-------------------------------------------------------------------

September Cannabis Liberation Society Meeting (The Reform Group
Gathers Wednesday Evening In Eugene, Oregon)

Date: 21 Sep 1998 07:11:01 -0700
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 07:09:13 -0700
From: Dan Koozer (dkoozer@pond.net)
Reply-To: dkoozer@pond.net
To: Multiple Recipients of List (cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com)
Subject: CanPat - Sept CLS meeting
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@lists.teleport.com

We are having a meeting on Wed Sept 23 at 7:00p. We hope to have it at
Grower's market but the location hasn't been confirmed yet. I'll send
another notice when the location has been confirmed.

We are going to have an RN who is a "addiction specialist" and is
pro-med mj with actual experience as to the help that med mj can offer
to people trying to quit thier addictions.	

Also we need to discuss plans for the passing of measure 67 and the
defeating of measure 57.

Our next event is the Fall 1998 AUSO Street Faire Oct 14, 15 & 16
10:00a-5:00p at the University of Oregon. We will have a booth as usual
but it will be too late to register voters for the Nov 3 election. We
will be encouraging people to vote and gathering signatures on Oregon's
best kept secret, the OPP re-legalization petition.

				Dan
***

Dan Koozer, President
Cannabis Liberation Society
PO Box 10957
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Voice Mail & Event Line: (541) 744-5744
http://www.efn.org/~cannlib/

[Ed. note - No update was found as this was posted, but call the CLS Event Line
for the meeting place.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Legislation Signed To Allow Drug-Using Tenants To Be Evicted
('The Sacramento Bee' Says The Law Signed Monday By California Governor
Pete Wilson Sanctions A Three-Year Pilot Project To Begin January 1
In Five Los Angeles County Courts, Which Will Allow Prosecutors
To Evict Tenants Who Sell Illegal Drugs On Rental Property, And Also
Whoever Pays The Rent, Even If The Landlord Is Opposed To Such
Inhumanitarian State-Enforced Homelessness)

From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-News" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Legislation signed to allow drug-using tenants to be evicted
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 19:16:24 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Source: Sacramento Bee
Pubdate: September 21, 1998
Online: http://www.sacbee.com/news/ calreport/wrapper.cgi/N349.html
Writer: No byline
Newshawk: ccross@november

Legislation signed to allow drug-using tenants to be evicted

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles County prosecutors will be allowed to
evict tenants who sell illegal drugs on rental property - even if their
landlords turn a blind eye - under legislation signed Monday by Gov
Pete Wilson

The measure, authored by Assemblywoman Sally Havice, D-Artesia, approves
a three-year pilot project in five Los Angeles County courts. It takes
effect Jan. 1

"Drugs poison our children and pollute our communities," Wilson said in
a statement. "But too often, owners of rental properties either turn a
blind eye to this illegal activity, or fail to act out of fear for their
safety. This has got to stop."

Under current law, only a landlord has the authority to evict a tenant
who is dealing drugs. Many landlords choose not to do so because they
are intimidated by their drug-dealing tenants

The current law also requires that even if only one person in an
apartment unit is dealing drugs, all residents have to be evicted. The
new legislation would allow for partial eviction, meaning only the
person dealing drugs would be forced out, Havice said

"The people who pay the rent, they get evicted too," she said. "This is
going to create more justice and fairness. It's just not fair to do this
to an entire family who are not involved in the illegal activity."

The bill will be in effect for three years at five Los Angeles County
courts: Los Angeles Municipal Court, Van Nuys, Los Cerritos, Long Beach
and the Southeast Judicial District. The Judicial Council is expected to
evaluate the program by Jan. 1, 2001 and report its findings to
legislators.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

In The Joint On The Job ('The San Francisco Chronicle'
Looks At The California Prison Industry Authority,
Which Makes $155 Million Annually From More Than 70 Factories -
A New Study Done At The University Of California At Berkeley
Says The Vast Enterprise Is Good For The Private Sector
And The State Economy, Creating Jobs And Income For Many Californians
Outside The Prison Walls)

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 16:43:01 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: In The Joint On The Job
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)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: 21 Sep 1998
Page A17
Author: Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

IN THE JOINT ON THE JOB

State prisons staff $155 million-a-year enterprise with inmates

Behind razor wire and lethal electric fences at more than 70 factories in
California lies a hidden industrial empire, churning out an astonishing
array of goods ranging from eyeglasses and flags to chairs and muumuus.

It makes things that even Sears Roebuck & Co. does not usually stock, like
the ``bear proof'' locker for $425. Many prices are hard to beat -- women's
blue jeans for $12.10, men's shoes $31.25, 100 percent cotton nightgowns
for $8.25.

The home of this $155 million-a-year enterprise is the California state
prison system, viewed by most people as the maker of license plates, not a
vast network of modern industrial plants producing 24,000 varieties of
1,800 different items.

Yet those familiar with the 15-year-old, prosaically named Prison Industry
Authority know it has produced not only an abundance of goods but also a
fair number of detractors - ranging from critical state auditors to prison
reformers alleging exploitation and private businesses accusing it of
taking jobs away from law-abiding citizens.

Now, however, the program has received a boost from a new study done at the
University of California at Berkeley. Contrary to the expectations of many,
the vast enterprise is good for the private sector and the state economy,
creating jobs and income for many Californians outside the prison walls,
according to the report.

If the prison industries were to vanish, the state would suffer a net loss
of about 560 jobs, not counting those held by the inmates themselves, and
$218 million a year in sales, concluded researchers in the university's
Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. About 50 percent of the
business would be lost to out-of-state companies, the study found.

The review, funded by the Prison Industry Authority, is the first ever to
assess the economic impact of the program.

``Intuitively, people would have thought that you are taking sales away
from the private sector,'' said the report's chief author, economist George
Goldman. It is true that some sectors do lose out because of the
prison-made goods, such as private makers of eyeglasses, but they are
outweighed by those who gain, such as civil service personnel who work for
the Prison Industry Authority and outside vendors who sell supplies to the
program.

To put the program in perspective, Goldman noted that its contribution to
the economy is about the same as the state's commercial fishing industry or
its pulp mill operations. Or, put in another light, it is about the same as
a single moderately successful Steven Spielberg film, he said.

Before he began the study, Goldman had little idea of what was going on
inside the prisons, he said. ``I thought like everyone else, vaguely, that
prisoners make license plates.''

The state prison at Folsom still makes the state's plates, as it has since
1947, but nowadays license plates are only 6.5 percent of total Prison
Industry sales racked up by more than 7,000 inmate workers at 23 of
California's 33 prisons. The wide selection of wares can be seen in a
product catalog and on a new Web site, but there is a catch -- only public
agencies can buy the goods.

The operations vary prison by prison, usually with two or three factories
at each. San Quentin makes mattresses and cleaning supplies, Tehachapi does
silk-screening as well as mattresses and mulch, Ione makes various things
from fiberglass.

At Solano State Prison outside Vacaville, the first of the modern
generation of prisons built in the California boom that began in the 1980s,
there is no outward sign of the assembly lines within. Nor is there any
indication after a visitor passes beyond the double row of tall fences
topped by razor wire and the abandoned guard towers made obsolete by the
new, deadly electric fence.

But inside a plain, tan-colored building with walls of corrugated metal,
men in blue jeans and blue chambray shirts line up along tables in a
completely computerized, air-conditioned optics lab, making eyeglasses for
other prisoners and for the state Medi-Cal program.

Inmate Rodger Hill, who earns the top-scale pay of 95 cents an hour
inspecting the new lenses, smiles easily during an interview and says, ``I
prefer this job.'' The 42-year-old from Santa Rosa said he had to wait
three months to get into the highly sought lab. That was nine years ago.

But now the wait is longer. Inmate Ernesto Juarez, 39, of San Mateo County
said he waited two years for one of the 60 openings in the lab. ``I really
wanted to get into the field,'' he said.

And in the nearby building where they make binders and fabric road signs,
Richard Gregg, 32, of Clovis was on a waiting list for 14 months. Now, he
says, he enjoys applying his prison draftsman training to the
75-cents-an-hour task of centering letters and Velcro strips on road signs.

``Just because you're incarcerated doesn't mean you can't take pride in
what you do,'' he said. ``When my mom is driving down the highway, I tell
her to look for this sign.''

Prison officials praise the program as a self-supporting enterprise that
saves taxpayer money, furnishes the prisons and other government agencies
with low-price goods and reduces idleness while teaching inmates valuable
skills and good work habits.

It also lets inmates reduce their sentences one day for every day worked,
and provides a modest wage ranging from 30 to 95 cents an hour -- two big
reasons for the waiting lists.

But not everyone has had kind words for the program.

A scathing state audit in 1996 contradicted the claim that the prison
industries program is self-sufficient and found widespread customer
dissatisfaction. Several products were priced higher than those in the
private market, certainly bad news for the Department of Motor Vehicles,
state universities and other public agencies required to purchase
prison-made goods, the audit said. A follow-up audit found some improvement.

The Prison Industry Authority took issue with the audit. Frank Losco, chief
of public affairs, says it now breaks even, plowing profits back into the
operation. It has already incorporated the new UC Berkeley report into its
brochure, which now speaks of the program's ``positive economic impact'' in
addition to other advantages.

California's program is by no means unique. It is the largest of the state
programs, which is not surprising, given that California has the largest
population in the nation, both in prison and outside. It ranks in the
mid-range in sales per inmate.

And within California prisons, Prison Industry jobs are not the only kind
of work that inmates do. At Solano prison, for example, about 97 percent of
the 5,600 prisoners are employed, but only about 450 work in the Prison
Industry programs. Most of the rest do a wide range of clerical, cleaning
and yard-work chores, while a select 18 prisoners hold the choicest jobs of
all -- earning near minimum wage in a joint venture making furniture for an
outside private firm.

CHART:

PRISON INDUSTRY AUTHORITY

Goods and services produced

Product types 1996-97 Sales

Agriculture $21,092,999

Processed food $12,204,781

Fabric products $32,015,730

Paper and wood products $29,587,434

Metal products $22,385,567

Other goods and services $37,907,581

Total sales $155,194,092

Source: California Prison Industry Authority

1998 San Francisco Chronicle

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing Through The Illusions Of The Prison-Industrial Complex
(An Op-Ed In 'The San Jose Mercury News' By Angela Davis)

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 16:42:32 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: OPED: Seeing Through The Illusions Of The
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: 21 Sep 1998
Page C-1
Author: Angela Davis

SEEING THROUGH THE ILLUSIONS OF THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

(Angela Y. Davis is History of Consciousness professor at the University of
California - Santa Cruz and an organizer of the upcoming conference
Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex. An earlier
version of this article appeared in Colorlines magazine.)

Imprisonment has become the response of first resort ot the problms facing
people living in poverty. Our prisons thus appear to perform a feat of
magic. But prisons do not disappear problems -- they disappear human
beings. And the practice of disappearing vast numbers of people from poor,
immigrant, and racially marginalized communities has literally become big
business.

Homeslessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness and illiteracy
are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the
human beings contending with them are relegated to cages. To convey the
illusion of solving them, an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work must
take place. This work, which used to be the primary province of government
-- caging people, feeding them, keeping them busy or depriving them of
activity, transporting them in handcuffs and shackles from one facility to
another -- is now also performed by private corporations.

The proliferating network of prisons and jails can now be charaterized as a
"prison-industrial complex." And, as with investment in weapons production,
investment in the punishment industry reaps a dividend that amounts only to
social destruction.

Almost 2 million people - eight times as many as three decades ago -- are
locked up in the immense network of U.S. prisons and jails. In California
alone, the number of incarcerated women is almost twice the entire nation's
1970 female prisoner population.

Colored bodies constitute the main raw material in this vast experiment to
disappear the major social problems of our time. More than 70 percent of
those behind bars are people of color.

As prisons take up more and more space on the social landscape, other
government programs that sought to respond to social needs -- such as
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families -- are squeezed out of existence.
Even the deterioration of public education is directly related to the
prison "solution."

By stealing public resources, the prison-industrial complex has created a
vicious cycle. For prisons not only materially and morally impoverish
their inhabitants, they also devour the social wealth needed to address the
very problems that have led to the sprialing numbers of prisoners.

Because of their profit potential, prisons are becoming increasingly
important to and enmeshed in the U.S. economy. Privatization is the most
obvious instance. The stocks of Corrections Corporation of America and
Wackenhut Corrections Corp., the largest U.S. private prison companies, are
doing extremely well. From 1996 to 1997, CCA's revenues rost 58 percent,
from $293 million to $462 million. Wackenhut's revenues grew from $138
million to $210 million.

Profits, investment

These companies are only the most visible component of the corporatization
of punishment. Technology developed for the military by companies like
Westinghouse is marketed for use in law envorcement and punishment. Prison
construction bonds are a source of profitable investment for leading
financiers like Merrill Lynch. MCI charges prisoners and their families
outrageous prices for the precious telephone calls that are often the only
contact prisoners have with the free world.

Many corporations whose products we consume on a daily basis have learned
that prison labor -- purchased at rates well beneath the federal minimum
wage -- can be as profitable as Third World labor. Botd forms of
exploitation rob jobs from formerly unionized workers, throwing then into
the marginal classes from which prisons are filled. Companies using prison
labor include IBM, Motorola, Compaq, Texas Instruments, Honeywell,
Microsoft and Boeing.

Not only high-tech companies reap the beneits. Nordstrom sells jeans
marketed as Prison Blues as well as T-shirts and jackets made in Oregon
prisons. The advertising slogan for these clothes: "Made on the inside to
be worn on the outside."

Maryland prisoners inspect glass bottles and jars for Revlon and Pierre
Cardin, and schools throughout the works buy graduation gowns made by South
Caorlina prisoners.

Despite its profitability for corporations, the penal system as a whole
does not priduce wealth. It devours resources that could subsidize housing
for the homeless, ameliorate public education, open free
drug-rehabilitation centers, create a national health care system, combat
HIV, eradicate domestic abuse -- and, in the process, create well-paying
jobs for the unemployed.

Universities stunted

Since 1984, more than 20 new prisons have opened in California. At the
same time, only one new campus was added to the California State University
system and none was added to the University of California system.

In 1996-97, higher education received only 8.7 percent of California's
general fund. Corrections, meanwhile, swallowed 9.6 percent.

Now that affirmative action has been declared illegal in California, it
becomes obvious that education is increasingly reserved for certain people
while prisons are reserved for others. Presently, five times as many black
men are in prison as in four-year colleges and universities.

This new segregation has dangerous implications for the entire country. By
segregating people and labeling them criminals, the prison-industrial
simultaneously fortifies and conceals the structural racism of the U.S.
economy. Claims of low unemployment -- even in black communities -- make
sense only if one ignores the vast numbers of people in prison and assumes
they have disappeared and thus have no legitimate claim to jobs.

In the United States, the numbers of black and Latino men currently
incarcerated amount to 2 percent of the male labor force. Their
disappearance from the labor pool is an effective, if expensive, means of
enhancing the employment statistics.

Conversely, says London School of Economics criminologost David Downes,
"Treating incarceration as a type of hidden unemployment may raise the
jobless rate for men by about one-third, to 8 percent. The effect on the
black labor force is greater still, raising the (black) male unemployment
rate from 11 percent to 19 percent."

Though the historical record clearly demonstrates that prisons fail either
to solve social problems or to reduce crime, state policy is rapidly
shifting from social welfare to social control.

Surveillance is focused on communities of color, immigrants, the
unemployed, the undereducated, the homeless, in general, those with a
diminished claim to social resources.

The emergence of a U.S. prison-industrial complex within the context of
cascading conservatism, marks a new historical moment whose dangers are
unprecedented. But so are the opportunites.

Resistance

Am impressive number of grassroots projects are resisting the expansion of
the punishment industry. It ought to be possible to link these efforts to
create radical, nationally visible movements that can legitimize critiques
of the prison industrial complex.

It ought to be possible to build movements in defense of prisoners' human
rights and movements that persuasively argue that what we need is not new
prisons but new health care, housing, education, drug programs, jobs and
education.

To safeguard a democratic future, it is possible and necessary to weave
together the many and increasing strands of resistance into a powerful
movement for social transformation.

STRATEGY SESSIONS AGAINST PRISONS

A national conference and strategy session, "Critical Resistance: Beyond
the Prison Industrial Complex," will be held Friday through Sunday at the
University of California - Berkeley. It will include workshops, films,
evening performances and speakers including Davis, feminist Gloria Steinem
and 1998 MacArthur "genius" award winner Ellen Barry of the San
Francisco-based Legal Services for Prisoners With Children. For more
information see http://www.igc.org/justice/critical or call (510) 238-8555.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

November 3 Ballot Numbers (A Bulletin From Americans For Medical Rights
Lists The Viable Medical Marijuana And Other Reform Initiatives
Sponsored By AMR And Other Groups)

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 20:32:08 GMT
To: AMR/updates.list
From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com)
Subject: Nov. 3 ballot #'s

Now that Colorado's initiative has officially qualified, here's a complete
list of medical marijuana ballot measure #'s in the different states:

ALASKA - Proposition 8

COLORADO - Initiative 19

NEVADA - Ballot Question 9

OREGON - Measure 67

WASH. ST. - Initiative 692

All of the above are medical marijuana initiatives with support from
Americans for Medical Rights. Also up for votes this Nov. 3:

ARIZONA - Propositions 300, 301 - 'No' votes restore elements of Prop. 200
('96)

OREGON - Measure 57 - 'No' vote rejects recriminalization of marijuana
possession

D.C. - Initiative 59 - medical marijuana initiative sponsored by ACT-UP D.C.

***

- Dave Fratello
Americans for Medical Rights

-------------------------------------------------------------------

North Vancouver City Backs Drug Strategy ('The North Shore News'
In British Columbia, Noting That A 1994 Canadian Alcohol And Drug Survey
Found 13.1 Percent Of Canadians Use Opiate Narcotics, While 7.4 Percent
Smoke Marijuana, Says The North Vancouver City Council Voted Unanimously
Monday To Adopt The Lower Mainland Regional Drug Strategy And To Work
With The Lower Mainland Municipal Association To Develop And Implement
A Program Aimed At Curbing Drug Abuse)

Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:06:12 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: NV City Backs Drug Strategy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: North Shore News (Canada)
Contact: editor@nsnews.com
Website: http://www.nsnews.com/
Pubdate: Mon, 21 Sep 1998
Author: Liam Lahey, Contributing Writer

NV CITY BACKS DRUG STRATEGY

IT'S no secret Vancouver has a drug problem.

What's a mystery is the lack of anti-drug action by the municipal
governments surrounding the city's east side.

With the adoption of the Lower Mainland Regional Drug Strategy, North
Vancouver City Council voted unanimously on Monday to work with its sister
members of the Lower Mainland Municipal Association (LMMA) to develop and
implement a program aimed at curbing drug abuse.

"We have a reputation for having great grass in North Vancouver and not the
kind you mow," quipped Coun. Barbara Sharp to council while considering the
proposal.

The LMMA is seeking support from member municipalities for an application to
the Federal Crime Prevention Program for funding to develop a Lower Mainland
regional drug strategy.

The project will be coordinated by the City of New Westminster on behalf of
the LMMA. The application to the federal government will see the LMMA ask
for approximately $1.4 million annually for five years.

"When it comes to drugs and drug abuse we tend to focus on East Vancouver
where the majority of the problem exists," said Coun. Bob Fearnley. "We need
to develop a local criteria for public services (to deal with this issue)."

In a frankly worded letter to Mayor Jack Loucks, LMMA president Janis
Elkerton asked for North Vancouver City council to draft a letter supporting
the association's request to the federal government for funding. Council
agreed wholeheartedly to offer its support.

"We need to seek funding from the federal government, we can't tackle this
on our own," Coun. Stella Jo Dean said. "We're certainly not doing our best
for the young people (in North Vancouver)."

Dean found it particularly shocking that only eight provincial beds exist on
the North Shore for severe drug abusers who are seeking rehabilitation.

She was exasperated further upon learning that there is an eight-month wait
for one of those beds to come available.

Coun. Darrell Mussatto, who works as a paramedic, expressed concern about
identifying the substances most commonly abused by young people.

"I hope council realizes that a drug bogeyman does not exist and that
alcohol is the most widely abused drug," he said. "I hope this strategy will
deal with alcohol and recreational drug abuse."

A 1994 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Survey conducted by the federal government
found that 13.1% of Canadians use opiate narcotics, while 7.4% smoke
marijuana.

"The purpose of this strategy is to deal with this problem with the support
of the whole Lower Mainland," Sharp said. "Several heads are better than one
when dealing with this." In a glowing display of unity, councillors took
turns expressing their undivided support for a regional drug strategy and
collectively promised to take action.

"It's better to build boys and girls than to try to mend men and women,"
Coun. Barbara Perrault added.

The LMMA will submit its application to the federal government this month.

Copyright 1998 by the North Shore News.

***

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: RE: Canada: NV City backs drug strategy (fwd)
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 09:24:49 -0700

-------- Forwarded message --------
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 08:49:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Conlon, Kelly

> Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
> Source: North Shore News (Canada)
> Contact: editor@nsnews.com
> Pubdate: Sep. 21, 1998
> Author: Liam Lahey, Contributing Writer
>
> NV City backs drug strategy

	[Conlon, Kelly]

	*snip*

> A 1994 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Survey conducted by the federal
> government found that 13.1% of Canadians use opiate narcotics, while
> 7.4% smoke marijuana.

[Conlon, Kelly]

One out of ten Canadians use opiates? This can't be right; the
author must have slipped a decimal place.

KTC

***

Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 13:09:20 -0400
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: Dave Haans (haans@chass.utoronto.ca)
Subject: RE: Canada: NV City backs drug strategy (fwd)

At 09:24 AM 9/22/98 -0700, Kelly wrote:

>> NV City backs drug strategy
>> A 1994 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Survey conducted by the federal
>> government found that 13.1% of Canadians use opiate narcotics, while
>> 7.4% smoke marijuana.

>One out of ten Canadians use opiates? This can't be right; the
>author must have slipped a decimal place.

If we include codeine as a narcotic (which it is), the number is probably
correct. After all, no country takes a back seat to Canada when it comes
to codeine consumption!

Here's a blurb from the CCSA web site, at http://www.ccsa.ca/horiz94.htm .
Reported are past year use (1994), which might be why the numbers are
smaller than above:

Narcotic pain relievers, such as codeine, Demerol (meperidine), and
morphine, are the most frequently used type of prescription drugs (8.2%),
with use highest in British Columbia (12.4%) and lowest in Québec (3.2%) . .
. . In 1993, about one million Canadians (4.2%) aged 15 or older reported use
of marijuana in the past year; use is highest in British Columbia and lowest in
Saskatchewan.

Cheers,

Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Addict Needle Plan Considered ('The Calgary Herald'
Says A Controversial British Columbian Plan To Create Government-Sanctioned
'Shooting Galleries' For Vancouver Drug Addicts Is Winning Support In Calgary
As A Way Of Blocking The Spread Of AIDS And Hepatitis C)

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 22:18:48 -0700
Subject: Addict needle plan considered
From: "Debra Harper" (daystar@shaw.wave.ca)
To: mattalk (mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com)
Newshawk: daystar@shaw.wave.ca
Source: Calgary Herald
Pubdate: September 21, 1998
Contact:letters@theherald.southam.ca
Author: Grant Robertson

Addict needle plan considered

A controversial plan to create government-sanctioned "shooting galleries"
for Vancouver drug addicts is winning support in Calgary as a way of
blocking the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis C.

The B.C. concept would see safe houses created where intravenous drug users
can get clean needles and shoot up heroin, cocaine and othjer drugs in
safety.

"An initiative that offers promise in controlling an epidemic shouldn't be
discarded because it's a paradigm buster," siad Dr. John Gill, chief of
infectious diseases for the Calgary Regional Health Authority.

"The program is clearly focused on trying to stop the transmittal of
blood-borne pathogens. It's novel, it's innovative and it's being developed
in the apparent failure of existing programs.

"One doesn't know if it will work, but let's see. If they get going properly
(Vancouver), then maybe we will need it here," said Gill.

The Vancouver-Richmond Health Board will this week consider a proposal to
set up four injection sites in that city's east side.

It's being touted as a last-ditch effort to stop needle sharing and to
prevent overdoses, which claim the lives of about 20 Calgarians a year. The
Vancouver proposal has drawn fire from that city's mayor and the B.C. Health
ministry.

Though Calgary's heroin problem is not as critical as Vancouver's and some
U.S.cities, Gill said the program deserves a chance.

Calgary has an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 intravenous drug users.

"It's a Catch 22," said Calgary police Insp. Jim Hornby. "It's like setting
up brothels for prostition - we're condoning something that is against the
law.

"There may be health benefits (from the program), but injecting heroin is
against the law."

Needle exchange programs have been in place in most cities for several
years, but have only had limited success in slowing the spread of deadly
diseases among users.

One of Calgary's four needle exchange programs, which are operated by the
CRHA, is at the Calgary Urban Project Society on the 7th Avenue S.E., an
organization which provides health services to people in need.

Lorraine Melchior, executive director of CUPS, siad there's no way her
organization would offer space for a shooting gallery.

"We have felt very strongly and will continue to feel very strongly about
this," said Melchior. "We won't allow a room for people to inject or use
drugs because it puts other people that come here like children and
families, in danger."

Mayor Al Duerr said he could not properly comment on the idea of shooting
galleries, because he does not have all the facts. "It's a very complicated
issue," he said Sunday night. "It involves the law - Criminal Code - and
health care. We'd need a lot of consultation before proceeding on that."

Dr. Brent Friesen, the CRHA's Medical Officer of Health, said the city has
other steps to take in dealing with heroin addiction before it considers
opening shooting galleries.

"There's a need for a methadone treatment program in Calgary and that's
what we're focusing on as a priority," Friesen said.

Calgary is the only major city in North America without a program to
rehabilitate heroin users using the drug methadone.

Methadone is a legal narcotic that simulates the effects of heroin. It
suppresses withdrawal and relieves craving for the drug.

But Friesen said he was monitoring the shooting gallery idea.

He said it's important for Vancouver to have an effective strategy in place,
because a recent survey showed 40 per cent of Calgary injection drug users
said they had also injected in Vancouver.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mexico Battles Plague Of Corruption ('The Santa Maria Times' In California
Examines Official Attempts To Cope With The Rampant Corruption
Of Mexico City Police)

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:45:40 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: OPED: Mexico Battles Plague of Corruption
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison
Source: Santa Maria Times (CA)
Contact: Santa Maria Times PO Box 400
Santa Maria, CA 93456-0400
Fax: 1-805-928-5657
Pubdate: Monday, September 21 1998
Section: Opinion, World View, page A-4
Author: Holger Jensen

MEXICO BATTLES PLAGUE OF CORRUPTION

Mexico is a country where crooked cops are the norm rather than the
exception and the worst of them prey on the capital.

Authorities in Mexico City admit a daily average of 700 crimes involving
weapons and resulting in the deaths of at least six people. That's the
official figure. The Mexican press says it's much higher.

A metropolis of 8.5 million, Mexico City has 28,000 policemen. They are
blamed for muggings, bank robberies, kidnaps, murders, rapes, auto thefts,
holdups of passenger buses hijackings of freight trucks.

About 70 policemen are fired every month for failing drug tests. But police
involvement in the drug trade and other crimes is so routine that only the
most horrific raise public ire.

One such case occurred in July when three teenage girls were kidnapped by
four uniformed officers they had asked for directions. The patrolmen took
the girls to the stables of a mounted police detachment where they were
held captive for four days and repeatedly raped. The 18-year-old escaped by
hiding in a horse stall; the younger girls were later found wandering
incoherent and half-naked on a city street.

Fifteen officers were arrested, the mounted police unit was disbanded and
80 other policemen were placed under house arrest pending investigation.
But the powerful Mexican Employers' Federation said that was not enough to
stem what it called "a growing and uncontrolled phenomenon of insecurity"
posed by the security forces.

It called for the establishment of a nationwide database on criminal cops -
something Mexico has never had - so those fired by one police force cannot
simply get jobs on another or, worse yet, join the legion of criminal gangs
run by former cops.

Ideally, says Mexico City's mayor, the only way to reform the force is to
fire all the cops and begin again. But, he points out, "past
administrations have fired thousands and then we just end up with thousands
of armed, unemployed cops on the street, many of whom become criminals."

So he has started a new incentive program to help underpaid officers stay
straight and supplement their $300 monthly wages. They will get $30 for
each felony arrest, or booted off the force if they're caught accepting
bribes for letting criminals go.

Skeptics doubt this will turn bad cops around. More likely, they say, it
will turn into another extortion racket with officers arresting innocent
citizens just to get the bonus.

Corruption begins even before cadets enter the police academy. A study by
two Mexican sociologists, recently published in Nexos magazine, revealed
that applicants who take the test to join the police force can get the test
result they want "based on the amount of money placed between the pages of
the test."

Once they reach the academy, said Nexos, they are "trained to rob with
professionalism." And on the street, they have to extort money from
drivers, shopkeepers and criminals because they have to pay their superiors
a "daily quota." From small crimes, aspiring officers quickly graduate to
bigger ones.

Police in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas were found to be driving
200 stolen cars from the United States. And virtually all the top law
enforcement officials in Morelos state were arrested or investigated for
criminal activity, mostly kidnapping. One ring operating in Morelos under
police protection was notorious for cutting off a victim's ear to get quick
ransom payments.

When the police go bad, Mexico traditionally turns to its army. The
military, for example, has been entrusted with a bigger role in the war on
drugs on the assumption that better-trained, better-paid soldiers are less
susceptible to bribery and other forms of corruption than the police.

But that illusion was shattered by the arrest and imprisonment last year of
Mexico's top drug-fighting general, who was found to be in the pay of a
cocaine cartel.

In the words of DEA agent quoted by the New York Times earlier this year -
before President Clinton certified Mexico as "cooperating" in the war on
drugs - "much of our work in Mexico is an exercise in futility."

Holger Jensen is international editor of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

In Celebration Of Drug Smugglers ('The Baltimore Sun' Says In Northwest
Mexico, Adoration Is Growing For Smugglers Of Illegal Drugs, Bringing Forth
A Culture With A Characteristic Dress, Music, Religion, And Attitude Toward
Life And Government - The 'Narcocorrido' Has Become The Favored Pop Music
For Much Of Northwest Mexico)

Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:54:36 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: In Celebration Of Drug Smugglers
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Rob Ryan
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.sunspot.net/
Pubdate: 21 Sep 1998
Author: Sam Quinones , Special To The Sun

IN CELEBRATION OF DRUG SMUGGLERS

`Narcoculture': In northwest Mexico, a culture of adoration grows for
narcotics smugglers, who beat the odds by getting their goods across
the border to feed the habits of gringos.

CULIACAN, Mexico -- Near the stage at a recent concert by the band Los
Tigres del Norte stand four young men in cowboy boots, large belt
buckles, tight jeans and cowboy hats.

Three are college students -- studying computers, architecture and
dentistry -- and one is a teacher. But they are dressed like country
boys, as if they were not, in fact, born and raised in Culiacan, a
city of more than 700,000 people, capital of the Pacific coast state
of Sinaloa.

They identify with the hills because that is where narcotics smugglers
came from.

A "narcoculture" is growing in northwestern Mexico, where providing
gringos their drugs has been an economic activity for nearly three
decades. Drug smugglers are imitated, admired and venerated as heroes
who take their product across the border against all odds, beating the
authorities and gringos.

The culture has a characteristic dress, music and attitude toward life
and government. It even has its religious side. The poor of Sinaloa
have for years believed that Jesus Malverde, a legendary bandit whom
the government hanged in 1909, grants miracles. The press has dubbed
him "the Narco Saint," as apparently many drug smugglers call on him
for protection in their work.

Typically, "narcofashion" includes a cowboy hat, boots from the
leather of some exotic animal -- most recently, ostrich skin -- gold
chains, a large belt buckle, a sports suit of finely pressed slacks
and jacket, often with snakeskin lapels. This style is known as the
"Chalinazo" -- for Chalino Sanchez, a legendary and murdered singer of
narco ballads.

Silk shirts -- usually with ornate designs in brown, beige and yellow
-- have been popular for more than a year. The originals were Versaces
and went for 3,000 pesos -- about $375. Chinese knockoffs run about
200 pesos, double that for shirts with gold thread.

Many shops stock shirts with images of Jesus Malverde or the Virgin of
Guadalupe on the back. Other shirts are adorned with marijuana leaves,
AK-47s, cowboy hats and playing cards.

The "narcocorrido" has become the favored pop music for much of
northwest Mexico. Ballads -- telling of bandits or revolutionary
heroes -- have been a part of Mexican folk music for at least a
century. Recently, the "narcoballad" has taken over the genre.

Narcocorridos limn the exploits of drug smugglers -- executions,
betrayals, shootouts with the "federales" -- bloody events set to a
polka beat and obliviously cheerful accordion line.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bands play nothing but narcocorridos. And
some get too cozy with their subjects, accepting sponsorships from
drug gangs.

"That's what we want," says Jesus Garcia, a Culiacan promoter of a
young norteno band, Juventud Norteno. "We want some narco to hear us
and sponsor us. Any group that's going to make it big has to be
sponsored by a narco. The band that doesn't have a sponsor ends up
playing cantinas."

In the summer of 1994, members of Los Huracanes del Norte were injured
when a car bomb went off outside a hotel where they were playing a
party for a relative of Rafael Caro Quintero, who is in prison for the
murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena.

In its accompanying violence, as well as its subject matter, the
narcocorrido has its parallel in gangster rap in the United States. In
both genres, most songs are never heard on the radio. Radio stations
have an understanding with the Mexican government that they won't play
the narcocorridos.

Chalino Sanchez is the music's Tupak Shakur, an American rapper gunned
down two years ago in Las Vegas. Sanchez was taken from his car after
a Culiacan show in May 1992. His body was found the next morning, with
two bullets in his head. The case remains unsolved, but Sanchez's
influence lives on. A number of narcocorrido singers imitate his raspy
tenor; one even goes by the stage name "Chalinillo" -- Little Chalino.

Narcoculture bespeaks an acceptance of drug smuggling as normal to
everyday life.

"You can be talking with a drug trafficker and it's the most common
thing in the world," says Daniel Valencia, the teacher at the Tigres
concert. "You talk about it like you're talking about your girlfriend
or a soccer game."

To live in Culiacan is to be conversant with the legends of specific
"narcotraficantes," whose names are as recognizable as those of great
athletes or musicians: Baltazar Diaz was gunned down in the streets of
Mexico City. Lamberto Quintero fell in a shootout in Culiacan. The
slain "El Borrego" is immortalized in a song by Los Tucanes de
Tijuana, one of the hottest narcocorrido bands, said to be sponsored
by the Arellano Felix drug gang in Tijuana. (The band denies the
allegation.)

Some narcos never die. "They said `El Cochiloco' [Manuel Salcido] was
dead four times and he still kept coming back," says Armando Salcedo,
the computer student. "People say he's still alive."

People are saying the same thing now about Carrillo
Fuentes.

Sinaloa, where marijuana and opium poppies grow nicely in the
mountains, is the wellspring of drug smuggling in Mexico. Most of the
important Mexican drug cartel leaders in the past 25 years have been
from here, though those still at large usually live somewhere else.

"We've been living for more than 50 years with the drug-trafficking
culture," says Oscar Loza, president of the Sinaloa Commission for the
Defense of Human Rights. "When we talk of a second and third
generation living with drug trafficking, they begin seeing it as
something natural, not something criminal. Many people still see it as
a crime, obviously, but more and more see it as just another economic
activity." Smuggling may be prohibited legally, Loza says, but not
socially.

The government, by contrast, has little credibility among Sinaloans,
especially those from the mountains.

A series of military anti-drug sweeps in the 1970s, organized by the
U.S. and Mexican governments, resulted in ferocious and arbitrary
abuses of the population. It set off a great country-to-city migration.

Moreover, the government is unable or unwilling to control crime in
Sinaloa -- fewer than 10 percent of murders are ever solved -- or even
to provide basic services in many far-flung communities. But drug
smugglers have been known to pave streets, build clinics and pay for
operations.

"When drug lord Miguel Felix Gallardo went to jail in the mid-1980s,"
says Tomas Castillo, the dentistry student, "people were really sad.
Here these guys aren't enemies, they're friends. They're really
well-liked."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Use Of Crack Increases To Record Level (Britain's 'Independent'
Says The Home Office And Criminologists Have Discovered That Record Amounts
Of Crack Cocaine Are Available Throughout Britain)

Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:54:26 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Use Of Crack Increases To Record Level
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Pubdate: Mon, 21 Sep 1998
Author: Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent

USE OF CRACK INCREASES TO RECORD LEVEL

RECORD AMOUNTS of crack cocaine, the highly addictive drug, are
available on the streets of Britain, the Home Office and
criminologists have discovered.

While crime surveys have found that 1 per cent of 16 to 29- year-olds
have taken crack - about the same number as heroin - experts believe
the problem is underestimated because users of the drug tend to lie
about their habit.

Cocaine seizures by customs and excise have risen sharply in the past
three years, from 940kg in 1995 to 2,074kg last year.

New Home Office research has found that more than a quarter of people
arrested in a study in London and Manchester were taking crack
cocaine, and that one in 10 arrested in Nottingham had used it.

More women tested positively than men. Prostitutes are among the most
frequent users of crack.

But the drug, which costs as little as UKP10 a hit, is not confined to
the stereotype of drug users. A vicar, a 14-year-old girl and a group
of pensioners are among the growing number of people who have become
hooked on crack, inquiries by The Independent have found. The police
are particularly concerned about any rise in the substance's
popularity because crack users are among the most risk-taking and
volatile drug takers and likely to turn to crime to pay for their habits.

Research and reports from drug agencies show that crack - usually tiny
"rocks" created by baking cocaine powder - is available in most cities
in Britain and is being used by people from a wider range of age
groups and social backgrounds than in the past. It is also becoming
more widely used in the club scene.

Among the clients being helped by one drug agency in London are a
vicar who is stealing up to UKP200 a week from the church collection
plate to pay for his habit, stockbrokers, lawyers, and teenage girls
who have been forced into prostitution after being given crack.

Tim Bottomley, who is carrying out research on crack for the Home
Office, said: "You could walk up to a punter in the street and buy it
in most cities in Britain."

Previous co-research by Mr Bottomley, leader of the Piper Project, a
drugs unit in south Manchester, in 1996 found that crack cocaine
addicts in north-west England were typically spending about UKP20,000
a year on drugs and were particularly involved in offences of
burglary, theft and assault.

A Home Office official confirmed the trend yesterday: "There is more
available than ever before."

Crack is usually smoked in a pipe and produces an intense high that
lasts for about two minutes, followed by about 20 minutes of low-level
euphoria before the effect wears off, leaving a craving for further
hits.

Among the side-effects is a long low period that follows the short
high. This can cause mental health problems ranging from mild
depression to cocaine psychosis with symptoms similar to
schizophrenia.

Warnings from drugs experts in the late 1980s that Britain was about
to experience a crack epidemic similar to that raging in American
inner cities were not borne out.

But it appears that crack - mainly from cocaine from South America -
is entering the UK in record amounts.

'Easier than ordering a pizza'

Sophie SPENT UKP250 a day to feed her addiction to crack cocaine. "I
didn't look like a drug addict. I was losing weight, but I still took
care of my looks and how I dressed.

"The drugs were so easy to get. I would buy UKP50 worth and someone
used to come around to my house to deliver them.

"I once smoked UKP1,000 of crack in a day. After I had finished, the
buzz just disappeared - it only lasts about 5-10 minutes, although
it's a very powerful hit."

Sophie has been drug-free for five months since getting help from the
493 Crack Awareness Programme, run by the drugs agency Addaction in
Hackney, east London.

Fashionably dressed, attractive and articulate, with a lively
three-year-old son, Sophie does not look like a stereotypical former
junkie.

She started on drugs while living in the United States, but had been
off "crack" for seven years when she arrived in Britain. "Things
became difficult for me and I just relapsed." A year ago she was
arrested for cheque fraud. She was referred to 493 Project and since
then her life has changed. "It was such a relief to tell my partner,
and I've got a nice home and a little job now," she said.

But could she still get crack if she wanted it? "I could have it
delivered here in four or five minutes - it's easier than ordering a
pizza."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drugs Seizures Double (The Belfast 'Telegraph' Says Figures Released Today
Reveal Illegal Drugs With An Estimated Street Value Of More Than £6 Million
Were Seized By The RUC Last Year - Double The Total For The Previous Year -
Yet Still There Was A Disturbing Growth In Northern Ireland's Drugs Culture)

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:20:00 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Drugs Seizures Double
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Contact: editor@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Pubdate: Mon, 21 Sep 1998
Author: Peter McVerry

DRUGS SEIZURES DOUBLE

ILLEGAL drugs with an estimated street value of more than UKP6m were seized
by the RUC last year - double the total for the previous year, it was
revealed today.

The RUC Drug Squad recovered UKP6,614,955 worth of drugs in 1997, compared
to UKP3,282,110 in 1996 - a rise of over UKP3m.

In comparison, statistics released in Scotland show UKP9m of drug seizures
last year in an area roughly three times the size of Northern Ireland.

The RUC warned that there are two reasons for the record seizures - police
inroads against dealers and a disturbing growth in a Northern Ireland's
drugs culture.

Figures show that arrests for drug offences in the province also rose in
the financial year 1997-98 from 909 to 1,017.

Drugs recovered included the province's first seizure of the deadly drug
'crack' cocaine in Ballymena in July.

More than UKP1m worth of Ecstasy was seized last year, compared to none in
1990.

LSD seizures increased a mammoth 220-fold in the same period. The finds in
one town - Newry - equalled all the seizures in Northern Ireland for the
previous 10 years.

And last year the quantity of cannabis seized was 12 times that of 1990.

Among the totals seized were 363.5 grams of cocaine, over 78,000 Ecstasy
tablets and 448 kilos of cannabis resin.

A large proportion of the increase in the monetary value of the drugs
seized last year can be attributed to Northern Ireland's biggest ever drugs
haul - UKP2m of cannabis recovered at Belfast docks in June 1997.

That smashed the previous record set in March of the same year when almost
UKP500,000 of cannabis was seized in Coleraine.

But the latest Chief Constable's report warns that Northern Ireland cannot
become complacent in the fight against drugs.

"The large seizures of controlled substances reflects not only positive
police action taken to reduce the supply of controlled substances but is
also, unfortunately indicative of the persistent development of a drugs
culture in Northern Ireland," the report said.

Drugs officers said there is also concern that heroin has gained a foothold
in Northern Ireland.

"Of great concern is the increasing popularity of an injecting culture
amongst heroin users," said police.

Drug workers say the quality of illegal drugs available in Northern Ireland
has also increased - raising concerns about the potential for overdoses.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Policy Foundation Network News (A Monthly Publication
For DPF's Advocacy Network, Including - HHS-SAMHSA Release Results
Of Annual National Drug Survey; Risky Alcohol And Tobacco Use Among Youth
Outpaces Use Of Illicit Drugs; Survey Shows 'Drug Free School Zones'
To Be Anything But; Prospective College Students Not Exempt From Drug War
Hysteria; Eye On America - Bill Would Require Drug Tests In Schools;
House Seeks To Drug Test All Teenage Drivers)

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:33:20 EDT
Errors-To: dpf-mod@dpf.org
Reply-To: dpnews@dpf.org
Originator: dpnews@dpf.org
Sender: dpnews@dpf.org
From: "Drug Policy News Service" (dpf-mod@dpf.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dpnews@dpf.org)
Subject: DPF's Network News (September 1998)

DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION'S NETWORK NEWS
A Monthly Publication for DPF's Advocacy Network

With Congress adjourned for the month of August, we offer this special "Back
to School" edition of Network News. As our nation's youth and young adults
return to their studies, we focus on the challenges that they face in
receiving a quality education that prepares them for the future. The
everyday anxieties of pre-teens and young adults, as well as thrill-seeking,
boredom, and pressure from peers often lead to youthful experimentation with
drugs. The easy money of selling drugs has lured many youth into the illicit
drug trade, and the increasing use of the criminal justice system to deal
with youthful drug users and the proliferation of zero-tolerance drug
policies have left many young people marginalized from the school system and
society.

In this issue of Network News, we present some findings from the most recent
studies and surveys related to youth drug use. We encourage all of our
readers, especially parents and guardians, to become familiar with the drug
policies of your local school districts. Talk to your kids about the real
risks of drug use and the harmful consequences of drug abuse. If you need
the facts, check out the websites of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse
http://www.mamas.org or the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence
http://www.isdd.co.uk.

***

HHS-SAMHSA Release Results of Annual National Drug Survey

Drug use by young people increased last year, led by rising marijuana
smoking among teenagers, according to a government survey. On August 21,
Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala released the findings
of the annual "National Household Survey on Drug Abuse" (NHSDA). According
to the survey the number of Americans using illicit drugs remained flat in
1997, with an estimated 13.9 million Americans (6.4% of the U.S. population
age 12 and over) indicating they had used an illicit drug in the month prior
to being interviewed. However, in a press release issued with the report,
HHS noted that young people age 12-17 reported an increase in current use of
drugs, primarily marijuana.

According to the NHSDA, marijuana continues to be the most frequently used
illicit drug; about 60% of all illicit drug users reported only using
marijuana. However, the survey also revealed that an estimated 111 million
persons age 12 and over were current alcohol users (51% of the population)
and of these, about 31.9 million persons (15.3%) engaged in binge drinking.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office on National Drug
Control Policy, seemed most concerned about illicit drugs, while ignoring
the problems associated with binge drinking and drinking and driving by
youth. According to McCaffrey, "This study confirms the significant threat
from illegal drugs to our children. We embrace today's findings as further
proof of the need to fully fund our National Drug Control Strategy."

DPF and other organizations with an interest in drug policy were quick to
respond to both NHSDA's findings and to the administration's spin on the
report, which serves as the primary source of statistical information on the
use of illegal drugs by the United States population.

"Today's teenagers have received the most intensive anti-drug programming of
any in America's history," countered DPF Communications Director Rob Stewart
in an August 21 news release that was quoted in a Washington Times
front-page story, "yet youth drug use continues to climb. Furthermore, young
people have consistently reported that illegal drugs like marijuana are
readily available. The Household Survey shows us that the current 'war on
drugs' is failing young people even as it tries to save them."

"Simply put, arresting adults does not prevent kids from smoking pot," said
Chuck Thomas, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project,
in response to the Household Survey's perennial finding that adolescent
marijuana use continues in the face of prohibition. "Teens are the victims,
because the government spends valuable resources on the criminal justice
system instead of on effective education," Thomas concluded.

According to Stewart, "this latest increase of drug use among youth provides
further reason to investigate alternative policies that can more effectively
control drug use while reducing crime, corruption, and disease."

***

Risky Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among Youth Outpaces Use of Illicit Drugs

On August 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the
"Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance-United States, 1997" (MMWR). The MMWR included the results of a
1997 national youth risk behavior survey which showed that 33.4% of youth in
grades 9-12 recently engaged in heavy drinking, and 50.8% had drunk alcohol
in the past 30 days. The report also found that 36.6% of surveyed youth had
ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol. In addition, 36.4% of
high school students had smoked cigarettes more than once in the 30 days
preceding the survey, and 26.2% reported having used marijuana in the
previous 30 days.

In addition to the national survey, the MMWR summarizes results from 33
state surveys, 3 territorial surveys, and 17 local surveys conducted among
high school students. According the MMWR, nationwide 79.1% of students
reported having had at least one drink of alcohol during their lifetime, and
79.2% of students said that they had tried cigarette smoking. By contrast,
47.1% of students reported having used marijuana during their lifetime, 8.2%
used some form of cocaine, 3.1% used illegal steroids, and 17% of the
students had used other illegal drugs during their lifetime. Approximately 1
in 50 (2.1%) of students reported having injected drugs.

The MMWR also reported some significant differences along racial and gender
lines. For example, Hispanic students (14.4%) were significantly more likely
than white and black students (8.0% and 1.9%, respectively) to have ever
used cocaine, and white students (8.0%) were significantly more likely than
black students (1.9%) to have done so. Conversely, black male students (59%)
were significantly more likely than white male students to have ever used
marijuana. However, Hispanic and white students (83.1% and 81.3%,
respectively) were significantly more likely than black students (73.0%) to
have had at least one drink of alcohol during their lifetime.

"This report provides important information about the multi-leveled and
targeted education and prevention efforts that we must undertake to address
the behaviors that pose the greatest health risk to youth and young adults,"
said H. Alexander Robinson, DPF's public policy director. "However, I fear
that once again too many decision-makers will allow the hype and politics of
the drug war to blind them to the reality of the day-to-day challenges faced
by our children."

***

Survey Shows "Drug Free School Zones" to be Anything But

Despite numerous local, state, and federal laws and proclamations, countless
signs, poster campaigns, and election-year promises, a recent survey found
that "more kids have seen drug deals at their schools than in their
neighborhoods." The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse's
(CASA) 1997 "Back to School Survey" found that 29% of high school students
say a student in their school died from an alcohol- or drug-related incident
in the past year. Even more troubling, 76% of high school students and 46%
of middle school students reported that drugs are kept, used, or sold on
their school grounds.

"We need to develop reasoned and compassionate policies to deal with youth
drug involvement," said DPF Communications Director Rob Stewart.
"Politicians keep looking for the quick fix, the one-liners, like 'drug free
schools zones,' which have been made a mockery of," Stewart continued. "The
misinformation about drugs and the lure of the drug trade are all too
familiar to many American youth. Communities across the country must engage
in an open and honest dialogue to discover how we address the very real and
very complex questions of community values, family stability, and the root
causes of drug abuse, addiction, and why youth enter the drug trade."

Yet, the participants in the survey appear to suggest that what is needed is
a tougher, less tolerant approach. Half of the students (52%) and principals
(53%) support drug testing of all students, compared with 42% of parents and
38% of teachers. "It's a sad day in America when a majority of youth are
asking to have their constitutional rights violated," said DPF Senior Policy
Analyst Scott Ehlers. "Obviously American Government teachers are not doing
a very good job at teaching Justice Thurgood Marshall's valuable civics
lesson: 'There is no drug exception to the Constitution....'"

One finding of the study seemed to resonate with DPF and others who are
concerned about the risk that drug use and abuse pose to young people.
"Parental involvement is a critical protective factor," said Joseph A.
Califano Jr., chairman of CASA, at the release of its fourth survey of teens
and school officials on substance abuse. "The more often teens eat dinner
with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use
marijuana."

"Clearly, close, open and honest communications within stable families can
play a major role in influencing the decisions that young people make about
alcohol and drugs," Stewart noted. However, he also cautioned that we must
address the fact that many children lack that kind of support. "Children
without supportive families and teenagers who experiment with or regularly
use alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or hard drugs deserve our compassion,
honest understanding, and sincere efforts to help them succeed in life.
Counseling, after-school activities, and mentoring programs should be
available for youth without a stable family structure, regardless of whether
they use drugs or not."

***

Prospective College Students not Exempt from Drug War Hysteria

Continuing to prefer the failed strategy of punishment and isolation of drug
users, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would unfairly ban financial aid
to deserving and needy students. On March 18, Mark Souder (R-Ind.), offered
an amendment that would ban a student who has been convicted of drug
possession or sale from receiving student aid. Apparently unmoved by the
arguments by some Democrats that the amendment as written would discriminate
against minorities, the provision was adopted.

H.R. 6, passed on May 6, and S. 1882, passed on June 9, would reauthorize
the Higher Education Act of 1965, which aims to enhance opportunities for
students pursuing college education through grants, loans and work-study
assistance. One provision of these bills would ban financial aid to "a
student who has been convicted of any offenses under Federal or State law
involving the possession or sale of a controlled substance."

Nationwide, only 11% of drug users are African American, who make up 12.6%
of the population. However, African Americans constitute almost 37% of those
arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug
violations, and almost 60% of those in state prisons for drug felonies. One
in three African American men between the ages of 20 and 29 years old is
under correctional supervision or control.

"African Americans continue to be the most predominate casualties of the
drug war," according to Imani Woods, coordinator of DPF's African American
Community Education program, and founder of Progressive Solutions, a
Seattle-based harm reduction consulting firm. "Education is key to achieving
success in America. To unfairly restrict educational opportunities in the
name of eliminating drug use is unconscionable," Woods admonished.

As of the publication of this article, the bill awaits a House-Senate
conference.

***

Eye on America - Bill Would Require Drug Tests in Schools

Congressman John Peterson (R-Penn.) has introduced a bill that would require
local educational agencies to perform random suspicionless drug tests on
students in grades 7-12. H.R. 4378, the "Empowering Parents to Fight Drugs
Act of 1998," would authorize grants to state educational agencies to
perform random drug tests for marijuana, amphetamines, phencyclidine (PCP),
opiates, and cocaine.

"This legislation is flawed for a variety of reasons," according to DPF
Public Policy Director H. Alexander Robinson. "Drug testing is invasive and
has been ruled to be a bodily search by the U.S. Supreme Court, thus making
unconditional federal support and promotion of drug testing constitutionally
suspect," Robinson suggested. "Equally troubling is the fact that this
random drug testing scheme is being proposed without a real justification.
Suspicionless drug testing is particularly objectionable; it offends the
principles of civil liberties, and is arguably un-American," he said.

While the bill offers parents the opportunity to "withdraw their child from
participation" in the random drug testing program, Robinson notes that this
too could cause undue damage to the family relationship. "As a father I
object to the idea of such testing," Robinson stated, "but what would be the
consequences for my son if I withdrew him from such a program? Would he be
subjected to differential treatment because of my views?"

Introduced in July, the bill has few co-sponsors. In the current political
climate that could change quickly. DPF is monitoring this as well as several
other drug policy measures making their way though the House and Senate.

And Finally...

***

House Seeks to Drug Test All Teenage Drivers

On Wednesday, September 16, the House passed H.R. 4550, the "Drug Demand
Reduction Act" by a vote of 396-9. The bill includes the "Drug Free Teenage
Drivers Act," which establishes an incentive grant program for states to
drug test all teenage applicants for a driver's license. If a state chooses,
all other first time applicants for a driver's license could be tested as
well, regardless of age.

The act also includes, among other provisions: the "Drug-Free Workplace Act"
(Title I, Subtitle A), which establishes a grant program to promote drug
testing programs in small businesses; the "Drug-Free Parents Empowerment
Act" (Title I, Subtitle G) which authorizes $10,000,000 a year to be given
to parents groups involved in drug prevention; the Commission on the Role of
Medical Education in Reducing Substance Abuse (Title II, Subtitle B); and a
Sense of the Congress statement that asks states to reject the legalization
of drugs through legislation and ballot initiatives (Title III, Subtitle B).

***

DPF's Network News

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latest legislative and regulatory drug policy proposals in Congress and the
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***

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