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DrugSense Weekly
January 14, 2000 #132

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


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


    Whose Laws Are The Police Enforcing?
    by Steve Kubby, National Director
    The American Medical Marijuana Assoc.

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Ecstasy Use Rises Despite Brain Danger
(2) Epidemic In Our Midst
(3) Hub Schools Mount New Drive To Halt Heroin
COMMENT: (4-5)
(4) CBHS Will Start Drug Tests This Fall
(5) Don't Welfare Recipients Have Rights?

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (6)
(6) Innovative Juvenile Drug Court Opening
COMMENT: (7-8)
(7) Officer: I Saw Jail Beating
(8) Prosecutors To Ask That Man Imprisoned For Five Years Be Cleared
COMMENT: (9)
(9) Economic Lockdown

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (10-11)
(10) Medical Pot Defendant Asks Lockyer To Step In
(11) Lockyer Won't Intervene In Kubby Case
COMMENT: (12)
(12) House Gives Initial Ok To Legalized Hemp Industry

International News-

COMMENT: (13-14)
(13) Mexican Tale of Absolute Drug Corruption
(14) OPED: The Caribbean Narco-Economy
COMMENT: (15-16)
(15) Militias Say They Tax Drugs In Colombia
(16) U.S. Plans Big Boost In Aid To Colombia
COMMENT: (17-18)
(17) Editorial: The Taleban Trail
(18) OPED: Britain Is Quietly Turning Into A Drug Culture
COMMENT: (19)
(19) New Zealand: OPED: Questions Of Justice

* Hot Off The 'Net


    MPP Scores a 'Homer'
    Todd McCormick Incarcerated
    Family Research Council Feedback Page

* Quote of the Week


    Thomas Carlyle -


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

WHOSE LAWS ARE THE POLICE ENFORCING?

by Steve Kubby, National Director
The American Medical Marijuana Assoc.

In the election of 1996, California law enforcement officials and agencies made the following official statements in the California Voter
Guide:  

"Proposition 215 legalizes marijuana use for 'any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.' This could include stress, headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, a stiff neck .  . . or just about anything."

"Proposition 215 does not require a written prescription.  Anyone with the 'oral recommendation or approval by a physician' can grow, possess or smoke marijuana.  No medical examination is required."

"This initiative makes marijuana available to the public without FDA approval or regulation."

"This initiative allows unlimited quantities of marijuana to be grown anywhere .  . . without any regulation or restrictions."

"It is marijuana legalization."

Listed below these bold public assertions were the following organizations:

* The California State Sheriffs Association

* The California District Attorneys Association

* California Police Chiefs Association.

* The California Narcotic Officers Association and

* The California Peace Officers Association

--From: 1996 Official Voter Guide: "Argument Against Proposition 215" See: http://vote96.ss.ca.gov/Vote96/html/BP/215noarg.htm

How can all these California law enforcement officials tell voters that Prop.  215 would legalize marijuana and allow patients to grow as much as they need for personal medical use -- in an official public statement to the voters of California -- and then turn around and insist that the voters never approved any of these things?

Patients and caregivers acted in good faith following passage of 215 and have been cynically arrested by local authorities who never had any intention of conforming to the voters will and the present state law. Hypocrisy may not be a crime, but entrapment is and when the action of local authorities flaunt our laws they are undermining the fundamental trust of their oaths.

The ugly truth is that the police are refusing to honor a law they don't like.  Medical marijuana patients are being raided, arrested, and dragged through the criminal justice system, in record numbers and nearly everyone is afraid.  Arrest statewide are up 12% since the passage of 215, despite the fact that the new law exempts patients and caregivers from prosecution or any type of sanctions.

These law enforcement leaders and agencies cannot have it both ways. Either they are guilty of making deliberately fraudulent and misleading statements, or they are fraudulently refusing to uphold what they know to be the legal consequences of that election.

Moreover, according to the California Constitution, a law passed by the voters must be enforced, even if it conflicts with federal law, until that law has been challenged in appellate court.  No such court challenge has been made of California's new medical marijuana law, nor is one likely, despite repeated slurs on the new law by officials. Unable to beat the law in court, police have decided to challenge individuals instead with a lock-em-up-let-the-courts-decide approach that has been a disaster for all involved.

For years, the police have told us, "We just enforce the laws, if you don't like them, then change them." But now that the voters have passed law and the police are refusing to honor that law, we are painfully discovering that police are their own political lobby with heavy clout that runs all the way to the Governor's office.  Just passing a law no longer means much with law enforcement and our elected officials are too frightened of them to do anything about it.

That's not to say that the police are evil, just that when police no longer follow the laws passed by voters, it is time to stop and take a close look and ask ourselves, "Whose laws are the police enforcing?"

The Kubby Files: http://www.kubby.org/


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-3)    (Top)

With amazing inconsistency, the same media sources which allow ONDCP to make uncontested claims that the drug war is succeeding because "drug use" has been halved since 1979 are also able to produce breathless reports of the latest drug scourge about to engulf another state, region, or entire country.

What to believe; do they even care?

(1) ECSTASY USE RISES DESPITE BRAIN DANGER    (Top)

The drug MDMA - better known on the streets and dance clubs as ecstasy or XTC - is rising in use and popularity among young people, despite a growing body of evidence that it can cause brain damage.

[snip]

"The base numbers for high school use rates of ecstasy are really quite small, and the increase this year was small," says Alan I.  Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  An estimated 4.4% of 1999's surveyed 10th graders reported some use of ecstasy during the prior 12 months, up from 3.3% in 1998.

[snip]

But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), areas of concentrated ecstasy use include California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New England.  But, Leshner points out: "We know from the community epidemiology workgroup that in virtually every city in this country, we're seeing substantially larger numbers of older young adults, those beyond high school, using ecstasy, and that causes us great concern."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Jan 2000
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc.
Contact:  
Address:   1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA 22229
Fax:   (703) 247-3108
Website:   http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author:   Dr.  Stephen A. Shoop and A.J.S. Rayl
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n027/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm


(2) EPIDEMIC IN OUR MIDST    (Top)

ANALYZING THE METH OFFENSIVE

And then along came meth.

As America closes out a century of stimulant abuse, its slavishness

to methamphetamine has spawned a public health epidemic equal to, if not more devastating than, the crack cocaine siege of the '80s.

The mystery, for narcotics officers and public health officials alike, is when meth will jump the Mississippi River, the gateway to the East Coast.  It will not be long. From California, where it took hold after World War II, a re-engineered meth has already leapfrogged the Rockies to ravage the Midwest.

There is no mystery about meth and Washington state.  This drug is insinuating itself here at the speed of light.

Meth is as seductive a drug as can be imagined -- its euphoric sensation is inexpensive and long-lasting.  And meth can be ingested in varied ways: Inject it, smoke it, snort it or, diluted with liquid, swallow it.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 12 Dec 1999
Source:   Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright:   2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
Author:   Kimberly Mills, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board
Note:   Each of the parts in this series, published over a week, has one to
four sidebar articles.

Part 1: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a01.html

Part 2: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a02.html

Part 3: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n021.a03.html

Part 4: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n023.a01.html

Part 5: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a02.html

Part 6: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a01.html

Part 7: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n022.a03.html


(3) HUB SCHOOLS MOUNT NEW DRIVE TO HALT HEROIN    (Top)

In the city's ongoing war against heroin, Boston public schools will target students as young as 12 with drug-specific prevention programs to combat a poison so cheap and potent, it is rearranging teen culture.

Superintendent Thomas Payzant will be sending personnel from middle schools and high schools to a five-day training session under the system's revamped outreach efforts, part of a citywide strike against the addictive drug.

[snip]

The drug awareness campaign will stress prevention efforts in health classes, with extra emphasis on heroin, which has been ravaging increasingly younger users.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Jan 2000
Source:   Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright:   2000 The Boston Herald, Inc.
Contact:  
Address:   One Herald Square, Boston, MA 02106-2096
Website:   http://www.bostonherald.com/
Author:   Ed Hayward
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n020/a04.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm


COMMENT: (4-5)    (Top)

The urge to root out and punish drug users, particularly if they are young or poor, continues unabated.

(4) CBHS WILL START DRUG TESTS THIS FALL    (Top)

Plan has parent, student support

Beginning this fall, Christian Brothers High School will test all its nearly 900 students for drug use.

Using a hair from the student's head, the test will scan for five types of drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opiates (including heroin), PCP and methamphetamines.  It will not test for alcohol.

For the first offense, the school will hold a conference with the student and his parents, where counseling and other issues will be discussed.

Then, 100 days later, the student will be tested again.  If the second test is positive, the student will be expelled.  Any student refusing to take the test also will be expelled.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Jan 2000
Source:   Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright:   2000 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  
Address:   Box 334, Memphis, TN 38101
Fax:   (901)529-6445
Website:   http://www.gomemphis.com/
Author:   Jody Callahan
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n027/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm


(5) DON'T WELFARE RECIPIENTS HAVE RIGHTS?    (Top)

The 1996 federal "welfare reform" law allowed states to test welfare recipients for drug use.  So far, only Michigan has taken advantage of that provision.

In October, welfare applicants began to be required to take a urine test in three parts of the state, including Detroit.  There need not be even a suspicion that a particular applicant uses drugs.

Anyone who tests positive must enroll in a "substance abuse treatment plan." Refusal to submit to the testing or to enter treatment results in families with children under 18 losing monthly cash payments.  This income support is called a "family independence benefit" by the state.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Jan 2000
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2000 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/
Author:   Nat Hentoff
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n027/a06.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm


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

COMMENT: (6)    (Top)

Consistent with the increased emphasis on "treatment," Maine initiated a federally financed program of drug courts for youthful offenders.

(6) INNOVATIVE JUVENILE DRUG COURT OPENING    (Top)

BANGOR -- On Monday morning, the way the state deals with a serious problem will undergo a major overhaul with the start of a nationally acclaimed juvenile drug court.

Maine Chief Justice Daniel Wathen hopes the program will help set the state's youthful offenders on a path of rehabilitation instead of repeat offenses.

[snip]

Juveniles referred to the program will undergo extensive drug treatment and will have their progress monitored weekly by state judges.  Two major goals of the program are to reduce recidivism by treating the offenders' substance abuse problem and to reduce the incarceration rate of some juveniles.

If juveniles successfully complete the roughly yearlong program, the criminal charge filed against them may be reduced or dismissed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Jan 2000
Source:   Bangor Daily News (ME)
Copyright:   2000, Bangor Daily News Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.bangornews.com/
Author:   Renee Ordway
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n028/a03.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm


COMMENT: (7-8)    (Top)

Meanwhile, Reports of beating and abuses in our overcrowded jails and prisons were not hard to find; nor were examples of police misconduct.

(7) OFFICER: I SAW JAIL BEATING    (Top)

Agrees To Testify Against 2 Accused In Inmate's Death

Facing the threat of life behind bars, a Nassau County corrections officer admitted yesterday that he stood lookout a year ago and watched as two of his colleagues allegedly beat an inmate to death.

In a dramatic turn that could prove devastating to his co-defendants, Ivano Bavaro agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and testify against the two officers charged with the death of Thomas Pizzuto, a recovering heroin addict who had been begging for methadone.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 05 Jan 2000
Source:   Newsday (NY)
Copyright:   2000, Newsday Inc.
Contact:  
Fax:   (516)843-2986
Website:   http://www.newsday.com/
Author:   Andrew Metz Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n013/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm


(8) PROSECUTORS TO ASK THAT MAN IMPRISONED FOR FIVE YEARS BE CLEARED    (Top)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In the latest fallout from the ongoing Los Angeles Police Department corruption probe, prosecutors said they would ask a federal magistrate to remove a drug conviction that put a man in prison for five years.

The request was expected to be made today, just one day after a judge cut three years off a drug dealer's prison sentence because of now-suspect testimony from former Officer Rafael Perez, who is at the heart of the scandal engulfing the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart station.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Jan 2000
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   2000 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:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n017/a08.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm


COMMENT: (9)    (Top)

A detailed analysis explained why California's unprecedented Central Valley prison construction boom has not benefited the host communities.

(9) ECONOMIC LOCKDOWN    (Top)

With unemployment largely unaffected and jobs going to residents of larger cities, the Valley's prison boom hasn't been the economic boon advertised.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, 800 people lined up in the rain outside John Muir Junior High School in Corcoran for a shot at two low-wage clerical jobs in the local prison.

[snip]

In 15 years, California has spent $4.2 billion building 23 new prisons.  Eight of those prisons are within 150 miles of Fresno. An examination of Avenal, Corcoran and Delano indicates the prisons don't do much for the towns where they were built.

Most of the 8,000 jobs haven't gone to residents of these eight new company towns.

They haven't sparked an economic revival in the southern San Joaquin Valley.  There are few new houses, restaurants and stores - despite town leaders' expectations, despite $2 billion spent in construction over 15 years, despite a half-billion dollars a year in payroll.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 Jan 2000
Source:   Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright:   2000 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.fresnobee.com/man/opinion/letters.html
Website:   http://www.fresnobee.com/
Forum:   http://www.fresnobee.com/man/projects/webforums/opinion.html
Author:   Mike Lewis, Bee Capital Bureau
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n030/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (10-11)    (Top)

Pre-trial maneuvering in the oft-postponed Kubby case became more intense when the defendant made very credible accusations about the behavior of California Law enforcement agencies in the wake of passage of Proposition 215.

The Attorney General's office replied in predictable fashion, completely ignoring the fact that Kubby's prosecution is itself is part of the alleged harassment.

(10) MEDICAL POT DEFENDANT ASKS LOCKYER TO STEP IN    (Top)

Medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby has gone on the offensive in his battle with Placer County law enforcement, alleging that his "basic right" to use "the only medicine that keeps me alive" has been violated.  In a formal complaint dated Tuesday, the 1998 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate asked state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to intervene in the pending prosecution of Kubby and his wife, Michele, claiming the possession-for-sale charges filed against them are bogus.

"My wife and I are victims of those who seek to gut Prop.  215 and punish those behind it," said Kubby, whose physician has submitted a letter to the court declaring that marijuana "not only controlled the symptoms of (Kubby's cancer) but, in my view, has arrested its growth."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 06 Jan 2000
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   2000 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:   Wayne Wilson, Bee Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n015/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm


(11) LOCKYER WON'T INTERVENE IN KUBBY CASE    (Top)

Embattled pot proponent Steven Kubby shouldn't hold out much hope of intervention from the state Attorney General's Office in his bid to have Placer County law enforcement back off on prosecuting him.

[snip]

"It's a rare occasion indeed when this office interferes with local law enforcement enforcing the law," Barankin said.  "We're not aware of any information that suggest we ought to break with that practice."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 January 2000
Source:   Auburn Journal
Copyright:   2000 Auburn Journal
Contact:  
Address:   1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website:   http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Author:   Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n027/a01.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/hubby.htm


COMMENT: (12)    (Top)

Better news from New Hampshire, where the lower house surprised everyone by passing a hemp bill.  Just note the response of local law enforcement types and imagine how fairly THEY'D treat medical marijuana patients.

(12) HOUSE GIVES INITIAL OK TO LEGALIZED HEMP INDUSTRY    (Top)

House lawmakers yesterday stunned law enforcers by giving initial approval to a bill legalizing the hemp industry in New Hampshire. Opponents said they would seek to overturn the House decision as soon as this afternoon, while law enforcement officials vowed to renew their fight against the bill.

"I can't believe it.  What a sad state of affairs," Concord Police Chief William Halacy said.  "Law enforcement will continue to fight this thing."

Hampton Police Chief William Wrenn said he was "disappointed" by the House action.

"We certainly don't feel this legislation serves any legitimate purpose," Wrenn said.  "We don't feel this should be legal."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 06 Jan 2000
Source:   Union Leader (NH)
Copyright:   The Union Leader Corp.  2000
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 9555 Manchester, NH 03108-9555
Website:   http://www.theunionleader.com/
Author:   John Toole, State House Bureau
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n014/a11.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm


International News


COMMENT: (13-14)    (Top)

Increasingly, international drug news is a chronicle of the degree to which the criminal markets created by our drug policy are spinning out of control.  This inevitably leads to criminal dominance of local economies, endemic revolution and a blighted investment climate.

(13) MEXICAN TALE OF ABSOLUTE DRUG CORRUPTION    (Top)

TIJUANA, Mexico -- Norma Castro felt almost as if she were part of a new country 10 years ago, when her home state of Baja California led Mexico into a new era by voting out the corrupt political machine that had dominated its politics for six decades.

STATE UNDER SIEGE A special report.

"We thought things were going to change for real," Mrs.  Castro, a homemaker, recalled.  "We thought that if we gave them a chance -- another government, another party -- maybe they would do something about all this."

Despite a decade of reform-minded opposition government, the waves of drug-related crime that have coincided with more democratic politics are eroding the faith of Mrs.  Castro and her neighbors that any government can improve their lives.

"People don't believe anymore," Mrs.  Castro said, describing how the lines at her neighborhood polling place have grown shorter each year. "They figure, 'What's the point of voting if nothing is going to change?' "

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 9 Jan 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Tim Golden
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n025/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm


(14) OPED: THE CARIBBEAN NARCO-ECONOMY    (Top)

A third wave of globalization, following centuries of sugar monoculture and the postwar growth of island tourism, is washing across the Caribbean.  It is the spreading global narco-economy, and it threatens the political and economic stability of the archipelago.

United States efforts in recent years to staunch the flow of Colombian drugs across the Mexican border have deflected trafficking eastward across the island chain from Bahamas to Aruba.  Roughly a third of all cocaine and heroin consumed in the US crisscrosses the area, and money-laundering drug profits have infested several of the region's offshore financial centers.  The Caribbean narco-economy has been nourished by several factors: strategic location between southern producers and northern consumers, vast unguarded coastlines and inaccessible mountainous interiors, a long-standing trade network, plus the anonymity afforded by hordes of tourists.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 06 Jan 2000
Source:   Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright:   2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society.
Contact:  
Address:   One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115
Fax:   (617) 450-2031
Website:   http://www.csmonitor.com/
Forum:   http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/vox/p-vox.html
Author:   Jerome L.  McElroy
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n015/a11.html


COMMENT: (15-16)    (Top)

Colombia is ready to reclaim its title from Mexico as the worst Western Hemisphere socioeconomic basket case produced by US drug policy.  Of course we'll fund their war; after all, it's our war too.

(15) MILITIAS SAY THEY TAX DRUGS IN COLOMBIA    (Top)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombia's rightist paramilitary groups finance themselves by taxing the drug trade, the same as their leftist rivals do, the nation's top militia boss has confirmed for the first time.

[snip]

The security-conscious Castano, who spoke to TV Hoy surrounded by armed guards and with his back to the camera, said the paramilitary groups, who call themselves "self-defense forces," based in northeast Colombia charge a 40 percent tax on peasants who produce coca, the raw material for cocaine.

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Jan 2000
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Address:   Viewpoints Editor, P.O.  Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax:   (713) 220-3575
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Page:   16A
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n034/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm


(16) U.S. PLANS BIG BOOST IN AID TO COLOMBIA    (Top)

Over $1 Billion Pledged To Assist Drug War, Economy

President Clinton plans to announce a massive new aid program for Colombia next week totaling more than $1 billion in military and development assistance over the next two years.  It will be used to combat narcotics cultivation and trafficking and bolster that country's beleaguered democracy.

More than half the money will be in a White House request for a supplemental appropriation for this fiscal year, with the remainder to be part of the fiscal year 2001 budget that the administration is due to send to Congress on Feb.  7, administration officials said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Jan 2000
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2000 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/
Author:   Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n019/a10.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm


COMMENT: (17-18)    (Top)

In Britain, The Times unveiled a sanctimonious streak in an editorial bemoaning the heroin producing prowess of the Taleban.  This was followed on Sunday by one of the more witless endorsements of prohibition we've seen anywhere.

(17) EDITORIAL: THE TALEBAN TRAIL    (Top)

Twisting paths through Afghanistan and Whitehall

Few governments have ever depended so heavily for their income on the destruction and death of young people as Taleban, the fanatical rulers of Afghanistan.  Smuggling opium to Western Europe is now virtually the only source of income for these hypocritical Islamic fundamentalists; the more heroin addicts they recruit, the richer they become.

In the past year, Afghanistan has more than doubled its production of opium to 4,600 tonnes.  For all the prohibitions in the Koran on drug-taking, Taleban levies a 20 per cent tax on the crop, which is then smuggled by heavily armed intermediaries to Western Europe. Ninety-five per cent of all the heroin sold in Britain comes from Afghanistan.

[snip]

But the American example of using "czars" as quick fixes for awkward issues is hardly encouraging; the outlines of Britain's ten-year strategy remain vague.  And Mr Hellawell, a man in no doubt of his own competence but who lacks an insider's knowledge of Whitehall, has found it difficult to steer his proposals through the bureaucracy.  The job is still new, the terrain unknown and the public expectation of quick results unrealistic.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 7 Jan 2000
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   2000 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n023/a08.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/uk.htm


(18) OPED: BRITAIN IS QUIETLY TURNING INTO A DRUG CULTURE    (Top)

It's the nightmare of so many parents with teenage children.  The arrest of Nicholas Knatchbull's three friends on suspicion of possessing drugs was the latest in a series of drug incidents concerning Prince William's social circle.

The routine availability of illegal substances is now a fact of life for young people.  Keith Hellawell, the "drug tsar", said last week that drug-taking among well-educated teenagers from stable families was the fastest growing part of the drug racket.  Forget cannabis - these kids are going straight for cocaine.

[snip]

This normalisation of illegality merely gives drug-taking added chic for the ever rebellious young.  There aren't many issues left, after all, over which the young can rebel.  Sex, for so long the revolt of choice, is now reduced to a banal spectator sport for all the family.

[snip]

Pubdate:   January 09 2000
Source:   Sunday Times (UK)
Copyright:   2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/
Section:   Comment
Author:   Melanie Phillips
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n033/a01.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/uk.htm


COMMENT: (19)    (Top)

On a lighter note: a man-bites dog story from New Zealand which perfectly illustrates the axiom that all "drug crimes" aren't punished equally.  In this case, a wealthy American pot smoker was allowed to walk AND remain anonymous.

(19) NEW ZEALAND: OPED: QUESTIONS OF JUSTICE    (Top)

The light penalty imposed on a billionaire businessman, caught with more than 100 grams of cannabis resin as he entered the country, raises serious questions about the nature of our justice system.  Although required under an immigration order to leave New Zealand by tomorrow, the man was discharged without conviction and had his name suppressed. He is understood also to have agreed to make a substantial donation to the Auckland drug rehabilitation centre, Odyssey House.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Jan 2000
Source:   Press, The (New Zealand)
Copyright:   2000 The Christchurch Press Company Ltd.
Contact:  
Address:   Private Bag 4722, Christchurch, New Zealand
Fax:   03 364-8238
Website:   http://www.press.co.nz/
Author:   Mike Bruce
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n032/a02.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/aussie.htm


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

MPP Scores a 'Homer'

On January 12, 2000, The Washington Post ran the following opinion piece.  MPP worked with these three patients to write and submit this in early December, when the federal government's new medical marijuana research guidelines formally took effect.

Had MPP paid for an advertisement this size, it would have cost $7,800.

URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n036/a03.html

NOTE:   DrugSense has issued a Focus Alert to help increase the impact of
this super effort.


Todd McCormick Incarcerated

Marijuana activist Todd McCormick has been incarcerated (again). Updates on http://members.home.net/amccormick/


Family Research Council Feedback Page

We question whether trying to inform the Family Research Council of anything factual regarding drug policy holds much hope but for those who enjoy tilting at windmills there is a page where you can offer your opinions.

http://www.frc.org/ie/yourturn.html

The main page can be reviewed at http://www.frc.org/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Men seldom, or rather never for a length of time, and deliberately, rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against." -- Thomas Carlyle


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