October 6, 2000 #169 |
|
|
- * Breaking News (12/21/24)
-
- * Feature Article
-
Nations Drug Deaths DO NOT Exceed Murders as Congressman Mica Claims
by Doug McVay, Projects Coordinator - Common Sense for Drug Policy
- * Weekly News in Review
-
Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (1-4)
(1) Column: Jim Crow, The Sequel
(2) The Dirty Little Secret of the Dot-Com World
(3) Drug Tests are Multiple Choice at Tech Firms
(4) Controversial Group Tests for Lethal Copycat Drugs
COMMENT: (5)
(5) Editorial: Resist Insidious Searches
COMMENT: (6-7)
(6) A Government for the Military-Industrial Complex
(7) War on Drugs Needs to Start at Home
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (8-10)
(8) ACLU: Tulia Bust Racially Motivated
(9) Drug Sting Raises Issue of Credibility
(10) Texas Border DAs to Slam the Door on Federal Cases
COMMENT: (11-12)
(11) Family Says Man Didn't Understand Police Orders
(12) Column: A Complex Question in a Tangled Case
COMMENT: (13)
(13) Crack Sweep Ends in 480 Arrests
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (14)
(14) Gore Blowing Smoke about Marijuana
COMMENT: (15-19)
(15) Swiss Cabinet Aims to Legalise Pot Smoking
(16) Alaskans Push Pot on Ballot
(17) Medicinal Pot Issue Draws Few Supporters
(18) Medical Pot Crop a First
(19) The Dope on the West Coast's Pot Culture
International News-
COMMENT: (20)
(20) Australia: Dancing With Death
COMMENT: (21-24)
(21) Bolivian Tension Mounts As Roadblock Talks Continue
(22) Brazil Fears Fallout Of Drug Crackdown
(23) Influx Burdens Venezuela
(24) Panama: Colombia's Neighbors Wait In Fear
- * Hot Off The 'Net
-
Frontline: Drug Wars
Drug War Facts Updated
- * This Just In
-
US CA: One Bad Cop
Canada: Ottawa Won't Appeal Ruling Striking Down Marijuana Laws
- * Quote of the Week
-
Mark Twain
|
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) |
Nations Drug Deaths DO NOT Exceed Murders as Congressman Mica Claims
by Doug McVay, Projects Coordinator - Common Sense for Drug Policy,
http://www.csdp.org/
|
The latest spin from Chairman Mica:
|
http://www.house.gov/reform/cj/pressrelease.htm
|
SEPTEMBER 22, 2000
|
Nations Drug Deaths Now Exceed Murders
|
WASHINGTON, DC - - At a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives,
John L. Mica, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug
Policy and Human Resources, disclosed an alarming report showing that
in 1998 drug deaths exceeded the number of murders for the first time
in US history.
|
"Over the past weeks, Administration officials have attempted to put a
happy face on an increasingly sad situation. From 1992 to 1998, drug
deaths have increased an astounding 45% in this country. This is a
startling statistic and a national tragedy. Unfortunately, law
enforcement officials have told me that the death statistic for drug
deaths would be worse if it were not for improvements in emergency room
treatments of overdoses. Our hospitals and treatment facilities are being
deluged with record numbers of drug overdose admissions," Mica said.
|
Recent figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
show that drug induced deaths soared to a record 16,926 people in 1998.
The murder rate, as reported by the FBI, is 16,914. Mica further
commented, "Considering the fact that nearly half the murders are
drug related, we have a national catastrophe that is being ignored."
|
[snip]
|
|
McVay's Rebuttal:
|
Not even close, Congressman (well, unless one is intelligent and
progressive enough to include alcohol when one uses that word 'drug').
According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 1998 -- the year in
which the Congressman said the FBI estimated there were 16,914 deaths
-- this is how the circumstances of those homicides break down:
|
Circumstances --
|
Felony Type Total: 2,491
Robbery: 1,232
Narcotic Drug Laws: 679
|
Brawl due to influence of narcotics: 116
Brawl due to influence of alcohol: 206
Argument over money or property: 240
Other arguments: 4,080
Gangland killings: 70
Juvenile gang killings: 627
Unknown: 4,358
|
(note: This data is based on 14,088 homicides for which supplemental
data were provided).
|
Source: | FBI, Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in America 1998 (Washington, |
---|
DC: US Dept. of Justice, 1999), p. 20, Table 2.13.
|
Now, for some perspective. According to the US Department of Justice's
Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Convicted murderers in State prisons
reported that alcohol was a factor in about half the murders they
committed." Source: Greenfield, Lawrence A., Bureau of Justice
Statistics, "Alcohol and Crime" (Washington, DC: US Department of
Justice, April 1998), p. 30, Figure 37.
|
and this:
|
Alcohol or drug use at time of offense of State and Federal prisoners,
by type of offense, 1997
|
Percent of prisoners who reported being under the influence at time of
offense
|
Violent offenses --
alcohol: 41.7% state, 24.5% federal.
drugs: 29.0% state, 24.5% federal
|
Murder --
alcohol: 44.6% state, 38.7% federal
drugs: 26.8% state, 29.4% federal
|
Drug Offenses --
alcohol: 27.4% state, 19.8% federal
drugs: 41.9% state, 25.0% federal
|
Source: | Mumola, Christopher J., Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Substance |
---|
Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoners, 1997" (Washington, DC:
US Dept. of Justice, January 1999), p. 3, Table 1.
|
|
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) |
Domestic News- Policy
|
COMMENT: (1-4) (Top) |
Arianna confirmed her uncanny ability to raise the searching and
timely questions her Washington based colleagues can't (or won't) ask.
|
Also noting a disparate attitude toward club drugs- although with a
different ax to grind- was a sensation mongering feature in the LA
Times. Its companion piece implied the reason drug testing is avoided
for tech workers is productivity- not race.
|
ABC News' 20/20 also took the sensational route with its segment on
DanceSafe. Why not ask the alternative question: what message does
persistence in our failed drug war send?
|
|
(1) COLUMN: JIM CROW, THE SEQUEL (Top) |
[snip]
|
Just as the effectiveness -- and sanity -- of mandatory minimums for
nonviolent drug offenses are being questioned nationwide, Congress, in
its superior wisdom, voted Wednesday (Sept. 27) to institute mandatory
minimums for possession of methamphetamine -- but specifically excluded
so-called "club drugs" such as Ecstasy (which, incidentally, is a
methamphetamine-based drug). Why the disparity? Could it be because
meth, like crack, is associated primarily with minority users, while
"X" is favored by middle- and upper-class white kids? Or should we be
on the lookout for a spike in all-night raves up on The Hill?
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Pubdate: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Sacramento Bee (CA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Sacramento Bee |
---|
Author: | Arianna Huffington |
---|
|
|
(2) THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET OF THE DOT-COM WORLD (Top) |
Drug Use Is Rampant In The High-Tech Work Force, Experts And Industry
Insiders Say. One Young Internet Star's Death Sheds Light On A Frenetic
Culture That Fuels The Problem.
|
At age 26, Aaron Bunnell was riding the fastest wave of the New Economy.
The son of a technology media baron, Bunnell propelled the fledgling Web
site Upside.com into a daily hot spot for Internet news, and pulled
all-nighters pumped with caffeine and uppers.
|
[snip]
|
Just 30 years ago, San Francisco also was the home of the nation's drug
culture--a mix of psychedelics and social change and dreams of a brave
new world. Today, the drug of choice is cocaine, and the movement's
hero is not the Grateful Dead or Timothy Leary, but the Gordon Gecko
character in the movie "Wall Street."
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | : Los Angeles Times |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Los Angeles Times |
---|
Author: | P. J. Huffstutter, Robin Fields, Times Staff Writers |
---|
|
|
(3) DRUG TESTS ARE MULTIPLE CHOICE AT TECH FIRMS (Top) |
Screening: | Inconsistent Policies Focus Mostly On Blue-collar Workers, |
---|
Rarely On 'idea People,' And Sometimes None Of The Above.
|
Despite signs of increasing drug use among technology's newly rich,
high-tech companies are adopting policies that require screenings for
blue-collar and out-of-town staff, but protect programmers and
executives in tight labor markets such as Silicon Valley.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Pubdate: Mon, 02 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Los Angeles Times |
---|
Author: | P. J. Huffstutter, Robin Fields, Times Staff Writers |
---|
|
|
(4) CONTROVERSIAL GROUP TESTS FOR LETHAL COPYCAT DRUGS (Top) |
http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/2020DOWNTOWN_001002_dancesafe_feature.html
|
By Rebecca Raphael
|
Oct. 2 Ecstasy is dangerous and illegal in its own right, but it's the
knockoffs of the popular drug that are garnering public attention and
raising concern. Amid reports last week that copycats of the drug are
responsible for at least nine deaths across the country since May,
DanceSafe, a nonprofit organization that tests pills for Ecstasy and
its often more dangerous copycats is in the spotlight.
|
[snip]
|
Source: | 20/20 Downtown (ABC News) |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (5) (Top) |
Many writers dealt with an upcoming Supreme Court docket laden with
Fourth Amendment issues; none with more clarity than Robyn Blumner,
who is an experienced ACLU lawyer in addition to an editorial writer.
|
|
(5) EDITORIAL: RESIST INSIDIOUS SEARCHES (Top) |
How does it happen? How does freedom get taken from a people for whom
it's a birthright without any fuss, without any outcry?
|
Only with the best of intentions.
|
[snip]
|
Our collective neglect has already contributed to a reality in which
police and other agencies of government have license to invade our
privacy in all manner of ways without a whit of justification.
|
And it can get worse. Without our vigilance, without our demanding
that justices who care about civil liberties be put on the bench, an
authoritarian nightmare will continue to be built on good intentions.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | St. Petersburg Times (FL) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 St. Petersburg Times |
---|
Section: | Perspective, page 1 |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (6-7) (Top) |
Two other items offer quite different perspectives on the drug war:
the first sees it as a cynical opportunity to sell arms.
|
In counterpoint, the latest Zogby poll, suggests that although McCzar
hasn't sold his budget very well, the public is taken in by his
moralizing.
|
Not to worry about the budget; Congress can always be counted on to
sign a check for more weapons.
|
|
(6) A GOVERNMENT FOR THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (Top) |
WASHINGTON - What's behind Washington's huge, expensive military
intervention to combat drugs in Colombia?
|
Last week, the actions of the House Republican leadership suggested one
possible answer: procurement. The Republican Congress, it appears,
wants to help American defense firms sell helicopters for use in
Colombia - and to obtain the prices they want for these copters.
|
[snip]
|
What we're witnessing now is something new. It's the emergence of a
narco-industrial complex - a proliferation of U.S. companies lining up,
with congressional support, to obtain public money for anti-drug
campaigns overseas.
|
Beware.
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Daily Camera (CO) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Daily Camera. |
---|
|
|
(7) WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS TO START AT HOME (Top) |
UTICA, N.Y. (Reuters/Zogby) - Most Americans see the nation's best hope
in winning the war on drugs coming from the family -- not from
increased law enforcement or special government legislative initiatives.
|
According to a Zogby American Values poll of 1,028 adults nationwide,
60.5% of Americans agree that better parenting and stronger families
are the best answers to curbing drug use. This poll has a margin of
error of 3.2%.
|
Pubdate: | Tue, 26 Sep 2000 |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Reuters Limited. |
---|
|
|
Law Enforcement & Prisons
|
COMMENT: (8-10) (Top) |
Before reaching Austin, the Journey for Justice added a contingent
from Tulia, a move that greatly enhanced their visibility. Those with
a strong stomach and an eye for detail should read the more detailed
Houston Chronicle article.
|
Tulia's incarceration binge produced an unwelcome increase in local
taxes; a phenomenon also noted along the border.
|
|
(8) ACLU: TULIA BUST RACIALLY MOTIVATED (Top) |
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday against law
enforcement officials in the West Texas town of Tulia for their alleged
role in a highly criticized undercover drug bust that resulted in the
arrest of one in 10 of the town's entire black population.
|
[snip]
|
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Amarillo on Friday, was
prompted by a 1998 undercover drug operation that resulted in the
arrest of 43 people for allegedly selling cocaine in Tulia, a town of
about 5,000 people south of Amarillo.
|
Thirty-nine of those arrested were African Americans. Only 350 -- or 7
percent -- of the town's total population are African Americans. That
means more than 10 percent of the town's African Americans were
arrested, a ratio that the ACLU said suggests that they were targeted.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sat, 30 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Austin American-Statesman (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Austin American-Statesman |
---|
|
|
(9) DRUG STING RAISES ISSUE OF CREDIBILITY (Top) |
17% of Tulia Blacks Indicted For Dealing
|
TULIA -- Even in normal times, when dust rises in the West and the
afternoon sun presses against the land like a flatiron, a vast
emptiness seems to gather like lint around this small town on the high
plains of the Texas Panhandle.
|
[snip]
|
Mattie White should know. She lost three children to the exodus. She
lost a niece, a son-in-law and a dozen friends or more. All were
snagged in the summer of 1999 in an 18-month undercover drug operation
that purported to sweep 46 drug dealers off the streets.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Houston Chronicle (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Houston Chronicle |
---|
|
|
(10) TEXAS BORDER DAS TO SLAM THE DOOR ON FEDERAL CASES (Top) |
LAREDO, Texas -- They're done begging, through threatening, sick of
talking.
|
Broke and bogged down, some county prosecutors along the U.S.-Mexico
border vowed to ban federal drug cases from their courts starting Monday.
Their decision promises to drop even more cases into the swamped federal
courts on the nation's southern edge.
|
But prosecutors say they have no choice: Struggling counties lose millions
of dollars and weeks' worth of court time prosecuting federal drug cases.
From now on, they say, the U.S. government is on its own.
|
[snip]
|
Source: | Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas |
---|
Author: | Megan K. Stack, Associated Press |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (11-12) (Top) |
Two more alleged drug criminals were shot by police; one was a Dallas
man who may have thought he was protecting his grand daughter against
a home invasion. The other was a thirteen year old boy who had
apparently been recruited as a courier.
|
|
(11) FAMILY SAYS MAN DIDN'T UNDERSTAND POLICE ORDERS (Top) |
Language barrier cited; police say he pointed gun
|
A 60-year-old man shot and killed by Irving police serving narcotics search
and arrest warrants at his West Dallas home thought officers were burglars
trying to force their way inside, members of his family said.
|
But Irving police said they think Juan Mendoza Fernandez understood that
the officers wanted to come inside. They said Mr. Fernandez pointed a gun
at the officers who were trying to serve the warrants.
|
Mr. Fernandez, who had retired a year ago from a Mesquite sofa manufacturer,
died from gunshot wounds in his chest, according to the Dallas County
medical examiner's office.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sat, 30 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Dallas Morning News (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Dallas Morning News |
---|
|
|
(12) COLUMN: A COMPLEX QUESTION IN A TANGLED CASE (Top) |
The jurors who found three Kansas City police officers at fault last
week in the shooting death of Timothy Wilson didn't know that 30 small
bags of crack cocaine and a larger bag of marijuana were found with the
boy after he was killed.
|
Jackson County Judge Kelly Moorhouse disallowed that evidence, ruling
it was irrelevant to the police officers' actions, but might prejudice
the jurors.
|
Her decision has ignited bitter denunciations from supporters of the
officers, and almost certainly will be contested when lawyers for the
officers ask for a new trial.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 28 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Kansas City Star (MO) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Kansas City Star |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (13) (Top) |
The next item is significant only because the number of people
arrested no longer shocks and the final comment unwittingly
illustrates the enormous discretion the drug war has conferred on
police to arrest the politically powerless.
|
|
(13) CRACK SWEEP ENDS IN 480 ARRESTS (Top) |
TAMPA - Residents are praised for calling in with concerns and tips on
drug dealing. "The citizens calling us does make a difference," a
sheriff's lieutenant said.
|
Hundreds of people connected with the crack-cocaine trade were arrested
across the county during a four-month sweep that concluded Friday, the
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office announced.
|
[snip]
|
``If we had included other drugs [in the operation], we would have had
more than 1,000 arrests,'' Paige said.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 28 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Kansas City Star (MO) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Kansas City Star |
---|
|
|
Cannabis & Hemp-
|
COMMENT: (14) (Top) |
It's impressive to see a top flight columnist in action; i.e.,
Clarence Page's meticulous dissection of Al Gore's hypocrisy on the
medical use issue.
|
|
(14) GORE BLOWING SMOKE ABOUT MARIJUANA (Top) |
Until now, I have admired Al Gore's candor on the marijuana question.
After all, he is the first presidential candidate to admit not only
that he smoked marijuana but also that he inhaled it.
|
[snip]
|
And, presto! By May, the White House position became Al Gore's
position, too. Answering a student in Cudahy, Calif., on May 11, Gore
said he sees "no reliable evidence" that medical marijuana is an
effective pain reliever.
|
Yes, it is interesting to see how quickly reliability can fade in the
midst of an election campaign -- right along with candor.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Tuesday, October 3, 2000 |
---|
Source: | Houston Chronicle (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Houston Chronicle |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (15-19) (Top) |
Away from the campaign trail- in the real world - the impetus to
moderate cannabis prohibition grows stronger, both at home and abroad.
|
The contrast between public opinion and the glacial pace of change is
especially strong in Canada; Lynn and Mike Harichy were preparing to
face trial while Jim Wakeford harvested his first "legal" crop. In BC,
a huge illegal industry flourishes more or less openly- despite
feverish uprooting forays by the RCMP.
|
|
(15) SWISS CABINET AIMS TO LEGALISE POT SMOKING (Top) |
BERNE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The Swiss cabinet proposed on Monday making it
legal to smoke pot, but said other illicit drugs should remain outlawed
for the time being.
|
The government decided in principle to decriminalise the consumption of
cannabis products. It left open whether it would also eventually give a
green light to growing and selling marijuana and hashish.
|
[snip]
|
Copyright: | 2000 Reuters Limited. |
---|
|
|
(16) ALASKANS PUSH POT ON BALLOT (Top) |
ANCHORAGE -- The folks behind a statewide ballot initiative to
decriminalize marijuana in Alaska will stare you down with their glassy
eyes and sermonize on the numerous commercial uses for industrial hemp,
the environmental benefits of hemp production and the medicinal
benefits of the cannabis plant.
|
And sure, the Nov. 7 measure is about all of those things.
|
Mostly, though, it's about the freedom to get stoned.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Tue, 03 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Salt Lake Tribune (UT) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Salt Lake Tribune |
---|
Author: | Stuart Eskenazi, The Seattle Times |
---|
|
|
(17) MEDICINAL POT ISSUE DRAWS FEW SUPPORTERS (Top) |
Anticipated support at a court appearance for a London medical
marijuana advocate and her husband went up in smoke yesterday.
|
Lynn Harichy, 38, said she was "disappointed" more people weren't on
hand when she and her husband, Mike, 48, made a brief appearance before
Ontario Court Justice Gregory Pockele on charges of trafficking and
production of marijuana.
|
[snip]
|
But only a handful of people -- including a man from Cannabis
Compassion Centre in Windsor and a Toledo, Ohio, man from Drugsense, an
American advocacy group -- were in the courtroom. The Harichys are
scheduled to return to court Oct. 11 when a trial date will be set.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 28 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | London Free Press (CN ON) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation. |
---|
Author: | Jane Sims, Free Press Reporter |
---|
|
|
(18) MEDICAL POT CROP A FIRST (Top) |
Man Vows To Keep Fighting For Legalization
|
Jim Wakeford surveys his pampered marijuana plants and smiles. "This
one I'm going to be submitting to Cannabis Culture magazine for Bud of
the Month," he said yesterday, pointing proudly to one of his plants.
|
[snip]
|
But Wakeford said despite his court victories and letters of exemption
from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the federal government
isn't doing enough for those who need a safe, steady and affordable
supply of medicinal marijuana.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Toronto Sun (CN ON) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. |
---|
Author: | Philip Lee-Shanok |
---|
|
|
(19) THE DOPE ON THE WEST COAST'S POT CULTURE (Top) |
Drug is found everywhere, from cafesés to the Internet
|
The West Coast has long been known as an oasis where marijuana is
grown, smoked, sold and accepted, … Lenient sentencing, a liberal
political atmosphere and de facto legalization are contributing to a
pot renaissance in B.C.
|
[snip]
|
Source: | The National Post (Canada) |
---|
Pubdate: | Sat, 23 Sep 2000 |
---|
|
|
International News
|
COMMENT: (20) (Top) |
A disturbing article from Australia offers credible linkage between a
surge in gay HIV infection and drug use; the drug isn't heroin, but
ecstasy. A similar increase had been noted earlier in the US- but the
club drug connection wasn't spelled out.
|
|
(20) AUSTRALIA: DANCING WITH DEATH (Top) |
The one thing that was never meant to happen among young gay
Australian men is about to be confirmed. New figures will show a
sudden surge in HIV diagnoses in three capital cities. A new
generation is facing a crisis.
|
[snip]
|
More to the point, however, a nexus has been found between drug use -
ecstasy and speed, inextricably linked to the dance-party circuit - and
unsafe sex.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Wed, 04 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Age, The (Australia) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd |
---|
|
|
COMMENT: (21-24) (Top) |
During the debate over Plan Colombia, a dire, but steadily ignored
prediction was that it would destabilize Colombia's neighbors.
Although the prediction seems to be rapidly coming true, the evidence
is being under reported by the American press.
|
|
(21) BOLIVIAN TENSION MOUNTS AS ROADBLOCK TALKS CONTINUE (Top) |
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Tension mounted in Bolivia Tuesday as the
government repeated threats to deploy troops if coca growers, peasants
and teachers do not abandon roadblocks set up 16 days ago that have
paralyzed big cities.
|
[snip]
|
A government-imposed noon (1400 GMT) deadline came and went as
ministers huddled with peasants in La Paz without soldiers being
deployed in the stalemate with coca growers and teachers. Fortun said
as long as talks continue with one of three protest groups no troops
would be sent to clear highways.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Tue, 03 Oct 2000 |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 Reuters Limited. |
---|
|
|
(22) BRAZIL FEARS FALLOUT OF DRUG CRACKDOWN (Top) |
TABATINGA, Brazil
|
By 9 a.m. on most weekdays, the border here is thick with traffic as
Brazilians and Colombians stroll and drive unencumbered across the
frontier to shop, work and attend school. But such free passage has
also had a bitter downside for residents of this steamy city: an
illicit cross-border drug trade.
|
[snip]
|
Now, with Colombia's renewed determination to strangle drug trafficking
and end a four-decade-old civil war, Brazil is fortifying the
1,000-mile frontier to bring relief to such cities as Tabatinga and to
avoid spillover from the Colombian campaign.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Washington Post (DC) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Washington Post Company |
---|
Author: | Stephen Buckley, Washington Post Foreign Service |
---|
|
|
(23) INFLUX BURDENS VENEZUELA (Top) |
LA PISTA, Colombia - The gunmen came for Henry Fernandez on a still,
sweltering afternoon. Wearing the signature white shoulder patches of
the paramilitary forces that roam this region of northeastern Colombia,
they walked him out of his corner store and down the rutted road
through town.
|
[snip]
|
The impending $1.3 billion U.S. anti-drug package has changed the
landscape not only in Colombia, where paramilitary groups and
guerrillas are moving quickly and savagely to consolidate positions,
but also in Venezuela and other bordering countries, which have
fortified frontiers and warned of a coming storm.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Sun, 01 Oct 2000 |
---|
Source: | Washington Post (DC) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Washington Post Company |
---|
Author: | Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service |
---|
|
|
(24) PANAMA: COLOMBIA'S NEIGHBORS WAIT IN FEAR (Top) |
BEJUCO, Panama -- The only kind of traffic this town had known until
recently was the weekend rush of cars heading to nearby Pacific beach
resorts.
|
So when police uncovered a major Colombian arms-trafficking ring this
month in Bejuco, Panamanians were jolted once again by the dangers of
living just across the border from Latin America's hottest war.
|
[snip]
|
Pubdate: | Thu, 28 Sep 2000 |
---|
Source: | Dallas Morning News (TX) |
---|
Copyright: | 2000 The Dallas Morning News |
---|
|
|
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top)
|
|
AIRS ON PBS, OCT 9-10, 9PM, 240 MINS
|
For thirty years the United States government has struggled to stamp out
the use of illegal drugs. The drug wars have absorbed hundreds of billions
of dollars, altering our criminal justice system and putting millions of
people in jail.
|
Have our efforts been in vain? In exclusive interviews with both the "drug
warriors" and the drug-traffickers, FRONTLINE - in collaboration with
National Public Radio - presents the first television history of America's
war on drugs told from both sides of the battlefield.
|
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/
|
|
DRUG WAR FACTS UPDATED
|
Updated regularly, Drug War Facts provides reliable information with
credible citations on important criminal justice and public health issues.
|
For this revised edition of Drug War Facts, CSDP projects coordinator Doug
McVay has analyzed data from a variety of sources to find new items for
inclusion as well as updated those that appeared in earlier editions.
|
Questions, comments or suggestions for additions and modifications may be
addressed to Doug McVay at the address below or via email at
|
http://www.csdp.org/factbook/
|
|
THIS JUST IN (Top)
|
US CA: One Bad Cop
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1449/a01.html
|
When Officer Rafael Perez was arrested, it led to the biggest scandal
in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department. Perez did what
Rodney King couldn't do: bring the L.A. force under federal supervision.
|
|
Canada: | Ottawa Won't Appeal Ruling Striking Down Marijuana Laws |
---|
|
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1447/a06.html
|
OTTAWA (AP) - The federal government will not appeal an Ontario court
ruling that struck down marijuana laws because they don't allow for
medicinal use, a Justice spokeswoman said Friday.
|
|
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top)
|
"Prohibition only drives drunkenness behind doors and into dark places
and does not cure it or even diminish it." - Mark Twain
|
|
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
|
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.
|
DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE
|
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/
|