| January 19, 2001 #183 | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Aiding And Abetting Republicans? | ||||||||||||||||
The Republicans never run out of excuses, never run out of reasons you
have to vote for them, never run out of ways to betray you and still
expect you to support them. | ||||||||||||||||
George W. Bush didn't make a single proposal that would make government
smaller, less expensive, less intrusive or less oppressive. But we were
told we had to vote for him; otherwise, Al Gore would destroy Western
Civilization as we know it. | ||||||||||||||||
Let's defend a bad nomination. Now that he's been elected, George Bush
has demonstrated how little he cares about the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights by choosing for his Cabinet Republicans who have long
careers of promoting big government. | ||||||||||||||||
One of the worst choices is John Ashcroft for attorney general. Ashcroft is a drug warrior of the first rank, a man who believes your constitutional liberties must take a back seat to the government's futile effort to stop some other people from taking drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
But the Ashcroft nomination has run into opposition from Democrats and left-wing groups who object to Ashcroft's anti-abortion beliefs, and who say he's a racist because he voted against confirming a black judge. | ||||||||||||||||
So the Republicans ask us to come to Ashcroft's defense -- regardless
of your feelings about him -- in order to support George Bush and
prevent the lefties from intimidating him. | ||||||||||||||||
As columnist Bill Murchison put it, "Because letting Ashcroft down at
this point -- irrespective of his merits, which in fact are
considerable -- would amount to hanging a 'kick me' sign on the
presidential derriere. It wouldn't be the last time someone took him up
on the offer." | ||||||||||||||||
In other words, let's continue the pattern of having an attorney
general who disregards the Constitution -- if it's necessary to ward
off the evil leftists. And while we're at it, let's show George Bush
we'll support his mistakes as strongly as his achievements (if there
ever are any). | ||||||||||||||||
Let's also defend bad laws | ||||||||||||||||
Then there was the aborted Linda Chavez nomination. Chavez was accused
of taking an illegal alien into her home. Once again, we were told we
must circle the wagons and support the Bush selection -- or else the
Democrats will know they can walk all over him. | ||||||||||||||||
In this case the argument was that Chavez was acting as a humanitarian -- helping a battered, homeless woman. Mona Charen has contrasted this situation with the problems Bill Clinton's nominees had in 1993: "Chavez's situation is being compared to that of Zoe Baird, President Clinton's first nominee to head the Justice Department. But Baird was found to have been an abusive employer who was clearly taking advantage of an illegal alien couple. She was paying them a pittance and forcing them to work long hours. She paid no Social Security taxes for them." | ||||||||||||||||
So the Republican Chavez was acting out of good motives; the Democrat
Baird was bad. | ||||||||||||||||
No mention is made, or will be made, of the libertarian principle that
none of this should be the province of government -- that the
government shouldn't decide whom you can take into your home, that the
government shouldn't decide what you must pay someone who works for
you, that the government shouldn't force you to pay taxes into a
fraudulent retirement scheme, that it's no business of the government
what you and a consenting adult agree to. | ||||||||||||||||
Instead, Republicans were defending Linda Chavez by implying that these
governmental intrusions are important, and that Linda Chavez abided by
them faithfully. | ||||||||||||||||
What should you do? So who should you support in these skirmishes? | ||||||||||||||||
Neither. You don't have to join either side. These aren't your battles, so don't get sucked into them. If freedom is your goal, don't be sidetracked by petty disputes between the entrenched parties -- each trying to use anything available to score points off the other. | ||||||||||||||||
Whether or not George Bush wins these initial scuffles, government is going to get bigger, more expensive, more intrusive and more oppressive. | ||||||||||||||||
Save your energy and your emotional involvement to fight for what you
really want -- greater liberty, much smaller government, and a return
to the Constitution -- not for what George Bush, the Republicans, or
the Democrats want. | ||||||||||||||||
Harry Browne was the 2000 Libertarian presidential candidate. More of
his articles can be read at www.HarryBrowne.org | ||||||||||||||||
(c) 2001 www.WorldNetDaily.com | ||||||||||||||||
NOTE: The views above do not necessarily reflect those of DrugSense or
any other organization or individual. | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (1) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Although the media remained focused on the nomination of John Ashcroft
over the long holiday week-end, Dan Forbes' report that a nephew
received no penalty for a major marijuana grow while his uncle was
governor provoked zero interest. | ||||||||||||||||
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(1) ASHCROFT'S NEPHEW GOT PROBATION AFTER MAJOR POT BUST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Although His Arrest For Growing 60 Plants Could Have Landed Him In
Federal Prison, Alex Ashcroft Was Tried In State Court And Avoided Jail
-- Despite His Uncle's Crusade For Tougher Federal Drug Laws And
Mandatory Prison Sentences | ||||||||||||||||
The nephew of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft received
probation after a felony conviction in state court for growing 60
marijuana plants with intent to distribute the drug in 1992 -- a
lenient sentence, given that the charges against him often trigger much
tougher federal penalties and jail time. Ashcroft was the
tough-on-drugs Missouri governor at the time. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (2-5) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In truth, such blackouts have become unusual. More recently,
journalists have been increasingly willing to criticize our drug
policy; witness a Judy Mann column and the accurate analysis filed by
British correspondent Ros Davidson. | ||||||||||||||||
Considering those reviews of recent events, or the two Op-Eds that follow, one might have difficulty understanding why a President-elect claiming to be a healer would ever nominate Ashcroft as AG. | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) SUPPORT GROWS FOR SENSIBLE DRUG POLICIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
There's a dangerous outbreak of common sense occurring, and it is being
fueled by such incendiary organizations as the Cato Institute and the
Lindesmith Center. | ||||||||||||||||
The target is this nation's lunatic, self-destructive war on drugs,
which has trampled the Fourth and Sixth amendments to the Constitution
and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders.
Those fortunate enough not to be shot during searches by paramilitary
police units often have had their property confiscated, even when
police and prosecutors have no proof that they were involved in illegal
drug transactions. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) BATTLE FATIGUE IN WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
For years the USA has taken an ultra-hard line on narcotics and offenders. But now there are signs that the public mood is changing. | ||||||||||||||||
With President-elect George W Bush about to take office, there is no
doubt that America's war on drugs will continue - at least in the short
term. But US drug policy is facing a new battle, not in Mexico or
Colombia, but within its own borders. | ||||||||||||||||
The American people, including some prominent figures, are increasingly
losing their stomach for the country's hard-line drug policy. The
federal government spends $ 19 billion (L13bn) a year, three times as
much as was spent a dozen years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) FAILURE - CALAMITOUS 'DRUG WAR' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TWENTY years ago, 41,000 Americans were in prison on drug charges.
Today, the number is nearly 500,000. | ||||||||||||||||
The national "war on drugs" has cost taxpayers billions, has ruined
many young people and their families - and hasn't reduced U.S. drug
usage a whit. The police blitzkrieg is tinged with racism. Human
Rights Watch says only 13 percent of U.S. drug users are black, but 63
percent of drug offenders sentenced to prison are black. Several
studies have found that police, prosecutors, courts and juries treat
blacks more harshly, giving them cell time while whites get probation
for the same offenses. | ||||||||||||||||
Politicians still love to look stern and tell everyone they're "tough" on drugs. This stance is a sure vote-getter. But is it beneficial to America? Maybe it's time to try a more intelligent approach. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) LIKE DRUG ABUSERS, BY PERSISTING WE HURT OURSELVES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
His Time On The Front Line In America's War On Drugs Convinced David
Klinger That This Costly, Never-Ending Exercise In Futility Is As
Unjust As It Is Impractical. | ||||||||||||||||
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- When I joined the Los Angeles Police Department in
1980, I was a strong supporter of the notion that illegal drugs should
stay that way and that the enforcement of drug laws should be a top
priority. | ||||||||||||||||
But my views quickly changed once I hit the streets. Assigned to the
rugged 77th Street Division in the heart of South-Central, I saw
firsthand the social problems one could find in any community awash in
the trafficking and use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other
controlled substances. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But even if more people do take drugs in the wake of legalization, we
would live in a society where citizens suffer far less from the
predatory crimes spawned by the illicit drug trade. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (6-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Beyond the Ashcroft battle, a temporarily leaderless ONDCP continued
to struggle with meth and club drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Increasing use of the latter was highlighted by a drug flap at the Air
Force Academy and use of federal "crack house" laws to indict rave
promoters in Louisiana. | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) LAWMAKERS PLEDGE ACTION ON METH PROBLEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
It will take a few weeks for details to become clear, but lawmakers who
took part in the Central Valley Methamphetamine Summit are pledging to
introduce legislation to address some of the concerns raised by the
participants. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The summit was organized by the state's two senators, Dianne Feinstein
and Barbara Boxer, and Ceres Rep. Gary Condit and Hanford Rep. Cal
Dooley, all Democrats, partly in response to an investigative report
published Oct. 8 in The McClatchy Co.'s California newspapers,
including The Modesto Bee. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) ACADEMY DRUG WOES EYED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
COLORADO SPRINGS - U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard wants a congressional hearing
to examine whether the drug detection program at the Air Force Academy
is as effective as it should be. | ||||||||||||||||
A drug probe at the Air Force Academy involving as many as 34 cadets
has illuminated some concerns, said Allard, R-Colo. | ||||||||||||||||
"There's some questions that have been brought up in the drug investigation as to how effective the drug-detection program is," Allard, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||
An academy investigation that began in October has widened to include
34 cadets who have been either implicated in or questioned about the
use and distribution of the increasingly popular drug Ecstasy and of
illegal body-building drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) AWASH IN ECSTASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Club Drug From Overseas Increasingly Found In Local Schools It takes
two minutes to find a student on a Long Island high-school campus who
knows all about ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
Ten minutes and a promise of anonymity can lead to a teenage user who
can flip open a cell phone and get the illegal pills as easily as
ordering a pizza. "If you can get pot, you can get E," one Cold Spring
Harbor athlete said. "Weed and X go well together, like milk and
cookies," said a student at SUNY-Stony Brook. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) 'RAVE' PARTY ORGANIZERS INDICTED UNDER FEDERAL DRUG LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of Louisiana and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced
the indictment Friday of three "rave" party organizers, marking the
first time the federal "crack house" law has been used for prosecuting
organizers of such events. | ||||||||||||||||
"Raves" are large dance parties often associated with the drug MDMA,
commonly called ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Finally, from Britain, a disturbing report on the Bush approach to
addiction management which has received little or no notice in the
American press. Is this British hyperbole or something to take
seriously? | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) PICK UP THY SYRINGE AND WALK, SINNER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
On Bush's Faith Drive | ||||||||||||||||
Ask what George W Bush did as governor of Texas and most Britons would
say that he was a serial executioner and what he himself calls a "purty
good delegator" (in Bush-speak, the word rhymes with "alligator"). He
let other guys do the hard work so he could concentrate on his
afternoon game of electronic golf. | ||||||||||||||||
In fact, as his campaign website proclaims, George W's proudest
gubernatorial accomplishment was to make "faith-based action" the
corner stone of his state's welfare programme. The "Texas experiment"
offers a chilling insight into what "compassionate conservatism" will
mean over the next four years for 40m Americans with substance-abuse
problems. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Addiction rates among the young are at epidemic levels. But many
liberal observers believe that the faith-based movement is out of
control in Texas. Historically it fills the vacuum left by the end of
the cold war. We beat the Kremlin; now for the Devil. | ||||||||||||||||
Bush (with Olasky at his ear) intends to spread the Texas initiative nationwide. As president, he vowed, he would establish an "Office of Faith-Based Action" in Washington. And when he does, God help America. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons COMMENT: (11-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Three items illustrate an old axiom: "the more things change, the more
they stay the same:" | ||||||||||||||||
Despite recent furor over profiling, a new study shows it's more likely than ever that a black driver will be stopped in New Jersey. | ||||||||||||||||
The town of Tulia still denies that conviction of 16% of the town's tiny black minority on charges of drug dealing was racially motivated. | ||||||||||||||||
The long awaited Modesto police report on how an eleven year-old was
fatally shot during a drug raid came to no useful conclusions (the
officer was not charged or disciplined). | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) TROOPER STOPS ARE STILL SKEWED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Black drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike are almost twice as likely to
be pulled over by state troopers as white, Hispanic or Asian motorists,
according to statistics released yesterday by the state attorney
general. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The findings renewed charges that troopers continue to target
minorities, nearly two years after the state admitted racial profiling
exists and began sweeping reforms. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) PANHANDLE TOWN'S DRUG WAR REVEALS RACIAL DISPARITY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TULIA -- Cotton is scattered on the side of the road like abandoned
snowflakes. Granaries decorate the flat landscape. A street sign points
toward a Texas Department of Corrections facility. Welcome to Tulia,
in the Texas Panhandle. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In July 1999, 40 African Americans -- or 16 percent of the African
American population of this town of about 5,000 -- were arrested by an
undercover officer with a regional drug task force. Tom Coleman had
neither wiretap nor video surveillance to back up the allegations
against the defendants. And no money, guns or drugs were confiscated
during the arrests. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
This question deserves an answer: How could a town of 5,000 support 43
drug dealers of any race? | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) MODESTO POLICE CALL SHOOTING MYSTERY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The September police-shooting death of an 11-year-old boy in Modesto
during a drug raid was an accident, but exactly how it happened is
unknown, the Modesto Police Department said Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||
The announcement came after three separate investigations -- two by the
Police Department and one by the city attorney's office, Detective Doug
Ridenour said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (14-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The following reports- from 3 different parts of the country- are
united by a common thread: seizures of twenty kilos or more of
cocaine. Isn't that a lot for an industry being punished by a
"successful" drug war to risk shipping all at once? | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) HUGE COCAINE SHIPMENT SEIZED IN SUMMIT COUNTY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Jan. 12, 2001 - A state trooper who pulled over a pickup truck for
minor traffic violations near Frisco on Wednesday stumbled on to one of
the largest cocaine busts in Colorado history. | ||||||||||||||||
The discovery of about 70 pounds of cocaine - worth an estimated $4
million - in a hidden compartment in the truck bed led to the arrests
of driver Jose Granados, 32, of Gainesville, Ga., and passenger Ramon
Aburto, 31, of Oakwood, Ga. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) DRIVER'S COCAINE HAUL: $23 MILLION, POLICE SAY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Police said Friday they have confiscated an estimated $23 million worth
of pure cocaine in what is believed to be the largest drug seizure in
Oakland County history. | ||||||||||||||||
A Colombian national, Cesar Augusto Valasquez, 50, a Miami resident who had been staying at a Southfield motel, was arrested Thursday morning after a traffic stop by Farmington Hills police. The cocaine -- 46 kilos wrapped in green tinted cellophane -- was in the back of his Volvo station wagon, police said. It weighed more than 100 pounds. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) TOP POLICE AGENCY LOSES 24 KILOS OF COCAINE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Guard Broke Into New Facility's 'theft-Proof' Evidence Vault With Coat
Hanger | ||||||||||||||||
A security guard at the new, ultra-modern Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation headquarters used a wire coat hanger to steal 22 kilos of
cocaine seized by the Tennessee Highway Patrol as evidence in a Dickson
County, Tenn., narcotics case, according to high-ranking Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation officials. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (17-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Another troubling issue- intrusion of law enforcement into the
delivery suite- was also received attention last week. | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) ADDICTED MOTHER RECEIVES 4 YEARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Newborn Tested Positive For Drugs | ||||||||||||||||
HAYWARD -- Joellen Flauta, the 24-year-old drug-addicted mother whose
story cast a spotlight on problems at the Probation Department, has run
out of second chances. | ||||||||||||||||
Unswayed after a passionate plea for leniency by her defense attorney,
Judge Joseph Hurley said Tuesday he would sentence Flauta to four years
in state prison for violating her probation by giving birth to a child
last fall who tested positive for drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) BABY DRUG CASE ENDS IN MISTRIAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CONWAY - The trial of a mother accused of killing her unborn baby with
crack cocaine was declared a mistrial Friday after two jurors admitted
they researched the case on the Internet, said Circuit Court Judge
James E. Brogdon Jr. | ||||||||||||||||
Regina D. McKnight, 23, was charged with homicide by child abuse and
distribution of crack cocaine after she gave birth to a stillborn
35-week-old fetus in May. | ||||||||||||||||
McKnight could receive life in prison if convicted. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
State prosecutor Bert von Herrmann said he plans to retry the case.
"The state alleges and feels like she has killed her child," he said.
"We are not concerned with setting policy for the state. We have a
child that is dead here and that is most important." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
What is happening in Nevada demonstrates a major problem with initiatives: implementation often depends on a fundamentally hostile bureaucracy; one fully capable of subverting the new law. | ||||||||||||||||
That subversion may take various forms; the medical use initiative
passed in California was actively obstructed by the first AG (Dan
Lungren) entrusted with it and has been woefully neglected by the
second (Bill Lockyer). | ||||||||||||||||
In Illinois, the legislature ignored the warnings ONDCP and the state
police in approving a bill to study hemp. | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) SUBVERTING THE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Dan Hart, director of the medical marijuana advocacy group Nevadans
for Medical Rights, is upset. And justifiably so. | ||||||||||||||||
Nearly two-thirds of the state's voters backed a November initiative
that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana as a means of
relieving pain or wasting syndrome in seriously ill patients. Yet Mr.
Hart makes a credible claim that Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa
is attempting to subvert the will of Nevada voters ... and deep-six
the medical marijuana measure entirely. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) ATTORNEY GENERAL SIDESTEPS POT ISSUE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Lockyer's Speech At Democratic Fund-raiser In Ukiah Stresses Civil
Rights Record, Not Marijuana Bill | ||||||||||||||||
UKIAH -- State Attorney General Bill Lockyer touted his civil rights efforts but said little about the controversial North Coast issue of legalizing marijuana during his visit Sunday to Ukiah for a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration and a Democratic Party fund-raiser. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In only a few sentences at the fund-raiser, Lockyer summarized his support for the state medical marijuana law. Then he moved on to other topics, such as the environment, elder abuse and crime prevention. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) SETTING ASIDE DRUG WARNINGS, LAWMAKERS VOTE TO STUDY HEMP'S USES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
SPRINGFIELD -- Setting aside warnings that they might encourage drug
use, state lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve a study of industrial
hemp and its potential as a crop for Illinois farmers. The legislation
calls on the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University to
study how well hemp -- a close cousin of marijuana -- grows in Illinois
and whether it could become a profitable crop. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The governor has not taken a position on the study and will review the
legislation when it reaches his desk, a spokesman said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News COMMENT: (22-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Canadian Dan Gardner has the drug war's number; his essay on Colombia
in the Chicago Sun-Times is the best deconstruction of our Colombian
folly yet published in the American press. | ||||||||||||||||
More directly related to Canada: the heroin overdose death of a
respected police officer is now resonating nationally; fortunately,
the more reasonable of the two responses cited here last week is
winning out. | ||||||||||||||||
The overlap of production sites, smuggling routes, and end-consumers
should have made entrance of Israelis in the diamond trade into
ecstasy smuggling readily predictable. | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) COLOMBIA COLLAPSING UNDER DRUG WAR FIASCO (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA--They are dark memories now, but in the 1980s and early 1990s, Colombia's drug lords loomed large in North American nightmares. Pablo Escobar, the ruthless chief of the Medellin cartel, was the most infamous of all, the personification of the cocaine plague. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Ultimately, with much bloodshed and sacrifice, Colombia defeated Escobar. Then the other great Colombian trafficking ring, the Cali cartel, was taken down. These were the War on Drugs' greatest victories. Yet today, just a few years after these triumphs, Colombia is suffering political turmoil, economic free-fall, epidemic violence and massive corruption, all while producing and shipping more drugs than Escobar could have imagined in his greediest dreams. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.mapinc.org/gardner.htm | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) THE WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS A TACTICAL SHOT IN THE ARM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The war on drugs makes many casualties. Most who are wounded or die
suffer their fate in anonymity. An exception: Constable Barry Schneider
of the RCMP. When he died at home in Courtenay, B.C., on Nov. 29, it
was first assumed that he died of a heart attack. He was considered a
model citizen and more than 500 people attended his funeral. Then, last
week, it was revealed that he died of a heroin overdose, and had traces
of cocaine in his system. | ||||||||||||||||
Suddenly, Constable Schneider's death was national news. He was not
only a Mountie, but the local program co-ordinator for Drug Abuse
Resistance Education. His work was to warn the community, and young
people in particular, of the dangers of illicit drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) THE ISRAELI CONNECTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Smuggling Ecstasy The Hot New Industry | ||||||||||||||||
JERUSALEM -Taking advantage of age-old diamond-smuggling routes, groups of Israeli criminals have become dominant in the illegal international trade of a newer commodity: the drug ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
From Tel Aviv to Antwerp and Amsterdam, to New York and Miami, Israeli smugglers have gained particular prominence within the growing ecstasy trade thanks to their familiarity with the route, the techniques for smuggling small objects and the tight communities that Israeli criminals tend to form in Israel and overseas, according to Israeli, Dutch and American law-enforcement officials and convicted Israeli ecstasy smugglers. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(25) COULD ASHCROFT ROLL BACK DRUG POLICY REFORM? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The pending confirmation of John Ashcroft as the Bush administration's
attorney general is worrying to those on the front lines of the battle
against drug addiction. | ||||||||||||||||
Advocates of programs like drug courts, which emphasize treatment rather
than incarceration for drug offenses, are reviewing past statements by
the former Missouri senator, who has often taken a hard line on drug
policy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(26) MISSOURI COPS SAID ASHCROFT AGREED TO "LOOK THE OTHER WAY" ON FORFEITURE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Two Missouri police officials quoted then governor John Ashcroft as having
told them he'd "'look the other way'" should they ignore an upcoming
Missouri State Supreme Court ruling that might direct asset forfeiture
monies to be distributed to local school boards in accordance with the
state constitution. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(27) ASHCROFT, KENNEDY, RENO AND RACIAL JUSTICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Since I'm convinced that no policies under the purview of the Justice
Department will have a deeper impact on African Americans than how we
conduct the war on drugs, what most troubles me about Ashcroft's
nomination is his medieval perspective on our disastrous drug policies
and his willful blindness to their consequences. After all, among his
official duties as the country's chief law enforcement officer would be
overseeing the Drug Enforcement Agency. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(28) THE REAL ENEMY IN THE DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In his confirmation hearing, Rumsfeld, the next secretary of defense, said combating illicit drugs is "overwhelmingly a demand problem," and added: "If demand persists, it's going to get what it wants. And if it isn't from Colombia, it's going to be from someplace else." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DRCNet announces a new web site www.StopJohnAshcroft.org | ||||||||||||||||
A Stop John Ashcroft web site - http://www.StopJohnAshcroft.org/ - has
been created by DRCNet. This site will let you send e-mail or faxes to
your Senators, and also provide phone and office location information
in some of the states. There's also a tell-a-friend form for spreading
the word. These next few days are critical in this effort, so please
take action if you haven't already! | ||||||||||||||||
NOTE: DrugSense takes no position on political candidates or legislation. The information provided above is passed along as a public service only. | ||||||||||||||||
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Alan Bock's New Book "Waiting to Inhale" Available | ||||||||||||||||
Alan Bock, an editor at the Orange County Register, who has been very sensible about drug policy reform issues, has written a book about Proposition 215 and its implementation. As he mentions in the fourth paragraph in the post below, he is hoping the reform community will get behind this book -- sell it on their web sites, mention it in their newsletters and get the word out about the book in other ways. | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0929765826/familywatch | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
After Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century
/ edited by Timothy Lynch; foreword by Milton Friedman. -- Cato Institute
(2000/193pp.) , ISBN 1-882577-94-9 | ||||||||||||||||
"You cannot read this book without recognizing the social tragedy that
has resulted from the attempt to prohibit people from ingesting an
arbitrary list of substances designated 'illegal drugs.' . . . Not since
the collapse of the attempt to prohibit the ingestion of alcohol has our
liberty been in such danger as it now is from the misnamed 'war on drugs.'"
- Milton Friedman | ||||||||||||||||
http://cato.org/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=afterprohibition.html | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"The laws of economics tell us that the expansion of the central state
can't go on forever. Its limit is reached when the looted turn on the
looters. And that's beginning to happen. More than six decades of hard
work for American liberty beginning with the Old Right opposition to the
Roosevelt Revolution and continuing with the Mises Institute, is
beginning to bear fruit." -- Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. | ||||||||||||||||
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