| July 1997 #004 | ||||||||
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A DrugSense publication
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Table of Contents
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Dear DrugSense subscribers:
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DrugSense is growing in leaps and bounds. The positive feedback from so
many of you has been heartening to see.
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Those who haven't visited the new DrugSense web page at
http://www.drugsense.org
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Our major effort is, of course, the Media Awareness Project (MAP), and we
are always looking for more help in this important endeavor. One way you
can help is by posting the text of any drug related news articles you come
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This will get your article included in our daily DrugNews-Digest,
permanently archived on the web, and will ensure that the article is widely
distributed and available throughout the movement. | ||||||||
Thanks to all those who have been sending in letters to the editor both in
response to our MAPNews services and to our weekly Focus Alerts (FA's). Our
publication "hit rate" is becoming quite impressive and always remember
that unpublished letters have a very important impact as well. Anyone who
would like to view or read some of our published letters can view them at
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Thanks to one and all for the tremendous efforts put forth by DrugSense and
MAP volunteers. Together we ARE making a difference.
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Sincerely,
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Mark Greer
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DrugSense THIS WEEK: (Top) | ||||||||
Headaches For Many Internet Users
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Many members reported trouble with domain name lookups and e-mail addresses
over the past week. The following article should help those of you who are
experiencing difficulty. | ||||||||
SNAFU AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS LEAVES USERS ANGRY
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Corrupted data used by Network Solutions, the company that processes
Internet domain name registrations, has resulted in some Internet addresses
being routed incorrectly or not at all, say some Internet service and
backbone providers whose servers are maintained by Network Solutions. The
problems started Wednesday night, when data entry errors resulted in the
root server assigning incorrect IP addresses in response to URL requests.
The problem is affecting .com and .net addresses. Network Solutions will
have to reinstall the entire InterNIC database to correct the problem,
according to one backbone provider. "It's a nightmare week for the
Internet," says the head of a Santa Cruz Internet
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We like hearing what you think of DrugSense and the DrugSense Weekly
newsletter. | ||||||||
Feel free to send comments/suggestions to our editor, Tom Hawkins,
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Enjoy!
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAPTalk (Top) | ||||||||
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Our DrugSense Web Master has another new tool to make NewsHawking
easier... | ||||||||
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OK. The "coming soon" gizmo is online. If you would like to see the
latest submissions to the MAPNews Editor (), point your
browser at:
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You can also get this list by sending a message to
containing the command:
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get drugnews-digest latest
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I've sprinkled links to the "latest" page around the website including the
Drugnews Index page, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/
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The list will display the last 40 submissions. This should do the
trick and will hopefully cut down on duplicated effort. Feedback
and questions are most welcome. | ||||||||
Matt ()
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"What reason, like the careful ant, draws laboriously together, the wind of accident sometimes collects in a moment." -- Friedrich von Schiller | ||||||||
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Encouraging news from Dr. David Hardorn in New Zealand... | ||||||||
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Hello friends,
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Something good is happening here. As many/most of you know, the NZ Drug Policy Forum Trust will soon release a major discussion paper discussing the pros and cons of alternative systems of cannabis control, and related topics. The paper will be available both on the Lindesmith Center and NZ Drug Foundation websites. The Foundation, which is a neutral umbrella group for all drug/alcohol-related bodies in NZ, is a separate entity from the Drug Policy Forum. The Foundation will preface the paper with a disclaimer that the views expressed are not "necessarily" those of the Foundation. | ||||||||
The Forum is calling for submissions on its discussion paper both
nationally and internationally and is committed to issuing a final report
early next year, recommending a specific, detailed alternative policy to
cannabis prohibition for New Zealand. We will urge that the cannabis law
be changed at the same time the alcohol law is changed next year (pursuant
to recommendations from a recent commission that laws be liberalized, e.g.
allowing Sunday sale). | ||||||||
snip
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Members sound off to Focus #28... | ||||||||
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The Swiss experiment is one of the most important studies to come out this
decade for those looking for solutions to the drug and crime problem. I
didn't see this in your paper. Did I miss it? Or do the powers that be
not want Americans to know that our tax money does nothing but put drug
users in jail where they can learn to become real criminals. They would
like us to think that the majority of the people they jail are drug
dealers, but
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Annette French | ||||||||
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Dear News Editor:
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I am surprised and disappointed at your newspaper's failure to cover an
important story concerning the scourge of drug addiction. On July 10th, the
Swiss announced the results of a ground-breaking 3-year heroin maintenance
study; yet your paper, along with virtually all other major newspapers
responded with a deafening silence. | ||||||||
How can you fail to see the importance of a study which reveals so much
about the nature of drug addiction, and the ability of maintenance programs
to drastically reduce the crime, disease, unemployment, and death
associated with drug addiction?
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Who are you serving when you deny the public the truth? Does your paper
decide what kind of news the public "wants" to hear?
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The is the closest thing to pure censorship we have in America -- and if you don't believe heroin studies are "news," then what is, "censorship?" | ||||||||
I am attaching the original story for your convenience. I am hoping you
will read it for the first time. | ||||||||
Best,
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R.Vlahos
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The Herald
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Thank you for being the exception to the rule. Most media outlets
totally ignored this important story. | ||||||||
Not only was this successful three year trial of heroin maintenance
largely ignored by the American daily press and broadcast media,
already, oblique verbal references to the "failure" of the Swiss
"experiment" are being heard on talk shows and other difficult-to-cite
public venues. | ||||||||
This heroin maintenance trial was conducted over a three year time span and involved over 1000 subjects. Heroin is the opioid drug which is, like marijuana, on Schedule 1 for no coherent or valid pharmacologic reason whatsoever. It has resided there since an arbitrary decision by Congress in 1924 at the behest of bureaucrats in the Narcotics unit of the Treasury Tax unit. Of course, using heroin is a bad choice, but unfortunately it has been demonized, and that demonization has, in essence, become a symbol for the falsehood and irrationality of the entire drug war. | ||||||||
Again, I thank you for seeing fit to print this important story
because Drug War honesty is good policy. | ||||||||
Sincerely,
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Michael F. Marion
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Those of you who frequent the Usenet may want to stratagize with
Paul Wolf on posting DPR articles there... | ||||||||
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Mappers, it occurs to me that if we're not violating any copyrights by
posting newspaper articles to a webpage (drugnews), then what's so
different about posting them to newsgroups? Especially if we add a couple
of lines at the bottom of our own, as commentary. | ||||||||
snip
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- - paul
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An interesting article from the Rolling Stone magazine... | ||||||||
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This month's Rolling Stone (p 42) features an interesting article by Robert Dreyfuss which is basically a series of neutral profiles of the major figures on both sides of the drug war. One of the striking things is that so many reformers started out as drug warriors and then became converts. | ||||||||
All told, individuals on the reform side come across as more humane and
less angry than their drug hawk counterparts. | ||||||||
Tom O'Connell
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DRUGSENSE TIP OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||
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It's easy to sign up with Drug Sense... | ||||||||
DrugSense provides a quick sign up form for at
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Activists can sign up for the DrugNews-Digest, Weekly Focus Alerts and the
DrugSense Weekly Newsletter. Just select the items desired, enter your
e-mail address and hit Send Form. | ||||||||
It's that easy. Tell a friend about DrugSense today.
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This is just another of the many free services DrugSense offers
our members. Watch this feature weekly to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you. | ||||||||
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The DrugSense Newsletter is compiled and edited by
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Mark Greer
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