Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
4/29/05
April 29, 1996: At a speech at a Miami high school, President Clinton calls for a war on drugs -- for the second time. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 1 that "everything the president has announced is already being done. There's nothing new here." April 30, 1984: Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who had crusaded against the Medellin cartel, is assassinated by a gang of motorcycle thugs. President Belisario Betancur, who had opposed extradition, announces "We will extradite Colombians." Carlos Lehder is the first to be put on the list. The crackdown forces the Ochoas, Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha to flee to Panama for several months. A few months later, Escobar is indicted for Lara Bonilla's murder and names the Ochoas and Rodriguez Gacha as material witnesses. May 1971: US Reps. Robert Steele (R-CT) and Morgan Murphy (D-IL) release an explosive report on heroin addiction among US servicemen in Vietnam. May 1995: The US Sentencing Commission votes 4-3 to fully eliminating the disparity in sentencing for powder vs. crack cocaine offenses. Congress overrides the recommendation, for the first time in the commission's history. May 1998: Operation Casablanca, the largest money-laundering probe in US history, leads to the indictment of three Mexican and four Venezuelan banks as well as 167 individual arrests. May 1, 1972: Nobel laureate in economics Milton Friedman writes in Newsweek: "Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order?" May 1, 2003: The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003 is signed into law, amending Section 416 of the Controlled Substances Act, known as the "crack house statute," to more directly target organizers of dance events, or raves. May 2, 2001: The Louisiana Senate votes 29-5 to end mandatory minimum sentencing for possession of small quantities of drugs. May 3, 1994: Columnist "Dear Abby" writes in her column, "Just as bootleggers were forced out of business in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed, making the sale of liquor legal (thus eliminating racketeering), the legalization of drugs would put drug dealers out of business. It also would guarantee government approved quality, and the tax on drugs would provide an ongoing source of revenue for drug-education programs." May 5, 2001: The United States is voted off the United Nations Narcotics Control Board, the 13-member body monitoring compliance with UN treaties on substance abuse and illegal trafficking. May 6, 2001: In an attempt to prevent drug overdoses and sharing of used syringes, Sydney, Australia, opens its first legal heroin injection room. The facility is operated by the Uniting Church, in the Kings Cross Neighborhood.
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