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DrugSense Weekly
Oct. 7 ,1998 #067

A DrugSense publication                     http://www.drugsense.org/


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (12/25/24)


* Feature Article


Massing Around
by Dr.  Tom O'Connell

* Weekly News In Review


Drug War Policy & Politics-

Amnesty Finds 'Widespread Pattern' of U.S.  Rights Violations
Expanded Methadone Program Planned to Counter Heroin
Congress Delays Border Law Vote
Group Stops Needle Exchange After Leader Is Rearrested
The Drug Crisis Isn't Just in Mexico
Prison Guards: The Union Throws Its Weight to the Democrat

Prisons-

Bay Area Students Cut Class, Protest Spending on Prisons
Prison Growth May Deplete Surplus
Prison Mental Health Workers on Alert After Third

Medical Marijuana-

OPED: Medical Effectiveness Outside Law's Purview
Editorial: Allow Medical Marijuana: Measure 67
Marijuana Vote Brings Out Big Societal Issues
California Cooperative Gives, Sells Marijuana to Suffering
Science Notebook: Taking a Leaf From Marijuana's Effect

International News-

Eton Expels Boy Who Took Cannabis
More Face Random Drug Tests At Work
Drugs Laws to Copy US and Ireland
Iran Says Drug Traffickers Face Death Sentence
MEXICO The Drug War Corrupts Absolutely

* Hot Off The 'Net


MAP Published letters hit ONE MILLION DOLLAR milestone
CCUA Medical Marijuana update site
POLL - 89% of Atlantic Monthly Readers Favor Reform of Draconian Drug
Laws
The New Republic Ad - A Winner

* DrugSense Volunteer of the Month


Frank S.  World Recognized for Outstanding NewsHawk Efforts

* Quote of the Week


Clarence Darrow


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Massing Around

The September 6th New York Times Sunday Magazine carried an essay- "Winning the Drug War Isn't so Hard After All," written by Michael Massing, yet another authority on drug policy.  Massing's main opus, "The Fix," (Simon & Schuster) is due this month; reading his Sept.  6th article in tandem with Kirkus Reviews (Sept.1) suggests that it's intended to promote the book's theme- if not overtly the book itself.

Massing quickly segues from a topical subject- Mayor Giuliani's anti-methadone campaign- to an exposition of what he believes America's drug policy to be, where he thinks it goes wrong, and how it can be put right.  In any such undertaking, history is a logical starting point, one which also signals the author's bias.  Massing's history begins with Nixon's war on drugs, omitting the critical five-and-one-half decades between the Harrison Act of 1914 and the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.  Beyond that, his account of the origins of methadone maintenance
and the motivation ascribed to the Nixon Administration seem revisionist in the extreme.  With inaccurate "history" for his foundation, it's no surprise that Massing's conclusions are muddled and his recommendations fatuous.

That such a piece should foreshadow a serious book and be published by the New York Times is a measure of the poor intellectual quality of mainstream discussions in this critical policy area.  That the Times book review section hasn't yet reviewed Mike Gray's "Drug Crazy" is an equally disturbing reminder that opinions contrary to official doctrine are rarely aired in mainstream media (it's a safe bet "The Fix" will be promptly reviewed in the wake of this feature).

Massing's core proposition is simple; "legalization" of drugs is unthinkable because staggering numbers of addicts would result; he thus justifies basing a punitive, costly policy entirely on an unfounded fear.  Until now, he agrees, our policy can't be claimed to be working well; he obligingly recites a litany of drug war abominations: military intrusion into Latin America, coca-eradication programs, the invasion of Panama; domestic drug arrests which set new records each year and create bulging prisons.  Yet, he concedes, "this punitive approach has failed.  Cocaine is cheaper than ever, and heroin is selling at purity levels three times greater than those of the mid-1980's.  And drug abuse remains rampant."

Even so, Massing contends, our policy has really been registering successes in the area of "treatment," therefore appropriate changes in our bloated drug budget should increase those successes to a point where drug prohibition might finally earn passing grades as responsible policy.

The intellectual dishonesty implicit in this claim is staggering; it involves a seeming willingness to lie about every aspect of the subject.  Concern for addicts didn't give rise to methadone maintenance in the first Nixon Administration; Dan Baum, ("Smoke and Mirrors," 1996) was far more specific (and accurate) when he related how Nixon declared the present drug war to punish political dissent.  Baum also gave a more credible account of how methadone maintenance was initiated by Jerome Jaffe, Nixon's first "drug czar" and one of the few physicians to hold that post.  Jaffe was an essentially inadvertent appointment Nixon later regretted.  The implication that Jaffe's desire to treat addicts humanely was ever shared by Nixon, John Mitchell or Ed Meese is ludicrous.

Massing's methadone history is correct on three points: methadone maintenance proved immediately effective in treating heroin addiction; it reduced crime; it has always been resented by doctrinaire prohibitionists.  Despite being chronically under funded and hobbled by regulations, Methadone maintenance, remains the most successful federal contribution to drug policy.  That a punitive zealot like Giuliani would single it out for elimination is predictable; he understands that addiction maintenance is the same straw man federal narcs once attacked to justify criminal prohibition.  Giuliani's doctrine is purer than Massing's because he understands the historic moralistic underpinnings of current policy.

Massing's article isn't just about methadone however, it's a defense of current policy with more money for treatment and less for interdiction and enforcement.  Although admitting law enforcement's failure to control the criminal market, he's unconcerned by the price of that failure; policy is seen as only concerned with reducing the numbers of drug users, therefore he's content to have criminal prohibition as the mechanism which coerces users ("addicts/criminals") into "treatment."

Massing cautiously endorses some aspects of "harm reduction," but finds any suggestion that drug use be condoned to be completely unacceptable: "Harm reduction has serious limitations.  For the most part, it does not seek to get people off drugs but merely to help them use drugs more safely.  To express disapproval of addiction would, in the harm reductionists' view, reinforce society's intolerance of drug addicts. While promoting tolerance is admirable, the harm reductionists take it too far: if you should not stigmatize addicts, neither should you condone addiction."

Massing thus reveals his complete agreement with Barry McCaffrey that the futility of American drug prohibition policy can be entirely justified by an irrational, and bogus fear of addiction.  When they insist that policy is concerned only with addiction, they want us to close our eyes to the fact that most drug users aren't, and will never become addicts, that teens are daily being seduced into tragic experiments with the unsafe products of a criminal market, that hundreds of thousands of lives are destroyed each year by encounters with that market; one created solely to perpetuate a myth.

Tom O'Connell, MD


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

COMMENT:    (Top)

Although the gamut of drug -related news stories during the week (Sept.  26-Oct4) had included several typically dumb and/or dishonest policy stories, none seemed truly dominant.  Then, on Sunday, there was a rumor that Amnesty International was going to target abusive American police practices.  The rumor was borne out by a pre-release story on Monday, suggesting that this may have become a major topic by the time this newsletter is being read.


Drug War: Policy & Politics


COMMENT:    (Top)

The next biggest policy item was the methadone spat between McCzar and NYC Mayor Giuliani .  Viewed from within its proper context, ONDCP's sudden enthusiasm for methadone maintenance, a therapy of proven value which was strongly endorsed at a 1997 NIH meeting, is actually a year overdue and seriously under funded, especially if compared to an expensive program of no proven value, like the recently announced $2 billion ad campaign.

More confusion surfaced over border security against drug smuggling when Congressional bunker mentality ran up against reality in the form of the numbers of people who cross our borders daily.  Congress opted to dither until Oct.  15; are they hoping the numbers will change?

Speaking of borders, a revealing LAT op-ed pointed out that crime and corruption on our side of the border isn't covered in nearly the same detail as the Mexican side.  Because the author is clearly not a reformer, and has himself been the target of an assassination attempt by American gangsters, this criticism is especially telling

The implacable doctrinaire stance of New Jersey's Governor Whitman against needle exchange was again evident when Chai outreach workers were arrested for the second time- purely a local decision insisted the DA.  Sure; and no one consulted Whitman's office in an election year- "just doin' our duty, ma'am."

The good news from California was that the prison guards union isn't backing smiling fascist, Dan Lungren; the bad news is that it's backing tough-on crime, but wussy on civil liberties Gray Davis, everybody's "lesser of two evils" candidate.

AMNESTY FINDS 'WIDESPREAD PATTERN' OF US RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Amnesty International, in its first campaign directed at any Western nation, intends to publish a harsh report on the United States on Tuesday, saying U.S.  police forces and criminal and legal systems have "a persistent and widespread pattern of human rights violations."

[snip]

Source:   New York Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate:   5 Oct 1998
Section:   International/Global Issues Author: Barbara Crossette
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n867.a01.html


EXPANDED METHADONE PROGRAM PLANNED TO COUNTER HEROIN

NEW YORK - The White House plan to help heroin addicts sounds simple: Doctors would dispense methadone, a synthetic substance designed to lessen heroin cravings, in their offices for the first time.

But for now, the new policy doesn't include any money - just a government endorsement for improving and expanding the use of methadone.

"Methadone treatment is simply not available for Americans in all parts of the country in a manner called for by rational drug policy.  We've got to do better," Gen.  Barry McCaffrey, the national drug-policy director, told a meeting of the American Methadone Treatment Association in New York yesterday.

[snip]

Source:   Seattle Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Sep 1998
Author:   Beth J.  Harpaz, The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n853.a04.html


CONGRESS DELAYS BORDER LAW VOTE

Lawmakers fear stricter checkpoints would lead to traffic gridlock

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress voted Thursday to delay a law that lawmakers from states bordering Canada feared could create a traffic nightmare by requiring new, stricter checks at border crossings.

[snip]

"Nothing will change with our inspection process," said Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  "We don't even have the infrastructure to begin to do this."

[snip]

There are 250 entry points in the United States - either airports, sea ports or land crossings, and hundreds of millions of people use them each year.

While Abraham, head of the Senate immigration subcommittee, pushed to get the stopgap bill on the Senate floor, Rep.  Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, his counterpart in the House, indicated he favored moving it quickly through the House.

[snip]

"With just a 30-second inspection required for every border-crosser, backups at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit would immediately exceed 24 hours.  That would be unbearable, and the border would be effectively closed," Abraham said.

[snip]

Source:   Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Pubdate:   Fri, 2 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n856.a06.html


THE DRUG CRISIS ISN'T JUST IN MEXICO

Baja's traffickers are well-known, but their peers in California are invisible; why does the press ignore them?

From Crescent City to San Ysidro, Californians have had preferential seating to watch the murder and drug trafficking thrillers being played out in Tijuana and Ensenada.  But what the people from California don't know, and maybe cannot even imagine, is that seated next to them may be some of the criminals whose job it is to come down to Baja California to execute people.

[snip]

Source:   Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.  latimes. com/
Pubdate:   27 Sep 1998
Author:   J.  Jesus Blancornelas-J.
Note:   Jesus Blancornelas is the editor of the weekly Zeta.  Less than one
year ago, he suffered an attempt on his life that left his bodyguard dead and Blancornelas with several bullet wounds.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n852.a06.html


GROUP STOPS NEEDLE EXCHANGE AFTER LEADER IS REARRESTED

The only AIDS organization openly distributing clean needles to drug users in New Jersey has decided to stop the practice after its director, Diana McCague, was arrested Tuesday for the second time.

McCague, who flouted New Jersey's drug paraphernalia laws, said her organization will fight in the courts instead of continuing to hand out syringes, a practice the organization believes will slow the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

[snip]

Source:   Bergen Record (NJ)
Contact:  
Webform:   http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback
FAX: (201) 646-4749
Website:   http://www.bergen.com/
Pubdate:   Thu, 01 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n854.a04.html


PRISON GUARDS: THE UNION THROWS ITS WEIGHT TO THE DEMOCRAT, SENDING LUNGREN
SCRAMBLING.

SACRAMENTO - For the first time in 16 years, the state's powerful prison-guard union on Tuesday chose to support the Democrat in the race for governor, prompting an immediate escalation in the battle between Lt.  Gov. Gray Davis and Atty. General Dan Lungren over who can claim the mantle of crime-fighter.

[snip]

Source:   San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate:   Thu, 1 Oct 1998
Author:   MARY ANNE OSTROM, Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n856.a08.html


Prisons
---------

COMMENT:    (Top)

A Berkeley Conference on the impact prisons are having on education was followed by a Bay Area student protest which received state wide publicity, and helped dramatize their contention that California's prison expansion has occurred at the expense of public schools.

More dreary evidence that America's ill-conceived orgy of incarceration will have serious social consequences continued to accumulate.

BAY AREA STUDENTS CUT CLASS, PROTEST SPENDING ON PRISONS

2,000 march, urge lawmakers to give priority to education

SAN LEANDRO - About 2,000 students from throughout the Bay Area cut classes to march and rally Thursday, protesting that the state spends more to lock up young people than to educate them.

[snip]

Source:   San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate:   Sat, 3 Oct 1998
Author:   E.  Mark Moreno, Mercury News Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n862.a07.html


PRISON GROWTH MAY DEPLETE SURPLUS

If projections that the state's prison population will jump nearly 50% in three years prove true, it could deplete much of the state's expected budget surplus, a legislator said Sunday.

The Department of Corrections last week proposed a two-year budget that seeks an increase of $280.7 million.

More money is needed because the number of adult inmates is expected to leap by 8,000 to more than 25,000, according to estimates by corrections officials.

[snip]

Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.jsonline.com/
Pubdate:   Mon, 28 Sep 1998
Author:   Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff
Fax:   (414) 224-8280
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n846.a05.html


PRISON MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS ON ALERT AFTER THIRD INMATE HANGING IN A MONTH

SALEM, Ore.  (AP) - Mental health workers are on alert after the body of an inmate was found hanging from a bedsheet in a Pendleton prison cell in the third apparent suicide the state prison system has seen in the past month.

Solomon Abernathy, 21, was found about 2:30 a.m.  Monday in a disciplinary cell at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 29 Sep 1998
Source:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n850.a04.html


Medical Marijuana


COMMENT:    (Top)

Shades of November, 1996! As election day approaches, we're again reminded how important the medical use of cannabis is to the reform movement.

The more things change, the more that stay the same; two years ago, following a McCzar opinion that marijuana couldn't possibly be medicine, the San Francisco Chronicle chided him for "exceeding his credentials." Last week, the Albany, Oregon Democrat-Herald offered the same admonition to the Portland sheriff.

Another intelligent editorial comment from Oregon pointed out the illogical nature of the "sheriff's fallacy" which claims that prescriptive use of a drug will increase its recreational use.

The Oregonian's Phil O'Neill wrote a long, well-balanced article on the evolution of Oregon's Initiative.

Another long article describing the operation of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative was especially important because it appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  Nevadans will also vote on a medical marijuana initiative in November.

Even as sheriffs and legislators were claiming that marijuana has no valid therapeutic use, researchers at UCSF were reporting elegant laboratory studies which demonstrate that cannabinoids possess unique pain blocking properties.

OPINION - MEDICAL EFFECTIVENESS OUTSIDE LAW'S PURVIEW

If the sheriff of Multnomah County had a medical degree and had acquired experience treating patients as a doctor, what he says about the medical marijuana initiative would have some weight.

Since he does not and has not, he has no standing to declare, as he did last week before the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, that marijuana would be "the least effective and most risky" medication to give to someone.

[snip]

Source:   Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www2.mvonline.com/MV/
Pubdate:   Mon, 28 Sep 1998
Author:   Hasso Hering, Editor, Albany Democrat-Herald
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n851.a07.html


ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA: MEASURE 67 WOULDN'T LEGALIZE DRUG

Physicians who prescribe morphine to relieve intense pain are not seen as promoting drug addiction, even though morphine is a terribly addictive drug.  Yet a proposal to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana is criticized as promoting drug abuse, even though marijuana is far more benign than many widely accepted prescription drugs.  Oregonians should understand that they can support humane medical practices without undermining efforts to control dangerous drugs.  They should support Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.

[snip]

Pubdate:   26 Sep 1998
Source:   Register-Guard, The (OR)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.registerguard.com/


MARIJUANA VOTE BRINGS OUT BIG SOCIETAL ISSUES

Oregonians will decide whether legalizing medical marijuana offers compassion to the sick and dying or an open door to widespread drug use

[snip]

Early statewide polling points to widespread support for legalizing medical marijuana, with strong backing across age, income, political and geographic lines.  Ironically, Oregonians also will vote in November on Ballot Measure 57, which would make possession of small amounts of marijuana a criminal offense.  Early polling shows more voters opposing than supporting that measure.

Rob Elkins, Molalla police chief and a director of Oregonians Against Dangerous Drugs, views the medical marijuana measure as an open door for all marijuana use.

[snip]

But Dr.  Richard Bayer, a Portland internist and a chief petitioner for the marijuana initiative, said the ultimate goal isn't legalization of all drugs - just to make it possible for sick people to obtain marijuana at a pharmacy, with a prescription.

[snip]

Source:   Oregonian, The (OR)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.oregonlive.com/
Pubdate:   Mon, 28 Sep 1998
Author:   Patrick O'Neill of the Oregonian staff
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n848.a09.html


CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE GIVES, SELLS MARIJUANA TO SUFFERING

Nevada to vote on illegal drug for medical use

OAKLAND, Calif.  - Step up to the counter at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.  Today you'll find baggies of Big Bud and Humboldt Octane sell for $55 per one-eighth ounce.  African Sativa fetches $50, AA Sativa goes for $20 and RX Sativa, just $15.

[snip]

The Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative is the model of the marijuana dispensing operations that opened in California after 56 percent of its voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996.  About 2,200 people, presumably all with appropriate recommendations from doctors, acquire their marijuana here.

For users who cannot afford the specialty prices, the cooperative gives them a "compassionate use" baggie with enough marijuana for about three joints.

[snip]

Source:   Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/
Fax:   702-383-4676
Pubdate:   4 October 1998
Author:   Ed Vogel Donrey Capital Bureau
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n866.a06.html


SCIENCE NOTEBOOK

Compiled from reports by Curt Suplee, John Schwartz and Rob Stein.

BIOLOGY:   Taking a Leaf From Marijuana's Effect New research suggests
that scientists may be able to develop a powerful new painkiller modeled on the active ingredient in marijuana.

In rats, a drug that mimics delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active ingredient in marijuana, deadens pain like morphine, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco showed.  The findings indicate that marijuana-like drugs kill pain without producing the side effects of morphine.

[snip]

Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Contact:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Pubdate:   Mon, 28 Sep 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n848.a08.html


International News


COMMENT:    (Top)

As we've noted recently, reefer madness is no longer a purely American affliction, but has spread across the Atlantic; disturbing evidence of this idea is found in the first three articles from the UK.  It's quite apparent that as press and public attitudes toward the drug war is cool, politicians and enforcement agencies around the world push feverishly for harsher, even more restrictive laws.

Draconian as laws are becoming in English-speaking nations, they can't hold a candle to the Moslem world (which nevertheless remains an important source of opium products).

Finally, no newsletter is complete without an article on Mexico.  The futility which Bertram and Sharp detail in this well written piece could be applied, not only to Mexico, but to the entire drug war.

ETON EXPELS BOY WHO TOOK CANNABIS

A BOY at Eton, where Princes William, 16, and Harry, 14, are pupils, has been expelled for smoking cannabis.

A school spokesman said yesterday: "A boy was asked to leave the school earlier this week in connection with a drugs incident.  This is an internal matter that has been dealt with by the headmaster, who will not comment on disciplinary matters within the school."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 03 Oct 1998
Source:   Telegraph, The (UK)
Contact:  
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n865.a09.html


MORE FACE RANDOM DRUG TESTS AT WORK

Nick Hopkins on how Prince Andrew may be one of many randomly checked, as industry tries to plug UKP3bn losses from drug-related illness

[snip]

Random tests could be coming to a workplace near you.  Some companies, such as London Transport and Railtrack, already have them for safety reasons. And there are signs that corporate Britain is waking up to the advantages too, as firms look for ways to cut the staggering UKP3 billion lost every year to drink and drug related illness.

[snip]

The Government will doubtless look to the United States for a lead, where random screening is commonplace.  Medscreen, which does drug testing for companies all over Europe, already has 300 big clients in the UK, and says the market is expanding rapidly.  Medscreen mainly does pre-employment drug screening, but recently has noticed a shift among companies towards random tests.

[snip]

Source:   Guardian, The (UK)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Pubdate:   Sat, 03 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n864.a09.html


DRUGS LAWS TO COPY US AND IRELAND

THE clampdown on criminals who live in luxury with no visible income is being adapted from American tactics used to break the power of the Mafia.

It is an admission that previous efforts to seize criminals' assets have failed.  Only UKP5m was seized under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act last year, but the drugs trade is estimated at UKP9.9 billion annually.  Under existing law, assets can be seized only after a conviction, and many criminals transfer them to their families or associates.

In the US the 1970 Racketeer and Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act has been credited with 23 Mafia convictions since 1981.  It reversed the burden of proof, so that suspects had to account for their assets.

[snip]

Source:   Times, The (UK)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Pubdate:   Fri, 02 Oct 1998
Author:   Richard Ford
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n864.a05.html


IRAN SAYS DRUG TRAFFICKERS FACE DEATH SENTENCE

TEHRAN, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Iran, faced with widespread smuggling and abuse of drugs, reiterated on Wednesday it would execute traffickers under tough new laws.

Prosecutor General Ayatollah Morteza Moqtadaei said armed smugglers, as well as traffickers caught in possession of five kg (11 lb) of opium, would face the death penalty, Iranian television reported.

Smugglers held with 30 grams (1.1 ounce) of heroin or morphine would receive a death sentence on a second offence under the new laws which took effect recently, Moqtadaei was quoted as saying.

[snip]

Source:   Reuters
Pubdate:   Thu, 1 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n859.a01.html


MEXICO - THE DRUG WAR CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

WASHINGTON- "Progress" and "cooperation" are the official watchwords Washington likes to use to describe the U.S.-backed drug war in Mexico. The cheery rhetoric is essential to protecting relations with Mexico. When reality intrudes and the official drug-war story threatens to unravel, the story is revised.  Just how deeply corrupting the drug war is on Mexico's political institutions and, ultimately, on U.S.-Mexican interests is glossed over, if mentioned at all.

[snip]

Regrettably, stories to protect Mexico's image as a loyal drug-war ally will continue to be told and retold, and they will continue to be dashed by reality.  But as debate focuses on how much progress we are making against the widening corruption in Mexico, we risk missing a deeper truth.  Fighting drug abuse at home through a war on supply abroad is not good policy, and it will make us both bad neighbors.

[snip]

Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact:  
Fax:   213-237-4712
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate:   Sunday, 4 October1998
Author:   Eva Bertram, Kenneth Sharpe
Note:   Eva Bertram, a Policy Analyst, and Kenneth Sharpe, Professor of
Political Science at Swarthmore College, are coauthors of "Drug War
Politics:   the Price of Denial."
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n853.a04.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

MAP Published letters hit ONE MILLION DOLLAR milestone

The Media Awareness Project of Drugsense archives and attempts to put a value on the letters to the editor that get printed and discovered by our NewsHawks.  These are posted to the archive by the hard working Ashley Clements.

There are 1022 total published LTEs on-line to date (collected from 96-98) with an estimated value of $1,020,978.

To review this valuable searchable archive and to review our method of placing a value on these published works please visit:

http://www.mapinc.org/lte/

The 1998 to date figures are 521 published LTEs with a value of $520,479. Which indicates that we have already accomplished more in 1998 than in all of 1996 and 1997 combined.

The MAP letter writing effort may be one of the most successful and sustained efforts in reform history.

The above numbers do not take into account the hundreds of radio and television talk show that DrugSense has arranged on behalf of reform.

Hearty congratulations to the dedicated, consistent, and effective cadre of MAP letter writers, NewsHawks and editors.  Keep it up. We ARE making a difference!


CCUA Site

by Tod H.  Mikuriya, M.D.

Before, during, and after Proposition 215 passed Attorney General Dan Lungren has done his best to suborn the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996.  He has managed to elude scrutiny of his use of his office to defy rather than implement or comply with Health and Safety Code section 11362.5.

Please visit the CCUA (Prop 215) web site at:

http://www.drugsense.org/ccua/

the Lungren 215 Updates reveals his strategy of enabling and facilitating blocking access to medicinal cannabis and intimidation of physicians.

[snip]

Editors Note: DrugSense takes no stand on political races or candidates. The above is provided as a courtesy to inform our readers of items of possible interest.


The Atlantic Monthly, which hosts very active on-line discussion groups, recently did a survey of sorts.  They offered 3 possible solutions to the 'drug problem,'

a) Draconian enforcement,

b) markedly increased funding for treatment,

c) legalization.

55% of their (very conservative) participants favored legalization and an amazing 89% were in favor of reforming existing policy.

Check out:

http://www.theatlantic.com/trans.atl/politics/decision/drugs2.htm


McCaffrey Ad

In case you missed the outstanding ad in The New Republic (10/5 edition) "Is the Truth a Casualty of the Drug War" which depicts a Pinoccio like caricature of Barry McCaffrey and cites a number of his inaccuracies be sure to check out a reproduction.  There is a link at the top of http://www.drugsense.org/


DRUGSENSE VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH    (Top)

Frank S.  World - NEWSHAWK OF THE MONTH

This month DrugSense starts a new tradition, recognizing one of our superb NewsHawks, who make the Media Awareness Project possible.

Frank S.  World is recognized for his consistent high quality news hawking for over a year.  Frank roams the web to bring us items of importance, and focuses on medicinal marijuana, the San Francisco area and Wisconsin newspapers.  Frank is not our NewsHawk's real name. He uses a pen name with good reason.

Frank has glaucoma, and has been successfully using medicinal marijuana for over twenty-five years to preserve his remaining eyesight.  While the U.S. government recognizes that medicinal marijuana is of value in treating glaucoma by issuing it to two citizens every month, thousands more, like Frank, are not so fortunate.

In order to do his NewsHawking, Frank must use a 21" monitor and be quite close to the screen.  This added difficulty has in no way deterred Frank from making a highly valued contribution to our efforts.  Frank also has a website at: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/

On learning of his selection, Frank wrote: "Wow, I'm delighted to receive this award! NewsHawking is a good way for me to help out, and it's been a real learning experience too.  I really enjoy finding articles that inspire LTEs.  I've seen a lot of great letters inspired by articles I've hawked and that makes me feel good, knowing that I've made a positive contribution to getting the truth out."

"In my year or so of NewsHawking, I've seen a lot of positive developments, and I can see what a great bunch of volunteers like the people of MAP can do to help end this drug war madness."

As a token of appreciation from all of us, Frank will be receiving a personally autographed copy of DRUG CRAZY from Mike Gray.

Folks interested in helping Frank with the news hawking effort may find the basic instructions at: http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

`Laws should be like clothes.  They should be made to fit the people they are meant to serve' - Clarence Darrow -


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.

News/COMMENTS-Editor:   Tom O'Connell ()
Senior-Editor:   Mark Greer ()

We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks.

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.

REMINDER:  

Please help us help reform.  Send any news articles you find on any drug related issue to

PLEASE HELP:

DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE.

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 tax deductible contribution to:

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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