-------------------------------------------------------------------
Armed and Dangerous - The bloody police raid at Sallisaw - Investigators mum
after cops shoot mother holding child (WorldNetDaily.com suggests prohibition
agents committed an atrocity reminiscent of Ruby Ridge while rousting
an innocent family in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Pat Eymer, the mother, is in
a hospital recovering from a 45-caliber hollow-point bullet that destroyed
most of the bone in her right shoulder. Her children were taken by child
protective services and requests to place them with grandparents
were refused. Her husband, Steve, has been arrested, along with her cousin,
James Hinkle, and his friend, Tammy Bedwell, after police allegedly planted
marijuana as evidence. Another person who was on the scene is suspected
of setting them up for the raid.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Drug cops shoot mother holding child
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 21:09:40 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
ARMED AND DANGEROUS
The bloody police raid at Sallisaw
Investigators mum after cops shoot mother holding child
By David M. Bresnahan
Copyright 1998, WorldNetDaily.com
SALLISAW, OK -- The morning began normally with preparations for school,
work and a visit from a family member in the small mobile home. Suddenly
police burst in, forced everyone to the floor, and fired at an unarmed
mother holding her 4-year-old. An infant was only a few feet away. A
teen-age daughter passed out in fear when she saw her mother shot.
First Waco, Texas ... then Ruby Ridge, Idaho ... now Sallisaw, Oklahoma?
That's what many locals in a rural town on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border are
wondering after an unarmed mother, holding her young child, was shot at
close range in her home by police who are now accused of a setup.
Pat Eymer, the mother, is in a hospital recovering from a 45-caliber
hollow-point bullet that destroyed most of the bone in her right shoulder.
Her children were taken by child protective services and requests to place
them with grandparents were refused. Her husband, Steve, has been arrested,
along with her cousin James Hinkle and his friend Tammy Bedwell. Another
person who was on the scene is suspected of setting them up for the police
action.
The Eymers have already hired an attorney, Don George of Tulsa, to file a
lawsuit against the police for damages. He has taken the case on a
contingency basis because he is so confident that the police are at fault.
The Sallisaw Police Department refused to comment about the incident and
would give no details of what happened or which officers were involved.
Chief of Police Wayne Craighead was not in to take any calls and failed to
return a call to WorldNetDaily.com yesterday. An internal investigation is
under way, the officer involved has been placed on routine suspension
without pay, and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is also
investigating.
The OSBI also refused to provide any details of the investigation, although
spokeswoman Lorna Palmer apologized and promised to try to call back with
more information. She did not.
Ken Smyrl, the step-father of Mrs. Eymer, is a former police officer
himself. He is angry about what happened, and said it reminded him of the
incidents in Waco and Ruby Ridge.
"There's not an outlaw in this country that's bad enough to warrant killing
kids in order to get him," said Smyrl of the danger to the children.
According to the brief news release provided by the OSBI, the Eymers and the
guests in their home were charged with "possession of a controlled dangerous
substance, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and use
of a police radio in the commission of a felony."
Mrs. Eymer says that she has never been charged, and her room at the Sparks
Hospital in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, has not been restricted or observed by
police. She is in stable condition, but doctors do not expect her to have
much use of her arm since the shoulder has been almost destroyed.
"They absolutely found nothing on me or my girlfriend," said Hinkle just
after he was released from jail yesterday. "They were totally in the wrong.
They found nothing. He just shot her ass, OK. Straight up. Walked in the
house. Shot her."
Hinkle was concerned about what would happen if he expressed his views on
what happened.
"These police officers, they try to cover each other's butt," he said. "The
next time I'm walking down the road and decide to throw a cigarette butt,
I'm in jail again for littering."
Mrs. Eymer, recuperating in her hospital room yesterday, described the
incident from her point of view.
"All I know is I didn't even know what was going on, (or) why they entered
the house," she said. My husband went into the front room, and I was trying
to take care of my little one -- my 4-year-old. I heard him (the police
officer) say, 'Come out with your hands up.' I said, 'OK, me and my
daughter's coming out, and I am unarmed.' "When me and my daughter walked
out of the bedroom, I was looking right at them when they shot me in my
arm," said Mrs. Eymer, who was unarmed and presented no threat to the
officers.
Although it was early morning and still dark outside, the inside of the home
where she was standing was well lighted, according to Hinkle who was
watching it all from the floor.
Hinkle and his girlfriend, Tammy Bedwell, had only been in the home a few
minutes when the police burst in. They are unemployed and had stopped by to
borrow money for gas on their way to look for a job and go fishing.
A man Hinkle identified as either Dwayne or Dwight Malcolm had also just
arrived and was sitting with them. When the police arrived he went over to
Mrs. Eymer and laid down on the floor in front of her in a hallway. Hinkle,
and others, claim that Malcolm walked out of jail within an hour and that he
had been used in some way to set up the Eymers.
The police would not comment on the claim.
The police banged on the door until it opened on its own, burst into the
single-wide mobile home with pistols and a shotgun drawn, and ordered
everyone to "freeze."
"Steve dropped and hit the floor," said Hinkle. "One officer came at me and
kicked me down. The other went past me. When that officer kicked me to the
floor he immediately, he didn't run but quick walked, just as soon as he
turned -- pow he shot. To me that did not make any sense because that other
officer was already standing there with a gun drawn. When he got shoulder to
shoulder with the other police officer he just shot."
The unidentified officer who fired the shot claims it was an accidental
shooting, according to a police dispatcher who did not wish to be
identified. The officer says he was reaching for his flashlight and changing
the gun from one hand to the other when it accidentally discharged. Hinkle
and Mrs. Eymer do not believe that explanation.
"He didn't reach for anything. He just shot," said Mrs. Eymer. Hinkle
agreed.
"The other cop that was beside him went 'Whoa.' He took his hands and raised
the other officer's gun up," said Hinkle.
No weapons of any kind were found in the house or in the possession of
anyone in the house, according to all present. No weapons charges were made
by police.
Although the police would not disclose any names, the officer who stopped
the shooter is reported to be David Betton, a veteran officer who is
reportedly planning to become a minister. Betton could not be located for
comment.
"He said 'Are you hit?' She was in shock for a few minutes, then she said,
'Yea, I'm hit.' I thought they were going to execute us all. I really did,"
said Hinkle.
For some unknown reason, the police delayed getting Mrs. Eymer to the
hospital. They took all suspects to the local police station and booked
them, then returned to the waiting ambulance. The police followed the
ambulance, not to the local hospital, but to Sparks Hospital further away in
Arkansas.
Hinkle credits officer Betton for saving Mrs. Eymer's life. Not only did he
stop the other officer from firing again, he also stopped the severe
bleeding and administered first aid.
Hinkle is not the only one to witness what happened. The other direct
witnesses were the Eymer children. Donna, 13, passed out on the floor when
she saw what happened to her mother. The 4-month-old infant was only a few
feet away on the couch, and Casey, 4, was being held by her mother.
"That's child abuse," said Martha Smyrl, the mother of Mrs. Eymer.
Hinkle would not deny that he has used drugs in the past, but he insisted
that no drugs were present in the house. He and Ms. Bedwell claim they
observed the police search those present and that nothing was found. Bedwell
says she saw a woman officer take Mrs. Eymer's purse out of sight, then
return a few minutes later and make the comment to other officers that,
"It's been done." She believes that is when evidence was planted.
Hinkle also claims that he observed the strip search of each of the suspect
men in the police station. He says the only person who had evidence was
Malcolm, who was released within an hour. Hinkle says police found a plastic
bag containing white powder on Malcolm.
"I went into the house where she was shot," said Harold Scott, Jr., brother
of Mrs. Eymer. "Them stinking bastards went in there and mopped that up --
the blood and stuff like that. They tore some wall paper off the side of her
wall (that had blood on it)."
Scott says nothing else in the house was disturbed. He said there was no
indication that there was ever any search. He believes the police didn't do
a search because they planted the evidence they needed and weren't looking
for anything more.
The house was marked off with crime-scene yellow tape only on Friday. By
Saturday morning the tape was gone and the extended family has been able to
enter the house.
"You don't break into people's home and shoot an unarmed woman with kids,"
exclaimed Scott. "We're sick and damned tired of these son-of-a-bitches
doing this. Look what happened down at Waco. Look what happened up there at
Ruby Ridge. They killed a man's son and his wife over a sawed-off shot gun?
And the undercover ATF is the one that sold him the shotgun to begin with?
What's these son of a bitches doing?"
He said neighbors and local residents have congratulated his family for
having the courage to take on the police in a lawsuit.
Mrs. Smyrl has been forced to come to Oklahoma from her home in Texas to
find an apartment to meet the requirements of the child protective services.
She is hopeful that she can gain custody of her grandchildren by doing so.
The case workers told her that she could not have custody if the children
were taken out of state.
"Because I live out of state, it could take a year before I get my
grandkids," she explained to WorldNetDaily.com in a phone interview
yesterday after a brief visit with the children. "They're in shock," she
said.
The children will not be permitted back into their own home, even if the
parents do not return there. Mrs. Smyrl offered to buy the home and live
there with the children, but the case workers told her it would not be
permitted.
Neighbors claim they have been interviewed by plainclothes officers. Some
say the officers are from the FBI, however this could not be confirmed.
There are reports that the Eymer home has many visitors, and that the
teen-age daughter has been missing school, according to some neighbors.
However, no one believed the Eymers had done anything that warranted police
action of any kind. All neighbors expressed shock and distrust of the police
and the government, but none would speak on the record.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Defendant Rejects Plea, Then Jumps to His Death (The New York Times
says 19-year-old Derrick Smith, accused of selling crack cocaine - unlike
yesterday's Associated Press version, which said he was charged with possessing
marijuana - was offered a plea bargain by a judge in Manhattan Thursday
entailing a three- to six-year prison sentence, but voted with his feet.)
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 18:36:27 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: NYT: (See note!) Defendant Rejects Plea, Then Jumps to
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: DrugSense
Source: The New York Times
Pubdate: Fri, 30 Oct 1998
Copyright: 1998 The New York Times Company
Author: Michael Cooper
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Note: A reader pointed out that the AP story on this read "Smith was
charged with possession of marijuana and had been offered three to six
years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea." We are unsure as to why the
AP story, posted earlier today, did not mention crack cocaine as did the
NYT. Looks like one reporter got his facts wrong, but which one? The AP
story is at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n976.a10.html
DEFENDANT REJECTS PLEA, THEN JUMPS TO HIS DEATH
NEW YORK -- After casting a last glance at his mother, a teen-ager accused
of selling crack cocaine jumped out the window of a packed Manhattan
courtroom Thursday and fell 16 stories to his death after a judge offered
to give him a three- to six-year prison sentence if he agreed to plead
guilty in the case, officials and witnesses said.
The defendant, Derrick Smith, 19, rejected the plea bargain. Then, as court
officers were leading him to a holding cell behind the courtroom, Smith,
who was not handcuffed, broke free and jumped out an open window, shaken
witnesses said.
"I thought his mother was going to have a nervous breakdown," said John
Toliaferro, 44, a legal assistant who was in court. "She kept saying,
'That's my son, that's my son."'
The suicide was a jarring interruption to the daily routine at Manhattan
state Supreme Court, as lawyers, judges, jurors and even defendants crowded
the sidewalks at lunchtime below the building at 100 Centre St., which was
once known as "the Tombs" for the faux-Egyptian architecture of a much
smaller courthouse that stood there in the 19th century.
It was supposed to have been a routine court date for Smith, who was
arrested Sept. 19 and accused of selling crack cocaine on the corner of St.
Marks Place and Second Avenue in the East Village, according to an
indictment. Since his arrest, Smith had been held on Rikers Island because
no one had paid the $2,500 bail to set him free.
Noting that Smith was already on probation for a 1995 drug case and that he
had been arrested several times since then on charges of selling marijuana,
Justice Budd Goodman of state Supreme Court in Manhattan revoked the offer
of bail Thursday and ordered him sent back to Rikers Island.
Then, according to a transcript of the proceedings, he told Smith that the
plea offer, "for today only," was three to six years in prison.
Smith's lawyer, Frank Bari, rejected the offer, setting the wheels in
motion for the case to go to trial.
Then Smith addressed the court. "I'm 19 years old, your honor," he said,
according to the transcript. "That is terrible. That's terrible." Then
Smith asked to represent himself. Bari, his lawyer, advised him against
this, and Goodman ordered him to submit the next motions in the case.
Alfonso Wilson, 35, who was in the courtroom with a friend who had a court
date, said that Smith then turned to face his mother. "He looked at his
mother," he said. "He looked very discouraged. Their eyes met."
Court officers led Smith behind a glass partition that forms a sort of
corridor along the outer wall of the courtroom and leads to an adjoining
holding cell. The corridor is in view of at least part of the courtroom. As
he passed a window, witnesses said, they heard a commotion.
Toliaferro said that Smith's mother jumped up. "She ran back, behind the
partition," he said. "Then she saw what happened. She saw the open window,
and the court officer there alone." Smith's mother, who was not identified
by the authorities, was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for trauma.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medicinal marijuana gains support (The Boston Globe says the voter
initiatives on ballots around the country have the drug warriors running
scared, but Congress' attempt to quash the vote in Washington, DC, has only
increased public support for that measure. In the next round of elections,
Illinois, Ohio, Maine, and Florida are likely to launch initiatives,
according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Medicinal marijuana gains support
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 21:37:21 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Medicinal marijuana gains support
By Louise D. Palmer, Globe Correspondent, 10/30/98
WASHINGTON - It's one thing for California, with its cannabis clubs and
pungent green fields of Humboldt County hemp, to legalize marijuana as
medicine.
It's another in the nation's capital. The Republican-controlled Congress so
hated the idea that it sneaked a provision into the fiscal 1999 budget bill
to kill the District of Columbia's medical marijuana initiative, creating a
local uproar that has only fueled public support for the measure.
The White House is worried as well, and not just about the effort in its
back yard. Bankrolled by big-money donors like New York financier George
Soros, such initiatives are gaining momentum from Washington to Maine and
will be on the ballot in six states and the District on Tuesday.
If these proposals succeed, it would bring to eight the number of states
that have cast a vote for the controlled medical use of marijuana. And it
may signal a subtle shift in public debate away from the punitive war on
drugs that emphasized criminality to legislating a more tolerant attitude
toward drug use.
"The ultimate goal is to change federal policy," said David Fratello,
spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, a Los Angeles-based organization
funded by Soros, Phoenix businessman John Sperling, and Peter Lewis, a
Cleveland insurance executive.
State, federal battles
After their successful voter drive in California in 1996 - now stymied by an
ongoing battle between state and federal officials over distribution - the
organization went national, identifying states with high levels of popular
support for medical marijuana.
Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Alaska all have medical marijuana ballot
initiatives on Tuesday. Arizona's initiative, which is not funded by
Americans for Medical Rights, would reinstate marijuana provisions passed in
1996 and overturned by the state Legislature. Colorado's referendum is being
challenged in court. And in the District, votes will be cast but may not be
officially counted until courts decide whether Congress can legally tamper
with the election.
In the next round of elections, Illinois, Ohio, Maine, and Florida are
likely to launch initiatives, according to the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The apparent appeal of these measures has prompted a last-minute attempt by
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to dampen public
support. This week, former presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald
Ford issued a "Dear citizen" letter at the request of drug czar Barry
McCaffrey in which they oppose the ballot measures because they say the
measures would undercut public confidence in the authority of the Food and
Drug Administration.
The drug office also dispatched deputy director Dr. Donald R. Vereen Jr. to
states with the ballot measure.
Vereen will make the case that there is no scientific basis for prescribing
marijuana for people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other illnesses to
help stimulate appetite and control nausea and pain. He will also stress it
is unsafe and irresponsible to allow patients to take a drug that has not
been tested and approved by the FDA.
Voting for medical marijuana sets a "dangerous precedent," Vereen warned at
a rally against the initiative in the District last week.
McCaffrey and other antidrug activists also believe the ballot measures are
simply the first move by "legalization forces" toward the ultimate goal:
making it legal to buy and smoke pot.
Patients' access
Americans for Medical Rights rejects that claim and says its initiatives are
narrowly focused on helping people with AIDS or cancer patients on
chemotherapy.
"We're not about promoting marijuana but patients' access," insisted Wayne
Turner, of ACT UP, the group sponsoring the District initiative.
Medical opinion is divided on the health effects of marijuana, but the
medical community has been mostly quiet on the issue.
"The only group that has really come out against us is law enforcement,
turning this into a battle of patients' rights versus law and order," noted
Geoff Sugarman, director of the initiative in Oregon.
But in the District, where there is a high concentration of both AIDS and
drug abuse, the issue of whether to make marijuana available medically goes
beyond patients' rights.
"I represent a ward where open-air drug markets are thriving and where there
is open warfare between drug dealers," said Sharon Ambrose, a city
councilwoman. "I'm not willing to do anything that sends the message that we
are relaxing our war on drugs, even though that is not what the initiative
is about."
This story ran on page A03 of the Boston Globe on 10/30/98.
(c) Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana on 7 US Ballots (Cable News Network discusses the reform
initiatives facing voters in Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state,
Washington, DC, and Arizona.)
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 23:15:38 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: MMJ: Medical Marijuana on 7 U.S. Ballots
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Olafur Brentmar
Pubdate: Fri, 30 Oct 1998
Source: CNN (US)
Contact: cnn.feedback@cnn.com
Website: http://www.cnn.com/
Copyright: 1998 Cable News Network, Inc. A Time Warner Company
MEDICAL MARIJUANA ON 7 U.S. BALLOTS
Patients Say Pot Eases Pain
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, October 30) -- Is marijuana a helpful medicine for
the desperately ill, or a scheme hatched by drug pushers hoping to harvest
a new generation of addicts? Those opposing views will compete at the polls
next week as voters in six states and the District of Columbia consider
limited legalization of marijuana.
Voters in Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state and Washington
D.C. will decide whether physicians, under certain conditions, can
prescribe marijuana as a treatment for patients.
In addition, a ballot measure in Arizona would require heroin, LSD,
marijuana and certain other drugs to be authorized by the federal
government before they could be prescribed as medicines.
He Smokes Pot Legally
While California and Arizona in 1996 passed their own state marijuana
initiatives, they were effectively quashed by federal suits aimed at
keeping marijuana subject to national narcotics laws.
The group Americans for Medical Rights is spending more than $2 million to
turn the tide back in favor of medical marijuana. The California-based
organization argues that patients who smoke marijuana to relieve pain,
control nausea or boost their appetites should not be made into criminals.
Stockbroker Irv Rosenfeld smokes 12 marijuana cigarettes a day and doesn't
consider himself a criminal. One of just eight people in the United States
allowed to smoke marijuana legally, he was grandfathered into a now defunct
federal program providing marijuana for medical purposes.
In Rosenfeld's case, the marijuana eases the pain from a disease that
attacks his joints. "To me, this is the most important aspect to life," he
told CNN.
He's far from alone, according to pro-medical marijuana activists. "There
are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of patients in the United
States who could benefit from the medical use of marijuana," says Bill
Zimmerman of Americans for Medical Rights.
The group is funded in large part by three multimillionaire
philanthropists, New York financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance
magnate Peter Lewis and Phoenix educator-entrepreneur John Sperling, all of
them opposed to federal government anti-drug policies from both Republican
and Democratic administrations.
'Surrender Our Children To Addiction'
On the other side of the issue are critics who say the medical marijuana
movement promotes drug abuse and criminal behavior by ushering young people
into what one judge has called "the kindergarten of the drug industry".
"Those who would surrender the war on drugs surrender our children to
addiction," says Gilbert Gallegos, president of the Fraternal Order of
Police. The opposition also includes three former presidents who have
joined the White House in urging voters to reject legalized marijuana for
medical use.
"These initiatives are not based on the best available science," wrote
George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford this week in a "Dear Fellow
Citizens" letter that closely parallels the Clinton administration's stance.
The letter was requested by Barry McCaffrey, the White House director of
drug control programs, who dismisses the pro-marijuana camp as trying to
weaken America's anti-drug resolve.
"Let's have none of this malarkey on marijuana smoking by cunning groups
working to legalize drugs," McCaffrey said.
Good Medicine?
Americans for Medical Rights insists its purpose is humanitarian and the
ballot measures for medical use are not a stepping stone to legalizing
marijuana. But in the government's view, there is no official proof to back
the contention that marijuana can help ease symptoms of AIDS, cancer,
multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases.
"Smoked marijuana has not been tested (by the government)," says Dr. Don
Vereen, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"We must keep an open mind about drugs with medical purposes, (but) before
you vote, ask yourself: 'What other medicines do you smoke?' Smoked
marijuana damages the brain, heart, lungs and immune system."
While McCaffrey insists that "American medicine is the best in the world
for pain management," the claim rings false for pro-medical marijuana
groups in California.
They have fought a long and ultimately unsuccessful battle to implement
Proposition 215, the 1996 state law which allowed seriously ill people to
use marijuana when advised to do so by their doctor.
Under relentless federal assault in the courts, the marijuana supply clubs
that sprang up to provide people with the drug have been forced to close.
The last, in Oakland, shut its doors this month -- leaving its 2,000
"clients" with little option but to turn to street dealers for the drug.
But even if voters support the propositions next week, the fight won't end
there. Should the initiative in Washington D.C. be approved, Congress has
moved to block it from becoming law.
And the Justice Department has given every indication it will oppose
implementation elsewhere.
But for Rosenfeld, the questions of health and pain are far more basic.
"Without this medicine, I would not have near the life that I have now. And
I would have to become a criminal."
Correspondent Pierre Thomas and The Associated Press contributed to
this report.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MDMA Neurotoxicity Research (The Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies comments on The Lancet report about the supposed
toxicity of MDMA. As usual, government "research" and mass media reporting
turn out to be dubious on several counts.)
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 17:09:36 +0000
To: vignes@monaco.mc
From: Peter Webster (vignes@monaco.mc)
Subject: MDMA Neurotoxicity Research [from MAPS list]
From: RickMAPS@aol.com
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 21:00:52 EST
To: maps-forum@maps.org
Subject: MAPS: MDMA Neurotoxicity Research
Sender: owner-maps-forum@maps.org
Reply-To: RickMAPS@aol.com
To All:
You may have seen publicity about a new study of MDMA users that just came out
in the Lancet. The study is by George Ricaurte, M.D. I spoke with him several
days ago about the results and feel it is important to keep several points in
mind.
First, the MDMA subjects in the study feel fine.
Second, it is difficult to make sure that matched controls are really matched
on all dimensions. The best way to study MDMA-related serotonin changes is to
test people before and after the administration of MDMA. This has yet to be
done.
Third, even if the serotonin transporter changes are due to MDMA, they make be
entirely without significance. Brain cells can up and down regulate to
function in enviroments of greater or lesser amounts of neurotransmitters.
Fourth, the serotonin system does not seem to substantially decline with age.
Therefore, the idea that reduced serotonin system changes that are
asymptomatic will become a problem over time is not supported by the evidence
about the serotonin system, or by the observation of problems of MDMA users
age 60 or older, of which there are many.
Fifth, there is no evidence at all that a few doses of MDMA given in a
therapeutic context, or any context, would have a significant impact on
serotonin levels, much less produce functional or behavioral consequences
related to serotonin deficits. Thus, this research does not provide evidence
sufficient to justify refusal to permit MDMA psychotherapy research.
The Novartis Foundation is sponsoring a conference on the risks of MDMA, to
take place in London on December 4. Dr. Ricaurte will be presenting his
findings there, as will other researchers who have looked at the risk side of
the equation. MAPS is paying for Dr. Charles Grob to attend the conference,
and also Dr. Moshe Kotler and Dr. Adam Darnell, the MDMA researchers from
Israel who are working to obtain permission to study the use of MDMA in the
treatment of PTSD in a MAPS-funded study. As always, MAPS is interested in
all the scientific information about MDMA, both risks and benefits.
Unfortunately, ever since MDMA was criminalized in 1985, no research in the
US has yet been permitted into the beneficial uses of MDMA, while probably in
excess of $10 million has been spent seeking evidence of harmful effects. MAPS
has been supporting Dr. Grob's efforts to initiate a study of the use of MDMA
in cancer patients for many years. The FDA has taken three months to review
the third draft of the protocol, with some response expected soon.
What follows are some additional notes on Ricaurte's latest effort in The
Lancet, by Dr. Karl Jansen.
An important point to note is that the subjects were tested for psychiatric
disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and were all found to be normal.
In other words, these reductions in transporter binding relative to the
control group existed without any anxiety and depression, as established by
the experimenters themselves. This is in line with animal experiments which
show that considerable persistent changes do not result in persistent
behavioural changes in these animals. They cannot be distinguished from
controls. While E may cause some brain changes, the evidence for depression
and anxiety as a long-term time bomb is entirely lacking, especially if the
control group are heavy cocaine users.
So far, these changes in the serotonin transporter are without proven
effect. The midweek post E dip is due to an acute fall in serotonin, not
same thing at all.
Of course, these changes are very minor compared to those of alcoholism,
which causes gross brain atrophy, difficulty walking, major depression, 10%
of alcoholics commit suicide, severe memory problems, etc. etc. - somehow
news of this has not been flashed around the world...I wonder why? You
don't need fancy PET scans to see alcoholic damage - a pair of scales
postmortem will do just fine!
A major reservation I have about this study is that there has been a high
degree of selection of cases. These are not 14 random cases, far from it.
Ricuarte has been collecting hundreds of cases for many years. Nicholas and
I sent him people who had taken over 1,000 pills. These people, including
Nicholas himself (who had only taken about 100), were told by Ricuarte that
they had a clean bill of health. So why aren't they in the published
study?! Why indeed....These 14 cases have been carefully selected from a
huge sample, which totally invalidates the statistics which have been used
to show significance. In other words, people who had taken over 1,000 pills
and went through Ricuarte's study with normal results have somehow not been
included amongst the elect, which is very suspicious. I wonder if they
didn't just select the far end of a very large bell curve to publish? I
note that 400 pills was the highest in the sample, so my friends were
definitely not 'in' and they were definitely told that they were
O.K...Something isn't right here.
The other problem is the highly questionable statement that the absence of
neuropsychiatric disorder means that the low levels of transporter could
not have been pre-existing. It is wholly possible that persons with lower
levels of transporter and other neurochemical differences experience drives
to take drugs of this nature, or to seek stimulation and novelty in other
ways. Thus pre-existing, genetic differences in dopamine receptors are seen
in some alcoholics, but these drives need not be met with alcohol - they
can also make people more adventurous, more inclined to become innovators
and explorators. To imply that they must have a 'neuropsychiatric condition'
is wholly false.
Best
Karl Jansen
***
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The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 65 (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network's original summary of drug policy news and calls for action,
including - Announcements; Study - 13 percent of black men ineligible
to vote; Mother holding child shot by police in her home; Medical marijuana
goes to voters on Tuesday; Update on Initiative 59 - Washington, DC; Report
from Oregon; Court ruling ends reverse marijuana sting operations; Tasmanian
government wants possession of marijuana legalized; And an editorial
by Adam J. Smith, The 13 percent solution)
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 07:59:11 -0500
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #65
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #65 -- October 30, 1998
A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network
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PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the
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drcnet@drcnet.org. Thank you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Announcements
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#announce
2. STUDY: 13% Of Black Men Ineligible to Vote
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#novote
3. Mother Holding Child Shot By Police In Her Home
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#shooting
4. Medical Marijuana Goes to Voters on Tuesday
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#thistuesday
5. Update on Initiative 59: Washington, DC
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#i-59
6. Report From Oregon
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#57-67
7. Court Ruling Ends Reverse Marijuana Sting Operations
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#reversal
8. Tasmanian Government Wants Possession of Marijuana
Legalized
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#tasmania
9. EDITORIAL: The 13% Solution
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/065.html#editorial
***
1. Announcements
* We are pleased to make available Election '98: The Vote
for Medical Marijuana and Drug Policy Reform, a report
released by the Drug Policy Foundation, providing detailed
discussion of the nine ballot initiatives being voted on in
seven states and DC this Tuesday. Check it out at
http://www.drcnet.org/election98/. DPF is online at
http://www.dpf.org.
* Free Giveaway -- five free copies of Mike Gray's Drug
Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out --
with a personalized autograph by the author -- enter online
at http://www.drcnet.org/contest/.
* DRCNet needs your help to keep our drug policy reform
calendar current and complete. Check it out at
http://www.drcnet.org/calendar/, and e-mail your event
submissions to calendar@drcnet.org.
* DRCNet needs your support! Visit our member registration
form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to make a credit
card donation or print out a pledge form to mail in, or just
send your check or money to: DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite
615, Washington, DC 20036. Contributions to the Drug Reform
Coordination Network are not tax-deductible. You can make a
tax-deductible contribution to the DRCNet Foundation to
support our educational work. Another way to support the
organization is the eyegive online fundraising program --
visit http://www.eyegive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1060 to check
it out -- just registering earns DRCNet two dollars!
* The latest headlines are java-linked from our site at
http://www.drcnet.org -- or if you don't have java on your
browser, use http://www.drcnet.org/breaking_news/ instead.
***
2. STUDY: 13% Of Black Men Ineligible to Vote
A study released jointly last week by The Sentencing Project
and Human Rights Watch finds that 13%, approximately 1.4
million African American men, are ineligible to vote -- many
permanently -- due to their criminal records. That
percentage is seven times the national average. Overall,
3.9 million Americans have been disenfranchised.
Laws vary widely between states regarding a convicted
felon's right to vote. 31 states restrict voting for those
on probation or parole, while in 14 states, a single felony
conviction can lead to lifetime disenfranchisement. In
Arizona and Maryland, two-time offenders lose their
eligibility for life.
Marc Mauer, Assistant Director of The Sentencing Project,
spoke with The Week Online.
WOL: This report seems to have hit a nerve with people --
not unlike a previous Sentencing Project report which found
that one in three young black males in America were under
criminal justice supervision -- what kind of response has
the organization gotten?
MAUER: We've been very pleased with the response to this
study. A lot of people were shocked to hear about these
findings and the policies that created them. Most people
didn't realize the level of disenfranchisement. Also, I
think that there's been a recognition that harsh criminal
justice policies have contributed to the explosion of these
numbers over the past twenty-five years or so.
WOL: Do you think that the reaction will translate into
action on the ground?
MAUER: We've been very happy to hear from people in a
number of different states who are thinking about beginning
litigation or introducing legislation as a result of the
report, to try to overturn some of the state-level policies
in this regard. So we're hoping to see some movement. It's
encouraging to see the report spur this kind of interest.
WOL: What kind of impact does this level of
disenfranchisement have in the real world?
MAUER: Well, we're talking about almost four million people
here. So while its difficult to know what impact this has
had electorally, it is a fairly substantial potential voting
block. I think particularly when we look at the impact on
the black community, which has been so disproportionately
impacted, it really points to the fact that we as a society
-- whether consciously or not -- we are diluting the voting
strength of the black community through this really massive
disenfranchisement. In some communities the number of
disenfranchised voters is very high, and so it's likely to
have both an electoral and a sociological impact.
WOL: So what's the next step?
MAUER: We're hoping to capitalize on the interest that the
report has garnered to see if we can promote more discussion
and activity in this area. Also, we'd like to stimulate
discussion and research on some of the other consequences
of enforcement and drug policy over the past few decades.
WOL: Finally, could you tell us what impact the Drug War
has had on this massive disenfranchisement?
MAUER: Clearly, over the last fifteen years, drug policy
has been the primary catalyst of the explosion of prison
populations, particularly with regard to minority
communities. It is the one area that if we could make
policy changes in that area that would make an enormous
impact on some of the disturbing numbers that we see.
(The Sentencing Project/Human Rights Watch study, which is
titled "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony
Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States," can be found
online on the Human Rights Watch web site at
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/. The Sentencing
Project is online at http://www.sentencingproject.org.
The third annual conference of the Campaign for an Effective
Crime Policy, a project that is affiliated with the
Sentencing Project, will be held in Bethesda, Maryland on
Nov. 12-14 -- for information, call (202) 628-1903, e-mail
staff@crimepolicy.org or visit http://www.crimepolicy.org.
***
3. Mother Holding Child Shot By Police In Her Home
Pat Eymer, mother of three, was shot once in the shoulder
when a group of officers broke down the door of her trailer
home. Ms. Eymer -- whose children, ages thirteen, four, and
four months, all witnessed the shooting -- was holding her
four year-old daughter in her arms when she was shot. Ms.
Eymer's thirteen year-old daughter passed out after seeing
her mother shot. The .45 caliber hollow-point bullet
destroyed most of the bone in Ms. Eymer's right shoulder.
She is listed in stable condition, but is not expected to
re-gain much use of her arm.
No guns or weapons of any kind were found in the home. The
other three adults present, Ms. Eymer's husband, her cousin
James Hinkle, and his friend Tammy Bedwell, were charged
with "possession of a controlled dangerous substance,
possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia
and use of a police radio in the commission of a felony."
Mr. Hinkle, however, claims that there was nothing illegal
in the home and that the evidence against them was planted
by police.
Both Hinkle and Ms. Bedwell told the WorldNetDaily Exclusive
(http://www.worldnetdaily.com) that the police search turned
up nothing, and that a female officer took Ms. Eymer's purse
outside only to return in a few minutes and comment to
another officer, "it's been done." Ms. Eymer has not been
charged.
"They absolutely found nothing on me or my girlfriend,"
Hinkle told WorldNetDaily. "They were totally in the wrong.
They found nothing. He just shot her ass, OK? Straight up.
Walked in the house, shot her."
***
4. Medical Marijuana Goes to Voters on Tuesday
On November 3, voters in five and possibly six states plus
Washington DC will have an opportunity to vote on the
question of whether patients who choose to use marijuana for
certain ailments will be legally protected, or face arrest.
Voters in California and Arizona decided in favor of
patients in 1996, in both cases by wide margins, leading to
a reaction resembling apoplexy by some elected officials.
Leading up to those elections, three former presidents, as
well as Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey, Secretary of Health and
Human Services Donna Shalala and others came out strenuously
against the initiatives. In Arizona, Senator Jon Kyl,
speaking on the floor of the Senate days after the election,
claimed that his constituents had been "duped" and in the
Arizona state house, legislation was passed which gutted the
intent of Prop. 200. Arizona's citizens will vote on Prop.
300, a bill that would maintain the legislature's changes --
no on 300 would restore Prop. 200.
In California, the federal government stepped in, first to
threaten doctors with loss of their prescription licenses
and arrest if they discussed the benefits of marijuana with
patients. After a federal judge issued a restraining order
against those plans based upon first amendment concerns, the
feds moved to plan B, shutting down patient cooperatives,
arresting activists, and allegedly working behind the scenes
with state law enforcement to defy the spirit, if not the
letter of the California law.
This year, the U.S. Congress passed a "sense of the house
resolution" against the medicinal use of marijuana. And
finally, in an act which raises important constitutional
issues, the Congress, as part of the District of Columbia's
omnibus appropriations bill, forbade federal monies from
being used for any DC initiative which would lower penalties
for marijuana.
Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy
Foundation and former counsel to the House Subcommittee on
Crime (1979-89), who said that the Constitutional
implications of the provision are relevant for all
Americans. "The fact is that the Congress has the power,
once an initiative is passed in DC, to vote it down,
nullifying its legal impact. But this act, to keep
Washingtonians from even expressing themselves on the issue,
seems to contravene the constitutional right of the people
to petition the government for redress of their grievances.
A prior restraint to interfere with the First Amendment
right to petition the government for redress of grievances
is something that every citizen around the country should be
concerned about ... and wonder why providing marijuana to
sick people could provoke such an extreme reaction by the US
Congress."
The Colorado initiative has also run up against problems in
the weeks leading up to election day. In that state, the
Secretary of State, Vikki Buckley, initially announced that
petitioners had failed to present enough valid signatures to
qualify for the ballot. (They needed 52,000 and had turned
in over 80,000.) That led to a court challenge in which it
was determined that the count was indeed erroneous, and that
the initiative should be on the ballot. An appeal of that
determination led to a decision requiring that office to do
a full line by line (rather than statistical sampling)
count. Buckley later claimed that the new count also showed
the petitions insufficient, and so the initiative was off
the ballot. But backers of the initiative went back and
checked the work again, and claimed to have found thousands
of errors in the count, which they will present to the court
late this week. At our deadline, it was still undetermined
whether or not the citizens of Colorado would have an
opportunity to decide the question for themselves. But
other than that, proponents of the initiatives headed into
their final week of preparations confident that they would
win most, if not all, of the initiatives that did make it to
the ballot.
Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights,
told The Week Online, "The polling, both our own and the
polls done by TV and newspapers, indicate that the medical
marijuana initiatives are running ahead in all five states
and the district. But of course, our opponents are working
hard to nullify the will of the voters in Colorado and also
in Washington DC, which, I would mention, is not one that we
have worked on. In the case of Colorado, our people have
looked over the work that was done by the Secretary of
State's office and have found ample numbers of signatures
that were improperly disqualified, and so we are hopeful
that we will be on the ballot. If not, we will seek redress
through the courts."
Rob Kampia, Director of governmental relations with the
Marijuana Policy Project in Washington DC, has been working
on the DC initiative for several months. He told The Week
Online that he was "appalled but not surprised" that
Congress used the backdoor of the appropriations bill in an
attempt to deny the citizens of the nation's capital a
chance to be heard on the issue. "This will not be
successful," Kampia said. "For a representative from
Georgia (Bob Barr, R-GA), three days before he goes home, to
essentially legislate the people of Washington DC out of
their own local decision-making process is a stunning
indication of just how meaningless freedom and democracy
are, as concepts, to many members of the House. This vote
will be counted, and all necessary steps will be taken to
make sure of that."
(Medical marijuana initiatives are on the ballot in Alaska,
Colorado, District of Columbia, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington. Oregon will also vote on recriminalization of
marijuana and Arizona will vote on broader drug policy
reform measures. Detailed info on all the initiatives is
available online at http://www.drcnet.org/election98/.)
***
5. Forces Lined Up For and Against I-59
As noted above, DC's I-59 has already met opposition in
Congress, with Election Day still four days away.
Supporters of the initiative are considering how they will
assure that I-59 is counted and enacted, despite anti-
democratic forces in Capitol Hill.
I-59, like the other medical marijuana bills, provides
protection from arrest and prosecution to seriously ill or
dying patients whose doctors have recommended it for primary
treatment or as a mitigation against side effects of other
treatments. It would prohibit discrimination or retaliation
of any form against any physician who recommended the use of
marijuana, and protects their identities, and would permit
possession, acquisition and cultivation of small amounts of
marijuana destined to be used solely by the patient for
their medical needs. The bill allows patients to designate
up to four primary caregivers to act as their agents in
securing marijuana solely for the patient's medical needs,
as well as to organize and operate not-for-profit
corporations for the express purpose of providing patients
with their medically-necessary marijuana. I-59 also
provides that the use of medical marijuana will be no
defense against any criminal actions of violence, driving
under the influence, or public endangerment, would require
that the District's Director of the Department of Health
submit a plan within 90 days that for providing safe and
affordable marijuana to Medicaid patients, and asks that the
District Mayor formally request, on behalf of District
citizens, the development of a federal framework for legal
provision of medical marijuana.
I-59 has been endorsed by the Democratic, Republican and
Statehood party candidates for Mayor, and by most of the
City Council members, with the exception of the member from
Ward Six in troubled Southeast Washingtonm who has said she
believes that medical marijuana would increase problems with
the already-pervasive open-air drug markets of Washington.
Supporters, however, believe that I-59 will reduce use of
the black market, through the personal cultivation and
non-profit cooperative provisions.
Perhaps predictably, DC Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H.
Ramsey has voiced his opposition to the initiative, stating
that he felt it was inappropriate to allow voters to decide
medical issues best left to scientific regulatory bodies
such as the Food and Drug Administration. But in a
surprising announcement this week, the National Black Police
Association publicly endorsed the measure.
Though there has been little organized public opposition to
the bill, a rider attached to the 1999 DC budget, by
Congressman Robert Barr, a Georgia Republican, prohibits the
use of District funds to conduct and certify a vote on
medical marijuana. The ballots had already been printed
when the provision went into effect; however, there is still
concern that the District government could be prevented from
certifying a count of the votes next week.
Wayne Turner of ACT-UP DC, the sponsors of the initiative,
told The Week Online, "We'll be filing our case against the
federal government tomorrow (Friday, 10/30). The ACLU has
taken the case, and I want everyone to know that the votes
will be counted. So we want everyone to go to the polls on
Tuesday and cast their votes in favor of self-rule and the
rights of patients. How dare they try to take away the
rights of District residents to vote on this issue. If they
thought they would win, the federal legislators would be
down here certifying the votes themselves. But the fact is
that they are going to lose, and lose badly, and so, being
bereft of good arguments for their side, they have adopted a
dictatorial strategy. 'To hell with the people, they can
only vote if we agree with them.' But this is America, and
it just doesn't work that way."
***
6. Report From Oregon
- Bear Wilner
(DRCNet wishes to thank Bear for keeping our readers up to
date on the goings-on in Oregon, where voters will decide on
two separate marijuana-related initiatives. We hope that
post-election, Bear will continue his valuable efforts for
The Week Online and for the reform community at large.)
With just a few days to go before November 3rd, hundreds of
thousands of Oregonians have already voted on the state's
two marijuana-related ballot measures. Voting by mail is
more prevalent in Oregon than in any other part of the US,
and another initiative on this fall's slate seeks to make it
the standard for every election, doing away with the voting
booth altogether.
Still, there are plenty of voters left who do plan to head
to the polls on Tuesday. Oregon's voter turnout rate, even
in off-year elections, remains far above the national
average. This is most likely an attribute that bodes well
for the campaigns against Measure 57, which would
recriminalize possession of under an ounce of marijuana, and
for Measure 67, which would allow the medical use of
marijuana under a caregiver's supervision.
These campaigns have taken to the airwaves in recent days,
even as absentee voting has begun. One television ad against
Measure 57 depicts two highly unsavory characters being
released from prison to make way for newly convicted
marijuana offenders. TV ads for Measure 67, financed by
Americans for Medical Rights, feature Stormy Ray, a
courageous wheelchair-bound activist, and chief petitioner
Dr. Rick Bayer, among others. Meanwhile, anti-Measure 67
radio ads have just started to run, with former First Lady
Barbara Bush making part of the pitch.
The struggle on the ground has also continued. Dr. Bayer
and attorney Dave Fidanque of the Oregon ACLU debated top
prohibitionist spokesperson Rob Elkins, police chief of the
town of Molalla, before the City Club of Eugene recently.
Eugene is the second-largest city in Oregon and home to the
University of Oregon, and its daily and weekly newspapers
have editorialized in favor of Measure 67 while opposing
Measure 57. The debate was polite but revealing. Although
vehement in his denunciations of the reform position, Chief
Elkins was forced to make statement after statement assuring
the listeners that his side was not out to lock people up,
and that their minds were not closed to potential health
benefits of marijuana -- they simply felt that the risks
outweighed these benefits.
Although the state's largest newspaper, the increasingly
conservative Portland Oregonian, made its endorsements on
the anti-reform side, many other Oregon papers, such as the
Albany Democrat-Herald, have joined Eugene's Register-Guard
in calling for a Yes vote on 67 and a No vote on 57. The
members of numerous citizen organizations, such as MAMA
(Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse) have been putting in
plenty of time on the effort. In general, Oregon appears to
be poised to join California and Arizona in the camp of
states where drug laws have been amended by the voters.
***
7. Court Ruling Ends Reverse Marijuana Sting Operations
The New York State Court of Appeals dealt a blow to a
controversial but popular tactic in marijuana enforcement
last week (10/22) when it ruled that people arrested in
reverse sting or "sell and bust" operations cannot be
charged with criminal solicitation.
Police, who are forbidden from selling actual marijuana,
generally use a substitute such as oregano when posing as
dealers to arrest unsuspecting buyers. That eliminates the
possibility of charging them with possession. And because
there is no official penalty for "attempted possession" of
marijuana, police had been charging arrestees with criminal
solicitation. The court ruled, however, that the New York
Penal Code stipulates that "a person is not guilty of
solicitation when that solicitation constitutes conduct of a
kind that is necessarily incidental to the commission of the
crime solicited."
This language exists to insure that a person cannot be
charged both with a crime and additionally with an act that
is necessarily subsumed by the first charge. 54 defendants
who had been so charged for their efforts to buy small
quantities of marijuana from undercover officers had their
cases dismissed.
Thomas Morse, the Assistant District Attorney in this case,
insisted that the legal loophole would be closed and that it
would soon be a crime in New York to "attempt to possess"
marijuana. He told The New York Times, "We're going to move
the halls of justice to the corridors of the Legislature.
We hope to find a sponsor in the next session."
***
8. Tasmanian Government Wants Possession of Marijuana
Legalized
Peter Patmore, Attorney General of the Australian state of
Tasmania, said last week that he favors a policy under which
personal possession of cannabis would be legal. He called
for public discussion of the issue so that a consensus could
be reached before legislation is introduced, hopefully next
year.
"My views on the issue are quite clear" he told The
Examiner, an Australian newspaper. "Prohibition doesn't
work, but there is no use having a debate which splits the
community. We actually have more lenient laws in Tasmania
on marijuana than in some other states, and if I can show
the public a sensible approach to legal personal usage,
where precious police time is not wasted, and otherwise law
abiding citizens are not lumped with a criminal record, then
we can take the next step."
***
9. EDITORIAL: The 13% Solution
As election day approaches, a report issued by the respected
organizations The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch
indicates that 1.4 million, or 13% of all African Americans,
are ineligible to vote due to their criminal records. The
report is a stunning reminder of the long-term impact of the
nation's escalating drug war in communities of color.
Intended or not, the fact is that the drug war has had a
devastating impact on Black America. With its emphasis on
arresting large numbers of people in order to justify its
expense, enforcement will always be focused on poor and
marginalized communities. It is in these communities that
the drug trade operates in the open, making it far easier to
sweep up dozens of low-level foot soldiers than to do the
work required to arrest affluent whites whose drug deals,
and drug use, occur behind closed doors.
In a previous report, the Sentencing Project found that on
any given day in America, fully one third of all African-
American males between the ages of 18 and 29 are under some
form of criminal justice supervision. It is no secret that
the Drug War has contributed vastly to those numbers during
the past 15 or more years. African Americans comprise an
estimated 13% of the nation's drug users, but make up 55% of
those convicted of drug charges. Taken together, these
stark numbers indicate that black men are being
systematically removed from the workforce, from their
families and from the voting booth. They are also being
saddled with criminal records which make them easy targets
for law enforcement and the justice system should they "get
out of line" in any way.
If, as we dearly hope, these effects are unintended by the
politicians who continue to pass harsher and harsher drug
war legislation, their impact is no less ominous. By
criminalizing large, almost unimaginably large segments of
the black community, we have brought down official
unemployment rates, forced women and children into positions
of economic weakness and dependence, created prisons-as-jobs
programs in rural, mostly white communities, collected
surveillance data and developed networks of informants in
black communities, taught a generation of young black kids
that the government has coercive power over their lives,
made adult males eligible for long prison terms for petty
offenses or "disturbances" of any kind, and all the while
whittled down the numbers of those who can make a difference
at the ballot box.
In short, the drug war is well on its way to re-instituting
the legal status that black Americans were saddled with in
the dark days of our nation's past, that of non-persons. It
is a tragic devolution, embarked upon in the name of
protecting America's (mostly white) children. But the truth
is that we will never arrest enough Black kids to scare
white kids away from drugs. And that is all the drug
warriors are really trying to do. Because if one in three
young white males were "in the system," or if 13% of the
white population were ineligible to vote, there would likely
be armed insurrection in the streets. But of course, there
is no danger of that.
So on we go, deleting our most vulnerable and economically
expendable populations from the employment statistics, and
the voting rolls, and the streets. It is a neat and evil
way of controlling an entire population. And until we as a
society are ready to face facts about the Drug War, to
radically alter the way we confront the issues of substance
use and abuse, the numbers, telling and disturbing as they
are, are only going to get worse.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
***
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to the 1998 Daily News index for October 29-November 4