September 29, 2000 #168 |
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- * Breaking News (12/21/24)
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- * Feature Article
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The Coalition for Jubilee Clemency
- * Weekly News in Review
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Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Editorial: Pacifists in The War on Drugs
(2) Campbell Campaign in Search of a Spark
(3) OPED: Drug Treatment is Better Than Prison
COMMENT: (4-6)
(4) Heroin Boom Takes in Suburbs, Small Towns
(5) Homeless Making Drug Runs
(6) Anti-Drug Operation to be Based in El Paso
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (7-9)
(7) TX: Vigil Protests Jailings
(8) Column: How Our Dollars Are Spent In Court
(9) Border D.A.'s Threaten To Quit
COMMENT: (10-14)
(10) OPED: Can The LAPD Reform Itself?
(11) Four Oakland Officers Investigated
(12) OPED: Invasion of SWAT Teams Leaves Trauma and Death
(13) CA: Questions prompted by police shooting
(14) GA: Fulton Woman Slain During Drug Raid
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (15-17)
(15) CA: Massive Pot Farm in Hills Discovered
(16) KY Pot Growers Lacing VA Lands
(17) State Patrol on Prowl For Marijuana Harvesters
COMMENT: (18-19)
(18) Editorial: Reefer Madness
(19) Judge Amends Bail to OK Marijuana Use
International News-
COMMENT: (20)
(20) The Street Value of Canadian Journalism About the War on Drugs
COMMENT: (21-24)
(21) Colombia: Battle Brews Over Plan Colombia
(22) Peru: Adios, Alberto!
(23) Peru: Guilty Until Proven Useful
(24) US Says Asylum in Panama Helped Avert a Coup in Peru
- * Hot Off The 'Net
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Journey for Justice Texas
Topical Shortcut to Journey for Justice News Articles
HELP WANTED TLC-DPF Legislative Director
- * This Just In
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L.A. Confidential
- * DrugSense Volunteer of the Month
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- * Quote of the Week
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Dan Gardner
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top)
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The Coalition for Jubilee Clemency
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FAITH LEADERS have been asked to sign the important letter to President
Clinton below. This is truly a coalition of many faith-based
organizations. It can be reviewed and you can help distribute this
letter to religious leaders at:
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http://www.cjpf.org/clemency/
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Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW Washington, DC 20500
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Dear Mr. President:
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As faith leaders who cherish Divine justice and mercy for all persons,
we ask you to grant clemency to and to release on supervised parole
those Federal prisoners who have served at least five years for
low-level, nonviolent involvement in drug cases (as defined by the U.S.
Department of Justice). Mr. President, scores of Americans are serving
unconscionably long sentences for drug offenses -- in some cases twenty
years or more -- which are grossly out of proportion to the nature and
severity of their crimes. These unduly severe sentences violate human
rights and waste scarce criminal justice resources. The continued
incarceration of such offenders does not serve any meaningful purpose.
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The constitutional power to grant reprieves and pardons is a unique and
powerful tool to express the public's merciful spirit. As you know, the
public has a strong desire for justice and for forgiveness. By
exercising your executive power to forgive these men and women you help
heal the devastating effects of race and class disparities in our
criminal justice system. Commuting the sentences of low-level,
nonviolent drug offenders will begin to restore much-needed public
confidence in our criminal justice system.
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Many of these offenders are parents. Their children are being hurt by
these separations. Their children and their communities need them home.
Clemency is the last hope for justice for many of these offenders, as
many have exhausted all appeal options available to them. Mr.
President, only you have the power to return these men and women to
their families, and to let them become peaceful, productive citizens.
We hope, trust, and pray that you will.
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Sincerely,
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) |
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (1-3) (Top) |
An editorial writer for a New England regional newspaper took
(accurate) inventory of political gains made by the nascent drug
reform movement.
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Sadly, Tom Campbell's campaign- which had been hoped would bring drug
issues to the fore, can't seem to get untracked; witness this article
in his home town paper.
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Also in California, little attention is being paid to Proposition 36
except on editorial pages; at least the Union-Tribune gave Dave
Fratello an opportunity to rebut the untruths told recently by the
opposition.
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(1) EDITORIAL: PACIFISTS IN THE WAR ON DRUGS (Top) |
It was the largest crowd Senate candidate Carla Howell has addressed
since launching her campaign against Ted Kennedy, and it had the most
interesting hair and the most excessive tattoos. It's hard to tell how
many of the 40,000 gathered on Boston Common Saturday are registered to
vote, but there was no doubt about their enthusiasm for Howell's pledge
to end the war on drugs.
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[snip]
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Is the tide turning against drug prohibition? Perhaps. "Since Jan. 1,
we've had more victories for drug-prevention reform than the past 20
years," Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation
told The New York Times last week.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 20 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | MetroWest Daily News (MA) |
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Copyright: | 1999, Community Newspaper Company |
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Author: | Rick Holmes, news opinion page editor |
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(2) CAMPBELL CAMPAIGN IN SEARCH OF A SPARK (Top) |
Feinstein Not Helping, Declines Drug Debate
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Hurting in his efforts to grab voter and media attention, U.S. Senate
candidate Tom Campbell on Tuesday challenged incumbent Sen. Dianne
Feinstein to join him on his first statewide radio program Sunday
evening to debate federal drug policy, an issue he's made a major
thrust of his campaign.
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Feinstein, far ahead in the polls and spending most of her time in
Washington while the Senate is in session, swiftly rejected the
proposal, promising to debate Campbell after the Senate adjourns.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 20 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | San Jose Mercury News (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 San Jose Mercury News |
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(3) OPED: DRUG TREATMENT IS BETTER THAN PRISON (Top) |
In the hit movie "The Sixth Sense," the boy played by Haley Joel Osment
explains what he's learned about the ghosts he sees: "They don't know
they're dead. They only see what they want to see." The ghosts go on
haunting the living, unaware of how much they're scaring people.
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Something similar could be said of many opponents of Proposition 36.
Maybe they don't know they're wrong about Proposition 36, because they
only see what they want to see when they read it.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 17 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Age, The (Australia) |
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Copyright: | 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd |
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COMMENT: (4-6) (Top) |
As for the drug war itself, there was- as usual- abundant evidence of
its continuing failure. Also as usual, the drug czar had responses;
some of which- as usual- don't make much sense.
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(4) HEROIN BOOM TAKES IN SUBURBS, SMALL TOWNS (Top) |
Drug's Cleaner Image Pushes Its Popularity
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Four years ago, Kathryn Logan was 15 and a
straight-A student at a suburban high school.
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Now, at 19, she's at a California treatment center trying to piece
together a life shattered by drugs, especially heroin.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 22 Sep 2000 |
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Copyright: | 2000 Cable News Network, Inc. |
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(5) HOMELESS MAKING DRUG RUNS (Top) |
Mexican Cartels Using Desperate People As Couriers To Cross Border
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SAN DIEGO -(AP)- Philip Ginder was living on the streets and in
homeless shelters when he met a recruiter with a tempting offer.
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"He said, 'You want to make some money running drugs across the
border?' and I jumped at it," Ginder, 41, recalled. "Now, I wish I
hadn't done it."
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U.S. Customs Service agents arrested him with nearly 226 pounds of
marijuana as he returned to San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico, in a stolen
2000 Ford Expedition last month. The Iowa native, who said he has been
homeless since he was 16, faces Þfive years in prison.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 24 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | San Jose Mercury News (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 San Jose Mercury News |
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(6) ANTI-DRUG OPERATION TO BE BASED IN EL PASO (Top) |
El Paso will soon be home to the headquarters for a $46 million effort
to bring federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies together to
fight drug trafficking on the border, federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey
said Thursday.
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The headquarters of the Southwest Border High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Areas program, now based in San Diego, will be moved to El
Paso at an unspecified date.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 22 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | El Paso Times (TX) |
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Copyright: | 2000 El Paso Times |
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (7-9) (Top) |
The Presidential campaign has shed some light- at least tangentially-
on the harsh Texas prison system. This past week, a protest march of
drug reformers tried to add to that exposure.
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Thom Marshall, widely read Houston columnist, aided the effort with a
wry column on how much public money the drug war spends prosecuting
poor people- even as an AP news item suggested that the feds manage to
shift that burden to communities least able to afford it.
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(7) TX: VIGIL PROTESTS JAILINGS (Top) |
A handful of demonstrators from across the nation gathered Sunday
afternoon for a vigil at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan to protest
the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.
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[snip]
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Organizers of Journey for Justice said their goal is to stop the drug
war, in turn ending the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug users.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Mon, 25 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Bryan-College Station Eagle (TX) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Bryan-College Station Eagle |
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Author: | Holly Huffman, Eagle Staff Writer |
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(8) COLUMN: HOW OUR DOLLARS ARE SPENT IN COURT (Top) |
Waiting for the jury to return a verdict, I started wondering how many
thousands of bucks we'd spent in that courtroom that day, and trying to
figure out just what we are getting for the money.
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[snip]
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What a production over half of a $10 crack buy. Seven pre-trial trips
to court. So much time invested by so many officials of our criminal
justice system. So much money spent prosecuting a person who so
obviously needs help.
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The drug war turns courtroom drama into theater of the
absurd.
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Pubdate: | Fri, 22 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Houston Chronicle (TX) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Houston Chronicle |
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(9) BORDER D.A.'S THREATEN TO QUIT (Top) |
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) -- Almost three months after Congress set aside
$12 million for local district attorneys stuck with hand-me-down
federal drug cases, frustrated prosecutors are still waiting for the
money.
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The money was supposed to ease the financial crisis facing some local
courts along the U.S.-Mexico border with multimillion-dollar tabs for
prosecuting the federal cases.
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But disagreement flared over how counties could spend the emergency
cash, and thus not a single district attorney from Brownsville to San
Diego has received a penny.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 20 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Star Tribune |
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Author: | Megan K. Stack, Associated Press Writer |
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COMMENT: (10-14) (Top) |
In California, with the nation's second largest prison system; LA was
just forced by the Rampart scandal to sign a consent decree. Sadly, the
OP-Ed only hints at the real question: is it possible to have both drug
law enforcement and meaningful Constitutional guarantees at the same
time?
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That question was reinforced by hints of a fresh police scandal in
Oakland and a spate of police shootings of civilians in California and
elsewhere.
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(10) OPED: CAN THE LAPD REFORM ITSELF? (Top) |
The City Council Has Agreed To A Consent Decree, And Parks Says He'll
Implement Reforms. But The Department's Paramilitary Culture Stands In
The Way.
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Mayor Richard Riordan and the police chief he hired, Bernard C. Parks,
have finally accepted the inevitable and agreed to reforms that aim to
rid the Los Angeles Police Department of corruption and lawlessness. To
accomplish that, the City Council last week voted, 10-2, to enter into
a consent degree with the U.S. Justice Department that spells out the
changes the LAPD will have to make. Big questions remain, however.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 24 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Los Angeles Times |
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(11) FOUR OAKLAND OFFICERS INVESTIGATED (Top) |
CORRUPTION ALLEGED IN NARCOTICS ARRESTS
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Allegations of police misconduct include planting evidence, falsifying
reports, excessive force and giving informants drugs; a rookie cop
reported suspicions about his colleagues in July.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | San Jose Mercury News (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 San Jose Mercury News |
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(12) OPED: INVASION OF SWAT TEAMS LEAVES TRAUMA AND DEATH (Top) |
Alberto Sepulveda is no Elian Gonzalez. When 11-year-old Sepulveda was
shot and killed last week by a SWAT team member during an early morning
drug raid on his parents' Modesto home, the story barely made the
papers. Yet, as did the Immigration and Naturalization Service raid on
the Gonzalez home in Miami in May, the killing of Alberto Sepulveda
highlights a troubling trend in law enforcement: stealth raids on the
homes of sleeping citizens by heavily armed government agents.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 22 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Los Angeles Times |
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Author: | Sharon Dolovich, Acting Professor at UCLA School of Law |
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(13) CA: QUESTIONS PROMPTED BY POLICE SHOOTING (Top) |
Two Undercover Officers Fired At An SUV After They Thought Someone
Tried To Shoot Them
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An undercover operation had gone sour for Anaheim police masquerading
as street toughs while following a drug investigation into a Fullerton
neighborhood.
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[snip]
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Only later did they learn that the gunmen who fired at least seven
bullets at them were police officers.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 24 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Orange County Register (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Orange County Register |
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(14) GA: FULTON WOMAN SLAIN DURING DRUG RAID (Top) |
Officers Open Fire After Victim Grabbed Gun As They Burst Into Bedroom
Of Her Riverdale Home.
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Fulton County police shot and killed a woman in her bed Friday morning
during a drug raid.
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Lynette Gayle Jackson, 29, of Riverdale was shot after she pointed a
gun at SWAT team officers when they yelled "Police" and entered her
bedroom, said Fulton police Maj. Wenda Phifer. The officers were not
injured and police would not say if Jackson fired her gun.
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Jackson's home had been broken into less than a month ago when she was
home.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Cox Interactive Media. |
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Contact: | Journal: Constitution: |
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (15-17) (Top) |
It's harvest time; illegal growers and police are busy harvesting
cannabis from sites ranging from carefully hidden plots a few miles
from San Francisco to feral ditchweed on Nebraska prairies.
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Both are working for their own green reward; in the case of police,
most of the dollars enter their budget directly from taxpayers.
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(15) CA: MASSIVE POT FARM IN HILLS DISCOVERED (Top) |
From 100 feet in the air, it's just another steep hillside covered with
madrone, manzanita and cedar.
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But if the sun is right, you can just barely see the thousands of
emerald green marijuana stalks lurking underneath the canopy.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | San Francisco Examiner (CA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 San Francisco Examiner |
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Author: | Jim Herron Zamora |
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(16) KY POT GROWERS LACING VA LANDS (Top) |
Crackdown Scoots Drug Over State Line
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Kentucky marijuana growers, whose billion-dollar business is under
intense assault by the U.S. government, are pushing east into Virginia
to avoid federal detection, sowing abandoned strip mines and national
forest land with pot, according to drug authorities in Southwest
Virginia.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Mon, 25 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Richmond Newspapers Inc. |
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(17) STATE PATROL ON PROWL FOR MARIJUANA HARVESTERS (Top) |
It's harvest time in Nebraska.
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Forget the combine, put away the tractor, bypass the grain elevator and
pull out the biggest garbage bag around.
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Because this plant - ill-tended, uncultivated and illegal - is the
other Nebraska crop.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 24 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Lincoln Journal Star (NE) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Lincoln Journal Star |
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COMMENT: (18-19) (Top) |
Other cannabis items were more encouraging; an editorial in the Boston
Phoenix rephrased a recurrent question using familiar political
examples, while a judge in Maine displayed a deference to voter intent
which is unique (at least to my knowledge).
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(18) EDITORIAL: REEFER MADNESS (Top) |
Our laws against smoking marijuana don't make any sense
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Vice-President Al Gore was something of a pothead during his college
and Vietnam days. Former US senator Bill Bradley smoked the devil's
weed when he was a professional basketball player. New Mexico governor
Gary Johnson has not only smoked pot, but also called for its
legalization. And Vermont governor Howard Dean toked up as a teenager.
If all these upstanding citizens manage to combine pot smoking with
responsible lives, then why are we still putting people in jail for
smoking marijuana?
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Let's face it: a lot of people smoke pot. They do so regularly. And
despite what you'll hear in a grade-school DARE lecture, pot doesn't
have the addictive and destructive qualities of cocaine and heroin. Nor
does it act as a "gateway" to these other, more devastating drugs. But
then, you probably already knew that. Marijuana, after all, is the
third-most-popular recreational drug in this country, following tobacco
and alcohol. Chances are you've toked up once or twice yourself.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | 21-28 September 2000 |
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Source: | Boston Phoenix (MA) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group. |
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Note: | LTEs requested at bottom |
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(19) JUDGE AMENDS BAIL TO OK MARIJUANA USE (Top) |
FARMINGTON - A judge has amended bail conditions for a New Vineyard man
charged with growing marijuana to allow him to continue to use it for
medical reasons.
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District Judge Robert E. Mullen's decision, likely the first in which a
judge has amended bail rules to allow medicinal use of marijuana,
stipulates that Leonard Ellis, 62, must comply with Maine's new law.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Portland Press Herald (ME) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. |
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International News
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COMMENT: (20) (Top) |
Canadian Journalist Dan Gardner followed up on his landmark series on
the drug war with an incisive analysis of his own profession's
culpability in allowing it to become such a dominating global folly.
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(20) THE STREET VALUE OF CANADIAN JOURNALISM ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS (Top) |
After working for five months in four countries preparing a series on
illegal drugs, I think I'm entitled to a little self-indulgence. So
bear with this journalist while he writes about journalism --
specifically, the media's role in the insanity of drug prohibition.
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It's a long and sorry record. Prohibition laws owe their very genesis
to "drug scares" fomented by the media. Maclean's, for one, ran the
racist screeds of Emily Murphy that led directly to legislation in the
1920s.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Ottawa Citizen |
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COMMENT: (21-24) (Top) |
Plan Colombia continued to attract attention, although less than in
previous weeks; a Washington Post report retailed what we might expect
in the near future.
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Neighboring Peru, which historically has always played a key role in
coca production, stole the lion's share of attention when newly
reelected Alberto Fujimori suddenly yielded to mounting pressure and
announced his intention to hold new elections in which he wouldn't be
a candidate.
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Sticky residual questions: does he really mean it? If so, when? In the
meantime, it appears that Panama, after some discrete arm-twisting,
will grant asylum to Vlademiro Montesinos, Fujimori's shadowy security
chief and sometime McCzar buddy.
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(21) COLOMBIA: BATTLE BREWS OVER PLAN COLOMBIA (Top) |
PUERTO ASIS, Colombia - Violence is not new to Puerto Asis, a town of
45,000 where rightist paramilitary groups and left-wing guerrillas
fight for control of the surrounding drug-growing area. But fear and
uncertainty grip the city these days as the Colombian government, with
$1.3 billion in U.S. funding, prepares an offensive to reestablish
government control and wipe out the drug-producing plantations here in
province of Putumayo.
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[snip]
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President Andres Pastrana's government has portrayed Plan Colombia as a
strategy for peace that will include social and economic programs for
small farmers so they can turn away from growing coca. But in Puerto
Asis, people have heard only of plans to beef up the military, and they
expect police to start spraying chemicals on their fields, their
livestock and on them, too.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Wed, 20 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Washington Post (DC) |
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Copyright: | 2000 The Washington Post Company |
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Author: | Steven Dudley, Special to The Washington Post |
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(22) PERU: ADIOS, ALBERTO! (Top) |
In The Wake Of A Bribery Scandal Involving His Closest Aide, Peru's
President Calls For New Elections And Says He Will Step Down. But Will
He Keep His Word?
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Sept. 19, 2000 - LIMA, Peru - Citizens immediately took to the streets
in celebration after Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's surprise
announcement Saturday night that he would step down "as soon as
possible" and call new elections. Fujimori's decision shocked the
nation, left even detractors scratching their heads and raised new
questions about the future of Peru's relations with the United States
and its role in the war on drugs.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Sun, 17 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Age, The (Australia) |
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Copyright: | 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd |
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(23) PERU: GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN USEFUL (Top) |
Peruvian President Fujimori's Desire For Legitimacy - And The Promise
Of U.S. Drug War Money - Has Helped Prompt A Retrial For Convicted
American Terrorist Lori Berenson
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[snip]
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Peru has in long been central to the plans of drug czar Barry
McCaffrey. In 1998, McCaffrey warmly praised Peru's shadowy secret
police chief Vladimir Montesinos, only to back away from Montesinos
after human rights advocates pointed out his role in the imprisonment
of at least 1,500 innocent individuals under Draconian anti-terrorism
laws. But last year the McCaffrey-Montesinos relationship was
rehabilitated, with the drug czar praising Montesinos during a visit to
Lima. Suddenly, the incarceration of a young American woman under
dubious circumstances is an obstacle to full enlistment of Peru in the
increasingly militarized drug war.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Fri, 15 Sep 2000 |
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Source: | Salon.com (US Web) |
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Copyright: | 2000 Salon.com |
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(24) US SAYS ASYLUM IN PANAMA HELPED AVERT A COUP IN PERU (Top) |
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 American officials today defended their role in
pressing Panama to give refuge to the ousted intelligence chief of
Peru, asserting that his departure was necessary to avoid a coup by
officers loyal to him.
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[snip]
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Pubdate: | Tue, 26 Sep 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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Author: | Christopher Marquis |
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top)
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Journey for Justice
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An excellent overview of the J4J Texas events by Kevin Zeese have been
posted on the Common Sense for Drug Policy web page at:
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http://www.csdp.org/j4jtexas/
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Critics of the Drug War from Texas will be joined by people from around
the country for a week long march to call for a cease-fire in the Drug
War. According to an August, 2000 Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice
Statistics report, Texas now leads the nation in imprisoning its
citizens. The Journey will make presidential style whistlestops,
beginning in Houston en-route to the Capitol in Austin.
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The roving caravan is a moving theatre. Costumed "prisoners" and
"police" dramatize the abuses by guards and law enforcement as a
patient in a wheelchair rides in a moving prison cell. The caravan
becomes a visually stirring portrayal of the issues affecting American
families. The Journey will highlight the following three critical
aspects of the Drug War:
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1.The overwhelming incarceration rate of nonviolent people.
2.Police and prison guard abuses in the name of the drug war.
3.The need for medical marijuana for the ill.
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See Also:
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http://www.JourneyForJustice.org/
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http://www.dpft.org/txj4jj.html
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MAP has archived the various news coverage of the J4J events at:
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http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm
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HELP WANTED TLC-DPF Legislative Director
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Preeminent national nonprofit drug policy reform organization focusing
on public health, education and civil liberties seeks a senior-level
policy person for its Washington, DC office to implement organizational
policy priorities, monitor Hill activity, prepare testimony and policy
papers, coordinate legislative coalition & speak to public and media.
Experience in legislative advocacy preferred. Excellent communication
skills and knowledge of public health or criminal justice issues.
Competitive salary & benefits. Send a cover letter and resume to:
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The Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation
925 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
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THIS JUST IN (Top) |
A New DrugNews Digest Feature Designed to Keep You Aware of Breaking News
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L.A. Confidential
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Not even in the MAP archive at this writing, a major story is breaking
from Salon.com
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A former LAPD detective says Chief Bernard Parks had evidence of the
scandal a year before it was revealed, but kept it from the district
attorney -- and the public.
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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/09/27/rampart/
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DRUGSENSE VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH (Top) |
Alan and Eleanor Randell
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This month we recognize Alan and Eleanor Randell.
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Alan and Eleanor Randell are one of the many teams who have learned in a
very personal way that our drug war is not 'saving the children'. One of
their healing methods is to speak out against the drug war by writing
letters to the editor's of many newspapers in hopes that their fellow
citizens will understand the fallacies of our failed drug policies.
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We asked them a few questions:
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1. When and why did you become involved in the drug policy area?
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In feb/93 when our youngest son, Peter, died as a result of ingesting
street heroin.
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2. How did you get into writing Letters to the Editor?
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I became convinced that this was the most effective way to distribute my
message to many people.
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3. What do you consider the most significant story/issue of the past
months?
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Dan Gardner's series in the Ottawa Citizen.
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4. What are your favorite websites, besides the MAP/DrugSense sites?
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Newspapers, Libertarianism.
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5. Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers of the
weekly?
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The tide is turning.
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A sampling of the Randell's letters can be found at:
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http://www.mapinc.org/author/Alan+Randell
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The Randell's were profiled in Dan Gardner "Losing the War on Drugs"
series:
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http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1355/a06.html
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top)
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"A seized field of marijuana, say, will have a 'street value' of
$200,000 because that's what you might get if you harvested, processed,
shipped, and sold the marijuana in small portions. It's like saying a
pond in Northern Ontario is worth $1 million because that's how much it
could be worth if it were bottled, shipped and sold at Lollapalooza."
-- Dan Gardner, Ottawa Citizen
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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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TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
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Please utilize the following URLs
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http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
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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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We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing activists.
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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.
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Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk
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See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings.
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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
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Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to:
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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/
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