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

JOHN WALTERS DOES THE DRUG CZAR DANCE

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #327 – Friday, 17 March 2006

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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Contact: [email protected]

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US: OPED: Utopia Of Legalized Drugs Is A Delusion

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

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

UTOPIA OF LEGALIZED DRUGS IS A DELUSION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

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

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

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

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

DRUG POLICY DEBATE ON BBC

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #326 – Saturday, 11 March 2006

Can the War on Drugs Be Won?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You may use this form to provide the BBC with feedback

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

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

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

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

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

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

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

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

WASHINGTON’S DRUG WAR CONTRADICTIONS

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #325 – Monday, 6 March 2006

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

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

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

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

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

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

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

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

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

IS THE DRUG WAR DAMAGING AMERICA?

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #324 – Wednesday, 22 February 2006

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

MUSINGS ABOUT THE WAR ON DRUGS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

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

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

The password for this gathering will be: welcome-pal

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

Please Send Us a Copy of Your Letter

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

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

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

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

Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006
Subject: #323 United States Students Score

UNITED STATES STUDENTS SCORE

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #323 – Tuesday, 7 February 2006

First it was a superb editorial in the New York Times Saturday “The
High Cost of Public Information” http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n142/a05.html

Today it was a feature article in USA TODAY “College Financial Aid
Rules Loosened” http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n161/a05.html

What’s the fuss about?

In 1998 Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) http://www.daregeneration.com
was organized to oppose a little known provision of the Higher
Education Act (HEA). College students with drug convictions were
blocked from receiving federal financial aid. The drug provision was
slipped into the 257-page HEA reauthorization bill without debate or a
recorded vote.

After organizing campus chapters across the country, and years of
lobbying, a bill is on it’s way to the President that sharply limits
the drug conviction provision. Instead of applying to all past
convictions, the law will, as the USA TODAY article says, change the
standards: “But students convicted of a drug felony or misdemeanor in
college will still be disqualified from receiving federal aid for at
least one year.”

This is only a partial victory. Students who are convicted of other
serious felonies or misdemeanors have always been eligible for federal
financial aid. And students with the financial ability to attend
college without federal financial aid are not punished by the HEA provisions.

Letters to the Editor now can help move this issue forward. Your local
newspapers are good targets. So are your local college or university
newspapers.

Newspaper contacts for LTEs may be found by using the MAP media page
at http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Use the “List by Area” dropdown to
select a state. Look for Edu following the newspaper title to identify
college papers.

If possible, try working a link to SSDP into your letters. The shorter
URL http://www.ssdp.org/ may find print more easily.

For college papers, it never hurts to add a tie, if you have one, to
the college after your signature block. Tell the paper if you are a
former student, or if you have a friend or relative attending, for
example.

As the sidebar in the USA TODAY article says, many states or specific
institutions of higher education also limit state and other financial
aid based on drug convictions. Addressing these issues in your letters
will be helpful as few are even aware of these additional limits on
financial aid. Please see the Coalition for Higher Education Act
Reform website http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/ for more
information.

Other LTE targets may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

You are welcome to join Steve and other LTE writing friends of MAP
every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central,
7 p.m. Mountain and 6 p.m. Pacific time for a roundtable discussion of
how to write LTEs that are printed.

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

The password for these gatherings is: welcome-pal (all lower
case)

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

PLEASE SEND US COPIES OF YOUR LETTERS

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

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

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

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006
Subject: #322 Steve Kubby Is In The Placer County Jail

STEVE KUBBY IS IN THE PLACER COUNTY JAIL

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #322 – Saturday, 28 January 2006

Name: Kubby, Steven Wynn

Age/Gender: 59/Male

Jail ID/Booking No: P00049899/0601064#

Facility/Floor: PC/N

Book Date: 1/27/2006 14:41

Arresting Agency: Placer County Sheriffs Department

Custody Status: In Custody

Authority: Charge(s): Bail:

Bench Warrant 1. 11377 (A)HS Possess Controlled Substance

Total Bail: 0

With the above data from http://www.placer.ca.gov/sheriff/jail/jailreports/incustody_BN.htm
we now know Steve Kubby’s current status.

His friends and supporters are asking us to contact the
following:

Bradford R. Fenocchio, Placer County District Attorney

Phone: (530) 889-7000

Fax: (530) 889-7129

Email: [email protected]

Note: Deputy DA Christopher Cattran may be contacted at the above phone number.

—–

Sheriff Edward N. Bonner (who has ultimate responsibility for the
jail)

Phone: 530-889-7800

Fax: 530-889-6883

Email: [email protected]

You may also make complaints via this web form:

http://www.placer.ca.gov/sheriff/save/commend/complaint.htm

—–

Additionally, contacting the county’s Board of Supervisors could be
helpful.

See: http://www.placer.ca.gov/bos/bos.htm

—–

We ask that your keep your messages to the point and be respectful.
The goal is to insure that Steve remains in good health, and that the
County is aware of it’s responsibilities under the law.

Please keep a record of your contacts. While we pray it will not
happen, you may thus be able to provide evidence in a wrongful death
suit.

Good news: After much pain & anguish Attorney Bill McPike reports that
Steve Kubby is to receive Marinol in the Placer County Jail! He is
currently being housed in the infirmary.

He is scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. in Dept. 13 of Placer County
Superior Court, 11532 B Avenue, Auburn, California, Tuesday.

This hearing is going to be an arraignment hearing on his misdemeanor
violation of probation. Bill McPike, Steve’s attorney, has indicated
that Cattran, the prosecutor, will probably ask for more time.

Here’s how to contribute to Steve’s commissary:

Anybody can put money on Steve’s books for commissary & health items.
These must be a US postal money order.

No letters may accompany the money orders. Letters of support may be
sent to the same address.

MOs should be made out to Steve Kubby.

Steve Kubby

BK 49899

c/o Placer Co Jail

2775 Richardson Drive

Auburn, CA 95603

While many organizations have providing information about what has
happened to Steve since Wednesday, the Friday evening blog by Ann
Harrison http://www.cannabisreport.com/blog/archives/2006/01/sf_sup_investig.php
is informative.

For more background information, please see http://www.kubby.com

It is also important to write Letters to the Editor in support of
Steve — many targets may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm

Letters to Placer County’s newspaper, the Auburn Journal
http://www.auburnjournal.com/ sent to [email protected]
will help insure that the local public receives the whole story.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

Prepared by: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense =.

Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006
Subject: #321 Will Steve Kubby Become A Medical Cannabis Martyr?

WILL STEVE KUBBY BECOME A MEDICAL CANNABIS MARTYR?

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #321 – Saturday, 21 January 2006

Today two large newspapers published articles about Steve
Kubby.

The Los Angeles Times article, titled ‘Medical Pot Advocate Loses Bid
To Bar Deportation From Canada’ is at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n089/a01.html

And one of Canada’s national newspapers, the Globe and Mail, published
an article titled ‘Marijuana Activist May Be Deported to U.S. – Return
Could Mean Death, Wife Says’ which is at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n089/a05.html

The Globe and Mail article says “Judge Pinard, who was a federal
cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau, said it “remains speculative”
that Mr. Kubby will be jailed in the United States, or that he will
be denied adequate medical care.”

Remains Speculative? So the Canadian government is willing to take a
chance that just maybe Steve Kubby will live when jailed at the
border, while being transported to California, and then jailed —
despite all the facts that indicate otherwise?

The Globe and Mail article also states “A senior official at the
Placer County jail said that Mr. Kubby could not have marijuana in
custody. He could be prescribed Marinol, a synthetic form of THC, the
official said.” but goes on to Mr. Kubby’s response “He explained that
Marinol is not effective in coping with his cancer, and stressed that,
apart from his health concerns, “the problem is that no one wants to
admit this is political.” ”

So there we have it, Placer County officials still today are willing
to play doctor with Steve Kubby’s life – in violation of their oaths
of office and the constitution of the state which makes clear that
they must follow California law, even in jails. Synthetic THC is only
one of the medically active ingredients in cannabis – Steve Kubby must
have other cannabinoids found in cannabis to live!

While it is important to write Letters to the Editor in support of
Steve — many targets may be found at http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm
— we also encourage you to Please contact the Canadian Ministers who
can stop the deportation. Please go to Steve’s website for contact
instructions:

http://www.kubby.org/

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

Prepared by: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense =.

Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006
Subject: #320 New York Times On Failed Drug Policies

NEW YORK TIMES ON FAILED DRUG POLICIES

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #320 – Friday, 13 January 2006

This week, The New York Times has printed three good
items.

ON Tuesday, Jan 10 they carried an OPED written by Leslie Crocker
Snyder, a former New York State judge. She states that New York state
needs to further reform the infamous 1975 “Rockefeller” drug laws.

ALSO on Tuesday in the Times Health Section, personal health
columnist Jane E.. Brody takes on the Drug Enforcement
Administration’s jihad against doctors who try to treat chronic,
debilitating pain in their patients.

ON Thursday, Jan 12 the Times editorial board gives a harsh critique
about the effects of two decades of ever-escalating mandatory minimum
sentencing for drug offenses.

Please consider writing at least one Letter to the Editor to the
editors of The New York Times with your personal comments on one or
each of the articles.

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

The three articles can be seen by going to these MAP URLs:

US NY: OPED: Reform The Reforms

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n029/a03.html

US NY: Column: Let’s Get Serious About Relieving Chronic Pain

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n037/a09.html

US NY: Editorial: Drugs and Racial Discrimination

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n050/a03.html

Letters to the New York Times should not exceed 150
words.

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

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

[email protected]

You are welcome to join Steve and other LTE writing friends of MAP
every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m.
Central, 7 p.m. Mountain and 6 p.m. Pacific time for a roundtable
discussion of how to write LTEs that are printed.

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

The password for these gatherings is

PW: welcome-pal (all lower case)

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

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see

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

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

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

Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2006
Subject: #319 2005 – The Year In Review

2005 – THE YEAR IN REVIEW

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #319 – Monday, 2 January 2006

As we enter a new year, the staff and supporters of DrugSense and MAP
thank the many friends and community activists who have used our
resources during 2005. Together, we have successfully made the print,
radio and television media more aware of both the failures in public
drug policy and of alternatives to status-quo drug war strategies.

Here are links to the most read news clippings for
2005:

Australasia http://www.mapinc.org/find?369

Canada: http://www.mapinc.org/find?366

South America http://www.mapinc.org/find?368

United Kingdom http://www.mapinc.org/find?367

United States http://www.mapinc.org/find?365

2005 saw DrugSense and it’s Media Awareness Project grow in many
ways:

January saw the launch of our Media Activism Facilitator Project
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ with a goal of providing more
assistance and training for local activists in topics like How To Get
Drug Policy On the Air in Your Community, How to write a Press
Release, Preparing For TV and Radio Interviews, and how to write OPEDs
and Letters to the Editor for publication. Using the MAP Virtual
Conference Room http://www.mapinc.org/resource/paltalk.htm numerous
voice/text training sessions were completed. Current training session
dates and times are found at http://www.mapinc.org/resource/pal_sched.php
As a part of the project, The Drug Policy Writers Group
http://mapinc.org/resource/dpwg/index.php was formed in the Fall to
help folks who wish to write OPEDs market them to newspapers.

As many drug policy reform activists are discovering, the highest and
most direct level of democracy often takes place at the lowest levels
of government. This is reflected in the many successful municipal
audits and initiatives that have taken place over the last few years.
From Seattle’s I-75, to Oakland’s Measure Z, to Syracuse’s Plan B,
these important local actions can expose and erode the faulty
presumptions that underpin the war on drugs, and they often resonate
well beyond their geographical boundaries. Although each municipality
has a different social and bureaucratic make-up, we believe that
future initiatives can benefit from reviewing the tactics of those
that have successfully passed before them. It is with this in mind
that DrugSense developed during the Summer the “Community Audits and
Initiatives” webpages http://www.drugsense.org/caip

The Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen
Action was awarded to DrugSense in November. See the award and listen
to audio excerpts of Mark Greer’s and Matt Elrod’s acceptance speech
at http://drugsense.org/awards/randall.htm

At the year’s end Drug Policy Central, the web design, hosting and
internet services wing of DrugSense http://www.drugpolicycentral.com
was hosting 122 websites and numerous email lists and threaded
discussion forums for the drug policy reform community worldwide.

The DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org website continued to grow, but
perhaps the best kept secret in reform is what is available to users
that actually register at the website. Many pages do not require
registration. For those who do register, for free – over 2,300 by the
end of 2005 – access is provided to audio-visual clips, blogs,
downloads, forums, music and other content not available to those who
do not register.

MAP’s Published Letters Archive http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ saw almost
a 25% increase in pro-reform published letters in 1995, despite war,
floods, famine and a wide variety of national and local issues that
tended to push our issues off of the editorial pages of newspapers.

Our 10th anniversary occurred in November, when, ten years earlier,
Mark Greer founded this ground breaking organization
http://www.drugsense.org/pages/history We will be celebrating this
milestone throughout 2006.

Not mentioned above are a variety of other services to the reform
community, like our DrugSense Weekly, our 25,000 listings media
contact database, and our news clipping feeds to over two hundred
websites worldwide.

All of the above was supported by generous donations and grants from
the reform community. But with all the calls to give from various
other good causes, fund raising is difficult. If we are to survive
through this year financial support from users like you must increase.

Due to the generosity of a long time DrugSense funder, we have secured
a matching funds grant! This means that anything you contribute to
DrugSense and the Media Awareness Project will be matched, thus
doubling the effective amount of your contribution. Please, please,
visit our donations page http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm and give!

“It’s not what others do, it’s what YOU do!”

**********************************************************************
Prepared by: Staff http://www.drugsense.org/pages/whoweare =.