| September 17, 1999 #115 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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"Truth: The Anti-Drug" Ad Campaign Based on Half-Truths and Distortions | ||||||||||||||||||
AS PART OF President Clinton's $1 billion anti-drug campaign, a new
round of ads has recently appeared in major newspapers. Bearing the
tagline "Truth: The Anti-Drug," the ads present statistics based on
skimpy science, and pass them off as unassailable fact. The simple
strategy of "talking to your kids about drugs" is relentlessly
endorsed, as it has been throughout the introduction of the five-year
campaign. While communication between parents and children is not
exactly a bad idea, too few commentators have looked skeptically at
this proposed cure. Admittedly, surveys do find that children whose
parents talk to them about drugs take less drugs, but that's not the
whole story. | ||||||||||||||||||
The ads ignore the fact that parents who don't talk to their kids are
more likely to be abusive, neglectful, addicted, and/or alcoholic --
that is, those most likely to have kids who use drugs in the first
place. | ||||||||||||||||||
Most of the time, the difference between kids who take drugs and those
who don't is not the anti-drug talk, but the larger environment in
which the child is raised. | ||||||||||||||||||
Like much drug prevention "research," this recent barrage of statistics
implies that correlation equals causation. And notably, the causes
singled out by the government are conspicuously those which can be
remedied without new spending: failure to talk, lack of will power, and
so on. In the same "talk to your kids" ad, another "fact" put forth is
that kids who start using drugs at a younger age are more likely to
become addicted. True enough, but kids who start earlier are also more
likely to have serious social and psychological problems than those who
start later. | ||||||||||||||||||
The same goes for the vaunted "gateway" theory that marijuana leads to harder drugs, an hypothesis recently debunked by the Institute of Medicine, but still promoted by preventionists. Yes, people who try pot are more likely to try other drugs, but most people who try pot don't try other substances. Furthermore, the minority of pot users who do move on to harder drugs have overwhelmingly suffered from some previous difficulty or simply wanted to try the whole spectrum from the get-go. | ||||||||||||||||||
The speciousness of these ads goes even further. Proponents of the new
facts-of-life drug chat either offer skewed information or vague
pronouncements as to the proper content of the pow-wow. In fact, the
Anti-Drug campaign materials imply that it doesn't much matter what
exactly you say to your kids: "What's important is that your kids know
that you don't want them to use drugs." But this assertion makes little
sense: if it were true, wouldn't all anti-drug messages be equally
effective? | ||||||||||||||||||
The fact that the message comes from parents is important, but that
doesn't mean any message will do. Indeed, research from the '70s found
that some anti-drug education material actually increased drug use by
increasing kids' curiosity. And don't overlook the generation of
parents which the ads seek to advise; at least half the boomers took
drugs, and according to the government's own surveys over 95% suffered
no long term problems as a result. | ||||||||||||||||||
The picture painted here is bizarre. | ||||||||||||||||||
We're telling people who used drugs largely without drastic
consequences to exaggerate the risks to their kids, use phony facts,
and either lie about or gloss over their own experiences. The truth is
that drug use is a difficult issue about which America is extremely
hypocritical. Until we get realistic about the relative dangers of
alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs and start treating addiction as the
health problem that it is, prevention campaigns are doomed to fail.
Unless we are willing to deal with the underlying causes of addiction
-- things like social deprivation, mental illness, and child abuse --
the people who have real drug problems will continue to be ignored or
imprisoned. Truth can be the "anti-drug," but only if it's actually
true. | ||||||||||||||||||
Maia Szalavitz is a journalist who has written for New York Magazine,
The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, The Village Voice,
and other publications. | ||||||||||||||||||
Maia Szalavitz 212-879-2305 | ||||||||||||||||||
EDITORS NOTE: For additional information and an opposing viewpoint to
the "Partnership for a Drug-Free America" (PDFA) ad campaign, please
see the "Partnership For Drug-policy Facts and Alternatives" (PDFA) web
page at: http://www.PDFA.net | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (1) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
George W.'s possible use of cocaine is slowly fading from editorial
pages, but still supplied the lead for Michael Pollan's ironic look at
the rampant inconsistencies within American drug use and American drug
policy. | ||||||||||||||||||
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) A VERY FINE LINE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The boundary between good and bad drugs is harder than ever to draw. | ||||||||||||||||||
The same week that a Republican candidate for President spent
struggling to compose ever more tortuous nondenials of his drug use as
a young man, a former Republican Presidential candidate could be seen
in full-page advertisements forthrightly acknowledging his own use of
another drug. Oh, I know: two completely different and incomparable
situations; how unfair to Robert Dole and the Pfizer pharmaceutical
company even to mention them in the same paragraph as George W. Bush
and cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Historians of the future will wonder how a people possessed of such a
deep faith in the power of drugs also found themselves fighting a war
against certain other drugs with not-dissimilar powers. The media are
filled with gauzy pharmaceutical ads promising not just relief from
pain but also pleasure and even fulfillment; at the same time, Madison
Avenue is working equally hard to demonize other substances on behalf
of a "drug-free America." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (2-3) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A (belatedly posted) article which appeared in The Village Voice in
August described a well financed ONDCP effort to catch up with
reform's lead on the Internet. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, ONDCP's latest Madison Ave. efforts to discourage
adolescent drug use began appearing in newspapers. We should thank
them for answering a question which has long puzzled us: what's the
annual cost of our misguided drug policy? | ||||||||||||||||||
(2) CHILLIN' WITH UNCLE SAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Feds to Teens: Just Say No, Dude | ||||||||||||||||||
The strangest site on the Internet has to be freevibe.com. Check it out
if you're skeptical, and read the bizarre postings about the dangers of
illegal drugs. They are written in the style of Seventeen magazine, in
which grown-ups pepper their prose with the buzzwords of youth, like,
uh, cool, man. But you could browse a long time and learn all about
young Jake in the grip of addiction, "tabbing acid during basketball
games," before discovering that the man behind the site is in fact The
Man. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
As a key territory on the media map, the Internet is must-win zone for the government, if real change is to occur. And that means countering the myriad pro-drug sites on the Net. In addition to revamping Freevibe.com to better reach its target of 13-year-olds, Phase III calls for a widespread Web ad campaign. High-volume sites will be asked to host celebrity chats pushing the line that staying straight is cool. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) TRUTH - THE ANTI-DRUG (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The most effective deterrent to drug use among kids isn't the police,
or prisons, or politicians. One of the most effective deterrents to
drug use among kids is their parents. Kids who learn about the risks of
drugs from their parents are 36% less likely to smoke marijuana than
kids who learn nothing from them. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Illegal drugs are estimated to cost America over $110 billion each
year in treatment, enforcement, incarceration and social damage. But
what else could you buy for $110 billion? | ||||||||||||||||||
Well, you could build 169 new hospitals. | ||||||||||||||||||
Or 687 new universities. Or operate 366 national parks. | ||||||||||||||||||
You could hire 278,481 new high school teachers. | ||||||||||||||||||
And 400,947 more clerks at the post office. | ||||||||||||||||||
Or you could put 75,862 new buses on the road. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (4-5) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In pondering SAMHSA's report that 70% of illegal drug users are
full-time workers, Mike Hudson of Knight-Ridder apparently never
considered that drug users might avoid large companies precisely
because of their testing policy. | ||||||||||||||||||
The same information was given somewhat more intelligent scrutiny in
an Arizona Republic editorial. | ||||||||||||||||||
(4) STUDY: DRUG USE AT SMALLER FIRMS ON RISE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - Fewer Americans are using illegal drugs on the job these
days but drug use is growing among workers at medium-sized companies,
according to a new study released Wednesday by the federal Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Some 70 percent of people who use illegal drugs hold full-time jobs,
the experts say. There were an estimated 6.3 million illicit drug users
and 6.2 million heavy alcohol users among the 81.8 million people in
America's work force in 1997. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) EDITORIAL: DO DRUGS, DO TIME? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Tough Drug Stance Has a Price | ||||||||||||||||||
A study by the federal Department of Health and Human Services found
that about 70 percent of Americans who had used illegal drugs in 1997
held full-time jobs. That's over 6 million people. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In commenting on the study findings, federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey said that it demonstrates that "the typical drug user is not poor and unemployed. He or she can be a co-worker, a husband or wife, a parent." | ||||||||||||||||||
It's an ironic sentiment coming from McCaffrey, who is the nation's foremost advocate of retaining criminal penalties for drug use. If McCaffrey's policies were perfectly enforced, these co-workers, spouses, and parents wouldn't be gainfully employed. They'd be in jail. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (6-7) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The growing militarization of American police agencies provoked strikingly similar responses from columnists on opposite coasts. | ||||||||||||||||||
(6) POLICE DEVELOP 'MILITARY MIND SET' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
With Aid Of Pentagon, Civilian Forces Acquiring Army-Style Look, Approach | ||||||||||||||||||
ON FEB. 28, 1993, 76 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) assaulted Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, firing MP-5 machine guns continuously and throwing percussion grenades -- just to execute an arrest-and-search warrant. | ||||||||||||||||||
The agents had been trained in military assault tactics by Green Berets
at Fort Hood, Texas. Although the BATF's lengthy search warrant had not
mentioned drugs, the agency nevertheless reported a drug connection --
a methamphetamine lab -- so it could receive free advice, training and
equipment from the Pentagon. No proof of a drug lab was found after the
attack. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
This sharing of military resources with civilian agencies has not only
gone to federal agencies but also to police bureaus across the nation,
from the huge Los Angeles Police Department to the seven-member
department in Jasper, Fla. (population 2,000). The result has been an
alarming militarization of local law enforcement. Most hardware has
been funneled to special paramilitary units in departments known as
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, contributing to what criminal
justice scholar Peter Kraska has called the "militarization of
Mayberry." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
What's wrong with this picture? Plenty. A soldier and a law enforcement officer serve completely different functions, and fusing their identities presents a serious, long-term danger to a free society. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) MILITARY TACTICS ON DOMESTIC SOIL HAVE DEADLY RESULTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Citizens Are Getting Caught In The Cross-Fire | ||||||||||||||||||
LATE at night, armed men shot their way into the home, set off a
"flash-bang" grenade, then ran into a bedroom where a man and his wife
had been sleeping. One of the gunmen shot Mario Paz, a 64-year-old
grandfather, in the back twice. | ||||||||||||||||||
Paz, head of a hard-working, law-abiding Compton family, was killed on
Aug. 9 by a police officer from El Monte who says he thought the
retiree might be reaching for a gun. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Republicans in Congress will wade in, but they're so eager to sink Reno
they're likely to miss the deeper issue. | ||||||||||||||||||
When police officers play soldier and soldiers play police, Americans
die. | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A very well written essay in Wisconsin's Capital Times dwelt on the
human needs of America's exploding prison population. | ||||||||||||||||||
(8) PRISONS NEED TO SEE THE LIGHT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Last week I sat swinging at our land in Grant County, feeling the wind rush by my face, looking up into a beautiful hickory tree. When I'm there, troubles flow by and simple pleasures reassert their importance. But occasionally I find it a little creepy out there alone and half expect to look up and see a gaunt, hollow-eyed fellow staring at me. So I have to admit that I secretly shuddered at the decision to build a Supermax prison at Boscobel, just a few miles from our refuge. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Prisons are a potent metaphor for human failings we hate in ourselves.
We want to imagine we can isolate evil and cast it away as if it
weren't a part of ourselves with which we must contend. But life is
more complicated than that. Current anti-crime hysteria that has
bloated our prisons needs the remedy of compassion and practicality.
It needs the public to visit prisons to understand the life prisoners
lead. In more than one way, our country's prisons need more daylight
shining inside. | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
On a less reflective note, McCzar and the Coast Guard Commandant joined
forces for a macho press conference clearly designed to inspire
Congressional largesse. | ||||||||||||||||||
Equally clearly, no one stopped to think: if the cartels to willing to risk tons of cocaine, how can they possibly be losing the drug war? | ||||||||||||||||||
(9) COAST GUARD USING SHARPSHOOTERS TO STOP BOATS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- Updating a tactic last employed during Prohibition, the
Coast Guard is using sharpshooters on helicopters to disable the
engines of drug smugglers' boats with rifle fire, the service disclosed
on Monday. The Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. James E. Loy, said
that the sharpshooters were deployed in recent weeks and that their
bullets had brought two drug-laden boats to a stop in the Caribbean.
Admiral Loy also said law-abiding boaters or fishermen need not fear
getting shot at because rifle fire is used only after repeated warnings
to stop and only after a boat's pursuers are certain it is a
drug-runner. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
One sharpshooter, Charlie Hopkins of Winslow, Me., was credited with
disabling a smugglers' vessel on Aug. 16 with three shots from a
.50-caliber rifle. The news conference today featured Transportation | ||||||||||||||||||
They talked of the 53 tons of cocaine that had been seized by the
Federal authorities since last Oct. 1 (the beginning of the current
fiscal year), and the $17.8 billion that the Clinton Administration
wants for anti-drug efforts in the next fiscal year. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Ninth Circuit handed down a decision which could be described as
courageous, timid, precise and important with equal accuracy.
Thankfully, it attacked Breyer's pusillanimous logic at exactly its
weakest point. | ||||||||||||||||||
(10) JUDGE TOLD TO RETHINK MARIJUANA BAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The dark judicial clouds hovering over
California's medical marijuana clubs may have lightened -- but only
just a bit. | ||||||||||||||||||
On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told a federal judge
to rethink his absolute ban on drug distribution at some northern
California marijuana clubs, and consider an exemption for patients who
show a serious medical need and no legal alternative. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In its 3-0 ruling, the court said the government "has yet to identify
any interest it may have in blocking the distribution of marijuana to
those with medical needs." | ||||||||||||||||||
The panel said the government "has offered no evidence to rebut (a marijuana club's) evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for a large group of seriously ill individuals." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps a review of Ron Mann's documentary will be posted by the time you read this backgrounder; in any event, it sounds interesting. | ||||||||||||||||||
(11) MARIJUANA DOCUMENTARY A DRAG FOR FILMMAKER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Ron Mann senses that the forces of temperance are mobilizing against
him as he prepared to unveil his latest effort, Grass. | ||||||||||||||||||
Ron Mann still remembers the scorched-earth rejection letter he
received from Herb Alpert. For the sake of decency, Mann, the
soft-spoken Toronto filmmaker, offers an edited account of Alpert's
written reply, which went something like: "I hope you burn in hell, you
$%%*!!" | ||||||||||||||||||
Mann had asked the former leader of the Tijuana Brass for permission to
use his hit '60s song, Tijuana Taxi, in the soundtrack to Grass, Mann's
spliff-sized opus on the history of marijuana prohibition from the
early 1900s to the present. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In a downtown editing theatre, Mann and a technician tinker with the
volume levels on narrator Woody Harrelson's voice. It is 5 p.m. and
they will be here until at least 3 in the morning, with more wakeful
nights stretching through to the Sept. 15 premiere. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
While maintaining, as best as possible, an ironic distance from his
material, Mann nonetheless lets it be known that he hasn't much time
for double-dealing American politicians. Bill Clinton, he says, is just
as bad as his Republican predecessors. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's worse now than ever before, under Clinton. He'll pay lip service to the left, but this is someone who, well ..." Mann's voice trails off. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I saw a T-shirt that says, 'Clinton doesn't inhale, he just sucks.' | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
It's hardly surprising that the Mexican cartels can easily recruit
desperately poor peasants to camp out while they try their hand at
raising a lucrative cash crop in our national forests. | ||||||||||||||||||
What's amazing is that the LEOs sound somewhat surprised- are they
really that naive? | ||||||||||||||||||
(12) CARTELS EXPAND INTO STATE'S POT GARDENS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Mexican Organizations Muscle Into Cultivation | ||||||||||||||||||
MORGAN HILL - As the helicopter clattered down a narrow canyon, Special
Agent Sonya Barna gestured toward a break in the forest canopy where
the ground cover shimmered with hues of blue and green. | ||||||||||||||||||
Barna would soon be on the ground, leading the 144th raid so far this year by the state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting or CAMP. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"With the exception of Humboldt County where we're still dealing with small growers, in much of the state it's not just a couple of guys out there growing marijuana any more," Van Attenhoven said. "It's Mexican National drug organizations. These are commercial operations. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Beset by evidence of increasing drug use among their youth, those in
charge of drug policy in Canada and the UK reaffirmed their
unfortunate contention that American "tough on drugs" policy is the
way to go. | ||||||||||||||||||
(13) CANADA: KIDS EMBRACE DOPE, BOOZE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Marijuana 'Cheaper Than Cigarettes' | ||||||||||||||||||
More Canadian high school kids are smoking up and getting wasted, shows
a new federal study to be released next month. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Trends in the Health of Canadian Youth study, done by Health
Canada, surveyed 12,000 Canadian students in Grades 6, 8 and 10 last
year. | ||||||||||||||||||
Canada ranked third among 11 countries in the number of 15-year-olds
who had gotten "really drunk" twice or more in 1998, five spots ahead
of even the U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
Some 43% of boys and girls said they were really drunk two or more
times last year, compared to 34% of boys and 28% of girls in the U.S.
In 1994, just 39% of Canadian 15-year-olds said they had been
over-intoxicated twice or more. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) CANADA: FILMON: LOCKERS, DESKS FAIR GAME (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Cops should search for guns, weapons | ||||||||||||||||||
Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon said he'd give police more freedom to
search school lockers for weapons and drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
Referring to Supreme Court and Manitoba Court of Appeal decisions which
allow locker searches without warrants, Filmon said a re-elected Tory
government would amend provincial legislation to declare students'
desks and lockers public property. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Drugs and weapons have no place in our neighbourhood, let alone in our
schools," Filmon said at a kennel in Rosser where police dogs are
trained. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Getting tough on drugs and weapons in our schools will help us make
our schools safer and better places to learn." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) UK: HAGUE TAKES HARD STANCE ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
AUTOMATIC life sentences for drug dealers who are twice convicted of
supplying hard drugs to children are to be proposed by William Hague in
a toughening of Tory law and order policies. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Conservative leader is said to feel "passionately" that stronger
action is needed to curb the sale of drugs to children. The Tory
proposal would mean that such drug dealers - whom he regards as some of
the worst criminals in society - would be liable to the same prison
terms as rapists, murderers or armed robbers. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The Draconian line on drugs has been prompted by a Home Office report
showing that drugs are an increasing problem among children. A recent
survey showed that 50 per cent of 16-year-olds had tried cannabis at
least once, while one in 10 had tried ecstasy. A quarter of
14-year-olds had tried cannabis. Around two per cent in both groups had
tried heroin or cocaine at least once. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, an item from Buenos Aires suggested a more realistic
explanation for the increased drug use being noted around the world:
highly successful criminal markets created by American drug policy are
flooding the globe with cheap drugs.' | ||||||||||||||||||
(16) ARGENTINA: USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS SOARS IN LATIN AMERICA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
BUENOS AIRES 96 Raul, a 30-year-old father of two, tried to make it
through the exit. Two months ago, he checked out of a public hospital
for severe drug addicts that takes in 100 new patients a month. But two
weeks later, he checked back in after injecting cocaine into his
spindly arms again. And so he has returned to fidgeting in his room,
his cheeks sunken and his eyes red. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Drawn faces walking the center's hallways are among many illustrations
of an increase in illicit drug use in Latin America that has become
increasingly apparent during the 1990s as traffickers create markets at
home for inexpensive and abundant drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Latin Americans take drugs for many of the same reasons North Americans
and Europeans do. But traffickers are also making illicit drugs more
affordable domestically, pushing the excess product they can't sell
abroad. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The news from Colombia, a major source of illegal drugs, was hardly reassuring; whether reality or hype, it suggests that no one should look for any short-term diminution in the supply of cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
(17) POTENT PLANT MAY BOOST COLOMBIA'S COCAINE SUPPLY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia -- In an alarming trend that could mean a sharp
increase in the world's supply of Colombian cocaine, drug dealers and
peasant farmers here have started growing a more potent variety of coca
plant, according to U.S. officials. | ||||||||||||||||||
The new species of coca, the raw material for cocaine, contains higher levels of cocaine alkaloid than the coca traditionally cultivated in Colombia. What's more, nearly all of the new coca bushes are located in southern Putumayo state, a guerrilla-infested region that is out of reach of Colombian police cropdusters that target the coca crop. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The John Mordant Trust Website | ||||||||||||||||||
A newly announced UK based organization and web site created to
benefit, inform and organize drug users has been formed. There is an
archive of the organizations newsletter and a number of other useful
bits of info. | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Voluntary Committee of Lawyers Website | ||||||||||||||||||
The Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL) is an association of lawyers
and judges whose members share strong misgivings about the wisdom and
consequences of America's perpetual drug war. | ||||||||||||||||||
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DRUGSENSE VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DrugSense Volunteer of the Month | ||||||||||||||||||
Steve Young | ||||||||||||||||||
This month we recognize Steve Young. Steve is a DrugSense FOCUS Alert
Specialist, writing most of the FOCUS Alerts about specific targets for
folks writing Letters to the Editor. The current FOCUS Alert is always
linked from the MAP home page at www.MAPinc.org Readers who are not
receiving FOCUS Alerts by Email may sign up at | ||||||||||||||||||
(Note: If you would like to help by writing FOCUS Alerts, send us a
message. We have a special Email list which FOCUS Alert writers use to
select targets and develop the Alerts.) | ||||||||||||||||||
Steve is also an active NewsHawk, as well as a well published Letter to
the Editor writer, having been published in Harpers and Playboy, and
well as many newspapers, from The Times (of London) to The Washington
Post. Search on Young in our archives to see his successes.
http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ | ||||||||||||||||||
We asked Steve a few questions: | ||||||||||||||||||
DS: You have been involved in drug policy reform issues for a while.
When and why did you become involved? | ||||||||||||||||||
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As I read more and more books, and began clipping articles, I wanted to
tell more people about what was happening. I decided to write my own book
about the drug war. The "cyber" version of the book is at
http://home.att.net/~theyoungfamily and a slightly different print edition
should be available by the end of the year. | ||||||||||||||||||
DS: How did you get into being a MAP volunteer? | ||||||||||||||||||
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DS: What are your favorite websites, besides the MAP/DrugSense sites? | ||||||||||||||||||
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The Lindesmith Center | ||||||||||||||||||
Stanton Peele's site | ||||||||||||||||||
and Marijuananews.com | ||||||||||||||||||
DS: Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers of the
weekly? | ||||||||||||||||||
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DS: Thank you, Steve, for all that you are doing! Steve Young's name will be added to the list of honored volunteers on the following web page within the next few days: http://www.drugsense.org/dswvol.htm | ||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Weak arguments are often thrust before my path; but although they are
most unsubstantial, it is not easy to destroy them. There is not a more
difficult feat known than to cut through a cushion with a sword."
--Richard Whately | ||||||||||||||||||
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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. | ||||||||||||||||||
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS: | ||||||||||||||||||
Please utilize the following URLs | ||||||||||||||||||
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We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing activists. | ||||||||||||||||||
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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. Become a NewsHawk | ||||||||||||||||||
See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. | ||||||||||||||||||
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NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE | ||||||||||||||||||
DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE 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 visit our
convenient donation web site at | ||||||||||||||||||
-OR- | ||||||||||||||||||
Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to: | ||||||||||||||||||
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||
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