-------------------------------------------------------------------
Housemate of officer's killer receives 4-year term (The Oregonian
says Multnomah County Circuit Judge Linda Bergman
sentenced Jeffery Harlan Moore, the man whose housemate, Steven Dons,
shot and killed a Portland police officer during a warrantless raid
by the Marijuana Task Force, to four years in prison Tuesday on cultivation
and child-neglect charges. The judge doubled the usual 18-month sentence
for drug manufacturing to three years and added a fourth year
on the child-neglect charges, ignoring the role of the warrantless search
and blaming Moore for the officer's death, even though he was at work
when the break-in and shooting occurred.)
The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Housemate of officer's killer receives 4-year term
* The judge cites the marijuana growing operation that was the target of the
police raid in which Colleen Waibel died
Wednesday, December 30 1998
By David R. Anderson
of The Oregonian staff
The man whose housemate shot and killed a Portland police officer during a
drug raid was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison on drug and
child-neglect charges.
In sentencing Jeffery Harlan Moore, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Linda
Bergman doubled the usual 18-month sentence for drug manufacturing to three
years and added a fourth year on the child-neglect charges. Moore's attorney
had argued that he should be sentenced to probation.
But Bergman rejected that, saying Moore was indirectly responsible for the
death of Officer Colleen Waibel on Jan. 27. Moore knew about a 51-plant
marijuana growing operation, a cache of weapons and a surveillance system
that his housemate, Steven Douglas Dons, had aimed at the driveway. He also
knew that Dons did not like police and was prepared to shoot rather than be
arrested, Bergman said.
"No, Mr. Moore did not shoot anybody here, but if Mr. Moore had not allowed
him, Mr. Dons would never have been there, would never have been armed and
would never have been in a position to shoot a police officer," Bergman said.
Moore's attorney, Lynne Morgan, had asked that Moore be sentenced to 1 1/2
years in prison at most. She said Moore, who had no prior convictions and
was at work at the time of the shootout, should not be the target of police
and prosecutors' anger.
"I feel like I'm litigating this case in some bizarre parallel universe,"
Morgan said to Bergman. "What Mr. Dons did was a terrible thing, but Mr.
Moore should not be punished for it."
Jim McIntyre, a senior deputy district attorney, asked for a five-year
sentence. He noted that an independent presentence investigator recommended
a six-year prison term, which he described as one of the longest proposed
sentences he could remember in a marijuana growing case. In addition, a
psychiatrist hired by the state diagnosed Moore as having a personality
disorder.
But the bottom line was that the drug operation led to Waibel's death.
"You can never step away from that," McIntyre said. "They were armed to the
teeth and prepared for law enforcement."
Bergman convicted Moore on Nov. 4 of manufacture of a controlled substance,
three counts of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of child
neglect for having his two children, then 7 and 9, in the house with the
growing operation. Bergman found Moore not guilty of child endangerment for
allegedly having the children around guns and ammunition in the house.
Moore, 45, could serve three years and two months with time off for good
behavior.
On Jan. 27, members of the Portland police Marijuana Task Force knocked on
the door of the house the two men shared at 2612 S.E. 111th Ave. They had
seen Dons buying growing equipment in October 1997 and smelled growing
marijuana outside the house the day of the raid. As they waited for a search
warrant, officers smelled burning marijuana and saw smoke rise from the
chimney. Fearing that someone was destroying evidence of the growing
operation, they broke down the front door.
Dons then opened fire with an assault rifle, killing Waibel and injuring
Officer Kim Keist and Sgt. Jim Hudson.
Dons was paralyzed by a bullet fired by Hudson. A month later, Dons
committed suicide in his Justice Center jail cell.
Moore did not speak during Tuesday's hearing.
Keist, who attended the sentencing with two detectives who worked on the
case, declined to comment after the hearing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Right To Defend Against Illegal Police Action (An Oregon patriot
and militia member says the paralyzed Steven Dons was murdered
in his jail bed by police because he had every legal right to shoot
at members of Portland's Marijuana Task Force as they broke into his home
without a warrant last January. The list subscriber cites several court
rulings and a few aspects of the case the mass media have ignored.)
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 19:40:06 -0800
From: wolfeyes (wolfeyes@cdsnet.net)
Reply-To: "Cannabis Patriots" (cp@telelists.com)
Organization: CWA
To: Cannabis Patriots (cp@telelists.com)
Subject: [cp] THE RIGHT TO DEFEND AGAINST ILLEGAL POLICE ACTION
List-Unsubscribe: (mailto:leave-cp-27149A@telelists.com)
I'm riding with Mike Kemp on this issue. The Steven Dons episode in
Portland, Oregon was the final straw for the Northern Oregon Militia.
Most of the guys in the north are anti-drug legalization. I know that
from conversations I've had on the com/sat discussions I've had with
some of their leadership. But the "Knock & Talk" methods used by the
narcotics cops in Portland were seriously straining any sympathy those
guys had with drug law enforcement, and the Steven Dons case made them
flip.
In case anyone is unfamiliar with the Dons case, here's a quick
synopsis:
Dons got fingered by a snitch for being a marijuana grower/dealer. The
cops went to his house and tried the old "Knock & Talk". Dons refused
to open the door and allow a search. The cops claimed they smelled
burning marijuana from his fireplace, made up a story that they believed
Dons was "destroying evidence" and tried to break in. They picked the
wrong house and the wrong guy. Dons defended his right against an
illegal search and opened fire with an AK47, killing one lady cop,
seriously wounding another lady cop, and he managed to wing a male cop
before they all retreated to safety. There was a stand-off. Somehow
Dons had taken a round as well, at the time of the first encounter or
later -- I can't recall. During the stand-off, helicopter news crews
showed live shots of Dons' house. There was no smoke coming from Don's
chimney that I or anyone else could see. Anyway, he was hauled out of
the house in a paralyzed condition (from the waist down). Instead of
taking him in an ambulance, the cops laid him in the back of one of
their vehicles and left him there, hoping he'd die from his wound. He
didn't. He was finally taken to the hospital. After a few days, Dons
was found strangled to death. The story was that Dons had wrapped
material around his neck and had tied the end to the bed frame. He then
used the mechanism that raises the bed to strangle himself. Bullshit.
Dons was murdered. For the cops that violated his right against
unreasonable search, he had to die, otherwise he'd be around to defend
himself. They also knew a guy who was paralyzed would get a much higher
civil jury award than one who is dead. In their eyes, Dons had to die.
The only way to deal with this kind of unnecessarily violent police
conduct is with violence, for the simple reason that there is never
enough time in a situation like this for a court to intervene. Here are
Supreme Court cases that fully support my position in this matter.
Your Right of Defense
Against Unlawful Arrest
"Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting
officer's life if necessary." Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306. This premise
was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad
Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529. The Court stated: "Where the officer is killed in
the course of the disorder which naturally accompanies an attempted arrest
that is resisted, the law looks with very different eyes upon the transaction,
when the officer had the right to make the arrest, from what it does if the
officer had no right. What may be murder in the first case might be nothing
more than manslaughter in the other, or the facts might show that no offense
had been committed."
"An arrest made with a defective warrant, or one issued without affidavit, or
one that fails to allege a crime is within jurisdiction, and one who is being
arrested, may resist arrest and break away. lf the arresting officer is
killed by one who is so resisting, the killing will be no more than an
involuntary manslaughter." Housh v. People, 75 111. 491; reaffirmed and
quoted in State v. Leach, 7 Conn. 452; State v. Gleason, 32 Kan. 245; Ballard
v. State, 43 Ohio 349; State v Rousseau, 241 P. 2d 447; State v. Spaulding,
34 Minn. 3621.
"When a person, being without fault, is in a place where he has a right to
be, is violently assaulted, he may, without retreating, repel by force, and
if, in the reasonable exercise of his right of self defense, his assailant is
killed, he is justiciable." Runyan v. State, 57 Ind. 80; Miller v. State, 74
Ind. 1.
"These principles apply as well to an officer attempting to make an
arrest, who abuses his authority and transcends the bounds thereof by the use
of unnecessary force and violence, as they do to a private individual who
unlawfully uses such force and violence." Jones v. State, 26 Tex. App. I;
Beaverts v. State, 4 Tex. App. 1 75; Skidmore v. State, 43 Tex. 93, 903.
Now you know the law.
Carl F. Worden
Liaison & Intelligence Officer
Southern Oregon Militia
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of drug-related deaths continues upward trend (The Oregonian
says that as of early December, "drugs" were involved in 226 fatalities
in Oregon - ignoring the toll from such legal drugs as alcohol and tobacco,
which together killed about 7,000 Oregonians. The newspaper doesn't say so,
but once again, no deaths were recorded from marijuana, the substance
most targeted in the war on some drug users.)
The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Number of drug-related deaths continues upward trend
* As of early December, drugs were involved in 226 fatalities in Oregon, and
heroin is again listed as the most likely to lead to death
Wednesday, December 30 1998
By Peter Farrell
of The Oregonian staff
As 1998 draws to a close, Oregon is again seeing a rise in the number of
drug-related deaths per year. And heroin continues to be the drug most
likely to lead to death.
"It's potent, it's lethal and it's cheap," said Gene Gray, the deputy
Multnomah County medical examiner who tracks drug deaths.
Gray said that as of early December, 226 deaths had been recorded as
drug-related. That compares with 221 in the state in 1997.
Drug deaths have averaged more than four per week this year but received
little attention compared with statewide homicides, which have averaged
about one a week in recent years, and the 80 Oregon deaths from AIDS last year.
Heroin is the chief killer, in part, because the purity can vary. Addicts
taking their usual doses can end up killing themselves when they obtain
drugs that are purer than what is usually sold on the street.
Of the 226 deaths this year, 172 were heroin-related, 54 were related to
cocaine use and 47 involved methamphetamine. The numbers broken out by the
type of drug total more than 226 because 47 deaths involved a combination of
drugs, such as heroin and cocaine.
Nearly all of the heroin deaths involve overdoses, Gray said. The medical
examiner lists a death as drug-related when a drug is a significant factor
in the death. And that, Gray said, can include cases in which someone using
methamphetamine loses control or becomes violent and ends up being shot or
otherwise killed.
A public suicide involving a couple who were desperate to end their heroin
addiction is included in this year's total. Mora McGowan, 25, and her
fiance, Michael Douglas, 29, hanged themselves July 1 from the Steel Bridge
in downtown Portland. In a journal found on Douglas' body, he described the
couple's downward spiral since they had become addicted to heroin.
In some cases of confirmed long-term drug abuse, Gray said, a death might be
listed as drug-related even if the addict dies of heart disease, because the
heart disease clearly resulted from heroin use.
Since the introduction of tar heroin in the mid-1980s, there has been a
steady increase in drug-related deaths. Although police interventions early
in the decade sometimes cut the heroin supply so much that the number of
overdoses dropped, new suppliers filled the void. Drug deaths began to rise
from about one a week to three a week in the mid-1990s.
"The numbers just keep going up," Gray said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NewsBuzz: Zoning In (Willamette Week says the Portland City Council
will consider in the next few months whether to add a large chunk
of residential North and Northeast Portland to the city's ever-expanding
"drug-free zone." The proposed zone encompasses four square miles,
nearly four times the next-largest zone. The weekly shopper says the proposal
will be discussed "next Monday morning" but doesn't give the actual time
or place, since the public obviously isn't welcome - unless maybe they want
to get shotgunned with beanbags again.)
Willamette Week
822 SW 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
Tel. (503) 243-2122
Fax (503) 243-1115
Letters to the Editor:
Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com
Web: http://www.wweek.com/
Note: Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or
fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street
address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to
letters of 250 words or less.
NewsBuzz: Zoning In
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 1998
In the next few months, the City Council will consider whether to label a
large chunk of residential North and Northeast Portland a drug-free zone.
Such zones aren't new--Portland already has four. What makes this zone
different from the rest is its sweeping scope.
While the four existing zones each have a narrow geographic focus, the
proposed zone includes parts of 13 neighborhoods, their characteristics
ranging from open-air crack markets to manicured lawns. The proposed zone
encompasses four square miles, nearly four times the next-largest zone,
which includes Old Town and the downtown bus mall.
A drug-free zone is a tool to target repeat drug offenders. When a person is
arrested on drug charges in one of the zones, he is not only punished for
the crime, but he is also excluded from the area for a year. If he's caught
in the zone during the exclusion period, he's subject to search and arrest
on criminal trespass charges. Without the zones, police have to wait until
they have evidence of a crime before they can make an arrest.
In the past, drug-free zones have been criticized by a vocal minority. There
was some dissension in the Eliot Neighborhood Association, where the board
chairperson cast a tie-breaking vote of support for the proposed zone. In
general, though, the new zone has been winning the support of neighborhood
groups.
Deputy District Attorney Jim Hayden, who is in charge of the project, says
the new zone is needed. "You have people that have been selling drugs in
Northeast Portland from the same spots for years," he says.
He believes that other zones have been effective. The one in Washington Park
was so successful in combating marijuana dealing that the zone was later
eliminated. In the Beech Street zone and the Alberta zone, drug arrests have
declined. "The area is on the rise," he says. "Property values are going up.
There are more businesses, more housing. Crime rates are going down. Is the
drug-free zone responsible? Does it contribute? I think so."
The zones certainly ensnare large numbers of offenders: 3,259 people were
under current exclusion orders for the existing four zones as of Sept. 1.
There are those, however, who worry about giving the police additional
powers of arrest. "Certainly it would need to work very well to balance out
the general loss of constitutional rights or freedoms," says Jon Kart, an
Eliot board member who voted against the proposal. "It's easy to give them
away and impossible to get them back. I think what needs to be done is
[something] more labor-intensive, like neighborhood block watches."
The issue will be discussed at the Chief's Forum, a twice-monthly public
meeting, next Monday morning before moving toward City Council consideration.
--Maureen O'Hagan
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical pot advocate has charges dropped (A slightly different
San Francisco Examiner version)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 13:31:22 -0600
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DPFCA (dpfca@drugsense.org)
Subject: DPFCA: US CA SFX: Medical pot advocate has charges dropped
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
Source: San Francisco Examiner
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com
Pubdate: Wednesday, December 30, 1998
(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner
MEDICAL POT ADVOCATE HAS CHARGES DROPPED
By Seth Rosenfeld OF THE EXAMINER STAFF
Richard Evans says cops trashed his home, slandered him with accusation of
possessing porn
The district attorney's office has dropped drug and pornography charges
against a nationally known medical marijuana advocate, who angrily accused
police of deliberately targeting his residence for a raid and slandering
him.
Richard Evans, 35, was arrested following a Friday night police visit to his
residence in the 300 block of South Van Ness Avenue that police said had
been initiated by a silent alarm call. But Evans told The Examiner Tuesday
that he believed police had intentionally triggered the alarm as an excuse
to get inside his residence, where they knew he was growing marijuana for
medical use. Police completely trashed his apartment, he said, and left one
of his four-inch knives lodged in a door in what he feels was a thinly
veiled threat.
"San Francisco police are rogue agents; it's out of control," said Evans. "I
think they were triggering the alarm so they could bust in the back door."
Evans also said that police had seized from his apartment two professional
art books by renowned San Francisco photographer Jock Sturges that contained
nude images. He vehemently denied possessing any prurient pictures.
"The cops slandered me by saying any photograph in my house was
pornographic," he said. "I say, if they have something pornographic, let's
look at it."
Evans also said he had a doctor's recommendation for using pot and that he
was suspicious of how police had come to raid his home. He said he was
growing marijuana strictly for medical use.
Evans said he had learned Tuesday that the district attorney's office had
dropped charges of growing marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and
possession of child pornography.
Lt. Kitt Crenshaw, the officer in charge of the raid, confirmed that the
charges against Evans had been dropped.
Prosecutors said they wanted to investigate the case further before deciding
whether to refile charges, Crenshaw said.
Evans said he ran the San Francisco Patients and Caregivers Health Center on
Mission Street and had previously been director of Americans for
Compassionate Use.
Events leading to the arrest began late Friday night when officers at the
Mission police station said they had received a silent commercial security
alarm calling them to an apartment on the 300 block of South Van Ness,
Crenshaw said.
Believing the device may have been triggered by someone having a medical
emergency, officers forced their way into the rear of the apartment, he
said.
Inside, officers said, they found marijuana and summoned narcotics
detectives, who obtained a search warrant and seized marijuana plants. They
also seized what Crenshaw initially estimated to be 17 pounds of packaged
marijuana. Tuesday, however, he said officers actually had found about "10
or 11 pounds."
Evans said, "It seems awful weird that the alarm went off like that. Seems
awfully fishy. It almost seems like they wanted to find a way in here."
His apartment was "trashed" by police, who left a knife stuck through the
door of one of the apartment's growing rooms, Evans said.
"They stabbed it right through the door, just as an act of meanness," Evans
said. "It's almost like they were pissed that they didn't find more money or
something like that."
Police officials were unavailable for comment about the knife incident.
Evans had recently applied for a city permit to operate a medical marijuana
club, Crenshaw said.
In 1996, police in Covington, Ky., raided an apartment where Evans allegedly
operated a medical marijuana buying club, across from the county courthouse.
Evans told a reporter at the time that he was head of Americans for
Compassionate Use, and had operated 37 buying clubs around the country. He
said the clubs had to buy marijuana on the street because they had no other
source, but added, "We are currently working on ways to make sure we no
longer have to buy it off the street."
(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Making Criminals of Us All (An op-ed in the New York Times
says the blame for a popular president's unpopular impeachment
and impending Senate trial can be laid to a surfeit of intrusive laws
that would make criminals of almost anyone the Government
decided to investigate.)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 06:55:58 -0800 (PST)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: arandell@islandnet.com (Eleanor and Alan Randell)
Subject: Making Criminals of Us All
Newshawk: Alan Randell
Pubdate: December 30, 1998
Source: New York Times
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Author: Richard Dooling
Newshawk's comment: Although this article is not about drug laws
per se, many of the author's comments about unenforceable laws
apply with equal force to those laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/30dool.html
Making Criminals of Us All
By RICHARD DOOLING
Feet stomp. Fists pound. Fingers point.
But whom should we blame for our popular President's unpopular
impeachment and impending Senate trial? Mr. Clinton and the
Democrats blame Kenneth Starr and the Republicans, who in turn
blame the President and the Democrats, who blame Linda Tripp,
Monica Lewinsky, Lucianne Goldberg, Paula Jones, her lawyers or a
host of others.
But the root of the scandal lies elsewhere: in the surfeit of
intrusive laws that would make criminals of almost anyone the
Government decides to investigate. When Kenneth Starr, a by-the-
book prosecutor, wound up his presentation before the House
Judiciary Committee with a paean to his calling in life as a "Man
of the Law," he spoke the truth.
Were it not for the independent counsel statute and expanded
interpretations of the sexual harassment laws, Mr. Starr would
have had no authority to interrogate the President about his
private sexual behavior.
If Mr. Starr were sent back in a time capsule to 1962, he could
have done nothing about President Kennedy's sexual indiscretions:
independent prosecutors and lawyers trained to imagine new
sexual harassment theories had not been invented yet.
Without these laws run amok, the scandal that has gripped
the nation for the last year, and the constitutional crisis it
created, would be the stuff of an Orwell novel.
At what point do the evils of intrusive, well-meaning laws
outweigh their benefits? When does a law's reach exceed its
grasp? Answer: Now. Any male supervisor who has consensual sex
with another employee in any American workplace could be sued and
deposed in the way Mr. Clinton was.
Thanks to ever-expanding theories about what constitutes
harassment, even private, consensual sex is fair game for
questioning.
What if, instead of punishing women who decline his unwanted
advances, a powerful male employer simply rewards women who do
consent to have sex with him? Does that violate Title VII sexual
harassment laws? Probably.
Let's question him under oath about his sexual relationships and
let the jury decide.
If he lies about sex to protect his family, it's perjury.
If we are to be a nation of laws and not men, then perhaps we
should pause before we attack yet another social malady or human
weakness by passing yet another unenforceable law.
Otherwise, it's a matter of selective enforcement, and anybody who
can't afford to hire Johnnie Cochran or David Kendall will pay
the price.
Ulysses S. Grant once said, "I know no method to secure the
repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent
execution." The nation has witnessed the merciless, stringent
execution of its sexual harassment laws on President Clinton.
Should we remove him from office or repeal the odious laws? It
should be one or the other. If we let him off the hook but keep
the laws on the books, then the Greek statesman Solon was right
when he said, "Laws are like spiders' webs which, if anything
small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break
through and escape."
Richard Dooling is the author, most recently, of ``Brain Storm,''
a novel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PBS presents "Snitch" on Frontline Tuesday, Jan. 12 (A lengthy preview,
apparently from the Public Broadcasting Service, publicizes what will likely
be one of the most important and disturbing television documentaries of the
year. In the last five years, nearly a third of defendants in federal drug
trafficking cases have had their sentences reduced because they informed on
other people. Since the passing of strict anti-drug legislation in the 1980s,
snitches have become key players in the war on drugs and are used by the FBI,
DEA, Customs, and other law enforcement agencies in almost every drug bust,
seizure, and arrest. But the laws designed in part to help catch drug
kingpins are in most cases landing small-time offenders in prison for as long
as ten years to life without the chance for parole. Ofra Bikel is the
documentary's producer.)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 20:02:58 -0500
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
From: cheechwz@mindspring.com (A H Clements)
Subject: media: "SNITCH" on Frontline 01/12/1999
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
[Forwarded from the November Coalition (www.november.org) announcement list
(november-l@november.org) via Nora Callahan (nora@november.org)]
SNITCH
PBS airdate: Tuesday, January 12, 1999, 9 P.M., 90 minutes
In the last five years, nearly a third of defendants in
federal drug trafficking cases have had their sentences
reduced because they informed on other people. They
snitched. Some informants didn't serve any time at all.
Since the passing of strict anti-drug legislation in the
1980s, snitches have become key players in the war on drugs
and are used by the FBI, DEA, Customs, and other law
enforcement agencies in almost every drug bust, seizure, and
arrest. But these laws, designed in part to help catch drug
kingpins, are in most cases landing small-time offenders in
prison for as many as ten years to life without the chance
for parole.
In "Snitch," airing Tuesday, January 12, at 9 p.m., on PBS
(check local listings), FRONTLINE examines how mandatory
minimum sentence legislation turned the use of informants
into the lynchpin of prosecutorial strategy in the war on
drugs. In the ninety-minute broadcast, producer Ofra Bikel
takes viewers inside the mind of the informant and profiles
some unsettling cases in which minor offenders are serving
harsh prison sentences on the word of a snitch.
"The war on drugs and its use of informants have had
devastating consequences on our justice system, the fabric
of our society, and the family," says Bikel. "Making
informing the only way for the accused to escape the full
force of a sentence is a dangerous idea which is eroding the
individual's rights in the judicial process."
At the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the late
1980s, Congress passed federal laws creating minimum
sentence requirements in drug-trafficking cases. "The
reason why we have the mandatory minimums is because of
these soft-on-crime judges that we have in this
society...judges who, who just will not get tough on crime,
get tough especially on pushers of drugs that are killing
our youth," says Senator Orrin Hatch. "We set some
reasonable standards within which judges have to rule rather
than allowing them to just put people out on probation who
otherwise are killing our kids."
But as early as 1991, the Congressional Sentencing
Commission reported a survey which revealed that all defense
lawyers and nearly half of prosecutors had serious problems
with mandatory minimum sentences. Most of the judges
pronounced them "manifestly unjust."
"These mandatories came in the last couple days before the
congressional recess....No hearings, no consideration by the
federal judges, no input from the Bureau of Prisons. I mean
even DEA didn't testify," says Eric Sterling, who was then
counsel to the chairman of the House sub-committee on
crime. "The whole thing is kind of cobbled together with
sort of chewing gum and baling wire. Numbers are picked out
of air. And we see what these consequences are of that kind
of legislating."
FRONTLINE explores the case of Clarence Aaron, a college
student and athlete who had friends that sold drugs. For
$1,500, Clarence drove those friends and his cousin to meet
some people he knew who were also involved in drugs. Later,
when his friends were caught dealing, prosecutors presented
them with their only option under the mandatory minimum
sentencing laws to reduce their sentences. Snitch. They
informed on Clarence.
"What makes it the worst case I ever had was there was
absolutely no cocaine introduced into evidence, there was no
cocaine seen...the police had no cocaine, the FBI had no
cocaine, there was no scientific evidence, no fingerprints,
nothing, the entirety of the case was based upon the
testimony of what they call cooperating individuals," says
Clarence's defense lawyer, Dennis Knizley.
All four witnesses who testified against Clarence had
previous criminal records, and all four faced life
sentences. One, a self-avowed drug kingpin, was sentenced
to twelve years, two served less than five years, and
Clarence's cousin walked free. With no previous record and
no physical evidence, Clarence is serving three life terms
without the chance for parole.
"Snitch" examines how when a small technical amendment, the
conspiracy amendment, was added to the mandatory minimum
sentencing law in 1988, it created a huge change in the
prosecution of drug offenders. The lowest person in a drug
conspiracy could be punished with the maximum sentence
designed for a kingpin.
"If the mandatory minimums were a result of haste and excess
by Congress, conspiracy as applied to these mandatories was
completely by oversight and by accident," says Sterling.
"It was submitted as part of a simple technical correction's
amendment. No one even thought at all about what the
implications were of...of applying conspiracy." But the
implications of the conspiracy amendment are far reaching.
FRONTLINE profiles the case of Lulu May Smith of Mobile,
Alabama, who was in her late fifties when she was sentenced
to seven years in prison for conspiracy to distribute
drugs. Lulu May's son, Darren Sharp, had been identified by
law enforcement as being a crack cocaine dealer.
When Sharp found out he was going to be indicted, he fled.
Lulu May was arrested as a co-conspirator and used by
prosecutors to pressure Sharp into turning himself in. He
didn't, and her case went to trial.
"The trial lasted about fourteen days because of the number
of defendants and all the different counts we had to prove,"
prosecutor Willy Huntley tells FRONTLINE. "I think she was
probably the last person who was indicted, and the verdicts
kept coming back guilty, guilty, guilty, and the closer we
got to her name the more I kept hoping, please, let it be
not guilty...but it got to her name, and they said guilty
too, and, you know the rest of the story."
Before Congress enacted mandatory minimum sentences, many
currently serving long prison terms would have received
short sentences or even probation. In 1992, when
eighteen-year-old Joey Settembrino was arrested for selling
a small amount of drugs, he and his parents assumed he would
receive probation. He had never sold drugs before and would
have received only $500 for the deal. But, under the new
legislation, Joey faced a minimum of ten years in prison,
unless he agreed to set up one of his friends.
"I didn't want to do ten years in jail, but I also...didn't
want to give up one of my friends either...I was stuck in
the middle," he says.
Desperate to help his son, Joey's father, James Settembrino,
learned that information about drug dealers?supplied by
anyone?could help reduce Joey's sentence. Joey's father
volunteered to help.
"They say to you if you can do this, find people that have
drugs and purchase drugs from them, we'll act favorably in
giving your son a...reduction," says Settembrino. "And I
said, well why would you do that? 'Well you want your son
to get reduced, right?' I said, yes. 'We want convictions,
and that's why we do it.'"
After searching for people who were involved with dealing
drugs, Settembrino eventually spent $70,000 on an informant
to help set up a deal with a South American drug smuggler.
Settembrino and a DEA agent were to pose as buyers. But, at
the last minute, the prosecutor reneged on his deal with
Settembrino, and Joey went to trial. He received the
mandatory minimum of ten years, a sentence which the judge
himself pronounced "excessive."
"They say that they want to get the big guy, they want to
get the big fish, and that's why they go about getting all
these little fish, because eventually you get the big fish,"
says Joey. "Well what they don't realize is that when the
big fish finally gets caught, he tells on the little fish
and he's free. And I think that's what makes the system
very, very messed up."
Access FRONTLINE ONLINE at www.pbs.org/frontline for more on
this report, including:
* a special report on the recent federal court ruling challenging government
leniency deals;
* a background interview with producer Ofra Bikel;
* experts' views on the pros and cons of using informers;
* a closer look at cases profiled in the program;
* more of the interviews with prosecutors and judges;
* and, a quiz on drug laws and prosecutions.
"Snitch" is produced by Ofra Bikel.
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the
support of PBS viewers with additional funding for
investigative reporting provided by The Florence and John
Schumann Foundation.
FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and
hard-of-hearing viewers.
The executive producer for FRONTLINE is Michael
Sullivan.
The senior executive producer for FRONTLINE is David
Fanning.
Press contacts:
Jim Bracciale [jim_bracciale@wgbh.org]
Rick Byrne [rick_byrne@wgbh.org]
Chris Kelly [chris_kelly@wgbh.org]
Outreach contact:
Emily Gallagher [emily_gallagher@wgbh.org]
Press, Outreach, and PBS station
inquiries: (617) 783-3500
Viewer comments and inquiries:
(617) 492-2777 X5355
***
The November Coalition
795 South Cedar
Colville WA 99114
(509) 684-1550
http://www.november.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Marijuana 'Medicine' (According to the Province, in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Cheryl Eburne and her doctor say she benefits
from the medical marijuana she purchases at a Commercial Drive pot club
to help her cope with severe arthritis and fibromyalgia. But the dispensary
is giving the folks at city hall a big headache. After seven months, the club
still doesn't have an occupancy permit from the city. City hall is perplexed
by the fact that the club has been given society status by the provincial
government. With that registered-charity status, the club can solicit
donations legitimately. It pays income tax for the 10 people on staff,
who work for minimum wage.)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 15:54:37 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Marijuana 'Medicine'
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Vancouver Province (Canada)
Copyright: The Province, Vancouver 1998
Pubdate: Wed, 30 Dec 1998
Section: News A1 Front Page
Contact: provletters@pacpress.southam.ca
FAX: (604) 605-2099
Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/
Author: John Colebourn, Staff Reporter
Note: The Compassion Club website is at:
http://www.thecompassionclub.org/
And: A realvideo of Dr. David Suzuki interviewing Compassion Club members
for his documentary TV series "The Nature of Things" is at:
http://www.legalize-usa.org/_private/reefer2.ram
MARIJUANA 'MEDICINE'
With five grams of "B.C. Beautiful'' in her hand, housewife Cheryl Eburne
heads into the Compassion Club's smoking room to forget for an afternoon
the pain she feels when the cold and rain seep into her arthritic bones.
Elegantly dressed, the mother of two teenage boys quickly rolls up and
lights a huge marijuana cigarette, smokes the whole thing and for the first
time in a day feels up to visiting friends near her Vancouver home and
doing some holiday shopping.
A far cry from the Cheech and Chong-type stoner, Eburne, 50, has dropped
into the Commercial Drive pot club to pick up the outdoor organic indica
she says helps her cope with severe arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Since joining the club, Eburne has been a vocal critic of what she says are
antiquated federal laws. She thinks the time has come to legally allow
those who are sick to smoke pot if it helps their health.
Six years ago, the pain began to take a heavy toll and Eburne was put on
medication. But "my doctor was as frustrated as I was because the drugs
were making me sicker.''
All that changed last summer, she says, when her doctor decided to allow
marijuana to be her medicine of choice.
"Before, I was up for days. I'm sleeping now.
"Emotionally I'm a different person. I'm upbeat now, not depressed. When
you're in chronic pain and don't sleep, it affects everything in your life.''
The club is offering a feel-good service to about 700 people suffering from
cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, migraines, nausea and
other serious health problems by selling them high-grade marijuana at about
$5 to $10 a gram.
But it is giving the folks at city hall a big headache.
Club founder Hilary Black, 22, says the club doesn't yet have a city hall
occupancy permit to stay at its location, where it has been for seven
months. The club has a lawyer handling the negotiations.
City hall is also perplexed by the fact that the club has been given
society status by the provincial government. With that registered-charity
status, the club can solicit donations legitimately. It pays income tax for
the 10 people on staff, who work for minimum wage.
All the "clean'' and organic pot distributed by the club is supplied by
growers who sell it at discount prices or donate it.
People can join the club by supplying a doctor's note saying why they need
medical marijuana.
Black insists that the club is just trying to cover expenses. Besides
supplying the pot, it has a masseuse available and operates a holistic
wellness centre.
"Nobody is making any money here, and we can prove it,'' says Black. "It is
important city hall knows we have a lot of supporters.''
Black says the police have not yet bothered the club: "Obviously the police
know who we are, but they have never raided us yet.''
"It is a peculiar situation,'' admits Michael Twynstra, manager of the
city's properties inspection branch of permits and licensing.
"There seems to be some greyness there as to where this operation falls into.
"It's something that is not normally done in the city . . . So at this
point we don't know where we are going with it.''
Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Anne Drennan says the police have
bigger fish to fry.
"There's no official policy with respect to the Compassion Club,'' she says.
"That [operation] is not the focus of our investigations with respect to
marijuana.
"We're interested in the grow-ops and the trafficking.''
For staff worker Ere'n Coyle, having members in the club visit on a regular
basis "makes it feel like there's a sense of community here.''
Some U.S. cities have similar clubs, and smaller operations exist in
Toronto, Kitchener and London, Ont.
"I'd love to see an operation like this in every city,'' says Coyle. "It's
so nice to have a member say: 'I've been feeling better today.'''
[sidebar]
WHAT THE COURTS SAY
Ottawa insists that marijuana is illegal regardless of any medical benefits.
But Canadian courts have done much to support an emerging medical and
scientific consensus that pot is relatively benign.
Among recent decisions:
In April this year, a B.C. provincial court judge granted an absolute
discharge to 44-year-old Randy Caine of Langley, who was arrested in 1993
for possessing the butt of a marijuana cigarette. Judge Frances Howard
said there is no evidence marijuana use causes health problems, and added
that the laws prohibiting the substance cause harm to society.
In September, 44-year-old Stanley Czolowski of Vancouver received a
conditional discharge -- no criminal record, no jail time, no fines -- for
using and selling marijuana for health purposes. Czolowski's lawyer said he
used marijuana and traditional medicine to treat glaucoma. He sold some of
his home-grown pot to the Compassion Club.
In December last year, an Ontario judge ruled that some sections of
Canada's Controlled Drug and Substance Act are unconstitutional when
applied to cases where marijuana is used for medicinal purposes. The judge
stayed charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana against
42-year-old Terry Parker, an epileptic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, No. 79 (The original summary of drug policy news
from DrugSense starts with a feature article - What the war on drugs is doing
to America, by Bob Ramsey of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas. The Weekly
News in Review includes several articles about Drug War Policy, including -
Groups mobilize to push for lenient drug policies; Teenage use of stimulants
levels off in 1998; Lake Worth school districts turning to drug testing;
Right this wrong; DC and medical marijuana. Articles about Law Enforcement &
Prisons include - New surveillance proposed for bank accounts; Officers'
actions attacked in San Jose marijuana trial; Confiscated drugs stolen from
under nose of Customs; FBI picks up a prison probe some say was stifled by
union; Activist denounces prison system; UN official seeks reforms in US
prisons; The mandatory-sentencing mistake. Articles about Drug Use Issues
include - The possible link between genes & attention deficit; Prince ponders
medicinal value of cannabis. International News articles include - Shan
rebels blame Myanmar military for opium boom; Colombia police make record
66-pound heroin bust; Gambians arrested for drug crimes; U.S. aid said used
in air raid on Colombia. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net gives the URL for
Professor Charles Whitebread's speech on RealAudio. The DrugSense Tip Of The
Week details the FEAR On-line Chat group. The Quote of the Week features
Charles Dickens. The Fact of the Week cites a reference proving the U.S.
government spent only 7% of its drug-control budget on treatment in 1992.)
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 14:22:05 -0800
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly DECEMBER 30, 1998 #079
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly, DECEMBER 30, 1998, #079
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org/
This Publication May Be Read On-line at:
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1998/ds98.n79.html
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, DONATE OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS PLEASE
SEE THE INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS NEWSLETTER
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Feature Article
What The War On Drugs is Doing to America
by Bob Ramsey
* Weekly News in Review
Drug War Policy-
Groups Mobilize to Push for Lenient Drug Policies
Teenage Use of Stimulants Levels Off in 1998
Lake Worth School Districts Turning To Drug Testing
Right This Wrong
DC and Medical Marijuana
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
New Surveillance Proposed for Bank Accounts
Officers' Actions Attacked in San Jose Marijuana Trial
Confiscated Drugs Stolen From Under Nose Of Customs
FBI Picks Up A Prison Probe Some Say Was Stifled By Union
Activist Denounces Prison System
UN Official Seeks Reforms In US Prisons
The Mandatory-Sentencing Mistake
Drug Use Issues-
The Possible Link Between Genes & Attention Deficit
Prince Ponders Medicinal Value of Cannabis
International News-
Shan Rebels Blame Myanmar Military For Opium Boom
Colombia Police Make Record 66-Pound Heroin Bust
Gambians Arrested For Drug Crimes
U.S. Aid Said Used in Air Raid on Colombia
* Hot Off The 'Net
Charles Whitebread speech text and RealAudio
* DrugSense Tip Of The Week
FEAR On-line Chat group
* Quote of the Week
Charles Dickens
* Fact of the Week
Wasted Interdiction Dollars
* Special Thanks
Kevin Fansler and Don DeGroat Screeners Extrordinaire
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
What The War On Drugs is Doing to America
by Bob Ramsey
It is difficult to imagine the long term downstream impact of what the
drug war is doing to our country. Two and a half million American
children now have at least one parent in prison, and that number grows
as we add 1200 people each week to the inmate population. Instead of
looking at what could have been, perhaps we should look at what could
have *not* been.
My grandfather was an immigrant who came to this country with little
more than the clothes on his back. He worked in a shoe factory outside
of Boston where he and his wife raised two children in a small
single-family house.
He has seven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren who were
and/or are mostly productive members of society, including at least one
doctor, educator, engineer, lawyer, military officer, and politician.
His descendants have served our country in time of war and paid
millions of dollars in taxes.
During alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, my grandfather had some sort
of a small still that was passed around among his neighbors. They used
it to make hard liquor, which was against the law. For that era, it was
the equivalent of growing your own pot or cooking up methamphetamine.
Imagine the impact on his family if today's drug penalties were in
effect at that time. What would have happened if my grandfather had
been sent to prison, his house confiscated, and my mother had been
thrown out on the street when she was 8 years old?
What if, instead of building universities, our country had spent the
money on prisons? What if my grandmother, instead of saving up money
for her children's education, had spent everything on bus tickets to
visit her husband in a faraway prison? What would that have done to our
country two or three generations later. . . which is now!
I don't know if it's possible for you to visualize such devastation, to
imagine the effect on your own life if your parents had been raised in
poverty because vicious busybodies didn't like what your grandpa ate or
drank. . . and to imagine the cumulative effect on the nation. But
millions of Americans are living this nightmare every day in every city
across our country. More are entering it every day. The pace is
accelerating, and the effect on the underlying medical problem is
negligible.
That is why I am working to reform our drug laws. This damage must
stop. We've got to find another way to deal with this problem.
Bob Ramsey, a financial Analyst in Fort Worth, is a board member of the
Drug Policy Forum of Texas. (With the money Gramma Nelson saved on
those bus tickets, he bought a Bachelor's degree from the University of
Virginia, and an MBA from Vanderbilt University)
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
Note:
Because the staff of the Newsletter took advantage of a generally slow
holidays news climate to skip the December 23 issue, this one deals
with items archived by NewsHawks between December 13 and December 27.
As it turned out, coverage of the impeachment proceedings and the
mini-war against Iraq probably crowded many drug items into the
background or out of the media altogether.
***
Domestic News- Policy
***
COMMENT:
Several weeks ago, an encounter between anti-drug activists and some
DPFT members at a public meeting caught the attention of the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram. This has resulted in a bonanza of attention and
generally favorable publicity for both DPFT and the reform movement in
general.
This long feature in the Star-Telegram doesn't take sides, but gives a
balanced account of the issues between reformers and warriors. Most
importantly, it recognizes the existence of a responsible reform
movement.
GROUPS MOBILIZE TO PUSH FOR LENIENT DRUG POLICIES
When pharmacology professor G. Alan Robison launched a group in1994 to
push for an overhaul of U.S. drug policy, he worked out of his house
and could persuade only 15 others to join.
Today, the Houston-based Drug Policy Forum of Texas has grown to 300
members and added a Fort Worth-Dallas chapter. Robison still runs the
group's operations from his home office, but with a recent $25,000
donation from billionaire philanthropist George Soros, he hopes that
his group will soon have a new office and staff.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sun, 27 Dec 1998
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Contact: letters@star-telegram.com
Website: http://www.star-telegram.com/
Forum: http://www.star-telegram.com/comm/forums/
Copyright: 1998 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Author: Marisa Taylor and Susan Gill Vardon, Star-Telegram Staff
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1197.a03.html
***
COMMENT:
The University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future" survey has
become, by default, everyone's standard for measuring juvenile drug
use. This year's report suggests that youthful use is continuing to
decline somewhat, but since earlier levels had been considered high,
the current study might be used either to claim progress for the drug
war - or cited as a reason for continued alarm. What more useful
statistics could a politician ask for?
Whatever conclusions one draws from the report, continued hysteria
over juvenile drug use is evident from the steady stream of school
districts being persuaded that some form of testing is necessary in
their junior high and high schools.
TEENAGE USE OF STIMULANTS LEVELS OFF IN 1998
WASHINGTON - Teenage use of alcohol, marijuana and other drugs remained
stable for a second straight year after years on the rise, with younger
teenagers even less likely to have used drugs over the past year,
according to a government report being released today.
[snip]
Last year's report found drug use stabilizing for the first time after
several years on the rise. It also found more adolescents disapproving
of drug use.
This year, the survey finds a drop in the number of 8th- and
10th-graders reporting the use of any type of illegal drug. Use among
high-school seniors was steady.
[snip]
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Seattle Times Company
Pubdate: Fri, 18 Dec 1998
Author: Laura Meckler, The Associated Press
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1176.a05.html
***
LAKE WORTH SCHOOL DISTRICTS TURNING TO DRUG TESTING
LAKE WORTH -- Lake Worth High School Principal Joel Lawson was worried
about drugs on campus long before a student entered his office in tears
last year.
[snip]
In Lake Worth, the Safe and Drug Free School and Community advisory
committee is overseeing formation of a comprehensive drug program that
includes education for students and teachers, use of a drug-sniffing
dog at the junior high and high schools and a full-time police officer
for the schools.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 21 Dec 1998
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright: 1998 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Contact: letters@star-telegram.com
Website: http://www.star-telegram.com/
Forum: http://www.star-telegram.com/comm/forums/
Author: Anita Baker, Star-Telegram Staff Writer
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1186.a08.html
***
COMMENT:
The shooting of Esequiel Hernandez by Marines on "drug patrol" in May
1997 continues to reverberate. Monte Paulsen's excellent investigative
piece was republished by the Austin Chronicle with this lead-in and
update.
RIGHT THIS WRONG
The U.S. Border Patrol helped aim the gun that killed Esequiel
Hernandez Jr. near the Texas-Mexico border.
That's the conclusion of a scathing report on the 1997 shooting by U.S.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio. Smith's 249-page report concluded that
the surveillance mission was poorly conceived and hastily planned.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Dec 1998
Source: Austin Chronicle (TX)
Contact: louis@auschron.com
Website: http://www.auschron.com/
Copyright: 1998 Austin Chronicle Corp.
Author: Monte Paulsen
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1194.a02.html
This was the lead-in to "FATAL ERROR: THE PENTAGON'S WAR ON DRUGS
TAKES A TOLL ON THE INNOCENT," Published in two parts at:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1192.a05.html
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1193.a01.html
For more, also see DPFT web pages at:
http://www.mapinc.org/DPFT/hernandez/
***
COMMENT:
Another federal embarrassment which refuses to go away is Bob Barr's
amendment to the DC appropriation bill thwarting release of vote
totals on medical marijuana. In addition to heavy press coverage in
the District and beyond, the story was reported on National Public
Radio. The ACLU suit should help keep it alive for a while longer.
DC & MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Carol Van Dam reports that more than a month after Washington DC voters
cast their ballots in a referendum to legalize marijuana for medical
purposes, no one knows the outcome of the vote. That's because shortly
before the November election, Congress added an amendment to the city's
budget barring it from spending any money on the medical marijuana
initiative.
But the city couldn't stop the vote from taking place, because the
ballots - with the initiative on them - had already been printed.
DC officials say the amendment is an unconstitutional interference
in their right to hold a local election and they and the ACLU have
filed suit to allow the results to be revealed.
[snip]
Source: All Things Considered
Copyright: National Public Radio, 1998
Broadcast date: Mon, 14 Dec 98
Forum: http://www.npr.org/yourturn/
Website: http://www.npr.org/
Realaudio: Direct link to the RealAudio:
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/19981214.atc.05.ram
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1168.a02.html
***
Law Enforcement & Prisons
***
COMMENT:
Nearly overlooked in the impeachment furor was a push for more
frightening government intrusion into our private business affairs.
NEW SURVEILLANCE PROPOSED FOR BANK ACCOUNTS
WASHINGTON- US banks must monitor their customers and alert federal
officials to "suspicious" behavior under a government plan that has
drawn fire as an Orwellian intrusion into Americans' privacy.
A set of proposed regulations released last Monday requires banks to
review every customer's "normal and expected transactions" and tip off
the IRS and federal law enforcement agencies if the behavior is unusual.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 14 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
Author: Declan McCullagh
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1168.a05.html
***
COMMENT:
With Wilson and Lungren finally exorcised from Sacramento in January,
it's to be hoped that a proper investigation of prison abuses will
finally take place at the state level, where such reviews should
ideally be conducted.
FBI PICKS UP A PRISON PROBE SOME SAY WAS STIFLED BY UNION
CRESCENT CITY - After a federal court denounced Pelican Bay State
Prison as an instrument of wholesale brutality In 1995, California
officials pledged to reform the supermaximum penitentiary.
[snip]
But just a few months into the job, the internal affairs team was
stripped of its investigative powers when it tried to pursue a group of
officers suspected of setting up stabbings, shootings and beatings of
inmates, documents and interviews show.
The warden cut short the probe, and the investigators then found
themselves the subject of repeated investigations by the Corrections
Department.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 16 Dec 1998
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Contact: eangsmc@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
Copyright: 1998 by MediaNews Group, Inc.
Section: Nation-World Page 2
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1172.a05.html
***
COMMENT:
Declining Police integrity is a major factor in expanding our "Prison
Industrial Complex." These two recent articles illustrate different
aspects of the problem: the first shows how a warrant to search the
San Jose Buyers' club was set up a perjured statement. Also, who
believes the DA's claim that police interest in Buyers' Club stemmed
from a "concern for patients?"
The second article is another (tedious) example of how lucrative
illegal markets inevitably corrupt a significant percentage of the
public servants entrusted with their suppression.
OFFICERS' ACTIONS ATTACKED IN SAN JOSE MARIJUANA TRIAL
By Raoul V. Mowatt, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
SAN JOSE -- Attorneys for medicinal-marijuana advocate Peter Baez
raised pointed questions of witnesses in an attempt to scuttle the
criminal case against the former head of a San Jose-based marijuana
dispensary.
[snip]
"I was blown away," Uelmen said. "I have very few instances in my
life as a lawyer where I had a police officer admit on the stand to
perjury."
(DA) Baker, however, said the overall testimony showed the officers
balanced concern for the center's patients with their need to
investigate possible wrongdoing.
Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Edition: SRVT, Section: A, Page: 9
Contact: cctletrs@netcom.com
Website: http://www.hotcoco.com/index.htm
Forum: http://www.hotcoco.com/cocotalk/index.htm
Copyright: 1998 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.
Author: Raoul V. Mowatt, San Jose Mercury News
Pubdate: Fri, 25 Dec 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1194.a01.html
***
CONFISCATED DRUGS STOLEN FROM UNDER NOSE OF CUSTOMS
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- U.S. Customs agents under investigation for
delivering 7 tons of confiscated drugs to an incinerator then allegedly
leaving the drugs unattended and susceptible to theft may have done so
on many as five other occasions, the Union Tribune of San Diego
reported Saturday.
[snip]
Nine customs agents brought the drugs from El Paso, Texas, because the
large shipment was too bulky to destroy locally.
After the customs team left the Tucson incinerator, thieves apparently
pulled about 500 pounds of marijuana from the incinerator before the
drugs burned, customs' officials said.
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Copyright: 1998 Mercury Center
Pubdate: Sat, 19 Dec 1998
Author: Associated Press
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v81.n1194.a03.html
***
COMMENT:
Angela Davis is proving an effective advocate for prison reform;
several weeks after spearheading a Bay Area Conference on the subject,
she was at it in Middle America, again making good use of her academic
ties.
A female UN official voiced criticisms which echoed an earlier Amnesty
International report. In addition, the article had her going well
beyond AI in criticizing both the selective prosecution of blacks and
specifically citing the drug war as a major cause of incarceration.
The UN will receive her official report in March
ACTIVIST DENOUNCES PRISON SYSTEM.
NKU Audience Hears Angela Davis
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - Angela Davis, best known for the trails she blazed
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, criticized today's prison system
Friday night before a packed auditorium at Northern Kentucky University.
Businesses profit from more people going to prison and more prisons
having to be built, Ms. Davis said.
[snip]
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Contact: letters@enquirer.com
Website: http://enquirer.com/today/
Copyright: 1998 The Cincinnati Enquirer
Pubdate: 12 Dec 1998
Author: SUSAN VELA
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v68.n1194.a01.html
***
UN OFFICIAL SEEKS REFORMS IN US PRISONS
COLOMBO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A top United Nations official on Friday
called for stronger monitoring to control widespread "sexual
misconduct" in women's prisons in the United States.
"We concluded that there has been widespread sexual misconduct in U.S
prisons, but there is a diversity -- some are dealing with it better
than others," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. special rapporteur on
violence against women.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 18 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
Author: Farah Mihlar
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1196.a04.html
COMMENT:
Better late than not at all: WR columnist William Raspberry recanted
the glib stupidity of his first paragraph to explain how he finally
"got" Vincent Schiraldi's cogent message: we are short-changing
schools in order to finance prison construction. Why was that so hard
for Raspberry to understand?
THE MANDATORY-SENTENCING MISTAKE
Vincent Schiraldi's call sounded for all the world like another of
those false syllogisms that make me crazy. You know: For the money it
costs to keep a young man in prison, we could send him to Harvard. Or,
if we took the money we're spending on the drug "wars" and spent it on
the public schools, every kid in America would have a shot at a
first-rate education.
[snip]
And suddenly Schiraldi was making sense to me in a way the mirror-image
symmetry of his prison/college dichotomy did not. The spending patterns
are not the problem; the problem is poorly thought-out policy,
misguided toughness and bad law.
Source: The Washington Post
Copyright: 1998 The Washington Post Company
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Page: A23
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: William Raspberry
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1194.a11.html
***
Drugs & Drug Use
***
COMMENT:
This long article on ADD emphasizes how little we really know about
the disorder, its proper treatment or the apparently increased risk of
drug and alcohol problems when children diagnosed as having ADD become
adults. This article can't be easily summarized and deserves to be
read in its entirety.
BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR; THE POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN GENES & ATTENTION
DEFICIT
DANIELLE SITS quietly for the moment, thinking, huddled in the corner
of her classroom closet, waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. She
had just screamed at her teacher and left the floor awash in papers and
pens and books and, well, mess. She can't quite say why she gets so mad
and confused, but she knows that her life schedule revolves around
taking medicine to control her behavior and her ability to sit still
and focus.
[snip]
These findings were presented earlier this month during the federal
panel convened by the National Institutes of Health."
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Newsday (NY)
Contact: letters@newsday.com
Website: http://www.newsday.com/
Copyright: 1998, Newsday Inc.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v68.n1189.a10.html
***
COMMENT:
On a lighter note, the Prince of Wales helped the cause of MMJ when he
asked an innocent question during a ceremonial visit to a nursing
home. That it was reported by the Times, made the wire services and
is being excerpted here graphically illustrates the PR power of
celebrity.
PRINCE PONDERS MEDICINAL VALUE OF CANNABIS
THE Prince of Wales has expressed an interest in the effectiveness of
cannabis in relieving the pain of diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
During his annual visit to the Sue Ryder Home in Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire, he asked Karen Drake, who has MS: "Have you tried
taking cannabis? I have heard it's the best thing for it."
Mrs Drake, 36, said afterwards: "I was surprised but I think I would
like at least to try it. Anything that can help relieve the pain can
only be for the good."
[snip]
Source: The Times (UK)
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Dec 1998
Copyright: 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: letters@the-times.co.uk
Mail: The Times, PO Box 496, London E1 9XN United Kingdom
Fax: +44-(0)171-782 5988
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author: Ian Murray, Medical Correspondent
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v68.n1190.a08.html
***
International News
***
COMMENT:
The assertions of the Shan rebel leader in the first item certainly
can't be taken at face value; sadly, neither can those of the DEA.
Combine DEA estimates on the origins of America's heroin, and presto!
You're at 130% from Burma and Colombia alone.
If the DEA has trouble deciding where American heroin originates, the
Swedes are convinced that all of theirs comes from Gambia.
SHAN REBELS BLAME MYANMAR MILITARY FOR OPIUM BOOM
MONG PAN, Myanmar, Dec 20 (Reuters)
Rebel Shan State Army (SSA) guerrillas have said oppression by the
Myanmar military of the northeastern state's native population has
caused the boom in the local opium and heroin trade.
[snip]
The U.S Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimated that some 70 percent of
heroin in the street market in the United States originates from the
Golden Triangle.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sun, 20 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
Author: Vorasit
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1186.a10.html
***
COLOMBIA POLICE MAKE RECORD 66-POUND HEROIN BUST
BOGOTA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Colombian police seized 66 pounds (30 kg) of
high-grade heroin, worth between $2.5 million and $5.5 million
wholesale in the United States, in what it said was the "biggest heroin
bust in the history of Colombia's war on drugs."
[snip]
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that up to 60
percent of the heroin sold in the United States is from Colombia and
fetches between $85,000 and $185,000 per 2.2 pounds (1kg).
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1189.a09.html
***
GAMBIANS ARRESTED FOR DRUG CRIMES. Heroin trade.
400 of the county's 900 Gambians are involved in drug trade in
Stockholm according to the Police.
The Drug trade in Stockholm is growing at an immense rate. County
police commissioner, Leif Jennekvist, gave an alarming picture of the
situation this Thursday. He points out the African nation Gambia to be
responsible for nearly all the heroin trade, he also revealed that
Somaliska Foreningen (The Somalian Association) in Stockholm has
pleaded to the prosecutors office to take immediate measures against
the increased use of Khat.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1189.a09.html
***
COMMENT:
Back to a familiar theme: expect many more articles like this one.
The war against guerrillas and US aid for the "anti-drug" effort in
Colombia are increasing apace. Determining which rockets were
purchased with which dollars is an exercise in futility. The real
issue is how is honest government achieved in any country where the
major source of wealth is a criminal industry?
U.S. AID SAID USED IN AIR RAID ON COLOMBIA VILLAGE
BOGOTA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A leading human rights group charged on
Monday that Colombia's military used warplanes and rockets, bought
with U.S. anti-drug aid, during a recent raid on a village in
rebel-held territory that killed up to 27 civilians.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 21 Dec 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1184.a06.html
***
HOT OFF THE 'NET
***
Thanks to Jim Rosenfield for this heads up:
Prof. Charles Whitebread's History of Non-medical Drugs in the U.S. is now
available full text as well as in Real Audio at http://www.tfy.org/ as well
as at http://www.freecannabis.org/
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
***
FEAR CHAT
FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) now has a free-form
discussion forum at
http://www.libertyjournal.com/liberty_forums/index.cfm?cfapp=10
courtesy of Patrick Kirkpatrick & the good folk at Liberty Forum
(link may have to be pasted into your browser)
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
***
`It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human
nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least
pleasant examples' - Charles Dickens
***
FACT OF THE WEEK
In 1992, the U.S. government spent only 7% of its drug-control budget
on treatment, the remaining 93% of its budget went to ineffective
programs of source control, interdiction and law-enforcement.
Source: Rydell, C.P. &; Everingham, S.S., (1994), Controlling Cocaine,
Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the United
States Army, Santa Monica, CA: Drug Policy Research Center, RAND, p. 5.
***
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***
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[End]
to the 1998 Daily News index for Dec. 24-31