| May 6, 1998 #045 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A DrugSense publication | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Republicans Promise a Bigger and More Expensive Ineffective Drug War
By Kevin B. Zeese, President, Common Sense for Drug Policy
| ||||||||||||||||
Since 1979, when Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took office, the
federal government has spent $200 billion on the war on drugs. You'd
think by now he would know throwing more tax dollars at the drug war
will not make it work. Instead of facing up to the failure of the drug
war he is leading an election year call for a bigger drug war budget.
During eight years in office President Reagan spent $22.3 billion, if
the Speaker has his way the federal government will be spending nearly
that much in one year. | ||||||||||||||||
The announcement of the Republican drug strategy last week came with a set of sound bites produced by the "Speaker s Task Force for a Drug Free America." A memorandum to participants in the kick-off urged them to incorporate and emphasize war-sounding "communication ideas." Some of the specific phrases the Speaker urged were: epidemic, crisis, scourge, poison, mobilize, modern-day plague, front lines, call to arms, deployment, battle plan, attack, fight, engage, conquer and declare victory. The theme was to have "A real War on Drugs; Not a war of words but a war of action." Their goal is a drug free America by 2002. | ||||||||||||||||
These militaristic slogans were justified by a backdrop of children. Of
course, it is not new to use children as the excuse to justify the drug
war. And, in these days of drug war failure it is particularly necessary
for drug warriors to use children as pawns as they pretend the drug war
is being fought for them. After-all the last six years of record drug
war spending, record arrests and record incarceration have also seen
consistent increases in adolescent drug use. The fact is the drug war
does more to hurt our kids than help them. Since the drug war has failed
America s children the drug warriors need to use kids as props in their
drug war posturing. | ||||||||||||||||
Even if all of the recommendations of the Republican drug war plan were enacted they would have virtually no impact on availability of drugs. Some of the proposals are embarrassingly silly. For example, since a fence between Mexico and the United States has not controlled the drug flow they propose putting up two fences! Another is symbolic, like drug testing members of Congress and their staff. Others are efforts to create a federally funded "grassroots" drug war movement by doubling a grant program for drug war parent groups. Perhaps the silliness of their battle plan is why The Washington Post and New York Times did not even cover the announcement and other papers merely carried an AP story. | ||||||||||||||||
But the plan should not be ignored. It continues to do great damage to
traditional freedoms in the United States. All of the useless proposal
mentioned in the previous paragraph continue the erosion of civil
liberties and American values. Others like using active duty military
troops on the border and providing funding for drug free workplaces
(i.e., mass urine searches of American workers) are frontal assaults on
traditional constitutional rights. They certainly will not be successful
in creating a drug free society but they are moving us rapidly toward an
un-free one. | ||||||||||||||||
The truth is everyone knows the drug war has failed. Record spending and
becoming the world s largest jailer send signals that the drug war has
not worked, will not work and cannot work. Drug warriors fight tooth and
nail to keep medical marijuana away from Americans suffering with
serious illness, prevent needle exchange even though they admit it saves
lives and require mandatory minimum sentences rather than allow judges
to sentence based on their view of justice. Why do they fight when they
are obviously wrong on these issues? Because they fear that giving in a
little will mean the end of the drug war. They sense that the people
already know the drug war is a political charade. | ||||||||||||||||
The drug warriors are insecure. | ||||||||||||||||
Reformers are making progress but don't expect the prohibitionists to
give up their annual tens of billions of dollars in drug war spending
easily. They will fight tooth and nail on every issue. In the end their
lack of confidence in their own policy will be their undoing. It will
become more and more obvious that they are drug war zealots who really
do not care about children, health or American values. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW | ||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- The Drug War | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Even as HHS Secretary Donna Shalala was being chastised by the press and the public for Clinton's refusal to fund needle exchange, the GOP House majority was joined by 74 Democrats in a clueless public affirmation of their inhumanity and scientific illiteracy. | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the GOP advanced a new plan for "winning the drug war,"
while Dems complained their efforts were being overlooked.
On the state level, new intrusions and restrictions were added in
California and Oklahoma. | ||||||||||||||||
Finally, with forty percent of voters in California now on-line, the
role played by electronic activism in political outcomes can be
expected to increase rapidly. | ||||||||||||||||
THE COWARD | ||||||||||||||||
If health secretary Donna Shalala had any guts she would quit over
the ban on federal funds for needle-exchange programs. But guts
aren't a valued commodity in Washington | ||||||||||||||||
Imagine you work at a research institute and discover a practice or
a device that can save tens of thousands of people from a painful
and life-threatening disease with no negative side-effects. You
march into your boss's office and inform him of the finding. He
confirms your data, and how important they are, and then says,
"Sorry, no dice, we're not going to pursue this idea." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
U.S. HEALTH SECRETARY DRAWS JEERS | ||||||||||||||||
AIDS activists disrupted a visit by Donna Shalala, demanding
federal funding for needle exchanges. | ||||||||||||||||
BRYN MAWR -- Dozens of protesters last night greeted U.S. Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala with signs bearing the
names of those who died after contracting the AIDS virus via dirty
needles. | ||||||||||||||||
The protesters, about 150 strong inside Bryn Mawr Presbyterian
Church, then chanted, their voices rumbling through the sanctuary:
"Clinton, Shalala killed my brothers." "Clinton, Shalala killed my
sisters." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
A VOTE AGAINST FEDERAL NEEDLE SWAP FUNDS | ||||||||||||||||
House tries to make Clinton's ban permanent | ||||||||||||||||
The House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to impose a permanent ban
on using federal funds to support needle exchange programs designed
to stop the spread of AIDS. | ||||||||||||||||
Yesterday's 287-to-140 vote was largely symbolic. It came just two
weeks after Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala
announced that the administration would not lift the ban, despite
conclusive scientific evidence that needle exchanges as part of a
comprehensive treatment program prevent the spread of AIDS and do
not encourage drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HOUSE GOP OFFERING ANTI-DRUG PLAN | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON ( AP) - Six months before the midterm elections, the two
political parties are at war over the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
With House Republicans planning a splashy Capitol steps ceremony
for Thursday to unveil a series of anti-drug proposals, | ||||||||||||||||
And House Democrats decided to hold a news conference on Wednesday,
where they are expected to criticize Republicans for voting to cut
anti-drug programs in the past. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
DRUG TESTS FOR NEW TEACHERS APPROVED | ||||||||||||||||
School board OKs pilot program one year after establishing policy.
Seventy new employees will be screened this summer. | ||||||||||||||||
Almost one year after passing a school district policy to screen
job applicants for drug use, the Burbank Board of Education has
approved a pre-employment drug testing pilot program. In a
unanimous vote Thursday, the school board allocated $3,150 to drug
test approximately 70 new employees at $45 per person in July and
August, district officials said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
BILL IS SIGNED OUTLAWING `DATE RAPE DRUG' | ||||||||||||||||
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A bill to outlaw a so-called "date rape drug"
has been signed into law. | ||||||||||||||||
House Bill 2654 by Rep. Phil Ostrander, D-Collinsville, would add
gammahydroxybuterate to the state's list of controlled dangerous
substances on Nov. 1. The drug is a strong sedative used by some to
subdue their victims. | ||||||||||||||||
Ostrander said the drug, known as "Liquid X," "Fantasy" or
"Grievous Bodily Harm," is also used by teen-agers for a "cheap
high" that can result in a fatal overdose. | ||||||||||||||||
"I wrote this bill to take a dangerous substance out of the hands
of potential rapists and teen-agers who might fall for its deadly
allure," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CANDIDATES ARE USING THE INTERNET TO PLUG INTO ... A WIRED ELECTORATE | ||||||||||||||||
Digital citizens' use of technology is having the Net effect of
changing politics, bit by bit | ||||||||||||||||
Californians who are plugged into the Internet -- already more than
four in 10 registered voters -- are enjoying an unprecedented
explosion of information sources this year as cyber-technology
helps to reshape the electoral process. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Medical Marijuana | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The ballot measure in Oregon received a big boost when the state
medical society defeated a measure opposing it (215 was passed over
CMA opposition). In Colorado, the peripatetic and opinionated former
drug czar showed up to stump against a proposition which has
yet to collect enough signatures to make the ballot. | ||||||||||||||||
In the ongoing Northern California soap opera, the San Jose Buyers'
Club went under, but the San Francisco Club received a brief judicial
reprieve. Stay tuned. | ||||||||||||||||
DOCTORS KEEP MUM ON MARIJUANA | ||||||||||||||||
The OMA hands pot initiative backers a victory by staying neutral but opposes a measure that bans abortions after the 12th week | ||||||||||||||||
GLENEDEN BEACH -- Oregon's largest organization of physicians
handed proponents of medical marijuana a victory on Sunday, voting
to remain neutral in an impending ballot measure campaign to
legalize marijuana for therapeutic purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CAPITOL RALLY OPPOSES MARIJUANA BALLOT ISSUE | ||||||||||||||||
Ex-Drug Czar Bennett Joins Protest, Says Pot Has No Medical Benefits | ||||||||||||||||
Former U.S. drug czar Bill Bennett led a rally Tuesday to urge
opposition to a November ballot proposal to legalize marijuana for
"debilitating medical conditions." | ||||||||||||||||
Joined at the Capitol by law officers, prosecutors and legislators,
Bennett argued that the measure was nothing more than a foot in the
door to legalize marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
SAN JOSE POT CLUB WILL SHUT ITS DOORS FOREVER NEXT WEEK | ||||||||||||||||
Faced with mounting legal problems and a frozen bank account, Santa Clara County's only medical marijuana center will close for good next week, Executive Director Peter Baez announced yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
"We're going out of business at 3 p.m. May 8," Baez said. "We're planning to wear black and hold a memorial service, because we feel that we've been killed by the police and the district attorney." | ||||||||||||||||
While the San Jose club was announcing its closure yesterday, the
Cannabis Healing Center in San Francisco was winning a judicial
ruling keeping its doors open. | ||||||||||||||||
San Francisco Superior Court Judge William Cahill instead ordered
the Market Street marijuana dispensary to do a better job of
policing activities out front. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Tobacco | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The prospects of a Tobacco Bill being passed in this session dimmed as
Republicans divided over how harshly to treat the industry. The
administration remained clueless on the possibility that a cigarette
black market could be an unintended result of unwise legislation. What
else is new? | ||||||||||||||||
REPUBLICANS QUARREL OVER TOBACCO BILLS | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - With the time approaching for final decisions, senior
Republicans are openly quarreling over how far they can go in
penalizing the tobacco industry for teenage smoking and | ||||||||||||||||
Nearly all Democrats in Congress are demanding the toughest
possible anti-tobacco legislation, while the tobacco industry has
threatened to fight any bill it thinks harms its long-term economic
interests. Many Republicans are caught in the middle. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Judiciary
Committee, said on NBC that McCain would fail because his bill is
too punitive and "you'll have bankruptcy, you'll have black market,
you'll have something that doesn't work." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
TOBACCO BLACK MARKET RISE PREDICTED | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON--Answering critics of legislation aimed at curbing teen
smoking, the Clinton administration says lawmakers could control
any black market for tobacco products by taking a page from alcohol
regulation, licensing every link in the chain of distribution. "The
creation of a sound regulatory system -one that will close the
distribution chain for tobacco products -will ensure that the
diversion and smuggling of tobacco can be effectively controlled,"
Lawrence Summers, deputy secretary of the Treasury, told a Senate
panel Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||
But the tobacco industry says otherwise in new television ads that
accuse members of Congress and the White House of courting a black
market, increased crime and teen smoking by supporting a Senate
tobacco bill. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Perhaps Mexican officials aren't the greatest at avoiding a clumsy
appearance of official corruption, but they seem to be learning from
the US example in the area of forfeiture. The Panamanians act like
they're not receiving a big enough pay-off for allowing Yanqui drug
imperialismo to remain after we give back the canal. | ||||||||||||||||
The ongoing disasters produced by American drug policy in Asia
continue unabated. They also continue to remain relatively unknown to
an American public preoccupied with its own policy-induced drug
problems. The evolving AIDS tragedies on the Asian mainland were
eloquently described by Australian and American Public Health workers
at the DPF Convention in Washington, DC in 1996. | ||||||||||||||||
As for Australia, it's sad to recall that they didn't register their
first heroin death ever until after they outlawed the drug in 1953 (at
US insistence). | ||||||||||||||||
RESORT SEIZED BY MEXICAN DRUG AGENTS | ||||||||||||||||
They say evidence links hotel to cartel; owners deny charge | ||||||||||||||||
TIJUANA -- With its whitewashed buildings, Mediterranean
architecture and seaside views, the Oasis Resort Hotel & Convention
Center could be taken for some peaceful, sun-washed vacation spot
on one of the Greek islands. | ||||||||||||||||
But this resort, about two miles north of Rosarito Beach, has
become the site of a tug of war between a Mexican government bent
on rooting out drug traffickers and a hotel ownership that feels it
is being unjustly harassed. | ||||||||||||||||
Mexican federal narcotics agents, backed by elements of the Mexican
army, raided the resort Friday afternoon and seized control of its
operation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
U.S.-PANAMA ACCORD OVER DRUG CENTER SOURS | ||||||||||||||||
Troops would remain after bases close | ||||||||||||||||
PANAMA -- Late last year, the president of Panama announced that
his government had "reached an agreement" with Washington on a
drug interdiction center that would permit American troops to stay
here after the United States gives up control of the Panama Canal
and the last U.S. military bases on Dec. 31, 1999. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, however, the accord has clearly unraveled. President Ernesto
P=E9rez Balladares has denounced the document as "an ill-conceived
pile of paper," a referendum on it scheduled for July has been
indefinitely postponed, and at a news conference this month, U.S.
and Panamanian negotiators could not say whether they could produce
a replacement. | ||||||||||||||||
Neither government has made public the text of the accord to set up
a Multinational Counter-Narcotics Center at what is today Howard
Air Force Base, on the west bank of the Panama Canal. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HEROIN PUTS BURMA IN CRISIS OVER AIDS | ||||||||||||||||
RANGOON, Burma -- At sidewalk tea stalls where Burmese men socialize
over cups of fragrant black tea, proprietors in some towns have added a
lucrative sideline -- heroin -- and use the same syringe to inject as
many as 40 customers. | ||||||||||||||||
The surreptitious practice, described by several Western diplomats and
doctors, illustrates how Burma, the world's foremost exporter of opium,
has developed its own domestic heroin habit, with potentially
disastrous consequences. | ||||||||||||||||
So many young Burmese are injecting heroin that some medical experts
say Burma, also known as Myanmar, has the world's highest rate of HIV
infection and AIDS contracted from dirty needles. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
DRUG USERS BLAMED FOR CRIME SURGE | ||||||||||||||||
The big increase in robberies involving knives and firearms in NSW,
revealed in official figures yesterday, is being fueled by the
rising numbers of drug users, the Police Commissioner, Mr Peter
Ryan, said. | ||||||||||||||||
Knife-point robberies, the majority in Sydney, have increased by 77
per cent and gunpoint robberies by more than 33 per cent over the
two years to December 1997, the figures show. | ||||||||||||||||
Sydney had about 3,000 robberies last year involving a weapon other
than a gun - mostly knives - compared with fewer than 1,700 the
year before. There were about 1,000 armed robberies compared with
about 700 in 1996. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Vote Now | ||||||||||||||||
Please visit this web page and fax a note to your congressman opposing
H.Res 372. | ||||||||||||||||
It really takes 30 seconds to make your voice heard | ||||||||||||||||
---- | ||||||||||||||||
Politics | ||||||||||||||||
You can see who voted how in the recent needle exchange vote at: | ||||||||||||||||
http://143.231.123.93/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=3D1998&rollnumber=3D114 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
TIP OF THE WEEK | ||||||||||||||||
Writing To The Washington Post | ||||||||||||||||
Convincing the Washington Post to accept Letters to the Editor via Email
has been a long and arduous process. It has now been confirmed by the WP
that Email can be submitted using the form on the web page below. For best
results we suggest that you write your LTE off-line, spell check and edit
it and then go to this site, fill in your contact information (always
needed on any LTE to any publication) and use your copy and paste function
to paste your letter into the window provided. | ||||||||||||||||
We encourage letter writers to use this information often. The Washington
Post is read by virtually every politician in D.C. and this is one of our
best resources for influencing and informing political leaders as to the
harms being done a result of our drug policies. | ||||||||||||||||
Washington Post Letters to the Editor | ||||||||||||||||
Customer Care | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Quote of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
"Totalitarianism is when people believe they can punish their way to
perfection." | ||||||||||||||||
Newt Gingrich at the President's Day Republican fundraiser | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
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. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
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. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug
related issue to | ||||||||||||||||
PLEASE HELP: | ||||||||||||||||
DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE. | ||||||||||||||||
We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are
able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort please Make checks
payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to: | ||||||||||||||||
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. |