| May 20, 1998 #047 | ||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication | ||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||
DRUG WAR NEWS NOT FIT TO PRINT | ||||||||||||
by Michael Levine | ||||||||||||
Host - of THE EXPERT WITNESS radio show WBAI, 99.5 FM, Tuesdays, 7-8pm New
York City | ||||||||||||
Author of Deep Cover, the Big White Lie and Triangle of Death | ||||||||||||
I have always marveled at how we spent almost $1 trillion, taxpayer
dollars since President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1972, and
tolerate having absolutely nothing to show for that money. Worse yet: a
recent poll indicates that 66 percent of us want to spend more money to
fight drugs. | ||||||||||||
How can that possibly be? | ||||||||||||
Answer; Mainstream media sells us a war on drugs that they need a lot more than we do. Before you dismiss what I've just said, check my facts. | ||||||||||||
A glaring example of that sell appeared on the front page of last
Sunday's New York Times (5/10/98) a headline article entitled
"Dominicans Allow Drugs Easy Sailing." | ||||||||||||
Apparently the Times has rediscovered for twentieth time in fifteen
years that the Dominican Republic is an "important" part of the route
cocaine follows to the U.S.. | ||||||||||||
As a test that this "news" article is really a revenue inspired con
job, review about five years of New York Times drug war articles and
compare them to this one and the game becomes apparent. | ||||||||||||
Note that virtually every country in the world is mentioned as a drug-
trafficking "problem," (some in multiple articles) ; likewise, every
criminal cartel known to man; likewise, every international criminal
ever "leaked" by a federal bureaucracy, yet the "news" story is
basically exactly the same fill-in-the-blanks duplicate to the Sunday
Times article, including a space for maps with arrows and diagrams to
illustrate drug routes. | ||||||||||||
And it is not just the Times. This pro forma drug story is reprinted
weekly by all the other mainstream magazines and newspapers and retold
ad nauseam by every mainstream media broadcasting company. All deliver
virtually the same message that the Times piece ended with: "...It's
going to be a catastrophe.." | ||||||||||||
Now let's examine some major news stories from the past: | ||||||||||||
"SOVIET ACCUSED OF PLOT TO CONTROL WORLD'S DOPE SUPPLY," from the
Universal News Service on February 20, 1931. | ||||||||||||
Or, "TONS OF ILLICIT NARCOTICS FROM EUROPE-NEW MENACE TO U.S., EXPERT
REVEALS," also from Universal News Service, picked up by many US
newspapers, 12/9/34: | ||||||||||||
I defy anyone to find a difference between these 64+ year old stories
other than locations, names and quantities and the Sunday Times
headline story. And these are only two of tens of thousands published
during the past 75 years. | ||||||||||||
During my long career I was always struck by the startling difference between the reality of the so-called war on drugs, and the way it is presented to the world through easily manipulated media coverage. What I came to realize was that both the taxpayer funded bureaucracies and the mainstream media vendors of drug war "news" have a common customer, or as we say on the street, "mark" the American taxpayer. | ||||||||||||
This explains why in 1965, the federal and state combined drug war budgets
were less than $10 million, and the current one is in excess of $50
billion,with absolutely nothing to show for it. | ||||||||||||
And this at a time that deserving children cannot afford a college
education, the social security system is in danger of collapsing, hard
working Americans cannot get health insurance, millions are without
homes and adequate food, the national debt will impoverish future
generations and our nation's public education systems have fallen
behind most of the other industrialized nations. | ||||||||||||
I just can't wait to see the next thrilling drug war story. | ||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Domestic News- The Drug War | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
Three articles illustrate the surreal quality of our drug war as policy; the first is an attempt to justify its cost by estimating what the drugs cost society, while neglecting to note that it's the illegal markets created by the policy which leads to crime; directly through violent competition, and indirectly through high drug prices. | ||||||||||||
The second is a report on mouse research which suggests a genetic
basis for drug dependency. Isn't it gratifying to learn that we may
have been criminalizing a genetically mediated behavioral tendency all
these years? True to form, Leshner is still trumpeting that drug
addiction is a "disease" but ignoring the logical implications his own
statement. | ||||||||||||
As the Kentucky lawsuit unfolds, the public will learn how the DEA has
lobbied shamelessly against hemp for years. Will it be surprise them
to learn that the Agency's professional expertise isn't limited to law
enforcement and medicine, but also includes economics and agriculture?
Will they care? | ||||||||||||
DRUG ABUSE COSTS US $246 BILLION A YEAR, STUDY SAYS | ||||||||||||
Abuse of Alcohol and other drugs costs the United States more than $246 billion a year, a government study published Wednesday found. | ||||||||||||
That worked out to $965 for every man, woman and child in the country,
the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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SCIENTISTS SEE NEW LINK TO COCAINE ADDICTION | ||||||||||||
LOS ANGELES -- A chemical messenger called serotonin is turning out to
be a bigger player in cocaine addiction than previously thought,
according to two studies that could help researchers find new
approaches to treating and preventing drug abuse. | ||||||||||||
The studies released Wednesday looked at the roles of dopamine and
serotonin in laboratory mice that pressed levers to get doses of
cocaine. | ||||||||||||
Researchers long have held that increases in the brain of dopamine - a chemical associated with movement, thought, motivation and pleasure - produce some of the euphoria and addictive effects of cocaine. | ||||||||||||
Serotonin - involved in emotions, mood, and probably sleep and
aggression - was thought to play some role in achieving a high. But the
new studies show it provides an important component to how vulnerable
an animal - or human may be. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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FARMERS WILL SUE TO LEGALIZE HEMP CROPS | ||||||||||||
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- More than 25 years after hemp was last grown in America legally, a group of farmers and trade organizations plans to sue the federal government on Friday to make hemp a lawful crop again. The plaintiffs intend to argue in U.S. District Court here that the illegal status of hemp, by definition of the Controlled Substances Act of 1972, violates a 1937 determination by Congress that the plant poses none of the psychoactive problems caused by its cousin, marijuana. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement | ||||||||||||
Speaking of surreal, it's long been known in California that the three-strikes law was ultimately unaffordable without either further drastic cuts in education (already suffering), or increased taxes; nevertheless, the denial goes on. It's become so blatant that private prison companies are building new facilities on spec, without a contract, knowing that, without amnesty, the business will be there. | ||||||||||||
On the right coast, Bob Herbert seems to be waging a one-man crusade against police drug raids in NYC and the NYPD is obliging by continuing to batter down the doors of innocent people. | ||||||||||||
According to the GOP, Clinton's Justice Department is "soft on drugs,"
yet it's setting all sorts of police-state records, first for
marijuana arrests, now for wire-taps. | ||||||||||||
BATTLE RAGES OVER NEW PRISONS | ||||||||||||
CALIFORNIA voters have demanded - by passing the three strikes and you're out measure, that more felons be locked up for longer terms. | ||||||||||||
But when it comes to building the prisons to house those felons, voters
have been much less enthusiastic. They rejected the last state prison
bond issue in 1990. Since then, new jails have been constructed through
a convoluted leasing arrangement in which a state agency issues
"revenue bonds" to build prisons, then rents them to the Department of
Corrections. | ||||||||||||
But even that approach has run out of money, and as inmates continue to
pour into the prison system -- there are about 150,000 now it's
reaching the limits of physical capacity. | ||||||||||||
State prison officials estimate dial by 2000, the system will hit 200 percent of design capacity with every non-maximum security cell housing two inmates and every gymnasium and other space filled with beds. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ATROCITY. | ||||||||||||
This time the gun-waving storm troopers from the Police Department
smashed in the door and invaded the apartment of a quiet and
law-abiding family in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The cops,
in riot-type gear, set off a stun grenade, which gives the impression
that the apartment is being bombed, and then handcuffed everybody,
including a petrified mentally retarded teen-aged girl who was pulled
naked from a bathtub. As the family members trembled and wept, the cops
began their search, rummaging arrogantly through the most personal of
items. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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WIRETAP REQUESTS HIT RECORD | ||||||||||||
Two million private conversations were monitored in '97, a government
report shows. | ||||||||||||
Washington- Law enforcement agents sought a record number of court orders last year to allow them to listen in secretly on more than 2 million private conversations, a government wiretap report shows. | ||||||||||||
The 1,186 wiretap requests approved by federal and state judges in
1997 marked a 3 percent increase over 1996 and surpassed the 1,154
logged in 1994. The total is believed to be the highest since
Congress in 1968 started requiring the Administrative Office of the
U.S. Courts to compile such records. | ||||||||||||
As in past years, the bulk of the wiretap requests - 73 percent -
were spurred by narcotics investigations. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Alcohol | ||||||||||||
Since the legal age is 21, most college undergraduates aren't old
enough to drink legally, despite the fact that 80% of them do so
regularly. This creates problems for university officials and campus
police, especially this year when heightened awareness of underage
smoking and drug use plus two alcohol-overdose deaths of
undergraduates stepped up pressure to "crack down" on underage
drinking. | ||||||||||||
When school officials tried to do so, they were often confronted with
rowdy behavior and demonstrations as reported in the May 15 Journal of
Higher Education. It's a complex issue, beset by the same problems
plaguing all juvenile prohibitions. (The best overview is in the UCONN
article ). | ||||||||||||
AT MICHIGAN STATE, A PROTEST ESCALATES INTO A NIGHT OF FIRES, TEAR | ||||||||||||
EAST LANSING, MICH. - Many people at Michigan State University expected
something big to happen at Munn Field on the night of May1. They just
didn't know what. | ||||||||||||
E-mail messages had been flying all week, urging people to gather at
Munn to protest the administration's recent decision to ban alcohol
there during football season. The open, grassy field is a popular spot
for students and some alumni to gather for tailgate parties on game
days. | ||||||||||||
Many students wanted to demand a greater voice in such decisions.
Others were just curious and wanted to watch from a safe distance.
But many planned to come packing beer, ready to let loose after the
last day of classes before exams. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
AT CONNECTICUT'S PARTY WEEKEND, DAYS OF MUSIC REPLACED BY NIGHTS OF | ||||||||||||
STORRS, CONN.- The 80 police officers did not move last month as
bottles, cans, and rocks were lobbed at them by a crowd of students
and their friends partying in a dirt parking lot that adjoins the
University of Connecticut campus. | ||||||||||||
When some in the crowd of 2,000 people overturned a black Honda
Accord, the police, from university, local, and state forces, stood
their ground. Even when some men set a couch on fire, the police
remained on the edge of the lot. | ||||||||||||
Only when the students put the burning couch on the Honda -- raising the possibility that its gas tank would explode -- did the police move in, using pepper spray to disperse the crowd. | ||||||||||||
The torching of the Honda on Saturday, April 25, marked the climax
of a riotous weekend here. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
SOME EXPERTS SAY COLLEGES SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RECENT RIOTS | ||||||||||||
Although many people are quick to chastise the students involved in
recent riots in several states, colleges share some of the blame,
according to administrators and alcohol experts. | ||||||||||||
For many years, college officials looked the other way when
underage students drank. But a string of high-profile, | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Medical Marijuana | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
In California, law enforcement continued its brutal treatment of Prop 215, last week with help from the federal Bench. The fate of the San Francisco Buyers' Club will be decided by a complex algorithm which depends on further judicial ruling and a possible jury trial. | ||||||||||||
The goal of California law enforcement seems to be to deny patients
any recourse except the criminal market and risk of arrest. The
legislature and judiciary have aided and abetted the narcs and
sheriffs. | ||||||||||||
POT CLUBS VOW TO DEFY JUDGE'S ORDER | ||||||||||||
Citing federal laws, court is demanding they stop giving out medical
marijuana | ||||||||||||
Another crushing blow for proponents of medical marijuana, another
defiant pledge to keep going. | ||||||||||||
But keeping the doors open to four pot clubs across Northern
California isn't going to be so easy in the wake of the strongest
legal setback yet delivered by a federal judge. | ||||||||||||
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with
the federal government's argument that the Cannabis Healing Center
and three other clubs in Northern California are violating federal
drug laws and he ordered the clubs shut down. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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U.S. AGENTS RAID PERON'S POT FARM | ||||||||||||
250 Plants Seized On Eve Of Replanting Ceremony | ||||||||||||
Federal drug agents seized 250 marijuana plants yesterday morning
from a rural Lake County ``resort'' run by gubernatorial candidate
Dennis Peron. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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MAN WHO SOLD POT TO THE SICK CONVICTED | ||||||||||||
The judge rules that Prop. 215 allows only the use, not the sale of
marijuana for medical purposes. | ||||||||||||
A Santa Ana man was convicted Wednesday of felony marijuana sales for
distributing the drug to sick people who had obtained doctors'
prescriptions after the 1996 approval of California's medical-marijuana
law. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Tobacco COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
Both parties sense that the tobacco industry is badly wounded. The GOP
is trying to keep it alive, while the Dems just want to make political
hay. It's hard to know if either side really believes the industry can
reduce teen cigarette use. Since no one has ever demonstrated success
in that arena, it's unlikely that the industry selling them to kids
will be the first to do so. What nonsense. | ||||||||||||
TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FUND BATTLE | ||||||||||||
Congressional grab for money imperils opportunity for legislative
accord | ||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - Efforts in Congress to curb teen smoking are being
endangered by a fight over how the government should spend the billions
of dollars that any new federal tobacco law would exact from the
cigarette companies. | ||||||||||||
Some lawmakers want the money to pay for tax cuts, boost the Medicare system or pay down the national debt. President Clinton wants to spend it for child care tax credits, more teachers and school construction. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
Remember the Cold War, when the FBI was ordered to stay at home and leave the overseas stuff to the CIA? The drug war has the FBI involved in South America! The Interpol report should (but won't) serve as a reality check for ONDCP which is busy claiming success in the drug war. | ||||||||||||
Finally, it's taken a while, but the Russians are starting to enjoy
the benefits of capitalism. One no longer needs party membership to
acquire drugs- money is all that's necessary. | ||||||||||||
FBI TO JOIN LATIN AMERICA IN FIGHTING CRIME, FREEH SAYS | ||||||||||||
BUENOS AIRES - Concerned that Argentina's border with Paraguay and
Brazil has become a haven for terrorists and mobsters, the FBI will
join authorities in those nations in a crackdown intended as a
model for regional cooperation in Latin America, FBI Director Louis
Freeh said yesterday. | ||||||||||||
The lawless border region exemplifies the dangers of globalized
crime and the need for a coordinated response in the hemisphere,
Freeh said in an interview during a five-day trip through South
America, the first by an FBI director. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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'GLOBAL DRUG TRAFFICKING EXPLODING' | ||||||||||||
Crack Down On Money-Laundering: Interpol | ||||||||||||
International dealing in illegal drugs is exploding as drugs become
cheaper, purer and deadlier, a police conference in Toronto was told
yesterday. | ||||||||||||
Interpol drug consultant Ramachandra Sunda said heroin is considered a
serious problem in 150 of the 177 member nations of the international
police service. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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HEROIN HOOKS CHILDREN OF NEW RUSSIAN RICH | ||||||||||||
'There are still 2 million junkies but at least heroin is not
fashionable any more' | ||||||||||||
The wealthy young patients at the Kundola medical centre, in thick woods a few miles outside the Russian capital, live according to a strict regime. Their comfortable suites in the clean, bright clinic in a heavily-guarded compound have the air of a gilded cage. | ||||||||||||
The 24-hour security cordon and camera-monitored perimeter fence
exist not to stop them running away nor to protect them from
attack, but to defend them against the temptation that brought them
here: heroin, which dealers and friends of the addicts have been
known to smuggle in or throw over the fence. | ||||||||||||
The Kundola centre, where a three-week course of treatment costs at
least #2,500 - more than an average Russian earns in a year - is a
symptom of the drugs craze blighting the children of Russia's
richest families. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) Oregon MMJ Act posted | ||||||||||||
Oregonians for Medical Rights website has just been put up. It includes the complete copy of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act., etc. Please pass along
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Any comments, corrections, etc. are welcome. | ||||||||||||
As far as we know, this is the first complete listing on the web of two
important medical articles on the value of inhaled marijuana and THC in
the papers by Vinciguerra, et al. and Chang et al. respectively. Look
under the medical journal articles in the bibliography. | ||||||||||||
Please forward this website URL to anyone interested in patient advocacy and
medical marijuana. Thanks. | ||||||||||||
Web Master: | ||||||||||||
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TIP OF THE WEEK | ||||||||||||
We have installed a new link at: http://www.mapinc.org/kudos.htm | ||||||||||||
It is a collection of articles on DrugSense and MAP. The idea is to
archive positive press coverage, accolades, and acknowledgements
relevent to what DrugSense members are accomplishing. If you come
across any such coverage or have any archived please forward it
directly to the DrugSense Web Master Matt Elrod at | ||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
"No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road - turn back."
- Turkish Proverb | ||||||||||||
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