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Newsbriefs
8/13/99
UN Says Coca Production
Has Not Increased in Colombian Rebel Territory
Last month, US "drug czar"
General Barry McCaffrey said that an additional $1 billion in US military
aid to Colombia was necessary to fight the drug war in that country, because
the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had doubled
the production of coca in the more than 40% of the country under their
control.
But last week, a UN official
working with the FARC on a crop substitution plan said that not only were
the FARC cooperating with the UN project, but that coca production had
not changed in the year since Colombian government troops pulled out of
FARC territory. According to Klaus Nyholm, director of the UN drug
control office in Colombia, "drug cultivation has not increased or decreased
since the FARC took control."
Hugh Downs Tells Corrections
Conference the Drug War Should End
Veteran TV anchor Hugh Downs
gave the keynote speech last weekend (8/8) at the Congress of Corrections,
a conference for prison professionals sponsored by the American Correctional
Association. In his speech, Downs spoke out against the war on drugs,
saying that it had "turned a medical problem into a crime problem."
Downs also compared drug prohibition to the US' failed attempt at
alcohol prohibition in the 1920's. "I'd like to see an end to the
war on drugs," he told the group. Downs hosted the "Today" show for
9 years and has anchored "20/20" since 1988.
-- END --
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Issue #103, 8/13/99
Medical Marijuana Under Siege, Making Slow Progress | Baltimore Study Finds Needle Exchange Effective | Interview: Dr. Joel Brown on the Status of Drug Education in the United States | Members of California Congressional Delegation Urge Governor to Sign Needle Exchange Bill | Beyond Prohibition: Cato Institute Conference to Feature New Mexico Governor | Methamphetamine Bill Contains Anti-Free-Speech Legislation | Newsbriefs | Job Opportunities | Editorial: Killing the Bad Guys
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