March 3, 2000 #139 |
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A DrugSense publication http://www.drugsense.org/
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- * Breaking News (12/21/24)
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- * Feature Article
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The DrugSense Weekly; Evolution & Hints for Easy Reading
by Tom O'Connell M.D.
- * Weekly News in Review
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Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (1-2)
(1) Ecstasy Seizures Soar as Use Increases
(2) Meth Labs an Increasingly Common Problem in Area
COMMENT: (3-4)
(3) More Pre Schoolers on Psychiatric Drugs
(4) MI: D.A.R.E. Doesn't Work
COMMENT: (5-6)
(5) Drug Tests on Pregnant Women Studied
(6) Benedictine to Test for Drugs
COMMENT: (7)
(7) Students Skip Drug Question on Federal Form
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (8)
(8) Many Snitches Still Doing Crime
COMMENT: (9-10)
(9) FBI Launches Probe into Rampart Scandal
(10) CA: Guards Accused of Arranging Attacks
COMMENT: (11)
(11) Column: Plan for Police Falls Short
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (12-13)
(12) IL: U.S. Drug Czar Opposes Plan in Illinois
(13) Hemp Growers Reluctant To Abandon Their Dream
COMMENT: (14-15)
(14) CA: Pair Guilty of Conspiracy
(15) CA: Most Doctors Reluctant to Recommend Marijuana
COMMENT: (16)
(16) Pot Farms Invade National Parks
International News-
COMMENT: (17-18)
(17) Australia: $5 M Ecstasy Scam
(18) RCMP Want Nude-Cam for Toronto's Airport
COMMENT: (19-20)
(19) UK: Drug Abuse Deaths Among Young Men Double in 4 Years
(20) Scotland: Row Over 'Benign' Drug Use Report
COMMENT: (21-22)
(21) Colombia: Contractors Playing Increasing Role in U.S. Drug War
(22) Entering Colombia's Civil War Won't Solve the U.S. Problem
COMMENT: (23)
(23) Mexico: Tijuana Official Says Slaying Shows Traffickers' Power
- * Hot Off The 'Net
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Great Web Site for Contacting Congress
DPF Conference Deadlines Nearing
NetZero Offers FREE Internet access
- * Quote of the Week
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William Lloyd Garrison
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) |
The DrugSense Weekly; Evolution & Hints for Easy Reading
by Tom O'Connell M.D.
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The DrugSense News Archive is now just three years old and the Weekly,
which attempts a comprehensive review of the latest trends in drug
policy, is half-way through its third year. With that in mind I thought
it might be useful to review their origins and explain how the current
format of the newsletter evolved.
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Shortly after MAP began, the News Archive- almost an afterthought to
the main goal of encouraging letters to editors (LTEs)- grew quickly
and was soon recognized as an asset in its own right. Kevin Zeese and
Mark Greer decided a newsletter focused on the latest additions would
help advertise the archive. It was our good fortune that webmaster Matt
Elrod was both librarian and computer genius; thus, our database has
always been well organized, searchable, and expandable; qualities which
later proved indispensable.
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Also indispensable was Richard Lake; he recruited and organized a corps
of volunteer NewsHawks to find and transmit pertinent material from
around the world; he also recruited editors to follow high standards in
rapidly formatting and archiving submitted items. The bedrock of the
newsletter has thus always been a timely, reliable, and ever more
inclusive database representing (for the past year or more) most of the
drug policy material published in English by the popular press.
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At first, newsletters were just lists of excerpted articles and URLs
deemed by informal consensus to be the more interesting- with no effort
to determine significance or relate them to reform efforts or media
patterns.
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I first became involved when the newsletter was about 6 months old;
since I'd never done anything similar before and was also a computer
novice, it was very much a learning experience. I had to struggle just
to track the constant (and ever-growing) stream of submitted items; let
alone make some sense of them and communicate that sense to a busy,
informed, and growing readership.
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Trial and error eventually produced the four durable categories now in
use: policy, law enforcement, cannabis and international. I gradually
learned to use the briefest possible excerpts of each item in order to
cover the most policy ground in the fewest words (4000, plus a short
feature is ideal). In that sense, HTML links are invaluable; readers
with a good Internet connection can go directly to the text of articles
which interest them; they can still get a useful gist of other items
from the combination of headline, COMMENT, and excerpt.
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Since most of the words in each issue are either boilerplate or were
written by others, developing a style was a challenge. The guiding
principle turned out to be Joe McNamara's observation that "the drug
war can't stand scrutiny." This is especially true when comparing
proclaimed goals with obtained results- even when reported by a
supportive media. Over time, my weekly immersion in press reports of
the drug war made clear that the policy is not only much worse than I
first imagined, its patterns of failure are monotonously repetitive
within the same policy areas. They no longer have to be sought, but
literally jump up from the long lists of articles received each week in
my Eudora Pro mailboxes. Recognition of various items' relationship to
each other allows presentation in groups of two and three; thus
enhancing flow and readability.
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Spotting a repeating pattern of failure has also allowed linkage of
related items with increasing facility. The best measure of this is
uncannily accurate: the more aptly two items illuminate their mutual
absurdity, the shorter the COMMENT necessary to point that out; the
shorter the COMMENTS, the more readable the Newsletter.
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The more readable the newsletter becomes, the more ridiculous the drug
war appears.
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) |
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Domestic News- Policy
COMMENT: (1-2) (Top) |
As usual, evidence of our national drug policy's schizophrenia wasn't
hard to find: despite repeated recent claims of wod success, McCzar's
underlings continue to issue feverish bulletins about "explosions" of
ecstasy and methamphetamine use.
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(1) ECSTASY SEIZURES SOAR AS USE INCREASES (Top) |
NEW YORK -- Some of the small tablets are shaped like the familiar
Playboy magazine rabbit ears and are known as Bunnies. Others are
called Buddhas because they bear his likeness. Some are stamped with
the Nike swoosh, a shamrock or Dino the Dinosaur.
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All are part of an alarming explosion in MDMA, the synthetic
psychoactive drug called Ecstasy.
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[snip]
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Salvatore Gravano, the Mafia turncoat arrested Thursday in Arizona, was
charged with financing a ring that sold 20,000 to 25,000 tablets of the
drug a week. But those sales figures pale in comparison with those of
an organization shut down one day earlier in New York: Police said they
arrested several Israelis who were selling 100,000 tablets weekly.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 26 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Houston Chronicle (TX) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Houston Chronicle |
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Address: | Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260 |
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Author: | William K. Rashbaum, New York Times |
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(2) METH LABS AN INCREASINGLY COMMON PROBLEM IN AREA (Top) |
Speed kills.
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While still true, the drug culture slogan about the stimulants
methamphetamines from years past is no longer limited to health and
psychological risks associated with abuse of the drug. Law enforcement
officials say meth labs can cause fires, explosions and environmental
contamination.
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A change in drug market dynamics also has caused new clandestine
laboratories that make the drug to pop up across the nation, said
Donnie R. Marshall, acting administrator of the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration. Central Texas drug agents have busted six
such labs in as many months.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 23 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Waco Tribune-Herald (TX) |
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COMMENT: (3-4) (Top) |
The major reason offered for continued government sponsorship of
profitable illegal drug markets is concern for "the kids." As usual,
there was evidence that while such anxiety might be well founded,
actions taken to address the problem are self-defeating.
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For example, the billion dollar a year D.A.R.E. program received
another failing grade; this time, from the Detroit News
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(3) MORE PRE SCHOOLERS ON PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS (Top) |
In a finding that medical experts called "troubling" and "very
surprising," researchers reported yesterday that the number of
preschoolers taking stimulants, anti-depressants and other psychiatric
drugs rose sharply from 1991 to 1995.
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The use of stimulants - most commonly methylphenidate, the generic form
of Ritalin - increased twofold to threefold for children ages 2 through
4 enrolled in two state Medicaid programs and one health maintenance
organization in the Northwest, the researchers found.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 23 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Arizona Daily Star (AZ) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Pulitzer Publishing Co. |
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(4) MI: D.A.R.E. DOESN'T WORK (Top) |
POPULAR ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM NOT MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN METRO DETROIT
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Money Can Be Better Spent Elsewhere, Some Experts Say -- First Of Two
Parts
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DARE, a billion-dollar national drug prevention program, has no impact
on alcohol or drug use among Metro Detroit teen-agers, according to a
Detroit News investigation.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Detroit News (MI) |
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Copyright: | 2000, The Detroit News |
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Author: | Jodi Upton, (Staff writer Katie Merx contributed to this report) |
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Note: | The URLs and titles for all articles in this series can be |
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found at: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0154.html
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COMMENT: (5-6) (Top) |
Testing remains a burning issue; even as the Supremes announced they
will review two intrusive laws, more private schools and public school
districts announce new random testing programs every week.
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(5) DRUG TESTS ON PREGNANT WOMEN STUDIED (Top) |
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court today agreed to decide whether
public hospitals can test pregnant patients for drug use and tell
police who tested positive.
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The justices said they will review a challenge to a South Carolina
hospital's policy aimed at detecting pregnant women who use crack
cocaine. The policy's opponents say it violates women's Fourth
Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Mon, 28 Feb 2000 |
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Copyright: | 2000 Associated Press |
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Author: | Richard Carelli, Associated Press Writer |
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(6) BENEDICTINE TO TEST FOR DRUGS (Top) |
Random Screening Of Students, Faculty
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Benedictine High School will give random drug tests to its students, faculty
and staff members starting this fall.
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School officials said yesterday that the private, all-male Catholic military
school does not have a drug problem. Instead, they believe the program will
deter future drug use among students.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 25 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Richmond Newspapers Inc. |
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Address: | P.O. Box 85333, Richmond, VA 23293-0001 (LTEs by FAX or mail only!) |
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COMMENT: (7) (Top) |
20% of applicants for student loans either failed or refused to answer
the new question about drug convictions. It won't hurt them this time,
but this could become a major bone of contention after July.
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(7) STUDENTS SKIP DRUG QUESTION ON FEDERAL FORM (Top) |
WASHINGTON - More than 100,000 applicants for federal college aid in
the coming school year didn't answer a question about whether they
recently have been convicted of drug crimes.
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[snip]
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So many skipped the new question that the Education Department has
decided to let colleges promise federal grants or loans to students who
didn't answer it.
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After July 1, a student cannot receive federal financial aid within one
year of a first conviction for possessing illegal drugs or two years of
a first conviction for selling them.
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Pubdate: | Thu, 24 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Tampa Tribune (FL) |
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Copyright: | 2000, The Tribune Co. |
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Author: | Andrew Millison, Cox News Service |
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (8) (Top) |
Arrest of Sammy, "The Bull" for Ecstasy trafficking emphasized the
critical importance of career criminals to US "Justice."
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(8) MANY SNITCHES STILL DOING CRIME (Top) |
Salvatore Gravano, the Mafia underboss turned government snitch, may be
the most notorious example of a growing problem for America's justice
system: protected witnesses who return to crime under the noses of
law-enforcement agents.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Arizona Republic (AZ) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Arizona Republic |
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Address: | 200 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix, AZ 85004 |
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Author: | Dennis Wagner and Pat Flannery |
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COMMENT: (9-10) (Top) |
In Southern California, the FBI entered the Rampart scandal. This LAT
analysis covers the murky politics now dominating this unbelievable
case, in which the sentencing of the original informant (a mere 5
years!) is already an afterthought.
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Meanwhile, a prison riot in Northern California served as backdrop for
announcing two more indictments in the far longer-running prison
scandal.
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(9) FBI LAUNCHES PROBE INTO RAMPART SCANDAL (Top) |
LAPD: | Six agents are assigned to investigate alleged civil rights |
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abuses. District attorney says murder, attempted murder charges are
being pursued against some officers.
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Marking a milestone in the 5-month-old Rampart corruption scandal,
authorities announced Wednesday that federal prosecutors and half a
dozen FBI agents would begin investigating alleged civil rights abuses
by Los Angeles police officers, while the district attorney's office
said it is pursuing murder and attempted murder charges against some
officers.
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[snip]
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Yet, despite pronouncements of "teamwork" and "common goals" of rooting
out police corruption, it was clear that turf wars and personality
clashes already are complicating matters.
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Most striking was the tension between Parks and Dist. Atty. Gil
Garcetti. Parks has made no secret of his belief that the D.A. is
dragging his feet in prosecuting corrupt officers.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Thu, 24 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Los Angeles Times |
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Address: | Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 |
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Author: | Matt Lait, Scott Glover, Times Staff Writers |
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(10) CA: GUARDS ACCUSED OF ARRANGING ATTACKS (Top) |
Cresent City Prison Employees Allegedly Pitted Inmates Against Each
Other
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SAN FRANCISCO - Two more former Pelican Bay State Prison guards have
been charged with violating the civil rights of inmates of the
maximum-security prison by setting up attacks, one of them fatal, by
other prisoners over a nearly three-year period.
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[snip]
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The prison near Cresent City also was the site of a riot Wednesday
that started as a fight between black and Hispanic inmates, a prison
spokesman said. One inmate was fatally shot by guards.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Thu, 24 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Orange County Register (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Orange County Register |
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Address: | P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 |
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Author: | Bob Egelko, The Associated Press |
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COMMENT: (11) (Top) |
Denver Post Columnist Diane Carman began with the festering police
scandal in that city; then traveled efficiently across the country to
add up reasons for American Law enforcement's appalling loss of
credibility.
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(11) COLUMN: PLAN FOR POLICE FALLS SHORT (Top) |
The mayor's goal for reforming the Denver police is laudable. He says
he wants to "create a culture of excellence ... that breeds respect
among the citizens and among the police." But his plan for achieving it
overlooks the reason that respect does not exist.
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There's no accountability.
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[snip]
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The Denver P.D.'s problem is far more than a minor public-relations
misstep to be glossed over with a management change and a commitment to
stop hiring cops who've snorted cocaine. It's part of a national
epidemic of serious human-rights abuses in departments from New York
and Los Angeles to New Orleans and even tiny Steubenville, Ohio (pop.
21,000).
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 26 Feb 2000 |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Denver Post |
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Address: | 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202 |
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Author: | Diane Carman - Denver Post Columnist, |
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (12-13) (Top) |
The next two articles demonstrate how MAP's archives make it easier
than ever to connect the drug war's dots.
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Perhaps the Canadian hemp farmers would be even less optimistic if
they knew it took McCzar less than a week to respond to the IL
legislature's endorsement of a hemp study.
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(12) IL: U.S. DRUG CZAR OPPOSES PLAN IN ILLINOIS (Top) |
TO EXPLORE INDUSTRIAL HEMP DEVELOPMENT
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois' efforts to develop hemp into an
industrial product might open the door to legalization of marijuana,
the federal government's drug czar warned Monday in a letter to the
speaker of the Illinois House.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Tue, 29 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) |
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Copyright: | 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
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(13) HEMP GROWERS RELUCTANT TO ABANDON THEIR DREAM (Top) |
DAUPHIN, Man. -- The old curling rink in the middle of the community is
empty. Its doors are locked.
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Down the street, an odd-looking German forage harvester sits in the
shadow of a farm supply centre, waiting for the finance company that
now owns it to take it away.
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[snip]
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"We're waiting to see," said Nicholson. "You can't expect a business to
continue to put out substantial sums of money on what-ifs."
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Nicholson said company officials have indicated they are prepared to
start work on the temporary plant within four weeks of a green light
for hemp seed imports from the American government.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Thu, 24 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Western Producer (CN SN) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Western Producer |
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Address: | Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7K 2C4 |
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Author: | Roberta Rampton, Winnipeg bureau |
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COMMENT: (14-15) (Top) |
As a prelude to the Placer Co trial of Steve & Michele Kubby opening
this week, the Redding Record-Searchlight has been covering several
other medical cannabis trials. One of the strangest verdicts
imaginable emerged last week.
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Clearly, the same craven ambivalence exhibited by the jury also
affects the state's medical community.
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(14) CA: PAIR GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY (Top) |
Mother, Son Cleared Of Other Pot Charges
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In verdicts that raise more questions about medicinal marijuana law, a
Shasta County jury Tuesday acquitted a Redding mother and son of
growing marijuana and the son of possessing pot for sale, but found
both guilty of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana.
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[snip]
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The mother and son face up to three years in prison if the verdicts
stand.
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It was the second time since December that a Shasta County jury has
acquitted a medicinal marijuana patient of growing marijuana for sale.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Tue, 22 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Redding Record Searchlight (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Redding Record Searchlight - E.W. Scripps |
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Address: | PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 |
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(15) CA: MOST DOCTORS RELUCTANT TO RECOMMEND MARIJUANA (Top) |
Conflicting state and federal laws about marijuana, a lack of clinical
research on the drug and threats to their livelihoods make most doctors
unwilling to recommend its medical use.
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Dr. Tod Mikuriya of Berkeley, who signed the doctor's note approving
marijuana use for Redding's Richard Levin, is one exception. He said he
has been investigated by the California Medical Board for years; and
although he's never been criminally charged, he fears prosecution.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Redding Record Searchlight (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Redding Record Searchlight - E.W. Scripps |
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Address: | PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 |
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Author: | Kimberly Bolander |
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Note: | Reporter Kimberly Bolander, |
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COMMENT: (16) (Top) |
On the recreational front; the following demonstrates both the
futility of "narcotics control" and how it's become such lucrative
make-work for law enforcement.
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(16) POT FARMS INVADE NATIONAL PARKS (Top) |
SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. - They were spotted from the
air, as conspicuous as sharks in a school of guppies: Three plots of
land, seemingly stripped of the towering oaks and manzanitas that
shroud this patch of Southern California forest. These were not
natural formations. They were entirely man-made - and entirely illegal.
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[snip]
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As money and manpower continue to flow to the Southwest border to stop
illegal drugs coming into this country, traffickers - many employed by
drug gangs - are producing vast quantities of marijuana right here in
the United States, on land owned by the federal government.
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The reasons are obvious: the land is fertile, remote and free. There's
no risk of forfeiture, plantations are difficult to trace, and growers
have land agents out manned, outspent and outgunned.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Daily Herald (IL) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Daily Herald Company |
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International News
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COMMENT: (17-18) (Top) |
A disturbing report from Australia underscores another aspect of
prohibition: the drug being demonized is often not even the drug being
used.
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RCMP enthusiasm for the DEA's latest toy happened to coincide with UN
(read US) pressure for Canada to get tougher on drug law enforcement.
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(17) AUSTRALIA: $5 M ECSTASY SCAM (Top) |
VICTORIANS are spending up to $5 million every weekend on ecstasy
tablets laced with heroin, speed, cocaine and horse
tranquillisers.Police say drug manufacturers are putting "whatever they
can get their hands on" into the pills and selling them as ecstasy.
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Forensic tests have shown up to 98 per cent of "ecstasy" being seized
by police does not even contain the ecstasy drug MDMA.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 26 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Herald Sun (Australia) |
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Copyright: | News Limited 2000 |
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(18) RCMP WANT NUDE-CAM FOR TORONTO'S AIRPORT (Top) |
TORONTO -- The RCMP are asking to test a controversial X-ray machine
that strips the clothes off travellers in their fight against drug
smuggling at Toronto's Pearson airport.
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The hi-tech device allows Customs and airport cops to "see through"
the clothes of suspects to reveal if drugs or weapons are hidden
underneath. The Rapiscan Secure 1000 system, which is banned by Health
Canada, is so sensitive it can show a woman's nipples and an outline
of her underwear.
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Some U.S. critics say ogling operators can violate a person's privacy.
But the Rapiscan, which uses X-rays to display concealed objects, has
been used since last summer at six U.S. airports and two in Britain.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Edmonton Sun (CN AB) |
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Copyright: | 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. |
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Address: | #250, 4990-92 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6B 3A1 Canada |
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COMMENT: (19-20) (Top) |
Two reports from the UK will heighten the already considerable tension
between the out-of-power majority which prefers a Dutch enforcement
model and those clinging to power along with their insistence on a
law-and-order American model.
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(19) UK: DRUG ABUSE DEATHS AMONG YOUNG MEN DOUBLE IN 4 YEARS (Top) |
Drug abuse deaths among men have doubled in four years, with heroin and
cocaine blamed for the rise, according to figures published yesterday.
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[snip]
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However Keith Hellawell, anti-drugs co-ordinator, said yesterday that
the true number of drug deaths could be far higher. He said: "For some
time, we have acknowledged that the reported number of drug-related
deaths is not a true reflection of the actual number. All deaths from
drugs misuse are tragic and the Government's anti-drugs strategy was
drawn up specifically to tackle the misuse of illegal drugs."
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 25 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Daily Telegraph (UK) |
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Copyright: | Telegraph Group Limited 2000 |
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(20) SCOTLAND: ROW OVER 'BENIGN' DRUG USE REPORT (Top) |
A new survey which claims to show that most drug-taking among young
people is "benign" has provoked fresh debate on how Scotland should
lead the fight against drugs.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Sunday Herald (UK) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Sunday Herald |
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Address: | 195 Albion Street, Glasgow, G1 1QP |
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Author: | Sarah-Kate Templeton, |
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COMMENT: (21-22) (Top) |
A report in the Dallas Morning News suggests that the US will make use
of mercenaries to disguise the extent its nationals are engaged in
Colombian combat; nothing new here.
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A penetrating analysis from the International herald Tribune pinpoints
exactly why McCzar's Colombian adventure is a chimera.
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(21) COLOMBIA: CONTRACTORS PLAYING INCREASING ROLE IN U.S. DRUG WAR (Top) |
BOGOTA, Colombia - Alex B. Pinero's resume reads like that of a man
looking for a lot of action and maybe even a little trouble.
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A former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, Mr. Pinero has served
in three combat theaters, speaks three languages and specializes in
field medicine, intelligence-gathering and psychological operations.
"I am also well-acquainted with and can operate in virtually any
hostile (geographic, literal or temporal) environment," his resume
boasts.
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Mr. Pinero is working in Colombia on a noncombat, private contract
with the U.S. government. Because he is a contract employee, he said,
the government would bear no responsibility should he run into trouble
while helping wage a rapidly escalating U.S. war on drugs in a land
where more than 20,000 leftist guerrillas are gunning for people like
him every day.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 27 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | Dallas Morning News (TX) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Dallas Morning News |
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Address: | P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265 |
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(22) ENTERING COLOMBIA'S CIVIL WAR WON'T SOLVE THE U.S. PROBLEM (Top) |
PARIS - The Clinton administration has put before Congress an
"emergency" $1.6 billion program to expand military assistance to the
Colombian army and security forces fighting both an insurrection and
the drug trade.
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[snip]
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The drug trade responds to U.S. demand. Colombia's production and
exports are merely a sideline in an indigenous political and social
struggle whose causes have nothing to do with drugs, and for which the
United States has no answers.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Mon, 21 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | International Herald-Tribune |
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Copyright: | International Herald Tribune 2000 |
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Author: | William Pfaff, International Herald Tribune Los Angeles Times |
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Syndicate
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COMMENT: (23) (Top) |
Just as the skids are being greased for quick US approval of Mexico's
"cooperation," in the drug war comes an ugly reminder of reality.
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(23) MEXICO: TIJUANA OFFICIAL SAYS SLAYING SHOWS TRAFFICKERS' POWER (Top) |
MEXICO CITY, Feb. 28 - A day after gunmen killed the police chief in
Tijuana, the sprawling city that borders California, the state governor
said drug traffickers were out of control there partly because many
federal authorities were in their pay.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Tue, 29 Feb 2000 |
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Source: | New York Times (NY) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The New York Times Company |
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Address: | 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 |
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top)
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Great Web Site for Contacting Congress
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Below is a wonderful nationwide tool. "Contacting the Congress !!"
just click on a state on the map, and do it!
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http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
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Thanks to Ken Brown for the heads up.
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DPF Conference Deadlines Nearing
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The 13th International Conference on Drug Policy Reform is taking place
May 17-20 in Washington, DC. The deadline for paper and panel abstracts
has passed. It was Monday, February 28. The deadline for scholarship
requests is Monday, April 3. Submissions can either be e-mailed to
or faxed to (202) 537-3007.
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If you would like more information on the conference or need the
abstract submission form, please visit http://www.dpf.org/
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NetZero Offers FREE Internet access
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Drug policy reformers are notoriously under funded. We came across the
website below that offers FREE Internet access. http://www.netzero.com/
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This can be a great way to save about $250 a year if you are willing to
put up with a few small banner ads which is how NetZero pays for this
service. According to ZDTV this is among the best and most reliable
services offering free web access but there are many such as
http://www.Altavista.com/ and
http://www.lycos.com/
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Web access will become an ever increasing necessity for drug policy
activists. Don't let monthly cost concerns dissuade anyone from getting
active on this important medium.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top)
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"Enslave the liberty of one human being and the liberties of the world
are put in peril." - William Lloyd Garrison
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DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers
our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can
do for you.
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http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
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News/COMMENTS-Editor: | Tom O'Connell () |
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Senior-Editor: | Mark Greer () |
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writing activists.
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