| March 12, 1999 #89 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication http://www.drugsense.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
How Important is the Drug Policy Reform Effort? | ||||||||||||||||||||
In a recent conversation with a director of a drug policy organization I heard the statement that 'What we are dealing with today is the single most important issue in America. A change in drug policy will have the most profound effects on American society experienced in the last 50 years.' I pondered this for a while and then had to agree. Drug policy is much more than an issue centered on substance abuse. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Its effects are far-reaching and substantial. It has introduced
previously unheard of legislative measures such as civil asset
forfeiture, mandatory minimum sentences and conspiracy laws to name a
few. While they are mostly applied to drug violations today, it is
foreseeable that the same measures will linger on in American
jurisdiction long after the Drug War has ended. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Congress, particularly in the 1980s, has forever changed the way
America deals with crime on the one hand and civil liberties on the
other. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The American justice system has decidedly ruled that in cases of great perceived threat to society or the health of its citizens, laws that previously seemed carved in stone can and will be sacrificed. Constitutional rights and amendments have taken on new interpretations if not disappeared altogether. The presence of this change in climate can be felt throughout. School districts favor random drug testing without regard to search and seizure requiring probable cause; expels students found under the influence of drugs without any sort of due process; TV shows glamorize the dedicated investigator that ignores the necessity of a warrant and breaks into apartments in 'important cases'; commercials broadcast by the Partnership for a Drug Free America urge 'to do anything to keep your children off drugs' - the terrifying interpretation of this left only to the viewer's imagination. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A prison industry has developed that is blooming and its stock is
trading high. Like every business it depends on growth. Corporations
backed by investors with serious funds prompt the question as to how
far they will lobby Washington and what for? Stock prices as a direct
result of growing incarceration paint a gloomy picture. | ||||||||||||||||||||
All the while America's upper middle class goes about business as
usual. The tremendous changes appear not yet to have taken their toll
in this segment of society, one empowered to judge its ramifications;
the last to take notice. Once this sheltered refuge sees its dreams
shattered America could have changed forever. | ||||||||||||||||||||
When all is said and done it comes down to the price tag we are willing to attach to the fight of an enemy that is not quite tangible, elusive and in need of constant pursuit with ever increasing vigor. Already America pays a dear price for the struggle with a ghost; financially, culturally and constitutionally. The question is: When is enough enough? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Rolf Ernst | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (1-5) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Another bad media week for the drug war; on the heels of the Mexican certification hypocrisy came a reminder that American law enforcement isn't uniquely immune to the corrupting lure of easy drug money. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Editorial denunciations of the drug war are becoming commonplace; the gloves also seem to be off in dealing with McCaffrey. There was an overdue, but nevertheless welcome, recognition from within conservative medical circles that, for years, drug policy has adversely affected the pain management of ordinary patients. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Finally, the quick Senate abandonment of "know your customer" is a development we should note; it's explicit evidence that "tough on drugs" is easily trumped by opposition from middle class (contributing) voters. Compare this response to the way Congress treated the (valid) idea that ejection of entire families of individual drug users from public housing is blatantly unfair. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(1) SMUGGLERS CORRUPTING U.S.'S ANTI-DRUG FORCES, STUDY SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
DONNA, Texas- In November 1997, when Miguel Carreon was hired as the
police chief of this small town nine miles from the Mexican border, he
vowed to restore the integrity of a force whose reputation had been
sullied by the indictment of six officers accused of helping to smuggle
1,700 pounds of marijuana into the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
From small-town police departments to the expanding ranks of federal anti-drug agencies, American officials say they are alarmed by their own vulnerability to the corrupting influence of the drug trade. In a report to Congress last month, the U.S. Customs Service called drug trafficking "the undisputed, greatest corruption hazard confronting all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies today." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(2) WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS A NEW BATTLE PLAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A motley of would-be drug policy reformers clustered under an umbrella
called the Network of Reform Groups issued a report yesterday in which
they proposed, shockingly, that we stop simply fighting the war on
drugs and start instead aiming actually to win it. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[see http://www.csdp.org/ ] | ||||||||||||||||||||
They would do that by up-ending current, manifestly failed priorities,
cutting the 66 percent of the anti-drug budget that goes to law
enforcement to 33 percent and splitting the rest evenly between
treatment and strategies against youth drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
.....It deserves a hearing. Alas, we seem instead about to go rampaging | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(3) AMERICA'S MISGUIDED DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Attacking suppliers of drugs without addressing the demand guarantees
drug sales will continue | ||||||||||||||||||||
No credible evidence exists showing that stringent enforcement of US
narcotics laws actually reduces drug use in this country. Indeed, the
opposite seems true: Law-enforcement efforts actually promote illicit
drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(4) CHRONIC PAIN UNDERTREATED, EXPERT SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Many Americans with chronic pain don't receive the treatment they need because of "misapplied" fears about addiction, an expert in the field told an ethics conference Saturday at Creighton University in Omaha. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Those fears include doctors' and patients' concerns that the use of
narcotic painkillers would lead to substance abuse, and doctors'
worries about legal problems, said Dr. Steven D. Passik, a psychologist
who is director of oncology symptom control research at the Indiana
Community Cancer Care Center in Indianapolis. | ||||||||||||||||||||
He said these are major factors in what he described as a "dramatic
under treatment" of chronic pain. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) SENATORS JOIN OUTCRY TO HALT NEW BANK RULES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- The Senate, joining a torrent of criticism from people
worried about privacy, told the government yesterday to withdraw
proposed anti-money laundering rules that would track bank customers'
habits. | ||||||||||||||||||||
By an 88-0 vote, the Senate expressed support for a measure directing bank regulators to drop the proposed rules, called "Know Your Customer." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
"This is such a broad-reaching regulation that it infringes on our
constitutional rights," Gramm, the chairman of the Senate Banking
Committee, said on the Senate floor. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (6-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ever since publication of Eric Schlosser's Atlantic Monthly Article in
December, the best op-ed writers in America have been focused on
prisons.If the middle class can be aroused to action by the truth-
prisons have become an unaffordable boondoggle which is wrecking
public education- the recent fate of "know your customer" suggests
that our politicians will listen. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The following were only the best of many devastating criticisms
linking prison expansion to a futile drug policy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(6) LESS CRIME, MORE CRIMINALS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Later this month, the U.S. government will release new figures showing
how many Americans are behind bars, and the numbers will reveal that
the bull market for prisons is still charging ahead. Nearly 1 of every
150 people in the United States is in prison or jail, the Justice
Department will announce, a figure that no other democracy comes close
to matching. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(7) CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM JUST PLAIN BIZARRE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
IT's an odd country, really. Our largest growth industries are gambling
and prisons. But as you may have heard, crimes rates are dropping.
We're not putting people into prison for hurting other people. We're
putting them into prison for using drugs, and as we already know, that
doesn't help them or us. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(8) INCARCERATION WON'T SOLVE DRUG PROBLEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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How long are we going to pretend that the United States is not one of
the major violators of human rights in the world? There are 400,000
people in America's prisons simply because the government claims it
must save them from themselves. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) US CRITICISM OF CHINA RINGS HOLLOW IN US PRISONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
It will be interesting to see how long the White House can recite
China's abuses when its own moral threads are unraveling to the point
that it has become the schoolmarm scolding the world in exposed
lingerie. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Medical Marijuana | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medical marijuana is another issue which unmasks the dishonesty of
American drug policy for middle class citizens who are otherwise well
disposed toward "law & order" issues- precisely because they can
easily imagine themselves as patients. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Demand for medical use is resonating North of the Border; a concession
by heretofore resistive Minister of Health Alan Rock drew suspicion
from MMj supporters, but whatever happens, it's clear that the genie
is out of the bottle. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the US, 3 major court battles over MMj are developing in California
and Philadelphia; sadly, two are currently being ignored by the press,
as is their wont. Most shocking is that a federal judge's imprimatur
on the official murder of Peter McWilliams has been completely ignored
by California media. An out-of-state LTE to the LAT was the sole
referral to Judge King's amazing explanation that although McWilliams
claim to be dying for lack of Mj might be true, it doesn't matter
because marijuana is illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The details are online at: http://www.petertrial.com/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(10) MP CHALLENGES ROCK POT MOVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
OTTAWA -- A Bloc MP accuses Health Minister Allan Rock of plotting to derail his Commons motion to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. "I think it's a minister's campaign to destabilize all the people working on the proposal," Bernard Bigras said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Bigras said he doubts the sincerity of Rock's announcement Wednesday
that he'll launch clinical tests of medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Bigras said if Rock honestly plans to move forward with the tests, he has to support the Bloc motion when it comes to a vote in June. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(11) THE KUBBY PROSECUTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Steve Kubby,the Libertarian party candidate for governor in 1998, and
his wife, Michele, had their preliminary hearing on marijuana
cultivation and sales charges in Tahoe City last Tuesday. The two will
face a total of 19 charges. The case is scheduled for arraignment in
Superior Court in Auburn March 19. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The actual trial will take place later, probably sometime in May. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
For prosecutors to press forward under such circumstances smacks of
malice or worse - an overt effort to turn a law duly passed by
California voters into a dead letter. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(12) NOT FIT TO PRINT? THE MMJ: CLASS ACTION HEARING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Scores of documented medical patients from around the United States came to Philadelphia last week- many in wheelchairs- to learn exactly why the federal Department of Justice thinks they should be in prison. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the DOJ, all are
self-admitted "users" of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
At a hearing on Wednesday, March 3, attorneys for the government demanded the lawsuit be dismissed out of hand. Judge Marvin Katz, directing federal attorneys to support their request for dismissal with more specific evidence, took their motion under submission. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Note: We thought this story would be among top news items last week
but it never made it to print, although there was some local TV
coverage. We thought the matter justified suspending our usual
practice of including only published material in MAP's DrugNews
archive. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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http://www.marijuananews.com/report_from_philadelphia.htm
http://www.marijuananews.com/a_legal_overview_of_the_medical_.htm
http://www.hightimes.com/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/images/ac_at_bell.jpg http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/images/ac_chairsbell.jpg | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(13) PUB LTE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
California state Sen. John Vasconcellos has just touched the tip of
the iceberg of the problems with our national drug prohibition policy
(Commentary, Feb. 25). The dominant puritanical minority that controls
the Congress with coercion, fear and the politics of personal
destruction has also subverted our federal courts. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
This is the judicial environment that Peter McWilliams is subjected to.
If the state of California is to save the life of McWilliams, it should
step in and take him into protective custody from the federal
prosecutors and provide to him the lifesaving marijuana that he needs
to stabilize and strengthen his body. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A recent trend in English-speaking nations from Ireland to Australia
has been for politicians in power to take an unpopular hard-line
'American style" position in opposition to more widely supported harm
reduction policies. This is illustrated by a representative article
from Australia. A recently published LTE by MAP NewsHawk Martin Cooke
summarizes the issue very nicely. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the Caribbean, an interesting collision between drug policy and
trade demonstrates that economic necessity leads whole nations into
the drug trade, right along with individual people. | ||||||||||||||||||||
For most of us, Myanmar's WA represent a previously unknown factor in
the convoluted system controlling the massive international criminal
drug market. At any moment, WA teens could find themselves killing and
dying for the profits of that market. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(14) PUB LTE: COPY SUCCESSFUL ANTI-DRUGS POLICY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
WILLIE O'DEA, TD, thinks that we should start imprisoning young people
who experiment with soft drugs like cannabis and ecstasy (The Examiner,
March 2). | ||||||||||||||||||||
He is quoted as saying that "teenagers should be threatened with jail sentences and criminal records to stop rising recreational drug abuse." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
He only has to look at the US, which has the largest proportion of its
population behind bars of any of the developed countries in the world, a
sizeable minority, if not a majority, of them for non-violent drugs
offences. And yet drug use continues to soar in the US. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr O'Dea is quoted as saying: "I have no problem borrowing a good idea
that has worked elsewhere." | ||||||||||||||||||||
If this is true, and if he is really concerned about the welfare of our
youth, I would suggest that he would do far better to look at the
Netherlands rather than the UK. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(15) EXPERT REJECTS ZERO TOLERANCE STAND (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A former Family Court judge yesterday condemned the zero-tolerance
heroin strategy that the Prime Minister, Mr Howard,is believed to be
interested in learning more about. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr John Fogarty, who recently retired from the Family Court and is now
a board member of a United Nations-affiliated child-welfare group, said
the approach harked back to the dark era of Australia's settlement as a
penal colony. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The zero-tolerance approach is an untenable policy which should be
removed from public discussion of drug issues," Mr Fogarty told a
seminar on youth prisons. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(16) CARIBBEAN NATIONS SUSPEND US TREATY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) Angered by the U.S. position in a trade
dispute over banana exports to Europe, Caribbean Community nations have
agreed to suspend a treaty of cooperation with the United States to
fight drug trafficking, an official said Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(17) NEW DRUG ARMY RULES ATOP 'GOLDEN TRIANGLE' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
LOI SAM SAO, Myanmar - Cradling an assault rifle, a teenage rebel sits at a guard post watching trucks hauling consumer goods and construction material into northeastern Myanmar over the dusty road from Thailand. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The young rebel is the first line of contact between outsiders and the
United WA State Army, one of the numerous ethnic groups not controlled
by the central government of Myanmar, or Burma. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
A generation ago,the WA were feared headhunters. Now, they are the
world's largest producers of heroin and a major supplier of
amphetamines in East Asia. But a cozy arrangement with the Myanmar
military government that allowed their rise is fraying, and the WA are
preparing for war. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
MMJ Class Action Suit Transcript On-line | ||||||||||||||||||||
Carl Olsen has posted the text of the March 3 hearing on the medical
marijuana class suit action at: | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Politically Incorrect with Califano/Jackson On-Line | ||||||||||||||||||||
CRRH has posted a RealVideo version of "Politically Incorrect, with
Bill Maher." This March 8, 1999 show is a debate about marijuana.
Singer Dave Matthews and comedienne Elayne Boosler join Bill Maher in
debating in favor of cannabis against Joseph Califano and Earl Jackson.
17 minutes, 19 seconds. The video is located at: | ||||||||||||||||||||
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FACT OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The "Land of the Free" Is Number One in Imprisoning its Citizens | ||||||||||||||||||||
All major Western European nations' incarceration rates are about or
below 100 per 100,000. In the United States, in 1995, the incarceration
rate for African-American women was 456 per 100,000, and for
African-American men 6,926 per 100,000. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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See the entire collection of Drug War Facts at: | ||||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
"...convince the federal government...that they must abide by the will
of the voters. A tidal wave of support for medicinal marijuana has
begun in the western United States; the future of many federal
officials depends, in large part, on whether they ride that wave into
the future or, standing in the way, are rendered irrelevant by the
voters." --Senator John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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