This
Week
in
History
1/7/05
January 8, 1990: General Manuel Noriega of Panama is convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering, and sentenced to 40 years in US federal prison. January 8, 1998: Mississippi House Bill 196, introduced by Rep. Bobby Moak (R-Lincoln County), proposes "The removal of a body part in lieu of other sentences imposed by the court for violations of the Controlled Substances Law." January 9, 1923: Labor Secretary Davis endorses the idea of a national campaign against the peril of habit-forming drugs. In a telegram to W. Lee Provol of Chicago, Davis writes: "The American home must be protected from the most treacherous agency known to man and science, that evil which the innocent user of habit-forming drugs cannot himself combat, the treachery of one's will to himself and his soul. If one only be saved from the agonies of this vice the cause is worthwhile, but I am confident that the campaign will be far-reaching in its effect." January 9, 1996: Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami arrest Jorge Luis Cabrera. In November 1995, Cabrera donated $20,000 to the Democratic Party and was invited to a Christmas party that year by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The DEA agents confiscate from Cabrera and four of his partners 6,000 pounds of cocaine and recent photos with Castro from his November 1995 trip to Cuba. January 11, 1923: The New York Times publishes an article titled "Marihuana Is Newest Drug," claiming that the state of New York has 50,000 drug addicts. Visit http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1920/marihuana_is_newest_dr ug_.htm to read it. January 11, 1998: The New York Times publishes an op-ed by Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman titled "There's No Justice in the War on Drugs." Visit http://www.zpub.com/un/drug-mf.html to read it. January 12, 1929: The Porter Narcotic Farm Act is enacted, establishing the first two narcotics hospitals for addicts in federal prisons in response to crowding. January 12, 2001: Salon.com reports that the nephew of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft received probation after a felony conviction in state court for growing 60 marijuana plants with intent to distribute the drug in 1992. This is a lenient sentence, given that these charges often trigger much tougher federal penalties and jail time. Ashcroft was the tough-on-drugs Missouri governor at the time. January 13, 2001: The Cato Institute publishes an article written by former Los Angeles Police Department officer David Klinger, titled "Make Drugs Legal for Adults, Says Former Cop." The article in part reads: "But by the end of my tenure with the LAPD I came to believe that marijuana -- a drug I had never seen anyone overdose on or influence anyone to do anything more violent than attack a bag of potato chips -- should be legalized. I saw a nation fighting harder, devoting more money and jailing increasing numbers of individuals -- all the while falling further behind in the war on drugs. The price of the drugs didn't rise with increased interdiction, usage rates didn't fall and the number of lives damaged or destroyed by chronic use, overdose and drug-related criminal activity mounted. No matter how much I disliked the idea, I became convinced the United States should legalize illicit drugs. I do not know whether legalizing drugs will increase their popularity. But I suspect that if we approach legalization thoughtfully and pursue a sensible post-legalization strategy, then the drug rolls will not swell. They may in fact decline. But even if more people do take drugs in the wake of legalization, we would live in a society where citizens suffer far less from the predatory crimes spawned by the illicit drug trade." January 14, 1937: A very interesting and historical conference leading up to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 takes place in room 81 of the Treasury Building in Washington, DC. Visit http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/canncon.htm to read the transcript.
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