| February 9, 2001 #186 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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This Just In | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) SESSIONS QUESTIONS DRUG INTERDICTION POLICIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Senator's Letter To General Accounting Office Prompts Inquiry. | ||||||||||||||||||
The drug trade isn't just big business for traffickers trying to
smuggle cocaine and other illegal substances into the United States.
Each year, an array of federal agencies get billions of taxpayer
dollars in the never-ending battle to keep drugs out. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"I think on drug interdiction, we're just plowing ahead with old ideas
that I'm afraid aren't very effective," Sessions, R-Mobile, said at a
Monday news conference in his office. "And we're spending a good bit of
money." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) STRAW RELAXES LAW ON CANNABIS POSSESSION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Government moved yesterday to relax the laws on the use of cannabis by
pledging to remove the "stigma" attached to hundreds of thousands of people
caught in possession of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
In an important move towards liberalisation of the law, the Home Office
said people cautioned for having cannabis would no longer have to declare
their offence to employers or immigration officials as their offences would
be immediately treated as "spent". | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) THE SIMPLE SCIENCE OF ECSTASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Before Jessica Malberg co-authored a landmark research study on MDMA in
1998, she knew little more than the rest of us about the drug commonly
called Ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||||
But she'd made a few observations. | ||||||||||||||||||
Up until the mid-'80s, Jessica noted, the press on it was phenomenal.
"I'd read about it in The New York Times," recalls Malberg, who was
then a New Jersey high school student. "I remember reading that it was
a really safe drug." | ||||||||||||||||||
Not just safe. Therapeutic! | ||||||||||||||||||
"Penicillin for the soul" was but one accolade lavished upon this
laboratory creation we now damn as deadly. The truth must lie somewhere
between. But where? | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) VIOLENCE, TEEN DRUG USE ARE ASHCROFT PRIORITIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Attorney General John D. Ashcroft outlined his top priorities to senior
staffers yesterday, telling them that reducing gun violence, opposing
teen drug use and battling discrimination against women and minorities
in housing and voting will be his key early goals, a senior Justice
Department official said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
As we await appointment of the new drug czar, there's no shortage of conflicting opinions on the domestic "war" he will inherit. | ||||||||||||||||||
Many, like the first editorial called for moderation; others, like an
ex-Senator from Illinois were frankly dissatisfied with the past and
willing to admit uncertainty. Others demanded that we continue to
"just say no" in the harshest possible terms. Finally, a long Newsweek
piece was a classic muddle of incoherence-- even while a companion
piece in the same issue explains why "just say stop" is at least as
futile as "just say no." | ||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps they miss the point because they assume our policy is really
about drug use and not about perpetuating a uniquely profitable
failure. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) U.S. IS WAKING UP TO DRUG WAR FIASCO (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
For years, the nation has been trying to combat drug use and addiction
with tough law enforcement - aggressive policing, firm prosecution and
long prison sentences. But the results have been mixed at best. And all
across the country, doubts about the drug war are not only surfacing
but also leading to changes in policy. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) CREATIVE IDEAS NEEDED TO STEM USE OF DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps you who read these words can help provide answers to a serious
national problem that produces an abundance of political speeches, but
too few solid answers: our "war on drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||
It is not a war on drugs, but a skirmish. If we really had a war on
drugs we would have better solutions to what is a significant cause for
alarm, and a tragedy in the lives of too many families. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) WAR ON ILLEGAL DRUGS SHOULD BE ESCALATED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In his Jan. 11 opinion, "DRUG WAR'S CASUALTIES OUTNUMBER IT'S
VICTORIES." David Klinger of the pro-legalization Cato Institute
castigated the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
The view was seriously deficient in reality and simply reverberated the
din of the pro-pot lobby. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The film "Traffic" shows how futile treatment is. While it is only
humane to provide treatment to addicts, one does not win a war by
treating the wounded. | ||||||||||||||||||
There is not one affection of society that is not created or worsened by the use of psychoactive and addictive substances. The scourge of drugs should be likened to the Bubonic Plague and treated accordingly. This plague was not eradicated by tending to the sick and dying. It was eradicated by killing the rats that carried the deadly fleas. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) ABUSE IN AMERICA - THE WAR ON ADDICTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Fresh Research And Shifting Views Of Treatment Are Opening New Fronts
In A Deadly Struggle | ||||||||||||||||||
Maybe you've seen the movie: Dad, an Ohio judge and the nation's new
drug czar, needs a cocktail to "take the edge off." Mom has her own
youthful history with drugs and scoffs at Dad's suggestion that she was
just "experimenting." Their 16-year-old daughter, a lovely straight-A
student at a fancy private school, starts freebasing cocaine, then
turns tricks to pay for her habit. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
While policy revolutions--like legalizing narcotics or somehow
eradicating supply--are pipe dreams, change is coming to the world of
addiction and drug policy. Voters in several states are far ahead of
the politicians, approving ballot initiatives that offer more treatment
options. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) THE BRAIN: THE ORIGINS OF DEPENDENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
New Research On How Cocaine, Heroin, Alcohol And Amphetamines Target
Neuronal Circuits Is Revealing The Biological Basis Of Addiction,
Tolerance, Withdrawal And Relapse | ||||||||||||||||||
One by one, each crack addict took his turn in the fMRI tube, its
magnets pounding away with a throbbing bass. ... | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"It may start with the voluntary act of taking drugs, but once you've
got it, you can't just tell the addict 'Stop,' any more than you can
tell the smoker 'Don't have emphysema.' Starting may be volitional.
Stopping isn't." | ||||||||||||||||||
Although the biological basis of tolerance, addiction and withdrawal is yielding some of its secrets, relapse is harder to explain. | ||||||||||||||||||
Why does an addict who has abstained for weeks, months or longer
suddenly reach for the needle or the bottle? | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (10-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
It was also a week of focus on MDMA, the latest illegal product to
become a runaway success; Marcia Rosenbaum's Op-Ed in the LAT called
attention to her San Francisco conference sponsored by Lindesmith
West. Salon senior writer Pamela Brown attended; and provided a quick,
largely accurate (though archly cute) summary. | ||||||||||||||||||
US News and World Report ran a traditional scare piece relying mostly
on the DEA for "information." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) 'JUST SAY NO' WINS FEW POINTS WITH RAVERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The big news out of a recent key study measuring trends in high school
drug use was that while the use of all illegal substances had leveled
off last year, regular Ecstasy use among 12th-graders had increased
significantly--up from 5.6% in 1999 to 8.2% in 2000. A survey released
in November by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America showed a similar
pattern. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps the most significant problem facing would-be MDMA users is
deadly adulterants masquerading as Ecstasy. I support efforts of
organizations like DanceSafe, which tests pills... | ||||||||||||||||||
We could, of course, continue to try (unsuccessfully) to scare
teenagers into abstinence, as we have for two decades. But I believe a
more realistic, pragmatic approach to Ecstasy is "harm reduction." ...
safety should be the bottom line. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) THE DISUNITED STATES OF ECSTASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
At An All-day Conference On MDMA, Ravers, Researchers And Anti-drug Crusaders Debate Its Pros And Cons. Consensus? Just Say Maybe. | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN FRANCISCO -- On the first Friday in February, George Zimmer,
unabashed CEO of the Men's Wearhouse ... is here today, at the State of
Ecstasy conference, because he is interested in "dialogue" about the
drug; and because the conference's organizer, Marsha Rosenbaum, is a
good friend of his... | ||||||||||||||||||
The State of Ecstasy conference is being touted as the "first of its kind," a place where researchers, academics, therapists, drug advocates and anti-drug crusaders -- along with a healthy dose of blissful drug users -- can sit down and talk about the love drug and its rise in American culture. Sponsored by the Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy Foundation and the San Francisco Medical Society, the conference has the smack of medical legitimacy but the vibe of a love-in.... | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The general consensus at the conference is that yes, ecstasy may damage
your brain in some undetermined way, but it's also a powerful drug that
can lead to useful kinds of enlightenment. ... | ||||||||||||||||||
After all, "Just Say No" has failed at least two generations of
teenagers, and ... it's clear that ever-stricter laws and anti-drug
propaganda aren't deterring a disaffected youth distrustful of
authority and out to have a good time. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) CRACKING DOWN ON ECSTASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Law Enforcement Is Treating The 'Hug Drug' As If It Were The Next
Cocaine. Is It? | ||||||||||||||||||
In September 1999, two young case agents at the Drug Enforcement
Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles...
stumbled upon a major international ecstasy and cocaine distribution
syndicate. And all of a sudden, ecstasy--until then considered small
potatoes in the drug world--popped on to the government's radar
screens--big time. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Young users. What's most worrisome, say officials, is that younger and
younger Americans are trying it. Today, the use of ecstasy is growing
faster than any other illegal drug in the United States, according to
the White House drug czar's office. ... | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Newsweek also published a clueless piece on Robert Downey Jr.; isn't
there one editor who reads the entire magazine? | ||||||||||||||||||
Speaking of clueless, it's hard to beat the editorial writer for the
Lima (OH) News who argues that although our drug policy is a costly
failure, it has incarcerated many bad people who really deserve to be
in prison. | ||||||||||||||||||
Whatever our policy's goals and claims, we are continuing to arrest a
disproportionate-- and ever increasing-- number of poor and dark
skinned people for "drug crime." | ||||||||||||||||||
An atypical casualty, one of a record 59,000 arrested for marijuana
smoking by the NYPD last year, provided the details in the New Yorker;
even as the questionable theory justifying such policing came under
fire in Academe. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) ROBERT DOWNEY JR: ONE DAY AT A TIME (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A Gifted Actor Who Can't Do Wrong On-Screen, Downey Can't Seem To Help
Himself In Private | ||||||||||||||||||
Addiction Predilection: Robert Downey Jr | ||||||||||||||||||
Feb. 12 issue - Early in "The Last Party," Robert Downey Jr's 1993 documentary about the Clinton-Bush presidential contest, the actor gives a startling description of his own internal psychic face-off. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Experts know that relapses are common on the road to recovery, and not always signs of complete failure. Still, some believe that Downey has not tried hard enough. "He needs a substantial period of treatment-six months, a year, maybe longer," says Joseph Califano Jr, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) DRUG WAR FILLING PRISONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In every society, in every era throughout history, there has been a
class of hard-core sociopaths who have habitually preyed upon others.
Sometimes, with a helping hand from the law itself. | ||||||||||||||||||
Take Prohibition, for an example. It sought to outlaw a personal
predilection among consenting adults and wound up simply driving
drinkers underground into the notorious "speak-easies" of the 1920s,
which tended to be owned and operated by gangsters. After all, no
legitimate business could sell alcohol. So, the criminal element
filled the void. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) REPORT FROM A NEW YORK MOST NEVER SEE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The New York author Darryl Pinckney is a man with literary pedigree. | ||||||||||||||||||
So why did Mr. Pinckney - frequent contributor to The New York Review
of Books, novelist, librettist who has collaborated with Robert
Wilson, and occasional writer for The New Yorker magazine - choose to
write in great personal detail about his recent squalid excursion
into the New York City prison system after an arrest on the street
for smoking marijuana? | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Pinckney said he wrote the essay - which appeared in the Feb. 5
issue of The New Yorker - because his experience exposed a part of
New York that most New Yorkers never see. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It was shocking but mostly because of what it put me in touch with,
all the things you don't see in New York, whatever your life is," he
said. "It is like ripping away the wall and there are termites all
over, a parallel world you know nothing about until you happen to
fall into it." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) POKING HOLES IN THE THEORY OF 'BROKEN WINDOWS' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
If there were a Hall of Fame for influential public-policy ideas, then the "broken windows" thesis would probably have its own exhibit. In an Atlantic Monthly article by that name published in 1982, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling popularized the idea that neighborhoods that neglected minor signs of decay and disorder were opening the door to serious crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
"One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares," they wrote,
"and so breaking more windows costs nothing." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (17-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
More futility at the federal level: a much ballyhooed Caribbean "bust"
turns out to be largely padded, it also seems U.S. banks are among the
most culpable launderers of foreign money. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(17) DEA'S LATIN `TAKEDOWN' BOOSTED BY DUBIOUS FIGURES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Drug Enforcement Administration used
suspect figures to tout the success of a 36-nation ``major takedown''
of drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Latin America last fall,
according to an examination of the operation. | ||||||||||||||||||
The DEA's scorecard on ``Operation Libertador'' reported 2,876 arrests,
but agency officials could not provide evidence to support hundreds of
them. Hundreds more were routine busts for marijuana possession, and
some drug eradication figures were double-counts of a State Department
program to burn marijuana plants. And while the DEA said $30.2 million
in criminal assets were seized during Libertador, $30 million of that
was confiscated four weeks before the operation began. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) U.S. BANKS GIVE ACCESS TO MONEY LAUNDERING, YEAR-LONG PROBE FINDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
US banks are providing a gateway for "rogue" foreign banks to launder
billions of dollars of cash from illegal activities such as Internet
gambling, investment scams and drug trafficking, according to a
year-long congressional investigation. | ||||||||||||||||||
Leading US banks - including Chase Manhattan and Bank of America - have become facilitators in money laundering by operating so-called correspondent accounts for high-risk foreign banks, it says. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In California, Steve Kubby's campaign to force rogue DAs to either
follow reasonable guidelines or face recall has not only started (the
Marin County DA faces a recall election on May 22), it seems to be
bearing fruit. | ||||||||||||||||||
Witness long standing charges dropped in Ventura County and some
evidence that reason is finally prevailing in Sonoma. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS SEEK POT GUIDELINES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Some Medical Pot Supporters Urge Sonoma County's Prosecutor To Either
Set Standards Or Face A Recall | ||||||||||||||||||
Medical marijuana advocates seeking to recall the district attorney in
Marin County said they will target Sonoma County's top prosecutor if he
also keeps pursuing those cases. | ||||||||||||||||||
Following this week's acquittal of a Santa Rosa man accused of growing more marijuana than he needed for medical purposes, the American Medical Marijuana Association urged District Attorney Mike Mullins to either adopt guidelines that protect users or leave them alone. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mullins said his office will work on possible guidelines following
Alan MacFarlane's acquittal. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Kubby said the group, based in Dana Point, is taking on several county
prosecutors to defend the voter-approved right to grow and use
marijuana for medical uses. Marin County District Attorney Paula Kamena
faces a May 22 recall election. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) DISTRICT ATTORNEY DROPS MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
After tearful testimony from a Camarillo woman who claimed marijuana provided her only relief from pain, prosecutors decided Wednesday to dismiss marijuana cultivation charges against the woman and her husband. | ||||||||||||||||||
Lisa and Craig Schwarz were among the first in Ventura County to invoke
Proposition 215, the voter-approved medical marijuana act, as a defense
against criminal charges. | ||||||||||||||||||
Sheriff's deputies arrested the couple more than 18 months ago after a
search of their home uncovered 68 marijuana plants. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"If this decision came a year ago, it would have surprised me," Nick
said. "But the last year has been an educational process for the
District Attorney's Office." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (21-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Elsewhere, of three articles on cannabis carried by the British
Journal of Psychiatry, two warned of risks to the mental health of
heavy users and one recognized its medical benefits. | ||||||||||||||||||
The latter were also recognized in an Oregon article reporting on two
patients with unusual problems who were given a new lease on life by
the recently passed initiative. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(21) UK: CANNABIS 'DAMAGES MENTAL HEALTH' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Using cannabis can have a serious effect on mental health, warn
scientists. They say it can provoke negative mood changes, induce
psychosis and have a severe effect on mental illnesses. | ||||||||||||||||||
It has also been linked to an increased risk of accidents and
respiratory and cardiovascular problems. | ||||||||||||||||||
Scientists say must these be weighed against any possible health
benefits if there is to be a change in the law. | ||||||||||||||||||
Three articles in the British Journal of Psychiatry look through
research and weigh up the pros and cons of the drug and its effect on
the body. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(22) RELUCTANT ADVOCATES SAY IT'S THE BEST OPTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Andrea Stone lies on a futon in a small room she rents in an old house
at the foot of Skinner Butte. | ||||||||||||||||||
It's just after noon, and Stone struggles to get her ailing body moving. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In marijuana, Stone and thousands of other sick people have found a
drug that helps them in ways that other drugs don't. It curbs nausea,
stimulates appetite, eases pain, relaxes muscle spasms and combats the
side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Sharon Place was watching her 13-year-old son waste away. He was unable to keep food down, vomiting violently after eating. He'd been in and out of hospitals six times in two years, one time for six weeks. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"It is now my belief in the year and a half I've treated (the boy) that
the benefits have outweighed the risks," said the doctor, who asked
that he not be named. "I see a kid who hasn't been hospitalized in over
a year, who by my assessment is doing well. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (23-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Although nothing like economic and social instability plaguing Mexico
and Colombia, Canada has been affected by the drug war waged at the
insistence of its Southern neighbor. The desperate conditions in
Vancouver's drug ridden Downtown Eastside are now infamous; so also is
the biker turf war; allegedly being fought for control of the drug
trade. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(23) A PROBLEM TOO BIG TO IGNORE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
You can ignore the drug problem in downtown Vancouver, but you have to
stay away from downtown. | ||||||||||||||||||
As the streets bustle with lunch-time traffic, just about every corner
features a heroin addict looking for a little spare change. And just a
few blocks east of the tourist epicentre -- the Pan Pacific, the
cruise-ship and sea-bus terminals -- is a no-man's land called the
Downtown Eastside, where even the most determined effort to avoid
unpleasantness is bound to fail. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(24) CANADIAN MOTORCYCLE GANGS GUN FOR CONTROL OF ILLEGAL DRUG TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
MONTREAL -- The hit took place at 10 in the morning. | ||||||||||||||||||
Two men dressed in black walked up to a man unloading his car, pumped
five bullets into his back and ran away across a parking lot. Michel
Auger, the reporter who knew too much about organized crime and put it
all in the newspaper, staggered but did not fall. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The violence has killed 157 people in Quebec since 1994, police say.
Gangs have allegedly intimidated farmers into growing marijuana, taken
over small-town drug markets, beaten up bar owners, killed two prison
guards and issued death threats against judges, police officers and
prosecutors. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (25-26) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
From Colombia: still no reports of resistance to a vigorous
defoliation project in Putamayo which is reported to have hit both
coca and legal crops. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Mexico, the new Presidente is still claiming he will move against
corruption, but reading between the lines, the response seems a little
less enthusiastic each week. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Australia, 90% of what's sold as "E" is bogus. That there's still
considerable demand says a great deal about the power of the press to
advertise illegal products. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(25) NO CROPS SPARED IN COLOMBIA'S COCA WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SANTA ANA, Colombia, Jan. 29 - With considerable training and financing from the United States, the Colombian Army has begun an aggressive land and air assault on the country's coca-growing heartland, claiming to have killed a quarter of all coca crops there in the last six weeks. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
On a half-hour helicopter flight with Gen. Mario Montoya over what
was once Colombia's most bountiful coca-producing region, fields that
once were bright green with coca and other plants were a pale brown,
wiped free of vegetation for miles around. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(26) FOX SEEKS ALLIES AGAINST CRIME (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Mexican Leader Asks Citizens To Enlist In War On Drugs, Corruption | ||||||||||||||||||
TIJUANA -- Bringing his anti-crime crusade to one of Mexico's most violent cities, President Vicente Fox yesterday urged citizens to become watchdogs who turn in criminals and denounce corruption. | ||||||||||||||||||
As he pleaded for help from the public, Fox said his government will offer unprecedented access to government files, allowing ordinary Mexicans to scrutinize police and prosecutors as never before. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(27) ECSTASY CON: IT'S THE UNREAL THING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Ecstasy is touted as the risk-free, feel-good drug of the world's
thriving dance and club scene. Deaths are relatively rare, and official
figures suggest the use of the drug is widespread. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, about 5 per cent of Australians over 14 have tried ecstasy - but the alarming fact is that most of these people have taken nothing of the sort. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to the Victorian police drug squad, less than 10 per cent of the "ecstasy" on the Australian market comes from overseas. The real thing - likely to be these imported tablets - generally contains MDMA. The remaining 90-plus per cent is Australian made and the chances of a locally made tablet containing even a trace of ecstasy are negligible. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Lindesmith Ecstasy Conference - Listen On-line | ||||||||||||||||||
The excellent and well attended Ecstasy Conference organized by The
Lindesmith Center West has been archived and can be listened to using
RealAudio. All seven or so hours can be reviewed at: | ||||||||||||||||||
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Sanho Tree was on the Pacifica Network's Democracy Now' news show
Tuesday, Feb. 5, talking about Plan Colombia. | ||||||||||||||||||
It was a great show. Also appearing with Sanho was Carlos Salinas, acting director of government relations for Amnesty Now. | ||||||||||||||||||
A RealMedia audio stream of the show is available at: | ||||||||||||||||||
Click on "LINKING THE U.S. TO COLOMBIA'S DEATH SQUADS" | ||||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Doug McVay | ||||||||||||||||||
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New Common Sense Ad Online | ||||||||||||||||||
Will President Bush lead us from drug policies often of ignorance and
opportunism to just approaches based upon peer reviewed research and
decency? | ||||||||||||||||||
This ad is also available in printer-ready Portable Document Format
(PDF) | ||||||||||||||||||
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New American Medical Marijuana Association URL | ||||||||||||||||||
DrugSense is pleased to announce that we have moved the AMMA website
from http://www.drugsense.org/amma/ to its very own domain. Please
update your links and bookmarks to: | ||||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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In his oped of Feb. 4 in the Los Angeles Times, "Fighting A War Armed With
Baby-Boomer Myths" [1], Justice Policy Institute Senior Researcher Mike
Males argued that "Today's war on drugs sustains itself by depicting white
suburban teenagers menaced by inner-city youths' habits." We agree that
this is one of many myths sustaining current drug policy. However, Males
went on to accuse baby boomers, both supportive and critical of the drug
war, of exploiting "moral panic over any drug use by kids" to advance
their agendas. | ||||||||||||||||||
Wrote Males, "The 'teenage heroin resurgence' repeatedly trumpeted in
headlines and drug-war alarms is fabricated; it shows up nowhere in
death, hospital, treatment or survey records." Alas, Males is mistaken
[2]. | ||||||||||||||||||
Males continued, "... drug-reform publications such as DrugSense Weekly
allege an 'increase in heroin use among our youth' to indict the drug
war." [3] | ||||||||||||||||||
It was indeed our intent to indict the drug war. It was not our intent to exploit or scapegoat minors nor panic parents. We appreciate that there is little if any statistical relationship between access, usage rates and the severity of the law or its application. [4] | ||||||||||||||||||
Males disagrees, "Mike Gray, author of 'Drug Crazy,' and other
reformers claim decriminalizing and regulating marijuana for adults
would make it harder for teenagers to get. Ridiculous." | ||||||||||||||||||
As Mike Gray responded [5], "eight out of ten high school seniors
consistently say they find marijuana 'fairly easy' or 'very easy' to
get -- in fact, easier to get than alcohol." [6] | ||||||||||||||||||
Males explains, "The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reports 12- to 17-year-olds use legal, adult-regulated cigarettes and alcohol 100 times more than they use heroin; two to three times more teens drink or smoke than use the most popular illicit, marijuana." | ||||||||||||||||||
Following along with Males' precarious leap from availability to usage rates, the drugs used most by adults are alcohol and tobacco as well. In the language of statistics, the popularity of these drugs and their use by both adults and teens is "endogenous" to their legal status. | ||||||||||||||||||
Correct inferences about the effect of legal status on teen use, much
less teen access, cannot be made by correlating legal status and usage
rates given this problem. Correct inferences can be made by tracing use
patterns over time as legal status changes. [7] Recall much of the
opposition to alcohol prohibition was generated by the fact that youth
alcohol abuse rates rose during that period. [8] | ||||||||||||||||||
Males concludes, "In short, teenagers are not the issue." | ||||||||||||||||||
Teen access and usage rates are two of many relevant issues when
considering the pros and cons of various regulatory models. As Males
observes, "protecting the kids" is one of the primary justifications
for the drug war. We would be remiss as reformers if we neglected to
point out that the "message" prohibition allegedly sends to teens by
criminalizing their parents is not being heard. The emperor wears no
clothes. That is not to say we wish to exploit, persecute or scapegoat
nudists. | ||||||||||||||||||
We assume Males recognizes the importance and supports the goal of
reducing teen access and minimizing the harm of teen drug abuse. For
the most part, all parents, both for and against the drug war, have a
natural and understandable instinct to protect their children from
substance- and prohibition-related harm. This is neither new nor
surprising. | ||||||||||||||||||
As Prof. Kenneth D. Rose observed, "Intriguingly, even though the women
on the two sides of the prohibition issue had diametrically opposed
political agendas, the arguments employed by prohibition women and by
repeal women were often mirror images of each other. Far from being a
moribund relic of the nineteenth century, the domestic philosophy of
home protection dominated the rhetoric and iconography of women who
involved themselves in this debate." [9] | ||||||||||||||||||
Reform groups such as DrugSense, Family Watch and the November
Coalition [10] who call our attention to the failure of current policy
to protect teens as advertised and, more importantly, to the collateral
damage the drug war visits on families, women and children, are quite
sincere. | ||||||||||||||||||
That there is no evidence that prohibition significantly reduces teen
access or usage rates compared to less expensive and socially destructive
regulatory models is by no means the lone or most compelling issue, but
it does bear repeating. | ||||||||||||||||||
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[1] Fighting A War Armed With Baby-Boomer Myths | ||||||||||||||||||
[2] According to the 1999 MTF (Monitoring the Future Survey), rates of
heroin use remained relatively stable and low since the late 1970s.
After 1991, however, use began to rise among 10th- and 12th-graders
and after 1993, among 8th-graders. In 1999, prevalence of heroin
use was comparable for all three grade levels. Although past year
prevalence rates for heroin use remained relatively low in 1999,
these rates are about two to three times higher than those reported
in 1991. | ||||||||||||||||||
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[3] DrugSense Weekly Newsletter, #149, May 12, 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||
[4] "We understand that if the sanctions for cannabis possession and
cultivation, both in the law and its enforcement, were to be
substantially reduced there would be a risk that more people would
use it. But the international evidence does not suggest that this is
inevitable or even likely." | ||||||||||||||||||
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/runciman/ | ||||||||||||||||||
[5] See Mike Gray's response in "Is Prohibition Or Reform Better For Kids?", MAP Focus Alert #197 http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0193.html | ||||||||||||||||||
[6] Drug War Facts: Adolescents | ||||||||||||||||||
[7] "... in those American states (eleven) which have reduced the
possession of marihuana from a criminal offence to a regulatory
offence (enforced by way of a ticket or fine), consumption rates do
not appear to have been significantly affected. These rates are not
out of line with the rates of use in comparable states where
possession of marihuana is punishable by imprisonment. At times they
are actually lower, suggesting that marihuana consumption rates tend
to rise and fall independent of the law." | ||||||||||||||||||
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[8] "In determining the age at which an alcoholic forms his drinking habit, it was noted: 'The 1920-1923 group were younger than the other groups when the drink habit was formed' (Pollock, 1942: 113)." | ||||||||||||||||||
http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/nc/nc2a.htm | ||||||||||||||||||
[9] American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition / Kenneth D. Rose, 1997. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0814774660/familywatch | ||||||||||||||||||
[10] Family Watch, http://www.familywatch.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Few of us can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow
make sense. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is
punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence
has to be internally denied." -- Arthur Miller | ||||||||||||||||||
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