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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (12/30/24)

* Feature Article

     Civil Asset Forfeiture
by Tom Gordon

* Weekly News In Review

Domestic News -

     Adolescents
Students Challenge Effectiveness of Anti-Drug Ads

     Cannabis Clubs
Pot Club Wins Reprieve as Judge Hints At Delay

     Drug Czar
Media Should Join With The Government To
        Push Anti-Drug Message

     Heroin
Needling Giuliani

     Ralph Seeley, Freedom Fighter
Ralph Seeley, A Columnist, Lawyer And Fighter, Dies At 49

     The Drug War
Mr.  Gingrich Goes to Hollywood
Ex-Agent's Past Catches Public Agencies Off Guard

International News -
     UK: How We Fought And Lost The Drugs World War
     UK: Just Say No To A Drugs Campaign That Has Zero Resonance
     China Drug Busts, Detox Camp Inmates Soared Last Year
     UK: Cannabis Campaign: All You Need Is Pot, Says McCartney
     France: Lobby Grows For Medicinal Marijuana
     UK: The Ultimate Betrayal? Tories Took Money From A Heroin Baron

* Tip of the Week

New DrugNews search engine - find the info you want FAST

* Hot Off The 'Net

     Prisons: Growth Industry Of The 90's

Civil Asset Forfeiture
by Tom Gordon

Civil asset forfeiture, which allow the government to take property from people based on no more than the suspicion of a crime, continues to be a largely unknown violation of civil liberties.  Since forfeiture is a proceeding against property rather than a person, neither a criminal conviction, nor even a formal accusation is necessary before a person loses his property.

In 1997, the prospect of forfeiture law reform appeared promising. Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), along with Representative John Conyers (D-MI), introduced H.R.  1835. This legislation would have shifted the burden of proof in forfeiture proceedings to the government and raised the standard of proof in such proceedings from a mere "probable cause" to "clear and convincing evidence." The bill also would provide for the appointment of counsel to indigent forfeiture victims.  Furthermore, the bill would provide additional protection against forfeiture of the property of innocent owners.  Finally, it would eliminate the requirement that owners of forfeited property pay a cost bond of ten percent of the value of the property to contest the forfeiture, and in many cases would allow immediate release of seized property pending the outcome of forfeiture proceedings.

Although H.R.  1835 enjoyed widespread support from Representatives across the political spectrum, it also faced opposition from the Justice Department.  After officials from the Justice Department met with Representatives Hyde and Conyers, H.R.  1835 was replaced with H.R. 1965, which was overwhelmingly passed by the House Judiciary Committee (only Bob Barr (R-GA) voted against).  The new bill is titled the "Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act," but it is in fact a gutting of the provisions of H.R.  1835 which would in some ways worsen forfeiture laws under the guise of reform.

One example of alleged reform is H.R.  1965's provision of counsel to indigent forfeiture victims.  H.R. 1965, like H.R. 1835, would provide an attorney to a forfeiture victim who is unable to afford one.

However, unlike the true reform bill, the new bill requires that before being appointed counsel, a person must appear at a hearing at which they can be cross-examined by the government - without the benefit of counsel! Even more outrageously, testimony from this hearing can be used against a person during the main forfeiture proceedings.

Another so-called reform of H.R.  1965 is its provision for an "innocent owner" defense.  The bill creates a rebuttable presumption that one is an innocent owner, but only if one promptly notifies the police of the conduct that could result in a forfeiture and only if one acts with police to prevent the illegal use of the property.  In other words, one must act as an informant to qualify for an innocent owner defense. Furthermore, since this is merely a rebuttable presumption, the government can still argue against the innocent owner defense even after a person cooperates with them.  H.R. 1965 would also increase the burdens on forfeiture victims in the discovery process and allow the government to maintain possession of seized property while forfeiture proceedings are taking place.  These are only the most serious problems with H.R. 1965.

The text of H.R.  1965 and a complete analysis of the legislation is available on FEAR's website at http://www.fear.org

Domestic News

Adolescents

US: WIRE: Students Challenge Effectiveness of Anti-Drug Ads URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n051.a05.html

Source:	Wire

Pubdate:	Tue, 20 Jan 1998

ATLANTA (AP) - Lamar Stewart was amused by the anti-drug TV ad of a 20-something woman smashing an egg as well as everything else in the kitchen with a frying pan.

The ad was supposed to send a simple message: Stay away from heroin, it will destroy your life.  But the 15-year-old told the nation's top drug-fighter, retired Gen.  Barry McCaffrey, the message was lost on him.

"It was kind of phony.  The lady with the frying pan - that just made me laugh," he said of the ad, one of four unveiled in Atlanta on Tuesday by retired Gen.  Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The action-packed MTV-style spot - reminiscent of the 1980s ads that used a frying egg to demonstrate the effects of drug use on the brain - is part of the federal government's $195 million anti-drug campaign targeting youth.

The ads are being tested in Atlanta and 11 other cities and will be released nationally in June.

Stewart, of suburban Stone Mountain, told McCaffrey the frying pan ad failed to tell the audience what really happens when someone uses drugs and what effect it has on the person's family.

But McCaffrey told an audience of students, politicians and community leaders that the ad will send a message: Drugs destroy lives.  "We are persuaded from our testing on the ads...  that they will have an effect. That is one of our most powerful ads," he said.

Cynthia Stephens, 15, of Lawrenceville questioned the effectiveness of the anti-drug campaign for children living in drug and alcohol-abuse environments.

"That's not going to do a whole lot of good if you see your parents doing it.  They are supposed to be your role models," she said.

Three of the ads are aimed at young people ages 9 to 19 and a fourth targets their parents.

McCaffrey said he went after parents because of recent studies that show that many who tried drugs in the 1960s and 1970s are more tolerant of experimentation by their teen-age children.  He said the studies also showed that, "believe it or not, kids listen to their parents."

"We're not going to solve the drug problem in America with television and radio ads...  But we estimate the average high school senior has had 12,000 hours of education when they get out of school.  That same kid has watched 15,000 hours of television.  You know that television has got an effect," he said.

Cannabis Clubs

US CA: Pot Club Wins Reprieve as Judge Hints At Delay
URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n058.a12.html

Source:	San Jose Mercury News

Contact:

Pubdate:	Sat, 24 Jan 1998

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Attorney General Dan Lungren's attempt to shut down a medicinal marijuana club hit a snag Friday when a judge suggested he would delay action while the state Supreme Court considers the issue.

Lungren sought to halt operations of the Cannabis Cultivators Club, based on a state appeals court ruling last month that said the club could not legally sell marijuana to patients under Proposition 215, the 1996 medicinal marijuana initiative.

That ruling, which said Superior Court Judge David Garcia should order the club closed, technically became final last week.  But Garcia asked the state's lawyer at a hearing Friday why he shouldn't wait until after the state Supreme Court decides whether to hear the club's appeal, filed Wednesday.

The court has 60 days to decide whether to take the case and can extend that another 30 days.  If it grants review, a ruling could take a year or more.

Drug Czar

In this case, he is advancing the thesis that advertising can change essential human behavior, an idea which has been discredited many times over over during the course of the drug war.  The latest CD technology probably won't change the outcome.

The General apparently never asks himself the obvious question of whether such advertising may actually promote illegal drugs in the much same way that Joe Camel promoted cigarettes.

US: OPED: Media Should Join With The Government To Push Anti-Drug Message
URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n057.a03.html

Source:	Daily Arizona Star

Contact:

Pubdate:	January 16, 1998

Corporations are willing to spend billions of dollars on advertising because it works.  The electronic media - television, radio, film, videos, Internet, CD-ROM and multi-media (including print journalism augmented by color photography) - constitute the strongest educational tools available in the modern world.  Where earlier civilizations drew on the walls of caves, we trace our culture on TV screens.

Mass media can change attitudes and behavior among youth in the fastest, most effective way.  In addition to drug prevention based in homes, schools and communities, an aggressive media campaign is essential for reducing drug abuse.

snip

Congress appropriated an unprecedented $195 million for the campaign. Through support from the media and others in the private sector, this figure could double - allowing us to increase paid advertising and public service efforts.

Such an initiative is necessary because even though overall drug use dropped by half in the last 15 years, teen-age drug use rose precipitously.  Eighth grade use nearly tripled in the last five years. During this period, the number of anti-drug public service announcements fell by 30 percent and many of those PSAs aired in time slots that attract few children.

snip

The idea is not to control young minds.  Our purpose is to offer accurate data that enables maturing individuals to make rational choices.  Drugs are wrong because they hurt people.  We cannot stand idly by while toxic, addictive substances endanger children, family, friends and neighborhoods.  So look for the new ads and speak about the message. American liberty entails freedom from substances that poison young minds and kill youthful dreams.

Barry R.  McCaffrey is director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Heroin

We seem to be encountering this type of simplistic drug war rhetoric considerably less often since the Media Awareness Project began.  When encountered, it begs for firm refutation.

US NY: NY Post Editorial: Needling Giuliani
URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n054.a01.html

Source:	New York Post

Contact:

Mail:	The Editor, The New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New

York, NY 10036

Pubdate:	Fri, 23 Jan 98

Website:	http://nypostonline.com/

Note:	The NY Post says send '75-100 word letters to the editor...  Please

include your name, address and daytime phone number.  No unverifiable letters will be published.  The Post reserves the right to edit and condense all letters.'

Say that Mayor Guiliani got a report last June issued by one of his outside advisory councils - a report recommending that the city bankroll people's drug habits, facilitate addiction and condone hard-core drug abuse.

snip

It turns out that an outside advisory council did issue such a report, which surfaced this week in a New York Observer story.  The report was called "Needle Exchange Programs: An Analysis of Benefits and Costs," and it was the handiwork of the Mayor's Office of AIDS Policy Coordination.  The Observer claims that Giuliani and his aides buried the report.

The only problem with the story is that Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro says no one in the Mayor's Office ever heard of the document.  But if it had crossed his desk, Mastro says, he'd have proudly nixed it.  And New Yorkers would have had reason to be grateful.

The report recommended that the city fund and publicize needle-exchange programs.  It argued that some studies indicate such programs help slow the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users.

What is a needle-exchange program? It's a trade-in service.  A junkie comes in with a polluted needle and trades it for a shiny new rig.

snip

Hey, these aren't sewing needles.  They are hypodermics, used exclusively for the abuse of drugs whose very possession is a felony.  Furthermore, it's a crime in New York state to use or possess needles without a prescription.  So when junkies walk in with their tainted needles, they are already breaking the law.

snip

Ralph Seeley,
Freedom Fighter

US WA: Ralph Seeley, A Columnist, Lawyer And Fighter, Dies At 49 http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n053.a10.html

Pubdate:	January 22, 1998

Source:	The Tacoma News Tribune

Contact:

Website:	http://www.tribnet.com/

One of Tacoma's toughest men has died.

Ralph Seeley, a Tacoma lawyer and a leading advocate of the medical use of marijuana, died shortly before 11 p.m.  Wednesday at Tacoma General Hospital.  He had collapsed at his North End home Saturday following a potluck dinner party that featured his famous spaghetti and infamous personality.

Seeley, 49, a former News Tribune columnist, died after suffering cardiac arrest.  His five-day coma at Tacoma General may have been the longest silence of his life.

"Ralph had a million interests," said attorney Jeff Steinborn.  "If there was some subject Ralph couldn't speak about in an entertaining and knowledgeable way, I never heard of it."

Seeley always spoke his mind and always had an opinion.  His outspokenness cost him jobs and earned him plenty of critics as well as friends.  Even his admirers acknowledged he could seem callous.

Underneath was compassion for people no one else would help and an attraction to causes that seemed hopeless.

"He was one of the most unorthodox people you'll ever meet," said attorney Michael Clark, who shared an office with Seeley.

Seeley enjoyed debate and didn't suffer fools.  Principles were more important than money.  He favored an ancient Underwood typewriter over modern electronic word processors.  He loved fishing, flying airplanes, horseback riding, reading, poker, storytelling and playing his cello.  He suffered setbacks that would have shattered many people, but he always bounced back.

After leaving The News Tribune in 1988, Seeley made headlines as a civil rights attorney and an advocate for medical use of marijuana.  He won a record $9 million verdict in his first court case, then saw the award thrown out by the state Court of Appeals.  In a case that brought national attention, a judge gave Seeley the right to smoke marijuana to ease the pain he suffered from cancer.  But once again a higher court reversed his victory.

Shortly after he left the newspaper, Seeley was diagnosed with chordoma, a rare form of cancer.  Doctors told him he had two years to live.

Seeley proved them wrong.

In the decade before his death, Seeley suffered more than a dozen surgeries and lost a lung.  He judged his quality of life by whether he needed a walker or just a cane, or whether he could get out of bed at all.

"Probably Ralph's greatest attribute - and his greatest deficit - was his ego," Clark said.  "I have never seen anyone with a larger ego than Ralph.  When Ralph had cancer, he decided it wouldn't kill him."

The Drug War

US CA: Editorial: Mr.  Gingrich Goes to Hollywood
URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n050.a08.html

Source:	San Diego Union Tribune

Contact:

Pubdate:	Wed, 21 Jan 1998

Newt Gingrich came to Hollywood last week and gave the same speech he'd just given to the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce in Marietta, Ga.  Which might have been OK if it were a good speech.  But it wasn't...

snip

The speaker began by inviting us to have "an adult conversation" - by which he did not mean a raunchy NC-17 conversation but a "serious" one. And here was the extremely grown-up point he made: "We should decide," he said, "to become a drug-free country." I had instant visions of practicing positive thinking in front of my mirror: "I am deciding to live in a drug-free country, I am deciding to live in a drug-free country..."

But the speaker apparently wasn't so naive as to think that this alone would do it.  He had a plan - the same recycled "just say no" plan thanks to which, he asserted, "drug use declined by two-thirds between 1984 and 1992." His next assertion was that suddenly the decline stopped and it all "turned around in six weeks." But neither the speaker's office, nor the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, nor PRIDE (the National Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education) could provide any corroborating evidence for these statements.

The shallowness of his analysis of the drug problem was matched by the shallowness of the rest of the speech...

snip

1) We actually invaded a sovereign nation so the DEA, in the person of this man, could make a drug bust.

2) The enormous lure of easily accessible drug profits has tempted untold numbers of senior officials and will continue to do so.  The arrest of Noriega was a high profile event, clearly not given to just any agent; yet this man was tempted to steal only a few years later.

3) It's far safer to steal money than deal drugs.  This man confessed to the theft of 3/4 of a million dollars, and served only two years.  It's a safe bet that many of the people he arrested received far longer sentences based on the weight of an illegal substance worth far less than 3/4 million..

4) Drug testing is quietly becoming very important- both as a tool for the repression of dissent and as a source of revenue for a growing narco-industrial complex.

US CA: Ex-Agent's Past Catches Public Agencies Off Guard URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n056.a05.html

Source:	San Diego Union-Tribune

Pubdate:	Fri, 23 Jan 1998

Contact:

Website:	http://www.uniontrib.com/

As a U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Rene De La Cova was a hero who slapped handcuffs on Manuel Noriega, helping turn the Panamanian strongman into a convict.

A few years later, De La Cova himself became a criminal, serving prison time for stealing $760,000 in laundered drug money while a DEA agent in the Miami area.

Now he has surfaced in San Diego County - in the drug-testing business.

snip

Theresa De la Cova also is a former DEA agent.  She was forced to resign in 1994 when her husband pleaded guilty to stealing the funds while working on an undercover drug sting, according to court records in Miami...

snip

Rene De La Cova, a supervisor of the DEA's Fort Lauderdale, Fla., office at the time of his arrest, remains on probation after being sentenced to a two-year federal prison term.  snip Legally, there is nothing improper with De La Cova working in the drug-testing field -

snip

It also points to the lack of regulations in this part of a multibillion-dollar industry that generally is heavily scrutinized across the nation.

snip

International News

Reformers should be sure they download this entire editorial.

UK: How We Fought And Lost The Drugs World War

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n062.a01.html

Pubdate:	Sun, 25 Jan 1998

Source:	Independent on Sunday

Contact:

Mail:	Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14

5DL England

Almost a tenth of world trade is in illegal narcotics.  It is the nightmare of our age.  We investigate the men, the money, and how we let the enemy win the battle.

For more than 25 years the United States and its Western allies, including Britain, have waged the first world war on drugs.  That war is now lost.  The most powerful nation on earth, which put a man on the moon and defeated communism, has not been able to beat the drug barons of small third world countries.

The unpalatable truth is that despite the longest war in American history, today's world is awash with drugs.  The breaking of the heroin ring announced with such pride by Scotland Yard last week makes scarcely a dent - three-quarters of all drugs still get through.

snip

UK: OPED: Just Say No To A Drugs Campaign That Has Zero Resonance

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n061.a01.html

Pubdate:	Sun, 25 Jan 1998

Source:	Scotsman on Sunday

Contact:

Alan Cochrane hopes Labour's new drugs policy will get down to the grassroots issues without wasting money on advertising

In many ways it was a faintly ridiculous sight - all those middle-aged politicians waddling around in sweatshirts and back-to-front basball hats exhorting young people to stay off drugs.  However, we shouldn't necessarily berate the then Secretary of State Michael Forsyth for launching his all- party initiative, Scotland Against Drugs.

Neither he nor George Robertson nor Alex Salmond, who joined him on the battle-bus, could help their age or their lack of relevance to the young people they were addressing...

snip

To what extent drug use in China "was almost eradicated under harsh communist crackdowns," can't, of course be known with certainty, because the same totalitarian mind-set also rigidly controls information.  It makes sense in that an authoritarian regime is the only conceivable setting for a "drug-free" society, but even then, my bet is that the criminals would find a way to corrupt the bureaucracy .

The larger number of forced heroin detoxifications than total drug arrests indicates that the criminal justice system is not as liberally employed to harass users and addicts as in the US.  The other significance of the soaring use of heroin (as opposed to more traditional opium) is that intensification of administration is a classic prohibition effect.  Heroin is replacing opium all over Southeast Asia with a resultant explosion in new cases of AIDS.

WIRE:	China Drug Busts, Detox Camp Inmates Soared Last Year

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n059.a09.html

Newshawk:

Source:	Nando.net

Pubdate:	Thu, 22 Jan 1998

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's tough crackdown on illegal narcotics last year netted the country's biggest-ever drug haul and landed record numbers of addicts in detoxification camps, state media and medical therapists said on Wednesday.

China prosecuted a record 106,000 drug-related crimes in the first 11 months of last year, up 29 percent from the 1996 period, the Guangming Daily said.

Authorities arrested or detained 135,000 people for drug crimes during the period, up 57.8 percent year-on-year, and smashed 2,000 drug rings, the Legal Daily said.

Most cases involved heroin or opium, but the report also mentioned cannabis and crystal methamphetamine, or "ice."

Of the total drug cases, 108 involved heroin of more than 22 pounds, the Guangming Daily said.

Experts said the sharp rise in cases showed stricter law enforcement to combat the return of a problem China's communist authorities had all but wiped out in the 1950s.

snip

China worst affected by drugs.

The number of people taken to China's 690 forced detoxification clinics and to the 80 "detoxification-through-labor camps" also surged, the Legal Daily said.

Heroin addicts were dragged to China's involuntary detoxification institutions 180,000 times in the first 11 months, up 50,000 times from the same period last year, the newspaper said.

snip

Medical workers told Reuters from Yunnan that many labor camps did not stock drug substitutes used in easing the process of detoxification.

The brutality of forced detoxification, especially in the spartan labor camps, often did more harm than good in the long term, one of the therapists said.

snip

"Forcing addicts into a labor camp is not the best way to give people the support and family warmth they need," she said.

Yunnan, in the southwestern corner of China, is the gateway for heroin imports from the nearby Golden Triangle opium growing zone where Laos, Thailand and Burma converge.

snip

Authorities have pledged to crack down on drug smuggling, but the porous border and mountainous terrain of southern China where the problem is most rampant makes enforcement difficult.

Drug smugglers are frequently executed in China.

In 1997, authorities seized more than five tons of heroin and 350 tons of synthetic drugs, the Guangming Daily said.

Drug use in China was almost eradicated under harsh communist crackdowns but has surged in recent years as two decades of economic reform have eroded social controls.

Copyright 1998 Reuters

UK: Cannabis Campaign: All You Need Is Pot, Says McCartney

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n061.a10.html

Pubdate:	Sunday, 25 Jan 1998

Source:	Independent on Sunday

Contact:	Email:

Cannabis, not LSD, was the creative force behind the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band album, Sir Paul McCartney revealed last night, writes Tarquin Cooper.

He disclosed the drug's role in an interview with the Independent on Sunday as it was announced that Sgt Pepper had been voted Britain's favourite album in a poll for Channel 4.  Sir Paul, a supporter of the Independent on Sunday's cannabis campaign, recalled how he broke the news of the influence of pot to the Beatles' producer, Sir George Martin.  "When George asked me, 'do you know what caused Pepper?' I said, 'in one word - pot'."

The producer refused to believe him saying, "But you weren't on it all the time." Sir Paul said he had replied: "Yes, we were."

The album, featuring such hit songs as "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "A Day in the Life" and "With a Little Help from My Friends", has sold more than 4 million copies world-wide since its release in 1967.

snip

France:	Lobby Grows For Medicinal Marijuana

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n061.a02.html

Pubdate:	13 Jan 98

Source:	Le Monde (France's largest newspaper)

Contact:

Fax:	0011 (33) 1 40-652-525

The Movement for Controlled Legalisation (MLC), which advocates the sale of narcotics under state control, has just asked the French health minister, Bernard Kouchner, to authorise the import of 10kg of cannabis for therapeutic use.

The jurists of the MLC base their arguments on articles of the public health code that give the health authorities the right to authorise the import and use of narcotics for medical or scientific research.

snip

The use of cannabis as a medicine was recently legalised in California. Germany is considering prescribing drugs containing the active ingredient of cannabis for Aids sufferers, and the Netherlands is looking into the possibility of "medical marijuana" being paid for by social security.

Ten patients who are MLC members and have medical certificates showing that they suffer from such ailments as epilepsy, glaucoma, tinnitus, headaches or HIV infection, have written to Kouchner describing the relief they derive from cannabis.  Some of them have been in trouble with the law because of their practice...

snip

"These isolated medical observations do not constitute scientific proof, and the virtues of cannabis have yet to be confirmed.  In a recent editorial, however, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine came out in favour of the "compassionate" use of such products by terminal patients.  Kouchner himself is in favour of such an approach. But it remains to be seen what action he will take in response to the MLC's request.

Copyright by Le Monde, Paris

UK: The Ultimate Betrayal? Tories Took Money From A Heroin Baron

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n058.a10.html

Pubdate:	Tue, 20 Jan 1998

Source:	The Independent (UK)

Contact:

The Conservative Party received a 31m donation from one of south-east Asia's most notorious drug smugglers, his family alleged yesterday. Steve Boggan and Anthony Bevins report the latest, and probably most damaging, instalment in the Tory funding controversy

Ma Sik-chun, 59, channelled the money to the party in June 1994, according to a series of front-page articles yesterday in the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily News, which the Ma family owns...

snip

Three months after the donation was made, Ma Ching-kwan, Mr Ma's son, was invited to dine with Mr Major at Downing Street.  The Oriental Daily News published a copy of the invitation and the menu - cucumber and tarragon soup, roast lamb with rosemary and orange and caramelised lemon tart.

Conservative Central Office last night strongly denied that the party would accept donations with any strings attached.

snip

Last night the Conservative Party refused to discuss individual donors but a spokesman said donations were never accepted with conditions attached.  "We will categorically say that the Conservative Party did not or would not accept donations conditional on favours," the spokesman said.

snip

Mr Major's office said he was in the United States yesterday and, therefore, not available to explain why CK Ma's presence at Downing Street on 27 September 1994 was not listed at the time as one of the former Prime Minister's official engagements.

snip

Commenting on the donation a Labour Party spokesman said last night: "If this is true, then it is both a disgrace and a disaster for the Tory party.

"We have always said that once the source of their foreign funding became known, it would be an enormous embarrassment from which it would be difficult for them to recover.  William Hague and his predecessors have got some very serious questions to answer and we will keep pressing them very persistently."

With Lord Neill's official inquiry into party funding already taking written evidence, the bombshell charge could not have dropped at a worse moment for Mr Hague.

New DrugNews Search Engine - find the info you want FAST

The New Drug News Search engine is really quite impressive.  Did you ever wish you could quickly find a news article you had heard about or vaguely
remember? Now the entire DrugSense news article archive is quickly and easily searchable.

Want an example? Go to http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/

Do a search on any subject you like.  In seconds you will have a number (probably a large number) of news articles on the subject of interest, cites, dates, quotes, email addresses etc.  all at your fingertips _and_ the word(s) you searched for will all be *highlighted*.

That means that the next time you want to win an argument, write a letter, do a radio talk show, or do some research your information is there for you quickly, easily, and reliabliy.

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Prisons:	Growth Industry Of The 90's

Tons of info.  on how the prison industry is booming due to our War On Drugs.  Please visit: http://www.pressenter.com/~davewest/prisons/

DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members.  Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you.

Editor:	Tom Hawkins,

We wish to thank each and every one of our contributors.

NOTICE:	In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.  Section 107, this material is

distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense

http://www.DrugSense.org/
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