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DrugSense Weekly
October 6, 2000 #169


Table of Contents

* 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
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website:   http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum:   http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
Author:   Arianna Huffington
URL:   URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1450/a09.html


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author:   P.  J. Huffstutter, Robin Fields, Times Staff Writers
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1465/a03.html


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author:   P.  J. Huffstutter, Robin Fields, Times Staff Writers
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1465/a02.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm


(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]

Pubdate:   2 October, 2000
Source:   20/20 Downtown (ABC News)
Cited:   http://www.dancesafe.org/
Response:   http://www.dancesafe.org/2020.html
RealVideo:   http://technostate.com/archive/


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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sptimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html
Section:   Perspective, page 1
Author:   Robyn Blumner
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1465/a04.html


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.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.bouldernews.com/
Author:   Jim Mann
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1460/a09.html


(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
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   2000 Reuters Limited.
Contact:  
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1446/a06.html


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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/
Author:   Claudia Grisales
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1451/a11.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Jim Henderson
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1457/a03.html


(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]

Pubdate:   Mon, 2 Oct 2000
Source:   Ft.  Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Copyright:   2000 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.star-telegram.com/
Author:   Megan K.  Stack, Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1462/a03.html


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
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://dmnweb.dallasnews.com/letters/
Website:   http://www.dallasnews.com/
Author:   Connie Pilota
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1450/a11.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm


(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
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/
Website:   http://www.kcstar.com/
Author:   Barbara Shelly
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1441/a07.html


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
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/
Website:   http://www.kcstar.com/
Author:   Barbara Shelly
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1441/a07.html


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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Clarence Page
URL:  http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1470/a04.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/gore.htm


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]

Pubdate:   Tue, 3 Oct 2000
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   2000 Reuters Limited.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1470/a05.html


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sltrib.com/
Forum:   http://www.sltrib.com/tribtalk/
Author:   Stuart Eskenazi, The Seattle Times
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1470/a02.html


(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.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
Forum:   http://www.lfpress.com/londoncalling/SelectForum.asp
Author:   Jane Sims, Free Press Reporter
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1441/a03.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/harichy.htm


(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.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/
Forum:   http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/newsgroups.html
Author:   Philip Lee-Shanok
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1460/a06.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/wakeford.htm


(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)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nationalpost.com/
Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Author:   Cori Howard
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n000/a211.html


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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theage.com.au/
Author:   Steve Dow
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1471/a07.html


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
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   2000 Reuters Limited.
Author:   Gilbert Le Gras
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1473/a07.html


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Stephen Buckley, Washington Post Foreign Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1456/a05.html


(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
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1456/a06.html


(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
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://dmnweb.dallasnews.com/letters/
Website:   http://www.dallasnews.com/
Forum:   http://forums.dallasnews.com:81/webx
Author:   Tod Robberson
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1441/a08.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

FRONTLINE:   DRUG WARS

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


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