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DrugSense Weekly
July 1997 #004

A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org
http://www.mapinc.org


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* A note from the President

* DrugSense This Week

* Highlights From MAPTalk

* DrugSense Tip of the Week



Dear DrugSense subscribers:

DrugSense is growing in leaps and bounds.  The positive feedback from so many of you has been heartening to see. 

Those who haven't visited the new DrugSense web page at http://www.drugsense.org
please do so.  It was designed to make involvement as simple as possible and will soon be the focus of a major marketing effort to attract more members and keep us all informed

Our major effort is, of course, the Media Awareness Project (MAP), and we are always looking for more help in this important endeavor.  One way you can help is by posting the text of any drug related news articles you come      

This will get your article included in our daily DrugNews-Digest, permanently archived on the web, and will ensure that the article is widely distributed and available throughout the movement. 

Thanks to all those who have been sending in letters to the editor both in response to our MAPNews services and to our weekly Focus Alerts (FA's).  Our publication "hit rate" is becoming quite impressive and always remember that unpublished letters have a very important impact as well.  Anyone who would like to view or read some of our published letters can view them at http://www.mapinc.org/lte/    
MAP encourages plagiarism of these excellent efforts.  Within a few minutes of browsing these published letters you will get some terrific ideas on how to write better letters. 

Thanks to one and all for the tremendous efforts put forth by DrugSense and MAP volunteers.  Together we ARE making a difference.

Sincerely,

Mark Greer


DrugSense THIS WEEK:     (Top)

Headaches For Many Internet Users


Many members reported trouble with domain name lookups and e-mail addresses over the past week.  The following article should help those of you who are experiencing difficulty. 

SNAFU AT NETWORK SOLUTIONS LEAVES USERS ANGRY

Corrupted data used by Network Solutions, the company that processes Internet domain name registrations, has resulted in some Internet addresses being routed incorrectly or not at all, say some Internet service and backbone providers whose servers are maintained by Network Solutions.  The problems started Wednesday night, when data entry errors resulted in the root server assigning incorrect IP addresses in response to URL requests.  The problem is affecting .com and .net addresses.  Network Solutions will have to reinstall the entire InterNIC database to correct the problem, according to one backbone provider.  "It's a nightmare week for the Internet," says the head of a Santa Cruz Internet
service provider.  (Computer Reseller News 17 Jul 97)


We like hearing what you think of DrugSense and the DrugSense Weekly newsletter. 

Feel free to send comments/suggestions to our editor, Tom Hawkins,

Enjoy!


HIGHLIGHTS FROM MAPTalk     (Top)


Our DrugSense Web Master has another new tool to make NewsHawking easier... 

Subj:   Re: MAPNews Lag Time
From:   (Matt Elrod)
Date:   Mon, 14 Jul 1997 20:37:11 -0700
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n351

OK.  The "coming soon" gizmo is online. If you would like to see the latest submissions to the MAPNews Editor (), point your browser at:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/latest.htm

You can also get this list by sending a message to containing the command:

get drugnews-digest latest

I've sprinkled links to the "latest" page around the website including the Drugnews Index page, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/

The list will display the last 40 submissions.  This should do the trick and will hopefully cut down on duplicated effort.  Feedback and questions are most welcome. 

Matt ()

"What reason, like the careful ant, draws laboriously together, the wind of accident sometimes collects in a moment." -- Friedrich von Schiller


Encouraging news from Dr.  David Hardorn in New Zealand...

Subj:   New Zealand update
From:   (David Hadorn)
Date:   Wed, 16 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n354

Hello friends,

Something good is happening here.  As many/most of you know, the NZ Drug Policy Forum Trust will soon release a major discussion paper discussing the pros and cons of alternative systems of cannabis control, and related topics.  The paper will be available both on the Lindesmith Center and NZ Drug Foundation websites.  The Foundation, which is a neutral umbrella group for all drug/alcohol-related bodies in NZ, is a separate entity from the Drug Policy Forum.  The Foundation will preface the paper with a disclaimer that the views expressed are not "necessarily" those of the Foundation. 

The Forum is calling for submissions on its discussion paper both nationally and internationally and is committed to issuing a final report early next year, recommending a specific, detailed alternative policy to cannabis prohibition for New Zealand.  We will urge that the cannabis law be changed at the same time the alcohol law is changed next year (pursuant to recommendations from a recent commission that laws be liberalized, e.g.  allowing Sunday sale). 

snip


Members sound off to Focus #28... 

Subj:   SENT to 10 California papers
From:   Annette French
Date:   Thu, 17 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n356

The Swiss experiment is one of the most important studies to come out this decade for those looking for solutions to the drug and crime problem.  I didn't see this in your paper.  Did I miss it? Or do the powers that be not want Americans to know that our tax money does nothing but put drug users in jail where they can learn to become real criminals.  They would like us to think that the majority of the people they jail are drug dealers, but
Department of Justice statistics show over 80% guilty of nothing more than simple possession and possession of marijuana more often than not. 

        Annette French  


Subj:   SENT to Focus Group Media List
From:   rvv
Date:   Fri, 18 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n357

Dear News Editor:

I am surprised and disappointed at your newspaper's failure to cover an important story concerning the scourge of drug addiction.  On July 10th, the Swiss announced the results of a ground-breaking 3-year heroin maintenance study; yet your paper, along with virtually all other major newspapers responded with a deafening silence. 

How can you fail to see the importance of a study which reveals so much about the nature of drug addiction, and the ability of maintenance programs to drastically reduce the crime, disease, unemployment, and death associated with drug addiction?

Who are you serving when you deny the public the truth? Does your paper decide what kind of news the public "wants" to hear?

The is the closest thing to pure censorship we have in America -- and if you don't believe heroin studies are "news," then what is, "censorship?"

I am attaching the original story for your convenience.  I am hoping you will read it for the first time. 

Best,

R.Vlahos
Arlington, VA


Subj:   SENT Everett Herald
From:   Mark Greer
Date:   Sun, 20 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n360

The Herald
Everett, Washington, USA

Thank you for being the exception to the rule.  Most media outlets totally ignored this important story. 

Not only was this successful three year trial of heroin maintenance largely ignored by the American daily press and broadcast media, already, oblique verbal references to the "failure" of the Swiss "experiment" are being heard on talk shows and other difficult-to-cite public venues. 

This heroin maintenance trial was conducted over a three year time span and involved over 1000 subjects.  Heroin is the opioid drug which is, like marijuana, on Schedule 1 for no coherent or valid pharmacologic reason whatsoever.  It has resided there since an arbitrary decision by Congress in 1924 at the behest of bureaucrats in the Narcotics unit of the Treasury Tax unit.  Of course, using heroin is a bad choice, but unfortunately it has been demonized, and that demonization has, in essence, become a symbol for the falsehood and irrationality of the entire drug war. 

Again, I thank you for seeing fit to print this important story because Drug War honesty is good policy. 

Sincerely,

Michael F.  Marion


Those of you who frequent the Usenet may want to stratagize with Paul Wolf on posting DPR articles there... 

Subj:   Mapping the USENET
From:   Paul Wolf
Date:   Fri, 18 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n358

Mappers, it occurs to me that if we're not violating any copyrights by posting newspaper articles to a webpage (drugnews), then what's so different about posting them to newsgroups? Especially if we add a couple of lines at the bottom of our own, as commentary. 

snip

- - paul


An interesting article from the Rolling Stone magazine... 

Subj:   August Rolling Stone

From:   (Tom O'Connell)
Date:   Sat, 19 Jul 1997
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/lists/maptalk/v97.n360

This month's Rolling Stone (p 42) features an interesting article by Robert Dreyfuss which is basically a series of neutral profiles of the major figures on both sides of the drug war.  One of the striking things is that so many reformers started out as drug warriors and then became converts. 

All told, individuals on the reform side come across as more humane and less angry than their drug hawk counterparts. 

Tom O'Connell


DRUGSENSE TIP OF THE WEEK     (Top)


It's easy to sign up with Drug Sense... 

DrugSense provides a quick sign up form for at

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

Activists can sign up for the DrugNews-Digest, Weekly Focus Alerts and the DrugSense Weekly Newsletter.  Just select the items desired, enter your e-mail address and hit Send Form. 

It's that easy.  Tell a friend about DrugSense today.

This is just another of the many free services DrugSense offers our members.  Watch this feature weekly to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you. 


The DrugSense Newsletter is compiled and edited by
Tom Hawkins, National Coordinator for DrugSense and MAP

Mark Greer
DrugSense DBA
Media Awareness Project (MAP)

http://www.DrugSense.org/


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