-------------------------------------------------------------------
Making a hash of the law (A mean-spirited staff editorial in the Bend,
Oregon, Bulletin, tries to arouse ill will over the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act by publicizing an empty threat by an ill-mannered medical marijuana
patient in Newport to sue Abby's Pizza for not letting him smoke cannabis -
something the voter-approved initiative clearly does not allow.)
From: cwagoner@bendnet.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 15:52:54 -0800 (PST)
Subject: DPFOR: Editorial: Making hash of the law
To: editor@mapinc.org, DPFOR@drugsense.org
Sender: owner-dpfor@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
Newshawk: Curt Wagoner (cwagoner@bendnet.com)
Source: The Bulletin (bulletin@bendbulletin.com)
Website: http://www.bendbulletin.com
Pubdate: 1-13-99
Section: Editorial
Page A-8
Making a hash of the law
As a White House lawyer might phrase it, the story of Waldport resident
Mike Assenberg, who has threatened to sue Abby's Legendary Pizza in Newport,
might lead some rational people to conclude that the liberal use of marijuana
has substantial unintended side-effects.
On New Year's Eve, Assenberg, who was struck by a baseball bat 14 years
ago, asked the manager of Abby's if he could smoke a joint at his table. Saying
that his accident has left him in constant pain. Assenberg claimed that he can
light up wherever he darned well pleases thanks to Measure 67, the
medical-marijuana initiative that passed at the polls in November. The Abby's
manager denied his request.
Assenberg thereupon flew into a rage and called the local police, claiming
that the restaurant has violated his rights under Measure 67 and the Americans
with Disabilities Act. When he didn't get any satisfaction from the police, he
threatened to sue. He reportedly said he'll seek $1 million, but will settle for
$2,000. (As a hobby, he operates a computer bulletin board to locate lost
children, and he says the two grand will buy him some new equiptment.)
As it so happens, Measure 67 - which in most respects is terribly vaque and
difficult to enforce - has something very specific to say about smoking medical
marijuana in public: You can't do it.
Some laws, apparently, get the supporters they deserve.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Club Exerts Legal Rights (The Oakland Tribune says the city
of Oakland, California, filed a legal brief Monday in support of the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which is appealing an Oct. 19 order by U.S.
District Judge Charles Breyer to close the club down. The city is banking on
the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution in an amicus curiae brief in
the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the Constitution doesn't
allow federal law to automatically trump states' rights.)
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 16:19:13 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Cannabis Club Exerts Legal Rights
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jan 1999
Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)
Contact: eangtrib@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/
Copyright: 1999 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Author: Kathleen Kirkwood
CANNABIS CLUB EXERTS LEGAL RIGHTS
OAKLAND -- The U.S. Constitution doesn't allow federal law to automatically
trump states rights, the city argues in a legal brief filed Monday in
support of the embattled Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative.
In its latest efforts to bolster the 2,000-member club, the city is banking
on the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution in an amicus curiae brief
in the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals.
The brief was written pro bono for the city by Linda LeCraw and former
general counsel to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration Peter Barton Hutt,
both of the Washington, D.C., firm Covington and Burling.
"It's an extremely important case," said Hutt, who helped write the
Controlled Substances Act of 1974.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit last January to close the club,
maintaining marijuana is an illegal substance under the Controlled
Substances Act.
The club is appealing an Oct. 19 order in the case, by U.S. District Judge
Charles Breyer, to close the club down.
The city's brief maintains federal laws regarding medical cannabis are
"legislated truths," unsupported by logic, comparable to laws that
persecuted African Americans, declared women unfit to vote and incarcerated
Japanese Americans during World War II.
Hutt argues that California voters, by approving Proposition 215, the
California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, "have deemed the medical use of
cannabis to be a fundamental liberty interest."
Under the 9th Amendment, the burden is on the federal government to show the
necessity of infringing that right, the city's brief argues. And under the
10th Amendment, the federal government may not interfere with a power
"reserved to the states ... or to people."
The 9th Amendment covers rights retained by the people. The 10th Amendment
refers to powers retained by the states and the people.
Given the passage last year in five other states of medical marijuana laws,
the federal government -- particularly the 9th Circuit -- must take a closer
look at the issue, Hutt maintains.
The Oakland club's court fight isn't likely to change the Clinton
administration's stand on medical marijuana overnight, said Dave Fratello,
spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, which spearheaded the
initiatives in other states last year.
"But it's a fight worth fighting, if at least we can get the feds on the
record," Fratello said.
Since the closure order, the Oakland cannabis club was allowed to reopen by
the court on the condition it not distribute medical marijuana. The club is
holding classes on growing marijuana -- with none on the premises -- and
selling a variety of hemp products, including clothing, and paraphernalia to
help pay $300,000 in legal bills.
"It's been a stressful two years," said Jeff Jones, director of the club.
"There's a lot of fear out there."
Stacie Traylor, a club member with chronic pancreatitis, said the shutdown
is starting to take its toll. "I have some friends who can get it for me,
but it's a gamble," she said.
Traylor, 24, uses marijuana to keep nausea at bay, and to keep food down.
Her weight dips dangerously low if she doesn't.
If club members are too frail to grow it for themselves, or don't know
someone who does, they run the risk of buying marijuana laced with crack or
some other harmful substance, Traylor said.
Councilmember Nate Miley (Eastmont-Seminary) said the city may be aided by
having a new state attorney general, Bill Lockyer, and governor, Gray Davis,
who appear to be more sympathetic than their predecessors, Dan Lungren and
Pete Wilson.
"Someday in the future, society will recognize that cannabis can be used in
controlled settings for medical uses," said Miley, who chairs the council's
public safety committee.
Councilmember John Russo (Grand Lake-Chinatown) agreed, and called the case
a "classic federalism argument."
People will say, "There goes California and Jerry Brown's city," Russo said.
"We're trapped in the cultural wars of 30 years ago," said Russo. "This is
about people getting medicine. Plants are not de facto morally bad or good."
Brown declined comment, on the basis that the suit was pending litigation,
said his press secretary Stacey Wells.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KGB-Ing America (An op-ed in the Anderson Valley Advertiser,
in Boonville, California, by Tony Serra, a San Francisco criminal defense
attorney, says that when he started to practice law in the late 1960s,
he confronted a phenomenon that he hoped would diminish, but which has
instead increased steadfastly - the KGB-ing of America. In every criminal
case in our alleged system of justice, some type of informant or spy
mentality is now present.)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 18:03:36 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: KGB-Ing America
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk:- Hopwood
Pubdate: January 13, 1999
Source: Anderson Valley Advertiser (CA)
Copyright: Anderson Valley Advertiser
Contact: ava@pacific.net
Author: Tony Serra
KGB-ING AMERICA
The late 60s, when I started practice, were marked by a great number of
salient political causes, embodied in demonstrations in Berkeley and San
Francisco. I came to represent the White Panthers, the Black Panthers. the
Symbionese Liberation Army, and a number of other groups like the New
Liberation Front. I confronted a phenomenon then, which we hoped would
diminish, but which has instead increased steadfastly. I'll call that
phenomenon "The Secret Police Motif: Orwellian Prophesy Fulfilled" or "The
KGB-ing of America."
Informants
In every criminal case in our alleged system of justice, some
form of spy mentality is now present. There are degrees of
informants. We probably have more nomenclature for informants than
does any other culture. We have citizen informants, confidential
informants, confidential reliable informants, unnamed anonymous
informants, informants who are precipient informants who are
participatory, informants who are merely eye-witnesses, informants who
are co-defendants, informants who precipitate charges by reverse
stings. We are con-fronting informants and cooperating witnesses at
every level: preliminary hearings, grand juries, and state and federal
jury trials. Our system of justice is permeated by the witness or the
provocateur who is paid by government for a role in either revealing
or instigating crime. It's probably the greatest tragedy of my
career, in terms of whether or not justice is really pursued and
whether truth is a foundation for actualizing justice.
I reason: if the defense went out and bought witnesses - paid $10,000
for one witness, $20,000 for another, and $50,000 for another for
their testimony - it would be laughable from the jury's point of view.
They would soundly reject that type of witness; they would be called
obstruction of justice defendants and the lawyers would he prosecuted.
Obviously, you can't do that. On the other hand, in every major case
the informant or cooperating witness gets something far more precious
than money; they get liberty. They get 20 years or 10 years knocked
off their sentences. They get to settle in a new lifestyle with a new
identity and obtain a job or relocating in the federal or state
witness protection program. The government is paying their witnesses
with freedom. The witnesses have to deliver what the government wants
or they don't get that bargain. As a consequence the courts are rife
with false testimony; every cause is polluted by informants. The
adversary system is tainted because everyone rolls or becomes a
government witness and therefore there is no opposition.
Constitutional rights aren't litigated because cases are determined by
how much evidence an informant or corroborating witness can give you.
At every level, the independent judiciary is eroding.
It's something we confront every day. People in the American
sub-culture experience paranoia because they never know who is a spy
or an informant. There's paranoia in he court system because you never
know whether your co-defendant is recording you. There's paranoia
among the lawyers because you never know if your own defendant is
rolling behind your back and recording you. In my opinion, the
singularly unexpected and singularly and singularly aspect of our
system of criminal jurisprudence is the use of the informant.
Grand Juries
Back in the 60's the government used grand juries to some small
degree. Today, every Federal case - 99.9% of all Federal cases -
involves indictment by grand jury. That means no preliminary
hearing, no confrontation, and no lawyer present on the behalf of the
accused. The accused isn't there and doesn't see, hear or confront,
or cross-examine his or her accusers. The grand jury system by its
nature is secretive; it is considered a felony to reveal anything that
occurred or what your testimony was.
We have a kind of misplaced historical procedure. We inherited the
grand jury from English Common Law, where they used it to go after the
lords and persons who were otherwise above the law. In a sense it was
needed and justified then. But in our country, it is used now as an
instrument of terror. Everyone fears it. You have relatives
testifying against one another. With no confidentiality privilege
with respect to family members other than husbands and wives, you have
parents called to testify against their children. Children are called
to testify against their parents, and brother against sister, and so
on. It lacks all due process. It is immoral. It is an instrument of
oppression. It's another secret tool of an expanding executive branch.
Mandatory Sentences
"Three Strikes" types of penal laws are prevalent both in
federal and state jurisdictions. Beyond that, in most federal
cases, at least in drug cases, but spilling over into other arenas,
the sentence is really set by the legislative process and by the
executive-that is, the law enforcement agencies. They mandate what
sentence is going to occur by how they file charges. The judiciary
lacks power or discretion to vary much, if at all, from the mandatory
sentencing and its attendant guidelines. You have a fatal shrinking of
the balance of powers. We're all taught that our constitutional form
of government works because of its tripartite system: executive,
legislative, judicial. When mandatory sentencing occurs, the
legislative, actualized by the executive, has swallowed up the
judiciary. We do not have an independent judiciary. We have a
rubber-stamp judiciary.
We never anticipated in the 60s that one-third of the adult black
population in the United States of America would he either in custody
or on probation or parole. We have eliminated a whole generation of
blacks by incarcerating the youth; the ugly head of racism appears
both as built in ~ implied conditions in the law itself - and in how
people are charged. So you have a revisitation of something that we
thought was eliminated in the 60s: weakening of the judiciary as an
independent body. and the recurrence of racism wedded to mandatory
sentences that lock people away for inordinate periods of time.
We all know the platitude that our country presently has more people
in jails or prisons than any other country in the history of the
world. That was unpredictable in the 60s. We thought things were
getting better. We thought that more freedom was going to occur, more
understanding. more compassion, more brotherhood and sisterhood, more
actualization of constitutional rights, aq more equal division of
resources. Those motifs of the 60s have been sadly aborted. What we
have instead is approaching a police state that is investigated by
undercover officers and informants, with judges' hands tied and
prosecutors obtaining prison sentences that we could never have conceived.
No Bail
The notion of bail is vastly eroding. We have a concept now built into
the law called "preventive detention," a euphemism that probably only
totalitarian states could create. But what that means is that in most
major cases, there's a presumption against bail. They don't have to
give you bail. We're taught as children that in anything other than a
capital offense, reasonable bail must be afforded. A presumption of
innocence underlies our system of criminal jurisprudance; we have a
strong history of not holding people in custody until their guilt or
innocence has been determined. That's not true anymore. Right now,
the custodial status in preconvicted sentences - people who have not
yet been sentenced - is astronomical and the jails are filled not only
with convicted people, but with unconvicted people. We think that
there are laws that establish rights to a speedy trial in both federal
and state cases, people languish in custody one or two years awaiting
trial. It's what I'll call another plot, an agony visited upon
criminal justice. In the 60s, we were naive, we were optimistic, and
we believed that reform and new and enlightened ideas would ventilate
through the judicial system. Instead, in most areas, the system has
clamped down.
Some of us are crying out. The legal profession cries out like the
miner's canary. We're saying, "The government is too strong. Beware!"
'"The jury system is being poisoned by propaganda. They're not fair
and impartial any more. Beware!" "Racism is creeping back into our
system of justice. Beware!" We hope that if we at least keep an eye on
the situation and report it in a dramatic fashion, then another
generation may do what we thought we were doing in the 60s, and swing
the pendulum back. Because if the pendulum doesn't swing-judicially
and courtwise - we are approaching a totalitarian state never before
experienced in this country.
Tony Serra, the author, is a well known North California defense attorney.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Urgent Alert: Oklahoma Gov. Deciding Foster Parole, Calls and Letters Needed
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network asks you to write a letter seeking
mercy for the medical marijuana patient originally sentenced to 93 years
in prison for growing his own medicine.)
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 02:42:40 -0500
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: URGENT ALERT: Oklahoma Gov. Deciding Foster Parole, Calls and
Letters Needed
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org
(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:lists@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
***
URGENT ALERT: OKLAHOMA GOVERNOR DECIDING ON WILL FOSTER
PAROLE -- LETTERS AND PHONE CALLS NEEDED NOW
***
Date: January 13, 1998
To: DRCNet Members and Other Advocates of Compassionate
Drug Policy Reform
From: David Borden, Executive Director, DRCNet
Re: Governor Deciding on Will Foster Parole Any Day Now,
Letters and Phone Calls Urgently Needed
Last September, when we asked our readers to call and write
Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, asking him to approve the
Will Foster's parole order, recommended unanimously by the
Oklahoma parole board. Hundreds of you responded to our
call for action, and the governor's office received so many
calls they set up a special voice mailbox just for calls
about Will Foster.
Foster's parole order was sent to the governor's desk late
last month, which means that the governor can make a
decision at any time, and in fact is obligated to make a
decision within 30 days of receiving the paperwork -- which
means very, very soon. If you've called or written on
behalf of Will Foster's parole before, or if you haven't
acted before, please call, fax or write Governor Keating
ASAP to urge him to sign the order and free Will Foster.
Contact information is included below.
Some of you have reported to us receiving responses from the
governor's office, in some cases making points that could be
taken to indicate that the governor could be leaning against
approving the parole board's unanimous recommendation and
granting Will Foster parole.
The governor's staff may have been relying on misinformation
or misinterpretations, however. We have posted letters on
our web site from several personnel, to Governor Keating, in
the correctional facility where Foster is incarcerated,
expressing their support of his parole. Please read their
letters, as well as the letter from the governor's office,
and other background information, and a letter from Foster
himself, at http://www.drcnet.org/foster/.
The governor's letter states that one of the criteria is the
recommendations of "caseworkers and investigators who have
dealt with the inmate's case during incarceration. Five
such people have written letters on Foster's behalf, which
are posted on our site. They are uniform in their
assessment that Will Foster has been a model prisoner and
that he and his family deserve a second chance.
The governor's letter says that another criterion is
"completion of appropriate rehabilitation programs," and
that "Mr. Foster has apparently made no effort to confront
his drug addiction during his incarceration." Our site
links to a scanned copy of Will Foster's "Substance Abuse
Award" for having completed an 18 week course in substance
abuse education. In fact, according to one of the posted
letters, Foster actually helped to update the course
materials while in prison.
The governor's letter says that Foster's case involved
"cultivation of a large amount of marijuana intended for
distribution, far beyond what would be expected for so-
called 'medicinal' uses." In fact, many of Foster's plants
were not of the type that are useable, and the total plant
output was within the quantity shipped every month to the
eight legal medical marijuana patients by the federal
government, under a program started by the Reagan
administration!
The governor's letter claims that Foster has "made public
statements concerning continued drug use in prison." They
are referring to the Dateline report. However, Foster
only actually reported that there was marijuana use in the
prison (as in most prisons), not that he had used
marijuana himself. According to one of the managers whose
letter we have posted, Foster has passed every drug test
while in prison.
According to Keating's letter, "the prosecuting attorney has
already recommended that the parole be denied." But this is
the same prosecutor who at the sentencing told the jury to
"pick any number and add two or three zeroes to it."
Clearly this prosecutor has a very heavy bias against Foster
and does not have an objective viewpoint for purposes of
evaluating the parole board's recommendation. An Oklahoma
appeals court judge found that Foster's original 93-year
sentence "shocked the conscience," and reduced the term to
20 years -- the prosecutor was opposed to that too.
Keating's letter also contains the rather strange statements
that Foster has discussed his plans to "resist anti-drug
laws if he is released," and "While a number of people who
contacted this office have urged Mr. Foster's immediate
release and/or the legalization of marijuana and other
drugs, many others who wrote or called are equally opposed
to legalization and his release."
It is simply untrue that Will Foster has expressed any
intention to "resist anti-drug laws" through anything other
than advocating change of government policy -- activity that
is wholly irrelevant to any parole decision and that is
constitutionally protected by the First Amendment of the
Bill of Rights -- indeed which is at the heart of American
democracy. It is also worrisome that the governor's office
brought up the fact that some who wrote are "opposed to
legalization." If the governor's decision-making is being
colored by the fact that a campaign is being waged on
Foster's behalf, that would be inappropriate at best.
We don't know whether or not the statements made by
Governor's Keating's liaison reflect the governor's views or
intentions, or whether they reflect a deliberate attempt to
mislead or honest misconceptions about Will Foster. Though
it is important that these misinterpretations about Foster's
record be brought to the governor's attention, it is equally
important that all communications be polite.
Please call Governor Keating at (405) 521-2342, send
mailto:governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us (the governor's e-mail
bounces sometimes, so it would be best not to rely solely on
e-mail), fax to (405) 521-3317, 523-4224 or 522-3492, or
write to:
Governor Frank Keating
State Capitol Building, Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
The decision could come any day now, so please call or fax
if you can. Also important: Please send us copies of your
letters, or send us e-mail letting us know that you have
corresponded -- mailto:alert-feedback@drcnet.org and send us
the text of your letters, or just a note letting us know
that you've called or faxed or mailed a letter or sent an e-
mail. This is very important to us because we are now
reporting these statistics to our major donors on a monthly
basis, and we need to be able to demonstrate our
effectiveness in order to be able to keep their support and
bring in new supporters.
Again, information on the Foster case, including letters
from case workers in the prison where he is incarcerated,
is available online at http://www.drcnet.org/foster/.
And again, make sure your letter or phone call is polite!
***
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St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036, or made by credit
card at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html on the web.
Donations to DRCNet are not tax-deductible. Tax deductible
donations can be made to the DRCNet Foundation, by check
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***
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***
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
A.C. family stands to lose home under forfeiture law
(The Atlantic City Press describes the federal government's plan to forfeit
a family's home in Atlantic City - dispossessing 10 children - because a
marijuana transaction was discussed there. Plus a request from FEAR -
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights - asking you to write a protest letter.)
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 13:46:38 -0500
To: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org), cp@telelists.com
From: cheechwz@mindspring.com (A H Clements)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: FEAR: action alert - help save family home
[Forwarded from the FEAR announcements list (FEAR-list@mapinc.org),
authored by John Paff (Paff@pobox.com), FEAR secretary.]
To: fear-list@mapinc.org
From: John Paff (Paff@pobox.com)
Subject: FEAR Request - help save family home
Following is an article appearing in January 13th's Atlantic City Press,
detailing the federal government's plan to forfeit a family's Atlantic City
home--and dispossess 10 children--because a drug transaction was discussed
there.
According to Giovanni LoPresti, an advocate for the family's children, the
government is claiming that the house "facilitated" a drug transaction
because an 11-pound marijuana purchase was discussed there. The actual
transaction, however, took place at another location. LoPresti is in favor
of a law that would protect children from homelessness arising out of
forfeiture cases.
The government also claims title to the house as partial settlement of the
parents' "consent" to a $4,000,000 fine/forfeiture. This contention is
being appealed, because neither the parents nor their attorney were aware
of the forfeiture provision until sentence was imposed.
The father, Michael Antonelli, is serving a fifteen-year sentence in
federal prison in Cumberland County, New Jersey, and will be eligible for
parole in 2008. His wife, Diane, was sentenced to a six-month term served
in her home.
At present, the U.S. Marshalls are ready to remove the family from the
home, but their action is stayed pending a hearing before the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on January 29th. Mr. LoPresti
requests that letters be written to the federal prosector, pressuring him
to cease his attempt to take the family home. Write to:
Thomas J. Maroney
United States Attorney General
Northern District of New York
231 James T. Foley Court House
Albany, New York, 12207
and reference U.S. v. Michael Antonelli
Anyone interested in learning more about the case, or who would like to
offer help beyond letter writing, are encouraged to contact Mr. LoPresti at
GLopr93382@aol.com.
John Paff, Secretary
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, Inc.
***
Wednesday, January 13, 1999
A.C. family stands to lose home under forfeiture law
Michael Antonelli is in prison in Cumberland County, guilty of conspiracy
in a New York State drug-distribution ring. Diane Antonelli served six
months of house arrest and is still on probation.
By BRIAN HICKEY
Staff Writer
ATLANTIC CITY -- Being under house arrest wasn't the easiest way to live,
but Diane Antonelli made do.
That's what happens when you're a convicted drug offender.
Talking to her husband through glass at a prison-visitation room isn't the
way she envisioned spending her days, but the 40-year-old just accepted it
as her new reality.
But now, faced with the prospect of losing her North Massachusetts Avenue
home under the government's property-forfeiture laws, she's frazzled.
Sure, she's not the innocent victim of an uncaring system. The family's
losing the house because she and her husband, Michael, are both convicted
drug offenders.
But still, they say, how can the U.S. Marshal's Service just come in and
take a house that's been in their family for 20 years?
They've unsuccessfully dived through numerous legalistic hoops, mailing
countless letters looking for support.
But support isn't easy to come by and the only thing that will keep them in
the house past this weekend is a last-minute appeal.
If that appeal fails, Deputy Marshal Dominick Russo, of the service's
Newark office, will tell the family -- there are 10 children and
stepchildren, but they don't all live there year round -- to get out of the
$140,000 house already owned by the government.
"This is not like the Gestapo here," Russo said. "She's trying to hold onto
the house and I can understand her position but they were dealing drugs.
"Before asset forfeiture, someone who stole $1 million would do five years
in jail and have the money when they got out. This takes away the fruits of
the crime."
Diane Antonelli, however, sees it differently.
"I'm going absolutely crazy here," Antonelli said.
As she said that, Antonelli was sitting on the same couch where she told a
family friend she would try to get the 11 pounds of marijuana he needed
four years ago.
He was wearing a wire and the authorities were listening.
Antonelli's husband, currenlty held at the Fairton Federal Correctional
Facility, isn't eligible for parole until 2008. He pleaded guilty to
conspiracy in a New York State drug-distribution ring.
Russo said he signed the house away in that plea agreement (Diane said he
signed to save her from any jail time) but the Antonelli family is still
fighting.
Three of the children, a 17-year-old son, a 7-year-old son and 13-year-old
daughter, still call the Atlantic City house home.
"All we want is our home back and not to be another victim of our own
government's communist actions," wrote Mia Antonelli, 23, on behalf of the
family children, ranging in age from 7 to 27.
The national anti-forfeiture lobbying group Forfeiture Endangers Americans'
Rights, or FEAR, has also noticed the case.
"The government is putting children out on the street and they're doing it
out of greed," said Tom Gordon, executive director of FEAR. "And, they'll
get a nice chunk of change for their efforts."
Forfeiture laws first came about in the 1970s and were strengthened with
the war on drugs in 1984.
The government has a right to start forfeiture proceedings against a family
if they say their home or other property is a benefit of criminal activity.
Antonelli said the house was not a fruit of any crime.
Officials consider it a deterrent and reasonable punishment for criminals.
Others see it as over-the-line and unconstitutional.
In criminal cases, law enforcement must prove someone committed a crime. In
forfeiture, the property owner has to convince a judge that the property
wasn't used in the commission of crimes.
On Oct. 30, a chief U.S. District Court judge denied the family's motion to
have ownership transferred to the children so the family could keep
ownership.
But now, they await the outcome of another appeal.
Despite the reprieve, beds and furniture have already been shipped out to
storage.
Saturday, Antonelli and her son sat on the ground watching Winnie the Pooh
on a borrowed television.
"This is ruining me. Mentally, I'm destroyed," she said of the process.
"I'm living in limbo. This is no way to live."
Antonelli said the plan now is to move back to Philadelphia and find a
place near family and friends because she can't afford a new home.
When asked if she's resigned to losing her home, she said, "Yeah, yeah.
With everything else I've lost, there's no winning."
But just minutes later, she rethinks her position.
"I don't know, they just give me nothing but negativity," Antonelli said of
the government. "I firmly belong here and that's why I'm standing my
ground. There's nothing left, but I'm still sitting here."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Journal Blasts U.S. Drug Policy (UPI says the lead article in the latest
issue of Public Health Reports, the official journal of the U.S. Public
Health Service, harshly criticizes U.S. drug policy, and reveals how
increased U.S. drug enforcement has fueled overdose deaths and drug-related
emergencies. "From a public health point of view, drug prohibition is a
disaster," said Dr. Ernest Drucker, a professor of epidemiology and social
medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York and the author of the
study. "While our government officials claim success in reducing drug use,
drug-related deaths and diseases have increased sharply. That's the best
measure of the impact of our drug policies - and they are failing.")
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 20:03:09 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Journal Blasts U.S. Drug Policy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jan 1999
Source: United Press International
Copyright: 1999 United Press International
JOURNAL BLASTS U.S. DRUG POLICY
NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (UPI) - The latest issue of Public Health Reports harshly
criticizes U.S. drug policy, arguing that increased U.S. drug enforcement
has fueled overdose deaths and drug-related emergencies.
In its January/February issue, the official journal of the U.S. Public
Health Service, lead article reveals how U.S. policies have led to dramatic
increases in drug-related overdose deaths and emergency room visits.
``From a public health point of view, drug prohibition is a disaster,''
said Dr. Ernest Drucker, a professor of epidemiology and social medicine at
Montefiore Medical Center in New York and author of the study.
``While our government officials claim success in reducing drug use,
drug-related deaths and diseases have increased sharply. That's the best
measure of the impact of our drug policies - and they are failing, ''
Drucker said.
Drucker explained that while whites, Hispanics and African Americans use
drugs at the same rates, African Americans are far more likely to be
arrested for drug-related offenses and to suffer a higher rate of
emergencies and overdose deaths.
``Perhaps the publishing of this article signifies a greater willingness by
the public health establishment to challenge American drug war
strategies,'' said Ethan Nadelmann, founder and director of the Lindesmith
Center.
The study also showed annual state and federal drug enforcement expenses
are estimated at more than $40 billion, compared with less than $8 billion
for all treatment, research and prevention in the U.S. from all government
and private sources.
According to the report from 1978 to 1994, drug-related emergency room
visits rose by 60 percent, from 323,100 annually to 518,500, and overdoses
increased by 400 percent, from 2500 to 10,000.
The report also noted the average purity of street heroin increased
dramatically between 1981 and 1996, from 6.7 percent to 41.5 percent and
from 1981 to 1996, the average price per gram of cocaine fell by 66
percent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New Marijuana Strain Boosts Drug Trade (According to USA Today,
U.S. and Canadian prohibition agents say British Columbian indoor cannabis
growers are achieving potency rates of about 25 percent to 30 percent THC.
Police say the herb is so potent it is being traded pound-for-pound for
cocaine in the United States, and the cocaine obtained by Canadian drug
dealers in exchange for the marijuana has begun fueling a fledgling crack
cocaine trade north of the border. However, as documented just yesterday
by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and on page 61 of the January issue of
High Times, and by the Flower Therapy medical marijuana dispensary in San
Francisco before it closed under threat of federal prosecution, it's not
unusual for indoor sinsemilla growers in the United States to achieve similar
potency levels.)
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 20:40:39 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: New Marijuana Strain Boosts Drug Trade
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jan 1999
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author: Gary Fields
NEW MARIJUANA STRAIN BOOSTS DRUG TRADE
A new grade of marijuana grown in British Columbia is so potent it is
being traded pound-for-pound for cocaine in the United States, U.S.
and Canadian authorities say.
The drug trade is prompting concerns among law enforcement officials
who have seen drug seizures and arrests soar.
Marijuana smuggling arrests along the border of British Columbia and
Washington state have risen from six people in 1995 to 358 in 1998.
Seizures of the marijuana, nicknamed ''B.C. Bud,'' have risen from
less than 10 pounds to 2,613 pounds during the same period, Customs
officials say.
Although the statistics are modest when compared with other drug
seizures, authorities say they are fearful of the destructive
potential the newly invigorated drug trade could have in the Northwest.
B.C. Bud is the No. 1 drug being smuggled into the United States from
British Columbia. Authorities in British Columbia say cocaine obtained
by Canadian drug dealers in exchange for the marijuana has begun
fueling a fledgling crack cocaine trade north of the border.
''The real significance of B.C. Bud is this circular pattern it's
created with cocaine,'' U.S. Customs Director Raymond Kelly says.
Cpl. Brian Hall of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's drug awareness
section in British Columbia says the marijuana appeared in the
Vancouver area in the mid-1980s.
Canadian authorities estimate there are 3,500 to 5,000 indoor growing
operations in the Vancouver area alone. They produce an illegal crop
worth $600 million a year.
The marijuana is grown inside with the use of artificial lights. ''You
can control the growing conditions, the nutrients, the lighting and
the temperature,'' says Dave Rodriguez, director of a Seattle-based
task force of state and federal agencies created by the Office of
National Drug Control Policy. ''You can get a much better product.''
The chemical in marijuana that produces the euphoria and sense of
relaxation is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Mexican marijuana,
which is the most common, has a THC level of about 5% in a plant. The
THC level in B.C. Bud is about 25%, and authorities say they have
found plants with levels as high as 30%.
In addition, the British Columbia-grown marijuana costs about $1,500 a
pound in Vancouver and $7,000 a pound in southern California. Mexican
marijuana goes for about $600 a pound.
Hall says the marijuana growing operations are spreading in Canada.
That is causing concern because the border between the United States
and Canada is nearly 4,000 miles long and open, unlike the Mexican
border.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
High on Hemp (The Victoria Times Colonist, in British Columbia,
says hemp seed wholesalers are chipping away at mainstream mores
about marijuana by using its natural seeds in foods neither the health
conscious or health oblivious can ignore. Hemp seed is a highly versatile
natural source of protein, fibre, vitamins, and essential fatty acids and
amino acids. Gone are the days when hemp seed was peddled by hippies
smoking pipes and wearing bad hemp suits, said Viteway's Paul Griffin
and Canadian Hemp Corporation's Richard Plotnikoff.)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: High on Hemp
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 15:25:08 -0800
Lines: 90
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: Victoria Times Colonist (Canada)
Contact: timesc@interlink.bc.ca
Pubdate: Jan 13, 1999
Author: Cindy E. Harnett, TC Staff
HIGH ON HEMP
Plant loses its drug image and proves a popular part of food, clothes and
cosmetics.
Hemp seed wholesalers are chipping away at mainstream mores around
marijuana by using its natural seeds in foods neither the health conscious
or health oblivious can ignore.
Chips, bagels, cookies, cheese and pie made with hemp seeds were selling
well at Lifestyle Market on Douglas Street throughout the Christmas
season, said managing partner Carmine Sparanese.
All of the hemp-based food products look and taste like the real thing.
That's because, according to suppliers and wholesalers, products made
form hemp are the real thing - a highly versatile natural source of
protein, fibre, vitamins, and essential fatty acids and amino acids.
Gone are the days when hemp seed was peddled by hippies smoking pipes and
wearing bad hemp suits, said Viteway's Paul Griffin and Canadian Hemp
Corporation's Richard Plotnikoff.
Hemp products can be found in everything from baked goods to body creams.
Sparanese said most of Lifestyle's clientele is educated about health
issues and hemp products.
The marijuana plant thriving in B.C. fields and basement grow operations
contains THC levels, a hallucinogenic ingredient, of 15 to 40 per cent.
Hemp is a genetically engineered hybrid of of the marijuana plant which
contains no more than 0.3 per cent THC. Engineers devised a way to get
rid of THC without losing the plant's high nutritional value.
"The biggest question or concern from people is about how hemp is grown,
whether it's organic. They take it to the next level all the time," said
Sparanese.
It's that kind of broad acceptance that will move hemp products from
shelves, he predicts.
Griffin and Marryianne Chalmers of Viteway Natural Foods went into
business together to create Uncle Paul's Whole Foods that sells bagels
and hemp-seed corn chips.
According to Plotnikoff, the chips are expected to be sold through
Thrifty Foods in the next two months.
Griffin said the challenge now is to convince the over-40 set that hemp
is not a hippie trend. Also, Griffin said those who tasted the
porridge-like dishes produced from hemp in the early days, have to
re-educate their taste buds.
Plotnikoff said hemp seed supporters such as Nell Newman - actor Paul
Newman's daughter who works for her father producing his personal line
of salad dressings - will help bring hemp products into the mainstream.
Plotnikoff is confident that in five years he'll be sitting on a
billion-dollar industry. Already he's sold all of his seeds for the year.
As more Canadian farmers pick up on the crop's advantages, he said the
industry is bound to take off across North America.
Because so many clients are looking for hemp seed and hemp seed cake -
the residue from hemp seed after it is pressed for oil - Plotnikoff
said 27,215 kilograms of the stuff will be shipped to the U.S. in the
next two months.
Hemp produces 250 per cent more fibre than cotton and 650 per cent more
fibre than flax. It takes only 90 days to grow and produces four times
more paper than trees.
The Canadian Hemp Farmers Association is on target for a hemp seed
processing plant to open in Chilliwack in time for this year's harvest.
According to Plotnikoff the association has already contracted 10,000
acres in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to grow hemp. Almost 50 per
cent of the crops are organic.
Hemp bagels and corn chips in health-food stores are slightly more
expensive than no-name brands. A bag of hemp-seed corn chips costs
$3.25, a six-pack of bagels rings in at $3.30 and hemp-pot
vegetarian pies are $2.25 apiece.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hustler's Hitlist - The other trial? Politicians v Larry Flynt
(The Morning Herald, in Sydney, Australia, mischaracterizes the muck
raked up against Rep. Bob Barr, the nemesis of Washington, D.C.'s
medical marijuana ballot measure, claiming Barr did not perjure himself.)
From: "Ken Russell" (kenbo01@ozemail.com.au)
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: The other trial? Politicians v Larry Flynt
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 17:14:09 +1100
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
In today's Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
HUSTLER'S HITLIST
The other trial? Politicians v Larry Flynt
Date: 13/01/99
By JENNIFER HEWETT
The rumours about what would be in Larry Flynt's exposé of politicians' sex
lives are getting wilder by the day. When the publisher of Hustler magazine
finally announced his latest target, the result was more remarkable for its
absurd triviality.
Flynt revealed that Republican Mr Bob Barr - admittedly an abrasive,
conservative and moralising critic of President Clinton - had refused to
answer legal questions about his relationship with the woman who later
became his third wife.
This was during a bitter divorce proceeding from his second wife in his home
state of Georgia where refusing to answer such questions on legal advice is
permitted.
Flynt also said Mr Barr had paid for his wife to have an abortion despite
describing abortion as "murder" on the floor of the House.
In a statement, Mr Barr denied Flynt's allegations and said he was "deeply
saddened" by them.
The best news about this particular "outing" is that the nonsense may help
ease the frenzy about the potent mix of political and private lives.
Hustler has already received more mainstream publicity than it has in
decades, particularly after last month's abrupt resignation of Mr Bob
Livingston, the Republican nominee to become Speaker of the House. This
followed the magazine's investigation of Mr Livingston's affairs, the
details of which have yet to be published.
Flynt, who has declared war on the moral hypocrisy surrounding the
impeachment and trial of Mr Clinton, said the latest revelations meant Mr
Barr's moral and ethical conduct was inconsistent with his public position.
"The people have a right to know when their elected officials do this," he
said.
Given the intense anti-abortion sentiment in the Republican Party and the
sensitivity of the issue in the US, the allegation could be damaging.
But the general sense of revulsion at Flynt's tactics may prove stronger
still.
He first revealed the Barr story on a tabloid cable TV show run by Geraldo
Rivera - two hours ahead of his scheduled news conference.
However, Flynt said Mr Barr was not the "big fish" he had evidence on.
He said he may reveal the names of other lawmakers in his exposé of
hypocrisy on Capitol Hill depending on how the impeachment trial turns out.
The traditional US media had been agonising about how to cover the Flynt
material and whether they were justified in using it.
C-Span, which runs just about every political event live and without
comment, had announced it would run Flynt's press conference.
After viewing the Rivera show, the station management decided the press
conference could be too defamatory and unfair.
It promptly switched instead to a story on a botanical gardens in Florida.
By comparison, this seemed light relief.
Mr Barr, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, will be one of the House
prosecutors during the Senate trial and was the first to publicly call for
Mr Clinton's impeachment.
His aggressive style has certainly made him plenty of enemies, including
some in his own party. There will be plenty on both sides happy to see him
embarrassed.
Given the avenging morality of the religious and conservative Right in the
Republican Party, there may even be some criticism of his earlier adulterous
behaviour.
But given Flynt's supposedly exhaustive investigation and his limited
findings, it hardly seems Mr Barr has made a reckless habit of adultery.
As the congressman angrily pointed out to Flynt in a letter, he did not lie
under oath.
Flynt published an advertisement in the Washington Post last October
promising a reward to anyone who could prove they had affairs with members
of Congress or other high-ranking government officials.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or
mirroring is prohibited.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, No. 81 (The original summary of drug policy news from
DrugSense leads with a feature article, Anti-drug programs miss mark, by
Marsha Rosenbaum. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about
Drug War Policy, including - Drug war key may lie in past; Clinton to request
funding for prison anti-drug program; Pressured FDA seeks more funds;
Editorial: changing the guard; Marad calls for added private anti-drug
efforts. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Treating the
cause; 'Win at all costs': the Justice Department responds; Police keep cash
intended for education; Court reverses ban on leniency for witnesses.
Articles about Drug Use Issues include - Young, rich and strung out; It's
madness not to investigate pot's medical use; What's not to like?
International News articles include - Australia: heroin deaths soar; Alone
and accused in a Nicaraguan prison; 2 dead Mexican police found near
Brownsville; British anti-drugs chief attacks 'arrogance' of professional
classes; Colombian rebels say they might switch, fight coca. The weekly "Hot
Off The 'Net" features Frontline's "Snitch," Ernest Drucker's new article,
and DrugPeace. The DrugSense Tips Of The Week focus on the May DPF Conference
and the FEAR on-line chat group. The Quote of the Week cites Howard Rheingold
telling the digerati to get active. The Fact of the Week - Drug testing a
poor indicator.)
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 17:26:49 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly January 13, 1999 #081
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly January 13, 1999 #081
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org/
This Publication May Be Read On-line at:
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1999/ds99.n81.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
Anti-Drug Programs Miss Mark
By Marsha Rosenbaum
* Weekly News in Review
Drug War Policy-
Drug War Key May Lie In Past
Clinton To Request Funding For Prison Anti-Drug Program
Pressured FDA Seeks More Funds
Editorial: Changing The Guard
Marad Calls For Added Private Anti-Drug Efforts
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
Treating The Cause
'Win at all Costs': The Justice Department responds
Police Keep Cash Intended For Education
Court Reverses Ban on Leniency For Witnesses
Drug Use Issues-
Young, Rich And Strung Out
It's Madness Not To Investigate Pot's Medical Use
What's Not To Like?
International News-
Australia: Heroin Deaths Soar
Alone And Accused In A Nicaraguan Prison
2 Dead Mexican Police Found Near Brownsville
UK: Anti-drugs Chief Attacks 'Arrogance' of Professional Classes
Colombian Rebels Say They Might Switch, Fight Coca
* Hot Off The 'Net
Frontline's "SNITCH"
Ernest Drucker Article
DrugPeace
* DrugSense Tips Of The Week
DPF Conference in May
FEAR On-line Chat group
* Quote of the Week
Howard Rheingold
* Fact of the Week
Drug Testing a poor indicator
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
Anti-Drug Programs Miss Mark
By Marsha Rosenbaum
Note: Marsha Rosenbaum is Director, Lindesmith Center West, San
Francisco http://www.lindesmith.org/about_tlc/west.html and a director
of Family Watch http://www.familywatch.org/
ANTI-DRUG PROGRAMS MISS MARK
Efforts To Curb Heroin Supply Fail To Affect Demand
THERE WAS ANOTHER heroin overdose in San Francisco last week. This time
it was singer Boz Scaggs' 21-year-old son, Oscar. Less than two years
ago, Nick Traina, Danielle Steel's 19-year-old son, overdosed on heroin
and died. In Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, 11 young people recently
died of heroin overdoses.
A natural reaction to these alarming reports is a call for increased
efforts to curb availability. The problem is, we're already trying
this. The federal drug control budget exceeds $17 billion a year. Add
to that state and local budgets for fighting drugs and the figure may
be five times larger. Two-thirds of this money is spent to try to stop
drugs from entering the country and enforcing the drug laws.
So far, (perhaps because the black market for drugs generates $64
billion annually), this effort has been a dismal failure. In fact,
since President Reagan began escalating the War on Drugs, worldwide
production of opium, from which heroin is made, has expanded. The price
of heroin has dropped and its purity has increased. We cannot seem to
make a dent in the supply, so heroin is still with us.
Our efforts to reduce demand have fared no better than our efforts to
reduce supply. Today's young adults were in grade school when Nancy
Reagan first began telling them to ``just say no.'' Again and again, in
the schools and on TV, they have been warned about drugs' dangers. Yet
for nearly a decade now, drug use among adolescents has been rising.
According to government statistics, less than 1 percent have tried
heroin, but experts familiar with drug-use patterns believe its use
among young people is increasing.
More drug education of the sort existing cannot be expected to reverse
these trends. Indeed, study after study shows that current drug
education programs have no effect on drug use. Why? They lack
credibility. Most programs focus on marijuana, which the programs
overly demonize, hoping to frighten young people away from
experimentation. Half of American teenagers try marijuana anyway, and
once they learn the dire warnings are not true, they begin to mistrust
everything about drugs that adults tell them. And why shouldn't they?
Why should they listen at all if they can't believe what we tell them?
The truth about heroin is that it is much more dangerous than
marijuana. Anyone who injects heroin with a used needle risks
contracting a deadly infection, such as hepatitis or HIV. Anyone who
uses heroin steadily for several weeks will begin developing physical
dependence on it and suffer withdrawal symptoms if they stop.
People who occasionally use heroin do not become addicted. However,
compared to the addict, the occasional heroin user who has not
developed tolerance to the drug, is at much greater risk for a fatal
overdose. Still, because heroin is unregulated and uncontrolled, even
the most experienced user cannot know the potency of a batch of
unlabeled white powder.
These are the kinds of warnings we should give young people about
heroin. But first we have to get them to listen by convincing them
they can trust us. They must also trust that they can come to us in an
emergency. ``Zero tolerance,'' another method for deterring young
people from experimentation, has meant that too many have died because
their friends were afraid to call parents or other authorities for
help. Terrified of being detected themselves, teenagers in Plano, for
example, fled the scene, leaving one boy to choke on his own vomit and
die.
Like it or not, we cannot seal our borders or completely eliminate
demand for drugs. Moral indignation will not change that reality. A
more pragmatic approach would be to learn to live with drugs and to
focus on reducing drug-related harm. Our first priority ought to be
gaining the trust of young people. We ought to offer a scientifically
grounded education that allows them to learn all they can about drugs,
alcohol and any other substance(s) they ingest.
Young people will ultimately make their own decisions about drug use.
When they do, they ought to have information from sources they trust to
insure their safety.
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Domestic News- Policy
COMMENT:
The need for increased "drug treatment" has become a shibboleth of
prohibitionists of all stripes and colorations. Usually the "patients"
they are referring to are victims of our federally created criminal
drug market who have become enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
The latest such expert is Michael Massing whose "Fix" adroitly
rewrites history to make Richard Nixon an unsung colleague of Jaffe, Dole
and Nyswander
As if on cue from the treatment mafia, President Clinton sweetened the
pot for the men in white last week. What the news story doesn't tell
you is that in California, the drug testing of parolees has been a
device for returning more of them to prison where they get to swell
the federal prison subsidy while they kick their habits without
treatment.
DRUG WAR KEY MAY LIE IN PAST
Veteran observer of failing struggle finds Nixon's strategy to treat
addicts worked. Journalist Michael Massing has devoted a decade to
investigating the U.S. war on drugs. He has talked with peasants in
remote coca-growing regions of Colombia. He has combed through dusty
boxes of federal archives. He has documented the heroic struggle of
treatment workers at a drop-in center in Spanish Harlem. He has watched
a heroin addict shoot up in a New York City tenement.
[snip]
"It would be hard to think of an area of U.S. social policy that has
failed more completely than the war on drugs," Massing writes in the
book's opening sentence. The answer, he writes later, is a "new
public-health approach to the nation's drug problem, one based not on
the punitive powers of the law but on the healing powers of medicine."
[snip]
Pubdate: Saturday, 2 January 1999
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
Website: http://www.heraldnet.com/
Copyright: 1999 The Daily Herald Co.
Author: Ken Fuson, The Baltimore Sun
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n011.a09.html
***
CLINTON TO REQUEST FUNDING FOR PRISON ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM
President Clinton said Tuesday that he will propose $215 million in his
next budget to test and treat inmates for drug use,to help them avoid
returning to crime once they are freed.
[snip]
Clinton also announced the release of $120 million under the fiscal1999
budget for drug free-prison initiatives - $63 million earmarked for
state prisons to provide tong-term treatment and intensive supervision
for prisoners with the most serious drug problems.
[snip]
Pubdate: Jan 1, 1998
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n021.a06.html
***
COMMENT:
Speaking of the feds, a badly deteriorated FDA infrastructure doesn't
bode well for an agency also being looked at as a source of help with
such unsettled issues as nicotine regulation and the medical marijuana
tar-baby.
PRESSURED FDA SEEKS MORE FUNDS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration is seeking to infuse more
cash into the agency that monitors the safety of food and drugs because
of worries it's losing the ability to fully safeguard Americans'
health. The Food and Drug Administration says it's $165 million in the
hole because of six years of budgets that didn't keep up with
inflation. It's short 500 employees, and needs more specialized
scientists to evaluate increasingly complex therapies. Its inspectors
can check the safety of only a fraction of medical and food factories
every year. And its research, which helps ensure new products are safe,
has been slashed.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n035.a08.html
***
COMMENT:
Committed to its failed policy of interdiction of illicit drug
shipments, the federal government recruits help however it can. The
following report from The Journal of Commerce suggests that we may all
be paying for the interdiction folly in ways that can't be measured
directly.
MARAD CALLS FOR ADDED PRIVATE ANTI-DRUG EFFORTS
As much as ocean carriers have pitched in to thwart the drug trade and
other illicit traffic, it's still not enough, the federal government
said in a new report.
[snip]
The report emerges at a time when carriers, weathering years of falling
freight rates, largely believe they have already done their part to
prevent ships from being used for drug trafficking and other forms of
illegal trade.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 05 Jan 1999
Source: Journal of Commerce (US)
Contact: editor@mail.joc.com
Website: http://www.joc.com/
Copyright: Journal of Commerce 1988
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n021.a04.html
***
COMMENT:
An editorial in the Orange County Register made important points (some
implicit): actual policy depends a lot on who's carrying it out; the
approval of conservative locals (including the newspaper) is
ultimately important; the drug policy climate seems ready for change.
CHANGING THE GUARD
After a couple of bruising campaigns, after a six month transition
period during which not all the wounds from the campaigns have been
soothed and after months of speculation, a new era in law enforcement
is beginning in Orange County.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Mike Carona might have to
spend a good deal of time and effort during their first few months in
office solidifying support within the departments they have taken over.
But it shouldn't be too long before the public begins to see changes in
policies.
[snip]
Those who establish a reputation for impartial enforcement first are in
a better position to be credible advocates of necessary reforms than
those who are out front too early and too often on political issues.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 6 Jan 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 1998 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
***
Law Enforcement & Prisons
***
COMMENT:
This dated Cincinnati Enquirer editorial was chosen for two reasons:
first it illustrates the insidious appeal of "drug court," which is
really a federal model for cheaply extending the reach of the prison
system under the guise of "treatment." Secondly the easy assumption of
reader approval of the term "criminal addicts" speaks volumes about
the unstated assumptions which underpin our drug policy.
TREATING THE CAUSE
Hamilton County's drug court, which emphasizes substance abuse
treatment over jail sentences, has changed lives and saved taxpayers
money.
[snip]
It's also become a state model for dealing with criminal addicts.Seventeen
other Ohio counties now run drug courts; all are modeled after the one
pioneered here three years ago.
[snip]
Pubdate: 25 Dec 1998
Source: The Cincinnati Post (OH)
Copyright: 1998 The Cincinnati Post
Contact: postedits@cincypost.com
Website: http://www.cincypost.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n011.a05.html
***
COMMENT:
Here, Eric Holder of the Justice Department responds to reporter Bill
Moushey's charges that DOJ prosecutions are overly zealous. Among
other things, Holder found them "offensive," apparently never
considering that some of us might be offended by his own figures: our
federal government has filed criminal charges against an average of
57, 000 people a year for 13 years!
'WIN AT ALL COSTS': THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS
Your recent 10-part series by Bill Moushey ("Win At All Costs," Nov. 22
to Dec. 13), criticizing the conduct of prosecutors,relies largely on
the allegations of criminals and their defense attorneys. As a result,
it wrongly concludes that federal prosecutors and agents "routinely"
engage in misconduct
[snip]
Readers might be interested to know, by comparison, that during the
same period federal prosecutors brought approximately 500,000 criminal
cases against approximately 750,000 defendants. Even if the facts were
as the reporter assumes in each of the nearly 70 cases - and they are
not - one could argue that refutes, rather than supports his thesis.
NewsHawk: DrugSense
Source: (1) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) (2) The Blade (OH)
Pubdate: Sun, 3 Jan 1999
Contact: (1) letters@post-gazette.com
Webform: (1) http://www.post-gazette.com/contact/letters.asp
Website: (1) http://www.post-gazette.com/
Contact: (2) letters@theblade.com
Website: (2) http://www.toledoblade.com/
Author: Eric Holder, Deputy Attorney General
Note: Links to the entire "Win at all Costs" series may be found at:
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n1158/a02.html
***
COMMENT:
Another major daily ran a series critical of our drug policy; the
headlines on Karen Dillon's 5 installments in the Kansas City Star say
it all; the lengthy articles supplies details on how local cops team
up with feds to exploit forfeiture for their own benefit.
POLICE KEEP CASH INTENDED FOR EDUCATION
Police and federal agencies have diverted millions of dollars from Missouri
schoolchildren.
Under state law, money seized in drug cases is supposed to go to public
school districts, but some police departments have found a simple way to
keep the money for their own use.
It works like this:
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 02 Jan 1999
Source: Kansas City Star
Copyright: 1999 The Kansas City Star
Section: Special Report
Contact: letters@kcstar.com
Website: http://www.kcstar.com/
Author: Karen Dillon, The Kansas City Star
kdillon@kcstar.com
Note: This is a 5 part special report:
POLICE KEEP CASH INTENDED FOR EDUCATION (#1):
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n013.a01.html
THE CASE FILE (#2):
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n013.a03.html
SCHOOLS CAN LOSE, EVEN IF THE LAW IS FOLLOWED (#3):
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n013.a04.html
FEDERAL AGENCIES, POLICE KEEP PUBLIC RECORDS OUT OF REACH (#4):
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n013.a06.html
LAWMAKERS AGAIN HOPE TO TIGHTEN UP LAW ON FORFEITURES (#5):
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.013.a07.html
***
COMMENT:
In court, where judicial assertion always trumps logic, the 10th
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals surprised no one in reversing a lower
court ruling that leniency, when used to obtain testimony from an
accused felon, is a form of bribery. This particular assertion will
hopefully be challenged.
COURT REVERSES BAN ON LENIENCY FOR WITNESSES
Justice Dept. Feared It Would Block Prosecutions
DENVER, Jan. 8-A federal appeals court ruled today that prosecutors can
offer plea bargains in exchange for testimony, overturning a court
decision that declared the common practice illegal. In a 9 to 3 vote,
the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the panel's earlier ruling
that plea-bargained testimony constituted bribery was "patently absurd."
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
Source: The Washington Post
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Page: A03
Contact:
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://washingtonpost.com/
Author: Robert Boczkiewicz, Reuters
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n037.a06.html
***
Drugs & Drug Use
***
COMMENT:
The global heroin glut is perhaps the best single indicator how
monumentally American drug policy is failing. Readers of this
newsletter know that users of all ages are overdosing around the world
in record numbers; a fact that was brought home to San Francisco by
the overdose death 21 year old Oscar Scaggs, son of a local rock
celebrity. Local news papers fulsomely detailed the heroin surplus but
offered nothing that could be confused with insight as to its cause.
YOUNG, RICH AND STRUNG OUT
Heroin Emerging As Drug Of Choice For Bay Area's Well-Off Kids Oscar
Scaggs may not have known it, but he rode a cresting, ugly new wave
right to his death when he overdosed in a down-and-outer hotel on New
Year's Eve. The wave is heroin addiction -- a familiar horror come
back.
[snip]
Perhaps most sobering of all, San Francisco has the highest rate of
heroin-related deaths of any city in the state: One every three days,
double the rate of the early '90s, and far more than from any other
drug.
[snip]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle
Pubdate: Fri, 8 Jan 1999
Page: A1 - Front Page
Authors: Kevin Fagan, Neva Chonin, Chronicle Staff Writers
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n028.a12.html
***
COMMENT:
LA Times columnist Robert Scheer is so firmly in our camp that such
sentiments from him aren't newsworthy, but his Jan. 3 column nailed
recent developments in California's medical marijuana wars so well
that everyone should read it from beginning to end. He also comments
intelligently on the probable impact of Bill Lockyer on local
enforcement policies.
IT'S MADNESS NOT TO INVESTIGATE POT'S MEDICAL USE
Hung over from all that New Year's revelry and once again promising
yourself to abstain? Hah! Maybe you should have tried pot instead of
booze, Just kidding!
[snip]
Just look at the Gestapo-like tactics employed against those locally
and throughout the state who have attempted to exercise their fight to
relieve the pain of serious illness with marijuana prescribed by a
physician - a right one had presumed was guaranteed by the passage of
Proposition 215.
[snip]
Fortunately, they are about to be challenged by California's new
Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who bravely admitted during the campaign
that he voted for Proposition 215. He has said since that he wants to
cooperate with local officials to make it work.
[snip]
Pubdate: 3 Jan. 1999
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Fax: 213-237-4712
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
Author: Robert Scheer rscheer@aol.com
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n017.a03.html
***
COMMENT:
Not only is cannabis safe beyond comparison with any other therapeutic
agent; its users seem more satisfied with its therapeutic efficacy
than most drugs.
WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?
Dr. Kathleen Boyle of the UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center has a
problem. The social psychologist began a two-year study last July on
the use of medical marijuana by people with AIDS. The university-funded
project seeks to document both the satisfaction (or not) of med-mar
users and their issues and concerns. The hitch is that Dr. Boyle can't
find anyone who's used it and says it doesn't work for them.
[snip]
Source: LA Weekly (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Weekly, Inc.
Pubdate: 8-14 Jan 1999
Contact: laweekly@aol.com
Website: http://www.laweekly.com/
Author: Michael Simmon
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n026.a11.html
***
International News
***
COMMENT:
A familiar theme from Australia which is experiencing record heroin
overdoses, yet continues to dither because drug policy remains in the
grip of an ardently prohibitionist Prime Minister.
HEROIN DEATHS SOAR
HEROIN deaths are increasing rapidly, with more than 250 people dying
from overdoses last year.And already this year, two heroin users each
day have lost their lives after playing Russian roulette with a needle.
Chief Insp. John McKoy, head of the drug squad, said while police did
not condone heroin use, they were desperate to prevent more fatalities.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 8 Jan 1999
Source: Herald Sun (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 1999
Contact: hseditor@hwt.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/
Author: Tanya Giles
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n033.a05.html
***
COMMENT:
Without question, last week's most fascinating story was the big pot
bust in Nicaragua involving the DEA, Danilo Blandon, six Canadians and
a hemp crop which has already been destroyed by the Nicaraguan police.
Don Wirschafter, appearing as friendly expert, testified that its THC
content was well below that associated with recreational use, but we
know the DEA refuses to differentiate. Given American clout with the
locals, it doesn't look good for the Canadian investors, especially
the poor guy caught on the scene. Thus far, English language
newspaper coverage has been all Canadian. The failure of the Yankee
press to become involved probably says something about the pressure
that's being applied.
ALONE AND ACCUSED IN A NICARAGUAN PRISON
Guelph Man In Hemp Case Talks Of Jail Ordeal MANAGUA - In the visitor
room at the La Modelo prison, there are four Boston rocking chairs
placed around a coffee table. A small ice box hums in the corner.
Ashtrays have been provided. It is all quite civilized.
[snip]
It has already been admitted, by the American embassy in Managua, that
members of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency were involved - at
Nicaragua's request - in inspecting the property and the crop.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
Source: Toronto Star (Canada)
Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Rosie DiManno
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n035.a04.html
***
COMMENT:
The stark first paragraph of the next item from the Houston Chronicle
is a reminder of the violence our failing policy engenders.
2 DEAD MEXICAN POLICE FOUND NEAR BROWNSVILLE
BROWNSVILLE -- The bodies of two Mexican federal police
officers,tortured and shot execution style, were found Friday morning
on the banks of the Rio Grande, authorities said.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 9 Jan 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum:http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: James Pinkerton
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n035.a01.html
***
COMMENT:
The quotes attributed to the UK drug czar provide an interesting
window into the mind set of a prohibitionist; not only quick to see
arrogance in others, but completely ignorant of the basics of human
motivation..
ANTI-DRUGS CHIEF ATTACKS 'ARROGANCE' OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE BY
PROFESSIONAL CLASSES
PROFESSIONAL people who take drugs are as great a threat to society as
any other substance abusers, the Government's anti-drugs campaign
co-ordinator claimed yesterday.
Keith Hellawell said that he was appalled by the arrogance of people
who felt they had the right to buy illegal drugs because they could
afford it.
[snip]
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Forum: http://www.scotsman.com/
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Pubdate: 5 January 1999
Author: Conal Urqhuart
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n020.a02.html
***
COMMENT:
This week's story from Colombia is highly improbable. First, our
Congress, which is bankrolling the Colombian Government, won't sign on
to a deal which cedes the rebels any territorial control; secondly,
the rebels won't give up drug profits that easily.
COLOMBIAN REBELS SAY THEY MIGHT SWITCH, FIGHT COCA
SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia - Insurgents in Colombia say they
might be willing to switch sides in the drug war and actually work to
eradicate coca crops, even as one of their leaders yesterday lashed out
at U.S. counter drug programs here.
[snip]
Lopez said the insurgency has asked President Andres Pastrana to give
it direct control of one of Colombia's 1,072 townships- an area
equivalent to a large U.S. county - to demonstrate that rebels know how
to knock the wind out of the drug trade. "We don't need coca crops to
survive. We don't need a single peasant farmer to grow coca," Lopez
said.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, Jan 8 1999
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Author: Tim Johnson, Knight Ridder Newspapers
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n028.a08.html
***
HOT OFF THE 'NET
Frontline's "SNITCH" aired Tuesday night may be one of the most
powerful anti drug war documentaries ever.
Thanks to Richard Lake and Rolf Ernst for the following:
The SNITCH documentary is now available in RealVideo at:
http://www.legalize-usa.org/TOCs/video7.htm
The website for SNITCH is:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/
You may contact the producers at frontline@wgbh.org or by mail at:
Frontline Producer
WGBH
125 Western Avenue
Boston, MA 02134
You may contact your local PBS station by email by finding the address at:
http://www.pbs.org/voice/stations.html
There is a discussion forum for the documentary at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/talk/
***
Ernest Drucker has an excellent report in Public Health Reports. You
can view it at: http://www.of-course.com/drugrealities/ The theme of
the report is public health vs. prohibition. Ernie takes 25 years of
statistics and analyzes them from a public health perspective. He
concludes that while Prohibition has escalated with mass arrests and
record levels of incarceration, the problems associated with drug
abuse, particularly overdose deaths and emergency room mentions has
risen dramatically. When a racial analysis of this is added the
problems are even worse.
Excellent reading in a prominent publication -- by a prominent public
health advocate.
***
DrugPeace is an excellent site and organization who recently sponsored
the San Francisco digital Be in. Check out: http://www.drugpeace.org/
***
TIP OF THE WEEK
The DPF conference will beheld in May in Bethesda Maryland. See
http://www.dpf.org for more info.
Order plane, attendance, and room reservations well in advance and you
can save significantly on your costs.
***
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights chat forum
FEAR 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
***
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The high-tech industry, from personal computers to Internet
entrepreneurs, is full of people who make big bucks, smoke fine weed,
and look the other way while thousands continue to be jailed. Tobacco,
alcohol, and crack take an enormous toll, but America has been
mesmerized by a remarkable propaganda campaign that has demonized the
use of soft drugs such as marijuana and psychedelics. The war on some
drugs is wrong, and it's wrong to be silent about it. It's time for the
digerati to break silence on this issue."
-- Howard Rheingold, December 1998.
***
FACT OF THE WEEK
A positive drug test does not indicate whether an employee was impaired
or intoxicated on the job, nor does it indicate whether an employee has
a drug problem or how often the employee uses the drug. Thus most tests
do not provide information relevant to job performance.
Source: Lewis Maltby, Vice President Drexelbrook Controls, Harsham, PA,
as cited in Report of the Maine Commission to Examine Chemical Testing
of Employees, (1986, December 31).
***
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