answers, it's going to be difficult to convince
people to take the medications because of the anxiety," said Dr. John
Jacobs, medical director of the clinical AIDS care programs at New
York Hospital. "Anxiety is an obstacle for this population to get what
may be life-sustaining therapy."

Doctors have found that the rumor mill among drug users is
extraordinarily extensive and detailed in the methadone clinics run by
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. When clinics
there introduced a new form of methadone that lasts as long as three
days instead of 24 hours, patients were immediately suspicious.

"It's a population that wants things the way they are; they don't
want to be experimented with," said Dr. Peter Tenore, associate
medical director in the college's division of substance abuse. "When
something new comes around, they are reluctant to try it."

One-third of the 4,000 methadone patients in the 10 clinics are HIV
positive and the majority take protease inhibitors of different types.
Tenore said clinical observations have revealed no major problems in
taking the combination of drugs, though no specific studies have been
conducted to test patients' blood before and after being treated with
the AIDS drugs.

Last year, a drug interaction study was conducted by Abbott
Laboratories in Illinois, which manufactures a protease inhibitor
called ritonavir. The study found that methadone levels were reduced
by ritonavir, which could lead to withdrawal symptoms, the opposite of
what the study's investigators had predicted. But many scientists say
the monthlong study has serious flaws because it used healthy,
noninfected volunteers who took very low doses of methadone.

Several other studies are now in the pipeline, including a federally
sponsored study that will use HIV-positive patients already on
methadone. It is expected to begin later this summer and should be
completed in about a year.

"This study will clarify whether we need to worry about this or not
at all," said Dr. John Gerber, the study's principal investigator and
a professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in
Denver.

Following the exacting regimen of drug cocktails that include
protease inhibitors can tax even the most stable of patients. The cost
of the drugs is not a issue in New York, unlike some states, because
poor people can get them through Medicaid or a state drug assistance
program.

The cocktails generally combine a protease inhibitor with older
antiviral drugs like AZT. The protease inhibitor blocks a key viral
enzyme called protease, and the older drugs block a different enzyme.
The multiple-drug assault suppresses the virus.

When protease inhibitors were first being tested, the trials were
dominated by gay white men who clamored for new treatment therapies.
Addicts tended to be ignored.

But that is slowly changing. The federal government has become more
aggressive in enrolling addicts as well as women and members of
minorities in the trials that it sponsors. And some pharmaceutical
companies are looking more attentively at addicts as important
consumers of their new drugs.

Some medical experts and advocates for AIDS patients worry that a
perception that drug addicts have difficulties with protease
inhibitors will feed into the popular stereotype that addicts are
notoriously bad at adhering to a strict medical regimen.

But at Harlem Hospital Center, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr said clinical
trials of many new drugs there have included a substantial population
of intravenous-drug users for 10 years and produced "excellent data
and follow-up."

"It tells you that the whole notion of people thinking that this
population is not reliable is wrong. It's a generalization," she said.

Subtle prejudices show up in what AIDS advocates demand from drug
companies, said James Learned, deputy director of People with AIDS
Health Group, which focuses on treatment education and counseling in
New York. "There is a hierarchy, and certainly people who are using or
even in recovery have been at the bottom of the barrel," he said.

In his list of requests to drug companies, Learned said he has never
placed the study of interactions among protease inhibitors and
methadone or illegal drugs at the top.

"It has ended up somewhere but never at the top," he said. "Maybe we
should do it, since there is a real concern out there."

Sunday, July 19, 1998
Copyright 1998 The New York Times

David Mickenberg
The Lindesmith Center
(212) 548-0383
dmickenberg@sorosny.org

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

Former Mexican Assistant Attorney General Linked To Drug Trafficking
(According To 'The Associated Press,' The Daily Newspaper 'El Universal'
In Mexico City Said Sunday That Testimony By Members Of The Gulf
And Juarez Drug Cartels Against Mario Ruiz Massieu May Help Win
His Extradition From The United States, Where He Has Been
Under House Arrest In New Jersey Since He Fled Mexico In 1995)

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 01:08:13 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Mexico: Wire: Former Mexican Assistant
Attorney General Linked to Drug Trafficking
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 1998

FORMER MEXICAN ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL LINKED TO DRUG TRAFFICKING

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican prosecutors have received new testimony linking
a former assistant attorney general to drug trafficking, local media
reported Sunday.

The testimony by members of the Gulf and Juarez drug cartels against Mario
Ruiz Massieu may help win his extradition from the United States, where he
has been under arrest since he fled Mexico in 1995.

Ruiz Massieu allegedly received large payments from drug traffickers to
provide protection for their cocaine shipments through Mexico, according to
prosecutors quoted by the daily newspaper El Universal.

A former Mexican police director testified before a Houston grand jury that
he collected nearly $2 million in payoffs in 1993 and 1994 and turned the
money over to Ruiz Massieu.

Ruiz Massieu's lawyers have successfully fought four extradition requests.
He is under house arrest in New Jersey.

Ruiz Massieu, 46, who had served as Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor, has
said he is innocent and the victim of political persecution.

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

Drug Ring Smuggles Kids To Vancouver ('The Vancouver Province'
Says A Professional Drug Ring Has Lured As Many As 100 Underage Children
From Honduras To British Columbia, Where They Have Being Turned Into
Indentured Street-Corner Crack Dealers)

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: Drug Ring Smuggles Kids To Vancouver
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:27:40 -0700
Lines: 125
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Vancouver Province (Canada)
Contact: provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca
Pubdate: Sun 19 Jul 1998
Section: News A1 / Front
Author: Adrienne Tanner, Staff Reporter

Drug ring smuggles kids to Vancouver

Up to 100 Honduran children have been lured to Canada to work as
narcotics-dealing slaves: `It's like something Charles Dickens wrote'

A professional drug ring is luring underage children from Honduras to
Vancouver, where they are being turned into indentured street-corner
crack dealers.

As many as 100 Honduran children have been smuggled overland into
Canada from the impoverished Central American country, said Vancouver
police Staff-Sgt. Doug MacKay-Dunn.

The Honduran smugglers pay their transportation costs and help them
across the Canadian border, which even MacKay-Dunn admits is ``like a
sieve.''

Once in Vancouver, the ring leaders set the children up in apartments,
help them file refugee claims and sign up for welfare.

In return, they are turned out on to the street to deal drugs. Some
work the Cambie Street strip between Water Street and East Hastings,
others sell along the SkyTrain routes in Burnaby and New Westminster,
said John Turvey, director of the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities
Association.

``It's like something Charles Dickens wrote,'' Turvey said.

The children feel indebted to their benefactors and see no other way
to survive.

Alcohol and drug outreach worker Ingrid Mendez said: ``Some of them
are as young as 11 or 13 . . . and they have this huge debt.''

Most come from dust-poor families, are illiterate and
cagily street-smart.

They vanish at the sight of police and are reluctant to talk to the
community youth workers.

Police, immigration officials and provincial child-welfare workers
have been looking for months for ways to get the children off the
streets. But unless the kids are caught dealing drugs, there is little
anyone can do.

Children who make refugee claims are entitled to the same treatment as
adults, said Immigration Canada spokesman Dale Akerstrom.

They are given a date for an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing and
are not detained unless they are determined to be a danger to the
public or unlikely to show up.

The provincial ministry of children and families will provide housing,
food and clothing to children who seek help, said Elaine Murray, ``but
to my knowledge, we haven't had one come forward.''

Murray said the ministry is aware of the Honduran street kids and is
working with police and immigration officials to find some way to
repatriate the children.

Police are attacking the problem on many local fronts and also turning
to their U.S. counterparts for advice.

About 100 police officers and community workers met in Burnaby this
week with Portland police officers who dealt with an identical problem
in 1996-97.

``In our downtown area we had a very large group of folks selling
Mexican-tar heroin and powdered cocaine,'' said Cmdr. Bob Kauffman of
the Portland police bureau.

Most were Honduran and Mexican nationals who enticed children to the
United States to deal drugs, he said.

``They think that if kids get arrested, not much will happen to
them,'' Kauffman said.

Police cracked the ring by staging 3,400 ``hand-to-hand'' buys, and
for a time arrested as many as 35 people a day.

The city now has a reputation for taking a hard line on foreign
drug-dealers, a victory Vancouver police suspect contributed to the
northern migration.

RCMP Staff-Sgt. Rocky Rockwell said his officers do what they can to
stop the Honduran children from walking, hitching, swimming and
hopping trains into Canada. But with only four officers covering the
entire B.C.-Washington border, it's almost impossible to stop the
flow.

Burnaby RCMP, fire, health and immigration officials recently
co-ordinated a sweep of apartments along the 6600-block Dow Avenue in
Burnaby, where some of the suspected ring leaders were living, said
RCMP Staff-Sgt. Elton Deans.

``We were finding up to 30 people living in one apartment,'' he said.

Some of the ring leaders were evicted, which helped ease the concerns
of residents worried about the growing drug problem in their
neighborhood.

But it's not the whole solution. Vancouver cops say they're not going
after the kids.

``They are young people being victimized. . . . We're focusing on the
predators,'' said MacKay-Dunn.

Meanwhile, youth workers like Mendez continue their efforts to reach
out to the children. The key is to let them know there are other
options, and they don't have to deal drugs, she says.

It's a tough sell.

``Once they get here and start seeing the money, they don't want to
get out of it,'' she said.

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

Cops Eye New Pot Club ('The London Free Press' In Ontario Says Mike Harichy,
Husband Of Multiple Sclerosis Patient Lynn Harichy, Is Managing
The London Cannabis Compassion Centre, Which Has Opened To Provide Cut-Price
Medical Marijuana To Qualified Patients - But Police Vow To Shut It Down)

Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 17:44:38 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Canada: Cops Eye New Pot Club
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Lynn Harichy
Source: London Free Press (Canada)
Contact: letters@lfpress.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
Pubdate: July 19, 1998
Author: Julie Carl, Free Press Reporter

COPS EYE NEW POT CLUB

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BUYERS' STORE QUIETLY OPENS DOORS

Police are watching London's medical marijuana buyers' club, vowing to
swoop in if laws are broken.

The London Cannabis Compassion Centre has quietly opened the doors to
its first commercial outlet. It is located at 199 Wellington St.

Although there is no sign on the storefront, police indicated they
know it's there and said they'll move in at the right time.

"We enforce the laws of the land, however they are written, so I would
like to suggest that, if laws are being broken, at the appropriate
time the issue will be addressed," police Chief Julian Fantino said
yesterday.

Mike Harichy, who manages the pot outlet, said generally the centre's
40 or so clients don't come in to pick up their marijuana.

"Most of our customers aren't well enough to come in. So I deliver to
them," said Harichy, whose wife Lynn smokes marijuana to ease her
multiple sclerosis symptoms.

No marijuana is kept on the premises, Lynn Harichy said, "because we
are trying to help those people and if we get busted we won't be any
help."

CHEAPER THAN STREET PRICE

The centre only accepts cash and sells a quarter ounce of marijuana to
clients for $65, about $10 cheaper than the street price, Mike Harichy
said.

Asked about the club, Fantino was tight-lipped about enforcement
plans. "I suppose one has to remember that the police on certain
occasions have to work in mysterious ways to, in the end, address the
issues -- and we will."

A centre information sheet outlines membership qualifications. It
accepts:

* Clients with HIV, AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy,
among other conditions. They must provide a doctor's letter of diagnosis.

* Those with ailments not on the centre's list may qualify if their
doctor writes a letter of support.

* Both categories must sign a release so the centre can check with the
client's doctor.

* Anyone over 65 can join without a doctor's letter. London police
Sgt. John O'Flaherty said if people are selling marijuana, they will
be charged.

Police do not differentiate between people who use and sell marijuana
as a medicine and those who use and sell for profit and pleasure, he
said.

"The narcotics control (laws) don't differentiate -- yet. If that's
changed, we'll take a look at it," O'Flaherty said. "It's up to
Parliament. We're just the enforcers of the law."

Lynn Harichy, a London mother, has said she smokes up to five joints a
day to ease her symptoms. Last year, she was charged with possession
of marijuana before she could light a joint on the steps of the London
police station. Her case is expected to go to trial in November, Mike
Harichy said.

Last February, a Toronto buyers' club announced it was opening seven
Ontario locations, including one in London to be owned by Lynn Harichy
and managed by her husband, Mike.

He said they had been running the centre from their home but were
concerned about a police raid. They didn't want their children exposed
to that experience, he said.

Lynn Harichy met with federal Health Minister Allan Rock in March and
told him of plans to open the buyers' club. Rock said later he hoped
to have "a solid response" for Harichy within months on whether
changes would be made to existing drug laws.

-- with files from Roxanne Beaubien, Free Press Crime
Reporter

Copyright 1998 The London Free Press

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

Panama To Abandon Canal Anti-Drug Center (According To 'Reuters,'
US And Panamanian Officials Are Locked In A Stalemate Over American Plans
For An International Anti-Drug Center In The Panama Canal Zone,
Meaning A Likely End To Any US Military Presence Beyond December 31, 1999,
When Panama Assumes Full Control Of The Waterway)

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 01:08:06 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Wire: U.S., Panama To Abandon Canal Anti-Drug Center
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
and isenberd@DynCorp.com (Isenberg, David)
Source: Reuters
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 1998

U.S., PANAMA TO ABANDON CANAL ANTI-DRUG CENTER

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -- The United States and Panama most likely will
abandon plans for an international anti-drug center in the Panama Canal
Zone, ending more than 90 years of a U.S. military presence here, political
analysts said Sunday.

Their observations came a day after U.S. and Panamanian officials said they
were locked in a stalemate on the deal, which would extend a role for U.S.
troops beyond Dec. 31, 1999, when Panama assumes full control of the famous
waterway.

``I believe they are just letting it down softly, trying to not make a
major issue of it,'' analyst Roberto Eisenmann told Reuters.

``I believe it is finished because ... the MCC (Multilateral
Counter-narcotics Center) can easily be established in Florida or Georgia
and be as effective as it would be in another country,'' he added.

Under the original proposal for the center, the United States would keep at
least 2,000 U.S. troops stationed at Howard Air Force Base, gathering
anti-narcotics information into the next century.

Otherwise, a 1977 treaty stipulates that the United States must hand over
control of the canal and vacate all bases and territory by the last day of
1999.

But neither side has shown signs of compromising in talks to set up a
regional drug-fighting center at Howard Air Force Base in the Panama Canal
Zone, a 10-mile-wide strip encompassing the canal.

The Americans are seeking at least a 12-year deal granting U.S. troops a
role beyond drug fighting, while Panama is seeking a more restrictive
agreement lasting three or four years, Panama's foreign minister said
Saturday.

Panama has long been a home for U.S. military power. The Canal Zone,
controlled by the United States since 1903, was home to thousands of troops
and at least 10 military bases at its peak. It also was the site of the
U.S. Southern Command, military headquarters for operations in Latin
America.

The possible U.S. departure from Panama may signal a shift in American
military policy in the region, Margaret Scranton, a political analyst at
the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, told Reuters.

``It certainly is a historical benchmark, the ultimate physical step out of
the Monroe Doctrine and the whole concept of U.S. security identified with
bases on foreign soil,'' she said. ``But whether it is the end of U.S.
intervention is just too early to tell.''

Analysts said the negotiations have been held hostage by Panamanian
politics and the controversial re-election bid of the country's president,
Ernesto Perez Balladares.

Constitutionally barred from running for a second consecutive term, Perez
Balladares is campaigning for an Aug. 30 referendum that may allow him to
be re-elected. But his shaky standings in the polls have paralyzed him from
making any significant decisions, they said.

The analysts also said the drug fighting center likely will be abandoned
because of internal politics.

``This is one of a great many of things that have been disturbed by Perez
Balladares' re-election ambitions,'' said Richard Koster, a political
commentator and former U.S. Democratic Party activist now living in Panama.
``The main reason (for the breakdown in talks) is internal politics.''

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

Third US Drug Helicopter Crashes In One Month
(According To 'The Associated Press,' Colombian Police
Said The Helicopter Was On An Anti-Narcotics Mission
In Rebel Territory And Insisted The Guerrillas Had No Role
In The Crash Late Saturday That Killed Seven Prohibition Agents)

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 01:07:07 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Columbia: Third U.S. Drug Helicopter Crashes in One Month
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 1998
Note: Headline by Newshawk

THIRD U.S. DRUG HELICOPTER CRASHES IN ONE MONTH

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A helicopter donated by the United States crashed
in foul weather in a war-torn northern region of Colombia, killing seven
police officers, authorities have reported.

The wreckage of the UH-1H helicopter, part of a fleet of Vietnam-era
"Hueys" supplied by the U.S. government to help fight drug trafficking, was
found Sunday in Uraba province, about 290 miles northwest of Bogota. There
were no survivors.

The banana-growing region has been a major battleground in a decades-long
war between leftist rebels and the state. But police said the helicopter
was on an anti-narcotics mission and insisted the guerrillas had no role in
the crash late Saturday.

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

Surprises In Drug Reports ('The Sunday Mail' In Adelaide, South Australia,
Says A New Federal Health Department Study Has Found Alcohol And Tobacco
Cause The Biggest Problems In The Community, Not Heroin And Marijuana
As Most People Believe)

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:55:58 +1200 (NZST)
To: drctalk@drcnet.org, mattalk@islandnet.com
drugtalk@adca.org.au
From: David.Hadorn@VUW.AC.NZ (David Hadorn)
Subject: Another nail in prohibition's coffin
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
Adelaide, South Australia
Sunday Mail, July 19, 1998
Page 41

'Surprises in drug reports'
by Michael Owen

Alcohol and tobacco cause the biggest problems in the community, and not
heroin and marijuana as most people believe, a Federal Health Department
study has found.

Reports released by the Federal Health Minister, Dr Wooldridge, map patterns
of drug use and public opinion towards drugs in Australia over the past
decade.

And they smash public perceptions that illicit drugs are the main
ingredients of the "problem".

Dr Wooldridge said the data would be used to develop drug policies and
programs. More than $210 million would be spent over four years.

The Public Opinion Towards Drug Policies in Australia report found education
rather than price hikes was the best way to deal with Australia's abuse of
alcohol.

There was widespread community support for State governments maintaining
their strong stance on tobacco, and "a large and stable majority support for
stricter enforcement of the law on cigarette sales to minors," Dr Wooldridge
said. "There is majority support for bans on workplace smoking in shopping
centres and restaurants."

The report said: "The most consistently mentioned drug issues causing
problems for the community are excessive alcohol consumption followed by
tobacco use . . . however, most see heroin and marijuana mainly comprising
the drug problem."

Meanwhile, the Patterns of Drug Use in Australia report found a startling 86
per cent of people taking heroin use it less than once a year.

Researchers claim fewer than one in 10 heroin users take the drug once a
week or more, and there is a larger than thought level of recreational
heroin users in the community.

About 4 per cent of people aged 12-29 have tried heroin at some stage.

***

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S.A., AUSTRALIA
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