| May 21, 1999 #98 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
DPF Conference "Best Ever" | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Policy Foundation Conference in Bethesda MD last week was by
far the best I ever attended. This impression may be partly due to the
fact that it seemed to me that the accolades for Internet activism were
coming from many and varied sources and that for the first time it
seemed that a good percentage of the attendees were cognizant of the
impact that electronic communications has meant and will mean to the
future of reform. | ||||||||||||||||||||
I was also very happy to see a first ever plenary session on Internet
communications. While I realize that electronic communications is only
one of a very wide range of valuable activities that the reform
movement uses to move us towards our objectives, I had the impression
that a very large percentage of those at the conference had come to
realize that this new tool offers a real boon to reform in the areas of
inter-group communication and coordination, building a more cohesive
and organized reform movement, information dissemination, and media
outreach and activism. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hearty Congratulations to DPF for this excellent conference. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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We took last week off for the DPF Meeting, therefore this issue of the
Weekly covers articles collected by Newshawks and archived by our editors
for two weeks (May 4 thru May 18). | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (1) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
An intelligent and highly personalized look at America's drug policy
by a young writer who had himself used mood altering drugs
therapeutically appeared in the May Harper's Magazine. It offered
further evidence that America's drug policy no longer has much to do
with drugs or their effects. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(1) AMERICA'S ALTERED STATES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
When Does Legal Relief Of Pain Become Illegal Pursuit Of Pleasure? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Fear and suspicion, secrecy and shame, the yearning for pleasure, and
the wish to avoid men in blue uniforms. This is (in rough, incomplete
terms) an emotional report from the front. The drug wars - which,
having spanned more than eight decades, require the plural - are
palpable in New York City. The mayor blends propaganda, brute force,
and guerrilla tactics, dispatching undercover cops to call "smoke,
smoke" and "bud, bud" - and to arrest those who answer. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Here we come to the truth about the line and how it is maintained. With
rare exceptions, everything we know about legal drugs comes from
research sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. Naturally, this work
emphasizes the benefits and downplays the accompanying risks. On the
other hand, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funds more than
85 percent of the world's health research on illegal drugs, emphasizes
the dangers and all hut ignores potential benefits. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
A black market spawns violence,thievery, and illnesses - all can be
blamed on the demon drugs. For a reminder, we need only go to the
movies (in which drug dealers are the stock villains). Or watch Cops,
in which, one by one, the bedraggled junkies, fearsome crack dealers,
and hapless dope smokers are led away in chains. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
We believe that lashing at the illegal drug user will purify us. We try to separate the "evil" from the "good" of drugs, what we love and what we fear about them, to enforce a drug-free America with handcuffs and jail cells while legal drugs grow in popularity and variety. But we cannot separate the inseparable. We know the truth about ourselves. It is time to begin living with that horror, and that blessing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (2-3) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Traditionally, except for mavericks like Molly Ivins, Texas newspapers are tough on drugs- precisely why the decidedly non-traditional stances taken in these op-eds from the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News respectively, are important straws in the wind. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(2) DRUG ABUSE FIGHT COULD USE CASH FIX (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Almost Everywhere Drugs Go, Money Follows | ||||||||||||||||||||
Money is why farmers produce plants to be processed into illegal drugs
instead of cultivating crops of less-profitable food or fiber. Money
is the motivation driving drug dealers. Stealing for money to buy
drugs is behind that big percentage of crime attributed to substance
abusers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Fighting drugs is but the flip side of the same coin. Seizing assets from suspects in drug cases has proved quite lucrative for law enforcement agencies. This is on top of the vast sums of public money the government continues pouring into its so-called drug war year after year, despite an appalling lack of progress to show for it. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Even when it comes to treatment of drug abusers, some high-cost private facilities have gleaned great profits by keeping drug abusers until their insurance coverage is exhausted and then releasing them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(3) LEGALIZING DRUGS CAN HELP US GET CONTROL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The struggle against drug trafficking and drug addiction never has
received wholehearted support from our body politic. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Educators, industrialists, physicians and religious leaders probably
are more opposed to the use of life-impairing drugs than are most
families, which cherish the illusion that narcotics never will reach
them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
One thing is certain: The drug business won't evaporate by wishing and hoping. It will dry up when the business no longer is profitable. | ||||||||||||||||||||
If the public wants alternative methods of regulation to those brought
forth by the groups that advocate the legalization of drugs, let those
ideas be discussed and debated. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (4-5) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The prohibitionists weren't idle- the DEA opened a small museum in DC;
the way one British columnist dutifully reported its revisionist
propaganda must have warmed the heart of its curator, designated DEA
"Historian," Jill Jonnes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the Caribbean and elsewhere, the impending loss of Panama as an
"anti-drug" base has the US checking out numerous potential
replacements. No doubt we'll find someone willing to work for the
Yankee dollar. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(4) DRUG MUSEUM'S SHINING EXAMPLE OF DECADENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Hugo Gurdon in Pentagon City | ||||||||||||||||||||
THE most telling exhibits in America's newest museum are burnt and bent teaspoons, stained rags, used soda bottles and a diamond-encrusted Colt | ||||||||||||||||||||
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They expose the sordid, deadly reality and phoney glamour of their
subject, which is drugs. Gathered in glass display cases are the
paraphernalia of America's century-long battle for and against the
right to "get high" - bongs, psychedelic posters, liquorice rolling
papers, Tommy guns and grenades. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Enforcement Administration museum, which opened its doors to
the public on Tuesday, lays bare the willful self-delusion of the 1960s
and 1970s, when Baby Boomers swept aside a mass of historical evidence
and argued that drugs were intrinsic to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness, rather than the low road to ruin. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) U.S. MILITARY OPENS NEW ANTIDRUG BASES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Curacao, Aruba, Ecuador, possibly Costa Rica, replace Panama | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ecuador and the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curacao and Aruba are the
new front lines in the U.S. military's war on drugs, the result of the
American troop withdrawal from Panama under the 1977 Panama Canal
treaties. | ||||||||||||||||||||
``We started counter drug air operations effective May 1 from all three
sites,'' Raul Duany, spokesman for the Miami-based U.S. Southern
Command, said Wednesday. That was the day that airfield operations
ended at Howard Air Force Base in Panama, the previous base for counter
drug surveillance flights. Howard is to be turned over to Panama on
Nov. 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (6) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Needle exchange is the other national issue (besides medical Cannabis)
behind which drug reformers can muster a majority of voters. The
strong probability that newly-elected Governor Davis would sign a
needle exchange bill makes its passage by the legislature especially
important. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(6) ASSEMBLY PASSES NEEDLE EXCHANGE BILL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
SACRAMENTO, May 13 (UPI) - Previously vetoed legislation that would authorize needle exchange programs to slow the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases has advanced to the California Senate. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Assembly passed the bill by Assembly woman Kerry Mazzoni, D-San Rafael,
today with two votes to spare over objections that it would condone illegal
drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (7-10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A hallmark of drug prohibition is its unfairness. To the extent the
policy fails to achieve announced goals, it becomes more oppressive-
injuring more people- and thus recruiting new reformers. That college
students are beginning to experience this unfairness is good news for
us; they are far more likely than politically voiceless inner city
youths to organize and raise a fuss . | ||||||||||||||||||||
Another unfair aspect of our drug policy receiving increased attention
from the print media is its easily appreciated racism. This scrutiny
was evidenced by two important articles in the New York Times and the
Baltimore Sun. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Anderson Valley Advertiser is hardly in their class as a
newspaper, but it reports drug issues accurately- as it did in
revealing the shocking lengths to which the DEA will go for a
conviction. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(7) STUDENTS FIGHT BAN ON COLLEGE FUNDS FOR DRUG OFFENDERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Opposition is growing on college campuses to a provision of the Higher
Education Act that withholds federal financial aid from students
convicted of selling or possessing drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Congress passed the provision in the fall to send a message to young
drug users, but opponents say that it denies money to troubled students
when they need it most to turn their lives around, that it fails to
address drug intervention and education, and that it ignores other
types of criminal behavior. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(8) WHY SOME GET BUSTED AND SOME GO FREE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Drug arrests on the 10 o'clock news tend to show inner-city blacks and Latinos being led away in handcuffs. But Federal health statistics show only slight differences in the rates of drug use for whites and people of color -- and define the typical drug addict as a white male in his 20's who lives in a suburb where drug busts almost never happen. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) UNEQUAL JUSTICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Although the American criminal justice system has a long history of
racial bias, the United States is only now starting to take an honest
look at the problem. | ||||||||||||||||||||
THANKS TO the New York police force, Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo have become household names. Thanks to state police in New Jersey, Maryland and elsewhere, "Driving While Black" has entered the general lexicon. For the moment, the nation seems to be taking seriously the issue of racial bias in the criminal justice system. It's about time. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(10) DALTON HEARING IN SAN FRANCISCO (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
MONDAY, MAY 17 at 8 am Redwood Valley resident John Dalton will get a full evidentiary hearing on Outrageous Government Conduct at the Federal Courthouse on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Judge Susan Illston has ordered the unprecedented hearing to explore the conduct of the Drug Enforcement Administration agents who busted Dalton two years ago on a variety of charges related to marijuana production. In their zeal to bust Dalton, DEA Special Agent Mark Nelson stepped way over the line of acceptable law enforcement practices; he seduced Dalton's mentally ill wife, telling her she was a special agent of the DEA. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (11-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Anyone who has lived in California since November, 1996 understands that winning at the ballot box is the easy part; what's hard is providing legal Cannabis to bona-fide patients; two articles from states with new initiatives explain why. Alaska's (state) Senator Leman would make an excellent target the next time he runs for office. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hemp agriculture is making a bid in California along with several other
states. That the bus driver tested positive for cannabinoids will be
trumpeted by prohibitionists who won't understand that it only confirms
that testing is a complete waste of public funds and says nothing about
the role his use might have played in the accident. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(11) BILL CURBS MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
SENATE OKS POT LIMIT, MANDATORY REGISTRY | ||||||||||||||||||||
JUNEAU - The state Senate passed a bill Thursday placing new limits on
the medical marijuana law voters adopted last fall. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I assure members that this does not repeal the law," the bill's
sponsor, Sen. Loren Leman, said. "It makes it work." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(12) MARIJUANA LAW IS PROVING TO BE A PAIN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sufferers who want to try Oregon's new program find it hard to get a
doctor's approval or the drug | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
But she's run into two big problems: | ||||||||||||||||||||
She can't find a doctor who'll approve marijuana as a treatment. The law requires a doctor's permission for a patient to join the program. | ||||||||||||||||||||
She doesn't have any idea where to get marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(13) HEMP'S BACKERS TRY FOR A COMEBACK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Legalization Sought For Cousin Of Pot | ||||||||||||||||||||
In California these days there is the hemp movement and the other hemp
movement -- this second one backing the kind you can't smoke or bake
into brownies for an altered state. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(14) BUS DRIVER HAD BEEN FIRED FOR DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
NEW ORLEANS (AP) The driver of a charter bus that crashed and killed 22 people was fired from bus companies in 1996 and 1989 after testing positive for marijuana four times, authorities said Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A federal investigator also confirmed a report that Frank Bedell, 46, tested positive for marijuana when he was hospitalized Sunday after the bus veered off a highway and plunged into an embankment. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Internationally, a thriving global heroin trade (downplayed in the US)
is producing record numbers of overdose deaths and sparking bitter
disputes throughout the English-speaking world. Amazingly, advocates
of "tough on drugs" policies hold up the US experience as a model to
be emulated! | ||||||||||||||||||||
The item from the Times is public health opinion offered by a UK constable who blames needle exchange for the increase in heroin use; it's as irresponsible and scurrilous as anything ever penned by McCzar. The second article from the Independent, details the size of the UK heroin problem and the degree to which it is out of "control." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Canada and Australia have no better handle on heroin, despite intense
debate. Both are in the grip of stubbornly prohibitionist governments.
Harm reduction measures, while strenuously opposed, are generally more
available than in most locations in the US. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In a non-heroin item, an unusual decision by a Canadian judge may
pressure Health Minister Alan Rock into finally doing something he's
avoided for months- taking an identifiable position on the medical use
of Cannabis. Then again, given Mr. Rock's demonstrated evasive skills-
it may not. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(15) TIME TO PRICK A DRUGS MYTH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
In 1998, three pharmacies on the fringes of Aberdeen distributed more
than 120,000 hypodermic syringes to people who were injecting illicit
drugs. It is a common and rising statistic throughout the UK's big
cities. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Much of the support for NEPs in North America and the UK appears to be
based on anecdotal evidence and the use of statistics, which have been
demonstrated to be unreliable. What is of great concern is that after
12 years there has been no official assessment of this "act of faith"
when there has been a concomitant rise in drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(16) HEROIN UK - CLOSE-KNIT GANGS WHO DEAL IN DEATH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
THE POLICE and MI5 have identified 30 drug gangs who are controlling
the distribution of heroin throughout Britain and Ireland. Detectives
also believe there is a new threat from the South American drug barons,
notably from Colombia, who are planning to ship large quantities of
heroin into Europe for the first time. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(17) AT WAR OVER DRUGS | ||||||||||||||||||||
Most have lost children to drugs, but this does not give them a common cause. In fact, as these parents prepare for next week's drug summit, the battle lines are being dug even deeper. DEBORAH SNOW reports. | ||||||||||||||||||||
TO AN outsider there seems so much to unite them. They are the
battle-scarred veterans of the "war" against illicit drugs, the parents
who've been through the unutterable pain of losing a child to
addiction, or drug-related death. A club, one of them says, that "you'd
never want to join". Having endured it, you ask yourself, how could
they not have a common cause? | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(18) AUSTRALIA: EDITORIAL: DRUG BLINDNESS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
DESPITE their claims to the contrary, it is short-sighted politicians
and religious tub-thumpers like the Rev Fred Nile who are turning the
law into a joke, not the organisers of Sydney's illegal heroin shooting
gallery. | ||||||||||||||||||||
When the law is so completely at odds with reality and has proved
impossible to enforce successfully, it is time to change it - not to
keep trying to ram it down people's throats. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(19) CANADA: SOCIETY IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Society is committing genocide against intravenous drug users and
everybody knows it, delegates at the eighth annual Canadian conference
on HIV/AIDS research were told Tuesday in Victoria. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The government has the means to stop it and they are not doing
anything about it," Dr. Martin Schechter told the conference's closing
session. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"If someone from Mars landed here, they'd say this is social murder.
It's going to get very grim." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(20) CANADA: SICK CAN APPLY FOR MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
For the first time in Canada, the federal government has set up a process
for sick and terminally ill people to apply for the right to use marijuana
without fear of being prosecuted. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But the guidelines, unveiled yesterday, are already being called seriously
flawed because those who sell pot to sick people can still be charged as
illegal traffickers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It's unfair. It's just patently unfair," Mr. Justice Harry LaForme said
yesterday after a senior government official presented the new guidelines
in Ontario's Superior Court. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
"One gets the impression," LaForme remarked, that Ottawa has reached even
this point "kicking and screaming." | ||||||||||||||||||||
As part of the application process, Ottawa has now asked Wakeford to name
his marijuana supplier. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Thanks to Gary Stork for this heads up: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Major news out of UC Irvine -- Cannabis may help combat schizophrenia.
Related article at the web page below. | ||||||||||||||||||||
There is also an on-line poll "Should Marijuana be legalized for
medical purposes" at the URL below. As is usually the case in all
on-line polls the reform perspective dominates with a whopping 87% Yes
vote | ||||||||||||||||||||
http://home.digitalcity.com/orangecounty/opinion/main.dci?page=marijuan#article | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Eric Sterling writes: | ||||||||||||||||||||
I am forwarding the URL for Sam Smith's Progressive Review. I suggest
adding it to your bookmark or favorite places list or subscribing to
his email newsletter. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person
were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in
silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be
justified in silencing mankind" - J.S. Mill - | ||||||||||||||||||||
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