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(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #166, 12/29/00
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search 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. Clinton Frees Kemba Smith and Dorothy Gaines, More Pardons Possible as 450,000 Non-Violent Drug Offenders Remain Behind Bars As part of a larger group of term-end pardons and clemencies, President Clinton late last week granted clemency to two well-known drug war prisoners. Kemba Smith, 29, of Richmond, Virginia, served 6 1/2 years of a 25-year sentence before walking out of prison just before Christmas, while Dorothy Gaines had completed 6 years of a 19 1/2-year sentence. Neither woman played more than a peripheral role in the drug conspiracies with which they were charged. But because of prosecutorial decision-making and mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine offenses, both Smith and Gaines were hammered hard. Both women benefited from the tireless efforts of friends and relatives, who enlisted the support of drug reform and civil rights groups, which in turn generated stories in the mass media featuring Gaines' and Smith's plights. Prisoner oriented drug reform groups such as the November Coalition and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) played important roles in mobilizing support for the pardons, but they expressed mixed feelings this week. The November Coalition's Nora Callahan told DRCNet that the clemencies were only a tiny first step. "I'm thrilled that Kemba and Dorothy are home," she said, "but did Clinton address the fundamental injustice? No, he just granted a couple of Christmas releases." FAMM founder Julie Stewart hewed to a similar line. "We applaud the President for commuting these sentences, but they represent the tip of the iceberg," she said. "There are thousands of low level, nonviolent offenders in federal prison and more are pouring in each day," said Stewart. Clinton remains in office until January 20th, and Stewart told DRCNet she was optimistic that more pardons or clemencies would come in the next three weeks. "The chances are very good," she said. "There has been talk about another round of clemencies, and given Clinton's own comments in Rolling Stone about mandatory minimums, I think he will do more commutations." "He knows they're serving too much time," she added. Stewart said FAMM will be watching two cases in particular, those of Derrick Curry and Gerard Greenfield. Greenfield, a black man from the Washington, DC, area, was pulled over for going six miles per hour over the speed limit in Utah and sentenced to 16 years in prison for PCP residues. He has already served nearly half that sentence. Curry got 19 1/2 years on federal crack charges even though the FBI admitted he was a flunky and the sentencing judge called him a minor player, said Stewart. He's been in for 7 years after being arrested at age 19. FAMM also is looking for action on the "safety valve" prisoners, 487 people who could be serving shorter sentences or out of prison altogether if they had been sentenced after Congress adjusted federal drug offense sentencing in September 1994. "A commutation for these people is a very rational request," said Stewart. "These are all low-level, first time, non-violent drug offenders. People who committed the same crimes later got lesser sentences. Why not redress the inequity through the commutation process?" she asked. But then Stewart laughed and, in an implicit appraisal of Clinton's political courage, added, "If that happens, it's going to be 11:59 PM on January 19th." Nora Callahan wasn't impressed with the courage of Clinton's convictions. "After eight years, he pardons a handful of people and gives an exit interview about sentencing," she snorted. "This is almost a slap in the face. This injustice occurred on his watch." And, while Callahan applauds each prisoner's release, she doesn't see individual acts of clemency as a real solution. "There is simply no way we are ever going to screen out injustice by looking at drug cases on a case by case basis the way Clinton did in these cases," she told DRCNet. "We have too many low-level drug offenders serving time as principals because they wouldn't or couldn't give up names for the prosecutors." "The only way to address the injustice is blanket releases," said Callahan.
2. Interview with Dorothy Gaines Dorothy Gaines, 42, of Mobile, Alabama, was one of two imprisoned women drug offenders granted clemency and released from prison by President Clinton last week (12/22/00). She was sentenced to almost 20 years in federal prison on crack cocaine conspiracy charges although she was accused of only peripheral participation and credibly maintained her innocence throughout. Gaines was never found in possession of any drugs, nor was there evidence of her selling them or even being aware that her boyfriend at the time, a crack addict, was a sometime low-level dealer. State prosecutors dropped charges, but federal prosecutors charged her with conspiracy. When she refused to plead guilty or offer testimony against others, she was found guilty and sentenced to 19 years and 7 months. Gaines and her family worked for years to see her freed, eventually gaining the support of drug reform and civil rights groups and a crucial offer of free legal assistance. Her story also appeared in magazines such as Marie Claire and Essence, where she became a poster child of sorts for drug sentencing reform. The Week Online spoke with
Gaines on Wednesday:
3. Ashcroft Nomination for Attorney General Bodes Ill for Drug Policy Reform In a decision with important implications for drug policy, President-elect George W. Bush has nominated Senator John Ashcroft (R-M)) to be his Attorney General. Ashcroft, who lost a November Senate race to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, is also a former Missouri governor and attorney general. He is also a self-described Christian conservative who neither smokes, drinks, nor dances, and has a long record as staunch drug warrior. An anti-abortion, pro-death penalty ideologue, Ashcroft stands to be a polarizing figure. His ratings by various advocacy groups suggest a sharp divide: He scores 100% with the conservative Christian Coalition and Phyllis Schafly's Eagle Forum, but gets a big fat goose egg from liberal groups such as the National Organization for Women and the League of Conservation voters. The Leadership Conference for Civil Rights gave Ashcroft a 10% rating. Civil rights, civil liberties, and women's groups are already gearing up to challenge the nomination in the Senate, and drug policy activists are busily plotting whether and how to help, though the conventional wisdom is that Ashcroft will be seated as the next Attorney General. Ashcroft introduced the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act to increase penalties for manufacturing or trafficking that drug, and some of his comments on that occasion give insight into both Ashcroft's thinking and why drug reformers are worried about it: "... But there is another factor that motivates my opposition to meth: I want to fight meth because its use and production is wrong. And too few people are willing to stand up these days and call drugs wrong... much of our current predicament stems from the permissive attitudes that emerged from the 1960s. The decay of enforcement that began in the 1960s helped to cause the problems of the succeeding decades... Laws are what protects society from anarchy. And when we choose not to enforce our laws, our laws lose their effectiveness, and the bulwark against anarchy withers." The Meth Act was just Ashcroft's main attraction this year. Outside the spotlight, he was busy preparing legislation crafted to ensure that no one escapes the drug war dragnet and to punish and punish again those who get caught. For instance: S. 587: A bill to provide for the mandatory suspension of federal benefits to convicted drug traffickers. S. 2008: A bill to require the pre-release drug testing of federal prisoners. (This masterpiece of vindictiveness demands that prisoners be tested prior to release and, if their tests are dirty, that the information be turned over to local prosecutors for possible new charges of violating drug or prison contraband laws.) S. 2517: A bill to amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 to allow school personnel to apply appropriate discipline measures to all students in cases involving weapons, illegal drugs, and assaults upon teachers. (Just because a kid is crippled doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to get him on drug charges.) Ashcroft has been riding the meth menace for some time, and has bragged on his campaign web site and on the Senate floor about such victories as the "one strike and you're out" policy for methamphetamine violators living in public housing, securing the death penalty for some methamphetamine offenses, and securing High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) status for his state. But his concerns with drug policy extend far beyond the borders of the Show-Me state. In 1998, he co-authored measures preventing Washington, DC's needle exchange program from obtaining local funding. In fact, he went further than that. He even attempted to block studies of the efficacy of needle exchange programs, arguing that determining that the programs work "is an intolerable message that it's time to accept drug use as a way of life," according to the Washington Post. When faced with a contradiction between the bedrock conservative principles of morality and free enterprise, Ashcroft has no problem choosing morality when it comes to illicit drugs. But his moral compass begins to gyrate when it comes to other addictive or abused substances. He has taken $44,500 dollars from beer companies since 1993, including $20,000 from St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, and he lauded the beer industry in a video tribute produced by the Beer Institute of America. When Mother Jones magazine took him to task for the contradiction, Ashcroft feebly replied, "It's a product that is in demand. And when it's used responsibly, it's like other products." He also stuck up for big tobacco, although he hasn't taken any tobacco money since accepting $8,000 for his 1994 Senate race. Oddly, in arguing against the tobacco bill, he suggested that people should be free to make bad choices. While drug policy reformers generally fear and loathe the prospect of an Ashcroft Department of Justice, early indications are that drug reform organizations will take a back seat to the big liberal powerhouse groups, such as the NAACP and the National Organization for Women, in any campaign to block Ashcroft's nomination. "We're waiting to see what other groups take the lead," said Sanho Tree, drug policy analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies. "I think it will be tough to block this nomination," Tree told DRCNet, "but this is an opportunity for the drug reform movement to strengthen alliances that are beginning to form with civil rights and women's groups. A lot of these groups need to be brought up to speed on the drug war, and Ashcroft provides us with a common cause." Julie Stewart, founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), told DRCNet that while Ashcroft "is not a friend of sentencing reform," her organization will not be involved in any effort to block his nomination. "That's not our focus," she said. "We will continue to work on sentencing reform in the Congress, and I don't think he can be stopped anyway." Stewart said she would urge the Bush administration to engage in "compassionate conservative sentencing reform," as she searched for a silver lining. "I can't just give up. And I can't stop thinking that, like Nixon going to China, sentencing reform will start with a Republican."
4. Uruguayan President Becomes First Head of State to Call for Legalization of Drugs, Story Ignored by US Press In a series of increasingly pointed comments at international forums, Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle has become the first sitting head of state to call for drug legalization. Batlle's remarks were the latest moves in an incipient effort by Uruguay and its Mercosur partners -- Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay -- to chart an independent path out of the US-led drug war quagmire. Although Batlle spoke out weeks ago, on November 20th at the 10th Latin American Summit of Heads of State in Panama City and at the December 1st inauguration of Vicente Fox in Mexico City, both events well-attended by the international media, American media consumers never knew it happened. Not until the Narco News Bulletin (http://www.narconews.com) broke the story a week ago, with the Week Online and the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation both running with it, did any mainstream media outlet give mention. The following paragraph appeared under Clifford Krauss' byline in the New York Times on December 23rd. It is the sum total of mainstream media reporting to date on Batlle's remarks. "President Jorge Batlle, who is known for speaking his mind on contentious subjects, spoke out in favor of the decriminalization of drugs in a television interview. He said he was only trying to provoke debate, but it was the first time a Latin American president had suggested that partial legalization of drugs could help fight addiction." Here's the rest of the story: According to a Narco News investigation, Battle's advisors began circulating trial balloons last summer. (Visit http://www.narconews.com/heroyear2000.html for the complete account and links to Uruguayan press stories.) On June 16th, Batlle's chief of staff, Leonarda Costa was quoted by El Observador (Montevideo) as saying Uruguay would open discussions with its Mercosur partners about "the idea of legalizing the consumption of drugs." According to the newspaper, Batlle had already told the weekly Brecha he favored the legalization of drugs, and Costa confirmed it. "When the president said what he said, he was expressing his personal philosophy," he said. "But it is viable to the extent that other countries also do it." Those remarks came as Batlle and other Latin American leaders confronted American pressures to support Plan Colombia, the US-designed military solution to Colombia's deep-seated civil war and drug production. Batlle joined other South American leaders at the Brasilia summit at the end of August. In a joint declaration, they praised the Colombian government's protracted negotiations with leftist guerrillas, but pointedly refused to endorse Plan Colombia. Then, on November 20th, while attending the Tenth Iberoamerican Summit of Chiefs of State and Government in Panama City, Batlle spoke out in greater detail. According to Terra, an Uruguayan web-based news provider, Batlle called for a future summit devoted to the topic of the drug trade. "We can't go on avoiding things in life," he told his fellow leaders. "How do you eliminate the profit from all of this?" asked Batlle. "Do you think that as long as that substance has such fantastic market power there could be any mechanism created to prevent its trafficking? How do you make it lose value so that everyone loses interest in that business?" Batlle's answer? End prohibition. "If that little powder was worth only 10 cents, there would be no organizations dedicated to raising a billion dollars to finance armies in Colombia," he said. He also urged the assembled heads of state to "stop playing games, take a deep look and start seriously confronting the drug problem. But even if I'm wrong, why is there such a fear of asking ourselves this question?" Ten days later in Mexico City, Batlle went even farther. According to El Observador, he pointed at the root of the problem. "The day that it is legalized in the United States, it will lose value, and if it loses value, there will be no profit. But as long as the US citizenry doesn't rise up to do something, they will pass this life fighting and fighting." Again, Batlle's position appeared driven by concern about Plan Colombia. "You have to think about the origin of the thing," he argued. "Basically, where is this consumed? A minimum of 50 percent is consumed in the United States. It seems fine with me that my friend Pastrana (the Colombian president) tries to improve education, health and roads... but this doesn't resolve the problem." He also compared today's drug wars to alcohol Prohibition, and predicted that the current stalemate will end "on the day that the consumers announce that this cannot be fixed by any other manner than changing this situation in the same way that was done with the 'Dry Laws.'" And, Batlle told El Observador, he had personally pitched the idea of legalization to President Clinton. Batlle did not report on Clinton's response. The 72-year-old Batlle won the presidency this year as head of the conservative Colorado Party, which defeated a coalition of centrist and left parties. (Ed: Actually, we're not absolutely certain whether Batlle is the very first head of state to call for legalization. We're pretty sure he's the first in the Americas. A few years ago the King of Lichtenstein suggested "controlled legalization." We're not sure whether the King is an official head of state or an honorary position.)
5. FCC Chastises Networks for Drug Czar's Media Campaign, NORML Complaint Brings Victory "WARNING: This program contains material lobbying for support of current drug policies, paid for at taxpayer expense." While viewers of "The Drew Carey Show" or "America's Most Wanted" may never see that admonition flash on their TV screens, the FCC wants them to know when the government is attempting to sway them. Ruling on a complaint filed by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this week ordered the major networks to begin identifying the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) as a sponsor of shows that include anti-drug messages underwritten by the federal government. In 1997, Congress appropriated a billion dollars for a five-year anti-drug advertising campaign run by ONDCP. In the past two years, in a complicated programming-for-ad-time swap, the major networks took in $25 million from the government for placing anti-drug messages in a number of prime-time programs. ONDCP admitted to Congress to reviewing scripts for more than a hundred episodes of different programs to see if their anti-drug messages met government approval. But neither the networks nor the drug warriors told viewers that federal employees were helping to shape their favorite programs. That arrangement, and similar ones with the film and publishing industries, blossomed into a national scandal after Salon's Dan Forbes first exposed them almost a year ago. That's when NORML jumped in. It filed a complaint with the FCC arguing that failing to identify the drug czar's office as a sponsor of the programs violated long-standing FCC disclosure rules. The federal regulators agreed. In its ruling, the FCC cited sponsorship regulations in place since 1927 that state that viewers "are entitled to know by whom they are being persuaded." "The language of the statute is very broad, requiring sponsorship identification if any type of valuable consideration is directly or indirectly paid or promised, charged or accepted," said the ruling. NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup told the Washington Post he was pleased, but that the ruling did not go far enough. It did not address the troublesome question of whether the government should be supporting a specific public policy position in prime-time programs, he said. "We have been told by these programmers that they have influenced the programs in order to please the government. That is not the kind of free press we have grown accustomed to," Stroup said. Still, Stroup was "reasonably happy," he told Newsday. "It puts the incoming drug czar on notice," he said. "At least the next time around, if they're going to spend taxpayer money to try to influence the content of programming, that fact is going to have to be included on the programming." Neither the networks nor the drug czar's office have commented on the ruling. The networks could have faced fines for violating FCC regulations.
6. Kubby Trial Ends in Mistrial, Eleven Jurors Accept Prop. 215 Defense (courtesy NORML Foundation, http://www.norml.org) A mistrial was declared in the high profile case against former California gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby and his wife Michelle, both medical marijuana patients. The trial ended last week after a hung jury (11-1 in favor of acquitting the Kubbys) was declared on five counts of marijuana possession, cultivation and conspiracy. An almost unanimous jury supported the intent of California's medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, by refusing to convict the couple on charges involving the cultivation of 265 marijuana plants and alleged distribution. However, the jury convicted Steve Kubby of possession of a small amount of psilocyn (psychedelic mushrooms) and peyote buttons. He is scheduled for sentencing on February 2nd. The Kubbys were arrested on Jan. 19, 1999 after the Placer County Sheriff's Department raided their Tahoe home and confiscated the marijuana plants, computer records and hardware. The prosecution contended that the Kubbys were planning on selling the marijuana to the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC). The Kubbys denied the allegations and said they worked with the OCBC to insure their marijuana garden complied with local guidelines. "The important thing is the jury upheld the Oakland guidelines," Steve Kubby said. "Everything else is really superfluous." "While we feel badly that Steve Kubby was convicted on the other counts, we were here for a marijuana contest and we won that," said Tony Serra, Esq., Steve Kubby's lawyer. Visit http://www.kubby.com for further information.
7. Which State Has More People -- Your State or the Prison State? Almost a year ago (February), the US incarcerated population passed the two million mark. Earlier this week, the results of the 2000 US Census were released, numbers estimated as of April 1, 2000. How do the populations of the 50 states compare with the prison state? Nearly a third of them are smaller, some of them much smaller: Alaska, 626,932; Delaware, 783,600; Hawaii, 1,211,537; Idaho, 1,293,953; Maine, 1,274,923; Montana, 902,195; Nebraska, 1,711,263; Nevada, 1,998,257; New Hampshire, 1,235,786; New Mexico, 1,819,046; North Dakota, 642,200; Rhode Island, 1,048,319; South Dakota, 754,844; Vermont, 608,827, West Virginia, 1,808,344; Wyoming, 493,782. Also smaller than the prison state are the three smallest US states combined: Wyoming + Vermont + Alaska, 1,729,541. What would be the social and economic impact of incarcerating all the residents of these three states?
8. Urgent Action: Ashcroft, Clemencies, Hemp As the year winds to an end, with Congress in recess and many of you on vacation, drug reformers are faced with not one, or even two, but three urgent action items -- as well as a little bit of good news. Please take a few moments to call Congress and the President this week -- it could make all the difference in the coming year! URGENT ACTION ITEM #1: John Ashcroft As you may have read in mainstream news accounts, Sen. John Ashcroft, who was defeated for reelection in Missouri by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, has been nominated by George W. Bush to be the next US Attorney General. It is vital that his nomination be opposed. John Ashcroft is one of the most ideologically extreme drug warriors, and his appointment would spell trouble for sentencing/prison policies, medical marijuana, needle exchange, racial profiling, you name it. See our article, above for more info (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/166.html#ashcroft). We will be issuing detailed action alerts by January 4th when the new Senate is sworn in, for opposing him on a state-by-state basis. In the meantime, please call your two US Senators and ask them to oppose the controversial John Ashcroft nomination. You can reach your Senators (or find out who they are) by calling the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can also visit http://www.senate.gov to look up their web sites and find out their direct numbers in Washington and their local phone numbers and locations in your state. Make an in-person visit if you can! URGENT ACTION ITEM #2: Save Industrial Hemp Drug warriors at the DEA and ONDCP are trying to ban a whole range of products made with industrial, non-drug hemp. Their motivation, ostensibly, is that hemp interferes with drug testing and creates false positives, causing problems with federal drug testing programs more complicated. Really, they are simply committed to a bizarre ideology that considers hemp a drug, even though you can't get high with it. But in doing so, they are attempting to administratively rewrite 63 years of US law that clearly makes an exception for low-THC hemp in the marijuana laws. Their actions threaten to make a perfectly legal, fledgling industry and its patrons all victims of the drug war. What is happening is that DEA is planning to publish three "interim rules," which would immediately become effective while they go through the longer process. First, the DEA proposes to change its interpretation of existing law to bring hemp products within the purview of the Controlled Substances Act; second, to change DEA regulations to agree with the new interpretation; and third, to exempt traditional hemp products not designed for human consumption, such as paper and clothing, from being subject to the Controlled Substances Act. (See http://www.drcnet.org/wol/165.html#hempembargo for further information on the looming Hemp Embargo.) For the rules to become effective, several federal agencies have to sign off on them. The so-called Dept. of Justice has already done so, but they still have to go through Customs, Treasury, Commerce, and the Office of Management and Budget. Please call your US Representative and your two US Senators; ask them to oppose the DEA's illegal hemp regulations and to put pressure on these agencies to reject the regulations. Again, you can reach all three of them via the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or look up their DC and local contact information and locations via http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov on the web. URGENT ACTION ITEM #3: Appeal to Clinton for More Clemencies Less than an hour after the last issue of The Week Online with DRCNet was published, the news came out that President Bill Clinton had granted clemencies to two prisoners whose names are well known to drug reformers: Dorothy Gaines and Kemba Smith, now home with their families. That's the good news; read more about it atclemency anddorothygaines in this issue. The action item is to urge Clinton to release more such prisoners. There are hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders in the nation's penal institutions, tens of thousands of them in the federal system over which Clinton has jurisdiction. It is wonderful that Dorothy and Kemba have gotten to go home, but two is not enough! In particular, the 400+ "safety-valve" prisoners should be released. These are people who would likely be free today if they had been sentenced after the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill, which allowed judges to reduce the sentences of certain drug offenders who would otherwise get five or ten year mandatory minimums. The law was almost passed with retroactivity, but that fell victim to a frenzied election-year intersection of drug and gun politics. Many similar people's sentences have begun and ended since then. There is no reason not to release them. A few other prisoners who deserve our support:
9. NYC and Budapest Job Opportunities (This NYC listing is reprinted from last week's listing. The Budapest listings are for the same program.) 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. IHRD is also hiring for two positions in Budapest, Hungary: Associate Director/Public Policy: The Associate Director/Public Policy reports to the Director in New York. The new two-person IHRD unit in Budapest, along with the Program Coordinator/Public Policy in New York, is responsible for carrying out activities targeting capacity building, education and training, network building and advocacy. The promotion of harm reduction must be carried out on many levels at once, both geographically and across the various sectors of each society. Only a major policy shift away from repressive approaches to drug use and HIV/AIDS, and towards harm reduction will help stem the HIV epidemic among IDUs in CEE/FSU. Responsibilities will include leadership of a wide range of efforts in program development, fundraising and grantmaking. The position start date is approximately March 1, 2000. Program Officer/Public
Policy: This position works under the day to day supervision
of the Associate Director/Public Policy, but also reports to the Director
in New York.
(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.
11. Editorial: Awakening from Kemba's Nightmare David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected] Six and a half years ago, Kemba Smith, age 22, was sentenced to 24 1/2 years in federal prison for a minor role in a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. Kemba became a cause-celebre after her case was featured on the cover of the May 1996 issue of Emerge magazine, under the provocative title "Kemba's Nightmare: A Model Child Becomes Prisoner #26370-083." Last week, Kemba awoke from the nightmare, freed by President Clinton, a morning of freedom for herself, her parents and son. So did drug war prisoner Dorothy Gaines, now home with family in Tennessee. Back in 1996, I remember seeing the title "Kemba's Nightmare" attached to a Richmond, Virginia post office box. Facilitated by the publicity provided by Emerge -- which was known as "black America's news magazine" -- Kemba's parents had launched a campaign to educate youth about the danger the criminal justice system poses to them if they are not extraordinarily careful; and to awaken the public to the injustice of mandatory minimum sentencing and the need for change. In every darkness is a glimmer of light pointing to its resolution. Through Kemba's plight, in part, and her family's campaign, a larger awakening to a particularly terrible kind of injustice has been sparked. How many political leaders, opinion leaders, ordinary people, were shocked into consciousness or action as the story and its actors wound their way into mailboxes, classrooms, parlors around the country? There is a very different dialogue on this issue, with a sharper edge to it, than in 1993 when Kemba's Nightmare began. And now there is a third awakening, an awakening to hope: the knowledge that your voice, your appeal, might even reach the President's desk. Together, our call, our demand, on behalf of the other half million drug war prisoners, one day surely will. As an aside, it is worth mentioning that Emerge did not live to see Kemba go free, at least not in the same form. Earlier this year, management at the magazine's parent company, BET, shut it down, promising instead a new magazine, Savoy, "offering entertaining and insightful articles that chronicle-old those people and events that shape the worlds of business, politics, sports and entertainment." Ironically, the first issue of Savoy arrived in our mail the same week Kemba was released. The magazine included some serious content, to be sure, but whether it will meet the need for the regular, serious discussion of criminal justice issues that was provided by Emerge remains to be seen. That need is a strong one, within our minority and our majority communities. Emerge's editors can take pride in the knowledge that their boldness has left an evolving legacy in the form of one woman's freedom and a growing resistance to the "war on drugs" and the prison state. Let us put that legacy to good use. 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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