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DrugSense Weekly
November 4, 1998 #071
A DrugSense publication

This newsletter is available online at:

http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1998/ds98.n71.html


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* Feature Article


User's Union
BY Frank Green

* Weekly News in Review


Special News Item-
Droleg Ferait de la Suisse l'Entrepot Europee des Drogues
(Droleg Will Make Switzerland the Drug Warehouse of Europe)

Drug Policy Potpourri-

Judge Throws Out Pepper-Spray Suit
Council Votes to Use TV to Air Those Arrested For Drugs
MMJ: Money Man Gets Behind 5 Props
Lack Of Needle-Exchange Plan Hurts Minorities

Drug War Casualty Reports-

Officers Kill Drug Suspect After Chase
Suspected Oregon Pot Grower Dies In Shootout, 2 Deputies Hurt
19-Year-Old Rejects Plea Bargain, Jumps To Death

Medical Marijuana-

A Way To Ease Suffering
Medicinal Marijuana Gains Support
Drug Officials Vexed by 5 States' Initiatives on Medical Marijuana

International News-

A Record of Failure: Re-Evaluating the War on Drugs
Airline to Stick by Plans for Needle Bins
US, China Team Up in Drug War
Fastest-Growing Transit Point for U.S.  Bound Cocaine
Colombian President Seeks to Ease Drug Friction With US

* DrugSense Volunteer of the Month


Martin Cooke

* Hot Off The 'Net


New Full Page Marijuana Ad in The New Republic

* DrugSense Tip Of The Week


Medical Marijuana Initiatives a "Clean Sweep"

* Quote of the Week


Richard M.  Nixon

* Fact of the Week


Costs of the Drug War


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

User's Union
BY FRANK GREEN
published October 28, 1998

John Stein's a drug user.  I'd call him a junkie, but he'd object. Like "nigger" in the African-American community and "faggot" in the gay community, "junkie" is a word in common use among addicts, but it's politically incorrect when used by outsiders.  The existence of drug users political enough to police terminology is new.  And they have a long way to go before the public begins to listen to their demands. Junkies and "crack heads" make up one of the few remaining groups it's okay to look down on.

Stein's a spokesman for the North American User's Union (NAUU), a loosely organized coalition of heroin and cocaine addicts.  "John Stein" is a pseudonym; he doesn't want to use his real name because his parents don't know about his drug use and, though talking isn't illegal, he doesn't trust the cops.  Still, he's braver than other union leaders, who won't talk at all because they don't trust the press. There aren't many people addicts do trust.

"You're dealing with people who are more disenfranchised than any other group," John explains.  "A lot of our members are homeless or dependent on public assistance.  If they do work, they don't want their employers to know they do drugs."

Drug use is not only illegal, but it is frowned upon by nearly everyone in the community.  Though the war on drugs has done little to deter users from getting high, it has certainly succeeded in marginalizing them.

The NAUU hopes to change that by making sure drug users have a voice in setting the policies that effect them.  John, who lives in New York, was in town recently for the national conference of the Harm Reduction Coalition, a group working to minimize health damage among drug addicts.

"We want to make sure it's not just a bunch of social workers and public health workers telling us what's good for us," he says.  The group's participation is similar to ACT UP, the advocacy group for people with AIDS, attending international AIDS conferences.

"The North American Users Union is now more of a concept than an actual union," John admits.  There's a core group of people around the country and in Canada who are trying to organize users.  At the recent Harm Reduction Conference in Cleveland they hoped to formalize a structure and a mission statement, and come up with a plan to build membership. "We need a formal structure," John explains, "that's not centered on one or two strong personalities.  When it's personality centered, every time someone gets busted or ODs or goes into treatment the whole thing falls apart."

Many users support the idea but don't want to get involved.  In some ways, their reluctance is similar to workers' fears of unionizing, except that instead of worrying about losing their jobs, they're afraid of getting busted.  But organizing addicts is even harder than organizing workers, because so many are unstable physically and emotionally.  They're so obsessed with drugs that all they want to do is get high, and if joining the union can't help them score, they're not interested.

But that's what makes efforts like this one so important.  Maybe if users get involved in advocating for their rights they'll begin to see there's more to life than getting high.  One of the most difficult things for an addict to overcome is a feeling of powerlessness to change his situation, and most treatment programs today treat the addict in a way that reinforces their lack of power.  Real empowerment means more than just a clean piss test.  It means having a voice in setting policies.

There are many issues NAUU organizers would like to get involved with in the future, from promoting needle exchanges to replacing methadone with heroin maintenance programs.  They'd advocate for equal access to housing and health care, and for a woman's right to keep her children even if she uses drugs.  And they'd push for better funding of drug treatment centers and research into the causes of addiction.  John would like to see a more holistic approach to treatment that would include acupuncture, herbs, and experimental drugs like ibogaine.

"Just say no doesn't work," John insists.  "It's not just about abstinence.  People should be given tools to manage their drug use in order to decrease harmful financial, psychological, social and health effects." He believes many of these harmful effects are due not to the drugs themselves, but to their prohibition.  He points out that recreational use of cocaine and opium (from which heroin is derived) was common around the turn of the century, but there were far fewer problems associated with it because it wasn't illegal.

"People talk about decriminalization as if it would start the end of the world.  But it's not so black and white. Are the current programs really in place to help drug addicts or to increase the number of police and take away our constitutional rights?" -Frank Green


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

"Droleg," Special News Item-


COMMENT:    (Top)

Just as the weekly items for this issue of the newsletter were being assembled, a fascinating story was received from Switzerland.  Swiss democracy provides for initiatives, which when properly qualified and receiving enough signatures, are then voted on in national referenda. The one to be held on November 29th contains several initiatives, including one for a 36 hour work-week.  There is also "Droleg," which calls for the government to regulate drug sales and eliminate criminal penalties for possession and use of all drugs by Swiss citizens.  This article from a French language newspaper (Le Temps) relates a Swiss government official's arguments against the initiative.  We hope to have more information next week.

Please notice that this story is three weeks old and that the initiative was qualified a long time ago.  The biggest story for us may be that the American press, whether from disinterest or voluntary censorship, simply hasn't covered it.  Could it be that a Swiss referendum on drug prohibition (like an earlier successful Swiss heroin maintenance trial) would be of no interest to American readers?

Another interesting point is that the officials' objections to the initiative don't invoke the moralistic tone one might expect from an American drug warrior; they merely portray Droleg's sponsors as naïve and unrealistic.

DROLEG FERAIT DE LA SUISSE L'ENTREPOT EUROPEEN DES DROGUES
DROLEG WILL TURN SWITZERLAND INTO EUROPE'S DRUG WAREHOUSE

Bern - Federal councilwoman Ruth Dreifuss urged firmly that Switzerland reject the Droleg initiative on November 29.  On Friday, she sharply criticized the Droleg propositions as naïve and said if enacted, they would greatly increase drug consumption.

[snip]

Launched in German-speaking Switzerland by anti-prohibitionists, Droleg expresses a dual hope: that a legal drug market will hurt traffickers and the Mafia, by depriving them of their rich income from sale of illegal narcotics; also that the vicious cycle of delinquency and prostitution in order to procure drugs will be broken.  Droleg supporters mistake their desires for reality, said Dreifuss.  She prefers the reasonable approach of the federal Senate to their idealized vision.  It doesn't neglect the complexity of the problem nor forget the sufferings of drug addicts.  "To sell narcotics freely is like ignoring that drugs produce serious dependencies," she accuses.

She adds that a legal drug market reserved for Swiss nationals would not prevent a black-market from developing in Switzerland.  "The country will become the warehouse of narcotics and the hub of drug traffic in Europe", stated Valentin Roschacher, Vice-Director of the Federal Office of the Police.

[snip]

Source:   Le Temps (Switzerland)
Pubdate:   10 Oct 1998
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.letemps.ch/
Author:   Francois Modoux
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n986.a08.html


Drug Policy Potpourri-


COMMENT:    (Top)

A judge validated the use of pepper spray to shorten a non-violent demonstration under the rubric of "pain compliance;" while not directly related to drug policy, his decision dramatically points up the yawning gulf between those who prize conformity over more humane considerations.  One man's "pain compliance" may be another man's "torture."

The Boston City Council's vindictive action, as reported in the Globe, seems more consistent with Seventeenth Century Salem than with Twentieth Century Boston.

The article from the Arizona Republic sheds light on John Sperling, a major funder of reform who has received much less coverage than George Soros.  His opposition to current policy is also far more unequivocal.

Dr.  Elders' criticism of the Clinton Administration's glaring omission of needle exchange from a much-ballyhooed extra appropriation for AIDS was gratifying.  It's also gratifying that her successor agrees.

JUDGE THROWS OUT PEPPER-SPRAY SUIT

SAN FRANCISCO - Saying police can use "pain compliance" to break up sit-ins, a federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by anti-logging protesters whose eyes were swabbed with pepper spray.

[snip]

"The uncontroverted evidence presented at trial unequivocally supports the conclusion that the officers acted reasonably in using OC (pepper spray) as a pain-compliance technique in arresting plaintiffs," Walker wrote.

He said the pepper spray caused only "transient pain without significant risk of physical injury" and was a legitimate means to end the protesters' "organized lawlessness." No reasonable juror could conclude otherwise, the judge said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 27 Oct 1998
Source:   Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright:   1998 The Orange County Register
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.ocregister.com/
Author:   Bob Egelko-The Associated Press
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n967.a04.html

COUNCIL VOTES TO USE TV TO AIR THOSE ARRESTED FOR DRUGS

Amid passionate objections that the measure would trample civil rights and drive some people to suicide, the City Council yesterday passed a resolution to put the photographs, names, and hometowns of those arrested for buying or selling drugs on cable television.

[snip]

Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Copyright:   1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
Author:   Anthony Flint, Globe Staff
Pubdate:   Thur, 29 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n983.a06.html

MONEY MAN GETS BEHIND 5 PROPS

What 77-year-old man named John will have the most significant impact on Arizonans in the next week?

Astronaut John Glenn? Wrong.

John Sperling, the founder of the University of Phoenix, will spend more than $1 million - more than any single contributor - to persuade voters to vote for or against five of the 14 statewide propositions on Tuesday's ballot.

[snip]

On no subject is Sperling more passionate than his quest to end the war on drugs, which he calls "a social disaster wrought by a bankrupt policy."

[snip]

Source:   Arizona Republic
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Copyright:   1998, The Arizona Republic.
Author:   Steve Yozwiak, The Arizona Republic
central.com/indexmain.html
Pubdate:   Sat, 31 Oct 1998
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n983.a04.html

LACK OF NEEDLE-EXCHANGE PLAN HURTS MINORITIES

Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders says the $156 million AIDS package announced by President Clinton lacks a vital component for minorities: a clean-needle exchange program.

More than 60 percent of AIDS cases among blacks and more than half of all AIDS cases among Hispanics are related to injections by contaminated needles, she said Saturday.

[snip]

Politicians who support the ban are reacting to conservative voters who want the ban on moral grounds, Dr.  Elders said.

"And they've silenced the rest of us," she said.  "They seem to see these deaths as casualties of war, just consequences of the war on drugs.  But these are American citizens that are dying when medical intervention could save their lives."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 1 Nov 1998
Source:   Dallas Morning News (TX)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.dallasnews.com/
Copyright:   1998 The Dallas Morning News
Author:   Nita Thurman / The Dallas Morning News
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n986.a04.html


Drug War Casualty Report
---------

COMMENT:    (Top)

Every war produces casualties; a war against drugs is no exception. Despite the implications of its title, its casualties are not drugs, but people.  Below are reports of people killed in action last week. I'm sure after reading about the valiant efforts our police are making to protect us, we'll all feel much safer.

Houston is the same city where six other policemen were just cleared after lethally riddling a "suspect" whose apartment they had broken into without a warrant.  No drugs were found, but the unfortunate victim did have an (unfired) gun which provided a compliant grand jury all it needed to excuse yet another police killing.

OFFICERS KILL DRUG SUSPECT AFTER CHASE

A man suspected of buying or selling drugs near downtown Sunday was shot and killed by seven Houston police officers after leading them on a chase into Stafford.

The man, whose name was not available, was taken to Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  A passenger, who bailed out before the chase began, was injured and taken to Ben Taub Hospital with cuts and scrapes.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 26 Oct 1998
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Copyright:   1998 Houston Chronicle
Author:   LISA TEACHEY
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n963.a02.html

SUSPECTED OREGON POT GROWER DIES IN SHOOTOUT, 2 DEPUTIES HURT

TILLER, Ore.  - A suspected marijuana grower stormed out of his remote forest home shooting yesterday, wounding two sheriff's deputies before being killed himself in a hail of gunfire.

Seven officers from the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team were serving a search warrant about 12:45 p.m.  to the home, where they suspected marijuana was being grown, said Douglas County Sheriff's Lt.  Norm Nelson.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 31 Oct 1998
Source:   Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright:   1998 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author:   Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n982.a05.html

9-YEAR-OLD REJECTS PLEA BARGAIN, JUMPS TO DEATH

NEW YORK - A 19-year-old man apparently distraught over a prison sentence offered in exchange for his guilty plea in a drug case jumped through a courthouse window Thursday and fell 16 stories to his death.

``I'm 19 years old, your honor.  That is terrible. That's terrible,'' Derrick Smith told State Supreme Court Justice Budd Goodman, according to a court transcript.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 31 Oct 1998
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   1998 Associated Press.
Author:   DONNA DE LA CRUZ, Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n983.a01.html


Medical Marijuana-
---------

COMMENT:    (Top)

This Newsletter is being composed in advance of the November 3 vote, but won't be read until after the results are known.  It now looks like medical marijuana should pass handily in all venues except Nevada, where it's expected to be a toss-up.  There's also considerable question if a winning vote will effect changes in either Colorado or DC.  Rather than rehash the tired pros and cons which appeared last week in the media of voting states, it seems more appropriate to look at overviews printed in major national media.

This could be the election which finally forces politicians to recognize that the same voters who are passing medical marijuana initiatives can also turn them out of office.  Some newspaper editorial writers may be on the verge of the drawing the same conclusion.

A WAY TO EASE SUFFERING

Two years ago, stirred by tales of relief from patients and physicians, not potheads, California and Arizona voted to let marijuana be used as a treatment for pain and suffering.

But it never happened.

[snip]

In both cases, opponents of the initiative feared any tolerance of marijuana would weaken the drug war.

Now, supporters are counterattacking.  Medical marijuana initiatives have multiplied threefold: They're on the ballot Tuesday in five more Western states and the District of Columbia.  And Arizonans will vote yet again: on whether to affirm or repeal the legislature's roadblock to the 1996 initiative.

[snip]

The thumping votes for change in Arizona and California and the favorable pre-election polls in most places where it's on the ballot this year suggest the public is sending an important message: "Just say no" is no answer to suffering people and compassionate physicians.

[snip]

Source:   USA Today
Section:   Editorial - Our View
Pubdate:   Fri, 30 Oct 1998
Copyright:   USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n977.a06.html

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA GAINS SUPPORT

WASHINGTON - It's one thing for California, with its cannabis clubs and pungent green fields of Humboldt County hemp, to legalize marijuana as medicine.  It's another in the nation's capital. The
Republican-controlled Congress so hated the idea that it sneaked a provision into the fiscal 1999 budget bill to kill the District of Columbia's medical marijuana initiative, creating a local uproar that has only fueled public support for the measure.  The White House is worried as well, and not just about the effort in its back yard. Bankrolled by big-money donors like New York financier George Soros, such initiatives are gaining momentum from Washington to Maine and will be on the ballot in six states and the District on Tuesday.  If these proposals succeed, it would bring to eight the number of states that have cast a vote for the controlled medical use of marijuana.  And it may signal a subtle shift in public debate away from the punitive war on drugs that emphasized criminality to legislating a more tolerant attitude toward drug use.

[snip]

Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Copyright:   1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
Pubdate:   Fri, 30 Oct 1998
Author:   Louise D.  Palmer, Globe Correspondent
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n977.a08.html

DRUG OFFICIALS VEXED BY 5 STATES' INITIATIVES ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON - Renee Emry walked into the office of Rep.  Bill McCollum last month and did something rarely seen in a congressional suite: She lit up a marijuana cigarette.

Emry, 38, suffers from multiple sclerosis, and she wanted to urge McCollum, a Florida Republican, to support legalization of marijuana as medicine for patients like her.

[snip]

Not so easily ushered away is the issue.  Medical marijuana initiatives may be the first proposals for relaxing the drug laws that have gained significant support since the war on drugs began in earnest in the early 1980s.

[snip]

Source:   Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Copyright:   1998 Chicago Tribune Company
Pubdate:   Wed, 28 Oct 1998
Author:   Naftali Bendavid
Section:   Sec.  1
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n969.a13.html

======================================================

International News


COMMENT:    (Top)

This Vancouver Sun op-ed is remarkable for its unequivocal condemnation of American-led international drug prohibition.  A few years ago, pieces like this never saw the light of day; now they are even more common in Canada than here.  In the body of his essay, Basham casually reports a staggering fact: Vancouver expects 400 drug overdose deaths this year.

The second article demonstrates Australia's cognition gap between government prohibitionists intent on "sending messages" and realists wanting to protect the health of employees.

There's something disturbing about America and China teaming up to extort from S..L.O.R.C.; perhaps because historically, opium production in the Golden Triangle owes so much to both the Chinese Communists who drove remnants of Chiang's army into exile there and also to the CIA which literally helped them get their new enterprise off the ground.

Anyone familiar with Haiti's demographics and politics knows it has the ideal profile to be enlisted as a "transit nation" in the international drug trade.  The editorial hand-wringing is so predictable as to be almost comical.

It wouldn't be a normal week without an item from Colombia: newly-elected President Pastrana was fortunate enough to visit while Congress was in recess, however it's a safe bet that his goal of making peace with the rebels will run head on into American reluctance to scale back the war on growers.

A RECORD OF FAILURE: RE-EVALUATING THE WAR ON DRUGS

Despite police, prison and propaganda, illegal drugs are readily available.  A think-tank analyst argues that drug warriors have been unable to demonstrate that social and economic benefits of prohibition outweigh the costs.

Since drug prohibition became a Canadian reality in 1913, governments have not seriously reconsidered drug policy, preferring instead to follow whatever flawed "solution" may be currently in vogue.  Such desultory thinking has only served to retard health care, fuel the law enforcement industry and empower organized crime.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 27 Oct 1998
Source:   Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Contact:  
Section:   Guest Column
Copyright:   The Vancouver Sun 1998
Author:   Patrick Basham, The Fraser Institute
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n967.a08.html

AIRLINE TO STICK BY PLANS FOR NEEDLE BINS

ANSETT Australia yesterday defended its decision to fit its aircraft with syringe disposal bins following attacks from some drug authorities.

The Queensland Opposition and the chairman of the Prime Minister's National Council on Drugs, Salvation Army Major Brian Watters, said the move sent a message that hard drug use was acceptable on flights.

But Ansett said the bins would make the job safer for its staff.

[snip]

Source:   Courier-Mail, The (Australia)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/
Copyright:   News Limited 1998
Pubdate:   Mon, 26 Oct 1998
Section:   Page 5
Contact:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n963.a11.html

US, CHINA TEAM UP IN DRUG WAR - REPORT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China have established a secret electronic surveillance post along China's border with Burma to eavesdrop on narcotics trafficking from the Golden Triangle, one of the world's biggest sources of heroin, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

Quoting U.S.  and Chinese sources, the newspaper said the Clinton administration has also given China several dozen Jeep-like Humvee vehicles for narcotics interdiction in mountainous terrain along the Burmese border.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 31 Oct 1998
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   1998 Reuters Limited.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n982.a13.html

FASTEST-GROWING TRANSIT POINT FOR U.S.  BOUND COCAINE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti--Sensing a singular opportunity in a country weakened by a paralyzed government and an inexperienced police force, Colombian and Dominican drug traffickers have made Haiti the fastest-growing transit point for cocaine on its way to the United States, American and Haitian law enforcement officials say.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 28 Oct 1998
Source:   International Herald-Tribune
Page:   3
Copyright:   International Herald Tribune 1998
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.iht.com/
Author:   Larry Rohter, New York Times Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n853.a04.html

COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS TO EASE DRUG FRICTION WITH U.S.

WASHINGTON - Colombian President Andres Pastrana says he wants to improve relations with the United States by eliminating drug trafficking as a source of tensions between the two countries.

"We need to `denarcoticize' our relations," he said upon arriving yesterday in Washington for a three-day state visit.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 28 October, 1998
Source:   Seattle Times (WA)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Copyright:   1998 The Seattle Times Company
Author:   The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n975.a01.html


DRUGSENSE VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH    (Top)Martin Cooke

This month the DrugSense NEWSHAWK OF THE MONTH Award is going to another of our superb NewsHawks, who make the Media Awareness Project possible.  Martin Cooke has been a sterling example of our wide network of active volunteers.

Martin's input has been high quality and consistent for a long, long time.  Martin is one of our "foreign correspondents" and has been instrumental in helping to keep on top of International developments, articles, and events.  As a token of appreciation from all of us, Martin will be receiving a personally autographed copy of DRUG CRAZY from Mike Gray.  Folks interested in helping Martin with the news hawking effort may find the basic instructions at:
http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Thanks to Kevin Zeese for this update:

Our most recent ad in the New Republic, Marijuana Myths/Marijuana Facts has been added to the web in a new Common Sense advertising section.  The new ads section is at:

http://www.drugsense.org/ads/

The most recent ad is at:

http://www.drugsense.org/ads/mjtruth.htm

In addition to the new ad, you can enlarge the drawing of McCaffery as Pinocchio by John Wilson.


TIP OF THE WEEK


Election Results

It appears at this writing that every one of the various drug policy initiatives went in favor of reform.  Some in a landslide.

Thanks to Karyn Fish of DRCNet for this effort and heads up:

I've collected links for several web sites that promise to provide frequently updated coverage of the '98 medical marijuana initiative returns.

You'll find the list at: http://www.drcnet.org/election98/

Ongoing coverage at: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

`The people's right to change what does not work is one of the greatest principles in our system of government'

- Richard M.  Nixon -


FACT OF THE WEEK    (Top)

In 1969, $65 million was spent by the Nixon administration on the drug war; in 1982 the Reagan administration spent $1.65 billion; and in 1998 the Clinton administration requested $17.1 billion.

Sources:   U.S.  Congress, Hearings on Federal Drug Enforcement before the
Senate Committee on Investigations, 1975 and 1976 (); Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy, 1992: Budget Summary, p.  214, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1992); Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy, 1998: Budget Summary, p.  5, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1998).


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