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DrugSense Weekly
August 6, 1999 #109


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* Feature Article


Are Clinton, McCaffrey, Hatch, and McCullum Racists?
By Mark Greer

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-2)
(1) Drug Use by Youths on the Rise, County Finds
(2) Deaths From Heroin on The Rise in Western Mass.
COMMENT: (3)
(3) Schools To Require Drug Tests for Athletes, Others
COMMENT: (4)
(4) House Rejects DC Marijuana, Needle Efforts

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (5)
(5) Lessons From Yosemite
COMMENT: (6)
(6) Audit Says DEA Performance Immeasurable Because it Lacks Goals
(7) By The Numbers: Behind Bars in the U.S. And Europe

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (8)
(8) The War on Pot
COMMENT: (9-11)
(9) 'Medical' Pot User Convicted
(10) Group Questions Seizure of Marijuana
(11) Retired Judge Will Hear Marijuana Cultivation Case

International News-

COMMENT: (12)
(12) Australia: Brave Sisters Do it All For Others
COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Afghanistan: Drugs and Jewels Help Pay for War
(14) Are Americans Fighting Drugs Or Guerrillas In Colombia?
(15) Drug Czar Seeks Re-Evaluation of Aid to Colombia Amid Violence
(16) War on Drugs Becomes War on Poor

* Hot Off The 'Net


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* Quote of the Week


One of 17 Questions for our Political Leaders


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Are Bill Clinton, Barry McCaffrey, Orin Hatch, and Bill McCullum Racists? By Mark Greer

Dr.  Tom O'Connell has undertaken a five year study on the motivations behind the drug war.  He has developed a fascinating theory that draws a straight line from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the days of slavery, through segregation, and winds up directly pointing at today's drug war as the new preferred (and only remaining) method of repression, control and high rates of incarceration of minorities in this country.

The facts are certainly undeniable.  Prison population racial mix, driving while black accusations in news articles nationwide, a much higher incidence of police abuse, asset forfeiture, illegal searches, and a disrespect for individual rights among minorities all point to the fact that we have never even begun to get past the racism that had its roots in our nations early history.

This was not a planned conspiracy hatched in some smoke filled room.  It is more a case of habitual and deep seeded action and acceptance on behalf of the oppressors as well as the oppressed combined with a criminal justice system that has been corrupted by, you guessed it, the War on Drugs.

It is an undeniable axiom that, to the extent that they support the drug war, our political, judicial, and law enforcement leaders are universally guilty of racism, if not actively, at the very least passively, and to the extent they thump their chests and proclaim how important the drug war is (as when stating we must protect our children ) to that extent these individuals are tacitly supporting racism.

One good example is the disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing guidelines.  There is essentially no difference between crack and cocaine with the very obvious exceptions that crack is more likely to be used by minorities while cocaine is more likely to be used by middle class whites.  The huge differences in sentencing for what is basically the same drug can only be attributed to racism (possibly augmented by an issue hungry press that is willing to trade accuracy for a hot headline.)

According to Drug War Facts at http://www.csdp.org/factbook/ two basic facts clearly proclaim the racism behind crack and cocaine sentencing guidelines:

"Powder cocaine and crack cocaine are two forms of the same drug, containing the same active ingredient."

Source:   U.S.  Sentencing Commission, Special Report to Congress: Cocaine and
Federal Sentencing Policy, Washington D.C.: U.S.  Sentencing Commission (1995, February), p.  v.

Crack cocaine is the only drug for which the first offense of simple possession can trigger a federal mandatory minimum sentence.  Possession of 5 grams of crack will trigger a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence. "Simple possession of any quantity of any other substance by a first time offender including powder cocaine is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison." (21 U.S.C.  844.)
Source:   U.S.  Sentencing Commission, Special Report to Congress: Cocaine
and Federal Sentencing Policy, Washington D.C.: U.S.  Sentencing Commission (1995, February), p.  iii.

If these facts don't provide glaring examples of racism as a primary driving force behind the drug war it is difficult to imagine what does.

Personally I would dearly love to see Clinton, McCaffrey, Hatch, McCullum, Feinstein, or any other of our so-called leaders bumbling and stumbling over their words in a futile attempt to defend themselves against these facts and simultaneously attempting to deny the fact that they support racist policies.  All we need is a few reporters with the gumption to ask the right questions.


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-2)    (Top)

Although only examining local data, a Seattle Intelligencer item suggests ONDCP's "control" of illegal drugs is non-existent; things are so bad the drug warriors may be downplaying the dimensions of policy failure, rather than using them to scare us.

From the other side of the nation, an all-too-common report on cheap, readily available heroin.  Does this sound like a "war' that's being "won, " as McCzar claims?

(1) DRUG USE BY YOUTHS ON THE RISE, COUNTY FINDS    (Top)

Alcohol, Marijuana Top List, Health Report Shows

Drug use in Seattle and King County is on the increase, with nearly 1 in 3 high school seniors reporting regular use of marijuana, new health reports show.

"The trends are headed in the wrong direction," said Norma Jaeger, King County drug and alcohol coordinator and chief of treatment and rehabilitation services for Public Health -- Seattle & King County.

Drugs are killing more hard-core users at the same time that more youths are using drugs, health statistics and surveys show.

[snip]

In King County, the statistics are worse, Jaeger said.  Nearly 29 percent of high school seniors percent have used marijuana in the past 30 days -- a statistical indicator of regular usage.  Sophomores are almost as likely to use the drug, while eighth-grade use is at 16.5 percent.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 27 Jul 1999
Source:   Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)c
Copyright:   1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Author:   Tom Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff
Note:   Tom Paulson can be reached at 206-448-8318 or
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n774.a04.html


(2) DEATHS FROM HEROIN ON THE RISE IN WESTERN MASS. COMMUNITIES    (Top)

SPRINGFIELD -- Three men under 25 have died of apparent heroin overdoses in the last week and a half, and police think a batch of a drug nicknamed "Me salve" -- Spanish for "I am saved" -- could be to blame for at least some of the deaths.

Authorities said "Me salve" heroin killed 24-year-old Edward Thompson of Chicopee and sent two of his friends to the hospital on July 22.

[snip]

But officials say the combination of inexpensive heroin and young people willing to experiment with the drug may lead to more deaths.

"It used to be the middle-class people, the suburbanites, were afraid of the stuff," said Lt.  Kenneth Sullivan of the Hampden County Drug Task Force.  "Now they're more willing to experiment."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 02 Aug 1999
Source:   Standard-Times (MA)
Copyright:   1999 The Standard-Times
Contact:  
Address:   25 Elm Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Website:   http://www.s-t.com/
Forum:   http://www.s-t.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n794.a07.html


COMMENT: (3)    (Top)

The hinterlands continues to endorse routine drug testing of schoolchildren; school board after school board is voting to waste educational funds on a false sense of security.

(3) SCHOOLS TO REQUIRE DRUG TESTS FOR ATHLETES, OTHERS    (Top)

BURLESON - A suburban Fort Worth school district will require drug testing for all school athletes, cheerleaders and drill-team members in grades 8-12, starting with the upcoming school year.

But the Burleson Independent School District has stopped short of requiring drug screening for all students involved in extracurricular activities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 28 Jul 1999
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Page:   23A
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n776.a06.html


COMMENT: (4)    (Top)

Congress' dominion over DC creates classic tensions between the rural authoritarian bias of the House and their mostly poor and black District wards; medical cannabis is still nixed, but at least the '98 votes will be counted.

It could become interesting if Clinton follows through on his threat to veto a bill forbidding syringe exchange.  DC has the highest HIV infection rate in the nation.

(4) HOUSE REJECTS DC MARIJUANA, NEEDLE EFFORTS    (Top)

The House voted yesterday to prohibit the District from legalizing marijuana for medical purposes or providing clean needles to drug addicts, reversing a House panel's move last week to eliminate such restrictions on the city.

The votes came just before the full House adopted the District's $4.7 billion budget for fiscal 2000 on a 333 to 92 vote.  Although DC officials criticized the medical-marijuana and clean-needle votes as unwanted intrusions on home rule, they generally were satisfied by a budget debate they said has included fewer such reversals of local decisions than in previous years.

[snip]

The Senate version of the budget bill, adopted earlier this month, does not contain the bans on a medical-marijuana law or needle exchanges, which supporters say could greatly reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS. President Clinton, rejecting GOP arguments that needle exchange programs encourage drug use, has threatened to veto the budget bill if the needle exchange ban is not removed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 30 Jul 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Page:   B01
Address:   1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Eric Lipton, Washington Post Staff Writer
Note:   The D.C.  MMJ initiative website is at:
http://www.actupdc.org/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n787.a10.html


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

COMMENT: (5)    (Top)

Bob Herbert used a recent sensational case to illustrate how American law enforcement is ready to fit evidence to the most available suspect, yet later unwilling to admit arresting- sometimes even indicting and convicting- the wrong person.

What else should one expect of an institution deriving sustenance from a patently dishonest drug war?

IN AMERICA

(5) LESSONS FROM YOSEMITE    (Top)

Crime-fighting is not always about justice.  Too often when a crime is committed, the so-called criminal justice professionals feel compelled not to find out what really happened, but simply to arrest and prosecute somebody.  Anybody.

Frequently the wrong person is arrested.  But once a suspect is in custody, investigators give far more credence to information that might be incriminating than anything that might indicate the wrong person has been apprehended.  Nobody likes to admit fouling up.

The beheading of a 26-year-old naturalist in Yosemite National Park is as clear an illustration as you are likely to get of the horrific problems associated with this tendency of criminal justice officials to rush to judgment, and their reluctance to admit error.

[snip]

What is dangerous is not the fact that mistakes are being made, but the frequency with which they are made, and the fact that the simplistic, get-tough approach to law enforcement that is so prevalent in the U.S. insures that they will continue to be made.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 29 Jul 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:   Bob Herbert
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n781.a03.html


COMMENT: (6)    (Top)

The GAO criticism of DEA performance, although a nod towards sanity, would have been much more on point if it had looked at the reality of the DEA goals themselves.  Because that's unthinkable, their audit is just another government exercise in futility.

(6) AUDIT SAYS DEA PERFORMANCE IMMEASURABLE BECAUSE IT LACKS GOALS    (Top)

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement Administration has failed to create measurable performance goals for its programs, making their effectiveness hard to determine, a government audit says.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recommends in its report that the DEA work closer with the Justice Department to help set up goals - with specific dates or targets - to accompany the agency's objectives.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 29 Jul 1999
Source:   Standard-Times (MA)
Copyright:   1999 The Standard-Times
Contact:  
Address:   25 Elm Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Website:   http://www.s-t.com/
Forum:   http://www.s-t.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?actionintro
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n783.a07.html


COMMENT (7)

Scientific American called attention to US incarceration rates, specifically their devastating effect on black inner-city communities- then advanced a lame British theory identifying the principal effect as a cause.  Go figure.

(7) BY THE NUMBERS: Behind Bars in the U.S. and Europe    (Top)

Most Western countries have put more people behind bars in recent years, but in none has the incarceration rate risen more than in the U.S.  The cause of the extraordinary American figure is not higher levels of crime, for the crime rate in the U.S.  is about the same as in western Europe (except for the rate of homicide, which is two to eight times greater.  mostly because of the ready availability of guns).

[snip]

Conclusive proof is lacking as to whether harsh sentences actually deter crime.  The most obvious result of harsh sentencing is the disruption of the black community, particularly as it bears on young black men .

[snip]

Two British criminologists, Leslie Wilkins (retired) and Ken Pease of the University of Huddersfield, have theorized that less egalitarian societies impose harsher penalties.

Imprisonment thus becomes a negative reward, in contrast to the positive reward of wealth.

[snip]

Pubdate:   August, 1999
Source:   Scientific American (US)
Email:   .
Website:   http://www.sciam.com/
Page:   25
Author:   Rodger Doyle ()
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n799.a03.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (8)    (Top)

A Madison, WI newspaper took a detailed look at present-day pot enforcement in a college town.  The bottom line is that, over the years, drug war rhetoric plus the enormous discretion allowed police and prosecutors has permitted maximum extraction of fees, fines and inconvenience from college students unlucky enough to be caught.

This article was followed, later in the week, by two strong anti-drug war op-eds in the same newspaper.

(8) THE WAR ON POT    (Top)

Reefer madness.  Think possession of small amounts of marijuana in Dane County is no big deal? What have you been smoking?

Even in liberal Madison, possession of marijuana is a serious offense--and a huge drain on the resources of the criminal-justice system.

Lester Pines, a Madison defense attorney, calls it "the most enormous waste of prosecutorial resources I have ever seen in my life." He referring to a case involving a UW-Madison freshman who in the fall of 1997 was smoking pot in his dorm room with friends, as have thousands of UW students through the years.  A dorm official smelled that smell and called police.  They searched the room and found, Pines recalls, "a little bit of marijuana, a bong, maybe a roach clip." Pines client-to-be was arrested, booked, fingerprinted and charged with two crimes: possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

[snip]

According to Pines, the young man's family ended up paying between $4,000 and $5,000 in legal fees, treatment costs and fines.  "It led me to believe that there is an entire industry that exists around marijuana and its suppression," says Pines.  "It's a big industry and a big waste of money."

[snip]

Pubdate:   July 30, 1999
Source:   Isthmus (WI)
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.thedailypage.com/
Email:  
Forum:   http://www.thedailypage.com/netforum/isthmus-forum/a.cgi
Author:   BILL LUEDERS
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n783.a05.htm


COMMENT: (9-11)    (Top)

Medical cannabis generated press attention in Florida and California:

A disappointing outcome in the widely-followed Tacl case in Florida: despite allowance of a medical necessity defense and a compelling case, the prosecution prevailed.  Unfortunately the jury, which disagreed with 90% responding to an on-line poll it the local paper, had the only votes that counted.

Two California cases show that despite an initiative passed thirty-one months ago, police and prosecutors still think it's open season on medical cannabis.

In San Diego case where police seized pot from legitimate patients was aired before the City Council; amazingly, the Union-Tribune both attended and reported.

Pre-trial maneuvering in what will be the biggest court test of medical cannabis in California to date finally ended.  The Kubby trial should be underway when you read this.

(9) 'MEDICAL' POT USER CONVICTED    (Top)

BRONSON -- A Levy County jury dismissed the claim Thursday that a 46-year-old man needed marijuana to ease his pain, and convicted him and his son of growing the illegal weed near their two-bedroom house in 1998.

The six-member jury took just under two hours to convict Joseph S.  Tacl and his son, Michael Tacl, 20, of growing and possessing marijuana and possessing drug paraphernalia.  They could get up to 11 years in prison, but that is highly unlikely for first-time offenders.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri 07/30 1999
Source:   Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright:   1999 The Gainesville Sun
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sunone.com/
Forum:   http://www.sunone.com/interactive.shtml
Author:   Jud Magrin, Sun staff writer
Related:   addition info on the Tacl trial & protest is on the Drug Policy
Forum of Florida website at http://www.drugsense.org/dpffl/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n785.a03.html


(10) GROUP QUESTIONS SEIZURE OF MARIJUANA    (Top)

As Michael Bartelmo moved forward to address the San Diego City Council yesterday, all that could be heard in the hushed chamber was the whir of his electric wheelchair.

Left a quadriplegic by an auto accident when he was 17, Bartelmo, 35, spoke "on behalf of sick people who belong to Shelter From The Storm," an agricultural cooperative in Hillcrest.

"Our garden was raided by police officers," Bartelmo said.  "What we want to know is, why this happened.  We were following the law. I don't understand why we're being singled out."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 28 July 1999
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum:   http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author:   Mark Sauer, Staff Writer
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n792.a06.html
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n799.a01.html


(11) RETIRED JUDGE WILL HEAR MARIJUANA CULTIVATION CASE    (Top)

It took a week, but a judge and an available courtroom for the marijuana cultivation and sales trial of Steve and Michele Kubby have been secured.

Judge Robert G.  Vonasek, a retired magistrate from Glenn County, will preside over the case that may test Proposition 215, the state's medical marijuana use law.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri 30 Jul 1999
Source:   Auburn Journal
Copyright:   1999 Auburn Journal
Contact:  
Address:   1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website:   http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Author:   Dena Erwin, Journal Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n786.a10.html


International News


COMMENT: (12)    (Top)

Arguments over 2 desired NSW projects : heroin maintenance trials and an injection room have enlivened the Australian drug debate for years. At last, one may actually happen.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the other.

(12) AUSTRALIA: BRAVE SISTERS DO IT ALL FOR OTHERS    (Top)

THEY were described this week as courageous but the Sisters of Charity, who will operate Australia's first heroin injecting room, have maintained their silence.

[snip]

Located a stone's throw from the sleazy Kings Cross strip, St Vincent's has provided emergency care for prostitutes and drug users, among others, for more than 90 years.

Pediatrician and Australian of the Year John Yu said the sisters decided to set up an injecting room because of their values of standing up for the disadvantaged.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 31 Jul 1999
Source:   Australian, The
Copyright:   News Limited 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Author:   Trudy Harris
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n793.a05.html


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

Colombia isn't the only chronically destabilized drug producing country; in fact, it's impossible to name one at peace and under stable democratic government.  The Afghan jump to second in world heroin production occurred during the Eighties when their resistance to the Soviets made them a CIA pet.  Coincidence?

Details trickling out of Colombia, after the crash of a high-tech spy plane suggest the US military is already deeply involved in that nasty little war.

For a while, McCzar was sounding like Westmoreland.  A cryptic late report suggests reality may be intruding, but don't count on it.

From neighboring Bolivia,, a sad report confirms that familiar American police tactics are just as ugly overseas as they here.  "Good neighbors?"

(13) AFGHANISTAN: DRUGS AND JEWELS HELP PAY FOR WAR    (Top)

WAR has been such a constant companion for the residents of Kabul, the Afghan capital, that word of another major offensive brings little more than shrugs.

[snip]

In the Helmand valley, in southern Afghanistan, poppy fields producing raw opium, which is refined into heroin, stretch as far as the horizon. The Taliban encourages farmers to import fertilizer from Pakistan and rebuild irrigation networks to treble yields.

The United Nations Drugs Control Programme says Afghanistan produced 2,100 tonnes of opium in 1998, 96 per cent of it grown in Taliban-controlled areas.  Heroin is a major source of income for all the warlords.  Farmers pay a 10 per cent Islamic tax on their crops . Taliban imposes a 20 per cent wealth tax, or zakat, on dealers and transporters, which goes straight into the Taliban war chest.

The Northern Alliance, which controls only the north-eastern corner of the country, imposes a similar tax on opium shipments crossing into Uzbekistan

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 31 July 1999
Source:   Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright:   News Limited 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
Author:   Ahmed Rashid, in Kabul and Agencies
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n791.a06.htm


(14) ARE AMERICANS FIGHTING DRUGS OR GUERRILLAS IN COLOMBIA?    (Top)

(Bogota, Colombia) - The crash of a U.S.  spy plane that killed five Americans and two Colombians has thrown an unwelcome light on the growing and increasingly controversial role of American forces in Colombia's anti-drug efforts.

Officials said yesterday that the bodies of five U.S.  Army soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and two Colombian air force majors have been recovered from the Putumayo region, where their De Havilland RC-7 reconnaissance aircraft crashed last Friday.

[snip]

Difference Hard To See

Gen.  Barry McCaffrey, the U.S. drug czar, acknowledged during a visit to Bogota this week that it is difficult to differentiate between counter narcotics and counterinsurgency operations.

He said U.S.  intervention is not on the program but that U.S. assistance will continue in the form of training, equipment, intelligence sharing and alternative economic development in drug-crop regions.

[snip]

Drug Business Thrives

Despite the anti-drug campaign, officials concede, the narcotics business is booming.  McCaffrey pointed to "an enormous explosion" of cocaine and heroin production in Colombia last year and noted that in the past three years, coca production has doubled.

[snip]

Source:   The Seattle Times
Copyright:   1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Source:   Seattle-Times (WA)
Copyright:   1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author:   Paul de la Garza, Chicago Tribune
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n782.a13.html


(15) DRUG CZAR SEEKS RE-EVALUATION OF AID TO COLOMBIA AMID VIOLENCE    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- The White House drug czar, fresh from a trip to Colombia, called on the Clinton administration Monday to re-evaluate U.S.  aid to the Bogota government amid a new round of violence in the South American country.

Although retired Army Gen.  Barry McCaffrey did not spell out what he meant by re-evaluating the aid, he has called in the past for increased U.S.  funding to help Bogota step up its war on drugs.

[snip]

McCaffrey's call for a re-evaluation came after an especially bloody weekend in Colombia.  At least 28 people were killed in rebel attacks since Friday, the same day a new attempt to restart peace talks broke down between negotiators for the government and the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials FARC.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 03 Aug 1999
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n799.a05.html


(16) WAR ON DRUGS BECOMES WAR ON POOR    (Top)

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Cochabamba, Bolivia -- Josue celebrated his first birthday last month, on the Fourth of July.  We were going to have a party for him. Instead the bright-eyed boy with a thick mop of black hair spent his birthday in a Bolivian jail cell with his mother, our friend Adela.

[snip]

No one in the case has alleged that Adela knew what was in the bags or had anything to do with their presence in the house.  According to the prosecutor's own filings with the court, the evidence against her consists of only this: The same cousin who lied to police about his name also claimed that Adela, not he, carried the bags from the house to the taxi.  In the eyes of U.S.-financed prosecutors, that is evidence enough to put her in jail -- for years.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 1 Aug 1999
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   1999 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852
Feedback:   http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website:   http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum:   http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
Author:   Jim Shultz
Note:   Jim Shultz, who writes frequently for Forum, lives in Cochabamba,
Bolivia.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n795.a03.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Drug use is an acknowledged fact of life in every prison in the country.  If we can't stop prisoner' use of drugs, how can we rationally expect to stop average free citizens from using them?"

From "17 Questions for our Political Leaders"
http://www.mapinc.org/17ques.htm


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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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