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DrugSense Weekly
September 29, 2000 #168


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


    The Coalition for Jubilee Clemency

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-3)
(1) Editorial: Pacifists in The War on Drugs
(2) Campbell Campaign in Search of a Spark
(3) OPED: Drug Treatment is Better Than Prison
COMMENT: (4-6)
(4) Heroin Boom Takes in Suburbs, Small Towns
(5) Homeless Making Drug Runs
(6) Anti-Drug Operation to be Based in El Paso

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (7-9)
(7) TX: Vigil Protests Jailings
(8) Column: How Our Dollars Are Spent In Court
(9) Border D.A.'s Threaten To Quit
COMMENT: (10-14)
(10) OPED: Can The LAPD Reform Itself?
(11) Four Oakland Officers Investigated
(12) OPED: Invasion of SWAT Teams Leaves Trauma and Death
(13) CA: Questions prompted by police shooting
(14) GA: Fulton Woman Slain During Drug Raid

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (15-17)
(15) CA: Massive Pot Farm in Hills Discovered
(16) KY Pot Growers Lacing VA Lands
(17) State Patrol on Prowl For Marijuana Harvesters
COMMENT: (18-19)
(18) Editorial: Reefer Madness
(19) Judge Amends Bail to OK Marijuana Use

International News-

COMMENT: (20)
(20) The Street Value of Canadian Journalism About the War on Drugs
COMMENT: (21-24)
(21) Colombia: Battle Brews Over Plan Colombia
(22) Peru: Adios, Alberto!
(23) Peru: Guilty Until Proven Useful
(24) US Says Asylum in Panama Helped Avert a Coup in Peru

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Journey for Justice Texas
    Topical Shortcut to Journey for Justice News Articles
    HELP WANTED TLC-DPF Legislative Director

* This Just In


    L.A. Confidential

* DrugSense Volunteer of the Month


* Quote of the Week


    Dan Gardner


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

The Coalition for Jubilee Clemency

FAITH LEADERS have been asked to sign the important letter to President Clinton below.  This is truly a coalition of many faith-based organizations.  It can be reviewed and you can help distribute this letter to religious leaders at:

http://www.cjpf.org/clemency/

Honorable William J.  Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr.  President:

As faith leaders who cherish Divine justice and mercy for all persons, we ask you to grant clemency to and to release on supervised parole those Federal prisoners who have served at least five years for low-level, nonviolent involvement in drug cases (as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice).  Mr. President, scores of Americans are serving unconscionably long sentences for drug offenses -- in some cases twenty years or more -- which are grossly out of proportion to the nature and severity of their crimes.  These unduly severe sentences violate human rights and waste scarce criminal justice resources.  The continued incarceration of such offenders does not serve any meaningful purpose.

The constitutional power to grant reprieves and pardons is a unique and powerful tool to express the public's merciful spirit.  As you know, the public has a strong desire for justice and for forgiveness.  By exercising your executive power to forgive these men and women you help heal the devastating effects of race and class disparities in our criminal justice system.  Commuting the sentences of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders will begin to restore much-needed public confidence in our criminal justice system.

Many of these offenders are parents.  Their children are being hurt by these separations.  Their children and their communities need them home. Clemency is the last hope for justice for many of these offenders, as many have exhausted all appeal options available to them.  Mr. President, only you have the power to return these men and women to their families, and to let them become peaceful, productive citizens. We hope, trust, and pray that you will.

Sincerely,


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-3)    (Top)

An editorial writer for a New England regional newspaper took (accurate) inventory of political gains made by the nascent drug reform movement.

Sadly, Tom Campbell's campaign- which had been hoped would bring drug issues to the fore, can't seem to get untracked; witness this article in his home town paper.

Also in California, little attention is being paid to Proposition 36 except on editorial pages; at least the Union-Tribune gave Dave Fratello an opportunity to rebut the untruths told recently by the opposition.


(1) EDITORIAL: PACIFISTS IN THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

It was the largest crowd Senate candidate Carla Howell has addressed since launching her campaign against Ted Kennedy, and it had the most interesting hair and the most excessive tattoos.  It's hard to tell how many of the 40,000 gathered on Boston Common Saturday are registered to vote, but there was no doubt about their enthusiasm for Howell's pledge to end the war on drugs.

[snip]

Is the tide turning against drug prohibition? Perhaps.  "Since Jan. 1, we've had more victories for drug-prevention reform than the past 20 years," Ethan Nadelmann of the Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation told The New York Times last week.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 20 Sep 2000
Source:   MetroWest Daily News (MA)
Copyright:   1999, Community Newspaper Company
Feedback:   http://www.townonline.com/metrowest/misc/forms/metrolet.html
Website:   http://www.townonline.com/metrowest/
Author:   Rick Holmes, news opinion page editor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1419/a10.html


(2) CAMPBELL CAMPAIGN IN SEARCH OF A SPARK    (Top)

Feinstein Not Helping, Declines Drug Debate

Hurting in his efforts to grab voter and media attention, U.S.  Senate candidate Tom Campbell on Tuesday challenged incumbent Sen.  Dianne Feinstein to join him on his first statewide radio program Sunday evening to debate federal drug policy, an issue he's made a major thrust of his campaign.

Feinstein, far ahead in the polls and spending most of her time in Washington while the Senate is in session, swiftly rejected the proposal, promising to debate Campbell after the Senate adjourns.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 20 Sep 2000
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   Barry Witt
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1405/a08.html


(3) OPED: DRUG TREATMENT IS BETTER THAN PRISON    (Top)

In the hit movie "The Sixth Sense," the boy played by Haley Joel Osment explains what he's learned about the ghosts he sees: "They don't know they're dead.  They only see what they want to see." The ghosts go on haunting the living, unaware of how much they're scaring people.

Something similar could be said of many opponents of Proposition 36. Maybe they don't know they're wrong about Proposition 36, because they only see what they want to see when they read it.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 17 Sep 2000
Source:   Age, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2000 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theage.com.au/
Author:   Peter Ellingsen
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1385/a02.html


COMMENT: (4-6)    (Top)

As for the drug war itself, there was- as usual- abundant evidence of its continuing failure.  Also as usual, the drug czar had responses; some of which- as usual- don't make much sense.


(4) HEROIN BOOM TAKES IN SUBURBS, SMALL TOWNS    (Top)

Drug's Cleaner Image Pushes Its Popularity

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Four years ago, Kathryn Logan was 15 and a straight-A student at a suburban high school.

Now, at 19, she's at a California treatment center trying to piece together a life shattered by drugs, especially heroin.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 22 Sep 2000
Source:   CNN.com (US Web)
Copyright:   2000 Cable News Network, Inc.
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://cnn.com/feedback/
Website:   http://www.cnn.com/
Forum:   http://community.cnn.com/
Author:   Pierre Thomas
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1413/a02.html


(5) HOMELESS MAKING DRUG RUNS    (Top)

Mexican Cartels Using Desperate People As Couriers To Cross Border

SAN DIEGO -(AP)- Philip Ginder was living on the streets and in homeless shelters when he met a recruiter with a tempting offer.

"He said, 'You want to make some money running drugs across the border?' and I jumped at it," Ginder, 41, recalled.  "Now, I wish I hadn't done it."

U.S.  Customs Service agents arrested him with nearly 226 pounds of marijuana as he returned to San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico, in a stolen 2000 Ford Expedition last month.  The Iowa native, who said he has been homeless since he was 16, faces Þfive years in prison.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   Ben Fox
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1430/a12.html


(6) ANTI-DRUG OPERATION TO BE BASED IN EL PASO    (Top)

El Paso will soon be home to the headquarters for a $46 million effort to bring federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies together to fight drug trafficking on the border, federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey said Thursday.

The headquarters of the Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, now based in San Diego, will be moved to El Paso at an unspecified date.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 22 Sep 2000
Source:   El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright:   2000 El Paso Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.borderlandnews.com/
Author:   Lou Rutigliano
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1414/a08.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (7-9)    (Top)

The Presidential campaign has shed some light- at least tangentially- on the harsh Texas prison system.  This past week, a protest march of drug reformers tried to add to that exposure.

Thom Marshall, widely read Houston columnist, aided the effort with a wry column on how much public money the drug war spends prosecuting poor people- even as an AP news item suggested that the feds manage to shift that burden to communities least able to afford it.


(7) TX: VIGIL PROTESTS JAILINGS    (Top)

A handful of demonstrators from across the nation gathered Sunday afternoon for a vigil at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan to protest the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders.

[snip]

Organizers of Journey for Justice said their goal is to stop the drug war, in turn ending the mass incarceration of nonviolent drug users.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 25 Sep 2000
Source:   Bryan-College Station Eagle (TX)
Copyright:   2000 The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theeagle.com/
Author:   Holly Huffman, Eagle Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1429/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm


(8) COLUMN: HOW OUR DOLLARS ARE SPENT IN COURT    (Top)

Waiting for the jury to return a verdict, I started wondering how many thousands of bucks we'd spent in that courtroom that day, and trying to figure out just what we are getting for the money.

[snip]

What a production over half of a $10 crack buy.  Seven pre-trial trips to court.  So much time invested by so many officials of our criminal justice system.  So much money spent prosecuting a person who so obviously needs help.

The drug war turns courtroom drama into theater of the
absurd.

Pubdate:   Fri, 22 Sep 2000
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Thom Marshall
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1413/a06.html


(9) BORDER D.A.'S THREATEN TO QUIT    (Top)

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) -- Almost three months after Congress set aside $12 million for local district attorneys stuck with hand-me-down federal drug cases, frustrated prosecutors are still waiting for the money.

The money was supposed to ease the financial crisis facing some local courts along the U.S.-Mexico border with multimillion-dollar tabs for prosecuting the federal cases.

But disagreement flared over how counties could spend the emergency cash, and thus not a single district attorney from Brownsville to San Diego has received a penny.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 20 Sep 2000
Source:   Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright:   2000 Star Tribune
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.startribune.com/
Author:   Megan K.  Stack, Associated Press Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1403/a07.html


COMMENT: (10-14)    (Top)

In California, with the nation's second largest prison system; LA was just forced by the Rampart scandal to sign a consent decree.  Sadly, the OP-Ed only hints at the real question: is it possible to have both drug law enforcement and meaningful Constitutional guarantees at the same time?

That question was reinforced by hints of a fresh police scandal in Oakland and a spate of police shootings of civilians in California and elsewhere.


(10) OPED: CAN THE LAPD REFORM ITSELF?    (Top)

The City Council Has Agreed To A Consent Decree, And Parks Says He'll Implement Reforms.  But The Department's Paramilitary Culture Stands In The Way.

Mayor Richard Riordan and the police chief he hired, Bernard C.  Parks, have finally accepted the inevitable and agreed to reforms that aim to rid the Los Angeles Police Department of corruption and lawlessness.  To accomplish that, the City Council last week voted, 10-2, to enter into a consent degree with the U.S.  Justice Department that spells out the changes the LAPD will have to make.  Big questions remain, however.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author:   Joe Domanick
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1424/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


(11) FOUR OAKLAND OFFICERS INVESTIGATED    (Top)

CORRUPTION ALLEGED IN NARCOTICS ARRESTS

Allegations of police misconduct include planting evidence, falsifying reports, excessive force and giving informants drugs; a rookie cop reported suspicions about his colleagues in July.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author:   Sandra Gonzales
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1421/a02.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm


(12) OPED: INVASION OF SWAT TEAMS LEAVES TRAUMA AND DEATH    (Top)

Alberto Sepulveda is no Elian Gonzalez.  When 11-year-old Sepulveda was shot and killed last week by a SWAT team member during an early morning drug raid on his parents' Modesto home, the story barely made the papers.  Yet, as did the Immigration and Naturalization Service raid on the Gonzalez home in Miami in May, the killing of Alberto Sepulveda highlights a troubling trend in law enforcement: stealth raids on the homes of sleeping citizens by heavily armed government agents.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 22 Sep 2000
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author:   Sharon Dolovich, Acting Professor at UCLA School of Law
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1414/a07.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm


(13) CA: QUESTIONS PROMPTED BY POLICE SHOOTING    (Top)

Two Undercover Officers Fired At An SUV After They Thought Someone Tried To Shoot Them

An undercover operation had gone sour for Anaheim police masquerading as street toughs while following a drug investigation into a Fullerton neighborhood.

[snip]

Only later did they learn that the gunmen who fired at least seven bullets at them were police officers.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source:   Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright:   2000 The Orange County Register
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.ocregister.com/
Author:   Aldrin Brown
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1431/a11.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm


(14) GA: FULTON WOMAN SLAIN DURING DRUG RAID    (Top)

Officers Open Fire After Victim Grabbed Gun As They Burst Into Bedroom Of Her Riverdale Home.

Fulton County police shot and killed a woman in her bed Friday morning during a drug raid.

Lynette Gayle Jackson, 29, of Riverdale was shot after she pointed a gun at SWAT team officers when they yelled "Police" and entered her bedroom, said Fulton police Maj.  Wenda Phifer. The officers were not injured and police would not say if Jackson fired her gun.

Jackson's home had been broken into less than a month ago when she was home.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Source:   Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright:   2000 Cox Interactive Media.
Contact:   Journal: Constitution:
Website:   http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Forum:   http://www.accessatlanta.com/community/forums/
Author:   Joshua B.  Good
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1420/a05.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm


Cannabis & Hemp-
-------

COMMENT: (15-17)    (Top)

It's harvest time; illegal growers and police are busy harvesting cannabis from sites ranging from carefully hidden plots a few miles from San Francisco to feral ditchweed on Nebraska prairies.

Both are working for their own green reward; in the case of police, most of the dollars enter their budget directly from taxpayers.


(15) CA: MASSIVE POT FARM IN HILLS DISCOVERED    (Top)

From 100 feet in the air, it's just another steep hillside covered with madrone, manzanita and cedar.

But if the sun is right, you can just barely see the thousands of emerald green marijuana stalks lurking underneath the canopy.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Source:   San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright:   2000 San Francisco Examiner
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.examiner.com/
Forum:   http://examiner.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author:   Jim Herron Zamora
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1422/a03.html


(16) KY POT GROWERS LACING VA LANDS    (Top)

Crackdown Scoots Drug Over State Line

Kentucky marijuana growers, whose billion-dollar business is under intense assault by the U.S.  government, are pushing east into Virginia to avoid federal detection, sowing abandoned strip mines and national forest land with pot, according to drug authorities in Southwest Virginia.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 25 Sep 2000
Source:   Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright:   2000 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.gatewayva.com/feedback/totheeditor.shtml
Website:   http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Author:   Rex Bowman
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1430/a09.html


(17) STATE PATROL ON PROWL FOR MARIJUANA HARVESTERS    (Top)

It's harvest time in Nebraska.

Forget the combine, put away the tractor, bypass the grain elevator and pull out the biggest garbage bag around.

Because this plant - ill-tended, uncultivated and illegal - is the other Nebraska crop.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source:   Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
Copyright:   2000 Lincoln Journal Star
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.journalstar.com/
Author:   Margaret Reist
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1427/a06.html


COMMENT: (18-19)    (Top)

Other cannabis items were more encouraging; an editorial in the Boston Phoenix rephrased a recurrent question using familiar political examples, while a judge in Maine displayed a deference to voter intent which is unique (at least to my knowledge).

(18) EDITORIAL: REEFER MADNESS    (Top)

Our laws against smoking marijuana don't make any sense

Vice-President Al Gore was something of a pothead during his college and Vietnam days.  Former US senator Bill Bradley smoked the devil's weed when he was a professional basketball player.  New Mexico governor Gary Johnson has not only smoked pot, but also called for its legalization.  And Vermont governor Howard Dean toked up as a teenager. If all these upstanding citizens manage to combine pot smoking with responsible lives, then why are we still putting people in jail for smoking marijuana?

Let's face it: a lot of people smoke pot.  They do so regularly. And despite what you'll hear in a grade-school DARE lecture, pot doesn't have the addictive and destructive qualities of cocaine and heroin.  Nor does it act as a "gateway" to these other, more devastating drugs.  But then, you probably already knew that.  Marijuana, after all, is the third-most-popular recreational drug in this country, following tobacco and alcohol.  Chances are you've toked up once or twice yourself.

[snip]

Pubdate:   21-28 September 2000
Source:   Boston Phoenix (MA)
Copyright:   2000 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group.
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.bostonphoenix.com/standard/feedback.html
Website:   http://www.phx.com/
Note:   LTEs requested at bottom
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1423/a05.html


(19) JUDGE AMENDS BAIL TO OK MARIJUANA USE    (Top)

FARMINGTON - A judge has amended bail conditions for a New Vineyard man charged with growing marijuana to allow him to continue to use it for medical reasons.

District Judge Robert E.  Mullen's decision, likely the first in which a judge has amended bail rules to allow medicinal use of marijuana, stipulates that Leonard Ellis, 62, must comply with Maine's new law.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Source:   Portland Press Herald (ME)
Copyright:   2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.portland.com/
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1420/a04.html


International News
-------

COMMENT: (20)    (Top)

Canadian Journalist Dan Gardner followed up on his landmark series on the drug war with an incisive analysis of his own profession's culpability in allowing it to become such a dominating global folly.


(20) THE STREET VALUE OF CANADIAN JOURNALISM ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

After working for five months in four countries preparing a series on illegal drugs, I think I'm entitled to a little self-indulgence.  So bear with this journalist while he writes about journalism -- specifically, the media's role in the insanity of drug prohibition.

It's a long and sorry record.  Prohibition laws owe their very genesis to "drug scares" fomented by the media.  Maclean's, for one, ran the racist screeds of Emily Murphy that led directly to legislation in the 1920s.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 23 Sep 2000
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2000 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Author:   Dan Gardner, http://www.mapinc.org/gardner.htm
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1427/a11.html


COMMENT: (21-24)    (Top)

Plan Colombia continued to attract attention, although less than in previous weeks; a Washington Post report retailed what we might expect in the near future.

Neighboring Peru, which historically has always played a key role in coca production, stole the lion's share of attention when newly reelected Alberto Fujimori suddenly yielded to mounting pressure and announced his intention to hold new elections in which he wouldn't be a candidate.

Sticky residual questions: does he really mean it? If so, when? In the meantime, it appears that Panama, after some discrete arm-twisting, will grant asylum to Vlademiro Montesinos, Fujimori's shadowy security chief and sometime McCzar buddy.


(21) COLOMBIA: BATTLE BREWS OVER PLAN COLOMBIA    (Top)

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia - Violence is not new to Puerto Asis, a town of 45,000 where rightist paramilitary groups and left-wing guerrillas fight for control of the surrounding drug-growing area.  But fear and uncertainty grip the city these days as the Colombian government, with $1.3 billion in U.S.  funding, prepares an offensive to reestablish government control and wipe out the drug-producing plantations here in province of Putumayo.

[snip]

President Andres Pastrana's government has portrayed Plan Colombia as a strategy for peace that will include social and economic programs for small farmers so they can turn away from growing coca.  But in Puerto Asis, people have heard only of plans to beef up the military, and they expect police to start spraying chemicals on their fields, their livestock and on them, too.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 20 Sep 2000
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2000 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author:   Steven Dudley, Special to The Washington Post
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1401/a11.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm


(22) PERU: ADIOS, ALBERTO!    (Top)

In The Wake Of A Bribery Scandal Involving His Closest Aide, Peru's President Calls For New Elections And Says He Will Step Down.  But Will He Keep His Word?

Sept.  19, 2000 - LIMA, Peru - Citizens immediately took to the streets in celebration after Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's surprise announcement Saturday night that he would step down "as soon as possible" and call new elections.  Fujimori's decision shocked the nation, left even detractors scratching their heads and raised new questions about the future of Peru's relations with the United States and its role in the war on drugs.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 17 Sep 2000
Source:   Age, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2000 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.theage.com.au/
Author:   Peter Ellingsen
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1385/a02.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Peru


(23) PERU: GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN USEFUL    (Top)

Peruvian President Fujimori's Desire For Legitimacy - And The Promise Of U.S.  Drug War Money - Has Helped Prompt A Retrial For Convicted American Terrorist Lori Berenson

[snip]

Peru has in long been central to the plans of drug czar Barry McCaffrey.  In 1998, McCaffrey warmly praised Peru's shadowy secret police chief Vladimir Montesinos, only to back away from Montesinos after human rights advocates pointed out his role in the imprisonment of at least 1,500 innocent individuals under Draconian anti-terrorism laws.  But last year the McCaffrey-Montesinos relationship was rehabilitated, with the drug czar praising Montesinos during a visit to Lima.  Suddenly, the incarceration of a young American woman under dubious circumstances is an obstacle to full enlistment of Peru in the increasingly militarized drug war.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 15 Sep 2000
Source:   Salon.com (US Web)
Copyright:   2000 Salon.com
Contact:  
Feedback:   http://www.salon.com/contact/letters/
Website:   http://www.salon.com/
Forum:   http://tabletalk.salon.com/
Author:   Bruce Shapiro
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1400/a04.html


(24) US SAYS ASYLUM IN PANAMA HELPED AVERT A COUP IN PERU    (Top)

WASHINGTON, Sept.  25 American officials today defended their role in pressing Panama to give refuge to the ousted intelligence chief of Peru, asserting that his departure was necessary to avoid a coup by officers loyal to him.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 26 Sep 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Author:   Christopher Marquis
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1443/a11.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Journey for Justice

An excellent overview of the J4J Texas events by Kevin Zeese have been posted on the Common Sense for Drug Policy web page at:

http://www.csdp.org/j4jtexas/

Overview:  

Critics of the Drug War from Texas will be joined by people from around the country for a week long march to call for a cease-fire in the Drug War.  According to an August, 2000 Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Texas now leads the nation in imprisoning its citizens.  The Journey will make presidential style whistlestops, beginning in Houston en-route to the Capitol in Austin.

The roving caravan is a moving theatre.  Costumed "prisoners" and "police" dramatize the abuses by guards and law enforcement as a patient in a wheelchair rides in a moving prison cell.  The caravan becomes a visually stirring portrayal of the issues affecting American families.  The Journey will highlight the following three critical aspects of the Drug War:

1.The overwhelming incarceration rate of nonviolent people.
2.Police and prison guard abuses in the name of the drug war.
3.The need for medical marijuana for the ill.

See Also:

http://www.JourneyForJustice.org/

http://www.dpft.org/txj4jj.html

MAP has archived the various news coverage of the J4J events at:

http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm


HELP WANTED TLC-DPF Legislative Director

Preeminent national nonprofit drug policy reform organization focusing on public health, education and civil liberties seeks a senior-level policy person for its Washington, DC office to implement organizational policy priorities, monitor Hill activity, prepare testimony and policy papers, coordinate legislative coalition & speak to public and media. Experience in legislative advocacy preferred.  Excellent communication skills and knowledge of public health or criminal justice issues. Competitive salary & benefits.  Send a cover letter and resume to:

The Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation
Attn:   David Leven
925 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

A New DrugNews Digest Feature Designed to Keep You Aware of Breaking News


L.A.  Confidential

Not even in the MAP archive at this writing, a major story is breaking from Salon.com

A former LAPD detective says Chief Bernard Parks had evidence of the scandal a year before it was revealed, but kept it from the district attorney -- and the public.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/09/27/rampart/


DRUGSENSE VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH    (Top)

Alan and Eleanor Randell

This month we recognize Alan and Eleanor Randell.

Alan and Eleanor Randell are one of the many teams who have learned in a very personal way that our drug war is not 'saving the children'.  One of their healing methods is to speak out against the drug war by writing letters to the editor's of many newspapers in hopes that their fellow citizens will understand the fallacies of our failed drug policies.

We asked them a few questions:

1.  When and why did you become involved in the drug policy area?

In feb/93 when our youngest son, Peter, died as a result of ingesting street heroin.

2.  How did you get into writing Letters to the Editor?

I became convinced that this was the most effective way to distribute my message to many people.

3.  What do you consider the most significant story/issue of the past months?

Dan Gardner's series in the Ottawa Citizen.

4.  What are your favorite websites, besides the MAP/DrugSense sites?

Newspapers, Libertarianism.

5.  Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers of the weekly?

The tide is turning.

A sampling of the Randell's letters can be found at:

http://www.mapinc.org/author/Alan+Randell

The Randell's were profiled in Dan Gardner "Losing the War on Drugs" series:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1355/a06.html


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"A seized field of marijuana, say, will have a 'street value' of $200,000 because that's what you might get if you harvested, processed, shipped, and sold the marijuana in small portions.  It's like saying a pond in Northern Ontario is worth $1 million because that's how much it could be worth if it were bottled, shipped and sold at Lollapalooza." -- Dan Gardner, Ottawa Citizen


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