Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003
Subject: #270 Drug Warrior Misinformation Exposed

DRUG WARRIOR MISINFORMATION EXPOSED

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #270 August 8, 2003

Drug policy reform activists know all too well that entrenched
interests riding the drug war gravy train use misinformation to
justify the continuation of failed drug policies that do more harm
than good. Thanks in large part to the efforts of MAP volunteers,
drug war lies are no longer accepted at face value. It’s no
coincidence that newspaper editorials have been increasingly critical
of drug war propaganda ever since the advent of the Internet.

This week no less than three editorials in the state of Hawaii called
into question a federal prosecutor’s use of bogus statistics to try
and convince state lawmakers to weaken Hawaii’s constitutional
search-and-seizure and wire-tap requirements. The Honolulu
Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser and The Maui News all criticized
the federal government’s deceptive effort to undermine civil rights.
The Maui News editorial is especially noteworthy in that it recognized
a pattern of misinformation throughout the history of the war on drugs.

Write a letter today to thank The Maui News for exposing drug warrior
misinformation. For extra credit, write the Honolulu Star-Bulletin
and Honolulu Advertiser to thank them too. Be sure to mention that
the recent use of phony statistics to sway Hawaiian lawmakers is not
an isolated incident, but rather part of a pattern of taxpayer-funded
deception that has been going on for decades.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,
email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

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

CONTACT INFO

[email protected]

TARGET ANALYSIS

The Maui News policy on letters: “The Maui News welcomes and
encourages letters to the editor. The letters should be brief and to
the point and on subjects of general interest. Letters must be signed
and include an address and phone number where the writer can be
reached during working hours for verification. The writer’s name and
community will be published. Letters should be limited to 250 words or
less with shorter letters being given priority. Letters of any length
are subject to editing.”

Our analysis indicates that the average published letter is about 172
words, with about one in five near 250 words. The Maui News has
published letters from our letter writers who live through out the
world.

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ORIGINAL EDITORIAL

Pubdate: Wed, 6 Aug 2003
Source: Maui News, The (HI)
Copyright: 2003 The Maui News
Website: http://www.mauinews.com/

DRUG WAR NEEDS HONESTY

More than two years ago, The Maui News devoted considerable time,
space and manpower resources to detail the corrosive effects of the
illegal, but easily obtainable, crystal methamphetamine, also known as
“ice” or “batu.”

Any regular reader of The Maui News knows how often the use of ice is
a factor when a defendant is charged in criminal court cases. The
drug is an unmitigated plague on the families of the users and the
community.

Monday, the U.S. attorney for Hawaii, Edward Kubo Jr., went to state
lawmakers with a shocking disclosure. He said there were an estimated
30,000 hard-core users of ice in Hawaii and some 90,000 recreational
users. Kubo told the Joint House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug
Abatement, the statistics were “reliable ballpark figures.”

It turns out the ballpark had nothing to do with Hawaii. Kubo later
said he was using figures reported by a Honolulu police vice officer.
Trouble is, the officer said he was misquoted and he advised Kubo of
that before the attorney spoke to the lawmakers. Kubo, sticking to
his guns, said he didn’t believe the officer had been misquoted since
other narcotics officers told him the numbers were right and that they
came from a University of Hawaii professor.

William Wood is a UH professor of sociology who works with the
National Institute on Drug Abuse. He said a 1998 household survey of
more than 5,000 people in Hawaii led him to estimate there were 8,100
people in the state who were hard-core ice users. That’s a far cry
from indicting 10 percent of the state’s population, but Kubo had his
reasons.

The U.S. attorney used the numbers to back up his request to weaken
the state’s constitutional search-and-seizure privacy clause and the
constitutional requirements for obtaining wire-tap warrants.

Kubo’s request may or may not be warranted in light of all the ice
being consumed in Hawaii, but using inflated figures for shock value,
even after his source said he had been misquoted, is typical of the
sort of misinformation – it could be called lying – officials have
been guilty of promoting throughout the history of the “war on drugs.”

The ice epidemic is a hot political issue this summer, but it will
take cool heads to find the right combination of interdiction,
enforcement and treatment to end it, not phony statistics.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Editor,

Thank you for exposing the federal government’s use of misinformation
in your Aug. 6th editorial on U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr’s shameful
effort to gut Hawaii’s constitution. It’s not the first time federal
drug warriors have resorted to deception. Drug prohibition funds
organized crime at home and terrorism abroad. The drug czar’s
sensationalist drug-terror ad campaign would have the public believe
that’s good reason to maintain the status quo.

If the federal government is serious about helping Hawaii it will do
something about the glaring unmet need for drug treatment. Those
brave enough to seek help for an illicit substance abuse problem in
this age of zero tolerance have to contend with lengthy waiting lists
and taxpayer-funded stigmatization in the form of the Bush
administration’s belligerent anti-drug campaign.

Want to help Hawaiians addicted to ice? Increase funding for drug
treatment. Remove the government-sanctioned stigma associated with
illicit addiction. End the war on drugs. This country is
squandering its future by investing in incarceration instead of
education. Until more media follow the lead of The Maui News and
begin to question the duplicity of federal drug warriors, U.S. drug
policy will continue to do more harm than good.

Sincerely,

Harold Anslinger

Please note: This is a sample letter only. Your own letter should be
substantially different so that it will be considered adding to the
discussion.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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

EXTRA CREDIT

Below are links to two additional targets worthy of Letters to the
Editor

Honolulu Star-Bulletin editorial: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1183/a06.html

Honolulu Advertiser editorial: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1191/a07.html

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

TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, Newshawks and letter
writing activists.

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

NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT’S TAX DEDUCTIBLE

DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE
TO PRODUCE.

We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our
convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

-OR-

Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. Send your
contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.

14252 Culver Dr

Irvine, CA 92604

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

Prepared by: Robert Sharpe, Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003
Subject: #269 Educate USA TODAY About Meth Epidemic

EDUCATE USA TODAY ABOUT METH EPIDEMIC

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #269 Thur, 31 July 2003

On Wednesday, July 30, USA Today devoted its largest section of the
paper – the front section Cover Story – to a summary of how
methamphetamine labs are no longer just a problem west of the
Mississippi River. Using information and quotes provided solely by
law enforcement and conveniently concerned politicians, the
multi-colored daily demonstrated how meth labs can now be found from
coast to coast.

Not a single quote was attributed to anyone who might propose or
discuss alternatives to the current drug war strategy. The article
almost glamorized the front line police officers who not only have
increased lab seizures by over eleven times in the past eight years
(over 9000 compared to just 800 in the year 1995). Nowhere was there
any questions asking why this black market industry has increased by
over 1000% during that time period.

USA Today has heretofore demonstrated a very good grasp of the
problems related to drug prohibition, most notably the laws against
medical marijuana use. However, this lengthy piece on methamphetamine
could use some alternative comments and suggestions through Letter to
the Editor feedback as to why we have the problem and what we might be
able to do that would help to reduce it.

Please consider writing a letter to USA Today today! Due to their high
readership a letter they print may be one of the most valuable if
viewed in terms of comparative advertising dollars to run a commercial
ad of the same size.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,
email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

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

CONTACT INFO

USA TODAY

[email protected]

TARGET ANALYSIS

With an average circulation of 2.3 million copies, and an estimated
readership, including both print copies and on line readership, of 6.8
million, any letters to the editor published by USA TODAY on our issue
have a very significant reach.

The average published letter is about 140 words in length. But about
one in five is between 200 and 250 words and the large majority
average in the 100 word range. It does seem to help to sound like an
expert, providing a title, or organization title or affiliation in
your signature block.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jul 2003
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: Cover Story
Webpage: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-07-29-meth-cover_x.htm
Copyright: 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

‘METH’ MOVES EAST

Methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that for years was a
concern in a few Western states, now is being made nationwide in
clandestine labs that are creating environmental hazards and other
problems in residential areas.

California, where methamphetamine first became popular as a
recreational drug in the late 1980s, continues to be the state hit
hardest by “meth,” or “speed.” In the 12 months that ended Sept. 30,
authorities raided 1,262 meth labs in California, more than double the
total from the same period seven years earlier.

Now, authorities are finding meth labs in new places: neighborhoods
throughout the Midwest and the East, where labs packed with the toxic
chemicals used to make the drug have been found in apartment
buildings, duplexes and abandoned buses. In Tennessee, two siblings
recently set up a lab in their grandmother’s retirement-home apartment
while she was in the hospital.

“It looks almost like a wildfire moving east,” says Dan Salter, an
agent at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s training academy
in Quantico, Va. Salter teaches law enforcement officers how to
recognize and shut down meth labs, which can emit harmful fumes and
must be dismantled carefully to avoid chemical explosions.

Since the mid-1990s, meth has become particularly popular among young
adults and teenagers seeking cheaper alternatives to cocaine, heroin
and marijuana. Those drugs usually have attracted more attention from
law enforcement.

Meth costs $5 to $15 a dose. It can be made into a pill, a liquid that
can be injected, a powder that can be snorted or a clumpy or rock-like
crystal whose fumes can be inhaled. It is a mix of chemicals found in
household products and fertilizers, and in over-the-counter medicines.

Methamphetamine’s move east has been driven in part, authorities say,
by the availability of recipes on Web sites that describe ways to cook
chemicals to make the drug.

Missouri, because of its central location and rural landscape where
labs can be hidden easily, has become the second front in what
officials describe as an explosion of meth use across America.

In fiscal 2002, local police and U.S. agents shut down 1,039 labs in
Missouri, 321 in Illinois, 89 in Florida and 85 in Georgia. Seven
years earlier, officials had reported finding 29 labs in Missouri and
two each in Illinois, Florida and Georgia.

Meth has left a trail of addiction in many areas and has led some
officials to take action:

Oklahoma City officials have created an “endangered children’s”
program that gives medical care and other help to kids who are found
living in homes that have been turned into meth labs by their addicted
parents. Continued exposure to toxic fumes from such labs can cause
fatal burns to the lungs, damage the liver and spleen, and lead to
learning disabilities, health specialists say.

Last year, Oklahoma City officials put 23 children who were found in
meth labs into protective custody at a center for abused children.
Twenty-two tested positive for exposure to toxic chemicals.

In Cookeville, Tenn., about 80 miles east of Nashville, the City
Council last month passed an ordinance that bans drug stores from
selling a customer more than 100 tablets of the decongestant
pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in meth recipes. The law also
requires businesses to keep non-prescription forms of pseudoephedrine
behind the counter or within 6 feet of the cash register, and it
requires purchasers to sign a register.

“The methamphetamine problem here is terrible,” says Ricky Shelton, a
Cookeville council member who proposed the measure. “There are
children in foster care, people dying, chemicals in the
environment.”

He said 54 children in a four-county area that includes Cookeville
have been put in foster care during the past two years because their
parents were caught cooking meth in their homes.

Georgia has imposed similar limits on pseudoephedrine purchases.
Several cities across the nation are considering such laws.

Illinois, which borders Missouri but has had fewer problems with
methamphetamine, has begun issuing bulletins to farmers and fertilizer
suppliers urging them to guard anhydrous ammonia. The chemical
compound is used mostly as a fertilizer but also is a key ingredient
in meth.

Illegal drug makers in Illinois and elsewhere have stolen anhydrous
ammonia, which is stored as a liquid in pressurized tanks but becomes
a toxic gas when released. Inhaling the ammonia can cause fatal damage
to the lungs, says Bob Aherin, an agricultural safety professor at the
University of Illinois.

“Drug users trying to make meth can be a danger to themselves and
others,” Aherin says. When they break a hose or a valve while trying
to siphon the liquid, he says, anyone downwind can be harmed if the
chemical is released.

Two years ago, Indiana’s Legislature made it a felony to dump waste
from controlled substances, largely because of concerns about
pollution from these meth labs.

Chemicals from labs have been dumped in streams and in wooded areas,
where the chemicals have seeped into the soil and contaminated water
sources.

Meth cooks, trying to avoid cops, often leave behind harmful chemicals
or residue. A meth producer might check into a motel, cook a batch and
leave the next day, the DEA’s Salter says. “Then someone (else) checks
in, and the kids crawl on the carpet and get burned from the chemicals.”

Easy to get, simple to make

Methamphetamine stimulates the central nervous system. After feeling
an initial rush and a sense of well-being, people on meth may be
hyperactive, lose their appetites and be unable to sleep. The effects
can last up to eight hours.

The drug is simple to make, requiring easy-to-get ingredients and
rudimentary chemistry. When police find a meth lab, they don chemical
suits and gas masks to protect themselves from fumes.

DEA officials estimate that for each pound of meth produced, a lab
operator winds up with 6 pounds of toxic waste, including leftover
chemicals such as anhydrous ammonia and lye, and solid meth residue.

Cleaning up a lab costs an average of $3,280, the DEA says. It usually
involves removing debris, testing soil and neutralizing chemicals.
Larger labs have cost up to $100,000 to shut down. Most of the money
goes to local cleanup companies through federal grants. Cleaning up
meth labs cost the U.S. government about $24 million in 2002, the DEA
says.

In fiscal 2002, the DEA reported more than 9,000 lab raids, up from
just more than 800 in 1995.

“Methamphetamine is on a bigger scale than ever before,” says Sheriff
Lane Carter of Moore County in central North Carolina, which recently
increased its narcotics unit from two to five people because of the
local meth problem. “It’s cheap to make. It doesn’t have to be
transported across the (U.S.) border.”

Meth began popping up in North Carolina about two years ago, officials
there say. Last year, 34 labs were found in the state.

This year, “we’re at a pace that will double” that, says Dave Gaddis,
the DEA’s assistant special agent in charge for North Carolina. “It
started in the western part of the state, and it’s migrating east.”

Some clever, some desperate

This summer, signs of the rising demand for meth have been
particularly evident in Tennessee.

Within 48 hours last month, authorities in rural Anderson County,
about 30 miles north of Knoxville, shut down three labs. The third
bust was the county’s 22nd of the year. Through June 3, Tennessee
officials had shut down 305 labs. In all of last year, there were 387
lab raids in Tennessee.

The Anderson County busts, in which four people were arrested on drug
charges, reflected the various methods — some clever, some desperate
— that lab operators use. Many operators, authorities say, are
addicts who make and sell the drug to feed their habits.

One of the cases involved a local retirement home, where two
grandchildren of a resident set up a lab while she was in the
hospital. The woman’s neighbors knew about the lab but were too
terrified to report it, Chief Deputy Sheriff Lewis Ridenour says.

In another case, a suspect allegedly ran a lab from his car’s trunk.
Deputies closed a road for 17 hours while the chemicals were removed.
Another bust occurred in a duplex near eight other homes.

“It’s a huge health hazard,” Ridenour says. Labs “can explode. A
child, or anyone, can come in contact with toxic materials.”

While law enforcement officers raid labs, anti-drug groups and
government officials taken aback by meth’s impact are focusing on
prevention. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is testing a
campaign in Missouri and Phoenix that warns of the dangers of using
meth. In commercials, doctors describe the risks meth can pose to
users and their kids.

Illinois lawmakers passed two anti-meth laws in May. One allows judges
to double the maximum sentence and fine for those convicted of meth
crimes done in the presence of children. The other requires convicted
meth makers and users to pay for cleanups.

Because of Illinois’ advisories on ammonia, many fertilizer dealers
have built fences and installed motion detectors around their tanks,
Aherin says. Some have placed locks on the tanks’ valves.

Officials in Illinois have asked retailers to put medicines containing
pseudoephedrine behind the counter and to limit the number of packages
per customer. Illinois retailers aren’t required to do so, but “we
have found a great willingness from the Wal-Marts and Kmarts and
Walgreen’s and 7-Elevens” to cooperate, Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan says. “People are beginning to realize how dangerous meth is.”

There has been some opposition to limiting consumers’ access to
pseudoephedrine, which is in Sudafed and other popular medicines. In
Tennessee, a plan similar to Cookesville’s failed in the Legislature
last month. Retail groups have led the resistance.

“I’m not convinced that limiting consumer access is the best way to
combat the problem,” says Nancy Bukar of the Consumer Healthcare
Products Association, which represents makers and suppliers of
over-the-counter medicines.

Purchase limits merely inconvenience legitimate consumers, she says,
adding that those bent on finding meth ingredients go from store to
store collecting packages, a practice authorities call “smurfing.”

Meanwhile, officials are seeing more “ice,” the potent form of meth
that resembles rock salt. “It’s akin to crack,” says Mike Furgason,
special agent in charge of the DEA’s Atlanta division, which includes
Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. “They are breeding a more
addicted customer.”

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SAMPLE LETTER

To the editors of USA Today:

Your coverage on the epidemic of illegal methamphetamine labs
spreading from coast to coast left two key questions unanswered.

The first is what motivates meth manufacturers to set up laboratories
given the physical dangers of creating meth and also considering the
harsh legal penalties if caught and convicted in court. It seems
obvious the answer lies in the obscene profits drug prohibition laws
generate. Meth labs today bring to mind the ‘bathtub gin’ makers
which operated outside regulated control during the 1920s Prohibition
against alcohol distribution.

More important though is why a relatively tiny portion of our
population feels the need to ingest such unregulated and dangerous
substances. The DEA can up their lab seizures and arrests by another
ten times during the next eight years and yet not a single meth addict
or abuser will be any closer to true health and recovery.

Sincerely,

Stephen Heath
Clearwater FL

Please note: This is a sample letter only. Your own letter should be
substantially different so that it will be considered adding to the
discussion.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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

TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, Newshawks and letter
writing activists.

=
NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT’S TAX DEDUCTIBLE

DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE
TO PRODUCE.

We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you
are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our
convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

-OR-

Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to: The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a
DrugSense 14252 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA 92604 (800) 266 5759

**********************************************************************
Prepared by: Stephen Heath, DPF Florida http://www.dpffl.org Focus Alert
Specialist

= Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to
[email protected]

Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003
Subject: #268 ONDCP Deputy Endorses Caging Patients

ONDCP DEPUTY ENDORSES CAGING PATIENTS

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #268 Thu, 23 July 2003

On Tuesday, July 22, the Los Angeles Times ran a column by ONDCP
Deputy Director Andrea Barthwell. Citing her background as an M.D.,
Barthwell strongly debunks the idea of medical marijuana. Nothing
much is new here, though she is clear to focus her criticism on
‘smoking’ marijuana. Also she specifically notes that ‘feeling
better’ from using marijuana is not a valid reason to use it. One
must ‘actually get better’ or otherwise be subject to arrest and
prosecution.

Finally, she misrepresents the pending appeal by the Feds versus
California doctors as noted below.

Please take a moment to write a succinct letter to the editors of the
L.A. Times so that readers will have a chance to see that the opinions
of federal drug war cheerleaders are not paramount in California.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,
email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

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

CONTACT INFO

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)

Contact: [email protected]

TARGET ANALYSIS

With a daily circulation of slightly over a million copies, having a
letter to the editor printed in the L.A. Times reaches a very large
audience.

The L.A. Times has printed two or three letters in response to one
column, that focus on different aspects in their response. The average
length of the body of letters they print is about 130 words; however,
well written letters of about 250 words are sometimes printed.

You may review letters they have published at http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Los+Angeles+Times

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jul 2003
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2003 Los Angeles Times
Contact: [email protected]
Author: Andrea Barthwell
Note: Andrea Barthwell, a medical doctor, is a deputy director at the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy and a past president of the
American Society of Addiction Medicine.

A HAZE OF MISINFORMATION CLOUDS ISSUE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

As a physician with more than 20 years of experience dealing with
patients who are addicted to drugs, I am often asked my professional
opinion about a contentious public health question: What is the
medical basis for smoking marijuana? The answer needs some context.

Americans today have the world’s safest, most effective system of
medical practice, built on a process of scientific research, testing
and oversight that is unequaled.

Before the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1907, Americans
were exposed to a host of patent medicine “cure-alls,” everything from
vegetable “folk remedies” to dangerous mixtures with morphine. The
major component of most “cures” was alcohol, which probably explained
why people reported that they “felt better.”

Needless to say, claimed benefits were erratic and
irreproducible.

Marijuana, whatever its value, is intoxicating, and it’s not
surprising that sincere people will report relief of their symptoms
when they smoke it. The important point is that there is a difference
between feeling better and actually getting better. It is the job of
modern medicine to establish this distinction.

The debate over drug use generates a great deal of media attention —
including the focus on the administration’s appeal this month to the
U.S. Supreme Court against medical marijuana — and frequent
misinformation. Some will have read, for instance, that the medicinal
value of smoking marijuana represents “mainstream medical opinion.” It
is time to set the record straight.

Simply put, there is no scientific evidence that qualifies smoked
marijuana to be called medicine. Further, there is no support in the
medical literature that marijuana, or indeed any medicine, should be
smoked as the preferred form of administration. The harms to health
are simply too great.

Marijuana advocates often cite the 1999 National Academy of Science’s
Institute of Medicine report as justifying the drug’s medical use.
But, in fact, the verdict of that report was “marijuana is not a
modern medicine.” The institute was particularly troubled by the
notion that crude marijuana might be smoked by patients, which it
termed “a harmful drug-delivery system.”

These concerns are echoed by the Food and Drug Administration, the
agency charged with approving all medicines. As the FDA recently
noted: “While there are no proven benefits to [smoked] marijuana use,
there are many short- and long-term risks associated with marijuana
use.”

Compounds in the marijuana plant do potentially have a medical value.
For instance, a synthetic version of an ingredient in marijuana has
been approved for treating nausea for chemotherapy patients, as well
as for treatment of anorexia associated with weight loss in patients
with AIDS.

Admittedly, these medications have limitations, including the
relatively slow onset of relief. Researchers are exploring
drug-delivery systems that allow rapid relief — perhaps an oral
inhalator like those used by asthma patients — as a response to
patient needs.

But these medications are a far cry from burning the crude weed and
gulping down the smoke. Every American is familiar with aspirin, and
some know that it was first found in willow bark, from which the
therapeutic agent acetylsalicylic acid was eventually synthesized.
Surely no one today would chew willow bark, much less smoke a piece of
tree, to cure a headache.

Medical science does not fear any compound, even those with a
potential for abuse. If a substance has the proven capacity to serve a
medical purpose, then it will be accepted. We have done so with
substances as dangerous as opium, allowing the medical use of many of
its derivatives, including morphine, Demerol and OxyContin. The key
term is “proven capacity.” Only if compounds from marijuana pass the
same tests of research scrutiny that any other drug must undergo will
they become part of the modern medical arsenal.

Our investment in medical science is at risk if we do not defend the
proven process by which medicines are brought to the market. All drugs
must undergo rigorous clinical trials before a drug can be released
for public use.

The overarching charge to any physician is: “First, do no harm.” That
is the test smoked marijuana cannot pass.

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

TWO SAMPLE LETTERS

(Please note: These letters are samples only. Your own letter to the
L.A. Times should be substantially different so that the Times will
consider it as adding to the discussion.)

To the editors of the Los Angeles Times,

Dear Editor:

ONDCP Deputy Director Andrea Barthwell soberly intones, “Physician –
First Do No Harm”, in support of her criticism for the use of medical
marijuana. Her personal analysis enumerates various harms of smoking
marijuana, though she ignores the fact that many patients consume
their medical pot in baked goods, orally. Ignored by this
‘smokescreen’ is the only relevant question with regard to allowing
legal access to medical pot. And that is, should patients who elect
to use marijuana as medicine with the support of their doctor be
subject to arrest, criminal prosecution and time in a prison cell,
caged like a dangerous animal? Current federal drug policies endorsed
by Barthwell, ONDCP head John Walters and George W. Bush show that
they believe the answer to this question is a resounding Yes.

Barthwell also misleads readers with her reference to, “…. the
administration’s appeal this month to the U.S. Supreme Court against
medical marijuana.” In fact the administration is appealing the right
of doctors to freely speak to patients about marijuana.

How many more Californians using medical marijuana legally under state
law must be arrested and caged by federal drug war
cheerleaders?

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen Heath
Clearwater, FL

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

To: [email protected]

Subject: Please consider the following Letter to the Editor for publication

July 21, 2003

To the editor,

It’s ironic that Andrea Barthwell, deputy director for the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy, willfully misconstrues the
facts regarding the medicinal use of marijuana (“A Haze of
Misinformation Clouds Issue of Medical Marijuana,” July 21, 2003) mere
weeks after Delegates of the American Nurses Association (ANA)
convened in Washington, DC to resolve to “support the right of
patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana.” Who do you
believe? A paid spokeswoman for the Drug Czar’s office, or the RNs who
have dedicated their lives to attend the needs of the sick and dying?

The ANA’s support for the use of marijuana as a medicine is not based
on “misinformation,” but rather on scores of scientific studies and
patient testimonies demonstrating the therapeutic value of cannabis.
That is why dozens of prominent national and international health
organizations, including the American Public Health Association, the
AIDS Action Council, the United Kingdom’s Multiple Sclerosis Society,
and The New England Journal of Medicine, support the immediate
legalization of medical marijuana under a physician’s
supervision.

However, if Ms. Barthwell and the Bush administration have their way,
patients who find therapeutic relief from marijuana will not only be
denied legal access to the one medicine that alleviates their
suffering, but they will also face arrest and imprisonment. In
addition, the Bush administration is now appealing to the Supreme
Court to allow the Justice Department to punish doctors who so much as
speak to their patients about the medical use of marijuana – a
position so extreme that it runs contrary to both the American Medical
Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the latter
of which Ms. Barthwell formerly served as president.

It is shameful that Ms. Barthwell, a physician, is now willing to
place politics before the needs of patients she once took an oath to
protect.

Sincerely,

Paul Armentano
Senior Policy Analyst
NORML | NORML Foundation
Washington, DC 20006-2832
202.483.5500

(Always include your address and phone number for newspaper
verification. Most papers will not print your letter otherwise.)

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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

TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

**********************************************************************
Prepared by: Stephen Heath, Drug Policy Forum of Florida
http://www.dpffl.org Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2003
Subject: #267 D.E.A. Suffers Setback With Breyer Ruling

D.E.A. Suffers Setback With Breyer Ruling

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #267 9 June 2003

Over fifteen months after his arrest and being charged with violation
of federal marijuana laws, Ed Rosenthal of California walked out of
his sentencing hearing a free man. Federal Judge Charles Breyer
weighed all of the relevant evidence related to Rosenthal’s conviction
this past Jan. 31 and then sentenced him to one day in jail and gave
him credit for time served.

This ruling gave a strong smack to the federal government who have
relentlessly worked to counter the effects of California’s Prop 215,
which legalized medical use and access to marijuana for qualified
patients. Rosenthal ardently worked for 215’s successful passage. He
then worked hand in hand with the patient communities of San Francisco
and Oakland to implement their medical marijuana programs.

This continuing commitment and exposure resulted in the Feds targeting
Rosenthal. They hoped that his conviction and expected sentence of 10
years or more would intimidate other supporters of the California law.
Because juries have no way of knowing otherwise, Federal prosecutors
accuse and convict patients and good Samaritans like Ed of being “Drug
King Pins.”

Newspapers around the country have carried coverage of his arrest, his
trial and conviction, and now the sentencing story. Please use the
handy MAP shortcut to such stories http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
and send letters to the editor expressing your support for the
ruling and your desire to see a cessation of such law enforcement
priorities by the federal Justice Department.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

**********************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
(Letter, email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

**********************************************************************
CONTACT INFO

See this link for recent coverage of the Rosenthal case
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal

**********************************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER
(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it
at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the
same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work.)

Dear Editor:

It was great to see the ruling from federal judge Charles Breyer in
the Ed Rosenthal medical marijuana case in California June 4. With 80%
of Americans believing that medical marijuana should be legally
available to qualified medical patients, it seems the only ones who
still find it a priority to resist are the shrinking group of
anti-marijuana zealots and George W. Bush’s Justice Department led by
John Ashcroft.

Nine states have passed laws legalizing medical pot and twelve more
have laws recognizing medical use as a defense against possession.
The federal government quite obviously targeted longtime California
activist Rosenthal in hopes his conviction and expected lengthy jail
sentence would dissuade Americans who are trying to exercise their
medical rights under state laws. Federal prosecutors used their
ability to exclude relevant testimony as the key tool in getting their
conviction. Those citizens who disagree with such tactics and believe
the Feds should respect states’ laws on marijuana should contact their
federal representatives. Ask for their support of H.R. 2233, the
States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, which would require federal
law enforcement to defer to state laws on medical marijuana. And to
support H.R. 1717, the Truth in Trials Act, which would end the
federal government’s gag on medical marijuana defendants in court.

(SIGNATURE)
(Always include your address and phone number for newspaper verification.
Most papers will not print your letter otherwise).
**********************************************************************

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/
**********************************************************************
TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

**********************************************************************
Prepared by: Sephen Heath, Drug Policy Forum of
Florida http://www.dpffl.org Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Sat, 17 May 2003
Subject: # 266 US Drug Warrior Tries To Fool Canadians On Cannabis

US Drug Warrior Tries to Fool Canadians on Cannabis

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 266 May 17, 2003

As the current Canadian war on cannabis disintegrates before our eyes,
Canadian leaders have to decide what kind of policy will come next.
Professional prohibitionists from the U.S. have been suggesting that
Canadian pot policy should not be reformed.

This absurd position should be offensive to Canadians, especially
given the horrible consequences of the drug war for the U.S.

Few people have been as wrong about the drug war as Joseph Califano,
but he continues to spread misinformation. This week in Canada’s Globe
and Mail newspaper, Califano is at it again. Please write a letter to
the Globe and Mail exposing the many factual and logical
inconsistencies in Califano’s assault on common sense.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy 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 with so
others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit.

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

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.

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

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Contact: [email protected]

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

TARGET ANALYSIS

Canada’s leading national newspaper, with a circulation slightly over
336 thousand copies daily, tends to print short letters to the editor.
Our analysis shows the average published letter at only 133 words in
length. The Globe and Mail very rarely prints letters over 200 words
in length. It is best to focus your letter on one narrow topic or
argument and state some solid facts about it.

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

Pubdate: Friday, May 16, 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A23
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Author: Joseph Califano
Note: Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, is a former U.S. secretary of
health, education and welfare.

WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING, CANADA?

The issue of decriminalizing marijuana is first and foremost about
safeguarding kids and Canada should be attentive to the threat that
marijuana poses to youth.

We know that neither Canada nor the United States has been able to
keep its two legal drugs — alcohol and tobacco — out of the hands of
teenagers and children. Members of Canada’s Parliament should keep
this in mind as they consider any proposal to decriminalize marijuana,
because the drug’s sharp edges undercut claims that smoking pot is a
harmless recreation.

Research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
(CASA) has established a statistical relationship between the use of
tobacco, alcohol and marijuana and the use of harder drugs such as
cocaine, heroin and acid.

Examining data from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey of
11,000 ninth-through 12th-graders, CASA isolated teen use of these
“gateway” drugs from other problem behaviours. The conclusion: Among
teens with no other problem behaviours, those who drank, smoked
cigarettes and used marijuana at least once in the past month are
almost 17 times likelier to use another drug such as cocaine, heroin
or LSD.

Most people who smoke marijuana do not move on to other drugs, just as
most who smoke cigarettes don’t get lung cancer, but both kinds of
smokers hugely increase their risks. These risks rise with teen use:
The earlier and more often an individual uses marijuana, the more
likely that person is to use cocaine.

Biomedical research tells us why. Studies in Italy, Spain and the U.S.
reveal that marijuana affects levels of dopamine (the pleasure
chemical) in the brain in a manner similar to heroin, cocaine and
nicotine. The research indicates that marijuana may prime the brain to
seek substances such as heroin and cocaine that act in a similar way.

While psychological dependence on marijuana is widely recognized, the
drug’s potential for physical addiction is only recently becoming
clear. Studies show that rats subjected to immediate cannabis
withdrawal exhibit behaviour changes similar to those after withdrawal
from cocaine, alcohol and opiates. Science magazine calls this “the
first neurological basis for marijuana withdrawal.”

Canada’s politicians should not underestimate the dangers of
marijuana. In the U.S., more teens and children under 19 enter
treatment for marijuana abuse and dependence than for abuse and
dependence involving any other drug — including alcohol. Research
shows marijuana use can cause respiratory infections, increased heart
rate, anxiety and panic attacks. A 2002 study associated marijuana
smoking with an increased risk of head and neck cancer. There is also
evidence of a relationship between the use of marijuana and
psychiatric illness; studies have shown that marijuana use increases
the risk of depression and may trigger the onset or relapse of
schizophrenia in predisposed individuals. We have known for some time
that marijuana harms short-term memory, motor skills and the ability
to concentrate.

Decriminalization of marijuana would send a signal to Canadian teens
that smoking pot can be seen as a rite of passage. It is not. Smoking
pot is a dangerous game of Russian roulette that can ruin young lives
and devastate parents. That’s why Canadians should reject any
proposals to decriminalize this dangerous drug.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please
modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive
numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author
receives credit for his/her work.)

To the editor,

The concerns raised by Joseph Califano, chairman of the National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, (‘What
are you smoking, Canada?’, May 16), over the possibility that we might
decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis are
misplaced. There is no evidence from jurisdictions that have
decriminalized cannabis, including a dozen U.S. states, that
decriminalization has a significant impact on usage rates.

American teens consistently report that cannabis is easier to obtain
than beer. If cannabis were as addictive as tobacco, as impairing,
disinhibiting and criminogenic as alcohol, as toxic as Walkerton water
and as demotivating as the nightly news, it would make *less* sense to
abdicate its cultivation and distribution to crooks who work on commission.

Evidently prohibition does not make the herb less alluring, available,
addictive, impairing or harmful. In fact, every major study of
cannabis policy before or since Nixon’s Shafer Commission has
concluded that prohibition magnifies what little harm cannabis causes.
Further, according to the Institute of Medicine and the World Health
Organization, prohibition is directly responsible for creating the
“gateway” from cannabis to the other so-called “controlled drugs and
substances.”

Matthew M. Elrod

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone
number

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

ADDITIONAL INFO To Help You in Your Letter Writing Efforts, Please
See

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

References You May Find of Value:

The well documented cannabis related facts at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/ and http://marijuanainfo.org/

While it is a huge report, using quotes from the Senate Special
Committee on Illegal Drugs report will have special value to
Canadians. To find material for quotes, use the links at
http://cannabislink.ca/gov/#SENATE

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

Canadian Activists Are Asking That You Please Write Letters to the
Editor to Their Newspapers

Now, and the weeks ahead, Letters to the Editor of Canadian newspapers
from both Canadians and cannabis activists around the world are most
important.

Please bookmark these links, which will bring up target news items –
both today and in the weeks ahead – and write as many letters as
possible. By your efforts we can influence the debate in Canada, and
perhaps the end result. But it will take an extra effort on the part
of all cannabis activists to make it happen.

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis – Canada)

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis – Medicinal – Canada)

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

Prepared by: Stephen Young – www.maximizingharm.com DrugSense Focus
Alert Specialist

= Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to
[email protected]

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
Subject: #265 Please Support Canadian Cannabis Law Reform With LTEs Now!

Please Support Canadian Cannabis Law Reform with LTEs
Now!

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 265 April 19, 2003

Last Sunday, most the Sun newspapers ran an intensive article “O
Cannabis” on Canadian cannabis use and the failure of our current drug
policy:

Calgary Sun http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n597.a07.html Toronto
Sun http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n598.a07.html Edmonton Sun
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n598.a05.htm and the Ottawa Sun
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n601.a03.html.

And the London Free Press ran a short version under the title “High
Times” http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n598/a02.html

In the article, the author chose to quote many sources. Some, such as
the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, are highly reliable;
others such as Police Chief Julian Fantino and Dr. Raju Hajela, a past
president of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, are less so.
Dr. Hajela expresses misinformed concerns about the potential harms of
cannabis, including that it leads to schizophrenia. Chief Fantino
suggests that we need to maintain prohibition in order to control the
black market, completely ignoring that it is our cannabis laws that
cause the profitability black market in the first place.

If we are ever to have an enlightened discussion about drug policy in
Canada, the first thing that we need to do is correct this kind of
misinformation. I urge you to contact the Sun papers and correct
those who would ignore science and reason. Truth is on our side, now
let’s pass it on!

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy 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 with so
others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit.

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

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.

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

To see the actual nearly identical, except for sidebars at the bottom,
“O Cannabis / High Times” articles please click the links above. The
Sun newspapers are running a whole series of cannabis related articles
this week, many of which are good targets for Letters to the Editor.
Here is a list of the Sun Newspapers (Sun Media Corporation, Canoe
Limited Partnership), their Letter to the Editor email address, and a
link which will bring up the recent drug policy related items printed
in each of the newspapers:

Calgary Sun [email protected] http://www.mapinc.org/source/Calgary+Sun

Toronto Sun [email protected] http://www.mapinc.org/source/Toronto+Sun

Edmonton Sun [email protected] http://www.mapinc.org/source/Edmonton+Sun

Ottawa Sun [email protected] http://www.mapinc.org/source/Ottawa+Sun

London Free Press [email protected] http://www.mapinc.org/source/London+Free+Press

Only the Winnipeg Sun appears not to have printed the “O Cannabis”
article but is printing others in the series: [email protected]
http://www.mapinc.org/source/Winnipeg+Sun

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

Now, and the weeks ahead, Letters to the Editor of Canadian newspapers
from both Canadians and cannabis activists around the world are most
important.

The Canadian Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a charter challenge
case involving three appellants that challenges the criminalization of
marijuana possession on May 6th.

The federal government is poised to take its swing with new
legislation expected in June which would decriminalize marijuana
possession. Early indications are that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon
would decriminalize the possession of 30 grams of cannabis, or less –
less than an ounce – making it subject to fines. Letter writers are
needed to tell the media that such a tiny step is not enough! Only a
legal, regulated market for adults, as recommended by the Senate
Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, is appropriate.

Please bookmark these links, which will bring up target news items –
both today and in the weeks ahead – and write as many letters as
possible. By your efforts we can influence the debate in Canada, and
perhaps the end result. But it will take an extra effort on the part
of all cannabis activists to make it happen.

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis – Canada)

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis – Medicinal – Canada)

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

SAMPLE LETTER

(Please note If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify
it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous
copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives
credit for his/her work.)

This letter is in response to the “O Canada” article written by Jason
Botchford that appeared in Sunday’s Sun newspapers.

Dear Editor,

I congratulate you on such an in depth article about the failure of
Canada’s cannabis prohibition, although I take exception with Dr. Raju
Hajela’s alarmist and inaccurate comments regarding the recreational
use of cannabis.

He suggests that there can be “devastating consequences” to people
trying cannabis even once; he must mean the munchies, because unlike
alcohol, tobacco, or even aspirin there has never been a single death
attributed to the use of marijuana in over 3000 years of recorded use.

Furthermore, many recent studies suggest that cannabis may actually
possess anti-carcinogenic properties (P. Massi et al, 1998; Stig O. P.
Jacobsson et al, 2000; I. Galve-Roperh et al, 2001).

Finally, Dr. Hajela discounts himself completely by stating rather
cryptically that the wrong message about cannabis is getting out to
the public because “there are a lot of marijuana smokers amongst the
media”. Yikes! And they say that marijuana makes users paranoid!

This kind of alarmist misinformation would be laughable if it didn’t
lead to such expensive, corrupt, and ineffective policies. From the
1972 LeDain Commission on, every major public or private study that
has ever looked at our drug policy has recommended relaxing our
cannabis laws. It’s high time for a little bit of truth about
marijuana use!

Philippe Lucas
Victoria, BC, Canada

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number so that
the newspapers may verify that you actually wrote the letter.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO To Help You in Your Letter Writing Efforts, Please
See

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

References You May Find of Value:

The well documented cannabis related facts at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/ and http://marijuanainfo.org/

While it is a huge report, using quotes from the Senate Special
Committee on Illegal Drugs report will have special value to
Canadians. To find material for quotes, use the links at
http://cannabislink.ca/gov/#SENATE

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

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

Prepared by Philippe Lucas [email protected] DrugSense Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003
Subject: #264 The “Moral Costs” Of 2 Million Prisoners

The “Moral Costs” Of 2 Million Prisoners

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 264 April 15, 2003

The U.S. prison population officially rose above 2 million recently,
and this has disturbed editorialists at the Washington Post – at least
a little bit.

“There is no magic ‘right’ number of people to have in prison; that
will properly vary with crime rates and popular attitudes toward
criminals,” the editorial proclaimed, “But there is something
breathtaking about the current figure.”

Later in the piece, writers acknowledge that drug prohibition has
played an important role in the growth of prison populations. The
editorial doesn’t call for ending the drug war, but it does lament the
financial costs of incarcerating so many drug criminals. It also
suggests there are moral costs, described as “hard to define but real
nonetheless.” Hard to define? How about the corruption and dishonesty
needed to maintain prohibition? How about the cruelty that takes
medicine from people in pain?

Please write a letter to the Washington Post congratulating the paper
on its minor moral awakening, but also to remind editors that if they
dare to look at the drug war picture unflinchingly and without
glossing over the realities, the moral costs are so clear they hurt.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID ( Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy 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 with so
others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit.

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

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.

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

Source: Washington Post
Contact: [email protected]

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

Pubdate: 13 Apr 2003
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2003 The Washington Post Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491

Editorial: A Nation Behind Bars

IMAGINE THAT the United States locked up the populations of Wyoming,
Vermont and North Dakota and then threw in the nation of Iceland for
good measure. The result would be an inmate population of
approximately the same size as the one currently behind bars in the
United States. Last year, for the first time in American history, the
states and the federal government — in jails and in prisons around
the country — had more than 2 million people behind bars, according
to Justice Department statistics. Those locked up included 1.3 percent
of all males in this country, 4.8 percent of all black males — and a
shocking 11.8 percent of black men between the ages of 20 and 34. The
dramatic rise in the prison population has created a nation of
prisoners within American society. While hidden from the view, and
even the consciousness, of most Americans, the existence of this
nation forces those on the outside to ask, in turn, what kind of
nation they want to live in.

There is no magic “right” number of people to have in prison; that
will properly vary with crime rates and popular attitudes toward
criminals. But there is something breathtaking about the current
figure. The U.S. rate of incarceration is the highest in the world;
according to data from the British Home Office, the only countries
with rates close to it are the Cayman Islands and Russia. It is nearly
seven times the rate in Canada and more than four time the rate in the
United Kingdom, which leads Europe. It also represents an enormous
rise by the standards of even recent American history. According to
criminologist Alfred Blumstein, the rate of imprisonment stayed stable
between the 1920s and the 1970s. Since the 1970s, however, it has
increased several times over.

The logic of tougher sentencing regimes and extended prison terms for
drug offenders has long since become circular. When crime persists in
the face of tougher sentences, many policymakers conclude that the
sentences need to be tougher still. The cycle has proven enormously
difficult to break, in large measure because popular sentiment makes
the tough-on-crime posture politically irresistible. But keeping an
ever-growing number of people locked up has huge costs: the financial
costs associated with maintaining a nation of inmates, the human costs
in the wrecked lives of those who could have been rehabilitated under
different policies, the costs to society when people are finally
released after years of prison socialization. There are also moral
costs — hard to define yet real nonetheless. For the incarceration
rate reflects on some level the rate at which a society gives up on
its members. And 2 million is a huge number to give up on.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please
modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive
numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author
receives credit for his/her work.)

To the Editors:

I read the editorial “A Nation Behind Bars” (April 13), about the 2
million people imprisoned in America, many for drug crimes. As I read,
I was surprised to see this line: “There are also moral costs — hard
to define yet real nonetheless.”

Hard to define? Separating parents from their children purely because
parents like intoxicants other than alcohol or tobacco is a moral
cost. Empowering violent drug gangs who torment neighborhoods and use
young people as cannon fodder for their enrichment is a moral cost.
And filling our expensive prison system with those who survive gang
warfare, thereby starting the whole cycle again, is a clear moral cost.

The moral costs of the drug war are very literally concrete for those
who have been swept into cells because of it.

Stephen Young

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone
number

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, please
see:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

********************* Just DO It!! **********************************

TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

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

Prepared by: Stephen Young – www.maximizingharm.com DrugSense Focus
Alert Specialist

= Please help us help reform. Send drug-related news to
[email protected]

Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003
Subject: #263 Ding Dong, The Bongs Are Gone?

DING DONG, THE BONGS ARE GONE?

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #263 Friday, 28 Feb 2003

Federal officials said Monday that they had shut down the biggest
paraphernalia suppliers in the United States in a series of nationwide
raids. In all, 55 people were charged with manufacture and/or
distribution of items alleged to be used for illegal purposes.
Additionally, a number of websites are being shut down by the Feds
without anyone yet being convicted of a crime in a court of law. The
DEA intends to redirect these websites to a government-sponsored site,
a chilling and Orwellian action if not challenged. What other websites
which the government views with disapproval will be next on the list?

The absurdity of using major tax dollars to fund a multi-agency effort
against these otherwise law-abiding and tax-paying businesses can
hardly be put into words. Each of us likely has our own way of
expressing the frustration felt when our federal officers carry out
such missions. This especially applies when one of the most obvious
illusions is the suggestion that these raids will make one iota of
difference on the number of illegal drugs that are regularly exchanged
and used in a country where tens of millions of people enjoy using
them.

Of course the paraphernalia industry will rebound, smaller perhaps,
smarter and more aware of the law. After all these devices have been
used to smoke tobacco and other legal herbs throughout history. Users
can turn to the internet to find instructions on how to make their
own. Unfortunately home made paraphernalia if made of the wrong
material can increase harm. And vaporizers – which have been shown to
reduce harm because the substances are not actually burned – will be
harder to obtain.

Attorney General John Ashcroft defends the action by reminding us
that, “It’s a federal law.” Curious bystanders watch with confusion.
Why does a particular federal law have the attention of the nation’s
most powerful law officer at a time when our nation is at an elevated
risk of a terror attack?

Please use the link below to pull up an easy to use list of stories
archived at MAP that cover this story.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,
email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

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

CONTACT INFO

Clicking the following link will bring up a list of news articles.
Those listed at the top going on down the list to the ones dated 24
Feb 2003 are, with few exceptions, appropriate targets for your
letters to the editor. Just click on the link to bring the article up,
then on the contact line for the article, and write your letter, please.

http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Paraphernalia

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

SAMPLE LETTER

(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please
modify it at least somewhat so that no newspaper receives numerous
copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives
credit for his/her work.)

Dear Editor:

While Homeland Security issues alerts varying from medium to high
danger, Attorney General John Ashcroft organizes a multi-agency effort
to crush the bong industry in America.

He suggests the paraphernalia business “has invaded the homes of
families across the country without their knowledge.” Gee, I guess
the millions of bongs and pipes just magically appeared without their
owners who made the voluntary purchase realizing what was up?

Ashcroft must be high himself if he actually believes he has reduced
the number of smoking implements in America. Does he not realize
smokers will simply turn to the millions of potters and glass-blowers
for their products, not to mention every hardware store in the country?

Much like his brethren at the NYPD, Ashcroft has learned arresting
anyone and anything related to marijuana makes for easy statistics
which help perpetuate funding for low-impact law enforcement careers
at all levels.

Respectfully submitted,

(SIGNATURE)

(Always include your address and phone number for newspaper
verification. Most papers will not print your letter otherwise.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, please
see:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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

TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

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

Prepared by: Stephen Heath, Drug Policy Forum of Florida
http://www.dpffl.org Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Subject: # 262 Thank The Critics Of Rosenthal Verdict

THANK THE CRITICS OF ROSENTHAL VERDICT

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #262 Thur, 13 Feb 2003

It’s likely that anyone reading this Alert already knows the basics of
the Ed Rosenthal trial and verdict from January. If that’s not the
case, the syndicated column below from Chicago Tribune’s Clarence Page
nicely explains it along with a good summation of the current
relationship between the U.S. government and the State of California.

The column from Mr. Page was picked up in a number of other major
papers already and we’ve included those links below the reprinted
column. Please consider writing letters to one or more of these
papers and thank them for using the topic. Especially write to the
Chicago Tribune. Note also that an Extra Credit section directs you
to other Ed Rosenthal and California MMJ recent stories and opinion,
again from several major dailies.

Thanks for you helping us build on what to date is the best overall
national opinion commentary on medical marijuana that we’ve seen since
founding our website.

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

**********************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID
(Letter, email messages, etc.)

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 and be motivated to follow suit.

This is _Very_ Important as it is one very effective way of gauging
our impact and effectiveness.

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

**********************************************************************
CONTACT INFO

Here is a list of newspapers which we know printed the column shown
below, publication dates, column titles that the newspapers used, and
the contact for sending your letters.

If you write more than one letter, please diversify your comments so
that each paper receives at least a somewhat unique message. We are
not seeking Copy/Paste spam messages, but rather very sincere
individual thank you notes.

Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Pubdate: Sun, 09 Feb 2003
Title: How the Feds Duped Jurors in Marijuana Trial
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Washington Times (DC)
Pubdate: Tue, 11 Feb 2003
Title: Marijuana Jury Hoodwinked
Contact: [email protected]

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Pubdate: Tue, 11 Feb 2003
Title: War on Illegal Drugs Can’t Be Won If We Fight With Politics Instead
of Reason
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Newsday (NY)
Pubdate: Tue, 11 Feb 2003
Title: Federal Courts Ignore Legitimate Uses of Pot
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Pubdate: Wed, 12 Feb 2003
Title: Drug Warriors Trampling Rights of Medical Marijuana Proponents
Contact: [email protected]

Please send your letters one at a time to the above newspapers. If
newspapers believe you have sent your letter to other newspapers they
may reject it.

**********************************************************************
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n236/a11.html
Newshawk: DrugSense Weekly – www.drugsense.org/current.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 09 Feb 2003
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2003 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Clarence Page, http://www.mapinc.org/author/Clarence+Page
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Bryan+Epis
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jeff+Jones
HOW THE FEDS DUPED JURORS IN MARIJUANA TRIAL

WASHINGTON — It is not every day that a jury apologizes to a man it
has just convicted.

So Ed Rosenthal should feel honored that seven of the 12 jurors who
convicted him on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and
conspiracy are now apologizing to him and calling for their own
verdict to be overturned on appeal. Five of them appeared and two
others had statements read at a news conference Tuesday outside a
courthouse in San Francisco.

They wanted to let the world know that they felt misled by the federal
judge and prosecutors who did not allow the defense to raise issues of
state and local medical marijuana laws in Rosenthal’s trial.

Rosenthal, 58, a well-known author, magazine advice columnist and
advocate for the medicinal use of marijuana, was growing the grass for
medicinal purposes. California is one of eight states ( Oregon, Maine,
Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado are the others ) that
have passed laws to allow the sick and dying to smoke or grow
marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

Rosenthal was deputized by the city of Oakland to provide marijuana
for those whose doctors recommend it. Ironically, the program is
intended to help the ill and dying avoid the street dealers that the
federal drug czar’s current multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign ( Your
dollars at work, fellow taxpayers! ) is warning us against.

But none of that highly pertinent information about Rosenthal’s
methods or motives was allowed to reach the eyes or ears of his jury.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer barred Rosenthal’s defense from
mentioning the state law because Rosenthal was indicted under federal
law, which does not allow the growing of marijuana for any purpose.

As a result, Rosenthal was prosecuted like a member of the Soprano
crime family, convicted and faces a minimum of five years in prison
when he is sentenced in June.

“Last week, I did something so profoundly wrong that it will haunt me
for the rest of my life,” Marney Craig, a property manager who served
as a juror in the Rosenthal trial, wrote in a later San Jose
Mercury-News op-ed. “I helped send a man to prison who does not belong
there.”

It is no wonder that the jurors feel like, if I may coin an old
colloquialism, they got took. After all, they were.

And, of course, it is easy to see why prosecutors did not want
Rosenthal’s motives to be revealed. In California, which legalized
medicinal use of marijuana in 1996, it must be quite difficult to find
a jury of 12 people who would convict a man whose only criminal
offense was to provide the weed to the sick and the dying.

Californians are hardly alone in this nuanced view. Although fewer
than 40 percent of Americans would legalize marijuana for recreational
use, recent polls have found that about 80 percent support legalizing
it for medicinal use.

Even presidential candidate George W. Bush told reporters in October
1999 that on the medicinal marijuana question, “I believe each state
can [make] that decision as they so choose.”

Or, maybe not. President Bush’s administration is going after
California’s medicinal marijuana providers with a zeal that is
appropriate for the pursuit of Colombian drug cartels.

Despite California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer’s pleas to former Drug
Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson last year, the DEA has
stepped up raids on state-sanctioned cannabis growers and treatment
facilities.

In July, Bryan James Epis, 35, organizer of a cannabis buyers club in
Chico, was found guilty of charges similar to Rosenthal’s and
sentenced to 10 years. His conviction has been appealed.

And watch what you say, buddy, as well as how you say it. In December,
Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’
Cooperative, was found guilty of “an attempt to influence jurors,” in
the words of U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski, simply for
passing out leaflets in support of Epis outside the courthouse.

Nowinski dismissed Jones’ free speech defense. After all, there’s a
war on drugs to be fought. Jones’ sentencing is scheduled for Feb.
27.

With antics like these, prosecutors might find it harder to get any
kind of a marijuana conviction out of a jury, whether it is
medicinally related or not.

Who, I wonder, will stop this madness?

For starters, Congress should move the country toward sanity by taking
the long overdue step of downgrading marijuana from Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act. It makes no sense for cannabis to be ranked
with heroin, LSD, morphine and other drugs in Schedule I.

Or does anyone really believe marijuana is more potent, dangerous and
devoid of redeeming medicinal value than cocaine, opium, codeine,
injectable methamphetamines and other Schedule II drugs?

Perhaps, after that step, we might be able to handle marijuana as a
properly controlled hazardous drug, instead of a political football.

**********************************************************************
EXTRA CREDIT (IF APPLICABLE)

Many other editorials, OPEDs, and articles have been printed about
this issue in the last week, all of which may be good targets for
Letters to the Editor. Please click this link, select your targets,
and write:

http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal

**********************************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER
(Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it
at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the
same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work.)

Dear Editor:

Columnist Clarence Page obviously recognizes kangaroo court justice
when it rears its ugly head. George W. Bush and his head stormtrooper
John Ashcroft have enlisted the DEA into waging a literal war against
the voters of California. The result is thousands of seriously ill
California residents who are denied safe access to their
doctor-approved medicine.

Additionally, the tag of ‘criminal dope dealing kingpin’ is applied
to those who work with California cities, police and governments to
ensure that the intent of Prop 215 is carried out in the safest, most
legally regulated manner possible.

Would Bush, Ashcroft and exiting DEA Director Asa Hutchinson put their
own family members in prison for 10 years to life if these same
family members elected to use marijuana with the advice of their physician?

The scary thing right now is that the answer – for Ashcroft and
Hutchinson at least – appears to be a resounding yes.

(152 words)

Stephen Heath
Clearwater FL

(TEXT)

(SIGNATURE)
(Always include your address and phone number for newspaper verification.
Most papers will not print your letter otherwise.
**********************************************************************

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts, Please See:

Writer’s Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/
**********************************************************************
TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

**********************************************************************
Prepared by:
Stephen Heath, Drug Policy Forum of Florida http://www.dpffl.org
Focus Alert Specialist