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DrugSense Weekly
December 1, 2000 #176


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* Feature Article


    The War On Drugs And The Will Of The People
    by Arianna Huffington

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Voters Getting Wise to the War on Drugs
(2) Citizens Quietly Rebel Against Drug War
(3) Drug-Law Reform Campaign Flexes its Muscles
COMMENT: (4-7)
(4) Police Seek Record of a Bookstore's Patrons
(5) Dope-Sensitive Dogs Sniff Out Problems in Schools
(6) U.S. Grows Killer Fungus to Fight Heroin
(7) Exiting Drug Czar Fought the War on Drugs to no End or Reason

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (8-10)
(8) 3 of 4 Officers Convicted in Police Corruption Case
(9) Beyond The Verdict
(10) Panel Rebukes Police Leaders in Los Angeles
COMMENT: (11-15)
(11) Customs Reports Increased Drug Seizures
(12) Struggling to Find the Next Generation
(13) To Protect and Collect
(14) An Idea About Race and a War on Drugs Went Hand in Hand
(15) State, Federal Prison Population Passes 1.2 Million

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (16-19)
(16) Court Tackles Medicinal-Pot Case
(17) Medical Pot To Be Studied In 60 Cases
(18) Cannabis May Be Legalised As Painkiller
(19) Medical Marijuana: Legislature Wades Into Dicey Issue

International News-

COMMENT: (20-21)
(20) Colombia Aid Package Loses a Key Supporter
(21) Colombia: McCaffrey Sees Tough Fight in Drug War
COMMENT: (22-24)
(22) Natives in Crack Crisis
(23) Fix: Gentriville or Poorhaven?
(24) Editorial: Government on Drugs
COMMENT: (25)
(25) Mexico: Fox Urges U.S. to Face its Drug Habit

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Hint: Searching for News Articles
    IOM Report on the Harmful Effects of Marijuana On-line
    Altered States of Consciousness : A Social Research Conference

* This Just In


    Drug Roadblocks Struck Down
    Michele Kubby Testifies There Was No Intent

* Quote of the Week


    Harold E. Stassen


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

The War On Drugs And The Will Of The People / by Arianna Huffington

The "will of the people" is all the rage these days.If it were a movie, they'd be lining up the Oscars.If it were a stock, it would be soaring.If it were a toy, it would be this year's Furby.It's getting even better buzz than "the rule of law." "This is a time to honor the true will of the people," said Al Gore last week, after earlier claiming that all that mattered was "making sure that the will of the American people is expressed and accurately received."

I'm glad everyone is now singing the praises of the innate and infinite wisdom of the American voter.  But while the people's choice for president may come down to a smudged postmark on a rejected absentee ballot, there's at least one issue on which the American people provided a crystal clear indication of what their will is: the war on drugs.They want a cease-fire.

Two weeks ago, voters in five states overwhelmingly passed drug policy reform initiatives, including Proposition 36 in California, which will shift the criminal justice system's focus from incarceration to treatment.The measure garnered more than 60 percent of the popular vote, 7 percent more than Al Gore received in the state, and 18 percent more than George W.  Bush. Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a mandate.

In fact, since 1996, 17 of the 19 drug policy reform initiatives have passed.  But despite this rather unambiguous expression of the popular will, politicians have repeatedly failed to honor it.  For example, when the people of California voted in 1996 to allow the medical use of marijuana, then-Gov.Pete Wilson called it "a mistake" that "effectively legalizes the sale of marijuana," while the federal government went to court to overturn the wishes of the electorate.

But perhaps this year, with the margins of victory growing enviably higher, politicians are beginning to see the writing -- smudges, dimpled, hanging and otherwise -- on the voting booth wall.  When Proposition 36 passed despite being solidly opposed by the California political establishment, the response of Gov.  Gray Davis, who had campaigned against it, was: "The people have spoken."

And thank God, because it's in Davis' state that their voices will have the greatest impact since a third of California's inmates are behind bars on drug charges.  Under Proposition 36, up to 36,000 nonviolent drug offenders and parole violators are expected to be put into treatment programs instead.  The initiative earmarks $120 million annually to fund these programs, as well as family counseling and job and literacy training.

With its shift from high-cost imprisonment to low-cost,
high-common-sense treatment, Proposition 36 is estimated to save taxpayers more than $200 million a year -- and an additional half a billion dollars by eliminating the need for new prisons.  As UC Berkeley professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore pointed out, "California has spent more than $5 billion building and expanding more than 23 prisons in the past 20 years, while only one new university has been built from the ground up."

At the same time, voters in Utah and Oregon passed by enormous margins -- 69 and 66 percent, respectively -- initiatives designed to make it harder for police to seize the property of suspected drug offenders. Just as significantly, all proceeds from forfeited assets will now be used to fund drug treatment or public education programs instead of to fill the coffers of law enforcement agencies.  Both measures were backed by people from across the ideological spectrum concerned with property rights, civil rights and racial justice.

And in Nevada and Colorado, voters passed initiatives making marijuana legal for medical use -- joining Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia.

Meanwhile, post-election editorials in papers across the country reflected the public's radical rethinking of the drug war.Newsweek even devoted its election week cover story to "America's Prison Generation," about the 14 million mostly black or Latino Americans who will spend part of their lives behind bars -- the huge increase being largely the result of drug war policies.

As for our two presidents-in-waiting, they have said remarkably little about the drug war -- other than that they plan to get tougher on it. But if either candidate enjoyed the support that drug reform did, he'd be packing boxes now.  The resounding success of drug policy reform initiatives makes it clear that whoever ends up occupying the Oval Office had better change his tune if he intends to do more than pay lip service to honoring the will of the people.

US CA: Column: The War On Drugs And The Will Of The People

URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1739/a07.html
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.uniontrib.com/
Related:   http://www.ariannaonline.com/


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-3)    (Top)

At least a few commentators were sufficiently detached from the wrangling over a failed Presidential Election to notice that November 7 had produced significant changes in the drug policy arena.

The Washington Post's Judy Mann took a pro-reform view; Joe McNamara traced the changes back to Prop 215, and Mark Mauer of the conservative San Diego Union-Tribune did a neat job of summarizing the views held by the sponsors of the successful initiatives.


(1) VOTERS GETTING WISE TO THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

The tide is turning in the public's attitude toward the war on drugs. Successful initiatives in five states show growing support for sensible drug policies such as treatment and rehabilitation that turn addicts into useful members of society as opposed to costly incarceration that doesn't.

[snip]

Momentum for reform is gathering a head of steam now, certainly at the state level.  Members of Congress need to start paying attention. Voters have signaled that they want drug laws reformed to protect civil rights and to promote public health.

In this year's elections, solid majorities in five conservative and liberal western states said very clearly that they want smarter, safer, more effective and more constitutional policies.

Sanity is threatening to make a comeback.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 15 Nov 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:   Judy Mann
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1705/a10.html


(2) CITIZENS QUIETLY REBEL AGAINST DRUG WAR    (Top)

Public Tries New Options as Prosecution Appears to Harm, Not Help, Users

California voters approved a radically different approach this November to dealing with the drug problem.  By a difference of 61 to 39 percent, or by roughly 2 million votes, people backed probation and treatment instead of jail for non-violent crimes of drug possession or drug use.

Contrast that generous margin with the closeness of the presidential election.  Some day, I believe, the passage of Proposition 36 may be compared to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

Those two stunning political reversals seemed to occur overnight, to the bewilderment of most experts.  In retrospect, the collapse of the Soviet bloc was not that sudden.

[snip]

A similar public disenchantment with the drug war could be seen in the 1996 presidential election.  …

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 26 Nov 2000
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   Joseph D.  McNamara, http://www.mapinc.org/mcnamara.htm
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1760/a04.html


(3) DRUG-LAW REFORM CAMPAIGN FLEXES ITS MUSCLES    (Top)

George Soros, the Czech-American billionaire and international financier, has spent about $30 million promoting drug-law reform the past six years.  Ethan Nadelmann, a rabbi's son, former Princeton professor and Soros' top lieutenant, is an eloquent campaigner who insists the war on drugs is an utter failure with dire social consequences.

Cheech and Chong they are not.

[snip]

Zimmerman and Nadelmann resist the "legalizer" label opponents have tried to pin on them.

Rather, their message is that drugs are here to stay in our society and the criminal-justice approach to the drug problem is doomed.

Reducing addiction and abuse through treatment and education is the only sensible solution, they contend.  The country may be ready for that, may even be ready for decriminalization -- but not outright legalization.

"At this point, legalization of recreational drug use would not be approved by voters in any state," said Zimmerman, "so we're not going to waste time with it."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 14 Nov 2000
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Section:   Lifestyle Page: E-1
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.uniontrib.com/
Author:   Mark Sauer; Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1725/a10.html


COMMENT: (4-7)    (Top)

Despite- or perhaps goaded by - such voter sentiment, those running the drug war seem to consider their cause sufficient justification for whatever intrusion into personal freedom or environmental integrity they think might deter drug use.

That attitude has been personified by the actions of the soon-to-depart Drug Czar (although not always by his rhetoric).  Robyn Blumner expressed the hope of many that his replacement will be an improvement.


(4) POLICE SEEK RECORD OF A BOOKSTORE'S PATRONS    (Top)

DENVER, Nov.  22 - In the course of raiding an illegal methamphetamine laboratory in a trailer home last March in the Denver suburb of Thornton, agents of a local drug task force found two books, "Advanced Techniques of Clandestine Psychedelic and Amphetamine Manufacture" by an author named Uncle Fester and "The Construction and Operation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories" by Jack B.  Nimble.

[snip]

But using sales receipts of books to solve a crime has raised concerns among booksellers, publishers and privacy groups, who are watching the case closely for its implications on the First Amendment's rights of free speech and privacy.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Author:   Michael Janofsky
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1741/a04.html


(5) DOPE-SENSITIVE DOGS SNIFF OUT PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS BEFORE THEY START    (Top)

If you could virtually eliminate the threat of drugs, alcohol, explosives and guns from our local public school campuses, would you do it? If you could do it without touching the money intended for educational programs, would that make your decision easier?

[snip]

With all these pluses, how could anyone not want to see the program in our schools? Some have a misplaced view that the dogs are an invasion of privacy, impinging on students' rights.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Author:   Rene Amy
Note:   Rene Amy is a parent - activist and a onetime candidate for the
Pasadena Board of Education.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1742/a08.html


(6) U.S. GROWS KILLER FUNGUS TO FIGHT HEROIN    (Top)

A secret U.S.-funded biological weapon to wipe out the heroin trade is in the final stages of development, raising fears in the scientific community that a monster germ will wreak an "ecological catastrophe." For the past two years, scientists funded by the U.S.  and British governments have been developing a killer fungus that they say destroys the opium poppies that produce the raw material for heroin.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 19 Nov 2000
Source:   New York Post (NY)
Copyright:   2000, N.Y.P.  Holdings, Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://nypostonline.com/
Author:   Niles Lathem
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1722/a05.html


(7) EXITING DRUG CZAR FOUGHT THE WAR ON DRUGS TO NO END OR REASON    (Top)

Having announced he will leave office in January, White House Drug Czar Gen.  Barry McCaffrey is patting himself on the back as he heads for the exit.  Says McCaffrey. "I'm enormously proud of what we've done." Those who have watched his four-year reign can't help but wonder: What would make him so proud? Richard Nixon was proud of bombing Cambodia, but the results were much the same - a lot of death and ruin for not much societal gain.

The drug war today is as hopelessly unwinnable and deeply destructive as it was when the White House Office of National Drug Control was created in 1988.

[snip]

McCaffrey says he's leaving to write a book and possibly go back to college-level teaching.  For those of us looking for a leader with the courage to act sensibly toward the nation's drug problem, we won't be sorry to see this old soldier fade away.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 19 Nov 2000
Source:   St.  Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright:   2000 St.  Petersburg Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sptimes.com/
Section:   Perspective,Page D1
Author:   Robyn Blumner
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1728/a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (8-10)    (Top)

The first trial generated by the year-plus LAPD Rampart Division scandal ended in convictions for three of the four officers charged. Although in many respects a welcome surprise, the result wasn't seen by most as a definitive answer to the department's pervasive long-term problems.


(8) 3 OF 4 OFFICERS CONVICTED IN POLICE CORRUPTION CASE    (Top)

LOS ANGELES, Nov.  15 In the first case to go to trial in a major police corruption scandal here, three of four officers charged with framing gang members and planting evidence were convicted today in State Superior Court.  The guilty verdicts, on charges that included conspiracy to obstruct justice and filing false police reports, were regarded as a resounding success for the embattled district attorney's office.

[snip]

The verdict was also a surprise since prosecutors had lost a string of crucial rulings that had gutted part of their case and prohibited them from introducing important evidence.  …

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 16 Nov 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Author:   James Sterngold
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1709/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


(09) BEYOND THE VERDICT    (Top)

The Real Rampart Scandal Is Citywide

The guilty verdicts against Rampart officers last week were immediately hailed as confirmation that there was indeed a scandal at the LAPD.  In fact, the jury verdicts showed that there are two Rampart scandals.  One centers closely on Rafael Perez, the admitted rogue cop whose sensational confessions launched the scandal in the first place; the other is much broader, and goes beyond the dimensions of the compact inner-city Rampart Division.  The two are quite distinct, and the differences are critical to the continuing, and so far fruitless, efforts to reform the city's police force.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 24 Nov 2000
Source:   LA Weekly (CA)
Copyright:   2000, Los Angeles Weekly, Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.laweekly.com/
Author:   Charles Rappleye
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1750/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


(10) PANEL REBUKES POLICE LEADERS IN LOS ANGELES    (Top)

LOS ANGELES, Nov.  16 -- A panel of experts issued a long-awaited report today on corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department, harshly criticizing what it characterized as the force's dictatorial and detached management and recommending a shift in power from the top officers to the civilian police commission.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Author:   James Sterngold
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1723/a01.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


COMMENT: (11-15)    (Top)

Do record '99 drug seizures by Customs represent victory or defeat for our policy? Hint: Dan Baum's I996 "Smoke and Mirrors" was subtitled "The Politics of Failure."

By the same token, do the recruitment problems facing our police departments suggest: a) a practical limit on drug war expansion, b) D.A.R.E.  ineffectiveness, or c) both?

Muckraking KC Star journalist Karen Dillon reported some important details on how local and federal authorities have cooperated on asset forfeiture from a regional conference of 16 state governments.

Meanwhile, a review of New Jersey records revealed that federal drug policies played a significant role in the racial profiling abuses the state was finally forced to admit and another significant incarceration milestone was passed: 1.2 million inmates (an additional 800,000 languish in jails).


(11) CUSTOMS REPORTS INCREASED DRUG SEIZURES    (Top)

WASHINGTON - Customs inspectors last year seized more heroin, marijuana and other illegal drugs that were attempted to be smuggled into the United States.  A record amount of the hallucinogenic drug "ecstasy" also was confiscated.

The Customs Service, citing statistics it compiled, said yesterday that it seized a total of 1.54 million pounds of illegal drugs in fiscal year 2000, which ended Sept.  30. That marked an 11.6 percent increase over the 1.38 million pounds seized the previous year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Source:   Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright:   2000 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.phillynews.com/
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1717/a01.html


(12) STRUGGLING TO FIND THE NEXT GENERATION    (Top)

Police departments across the nation, struggling to hire tens of thousands of new officers in a tight labor market, are having to wade through a depleted talent pool in which recruits are more likely than ever to have used drugs, to be out of shape and to lie about their pasts.  From New York City to Phoenix, police officials say it's never been more difficult to find promising recruits.

[snip]

But reports from several urban departments … highlight continuing questions about how law enforcement should deal with post-boomer generations of recruits who increasingly are likely to have grown up experimenting not just with marijuana but with more addictive drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 21 Nov 2000
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author:   Kevin Johnson
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1735/a01.html


(13) TO PROTECT AND COLLECT    (Top)

SOUTHERN LAWMAKERS DISCUSS DRUG MONEY FORFEITURE

CORAL GABLES, Fla.  -- The debate over the way police handle drug money they seize became a major focus of lawmakers from 16 southern states who gathered here this weekend.

"This is almost as controversial as the presidential election," said Dana Dembrow, a Maryland lawmaker.  Forfeiture was the subject of one of two main sessions at the four-day winter meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments.

[snip]

The Kansas City Star found police were evading state laws across the country, including in Missouri, by handing off property and cash they seize in drug cases to a federal agency, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The agency keeps a cut, usually 20 percent, and returns the rest to police.  ….

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 20 Nov 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:   Karen Dillon - The Kansas City Star
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1730/a09.html


(14) AN IDEA ABOUT RACE AND A WAR ON DRUGS WENT HAND IN HAND    (Top)

The File On Racial Profiling

Until last year, no governor or State Police superintendent had ever acknowledged racial profiling occurred under his or her watch.  But the documents released yesterday show that over the past 15 years the top ranks of state government whipsawed between zealous attempts to stop drug trafficking and concerns that their tactics were unfair to minorities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 28 Nov 2000
Source:   Star-Ledger (NJ)
Copyright:   2000 Newark Morning Ledger Co.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Author:   Dunstan Mcnichol And Ron Marsico
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1771/a01.html


Pubdate:   Tue, 14 Nov 2000
Source:   Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Copyright:   2000 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/times/
Author:   Mike Martinez, Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1702/a06.html


(15) STATE, FEDERAL PRISON POPULATION PASSES 1.2 MILLION    (Top)

The number of inmates in state and federal prisons hit an all-time high this year, as the prosecution of drug crimes pushed the convict population past the 1.2 million mark, according to a Department of Justice study.

Federal crime initiatives along the Southwest border fueled the increase after Attorney General Janet Reno assigned the highest priority to the prosecution of drug crimes.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 26 Nov 2000
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Author:   Deborah Tedford
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1761/a08.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (16-19)    (Top)

When medical use initiatives first passed in Arizona and California in 1996, it was widely assumed the feds weren't anxious for a Supreme Court test; however, complex maneuvering during the intervening four years has finally produced one.  Ironically, San Mateo County- just across the bay- will begin a federally sanctioned clinical study at about the same time the Oakland CBC case is being reviewed.

Medical use is also a hot issue in other English speaking countries, with Ireland becoming the latest to begin discussions at government levels.

Meanwhile, some of the states with recently passed initiatives are learning that implementation in the face of a resistant state bureaucracy is far from easy.

(16) COURT TACKLES MEDICINAL-POT CASE    (Top)

The U.S.  Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether people who provide marijuana to seriously ill people to ease their misery should be exempt from federal anti-drug laws.  The court accepted a dispute from California, where voters in 1996 adopted a proposition allowing patients to grow and use marijuana for medical needs.  Eight other states have similar laws.  The case could affect patients' access to marijuana nationwide and steer debate over the benefits and harms of using the drug for pain relief and other treatment.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 28 Nov 2000
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author:   Joan Biskupic
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1771/a08.html


(17) MEDICAL POT TO BE STUDIED IN 60 CASES    (Top)

San Mateo Will Monitor Effect On AIDS Patients

San Mateo County will distribute free marijuana to selected AIDS patients early next year as part of a first-of-its-kind study to determine the drug's potential benefits, county officials said yesterday.  The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has agreed to provide government-grown marijuana to 60 patients for a 12-week study that could begin as early as January, said Supervisor Mike Nevin.  San Mateo County officials first proposed the project in 1997, and the DEA signed off on the plan yesterday.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Francisco Chronicle
Page:   A25
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.sfgate.com/select.feedback.html
Website:   http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1743/a09.html


(18) CANNABIS MAY BE LEGALISED AS PAINKILLER    (Top)

PATIENTS with chronic pain may soon be given cannabis to ease their suffering as the Government considers legalising the drug for medicinal purposes.  Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy Eoin Ryan said the Government would consider the initiative after meeting his British counterpart Mo Mowlam in Dublin earlier this week.

Minister Mowlam, who heads the UK Drugs Strategy, said she hoped to have a cannabis prescription system in place by 2003.  A Government backed trial was due to be completed by the end of next year, after which the cannabis based product would go before the British medical regulatory body for approval, she said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 18 Nov 2000
Source:   Irish Examiner (Ireland)
Copyright:   Examiner Publications Ltd, 2000
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.examiner.ie/
Author:   Cormac O'Keeffe
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1724/a06.html


(19) MEDICAL MARIJUANA: LEGISLATURE WADES INTO DICEY ISSUE    (Top)

Many Obstacles To Implementing Law

CARSON CITY -- Oregon medical marijuana advocate Barry Stull figures he knows what will happen when Nevada legislators try to carry out the wishes of voters and devise a way for patients to smoke pot.

"The people opposed to marijuana will try to make it fail, no matter what you do," he said.  "Police have been taught to oppose it. It is going to be a struggle.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 26 Nov 2000
Source:   Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright:   Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2000
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.lvrj.com/
Author:   Ed Vogel
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1760/a05.html



International News


COMMENT: (20-21)    (Top)

Of all the overseas issues involving America's drug war, Plan Colombia is the one uppermost in most peoples' minds; that program quietly lost a major supporter, but its chief architect seemed not to notice.


(20) COLOMBIA AID PACKAGE LOSES A KEY SUPPORTER    (Top)

Congressman Objects to Funding of Military

Rep.  Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has abruptly withdrawn his support from the decision to funnel $1.3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia, arguing that the United States is on the brink of a "major mistake." Gilman, R-N.Y., sent a letter this week to the White House drug policy coordinator, Gen.  Barry McCaffrey, contending that the U.S. plan to increase the role of the Colombian military in the drug fight will end disastrously because the military has undermined its political support with a history of corruption and human rights abuses.  That position echoes other critics of the plan.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 17 Nov 2000
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1732/a09.html


(21) COLOMBIA: MCCAFFREY SEES TOUGH FIGHT IN DRUG WAR    (Top)

Bogota, Colombia - White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey on Monday predicted heavy fighting in an approaching U.S.-backed anti-drug offensive and warned that there would be repercussions for Colombia's neighbors.

But with "vital" U.S.  interests at stake, and insurgents growing stronger through deepening ties to the drug trade, McCaffrey said he saw no alternative to the $1.3 billion effort set to get under way in January.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source:   Spokesman-Review (WA)
Copyright:   2000 Cowles Publishing Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
Note:   Compiled from wire services
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1745/a12.html


COMMENT: (22-24)    (Top)

Canada belatedly discovered serious substance abuse problems among its long-neglected aboriginal population, and also heard an American-style proposal for dealing with welfare recipients; all in the same week.

The Vancouver Sun published a somewhat disorganized ground-level view of Vancouver's festering problems with hard drugs, a view focused alternately on the most visible symptoms and attendant property values rather than on the policies which created the mess in the first place.


(22) NATIVES IN CRACK CRISIS    (Top)

Counsellor Calls Hard Drugs Curse Of A Generation

Gas-sniffing and solvent abuse is rampant on some B.C.  reserves but the new drug of choice for native youth is crack cocaine.

[snip]

Christian, 46, said heroin, solvents and cocaine are the curse of this generation of aboriginal youth, especially because many are already damaged by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or the lesser Fetal Alcohol Effects.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 24 Nov 2000
Source:   Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright:   2000 The Province
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.vancouverprovince.com/
Author:   Suzanne Fournier
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1751/a01.html


(23) FIX: GENTRIVILLE OR POORHAVEN?    (Top)

In the Downtown Eastside, controlling the drug culture is one thing everyone can agree upon.  After that, the fight is on.
Put in a resource centre for drug addicts on Powell Street? Get a dot.com company to set up in the vacant Woodward's building on Hastings Street? Hey, talk like that will get your head bitten off in the notoriously polarized politics of the Downtown Eastside.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 18 Nov 2000
Source:   Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright:   The Vancouver Sun 2000
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.vancouversun.com/
Series:   Searching for solutions: Fix on the Downtown Eastside,
http://www.mapinc.org/thefix.htm
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1746/a10.html


(24) EDITORIAL: GOVERNMENT ON DRUGS    (Top)

The Ontario government should scrap its plan to compel welfare recipients to take drug tests and get treatment.

The government, led by Community and Social Services Minister and Nepean-Carleton MPP John Baird, said yesterday it's holding a "consultation" on mandatory testing and treatment of welfare recipients.  The government will meet with various organizations over the next few weeks, then come up with a final policy.

[snip]

The kind of tough initiative announced yesterday does this government no favours.  It only feeds the public suspicion that the government, at times, simply likes to be mean-spirited.  In announcing the initiative, the government cited the results of drug-treatment programs in half a dozen U.S.  states. The U.S. drug war has been seriously flawed: Ontario needs to look at the entire picture, in context, before importing American drug policies.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 15 Nov 2000
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2000 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1706/a09.html


COMMENT: (25)    (Top)

On the eve of his inauguration, the President-Elect of Mexico took advantage of the attention to twit the US about its role in creating the "demand" side of the equation.  Did he recognize that the critical demand comes from criminal prohibition? Get real.


(25) MEXICO: FOX URGES U.S. TO FACE ITS DRUG HABIT    (Top)

President-Elect Also Set To Push 'NAFTA-Plus'

SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico -- Only days before his historic inauguration as president, Vicente Fox said America should deal with its drug habit and pledged to join the United States and Canada in what he called "NAFTA-plus." In an interview before he takes office Friday, Fox said the United States is too quick to write off Mexico as a corrupt haven for drug smugglers, and too reluctant to look in the mirror.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 27 Nov 2000
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.uniontrib.com/
Author:   Niko Price, Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1764/a07.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Hint:   Searching for News Articles

When you're looking for articles or subjects in the DrugNews Archive at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ and you find a lot of articles try this "quickie" method of finding what you are after:

Simply hold down the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard then touch "F." This will open a "find" window in your browser.  Type in the word you are looking for to page through the headlines containing your word.

Additionally, the "Power Search" feature, http://www.mapinc.org/find preserves your search in case you need to "refine" it.


IOM Report on the Harmful Effects of Marijuana On-line

Please click here http://www.mpp.org/common_q.html to read the Institute of Medicine's assessment of the harmful effects of marijuana.

Please forward widely, and quote from it whenever necessary.  These excerpts from the 1999 report, finally compiled by MPP, should make it quick and easy to refute the drug warriors' claims.

Submitted by Chuck Thomas Marijuana Policy Project


Social Research journal is organizing a conference on Altered States of Consciousness that will be held at New School University in New York City on February 22-24, 2001.

Jonathan Miller, M.D.  - director, physician and author - will deliver the Keynote Address; other discussants include Ethan Nadelmann, Director of The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation; Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Frits Staal, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and South and Southeast Asian Studies at University of California-Berkeley; and A.  Alvarez, Author.

A concluding panel discussion on Alternatives to the War on Drugs will be moderated by Jerome Jaffe, M.D., former Director of the Special Action for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Nixon Administration.

Admission to the conference is $75.00 before January 5, 2001 and $100.00 thereafter.  Full-time students with valid ID are admitted free.

For more information, please contact the Conference Office at 212.229.2488 or

http://www.newschool.edu/centers/socres/altered/


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

Drug Roadblocks Struck Down

A bit after our weekly news cut off but a very interesting and hopeful sign from the Supreme Court.  This is the second such profound development this week after the court agreed to review the medicinal cannabis issue (See item 16 above).

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1780/a03.html


Michele Kubby Testifies There Was No Intent

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1781/a08.html


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Whoever kindles the flames of intolerance in America is lighting a fire underneath his own home." - Harold E.  Stassen, 1947


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