Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002
Subject: #249 Support Nevada Police Who Endorse Initiative

Support Nevada Police Who Endorse Initiative

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 249 August 13, 2002

Last week the largest police association in the state of Nevada,
NCOPS, issued a press release in which they endorsed the upcoming
Nevada marijuana initiative with a vote of 9-0. Following three days
of outcry from surprised opponents of the proposed measure, including
a number of high ranking police officials, the association’s president
Andy Anderson resigned and the group reversed their public stance.
Five of the other eight officers who supported the endorsement then
backpedaled, claiming they had been confused when Anderson polled them
via telephone and thought he was referring to a ‘medical marijuana
question’, etc.

For these officers, who have been on the job prior to Nevada’s passage
of a medical marijuana initiative in 1998/2000, to issue such a limp
retraction displays not only questionable integrity, but also an
embarrassing indictment of how much the War on Marijuana has provoked
officers nationwide to compromise their common sense and actual street
experience; all in the name of supporting the Blue Line.

Please write a letter to the various Nevada newspapers listed below
and let them know how you feel about the NCOPS original endorsement
and also their subsequent reversal. In addition, please consider an
extra letter to your local newspaper(s) either thanking them for their
coverage of the Nevada marijuana initiative, or asking them why they
have not had any coverage for this potentially ground breaking initiative.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

CONTACT INFO

Go here for the most up to date links on archived news and opinion
items for the Nevada marijuana initiative. All articles will provide
an E-mail address for easy transmittal of your LTE.

http://www.mapinc.org/find?162

Note that a number of the articles are from newspapers outside Nevada.
These papers really need to hear from you as well as the Nevada wraps.
the MAP contract database provided this list of email addresses for
Nevada newspapers

(NOTE:We are currently updating and fine tuning the MAP contact
database so some of these addresses could be out of date)

Nevada Newspapers:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

For current newspaper Email contact info for any other newspaper see:
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm

***************************************************************************
Here are the two key articles which create the framework for this discussion.

US NV: Marijuana Ballot Issue – Police Back Legalization URL:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1463/a09.html

AND: (thanks to our friends at cannabisnews.com for this complete
version)

US NV: Police Group Retracts Support Of Marijuana http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread13704.shtml

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

To the Editor:

The dual news stories last week of the Nevada Conference of Police and
Sheriffs first endorsing the proposed Nevada ballot initiative to
amend current marijuana laws and then reversing their stance following
NCOPS President Andy Anderson’s resignation made for a sad commentary.

In the past 30 years, stringent and harsh criminal sanctions against
responsible adult marijuana use have done nothing to reduce use.
Rather they have helped create the largest criminal black market in
the nation outside of arms and weapons. This criminal market helps
fund more dangerous and violent activities which endanger not only
police, but the public they serve.

Smart, street-wise police know full well the drag that enforcing
marijuana prohibition laws have on their primary mission of protecting
and serving the public. As the departing Anderson stated in his
original endorsement of the initiative, “….a single (marijuana)
arrest would take anywhere from a couple of hours to about half my
shift….time that could have been better spent on the streets
addressing violent crime.”

More questions need to be asked of the eight NCOPS board members who
backpedaled Friday, claiming ‘confusion’ as to what Anderson was
asking them during his telephone survey earlier in the week. Further,
close scrutiny should be used against any and all law officers who
campaign against the initiative on taxpayer time. Police should be
using their job hours to enforce the law, not lobby for or against
proposed changes.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen Heath (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.
—————————————————————————-

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

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.flcan.org Focus Alert Specialist

Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002
Subject: #254 Letters To Canadian Editors Needed Now!

Letters to Canadian Editors Needed Now!

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #254 Mon, 9 September, 2002

Now that the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs in a
600 page report has strongly recommended legalizing cannabis, the
editorial and opinion writers of Canadian newspapers are having a
field day. Below we have provided contact information and links to
these opinions.

Please review these items and write Letters to the Editor to as many
of these newspapers as possible. We are not going to provide a sample
letter because (1) what folks who live in Canada would write is likely
to be different than folks from outside Canada (2) each item deserves
consideration and writing on it’s merits. Of course those that support
legalization have earned praise for their bold position. Many
recommend only decriminalization, a 10% solution that leaves the large
majority of harm caused by the laws in place.

Some appear to have rushed to judgement without even reading the
report. Otherwise why would they throw out red herrings that are
clearly and well answered in the report? You can read the actual
report – and we suggest reading at least the summary for letter ideas
– on line at http://www.parl.gc.ca/illegal-drugs.asp – click on
reports. There is also a very good set of info, links, etc. at
http://cannabislink.ca/gov/senatesumm.htm

An analysis by Canadian Matt Elrod is at http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2002/ds02.n266.html#sec5
and another from the states is at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/253.html#canadiansenate

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

CONTACT INFO

Below we have tried to fit each of the editorials and opinion items
into one of three groups. Some are clear fits. For others it is a hard
call – so you may well believe we have made a wrong choice. Some of
the authors appear to be good at not being very clear where they
stand. This just adds our recommendation that Letter writers look at
each item and write based on what the item says.

OPINION ITEMS THAT SUPPORT THE SENATE COMMITTEE REPORT:

Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Legalizing Marijuana Is the Logical and Proper Thing to Do
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/2B6CAA5F-36C5-4302-A70F-004E5133B873

Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Legalize Cannabis
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1668/a08.html

StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
[email protected]
Editorial: Senate Pot Ideas Worth Adopting
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/F5EA6AC2-1F62-4B5E-91BE-C65CFCCDEA60

Daily News, The (CN NS)
[email protected]
Editorial: Senate Surprises Us On Legal Pot
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/CCE506B7-7749-420A-85C8-BA1A434BEA9F

Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) [email protected] OPED:
Legalization Can No Longer Be Snickered Away http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/F4B2505D-AC84-45BE-8D34-D680C570FEA9

Globe and Mail (Canada) [email protected] OPED: Taking The High
Road http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1654/a11.html

Sentinel Review (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: It’s Time To Legalize Pot
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1663/a04.html

North Bay Nugget (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Senate Goes the Extra Mile
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1676/a07.html

Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
[email protected]
Column: Smoke Gets In Scott’s Eyes
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1678/a10.html

Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
[email protected]
Column: Unenforced Marijuana Laws Breed Only Contempt for Legal System
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1693/a01.html

ITEMS THAT ONLY SUPPORT DECRIMINALIZATION:

Globe and Mail (Canada)
[email protected]
Editorial: Don’t Legalize Pot, Decriminalize It
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1681/a12.html

Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Going To Pot
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1662/a06.html

Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
[email protected]
Editorial: Let’s Decriminalize Marijuana As an Interim Step to Saner Law
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/A7FF38FE-C103-42D8-8B8C-A1116AA09E27

National Post (Canada)
[email protected]
Editorial: Smoking Marijuana Shouldn’t Be A Crime
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id={5C830FDB-2544-4824-8894-B237EA9FE933}

Toronto Star (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Senate Report Goes Up In Smoke
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1674/a08.html

Toronto Sun (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Taking It One Toke At A Time
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1696/a07.html

Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Pipe Dream
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1655/a02.html

Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
[email protected]
Editorial: Don’t Legalize It
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/AFBD7F8E-584F-498A-847B-6F54A8B9B367

Halifax Herald (CN NS)
[email protected]
Editorial: No Pot Of Gold
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1666/a01.html

Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Go Slow On Marijuana Change
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/8F561FD6-3EC5-4D10-B15F-D45B8434BC54

Kitchener-Waterloo Record (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: The Senate’s Fine Smoke Signals
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1675/a04.html

Province, The (CN BC)
[email protected]
Editorial: It’s Time to Light a Fire Under Marijuana Use
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/E0B85BBB-8BC7-49C2-9B54-C2358FF9EDF5

Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Smoke Clouds Reason
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1662/a07.html

Calgary Herald (CN AB) [email protected] OPED: Senate One
Toke Over The Line On Legalizing Pot http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/DFEF7CA2-00F8-4A83-BDED-AA0F0E3E2B99

Lethbridge Herald (CN AB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Legalized Pot Not a Solution
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1675/a06.html

Expositor, The (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Marijuana Madness
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1677/a01.html

Guelph Mercury (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Marijuana Debate Calls For Caution
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1680/a04.html

ONES THAT APPEAR TO SUPPORT THE CURRENT LAWS:

Calgary Herald (CN AB)
[email protected]
Editorial: Dopey Idea
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/481E9EED-06D5-4BBD-8DE0-F3E3FE777D80

Alliston Herald (CN ON)
[email protected]
CN ON: Editorial: Pot Luck
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1680/a09.html

Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
[email protected]
Editorial: Legalization Not The Answer
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/DDBE98AA-355F-4E1E-8EA7-366F47E42E86

Lindsay Daily Post (CN ON)
[email protected]
Editorial: Not the time to legalize marijuana
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1687/a06.html

Additional opinion items on this topic MAP posted in the days ahead
should be easy to spot here http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm and
general news items about cannabis in Canada here http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm

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

EXTRA CREDIT

Thank the Senate committee for their fine report by sending a note to
[email protected]

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

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

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

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

Prepared by: Richard Lake http://www.mapinc.org/rlake/ Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Subject: # 253 Good Riddance Bob Barr!

Good Riddance Bob Barr!

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #253 Wed. August 21, 2002

The stunning and overwhelming defeat of Bob Barr (R-GA) in the Georgia
primaries yesterday bodes very well for those who are working towards
more rational and sensible drug policies. Barr was targeted for defeat
by the Libertarian Party and other drug reform advocates as one of the
most rabid and irrational supporters of our failed drug policy. For a
drug war Zealot to be so soundly defeated may begin to send the
message to the rest of Congress that supporting the drug war may
result in more politicians becoming unemployed.

Unfortunately the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Barr’s primary local
newspaper, completely missed what was the likely a key reason for
Barr’s defeat. Over the past two weeks, Barr’s Libertarian opponent,
Carole Ann Rand, flooded Georgia’s 7th District with more than 4,000
TV spots. The ads feature a multiple sclerosis victim who lashes out
against the Congressman for his crusade against medical marijuana.

Please write a letter to the AJC expressing your views on Bob Barr,
his drug war Zealotry, and the lack of coverage on the drug policy
reform groups opposing him and who likely led to his defeat.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

CONTACT INFO

Atlanta Journal Constitution

[email protected]

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

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Newshawk: Cheryl Miller’s cherylheart website http://www.cherylheart.org/
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Address: 72 Marietta Street, NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30303
Contact: [email protected]
Copyright: 2002 Cox Interactive Media.
Forum: http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/issues/
Author: MELANIE EVERSLEY

Republicans pick low-key candidate

U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, a conservative Republican perhaps best known for
his attempts to drive President Clinton out of the White House,
conceded shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday to fellow Republican Rep. John
Linder in their primary election contest to represent the 7th
Congressional District.

The Associated Press declared Linder the winner shortly after 10
p.m.

The lopsided results marked the end of a sometimes slapstick race
characterized by insults, one-liners, a controversy over a cartoon
character and the accidental shooting of a gun. The district is
heavily Republican, but Linder will face Democrat Michael Berlon in
the November general election.

With eyes misting and his wife, Jeri, by his side, Barr hugged and
thanked supporters who crowded into the 1818 Club in Duluth.

“We’ve been watching the numbers, and they don’t look nearly as good
as we would have hoped,” the 53-year-old congressman told a somber
crowd of 300, many with tears in their eyes.

Barr congratulated Linder, pledged his support and paid homage to
hundreds of campaign workers who went door to door, made telephone
calls and hung Bob Barr literature on doorknobs in the heated,
sometimes nasty campaign.

“We’ve accomplished as a team more than any other congressman
accomplishes in an entire lifetime and I appreciate that,” Barr said.

Linder, a low-key lawmaker known for working behind the scenes,
expressed his gratitude to supporters next door at the Gwinnett Civic
and Cultural Center.

“He ran a good campaign. We ran a better one,” said Linder,
59.

Barr, the sober-faced and outspoken congressman often depicted as a
bulldog, watched results come in privately, holed up in a Duluth hotel
room, and later conceded to supporters quietly.

Linder, a soft-spoken policy expert who almost seems to avoid the
public eye, laughed with about 200 supporters in the civic center ballroom.

Both incumbents, Linder in office for 10 years and Barr for eight,
came to do battle after the redistricting process Democrats controlled
in 2000 pitted them against each other.

At first, both kept to their promise to run a clean campaign. But as
time passed and opinion polls showed the two in a virtual dead heat,
the nastiness emerged.

Barr made fun of the fact that Linder often declines to give an
opinion on issues, saying he has no right to insert himself into
people’s lives. A Barr commercial portrayed Barr as a bulldog and
Linder as a whining, whimpering dachshund. Linder touted himself as a
family man, married to his wife, Lynne, for 39 years, while he spoke
of Barr’s three marriages.

Linder teased Barr about an incident in which an antique gun
accidentally fired in the home of a Barr supporter while Barr and
another person were handling it. Days later, a Linder supporter
dressed as the cartoon character Yosemite Sam, known for shooting off
pistols, mingled at a pro-Barr event, touting himself as Barr’s
“personal gun safety trainer.” Adding steam to the fracas was a video
on an Internet Web site that showed Barr’s adult son, Derek, shoving
the man dressed as Yosemite Sam.

Late Tuesday night, Linder supporters — mingling in the ballroom and
surrounded by red, white and blue balloons imprinted with “Linder” —
said they believe the negative campaigning hurt Barr. They also said
Barr was perceived as an outsider.

“The reality is that Bob Barr appeals to a small number of people who
believe you get things done by yelling and screaming,” said B.J. Van
Gundy, Linder’s campaign manager in Gwinnett County. “John Linder
thinks like the majority. You work with people to get things done.”

Linder’s approval ratings were high before the race started, added Ed
Brookover, a Linder campaign consultant. “In the end, what came
through was that John was a solid leader,” Brookover said.

The contest would have been disappointing to Georgia Republicans no
matter what the outcome, said U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson, a Republican.

“We had two good men and we lost one,” Isakson said. “Redistricting is
a process which sometimes has unfortunate results. This time and in
this case, it resulted in two incumbents having to challenge one
another. It’s just disappointing.”

Staff writers Brian Feagans, Paul Donsky, Rhonda Cook and Bill Torpy
contributed to this report

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

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

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

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

EXTRA CREDIT

Unfortunately the New York Times also failed to acknowledge the
importance of the drug policy reform movement in playing an important
role in Barr’s defeat.

Please send a copy your letter to the New York Times. At this writing
the article was not in the MAP archive but you can use this
information for reference:

New York Times
Contact: [email protected]
August 21, 2002

A Bush Foe and a Clinton One Are Ousted in Georgia Primaries By STEVEN
A. HOLMES

Please write your local newspapers on this subject as
well.

To find the Letter to the Editor email addresses for your area
newspapers go to http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Use the “List by
Area” dropdown to select and display your area. Then click on
“contact” to obtain the contact information for each newspaper.

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

SAMPLE LETTER (sent)

Good Riddance Bob Barr!

Dear Editor:

I find it quite perplexing that your coverage on the landslide defeat
of drug war Zealot Bob Barr (Republicans Pick Low-Key Candidate AJC
8/21) made no mention whatever of the one factor that may have been
the most important in bringing about Barr’s historic loss.

Over the past two weeks, Barr’s Libertarian opponent, Carole Ann Rand,
flooded Georgia’s 7th District with more than 4,000 TV spots. The ads
feature a multiple sclerosis victim who lashes out against the
Congressman for his crusade against medical marijuana.

There can be little question that the American public is far ahead of
the curve in realizing that the drug war has failed miserably and that
support for the drug war has dwindled significantly in recent years.
Barr’s defeat would seem to verify this theory quite
convincingly.

Barr is but the first political casualty of many to come if our
elected representatives continually fail to grasp that the drug war is
no longer supported by their constituents. Bringing a sensible end to
our failed and very expensive “war on drugs” is becoming a major
consideration amongst voters.

Among Barr’s most egregious actions was his un Constitutional blocking
of the will of the voters when Washington D.C. overwhelmingly passed
an initiative to allow sick and dying patients access to the medicinal
use of cannabis and Barr subsequently blocked the implementation of
this initiative.

Good Riddance Bob Barr!

Mark Greer

[address and phone 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, Please See:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002
Subject: #252 Please Thank The San Francisco Chronicle – Exceptional

Please Thank the San Francisco Chronicle – Exceptional Recent
Coverage

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 252 August 19, 2002

Sunday, August 18th the San Francisco Chronicle printed two superb
OPEDs and a lead editorial which focused on the damage being done by
the War on Drugs in South America. Seldom have we seen a newspaper put
the issues in such in such sharp focus.

While readers may not agree with every paragraph the major thrust was
clear. The harm being done by the U.S. war has a far greater impact on
the region than it does in the states.

Thanking the Chronicle via a Letter to the Editor will encourage the
Chronicle editors to consider more items of interest to us.

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

Rather than excerpt the editorial and OPEDs we request that you read
them on-line at the San Francisco Chronicle website at the links below.

CONTACT INFO

[email protected]

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

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

EDITORIAL Foreign Policy Shifts Our widening war in
Colombia

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/18/ED55847.DTL

SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution – Back from the dead
— with U.S. help

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN14597.DTL

SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution – Our moral obligation
to Colombia

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN172924.DTL

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

EXTRA CREDIT

Please let your local newspapers know about what the San Francisco
Chronicle printed. A Letter to the Editor something like the one below
will let the paper know that these issues are important to you:

Dear Editor, [newspaper name]

I read over the Internet an Editorial and two OPEDs about the damage
done by our War on Drugs south of the border printed in Sunday’s San
Francisco Chronicle. Please consider reprinting them, or doing a
similar analysis. I believe few readers understand the damage we are
causing in these countries.

EDITORIAL Foreign Policy Shifts Our widening war in
Colombia

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/18/ED55847.DTL

SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution – Back from the dead
— with U.S. help

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN14597.DTL

SOUTH AMERICA Dealing with Drugs and Revolution – Our moral obligation
to Colombia

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/18/IN172924.DTL

Sincerely,

[your name]

To find the Letter to the Editor email addresses for your area
newspapers go to http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Use the “List by
Area” dropdown to select and display your area. Then click on
“contact” to obtain the contact information for each newspaper.

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

SAMPLE LETTER (already sent)

Dear Editors,

Congratulations and high praise for putting together two guest columns
“South America/Dealing with Drugs and Revolution” that showed more
good sense than does the Bush Administration and all the rest of the
Washington, D.C.,”drug crazies”

Your lead editorial also displayed thought-provoking analysis.
Clearly an immediate end of our Drug War in South America would be
giant step toward ending the social chaos and resultant suffering.
Back home cocaine might be a cheaper but that’s no reason to expect
use or abuse to increase. Cocaine consumption rises and falls for
reasons lying outside of supply or law enforcement efforts.

Gerald M. Sutliff [address and phone number]

NOTE: Please write your own letter. It is not likely that Chronicle
editors will be impressed if yours looked exactly like the one above.

———————————————————————-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002
Subject: Please Counter The Attack On Stossel’s ‘War On Drugs: A War On

Please Counter the Attack on Stossel’s ‘War on Drugs: A War on Ourselvess’

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 248 July 31, 2002

Tuesday evening ABC TV broadcast a superb documentary by John Stossel, “War
on Drugs: A War on Ourselves.” A webpage summary is at
http://abcnews.go.com/onair/2020/stossel_drugs_020730.html

If you missed the show, we recommend listening to it via the low
bandwidth audio feed at http://highwire.stanford.edu/~straffin/dp/

The program is also available for viewing online using the Real Player at:

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/video_news.html

That the documentary really hit the mark can be seen by the outrage,
along with the usual twisting of facts, in press releases by the
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)
http://www.cadca.org/PressGallery/PressReleases/ABCNewsProgram.htm
and by former White House Drug spokesman Bob Weiner
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n000/a096.html

These folks and others have launched an organized letter writing
campaign directed at David Westin, the President of ABC News, to tell
him how wrong ABC was to present this documentary — that they were
not given the time to present their views, that the facts were wrong,
and so on.

They are asking folks to send letters by regular mail. Can we do any
less? Please write your own letter to Mr. Westin at:

David Westin, President, ABC News, 47 W. 66th Street, New York, NY 10023

Thanks for your effort and support.

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

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

Extra Credit: While taking any of the following actions is not as important
as writing and mailing a letter as suggested above, the following actions
will help:

Use this webform, and the dropdown to ‘Other’ to send a note to
ABC

http://abcnews.go.com/service/Help/abcmail.html

Use this webform to send John Stossel a note

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/stossel_mailform.html

Please send a note to your local ABC station thanking them for
carrying the documentary, and asking them to contact the network about
having it rebroadcast. The fast way to find the station is to do a
search. For example, using http://www.google.com/advanced_search and
asking it to find all the words ‘ABC TV Marquette Michigan’ brought
that station to the top of the links list.

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

LETTER example (MAILED AT THE POST OFFICE)

David Westin
President
ABC News
47 W. 66th Street
New York, NY 10023

Dear Mr. Westin,

Thank you for airing the John Stossel documentary, “War on Drugs: A War on
Ourselves.”

While I was on active duty I saw many scenes like those shown, but
never thought about the impact, the maximizing of harm, being caused
by the drug war. After I retired I started to see columns and
editorials which questioned aspects of the war. TV seemed to be
avoiding the hard hitting analysis I see in my newspaper.

But nothing pulled it all together for me so well is this documentary!
TV seems to be avoiding the hard hitting analysis I see in my
newspaper. I learned much that I did not know.

I hope you will rerun it, and provide us with regular updates based on
it. I will be taking notes next time it is on.

If it is available, could you please have someone send me a note about
how I may purchase a video tape copy of the documentary.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Richard Lake
Chief Warrant Officer
United States Army (retired)

NOTE: Please write your own letter. It is not likely that Mr. Westin
would be impressed if yours looked exactly like mine.

———————————————————————-

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing
efforts

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

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

Prepared by Richard Lake http://www.mapinc.org/rlake/ Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002
Subject: #247 Drug Czar Demonstrates Ignorance Of Reform

Drug Czar Demonstrates Ignorance Of Reform

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 247July 23, 2002

Federal drug czars aren’t hired to solve drug problems – they are
hired to maintain drug prohibition. If you had any doubt about this,
check the recent oped piece by John Walters in the Wall Street Journal.

Walters starts by equating any reform with legalization, and the truth
quotient goes downhill from there. For an excellent line by line
analysis (and correction) of Walters’s lies and obfuscations, see
Richard Cowan’s commentary at Marijuananews.com this week –
http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=558

Please write a letter to the Wall Street Journal to say that the drug
war is bad enough without John Walters’s prohibition of honest criticism.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

CONTACT INFO

Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Contact: [email protected]

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

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
—————–

Pubdate: Fri, 19 Jul 2002
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: John P. Walters
Note: Mr. Walters is director of the National Office of Drug-Control Policy.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

DON’T LEGALIZE DRUGS

The charge that “nothing works” in the fight against illegal drugs has
led some people to grasp at an apparent solution: legalize drugs .
They will have taken false heart from news from Britain last week,
where the government acted to downgrade the possession of cannabis to
the status of a non-arrestable offense.

According to the logic of the legalizers, it’s laws against drug use,
not the drugs themselves, that do the greatest harm. The real problem,
according them, is not that the young use drugs , but that drug laws
distort supply and demand. Violent cartels arise, consumers overpay
for a product of unknown quality, and society suffers when the law
restrains those who “harm no one but themselves.”

Better, the argument goes, for the government to control the trade in
narcotics. That should drive down the prices (heroin would be “no more
expensive than lettuce,” argues one proponent), eliminate violence,
provide tax revenue, reduce prison crowding, and foster supervised
injection facilities.

Sounds good. But is it realistic? The softest spot in this line of
reasoning is the analogy with alcohol abuse. The argument goes roughly
like this: “Alcohol is legal. Alcohol can be abused. Therefore,
cocaine should be legal.” Their strongest argument, by contrast, is
that prohibition produces more costs than benefits, while legalized
drugs provide more benefits than costs.

But legalizers overstate the social costs of prohibition, just as they
understate the social costs of legalization. Take the statistic that
more than 1.5 million Americans are arrested every year for drug
crimes. Legalizers would have us believe that otherwise innocent
people are being sent to prison (displacing “true” criminals) for
merely toking up. But only a fraction of these arrestees are ever
sentenced to prison. And there should be little question that most of
those sentenced have earned their place behind bars.

Some 24% of state prison drug offenders are violent recidivists, while
83% have prior criminal histories. Only 17% are in prison for “first
time offenses,” while nominal “low-level” offenders are often
criminals who plea-bargain to escape more serious charges. The reality
is that a high percentage of all criminals, regardless of the offense,
use drugs . In New York, 79% of those arrested for any crime tested
positive for drugs .

Drug abuse alone cost an estimated $55 billion in 1998 (excluding
criminal justice costs), and deaths directly related to drug use have
more than doubled since 1980. Would increasing this toll make for a
healthier America? Legalization, by removing penalties and reducing
price, would increase drug demand. Make something easier and cheaper
to obtain, and you increase the number of people who will try it.
Legalizers love to point out that the Dutch decriminalized marijuana
in 1976, with little initial impact. But as drugs gained social
acceptance, use increased consistently and sharply, with a 300% rise
in use by 1996 among 18-20 year-olds.

Britain, too, provides an instructive example. When British physicians
were allowed to prescribe heroin to certain addicts, the number
skyrocketed. From 68 British addicts in the program in 1960, the
problem exploded to an estimated 20,000 heroin users in London alone
by 1982.

The idea that we can “solve” our complex drug problem by simply
legalizing drugs raises more questions than it answers. For instance,
what happens to the citizenship of those legally addicted? Will they
have their full civil rights, such as voting? Can they be employed as
school bus drivers? Nurses? What of a woman, legally addicted to
cocaine, who becomes pregnant? Should she be constrained by the very
government that provides for her habit?

Won’t some addicts seek larger doses than those medically prescribed?
Or seek to profit by selling their allotment to others, including
minors? And what about those promised tax revenues — how do they
materialize? As it is, European drug clinics aren’t filled with
productive citizens, but rather with demoralized zombies seeking a
daily fix. Won’t drugs become a disability entitlement?

Will legalization eliminate violence? The New England Journal of
Medicine reported in 1999 on the risks for women injured in domestic
violence. The most striking factor was a partner who used cocaine,
which increased risk more than four times. That violence is associated
not with drug laws, but with the drug . A 1999 report from the
Department of Health and Human Services showed that two million
children live with a parent who has a drug problem. Studies indicate
that up to 80% of our child welfare caseload involves caregivers who
abuse substances. Drug users do not harm only themselves.

Legalizers like to argue that government-supervised production and
distribution of addictive drugs will eliminate the dangers attributed
to drug prohibition. But when analyzing this “harm reduction”
argument, consider the abuse of the opiate OxyContin, which has
resulted in numerous deaths, physicians facing criminal charges, and
addicts attacking pharmacies. OxyContin is a legally prescribed
substance, with appropriate medical uses — that is, it satisfies
those conditions legalizers envision for cocaine and heroin. The point
is clear: The laws are not the problem.

Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed that drugs place us in a
dilemma: “We are required to choose between a crime problem and a
public heath problem.” Legalization is a dangerous mirage. To address
a crime problem, we are asked to accept a public health crisis. Yet if
we were to surrender, we would surely face both problems —
intensified.

—————————————————————————-

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

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

SAMPLE LETTER (SENT)

To the editor of the Wall Street Journal:

Drug czar Walters used a familiar rhetorical ploy to defend the drug
war in Friday’s Journal (Don’t Legalize Drugs, 19 July 2002). First,
misrepresent the most damaging charges; then lie while dispatching the
straw men thus created.

Critics haven’t claimed ‘nothing works;’ rather, they point out US
policy is clearly failing– and 73% of the public agrees. Worse, while
those failures are being brazenly ignored, even more money and
manpower are squandered and collateral social damage continues.

Nor did critics claim drug laws ‘distort supply and demand.’ Our
policy’s worst effects– as has been repeatedly pointed out– flow
from the illegal markets our laws create as lucrative criminal monopolies.

Although many such ploys were used, space allows just one more
example; Walters’ claim that, deaths directly related to drug use have
more than doubled since 1980, and the question if, increasing this
toll (would) make for a healthier America. First, the numbers aren’t
comparable because criteria for such deaths were arbitrarily changed
in the interval; also Public Health experts attribute fifty percent of
drug deaths directly to their illegality. Finally; how do Walters’
repeated claims of policy success square with increased deaths?
Wouldn’t a successful policy have reduced them?

It’s reassuring that recent rhetoric attributing corporate fraud to a
few bad apples is neither unique nor unprecedented; we are led to fear
however, that devious federal rhetoric in defence of regulatory
failure may have quietly become a ‘traditional American value’ while
we weren’t looking.

Tom O’Connell,
MD

IMPORTANT: Always remember to include your address and phone
number.

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 – Wall Street Journal

There are more than 75 letters to the WSJ in the MAP archive. A
sampling of recent letters shows some as short as 93 words and some as
long as 340 words, with an average of about 180 words.

The published letters can be viewed here:

http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Wall+Street+Journal+(US)

****************************************************************************
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

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

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

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

NOTICE:

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.

REMINDER:

Please help MAP find news articles. Details at http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm

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

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

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

-OR-

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

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a DrugSense PO Box 651
Porterville, CA 93258 (800) 266 5759 [email protected]
http://www.mapinc.org/ http://www.drugsense.org/

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

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

Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
Subject: #246 USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002

USA Today Gives Hutchinson Free Ride In Netherlands

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

DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 246 July 16, 2002

DEA head Asa Hutchinson recently traveled to the Netherlands. USA
Today reported on the trip this week. The article not only lets
Hutchinson make absurd criticisms about the Dutch system without any
challenge, the reporter ignores a number of inconvenient facts, such
as lower drug use rates in the Netherlands.

The article states:

“U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less
hospitable to Ecstasy’s manufacturers and smugglers, but they have
little power to make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally
that cannot be pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise
of U.S. aid or the threat of sanctions.”

Surely the reporter knows that pushing countries into “tougher drug
enforcement” does not make a country “less hospitable” to drug
manufacturers – in Colombia such tactics have dramatically increased
drug production.

Please write a letter to USA Today asking why the newspaper is only
telling half the story on the Netherlands.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

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

CONTACT INFO

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

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

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
—————–

U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy

Webpage: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2002/07/15/usat-dutch-drugs.htm
Pubdate: July 15, 2002
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA Today

U.S. urges Dutch to toughen drug policy

AMSTERDAM The United States’ anti-drug chief and a Dutch police
commander were touring Amsterdam’s red-light district recently when a
man approached the U.S. law enforcement delegation. “Ecstasy? Viagra?
Cocaina?” he whispered to a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman.
The Dutch cop shrugged. DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson grimaced.
Drug dealers are bold here. Drugs, especially the club drug Ecstasy,
are cheap and plentiful. Dutch police mostly look the other way,
preferring to focus on property crimes and public nuisances.

It’s added up to a 100 million-pill-a-year problem for the USA, where
authorities have become increasingly frustrated at how the
Netherlands’ laissez faire approach to drug enforcement has allowed
Ecstasy labs to flourish here.

The Netherlands has become the dominant supplier of the synthetic
hallucinogenic drug that has exploded in popularity among U.S. teens
and young adults. U.S. officials say about 80% of the 2 million
Ecstasy pills flowing into the USA each week are manufactured on Dutch
soil. U.S. Customs officers stationed in New York City-area airports,
the most popular Ecstasy smuggling hubs, say they can make a bust
every other day just by targeting passengers from flights that have
passed through the Netherlands.

The percentage of teens in the USA who use Ecstasy has more than
doubled since 1995, a survey last year by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America showed. In a nationwide survey of 6,937 youths ages
12-18, 12% said they had used Ecstasy, up from 5% in 1995. It ranks
behind only alcohol and marijuana in teen popularity.

U.S. law enforcement officials want the Dutch to become less
hospitable to Ecstasy’s manufacturers and smugglers, but they have
little power to make that happen. The Netherlands is a wealthy ally
that cannot be pushed into tougher drug enforcement with the promise
of U.S. aid or the threat of sanctions. Instead, U.S. officials are
trying to politely persuade the Dutch to see it their way.

Hutchinson, who visited the Netherlands for two days in June, hopes a
more conservative Dutch parliament elected May 15 and increasing
pressure from less permissive members of the European Union will
prompt the Dutch to pursue dealers and manufacturers more
aggressively.

The Dutch have made significant busts since creating a synthetic-drug
law enforcement division in 1997. In 2000, Dutch authorities
dismantled 23 Ecstasy labs, the U.S. State Department says. Dutch
officials say they intend to close more Ecstasy labs with five new
anti-drug squads. The Dutch parliament recently approved a five-year,
$35 million program aimed at reducing the Ecstasy supply, and the
Dutch justice minister has suggested a registration system for
pillmaking machines.

U.S. officials appreciate the moves. But they say the Netherlands’
underlying tolerance of drugs undermines the crackdowns. Penalties for
dealing and manufacturing drugs are not stiff enough to discourage it,
they say.

“They have a permissive drug policy that has a natural way of
attracting those who want to engage in illegal behavior, and they have
a weak law enforcement structure,” Hutchinson says.

Ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, regard drug
use primarily as a health issue rather than as a crime problem, so
they focus their efforts on preventing drug use rather than law
enforcement. Licensed shops in the Netherlands sell marijuana for
individual use, and the government provides free needles and clean
rooms where heroin addicts can shoot up. Addicts who become a nuisance
are steered toward treatment. The large-scale dealers and
manufacturers who are prosecuted rarely spend more than a year or two
in prison.

Dutch officials, when challenged on their priorities, refer to an
insatiable U.S. demand for drugs. “What we are doing is fighting some
basic rules of an economic market,” says Steven van Hoogstraten,
former director of drugs policy at the Dutch Justice Ministry.
Manufacturers want to smuggle drugs to the market willing to pay the
highest price, he says, alluding to the USA’s black market.

An Ecstasy pill typically sells for about 50 cents wholesale and $7
retail in the Netherlands; it brings about $15 in the typical U.S.
nightclub. Drug prices in the Netherlands are the lowest in Western
Europe, the United Nations Office for Drug Control Policy says.

The Dutch police report that 40% of the Ecstasy they seized in 1999,
about 1.5 million of 3.7 million tablets, was destined for the USA.
Police data indicate that 8.1 million Ecstasy tablets seized worldwide
in 2000 could be traced to the Netherlands, a State Department report
says.

Manufacturers in the Netherlands usually buy used pill presses from
Asia, particularly India and Thailand. They import the chemicals from
China, the largest producer of chemicals used to make Ecstasy. The
Chinese say they produce the chemicals for making perfume, Dutch
officials say.

“There is no legitimate use for the chemical” in the Netherlands, says
David Borah, the DEA attache based in The Hague. “So we know it’s
being used to make Ecstasy.”

Many smugglers who bring chemicals into the Netherlands find cover at
Rotterdam’s port, the world’s busiest. About 40% of the 6.5 million
containers that pass through the port each year contain chemicals.
Loose European borders mean that smugglers can bring the chemicals and
pill presses from Eastern Europe in tractor-trailers with little risk
of inspection.

Dutch customs officials X-ray 25,000 to 30,000 containers a year, less
than 1% of the 6.5 million containers that pass through Rotterdam each
year. They say they usually need advance intelligence and luck to find
Ecstasy pills in containers the size of railroad cars.

“Try to find a bag of 10,000 pills in a 40-foot container of
tomatoes,” says Kees Visscher of Dutch customs.

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

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

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

SAMPLE LETTER (SENT)

To the Editors of USA TODAY:

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson should be seeking advice on drug
policy from the Dutch, not giving it. (“U. S. Urges Dutch to Toughen
Drug Policy” 7-15-02). The Dutch rate of recreational drug use and
abuse is substantially lower than U. S. rates. See:
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

If we stop drugs like ecstasy from coming from the Netherlands the
drugs will come from somewhere else. As long as Americans want drugs
and we are willing to pay a substantial price for the drugs, someone
will produce them and someone will get the drugs to the willing
buyers. Guaranteed.

Best regards, Kirk Muse

IMPORTANT: Always remember to include your address and phone
number.

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 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

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

TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

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

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

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

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.

REMINDER:

Please help MAP find news articles. Details at http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm

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

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

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

-OR-

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

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a DrugSense PO Box 651
Porterville, CA 93258 (800) 266 5759 [email protected]
http://www.mapinc.org/ http://www.drugsense.org/

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

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

Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2002
Subject: Major Media Ignores – National Protest Against DEA

Major Media Ignores – National Protest Against DEA

BLAST THE PRESS – WAKE
UP AMERICA!

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #245 9 Jun, 2002

Thursday, June 6th was a nation-wide day of action to push back DEA
attempts to re-criminalize medical cannabis. On or after June 6th,
2002 the DEA will attempt to shut down dispensaries now legally
providing medical cannabis to patients in western states. Protests
were held in 60 cities, and there were arrests in both Washington,
D.C. and San Francisco.

The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense joined California NORML,
Cannabis Action Network, Common Sense Drug Policy, Drug Policy
Alliance, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Marijuana Policy Project, NORML,
Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Unitarian Universalists for Drug
Policy Reform and other organizations in supporting this direct action
called by Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org/

Despite efforts of local protest organizers and the protest being
covered by two wire service stories, newspapers carried only 17 items
(list of links below) directly related to the action as newshawked to
MAP or Americans for Safe Access. No major newspapers, with the
exception of the Washington Times and Washington Post provided
coverage on this important national event!

Please write Letters to the Editor to tell your local, state, and
particularly major national newspapers that medical marijuana and
these protests are important news to you and that this type of event
should be covered. Even if your letter is not published, newspaper
editors and publishers need to know what you, their readers, think is
important!

By using this webpage http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm and the ‘List by
Area’ dropdown you can select newspapers in your state, click on the
word ‘Contact” and obtain the email address or webform for sending
Letters to the Editor to your newspaper.

Reports of where local actions were held, and many result reports, are
on the Americans for Safe Access website http://www.safeaccessnow.org/
that may allow you to add some local protest information to your
letter. Other resources with superb information about medical cannabis
include:

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/medicalm.htm – facts referencing respected
sources.

http://marijuanainfo.com/ presents the conflicting views and opinions
of different sides of the medical marijuana debate.

http://www.ohiopatient.net/Poll_Analysis.htm 66 separate public
opinion studies, plus this: An estimated nine million people in the
United States use cannabis medicinally and over the last ten years,
nearly one-quarter of a million people in the United States have been
arrested on medical-marijuana-related offenses.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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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] if you are not
subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so
others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit.

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our
impact and effectiveness.
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SAMPLE LETTER that was sent to USA Today

Dear Editor,

Reading today’s USA Today I thought I would find articles about
yesterday’s medical marijuana protests in over 50 cities throughout
the US? I find your paper to be one of the better in existence but do
not understand why there is no mention about this important event.

As you must well know, the DEA will close/are closing medical cannabis
clubs in California in defiance of the will of the California voter
and possibly 80% of the American voter. When polled, the American
people are clearly behind marijuana for the sick, and to a slightly
lesser degree, the American people want some sense to our War On Drugs
and a re-evaluation of our government’s war on marijuana as started by
and with no revisions since the Nixon era.

The time is long overdue to bring science and sanity together on this
issue. The current government scheme to combine drugs and terrorism
and place the American recreational and medical drug user at the
forefront of our recent terrorist woes is unconscionable.

I hope you will continue to service the American people by your good
work in the media and not forget the heart of our domestic problems –
the failed War On Drugs. Patients and their caregivers are now subject
to arrest and imprisonment. If this is not front-page news I don’t
know what is.

Respectfully,

Peter Christopher

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

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

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

Extra Credit. Please consider writing to some or all of the newspapers
that did publish something. Just click on the URL to see the article –
and the contact for your letter.

CA: OPED: Medical Marijuana Feds Should Stop Their Attack URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1064/a06.html

CA: Protesters Ask DEA to Change Drug Law URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1061/a11.html

WI: Rally Backs Medical Marijuana URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1056/a03.html

DC: PUB LTE: Medicinal Marijuana Is Up In Smoke URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1059/a07.html

US: OPED Why I Am Willing to Go to Jail For Medical Marijuana URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1057/a08.html

CA: 200 Join Santa Rosa Protest of Federal Pot Laws URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1057/a09.html

CA: Medicinal Marijuana Advocates Prepare For ‘Day of Direct Action’
URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1057/a10.html

CA: Protesters Target DEA Offices Over Medical Pot URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1057/a05.html

CA: Medical-Pot Backers Protest To Feds URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1056/a10.html

DC: 10 Arrested In Protest Against DEA URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1055/a05.html

DC: Hill Protests Target Marijuana, Oil Policies URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1053/a06.html

AZ: OPED: Stop The War On Medical Marijuana URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1052/a09.html

CA: Medical Marijuana Activists Plan Massive Protest URL
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1050/a05.html

CA: OPED: Stop The Federal War On Medical Marijuana URL
http//www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1049/a07.html

AZ: OPED: We Must Stop The War On Medical Marijuana URL
http//www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1043/a05.html

TX: Making Case For Marijuana URL http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1060/a05.html

CA: Inland Rallies For Medical Pot OK http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1056/a11.html

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Prepared by Richard Lake http://www.mapinc.org/rlake/ Focus Alert
Specialist

Date: Tue, 28 May 2002
Subject: #244 National Columnist Rebuts Drug Czar Fantasies

NATIONAL COLUMNIST REBUTS DRUG CZAR FANTASIES

——-
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
——-

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #244 May 28, 2002

Since his appointment to the unenviable job of being the nation’s
leading drug warrior this past December, John Walters has written
several opinion pieces which quite frankly have been a few cards short
of a full deck with regards to credibility and accuracy. From his
suggestion that American marijuana users support international
terrorism to the idea that they are major contributors to global
ecological destruction, Walters has not only come across as dishonest,
he has bordered on the hysterical.

Nowhere was this more obvious than his late April rant that was
published in the Washington Post and subsequently picked up on the
syndicate wire by a half dozen other newspapers. Here he gravely
intoned the dangers of ‘harmless marijuana’. He prefaced by noting
that for decades the American populace has snickered over
reefer-madness propaganda and then he proceeded to lay out a full
column’s worth of the same misleading information. This column was
nicely rebutted in each of the newspapers it ran in — both by letter
writers and also in a counterpoint column which ran in the St
Petersburg Times.

Now, three weeks after the fact, Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence
Page wrote his own rebuttal and utterly dismantled the key talking
points offered by Walters in his ill-advised piece. Page clearly shows
how Walters manufactures imaginary statistics regarding marijuana
potency levels. He also provides clear and honest examples of how the
voters in eight states and the District of Columbia have decisively
supported the legal access to medical marijuana within their own
borders. This was in direct contrast to the assertions by Walters that
such support constituted a ‘cynical campaign’ to covertly ‘legalize
drugs of all kinds’.

In short, Page’s column was as strong a refutation of a public policy
official’s dishonesty as we have seen at a national level in quite
some time. To date, we know of six newspapers that ran Page’s column.
Interestingly, the combined circulation of these six easily surpassed
the circulation of the six papers the Walters column was published in.
Thus far more Americans were exposed to the truthful rebuttal than to
the original misleading column by Walters.

Please consider writing letters to the papers which showed the courage
to run an opinion column that quite frankly states a federal official
of Walters’ stature is at best misleading the American public and at
worst is outright lying. Only in this way will these and other papers
have the future fortitude to run important and honest rebuttals of any
drug warring official’s opinions which may find their way into print
during the coming months.

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

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

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

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

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

To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm
and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form

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

The Page column was originally printed in his hometown newspaper, The
Chicago Tribune. We also have five other newspapers that picked up the
column off the syndicate wire. Please consider sending a letter to
each one. If you do this via e-mail, please be sure to send individual
mailings, though your content may be the same for each letter. LTE
Editors do not like using letters which are CCd to more than one
outlet. If you reference the headline be sure to use the correct on
for each publication as they vary from one paper to another.

Drug Czar Pushes Marijuana Myths With Tax Money
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n988/a01.html
Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Contact: [email protected]

Drug Czar Pushes Marijuana Myths With Tax Money
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n990/a02.html
Pubdate: Sun, 26 May 2002
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Contact: [email protected]

Drug Czar Pushes Myths
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n987/a01.html
Pubdate: Sat, 25 May 2002
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Contact: [email protected]

‘Reefer Madness,’ The Sequel: The Drug Czar’s Odd Ideas
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n984/a07.html
Pubdate: Sat, 25 May 2002
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: [email protected]

Drug Czar Perpetuates Pot Myths
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n981/a11.html
Pubdate: Sat, 25 May 2002
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Contact: [email protected]

Pushing Drug Myths With Our Taxes
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n976/a07.html
Pubdate: Thu, 23 May 2002
Source: The Dominion Post (WV)
Contact: [email protected]

What’s So Scary About Marijuana?
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1002/a07.html
Pubdate: Tue, 28 May 2002
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Contact: [email protected]

Hysterical Pot Shots Discredit Drug Czar
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1002/a08.html
Pubdate: Fri, 24 May 2002
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Contact: [email protected]

***************************************************************************
DRUG CZAR PUSHES MARIJUANA MYTHS WITH TAX MONEY
by Clarence Page — Chicago Tribune

Our nation’s drug czar is annoyed.

If proponents have their way, the District of Columbia will vote later
this year to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes for the second
time. John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, took some pot shots at the issue in a recent Washington Post
piece that has been reprinted across the country.

Unfortunately, he brings more smoke than light.

“After years of giggling at quaintly outdated marijuana scare stories
like the 1936 movie ‘Reefer Madness,”‘ he writes, “we’ve become almost
conditioned to think that any warning about the true dangers of
marijuana are overblown.”

He then proceeds with unintended irony to give an “overblown” warning
of his own about “The Myth of ‘Harmless’ Marijuana.”

He warns baby boomer parents that “today’s marijuana is different from
that of a generation ago, with potency levels 10 to 20 times stronger
than the marijuana with which they were familiar.”

He doesn’t say where he gets that whopper of a statistic and that’s
too bad, since it conflicts with a federally funded investigation of
marijuana samples confiscated by law enforcement over the past two
decades.

Published in the January, 2000, Journal of Forensic Science, that
study found the THC content (that’s the active ingredient that gets
you high) had only doubled to 4.2 percent from about 2 percent from
1980 to 1997.

Those are not undesirable potency levels when you are using it to
relieve illness.

Yes, marijuana is dangerous. So are cigarettes, liquor and
prescription drugs. The question that Walters fails to address is why
marijuana should be treated differently from those other drugs?

We allow adults to buy cigarettes and alcohol, even though both are
highly addictive and kill thousands every year.

Doctors treat the ill with numerous prescription drugs that are more
dangerous and addictive than marijuana. But they are not allowed to
treat the ill with marijuana, even though many wish they could.

Instead, thousands of Americans have become criminals by purchasing
marijuana rather than seeing their loved ones suffer.

Yet, Walters lambastes what he calls the “cynical campaign underway”
in the District of Columbia and elsewhere “to proclaim the virtues of
‘medical’ marijuana.”

In fact, those “cynical” campaigners include the American Public
Health Association, the New England Journal of Medicine and almost 80
other state and national health-care organizations that support legal
patient access to marijuana for medicinal treatment.

So far, eight states have legalized medical use of marijuana by ballot
initiative or legislation. District of Columbia voters also passed a
referendum in 1998, but it has been blocked by Congress. Where
referendums have been held, they have passed. But, alas, Walters is
following in the path of past drug czars who feel they know what’s
better for voters than the voters themselves do.

Walters dismisses those initiatives as “based on pseudo-science.”
Maybe he did not read the 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, a
branch of the National Academy of Sciences. It confirmed the
effectiveness of marijuana’s active components in treating pain,
nausea and the anorexic-wasting syndrome associated with AIDS.

Walters says we should wait for more information. He praises a study
now under way at the University of California’s Center for Medicinal
Cannabis Research. But, if that study doesn’t come out the way Walters
would like, you have to wonder, will he ignore that one, too?

“By now most Americans realize that the push to ‘normalize’ marijuana
for medical use is part of the drug legalization agenda,” he says,
mentioning financier George Soros and others who have contributed to
the legalization cause. Walters does not mention the billions of tax
dollars that he, as drug czar, has at his disposal to push marijuana
myths – with our tax money!

Instead, Walters arouses our passions by recounting the lawlessness of
violent marijuana-dealing street gangs in the District. If anything, pot
gangs offer us another good reason to legalize marijuana. After all, when a
drug is outlawed, only outlaws will have the drug.
******************************************************************************

SAMPLE LETTER

To the Editors:

Thank you for publishing Clarence Page’s outstanding OPED: “DRUG CZAR
PUSHES MYTHS” (Sat, 25 May 2002).

I agree with Drug Czar John P. Walters’ assertion that many of those
that support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes have
an agenda beyond just the legalization of marijuana for medicine.

I proudly count myself as having such an agenda.

Those who opposed slavery had an agenda, as did those who opposed the
mass murder of Jews and other minorities in Germany. And those who
opposed racial segregation, obviously had an agenda.

Those who opposed alcohol prohibition because it was counter-
productive and caused much more harm than it prevented obviously had
an agenda.

And yes, we who oppose recreational drug prohibition because it is
counterproductive and is causing much more harm than it prevents,
proudly have an agenda.

Best regards,

Kirk Muse

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.
—————————————————————————-

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

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

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Prepared by Stephen Heath http://www.flcan.org Focus Alert Specialist