TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Editorial: A Week in the Drug War
2. Pain Wars I: Utah Pain Doctor Gets Conviction Overturned, Still Facing Legal Hurdles and Career Ruin
3. Pain Wars II: More Docs in the Dock
4. Feds Raid Lakota Hemp Fields Again, Oglala Challenge US Right to Enforce Controlled Substances Act on Reservation
5. Plan Colombia: Bogotá Court Bars Fumigation of Coca, but to No Avail, Colombian Governors and Legislators Call for Alternatives in Washington
6. Plan Pataki: New York Governor Session Offers New Rockefeller Reform Bill in Bid to Salvage Session, Reformers Still Not Impressed
7. Feds Regain Right to Use Narcs in Oregon Following Reversal of Little-Known Ethics Law, Constitutional Questions Remain
8. Reverse Racial Profiling? New Orleans White Woman Says So on Appeal
9. ALERT: Anti-Ecstasy Bill Introduced in Senate
10. Nixon in China or Wolf in McCaffrey's Clothing? Asa Hutchinson Confirmed as DEA Chief, Calls for "Compassion," Repeal of HEA Drug Provision
11. Web Links: Peru Shootdown, Colombia, Charles Garrett, Medical Marijuana
12. The Reformer's Calendar

(visit the Week Online archives)

1. Editorial: A Week in the Drug War

David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected]

This week's drug policy news should fill anyone with outrage:

• Doctors being persecuted by lawless law enforcement officers; pain patients left without relief.
• Federal agents violating treaty obligations to chop down a Lakota Sioux's harmless hemp field.
• US drug warriors driving Colombia's government into spraying its lands with dangerous pesticides over the objections of citizens and officialdom, even pressuring the nation's courts into complicity and compliance.
• Legislators in Oregon taking "emergency" action to secure the right of federal and state prosecutors -- and no other members of the bar -- to lie and encourage law enforcers to lie as part of investigations.

What is clear is that next week, and the week after, and the week after that will see further outrages, as well as some glimmers of hope in the daunting but necessary struggle to end our government's vast, self-destructive campaign of suppression, repression and oppression. Expect good news and bad news, all the time, until it is over, until the drug war is ended.

2. Pain Wars I: Utah Pain Doctor Gets Conviction Overturned, Still Facing Legal Hurdles and Career Ruin

DRCNet has reported with increasing frequency on the cases of physicians, usually pain specialists, who have run afoul of zealous prosecutors determined to paint them as Dr. Feelgoods handing out pills like candy or as mad scientists out to kill patients with pain-relieving opioids. The most common pattern recently has been prosecution of Appalachian pain doctors for prescribing Oxycontin, a powerful, time-release opioid analgesic, but the virtual war on doctors extends nationwide, driven by authorities eager to crack down on Medicare fraud and diversion of medicines into the black market.

"This is part of a national enforcement policy led by the federal government that is targeting physicians," Ronald Libby told DRCNet. Libby, a professor of political science at North Florida State University in Jacksonville, is currently conducting research on the topic. "There are hundreds of cases like this out there, and I think this is a draconian response, especially with the Oxycontin. But it goes further than that," Libby said. "If you look at Department of Justice reports going back to 1997, you see that this is clearly part of an enforcement program."

While the program reflects efforts to tackle legitimate concerns about the health care industry, according to Libby, doctors end up being the targets of choice. "Federal officials mention health care fraud and drug abuse as major issues, and US Attorneys across the country are expected to produce indictments," said Libby. "But if you go after the HMOs or the hospitals, they have all the resources and all the money to defend themselves. Physicians are the easiest targets. They don't have lawyers, they don't know all the intricacies of the law, they're sitting ducks."

Utah psychiatrist Dr. Robert Weitzel knows the feeling. He recently walked out of Utah's forbidding Point-of-the-Mountain state prison after his conviction for allegedly killing five patients in a geriatric psychiatric unit was overturned for prosecutorial misconduct.

"I did six months and a day before the judge threw out the verdict," Weitzel told DRCNet, "and I still face both federal and possibly another state prosecution."

Weitzel's problems began when he was working with psychiatric patients at the Salt Lake Headache Clinic. He would occasionally prescribe single-dose opioids for patients suffering acute migraine pain, which resulted in an office visit from the state office of professional responsibility and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1996. "When I asked why I was being investigated, they told me it was because I was a psychiatrist prescribing opiates," said Weitzel.

The raiders demanded a urine sample from Weitzel, took copies of patient charts and left, only to return six months later -- this time with guns on hips -- to take more patient charts. In the meantime, said Weitzel, DEA and state investigators had been questioning patients about the quality of care they received, causing patients to leave the practice.

"They suspected I was diverting drugs for my own use," Weitzel told DRCNet. "I wasn't. I've been urine tested more than 80 times; I'm always clean."

With that investigation apparently closed, Weitzel moved to a new position as assistant medical director of the Geropsychiatric Unit of Davis Hospital in Layton, Utah. He was investigated again -- for Medicaid fraud -- but no evidence of fraud was found. DEA investigators, however, heard a rumor that five patients had died in the winter of 1995-96, dug deeper and concluded that local prosecutors might want to take a closer look. (The fact that patients in a unit dealing with elderly people with psychiatric problems as well as other preexisting medical conditions might sometimes pass away was apparently beyond investigators. Dr. Weitzel has made the patient charts, as well as copious other materials related to the case available at http://www.weitzelcharts.com online.)

Weitzel was indicted and arrested on five counts of first degree murder in August 1999. He was held behind bars until he raised $125,000 in bail bonds. And even though it had held no hearing, the DEA sent a letter to Weitzel's primary hospital telling them that Weitzel was "no longer registered." The hospital then placed Weitzel on leave from the medical staff. He has not been able to practice medicine since that day.

To add to his woes, the federal government resurrected its previous investigation into his practice at the headache clinic and indicted him for prescription drug fraud. According to the feds, Weitzel was diverting opiates for his own use.

"Funny, isn't it?" said Weitzel. "This was a dormant three-year-old investigation, they never filed any charges until after Utah charged me in the geriatric unit case, then they came up with 22 counts of obtaining controlled substances by deception. I still have to fight this, but all I can afford is a federal public defender. He's telling me to plea bargain."

The murder trial on state charges took place in June 2000. While prosecutors were able to produce medical witnesses who testified that Weitzel's care was beyond the pale for accepted medical practice, the defense was forced to ask the judge to order the prosecution to quit harassing potential defense witnesses. One affidavit filed by a local physician for the defense said the doctor was told by the state that he "wouldn't be too popular if he testified in the Weitzel trial."

After a five-week trial filled with complex and competing medical testimony, Davis county jurors took five hours to return with verdicts finding Weitzel guilty of two counts of manslaughter and three counts of misdemeanor negligent homicide. Weitzel went off to prison, but his defense team quickly uncovered more evidence of prosecutors tampering with potential witnesses. This time, however, the prosecutorial misconduct rose to a level high enough to get Weitzel's conviction overturned.

"The state's main witness, Dr. Brad Hare, is an anesthesiologist who does do some pain work, but is opiophobic," said Weitzel. "But Hare told the prosecutors that if they wanted a real expert on end-of-life pain management, they should go see Dr. Perry Fine at the University of Utah. The prosecutors talked to Fine, he told them they didn't have a case, and they suppressed it. That was potentially exculpatory evidence that the state should have provided to the defense," Weitzel explained. "They did not do so. In fact, Dr. Fine testified that they told him to keep quiet."

(Fine's testimony in the post-conviction hearings that led to Weitzel's release from prison is available at Weitzel's web site. It makes abundantly clear why the prosecutors wanted to keep him quiet. For example, Fine testified that: "Again, my evaluation of Dr. Weitzel's care as it pertained to these particular patients, it fell within the bounds of what is viewed as ethical and appropriate care for patients in those circumstances." More broadly, Fine testified that: "As a result of a lot of work in the past few years, it's been determined that the majority of patients who are in institutional care settings in the geriatric population are underevaluated and undertreated for chronic pain conditions. And the range is between 50% and 80% of those patients in fact have pain-producing conditions... There are 10,000 or more per year in this state alone who die under uncomfortable circumstances for whom physicians would be able to provide palliative care.")

That testimony so undermined the state's case that Weitzel's anger at prosecutors for withholding their knowledge of Fine's willingness to testify in favor of Weitzel is easily understood. "Prosecutors have a special duty to be fair and not crush people," said Weitzel. "When Fine testified that they told him to keep quiet, that's obstruction of justice," he said. "And when they denied that before the judge, that's perjury. There's no way they'll get off without some punishment."

Not if Weitzel can help it. He filed ethics complaints against Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson, Deputy County Attorney Steven Major and Assistant Attorneys General Charlene Barlow and Elizabeth Bowman with the Utah State Bar's Office of Professional Conduct in April. The crux of his complaint is precisely their failure to notify the defense of Fine's availability. The bar refuses to comment on pending cases.

"Look," said Weitzel, "I think Mr. Wilson wanted to be a state judge, and he thought he had a murderer on his hands and he trumpeted that everywhere. Then he got the bad news from Perry Fine, but instead of backing down decided to continue with a bad prosecution, and that's where he really went wrong. This prosecutorial misconduct is really disgusting. And they try to get back at me by threatening me with another trial."

Neither is Weitzel particularly happy with the state's leading physician's organization, the Utah Medical Association (UMA). "Organized medicine, the UMA, has not been helpful at all. There are people in the UMA who have been very helpful and have done what they could," he told DRCNet, "but if you are tainted, you really cannot expect the help of the organized people, they will run the other way."

The UMA, for its part, says it is concerned about the general issue of proper prescribing of pain medicines, but declined to address the particulars of Weitzel's case. "We are very concerned about trying to understand where is the line between non-standard practice and criminal behavior," UMA spokesman Mark Fotheringham told DRCNet. "We simply want to know in a general way where that line is, so doctors can be assured they are not crossing it."

But, Fotheringham assured DRCNet, "we have seen no evidence of a chilling effect on physicians. The doctors we've talked to see this case as an aberration."

Weitzel does not agree. "That's ridiculous," he snorted. "When doctors look at actual care I gave, they say it was normal care. I've had doctors telling me I didn't prescribe enough opiates. I've seen one survey in which 20 out of 30 physicians said what happened to me makes them less likely to prescribe opiates. I'm dismayed and somewhat disheartened by the UMA's lameness on this."

He is not alone. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a 5,000-member organization based in Arizona, has strongly backed Weitzel, and has taken some knocks from the UMA for doing so. "I think we're seeing prosecutors run amok all over the country, and physician groups are telling physicians eveything will be fine," AAPS executive director Jane Orient told DRCNet. "We've heard from many, many doctors in Utah, and they say they will be hesitant to prescribe pain medications. Doctors should be standing up for their colleagues," she said.

AAPS's efforts in favor of Weitzel prompted UMA head Dr. Val Johnson to lash out at the group. Johnson also attacked the Salt Lake Tribune, which had editorially worried about a chilling effect on doctors and wrote that "the medical profession is more concerned with protecting its members than providing competent care to patients."

The AAPS is a "relatively small" group that is not "representative of the medical profession," responded Jones, and "speaks for no one but its members." Then, blaming the victim and his defenders, Jones wrote that: "If there is any 'chilling effect,' it has come from uninformed or incomplete reports, warning that the Weitzel case marks the beginning of a deliberate persecution of physicians that may eventually result in patients having to endure unrelieved, intractable pain."

But, Jones reassured the Tribune's readers, "The Utah Medical Association, however, has never held this opinion and has tried to educate all interested parties that there is no evidence of a state-sanctioned witch hunt against physicians who legitimately use narcotics to treat pain."

And anyway, the AAPS is a "right-wing" organization, UMA's Fotheringham told DRCNet.

"Well, we're in favor of freedom and the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship," said Orient, "and we're against interference in medicine, whether it is the government or the insurance companies. We do take a very active position in defense of individual physicians like Dr. Weitzel, who are being persecuted unjustly. We also advocate for free market positions, such as medical savings accounts. We encourage doctors to be independent; we want to avoid conflicts between medicine and the bottom line."

Professor Libby also sees great danger in the current federal government posture. "Medicine has been criminalized," he told DRCNet. "Any physician can be indicted. Once they get a whistleblower to contact the Justice Department and claim fraud has been committed, they go in with guns and gather the charts, shut down all the computers, stop all activity, and go fishing until they can find something they can use against a physician," he said.

"There are dozens and dozens of these cases where doctors are indicted, convicted, and sent to prison," Libby continued. "These are political trials, they're not interested in guilt or innocence. This is a largely symbolic political agenda, scapegoating doctors for the ills of the health system. In part it is driven by the effort to uncover fraud, but the war on drugs is also connected. DEA, FDA, all these agencies are focused on physicians."

Driven by the health reform imperatives of the Clinton administration, the attack on physicians has taken on a life of its own, said Libby. "Whistleblowers can get some of the money they allegedly recover, and doctors are treated like drug dealers, their assets seized -- and they go to the investigating agency, not into Medicare," Libby explained. "Dozens of physicians are languishing in jails right now. You tell me if that makes any sense."

Certainly not to Dr. Weitzel. "I'm out of prison, but I've lost everything. Right now I have the clothes on my back and a few personal items. I'm living with a friend, eating lots of tuna fish. I had a garage sale when I got out of prison, to try to pay for my lawyer for the upcoming round. But I don't have enough, and I'm looking at a real difficult situation."

But Weitzel is taking it all with unusual calm. "Hey, I'm a Buddhist," he said. "The way I see it, I'm paying off all my bad karma right here. I've learned a lot, and this will hopefully lead to better care for patients because people will come to see that the elderly, dying, and demented are clearly not receiving adequate treatment for pain."

But he is not completely tranquil. "I've been caught up in this war on drugs. There is a real tension between the drug warriors and doctors who are just doing their job," he said. "It is ridiculous that we allow this issue to be dominated by a moralistic Victorian stance. Prohibition just hurts us as a society. I'm strongly opposed to our current war on ourselves."

Weitzel will next appear in state court August 9 for a pretrial conference on his upcoming second trial. He will appear in federal court August 20 to face the counts of fraudulently prescribing drugs for his own use.

(Visit Dr. Weitzel's web site at http://www.weitzelcharts.com for further information, including how to donate to his legal defense fund.)

3. Pain Wars II: More Docs in the Dock

If misery loves company, Dr. Weitzel can take solace in being just one of a growing number of physicians targeted by law enforcers for their pain treatment practices. In recent weeks, the litany of physicians raided or arrested by law enforcement officials on prescription abuse charges (often also described as "fraud" because of Medicaid billing issues) continues to grow:

In a Florida first, last week, a Jupiter physician was arrested and charged with racketeering, drug dealing and first degree murder after one of his patients overdosed on Oxycontin. Dr. Denis Deonarine, 56, is the first doctor in the state to have been charged with murder in connection with prescribing the opioid painkiller, the FDA and legal experts told the Palm Beach Post:

Deonarine faces either life in prison or a death sentence if convicted in the death of 21-year-old Michael Labzda of Jupiter, who died February 8. According to autopsy reports, Labzda died after taking a combination of oxycodone (the active ingredient in Oxycontin and numerous other opioid pain relievers), high levels of the tranquilizer alprazolam, and alcohol.

Prosecutors allege that Deonarine did not perform physical exams or other tests that would justify the medications he prescribed and that he prescribed the drug for his office manager and later lover. He also faces fraud charges over what the authorities deem "illegitimate" prescriptions.

Deonarine's attorney, Richard Lubin, called the charges "meritless" and suggested the doctor was victimized by a deceptive patient and Purdue Pharma's aggressive marketing of Oxycontin. "If someone abuses a drug that he's been prescribed and takes it with other drugs and alcohol, all in violation of pain management agreements the doctor has every patient execute, how is the doctor responsible for the patient's death?" Lubin asked the Palm Beach Post. "To the extent Dr. Deonarine may have been a victim of misleading marketing by the manufacturer that may have occurred, he truly believes, and he has always believed, he has prescribed medicines when it was needed medically," he said.

Deonarine, who has had no previous brushes with the law or Florida medical authorities, was last reported to be in the Palm Beach County Jail, where he is suffering from pneumonia, the Post reported.

In South Carolina, the DEA has forced the closing of the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center in Myrtle Beach after raiding it in June 2000 and again last month:

The DEA refuses to comment on its ongoing investigation, but in a letter to clinic patients, Dr. Michael Woodward wrote: "As you are probably aware, some time ago some former employees made some false accusations about me in order to gain a competitive advantage for a new center they had opened. Based upon these false accusations, the DEA has become focused, if not obsessed, with the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center... Unfortunately, as a result of the accusations, many of you have been contacted and even harassed and threatened by DEA agents. As you already know, in July 2000, the DEA took all of our patients' medical records as part of their 'investigation.' Despite our persistent protests, none of these records were ever returned. Instead, a few weeks ago, the DEA returned and took even more records that were made since the June 2000 raid. In addition, the DEA began to take away the abilities of our physicians to prescribe scheduled pain medication, first by using administrative registration technicalities and finally by frankly accusing our doctors of over-prescribing. Our former doctors have hearings scheduled in federal court over the next few months, at which time we hope they will be vindicated," Woodward told the patients.

"As the DEA eliminated our regular doctors, one by one, they also prevented our replacing them with even temporary doctors, telling each temporary doctor that, since we were under 'investigation,' no new doctors coming to our center would be allowed to prescribe scheduled substances, even though they could do so anywhere else in the state!" Woodward continued. "By systematically eliminating our regular doctors while not allowing us to replace them, the DEA squeezed us out of business.

"Don't let anyone kid you," wrote Woodward, "we believe in our patients' right to total pain management including the use of appropriate pain medications. When the DEA took our prescribing ability away from us, we could no longer provide as good of service as you could get elsewhere. This forced us to close."

Woodward also related to his patients a conversation between a doctor interested in obtaining and reopening the Center and DEA agents in the state capital, Columbia. Unbeknownst to the agents, the doctor tape-recorded the conversation. "One of the agents essentially told the doctor that he would need to replace all of the patients currently attending the Center since none of them had anything really wrong with them!"

Patients must contact the DEA to obtain their medical records seized from the clinic, Woodward wrote. He also encouraged patients to fight back. "I consider the actions of the DEA and the US Attorney's office in seizing and keeping your records and in harassing you to be outrageous. You may wish to take action. The complaint bureau for the federal government is the Office of Professional Responsibility," he told the patients.

Local physicians are on notice, according to press reports. "No physician wants to be called on the carpet," Dr. Anthony Alexander, a psychiatrist at Strand Regional Specialty Associates, told the Sun News. "Therefore, they're very cautious about writing those prescriptions and documenting what the diagnosis is."

Patients are also responding to the furor. Dr. Scott Sauer of the Center for Pain Relief in Myrtle Beach told the local paper some patients are asking to discontinue Oxycontin prescriptions because of the social stigma. "Patients think they have done something wrong by taking Oxycontin," said Sauer. "They come in and want to come off it. We then have to educate them about it and try to inform them that they're taking it properly."

In the wake of the Center's closing, other area clinics and practices are seeing a steady stream of former Center patients seeking treatment for pain, the Sun News reported.

4. Feds Raid Lakota Hemp Fields Again, Oglala Challenge US Right to Enforce Controlled Substances Act on Reservation

Last year, when members of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Nation on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation attempted to crow a hemp crop, the US government responded by sending out the cavalry. A heavily-armed convoy of state and federal law officers stormed the hemp field and destroyed the crop on the spot. (See DRCNet's coverage at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/151.html#southdakota and http://www.drcnet.org/wol/151.html#editorial from September of last year.) This year, the Lakota tried a new tack. It didn't do them any good.

Last Monday, federal agents raided and destroyed hemp fields cultivated by tribal member Albert White Plume, on tribal land, the second consecutive year they have done so. Despite earlier threats of arrests and long prison sentences from US Attorney for South Dakota Michelle Tapken, no one was arrested, according to South Dakota NORML head Bob Newland.

The raid came less than two weeks after the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Nation formally told the US government that any hemp growing on the Pine Ridge Reservation was a tribal matter, not a federal one. On July 18, Oglala Lakota President John Yellow Bird Steele officially put the US government on notice that the tribe is asserting its right to grow hemp for industrial purposes under provisions of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. That treaty, which remains in effect, gave the Lakota control over their own agricultural production.

The assertion of tribal sovereignty on the hemp issue is a direct challenge to the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, under whose provisions federal authorities executed last year's hemp field raid.

In a letter sent to US Attorney Tapken, Oglala President Steele wrote: "The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 did not divest the Lakota People of our reserved right to plant and harvest whatever crop we deem beneficial to our reservation. Therefore we regard the enforcement of our hemp ordinance and prosecution of our marijuana laws as tribal matters to be handled by our Oglala Sioux Tribal Public Safety Law Enforcement Services."

The Oglala Lakota in 1998 passed an ordinance distinguishing industrial hemp from marijuana and allowing for its cultivation. The ordinance defined industrial hemp as containing less than 1% THC by weight and retained marijuana's illegal status.

"The powers of local self-government enjoyed by the Lakota people existed prior to the United States Constitution. Our local governmental powers were not created by your Constitution," wrote Steele. "Our nation, our culture, and our laws precede your nation, your 'culture,' and your laws. We were and continue to be a sovereign nation.

"I respectfully request that you direct the law enforcement agencies under your authority to refrain from encroachment upon our reservation for the purpose of enforcing your Controlled Substances Act. That Act does not apply to our reservation or our People," Steele wrote.

The letter from the tribe to the US government comes in the context of heightened tension as US authorities prepare to destroy a hemp crop grown by Albert White Plume, the same man whose crop was destroyed last year. According to reports last week from Pine Ridge, agents were set to raid the site early this week, but as of press time, DRCNet could not confirm that the raid had actually taken place.

5. Plan Colombia: Bogotá Court Bars Fumigation of Coca, but to No Avail, Colombian Governors and Legislators Call for Alternatives in Washington

The US-backed effort to spray Colombia's coca crop into extinction took another hit late last week when a Colombian court ordered a temporary stop to the aerial spraying of the pesticide glyphosate. The spraying program has come under increasing criticism in recent weeks, both domestically and abroad. And even as uncertainty about the extent of the court decision gripped the Colombian and US governments, a high-ranking delegation of Colombian governors and legislators arrived in Washington to lobby against the spraying and for an alternative approach, which they call Plan Sur, or the Southern Plan.

In the court case, a Bogotá district court ruled in favor of indigenous groups in the Amazon basin, who demanded a halt to the spraying because the government had failed to consult with them before spraying began and because it had not adequately studied glyphosate's human and environmental impact.

"As a provisional measure, all aerial fumigation with glyphosate is ordered suspended," the court ruled.

But that did not stop the Colombian drug warriors from going on their merry way. The following day, Gen. Gustavo Socha, chief of the anti-narcotics police, said his agency would ignore the court for the time being. "At this moment, the fumigations will have to continue," Socha told the Associated Press. "Once there is a final ruling, we will respect the decision of the court."

The court-ordered suspension was to run for ten days, giving the government a chance to respond to queries from the court, but it has been eroded since then. Under strong political pressure from the administration and its US allies, the court earlier this week announced that the suspension would affect only "indigenous reserves" in limited Amazonian regions.

The see-saw battle over last week's court ruling is only the latest example of the increasing turbulence afflicting the spraying program. Peasant riots and growing political dissent within Colombia, as well as increasingly loud criticism from the European Union, the United Nations, and moderate environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund, threaten to knock the legs out from under this pillar of Plan Colombia.

Colombian dissent was visible in Washington, DC, this week as Governors Parmenio Cuellar of Narino and Floro Alberto Tunubalá Paja of Cauca and Colombian legislators Senators Rafael Orduz and Juan Manuel Ospina and Representative Gustavo Petro spent the last few days working the press, Congress and the Bush administration in an effort to end the crop spraying.

The governors, whose states are in the midst of massive fumigation campaigns, have played an increasingly vocal role in attempting to persuade President Pastrana and the US to find alternatives to spraying. Last week, the governors met with Pastrana to urge a halt to the spraying and the adoption of the alternative Southern Plan, which they bill as a comprehensive plan for social and economic development that provides workable alternatives to coca and allows for manual -- not pesticide -- eradication of coca crops by agreement with growers.

The Colombian legislators are all cosponsors of a bill that would suspend fumigation. Earlier this week Sen. Orduz sent an open letter to the US Congress saying: "You are debating the budget that would finance anti-narcotics strategy in the framework of Plan Colombia... As a Colombian Senator, it is my duty to express the concern of millions of Colombians regarding the continuation of fumigation... to eradicate illegal crops in Colombia."

While in Washington, the delegation met with members of Congress, the State Department, the Office of Drug Control Policy and other official entities. DRCNet is attempting to procure accounts of those meetings.

Meanwhile, the US-sponsored military build-up is gathering speed. Last week, the first three of 16 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters arrived from the US. They will be used to ferry Colombian Army troops to coca fields deep within rebel territory. And within weeks, 14 new crop-dusting aircraft are scheduled to arrive.

6. Plan Pataki: New York Governor Session Offers New Rockefeller Reform Bill in Bid to Salvage Session, Reformers Still Not Impressed

With his earlier half-hearted Rockefeller proposals dead in the water and the Democratic state assembly offering up a slightly more progressive alternative reform bill, Republican Gov. George Pataki last week unveiled -- or at least outlined -- a new, improved Rockefeller reform bill. But given what is known so far about Pataki's latest proposal, neither legislative Democrats nor independent drug reformers are getting too excited about it.

Pataki has not yet enshrined his new proposal in legislative language, but according to "aides" and similar sources close to the governor who shared their inside information with the New York Times, the governor's new proposal would, for the first time, allow second-offenders charged with drug dealing to earn greatly reduced sentences by undergoing drug treatment. Pataki's original proposal would have reserved the sentence reduction possibility only for people charged with possession, not sale.

It is Class B felons, those who currently receive mandatory minimum sentences of 12 1/2 years and up, whom the governor would now include in the opportunity to reduce sentences by undergoing treatment. Under the new proposal, Pataki aides said, as many 2,800 defendants each year could qualify for reduced sentences. Under his original proposal, only a few hundred defendants would have qualified.

But even under Pataki's new proposal, these defendants would be required to do their first nine months of treatment in prison, before spending six months in inpatient treatment and another six months in out-patient treatment. Prison officials would decide whether inmates were ready to move to community-based treatment.

The new proposal would also give judges a greater role in deciding which defendants would qualify for treatment and reduced sentences. But it also continues to include proposals sure to excite the opposition of Democrats in the legislature and the growing movement for Rockefeller law reform among the public. Among those measures are an end to parole for all crimes in New York and an increase in certain marijuana penalties.

The response from reformers, in the legislature and out, has been less than heartening for the governor. "Any plan without community-based treatment is totally unacceptable," said state Sen. John Dunne (R-Garden City), an advocate of the Rockefeller laws in the 1970s and now one of their most powerful critics. "Is he offering anything new?" Dunne asked Newsday. "The answer is 'no.'"

For Nick Eyle of ReconsiDer (http://www.reconsider.org), a statewide drug reform educational organization, Pataki's new proposals are barely worth consideration. "This new proposal is only worth mentioning in that it indicates that Pataki is now aware that his initial proposal was not worth talking about."

But neither is Eyle impressed with rival proposals from the Democratic state Assembly. "Neither set of proposals will have any effect on the huge racial imbalance in New York prisoners," he told DRCNet. "You don't correct that imbalance with sentencing reforms, you correct it by ending the drug war," he said. "If all you're doing is trading treatment for prison, or long prison sentences for slightly less long prison sentences, then you are maintaining the drug war paradigm, and perhaps even making it more cost effective."

But, said Eyle, "police will still find it easier to arrest inner city black people than suburban white drug users."

What Eyle fears most is a compromise between competing Republican and Democratic proposals that removes public pressure for further change without making fundamental reforms. "There is a groundswell for reforming the Rockefeller laws, but most people are not drug policy wonks or sociologists or criminologists, and once you get into the details, their eyes glaze over," he said. "Both sides talk big about how bad these laws are, but we'll be left with some watered down version of one of these bills, and most people will think 'oh, I'm glad they finally changed that law.' But what we'll be left with are minor reforms, which will certainly be an improvement for individuals charged and convicted, but will not do a thing to alleviate racial imbalance or crime and violence in the streets."

Robert Gangi of the Correctional Association of New York (http://www.corrassoc.org), a member of the Drop the Rock Coalition to end the Rockefeller laws, is only slightly more upbeat than ReconsiDer's Eyle. In a letter published in the New York Times last week, Gangi wrote that while the governor's reform proposal "apparently offers a treatment option to several thousand drug offenders, the treatment will take place in prison rather than in community-based settings, where the services provided are likely to be less expensive and more effective." Additionally, wrote Gangi, "the plan does not restore judicial authority in all drug cases. Since prosecutors have authority over the indictment process, these exceptions will enable them to maintain control over the outcome of far too many drug cases."

For Gangi, "Unless the legislature fully repeals the Rockefeller drug laws, district attorneys will have the ability to undermine the intent of any reform plan."

For the legislative factions, the Pataki proposal provides a new starting point for negotiation. But whether any reform bill will pass at this late date remains in doubt. And whether any bill that might pass would be considered by reform activists to be worthy of the name "reform" is equally doubtful.

Eyle doesn't think so. "Even if one of these bills passed in its entirety, which is extremely unlikely, they won't make a fundamental difference. The media doesn't cover this, nor does it tell people how extreme US drug policy is. People think what happens in the US is the norm, when actually we're the extremists, along with such company as China, Iran, Malaysia and Thailand."

7. Feds Regain Right to Use Narcs in Oregon Following Reversal of Little-Known Ethics Law, Constitutional Questions Remain

Thanks to a pair of bizarre, after-the-fact stories filed by writers for the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, DRCNet has learned that for a brief moment the citizens of Oregon breathed slightly more free, secure in the knowledge that no undercover agents lurked in their midst -- if they were even aware of that fact. That moment has passed, as quietly as it existed.

And thus the strange press reports. The two stories, published on July 18 and July 30, accurately described the situation that had existed in Oregon since last August, when the state Supreme Court, in a case involving a lawyer in a civil matter misrepresenting himself to potential witnesses, ruled that all lawyers must abide by the state bar's rules against dishonesty, fraud and misrepresentation. In a stunning move, however, the court made no exemption for state and US Attorneys, ruling that a prosecutor who encourages an undercover police officer or civilian informant to lie or behave deceptively is in violation of the state bar ethic's code and subject to sanctions.

Oregon law enforcement officials as well as FBI spokespersons wailed and gnashed their teeth for the reporters, bemoaning the way the curious state of affairs hamstrung their vital undercover operations. "I am a drug cop. Please sell me some heroin. That's literally what's required," an Oregon district attorney told the LA Times' Kim Murphy. FBI spokeswoman Beth Ann Steele must have been reading the same script. If the agency wanted to arrest a drug dealer, she told AP's Terrence Petty, "we'd have to walk up and say: 'I'm an FBI agent. Here's $10,000. I'd like to buy some coke.'"

The US Attorney's office in Portland told the AP it had suspended some undercover operations and not approved new ones for fear of state bar disciplinary action. "I consider this the single greatest challenge as US Attorney in Oregon," acting US Attorney Mike Mosman told the AP.

"People in this state are not getting the protection they're entitled to," FBI special agent in charge Philip Donohue warned the LA Times. Portland Police Bureau drug and vice officer Lt. Gary Stafford chimed in as well. "The federal agencies are now not willing to look at our cases if they involve any kind of undercover activity," he told the Times. "That kind of puts a big roadblock in our way as far as taking down any of the substantial quantity dealers that should be prosecuted federally."

One small problem. The complaints and the news stories refer to a state of affairs that ended three weeks before the first story appeared, when on June 28 Gov. John Kitzhaber signed into law House Bill 3857, "an act relating to attorneys for public bodies; and declaring an emergency."

The bill restores the ability of state and federal prosecutors to employ narcs. Or, as the bloodless language of the new law puts it, state and federal prosecutors -- and only state and federal prosecutors "[m]ay provide legal advice and direction to the officers and employees of a public body... or... of the federal government, on conducting covert activities for the purpose of enforcing laws, even though the activities may require the use of deceit or misrepresentation; and [m]ay participate in covert activities that are conducted by public bodies... or... the federal government for the purpose of enforcing laws, even though the participation may require the use of deceit or misrepresentation. (The full text and legislative history of the bill, which was passed by the House on June 4, the Senate on June 14, and signed by the governor on June 28 -- is available at http://www.leg.state.or.us/01reg/measures/hb3800.dir/hb3857.en.html online.)

So what's with the time-warped news stories? DRCNet has no definitive answer, but some hints may lie in a brief mention in the LA Times story of the McDade law, a federal provision unknown to most Americans, but one that has driven federal prosecutors into fits of extreme pique. In a curious inversion of reality, the Times' Murphy wrote: "Although the Justice Department always has required its lawyers to abide by individual states' ethics rules, a controversial federal law passed in 1999 known as the McDade law makes it explicit."

Well, not quite, and one must wonder whose perspective informed Murphy's vision. The law, named after former US Rep. Joseph McDade (R-Pennsylvania), was a response to eight years of investigations into McDade's activities by federal prosecutors, as well as numerous other allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by US Attorneys. In a move that flabbergasted the Justice Department, US Attorneys everywhere, and establishment pillars such as the Washington Post, Congress in 1998 passed the McDade bill, forcing federal prosecutors to abide by state bar ethics codes in the states where they practiced. Contrary to Murphy's version, the bill was passed precisely because US Attorneys would not abide by state ethics codes unless required.

While congressman after congressman got up to address abusive practices by US Attorneys (colleagues referred to McDade's "persecution" by prosecutors who made up rules as they went along), then congressman and now DEA chief-in-waiting Asa Hutchinson denounced the bill. "This is a law enforcement issue," he told Congress. "This would jeopardize our fight in the war against drugs. The winner would be the drug cartels, fraudulent telemarketing operations and Internet pornographers."

These two news stories would appear to be, at least to some degree, an opportunity for feds still fuming over McDade's strictures to bash their old nemesis by showing how having to hew to those pesky state bar ethics codes makes the world safe for all sorts of nefarious villains. Fortunately for the distressed lawmen, their friends in the Oregon legislature have already resolved that problem.

Jesse Barton is Chief Deputy Public Defender for the Oregon Public Defender's Office and is also a member of the State Bar Criminal Law Section Executive Committee, which worked for months to craft a compromise position acceptable to defense lawyers and civil libertarians on one hand and federal and local law enforcement officials on the other. The committee's work was rendered moot by the legislature's action allowing prosecutors to be involved in "covert activities."

"This bill has probably been in effect since at least June 8, because of its emergency clause," Barton told DRCNet. "The bar committee had taken an amendment that would have overruled this restriction on misrepresentation to the state Supreme Court, but the court unanimously rejected it. We were happy to work with bar members to come up with an amendment the court would accept, but instead the bar association went to the legislature and came up with HB 3857. This is not an even-handed bill."

Barton grew more animated, the constitutional lawyer within starting to stir. "The fun is just beginning," he said. "There are at least two ways to attack this law. First, the Supreme Court has ruled that relations between opposing lawyers must be reciprocal, and this law, which gives only a certain class of attorneys -- prosecutors -- an exemption from the ban on misrepresentation, is not reciprocal. This is arguably unconstitutional as an equal protection violation," said Barton.

"There are also separation of powers issues here, with the legislature overriding the state Supreme Court," Barton added. "This is ripe for at least two constitutional attacks. Also, defense lawyers should be trying to ferret our whether any facts obtained by the state were in violation of the court's rule while it was in effect. I'm going to do everything I can to make defense lawyers aware of this issue."

8. Reverse Racial Profiling? New Orleans White Woman Says So on Appeal

"Hey, white boy, whatcha doin' uptown?" asked knowing onlookers in the Velvet Underground's ode to scoring in Harlem, "Waiting for My Man." New Orleans police have been equally suspicious of white people in majority black neighborhoods, and now they stand accused of practicing reverse racial profiling. Karen Vingle was white and driving a new Mustang through New Orleans' predominantly black Pigeon Town area when she was pulled over -- for being white and driving a new Mustang in the neighborhood, her lawyer told the Associated Press this week.

After police detained Vingle on September 23, 1999, they spotted a syringe and a spoon in her purse as she looked for her drivers' license. She was arrested and eventually pled guilty to attempted possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, and possession of diazepam. Vingle, 39, was sentenced to two years in prison and served two months before being released on an appeal bond.

During preliminary proceedings in the case, defense attorney Bernard Bagert, Jr. argued that Vingles' constitutional rights were violated because police approached her for being a white woman in "the wrong place." Criminal District Judge Leon Cannizzaro disagreed, ruling the arrest proper, but, as part of a plea agreement, allowed Vingle to appeal his ruling despite her guilty plea.

"If we're going to apply the Constitution equally to all races, anybody who is targeted because of their race has been violated," Bagert told the AP.

Police testified during the trial that they had arrested "several" white men and women cruising the neighborhood.

Black author and columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson must be wondering if this is a case of life imitating art. In an essay in his Hutchinson Report this week attacking racial profiling, he suggested that if police really wanted to crack down on drug abusers, they should target whites. "As absurd as it sounds, a fictional case can be made for cracking down on young whites traveling on our highways, and streets, based on a standard drug user profile," Hutchinson wrote.

"While racial profiling proves worthless in preventing black crime, oddly, it could have some racially-reverse value for police as a tool in the deeply flawed, racially-warped drug war. The profile of a typical drug user is not a poor black, or Latino, but a middle-income white, aged 12-25. They make up more than 75 to 80 percent of the drug users in America," Hutchinson noted. "Yet, the lopsided drug use by young whites ignites no outcry for mass arrests, prosecutions, and tough prison sentences for them. It would be political suicide for any public official to dare suggest that police profile white drug users as a tactic to win the drug war."

Hutchinson evidently was not referring to white drug users like Vingle, who in frequenting black communities where police are waging the drug war have lost their skin privilege. They have in effect become honorary minorities, although the terms used on the street to describe this phenomenon are rarely so non-derogatory.

Hutchinson pointed out that "numerous studies have shown that police officials saturate poor black neighborhoods with small armies of cops. This insures that more blacks will be stopped, searched, and arrested than whites, and further bumps up the arrest totals for blacks." Still, he stops short of actually calling for an escalation of the drug war against white people, but instead levels criticisms at the drug war. Targeting white drug users would "criminalize a generation of young whites, further obliterate civil liberties protections, and create grotesque racial stereotypes about crime and criminals. In other words, it would do the exact same thing that racial profiling has done to a generation of young blacks."

In certain New Orleans neighborhoods -- and similar neighborhoods in big cities across the country, if junkie folklore is to be believed -- this is already happening. Racial profiling in the drug war can be an equal opportunity police tactic. Now the Louisiana appeals courts will have the opportunity to decide whether they consider it a legitimate tactic.

(Visit http://www.thehutchinsonreport.com/feature.html to read Hutchinson's column online.)

9. ALERT: Anti-Ecstasy Bill Introduced in Senate

As noted in our action alert released yesterday (8/2), Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) has introduced S. 1208, the so-called "Ecstasy Prevention Act of 2001," a draconian new bill that would throw more fuel on the government's anti-Ecstasy hysteria.

If you haven't visited our web site opposing S. 1208 -- http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/ecstasywar/ -- please do so now and make sure your two US Senators and your US Representative know your opinion.

Also note that the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics of the Alchemind Society, whose report we drew on in preparing our alert, has released an update and expansion to it that is available on their web site now. You can click through from the sidebar on our action alert site, or just point your browser to http://www.alchemind.org/DLL/sb1208_index.htm -- make sure to click through to the full "summary and analysis of the Act" for extensive new discussion. One of the new pieces of information is that S. 1208 now has a companion bill, H.R. 2582.

Please visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/ecstasywar/ to register your disapproval of this legislation with Congress. Even if Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, were the dire threat that some claim it to be, this bill would still be the wrong way to go and would do great harm to our nation's youth. Yet the government's reaction to Ecstasy use is wildly disproportionate to the actual evidence. For example, the Drug Abuse Warning Network found only 27 known cases of Ecstasy-related fatalities during the five-year period spanning 1994-1998.

While these 27 deaths are tragedies, the number is dwarfed by the millions who died from tobacco during that time, the hundreds of thousands from alcohol, even the tens of thousands from aspirin! Even in face of rising use of the drug, the numbers are still miniscule. Perhaps worst of all, this law will have the effect of stifling the provision of much-needed "harm reduction" information and resources to the very communities of young people we say we want to protect -- the kind of help that could have saved those 27 young people.

Again, visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/ecstasywar/ to contact Congress in opposition to this bill. Our web site will send an e-mail or fax to your two Senators, your US Representative and the President; you may use our prewritten version, or better yet, modify it or write your own. When you're done, we hope you'll also call your Senators, using the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and forward this alert to your friends or use the tell-a-friend form provided by our site. (Visit http://thomas.loc.gov for legislative updates on this and other legislation.)

Last but not least, visit DanceSafe at http://www.dancesafe.org to see what a rational approach to MDMA and other "club drugs" looks like.

10. Nixon in China or Wolf in McCaffrey's Clothing? Asa Hutchinson Confirmed as DEA Chief, Calls for "Compassion," Repeal of HEA Drug Provision

Earlier this week (Wednesday, 8/2) the US Senate took the anticipated step of confirming Asa Hutchinson, a soon to be former US Representative, as chief administrator of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

According to the Associated Press, the lone dissenter in the vote was Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), serving his first year in the US Senate. Dayton said he disagreed with Hutchinson's support of "the escalation of the drug war in Colombia."

Dayton added that Hutchinson "also evidenced no understanding of the effect on our criminal justice system and our penal system of draconian fixed sentencing for possession of small amounts of drugs" and "rejected outright the possibility of decriminalization of marijuana for strictly medicinal purposes."

Perhaps reacting to Dayton's comments, or perhaps sensing the larger political winds, Hutchinson came out for a more "compassionate" drug policy. In remarks to the Los Angeles Times the same day, Asa Hutchinson called for more treatment programs for drug offenders -- though still defending aggressive enforcement of US drug laws. He also told Times editors and reporters that he would support allowing drug offenders to remain eligible for student loans.

The DEA should embark on "a compassionate crusade," said Hutchinson, which would include removing the anti-drug provision of the 1998 Higher Education Act. The HEA drug provision has sparked a broad-based movement of students, universities, education groups, and civil libertarians who oppose tying student aid to students' drug records.

Hutchinson said many drug offenders who wish to further their educations find themselves barred from receiving student aid "even though they've turned their lives around." Allowing such people to receive financial aid would help them "get back to leading useful, productive lives."

Despite his call for compassion, however, Hutchinson wants more funding for law enforcement as well as drug treatment. "I don't think we ought to reduce our commitment to law enforcement, because when we did that in 1992, we cut DEA agents, we cut the drug czar's office and we saw at the same time teenage drug use growing up," he told the Times.

Hutchinson's remarks reflect the competing political pressures on his new office, as drug warriors fight to keep the drug war drums beating along the Potomac while a growing reform movement demands more treatment on one hand and less aggressive policing on the other. Whether Hutchinson will prove to be a Nixon in China and change national policies, or another Barry McCaffrey bringing lip service to reform while escalating the drug war simultaneously, remains to be seen.

11. Web Links: Peru Shootdown, Colombia, Charles Garrett, Medical Marijuana

Two web links provide different glimpses of the tragic airplane shoot down in the drug war over Peru last April. One is the just released State Department report on the incident, posted at http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/rpt/pir/index.cfm?docid=4397 online. The second link is to chilling video and audio footage from inside the plane's cockpit as the tragedy unfolded -- http://video.ibsys.com/video.cfm?ID=901895&owner=cnn for video-enabled web browsers.

AntiWar.com this week has published a piece by Alexander Cockburn discussing US plans for war in Colombia. Visit http://www.antiwar.com/cockburn/c080201.html to read it.

The Dallas Observer this week features an update on the Charles Garrett case. The Observer piece can be read online at http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2001-08-02/news.html and further information can be obtained from http://www.FreeCharlesGarrett.org online.

Gadfly magazine has a nice feature item on medical marijuana, including discussions with patient and activists. Read it at http://www.gadfly.org/lastweek/marijuana.html online.

12. The Reformer's Calendar

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

August 3, 7:00pm, New York, NY, "Live from Death Row," live phone connection with ten death row inmates from Chicago's South Side and live presentations by two former death row inmates exonerated after 13 years in prison. At the National Action Network, 1941 Madison Ave. For further information, contact Ben Fishman at (212) 442-8768 or e-mail [email protected].

August 4, 7:00pm, San Francisco, CA, "Wanted: End to the US Drug War," conversation on the drug war's impact on women and communities of color and the fight against the prison industrial complex. Featuring Prof. Angela Davis, Dorothy Gaines (former drug war prisoner), Prof. Ruthie Gilmore and Kemba Smith (former drug war prisoner). At the First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin, admission free. For further information, contact Critical Resistance at (510) 444-0484.

August 7, noon-2:00pm, Washington, DC, "Exporting Failure: the US Drug War in the Andes," weekly installment of the "Rethinking the Drug War" video & speaker brown bag lunch summer series. Featuring a showing of "Coca Mama," a new documentary examining the drug war from the indigenous and peasant perspective and discussion with Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies' Drug Policy Project. At IPS, 733 15th St., NW, Suite 1020, sponsored by IPS and the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. Admission free, dessert and beverages provided, call Dario at (202) 234-9382 ext. 220 for further information.

August 7, 6:00pm, Richmond, VA, Patrick Henry Supper Club, monthly meeting sponsored by the Libertarian Party of Virginia, featuring Kat DeBurgh of the Marijuana Policy Project speaking on "Keeping hope alive -- how reformers can use defeat to help further the cause." Group dinner at 6:00pm, at Picadilly Cafeteria, 8220 Midlothian Turnpike, discussion at 7:00pm, cocktail and social hour next door at Darryl's following the meeting. Contact Trisha Cooke at (804) 795-5532 or [email protected] for further information.

August 7, 7:00pm, Oakland, CA, "Wanted: End to the US Drug War," conversation on the drug war's impact on women and communities of color and the fight against the prison industrial complex. Featuring Prof. Angela Davis, Dorothy Gaines (former drug war prisoner), Prof. Ruthie Gilmore and Kemba Smith (former drug war prisoner). At the Wase Church of the African Way, 8924 Holly St., admission free. For further information, contact Critical Resistance at (510) 444-0484.

August 10-15, Philadelphia, PA, Coalition Against the American Correctional Association (CA-ACA), protest against the ACA summer conference, including a counter-conference, demonstrations and actions. For information, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or visit http://www.stoptheaca.org online.

August 11, 2:00-4:00pm, Laguna Beach, CA, November Coalition vigil against the drug war. At Main Beach and Coast Highway (south end), call (509) 684-1550 or e-mail [email protected] for further information.

August 18-19, 10:00am-8:00pm, Seattle, WA, "10th Annual Seattle Hempfest." Visit http://www.seattlehempfest.com for further information.

August 22, 7:00pm, November Coalition Community Meeting. At the Peace and Justice Center, 144 Harvard SE, call (505) 342-8090 for further information.

August 24, 4:30-6:00pm, Albuquerque, NM, Drug War Vigil. Sponsored by the November Coalition, in front of the new Bernalillo County courthouse, 400 Lomas Blvd NW. For further information, call (505) 342-8090.

August 24, 7:00pm, Washington, DC, DRCNet Week Online 200th Issue Party. At the Velvet Lounge 915 U St., featuring speeches and music. $7 at the door, 21 and over, say you are there for the DRCNet benefit.

August 24, 9:00pm, Brooklyn, NY, Screening of "Tulia, Texas, Scenes from the Drug War." At Peter's Car Corp., 265 McKibbin Street, near the L train, Montrose Ave. station, walk three blocks downhill on Bushwick Ave. to McKibbin. For rain updates call (718) 404-3903 ext. 4818, suggested donation $6.

September 8, noon-evening, Melbourne, FL, Grand Opening Birthday Bash at the Florida Cannabis Action Network's Legal Support Office. At 703 E. New Haven Ave. (SR 192 Uptown), featuring music, speakers and more. For further information, to donate to the office or access the legal support staff, contact Kevin Aplin at (321) 726-6656 or Jodi James or Kay Lee at (321) 253-3673 or (321) 255-9790.

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].

September 23-26, Philadelphia, PA, International Community Corrections Association 37th Annual Conference, on Reintegration and Re-entry of the Offender into the Family. $350 for conference and pre-conference workshops, reduced rate deadline 8/31. For info, call (608) 785-0200, fax (608) 784-5335 or write to ICCA Annual Conference, P.O. Box 1987, La Crosse, WI 54602.

September 27-28, Washington, DC, "National Mobilization on Colombia, featuring workshops, meetings, lobbying and nonviolent demonstrations. Sponsored by the Chicago Religious Leadership Network, Colombia Human Rights Committee, Colombia Support Network, Global Exchange, United Church of Christ and Witness for Peace. Visit http://www.ColombiaMobilization.org for info.

October 1-3, Ottawa, Canada, "Women's Critical Resistance: From Victimization to Criminalization," at the Government Conference Centre. For information or to submit a presentation proposal, call (613) 238-2422 for information or write to Kim Pate, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, 701-151 Slater St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P5H3.

October 6-7, Phoenix, AZ, "Freedom Summit," annual libertarian seminar. At the Embassy Suites Hotel, visit http://www.freedomsummit.com for further information.

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.

October 26-27, Cortland, NY, "Thinking About Prisons: Theory and Practice." At SUNY Cortland, call (607) 753-2727 for info.

November 13, 6:00-8:00pm, New York, NY, "Women, Prison and Family." At Audrey Cohen College, 75 Varick St., for information call (212) 343-1234.

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.

March 3-7, 2002, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 13th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm and 2nd International Harm Reduction Congress on Women and Drugs. Sponsored by the International Harm Reduction Association, visit http://www.ihrc2002.net or e-mail [email protected] for further information.

May 3-4, 2002, Portland, OR, Second National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, focus on Analgesia and Other Indications. Sponsored by Patients Out of Time and Legacy Emmanuel Hospital, for further information visit http://www.medicalcannabis.com or call (804) 263-4484.

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.

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