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DrugSense Weekly
September 17, 1997 #012

A DrugSense publication

http://www.drugsense.org


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* Feature Article


        The Journey For Justice 

* Weekly News In Review


        Drugs And Our Youth 
             CASA School Survey 
             Teens and Marijuana: Scaring Them Straight Has Lost It's Edge 

        Hemp And The Law 
             Hawaiian Hemp Fan / Alabama's a Bummer 
             Thug Free Zone: Seattle Hemp Fest 

        Initiatives 
             FLA: Slow Start for Drive to Legalize Medical Marijuana 

        Medical Marijuana 
             Vote Bars Study Funds for Medical Marijuana 
             OPED: Marijuana Offers No Advantage Over Prescription THC 
             Supporter of Medical Marijuana Eyes CA Governorship 

        Militarization 
             Forest Service and Marines Join Forces to Hunt MJ 
             OP ED: Border Troops Fixation 
             Mexican Officials Debate Army's Role in Drug War 
             U.S. Troops Told to Stay Away From Ciudad Juarez 

        Needle Exchange 
             Needle Exchange Programs Get No Help in House Vote 

        Sentencing 
             Michigan: Prisoner Hopes for Drug Law Change 
             Motives in Battling Crack Cocaine 
             Juries Are the Citizen's Last Line of Defense 

        South America 
             Ex-army Chief Calls Colombia's Drug War "A Sham" 
             Columbian Drug Measures Seen Swelling Rebel Ranks 

        The War on Drugs 
             Solve America's Drug Problem? Kill all the Drug Addicts? 
             Drug Dogs at the New Mexico State Fair 
             Workplace Drug Test Positives on Downward Trend 
             Afghan Opium Growers Hold Ground 

* Hot Off The 'Net


        Lynn Harichy Launches Constitutional Challenge 
        MAPS Forum 
        DS Weekly On-Line Edition 

* DrugSense Tip of the Week


        Point by Point Response to the Dallas Morning News Article 
             "The Partnership: Hard Sell in the Drug War" 


FEATURE ARTICLE     (Top)


The Journey For Justice

Mondovi, Wisconsin to Madison, Wisconsin
September 11 - 19, 1997
Dedicated to William Wright, M.D. 

We are the patients who use marijuana.  We have come from many places to tell you who we are.  We need your understanding. We tell you of our pain so that you will know why we must treat ourselves with forbidden medicine. 

We are your neighbors, your friends, your family.  We are no threat to you or your children.  Our illnesses are not a hoax, they are terribly real.

Cannabis is an effective medicine for our conditions.  We are not claiming it is the best medicine for everybody, only that from our clinical experience, it is the best medicine for us.  To help you understand that the prohibition against medical use of marijuana is cruel and un-American, we are exposing ourselves to you.  Unfortunately, we are also exposing ourselves to the police who have the authority to arrest us, to search us, to raid our homes, to take our children away from us, to take our property, and to throw us in prison.  We refuse to hide any longer!

We would like you, and all Americans -- to realize that we are the people who current policies would jail -- at your expense.  We are Americans who are denied access to medication that works for us, and thus we have to use less effective, and often more expensive medications, and often you pay those added costs as well. 

Irrationally, we are the target of laws that should apply only to those who would hurt others.  We are peaceful people who do not want to break the law; we only want to improve the quality of our lives.  Now on behalf of all of those who are sick -- and who may become sick -- we have taken on the burden of reducing the harm that bad laws -- based on misunderstanding, fear and political cowardice -- have caused. 

Many of today's legislators don't know that over the past 25 years the legislators in 35 states passed laws for medical marijuana -- often by unanimous votes.  Unfortunately those laws, though well-intentioned, have been ineffectual. 

Thus, as you read this, many of us are already locked up.  Under current law, we all could be. 

The Wisconsin leg of the Journey for Justice is dedicated to William Wright, M.D., of Mondovi, Wisconsin, who struggled through miles of bureaucratic red tape to obtain permission for his patient, Jacki Rickert of Mondovi, Wisc., to legally use cannabis to make her painful life much more bearable. 

Dr.  Wright wanted his patient to have the same access to a medication that was useful and appropriate for her condition that a handful of other doctors were able to get for their patients -- marijuana.  At the time he died, he was still trying to make the government give her the medical marijuana they had promised him they would supply.  Dr. William Wright was what every doctor should be. 

We are making this somewhat slow and difficult journey to the State Capitol in Madison to appeal to the compassion that resides in Wisconsin people, and to the concern for the suffering of the People that motivates most legislators we elect.  We are walking to meet -- on the steps of the State Capitol -- Rep.  Frank Boyle, an honest and compassionate representative, who will introduce medical marijuana legislation in the Wisconsin legislature on September 18.  His bill, if enacted, would offer peace to those of us who need cannabis in our medical treatment. 

For updates on the Journey please visit

http://norml.org/j4j/index.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW     (Top)


Drugs And Our Youth


Subj:   CASA School Survey
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n212.a08.html

Pubdate:   Tue, 9 Sep 1997

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The vast majority of U.S.  high school students report illegal drugs are kept, used or sold on school grounds, a new survey found Monday. 

In a survey timed to coincide with the start of the new school year, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) found that 76 percent of high school students and 46 percent of middle school students said drugs were present at their schools. 

More than a quarter of high school students, 29 percent, said a student in their school died in the past year from a drug- or alcohol-related incident, and 28 percent of high school teachers said students who appear to be drunk or high on drugs show up in their classes at least once a month. 

More than a third of teen-agers, or 35 percent, said drugs are the most important problem they face, up slightly from 31 percent in 1996 and 32 percent in 1995, the survey found. 

Only 26 percent of parents, 18 percent of teachers and 15 percent of school principals thought drugs were teens' most important concern, according to the survey.  The survey of students had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent; the survey of teachers had an error margin of plus or minus
3.5 percent and the survey of principals had an error margin of plus or
minus 4.9 percent. 

CASA, based at Columbia University in New York, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization aimed at combatting substance abuse. 


Subj:   Teens and Marijuana: Scaring Them Straight Has Lost It's Edge
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n220.a01.html

Pubdate:   Sun, 14 Sep 1997
Source:   New York Times

The quarrel gets played out daily in thousands of families.  Stay away from marijuana, the exasperated parent warns; it will mess up your future.  The teen-ager retorts: But you tried it and it didn't hurt you. 

At home or school, when the conversation turns to illegal drugs the subject is usually marijuana.  As many as 70 million Americans, including many of today's parents, have smoked it.  And as their children can be quick to point out, the vast majority did not go on to be addicted to cocaine or heroin. 

So how do parents persuade a skeptical 14-year-old not to try marijuana, when the teen-ager can see across the dinner table that their lives weren't ruined?


Hemp And the Law

Subj:   Hawaiian Hemp Fan / Alabama's a Bummer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n212.a01.html

Pubdate:   Mon, 08 Sep 1997
SOURCE:   Atlanta Journal / Constitution

Sure, Alabama is used to its share of criticism, but from across an ocean? The war of words broke out last month after police arrested two Hoover shop owners for selling hemp products, citing the state's strict marijuana laws. 

When Hawaiian legislator Cynthia Thielen, a Republican, found out about the arrest via the Internet, she called for a statewide boycott of the Cotton State.  "If the district attorney there in Birmingham is going to equate hemp with marijuana, then Alabama should be avoided like the plague," says Thielen, a fan of the clothing made from the stalks of cannabis plants.  Thielen credits the hemp industry for helping Hawaii find "alternative economic industries" after sugar plantations bottomed out. 

Told of Thielen's clothing of choice, Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber replied, "She'd have a problem" if she visited Alabama. 


Subj:   Thug Free Zone: Seattle Hemp Fest
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n220.a05.html

Pubdate:   11 Sep 1997
Source:   The Stranger, Seattle's alternative newspaper

First the disclaimer: I don't like pot.  I've never tried it. I've never even had an alcoholic beverage (which is sorta like saying I was once abducted by aliens, but I swear it's true).  I'm not exactly the target for Hempfest '97, held a couple of weeks ago at Myrtle Edwards Park. 

But I think its organizers should sue the asses off the City of Seattle.  Hempfest, for those who've never seen it, is a street fair for hippies, a smaller-scale Fremont Fair or Gay Pride scene, with booths selling hemp stuff, a few community groups, bands, and people lying around on blankets.  Since these are hippies, there's a fair amount of drumming and a mellow (if not catatonic) vibe.  The city tried to destroy Hempfest '97. Not because of the size of the type of event (street fairs are a staple of Seattle's summer weekends), but because of the political content: the demand to legalize hemp production and marijuana use.  Advocating the repeal of a law, in case our chuckleheaded public servants have forgotten, is called "freedom of speech".  And it's legal. It's not a threat to society. But trying to quash free speech through heavy-handed intimidation is.  How bad was it? The next day's P-I article (August 25) called the police presence "overwhelming".  To get in through Myrtle Edwards' one open entrance, attendees walked a quarter mile gauntlet with enough visible cops and cop toys to overthrow a mid-sized African nation.  Once past the city-mandated security, checking all backpacks and bags (for a free public event!), armed cops in packs roved the grounds--not as a friendly street fair beat, but as an occupying army. 

Behind the scenes, after months of permit hassles, organizers claim that the previous night--when the stage, generators, and booths were already up--the park sprinklers "accidentally" went off, causing thousand of dollars in damage. 


Initiatives

Subj:   FLA: Slow Start for Drive to Legalize Medical Marijuana
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n215.a09.html

Pubdate:   Thu, 11 Sep 1997
Source:   Miami Herald

MILTON -- (AP) -- Two days in the conservative Panhandle produced 40 signatures on a petition to legalize medical marijuana in Florida.  That leaves 435,033 to go before the issue can be placed on the ballot. 

Most visitors to the Santa Rosa County Courthouse declined to sign as they rushed past a six-member petition-gathering group that had set up a table on the lawn Tuesday. 

"It's just another illegal drug, as far as I'm concerned," said Betty Brock, 60, of Navarre.  "And as far as I'm concerned it should stay that way."

The Fort Lauderdale-based Coalition Advocating Medical Marijuana is pressing ahead with plans to visit each of the state's 67 counties. 

The group collected 30 signatures outside the Escambia County Courthouse in Pensacola on Monday and added 10 Tuesday in Santa Rosa County, which annually produces one of the state's largest crops of illegally grown marijuana. 


Medical Marijuana

Subj:   Vote Bars Study Funds for Medical Marijuana
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n215.a04.html

Pubdate:   9-11-97
Source:   Orange County Register

Legislation appropriating $1 million for a study of marijuana's medical benefits failed on a late-night vote Wednes The final vote was 48-21, six votes shy of passage.Supporters asked for another vote before this year's legislative session ends Friday. 

The bill by Sen.  John Vasconcellos,D-Santa Clara,calls for a three-year study by University of California scientists. 


Subj:   OPED: Marijuana Offers No Advantage Over Prescription THC
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n218.a09.html

Pubdate:   August 1997
Source:   Modern Medicine

Voth EA, Schwartz RH Medicinal appilcations of delta-9- tetrahydro-cannabinol and marijuana.  Ann Intern Med (May 15) 1997;126:791-8

Although its active ingredient, THC, can be useful for treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and in stimulating appetite, marijuana should not be reclassified as a prescription drug, according to Voth and Schwartz.  They reviewed studies published between 1975 and '96 on the medicinal use of crude marijuana and THC. 

CHEMOTHERAPY-INDUCED NAUSEA.  THC was found to be an effective anti-emetic in 12 of 13 analyzable trials.  In one trial, metoclopramide (Reglan et al) was more effective than THC In a study comparing pure THC with smoked marijuana, THC was more effective in quelling nausea in 35% of patients. 


Subj:   Supporter of Medical Marijuana Eyes CA Governorship
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n219.a09.html

Pubdate:   Sun, 14 Sep 1997
Source:   San Jose Mercury

SACRAMENTO -- Veteran Santa Clara County legislator John Vasconcellos will launch an exploratory bid to become the Democratic nominee for governor this week, hoping to trade on his high-tech connections while selling his offbeat brand of politics to voters who probably know him best from the comics. 

The bachelor father of California's self-esteem movement, for which he was once lampooned in Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury," says he'll spend the next 45 days assessing "whether I can ignite or spark enthusiasm in enough people."

The announcement -- to be made formally Wednesday, when he sends video and audio tapes to television and radio stations -- caps several months of speculation in the media and soul-searching by the man who in 1979 wrote "A Liberating Vision: Politics for Growing Humans."


Militarization

Subj:   Forest Service and Marines Join Forces to Hunt MJ
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n211.a06.html

Pubdate:   Sun, 07 Sep 1997
Source:   The Oregonian

MEDFORD-- After a two-year hiatus, the U.S.  Marine Corps will join with the U.S.  Forest Service to fly over southwestern Oregon looking for marijuana patches. 

The Forest Service first used military training flights to help with its marijuana eradication program in the late 1980's.  Despite decreases in the number of outdoor growing operations, the program was discontinued because of budget cuts. 

Four helicopters-- Two AH-1W Super Cobras and two UH-1N helicopters, commonly known as "Hueys"-- will fly unarmed over public and private lands during the next month.  They will cover Jackson, Josephine, Coos, Douglas,and Curry counties and part of California. 


Subj:   OP ED: Border Troops Fixation
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n213.a01.html

Pubdate:   Wed, 10 Sep 1997
Source:   Waco Tribune-Herald

Congress is getting into a nasty habit of trying to foist things onto the Pentagon it doesn't want.  And we're not talking about the kind of needed austerity measures that no bureaucracy wants. 

We're talking about things that drain resources unnecessarily and hurt readiness.  One good example is Congress' insistence on the production of $18 billion worth of new B-2 stealth bombers.  That would add nine. The Pentagon wants none. 

A more alarming example of this tendency, however, came Friday when the House, for the second time, voted to allow deployment of up to 10,000 troops at the Mexican border to assist in drug interdiction and enforce immigration laws. 


Subj:   Mexican Officials Debate Army's Role in Drug War
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n216.a09.html

Source:   Dallas Morning News
Pubdate:   Fri, 12 Sep 1997

MEXICO CITY - As a scandalous drug trial against a top general nears an end, some lawmakers question whether the Mexican army should take a lead role in the counternarcotics effort. 

Ordering soldiers to fight drug traffickers "is like inviting a criminal into a casino.  He'll rob it," Sen.-elect Francisco Molina Ruiz said.

"I'm not saying the army is full of delinquents." But soldiers earn only a few hundred dollars a month and so they're vulnerable to drug bribes, Mr.  Molina said. 


Subj:   U.S.  Troops Told to Stay Away From Ciudad Juarez
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n217.a09.html

Pubdate:   Fri, 12 Sep 1997

EL PASO, Texas, Sept 12 (Reuter) - U.S.  soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas have been ordered to stay away from the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez because of a rash of drug-related killings there, officials said on Friday. 

Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, is a popular night-time stomping ground for soldiers based at Fort Bliss, but it has been rocked by about 20 drug murders in recent weeks. 

Maj.  Gen. John Costello, the senior military officer at Fort Bliss, ordered the 13,000 active duty troops on the post to stay away from Ciudad Juarez until things calm down.  Anyone violating the ban, which went into effect late on Thursday, will be court-martialed. 

"This order will not be rescinded until the general feels there is a certain level of stability down there," Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said. 

Ciudad Juarez pulls in soldiers attracted by its many bars, restaurants and strip clubs.  Offutt said she did not know how many soldiers regularly cross the border for a night out. 


Needle Exchange

Subj:   Needle Exchange Programs Get No Help in House Vote
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n218.a11.html

Pubdate:   Friday, September 12, 1997
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to prohibit the use of federal funds for needle exchanges programs to prevent the spread of HIV, a move immediately denounced by advocacy groups. 

"Numerous federally funded studies and organizations all agree that needle exchange saves lives," said Regina Aragon, director of public policy at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.  "Congress has put politics before health, and as a result, thousands more will become infected with HIV."


Sentencing

Subj:   Michigan: Prisoner Hopes for Drug Law Change
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n211.a02.html

Pubdate:   Sat, 6 Sep 1997
Source:   Los Angeles Times

Drugs:   Boyfriend's heroin in car meant maximum sentence.  But legislative
mood may be turning toward less harsh penalty. 

PLYMOUTH, Mich.  (AP) - Nearly 20 years later, JeDonna Young still remembers her stomach churning, queasy with fear, that night the police stopped her and asked the question. 

It was the first hint she was doomed. 

She was just four blocks from home, on a crisp October night in 1978, driving her boyfriend in the bronze Cadillac he had given her.  Unbeknown to them, the Detroit police were following.  The officers stopped them, ordered them out and searched the car.  On the front seat was a brown paper bag secured with rubber bands.  It contained heroin. In the trunk was a plastic bag filled with envelopes containing 33 cellophane packets of tan powder.  That, too, was heroin. 

"Whose drugs are those?" the police officer asked. 


Subj:   Motives in Battling Crack Cocaine
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n212.a06.html

Pubdate:   9-5-97
Source:   The San Diego Union-Tribune-North County

"When you're up to your hips in alligators, it's hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp."

I think that's an old Cajun expression, and I'm not sure that its most accurate rendering includes the word "hip." But it does seem an apt way to think about the bitter controversy over the disparate sentencing for "crack" and powder cocaine. 

The most troublesome of the alligators in the analogy is the fact that users and sellers of "crack" - overwhelmingly black - are far more likely to go to prison and to serve longer (mandatory) terms than are users and sellers of cocaine in its powder form - a group far likelier to comprise whites. 


Subj:   Juries Are the Citizen's Last Line of Defense
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n218.a07.html

Pubdate:   Sat, 13 Sep 1997
Source:   Boulder Daily Camera

It is with some trepidation that I write about my case.  The last letter I wrote (Daily Camera, 4/20/96, "Scare tactics killed hemp bill") was used as evidence against me at my trial for contempt of court stemming from my service as a juror in Gilpin County. 

It is necessary to put my apprehension aside in order to share my experience with others in the hope of educating and protecting other potential jurors. 


South America

Subj:   Ex-army Chief Calls Colombia's Drug War "A Sham"
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n216.a05.html

Pubdate:   Fri, 12 Sep 1997

BOGOTA, Sept 12 (Reuter) - The hardline general recently ousted as Colombia's military chief called the government a disgrace and described its war against drugs as "a sham" during an explosive television interview. 

Gen.  Harold Bedoya, who has embarked on a grass-roots campaign for the presidency, also vowed to press drug corruption charges against President Ernesto Samper if he wins election. 

The interview, with CBS-Telenoticias, was broadcast on Thursday night, on the eve of a ceremony in the capital where Bedoya was to be retired from active service with full honors. 

Coming from a man who served on the frontline of the drug war, he was guaranteed to stir controversy by calling it a fraud.  But he put the blame squarely on Samper, who he said should have resigned amid the scandal over his allegedly drug-financed election campaign. 


Subj:   Columbian Drug Measures Seen Swelling Rebel Ranks
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n214.a08.html

Pubdate:   September 12, 1997

BOGOTA, Reuters [WS] : Colombia's crackdown on illegal drug plantations is forcing peasants to flee their land and join the ranks of Marxist guerrillas, a U.S.-based human rights group says. 

The independent Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) says Colombia's U.S.-backed drug eradication policy -- going hand-in-hand with counterinsurgency operations and widespread violation of human rights -- is doing ``more harm than good.''

The police and army, which share a drug enforcement role, have long accused leftist rebels, especially the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), of drug trafficking.  They also accuse the guerrillas of whipping up social unrest in the main coca-growing regions, including last year's peasant marches in southern Colombia to protest government programs to eradicate coca leaf crops -- the raw material for cocaine. 


The War on Drugs

Subj:   Solve America's Drug Problem? Kill all the Drug Addicts?
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n212.a07.html

Pubdate:   September 8, 1997
Source:   Los Angeles Times Book Review

NEW YORK--This is the premise of RISING PHOENIX (HarperCollins Publishers), Kyle Mills' gripping thriller that Tom Clancy calls "an explosive thriller that launches a new genius for taut, compulsive adventure writing into some of the most complex and morally ambiguous subjects of the day."

Maybe you think solving America's drug problem through tainted drugs is too fantastic to be believed? Maybe not.  Take a look at these all-too-real headlines. 

Bad Batch of Crack Sends 25 to the Hospital "Crack cocaine poisoning has sent at least 25 people to area hospitals, and authorities warned Saturday that the drug had been laced with a chemical...Some suffered seizures and others were frothing at the mouth..." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - May 5, 1997. 


Subj:   Drug Dogs at the New Mexico State Fair
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n212.a09.html

Pubdate:   Tue, 9 Sep 1997

ALBUQUERQUE -- American Civil Liberties Union activists are keeping a watchful eye on the use of drug dogs at the New Mexico State Fair. 

ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Jennie Lusk spoke with fair manager John Garcia to express the ACLU's concerns about the use of drug dogs, and to get specific information about the fair's plans to use them to search fairgoers. 

Reports have circulated that the dogs would be used at state fair gates or be allowed to roam fairgrounds searching and sniffing for drugs. 

"The State Fair manager has guaranteed me that reports of the use of drug sniffing dogs are exaggerated, and that all use of the drug dogs will be individualized," Lusk said. 


Subj:   Workplace Drug Test Positives on Downward Trend
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n214.a09.html

Pubdate:   September 12, 1997

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa., /PRNewswire/ -- The SmithKline Beecham Drug Testing Index(C), released today, disclosed that 5.4 percent of the more than 2.2 million tests performed in the first six months of 1997 by SmithKlineBeecham Clinical Laboratories were positive for drugs.  The positive rate for all of 1996 was 5.8 percent. 

"The continued decline in workplace positive drug tests is encouraging for U.S.  employers," said John B. Okkerse, Jr., Ph.D., President, SBCL. "In the general workforce, marijuana continues to be detected most frequently.  Nearly 60 percent of positive test results in the first six months of 1997 were positive for marijuana, as compared to 52 percent for the same time period in 1996. 

"The percentage of those testing positive for cocaine, which historically has been approximately 24 percent of all positive test results, declined to less than 18 percent over the first six months of the year."


Subj:   Afghan Opium Growers Hold Ground
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97.n216.a08.html

Pubdate:   Fri, 12 Sep 1997

SHINWAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Pulling on the wispy strands of his gray beard, the wizened farmer mutters the only English word he knows - opium - and vows that no one, not Afghanistan's Taliban religious rulers, not the United Nations, will stop him from growing it. 

Haji Saif Rahman says his father and his grandfather harvested the blood-red poppies that make heroin before him, and his grandchildren surely will do the same. 

"What else should we do?" he asked, pointing his trembling hand in emphasis.  "There's no work. There's no business. There's not enough water and there's not enough land.  It's our duty to grow it."

After months of pressure by the United Nations and Western countries, the Taliban have prohibited the cultivation of opium poppies, which are grown by 200,000 families in this war-shattered country. 


HOT OFF THE 'NET     (Top)


Lynn Harichy Launches Constitutional Challenge

Lynn Harichy, multiple sclerosis victim and mother of two has become the latest crusader in the battle to legalize marijuana in Canada. 

Lynn was arrested yesterday morning in front of the London, Ont., police station, where she planned to smoke a joint.  She was issued a summons to appear in court Oct.  14 on a charge of possession of a narcotic.

Keep an eye on Hemp Nation http://www.hempnation.com/med/lynn.html and coming issues of DS Weekly for updates on Lynn's case. 


MAPS Forum

The MAPS forum is the electronic discussion group of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).  Currently numbering 1400 members, MAPS focuses on the development of beneficial, socially-sanctioned uses of psychedelic drugs and marijuana.  MAPS pursues its mission by helping scientific researchers design, obtain governmental approval for, fund, conduct and report on psychedelic research in human volunteers. 

For more information about MAPS, please visit http://www.maps.org


DS Weekly On-Line Edition

You can now read DS Weekly on-line at
http://www.drugsense.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/drugsense/current


DRUGSENSE TIP OF THE WEEK     (Top)


Point by Point Response to the Dallas Morning News Article      "The Partnership: Hard Sell in the Drug War" 

MAPer Alan Bryan responds point by point to the Dallas Morning News showing how to use the Internet to provide solid references.  Countering such propaganda with factual information is one of the highest goals of our organization and Alan sets a good example for all. 


DMN editor's comments preceded by

Drug use among adults in America has declined nearly 50 percent since 1985.  So why aren't we celebrating?

What is your point here? Most of these adults DID experiment with drugs in their youth.  They simply quit doing them as they grew older.

Because more young people than ever are snorting, sniffing, smoking, shooting and ingesting every kind of illicit drug imaginable. 

Can you substantiate this statement? Was it researched? It appears that such was not the case.  It is amazing that with all of the information that is available at your fingertips, that you did not even bother reading the "Monitoring the Future Survey".  It's even online at:

http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/mtf/mtf95t02.html

Had you read this, you would have found that teen drug use reached a high of 65.6% in 1981 and a low of 40.7% in 1992.  Cocaine use was at its all-time high in 1985 (16.1%) and a low in 1994 (5.9%).  Of course, these numbers are insignificant when compared to alcohol and tobacco.  Amazing enough, the numbers of alcohol and tobacco users have shown a steady decline since 1975 and their distribution is controlled, unlike illicit drugs. 

Now, you should also realize these surveys may have a significant margin of error since they are all self-reporting.  During the just say no years, the kids were saying no to the surveyors, whether they said no to drugs or not.  Just ask anyone who was in high school in the mid-80's how prevalant drugs were in school. 

Among eighth- and 10th-graders, illegal drug use has doubled since 1992, according to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. 

There was no data gathered on 8th and 10th graders prior to 1992, so we have nothing with which to compare.  One should always be very dubious of PFDA surveys.  I find it interesting that they lay-off the tobacco and alcohol industries.  They only recently quit accepting contributions from these industries.  Don't you find that a bit hypocritical?

At least 20 percent of this nation's 45 million children under age 12 have been offered illicit drugs. 

Well, what do you expect? The current distribution system is comprised of teenagers.  It's an easy way for them to make money. The more customers they get, the more money they make.  If illicit drugs were sold on the cereal shelves in grocery stores, they'd be less available than they are now.  Most kids don't have their cereal delivered.  There would also be no incentive in getting others addicted. 

Seven Plano youths have died from heroin
overdoes since December, according to police. 

I'm curious, have you read the autopsy reports? Weren't there combinations of alcohol and other drugs involved in some of these deaths? Wasn't there a delay in seeking medical assistance for some of these victims because in others involved were afraid of arrest? FYI, Narcan will stop a heroin overdose in its tracks (no pun intended). 

If you are interested in REALLY learning the causes of what has been labeled heroin overdose, perhaps you should read Chpater 12 of "The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs" by Edward M.  Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine, 1972 . 

This, too, is available online at:

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm

After reading this chapter, I want you to tell me that all these youths died of a true heroin overdose. 

At this rate, America will face another drug epidemic by the end of this century - unless Congress and the American people are willing to support an unprecedented media campaign to convince young people not to fall into the trap. 

If illicit drugs and marijuana are the terrible menace that you describe, how do you think our country survived the 60's and 70's? Have you checked into the whereabouts of those who grew up during this time? I have.  Guess what they are? They are the heads of Fortune 500 companies, members of congress, police officers, PTA presidents, respected members of society and even valued employees of your newspaper. 

Pending in Congress is a $16 billion federal drug budget that commits $175 million to purchase prime-time media exposure for anti-drug advertising geared to children. 

Would you mind telling me how the billions and billions of dollars spent on the drug war have done any good? Why do you support a policy that has lead some states to spend more on prisons than education? Have you ever SERIOUSLY considered this?

The time for this kind of hard-hitting national campaign against drugs is long overdue.  A decade ago, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America helped curtail drug use among youngsters with a wave of effective ads. 

Those commericials did little, if anything, to reduce illicit drug use and they totally ignored alcohol and tobacco.  You owe it to yourself to read:

The Partnership: Hard Sell in the Drug War

by CYNTHIA COTTS, The Nation Magazine

http://www.televar.com/~thawkins/friedegg.html

Remember the 1987 TV ad depicting the brain wave of a l4 year-old smoking pot.  It was actually the brain wave of a coma patient.

I had always been under the impression that the Dallas Morning News sought out the truth.  It appears that you have been neglectful in searching for this truth.  Had you done so, you would not have tooted PFDA horn so loudly.

But with the networks in a tough struggle with cable channels over advertising, time available for public service announcements has all but dried up.  And, unfortunately, the number of news stories on TV about illegal drugs also has declined. 

Can you substantiate your claim of the decline in drug stories? The Dallas Morning News failed to report one of the greatest drug program success stories of all time.  I am referring to the Swiss heroin distribution program.  Read my letter that was submitted last week for a few details or go to: http://www.lindesmith.org for the complete report. 

Members of Congress must realize that it costs money to get the message out.  McDonald's spends nearly $600 million a year to sell hamburgers. It isn't too much to invest $175 million to save kids. 

An unhealthy diet kills more people each year than drugs.  Perhaps we should spend that money on teaching people healthy eating habits.  I don't think McDonalds would support this idea.  :)

Ads would not be geared solely to youngsters.  There also will be strong messages about the role parents can play in helping their children make right choices. 

I don't think we need to spend money advertising to accomplish this.  As long as you and others continue to support teenage drug dealers, there will be no significant changes in drug consumption patterns among our youth. 

This won't be the "Just Say No" kind of advertising from the Reagan administration.  One ad shows a beautiful model talking about her drug use.  While talking, she removes her makeup, false eyelashes and finally false teeth to show the ravages of her addiction. 

And the kids will laugh.  Do you realize that many people who use opiates do not fit the sterotype? Did you realize that one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Dr.  William Halstead, was a daily user of morphine? I don't know whether he wore false teeth or not.  ;)

Many movies today have let teenagers think taking drugs is all right. 

The same was said of "Cheech and Chong" movies and the country did not go to hell in that proverbial handbasket.  One of my favorite books that I read in high school (1971) was "Dealing--or the Boston to Berkley Forty Brick Lost Bag Blues".  It was all about drug dealing and the like. Guess what? I did not use, much less sell drugs while I was in high school (graduated '73). 

We need to give them the other side of the story. 

You mean the side of the story that marijuana is not nearly as harmful as alcohol and tobacco? I DARE ya. 

That's what this ambitious advertising assault on a looming crisis will do. 

Spoken in my best Texan:

"It ain't gonna do squat, 'cept waste mo'uv my tax dollars."


Hope this has been informative as well as a little entertaining. 

Alan Bryan


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