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DrugSense Weekly
November 26, 1999 #125


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (12/22/24)


* Feature Article


Regarding Judge Judy: Update and a Call for (Temporary) Restraint

* Weekly News in Review


Drug War Policy-

COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Carried Away By Drugs
(2) Americans Concerned About Drug Use Among Teens
(3) A War That Never Ends
COMMENT: (4-5)
(4) King County Heroin Deaths a 'Crisis'
(5) Wife Of Ex-U.S. Official in Colombia Is Indicted
COMMENT: (6)
(6) Professor Leads The Charge in Battle Against Drug War

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (7-9)
(7) Editorial: Senate Votes to Make Crack Cocaine Law Even
(8) Women Imprisoned for Narcotics on Rise
(9) The Aborted Crime Wave?

Cannabis-

COMMENT: (10-12)
(10) Medical Marijuana Activists Plead Guilty
(11) Britain Abuzz Over Cannabis Medicine
(12) More Teens Smoking Pot

International News-

COMMENT: (13-14)
(13) Australia: Labor Passes First Heroin Injecting Room Law
(14) Scotland: CCTV to Fight Rise in Drug Abuse In Schools
COMMENT: (15)
(15) UK: Cowardice is Still the Drug of Choice
COMMENT: (16-18)
(16) US Calls for Cooperation in Drugs War
(17) Colombia Tries, Yet Cocaine Thrives
(18) Colombia Extradites Drug Suspect to US

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Injection Drug Use and HIV/AIDS: Legal and Ethical Issues
    Dogwood Center Comprehensive Injection-Related Aids report Now On-line
    BBC's "Panorama" Program Entitled "Cops on Drugs" Transcript On-line
    Drug War Facts Available in Many Languages

* Quote of the Week


    Bobby Sole From Euclid, Ohio


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Update and a Call for (Temporary) Restraint Regarding Judge Judy Sheindlin by Mark Greer

Following is an excerpt from Judge Judy's first book "Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining." It was forwarded to DrugSense by Judge Judy's Media Relations department.  It expands on her views on drug policy and needle exchange in particular.  It is now even more obvious that she is badly in need of at least an attempt to educate her on the facts surrounding needle exchange.  Below the excerpt is a compilation of her other recent quotes from Australian newspapers.

Despite all Scheindlin has said, DrugSense is encouraging restraint for the present on behalf of the reform movement as well as a temporary hiatus to letter writing and other forms of media activism regarding Scheindlin.  A number of reform leaders are negotiating with Judge Scheindlin in an attempt to arrange a meeting with the objective of informing her of the facts, hopefully or possibly creating an ally, or if not perhaps generating additional fuel for the eventual media effort.

Patience is warranted.  Scheindlin is on vacation in Australia for 2 weeks and the meeting could not happen until mid December but regardless of the outcome of such a meeting we will be in a much better position to act further after we have had time to form a game plan, marshal resources, and, with luck present a unified front as to our best course of action.


NOTE: Scanned document typos possible

"Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining." Chapter - Media
Morality:   Missing in Action? Page 228 by Judge Judy Scheindlin

"Sometimes the media creates a bizarre pantheon of heroes.  I have never read a story about a prison warden who runs an efficient jail getting a humanitarian award nor have I heard of a tough no-nonsense judge being honored by the community.

I have, however, seen a TV profile about a woman in the South Bronx who has devoted her life to rescuing drug addicts from infection by giving them free needles in exchange for their old ones.  She believes that America has become callous to the plight.  She says she is discouraged and ashamed of the citizens' inhumane response too afflicted addicts.

Well forgive me for not dabbing my eyes.  In the TV show about her I watched as addicts dumped a weekly supply of syringes on her table, 50 a more apiece.  What they hell did they think they put in those needles soda pop?

They were all the shooting heroin which is deadly and very expensive. Since none of these characters looked like they worked on Wall Street or anywhere else I knew that the money to support their 300 dollar a day habits came from victims: people who were killed maimed or, if they were lucky, only emotionally, traumatized for life.  Where was the recognition of these victims in the television piece? Where was the moral perspective about them?

I have no patience with social programs that keep junkies hooked and fuel dangerous cycle of crime and addiction.  Maybe the glowing media profiles of the "heroin heroines" could focus instead on long-term residential drug treatment programs that actually seem to work on occasion.  They are the only programs I'm willing to subsidize because they give addicts a choice -- even if it is simply killing themselves instead of an innocent stranger."


NOTE: The quotes below are Direct Quotes from a journalist who is assumed to have been present.

The original articles and references can be viewed at:

URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1245/a07.html
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1245/a06.html

Australia:   Television Judge Judy Sheindlin Visits Brisbane

The debate about needle supply to heroin addicts is an indulgence lead by "liberal morons", according to America's most popular television judge.

No point talking about how best to approach the problem since the solution is simple, said "Judge Judy" Sheindlin during her lunch time speech yesterday.

"Give 'em dirty needles and let 'em die," she said.

The audience at Brisbane's Carlton Crest breathed a collective "yes" and a cheer went up around the room.

The fast talking Brooklyn-born dynamo is touring her forthright opinions around the country to promote her book, 'Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever'.

"I don't understand why we think it's important to keep them alive," she said.


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-3)    (Top)

Despite mounting press criticism of drug war arrogance and a general awareness of its many failures, Congress and the Administration retain great enthusiasm for increasing its intensity.  The so-called "Kingpin Designation Act," has been cobbled together almost in private. Although the Times and IHT approve of targeting "kingpins," even they are concerned by the haste and lack of hearings.

The principal excuse for drug war hysteria continues to be American teens, despite solid evidence that they have recently cleaned up their act (see item 9 for a possible explanation).  True to form, McCzar was quick to claim this poll as vindication.

Military involvement, one of the little-appreciated consequences of drug war hysteria, was outlined in a piece in the DMN.

(1) CARRIED AWAY BY DRUGS    (Top)

The target of a new anti-drug initiative now speeding toward final congressional approval is a worthy one: big international drug traffickers.  But, as too often happens when Congress collaborates with the Clinton administration to toughen law enforcement policies, civil liberties stand to suffer.

The measure, called the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, overwhelmingly passed the House two weeks ago.  A House-Senate conference committee incorporated the measure in the annual intelligence authorization bill that needs only a final floor vote in the Senate before going to the president's desk for his signature.  All of this occurred without any public hearings or extended debate to explore the legislation's implications for due process and other constitutional values.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 16 Nov 1999
Source:   International Herald-Tribune
Copyright:   International Herald Tribune 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.iht.com/
Author:   New York Times
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1259/a01.html


(2) AMERICANS CONCERNED ABOUT DRUG USE AMONG TEENS    (Top)

Americans are worried about drug use, particularly among adolescents, and would be willing to spend their tax money to fight the problem, according to a poll commissioned by the White House.

The poll by the Gallup Organization found that illegal drug use rates high among the concern of Americans.  More than half of those surveyed, 53 percent, said their concern about drug use has increased over the past five years.

[snip]

Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug policy chief, said the survey "confirms the success of the priorities and agenda of the National Drug Strategy education and prevention for youth, drug treatment to reduce crime and improve public health, law enforcement, interdiction and source country efforts."

Pubdate:   Sat, 20 Nov 1999
Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright:   1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
Feedback:   http://extranet1.globe.com/LettersEditor/
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1232/a10.html


(3) A WAR THAT NEVER ENDS    (Top)

Unit Formed In Fight Against Drugs Marks 10 Years At Fort Bliss

FORT BLISS, Texas - In time of war, multi military units generally are set up on a temporary basis with a defined mission to be completed within a specified time frame.

But when Joint Task Force Six was established 10 years ago, it joined federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in a battle against illegal drugs that continues unabated.

[snip]

JTF-6 is a multi service command of 170 soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and civilian employees.  It was initially established to support federal, state and local law enforcement agencies along the 2,000-mile southwest border.  The area of responsibility now extends across the nation.

Since its inception, JTF-6 has completed more than 4,300 missions in support of more than 300 law enforcement agencies.  In addition to engineering work, the force also provides training and intelligence analysis.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Source:   Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright:   1999 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265
Fax:   (972) 263-0456
Feedback:   http://dmnweb.dallasnews.com/letters/
Website:   http://www.dallasnews.com/
Forum:   http://forums.dallasnews.com:81/webx
Author:   Nancy San Martin, The Dallas Morning News
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1251/a07.html


COMMENT: (4-5)    (Top)

As usual, news of drug war failure was not hard to come by.

(4) KING COUNTY HEROIN DEATHS A 'CRISIS'    (Top)

Heroin continues to kill King County residents in record numbers this year.  At least 98 overdose deaths were recorded through October, keeping pace with 1998's unprecedented year, according to new data from the Medical Examiner's Office.

Seattle now ranks among the top metropolitan areas in the nation for heroin use and death rates.

"It's not encouraging.  . . . It's a really full-blown public-health crisis," said Alonzo Plough, director of Public Health-Seattle & King County.  Last year, 144 deaths were reported, more than double the 1990 number.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 18 Nov 1999
Source:   Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright:   1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author:   Warren King, Seattle Times Medical Reporter
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1258/a03.html


(5) WIFE OF EX-U.S. OFFICIAL IN COLOMBIA IS INDICTED    (Top)

NEW YORK - A federal grand jury has indicted the wife of the former commander of the U.S.  anti drug operation in Colombia on drug-trafficking charges.

[snip]

Laurie Hiett, 36, surrendered to federal authorities in August after they intercepted two packages - each with 2.4 pounds of heroin - that she allegedly shipped to the United States from the U.S.  Embassy in Bogota.  She is accused of making four other similar shipments.

Pubdate:   Thu, 18 Nov 1999
Source:   Inquirer (PA)
Copyright:   1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum:   http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1251/a02.html


COMMENT: (6)    (Top)

Along with more critical coverage of the drug war, articles covering the reform movement itself are also becoming more common, witness the latest, courtesy of the DPFT

(6) PROFESSOR LEADS THE CHARGE IN BATTLE AGAINST DRUG WAR    (Top)

For all he knew, G.  Alan Robison was deep in enemy territory. Arrayed before him were the Texas City elite, Rotarians momentarily preoccupied with a lunch of barbecued baked potatoes.  Soon, the tweedy Houston professor and drug law activist knew, he would have to drop the bomb.

Robison advanced to the podium.

Drugs are bad, but the nation's war on drugs is worse, he told them. It's an abomination; an expensive, racist, corrupting farce, and, worse, it's being lost.  End the drug prohibition, he urged. Decriminalize marijuana.  Rethink the handling of those addicted to heroin or cocaine.  That's the only way to end drug violence, to return the nation to sanity.

[snip]

Under Robison's stewardship, membership in the group has grown from 15 to about 450.  Branch chapters have formed in Austin and Dallas.

[snip]

In the emotionally charged atmosphere of the national debate over drug policy, even that mission might prove controversial.  But, as the group's chief spokesman, Robison pushes much further.

"We are advocating the end of drug prohibition," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 21 Nov 1999
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Allan Turner
Note:   G.  Alan Robison is Executive Director of the Drug Policy Forum of
Texas Houston, Texas, http://www.mapinc.org/dpft/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1261/a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (7-9)    (Top)

True to form, the Senate's grotesque "solution" for the glaring discrepancy in harsh and racially disparate mandatory minimums for cocaine will increase both the total number of prisoners and the racial disparity.

Violent crime has been in steep decline for seven years, yet the numbers of inmates keeps climbing; look no further than the drug war for the reason.

Declining crime rates (and improved teen behavior) is best explained by evidence that has yet to be discovered by the press; look for a brouhaha when they finally do tumble.

(7) EDITORIAL: SENATE VOTES TO MAKE CRACK COCAINE LAW EVEN MORE UNFAIR    (Top)

THE U.S.  Senate has responded to one of the grand inequities in the nation's drug laws.  Its solution: compound the problem.

[snip]

The answer, said the White House and the U.S.  Sentencing Commission, was to raise the minimum amount of crack bringing on the 5-year sentence.  Instead, the Senate, on a 50-49 vote, did the opposite. It reduced the amount of power cocaine for the 5-year sentence from 500 grams to 50 grams.

The Bureau of Prisons estimates the new law would add 9,163 federal inmates over the next decade.  A disproportionate number of these, too, would be minorities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 15 Nov 1999
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   1999 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Address:   750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax:   (408) 271-3792
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1242/a09.html


(8) WOMEN IMPRISONED FOR NARCOTICS ON RISE    (Top)

Women are going to prison for drug crimes at a rate that far outpaces men.  The number of women imprisoned for narcotics convictions increased nearly tenfold, from 2,400 in 1986 to 23,700 in 1996, according to a study released Wednesday by the Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C.-based research and advocacy group that promotes alternatives to incarceration.

During the same time, the number of men in prison for drug convictions showed a six-fold increase, from 34,400 to 213,900.  Of the 46,000 inmates in Michigan prisons for a variety of crimes, 1,880 are women.

"Ironically, this comes at a time when crime rates are coming down," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the project.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 18 Nov 1999
Source:   Detroit News (MI)
Copyright:   1999, The Detroit News
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://data.detnews.com:8081/feedback/
Website:   http://www.detnews.com/
Author:   Erika Stutzman, Gannett News Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1249/a08.html


(9) THE ABORTED CRIME WAVE?    (Top)

A controversial article links the recent drop in crime to the legalization of abortion two decades ago

Since the early 1990s crime has fallen annually in the U.S., last year by about 7 percent.

Many explanations have been put forward for this drop: more police walk the beat, more people are in prison, the economy has improved, crack use has fallen, alarms and guards are now widespread.  The emphasis given to any one of these rationales varies, of course, according to philosophical bent or political expediency.  In New York City, for instance, plummeting crime has been attributed to improved policing.

[snip]

Steven D.  Levitt of the University of Chicago and John J. Donohue III, currently at Yale University, have proffered an alternative reason: the legalization of abortion in 1973 reduced the number of unwanted children--that is, children more likely to become criminals.

[snip]

Pubdate:   December, 1999
Source:   Scientific American (US)
Copyright:   1999 Scientific American, Inc
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sciam.com/
Author:   Marguerite Holloway
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1257/a06.html


Cannabis


COMMENT: (10-12)    (Top)

When Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams were forced to accept plea bargains by the judge's decision to bar medical evidence, the feds avoided some bad publicity- at least temporarily.  The accused avoided the threat of immediate imprisonment following a certain "guilty" verdict.

As California awaits a definitive 215 case, Geoffrey Guy moves ever closer to a commercially viable demonstration that cannabinoids are indeed medicine.

On the recreational front, Canadian youth is moving in the same direction as their American counterparts.

(10) MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS PLEAD GUILTY    (Top)

Two medical marijuana activists pleaded guilty Friday to federal drug charges for cultivating a marijuana farm inside a Bel-Air mansion.

Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams pleaded guilty Friday evening to one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S.  attorney's office. A judge earlier this month ruled that McCormick, 29, and McWilliams, 50, could not use ''medical necessity'' as a defense.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   1999 Associated Press
Author:   Associated Press
Related:   http://www.petertrial.com/ http://MarijuanaMagazine.com/
http://McWilliams.com/ http://growmedicine.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1255/a06.html


(11) BRITAIN ABUZZ OVER CANNABIS MEDICINE    (Top)

LONDON - A British drug company hopes to have cannabis-based medicine ready to be prescribed by doctors within three to four years.

Sufferers from diseases such as multiple sclerosis, which attacks the central nervous system, have been calling for a pain-relieving cannabis medicine for years and many have broken the law by buying the drug from street dealers.

GW Pharmaceuticals said yesterday it was making progress in clinical studies with cannabis-based medicines.

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Nov 1999
Source:   Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright:   1999, The Toronto Star
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.thestar.com/
Page:   A27
Author:   Giles Elgood, Reuters News Agency
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1247/a06.html


(12) MORE TEENS SMOKING POT    (Top)

Rise Here Mirrors Ontario

Marijuana use among adolescents has mushroomed dramatically in Alberta, says an official with the Alberta Alcohol an Drug Abuse Commission.

The results of an Ontario study showing the use of marijuana among teens has skyrocketed in that province to late-1970s levels mirrors Alberta, said ADAAC's Nancy Snowball.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 20 Nov 1999
Source:   Calgary Sun (CA AB)
Copyright:   1999, Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  
Address:   2615 12 Street N.E., Calgary, Alberta T2E 7W9
Fax:   (403) 250-4180
Website:   http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/
Forum:   http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author:   Bill Kaufmann
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1261/a07.html


International News


COMMENT: (13-14)    (Top)

In Australia, cheap heroin and record overdoses have fueled a bitter debate between "just say no" advocates and harm reductionists.  Despite Judy Scheindlin's advice to the contrary, an injecting room was authorized for New South Wales last week.

Meanwhile, similar problems in Scotland provoked a more traditional (US style) response from authorities.

(13) AUSTRALIA: LABOR PASSES FIRST HEROIN INJECTING ROOM LAW    (Top)

AUSTRALIA would have its first legal heroin shooting gallery as early as March next year, the NSW Labor Government announced after historic legislation to create the operating licence passed through parliament yesterday.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Nov 1999
Source:   Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright:   News Limited 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Author:   Christopher Niesche
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1250/a03.html


(14) SCOTLAND: CCTV TO FIGHT RISE IN DRUG ABUSE IN SCHOOLS    (Top)

Closed-circuit television is expected to be installed in school playgrounds after new research showed that one in three 12-year-olds has been offered drugs.

The measure, which could be piloted in Scotland, is being considered by ministers north of the border who want to protect pupils being targeted by pushers.  It follows growing evidence of drugs in an environment where parents traditionally believed their children to be safe.

In one recent case heroin worth more than pounds 500 was found in the school bag of an 11-year-old boy in a Govan primary school.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue 16 Nov 1999
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   1999 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author:   By Jason Allardyce, Scottish Political Reporter
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1254/a02.html


COMMENT: (15)    (Top)

A trenchant analysis of the futility and hypocrisy of the Blair government's disappointing hard line on drugs appeared in the London Times.

(15) UK: COWARDICE IS STILL THE DRUG OF CHOICE    (Top)

Politicians Take A Hard Line But Remain Soft In The Head Says, Mary Ann Sieghart

We were milling around outside the studio, the three MPs and I, before a recording of BBC's Question Time.  The conversation turned to drugs, and both the Labour and the Liberal Democrat politicians joined me in arguing for legalisation, against the lone opposition of the then Tory minister.  Just ten minutes later, when the question came up on air, the three-to-one ratio was instantly reversed.  With all three politicians mumbling platitudes about "setting the young a bad example", I found myself alone defending our previous position.  It was the televisual equivalent of an offside trap.

[snip]

Instead we have mandatory drug testing proposed in the Queen's Speech. And we have Tony Blair telling Middle England how "petrified" he is of his children taking drugs, as if he were not aware that most of his successful colleagues and friends probably spent their Saturday nights as students giggling stupidly and passing the joint round.

[snip]

Pubdate:   19 Nov.  1999
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   1999 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Section:   Opinion
Author:   Mary Ann Sieghart
Note:   Ms.  Sieghart may be contacted at
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1232/a10.html


COMMENT: (16-18)    (Top)

As for this Hemisphere: a Guardian (UK) assessment of the recently concluded OAS drug summit hosted in Washington reveals that, ominously, the drug trade is seen by others as both destabilizing and larger a nation's police can handle.

Colombia is perhaps the best example of how far things can deteriorate; a close reading the entire NYT account gives no substantive reason for optimism and suggests that resumption of extradition after a nine year hiatus promises may prove eventful.

(16) US CALLS FOR COOPERATION IN DRUGS WAR    (Top)

The Organisation of American States (OAS), which met in Washington on November 4 and 5, tried to give the impression that the fight against drugs has got off to a fresh start - at a time when the worsening situation in Colombia gives little cause for optimism.

The man behind this meeting of officials combating drug traffickers was President Clinton's "drugs tsar", General Barry McCaffrey.  A week earlier he had been spreading the good American word during a tour of Europe.  Now he wanted to show the new face of the United States.

[snip]

According to Canada's deputy state prosecutor, Jean Fournier, who was behind the evaluation initiative, there was no getting away from the fact that repression did not work, and that drug trafficking was too big a problem to be left to police.

The Brazilian drugs tsar, Walter Maierovitch, said that Brazil had become a country of transit, and that drug use had increased.  "Drugs capitalists" were threatening the foundation of the state.  "It's no longer a question of policing, but of preserving democracy," he added.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 18 Nov 1999
Source:   Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Copyright:   1999 The Guardian Weekly
Contact:  
Address:   75 Farringdon Road London U.K EC1M 3HQ
Fax:   44-171-242-0985
Website:   http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/
Page:   30
Author:   Patrice de Beer in Washington
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1245/a13.html


(17) COLOMBIA TRIES, YET COCAINE THRIVES    (Top)

Colombia -- Under American pressure, for most of this decade the Colombian government has been sending planes to spray herbicides on the fields of coca that flourish in areas like this.  With a new, more cooperative government in power in Bogota, last year was a banner year for that joint effort, with a record 135,000 acres fumigated.

But 1998 also turned out to be a record year for cocaine production in Colombia.  By official estimate, acreage devoted to the cultivation of coca, the plant that provides the raw material for cocaine, surged more than 25 percent and is now three times larger than in 1994.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 20 Nov 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Larry Rohter Aguare
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1258/a09.html


(18) COLOMBIA EXTRADITES DRUG SUSPECT TO U.S.    (Top)

For the first time in nine years, Colombia has extradited an alleged narcotics kingpin charged in the United States, marking what officials said was an important development in the international war on drugs.

Jaime Orlando Lara Nausa was loaded on a Drug Enforcement Administration airplane under heavy guard at dawn yesterday after Colombian President Andres Pastrana rejected last-minute legal motions filed by the alleged trafficker's lawyers.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 22 Nov 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Address:   1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Lorraine Adams, Washington Post Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1264/a04.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Canada:   Injection Drug Use and HIV/AIDS: Legal and Ethical Issues

A report released Wednesday said Ottawa isn't doing enough to prevent the spread of HIV among injection drug users.  In fact, Canada's drug laws and policies contribute to the problem which has reached crisis proportion, says Injection Drug Use and HIV/AIDS: Legal and Ethical Issues.

"Canada's response to this public health crisis has been far from being concertive and effective," said Ralf Jurgens, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network which wrote the report with support from Health Canada.

Eventually, Canada must change its drug laws, concludes the report given to the federal and provincial health ministers.

Following up on two 1997 reports, the report Wednesday emphasized that the criminal approach to drug use causes more harm than good because, among other things, it makes users afraid to go to health or social services for help.

"It is ethically wrong to continue criminalizing approaches to the control of drug use when these strategies fail to achieve the goals for which they were designed," said Dr.  David Roy, the author of the ethics section in the report and director of the Centre for Bioethics of the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal.

[snip]

Release:   http://www.aidslaw.ca/elements/news.htm
Report:   http://www.aidslaw.ca/elements/e-idu/tofc.htm

Pubdate:   Thu, 25 Nov 1999
Source:   Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright:   The Vancouver Sun 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.vancouversun.com/
Author:   Leanne Yohemas-Hayes
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n1275.a09.html


BBC's "Panorama" Program Entitled "Cops on Drugs" Transcript On-line

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/panorama/newsid_517000/517773.stm

This is from a bloody good episode from the BBC's "Panorama" program entitled "Cops on Drugs".  You can get the full text of the show at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/events/panorama/transcripts/ transcript_15_11_99.txt

-- Sanho Tree


Dogwood Center Comprehensive Injection-Related Aids report Now On-line

Dawn Day Informs Us:

The Dogwood Center has just released a study ranking states and large metro areas by injection-related AIDS.  As part of the press activity, I would like to make special efforts to contact media people for the areas where the rankings increased (ie got worse).  So if you happen to have a media contact in any of those areas who you think might be interested in a story on this topic, please let me know.  The areas where things got worse include:

a.  states: Delaware, Connecticut, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Florida,

b.  metro areas of over 500,000: Baltimore, MD, Baton Rouge, LA, West Palm Beach, FL, Wash, DC, New Orleans, LA, Houston, TX, and Atlanta, GA.

The complete report and press release are available at:

http://www.dogwoodcenter.org/report.html

Thanks much for any help you can give me on this.


Drug War Facts Available in Many Languages

Each chapter of "Drug War Facts" now contains a link to the "Alta Vista Babel Fish" translation service.

http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/

Visitors may now read the Fact Book in French, Spanish and many other common languages.

http://www.csdp.org/factbook/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"What is the difference between a gun-toting crack dealer sticking a gun in your face and stealing your car and a gun toting deputy with a badge "confiscating" your car?

Answer: Nothing.  In either case your car is gone and you don't get the benefit of a trial.  America, what a country."

-- Bobby Sole,
    Euclid, Ohio


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