| Sept. 14, 2001 #217 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Table of Contents
| ||||||||||||||
THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||
(1) US NY: DIALLO, TERRORISM AND THE CHOICE OF SAFETY VS. LIBERTY (Top) | ||||||||||||||
ODD as it may seem, Amadou Diallo came to mind yesterday as New York
sifted through the physical and emotional rubble of the World Trade
Center nightmare. | ||||||||||||||
It wasn't so much the terrible way that Mr. Diallo was killed, in a
burst of 41 bullets fired by four nervous, and arguably ill-trained,
police officers. What came to mind was a related issue that his death
in 1999 came to crystallize. | ||||||||||||||
In the name of law and order, how much license do we give the police to stop and question citizens whose sole "crime" is to have been standing on the street or, as in the Diallo case, in the vestibules of their apartment buildings? Hand in hand with this issue is racial profiling and all the emotional levers that the phrase pulls. | ||||||||||||||
What does any of that have to do with the worst terrorist attack in
American history? Simply this: It is quite possible that America will
have to decide, and fairly soon, how much license it wants to give
law enforcement agencies to stop ordinary people at airports and
border crossings, to question them at perhaps irritating length
about where they have been, where they are heading and what they
intend to do once they get where they're going. It would probably
surprise no one if ethnic profiling enters the equation to some
degree. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(2) CN BC: SENATORS HERE TO TALK ABOUT POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Vancouver's reputation as the nation's marijuana mecca has drawn a top-level government committee to town, eager to talk to users, growers and those seeking licences to use pot for medical reasons. | ||||||||||||||
This afternoon, the five-person Special Senate Committee on Illegal
Drugs will hold a public hearing downtown after listening to a who's
who of groups involved with marijuana use. They include the Police
Services Board, B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, From Grief To
Action, B.C. Compassion Club Society, Alcohol Drug Education
Service, Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver Island Compassion Society,
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Harm Reduction Action
Society | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(3) UK: RISING DRUG USE PROMPTS CALL FOR POLICY CHANGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||
The children of the 1990s are not growing out of teenage habits of
taking drugs, including heroin and cocaine, until their late 20s,
Britain's drugs squad officers will be told today. Such rising drug
use among "twentysomethings" puts a large question mark against the
government's targets and their concentration on reducing drug misuse
among under-25s, according to the drugs criminologist, Howard Parker
of Manchester University. | ||||||||||||||
Professor Parker will tell the Association of Chief Police Officers' annual drugs conference that what is needed is a programme to minimise the harm to these "recreational drug users", and to the wider community, from drug driving, accidents, public order offences, poor performance at work, and minor mental health problems. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(4) COLOMBIA: HEROIN FIGHT TAKES SHAPE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
U.S., Colombia Sound Alarm Over Increase | ||||||||||||||
LA CAMPANA, Colombia -- Clinging to a steep hillside 9,000 feet high
in the Andes, Mariana Almendro's tiny garden is a gorgeous blanket of
red, violet and pink opium poppies. Profitable, too, producing a
milky gum that brings about $115 a pound from buyers who turn it into
heroin. | ||||||||||||||
A Guambiano Indian living on a reservation a half-hour drive from
the nearest paved road, Almendro, 48, said she sees nothing wrong
with her illegal crop. | ||||||||||||||
"It just brings in a little money for food," she said. | ||||||||||||||
But U.S. and Colombian officials are sounding an alarm over a
dramatic increase in the number and size of U.S.-bound shipments of
heroin seized in recent months, and a possible boom in poppy
cultivation. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5 - 11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
A new report shows that Tulia is just the tip of the iceberg when it
comes to unethical and racially-motivated drug law enforcement. And
while the drug war is costing a great deal in Texas, it seems to be
bringing great revenue to a New Jersey county. | ||||||||||||||
The release of a new study on drugs in schools shows how different
reporters can focus on different issues. One wire service covered
the study as a lament about the failure of DARE, while another
service viewed it as a shocking expose about schools as dens of
iniquity. | ||||||||||||||
Elsewhere, drug courts were fervently defended against "legalizers."
And, columnist George Will acknowledged that the drug war is
failing, so he suggested the brilliant solution of lowering
expectations for success. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(5) DRUG CRAZED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Millions in federal tax dollars are being spent by narcotics task
forces in Texas to nab low-level users and dealers. Is this any way
to wage a drug war? | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
But the events that occurred last summer in Tulia did not happen in a
vacuum. | ||||||||||||||
Nor was the targeting of minorities and the poor a tactic employed by
only the Panhandle task force. | ||||||||||||||
Instead, Tulia was just the most visible example of these problems as
they relate to regional drug task forces in Texas, which last year
received $31 million in federal money through a U.S. Department of
Justice grant program known as the Edward Byrne Memorial Fund. By far
the largest funder of these narcotics-fighting groups, the Byrne Fund
has distributed billions of dollars to drug task forces across the
nation. | ||||||||||||||
Some of those Texas task forces--especially the ones in rural
areas--are now being accused of employing their own Tulia-like
tactics in dealing with the drug problems in their communities. In
places such as Brady, Hearne, Caldwell, Brownwood, Chambers County
and elsewhere, critics say task force members have relied on
unreliable informants to make cases against small-time, street-level
drug users and dealers who are nowhere close to the epicenter of the
narcotics problem in Texas. Task force officials defend the program
by pointing out that all illegal drugs are illegal. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(6) DRUG MONEY SEIZURE RECORDS DEMANDED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Federal authorities have subpoenaed records related to the Passaic
County Sheriff's Department unit that seized almost $30 million in
drug money in less than three years, acting Sheriff Ronald S. Fava
confirmed Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
"I told them how fruitful it could be, bringing millions of dollars
in drug money to Passaic County, and how it could be used to
subsidize equipment and other things," Speziale said. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(7) CENTER FAULTS PROGRESS OF DARE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Courses Don't Stop Student Drug Abuse | ||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - Sixty-one percent of U.S. high school-age teens and 40
percent of middle school-age children say drugs are used, kept and
sold in their schools, according to a survey released Wednesday by
the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. | ||||||||||||||
The center, a nonprofit institute associated with Columbia University
in New York, also says. neither of the two most popular American
systems for controlling drug abuse by school-age children works very
well. The most popular, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, shows
"little evidence ... of any extended impact," the center concluded
Another frequently used approach, based on harsh penalties for even
minor drug abuse, often discourages students from turning in
substance abusers. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(8) MANY SCHOOLS NOT DRUG-FREE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (AP) - Half of all teen-agers this fall will attend a
school at which drugs are sold, used or kept, according to a national
organization that fights drug abuse. | ||||||||||||||
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University released a report Wednesday detailing drug use and
availability among teens. The federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention estimate that, by the time students complete high
school, 47 percent have smoked marijuana, 24 percent have used
another illicit drug and 81 percent have drunk alcohol. They also
estimate that 70 percent have smoked cigarettes. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(9) DRUG COURTS UNDER ATTACK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
But at the very time that drug courts have evolved into the most important criminal-justice reform movement of this generation, proponents of drug legalization are challenging their very existence. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Nonetheless, drug-legalization initiatives and legislation, such as
California's Proposition 36, are being pushed hard by their
proponents, because they would remove the judge and, by implication,
the court system, from holding drug abusers accountable for their
actions. The court would no longer be able to use its power to guide
the participant toward sobriety with creditable sanctions, as well as
incentives. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(10) BUSH' DRUG CZAR NOMINEE CRITICIZED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- A coalition of civil rights and health groups expressed
concern Thursday that President Bush's choice to lead the nation's
fight against drugs would sacrifice prevention and rehabilitation
programs in favor of punishing users. | ||||||||||||||
The Coalition for Compassionate Leadership on Drug Policy also
criticized John Walters for denying that young black men are
disproportionately jailed on drug charges and for opposing reforms to
mandatory minimum sentencing requirements. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(11) ABOUT COCAINE AND BANANAS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
We Need More Sensible Standards For Deciding If Drug Policies Are, Or
Are Not, `Working' | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
No matter what this wise and experienced man does--no matter how imaginative his mixture of measures to dampen demand for drugs and disrupt the supply of them--a decade from now there will be complaints that drug policy has not "worked" because the "war" on drugs has not been "won." (The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 promised "a drug-free America by 1995.") Then, as now, many will say that legalization would do less harm than current policies do. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (12 - 15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Prisons were referred to as "plantations" this week, not by a
prisoner, but by a guard who clearly saw the racist implications of
the systems. Whatever you call them, prisons also appear to be
teeming with Hepatitis C. | ||||||||||||||
Another police corruption scandal is unfolding in Miami, including
reports that officers slaughtered a 73-year-old man in a drug raid
before planting a gun on him. While the honor of police were on the
line there, a law enforcement officer in West Virginia was defending
the honor of drug snitches (or to use the new politically correct
term, "Good Samaritans") in a bizarre drug trial where police can't
seem to remember who their real snitches, uh, I mean, Good
Samaritans, are. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(12) A VIEW OF PRISON SYSTEM AS SEEN BY BLACK OFFICER (Top) | ||||||||||||||
As a black man and state correctional officer, I feel that the
prison-industrial complex is akin to a "plantation." Anyone familiar
with sharecropping and plantations would understand corrections
today. It's long been perfectly clear to me that if America's crime
begins to fall, as it has, and if we became 100 percent law abiding,
that America's prison systems would look for ways to either import
crime or import prisoners. | ||||||||||||||
We have already done the importing of prisoners, and probably would
opt to do the other if that opportunity ran out. It has always
troubled me how so many minority men and white men on the bottom of
the socio-economic scale always end up in prison for unfair
drug-related charges. | ||||||||||||||
You never see upscale white men in Minnesota prison systems. And that
is confusing because drugs do not emanate from the minority
communities. They merely end up there. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(13) PRISONS SEE SURGE IN CASES OF HEPATITIS C (Top) | ||||||||||||||
PITTSBURGH -- When Charles White was sentenced to prison in Oregon for robbery five years ago, he knew nothing about hepatitis C. It was only after his release in December that he found out he was infected with the blood-borne virus. A prison doctor had told him he had high liver enzymes -- a telltale symptom of the sometimes fatal condition -- and cautioned him against taking aspirin or drinking coffee. Nothing more. | ||||||||||||||
"I asked him, 'What does that mean?'" White said. "He didn't answer my questions, he didn't tell me about hepatitis C, he didn't counsel me." | ||||||||||||||
Inmate advocates say White's experience is common in America's prisons, where a staggeringly high 18 percent of inmates are infected, compared with 1.6 percent of the overall population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That translates into about 360,000 out of the nation's 2 million inmates. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(14) 13 MIAMI COPS CHARGED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
MIAMI - In the city's worst police scandal since the days of "Miami
Vice," 13 current and former officers were accused by federal
prosecutors Friday of planting guns, lying to investigators and
otherwise trying to cover up four shootings in which three people
died. | ||||||||||||||
In one of the shootings, a SWAT team fired 123 bullets into an apartment during a 1996 drug raid and then lied about finding a gun in the hand of the dead 73-year-old man inside, the FBI said. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(15) TROOPER: INAPPROPRIATE TO LABEL DRUG INFORMANTS AS 'SNITCHES' (Top) | ||||||||||||||
A State Police trooper Tuesday defended the integrity of drug cases
against 18 Summers County defendants and said the cases should be
brought to court. | ||||||||||||||
Trooper A.S. Reed said the characterization of confidential informants as "snitches" is inappropriate. "If people are doing something good for their community, they ought to be considered a hero ... If you want to label someone, call them a Good Samaritan." | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (16-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
This week's cannabis section features an article on the Gov. Gary
Johnson/Asa Hutchinson drug war debate. In Canada, Toronto Chief of
Police Fantino advocates decriminalization. The UK's first
Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe is set to open this week, despite bust
warnings from the local "bobbies". | ||||||||||||||
And, Charles Perriello, the American director of a U.S. exchange program was sentenced to five years in prison for selling and using marijuana, in Minsk, Belarus. The KGB had claimed "they saw him smoking marijuana and then found 46 grams of the drug." | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(16) TORONTO POLICE CHIEF CALLS FOR SOFTER MARIJUANA PENALTIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Toronto's police chief says it's time for Canada to decriminalize the
possession and smoking of small amounts of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Fantino says he'd like to see people caught smoking pot simply pay a
fine. He doesn't think they should be saddled with a criminal record.
And, Fantino wants less emphasis on policing pot smokers and more on
prevention to stop young people from trying cannabis in the first
place. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(17) UK POLICE VOW TO CLOSE AMSTERDAM-STYLE SOFT DRUG CAFE | ||||||||||||||
POLICE in Stockport have vowed to shut down an Amsterdam-style
cannabis cafe set to open in a secret location thought to be near the
town centre. | ||||||||||||||
Colin Davies, the Stockport man infamous for presenting the Queen
with a bouquet of marijuana plants, says he will open the
controversial cafe in Stockport on September 15. | ||||||||||||||
The Brinnington man, who has campaigned for the legalisation of
cannabis to help people with illnesses such as multiple sclerosis,
claims he is opening the Dutch Experience cafe for patients who find
the illegal drug eases their symptoms. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(18) GOV. GARY JOHNSON AND DEA HEAD ASA HUTCHINSON IN NM POT DEBATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
ALBUQUERQUE - At a raucous debate Monday, frequently interrupted by
applause and sometimes boos, Gov. Gary Johnson and new Drug
Enforcement Administration Chief Asa Hutchinson butted heads over
drug policy. | ||||||||||||||
Johnson - who has become a nationally recognized advocate for
radically reforming drug laws - reiterated his belief that marijuana
should be legalized and that authorities should emphasize "harm
reduction" policies on the abuse of harder drugs, focusing on saving
lives instead of making arrests. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Hutchinson, a former Arkansas congressman and former federal
prosecutor, stressed his philosophy: Enforcing drug laws is an
important component in combating the drug problem. Hutchinson,
recently appointed to the position by President Bush, stressed that
legalization would lead to more drug addiction. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(19) AMERICAN DIRECTOR OF EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN BELARUS IS SENTENCENCED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
TO 5 YEARS FOR DRUGS | ||||||||||||||
A judge in Belarus has sentenced the American director of a U.S.
nonprofit educational-exchange program to five years of hard labor
after his conviction on drug charges. | ||||||||||||||
Charles Perriello reportedly pleaded guilty to using and possessing
marijuana but denied charges of drug trafficking. | ||||||||||||||
Mr. Perriello was arrested in June when officers of the domestic security services, still known as the KGB, entered his apartment in Minsk while acting on a tip. Officers said they saw him smoking marijuana and then found 46 grams of the drug during a search. | ||||||||||||||
Judge Pyotr Kirkovsky, who found Mr. Perriello guilty Monday on all
counts, said that he imposed half of the maximum 10-year prison term
in light of the defendant's remorse, character references, and lack
of prior convictions. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Saying Peru had been "inundated by narcotics traffickers," the
Peruvian government sought last week to resume US-backed
surveillance flights. However, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
had to cut short a trip to the region, in response to terror attacks
in the US. | ||||||||||||||
Citing "irreversible" environmental damage, as well as a failure to
impede drug production, the Colombian comptroller-general's office
issued a report which recommended aerial spraying be halted. After
another government evaluation of Plan Colombia earlier, Colombian
president Pastrana last week admitted, "The conclusions are not
good." Even following the extradition of accused "drug boss" Fabian
Ochoa, the head of Colombian narcotics police conceded world cocaine
trade would continue unabated. | ||||||||||||||
In Sydney, Australia, a storefront safe injection center has gained
over 800 patients in just three months of operation, the British
Medical Journal reported. Nearby businesses saw "no change in the
ambience of the area." | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(20) PERU SEEKS TO RESTART DRUG-INTERDICTION FLIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
LIMA, Peru ( AP ) -- Peru plans to urge Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell to resume the U.S.-backed antidrug flights suspended after the
Peruvian air force mistakenly shot down an American missionary plane
this spring. | ||||||||||||||
Powell is scheduled to visit Lima on Monday and Tuesday for an
assembly of the Organization of American States. | ||||||||||||||
Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan said Peruvian officials would ask
for clarification of "the dates and conditions in which aerial
drug-interdiction flights could restart." | ||||||||||||||
The missionary plane was shot from the sky April 20 after it was
initially identified as a possible drug flight by a CIA-operated
surveillance plane and then fired on by a Peruvian military jet. A
Baptist missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her 7-month-old daughter,
Charity, were killed. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(21) COLOMBIA DOUBTS ABOUT US-BACKED DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia ( AP )-A government report has raised fresh doubts
about Washington's drug-fighting strategy in Colombia, saying aerial
fumigation of crops may be damaging the environment and is failing to
curb drug production. | ||||||||||||||
The report from the nation's comptroller-general's office urged President Andres Pastrana to suspend the spraying of drug crops until scientists can study the environmental effects of the herbicide. | ||||||||||||||
"The majority of the environmental damages are irreversible," claimed
the report, which was released Saturday. The spraying of cocaine and
heroin-producing crops is a major component of Pastrana's Plan
Colombia, and anti-drug strategy that Washington is supporting with
$1.3billion in aid. | ||||||||||||||
Gonzalo de Francisco, Pastrana's top adviser in the drug war, said the U. S.-backed plan was on track and that criticism that the sprayings were causing environmental damage was unfounded. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(22) U.S. AID AT ISSUE AS COLOMBIA CONFLICT SHIFTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
At the same time, however, there are strong indications that
guerrilla ranks are growing rapidly, as is the amount of acreage
under drug-crop cultivation. | ||||||||||||||
The question now pressing decision-makers in both countries is
whether $1.5 billion in mostly military aid from Washington has made
a difference in Colombia and whether additional aid is needed to
complete the job. | ||||||||||||||
Commanders of the nation's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, insist it is no coincidence that
the army launched a recent 6,000-troop offensive just as Mr. Powell
and other senior U.S. officials began a series of visits to Colombia
starting last month. | ||||||||||||||
"They want to show the United States - Mr. Powell more than anyone
some big results, because they want to get more aid," Raul Reyes, a
top FARC commander, said in an interview in the guerrilla's
government-granted haven in southern Colombia. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Mr. Pastrana told foreign reporters in Bogota on Thursday that it
might be necessary to evaluate the results of Plan Colombia so far to
determine whether it is helping to solve the nation's problems or
making them worse. | ||||||||||||||
"The conclusions are not good," he said. "Drugs continue to be the
biggest or second-biggest business in the world." He described the
international drug-trafficking industry as a $500 billion-a-year
business. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(23) EXTRADITION OF KEY CARTEL FIGURE MAY NOT DAMPEN COCAINE TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia ( AP ) -- The extradition of reputed drug boss Fabio
Ochoa to Miami -- seen as a victory for U.S. drug agents -- won't put
a dent in the world's flourishing cocaine trade, Colombia's top
anti-drug lawman said Saturday. | ||||||||||||||
"There are millions of consumers and thousands of people willing to
supply that demand," said Gen. Gustavo Socha, head of Colombia's
anti-narcotics police. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
(24) TAKEAWAY SHOP CONVERTS TO DRUG CENTRE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
A "shopfront" centre in Sydney's Kings Cross area that gives drug users a safe, medically supervised environment for injecting drugs, has gained 841 registered patients in its first three months. | ||||||||||||||
The centre is in what used to be a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, in
a busy tourist district. | ||||||||||||||
Dr Ingrid VanBeek, medical director of the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, said there had been just over 3000 injecting episodes in 841 registered patients since it opened. There were 244 referrals for dependency treatment including detoxification, self help groups, and use of methadone or buprenorphine ( which was recently added to the list of government subsidised drugs ). | ||||||||||||||
[skip] | ||||||||||||||
Although some local businesses had been worried about increased drug dealing and public affray, none of this seems to have occurred. | ||||||||||||||
Mr Allen Sleiman, who owns the nearby Fountain Cafe, said that he
supports the project and has noted no change in the ambience of the
area since its opening. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Richard Cowan Audio Commentary On Terrorism And Marijuana Prohibition | ||||||||||||||
"The set and setting for marijuana prohibition just changed
fundamentally." | ||||||||||||||
From MarijuanaHeadlineNews for September 11, 2001 with Richard Cowan | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
War on X - When the Metaphor Becomes Too Real | ||||||||||||||
Alan Bock, author of "Waiting To Inhale" published a piece on the overuse of war metaphors, including in the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
New Ecstasy Book Published | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
A Comprehensive Look at the Risks and Benefits of MDMA By Julie Holland,MD editor published by Park Street Press ($19.95) | ||||||||||||||
This book is a non-profit project, with all proceeds from its sales
going toward funding clinical MDMA research, so please, purchase a
copy at your earliest convenience! | ||||||||||||||
For more details, please go to http://www.drholland.com/ | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
DEA Lit 101 | ||||||||||||||
As noted in commentary by WorldNet Daily's Joel Miller, The Smoking Gun has published portions of an interesting list of publications purchased by the DEA. Miller's column "High Time For Reading" is archived at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1665.a11.html | ||||||||||||||
The Smoking Gun piece is here: | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Colombia Mobilization | ||||||||||||||
It seems the Bush Administration is no longer satisfied to wade into the quagmire of Colombia's civil war, opting instead for a swan dive. | ||||||||||||||
There will be an emergency mobilization against US policy in the region on Sept. 27-28 in Washington, DC. I hope you can make it. | ||||||||||||||
Submitted by Sanho Tree | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Blown Away: Inside the Drug War | ||||||||||||||
Patrol boats criss-cross a tropical sea. Huey helicopters swoop down
densely forrested hillsides, while American advisers guide fighter
planes overhead. U.S.-trained troops seek out a well-organized
insurgency. And some in Congress question whether we are in a fight we
can never win. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
NPR On Johnson vs. Hutchison Debate | ||||||||||||||
This is not a recording of the debate, but rather the NPR Morning
Edition coverage of it. The program is currently available as a
streaming audio file at: | ||||||||||||||
For those without streaming audio players, a transcript of the
program can be found at: | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
DrugSense Chat | ||||||||||||||
Dan Abrahamson, Director of Legal Affairs, The Lindesmith Center -
Drug Policy Foundation, will be our special guest in the DrugSense
Chat Room this Sunday evening, 16 September, at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5
p.m. Pacific. The interactive chat room is located at | ||||||||||||||
Dan was at the United Nation's World Conference Against Racism,
Durban, South Africa. August 28 - September 7, 2001 and will be
discussing the conference. Lindesmith-DPF created and published an
open letter, signed by hundreds, for the conference which is at
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/race_conf_letter.html | ||||||||||||||
A collection of news clips specific to the conference is at http://www.lindesmith.org/lindesmith/news/news_wcar2.html | ||||||||||||||
Submitted by Dean Becker | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
DISASTROUS POLICY | ||||||||||||||
By Mike Plylar | ||||||||||||||
Re: "War on drugs a crime" Aug. 25 editorial. | ||||||||||||||
How we ever thought it was a good thing to do this to our own people
is beyond belief. What gives us the right to sentence our own
citizens to literally millions of years of their lives, many for
simple possession of some potion, pill, powder, plant or herb, that
everyone knows naturally attract human consumption? | ||||||||||||||
Many Americans ingest legal and illegal substances simply to feel
some form of euphoria. There's not enough resources on the planet to
explain it or prevent it and it's insanity to try to control it with
prisons, guns, and massive outlays of cash. | ||||||||||||||
The war on drugs may be the perfect bureaucracy, but it's a terrible,
disastrous policy and absolutely not a solution. | ||||||||||||||
You have done our community, the nation and the world a tremendous
service by beginning to expose this catastrophe. | ||||||||||||||
Mike Plylar, | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Honorable Mention Letter of the Week | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Not Just Another Week | ||||||||||||||
By Phillipe Lucas | ||||||||||||||
The start of the week found me busy with preparations for a September 12th appearance in front of the Canadian Senate Sub-Committee on Illegal Drugs, a group of 5 Senators sent out across Canada to hear first-hand testimony on the effects of the war on drugs. All week I practiced my speech (as a known cannabis user, I understand that coherence often equals credibility in such official settings). | ||||||||||||||
Early Tuesday morning I was awoken by a ringing telephone; my mother
was calling to give me THE NEWS, and to ask if I had heard from Mary,
my fiance', who had recently moved to Manhattan to work. I
frantically turned on CNN and dialed her number... | ||||||||||||||
Mary turned out to be just fine. This is by no means the most
dramatic story that you'll hear this week; it's just one more tale of
how the insidious events of September 11th have reached far beyond
the nexus of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. | ||||||||||||||
Unsurprisingly, the Senators postponed their West Coast swing, and so
Wednesday became just another day in my week; yet somehow unlike any
other that came before it. | ||||||||||||||
On September 11th, we were all exposed to the very real horrors of an act of war. Let us all hold each other, help each other, and pray to the gods for an end to suffering and for peace on all battlefronts. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
"We're all going to die, but three of us are going to do something ...
I love you honey." -- Tom Burnett, a California man on UA flight 93
saying goodbye to his wife. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense
offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you. | ||||||||||||||
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS: | ||||||||||||||
Please utilize the following URLs | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analyses by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Phillipe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod () | ||||||||||||||
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists. Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO DRUGSENSE ON-LINE | ||||||||||||||
-OR- | ||||||||||||||
Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to: The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
D/B/a DrugSense | ||||||||||||||
PO Box 651 |
 | current issue | this issue |