August 10,1998 #59 |
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A DrugSense publication
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http://www.drugsense.org/
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- * Breaking News (01/20/25)
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- * Feature Article
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THE DRUG _POLICY_ PROBLEM (PART Three)
Jeffrey A. Schaler, PhD
- * Weekly News In Review
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Drug War Policy-
UK - OPED: Why Banning Drugs Makes the Problem Even Worse
US - Editorial: Changing The Drug Laws
House Drug Testing Plan Blocked
Book Review: Bookshelf: Addicted to Abolition
OPED - Let's Just Say 'No' To Us Drug-War Justice
Incarceration-
U.S. Prison Population Tops 1.2 Million
Supermax Prisons Typify U.S. Attitudes On Crime
In Iowa, Some Prisoners are Behind Barns
Mayor - 'I'm Not Anti-Prison, I'm Not Anti-Growth'
OPED - Drug Courts
Medical Marijuana-
Medical Marijuana To Appear On Nevada Ballot
Ruling Delayed on Use of Pot as AIDS Relief
Marijuana Helped to Save My Life, Prominent Harvard Scholar Says
Editorial - Praise And Pillory
Judge Says Jailed Medical Marijuana Advocate Must Receive Medication
Sports & Drugs-
UK - Medical Journal Backs Use Of Drugs In Sport
International News-
Russia - Moscow Orders War on Drugs
Tracing Money, Swiss Outdo U.S. On Mexico Drug Corruption Case
Australia - Alarm At 'Deadly' Heroin Sold In ACT
UK - Heroin's New Image Hooks Teenagers
Burma - Tales of Terror Emerge From Victims
`Nothing Left' of Police Base in Colombia
- * Hot Off The 'Net
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McWilliams Speech Online
DrugSense Material used by NCIA
- * DrugSense Tip Of The Week
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The Sentencing Project
- * Quote of the Week
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John Kenneth Galbraith
- * Fact of the Week
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California Incarceration rate
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top)
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THE DRUG _POLICY_ PROBLEM (Part Three)
Jeffrey A. Schaler, PhD
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Editors note: This is the third and final chapter in Dr. Schaler's
excellent article. Parts One and Two can be read in issues #57 and #58
at: http://www.drugsense.org/nl/
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We encourage submissions by other reform leaders on drug policy
issues. Send your article to
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PLAYERS IN THE DRUG POLICY GAME
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The principal contenders in the current U.S. debate represent three
perspectives on drug policy in a free society: the prohibitionist or
"drug warrior" perspective, the public health perspective, and the
classical liberal or "libertarian" perspective.
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DRUG WARRIORS
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The "drug warrior" perspective is the foundation of our present drug
control policies. The drug warrior values a paternalistic state, which
plays the role of protective parent in relation to vulnerable
citizen-children. His focus is on strict enforcement of prohibition
and on the regulation of currently legal drugs (for example,
prescription drugs). Many drug warriors also advocate the expansion of
sanctions to include tobacco and alcohol. General Barry McCaffrey and
William J. Bennett--current and past "drug czars" respectively, former
director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Robert J. Dupont, and
Congressman Charles B. Rangel are drug warriors sharing this point of
view. They typically believe that drugs cause addiction and crime. In
their view, public policies should aim to limit supply and punish users
and dealers. Thus we have the "war on drugs." Illegal drugs such as
heroin, cocaine, crack, LSD, "speed," and marijuana, and the people who
profit by selling them, are the enemy.
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Here are some questions we need to ask in evaluating the "drug warrior"
perspective: Do drugs cause crime and addiction? Does prohibition
itself create lawlessness? Is it proper for government to regulate
behavior if that behavior harms no one but the user? Do people have a
right to own and use drugs as personal property? Is drug supply the
best predictor of use? Are social, economic, and psychological
problems related to drug use ignored and thereby perpetuated when
policy focuses on eliminating supply and punishing drug users and
dealers? Is the war on drugs a scapegoating device to distract citizens
from other social problems which they may feel helpless to solve? Does
prohibition serve the economic interests of prison builders, policy
makers, and drug dealers? Can drugs ever be controlled? If drug
prohibition can work outside a total police state, why is the drug
trade flourishing in prisons, the most totalitarian institutions of our
society?
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LEGALIZERS
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The public health perspective on drug policy is represented by people
who advocate the legalization and medicalization of drug use. They
regard addiction as a disease and criminal sanctions as inhumane and
wasteful of tax money. Hence they advocate treatment rather than
punishment for drug use. As Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore put it
years ago, "The war on drugs should be led by the Surgeon General, not
the Attorney General." Today the slogan of medicalization is "harm
reduction." The advocates of medicalization, e.g. the Drug Policy
Foundation in Washington, D.C. and The Lindesmith Center in New York,
generally also support "medical marijuana" laws such as those passed
recently in California and Arizona. Ironically, prohibitionists and
legalizers both embrace the medical model of addiction: they believe
that drug addiction exists, that it is a disease, and thus that it is
"treatable" as a disease.
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In examining the public health perspective, we need to raise questions
like the following: does medical treatment of addiction work? Can it
ever work, or is it based on a logical mistake? Will medical control
(e.g., through prescription drugs) create the same problems of
lawlessness that are associated with prohibition? Does court-ordered
and state-supported treatment violate the drug user's First Amendment
rights? The late American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ellen M. Luff
addressed that issue in an important case that received national
attention in 1988 (Maryland v. Norfolk). Luff successfully argued
that court-ordered attendance in Alcoholics Anonymous constitutes state
entanglement with religion. Similar cases have emerged since then (e.g.
Griffin v. Coughlin, 88 N.Y. 2d 674, New York Court of Appeals, decided
11 June 1996; Kerr v. Farrey, 95 F.3d 472, 7th Cir. 1996; Warner v.
Orange County Dept. of Probation, No. 95-7055, 1997 WL 321553, 2nd
Cir., 9 September 1996, amended 14 May 1997). Should public funds be
spent on moral indoctrination in the name of public health? Again,
should the government control behavior that harms no one but the
individual involved?
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Calls for state-supported treatment are echoed by prohibitionists and
legalizers alike. An important point here is that whether treatment for
addiction is voluntary or involuntary, state involvement in any
capacity--e.g. court-ordered attendance, state licensure of treatment
facilities, or state subsidies for treatment programs-violates the
invisible wall separating church and state. This is because all
treatment for addiction is essentially a religious activity. The state
has no business inside a person's head.
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LIBERTARIANS
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In the classical liberal, or libertarian, perspective (represented in
somewhat different ways by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz and economist
Milton Friedman), drug use is regarded not as a disease but as a
behavior based on personal values. It is regarded as an ethical rather
than a medical issue. Classical liberals cite the scientific evidence
that drug use is a function more of mind set and environment than of
chemistry or physiology. They challenge the notion of "loss of control"
that is integral to the prohibitionist and public health perspectives,
basing their claims on studies of drug users who controlled their
habits when motivated to do so. They do not believe that drugs or
addiction can cause crime. In their view drugs are property and as such
are protected by the Constitution; drug users need not be treated as
"barbarians at the gate" requiring exceptions to the constitutional
rule of law. The classical liberals believe that a free-market approach
to the trade of currently illegal drugs would reduce the crime and
lawlessness associated with them under prohibition. Valuing liberty
over health, they criticize medicalization as paternalistic and
statist. In their view, informal social controls, either relational or
self-imposed, are the appropriate focus of drug policy.
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In judging the classical liberal perspective, we need to ask questions
like the following: If drug prohibition is repealed, will there be a
substantial increase in drug use? If there is, will the problems
associated with increased drug use pose a greater threat to freedom
than drug prohibition has? Will an American free market in currently
illegal drugs create international problems in trade with
prohibitionist countries?
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WE NEED POLICY BASED IN FACT NOT FICTION
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We need new ways of thinking about addiction-- ways of thinking
consistent with empirical findings on addiction and inconsistent with
mainstream ideas about drugs and the policies based on them. There are
no easy answers to the difficult questions I have posed here. However,
they must be addressed in the academic and policy making arenas. Too
often, professors are penalized for even asking those questions. It is
important that we choose the right course in drug policy, based on
fact, not fiction-and even more important that we once again be free to
choose.
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FOOTNOTE (to title):
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1. This article is excerpted from the introduction to Drugs: Should We
Legalize, Decriminalize, or Deregulate?, an anthology edited by J.A.
Schaler, published by Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y. (1998), part of
their Contemporary Issues series. This excerpt is reprinted here by
permission of the publisher, E-mail: , phone orders
(24 hours): Toll free (800) 421-0351
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REFERENCE Schaler, J.A. (1997). The case against alcoholism as a
disease. In W. Shelton & R.B. Edwards (Eds.) Values, ethics, and
alcoholism, pp. 21-49, Greenwich, Ct.: JAI Press Inc.
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Jeffrey A. Schaler, Ph.D., a psychologist, is an adjunct professor of
justice, law, and society at American University's School of Public
Affairs in Washington, D.C. He is currently at work on a similar book
for Prometheus, co-edited with Magda E. Schaler, M.P.H., on smoking
rights and federal regulation, to be released later this year and is
writing a book for Open Court Publishers in Chicago entitled "Addiction
Is A Choice," to be released in 1999. E-mail:
http://rdz.acor.org/szasz/schaler
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) |
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Domestic News- Policy
COMMENT: (Top) |
A striking aspect of American drug policy is that no elected
Representative in Congress will even question its validity. This
outspoken criticism of prohibition by a Member of Parliament simply
couldn't happen in the US.
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The dimensions of our political problem are made clear by the Times
editorial: a popular, "tough on crime" governor who is enlightened on
the issue of drug sentencing can't find legislative support to change
drug laws that everyone agrees are unfair.
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On a lighter note, the buffoons in Congress waffled on drug testing; a
good thing, if you ask me- I want any who still indulge to be able to
toke up once in a while. The matching article about Waukegan High is
pathetic; Jack Benny must be spinning in his grave.
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They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. If true, Satel's
incredibly dishonest trashing of Mike Gray's book in the WSJ (where
else?) probably helped far more than it hurt.
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WHY BANNING DRUGS MAKES THE PROBLEM EVEN WORSE
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Heroin use is soaring. Indeed, the Home Office in new research,
predicts an epidemic among young people as the drug spreads from the
inner cities to the comfy shires. Towns with serious hard-drugs
problems are the target of a network of pushers who are rebranding
heroin to make it more readily available and cheaper for children.
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[snip]
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Both Britain and America believe the solution lies in prohibition of
drugs. Yet 30 years of prohibition has made the US the drug sink of the
world. And Britain has the worst problems in Europe.
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[snip]
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Author: | Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West |
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CHANGING THE DRUG LAWS
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Four years ago, in one of his first proposals as Governor, George
Pataki announced that the time had come to revamp New York State's
rigidly Draconian drug laws. Enacted in 1973 under Gov. Nelson A.
Rockefeller, the laws mandated such penalties as 15 years to life for
being caught with four ounces of cocaine. Designed to suppress the drug
trade, these sentences rivaled those for murder and rape. But instead
of wiping out the drug markets, the laws overloaded prisons and court
dockets with addicts and low-level couriers.
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[snip]
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As it turned out, however, Mr. Pataki could not persuade many of those
in his own party to correct the mistakes of 25 years ago. So the
Governor has been quietly working around the edges to soften the impact
of the Rockefeller laws by pardoning individual prisoners and pushing
for alternative forms of incarceration, including drug treatment. Doing
the right thing quietly is better than not at all, of course, but it is
time to deal openly with a sentencing mess that many judges and law
enforcement officials have been protesting for years.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | New York Times (NY) |
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HOUSE DRUG TESTING PLAN BLOCKED
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican leaders have apparently quashed, at least
for now, a plan by two Republican lawmakers to require drug testing of
House members and their staffs.
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[snip]
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Date: | Wed, 05 Aug 1998 20:34:32 -0400 |
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Size: | 34 lines 1233 bytes |
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WAUKEGAN HIGH EYES RANDOM DRUG TESTS
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Waukegan High School students could be required to submit to random
drug tests under a proposal being investigated by Waukegan school
officials that, if adopted, would make the district one of the first in
the nation to impose such a blanket policy. Although other school
districts have required drug testing of some students such as those
involved in athletics, few schools have carried the policy as far as
the one being reviewed by the Waukegan School District 60 Board of
Education.
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[snip]
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Source: | Chicago Tribune (IL) |
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Section: | Metro DuPage, p. 1 |
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BOOKSHELF: | ADDICTED TO ABOLITION |
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At the turn of the last century, unrestricted access to morphine,
heroin and cocaine led to a great wave of addiction in the U.S.
Witnessing this devastation of people's lives, the nation responded
with anti drug laws. Somehow the simple lesson here-that drugs are
dangerous-has been forgotten by many of our nation's elites. Mike
Gray's "Drug Crazy" (Random House, 251 pages, $23.95) is the product of
such selective memory.
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[snip]
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Source: | Wall Street Journal |
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http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n651.a11.html
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LET'S JUST SAY 'NO' TO US DRUG-WAR JUSTICE
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In the 18th century, the British government so routinely and wrongfully
confiscated property from American colonists that the Colonies
overthrew the crown and wrote their own constitution ensuring due
process and forbidding unjust seizures.
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In the late 20th century, the United States government has returned to the
old and odious British ways: illegally seizing property under the guise of
fighting narcotics, and trampling due-process guarantees along the way.
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[snip]
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Source: | Christian Sciense Monitor |
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Authors: | Phil Harvey and Mike Tidwell |
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Note; Phil Harvey is president of DKT International, a non-profit
organization promoting reproductive health in developing countries and now
sponsoring a domestic civil liberties project. Mike Tidwell is author
of 'In the Shadow of the White House: Drugs, Death and Redemption on
the Streets of the Nation's Capital' (Prima, 1992).
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Incarceration
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COMMENT: (Top) |
The number of Americans under lock and key continues to rise, albeit
at a somewhat slower rate; attitudes towards those in prison remains
unselectively hostile, a mind-set encouraged by official rhetoric.
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There continues to be growing awareness however, that the need to pay
for what amounts to a huge entitlement program may not sit too well
with the public when the bill is presented. Private prisons and prison
labor are among the ways of holding that bill to a minimum, but each
has its downside.
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Finally, "drug courts" are another way to both cheaply extend the
reach of Big Brother and also extort fees for allies in the drug
treatment racket: it follows that the Dallas Morning News would
endorse the idea, especially if funded by the court's own victims via
"forfeiture."
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U.S. PRISON POPULATION TOPS 1.2 MILLION
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WASHINGTON - The nation's adult prison population grew to more than 1.2
million in 1997, its slow but steady rise fueled by inmates serving
longer terms for violent crimes while a constant stream of criminals
entered prison doors, the Justice Department reported yesterday.
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The 5.2 percent growth to 1,244,554 federal and state prison inmates by
year's end was slightly below the 7 percent annual average growth
during the 1990s, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics said.
That was a net gain of 61,186 inmates during the year - very close to
the annual average of 63,900 since 1990, when prison inmates numbered
only 774,000.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Mon, 03 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Standard-Times (MA) |
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Author: | Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press writer |
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`SUPERMAX' PRISONS TYPIFY U.S. ATTITUDES ON CRIME
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FLORENCE, Colorado - If, as some philosophers maintain, nothing tells
more about a society than its treatment of prisoners, the proliferating
super maximum security prisons speak eloquently of the fears and
attitudes about crime in American.
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This minimum-contact, so-called ``supermax'' concept is epitomized in
the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in
Florence. Inmates call it the Alcatraz of the Rockies. Advocates call
it unfortunate but necessary, given an increasingly violent prison
population. Critics call it a concept that didn't work in 19th-century
America and is in danger of overuse now.
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[snip]
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Source: | Chicago Tribune (IL) |
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Author: | Lisa Anderson, Chicago Tribune |
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IN IOWA, SOME PRISONERS ARE BEHIND BARNS
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CLARION, Iowa - Dripping sweat and dressed in a fluorescent orange
pullover, George Nelson, a prisoner doing time for theft, was not
exactly the kind of worker Wright County had in mind some 12 years ago
when officials provided $90,000 to help build a huge new egg factory.
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[snip]
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The idea of inmates working at private businesses is anathema to
organized labor.
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"If prison labor is wrong in China, it's sure as hell wrong in Iowa,"
said Mark Smith, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor. "Prisoners
are being used to hold down wages."
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[snip]
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Source: | Chicago Tribune (IL) |
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MAYOR: | "I'M NOT ANTI-PRISON, I'M NOT ANTI-GROWTH" |
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CALIFORNIA CITY - Hot on the heels of intense scrutiny by residents
about Mayor Larry Adams' letter to the Planning Commission last week
came this disclaimer Tuesday night, "I'm not anti-prison, I'm not
anti-growth."
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[snip]
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Tuesday's discussion brought out a few lone voices to speak against the
city's efforts to bring at least one more prison here. Until now the
overwhelming majority of residents, city officials and business owners
have voiced nothing but anticipation for the economic development
expected to follow prison construction.
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The city is already smacking its lips at the thought of new jobs, a
resurrected real estate market, a supermarket, more retail stores,
maybe even a fast-food place.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Bakersfield Californian |
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Author: | Debby Badillo Californian Correspondent |
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DRUG COURTS
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The right way to address the continuing epidemic
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Dallas County officials of face a dilemma concerning the continued
operation of to drug courts here.
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County commissioners agree that drug trafficking is reaching the crisis
level. But they cannot all agree that funding two courts are strictly
for drug-related trials is fair, when there are so many other major
criminal cases are waiting to be heard.
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What's the solution? Use more of the drug dealer s 'own money to pay
the cost of prosecuting the cases. District Attorney John Vance's
office has said it is willing to commit cash from drug forfeitures to
the budget for the two specialized Dallas County courts. That makes
good sense.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Bakersfield Californian |
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Author: | Debby Badillo Californian Correspondent |
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Medical Marijuana
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COMMENT: (Top) |
After months in the background, the issue of medical marijuana is back
on center stage. For one thing, there are new ballot initiatives in
Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington State.
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In Canada, a court considering a medical marijuana prosecution heard
compelling testimony from an impressive witness.
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Prosecution of two patient-activists in Southern California with all
mention of 215 excluded by two blatantly biased judges underscores the
relentless opposition of law enforcement to any relaxation of
marijuana prohibition.
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On the federal side, the continued incarceration of AIDS patient Peter
McWilliams in a setting where his medical regimen has been
compromised, is fast approaching the dimensions of blatant human
rights abuse.
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO APPEAR ON NEVADA BALLOT
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CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada's secretary of state on Monday
qualified a medical marijuana proposal - seemingly up in smoke for the
lack of just 43 signatures - for the November ballot.
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[snip]
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RULING DELAYED ON USE OF POT AS AIDS RELIEF
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A judge has reserved his decision on whether Toronto AIDS activist
James Wakeford should have the right to use marijuana for medicinal
purposes.
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[snip]
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Source: | Toronto Sun (Canada) |
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MARIJUANA HELPED TO SAVE MY LIFE, PROMINENT HARVARD SCHOLAR SAYS
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Stephen Jay Gould tells Toronto court to allow medical use of drug
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[snip]
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Source: | Toronto Sun (Canada) |
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EDITORIAL: | PRAISE AND PILLORY |
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Rx: Marijuana
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Judges have latitude to interpret the law, justifiably. But it is hard
to fathom, much less justify, the recent decision by an Orange County
Superior Court Judge, Robert Fitzgerald, that Marvin Chavez, who
founded the Orange County Cannabis Co-Op, cannot use Proposition 215 as
a defense in his trial on charges of selling marijuana.
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[snip]
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Source: | Press-Telegram (CA) |
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JUDGE SAYS JAILED MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE MUST RECEIVE MEDICATION
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal judge ruled Friday that a medical
marijuana advocate jailed on drug charges must have access to
medications to treat his AIDS and cancer.
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Wistrich said he will ensure Peter
McWilliams receives the appropriate medicine, but the judge also turned
down a request to lower his $250,000 bail.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 01 Aug 1998 |
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Sports and Drugs
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COMMENT: (Top) |
There was a more considered response to the issue of "doping" of
athletes from a prestigious medical source: The Lancet weighed in on
the side of choice.
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MEDICAL JOURNAL BACKS USE OF DRUGS IN SPORT
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A medical journal has joined those thinking the unthinkable about
drug-taking among athletes, arguing that sport has become so artificial
that it is hard to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable aids
to success.
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The Lancet says today that competitors are nowadays best described as
highly-paid "professional entertainers" in an arena where "fair play is
becoming an old-fashioned idea". Science, it says, already has a deep
influence on the eating habits of competitors, with the line between
drugs and nutritional supplements increasingly blurred.
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The journal states: "How can the dignity of athletes be preserved
during testing? Why should an adult competitor not be allowed to make
an informed choice about a substance provided it is legally acquired?"
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Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Telegraph, The (UK) |
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International News
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COMMENT: (Top) |
By all accounts, the Russian underworld has thrived on the Western
sponsored drug war. Not to be outdone, the government has now entered
the game and will be competing for their share of revenue from the
illegal drug market.
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A long NYT article reviews the Byzantine saga of high level Mexican
corruption in detail, focusing on the seeming ineptitude
(unwillingness) of American agencies in nailing down a case against
the Salinas brothers.
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Heroin remains a major concern in the non-US English speaking world
while, Burma, a major supplier of that heroin received unusual
exposure in at least one American paper, there was even a bold mention
of the involvement of the Burmese government in the heroin trade.
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Finally, a short excerpt describes the deteriorating situation in
Colombia, Burma's Western Hemisphere counterpart.
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MOSCOW ORDERS WAR ON DRUGS
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MOSCOW'S mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, yesterday ordered police to stamp out its
drug problem by raiding bars, discos and clubs frequented by young
people.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Daily Telegraph (UK) |
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Author: | Marcus Warren, Moscow |
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MEXICO CITY - When the young chief of Switzerland's drug police arrived
here in late 1995 to inquire about $132 million found in Swiss bank
accounts belonging to the influential elder brother of a former
president, he knew enough about Mexico's political underworld to be
wary of his official hosts.
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[snip]
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Yet while the Swiss are preparing to use that evidence in a civil court
action to confiscate the fortune of Salinas, the elder brother of
former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a much larger and more
experienced group of law enforcement officials in the United States has
been unable to make a similar case of their own.
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[snip]
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Source: | New York Times (NY) |
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Pubdate: | Tue, 04 Aug 1998 |
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Author: | Tim Golden, New York Times |
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ALARM AT 'DEADLY' HEROIN SOLD IN ACT
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Children as young as 12 were among a record 42 heroin overdose victims
in Canberra last month.
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Police and the ACT Ambulance Service have now issued a warning of
heroin in unprecedented quantities, deadly purity and cheapness,
flooding the market and leaving young people at risk.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | Canberra Times (Australia) |
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HEROIN'S NEW IMAGE HOOKS TEENAGERS
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Battlefields on the front line
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DRUG-PUSHERS have changed the image of heroin so successfully that its
use has reached epidemic proportions in many British towns and cities,
a government report said yesterday.
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[snip]
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"The heroin outbreaks spreading across Britain are primarily a product
of purposeful supplying and marketing. The precursor to all of this had
been the strong, sustained availability of pure, inexpensive heroin,
primarily from southwest Asia."
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[snip]
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TALES OF TERROR EMERGE FROM VICTIMS
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Rape, torture murder are its instruments
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Bangkok
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As riot troops man strategic positions in tense Rangoon for today's
10th anniversary of the Burmese military's fierce suppression of a
pro-democracy uprising, human rights groups say that the army is
committing fresh atrocities at an alarming rate.
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[snip]
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Increasingly, the regime's concept of "development" is being extended
to grabbing control of the lucrative narcotics trade, analysts say.
Burma is one of the world's largest suppliers of heroin.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Aug 1998 |
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Source: | San Francisco Chronicle (CA) |
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Author: | Sandy Barron Chronicle Foreign Service |
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'NOTHING LEFT' OF POLICE BASE IN COLOMBIA
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BOGOTA, Colombia - The faint voice crackled over the two-way radio:
``The base has been destroyed. There is nothing left. The police have
been taken away as hostages, and the soldiers, too.''
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The voice of Luis Rodriguez, a resident of Miraflores, related a tale
of catastrophe in a jungle village that hosts Colombia's largest police
anti-narcotics base.
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[snip]
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Source: | Miami Herald (FL) |
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Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Aug 1998 |
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Author: | Tim Johnson - Herald Staff Writer |
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top)
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Legalize-USA has done it again. Peter McWilliams outstanding speech
from the Libertarian Party national convention is now on-line for all
to hear.
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Anyone who reviews this speech will be struck by the injustice and
incongruity represented by the fact that this brilliant patriot is
currently incarcerated and being held on an outrageous $250,000 bail. He is
not receiving proper medication for his AIDS and cancer, and is obviously
being persecuted for his beliefs.
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McWilliams' speech to Libertarians: http://www.legalize-usa.org/video6.htm
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--------
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Thanks to Paul Lewin for this heads up. An impressive feather in the
cap for all the hard working DrugSense volunteers and staff:
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Thanks to the excellent work of DrugSense/MAP and its army of
volunteers, the prestigious National Center on Institutions and
Alternatives is focusing its "Myth of Month" on the ONDCP's anti-drug
media campaign.
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As a result the quality documentation made available through the
DrugSense/MAP site, NCIA was able to forcefully call the anti-drug media
campaign what it is: a myth.
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I hope you will let your supporters know about this site & their role
in its creation. The exact link is: http://www.igc.org/ncia/mythc.html
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TIP OF THE WEEK
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The sentencing Project has a web site with a good deal of information ant
statistics that can help your letter writing, debates, and in providing
factual information to others about incarceration rates and much more.
Check out:
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http://www.sentencingproject.org/
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http://www.sentencingproject.org/pubs/tsppubs/prison~1.htm
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top)
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`In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one
should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are
comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong' - John Kenneth Galbraith
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FACT OF THE WEEK (Top)
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California Incarceration Rates
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There are more prisoners in the state of California alone, than in any
entire country in the world except Russia and China.
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Source: | Currie, E. Crime and punishment in America. (1998). New York, NY: |
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Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
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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.
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News/COMMENTS-Editor - Tom O'Connell ()
Senior-Editor - Mark Greer ()
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We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks.
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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.
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Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug
related issue to
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PLEASE HELP:
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DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE.
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We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort please Make
checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:
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The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/
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