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DrugSense Weekly
February 26, 1999 #087

A DrugSense publication                      http://www.drugsense.org/

Please consider writing a letter to the editor using the email addresses on any of the articles below.  Send a copy of your LTE to


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


Black Leaders and Public Health Advocates Criticize Misinformation by
Drug Czar

* Weekly News in Review


Drug War Policy-

COMMENT: (1-7)
(1) DEA Chief: Drug Fight Lacks Desire
(2) Customs Admits its Own Drug Corruption
(3) Border Patrol Adds High-Tech Tools to its Arsenal
(4) Editorial: ACLU Is Off Base on City Drug Tests
(5) Bad Hair Days
(6) Testing the Drug Test Labs
(7) Drunken Drivers' Cars to Be Seized at Arrests

Drug Policy, Mexican Division-

COMMENT: (8-10)
(8) Mexico Greets Clinton Like an Old Friend
(9) Mexico's Troubadours Turn From Amor to Drugs
(10) Minuet in Mexico

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (11-14)
(11) Authorities Release Account Of Shooting, Say Marijuana Found in House
(12) Shaking This Habit Will be Tough
(13) Texas Inmates Tell US Judge of Abuses
(14) The Nazi Comparison

Medical Marijuana-

COMMENT: (15-17)
(15) The Politics of Pot A Government in Denial
(16) AIDS Groups Plead for 'Medical Marijuana'
(17) Kubbys Reassure Libertarians

International News-

COMMENT: (18-20)
(18) MP's Marijuana Motion Gathering Steam
(19) Addicts Fuel 7 Bil. Industry
(20) Freeh Advice on Drugs: Inject Money and Political Will

* Hot Off The 'Net


Happy99.exe Virus Explanation and Fix
Kubby Web Site updated

* Tip of the Week


Windows "Tune Up" Hints

* Quote of the Week


Thomas Carlyle


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Black Leaders and Public Health Advocates Criticize Misinformation by Drug Czar

Washington D.C.  Leading black intellectuals and public health advocates have joined drug policy reform advocates to criticize Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey for "a series of inaccurate and misleading statements" he has made over the last year.  The individuals are sending a letter listing the General's misstatements on February 25, 1999, the same day McCaffrey will testify before the House Committee on Government Oversight.

The letter signers include Harvard professors Dr.  Henry Louis Gates Jr., Dr.  Alvin Poussaint, Dr. Orlando Patterson, and Dr. William Julius Wilson, as well as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the National Black Police Association, the National Women's Health Network, and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Kevin Zeese, President of Common Sense for Drug Policy, who circulated the letter, said, "I find it deeply disturbing that the Drug Czar is making these misstatements while spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars urging parents to tell the truth about drugs.  General McCaffrey should set a better example."

This is not the first time McCaffrey has been criticized for supporting a criminal justice rather than a public health approach to the drug problem.  After McCaffrey successfully lobbied President Clinton to block federal funding for needle exchange, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus called for the Drug Czar's resignation.  And Common Sense for Drug Policy, an advocacy organization based in Falls Church Virginia, has been running ads for the last six months in The New Republic criticizing the Drug Czar for making false statements (see http://www.drugsense.org/ads/)

A recent inconsistency with McCaffrey are his statements and his policies.  McCaffrey said on NPR's Talk of the Nation, "I don't think we're going to arrest our way out of this.  We've got 1.7 million people behind bars right now" (Feb.  25, 1998). Yet the Drug Czar's funding request for 2000 increases the law enforcement budget by 4.7 percent ($524 million increase for a total of $11.7 billion) while increasing the prevention and treatment budget by 3.6 percent ($210 million for a total of $6 billion).

February 25, 1999

General Barry McCaffrey Office of National Drug Control Policy Washington, D.C.

Dear General McCaffrey,

As academics, journalists, public health experts, and community leaders, we are deeply troubled by a series of inaccurate and misleading statements you have made as Drug Czar.

In particular, we are concerned by statements you have made on the following:

* Needle Exchange Programs

In March 1998, you described needle exchange programs as "magnets for all social ills," including violence, drug dealers and prostitution. Yet in study after study, scientific researchers have found that needle exchanges reduce the transmission of HIV without increasing drug use.

Also, in April, you claimed that two Canadian needle exchange studies showed that needle exchanges were ineffective in reducing the spread of HIV and may have worsened the problem.  Missing from your analysis was the fact that Canada, unlike the United States, allows needles to be purchased without a prescription and as a result the Canadian study did not include more affluent and healthier addicts who were less likely to engage in the riskiest activities.

Your statements so disturbed the Canadian scientists that they felt compelled to publish an oped in the New York Times to repudiate the misuse of their findings.

* Medical Marijuana

On August 15, 1996, you said, "There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed.  This is not medicine.  This is a cruel hoax."

Yet exhaustive research, including numerous studies by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other authoritative institutions, have concluded that marijuana possesses therapeutic value and effectively treats chemotherapy related nausea and appetite loss.

Even after the New England Journal of Medicine, which represents the mainstream medical community, editorialized in support of medical marijuana, you have made no statements recognizing the scientific research backing the medicinal value of marijuana.

* International Models of Drug Control

On July 24, 1998 the Chicago Tribune quoted you as saying: "The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States...That's drugs."

In fact, the Dutch homicide rate is only one fourth that of the United States.  The Dutch rate has never approached, much less exceeded, that of the United States.

When you claimed that the Dutch murder rate was higher, you blamed Holland's drug policies.  Yet when confronted with the facts, you did not suggest that U.S.  drug policies are the cause of our higher homicide rate.

The media and the public rely on your office to avoid unfounded speculation, to recognize and disseminate scientific consensus when it exists, and to provide, when available, material facts that could help us deal realistically and effectively with our very real problems of addiction.  Therefore we urge you and other national leaders to provide the news media and the public with the most accurate scientific findings available.  We realize that speaking forthrightly requires leadership and courage in the current ideological atmosphere but, given your distinguished record in the military, the public has reason to expect nothing less.

Respectfully,

* Dr.  Henry Louis Gates Jr., Chair of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University

* Willie L.  Brown Jr., Mayor of San Francisco

* Dr.  Alvin Poussaint, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Harvard

* Dr.  Joycelyn Elders, Professor, Arkansas Children's Hospital, former Surgeon General

* Orlando Patterson, Professor, Harvard University

* William Julius Wilson, Professor, Harvard University

* Dr.  David Duncan, Clinical Associate Professor, Brown University Medical School and Chair, Council on Illicit Drugs, National Association for Public Health Policy

* Ira Glasser, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union

* Rebecca Isaacs, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

* Dr.  Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Lindesmith Center

* Kevin Zeese, Executive Director, Common Sense for Drug Policy

* Kathleen Stoll, Center for Women's Policy Studies

* Dr.  Patricia D. Hawkins, Associate Executive Director, Whitman Walker Clinic

* Glenn C.  Loury, Director, The Institute on Race and Social Division

* R.  Keith Stroup, Executive Director, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

* Ronald E.  Hampton, Executive Director, National Black Police Association

* Eva Patterson, Executive Director, Layers Committee for Civil Rights

* Daniel Maccallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

* Pat Christen, Executive Director, SF AIDS Foundation

* Regina Aragón, Public Policy Director, SF AIDS Foundation

* Cynthia Pearson, Executive Director, National Women's Health Network

* Dr.  Helen RodriguezTrias, CoDirector, Pacific Institute for Women's Health

* Trish Moylan Torruella, Executive Director, Mothers' Voices : United to End AIDS

* Craig E.  Thompson, Executive Director, AIDS Project Los Angeles

* Duane Poe, Executive Director, Black Coalition on AIDS, Inc.

* Rob Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project

* Martin Waukazoo, Executive Director, Native American Health Center

* Ron Rowell, MPH, Executive Director, National Native American AIDS Prevention Center

* Loras Ojeda, Community Relations Director, Mobilization Against AIDS

* Dennis deLeon, Executive Director, Latino Commission on AIDS

* Lupe Lopez, Executive Director, People of Color Against AIDS Network

* Margaret Batchelor White, President, Black Women's Agenda, Inc.

* Dr.  James T. Black, President, 100 Black Men of Los Angeles

* Luz Alvarez Martinez, Executive Director, National Latina Health Organization

* Alvan Quamina, Executive Director, African American AIDS Support Services and Survival Institute


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News-Policy


COMMENT: (1-7)    (Top)

Three federal agencies engaged in the drug war made the news last week: DEA chief Constantine was despondent because Mexican cartels have bigger budgets than his agency, the Customs Service was contrite after being scolded for past corruption, and the Border Patrol was pleased to receive some new high-tech gadgets.  The likelihood of any of the three interfering with our criminal drug market in any material way remains at or near zero.

The Seattle Times has been so reasonable recently, we've come to expect it; thus their endorsement of routine pre-employment drug testing for certain jobs was a bit of a surprise.  That such testing is unreliable was confirmed by data from CBS.

Finally, New York's Mayor Giuliani seems convinced that the best way to run for president is to embrace fascism under the guise of civic improvement.  I certainly hope he's proven wrong.

(1) DEA CHIEF: DRUG FIGHT LACKS DESIRE    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration says the nation has neither the will nor the resources to win the drug war.

DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine, in an interview Thursday, said that curbing drug use is not a high enough priority with the American people.  He also said the nation has not made the financial commitment to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the USA.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Contact:  
FAX: (703) 247-3108
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author:   Gary Fields
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n187.a08.html


(2) U.S.  CUSTOMS ADMITS ITS OWN DRUG CORRUPTION

WASHINGTON -- The front-line role of the Customs Service in the government's war against illegal drugs has left the agency highly vulnerable to narcotics-related corruption, Customs officials acknowledged Tuesday in a report to Congress.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Lawrie Mifflin
CBS Morning News website: http://www.cbs.com/prd1/now/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n176.a03.html


(3) BORDER PATROL ADDS HIGH-TECH TOOLS TO ITS ARSENAL    (Top)

Surveillance Scopes, Sensors Join Force's War on Smuggling

BROWNSVILLE, Tex.--Sitting in front of a small screen in a cramped metal box 20 feet above the ground, senior Border Patrol agent Rey Abrego watches a human form moving through riverbank brush on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.  It is pitch dark outside, but the form shows up as white light against the green glow of the monitor, which is connected to a Loris infrared night-vision scope overlooking the river.

[snip]

The high-tech equipment serves as "force multipliers," increasing agents' productivity, according to a Border Patrol report.  "The use of technological resources such as low-light TV, infrared night scopes, sensors and encrypted radios has moved the Border Patrol into the 21st century of law enforcement."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   William Branigin, Washington Post Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n187.a09.html


(4) ACLU IS OFF BASE ON CITY DRUG TESTS

Although we often share the moral high ground with the American Civil Liberties Union, we part company on the subject of mandatory drug testing for job applicants in the public sector.  We're for it, the ACLU is against it.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source:   Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright:   1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Author:   Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n189.a01.html


BAD HAIR DAYS

A report on "The CBS Morning News" this week finds a disturbing increase in the use of hair tests to screen job candidates for past drug use -- disturbing because many experts say the tests are unreliable and possibly racially biased.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   David Johnston
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n187.a07.html


(6) TESTING THE DRUG TEST LABS    (Top)

All three labs detected the drug in the African-American user, two failed to find it in the white user.

CBS NEW YORK Wednesday, February 17,1999 - 10:13 AM ET

(CBS) This week, a series of special reports by CBS This Morning Correspondent Roberta Baskin raised important questions about the reliability of using hair tests to detect drug use.  Her three-month investigation concludes with her own exclusive survey, and results that should be of real concern for anyone who's subjected to hair testing.

[snip]

Pubdate:   17 Feb 1999
Source:   CBS News
Contact:   http://www.cbs.com/navbar/feedback.html
Website:   http://www.cbs.com/
Author:   Roberta Baskin
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n179.a08.html


(7) DRUNKEN DRIVERS' CARS TO BE SEIZED AT ARRESTS    (Top)

NEW YORK -- In what city officials described as the toughest municipal policy against drunken driving in the nation, the New York City Police Department will begin seizing cars from people arrested on charges of drunken driving, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced Saturday.

The plan, which is to take effect at 12:01 a.m.  Monday, will allow a police officer to seize a suspect's car where it is stopped, regardless of the driver's circumstances.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 22 Feb 1999
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   1999 Mercury Center
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   PAUL ZIELBAUER New York Times
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n201.a07.html


Drug Policy, Mexican Division-


COMMENT: (8-10)    (Top)

Intense coverage of Mexican certification continued through Clinton's whirlwind Mexico trip and an amiable meeting with Zedillo in Herida. Clinton made no bones about his intention to "certify" Mexico, despite its abject failure to reduce participation in the illegal drug market which continues to expand its influence in both nations.

In this context, Matthew Kelly's Washington Post editorial is a fatuous exercise which takes the easy shot at Clinton for hypocrisy, but doesn't suggest a useful alternative.  Does he advocate sanctions which would cruelly punish the Mexican people without affecting the drug market, or would he destroy that market by repealing prohibition?

Exactly- whatever, yourself, Mr.  Kelly.

(8) MEXICO GREETS CLINTON LIKE AN OLD FRIEND    (Top)

MERIDA, Mexico - With a new lease on his political life, President Clinton basked in a warm reception Sunday in the tropical capital of the Yucatan, where even raucous pre-Lenten Carnival celebrations were quieted in honor of his arrival.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 15 Feb 1999
Source:   News & Observer (NC)
Copyright:   1999 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.news-observer.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n175.a02.html


(9) MEXICO'S TROUBADOURS TURN FROM AMOR TO DRUGS    (Top)

SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico -- As Mario Quintero steps to the microphone, strums his guitar and begins singing about the pleasures of snorting cocaine after a few drinks, scores of teen-age girls crowd the outdoor stage screaming, "I love you, Mario!"

Quintero and his wildly popular band, the Tucanes de Tijuana, or Toucans of Tijuana, follow with a song about a smuggler's love for his rooster, parrot and goat, underworld symbols for marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

[snip]

The Tucanes are one of the most successful of hundreds of Mexican country bands whose lyrics chronicle traffickers' daily lives and violent routines.  The extraordinary popularity of their music here and in the United States underscores the profound roots the drug industry has sunk into North American popular culture, suggesting that millions of fans quietly admire the smugglers' fabled wealth,
anti-establishment bravura and bold entrepreneurial skills.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Sam Dillon
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n187.a10.html


(10) MINUET IN MEXICO    (Top)

It is fortuitous that President Clinton's first major foreign policy decision after his acquittal in the Senate will be to affirm, once more, that Mexico is "fully cooperating" with the United States in combating narcotics trafficking.  This gives the president an opportunity to remind his acquitters that, in his case, dishonesty does not stop at the boudoir's edge.

[snip]

But all of this is perhaps superfluous detail.  All you really need to know about Clinton, Mexico and certification is this truth, uttered by a wisely anonymous administration official to the Times: "This is not about what Mexico has done.  This is about convincing the Hill that whatever Mexico has done is enough." Exactly.  Whatever.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   1999 The Washington Post Company
Feedback:   http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Michael Kelly.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n176.a02.html


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

COMMENT: (11-14)    (Top)

A news item from Kansas reminds us that people are still being shot in their homes by police who claim to be "protecting" them against the evil influence of drugs.

Articles from Wisconsin and Texas tell how our gulag relentlessly continues to grow larger each year, fueled by "tough on drugs" rhetoric.  November Coalition's Dr. John Beresford, eloquently made an increasingly apt comparison to Thirties Germany; it should be read in its entirety.

(11) AUTHORITIES RELEASE ACCOUNT OF SHOOTING, SAY MARIJUANA FOUND IN HOUSE    (Top)

OSAWATOMIE -- A police raid that left an Osawatomie man dead turned up what appeared to be a small amount of marijuana, investigators said.

Willie Heard, 46, was killed early Saturday -- the day before his birthday -- when he picked up a .22-caliber rifle and confronted officers who burst into his house.

Relatives said Tuesday that the search warrant authorized officers to look for crack cocaine, crack pipes, scales and other paraphernalia. Officers searched the house with a dog and found two or three remnants of marijuana cigarettes, said Gary Heard, Willie Heard's brother.

"That was already smoked marijuana," Gary Heard said.  "There were small little cigarettes."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   Topeka Capital-Journal (KS)
Copyright:   1999 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Contact:  
Website:   http://cjonline.com/
Author:   The Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n181.a04.html


(12) SHAKING THIS HABIT WILL BE TOUGH    (Top)

No more prisons, declares Gov.  Tommy Thompson. And it is an admirable vow.  But to shake its addiction to prison construction, the state needs the full, 12-step program, not just a vow.

Above all, the state needs courage and foresight on the part of politicians - -- qualities in too short a supply to date when it has come to prisons.

With the nation's fastest-growing inmate rolls, Wisconsin is hooked bad on prison building.

[snip]

Pubdate:   22 Feb 1999
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Copyright:   1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Contact:  
Fax:   414-224-8280
Website:   http://www.jsonline.com/
Forum:   http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi
Fax:   (414) 224-8280
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n197.a03.html


(13) TEXAS INMATES TELL U.S.  JUDGE OF ABUSES

AUSTIN, Texas -- For three weeks, doctors, corrections officials and inmates have been describing to a federal judge the conditions in Texas' vast network of prisons, and much of the testimony from the prisoners has been a grim litany of abuses and humiliations.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 13 Feb 1999
Source:   San Jose Mercury News
Copyright:   1999 Mercury Center
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   Rick Lyman, New York Times
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n174.a03.html


(14) THE NAZI COMPARISON    (Top)

Drug War prisoners that I correspond with call themselves POWs.  Some write "POW in America" in the corner of an envelope under the writer's name and prison number.  "Political prisoner" and "gulag" are terms that enter conversation.  Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle and The Gulag Archipelago are works sometimes referred to.

America's vast network of prisons, boot camps, and jails invites comparison with the detention machinery of former totalitarian regimes.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   Rock River Times (IL)
Address:   128 N.  Church St., Rockford, Illinois 61101
FAX: (815) 964-9825
Copyright:   The Rock River Times 1999
Author:   Dr.  John Beresford
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n190.a02.html


Medical Marijuana


COMMENT: (15-17)    (Top)

Eric Schlosser did it again; this time a brilliant expose of the scope, duplicity, and dishonesty marijuana prohibition in Rolling Stone.  AIDS groups used an interesting ploy against McCzar; response to date; dead silence.

Libertarian support for Steve Kubby's case has been important in keeping it in the news.  Since the prosecution has shown no inclination to back down, it may prove very interesting.

(15) THE POLITICS OF POT- A GOVERNMENT IN DENIAL

There is more and more proof that marijuana is NOT A KILLER WEED, and yet in Bill Clinton's America, the number of pot arrests has more than doubled

IN THE CLOSING DAYS OF 1998, a number of events exposed the profound irrationality of America's war on marijuana.

[snip]

Source:   Rolling Stone
Copyright:   1999 Rolling Stone
Pubdate:   4 Mar 1999
Issue:   807 Page: 47
Email:  
Fax:   (212) 767-8214
Mail:   1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104-0298
Forum:   male2('href="http://yourturn.rollingstone.com/webx?98@','webx1.html">http://yourturn.rollingstone.com')/webx?98@@webx1.html
Website:   http://www.rollingstone.com/
Author:   Eric Schlosser
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n180.a05.html


(16) AIDS GROUPS PLEAD FOR 'MEDICAL MARIJUANA'    (Top)

AIDS activists are concerned that a study due out next month may set back for years their hopes that marijuana will be approved for AIDS patients, and they are urging the White House drug czar to intercede.

A coalition of 17 organizations across the country fears that the report will stop short of recommending medical marijuana as suitable for AIDS patients, and instead call for more research.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 17 Feb 1999
Source:   USA Today
Copyright:   1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Page:   A2
Contact:  
Address:   1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA 22229
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author:   Patrick McMahon
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n182.a07.html


(17) KUBBYS REASSURE LIBERTARIANS    (Top)

SAN JOSE, Calif.  (AP) -- Steve and Michelle Kubby reassured Libertarians Sunday night that they grew marijuana solely for their own use and had no intent to sell it.

[snip]

"There was no way economically we could stop growing his medicine," Mrs.  Kubby told the crowd at the Libertarian Party's state convention, which ended Monday in San Jose.

The worst part of their ordeal , she said, was time in the Auburn jail where she could hear her husband vomiting but was not allowed to see him.

"This medicine (marijuana) is what keeps him alive," she said.  Without it, "they almost killed him."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 15 Feb 1999
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   1999 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website:   http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum:   http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
Note:   Headline by editor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n174.a04.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-20)    (Top)

In Canada, medical marijuana received a powerful push from an MP; something that couldn't happen in Congress.

Australia, reeling from record numbers of heroin related deaths also received the economic bill for prohibition; against this backdrop "tough on drugs" PM John Howard ran true to form and sought advice from the FBI- does this mean he thinks America's drug control policy is successful?

(18) MP'S MARIJUANA MOTION GATHERING STEAM    (Top)

Last spring, Bloc Quebecois MP Bernard Bigras spoke to a constituent suffering from AIDS who risked being jailed for six months every time he smoked marijuana to alleviate his daily nausea, vomiting and pain.

Mr.  Bigras is now sponsoring a motion in the House of Commons asking the government to study the benefits of marijuana in treating the symptoms of some illnesses.  Mr. Bigras is suggesting that Health Canada conduct a three-year research program involving 400 to 600 patients before considering legalizing the substance.

Mr.  Bigras's motion will force the government to come up with a position on this issue before it comes to a vote in May.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 11 Feb 1999
Source:   Globe and Mail
Copyright:   1999 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  
Forum:   http://forums.theglobeandmail.com/
Website:   http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Author:   Daniel Leblanc, Parliamentary Bureau, Ottawa
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n184.a07.html


(19) ADDICTS FUEL 7 BIL. INDUSTRY    (Top)

AUSTRALIA'S illegal drug trade rivals the country's biggest industries.

The $7 billion illegal drug trade is equal in size to the oil industry and bigger than the tobacco industry.

It also represents more money than Australians spend on gas, electricity and fuel each year.

Economic analysts said the drug trade could be worth up to $9.6 billion.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source:   Herald Sun
Copyright:   News Limited 1999
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.heraldsun.com.au/
Author:   Glenn Mitchell, John Ferguson and Fran Cusworth
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n185.a02.html


(20) FREEH ADVICE ON DRUGS: INJECT MONEY AND POLITICAL WILL    (Top)

John Howard may not like everything the director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, has to tell him about how to win the war on drugs.

In Mr Freeh's thinking, that fight requires two key ingredients - an abundance of funding and an equally generous amount of political will.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 23 Feb 1999
Source:   Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.smh.com.au/
Author:   Mark Riley, Herald Correspondent in New York
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n201.a10.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Happy99.exe virus

Thanks to Peter Webster for the info below.


SO WHAT DOES THIS WORM DO?

The Happy99.exe virus may be coming to you as an attached file to your Email DO NOT OPEN OR CLICK ON IT.  Unlike many of the hoaxes that are regularly announced around the web this one is real.

The Happy99.exe is more of a nuisance than a threat.  It doesn't delete any files on your computer.  It doesn't open a "back door" into your computer.  Basically, every time you send an e-mail or post to a newsgroup, you send a copy of the worm to the recipients of your message.  And if they run the program, they get infected and then their messages will send out the worm, and so on.

For more information, visit the sites below:

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2208275,00.html

http://beta.nai.com/public/datafiles/valerts/vinfo/w32ska.htm

http://www.anchordesk.com/a/adt0215nk/3093.html

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3652/SKA.HTM


KUBBY WEB SITE UPDATED

The Steve Kubby for Governor Page, http://www.kubby.com/ has been updated to include the nearly fifty articles that have appeared in print about the Kubby's arrest.


TIP OF THE WEEK    (Top)


Windows "Tune Up" Hints

Does it seem that your computer takes forever to boot up? Do your programs open up very slowly? Maybe it's time we use those system tools that are included with Microsoft Window's 95.  Here is a list of some of these "Computer Tuning Tools" and a brief description of what they do. Click on the "Start" button, then go into "Programs", then on to "Accessories", and finally "System Tools".

For more info See:

http://www.charlotte-florida.com/Help/Tuneup.htm


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance" -- Thomas Carlyle


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