-------------------------------------------------------------------
Suspect In Slaying Of Officer Commits Suicide In Jail ('Associated Press'
Article About Target Of Warrantless Break-In By Portland Marijuana Task Force
That Resulted In One Cop Killed, Two Wounded, Fails To Address Essential
Factual Issue - Was Cannabis Found In Dons' Fireplace, Corroborating Basis
For Break-In, Or Was There No Cannabis In Fireplace, Meaning Police Lied,
Break-In Was Illegal, And Dons Was Innocent And May Have Been Killed By Cops
To Prevent Lawsuits And Appeals In Hundreds Of Cases Where Cops
Said They Smelled Pot Burning Or Growing?)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:24:10 -0800
From: Paul Freedom (nepal@teleport.com)
Organization: Oregon State Patriots
To: Cannabis Patriots (cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com),
"libnw@circuit.com" (libnw@circuit.com)
Subject: CanPat - MURDERED! Suspect in slaying of officer commits suicide in jail
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com
Suspect in slaying of officer commits suicide in jail
By LAUREN DODGE
The Associated Press
02/25/98 1:06 PM Eastern
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A man accused of fatally shooting a police officer
during a marijuana raid apparently used his bedsheets to strangle himself in jail
this morning, police said.
Steven Dons, who was paralyzed from the waist down in last month's shootout
with officers, was found dead at about 4:30 a.m. during a routine check on his
medical room at the Multnomah County Jail.
"It appears he used some parts of the bedding in the room to strangle himself,"
sheriff's Lt. Brian Martinek said at a news conference. "It appears he committed
suicide."
"He was not under a suicide watch, no. We had no reason to believe ... that he
was going to kill himself."
The 37-year-old Dons was being held on aggravated murder charges in the Jan.
27 death of Officer Colleen Waibel, the city's first female officer killed in the line
of duty.
Martinek said Dons' room had been given a visual check twice an hour during
the night. Officers said they last spoke to Dons about 1:30 a.m. and he said
nothing unusual.
It was only when a nurse came in to shift Dons in his bed that officials realized
he was dead. He was not found hanging, but was lying in his bed and appeared
at first glance to be sleeping.
Martinek said Dons was found hooked to part of the apparatus on the bed,
attached by either clothing or bedding.
When asked how a 250-pound in his condition could strangle himself, Martinek
said: "That's what we're looking into."
After a morning news conference, jail officials gave reporters and camera crews
a tour of the fourth floor room where Don's had killed himself hours earlier.
The 12-by-12-foot cell was equipped with only a wheelchair, a chair piled with
blankets and an adjustable medical bed with a metal T-bar over the top.
Scratched on the inside of the door was some graffiti that read: "Death to all
men."
There also was a glass-enclosed video camera in the corner of the ceiling, which
was covered in dried toothpaste. Police said the camera was obsolete and was
not in use at the time of the suicide. It was not clear how long the toothpaste
had been there.
Lt. Ron Bishop said there have been about 10 suicides since the ward opened
in 1983 and there is very little anyone can do to stop someone intent on killing
themselves.
"If someone has the will, they are going to do it," Bishop said, adding that one
inmate killed himself several years ago by picking up a bed and dropping it on
his throat.
Dons also was charged with attempted aggravated murder and assault in the
shooting and wounding of Officer Kim Keist, and a male officer who was shot
in the hand.
Five officers visited Dons rented home after they smelled marijuana smoke and
had reason to believe he was destroying evidence from a pot growing
operation. While in the process of obtaining a search warrant, they bashed in his
front door with a rock from his front yard and were shot as they came down a
hallway.
Dons held police at bay for 2 1/2 hours before officers used bean bag bullets and
tear gas to apprehend him. He was carried away, nude and bleeding, on the
back of a state police van.
Court documents said that the house where Dons lived contained an arsenal that
included a grenade launcher, shotguns, rifles and handguns including an M-14
assault-style rifle, a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle and two Russian SKS
semiautomatic rifles. Dons allegedly fired at least 10 rounds at officers from an
SKS rifle.
The house and a shed on the property contained hundreds of rounds of
ammunition, including a 100-round-capacity magazine with 80 rounds inside.
Police also seized a laser sight, a gas mask canister, at least one bayonet, a
crossbow and a pair of nunchuks -- a martial arts weapon. They also found
"firearms propaganda" and a book titled "Confirmed Kill."
Dons had an extensive arrest record in Las Vegas between 1979 and 1993:
Two counts of obstructing a police officer and single counts of resisting arrest,
resisting a police officer, battery with a deadly weapon, using a deadly weapon
in the commission of a crime, and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruling May Close California Pot Clubs (Slightly Different Version
Of 'Associated Press' Story)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 23:10:19 -0700 (MST)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project"
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project"
Subject: CA Sup. Ct. Rules Against Buyer's Clubs (2/25/98)
02/25/1998 21:47 EST
Ruling May Close Calif. Pot Clubs
By BOB EGELKO
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's medical marijuana clubs could be closed
by authorities despite a 1996 voter initiative.
The state Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously left intact a December
appellate decision that said Proposition 215 did not allow anyone to sell
marijuana and did not allow a commercial enterprise to furnish marijuana as
a ``primary caregiver.''
The appellate ruling is now binding on trial courts statewide.
Dennis Peron, author of Proposition 215 and founder of the Cannabis
Cultivators Club in San Francisco, said the club is in compliance with the
ruling because it no longer sells marijuana. He said the club is merely
being reimbursed for cultivation costs.
But if courts order a shutdown, ``we're going to stay here until the tanks
come,'' he said.
The state's lawyer in the case said he would ask a San Francisco judge on
Thursday to order Peron's club closed, and expected closure of all such
operations in California as a result of the ruling.
``Voters did not intend to allow commercial enterprises to sell narcotics,
like Mr. Peron's doing,'' said John Gordnier, a senior assistant attorney
general.
Federal prosecutors have also asked a federal judge to shut down Peron's
club and five others, saying they are violating federal law against the
possession and sale of marijuana, regardless of Proposition 215.
Proposition 215, passed in November 1996, allows possession and cultivation
of marijuana upon a doctor's recommendation to ease the pain and nausea of
AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other conditions.
The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in December that state law prohibits
anyone, including a nonprofit organization, from selling marijuana or
possessing it for sale.
Presiding Justice J. Clinton Peterson said the only way a patient can
obtain marijuana legally is to grow it or obtain it from a primary
caregiver who has grown it.
A primary caregiver cannot be a commercial enterprise like a club, Peterson
said.
``It may be against the law to sell marijuana but it's morally wrong to let
someone die, and we are saving lives here,'' Peron said.
***
Help protect the patients!!!
Send email to California officials and others asking them to protect the
patients' access to their medicine.
Use this short email list to cut and paste into the Bcc: field of your
email program.
petewilson@ca.gov, gray.davis@ltg.ca.gov, piu@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us,
tmrozek@usdoj.gov, senator@boxer.senate.gov, senator@feinstein.senate.gov,
president@whitehouse.gov, vice.president@whitehouse.gov,
first.lady@whitehouse.gov
STATE GOVERNMENT
Governor Pete Wilson
State Capitol, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 445-4633
Email: petewilson@ca.gov
Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol, Room 1114
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-8994
Fax: (916) 323-4998
Email: gray.davis@ltg.ca.gov
Attorney General Daniel E. Lungren
1300 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-9555
Fax: (916) 324-5205
Attorney General's Office Public Inquiry Unit
Web: http://caag.state.ca.us/piu/mailform.htm
Email: piu@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Plea Deal Cuts Pot Grower's Jail Term To 10 Months
('Sacramento Bee' Notes First Successful Federal Intimidation
Of A Marijuana Cultivator Who Claimed Protection Under Proposition 215 -
Roni L. Aurelio Cops Plea, Gets 10-Month Jail Sentence Rather Than Demand
A Jury Trial - Federal Judge In Sacramento Grants Leniency
Due To Conflicting State Law, Coerced Attempt By Defendant
At Media Coverage - Defendant Likely To Have Been Convicted
As Non-Qualified Primary Caregiver?)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:24:04 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Plea Deal Cuts Pot Grower's Jail Term To 10 Months
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@netmagic.net)
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
PLEA DEAL CUTS POT GROWER'S JAIL TERM TO 10 MONTHS
A federal judge in Sacramento issued a shortened sentence Tuesday to a
convicted pot grower who agreed to peddle a message from the U.S.
government: Possession of marijuana is illegal, despite a California law
that legalized the plant for medicinal use.
The sentencing marks the first time the U.S. government has successfully
prosecuted a California resident who claimed to be growing the plant under
Proposition 215, the state law that legalizes marijuana possession for the
seriously ill and their caregivers.
Judge Lawrence K. Karlton gave the grower, Roni L. Aurelio, a 10-month jail
sentence, shaving as many as four months off the maximum penalty. In her
unusual plea agreement, prosecutors promised to recommend leniency if
Aurelio publicly warned would-be pot growers against the belief that
Proposition 215 shields them from stricter federal laws that make marijuana
possession illegal.
During the case, both the judge and prosecutor Nancy L. Simpson appeared to
tacitly recognize that the split between state and federal marijuana law
had created an element of confusion in some sectors. Before the sentencing,
Karlton issued a statement saying the legal split could be grounds for
granting a lower sentence.
Scott Tedmon, Aurelio's lawyer, said defense attorneys in future federal
pot cases may seize upon Karlton's statement in a bid to secure similar
considerations for their clients. "The issues (the judge) raised open the
door for other defense attorneys to argue their facts and see if they fit,"
Tedmon said.
Aurelio, her boyfriend, Richard Maughs, and three other defendants had been
arrested after drug agents found nearly 1,600 marijuana plants under their
care at two separate grow sites.
The group had posted signs claiming the pot was meant for medical use and
had contracted with a 24-year-old paraplegic marijuana advocate in Redding
to distribute the drug.
As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors charged Aurelio in connection with
a single grow site of roughly 340 plants. Federal guidelines mandate a
10-year minimum sentence for defendants caught with more than 1,000 plants.
The other defendants have not entered pleas in their cases. Simpson, who is
prosecuting at least two similar cases in Karlton's court, said she would
not offer similar deals to other defendants.
"I think we've sent the message," Simpson said. Aurelio completed her part
of the deal after being featured in a 16-paragraph story published Monday
in the Siskiyou Daily News, a 5,000 circulation newspaper in Yreka.
"My goal now is to warn the public," Aurelio told the paper during a
pre-sentencing interview in Sacramento County jail.
Local law enforcement agents who investigated Aurelio and her co-defendants
were extremely disappointed with the sentencing, saying the group had used
the new law as a cover for its criminal operation.
"I don't think they made a real strong argument against people growing pot
by letting her off easy," said Siskiyou County Sheriff's Detective John
Glines. "Sending her away for a long time would have sent a message."
Glines said a search of Aurelio's home found a videotape of Maughs standing
in a large outdoor marijuana garden before Proposition 215 passed. Glines
also cited the large size of the operation as evidence that the group was
planning to distribute pot to more than just the seriously ill in Siskiyou
County.
Copyright ) 1998 The Sacramento Bee
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Woman Wins Court Battle Against US Customs ('San Francisco Chronicle'
Notes Drug War Just Got $451,000 More Expensive - 'No Other Person
Should Go Through This Hell' Says Woman Whose Trip Around The World
Turned Into A Nightmare When She Was Strip-Searched For Drugs
And Detained Almost 24 Hours By Federal Agents In San Francisco)
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 17:22:21 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Woman Wins Court Battle Against U.S. Customs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@netmagic.net)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
Author: Manny Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer
WOMAN WINS COURT BATTLE AGAINST U.S. CUSTOMS
Agents at SFO suspected traveler carried drugs
A woman whose trip around the world turned into a nightmare when she was
strip-searched for drugs and detained for almost 24 hours by federal agents
in San Francisco was awarded $451,000 in damages yesterday.
``No other person should go through this hell,'' said Amanda Buritica
outside of the federal courthouse in San Francisco.
Buritica, a Colombia-born school-crossing guard from Port Chester, N.Y.,
took a trip around the world in 1994 that ended traumatically, she said,
when she arrived at San Francisco International Airport on September 22.
U.S. Customs Service agents suspected Buritica of swallowing and
transporting drugs because she was born in Columbia and was a woman
traveling alone, said her attorney, Gregory Fox.
After searching her luggage, agents conducted a strip-search and, finding
no sign of drugs, had her X-rayed and transported to San Mateo County
hospital, Fox said.
At the hospital, she was given more than a gallon of a powerful laxative to
drink. She defecated repeatedly for 16 hours, Fox said.
``I was very confused and wondering, `Why are these people doing this to
me?'' Buritica recalled.
No drugs were ever found. At the end of the 22-hour ordeal, agents dropped
Buritica off at the airport and released her without an apology or
explanation, Fox said.
Buritica filed a lawsuit in 1995 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco,
charging five customs inspectors with violating her Fourth Amendment
constitutional rights.
After a two-week trial and two days of deliberation, a seven-person jury
awarded Buritica $450,000 in compensatory damages and $1,000 in punitive
damages.
Fox said the case is far from over, however.
He wants the search techniques at SFO to be declared unconstitutional by a
federal judge and litigation is still pending against San Mateo County and
several doctors involved in the case.
Customs officials declined to comment on the case.
Buritica said she can't imagine returning to SFO anytime soon. Her
around-the-world trip -- visiting India, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong
-- had been enjoyable until she stepped into the airport's terminal, she
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Woman Wins $450,000 In SFO Drug Search Suit ('San Mateo County Times'
Version Of 'Associated Press' Account Is Lengthier Still)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 18:35:55 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Woman Wins $450,000 in SFO Drug Search Suit
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Tom O'Connell"
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Contact: feedback@smctimes.com
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
WOMAN WINS $450,000 IN SFO DRUG SEARCH SUIT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A woman held for 22 hours at San Francisco
International Airport, strip-searched and forced to take laxatives by
Customs agents during a futile search for drugs has been awarded $450,000
by a federal court jury.
Lawyers for Amanda Buritica of Port Chester, N.Y., argued the agents at SFO
had no reason to suspect her of being a drug courier, intensified their
search when they found no evidence and ignored the fact she was already
suffering from diarrhea. Agents found : anti- diarrhea medicine in their
initial search.
"The more they searched, the less they found, and the less they found, the
more suspicious they became," her lawyer, Gregory M. Fox, said.
A government lawyer countered that agents had several reasons for
suspicion: Buritica was a woman in her 50s, traveling alone, on a Singapore
Airlines flight from Hong Kong-a "high-risk flight" from a city that iS a
common source of drugs- wore loose clothing, carried no mementos from her
trip and was unresponsive to questions.
But the U.S. District Court jury on Tuesday found the search unreasonable
and awarded $225,000 in damages against each of two Customs agents involved
in the search. The government usually pays such damages against its
employees, although Assistant U.S. Attorney Gail Killefer said no decision
to do so has been made yet.
Jurors also ordered punitive damages of $1,000 for malicious conduct
against John Petrin, chief Customs inspector at the airport, who was also
involved in a 1989 case before the same judge in which a bodycavity search
of a passenger was ruled illegal.
U.S. District Judge Vaughm Walker will decide at a later date whether to
order changes in Customs' local search policies and training procedures. He
could also order additional damages against the government.
Buritica, who said she lost her job because of stress from the incident,
told reporters the damages did not make up for her ordeal, "but I am glad
that the jury realized that they did something very awful to me."
Killefer declined comment. She has asked Walker to overturn the verdict and
dismiss the suit on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence of an
unreasonable, search or inadequate training.
Buritica, then 50, a Colombian-born U.S. citizen, was returning from a
round-the-world trip when she was detained at San Francisco International
Airport in September 1994. After a luggage search, she was patted down,
then strip-searched, Xrayed, and sent to a hospital for administration of a
strong purgative.
She testified she was told she would be forcibly fed the purgative if she
refused to drink it. Two agents watched her continuously while she used a
portable toilet repeatedly during an eight-hour period, she said. After
finally concluding she had no drugs in her system, the agents left the
room, but no one told her she was free to leave for six to eight hours, she
said.
Fox said local U.S. Customs agents randomly select passengers for scrutiny
as possible drug couriers, without any grounds for suspicion. Even after
reasonable suspicion justifies an initial search, he said, an intensified
search should be prohibited unless agents find some evidence of smuggling
and consider the passenger's innocent explanations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Proposes Stiffer Penalties For Drug Abuse ('Los Angeles Times'
Says California State Senator Pete Knight, A Republican From Palmdale,
Has Introduced A Bill Directed At Athletes At State Universities
That Would Ban Any Player Who Fails Two Drug Tests
And Would Require Drug Testing And Attendance At Drug-Prevention Seminars)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 16:14:22 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Bill Proposes Stiffer Penalties For Drug Abuse
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
Author: Tim Kawakami, Times Staff Writer
BILL PROPOSES STIFFER PENALTIES FOR DRUG ABUSE
Measure triggered by McCoy case. Senator's aide calls UCLA testing program
'a joke.'
A state senator, lashing out at UCLA's athletic drug-testing policies, has
introduced a bill that would mandate a ban for any player at a state-funded
public university who fails two drug tests.
The bill, introduced last week by State Sen. Pete Knight (R-Palmdale), also
would require drug testing and attendance at drug-prevention seminars for
student-athletes in all University of California and California State
University schools. According to Rod Olsen, an aide for Knight, the
introduction of the bill was, for the most part, in reaction to the recent
alleged failing of repeated drug tests by UCLA center Jelani McCoy, who
recently resigned from the team.
The bill, if passed, would mean that all student-athletes would be tested
twice each school year. Upon a player's first failed drug test, he or she
would be immediately suspended for three months.
"It's about time universities take this issue seriously," Knight said in a
statement. "We cannot allow these athletes to continually test positive,
three to five times in some cases, without some ramifications."
According to sources, UCLA was limited in what action it could take
against McCoy by loopholes in its newly revised policy. Only after a month
of negotiations were UCLA lawyers able to force McCoy to resign from the
team, sources said.
"UCLA's drug-testing program is a joke," said Olsen, who added that all
California campuses currently test their student-athletes. "It's the most
lenient in the state, by our research. Even Fresno State's is tougher.
Sacramento State's is tougher.
"It seems like it's a program in place so the players can remain on the
team--not to treat any addictions."
UCLA's former policy wiped away any positive tests at the end of each
school year. A revision, instituted last summer, made all positive tests
cumulative throughout a student-athlete's career, but was not clear
whether positives incurred before the revision counted under the new
policy.
Under the new policy, upon the first and second positive tests of a
player's career, the UCLA student-athlete must go to counseling, without
suspension. Only upon a third positive is the player suspended from the
next scheduled contest. A fourth positive results in an immediate
suspension and the non-renewal of his or her scholarship for the next
academic year.
Marc Dellins, UCLA sports information director, said the school had not
seen a copy of Knight's bill. "It would be premature for UCLA to comment
until we have seen the legislation," Dellins said.
Copyright Los Angeles Times
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot Grower Tells All In Fight Over Legal Rights (Everett, Washington,
'Herald,' Continues Series About Ongoing Marijuana Cultivation Trial
In Which Federal Prosecutors Turned Lawyer's Private Investigator
Into Confidential Informant Against Him And His Clients)
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 03:21:01 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US WA: Pot Grower Tells All In Fight Over Legal Rights
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
Source: The Herald, Everett, WA, USA
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
WebPage: http://www.heraldnet.com
Author: Scott North, Herald Writer
Note: You can contact Scott North by phone at 425-339-3431 or you can
send e-mail to him at north@heraldnet.com
POT GROWER TELLS ALL IN FIGHT OVER LEGAL RIGHTS
SEATTLE -- In 1996, Gregory Haynes was named Man of the Year in the tiny
Eastern Washington hamlet of Warden.
On Tuesday, he sat in a federal courtroom in Seattle and explained in
detail how he grew large amounts of marijuana in a Stanwood barn and in
five shipping containers buried beneath his uncle's Grant County alfalfa
field. Haynes made the admissions as part of a bid to convince U.S.
District Court Judge Thomas Zilly to throw out federal drug conspiracy and
money laundering charges against him.
His pitch was based largely on the federal government's decision to use
former Everett private investigator Dale Fairbanks as a key informant in
the case. Some of the investigation's targets had previously been
represented by Mark Mestel, an Everett defense attorney for whom Fairbanks
had regularly worked as an investigator.
Haynes and his co-defendant, uncle James Denton, contend Fairbanks'
involvement in the case helped the government trample on their rights to a
confidential relationship between lawyers and clients.
Federal prosecutors, however, have argued that no attorney-client
confidences were breached, partly because the alleged pot growers
criminally abused their relationship with Mestel in earlier legal
proceedings.
Zilly on Tuesday heard his fourth full day of testimony in the case, which
has probed allegations of fraudulent documents being filed in court and the
delivery of small amounts of marijuana to Mestel.
Closing arguments, and the judge's decision, are expected today. Haynes
testified Tuesday with the understanding that prosecutors would legally be
unable to rely on his testimony as their chief evidence against him at
trial. Haynes testified that from 1994 to 1997, he paid Mestel several
thousand dollars for legal representation, and believed the attorney-client
relationship extended to Fairbanks as well.
The Warden man said that when his Stanwood pot farm caught fire in 1994,
one of the first things he did was make sure that Mestel represented him
and potential codefendants.
He also dismantled his underground marijuana farm in Warden. But Haynes
testified he resumed growing marijuana underground there in 1997. He said
he felt safe because Fairbanks told him law officers had ceased
investigating the 1994 Stanwood case.
"Dale told me everything was fine," Haynes said. "It was a done deal. ...
That he was my 'in,' and could protect me." By that time, Fairbanks had
already been working as a government informant for about a year.
Under questioning from assistant U.S. attorney Doug Whalley, Haynes
acknowledged that he felt Fairbanks shared some of the blame for the Warden
marijuana farm being reactivated.
Fairbanks testified tearfully last week that he decided to assist the
government in its investigation after Haynes attempted to recruit him into
criminal activity and used him as a conduit for sending Mestel small
amounts of marijuana. Haynes also testified about the drug deliveries
Tuesday, but said Mestel didn't ask him to send the pot, and never
acknowledged receiving any. Mestel last week testified that Haynes sent
him marijuana, but said he threw away, and turned away, the drug.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hysteria About Marijuana (Pharmacist's Letter To Editor Of 'Oklahoma Gazette'
Faults Prohibition Hysteria That Has Stifled Virtually All Therapeutic Research
Into Cannabis In United States - Cites Will Foster And Jimmy Montgomery Cases
As Examples Of Oklahoma's War On Sick People)
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 00:29:34 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US OK: LTE: Hysteria About Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: OK NORML (oknorml@swbell.net)
Source: Oklahoma Gazette, The (OK)
Page: 10
Contact: Oklahoma Gazette,
PO Box 54649
Oklahoma City, OK 73154
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 1998
HYSTERIA ABOUT MARIJUANA
Editor - In July, 1997, the British Medical Association called for the
rescheduling of marijuana so doctors could prescribe it and research it.
Though there is argument that modern medicine should not resort to smoked
leaves, Health Canada's director recently stated that "Marijuana as a
medicine is not an outlandish proposition."
The hysteria of prohibition in the U.S. has stifled virtually all
therapeutic research. Only after Proposition 215 passed in California did
the government reluctantly lift the ban. Last month, published research
proved a marijuana metabolite is remarkably effective in reducing
inflammation and swelling in acute and chronic arthritic conditions.
Last November, research was presented at the annual meeting of the Society
for Neuroscience documenting specifically how marijuana stimulates the same
area in the brain that morphine uses to kill pain but uses a completely
different biochemical mechanism without the side effects of tolerance,
dependence, withdrawal and nausea.
One example of Oklahoma's war on sick people is William Foster, 38, of
Tulsa, a husband and father of three children, who suffers from severe
rheumatoid arthritis. For growing 60 plants in a locked bomb shelter in
his basement, he received a 93-year sentence on a first offense.
After one year of prison medical care, Will's left leg has ulcerated, and
his handwriting has become almost unreadable. His children suffer
nightmares of the bust and their high grades have plummeted.
Another example is Jimmy Montgomery, 44, of Sayre, a paraplegic who
testified last month before investigative hearings at the Institute of
Medicine. He was sentenced to life plus 16 years first time offense for
possessing two ounces of marijuana with intent to distribute. A lack of
medical attention led to his medical parole and to the amputation of his
leg. In both cases, a medical defense was not allowed by law.
The Drug Policy Foundation is supported in its advocacy of harm reduction
techniques (including needle exchange) by a consensus of the board of the
American Medical Association as editorialized in JAMA, ["Winds of Change in
American Drug Policy," Sept. 17, 1997].
The DPF membership was quite large and active long before Soros helped fund
our efforts two years ago and consists of judicial, law enforcement,
health, education and other professionals and individuals who believe that
the harm reduction methods of control through regulation is preferable to
harm maximization (zero-tolerance).
Harm reduction removes marijuana from the black marketplace (the only
documentable gateway to hard drugs) and licenses adults to sell only to
adults in regulated package stores as is hard alcohol. By providing
certified addiction clinics and specialists who could prescribe clean known
potency drugs at non-hyperinflated prices, addicts making up 80 percent of
black market customers would be stolen.
According to Milton Friedman, a Republican Nobel Laureate in economics and
member of the DPF, this would drastically reduce robbery, prostitution and
sales to minors, break the back of the black market and its associated
violence, and relieve our justice system and prisons. If an addict
committed a violent act, he would be incarcerated. The message sent to
children, as it is now for morphine and other drugs, is that sick people
get treated, embracing humane and Christian principles.
Recently, the Swiss voted by 71 percent to continue a three-year heroin
medicalization program. Ueli Minder, a policy coordinator for the Swiss
Federal Office of Public Helath, is firm that this policy has drastically
reduced not only property and other petty crimes, but also violent crimes
and is a huge success.
Under current policy, children can obtain marijuana much easier than
beer. The same is rapidly becoming true of heroin. Our justice
system is broken, drug use is increasing, drug trafficking is booming. Our
policies are putting money into the pockets of greedy men while placing our
children in the path of the jaws of justice. The only way to kill the
market that uses our children to sell to children is to take control
through regulation.
Michael Pearson, Registered Pharmacist Oklahoma City
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts - A Review Of The Scientific Evidence'
Reviewed In 'Journal Of The American Medical Association'
(Writer Can't Cite Anything To Contradict Zimmer And Morgan's Science
But He Calls The Book Title 'Pugnacious' And Authors'
'Extraordinarily Well-Researched And Passionately Argued' Approach
'Inflammatory')
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 03:56:25 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: MMMF reviewed in JAMA
Not the greatest review, but not terrible . . .
Books, Journals, New Media - February 25, 1998
Marijuana
Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific
Evidence, by Lynn Zimmer and John P. Morgan, 241 pp, paper, $12.95,
ISBN 0-9641568-4-9, New York, NY, The Lindesmith Center, 1997.
Most of us reading about marijuana use and effects usually seek the answer
to two questions. One is "How good is marijuana?"-this is generally
referred to as the "medical marijuana" debate. The other is "How bad is
marijuana?"-the answer relates to the enormous toll, in both human and
economic costs, of prosecuting and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of
people for marijuana-related offenses.
In reviewing the state of the art, Zimmer and Morgan provide an
extraordinarily well-researched and passionately argued book on the
biomedical and sociological issues raised in today's debate about marijuana.
In their desire to "set the record straight," however, they sometimes sacrifice
even-handedness for impact.
My dictionary defines myth as either a story, presented as historical, dealing
with supernatural traditions of a people, or a popular fable or folk tale. A
fact, on the other hand, is defined as any statement strictly true, truth,
reality.
By using the words myth and fact, Zimmer and Morgan imply that moral,
religious, and social factors contaminate "scientific" arguments against
marijuana use. While there are cases in which this undoubtedly is true, the
topic is not developed in depth. Rather, the authors almost challenge the
reader to take sides. Their title begins this process by immediately forcing
the reader into wondering, "Who's telling the truth?" or, less helpfully,
"Who's lying?"
Either side in a polarized context-the "drug warriors" or the
"legalizers"-could have chosen the title. While Zimmer and Morgan do not
explicitly recommend legalization of marijuana use, they clearly articulate an
argument that the effects of marijuana are not as bad as political, scientific,
and regulatory agents would have us believe. They also make an extremely
strong case that the health consequences of marijuana use have been
exaggerated and are less than those of alcohol and tobacco.
Zimmer and Morgan present "20 myths about marijuana." These include
"marijuana has no medicinal value"; "marijuana policy in the Netherlands has
been a failure"; "marijuana causes crime"; and "marijuana is more potent
today than in the past." Each "myth" is followed by several quotations from
social service, regulatory, research, or enforcement personnel who promote
it. A brief "fact" summarizes the "truth" on the issue in question. The
remaining five to 10 pages of each chapter review the literature on the topic.
This critique reinterprets the data upon which the myths are built, or presents
data from additional studies contradicting those supporting the myth.
The 20 topics effectively capture the salient issues in the current policy
debate about how to regulate and understand the effects of marijuana use.
The debate is not trivial, and much is at stake. The George Soros-funded
Lindesmith Center, a drug policy research institute, published this book.
Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, reminds us in his
introduction that more than 70 million Americans have tried marijuana, and
more than 20 million have smoked it in the last year.
Zimmer and Morgan convincingly demonstrate examples of exaggeration,
contradiction, and misinformation in statements by those with a political,
moral, or institutional need to portray marijuana as all bad. While the authors
refute arguments that they believe maximize adverse effects of marijuana, at
times I think they minimize real or potential dangers. For example, they
downplay upper respiratory effects of chronic marijuana smoking, and their
review of the literature on fetal effects of maternal marijuana smoking seems
a little cavalier. When warnings about marijuana are given, the tone is almost
apologetic.
My somewhat muted reaction to this book is based on my feeling that a
slight modification of the authors' style would have appealed to, and perhaps
affected, a larger number of readers undecided on the relative merits of the
complex arguments raised by marijuana. A literature review and critique of
this magnitude (68 pages of references), with a less inflammatory title, using
a less pugnacious approach, might be easier to buy, read, and digest.
Nevertheless, Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts raises issues and
reviews the literature comprehensively and in a highly accessible manner. As
such, it is an important contribution to the marijuana and drug policy
literature and deserves a wide audience. I hope future editions can maintain
the same thoroughness in a more even-handed manner.
Rick J. Strassman, MD
University of British Columbia
Victoria
(JAMA. 1998;279:632-633)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Time To Grow Up About Tobacco (Op-Ed In 'Wall Street Journal' Suggests,
'In A Collective Act Of Memory Repression, We Have Convinced Ourselves
That We Didn't Know Smoking Was Dangerous - Our Basic Dilemma Has Been
An Unwillingness To Decide Between Banning Tobacco Or Saying That Smokers
Smoke At Their Own Risk - Antismoking Crusade Demonstrates Autonomy
Of The Political Process, For Only After Smoking Fell By Half
Was It Decreed A Crisis')
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 23:32:09 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: US: WSJ OPED: Time to Grow Up About Tobacco
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Tom O'Connell"
Pubdate: Wednesday, 25 Feb 1998
Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
Section: Business World
Contact: editors@interactive.wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
TIME TO GROW UP ABOUT TOBACCO
It has come to be accepted across the land that tobacco executives are evil
and kept us in the dark about cigarettes.
In a collective act of memory repression, we have convinced ourselves that
we didn't know smoking was dangerous. Mother said it was dangerous. Doctor
said it was dangerous. The surgeon general said it was dangerous. After
1966, the pack even said it was dangerous.
But we were waiting for the tobacco industry to say it was dangerous.
Way back in 1897, the Tennessee Supreme Court decreed that the state
legislature didn't have to prove that smoking was dangerous to ban
cigarettes, because everybody knew it was "wholly noxious and deleterious
to health."
We've been here before. Our basic dilemma has been an unwillingness to
decide between banning tobacco or saying that smokers smoke at their own
risk. If Congress intends to do more than just raise taxes on smokers, it
will have to wrestle with this dilemma. In legislating for the industry, it
would also be legislating for the 45 million people who use its products.
It is time for Congress to get serious.
It is not going to outlaw tobacco. That would be a boon to organized crime.
It's not going to authorize the FDA to put the country on cold turkey by
ratcheting down the nicotine level, for that would have the same effect.
It won't impose a tax hike large enough to discourage smoking in a serious
way President Clinton has suggested phasing in a $1.50-a-pack hike over
five years. He couldn't have come up with a better plan if his real goal
was to desensitize smokers to higher prices in order to keep government
revenues up.
For anybody truly interested in doing something novel and creative about
smoking, that leaves the issues of liability and advertising.
It used to be that the tobacco companies, while selling a perfectly legal
product, ran a gauntlet of legal jeopardy if they ever admitted to its
inherent dangers. One of the many wonders is that the industry and its
critics have changed places. Now the tobacco industry can tell the truth.
Now the critics dissemble.
This ought to be accounted progress, and perhaps it is all the progress we
really need. Until the early 1960s, cigarette companies covertly
acknowledged the medical evidence and competed in terms of "mildness" and
other coded expressions. Filters were invented. Nicotine and tar content
came down. Cigarettes were becoming safer.
Then Washington granted the fig Leaf of the surgeon general's warning just
as the tort system was developing expansive notions of "strict liability."
The industry hunkered down in the stonewall position and made a pact with
itself never to acknowledge the cancer risk within earshot of the public.
This is the real significance of all those tobacco research documents
stamped "attorney client-privilege," and of Jeffrey Wigand's odyssey.
Mr. Wigand was the tobacco scientist who turned "whistle blower" because
his employer, Brown & Williamson, was conflicted in its corporate soul
about pursuing a safer cigarette. It turns out B&W did pursue one, in a
muted way, and now finds itself under suspicion by the Justice Department
in a case involving the unlicensed export of tobacco seeds. The
experimental strain was designed to yield a larger amount of nicotine in
proportion to other, more noxious ingredients-i.e., a safer tobacco.
All this poses a dilemma for honest public health advocates, of which there
are a few sprinkled among the hypocrites.
People smoke because they enjoy nicotine and become addicted to it. Call it
a "drug"; nicotine long ago escaped regulation because it does not impair
judgment or behavior, and the risks of smoking are cumulative over time.
Nothing has really changed. Are the public health advocates prepared to
leave people the freedom to become nicotine addicts, a freedom that humans
are long used to?
In theory liberals have learned their lesson about social engineering, and
in theory conservatives didn't need to. One of the most admired figures in
corporate life, Coke's Roberto Goizueta, died last year of complications
from lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking. He was not a man lacking in
willpower or intelligence.
Not everyone ranks smoke-free lungs at the same place in the hierarchy of
values. Nor is "addiction theory" a trump. Jean O'Connor, one of the
antismoking lobby's star plaintiffs, smoked three packs a day and never
tried to quit, though she well understood the risks. Then her doctor
refused to perform a tummy tuck until she stopped, and she quit on the
first try.
In truth, the antismoking crusade demonstrates the autonomy of the
political process, for only after smoking fell by half was it decreed a
"crisis." On one side are the trial lawyers: Having built up their bankroll
on breast implants and as asbestos, a handful of firms began laying down
seed money to go after tobacco. Their victories have not come in court but
in the halls of state government, where legally dubious but politically
potent theories of Medicaid liability brought the industry to the table.
We could elaborate, but one example will suffice: Ann Richards, former
Democratic governor of Texas. In office she collected $400,000 in campaign
contributions from trial lawyer Walter Umphrey. As a lobbyist she has
pushed his agenda in meetings at the White House and Congress. Mr. Umphrey
is one of five lawyers slated to split a $2.3 billion fee pot in the Texas
settlement. He also played venture capitalist to the Florida case. He did
no work, and will collect a $20 million return on his investment.
Yet money grubbing also happens to coincide with a cultural moment, and
it's no accident that the lawyers are all Southerners and exude a strong
populist dudgeon.
The single biggest indicator of state laws against gambling is a high
proportion of Baptists in the population. Both liquor. and cigarette
prohibition early in this century were driven by anti-immigrant, antiurban
sentiments of the Protestant middle class. Today's antismoking fervor may
partake more of the moral revivalism of the heartland than the
self-perfection obsessions of the cultural elite. That's why both
Republicans and Democrats think there are votes in "punishing" the
cigarette companies.
But there is also a saying that the most damaging lie is a problem poorly
stated. Ninety years ago, Congress enacted Prohibition knowing the folly of
it but unable to resist a cause of invidious political correctness. Now
that the cigarette industry has admitted the deficiencies of its product,
the legislature could do worse than to sit back and let nature take its
course.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroin Cure May Have Killed Six (Britain's 'Independent'
Says Vietnamese Promoter Of Heantos, A Herbal Remedy For Opiate Addiction,
May Have Covered Up Deaths Of Patients In His Care)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 20:23:13 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: Vietnam: Heroin Cure May Have Killed Six
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Alan Randell
Pubdate: February 25, 1998
Source: The Independent (UK)
Author: Steve Boggan
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
HEROIN CURE MAY HAVE KILLED SIX
A VIETNAMESE herbalist who gained worldwide acclaim for inventing a
"miracle" cure for heroin addiction may have covered up the deaths of up to
six patients in his care.
Health officials in Hanoi have evidence that a clinic run by Tran Khuong
Dan bribed at least one family to bury their son's body without informing
the authorities.
United Nations sources in New York - who have launched costly trials on the
"cure" - told The Independent yesterday that they believe more cases are
being investigated, yet testing on the drug is likely to continue.
Mr Dan sprang to worldwide prominence last November when his secret
formula, called Heantos, attracted the attention of the world's media. A
former construction worker and herbalist, Mr Dan claimed he deliberately
became an opium addict to see whether he could find a natural way to
detoxify himself.
After travelling from village to village in the highlands of Vietnam, he
put together a secret concoction made up of 13 plants which appeared to
help some addicts kick their habit.
Although no formal evaluation had been undertaken, visiting American
politicians brought the treatment to Bill Clinton's attention. Pressure was
brought to bear upon specialists in addiction to investigate and the UN
Development Programme reportedly allocated £240,000 to the project, with a
possible £2.4m to follow.
Now, however, Mr Dan's activities have been branded illegal in Vietnam -
because Heantos is untested and unlicensed - and there is a split within
the UN on whether to proceed with trials.
In an interview with The Youth newspaper in Vietnam, Nguyen Hun Lam,
vice-chairman of the Vietnamese ministry of health's drug control
committee, said stocks of Heantos "illegally" produced by Mr Dan and
several partners had been seized.
More disturbingly, he added: "This illegal operation led to a serious
consequence causing death to a patient on 30 July 1997 during treatment at
the Heantos Detoxification Centre. The centre management negotiated with
the victim's family and offered to provide 15 million Vietnamese dong
approximately £1,500 for the family to bring the body to the village for
burial without reporting the case to the local administration and relevant
authorities."
There is a row between officials at the UN Development Programme (UNDP),
which wants to proceed with tests on Heantos, and the UN Drug Control
Programme, which is sceptical. It is understood the UNDP is refusing to
pass on details of the Heantos formula to the Drug Control Programme.
"We can't say whether this thing works or not because there have been no
formal tests and no follow-up work to see whether the addicts are still off
their drugs," a UN source said. "We are hearing from Vietnam that there
might have been as many as six deaths that had gone unreported."
Some experts suspect Heantos may contain kratom, a plant from Thailand and
Vietnam which, when chewed, acts on the same brain receptors as heroin. "If
that is the case, then this isn't a cure, it's a substitute and it would be
no better than the methadone we give people now," said the source.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
UN General Assembly Special Session On Narcotic Drugs In New York June 8-10,
1998 (Lengthy Briefing Paper By Transnational Radical Party, New York,
Documents Some Recent UN Reports And Statements On Drugs And Drug Policy)
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 20:43:46 +0100
To: press@drugtext.nl
From: mario lap
Subject: UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS
What follows is a briefing paper on the United Nations General
Assembly Special Session on narcotic drugs. An updated version will be
issued following the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March, 16-20. If
you don't want to receive any further information about this issue,
please send a message to trans.rad.ny@agora.stm.it.
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS
NEW YORK, JUNE 8-10, 1998
Briefing paper by the Transnational Radical Party, New York, February
25, 1998
"The General Assembly's Special Session on international drug control,
scheduled for June, would start the real war against drugs and
convince nations and people that there could be a drug free world".
Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the Office for Drug Control and
Crime Prevention
I. SUMMARY
The United Nations General Assembly will held, from 8 to 10 June, a
special session devoted to the fight against the illicit production,
sale, demand, traffic and distribution of narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances and related activities. The session will adopt
a solemn political declaration with which Member States will renew
their commitment on the fight against drugs, especially through the
implementation of the UN conventions and other UN policies. A
declaration on demand reduction will also be approved, generically
backing programs of prevention, education, treatment and
rehabilitation. Some specific measures will be proposed in order to
strengthen the international cooperation system for the fight against
drugs, mainly in the fields of judicial cooperation, money laundering,
chemical precursors and stimulants, and crop eradication. No
evaluation, revision of or amendment to the UN Conventions on drugs is
on the UNGASS agenda. Heads of State, Prime Ministers and top level
Governments representatives are expected to participate in order to
confirm their commitment to the prohibitionist War on Drugs. No
controversial issue like harm reduction, decriminalization or
legalization of any possible type of treatment or drug, is on the
agenda. In fact, the UN is not supposed to tackle aspects that are
under the competence of national governments, but just to facilitate
international cooperation and to control the trade of authorized
quantities (for medical and scientific purpose) of illicit substances.
However, UN bodies play a major role in promoting prohibitionist laws
all over the world, and the international cooperation encouraged by
the UN is mainly about the repression of illicit drug production and
trafficking. UN conventions, as well as UN programmes and bodies are
therefore exercising a strong political pressure against the
possibility of exploring other policies which could be alternative to
the current War on Drugs. If some Member States should decide to
authorize an important licit market for substances that today are
illegal, the whole UN system of narcotic drugs control should be
re-discussed. These are the reasons why it is extremely important that
the UNGASS be reached by the voice of those who propose alternative
solutions to the drug question.
0. WHO'S WHO
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY (UNGA): is the principal body through
which the United Nations adopts resolutions, conventions and
protocols, and approve funds. It also serves as the forum through
which individual governments express their views.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL (ECOSOC): the Council is made of 54 Member
States, and among other issues, it is responsible for formulating
overall UN policies in the field of drug abuse control, coordinating
drug control activities with the full range of economic and social
programmes of the UN, and making relevant recommendations to
Governments.
COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS (CND): it is made of 53 Member States,
and is one of ECOSOC's six functional commissions. It assists the
Council in supervising the application of international conventions
and agreements dealing with narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances. It also considers any changes that may be required in the
existing machinery, and may prepare new conventions and international
instruments. It is the central policy-making body within the UN for
all questions related to drug abuse control.
UN DRUG CONTROL PROGRAMME (UNDCP): advises and assists Governments and
specialized agencies on the implementation of the international drug
control treaty system.
II. HISTORY AND AGENDA
On 28 October 1993, the UNGA, with resolution A/48/12, requested
ECOSOC to examine the status of the international cooperation within
the UN system against the illicit production, sale, demand, traffic
and distribution of narcotics and psychotropic substances in order to
recommend ways and means to improve such cooperation.
On 27 July 1995, ECOSOC, with resolution 1995/40, after having taken
into account the recommendations of the Executive Director of the
UNDCP and the resolution of the CND, recommended that the UNGA and the
CND should give priority consideration to the proposal to convene an
international conference for the purpose of evaluating the
international situation and the status of international cooperation on
drugs.
On 21 December 1995, UNGA resolution A/50/631 requested CND to discuss
fully, as a matter of priority, this issue of holding an international
conference, focusing inter alia on the assessment of existing
strategies, as well as on the consideration of new strategies,
methods, practical measures and concrete actions to strengthen
international cooperation on drugs.
On 23 July 1996, ECOSOC resolution 1996/17 expressed the Council's
support for the proposal.
On 12 December 1996, UNGA resolution A/RES/51/64 decided "to convene a
special session in order to consider the fight against the illicit
production, sale, demand, traffic and distribution of narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances and related activities, and to propose new
strategies, methods, practical activities and special measures to
strengthen international cooperation in addressing the problem of
illicit drugs". In the same section of the resolution, it is also
stressed that the special session should "be devoted to assessing the
existing situation within the framework of a comprehensive and
balanced approach that includes all aspects of the problem, with a
view to strengthening international cooperation [...], and within the
framework of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 and other relevant
conventions and international instruments". CND was appointed to act
as the preparatory body for the special session, to identify more
precisely the issues to be considered at the special session. The
first session of the Commission, held in Vienna March 26-27 1997, was
dedicated to preparing the process of the Special Session of the UNGA
(UNGASS). The Commission also agreed that the following issues would
be considered during the preparatory process:
1. Reaffirmation of the political commitment of governments for international
drug control.
2. Demand reduction: adoption of the guiding principles on demand
reduction and proposals for implementation.
3. Strategic measures:
a) measures to counter illicit manufacture of, traffic in and abuse of
stimulants;
b) measures to enhance the control/monitoring of precursors frequently
used in the manufacture of illicit drugs;
c) measures to promote judicial cooperation;
d) measures to counter money laundering;
e) eradication of illicit crops and alternative development.
The Commission on narcotic drugs convened 3 informal open-ended
meetings in July, October and December 1997, to discuss those items.
On March 16-20, 1998, there will be the second session of CND that
will act as a preparatory body for the UNGASS. This session of the
Commission will be the last formal meeting before the June event, and
will be therefore charged of finalizing all the texts that will be
submitted to the General Assembly. The following points are included
in the provisional agenda of the Commission:
a) draft provisional agenda for the special session of the General Assembly;
b) reports of the informal inter-sessional meetings;
c) elements for inclusion in the draft political declaration;
d) draft declaration on the guiding principles of demand reduction;
e) other proposals submitted to the special session;
f) review of international drug control regime: strengthening United Nations
machinery drugs control.
III. CONTENTS AND COMMENTARIES
UNGASS has never been conceived to be an occasion to reconsider UN
drug-related policies. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that
any reference to an "evaluation of the international situation and the
status of international co-operation" has soon disappeared from the UN
language, and substituted with necessity of strengthening the
international co-operation and assessing the existing situation.
An evaluation should have implied taking into consideration the
disastrous results of prohibitionist drug policies all over the world.
Data that can easily be found in official reports, including the UNDCP
1997 World Drug Report. According to which: - illicit production of
opium poppy has more than tripled since 1985; - illicit production of
coca has doubled over the 1985-1994 period; - since the mid 1980s the
world has faced a wave of synthetic stimulants abuse with an increase
of approximately nine times in the quantity seized; - the total
revenue accruing to the illicit drug industry lies somewhere around $
400B (8% of the total international trade.) None of these figures will
be taken into consideration by the UNGASS. Moreover, no alternative
policy will be discussed, and no revision of the international
conventions will be proposed. The only goal of the Session is to find
a way of strengthening current policies, which means giving more
resources to the implementation bodies of the international control on
narcotic drugs. What follows is a brief overview of the different
items.
POLITICAL DECLARATION
The purpose of the political declaration is to contribute to mustering
the political will to increase the number of States parties to the
treaties, and to advance their full implementation of the conventions.
As mentioned above, the final proposal for the political declaration
will be discussed in March, in Vienna. The two documents available up
to now are both non-papers of the European Union and of U.S. The U.S.
text, which has been used as the basis for the discussion during the
last working group, focuses its attention on the following points: -
the fight against drugs should be guided by the implementation of the
UN conventions through national legislation that must provide
authorities to attack all aspects of illicit drug trafficking; -
illicit cultivation of opium and coca should end by the year 2008,
using all available means including alternative development policies.
The EU draft declaration, after having noted that "the international
situation has not improved" sets the following: - reaffirms the
political commitment of all Member States to combating the drug
phenomenon and recalls the urgent need for the international community
to rally its effort in the fight against drugs; - appeals for
universal ratification; - calls upon the need to strengthen and
improve the existing United Nations drug-control mechanism, including
funding mechanism;
With theses premises the political declaration will not be anything
different from a commitment of all UN Member States to continue the
'War on Drugs'. Such tough and unrealistic commitment would be in
reality a sign of deep weakness of the UN machinery, and, if
critically read, it can constitute a sort of solemn war declaration at
the climax of a global defeat.
DECLARATION ON THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF DEMAND REDUCTION
The term "demand reduction" is used by the UN to describe policies or
'programmes' directed at reducing the consumers demand for narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances covered by the international drug
conventions. The distribution of these drugs is forbidden by the law
or, in certain cases, limited to medical or pharmaceutical channels.
The draft declaration prepared by CND pledges a "sustained political,
social, health and educational commitment to investing in demand
reduction programmes that will contribute towards reducing public
health problems, improving individual health and well-being, promoting
social and economic integration, reinforcing family system and making
communities safer." The demand reduction programmes should cover all
areas of prevention, from discouraging initial use to reducing the
negative health and social consequences of drug abuse.
The demand reduction declaration could be in a way the only
"non-belligerent" text coming out from the UNGASS. However, the
language of the draft declaration is very elusive about any possible
reform of existing national policies and, it is not clear, which kind
of practical measures will be undertaken. The reasons for this
declaration seem to be just to counter-balance the focus on traffic
repression and on the international drug control co-operation; it
seems that the UN is trying to "humanize" the 'War on Drugs' and its
side effects. Unfortunately, this has been done without facing any
controversial or political aspects that are related to the question.
STRATEGIC MEASURES
The so-called strategic measures are conceived to strengthen the
adherence and the implementation of international drug control
treaties in drug-related issues such as judicial co-operation,
chemicals and stimulants production, money-laundering, and also to
reshape the crop eradication policies.
The UN prohibitionist approach is to broaden more and more its scope,
which would of course imply, more power and more resources to the
repression bodies.
A- JUDICIAL COOPERATION
Measures are envisaged to further extradition of drug traffickers, to
protect judges, prosecutors and witnesses, to intercept
communications, to monitor bank accounts and to simplify confiscation
proceedings.
A new international 'emergency law' is being built inside the
anti-drug legislative framework, with major threats to individual
freedom and liberty.
B- CHEMICAL DRUGS AND STIMULANTS
Priority actions has been identified, at an international as well as
at a national level, to strengthen controls over precursors in order
to prevent their diversion to illicit channels and to apprehend
international traffickers through controlled delivery. The measures
would imply systems of import-export authorizations, as well as the
improvement of the collection and the sharing of information on the
licit uses of these substances. The monitoring of new substances, in
order to prohibit them as fast as possible, is the UN strategy also
for amphetamine type stimulants and chemical drugs.
Further restrictions to the market of chemical drugs seem to be
unrealistic, and they are already propelling the criminal research for
newer and more powerful substances.
C- MONEY-LAUNDERING
The draft proposal urges all the States to implement the
anti-money-laundering provisions of the UN conventions of 1988, with
the establishment of a legislative framework to criminalize
money-laundering resulting from serious crimes, especially through the
confiscation of the proceeds of crime and the international
co-operation. It is also proposed the establishment of an effective
financial/regulatory regime to deny access to national and
international financial systems by criminals, and the implementation
of enforcement measures to provide tools for detection, investigation,
prosecution and conviction of criminals.
If the aim of depriving criminals of the fruits of their crimes is
worth of interest, no evaluation is made about the huge costs of the
fight against money-laundering, also in terms of restriction to the
free circulation of capitals, and the meager results obtained up to
now. It is evident that no consideration has been given to the
possibility of solving the problem at the very roots through the
eventual legalization of drugs.
D- CROP ERADICATION AND ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT
The UN focus on producer countries regards complementing crop
eradication projects with the so-called alternative development
policies. The latter aim at strengthening self-sustaining production
systems as well as economic, social and environmental processes for
the benefit of communities and population groups affected by illicit
cultivation. Recently the Chief of UNDCP has proposed to the UN to
finance a crop eradication programme in Afghanistan under the
supervision of the Taliban guerrilla, the project has been approved by
CND. It is interesting to note how the UN will be giving money to a
group of religious fighters that found their activity on the constant
violation of human rights, mainly of those of women. The draft
proposal for the UNGASS appeals to international donors to assist
producer countries in their task of alternative development. This
assistance should be linked to national commitment and strong
political will of producer countries to implement the provision of the
1988 Conventions, which require State Parties to adopt measures to
consider illicit cultivation of opium poppy, coca bush, or cannabis
plant for the production of narcotic drugs, as a criminal offence the.
This is a briefing paper by the Transnational Radical Party. It can be
reproduced entirely or in parts, please mention the source.
Transnational Radical Party
866 UN PLAZA, #408
New York, NY, 10017
Trans.rad.ny@agora.stm.it
www.agora.stm.it/pr
Tel:+1-212-980.1031
Fax:+1-212-980.1072
The Transnational Radical Party (TRP) is an international Gandhian
nonviolent organization. In 1995, TRP was awarded Category 1 (General)
Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations. TRP is a transdivisional cross-party that does not endorse
political candidates, nor run for national or international elections.
TRP promotes international political campaigns on:
- the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court and
the support of the activity of the International Tribunals for the
former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; - antiprohibitionist policies on drugs,
for the revision of international conventions on illicit drugs,
against the black market and the narco-Mafia's illicit trafficking; -
the universal abolition of the death penalty; - the right to language,
supporting the use of an international auxiliary language (e.g.
Esperanto) in international institutions and organizations; - the
respect of human and civil rights; - a democratic reform of the United
Nations.
***
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DrugSense Weekly, Number 35 (Summary Of Drug Policy News For Activists,
Including Such Original And Excellent Commentary As The Feature Article,
'Policing For Profit - The Drug War's Hidden Economic Agenda,'
By Eric Blumenson And Eva Nilsen)
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 11:57:46 -0800
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer
Subject: DrugSense Weekly February 25, 1997 #35
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly
February 25, 1998 #035
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Feature Article
Policing for Profit: The Drug War's Hidden Economic Agenda
By Eric Blumenson and Eva Nilsen
Weekly News In Review
Heroin
UK: Drug Deaths Spark Cheap Heroin Fears
Australia: Killer Heroin Batch
Marijuana
New Scientist-
Marijuana Special Report: High Anxieties
Let's Be Adult About This.
Drop in With Dr Dave
U.S. National Drug Control Strategy
Drug Czar: Gingrich 'Irresponsible'
Solving Drug Epidemic In Nation's Prisons
International News -
Certification-
Wants New Way To Get Countries To Fight Drugs
Editorial: Drug Delusions About Mexico
Mexico-
Gangs: New Recruits For Mexican Druglords?
Druglords Easily Enter The U.S. From Mexico?
Hot Off The 'Net
DrugSense Tip Of The Week
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
***
Policing for Profit: The Drug War's Hidden Economic Agenda
By Eric Blumenson and Eva Nilsen
This article summarizes articles by the authors appearing this week in
The Nation (March 4,issue) and the University of Chicago Law Review
(Winter, 1998).
In 1984, the forfeiture laws were rewritten to funnel 'drug related
assets' into law enforcement agencies that seize them. This amendment
offered law enforcement a new source of income, limited only by the
energy police and prosecutors were willing to put into seizing assets.
The number of forfeitures mushroomed; by 1987 the Drug Enforcement
Administration was earning its keep, with seizures exceeding its annual
budget.
Local law enforcement benefited from an 'equitable sharing' provision:
henceforth if a municipal police officer discovered marijuana growing in
a teenager's room, for example, he could request the federal government
to forfeit the family's house and return the lion's share of the sale
proceeds to his local police force. In subsequent years, some small town
police forces have enhanced their annual budget by a factor of five or
more through such drug enforcement activities.
This forfeiture incentive has had two dangerous results. First, these
programs have corrupted governmental policy-making and law enforcement.
At the Department of Justice, which has deposited $2.7 billion in its
Asset Forfeiture Fund over the last five years, a steady stream of memos
exhorts its attorneys to redirect their efforts toward "forfeiture
production" so as to avoid budget shortfalls. One warns that 'funding of
initiatives important to your components will be in jeopardy if we fail
to reach the projected level of forfeiture deposits.' Another directs
U.S. Attorneys, 'if inadequate forfeiture resources are available . . .
divert personnel from other activities.'
A report prepared for the Justice Department suggests that multi-
jurisdictional drug task forces select their targets in part according to
the funding they can produce, noting that as asset seizures become
important "it will be useful for task force members to know the major
sources of these assets and whether it is more efficient to target major
dealers or numerous smaller ones." Local law enforcement agencies have
also turned to asset seizures to compensate for budgetary shortfalls, at
the expense of other criminal justice goals.
In the Nation article, we demonstrate that the strange shape of the
criminal justice system today -- the law enforcement agenda that targets
assets rather than crime, the 80% of seizures that are unaccompanied by
any criminal prosecution, the plea bargains which favor drug "kingpins"
and penalize the "mules" without assets to trade, the "reverse stings"
which target drug buyers rather than drug sellers, the overkill in
agencies involved in even minor arrests, the massive shift toward
federal jurisdiction over local law enforcement -- is largely the
unplanned byproduct of this economic incentive structure.
Second, the forfeiture laws in particular are producing self-financing,
unaccountable law enforcement agencies divorced from any meaningful
legislative oversight. The prospect of this kind of self-financing law
enforcement branch, largely able to set its own agenda and accountable to
no one, might sound promising to Colonel North or General Pinochet, but
it should not be mistaken for a legitimate organ in a democracy. It was
an anathema to the framers, who in typically far-sighted fashion warned
that "the purse and the sword ought never to get into the same hands,
whether legislative or executive," and sought to constitutionalize the
principle by establishing a government of separate branches which serve
to check and balance each other.
There are by now numerous examples of such semi-independent agencies
targeting assets with no regard for the rights, safety, or even lives of
the suspects. In one federal civil rights judgment against an Oakland,
California drug task force, we read an officer's admission that his unit
operated more or less "like a wolfpack," driving up in police vehicles
and taking "anything and everything we saw on the street corner." Recent
investigations in Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Boston, and
Washington State have exposed other police agencies similarly deformed by
their dependence on drug war financing. Such dire results should prompt
reform, particularly because a single measure -- mandating that forfeited
assets be deposited in the Treasury's general fund rather than retained
by the seizing agency []would cure the forfeiture law of its most
corrupting effects.
The issuance of drug war dividends to law enforcement is but one part of
an anti-drug mobilization that has continued, at escalating levels, for
almost 30 years. Despite a succession of failures to "win" the war on
drugs, the government's response has always been simply more of the same
-- more money thrown into this war (now $50 billion per year), more
arrests (now about 500,000 per year for marijuana possession alone), and
more prisoners (60% of federal prisoners are incarcerated for drug
offenses). This heavy law enforcement emphasis has never flagged, and the
forfeiture laws help explain why: police and prosecutorial agencies that
make drug law enforcement their highest priority are extravagantly
rewarded for doing so by the forfeiture laws. For law enforcement
officials, however irrational the drug war may be as public policy, it
remains superbly rational as a bureaucratic strategy.
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Heroin
***
UK: Drug Deaths Spark Cheap Heroin Fears
Australia: Killer Heroin Batch
COMMENT:
McCaffrey's party line is that drug use in the United States is down,
therefore the drug war is succeeding. This claim is based entirely on
questionable estimates of the number of casual users. More reliable
data- purity and street price of heroin point to a glut, which may have
quite different implications. As noted last week, the number of overdose
deaths is skyrocketing in port cities around the world
Just for confirmation:
DRUG DEATHS SPARK CHEAP HEROIN FEARS
Exclusive: Police admit seizures are doing little to stem the flow
of imports
FIVE people have died of drug overdoses in a single week in the
west of Scotland as a flood of cheap heroin pours into the country.
The death toll brings the number of heroin-related deaths since the
beginning of this year to 16 and signals a rise in danger for drug
users.
The figures forecast that by the end of 1998 more than 120 deaths will
occur in and around the Glasgow area, reversing the three-year trend that
has seen drug fatalities fall from an all-time high of 105 in 1995.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 1998
Author: Karen McVeigh
Source: The Scotsman
Website: http://www.scotsman.com
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n119.a07.html
***
KILLER HEROIN BATCH
TWO people have died and 27 have collapsed in one of Melbourne's worst
heroin overdose outbreaks.
A new super-potent batch of the drug stretched the city's ambulance service
to the limit in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday
[snip]
Source: Herald Sun (Australia)
Contact: nwt@newscorp.com.au
Pubdate: Sat, 21 Feb 1998
Author: Mark Buttler
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n121.a02.html
***
Marijuana
***
New Scientist- Special issue on Marijuana
Marijuana Special Report: High Anxieties
Let's Be Adult About This.
Drop in With Dr Dave
COMMENT:
This special issue of New Scientist is a major plus for our side. There
isn't room to consider all the articles in this newsletter. A trip to the
New Scientist website is strongly advised.
It's still too early to tell, but if a good investigative reporter goes to
work, the news that pressure was put on the WHO to suppress a report
favorable to cannabis may turn out to be as big a news item as the report
itself. It should not surprise anyone familiar with the tactics of the US
prohibition establishment that they twisted the arm of WHO, just as it
doesn't surprise those familiar with marijuana that it's miles safer than
either alcohol or tobacco.
HIGH ANXIETIES
What the WHO doesn't want you to know about cannabis
Health officials in Geneva have suppressed the publication of a politically
sensitive analysis that confirms what ageing hippies have known for
decades: cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco.
According to a document leaked to New Scientist, the analysis concludes not
only that the amount of dope smoked worldwide does less harm to public
health than drink and cigarettes, but that the same is likely to hold true
even if people consumed dope on the same scale as these legal substances.
The comparison was due to appear in a report on the harmful effects of
cannabis published last December by the WHO. But it was ditched at the last
minute following a long and intense dispute between WHO officials, the
cannabis experts who drafted the report and a group of external advisers.
[snip]
insiders say the comparison was scientifically sound and that the WHO caved
in to political pressure. It is understood that advisers from the US
National Institute on Drug Abuse and the UN International Drug Control
Programme warned the WHO that it would play into the hands of groups
campaigning to legalize marijuana.
[snip]
Source: New Scientist
Pubdate: Thu 19 Feb 1998
Contact: letters@newscientist.com
Website: http://www.newscientist.com/home.html
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n116.a02.html
***
COMMENT:
This editorial in New Scientist, perhaps because of a European bias in
interpreting recent news, considers cannabis decriminalization almost a
done deal. Their expectations of NIDA, expressed in the last paragraph,
suggest that they don't have a clue about the ferocity with which all
branches of the US government will fight to keep marijuana illegal.
LET'S BE ADULT ABOUT THIS
Politicians will just have to bite on the bullet--dope will be
decriminalised
When Olympic officials decided last week to give errant snowboarder Ross
Rebagliati his gold medal back, the cheers drowned out the boos. It was a
minor scandal involving a minor sport, but it spoke volumes about the
world's shifting relationship with its favourite illicit drug.
[snip]
What's changed today is that our attitudes towards illegal drugs are
becoming more sophisticated and discriminating. After thirty years of
research into the harmful effects of cannabis, there can be no hidden
dangers left to discover.
[snip]
Campaigners and pressure groups can be forgiven for trading propaganda,
but we should expect world famous scientific organisations like the US
National Institute on Drug Abuse to evaluate honestly the research that
has been done.
Source: New Scientist
Pubdate: Thu 19 Feb 1998
Author: David Concard
Contact: letters@newscientist.com
Website: http://www.newscientist.com/home.html
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n116.a10.html
***
DROP IN WITH DR DAVE
COMMENT:
I've included part of the revealing interview with David Smith, MD
because he tells us so succinctly in his own words how the founder of the
Haight- Ashbury Free Clinic sold out to drug prohibition. He apparently
wants users arrested and sentenced to treatment.
To find out what is happening on the front lines of marijuana
addiction and treatment, Jonathan Knight spoke with David Smith,
founder and president of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics in San
Francisco.
[snip]
NS: Should cannabis be made legal?
DS: I'm an opponent of marijuana legalisation. I don't want people to go
to jail, I want them diverted to treatment, but I also don't want more
marijuana available in the street. If marijuana were legalised I believe
the tobacco companies would be the main distributors of it. And they
would target youth as they did for tobacco. You would have the equivalent
of Joe Camel for marijuana.
I prefer medicalisation: demand reduction through education and
treatment. For example, 80 per cent of the people in the criminal justice
system have drug abuse problems but only 5 per cent get any treatment
now. Medicalisation puts much greater emphasis on treatment. If you get
busted for smoking while driving, you get diverted to treatment, not
jail. We've gone about as far as we can go with the criminal justice
approach.
[snip]
Source: New Scientist
Pubdate: Th, 19 Feb 199
Contact: letters@newscientist.com
Website: http://www.newscientist.com/home.html
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n116.a06.html
***
U.S. National Drug Control Strategy
***
Drug Czar: Gingrich 'Irresponsible'
Solving Drug Epidemic In Nation's Prisons
COMMENT:
In a surprisingly political rebuttal of Newt's opportunistic posturing,
McC defended the administration's proposed ten year plan. This plan
leans heavily on recent writings by Califano, Kleiman, and DuPont. The
interpretation of history on which it's based can be found in Jonnes'
execrable "Narcs & Hep-Cats."
DRUG CZAR: GINGRICH 'IRRESPONSIBLE'
WASHINGTON--The White House drug policy chief says House Speaker Newt
Gingrich is playing party politics in the war on drugs.
[snip]
Barry R. McCaffrey, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
reproached Gingrich as "irresponsible" for declaring that the
administration's long-term plan to reduce illegal drug use was dead on
arrival in Congress.
[snip]
The jousting over drug policy began Saturday when President Clinton, in
his weekly radio address, outlined his plan to reduce the number of
Americans using drugs by half over the next decade. The administration
has budgeted $17.1 billion for next year to expand prevention programs,
hire more border patrol agents, drug agents and police, and treat more
prisoners
[snip]
***
COMMENT:
This SF Chronicle editorial swallows Kleiman's thesis advanced in the
Washington Post last year along with CASA's latest claims. What makes
them think a prison system that has been corrupted enough to allow the
drugs inside prisons can't also be corrupted to nullify testing? This is
yet another bonanza for prison spending and a source of graft for prison
officials.
SOLVING DRUG EPIDEMIC IN NATION'S PRISONS
One component of President Clinton's anti-drug proposal has so much merit
that it must not get lost in the details of the huge plan or in the
sharp, partisan rhetoric that already engulfs the proposal.
Among the many recommendations in the $17 billion drug-reduction strategy
is one that would expand drug testing and treatment in prisons.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, coming out of the shadows after a long,
close- mouthed hiatus, has pronounced Clinton's drug-reduction proposal
``dead on arrival in this Congress'' because it's a ``hodgepodge of
half-steps and half-truths.'' It is important that the public knows that
among those recommendations Gingrich wants to obliterate is one that
could both cut nationwide drug use and crime and ease overcrowding at
prisons.
[snip]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Pubdate: Sunday, February 22, 1998
***
International News
***
Certification-
US Wants New Way To Get Countries To Fight Drugs
Editorial: Drug Delusions About Mexico
COMMENT:
The upcoming need to certify Mexico focuses attention on policy failure
South of the Border. McCaffrey is pushing for a multi-national treaty to
ultimately replace the embarrassing certification process. This
harmonizes with Clinton Administration's plan institutionalize the drug
war over a ten year period.
A related editorial in the Boston Globe touched on the hypocrisy of
certification while failing to draw the obvious conclusion that drug
prohibition in the US aggravates many of the problems they listed.
U.S. WANTS NEW WAY TO GET COUNTRIES TO FIGHT DRUGS
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, weary of the bruising annual
debate with Congress over whether to certify that Mexico and other
nations are cooperating in the war on illicit drugs, wants to drop that
process altogether and replace it with an international treaty.
[snip]
The proposed anti-drug treaty would create a Western Hemisphere alliance
to fight the production and transportation of drugs and set up a
secretariat to make sure that alliance members comply with its provisions.
[snip]
Source: San Jose Mercury News
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Pubdate: Mon, 16 Feb 1998
Author: Stanley Meisler - LA Times
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n113.a01.html
This article also appeared in the LA Times as "U.S. Wants Drug Treaty to
Replace Certification" on Mon, 16 Feb 1998
***
DRUG DELUSIONS ABOUT MEXICO
During the Vietnam War, Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas lamented an
''arrogance of power'' that he regarded as the true source of that war.
The stakes today are different, but when a foreign leader such as
Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo complains about the annual humiliation
of having to be certified..
[snip]
..... Washington has a considerable interest in Mexico's struggles to
establish a multiparty democracy, achieve social justice for marginalized
groups such as the Indians of Chiapas, reduce crime, and cauterize the
corruption that infects Mexico's political system. The certification
process, with its arrogant assumption of US superiority, can only cast
doubt on the possibility of Yanqui solidarity with Mexico's struggles.
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/
Pubdate: 19 Feb 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n120.a12.html
***
Mexico-
Gangs: New Recruits For Mexican Druglords?
Druglords Easily Enter The U.S. From Mexico?
COMMENT:
Two articles from the Orange County Register indicate that cross-border
cooperation in the drug war is not limited to government agencies, but
extends to criminal organizations as well:
O.C. GANGS: NEW RECRUITS FOR MEXICAN DRUGLORDS?
Authorities are worried about that prospect since last week's indictments
o
PORTLAND, Updated 12:19 p.m. February 25, 1998 -
The man accused of shooting and killing one
Portland police officer, and injuring two others,
now has taken his own life.
Stephen Douglas Dons was pronounced dead at
4:30 a.m. by Multnomah County Sheriff's
Correction's Medical Staff. A Portland police
spokesman told a news conference Dons
committed suicide, apparently with bedsheets,
in his medical ward room at the Multnomah
County Detention Center.
"It appears he hanged himself," said Brian
Martinek, Public Information Officer, at the
hastily-called news conference. Martinek said Dons was in an isolated room
in the medical ward because of injuries suffered during last month's police
shootout in southeast Portland. He added Dons was checked twice an hour,
24 hours a day, by corrections officials.
According to the police, Dons had been on suicide watch when he was
recovering in the hospital. But, police say Dons was not on a suicide watch
in his medical room at the jail because experts' observations showed there
was no reason to believe he was planning to end his life.
Further details are not immediately available. Detectives from the Multnomah
County Sheriff's Office and the Medical Examiners Office are conducting an
investigation.
Dons had been in custody since Jan. 27. He was facing numerous charges
stemming from a drug raid last month. He allegedly opened fire on Portland
police officers as they entered his house in southeast Portland.
Officer Colleen Waibel was killed and two others were injured. Officer Kim
Keist, still recovering from her injuries, is listed in fair condition at
Legacy Emanual Hospital.
KOIN-TV reported Dons' death marked the tenth suicide at the Multnomah
County Jail since it opened in 1983.
Previous Stories:
Feb. 18: Dons Arraigned On Additional Charges
Feb. 06: Dons Arraigned In Hospital Room
Jan. 29: Shooting Suspect's Condition Downgraded
Jan. 28: 'Knock and Talk' Method Raises Concerns
Jan. 28: Shooting Sparks Gun Control Issue
Jan. 28: City Mourns Officer's Death
Jan. 27: Katz and Moose Respond to Tragedy
Jan. 27: Police Officer Fatally Shot
Margot Savell and Lisa Morrison, Channel 6000 Staff Writers