-------------------------------------------------------------------
Male 'Role Models' Behind Bars Are A Sad Reality (An Op-Ed
In 'The San Francisco Chronicle' By Malcolm Kelly, Author Of 'The New
African American Man,' Laments The Growing Number Of Young Children
Visiting Parents In Prison, And Asks Every African American Adult To Visit
A Jail Or Prison In 1998 As A First Step Toward Creating A New
'Empowerment Paradigm' To Address The Needs Of Such Children)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:31:00 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: OPED: Male 'Role
Models' Behind Bars Are A Sad Reality
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A 25
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Malcolm Kelly
Note: Malcolm Kelly, a Bay Area writer, is author of "The New African
American Man," published by Bye Publishing.
MALE 'ROLE MODELS' BEHIND BARS ARE A SAD REALITY
I SUDDENLY REALIZED a few days ago that something is terribly wrong with
the growing numbers of young children visiting their parents in prison. It
was a Sunday that I had the misfortune to visit a relative incarcerated in
the local jail. There, I saw many young black women holding their
children's hands as they waited in long lines to visit a relative, friend
or spouse. Strangely, the children acted as if they were headed to an
amusement park or picnic.
I watched them waiting, fidgeting and wandering about the sterile, lifeless
waiting area. This was the first time I had felt powerless in a long time.
I began to question everything, even the value of empowerment.
During the past five years, since I've been writing about these issues, I
have conditioned myself to perceive every situation from an empowered
perspective, but somehow I could not see it within the children. I wondered
if they thought jail was a natural place to see their fathers. If so, what
did this do to their image of black manhood?
When I observed a little boy holding his mother's hand, I wondered if he
would ever overcome the stigma of talking to his father on a telephone
while separated by a hard, thick glass partition. I looked into his eyes
nestled between a face etched with a scowl. That's when I realized none of
the children were smiling or laughing loudly.
They were orderly like everyone else who enters a prison or jail. It's a
strange feeling. When you walk into one of these places, you immediately
become a part of the culture. When you are in this environment, it is
difficult to imagine any of the visiting children becoming doctors,
scientist lawyers, writers, artists, bus drivers, salespersons, etc. It is
also difficult to imagine them achieving greatness without someone giving
them the love and training necessary to nurture the seeds of greatness
already in their consciousness.
Although I know from an empowered perspective that it is possible to
overcome all adversity, I wonder who in America really cares about these
children. I asked myself who will help them to become empowered? Who will
teach them about manhood? Furthermore, I believe what I saw in Oakland
happens every visitor's day in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago
and everywhere there are jails and prisons.
Sundays are the time when many people attend church and pray to God. I
wonder if these churchgoers mention the small children who visit their
parents in jail while singing and praying.
Similarly, like most adults, I read about organizations giving
scholarships, and I listen to the welfare and affirmative action debates,
but it is the silence and complacency among many African Americans that
bothers me the most. Although, I realize there are many black children who
have stable family environments, the children who visit their fathers in
prison are the ones who need us to speak loudly on their behalf. Sure, we
talk about the gangs, drive-by shootings, drugs and so on, but we seem to
ignore the children who have powerless inmates as role models. Why do we
expect them to shed these images and become empowered adults?
At present, we have the greatest opportunity to develop a value system that
teaches young black children how to empower themselves while living as
victims of color, status and circumstance.
We cannot allow society to condition us to perceive these children simply
as victims. If we do, then they will become like the homeless people we
ignore every day.
That's why we must create a new empowerment paradigm to address the needs
of young children who have imprisoned parents. So I am asking every African
American adult in this country to visit a jail or prison in 1998. 1 want
everyone to look into the eyes of children who have the potential to
express empowerment. Once you see their faces, I'm sure you will agree:
There's something terribly wrong here. Fortunately, we can make it right.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Judges Given Discretion On Consecutive Sentences
('The San Francisco Chronicle' Says The California Supreme Court
Ruled Yesterday That A Defendant With More Than One Conviction
For A Single Crime Does Not Have To Receive Consecutive Sentences
Under California's Three-Strikes Law, A Decision That Could Affect Hundreds
Of Cases)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 15:47:05 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judges Given
Discretion On Consecutive Sentences
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Legal Affairs Writer
JUDGES GIVEN DISCRETION ON CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES
In a decision that could affect hundreds of cases throughout the state, the
California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a defendant with more than one
conviction for a single crime does not have to receive consecutive sentences
under the three-strikes law. By a unanimous vote, the high court ruled in
favor of a Los Angeles man who had been sentenced to 111 years in prison for
robbing four people at a furniture store.
The trial judge had sentenced David Deloza to four consecutive 25-year terms
for each victim, plus an additional 11 years for the crime itself.
But in yesterday's decision, the high court rejected the state's argument
that the three-strikes law required consecutive sentences when there is more
than one victim.
The ruling settles an issue that has divided the state appellate courts and
created confusion for trial judges.
As long as the crimes are committed on a ``single occasion,'' depending on
the proximity in time and place, a defendant does not have to be subjected
to consecutive sentences, wrote Justice Janice Rogers Brown in the court's
decision.
The court said it was up to the trial judge to decide whether the sentences
should be concurrent. The justices ordered a new sentencing hearing for Deloza.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers said the decision will ease the backlog of
cases that have been put on hold pending a decision from the California
Supreme Court. Los Angeles alone has dozens of cases awaiting final
resolution, they said.
Los Angeles attorney Gary Mandinach, who represented Deloza, said he expects
many defendants who have been sentenced under the three-strikes law to
request reduced sentences relying on yesterday's decision.
``It's going to affect a number of cases,'' the defense lawyer said.
The ruling is consistent with the high court's 1996 decision allowing trial
judges to toss out prior three-strikes convictions if they feel it is just.
``This is simply giving power to judges,'' said Frank Zimring, who teaches
criminal law at the University of California's Boalt Hall School of Law in
Berkeley.
Deputy Attorney General Alan Tate said he did not expect many judges to
change their minds, however, and reduce the sentences of repeat offenders.
``Unfortunately,'' Tate said, ``this defendant has earned 111 years in prison.''
Deloza had been convicted of robbing at gunpoint three employees and a
customer at a furniture store in Highland Park in 1995.
The crime was captured on videotape, and Deloza was positively identified by
all four victims.
The trial judge sentenced him to 111 years in prison, a ruling upheld by a
state appeals court.
In reversing that decision, the high court said Deloza committed all his
robberies at one place and in a short period of time.
``Given the close temporal and spatial proximity of the defendant's crimes
against the same group of victims,'' Brown wrote in the court opinion,
``they were clearly committed on the `same occasion.' ''
In a separate opinion, Justice Stanley Mosk said a 111-prison sentence
amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
He noted a recent case in Oklahoma in which the court upheld a 30,000-year
sentence against a defendant.
``What is the legal difference between prison sentences of 30,000 years and
111 years? The answer is: None,'' he wrote. ``Both are impossible for a
human being to serve.''
``A grossly excessive sentence can serve no rational legislative purpose,''
he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Judge's Order To Shock Defendant Stuns Witnesses (Cable News Network
Says Long Beach, California Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani
Ordered A Defendant Representing Himself To Be Zapped With 50,000 Volts
Of Electricity From A Stun Belt Fitted To His Jail Jumpsuit For Interrupting
Her - Amnesty International, Which Opposes The Use Of Stun Belts, Said
The Act Amounted To Torture)
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:32:29 -0400
From: MAPNews (owner-mapnews@mapinc.org)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge's Order
To Shock Defendant Stuns Witnesses
Newshawk: blackbox@bbox.com (Jim Galasyn)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: CNN
Contact: cnn.feedback@cnn.com
Website: http://www.cnn.com/
Author: Jennifer Auther and The
Associated Press contributed to this report.
JUDGE'S ORDER TO SHOCK DEFENDANT STUNS WITNESSES
LONG BEACH, California (CNN) -- Verbal interruptions by a defendant in a
courtroom prompted a Long Beach judge to order the defendant zapped with
50,000 volts of electricity from a stun belt.
The incident last week marked the first time a defendant has been shocked
with a stun belt since Los Angeles County began using them three years ago,
officials said Thursday.
It has also angered some witnesses and at least one human rights organization.
The defendant, Ronnie Hawkins, 48, was acting as his own attorney at a
sentencing hearing, for an April petty theft conviction, on June 30 before
Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani.
Shock to the kidneys
Hawkins' constant talking angered Comparet-Cassani, and, after a warning,
she ordered her bailiff to zap him with the stun belt fitted to Hawkins'
jail jumpsuit.
The devices are powered by batteries and deliver an eight-second current to
an area near the left kidney.
The sentencing hearing was then postponed until July 29, because Hawkins
said he needed to recover from the shock.
Hawkins has two prior convictions. Under California's "three strikes" law,
he is facing 25 years to life in prison.
Three bystanders in the courtroom later complained, and the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's department is now conducting a routine investigation.
"Nothing he was doing, in my opinion constituted any sort of security risk,"
said Jacques Cain, a public defender who was in the courtroom.
Is it torture?
But the prosecutor, Christopher Frisco, says the judge was justified.
"He was cited in county jail approximately six times for disciplinary
action. He had threatened the judge. He's HIV positive, which is
unfortunate, but he threatened to spit on people in the courtroom," Frisco said.
Amnesty International, which opposes the use of stun belts, said the act
amounted to torture.
"This is clearly, smack dab in the middle of a definition of torture under
every international human rights law," spokesman Gerald LeMelle told CNN.
The judge declined to talk to reporters on Thursday. But Mike Concha, a
supervisor in the public defender's Long Beach office, said he had spoken to
her.
"She was concerned for the welfare of the client," Concha said, adding that
the judge said she would reconsider using the device again.
More than 15 states and 100 counties across the United States use the stun
belt for inmates, according to manufacturer Stun-Tech Inc. of Cleveland,
Ohio. Stun-Tech says the device has been used 27 times without causing
physical injury.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
State's Top Narc Indicted ('The Arizona Republic' Says Guadalupe Davila,
A Detective With The Goodyear Police Department Assigned To The State's
Gang Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission Task Force, Was Indicted Wednesday
By A Federal Grand Jury On Charges That He Stole Money Intended For
Undercover Work Against Drug Dealers - In Violation Of The Constitution's
Dictum That Trials Must Be Public, His Arraignment Thursday Was Closed)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 22:58:40 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US AZ: State's Top Narc Indicted
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Chris Donald (ai256@chebucto.ns.ca)
Pubdate: 10 Jul 1998
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/letter.shtml
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Authors: Susie Steckner and Jerry Kammer
STATE'S TOP NARC INDICTED
Corruption Charges Give Squad A 'Black Eye'
In the dangerous shadowland of undercover police work, where street-wise
cops pretend to be pals with thugs and gangsters, Guadalupe Davila was
known as one of the best.
His supervisors in an elite Arizona anti-gang unit have praised him for an
uncanny ability to infiltrate the tightest gangs, bust up drugs rings, and
shut down operators dealing explosives and guns.
But on Wednesday the bearded 32-year-old undercover officer was indicted by
a federal grand jury on corruption charges.
The indictment, which has been sealed while the investigation continues,
alleges that Davila stole money intended for undercover work against drug
dealers, sources say.
But details about Davila's suspected crime -- how much money was involved
and how long it lasted -- were unavailable. It also was unclear Thursday
who else may be targets in the ongoing investigation into one of the most
secret, high-risk areas of police work.
Davila, a detective with the Goodyear Police Department assigned to the
state's Gang Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GITEM) task force, wore
handcuffs and a prisoner's striped uniform Thursday in his initial
appearence before a federal magistrate in Phoenix. The hearing, in which a
prisoner is informed of the charges against him, was closed to the public.
Federal prosecutors refused to comment on the case. But word of Davila's
indictment stunned those who have worked with the Phoenix native and
graduate of Glendale's Independence High School.
"I can't hardly believe it -- it just breaks my heart," said Donna Neill,
a community leader in the Westwood neighborhood of west-central Phoenix.
"Lupe is the kind of person that you trust, and you know that if you have a
problem, you can call him for help and he'll be there," Neill said. "He was
so concerned about the youth, about the pressures that kids face today with
all the gangs."
A member of the GITEM squad who worked with Davila and asked not to be
identified said, "We're all shocked by this. It's a black eye for everybody
here."
Davila became a sworn peace officer in 1990 when he joined the state
Department of Public Safety. He was later a member of the Jerome Police
Department before joining the Goodyear department in 1994.
Davila was hired as a patrol officer and became a detective when he was
assigned to the GITEM task force. He later was assigned to the
gang-targeting unit within the task force, an elite unit of hand-picked
undercover officers who go after hard-core gang members.
That unit worked with the FBI, investigating cases across the state and
country.
By all accounts, Davila was a master at infiltrating gangs. Fluent in
Spanish and wise in the ways of the street, he went undercover with gangs
suspected of murder and dealing in drugs, stolen cars, explosives and
automatic weapons.
Davila's operations were well-planned and designed to minimize risk,
according to a supervisor's account. He was described as being able to
switch gears at a moment's notice to take on any assignment.
And when the task force needed a volunteer to make a "cold buy" -- a risky
job of buying drugs from an unknown person -- officers could always count
on Davila, according to personnel reports.
"You are always willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done," one
supervisor said last December in a written review.
That drive led to a handful of notable assignments for Davila throughout
the Valley and state, according to his personnel file.
In one operation, Davila infiltrated a Phoenix street gang, gathering
evidence that led to the indictment of the top 10 suspects in the gang. In
another, he helped break up a crack cocaine ring in Flagstaff, a bust that
led to the indictment of 13 people.
In still another operation, he took on a California gang in Kingman
suspected of dealing drugs and shooting a resident in the head. According
to his GITEM supervisor, the work led to conviction of the gang leaders on
charges of attempted murder and drug dealing.
Another bust of 35 hard-core members of a Valley gang prompted a letter
from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office praising Davila for his
"professionalism, dedication and work ethic."
DPS Capt. David Gonzales, former commander of the GITEM squad, described
Davila as an "outstanding" officer with an "excellent work ethic."
Goodyear police spokesman Lt. Mark Brown said Davila was "a very good
employee for us here."
He said Davila is on paid administrative leave. The Police Department has
asked the DPS to conduct an internal investigation into the allegations, in
addition to the federal probe.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Getting A Buzz . . . International Style ('The Chicago Tribune'
Sends A Reporter To Ethnic Chicago Neighborhoods In Search Of
Psychoactive Herbal Drugs Unregulated By The FDA, And He
Comes Up With German Valerian Drops, Brazilian Guarana Soda,
Nigerian Kola Nuts, Pan Leaves From South Asia And More)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 14:35:36 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US IL: Getting A Buzz . . . International Style
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Pubdate: 10 July 1998
Author: Monica Eng
Section: Tempo, page 1
GETTING A BUZZ . . . INTERNATIONAL STYLE
In an ongoing quest to calm ourselves when we're anxious and energize
ourselves when we're droopy, the human race has experimented with natural
stimulants and sedatives for centuries.
In the United States we legally ingest a rather unimaginative group of
substances that includes coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol and the occasional
glass of warm milk. But folks in the rest of the world explore a much wider
spectrum in order to produce a buzz.
You would not have been able to find a lot of them 20 years ago, but since
then many have made their way to Chicago, along with the immigrants who use
them. The substances range from German valerian drops and Brazilian guarana
soda to Nigerian kola nuts and the spice-filled pan leaves of South Asia.
Although the folks at the Food and Drug Administration can't really
regulate a lot of these substances (because of a 1994 act that no longer
requires manufacturers to prove the safety and effectiveness of dietary
supplements) they do stress that consumers should check with their doctors
before partaking of most of this stuff.
Having checked first with our physicians (as well as the FDA and the Drug
Enforcement Administration), we recently spent some time pursuing these
often-exotic concoctions in Chicago's many ethnic neighborhoods. Let the
word go forth: Nothing we bought produces effects stronger than, say, a
double espresso or a mug of beer; but they do offer, shall we say, heady
insights into how the rest of the world chills out.
- First stop, Merz Apothecary, 4716 N. Lincoln Ave. (773-989-0900): Upon
entering this handsome, old-fashioned Lincoln Square shop, you, or more
properly your nose, is greeted by the distinctive smell of valerian.
Popular in several different forms, the plant substance may not do much for
the nose but it has long been used to calm the nerves, according to Merz
pharmacist and owner Abdul Qaiyum.
"Valerian was used (in Germany) for many years before it became popular
here as a tea," he explained. "Older folks would use it as drops and
younger people would use it in capsule form or tablet form. The third most
popular form is the tea. The idea of tranquilizers is not what the
Europeans ever wanted and so it is more of a mild calming agent, as opposed
to a tranquilizer."
Dutch-born Chicagoan Olga DeJongh recalls taking valerian in Holland in her
youth. "I remember my mother would give us valerian drops to make us less
anxious before an exam," she said.
A box of valerian tea at Merz runs about $10, while a small bottle of
valerian tincture drops is $5.95.
- Our next destination was Uptown, where we popped into the Old World
Market, 5129 N. Broadway, to find kola nuts. Nigerian advisers explain that
kola nut noshers should bite off a piece and chew it like a fruit. Most
adults in West Africa eat the nuts and, as with coffee, some find that it
gives them an energy boost while others claim it calms their nerves. This
is unsurprising as its active ingredient is caffeine. Old World sells kola
nuts at the checkout counter, where one would normally expect to find
candy, for 49 cents apiece.
- Heading further north, we visited the Indian and Pakistani district of
Devon Avenue in West Rogers Park. There, amid the produce markets,
restaurants, sari palaces and video stores, we found the House of Chat,
2642 W. Devon Ave. This 10-year-old establishment may use chat (a
chickpea-based snack) in its name, but it is much better known for two
things: its famous lentil and beef sandwiches (called bun kababs) and pan,
the pick-me-up breath-freshener of South Asia.
Made with a fresh betel nut leaf stuffed with fennel seeds, cardamom seeds,
coriander seeds, shredded coconut, ground rose petals, chopped betel nuts,
tobacco and sugar, a pan often resembles a small green taco by the time it
is fully stuffed. House of Chat panmaker Ahmed Mitani says that although
some people use them as a stimulant, these perfumy packets of chaw are
chiefly about flavor.
"Most people use it for mouth-freshening but some use it to stay awake. It
just depends on the amount of tobacco or betel nut they use," he noted.
Those who want to try pan should start by ordering a simple sweet
preparation, then stick the packet between cheek and gum and have a cup
ready for the inevitable red spit that it produces. Warning: Like chewing
tobacco juice, pan juice should not be swallowed. One pan at the House of
Chat costs $1.
- Moving south and west, we made our way to Albany Park's Arirang
Supermarket, 4017 W. Lawrence Ave., to learn how Koreans get a buzz. There
we found, as in most Korean shops, a vast array of health drinks, vitamin
drinks and, of course, ginseng tonics. We picked up a 10-pack of Korean Red
Ginseng Drink which contains sugar, water and Korean red ginseng extract.
Although there are no health claims printed on the product, Korean ginseng
has been shown in studies, including some at the University of Illinois at
Chicago, to be, as one of the studies said, "effective as a preventative or
restorative agent for enhancement of mental and physical capabilities in
cases of weakness, exhaustion, loss of concentration (primarily under
stress) and during convalescence."
According to Lisa Park, daughter of Arirang owner Yun Hee Park, customers
buy the drinks in the belief that it contributes to long-term energy and
health; but she adds that she can't vouch for it either way. A 10-pack of
Korean Red Ginseng Drink costs $12.99.
If you prefer your ginseng in fresher form, head for Ssyal Ginseng at 3604
W. Lawrence Ave. There, you can sip ginseng shakes made of fresh ginseng,
milk and honey for ($2) or purchase a large beaker filled with vodka and
ginseng roots ($70-$200) that, according to owner Ok Soon Kim, customers
buy for sick friends.
- Driving further west, we arrived at a shop that from the outside looks
like a typical liquor store but inside turns out to be a treasure trove of
Argentine culture. The shop, the Buenos Aires Deli, 3100 N. Cicero Ave,
sells more than a dozen forms of the famous Argentine herbal drink yerba
mate--and, as demonstrated by owner Ramon Mario Gimenez, almost as many
kinds of receptacles and straws with which to drink it. This herby beverage
(it comes as a tea and even in soft drink form) has been touted as an
invigorator of the mind and body as well as a promoter of health par
excellence. It also contains healthy levels of vitamins C, E, B1, B2 and
B-complex as well as magnesium, phosphorus, iron and potassium, but Gimenez
says that in his country it is less a health drink than a part of everyday
life.
"We drink it like the English drink tea," he says.
Although Gimenez sells yerba mate tea in bags, he says the more traditional
drink should be made with warmed -- not boiled -- water. After viewing his
wide array of mate cups (including a big, no-spill model for truckers) made
of wood, bamboo and gourds, we purchased a gourd-and-metal one along with a
stainless steel straw (called a bombilla) that features a strainer at one
end to filter out tea leaves and, yes, twigs. The cup costs $7.99; the
straw is $5.99; a 500 gram bag of yerba mate tea costs $2.19; and a
ready-to-drink can of Materva (which Gimenez says he's never seen in
Argentina) is 59 cents.
- After a hunt, we found guarana soda, a supercharged South American
beverage made from the guarana seed, at the primarily Argentine specialty
market El Mercado, 3767 N. Southport Ave. The drink, which can be bought in
large plastic bottles as well as in cans and glass bottles, comes in two
different forms: Guarana Brazilia and Guarana Maracana.
Although guarana is often referred to as a caffeinated drink, it actually
contains guaranine, a different substance that has the same chemical
composition as caffeine.
In addition to its properties as a stimulant, guarana is often used in
Europe and the Americas to treat headaches and promote overall health. A
12-ounce can of Maracana costs 89 cents, while the 12-ounce bottle of
Brazilia is 99 cents.
The foregoing are the buzzes we did find on our tour. But there were at
least three that escaped us. First was the popular chewing leaf called qat,
used for an energy buzz by all ages in Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen. And
although we found plenty of kava capsules at drug stores, we couldn't find
a place that served the traditional Fijian kava drink in Chicago. And
finally, our search for a place to enjoy the popular Peruvian beverage coca
tea (yes, made from the same leaves that, in much larger volumes, are used
to make cocaine) was never successful. Probably, our difficulty stemmed
from the fact that at least two of these substances are considered illegal
by the DEA.
But as with many other formerly exotic substances, it may just be a matter
of time before they are accepted into the ever-widening cornucopia of
potions that contribute to the American buzz.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Re - Pot Substance May Stay Strokes (A Letter Sent To The Editor
The Everett, Washington, 'Herald' In Response To The Recent News
About Researchers At The US National Institute For Mental Health
Identifying Two Active Components Of Marijuana They Think Could Be Used
To Prevent Brain Damage After Strokes Notes The Research Isn't The First
To Suggest Cannabinoids May Protect The Brain, And Includes The Text
Of A 1993 'Science News' Report, 'Marijuana And The Brain - Scientists
Discover The Brain's Own THC')
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 19:27:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: bc616@scn.org (Darral Good)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: SENT:STROKE DRUG
utilizes ancient medicine, MARIJUANA
Cc: Mgreer@mapinc.org
Reply-To: bc616@scn.org
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
letters@heraldnet.com
Subject: STROKE DRUG utilizes ancient medicine, MARIJUANA
Dear Editor,
Congratulations for being one of the few newspapers around to report on
the new medication -'cannabidiol', which is made from marijuana and very
useful for stroke victims.
(Pot substance may stay strokes- Herald JULY 6TH 1998)
Although I must tell you that this type of information has been common
scientific knowledge for many years now. It was reported in an article as
early as:
Source: Science News, Feb 6, 1993 v143 n6 p88(3).
Title: Marijuana and the brain: scientists discover the brain's own THC.
(delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)
Author: Kathy A. Fackelmann
If some of the chemicals in marijuana may protect the brain from the
damage caused by injuries and stroke, who cares if it gets the users "high"?
Many of today's most useful medications make people get extremely high ,
and we don't ban those medications. ( such as opiates)
So far Doctors haven't seen fit to remove the "get high" out of codiene,
valium, or morphine. If the benefits of a drugs out-weigh the risks, then
it should be up to the Doctors and their patients which herb or medication
is ultimately used, after all it's their business, not the police's!.
DARRAL GOOD
Member of the Board of Directors
of the Washington Hemp Education Network
for more up to date info on medical marijuana check out:
URL: http://www.olywa.net/when/main.html
3023 russel way lynnwood wa 98037
425-771-8936
***
Source: Science News, Feb 6, 1993 v143 n6 p88(3).
Title: Marijuana and the brain: scientists discover the brain's own THC.
(delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)
Author: Kathy A. Fackelmann
Abstract: William A. Devane isolated a substance in pig brains that
resembles delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana.
Study of the substance, anandamide, could lead to the development of new drugs
for pain and stress.
Subjects: Tetrahydrocannabinol - Physiological aspects
Neurochemistry - Research
Electronic Collection: A13434805 RN: A13434805
Full Text COPYRIGHT Science Service Inc. 1993
William A. Devane was poring over his favorite book, The Life Divine, by
Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo, when he came across the Sanskrit word
ananda, which means bliss. For several years, Devane had been searching for a
brain compound that resembles the active ingredient in marijuana. Then and
there he decided that if his quest proved successful, he would name the
elusive chemical after ananda. Of course, Devane still had to find the
compound, a task that involved sorting through thousands of substances active
in the brain.
But find it he did. Late in December 1992, Devane and a group of Israeli
colleagues at Hebrew University in Jerusalem reported isolating a natural
marijuana-like compound in pig brains. Now that he has the
marijuana-mimicking, pig-produced chemical, Devane is searching for the same
stuff in human brains while working in a cramped laboratory of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Md.
The notion that the brain makes its own marijuana fits in with a previous
discovery: During the 1970s, neuroscientists found that nerve cells
manufacture compounds that resemble opium, an addictive drug obtained from the
juice of the seeds of the poppy plant.
This finding spurred an intensive effort to understand the brains natural
opiate. Also in December 1992, two separate teams reported that they had
mapped the structure of one of the opiate receptors, a protein on the nerve
cell surface that recognizes and binds opiates, thus allowing these drugs to
produce their mind-altering effects.
Taken together, the reports raise many questions about why the healthy brain
produces chemicals that resemble marijuana and opium. Many scientists
speculate that such internal compounds help humans cope with stress and pain.
The findings may help neuroscientists figure out how these brain-made
substances work at the molecular level. Ultimately that knowledge will help
drug designers develop better painkillers and stress busters.
Marijuana-also known as grass, pot, Mary Jane, and a host of other names --
refers to the dried leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa, a plant widely -
and illegally - used in the United States as a recreational drug. Users
typically roll the leaves into a paper wrapper and smoke the resulting
marijuana cigarette. In small to moderate doses, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), the plant's active ingredient, produces feelings of well-being and
euphoria. In large doses, the drug can cause paranoia, hallucinations, and
dizziness.
But recreation isn't the only reason people smoke marijuana. Many people
suffering from glaucoma turn to illicitly obtained marijuana to help restore
their vision. The Drug Enforcement Administration still considers marijuana a
Schedule 1 drug, however - one that has no accepted medical use. That may
change. Joycelyn Elders, the Arkansas state health official who has been
tapped as President Clinton's Surgeon General, has gone on record supporting
the use of marijuana in the treatment of diseases such as glaucoma.
Synthetic versions of THC are available with a doctor's prescription. In 1985,
a lab-made THC received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as an
anti-nausea agent for cancer patients (SN: 6/15/85, p.377). And in December
1992, FDA approved the same drug to combat the weight loss that afflicts some
people with AIDS. Physicians can also prescribe the synthetic THC for
treatment of glaucoma, even though FDA has not specifically approved marketing
the drug for that use. evane's search for "bliss" began in the 1980s, when he
was completing his doctoral studies in pharmacology at the St. Louis (Mo.)
University School of Medicine. In 1988, Devane, who had been working with
cannabinoid researcher Allyn C. Howlett, discovered that the membranes of
nerve cells contain protein receptors that bind THC. Once securely in place,
THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the
"high" that users experience when they smoke a marijuana cigarette.
The very existence of such a receptor implied that the human brain
manufactures a marijuana-like substance: It seemed unlikely that humans had a
specialized receptor just waiting for the plant-derived THC to show up. Thus,
the 1988 discovery had laboratories all over the world scouting for a THC
look-alike.
Doctorate in hand, Devane left St. Louis for Jerusalem to pursue his search by
working with Raphael Mechoulam, the Hebrew University chemist who had
determined THC's structure.
Before Devane, Mechoulam, and their colleagues could begin looking for the
body's version of THC, they had to design a radioactive THC-like drug, or
marker, whose location could be traced during brain cell studies. They
fashioned such a drug, then mixed it with THC receptors; they found that the
marker locked onto its target.
The Israeli team needed a reliable source of brain cells. They couldn't get
human brains, so Devane turned to a local butcher shop, where he bought pig
brains. After grinding the brains up in a blender, the researchers had to sort
through and separate thousands of brain chemicals. They tested each one to see
if it would displace the radioactive THC from the receptor.
Devane calls that search a little like looking for a needle in a haystack. But
eventually the team's hard work paid off: They discovered a substance that fit
neatly into the THC receptor.
The researchers labored for two more years to get enough of the purified
compound - a drop of clear, oily fluid - to examine in detail. Using a
technique called mass spectrometry, they determined the structure of the
substance. Devane, of course, had no trouble coming up with a name,
anandamide.
Anandamide is derived from arachidonic acid, a 20-carbon carboxylic acid that
is the starting point for a cascade of complex biochemical reactions. One
branch of that cascade leads to the production of the leukotrienes, key
substances in the inflammation process. Another branch leads to substances
known as prostaglandins, which play a role in mediating pain. Devane believes
another, as yet uncharted branch of this cascade leads to anandamide.
The Hebrew University scientists weren't through with anandamide just yet.
They had shown that the new compound docked with the THC receptor, but they
still had to demonstrate that anandamide stimulates the receptor and leads to
effects similar to those produced by THC. So Devane and his Israeli colleagues
turned to a classic experiment with mice.
They began by isolating sections of the mouse vas deferens, the muscular duct
that carries sperm from the testes to the urethra. They knew that the vas
deferens contracts when jolted by an electric shock and that THC inhibits this
socalled twitch response. The investigators discovered that anandamide works
like THC, preventing the vas deferens from contracting after electrical
stimulation.
Their finding indicates that anandamide behaves like THC, at least in this
mouse model. The Israeli team published their findings in the Dec. 18 SCIENCE.
The saga of anandamide is far from over. When Devane left Hebrew University
last year, he took his interest in this marijuana-like drug with him to NlMH.
In Building 36 on the grounds of the National Institutes of Health, Devane and
his NIMH colleagues continue to gather data on this intriguing chemical.
Indeed, Chris Felder and Eileen Briley, two of Devane's co-workers, have
collected more powerful evidence that anandamide functions like the body's own
THC.
Felder and Briley wanted to construct a laboratory model of the way the active
ingredient in pot interacts with a cell. To do that, they inserted the human
gene that codes for the THC receptor into hamster cells. When the researchers
bathed the doctored cells with THC, they measured the expected drop in the
cell's production of cyclic AMP, a key chemical involved in many cellular
reactions.
Next, Felder and Briley took a petri dish filled with genetically altered
hamster cells and poured in a purified form of anandamide. Again, they
measured a decline in cyclic AMP Unaltered cells treated with anandamide
showed no such drop.
Anandamide didn't produce as big a drop in cyclic AMP as THC did. This
suggests that the natural marijuana-like substance produced by human brains
may be weaker than the plant-derived THC. "It is not quite as potent as
delta-9, but it's close," says Felder, who notes that their research has not
yet been published.
Will purified, concentrated doses of anandamide produce mind-altering effects
in humans? Devane and Felder don't know yet, but they are hoping to test the
compound in humans shortly,
In the smaller doses that occur naturally in the body, anandamide may be
involved in the regulation of mood, memory, pain, movement, and other
activities, Devane says.
The brain's reaction to marijuana may help explain the role of anandamide,
says Michael J. Brownstein, chief of the NIMH Laboratory of Cell Biology. He
notes that dogs given large doses of THC will stumble as though they were
drunk. This observation suggests that a defect in anandamide or its receptor
may cause certain diseases characterized by loss of motor control.
For example, some scientists speculate that the natural marijuana-like
substance may play a role in Huntington's chorea, a progressive hereditary
disease that interferes with muscular control. There's no proof that
anandamide is connected to Huntington's disease, cautions Miles A. Herkenham,
an NIMH scientist. However, Herkenham's preliminary data suggest that people
with Huntington's lose lots of THC receptors early in the disease process,
even before symptoms start to surface. Herkenham's previous research (SN:
11/26/88, p. 350) produced a map of the THC receptors in the human brain.
Others wonder if anandamide plays a role in eating disorders such as anorexia
and excessive eating. Regular users of marijuana say that the drug leads to a
feeling known as "the munchies." Scientists know that THC can, in fact,
trigger a glucose craving. Such evidence suggests that anandamide is involved
in appetite control, Brownstein says.
The search for anandamide began with the discovery of the THC receptor. The
flip side of that story is being played out in the related field of opiate
research.
Several decades ago, neuroscientists identified endorphins and enkephalins,
opium-like compounds manufactured by the human brain. At that time,
researchers also had evidence that opiate receptors existed. Yet their search
for the structure of such receptors remained unsuccessful until late last
year, when peptide chemist Christopher J. Evans of the University of
California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues finally obtained a detailed
picture of one type of opiate receptor. They published their finding in the
Dec. 18 SCIENCE.
The endorphins and enkephalins are similar to opium, heroin, and morphine,
drugs derived from the seeds of the poppy plant Papaver somniferurm. Evans and
his co-workers have identified and described the messenger RNA that carries
the genetic blueprint for one type of opiate receptor from the DNA of a cell's
nucleus to the receptor's production site.
Why did it take so long? Evans says the messenger RNA for opiate receptors is
very rare and difficult to isolate. But once they had the messenger RNA, the
team could determine the amino acids that make up the receptor.
After years of searching for one of these elusive receptors, a second team has
also characterized an opiate receptor-almost certainly the same one as Evans'
group. In the Dec. 15 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,
Brigitte L. Kieffer of the Ecole Superieure de Biotechnologie in Strasbourg,
France, and her co-workers describe an opiate receptor that looks remarkably
similar to the one the U.S. team nabbed.
The opiate receptor and the THC receptor belong to a family of proteins that
do their work via molecules called G-proteins. Evans says such receptors work
this way: An opiate or THC-like drug binds with the receptor on the outer
surface of the cell. Once activated, the receptor acts on G-proteins inside
the cell, a process that leads to a cascade of biochemical reactions - and a
feeling of euphoria.
The U.S. and French investigators identified the delta opiate receptor, a type
of receptor that binds with enkephalins. In the future, researchers hope to
find several other types of opiate receptors, a goal that should be easier now
that a map of the delta receptor exists. Evans believes that a handful of
genes probably direct the production of a host of opiate receptors, including
this one.
Neuroscientist Gavril W. Pasternak of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center in New York City predicts that the mapping of an opiate receptor will
"revolutionize" the field of opiate research. Knowing the structure of this
receptor (and others, once they are mapped), drug designers can begin to
fashion new opiate compounds, perhaps ones that fulfill the age-old promise of
relief from pain without ill effects.
How is it that the brain evolved to manufacture compounds that resemble drugs
of abuse?
Some scientists speculate that as organisms evolved from single-celled
creatures to complex ones, they needed a system to regulate a welter of
interrelated physiological functions. Thus, humans and other creatures
developed neurotransmitters, chemical messengers that allow nerve cells to
communicate with one another in the brain and with other cells in the body.
Like anandamide, the endorphins and enkephalins play a role in the healthy
brain and are probably involved in immune function, motor control, and pain
relief, Evans speculates.
Such brain chemicals also play a part in an organism's response to danger, a
throwback to the time when immediate pain relief meant animals could flee from
an attacker without delay. Most modern humans don't have to worry much about
tiger attacks, but stress remains ubiquitous. As neuroscientists learn more
about anandamide, the endorphins, and their protein receptors, they will begin
to compile a much better picture of the way these feel-good chemicals
influence human behavior.
***
[Portland NORML notes: To understand how this research led to other
research showing why marijuana is not a drug of abuse, see the 1995 article,
Marijuana and the Human Brain, by Jon Gettman, former director
of NORML.]
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Justice Department To Appeal Ruling On Testimony
(According To 'The San Francisco Chronicle,' US Justice Department Officials
Said Yesterday They Would Appeal A Startling Ruling By A Federal Appeals
Court In Denver That Forbids Prosecutors From Promising Leniency
To Witnesses In Exchange For Their Testimony Against Other Criminal Defendants)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 15:55:07 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
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Subject: MN: US: Justice Dept To Appeal Ruling On Testimony
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Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Section: A 10
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Joan Biskupic, Washington Post
JUSTICE DEPT TO APPEAL RULING ON TESTIMONY
Surprise decision to bar deals could stifle prosecutors
Washington
Justice Department officials said yesterday they will appeal a startling
ruling by a federal appeals court in Denver that forbids prosecutors from
promising leniency to witnesses in exchange for their testimony against
other criminal defendants.
The ruling last week challenges standard prosecutorial practice of securing
accomplices' testimony, in order to build a case against more dangerous or
important defendants.
The three-judge panel used a novel interpretation of federal law that
conflicts with decisions by her lower courts. But because the ruling now
stands as the law in western states, it has become the talk of federal
prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys around the country.
"If the decision is read very, very broadly, it could have a very
wide-ranging impact," Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. A yesterday.
"It goes to the way in which prosecutors at the federal, state, local levels
have conducted themselves for a good number of years."
The department is asking the full judicial panel of the 10th Circuit to hear
the case and that the effect of the July 1 decision be postponed while the
appeal is pending. If the decision is upheld by the full 10th Circuit, whose
jurisdiction includes Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and
Wyoming, the government could petition the Supreme Court. Only if the
Supreme Court were to affirm the ruling would it affect cases nationwide.
The decision rests on the theory that promising a lesser sentence for
testimony at trial violates a federal bribery statute. Although some legal
experts said it was a good candidate for reversal, the decision nonetheless
calls into question how prosecutors operate.
The government often targets the big players in criminal wrongdoing by
offering lesser sentences to their accomplices in exchange for testimony.
"Prosecutors pay off cooperating witnesses with promises of money, soft
sentencing and promises not to prosecute at all," said Gerald Lefcourt,
president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "The
enormous power of the government to lock up a defendant for life, or to free
him altogether, creates an enormous incentive to lie."
But Holder said that prosecutors strive for "truthful testimony," even when
it's the product of a plea bargain or other deal. "Any responsible
prosecutor always tries to substantiate (what) any witness for the
government is going to be saying," he said.
The federal law at issue prohibits offering anything of value to a witness
for his testimony. The woman who brought the appeal, Sonya Singleton, had
been convicted on cocaine and money-laundering charges. She argued in the
10th Circuit case that federal prosecutors broke that law by promising
leniency to a witness in return for his testimony against her.
The 10th Circuit panel, in a decision written by Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr.,
said the law provides no exception for prosecutors and concluded, "Promising
something of value to secure truthful testimony is as much prohibited as
buying perjured testimony."
The panel acknowledged that the Supreme Court in a 1972 case had said that
the government must disclose at trial a promise of leniency made in return
for a witness' testimony, but rejected arguments that that ruling means
promising leniency is legal.
The panel noted that its ruling conflicts with decisions from other lower
courts and that its position was based on a reading of federal law, not any
constitutional mandate. As such, if the ruling ever were to be affirmed,
Justice Department officials said, Congress could rewrite the bribery
statute to include an exception for prosecutors.
Since the ruling last week, a high-profile case in the 10th Circuit has been
the subject of some speculation: Timothy J. McVeigh was convicted in the
Oklahoma City bombing after Michael Fortier, who cut a deal with
prosecutors, testified against him. But whether the new ruling could help
McVeigh on appeal is guesswork.
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Employee Not Indicted Over Death (A 'New York Times' Story
Carried By 'The Associated Press' Says A Grand Jury In Raleigh,
North Carolina, Refused Monday To Indict A Store Employee Who Beat To Death
A Man Who Grabbed $130 From A Cash Register - Jason Cort's Parents Believe
The Grand Jury Was Swayed Against Their Son Because Crack Was Found
In His Body)
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:59:30 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
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Subject: MN: US NC: Wire: Employee Not Indicted Over Death
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Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: Associated Press
EMPLOYEE NOT INDICTED OVER DEATH
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Jason Cort grabbed $130 from the Food Lion cash
register and ran out into the warm May night. A supermarket employee took
off after him.
Cort, the troubled product of a well-to-do suburban family, wasn't fast
enough. Prosecutors say the store employee caught the 23-year-old Cort and
beat him to death with a tree limb.
The thrashing ended the hard-luck life of a young man who had struggled with
depression, a learning disability, alcohol and cocaine.
But the final chapter was written Monday, when a grand jury refused to
indict the store employee, college student Daniel Abram Rodbourn, on
manslaughter charges.
``It's telling the public that in an attempt to recover property, you can
kill somebody,'' said Cort's father, Steven Cort. He and his wife, Cheryl,
said they believe the grand jury was swayed against their son because crack
was found in his body.
``In my opinion, the minute they asked, `Was he on drugs?' the curtain went
down and Jason was on trial,'' Mrs. Cort said.
Cort was a skinny, learning-disabled kid who was so indecisive he would ask
his mother what to order off a restaurant menu. He grew herbs and cooked
with his mother, a neuromuscular therapist. He would scold her if she tossed
their cat off her lap, worried that the drop would hurt the pet.
``He was too sensitive for this world,'' said his father, a chemical
engineer and entrepreneur. ``I think that made him easy prey.''
Rodbourn, a 25-year-old senior at North Carolina State University majoring
in zoology, could not be reached for comment. Neither he nor his parents
have listed telephone numbers, and an entry in the university's student
directory was outdated. Prosecutors did not know if he had hired a lawyer.
Cort's parents had enrolled him in a private school that specialized in
learning-disabled students to help him graduate from high school. He was
hospitalized with depression in his teens and sent to live with a
grandparent so he could break off ties to friends who supplied him with drugs.
Finally, in January, he graduated from a hairstyling academy. His parents
celebrated with a ski trip to Aspen, Colo. A photo of Cort kicking back in
an armchair, his snowboarding boots crossed, sits on a glass tabletop in a
sun room of their home in Cary, a Raleigh suburb.
Trying to stay away from his former drug buddies meant Cort had few friends.
He would turn over his pay from a hair salon to his mother, trying to beat
the temptation of drugs. But his parents suspect someone talked him into
buying a fix and robbing the Food Lion on May 9.
``Jason was not a leader. He was a follower,'' Steven Cort said. ``He was an
easy mark because of his sensitivity and his depression.''
Police told Cort's parents that Cort broke away from two Food Lion customers
who tried to stop him at the door. A woman manager of the supermarket told
Rodbourn, ``Go get him,'' according to police.
Rodbourn caught up with Cort, the two fought, and the 140-pound, 5-foot-10
Cort broke free, police told the family. Rodbourn overtook him again and
beat him, prosecutors said.
Steven Cort said police told him Rodbourn beat his son with a 2-inch-thick,
5-foot-long tree branch. He said police told him one witness reported his
son was struck at least 10 times. A second witness said Cort was hit at
least twice as he lay on the ground. He suffered a broken skull, his parents
said.
Police thought Cort was drunk and had only minor injuries. He was taken to a
hospital to sober up, but lost consciousness. He was taken off life support
on May 13.
A Food Lion spokeswoman refused to discuss the case or the store's policy on
pursuing thieves.
Assistant District Attorney Howard Cummings said he thought there was enough
evidence to indict Rodbourn. ``The message is you get what you deserve, but
I don't want to pass judgment on anybody,'' he told The News & Observer.
District Attorney Colon Willoughby said the grand jury's decision
effectively ends any attempt to prosecute. He said his office has a policy
of not presenting a case to a new grand jury without fresh evidence.
The Corts said they never wanted prison but would have advocated community
service if Rodbourn had been tried and convicted.
``Drugs ruined my family,'' Mrs. Cort said. ``You cocoon them the best you
can and then you have to set them free, and that's the scary part.''
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
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GOP Jabs Coburn In Needle Program Fight ('The Tulsa World'
Says Oklahoma US Representative Tom Coburn Has Unleashed A Torrent
Of Criticism From Fellow Republicans Because Of His 'Stealth Attack'
On Needle Exchange Programs In Washington, DC)
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:50:48 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Gop Jabs Coburn In Needle Program Fight
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Newshawk: Michael Pearson (oknorml@swbell.net)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Contact: tulsaworld@mail.webtek.com
Website: http://www.tulsaworld.com
Author: Jim Myers, World Washington Bureau
GOP JABS COBURN IN NEEDLE PROGRAM FIGHT
"The government should help drug users break their addictions, not continue
them," Tom Coburn.
WASHINGTON -- A stealth attack from U.S. Rep. Tom Coburn against a needle
exchange program designed to fight the spread of AIDS in the District of
Columbia unleashed a torrent of criticism from Coburn's fellow Republicans.
Some believe it is yet another example of the GOP ignoring its own
principles of staying off the back of local government.
Coburn came up with the proposal, which would prevent the District of
Columbia from using its own funds to pay for the program, but did not run
with it himself.
Instead, he handed it off to Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., who chairs the
House appropriations subcommittee that handles spending issues for the
District of Columbia.
Taylor reportedly has not publicly acknowledged his involvement, and his
office stated Thursday that no one was authorized to comment on the issue.
An aide with the Appropriations Committee also could not answer questions
concerning it.
In testimony before Taylor's subcommittee several days ago, Rep. Connie
Morella, R-Md., said that such interference in local government affairs runs
counter to GOP principles.
``The District of Columbia has one of the highest incidence of HIV infection
in the country,'' Morella said.
``(It) has had a local needle exchange program in place since last year, an
important tool in the city's fight against the spread of HIV and an
important bridge to drug treatment service. Now, some members want to tell
D.C. that it cannot spend its own funds to prevent HIV infections.
``This is simply wrong.'
She pointed out the House has already gone on record against the use of
federal dollars for such programs.
Carol Schwartz, a GOP councilwoman in the district and mayoral candidate,
also urged Taylor's panel to reject attempts to load up legislation with
so-called riders on nonspending matters.
``The District of Columbia does not need to be the guinea pig for 535
individual congressional agendas,'' Schwartz said.
``That is not fair.''
She also said issues of local concerns should be decided by the citizens of
the district.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress special authority over the District of
Columbia and its affairs; lawmakers from time to time become directly
involved in local issues.
Schwartz said just ``because you can does not mean that you should''
exercise that power.
Coburn was not available for comment.
Besides the argument against congressional interference into local
government, the different opinions on the success of such needle exchanges
and the message they send appear to be driving the ongoing debate.
Morella and others believe they are working.
``Scientific evidence supports the fact that needle exchange programs reduce
HIV infection and do not contribute to illegal drug use,'' she said.
Coburn rejects that view.
In comments made immediately after the House vote to ban the use of federal
dollars for needle exchanges, he compared attempts to limit HIV transmission
by free needle exchanges for drug users to limiting lung cancer by passing
out free low-tar cigarettes to teen smokers.
Coburn also claimed that new studies run counter to claims put forth by
proponents of needle exchanges that they are effective in reducing HIV rates.
Two studies in Canada found needle exchange programs actually contributed to
increased HIV transmissions, he said.
Moreover, Coburn said, such programs send the wrong message.
``The government should help drug users break their addictions, not continue
them,'' he said.
Supporters of the district's program say the year-old program can help fight
drug use in addition to HIV transmission.
Those who receive the free needles must register with the program and are
urged to seek treatment, they say.
No one could say how seriously Taylor's panel was taking Coburn's proposal.
Jim Myers can be reached at (202) 484-1424.
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Clinton's 'Up Side The Head' Wakeup Call To America (A 'Reuters' Article
In 'The Toronto Star' Says Half Of The US Government's $2 Billion, Five-Year
Advertising Campaign Promoting The War On Some Drug Users Is To Be Funded
By The Private Sector)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:31:00 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Clinton's 'Up Side The Head'
Wakeup Call To America
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Newshawk: Dave Haans
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: Toronto Star (Canada)
Page: A14
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Reuters
CLINTON'S 'UP SIDE THE HEAD' WAKEUP CALL TO AMERICA
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Seeking to shock children into avoiding illegal
drugs, U.S. President Bill Clinton has launched an unprecedented $2
billion (U.S.) media blitz of provocative radio, television, newspaper and
Internet ads.
The money, half from the government and half to be raised from the private
sector. will be spent over the next five years, beginning last night with
simultaneous anti-drug advertisements on the four major American television
networks.
The ads are designed to be jarring, with one showing a girl screaming and
smashing things with a frying pan while telling the audience this is what
drugs will do to their lives.
Another shows a child recounting her mother's warnings about talking to
strangers and playing with matches. Asked what her mother said about drugs,
the girl is silent.
Officials said they wanted to use the most sophisticated techniques of
television and Hollywood to shake children and their parents out of
complacency about drugs. They described the effort as the largest anti-drug
ad campaign ever launched.
Critics say there is scant evidence such campaigns work and that the $1
billion in government money, and an equal amount in free air time and
advertising space from media groups, could be better spent.
Speaking in Atlanta, Clinton recalled his half-brother Roger's drug habit:
"My brother nearly died from a cocaine habit and I've asked myself a
thousand times: what kind of fool was I that I did not know that this was
going on?
"Nobody in America is free of this. Not the president, not any community,
any school, any church, any neighbourhood. These ads are designed to knock
America up side the head and get America's attention."
Clinton was joined by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Newt
Gingrich, who said Congress, which provided $195 million for the program's
first year, would come up with the rest. "We are all trying to reach out to
every young American and say: Don't do it," Gingrich said.
BETTER SPENT
The campaign has critics.
"For the past 10 years, our nation's kids have been bombarded with
anti-drug messages and it is these same kids who are experimenting with
more drugs," said Ethan Nadelmann, of the Lindesmith Centre.
Lindesmith is a drug policy group, financed by investor George Soros, who
advocates decriminalizing some drugs and emphasizing treatment instead of
punishment.
"While these ads are well-intended, this money could be better spent on
programs proven effective in reducing drug use, such as after-school
programs and treatment on demand."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Clinton, Gingrich Promote New Anti-Drug Ad Campaign (The 'Associated Press'
Version In 'The Chicago Tribune' Says House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Pledged To Try To Win Congressional Approval For Expanding The $195 Million
One-Year Campaign Into A Five-Year, $1 Billion Effort)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 14:34:16 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Clinton, Gingrich
Promote New Anti-Drug Ad Campaign
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Organization: Media Awareness Project
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Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Pubdate: 10 July 1998
Author: Associated Press
Section: Sec. 1, page 14
CLINTON, GINGRICH PROMOTE NEW ANTI-DRUG AD CAMPAIGN
ATLANTA -- Updating "Just Say No" with images to "knock America upside the
head," President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced an
anti-drug campaign aimed at bombarding the nation with hard-hitting ads,
Starting Thursday night on network television, the government campaign
intends to reach parents and kids at least four times a week with graphic
images of drugs' destructiveness and children's vulnerability.
"These ads were designed to knock America upside the head and get America's
attention and empower all of you," Clinton told an audience of mostly
children.
Gingrich (R-Ga.) pledged to try to win congressional approval for expanding
the $195 million one-year campaign into a five-year, $1 billion effort.
The government will ask media outlets to match the federal money dollar for
dollar.
In a 1997 national survey, half of high school seniors and nearly one-third
of 8th-graders reported using drugs.
"I wanted to come here today to stand with the president to say that on a
bipartisan basis--Democrats and Republicans, the legislative branch and the
presidency-- we're all trying to reach out to every young American and say,
`Don't do it,' " Gingrich said.
The president recalled his younger brother, Roger, battling cocaine
addiction. "What kind of fool am I that I didn't know what was going on? .
. There's somebody like my brother back at your school who's a good kid,
just a little lost," Clinton said.
The campaign's first ads were in 75 Thursday newspapers. Though most of the
campaign will be televised, the ads, which were produced free by some of
Madison Avenue's premiere agencies, also will run on radio, billboards and
the Internet.
One spot walks viewers past school lockers into a classroom of small desks.
"It's true," the announcer exhorts parents, "The use of marijuana has
actually gone down . . . to the 5th grade. Talk to your kids now, before
someone else does."
Another is a spinoff of the fried egg "This is your brain on drugs" ad so
widely used during the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's 11-year
campaign, with its Reagan-era slogan "Just Say No." The updated version,
about heroin's destructiveness, shows a frying-pan-wielding young woman
smashing an egg and then tearing up her whole kitchen.
That ad has been running since January in 12 test cities where it generated
a 300 percent increase in calls to a national clearinghouse of information
on drug use, said retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Clinton's drug policy
director.
At least $150 million of this year's appropriation will be spent directly
on air time targeting middle-schoolers. That, according to 1997 Advertising
Age figures, is more than Nike or Sprint spent to air single-brand ads.
Based on a study of the test campaign, McCaffrey acknowledged it could be
three years before anyone knows whether the ads are actually driving down
drug use. Some activists doubted the ads' effectiveness.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Drug Ad Blitz For Teenagers ('The Los Angeles Times' Version
In 'The San Jose Mercury News')
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 13:47:55 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Anti-drug ad blitz for teenagers
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Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Author: Elizabeth Shogren, Los Angeles Times
ANTI-DRUG AD BLITZ FOR TEENAGERS
Nationwide campaign, costing $2 billion, will focus on television spots
WASHINGTON -- In a rare meeting of the minds, President Clinton and House
Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday jointly launched an unprecedented
nationwide media campaign to discourage teens from using drugs.
The campaign, which began with ads in 75 newspapers and spots on all four
television networks Thursday night, is budgeted at $2 billion over five
years. Although the bulk of the effort will focus on television, ads
produced free by some of Madison Avenue's premier agencies will also run on
radio, billboards and the Internet.
But some drug-policy experts challenged the campaign's effectiveness.
``There's remarkably little evidence that it will work,'' said Ethan
Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Research Institute
in New York. ``If we're going to spend billions of dollars, let's spend it
on things that will make more of a difference.''
Nadelmann argues that providing drug treatment and alternate activities for
youngsters would be a more savvy -- if less flashy -- approach.
Lawrence Wallack, a professor of public health at the University of
California-Berkeley, termed the campaign ``kind of like agreeing on the
least common denominator and saying because we agree on it, therefore it is
a good thing. It's the kind of strategy that makes everyone feel like
something is being done on the problem. . . . Everybody is happy, but it is
just not sufficient to have an impact on the problem.''
Wallack -- who advocates more mentoring programs and activities for teens
to deal with a wide array of public-health problems from drugs to early
pregnancies -- agreed that the campaign will increase awareness of the drug
problem. This is a good first step, he said, but it is not a solution.
He also criticized the effort for not targeting cigarette and alcohol use
among teens.
The anti-drug media campaign has been under way since January in 12 pilot
cities in response to concern over the steady increase of drug use by teens
in recent years.
The creators of the television ads aimed to shake up children and their
parents to address the problem of drug use.
One shows a young woman wielding a frying pan -- wildly smashing it into
things and then pausing to tell the audience that this is what drugs do to
your brain. Another pictures a child recounting her mother's warnings not
to play with matches. But when she's asked whether her mother warned her
about drugs, she says nothing.
``These ads are designed to knock America upside the head and get America's
attention,'' Clinton said in Atlanta, where he was joined by Gingrich as
the campaign was unveiled nationally.
Drawing on his personal experience, Clinton referred to the drug problems
that once plagued his brother, Roger Clinton, and stressed that the message
of the ads is for everyone.
``My brother nearly died from a cocaine habit and I've asked myself a
thousand times: What kind of fool was I that I did not know that this was
going on?'' the president said.
The advertising blitz, crafted by Clinton's drug-control office in
conjunction with the Partnership for a Drug-free America, will be funded
half through federal dollars and half through donated air time and
advertising space from media outlets.
Although Congress has so far allocated funds only for the first year of the
project, Gingrich said the rest of the money would come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Schoolkids See Clinton And Gingrich In Rare Joint Appearance
('The New York Times' Version Notes Clinton Used The Occasion
Of The Announcement Of The Anti-Drug Advertising Campaign
To Attend A Political Fund-Raiser)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:38:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Schoolkids See Clinton and Gingrich in Rare Joint Appearance
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Paul Lewin
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: James Bennet
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich
made a rare joint appearance Thursday in Atlanta to crusade against illegal
drug use, even as their parties are preparing to club each other with that
issue in the congressional campaigns this fall.
Before flying here to console the families and praise the firefighters who
are grappling with Florida's fires, Clinton stopped in Atlanta to unveil a
new advertising campaign against drugs that he said was designed to "knock
America upside the head."
Displaying a bipartisan front -- if a rather cool one -- before hundreds of
schoolchildren in a conference center auditorium, Gingrich and Clinton
described how drugs had affected them. The speaker said that the sister of
one of his aides was left in a coma by a drug slipped into her drink; the
president said that his brother, Roger, "nearly died from a cocaine habit."
But with the congressional elections bearing down, the sense of shared
purpose did not last. Immediately after Gingrich finished his remarks
hailing the commercials' "bipartisan basis," an aide to Sen. Paul
Coverdell, R-Ga., handed a statement to reporters in the auditorium that
sharply assailed Clinton's drug policy.
And after the anti-drug event, Clinton moved on to a $500,000 fund-raising
lunch for Michael Coles, a Democrat who is challenging Coverdell for his
Senate seat. He mocked Republicans as misrepresenting Democratic policies
on the budget, guns and foreign policy. "They still milk that old cow every
chance they get," Clinton said.
Here in Florida, the president visited with families who lost most of their
possessions to fire. Several people wept as they told Clinton their stories.
Then the president spoke under a tent to several hundred firefighters and
other emergency workers gathered at the Daytona International Speedway,
which has served as a staging area.
"I'm here," he said, "because I think it's important that every American
knows that this summer, notwithstanding the great movies, the real
American heroes are not up in space fighting asteroids, they're in Florida
fighting fires."
After driving the short distance to the speedway from the airport, Clinton
and his motorcade took a stately quarter-lap on the 2.5-mile oval. The last
car of the three-dozen-vehicle motorcade had barely reached the track as
the first vehicle left it.
As in Georgia, Clinton combined his official duties in Florida with
political ones. He flew to Miami for an $800,000 dinner on behalf of
congressional candidates at the home of the actor Sylvester Stallone.
Presenting Clinton with the boxing gloves he wore in "Rocky," Stallone
compared him to the title character, saying he "has an uphill battle but
doggedly asks for one more round just to keep punching, keep punching, keep
punching until finally he gets his point across."
Stallone concluded: "It's been a grand evening. I shan't forget it."
The president thanked Stallone for the gift and said: "I think I've
established that I can take a punch. Now the time has come for me to
deliver a few."
The new advertising campaign, supervised by the Campaign for a Drug-Free
America, is financed this year with $195 million in federal money that
organizers expect to be matched by media organizations. Some commercials,
tailored to different racial and age groups, have already been broadcast in
test markets; the national campaign began Thursday night.
In Atlanta, the president and speaker sat with several people between them,
but they were careful to compliment each other's work against drugs. Both
seemed to capture the children's attention with their stories.
Clinton described learning from his brother that he had started drinking
beer and smoking marijuana in high school. "I said, 'How often?"' he said.
"He said, 'Every day.' And I thought to myself, 'What kind of family member
was I?"'
He told the audience: "There's somebody like my brother back at your school
who is a good kid, just a little lost," adding: "You can save them."
"The challenge of intellectual life is to be found in dissent against the
status quo at a time when the struggle on behalf of underrepresented and
disadvantaged groups seems so unfairly weighted against them."
- Edward W. Said, Representations of the Intellectual, xvii.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Teen Helps Launch Anti-Drug Campaign ('The Oregonian' Version)
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 13:03:49 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US OR: Teen Helps Launch Anti-Drug Campaign
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Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Michael (Miguet@NOVEMBER.ORG)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: Oregonian, The
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Author: Spencer Heinz
TEEN HELPS LAUNCH ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN
James Miller III, a Central Catholic High School student, speaks about his
mother's fight with drugs as a national anti-drug media campaign begins
An impassioned Portland high school student and a flurry of eye-opening
anti-drug ads figured into the presidential kickoff Thursday of an
unprecedented ad campaign to stem teen drug abuse.
Portland played a key part in the last six months as one of 12 test-market
cities for some of the print, TV, radio and billboard ads. Those ads went
national Thursday with President Clinton's and House Speaker Newt Gingrich's
bipartisan push in Atlanta.
"We know that the more young people fear drugs, the more they disapprove of
them, the less likely they are to use them," Clinton said in launching the
five-year, potentially $1 billion campaign. "Therefore, kicking America's
drug habit requires a dramatic change in attitudes accompanied and
reinforced by a dramatic increase in personal responsibility by all Americans."
Beginning this week, the anti-drug campaign will bombard a target audience
of parents and their children, ages nine to 18, with anti-drug messages on
the four major TV networks and in 75 major newspapers. Some of Madison
Avenue's premiere ad agencies produced the ads free. The Oregonian, local
television stations and various other Oregon outlets have been running the
ads as part of Portland's test-market work.
Although Thursday's teleconference program featured the president and others
of prominence, one of the emotional peaks came when James Miller III, 17,
who will be a senior this fall at Portland's Central Catholic High School,
stepped to the microphone. He told a crowd of hundreds of grownups and
children that he had joined the anti-drug movement after seeing the
devastating power of drugs on his mother, who once used drugs.
"James had every one of them spellbound," said Ed Maibach, of the
Washington, D.C., firm that developed the ad campaign strategy.
"James was exquisite," Maibach added. "In my opinion, he was the star of a
stellar day."
Back in Portland, his mother, Linda Annette Miller, 39, a crew supervisor
for Greyhound bus lines, said her son had asked if he could tell about her
successful fight against drugs, and she had proudly given her permission
with the understanding it could give other families hope.
"He wanted to know if he could mention me, but it still kind of bothered
him," she said Thursday evening. She told him to go ahead. "If you don't
talk about the past," she said, "you can never focus on the future."
Linda Miller said she had been clean and sober from cocaine, marijuana and
alcohol abuse since James said something eight years ago.
"James was 9 years old, and he came to visit me, and he said, 'Mama, can we
talk?' And I said sure. He said, 'Mom, people are talking about you, and
they're talking to you around us, and it hurts, and I just wanted to know if
you could get yourself clean and sober, get yourself cleaned up.'
"And I did."
James, who was en route to Portland late Thursday, lives with his father,
James Miller Jr., and stepmother, Jackie Miller. Linda Miller said she and
her son remain close.
Maibach said he understood that James Miller's remarks prompted the
president to depart from his prepared text and to recall his brother Roger's
battle with cocaine.
"What kind of fool was I that I did not know this was going on?" Clinton
said. He added, "There's somebody like my brother back at your school who's
a good kid, just a little lost."
The ad campaign aims to "knock America upside the head," Clinton said in his
kickoff. In a 1997 national survey, half of high school seniors and nearly
one-third of eighth-graders reported having used drugs.
One spot walks viewers past school lockers into a classroom of pint-sized
desks. "It's true," the announcer exhorts parents. "The use of marijuana has
actually gone down . . . to the fifth grade. Talk to your kids now, before
someone else does."
Another is a spin-off of the fried egg "This is your brain on drugs" ad so
widely used during the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's 11-year
campaign. The updated version, about heroin's ruinous power, shows a
frying-pan-wielding young woman smashing an egg and then tearing up her
whole kitchen.
That ad has been running since January in the 12 test cities, including
Portland. The ad generated a 300 percent increase in calls to a national
drug-use clearinghouse, said retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Clinton's drug
policy director.
Calls to the Regional Drug Initiative's Portland phone number went from
about 20 a month before the test-market campaign started to about 130 a
month since then, said spokesman Larry Langdon in Portland.
Langdon said, "If it really has a major impact, I think in a year or so
you'll see some reductions in drug use."
For information and referrals in the Portland area, call 294-7074. Elsewhere
in Oregon, call 1-800-822-6772.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New Drug Campaign Gets Mixed Reviews - Area Parents Say Message
Is Important (Version In The Illinois 'Daily Herald')
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 12:38:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: New Drug Campaign
Gets Mixed Reviews -- Area Parents Say
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project
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Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 1998
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Sec: Sec. 1, page 15
Contact: fencepost@dailyherald.com
Web: http://www.dailyherald.com
Author: TERESA MASK
NEW DRUG CAMPAIGN GETS MIXED REVIEWS -- AREA PARENTS SAY MESSAGE IS IMPORTANT
Just say no.
That's the simple warning students got about drugs during the Reagan era.
Suburban residents remember it well. It was the start of such programs as
Drug Awareness Resistance Education, commonly known as DARE.
But today's students are getting more sophisticated, more expensive
messages, thanks to President Clinton and a $2 billion advertising campaign.
The campaign, which began Thursday, is aimed at bombarding students with
hard-core messages about the dangers of drugs and the importance of
parental involvement.
Suburban parents have mixed reactions about whether the television, radio
and newspaper ads will work, and about the amount of money being spent on
the campaign.
"Certainly you want that message to get out," said Donna Baiocchi, a
Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 school board member. "But that
kind of money should be allocated to address problems in our community."
She said she doubts students will take notice of the commercials,
especially if they are played during a "disrespectful sitcom or violent
program."
"I can't imagine that it's going to affect more than one or two children in
District 54," she said.
But one or two is all that matters, said Bartlett parent Karen Carney.
"We need to make a difference one kid at a time," said Carney, an Elgin
Area Unit District 46 school board member.
She said the advertisements will be successful because "kids listen when
they are bombarded."
Besides, she said, the more information they have, the better.
Rolling Meadows DARE officer Tony Luzin agrees. Despite a recent study that
said suburban children who took DARE showed a slightly higher use of
alcohol and drugs than those who never had the program, the "say no to
drugs" message should be pushed as often as possible, Luzin said.
In fact, he said, it needs to be pushed continually from the time the
students leave the DARE programs, which often are in fifth or sixth grades.
That's what Arlington Heights resident Debbie Lange would like to see. She
knows the drug messages hit home to younger children, though she's not so
sure it will stick with them as they grow up.
"When they are little, the awareness is there. They know they aren't
supposed to do that and that drugs are stupid," she said. "Whether they
carry that same attitude when they get older, I'm not so sure."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
President To Kids - Don't Inhale Either ('San Francisco Examiner' Columnist
Rob Morse Is Both Critical And Insightful About The US Government's
New 'Anti-Drug' Media Blitz, Concluding That President Clinton Is Wasting
Huge Amounts Of Taxpayers' Money Blanketing The Airwaves And Cyberspace
To Reach Kids Who Will Never Have A Drug Problem, While Leaving The Ones
With Real Problems To Go Without Guidance Or Treatment - Of Course,
He Will Reach All The Voters)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 17:54:02 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Column: President to kids: Don't inhale either
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project
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Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: 10 Jul 1998
Author: Rob Morse, Examiner Columnist
PRESIDENT TO KIDS: DON'T INHALE EITHER
PRESIDENT CLINTON launched his $2 billion anti-drug campaign on Thursday
and, like most things he does, it was all media hype. He even said so.
That's what Clinton calls the five-year program -- the "Anti-Drug Media
Campaign," as if all problems can be solved with the right spin in the
right ads. It's the thoroughly modern non-answer to a problem by the
thoroughly modern politician.
The campaign is supposed to let teenagers know -- via TV, the radio and the
Internet -- that drugs are bad, and they shouldn't try so-called "gateway
drugs" like marijuana.
It's a huge, multimedia, dot-com version of "Reefer Madness." Yeah, that'll
work. That'll keep kids from trying drugs.
"We can see evidence that ads can sell things," said Kendra E. Wright, head
of a Beltway drug policy outfit called Family Watch. "But we have no
evidence that they can unsell things."
Yes, but ads can be so good at selling voters on the idea that you're doing
something positive for America's children.
In fact, the ads may have exactly the wrong impact.
Wright described some of the ads she and her children have seen because
Washington, D.C., has been one of the 10 test markets for the campaign.
"One ad shows a good-looking kid with a skateboard smoking a joint. We
showed it to some social scientists and they said they're almost
glamorizing drugs."
One of the ads, according to Wright, actually gave the wrong kind of
education in drugs.
"I have two stepsons, 10 and 14, and they watched one ad about using
household inhalants to get high. They didn't know anything about this
before. Now they know how to do it."
Things you can learn from your government.
Another ad was canceled because of the uproar it caused among gays.
"It showed a young boy using drugs, so-called gateway drugs, going on to
heroin, then becoming a male prostitute selling his body to men," said
Wright. "It was as if being gay was worse than being a heroin addict."
Well, ad campaigns are very tricky things. "It's hard to boil down large
problems to a 30-second spot," said Wright.
It's especially hard when you're trying to unsell drugs, and right between
ads selling beer. What, exactly, is the message here, when beer is the
gateway to alcohol addiction, which is responsible for 100,000 deaths a year?
Well, the message I get is that Clinton wants to look tough on drugs,
sympathetic to youth, and stay on the good side of TV networks, which earn
$626 million a year in revenues from beer ads.
Now broadcasters are going to be making almost that much from anti-drug
ads, with no mention of alcohol as the most prevalent drug of all.
Well, that's not exactly right. TV is the most prevalent drug of all.
"What TV and drugs have in common is that they're what kids turn to when
they're bored," Wright said. "What kids need is after-school programs. If
the kids aren't busy, they turn to drugs."
The curious thing about this anti-drug media campaign is that it presumes
kids don't have anything better to do than watch TV, listen to radio or
surf the Internet. Or take drugs.
It doesn't actually give them anything better to do.
The president could have funded hundreds of Big Brother/Big Sister
Programs, which actually seem to keep at-risk kids off drugs and alcohol.
Yes, alcohol, too, something Clinton's media campaign won't mention, along
with tobacco.
Imagine bored kids' responses when they see anti-drug ads on TV between the
images of beautiful young people playing in the Rockies with Coors.
Kids are natural skeptics and will know that these anti-drug ads are just
the propaganda arm of a failed drug war.
Well, that's not what they'll say. They'll just say "bogus" or something
else beginning with B.
Many of these kids have been through the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
program. According to a federally funded study published in the American
Journal of Public Health in 1994, kids who went through DARE are no less
likely to say no to drugs than kids who had not gone through the program.
But adults like the illusion that they're doing something about drugs,
especially when so many adults don't really know what their own kids are
doing, or have much control over them.
They'll probably like the illusion that the president is doing something,
too, even though a series of presidents have failed in fighting drugs.
The statistics are amazing, considering all the "just say no" and all the
films of DEA agents making busts.
Ninety-seven percent of high school seniors say marijuana is easy to
obtain. Half the kids in America have tried it; however, only 5 percent of
them go on to serious drug problems.
Clinton is wasting huge amounts of taxpayers' money blanketing the airwaves
and cyberspace to reach kids who will have no problems with drugs, while
leaving the ones with real problems to go without guidance or treatment. Of
course, he will reach all the voters.
1998 San Francisco Examiner