|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #156, 10/20/00
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search TABLE OF CONTENTS
(visit
the Week Online archives)
1. Drug Czar Resigns, McCaffrey to Step Down January 6th The nation's drug czar, retired General Barry McCaffrey, announced his impending retirement Monday. McCaffrey will leave office on January 6th after serving for five years. As the nation's chief drug enforcement officer, McCaffrey gave lip service to an increased emphasis on drug treatment and hinted at a kinder, gentler approach to drug policy with his metaphor of choice being "cancer" instead of "war." But in fact, McCaffrey presided over five years of more of the same: ever-increasing drug war law enforcement budgets, ever-increasing marijuana arrests, ever-increasing numbers of non-violent drug offenders serving time in American jails and prisons. His reign was also marked by obstinate resistance to voter-approved medical marijuana and an unyielding opposition to industrial hemp production, a position explicable only as an example of drug war-induced mental illness. He was also a key foe of needle exchange within the Clinton administration, and was the principal architect of Plan Colombia, which threatens to turn a simmering Colombian civil war into a full-scale conflagration. In this last year, McCaffrey has been increasingly beleaguered by an insurgent drug policy reform movement that has had him scurrying from state to state in an ever more obviously futile effort to stamp out the brushfires of change. But many of McCaffrey's wounds are self-inflicted. His efforts to sneakily buy space and approve scripts for anti-drug propaganda in TV, film, and the print media sparked widespread outrage, only to be followed by the "cookie-gate" tempest, where visitors to an ONDCP web site were tracked. His office also jimmied the numbers on teen drug use in the media and in a mandated report to Congress, to paint a rosier picture than the statistics warranted. And as of this writing, McCaffrey's office faces congressional scrutiny over charges of corruption in its multi-million dollar anti-drug advertising campaign. McCaffrey has gained a growing reputation as a man who occasionally stumbles over the truth, but promptly picks himself up, dusts himself off, and continues down his merrily mendacious path. This tendency is evident even in the swan song press release announcing his retirement:
In an only partly satirical swipe at the drug czar, the MPP suggested an appropriate departure ceremony for McCaffrey. "We suggest hari-kari," said Thomas. "Gen. McCaffrey's drug war has been cruel, costly, and counterproductive. Drug abuse remains rampant despite record numbers of arrests, and his fight against medical marijuana has caused untold pain and suffering among the seriously ill." Institute for Policy Studies drug policy analyst Sanho Tree told DRCNet, "I'm delighted that General McCaffrey has decided to resign. It's too bad he didn't resign BEFORE he marched us into the Colombian quagmire. Congress and the generals will continue to shift the deck chairs on the USS Quagmire, but that ship is going DOWN and the smart rats are jumping ship." Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug Policy told the Rocky Mountain News that McCaffrey merited a "C" grade. "I would give him a somewhat higher grade for being right on rhetoric, but a lower grade because we are less healthy and less safe." Zeese joined in the criticism of McCaffrey's approach to medical marijuana, but gave him some credit for focusing the nation's attention on the problem of drug abuse. With McCaffrey resigning and a new administration set to take office in January, the appointment of the next drug czar will be an early indicator of the new president's attitudes. "I hope the next drug policy director will come from a public health background instead of a military one," said IPS's Tree. Dr. Al Robison of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas agreed. "I would hope we could have a medical doctor or a public health professional this time," he told DRCNet, "but I'm not optimistic." (Please read our "farewell to McCaffrey" editorial below, http://www.drcnet.org/wol/156.html#editorial for the web version.)
2. Slouching Toward Putumayo: Plan Colombia Gears Up, Battle Front Heats Up, Europeans Throw Their Hands Up, Rights Group Issues Heads Up As Washington's Plan Colombia looms -- the first sweeps by Colombia's US-trained and financed counternarcotics battalions in rebel-dominated Putumayo and Caqueta provinces are scheduled for December -- its earliest effects have been to heighten tensions and political violence in southern Colombia's coca-growing region. Paramilitary militias in a de facto alliance with the Colombian government are attempting to establish a presence in coca-producing areas long controlled by the leftist FARC guerrillas. The rebels in turn are distributing arms to the civilian population and have begun a forced recruitment campaign to replenish their ranks, according to reports from press and human rights organizations. In recent weeks, FARC guerrillas have tripled their strength in Putumayo to 1500 men, while their paramilitary opponents brought an additional 300 fighters. Fighting broke out in September when paramilitaries organized raids on FARC-controlled towns. Scores of combatants and civilians have been killed in daily clashes in the province, and hundreds of civilians have fled into neighboring Ecuador. The FARC has since established a series of roadblocks and restricted movement on the zones' highways and rivers, bringing commerce to a near halt. Last week, the Colombian military began airlifting emergency relief supplies to Putumayo as its capital, Puerto Asis, and other towns began running out of food, drinking water and gasoline. The Army has also sent reinforcements to the region. Puerto Asis, long controlled by the FARC, is now under the effective control of the paramilitaries after they killed dozens of civilian guerrilla sympathizers in 1998 literally under the nose of the Colombian military. A Colombian military base sits in the town. "The paramilitaries go around town without anybody bothering them," Puerto Asis Mayor Manuel Alzate told the Orlando Sentinel. "And the army and the police do nothing." Colombian authorities have consistently maintained that they do not have links to the paramilitaries, who are widely viewed as responsible for a majority of human rights violations in the conflict, including numerous massacres of unarmed civilians. The latest massacre took place on October 13th in the small town of Barbosa, near Medellin, when paramilitaries kidnapped and murdered 11 residents they accused of being guerrilla supporters. The bodies of the seven men and four women were left strewn along a dirt road and surrounded by paramilitary propaganda. In testimony before the House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources last week, Amnesty International's Andrew Miller presented written testimony detailing the long-standing continuing strategic relationship between the Colombian military and the paramilitaries. He also laid out evidence -- from the US government--of paramilitary ties to drug trafficking. Saying Plan Colombia would lead to "a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe," Miller demolished Colombian and Clinton administration claims that Colombia is attempting to fight the paramilitaries. In fact, Miller testified: "Amnesty International is also concerned that paramilitary organizations may be employed as part of the military strategy contemplated in Plan Colombia. Although a formal role is not acknowledged in Plan Colombia, their recently established presence in key areas targeted for military operations (Putumayo department and the Catatumbo region of North Santander) would appear to be more than coincidental. The paramilitary strategy of attacking and eliminating civilian organizational and grassroots structures is designed to anticipate and prevent any organized opposition to the military eradication of illicit crops. This concern is heightened by recent public statements in favor of Plan Colombia by paramilitary leaders such as Carlos Castaño and Commander Yair." Miller's extremely detailed written testimony is available online at http://www.house.gov/reform/cj/hearings/00.10.12/Miller.htm. Meanwhile, the Clinton administration appears increasingly isolated internationally, with even friendly Latin American governments making nervous noises about possible spreading conflict. In September, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela took pains to publicly support the ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the FARC, but pointedly declined to support Plan Colombia. According to recent press reports, the Colombian violence is already seeping across international borders. Venezuela houses hundreds of refugees fleeing murderous paramilitary attacks. Panama's inaccessible border region with Colombia is also seeing refugees, FARC gun-running operations, and increasing fighting between FARC guerrillas and the paramilitaries. On the Ecuadorian border with Putumayo province, armed Colombian fighters have seized farmhouses, kidnapped and killed merchants, and increasingly use the country's border region as rear base. And the European community, which under the terms of Plan Colombia is supposed to kick in $2 billion in non-military aid, is balking. At a July donor conference in Madrid, European countries instead pledged only $120 million, and while another donor conference is scheduled for October 24th in Bogota, the New York Times has quoted European diplomats as saying the US is on its own in Colombia. "The European Union and member states are supporting the peace project in Colombia and not specifically Plan Colombia," an unnamed European diplomat told the Times. European countries reconsidered their support for Plan Colombia after some 38 aid groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and World Vision, refused to accept Plan Colombia funds. The money would have gone to refugee relief and alternative economic development, but the organizations oppose Plan Colombia and fear for their workers' safety, the Los Angeles Times reported. In a slap in the face to Washington and Bogota, on Wednesday, the European countries announced they would provide only $250 million, which will not go to the Colombian government, but will instead be channeled to nonprofit organizations working for human rights and economic development. The Europeans pointedly separated their contributions from what they called Plan Colombia's "war strategy." "It's the only aid package I know of where the military component was put smack in the middle of a development package," one Scandinavian diplomat told the Washington Post. "It contaminated everything in the eyes of Colombian civil society and the European community." If that weren't enough, Clinton's Plan Colombia took a beating on Capitol Hill last Friday. Republicans on the House Committee on Government Reform's subcommittee on criminal justice, drug policy and human resources hammered the administration with a new report from the General Accounting Office (GAO). (That report, "Drug Control: US Assistance to Colombia Will Take Years to Produce Results," is available online at http://www.gao.gov -- go to the site and search for report GAO-01-26.) The report, whose gist is aptly summarized by its title, exposes a range of problems with the conception and execution of both previous counternarcotics assistance to Colombia and the current Plan Colombia. But while the committee majority, fierce drug warriors such as Rep. John Mica (R-FL), used the report to engage in partisan sniping disguised as careful oversight, the report itself raises serious doubts about the plan's ability to meet its stated goals of reducing Colombian cocaine production in half within six years. According to the GAO, "The total cost and activities required to meet the plan's goals remain unknown and it will take years before drug activities are significantly reduced." It also noted that despite spending $765 million on counternarcotics efforts in Colombia between 1996 and 1999, "the US Embassy in Colombia has not reported any net reduction in the processing or export of refined cocaine to the United States." If the early indications are correct, Plan Colombia seems destined to fail in its primary goal, but not without costing thousands of Colombian lives and billions of American dollars.
3. Drug War Toll From Police Shootings Continues to Rise -- How Many Dead? Nobody Knows Because Congress Doesn't Care On Wednesday, September 13th, a Modesto, California SWAT team officer executing a federal search warrant in a methamphetamine investigation shot and killed 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda. The youngster died in a pool of blood on his bedroom floor after being hit in the back with a shotgun blast from veteran officer David Hawn. The California Attorney General's office is investigating, but if past police shootings are any indication, the police shooter will walk free. In the wake of a rash of widely publicized police killings in the 1990s, public anger and apprehension has mounted. But while the overall number of police killings is recorded annually, there are no national figures on police killings in the drug war. DRCNet has, however, found disturbing patterns in reports of those killings it has been able to survey. Young Sepulveda, sadly, is not the only or even the latest unarguably innocent person to be killed by police enforcing the drug laws. (Let us be clear here: The victims of these police killings are dead regardless of whether or not they were involved in drug law violations, and even someone who may have committed a drug crime deserves a day in court, not summary execution by trigger-happy police.) Here are a few recent examples of both innocents and suspects killed at the hands of police:
"That is the minimum. These are by no means comprehensive statistics," O'Connell explained. "These are only the cases that have been posted to our news archives. We do not catch everything, for a couple of reasons. First, we rely on our 'newshawks' to bring articles to our attention, so articles that may get only local or regional play might be missed. And don't forget that as we grow stronger, we have more 'newshawks' than in earlier years, so those early years are probably underreported there as well." "Second," continued O'Connell, "it has not been our policy at the Media Awareness Project to post every drug bust or incident. We would be overwhelmed. We have concentrated on policy-related stories, so again this has caused us to miss some." Even with the limited data available, some disturbing but predictable patterns emerge. In cases where race of the victim could be determined, blacks were most often the victims, followed by Hispanics, with only a small minority of white victims. (Interestingly, the only two cases where the victims shot at police were two white pot-farmers in separate incidents in Oregon. One was shot and killed; the other was shot and paralyzed and later committed suicide in jail.) "We also looked at whether the person was armed," said O'Connell, "and in many cases, the only 'weapon' the victims had was the vehicle in which they were trying to escape." MAP is not alone in sounding the alarm about drug-related police shootings. Joseph McNamara, former police chief in Kansas City and San Jose and currently a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute, told DRCNet, "These shootings are a major cost of the drug war." "This is a real ethical issue," said McNamara, "and evidence of the kind of callousness abroad in the land. It results from the emotionalism surrounding drugs and the whole war mentality that goes along with it. Things happen in war that we would not excuse in a civilized society." McNamara, whose book on policing in the drug war, "Gangster Cops: The Hidden Cost of America's War on Drugs," will be published soon, predicts more fatalities. "These shootings are inevitable," he explained. "Police are doing military operations in drug raids, not because dealers are anxious to shoot it out, but because dealers are armed to avoid being robbed." Timothy Lynch directs the criminal justice project at the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank that opposes the war on drugs. For Lynch, paramilitarized policing is a key factor in the high number of police shootings. "We should arrest the trend of militarizing police tactics," Lynch told DRCNet. "Congress has encouraged cops to create paramilitary units -- all those SWAT teams -- by giving away surplus military hardware and encouraging the bad trend of cops emulating military special forces." "Once these paramilitary units are created," Lynch continued, "they apply military tactics to executing search warrants. This leads to unnecessary shootings and killings." "And there is the problem of mission creep," he told DRCNet. "When these SWAT teams are first created, they have specific missions -- hostage situations, for example -- but over time, after they've invested all this money and training, these units start to get involved in non-emergency situations, such as executing arrest and search warrants. Constitutional rights get trampled, people get killed." "The police are caught up in drug war rhetoric," said Lynch. "When police adopt the mindset of going after the enemy, there's an insensitivity to respecting constitutional rights. This increases the likelihood that unnecessary violence will occur." McNamara also pointed to police hoping to profit from the drug war via asset forfeitures as a contributing factor. "Many of these shootings occur during the execution of arrest or search warrants," he told DRCNet, "and sometimes police search warrant decisions are influenced by the desire to get the loot." "If there is enough evidence to obtain the warrant, why don't they arrest the guy when he leaves the house so innocent people are not endangered?," asked the former chief. "It's because they want the cash, the dope, the goods. Law enforcement is addicted to seizure money." Despite the data collection problems cited by O'Connell, the Media Awareness Project's numbers are actually some of the best available on drug enforcement-related police shootings. The responsibility for the paucity of data lies squarely with the political class. As a sop to liberals concerned about police abuse of force, one section of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 ordered the Department of Justice to acquire data and issue annual reports on the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers. Congress, however, only funded a preliminary project for two years. That effort, carried out by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP -- http://www.theiacp.org), resulted in a National Use of Force Database. But since 1998, Congress has refused to appropriate funds for the project. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, which is in charge of the effort, has not issued a report since June, 1998. In its final word on the subject, the Bureau wrote, "because funding was specifically requested to fulfill the... mandate for annual data collection on the police use of excessive force, but was not provided, it is unclear whether the pilot efforts can be continued." Because of lack of funding and because law enforcement agencies participate only if they choose to -- the IACP says only 319 agencies out of at least 2500 participate -- the database has extremely limited utility at this point. The database lists, for example, a total of six police killing for the years 1997-98, far fewer than even MAP was able to uncover. The Bureau of Justice Statistics also produced one preliminary study, a report on the prevalence of police use of force. While it does not provide a breakdown for drug-related incidents, it does provide a startling estimate of the extent of police violence. The Census Bureau in 1996 surveyed a sample of some 6,000 citizens on their interactions with police, and extrapolating from those interviews, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that some "500,000 persons (0.2% of the population age 12 or older) were hit, held, pushed, choked, threatened with a flashlight, restrained by a police dog, threatened or actually sprayed with chemical or pepper spray, threatened with a gun, or experienced some other form of force. Of the 500,000, about 400,000 were also handcuffed." (The report is online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/puof.htm.) For obvious reasons, the survey contained no interviews with victims of fatal police shootings. While the study's authors noted that the sample was to small for reliable estimates, they did find racial differences in line with other recent studies of racial disparities in the administration of criminal justice in general and in drug law enforcement in particular. Less than 1% of whites who reported contact with police reported police threat or use of force; for blacks that figure was 2.1% and for Hispanics 5.4%. The standard measure for police shootings, the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reports, shows what it calls justified homicides by law enforcement, but does not break down the aggregate numbers by type of offense. The 1999 report shows total law enforcement killings hovering at more than 300 annually throughout the decade, before dropping to 294 last year. (The UCR is available online at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/99cius.htm.) Lynch said that regardless of the lack of hard numbers on drug-related police shootings, he knows where the problem lies. "The war on drugs is the leading cause of police shootings," he said flatly. "When you look at the percentage of search warrants being executed, most of them are for drug activity. When there is either a mistaken shooting or violence between homeowners and police, it is usually drug enforcement. If you're looking at innocent people being killed, it is usually in a drug raid context. McNamara gives credit where credit is due. "Police are doing an excellent job of reducing shootings," he said, "except for drug shootings." For McNamara, the bottom line is protecting human life. "Police officers are not soldiers but peace officers, whose duty is to protect human life. We've lost sight of the basic mission of police, which is to protect human life, not make drug arrests. When we set priorities and they conflict, protection of human life should take precedent, not the desire to seize drugs." MAP's Mark Greer is frustrated. "This is a story crying out to be written," he told DRCNet. "We hope a good investigative reporter could pull all this together for a nationwide expose of not only the number of innocents murdered, but also the racial breakdown, and how consistently people are being killed in drug enforcement because they 'attacked the officer with his car.'" Is there a reporter in the house? (Check out a nice sampling of McNamara's writings and work at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/debate/mcn/mcntoc.htm and http://www.drcnet.org/cops/ on our web sites.)
4. West Coast Forward, East Cost Back: San Diego Needle Exchange One Step Closer, Defeat in Prince George's County, Maryland Last month, DRCNet reported on preliminary steps toward a privately-run but city-approved needle exchange program to deal with a burgeoning Hepatitis C epidemic (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/151.html#sdexchange). On Monday, the San Diego City Council officially declared a Hepatitis C emergency on a 5-2 vote, paving the way for a well-crafted and broadly supported needle exchange program. "This is a real epidemic," Ian Trowbridge, a professor at Salk Institute and UCSD, told the San Diego Union Tribune. Along with declaring a medical emergency, the city council has ordered the city manager to create a task force to develop a one-year pilot program. The council will vote on the issue again before any needles are distributed. The city's turnaround on needle exchange stands in stark contrast to the position of San Diego County. The county's Board of Supervisors has for a decade refused to allow such programs. Trowbridge noted that the county's own data shows that the number of cases of hepatitis C doubled between 1998 and 1999 in San Diego County. "I don't know how many cases the county needs before it declares a state of emergency," he said. Wednesday's Washington Post reported that the neighboring Prince George's County Council voted 5-3 against opening a needle exchange program in the county. Council member Thomas Hendershot (D-New Carrollton), who introduced the proposal in February, said his colleagues had ended a chance to help save lives in a county that has the state's second highest number of AIDS cases.
5. Follow That Story: Tulia Relief Fund Issues Appeal Two weeks ago, DRCNet has reported on the shocking situation of Tulia, Texas, where 17% of the small town's black community were indicted for drug offenses, convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms based on testimony of a police officer known for dishonesty (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/154.html#tulia). Last week, we reported that the local branch of the NAACP, in nearby Amarillo, is filing a lawsuit, and interviewed the branch's president (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/155.html#amarillo). This week we are letting you know that the Friends of Justice have set up a relief fund for children and their caregivers who have been economically impacted by the Tulia drug sting. Many children are being passed from relative to relative as everyone tries to make the best of a bad situation. Funds will provide winter coats, clothing, food, utilities and other needs on a priority basis. If you would like to help, make your check payable to "Friends of Justice" and write "relief fund" in the memo section. The address is: Friends of Justice, 507 N. Donley Ave., Tulia, TX 79088.
6. Barney Frank Makes Drug War an Issue, Again Saying the country was ready for "a public revolt" against the war on drugs, Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Barney Frank last Sunday ratcheted up his assault on the drug policy status quo. Frank, who is running for reelection against Republican and Libertarian challengers, turned a campaign event in Worcester into a slash-and-burn attack on what he called the nation's "harsh and punitive" prosecution of the drug war. Frank, who has previously called for the legalization of marijuana and who sponsored a medical marijuana bill in the House of Representatives, stopped just short of calling for legalization of all drugs. According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Frank said "the country was not ready for that." "But there are people in prison today for doing what I believe Al Gore and George Bush did, when they were younger," he told the event. "It is not that I mean Al Gore and George Bush should be in prison. It does mean that young, uneducated, poor and particularly minority youngsters should not be in prison either." The Massachusetts congressman also chided conservatives as free market ideologues except when it comes to drugs. Conservatives, Frank said, fail to recognize that "the market is a powerful tool." "Millions of free people with money who want something are very likely to get it," he said. "It is possible for a sophisticated society to protect people from other people. It is very hard in a free society to protect people from what they themselves determine to do to themselves." Frank also challenged his hosts, a local affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, to examine their tactics and broaden their fight against the country's harsh drug policies. "The Civil Liberties Union and others have been very good in stepping in and protecting people's rights, but collectively we have not done enough to change the climate that leads to the violation of those rights," he said. "It is our sacred duty to vindicate the rights of individuals in judicial proceedings, but it is a very incomplete defense if we do not dedicate ourselves to change the political climate that led to the offense in the first place." "It means going to town meetings, it means getting on these stupid talk shows, it means writing letters to the editors, it means getting out there and trying to change the minds of your fellow citizens." Frank is one of the most consistently pro-drug reform politicians in the Congress. In addition to sponsoring the medical marijuana bill, he was a leading voice in the struggle to pass limited federal asset forfeiture reform. He continues to lead efforts to overturn provisions of the Higher Education Act which penalize students who admit to having a drug crime on their records.
7. Europeans Release 2000 Drug Report The European Union's European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has issued the "2000 Annual Report on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European Union." The report includes a comprehensive review of trends in drug use and responses to it, prevalence of drug use and abuse, a veritable compendium of drug statistics, and several sections devoted to special topics, including drug substitution programs and issues facing women drug users. The annual report's data and analysis provide a basis for drug policy decision-making throughout the European Union. Among the study's findings: * Cannabis remains the European Union's most widely used drug. 18% of European adults have used the drug in their lifetimes and 6% within the last year. The study notes a trend toward "convergence," with previously low prevalence countries reporting increases in use while previously high use countries saw levels stabilizing. * Ecstasy and amphetamines are the second most commonly used illicit drugs. The report notes, however, that Ecstasy use is no longer increasing. * There are 1.5 million "problem drug users," primarily heroin addicts in the European Union, a million of whom would meet clinical criteria for "dependency." Hepatitis C is widespread in this population. *National drug policies are becoming more balanced and decriminalization of drug offenses is becoming more common. The report says a "consensus" is emerging that drug users should not be imprisoned but treated for their addictions. The entire 43-page report
is available on the EMCDDA website at
(Please submit listings of events related to drug policy and related areas to [email protected].) October 21, Honolulu, HI, 8:00am-5:00pm, "Hawaii's Prison Crisis: Throwing Away the Next Generation." All day forum sponsored by the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, ACLU of Hawaii and the Community Alliance on Prisons, at the Central Union Church, featuring Al Bronstein, former director of the ACLU National Prison Project and others. For further information, call (808) 988-4386. October 21-25, Miami, FL, "Third National Harm Reduction Conference," sponsored by the Harm Reduction Coalition, at the Wyndham Hotel Miami Biscayne Bay. For information, call (212) 213-6376 ext. 31 or e-mail [email protected]. October 22, Los Angeles, CA, noon-8:00pm, Medical Marijuana Conference, fundraiser to benefit legal defense for Steve Kubby and Todd McCormick. At the Hyatt Regency, 711 S. Hope St., $25 suggested donation, food and beverages provided. Call (409) 835-7327 or (409) 838-9951 for information or to reserve a place. October 24-26, Norfolk, VA, "Celling of a Nation: Prisons in American Culture," conference sponsored by Norfolk State University, Regent University, and Old Dominion University. 10/24 at L. Douglas Wilder Center, Norfolk State, 1:00-6:00pm, sessions on the drug war, death penalty, and prison building; 10/25 at Library Auditorium, Regent University, 7:00-9:30pm, media representations of prisons and prisoners; 10/26, Hampton/Newport News Room, Webb Center, Old Dominion University, alternatives to punishment. For further information, contact John Kitterman at (757) 823-2100 or [email protected]. October 26, New York, NY, 4:00-6:00pm, "America's Failed Drug War," presentation by Ethan Nadelmann. At the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law , 55 Fifth Avenue, Moot Court Room, 1st floor. Limited seating, RSVP by Wednesday, October 25 to [email protected], [email protected] or (718) 633-1809. November 1, New York, NY, 9:30am-5:00pm. Workshop: Using Creativity in Direct Service, Harm Reduction Training Institute, 22 West 27th St., 5th Floor, course fee $60. Contact (212) 683-2334, ext. 32. November 3-4, Chicago, IL. Conference on US Policy & Human Rights in Colombia: Where do we go from here? At DePaul University, sponsored by various organizations concerned with Latin America, human rights and peace. For information contact Colombia Bulletin at (773) 489-1255 or e-mail [email protected]. November 4, Philadelphia, PA, noon, "Liberty Protest: Unity to End the Drug War," at the Liberty Bell, featuring professor Julian Heicklen and other speakers. For information, contact Diane Fornbacher at (215) 633-9812 or [email protected]. November 11, Charlotte, NC, Families Against Mandatory Minimums Regional Workshop, location to be determined. Call (202) 822-6700 for information or to register. November 16-19, San Francisco, "Committing to Conscience: Building a Unified Strategy to End the Death Penalty," largest annual gathering of Death Penalty opponents. Call Death Penalty Focus at (888) 2-ABOLISH or visit http://www.ncadp.org/ctc.html for further information. January 13, 2001, St. Petersburg, FL, Families Against Mandatory Minimums Regional Workshop, location to be determined. Call (202) 822-6700 for information or to register. April 1-5, 2001, New Delhi, India, 12th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. Sponsored by the International Harm Reduction Coalition, for information visit http://ihrc-india2001.org on the web, e-mail [email protected], call 91-11-6237417-18, fax 91-11-6217493 or write to Showtime Events Pvt. Ltd., S-567, Greater Kailash - II, New Delhi 110 048, India. April 25-28, Minneapolis, MN, North American Syringe Exchange Convention. Sponsored by the North American Syringe Exchange Network, for further information call (253) 272-4857, e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.nasen.org on the web. At the Marriott City Center Hotel, 30 South Seventh Street.
9. Editorial: Saying Goodbye (and Good Riddance) to a Drug Czar David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected] When drug fighting agencies from around the world gathered in New York for the United Nations Drug Summit in June '98, the official slogan of the week was "Drug Free in Ten -- We Can Do It!" Italian mafia fighter Pino Arlacci, head of the UN's Drug Control Program, promised that a new level of international cooperation would begin to turn the tide in the war on drugs. Arlacci's sloganeering, however, was met with skepticism. As the summit opened, a two-page ad in the New York Times, signed by over 500 prominent citizens worldwide, declared, "We believe the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself." Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Barry McCaffrey, testifying to Congress, derided the letter's signers as "sort of a fringe group." But while McCaffrey's name-calling may have worked on Capitol Hill, the charge didn't stick elsewhere. The group -- which included former Secretary of State George Schultz, two former US Attorneys General, a former Surgeon General, several Nobel laureates, a number of federal judges, former presidents of the nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua, former UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, bishops from the Catholic, Episcopal and Anglican churches and Walter Cronkite, among others -- was just a little too impressive for reasonable people to regard as "fringe." As General Czar McCaffrey prepares to retire from public life, it is a fitting time to look at his record and see whether this was an isolated incident or whether McCaffrey used such tactics often. The answer to that question should then have implications for how trustworthy the drug czar's words should be regarded in general, and by extension how trustworthy the government that he represents should be regarded on the drug issue in general. Unfortunately, it appears that this was not an isolated incident, but rather a lengthy and incredible pattern of slander and disregard for facts. A shining example is McCaffrey's visit to Albuquerque last year, where he again resorted to name-calling, labeling New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who had just returned from Washington as part of his crusade to spark a national debate on drug legalization, with epithets such as "goofy," "irresponsible," "uninformed," even "Puff Daddy Johnson." I suppose the General is entitled to his opinion. But McCaffrey crossed one line too many when he accused the Governor of telling college students in Washington that marijuana, heroin and cocaine are "great." The event to which McCaffrey was referring was a meeting the Governor held with representatives of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), portions of which were broadcast on CBS Evening News and covered by the Associated Press. As an SSDP advisor, I attended that two-hour meeting, and I can attest to the fact that the Governor said no such thing. Indeed, Gov. Johnson made clear several times that he considers drug use to be a handicap and best avoided. Unfortunately, McCaffrey's errors are not limited to a few isolated incidents, but span a wide range of issues over a period of years. For example, on August 16, 1996, as California's medical marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, was heading to the ballot, McCaffrey told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed. This is not science. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax." On December 30, after 215 had passed, McCaffrey was asked by CNN's Carl Rochelle, "is there any evidence... that marijuana is useful in a medical situation?" McCaffrey responded, "No, none at all. There are hundreds of studies that indicate that it isn't." Meanwhile, though, the information had gotten out in the media -- including outlets such as Nightline -- that scientific studies did exist -- dozens -- providing scientific evidence of marijuana's medical benefits in some cases. So on January 2, ONDCP chief counsel Pat Seitz, appearing on the CNN show "Burden of Proof," tried to retract her boss's mistaken statements, insisting, "He has not said there is no research. He has not said there is no research." In a Dec. 30 press conference, attended by national and international media, McCaffrey used a display of supposed medical uses of marijuana, falsely attributed to medical marijuana authority Dr. Tod Mikuriya, to ridicule Prop. 215 proponents. The display, captioned "Dr. Tod Mikuriya's (215 Medical Advisor) Medical Uses of Marijuana," listed such applications as "recalling forgotten memories" and "writer's cramp," which McCaffrey singled out for ridicule in charging Prop. 215 proponents with "Cheech and Chong medicine." Mikuriya, who was not a formal advisor to the Prop. 215 campaign, denied recommending marijuana as a treatment for such conditions. When questioned, McCaffrey's office said the information was obtained from the web site of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club. But the actual document by Dr. Mikuriya on that site was a summary of the 19th century medical literature on marijuana. There was nothing in the document to indicate that Mikuriya himself recommends marijuana for those conditions. In a February '97 interview on NBC's Dateline, McCaffrey put forward an Illinois study which he claimed supported D.A.R.E., a program that is hugely popular, but which research has repeatedly found to be ineffective. When Dateline confronted him with the study's actual findings -- that D.A.R.E. doesn't work for most children and may be counterproductive -- he then dismissed the study as "twaddle" -- the very same study he had cited a few minutes before as his evidence. In April the following year, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's Congressional Delegate (we don't get a rep), a Democrat and supporter of McCaffrey's boss, President Clinton, called for McCaffrey's resignation over the needle exchange issue. Under rules set by Congress, states may not spend federal AIDS funds on needle exchange programs. However, the Secretary of Health and Human Services can lift that restriction, if research shows that needle exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. As Secretary Donna Shalala and the Clinton Administration were preparing to make a decision, McCaffrey repeatedly cited a study of the needle exchange programs in Vancouver and Montreal as evidence against lifting the needle exchange funding ban. The authors of the study, however, took to the pages of the New York Times to clear up McCaffrey's "misinterpretation" of their study, which attributed the AIDS situation in those cities to larger social factors than the small programs, found that the programs had succeeded in reaching the most marginalized, at-risk sectors of the drug-using population, and which recommended more and larger needle exchange programs to stem the spread of the deadly epidemic. Even before the Times letter, though, McCaffrey knew full well what the study really said. Dr. Martin Schechter, one of the authors, told a conference in New York the day before the UN Drug Summit, "We were visited by a team from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and we spent more than an hour explaining, detail by detail, why and how these results were being misinterpreted. But in the end, it became clear to me that we were talking to people who were not interested in evidence in scientific terms, but rather, who were in the grips of an ideology." Shalala and Clinton backed off, in part because of McCaffrey's disinformation campaign. Congresswoman Norton, deeply concerned about the disproportionate impact of AIDS and injection drug abuse on the African American community, decried McCaffrey's "'drop dead' message," writing, "Unless he is willing to reconsider and acknowledge the overwhelming scientific evidence, I hope he gets my message to leave the administration and take his destructive tactics with him." The next month, appearing at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, McCaffrey derided the notion of industrial hemp as a viable alternative for Kentucky's farmers, ridiculing "noted agronomists such as Woody Harrelson" and calling the issue "silly" and a "thinly disguised attempt... to legalize pot." At the same time, however, over 100 Kentucky farmers were suing the federal government for the right to grow industrial hemp, and two months later, a University of Kentucky study indicated that if hemp were legalized for industrial use, it would immediately become the second most valuable legal crop in the state, behind only tobacco. But the most incredible episode was yet to come. As McCaffrey prepared to embark on a European tour that July, he made comments on CNN and to the Associated Press about drug policy in the Netherlands, calling it an "unmitigated disaster." The Dutch ambassador to the US wrote McCaffrey that he was "confounded and dismayed" by the drug czar's depiction of the Dutch policy, and that he found "the timing of [McCaffrey's] remarks, just six days before [his] planned visit to the Netherlands with a view to gaining firsthand knowledge about Dutch drug policy and its results, rather astonishing." Then came the decisive moment: Beginning his tour with a press conference in Stockholm, McCaffrey told the media that the "Dutch murder rate is double that of the US." A "fact booklet" distributed by McCaffrey contained the same claim, and the drug czar triumphantly proclaimed "that's drugs," and wondered "why in the world [the Dutch] think this is a success." Dutch officials were infuriated, and for good reason: McCaffrey's numbers were off by a factor of ten. The Dutch murder rate is less than a fourth of the US murder rate. McCaffrey's performance was greeted in the Netherlands with "indignation and condemnation," according to the Dutch radio station 2 Vandaag; even the right-wing newspaper "Telegraaf" published an editorial criticizing him. It turns out that McCaffrey may have been looking at the Dutch figures for attempted murder and comparing that with the US figure for actual completed murders. When confronted with this possibility, ONDCP spokesman James McDonough gave the Washington Times the following contorted response: "What you are left with is that they are a much more violent society and more inept [at murder], and that's not much to brag about." But whatever McDonough's statement might mean, it's clear that even reasonably well-informed laypersons are aware that homicides are much more frequent in the US than anywhere in western Europe; you wouldn't have needed to be a criminologist or the nation's top drug official to realize that something must have been wrong with those numbers. McCaffrey never admitted his error or apologized. McDonough was hired by Florida Governor Jeb Bush and is now that state's drug czar. Last but not least, McCaffrey has been throwing around the figure "52,000 deaths last year from drug-related causes" for awhile. We've been trying to figure this one out, and no one seems to know what the number really means or where it comes from. Despite repeated inquiries, ONDCP has provided no clarification, other than that it comes from an "unpublished study." According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were approximately 16,000 deaths in 1997 attributable to drug-related causes, including illegal drugs as well as poisonings from drugs that were medically-prescribed. If we can't rely on the drug czar to provide meaningful numbers, how we can we trust him to tell us how many of those tragic deaths are truly attributable to drug use vs. how many are attributable to drug prohibition? And why do defenders of hard-line drug war policies feel the need to resort to such chicanery and ridicule to make their case? If they had a legitimate case to make, couldn't and wouldn't they do so honestly? Whether McCaffrey's misstatements stem from drug war zealotry, political ambition or incompetence is something we may never know. What we do know is that McCaffrey's disinformation systematic disinformation campaign has been part and parcel of sustaining a destructive drug policy that goes so far as to persecute medical marijuana patients and kill people by spreading hepatitis and HIV. Most of the suffering from McCaffrey's Colombia war is yet to come. A few words of parting for our illustrious drug czar: Mr. McCaffrey, your deliberate deceptions over an extended period of time on a critically important issue are a disgrace to your office and your uniform. Over time, you may in fact come to be regarded as the true scandal of the Clinton presidency. They probably won't take away your pension, though, so I guess that's okay with you, judging from your previous lack of shame. You can take a little solace for having said some of the right things on methadone and mandatory minimum sentencing. But how much could you have accomplished in these areas if you had made them your priority, rather than embarking on misguided ideological crusades against needle exchange and medical marijuana and industrial hemp? Goodbye and good riddance, General Czar. 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.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
