Table of Contents

* Breaking News (12/30/24)

* Feature Article

    The Bill Of Rights Is The Cure For Government Disease
    By Steve Kubby

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-4)
(1) Index For Frontline's Drug Wars Interview Transcripts
(2) Rep. Frank Calls for Shift in Nation's Drug Policies
(3) Web: Editorial: Reefer Madness
(4) How the Drug War Harms, not Helps, Our Kids
COMMENT: (5-6)
(5) Editorial: No on Prop. 36
(6) Study - Drug Busts, Violent Crime not Linked
COMMENT: (7-9)
(7) Drug Czar to Step Down
(8) 'Rolling' With Users High on Drug Ecstasy, Part 2
(9) Editorial: Get Moving on Meth

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (10-11)
(10) Rampart Runneth Over
(11) Police Suspend Extra Patrols for 10 Days
COMMENT: (12-13)
(12) Senate Bill Rewrites Search-Seizure Laws
(13) Investigation Launched into Drug Raid Error

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (14-16)
(14) Canada: Alliance Drops Idea to Loosen Marijuana Laws
(15) UK: Legalizing Pot Would Save $1.6bn
(16) Pot Farms Grow Like Weeds
COMMENT: (17-18)
(17) Study Gets Monkeys Hooked on THC
(18) Jury Sees Tape of Pot Raid on Placer Couple's Home

International News-

COMMENT: (19-20)
(19) Taliban to Unleash a Flood of Refugees, Drugs
(20) Colombia to Get Fewer, Stronger Helicopters
COMMENT: (21-22)
(21) Sweden: Bodstroem is Needed in the Debate on Drugs
(22) Finland: Commission Recommends Changes in Drug Education

* Hot Off The 'Net

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    Friends of Justice Relief Fund for Tulia Drug Raid Victims

* This Just In

    New Law Allows Shift In Heroin Treatment
    Bye-Bye, Barry

* DrugSense Volunteer of the Month

    Allan Erickson

* Quote of the Week

    Peter McWilliams

THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS THE CURE FOR GOVERNMENT DISEASE
By Steve Kubby

Police say things like, "We don't make the laws, we just enforce them," and, "If you don't like the law, then change it." In 1996, Proposition 215 was placed on the California ballot and approved by 55.6 percent of voters.

We soon learned that police do enforce the laws- but do NOT tolerate people changing them.  The California attorney general, and the police establishment originally campaigned against our initiative, using public money; they also issued the following warning about Prop.  215 in the official Voter Pamphlet: "This initiative allows unlimited quantities of marijuana to be grown anywhere ...  without any regulation or restrictions.  ... It is marijuana legalization."

However, once the initiative passed, the same officials announced that Prop.  215 is "only an affirmative defense."

Outraged by these efforts to gut 215, I decided- with the help of friends- to run for governor so I could speak out about this assault on American values and principles.  The Libertarian Party graciously accorded me their first-ever unanimous nomination, so I campaigned for governor of California, hounding my opponent, Attorney General Dan Lungren and faulting him as a Republican who ignored states' rights and sought to undo the results of an election.

Trials and Tribulations

We were soon under surveillance.  We would learn later that four agencies began investigating us on the basis of an unsigned letter alleging no more than we had stated publicly: we were growing our own medical marijuana.  Friends warned us to be careful; word was out that the police intended to punish us.  Angry that such tactics would be used against us, we decided to turn the tables and create a test case upholding 215 and exposing rogue police and prosecutors in the process.

With the help of attorneys and activist friends, we carefully documented the medical marijuana garden Michele and I were cultivating; we even sent a note- via the garbage we knew they were searching- informing them I had cancer; we both had doctor recommendations, and were growing our medical marijuana as provided by the new law.  Our "trash note" even invited the police to inspect our crop.

Although later admitting they had read the note in our trash, our status as patients meant nothing to them; they continued to spy until Jan.  19, 1999, when a 20 member SWAT team in body armor and carrying laser guided rifles raided our home.  We can only wonder why such force was needed against an unarmed couple and a child.

We had based our garden on guidelines adopted by the Oakland City Council,- based in turn on the 7.1 pounds of medical marijuana the federal government provides annually to each of eight recognized patients.

Those guidelines allow 144 plants each, or 288 indoor plants, which were expected to produce a one-year, 7-pound supply.  On walls leading to the garden we posted a copies of 215 and the Oakland Guidelines, as well the attorney general's notice that patients presenting a credible physician's recommendation should have their gardens left intact after photos and samples had been taken.

Instead, the prosecutors had the police arrest us; we were treated as common criminals, and $200,000 bail requested.  Although not disobeying any law, we were treated as if guilty and stripped of virtually every protection guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

It's been 614 days since our arrest; although we managed to have bail waived, the police took virtually everything we owned, including the equipment essential to our business; we were forced into bankruptcy. We have also been forced to deal with my cancer and obtaining the medical marijuana that keeps me alive.  To defend ourselves, we have had to retain eight different attorneys to defend our constitutional rights against seven different judges- most of whom wanted to disallow a 215 defense, because it would, "confuse the jury!" For the past 560 days our family (now four) has been forced to live in other people's homes.

We have raised and spent about $200,000 through our defense fund and finally have the attorneys, defense,and witnesses needed to take this issue back to the people, and accomplish in the jury box what was denied at the ballot box -- implementation of our rights.  We are halfway through a three month trial and confident that the jury already sees our innocence.  Further, people are beginning to understand this issue is no more about marijuana than the Boston Tea Party was about tea

It's about freedom, the Bill of Rights and using juries to force the government to respect those rights, just as Thomas Jefferson and the Founders intended.

NOTE: This article has been edited for brevity.  Kubby's entire article can be read at the URL below

Pubdate:	Wed, 18 Oct 2000

Source:	WorldNetDaily (US Web)

Copyright:	2000,WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.worldnetdaily.com/

Author:	Steve Kubby,

Shortcut:	Kubby articles - http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1569/a04.html

Domestic News- Policy

One TV series on the drug war was unusual; two in one week, unprecedented.  The PBS series was better publicized; the History Channel effort better executed.  However, the thrust of both could be summarized as "rush to treatment," in that they doggedly refused to consider if substance prohibition is rational public policy.

The logical political response is to shift emphasis from incarceration to "treatment;" typically, this came as a relatively unpublicized Barney Frank stump speech in his safe home district..

In contrast to mainstream media's blind endorsement of "treatment," web-based outlets are the most sharply critical of prohibition: Salon's Gary Kamiya,, while nominally complaining about marijuana prohibition, is generic in calling for legalization to be included as an option.  Adam Smith and Karynn Fish eloquently make the case that illegal markets actually increase use while harming society in many other ways.

Pubdate:	10 Oct 2000

Source:	Frontline

Copyright:	2000 WGBH Educational Foundation

Forum:	http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/talk/

Website:	http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/

Also:	see http://npr.org/news/specials/drugwars/

Note:	Below is the index with links to each of the interviews provided by

this Frontline/PBS series.  Archiving these interviews allows research using the MAP power search at http://www.mapinc.org/find

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1551.a01.html

WORCESTER-- U.S.  Rep. Barney Frank, D-Newton, said last night that the country was ready for a public revolt against the way in which drug policies are being enforced.

Speaking at the annual meeting and awards banquet of the Worcester Country Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, held at the Holiday Inn, Mr.  Frank said many lives have been ruined by the country's harsh and punitive drug laws.

"Nowhere have we spent money and engaged in more effort and have less to show for it than in combating illegal drugs," he said.

Mr.  Frank said he was not calling for complete legalization, because the country was not ready for that.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 15 Oct 2000

Source:	Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Copyright:	2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Contact:

Address:	P.O.  Box 15012, Worcester, MA 01615-0012

Fax:	(508) 793-9313

Website:	http://www.telegram.com/

Author:	Clive McFarlane

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1556/a05.html

We're all used to stomaching a little political hypocrisy in the United States, and around election time we have to gag down more than usual. But there are times when the gap between reality and rhetoric, between what we know to be true and what our leaders say, becomes so outrageous as to feel positively surreal.  And the war on drugs -- specifically, the campaign against marijuana use which makes up a major portion of that war -- has now gone beyond the tolerable.

[snip]

It's time to grow up, accept that drug use will always be with us, treat responsible recreational drug users more or less the same way we treat recreational drinkers and start talking about ways to minimize the negative impact of drug abuse on the individual and society. Whether the solution is legalization, European-style decriminalization, discretionary sentencing or something else remains to be worked out. But until America starts confronting reality on this issue, we will continue to be the embarrassing teenager on the block.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Thur, 12 Oct 2000

Source:	Salon.com (US Web)

Copyright:	2000 Salon.com

Contact:

Feedback:	http://www.salon.com/contact/letters/

Website:	http://www.salon.com/

Forum:	http://tabletalk.salon.com/

Author:	Gary Kamiya

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1528/a03.html

When George W.  Bush recently revealed his drug war plan, which would pull another $2.7 billion from federal coffers to end the illegal narcotics trade, his speech was all about the children.  "The job of protecting our children falls to us," he pontificated, calling drugs "the enemies of innocence and hope and ambition."

[snip]

But is the drug war really protecting our children? Are our tax dollars, our booming prison industry, our international military aid really keeping illicit drugs away from our kids? The evidence suggests that far from keeping kids safe, drug prohibition actually gives kids more access to drugs, and that the drug war makes their world more dangerous in numerous other ways.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Mon, 9 Oct 2000

Source:	AlterNet

Copyright:	2000 Independent Media Institute

Forum:	http://www.alternet.org/cgi-bin/wwwthreads.pl

Website:	http://www.alternet.org/

Authors:	Adam J.  Smith and Karynn M. Fish, AlterNet

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1537/a04.html

In California, Proposition 36 is the new bellwether for reform; most of the state's newspapers- including many critical of drug war excesses in the past- are oblivious to both common sense and data showing no connection between drug arrests and real crime, thus they passively echo prison guards and DAs in urging "no" on 36.

Proposition 36 contains the kernel of a good idea.  There are many reasons to support a measure that would send drug offenders into treatment programs instead of jail, including: Nearly 20,000 of California's 2 million prison population are offenders who have been convicted for simple drug possession but are housed in facilities that lack any semblance of a drug treatment program.

[snip]

A local organization of judges and commissioners unanimously opposes Proposition 36 for its mandatory "get out of jail free" provision.  The Press Democrat encourages a "no" vote on Proposition 36.

Pubdate:	Wed, 11 Oct 2000

Source:	Press Democrat, The (CA)

Copyright:	2000 The Press Democrat

Contact:

Feedback:	http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/letform.html

Website:	http://www.pressdemo.com/

Forum:	http://www.pressdemo.com/opinion/talk/

Bookmark:	For Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act items:

http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1557/a04.html

RESEARCH:	Locking up low-level offenders ineffective, Justice Policy

Institute says.

Since 1980, Ventura County has the highest arrest rate for minor drug offenses among California's largest counties, while its violent crime rate has increased slightly during the same period, according to a study being released today.

Research by the Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., attempts to show that an aggressive police policy against drug users and dealers in California -- which leads the nation in imprisoning drug offenders -- doesn't influence violent crime.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Wed, 11 Oct 2000

Source:	Ventura County Star (CA)

Copyright:	2000, Ventura County Star

Contact:

Website:	http://www.staronline.com/

Author:	Aron Miller

Bookmark:	For Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act items:

http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1518/a11.html

Unabashed by two TV series built around the shortcomings of his favorite policy, McCzar announced his intention to resign while staunchly maintaining success; what will history say?

The tribulations (other than Colombia) his successor will face can be inferred from two items about the new drug "menaces" just appearing on society's radar.

WASHINGTON - The White House's high-profile drug czar Barry McCaffrey announced Monday he's quitting, leaving behind a controversial $1 billion anti-drug advertising campaign that congressional critics say had little impact on curbing drug abuse in the United States.

McCaffrey, a retired U.S.  Army general, said in a surprise statement that he will leave office Jan.  6 and look for a job in the private sector.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Mon, 16 Oct 2000

Source:	Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)

Copyright:	2000 Denver Publishing Co.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.denver-rmn.com/

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1562/a07.html

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a series on the "club drug" Ecstasy.  The information contained in this series was gleaned from telephone interviews, e-mail chats and face-to-face.

"It tastes awful," he says, reaching for the blue Gatorade he bought to fight the drug-induced dehydration.  Mike and Luke swallow theirs. Brian stands up and breaths in and out deeply, trying to sense any change.

[snip]

Along with the increased love of life, users say the drug also heightens sensations.  Common smells provoke lucid memories; water tastes like it's been drawn from a desert oasis; music overwhelms the body's rhythm (which accounts for the majority of the drugs use being associated with dance clubs and raves); and a simple back rub becomes an intensely pleasurable physical experience.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 15 Oct 2000

Source:	Portsmouth Herald (NH)

Contact:

Website:	http://www.seacoastonline.com/

Author:	Devin Foxall

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1562/a01.html

Valley Representatives Should Be Holding Hearings On The Problem.

Possibly the most disturbing conclusion that can be drawn from The Bee's extensive investigation of the methamphetamine problem is that most of our state and federal elective officials have done little to reduce this epidemic that is consuming our society.

In "A Madness about Meth," an 18-page special section produced by a team of Bee journalists from Fresno, Modesto and Sacramento, the great Central Valley has been documented as meth's principal breeding ground. But the actions by our governmental leaders have been minuscule in comparison with the meth threat and the money spent on less dangerous public problems.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Mon, 16 Oct 2000

Source:	Fresno Bee, The (CA)

Copyright:	2000 The Fresno Bee

Contact:

Feedback:	http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html

Website:	http://www.fresnobee.com/

Forum:	http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html

Referenced:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1511/a03.html

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1560/a09.html

Law Enforcement & Prisons

Dormant for a few weeks, the Rampart scandal is news again; not only because the first trials just began, but because of new information: the scandal may actually be a lot worse than previously imagined.

In New York, another big city department troubled by different allegations, an announcement that controversial Operation Condor had been suspended might have surprised people who hadn't realized it's been going on ever since the Dorismond shooting.

New Allegations Hound Rafael Perez

Late in the afternoon of February 6, 1996, a gangbanger and midlevel hustler named Miguel Malfavon stepped onto the patio of a McDonald's restaurant.

Quietly, someone in the apartment complex just to the north of the restaurant pulled a handgun.  .Sonya Flores, then 18 years old, was nearly caught in the crossfire.

Police arrived two minutes later to find Malfavon dying on the patio floor, and Flores shaking, her clothes splattered with his blood. CRASH Officers Rafael Perez and Sammy Martin took Flores into their custody and drove her to the station six blocks away.

[snip]

There they conducted a momentous interview.  Within hours, Flores had named four shooters.  She repeated those identifications in court four months later, and all four, along with an alleged accomplice, went to prison, where they remain to this day.

[snip]

And that may be the darkest irony to emerge at this late juncture in this ever-shifting story.  If true, these new allegations show the Rampart scandal to run deeper, wider and longer than anything suggested so far.  But if a new indictment is brought against Perez, the district attorney's effort to prosecute other Rampart cops would surely collapse.  At this point, at Rampart, truth and justice may be headed in opposite directions.

Pubdate:	Fri, 13 Oct 2000

Source:	LA Weekly (CA)

Copyright:	2000, Los Angeles Weekly, Inc.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.laweekly.com/

Author:	Charles Rappleye

Bookmark:	http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n000/a215.html

The Police Department quietly suspended Operation Condor for the first 10 days of the month in an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the expensive and often criticized overtime program, which officials say has cut crime with extra drug sweeps and quality-of-life patrols.

The $55 million program, which assigns officers on overtime to the extra drug operations and patrols, was suspended as part of Police Commissioner Bernard B.  Kerik's continuing evaluation of the effectiveness of the department's overall anti narcotics efforts, officials said.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Thu, 12 Oct 2000

Source:	New York Times (NY)

Copyright:	2000 The New York Times Company

Contact:

Website:	http://www.nytimes.com/

Forum:	http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/

Author:	William K.  Rashbaum

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1528/a02.html

The importance of Internet vigilance is underscored by yet another Senate ploy to intrude on privacy; this one using the subpoena process to get around need for a warrant.

Fortunately no one was shot, but there was another commando style raid on a wrong address; this time in Wisconsin.

Congress Likely To 'Stuff' Provision In Last-Minute Spending Legislation

Just months after a public outcry scuttled a bill sailing through Congress that would have given federal law enforcement authorities the right to conduct secret searches, a new threat to the Fourth Amendment has arisen that will allow federal agency employees, rather than judges, to authorize certain searches of personal information.

[snip]

The latest assault of the Fourth Amendment is contained in section 3(g) of the Fugitive Apprehension Act, S.  2516, which would authorize the attorney general to issue "administrative subpoenas" for personal information and records without court authorization.  A delayed reporting requirement also found in the bill allows Department of Justice attorneys to ask the court to conceal the subpoena from the target of the investigation.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Wed, 11 Oct 2000

Source:	WorldNetDaily (US Web)

Copyright:	2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.worldnetdaily.com/

Author:	Patrick Poole

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1522/a03.html

DALTON - An internal investigation to determine why the Green Lake County Drug Task Force crashed its way into the wrong home in rural Dalton on Thursday, Oct.  5, is under way. Four men dressed in black brandishing handguns forced their way into the home of Jesus and Wendy Olveda of rural Dalton and forcibly placed them under restraint, according to the Olvedas.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sat, 14 Oct 2000

Source:	Daily Citizen (WI)

Copyright:	2000 Conley Publishing Group, Ltd.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.citizenol.com/

Author:	Ken Pritchard - GM Today Staff

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1551/a05.html

Bookmark:	http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm

Cannabis & Hemp-

Following the progress of cannabis legalization in the English speaking world is like handicapping a snail race; last week, the Canadian snail faltered, the UK snail picked up some steam, and we learned some interesting things about market conditions in Alaska, a rogue American entrant that may be scratched on election day.

Some MPs Choke on Proposals in Party's Platform

OTTAWA - The Canadian Alliance has dropped proposed policies to loosen Canada's marijuana laws after some of its MPs balked at including them in the party's campaign platform.

The change was so last-minute that party officials didn't get a chance to delete mentions to pot in a version of the platform posted to the Alliance Web site.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Thu, 12 Oct 2000

Source:	Toronto Star (CN ON)

Copyright:	2000 The Toronto Star

Contact:

Website:	http://www.thestar.com/

Forum:	http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/

Author:	Valerie Lawton, Ottawa Bureau

Bookmark:	http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm Medicinal Cannabis (Canada)

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1525/a10.html

Legalisation of cannabis could save the taxpayer more than $1.6bn, MPs will be told in an independent report.

And a new poll published today underlines the growing strength of support for the legalisation of cannabis, with 66 per cent in favour of making the drug freely available.  The poll, which was carried out by MORI, also shows that 55 per cent of Britons support its sale through licensed government outlets.

Tony Blair yesterday was resisting the growing cross-party demands for a Royal Commission on cannabis, but the report by the respected House of Commons library could undermine his stand.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 15 Oct 2000

Source:	Independent on Sunday (UK)

Copyright:	Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.

Contact:

Website:	http://www.independent.co.uk/sindy/sindy.html

Author:	Colin Brown, Political Editor

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1550/a03.html

The Matanuska Valley is home to carrots, potatoes and giant vegetables, all displayed as the public face of northern agriculture.  But the undisputed king of Alaska farming, the most profitable crop, is marijuana.  A good batch sells, ounce for ounce, for as much as gold

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 15 Oct 2000

Source:	Anchorage Daily News (AK)

Copyright:	2000 The Anchorage Daily News

Contact:

Website:	http://www.adn.com/

Author:	S.J.  Komarnitsky

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1555/a03.html

In the good ol' US of A, reefer madness continued unabated: NIDA trumpeted another study no one will take seriously and the Kubby trial resumed with video of a daylight SWAT raid on a family of three.

NEW YORK (AP) -Monkeys repeatedly dosed themselves with the main active ingredient of marijuana in a recent federal study.  The researchers say that result emphasizes the idea that people can get hooked on pot and may provide a new way to test therapies.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 15 Oct 2000

Source:	Associated Press

Copyright:	2000 Associated Press

Author:	MALCOLM RITTER, Associated Press

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1557/a11.html

Jurors watched solemnly and Michele Kubby wept quietly Thursday as the prosecution showed a videotape of the 1999 raid that resulted in the arrest of Kubby and her husband on drug charges.

[snip]

Michele Kubby said her viewing of the videotape brought back feelings of the moment when "an army of policemen armed with laser-sighted guns invaded the privacy of my home with my husband and little girl there."

The trial will resume on Tuesday.

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:	Wayne Wilson, Bee Staff Writer

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1537/a01.html

International News

While Middle Eastern turmoil diverts attention from Colombia, a report from Central Asia underscores a frequently overlooked point: our drug war funds Islamic militancy.

Speaking of Colombia, a Washington Post update suggests it will cost a lot more and take a lot longer just to implement than originally suggested; also that neither side is ready; yet money is on its way.

A sweeping Taliban military offensive across the mountains of northern Afghanistan threatens to spark a refugee crisis and unleash a wave of Islamic insurgency and drug smuggling through central Asia.

Four years after seizing power, the Taliban Islamic militia has made crucial gains in the past two months in the only area of Afghanistan still outside its control.  Now with Taliban troops sitting along western parts of the 1600-kilometre border with Tajikistan, the Tajik Government and its backers in Russia are increasingly apprehensive.

[snip]

Source:	Age, The (Australia)

Copyright:	2000 David Syme & Co Ltd

Contact:

Address:	250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia

Website:	http://www.theage.com.au/

Author:	Rory McCarthy, Kurgan-tyube, Tajikistan, from The Guardian

Note:	Originally published in The Guardian (UK)

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1563/a07.html

Clinton administration officials said yesterday they have reduced the number of U.S.  helicopters destined for counter-drug operations in Colombia in order to spend more money fully arming the aircraft.

The announcement that only 13 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters would be sent to the Colombian army, instead of the 16 originally approved by Congress last summer, came as the administration sought to fend off congressional criticism that neither the U.S.  government, nor its Colombian counterpart, is ready to carry out their ambitious, joint anti-narcotics strategy.

[snip]

Moreover, the GAO said, "Colombia has not completed its plans and installed an organizational structure to implement Plan Colombia.  In addition, although Colombia has pledged $4 billion to support the plan and Colombia is trying to obtain more than $2 billion from other international donors, the source of most of this funding has not been identified."

[snip]

Pubdate:	Thu, 12 Oct 2000

Source:	Washington Post (DC)

Copyright:	2000 The Washington Post Company

Contact:

Feedback:	http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm

Website:	http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Author:	Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1533/a07.html

Scandinavia, especially Sweden, been the most hawkish European region for drug enforcement; that may be changing.  A welcome sign is that the new Swedish Minister of Justice just criticized harsh treatment of addicts.

In neighboring Finland, more liberal attitudes already prevail; these sensible conclusions about education and testing would never be uttered by an official panel in the US- let alone heeded.

The minister of justice is a drug liberal! That's how the past weekends indignant judgements about Thomas Bodstroem read.  The background is an article he wrote in Liberal Debatt No.  7/98. There Bodstroem criticized the Swedish drug policy.

[snip]

Bodstroem is needed in the Swedish debate on drugs.  He should begin his commission as minister of justice with a serious investigation of the consequences of the Swedish drug policy that criminalizes the victim. Drugs are one of the largest threats against our society.

Pubdate:	Tue, 17 Oct 2000

Source:	Aftonbladet (Sweden)

Contact:

Website:	http://www.aftonbladet.se/

Note:	Translated into English by NewsHawk.

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1566/a07.html

OPPOSES WIDESPREAD TESTING

Report Marks Shift Toward Harm Reduction Approach

A special commission studying ways of preventing drug use by young people, which submitted its report on Monday, is calling for changes in Finnish drug education.

The commission, chaired by Kalevi Kivisto, Director General at Finland's Ministry of Education, notes that young people become drug users either as part of a spiral of marginalisation and impoverishment, or through a youth culture that emphasises maximising good feelings.  As drug use begins in different ways, and causes different kinds of problems for different people, the commission finds that different kinds of drug education are needed.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Tue, 10 Oct 2000

Source:	Helsingin Sanomat International Edition

Copyright:	2000 Helsingin Sanomat

Contact:

Fax:	+358-9-605 709

Website:	http://194.137.237.251/

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1523/a10.html

Anti-Senator Feinstein Ad Run in 2 California Publications

An advertisement pointing out the egregious policies and voting record of Senator Dianne Feinstein on drug policy issues has been run in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and will soon run in the west coast edition of the New York Times.  The ad can be reviewed at:

http://www.mapinc.org/temp/guardian.JPG

If you would like to contribute or add your own name to this ad, contact Wayne Haythorn (503) 819-7540.  Contributions (minimum $100 to sign on) should be sent to:

Right of the People,
PO Box 1716,
El Cerrito CA 94530.

Friends of Justice Relief Fund for Tulia Drug Raid Victims

The Friends of Justice have set up a relief fund for children and their caregivers who have been economically impacted by the Tulia drug sting.  Many children are being passed from relative to relative as everyone tries to make the best of a bad situation.  Funds will provide winter coats, clothing, food, utilities and other needs on a priority basis.  If you would like to help, make your check payable to: Friends of Justice, and write "relief fund" in the memo section.  The address is....

Friends of Justice
507 N.  Donley Ave.
Tulia, Texas 79088

Submitted by Brad Carter
Friend of Justice
http://www.door.net/yellowhousemusic

NEW LAW ALLOWS SHIFT IN HEROIN TREATMENT

Heroin addicts would be able to obtain prescriptions for treatment with promising new drugs in the privacy of a doctor's office under a bill signed into law by President Clinton late Tuesday.

Pubdate:	Thu, 19 Oct 2000

Source:	Washington Post (DC)

Copyright:	2000 The Washington Post Company

Contact:

Feedback:	http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm

Website:	http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Author:	Fredrick Kunkle, Washington Post Staff Writer

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1573/a07.html

BYE-BYE, BARRY

Gen.  Barry McCaffrey: He came. He failed. He quit. But not without taking an unearned victory lap.  What is it about the job of drug czar that causes its occupants to heed Sen.

George Aiken's advice regarding the Vietnam War - -- "Declare victory and withdraw"?

That's what McCaffrey did this week when he announced that he would resign his post on Jan.  6. "I'm enormously proud of what we've done," crowed the general.  "We had exploding rates of adolescent drug use, and we've reduced it." This ludicrous assessment echoed Bill Bennett's upbeat tenor as he ended his stint as drug czar in 1990, predicting that drug use would be cut in half "in five years."

Pubdate:	Fri, 20 Oct 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

Cited:	Common Sense for Drug Policy: http://www.csdp.org/

Note:	Many newspapers print the columns by Arianna Huffington.

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1581/a01.html

Here is MAP's link to her columns:
http://www.mapinc.org/author/Huffington__Arianna

Allan Erickson

This month we recognize Allan Erickson.

Allan is another one of those activists who will spend his last penny to ensure he can make it to a drug policy conference and will give the shirt off his back to help a fellow patriot.  He is a long-time NewsHawk from the Oregon area, has had many of his pro-reform Letters to the Editor published and has recently become a MAP Editor.

We asked him a few questions:

1.  When and why did you become involved in the drug policy area?

Probably when I smoked my first joint in H.S.  (1968?) In Thailand, while in the Air Force I was setup by a snitch and altho' no charges were ever filed (its good to have friends who are cops sometimes).  I immediately began putting NORML stickers everywhere and dispersing pot seeds in the base flower beds.

2.  How did you get into writing Letters to the Editor?

While working for Bill Conde I was having a lot of incoming data but no outlet.  If I don't write LTEs and let some data out, occasionally my head explodes...

3.  What do you consider the most significant story/issue of the past months?

Colombia and the lack of discussion on it by Bore and Gush.  And the death by SWAT of Alberto Sepulveda, age 11.

4.  What are your favorite websites, besides the MAP/DrugSense sites?

There are other websites? I gotta get out more...

5.  Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers of the weekly?

Stay active.  Vigilance is sometimes a pain, but the alternative is much worse.

"The purpose of education is to make the choices clear to people, not to make the choices for people." -- Peter McWilliams

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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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Mail in your contribution.  Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
D/B/a DrugSense
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