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(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #132, 4/7/00
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ALERTS: Colombia, New York State, HEA Reform Colombia The Colombia drug war aid package has stalled in the Senate, and Republican leadership are saying that would like it to be passed during the regular Appropriations debate in several weeks. Only a outpouring of citizen opposition can prevent this escalation of the drug war. Please visit http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ to write your Senators today! New York State DRCNet has joined the campaign to repeal New York state's infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws, and has launched a web site, New Yorkers Opposing the Rockefeller Drug Laws, to build opposition to these draconian sentencing laws and support the statewide effort for change. Visit http://www.drcnet.org/states/newyork/ to write your state legislators and find out how to get involved. If you're not from New York state but know people there, please visit the web site and use our "tell-a-friend" form to let them know about what is going on in their state. New Yorkers Opposing the Rockefeller Drug Laws is a partnership between DRCNet and ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy (http://www.reconsider.org). HEA Reform Support the student campaign! Please visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com to send an e-mail or fax to your US Representative and your Senators, calling for passage of H.R. 1053, to repeal the provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998 that delays or denies financial aid to drug offenders (see following article). Visit http://www.u-net.org to get involved in the student campaign.
2. Penn State Student Government Endorses HEA Reform, Campaign Grows This week, the student government at Penn State University, representing 42,000 students, adopted a resolution calling on Congress to repeal the drug provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998. Penn State joins several other student governments, including Yale University, Douglas College at Rutgers University, University of Texas at Austin and the Association of Big Ten Schools, which have passed similar resolutions this semester. The drug provision, which goes into effect for the first time this year, automatically delays or denies federal student aid eligibility to any student for any drug conviction. Prior to the passage of the new law, judges had the power to restrict or deny eligibility in individual cases as they deemed appropriate. In response to the new law and the outcry that it has engendered, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has introduced H.R. 1053, which would repeal the drug provision. Students are concerned this provision will block access to education, and call it an inappropriate response to the issue of substance use. The vast majority of young people convicted of drug offenses are convicted of simple, non-violent possession, overwhelmingly of marijuana. Also, opponents argue that since federal financial aid is need-based, the new law only affects students of low or moderate means. No other class of criminal offense, including violent or predatory offenses, carries an automatic loss of financial aid eligibility. "This (drug provision) is not a law to deny education to students who use drugs. It is a law to deny education to underprivileged minority students who use drugs. If these drug-involved students really are wasting their financial aid, the mechanism to take it away is already there. We don't need an additional, unappealable punishment of a type that's not assessed for theft, rape, or murder," said Michael Cohn of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, University at Austin Chapter (DPFT-U). Martin Austermuhle, a student senator at Penn State University and a critic of the drug provision, helped to usher the repeal resolution through his student government. "Here at Penn State, approximately 80% of the students are receiving some form of financial aid. Our student government believes that stripping financial aid eligibility is counterproductive. We're certainly not going to solve the drug problem by denying people access to education. Once our student government saw how this law would likely impact poor and working-class kids who are trying to get their lives together, the resolution passed overwhelmingly." Other student governments that have opposed the drug provision include New York State Student Association, Student Association of Wisconsin, Rochester Institute of Technology, Hampshire College, Western Connecticut State University, Pitzer College, Western State College (Colorado), University of Wisconsin at Richland and Madison, University of Texas at Dallas, American University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan and Indiana University at Bloomington. Students are also circulating an educators' sign-on letter to their professors and administrators, which supports H.R. 1053. Thousands of people have also contacted their legislators about this issue via http://www.raiseyourvoice.com. "This law places obstacles in the path of at-risk students who are trying to better their lives through education. This campaign unites student representatives and educators to show our political leaders that we will not stand by while access to education is held hostage to drug war grandstanding," said Kris Lotlikar, national director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). Many students, as many as 20% according to the Department of Education, initially left question 28 ("have you ever been convicted of a drug offense?") blank on their financial aid applications. Those who did received a notice from the Department of Education, which said, "If you have a drug conviction, you must answer Item 28. Your failure to accurately answer this question could result in legal action against you by the US Government." Brian Gralnick, a member of SSDP at George Washington University and DRCNet's campus coordinator, wonders how the baby-boom generation, famous for its own dalliances, can justify a seemingly hypocritical policy. "Why should young people be expected to tell the truth about their drug history when the public does not even demand it from their presidential candidates?" If you or anyone you know will be denied federal financial aid because of a drug conviction, please let us know at [email protected].
3. CALIFORNIA: Santa Cruz Passes Ordinance Protecting Medical Marijuana Users In an effort to expand the reach of Proposition 215, the California medical marijuana initiative passed in 1996, Santa Cruz City Council has passed an ordinance that provides further protections for both medical marijuana patients and their doctors. Patients who use marijuana are not currently targeted by local police; however, local officials wanted to make a statement against federal authorities, which have closed down medical marijuana buyer's clubs and arrested medical marijuana patients up and down the state. The Santa Cruz ordinance will shield patients with an ID card from prosecution and will allow not-for-profit cooperatives to sell marijuana to patients and caregivers. "People are concerned that the federal government is consistently threatening to arrest people for providing patients with medical marijuana," Council member Mike Rotkin told The Week Online. "We're looking to provide people moral and legal support for the activities (the patients) are involved in." Rotkin, who helped draft the ordinance, said Prop. 215 doesn't do enough to protect marijuana patients or their caregivers. "215 says people should have medical marijuana, but does not have the implementing legislation that says how it works," he said. "If Prop. 215 did its job, we wouldn't have to worry about the federal government coming in here, but in fact, the feds have been ignoring 215. We're looking to provide an extra layer of support for those who provide medical marijuana." The Santa Cruz law is similar to an ordinance adopted in the city of Oakland that has been challenged by the federal government. In that city, the federal government closed down a cannabis buyers club that had been operating within Oakland's guidelines. Rotkin said he hopes that the Santa Cruz ordinance will protect licensed buyer's clubs in his city. "I think (federal authorities) are going to have a harder time of it" in Santa Cruz, he said. "Of course, they have already demonstrated their insanity. I think it would be difficult here because the people getting medical marijuana all have medical diagnoses that say they need help. The case in Oakland was more sloppy, frankly." Oakland's ordinance does not strictly require patients to provide evidence of a medical condition that would be alleviated by marijuana. "They required less documentation than we will require," Rotkin said. For example, Rotkin said, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), which the city has licensed to dole out marijuana to patients, has demonstrated it can operate in a responsible fashion by filing cases and cooperating with the local police and DA's office. WAMM also participated in the drafting of the local ordinance. The city is currently speaking with seven other clubs who are interested in distributing medical marijuana and must make a judgment in giving out licenses to groups it deems responsible. The ordinance also requires all groups distributing marijuana be not-for-profit. Rotkin said in Oakland this was not necessarily the case. "Ideally, if the federal government wasn't being so ridiculous, medical marijuana would be a relationship of a doctor to a patient, like morphine -- regulated, but still available," Rotkin said. Meanwhile, medical marijuana users from out of town will soon be welcomed at the Compassion Flower Inn. Promising visitors "Bed, Breakfast and Bud," the hotel will feature a smoking patio and bathing suit-optional hot tub where those with doctor's notes can smoke marijuana without incurring the wrath of the concierge. The Compassion Flower Inn has set its grand opening for April 20.
4. Another Zero-Tolerance Message Issued and Received An Alabama high school senior was to appear in court this Wednesday to fight her expulsion after police officers said they found a small amount of plant matter in her car that might have been marijuana, the Mobile Register reported. Jenny Hammock was Gulf Shores High School's homecoming queen, newspaper editor and a candidate for class valedictorian, but ran afoul of the school's zero-tolerance drug policy when the local police department's drug dog barked at her car during a sweep of the school parking lot. Hammock was taken out of class and told to open the car for the police. When she asked to call her parents, she was told by police and an assistant principal that the car would be opened "one way or another," according to the Register. Hammock then complied, and the police searched the car, turning up "a small amount of plant fragments" on the passenger side floor mat. The police tested the fragments and concluded that they were "probably marijuana," but declined to test them further and did not press charges. The school suspended Hammock anyway for having "inappropriate material in her car." She was later expelled. Her younger brother, who tried to hug her when he saw her crying in the principal's office the day of the search, was suspended from school for 10 days for disobeying a teacher's order to go straight to class, the Register reported. Hammock's suit against the school district asked for her reinstatement and payment of damages for "the disruption of her education, for the likely detrimental effect of this action on her ability to pursue higher education, and for her loss of status as a result of the wrongful actions of the defendants." The Week Online was not able to confirm details of Wednesday's hearing in time for this week's issue.
5. UK: Police Foundation Report Stirs Debate Last week's release of the Police Foundation report has prompted renewed and ever more strident calls for drug reform in the United Kingdom. The report, the result of a two-year inquiry into Britain's drug laws, recommended that jail sentences for possession of all drugs be reduced drastically and that marijuana be decriminalized. In its wake, politicians and the media have announced the failure of hard-line drug policies and demanded an open debate. In an editorial this week, the conservative Daily Telegraph criticized Home Secretary Jack Straw for his insistence that the government would not consider the report's suggestions. "He received sympathy for his handling of his own teenage son's brush with the law over cannabis, but shows little understanding of other parents in a similar predicament," the editorial reads. "He says he wants a debate on drugs, but shows no interest in the arguments and no sensitivity to the public mood." Labour MP Paul Flynn, long a critic of UK marijuana laws, has plans to introduce a bill for the temporary, experimental legalization of marijuana. The measure would provide for a three-year test wherein marijuana would be sold legally in licensed venues under strict regulation, similar to the Dutch method. Even in the current climate, it is unlikely that Flynn's bill would pass. But just a few weeks ago, such a suggestion would have been laughed out of the House of Commons. That scenario, too, is unlikely today. It is clear that Britons have only just begun a real, open debate on the future of their drug policy. If it continues, many more minds may change. Some of them will be the same minds. A MORI public opinion poll taken last week found that 48 percent of Britons believe marijuana should be legalized outright -- but fully two thirds said that the drug laws are not tough enough. For more information on the Police Foundation report, see (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/131.html#ukpolicefoundation).
6. Britain's Drug Authority Okays Full-Scale Patient Cannabis Trials (courtesy NORML Foundation, http://www.norml.org) London, England: Britain's Medicines Control Agency has given approval to GW Pharmaceuticals for human medical marijuana trials. This study is the first full-scale patient trial of therapeutic cannabis products and will involve 2,000 patients. Patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, severe pain and spasticity will be involved in the trials. "Our aim is to test some of the claims which have been made for the medicinal qualities of cannabis in a structured clinical research program," said Dr. Willy Notcutt who leads this first trial. "This is an exciting moment, and we hope very much that our findings will lead to significant improvements in the pain relief available for sufferers of multiple sclerosis and other debilitating conditions." "It's remarkable that the British government has moved so quickly on the matter of conducting actual human trials with marijuana," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director. "The British have gone from white paper to parliamentary report to research implementation in less than two years. Compare that with the US, where, in the last 30 years the government has fought 'tooth and nail' to not allow medical access to marijuana."
7. More "Propaganda for Dollars" Exposed by Dan Forbes and Salon.com, Salon Offering Drug War "Theme Park" on Web Many DRCNet readers will remember Dan Forbes' expose last January, of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy's granting of financial credits in the government's anti-drug ad campaign to the six major networks in exchange for being able to review scripts (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/121.html#ondcp), a story that sparked a national scandal and Congressional inquiry. A further expose by Forbes, published last Friday (3/31), finds that the White House rewarded US News & World Report, Seventeen and other magazines for publishing anti-drug articles under a similar arrangement. The piece again appears on salon.com, at http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/03/31/magazines/. This and many other articles covering drug war topics are now available in a "theme park" just launched by Salon, including a range of articles from 1998 through the present. Visit http://www.salon.com/news/special/drug_war/ to check it out.
8. LEGALIZACION: The "L-Word" Enters Post-Certification Debate in Mexico In the wake of the annual "certification" ritual, in which the US government determines which countries have behaved as allies in the war on drugs, a number of Mexican commentators have begun to publicly discuss the case for legalization of drugs. An article in the premier issue of the Narco News Bulletin reports that a Mexican presidential candidate -- Porfirio Munoz Ledo of the PARM, or Authentic Revolutionary Party of Mexico -- and a candidate for governor of Mexico City, Tere Vale, of the Social Democratic Party –- have called for open debate of legalization and for mobilizing a Pan-American alliance in the cause. According to Narco News, the March 4-10 issues of La Crisis (http://www.lacrisis.com.mx/) includes an interview by Rodrigo Rodriguez of two experts in US-Mexican relations, Luis Gonzalez Souza and Jorge Chabat, who feel that legalization may soon "be seen as the only solution before the growing deterioration of the government structures in both countries at the hands of the drug barons." Rodriguez' article is titled "Anti-Drug Combat, the US Excuse to Convert Mexico into a Colony." The Narco News Bulletin is published in English and Spanish by journalist Al Giordano, and will be available online any day now. DRCNet will let you know!
9. NEWSBRIEF: US Anti-Drug Colonel Pleads Guilty Colonel James Hiett has pled guilty to "ignoring a felony" while serving as commander of US anti-narcotics forces in Colombia. Hiett, it seems, failed to turn in his wife Laurie who shipped packages containing over $700,000 worth of heroin, via the US Embassy mail system, to addresses in Manhattan and Queens. She is also alleged to have traveled back to New York at least twice to pick up cash. Laurie Hiett, who is facing nine years on conspiracy charges, initially told investigators that her husband had no knowledge of her activities. She had also said that she mailed the packages for her civilian driver, and that she didn't know what was in them. See past DRCNet coverage of this case at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/102.html#colombia.
10. Follow-up to Sylvester Salcedo Interview Last week, DRCNet interviewed Sylvester Salcedo, a retired Navy/drug war veteran who returned his medal of achievement to President Clinton to protest the administration's Colombia military drug war package and punitive drug policy (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/131.html#sylvestersalcedo). Salcedo would like to hear from interested parties, particularly drug reform supporters who have served in the military. Please e-mail him at [email protected], and mention you heard about it on DRCNet.
...But we did run across a delicious piece of satire by Dennis Hans on MOJOWire, the online version of Mother Jones Magazine. We enjoyed it so much that we'd like to share it with you. You can find it at http://www.motherjones.com/sideshow/canusi.html. 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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