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DrugSense Weekly
July 9, 1999 #105


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


Kubby Case Has National Significance
By Tom O'Connell, M.D.

* Weekly News in Review


Drug War Policy-

COMMENT: (1)
(1) Defeated in the Drug War
COMMENT: (2-3)
(2) NM Organizations Make Drug Reform Alliance
(3) Gov. Says E-Mails Support Drug Idea
COMMENT: (4-5)
(4) Editorial: How to Spread HIV in DC
(5) Silent Epidemic Sweeping the City
COMMENT: (6)
(6) $48 Million Worth of Cocaine Seized

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (7)
(7) OPED: Wrongly Accused
COMMENT: (8-9)
(8) Rape In The Name of The War on Drugs
(9) Prison Rape Too Severe a Penalty

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (10-12)
(10) What Will Make Placer Take Medical Pot Seriously?
(11) Rotting for Pot
(12) Narc Agents Raid Wrong Home
COMMENT: (13)
(13) Berkeley May Relax Drug Law
COMMENT: (14)
(14) Patients Wrestle Over Hazy Medical-Marijuana Law

International News-

COMMENT: (15-16)
(15) Australia: 'Miracle Cure' for Heroin Has its Dangers
(16) Australia: Heroin Kills Record 142
COMMENT: (17)
(17) Column: The Good Guys Lost the War on Drugs
COMMENT: (18-19)
(18) New Colombia Peace Talks as US Warns on Rebel Drugs
(19) Shining Light on Shadowy Legal System

* Hot Off The 'Net


    The Steve Kubby 'Inside Edition' Piece Can Now be Viewed On-line
    ABCNews.com Positive Medicinal Marijuana Piece
    Video "Emperor of Hemp" for Sale on the Web

* Quote of the Week


Carl Sagan


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

KUBBY CASE HAS NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

Tom O'Connell, M.D. 

The essential details of the "medical marijuana' case involving Steve and Michele Kubby are accurately covered by Pat McCartney, Auburn Journal City Editor and author of an instructive article at:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n699.a04.html

The only significant addition I would have is: not only will the outcome be important for Placer County - it will have an impact all over California and carries major implications for our national drug policy as well.

As Dan Baum pointed out in "Smoke and Mirrors" in 1996, marijuana arrests provide cannon fodder for the drug war; without them, it would be impossible to maintain the massive edifice law enforcement (in its broadest sense) has built out of our drug laws since 1980.  As Mike Gray pointed out in "Drug Crazy," the 'medical marijuana' issue directly threatens all those arrests; the apt nature of his analogy - a ratchet which can only be tightened - is borne out by a look at the behavior of all three levels of law enforcement in most California venues since Proposition 215 was passed in November, 1996.  It shows that with certain noteworthy exceptions, distributors and medical users have been targeted for harassment, arrest, prosecution and sentencing out of all proportion to whatever hazard they might conceivably represent to public safety.  The time, resources, and effort expended by law enforcement agencies to oppose any reasonable implementation of Proposition 215 speaks volumes about the real importance of marijuana prohibition to all of them.

That a task force headed by State Sen.  John Vasconcellos has been completely unable to formulate legislative recommendations and is still struggling with that task 30 months after passage of 215 and over six months after election of a nominally friendly AG is further eloquent testimony of the commitment of entrenched forces to their favorite prohibition.  Emphasis in those discussions has remained on what hoops patients and caregivers must jump through - despite the declared intent of the initiative - which was to protect them from arrest and harassment from law enforcement.  To describe the performance of allegedly 'friendly' AG Lockyer in this arena as a "disappointment" is akin to calling Hurricane Andrew a "big storm" or Loma Prieta a "minor temblor;" the only bigger disaster would have been Lungren as governor.

Because the Kubby case embodies all the excesses present in a host of hitherto unpublicized (therefore, largely unknown) medical cases, and because he is relatively well-known and has gone out of his way to court publicity, the chances are excellent that his and Michele's prosecution will attract national media attention.  This raises risks as well as potential benefits.  The recent trial of Dr. Michael Baldwin and his wife in front of the same judge on very similar charges demonstrates that the prosecution's arguments, ludicrous as they are, can resonate with a conservative Placer county jury.  We are fortunate that impeachment and Kosovo are out of the headlines and there seem to be no distractions looming; a reasonable outcome is favored by intense media scrutiny.  Everyone in the reform movement should follow this trial closely and support the Kubby's to the extent possible.

It could be a hot July.

Dr.  O'Connell is a retired Army surgeon who uses his extensive medical training and experience to serve as a drug policy analyst and editor for The DrugSense Weekly.  He also sits on the DrugSense Board of Directors.


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1)    (Top)

A crushing victory for MAP: the drug czar's lame Washington Post op-ed in defense of policy provoked a flood of critical mail- and apparently no support.  Last Saturday, the newspaper printed four hostile responses to McCzar's June 29 opus.

(1) DEFEATED IN THE DRUG WAR    (Top)

In his June 29 op-ed "Don't Legalize Those Drugs," drug czar Barry McCaffrey claims that addictive drugs were criminalized because they are harmful, not the other way around.  This argument hardly holds up against the large body of scientific research.....

[snip]

Aleksandar Perovic

Barry McCaffrey's plea to maintain his little bureaucratic fiefdom lumps together heroin, cocaine, LSD, methamphetamine and marijuana as "psychoactive drugs" and then speaks of their "harms" as if all of those drugs are equally harmful....

[snip]

Shane Ham

Barry McCaffrey is making a big assumption when he says that "drug legalization" is "condoning drugs."....

[snip]

Arthur Livermore

To paraphrase Barry McCaffrey, "We are not involved in a drug war, and if we are, we are winning!"....

[snip]

Tony Goins

Pubdate:   Sat, 3 July 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Address:   1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm

Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n680.a05.html
Note:   Czar McCaffrey's OPED was the target of a DrugSense FOCUS alert at:

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0113.html

URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n694.a13.html ( Perovic)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n694.a12.html (Ham)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n694.a09.html (Livermore)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n694.a10.html (Goins)


COMMENT: (2-3)    (Top)

New Mexico provided a stunning revelation of how swiftly things can move after a key politician sees the light.  Significantly, the changes are occurring in an atmosphere of public approval (Yes, that's our Steve Bunch who was quoted at the top of the first article).

(2) NM ORGANIZATIONS MAKE DRUG REFORM ALLIANCE    (Top)

ALBUQUERQUE -- Gov.  Gary Johnson's call for drug reform debate last week motivated several New Mexico organizations to form an alliance to discuss alternatives to current drug policies.

The New Mexico Alliance for Drug Policy Reform announced Monday that it will provide a forum for organizations to brainstorm solutions to drug offenses other than incarceration.

"Instead of spending money on drug prohibition, we need to address the impact of current drug war policies," said Steven Bunch, president of the New Mexico Drug Policy Foundation, one of the groups in the alliance.

[snip]

Pubdate:   July 6, 1999
Source:   Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright:   1999 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website:   http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author:   Rebecca Lopez, The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n703.a12.html


(3) GOV. SAYS E-MAILS SUPPORT DRUG IDEA    (Top)

LAS CRUCES -- Electronic mail so far is running about 10 to 1 in favor of Gov.  Gary Johnson's suggestion that governments consider decriminalizing some types of drug possession, the governor said Wednesday during a Rotary Club luncheon here.

After a speech dedicated chiefly to school vouchers, the governor repeated his assertion that the nation's so-called war on drugs has been "a miserable failure."

[snip]

Source:   Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright:   1999 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website:   http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author:   Rene Romo, Journal Southern Bureau
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n700.a08.html


COMMENT: (4-5)    (Top)

The dead hand of the past also made headlines- dead as in the price of the diseases spread by the paraphernalia laws championed by prohibitionists who either refuse to learn or simply don't care that their policies are lethal.

(4) EDITORIAL: HOW TO SPREAD HIV IN DC    (Top)

When the senate takes up the District's fiscal year 2000 budget, a floor amendment may be offered to ban a needle-exchange program in the city.  A yes vote is a green light to allow HIV to spread unimpeded among intravenous drug users.

The District has strong reason for an effective needle-exchange program.  The highest rate of new HIV infections is in the nation's capital.  AIDS kills in the District like no other cause of death for residents between ages 30 and 44.  The city has the distinction of having an AIDS death rate seven times the national average.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 01 July 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Address:   1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n688.a04.html


(5) SILENT EPIDEMIC SWEEPING THE CITY    (Top)

Silent Epidemic Sweeping The City 90% Of Addicts Infected With Hepatitis C, Hopkins Studies Show

Overshadowed by AIDS, a silent epidemic of hepatitis C is sweeping through Baltimore's population of intravenous drug users -- threatening many with liver failure and cancer decades after they were first infected.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 July 1999
Source:   Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright:   1999 by The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sunspot.net/
Forum:   http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro
Author:   Jonathan Bor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n701.a01.html


COMMENT: (6)    (Top)

Meanwhile, an enormous cocaine seizure near Chicago implied just how worried the Mexican cartels are by interdiction: they entrust huge shipments to be delivered by incompetents.

(6) $48 MILLION WORTH OF COCAINE SEIZED    (Top)

A sheriff's deputy uncovered more than 1,300 pounds of cocaine - worth about $48 million - during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 70 over the holiday weekend.

The deputy and his drug-sniffing dog found the cocaine in the back of a tractor-trailer that had been weaving and running onto the shoulder Sunday night.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 06 July 1999
Source:   Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright:   1999 San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112
Website:   http://www.sanluisobispo.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n704.a07.html


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

COMMENT: (7)    (Top)

The anti-drug war sentiment expressed by the Salt Lake Tribune after the Mica subcommittee hearings was, frankly somewhat of a pleasant surprise.  A recent editorial on a fiasco closer to home suggests that exasperation with DOJ tactics has a lot to do with their displeasure. This is a newspaper reformers should follow closely.

(7) OPED: WRONGLY ACCUSED    (Top)

Cynthia and James Haywood were and remain regular taxpaying, law-abiding and middle-class Salt Lake area residents.  In March 1993, they became something more: victims of the aggressive,
seat-of-your-pants and impetuous sort of law enforcement associated with the drug war.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon July 5, 1999
Source:   Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright:   1999, The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  
Website:   http://utahonline.sltrib.com/
Forum:   http://utahonline.sltrib.com/tribtalk/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n701.a05.html


COMMENT: (8-9)    (Top)

One wouldn't normally encounter the term 'rape' twice in this section of the newsletter.  The first use was metaphorical- employed by the editor of the Washington times to express his opinion of asset forfeiture.

The second was use literal; used to describe the infrequently acknowledged, but all-too-common consequence of mixing adolescents in with adults in jails and prisons.  Amy Pagnozzi also wrote a good piece on the Mica hearings.

(8) RAPE IN THE NAME OF THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Sometimes something smells so bad everybody wants to do something about

Imagine, if you can, these political odd couples: Henry Hyde and Barney Frank, Bob Barr and Bill Delahunt.  They got together the other day to work on eradicating a really bad stink.

The Hyde/Frank/Barr/Delahunt coalition went after the rape of the Constitution that allows the feds to seize the property of the innocent in the name of making war on drugs.  They persuaded the House to strip the feds of this power, which the feds have brazenly arrogated unto themselves in defiance of Jefferson and Madison, and the vote -- 375 to 48 -- was not even close.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 29 Jun 1999
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   1999 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.washtimes.com/
Author:   Wesley Pruden
Note:   Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Times.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n693.a02.html


(9) PRISON RAPE TOO SEVERE A PENALTY    (Top)

Nowadays it is called tough love.  Used to be it was what you did when you were at wit's end with your kid.

Say, for instance, your son was locked up in a holding pen on drug charges.  Would you post bail? The boy's been on the wrong road for a long time; you've tried every other means of punishment; all have failed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 1999
Source:   Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright:   1999 The Hartford Courant
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.courant.com/
Forum:   http://chat.courant.com/scripts/webx.exe
Author:   Amy Pagnozzi
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n686.a05.html


Cannabis & Hemp


COMMENT: (10-12)    (Top)

Last week, a spate of articles called attention to California police agencies' relentless campaign against patients and suppliers of medical Cannabis.  Patrick McCartney, City Editor of the Auburn journal and an early critic of the bully-boy tactics of the placer County Sheriff, began his helpful review of the Kubby case with a challenging rhetorical question.

Some additional background was provided by Mike Pulley's penetrating look at the complexities of another Northern California case involving a man who has spent 24 of the 30 months since passage of 215 in jail for growing medical Cannabis and has yet to be charged; and that's only the beginning of the story.

Lest anyone get the idea that bad publicity has modified police tactics, a couple in their eighth decade was subjected to a typical middle-of-the-night raid last week.

(10) WHAT WILL MAKE PLACER TAKE MEDICAL POT SERIOUSLY?    (Top)

We will find out this month whether Placer County prosecutors continue to pursue criminal charges against medical marijuana patients, or attempt to come to grips with California's medical marijuana law.

[snip]

On July 19, jury selection will begin on what is already a highly publicized medical marijuana case - the prosecution of Steve and Michele Kubby of Olympic Valley.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 4 July 1999
Source:   Auburn Journal
Copyright:   1999 Auburn Journal (CA)
Contact:  
Address:   1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website:   http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Author:   Pat McCartney, Auburn Journal City Editor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n699.a04.html


(11) ROTTING FOR POT    (Top)

Richard Maughs Languishes In Jail For Growing Medical Pot

A stocky man with deep wrinkles in his forehead and dark, friendly eyes peers through the sheet of tempered glass that separates prisoners from visitors in the Sacramento County Main Jail.  He pleads his case on the telephone receiver he holds to his face.  Richard Sam Maughs, a former Siskiyou County wrecking yard owner, is there because he planted two large marijuana gardens in rural areas of Siskiyou for the fledgling Redding Cannabis Buyers Club.

The 45-year-old Maughs has been held in the Sacramento County Jail for the past two years, and has yet to come to trial.

[snip]

Meanwhile, John Glines, the Siskiyou County sheriff's deputy who arrested Maughs, has problems of his own.  A California Highway Patrol report states that excessive speed and wet roads caused the truck he was driving while on his way to a marijuana garden stake-out in Siskiyou County to crash, and in that crash a Reno woman was killed.  In the back of Glines' police vehicle were several cases of beer, a violation of Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department regulations.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 01 Jul 1999
Source:   Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Sacramento News & Review
Contact:  
Address:   1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax:   (916) 498-7920
Website:   http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Author:   Mike Pulley,
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n695.a11.html


(12) NARC AGENTS RAID WRONG HOME    (Top)

ELDERLY ROSEVILLE COUPLE HANDCUFFED AND HELD CAPTIVE

ROSEVILLE - Septuagenarian Sandy Sanborn said the loud beating on his front door jolted him out of bed Thursday morning.  As he reached the door, sheriff's deputies kicked it in, yelling, "Warrant search!"

According to the 78-year-old Roseville resident, he landed on his backside, and then nine Placer County Sheriff's deputies stormed into his Vine Avenue home.  Sanborn told the Press-Tribune a deputy then pushed a gun and a warrant in his face, demanding he reveal the location of his pot-growing operation.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 02 July 1999
Source:   The Press-Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Placer Community Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:   .
Address:   188 Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678
Fax:   530 783-1183
Website:   http://www.thepresstribune.com
Author:   Charlotte Wright, The Press-Tribune
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n703.a09.html


COMMENT: (13)    (Top)

An inkling of what has been happening in California can be derived from a Berkeley article; some of the comfort offered by the City Council vote is dispelled by the chilling revelation that felony Cannabis arrests had tripled after 215 received 81% of the local vote. Cops are cops- even in Berkeley.

(13) BERKELEY MAY RELAX DRUG LAW    (Top)

BERKELEY -- It could become a whole lot easier to get away with smoking marijuana in Berkeley.  The city is weighing an ordinance that would all but legalize marijuana by telling the police to ignore most laws against it.

[snip]

The drive to reform the city's drug enforcement policy is fueled by alarm over an almost threefold increase in marijuana arrests by Berkeley police last year.

[snip]

"What we're seeing in Berkeley, even in the aftermath of Prop.  215, is arrests for medical and nonmedical use of marijuana are increasing dramatically," Duncan said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 04 Jul 1999
Source:   Contra Costa Times (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.
Address:   2640 Shadelands Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Feedback:   http://www.hotcoco.com/site/letters.htm
Website:   http://www.hotcoco.com/index.htm
Forum:   http://www.hotcoco.com/cocotalk/index.htm
Author:   Chuck Squatriglia
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n700.a03.html


COMMENT: (14)    (Top)

The significance of the outcome of the Kubby trial for states with brand new initiatives can be derived from this report from Seattle:

(14) PATIENTS WRESTLE OVER HAZY MEDICAL-MARIJUANA LAW    (Top)

SEATTLE -- Seizure patient David Means was so sure he had the legal right to grow a forest of marijuana in his apartment that, after he was burglarized last month, he filed a claim with his insurance company.

[snip]

Two weeks later, police returned and arrested him, ripping up his more than 40 plants, confiscating his growing equipment, handcuffing him and carting him off to jail.  Means said they joked about the letter.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, July 4,1999
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Carol M.  Ostrom
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n699.a07.html


International News


COMMENT: (15-16)    (Top)

Perhaps because of its alarming and sustained rise in heroin-related deaths, Australia has shown more interest in Naltrexone as a quick fix for heroin addiction than anywhere else in the world.  Last week's news offered scant encouragement on either score.

(15) AUSTRALIA: 'MIRACLE CURE' FOR HEROIN HAS ITS DANGERS    (Top)

Naltrexone, hailed by many as a "miracle cure" for heroin addiction, can be an ineffective and often dangerous way of getting addicts off heroin, the latest Australian study of the drug has found.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 Jul 1999
Source:   Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.smh.com.au/
Author:   Judith Whelan
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n700.a05.html


(16) AUSTRALIA: HEROIN KILLS RECORD 142    (Top)

A record number of people have died from heroin in Victoria this year, but the rate has slowed over the past few months.

Figures provided by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine show 142 people died after taking heroin - the highest toll for the first half of a year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 Jul 1999
Source:   Age, The (Australia)
Copyright:   1999 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theage.com.au/
Author:   Nicole Brady
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n700.a09.html


COMMENT: (17)    (Top)

Canada's west coast, especially around Vancouver has also seen a sustained rise in destructive drug addiction.  Patrick Nagle's hard hitting column is properly scornful of official priorities.

(17) COLUMN: THE GOOD GUYS LOST THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Drug addiction is a disease, not an indicator of the user's lack of moral fibre.  Sweeping it under the rug will not make it go away.

VICTORIA - While it is always unkind to look a gift horse in the mouth, the recent federal promise to spend more money in British Columbia on drug and alcohol abuse programs really has no teeth in it at all.

[snip]

In real perspective, the recently offered $3.2 million for B.C.  -- even if it all went directly to programs and not to bureaucrats (which is impossible to believe) -- does not even come close to the street value of the last RCMP drug bust.

The availability of street drugs in B.C.  and across Canada is a national scandal and attempts to mitigate the damage of this traffic by means of picayune amounts of money released at photo-ops does not obviate government responsibility.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 Jul 1999
Source:   Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Copyright:   The Vancouver Sun 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.vancouversun.com/
Author:   Patrick Nagle
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n702.a01.html


COMMENT: (18-19)    (Top)

Things haven't changed much to the south of us, either: violent revolution in Colombia fueled by drug profits; awesome official corruption in Mexico, courtesy of US drug policy- but of course the author Rick Rockwell and his sources are all too willing to blame the Mexicans.  If only they'd learn to deal with the criminal markets created by our policy; sigh.

(18) NEW COLOMBIA PEACE TALKS AS US WARNS ON REBEL DRUGS    (Top)

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia's largest Marxist rebel force is set to meet the government for the latest round of peace talks this week amid warnings from the United States that Washington is ready to help fight the guerrillas to stop them trafficking drugs.

A recent U.S.  report conceded Washington was losing the drug war as cocaine and heroin production spirals in rebel-held territories, allowing the insurgents to earn $600 million a year to fund their long-running uprising.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 04 Jul 1999
Source:   Reuters
Copyright:   1999 Reuters Limited.
Author:   Karl Penhaul
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n700.a07.html


(19) SHINING LIGHT ON SHADOWY LEGAL SYSTEM    (Top)

Mexico - Journalists here have exposed corrupt relationships between law enforcement authorities and drug gangs.  But they pay a price for their vigilance.

In late May, when Thomas Constantine announced he was stepping down as director of the Drug Enforcement Administration on July 1, he pointed his finger at the largest threat in the continuing drug war: Mexico's drug gangs.

"There has been explosive growth of criminal drug Mafia's from Mexico," he said.  "We just turned around and they were everywhere: in New York, in Baltimore, in Atlanta.  What is frustrating is that we know who the 20 to 25 top drug dealers in Mexico are, but the Mexican law enforcement is so weak, it seems unable even to find them, never mind arrest them or extradite them."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 04 July 1999
Source:   Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright:   1999 by The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sunspot.net/
Forum:   http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro
Author:   Rick Rockwell
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n699.a03.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

(20) The Steve Kubby 'Inside Edition' Piece Can Now be Viewed On-line

The outstanding Steve Kubby 'Inside Edition' piece is now available for review on-line Thanks to CRRH for this and other valuable on-line video archives.  Just go to the website below to view this piece with RealVideo (available free from the site if needed)

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/docs_kubby799.html

After you review the piece please consider taking _action_ by writing a letter to the Placer county Sheriff, Board of Supervisors or local papers.  All the contact and background info can be found in the Steve Kubby Focus Alert at http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0114.html

The Feature Article above helps to explain why this type of action is so important.  Steve both needs and deserves our help and support.


(21) ABCNews.com Positive Medicinal Marijuana Piece

ABCNEWS.com has put up a surprisingly positive medical marijuana page with excellent links and information as well as this well written summary of how marijuana became so illegal.  Well worth a visit, their site is at:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/SecondOpinion/secondopinion_31.html


(22) Video "Emperor of Hemp" for Sale on the Web

"Emperor of Hemp," the documentary on Jack Herer, is available for sale on the web at:

http://emperorofhemp.com/

"[It] could finish the revolution Jack Herer started."

Richard Cowan
http://www.marijuananews.com/

"The best pot documentary ever made ...  a tool for changing hearts and minds."

Pete Brady
Cannabis Culture Magazine
http://www.cannabisculture.com/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.  We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us.  It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous.  (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)" - Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987


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NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE

DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE 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 visit our convenient donation web site at
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

-OR-

Mail in your contribution.  Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759

http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/


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