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The last batch of books from the old book deal, Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, went out two weeks ago. Everyone who is entitled to a copy from us should have it by now. But just in case, if your copy of MMMF hasn't shown up, please let us know right away; write to our new Membership Coordinator, Kris Lotlikar, at [email protected]. Kris is also handling bumpersticker requests (sent to all new paying members, and others upon request), and will be spearheading the new book offer as well. With Kris on the job, we are committed to "rapid response" on all promised items.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Gray vs. Satel in Slate Online Magazine
2. Federal Judge Rejects Oakland Buyers' Club Status, Rejects Government's Call for Immediate Shut-Down
3. Police Seize Methadone Treatment Clinic Files
4. In Response to Slaying, "Chad's Law" Will Place Stricter Limits on Use of Children as Informants in California
5. Judge Finds City-Imposed Restrictions on Scheduled Marijuana Rally Unconstitutional
6. Survey Finds American Teens Woefully Uninformed About Government
7. California State Senate Adjourns Without Taking Action on Medical Marijuana Research Bill
8. Afghani Opium Crop Grows Despite Taliban's Promises of Eradication
9. EDITORIAL: From Ignorance to Tyranny

1. Gray vs. Satel in Slate Online Magazine

Mike Gray, author of the book Drug Crazy, released by Random House last June, is debating prohibitionist activist Sally Satel on the online magazine Slate, http://www.slate.com. Go to the Slate home page and click on the War on Drugs dialogue link (towards the bottom of the page), then read the Gray/Satel debate, vote and join the discussion; you will have to register for a free trial account, if you are not a Slate subscriber. Last we checked, Gray and Satel had each posted two installments. In our opinion, Satel's lack of logic had already become apparent, next to our favorite author's clear and forceful exposition of the hard reality of prohibition's failure.

If you haven't been on DRCNet for very long and don't know about Drug Crazy, we urge you to get out to your local bookstore and pick up a copy, or suggest they order some copies if you don't see it there. Drug Crazy is the best, most readable history of prohibition ever written for the popular audience. Mike Gray, whose credits include the script from the hit movie The China Syndrome as well as work on Star Trek: The Next Generation (and who is a member of DRCNet's advisory board), spent six years researching and writing Drug Crazy, about which he told the Chicago Tribune last week "I look at everything I'd done as training for this book," and about which New York magazine wrote "Gray's point -- and though he's not the first to make it, he has honed and hardened it enough to pierce the thickest skulls -- is that the drug war isn't... an authentic conflict between enemies but a hysterical splitting of the whole." Further, Drug Crazy includes an extensive appendix of Internet drug policy resources, highlighting DRCNet and the early Internet drug policy reform work of DRCNet founder David Borden and DRCNet drug library founder Cliff Schaffer. Gray exchanged views with U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey on CNN, a debate that McCaffrey tried to hide behind after making a fool of himself in Europe with his wildly inaccurate misstatements on the Netherlands drug situation (see http://www.drcnet.org/wol/050.html#footinmouth).

A couple of reviews of Drug Crazy are available online -- Walter Kirn's review in New York magazine, July 13, http://www.newyorkmag.com/Critics/view.asp?id=1551, and amazingly, a review by Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane, Jr., in the Denver Post, June 28, online at http://www.denverpost.com/books/boook286.htm. Read more about Drug Crazy at http://www.drugcrazy.com.

2. Federal Judge Rejects Oakland Buyers' Club Status, Rejects Government's Call for Immediate Shut-Down

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Monday (8/31) rejected the Oakland city council's rather creative attempt to shield that city's medical marijuana buyers' club from prosecution under the federal controlled substances act, but declined the federal government's request to order the club shut down. Instead, Breyer indicated that he is considering allowing a jury to decide on the question of medical necessity on the part of those who are using the club.

Jeff Jones, director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative told The Week Online, "First, we haven't seen the written ruling yet, and we're anxious to read it in its entirety, but I'd call the decision a mixed bag. While Judge Breyer failed to recognize our immune status, he also barred the U.S. Marshall's service from coming in to shut us down. We'll appeal the first part of that, of course.

"Interestingly, when the U.S. Attorney argued to the court that we were illegal under California law under People v. Peron, Judge Breyer told him that he was under the impression that we were legal under state law, and offered the government the chance for a hearing on that issue. But the government backed down, rather than have that point decided definitively."

Jones Continued, "I am still recognized by the city of Oakland as a city officer, and we are still operating under the assumption that we are immune from federal law because of that designation. And as to the possibility of a jury trial, we are determined to have this case heard by a jury of Californians, who voted strongly in favor of this issue, who were not and have never been misled about the issue and who will see and surely decide that we are committed to relieving human suffering, while the federal government is, in this case, committed to prolonging and exacerbating that suffering. It will be the first time anywhere that a medical necessity defense has been heard with regard to multiple patients, and we are confident as to the outcome of such a trial."

The U.S. Attorney's office did not return a phone call for comment on this case.

3. Police Seize Methadone Treatment Clinic Files

- Kris Lotlikar

"How can I guarantee my patients any confidentiality when the police think they can come in and help themselves to our records?" Ofelia Sellati, the clinic's program director, told the Washington Post. In an affidavit requesting the warrant Detective Garnett Broderick wrote, "It is common for people who have addictions to various narcotics... to engage in these kinds of criminal activities to support [their] drug addictions."

Critics of the police action say the warrant appeared to be unconstitutionally broad and based on drug use stereotypes. To seize drug-treatment records requires a special court order, some privacy experts commented. "We want to be able to help the police when they have a legal right to know," Sellati commented to the Washington Post. "But this was an abuse of power."

4. In Response to Slaying, "Chad's Law" Will Place Stricter Limits on Use of Children as Informants in California

By a margin of 70-1, the California State legislature has passed a bill known as "Chad's Law" that would place limits on the way law enforcement uses minors as informants. AB 2816 would prohibit the police from using informants under 13 years of age, and insure that teen-agers work undercover only with informed parental consent and a judge's approval. California State Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) authored the bill in response to the murder last year of teenager Chad MacDonald by dealers he'd informed upon in cooperation with local police. MacDonald, 17, had been arrested in January on a small possession charge, and wore a wire as part of a deal to have the charges dropped. Two months later he was beaten and strangled, and his 15-year-old girlfriend raped, beaten and left for dead. (See the March 27, 1998 issue of The Week Online for the full story http://www.drcnet.org/wol/035.html#informant.)

"If this law had been in place last January," Baugh told the Week Online, "The Chad MacDonald tragedy would never have happened." First, law enforcement and prosecutors would not have been able to use scare tactics such as telling MacDonald he was facing a long prison term. (In fact, according to Baugh, he would likely have been sentenced to only 6 months in a drug rehab program.) Second, prosecutors pressured MacDonald's mother into agreeing to the plan, warning her not to consult with her fiance and telling her she had only a day to make her decision. By requiring a judge to approve the use of minor informants on a case-by-case basis, the bill introduces a level of accountability that should prevent such "coerced consent."

Originally, the bill proposed to prohibit children under 15 from undercover work. The age limit was amended to 13, according to Baugh, after law enforcement representatives testified before the Assembly that preventing younger teenagers from informing would only encourage dealers to recruit them into the drug trade. "They told us that thugs would target younger children to do the dirty work," Baugh said. The California State Assembly voted 70-1 to send the bill to Gov. Pete Wilson, and the Senate approved the bill a 37-0 vote last Thursday. Governor Pete Wilson is expected to sign the bill into law.

5. Judge Finds City-Imposed Restrictions on Scheduled Marijuana Rally Unconstitutional

(reprinted from the NORML Weekly News, http://www.norml.org)

September 3, 1998, Boston, MA: A Superior Court Judge ruled that free speech restrictions imposed on organizers of the annual "Boston Freedom Rally" by city officials are unconstitutional. William Downing, President of the NORML's Massachusetts state affiliate, praised the judge's decision to strike down the gag order. "The judge's decision restores freedom of expression and assembly on the Boston Common."

Earlier this year, city officials reluctantly granted the organization permission to hold the event, but included a requirement that all speakers and performers discourage marijuana smoking and announce that police would enforce all state drug laws. This week, Judge Carol Ball determined that the city's stipulations for the speakers were "constitutionally impermissible," and also enjoined the city from enforcing many of the permit's other requirements.

In past years, the "Freedom Rally" has drawn crowds approaching 100,000 people, making it the largest marijuana-reform event in the nation. This year's event will take place on October 3 at the Boston Commons.

For more information about the rally, please contact Bill Downing of Mass Cann NORML at (781) 944-2266.

6. Survey Finds American Teens Woefully Uninformed About Government

A nationwide survey of 600 teens aged 13-17 found that they were overwhelmingly, if unsurprisingly, uninformed about the principles, makeup and history of the United States Government. The poll, conducted by the National Constitution Center and released this week (9/2/98), found that fewer than two percent recognized James Madison as the "father of the Constitution," that only two percent could identify William Rehnquist as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, only 25 percent could name any one of the rights enumerated in the fifth amendment to the Constitution, and that more than 25 percent could not name Al Gore as the Vice President.

Eric Sterling, President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, told The Week Online, "It is enormously dangerous, and in fact it should be alarming, that kids are unaware of their government, and especially of the constitutional principles guaranteeing their liberties. The strength and the glory of the United States is the heritage of freedom that we have inherited from the framers. The fact is that if people are not aware of history, they run the risk of having someone supply an alternative history to them in pursuit of ends which would not otherwise be acceptable."

Sterling continued, "In terms of the drug war, a survey like this underscores the fraudulency of the whole "send a message to our children" premise. In fact, I recall that during the debate over congressional drug testing, it was postulated that such a program would 'send a message to our youth.' Such is the enormity of the hubris of our elected representatives, assuming that once they pass a law the public reacts. In fact, for the most part the public, and especially kids, are not even aware that the government has acted at all."

7. California State Senate Adjourns Without Taking Action on Medical Marijuana Research Bill

SACRAMENTO, Sep. 1: Senator Vasconcellos' medical marijuana research bill, SB 535, died as the result of a legislative accident today, when the State Senate was adjourned prematurely before the Assembly could finish business. SB 535 was on the floor of the Assembly and had a good shot at passage, when Senate President John Burton announced he was adjourning the State Senate early as part of a dispute with the Assembly concerning other matters.

Medical marijuana backers were disappointed by the failure of SB 535, although Gov. Wilson was expected to veto the bill. They expect the bill will be re-introduced and signed into law next year, since both leading candidates for governor have announced their support for it.

For more information, contact California NORML at (415) 563-5858 or e-mail [email protected].

8. Afghani Opium Crop Grows Despite Taliban's Promises of Eradication

According to The Independent, one of the United Kingdom's largest daily newspapers, a forthcoming United Nations report shows that new areas of Afghanistan are being used for the cultivation of opium poppies, and that despite poor weather conditions, next year's crop will be one of the largest ever. The Taliban, who have gained control of over 90% of the country, had previously promised to eradicate poppies in exchange for promises of economic aid from UN "Drug Czar" Pino Arlacchi. (See our prior coverage at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/021.html#taliban, http://www.drcnet.org/wol/053.html#taliban, and http://www.drcnet.org/wol/038.html#richardson, and http://www.drcnet.org/wol/021.html#editorial.

9. EDITORIAL: From Ignorance to Tyranny

A poll released this week by the National Constitution Center found that the vast majority of American young people, aged 13-17, are woefully uninformed about their government. This would be worrisome in any case, but in a representative democracy whose leaders have shown over the past several years a willingness to trade constitutional principles for political expediency, it could well portend disaster.

While nearly three of every four teens could identify Al Gore as the Vice President, the same percentage could not name even one right enumerated in the fifth amendment, and only two percent of the 600 teens queried could identify James Madison as the "father of the constitution" or William Rehnquist as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The Constitution of the United States of America was written for the purpose of limiting the power of government and making it accountable to the governed. This notion, that the governed ought be concerned with, and in control of, the actions of government, was not predicated upon some set of circumstances particular to the time; in fact it was based upon a deep understanding of both human nature and power itself. And the truths that applied then have not changed in the intervening 200 years, nor are they likely to change in the thousand to come.

But no constitution, nor any written protection against tyranny no matter how old or how revered in the abstract, can ever protect the inalienable rights of men and women unless those men and women are watching closely over those given the privilege of power. And in order to be watchful, one must certainly understand that which is being watched. Not just for a single generation, but for time immemorial. It is therefore the sacred responsibility of each generation to teach its successors not only about the primacy of liberty and of the sacrifices made by their forefathers to achieve it, but about the mechanisms of government itself and of the terrifying ease with which that liberty, so hard won, can be lost again.

But teaching citizens, much less teenagers, about the inherent corruptibility of power and the dangers of allowing it to operate outside of the strict supervision of the governed, is not in the interest of those doing the governing. And in case you are tempted to believe that I overstate the case, or that I misjudge the character of those whom we have elected, I invite you to try a little experiment. Call your elected official, your congressional representative will do nicely, and posit the following:

"Hello madam legislator, I am a member of your constituency and I am troubled about my child's education in the public school as it relates to the United States and its government. I am a patriotic American you see, with a long and proud family tradition of military service, and I want very much to know if you believe that our young men and women should be taught to trust, or to distrust our government?"

Listen closely to the answer that you get. Is it the same one that our founders would have given?

Our kids, the ones who cannot identify their constitutional rights, are growing up in an America where, thanks largely to the Drug War, such niceties are increasingly becoming irrelevant. Drug-sniffing dogs roam their schools; curfew laws forbid their appearance in public for all but a few hours between the end of the school day and the onset of night; doors are kicked in as a matter of course based upon the flimsiest of evidence obtained from the shadiest of characters; property is seized upon mere suspicion of wrongdoing; private, consensual conduct is widely banned; the military is deployed domestically; the chemical composition of one's urine or blood or hair is the business of the state; purveyors of the arts and of entertainment are beseeched by the government to parrot the accepted ideology; citizens who have never harmed a soul save themselves sit in cages for long years with no discretion allowed the sentencing judge; children are urged, directly and indirectly, to turn in their parents; patients are forbidden their choice of treatment, their doctors threatened, spied upon and harassed; juries are forbidden from learning that they have the right to disregard the law if they feel that the outcome under its dictates would offend justice; and politicians and bureaucrats continuously urge that we, the people, give them even greater power so that they might protect us from each other.

But who will protect us from them? The constitution is but a yellowing piece of paper without a citizenry engaged and informed enough to demand that its principles be adhered to. Look where we are. And look at the ignorance of large numbers of the generation to follow. Can we honestly say that things will get better?

If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, is the legacy that we are leaving our children rich enough to afford it? Or have we squandered the fortunes won and left to us by generations before, leaving our progeny doomed to oppression and want? Tyranny comes cheap. To earn it, one need only turn away.

Adam J. Smith
Associate Director

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