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

Medical Marijuana Collides With Power Politics (Sacramento Bee columnist
Peter H. King recounts the recent cultivation bust of Steve Kubby, the
medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 California gubernatorial
candidate. Prohibition agents obtained a search warrant after they observed
Kubby showing a plant to a man they believed was a customer. In reality, the
man was Pete Brady, a correspondent for High Times magazine.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 15:11:07 -0500
To: restore@crrh.org
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: Medical Marijuana Collides With Power Politics
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Address: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852
Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
Author: Peter H. King
Note: Peter H. King's column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in The Bee.
Write him at P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, 95852, or call (916) 321-1892;
e-mail: pking@mcclatchy.com.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA COLLIDES WITH POWER POLITICS

The only thing government can do is crack down on crime. By making more and
more things a crime -- that's how government is able to expand its power.
--Steve Kubby, Libertarian Party candidate for governor, in an interview
last September

OLYMPIC VALLEY -- For more than an hour, the candidate had sat in a Fresno
coffee shop, merrily lobbing one rhetorical hand grenade after another.
Steve Kubby was against the death penalty and for an open border. He
regarded speeding tickets as literal "highway robbery," thought Central
Valley farmers should be growing hemp, opposed seat belt laws and
gun-control laws alike. His most passionately held position, however,
involved the nation's "War on Drugs," which he described as a "failure"
that overloaded prisons and "made millionaires out of thugs."

For Kubby, a 52-year-old electronic magazine publisher, this issue was
personal. More than 20 years earlier, he had been diagnosed with an
extremely rare and typically fatal form of cancer. To the mystification of
medical authorities, Kubby discovered that marijuana alleviated his
symptoms and apparently kept the cancer in check. He became a proponent of
medicinal marijuana, and in 1996 played a major role in the successful
campaign for Prop. 215, which theoretically made pot legal medicine in
California.

Now, with the interview winding down, the otherwise free-wheeling
politician asked to go off the record. Kubby confided he was concerned
about drug police payback. He had received a tip: A stakeout of his Lake
Tahoe residence was under way. Specifically, he had been warned to watch
out for a green Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows. He wasn't sure whether
to believe this, and he did not want to come across in a campaign interview
as a caricature of pot-induced paranoia.

Still. ...

Jump ahead now to a Tuesday morning in mid-January. Kubby's wife, Michelle
-- who also takes marijuana, with a doctor's endorsement, for a chronic
stomach ailment -- was playing with her 3-year-old daughter. She saw a
green Jeep drive by. A few minutes later came the knock on the door. "We
have a search warrant," the lead officer announced, and in trooped a dozen
or more investigators.

They moved to the basement, where Kubby was growing the marijuana that he
maintains keeps him alive. In the well-equipped "growing rooms," the
officers found about 130 mature plants and an equal number of seedlings.
The discovery should not have come as a surprise; Kubby had not exactly
been covering his tracks. In fact, since the tip about the stakeout, he had
been placing "attention law enforcement" notes in the trash, explaining his
medical condition and acknowledging the cultivation of marijuana. He had
guessed -- accurately, it turned out -- that the garbage would be searched.

According to law enforcement files, the investigation had been triggered
last July by an unsigned letter. It accused Kubby of growing more than a
thousand plants and selling pot to finance his political campaign.
Investigators began a surveillance, peering through his back windows from
the woods behind the house. After they observed Kubby showing a plant to a
man they believed to be a customer -- he was, Kubby would say, a
correspondent for High Times magazine -- they obtained the search warrant.

Four hours into the search, Steve and Michelle Kubby were handcuffed and
loaded into a vehicle for the ride to jail, where they would be booked for
investigation of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale. Before
they left, Kubby asked if he could take some of his "medicine" with him.
No, the investigator said, the jail had a "no-smoking policy."

The Kubbys have pleaded not guilty, contending they never sold marijuana
and their crop was not excessive. Among medical marijuana proponents there
is hope that a trial might shine needed light on what they see as a refusal
by law enforcement authorities to accept and abide by Prop. 215. For his
part, the Placer County prosecutor handling the case has told reporters
that "if a jury decides that 265 plants are all right, then that is
justice. But if the jury decides it's just too much, justice is done then,
too."

While Kubby was in jail, awaiting release on his own recognizance, his
original physician urged the judge by letter not to deprive the prisoner of
his marijuana. Dr. Vincent DeQuattro of the USC Medical Center noted that
Kubby's condition -- malignant pheochromocytoma, or adrenal cancer -- is
almost always fatal. In fact, the doctor added, until he received his voter
pamphlet last fall, he'd assumed that Kubby, whom he had not seen for more
than a decade, was dead.

"Faith healers," wrote DeQuattro, "would term Steve's existence these past
10-15 years as nothing short of a miracle. In my view, this miracle, in
part, is related to the therapy with marijuana."

Unfortunately, the fight over medical marijuana never has seemed to have
much to do with medicine. It's more about power, about who gets to make the
rules. And the passage of Prop. 215, it would seem, settled nothing.

***

KUBBY LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
c/o Dale Wood Attorney at Law
10833 Donner Pass Road
Truckee, CA 96161

(530) 587-3450

Alternately credit card contributions can be made on line at

http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

Be sure to note KUBBY LEGAL DEFENSE FUND in the message box.

DrugSense will act as the intermediary and forward your donation

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

Diluted cocaine may be tied to Richmond killings (According to the Contra
Costa Times, in California, police in the Bay Area community of Richmond
theorize that a recent spate of shootings and perhaps even two of this year's
homicides may be linked to an alleged shortage of cocaine. Police believe the
supposed shortage is caused by their successful interdiction efforts and as a
consequence, there is an increase in "bunk dope" cut with everything from
detergent to plasterboard.)

From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Diluted cocaine may be tied to Richmond killings
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 17:08:05 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Newshawk: ccross@november.org
Source: Contra Costa Times
Published on February 14, 1999
Online: http://www.hotcoco.com/news/eastbay/west/stories/aga00706.htm

Diluted cocaine may be tied to Richmond killings

* So-called "bunk dope" is flooding the drug market because police
crackdowns have limited supplies of the pure substance on streets

By Sonia Giordani

TIMES STAFF WRITER

RICHMOND -- Street-corner drug dealers call it "The Drought."

The kilos just aren't coming in like they did, and word on the street is
that "bunk dope" -- cocaine cut with anything from detergent to plaster
board -- is more common than ever.

Federal, state and local police agencies have been cracking down hard on
top-rung West County drug dealers in recent months. And now Richmond police
say the dwindling supply may be raising the ire among nervous street-corner
dealers and their customers, who appear to be increasingly dissatisfied with
what they have been getting for their money.

Richmond Police Chief Ed Duncan said a recent spate of shootings and perhaps
even two of this year's homicides may be linked to the restricted supplies
and the "bunk dope" trading hands.

"We think it's the fallout. As we continue to hit the top drug traffickers
in the area, it's creating a void out there on the streets, and it may be
the cause of these recent shootings," Duncan said.

Since the first of the year, Richmond has reported four homicides. In the
last two weeks, two Richmond men were fatally shot in neighborhoods that
police have targeted as areas with high drug activity. Last week, a
30-year-old Richmond man was killed on Fourth Street, and on Jan. 27, a
31-year-old man was killed at South 35th and South Beck streets.

"At this point, we believe that at least one of the last four homicides have
been directly related to bunk dope being sold," Duncan said.

Richmond police have cooperated with numerous federal, state and other local
law enforcement agencies to crack down on the most notorious drug
traffickers.

A three-year investigation culminated in the arrest of eight Bay Area
residents in mid-December suspected in a massive drug trafficking operation
that brought hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into West Contra Costa County
and specifically into North Richmond, Richmond and San Pablo.

One community outreach worker, who asked that her name not be disclosed
because her life could be endangered, described what's being dealt on the
streets as a mishmash of dangerous substances.

"I hear they mix cocaine with crank, heroin, Sheetrock (plasterboard),
Tide -- and I'm talking about the soap you wash your clothes with," she
said.

Despite the crackdown, she said the demand for drugs in Richmond is still
too great.

"In this business, you knock out one connection and another one comes
through," she said. "It'll always be around. And whenever there's a drought,
the street dealers just sell a little less for the time being and wait it
out."

Sonia Giordani covers police and public safety. Reach her at 510-262-2728 or
e-mail sgiordani@cctimes.com.

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

Study shows minorities more likely to do time for drug-related crimes
(The Associated Press says a study by the Connecticut General Assembly's
Office of Legislative Research found that while 62 percent of those arrested
on drug offenses in 1997 were white, that group made up only 11 percent of
those serving prison time for drug convictions. Statistics from the U.S.
Justice Department show that nationwide, blacks account for 38 percent of
those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted.)

From: CLaw7MAn@webtv.net (Mike Steindel)
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 17:35:28 -0800 (PST)
To: cp@telelists.com
Subject: [cp] Minorities more likely to do TIME

I just saw this again...Whats the deal with all these studies that
always come to the same conclusion. Instead of studying the problem why
is it nothing is ever done to correct the wrong...It is wrong to treat
drug use with JAIL...I think these things have been studied to death its
time to learn from our studies....People without money go to JAIL. Non
whites go to JAIL more often. Non whites without money always go to
JAIL, Guilty or Innocent....Those are what the results of almost all the
studies have always found...Lets stop funding the studies and change
things for the better... Learn how you can register to vote... Go to
www.fec.gov because other than revolution "which is not gonna happen"
its the best way to make a difference....Here is the study....

***

Study shows minorities more likely to do time for drug-related crimes By

Associated Press, 02/14/99 14:10

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Minorities in Connecticut are more likely to do
prison time for drug crimes than whites, according to a legislative
report.

The study by the General Assembly's Office of Legislative Research found
that while 62 percent of those arrested on drug offenses in 1997 were
white, that group made up only 11 percent of those serving prison time
for drug convictions.

Statistics from the U.S. Justice Department show that blacks account for
38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses nationally and 59 percent
of those convicted.

Mike Lawlor, the House chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary
committee, said he's disturbed by the numbers, but doesn't believe
police, prosecutors or judges are racist.

He said part of the reason for the statistics may be that anti-drug
efforts normally take place in the cities, where many of those caught
buying are white, and those charged with the more serious offenses tend
to be minorities.

''I think the way the drug laws are enforced tends to focus primarily on
blacks and Latinos in terms of selling,'' Lawlor said. ''Therefore, you
have most of the arrests of the big shots taking place there.''

Nicholas Pastore, the former New Haven police chief who runs the New
Haven office of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, said he thinks
minorities in the city tend to buy more often, but in less quantity,
than wealthier whites from the suburbs.

''You don't buy as often, so you have less risk, but you buy more
weight,'' said Pastore. ''Where as a person in the city might live on
$10 at a time, a person in middle or upper middle class America lives on
$100 or $1,000 at a time.''

The result is poor and minority drug suspects often have previous
records, he said. And that means a longer sentence.

Lawlor said he will advocate training several members of the state Board
of Parole and members of the staff in substance abuse.

Those officials would be assigned to consider parole bids of prisoners
identified as having drug problems. The prisoners could get time knocked
off their sentences by undergoing drug treatment in prison and after
being released, he said.

Craig Parker, a University of New Haven professor of criminal justice,
said he thinks a number of factors probably account for the disparity in
drug cases.

But he said he thinks any analysis must consider racism. He noted many
studies have shown that minorities are more likely to face the death
penalty - especially those convicted of killing whites - than whites
are.

''I think one has to raise questions about race up and down the criminal
justice system,'' Parker said.

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

Dad Fights School On Drug Tests (UPI says the father of a teenager
who was suspended from school in Ewing, New Jersey, for refusing to take
a drug test after he fell asleep in class, says he and his son are ready
to fight the school board.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 14:02:34 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NJ: Wire: Dad Fights School On Drug Tests
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Dad fights school on drug tests
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: United Press International
Copyright: 1999 United Press International

DAD FIGHTS SCHOOL ON DRUG TESTS

(EWING) - The father of a Ewing, N.J., teenager suspended from school
for refusing to take a drug test says he and his son are ready to
fight the school board. Michael Glappa Jr. was suspended for 10 days
after he refused to undergo a school-ordered drug test when he was
found napping in class. Glappa admitted that he has used marijuana in
the past, but said he fell asleep in class because he was sitting
next to a heater that made him sleepy. The boy's father, Michael
Glappa Sr., says his son has taken a drug test on his own to prove
that he is drug-free. School board officials say they even if Glappa
is shown to be drug-free, he still might not be admitted into school
until his suspension is up. The boy's father says has retained a
lawyer and plans to fight the school board if necessary.

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

19 Inmates Moved In Bid To Bust Drug Ring (The Washington Post says hundreds
of prison guards and state police, under the guise of conducting an emergency
drill, yesterday removed 19 inmates from Maryland's maximum security House of
Correction in Jessup. The exercise was intended to break up a network that
officials said was dealing drugs and bootleg liquor in the 1,200-prisoner
institution. Three correctional officers were also stopped as they came to
work when special ion-scan machines at the prison entrance detected illegal
drugs on their bodies.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 20:42:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MD: WP: 19 Inmates Moved In Bid To Bust Drug Ring
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Galasyn
Pubdate: 14 Feb 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Paul W. Valentine

19 INMATES MOVED IN BID TO BUST DRUG RING

Md. Prison Group 'Too Influential'

With a massive show of force to deter any outbursts, prison guards and
state police yesterday removed 19 inmates from Maryland's maximum security
House of Correction in Jessup to break up a network that officials said was
dealing drugs and bootleg liquor in the 1,200-prisoner institution.

Under the guise of conducting an emergency drill, hundreds of correctional
officers, armed with stun guns and tear gas and accompanied by attack dogs,
swarmed through the fortress-like prison. They seized the 19 inmates during
a cell-by-cell search for weapons, drugs and other contraband. There were
no reports of violence or injuries.

By early afternoon, a dozen handmade knives and a small quantity of drugs
had been confiscated, officials said, with more expected as the sweep
continued through the century-old building. Inmates flushed drugs down
toilets as search teams approached, officials said.

Three correctional officers also were stopped as they came to work when
special ion-scan machines at the prison entrance detected illegal drugs on
their bodies. They were ordered to undergo urinalysis, and they could face
dismissal and criminal charges.

The 19 inmates, who were strip-searched, handcuffed and placed in waist
chains and leg irons, were taken by bus to the Maryland Correctional
Adjustment Center 20 miles north in Baltimore, the state's toughest lockup,
known as Supermax. They will be held there temporarily, officials said,
then transferred to other prisons, possibly including some in other states.

"We're trying to cut the head off the snake," said George Brosan, deputy
secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, who
was present for the prison sweep, along with other high-ranking officials.

He said that prison authorities, who can transfer inmates if they perceive
a security problem, wanted to disperse the 19 to minimize their ability to
remain in touch and exert control over the House of Correction or any of
the state's other 25 prison facilities.

Brosan and Acting Commissioner of Correction William Sondervan told
reporters at a briefing that the inmates, most of them serving long
sentences on murder and armed robbery convictions, were exerting an
internal grip on the institution, fostering illicit activity, from drug
smuggling to manufacturing homemade liquor called "jump study." Officials
said they were also investigating reports of prostitution involving female
prison employees.

"They weren't running the place," Sondervan said, "but they were too
influential."

"What we had to do," said public safety department spokesman Leonard Sipes,
"was to take action now because the possibility somewhere down the road is
that it would have gotten out of control."

Signs of the prisoners' mounting influence, other officials said, included
evidence that the inmates were intimidating some guards and protecting
others in exchange for favors.

Recent inmate drug-testing at the House of Correction, according to a
prison report, showed 13 percent of the total population had given positive
urine samples -- almost quadruple the rate among the state's 22,000
inmates. The figures suggest, officials said, that drugs are reaching a
large number of inmates with the complicity of a small number of guards or
other employees.

Yesterday's operation was secretly planned for weeks by a handful of top
corrections officials. Concerned that the sweep could trigger widespread
anger and violence, officials clamped tight "lock-down" conditions on the
inmates, many of them veterans of recent uprisings in Jessup and other
state prisons.

Timing of the action -- begun early on a Saturday when there typically is
minimal prisoner activity and movement -- was a key component in the
planning. After the prisoners finished breakfast at 7 a.m., they returned
to their cells and dormitories for a routine head count. Once there, they
were kept locked up, and the search for weapons and other contraband began.

The crackdown was part of a continuing criminal investigation in the
institution, which includes the expanded use of federally funded anti-drug
hardware, such as video cameras and night vision devices, as well as new
high-tech equipment donated by Bell Atlantic to monitor inmate telephone
calls.

Said Sondervan, "We've sent a message: Drugs will not be tolerated."

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

Newspaper: Probes launched into Customs Service (According to the Associated
Press, the Miami Herald said Sunday that investigators from the U.S. Senate
and Treasury Department had launched nationwide probes into alleged
mismanagement in the U.S. Customs Service. The probes were prompted in part
by stories in the Herald that recounted dozens of examples of employees whose
careers flourished despite instances of dating drug smugglers, tampering with
evidence, skimming seized drug cash and having sex with a paid informant.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 15:58:18 -0600
From: "robert w. frazier" (fz2@usac.net)
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: you say NO WAY..
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

Newspaper: Probes launched into Customs Service

The Associated Press
02/14/99 4:06 PM Eastern

MIAMI (AP) -- U.S. Senate and Treasury Department investigators have
launched nationwide probes into alleged mismanagement in the U.S. Customs
Service, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

The investigations are expected to culminate this summer in Senate oversight
hearings and proposed reforms, the newspaper said.

The probes were prompted in part by stories in the Herald that reported
dozens of examples of employees whose careers flourished despite instances of
dating drug smugglers, tampering with evidence, skimming seized drug cash and
having sex with a paid informant.

A Customs investigation found inappropriate leniency in at least five cases,
The newspaper reported. Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly has begun to make
changes, including forced moves of Miami's three top administrators.

A team from the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General is
Reviewing cases detailed by the Herald. Last week, the team told Customs it
is expanding the probe to include an audit of 1997 and 1998 internal affairs
case files in El Paso, Texas; New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los
Angeles, Miami and the Customs database center in Virginia.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.

(c) 1999 Oregon Live LLC

Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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

Federal Probes Target Customs (The Knight-Ridder news service version
in the San Jose Mercury News)

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 20:03:00 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Federal Probes Target Customs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Knight-Ridder

FEDERAL PROBES TARGET CUSTOMS

Newspaper Reported Cronyism, Leniency

MIAMI -- U.S. Senate and Treasury investigators have launched
simultaneous nationwide probes of alleged mismanagement within the
U.S. Customs Service, questioning systematic cronyism and undeserved
leniency toward favored employees who break the law.

Both investigations were prompted in part by stories in the Miami
Herald that found dozens of examples of careers that flourished after
misdeeds such as dating drug smugglers, tampering with evidence,
skimming seized drug cash, having sex with a paid informant and other
crimes and policy violations.

Hearings expected

The investigations are expected to culminate this summer in Senate
oversight hearings and proposed reforms. One possibility: stripping
the 20,000-employee Customs Service of all its internal-affairs functions.

Customs' own ongoing investigation found inappropriate leniency in at
least five cases cited by the Herald, and Customs Commissioner Raymond
Kelly has begun a major agency shake-up that has included forced moves
of Miami's three top administrators.

Kelly's actions are the latest in a series of attempted reforms
imposed on the agency by federal regulators and oversight panels in
recent years.

Cases under review

A team from the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General is
reviewing all the Florida cases detailed by the Herald. Last week, the
team told Customs it is expanding the probe to include an audit of
1997 and 1998 internal-affairs case files in El Paso, Texas; New
Orleans; Philadelphia; Chicago; Los Angeles; Miami; and the Customs
database center in Virginia.

In addition, U.S. Sen. William Roth Jr., R-Del., chair of the Senate
Finance Committee, requested three years of disciplinary records
nationwide, including all complaints, allegations of employee
misconduct, and all of Customs' internal referrals to federal
prosecutors.

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

Clinton To Discuss Drug War, Trade In Mexico (Reuters says U.S. President
Clinton was due to arrive in the Yucatan city of Merida Monday for talks with
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo that will focus heavily on the two
countries' strained alliance in the drug war.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 20:44:04 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US/Mexico: Wire: Clinton To Discuss Drug War, Trade In Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: 14 Feb 1999
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.
Author: Richard Jacobsen

CLINTON TO DISCUSS DRUG WAR, TRADE IN MEXICO

MERIDA, Mexico, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Mexican leaders prepared to welcome U.S.
President Bill Clinton on Sunday for talks that will focus heavily on the
two countries' strained alliance in the drug war.

Clinton was due to arrive in the Yucatan city of Merida at 6 p.m. local
time (7 p.m. EST) (0000 GMT Monday) for his first foreign trip since being
acquitted by the U.S. Senate on Friday of impeachment charges in the Monica
Lewinsky scandal.

President Ernesto Zedillo was to meet with Clinton later on Sunday and Monday.

Mexico is bristling over the annual U.S. process of certifying allies in
its war on drugs even though there are indications that the Zedillo
government will not be blacklisted.

The Clinton administration will report to the U.S. Congress within two
weeks on the extent of cooperation received from nations viewed as major
producers of drugs or routes for illegal narcotics entering the United States.

Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green told reporters ahead of the Clinton
visit that the U.S. anti-drug certification process was not appropriate for
Mexico. She said it "is frankly against the spirit of collaboration that
should exist between our two countries, our governments and our peoples."

Decertification could mean a loss of some trade and economic benefits.

U.S. officials estimate that two-thirds of Colombian cocaine landing on
U.S. streets crosses Mexican territory, and they note that Mexico is also a
major producer of marijuana, opium and amphetamines.

Clinton administration officials have indicated they believe Zedillo's
government is making some progress in stemming the flow of illegal drugs,
an indication that Mexico will remain in good standing in the U.S.
anti-drug effort.

But some members of Congress and others in the United States want Clinton
to step up pressure on Mexican drug smuggling and drug-related police and
government corruption by decertifying the country as an ally in the drug war.

Many Mexicans view the certification process as an arrogant, one-sided
exercise by the United States. Mexico's U.S. critics "ignore that the
growth in drug trafficking is a product of the booming market represented
by the millions of addicts living in U.S. territory," Mexico City's El
Universal daily said in a weekend editorial.

Amid the certification controversy, Clinton and Zedillo are expected to
announce new steps to fight drug smuggling, including a recently unveiled
Mexican programme that will include high-tech systems for uncovering drugs
in vehicles crossing the 2,000-mile (3,300-km) U.S.-Mexico border.

The two are also likely to praise progress made in the five years of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the United States, Mexico
and Canada.

"I'm under the impression that it will be a very positive conversation (on
NAFTA) because the results measured in increased trade and investment have
been positive," Green said.

The Mexico-U.S. talks will also touch on ways to protect the lives of
undocumented Mexicans crossing the border, after a surge in deaths from
dehydration, exposure and drowning.

Clinton and Zedillo will also address ways to help Central American nations
recover from Hurricane Mitch.

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

Clintons, Lawmakers Headed For Mexico (The UPI version notes Clinton
was accompanied by two dozen members of Congress. On March 1 Clinton
is expected to certify Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in the war
on some drug users.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 20:44:01 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US/Mexico: Wire: Clintons, Lawmakers Headed For Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: 14 Feb 1999
Source: United Press International
Copyright: 1999 United Press International

CLINTONS, LAWMAKERS HEADED FOR MEXICO

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) - President Clinton is headed to Mexico for his
semiannual consultation with his Mexican counterpart, Ernesto Zedillo, with
economic agreements, border matters and Mexico's effort to stop the illegal
drug trade on the agenda.

Clinton, his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and two dozen lawmakers will
spend tonight and Monday with Zedillo and other Mexican lawmakers in the
ancient city of Merida. Clinton originally planned the visit as part of a
weeklong tour of Central America but postponed all but the Mexico stop
until March to await his acquittal in the impeachment trial.

The Clintons departed the White House without comment and were expected to
arrive in the Yucatan peninsula early this evening. They are to dine with
Zedillo and his wife later.

U.S. officials anticipate no major new agreements between Clinton and
Zedillo, although they predicted a series of deal-signings in such areas as
trade, environmental protection, immigration, border safety and health care.

Clinton's visit also comes days before he is due to make his annual March 1
decision on whether to add Mexico to the small list of countries deemed to
be not cooperating in the fight against drugs.

The U.S. president is expected to renew his certification of Mexico's
drug-fighting efforts, and face criticism from lawmakers who disagree and
Mexicans offended by the process.

Clinton was joined on the trip by 24 members of Congress, including two
senators and four Republicans.

The two presidents plan to meet Monday for several hours at a historic
hotel outside of Merida, both by themselves and later with Cabinet-level
advisers, then return to Merida to sign a joint declaration.

National security adviser Sandy Berger, who is traveling with the
president, said Clinton will devote the visit to making ``steady, practical
progress across the range of common interests that we have with Mexico.''

He said the agenda is topped by economic and trade matters, crediting the
5- year-old North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States,
Canada and Mexico with helping the three countries weather the worldwide
financial crisis.

Berger said Clinton and an entourage of top advisers planned to discuss
other matters, as well, including strengthening cross-border cooperation
against trafficking in human beings, improving methods for handling
complaints of border violence and battling a new strain of drug-resistant
tuberculosis along the border, among others.

Officials said the U.S.-Mexico talks also will be aimed at reaching
agreements in areas that include global warming, environmental protection
provisions under NAFTA, expanding relief efforts for Central American
victims of Hurricane Mitch, increasing cooperation against forest fires,
and better protecting endangered species.

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

Clinton Turns Focus To Mexico (The Chicago Tribune version)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 15:57:11 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Clinton Turns Focus To Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Section: Sec. 1
Copyright: 1999 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/
Author: Paul de la Garza and Roger Simon

CLINTON TURNS FOCUS TO MEXICO

MEXICO CITY -- When the Zedillo administration got word that President
Clinton was coming to Mexico for a "working visit" this weekend, the
first question some officials asked was, "Why?"

Not that Clinton is unwelcome here.

The U.S. and Mexico have generally good relations, and other than the
annual question of whether Mexico will be certified as a partner in
the war on illegal drugs, there are no pressing issues that require a
visit by the world's most powerful leader.

What then, some wondered, would bring Clinton to Mexico, and for less
than 24 hours?

The trip was planned before Friday's impeachment vote was scheduled in
the Senate. Clinton and President Ernesto Zedillo have a longstanding
agreement to meet every six months. They last met in the U.S. in June
following a session at the United Nations.

But some analysts suggest now that the Senate has voted not to remove
the president from office, the White House is bent on showing the
American people and the world that Clinton is very much in control of
his own agenda.

"He wants to get the focus back . . . by looking presidential," said
John Bailey, a political scientist who studies Mexican politics at
Georgetown University.

Consequently, said Bailey, "He'll be seen doing foreign policy
stuff."

Over the years, Mexican government officials say, Clinton and Zedillo
have established a good working relationship. It was Clinton who
helped push a bailout package of Mexico after the peso's value plunged
in December 1994, dragging the nation into economic chaos.

Clinton is widely seen as a champion of Mexico's interests, especially
in certifying every spring that Mexico is doing its part in the war on
illegal drugs and is therefore eligible for U.S. aid, which amounted
to $40 million in 1997.

Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are scheduled to arrive
Sunday evening in Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula.

On Monday, Clinton and Zedillo are scheduled to meet privately for an
hour before opening up the session to other officials. The president
and Mrs. Clinton are to fly back to Washington in the afternoon.

Clinton initially had planned to visit hurricane-ravaged Central
America on this trip as well, but delayed it until next month.

Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the
meeting would touch on a host of issues.

"In essence," he said, "we try to maintain a close relationship with
Mexico and we have a wide range of issues for the trip," including "a
review of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), which has
been a very successful treaty, and migration issues."

Hammer said there is growing concern in Washington and Mexico City at
the number of migrants passing through Mexico on the way to the U.S.,
a result of the damage from Hurricane Mitch in Central America last
year.

Hammer said some environmental issues would be discussed, especially
in the border area. "General law-enforcement issues" will round out
the agenda, he said.

By March 1, Clinton must certify to Congress that Mexico is "fully
cooperating" in the drug war. The White House, however, said no action
would be taken until Secretary of State Madeleine Albright makes a
recommendation, expected within the next two weeks.

Every year, Mexican officials bristle when the certification issue
arises. Many view the process as hypocritical, given the United
States' high demand for illegal drugs.

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

Clinton And Zedillo To Talk About Drug War (The Houston Chronicle version)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 14:05:51 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: Clinton And Zedillo To Talk About Drug War
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: GALAN@prodigy.net (G. A ROBISON)
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 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: DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Page: 34A

CLINTON AND ZEDILLO TO TALK ABOUT DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY - A tense year put behind him with the end of his
impeachment trial, President Clinton is doing what many stressed-out
Americans have done for generations: He's heading for Mexico.

But what had been expected to be a relaxing stopover after a trip to
storm-ravaged Central America has been transformed into a
agenda-filled visit framed by the annual tug-of-war between Clinton's
administration and the U.S. Congress over Mexico's anti-narcotics efforts.

"It's going to be a working trip," said Mike Hammer, a spokesman at
the White House.

Clinton's visit to Central America has been postponed until early next
month. But the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are
scheduled to arrive in the city of Merida, capital of Yucatan state,
tonight for a 24-hour visit with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

"The president is going to Mexico because this is arguably the most
important bilateral relationship that the United States has," Samuel
"Sandy" Berger, Clinton's national security adviser, told reporters in
Washington last week. "The focus of the trip will be on steady,
practical progress across the range of common interests that we have
with Mexico."

Clinton, Zedillo and their wives will dine together tonight in Merida.
Then the two leaders will hold talks, along with members of their
cabinets and staffs, on Monday morning.

After about 2 1/2 hours of meetings with Zedillo, Clinton will give a
40-minute speech to business executives Monday afternoon in Merida
before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington.

Despite the brevity of the visit, White House officials say Clinton
and Zedillo will discuss issues ranging from narcotics and immigration
to the five-year-old North America Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA,
which formally links the economies of Mexico, the United States and
Canada.

"All these (presidential) visits are important because they oblige the
presidents, especially the U.S. president, to focus on the
relationship," said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, an expert on
U.S.-Mexico relations. "You have started seeing some negligence in
Washington in terms of Mexico. The (Clinton) administration has been
distracted."

Both Clinton and Zedillo, who will leave office in 2000, are winding
up presidencies plagued by crises: Clinton's personal and political,
Zedillo's economic.

That has led some analysts to question the importance of this visit,
especially since it is to be so brief.

"This is the last summit for lame ducks," said Federico Estevez, a
Mexico City political scientist. "This is their last hurrah before
they have to hand over (bilateral policy) to their candidate in the
presidential races.

Still, the Merida meeting comes just weeks before Clinton must make
his annual "certification" to Congress that Mexico and other countries
are cooperating fully with the U.S. government's effort to curtail the
international narcotics trade.

Despite years of corruption scandals and evidence of high-level
official involvement with drug smuggling organizations, no U.S.
administration has ever decertified Mexico on the grounds its
government was not making a good-faith effort in the drug war.

Last week, Clinton administration officials once again praised
Mexico's efforts in the drug war.

"There's a difference between cooperation and success," State
Department spokesman James Rubin said.

Two-thirds of Colombian cocaine passes through Mexico on its way to
U.S. consumers, U.S. drug enforcement experts say. Mexican narcotics
gangs also produce and ship large quantities of heroin, marijuana and
methamphetamine to the United States.

The multibillion-dollar narcotics industry has spun a web of
corruption in the Mexican government, from low-level police officers
employed as body guards for smugglers to the highest levels of power.
For example, Mexico's newly appointed drug czar was arrested in
February 1996 for allegedly being employed by the country's most
powerful narcotics smuggler.

The certification issue has become an annual ritual in Washington, as
the White House and Congress tussle over Mexico, and an annual torment
in Mexico, where many resent what they see as U.S. meddling in this
country's internal affairs.

Zedillo sent Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Labastida to
Washington last week to sway the U.S. administration and Congress.
Some members of Congress publicly vowed again to challenge the
president's expected certification of Mexico. But some analysts
believe such challenges will be dampened in a Congress weary from a
year of political scandal and a bruising impeachment process.

"I don't see that Mexico constitutes a cause for battle (in the
Congress)," said political scientist John Bailey, an expert on Mexican
politics at Georgetown University in Washington. "They're not looking
for a fight right away (after the impeachment trial)."

Berger said that despite tensions over drug enforcement, immigration
and other issues, the U.S.-Mexico relations "begins with economics."
He pointed out that Mexico is now the United States' second largest
trading partner, after Canada, and imported $79 billion in U.S. goods
last year, double the total before the trade agreement was signed.

"NAFTA has helped insulate both countries from the impact of the
global financial crisis," Berger said.

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

Clinton for Mexico for quick summit (The Associated Press version)

From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Clinton for Mexico for quick summit
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 17:22:58 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net

By Associated Press, 02/14/99 14:40

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a quick pivot from impeachment, President Clinton heads
for Mexico on Sunday for a quick summit to encourage more progress in its
difficult struggle against illegal drugs and government corruption.

Two days after his acquittal by the Senate, Clinton was to meet with
President Ernesto Zedillo at Merida in the Yucatan peninsula, a popular
tourist destination.

The visit - 23 hours from landing to takeoff - comes two weeks before the
administration must render a formal evaluation of Mexico's cooperation in
fighting drug trafficking. Clinton and Zedillo have met about every six
months over the last few years, and officials say this meeting is intended
simply to maintain good relations.

The two leaders are expected to discuss immigration and complete an
agreement on border safety and curbing border violence.

Mexico could be hit with tough economic sanctions if it receives a failing
grade in the drug battle. While the administration says Mexico has a
tremendous drug problem, it is believed likely Clinton will certify Mexico
as a cooperative ally in fighting narcotics, as it has been in all 12 years
since the congressionally mandated review process began.

Even before Clinton's trip, the administration appeared to be laying
groundwork for a positive report while acknowledging that cocaine seizures
by the Mexican police have dropped.

''President Zedillo is clearly trying to establish a clean government and
respect for the rule of law,'' Sandy Berger, the president's national
security adviser, told reporters.

He said Mexico is confronting its problem of government corruption ''with
remarkable candor.''

''Indeed, much of what we know and much of what troubles us about the extent
of corruption in the Mexican law-enforcement effort has emerged from
Mexico's own efforts to uproot it,'' Berger said. ''And that's something we
need to acknowledge and encourage.''

James Dobbins, the National Security Council's senior director for
InterAmerican Affairs, said, ''We think we've made a lot of progress over
the last year.''

Mexico blames the United States for much of its drug problem, because
Americans are the world's biggest buyers of illicit narcotics. Yet, in hopes
of winning certification, Mexico announced a $400 million ''total war'' Feb.
4 that calls for buying aircraft, ships, radar, X-ray equipment and other
items.

Mexico is a major transit point for cocaine shipments from South America to
the United States. It also is a major producer of marijuana and a
significant produer of heroin.

With frictions over drugs, the administration sought to highlight progress
on another front: booming economic trade between the United States and
Mexico in the five years since the North American Free Trade Agreement,
known as NAFTA.

Mexico has emerged as the second largest foreign market for U.S. exports,
after Canada. It eclipses even Japan, Berger noted.

U.S. exports to Mexico total $79 billion a year, more than twice the
pre-NAFTA figure. Mexico accounts for close to 20 percent of the total of
U.S. export growth in the last five years.

''So it's worth remembering tha our trade relationship with Mexico has
protected a lot of American workers from losing their jobs at a time of
tremendous uncertainty and upheaval in the global economy,'' Berger said.

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

Clinton To Go To Mexico (A different Associated Press version goes into more
detail on the behind-the-scenes certification struggle.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 18:21:43 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Clinton To Go To Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer

CLINTON TO GO TO MEXICO

WASHINGTON (AP) White House officials admit that Mexico still has a
"tremendous problem" with drug trafficking but are praising its eradication
efforts in advance of President Clinton's two-day trip there that begins
Sunday.

Mexico's war against drug traffickers, highlighted by a new $400 million,
land-sea-and-air battle plan, tops the agenda for Clinton's meetings with
Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

The setting will be the Yucatan Peninsula, a tourist haven where the two
presidents and their wives will have a Valentine's evening dinner before
Clinton and Zedillo get down to business on Monday. They have met seven
times previously.

In addition to drugs, their agenda includes trade, migration and the
environment.

Their meetings will take place against a background of a congressionally
mandated review of Mexico's cooperation with U.S. counternarcotics efforts
in the past year.

Mexico could face stiff economic sanctions if it receives a failing grade,
but all signs point to a U.S. decision to "certify" Mexico as fully
cooperative as it has been all 12 years the process has been in effect.

Taking nothing for granted about Clinton's decision, however, Mexico
declared "total war" against the drug chieftains Feb. 4 through a program
that specifies early detection of drug flights and sea shipments and a
stepped-up counternarcotics role for the Mexican army.

The three-year plan contemplates purchases of aircraft, ships, radar, X-ray
equipment and other items.

Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said Friday that drug
control is an important part of the U.S. agenda. In the two years since
Clinton and Zedillo established a set of common objectives, he said, "We
have seen Mexico extradite fugitives, eradicate thousands of acres of opium,
criminalize money-laundering and institute a new screening process for
law-enforcement officials."

"Still, obviously this is a tremendous problem for Mexico, but one that they
are tackling," he said.

Last year, with the certification decision just weeks away, the two
countries announced a plan outlining joint projects against drug
consumption, money laundering, gunrunning and narcotics smuggling.

The review process targets about 30 countries deemed to be sources for drugs
or through which drugs transit. Only a handful were decertified a year ago.

While seemingly assured a clean bill of health from Clinton, there were no
such assurances that Mexico's expected certification won't be overturned by
Congress, where skepticism runs deep about the Zedillo government's
performance.

Quoting from an internal White House memo, The Washington Post reported last
week that congressional opponents of certification want more than good-faith
efforts "They want results, including extraditions of Mexican nationals,
more prosecutions of corrupt officials and more than paper agreements about
cooperative law-enforcement arrangements."

With a two-thirds vote, the Congress could overturn a Clinton certification,
which officials fear could trigger a nationalist backlash in Mexico.

The certification process is widely disliked in Mexico. "It does more harm
than good," says Rafael Fernandez de Castro, a Mexican academic on leave
this year at the Brookings Institution. He said the process fuels
nationalistic feelings that impair cross border relations.

Robert Leiken, an expert on Mexico at Brookings, says Mexicans are baffled
by the process because they believe the drug problem exists only because of
the demand for narcotics in the United States.

Leiken questions whether it is realistic to assume that Mexico will be able
to deal with narcotics traffickers, given its inability to cope with a
steadily worsening problem of street crime.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin acknowledged this past week that
the drug problem may be more than Mexico can handle because of the vast
resources of the drug runners.

But he noted the certification process does not take into account results.
"There is a difference between cooperation and success," he said.

Clinton's trip to Mexico and other Central American countries, originally
scheduled for last week, was postponed after the Senate set a goal of
finishing the president's impeachment trial by Friday, when he still would
have been out of the country. The Senate acquitted Clinton on Friday.

The Mexico leg was rescheduled for Sunday and Monday. He will visit
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala in March.

Mexico is a major transit point for U.S.-bound cocaine shipments from South
America. It is also a major producer of marijuana and a significant producer
of heroin.

A delegation of Mexican officials visiting Washington admitted Wednesday
that seizures of illicit narcotics have been down over the past year. They
raised the possibility that Colombian narcotraffickers may be relying more
on routes other than Mexico for their drug shipments because of increased
law enforcement in Mexico.

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

U.S. Is Brushing Off Mexico's Drug Data (A New York Times piece about the
annual contortions experienced by the United States government while
certifying Mexico as an ally in the drug war says that by most statistical
measures, the Mexican record looks especially bad this year. Drug seizures by
the Mexican police have fallen significantly. Nearly all of the most
important Mexican narcotics traffickers identified last year remain at large.
The promised extraditions of some Mexican drug suspects to the United States
have not materialized, and drug enforcement programs have been rocked by a
series of public conflicts between the two governments. But "This is not
about what Mexico has done," said one official with the Clinton
administration. "This is about convincing the Hill that whatever Mexico has
done is enough.")

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 20:31:18 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: NYT: U.S. Is Brushing Off Mexico's Drug Data
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Galasyn
Pubdate: 14 Feb 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Tim Golden with Christopher S. Wren

U.S. IS BRUSHING OFF MEXICO'S DRUG DATA

WASHINGTON -- As the Clinton administration weighs its annual evaluation of
Mexico's cooperation in fighting illegal drugs, U.S. officials admit
privately that by most statistical measures, the Mexican record looks
especially bad this year.

Drug seizures by the Mexican police have fallen significantly. Nearly all
of the most important Mexican narcotics traffickers identified last year
remain at large. The promised extraditions of some Mexican drug suspects to
the United States have not materialized, and drug enforcement programs have
been rocked by a series of public conflicts between the two governments.

Yet even as President Clinton embarks on a brief visit to Mexico starting
Sunday, his aides have neither despaired of such facts nor spent much time
analyzing them.

"There is a difference between cooperation and success," the State
Department spokesman, James Rubin, argued last week. While their
cooperation might not be having much effect on the problem, he suggested,
Mexican officials "are cooperating more closely with the United States at
virtually every level than ever before."

The fervor with which administration officials are praising Mexico's record
-- even before studying the assessments being collected from various
government agencies -- underscores how for Mexico the yearly
"certification" process has become more of a joint public-relations
campaign aimed at the Congress than an objective appraisal.

"This is not about what Mexico has done," one administration official said,
speaking on the condition that he not be identified. "This is about
convincing the Hill that whatever Mexico has done is enough."

Administration officials say their evaluation, which is expected by the end
of the month and mandated by a 1986 law for countries where drugs are
produced or transported, is particularly counterproductive in Mexico.

To observe the law strictly and possibly impose the economic penalties it
contemplates, they argue, would be to place a strategic and complex
relationship at risk for just one of the many interests that the United
States has in Mexico. And Mexican officials have done their best to
underscore that risk.

"I don't even want to think what decertification would provoke," Mexico's
ambassador to the United States, Jesus Reyes Heroles, said in an interview.
"The equilibrium that underlies our relationship with the United States
would be undone."

Many analysts of Mexican politics describe such warnings as overblown.
Moreover, aides to a half-dozen Washington legislators who have played
leading roles on the drug issue say Mexico's decertification is unlikely
anyway.

The aides, speaking on the condition they not be identified, said they
expected a formal endorsement of Mexico's efforts from the administration
and then an energetic congressional effort to override that endorsement.

But they added that they see no clear sign that they will be any more able
to reverse the certification than they were last year, when a Senate motion
for disapproval gathered only 45 votes.

"There's a kind of weariness with fighting the same battle over and over,"
a Senate aide said. "It gets old."

Supporters of the administration note that although the Mexican authorities
have not made much headway against the drug mafias over the last year, the
establishment of elite anti-drug units within the army and the federal
police has led to closer working relationships with the CIA, the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the FBI.

But officials from each of those agencies challenge the administration's
public assertion that the Mexican authorities are trying their best. Those
officials contend that the obstacle to success in Mexico is not so much the
strength of the traffickers or the inexperience of the police but the
Mexican government's unwillingness to fight corruption more aggressively.

Intelligence officers working with the military's special anti-drug force,
the Center for Anti-Narcotics Information, say they believe that some of
its efforts may have been compromised by corrupt superiors, officials said.
Three senior agents of an elite Mexican police force trained by U.S.
officials failed lie-detector tests last year over questions about their
contacts with drug traffickers.

The agents were moved out of the unit but remain in the federal police.

Drug investigations that have touched on several well-known Mexican
politicians and at least a dozen high-ranking military officers have not
yet led to any arrests, despite what U.S. officials describe as strong
evidence that some of the politicians and officers have sought to protect
traffickers in return for large bribes.

Perhaps most important, officials say that on a series of occasions over
the last year, U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement officials have
provided their Mexican counterparts with information on the whereabouts of
powerful drug traffickers, only to have Mexican agents mishandle the
intelligence or wait for hours before carrying out raids.

"We give them houses, we give them phone numbers -- and nothing happens,"
said a U.S. official. "Cases go nowhere."

An embarrassing example of the problem will provide a backdrop for
President Clinton's meetings with President Ernesto Zedillo, which are to
take place in and around the city of Merida, on the Yucatan peninsula.

Just across the peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, U.S. intelligence
and law-enforcement officials have been working for more than a year with
elite Mexican forces to dismantle a major drug-smuggling operation with
headquarters in the resort city of Cancun.

In one debacle last spring, U.S. officials said, officers of the military
intelligence unit recognized two of the most important traffickers in the
Cancun organization, Ramon Alcides Magana and Albino Quintero Meraz, but
made no attempt to capture them.

On other occasions, U.S. intelligence officials gave officers of the
military unit home addresses and telephone numbers for each of the two
traffickers. But again, officials said, opportunities to arrest the pair
were lost.

Last October, the unit appeared to get an important break when it captured
Gilberto Garza Garcia, the trafficker who oversaw the mafia's movement of
cocaine shipments from Cancun up the gulf coast to McAllen, Texas.

But U.S. and Mexican officials said that after negotiating with the general
who headed the military unit and promising to help him trap Magana, Garza
Garcia was placed in the custody of two detectives from whom he escaped the
next day.

The general has since been reassigned, Garza has been recaptured and the
detectives have been under investigation since being found with more than
$20,000 given to them by the trafficker.

The White House drug-policy chief, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, suggested that
such short-term failings should not distract the United States from its
ultimate goals for Mexico. And while he and other White House officials
have often tried to silence law-enforcement agencies that are critical of
Mexico's performance, he did not hesitate to offer his own view on
certification in advance of deliberations that will be overseen by
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"I think what we ought to do is look at U.S. national interests in the long
term," McCaffrey said. "Do we think that partnership with Mexico is
important to us and is beginning to show signs of substantial cooperation?
My own advice" to Albright "is they should be certified."

Mexican officials have undertaken a similarly aggressive defense of their
efforts, lobbying more intensively than ever in Washington and spending
$100,000 a month to hire three high-profile lobbying firms to assist them
in getting their message out.

Mexican officials have also held out to U.S. officials the possibility that
they might yet deliver a spectacular, last-minute blow in the drug fight,
one that could erase questions on Capitol Hill about their willingness to
move against the mafias.

Skeptical U.S. officials have taken to calling this notion "the February
surprise."

According to senior officials of both countries, the surprise is that the
Mexican authorities, who have long been investigating the governor of
Quintana Roo, Mario Villanueva Madrid, might move to indict him on
drug-related charges sometime after Clinton's departure.

Villanueva has repeatedly denied providing any support to the drug mafia
that has flourished in Quintana Roo during his administration, but a
Mexican federal judge last week denied the governor's request for
information about the investigation against him.

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

Pot Gets Judge's Approval (The Sunday Mail, in Australia, says Justice Alan
Demack of Queensland last week discharged an invalid pensioner, 54, who had
pleaded guilty to unlawfully producing and possessing a dangerous drug and
two related charges. The judge ruled that marijuana use is acceptable for
pain relief and noted once Anthony George Bulley used marijuana, he was able
to stop using oral narcotics.)

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 06:22:19 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Pot Gets Judge's Approval
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Russell.Ken.KW@bhp.com.au (Russell, Ken KW)
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Feb 1999
Source: Sunday Mail (Australia)
Contact: mailedit@ozemail.com.au
Author: Chris Taylor

POT GETS JUDGE'S APPROVAL

A QUEENSLAND judge has ruled marijuana use is acceptable for pain relief.

The landmark ruling was criticised by medical professionals and anti-drug
campaigners, who said there was no scientific evidence the illegal drug
eased pain.

Justice Alan Demack last week discharged an invalid pensioner, 54, who
pleaded guilty to unlawfully producing and possessing a dangerous drug and
two related charges.

Anthony George Bulley, of Dalrymple Heights near Mackay, said he used
marijuana for chronic back pain.

Legal sources said such a defence was not uncommon but had not succeeded
before.

Drug Arm education and training co-ordinator Mark Brown said the ruling sent
a dangerous message, particularly to young people.

"It's still an illegal substance and the man should have been penalised," he
said. "In fairness, there is evidence that it does have some therapeutic
benefit. But that doesn't come from actually smoking the drug but from pills
containing (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) THC."

Australian Medical Association federal president David Brand said: "There is
no scientific evidence available from proper trials to justify the use of
marijuana in palliative care.

"We don't advocate that patients partake in illicit drugs."

Attorney-General Matt Foley last night declined to discuss the court
decision.

Police charged Bulley after they uncovered 150 mostly immature marijuana
plants last September.

The court was told he was forced to quit his job as a plumber after
suffering a back injury about six years ago.

In July 1996, he had spinal surgery in Rockhampton but an infection left a
hole at the top of the spine.

Justice Demack found Bulley successfully used marijuana instead of narcotic
pain killers to counter considerable pain "of a chronic nature" and did not
impose a conviction or penalty.

He said once Bulley used marijuana he had been able to give up oral
narcotics.

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

US Tinky Stink Makes British Week (A Boston Globe dispatch from London
says the Brits are beside themselves over the Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Parents
Alert" Thursday to guard children against the alleged gay influence of Tinky
Winky, the largest of the four Teletubbies, the British import that has
become a staple on US public television for toddlers. Commenting on stupidity
among Americans is a favorite pastime here, but it takes a vivid imagination
to find anything sexual about the Teletubbies. In London, teenagers and young
adults have been known to take drugs and hold parties watching tapes of the
show. Some critics here have suggested the underlying theme of the children's
series is not sex, but the ingestion of prodigious amounts of hallucinogens.)

Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 20:43:58 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: US Tinky Stink Makes British Week
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Galasyn
Pubdate: 14 Feb 1999
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Author: Kevin Cullen, Globe Staff

US TINKY STINK MAKES BRITISH WEEK

LONDON - Most Britons greeted the outings of three gay Cabinet ministers in
recent months with stifled yawns. But when the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the
American televangelist, outed one of the Teletubbies this past week, the
country responded with guffaws.

Commenting on stupidity among Americans is a favorite pastime here, and
because of Falwell, the Brits had no shortage of fodder last week.

News broke here on Thursday that Falwell had warned readers of his National
Liberty Journal under a ''Parents Alert'' to guard their children against
the influence of Tinky Winky, the largest of the four Teletubbies, the
British import that has become a staple on US public television.

Falwell said that Tinky Winky was a closet gay role model, part of what he
considers an insidious campaign to brainwash the masses into accepting that
homosexuals are normal.

As evidence, Falwell cited Tinky Winky's color, purple, which he said is
the gay pride color, and the triangle antenna on Tinky Winky's head, again
a symbol of gay pride. And, Falwell pointed out, while Tinky Winky mumbles
in the voice of a male, the purple Teletubby at times carries a handbag.

In London, a spokesman for Ragdoll Productions, which created
''Teletubbies'' and distributes it in the United States, said he was
perplexed by Falwell's conspiracy theory.

First, the gay pride color in Britain is pink, not purple. And Tinky
Winky's accessory is a magic bag, not a handbag. As for the antenna, the
spokesman suggested that Falwell, or anyone else predisposed to creating
controversy, could make all sorts of insinuating accusations about the
antennae of the other Teletubbies. Dipsy's, for example, could be viewed as
phallic.

The BBC, which broadcasts ''Teletubbies'' in Britain and distributes them
internationally, issued a statement saying, ''Teletubbies is an
entertainment and innocent program for preschool children to enjoy. Any
symbolism people may find in it is of their own making.''

Still, if Falwell's accusations against Tinky Winky are just off color,
Tinky Winky is no stranger to controversy. In 1997, David Thompson, the
British actor who first wore the Tinky Winky costume, was fired because, as
Ragdoll and the BBC put it at the time, ''his interpretation of the role
was not acceptable.''

It emerged that one of Thompson's hobbies was ''naked balloon dancing,''
whatever that is.

For all the talk of sex, watching the Teletubbies is a mind-numbing
experience. It takes a vivid imagination to find anything sexual about
them. The Teletubbies, who wear no clothes but show no signs of genitalia,
are gentle creatures who speak in gibberish - like the preschoolers who
form their audience. They often engage in communal affection, known in
Teletubby parlance as ''big hugs.''

In London, teenagers and young adults have been known to take drugs and
hold parties watching tapes of the Teletubbies. Some critics here have
suggested the underlying theme of the children's series is not sex, but the
ingestion of prodigious amounts of hallucinogens.

No one here had ever complained about the supposed sexual content of the
Teletubbies, or more specifically that Tinky Winky was gay. That is, until
Falwell piped up.

The Brits, meanwhile, are beside themselves.

Wait, they say, until Falwell finds out that the actress who plays Po is
Pui Fan Lee, a Chinese left-wing radical.

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

[End]