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(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #165, 12/22/00
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search BREAKING: Mandatory minimum prisoners Kemba Smith and Dorothy Gaines are freed, and more releases reportedly on the way! More info when available. BREAKING: Uruguay's president calls for legalization, first American head of state to do so. DRCNet will report further next issue, visit http://www.narconews.com/heroyear2000.html for more about it right now. As we prepare for the holidays and upcoming new millennium (for real this time), this issue is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of men and women unjustly imprisoned in the so-called "war on drugs." It is also dedicated to those working to bring the prisoners home -- Jubilee Justice, November Coalition, FAMM, all our allies in the drug reform and justice reform movements -- and last, but not least, all of you. Keep the prisoners and all the drug war victims in your minds and hearts this winter season! DRCNet needs your financial support in these last months of the year 2000. Please visit http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to donate online, or send checks or money orders to P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036. Contributions to the Drug Reform Coordination Network are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible contributions supporting our educational work can be made to the DRCNet Foundation, same address. TABLE OF CONTENTS
(visit
the Week Online archives)
1. When is Salad Dressing a Drug? DEA Proposes Restrictive Interim Rule Barring Hemp Foods, Industry & Proponents Gear Up Late last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) set in motion plans to bar hemp-based foods and other hemp products that can enter the human body, such as lotions and creams. On November 30th, it quietly published a notice of the proposed "Interim Rule" in an obscure federal publication called the Unified Agenda. The proposed rule change has three parts: First, the DEA proposes to change its interpretation of existing law to bring hemp products within the purview of the Controlled Substances Act; second, it would change DEA regulations to agree with the new interpretation; and third, it would establish an "interim rule" exempting traditional hemp products that are not designed for human consumption, such as paper and clothing, from being subject to the Controlled Substances Act. In the DEA's own words, "... [I]n order to protect the public health and safety, the interim rule will not allow 'hemp' products that result in THC entering the human body. In this manner, it will remain clear that the only lawful way THC may enter the human body is when a person is using a federally approved drug or when the person is the subject of federally approved research." An interim rule becomes law once it is published in the Federal Register, which can be done without public comment. The DEA and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office) have reflexively battled the hemp industry throughout the Clinton administration. To justify barring hemp products for human consumption, they have claimed that consuming the products will "confound" drug testing for marijuana. Hemp industry members disagree vociferously, and have the science to back their position. Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery is one of the point persons in the current campaign to block the interim rules. He told DRCNet, "You'd have to be smeared with hemp oil and eat nothing but hemp products for a week, and even then I doubt you'd come up positive." "That claim doesn't stand up to scientific testing. We have research results from the Research Triangle Institute and research paid for by the government of Manitoba and Canadian hemp industries, and they don't agree with the DEA." Yet another study, done by Leson Environmental Consulting in Berkeley, California, also found that "a conflict between hemp food consumption and workplace drug testing is most unlikely" (http://naihc.org/hemp_information/content/THC_emp_drug_testing.html). David Bronner, the grandson of the original Dr. Bronner and head of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, concurred. "A positive test for THC can't happen without super-high consumption of hemp foods, and even then I'd say it's extremely unlikely." Bronner suggested one explanation for the DEA's concern about hemp foods interfering with marijuana testing. "We had a merchant marine claim our soaps gave him a false positive." Greg Herriott, the owner of Toronto-based Hempola and head of the Ontario Hemp Association, has run into the same problem. He provided DRCNet with just completed test results for his product. According to Maxxam Analytics, the Canadian laboratory that performed the tests, Hempola hemp seed oil contains "absolutely no traces of tetrahydrocannabinol." "This is so bogus," he told DRCNet. "They're blaming other forms of THC ingestion on hemp foods. I'm getting really tired of this crap -- please stop blaming my product." Bronner's and Herriot's complaints are backed up by apocryphal stories circulating around the country, usually about soldiers who foiled drug tests by claiming they had ingested hemp products. The belief that the "hemp defense" can help one get out of a dirty drug test has apparently taken hold among enough half-baked pot-smokers to take on the form of an urban myth, one whose consequences are haunting the hemp industry. "This will hurt our sales," said Herriot, whose company produces hemp oil and hemp flour products. But he was quick to point out that, as a Canadian concern, his company could survive even without the US market. Bronner is also vulnerable, but unlikely to have to fold, he told DRCNet. "We could reformulate our products without hemp," he said, "but most other hemp businesses cannot do that." Hemp industry members and supporters are not just complaining. Activists have been burning up the wires plotting a counteroffensive, and they are prepared to attack on several fronts. Industry and activist list-serves have featured calls for a letter-writing campaign urging Congress members to throw a wrench in the DEA's plans by demanding that the rule change be treated as a "major rule" and thus subject to public comment. Earlier this week, lawyers representing industry members met in Washington, DC, to set in motion the campaign to halt the interim rule. "The Department of Justice has already signed off on this," said Bronner, "but Customs, Treasury, Commerce, and the Office of Management and Budget all have to sign off, too, so those are all points of attack. We're just waiting for the lawyers to set up the template." The Ohio Hempery's Wirtshafter had a sense of urgency. "If this gets out as an interim rule, it takes immediate effect," he told DRCNet. "We must fight this now before if passes review by the other agencies." Hemp advocates are at something of a loss to explain DEA's vindictive attitude, especially given its lack of any scientific basis. "They're not even trying to fend off those 'hemp defense' claims," said an exasperated Bronner. "That's because they're looking for any excuse to ban hemp as part of the culture war." For Wirtshafter, "This is just McCaffrey, his last hurrah." And that thought brought him some solace. "This thing still has a way to go down the regulatory pathway," he mused. "I don't think the Clinton administration has a chance of getting this published, and Bush will have to start all over." Perhaps, but hemp supporters aren't taking any chances. DRCNet will be issuing an action alert on this issue shortly. Previous coverage of the ongoing Hemp Embargo saga:
2. Mexican Banker Tied to Drug Dealing (and Presidents) Sues Narco News, Mexican Paper A well-connected Mexican banker has unleashed an American attack-dog lobbying and law firm on two Mexico-based media organizations over their reporting on his alleged drug trafficking. But Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, president of Mexico's Banamex bank, and his hired guns, the Washington-based firm of Akin,Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, may have picked on the wrong pair. Banamex hired Akin Gump to sue Mario Menendez Rodriguez and Al Giordano, the respective publishers of Por Esto!, a Merida, Yucatan, newspaper, and the Narco News Bulletin , an Internet media outlet devoted to uncovering corruption in the drug war throughout the Western hemisphere. (See Narco News at http://www.narconews.com for Giordano's extensive coverage of the lawsuit and Akin Gump's tactics.) The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in New York City, is a venue-shopping continuation of Hernandez' and Banamex's efforts to silence Menendez Rodriguez, who since 1997 has published a series of well-documented articles in Por Esto! building the case that Hernandez' beachfront properties south of Cancun were a center of cocaine trafficking, and that Hernandez also participated in money laundering and bribery. The properties in question were the site of a reception attended by newly elected Mexican President Vincente Fox, US ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow and President Clinton. Fox also repaired to Hernandez' place for a post-election vacation in July. Hernandez hosted a February 1999 meeting between President Clinton and Mexican President Zedillo. His Caribbean property also provided a post-election refuge for incoming Mexican President Vicente Fox. Two separate libel lawsuits against Menendez Rodriguez were thrown out by Mexican judges. In the first case, filed after the first stories in 1997, the presiding judge wrote that "all the accusations... were based on fact" and dismissed the case. Hernandez and Banamex tried again this year, but that case was also thrown out. Perhaps smelling defeat in Mexico, Hernandez opened a second front in the United States in August, when Akin Gump filed its New York lawsuit. Akin Gump lawyer Thomas McLish told the Village Voice the new lawsuit was filed in the US because it "relates to knowingly false statements made in the US." According to Akin Gump's complaint, those statements include reports published in Narco News, as well as remarks Mendendez Rodriguez and Giordano made in New York in March and in interviews on WBAI radio and with the Village Voice. Those remarks reiterated previous reporting done by Menendez Rodriguez and later posted on Narco News. Exhibit A is a Village Voice Press Clips column from late February in which Menendez Rodriguez called Hernandez a "narco-trafficker." Neither Menendez Rodriguez nor Giordano is likely to roll over and die. Menendez has weathered 30 years of muckraking journalism in Mexico, where that sort of reporting has provoked assassinations as often as lawsuits. And Giordano last made the media radar when he brought down the Associated Press's Bolivia correspondent for lobbying on behalf of a private company. "Everything I have printed I know to be true and I have documented with the facts," Giordano told the Village Voice. And, taking the offensive, Giordano gleefully looks forward to deposing Hernandez as part of preparations for his defense. He has also been giving Akin Gump fits as they try to serve him with legal papers. Giordano, who does not publish a street address for Narco News, declined an emailed effort by Akin Gump to have him waive his right to be served. (When DRCNet contacted Akin Gump about the matter, the only information we could get out of them was the fact that they were very interested in finding Giordano. "Do you know where Al Giordano is?," asked attorney McLish. McLish told DRCNet he would fax a statement on the matter. It never arrived.) After repeated unsuccessful efforts to either obtain the waiver or successfully serve the peripatetic Giordano, who is reportedly traipsing around southern Mexico, Akin Gump managed to crash the Narco News e-mail server. Akin Gump insists it was unintentional; Giordano calls it an act of "cyber-war." Intentional or not, Akin Gump's actions damaged Narco News. It also prompted the organization and its allies to set up mirror web sites in case of further attack. The firm has also been leaning on Narco News' web site hosting company, Voxel Dot Net, located in Troy, New York. According to Voxel spokesman Raj Dutt, who said he could not comment specifically on any legal action against his company, Akin Gump contacted Voxel on December 14th. Dutt didn't disclose the content of the call, but he did say that Narco News was "providing a public service" and that Voxel, which also hosts DRCNet, would continue to work with Narco News "until we get a court order basically telling us to shut the site down." Since launching several months ago, Narco News has reported not only on drug war and drug trade corruption, but on the growing intellectual dialogue among Latin America's savants on drug prohibition and the need for policy reform. Both Giordano and Menendez Rodriguez have attained prominent first amendment attorneys. If Banamex can claim a victory in forcing the two journalists to defend themselves in US courts, it could well turn out to be a pyrrhic victory.
3. The Needle I: In New York State, Over-the-Counter Syringe Sales Begin January 1st After being stymied in the state legislature for a decade, a law going into effect with the new year will permit illegal drug users to buy syringes without a prescription in New York state. New York will join 40 other states that now allow the practice. Unlike previous legislative sessions, the bill's supporters, led by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), this year won the low-key support of Republican Gov. George Pataki and GOP leaders and the bill slipped quietly into law. Gottfried praised the governor for "investing an enormous amount of time and capital" in passing the measure. "The hero is George Pataki, and you don't hear those words come out of my mouth very often," Gottfried told the Albany Times-Union. Corinne Carey, director of the Urban Justice Center's Harm Reduction Project and member of the New York Syringe Decriminalization Working Group, was less effusive. "It's admirable that the governor signed this," Carey told DRCNet, "but it was the work of many people, and especially Donald Grove of the Harm Reduction Coalition. They all deserve some credit for this." Public health concerns, particularly the role of drug injectors in the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, prompted the bill's passage. "If HIV were not transmitted by the sharing of needles, the epidemic would be half the size it is today," Gottfried told the Times-Union. "We are talking about tens of thousands of lives." When neighboring Connecticut adopted a similar law in 1992, HIV infections dropped by one-third. "The evidence is telling from studies in other countries, as well as in Connecticut, that this saves lives," Dr. George Clifford of the Albany Medical Center AIDS Program told the Times-Union. "There's a huge need for this," said the Harm Reduction Project's Carey. "We estimate there are 25,000 drug injectors in New York City alone, and each injection should use a clean needle." The new law permits state-registered pharmacies, health care facilities and medical practitioners to dispense up to ten syringes at a time without a prescription to anyone over the age of 18. It also allows for the possession of those syringes. But there is a glitch in the law that has yet to be completely worked out. The needle law changed the public health law section of the New York statutes, but the state assembly failed to change the state's criminal code, which continues to criminalize syringe possession without a prescription. "This is a problem," admits Carey. "If the police just look at the criminal law, nothing has changed and people will be hauled in and spend hours or days sitting in jail." The Working Group on Syringe Deregulation asked the state health department to cross-reference the relevant public health and criminal statutes, so that police and prosecutors would be aware of the exception, Carey said, but the department declined. "But they will add an insert to the package so that people can show it to police," said Carey. "The working group has been working with the AIDS Institute and the health department to make the regulations as user friendly as possible." The new law will complement, not replace, existing needle exchange programs. Some areas have no needle exchange programs. The Albany Times-Union, for example, reported that in the 17-county Capital Region, with over 1,500 injection-related AIDS cases, there are no needle exchange programs (NEPs). In other areas, existing NEPs and new over-the-counter syringe sales will serve different injecting populations, Carey suggested. "NEPs are a haven for people profoundly disconnected from other services," she told DRCNet. "These folks are not comfortable, they feel shunned and rejected by social service providers." "I've seen studies that show incredible racial disparities in drug injectors being able to get syringes at pharmacies," she said. "If you look like a drug addict or a homeless person, the pharmacy may decline to serve you. Nothing forbids them from doing that." "And don't forget, NEPs provide much more than injection equipment," Carey pointed out. "They test people for hepatitis, they hook people up with counseling and drug treatment options."
4. The Needle II: Federal Lawsuits in New York City and Connecticut Challenge Police Harassment of Needle Exchange Programs Needle exchange program (NEP) supporters in New York City and Bridgeport, Connecticut, have gone to federal court to block police harassment and arrests of NEP participants. In both cases, police have arrested people holding used syringes because they contained minute amounts of illegal drugs. Police charge them under drug paraphernalia laws. In Bridgeport, US District
Judge Janet Hall late last month issued a temporary restraining order barring
police from arresting needle exchange program participant who possess as
many as 30 syringes, the maximum amount allowed under state law.
In papers filed with the court, the plaintiffs describe a pattern of harassment. They allege that Bridgeport police "regularly stop Exchange Program participants after they leave the program van," then "confiscate or destroy" the clean needles and tear up the participant's identification card. In arguments before Judge Hall on December 15th, Graham Boyd argued that when the Connecticut legislature in 1992 revised state law to allow over-the-counter syringe sales, its clear intent was to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C by allowing injection drug users access to unused syringes. "What else can they be intended for?" asked Boyd, the ACLU's Drug Policy Litigation Project director. "If you make a person subject to arrest for possessing a needle with drug residue, then you've defeated the purpose of the statute." Following that logic, Boyd then asked Judge Hall to not only extend the temporary restraining order, but to expand it to bar Bridgeport police from arresting anyone -- not just registered program participants -- on drug paraphernalia charges for having a needle containing drug residues. Bridgeport Associate City Attorney Barbara Brazzel-Massaro disagreed. She told the court, "The law doesn't say needles with narcotic substances in them are now decriminalized." But even Brazzel-Massaro conceded that NEPs could not function if police arrested persons for possession of dirty needles. They have to have dirty ones to turn in for clean ones, she noted. Judge Hall told the court she hoped to rule by January 1st. In the meantime, the order barring Bridgeport police from arresting program members remains in effect. Meanwhile, in New York City, the Urban Justice Center in late November filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the Southern District of New York against the city, the police commissioner, and 11 police officers. The suit alleges that police arrested, detained, and prosecuted a registered member of a city NEP. Corrine Carey, director of the Urban Justice Institute's Harm Reduction Project, is one of the lawyers on the case. "It's the same old story," she told DRCNet. "The guy was walking down the street, was recognized as a drug user, and was searched. He volunteered that he had a used syringe. He showed them his membership card. They charged him with drug paraphernalia for the syringe and possession for the drug residue." "The cops should not have charged him," Carey pronounced. "It's absurd to enforce syringe possession laws. People are carrying small numbers of syringes to protect themselves and their communities from HIV." What made this case even more egregious, said Carey, was that the plaintiff was in compliance with NEP participation guidelines. "The law says if you're a registered member, you're in lawful possession." Carey said attorneys will meet in conference with US District Court Judge Robert Sweet on January 16th. Sweet has in the past spoken out for drug policy reform.
5. The Needle III: In California, Ventura County Wants Needle Exchange, San Diego Throws Up a Roadblock California's city-by-city, county-by-county approach to needle exchange programs (NEPs) continues to create a patchwork of NEPs across the state as officials at the city and county levels face off over their necessity and desirability. In Ventura County, to the north of metropolitan Los Angeles, the county Board of Supervisors declared a medical emergency, clearing the way for the county to initiate an NEP like those in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. NEPs have existed in San Francisco Bay area counties for years as well. Public Health Officer Robert Levin had earlier told reporters he would ask the county Board of Supervisors to declare a medical emergency, a necessary preliminary step for NEPs. Legislation passed in Sacramento last year legalized NEPs in California for the first time, but only by declaration of local authorities. A Ventura County survey found 811 confirmed cases of AIDS in the county since the mid-1980s, with an additional one thousand to five thousand HIV positive residents. Among men with AIDS, 19% of cases are attributable to injection drug use; among women with AIDS, that figure climbed to 45%. That same study found that since 1994, the county has had 1,467 people diagnosed with hepatitis C, which, the study said, included 50% of the county's injection drug users. "Sometimes declaring an emergency is simply because there is something you can do about it now," Levin told the Los Angeles Times. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to declare a health emergency despite skepticism from law enforcement, according to the Times. Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury, who wrote a report on the subject for the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, said county law enforcement agencies and prosecutors will not fight the NEP for now. But, said Bradbury, law enforcement will move to shut down a NEP if it becomes "a threat to public order or safety." The Times quoted Supervisor John Flynn as supporting the move despite law enforcement concerns. "When the public health doctor comes to me and says we must do this, then I take his advice," said Flynn. "We've taken too many things and shoved them into the criminal justice area, when they're really health matters." The county is moving fast. With its vote only days old, it has already announced that the program will begin in March in the towns of Ventura and Oxnard, and that the Rainbow Alliance will run the Ventura program. Meanwhile, the situation further south, in San Diego County, has shifted in the opposite direction. As DRCNet reported last August (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/151.html#sdexchange), San Diego county officials had long resisted NEPs, but the city of San Diego was moving toward implementing such a program. In October, the city council declared a medical emergency to pave the way for a city NEP. Now, the city's commitment to an NEP is in doubt after three newly elected council members voted against extending the medical emergency. They joined with a council veteran to split the council 4-4 on whether to extend the declaration. It needed five votes to pass. The vote has not derailed plans for a San Diego NEP, but does suggest that it faces a much tougher fight than under the previous council. The previous council did not vote to start an NEP, but to direct the city manager to form a task force to plan how to implement such a program. The task force continues to do its work. The Alliance Healthcare Foundation, which provides grants for health-related causes, has already agreed to spend $750,000 for a San Diego NEP. Glum NEP supporters told the San Diego Union-Tribune they would have to educate a new batch of council members about the issue.
6. DOT Issues New Drug Testing Rules, 8.5 Million Workers Get a Little More Protection The US Department of Transportation last week issued new rules for drug testing that will provide greater protections for transportation workers subject to such tests under federal public safety laws. The rule change will affect about 8.5 million workers, mainly bus and truck drivers, airline flight crews and mechanics, and railroad employees. The change provides for retesting of urine samples that have failed "validity testing," which is supposed to determine whether samples have been adulterated or diluted to hide evidence of drug use. Under the current rules, workers whose samples fail the validity test are considered cheaters and are typically fired. Persons whose drugs tests -- for amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and PCP -- come back positive, however, have the right to request new tests. The DOT rule changes will extend similar protections to those now deemed cheaters. In the first change, employers may now hire a physician to review lab results that indicate tampering with samples. If the physician finds that the test result comes from a legitimate medical reason, he or she can cancel the finding of tampering. In the second change, employees can ask that a different lab test a sample of their specimens if the first lab finds evidence of tampering. The rule changes came after a challenge to the procedures for validity testing at LabOne, Inc., a Kansas facility. A subsequent investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed widespread problems in validity testing in the program's 65 participating laboratories. Last year, Delta Airlines fired a pilot and four flight attendants after their samples were deemed invalid by LabOne. Although the Delta employees strongly maintained their innocence, under DOT rules they had no right to challenge the findings or their firings. But as the fired pilot, aided by the Air Line Pilots Association, appealed the subsequent revocation of his pilot's license, he found evidence that the lab had failed to follow government standards and had falsified evidence in its attempt to cover-up that failure. In September, Delta agreed to reinstate the pilot and the flight attendants. In October, HHS began to survey validity testing practices industry-wide. On December 14th, the same day that DOT announced the rule changes, HHS announced that, based on its review, it would instruct the laboratories to nullify the results of validity tests failed by 250 to 300 workers. DOT does not have precise figures on the number of workers who have been fired for failing validity tests. It does, however, cite figures from Quest Diagnostics, which reported that roughly 2,000 out of 650,000 drug tests it did for the government last year had validity problems. Robert Morus, a Delta pilot who is the pilots' union's lead man on the issue, told the New York Times the numbers are "telling us how broad the issue is." DOT officials, meanwhile, insisted the rule changes had nothing to do with the irregularities at LabOne or those found in the HHS investigation. The department also announced that validity testing for the government-mandated drug tests, which had been voluntary for transportation companies since 1998, will become mandatory once it reviews its standard at the end of next summer. "We have to protect the integrity of the program," said Mary Bernstein, director of DOT's Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance. "We would not be doing what was necessary in terms of safety in the workplace if we did not address the problem of cheating," she told the New York Times. Unions representing transportation workers welcomed the changes, but said they did not do enough to protect workers' rights. The Air Line Pilots Association told the Times it wanted workers to gain the right to challenge test results, instead of having to rely on a medical review officer hired by the employer. The pilots' union and others also criticized the standard the government uses to determine whether samples are fraudulent. The government standard measures levels of creatinine, a byproduct of muscle metabolism. Samples with less than 20 milligrams of creatinine per decaliter are considered "diluted," while those with less than 5 milligrams are considered "substituted." But the Times quoted "some forensic toxicologists" as saying the standard was too high. According to those experts, a "small but significant" number of workers could fall beneath the standards if they drank a lot of water before the tests, if they suffered from any of several disorders, or even if they are small people who do not eat meat. Also, women excrete less creatinine than men do, they said. After criticism of the creatinine standard earlier this year, HHS officials defended the science on which it is based, but announced that they were beginning a review of the standard.
7. At the Movies: The Buzz on "Traffic" Christian Ettinger for DRCNet "Traffic," the soon-to-be released Hollywood film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones, merits the attention of drug policy reform activists. An ambitious, sprawling, and panoramic overview of the drug war, the film dives into the tragedy and hypocrisy of the War on Drugs like no Hollywood movie before it. The film's nationwide release in the coming weeks is certain to spark popular interest in drug policy, and that represents an opportunity which drug policy reformers should seize. "Traffic" is, at different times, heavy-handed, shrill, and melodramatic, and it carries mixed messages -- it is, after all, a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. But its bottom line -- after all the tragicomic scenes of a futile War on Drugs in action in Mexico, on the border, on America's streets, and in Washington's corridors of power -- is that the War on Drugs is doomed to failure. Instead, the film implicitly argues that a harm reduction approach centered on drug treatment is a more realistic approach for reducing substance abuse and its attendant harms. Ironically, some of the politicians who designed the current drug policy and the armed bureaucrats who implement it have walk-on roles as themselves in the film. Do they realize their dogma is being questioned? According to the Associated Press, the filmmakers got Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) appear in the film by telling his staff, "the movie will be about how drugs destroy families." The AP story goes on to say the film has an anti-drug message, but that is an oversimplification. True, in some scenes that could have come from "Reefer Madness," teens fall victim to the allure of drugs. But to call "Traffic" an anti-drug movie misses the film's primary message, pounded into the viewer with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, that the War on Drugs must end. The film's plot centers on Michael Douglas as a reluctant Drug Czar whose high school age honor student daughter dabbles in drugs and then in an absurdly short time becomes a full fledged crack whore at the mercy of her demonic African-American drug dealer. This is the kind of cautionary tale that fueled the drug war to begin with, and it reads as if written by Barry McCaffrey himself. McCaffrey also could have scripted the lurid scenes of the Drug Czar's daughter and her prep school friends progressing with astounding speed from smoking pot to using speedballs, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. In its typically unsubtle fashion, the movie manages to bring in both the racial-sexual fears that envelop drug war zealots and the "gateway drug" theory. If those scenes are to be believed, any teenage girl who tries marijuana is one step away from ruin. While these cartoonish scenes certainly convey an anti-drug message out of the 1930s, it is unlikely that Sen. Hatch and other drug warrior senators will like the way the movie plays out. Watching his daughter's deterioration does not turn Douglas into an even more zealous drug warrior -- far from it. Instead, Douglas comes to see his job, his office, and the drug war as a sham. In addition to Hatch's appearance, in fact, is a cameo by well-known drug war critic Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation. (Ed: Well-known in some circles, anyway. According to the gossip columns, the Screen Actors Guild is threatening to fine the film's producers $500 each for allowing Nadelmann, as well as journalist J.D. Podolsky, to play themselves. Under union rules, Nadelmann and Podolsky are not well known enough to play themselves, and should have been portrayed by union actors. Sorry, Ethan.) Just as the film-makers provide both anti-drug abuse and anti-drug war messages, they also try to have it both ways in the production notes used to promote the film. "Everybody who read the script -- whether from the political right or left, law enforcement or drug addicts -- thought the script was on their side," said screenwriter Stephen Gaghan in the notes. Producer Laura Bickford agrees, "What was curious about the reaction to the script was that everybody felt it represented their point of view. The DEA, which gave us enormous support, felt it was one of the most truthful things they'd ever read about what it's like to be in law enforcement fighting the fight." But if the DEA liked the script, it may therefore believe its mission is futile. In an example of art imitating life, scenes portraying the Mexican drug czar as himself a corrupt drug dealer drive home the point that trying to stop the flow of drugs is like trying to plow the sea. In one of the most eloquently stunning scenes in the film, Douglas, headed back to Washington after a fact-finding mission in Mexico, asks his policy experts whether they have any new ideas or strategies. The silence is deafening. Gaghan does concede in the notes that after researching the issue and speaking with drug policy makers, he found, "Speaking candidly nobody thought the current policies were working --nobody." "We're trying to be as dispassionate as we can," added Soderbergh. But he sang a slightly different tune in a recent interview with Salon. "I came away from this process thinking, 'All right let's talk about realistic stuff.' Stuff like Prop. 36 (the California initiative passed this year that offers diversion to treatment programs for nonviolent drug offenders); finding a way to look at this as a health care issue, not a criminal issue; something other than filling up prisons with nonviolent users." Salon critic Jeff Stark sums up the film's message well: "'Traffic' is the first mainstream, major Hollywood production that has come out and said that America's drug war is not winnable. The film argues both implicitly and explicitly that going after the suppliers and the drug traffickers -- where the US spends the bulk of its $19-billion-a-year budget -- simply doesn't work, that it kills innocents and turns others into criminals, that it devastates poor neighborhoods, that it can't stop or even attenuate an insatiable social maw of illicit drug use" (http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2000/12/20/traffic_essay/). Despite the filmmaker's protestations, Stark writes that their intentions were unambiguous. "Soderbergh and Gaghan have a clear opinion and neither are holding back -- they're not afraid to risk sounding didactic in service of what they consider a moral high ground." The New York Film Critics Circle agrees with Stark. When they awarded "Traffic" the prize for best picture, they called the film an indictment of the drug war, not an indictment of drugs or drug users. "Traffic" is by no means a perfect film, but it does provide a huge potential opening to expand popular consciousness of the evils of the drug war and the search for better answers. "Traffic" opens in New York and Los Angeles next week and nationally in January.
8. Newsbriefs: Florida Grand Jury Recommends More of the Same Drug War Policies, Polk County Commissioners Race to be Tested A statewide grand jury, empanelled in September 1999 with a mandate to assess Florida's drug enforcement and treatment efforts, issued a report with its findings on December 14th. For the most part, the grand jury's recommendations ignored innovative approaches; instead many of the suggested fixes, especially on the enforcement side, amount to throwing more money at an intractable problem. The jurors called for a new entity, a Miami River Authority, to target drug trafficking on what it called "a free entryway for illegal drugs into our state." Such an entity would join a plethora of federal, state, and local agencies, police forces, and joint task forces already working the port of Miami. The report called for increased state and federal spending on enforcement, singling out increased funds for the National Guard and for a state drug intelligence center to coordinate Florida's drug war. It also recommended increased use of drug-sniffing dogs by the Florida Highway Patrol and the state prison system. The grand jurors called drug dogs "a cost-effective, non-intrusive, and reliable" method of finding drugs. The grand jury's central message to state political leaders was if you want to play, you have to pay. "Public lip service won't do," the report said, "action is essential and resources are the key." The grand jurors helpfully suggested some funding sources other than taxpayer dollars. They recommended the state look into how to tax illegal drug sales without forcing individuals to incriminate themselves; advocated the use of increasingly controversial asset forfeiture as a funding tool; and called for stepped-up collection of fines imposed on convicted drug dealers. And, the jurors suggested, the state could save money by barring defense attorneys from requesting pretrial depositions of witnesses, particularly police officers, who, the jurors said, would better serve the public on patrol than in court. The grand jurors did not spend all their energy cooking up questionable new enforcement ideas. They called for increased funding for drug treatment, for drug education to be expanded to middle and high schools, and for insurance coverage for drug addiction. The grand jurors wrote that the state should set the example by requiring such coverage in its pending insurance contract for state employees. Meanwhile, in a sign that Florida's miasmic swamp gases have affected not only voters or vote-counters (depending on your political persuasion), and grand jurors, county commissioners in central Polk County got into a brouhaha over who was most eager to submit to drug testing. Commissioner Don Gifford sparked the tempest in a specimen cup last week when he told reporters if county employees have to take "intrusive" drug tests, so should commissioners. County employees in safety-sensitive positions are subject to random drug tests, and all new employees must pass drug tests. Three of the commissioners have now been tested, with Commissioner Jack Myers proudly being the first one through the bathroom door. Commission Chairman Neil Combee was disappointed. "Dadgummit," he told the Ledger (Lakeland), "I wanted to be first." The commissioners' solidarity with county employees only goes so far, however. While employees face sanctions up to termination for a positive drug test, the commissioners face nothing. "County administration has no authority over them like we do over line employees," Polk County Administrative Services Director Jim Freeman told the Ledger. "We're just going to hand the results back to them."
9. The Insider: Grant Info, Call for Articles, Job Listings GRANT PROGRAM The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation (TLC-DPF) Grant Program is undergoing a comprehensive review, to consider changes to the Grant Program's criteria and strategic focus. The April 1st, 2001 deadline for accepting proposals is therefore temporarily on hold. Anyone planning on submitting a proposal to TLC-DPF by the April 1st deadline is strongly encouraged to send TLC-DPF a brief concept paper in January or February of 2001 (preferably by e-mail). TLC-DPF will then be able to contact all prospective grant applicants in a timely manner when proposals are due and notify them of changes made to the guidelines. Once the review is complete, new guidelines will be distributed, as well as posted online at http://www.drugpolicy.org. Please contact TLC-DPF regarding the current status of the program before submitting a formal proposal. If you have any suggestions or comments regarding the Grant Program that you would like to share with TLC-DPF as part of the review, please contact Robert Sharpe, Grant Program Associate, at [email protected]. FORTUNE SOCIETY CALL FOR ARTICLES Fortune News, the quarterly journal of The Fortune Society, is seeking articles exploring the limitations of the mainstream media in reporting on crime and prison issues. The Fortune Society is a New York City-based non-profit organization serving the needs of prisoners, former prisoners, and those slated to become prisoners. Fortune News is sent free to prisoners nationwide. Articles must be no more than 1,250 words and submitted typed, double-spaced, and include the title, author's name and short bio of the author. (Incarcerated writers may submit handwritten manuscripts.) Articles may also be submitted as Microsoft Word files, on disk, or via e-mail to [email protected]. Photos, illustrations, and artwork are welcome. Only manuscripts and accompanying materials submitted with a SASE will be returned. Please send submissions to: Fortune News Submissions, c/o The Fortune Society, 53 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010. Submission deadline is February 28, 2001. The Fortune Society is unable to compensate writers monetarily. All those who submit articles will receive a free one-year subscription to Fortune News. For more information, please contact Shannon Herbert, Fortune News Editor at (212) 691-7554 ext. 527 or e-mail [email protected]. More information about The Fortune Society can be found at http://www.fortunesociety.org. SEATTLE JOB OPPORTUNITY Street Outreach Services in Seattle is looking for a full-time Office Coordinator. The qualified candidate will be familiar with MS Word and Excel and have the ability to work in a chaotic/unconventional work environment. Job seekers should also have a commitment to HIV prevention, social change, and "the idea that US drug policies suck." Pay will be in the range of $12 to $13 per hour. Street Outreach Services is an independent nonprofit committed to harm reduction. SOS runs a large storefront drop-in center in downtown Seattle serving up to 300 people per day, and does street outreach throughout downtown Seattle. SOS also provides a number of other social services, including a needle exchange program. For further information, contact: Kris Nyrop, Street Outreach Services, 1503 Second Avenue Seattle, WA 98101, (206) 625-0854, fax: (206) 625-0326, [email protected]. NYC JOB OPPORTUNITY The International Harm Reduction Development Program of the Open Society Institute is seeking a Program Coordinator/Public Policy. Responsibilities will include work related to grantmaking, budgets, logistical and administrative issues, international trainings, conferences and meetings, communications and public health and policy research. Salary commensurate with experience, with full benefits, start date approximately March 1, 2001. To apply, send resume, cover letter, three references, salary requirements, and a two-page writing sample in English about relevant drug policy issues in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to: Open Society Institute, Human Resources, Code IHRD-PC, 400 W. 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 or fax to (212) 548-4663. No telephone inquiries. The International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD) strives to reduce health and social harms related to illegal drug use, especially the risk of HIV-infection, in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU), the Program Coordinator/Public Policy reports to the Associate Director in New York. SAN FRANCISCO JOB OPPORTUNITY The Urban Health Study (UHS) at the University of California, San Francisco is seeking a Data Manager for Community-Based Injection Drug User Research. UHS conducts community-based health research and harm reduction with active injection drug users in six San Francisco Bay Area communities. The Data Manager will manage computerized databases, coordinate incoming data from various sources, convert data from outside sources into formats used in-house and from inside sources into formats used by outside users, investigate data discrepancies and make corrections and perform elementary statistical programming tasks. Required skills include a working knowledge of SAS, in-depth knowledge of multiple database packages (such as Paradox and Microsoft Access), word-processing skills (Word or WordPerfect), including mail-merge functions, facility and familiarity with multiple formats of data, attention to detail in resolution of data discrepancies, ability to accomplish time-critical tasks, interest in working with ethnically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse communities including disenfranchised and marginalized populations, excellent communication and organizational skills, and ability to work collaboratively as a part of a complex research team. Salary in the range of $39,700 to $47,700, depending on qualifications. For further information, contact: Lauren Gee, Urban Health Study, 3180 18th St., Suite 302, San Francisco, CA 94110, (415) 502-6260, fax: (415) 476-3406, e-mail [email protected] or visit http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~uhs/. To apply, fax or e-mail your resume to Lauren Gee, and also to: UCSF Human Resources, 3333 California Street, Suite 305, San Francisco, CA 94143-0832, (415) 476-1645, [email protected], and indicate Job #B15685R. Open 11/23/00 until filled. DC JOB OPPORTUNITY The NORML Foundation, a nonprofit, seeks an attorney to serve as director of legal programs. Duties include providing legal referrals and other assistance to victims of current marijuana laws, assisting defense attorneys with specialized defenses, including the medical use of marijuana, coordinating the preparation of amicus briefs in selected cases, filing FOIA requests with appropriate agencies; and other matters that arise. Candidates should have experience as a criminal defense attorney and familiarity with public policy and legal issues presented by the "war on drugs." Send resume, salary requirements and cover letter to the NORML Foundation, Attn: ASTP, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 710, DC 20036, fax to (202) 483-0057 or e-mail [email protected].
(Please submit listings of events related to drug policy and related areas to [email protected].) 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. January 27, 2001, 1:00-5:00pm, Portland, OR, Teach-In on "Colombia, America's Next Military Nightmare." At the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th Ave. For further information, contact Kim Alphandary, (503) 537-9014 or [email protected], or Chris Falazo, Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, (503) 236-7916 or [email protected]. February 2, 2001, 8:30am-5:30pm, San Francisco, CA, "The State of Ecstasy: The Medicine, Science and Culture of MDMA." One day conference, sponsored by The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, at the Golden Gate Club, Presidio of San Francisco. For further information, call (415) 921-4987 or visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/ecstasy/ on the web. February 22-24, 2001, New York, NY, "Altered States of Consciousness" conference. At the New School, e-mail [email protected] for further information. March 9-11, 2001, New York, NY, Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex. Northeast regional conference, following on the large national gathering in 1998, to focus on the impacts of the prison industrial complex in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, DC. Visit http://www.criticalresistance.org for further information, or call (212) 561-0912 or e-mail [email protected]. 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://www.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 19-21, Washington, DC, 2001 NORML Conference. Call (202) 293-8340 for information. Registration and other information to be made available soon at http://www.norml.org. 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.
David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected] A headline flashed across the bottom of the CNN screen a few days ago, about kids at a South Dakota high school being caught selling marijuana in the school's parking lot. My question about this is, is this news? Certainly it's news for the townsfolk, and not a very merry Christmas for the kids, nor for their parents. But is it national news? Don't get me wrong. I don't want kids selling drugs, or using drugs, any more than anybody else does, not even marijuana. But is it news? One of the most important reasons for ending drug prohibition is the exposure to criminality and the criminal underground that our young people receive via the drug trade. Prohibition creates that underground market, while failing to curtail use. Instead of being sold through licit venues, with age restrictions and other appropriate regulation, illegal drugs thrive in the shadows, purveyed by sellers who in substantial part are happy to sell to or employ minors. This illicit market spreads criminality, sometimes violence, throughout our society and around the world. Even into the schools. South Dakota and everywhere else. But that's not really news, or at least it shouldn't be. A drug free high school, on the other hand, if one could be found, that would be news. But to anyone who's been paying attention, drug selling in the parking lot, that's not news. That's prohibition. 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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