| April 22, 1998 #043 | ||||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) The Science is In; Time to Lift the Funding Ban | ||||||||||||||
Dr. Mathilde Krim, Chairman of the Board of the American Foundation for
AIDS Research (AmFAR) The Administration has put science and principle
ahead of politics to save lives with Secretary Shalala's determination
on needle exchange. At this critical juncture, however, we urge the
Administration to make this positive determination a practical reality
across our country by lifting the ban on the federal funding for needle
exchange programs. | ||||||||||||||
A growing number of new cases of HIV infection and AIDS in the United
States are due to the use of HIV-contaminated needles by injection drug
users. The lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children
are threatened today by this source of HIV transmission. Already, the
majority of new cases of AIDS among women are directly or indirectly
associated with injection drug use. | ||||||||||||||
Needle exchange programs have been evaluated by prestigious scientific
and other panels for their ability to reverse the deadly tide. These
programs were repeatedly found capable of stemming the rate of HIV
transmission among exchange participants without contributing to
increased injection drug use. | ||||||||||||||
Since 1988, AmFAR has invested $3.5 million in the planning, conduct
and evaluation of the efficacy of needle exchange programs both in the
Untied States and overseas. AmFAR-funded research showed that needle
exchange reduces HIV infection by two thirds among injection drug users
within three years and does not increase drug use. Today, as the
largest independent funders of research on this issue, we, at AmFAR,
are proud of this important contribution. | ||||||||||||||
We thank the Secretary for accepting the judgment of those who speak
for our scientific, medical, public health and legal communities; for
weighing the facts against speculations, and for arriving at a
determination that will encourage communities to develop comprehensive
HIV/AIDS prevention programs that include a needle exchange component.
We must now urge the administration to go further, and lift the ban on
federal funding for needle exchange programs. | ||||||||||||||
There is only one morally acceptable outcome to a political impasse on
this issue in a society that believes in the inherent value of each and
every human life. | ||||||||||||||
Given today's recognition of scientific fact from the Administration, the withholding of federal funds for needle exchange programs means the immoral withholding of a lifesaving intervention from most of those people that the public health system is there to protect. | ||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||
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Domestic News:
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Needle Exchange | ||||||||||||||
CNN: Needle-Exchange Funding Ban To Be Lifted
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Mayors Urge Funding For Needle Exchanges
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GOP Balks at Idea of Lifting Ban on Needle Funding
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White House Needle Swap Surprise
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||
The ten year effort to lift the federal funding ban came to a head
this week as President Clinton rejected Secretary Shalala's suggestion
that federal funding be allowed and opted instead for a safer, middle
ground position: acknowledge that needle exchange saves lives but
don't fund it. Clinton feared a battle with Congress and his
administration was already divided with drug czar McCaffery openly
opposing AIDS and health officials. | ||||||||||||||
NEEDLE-EXCHANGE FUNDING BAN TO BE LIFTED
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WASHINGTON ( CNN) -- The Clinton administration is poised to lift a ban on using federal funds to pay for needle exchange programs, designed to stop the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users, CNN has learned. | ||||||||||||||
However, individuals close to the issue say the decision was made over
the objections of White House drug policy director Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, who, in a letter to Congress last month, said that "we owe
our children an unambiguous 'no use' message."
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[snip]
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MAYORS URGE FUNDING FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES
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The mayors of five big U.S. cities urged the Clinton administration Friday to allow federal funds to be used for needle exchange programs for drug abusers, but a key congressman said he would act to stop it. | ||||||||||||||
The mayors of San Francisco, Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore and New Haven,
Conn., said in a joint letter to Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala that 33 Americans become infected with the AIDS virus
every day as a result of injecting illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||||
But Rep. Jerry Solomon, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Rules Committee,
said in a statement that he would work to pass legislation permanently
banning such payments, arguing that they would subsidize the habits of
drug addicts. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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GOP BALKS AT IDEA OF LIFTING BAN ON NEEDLE FUNDING
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Conservatives threaten bills to prevent White House action | ||||||||||||||
Conservatives reacted angrily yesterday to reports that the Clinton
administration is on the verge of lifting a 10-year-old ban on using
federal funds for needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of
AIDS. | ||||||||||||||
As one Republican lawmaker said he would introduce legislation on
Monday to reimpose a moratorium on the use of federal funds for such
programs, advocates of needle exchange programs privately expressed
concern that the criticism might lead the administration to lose its
nerve and ultimately leave the ban in place. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Senator Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., who initiated a program in his home
state called Operation Drug Free Georgia and who is a prominent voice
in the effort to curb international drug sales, said he will introduce
legislation that would bar Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala from lifting the ban even if she wanted to. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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PAGE ONE (WASHINGTON) -- WHITE HOUSE NEEDLE SWAP SURPRISE
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Ending weeks of speculation, the Clinton administration yesterday refused to lift a 10-year ban on using federal funds for needle exchange programs, despite concluding for the first time that such exchanges prevent the spread of HIV and do not encourage drug use. | ||||||||||||||
Leaders in the fight against AIDS condemned the unexpected decision,
which was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala. ``It is a purely political decision, and an abdication of her
public health responsibilities,'' said Pat Christen, executive director
of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which runs the nation's largest
needle exchange program, which uses private and city funds. ``She has
chosen to protect herself politically, and people will die as a result
of that decision.''
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Pounding his fist at an AIDS prevention meeting in San Francisco,
Thomas Coates, director of the University of California at San
Francisco's AIDS Research Institutes, accused Shalala of ``public
health malpractice.''
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[snip]
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Medical Marijuana
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Judge Orders Shutdown Of S.f. Pot Club
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Pot Club in Oakland Enduring
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Cannabis Club Closes Its Doors in Santa Cruz
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S.F. Cannabis Club Officially Shut Down, Grand Reopening Today | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Northern California has become the battleground on which the war
against medical marijuana is being fought; separate state and federal
efforts, along with local police hostility in San Jose and Ukiah have
taken their toll. The San Jose, Santa Cruz and Ukiah clubs were shut
down; Oakland persists quietly, and in the most publicized location,
Dennis Peron's San Francisco operation was ordered closed, but as this
is written, it is about to be resurrected- thanks to friendly local
officials. | ||||||||||||||
JUDGE ORDERS SHUTDOWN OF S.F. POT CLUB
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Organization's founder says he'll keep selling
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In a huge blow to the medical marijuana movement, a San Francisco
Superior Court judge yesterday ordered the immediate closure of San
Francisco's Cannabis Cultivators Club, the nation's largest dispenser
of medicinal pot. | ||||||||||||||
Superior Court Judge David Garcia rejected the argument of the club's
founder, Dennis Peron, that the mass sale of medical marijuana was
legal under Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative passed by
state voters in 1996. | ||||||||||||||
Reached at the club yesterday, Peron sounded shaken, sometimes on the verge
of tears. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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CANNABIS CLUB CLOSES ITS DOORS IN SANTA CRUZ
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The Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers' Club shut down last week after its supplier
refused to extend further credit and an associate took off with the club's
patient list, the club's founder said Thursday. | ||||||||||||||
Fred Seike, founder of the club, said he will not reopen the downtown
medical-marijuana facility. | ||||||||||||||
"I'm 74, I'm crippled and I'm getting very, very tired," said Seike..... | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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POT CLUB IN OAKLAND ENDURING
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Director not worried by recent court rulings
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In the midst of legal actions taken against medical marijuana clubs in
San Jose and San Francisco recently, Oakland's pot club appears to be
the last one standing clear and easy -- in a manner of speaking -- in
the Bay Area. | ||||||||||||||
Unintimidated by a recent court ruling ordering the closure of the San Francisco club and the recent arrest of San Jose director Peter Baez on drug dealing charges, Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland club, says his organization will endure -- one way or the other. | ||||||||||||||
``So far we've been allowed to operate publicly with full city approval,''
he said. ``The police have helped regulate.''
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[snip]
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S.F. CANNABIS CLUB OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN, GRAND REOPENING TODAY
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It could have been a scene out of ``Evita'' -- throngs of people
standing on the street, shaking their fists in the air and bellowing:
``PER-ON! PER-ON!''
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But they weren't screaming for Juan Peron, the charismatic Argentine
dictator of the 1940s and '50s. They were screaming for Dennis Peron,
the elfin, white-haired, pot-huffing director of the San Francisco
Cannabis Cultivator's Club -- which until its closing yesterday was the
biggest medical marijuana outlet in the country. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Peron announced that a new club, called the Cannabis Healing Center,
will open today at the site of the old club. It will be directed by
78-year-old medical marijuana advocate Hazel Rodgers, but it may face
legal challenges, too. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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War on Drugs-
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OPED - Drug War Is a Lost Cause--Like Prohibition
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OPED - Lean Back or Fight
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Prohibition Won't Win Drug War
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Baby Boomer Parents In Denial About Children's Drug Use | ||||||||||||||
CHP Steps Up Drug Interdiction
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Sheriff, Prosecutors End Tiff Drug Money's Fate Undecided | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Mike Gray's Op-Ed in the LA Times used well publicized tragedies
stemming from use of teens as police informers to introduce an
important attack on drug prohibition. It's important because his book,
"Drug Crazy," is on the same theme and will be published by Random
House in June. | ||||||||||||||
The other (Right Coast) Times printed a typical fulmination against
"legalizers" by their timeless troglodyte. Perhaps a significant straw
in the wind: they were apparently deluged with letters of disagreement
and published five. | ||||||||||||||
We also learnd from a PDFA survey of parents that they are clueless
about the extent their teen children experiment with drugs. What else
is new? The stories about CHP and the Oklahoma squabble over a drug
dealer's cash emphasize that law enforcement greed is one of the
elements fueling growth of the illegal drug market. | ||||||||||||||
DRUG WAR IS A LOST CAUSE -- LIKE PROHIBITION
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Using teenagers as informants is sometimes the only option that police
have. | ||||||||||||||
Sixteen-year-old Jonathan Kollman had been clean for several months--a
struggle, but he was hanging in there. Then he ran into this babe in a
red sports car who offered to buy him a fix. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Like a man who has set his hair on fire and is trying to put it out
with a hammer, we will continue to pulverize our principles and devour
our young until the drug war's violence and corruption finally reaches
every nook and cranny of our lives. Only then will we face the fact, as
we did with alcohol prohibition in 1933, that the problem is not what's
in the bottle, but how we've chosen to deal with it. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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ON MY MIND / By A.M. ROSENTHAL
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LEAN BACK OR FIGHT
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"It's nice to think that in another five or ten years maybe the right
over one's consciousness, the right to possess and consume drugs, may
be as powerfully and as widely understood as the other rights of
Americans are." If that thought strikes you too as nice, you don't have
to do much. Just lean back and enjoy the successes of Dr. Ethan
Nadelmann, who said it in 1993, and other executives of well-financed
"drug reform" foundations. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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And if the organizations are not on the Internet, tell them they are
surrendering to the crowds of legalizers who are. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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NOTE
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The Focus Alert response to the Rosenthal piece above resulted in scores of letters to the editor to the NY Times. This resulted in 5 published letters with the headline "PROHIBITION WON'T WIN DRUG WAR." Among the authors of these letters were some notable high profile reformers including Joseph McNamara, Dave Borden and Harry Levine The ad value represented by these published letters was over $13,000 | ||||||||||||||
BABY BOOMER PARENTS IN DENIAL ABOUT CHILDREN'S DRUG USE
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Only 21% of parents polled say their youngsters might have tried
marijuana;44% of teens queried say they have. | ||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON- When it comes to drugs and kids, the baby boom generation is in denial. Famous for their own forays with mind-altering drugs as teenagers, members of the now-graying population appear unable to believe their kids are using drugs and unwilling to broach the touchy subject with them, a survey to be released today suggests. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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CHP STEPS UP DRUG INTERDICTION
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Officers look for certain signs among the drivers heading up I-5 into
the Pacific Northwest. | ||||||||||||||
REDDING- It seems like your basic traffic stop:A family pushing the
speed limit a bit on the highway is pulled over by a California Highway
Patrol officer. | ||||||||||||||
After following the car into an Interstate 5 rest stop, Patrolman Al
Stallman saunters over to the old full-sized sedan and talks to the
couple in the front while two young boys, 3 and 5 years old, fight in
the back seat over Ritz crackers. | ||||||||||||||
In his uniform, Stallman looks like a regular CHP officer. | ||||||||||||||
He's not. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The CHP team members randomly move up and down the highway teeming with
truckers and travelers, trying to spot and stop the smugglers. So far
this year, the effort - called Operation Pipeline - has seized drugs
worth more than $118 million, including 1,200 pounds of cocaine and
more than 7,000 pounds of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||
The framework of Operation Pipeline has been in place for a decade, and
recent increases in drug-fighting money has allowed the state to
bolster the program. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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SHERIFF, PROSECUTORS END TIFF; DRUG MONEY'S FATE UNDECIDED
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SULPHUR -- A tiff between a southern Oklahoma prosecutor and sheriff
apparently has ended after a two-hour meeting. | ||||||||||||||
Still undecided, however, is whether Murray County Sheriff Marvin
McCracken will relinquish $11,000 in forfeited drug money to District
Attorney Gary Henry. | ||||||||||||||
The two and their assistants met Wednesday. When asked Thursday if
he'll give Henry the money, McCracken said, "We're discussing it. We'll
take care of it ourselves."
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[snip]
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International News
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Cannabis | ||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||
"While Judge Howard noted in her judgment how and why she is bound by higher court decisions and political will, she was able to delineate the criminal and social aspects of existing drug policies. I was found guilty as charged but given an absolute discharge. The judge further commended [lawyer John Conroy] and myself for our integrity and commitment to this case. As a "harm-reductionist" I saw this case as a very clear victory in principle." -- In Unity, Randy Caine, | ||||||||||||||
JUDGE DEFENDS USE OF POT
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A lengthy case over the butt of a marijuana joint ends with an absolute
discharge. | ||||||||||||||
There is no evidence marijuana use causes health problems, and the laws
prohibiting the substance cause harm to society, a B.C. provincial court
judge ruled Monday. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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``The occasional to moderate use of marijuana by a healthy adult is not
ordinarily harmful to health, even if used over a long period of time,''
the judge said Monday in a decision handed down after a five-year court
battle. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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She was ruling in judgment of Randy Caine, a 44-year-old Langley man
arrested in Surrey in 1993 for possession of a butt of a marijuana
cigarette weighing one gram, or 0.01765 ounces. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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She said the social harm associated with the pot laws include disrespect for all laws by up to a million people prepared to use pot and a lack of communication between young persons and their elders about the drug. | ||||||||||||||
She said there is no evidence that marijuana induces psychosis in healthy
adults, or that it is addictive, is associated with criminality, or that
is is a gateway drug to other, harder drugs. The ``vast majority'' of pot
users do not go on to try hard drugs, she said. | ||||||||||||||
Heroin | ||||||||||||||
UK: Drug Tsar Warns of Cut-Price Heroin
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Where Opium Reigned, Burmese Claim Inroads
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||
There have been numerous indications that world heroin production is
at an all time high. This is reflected not only by lower prices, but
by increased purity, enabling those averse to injection to get high by
smoking, something that was impossible with the low purity heroin of
the Seventies. | ||||||||||||||
This cluster of articles simply reinforces that impression. An ironic footnote to the Australian article is that the first fatal heroin overdose didn't occur there until 1953, after they succumbed to American pressure and made the drug illegal. As for Burma, whatever the truth about their production, there are important new sources of supply from Afghanistan (courtesy of the Taliban and the war against the USSR), and Colombia, which is now a major North American supplier. | ||||||||||||||
The report from Santa Cruz didn't emphasize the extent to which heroin is being smoked by Northern California teens, a point that was brought out much more clearly in the local TV coverage of this shocking event. | ||||||||||||||
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DRUG TSAR WARNS OF CUT-PRICE HEROIN
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Record amounts of heroin were seized by Customs last year, reflecting
the increasingly widespread availability of the drug on Britain's
streets, it was revealed yesterday. | ||||||||||||||
A total of 1,747kg of heroin was seized in 1997, a tonne more than the
previous year. Police estimate the haul has a street value of more than
#145m and is the equivalent of 9 million "wraps". A wrap represents
between one and four hits and is being sold on the streets for the same
price as a pint of beer. | ||||||||||||||
At a press conference yesterday at which the annual Customs & Excise figures were announced, Keith Hellawell, the Government's "drugs tsar", said heroin dealers were getting youngsters hooked by selling the drug at a loss and suggesting they smoke rather than inject it. | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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WHERE OPIUM REIGNED, BURMESE CLAIM INROADS
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LASHIO, Burma -- In the remote valleys and rugged mountains here in
northeastern Burma, opium offers more than a narcotic high. For years,
it has provided a livelihood for hill tribes who inhabit the northern
expanse of the Golden Triangle, the lush, lawless area of Southeast
Asia that is the source of much of the world's heroin. | ||||||||||||||
Opium finances daily needs, from rice and cooking oil to assault
rifles. The rifles are used to wage rebellion and to defend the mule
caravans transporting the sticky, pungent opium to be refined into
heroin for American and European drug habits. | ||||||||||||||
Burma produced an estimated 2,600 tons of opium last year, enough to
make more than 200 tons of heroin -- at least 60 percent of the world
total. But the drug trade is changing along Burma's porous frontiers
with Thailand, China and Laos,... | ||||||||||||||
[snip]
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||
The website of Lindesmith Center has undergone a recent face lift and
is worth a visit from any one who hasn't been there for a while, as
well as those who have yet to check it out:
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TIP OF THE WEEK
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A joint effort has demonstrated the power of the Internet and working
together. On Tuesday April 21 USA Today ran an Internet poll question
which asked "Should federal funds be used for needle exchange. No was
ahead about 65% to 32% with about 5,100 votes cast. | ||||||||||||||
A number of organization including the Harm Reduction Coalition,
DrugSense, DRCNet and the Lindesmith Center geared up to notify on-line
activists. | ||||||||||||||
At last report we had seen a complete reversal. Yes won handily with 70% of the vote to 30% no and over 14,000 total votes cast. | ||||||||||||||
The opportunity to vote is now past but to keep informed of these
opportunities in the future be sure you are signed up for Focus Alerts
at:
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
"Pester newspapers and TV to give full hearings to the organizations
and to the anti-drug case. And if the organizations are not on the
Internet, tell them they are surrendering to the crowds of legalizers
who are."
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-- A.M. Rosenthal, New York Times, April 14, 1998
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