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DrugSense Weekly
June 11,1999 #101


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


NORML's Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-2)
(1) ACLU: Drug War Based on Race
(2) 39 Black U.S. Attorneys Describe Warning Sons About Racial Profiling
COMMENT: (3)
(3) Editorial: How To Save A Heroin Addict
COMMENT: (4)
(4) High-Tech Detection Boosts War On Drugs

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (5-7)
(5) Column: Trying To Count All The Cops Is Hard
(6) CA: Prisons Near Capacity
(7) A Return To The Goal Of Reforming Inmates
COMMENT: (8-9)
(8) Mr. Silver's Silence on Reform
(9) Sharpton To Protest Drug Laws

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (10-12)
(10) Hemp Production Begins In Some States, Still Barred In Kentucky
(11) Candidate Kubby
(12) Medical Pot Case Against Journalist Dropped

International News-

COMMENT: (13-14)
(13) Cuba Wages A Lonesome War On Drugs
(14) Trinidad Three Hanged Despite Pleas
COMMENT: (15-18)
(15) UK: Drug Cash Laundered Through Royal Bank
(16) Britain In Grip Of Drug Culture
(17) Canada: Mandatory Drug Tests A Failed Idea
(18) Canada: Drug Dogs To Check Schools
COMMENT: (19)
(19) Thailand Torn by Deadly Drug Bust

* Hot Off The 'Net


ENDCS Drug Strategy "Short Version" now On-line and Printable
DrugSense Offers a Newer, Better, and More User Friendly Chat Room

* Quote of the Week


William Lloyd Garrison

* Chart of the Week


US Incarceration Rates


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

EDITORS NOTE: DrugSense neither endorses or encourages the use of any psychoactive substance be it legal or illegal but feels the choice of determining whether or not to use such substances is inevitably a decision to made by each individual adult as part of his or her inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as laid out in the Declaration of Independence which can be reviewed at. http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

The opinions below are from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) web page at:
http://www.norml.org/about/responsible.shtml

NORML's Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use

When marijuana is enjoyed responsibly, subjecting users to harsh criminal and civil penalties provides no public benefit and causes terrible injustices.  For reasons of public safety, public health, economics and justice, the prohibition laws should be repealed to the extent that they criminalize responsible marijuana use.

By adoption of this statement, the NORML Board of Directors has attempted to define "responsible cannabis use."

I.  Adults Only - Cannabis consumption is for adults only. It is irresponsible to provide cannabis to children.

Many things and activities are suitable for young people, but others absolutely are not.  Children do not drive cars, enter into contracts, or marry, and they must not use drugs.  As it is unrealistic to demand lifetime abstinence from cars, contracts and marriage, however, it is unrealistic to expect lifetime abstinence from all intoxicants, including alcohol.  Rather, our expectation and hope for young people is that they grow up to be responsible adults.  Our obligation to them is to demonstrate what that means.

II.  No Driving - The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery impaired by cannabis, nor (like other responsible citizens) impaired by any other substance or condition, including some medicines and fatigue.

Although cannabis is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, responsible cannabis consumers never operate motor vehicles in an impaired condition.  Public safety demands not only that impaired drivers be taken off the road, but that objective measures of impairment be developed and used, rather than chemical testing.

III.  Set and Setting - The responsible cannabis user will carefully consider his/her set and setting, regulating use accordingly.

"Set" refers to the consumer's values, attitudes, experience and personality, and "setting" means the consumer's physical and social circumstances.  The responsible cannabis consumer will be vigilant as to conditions -- time, place, mood, etc.  -- and does not hesitate to say "no" when those conditions are not conducive to a safe, pleasant and/or productive experience.

IV.  Resist Abuse - Use of cannabis, to the extent that it impairs health, personal development or achievement, is abuse, to be resisted by responsible cannabis users.

Abuse means harm.  Some cannabis use is harmful; most is not. That which is harmful should be discouraged; that which is not need not be.

Wars have been waged in the name of eradicating "drug abuse", but instead of focusing on abuse, enforcement measures have been diluted by targeting all drug use, whether abusive or not.  If marijuana abuse is to be targeted, it is essential that clear standards be developed to identify it.

V.  Respect Rights of Others - The responsible cannabis user does not violate the rights of others, observes accepted standards of courtesy and public propriety, and respects the preferences of those who wish to avoid cannabis entirely.

No one may violate the rights of others, and no substance use excuses any such violation.  Regardless of the legal status of cannabis, responsible users will adhere to emerging tobacco smoking protocols in public and private places.

Adopted by the NORML Board of Directors February 3, 1996 Washington, DC


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-2)    (Top)

The ACLU launched a coordinated attack against the racial profiling with a New York press conference and lawsuits against police agencies in four widely separated locations.

That such agencies employ racial profiling was confirmed by an unlikely group- but one that should know: 39 federal prosecutors who also happen to be black men.

(1) ACLU: DRUG WAR BASED ON RACE    (Top)

NEW YORK (AP) The war on drugs has significantly increased the number of traffic stops based on race throughout the country, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released Wednesday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 02 Jun 1999
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   1999 Associated Press
Author:   Donna De La Cruz, Associated Press Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n590.a05.html


(2) 39 BLACK U.S. ATTORNEYS DESCRIBE WARNING SONS ABOUT RACIAL PROFILING    (Top)

(Atlanta) - Passing down a fear like an heirloom, black fathers give their sons a warning.

In what is often a rite of passage for some black fathers and their teenage sons, Richard Deane sat down with Jonathan Deane, 15, earlier this year and explained that he may be stopped by police simply because he is a young, black male.

[snip]

This father-son snapshot might serve as just another reminder of the sometimes frayed trust between police and the minority community, except that Deane is a U.S.  attorney, the chief federal law enforcement officer in Atlanta and the northern portion of Georgia.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon 05/31 1999
Source:   Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright:   1999, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.tampatrib.com/
Forum:   http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm
Author:   MARK JOHNSON of Media General News Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n589.a05.html


COMMENT: (3)    (Top)

Despite nominal endorsement as a mainstay in the (effective) treatment of heroin addiction, and despite a surge in heroin availability, access to methadone maintenance therapy is still woefully inadequate- as pointed out in this caustic Florida op-ed:

(3) EDITORIAL: HOW TO SAVE A HEROIN ADDICT    (Top)

You can rant yourself hoarse about the Puerto Rican heroin connection.

You can demand more money for more cops, with more tools.

[snip]

Despite an influx of drug enforcement dollars, the high-minded rhetoric of national politicos and the copious bleeding of liberal hearts everywhere, deaths from heroin use in Orlando jumped from 16 in 1997, one year after state-financed methadone funding was last available in Orlando, to 36 last year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 31 May 1999
Source:   Orlando Business Journal (FL)
Copyright:   American City Business Journals Inc
Contact:  
Address:   315 E.  Robinson St., Suite 250 Orlando FL 32801
Fax:   407-420-1625
Feedback:   http://www.amcity.com/orlando/lettertotheeditor.html
Website:   http://www.amcity.com/orlando/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n589.a07.html


COMMENT: (4)    (Top)

It's also clear that despite lip service to "treatment," the real enthusiasm of both McCzar and Congress is for the more macho areas of enforcement and interdiction.

(4) HIGH-TECH DETECTION BOOSTS WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Customs inspectors peering into the tractor-trailer at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge along the U.S.  border saw nothing more threatening than a cargo of cookies.

But after passing the truck through an X-ray machine the size of a car wash, agents caught a look at the real treat stashed in the truck: more than 5,600 pounds of marijuana.

[snip]

The thermal camera is the most requested item in the Office of National Drug Control Policy's technology transfer program, first funded in 1998.

"We know these systems work, and we know the cops need these tools," said Barry McCaffrey, the administration's drug control policy director.  He is seeking more money for the program.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 03 June 1999
Source:   St.  Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright:   1999 Post Dispatch
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.stlnet.com/
Forum:   http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/index.nsf/forums
Author:   The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n592.a08.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons
---------

COMMENT: (5-7)    (Top)

For those who've wondered just how many overlapping police jurisdictions there are, let alone how many sworn officers function within them, you've got wry company from Houston columnist Thom Marshall who, despite pushing his quest, was ultimately unable to answer either question.

Not only is it hard to count cops, it's not all that easy to count inmates; two articles from California underscore the enormous size to which that state's prison system has grown and the upcoming crisis that growth will produce in the near future.

(5) COLUMN: TRYING TO COUNT ALL THE COPS IS HARD    (Top)

At least once a week, Bryant Reed of La Porte finds himself wondering how many police agencies we have watching us and why we need so many.

[snip]

I, too, have wandered down the trail of speculation about law enforcement proliferation.  Writing down just the agencies that came quickly to mind, I came up with more than 20, including district attorney investigators, game wardens, postal inspectors and federal officers with the INS, DEA, ATF, CIA ...

Once, some time ago, I decided to make a few calls and find out just how many policing agencies and the total number of cops of all kinds we have in our town....

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 30 May 1999
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Thom Marshall
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n605.a07.html


(6) CA: PRISONS NEAR CAPACITY    (Top)

ROBERT Presley, the highly respected former cop and state senator who heads the state's correctional agency, says that in just two years, "every nook and cranny" in the state's huge prison system will be filled with inmates.

There are 160,000 inmates now, eight times the 1980 prison population, thanks to get-tough policies adopted by legislators and voters.  And despite massive prison construction in the 1980s and early 1990s, all but a few inmates are doubled up in cells designed for one person or housed in gymnasiums and other temporary quarters.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 06 Jun 1999
Source:   Oakland Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   1999 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  
Address:   66 Jack London Sq., Oakland, CA 94607
Website:   http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/
Author:   Dan Walters (Sacramento Bee)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n605.a03.html


(7) A RETURN TO THE GOAL OF REFORMING INMATES    (Top)

Officials Reconsider the Discredited Idea of Rehabilitation as Two Out of Three California Parolees Are Back in Prison Within Two Years.

CORCORAN, Calif.  - The white prison van pulled up to the train stop in Corcoran, in the shadow of the big grain silos, and out walked two young inmates just released from the state penitentiary down the block.

[snip]

The same scene, more or less, plays out each day in prison towns up and down the state.  Of the 160,000 inmates locked safely away in California's 33 penitentiaries, more than half will be getting out in the next two years.  Their prospects - and by extension ours - are not bright.  ....

Many are going straight from maximum-security cells and round-the-clock lockdowns to a world of liberty without any real preparation or transition, just the $200 in "gate money." The chance of a parolee committing a new crime or violation in two years and crossing back over the line has been rising and is now more than two out of three....

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 1 Jun 1999
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Los Angeles Times.
Contact:  
Fax:   (213) 237-4712
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/
Author:   Mark Arax, Times Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n603.a07.html


COMMENT: (8-9)    (Top)

Meanwhile, on the Right Coast, the Rockefeller reform charade was good for a few more gasps; the NYT tut-tutted Mr.  Silver's lack of resolve and the Rev.  Al Sharpton got into the act. Just as in California, nothing substantive will happen this year, but the issue is certain to be raised again next year, with more organized support for reform.

(8) MR. SILVER'S SILENCE ON REFORM    (Top)

The fight to overhaul New York State's rigid Rockefeller-era drug laws took a depressing turn recently when Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Assembly would not take up Gov.  George Pataki's proposed changes.  Mr. Pataki's tepid proposals deserve criticism, and this may have been Mr.  Silver's way of expressing it. But the Speaker seems also to have foreclosed debate on an issue that badly needs an airing, and broader reform.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 03 Jun 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n598.a02.html


(9) SHARPTON TO PROTEST DRUG LAWS    (Top)

The penalty for not fighting for Rockefeller Drug Law reforms: The Rev. Al Sharpton knocking on your door.  The dapper downstater wants an explanation from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver about why the Manhattan Democrat isn't pushing for reforms to the tough drug penalties.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Monday, June 7, 1999
Source:   Times Union (NY)
Copyright:   1999, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact:  
Address:   Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212
Fax:   (518) 454-5628
Feedback:   http://www.timesunion.com/react/
Website:   http://www.timesunion.com/
Forum:   http://www.timesunion.com/react/forums/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n606.a07.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (10-12)    (Top)

As noted here recently, the once effective DEA lobby against hemp has been defeated; the burning question is now which state will harvest the first crop.

Medical Cannabis will be showcased at the high profile trial of Steve Kubby, scheduled to begin in July.  While Kubby's arrest received far more publicity than any other single case, coverage has been nevertheless sketchy.  That was remedied by a detailed article authored for a Canadian publication by High Times reporter Pete Brady.  His entire text deserves close reading.

Brady himself was arrested and threatened with prosecution because of his connection with the Kubby case.  Charges against him were recently dropped, a hopeful omen, indeed.


(10) HEMP PRODUCTION BEGINS IN SOME STATES, STILL BARRED IN KENTUCKY    (Top)

Jun.  5--Bluegrass farmers' dream of growing U.S. hemp finally might be coming true, but not in Kentucky.

North Dakota, spurred by the first-year profits of neighboring Canadian farmers, legalized industrial hemp production in April.

But Hawaii will probably get it into the ground faster.  On July 7, Gov.  Benjamin Cayetano will sign a bill authorizing 10 acres of variety trials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 05 Jun 1999
Source:   Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright:   1999 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  
Fax:   606-255-7236
Website:   http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/
Forum:   http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?lexingtn
Author:   Janet Patton, Lexington Herald-Leader
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n602.a01.html


(11) CANDIDATE KUBBY    (Top)

Libertarian Politics, Medicinal Pot, Overzealous Narks And A CC Journalist Mix It Up In California.

In 1996, Steve Kubby helped ensure passage of California's landmark medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, and became the proud father of a baby girl.  In 1998, the 52-year-old entrepreneur was the Libertarian Party's candidate in the California governor's race.

[snip]

But Kubby's audacious public battle to end America's drug war wasn't just out on the edge, it was over the edge, like wearing a target in the center of which was written in big red letters: "Arrest Me."

On January 19, 1999, the target got hit.  Kubby and his wife Michelle opened the front door of their Northern California chalet to find armed agents from the North Tahoe Drug Enforcement Task Force (NTTF), an agency staffed with investigators from California, Nevada, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

[snip]

Pubdate:   May/June 1999
Source:   Cannabis Culture
Copyright:   1999 Cannabis Culture, redistributed by MAP by permission
Contact:  
Address:   324 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1K6
Fax:   (604) 669-9038
Website:   http://www.cannabisculture.com/
Author:   Pete Brady
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n609.a01.html (Pt 1)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n609.a02.html (Pt 2)


(12) MEDICAL POT CASE AGAINST JOURNALIST DROPPED    (Top)

The Butte County district attorney has dropped its case against Pete Brady.  The Chico journalist was charged with possession of marijuana despite being a lawful medical marijuana user under California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act, enacted by voters as Proposition 215.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 02 June 1999
Source:   San Francisco Bay Guardian (CA)
Copyright:   1999 San Francisco Bay Guardian
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sfbg.com
Author:   Randall Lyman
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n603.a05.html


International News


COMMENT: (13-14)    (Top)

The Caribbean drug gateway to the US mainland received some press attention last week; it seems that Cuba is very willing to "crack down" on trafficking but, impoverished by US sanctions, isn't very effective.  Ever the fan of interdiction, McCzar seems impelled to help, but has been restrained by the predictable squeals of anti-Castro Cuban expatriates.

Elsewhere in the Caribbean, a tiny nation shocked the world with a flurry of drug-related hangings; several news articles made clear that the issue had been around for several years and is complicated both by local fear and a turf battle with the Privy Council in London.  Given the population still on death row, more shocks may be in store.

(13) CUBA WAGES A LONESOME WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

CAYO CONFITES - On this sandy speck of land off the northern coast of Cuba, the only line of defense against Colombian drug traffickers bound for the United States consists of an aging Soviet-era patrol boat, a British radar system with a six-mile range and 15 Cuban soldiers.

[snip]

Castro's program has so impressed U.S.  law enforcement officials that they would like to cooperate further with their Cuban counterparts, who already have provided discreet assistance in several major cases. There's just one problem: Some members of Congress, with backing from many Cuban Americans, are dead set against any cooperation between Havana and Washington, which have not had diplomatic relations since 1961.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 06 June 1999
Source:   Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Copyright:   1999 The Guardian Weekly
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/
Author:   Douglas Farah, Washington Post Foreign Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n591.a09.html


(14) TRINIDAD THREE HANGED DESPITE PLEAS    (Top)

PORT OF SPAIN - Early yesterday warders in Frederick Street Prison, in the old quarter of Port of Spain, led a thickset inmate from his cell to the gallows outside, covered his head with a hood and placed the noose of the rope around his neck.

[snip]

By Monday morning it will be more than Chadee who will have met his end on Frederick Street.  Two other men were hanged yesterday, at one-hour intervals.

Another three are due to go to the gallows today and a third group of three are to be executed in the same manner at dawn on Monday.

[snip]

The enthusiasm here for capital punishment has been fed by a frustration with rising violence and crime on the twin islands, much of it associated with gangs and the drug trade.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 05 June 1999
Source:   Independent, The (UK)
Copyright:   1999 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  
Address:   1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL
Website:   http://www.independent.co.uk/
Author:   David Usborne
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n604.a04.html


COMMENT: (15-18)    (Top)

In Britain, fresh on the heels of news that Camilla's son is a tooter, came a report that bankers to the Royal Family are non-compliant in reporting suspicious transactions.

In Canada, the Star took some apparent relish in tweaking the Mother Country for its hedonistic ways, while two other reports point up that Canada is far from unified in its approach to drug use.

(15) UK: DRUG CASH LAUNDERED THROUGH ROYAL BANK    (Top)

Coutts & Co, bankers to the Royal family, is being targeted by money-launderers and criminals who are laundering millions of pounds of drug profits through its branches.

Coutts and other private banks have been criticised by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) for failing to co-operate fully in the fight against money-laundering.  All banks have a legal duty to report suspicious transactions.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 6 Jun 1999
Source:   Observer, The (UK)
Copyright:   Guardian Media Group plc.  1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Author:   Tony Thompson, Crime Correspondent
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n611.a02.html


(16) BRITAIN IN GRIP OF DRUG CULTURE    (Top)

LONDON - Britain is in a drug frenzy, with an epidemic of stories about high-flying celebrities and low-life addicts laying bare the extent of the craze.

To hear the tabloid press tell it, top sports figures regularly snort cocaine, posh society is awash with pills and powders, and recreational drug users have even penetrated the BBC.

[snip]

Heroin use is rising among the young and poor as prices drop, while cocaine is as common as Chianti in many professional circles in which people are cash-rich and weary from the working week.

It's estimated the equivalent of $16 billion (U.S.) is spent on illegal drugs each year in Britain.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Monday, June 7, 1999
Source:   Toronto Star (Canada)
Copyright:   1999, The Toronto Star
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.thestar.com/
Page:   D7
Author:   Lyndsay Griffiths, Reuters News Agency
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n606.a04.html


(17) CANADA: MANDATORY DRUG TESTS A FAILED IDEA    (Top)

There is no proof that drug and alcohol addiction is a bigger problem with people on welfare than any it is with any other group.  Nor is there proof drug and alcohol addiction is a greater barrier for them to find and keep employment than it is for any others.

That hasn't stopped the government of Premier Mike Harris from proposing mandatory drug testing and treatment for welfare recipients. The Tory proposal isn't about true welfare reform.  It's about bashing the poor, perpetuating stereotypes and dividing society along class lines.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 01 Jun 1999
Source:   London Free Press (Canada)
Copyright:   1999 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.canoe.ca/LondonFreePress/home.html
Forum:   http://www.lfpress.com/londoncalling/SelectForum.asp
Author:   Christine Dirks
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n586.a13.html


(18) CANADA: DRUG DOGS TO CHECK SCHOOLS    (Top)

St.  Albert Decides

In the first program of its kind in Canada, RCMP officers and dope-sniffing dogs will patrol St.  Albert's Protestant and Catholic schools in the upcoming school year.

On Wednesday St.  Albert RCMP agreed to send random patrols through schools run by St.  Albert Protestant Schools and the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division.

"We want to make sure our schools are drug-free and students don't indulge in illegal substances," said Protestant chairman Morag Pansegrau.  "We do not have a drug problem in our schools, but this has been initiated by the RCMP to make sure young people lead appropriate lifestyles."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Saturday, June 5, 1999
Source:   Edmonton Sun (Canada)
Copyright:   1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/
Forum:   http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author:   Davis Sheremata
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n599.a05.html


COMMENT: (19)    (Top)

During an American University speech in late 1996, McCaffrey praised Thailand for its drug war progress without offering any specifics. Last week, a NYT report supplied some of the missing details; they shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with US foreign policy and with the way our drug war has empowered repression throughout the Third World.

(19) THAILAND TORN BY DEADLY DRUG BUST    (Top)

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- They were armed, they were angry and they had hostages.  They were also surrounded.

[snip]

It was a standoff.  So the police summoned Gen. Salang Bunnag, the man known as the toughest cop in the Royal Thai Police.

A short while later, the six drug dealers were dead.

[snip]

Many Thais applauded Salang.  The dealers, they said, had gotten what they deserved.  Others were appalled. Such killings by the Thai police are not uncommon, according to a U.S.  State Department report. They just aren't carried out on national television.  Local and international human rights groups demanded government action.  Nothing happened.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 05 June 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n602.a05.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

ENDCS Drug Strategy "Short Version" now On-line and Printable

The Excellent (but lengthy) Effective National Drug Control Strategy (ENDCS) prepared by Common Sense for Drug Policy has been reduced to a shortened 4 page "pull out" version suitable for faxing, emailing or mailing to politicians, media types or whatever.  The ever productive DrugSense Webmaster Matt Elrod has made this handy tool available in printable format on-line.  Using Adobe Acrobat you simply open up the URL below and print it out.  Alternately share the web page with your contact of choice.

http://www.csdp.org/ads/pullout.pdf


DrugSense Offers a Newer, Better, and More User Friendly Chat Room

Using the new DrugSense Chat Room Service participants can make "rooms" within the chat and the rooms can be public or private.  Additionally, participants can be added to a "group" and rooms can be made off limits to anyone not in that group.

We hope you will find many uses for this new feature for "live" real time discussions It can be used for everything from state or issue based group discussion to board or strategy meetings.

http://www.drugsense.org/chat/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Enslave the liberty of one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril." - William Lloyd Garrison


CHART OF THE WEEK    (Top)

As a little change of pace we are going to provide various chart and graph URLs in place of our Fact of the Week section occasionally.  These can be very handy graphic depictions of various facts and figures relating to the drug war.  Use them in your letters, email discussions, debates, or anywhere else you find them useful.

U.S.  Incarceration Rates

http://homepages.go.com/homepages/m/a/r/marthag1/index.htm#666


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