| August 10, 2001 #211 | ||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) DRUG WEB SITES PROVIDE HARMFUL INFORMATION-STUDY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOSTON - Internet surfers are far more likely to come upon Web sites
with wrong and potentially dangerous information about illicit drug
use than they are to find more reliable, informed sites, a new study
shows. | ||||||||||||||||
A study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine found that
popular Internet search engines tend to direct users to sites that
appear to promote drug use and provide incorrect and even dangerous
information. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) READING, WRITING AND PROPAGANDA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
American School Kids Are Being Subjected To "News" Programs That
Contain Covert Government-Sponsored Anti-Drug Messages. | ||||||||||||||||
Channel One, the company that beams TV news programs and commercials
into thousands of schools in the U.S., has broadcast dozens of news
segments that contained anti-drug messages in the past three years --
and received millions of dollars' worth of ad credits from the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy for doing so, Salon has
learned. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) AUSTRALIA: SUPPORT FOR DRUG TRIALS INCREASES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DOCTORS joined police, drug reformers and prosecutors in demanding
heroin trials yesterday as the Federal Government hardened its
opposition. | ||||||||||||||||
A National Crime Authority suggestion that trials be considered
exposed deep divisions across the political and social spectrum. The
Federal Government said it would never change legislation to allow
heroin importation for legal use and warned the NCA against trying to
influence drug policy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) MANDATORY PRISON TIME IS BEING RETHOUGHT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Congress Explores Ways to Lessen Harshness and Disparities | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- Mandatory minimum prison sentences, a fixture of the
national drive to crack down on crime for almost two decades, are
losing their allure among longtime proponents. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawmakers here and elsewhere are starting to rethink sentencing
policies that require judges to impose fixed, substantial terms for
certain crimes. Liberal Democrats for years have complained that
long sentences for nonviolent criminals are disproportionately harsh
on minorities and the poor. But in recent months President Bush,
other prominent Republicans and influential judges have voiced their
doubts about them too. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-7) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
As predicted, there was little U.S. response to the Economist's
pro-legalization issue. One exception was a Pennsylvania columnist
who also bemoaned the lack of press interest. | ||||||||||||||||
To be fair, Rolling Stone's Erika Casriel has become one of drug
policy's more knowledgeable observers; her latest overview provides
a good summary of recent developments. | ||||||||||||||||
In a laudable series, the Saint Petersburg Times examined harm
reduction measures as practiced abroad in light of both doctrinaire
U.S. objections and our generally dismal results with the same
problems. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) ECONOMIST PUSHES FOR LEGALIZATION OF NARCOTICS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Any $50-a-day crackhead can tell you why politicians of both major parties so blindly support America's War on (some) Drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
What is more perplexing/discouraging/frightening is why - in a
purportedly free society - there is so little debate in our
mainstream media about how and why our drug war is being fought after
three decades of obvious failure. | ||||||||||||||||
It's a shame, not to mention a national disgrace, that no important
American magazine - or newspaper, or TV channel, or cable channel
talking head - has found the brains and the guts to do what Britain's
Economist does on its cover this week - straightforwardly push for
the legalization of drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) THE NEW COALITION AGAINST THE DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Why Right-Wingers, Minorities And Ravers Are Banding Together To
Fight Unjust Drug Laws | ||||||||||||||||
Upon taking office, Attorney General John Ashcroft promised to
"relaunch" the War on Drugs, to the applause of hard-line Republicans
in Congress. Dissatisfied with 1999's number of drug arrests -
more than 1.5 million, a record 620,500 of them for pot possession
- the administration is determined to increase funding for enforcement
and prison construction; the $18 billion already spent each year
by the federal government is deemed insufficient. | ||||||||||||||||
But this year the White House will face newly galvanized resistance.
A range of newcomers, including police officers, doctors, ravers,
minority advocates and Republicans, have been questioning the
drug-prohibition orthodoxy and gaining political power. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) U.S. VS THEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Challenging America's War On Drugs | ||||||||||||||||
Since President Richard Nixon declared the "war on drugs" 30 years
ago, the United States has vowed that no ground will be surrendered
in its efforts to crush the $400-billion-a-year global industry in
illicit drugs. Because of its wealth and power, America's
zero-tolerance policies are not limited to its borders but greatly
influence the United Nations and its 189 members. | ||||||||||||||||
Australia and other countries that try to deviate from the U.S.
course are yanked back in line by fear of losing U.S. military or
economic support. | ||||||||||||||||
Countries like Netherlands that experiment with different approaches
are subject to harsh public criticism. The United Nations itself has
to toe the U.S. line or risk losing money. | ||||||||||||||||
"America is the Taleban of international drug policy," says one
expert. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (8-10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
We seem destined to remain czarless for the immediate future; aside
from a few hawks with a political agenda, like Mark Souder, no one
seems upset. | ||||||||||||||||
Moreover, an impeccable conservative source suggests the delay may simply reflect the administration's tardy recognition of growing public disenchantment with incarceration for drug problems. | ||||||||||||||||
Underscoring "treatment's" cachet, the newly confirmed head of the
DEA gave the idea his blessing shortly after his near unanimous
confirmation by the Senate. Does he mean it? | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) DRUG CZAR SELECTION HELD UP, SOUDER SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Senate Democrats are holding up the appointment of a new drug czar,
Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th, and several other House Republicans
complained Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||
"They don't want Walters. It's really not fair," Souder said of John
Walters, President Bush's choice to run the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, a post often called the drug czar. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) DRUG WAR'S CASUALTY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Conservatives should rethink their support for John P. Walters, who has been nominated by President Bush as director of National Drug Control Policy. While they are at it, they should reconsider their commitment to the war on drugs, which is destroying our freedom. | ||||||||||||||||
Mr. Walters is a good man, and he would pursue drugs energetically.
The problem with Mr. Walters is that he would pursue drugs at too
high a cost to our civil liberties and privacy and at the expense of
the sovereignty of Latin American countries. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) NEW DEA CHIEF SUGGESTS 'COMPASSIONATE' POLICY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The federal government should offer more rehabilitation programs for
drug offenders even as it aggressively enforces drug laws, the
incoming head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday
in Los Angeles. | ||||||||||||||||
Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) said he thinks it is "unconscionable"
that so many drug offenders are serving time in prison while limited
rehabilitation programs exist to help keep them off drugs once they
get out. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (11-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, today's three most hyped "menaces" remain in the news as the drug war continues to employ complicit accounts of its failures to scare even more money and power from a misinformed public. | ||||||||||||||||
Can any one discern a single benefits from the earlier crackdowns which replaced pharmaceutical "uppers" with today's meth labs? | ||||||||||||||||
Likewise, do dire warnings about ecstasy deter or promote its use?
And do the feds really want to make war on the juveniles using club
drugs? | ||||||||||||||||
As for "Oxy," rational analyses like Alan Bock's are distinctly
unusual. | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) METHAMPHETAMINE IT'S THE NEW ILLEGAL DRUG OF CHOICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Rick Piper was getting ready to fertilize before harvest when he saw
the damage to his anhydrous ammonia tanker. The hoses were cut and a
makeshift funnel and rags were tossed nearby. | ||||||||||||||||
The tanker was the target of thieves desperate to get the fertilizer,
a key ingredient in methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
There weren't any meth labs in northeast Oregon from Gilliam to
Wallowa counties just five years ago, according to the Western States
Information | ||||||||||||||||
Network, a federally mandated law enforcement group. Now, patrol
officers are stumbling across labs in the trunks of cars and duffel
bags during traffic stops. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) CLUB DRUGS MORE AGONY THAN ECSTASY FOR YOUNG PATIENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Physicians are urged to offer guidance, information about the dangers
of the illegal drug Ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
Washington -- Physicians should be aware that ever-increasing numbers
of their young patients are using illegal "club drugs" such as
Ecstasy, a synthetic, psychoactive drug that many users consider to
be relatively harmless. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Dr. Miller compared the rising use of Ecstasy with past epidemics of
drug use in the nation. | ||||||||||||||||
"What has happened with Ecstasy is exactly what happened with cocaine
in the 1980s and will happen again with an unnamed agent 10 or 20
years from now," he said. "It's part of a cycle, and people need to
be wary about these trends and how seductive they are." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) A DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The government has turned its attention to the pain-killer OxyContin.
Is the scare campaign justified? | ||||||||||||||||
Ralph Murray of Mission Viejo was a meatcutter for 15 years before
carpal tunnel syndrome, several surgeries and a host of wrist and
hand ailments pushed him onto disability. Despite surgeries (perhaps
in part because of them; they uncovered deeper neural problems than
his surgeons suspected) he has severe chronic pain - it hurts all the
time. | ||||||||||||||||
"OxyContin is the only medication I've found that lets me sleep pain-
free all night," he told me recently. "...it's really been a
blessing." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Drug Enforcement Agency has announced a high-profile campaign to
nail doctors and pharmacists it deems responsible for abuse. The
little town of Pulaski in southwest Virginia wants to require
pharmacists who dispense OxyContin to require patients to provide
fingerprints. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
OxyContin provides invaluable relief to a wide variety of people who
suffer from chronic pain. It is also subject to misuse and abuse. It
is tempting to want to use government to try to control those
problems. But much of the evidence suggests that will only make the
problem worse. The public spinning of worst-case scenarios may have
done so already. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In contrast to the usual equivocation, a Florida editorial cut incisively through the standard confusion about profiling. | ||||||||||||||||
A South Carolina Op-Ed reinforces the hope that, at long last,
serious attention is being paid to the grotesque disproportion in our
prison population. | ||||||||||||||||
A New York Times reporter examined a major contributing factor: our prison construction boom. His prism: a hardscrabble Oklahoma town now solvent; thanks to a private prison for Wisconsin inmates. | ||||||||||||||||
Tulia Texas, site of the recent "Never Again" rally, is an equally
hardscrabble Southwest town which has become a symbol of the
injustice intrinsic to our uniquely American style of drug law
enforcement. | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) CRACK THE PRISON CYCLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
When one-tenth of any group is in prison or jail, the American public
should be disturbed -- "disturbed" as in "ready to stop being
complacent and find out why." | ||||||||||||||||
The 2000 Census found that one in 10 African-American males between the ages of 18 and 64 is incarcerated. In Florida, it's one in 12. Among whites nationwide, it's one in 50. Something clearly is wrong, unless one still believes totally discredited theories about race. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) INCARCERATION STATISTICS MISLEADING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
From 1992 through 1997, approximately equal numbers of white and
black men were arrested in South Carolina for drug law violations.
But 85 percent of those imprisoned were African-Americans. When half
of the arrests are black, we should expect that about half of those
incarcerated should be black. Significant deviations from this norm
deserve investigation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) RURAL TOWNS TURN TO PRISONS TO REIGNITE THEIR ECONOMIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
For a town of 4,114 in western Oklahoma, Sayre has an impressive
landfill. The scales to weigh the bales of crushed scrap are new.
A machine for shredding trees is new. So, too, is the 60-unit
apartment complex going up on the side of the road leading to the
dump, the asphalt that covers that road, and the sprawling Flying J
Truck Plaza nearby. | ||||||||||||||||
The wording on a trash-hauling bin parked near the landfill gives
a hint of what is behind the revival of this withered, century-old
city.It reads "North Fork Correctional Facility." | ||||||||||||||||
As in many other small towns around the country, a three-year-old,$37
million, 1,440-inmate, 270-employee, all-male prison is responsible
for lifting Sayre's spirits and reigniting its economy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) TULIA BLUES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
How the Lingering Effects of a Massive Drug Bust Devastated One
Family in a Small Texas Town | ||||||||||||||||
TULIA, TEXAS-Only a few years ago, Mattie White liked to sit on the
front porch of her one-story house. In the park across the street,
young people played basketball and hung out on the swings, their
shouts echoing through the neighborhood. These days, though, Conner
Park is quiet. Many of the people who once gathered there are now in
prison. | ||||||||||||||||
In Tulia, a dry town without a bar or nightclub, Conner Park was a
favorite hangout for the town's black youth. Today, it has become a
symbol of the community's devastation. For Mattie and many others,
the park is a lonely sight, a constant reminder of all the friends,
neighbors, and relatives who are gone. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (18-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Long, ongoing cannabis and hemp conflicts were reported on this week
with some victories and some defeats but all full of resolve to
continue the fight. | ||||||||||||||||
Two citizens agreed on a cash settlement with the Hawaii County Council ten years after being arrested for receiving sterile hemp seed. The public servants do not seem to have learned any lessons from this since police were caught following only some of the conditions imposed for accepting federal marijuana eradication funds. | ||||||||||||||||
The U.S. hemp industry movement received blows from a governor and
federal cops. Hope prevails though as a senator and a Native
American vowed to continue fighting. | ||||||||||||||||
The Hemp Car continued its tour proving wrong all those who doubt
that hemp can be used as a fuel and much more. | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) POT ADVOCATES AWARDED $75,000 (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hawaii County will pay $75,000 to settle a civil lawsuit filed by two
marijuana advocates who claimed they were unfairly prosecuted for
their controversial views. | ||||||||||||||||
The Hawaii County Council voted 6 - 3 Tuesday to pay the money to
Aaron Anderson and Roger Christie, who in 1995 sued the county,
Prosecutor Jay Kimura and then - deputy prosecutor Kay Iopa, now a
private defense attorney. | ||||||||||||||||
Tired and financially drained from fighting the county over what started with his 1991 arrest for receiving hemp seeds, the 64 - year - old Anderson said he'll accept the settlement with mixed feelings. | ||||||||||||||||
"Chances are we wouldn't get much more than $75,000 anyway in state court," he said of a trial that would have started Nov. 3. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) POT ADVOCATES: POLICE OMITTED USERS' RIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Police Department was accused of drafting incomplete rules
covering new restrictions on its marijuana eradication program by pot
advocates who pushed for the "Green Harvest" limits. | ||||||||||||||||
Provisions for using marijuana for religious ceremonies are missing
from the department's proposed rules, said several of the 26 people
who testified at a pubic hearing Friday. | ||||||||||||||||
The rules cover only helicopter raids and use of medical marijuana by
approved patients. | ||||||||||||||||
"These rules are faulty," said the Rev. Dennis Shields of The
Religion of Jesus Church, where members smoke marijuana as a
sacrament. | ||||||||||||||||
"I'm here to take you folks to task," Shields told the three senior
police officers who conducted the hearing. "The fact is you've
ignored the legislative direction of this island." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) BOWLES VOWS TO OVERRIDE VETO ON HEMP BILL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
EDWARDSVILLE -- State Sen. Evelyn Bowles vowed Saturday to fight for an override of Gov. George Ryan's veto of a bill she sponsored that would have allowed a study of industrial hemp's potential as a crop for Illinois farmers. Ryan announced Friday he had vetoed the legislation, arguing that other studies have settled the issue. "To put it mildly, I'm very disappointed," said Bowles, D-Edwardsville. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Republican governor vetoed a similar bill, also sponsored by Bowles, earlier this year. The second version tried to address his concerns by studying law enforcement concerns and looking for ways to grow hemp with none of the mind-altering chemical found in marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
Bowles said she would do "everything I can to work for an override. | ||||||||||||||||
"I feel that we need to do this study," she said. "Why continue to
not know? That bothers me, to not want to know. I want to know
things." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) WHITE PLUME HEMP CROP DESTROYED AGAIN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
PINE RIDGE - Alex White Plume had to watch his tiospaye's hemp crop cut down by federal agents on Monday, July 30 for the second time. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Thomas Ballanco who drafted tribal ordinance 98-27 offered to
represent any person or entity who are prosecuted for cultivating
industrial hemp on the reservation. White Plume has not been
prosecuted. Ballanco and local attorney Ellison are allegedly
preparing a civil suit against the United States government for
destruction of the crop. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) HEMP OIL FUELS LEGALIZATION DRIVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
St. Paul, Minn. - Grayson Sigler of Hampton, Va., wanted to visit a
friend in Seattle. The trip grew into a beacon for the national call
to legalize hemp. | ||||||||||||||||
The Hemp Car, a 1983 Mercedes 300TD wagon built to run on diesel fuel, is circling the country exclusively on industrial-grade hemp oil. Sigler, his wife and two documentarians making the 10,000-mile trek spent Wednesday in the Twin Cities, visiting two Minneapolis head shops and the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. | ||||||||||||||||
The project has a practical goal-to illustrate another legitimate use
for hemp. The message behind it is decades old: There's no public
benefit but myriad ecological, financial and social costs to
America's ban of domestic hemp and marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (23 - 27) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Much to the chagrin of U.S. policy makers, people and institutions
around the world are standing up against aerial fumigation in
Colombia. A Colombian judge placed limited restrictions on the
practice last week as evidence of ill effects mounted. One company
that had been supplying one of the chemicals used in the process
officially withdrew its product from the campaign. | ||||||||||||||||
However, the main herbicide will continue to be used even as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignores its responsibility to test the chemical. Colombian supporters of fumigation claimed to be victims of a rebel plot to fool the world into believing that dropping poison on people is somehow dangerous and unethical. | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) FAIRY DUST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Many Americans and Colombians are losing faith in a scheme to
eradicate drug crops by aerial spraying. But America's anti-drug
strategy depends on it ... | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Last week, the Colombian judge found in favour of a group of
Amazonian Indians, who argued that the government had not given
enough study to the impact of the weedkiller on health and the
environment, and had not bothered to consult them before the spraying
began. | ||||||||||||||||
This week the judge clarified his ruling, saying that it applied only
to "indigenous reserves" in the Amazon region. | ||||||||||||||||
The police say they will carry on spraying everywhere else. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) ROUNDUP WORKS -- BUT TOO WELL? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Not surprisingly, coca farmers have been opposed to Roundup from the beginning. Authorities have never taken their complaints seriously. | ||||||||||||||||
But lately the protests have gained strength -- and legitimacy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
They allege the solution being used in Colombia is of a higher
concentration than is commonly applied in the United States. Chemical
additives also are being mixed into the Roundup in Colombia to
improve its efficacy. Some experts warn these additives, including
the surfactant Cosmo-flux, have never been properly tested in the
United States, and might be the cause of skin irritation and other
illnesses in Colombia. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(25) ADDITIVE TO HERBICIDE SPRAYED ON COLOMBIAN DRUG CROPS WITHDRAWN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
FOR LACK OF TESTING | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Adding to the debate over the safety of a
massive U.S.-financed fumigation of drug crops, a British company
confirmed Friday it has stopped supplying an additive used in the
herbicide, saying it has not been properly tested. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But the crop dusters had been using an additive called Cosmo Flux to make the glyphosate less likely to drift in the wind as it floats down from the planes, and to make it adhere better to the drug crops. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Company spokesman John Edgar said his firm and the Colombian company Cosmoagro, which produces Cosmo Flux, decided to withdraw use of the additive from the fumigation campaign because of a lack of information about its effects when mixed with glyphosate. | ||||||||||||||||
"We had not tested it for that purpose," Edgar said in a telephone
interview from London. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(26) AGENT ORANGE, ALL OVER AGAIN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
EPA Stalled Resolution on Spraying in Colombia | ||||||||||||||||
Washington, D.C.--For seven months, the Environmental Protection
Agency sat on a call to investigate the coca-defoliation program in
Colombia. Presented by one of the agency's own internal boards, the
letter asked for a study of harm to people and the environment posed
by the U.S.-backed spraying of Roundup Ultra, a chemical critics
compare to Agent Orange. When the resolution was proposed at a
December 10 meeting of the National Environmental Justice Advisory
Council, "there was a lot of eye rolling and clearing of throats
among the EPA members," said one government employee. No one from
EPA "thought it had a snowball's chance in hell" of reaching
administrator Christie Whitman's desk. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the peasantry are getting drenched with Roundup Ultra. In one EPA study published in 1993, California doctors reported that the herbicide's active ingredient, glyphosate, ranked third out of 25 chemicals that caused harm to humans. Some observers say the aircraft blitzing Colombian coca fields are flying at too great a height to ensure surrounding villages and farms are kept safe from the spray. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(27) OFFICIALS DISMISS ALLEGATIONS OVER ANTI-DRUG FUMIGATIONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The country's top anti-narcotics enforcer, meanwhile, is accusing
drug traffickers -- who have lost millions of dollars in profits --
of waging a smear campaign against Washington's $1.3 billion
counterdrug offensive. | ||||||||||||||||
``What I have seen is a plot against the fumigations,'' Gen. Gustavo
Socha, chief of the anti-narcotics police, told the Associated Press
on Saturday. ``The drug traffickers are generating false information
and forcing people to disseminate it.'' | ||||||||||||||||
Though he did not provide specific examples, Socha said drug
traffickers were forcing peasants to give false testimony about
alleged illnesses from the sprayings. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
It appears doubtful the Colombian government will jettison the
sprayings nationwide. But, underscoring Washington's concern about
the turn of events, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson warned that a
permanent halt could jeopardize U.S. aid. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
List Of Drug War Deaths Updated | ||||||||||||||||
This site chronicles the deaths of known victims of the drug war --
people who's lives have been taken by the drug war. | ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by: Aaron J. Biterman | ||||||||||||||||
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Photos And Reflections From Tulia Rally | ||||||||||||||||
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Special Report | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. Military Aid to Latin America Implicated in Human Rights Abuses | ||||||||||||||||
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Join us in the DrugSense Chat, Sun. Aug 12, 2001 8 PM Eastern | ||||||||||||||||
Our special guest will be Sanho Tree, Director, Drug Policy Project,
Institute for Policy Studies | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.usfumigation.org/NovPressConfSpeakers/SanhoTree/Sanho.htm | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Prohibition Redux | ||||||||||||||||
By Matthew Elrod | ||||||||||||||||
Victoria - Columnist Peter Gzowski may be old enough to remember the sixties and paraphrase Bob Dylan, (Something Is Happening, And You Know What It Is, Don't You, Mr. Rock? -- Aug. 4), but evidently he is not wise enough to remember the twenties and alcohol prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||
Alcohol prohibition was repealed, not because alcohol is good, or not so bad, and not because we decided to give alcoholism a societal "stamp of acceptance," but rather, because prohibition caused tremendous harm without producing compensatory benefits. | ||||||||||||||||
The decision to prohibit or regulate a substance is not as simple as
deciding whether or not a substance should exist. The decision to
regulate or prohibit a substance can not be arrived at by itemizing
the substance's benefits and liabilities on a balance sheet, but
rather, by tallying the benefits and liabilities of prohibition
versus alternative regulatory models. | ||||||||||||||||
If cannabis were as addictive as tobacco, as criminogenic as alcohol, as hazardous as mountain climbing, as toxic as monosodium-glutamate and as demotivating as television, it would make less sense to abdicate its distribution to black marketeers who sell on commission to anyone of any age, any time, anywhere, no questions asked. | ||||||||||||||||
Matthew M. Elrod | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Riding The Drug War Money-Go-Round | ||||||||||||||||
By Stephen Young | ||||||||||||||||
Anyone reading this newsletter won't be shocked to hear that a lot of money is wasted on the drug war. This year's U.S. federal anti-drug budget is close to $19 billion, which does not include state and local spending, as well as hidden costs incurred by the drug war. | ||||||||||||||||
We all know there's no good results to show for all that money, but
attempts to track where the money really goes illustrates just how
counterproductive and absurd the whole enterprise is. | ||||||||||||||||
First, in an attempt to put that price tag in perspective, if we assume
the US drug war costs about $37 billion a year (a very conservative
estimate), then every American citizen ponies up about $140 each year
for the effort. Since kids generally don't pay their own taxes, the
head of a household with two children might shell out about $560 for
the drug war every year. | ||||||||||||||||
So where's that money going? | ||||||||||||||||
Last week, a report from the Miami Herald confirmed that Vladimiro
Montesinos, Peru's arms-dealing, drug-cartel protecting, former spy
chief was paid $1 million per year by the U.S. from 1990-2000 "to fight
drug trafficking." | ||||||||||||||||
That means for each year of the 1990s, the total drug war taxes paid
by more than 7,000 Americans went directly to a prominent protector
of drug lords. | ||||||||||||||||
For years, U.S. authorities should have known that Montesinos was
wrapped up with the drug cartels. According to Dan Russell's
excellent book "Drug War" (see http://www.drugwar.com/), Montesinos
was one of Peru's most sought after lawyers for drug cartels during
the 1980s. He not only defended them in the courtroom, but Russell
writes that he helped Colombian drug cartels to rent homes and make
troubling legal documents disappear. | ||||||||||||||||
During this same time he was on the payroll of the CIA, which one
might expect to keep accurate information their assets. Somehow,
though, despite his ties to the cartels, he was directly entrusted with
that million in anti-drug funds each year. In fact, former drug czar
Barry McCaffrey even lauded Montesinos as an effective anti-drug ally
during a trip to Peru in the late nineties. A million might seem like
a lot to those of us who are paying taxes to support the drug war, but
apparently it was a drop in the bucket for Montesinos, relative to the
protection money he was getting from the cartels. | ||||||||||||||||
Nobody knows what that total is, but a story from the Phillipines last
week, showed the kind of riches that can be amassed by corrupt leaders.
The story (which can be read at | ||||||||||||||||
So that's one place where your drug war tax money is going: to corrupt
officials who fearlessly pocket the cash while waiting for the really
big payoffs from the cartels. | ||||||||||||||||
Next time a prohibitionist raises the canard that millions of dollars are being spent in an effort to change drug laws, remind them that billions of our tax dollars are being spent to maintain a status quo where the drug traffickers and the drug warriors are often one in the same, and they all feed from the same bottomless barrel of pork. | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"If you've got a message, preach it! The Old Testament prophets did
not go out to the highways saying, "Brothers. I want a consensus."
They said, 'This is my faith and my vision! This is what I
passionately believe.' And they preached it. We have a message. Go
out, preach it, practice it, fight for it - and the day will be ours."
-- Margaret Thatcher, speech, Cardiff, 16 April 1979 | ||||||||||||||||
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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
Stephen Young (), Layout by Matt Elrod
() | ||||||||||||||||
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