A DrugSense publication

http://www.DrugSense.org

Table of Contents

* Breaking News (04/26/24)

* Feature Article

    Futile War on Drugs

* Weekly News In Review

    US News-

    Drug Policy

    JAMA - The Public and the War on Illicit Drugs

Medical Marijuana

    Four Mayors Ask Clinton to Stop Suit Against Marijuana Clubs

Needle Exchange

    AIDS Advisers Express No-Confidence in Administration

    White House Drug and AIDS Advisers Differ on Needle Exchange

Law Enforcement

    Violent, Sadistic, Racist Officers of the Law

Tobacco Deal

    Smoking Is An Informed, Pleasurable Choice

Hemp

    Petition To Make Hemp Legal Prepared

Cinema

'Homegrown' in Hollywood

International News -

    UK - Cannabis Campaign - The March Gains Momentum

    Mexico - President's Brother Denies Making Cartel Deal

* Hot Off The 'Net

    Nightline segment on Limbaugh says "Let's Legalize" Text and Tape on
    line

* DrugSense Tip Of The Week

    Help us help you - Fill out the MAP "Long Form"

* Quote Of The Week

       Albert Einstein

BOB EDWARDS, HOST- Addiction to drugs, both legal and illegal, remains a major problem in the United States.  It's a public health issue that also affects public safety.  There's much debate over how to tackle both aspects of the addiction problem.

Commentator Wendy Kaminer says some drugs clearly are more connected to criminal behavior than others.

Violent crimes linked to alcohol use include murder, rape, and domestic abuse.  We might add to this list drunk driving, which would not have been covered by the Columbia study of prison inmates since it doesn't often result in incarceration.

A sensible person reviewing these findings might wonder why we criminalize the use of cocaine and heroin, not to mention marijuana, while we tolerate and even celebrate alcohol consumption.

Of course, we learned long ago that prohibition of alcohol was bound to fail, so a sensible person might propose that we end the prohibition of drugs like cocaine and heroin that pose much less threat to the public safety than alcohol.  But sensible people have had little influence on the nation's drug policies.

The war on drugs has been one of the biggest public policy disasters of the last 25 years.  It has not reduced drug use. It has instead increased violent crime attendant on illegal drug trafficking, just as prohibition of alcohol increased criminal activity some 70 years ago.

The war on drugs has greatly exacerbated the problem of gun violence.  The illegal drug trade not only creates violence, it pays for bigger and better guns.  The war on drugs has helped finance the arms race in the streets.

It has also created a crisis in prison overcrowding.  People are sent to state and federal prison for long terms, five to 20 years, for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses.  Providing them with in-prison drug treatment programs may be helpful, but it obscures the fact that many drug users should not be in prison at all.

The nation's drug laws have turned many ordinary, relatively harmless citizens with ordinary bad habits into convicted felons.  What jobs will they find when they're released? What will they contribute to their families or communities? If we imprison people to protect society, we have to ask what society gains in the end from their imprisonment.  We don't ask questions like this about the drug war.

It has been billed as an anti-crime measure, but in fact the war on drugs is an anti-vice crusade.  That's why its failure has not sparked popular protests or a rational evaluation of its benefits and costs.  It is driven by moral fervor, not pragmatism or reason.  Listening to bureaucrats and politicians boast about the drug war, you have to wonder what they're smoking.

Domestic News

Drug Policy

JAMA:	The Public and the War on Illicit Drugs

This confirms what some in the reform movement have known for some time: the public knows the drug war is a failure, but is unwilling to give it up.  Describing the problem is simple; the public has bought into the phony morality of the government position.  Changing that paradigm is our challenge and definitely not simple.

DESPITE LITTLE SUCCESS, PUBLIC STILL SUPPORTS WAR ON DRUGS

Surveys Find Opposition To Drug Legalization, Support For Medical Use Of Marijuana

CHICAGO-Even though the majority of Americans do not feel the "War on Drugs" has succeeded, they are not willing to give up on drug-fighting efforts, according to an article in the March 18 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

[snip]

On the final question, the researchers found a paradox; "Most Americans (58 percent) do not see the nation's illegal drug problem getting better after years of increases in national spending, and they see the War on Drugs as having failed thus far (78 percent).  Yet, despite this assessment, they continue to support greater resources being expended in generally the same policy direction as has been followed in the past."

[snip]

Source:	Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA.1998;279: 827-832)

Section:	Abstracts

Pubdate:	18 March 1998

Contact:

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n201.a03.html

Medical Marijuana

Four Mayors Ask Clinton to Stop Suit Against Marijuana Clubs

This story started a week earlier when the SF Examiner reported that DA Terence Hallinan said The City would consider distributing marijuana to patients if the buyers' clubs were shut down.  By mid week, three other mayors were on board and this letter to Clinton resulted.  The story's appearance in the NYT confirms its significance.

FOUR MAYORS ASK CLINTON TO STOP SUIT AGAINST MARIJUANA CLUBS

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21 -- The mayors of four California cities have written to President Clinton, urging him to halt a federal lawsuit that threatens to close clubs that distribute marijuana for medical use.  The letters follow an announcement last week by the San Francisco district attorney that if the clubs close, city officials might distribute marijuana to patients who say they need it.

Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco wrote to Clinton: "At stake is the well-being of 11,000 California residents who depend on the dispensaries to help them battle the debilitating effects of AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.  If the centers are shut down, many of these individuals will be compelled to search back alleys and street corners for their medicine."

[snip]

Source:	The New York Times

Pubdate:	22 Mar 1998

Contact:

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n204.a05.html

Needle Exchange

AIDS Advisers Express No-Confidence in Administration

White House Drug and AIDS Advisers Differ on Needle Exchange

Despite publication in 1953, of definitive evidence that needle exchange sharply reduces the spread of AIDS, the Clinton Administration has stonewalled the issue for five years, dramatically underscoring the dishonesty and cynicism of drug prohibition as policy.

Reports of dissension within the ranks of the President's AIDS panel leaked earlier in the week, leading to speculation that some would resign.  The Times piece clarifies their differences and implies that resignation is unlikely.

AIDS ADVISERS EXPRESS NO-CONFIDENCE IN ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In their harshest criticism yet, President Clinton's AIDS advisers unanimously expressed no confidence in the administration's commitment to reducing the spread of AIDS because of its failure to fund programs that give drug addicts clean needles.

They demanded that the administration immediately free federal money for the needle-exchange programs, which have been proven to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

"The administration's current policy on needle exchange programs threatens the public health, and directly contradicts current scientific evidence," said the resolution by the Presidential Council on HIV/AIDS.

[snip]

Source:	Associated Press

Pubdate:	Tue, 17 Mar 1998

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n191.a04.html

WHITE HOUSE DRUG AND AIDS ADVISERS DIFFER ON NEEDLE EXCHANGE

The debate over the propriety of handing out sterile syringes to people who inject illegal drugs, to reduce the spread of AIDS, has reached the White House, where President Clinton's two main policy advisers on the issue have staked out opposing positions.

Their disagreement makes prospects for government financing of needle-exchange programs more unlikely when a ban on such spending, imposed by Congress in 1992, expires at the end of March.

[snip]

at a spirited meeting on Tuesday, the other adviser, Barry McCaffrey, the retired Army general who is the administration's director of national drug policy, ferociously opposed any government subsidy.

In a subsequent letter to Ms.  Thurman, he reiterated his belief that buying clean needles for drug users would send the wrong message to young Americans who are being told that illegal drug use is wrong.  The money, he said, would be better used expanding drug treatment programs.

Source:	New York Times

Author:	Christopher S.  Wren

Contact:

Website:	http://www.nytimes.com/

Pubdate:	Mon, 23 Mar 1998

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n208.a06.html

Law Enforcement

Violent, Sadistic, Racist Officers of the Law

Columnist Bob Herbert of the NYT, denounced police tactics used on drug raids, in some scathing recent columns.  They, in turn, prompted the anonymous call from a policeman described here.  Especially intriguing is his explanation of the genesis of "negative" raids- not the wrong address, just bad information.

VIOLENT, SADISTIC, RACIST OFFICERS OF THE LAW

NEW YORK---The police officer called late in the afternoon.  He spoke hesitantly, afraid that his identity would be revealed.  I assured him that it would not.

"I came on this job expecting to do the right thing," he said.  "I like people.  I was gung ho. I wanted to help people."

[snip]

"They call it 'booming.' That's crashing the door down," he said.  "What happens is that the narcotics guys get these CIs [confidential informants] who are trying to cut themselves sweet deals to get them out of worse charges.  They have to come up with something; so they give this [expletive] information.  They'll say this guy is selling pot or whatever. But a lot of it's not true.

"The narcotics guys go and get a warrant from a judge.  And then they boom the door and totally trash the apartment, but a lot of times they'll come up with nothing.

[snip]

Source:	International Herald-Tribune

Contact:

Website:	http://www.iht.com/

Pubdate:	Tue, 17 Mar 1998

Author:	Bob Herbert of the NYTimes

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n191.a07.html

Tobacco

OPED:	Smoking Is An Informed, Pleasurable Choice

This piece by a respected economic pundit pleading for individual choice, exhibits the same schizophrenia as most written on either side of the tobacco controversy- looking right past the drug war as though it had no connection to the tobacco issue.  That confirms that most people writing authoritatively about "drug control" issues simply don't understand their subject.

SMOKING IS AN INFORMED, PLEASURABLE CHOICE

HAVING just about completed its No.  1 legislative task of the year -- providing nearly $200 billion to the states in a pork-greased transportation bill -- Congress is now ready to tackle task No.  2: the tobacco settlement.

[snip]

But far worse is the idea on which the settlement is founded: that individuals aren't responsible for their own actions.  They are too stupid or crazed or manipulated to realize that smoking is dangerous.

This view, so satisfying to elitists of all political stripes, is flat-out wrong.  Americans know that smoking kills,

[snip]

Every individual is threatened, too, as the liberal ideals on which this country was founded -- freedom of choice, personal accountability, limited government -- are trampled in a stampede by some to get others to behave the way they want.

Source:	San Jose Mercury News (CA)

Contact:

Pubdate:	Wed, 18 Mar 1998

Author:	James K.  Glassman

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n194.a04.html

Hemp

Petition To Make Hemp Legal Prepared

Kentucky was once the hub of American hemp production; farmers there would like it to resume that role.  This article, one of several on hemp posted this week, details the renewed interest in Kentucky prompted by Canada's recent OK of hemp production.

PETITION TO MAKE HEMP LEGAL PREPARED

PLAN INCLUDES LICENSING FARMERS, TRACKING SEEDS

WASHINGTON -- Industrial hemp has 25,000 uses ranging from construction material to paper to clothing, but smoking it to get stoned is not among them.  Yet proponents of hemp say it could give farmers a financial high.

[snip]

"I can't imagine that American farmers will sit by and watch U.S. companies importing this crop from Canada," he* said.  "That's what it is going to take because I think the DEA will dig in their heels until farmers get up in arms."

Gale Glenn, a Clark County (KY) farmer

Source:	The Lexington Herald-Leader

Pubdate:	Sat, 21 Mar 1998

Section:	Business Section (Page C1)

Author:	Staff, Wire Reports

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n204.a02.html

Cinema

'Homegrown' in Hollywood

To my knowledge, this film was not known of within the reform movement and seems to be another of the unanticipated effects of 215.  If it's ever released (no date was given), it should prove helpful to our cause.

"HOMEGROWN" IN HOLLYWOOD

Reefer Madness vs.  the Studio System

When it comes to controversy, Hollywood usually runs scared.  I've known that for almost as long as I've been going to the movies.

[snip]

Not that much has changed in the past half century.  I found that out first hand when I went to Hollywood in 1980 and tried to sell the idea of a picture about marijuana growers and dealers in Northern California. Cheech and Chong's zany comedy "Up in Smoke" had come out in 1978, and though I found it very funny, I envisioned a more serious take on the subject, and characters who weren't complete buffoons.  After all, I knew potheads who were judges, lawyers, doctors, and school superintendents and they seemed perfectly capable of keeping their heads out of the smoke when they needed to.

[snip]

....but Gyllenhaal bought my idea - probably because it was so tidy - for
a small piece of change, and the promise that I'd receive story credit. With the help of Nick Kazan, the son of the legendary director Elia Kazan - who was ostracized by the Hollywood Left for naming names in the '50s - we came up with a polished screenplay.  But the project went nowhere fast.

Then in 1996, California voters approved medical marijuana, and marijuana buyers clubs opened their doors for business all over the Bay Area. Suddenly, the world of marijuana once again seemed like an intriguing for a movie.  We found financial backers, assembled a cast and shot the picture quickly, quietly and without violating any drug laws.

[snip]

Source:	San Francisco Examiner (Sunday Magazine)

Contact:

Website:	http://www.examiner.com/

Pubdate:	Sun, 22 Mar 1998

Author:	Jonah Raskin

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n207.a06.html

International News

UK: Cannabis Campaign - The March Gains Momentum

COMMENT:

As noted last week, even one media outlet taking an activist role can make a huge difference.  The cannabis legalization campaign led by the Independent on Sunday is set to take a giant step forward.

THE MARCH GAINS MOMENTUM

London is set for its biggest pro-cannabis demonstration for 30 years.

The clock is counting down to the biggest pro-cannabis demonstration in Britain for 30 years.  Next Saturday the Independent on Sunday's campaign to decriminalise cannabis takes to the streets of London.

[snip]

News of the IoS initiative last week spread across the Atlantic with delegates from the pro-cannabis alliance groups "Cures Not Wars" in New York and "MassCan" in Boston both saying that they would be flying to London to take part.

"We wish to endorse the action being taken in the UK and emphasize the growing strength of the international movement against prohibitionist drug policies," said Robert MacDonald of "Cures Not Wars".

Whilst in London, Mr MacDonald and his co-campaigner from Boston, George Cewicz, plan to release details of their proposed "Million Marijuana march" due to take place in the US next year.

[snip]

Pubdate:	Sun, 22 Mar 1998

Source:	Independent on Sunday

Author:	Graham Ball

Contact:

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n204.a03.html

Mexico:	WP: President's Brother Denies Making Cartel Deal

COMMENT:

The corruption of Mexico's institutions is so complete that no new revelation has much capacity to surprise, let alone, shock.  The dishonesty of McCaffrey and fellow stooges in our federal government, while not technically violating any laws, is just as reprehensible.

PRESIDENT'S BROTHER DENIES MAKING CARTEL DEAL

Powerful Drug Gang Offered to Fund Zedillo Project, Allegedly Tried to Buy Bank to Launder Cash

MEXICO CITY, March 20-Alleged money launderers for Mexico's largest drug mafia offered to finance a hotel construction project two years ago for the brother of President Ernesto Zedillo, according to Rodolfo Zedillo.

The president's younger brother, who is an architect and heads a Mexico City construction company, said in a letter released late last night that he never entered into business arrangements with the two men, who since have been named in a federal investigation that is revealing how deeply the Ciudad Juarez cartel penetrated Mexico's business sector.

The attorney general's investigation has provided the first concrete evidence that a cartel had tried to buy a bank and that its reach had touched President Zedillo's family.

[snip]

Source:	Washington Post

Author:	Molly Moore and John Ward Anderson, Washington Post Foreign Service

Feedback:	http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm

Website:	http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Pubdate:	Saturday, 21 Mar 1998

URL:	http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n204.a08.html

Everyone should be aware of the great audio and video clips available using RealAudio at http://www.legalize-usa.org Here are some great examples:

The Nightline show dated 3/18/1998 accompanied by its transcript is available at: http://www.legalize-usa.org/video2.htm (last entry).

The Rush Limbaugh show from 3/12/98 in which he came out in favor of the legalization of drugs has been recorded and can be listened to at http://www.legalize-usa.org/_private/rush.ram There is about 90 minutes on line the comments start at about the 43 minutes into the broadcast

A transcript of the above Rush Limbaugh show can be reviewed at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n186.a08.html

A comprehensive talk radio site has sprung up at http://www.audionet.com/ The site includes audio clips and links to many syndicated talk radio program web sites.

Are you a "Cops" fan? Web surfers can now listen in on the police at http://www.policescanner.com/

TIP OF THE WEEK

DrugSense offers two sign up sheets.  The "In a hurry short form" at: http://www.DrugSense.org/hurry.htm is designed for new or first time visitors to get quickly signed up for the DrugSense Weekly, FOCUS Alerts etc.

We also have the more comprehensive member form at:
http://www.mapinc.org/join.htm

We strongly encourage everyone to fill out the "long form" as soon as possible.  This gives us much more information on our membership, allows us to meet your needs better, and sets us up to focus on specific reform issues based on your topics of interest.  It also gives us contact information should your email start bouncing we will attempt to correct the situation prior to removing you from our lists.

Please fill out the form on the MAP web page above as soon as possible.

"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law.  For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.  It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."

Albert Einstein, "My First Impression of the U.S.A." 1921

DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members.  Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you.

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.  Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense

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