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(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #59, 9/18/98
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" TABLE OF CONTENTS
(visit last week's Week Online) or check out The Week Online archives
1. Shattered Lives Book Offer Continues, Eyegive Participants Raising Valuable Funds for DRCNet Earlier this week we announced our new book offer to new and renewing members -- free copies of "Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War" to members who donate $35 or more to the organization -- or $23 including postage to those who just wish to buy the book and not pay dues right now ($24.15 for D.C. residents including sales tax). If you are on this list, chances are that this book will tear your heart out. Read more about it on the web site of the exhibit that preceded the book, http://www.hr95.org. Or just use our online form to order -- secure encrypted version at https://www.drcnet.org/cgi-shl/drcreg.cgi (recommended for credit card donors) or unsecured version at http://www.drcnet.org/cgi-shl/drcreg.cgi (recommended you print it out and pay by check). A heartfelt thanks to those of you who are participating in the eyegive online fundraising program. Daily revenues have recently topped $20 a day on weekdays -- over $6,000 a year, earned entirely by your visiting the eyegive home page and clicking on ads up to five times a day. And in case you were wondering, we have received checks from eyegive in the promised amounts. Keep it up! If you haven't signed up for eyegive yet, you can sign up, or find out more about it, by visiting http://www.eyegive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1060. If you've signed up but have trouble remembering to visit, a good way to remind yourself is to set http://www.eyegive.com as your "home page" that your browser points to when opened -- go to edit-preferences to make that selection.
Over 230 of you have responded to our Free Will Foster alert last week. Thank you for doing your part! It's important that the pressure be maintained until Will Foster goes free. If you haven't contacted Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating on Will Foster's behalf, please do so today! Complete information is included in the next article (below). This past week we asked our readers to contact their U.S. Representatives in opposition to two bills: H.J. Res. 117, a "Sense of the House" resolution against medical marijuana, and H.R. 4300, the "Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act," increasing the militarization of the U.S.-led war on drugs in the Andes. Unfortunately both bills passed, but the news is not all bad. While H.J. Res. 117 passed 310 to 93, it is encouraging that 93 members of the House would vote in favor of medical marijuana during a contentious election year, and in fact that number is higher than was expected in this first-ever Congressional vote on medical marijuana -- six Republicans even voted our way. Furthermore, the language of the resolution was very much diluted relative to its former incarnation, H.J. Res. 372 (as discussed in our article below). Keep those letters going in, and someday Congress will turn our way! You can find out how your Rep. voted by visiting http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=1998&rollnumber=435 on the web. H.R. 4300 was a harder vote for us, and that passed by a wider margin, 384-39. Most people simply don't understand that supply reduction is not partially but totally ineffective, and that Andean militarization is closely connected with serious human rights abuses. Those 39 representatives, then, deserve to be congratulated for taking a tough vote and doing the right thing. You can read who voted for and who voted against by visiting http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=1998&rollnumber=442. Some reps, however, are willing to do the wrong thing, whether or not they understand the issue. One of our members has informed us that he got in a heated debate with a staffer at the office of Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA), culminating with his being information that Bliley thinks that fighting drug abuse in our own country is more important that human rights in other countries. Perhaps the staffer exaggerated in the heat of the moment, but even if so, the episode shows how warped a perspective some policymakers have developed in the war on drugs. Can Rep. Bliley truly believe it is moral for the U.S. government to indirectly fund torture and death squad executions, to supposedly save some Americans from the consequences of their own choices? If this makes you as angry as it makes us, give Tom Bliley a call at (202)225-2815 and ask if he really believes this. The second issue is whether the 384 reps who voted for this bill actually believe it will help. Report after report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, for example, have found these strategies to be ineffective. (Check out http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/GOVPUBS/gao/gaomen1.htm to read many of them online.) Many members of Congress undoubtedly have bought into the party line and think this militarization bill will help. But the problem isn't that Andean peasants are growing coca. The problem is the ignorance of our public officials who haven't read even the government's own evidence on the subject. (See our alert at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/058.html#andes to learn more about this important topic.) Another of our members caught H.J. Res. 117's sponsor, Bill McCollum, in what can charitably be characterized as a factual error on the House floor during the debate. McCollum remarked, "According to the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, HIV positive smokers of marijuana progress to full blown AIDS twice as fast as non-smokers and have increased incidences of bacterial pneumonia." But in private correspondence, a researcher at that agency wrote "I am unaware of any study that shows that marijuana smoking speeds HIV progression. A number of studies, conducted both by NIAID-sponsored investigators and others, have concluded that cannabis and other psychoactive substances are not co-factors in HIV disease progression." The letter went on to list several relevant studies. Any member of the House or Senate can be reached through the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
3. Free Will Foster Campaign Continues Concerned citizens from around the world continue to urge Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating to sign off on a state parole board recommendation that Will Foster, medical cannabis user, be immediately paroled. Foster, who was sentenced in 1996 to 93 years in prison for cultivation had his sentence reduced to 20 years on appeal. Due to serious overcrowding in the Oklahoma prison system, as well as a new law mandating that violent offenders serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence, Foster became eligible for parole immediately. If you haven't yet taken a moment to contact Governor Keating on Will's behalf, please consider doing so today. Remember, a letter has the greatest impact, followed by a phone call, fax and email, respectively. Foster, who owned his own computer software business at the time of his arrest, poses no threat to anyone, yet has already been separated from his family for two years. To reach the Governor, call (405) 521-2342, e-mail [email protected] (the governor's e-mail has bounced in the past, so we don't know for sure whether it works now, fax to (405) 521-3317, 523-4224 or 522-3492, or write to: Governor Frank KeatingVery important: Be polite! Remember, there is no reason to assume he is against us at this point, and we need to always present ourselves as credible and reasonable. And make sure to let us know you've written! We need to know if you've acted, to evaluate our effectiveness and demonstrate it to our donors. Drop us a note at [email protected], or just reply to this message, to let us know. (You can read our original alert at http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/9-10.html.)
4. Attention Students DRCNet's U-Net discussion list is now online, as is our U-Net web site at http://www.drcnet.org/U-net. If you are a campus activist, or if you'd like to become more involved in the movement, check it out. On the discussion list you'll be in touch with students from across the country. You'll be able to learn from the experience of committed activists, share your own knowledge, discuss ideas for activism and coordinate your activities on a regional and a national scale. There's no pressure to commit any more time than you're able, just a great way to make the most of the time, the resources and the skills at your disposal. To subscribe, send email to [email protected] with the words "subscribe U-net your name". (Leave out the quotations and substitute your actual name.) Hope to see you there!
5. DEA Raids Humboldt Cannabis Center, Destroys Patients' Medicine Dale Gieringer, California NORML Arcata, CA: Sept. 9, 1998.
DEA agents raided the collective
Eyewitnesses report that a team of fourteen agents landed by helicopter at the center's garden last Wednesday, Sept. 9th. Included were four state narcotics agents, who claimed to be observers but participated in destroying the crop. The DEA did not raid the center's office nor arrest any of its personnel. The DEA has staged similar raids against medical marijuana gardens at the San Francisco Flower Therapy club and Dennis Peron's Lake County Farm. The Humboldt Cannabis Center is a patient collective with over 300 members. It operates in accordance with an Arcata city ordinance which explicitly recognizes the right of patients to form "medical marijuana associations" to help acquire marijuana for themselves. The Center has worked in close cooperation with local authorities, including Arcata police chief Mel Brown, who runs a patient identification card program. In an effort to cooperate with local authorities, Humboldt Cannabis Center had notified law enforcement of the location of its garden. Insofar as cultivation of marijuana by medical patients is protected under Proposition 215, state officials have no authority to disturb collective gardens. However, DEA agents act under federal law, under which medical marijuana remains strictly illegal. Observers suspect that a disgruntled local law enforcement official tipped off the DEA to come in. "I guess they'd rather that patients buy on the black market," commented Humboldt Cannabis Center director Jason Browne, "The federal government is promoting illegal drug dealing." California NORML denounced the raid as an outrageous example of government piracy, noting that the Humboldt center is widely respected as one of the best-run medical cooperatives in the state. (California NORML is on the web at http://www.norml.org/canorml.)
6. House Approves Anti-Medical Cannabis Resolution, Patient Arrested For Medicating in McCollum's Office On Tuesday, September 15, Renee Emry, a multiple sclerosis patient and mother of three, lit a marijuana cigarette in the Washington, D.C. office of Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) to protest an anti medical marijuana resolution being debated that day on the floor of the House of Representatives. McCollum, who once co-sponsored a pro-medical marijuana bill in the early eighties, was the chief sponsor of House Joint Resolution 117. H.J. Res 117 is a non-binding sense of the House Resolution stating Congress's opposition to marijuana as medicine. In front of dozens of media and spectators, Emry was soon arrested by Capital police, placed in a wheel chair, handcuffed and sent to a local D.C. jail to await a hearing. Before committing the act of civil disobedience, Emry stated in a press release, "I got arrested today so that hopefully some day, other patients will not have to." Emry was released from custody and will appear for trial on December 7th, 1998, where she faces up to six months in jail, but not before having two conditions placed on her release by Hearing Commissioner Aida Melendez. Condition one: Emry is not allowed to enter any Congressional office buildings. "My First Amendment rights have been stripped without even having the benefit of a trial," Emry said the day after being released. "I had an appointment with my Senator that I had to cancel to avoid being sent back to jail. My citizenship has been reduced because I have been charged with -- not yet convicted of -- marijuana possession." Condition two: Emry is not to use her medicine -- marijuana -- until after the trial. On this Emry explained, " I have to be urine tested every week. If I test positive for my only medicine, I will be sent back to jail until my trial. When I was locked up on Tuesday, I was so scared and cold the my shivers nearly resulted in convulsions." Emry also told the WOL that while in a jail cell awaiting her hearing she was placed with prostitutes and several women arrested for assault. "I will surely be severely injured or assaulted if they send me back to jail. My condition has been stabilized for over ten years, but if I'm forced to go without my medicinal marijuana for nearly two months, I will be bedridden. Even worse I could start a downward spiral that would kill me in a few years." Chuck Thomas, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, which led the lobbying efforts against the resolution, said of all this, "Renee's case exemplifies why the House's recent vote was so inhumane." While Emry was awaiting her hearing, Congress debated the Resolution for forty minutes. H.J. Res. 117 states among other things, "Congress continues to support the existing Federal legal process for determining the safety and efficacy of drugs and opposes efforts to circumvent this process by legalizing marijuana and other Schedule I drugs for medicinal use without valid scientific evidence and the approval of the FDA..." This language is similar to, though significantly less hostile than, an earlier Resolution, H.J. Res. 372, which passed the House judiciary committee in late March, an event that was marked by another multiple sclerosis patient, Cheryl Miller, getting arrested for consuming marijuana in the office of Rep. Jim Rogan (R-CA). (See our coverage at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/036.html#protest.) Although Rep. McCollum's office would not comment to the WOL about Renee Emry's act, he stated on the house floor during debate, "Everybody here today in this body is sympathetic with people who suffer from pain in this country and the many Americans who have been told in some cases that the smoking of marijuana will relieve that pain to them. But the ingredients that they need the medical profession has already laid forth in medicine that is available and approved." Although several Congressmen spoke in opposition to the measure, there was little talk of criminal penalties for patients who use, grow and possess their medicine pending government approval. Only Rep. Pelosi (D-CA) brought that up, observing, "The logic of the authors of this legislation therefore seems to be that a very ill person should be sent to jail because he or she used the smokable form of a drug whose active ingredient is currently licensed for oral use." The debate instead focused on drug use among children, the FDA approval process and the legalization movement. Several hours later the House took a roll call vote and passed the resolution by 310 to 93. "Fortunately, nearly 100
members of Congress opposed H.J. Res. 117," said MPP's Chuck Thomas.
"We're almost
The states which will be voting on medical cannabis initiatives in November are Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Alaska. (You can find the Marijuana Policy Project on the web at http://www.mpp.org.)
7. Medical Marijuana On Ballot In D.C. After a long effort to qualify a medical marijuana initiative for the District of Columbia ballot, ACTUP DC has succeeded. The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics today certified I-59 for the ballot. Organizers of I-59 had turned in 32,000 signatures in support of the measure in July, but almost half of the signatures were dismissed after the election board cited problems with the affidavit of a person who circulated the petition. On September 3rd, Superior Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ruled that the election board was wrong to set aside more than 4,600 signatures based on a "harmless" discrepancy. Wayne Turner of ACTUP was stunned by the decision. He told The Week Online, "Getting on the ballot was a monumental achievement. This has been grassroots politics at its finest." The campaign to legalize the possession, use, cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical if recommended by a physician will begin on September 15. "We have seven weeks to get the word out and get our people to the polls." I-59 and its predecessor, I-57, were originally sponsored by Steve Michael, who passed away from complications resulting from AIDS early this summer. Persons interested in volunteering with the I-59 campaign can call (202) 547-9404 or e-mail [email protected]. Further information is available at http://www.actupdc.org.
8. Industrial Hemp Making Strides Worldwide This week, industrial hemp supporters won major victories in three different parts of the world. The Rand Corporation pledged 25 million dollars for a five year project to develop a strong South African Hemp industry, Gov. Ben Cayetano, governor of Hawaii, came out in favor of industrial hemp, and a North Dakota State University (NDSU) study says industrial hemp has great potential and should be grown in the U.S. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald asked candidates to give their positions on a number of issues for its election guide. Cayetano went as far as to tell the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, "I wear occasionally a product made of hemp." "Hawaii is in a severe economic slump. Industrial hemp can provide a viable substitute for failing crops," said Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R-Kenoehe) "I believe Governor Cayetano is the first governor in the nation to support it and we are delighted. Now, it's time for the federal government to get out of the way and let our state farmers make money again," Thielen told The Week Online. David Kraenzel, of the NDSU agriculture economics department, presented his study to the legislative Interim Commerce and Agricultural Committee last Thursday at the State Capitol. The Bismarck Tribune reported a favorable reception to the idea of allowing hemp cultivation by the committee. Since Canada has recently legalized industrial hemp, Tim Petry of NDSU believes progress will be easier in a year when there is better data available. Businesses seem very interested in getting involved with South African Hemp. James Wynn of the South African Hemp Company (SAHC) told Engineering News that "Demand for hemp products worldwide has increased by 233% over the past two years." Unfortunately there are some legislative hurdles that may impede the viability of this plan. The Department of Health must issue permits for growing hemp. But, it only meets once every six weeks and hemp permits are often pushed aside for more pressing matters of business. "A whole season can be missed because it takes months before a permit is cleared," said Wynn. Chris Conrad, president of the Business Alliance for Commercial Hemp, told the Week Online that Canada has "set the tone for competition." "The developments of this past week are a good example of how economics and science are slowly but surely taking precedence over the politics of marijuana," said Conrad. The office of National Drug Control Policy has a very different view of industrial hemp. Its official statement on the subject says that "legalizing hemp would send a confusing message to our youth... and may lead to de facto legalization of marijuana cultivation." The statement goes on to say that the "production of hemp appears to offer no relief to farmers or manufacturers of textiles or paper as an alternative crop or product."
9. Methadone Clinic Sues Fairfax Police On August 14, the Fairfax police department presented a warrant to search the Fairfax Methadone Treatment Clinic in connection with a stolen car which had been park in the vicinity of the center. During the search, which lasted for about four hours, 8-10 officers seized patient files, wrote down confidential information and collected license plate numbers in the parking lot. Patients arriving to receive their treatment were turned away at the door and when a nurse objected to the search she was threatened with being arrested. After the search was over, the staff of the treatment clinic were left to pick up the pieces of the clients' broken confidence. The Fairfax Methadone Treatment Clinic has chosen to file a civil rights suit against the Fairfax Police Department. This search is not the first time the Fairfax police have come to the clinic looking for patient information, according to David Tripp, the attorney representing the clinic. Patient records are protected under federal law against this type of seizure. "People who take the extraordinarily difficult step to seek drug addiction treatment are protected under federal statute," Tripp told The Week Online. The clinic is looking for assurances that there will be no more of these privacy violations and that all the material seized is returned to the clinic. "We want to make sure that the patient information is not sitting in some database for future use," commented Tripp. He explains that the warrant was unconstitutionally broad and that the officers used this opportunity to get information on clients they knew they could not obtain by any other means. The stolen vehicle was part of a jewelry robbery investigation in the area. The suspect the police were looking for was reported to be a white man. Patient files of black males were also seized during the search. Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, called the search "one of the most outrageous violations of the 4th amendment I have ever witnessed." Police many times become overzealous when investigating a crime, and it is the job of the magistrate to protect citizens' rights. "The magistrate was either asleep at the wheel or unaware of the 4th amendment when he granted that warrant." As program director of the clinic, Ofelia Sellati has had to deal with the lost trust of the patients. "Many of them are angry and stunned by the action. Some are taking legal action of their own," she told The Week Online. "This has affected the goodwill of our business. Clients come to us and we promise to protect their confidence. We can no longer promise that. Who would have thought that the police would show up and shatter that goodwill and trust? Drug treatment is built on trust. Where do we go from here?"
10. Immigrant Children Used to Sell Cocaine in Vancouver's Black Market In yet another stunning example of the dangers of prohibition to children, police in Vancouver, British Columbia have reported this week (9/11) that over the summer they have picked up seven Honduran children, aged 10-15, who were selling crack cocaine. The most recent, and most shocking, incident occurred last week when a ten year-old child swallowed at least 18 pieces of the substance as the police approached him. The unidentified boy was taken immediately to a local hospital where his stomach was pumped. The children, according to BC police, are being used as "mules", holding the drugs while adults transact the sales. Adam J. Smith, associate director of DRCNet, who spent more than a decade working with children and teens in New York City, commented, "the use of children, and the luring of young teens into the drug trade, is an inevitable consequence of prohibition. We had the same problem with Alcohol Prohibition, which was one reason why mothers across the nation came together to overturn the eighteenth amendment." Smith continued, "Clearly, in this case, we have a situation where very young children were being exploited, which is in itself horrifying. We see that a lot with border crossings where children are made to either carry drugs on them or to swallow balloons or condoms filled with heroin or cocaine. But there is also the problem of young teens who find that there is money to be made in selling drugs on a small scale to their friends who use them. Put simply, prohibition insures that the drug trade remains in the hands of children and criminals and out of societal control. If we look, on the other hand, at alcohol, despite very lax enforcement of existing regulations, kids are not selling it and, for the most part, they cannot directly buy it. Prohibition is not 'drug control'. In fact we've abdicated control over the market in illicit drugs. For children, the consequences of the drug war are disastrous."
With Washington, D.C. and, to a lesser extent it seems, the nation consumed by the steamy details of Bill Clinton's extramarital dalliances, the question has been posed, by the President himself no less, "what, exactly constitutes private vs. public conduct, and where should the line be drawn?" Clinton clearly believes it is wrong for the government to use its vast powers to snoop around in people's lives and pry into the decisions and actions of consenting adults. Or does he? Every day in America, hundreds of doors are kicked in by gun wielding agents of the state in search of evidence of conduct which by any reasonable standard should be considered private. What coherent set of principles would allow, on the one hand, the government to seek out and criminally punish people who ingest unacceptable substances in their own home, on their own time, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes, yet prohibit the state from looking into the behavior of public servants, acting on public time, who occupy an office whose very stability is of vital import to the functioning and the future of the free world? The people whose lives are turned upside down by intrusions incident to the Drug War owe no debt of service to their countrymen comparable to that of the President. They have neither sought out positions of public responsibility, nor committed themselves to public accountability. They do not ask for secret service protection, they want no free air time from TV networks, they do not seek a paycheck, nor a pension, nor access to Air Force One courtesy of their fellow taxpayers. What they want most from their government is radical indeed. They simply want to be left, as much as possible, alone. There is no articulated right to "privacy" in the Constitution of these United States. The word does not appear in the Preamble, nor in the articles, nor in the Bill of Rights. But when one reads the text of the document upon which a nation and an enlightened system of government was founded more that 200 years ago, one thing is perfectly clear: before the government interferes in your life, searches your house, seizes your property, infringes on your liberty, they -- or more accurately, under a government of, by and for the people, we -- had better have a damn good reason. Our Chief Executive seems offended, even outraged, that his privacy has been so offhandedly disregarded by agents of the State. He did not see fit to mention, however, that during his administration there has been a steady erosion of privacy on all fronts, from economic to personal, under the guise of fighting the Drug War. Or that each year of his presidency has brought record numbers of arrests -- including over 640,000 in 1997 for marijuana -- over 80% of those for simple possession. Even if not impeachable, is Clinton's behavior, and the integrity of the office of the President, less compelling than the question of whether or not your next door neighbor is smoking a joint while watching Saturday Night Live? Isn't it conceivable that the adulterous affairs of a President could leave him vulnerable to untoward political pressures? Even blackmail? What comparable threat is posed by the consensual private conduct that daily gives rise to countless "no-knock" warrants under Clinton's Drug War? "Even Presidents have private lives," Bill Clinton scolded. But judging by his actions, this statement does not entirely encapsulate his beliefs. To be sure, Clinton wants his privacy, and believes that he is entitled to such basic consideration. In Bill Clinton's mind, a President deserves the right to keep the most intimate and personal details of his existence out of the reach of government scrutiny and power. He just doesn't think that the rest of us deserve the same protection. Adam J. Smith
If you like what you see here and want to get these bulletins by e-mail, please fill out our quick signup form at https://stopthedrugwar.org/WOLSignup.shtml. PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank you. Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
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