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(renamed "Drug War Chronicle" effective issue #300, August 2003) Issue #188, 6/1/01
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
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1. Editorial: Close Encounters David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected] This issue of the Week Online comes to you from Albuquerque, location this year of the annual drug policy reform conference. The conferences always provide an eclectic, wide range of ideas and opinions on all different facets of drug policy. The first evening and day of this year's conference were no exception. As it turns out, though, some of the most interesting ideas -- or rather, clashes of ideas -- took place just outside. In front of the conference hotel, a small group of zealots protested. People who live in low-income neighborhoods, they charged, don't want legalization. Those who do, and we conference goers first and foremost, are therefore elitists who don't care about the inner cities or the people who inhabit them. They are mistaken. My several years in this issue have taught me that inner-city residents, not surprisingly, hold a range of viewpoints on this issue, just as would any other group of people queried. More support exists in such communities for ending the drug war, even for outright legalization, than our opponents would like the rest of America to believe. The protesters -- who were really protesting against open debate -- did an injustice to the very people they claimed to represent by stereotyping them as all thinking a certain way. It is no stereotype, though, to say that reasonable people everywhere agree that important social issues need to be openly discussed and all viewpoints heard, particularly on an issue such as drug policy where much is at stake and the current system is clearly failing. There was another group in the neighborhood that very much needed to hear that message, but didn't seem at all willing. That group was the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, ironically gathered right next door in the Albuquerque Convention Center. We found that out Wednesday night while getting ready for a "Town Hall" meeting discussing the HEA drug provision. A few of the students participating in the Town Hall decided to take some literature and go and dialogue with the cops and prosecutors the next day. They didn't get very far. Upon entering the meeting area, it became clear that its organizers viewed our pamphlet bearing student friends as a threat. Several police officers rapidly bore down on them and escorted them out -- saving their comrades from exposure to dangerous ideas that could contaminate and dilute their blind drug war obedience. It's easy to understand how rhetoric and ideology could poison such a group's members from wanting to talk with drug reformers who are questioning the validity of their entire profession. Still, you'd have thought they'd at least talk to college students. I guess the drug war isn't really about "the children" after all -- or if it is, the 18th birthday must be a sharp cutoff after which those who think differently become sympathizers of the enemy. Fortunately, democracy doesn't require us to convert everyone to our point of view to achieve our goals. The most extreme and entrenched may never come around, but there's an ocean of reasonable people who are willing to listen, most of whom have never heard the case for our cause. Our job is to reach them, and I can't be pessimistic until that job has been done.
2. Zero Tolerance Policies in Schools Under Attack -- New Report Finds No Evidence It Works, Plenty Showing Ill Effects and Racial Bias One ugly legacy of the Reaganite drug war of the 1980s has found a home in the nation's schools. "Zero tolerance," a term first brought into the national consciousness courtesy of Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese, who used it to refer to his policy of seizing vehicles and properties no matter how tiny the amount of drugs found, has evolved from a term of propaganda for drug warriors into a fuzzy philosophy for educators. Loosely translated, it means that any violation of the rules, no matter how minuscule or what the circumstances, will be punished severely. Zero tolerance didn't work for the drug war; the Customs program championed by Meese choked on its own absurdities, finally dying a quiet death after Customs agents attempted to seize a scientific vessel belonging to the Woodshole Oceanographic Research Institute (Cape Cod, MA) because a crewman had a joint in his cabin. Zero tolerance in the schools is generating the same kind of absurd outcomes while failing to increase school safety, according to a new study from the University of Indiana's Indiana Education Policy Center. The report, "Zero Tolerance, Zero Evidence: An Analysis of School Disciplinary Practice," reviewed the use of zero tolerance in schools since its inception in the 1980s. It found that not only does zero tolerance not achieve its stated goals, but that its most common punishments, suspension and expulsion, lead to increased drop-out rates and other negative consequences and that African American students are "overexposed" to such punishments. "Zero tolerance is a political response, not an educationally sound solution," said Indiana University Professor Russell Skiba, director of the Safe and Responsive Schools Project in the IU School of Education and author of the report. "It sounds impressive to say that we're taking a tough stand against misbehavior, but the data say it simply hasn't been effective in improving student behavior or ensuring school safety." Tell it to Congress. The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 mandates zero tolerance policies for weapons violations at schools. But Congress does not deserve all the blame. States such as California, Kentucky and New York began implementing zero tolerance policies for drugs, fighting and gang activity as early as 1989. By 1993, the trend had swept the nation, broadening as it went to include alcohol, truancy, insubordination, unauthorized use of pagers and laser pointers, and swearing. As Berkeley researcher Joel Brown, head of the Center Research and Development, noted in his recent survey of drug education programs (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/187.html#cerdstudy), although zero tolerance is not a federal mandate when it comes to drug violations, under federal "no-use" guidelines, "students are to be suspended or expelled from school for use, possession or distribution of alcohol, tobacco or drugs." Brown found that such policies are in effect in nearly 90% of US schools, and their impact is staggering. In 1997, the only year for which national statistics are available, more than 177,000 students were suspended or expelled for drug, alcohol or tobacco violations. Eighty percent of those students, or about 136,000 kids, were suspended for more than five days or expelled. That ranked drug related reasons second only to physical fights as a reason for school discipline, Brown wrote. "Young people are removed from mainstream education for drugs nearly three times more often than they are removed for weapons, and ten times more often than the number of young people removed for carrying firearms," he noted. "The extent to which those who are removed from school have a drug abuse problem versus the legal problem of being caught with drugs is not known," Brown noted wryly. He also reported that no demographic data on those students was available. While the Indiana study did not explicitly look at racial disparities in zero tolerance drug punishments, it did find clear racial disparities in the administration of zero tolerance policies overall. In his survey of the literature, report author Skiba reported that "racial disproportionality in the use of school suspension has been a highly consistent finding." When Skiba controlled for socioeconomic status, he found that students from poor families were more likely to receive zero tolerance punishments, but that family wealth alone did not explain the difference between punishments for whites and blacks. Nor was there evidence that black students acted out more than white students, wrote Skiba. There are signs of hope, according to the report. Zero tolerance policies, ridiculed for excesses such as suspending five-year-olds for kissing or junior high students for possessing organic cough drops, are beginning to lose favor in some districts, Skiba reported. For those districts pondering a change, the study has several commonsense recommendations:
3. Czech Experiment With Repressive Drug Laws Under Fire, Reformers Aim Parliamentary Challenge at "Severa's Amendment" A little more than a decade ago, the "Velvet Revolution" peacefully deposed the Communist regime in then Czechoslovakia. The end of the police state, however, brought with it not only parliamentary democracy, free trade and the free movement of people, but also rising levels of drug use and abuse and evidence of growing Czech involvement in the busy trans-Balkan drug traffic. Czech teenagers have one of the continent's highest rates of cannabis use -- 35% of 15- and 16-year-olds have tried marijuana, with the rate increasing rapidly during the 1990s, according to the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Addiction's (EMCDDA) latest annual survey. By this year, 47% of Czech teens had tried some illicit drug, the vast majority of them smoking pot, according to the Czech Interior Ministry. Cannabis is, according to all reports, the most popular of illicit drugs. Heroin, which was virtually unknown in the country in the Communist days, made an appearance in the 1990s, but the most frequently abused hard drug is Pervitin, a Czech methamphetamine. Pervitin accounts for 68% of all "problem drug users" in the now Czech Republic, according to EMCDDA. Ecstasy is also increasingly popular, both with young Czechs and with the youthful internationalists who crowd Prague cafes and nightclubs. Cocaine, too, has made inroads, although both EMCDDA and the US State Department suggest that because of its cost, cocaine is used primarily by Western visitors. At a time when most of Europe was moving in the direction of harm reduction and flirting with decriminalization, the Czech parliament marched resolutely backward. Under the former Communist regime's criminal codes, simple possession of drugs, or "addictive substances" in the original Czech, was not a crime. By 1999, however, socially conservative elements within the main political parties turned to repressive measures to halt rising drug use. Christian Democrat Member of Parliament Pavel Severa, a prominent anti-drug crusader, introduced legislation that would make people who possess more than a "bigger than small" amount of any drug -- including marijuana -- eligible for prison sentences of up to two years, and up to five years for more serious possession offenses. Severa's Amendment also included language making "dissemination of drug addiction" a crime. Supporting, encouraging, or tempting someone to use illicit drugs would be punishable by up to three years in prison. The bill passed over Havel's token opposition and became law in 1999. The primary practical result of Severa's Amendment appears to have been a crackdown on small-scale marijuana growers and users. (For cannabis, Czech police have decided that anything more than 10 joints is an amount "bigger than small," while any number of cultivated plants also qualifies for the two-year prison term.) Czech drug expert and writer Bushka Bryndova told DRCNet of a 23-year-old jailed since September 1999 "for growing a few plants of cannabis indica and their consummation with his adult friends. I have posted an online petition (http://www.koukat.cz) asking President Havel to grant executive clemency to the young man. "The petition collected over 6,000 signatures, but Havel has refused to release him," wrote Bryndova. "He has been granting some clemencies to young people sentenced to prison for pot over the last two years, but now it seems he cares more for his own popularity than for justice." Bryndova is working with Civic Democrat (ODS) Deputy Frantisek Pejril to draft legislation overturning Severa's Amendment. "We propose to make a distinction between substances with an acceptable risk for health and substances with a unacceptable risk," Pejril told DRCNet. "For the drugs with an acceptable risk for health, such as marijuana, we will propose that there wouldn't be any sanctions for growing, production and possession for personal use. Criminal activities connected to hard drugs would be better detectable this way," he added. "There would also be more severe punishment of hard drug dealers, smugglers, and producers as part of this legislation," Bryndova told DRCNet. "Under the current law, there were cases where people with pounds of heroin got the same prison sentences as people with a few hemp plants!" Pejril may be riding the crest of a wave. "Since the May 5 Space Odyssey rallies in Prague and Brno, a remarkable shift in media and public opinion has occurred," noted Bryndova. "Major Czech press had front-page headlines about Pejril's declaration about the bill, and most of the reaction is unexpectedly favorable to Pejril's initiative." Those rallies, part of a global array of demonstrations occurring in more than 130 cities, drew hundreds of people to hear music and speakers, including Deputy Pejril at Brno. "Smoking pot has become an integral part of our young generation's life-style, and this absurd legislation is putting a great majority of our young folks into the situation where they are breaking the law. The law has had absolutely no dissuasive effect on pot smokers," wrote Bryndova. "Everybody is smoking it more and more -- you can currently smell it in bars, pubs, clubs, all across the country." Other politicians are beginning to get into the act, too. The Prague Post, in an article that described open smoking on weekend afternoons at sunny Prague beer gardens, quoted ODS deputy chairman Ivan Langer as agreeing that Severa's amendment had failed and that marijuana should be decriminalized. "I know it sounds a bit strange," he said. No one wants to legalize drugs; we just want to change the system." Two other ODS deputies, Eva Dundackova and Lucie Talmanova, have come on board as well. They recently announced that they would also introduce an amendment that would decriminalize possession of marijuana, while increasing penalties for dealing. According to Bryndova, Duncackova, who is the ODS shadow minister for Justice, also debated Severa on a popular Czech talk show, where she "tore to pieces" the Czech disciple of the DEA. Prague city councilman Christian Thuri also supports marijuana decriminalization, he told DRCNet. "The older generation must understand that cannabis is not as dangerous as alcohol, and what is forbidden to youth is more interesting to them," wrote Thuri. "Severa's amendment is counterproductive. But what's worse, young people cannot now grow their own, and they have to go to dealers where they could be exposed to other drugs. The danger is also that we teach children to laugh at the law. They know the law is bad. What can they think of the people who make these bad laws?" Action on the bills will not come until September, after a study of current drug laws is completed. The study, carried out by the Interministerial Anti-Drug Commission and headed by prominent Czech drug expert Dr. Radimecky, is expected to be highly critical of Severa'a amendment. "I think the chances for the new law passing are high," activist Petr Dousa told DRCNet. "The government study is expected to show negative effects, we will have sufficient time for public debate, and the media should cover the case without prohibitionist propaganda because -- no surprise -- the journalists smoke ganja." Bryndova isn't so sure. "I think it would be premature to make any predictions," the activist told DRCNet. "There is a dynamic shift in favor of depenalization right now, but I expect a counterstroke from the Christian Democrats, who will not be willing to leave the battlefield without a fight. Still, our young people are very hopeful that finally they will be able to live without fear and be exposed no more to the mercies of policemen and judges for doing something that most of their peers do -- grow and use pot." The marijuana reform proposals could well fall victim to cross-currents of the Czech Republic's complicated partisan politics. Havel's Social Democrats square off against the Civic Democrats, who in turn look over their shoulders at the Coalition of Four parties, two of which, the Union of Liberty and the Christian Democrats, are represented in parliament. The Union of Liberty has libertarian elements, as does the ODS, but both also contain traditional conservatives. The Christian Democrats -- Severa's party -- are social conservatives; the Social Democrats are "kindler, gentler" free marketeers. But the divides on drug policy seem driven less by party lines than generational ones. "You cannot describe the Social Democrats or the ODS to be pro-reform or pro-drug war," Czech journalist Michael Polak told DRCNet. "The older generation is simply uninterested or supports prohibition, while the younger generation of politicians, with few exceptions, supports a more tolerant and pro-reform approach." For Polak, "the worst problem is the Coalition of Four. There are Christian Democrat conservatives as well as relatively open-minded people from the Union of Liberty who voted 'no' on the current drug law," he told DRCNet. "It's likely the coalition will be the strongest reason marijuana won't be decriminalized in our country, because the Union of Liberty is fighting for leadership of the coalition and they don't want to make the Christian Democrats unhappy. This is a minor topic for the Union, but a major one for prohibitionists among the Christian Democrats." Prague city councilman Thuri wishes some of the energy devoted to changing the marijuana law could be extended to bringing increased harm reduction measures for hard drug users. Thuri and other members of the Prague city council have managed to get needle exchange programs up and running for what Thuri estimates are the republic's 5,000 heroin addicts, but have so far been stifled in efforts to open a safe injection room. "Much of the marijuana legalization movement is separated from the safe injection room issue," Thuri told DRCNet. "The people who smoke marijuana aren't interested in other drugs and they don't like politics." But Thuri brings a broader libertarian perspective to the issue. "I'm a member of the ODS and I prefer freedom for everybody as a first principle. Personally, I'm in favor of the absolute legalization of drugs because that's the only way to liquidate the mafia. "For that, we will have to wait a very long time, but the time will come," Thuri predicted. "Our biggest problem is that our politicians are looking to the stupid policies of the USA for answers. Europe is a complex of small nations, and we need a big brother. Too bad big brother is so stupid."
4. New York Marijuana Reform Party Gears Up for City, State Races, Attacks NYC Police Tactics Tom Leighton, head of the New York Marijuana Reform Party, wants to do twice as well in 2002 as he did in 1998. That year, he polled nearly 25,000 votes as the party's candidate for governor. "Fifty thousand votes for governor gives the Marijuana Reform Party official status in New York state," Leighton told DRCNet. "That means the marijuana leaf, our party symbol, will show up on every state ballot for every election." Because of peculiarities of New York state election laws, minor parties can wield influence far beyond their numbers at the polls. In the Empire State, candidates can run on the ticket of more than one party. If a minor party agrees with the position a major party candidate takes, it can also list that politician as its candidate. Votes for Rudy Giuliani, the Liberal Party candidate, added the margin of victory for Rudy Giuliani, the GOP candidate, in the 1993 New York City mayoral campaign. "A candidate who supports ending prohibition could run as a Democrat or Republican and as the Marijuana Reform candidate," said Leighton. "This gives us visibility and the chance to play a role disproportionate to our numbers." Such a strategy is necessary in a state where the major parties have been unresponsive, if not hostile, to marijuana legalization and where there is no opportunity for citizens to directly redress their grievances, Leighton argued. "We don't have the citizen initiative process in New York and the Democrats and Republicans aren't listening. Worse even, Pataki wants to increase some marijuana penalties as part of his Rockefeller reforms," he said. "The single-issue party strategy makes sense in these circumstances." But it takes money, and the Marijuana Reform Party doesn't have a lot of that. Leighton scored 3% of the New York City mayoral vote in 1997 on a $500 budget, but aims to attract more serious funding for the upcoming campaigns. "To get on the ballot in New York City or New York state is a much less expensive endeavor than running an initiative campaign," he argued, "and with some substantial money, we can get some real bang for the buck. The party is an ongoing thing, building as time goes by until we have a lasting presence that only increases as the years pass." The party is going to need the help as it prepares to field candidates for this fall's New York City elections and looks toward next year's statewide elections. It is already behind schedule, Leighton admitted. "We kept waiting for our new web site (http://www.marijuanareform.org) to launch the campaign. Now it's finally, belatedly up and now we have to scramble." Leighton and his cadre of committed supporters -- primarily in New York City, but also scattered across upstate -- will mount a petition drive beginning on July 10th to get on the fall ballot for NYC elections, he said. Then it's on to the statewide campaign next year, and they're looking for allies. "We have some ties to established drug reform groups, but I wish I could find a way to convince them of the validity of our strategy," Leighton mourned. "We can offer them a ballot line for candidates if we get the votes in 2002. We can help them, and they can help us. Next fall and spring we'll swing around the state; maybe we can meet then and convince them to hop on the bandwagon for 2002." One of the groups he has in mind is ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy (http://www.reconsider.org), the upstate drug reform group. "We consider them allies, but I think they want legalization of all drugs and think marijuana alone is not enough, so they haven't jumped on board," he told DRCNet. "We think it won't all come at once, but I've heard great things about those folks and it would be great to get them working with us." In the meantime, the Marijuana Reform Party is homing in on Mayor Giulani's crusade against marijuana users and one tactic in particular: reverse stings. Last year, Giuliani's police arrested more than 50,000 New Yorkers for smoking pot. In a comprehensive review of Giuliani's jihad on the party web site, "Rudy's Reefer Madness: Mayor Giuliani's Phony War on Drugs," Leighton recounts the New York Police Department's reliance on reverse stings, where officers attempt to sell marijuana to unwary passersby and then arrest those who succumb to the offer. That practice is probably illegal under New York law, Leighton said, as well as being unquestionably immoral, if not downright silly. "The state court of appeals ruled in 1998 that police could not sell people oregano disguised as pot and then bust them for solicitation," he explained. The New York Times backs Leighton on this point. In its story on that court case, it quoted the Rochester Assistant District Attorney who argued the case, Thomas Morse, as saying the ruling "spells an end to sting operations involving marijuana." Not in New York City. Responding to media queries from reporters contacted by Leighton, the department explained that its stings were legal because they were using real marijuana and were charging people with possession, not solicitation. That wasn't good enough for Leighton, who accused police of seizing on "technicalities" to continue the program. "Police are dressing up in scruffy clothes and selling pot to people in order to protect people from drug dealers in scruffy clothes selling pot to people," he moaned. "This is an inappropriate, abusive and legally questionable tactic; they should know they're not going to get convictions on these cases. The amount of pot they are charged with is a violation, not a misdemeanor. When the legislature decriminalized possession in 1977, they did it because they didn't want to be going after people for small quantities of marijuana, but here is the NYPD setting up elaborate stings to bust people for a ticketable offense." Whether the Marijuana Reform Party can gain the dollars and allies to achieve its goals this year and next remains to be seen. But Tom Leighton isn't going away.
5. French Ravers March Against Proposed Law, Street Fighting Breaks Out in Toulouse "We refuse all arbitrary censorship of
our art and all refusals of our choice of lifestyle."
The rave culture in France took to the streets last week to protest proposed legislation that enthusiasts say threatens the existence of raves, the popular techno dance music parties that are a mainstay of youth culture across the globe. Raves are under attack from social conservatives in part because of allegations of widespread Ecstasy use at the events. Joined by jugglers, fire-eaters and dance groups, ravers marched by the thousands in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Marseilles, and Toulouse last Thursday. In Toulouse, aggressive policing provoked hours of skirmishes with demonstrators around that city's Capitol Square. According to accounts from Agence France Presse (AFP), riot police in Toulouse fired tear gas at ravers gathered in the square to disperse the crowd, then attempted to move in to make arrests. At least nine police officers were injured in the process, AFP said, and police reported making "several" arrests. No figures on injured demonstrators were available. While police eventually cleared the square, ravers clashed with police in neighboring side streets long into the night. The tussle in Toulouse was the most violent response to a proposed new public safety law that has outraged ravers, other dance music aficionados and youth culture advocates. An amendment to that law would allow the seizure of sound equipment from raves and fines for organizers who fail to pre-register their events with local authorities. The bill has already been adopted by French lower chamber and awaits approval in the Senate. In a carnival-like atmosphere (except for Toulouse), protestors marched, danced and shouted chants such as "Tonight we are going to dance, without police, without Mariani," a reference to Member of Parliament Thierry Mariani, the author of the anti-rave amendment. Calling the amendment "an attack on the freedom of expression," one protest organizer in Lille told AFP, "When you go 300 kilometers (180 miles) to have a party, it's not just to get high. There is a real musical and cultural current behind that." The French political establishment is by no means unanimous in its attack on rave culture and Ecstasy use. Less than a year ago, Education Minister Jack Lang made waves when he told the newspaper France-Soire that he was encouraging welfare teams to go to raves and test drugs for contaminants and adulterants. Lang's remarks came in the context of a broader statement about dealing with drug use in France. He told the newspaper France needed a "national debate" on drugs. "We should put our cards on the table, working with doctors and educators and not just over cannabis. We should talk about tobacco and alcohol which are much more destructive among the young," said Lang. On Ecstasy, which is widely consumed in the booming night-scene of raves and techno clubs in Paris and the provinces, Lang said he was encouraging welfare organizations that were sending teams out to test the quality of the drugs being sold. This was too much for the Federation of Pupils' Parents, which accused Lang of breaching his duty to ensure the moral and civic education of the young. "A drug is still a drug and none is without danger," it said. The opposition UDF party said that Lang appeared to be advocating legalized ecstasy.
6. Mexican Congressman Calls for Legalization, Latin America to Unite Against "US-Imposed Drug Policy" The official Mexican news agency Notimex has reported that opposition Mexican congressman Gregorio Urias German has called for the legalization of the drug trade. In a report to congress, Urias called on Mexico and other Latin American nations to move toward the legalization of some drugs to break the cycle of illicit enrichment and associated social problems. Latin American nations need to "break the spinal column of drug trafficking, since the policies imposed by the United States have been shown to be an all-around failure," he said. Urias, a member of the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) from the drug-trafficking plagued state of Sinaloa, reported that the drug trade creates profits of $30 billion per year in Mexico alone. Urias joins a small but select group within the Mexican political class that has openly discussed legalization of the drug trade. That group includes President Vicente Fox, Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, Federal Police Chief Miguel Angel de la Torre and Chihuahua Gov. Patricio Martinez Garcia. Urias' comments, however, mark the first time a prominent member of the PRD has joined the panistas of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) in the call for fundamental change, and thus represent the gradual spread of legalization consciousness within the Mexican body politic. Citing the cases of disgraced short-term Mexican drug czar Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, the family of former president Salinas de Cortari, and the recently arrested former governor of Quintana Roo, Mario Villanueva, Urias emphasized that drug traffickers had penetrated the institutions of the Mexican state. He added that Mexico's political transition to a multi-party democracy is endangered by the status quo, as are other Latin American countries. Mexico faces the prospect of becoming a "narco-state," Urias said. In his report, "An Informed Vision to Confront Drug Trafficking," Urias explicitly criticized the United States. He said that US drug policy was an instrument of espionage, subordination and interference in the sovereignty of other countries, Notimex reported. He also accused the US of practicing a "yellow journalism" strategy to discredit Mexican law enforcement and then blackmail, pressure, and otherwise attempt to dictate Mexican drug policy. Legalization must be discussed, he told Notimex, because under the status quo Mexican and Latin American communities where drugs destined for foreign markets are produced are being destroyed by violence and vengeance.
7. Action Alerts: Waters Bill, Drug Czar Nomination, HEA, Medical Marijuana The Maxine Waters bill to repeal mandatory minimum sentencing now has a number: H.R. 1978. It has been referred to the House Judiciary and House Energy and Commerce committees. Please call your Representative (you can use the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121), and visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/justice/ if you haven't already to send your Rep. and Senators an e-mail or fax. Ongoing information on this and other bills can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov by searching on the bill number. See http://www.drcnet.org/wol/187.html#watersbill for further information. Other current action alerts: Repeal the Higher Education Act Drug Provision (Please submit listings of events related to drug policy and related areas to [email protected].) 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. May 31, 12:30-2:00pm, Washington, DC, "The Fujimori Government's 'War Against Drugs': The Facts, the Fantasies, and the Lessons." Forum sponsored by The George Washington University Seminar on Andean Culture and Politics and the Washington Office on Latin America, featuring General Alberto Arciniega Huby and Latin America/international development consultant Dr. Jim Jones. At GWU's Marvin Center, 800 21st St. NW, room 308, admission free. For further information, contact Jamie Foster at [email protected] or Peter Clark at [email protected] or (202) 797-2171. June 5, 4:00-6:30pm, Berkeley, CA, "Decriminalizing Drug Addiction: Will California's Experiment Work?" UC Berkeley Extension community service program, at the UC Berkeley Extension International Center, 2222 Harold Way, admission free. Visit http://www.unex.berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-4111 to register. 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 14, 7:00pm, Yonkers, NY, "Illicit Drugs: Jump for Jail? Target for Treatment?" Forum sponsored by the Yonkers Democrats, featuring Yonkers' former police commissioner and other specialists. At the Italian American Unity Club, 25 Lockwood Avenue, contact forum moderator Bob Stauf at [email protected] for further information. June 15-17, Charlotte, NC, Families Against Mandatory Minimums Southeastern Conference on Sentencing Reform. At St. Luke's Lutheran Church, 3200 Park Rd. For further information, contact Elaine Lynch at (704) 947-9728. June 16, 2:00pm, Los Angeles, CA, Drug War Victim Vigil in honor of Peter McWilliams. Sponsored by the November Coalition and the Libertarian Party of California. Meet at 2:00pm on the front lawn of the West Los Angeles Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd., vigil until 4:00pm, march 1/3 mile to Westwood Memorial Gardens, 1218 Glendon. For further information, contact Hal Chiprin at [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 4, Washington, DC, "32nd Annual Rally, Parade, Concert and Picnic to End Marijuana Prohibition." Rally at Lafayette Park noon-3:00pm, march to Lincoln Memorial Grounds, concerts at the Ellipse until the Fireworks, benefit party 10:00pm after fireworks at the Velvet Lounge, 930 U St. For information, visit http://www.fourthofjuly.org or e-mail July 21-22, Bethesda, MD, "Saving Our Children from Drug Treatment Abuse," a conference presented by the Trebach Institute in Association with the Survivors of Harmful Treatment Programs. At the Marriott Residence Inn, 7335 Wisconsin Ave., admission $100 or free if you don't have it. For further information, visit http://www.trebach.org, e-mail [email protected] or fax (301) 986-7815. 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]. September 15, noon-6:00pm, Boston, MA, "Twelfth Annual Fall Freedom Rally." At the Boston Common, sponsored by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. For further information call (781) 944-2266, visit http://www.masscann.org or e-mail [email protected]. October 7-10, St. Louis, MO, American Methadone Treatment Association Conference 2001. For further information, e-mail [email protected], visit http://www.assnmethworks.org or call (212) 566-5555. November 14-16, Barcelona, Spain, First Latin Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. For further information, e-mail [email protected], visit http://www.igia.org/clat/ or call Enric Granados at 00 34 93 415 25 99. December 1-4, 2002, Seattle, WA, Fourth National Harm Reduction Conference. Featuring keynote speaker Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former US Surgeon General, at the Sheraton Seattle. For further information, visit http://www.harmreduction.org or call (212) 213-6376.
15. Job Opportunity: NYC Harm Reduction New York Harm Reduction Educators, New York City's largest harm reduction/syringe exchange program, seeks dynamic, detail oriented self-starter for the position of Deputy Director to run day-to-day operations, supervise staff (8 senior staff and 28 line staff), quality assurance, staff performance assessments, report writing, program development and community relations. Must be comfortable working with active drug users and staff with a history of drug use. Masters Degree, experience working in harm reduction environment, bilingual preferred. People of color encouraged to apply. Reply in confidence to: Terry Ruefli, PhD, Executive Director, NYHRE, 903 Dawson, Bronx, NY 10459. 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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