| May 25, 2001 #201 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||||||
NOTE TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS: Since DrugSense staff will be attending the
Drug Policies For The New Millennium Conference in New Mexico next
week, the DrugSense Weekly will be on hiatus for the issue of 6/1/01.
Look for your next issue the following week 6/8/01. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) COLUMN: THE LEGAL JAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
It is a big confusing sprawl of a system, but there are those who love
it, and it takes lifelong love for our system, after weighing the
Supreme Court's decision. The anomalies knock you down, but there is
still light ... | ||||||||||||||||||
We have, in California, the principal exfoliate of United States v.
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, No 00-151. It is this. If you
grow marijuana in California, you can't be arrested by state troopers,
but you can be arrested by federal agents. | ||||||||||||||||||
Proposition 215, which carried California by plebiscitary vote in 1996,
authorized marijuana under medical prescription. The Ninth Circuit
Court then handed down a decision denying the right to prosecutors to
pull in marijuana distributors whose clients were patients of doctors
who authorized marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, which wasn't endorsed by three of the justices, who wrote their own concurring opinion. The reason for their disagreement was Justice Thomas's insistence that marijuana has no unique medical purpose. This statement is dumbfoundingly outrageous to anyone who knows from personal experience that the drug gives unique relief to some sufferers. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) US SC: OPED: IN AMERICA - STILLBORN JUSTICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Two years ago Regina McKnight of Conway, S.C., was 22 years old, homeless, addicted to cocaine, possibly mentally handicapped, and pregnant. When she gave birth on May 15, 1999, the infant was stillborn. | ||||||||||||||||||
Here's how South Carolina, a state with a long history of backwardness,
dealt with this tragedy: Regina McKnight was convicted of homicide and
sentenced to 12 years in prison. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Ms. McKnight's was the first case of homicide by child abuse to be
brought before a jury. Other cases have ended with plea bargains. Greg
Hembree, the prosecutor whose office handled the McKnight case, said he
wanted to show the public -- and "particularly those women who were
addicted who may get pregnant" -- that "there's some consequences for
your actions." | ||||||||||||||||||
He said, "If you kill a child by showing extreme indifference to human
life then you're guilty of homicide by child abuse, just like the guy
who's guilty of murder." | ||||||||||||||||||
In South Carolina, the authorities have trouble distinguishing between
a woman who experiences a stillbirth and John Gotti. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) PUB LTE: WRONG MESSAGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Palo Alto, Calif. -- Our daughter's Sunday school teacher, a close family friend, contracted HIV through a blood transfusion in 1982. Diagnosed more than a decade later, AIDS eventually caught up with her. The side effects of the medications she took forced her to stop teaching. She couldn't eat and was being fed through a tube. She wasted away and looked like a skeleton. After visiting her, my daughter had nightmares. | ||||||||||||||||||
In January of 1997, California's Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215,
went into effect, and we encouraged our friend to try cannabis because she
clearly qualified for its use. As a Sunday school teacher, she thought it
would send the wrong message to her students. We finally convinced her to
try it in private. Within weeks she was eating voraciously. She was out
enjoying herself. She returned to the classroom. | ||||||||||||||||||
This unique medicine gave our friend two more years of life. In May of
1999, our friend died from a ruptured pancreas, a result of the highly
toxic AIDS medications she took. | ||||||||||||||||||
My daughter fully understands that Congress has made possession of marijuana a federal crime. I recently asked her whether the mixed messages confused her and how she could reconcile the government's stance with her own direct experience. "No, I'm not confused," she said. "They're just stupid." | ||||||||||||||||||
My daughter sees through the government's stubborn refusal to admit to marijuana's obvious medical benefit and the misinformation campaign used to support that position. And that sends the wrong message to my kid. | ||||||||||||||||||
Jane Marcus | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) US NV: MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL RECEIVES APPROVAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Defying the U.S. Supreme Court and asserting its rights as a state, the Assembly voted 30 to 12 to pass a bill that would allow patients with doctors' permission to use marijuana for medical purposes. | ||||||||||||||||||
Members approved Assembly Bill 453 that would set up a system under which registered patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and other illnesses could grow as many as seven marijuana plants in their homes. | ||||||||||||||||||
The bill also changes a state law under which it is a felony to possess any amount of marijuana. Under the bill, those caught with an ounce or less of marijuana could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a $600 fine. They would be ordered into a drug treatment program if convicted a second time for marijuana possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Not all the media attention directed at the drug war last week was
provoked by the Supreme Court: Philip Harvey assailed our policy's
intellectual basis, while David Boaz focused on the many failures of
interdiction. | ||||||||||||||||||
Although Heber Taylor (Galveston News), Arianna Huffington, and the LA Times were quite skeptical that drug czar nominee Walters could ever overcome his past, Ethan Nadelmann hoped for a miracle. | ||||||||||||||||||
Treatment remains "in", even traditional sources supporting the Walters
appointment - the Union-Tribune, for example - felt obligated to
genuflect in its general direction. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Houston Chronicle may have offered the most appropriate opinion on the rhetorical gap between Bush and his appointees: time will tell. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) TIME TO REDIRECT THE WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- The deaths of a missionary and her child over Peru last
month serve as a brutal reminder that the war on drugs is a shooting
war. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Viewed objectively, our choice of drugs to outlaw has been arbitrary.
This is most vividly illustrated by making illegal one of the most
benign pharmacological substances ever discovered (marijuana), while
imposing virtually no strictures on the sale of a substance which kills
several hundred thousand of us every year (tobacco). | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) THE HYDRA-HEADED DRUG BUSINESS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
There's No Killing It | ||||||||||||||||||
At last we've turned the corner in the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
A Coast Guard crew has seized more than 13 tons of cocaine in what
authorities are calling "the largest cocaine seizure in U.S. maritime
history." | ||||||||||||||||||
But careful news watchers have heard those words before. Back in 1998 Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin announced more than 100 indictments and the seizure of some $150 million from Mexican banks, representing a successful conclusion to "the largest, most comprehensive drug money laundering case in history." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Around the world, drug enforcers face what Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center calls the "push-down/pop-up factor": push down drug production in one country, and it will pop up in another.... | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) NEW DRUG CZAR WITH OLD IDEAS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
On taking office, John P. Walters, the new drug czar, said: "Our
country has made great progress in the past in reducing drug use, and
we will do it again." | ||||||||||||||||||
It's a memorable line. | ||||||||||||||||||
It ranks up there with Major Gen. John Sedgwick's remark, meant to
reassure nervous troops, that a sharpshooter "couldn't hit an elephant
at this range." | ||||||||||||||||||
The unfortunate general uttered those words just before the fatal shot
hit home. | ||||||||||||||||||
The problem with Walters' remark is that our country has not made great progress in the past. It has been no more successful at winning the war on drugs than Gen. Sedgwick was at warding off sharpshooters' bullets. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) TWO-FACED POLICY ON THE DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Czar Isn't Listening To What The President Is Saying | ||||||||||||||||||
When George W. Bush introduced John Walters as his new drug czar last
week, it was the strangest example of being of two minds since Ray
Milland and Rosie Grier shared the same torso in "The Thing With Two
Heads." | ||||||||||||||||||
Talk about your mixed messages. There was the president, making a huge
shift in national drug policy by pledging to close the nation's massive
"treatment gap" while announcing the appointment of a man who is on
record deriding the idea that "we need to embrace treatment." Silly me,
I always thought presidents were supposed to appoint people to their
Cabinet who, at least roughly, agree with them. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) BAFFLING DRUG CZAR CHOICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
President Bush's drug czar nominee once told Congress that it should yank all prescription privileges from doctors who recommend medical marijuana for their patients. Monday's Supreme Court ruling, barring doctors from prescribing medical marijuana, would give him authority to act on his convictions. We can only hope that John P. Walters has become less extreme since he voiced his hard-line views to Congress in 1996, when he was a mere Republican drug policy consultant. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Bush's decision to appoint Walters to the nation's top anti-drug post
is baffling given the president's clear understanding that the nation's
drug problem can best be solved by reducing demand at home, not by
eradicating supply from abroad. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) CHANGE OF TUNE ON DRUG POLICY? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Is there any chance that President Bush could pull a "Nixon goes to
China" on drug policy? Don't laugh. It's possible. | ||||||||||||||||||
On Monday, when the Supreme Court ruled against the medical marijuana
buyers' clubs, Justice John Paul Stevens noted that candidate Bush had
supported state self-determination on medical marijuana use. And last
January, Bush said: "I think a lot of people are coming to the
realization that maybe long minimum sentences for first-time users may
not be the best way to occupy jail space and/or heal people from their
disease." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) NO SURRENDER - TRY HARDER AGAINST DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The tempest over President Bush's nomination of John P. Walters as the
new drug "czar" is obscuring a larger, and reassuring, reality.
Whatever Walters' past reservations about drug treatment as a component
strategy in the so-called drug war, the Bush administration is already
committed to a balanced national drug policy that includes more, not
less, drug treatment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) ENDLESS WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
MIDDLE GROUND BETWEEN DRUG LEGALIZATION AND PRISON | ||||||||||||||||||
The recent movie Traffic was total fiction, but its themes were rooted
in reality: The endless war on drugs takes a tremendous toll on
American lives and treasure, not to mention the tragedy taking place in
Latin America, and compassion and treatment often are more soothing
balms for those in the throes of addiction than prosecution and
imprisonment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The disjunction between President Bush's announced policies and the
views of his appointee will not long survive. Either Walters will work
to put the president's stated ideas into effect, or Bush will learn to
see things Walters' way. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (13-14) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Two heroin-related items are of interest, especially when considered against recent claims of drug war success: surveys show white suburban use is increasing and long term follow up of those coerced into treatment twenty-five years ago is disappointing, to say the least. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) HEROIN USE EXPANDING IN SUBURBS, STUDY SHOWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
ATLANTA -- A study suggests that heroin, a longtime scourge of America's
inner cities, is becoming a suburban and rural problem. | ||||||||||||||||||
The number of city-dwelling heroin users treated each year in New
Jersey dropped by half during the 1990s, while the number treated from
suburban and rural areas nearly tripled, the government reported
Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Analysts said people in outlying areas may be less aware than city dwellers of diseases linked to heroin use, such as AIDS mid hepatitis. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) FOR USERS OF HEROIN, DECADES OF DESPAIR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Before you know it, life just passed you up," the man said. "You lose
everything. You lose your wife, you lose your family, you lose your
friends." | ||||||||||||||||||
"But after seeing you go back and forth to jail over 10, 15, 20 years,"
he added, "they just give up on you." | ||||||||||||||||||
He was speaking of his personal war with heroin addiction, a demon he
had battled for decades. And like the aging addicts described in a
study appearing this month in The Archives of General Psychiatry, the
man, in late middle-age, was intimately familiar with the addiction's
physical and social costs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Of the 581 men in the original study, the researchers found, 284 had
died, 21.6 percent from drug overdoses or from poisonings by
adulterants added to the drug. Another 38.6 percent died from cancer
or from heart or liver disease. Three died of AIDS. Homicides,
suicides or accidents killed 55 of them. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yet as disturbing as these numbers were - the death rates were higher, by several orders of magnitude than those for the general population - the struggles of the men who were still living were equally troubling. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Two disturbing state reports shed additional light on profiling:
calling attention to the practice hasn't stopped it. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) RACIAL PROFILING IN MARYLAND DEFIES DEFINITION -- OR SOLUTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Last year, Maryland state troopers searched 533 cars on Interstate 95. More than half of the drivers were black. Ten percent were Hispanic. In all, 63 percent of drivers forced out of their cars were minorities. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and more
than 140 minority drivers who claim in two separate lawsuits to be
victims of racial profiling by the Maryland State Police look at the
numbers and see clear evidence of racial bias. Police officials look at
the same numbers and see nothing wrong. | ||||||||||||||||||
Six years after the ACLU forced the Maryland State Police to become the
first major police agency in the country to collect data on highway
traffic stops, two things are clear: Maryland troopers continue to stop
and search minority drivers at rates far higher than their numbers on
the highway can explain. And the two sides are at a virtual impasse
about where to go from here. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) MINORITY STOPS SHOW DISPARITY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
More Blacks, Hispanics Pulled Over In Overwhelmingly White Counties | ||||||||||||||||||
More than one-third of those stopped in 11 counties heavily patrolled
by an OHP drug interdiction unit were black or Hispanic, despite the
fact that populations in those areas are overwhelmingly white,
records show. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (17-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The good news: Missouri (where the KC Star's Karen Dillon had revealed
the practice) became the first state to keep local police from
diverting forfeited funds away from schools. | ||||||||||||||||||
The bad news: South Carolina (where else?) became the first state to convict a woman of homicide for having a stillborn after using drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(17) GOVERNOR SIGNS FORFEITURE MEASURE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri became a national leader in reigning in
the ability of local law enforcement agencies to profit from seizing
property by using federal procedures under a bill signed into law
Thursday by Gov. Bob Holden. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Under the state Constitution, cash or property seized by police in
connection to a criminal enterprise is supposed to go into a state fund
for education. However, many local law enforcement agencies call in
federal authorities, usually Drug Enforcement Administration agents, to
assist in the seizure. The federal drug agency takes a 20 percent cut
of the proceeds and returns the rest to the local agency, leaving
education with nothing. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) CRACK USER SENTENCED IN FETUS' DEATH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
CONWAY, S.C.--A woman was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to 12 years
in prison for killing her unborn child by using crack cocaine during
her pregnancy. | ||||||||||||||||||
The verdict marks the first time that anyone in the United States has
been found guilty of homicide for taking drugs during pregnancy, said
an advocate for the defendant, Regina McKnight. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Although few events have provoked as much criticism of the WOD as the
Supreme Court's rejection of medical cannabis, few of the many
commentators demonstrated much understanding of the issues and fewer
yet got the nuances right. | ||||||||||||||||||
One who did was Stewart Taylor, who ended up with Ethan Nadelmann's
Nixon to China analogy (10). | ||||||||||||||||||
An interesting opinion was heard from a man who dislikes cannabis, yet thinks quite logically: the Providence Journal's Philip Terzian. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Keene Sentinel voiced the most common emotional reaction to the Supremes; thus turning a reform "setback" into a major PR victory. | ||||||||||||||||||
The residual problem: convincing Congress to change current law, was
the "solution" proposed by the Everett Herald - and many others; fat
chance. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND THE FOLLY OF THE DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Supreme Court delivered a timely reminder of the social costs of
our "war on drugs" with its May 14 decision rejecting a | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, President Bush has moved toward abandoning his own best
instincts and repeating his predecessors' mistakes by endlessly
escalating a $20 billion-a-year "war" that -- as most Americans now
understand -- we have lost. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
.....harms inflicted on America by the drug war -- especially in black | ||||||||||||||||||
Nixon went to China. Bush should go to a commonsense drug policy that
might actually work. It's not too late. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) WAITING TO INHALE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
I am perfectly happy to accept the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling
that illness is no defense against federal prosecution for consuming
marijuana.... | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In a free society, you shouldn't need arguments to make something legal, but instead, demand good reasons to make it illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||
Congress and the Supreme Court have both determined that marijuana has no medical properties. Fair enough. But neither do gin, sex, tobacco or chocolate, all of which can lead to excess and disaster. | ||||||||||||||||||
The drug war has failed not because drugs are irresistibly attractive,
or efforts to indoctrinate the young are doomed to fail. It is,
instead, a peculiar double standard that has earned a certain cynicism
and contempt. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(21) THE SUPREME COURT RULES ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Except in the matter of late-term abortions, most members of Congress don't often presume to practice medicine. But this week the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that they may do so if they please. The court determined that a congressional decision, made back during the Nixon administration, prohibits anyone from possessing or distributing marijuana, even if the drug is intended to relieve the terrible pain and nausea associated with treatment for cancer and AIDS. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(22) CONGRESS OUGHT TO ALLOW MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Supreme Court sent a message Monday to everyone who cares
about pain relief for the seriously ill: get to work. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
If Americans want a more compassionate approach to the medical use of
marijuana, Hawaii provides the example of what must be done at the
federal level. Congress and President Bush must be convinced to change
the law. As Justice Clarence Thomas pointed out in the court's
unanimous ruling, it's the job of Congress, not the court system, to
make the laws. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (23-25) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Long under U.S. pressure to keep cannabis illegal, Canada has been
pushed by both recent court decisions and public opinion to reconsider
the issue; debate began in the Commons last week with several leading
dailies voicing approval of Dutch-style decriminalization -- at least
in principle. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(23) MPS SET TO DEBATE LEGALIZING MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Ottawa - MPs quietly launched a debate Thursday that could lead to the decriminalization of currently illegal drugs such as marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
All five parties in the House of Commons unanimously backed a motion to
create a committee with a broad-ranging mandate to study solutions to
the use of banned narcotics. | ||||||||||||||||||
Members from at least three parties said Thursday that they see the
committee as a forum to discuss the once-taboo topic of legalizing
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(24) POT AND THE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
...Let's sketch out the framework for the impending debate: | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Do current laws serve the interests of society? Is there any justice in turning thousands of otherwise law-abiding Canadians into criminals over a relatively minor issue like smoking a bit of pot? | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Does prohibition work in reducing crime? Or does it create a ready-made
market, enriching motorcycle gangs and others engaged in the elicit
production and sale of a banned substance? | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Does society have any business peering into the rec rooms of the
country to catch people smoking a little pot? | ||||||||||||||||||
Would a radical change in Canada's drug laws sit well with our
neighbours to the south. Surely, the U.S. would have something to say
about the risks of increased cross-border trafficking from a country
where pot is legalized. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(25) MARIJUANA MOVES ONTO THE AGENDA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
...we now have decades of experience with widespread marijuana use. Is | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (26-27) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Elsewhere in the world, Colin Powell initiated a relatively unheralded supplement to Plan Colombia which, while advertised as non-military aid to Colombia's neighbors, also beefs up their militaries. | ||||||||||||||||||
In another foreign policy exercise, the U.S. quietly became chief
sponsor of Afghanistan's repressive Taliban - all in the cause of
fighting drugs, of course. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yeah, whatever. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(26) WHAT AFTER PLAN COLOMBIA? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A first glance at the Bush administration's Andean Regional Initiative
unveiled Wednesday suggests a welcome decrease in military assistance
to Colombia, in favor of "softer" solutions to drug trafficking, such
as the crop substitution and economic development efforts suggested by
critics. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
But there are also some serious questions about the Bush initiative.
While Plan Colombia was a two-year supplemental appropriation, Bush's
funding proposals are neatly folded into the regular annual
appropriation process. | ||||||||||||||||||
Does that signal the beginning of a prolonged U.S. military involvement
in the region? | ||||||||||||||||||
And although soft programs do get a boost, all the countries involved,
except Colombia, also would get whopping hikes in American military
aid. Indeed, an analysis by the Center for International Policy in
Washington, D.C. shows that the decrease in weapons aid to Colombia is
offset almost dollar-for-dollar by increases in military aid to
surrounding nations. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(27) BUSH'S FAUSTIAN DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy
every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush
administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up
as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this
nation still takes seriously. | ||||||||||||||||||
That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the
Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American
violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last
Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other
recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards
that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the
will of God. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug Policies For The New Millennium Conference to be On-line | ||||||||||||||||||
Much of The Drug Policies For The New Millennium Conference sponsored
by The Lindesmith Center - Drug policy Foundation will be available for
viewing on-line via a live feed. Those unable to attend please join us
via the Internet. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Drug Reformers and URLs Get Some Print Coverage. | ||||||||||||||||||
The July/August issue of the Unitarian Universalist magazine mailed by
the denomination to more than 200,000 UUs in North America contains an
article encouraging action against the drug war. | ||||||||||||||||||
The article quotes Chuck Thomas, Matt Elrod, and DPFT's Frances Burford. It also provides the urls to several drug policy reform organizations including the Drug Library, MAP and DrugSense. | ||||||||||||||||||
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DPFHI PSAs | ||||||||||||||||||
Hello all - I've been meaning to send a post suggesting you visit our
website to see the two ads we've been running on local television here.
(They're right on our home page.) But I was waiting until some
changes/improvements were made to the site. That going to be delayed a bit,
however, so I suggest you check them out now. | ||||||||||||||||||
Funding for their production and the purchase of air time was provided by
the Educational Foundation of America. | ||||||||||||||||||
We'd be interested in your feedback. | ||||||||||||||||||
Pamela G. Lichty | ||||||||||||||||||
Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Role of the Reformer / by Matthew Elrod | ||||||||||||||||||
"The vast majority of human beings dislike and even dread all notions
with which they are not familiar. Hence, it comes about that at their
first appearance innovators have always been divided as fools and
madmen." -- Aldous Huxley | ||||||||||||||||||
I have a bad habit. I like to categorize everything. My dependency
on simplification might have something to do with my being a librarian
or a computer geek, but I am not alone. | ||||||||||||||||||
In an earlier feature for the DrugSense Weekly, "The Mind Set of a
Prohibitionist" (1), I described how prohibitionists seem to fall into
two broad categories; those who see the "war on drugs" as a perpetual
war of suppression and those who seek a "drug free" utopia. The first
type can be reasoned with if we are willing to recognize their good
intentions. | ||||||||||||||||||
A recent thread on one of the many drug policy email lists got me
thinking about the different types of drug war objector and how, due
to a phenomenon sociologist Howard Becker called "Deviance
Labelling", "cannabis culture" is in many respects a product of
prohibition. Reformers often assume a role, a stereotype, they have
been cast into. | ||||||||||||||||||
Encouraged by renewed interest in cannabis decriminalization here in
Canada, an activist issued a press release stating, "The Marijuana
Party, by keeping the pro-cannabis pot of public sentiment at a low
boil, has declared a victory in the 'War on Cannabis' by pressuring
the House of Commons to study legalizing the herb." | ||||||||||||||||||
I have never liked "pro-drug" terms because I dislike being labelled
"pro-drug" when I speak out against the drug war, though I can
understand how "pro-drug" terms came to be accepted by both reformers
and "anti-drug" organizations. | ||||||||||||||||||
Prohibitionists argue (and go to great lengths to prove) that illicit drugs are harmful, leaving as given that harmful drugs should remain prohibited. When confronted with this "prohibition is good because drugs are bad" argument it is natural for reformers to take the contrary position; Drugs are not so bad as all that, or beneficial, and should therefore be legal. "Alcohol and tobacco are worse." | ||||||||||||||||||
I believe this is a weak and reactionary position. It relinquishes the
prerogative, but more significantly, it diverts time and attention
away from the real question; Is prohibition the optimum regulatory
model for potentially harmful substances? | ||||||||||||||||||
When we adopt a "pro-pot" position we passively accept the premise that prohibition is at the top, not the bottom, of the regulatory scale. Taking a "pro-pot" position reinforces and validates this misconception. | ||||||||||||||||||
When cast into a "pro-cannabis" role, we invest too much of our time in
explaining how good cannabis is or how harmful cannabis isn't.
Rational discussion degrades into an abstract and interminable
argument over whether or not cannabis should exist. | ||||||||||||||||||
While I am on record recognizing the contributions of self-described
"pro-drug" reformers (3), I urge reformers to reject the "pro-drug"
role, to shift the focus from drugs to drug policy, to emphasize
the universal goal of harm-reduction and so seek common ground, not
opposition, in drug policy debate. | ||||||||||||||||||
Matthew Elrod, http://www.drugsense.org/me/ | ||||||||||||||||||
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1) http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n159#sec1, | ||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Warrior's Pledge: | ||||||||||||||||||
"I Pledge Allegiance to the Drug War of the United States of America, And to the Hypocrisy for Which It Stands, One Notion, Under Czar, Indefensible, With Incarceration and Injustice for All." - Thomas Paine | ||||||||||||||||||
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DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers
our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can
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Content selection and analyses by Tom O'Connell (),
Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Jo-D Dunbar
(), International content selection and analysis by
Richard Lake (), Layout by Matt Elrod | ||||||||||||||||||
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists. Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. | ||||||||||||||||||
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