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DrugSense Weekly
February 11, 1999 #085

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

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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (11/21/24)


* Feature Article


Scapegoating Teens Buttresses Drug War
Mike Males

* Weekly News in Review


Drug War Policy-

COMMENT: (1-4)
(1) Hitting A Wall of Opposition
(2) Welfare Drug Test Plan Gets Mixed Reaction
(3) Court Files: Truth or DARE
(4) The Erosion of Our Rights

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (5-9)
(5) Drug Arrests Continue
(6) Westbound I-40 Pours Drug Cash on Police
(7) Feds Pay Drug Case Witness $2 Million
(8) Is Plea Bargaining an Illegal Tactic?
(9) The Prison Craze and the Crime Rate

Medical Marijuana-

COMMENT: (10-13)
(10) Supporters Are Grim as Chavez Led Away to Jail
(11) Kubbys Prepared for Marijuana Arrests
(12) Not-so-Secret Farm Keeps Growing
(13) Hard Data Trickles In As Scientists Study Marijuana

International News-

COMMENT: (14-18)
(14) Mexico Turns to High-Tech Tools in War On Drugs
(15) Mcleish Set to Create a Task Force of Drug Busters
(16) Chirac Calls for EU to Harmonise Anti-Drug Laws
(17) Heroin Overdose Deaths Hit a Record 600
(18) Anti-Drug Aid Endangered

* Hot Off The 'Net


Pritchett Cartoons on drug policy
Legalize-USA Site Gets a "Face Lift"

* Volunteer of the Month


Mike Gogulski.

* Quote of the Week


Stanislaw Lec


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Scapegoating Teens Buttresses Drug War
by Mike Males

As drug-policy historian David Musto points out in Scientific American, anti-drug crusades concoct "a linkage between the drug and a feared or rejected group within society." Early-century wars against marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol sought to tie these drugs to Hispanics, blacks, and southern European immigrants, making wars on drugs part of wars against unpopular groups.

Similarly, as the modern War on Drugs escalated in the 1990s, its nonstop denigration of today's out-group, young people, has intensified.  The new White House/Partnership for a Drug-Free America ad campaign and incessant official statements depict teenagers as the nation s primary, if not sole, drug menace.

In truth, drug overdose, hospital emergency, and addiction treatment statistics clearly show the only group in the United States with a significant drug problem is aging baby boomers.  Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and alcohol abuse has exploded among 30- and 40-agers over the last two decades.  The biggest risk children and teens face from drugs is not their own use, but violence from addicted grownups and the drug supply trades the surging middle-aged demand fueled.

But the baby-boomer crisis is ignored by War on Drugs officials for the same reason medical-marijuana proposals are castigated: both manifest drug use among respectable middle-agers and the elderly, disrupting the campaign to equate drugs with fearsome adolescents.  Without a disliked and powerless group to attack, the drug war risks losing focus and collapsing.

Fabricating the image of a teenage crisis requires massive official deception, since there is no evidence of a major teen drug problem.  The youth-heroin scare (invented by the Partnership in 1996 as a fundraising ploy) is a complete hoax.  Of 8,000 youths surveyed by NIDA's 1997 National Household Survey, a whopping 25 had used heroin in the previous year.  The latest Drug Abuse Warning Network figures show that only 22 of the 4,000 heroin-related deaths in 1996 and 1% of the hospital emergency treatments for heroin abuse in 1997 were adolescents.  Adolescents comprised just 70 of the 13,000 cases in which heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or alcohol mixed with drugs were implicated in deaths -- in fact, just 182 of the 22,300 cases in which any kind of drug or drug- alcohol combination caused a fatality.

Nor does teenage drug and alcohol experimentation suggest a future problem.  Surprisingly, consistent evidence shows that both society and the individual are much safer with a drug or drink in the hands of a 17 year-old than in the hands of a 40 year-old.  The reason: teenagers tend to use milder drugs (beer and marijuana, rather than heroin or whisky) more moderately and in safer settings.  A 30- or 40-ager is twice as likely to kill or injure in a drunken driving crash, five times more likely to die from "binge" drinking, and a dozen times more likely to overdose on drugs than is a high-school youth.  The above realities belie both the official/media fear campaign, which relies on rare, sensational anecdotes and slapdash surveys to paint a dire picture of teenage peril, and drug-policy reformers who argue that alcohol and marijuana are acceptable for adults to partake but too dangerous for teens.

The ability of modern teenagers to avoid the drug crises plaguing their elders is phenomenal.  In Los Angeles County, population 9.5 million, there were ZERO teenage deaths from heroin, cocaine (including crack), or meth in 1997.  However, 300 L.A. adults died from these drugs. Similar to statewide and national patterns, 90% were over age 30.

The most fascinating trend occurred in San Francisco, a city which for decades has harbored the nation's worst drug malaise.  From 1990 through 1997, 1,500 San Franciscans died from drugs, a rate triple that of other big cities.  But only 17 were under age 20, and 10 of these were not local residents.  Only 1% of the city's drug-death and 2% of its hospital drug- emergency toll are teenagers.

Predictably, the occasional teenage or young-adult tragedy is wildly hyped by the press and authorities seeking to discredit San Francisco's liberal medical marijuana and marijuana possession policies as perils to the young.  In truth, the city's minimal teen drug abuse shows that de facto legalization and harm-reduction strategies pose no danger to youths.

The best explanation for teenagers' very low rates of drug mishap, particularly in drug-infested cities such as San Francisco, L.A., and New York, seems to be reaction against the visible epidemic of drug abuse among their parents' generation that has steered youths who might otherwise be of high risk toward more careful practices.  In a rational drug debate, the destructive adolescent scapegoating that sustains the War on Drugs would be replaced by inquiry as to how teens' surprisingly healthy trends can be learned from and reinforced.


Mike Males, author of Framing Youth: Ten Myths About the Next Generation (Common Courage Press, 1996), is a social ecology doctoral candidate at the University of California, Irvine.

Mike Males
1105 Palo Verde Road
Irvine, CA 92612
Tel 949/856-0419
Fax 949/824-2056
Email

School of Social Ecology, Doctoral Program
University of California, Irvine


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-4)    (Top)

Sadly, Americans seem more intent on keeping government snoops out of their bank records than out of their children's school lockers.  The proposed banking changes reported just a week ago provoked so much outrage they now appear DOA in Congress.

In contrast, a requirement that Oklahoma welfare recipients undergo screening and drug testing will probably pass, despite ACLU opposition.

In response to his acknowledgement that he lied, D.A.R.E.  shifted its attack from Steven Glass, to Rolling Stone, the magazine that published his bogus articles.  This case promises to grow into a major effort to discredit "legalizers."

Finally, an op-ed in the Oakland Tribune is all the more frightening because its conservative author treats as rational some police procedures that would have been considered unthinkable just a few years ago.

(1) HITTING A WALL OF OPPOSITION    (Top)

A proposal that would force banks to keep closer track of customers' transactions and report them to the government will be rewritten or even scrapped because of public outcry, federal regulators said Wednesday in Chicago.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thur, 4 Feb..  1999
Source:   Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright:   1999 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Forum:   http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/
Author:   Melissa Wahl
Section:   Business
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n132.a09.html


(2) WELFARE DRUG TEST PLAN GETS MIXED REACTION    (Top)

The ACLU Says It's An Invasion Of Privacy.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The ACLU is questioning the Department of Human Services' plans to start drug testing welfare recipients.

[snip]

Earlier this week, DHS Director Howard Hendrick said his agency in mid-March will require welfare recipients and those seeking aid to take a written exam to determine their propensity to abuse drugs and alcohol.  The results will be used to determine which clients will be required to give a urine sample for analysis.

Welfare recipients who don't cooperate will be denied benefits.

[snip]

Source:   Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright:   1999, World Publishing Co.
Website:   http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Contact:  
Author:   Barbara Hoberock, World Capitol Bureau
Pubdate:   31 Jan 1999
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n138.a06.html


(3) COURT FILES: TRUTH OR DARE    (Top)

The drug education group DARE is suing Rolling Stone magazine for $50 million, alleging that a critical article written by disgraced whiz kid journalist Stephen Glass was more fiction than fact, not to mention libelous.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 07 1999
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Los Angeles Times.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Author:   ANN W.  O'NEILL
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n141.a06.html


(4) THE EROSION OF OUR RIGHTS    (Top)

TO what lengths may police go -- reasonably -- to crack down on criminals? That is the thorny question raised by several recent, controversial actions taken (or contemplated) by keepers of the peace in several municipalities throughout the country.

In Buena Park, for instance, the local constabulary set up a checkpoint to identify individuals driving with invalid licenses.

[snip]

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU's Los Angeles office, says that Buena Park cops were violating motorists' rights because officers "have to have a reason for stopping someone like that."

Buena Park police disagree.  "If we were stopping every car, then we might run into problems," said Sgt.  Joe Englehardt. "We are operating under the same laws that you run into with drunk-driving checkpoints."

[snip]

For similar reasons, the civil libertarian in me also has qualms about a proposal by New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir that the Big Apple's finest take a DNA sample from every person arrested in the five boroughs.

Pubdate:   Thu, 04 Feb.  1999
Source:   Oakland Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   1999 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  
Address:   66 Jack London Sq., Oakland, CA 94607
Website:   http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/
Author:   Joseph Perkins,Columnist, San Diego Union Tribune
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n129.a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons
---------

COMMENT: (5-9)    (Top)

Where police empowerment is leading can be seen in two articles from rural Arkansas; they provide an overview of how federally sponsored combined "task forces" pull low level drug retailers and their customers into the maw of the criminal justice system, relieving them of automobiles and spare cash along the way.

Once ensnared as prisoners, they face daunting ordeals in court, especially if poor and/or black; conviction is the name of the game and the prosecution holds most of the cards.

Wachtel's challenge to plea-bargaining is still alive, but don't bet on the Supreme Court to uphold it.  No single tactic is more essential to obtaining drug convictions and keeping our state and federal prisons in a growth mode.

The final article effectively restates a theme being sounded over and over by our best op-ed writers: aggressive pursuit of the drug war is turning the nation's prison system into an insupportable abomination.

(5) DRUG ARRESTS CONTINUE    (Top)

Drug arrests continued Thursday in the wake of the warrant roundup Wednesday of alleged drug dealers targeted after a three-month, under cover 21st Judicial District Drug Task Force investigation.

By late Thursday morning, the two-officer warrant teams composed of Van Buren police officers and state troopers had served 20 warrants and made two additional felony drug .

[snip]

Arrests released by the Van Buren Police Department as of Thursday included Robert Lewis, 18, for delivery of marijuana; Patrick Dillard, 19, for delivery of methamphetamine; Bradley Bennett, 18, for delivery of cocaine; Danny Reed, 43, for delivery of methamphetamine; Jcena Green, 19, delivery of marijuana; Barbara Pickern, 38, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia; .

[snip]

Pubdate:   5 Feb.  1999
Source:   Southwest Times Record (AR)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.swtimes.com/
Author:   Mary L.  Crider - Times Record
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n135.a01.html


(6) WESTBOUND I-40 POURS DRUG CASH ON POLICE    (Top)

WEST MEMPHIS -- Routine traffic stops in Crittenden County are yielding sizable hauls of confiscated cash, indicating that drug trafficking along the corridors of Interstates 40 and 55 is on the rise, police say.

Four routine traffic checks in the past month have allowed officers to collect more than $1,130,084 in cash.  And law enforcement authorities say the money may be small change in the drug trade.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri 5 Feb.  1999
Source:   Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright:   1999, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Author:   Kenneth Heard - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n131.a06.html


(7) FEDS PAY DRUG CASE WITNESS $2 MILLI0N

Worked Undercover For Two Years

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The key undercover witness in the nation's biggest drug money laundering case was paid more than $2 million to help prosecutors, according to testimony.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 1 Feb.  1999
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   1999 Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n121.a03.html


(8) IS PLEA BARGAINING AN ILLEGAL TACTIC?    (Top)

LAWYER SAYS THE AGE-OLD PRACTICE GIVES PROSECUTORS AN UNFAIR
ADVANTAGE.

Wichita, Kan., lawyer John V.  Wachtel didn't know he would be starting a legal trend when he challenged the long-standing practice of prosecutors offering deals in exchange for testimony.

He just believed he was right and hoped he could convince three judges on the 10th U.S.  Circuit Court of Appeals.

[snip]

An appeal before the 12 judges of the 10th Circuit in Denver followed.  This month, in a 9-3 decision, the judges handed prosecutors a victory by finding that the statute prohibiting someone from offering anything of value for testimony doesn't apply to them.

But the issue Wachtel raised in the case of a woman convicted of money laundering and conspiring to distribute cocaine isn't buried.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 31 Jan 1999
Source:   Morning Call (PA)
Copyright:   1999 The Morning Call Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.mcall.com/
Author:   DEBBIE GARLICKI, The Morning Call
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n120.a09.html

(9) THE PRISON CRAZE AND THE CRIME RATE    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- The violent crime rate in America continues to plummet.  It's off 21 percent since 1993, 7 percent in 1997 alone. Murders in the country's 10 largest cities declined 12 percent in 1998.  Our streets are certifiably the safest they've been in a
quarter century.

But there's grim news, too, summarized by writer Eric Schlosser in a disturbing report -- "The Prison-Industrial Complex" -- in The Atlantic Monthly.

Some 1.8 million Americans are behind bars, in federal and state prisons and local jails.  We are imprisoning more people than any other nation on earth, even Communist China.  We've achieved the highest incarceration rate in human history for non-political offenses.

[snip]

So could we reduce crime without our obscene prison-building binge? Certainly.  Prisons have become a revolving door for poor, highly dysfunctional, often illiterate drug abusers.  Our governments are generally too chintzy to offer them drug treatment, behind bars or on the street.

[snip]

Another gnawing issue is race.  Black men are five times as likely to be arrested for drug offenses as whites (even though whites and blacks have similar abuse levels).

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 10 Jan 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:   Neal R.  Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n139.a10.html


Medical Marijuana


COMMENT: (10-13)    (Top)

In California the status of medical marijuana remains at issue more than two years after Proposition 215 was passed.

In Orange County, friends of Marvin Chavez are still angry at the six year prison sentence he received for operating a buyers' club.  What especially rankles is that despite a police sting using phony "patients," he was denied use of 215 in his defense.

Steve and Michele Kubby's high profile arrest for growing their own has taken some interesting turns.  They knew they were under investigation, but had no idea of its size, scope, or intensity (which betray an undeniable animus).  It all may turn into an argument over how many plants should be "enough."

Finally, Dennis Peron, founder of the San Francisco Buyers' Club has become a gentleman farmer, raising medicine for friends in rural Lake County.  He was interviewed twice in as many days and seems to be daring the local sheriff to bust him.

(10) SUPPORTERS ARE GRIM AS CHAVEZ LED AWAY TO JAIL    (Top)

Marvin Chavez grimaced as his arms were pulled behind him. Handcuffs clicked closed around his wrists.

And as bailiffs led him away to jail Friday, the last thing his army of ardent supporters saw were Chavez's hands, hanging beneath the awkward outline of his back brace.

Sobbing, Andrea Nagy crumpled into the arms of a friend.  "There is no justice! No good deed goes unpunished!" yelled David Zink.

"Totally wrong," said Jack Shachter, grimly shaking his head. "Totally wrong."

Chavez, founder of Orange County's medical marijuana co-op, was sentenced to six years in state prison for selling pot to undercover officers posing as medical patients, and for mailing pot to a cancer patient.  Chavez's past had come back to haunt him, and numerous tearful appeals did not convince Judge Thomas Borris to grant Chavez probation, or to allow Chavez the shield he insists he has under Proposition 215, a ballot initiative that legalized marijuana for medical use.

[snip]

Confusion about how to implement Prop.  215 is still rampant in California.  Many cannabis clubs have been shut down in Northern California, and many local authorities do not agree on
interpretation.

A local police officer who stole drugs recently received just a one-year sentence, said Julie Ireland, a former Los Angeles police officer.  Chavez helped Ireland's husband and son, both terminal cancer patients.  "This case should have never gone to trial," she said.

Pubdate:   Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source:   Orange County Register (CA)
Section:   News
Page:   24
Copyright:   1999 The Orange County Register
Website:   http://www.ocregister.com/
Contact:  
Author:   Teri Sporza and John McDonald
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n118.a05.html


(11) KUBBYS PREPARED FOR MARIJUANA ARRESTS

OLYMPIC VALLEY -- For six months drug investigators and Steve and Michele Kubby engaged in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.  As investigators of the North Tahoe Task Force pored over details of the couple's lives for evidence of marijuana violations, the Kubbys -- tipped off about the investigation -- tidied up the loose ends of their growing operation.  Launched by an anonymous letter claiming the former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate was financing his campaign by selling marijuana, the investigation climaxed Jan.  19 with the arrest of Steve and Michele Kubby on various marijuana charges.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 3 Feb.  1999
Source:   Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Auburn Journal
Author:   Patrick McCartney, Auburn Journal City Editor
Contact:  
Mail:   1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n135.a08.html


(12) NOT-SO-SECRET FARM KEEPS GROWING

MIDDLETON - If the Lake County Cannabis Cultivation Project is difficult to find, it's not because anybody is trying to keep it a secret.

A giant red canvas banner proclaiming "Medical Marijuana" beckons motorists, and a World Wide Web site and steady stream of faxed news releases keep everyone - including law enforcement agencies - updated on the 20-acre farm's doings.  After all, those growing and providing marijuana to visitors and Bay Area residents believe their operation is completely legal.

[snip]

Pubdate:   6 Feb..  1999
Source:   San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright:   Feb.  6 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n139.a03.html


(13) HARD DATA TRICKLES IN AS SCIENTISTS STUDY MARIJUANA

Paul Mocko really doesn't like to smoke.

But for 25 days, beginning in October, Mocko voluntarily puffed and coughed his way through three marijuana cigarettes every 24 hours as researchers watched for interactions between the cannabis and all the medications the 54-year-old takes to fight AIDS.

[snip]

But three studies in particular - the University of California study Mocko joined, a completed National Institutes of Health workshop, and a review by the Institute of Medicine expected to be released next month - are anxiously awaited by both sides of the smoldering debate over marijuana's medicinal value.  It's a debate long marked by complaints there isn't enough data to prove either side's assertions.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 6 Feb.  1999
Source:   San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright:   1999 by MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Page:   7
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
Author:   Matthew B.  Stannard, Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n137.a02.html


International News


COMMENT: (14-18)    (Top)

It's certification time again, and the intent seems to be to pass Mexico, come what may.  The emphasis on technology suggests a strong McCaffrey influence; despite recent lip service to treatment, the czar is enamored of high-tech gadgetry and the concept of sealing borders.

Scotland, beset by increasing heroin overdoses and a burgeoning prison system, seems intent on following the American, rather than the Dutch model.  The punitive approach also appeals to Chirac, whose remarks suggest that disagreement over enforcement will probably intensify as the European Union is strengthened..

Australia is also focused on heroin overdoses, with bitter wrangling between the harm reduction and law enforcement camps over the best solution.

American policy in Colombia remains true to form; don't we always arm right wing killers as a matter of policy?

(14) MEXICO TURNS TO HIGH-TECH TOOLS IN WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Program could cost up to $500 million over next 3 years

The Mexican government revealed a high-tech strategy yesterday to wage ``a total war against drug trafficking,'' including new satellite surveillance, X-ray detection systems and high-speed navy patrol boats.

[snip]

Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright:   1999 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum:   http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Author:   James F.  Smith, Los Angeles Times
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n134.a10.html


(15) MCLEISH SET TO CREATE A TASK FORCE OF DRUG BUSTERS    (Top)

A ministerial task force will be created to oversee a new multi-million pound campaign against drugs, it was announced yesterday.

Henry McLeish, the Scottish home affairs minister, has pledged that he and his fellow ministers will work in a more targeted way to punish drug dealers and bolster communities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   4 February 1999
Source:   Scotsman (UK)
Copyright:   The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.scotsman.com/
Forum:   http://www.scotsman.com/
Author:   Jenny Booth, Home Affairs Correspondent
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n131.a05.html


(16) CHIRAC CALLS FOR EU TO HARMONISE ANTI-DRUG LAWS    (Top)

LISBON, Feb.  4 (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac, warning that illegal drug use in Europe was reaching dramatic levels, urged European Union members on Thursday to agree common laws to help fight the problem.

"It is not acceptable that European laws in this area are not harmonised," he said during a visit to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon.

Pubdate:   Thu, 04 Feb.  1999
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   1999 Reuters Limited.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n135.a10.html


(17) HEROIN OVERDOSE DEATHS HIT A RECORD 600    (Top)

The number of people dying from heroin overdoses has risen to its highest level in Australia, leaping 10 per cent in just a year to 600 deaths.

[snip]

The deaths also reflected a world awash with drugs, as comparatively new opiate production in the former Soviet Union, Colombia and Mexico joined the more traditional sources of supply in Asia.

Pubdate:   Tue, 9 Feb.  1999
Source:   Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.smh.com.au/
Author:   Debra Jopson
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n143.a12.html


(18) ANTI-DRUG AID ENDANGERED    (Top)

Colombian Killings Raise Doubts About Help For Military

SAN PABLO, Colombia - A spate of massacres by right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia has posed a new challenge to the Clinton administration's policy of combating the country's rampant drug trade by increasing aid to the Colombian police and military, officials say.

Pubdate:   Sun, Jan 31, 1999
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Mercury Center
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   DOUGLAS FARAH
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n120.a03.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Legalize-USA gets a "face lift" - now US Perspectives, The second issue of Perspectives, is now available in print and on-line at http://www.usperspectives.org/perspectives/

Rolf Ernst has made some very significant changes to what was once the Legalize-USA site.  It is now called US Perspectives has had a wonderful "face lift" and in our opinion is much more suitable to a mainstream viewer.  All the great multimedia archives are still in place and this is likely the best site in existence for RealVideo/Audio clips of important drug war footage.


Just for Laughs

There are a few poignant and humorous drug policy cartoons by John Pritchett at: http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/mj.htm


VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH    (Top)

MIKE GOGULSKI


Our DrugSense Volunteer of the Month for February, 1999 is Mike Gogulski.  Besides newshawking (often under a pen name) a significant share of our news items, Mike is one of the editors on the Media Awareness Project's news posting team, and has created both documentation and flowcharts for the effort.  We asked Mike a few questions:

DS: How did you get into being a MAP volunteer?

Mike:   I've been an observer and sometimes debater of drug policy for
about ten years.  When I discovered the MAP service (through a reference on DRCNet), I immediately saw that here was a way for me to become involved directly.  This was April, 1998.

I began newshawking in earnest, and over the course of a week I had ramped up to mailing in about 15 articles per day to . Now, at that time it was only Richard, Joel, and Olafur on the MAP editing team, and Richard screamed at me in an email "we love this but...  TOO MUCH!". My recruitment as a MapNews Editor came shortly after.

In getting trained to be an editor, I quickly recognized that MAP had a real need to get more editors on board and trained to handle the increasing volume of news.  I stumbled a little myself in learning the editing ropes, and decided to produce some documentation.  Today, new MAP editors have the benefit of a "production process diagram" flowchart, and a informational webpage telling them how to handle the news flow and produce well-formatted articles for MapNews.

I'm now working to get the word out about MAP in every way that I can, through other DPR groups I work with and through a flyering campaign targeted at raves and nightclubs, where we should have a very interested audience.

DS: What do you consider the most significant story of the past months?

Mike:   Without question the medical marijuana initiatives, the campaigns
and the fallouts.  MedMJ is an absolutely pivotal issue for us right now, because it betrays the lie that marijuana is a dangerous and worthless drug.  Marijuana prohibition is the keystone of the Drug War: weaken it, and the entire mess comes crashing down.

DS: What is your favorite website, besides the MAP/DrugSense sites?

Mike:   Really tough for me to say.  Probably 90% of my web traffic is to
http://www.mapinc.org/.  http://www.legalize.org/ and
http://www.druglibrary.org/ are also excellent.

DS: Anything else you would like to tell the readers of the weekly?

Mike:   Yes! Write more letters! Even if you don't have the time to sit
and craft a dazzlingly eloquent piece of prosaic elocution, bang out a quick note of protest to the editors.  If you have ANY opinion at all on ANY piece we run, just click on the "Contact" link and speak your mind about it.  Even if your letter doesn't get printed, adding to the volume of letters that the press receives about drug policy reform will help to push the issue farther and farther into the forefront of editorial consciousness.  SPEAK OUT LOUDLY!!!

Note also that none of what we do would be possible without the dedication and patience of 10 other editors, and over a hundred NewsHawks who bring the information in and work it into our service. Considering that many of us have never even met one another, we are a fantastically effective and cohesive team.

DS: Thanks so much, Mike, for all that you do!

Mike:   You are so welcome.  Thank you for the chance to participate
directly in what I believe is the absolute cutting edge of reform. Working with MAP to lay the foundation for these changes is nothing short of elevating.  We will win!


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"One has to multiply thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them" - Stanislaw Lec


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