TO OUR READERS: Due to an overwhelming week in the office, this issue of The Week Online is arriving a couple of days late. We thank you for your patience.

ALERT: We at DRCNet are proud to bring you the drug policy news each week. But DRCNet is not only about education, but also about Taking Action to Bring About Change Today. We lists here a few important action requests, followed as always by the weekly news.

1) Cleveland needle exchanger Ken Vail was arrested last week, as city officials place obstacle after bureaucratic obstacle in the way of this life-saving program. Vail and The Xchange Point NEP need our support now! Read our alert at http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-28.html and act.

2) DRUG CRAZY: How We Got Into This Mess, and How We Can Get Out -- read about this important new book by DRCNet advisory board member Mike Gray, forthcoming from Random House, in our alert at http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-29.html and take action. Your phone calls to bookstores in your area -- whether big chains or local independent stores, can help propel Drug Crazy to the bestseller list. As Newt Gingrich and the Republican leadership go "drug crazy" for the campaign season, and several more initiatives head to the ballots across the nation, Drug Crazy is coming out at just the right time to puncture the drug warriors' far-fetched fantasies of how they will "win the war on drugs." And DRCNet is lauded and prominently featured in the book's appendix, together with an Internet directory of drug policy reform and informational resources, so building up Drug Cray will build DRCNet and the movement too!

3) The House of Representatives is expected to vote this Tuesday on H.R. 372, a "Sense of the House" resolution opposing medical marijuana unequivocally and totally. While not legally binding, passage of H.R. 372 would be a political victory for the drug warriors, and could make further progress for medical marijuana more difficult. Please call your Representative ASAP, and ask him or her to vote NO on H.R. 372. You can reach your rep via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. (The vote is coming right up, so phone calls or faxes are needed more than e-mails or letters.)

4) Support DRCNet! We rely on our members for continuing support. If you haven't yet donated to DRCNet, this would be a perfect time to join. Your support at any level, be it a $10 virtual members, a $25 full membership, $30 to get a free copy of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, or more, represents a vote for DRCNet and drug policy reform. Your support will keep the organization going strong, and will show our major funders that our subscribers care about our work and are ready to act, helping us raise the money to build our subscriber list from the current 5,000 up to 50,000 and from 50,000 to 100,000, creating an unstoppable force for positive drug policy change. If you are already a member, we would be grateful for your continuing support. Please visit our registration/donation form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html, or send your checks to: DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036. Contributions to DRCNet are not tax-deductible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. DRCNet Special Report: Drug War Under Fire from Left, Right -- The Battle Begins
2. Members of Congressional Black Caucus Call for Drug Czar's Resignation over Syringe Exchange
3. Kemba's Nightmare, Part II
4. Marijuana Activist Arrested after Appearing on Frontline
5. Medical Marijuana in California
6. Julian Heicklen: Penn State Protest Update
7. Opiate Maintenance Conferences in New York
8. Editorial: Prohibition's Final Battle

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Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

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