| August 26, 1998 #061 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A DrugSense publication | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||
Public Rallies Can Be A Positive Event for Reform | ||||||||||||
by Kevin B. Zeese, President, Common Sense for Drug Policy | ||||||||||||
Along with several other reform activists I participated in the Seattle
hempfest last weekend. It gave me confidence that these events can be
successful political events that put out the right public image for the
reform movement. This is a change in view for me as in the past many of
these events resulted in images of public adolescent drug use and
spokespersons shouting epithets that scared the public. | ||||||||||||
I understand from the organizers of the event that this year's event
was more politically focused -- with more speakers balancing the music.
The news reports from the event did not show the classic "kid smoking
pot" images instead they showed a healthy looking crowd acting
responsibly. The message from the news reports was a political one with
virtually no focus on public marijuana use. | ||||||||||||
In signs at the entrance to the event the organizers made it clear that
the festival was not a "drug war free zone" and that laws against
controlled substances could be enforced by the Seattle police. (Last
year there was aggressive enforcement. This year the police presence
was minimal -- about the level you would expect for any event with
40,000 people attending.) There was very little marijuana smoke in the
air. I was constantly in the crowd or behind stage and only smelled
smoke 3-4 times throughout the day. From the stage Vivian McPeak, the
organizer of the event said: "if you came to buy or sell pot or other
drugs please go home, your in the wrong place." He combined this with a
message that the purpose of the gathering was the need for reform and
it was well received. | ||||||||||||
The crowd was also interested in the political message. When Nora
Callahan and I spoke from the second stage (the organizers set up the
Ralph Seeley Memorial Stage as well as the main stage. The Seeley stage
was a smaller one and was a mix of music and politics) the crowd had
walked away when the last act ended and before we were introduced. As
Nora and I got talking the crowd began to come back and by the time our
half hour was up we had a pretty full crowd in front of us. They were
drawn into the political discussion. | ||||||||||||
Another measure of interest in politics was the reaction of people to
the Common Sense for Drug Policy newspaper. This was the first
distribution of the paper so it was an experiment to see the public
reaction. We (thanks to Nora Callahan of the November Coalition) had a
crew of about ten people working in shifts throughout the day giving
out the newspaper. We gave out about 15,000 copies. A search of the
grounds afterward and the trash bins found that very few were left
behind. People took them readily and kept them. | ||||||||||||
When others organize public events I hope they will learn from this experience. Don't be afraid to emphasize the politics of the drug war and don't be afraid to urge people not to publicly use illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||
People attending need to realize that stopping the drug war and
stopping the destruction of lives that goes with the drug war is more
important that publicly consuming marijuana. They need to realize the
way they act in public will be monitored by our opposition and shown to
the public by the media. These events can be successful ones for the
achievement of our political goals if organizers work to make them
political events with a carefully crafted message of calling for an end
to the drug war. | ||||||||||||
Kevin B. Zeese | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
After completing my first several weekly surveys of the drug news for
this newsletter, the overwhelming impression I was left with is that
the futility and destructiveness of current policy is already being
eloquently documented by our media, week in and week out. All that's
needed to gain that insight is to lay aside the false prism of the
"evil drug" paradigm through which our news is expected to be viewed,
and indeed- has usually been written. | ||||||||||||
Articles are selected from the week's news; clusters of related stories are commented on, retaining headlines, links to sources, and a short excerpt which (hopefully) justify each COMMENT. The hope is (Top) two-fold: readers will be kept abreast of trends in the struggle between reform and prohibition and may also gain some fresh insights into the intellectual shortcomings and excesses of prohibition as policy. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Policy COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
The major policy news last week was probably the admission that teen
drug use was up yet again. Notice how the bare-bones wire story
invoked the usual cliches about marijuana, and rather than failure,
drug warriors saw the numbers as justification for their new
strategies. Reform was given no ink; the only quibble with official
interpretation was from a hawk who worried if the budget would be big
enough. | ||||||||||||
Another youth survey confirmed that American teens stubbornly engage
in the same kinds of risky behavior as their parents and grandparents
did; the major difference is environmental: thanks to prohibition, the
products of the illegal drug market are far more potent and easily
available to today's kids than they were to us. | ||||||||||||
Probably no scientific finding could more certainly indict current
drug policy as both irrational and inhumane than conclusive evidence
that liability to addiction is genetically mediated. Another bit of
evidence in that direction was announced last week. | ||||||||||||
One more indictment of policy- at least for those of us with a sense of irony- is the mayor's continued war on methadone. His federal critics, McCaffrey included, could never be expected to understand that in using his private moral conviction to overrule medical principle, Giuliani is simply imitating our national policy. | ||||||||||||
U.S. GOVERNMENT SURVEY SHOWS YOUTH DRUG USE ON RISE | ||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drug abuse among America's children is increasing,
fueled by a continued rise in marijuana use, according to a government
survey released Friday. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
"We have a serious marijuana problem among our young people,'' said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. ``This survey shows that our work in combating drug use must be focused on our young people." | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Shalala said the Clinton Administration would continue its push for adequate funding to prevent drug abuse in the nation. Last month, the president launched a five-year, $2 billion media campaign, including television ads designed to encourage parent-child discussions. | ||||||||||||
U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey said the initial response from that
effort has been overwhelming. "Phone calls from parents and children
seeking information and help from national and local hot lines have
increased 121 percent," McCaffrey said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
TEENS, ARMED AND DANGEROUS | ||||||||||||
Blacks and Hispanics Found More Likely to Fight | ||||||||||||
ATLANTA--Black and Hispanic high school students are more likely than
their white counterparts to be a threat to others by carrying weapons
or fighting, while whites are more likely to hurt themselves by driving
after drinking alcohol, a government study found. | ||||||||||||
The similarities among teenagers were equally stark: About one in three is involved in fights. Almost one of every five carries a weapon or drives after drinking. Almost one in 10 attempts suicide. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
"The lesson here is that too many youths continue to practice behaviors
that put them at risk--for injury or death now and chronic disease
later,'' said Laura Kann, a chief researcher for the National Center
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
JUNKY GENES | ||||||||||||
SLIGHT genetic variations may make the difference between a person
being unlikely to abuse heroin and being predisposed to it. Now
researchers in Cincinnati are discovering how small changes in a gene
could influence people's tendency to abuse opiates. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
THE MAYOR'S CRUSADE AGAINST METHADONE | ||||||||||||
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's drive against methadone maintenance programs
for heroin addicts ignores the most authoritative medical advice and
could lead to more suffering among those struggling to control their
addiction | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Mayor Giuliani considers abstinence the more morally acceptable
approach to curing addiction. | ||||||||||||
He argues that methadone should be used, if at all, for no more than a few months, and then only as part of an abstinence program. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Forfeiture | ||||||||||||
One of the more distressing evils of drug prohibition policy has been
Increasing use of extortion by police agencies under the rubric of
"asset forfeiture." There is shockingly little recognition that when
the owner of the seized property is "guilty" forfeiture is a device
which gives public servants direct access to the tax-free profits of a
criminal enterprise; when the owner is "innocent," it's risk-free
stealing by the police. Molly Ivins' ringing denunciation of
forfeiture appeared in many dailies around the nation and was long
overdue. | ||||||||||||
That a license to steal is attractive to all governments (especially
those having to pay for a drug war), is evident from the next article-
even our normally conservative and sensible Canadian neighbors are
being seduced by it. | ||||||||||||
ASSET FORFEITURE PRACTICES ARE POISONING THE BODY POLITIC | ||||||||||||
AUSTIN - And in other news . . . The War on Drugs is ripping up the
Constitution, endangering American liberty and encouraging law
enforcement officers to act like bandits. The unpleasant ramifications
of the War on Drugs are too numerous for one column, but the area of
asset forfeiture deserves special consideration. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
HALIFAX SHOULD PROFIT FROM BUSTS - COUNCILLOR | ||||||||||||
Province Urged To Share Proceeds-of-crime Account With | ||||||||||||
If crime pays, Halifax Regional Municipality should get a share, says
Albro Lake Councillor Clint Schofield. | ||||||||||||
Schofield, a member of the city's police commission, said he wants the
province to share its proceeds-of-crime account with municipalities,
because they pay for law enforcement. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Medical Marijuana | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
Medical marijuana is an issue which exposes the inhumanity and
hypocrisy of doctrinaire prohibition, yet marijuana prohibition is
deemed essential to maintaining the huge enforcement edifice which has
grown up around policy, thus it can't be relaxed. Even though feds and
state narcs have vitiated 215 in California, several new initiatives
will be voted on in other states in November. | ||||||||||||
Buckley's column in the OC Register was long overdue notice from the
local press of McWilliams' savage treatment at federal hands; it
coincided with his release on bail, 4 weeks older and 19 pounds
lighter. Buckley also gave us a thoughtful evaluation of the ultimate
Constitutional significance of the case. | ||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the felony prosecution of a dying cancer patient in San
Bernadino County is the latest obscenity; perhaps they are running out
of distributors to prosecute and are now about to concentrate
exclusively on patients. | ||||||||||||
Another obscenity is the editorial smugness of the Sacramento Bee in
sneering at Oakland's attempt to find a strategy to counter federal
frustration of 215. Despite the Bee's uninformed conjecture, the feds
might have trouble circumventing their own law. | ||||||||||||
MARIJUANA INITIATIVES BLOOM AROUND WEST | ||||||||||||
When Washington voters decide in November whether to legalize the use
of marijuana for relief of cancer and other debilitating illnesses,
they won't be alone. | ||||||||||||
Voters in Oregon, Alaska, Nevada and, potentially, Colorado will cast
ballots on nearly identical measures. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
The general mess created by our drug laws has reached a tropical low in
Los Angeles, where the storm center gathers over the head of Peter
McWilliams. Here is the political background: | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
It will be a very interesting trial, and it is likely that many
institutions will weigh in with amici curiae pleading their own
judgments of law, conflicts, drugs and liberty. Meanwhile, one hopes
that Peter McWilliams, something if a bird of paradise, is left alone
to take proper care of himself. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
GRAVELY ILL CANCER PATIENT PROSECUTED FOR GROWING POT | ||||||||||||
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - A cancer patient who may have only six
months to live faces charges of growing marijuana. He and his doctor
say his use was strictly medicinal. | ||||||||||||
Timothy Weltz, 38, whose cancer is attacking his lymphatic system, is
scheduled to face felony charges Tuesday in San Bernardino County
Superior Court. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
ONE LAST GASP: OAKLAND TRIES A NEW MEDICINAL MARIJUANA STRATEGY | ||||||||||||
Proposition 215, the seriously flawed medicinal marijuana initiative
approved by voters in 1996, is down to one last legal thread in
Oakland. The initiative attempted to amend state law to let seriously
ill patients smoke marijuana and their "primary caregivers" furnish
them with the otherwise illegal substance. | ||||||||||||
But courts have ruled, and rightly so, that dispensaries known as
buyers' clubs don't qualify as caregivers and therefore can't provide
the pot. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Recreational Marijuana | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
As if to emphasize that it's really all about money, two huge pot busts were announced last week in rural California counties. | ||||||||||||
$13 MILLION OF POT SEIZED IN SHASTA COUNTY | ||||||||||||
WHITMORE, Calif. (AP) - Authorities seized 5,000 marijuana plants
valued at $13 million and arrested three men in the largest bust of the
year in Shasta County. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
POT BUST WORTH AT LEAST $20 MILLION | ||||||||||||
SAN ANDREAS - Calaveras County and state narcotics forces swooped down
on a veritable Mother Lode of marijuana Friday, chopping and pulling
more than 10,000 plants from a Sierra hillside plantation about three
miles outside of San Andreas. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Hemp | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||
For sheer witlessness, it's difficult to top the federal ban on hemp
agriculture, yet DEA lobbyists annually sally forth (at taxpayer
expense) to convince legislators in rural states that not only is
growing hemp bad agriculture, it's bad economics as well.
Nevertheless, pressure to legalize hemp is building and should
eventually prove irresistible. | ||||||||||||
PINE RIDGE EYEING HEMP AS CASH CROP | ||||||||||||
Some Reservation Officials Are Eager To Produce Commercial Products From
Plant Related To Marijuana. | ||||||||||||
PINE RIDGE - Some members of the Ogalala Sioux Tribe are moving forward
with plans to cultivate hemp, even if they have to take the Drug
Enforcement Administration to federal court. | ||||||||||||
Hemp has grown in the wild for decades on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, despite the DEA's repeated attempts - spraying and dousing
with chemicals, setting fields on fire - to wipe it out. Growing hemp,
which is a cousin to marijuana, is illegal. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
CLEARING THE AIR ABOUT HEMP | ||||||||||||
I was quite surprised to read the July 15 Marketplace piece, "This Hemp
Beer Is Legal, But Its Ads Hint Otherwise." | ||||||||||||
The article states, "Stalks of the hemp plant are used in rope; its leaves and flowers produce marijuana." This is simply not true. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Recently, several Kentucky farmers filed a suit in federal court,
challenging the U.S. government's current ban on growing hemp.
Ironically, U.S. farmers can grow an addictive drug crop, tobacco,
while growing hemp (a non drug crop) is banned due to a flawed federal
policy. American farmers and manufacturers are thus hamstrung, while
our foreign counterparts profit by supplying hemp to a growing
marketplace. In the long run, market forces-not outdated policies-will
prevail. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Colombia remains a major thorn in the administration's side; coca
production has actually increased despite eradication efforts, and the
Colombian army is overmatched against FARC guerrillas. That the
solidly pro drug war Dallas morning News is embarrassing our
government by reporting details of clandestine American involvement is
at least ironic. | ||||||||||||
The lack of enthusiasm for crop substitution isn't new. The fact is
that the Government can't afford subsidies that would rival income
from coca and they aren't a presence in the areas where growers are
located. | ||||||||||||
In Australia, a steady increase in heroin overdoses has not only
rekindled demand For heroin maintenance trials, it has generated
demand for injection rooms. While we are used to thinking about
Australia as having a heroin problem, the big raid on a
methamphetamine ring is a new wrinkle. | ||||||||||||
DRUG ERADICATION PROGRAM FAILS | ||||||||||||
BOGOTA - The aerial crop-spraying program favored by the United States to reduce Colombian cocaine and heroin production has failed, the new environment minister said in an interview published Sunday. | ||||||||||||
"The cultivated areas have increased, which demonstrates that fumigation
hasn't worked," Juan Mayr, a renowned conservationist, was quoted by
Bogota's El Tiempo newspaper as saying. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
U.S. OFFICIALS DENY DIRECT COLOMBIA AID | ||||||||||||
BOGOTA - The U.S. State and Defense departments said Thursday that they
do not provide direct support for counterinsurgency operations in
Colombia and that neither employs mercenaries here. | ||||||||||||
Their remarks followed a Dallas Morning News report Wednesday that
discussed the damage done by repeated Colombian guerrilla offensives to
government anti-drug efforts. The report, based on interviews with
intelligence and anti-drug operatives in Colombia, said the Clinton
administration had launched a multimillion-dollar covert program to
help bolster the Colombian armed forces after a series of devastating
defeats by the guerrillas. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
IN COLOMBIA, PLAN TO REPLACE COCA IS SCORNED | ||||||||||||
SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia - The optimism of a fresh start. The
sweet talk of reconciliation. The promise of a respectable way to make
a living instead of growing coca. Dagoberto P. has heard it all before.
And this year, he is not buying. | ||||||||||||
Dagoberto, who owns some 40 hectares planted with coca, remembered
earlier proposals that went by the names of "alternative development"
and "crop substitution" that never materialized. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
DRUG CLINICS MIGHT BE 'NECESSARY EVIL' | ||||||||||||
Government run clinics for injecting heroin users have been placed squarely on Canberra's agenda. Some will deplore it and, others will praise it. But a growing number of people from across the health, law-enforcement and welfare sectors see it as a necessary evil. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
HUGE POLICE DRUGS RAID TOOK MONTHS OF PLANNING | ||||||||||||
A massive police operation early yesterday against a sophisticated
amphetamine manufacturing ring was one of the largest police efforts in
years and the culmination of months of investigation. | ||||||||||||
More than 200 Victoria Police were involved in the operation, in which officers raided properties in three states. In Victoria, 32 houses and one business were raided as part of Operation Orbost, resulting in the seizure of large amounts of drugs, cash, firearms and stolen property. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||
MIKE GRAY Author of Drug Crazy had the following letter published in
today's Wall Street Journal | ||||||||||||
Wall Street Journal Circ: 2 Million!! | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
A Sane Look at 'Drug Crazy' | ||||||||||||
Dr. Salley Satel's critique of my book "Drug Crazy" (Leisure & Arts,
Aug. 5) began with the mistaken premise that our antidrug laws were
enacted in response to "a great wave of addiction in the U.S." at the
turn of the century. It's not surprising that she's misinformed on this
point since this is the conventional wisdom, but it turns out that's
not the case. If Dr. Satel would consult her Yale colleague David
Musto, the leading historian of that era, she would discover, as I did,
that the national scourge of addiction is a totally self-inflicted
wound. | ||||||||||||
In 1900 there was no significant drug problem in the U.S. The typical
addict was a middle-aged Southern white woman strung out on an
opium-alcohol mix called laudanum, and the total number of addicts was
probably less than a few tenths of 1% of the population. Says Mr.
Musto, "There was a peak in addiction around 1900 and in the teens of
this century this number began to decrease and reached a relatively
small number (about 100,000) in the 1920s." | ||||||||||||
In truth, both drugs and alcohol were in public disfavor at the turn of
the century because the temperance movement had been so successful. But
once moral suasion was replaced with police power, we were rewarded
with an instant black market, the birth of organized crime, rampant
corruption, and violence on a scale unimagined. | ||||||||||||
After a decade of this, people got fed up with the gunplay, and alcohol
prohibition sank of its own weight in 1933. Drug prohibition should
have ended at the same time for the same reason, but there simply
weren't enough drug users to form a political constituency. Instead,
they became convenient scapegoats for any passing office seeker who
needed to prove he was tough on crime. | ||||||||||||
Addicts will continue to serve this function until we, too, tire of the
gunplay, the spread of organized crime, the mushrooming prison
population, the rampant corruption, and the steady erosion of the
Constitution. | ||||||||||||
Mike Gray | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
TIP OF THE WEEK | ||||||||||||
Help and volunteerism is what we're about. If you have the abilities
and/or desire we need help in the following categories: | ||||||||||||
1) Letter writers. Read the DrugSense weekly and select an article that
motivates you then write a letter using the email address usually
provided with the article. Alternately write a letter of response to
our weekly FOCUS Alert Subscribe to this by visiting | ||||||||||||
2) NewsHawks. Find news articles on drug policy issues and either scan or copy them and forward them to This can be done by monitoring any of hundreds of on-line newspapers or by scanning articles from you local paper. See: http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm | ||||||||||||
3) Recruiters. Visit newsgroups, email chat lists, and other sources
for large groups of reform minded people and encourage them to visit
our web pages, subscribe to our DrugSense Weekly newsletter and get
involved. | ||||||||||||
4) Fundraise. We are always short of funding either contribute or try
to find others to do so. | ||||||||||||
5) Start a local reform group in your state or country. If you have 20
people who will help do the above types of activities we will provide a
free email list to coordinate your groups activities and provide
guidance to get you started. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
`Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to
an individual than the use of the drug itself' | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
FACT OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
Methadone is cost effective. Methadone costs about $4,000 per year, while
incarceration costs about $20,200 to $23,500 per year. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
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. |