| DECEMBER 30, 1998 #079 | ||||||||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
What The War On Drugs is Doing to America | ||||||||||||||||||
It is difficult to imagine the long term downstream impact of what the
drug war is doing to our country. Two and a half million American
children now have at least one parent in prison, and that number grows
as we add 1200 people each week to the inmate population. Instead of
looking at what could have been, perhaps we should look at what could
have not been. | ||||||||||||||||||
My grandfather was an immigrant who came to this country with little
more than the clothes on his back. He worked in a shoe factory outside
of Boston where he and his wife raised two children in a small
single-family house. | ||||||||||||||||||
He has seven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren who were
and/or are mostly productive members of society, including at least one
doctor, educator, engineer, lawyer, military officer, and politician.
His descendants have served our country in time of war and paid
millions of dollars in taxes. | ||||||||||||||||||
During alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, my grandfather had some sort of a small still that was passed around among his neighbors. They used it to make hard liquor, which was against the law. For that era, it was the equivalent of growing your own pot or cooking up methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||||
Imagine the impact on his family if today's drug penalties were in
effect at that time. What would have happened if my grandfather had
been sent to prison, his house confiscated, and my mother had been
thrown out on the street when she was 8 years old? | ||||||||||||||||||
What if, instead of building universities, our country had spent the money on prisons? What if my grandmother, instead of saving up money for her children's education, had spent everything on bus tickets to visit her husband in a faraway prison? What would that have done to our country two or three generations later. . . which is now! | ||||||||||||||||||
I don't know if it's possible for you to visualize such devastation, to
imagine the effect on your own life if your parents had been raised in
poverty because vicious busybodies didn't like what your grandpa ate or
drank. . . and to imagine the cumulative effect on the nation. But
millions of Americans are living this nightmare every day in every city
across our country. More are entering it every day. The pace is
accelerating, and the effect on the underlying medical problem is
negligible. | ||||||||||||||||||
That is why I am working to reform our drug laws. This damage must stop. We've got to find another way to deal with this problem. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Bob Ramsey, a financial Analyst in Fort Worth, is a board member of the
Drug Policy Forum of Texas. (With the money Gramma Nelson saved on
those bus tickets, he bought a Bachelor's degree from the University of
Virginia, and an MBA from Vanderbilt University) | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Because the staff of the Newsletter took advantage of a generally slow
holidays news climate to skip the December 23 issue, this one deals
with items archived by NewsHawks between December 13 and December 27.
As it turned out, coverage of the impeachment proceedings and the
mini-war against Iraq probably crowded many drug items into the
background or out of the media altogether. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Several weeks ago, an encounter between anti-drug activists and some
DPFT members at a public meeting caught the attention of the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram. This has resulted in a bonanza of attention and
generally favorable publicity for both DPFT and the reform movement in
general. | ||||||||||||||||||
This long feature in the Star-Telegram doesn't take sides, but gives a
balanced account of the issues between reformers and warriors. Most
importantly, it recognizes the existence of a responsible reform
movement. | ||||||||||||||||||
GROUPS MOBILIZE TO PUSH FOR LENIENT DRUG POLICIES | ||||||||||||||||||
When pharmacology professor G. Alan Robison launched a group in1994 to
push for an overhaul of U.S. drug policy, he worked out of his house
and could persuade only 15 others to join. | ||||||||||||||||||
Today, the Houston-based Drug Policy Forum of Texas has grown to 300
members and added a Fort Worth-Dallas chapter. Robison still runs the
group's operations from his home office, but with a recent $25,000
donation from billionaire philanthropist George Soros, he hopes that
his group will soon have a new office and staff. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future" survey has
become, by default, everyone's standard for measuring juvenile drug
use. This year's report suggests that youthful use is continuing to
decline somewhat, but since earlier levels had been considered high,
the current study might be used either to claim progress for the drug
war- or cited as a reason for continued alarm. What more useful
statistics could a politician ask for? | ||||||||||||||||||
Whatever conclusions one draws from the report, continued hysteria
over juvenile drug use is evident from the steady stream of school
districts being persuaded that some form of testing is necessary in
their junior high and high schools. | ||||||||||||||||||
TEENAGE USE OF STIMULANTS LEVELS OFF IN 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - Teenage use of alcohol, marijuana and other drugs remained
stable for a second straight year after years on the rise, with younger
teenagers even less likely to have used drugs over the past year,
according to a government report being released today. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Last year's report found drug use stabilizing for the first time after
several years on the rise. It also found more adolescents disapproving
of drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||
This year, the survey finds a drop in the number of 8th- and
10th-graders reporting the use of any type of illegal drug. Use among
high-school seniors was steady. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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LAKE WORTH SCHOOL DISTRICTS TURNING TO DRUG TESTING | ||||||||||||||||||
LAKE WORTH -- Lake Worth High School Principal Joel Lawson was worried
about drugs on campus long before a student entered his office in tears
last year. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In Lake Worth, the Safe and Drug Free School and Community advisory
committee is overseeing formation of a comprehensive drug program that
includes education for students and teachers, use of a drug-sniffing
dog at the junior high and high schools and a full-time police officer
for the schools. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The shooting of Esequiel Hernandez by Marines on "drug patrol" in May
1997 continues to reverberate. Monte Paulsen's excellent investigative
piece was republished by the Austin Chronicle with this lead-in and
update. | ||||||||||||||||||
RIGHT THIS WRONG | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Border Patrol helped aim the gun that killed Esequiel
Hernandez Jr. near the Texas-Mexico border. | ||||||||||||||||||
That's the conclusion of a scathing report on the 1997 shooting by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio. Smith's 249-page report concluded that the surveillance mission was poorly conceived and hastily planned. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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This was the lead-in to "FATAL ERROR: THE PENTAGON'S WAR ON DRUGS
TAKES A TOLL ON THE INNOCENT," Published in two parts at:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n1192.a05.html | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Another federal embarrassment which refuses to go away is Bob Barr's amendment to the DC appropriation bill thwarting release of vote totals on medical marijuana. In addition to heavy press coverage in the District and beyond, the story was reported on National Public Radio. The ACLU suit should help keep it alive for a while longer. | ||||||||||||||||||
DC & MEDICAL MARIJUANA | ||||||||||||||||||
Carol Van Dam reports that more than a month after Washington DC voters
cast their ballots in a referendum to legalize marijuana for medical
purposes, no one knows the outcome of the vote. That's because shortly
before the November election, Congress added an amendment to the city's
budget barring it from spending any money on the medical marijuana
initiative. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the city couldn't stop the vote from taking place, because the
ballots - with the initiative on them - had already been printed.
DC officials say the amendment is an unconstitutional interference
in their right to hold a local election and they and the ACLU have
filed suit to allow the results to be revealed. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Nearly overlooked in the impeachment furor was a push for more frightening government intrusion into our private business affairs. | ||||||||||||||||||
NEW SURVEILLANCE PROPOSED FOR BANK ACCOUNTS | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON- US banks must monitor their customers and alert federal officials to "suspicious" behavior under a government plan that has drawn fire as an Orwellian intrusion into Americans' privacy. | ||||||||||||||||||
A set of proposed regulations released last Monday requires banks to review every customer's "normal and expected transactions" and tip off the IRS and federal law enforcement agencies if the behavior is unusual. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
With Wilson and Lungren finally exorcised from Sacramento in January,
it's to be hoped that a proper investigation of prison abuses will
finally take place at the state level, where such reviews should
ideally be conducted. | ||||||||||||||||||
FBI PICKS UP A PRISON PROBE SOME SAY WAS STIFLED BY UNION | ||||||||||||||||||
CRESCENT CITY - After a federal court denounced Pelican Bay State Prison as an instrument of wholesale brutality In 1995, California officials pledged to reform the supermaximum penitentiary. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
But just a few months into the job, the internal affairs team was
stripped of its investigative powers when it tried to pursue a group of
officers suspected of setting up stabbings, shootings and beatings of
inmates, documents and interviews show. | ||||||||||||||||||
The warden cut short the probe, and the investigators then found
themselves the subject of repeated investigations by the Corrections
Department. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Declining Police integrity is a major factor in expanding our "Prison
Industrial Complex." These two recent articles illustrate different
aspects of the problem: the first shows how a warrant to search the
San Jose Buyers' club was set up a perjured statement. Also, who
believes the DA's claim that police interest in Buyers' Club stemmed
from a "concern for patients?" | ||||||||||||||||||
The second article is another (tedious) example of how lucrative
illegal markets inevitably corrupt a significant percentage of the
public servants entrusted with their suppression. | ||||||||||||||||||
OFFICERS' ACTIONS ATTACKED IN SAN JOSE MARIJUANA TRIAL | ||||||||||||||||||
By Raoul V. Mowatt, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN JOSE -- Attorneys for medicinal-marijuana advocate Peter Baez
raised pointed questions of witnesses in an attempt to scuttle the
criminal case against the former head of a San Jose-based marijuana
dispensary. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"I was blown away," Uelmen said. "I have very few instances in my
life as a lawyer where I had a police officer admit on the stand to
perjury." | ||||||||||||||||||
(DA) Baker, however, said the overall testimony showed the officers
balanced concern for the center's patients with their need to
investigate possible wrongdoing. | ||||||||||||||||||
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CONFISCATED DRUGS STOLEN FROM UNDER NOSE OF CUSTOMS | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- U.S. Customs agents under investigation for
delivering 7 tons of confiscated drugs to an incinerator then allegedly
leaving the drugs unattended and susceptible to theft may have done so
on many as five other occasions, the Union Tribune of San Diego
reported Saturday. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Nine customs agents brought the drugs from El Paso, Texas, because the
large shipment was too bulky to destroy locally. | ||||||||||||||||||
After the customs team left the Tucson incinerator, thieves apparently
pulled about 500 pounds of marijuana from the incinerator before the
drugs burned, customs' officials said. | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Angela Davis is proving an effective advocate for prison reform;
several weeks after spearheading a Bay Area Conference on the subject,
she was at it in Middle America, again making good use of her academic
ties. | ||||||||||||||||||
A female UN official voiced criticisms which echoed an earlier Amnesty
International report. In addition, the article had her going well
beyond AI in criticizing both the selective prosecution of blacks and
specifically citing the drug war as a major cause of incarceration.
The UN will receive her official report in March | ||||||||||||||||||
ACTIVIST DENOUNCES PRISON SYSTEM. | ||||||||||||||||||
NKU Audience Hears Angela Davis | ||||||||||||||||||
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - Angela Davis, best known for the trails she blazed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, criticized today's prison system Friday night before a packed auditorium at Northern Kentucky University. | ||||||||||||||||||
Businesses profit from more people going to prison and more prisons
having to be built, Ms. Davis said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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UN OFFICIAL SEEKS REFORMS IN US PRISONS | ||||||||||||||||||
COLOMBO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A top United Nations official on Friday
called for stronger monitoring to control widespread "sexual
misconduct" in women's prisons in the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We concluded that there has been widespread sexual misconduct in U.S
prisons, but there is a diversity -- some are dealing with it better
than others," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. special rapporteur on
violence against women. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Better late than not at all: WR columnist William Raspberry recanted
the glib stupidity of his first paragraph to explain how he finally
"got" Vincent Schiraldi's cogent message: we are short-changing
schools in order to finance prison construction. Why was that so hard
for Raspberry to understand? | ||||||||||||||||||
THE MANDATORY-SENTENCING MISTAKE | ||||||||||||||||||
Vincent Schiraldi's call sounded for all the world like another of
those false syllogisms that make me crazy. You know: For the money it
costs to keep a young man in prison, we could send him to Harvard. Or,
if we took the money we're spending on the drug "wars" and spent it on
the public schools, every kid in America would have a shot at a
first-rate education. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
And suddenly Schiraldi was making sense to me in a way the mirror-image
symmetry of his prison/college dichotomy did not. The spending patterns
are not the problem; the problem is poorly thought-out policy,
misguided toughness and bad law. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Drugs & Drug Use | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
This long article on ADD emphasizes how little we really know about
the disorder, its proper treatment or the apparently increased risk of
drug and alcohol problems when children diagnosed as having ADD become
adults. This article can't be easily summarized and deserves to be
read in its entirety. | ||||||||||||||||||
BIOLOGY OF BEHAVIOR ; THE POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN GENES & ATTENTION | ||||||||||||||||||
DANIELLE SITS quietly for the moment, thinking, huddled in the corner
of her classroom closet, waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. She
had just screamed at her teacher and left the floor awash in papers and
pens and books and, well, mess. She can't quite say why she gets so mad
and confused, but she knows that her life schedule revolves around
taking medicine to control her behavior and her ability to sit still
and focus. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
These findings were presented earlier this month during the federal
panel convened by the National Institutes of Health." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
On a lighter note, the Prince of Wales helped the cause of MMJ when he
asked an innocent question during a ceremonial visit to a nursing
home. That it was reported by the Times, made the wire services and
is being excerpted here graphically illustrates the PR power of
celebrity. | ||||||||||||||||||
PRINCE PONDERS MEDICINAL VALUE OF CANNABIS | ||||||||||||||||||
THE Prince of Wales has expressed an interest in the effectiveness of cannabis in relieving the pain of diseases such as multiple sclerosis. | ||||||||||||||||||
During his annual visit to the Sue Ryder Home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, he asked Karen Drake, who has MS: "Have you tried taking cannabis? I have heard it's the best thing for it." | ||||||||||||||||||
Mrs Drake, 36, said afterwards: "I was surprised but I think I would
like at least to try it. Anything that can help relieve the pain can
only be for the good." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The assertions of the Shan rebel leader in the first item certainly
can't be taken at face value; sadly, neither can those of the DEA.
Combine DEA estimates on the origins of America's heroin, and presto!
You're at 130% from Burma and Colombia alone. | ||||||||||||||||||
If the DEA has trouble deciding where American heroin originates, the Swedes are convinced that all of theirs comes from Gambia. | ||||||||||||||||||
SHAN REBELS BLAME MYANMAR MILITARY FOR OPIUM BOOM | ||||||||||||||||||
MONG PAN, Myanmar, Dec 20 (Reuters) | ||||||||||||||||||
Rebel Shan State Army (SSA) guerrillas have said oppression by the
Myanmar military of the northeastern state's native population has
caused the boom in the local opium and heroin trade. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimated that some 70 percent of
heroin in the street market in the United States originates from the
Golden Triangle. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COLOMBIA POLICE MAKE RECORD 66-POUND HEROIN BUST | ||||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Colombian police seized 66 pounds (30 kg) of
high-grade heroin, worth between $2.5 million and $5.5 million
wholesale in the United States, in what it said was the "biggest heroin
bust in the history of Colombia's war on drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that up to 60 percent of the heroin sold in the United States is from Colombia and fetches between $85,000 and $185,000 per 2.2 pounds (1kg). | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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GAMBIANS ARRESTED FOR DRUG CRIMES. Heroin trade. | ||||||||||||||||||
400 of the county's 900 Gambians are involved in drug trade in
Stockholm according to the Police. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug trade in Stockholm is growing at an immense rate. County
police commissioner, Leif Jennekvist, gave an alarming picture of the
situation this Thursday. He points out the African nation Gambia to be
responsible for nearly all the heroin trade, he also revealed that
Somaliska Foreningen (The Somalian Association) in Stockholm has
pleaded to the prosecutors office to take immediate measures against
the increased use of Khat. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Back to a familiar theme: expect many more articles like this one.
The war against guerrillas and US aid for the "anti-drug" effort in
Colombia are increasing apace. Determining which rockets were
purchased with which dollars is an exercise in futility. The real
issue is how is honest government achieved in any country where the
major source of wealth is a criminal industry? | ||||||||||||||||||
U.S. AID SAID USED IN AIR RAID ON COLOMBIA VILLAGE | ||||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A leading human rights group charged on
Monday that Colombia's military used warplanes and rockets, bought
with U.S. anti-drug aid, during a recent raid on a village in
rebel-held territory that killed up to 27 civilians. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Thanks to Jim Rosenfield for this heads up: | ||||||||||||||||||
Prof. Charles Whitebread's History of Non-medical Drugs in the U.S. is now
available full text as well as in Real Audio at http://www.tfy.org/ as well
as at http://www.freecannabis.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||
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TIP OF THE WEEK | ||||||||||||||||||
FEAR CHAT | ||||||||||||||||||
FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) now has a free-form
discussion forum at | ||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
`It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human
nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least
pleasant examples' - Charles Dickens | ||||||||||||||||||
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FACT OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In 1992, the U.S. government spent only 7% of its drug-control budget on treatment, the remaining 93% of its budget went to ineffective programs of source control, interdiction and law-enforcement. | ||||||||||||||||||
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SPECIAL THANKS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Kevin Fansler and Don DeGroat are doing a superb job keeping up
with the screening of hundreds of news articles gathered by our NewsHawks
each week. | ||||||||||||||||||
We greatly appreciate this effort and help. It aids us in putting out a
better product to our ever growing membership. | ||||||||||||||||||
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