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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For More Info: Luciano Colonna September 10, 2008 +00 (1) 801 635 7736 (USA); [email protected] FIRST GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON METHAMPHETAMINE TO ADDRESS 65 BILLION DOLLAR MARKET IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2008 Experts >From 22 Nations Will Gather to Examine the Intersection between Methamphetamine, Public Health, Law Enforcement, and Civil Society. PRAGUE, Czech Republic, September 9 ­­­­-- While illicit production and use of synthetic drugs has stabilized in North America and Europe, it is on the rise in much of Asia and the Middle East, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Tuesday. The global market for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), worth an estimated 65 billion dollars in wholesale and retail sales combined, has stabilized or shown signs of decline in North America, Europe and Oceania but the problem has shifted to new markets over the past few years, the office said. According to Luciano Colonna, Chairman of the 2008 Global Conference on Methamphetamine, the use of ATS also continues to be used at an alarming rate in many parts of Eastern and Central Europe, the Russian Federation, and South Africa, with 36 million using ATS at least once on 2008. Colonna said that ATS are now more popular than heroin and cocaine combined. The First Global Conference on Methamphetamine will provide an arena for the world’s foremost scientists, leaders and professionals working on issues of drug use to come together to discuss a wide variety of topics centering on methamphetamine. The Conference will take place in Prague’s City Hall on Monday & Tuesday (September 15-16 2008). As the first event to gather global experts from a wide diversity of fields, the conference is assured to be an unparalleled event. Confirmed speakers from USA, China, Australia, Thailand, Russia, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Israel, Poland, Iran, Slovakia Ukraine, Czech Republic, Great Britain and the United Nations will address the conference theme of “Science, Strategy and Response.” Representatives from international agencies, civil society, academia, science, law enforcement and others will have the unique opportunity to discuss key issues including: Treatment, HIV, Trafficking, Production, Environmental Impact, Law Enforcement, Policy, Current Research, Regional Updates, and Innovative Global Approaches. As nations struggle to develop appropriate responses to methamphetamine, it is crucial that the most current scientific research, information, and best practices be available to those seeking to implement solutions. The primary goal of the First Global Conference on Methamphetamine is to provide a context for this important work to take place. FOR MEDIA: A press conference will take place at the conference site at 10 AM, Monday (September 15, 2008. The major sessions of the conference are open to reporters. Site visits, photo opportunities and interviews can be arranged. For journalists not traveling to Prague, interviews and briefings with key spokespeople and presenters can be arranged on request. Sponsors and Partners include: The Czech Republic, Charles University, the City of Prague, Network Environmental Systems, Podane Ruce, Cranstoun Drug Services, Sananim, Institute Scan, Systems, Inc, and The Thorne Group. Website: www.globalmethamphetamine.com Contact: Luciano Colonna Chair, Executive Program Committee - 2008 Global Conference On Methamphetamine +00 (1) 801 635 7736 (USA); [email protected] Contact: Andy Lawson, Lawson Communications +420 775 035 757 (Europe); [email protected] ###

Drug Truth Network Update: 4:20 Drug War NEWS from 90.1 FM in Houston and dozens of radio affiliates in the US, Canada and Australis & on the web at www.kpft.org. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates in the US, Canada and Australia. Whether or not your station airs our radio programs, PLEASE consider playing the WAV version of Eternal War, your audience will appreciate it!!! ETERNAL WAR - is available in WAV, MP3 and video formats of AVI and WMV along with lyrics at www.drugtruth.net "DRUGS... the first eternal war" - by the "Adult Users", Randy Wall, Roger Tausz & James Reese 4:20 Drug War NEWS 09/08/08 to 09/14/08 now online (3:00 ea:) Select online at www.drugtruth.net Sun - Peter Christ, one of the founding members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Sat - Richard Van Wickler superintendent for the Cheshire County (NH) Department of Corrections Fri - Wall Street Journal report on "Burning Man" Thu - Study finds marijuana fights "superbug" infections. Wed - Song: Eternal War by "Adult Users" Tue - Terry Nelson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Mon - Poppygate Report with Glenn Greenway Next - Century of Lies on Tues, Cutural Baggage on Wed (Now With Transcripts): - Cultural Baggage 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: TBD - Century of Lies 12:30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT & 9:30 AM PT: Paul Armentano of NORML + Ilia Gvozdenovic of Oaksterdam Cannabis University Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, and www.audioport.org Check out our latest videos including ETERNAL WAR via www.youtube.com/fdbecker: Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform. "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, Drug Truth Network Producer Dean Becker 713-849-6869 www.drugtruth.net

PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP NEEDED ********************PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE************************ DrugSense FOCUS Alert #384 - Sunday, 7 September 2008 "What if major party nominees Barack Obama and John McCain were pressed to state their positions on drugs and incarceration?" writes syndicated columnist Neal Peirce. Please raise the issue with those running for public office and by sending letters to the editor. Please ask your local newspapers to print the column below. As MAP's volunteer activists find this column printed in other newspapers they will be listed at the top of this webpage http://www.mapinc.org/author/Neal+Peirce ********************************************************************** Contact: [email protected] Pubdate: Sun, 7 Sep 2008 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2008 Washington Post Writers Group Author: Neal Peirce, Syndicated Columnist REAL COMMANDER NEEDED FOR THE WAR ON DRUGS Will America's ill-starred "war on drugs" and its expanding prison culture make it into the presidential campaign? Standard wisdom says "no way." We may have the world's highest rate of incarceration -- with only 5 percent of global population, 25 percent of prisoners worldwide. We may be throwing hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders, many barely of age, behind bars -- one reason a stunning one out of every 100 Americans is now imprisoned. We may have created a huge "prison-industrial complex" of prison builders, contractors and swollen criminal justice bureaucracies. Federal, state and local outlays for law enforcement and incarceration are costing, according to a Senate committee estimate, a stunning $200 billion annually, siphoning off funds from enterprises that actually build our future: universities, schools, health, infrastructure. We are reaping the whirlwind of "get tough" on crime statutes ranging from "three strikes you're in" to mandatory sentences to reincarcerating recent prisoners for minor parole violations. And every year we're seeing hundreds of thousands of convicts leave prison with scant chances of being employed, no right to vote, no access to public housing, high levels of addiction, illiteracy and mental illness. Overwhelmed by the odds against them, at least 50 percent are rearrested within two years. A serious set of problems, a shadow over our national future? No doubt. But do our politicians talk much about alternatives? No way -- they typically find it too risky to be attacked as "soft on crime." But let's imagine -- what if major party nominees Barack Obama and John McCain were pressed to state their positions on drugs and incarceration? I've combed through statements by both men. My early reading is that with McCain, there'd be a thin chance of reform, but under Obama, much brighter prospects. It is true that both men favored -- Obama actually co-sponsored -- the federal Second Chance Act, passed this year, which provides up to $360 million to support job training, mentors and counseling for inmates released from custody. But McCain has been routinely "hawkish" on drug policy, endorsing higher penalties for drug-selling, supporting the death penalty for drug kingpins, and opposing any softening of laws forbidding marijuana use, which he characterizes as a dangerous "gateway drug." Obama, by contrast, expresses serious concern that at 2 million-plus inmates, "we have by far the largest prison population, per capita, of any place on earth." He endorses full justice and imprisonment for dangerous criminals but a far more nuanced approach to drug cases in particular. "Anybody who sees the devastating impact of the drug trade in the inner cities, or the methamphetamine trade in rural communities, knows that this is a huge problem," he recently told a Rolling Stone interviewer. "I believe in shifting the paradigm, shifting the model, so that we can focus on a more public-health approach." During the primary season Obama spoke with special concern about nonviolent drug offenders, many as young as 18 to 20: "The worst thing we can do is to lock them up for a long period of time, without any education if they're functionally illiterate, without any skills or training. They're now convicted felons" -- perhaps 25 or 26 years old -- "out on the streets and can't be hired by anybody." His conclusion: The more focus put on diversion programs, drug courts, treatment of substance abusers, and "encourage training and skills and literacy ... the more effective we are in reducing recidivism rates." Obama is clearly not yet willing to discuss lifting prohibitions on marijuana or other drugs. But he would seem open to lead the country in a serious debate about our drug and incarceration policies -- a dramatic break from recent presidencies, both Republican and Democratic. Arguably, that's precisely the discussion the nation needs. America's prisoner total has tripled over the last two decades, with systems bursting at the seams -- California, for example, at 175 percent of capacity, Alabama at 200 percent. Yet North Carolina anticipates 1,000 more prisoners a year; Pennsylvania, 1,500; Arizona, 2,200; Florida 3,000. Small wonder major prisoner re-entry and diversion facilities for less serious offenders are being set up in Kansas, Michigan, Georgia and other states. California this November votes on a landmark "nonviolent offender rehabilitation" initiative designed to divert thousands from the state's bloated $10-billion-a-year prison system. It's high time, says Georgia Corrections Commissioner Jim Donald, "to differentiate between those offenders we are 'afraid of' and those we are just 'mad at.' " Talk about a serious national issue on which we could use some presidential leadership -- not dictating precise answers, but moving us to debate alternatives. It's been 20 years since drugs and prisons have even been mentioned in the televised presidential debates. Maybe not just Obama but McCain too could surprise us with some fresh ideas and promise of leadership as president. But we probably won't hear this unless reporters press the issue. ********************************************************************** Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by emailing a copy to [email protected] if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others may learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ( [email protected] ) will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form