January 14, 2000 #132 |
|
A DrugSense publication http://www.drugsense.org/
|
|
- * Breaking News (12/30/24)
-
- * Feature Article
-
Whose Laws Are The Police Enforcing?
by Steve Kubby, National Director
The American Medical Marijuana Assoc.
- * Weekly News in Review
-
Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Ecstasy Use Rises Despite Brain Danger
(2) Epidemic In Our Midst
(3) Hub Schools Mount New Drive To Halt Heroin
COMMENT: (4-5)
(4) CBHS Will Start Drug Tests This Fall
(5) Don't Welfare Recipients Have Rights?
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (6)
(6) Innovative Juvenile Drug Court Opening
COMMENT: (7-8)
(7) Officer: I Saw Jail Beating
(8) Prosecutors To Ask That Man Imprisoned For Five Years Be Cleared
COMMENT: (9)
(9) Economic Lockdown
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (10-11)
(10) Medical Pot Defendant Asks Lockyer To Step In
(11) Lockyer Won't Intervene In Kubby Case
COMMENT: (12)
(12) House Gives Initial Ok To Legalized Hemp Industry
International News-
COMMENT: (13-14)
(13) Mexican Tale of Absolute Drug Corruption
(14) OPED: The Caribbean Narco-Economy
COMMENT: (15-16)
(15) Militias Say They Tax Drugs In Colombia
(16) U.S. Plans Big Boost In Aid To Colombia
COMMENT: (17-18)
(17) Editorial: The Taleban Trail
(18) OPED: Britain Is Quietly Turning Into A Drug Culture
COMMENT: (19)
(19) New Zealand: OPED: Questions Of Justice
- * Hot Off The 'Net
-
MPP Scores a 'Homer'
Todd McCormick Incarcerated
Family Research Council Feedback Page
- * Quote of the Week
-
Thomas Carlyle -
|
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) |
WHOSE LAWS ARE THE POLICE ENFORCING?
|
by Steve Kubby, National Director
The American Medical Marijuana Assoc.
|
In the election of 1996, California law enforcement officials and
agencies made the following official statements in the California Voter
|
"Proposition 215 legalizes marijuana use for 'any other illness for
which marijuana provides relief.' This could include stress, headaches,
upset stomach, insomnia, a stiff neck . . . or just about anything."
|
"Proposition 215 does not require a written prescription. Anyone with
the 'oral recommendation or approval by a physician' can grow, possess
or smoke marijuana. No medical examination is required."
|
"This initiative makes marijuana available to the public without FDA
approval or regulation."
|
"This initiative allows unlimited quantities of marijuana to be grown
anywhere . . . without any regulation or restrictions."
|
"It is marijuana legalization."
|
Listed below these bold public assertions were the following organizations:
|
* The California State Sheriffs Association
|
* The California District Attorneys Association
|
* California Police Chiefs Association.
|
* The California Narcotic Officers Association and
|
* The California Peace Officers Association
|
--From: 1996 Official Voter Guide: "Argument Against Proposition 215" See:
http://vote96.ss.ca.gov/Vote96/html/BP/215noarg.htm
|
How can all these California law enforcement officials tell voters that
Prop. 215 would legalize marijuana and allow patients to grow as much
as they need for personal medical use -- in an official public
statement to the voters of California -- and then turn around and
insist that the voters never approved any of these things?
|
Patients and caregivers acted in good faith following passage of 215
and have been cynically arrested by local authorities who never had any
intention of conforming to the voters will and the present state law.
Hypocrisy may not be a crime, but entrapment is and when the action of
local authorities flaunt our laws they are undermining the fundamental
trust of their oaths.
|
The ugly truth is that the police are refusing to honor a law they
don't like. Medical marijuana patients are being raided, arrested, and
dragged through the criminal justice system, in record numbers and
nearly everyone is afraid. Arrest statewide are up 12% since the
passage of 215, despite the fact that the new law exempts patients and
caregivers from prosecution or any type of sanctions.
|
These law enforcement leaders and agencies cannot have it both ways.
Either they are guilty of making deliberately fraudulent and misleading
statements, or they are fraudulently refusing to uphold what they know
to be the legal consequences of that election.
|
Moreover, according to the California Constitution, a law passed by the
voters must be enforced, even if it conflicts with federal law, until
that law has been challenged in appellate court. No such court
challenge has been made of California's new medical marijuana law, nor
is one likely, despite repeated slurs on the new law by officials.
Unable to beat the law in court, police have decided to challenge
individuals instead with a lock-em-up-let-the-courts-decide approach
that has been a disaster for all involved.
|
For years, the police have told us, "We just enforce the laws, if you
don't like them, then change them." But now that the voters have passed
law and the police are refusing to honor that law, we are painfully
discovering that police are their own political lobby with heavy clout
that runs all the way to the Governor's office. Just passing a law no
longer means much with law enforcement and our elected officials are
too frightened of them to do anything about it.
|
That's not to say that the police are evil, just that when police no
longer follow the laws passed by voters, it is time to stop and take a
close look and ask ourselves, "Whose laws are the police enforcing?"
|
The Kubby Files: http://www.kubby.org/
|
|
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) |
|
Domestic News- Policy
COMMENT: (1-3) (Top) |
With amazing inconsistency, the same media sources which allow ONDCP
to make uncontested claims that the drug war is succeeding because
"drug use" has been halved since 1979 are also able to produce
breathless reports of the latest drug scourge about to engulf another
state, region, or entire country.
|
What to believe; do they even care?
|
(1) ECSTASY USE RISES DESPITE BRAIN DANGER (Top) |
The drug MDMA - better known on the streets and dance clubs as ecstasy
or XTC - is rising in use and popularity among young people, despite a
growing body of evidence that it can cause brain damage.
|
[snip]
|
"The base numbers for high school use rates of ecstasy are really quite
small, and the increase this year was small," says Alan I. Leshner,
director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An estimated 4.4% of
1999's surveyed 10th graders reported some use of ecstasy during the
prior 12 months, up from 3.3% in 1998.
|
[snip]
|
But that's only the tip of the iceberg.
|
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), areas of
concentrated ecstasy use include California, Texas, Florida, New York,
and New England. But, Leshner points out: "We know from the community
epidemiology workgroup that in virtually every city in this country,
we're seeing substantially larger numbers of older young adults, those
beyond high school, using ecstasy, and that causes us great concern."
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Fri, 07 Jan 2000 |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. |
---|
Address: | 1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA 22229 |
---|
Author: | Dr. Stephen A. Shoop and A.J.S. Rayl |
---|
|
|
(2) EPIDEMIC IN OUR MIDST (Top) |
ANALYZING THE METH OFFENSIVE
|
And then along came meth.
|
As America closes out a century of stimulant abuse, its slavishness
|
to methamphetamine has spawned a public health epidemic equal to, if
not more devastating than, the crack cocaine siege of the '80s.
|
The mystery, for narcotics officers and public health officials alike,
is when meth will jump the Mississippi River, the gateway to the East
Coast. It will not be long. From California, where it took hold after
World War II, a re-engineered meth has already leapfrogged the Rockies
to ravage the Midwest.
|
There is no mystery about meth and Washington state. This drug is
insinuating itself here at the speed of light.
|
Meth is as seductive a drug as can be imagined -- its euphoric
sensation is inexpensive and long-lasting. And meth can be ingested in
varied ways: Inject it, smoke it, snort it or, diluted with liquid,
swallow it.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 12 Dec 1999 |
---|
Source: | Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. |
---|
Author: | Kimberly Mills, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board |
---|
Note: | Each of the parts in this series, published over a week, has one to |
---|
four sidebar articles.
|
Part 1: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a01.html
|
Part 2: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a02.html
|
Part 3: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a03.html
|
Part 4: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n023.a01.html
|
Part 5: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a02.html
|
Part 6: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a01.html
|
Part 7: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a03.html
|
|
(3) HUB SCHOOLS MOUNT NEW DRIVE TO HALT HEROIN (Top) |
In the city's ongoing war against heroin, Boston public schools will
target students as young as 12 with drug-specific prevention programs
to combat a poison so cheap and potent, it is rearranging teen culture.
|
Superintendent Thomas Payzant will be sending personnel from middle
schools and high schools to a five-day training session under the
system's revamped outreach efforts, part of a citywide strike against
the addictive drug.
|
[snip]
|
The drug awareness campaign will stress prevention efforts in health
classes, with extra emphasis on heroin, which has been ravaging
increasingly younger users.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Fri, 07 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Boston Herald (MA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Boston Herald, Inc. |
---|
Address: | One Herald Square, Boston, MA 02106-2096 |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (4-5) (Top) |
The urge to root out and punish drug users, particularly if they are
young or poor, continues unabated.
|
(4) CBHS WILL START DRUG TESTS THIS FALL (Top) |
Plan has parent, student support
|
Beginning this fall, Christian Brothers High School will test all its
nearly 900 students for drug use.
|
Using a hair from the student's head, the test will scan for five types
of drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opiates (including heroin), PCP and
methamphetamines. It will not test for alcohol.
|
For the first offense, the school will hold a conference with the
student and his parents, where counseling and other issues will be
discussed.
|
Then, 100 days later, the student will be tested again. If the second
test is positive, the student will be expelled. Any student refusing to
take the test also will be expelled.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Commercial Appeal (TN) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Commercial Appeal |
---|
Address: | Box 334, Memphis, TN 38101 |
---|
|
|
(5) DON'T WELFARE RECIPIENTS HAVE RIGHTS? (Top) |
The 1996 federal "welfare reform" law allowed states to test welfare
recipients for drug use. So far, only Michigan has taken advantage of
that provision.
|
In October, welfare applicants began to be required to take a urine
test in three parts of the state, including Detroit. There need not be
even a suspicion that a particular applicant uses drugs.
|
Anyone who tests positive must enroll in a "substance abuse treatment
plan." Refusal to submit to the testing or to enter treatment results
in families with children under 18 losing monthly cash payments. This
income support is called a "family independence benefit" by the state.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Washington Post (DC) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Washington Post Company |
---|
Address: | 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 |
---|
|
|
Law Enforcement & Prisons
---------
|
COMMENT: (6) (Top) |
Consistent with the increased emphasis on "treatment," Maine initiated
a federally financed program of drug courts for youthful offenders.
|
(6) INNOVATIVE JUVENILE DRUG COURT OPENING (Top) |
BANGOR -- On Monday morning, the way the state deals with a serious
problem will undergo a major overhaul with the start of a nationally
acclaimed juvenile drug court.
|
Maine Chief Justice Daniel Wathen hopes the program will help set the
state's youthful offenders on a path of rehabilitation instead of
repeat offenses.
|
[snip]
|
Juveniles referred to the program will undergo extensive drug treatment
and will have their progress monitored weekly by state judges. Two
major goals of the program are to reduce recidivism by treating the
offenders' substance abuse problem and to reduce the incarceration rate
of some juveniles.
|
If juveniles successfully complete the roughly yearlong program, the
criminal charge filed against them may be reduced or dismissed.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Fri, 07 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Bangor Daily News (ME) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000, Bangor Daily News Inc. |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (7-8) (Top) |
Meanwhile, Reports of beating and abuses in our overcrowded jails and
prisons were not hard to find; nor were examples of police misconduct.
|
(7) OFFICER: I SAW JAIL BEATING (Top) |
Agrees To Testify Against 2 Accused In Inmate's Death
|
Facing the threat of life behind bars, a Nassau County corrections
officer admitted yesterday that he stood lookout a year ago and
watched as two of his colleagues allegedly beat an inmate to death.
|
In a dramatic turn that could prove devastating to his co-defendants,
Ivano Bavaro agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and testify
against the two officers charged with the death of Thomas Pizzuto, a
recovering heroin addict who had been begging for methadone.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Wed, 05 Jan 2000 |
---|
Copyright: | 2000, Newsday Inc. |
---|
Author: | Andrew Metz Staff Writer |
---|
|
|
(8) PROSECUTORS TO ASK THAT MAN IMPRISONED FOR FIVE YEARS BE CLEARED (Top) |
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In the latest fallout from the ongoing Los Angeles
Police Department corruption probe, prosecutors said they would ask a
federal magistrate to remove a drug conviction that put a man in
prison for five years.
|
The request was expected to be made today, just one day after a judge
cut three years off a drug dealer's prison sentence because of
now-suspect testimony from former Officer Rafael Perez, who is at the
heart of the scandal engulfing the Los Angeles Police Department's
Rampart station.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Fri, 07 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Sacramento Bee (CA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Sacramento Bee |
---|
Address: | P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (9) (Top) |
A detailed analysis explained why California's unprecedented Central
Valley prison construction boom has not benefited the host communities.
|
(9) ECONOMIC LOCKDOWN (Top) |
With unemployment largely unaffected and jobs going to residents of
larger cities, the Valley's prison boom hasn't been the economic boon
advertised.
|
It wasn't supposed to be like this, 800 people lined up in the rain
outside John Muir Junior High School in Corcoran for a shot at two
low-wage clerical jobs in the local prison.
|
[snip]
|
In 15 years, California has spent $4.2 billion building 23 new
prisons. Eight of those prisons are within 150 miles of Fresno. An
examination of Avenal, Corcoran and Delano indicates the prisons don't
do much for the towns where they were built.
|
Most of the 8,000 jobs haven't gone to residents of these eight new
company towns.
|
They haven't sparked an economic revival in the southern San Joaquin
Valley. There are few new houses, restaurants and stores - despite town
leaders' expectations, despite $2 billion spent in construction over 15
years, despite a half-billion dollars a year in payroll.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 09 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Fresno Bee, The (CA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Fresno Bee |
---|
Author: | Mike Lewis, Bee Capital Bureau |
---|
|
|
Cannabis & Hemp-
|
COMMENT: (10-11) (Top) |
Pre-trial maneuvering in the oft-postponed Kubby case became more
intense when the defendant made very credible accusations about the
behavior of California Law enforcement agencies in the wake of passage
of Proposition 215.
|
The Attorney General's office replied in predictable fashion,
completely ignoring the fact that Kubby's prosecution is itself is
part of the alleged harassment.
|
(10) MEDICAL POT DEFENDANT ASKS LOCKYER TO STEP IN (Top) |
Medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby has gone on the offensive in his
battle with Placer County law enforcement, alleging that his "basic
right" to use "the only medicine that keeps me alive" has been
violated. In a formal complaint dated Tuesday, the 1998 Libertarian
gubernatorial candidate asked state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to
intervene in the pending prosecution of Kubby and his wife, Michele,
claiming the possession-for-sale charges filed against them are bogus.
|
"My wife and I are victims of those who seek to gut Prop. 215 and
punish those behind it," said Kubby, whose physician has submitted a
letter to the court declaring that marijuana "not only controlled the
symptoms of (Kubby's cancer) but, in my view, has arrested its growth."
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Sacramento Bee (CA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Sacramento Bee |
---|
Address: | P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852 |
---|
Author: | Wayne Wilson, Bee Staff Writer |
---|
|
|
(11) LOCKYER WON'T INTERVENE IN KUBBY CASE (Top) |
Embattled pot proponent Steven Kubby shouldn't hold out much hope of
intervention from the state Attorney General's Office in his bid to
have Placer County law enforcement back off on prosecuting him.
|
[snip]
|
"It's a rare occasion indeed when this office interferes with local law
enforcement enforcing the law," Barankin said. "We're not aware of any
information that suggest we ought to break with that practice."
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 09 January 2000 |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Auburn Journal |
---|
Address: | 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603 |
---|
Author: | Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (12) (Top) |
Better news from New Hampshire, where the lower house surprised
everyone by passing a hemp bill. Just note the response of local law
enforcement types and imagine how fairly THEY'D treat medical
marijuana patients.
|
(12) HOUSE GIVES INITIAL OK TO LEGALIZED HEMP INDUSTRY (Top) |
House lawmakers yesterday stunned law enforcers by giving initial
approval to a bill legalizing the hemp industry in New Hampshire.
Opponents said they would seek to overturn the House decision as soon
as this afternoon, while law enforcement officials vowed to renew their
fight against the bill.
|
"I can't believe it. What a sad state of affairs," Concord Police Chief
William Halacy said. "Law enforcement will continue to fight this
thing."
|
Hampton Police Chief William Wrenn said he was "disappointed" by the
House action.
|
"We certainly don't feel this legislation serves any legitimate
purpose," Wrenn said. "We don't feel this should be legal."
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Union Leader (NH) |
---|
Copyright: | The Union Leader Corp. 2000 |
---|
Address: | P.O. Box 9555 Manchester, NH 03108-9555 |
---|
Author: | John Toole, State House Bureau |
---|
|
|
International News
|
COMMENT: (13-14) (Top) |
Increasingly, international drug news is a chronicle of the degree to
which the criminal markets created by our drug policy are spinning out
of control. This inevitably leads to criminal dominance of local
economies, endemic revolution and a blighted investment climate.
|
(13) MEXICAN TALE OF ABSOLUTE DRUG CORRUPTION (Top) |
TIJUANA, Mexico -- Norma Castro felt almost as if she were part of a
new country 10 years ago, when her home state of Baja California led
Mexico into a new era by voting out the corrupt political machine that
had dominated its politics for six decades.
|
STATE UNDER SIEGE A special report.
|
"We thought things were going to change for real," Mrs. Castro, a
homemaker, recalled. "We thought that if we gave them a chance --
another government, another party -- maybe they would do something
about all this."
|
Despite a decade of reform-minded opposition government, the waves of
drug-related crime that have coincided with more democratic politics
are eroding the faith of Mrs. Castro and her neighbors that any
government can improve their lives.
|
"People don't believe anymore," Mrs. Castro said, describing how the
lines at her neighborhood polling place have grown shorter each year.
"They figure, 'What's the point of voting if nothing is going to
change?' "
|
[snip]
|
Source: | New York Times (NY) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The New York Times Company |
---|
|
|
(14) OPED: THE CARIBBEAN NARCO-ECONOMY (Top) |
A third wave of globalization, following centuries of sugar monoculture
and the postwar growth of island tourism, is washing across the
Caribbean. It is the spreading global narco-economy, and it threatens
the political and economic stability of the archipelago.
|
United States efforts in recent years to staunch the flow of Colombian
drugs across the Mexican border have deflected trafficking eastward
across the island chain from Bahamas to Aruba. Roughly a third of all
cocaine and heroin consumed in the US crisscrosses the area, and
money-laundering drug profits have infested several of the region's
offshore financial centers. The Caribbean narco-economy has been
nourished by several factors: strategic location between southern
producers and northern consumers, vast unguarded coastlines and
inaccessible mountainous interiors, a long-standing trade network, plus
the anonymity afforded by hordes of tourists.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 06 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Christian Science Monitor (US) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society. |
---|
Address: | One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115 |
---|
Author: | Jerome L. McElroy |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (15-16) (Top) |
Colombia is ready to reclaim its title from Mexico as the worst
Western Hemisphere socioeconomic basket case produced by US drug
policy. Of course we'll fund their war; after all, it's our war too.
|
(15) MILITIAS SAY THEY TAX DRUGS IN COLOMBIA (Top) |
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombia's rightist paramilitary groups
finance themselves by taxing the drug trade, the same as their leftist
rivals do, the nation's top militia boss has confirmed for the first
time.
|
[snip]
|
The security-conscious Castano, who spoke to TV Hoy surrounded by
armed guards and with his back to the camera, said the paramilitary
groups, who call themselves "self-defense forces," based in northeast
Colombia charge a 40 percent tax on peasants who produce coca, the raw
material for cocaine.
|
Pubdate: | Mon, 10 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Houston Chronicle (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Houston Chronicle |
---|
Address: | Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 |
---|
|
|
(16) U.S. PLANS BIG BOOST IN AID TO COLOMBIA (Top) |
Over $1 Billion Pledged To Assist Drug War, Economy
|
President Clinton plans to announce a massive new aid program for
Colombia next week totaling more than $1 billion in military and
development assistance over the next two years. It will be used to
combat narcotics cultivation and trafficking and bolster that country's
beleaguered democracy.
|
More than half the money will be in a White House request for a
supplemental appropriation for this fiscal year, with the remainder to
be part of the fiscal year 2001 budget that the administration is due
to send to Congress on Feb. 7, administration officials said.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sat, 08 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Washington Post (DC) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Washington Post Company |
---|
Address: | 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 |
---|
Author: | Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (17-18) (Top) |
In Britain, The Times unveiled a sanctimonious streak in an editorial
bemoaning the heroin producing prowess of the Taleban. This was
followed on Sunday by one of the more witless endorsements of
prohibition we've seen anywhere.
|
(17) EDITORIAL: THE TALEBAN TRAIL (Top) |
Twisting paths through Afghanistan and Whitehall
|
Few governments have ever depended so heavily for their income on the
destruction and death of young people as Taleban, the fanatical rulers
of Afghanistan. Smuggling opium to Western Europe is now virtually the
only source of income for these hypocritical Islamic fundamentalists;
the more heroin addicts they recruit, the richer they become.
|
In the past year, Afghanistan has more than doubled its production of
opium to 4,600 tonnes. For all the prohibitions in the Koran on
drug-taking, Taleban levies a 20 per cent tax on the crop, which is
then smuggled by heavily armed intermediaries to Western Europe.
Ninety-five per cent of all the heroin sold in Britain comes from
Afghanistan.
|
[snip]
|
But the American example of using "czars" as quick fixes for awkward
issues is hardly encouraging; the outlines of Britain's ten-year
strategy remain vague. And Mr Hellawell, a man in no doubt of his own
competence but who lacks an insider's knowledge of Whitehall, has found
it difficult to steer his proposals through the bureaucracy. The job is
still new, the terrain unknown and the public expectation of quick
results unrealistic.
|
[snip]
|
Copyright: | 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd |
---|
|
|
(18) OPED: BRITAIN IS QUIETLY TURNING INTO A DRUG CULTURE (Top) |
It's the nightmare of so many parents with teenage children. The arrest
of Nicholas Knatchbull's three friends on suspicion of possessing drugs
was the latest in a series of drug incidents concerning Prince
William's social circle.
|
The routine availability of illegal substances is now a fact of life
for young people. Keith Hellawell, the "drug tsar", said last week that
drug-taking among well-educated teenagers from stable families was the
fastest growing part of the drug racket. Forget cannabis - these kids
are going straight for cocaine.
|
[snip]
|
This normalisation of illegality merely gives drug-taking added chic for
the ever rebellious young. There aren't many issues left, after all, over
which the young can rebel. Sex, for so long the revolt of choice, is now
reduced to a banal spectator sport for all the family.
|
[snip]
|
Source: | Sunday Times (UK) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (19) (Top) |
On a lighter note: a man-bites dog story from New Zealand which
perfectly illustrates the axiom that all "drug crimes" aren't punished
equally. In this case, a wealthy American pot smoker was allowed to
walk AND remain anonymous.
|
(19) NEW ZEALAND: OPED: QUESTIONS OF JUSTICE (Top) |
The light penalty imposed on a billionaire businessman, caught with
more than 100 grams of cannabis resin as he entered the country, raises
serious questions about the nature of our justice system. Although
required under an immigration order to leave New Zealand by tomorrow,
the man was discharged without conviction and had his name suppressed.
He is understood also to have agreed to make a substantial donation to
the Auckland drug rehabilitation centre, Odyssey House.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Mon, 10 Jan 2000 |
---|
Source: | Press, The (New Zealand) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Christchurch Press Company Ltd. |
---|
Address: | Private Bag 4722, Christchurch, New Zealand |
---|
|
|
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top)
|
MPP Scores a 'Homer'
|
On January 12, 2000, The Washington Post ran the following opinion
piece. MPP worked with these three patients to write and submit this in
early December, when the federal government's new medical marijuana
research guidelines formally took effect.
|
Had MPP paid for an advertisement this size, it would have cost $7,800.
|
|
NOTE: | DrugSense has issued a Focus Alert to help increase the impact of |
---|
this super effort.
|
|
Todd McCormick Incarcerated
|
Marijuana activist Todd McCormick has been incarcerated (again).
Updates on http://members.home.net/amccormick/
|
|
Family Research Council Feedback Page
|
We question whether trying to inform the Family Research Council of
anything factual regarding drug policy holds much hope but for those
who enjoy tilting at windmills there is a page where you can offer your
opinions.
|
http://www.frc.org/ie/yourturn.html
|
The main page can be reviewed at http://www.frc.org/
|
|
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top)
|
"Men seldom, or rather never for a length of time, and deliberately,
rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against."
-- Thomas Carlyle
|
|
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
|
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
|
http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
|
News/COMMENTS-Editor: | Tom O'Connell () |
---|
Senior-Editor: | Mark Greer () |
---|
|
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing activists.
|
|
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.
|
|
Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk
|
See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings.
|
|
NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ON LINE 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
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
|
-OR-
|
Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to:
|
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
D/B/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/
|