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UPn 10/09/93 Couple draws life sentence for possession of gift-wrapped drugs
WEATHERFORD, Texas (UPI) -- A Parker County jury needed only 45 minutes to
sentence a Houston couple to life in prison for possession of marijuana, much of
it gift-wrapped.
Prosecutors charged that William Darrell Baldwin, 44, and Denise Hanrahan
Swartz, 38, both of Houston, rented a plane at the McAllen, Texas, airport on
May 23, loaded it with marijuana, and flew to an airfield in southern Parker
County.
Parker County District Attorney Amy Adams said an informant tipped state and
federal authorities that the couple was carrying more than 100 pounds of
marijuana aboard the plane.
After a drug-sniffing dog confirmed that marijuana had been in the trunk of
the rental car the couple drove to McAllen to rent the plane, a U.S. Customs
Service aircraft followed the couple into North Texas.
Adams said arresting officers at the airport found nine bundles of marijuana
stuffed into toy boxes, in gift-wrapped boxes, a footlocker, a child's rocking
horse box, and luggage inside the plane.
She said, "Some (of the bundles) were gift-wrapped as presents. There were
some real gift-wrapped presents found, too."
The jurors handed Baldwin and Swartz the maximum of life in prison and fined
them $50,000 each.
APn 10/09/93 Drug Bust-Disney Trip
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- Drug agents returned $129 seized in a marijuana raid
to a 9-year-old girl who was saving it for a trip to Disney World.
Jeana Fontaine was caught in the middle after the Sept. 30 raid on the house
where she lived with her mother and a man charged with drug trafficking.
The tale of her plight was told in a newspaper column and on local radio,
prompting calls for law officials to give the money back and a donation drive
that raised nearly $200 for the girl.
"I'm happy," said Jeana, whose weeklong Florida trip was to begin Sunday.
Drug agency officials defended the delay, saying the man arrested, Duane
Getchell, 42, was uncooperative so they couldn't immediately verify that some
cash found in a safe belonged to the girl.
"This little girl has an opportunity to go to Disney World and I want her to
go down there, and so do the agents," District Attorney David Crook said
Saturday.
The girl's mother, Nancy Farrington, 29, said two agents from the Maine Drug
Enforcement Agency returned the money Friday.
"They apologized to (Jeana) and explained things, why they do things the way
they do," Farrington said. "And David Crook, he threw in $20 of his own money."
APn 10/09/93 Quayle Prisoner
By JAMES H. RUBIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court tossed out a lawsuit by an inmate
who accused prison officials of improperly muzzling his 1988 election-eve bid to
publicize allegations he sold marijuana to Dan Quayle.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said Brett Kimberlin's claims
that his rights were violated are based on insufficient evidence to warrant a
trial against former Bureau of Prisons' Director J. Michael Quinlan and former
Justice Department spokesman Loye Miller.
The court split, 2-1, Friday with a dissenter saying the ruling is unjust.
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, writing for the panel, said, "Kimberlin relies
only on inference and weak circumstantial evidence." She was joined by Judge
Stephen Williams. Both were appointed to the court by former President Reagan.
In a sharply worded dissent, Judge Harry Edwards said the ruling is
"unfathomable in this country under our constitutional system."
"I simply cannot imagine that the judiciary of the United States will shut
the doors of the courthouse and refuse to allow Kimberlin's suit to proceed for
the specious reason that his complaint is based on circumstantial evidence,"
said Edwards, an appointee of former President Carter.
Justice Department Inspector General Richard Hankinson concluded last month
that officials unfairly disciplined Kimberlin. But Hankinson said there was no
"conspiracy to silence" the inmate when Quayle was running for vice president on
the Republican ticket with George Bush.
Quinlan canceled a Nov. 4, 1988, prison press conference at which Kimberlin
planned to make public his allegations about Quayle. Quinlan also ordered
Kimberlin placed in a special detention cell that night at the Federal
Correctional Institution in El Reno, Okla.
On Nov. 7, the day before the election, Kimberlin was again placed in special
detention because he tried to set up a telephone conference call with reporters
in Washington.
He again was disciplined on Dec. 22 after attempting to contact reporters.
Kimberlin claimed he sold marijuana to Quayle years ago when the former vice
president was a law student. Quayle has denied the allegation. The Drug
Enforcement Administration concluded Kimberlin's claim was false.
Kimberlin is serving 51 years for convictions including drug conspiracy and
eight Indiana bombings and has been in jail since 1980.
Quinlan said he did not have any contact with Bush-Quayle campaign officials
around the time of the election and said he acted to protect Kimberlin's safety.
Miller said he discussed the situation with a campaign aide but denied there
was any attempt by the campaign to influence events.
In her opinion Friday, Henderson said there is no direct evidence Quinlan
acted "for any reason other than Kimberlin's safety."
But Edwards said in his dissent that Quinlan's explanation "is entirely
suspect." The judge said it is highly unusual for top government officials in
Washington to get involved in disciplining federal prisoners.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene ruled in 1991 that Quinlan and Miller
were not immune from all of the claims in Kimberlin's suit. The two officials
appealed.
UPn 10/12/93 Medicinal pot defense launched
SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- An HIV positive man on trial in San Diego for cultivating
the marijuana he says helps him deal with his illness testified Tuesday in an
attempt to portray his backyard marijuana patch as a medicinal herb garden.
Samuel Skipper, 39, told the jury he was able to function far more normally
under the influence of the weed than he would without it.
"You feel so much better -- just that fast," Skipper said after taking a deep
and noisy breath to mimic the act of smoking a marijuana cigarette.
Skipper said his former lover died of AIDS, and that he had taken the more
traditional drug AZT as well as 39 other prescription drugs.
"AZT is poison because it kills the healthy cells, too, and (the drugs) kill
you twice as fast," Skipper said.
Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfeund last week allowed Skipper, who faces
five years in prison if convicted, to become the first Californian to use
medical necessity as a defense in a marijuana cultivation case.
Skipper said he both smokes and eats marijuana to relieve the nausea caused
by his illness.
"I eat it. It soothes my hunger; I eat it fresh in bulk -- about five pounds
at a time -- or I smoke it," said Skipper, who seems delighted with the
limelight of the packed courtroom.
Although an acquittal could have an impact on future defenses in marijuana
cases, Skipper's lawyer said the defense was not a test case aimed at
overturning drug laws.
"This is not a case on legalization on the war on drugs and we are certainly
not asking for whatever sympathy you may have for HIV patients or gays," defense
lawyer Julianne Humphery told the jury.
The prosecution has contended that Skipper has not tried all of the legal
alternatives available.
UPma 10/12/93 Troopers seize marijuana
SWANTON, Ohio (UPI) -- The Ohio Highway Patrol announced Tuesday the seizure
of 330 pounds of marijuana worth about $500,000 from a rental truck parked on an
Ohio Turnpike service plaza parking lot near Swanton.
The Monday seizure, made with the use of drug-sniffing dogs, resuled in the
arrest of Jose Bustillos, 30, of Mesa, Ariz., who will be charged under federal
statutes, troopers said.
Bustillos told troopers said he was transporting the illegal weed from Mesa
to Cleveland in 24 bales concealed inside cardboard furniture cartons. A
passenger, Patty Bustillos, 29, also faces federal charges.
The couple's children, who were also in the truck, were turned over the Lucas
County officials.
APn 10/12/93 Marijuana Lost
MIAMI (AP) -- A ship intercepted by the U.S. Navy with 7,000 pounds of
marijuana aboard sank while being towed to Colombia.
Only two bales, totaling 100 pounds, were saved for evidence, Coast Guard
spokesman Rob Wyman said Tuesday.
The 40-foot Colombian-registered Elena de Troya was spotted Sunday by the
crew of a Navy aircraft 90 miles north of Colombia's Guajira Peninsula.
A Navy ship carrying a drug-tracking Coast Guard detachment intercepted the
vessel and found four crewmen, along with 138 50-pound bales of marijuana.
The Navy ship, which the Coast Guard would not identify, took the Elena de
Troya in tow to hand over to Colombian authorities but it began taking on water
and capsized, Wyman said.
The ship's crew were handed over to Colombian officials on Monday.
UPn 10/12/93 Drug fugitive arrested in Guatemala
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Authorities announced Tuesday the arrest in Guatemala of
one of the U.S. Marshal Service's 15 most wanted fugitives, a man sought on drug
charges.
Paul Miller Harrison, 47, was indicted in Charlottesville, Va., for
conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, engaging in a continuing criminal
enterprise, and firearms violations.
Harrison was known as "Goliath" because of his 6-foot-5, 250-pound size.
U.S. authorities contend Harison led an organization that distributed
marijuana and cocaine along the Eastern Seaboard. His organization allegedly
operated out of Front Royal, Va., where authorities say drugs were processed,
packaged and stored.
Authorities said Harrison was operating Mario's Marina in the Rio Dulce area
of Guatemala when he was arrested without incident.
Harrison was in custody in Livingston, Guatemalia, where he was awaiting
extradition to the United States. His arrest was made Friday but not announced
until Tuesday.
circa 10/12/93 "The Big White Lie," by Michael Levine
(Thunder's Mouth Press, 472 pages, $22.95)
The subtitle of "The Big White Lie, the CIA and the Cocaine/Crack Epidemic,
an Undercover Odyssey," leaves little double about the author's intentions.
Michael Levine's 25 years as an undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement
Agency provides him with plenty of ammunition to fire against his own agency.
Toward the end of his career, instead of attacking drug dealers, Levine found
himself defending his actions against hard-nosed administrators, or "suits," who
wanted him derailed when his probes targeted suspects with ties to the CIA.
It's the CIA's involvement in drug cases that provides a pivotal subplot.
Levine charges that many large drug dealers in South America are protected
against prosecution in the United States because of their relationships to the
CIA.
As a consequence, he writes, cases against many of the larger dealers are
dropped or the suspects are allowed to skip the country before they can expose
the CIA's role in their activities.
Levine's memory for detail, which he used in court to prosecute dealers, just
as easily recalls battles with drug war bureaucrats who quashed his attempts to
prosecute suspected kingpins. As a consequence, some of South America's biggest
suspects were not pursued, while insignificant figures, presumably with no ties
to the CIA, were prosecuted with a vengance to show taxpayers a war on drugs is
being fought.
Levine, who calls a white lie a well-meaning or diplomatic untruth, doesn't
preach. He doesn't have to. Instead he lays out enough examples of DEA
incompetence or outright violations by agency officials of laws governing the
agency to persuade readers the war on drugs is a facade.
Levine, who's now a drug bureau director on Cape Cod, also wrote "Deep
Cover," which also was based on his experience with the DEA.
By Jim Sielicki (UPI)
UPwe 10/13/93 Washington state cop charged with drug smuggling
TACOMA, Wash. (UPI) -- Authorities said Wednesday a Pierce County sheriff's
detective was on administrative leave following his arrest on charges of
attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States.
Roy Rutherford, 36, an undercover officer, was charged with trying to smuggle
hashish and marijuana through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
A sheriff's spokesman said Rutherford was arrested Friday after airport
authorities allegedly found seven grams of hashish and two grams of marijuana in
one of the detective's socks. He said Rutherford was returning from vacation in
Europe when he was arrested.
He said Rutherford was cited, then released because of the small amount of
drugs involved.
The spokesman called the incident "embarrassing."
APn 10/14/93 Drugs-Congress
By CAROLYN SKORNECK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's cutbacks in the Office of
National Drug Control Policy were strongly criticized Thursday by one of the
chief creators of the office.
"In the real world of Washington, what secretary in a turf war cares what the
drug czar says if almost every committee in the Congress has a larger staff than
he does?" House Government Operations Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., asked at a
hearing on reauthorizing the office. "What are we doing to him?"
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee postponed action on the Custom
Service's $1.47 billion budget for the new year after Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, D-N.Y., the committee chairman, complained that the agency's
drug-interdiction effort is a waste.
"Are we satisfied flying airplanes across the Mojave Desert with no effect?"
Moynihan asked colleagues. "This is theatrics; it is not government."
At the House hearing, the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative
branch, delivered three reports critical of how the war on drugs is being
handled.
One found the Defense Department's expensive aerial surveillance efforts are
not paying off. Another said the impact of Colombia's anti-drug programs is
uncertain. The third said the drug control office could be improved, in
particular by forcing it to devise specific performance criteria to prove the
success of anti-drug efforts.
Lee Brown, the office director, told reporters earlier this year that he
protested to White House officials over reducing his office from the high of 146
people during the Bush administration to just 25 people. The cutback was part of
President Clinton's vow in February to reduce White House staffing by 25
percent. The anti-drug office, which is part of the Executive Office of the
President, was reduced by 83 percent.
Brown lost that battle and accepted the cuts. A spokeswoman said Clinton had
promised to give Brown the support he needed to do the job.
In February, Conyers supported the office staff reduction, saying that if it
were "offset by this real increase in power, the drug czar will in fact be able
to do a far better job than previously."
But Thursday, he called the cuts "unbelievable."
"He's been put in the Cabinet, but his resources have been taken away,"
Conyers said, noting that his committee created the office and can eliminate it
as well.
At the Senate Finance Committee, no one defended Customs' drug efforts, which
cost $132.4 million last year and would cost more than $95 million during the
budget year that began Oct. 1.
However, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., said the committee should hold hearings
before deciding to eliminate the program.
Wayne Hamilton, a Customs budget officer, told the committee the agency has
seven radar-equipped P-3 planes and four P-3s without radar, and borrows several
other aircraft from the Defense Department.
"You have nothing to show for it," Moynihan said, calling the agency's
drug-interdiction program "a flawed assignment."
RTec 10/14/93 EP COMMITTEE DEBATES LEGALISATION OF DRUGS, PRESS FREEDOM
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT INFO MEMO PRESS RELEASE
DOCUMENT DATE: OCTOBER 13, 1993
+
COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS Chairman:
Amedee Turner (UK, EPP) Meeting of 11, 12 and 13 October
+
COMMITTEE DEBATES DRUG LEGALISATION
The committee continued its debate on the controversial question of drug
legalisation with the presentation of a draft report by Marco TARADASH (I,
Greens). Taking the view that the war on drugs was not succeeding, Mr TARADASH
felt the time had come to look for other solutions. Mayors and police in many
European cities were advocating a different policy, he claimed.
The approach favoured by Mr TARADASH in his report is the establishment of
a legal and controlled market for drugs. However, aware of widely differing
views in the committee, Mr TARADASH said he was not suggesting the legalisation
of illicit drugs. Rather at this time he wanted to see a serious discussion of
the whole drugs issue and thus would be calling for a comprehensive study and
for an international conference.
Except for Dorothee PIERMONT (G, RBW), who favoured a frank discussion of
new policies in the drug field, the initial reaction in the committee was
hostile. With the European elections coming up in the next year, Florus
WIJSENBEEK (Nl, LDR) felt it was the wrong time to be discussing drug
legalisation. Pat COONEY (Irl, EPP) felt it was impractical to advocate
legalisation. 'The answer to something wrong was not to declare it right', he
said. He didn't agree that the present drug policies had failed saying that
the fight against drugs had not been properly engaged, particularly in the area
of demand. Michael ELLIOTT (UK, PES) recognised that the current repressive
policies were not working but said he was very cautious and reluctant to go down
the road of legalisation.
Mr TARADASH will now prepare a draft motion for resolution as a basis for
further discussion in the committee.
RTw 10/16/93 JURY GIVES GO AHEAD FOR AIDS SUFFERER TO USE MARIJUANA
SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 16 (Reuter) - A jury has given the go-ahead to an
AIDS sufferer to use marijuana to fight the symptoms of the disease.
"Live. That's the whole thing. Be Happy," said the defendant, Samuel
Skipper, 39, of La Mesa, California, after the San Diego Superior Court jury
declared him innocent on Friday of two felony charges of growing marijuana at
home.
Bob Randall, one of the United States' leading advocates for the medicinal
use of marijuana, said after the verdict that it was the first time a jury had
been asked to decide whether it was legal for a person to grow marijuana to
alleviate the symptoms of a disease. Randall had appeared as a defence witness.
During the three-day trial, Skipper admitted he grew marijuana plants in
his house and backyard because he needed the drug to ward off nausea and weight
loss brought on by AIDS. Drug agents seized more than 40 plants at his home
earlier this year.
Skipper said that most of the time he mixed the marijuana with the food he
ate and, at one point during the trial, he brought a peanut butter ball
containing marijuana to court to be used as evidence. It was seized by court
officers.
Jurors, who deliberated for two hours, afterwards said Skipper's defence
proved he needed the marijuana to combat symptoms brought on by the AIDS virus.
REUTER
UPwe 10/16/93 HIV pot user cleared with medicinal defense
SAN DIEGO (UPI) - A La Mesa man's contention that he grew and used marijuana
to help fight his HIV virus infection has kept him out of jail.
But the legal jousting over his gardening is not over.
Samuel Skipper, 39, was the first Californian allowed to use medicinal need
as a defense in a marijuana cultivation case. It paid off Friday when a San
Diego Superior Court jury acquitted him on two felony counts of raising the
illicit weed at his home.
Skipper claimed eating and smoking marijuana daily relieved nausea caused by
the HIV virus and kept him from losing large amounts of weight.
"I'm not presently growing it, but I am using it and I am not going to stop,"
Skipper told reporters outside the courtroom.
Jury foreman Bob Lenzi said Skipper "proved he had the necessity to use
cannibas to save his own life."
The verdict could have an impact on other HIV and AIDS patients who may turn
to backyard gardens for treatment.
Skipper, however, had pleaded guilty in 1991 to a charge of growing marijuana
and faces revokation of probation which could send him to jail. Skipper also ran
afoul of courthouse deputies during the trial when they seized a peanut butter
ball laced with marijuana he had brought to court to present as evidence.
Skipper predicted later that the seized snack would lead to a raft of charges
involving transportation and possession of drugs.
Police can enter Skipper's home without a warrant at any time because he is
on probation. Prosecutors have said Skipper will be arrested if they catch him
cultivating marijuana again.
Skipper's lawyer, Juliana Humphrey, said she will ask the judge in the case
to remove that condition from Skipper's probation. She said that will allow
Skipper to resume growing marijuana.
WP 10/18/93 Marijuana Makes a Comeback;
Arrests Here Are Up by 19% for Drug That Was on the Wane
By Dan Beyers and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Marijuana use in the Washington area appears to be surging after years of
decline, fueled in large part by the drug's renaissance among young people, new
evidence suggests.
An array of recent statistics on arrests, drug seizures, emergency room
admissions and court-administered drug tests indicates that marijuana use is
approaching levels not seen since the mid-1980s, when smoking marijuana laced
with the hallucinogen PCP was common in several parts of the Washington area.
Last year, marijuana-related arrests in the District and Fairfax, Montgomery
and Prince George's counties were up 19 percent from 1991, reaching 3,198, or
an average of almost nine a day, according to police in those four
jurisdictions.
The numbers are still climbing. In Prince George's County, police said they
have arrested 221 people for marijuana possession and distribution in the first
six months of this year, a 65 percent jump from the same period in 1992 and
twice the number arrested in all of 1989. They said they also have seized $2.8
million worth of the drug during the same period, a fourfold increase over the
first half of last year.
In Montgomery County, marijuana-related arrests are up 6 percent for the
first eight months of this year, and about $1 million worth of the drug has been
seized so far, double the value of all Montgomery seizures in 1992.
Police in Fairfax County said their 1993 arrest rate for marijuana is running
at the 1992 level; last year, Fairfax reported 627 marijuana arrests, nearly
twice the number made in 1988.
The District said its 1993 arrest figures were unavailable, but Phil
O'Donnell, the deputy police chief who commands the narcotics and special
investigations unit in the District, said city police seized twice as much
marijuana through May of this year - $974,000 worth - as they did in all of
1991.
"For a while, because of all the law enforcement, cocaine got scarce. Because
it was scarce, some people went back to marijuana," O'Donnell said in an
interview earlier this year.
"It is everywhere we turn right now," said Lt. Don Lenhart, who supervises
vice and narcotics operations in Fairfax. "We're even finding it when we raid
(suspected) crack houses."
Howard County police announced Friday that authorities had broken up a major
marijuana ring operating in central Maryland that was believed to be
distributing 250 pounds of the illicit drug a month. Three Anne Arundel County
men have been arrested so far, and one has been charged under the state's "drug
kingpin" statute.
As part of that operation, police seized 41 pounds of marijuana and $230,000
in cash and securities as they executed 28 search warrants in Baltimore and five
counties.
Hospitals in the Washington area have reported a 31 percent increase in the
number of marijuana users seeking emergency treatment in 1992, an average of 100
people a month. Many patients said they also were using more dangerous drugs,
which experts say probably worsened their health problems.
Drug specialists said a compelling piece of evidence that marijuana use is on
the rise is coming out of the District, where drug tests given to recent
arrestees are showing higher rates of marijuana use.
Juvenile use is rising the fastest, reaching its highest levels since the
tests were first administered in 1986, according to the D.C. Pretrial Services
Agency.
Forty-five percent of the 255 youths who voluntarily submitted to drug tests
in August tested positive for marijuana; 49 percent tested positive for drug use
overall. Two years ago, only 10 percent of all arrested juveniles tested
positive for marijuana in the month of August.
The last statistic "is probably the most telling," said Clare Mundell, who
has long tracked Washington drug trends for the University of Maryland's Center
for Substance Abuse Research. "It is irrefutable evidence that marijuana use is
on the rise among the juvenile criminal population."
Last week, an official of the center told a special legislative committee
that a study of teenagers in two state detention centers showed young people
turning away from cocaine and toward marijuana and PCP.
"There is evidence of a new epidemic in marijuana and PCP," said Eric Wish,
of the center. "It's almost like people are saying, `Thank God it's not crack
anymore.' "
Marijuana long has been the most popular illegal drug with young people, and
authorities have been predicting for some time that a new surge is around the
corner. Marijuana also may be finding favor now because today's generation of
young people came of age in a decade dominated first by the ravages of PCP and
then crack cocaine, according to police, social workers and other drug experts.
"Cocaine and PCP scared a lot of people," said George Koch, a Maryland State
Police analyst who studies marijuana trends. "Marijuana is seen as less of a
threat, more acceptable by society."
That image is being reinforced by pop culture, where favorable references to
marijuana are appearing increasingly in music of all tastes - from heavy metal
to rap - and at colleges, where the legalization of marijuana is being debated.
Some street vendors and trendy boutiques said they did a brisk business this
summer selling T-shirts and caps adorned with a marijuana leaf or
marijuana-related slogans. Some even sold hemp clothes made from marijuana
plants.
Clothing printed with marijuana emblems is now turning up in high schools.
"Most of the kids say they are wearing the shirts because it is part of the
style these days," said Frank Stetson, principal of DuVal High School in Prince
George's County. "For whatever reason, it is still a concern."
Like other principals in the area, Stetson said he usually tells the students
to turn their offending T-shirts inside out or to cover the slogans with a
jacket or another shirt.
"Ninety percent of the time, when you ask them what they think their parents
would say, the students will immediately turn their shirts inside out," said
Stephen Tarason, principal of John F. Kennedy High School in Montgomery. "But
there's always the 10 percent who say their parents already know what they are
wearing."
In addition to making a fashion statement, young people are using a new way
to smoke marijuana - splitting open an inexpensive cigar called a Phillies Blunt
and filling it with marijuana. In a May survey of 22 recent arrestees conducted
by the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency, all but one of the District youths said
they smoked marijuana in cigars. Sales of the Blunt brand cigars have tripled in
the last year, according to one area wholesaler.
Some young users say they consider their use of marijuana to be harmless, and
even preferable to the other trouble they could get into.
"I won't try crack or rock, because crack kills. You learn that from
commercials and TV," said a 16-year-old girl from Gaithersburg, who said she
started smoking marijuana a year ago, often in Blunts. "Marijuana gives you an
inner peace. It makes you want to sit back and listen to music, or pig out with
friends, instead of getting into trouble."
"For me, marijuana is just like alcohol. No worse," said another Gaithersburg
youth, a 15-year-old boy who said he tried his first joint earlier this summer.
"You hear about it through the music. It's part of what is happening."
The two Gaithersburg teenagers, whose names are being withheld at their
parents' request, said they are currently receiving counseling for their drug
use and other behavior problems. Their counselor, Vita Noble, said she is
skeptical of claims that marijuana keeps young people out of more serious
trouble. She said several of her young clients have become involved in scrapes
and other violent encounters while high on marijuana.
"Marijuana drops all the guards," Noble said. "These kids tend to lack fear
when they are high, and they are less afraid of confrontation," Noble said.
"They seem to attract violence like a magnet."
Noble said she also is worried that the marijuana use could lead to more
destructive behavior if it goes unchecked, and it may even stir the youths to
try more dangerous drugs in the future.
"I am concerned that we may see the cycle repeating itself with this
generation," Noble said. "Marijuana use raises a lot of red flags."
The Capital News Service contributed to this report.
UPn 10/19/93 Four Swedes held on federal drug charges
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- Four Swedish men are being held in the Alachua
County Jail until their federal court trial in December on charges they
illegally transferred drug money into the United States.
U.S. Magistrate Wade Hampton denied bond for the men Monday at their
arraignment in Gainesville because they lacked ties to the community.
Nicholaas Grenhagen, 30; Salih Moritz, 40; Fersten Taschkov, 45; and Borg
Einarsson, 42; all pleaded innocent to the charges. Grenhagen also faces charges
of marijuana smuggling. The trial is scheduled to start Dec. 13.
The men were arrested last week in an undercover sting in which they
allegedly gave agents a $10 million Mexican bond as a down payment for providing
services to assist with smuggling drugs into the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David McGee said the government had tapes of the
defendants discussing details of a plan to transfer $20 million out of the
country.
The government also is said to have tapes of alleged conversations in
whichGrenhagen discussed smuggling $30 million to $40 million in Swedish bonds
stolen in November 1990 from a Stockholm bank.
APn 10/19/93 Foiled Escape
GABRIELS, N.Y. (AP) -- An inmate who walked away from a state prison was
caught in a nearby patch of woods, smoking marijuana with his lingerie-clad
girlfriend -- an armed guard from a county jail, authorities said.
Lisa Ingolia and inmate Thomas Rosati were arrested near Camp Gabriels
minimum security prison, state police said.
Ingolia, a Nassau County guard, was wearing a black teddy under a trenchcoat
and was carrying a .38-caliber pistol, police said.
State police were acting on a tip when they waited for the two to meet
Saturday.
Ingolia, 33, of New Hyde Park, was charged with promoting prison contraband,
hindering prosecution and criminal sale of marijuana. She was being held without
bail awaiting a preliminary felony hearing.
Rosati, 28, was charged with escape and was transferred to another prison.
The two met when Rosati was being held in the Nassau County jail six months
ago, police said. She had since visited him four or five times at Camp Gabriels,
about 125 miles north of Albany.
RTw 10/20/93 DUTCH MAY BAN SALE OF MARIJUANA TO FOREIGNERS
THE HAGUE, Oct 20 (Reuter) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it
favoured banning the sale of hashish and marijuana to foreign tourists in cafes.
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch-Ballin made this clear in parliament, saying
such a move could halt a proliferation of coffee shops "deviating from their
original aims."
"In principle, the minister wants a bar on (soft drug) sales to all
foreigners except legally registered Dutch residents," a justice ministry
spokesman said.
Though illegal, sales of non-addictive drugs like hashish and marijuana are
tolerated under tight conditions through some high-street cafes. The Dutch
believe the coffee shops' high visibility discourages criminal involvement.
Hirsch-Ballin told parliament the numbers of such cafes could be reduced if
they were asked to sell drugs only to a familiar, controllable adult clientele.
One member of parliament said on Tuesday that the southern town of
Maastricht, where the EC Treaty on European Union was signed, was alone visited
by between 600 and 1,000 foreigners daily, all of whom came to buy drugs.
Neighbouring countries, particularly France, have attacked Dutch lenience,
saying it fuels drug abuse and trafficking and hinders plans to dismantle
European border controls.
The ministry spokesman said Hirsch-Ballin's approval did not mean the
foreigner ban would automatically go ahead, citing problems of enforcing such a
measure.
REUTER
APn 10/20/93 Drug Plan
By CAROLYN SKORNECK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's interim drug plan targets
hard-core addiction that is fueling violence throughout the nation, the top drug
policy official said today.
The plan, released at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, "shifts the
focus to the most challenging and difficult part of the drug problem -- reducing
drug use and its consequences by hard-core users, especially those in our inner
cities, among the disadvantaged, and among the criminal justice population," Lee
Brown, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a
prepared statement.
"Hard core drug use fuels the overall demand for drugs and is the primary
cause for so much of the disruption we see in our social landscape today," Brown
said.
He gave no estimate of how much the proposals would cost. The plan does not
call for any across-the-board reductions in law enforcement efforts to pay for
them.
Democrats in the past have complained that previous Republican
administrations wrongly devoted 70 percent of the anti-drug budget to law
enforcement and international efforts, leaving only 30 percent for reducing the
demand for drugs through education and treatment.
The Clinton administration strategy relies on passage of the crime bill and
its plan to fund 50,000 community police officers over the next few years, as
well as the Brady Bill gun control measure, and President Clinton's health care
plan, which would fund drug treatment.
The strategy would reduce interdiction efforts in favor of promoting
additional crackdowns within drug-producing countries, something criticized by
former drug director William Bennett, who led president Bush's war on drugs for
two years.
Even the nomenclature is changing in the Clinton administration, which is
rejecting the notion of a "war on drugs."
"The strategy rejects the use of `war' analogies to discuss our nation's drug
abuse policy," Brown said. "You cannot succeed in this effort by declaring `war'
on our own citizens."
Those hoping that the Clinton administration would reconsider legalizing
drugs will be disappointed by the plan.
"The administration is without any reservation opposed to the legalization,
decriminalization or medicalization of illegal drugs," Brown said, crediting
laws against drug use for the declines in drug use that have occurred.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., whose House Government Operations Committee
helped create the drug policy office four years ago, praised the plan as "a step
in the right direction towards reallocating the priorities to treatment and
education -- if the funding matches the stated priorities."
It "finally targets the hard-core drug users who account for 70 percent of
the drugs consumed," he said.
But Conyers criticized the plan for its continued support of efforts to
prevent importation of drugs.
"The General Accounting Office testified before my committee just last week
that our multibillion-dollar interdiction efforts have not led to any reduction
in the estimated flow of cocaine onto American streets," he said in a statement.
Conyers said he believed the National Security Council had reached a similar
conclusion, "yet the strategy provides for continued support of interdiction
without even acknowledging such major critical evaluations."
WP 10/20/93 Reno, in Speech, Says She Opposes DEA-FBI Merger
By Michael Isikoff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Attorney General Janet Reno, turning thumbs down on a recommendation made by
Vice President Gore, announced yesterday she would preserve the Drug Enforcement
Administration as a "single mission" agency rather than fold it into the FBI.
Reno's comments, made at a speech before the International Association of
Chiefs of Police in St. Louis, represent at least a partial victory for DEA in
an intensely fought bureaucratic battle between the drug agency and the FBI. Two
federal officials attending the talk said the comments prompted a standing
ovation.
But Reno's extemporaneous remarks, made without any notice to Justice
Department officials in Washington, leave unresolved how she plans to
restructure the department's drug enforcement. In her speech, Reno said she was
committed to ending turf battles between the agencies and that DEA and the FBI
were not communicating satisfactorily, according to a federal official who
attended the speech.
"She has come out and said she is not in favor of the vice president's
recommendation and for us that's big news and we're gratified to hear that,"
said Russell Hayman, executive assistant to DEA Administrator Robert C. Bonner.
A spokesman for Gore said yesterday that the vice president's office, after
checking with the Justice Department, was "completely unaware of any statement"
made by Reno on the issue. Caroline Aronovitz, a Reno spokeswoman, said the
attorney general has made "no decision" on the restructuring, but does plan to
address the issue at her weekly news conference Thursday.
After years of squabbling, the FBI earlier this year proposed to take over
DEA. That plan gained momentum over the summer when it was endorsed by Gore's
National Performance Review. The vice president's report proposed to "transfer
law enforcement functions" of the DEA to the FBI as the first step in a larger
reorganization that would also fold the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
into the bureau.
But DEA officials and key members of Congress vigorously opposed the mergers,
arguing that drug enforcement efforts would be diluted. Last month, Deputy
Attorney General Philip B. Heymann said the department was reviewing
alternatives, including designating a new drug authority within Justice to
oversee the drug enforcement functions of both the FBI and DEA.
UPwe 10/20/93 Federal agents seize 10 tons of marijuana
NOVATO, Calif. (UPI) -- Federal drug agents revealed Wednesday they had
arrested four suspects, seized 10 tons of Thai marijuana and confiscated nearly
$420,000 in cash in a raid of a major Marin County pot distribution network.
Ross Nadel, head of the local federal drug task force, said the ring had been
under investigation since July when an informant tipped authorities.
Undercover officers met with at least one of the suspects on several
occasions to discuss purchasing marijuana, but there were no purchases made.
Authorities felt they had gathered enough information and moved on the ring
Tuesday, raiding a storage unit in Novato. Inside, the agents found eight tons
of marijuana and the cash. Another two tons were found at an unspecified
location.
Nadel put the street value of the seized drugs at $30 million.
Taken into custody at a Mill Valley residence were Karen Miriam Green,
Marshall William Way and Joel Andrew Hillman. A fourth suspect, Robert Paul
Singer, was arrested in San Francisco.
The four were arraigned before a federal magistrate Wednesday on charges of
possession with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
circa 10/20/93 [untitled - Victoria Sellers Pleads No Contest]
------
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Victoria Sellers, daughter of the late Peter
Sellers, pleaded no contest to marijuana possession and was fined $211.
Miss Sellers, 28, entered the plea Tuesday to possession of 28.5 grams of
marijuana. She was cited Aug. 28 while in a friend's car on Sunset Boulevard.
Sellers made another appearance in court recently in a show of support for
her friend, accused Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
------
APn 10/21/93 FBI-DEA
By CAROLYN SKORNECK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Drug Enforcement Administration will remain
independent, Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday in rejecting a White
House report that pressed for its merger into the FBI.
At the same time, she gave FBI Director Louis Freeh the power to resolve
problems arising from overlapping jurisdictions among the Justice Department's
four law enforcement agencies: the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Border
Patrol.
Her arrangement falls far short of the recommendation by Vice President Al
Gore's National Performance Review last month to "transfer law enforcement
functions of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the (Treasury's) Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Gore approved of Reno's version during a meeting Wednesday night, she said.
"So far as I know, the vice president and I were never in conflict .... We've
been on the same wavelength all along," she said.
Gore later said Reno's plan would "result in both savings for the taxpayers
and enhanced performance of the law enforcement mission."
The Carter and Reagan administrations also studied an FBI-DEA merger and also
decided on lesser steps to coordinate their work.
Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary crime
subcommittee, praised the retention of DEA, but criticized the appointment of
Freeh to the new job of Director for Investigative Agency Policies.
"The conflicts between DEA and the FBI have been longstanding, intense and
very public," Schumer said. Although praising Freeh's integrity, he said, "I
strongly suggest that this history requires the appointment of a person whose
decisions will be beyond even the slightest appearance of partiality."
Reno said she did not anticipate such problems. "I think he can very easily
resolve disputes, especially someone of Director Freeh's character."
DEA Administrator Robert Bonner, a Bush appointee who has announced his
resignation, said the DEA "fully supports the initiative ... to harmonize
investigative activities.
"The men and women of DEA deeply appreciate the confidence she has
demonstrated by her decision in their expertise, capabilities and
professionalism."
Under the plan, the four agencies would retain their current
responsibilities.
However, Freeh would have the authority, subject to review by top Justice
officials, "to resolve operational issues where there is overlapping
jurisdiction among law enforcement agencies of the Department of Justice," Reno
said. "This would include such matters as drug trafficking, violence and
apprehension of fugitives."
She also emphasized the need to coordinate procurement of radios and computer
systems so the agencies can share information easily.
None of the three other agency heads would report to Justice through Freeh,
Reno said, leaving unclear how he would learn of duplication like rival
investigations of the same drug organization.
"We will work that out as we go along," Reno said.
The elimination of duplication "could, in the long run, reduce the number" of
agents, she said. However, no quick savings were anticipated.
Reno reiterated that she was not interested in taking ATF from the Treasury
but said she would continue talks with administration officials and members of
Congress about it.
Reno admonished a reporter who asked about a possible conflict with Gore:
"You all just pick more fights between people than anybody else I've ever met."
UPn 10/21/93 Reno proposes coordinator for law enforcement, DEA survives
By MICHAEL KIRKLAND
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday she is
proposing that a new position be created within the Justice Department -- a
director who would oversee all law enforcement agencies of the department.
The new director would coordinate activities where the agencies'
investigations overlap. Those agencies include the FBI, the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Border Patrol.
The areas of overlapping responsibilities "would include such matters as drug
trafficking, violence and the apprehension of fugitives, " Reno said, reading
from a statement.
Reno also proposes that FBI Director Louis Freeh become the first director of
Investigative Agency Policies while continuing his present job.
Her proposal does not include any FBI takeover of the law enforcement
functions of the DEA, as apparently recommended by Vice President Al Gore's
National Performance Review.
"DEA has a specialized mission...and does an excellent job," Reno said. "It's
important...that the specialized mission should be continued."
DEA's primary responsiblity is the enforcement of the federal narcotic laws
-- which sometimes includes overseas operations to prevent drugs from being
brought into the United States.
The agency has offices in 54 countries, where agents liason with host
governments. Agents in a special enforcement unit, "Operation Snowcap," are
trained to survive in the jungle and work with Latin American nations to locate
and dismantle cocaine laboratories.
Reno said there is no contradiction between Gore's review and her proposal.
In fact, she said, her recommendation was made in continuous consultation with
Gore. Reno said she reported her final recommendation to Gore Wednesday night:
"He said that sounded good."
The attorney general has contended all along that the "headline" or "Action
Point" in the review released earlier this year did not reflect the text of
Gore's recommendations.
The "Action Point" called for the FBI to take over the law enforcement
functions of the DEA, as well as the police functions of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms. The AFT, part of the Treasury Department, came in for
massive public criticism following a bungled raid on a cult compound in Waco,
Texas, last spring in which four ATF agents died.
But Reno said the explanatory text following the "Action Point" did not
specifically mention a takeover of law enforcement functions -- which would have
effectively ended the existence of the DEA and the ATF.
Reno believes the new directorship can be set up without formal congressional
approval.
"I think we can do it ourselves (on President Clinton's order)," Reno said,
but she added that her proposal follows extensive consultation with members of
Congress.
For the time being, the new directorship would mean more staff rather than a
reduction of force at the Justice Department.
If Reno's proposal is approved by the president -- and it almost certainly
will be -- Freeh would pick up a new administrative staff as director of
Investigative Agency Policies, in addition to his immediate staff as FBI
director. Reno she hopes the new staff can be kept to less than a dozen people.
RTw 10/21/93 U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL REJECTS FBI-DRUG AGENCY MERGER
WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuter) - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno Thursday
rejected the proposed merger of the Drug Enforcement Administration into the
FBI.
She said she instead would create a new Justice Department job to cut
duplication among its several enforcement agencies.
Reno said at a news conference that Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director Louis Freeh would be appointed to the new post, called the director for
investigative agency policies.
In his new job, Reno said, Freeh would seek to end duplication among the
Justive Department's law enforcement agencies -- the FBI, the DEA, the U.S.
Marshals and the Border Patrol.
Freeh will be charged with making sure the agencies buy the same equipment
and share intelligence. She was unable to say whether Freeh would be in charge
of investigations at all the agencies.
Freeh still would report to Reno and Deputy Attorney General Philip
Heymann. She said he would have a small staff of less than a dozen aides.
Vice President Al Gore in his proposals on "reinventing government" had
recommended that the DEA and FBI be merged, but Reno maintained that Gore
supported her decision.
"The vice president and I have never been in conflict," she said. "We've
been on the same wavelength all along." Reno said she met with Gore Wednesday
night to tell him of her decision and he replied, "That sounded good."
Gore in his September report urged that the two agencies be combined even
though Reno at the time was still studying the matter.
Reno, who initially appeared to support the merger, said she finally
decided the drug agency should be kept as a specialized, single-mission agency
concentrating on illegal drug trafficking.
She acknowledged the new structure probably would produce no additional
savings over the next two years.
"I never preclude anything," Reno said when asked if the merger idea might
be resurrected later.
REUTER
circa 10/21/93 Dutch say no more marijuana for foreigners
THE HAGUE (Reuter) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it favoured
banning the sale of hashish and marijuana to foreign tourists in cafes.
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch-Ballin said such a move could halt a
proliferation of coffee shops "deviating from their original aims."
"In principle, the minister wants a bar on (soft drug) sales to all
foreigners except legally registered Dutch residents," a justice ministry
spokesman said. Though illegal, sales of non-addictive drugs like hashish and
marijuana are tolerated under strict conditions in some high-street cafes.
- - - -
APn 10/22/93 Netherlands-Drugs
By JEFFREY STALK
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Tulips and windmills are the Netherlands'
traditional tourist draw, but the government is worried about travelers who come
for a different kind of trip.
Hundreds of thousands of "drug tourists" pour into the country each year to
frequent an estimated 1,500 coffee shops that sell hashish and marijuana over
the counter.
The coffee shops were originally sanctioned to sell "soft" drugs to keep
customers away from street dealers selling heroin and cocaine. But hard drugs
have increasingly penetrated the coffee shop circuit, and drug tourism has
become a major source of friction between the Netherlands and its neighbors.
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said this week that he supports a
proposal to bar coffee house owners from selling hashish or marijuana to
non-Dutch residents.
The Dutch have decriminalized the possession of drugs for personal use, but
their sale is still technically illegal and police crack down on large-scale
dealers.
The government is withholding a decision on the ban until the Justice
Ministry completes a feasibility study in several months.
But the nation's largest newspaper, Amsterdam's De Telegraaf, said Thursday
that drug tourism could not be ended by "a discriminatory law directed against
foreigners."
Annie Wigger, a spokeswoman for the Labor Party, called the proposal
contradictory.
"In this period of the integration of Europe, one won't have to show a
passport to cross the border," she said, "but you have to show it in a coffee
shop to buy drugs."
WP 10/22/93 Reno Appoints Freeh Peacemaker at Justice
By Michael Isikoff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday gave FBI Director Louis J. Freeh new
powers, naming him director for investigative agency policies, with authority to
oversee all Justice Department investigations and end overlapping law
enforcement efforts.
Reno said the new position was her attempt to fulfill Vice President Gore's
directive to consolidate federal anti-drug efforts. But she stopped short of
Gore's proposal to merge the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. She
said the DEA will remain a "specialized single-mission agency" with its own
administrator and personnel.
The new structure gives Freeh, a former federal judge who was sworn in as FBI
director last month, authority to resolve interagency turf disputes, coordinate
investigations and consolidate procurement for the FBI, the DEA, the U.S.
Marshals Service and the Border Patrol. Justice officials said they had not yet
decided how the new arrangement will work in practice. Reno said that the chiefs
of the DEA and other Justice agencies will continue to report to her through
deputy attorney general, Philip Heymann. Freeh will retain his primary duties as
bureau director.
The action represented a victory for DEA officials, who had aggressively
lobbied Reno to reject Gore's proposed merger, arguing that it would dilute
federal anti-drug enforcement. But some members of Congress and some
administration officials said privately that Reno's action would create an
"unworkable" layer of bureaucracy. They said Reno has missed an opportunity to
eliminate interagency squabbles that have plagued federal law enforcement for
decades.
"It appears that the Justice Department has repudiated the vice president,"
said Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), a member of the Judiciary
Committee. "This is a cop-out."
There have been frequent reports of FBI and DEA agents investigating the same
targets, refusing to share intelligence and trying to upstage each other in the
media. Gore's National Performance Review last month sought to end those battles
and proposed to "transfer the law enforcement functions" of the DEA to the
FBI. Gore's proposal also called for eventually folding sections of the Treasury
Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - which investigates
federal gun violations - into the bureau.
Yesterday, Reno dismissed any talk of merging ATF into the FBI. She said, "I
didn't come to Washington seeking somebody else's jurisdiction." She also
insisted there was no substantive difference between her plan and the vice
president's proposal, saying that reports of a conflict were concocted by the
media.
"You all just pick more fights between people than anybody else I've ever
met," Reno told reporters at her weekly news conference. "So far as I know, the
vice president and I have never been in conflict."
Reno said that she had met with Gore on Wednesday night to review her
proposal and he said "that sounded good." Gore said in a statement last night
that he was "pleased" with Reno's action. He said he has worked with her to
develop a plan "for coordinating the work of these agencies in the most
effective and sensible way. The plan announced today is a major step in that
direction."
The new arrangement resembles a plan adopted in 1982 by Attorney General
William French Smith that required the DEA administrator to report directly to
the FBI director. That plan broke down after resistance from DEA officials. But
some department officials said Freeh was particularly well suited to settle turf
battles, having worked with both DEA and FBI agents during the mid-1980s when he
prosecuted the Pizza Connection case - a Mafia conspiracy to import heroin
through pizza parlors.
There were, however, some concerns yesterday that Reno's decision may give
Freeh too much power. While saying he was pleased that Reno rejected the merger,
Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the judiciary subcommittee on
crime, said: "I question the wisdom of having (Freeh) wear both of these hats.
This dual role will inevitably raise questions about his impartiality in making
the tough decisions that wait down the road."
APn 10/22/93 Drugs and Music
By DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- When the pro-pot rappers Cypress Hill recently took the
stage of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," one member defiantly lit a joint and
another wore a T-shirt advertising a kind of smoking device.
Marijuana isn't just their pastime; it's their cause.
They tout laws legalizing the drug at every opportunity.
They are also the heralds of a new era of conspicuous consumption of drugs
and alcohol in music. The "just say no" 1980s seem like long ago.
Pro-marijuana songs have become a sub-genre, particularly in rap music.
Musicians are falling all over themselves to endorse legalization. And anti-drug
organizations say they're alarmed by polls that show usage on the rise.
"People think it's OK to smoke weed now," Cypress Hill rapper B-Real recently
told High Times magazine, a photograph accompanying the interview showing his
face partly obscured by a cloud of smoke.
B-Real has all sorts of company:
--Rapper Dr. Dre, who boasted in a song released four years ago that he
didn't smoke weed, named his current album, "The Chronic," after street slang
for a potent strain of marijuana. It's been near the top of the charts for
months.
--The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws set up an
information table at the Lollapalooza Festival, the summer's hottest concert
tour. Such bands as the Black Crowes, Spin Doctors, Guns 'N Roses and Pearl Jam
have all advocated the legalization of marijuana.
--The rock band Urge Overkill advertises its new album as "recorded in
cheebaphonic sound."
--Some artists even make a statement with their names: Hash, the Alkaholiks
and Bongwater are new groups on the scene.
It's enough to make some 1960s veterans red-eyed with nostalgia.
The drug and booze casualty list of that era would make up an all-star band:
Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon.
Joplin's drunken stage shows were legendary, and musicians then would think
nothing about taking a drag on a marijuana cigarette during an interview.
Drug references in music would often take the form of in jokes between a
performer and his audience -- a band name like the Doobie Brothers, for example,
or Billy Joel singing about "Captain Jack."
But the explicitness of many of today's pro-drug messages makes it difficult
to fathom that there was once a debate over whether the Beatles' "Lucy in the
Sky With Diamonds" was a sly homage to LSD.
Many of the references dried up during the anti-drug 1980s. Aerosmith
typified the artists who talked about recovery from drug abuse and preached the
virtues of staying clean. Musicians did anti-drug commercials on MTV.
But with a baby boomer in the White House -- one who said he tried marijuana
but didn't inhale -- times have changed.
"It's like a cool thing -- drinking and smoking weed," says the 22-year-old
Los Angeles rapper Hi-C whose new song talks about how he needs a 64-ounce drink
to satisfy him -- though a handful of others, such as Public Enemy's Chuck D,
have criticized the increased popularity of 40-ounce malt liquor bottles.
Cypress Hill arrived last year with a loopy, slow-motion rap style, smoking
marijuana in interviews and bragging about being on the High Times cover. Then
came the explosive success of the trio's second album with such songs as "Hits
From the Bong."
Just as the Rolling Stones once carried an inflatable sex organ onstage, a
Cypress Hill stage set features a huge marijuana cigarette. And the trio bows
before it.
At concerts by the Black Crowes and others, fans throw dozens of joints
onstage.
Officials at NORML once had trouble finding musicians to endorse their
legalization efforts. No more. When the Black Crowes headlined a recent benefit
concert, it attracted 60,000 people.
"In 1991, there were virtually no bands doing this," said Allen St. Pierre,
NORML's assistant national director. "Now there are 45 to 65 bands either
contacting us directly or openly doing it."
The drug craze has added a new word to the popular lexicon: "blunts,"
referring to hollowed-out cigars in which the tobacco is replaced by marijuana.
Often, the blunts are soaked in malt liquor for sweetening before being smoked.
T-shirts advertising Phillies Blunts, the brand of cigar used most frequently
in blunts, have become a status symbol.
Another popular clothing line features the marijuana leaf symbol. When worn
by Dr. Dre in one of his videos, it was blacked out on MTV.
In rap, pro-pot songs have become so trendy that each new one is scrutinized
for evidence of whether the band really likes marijuana or is just trying to
join the crowd, said Steve Bloom, music editor of High Times.
"It's almost become competition," Bloom said.
Pharcyde, Redman and Gang Star are among the rappers with pro-pot songs.
The Atlanta-based anti-drug group Parents Resource Institute for Drug
Education said its researchers can't tell whether the musicians are leading the
way or just reflecting what's happening among young people.
Either way, PRIDE doesn't like it.
"I don't think you've ever before seen an entire line of clothing apparel
that promotes an illicit drug in the fashion that it does," said PRIDE Vice
President Doug Hall. "We think that is a major cultural shift that is
occurring."
PRIDE's survey of 250,000 youngsters during the 1992-93 school year showed
that marijuana use increased from the year before in all age groups.
The survey also showed that black schoolchildren, who traditionally have
lagged behind whites in marijuana use, are quickly closing that gap. For
example, the number of black females in junior high school who smoke marijuana
doubled from the year before.
Makani Themba, associate director of the Marin Institute, a drug and alcohol
rehabilitation center in San Francisco, said she's disheartened by the music's
marketing power.
"It's interesting that the things they push are both high volume -- 40s and
blunts," Themba said. "It's a lot of stuff to smoke and a lot of stuff to
drink."
The rappers in Cypress Hill say they see nothing wrong with marijuana use and
won't be saddled with the blame for teen-agers who start smoking.
But there's evidence that some artists are thinking about their status as
possible role models. The Alkaholiks title their album, "21 And Over."
Even Hi-C, who says his song about 40-ounce malt liquors is intended as a
joke, turns serious when he talks about the current marijuana and malt liquor
craze.
"I hope they don't start smoking crack," he said. "If they start smoking
crack then it's all over with. I think one thing leads to another."
End Adv for Weekend Editions, Oct 22-24 and thereafter
UPn 10/23/93 U.S. drug czar plans attack on domestic use
By CRAIG SANTY
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The nation's new drug czar on Saturday told members of
the American Civil Liberties Union that the government will curb drug use by
attacking domestic demand rather than international suppliers.
Lee Brown, director of the office of National Drug Control Policy, said
community-based prevention programs and economic empowerment zones will play a
major role in new drug control policies under President Bill Clinton.
"What we've been doing is not getting the job done," Brown said. "We need to
continue funding effective programs and drop those that don't work."
Brown was a guest speaker at a town hall meeting entitled "The War at Home:
Drugs and the Inner Cities" sponsored by the ACLU to evaluate the nation's drug
policies.
Brown advocated community-based prevention programs, which call on residents
to assist police in eliminating crime and drug use in their neighborhoods.
"We need to work on a manageable scale when dealing with drugs, house by
house, block by block," he said.
The new drug czar said drug use is particularly high in the nation's inner
cities, where politicians have been unable to alleviate poverty, hopelessness
and economic insecurity that "encourage the drug culture."
Brown received loud applause from the audience when he said the Clinton
administration no longer would be using the term "War on Drugs" in describing
its efforts.
"We don't believe a government should declare war against its own people," he
said.
In its efforts to reduce drug use, the administration will target hard core
drug users rather than casual users, he said.
WP 10/23/93 The Guard Isn't the City's Answer
BY DOROTHY GILLIAM
Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly's intention to call out the National Guard presents
this paradox: She has at once too little power and too much.
In the first instance, there is no question that the District, which has for
some time been seeking statehood, does not now have the right to call out a
state militia and must seek it from President Clinton, who has this power as
commander-in-chief.
On the other hand, we need to remember that it's in the nature of governments
to exercise control and power when they are placed in a position to do so, and
that authority tends to stay rather than to recede. Therefore the National Guard
might - or might not - be withdrawn appropriately should they be called in.
Implicit in the mayor's plan is an admission that local officials are unable
to handle the city's violence, that the city's high-crime areas are, in effect,
in a state of civil disorder. This suggests that we are helpless and have reason
to panic. And it is precisely these unusual circumstances that give me pause.
There are troubling questions that must be raised about the mayor's decision
to counter the threat from individuals and gangs and their guns by taking the
extreme measure of seeking to deploy the National Guard.
Would the constitutional protection of due process be suspended, for example?
What is regarded as cruel and unusual punishment? Would any suspensions of
protections be temporary or permanent? Who would give the orders?
Moreover, if the threat in the District is regarded as sufficient for
National Guard protection, could not that also recommend a similar action in the
drug wars of Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and even smaller cities?
These are relevant questions because in saying that D.C. officials cannot
control the situation and other parties must be called in to handle it lies the
implicit invitation to do things that city officials have not done before. We
could wind up with a form of quasi-martial law or a wholesale suspension of
constitutional protections.
And these absolutely critical questions need to be asked and answered before
calling in the Guard.
The greatest danger in situations of emergency are the suspension of
ordinary constitutional protections.
Certainly constitutional guarantees may have been suspended in 1968 when the
National Guard was called out in cities around the country in the aftermath of
the rioting that erupted after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr.
The mayor is clearly not alone in her assessment that gangs and individual
gangsters have in fact threatened the security of life and property in
high-crime areas of the city.
While some observers have suggested that we restrict the guard to patrolling
around schools, I don't believe that would solve the fundamental problems. That
results only in possibly depriving some people of their rights and not others.
Of course, the question that emerges is, if the mayor does not call out the
National Guard, what should she do in an out-of-control situation?
Several members of the D.C. Council, objecting to the mayor's plan, have
accused her of not fully using all of the resources that are available to the
city. Those include, they say, increasing the number of foot patrols and beefing
up the police presence at public housing complexes and schools.
But clearly she is confessing police failure, that local resources aren't
enough - a huge concession, by the way, for a people seeking statehood.
I am convinced that we will not win the war on drugs as it is now
constructed.
All the years of police and Drug Enforcement Agency action, drug czars and
even federal task forces have left us not better, but worse, off. Perhaps it is
time to reach for more creative solutions.
Unfortunately, we are at one of those times in history when we see no
positive choices and must choose between threatening evils.
Since we can elect to get rid of the demand for drugs or get rid of the
reward for drug dealing, it may be time to heed the suggestion offered by
Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and choose the evil of decriminalization (not
legalization) of drugs, rather than risk making ourselves into a police state.
[End]
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