TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Editorial: Going Out of Business Day
2. Bush Budgets $4.66 Billion for Federal Prisons as Federal Prisoner Count Passes 150,000
3. Prisoner-on-Prisoner Rape: Human Rights Watch Report Accuses Authorities of "Deliberate Indifference" to Prison Rape Epidemic
4. DRCNet Interview: Tom Cahill, President of Stop Prisoner Rape
5. Thailand: Public Executions of Drug Traffickers Begin, US Troops to Train Thais, Regional Tensions Mount
6. Boxer to Introduce Bill to Double Federal Drug Treatment Funding
7. Oregon Police Pull Out the Stops to Save Asset Forfeiture Gravy Train
8. New "Change the Climate" Ad Campaigns Launched
9. Media Scan: Dan Forbes and Salon.com on the New Drug Czar, MotherJones.com on HEA, Seventeen Magazine, Larry King
10. The Reformer's Calendar
11. Job Listing: The Chai Project, New Brunswick, New Jersey

(visit the Week Online archives)

1. Editorial: Going Out of Business Day

David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected]

Every now and then, most nonprofits, including DRCNet, write to their supporters and ask them for the large and small donations that keep the bills and staff paid. On occasion, we've laid it on the line and let our readers know that they were the only thing keeping our work from going under before the next grant or major gift. Thankfully, that's not the kind of "going out of business" to which I am referring in this column. (Though if the thought of that is what got you to actually open up the e-mail, the title served its purpose.)

Today I'm talking about a different "going out of business," the kind on which you and we and all our allies have pinned our hopes: the end of prohibition and the ill-fated drug war; the day when the engine of drug incarcerations and drug trade violence and all the related oppressions come to an end -- going out of business day at the DEA, and then some.

A lot of other operations will go out of business too, or be downsized: fewer police officers, very little drug testing, fewer border patrols, less military... the list goes on and on. Other things will be drastically altered in form: Drug treatment and education, for example, will face a very different landscape. They might not shut down, they might even benefit and grow, but will definitely have to change the way they function, and change is difficult.

Organizations like ours may also go out of business -- not automatically, as the post-prohibition world will doubtless still have work that needs to be done, including making sure that the drug war travesty never happens again. But that's not the same thing at all as struggling for fundamental, almost revolutionary-level social change. DRCNet, and all the other groups in our movement, will cease to exist, at least in the form that we know them today.

It is important for organizations to stay focused on their ultimate goals. A late, great elder of our movement, Rufus King, felt this way, and was upset when the Drug Policy Foundation moved into an office with carpeting. Our movement shouldn't get too comfortable, too institutionalized, Rufus felt; we should fix the problem now and take our place alongside the organizations and great causes of the past.

There is merit in this way of thinking, though the specific length of the timeline can be debated. Organization-building is crucial to any political movement, but ultimately is only a means to an end. When that end is finally achieved, it will be none too soon: Every day the drug war rages, thousands more lives are disrupted or ruined, all needlessly.

Maybe remembering that fact is the best way keep in mind the importance, the profound urgency, of the goals for which we labor and strive.

2. Bush Budgets $4.66 Billion for Federal Prisons as Federal Prisoner Count Passes 150,000

Driven by draconian mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, the number of federal prisoners passed the 150,000 prisoner mark early this month and, according to the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP), will increase by nearly one-third to 198,000 prisoners by 2006. The cost to taxpayers of maintaining and expanding the federal prison system will be $4.66 billion in the next fiscal year alone, if the Bush administration's prison budget passes as is.

Under the proposed Bush budget, the BOP will get an 8.3% increase -- double the overall rate of increase for federal programs -- and will account for nearly one-fifth of the Justice Department's budget. Spending on federal prisons will total nearly as much as spending for the FBI and DEA combined.

Drug prisoners now make up 58% of all federal prisoners. In 1970, as the modern drug war era got underway, drug offenders constituted only 16% of federal prisoners. By 1987, as mandatory minimum sentences enacted by Congress in 1986 began to bite, the number of drug offenders had increased to 42%. By the end of the Reagan-Bush administrations in 1992, the proportion had risen to 59%. It has hovered in the same area ever since. In terms of actual prisoners, the number of drug offenders in the federal system rose from less than 4,000 in 1970 to more than 63,000 last year.

"Federal imprisonment is growing faster than NASCAR racing. The growth of federal imprisonment is out of control," said Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (http://www.cjpf.org) in a press release last week. "The president's FY 2002 budget, announced this week, for prisons is $4.7 million, with another $1 billion for more construction. In 1986, when federal mandatory minimum sentences were enacted, the BOP budget was $0.7 billion," Sterling noted.

Sterling was counsel to the House Subcommittee on Crime from 1981 to 1989 and is a veteran federal criminal justice policy analyst.

According to BOP spokeswoman Tracy Billingsley, the bureau's growth projections factor in growth in the overall US population and the transfer of Washington, DC, inmates into the federal system as the local prison complex is shut down. But, Billingsley told DRCNet, the rising number of drug prisoners doing mandatory minimum sentences is the primary factor driving the expansion of the federal prison population.

The situation in the federal prison system contrasts markedly with trends in imprisonment in the states. As DRCNet reported two weeks ago (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/180.html#incarceration), the rate of growth in state prison populations is leveling off with an annual growth rate of 2.4% -- the lowest rate of increase since 1971.

Mandatory minimums, along with a striking increase in the number of federal crimes and the abolition of parole in the federal system are causing the logjam, said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. "At the state level we're seeing drug offenders, property offenders, and inmates who have committed low-level violent crimes coming out of state penitentiaries in large numbers," he told the Wall Street Journal. "That same phenomenon is not happening at the federal level. People check in, but they don't check out," said Levin.

Sterling and the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation have policy prescriptions for ending the federal prison bulge: Quit making a federal case out of drug crimes, he said.

"Stopping the cancer-like growth in federal imprisonment requires several steps," said Sterling. "First, Attorney General Ashcroft should direct federal law enforcement agencies to refer low-level cases to state and local law enforcement agencies, and reserve federal cases only for national impact cases. The Attorney General should order Main Justice Department review of all proposed low-level drug prosecutions."

A bill introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and 35 cosponsors would do just that. The Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act (HR 1681 in the 106th Congress) would also reduce mandatory minimum sentences for a number of drug crimes.

"Second," continued Sterling, "the president should dramatically increase federal drug treatment funding."

"Third, President Bush should order a comprehensive review of the cases of low-level drug offenders and plan to release a significant number of them by Christmas. Commuting the sentences of a thousand low-level offenders could save roughly $300 million over five years."

3. Prisoner-on-Prisoner Rape: Human Rights Watch Report Accuses Authorities of "Deliberate Indifference" to Prison Rape Epidemic

The belief that male prisoners are raped by other prisoners is so common as to qualify for status as an urban myth. If only that were the case. A report released this week by Human Rights Watch, "No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons," shows in sometimes excruciating detail that the sexual abuse of male prisoners by other prisoners is pervasive in American jails and prisons, and that prison officials are turning a blind eye to it.

The report could finally force policy-makers and the public to confront the epidemic of prison rape that has been building for years. Until now, while prisoners and their defenders complained in vain, the unsavory subject has been ignored by the press, denied by authorities, and sniggered at by late night comedians. While talk show hosts make jokes and politicians make excuses, American prisoners are raped by the tens of thousands, perhaps the hundreds of thousands, each year.

But earlier this week, major media outlets prodded by Human Rights Watch ran with the story. ABC News ran a tough, three-night series on its evening news, in which anchorman Peter Jennings pronounced prison rape an "epidemic," while the New York Times jumped on board with a major Sunday story, "Little Sympathy or Remedy for Inmates Who Are Raped," which opened with a prison rape scene certain to have disturbed the Sunday brunch appetites of its readers.

Based on correspondence from over 200 prisoners, inmate interviews, reviews of the literature on prison rape, and a national survey of corrections systems, Human Rights Watch reports that rape is "widespread" behind bars in the US. Citing surveys of guards and inmates, the group reported "shocking" rates of prison rape: A 1968 Philadelphia study found 3%, a 1982 California study reported 14%; 11% in Nebraska in 1996, and last year, in a study of prisons in four midwestern states, the Prison Journal found 7%. Correctional officers surveyed anonymously put the figure at 20%. Interestingly, line guards gave higher estimates than prison officials. These numbers are for anal rape only; when oral rape or other unwanted sexual contact is included it seems likely that somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of prisoners have either endured or fended off sexual attack in US prisons.

With nearly two million people behind bars in this country, the scope of this crime is enormous. At a 3% rape rate among male prisoners, that is 54,000 prisoners raped every year. That is the lowball figure. If 10% are raped in jail or prison each year, nearly 200,000 prisoners are being subjected to humiliating and often brutal attacks while in the custody of the state.

It doesn't have to be that way, says Human Rights Watch. "Rape is in no way an inevitable consequence of incarceration," said Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "But it is a predictable one if prison and prosecutorial authorities do little to prevent and punish it."

Accusing prison authorities of "deliberate indifference" to prison rape, the report found that no state surveyed showed abuse rates anywhere near those reported by guards and prisoners and that half of the state prison systems did not even keep statistics on inmate-on-inmate rapes. Nebraska, where 11% of prisoners reported being raped, said its prevalence was minimal. New Mexico reported "no recorded instances over the past few years." Only Texas, California, and Florida reported more than 50 rapes in the last year, but these numbers are infinitesimal given the size of their respective prison populations.

The human rights group also criticized prison guards and the broader criminal justice system. "Human Rights Watch found that correctional staff frequently ignore or even react hostilely to inmates' complaints of rape," said Mariner. "Another important contributing factor to the prison rape crisis is the failure of the criminal justice system to address these crimes. "Perpetrators of prison rape rarely face criminal charges, even when rape is accompanied by extreme physical violence."

Part of the reason for the criminal justice system's failure is the result of decisions made by Congress to limit prisoners' ability to sue for relief. The 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act, seemingly perversely designed to facilitate abuses within prisons, made it far more difficult for prisoners to sue over their conditions of confinement. That same year, Congress also barring the Federal Legal Services Corporation from legal aid organizations that represent prisoners, reducing the pool of legal talent available to work on behalf on inmates.

"Prison rape is part of the mythology of prison life. But in reality, it is devastating human rights abuse that can and should be prevented," said Mariner. In a detailed series of recommendations, the report shows state and prison authorities steps they can take to reduce "this gross violation of human dignity."

Nora Callahan of the drug war prisoner support group the November Coalition (http://www.november.org) didn't need a human rights report to find out about rape in prison. "It's part of prison life," she told DRCNet. "We deal with it every day. We get lists of prisoners who have been raped. We hear about young men who get raped and get AIDS. For these men, being sentenced to prison is a death sentence."

According to Human Rights Watch, "the threat of HIV transmission is particularly acute given the high prevalence of the virus among prisoners." The study reported nearly 20,000 prisoners with HIV/AIDS in 1997 and that AIDS is currently the second leading cause of death among prison inmates.

"We have nonviolent people surrounded by violent people -- guards and prisoners -- and the humiliation is daily," said Callahan. "You can't put people in a system that treats them worse than you treat animals and not expect predatory behavior. It's like a real life version of 'Survivor.' It's America's entertainment. You think they'd be horrified about it, but no."

Eric Sterling, executive director of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (http://www.cjpf.org), pointed out that prisoners are often ignored, if not actively despised, by society at large. "We do a sort of mental gymnastics thinking about prisoners," he told DRCNet. "Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but once they are convicted, members of Congress and the public at large mentally move them outside the human community."

Like Callahan, Sterling professed not the least surprise at the Human Rights Watch report. What he does find striking is "the unwillingness of legislators to confront the reality of prison rape in their thinking about punishment and sentencing. "All members of the legislature should be required to tour prisons under their control at least every couple of years," said Sterling. "Every judge should go into the prisons to which he is sentencing prisoners and have opportunities for frank discussions about conditions. This would be an important step. A great problem of governance is that policymakers are often far removed from the consequences of their actions."

But, Sterling added, prison "rape factories" may address a dark need for revenge. "I suspect there are those who are perfectly comfortable with the idea of rape in prison," he said. "If we perceive those we send to prison as predators, then we think in a sort of Code of Hammurabi sense that they deserve to be preyed upon themselves."

"We incarcerate to protect ourselves and to punish those who need punishment," Sterling continued, "but the number of offenders we need to protect ourselves from is relatively small. The number of people we incarcerate because we are mad at them is much greater. Part of that is because we have a very impoverished idea of options for punishment. There are many ways to change people's behavior without putting them in prison."

The Human Rights Watch report is available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/ online.

4. DRCNet Interview: Tom Cahill, President of Stop Prisoner Rape

Stop Prisoner Rape (http://www/igc.org/spr/) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to combating the rape of prisoners and providing assistance to the survivors of jailhouse rape. The group's founder, Russell D. Smith (who vanished in the early 1980s), and its past and current presidents, Steven Donaldson and Tom Cahill, all were victims of jail gang-rapes. Donaldson, who died in 1998, were both jailed for protesting the war in Vietnam.

SPR works with limited resources to educate prisoners, corrections officials, the media and the public about the epidemic of sexual assault and enslavement hidden behind prison walls. It works with lawyers filing damage claims for survivors and class action lawsuits against unresponsive institutions. SPR also provides resources on how to prevent prison rape for prisoners, and how to cope with it if one is a victim.

The Week Online spoke with Cahill earlier this week. Here are excerpts from that conversation:

5. Thailand: Public Executions of Drug Traffickers Begin, US Troops to Train Thais, Regional Tensions Mount

Last month, DRCNet reported on the Thai government's effort to come to grips with a burgeoning methamphetamine problem fueled by imports from neighboring Burma (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/175.html#thailand and http://www.drcnet.org/wol/176.html#thaimeth). In the run up to last month's national drug summit, some ministers dared to suggest that Thailand might legalize the meth trade. Instead, the government has declared war on drug traffickers while paying lip service to treatment of addicts.

In what could become a regularly scheduled spectacle, on Wednesday four condemned drug traffickers were paraded before the media in shackles before being taken inside Bangkok's maximum security Bangkwang Prison and executed.

"From now on we will conduct weekly executions against drug offenders," Thai Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon told the assembled journalists. "We are executing convicted narcotics offenders quickly to send a clear signal to drug traffickers that this government is serious about taking tough action against them."

Another government spokesman, announcing that the executions had taken place, added, "The Thai government wants to reassure the world that it takes the drug problem seriously."

According to reports in the Far Eastern Economic Review and the South China Morning Post (both published in Hong Kong), the US military is set to get involved in the region's drug wars, a move the newspapers say is likely to increase tensions with Burma and China, both of which share borders with Thailand.

After 5,000 US troops come to Thailand next month to participate in joint military exercises, a small group will stay behind to act as "instructors" for newly formed Task Force 399, a 500-man anti-drug unit manned by Thai Special Forces, two infantry companies and Thai Border Police. Twenty soldiers from the US 1st Special Forces Group will train the task force, the newspapers said.

But the anti-drug mission risks provoking confrontations with the Burmese military or the 15,000-strong United Wa State Army, a Burmese ethnic army outside of Rangoon's control which supplies the bulk of the cross-border meth trade. And that could bring in the Chinese. China is the Burmese junta's closest ally and major arms supplier. The Wa rebels also carry Chinese weapons, now including surface-to-air missiles, and are helping Beijing construct a road network through their area of northeast Burma.

Task Force 399 is also causing grumbling among nationalistic elements of the Thai military. "This is raising some concern among progressive ranking officers," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a Chulalongkorn University military affairs scholar, told the Review.

Maj.-Gen. Anu Sumitra, the 3rd Army intelligence chief, told the Review the task force will not confront Burmese troops but will stay on the Thai side of the border. Even so, said Panitan, "There is an increasing risk of confrontation, but both sides stand to lose from confrontation. The government must not make the Burmese feel we are representing the West."

China, for its part, agreed last month to a Thai proposal for regional cooperation against drug trafficking and has helped move tens of thousands of Wa from the northern border with China to Burma's southern border with Thailand. Thai intelligence officials told the Review they suspect China wants to keep a close eye on US military moves in northern Thailand.

Meanwhile, a power struggle in the Burmese junta between army commander Gen. Maung Aye and the junta's first secretary, Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt adds another complicating factor. Maung Aye is said to have close ties to the Wa State Army, while Knin Nyunt is a bitter foe. What is shaping up is a fluid and dangerous situation along the Thai-Burmese border. The drug-smuggling Wa are supported by Maung Aye, opposed by Knin Nyunt, armed by China -- which now wants to be part of the anti-drug effort -- and are facing off against the Thai military backed by US Special Forces.

"If not handled properly, this could be even messier than Colombia," one Western intelligence official told the Review.

6. Boxer to Introduce Bill to Double Federal Drug Treatment Funding

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) used an April 12th news conference at San Francisco's Walden House treatment center to launch a bill that would double federal drug treatment spending over five years (perhaps the bill she referred to while playing herself in the movie Traffic, talking to the new drug czar at a Georgetown cocktail party). Treatment spending levels in the 2002 Bush budget are $3 billion; Boxer's proposal would increase that figure to $6 billion by 2006.

Standing alongside former addicts and treatment officials at Walden House, Boxer said the bill would be a first step toward providing drug treatment for all who want it.

"Not all substance abusers are seeking treatment," Boxer told the news conference, "but many, many, many are. And they are being turned away. To be turned away when you need help for a serious addiction is very, very deadly," she said. "It's deadly to the individual, to their family, and to society."

In San Francisco, with the nation's third-highest drug-related death rate, the Public Health Department estimates that a thousand people a day are turned away from drug treatment. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Boxer said, of the roughly five million drug or alcohol addicts in the country, 2.9 million receive no treatment. Those who do seek treatment may wait weeks or months to get in, she added.

Under the Treatment on Demand Assistance Act, which Boxer said will be cosponsored in the House by Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA), states which have enacted legislation to provide substance abuse treatment in lieu of prison will receive additional funding. The bill provides $7.5 million in matching funds over five years for states such as California, whose Proposition 36 diverts drug abusers from prison to treatment beginning this year.

In California, said Boxer, 60% of all treatment facilities that maintain waiting lists have more than 20 people on the list on any given day. "That's hundreds of people a day who may never make it off drugs because of this intolerable situation," she said.

The bill has already been endorsed by the California Sheriff's Association.

7. Oregon Police Pull Out the Stops to Save Asset Forfeiture Gravy Train

Oregon law enforcement officials and drug war diehards are in a desperate last-ditch effort to keep asset forfeiture funds flowing into police drug squad coffers. Oregon voters last November approved a referendum greatly restricting asset forfeiture and requiring that any seized funds be directed to drug treatment instead of law enforcement.

Law enforcement officials first tried to overturn the will of the voters in the courts. The Lincoln County drug task force filed suit arguing that the successful initiative was unconstitutionally broad and that it violated federal asset forfeiture laws, but Marion County Circuit Court Judge Pamela Abernathy upheld the ballot measure's legality in a ruling last week.

"She found that Measure 3 met the proper standards and will continue to be the law," Geoff Sugerman, spokesman for Oregonians for Property Protection, told DRCNet.

While attorneys for the measure's opponents vow to fight on, law enforcement is now turning to the legislature for succor. As the Week Online goes to press, Oregon lawmakers are debating a bill that would create a parallel system of criminal asset forfeiture. Crafted by the Oregon District Attorneys Association, the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Oregon Sheriff's Association, House Bill 3642 would allow asset forfeiture to continue, but would raise the standard of proof to the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for criminal cases. As important for law enforcement, it would allow police agencies to keep some of the seized booty to finance future drug operations.

Meanwhile, a bill that would adjust Oregon asset forfeiture statutes to bring them into compliance with the constitutional changes mandated by Measure 3 is tied up in the state Senate. The implementation bill passed the House 46-1 last month.

"We have been working in good faith to reach a consensus language that would bring the statutes into compliance," said Oregonians for Property Protection member Floyd Prozanski. "We thought we had agreement on that, but we found out just a few days ago that some people involved in the process wanted to link the civil forfeiture bill that would correct the shortcomings of the statute to the passage of a criminal forfeiture bill," Prozanski told DRCNet.

"They're holding it hostage on the Senate side," added the three-term former state legislator.

Sugerman told DRCNet that while the passage of the implementation legislation is not necessary for Measure 3's constitutional changes to take effect, it does provide a backstop in the event that an appeals court overturns the Lincoln County case. "If we codify these provisions into law, then even were we to lose on appeal, they would still control civil asset forfeiture."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Minnis (R-Woods Village), a Portland police detective and opponent of Measure 3, echoed Prozanski's point. "If we don't have criminal forfeiture, I'm not inclined to have civil forfeiture," he told the Register-Guard last week.

"That's exactly what is going on," Sugerman told DRCNet. "Although we oppose criminal forfeiture as unnecessary, we have continued to negotiate on it with the understanding that it might pass. If it does pass, we want to make sure that it carries the same protections as Measure 3. The bill has gone from three pages to 33, and there are many issues we think it important to consider, especially the proceeds issue."

David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, told DRCNet his organization has no philosophical objection to criminal asset forfeiture. "We've taken the position that forfeiture should rightly be part of the criminal process," said Fidanque. "We've always objected to civil forfeiture on the grounds it gave government officials too much power and didn't protect the interests of defendants and innocent third parties."

But Oregon police are hoist by their own petard, Fidanque said. "Two years ago, there was a legislative proposal to reform civil forfeiture. Law officials said 'no way we're not interested.' They were not even interested in a slightly higher standard of proof," said Fidanque. "Now, after Measure 3 was approved, the link between forfeiture proceeds and those who seized them has been severed. And with this criminal asset forfeiture bill, police will have an even higher burden of proof to overcome than was contemplated by the legislature."

Fidanque also told DRCNet that negotiations on the criminal asset forfeiture bill were moving forward. "I think we've reached a tentative agreement on a formula for allocating forfeiture proceeds. There is consensus at this point that the amount for treatment will be equivalent to the amount for law enforcement."

Law enforcement has been open in raising concerns that it could not continue to function at the same enforcement levels without the funds it derives from asset forfeiture.

"When you withdraw a funding stream, cities and counties aren't going to be able to backfill that loss, so some of these teams will cease to operate and others will be greatly reduced," Marion County District Attorney Dale Penn told the Register-Guard.

That's right," Prozanski told DRCNet. "Voters wanted two things out of this -- they wanted a criminal conviction before asset forfeiture and they wanted to break the funding mechanism of these task forces. We have not argued that asset forfeiture should be completely abolished; we just wanted appropriate checks and balances to keep inappropriate conduct from occurring," he added. "Unfortunately, too many people in law enforcement are following the money instead of doing the right thing."

Sugerman of Oregonians for Property Protection agreed that police are concerned about funding their drug squads, but questioned the impact of asset forfeiture reform on their ability to do so.

"There is one and only one reason that they brought forth this bill," he told DRCNet. "They want the proceeds. We still aren't convinced that civil asset forfeiture is not a viable tool; funds could still be collected under civil forfeiture. What is key here is that there is a wide disparity in how Oregon police agencies use forfeiture dollars. Some of these task forces are entirely funded by forfeiture dollars, some are not, so there is a wide range of potential impacts on law enforcement."

According to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, the state had disbursements of $2.8 million from asset forfeitures last year. It spent $1 million on legal processing costs, and law enforcement got the bulk of the rest. $1.2 million went to fund police, prosecutors received $315,000, and drug treatment got $118,000.

8. New "Change the Climate" Ad Campaigns Launched

Last January 5th, DRCNet reported on the Change the Climate ad series on the marijuana issue in Washington, DC area subway and bus stops (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/167.html#metroads). Change the Climate has launched two new ad campaigns this week.

First, an ad that you can view online (http://www.changetheclimate.org/news/dc.phtml) will be running in 36 bus shelters around the capitol. Bus shelters are approximately six feet high by four feet wide.

Change the Climate has also launched an Internet campaign on the web site Daily Jolt, a site frequented by college students, where they are hosting an online marijuana discussion forum. Parents and other adults can also participate until May 4th. Visit http://www.dailyjolt.com/forum/issues/marijuana/ to check it out.

Check out other work Change the Climate is doing at http://www.changetheclimate.org and visit http://www.changetheclimate.org/news/ad-campaign010401.phtml to vote for your favorite ad.

9. Media Scan: Dan Forbes and Salon.com on the New Drug Czar, MotherJones.com on HEA, Seventeen Magazine, Larry King

Hot off the press -- Salon.com is now featuring "Bush's New Drug Czar?" by Dan Forbes. Forbes brings us the bad news that the new drug czar is likely to be John Walters, a throwback to the bad old Bill Bennett days.
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/04/20/drug_czar/

MotherJones.com reports on the tightened enforcement of the Higher Education Act drug provision and the resulting escalation of numbers of students being denied federal financial assistance for college because of it.
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/higher_ed_update.html

Larry King Live last Tuesday 4/17 interviewed mandatory minimum prisoner Chrissy Taylor and her uncle Bill Boman, a Families Against Mandatory Minimums activist. Taylor was 19 years old when convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for "conspiracy," and the facts of her case would paint her as innocent to any reasonable observer. She was almost granted clemency by President Clinton, but it fell through. Visit http://www.freechrissy.org to learn more about her case; go the "Guest Book" section of the site to see what Larry King viewers had to say about it.

The May issue of Seventeen Magazine includes "Drug War Casualties," focusing on mandatory minimum sentencing and New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws.

10. The Reformer's Calendar

(Please submit listings of events related to drug policy and related areas to [email protected].)

April 20-22, Sweetwater, TN, Fundraising Concert for NORML UTK. For further information, visit http://www.normlutk.org online.

April 22, 5:30pm, St. Cloud, MN, "Hemp 'n Harmony" Benefit Concert for St. Cloud State University NORML. At the Red Carpet, $5 or free to NORML MN members, presentations on medical marijuana industrial hemp and the war on drugs. For further information, visit http://www.normlmn.org/scsu/ or e-mail [email protected].

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.

April 26, 6:30pm, Middletown, CT, "The War on Drugs and the Prison Industrial Complex: How It Affects Minorities and the Working Class. Sponsored by Efficacy and the Central Connecticut Green Party, featuring Hartford City Council Member and Green Party activist Elizabeth Horton-Sheff, defendant in the Sheff vs. O'Neil school desegration case; former New Haven police chief Nick Pastore, now representing the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation; and Efficacy's Clifford Wallace Thornton, Jr. At the First Church of Christ, 190 Court St., call (860) 285-8831 or e-mail [email protected] for further information.

April 28, Hartford, CT, Youth Rally against Connecticut's proposed 4,500 supermax prison, emphasizing the failure of the war on drugs. For further information, contact Adam Hurter at (860) 285-8831 or e-mail [email protected].

April 28, noon, Kingston, RI, Third Annual Hempfest. Sponsored by the University of Rhode Island's Hemp Organization for Prohibition Elimination (HOPE), featuring live music and speakers. For further information, e-mail Tom Angell at [email protected].

April 27-28, Detroit, MI, "Beyond the War on Drugs: Why it Failed. What it Cost. What Now?" Conference presented by the National Lawyers Guild, Detroit Chapter. At Wayne State University Law School, 471 West Palmer, free and open to the public. For further information call (313) 963-0843, e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.michigannlg.org online.

April 27-29, San Francisco, CA, "Press Freedom Conference and Alternative News Media Exposition." At San Francisco State University, registration $50 or $25 student/low-income. For further information, call (707) 664-2500 or visit http://www.projectcensored.org online.

April 28-29, Madison, WI, "Illuminating Reality: Social, Intellectual, Economic, and Faith Based Approaches to the War on Drugs in the 21st Century." For further information, visit http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~ssdp/ on the web.

May 4, 8:30am-3:00pm, Amherst, MA, "Financial Aid and the Higher Education Act Drug Provision." At the Red Barn, sponsored by Hampshire College and Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Call (413) 559-5091 or visit http://ssdp.hampshire.edu for further information.

May 4, 9:30am-3:00pm, Peabody, MA, "Reducing Harm - Strategies with HIV and Hepatitis C." Featuring Edith Springer and other speakers, at the Peabody Marriott, exit 28 off of Route 128. Registration $25, payable by mail in advance only. Send checks payable to: The North Shore AIDS Collaborative, c/o Lynn Community Health Center, P.O. Box 526, Lynn, MA 01903-0526. For further information, call (781) 596-2502 ext. 729.

May 4, Tucson, AZ, protest of the War on Drugs. Sponsored by the Y.U.R. political activism club, at the US District Court on Congress & Granada. For further information or to volunteer, contact [email protected].

May 5-6, international, "2001: The Space Odyssey," marches for marijuana law reform. For further information, visit http://www.2001thespaceodyssey.com on the web.

May 5-6, Austin, TX, March for NEW Drug Policy, Benefit Concert and Drug War Awareness Conference. March at noon, 5/5, at the Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St. followed by rally and speakers at the Capitol. Concert from 6:00-10:00pm at the Flamingo Cantina, proceeds going to the M5 Coalition. Conference from noon-6:00pm, 5/6, location to be announced. For further information, call (512) 493-7357 or visit http://www.m5coalition.org.

May 6, 4:00-10:00pm, New York, NY, reception honoring the publication of Dr. Karl Jansen's new book, "Ketamine Dreams and Realities" by the Muldisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). At the Cathedral House of the Church of St. John the Divine, 112th St. & Amsterdam, lectures by Dr. Jansen at 5:00pm and 7:30pm. Optional RSVP by 4/30 to (941) 924-6277 or [email protected].

May 11, 9:00am, New York, NY, "Mother in Prison, Children in Crisis." Rally by the JusticeWorks Community, featuring ex-prisoner mothers, children of formerly incarcerated parents, city and state legislators, religious leaders and criminal justice experts. At the Manhattan Criminal Court, 100 Centre St., assemble one block west at 8:30am at Thomas Paine Park. For further information, contact Mary-Elizabeth Fitzgerald at (718) 499-604 or [email protected].

May 12, noon, St. Louis, MO, "Thomas Jefferson Birthday Party," rally for marijuana law reform. Sponsored by Greater St. Louis NORML, at Tower Grove Park. For further info, contact (314) 995-1395, [email protected] or visit http://www.mo-norml.org online.

May 17, 6:00-9:00pm, Brooklyn, NY, First Annual JusticeWorks Award Benefit. Tina Reynolds will receive the 1st annual Rev. Dr. Constance M. Baugh Achievement Award. At the Beaux Arts Court of the Brooklyn Museum, $75 per person. For further information, contact Tara Powers at (718) 499-6704 or [email protected].

May 19, 2:00pm, Syracuse, NY, ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy Annual Meeting. Keynote address by Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, at the May Memorial, 3800 East Genesee St. For further information, visit http://www.reconsider.org or e-mail [email protected].

May 20-27, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Study Tour of Dutch Drug Policy, organized by the White Dog Cafe, particularly for persons with a background in health and social services, legislation, activism, drug law or policy. Call (215) 386-9224 or visit http://www.whitedog.com for further information.

May 25-28, Vandalia, MI, "Hemp Aid 2001." Call 616-476-2808 or visit http://www.rainbowfarmcampground.com for information.

May 30-June 2, Albuquerque, NM, "Drug Policies for the New Millennium." First annual conference of The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, following in the footsteps of the 13 years of the International Conference on Drug Policy Reform. For further information, call (202) 537-5005 or visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/conference/ on the web.

June 9, New York, NY, Organizers' Training to Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Session sponsored by the Interfaith Partnership for Criminal Justice in New York City, for individuals interested in organizing in Harlem against the Rockefeller Drug Laws, to be held at Harlem' St. Aloysius Church. For further information, contact Jessica Dias at (718) 499-6704 or [email protected].

June 30, New York, NY, Rally in Harlem to Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Sponsored by the Interfaith Partnership for Criminal Justice in New York City. For further information, contact Jessica Dias at (718) 499-6704 or [email protected].

July 27-29, Clarkburg, WV, "Neer Freedom Festival." Benefit for West Virginia NORML and upcoming medical marijuana campaign. For further information, contact Tom Thacker at [email protected].

11. Job Listing: The Chai Project, New Brunswick, NJ

The Chai Project is seeking an Executive Director. This grassroots, harm reduction organization supports users of illicit substances and those who are sexually active in their innate desire to be healthy, happy and safe. By making accessible the tools and information needed to improve and maintain their health and well-being, the Chai Project recognizes the competence of each human being to protect and help themselves, their families and the communities in which they live. The Chai Project is a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based not-for-profit organization with a staff of 4 full-time and 3 part-time staff, volunteers and interns.

Responsibilities will include managing the staff (including hiring, assessing training needs, arranging training, and day-to-day supervision); developing and implementing, with the Board and staff, harm reduction programming; managing an annual organizational budget of approximately $300,000 (including paying bills, managing cash flow, and reporting to funders); developing resources for the agency (including researching potential funders, proposal development, and working with the Board on fundraising activities); managing existing relationships with funders; fulfilling case management responsibilities; procuring goods and services; and representing the organization at local, state, and national meetings.

The successful candidate will be committed to harm reduction philosophy, have the ability to write and to handle crises, be personable and flexible, and hold a valid driver’s license.

Current funding allows between $28,000 and 31,000 for this position. The Board of Directors is dissatisfied with this level of compensation, and will provide the support necessary to garner additional funding to increase this salary.

Resumes should be submitted to the Personnel Committee c/o The Chai Project, Inc., P.O. Box 1470, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. In addition, resumes can be sent by e-mail as attachments to [email protected].

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