| November 12, 1997 #020 | ||||||||
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A DrugSense publication | ||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||
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For our feature this week we give you two columns on last weeks'
initiative in Washington state. First a national view from DrugSense's
Chair, Kendra E. Wright and then a local perspective from the sponsor of
Initiative 685, Dr. Rob Killian. | ||||||||
The Journey Toward Reform Continues | ||||||||
Last year reformers celebrated two victories at the ballot box in Arizona and California. With those successes we did not stop our reform efforts in those states or nationally. We correctly viewed those votes as mere steps on our journey and stayed the course toward a sensible and humane drug policy. | ||||||||
Despite last week's disappointing vote in Washington, we again should not
pause in our efforts for reform. We must practice the philosophy Winston
Churchill expressed so concisely: "Never give up. Never give up. Never!
Never! Never!" | ||||||||
Whether we win or lose each battle, our response should be the same if we
are to attain the ultimate victory -- build on the experience. We must
increase our efforts, expand our organizing, reach out to more and more new
people and illustrate to a skeptical public the alternate ways to
successfully deal with drugs in America. | ||||||||
We can make our temporary set-back in Washington a long-term success by
learning from the experience and working together to do better in the
future. We must be honest about our mistakes, mindful of our shortcomings,
wary of our opposition and constructive in our criticism. And we should be
grateful to all those who have devoted so much talent, effort and resources
to both the 1996 and 1997 initiatives. | ||||||||
After a healthy post mortem, we need to regroup, refocus and continue our
journey. We must not let this experience divide us. Only by working together
can we succeed. | ||||||||
Kendra Wright is the Vice President of Common Sense for Drug Policy where
she manages the Harm Reduction Funders' Network and the Families, Women and
Children Network. | ||||||||
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We Have Begun the Process of Change | ||||||||
Last Tuesday, Washington State Voters said "No" to drug policy reform. As
the sponsor of I-685 I am frankly exhilarated rather than depressed. We have
changed the discussion on drugs and how we treat people who use them. During
the campaign, the opposition conceded the value of medical marijuana and the
need for more treatment rather than incarceration. | ||||||||
I am exhilarated because while we did not change the world overnight, we
have begun the process of change in Washington state. On election night we
announced our efforts for reform of drug policy would be ongoing and that we
would be back within the year with a tightly worded medical marijuana bill
for the voters. Our polling showed that 68% of those who voted would have
voted for medical marijuana and 46% of those who voted no on I-685 would
have voted for medical marijuana alone. We will not go away until a sane
drug policy prevails. | ||||||||
However, in this off-year election it is unlikely that even a medical
marijuana initiative would have passed. Initiatives traditionally favor no
votes because it is easier to vote for the status quo - just say NO - than
to consider the implications of change. Indeed, all five statewide ballot
initiatives dealing with hand gun control to gay rights in the workplace
were soundly defeated. The common denominator of the opposition campaigns
was fear and innuendo to scare voters. | ||||||||
The last days of the campaign saw the opposition screaming the words
"LEGALIZATION" and "HEROIN" as loud as they could. They claimed thousands of
felons would be released. Steve Forbes dumped thousands of dollars into
radio ads that lied about the initiative. Washington's Lt. Governor, Brad
Owen, who received a $170,000 federal grant to teach Washington voters the
dangers of marijuana, never once filed an expenditure, even though he
campaigned full time, flew by helicopter to some of his anti-685 speeches
and had a full time federal campaign advisor travel with him at most stops.
Their campaign media buyer/consultant donated these services and did not
declare in-kind contributions until after the election. | ||||||||
The message from Washington State is DO NOT DESPAIR. The public is engaged
in a new discussion about drugs. Our Citizens for Drug Policy Reform has
gelled into a committed group of activists dedicated to keeping the dialogue
going and seeing rational changes in our drug laws. | ||||||||
The I-685 web site can be found at http://www.eventure.com/I685/ | ||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||
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Drug Czar | ||||||||
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WASHINGTON -- The official who heads the administration's war on narcotics
picked a rare public quarrel with the Pentagon on Thursday over the conduct
of the federal anti-drug crusade on the Mexican border and elsewhere in the
world. | ||||||||
In an unprecedented move, Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House
Office of Drug Control Policy, announced that he would not approve the
Pentagon's fiscal 1999 budget, as required by law, unless the department
boosts proposed anti-drug spending by $141 million. | ||||||||
But defense officials insisted that his proposal would crimp other needed
military programs while shoveling more money at the anti-drug effort than it
could productively absorb. | ||||||||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- In an unprecedented move, President Clinton's drug policy director ordered the Defense Department on Thursday to add $141 million to its planned spending on drug-control programs in the next budget year. | ||||||||
In a letter to Defense Secretary William Cohen, Barry McCaffrey said his
office could not certify that the Pentagon's proposed $809 million
drug-fighting budget for fiscal 1999 was adequate to implement the
president's drug-control policy. | ||||||||
"To correct the deficiencies," the Pentagon must include an additional $141 million in drug control programs to strengthen operations in Mexico, the Andes, the Caribbean and along the U.S. southern border, McCaffrey wrote. | ||||||||
At the Pentagon, spokesman Kenneth Bacon said $140 million is excessive "at
a time when we are being asked to do more with less." | ||||||||
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International News | ||||||||
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WASHINGTON - A controversial new law could turn the world's longest
undefended border into Checkpoint Charlie and irreparably harm Canada's
friendship with the United States, U.S. senators warn. | ||||||||
"This sets a bad precedent for U.S. foreign relations," Michigan Senator
Spencer Abraham said yesterday at the start of a public hearing on the tough
new border law. "It would create a nightmare." | ||||||||
By next October, anyone who is not a American citizen must pass through an automated identification system while crossing the border. | ||||||||
Political and business leaders warned at a senate subcommittee hearing yesterday the plan could kill border communities and lead to billion-dollar business losses in Canada, the United States and Mexico. | ||||||||
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Most young drug users are not stereotypical sad, lonely losers, according to a new study. Jason Bennetto and Benjamin Todd examine the findings of a report that suggests the Government needs to rethink its drugs policy. | ||||||||
Many anti-drugs campaigns and education packages are aimed at the wrong
people, often falsely stereotyping young substance-abusers as friendless
junkies with no ambitions. | ||||||||
According to a survey of more than 850 people aged between 16 and 24, and 100 in-depth interviews, drug use is commonplace and consumers tend to be independent, lead active lives, and do not lack self-esteem. | ||||||||
The young people trusted and respected their families in much the same way
as their non-drug-taking contemporaries, disapproved of "out of control"
behaviour by so called "problem" users or addicts, and were no more
fatalistic than other teenagers. | ||||||||
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Editor's note: The Independent on Sunday "Decriminalise Cannabis Campaign" has web pages at: http://www.independent.co.uk/sindypot/index.htm | ||||||||
POSSESSION of cannabis for personal consumption was effectively
decriminalised following a referendum in 1993. Although this did not
actually change the law - cannabis remains illegal - the authorities tend to
turn a blind eye to its use. There is no penal sentence for personal use.
Since 1993 the consumption of cannabis has risen while the use of hard drugs
has fallen. | ||||||||
Cultivation and supply are considered serious offences, however. The line between personal use and intent to supply ultimately rests with the judge. There are no proposals to change the law, and the Government is beginning to take a tougher stance on the subject. All the major parties are against any official relaxing of the laws. This is in contrast to the Lista party, whose leader, Marco Pannella, regularly risks arrest by distributing joints in public. Last week he sent a gram to our correspondent in Rome. | ||||||||
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Medical Marijuana | ||||||||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fictional broadcaster Murphy Brown's in trouble again
with a government official. The chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration
accused the CBS television character Wednesday of sending a dangerous
message to children by using marijuana to relieve nausea caused by
chemotherapy. | ||||||||
In a statement issued a few hours before Wednesday's broadcast of the
situation comedy, DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine said CBS and the
show's creators were "doing a great disservice" by "trivializing drug abuse"
and "pandering to the libertarian supporters of an 'open society' and to the
myths of legalization." | ||||||||
In Wednesday's episode, actress Candice Bergen, who plays television
reporter Brown, is shown smoking a marijuana cigarette to quell nausea
produced by chemotherapy prescribed to treat her breast cancer. The illegal
marijuana is purchased for her by another character, anchorman Jim Dial, who
is concerned over her inability to get relief from legal drugs and
therapies. | ||||||||
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Editor's note: Only the 'Murphy Brown' part of the column is below. | ||||||||
As the producers of CBS's "Murphy Brown" are discovering once again, you
can't please everyone every week. Last month they basked in praise for the
Wednesday night show's three-episode story arc about Murphy (Candice Bergen)
successfully confronting breast cancer . . . | ||||||||
But earlier this week the Women's Healthcare Educational Network took the
series to task for a line about a prosthetic breast in which Murphy joked,
"Should I go with Demi Moore or Elsie the Cow?" | ||||||||
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WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Janet Reno has declined to join in criticism
of the television show, "Murphy Brown," saying she hadn't seen Wednesday
night's episode in which the title character uses marijuana to cope with
chemotherapy nausea following breast cancer. | ||||||||
Wednesday, Tom Constantine, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the fictional marijuana use sent the wrong message to young people. | ||||||||
Today, Reno said: "I didn't see the program, so as usual I can't comment. I
think we have got to recognize and be very concerned about the dangers of
marijuana." | ||||||||
Reno rarely watches TV, except for baseball games, especially her beloved
Florida Marlins. | ||||||||
But Reno added, "With respect to he medical use of marijuana, the National
Institute of Health is addressing that issue now, and I think that's where
the sensitive, critical issues on the medical use of marijuana should be
addressed in the first place." | ||||||||
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SEATTLE (AP) -- Voters on Tuesday defeated a proposal to make Washington the
third state in a year to reject federal drug policy and approve the medical
use of marijuana and other drugs. | ||||||||
With 10 percent of precincts reporting, the measure was failing 61 percent
to 39 percent. | ||||||||
Final results may not be available for days, since one-third of Washington
voters were expected to cast ballots by mail. | ||||||||
The measure would have legalized possession of marijuana, heroin, LSD and
other drugs by people who are seriously ill. Patients would need written
recommendations from two physicians, and the doctors would have to cite
scientific research supporting use of the drug. | ||||||||
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Despite the crushing defeat of a measure that would have loosened state drug
laws, legislators say they may attempt to legalize medicinal marijuana next
year. | ||||||||
"The initiative went down because it was too broad," said Sen. Alex Deccio,
R-Yakima, chairman of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. "I
think we should look at a very narrowly drawn bill." | ||||||||
Deccio opposed the initiative. But he said he would hold hearings on a
medical marijuana bill because the drug could help terminally ill patients
in their final days. "I'd rather we looked at a tightly drawn marijuana bill
rather than looking at assisted suicide." | ||||||||
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Even watching five initiatives go down in flames Tuesday isn't deterring a number of groups from considering their own initiatives next year. | ||||||||
Two out of three voters said no this week to trigger locks, medical
marijuana and the anti-discrimination initiative for gays and lesbians. But
groups like the Washington State Labor Council say voters may support
raising the minimum wage, reforming campaign-finance laws and expanding
health-care coverage to low and middle-income people. | ||||||||
Maybe so, say political strategists. But they also say the road to next year's elections is fraught with warning signs and any initiative campaign is doomed unless it learns this lesson from Tuesday: Keep it simple. | ||||||||
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In the pages of The Washington Post, drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey [op-ed,
Sept. 9] and former HEW secretary Joseph Califano [op-ed,Sept. 30] have
grossly mischaracterized the District's medical marijuana ballot measure as
part of a sinister conspiracy to legalize narcotics for recreational use.
Far from it, Initiative 57, proposed by the local AIDS advocacy group ACT UP
Washington, simply provides a legal defense, in limited circumstances, to
seriously ill and dying patients who use small amounts of marijuana to ease
their suffering. | ||||||||
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Needle Exchange | ||||||||
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They were homeless and drug-addicted, high on alcohol and hungry, waiting in
line to swap their dirty needles for clean ones through a city program that
aims to reduce the spread of HIV. Yesterday afternoon, staffers told them
they were in for a beautiful surprise. | ||||||||
Minutes later, the newly crowned Miss America, Kate Shindle, swept out of a car in a long black wool skirt and bulky turtleneck sweater pinned with a sparkly tiara brooch. She came to one of Baltimore's toughest neighborhoods to praise the needle exchange program that she had condemned just weeks ago. | ||||||||
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NEW YORK - An overwhelming number of Americans support lifting a ban on federal government HIV prevention money being spent on needle exchange programs, a drug policy research institute said Thursday. | ||||||||
It quoted a public opinion poll conducted last month when U.S. House and U.S. Senate negotiators agreed to prohibit the Health and Human Services Department from supporting needle exchanges until the end of March 1998. | ||||||||
Authors of anti-drug legislation are considering the issue of the programs,
which proponents believe protect illegal drug users against AIDS by
preventing the multiple use of potentially contaminated needles. Opponents
such as the Family Research Council believe needle exchanges encourage the
addiction. | ||||||||
"The United States is virtually alone among advanced, industrialized nations
in prohibiting the funding of needle exchange programs," said Ethan
Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, which has cited studies
showing such programs dramatically reduce the spread of the virus that
causes AIDS among intravenous drug users. | ||||||||
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Government leaders in developing countries must act to prevent AIDS
epidemics even if that means promoting such politically controversial
programs as condom use and clean needles for drug users, according to a
World Bank report released Monday. | ||||||||
The report recommended fast, intensive prevention efforts in countries where
AIDS is just starting to appear, especially among people who have many sex
partners or inject drugs, saying millions of lives could be saved.
Approximately 90 percent of all HIV infections occur in developing
countries. | ||||||||
Sub-Sahara Africa has the most people infected with AIDS -- 14 million --
but new evidence in the report suggests the virus may be on the verge of
exploding in parts of China, India, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. | ||||||||
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Trials & Sentencing | ||||||||
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In a speech at the Mount Washington Conference Center yesterday, Barry R.
McCaffrey, President Clinton's chief drug adviser, repeated his support for
a federal panel's proposal for fair sentencing for people convicted of
possessing crack cocaine. | ||||||||
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 calls for a mandatory five-year sentence for
possession of more than 5 grams of crack cocaine; but a first-time
conviction for possession of powder cocaine is punishable by no more than a
year in prison. The panel said the difference between the penalties should
be reduced. | ||||||||
McCaffrey spoke at a conference titled "The Crack Decade: Research
Perspectives and Lessons Learned". The two-day meeting, which ended
yesterday, was sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the
National Institute of Justice. | ||||||||
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BENTON, Ill. - A federal jury awarded $175,000 to a diabetic who was fired
from his job at a boat-making plant after saying he couldn't provide a urine
sample because he was dehydrated. | ||||||||
Rex Slane of West Frankfort sued Mariah Boats for wrongful dismissal after
he was fired in June 1994, one week after he became ill at the plant and
went to the hospital with severe dehydration. Mariah officials sought the
urine sample shortly after Slane was hospitalized, according to testimony in
the case. | ||||||||
He was unable to provide a sample that day, but a sample taken the next day
showed no sign of drug use, according to Slane's lawyer, Courtney Cox of
Benton. | ||||||||
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A judge today reversed herself and told best-selling author Peter McWilliams
that he cannot claim medical necessity as a defense in a marijuana
possession case. | ||||||||
McWilliams is a coauthor of "Hypericum & Depression," which hit best-seller
lists in August. He was arrested on the marijuana charge last December at
Detroit Metropolitan Airport. | ||||||||
He has said that marijuana eases his nausea during chemotherapy for
non-Hodgkins lymphoma and helps him tolerate the drugs he takes to control
AIDS. | ||||||||
On Oct. 29, Romulus District Court Judge Tina Green gave his lawyer
permission to base the defense, in part, on McWilliams' medical use of the
marijuana. | ||||||||
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War on Drugs | ||||||||
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Speakers cite ills of current policy... | ||||||||
STANFORD - Two of the nation's most prominent conservatives told a gathering
of California law enforcement officials Thursday that the ongoing "War on
Drugs" has been a dismal failure. | ||||||||
Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and acclaimed free market
econo-mist Milton Friedman said local leaders must start rethinking a
25-year policy of strict drug prohibition that has spread crime, corruption
and disease while doing little to stem the nation's appetite for Illicit
substances. | ||||||||
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Stanford panel recommends new tactics... | ||||||||
America has lost the war against drugs so new, radical means must be used to
combat a problem devouring its inner cities, prominent panelists at a Hoover
Institution conference urged Thursday. | ||||||||
The panelists, including former Secretary of State George Shultz and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, told an audience of law enforcement officers and drug analysts from around the country that legalization of drugs and treatment for addicts could squash the burgeoning drug industry. | ||||||||
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Editors note: This and the following articles are the feature in the
November issue of Soldiers, a slick color magazine which is distributed to
every Active, Guard and Reserve component unit in enough copies for all the
soldiers; paid for by those who pay U.S. federal taxes. | ||||||||
----- | ||||||||
The soldier stands on the ridgeline, peering at the valley below through powerful binoculars. Next to him is a tripod-mounted infrared sensor. Come nightfall, the high-tech device will allow him and his partner to locate and track infiltrators attempting to cross the area's rough terrain. | ||||||||
Though the valley the troops are watching is in the rolling, scrub-covered
California hill country east of San Diego, this is not an exercise. The
mission is a real one, and the soldiers' weapons are loaded. The troops
belong to the California National Guard, and they and hundreds of other Army
and Air Guard members throughout the state are frontline participants in
America's war on drugs. | ||||||||
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California National Guard members engaged in counterdrug operations are
bound by well-defined rules of engagement that specify those circumstances
under which the use of force is justified. | ||||||||
Simply put, the ROE policy states that Guard personnel should avoid
potential confrontations whenever possible, using planned withdrawal routes
to leave the area undetected. If the use of force becomes unavoidable, Guard
members can use only the amount of force reasonably necessary for self
defense. And should a situation arise in which Guard personnel are at risk
of immediate and potentially deadly harm, the Guard members defer to the
supervising peace officer of the law enforcement agency the decision to use
deadly force. | ||||||||
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For many people on both sides of the California-Mexico border, the most
obvious results of the Guard's ongoing commitment to supporting counterdrug
efforts are the fences and access roads that mark the international
frontier. | ||||||||
Located just inside U.S. territory, the 5-to-14-foot-high welded fences are
intended to stop or significantly delay both drug-bearing vehicles and
individual smugglers attempting to dash northward across the border. The
roads, which spread out just behind the fences, improve the U.S. Border
Patrol's ability to monitor the border and apprehend suspected smugglers
before they can disappear into nearby towns and cities | ||||||||
The California Guard's engineer effort on the border began in 1989, when the
first troops began upgrading the network of roads used by the Border Patrol.
It was an immense and very important undertaking, for the poor condition of
the existing roads hampered the Border Patrol's ability to locate, identify
and stop the dozens of drug-carrying vehicles that illegally crossed into
the United States each day. | ||||||||
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While the border fences and access roads built by Team Engineer are a
formidable obstacle, smugglers can always find ways over, under or around
them. Detecting and identifying those who make it past the first barriers --
and guiding law enforcement agents onto them -- is the job of two highly
specialized Guard units. | ||||||||
Team Wolf | ||||||||
For the soldiers of Team Wolf, small-unit infantry skills are an absolute must for success in the battle against drug smugglers. Tasked primarily with anti-smuggling ground reconnaissance missions both along the border and elsewhere in the state, Team Wolf's troops put their land navigation, intelligence gathering and tactical movement skills to good use. | ||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||
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DARE - To Think For Yourself | ||||||||
For the true facts on DARE visit http://www.drrcnet.org/DARE/ | ||||||||
Learn the truth about DARE and then educate others. You can help make a
difference. | ||||||||
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DRUGSENSE TIP OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||
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MAP News Survey - You Can Help Make Our News Services Even Better! | ||||||||
We at MAP/DrugSense need your opinion concerning our news services. In about
a week we will be considering the future directions of these services.
Options include making available specialized editions on subject areas or
states or countries. | ||||||||
A handy survey form has been set up for your comments, criticisms and
suggestions at: | ||||||||
Please browse to the web site and fill out the form. We'll try and have the results ready and begin to implement changes based on your suggestions as soon as possible. Thank you for your help in this matter! | ||||||||
Additional help is also needed in two areas: | ||||||||
Our news coverage is not as complete as many of you would like. We are
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you would like to help but need advice, please send a note to our News
Editor, Richard Lake, | ||||||||
While we have two great backup editors helping Richard process the news into
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Thanks again for your support! | ||||||||
Richard Lake, Editor: Mapnews, Mapnews-Digest and Drugnews-Digest
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We wish to thank each and every one of our contributors. | ||||||||
Mark Greer | ||||||||
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