Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006
Subject: #332 – Former Drug Czars Declare “Victory” In War On Drugs

FORMER DRUG CZARS DECLARE “VICTORY” IN WAR ON DRUGS

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #332 – Sunday, 2 July 2006

It’s OVER! Success! We Win!

So was the composite declaration of a recent gathering of former
United States drug czars on June 17, which marked the 35th anniversary
of the war’s beginning in 1971 with the appointment of Dr. Jerome H.
Jaffe, a psychiatrist, as the first White House drug czar.

Also in attendance was Columbus Dispatch columnist John Burnham and he
enthusiastically parroted the self-aggrandizing former public
officials and their accompanying staff lackeys.

Citing tired references to supposed reductions in illegal drug use by
a sub-class of teenagers and within a narrow group of relatively
unpopular drugs, the czars ignored the huge collateral damage done to
American society and communities by the failed policy of drug
Prohibition.

And in perhaps the most startling claim from the gathering, Burnham
echoed the czars’ belief that America’s first experiment with
Prohibition (1920-1934) was ended only following a huge propaganda
campaign. Left unspoken was the implied message that American
communities would be better off today had alcohol Prohibition remained
in effect with all production and commercial distribution of alcohol
in the control of criminal gangs and cartels.

An interesting side note to this event two weeks ago is that the
Executive Director of one of the world’s leading drug policy reform
organizations – Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance
http://www.drugpolicy.org – was refused permission to attend, even
for the purpose of listening and not speaking. Perhaps it would have
been difficult to celebrate “victory” with a non-drug warrior in attendance.

Please consider writing a succinct Letter to the Editor and sending it
to The Columbus Dispatch.

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do – it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

CONTACT Information:

The Columbus Dispatch (US OH) [email protected]

**********************************************************************

US OH: OPED: Former Drug Czars Believe Their War Has Been Won

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n869/a05.html
Newshawk: http://www.illinoisnorml.org/
Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jun 2006
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
Author: John C . Burnham
Note: John Burnham is research professor of history at Ohio State
University, where he specializes in the history of medicine and American
social history.

FORMER DRUG CZARS BELIEVE THEIR WAR HAS BEEN WON

The United States has won the war against illegal drugs. That was the
conclusion of a unique gathering on June 17, which marked the 35th
anniversary of the war’s beginning in 1971 with the appointment of Dr.
Jerome H. Jaffe, a psychiatrist, as the first White House drug czar.

Jaffe was joined at the anniversary gathering by six other former
czars, Dr. Robert L. Du Pont, Dr. Peter G. Bourne, Lee I.
Dogoloff, Dr. Donald Ian Mac-Donald, Lee Brown and retired Army Gen.
Barry R. McCaffrey. Also attending were 20 former staff members and
a handful of experts, including me, a specialist historian.

The meeting, sponsored and hosted by the University of Maryland, was
held for the purpose of making a historical record.

The seven former czars and former staff members held remarkably
unanimous views, though they come from a variety of backgrounds and
included Democrats and Republicans who worked for five very different
presidents. And what they had to say was often surprising.

The main conclusion that we won the war on drugs was the biggest
surprise, because advocates of illegal drugs have in recent years
filled the media with rhetoric about “the failed war on drugs.” The
czars’ straightforward conclusion may come as a shock, but, as they
outlined what the war was about, what they had to say made a lot of
sense.

Thirty-five years ago, the big worry was the veterans who were
returning from Vietnam who had been using illegal drugs. And the drug
causing overwhelming concern was heroin. A hard-headed public-health
approach showed an alarming number of deaths directly related to
heroin, not to mention crimes committed by addicts. As the veterans
showed that their use did not continue after their return to the
United States, and as methadone-maintenance programs came into place,
along with enforcement and education, heroin use declined, and even
more dramatic was the decline in heroin-related deaths. This was the
great victory of the war on drugs. A recent small uptick in illegal
drug use is remarkably insignificant compared with the original problem.

Only in the 1980s, when the price of cocaine, in the form of crack,
went down did that drug become a significant public-health problem.
But what about marijuana? At that time, the serious effects of pot
smoking were largely unknown. But in the late 1970s, the parents
movement developed parents who had seen what happened when their kids
got addicted to marijuana and their young brains got fried. This was
a huge group of very angry people, and they were political dynamite.

The main tension in the office of drug czar was between enforcement
and treatment. Congress would fund enforcement but did not like
treatment, although one czar told of taking a couple of reluctant
members of Congress to view a treatment center and see how much money
treatment was saving the public as addicts, often under court
coercion, were enabled to work productively.

For historians like me, the collective experience of the former czars
provides two lessons. The first is unwelcome to extremists of the
right and left and their shady commercial allies: Prohibitory laws can
work. Historians have established that the 1920s experiment in
alcohol prohibition was successful and was repealed in 1933 only
because of a massive, well-financed propaganda campaign. The
leadership of the drug czars in reducing supply and demand of illegal
drugs is reflected not only in the public-health statistics. They can
also cite public opinion polls. Thirty-five years ago, illegal drugs
were usually first or second and no lower than fourth as public
concerns. Now the drugs issue trails many other problems.

Everyone at the conference knew that the problem is going to continue
for American society, but at a much lower level than 35 years before.
That is what laws do: They attempt to control problems, not bring
perfection. Laws against murder provide hope to control the problem,
not abolish murder.

The second lesson is more subtle. The title czar was ironic, because
the appointees had no direct, executive power. Instead, they
coordinated the many federal and local agencies dealing with aspects
of the drug problem and drug-law enforcement. The czars used
persuasion. They got a drug detection and treatment system into the
armed services, where the programs served as models for private
businesses and other units. When new substances of abuse came along,
often the czar was able to get officials and private businesses,
especially pharmaceutical companies, to get one substance or another
restricted before it became a major problem.

So what if the amusingly designated czars had no real power? They
proved that in American government, there can be impressive leadership
beyond formal power.

**********************************************************************

Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed.

[email protected]

And of course, you are welcome to join Steve and other LTE writing
friends of MAP this Tuesday evening at 9pm EDT for a roundtable
discussion of how to write LTEs that get print and specifically how to
best respond to this Focus Alert.

See: http://mapinc.org/resource/paltalk.htm for all details on how
you can participate in this important meeting of leading minds in
reform. Discussion is conducted with live Voice (microphone and
speakers all that is needed) and also via text messaging.

The Paltalk software is free and easy to download and
install.

The password for this gathering will be PW: welcome-pal (all lower
case)

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PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator

=.

Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006
Subject: #331 UN Agency Prevaricates

UN AGENCY PREVARICATES

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #331 – Wednesday, 28 June 2006

Speaking at the launch of the World Drug Report in Washington Tuesday,
Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs
and Crime, warned: “Policy reversals leave young people confused as to
just how dangerous cannabis is. With cannabis-related health damage
increasing, it is fundamentally wrong for countries to make cannabis
control dependent on which party is in government.

“The cannabis pandemic, like other challenges to public health,
requires consensus, a consistent commitment across the political
spectrum and by society at large. Today, the harmful characteristics
of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other
plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin.”

The initial stories in the world’s press accepted the statements of
prevaricator Costa at face value, as well as the report, which
devotes it’s Second Chapter to marijuana “Cannabis: Why we should
care.” The full report is at
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2006.html

But leading drug policy experts were quick to respond, not that their
views have received press, yet.

The Leading UK drugs charity DrugScope http://www.drugscope.org.uk
responded “”DrugScope is surprised and concerned by the UNODC Chief’s
comments regarding cannabis” said Martin Barnes, Chief Executive of
DrugScope.

“The UK government, education system and charities have worked hard in
recent years to ensure our young people are given factual information
about the relative harms of drugs. International evidence is clear
that cocaine and heroin cause much greater health and social harms
than cannabis and it is misleading and irresponsible to suggest
otherwise. Cannabis is a harmful substance but the greater harms
caused by cocaine and heroin should not be downplayed.

“European evidence shows that although stronger strains of cannabis
are available than 20 years ago, there has not been a significant
increase overall in the use of more potent forms of the drug.””

Canadian Senator Larry Campbell wrote “UNODC Executive Director,
Antonio Maria Costa claims that the world is experiencing a
devastating “cannabis pandemic.” This gentleman is the same person who
said we were putting “cannabis oil” on pasta. It was pointed out that
is was hemp oil which is not a sativa product. He didn’t know the
difference and appeared not to care. Simply another high paid UN
stooge. Isn’t it amazing that the US only supports the UN when they
toe the US “drug war” line.”

Some critical views of the UN report are starting to be printed. For
example, the Vancouver Sun editorial “UN Drug Report Unintentionally
Argues Against Prohibition” http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n840.a07.html

Your letters to the editor in response to the articles in the world’s
press can make a difference, encouraging more balanced views. Please
go to the following link and respond to news clippings dated 27 June
or later.

http://www.mapinc.org/topics/World+Drug+Report

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

There are many sources of facts you may use to counter the United
Nations prevarication. You may find some of these of value.

From http://www.drugwardistortions.org Cannabis and Mental Illness
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/distortion18.htm Marijuana Potency
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/distortion11.htm

From http://www.drugwarfacts.org Drug Control Policies Around The
World http://www.drugwarfacts.org/internat.htm Marijuana
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.htm The Netherlands Compared With
The United States http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

**********************************************************************

Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism
Center

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed, and how to write OPEDs for
publication as the members of our Drug Policy Writers Group
http://mapinc.org/resource/dpwg/ do.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
may learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, Sr. Editor www.drugnews.org.

Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2006
Subject: #330 Please Act To Protect Rainbow Family And Your Rights

PLEASE ACT TO PROTECT RAINBOW FAMILY AND YOUR RIGHTS

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #330 – Monday, 26 June 2006

Don E Wirtshafter, Attorney at Law, a well known activist in the
cannabis law reform community, has appealed for your assistance in a
message below. Writing from the ‘Rainbow’ Gathering he has asked for
our and your support. Please do whatever you can. Thank You!

A Saturday article in the Denver Post, with pictures, is one of the
latest press articles http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3974355

A good article written before the feds came down hard
http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2006-06-22/cover.html

The best Rainbow website http://www.welcomehome.org

**********************************************************************

Dear Friends and Family,

I need your help to protect my “family,” the collective efforts of
tens of thousands of citizens known as the “Rainbow Family.” This
week, near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service has
taken illegal action to stop this annual assembly for expression and
prayer, in gross violation of the participants’ essential
Constitutional rights.

The ‘Rainbow’ Gatherings have borne a legacy of spiritual & cultural
pilgrimage to the National Forests since 1972, the purest exercise of
open consensual assembly in our time. The annual ‘Gathering of the
Tribes’ draws thousands over the first week of July, focusing on the
4th as a holy day of prayer for peace and freedom. In recent years
small regional events in this mode have emerged, and such gatherings
have taken place in many nations around the world.

THE GATHERING EXPERIENCE

Some say the “Rainbow” Gathering is the continuation of the idealism
of Woodstock. I think of it more as my annual spiritual retreat and
family reunion. Since 1980, I have gathered with my family to compare
ideas and pray for peace. I arrive loaded with the burdens of my
work, depressed about the world situation. Each year I depart with my
faith in humankind renewed and with the energy to fight the beast
another year.

The rainbow family is not organized in any way; it is an exercise in
self-determination and cooperation in the public interest, without
need of government controls. We understand that no matter what comes
down, it is the respect and care for each other that win in the end.
We have no leaders or leadership, we have no offices or officers, we
have no treasurer or treasury. We sit in counsel, often for days at a
time in order to make mutual decisions, but there is no power to
enforce these decisions on any individual. In the end, just like in
society, it works because enough responsible people make sure that
what needs to be done gets done.

We have been doing rainbow gatherings for over 30 years, each time in
a different national forest across the country. We come in and set up
a village in the woods. Cooperative kitchens pour out a wide variety
of foods. Seminars on just about any topic are run by the hour. The
Rainbow is known as a healing gathering; people with various ailments
come for help. Here in one place they can receive healing, from
herbalists, acupuncturists, chiropractors and masseuses working with
osteopaths and physicians. These healers work as a team and share
their knowledge in a holistic approach that teaches all involved a lot
about the roots of medicine.

Religious groups, ranging from Christians to Hare Krishnas set up
camps. It’s truly a free society. We go pretty far back in the woods
to get away from the ills of civilization like alcohol and hard drugs.
We have our gathering and then restore any damage we cause to the
woods. And we have a perfect record of restoration of the forest.

It’s great to walk through a gathering and see so many people but not
a scrap of paper on the ground, not a cigarette butt in sight. Each
year we train thousands of newcomers how to get along in the woods
without destroying the place. Knowledgeable Forest Servide ‘Resource’
personnel love us; it’s the Federal bureaucrats and police from
Washington who are on our case.

REPRESSIVE FEDERAL POLICIES

The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars trying to stop
the Rainbow Gatherings. They are enforcing a ‘Noncommercial Group
Use’ permit regulation that is impossible for unaffiliated individuals
to comply with. 36 CFR 251.54 They require that that someone sign as
an agent for a fictional group entity named as permit Holder — which
then must assume full liability from the Government and bind
participants vicariously to its terms.

By the creed of the gatherings, no one can appoint themselves to such
a position. More importantly, such an ad hoc gathering has no legal
capacity to designate agents or act as a group party in any way. As a
result, individuals are denied personal standing in First Amendment
exercise and subjected to harsh criminal prosecution for being
anywhere near the area.

The Forest Service requires that a permit be applied for in advance of
the gathering. And they use any excuse possible to deny a permit
application when we manage to submit one. This year their denial was
based on the fact that a logging company had a permit to log in a
nearby parcel of the national forest, even though there is no logging
activity present whatsoever. The site is far remote from any
inhabitants — but still the Forest Service is all over our case.

Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to block this harmless
gathering from taking place. The scariest aspect of all this is how
Homeland Security is using these gatherings to perfect their
techniques of martial law. Regulations written for the Federal
Emergency Management Authority to deal with natural disasters are now
being used to crush dissent in this country.

Each year the Rainbow Gathering is declared a “National Incident” and
federal military law ensues. A Special Agent is appointed “Incident
Commander”, with a Delegation of Authority, a large law enforcement
“Team”, and huge budget to control the gathering. Qualified Forest
Service administrators lose their power, while the county sheriff and
other officials are brought into targeted law enforcement actions by
inclusion in the Incident Team and other inter-agency agreements. Each
year Homeland Security gains more power over the individuals involved.

RIGHTS CRISIS IN COLORADO

At this writing Forest Service law enforcement has issued over 500
tickets to the early arrivals at the gathering in Colorado. They have
blocked the road and have prevented food and water from reaching those
who managed to get into the gathering before the police roadblock was
set up.

The 500 people with tickets are being herded into trials like none
anyone has seen before in America. These pseudo trials are prototypes
for what Homeland Security will use in the cases of insurrection or
even a plague. Defendants lose the right to a public hearing (this
year these hearings are being held behind closed doors in a firehouse
garage near the site.

Attorneys and legal observers have been denied the right to even view
these trials. The defendants are not explained their rights nor
afforded the right to an attorney, the right to summon witnesses, the
right to a jury trial, etc. Defendants ordered to appear each day at
9:00 a.m. and sit in the hot sun without water or sanitary facilities
until their trials. Some have now been waiting for several days.
These abbreviated trials only take a few minutes. Last year I tried
to help a string of defendants defend themselves in these “trials” but
felt helpless to do much as the system was clearly stacked against
them.

This year is especially frustrating to me as I have to watch this come
down from 6000 miles away. Right now I am in Hungary at a medical
conference for my employment. I am flying home on Thursday and plan
on being in court Saturday, July 1st, to defend some of my best
friends who got a ticket for “illegally gathering” as they drove down
a public highway.

WHAT TO DO

The confrontation this year is getting more intense by the minute,
which is why I am asking for your help. The only way to stop a
massive conflagration in Colorado in the next few days is to get
thousands of people to contact their political representatives as well
as the responsible administrators at the Forest Service to demand that
this repression stop immediately.

Please, even if you can never conceive of yourself at a Rainbow
Gathering, you must understand that if these citizens lose their
constitutional right to gather, we all lose such rights. This year
the Rainbow Gathering is being used to set precedents that will be
turned against drug policy, civil liberty, anti-war or other activists
in the near future.

Following are some instructions on who to write and/or call We hope to
start flooding the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service
with complaints starting Monday morning and not stopping until
harassment stops. It is especially important that we get a few
Congressional representative and Senators concerned enough to write
the Forest Service for an explanation of why so much money is being
spent to keep people from camping in the National Forest set aside for
exactly that purpose.

Please keep the pressure on these bureaucrats until we are able to
spread the word that the government has backed off and that the
gathering can proceed unhindered.

If you do not know the contact information for your Congressman or
Senator, you can find this here http://www.house.gov/ . You can call
your representative at 212-224-3121. Besides your representatives in
Washington, please call and write the following people to voice your
protest to this harsh treatment of people who just want to go on a
camping trip in the woods. Keep the calls coming until word is passed
around that the government has called off their dogs. Please forward
this letter to your friends and feel free to re-post it on any
listserv or website you wish.

Don E Wirtshafter

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Please Contact As Many of the Following As Possible

USDA, Natural Resources & Environment

Mark Rey, USDA Undersecretary

1400 Independence Ave. SW, # 217-E, Washington, DC 20250

Tel 202-720-7173 Fax 202-720-0632

[email protected]

——–

Kathleen Gause, Director 202-205-8534

USDA Forest Service Civil Rights Staff, Stop Code 1142, 1400
Independence Ave., S.W., Washington., DC 20250-1142

Tel 202-205-1585

——–

Office of the Chief

Dale Bosworth, Chief

USDA Forest Service, Yates Federal Building (4NW Yates), 201 14th
Street, SW, Washington, DC 20250

Tel 202-205-1661 Fax 202-205-1765

Executive Assistant, Karla Hawley, Tel 202-205-1195

——–

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests

Mary H. Peterson, Supervisor

2468 Jackson Street, Laramie, WY 82070-6535

Tel 307-745-2300 Fax 307-745-2398

——–

U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region (R-2)

Rick Cables, Regional Forester

P.O. Box 25127, Lakewood, CO 80225-0127

Tel 303-275-5451

Richard Stem, Deputy Regional Forester, Resources Tel 303-275-5451

Steve Silverman, Office of General Counsel, Regional Attorney Tel
303-275-5536

Bill Fox, Law Enforcement & Investigations, Special Agent in Charge
Tel 303-275-5253

Jerome Romero, Deputy Director of Civil Rights Tel
303-275-5340

**********************************************************************

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT ACTIONS YOU TOOK

Please report your action to the sent letter list ([email protected])
if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to
[email protected] if you are not subscribed.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake for DrugSense =.

Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006
Subject: #329 Your Letters To The Editor Are Important

YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE IMPORTANT

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #329 – Saturday, 24 June 2006

Every day newspapers print items on their editorial pages worthy of
your response by sending the paper a letter for publication.

You see the items as shown at this link, and many of you do respond by
sending the editors letters. http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm

Today we call your attention to an OPED, below, printed in today’s
Washington Post on page A21. The OPED was written by Eric E. Sterling,
President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
http://www.cjpf.org and Julie Stewart, President of Families Against
Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org

Please consider sending a letter to the Washington Post in response to
the OPED at their email address

[email protected]

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

UNDO THIS LEGACY OF LEN BIAS’S DEATH

When Len Bias, the basketball star, overdosed on cocaine 20 years ago,
Len Bias, the symbol, was born. To many he symbolized the corruption
of college athletics — stars whose academic performance is poor, if
not irrelevant, but who are essential to bringing in donations and
other revenue. To others, he became the object lesson: Cocaine is
dangerous, don’t do it, you can die. For yet others, Bias symbolizes
the danger that arises when a powerful symbol overwhelms careful
judgment about what ought to be the law.

Immediately after Bias’s death, the speaker of the House of
Representatives, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., from the Boston area
(where Bias had just signed with the Celtics), issued a demand to his
fellow Democrats for anti-drug legislation. Senior congressional
staffers began meeting regularly in the speaker’s conference room as
practically every committee in the House wrote Len Bias-inspired
legislation attacking the drug problem. News conferences around the
Capitol featured members of Congress extolling their efforts to clamp
down on cocaine and crack.

One result was the innocuous-sounding Narcotics Penalties and
Enforcement Act, which became the first element of the enormous
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, hurried to the floor a little over two
months after Bias’s death. But the effect of the penalties and
enforcement legislation was to put back into federal law the kind of
clumsy mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses that had been
done away with 16 years before. And there they remain, 20 years and
several hundred thousand defendants later.

Congress wanted to send several messages by again enacting mandatory
minimums: to the Justice Department to be more focused on high-level
traffickers; to major traffickers that the new penalties would destroy
them; to the voters that members of Congress could fight crime as
vigorously as the police and prosecutors. But Congress garbled the
message. Instead of targeting large-scale traffickers, it established
low-level drug quantities to trigger lengthy mandatory minimum prison
terms: five grams (the weight of five packets of artificial
sweetener), 50 grams (the weight of a candy bar), 500 grams (the
weight of two cups of sugar) or 5,000 grams (the weight of a lunchbox
of cocaine). Large-scale traffickers organize shipments of drugs
totaling tons — many millions of grams — filling tractor-trailers,
airplanes and fishing boats.

The Justice Department has compounded the problem by focusing on
countless low-level offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission reports
that only 15 percent of federal cocaine traffickers can be classified
as high-level. Seventy percent are low-level. One-third of all federal
cocaine cases involve an average of 52 grams, a candy bar-sized
quantity of cocaine, resulting in an average sentence of almost nine
years in prison without parole.

Not surprisingly, the federal prison population has exploded. From
1954 to 1976, it fluctuated between 20,000 and 24,000. By 1986 it had
grown to 36,000. Today it exceeds 190,000 prisoners, up 527 percent in
20 years. More than half this population is made up of drug offenders,
most of whom are serving sentences created in the weeks after Len Bias
died.

Sadly, the nation’s drug abuse situation is not much better after 20
years. Teenagers are using very dangerous drugs at twice the rate they
did in the 1980s. The price of cocaine is much lower and the purity
much higher, which tells us that the traffickers have become more efficient.

There is a trickle of hope that mandatory sentences as a legacy of
Bias’s death might come to an end. A handful of conservative members
of the House Judiciary Committee have begun to question the wisdom of
current mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and some vote against them.
The first round of mandatory minimums for drug offenses, enacted in
1951, was repealed almost 20 years later, with bipartisan support.
Among those who backed repeal was George H.W. Bush, then a congressman
from Texas. With his son in the White House, this would be a good time
for history to repeat itself, and for this sad legacy of Len Bias’s
death to finally end.

Eric E. Sterling, counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 1979
to 1989, is president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. Julie
Stewart is president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

**********************************************************************

Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism
Center

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed, and how to write OPEDs for
publication as the members of our Drug Policy Writers Group
http://mapinc.org/resource/dpwg/ do.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, http://www.drugnews.org =.

Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006
Subject: #328 The Spin Doctors Spit On Science

THE SPIN DOCTORS SPIT ON SCIENCE

******************** PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE ************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #328 – Tue, 25 April 2006

Last Thursday the Food and Drug Administration distributed a press
release “Inter-Agency Advisory Regarding Claims That Smoked Marijuana
Is a Medicine” which you may read at http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01362.html

The reaction in the press has been interesting, and worthy of your
letters to the editors. Below we have listed links to a collection of
the press responses as of today, Tuesday morning.

If you need facts to support your letters we suggest these
webpages:

http://www.mpp.org/medical/ Please note the Common Questions about
Medical Marijuana (answered by the Institute of Medicine)

and

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/medicalm.htm

One of the editorials says “If the FDA won’t listen to the scientists,
Congress should take steps to see that it does.” Please contact your
members of Congress and ask them to take those steps.

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

Published Friday, 21 April 2006

New York Times F.D.A Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n495/a01.html

San Francisco Chronicle FDA’s Missive Against Medical Pot URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n495/a10.html

Island Packet (SC) FDA Rejects Marijuana for Medical Uses URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n495/a09.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer FDA Rejects Medicinal Use of Marijuana URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n495/a08.html

Salt Lake Tribune FDA Says Marijuana Has No Medicinal Value URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n497/a05.html

Chicago Tribune FDA Declares Marijuana Has No Medical Value URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n497/a04.html

Watertown Daily Times (NY) FDA Says Pot Not Medicine URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n499/a07.html

Arizona Republic Rebuffing Scientists, FDA Says Marijuana Has No
Medical Value URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n500/a03.html

Philadelphia Inquirer FDA: No Benefit in Medical Marijuana URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n500/a04.html

Indianapolis Star FDA Says Marijuana Has No Medicinal Value URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n506/a07.html

Oakland Tribune FDA Says No Studies Support Marijuana for Medicinal
Use URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n508/a08.html

Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC) FDA Dismisses Medical Benefit From
Marijuana URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n508/a07.html

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Marijuana Useless As Medicine, FDA Says
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a01.html

Gainesville Sun (FL) F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a03.html

Detroit News FDA: No Sound ‘Proof’ For Medical Marijuana URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a07.html

The Register-Guard (OR) FDA Joins Opponents of Medicinal Pot URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n514.a07.html

Published Saturday, 22 April 2006

New York Times F.D.A.’s Report Illuminates Wide Divide on Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n500/a02.html

New York Times
Editorial: The Politics of Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n500/a01.html

Seattle Times Marijuana Has No Medical Use, FDA Says URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n500/a05.html

Gadsden Times (AL) FDA’s Report Illuminates Wide Divide on Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n507/a02.html

Gainesville Sun (FL) F.D.A.’s Report Illuminates Wide Divide on
Marijuana URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a02.html

Published Sunday, 23 April 2006

Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Dissembling On Medical Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n506/a03.html

The Oregonian
Column: In The Bush Administration, The Spin Doctors Spit on Science
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a05.html

Published Monday, 24 April 2006

International Herald-Tribune
Editorial: The Politics of Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a06.html

Clayton News Daily (Jonesboro, GA)
Column: FDA Marijuana Stance Good for Anti-Drug Movement
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n509/a08.html

Los Angeles Daily News
Editorial: See No Evil
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n513.a07.html

News Journal (DE)
Editorial: FDA’s Credibility Goes Up in Smoke by Mixing Pot and Politics
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n513/a08.html

Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Editorial: FDA Loses Credibility With Jab At Medical Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n514.a03.html

The Republican (Springfield, MA)
Editorial: Marijuana Research? Don’t Hold Your Breath
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n515/a06.html

The Oracle (U of South FL) OPED: Medical Marijuana Is Nothing to Huff
and Puff About URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a08.html

Published Tuesday, 25 April 2006

New York Times
Column: Potheads and Sudafed
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a04.html

Rocky Mountain News (Denver)
Column: Follow the Drug War Money
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a05.html

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Column: Twisting Science to Serve Political Ideology
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a06.html

Minnesota Daily (U of MN, Minneapolis)
Editorial: FDA Says No to Medicinal Weed
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a07.html

Tracy Press (CA)
Editorial: Blowing Smoke at the White House
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n516.a09.html

The Journal Times (Racine, WI)
Editorial: FDA Ignores Science In Marijuana Holding
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n517.a01.html

Additional news clippings on this issue may be found at this link as
they are MAP archived:

http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Food+and+Drug+Administration

**********************************************************************

Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism
Center

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, http://www.drugnews.org

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006
Subject: #327 John Walters Does The Drug Czar Dance

JOHN WALTERS DOES THE DRUG CZAR DANCE

******************** PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE ************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #327 – Friday, 17 March 2006

Federal Drug Czar John Walters mustered together one of his
semi-annual OPED efforts at a national level with Thursday’s
publication in The Wall Street Journal. His ire was obviously
stimulated by a Feb 22 WSJ opinion piece penned by Deputy Editor for
International Affairs George Melloan which contained a lengthy list of
provocative criticisms of the modern day Prohibition – the War on
Drugs.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n229/a09.html?302768

Additionally, the WSJ ran three strong Letters to the Editor on Mar 2
endorsing Melloan’s observations, penned by a regular citizen and also
two retired police officers with long experience fighting the futile
and ineffectual drug war.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n287/a05.html?302768

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n287/a07.html?302768

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n287/a08.html?302768

In a one-man rebuttal to all of the above smart messages, Walters
scoffs at a “regulated” system of drug distribution, citing problems
related to the accepted system of production and distribution used for
pharmaceutical drugs. And of course he lumps all illicit drugs under
one descriptive umbrella – “…inherently dangerous, corrupting and
incompatible with health and freedom”, again implying that “legal”
drugs are by their nature non-dangerous, non-corrupting and compatible
with health and freedom.

He ignores that our most commonly abused drugs – alcohol, tobacco and
narcotic pharmaceuticals – are not left to street dealers, but are
instead licensed and regulated.

And finally he trumpets supposed recent successes in Afghanistan and
Colombia as evidence that the drug war is working. This despite other
released reports from his own Office of National Drug Control Policy
just the past month which show that illegal drug trafficking remains
at consistent and constant levels both domestically and
internationally.

In short, Mr. Walters is doing the Drug Czar Dance we’ve come to
expect from the ONDCP. Tell us how great it’s all going, while any
American citizen can look around their community and see that illicit
drugs are readily available and that all of the production and
distribution is left in control of unregulated, unlicensed drug
dealers and too often – criminal gangs.

Please consider writing a succinct Letter to the Editor (200 words or
less is best) and sending it to the Wall Street Journal this weekend.

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

Contact: [email protected]

**********************************************************************

US: OPED: Utopia Of Legalized Drugs Is A Delusion

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n321.a05.html

Pubdate: Thu, 16 Mar 2006
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: John Walters
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n229/a09.html?302493
Note: John Walters Director White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy Washington
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

UTOPIA OF LEGALIZED DRUGS IS A DELUSION

George Melloan, in his Feb. 21 Global View “Musings About the War on
Drugs” and some of the March 7 Letters in response ( “Our Unwinnable
War — Against Drugs,” March 7 ) propose new thinking about whether
drugs should be legalized, but in the end offer a rehash from
libertarians of yesteryear. Arguments that drug prohibition has
failed depend upon two points. The first accepts that drug use
damages the social fabric, but insists that more damage follows from
the prohibition itself. The second argues that drug prohibition
doesn’t even have the virtue of achieving its goal. After all, some
people still use drugs, traffickers still make profits and fighting
back against drugs means that there is, well, a fight, producing
violence. Hence, our policy should accommodate the fact of drug use.

Against the argument for accommodation, I make three points: 1 )
First, there is no realistic alternative to the fight. Illegal drugs
are inherently dangerous, corrupting and incompatible with health and
freedom. The utopian world of regulated, inexpensive, readily
available ( but somehow scarcely used ) methamphetamine, heroin,
cocaine and marijuana is a cruel delusion. Consider that Americans
already suffer from the abuse of prescription narcotic medicines,
which are highly regulated, yet are the second-leading drug problem in
the country.

Second, fighting back against illegal drugs has staved off a worse
circumstance, with many more drug users, and more ensuing damage to
the social fabric. Were the laws abandoned, drug trafficking and use
would be less risky, making drugs cheaper and more available. The
result would be an increase in demand for addictive substances that
trap their users. The number seeking help for their disease of
addiction would diminish, and the bright line of deterrence for an
emerging generation would fade.

Third, drug prohibition is not futile, but has been demonstrably
effective across a spectrum of drug threats. We have adopted a
balanced strategy that emphasizes prevention and treatment, and backed
up that strategy with dollars and effective programs. But equally
essential have been our efforts to reduce the supply of illegal drugs.
The consequence of those efforts is a largely untold story of dramatic
impact.

Current drug use by young Americans has dropped by 19% since 2001.
That means 700,000 fewer youth being poisoned and potentially lost to
addiction. Effective policies have made a difference, as have the
laws against drug use.

The fight against illegal drugs represents an international
undertaking, bound by treaties and shared commitments. While it is
dismaying to know that more than 4,000 metric tons of opium ( an
estimated 87% of world supply ) was produced in war-ridden Afghanistan
last year, few critics acknowledge that world opium production once
stood at 30,000 metric tons. Today, the countries of the Golden
Triangle are virtually opium-free, while opium cultivation in Colombia
has plummeted 67% since 2001.

Coca cultivation, limited to three nations in the Andes, has fallen
more than 30% in the past five years. As a result, Colombia has been
revived as a land of improving human rights, the rule of law and
prosperity. That is, a nation nearly broken by narco-terrorists now
has a positive future, because it would not give in to
narco-corruption and violence.

Moreover, the impact of these efforts on the streets of America is
encouraging. In 2004, we saw a 22% drop in the retail-level purity of
South American heroin, and evidence of a 15% decline in cocaine purity
for the first three quarters of 2005, along with corresponding
increases in their respective prices.

Pubdate: Thu, 16 Mar 2006
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: John Walters
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n229/a09.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n321.a05.html

**********************************************************************

Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism
Center:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =.

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006
Subject: #326 Drug Policy Debate On BBC

DRUG POLICY DEBATE ON BBC

*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #326 – Saturday, 11 March 2006

Can the War on Drugs Be Won?

What Do You Think of the Drug Laws in Your Country?

It’s estimated that five percent of the world’s adult population has
used drugs over the last twelve months. The illegal trade is said to
be worth as much as $400 billion per year.

This week, the Afghan government started to destroy fields of opium
poppies, but a bumper harvest is still expected. Farmers say they need
the income. Others say the drugs destroy lives and the profits can be
used to fund terrorism.

There are signs in the U.S. that drug use is falling among teenagers,
but illegal use of prescription drugs is on the increase.

What’s the best way to tackle drug supply and abuse? Is drug use
becoming socially acceptable? Would legalization make the problem
better or worse?

These questions will be addressed on the BBC program “Have Your Say”
on Sunday, 12 March at 9 am EST, 8 am CST, 7 am MST 6 am PST in North
America, or 2 pm (14:00 hours) UTC/GMT wherever you are. The program
actually starts at five minutes after the hour immediately after the
news break.

This is sure to be a lively and informative discussion between Antonio
Marie Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime;
Danny Kushlick of Transform Drug Policy Foundation, the United
Kingdom’s leading drug policy reform organization; and Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition Executive Director, Jack Cole.

The show is broadcast on both radio and TV to 65 countries and over
the internet. For details, see

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/talking_point_programme/default.stm

To find out how you can listen to the program please go to Radio
Schedules at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/worldservice/psims/ScheduleSDT.cgi

Please check your local cable/satellite TV listings to see if you may
watch the show.

To get involved in the discussion before and during the show, go to
the BBC website at

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=1261&start=0&&&edition=2&ttl060311055416

Please consider writing at least one short question and submitting it
to the producers prior to the show. Also consider writing a follow up
note after the broadcast to BBC with your perceptions of the event.

You may use this form to provide the BBC with feedback

http://www.bbcworld.com/content/template_customer_feedback.asp?pageid11

**********************************************************************

To learn more about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition visit the LEAP
website http://www.leap.cc

For more information about Transform please visit their website
http://www.tdpf.org.uk/

**********************************************************************

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

Additional suggestions for increasing media coverage of drug policy
reform issues can be found at our Media Activism Center:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed and how to increase your
local newspaper, radio and television coverage of drug policy reform.

[email protected]

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =.

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006
Subject: #325 Washington’s Drug War Contradictions

WASHINGTON’S DRUG WAR CONTRADICTIONS

*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #325 – Monday, 6 March 2006

On Wednesday, March 2nd the Bush administration published an annual
report on international narcotics control, listing its accomplishments
in disrupting the production and trafficking of cocaine, heroin,
marijuana and other drugs to the United States.

Sadly, the proclaimed successes come on the heels of a different
report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy released a few
weeks ago saying that “cocaine is widely available throughout most of
the nation.” The ONDCP offered similar assessments for heroin and marijuana.

The U.S. “War on Drugs” is well into it’s 36th year. Leading federal
officials seem to remain blind to the utterly ineffectual results
proffered by a policy of criminal prohibition. Their ignorance comes
with an increasing audacity given that their own offices and leaders
report contradictory data.

Coverage ran Thursday in the New York Times, but failed to attract
significant attention in other newspapers.

**********************************************************************

Pubdate: Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2006 The New York Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Joel Brinkley
Note: The 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
(INCSR) is an annual report by the Department of State to Congress
prepared in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act. It describes
the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the
international drug trade in Calendar Year 2005. The 900 page report
is on line here http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2006/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/international+narcotics+control
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Colombia
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Afghanistan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Bolivia

U.S. LISTS ITS PLUSES AND MINUSES IN FIGHTING NARCOTICS WORLDWIDE

WASHINGTON- The Bush administration published an annual report
Wednesday on international narcotics control, listing its
accomplishments in disrupting the production and trafficking of
cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs to the United States.

But perhaps the most important measure of the programs’ efficacy was
issued just a few weeks ago, when the White House drug-policy office
reported that “cocaine is widely available throughout most of the
nation.” The office offered similar assessments for heroin and marijuana.

“Yes, narcotics are readily available,” said Anne Patterson, the
assistant secretary of state for international narcotics enforcement.
“But if we weren’t doing these projects, the problem would be
dramatically worse.” The government spent more than $1 billion last
year fighting drugs.

The successes included Colombia’s extradition of 134 suspects to the
United States on trafficking and other criminal charges during 2005,
the most ever. The report also noted that Laos had reduced its opium
poppy cultivation to negligible levels, and that Thailand, once a
major producer, had “practically eliminated” drug production, though
that point was also made in the 2004 report.

In singling out trouble spots, the State Department report focused on
two countries in particular, Colombia and Afghanistan.

In Colombia, the United States has financed a multibillion-dollar
antidrug program since 2000. Every year, thousands of acres of coca
plant have been sprayed with herbicides; the department reported
record spraying of 36,000 acres in 2005.

But each year, growers plant new bushes so quickly that for the past
three years, acreage under cultivation has remained stable. As a
result, the report said, “Colombia is the source of 90 percent of the
cocaine entering the United States.”

Congress is to debate the financing for the Colombia project this
spring.

The antidrug campaigns have run for more than 25 years, but, officials
acknowledged, traffickers have almost always been able to meet
American market demands. Drug enforcement officials measure their
success on small fluctuations in purity and price.

On Wednesday, an official pointed to a note in the report that said
preliminary reports indicated that enforcement efforts “may have led
to an increase in the U.S. street price of cocaine” and “a reduction
in purity.”

Afghanistan is the other country of major concern. About 30 percent of
Afghanistan’s economic activity is a result of opium poppy
cultivation, which supplies about 90 percent of the world’s heroin.

Ms. Patterson said intelligence information shows that poppy
cultivation in Afghanistan was increasing this year. Last year, the
administration warned that Afghanistan was “on the verge of becoming a
narcotics state.”

On Wednesday Ms. Patterson said at a news conference that controlling
production in Afghanistan “is going to be a huge challenge” and “is
going to take years and years and years.” Most of the heroin produced
from Afghan poppies is sold in Europe and Asia, not the United States.

Though the report did not address it, the administration remains
gravely concerned about Evo Morales, the new president of Bolivia, who
once led a major coca planters’ union and has vowed to end the
American-financed eradication programs.

Although Mr. Morales has not said what he intends to do, he has
offered the paradoxical position that he will not impede coca
cultivation but will fight drug trafficking. Government troops in
charge of coca eradication have stopped work, awaiting orders.

**********************************************************************

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed.

[email protected]

And of course, you are welcome to join Steve and other LTE writing
friends of MAP this Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central,
7 p.m. Mountain, or 6 p.m. Pacific for a roundtable discussion of how
to write LTEs that get print and specifically how to best respond to
this Focus Alert.

See: http://mapinc.org/resource/paltalk.htm for all details on how
you can participate in this important meeting of leading minds in
reform. Discussion is conducted with live Voice (microphone and
speakers all that is needed) and also via text messaging.
The Paltalk software is free and easy to download and install.

The password for this gathering will be: welcome-pal (all lower
case)

**********************************************************************

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =.

Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006
Subject: #324 Is The Drug War Damaging America?

IS THE DRUG WAR DAMAGING AMERICA?

*********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE*************************

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #324 – Wednesday, 22 February 2006

In his column, below, the Wall Street Journal’s Deputy Editor for
International Affairs George Melloan provides a lengthy list of
provocative criticisms of the modern day Prohibition – The War on Drugs.

This is good news for those seeking increased discussion in major
media regarding failed public drug policies. The Wall Street Journal
is the second most widely read newspaper in the United States. It is
well known for opinion page support of the drug war.

But it is also know for printing letters in response to it’s opinion
page content, as illustrated by the seven letters printed in response
to this editorial in 1998:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n439/a04.html

Please consider writing a Letter to the Editor and sending it
immediately. Letters of 200 words or less are more likely to be printed.

Thanks for your effort and support.

It’s not what others do it’s what YOU do

**********************************************************************

Pubdate: Tue, 21 Feb 2006
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Column: Global View
Page: A19
Copyright: 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: George Melloan

MUSINGS ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS

Economist Milton Friedman predicted in Newsweek nearly 34 years ago
that Richard Nixon’s ambitious “global war against drugs” would be a
failure. Much evidence today suggests that he was right. But the war
rages on with little mainstream challenge of its basic weapon,
prohibition.

To be sure, Mr. Friedman wasn’t the only critic. William Buckley’s
National Review declared a decade ago that the U.S. had “lost” the
drug war, bolstering its case with testimony from the likes of Joseph
D. McNamara, a former police chief in Kansas City, Mo., and San Jose,
Calif. But today discussion of the war’s depressing cost-benefit ratio
is being mainly conducted in the blogosphere, where the tone is
predominantly libertarian. In the broader polity, support for the
great Nixon crusade remains sufficiently strong to discourage
effective counterattacks.

In broaching this subject, I offer the usual disclaimer. One beer
before dinner is sufficient to my mind-bending needs. I’ve never
sampled any of the no-no stuff and have no desire to do so. So let’s
proceed to discuss this emotion-laden issue as objectively as possible.

The drug war has become costly, with some $50 billion in direct
outlays by all levels of government, and much higher indirect costs,
such as the expanded prison system to house half a million drug-law
offenders and the burdens on the court system. Civil rights sometimes
are infringed. One sharply rising expense is for efforts to interdict
illegal drug shipments into the U.S., which is budgeted at $1.4
billion this fiscal year, up 41% from two years ago.

That reflects government’s tendency to throw more money at a program
that isn’t working. Not only have the various efforts not stopped the
flow but they have begun to create friction with countries the U.S.
would prefer to have as friends.

As the Journal’s Mary O’Grady has written, a good case can be made
that U.S.-sponsored efforts to eradicate coca crops in Latin America
are winning converts among Latin peasants to the anti-American causes
of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. Their friend Evo
Morales was just elected president of Bolivia mainly by the peasant
following he won by opposing a U.S.-backed coca-eradication program.
Colombia’s huge cocaine business still thrives despite U.S. combative
efforts, supporting, among others, leftist guerrillas.

More seriously, Mexico is being destabilized by drug gangs warring
over access to the lucrative U.S. market. A wave of killings of
officials and journalists in places like Nuevo Laredo and Acapulco is
reminiscent of the 1930s Prohibition-era crime waves in Al Capone’s
Chicago and the Purple Gang’s Detroit. In Afghanistan, al Qaeda and
the Taliban are proselytizing opium-poppy growers by saying that the
U.S. is their enemy. The claim, unlike many they use, has the merit of
being true.

Milton Friedman saw the problem. To the extent that authorities
curtail supplies of marijuana, cocaine and heroin coming into the rich
U.S. market, the retail price of these substances goes up, making the
trade immensely profitable — tax-free, of course. The more the U.S.
spends on interdiction, the more incentive it creates for taking the
risk of running drugs.

In 1933, the U.S. finally gave up on the 13-year prohibition of
alcohol — a drug that is by some measures more intoxicating and
dangerous to health than marijuana. That effort to alter human
behavior left a legacy of corruption, criminality, and deaths and
blindness from the drinking of bad booze. America’s use of alcohol
went up after repeal but no serious person today suggests a repeat of
the alcohol experiment. Yet prohibition is still being attempted, at
great expense, for the small portion of the population — perhaps
little more than 5% — who habitually use proscribed drugs.

Mind-altering drugs do of course cause problems. Their use contributes
to crime, automobile accidents, work-force dropouts and family
breakups. But the most common contributor to these social problems is
not the illegal substances. It is alcohol. Society copes by punishing
drunken misbehavior, offering rehabilitation programs and warning
youths of the dangers. Most Americans drink moderately, however,
creating no problems either for themselves or society.

Education can be an antidote for self-abuse. When it was finally
proved that cigarettes were a health risk, smoking by young people
dropped off and many started lecturing their parents about that bad
habit. LSD came and then went after its dangers became evident.
Heroin’s addictive and debilitative powers are well-known enough to
limit its use to a small population. Private educational programs
about the risks of drug abuse have spread throughout the country with
good effect.

Some doctors argue that the use of some drugs is too limited.
Marijuana can help control nausea after chemotherapy, relieve
multiple-sclerosis pain and help patients whose appetites have been
lowered to a danger level by AIDS. Morphine, some say, is used too
sparingly for easing the terrible pain of terminally ill cancer
patients. It is argued that pot and cocaine use by inner-city youths
is a self-prescribed medicine for the depression and despair that
haunts their existence. Doctors prescribe Prozac for the same problems
of the middle class.

So what’s the alternative? An army of government employees now makes a
living from the drug laws and has a rather conflictive interest in
claiming both that the drug laws are working and that more money is
needed. The challenge is issued: Do you favor legalization? In fact,
most drugs are legal, including alcohol, tobacco and coffee and the
great array of modern, life-saving drugs administered by doctors. To
be precise, the question should be do you favor legalization or
decriminalization of the sale and use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin
and methamphetamines?

A large percentage of Americans will probably say no, mainly because
they are law-abiding people who maintain high moral and ethical
standards and don’t want to surrender to a small minority that flouts
the laws, whether in the ghettos of Washington D.C. or Beverly Hills
salons. The concern about damaging society’s fabric is legitimate. But
another question needs to be asked: Is that fabric being damaged now?

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Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center:

http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal
tips on how to write LTEs that get printed.

[email protected]

Please join Steve and other LTE writing friends of MAP this Thursday
evening at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Mountain, or 6 p.m.
Pacific for a roundtable discussion of how to write LTEs that get print.

See: http://mapinc.org/resource/paltalk.htm for details on how you
can participate in this meeting. Discussion is conducted with live
Voice (microphone and speakers all that is needed) and also via text
messaging. The Paltalk software is free and easy to download and install.

The password for this gathering will be: welcome-pal

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Please Send Us a Copy of Your Letter

Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent
letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by
E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others
can learn from your efforts.

Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to
review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or
approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing
efforts.

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =.