Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001
Subject: #224 DEA Sabotages Five Years Of Medical Cannabis Progress!

DEA Sabotages Five Years of Medical Cannabis Progress!

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #224 – Monday, October 29, 2001

There has been another series of attacks on U.S. citizens. But this
time it appears that the media and government are trying to keep it
secret.

At a time when our country is in national crisis and mourning, the
Federal Government has elected to utilize its resources and manpower
to seize the medication that allows thousands of chronically and
terminally ill patients in Los Angeles County to alleviate pain,
tolerate medication and simply hold down food every day.

Last Thursday the DEA raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center.
According to one report:

“… assiduous self-policing apparently ran out yesterday at 4 pm
California time, when 30 DEA agents descended on the W. Hollywood
site, a former factory purchased in 1998 for the club by the city
government. They spent 8 hours hauling away cannabis from basement
grow areas, scouring the premises for patients records, computers, and
anything else they could use to prove conspiracy to enable patients to
possess cannabis in violation of U.S. law.

“As the evening progressed, the City Council, which was in session,
adjourned and joined the Mayor and hundreds of protestors on the
street in front of the club. The DEA did not relinquish the building
until midnight.”

The next day a press conference was held at city hall. Please check
out these pictures http://www.mapinc.org/image/lacrc/ Plus more on
the Center’s website at http://www.lacbc.org/ and the CA NORML website
at http://www.canorml.org/

While the press conference resulted in some local TV coverage, the
press has remained silent. The state’s largest newspaper, the Los
Angeles Times has not, as of late Monday, printed any story. We know
that AP put out a wire which is at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1825/a05.html
While some state newspapers have carried the AP wire story on their
website MAP’s NewsHawks have not found evidence that even one has
printed anything.

This DEA raid is part of a pattern as shown by the articles at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1732/a01.html http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n000/a211.html
and http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1738/a01.html

Today we in the drug policy reform community are facing an
administration in Washington which plans to roll back our victories of
the last five years. We have this one issue, medical cannabis, which
we can use to stop them dead — if we have the will. We know that in
every place where a vote has been held, the electorate are with us, by
significant shares, often 2 to 1. And all national and state polls say
the same thing.

Plus the science is with us. Cannabis is medicine. Just look at these
web pages:

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

http://www.mpp.org/statelaw/index2.html

http://www.norml.org/medical/index.shtml

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:

Your actions could contain these basic themes: Wage war on terrorists,
not medical marijuana patients. The government should focus on
anthrax, not medical marijuana. At this time of crisis, American
medical marijuana users are not the enemy.

First, the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center has asked for
activists to take three actions:

(1) Contact the L.A. Times asking them to cover this important story.
A page full of appropriate contacts, email and phone, are at

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-contactus.htmlstory

Make a toll free call to the LA Times City Desk 1-800-LATIMES (Enter 5
to get to the right area after they answer).

(2) Contact Representative Henry Waxman, the congressman for the area
including the Center. He has expressed support in the past. Please
urge him to criticize the raid on the floor of the House and be every
other means he can. Contact information is at:

http://www.house.gov/waxman/Contact_Rep._Waxman/contact_rep._waxman.htm

(3) For those who can, join the LA CRC protest on Tuesday, 6 November
– the 5th anniversary of the historic Prop. 215 vote – in the center’s
parking lot at 7494 Santa Monica Blvd (corner of Santa Monica and
Gardner Ave.) starting at 5 p.m.

Second, Stop John Walters From Becoming ‘Drug Czar’ – phone and fax
your Senators Today! See http://www.stopjohnwalters.org/

Third, let the media know that you are upset about this lack of press
coverage about the terrorist attack on patients and their doctors who
recommend medical cannabis. Ask them when they are going to cover the
story.

You can easily obtain verified contact information for Letters to the
Editor by using MAP’s media contact database. At the following web
address, simply use the dropdown to select your state, then click on
the word ‘contact’ – note that newspapers with more clippings have
shown more interest in drug policy – thus the best first targets:

http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm

Here are sample Letters to the Editor which you may wish to modify for
use with your target newspapers:

Los Angeles Times

To the Editor

Your failure cover the bust, by 30 DEA agents, of the LA Cannabis
Buyers Club that took place last Thursday afternoon in a setting of
sharp criticism from local elected officials is a clear sign that the
Times is either engaging in unacceptable self censorship on behalf of
a noxious federal policy, or is shockingly incompetent. There seems to
be no third possibility.

Since I don’t think you are (quite) that incompetent; I see your
omission as an implicit attempt to protect our misbegotten drug war
against adverse publicity; a pattern your newspaper has, along with
many others, engaged in for years. When those guilty of prolonging
this grotesque policy failure are finally held to account, our
nation’s increasingly slipshod, venal, and dishonest media will be
near the top of the list.

In Contempt,

Tom O’Connell, MD

—–

Dear Editor,

I was horrified to learn that the Federal government has decided that
the wishes of the people of California and the residents of Los Angles
County do not matter when it comes to the issue of medical marijuana.

I wonder what DEA director Asa Hutchinson was thinking when he ordered
the LA cannabis resource center closed and all their records and
medicine taken?

I hope more people like myself take a good hard look at what happened
there. As a patriot American this has hurt me to the bottom of my soul.

When state, county, and municipal government, including local law
enforcement, agree on the law, I think it is only right for the
federal government to abide by the will of the people.

Not inflict terror mandated from the other side of the nation by a man
who obviously has no regard for the quality of life for medical
marijuana patients in California.

Todd Howard, President- Kentucky NORML

—–

Dear Editor,

The other night, I learned through friends that the West Hollywood
cannabis club had been raided by DEA agents, although the community
fully supports Proposition 215 and the compassionate use of medical
marijuana.

But more disturbing than the raids themselves is an apparent
conspiracy of silence on the part of the press, including the LA
Times. In times like these, when our few remaining civil rights are
threatened by the tyranny of the state, the free press is all that
stands between sick and dying patients and legal and medical
annihilation. We are being told by our government sources that we are
fighting terrorism. Yet, terrorists seem to be running our
government, harassing and arresting patients to enforce their edicts
against the free will of those for whom marijuana provides relief.

What next? Will we be required to wear stars on our sleeves as they
cart us off to concentration camps? For those who think this statement
inflammatory, I say that this reality is only one step away. The
first step, that of silencing the press, has already occurred.

Ray Carlson, Redwood City, CA

—–

Finally, contacting your elected representatives at all levels of
government about this is always appropriate. We suspect that as
Internet activists you already know how to do this, or can find out
how on the ‘net rapidly.

A special Thank You to all who have contributed in one way or another
to the writing of this alert, including Dale Gieringer, Rick Root,
Ellen Komp, Craig Harshbarger, Kevin Zeese, Jay Cavanagh, Judy Osburn,
Ray Carlson, Todd Howard and Tom O’Connell. — Richard Lake, Focus
Alert Specialist

Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001
Subject: #223 Drug War Finances Terrorism

Drug War Finances Terrorism

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #223 Tuesday October 16, 2001

The all too real threat of international terrorism makes the $50
billion war on some drugs seem ludicrous in comparison. Reasonable
people will agree that mass murder and consensual vices are two very
different things. With the war on terrorism now the number one
national security priority, drug warriors are seeking to capitalize on
the nation’s tragedy in order to minimize the inevitable shift in
resources. We cannot stand idle while drug war profiteers attempt to
link the war on terrorism to the war on drugs in the public’s mind.
Now is the time to make clear to Americans that patriotism and
opposition to the drug war are not mutually exclusive.

As reformers, we need to be supportive of a war on terrorism that
enjoys overwhelming public support, while tactfully pointing out the
potential collateral damage of a war on drugs that is viewed as a
failure by a majority of Americans. Potential LTE talking points
include the following:

* Dropping the zero tolerance approach to drugs and implementing
demand reduction strategies like prescription heroin maintenance for
existing addicts will do more to undermine the Taliban than the failed
drug war.

* The Taliban have already voluntarily limited production in order to
increase the value of their current opium stockpile. A further
intensification of the drug war threatens to provide the brutal
Taliban regime with additional price supports.

* Drug warriors have spent billions trying to eradicate coca and
heroin in South America. It’s had the perverse effect of empowering
communist guerilla movements by limiting supply of illegal drugs while
demand remains constant. The various armed factions tearing Colombia
apart are financially dependent on the U.S. drug war.

* Separating the hard and soft drug markets via marijuana regulation
is critical. As long as marijuana remains illegal, consumers of the
most popular illicit drug will continue to come into contact with
sellers of harder drugs.

* The vast majority of illicit heroin produced in Afghanistan is
consumed in Europe. The unlikely possibility of a successful
eradication campaign could potentially lead to a massive crime wave on
the European continent when desperate addicts increase criminal
activity to feed desperate habits.

* As long as the drug war continues to generate inflated black market
profits, any fringe group with a militant agenda can tap into the
black market to fund terrorist activities.

Please write a letter to the USA Today and explain that the drug war
is part of the problem, not the solution. If possible, take care to
include support for the war on terrorism. It’s critical that the two
are de-linked.

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

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Contact Info:

Source: USA Today (US)
Contact: [email protected]

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ARTICLE

Pubdate: Tue, 16 Oct 2001
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Page: 1A – Front Page – Cover Story
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Authors: Donna Leinwand, Toni Locy and Vivienne Walt, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

U.S. EXPECTED TO TARGET AFGHANISTAN’S OPIUM

As American bombers continue to pound Taliban facilities in
Afghanistan, U.S. officials say the campaign against the
terrorist-friendly regime inevitably will target its biggest
moneymaker: a vibrant drug network that supplies more than 70% of the
world’s opium. Authorities in the USA and Europe already have frozen
an estimated $24 million in assets linked to Osama bin Laden, his
al-Qa’eda terrorist network and the Taliban. But the American-led
effort is just beginning to put a dent in a drug trade that U.S.
officials believe nets the Taliban up to $30 million a year in taxes
and tolls that it collects from Afghan drug rings.

The opium continues to flow from Afghanistan, U.S. officials say, even
though the Taliban last year vowed to ban opium cultivation and to
direct farmers toward crops that would help feed millions who live in
poverty. Taliban leaders declared that heroin, which is derived from
opium, was anti-Islam.

The United Nations estimates that Afghanistan’s opium crop seems to
have dropped by more than 90% this year from the nearly 3,300 metric
tons produced in 2000. But now the Taliban either is unwilling or
unable to enforce the opium ban, which U.S. and U.N. officials say
appears to have been largely a ploy to drive up opium prices by
limiting the supply.

U.N. officials say that for the past several years, Afghan drug rings
have been stockpiling about 60% of their annual opium harvests. Those
reserves, which intelligence sources say were being held in at least
40 warehouses throughout Afghanistan earlier this year, have been a
financial safeguard for the Taliban. U.S. officials suspect the
reserves also have been part of an effort by the Taliban and drug
groups to control heroin prices worldwide, just as oil cartels
manipulated crude prices in the 1970s.

If that was the Taliban’s strategy, it worked – for a
while.

In July 2000, when the Taliban told Afghan farmers to stop growing
opium or risk execution, a kilogram of the drug sold for about $44
wholesale, the U.N. says. A year later, a kilogram cost $400. But
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the USA, opium prices have
plummeted and now are back below $100 a kilogram. Still, street prices
for heroin across Europe have remained low, an indication that
Afghanistan likely has kept the supply of opium steady by releasing
its reserves. U.S. and U.N. analysts say that Afghan drug rings now
are dumping some opium reserves onto the market in an effort to empty
warehouses before U.S.-led air raids can destroy them.

“When there is a war, everyone tries to convert everything into cash,”
says Mohammad Fallah, head of the drug-control program in neighboring
Iran, where anxious officials say the bombing in Afghanistan is likely
to create waves of opium smugglers trying to cross the border.

Iran is a popular thoroughfare for smugglers traveling from
Afghanistan to western Europe, where officials say most of the heroin
on the streets originates in Afghanistan. (About 5% of the heroin from
Afghanistan winds up in the USA, where most of the heroin comes from
Mexico and Colombia.)

Analysts say the importance of drug money to the Taliban offers U.S.
officials the chance to launch a major strike against the worldwide
heroin trade as part of their anti-terrorism campaign.

U.S. officials “realize that the (drug) money is critical” to the
Taliban, says Neil Livingstone, author of several books on terrorism
and chairman of Global Options, an international risk management
company in Washington, D.C. “Afghanistan has no means of supporting
its military, except with opium (sales). Everyone recognizes the need
to go after the opium.”

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has declined to say how or when U.S.
forces might do that.

“The heroin trade is ultimately very important (to U.S. anti-terrorism
efforts) because it’s a revenue source for a very dangerous regime,”
says Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement
Administration. “Without curtailing the heroin trade, you cannot
succeed in Afghanistan.”

An Opium Nation

In a rugged, mostly barren nation of 27 million people that has been
decimated by war, poverty and drought, opium dominates not just the
economy but everyday life. It is grown in 22 of Afghanistan’s 30
provinces, and for struggling farmers across the nation the poppy
literally has been a lifesaver.

Opium has been in Afghanistan for centuries, but became an economic
force only after the end of Afghanistan’s 10-year war with the Soviet
Union in 1989. That conflict, along with an ongoing civil war,
destroyed Afghanistan’s crop irrigation system. Because opium poppies
require little water or maintenance and are in demand worldwide, many
food-producing farmers turned to the drug trade. That shut down much
of Afghanistan’s already tenuous food supply chain.

Today, opium isn’t just Afghanistan’s only significant cash crop –
it’s the dominant currency. Opium and its derivatives made through
chemical processing – heroin, morphine base and opium gum – are traded
for guns, food and shelter. The footprints of the Afghan opium trade
can be seen throughout Asia and Europe. Drug addiction is a growing
problem in Afghanistan, drug policy analysts say. In neighboring Iran
and Pakistan border jails are filled with drug smugglers, and
officials are struggling to deal with an estimated 2.5 million addicts.

In Germany, Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe, officials say
Afghanistan is by far the leading source of heroin.

“We know the Taliban regime is largely funded by the drug trade and
that 90% of the heroin on British streets originates in Afghanistan,”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair says.

The Complexities Of A Drug War

Because Afghanistan’s opium trade is such a menace to its neighbors,
some officials in Europe and western Asia are hoping that the U.S.-led
war on terrorism takes down the Afghan drug trade along with the Taliban.

A U.S. official who asked not to be identified said that given the
opium trade’s importance to those who support terrorism, American
forces would be justified in spraying Afghan fields to kill opium
poppies, and in destroying stockpiles of opium or processed heroin.
Such spraying could be done in February, when the next crop of opium
poppies begins to blossom.

“It’s a logical step,” the official says.

Livingstone says he’s “100% sure” that U.S. forces have made plans to
disrupt and destroy Afghanistan’s drug trade.

But U.S. officials acknowledge that going after Afghanistan’s drug
trade is fraught with complications:

* Harvested opium and processed heroin are easy to hide, and U.S.
officials aren’t sure where all of Afghanistan’s stockpiled opium is.

* After the opium crops are dead, then what? Analysts say that any
effort to eliminate the backbone of Afghanistan’s economy would have
to be followed with a massive aid program to help feed millions and
help farmers make the switch to legitimate crops.

Before the bombs began falling in Afghanistan, the U.N. estimated that
$250 million in aid would be needed to help Afghan farmers switch from
opium to food crops.

Many Afghans who are struggling to stay fed and clothed rely on the
opium trade as their sole means of support and might rebel against
anyone who took away their livelihood, analysts say.

* The Northern Alliance, the USA’s ally of convenience, doesn’t appear
to be that different from the Taliban when it comes to skimming money
from drug networks. Although the alliance controls only a small
percentage of the land used to grow opium in Afghanistan, U.N.
officials say they believe that drug money is key to the alliance’s
funding.

If the alliance rises to power and winds up in position to collect as
much in opium “taxes” as the Taliban did, it’s unclear whether the
alliance really would agree to crack down on cultivation of the poppy.

“Prospects for progress on drug-control efforts in Afghanistan remain
dim as long as the country remains at war,” a State Department report
said in March. “Nothing indicates that either the Taliban or the
Northern Alliance intend to take serious action to destroy heroin or
morphine base laboratories, or stop drug trafficking.”

“The more turmoil in (Afghanistan), the more opium will play a role,”
says Pino Arlacchi, executive director of the U.N.’s drug control
program. Arlacchi says that once the shooting stops in Afghanistan –
and the Taliban presumably is ousted – the world should help to
rebuild the troubled nation. That sentiment has been echoed by
President Bush, who says the USA’s disinterest in helping Afghanistan
after its war with the Soviet Union help to create its current unrest
and desperation.

Teaching Afghanistan’s farmers to grow something besides opium will be
key, Arlacchi says.

“Otherwise, we will be pumping money into Afghanistan that will go
into the wrong hands, and Afghanistan will continue to be the headache
to the international community that it has been for 200 years.”

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SAMPLE LETTER

To the editor of the USA Today:

Like many Americans I’m very concerned with national security these
days. As a patriot and a taxpayer, I find it very disturbing that
entrenched interests in Washington are seeking to capitalize on
America’s tragedy. I’m referring to the various drug warriors quoted
in your Oct. 16th article on the brutal Taliban regime’s taxation of
the countries opium crop. Drug warriors have good reason to worry.
The all too real threat of international terrorism makes the $50
billion war on consensual vices seem ludicrous in comparison. A long
overdue shift in government resources is inevitable.

Clearly the Taliban need to be removed from power for harboring the
evil terrorists who attacked America on Sep. 11th. However, in this
instance the drug war is part of the problem, not the solution. As
noted in your article, the Taliban have already voluntarily limited
production in order to increase the value of their current opium
stockpile. A further intensification of the drug war threatens to
provide the brutal Taliban regime with additional price supports.

Look no further than America’s backyard for proof of the drug war’s
collateral damage. The various armed factions tearing Colombia apart
are financially dependent on profits engendered by the U.S. drug war.
As long as drug prohibition remains in effect, any terrorist group can
tap into the black market’s outrageously inflated profits to finance
death and destruction. Alcohol prohibition once financed organized
crime and violence too, which is precisely why it was repealed in
1933. Can we really afford to continue subsidizing terrorists and
criminals with our tax dollars?

Robert Sharpe

contact info

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IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number 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.

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TARGET ANALYSIS USA Today

With a U.S. circulation of over 2.3 million, the readership
demographics are: Total Adult Readers 4.3 million. Male/Female 66/34%.
Median Age 41 years. Attended College 80%. Median HH Income $71, 661.

The average published letter would cost over $5,000 if purchased as an
ad.

The MAP published letter archive has 53 letters from USA Today. A
recent sample shows they tend to be short – about 40% being under 100
words. The average published is 169 words, and the largest about 300
words.

The published letters can be viewed here:

http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=USA+Today

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ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

Letter Writers Resources: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

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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 Robert Sharpe – http://www.drugpolicy.org – Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001
Subject: #221 Resources Finally Shifting Away From Drug War

Resources Finally Shifting Away From Drug War

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #221 Thursday October 11, 2001

In the wake of terror attacks in the United States, it would have made
sense to immediately divert all resources supporting the failed policy
of drug prohibition elsewhere. Sadly, that hasn’t happened yet. But,
some government agencies are finally acknowledging the obvious, as the
New York Times reports this week.

US Customs Agents have shifted their main focus away from drugs and
toward preventing terror. We should all be grateful for that, but
there are plenty of other government resources that are still being
wasted on the drug war that could be used much more wisely elsewhere.
And, the body of evidence suggesting that drug prohibition itself is
beneficial to terrorists continues to grow ( see http://www.narcoterror.org
for more details ).

Please write a letter to the NY Times to say that people are capable
of protecting themselves from drugs – what we really need is
protection from the drug war and other real threats around the world.

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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] Your letter will then
be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts
and be motivated to follow suit.

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.
************************************************************************

Contact Info:

Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: [email protected]

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ARTICLE

Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: National
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Robert Pear and Philip Shenon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

THE BORDERS: CUSTOMS SWITCHES PRIORITY FROM DRUGS TO TERRORISM

WASHINGTON — The new head of the United States Customs Service said
today that terrorism has replaced drug smuggling as the agency’s top
priority, and that he has redeployed hundreds of agents to provide
round-the-clock inspections at the Canadian border to prevent
terrorists from entering the country.

Robert C. Bonner, who was sworn in as customs commissioner just two
weeks ago, said he had begun receiving daily intelligence briefings on
terrorist threats as part of his agency’s shifting mission.

As a result of the redeployments along the Canadian border, a
preferred entryway for terrorists in the past, Mr. Bonner said the
agency has had to cut the number of inspectors dedicated to special
units that search for illegal drugs and for exports of high-technology
products. The alert has been raised along the border with Mexico too,
but the Customs Service had already increased its presence there in
recent years.

“Terrorism is our highest priority, bar none,” said Mr. Bonner, a
former federal judge who has also served as the head of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. “Ninety-eight percent of my attention as
commissioner of customs has been devoted to that one issue.”

The terrorist attacks have brought about sharp changes at several
other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Public Health
Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

But apart from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, few agencies have
so prominent a front-line role to play as the Customs Service, which
is responsible for guarding the borders and blocking the entry of
terrorists and their tools.

The service is given credit for thwarting a major terrorist attack on
the eve of the millennium celebration in December 1999, when a customs
inspector in Washington State found a trunkload of explosives in the
car of an Algerian who later acknowledged having trained at terrorist
camps in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden.

The attacks on Sept. 11 also physically hammered the Customs Service,
since the north tower of the World Trade Center fell onto the
eight-story building, 6 World Trade Center, that housed its New York
office. That building was destroyed, and 760 workers were displaced.

In an interview today, Mr. Bonner acknowledged that the agency’s
traditional role in preventing the smuggling of drugs and other
contraband would be affected by the new focus on terrorism.

“We are robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said, noting that inspectors
had been working 12 to 16 hours a day since Sept. 11. “We are
stretched thin.”

Since the attacks, the service has spent $5.5 million a week on
overtime for inspectors, almost three times its usual outlay.

Mr. Bonner said that small customs posts along the northern border,
which have gone unstaffed at night and on some holidays, are now being
manned every day around the clock by at least two inspectors.

Customs agents, he said, are being told to be especially vigilant for
any “implements of terrorism,” like chemical, biological or nuclear
materials that could be used as weapons. Many agents are being ordered
to wear pocket-sized radiation detectors — miniature Geiger counters
— as they carry out their inspections at airports and borders.

The shift in focus has startled many longtime customs officers like
Harold H. Zagar, the chief customs inspector at Dulles International
Airport, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

“For 31 years,” he said, “I’ve been fighting the war on
drugs.”

Now, suddenly, drug trafficking is a distant, secondary priority. To
say the change is disorienting understates the case. “Whoa!” Mr. Zagar
said. “We’ve gone full circle.”

The Customs Service is the nation’s oldest law enforcement agency,
founded in 1789, and the change in its mission is a jolt to almost
every one of its 10,600 inspectors and criminal investigators.

Before Sept. 11, customs officials at Dulles and other airports had
developed sophisticated profiles of likely drug smugglers and searched
luggage for hidden narcotics. Now, Mr. Zagar said, inspectors are much
more interested in documents — blueprints, drawings, photographs,
flight manuals, chemical data — that might be carried by terrorists.

The need to set new profiles for terrorists could be controversial for
the service. In recent years, blacks sued the agency, saying they had
been singled out for interrogation and searches because of their race.
The agency promised not to engage in racial profiling.

Now, though, inspectors are scrambling to develop profiles of
travelers from the Middle East who might have links to terrorist
groups like Al Qaeda, Mr. bin Laden’s far-flung network. The agency
said the new “targeting criteria” would focus on passengers arriving
on certain flights from certain countries, especially from the Middle
East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Other agencies are also telling their employees to put aside regular
duties and focus on terrorist threats. The Agriculture Department is
directing its inspectors to prevent attacks on crops and livestock and
other types of “agroterrorism.”

The new administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa
Hutchinson, said he saw a “deadly, symbiotic relationship between the
illicit drug trade and international terrorism.” He estimated that
Afghanistan produces at least 70 percent of the world’s supply of
illicit opium, and he said that the Taliban leadership derive large
amounts of revenue from the traffic.

“The sanctuary enjoyed by bin Laden is based on the existence of the
Taliban’s support for the drug trade,” Mr. Hutchinson said in
Congressional testimony last week.

Bradley A. Buckles, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, said that 500 of his 2,300 agents are working with the
F.B.I. to investigate the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.

Similarly, the I.R.S. has ordered some of its criminal investigators
to work with other agencies to determine how terrorist groups are
financed. The I.R.S. is focusing on money laundering and possible
currency violations.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

To the editor of the New York Times:

I was happy to read that US Customs agents are now finally shifting their
focus from drugs to terror (“The Borders: Customs Switches Priority from
Drugs to Terrorism,” Oct. 10). It’s a tragedy it didn’t happen years ago.

A look at the broader picture shows any resources going toward the
drug war would be better used elsewhere. We’ve been fighting a drug
war for decades and all we’ve got to show for it is official
corruption and overcrowded prisons. Thugs both here and abroad take
advantage of the immense profit opportunities in the black market for
illegal drugs to enhance their power and capabilities.

Even the riskier drugs don’t attack without warning. People who are
harmed by drugs almost always made the decision to take those drugs.
Everyone wants our country to be safer. Ending the drug war would be a
positive step in that direction.

Stephen Young

contact info

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

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number
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.
—————————————————————————-

TARGET ANALYSIS – New York Times

With a circulation of 1.2 million weekdays – 3 million readers (and
about 50% more for the Sunday edition), from all over the US outside
the NYC market area – and an audience of which 3/4ths have a college
degree, this newspaper is an important target for Letters to the Editor.

Our analysis of several published letters at http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=New+York+Times
indicates a strong preference for printing short letters. The average
published letter is only 113 words long, with a range from 45 to 143
words.

The New York Times is one of the most widely read and influential
newspapers in the country A published letter of only 2 column inches
(about 80 words) printed in this paper has an equivalent advertising
as if you bought a $1,440 advertisement on behalf of reform and had it
published in the NY TImes.

Please note that the New York Times limits letters to 150
words.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

Letter Writers 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 Young – http://www.maximizingharm.com
Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001
Subject: # 222 Changing Government Priorities

Changing Government Priorities

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #222 Wednesday, 19 September 2001

As people in the United States and around the world reflect on the
tragic events of last week and wonder how their governments could have
so failed to protect us all, the demand to evaluate priorities escalates.

How the drug policy reform community can contribute to this demand for
changes in priorities without causing a backlash is being debated by
many reformers now.

Daniel Solano of Police Officers for Drug Law Reform has suggested a
step we can take, by contacting both the media and our elected
officials to request the transfer of federal agents from drug war
duties to being sky marshals. Dan points out that these agents would
require little training before being placed on the job. But new hires
for sky marshals require months to qualify and train.

“There is a commitment to try to get more sky marshals in the air as
soon as possible,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House
Transportation aviation subcommittee.

Plus there must be many tasks suited for law enforcement at all levels
of government who are currently engaged in fighting the War on Drugs
but who could be working on tasks designed to reduce the threat from
terrorists.

How well have we been served by our government – what threat analysis
– placed such a premium on the arrest of cannabis users that they
became a focus for the large majority of the $40 billion spent on the
war on drugs each year – all while as dozens, if not hundreds, of
terrorists lived among us, making and training for their evil plans?

Thus we encourage you to take up Dan’s suggestions. The elected
officials who are with us on this have repeatedly emphasized that
contacts with them by their electorate by means personal visits, phone
calls, fax and mail generally carry much more weight than email.

Please also write careful letters to the editor suggesting a need for
a change in priorities in the use of our law enforcement assets now.

Elected officials read the newspapers, and those of the area they are
elected to serve most carefully. Readers of your published letters
react – and may well contribute to the contacts with those elected
officials.

************************************************************************
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. You may
subscribe to this list at http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

If you choose not to subscribed to the list, please E-mail a copy of
your letter directly to [email protected]. Your letter will then be
forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and
be motivated to follow suit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as knowing how many letters have been sent is
one of the only ways we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness.
************************************************************************

Contact Info

Today we are not asking you to write to a specific newspaper in
response to a specific article or opinion item. Instead we are asking
that you write to your local and state newspapers, as well as those
newspapers which consider themselves as having a national market.

The easy way to obtain newspaper contact information is to use MAP’s
new Source Directory at

http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm

There you can click on the word ‘contact’ to obtain the contact
information for over a thousand newspapers. By using the List by Area
drop down you may focus on your state. Note that the counts of drug
and drug policy related news clips in the MAP archives gives a very
rough idea of the publication’s level of interest in the subject.

If you wish to see the general nature, and lengths, of letters
published by a newspaper go to http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ and use the
search feature to find the newspaper. When you find the first
published letter from a newspaper, note that there is a link at the
bottom along with a count of the published letters for the newspaper.
This link is easy to use to find more examples.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

To the Editor;

I read that many DEA agents were pulled off of their task of watching
the sick going in and out of west coast medical marijuana buyers clubs
last week and rushed to take part in the investigation of terrorists.

To help secure our travel safety, sky marshals are now to be found,
FBI background checks conducted, and then trained, and put our
commercial airlines – a task that will take many months if new persons
are hired.

But already well qualified DEA, FBI and other federal agents busy
watching or busting marijuana users could be moved quickly, with the
same pay and status, to permanent jobs anti-terrorist tasks, including
being sky marshals. Let us ask our elected officials to use these well
qualified personnel against what is now clearly the greatest threat.

If the forty billion dollars a year being wasted at all levels of
government in this never ending war on drugs had been – and could
easily now be – invested in making us all more secure from real
threats we may well not have been caught off guard.

It is past time for our leaders to get the priorities in
order.

Sincerely,

Richard Lake

contact info

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

IMPORTANT Always include your address and telephone number
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.
—————————————————————————-

**********************************************************
ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts

Letter Writers 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 Richard Lake – Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001
Subject: #220 War On Cannabis Claims Another Two Lives At Rainbow Farms

War On Cannabis Claims Another Two Lives at Rainbow
Farms

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #221 Saturday September, 8, 2001

Marijuana doesn’t kill, but marijuana prohibition does. Another sad
reminder of that fact occurred this week as two activists were shot
dead after a stand-off with scores of FBI agents and local police.

The story was covered thinly by wire services across the country as a
tale of confrontation between law enforcement and law breakers. Some
Michigan newspapers offered deeper coverage, even mentioning the
larger implications of the incident, like the story below from the
Herald-Palladium. But most didn’t. It should be obvious this tragedy
would not have taken place without marijuana prohibition, and, that
violence is an inherent part of drug prohibition in general. (For
enlightening commentary on the use of violence in the war on
marijuana, listen to Richard Cowan’s analysis:
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-891.html)

Please write a letter to one or more newspapers that have covered the
story to remind them that the war on marijuana is infinitely more
dangerous to individuals and society than marijuana itself.

************************************************************************
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. You may
subscribe to this list at: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form
If you choose not to subscribed to the list, pleae E-mail a copy of
your letter directly to [email protected]. Your letter will then be
forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and
be motivated to follow suit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as knowing how many letters have been sent is
one of the only ways we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness.
************************************************************************

Contact Info:

NOTE: Please send your letter in an individual message to one of more
of the following newspapers.

Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Detroit News (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: New York Times
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Washington Post (DC)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Ann Arbor News (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Detroit Metro Times (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Grand Rapids Press (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

Source: Herald-Palladium, The (MI)
Contact: [email protected]

(You can find more contacts for newspapers in Michigan and elsewhere
here: http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm)

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

ARTICLE

US MI: Martyers or Menaces?

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1637/a07.html
Newshawk: Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/
Pubdate: Wed, 05 Sep 2001
Source: Herald-Palladium, The (MI)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Palladium
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1378
Author: Jim Dalgleish
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm Shooting)

MARTYERS OR MENACES?

VANDALIA — To many, Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm paid an ultimate and
just price for drawing guns on law enforcement agents.

But to those fighting against America’s drug laws, the two may have
died as martyrs.

“This is kind of like the shot heard around the world,” said Gary
Storck, a medical marijuana user in Madison, Wis.

In a phone interview, the activist said he hopes the news will “light
a fire under the people” to legalize marijuana in Michigan “so things
like this don’t happen again.”

The Herald-Palladium already has received letters to the editor from
as far away as Florida and California challenging America’s drug laws
and questioning authorities about the deaths. Storck was among the
letter writers.

Crosslin, owner of Rainbow Farm near Vandalia, was shot dead Monday in
a standoff with authorities. Rohm, Crosslin’s roommate, was shot dead
Tuesday morning. The second death ended a four-day standoff.

Police had gone to the complex after Crosslin failed to appear for a
court hearing Friday on charges stemming from a May drug raid.

Though authorities were not releasing many details about the
shootings, police said the actions of Crosslin and Rohm left them
little choice.

Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Risko said Rohm was repeatedly ordered
to put down his gun.

“In each occasion both subjects pointed firearms at officers, and I
don’t know what else you would have officers do,” Risko said.

Rainbow Farm for a long time has hosted music festivals called Hemp
Fest and RoachRoast, and its Web site states the complex “supports the
medical, spiritual and responsible recreational use of marijuana for a
more sane and compassionate America.”

Storck, 46, said he has long known about Rainbow Farm and felt
disappointed having never seen it. Friends have told him stories about
how much they enjoyed the activities there.

Thanks to the Internet, Storck said, news of the deaths has traveled
quickly in the “cannabis community.”

“There is a very somber mood out there. … These were good people,”
Storck said.

Brothers Darren and Lloyd Daniel, who live less than a mile south of
the Rainbow Farm complex, wore their “Hemp Aid 2000” T-shirts as they
stood outside their home Tuesday afternoon. The shirts carried a
message endorsing the “Personal Responsibility Amendment,” a failed
effort last year to decriminalize marijuana through Michigan’s
Constitution.

A drawing on the shirt showed a house with a welcome mat reading
“marijuana welcome.”

The California natives, who said they had never been at Rainbow Farm,
said the prosecution of Crosslin and Rohm typifies Cass County’s
intolerance.

“I’ve got friends here getting busted with ( marijuana ) seeds and
stems,” Lloyd said.

The two placed direct blame for the shootings on Cass County
Prosecutor Scott Teter. They put up a sign along their White Temple
Road home that read: “How does it feel to have innocent blood on your
hands Teeter”.

Friends and family of Crosslin and Rohm continued to gather Tuesday
afternoon in a vacant lot at Michigan 60 and White Temple Road, about
a mile north of the complex. The mood was a mix of anger with
authorities, sadness over the deaths and weariness with the media frenzy.

Several escaped the sun under a canopy while handmade signs along M-60
lambasted Teter and police.

“That was private property. Never once did a neighbor complain,” said
Dayved Watts of Elkhart. Watts said he built many of the buildings for
Crosslin.

Watts said the people who attended Rainbow Farm events merely believed
in “their constitutional right to pursue happiness … their right to
gather in a peaceful manner.”

Teter’s office was referring all comment on the case to the FBI. FBI
spokeswoman Dawn Crenney could not be reached for comment.

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

SAMPLE LETTER

To the Editor;

We all can sleep better tonight. The FBI and Michigan state police
shot and killed a couple of dangerous marijuana smokers (only
25,999,998 more marijuana smokers to go, give or take several million).

An FBI agent was quoted as saying ” We don’t know what provoked the
stand off.” How about the usual reason. Civil forfeiture proceedings.
You allegedly grow a pound of marijuana, you lose your land. You can
manufacture 1,200 pounds of alcohol, you can grow tobacco, no Civil
forfeiture for those drugs. They kill 450,000 a year. Death form
marijuana seems to always come from law enforcement.

Did the FBI want a peaceful ending? Rolland Rohm’s stepfather, and
Rohm’s mother drove all night from Tennessee to try to help police
negotiate, but were never allowed to speak to Rohm. The FBI wouldn’t
even let Rohm talk to his mother!

Let’s see if any Michigan politicians have the guts to come forward to
stop the war on marijuana! No more killing people over
marijuana…

Respectfully
Larry Seguin

contact info

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

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number
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.

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts

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 Young – http://www.maximizingharm.com
Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001
Subject: #200 It’s Time To Seriously Reexamine The Drug War

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #220 August 29, 2001

IT’S TIME TO SERIOUSLY REEXAMINE THE DRUG WAR

NOTE: This important article was reprinted in more than _29 NEWSPAPERS
WORLDWIDE_ Please send your letter to as many of them as possible.

For the second time in three days, the Washington Post provided us
with a tremendous viewpoint on the serious need for Americans to take
a new look at current Drug War policies. Following Aug 24’s editorial
by the Post editorial board (which resulted in our last Focus Alert
#219) criticizing the priorities of federal drug law enforcement, we
were treated to an outstanding essay from Post columnist David
Broder–A DEBATABLE WAR ON DRUGS–in the Sunday Aug 26 edition.

Additionally, with Broder’s popularity as a syndicated writer we have
to date located 29 newspapers that carried this great column.

We invite you to send a letter to the newspaper target closest to your
hometown, as well as any others you are inclined to address.

Thank the newspaper for including this topic in their viewpoint page
and also reinforce one or two points that you found yourself most in
agreement with.

If you choose to address more than one paper, please make at least a
few minor modifications to each submission. Most newspapers would
prefer that your letter to them be an exclusive. Most important
however, is the paper closest to YOU. This could very well be one of
our most successful campaigns ever, so let’s do it right and let’s do
it NOW!

A SAMPLE letter follows below as an idea for you, and the 29 outlets
which have carried the column to date is below the sample.

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 LTE
list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to
[email protected] Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with
so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one of the only ways we have of
gauging our impact and effectiveness.

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

URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1564/a02.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact: [email protected]
Author: David S. Broder
Bookmark: http//www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

A DEBATABLE WAR ON DRUGS

The high esteem in which former representative Asa Hutchinson of
Arkansas is held by his colleagues was demonstrated by the 98 to 1
Senate vote confirming him last month as the new director of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. Even more telling was the fact that Rep.
John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary
Committee and an ardent opponent of the impeachment of President
Clinton, appeared at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to praise
Hutchinson, who had been one of the Republican House managers
presenting the case against Clinton to the full Senate.

In his 4 1/2 years in the House, Hutchinson, a former U.S. attorney,
earned an estimable reputation as a thoughtful conservative and, as
such liberals as Conyers and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy of Vermont affirmed, as a fair-minded advocate.

Hutchinson will need all his skills in his new job, for the nation is
clearly about to embark on a long-overdue debate on the so-called “war
on drugs.” The DEA is, as the name implies, primarily a
law-enforcement agency, but John Walters, Bush’s choice to head the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has been in limbo,
awaiting a confirmation hearing since May. Many of the same Democrats
who welcomed Hutchinson’s nomination have argued that Walters’s
hard-line approach, emphasizing interdiction and incarceration over
education and treatment, makes him the wrong choice for “drug czar.”
At least until Walters’s fate is resolved, Hutchinson is in the hot
seat on Bush administration policy toward drugs.

During the past three decades, the United States has invested billions
in fighting the scourge of drugs, and more and more serious people are
questioning its effectiveness. The critics range from conservatives
such as Bill Buckley and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson to an array of
liberals, and they are having an impact on public opinion. While few
agree with the editors of the influential British newspaper the
Economist, which last month laid out at length “the case for
legalizing drugs,” many more are expressing their doubts about current
policies.

A Pew Research Center survey last February found that three out of
four Americans believe “we are losing the drug war,” and by a margin
of 52 percent to 35 percent they said drug use “should be treated as a
disease, not a crime.”

In a recent issue of the American Prospect magazine, California
journalist Peter Schrag pointed to the growing trend in the states,
where initiatives allowing medical use of marijuana or mandating
treatment rather than jail for drug-users have been winning large
public majorities.

Hutchinson was dodgy in his confirmation hearing on the question of
sending federal agents out to arrest doctors who prescribe marijuana
as a pain- and nausea-relieving agent for cancer patients and other
seriously ill people, as eight states now allow. The Supreme Court
held earlier this year that the feds have that authority. When
Hutchinson was asked if he would use it, he said it was something on
which he needed to confer with the attorney general, adding that it
was important “that we do not send the wrong signal . . . that
marijuana use is an acceptable practice.”

But Hutchinson also applauded a bipartisan bill, crafted by Leahy and
the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch of
Utah, to expand funding of drug treatment programs, especially for
prisoners and youths, and to increase the number of drug courts, where
judges can order nonviolent drug offenders to undergo treatment and
continuing tests, rather than put them in jail.

Hutchinson took over his DEA duties last week at the same time the
Department of Justice bragged that more people than ever are in
federal prison on drug charges and are serving longer sentences. That
report showed there were more suspects arrested in 1999 on charges
involving marijuana than for powder or crack cocaine. A higher portion
of the marijuana suspects who wound up in federal prison were simply
users than was the case with any of the hard drugs.

That raises obvious questions about the priorities of federal drug
enforcement agents and prosecutors. No one seems to know how many
people are in state prisons for simple possession of marijuana. But in
1998, those prisons held 236,800 people convicted on drug charges —
57 percent more than had been there in 1990.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University estimated in 1998 that 70 percent to 85 percent of all
state prison inmates – — not just those convicted on drug charges —
need treatment, but only 13 percent of them get it.

The whole “war on drugs” cries out for reexamination.

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

To the Editor

Re: David Broder’s recent column

New DEA chief Asa Hutchinson, national drug czar nominee John Walters
and U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft insist that strong criminal
sanctions are necessary to deal with America’s very real problems of
drug abuse. However, after two decades of this approach, we see
illegal drug use by minors remains steady, prices of illegal drugs are
lower and availability is at an all time high.

Meanwhile, as columnist Broder aptly notes, only 13% of those who
truly need substance abuse treatment are able to get it, and most of
them must first acquire a criminal record before receiving it.

The current prohibition of certain drugs is not providing positive
results, other than increased employment of drug police, prison
guards, probation officers and other drug ‘warriors’. In many
jurisdictions, criminal drug cases account for a third or more of
criminal justice dockets, reducing the overall effectiveness of the
court system in general. And nationwide we see valuable tax dollars
going into prison construction that should instead be used to improve
education for both children and adults. People who are better educated
are far less likely to become drug abusers.

It is indeed time to make strong, demonstrable changes in national
drug law policies. Thanks for the inclusion of David Broder’s column
in your newspaper.

Best regards, Stephen Heath

IMPORTANT Always include your address and telephone
number

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.
—————————————————————————-

Below is the key information you need to write to as many of the 29
newspapers we have identified as having printed the column as you wish.

Please note that it is best to send your letters one at a time to each
newspaper as newspapers will not use letters that they know are also
sent to others.

Pubdate: Sat, 25 Aug 2001
Source: Record, The (CA)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: ‘War On Drugs’ Cries Out For National Re-Examination
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1579/a06.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Drug Warriors Face Uphill Fight
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1583/a01.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: DEA Chief Must Review The Drug War
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1565/a10.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: A Debatable War On Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1564/a02.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Mission For DEA’s New Director
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1582/a04.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Our War On Drugs Needs A Closer Look
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1573/a04.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: New DEA Boss Has Formidable Challenge
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1578/a10.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Herald-Times, The (IN)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: ‘War On Drugs’ Cries Out For Careful Re-Examination
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1580/a03.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: A Long-Overdue Debate About The ‘War On Drugs’
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1585/a09.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Evansville Courier & Press (IN)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Rethinking Drug War
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1583/a06.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Topeka Capital-Journal (KS)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Have We Met The Enemy In The War On Drugs? Is It US?
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1582/a09.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Wichita Eagle (KS)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: War On Drugs Cries Out For Re-Examination
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1568/a05.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: War On Drugs Needs New Strategy
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1564/a03.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Brainerd Daily Dispatch (MN)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Are We Losing The Drug War?
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1589/a09.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: One Toke Over The Line And Your On The Way To Jail
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1574/a02.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: For DEA’s Leader, Food For Thought In Crammed Prisons
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1575/a06.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Daily Gazette (NY)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Time To Reevaluate War On Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1572/a10.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: U.S. Drug War Priorities In Need Of Re-Evaluation
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1590/a07.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: New Debate On ‘War On Drugs’
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1590/a08.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Hutchinson’s First Task Should Be To Re-Examine The ‘War On Drugs’
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1590/a06.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: The Debate Over The War On Drugs Is Long Overdue
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1584/a03.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: State, The (SC)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: U.S. War On Drugs About To Be Re-Examined
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1566/a02.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Sun News (SC)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: War On Drugs Is In Need Of New Strategy
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1568/a06.html

Pubdate: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Source: Oak Ridger (TN)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: A Needed Debate ON U.S. Drug Policy
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1583/a04.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Hutchinson Is Handed A Hot Potato Known As The Drug War
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1569/a04.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: A Long-Overdue Debate ON The ‘War On Drugs’
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1567/a08.html

Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Columbian, The (WA)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: Americans Are Ready To Take Second Look At War On Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1583/a11.html

Pubdate: Tue, 28 Aug 2001
Source: International Herald-Tribune (Europe)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: None Too Soon To Review America’s ‘War On Drugs’
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1585/a05.html

Pubdate: Tue, 28 Aug 2001
Source: Korea Herald (South Korea)
Contact: [email protected]
Headline: A Debatable War On Drugs
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1580/a04.html

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

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

http//www.mapinc.org/resource/

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

Prepared by Stephen Heath – http//www.drugsense.org/dpffl/ Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001
Subject: #219 Misguided Federal Drug Law Enforcement Priorities

Misguided Federal Drug Law Enforcement Priorities

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #219 Monday August 27, 2001

On Friday Aug. 24, The Washington Post editorial board published an
astute editorial denouncing U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Specifically they noted his incredibly skewed assertions regarding the
success of federal drug prosecutions against ‘major drug traffickers.’
In fact, as the Post editorial reminded us, the true story is that the
vast majority of federal prosecutions are leveled against minor
offenders, and most of them are for marijuana offenses.

The editorial directly questioned the ‘misplaced priorities’ of both
Aschroft’s office and federal drug law enforcement in general. It
clearly noted the fact that marijuana ‘is hardly the most dangerous of
drugs’, and that ‘the unique federal role in the drug war ought to
be….the drugs that constitute the greatest threat to the national
health’.

Please write a letter TODAY to the Washington Post thanking them for
their coverage of this topic. Key points could be to note the
misleading statements of AG Ashcroft; the fact that 2/3 of federal
drug offenders cannot even afford to pay for their own defense; the
fact that rules of federal court combined with mandatory minimums
force many defendants into accepting Draconian plea bargains; and of
course the hypocrisy in prosecuting tens of thousands for marijuana
offenses when the drugs that constitute the greatest threat to
national health’ are federally approved alcohol and tobacco.

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 MAPTalk
list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to
[email protected] Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with
so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one of the only ways we have of
gauging our impact and effectiveness.

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

CONTACT INFO

Source: Washington Post
Contact: [email protected]

***************************************************************************
Article

US DC: Editorial: Misplaced Priorities
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1556/a05.html
Newshawk: register
Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

MISPLACED PRIORITIES

ATTORNEY GENERAL John Ashcroft responded to the Justice Department’s
latest figures on drug prosecutions by claiming that they prove that
“federal law enforcement is targeted effectively at convicting major
drug traffickers and punishing them with longer lockups in prison.”
The data the department released show almost the opposite: that the
nation’s tough drug sentencing regime is, to a great extent, being
used to lock up comparatively low-level offenders who could easily be
prosecuted in state courts. The data, far from affirming that the
federal drug effort is a success, raise real questions about the
federal government’s prosecutorial priorities in the war on drugs.

The growth in federal drug prosecutions over the past two decades has
been prodigious. Between 1984 and 1999, the number of suspects
referred to federal prosecutors in drug matters tripled, to more than
38,000 — of whom 84 percent were prosecuted. Drug cases during that
time went from 18 percent of the total federal criminal caseload to 32
percent. According to other department data, drug convicts now account
for 57 percent of the federal inmate population, in contrast to only
21 percent of the much larger state population.

This growth is not, as the attorney general suggests, largely the
result of locking up major traffickers. In 1999 only about one-half of
1 percent of criminal referrals were for the most serious drug cases
— those involving what are known as continuing criminal enterprises
— and these led to only 116 actual prison sentences. Two-thirds of
drug defendants could not afford to hire their own lawyers, a good
indication that they were hardly high-level traffickers. In fact, 38
percent of all convictions involved quantities of drugs small enough
that no mandatory minimum sentence could be applied, while only 3
percent resulted in mandatory minimum sentences of longer than 10
years in prison. In 1997 the department reports, 14 percent of federal
drug inmates were in prison for drug use, and 42 percent were serving
time for dealing — either at the street level or above. It is simply
wrong to argue that the focus of the federal drug effort has been kingpins.

Rather, in many jurisdictions, federal drug investigations and
prosecutions seem to run parallel with efforts of state prosecutors
and local police forces.

Another striking feature of the department’s data is the
disproportionate role that marijuana seems to be playing in federal
drug prosecution. Marijuana is hardly the most dangerous of drugs. Yet
31 percent of federal drug referrals involved marijuana offenses in
1999, more than for any other type of drug. And though these referrals
ultimately produced shorter sentences, they were actually more likely
to result in prosecutions than cases involving powder cocaine, crack
cocaine or heroine. Marijuana cases all by themselves now account for
a measurable percentage of the entire federal criminal caseload.

This hardly seems rational. The unique federal role in the drug war
ought to be the prosecution of major interstate trafficking cases
involving the most dangerous people — and the drugs that constitute
the greatest threat to the national health.

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

SAMPLE LETTER (sent)

To the editor of the Washington Post:

I appreciated the editorial on the lopsided bias of federal drug
prosecutions toward little fish as opposed to kingpins (“Misplaced
Priorities,” Aug. 24).

As disturbing as the figures are, John Ashcroft’s doublespeak
(“…federal law enforcement is targeted effectively at convicting
major drug traffickers and punishing them with longer lockups in
prison…”) is even scarier. Of course, we should not be surprised
that a professional prohibitionist will say night is day if he thought
the sun might reflect negatively on the drug war. They seem to think
that if they keep telling themselves and the public that everything is
just great, it will be just great. Perhaps Ashcroft is worried that if
this particular failure of the drug war is acknowledged, then the
public might expect all the failures to be acknowledged.

To be fair, the demands on the Attorney General are many, thus
acknowledging the myriad problems of the drug war could turn into a
full time job.

It’s not just the priorities of the drug war that need to be examined
– the whole idea of controlling drugs through coercive force should be
subject to a cost-benefit analysis. Only then will we see how much we
really pay for the drug war and how, in return, we get nothing but
violence, corruption and disinformation from our alleged public servants.

Stephen Young

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone
number

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.
—————————————————————————-

TARGET ANALYSIS Washington Post

Circulation 1.15 MILLION – Advertising Value Of A 150 Word Published Letter
– $2,587

The Washington Post is an influential newspaper that has 71 published
letters in the MAP archive. A sampling recently published letters
shows the average length tends to be about 160 words, with some as
short as 90 words and others as long as 280 words.

The published letters can be viewed here:

http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Washington+Post+(DC)

——————————————————————————————————————————–

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm

Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm

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

Prepared by Stephen Heath – http://www.drugsense.org/dpffl/ and
Stephen Young – http://home.att.net/~theyoungfamily Focus Alert
Specialists

Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001
Subject: #218 Drug Overdose Deaths Can Be Reduced

Drug Overdose Deaths Can Be Reduced

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #218 Monday August 20, 2001

This past Tuesday, the Houston Chronicle (TX) reported the news from
the previous weekend of 16 overdose deaths, all in the same geographic
area and all from the same mixed package of cocaine and heroin.

On Thursday, Chronicle columnist THOM MARSHALL penned yet another column
denouncing current drug policies entitled IT’S TIME WE ADMIT DRUG WAR A
FAILURE. In fact, this was the 83rd column from the past 3 years that
Marshall has written that we have archived at MAP, more than any other
columnist in the country who is not syndicated nationally. See:
http://www.mapinc.org/author/Thom+Marshall

Then on Saturday, the Chronicle’s editorial board posted an editorial
commenting on the overdose deaths. While including some hyperbole,
“….trying street drugs even once could mean death…”, it also
astutely noted that treatment on demand is needed, “… No parent
deserves a dead teenager because the child experimented with drugs.
Better that troubled young people had the kind of access to effective
drug treatment that recording artists and movie stars apparently take
for granted.”

Please write a letter TODAY to the Chronicle thanking them for their
coverage of this topic. We suggest you promote the message that
treatment on demand is a much needed change from current drug policy
and also that current drug prohibition laws make it difficult for
those who need help to seek it out. Also current drug laws create
black market drug dealers, which increases the risk for all citizens,
not just the drug users.

************************************************************************
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] Your letter will then
be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts
and be motivated to follow suit.

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one of the only ways we have of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
************************************************************************

Contact Info:

Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: [email protected]

Extra Credit

Either in the body of your letter or in a postscript, please commend
Thom Marshall for his continued criticism of current drug policy as
well as his astute suggestions on how we can make positive change.

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

***THOM MARSHALL’S COLUMN***

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1515/a08.html
Pubdate: Thu, 16 Aug 2001
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle
Contact: [email protected]
Author: Thom Marshall

IT’S TIME WE ADMIT DRUG WAR A FAILURE

Perhaps, if what’s happened in Harris County since Saturday still
isn’t enough to convince us to make some changes, we could agree on
some numbers that would be.

By the most recent count available when I was writing this,
unregulated illegal drugs had killed up to 15 people here since
Saturday. This number made news because it is so much larger than the
two or three deaths that occur on an average weekend in Harris County
due to unregulated illegal drugs.

While we surely agree that is an alarming number, it likely will not
be a sufficiently convincing one. Consider these drug war casualty
figures from the government: A total of 11,651 deaths related to drug
abuse were reported in 1999 by 139 medical examiners in 40
metropolitan areas.

One of those who died locally a few days ago after taking unregulated
drugs was a 16-year-old girl. Her entire life was lived during our
nation’s ever-escalating drug war. Yet her life came to an end so
abruptly and prematurely because the war has failed. Drugs available
from criminal dealers remain plentiful, and easily obtainable, and
totally free of requirements regarding purity or strength.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

I hear from many people who believe that anyone who takes unregulated
drugs deserves whatever happens to them as a result. After all, people
know the dangers when they choose to take drugs. If one of them dies
as a result, I’ve heard hard-liners say, that’s one less druggie
adding to the problem.

Every time someone makes such a cold comment, I wonder whether they
are aware of the huge numbers involved, the number of people at risk.

Here is another statistic from the government: In 1999, some 88
million Americans age 12 or older reported using an illicit drug at
least once. That is 40 percent of the population. It doesn’t matter
how straight you are, that is almost certain to include some people
you know, some friends, some family members.

All these years we’ve fought the drug war and yet in 1997, almost
one-third of all high school students ( grades 9-12 ) reported that
someone had offered, sold or given them an illegal drug on school
property. This was up from the one-quarter of the student body that
reported drugs available on school property in 1993.

That is losing.

Government drug war officials like to provide us with numbers about
their busts and seizures. Wednesday’s paper, which had a front-page
update story about the weekend surge in Harris County drug deaths,
also carried, on an inside page, a small item about the U.S. Coast
Guard grabbing 9 tons of cocaine worth $270 million off a fishing boat
in international waters off Colombia’s Pacific coast.

But if we look at other numbers, such as those drug deaths and the
increased availability of drugs at schools, it’s obvious that the
busts and seizures haven’t amounted to squat in the big picture.
Losing an occasional shipment to the authorities is simply a cost of
doing business for the big dealers. Drugs remain plentiful in
Houston, obviously.

Throwing Money Away

For people who aren’t convinced by lost lives, let’s look at some
dollar figures: The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports
that federal spending on drug control programs has increased from $1.5
billion in fiscal year 1981 to $19.2 billion ( estimated ) in fiscal
year 2001.

That’s just the feds’ part of funding the drug war. States and
counties and cities are spending many billions more.

So how much money and how many lives are we willing to lose before we
say enough, let’s try something else? Something like ending the
government’s drug war and concentrating on doctors and psychologists
to treat those who abuse drugs. Something like regulating currently
illegal drugs the way we started regulating alcohol to do away with
bootleggers and eliminate poisonous hooch.

Won’t someone in authority please start negotiations to set some
limits? Some of us in Harris County would like to know when we could
look for some changes.

If 14 deaths in one weekend aren’t enough, how many will it
take?

***HOUSTON CHRONICLE EDITORIAL***

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1519/a11.html
Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2001
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle
Contact: [email protected]

BAD DRUGS – WHEN IT COMES TO STREET DRUGS, THERE’S NO OTHER KIND

News that 16 people died last weekend from an apparent drug overdose,
possibly of a lethal combination of cocaine and heroin, is shocking.
Most of the victims were Hispanic men, many were young and one was a
16-year-old girl. But the news that fatal overdoses in Harris County
average two or three per weekend arguably is far more
frightening.

News reports indicate that the number of lethal and nonlethal
overdoses seen by Houston-area medical personnel has skyrocketed
inexplicably. There were 31 overdoses in July this year, compared to
two that month last year. Similarly, the number of overdoses in June
of this year jumped to 29, or 26 more than during that period in 2000.

One Chronicle reader cruelly suggested that the solution to drug use
is to put batches of bad narcotics on the street so that drug users
could “wipe themselves out.” But drug addicts, no matter that their
woes generally are self-inflicted, should not be punished by death for
their destructive behavior. No parent deserves a dead teenager
because the child experimented with drugs. Better that troubled young
people had the kind of access to effective drug treatment that
recording artists and movie stars apparently take for granted.

To prevent more deaths on this scale, local police and Drug
Enforcement Administration officials are trying to find the source of
the lethal drugs. They’ll also investigate whether the drugs were
overly potent or contaminated, and whether the drugs were sold to
intentionally cause overdoses. Four people have been arrested for
selling drugs associated with the overdose deaths.

There has been a lot of discussion of “bad drugs” since this spate of
drug-related fatalities. But heroin and cocaine are bad drugs every
day of the week, even when they don’t kill. It would be gratifying if
this tragedy caused people to recognize that trying street drugs even
once could mean death.

***********************************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER

To the editor:

There are two primary reasons why people overdose on any drug. The
first is lack of proper education and the second is ingesting impure
and/or adulterated product. Both reasons were present in the 16 deaths
last weekend and likely account for the majority of the 60 overdose
deaths in Harris County over the past 12 weeks.

Under current zero tolerance and abstinence-only drug education,
children and adults alike are taught that all drug use carries equal
risk and that all drugs are equally dangerous. When they leave the
classroom and enter the real world they quickly see the flaws in this
foundation and are inclined to dismiss ALL drug education
information.

And with our criminal prohibitions against the use of certain
substances, while other risky drugs like alcohol and tobacco are legal
for adult use, the users of the illegal brands are forced to turn to
street corner black market dealers. These suppliers have little
motivation for ensuring product quality, nor are they accountable when
their product is found to be impure or lethal.

Your own columnist Thom Marshall seems to have a very good grasp on
both the inherent problems of current drug policies, but also provides
several legitimate alternatives. As he notes, it’s time to admit the
drug war is a failure. And as your own editorial astutely notes, it’s
time we fund treatment on demand for those who are in true need.
People with drug abuse problems should not have to be arrested and
burdened with a criminal (often felony) record in order to receive
help.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen Heath Clearwater, FL Drug Policy Forum of Texas (member)
http://www.dpft.org

(contact info)

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

IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number 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.

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

Target Analysis – Houston Chronicle

The Chronicle is read by 1.2 million adults in the greater Houston
area each day, and more than 1.7 million on Sundays.

The Chronicle prints average length letters. Our analysis of the 113
previous published pro-reform letters in the MAP published letter
archives shows an average body length of 183 words, with a range from
61 words to 278 words.

Based on their weekday general news sections advertising rates a
published letter of only four column inches (about 160 words) printed
in this paper has an equivalent advertising value as if you bought a
$2,076 advertisement on behalf of reform.

**********************************************************
ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts

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 – http://www.dpft.org
Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001
Subject: #217 Doctors Try To Legitimize Failing Drug Propaganda

Doctors Try To Legitimize Failing Drug Propaganda

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #217 Wednesday August 15, 2001

Drug policy reformers have been much more successful than
prohibitionists at distributing accurate, persuasive information on
the Internet.

Some prohibitionists are rightly worried about this, but instead of
trying to check their facts or attempting to determine what makes a
web site appealing, they have simply resorted to attacking
reform-oriented web site. The New England Journal of Medicine recently
published a letter from some doctors who are concerned that “partisan”
sites are more popular than the allegedly impartial sites sponsored by
the federal government. This analysis completely ignores the
ideological basis of most government sponsored anti-drug sites, which
in turn unmasks the clear bias of the authors.

Please write a letter to the editor of the NEJM to let them know that
far from having a monopoly on drug truth, federal web sites are just
another tool in the endless propaganda campaign of the drug war.

************************************************************************
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] Your letter will then
be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts
and be motivated to followsuit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
************************************************************************

Contact Info:

Source: New England Journal of Medicine (MA)
Contact: [email protected]

Extra Credit

Reuters reported on this letter, and the story was picked up by at
least one newspaper – The Arizona Republic. The story started this
way: “Internet surfers are far more likely to come upon Web sites with
wrong and potentially dangerous information about illicit drug use
than they are to find more reliable, informed sites, a new study
shows.” Please send a letter to the Republic to challenge this
interpretation of the letter.

Title: US: Drug Web Sites Provide Harmful Information – Study
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1469/a01.html
Pubdate: Wed, 8 Aug 2001
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2001 The Arizona Republic
Contact: [email protected]
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Website: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/

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

ARTICLE

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1473/a08.html
Pubdate: Thu, 9 Aug 2001
Source: New England Journal of Medicine (MA)
Copyright: 2001 Massachusetts Medical Society
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nejm.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/290
Authors: Edward W. Boyer, Michael Shannon and Patricia L. Hibberd

WEB SITES WITH MISINFORMATION ABOUT ILLICIT DRUGS

To the Editor: As part of our research on the relation between the Internet
and substance abuse, we have identified several Web sites that promulgate
information about illicit drugs. These “partisan” Web sites are easily
identified by common search engines if one uses the names of illicit
substances as search terms.1 With some pages viewed more than 160,000 times
per day, partisan sites appear to be effective in reaching adolescents and
young adults. In a recent study, 24 percent of college students used the
Internet to obtain information on illicit substances, and 27 percent of
Internet-using college students reported that Internet use increased the
likelihood that they would use drugs.2

The popularity of partisan Web sites may arise from their plausible
descriptions of the preparation, dose, administration, and
psychoactive effects of drugs ( Table 1 ). Partisan sites also offer
recommendations for management of the adverse effects of illicit
drugs. As one partisan site says, “it is up to the drug user to stay
out of [the physician’s] hands.”11 To evaluate the quality of such
information, we conducted a survey of seven partisan Web sites. With
high interobserver reliability ( kappa=0.81 ) between experts unaware
of the source of the information, we found that every partisan site
made potentially harmful recommendations for the management of the
adverse effects of illicit drugs. Information from partisan sites has
been linked to adverse outcomes: some partisan sites have described
their own role in the deaths of drug users and some have been
implicated in poisoning from 1,4-butanediol.12,13

Table 1. Features of Partisan Web Sites as of May 24, 2001. See URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/nejmtbl.htm

Unfortunately, Internet-based efforts to prevent drug use may not
deflect visitors from partisan Web sites. We performed five separate
searches using identical key words ( “GHB” [[]-hydroxybutyric acid],
“ecstasy” [methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA], and “psychedelic
mushrooms” ) over a period of 10 months. Our first two searches listed
8 partisan and 2 federal antidrug Web sites in the top 10 results. The
third search identified nine partisan sites and one federal site,
whereas the final two searches identified eight partisan and no
federal sites. In all searches, antidrug sites from the federal
government failed to appear as often as the partisan sites, which
dominate the search results. Moreover, sites of the Federal Website
Initiative, part of a billion-dollar multimedia program for the
prevention of drug abuse, did not appear in any of the search results.
These data suggest that the U.S. government, despite extensive and
costly efforts, currently does not provide effective alternative
sources of information about drugs on the Web, where partisan sites
still get the attention of both search engines and users.

Edward W. Boyer, M.D., Ph.D. Michael Shannon, M.D., M.P.H. Patricia L.
Hibberd, M.D., Ph.D. Children’s Hospital Boston, MA 02115

(See http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1473/a08.html for
references.)

***********************************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Editor:

As the Executive Director of DrugSense and MAP, both very popular drug
policy information web sites, I have seen tens of thousands of
articles on drug policy issues. I would consider many either biased or
inaccurate but, of all of them, possibly the most misleading and
biased I have ever witnessed was the letter to the editor (disguised
as a meaningful “study”) in the latest issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine. (“Web Sites with Misinformation about Illicit
Drugs” by Boyer, E. W. and Hibberd, P. L. NEJM 8/9/01)

To refer to hundreds of valuable and informative web sites that urge
sensible alternatives to our failed drug policy “partisan” while
simultaneously insinuating that the web sites provided by the federal
government are accurate and supposedly unbiased, is mind numbing in
its incredibility. Such a view could only be reached by those who have
either never made a serious study of such sites or who have a hidden
agenda.

I defy any objective observer to analyze the content and accuracy of web
sites such as Drug War
Facts http://www.DrugWarFacts.org or The Media Awareness Project (MAP)
http://www.mapinc.org
and compare them for accuracy and content with the silliness at sites like
the Partnership for a “Drug Free” America, which takes funding from the
pharmaceutical (drug) industry. See: http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/

Look at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/ or their “youth” site Freevibe
http://www.freevibe.com/ there is simply no comparison between these
weak and misleading sites as compared to the best of the drug policy
reform information sites. The federal government sites are inaccurate
and, all to often, appear to be intentionally so. Instead of drawing
this conclusion, the authors of the article sought out obscure quotes
from sites such as http://www.erowid.org. While this site archives
thousands of pages of valuable information, it demonstrates less than
half the popularity of the MAP web site http://www.mapinc.org
mentioned above for example. Any of these sites can be objectively
evaluated and compared for relative popularity (which is a fairly
reliable indicator of accuracy) by utilizing independent web site
popularity evaluation sites such as http://www.marketleap.com/
Invariably the drug reform oriented sites out perform the government
sites.

The MAP site above is the most popular drug policy information web
site in the world. This can be verified by a truly unbiased and
accurate study that DrugSense developed last March comparing relative
popularity of web sites generally supporting existing policy compared
to those suggesting sensible alternatives. It can be viewed at
http://www.drugsense.org/webpop/

The “study” referred to got this point correct. Reform sites dominate
the Internet. There is no contest. Why are these sites so popular even
though they encourage an end to our insane and failed drug policy? It
is really quite simple. They tell the TRUTH. The government, to put it
as politely as possible, has been lying about drugs, drug policy, and
the “effectiveness” of current policy for decades. The Internet has,
at long last leveled the playing field so that the public can finally
have access to some accurate information on the damage our existing
drug policies have caused to our nation.

Finally the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) web site has
numerous web pages similar to those disparaged in the table in this
article as “partisan.” The DEA even offers step by step directions for
growing marijuana http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/01001-intellbrief.pdf
. This is precisely what the article accused the “partisan” web sites
of doing.

If you hope to continue your long and prestigious reputation as a
publication who strives towards objectivity and solid science, I hope
and expect to see this letter published in your next issue.

Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense (MAP Inc.)

contact info

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IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number
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it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies
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ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts

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Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm

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