The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #135 -- April 28, 2000 A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network -------- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -------- (To sign off this list, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line signoff drc-natl in the body of the message, or mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. To subscribe to this list, visit <http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html>. To make a donation, visit <http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html>. This issue can be also be read on our web site at <http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html>. Past issues can be accessed through <http://www.drcnet.org/wol/archives.html>.) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Do Taxpayers Get a Discount at the Door? DEA, State Agencies Cosponsor Michigan Anti-Drug Reform Conference http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#michigan 2. Hawaii Legislature Passes Medical Marijuana Bill: Governor to Sign First Bill of its Kind in the United States http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#hawaii 3. Veterans to McCaffrey: Stay Out of Colombia http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#vetsformeds 4. Hiding in Plain Sight: Panel Maps Drug War's Hidden Costs http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#townmeeting 5. New Latin America Drug War Site Pulls No Punches http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#narconews 6. Patients and Activists Rally in Washington, DC for Millennium Medical Marijuana March http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#mmmm 7. This is Only a Test http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#onlyatest 8. URGENT Action Items http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#actionitems 9. New Study Shows Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#newstudy 10. Events http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#events 11. Media Scan http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#mediascan 12. EDITORIAL: Image of an Invasion http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#editorial ================ 1. Do Taxpayers Get a Discount at the Door? DEA, State Agencies Cosponsor Michigan Anti-Drug Reform Conference http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#michigan DRCNet has learned that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has teamed with a state-funded criminal justice group, a foundation connected to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and other state-based organizations to sponsor a conference that will train attendees to defeat the Personal Responsibility Amendment, a marijuana reform initiative expected to be on the ballot in Michigan this fall. The two day conference, "Training the Trainers: Putting the Brakes on the Drug Legalization Movement," is scheduled for May 3 and 4 in Lansing. The agenda for the conference, according to a press release, will address the problem of "individuals and organizations working to soften our acceptance of illegal drugs in our communities." "Some are in it for the money, others for easier access to their drugs of choice," the release continues. "But there's one thing they all agree upon: Legalizing illicit drugs in our nation begins by duping Americans to accept marijuana as a legitimate medicine. It ends with all drugs becoming legal for all Americans, even our children." The press release, and other information about the conference published on the Michigan Chamber of Commerce web site, make no mention of the Personal Responsibility Amendment, or PRA 2000, as the marijuana reform campaign is called. But a letter published on the web site of the Crime Prevention Association of Michigan from Mary Ann Solberg, the executive director of the Troy Community Coalition and Coalition of Healthy Communities, suggests that the conference has been designed specifically to thwart PRA 2000. The letter reads in part: "The small committee that has organized this training needs your help in any or all of the following ways: 1. Provide financial support for this training. 2. Provide financial support for media buys as the campaign gears up. 3. Spread the word about the PRA 2000 ballot initiative. 4. Share information about this training to all organizations you are affiliated with as well as any individuals who may have a personal interest in defeating this amendment. 5. Register for the training today. 6. Provide assistance with arrangements for the training such as mailings, phone calls, duplication, on-site registration. 7. Duplicate the enclosed brochure and distribute it to as many organizations and individuals as possible that share your concern about the legalization issue." Furthermore, the conference registration form on the web site includes the notation, "The class has been approved by MCOLES (the Michigan Committee on Law Enforcement Standards) as being eligible for 302 funds." According to Greg Schmid, a Michigan attorney who runs the PRA 2000 campaign, "302 funds" are taxpayer dollars authorized by the state in 1982 for criminal justice training programs. This suggests, Schmid told The Week Online, that a Michigan criminal code banning the use of public funds to influence elections has been violated. "It looks like a public fund is being used for electioneering training of law enforcement personnel," he said. If the charges are proven, those responsible could be guilty of misdemeanors. Schmid has vowed to pursue the matter. "I'll live with what the people want," he said, referring to the November initiative. "But I don't want public funds used to influence that vote. And my feeling is that if (opponents of the initiative) are forced to use private funds, these people won't use their own resources for this purpose." The shady appearance of the conference funding reflects poorly on his opponents, Schmid added. "It shows that prohibitionists aren't serious about law and order, because they pick and choose the laws they obey based upon their political agenda." Schmid also found the timing of the conference significant. The trainings are scheduled two days before the Millennium Marijuana March is expected to draw thousands of demonstrators to the capital steps in Lansing on Sunday, May 6. DRCNet will continue to monitor this story. The PRA 2000 campaign is online at <http://www.ballot2000.net/>. Information about the conference is online at <http://www.preventcrime.net/marijuana.htm>. ================ 2. Hawaii Legislature Passes Medical Marijuana Bill: Governor to Sign First Bill of its Kind in the United States http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#hawaii The Hawaii Senate passed a bill today to remove state-level criminal penalties for seriously ill people who use marijuana with their doctors' approval. Already approved by the state House of Representatives and endorsed by Governor Ben Cayetano, the new law will be the first of its kind to be enacted by a state legislature, rather than through a ballot initiative. Although numerous state legislatures have enacted medical marijuana research laws since the late 1970s, the Hawaii law is the first to effectively remove criminal penalties for medical marijuana users. The bill, S.B. 862, is similar to the medical marijuana initiatives that passed in all seven states (and the District of Columbia) in which they have appeared on the ballot since 1996. Although federal law criminalizes the medical use of marijuana, because 99% of all marijuana arrests in the United States are made by state and local officials, changing state laws can effectively protect nearly all medical marijuana users from arrest and imprisonment. "The second wave of the campaign to protect medical marijuana users is underway," said Chuck Thomas, director of communications for the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which supported the effort to pass the landmark legislation in Hawaii. "The first wave was the passage of state ballot initiatives, the second is state legislation, and the third will be federal legislation." A bipartisan medical marijuana bill made some progress in Maryland this year, and MPP expects it to pass next year. MPP will also work to get medical marijuana bills introduced in 40 other states. "We're grateful that Hawaii's elected officials care so much about seriously ill people," said Pamela Lichty, vice president of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, the main proponent of the bill. "This is the first time in US history that a state legislature has enacted a law to allow patients to possess and grow marijuana. Now we must ensure that the law is effectively implemented to help patients without causing any harm to the public." The Marijuana Policy Project is online at <http://www.mpp.org>. The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii is on the web at <http://www.drugsense.org/dpfhi/>. ================ 3. Veterans to McCaffrey: Stay Out of Colombia http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#vetsformeds A group of 75 retired and former veterans sent a letter to retired General Barry McCaffrey this week, urging the "drug czar" to abandon his plans to escalate US military involvement in the Colombian civil war. The group, calling itself Veterans for More Effective Drug Strategies or VETSforMEDS, sent the letter on April 27 and launched a web site to publicize their opposition to an increasingly militarized international drug enforcement policy. "Entering the Colombian civil war would once again involve US military personnel in a civil war against a well armed, well financed and motivated indigenous army that blends easily with the surrounding population," reads the letter in part. "The Andes jungle plateau is several times larger than South Vietnam, which we were, for ten years, unable to control effectively with 500,000 armed American combatants, hundreds of helicopters and total air superiority, compared to the handful of 'advisors' and less than a hundred helicopters in Colombia. The planning is painfully unrealistic." McCaffrey has asked Congress for $1.7 billion dollars to train and arm the Colombian army in the 40th year of its war against the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC), whom the Clinton administration says finance their insurgency by drug trafficking. The letter cites a lack of clearly defined goals, an inadequate definition of victory and lack of exit plan, and the difficulty of distinguishing between drug traffickers and rebels as fatal flaws in McCaffrey's proposal. "The US is embarking on a very dangerous course that will trap us in a foreign entanglement due to fundamental miscalculations being made by advocates of the drug war," one of the letter's organizers, retired US Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander Sylvester Salcedo said in a press release on Tuesday. Salcedo, who served as an intelligence officer for the Navy on drug enforcement operations, recently returned a medal of honor to President Clinton in a gesture of protest against the administration's Colombia initiative. VETSforMEDS sent the letter in hopes of establishing a dialogue with McCaffrey about what it calls "more effective approaches to reducing drug problems and controlling the drug market." As of today, McCaffrey had not acknowledged receiving the letter, whose signatories include two colonels, one commander, eight lieutenant colonels, seven lieutenant commanders, six majors, four captains, ten lieutenants and 37 enlisted veterans. But VETSforMEDS spokesman Jerry Epstein, a former First Lieutenant, hopes that the military connection they share will encourage McCaffrey to respond. "As fellow veterans who have come to understand, as General McCaffrey himself has noted, that drug abuse is primarily a health problem, we appeal to him to acknowledge the inappropriateness of military solutions applied to the drug problem," Epstein told The Week Online. For more information, please visit <http://www.vetsformeds.org>. ================ 4. Hiding in Plain Sight: Panel Maps Drug War's Hidden Costs http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#townmeeting It's well known by reform advocates that the drug war exacts a huge toll -- social, financial and moral -- on America and other lands. An April 18th "town meeting" at Stanford University spelled out that toll in understated but relentless detail and offered a few pointers on how we might reduce it. Stanford's United Campus Christian Ministry sponsored the event, which drew a crowd of about 50 people to hear Joseph McNamara of the Hoover Institution, Marsha Rosenbaum of the Lindesmith Center in San Francisco and John Lindsay-Poland of the Fellowship for Reconciliation. McNamara, a 25-year veteran of urban police forces and noted historian of the drug war, used a folksy blend of statistics and anecdotes to describe the awesome human toll of lives ended and shattered. America has more than 2 million people in prison, about 20 percent of whom are there for non-violent drug offenses. Last year there were about 1.4 million arrests for drug possession and about 300,000 for drug trafficking. Given the consensual nature of drug crimes, McNamara said that so many arrests all but required police to undermine our legal system by conducting "hundreds of thousands of illegal searches," the venality of which is compounded by phony testimony in court. "There were cops in New York who referred to this as "testilying," and in Los Angeles, officers would talk about belonging to the "Liar's Club," McNamara said. The ongoing Rampart corruption scandal in Los Angeles, McNamara said, has led to a new name for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD): the Los Angeles Perjury Department. In 1972, when then-President Nixon kicked off the modern phase of the drug war, the Federal budget for the effort was about $100 million; today that figure is about $18 billion. "If Social Security payments to retirees had gone up the same amount," McNamara said, "the average monthly payment of $177 in 1972 would now be more than $30,000." McNamara said that "the magnitude of the drug war's failure is so great that even many 'hawks' in academia are getting uneasy." He cited James Q. Wilson's column in the Wall Street Journal last week as an example of this trend. "Things will change only when the public becomes much more aware of how violent, racist and harmful the war is," he added. Marsha Rosenbaum, a renowned drug educator and scholar, pointed to the widespread cynicism among teenagers -- created by propaganda masquerading as drug education -- as a "huge cost" of the war on drugs. "We're wasting a great opportunity to truly educate youngsters," she said. "Let's face it -- it's a real challenge to get kids' attention, but when you talk about drugs, you've got their attention." Rosenbaum showed a videotape of interviews she had conducted with teens over the last six months. One young person on the tape decried the lack of a real distinction "between drug use and abuse" in drug education she had gone through. Another teenager talked about how "some kids would smoke pot before soccer practice -- and they'd STILL be better than you. After that, there was no credibility to what we learned." Other teenagers expressed bafflement about what they see as a misguided notion of peer pressure. "It's not like people are forcing you to smoke or drink," one young woman said. "It's more like, kids do it to be part of the 'in' crowd." Declaring that kids' safety should be the bottom line, Rosenbaum called for "honesty as the core of any education program about drugs." She said that "teenagers want an opportunity to talk about drugs, and they want information they can trust." Recent enhancements to standard drug education, such as teaching "resistance skills" and "how to stay abstinent," are simply more sophisticated versions of the "just say no" approach that has fueled so much skepticism. "Today's teenagers are the most drug- educated people in history. But more than 80 percent will try alcohol before they finish high school, and more than half will try marijuana. Does this sort of 'prevention' work?" "I'm going to take us a little farther afield," said John Lindsay-Poland as he recounted a number of trips to Colombia to work in support of human rights and peace in that war-ravaged nation. He vigorously denounced the Clinton Administration's proposal for $1.7 billion in military aid to Colombia. "That package would have no effect on the availability of cocaine on the street," he said. "It will also undermine peace negotiations and will add to the massive displacement of Colombians from their homes and villages. There are about 1.4 million displaced persons already," Lindsay-Poland said. "While we're here tonight, about another 68 will suffer the same fate." He also savaged the American government's motives for stepping up its involvement in Colombia. "Last October, a poll reported that 56 percent of Americans believed that kids were using more drugs than they had been," Lindsay-Poland said. That poll had been commissioned by Lockheed-Martin, the aerospace/defense manufacturer with a potential interest in building helicopters and other necessities of a ground war in Colombia. Lindsay-Poland cited Drug Czar Barry McCaffery's claim that insurgents in Colombia receive about $500 million dollars annually by protecting coca leaf growers. "That's just 1 percent of the street value of cocaine that comes from Colombia every year," Lindsay-Poland said. "One reason there's so much money involved is that the supply-side strategy increases the value of the crop so sharply." After the speakers finished, an audience member asked them what they would do as drug czar. "The drug czar is appointed by the President, so the government's policies would have to change for the drug czar to make a difference," said McNamara. "I'd define drug abuse as a public health problem and address it from that perspective," said Rosenbaum. For Lindsay-Poland, the root of drug production is poverty. "People in Colombia and other places don't grow coca because they want people to do cocaine," he said. "They grow it for very rational economic reasons." The Lindesmith Center is online at <http://www.lindesmith.org>. ================ 5. New Latin America Drug War Site Pulls No Punches http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#narconews When Al Giordano left the United States in 1997, he was a veteran reporter fed up with the state of American mass media. After years in the business, including a five-year stint as a radio talk show host in Massachusetts and three years as a political reporter for the Boston Phoenix, he packed his bags and moved South. For two years he learned Spanish and picked up a few indigenous languages. He read the papers. He met with Latin American writers who dare to speak the truth about the devastation the drug war has wrought on their countries -- voices that are threatened daily by their own governments and others, but are utterly muted north of the Border. "Latin American journalists have restored my faith in journalism to a great degree," Giordano, speaking from an undisclosed location in Latin America, told The Week Online. Now Giordano is giving North Americans a chance to see their own faith restored. On April 18 he launched NarcoNews.com, a web site devoted to truth-telling about a subject about which most of us, even the better informed among us, are relatively ignorant. With translations of Latin American news articles, Giordano and his all-volunteer staff offer a glimpse of the perspective of the people who live with the consequences of the US-backed international drug policies. "The Narco News Bulletin was formed because the US public is so badly informed, not only on drug policy, but on a whole host of Latin American issues," Giordano said. "This is largely the US media's fault. Here in Latin America, where the corruption and violence is very pronounced, there are journalists out there every day. We want North American readers to get an idea of what's going on on the front lines of the drug war." If you're a faithful reader of this publication, you've already heard that there is a burgeoning drug reform movement in Latin America. We got that story from Giordano. Some stories even The Week Online didn't bring you, courtesy of the first issue of Narco News: * Por Esto!, the third-most-read newspaper in Mexico, published a four-part series on New York City and declared US drug policy a failure. * La Journada, a Mexico City daily, unearthed evidence that the US -- not Mexico -- is the world capital of drug money Laundering. * Martha Chapa, a national media personality in Mexico, penned an outraged critique of American drug war policies in Mexico in La Crisis. The stories are accompanied by relevant links and commentary, often directed against US news organizations that ignored the evidence. "What we hope to do is force these stories onto the docket of the mass media in the developed world," Giordano explained. "Part of this is giving a voice not only to Latin American journalists, but to all Latin American people." Narco News also produces original news and regular features. The current issue's "Narco of the Month" is US Army Colonel James Hiett, former commander of anti-narcotics operations in Colombia and present defendant in a drug trafficking case. Giordano won't tell who next month's lucky winner will be. "There are several promising candidates," he said. For the sake of balance, and perhaps to offer a glimmer of hope, each issue will also offer a hero of the month. April's heroes are the environmentalists Rudolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia. Next month, the site will feature a map of Colombia and a detailed, point by point description of US military plans for that country. Overall, Giordano hopes Narco News will help pave the way out of what he calls the "double discourse" forced upon Latin Americans who know very well the disastrous effects of US-backed policies, but are nevertheless coerced into publicly supporting them. This is one of the great hypocrisies of US rhetoric about protecting democracies south of its border, he said. "What kind of democracy is there if governments aren't allowed to pick their own policies? Let Latin Americans speak for themselves." Read The Narco News Bulletin at <http://www.narconews.com>. ================ 6. Patients and Activists Rally in Washington, DC for Millennium Medical Marijuana March http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#mmmm (courtesy NORML Foundation, http://www.norml.org) Washington, DC: Medical marijuana patients, doctors and supporters nationwide will converge on Saturday, April 29th in the nation's capitol for the Millennium Medical Marijuana March. The event will begin at noon across from the White House at Lafayette Park (located at 16th Street and H Street). Speakers for the rally include Terence Hallinan, District Attorney for the city and county of San Francisco; Jeff Jones, Executive Director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative; Donald I. Abrams, MD, study director of the federally sponsored study on the use of medical marijuana with protease inhibitors and AIDS patients; and Keith Stroup, Esq., NORML Executive Director. The patients and activists will then march to the Office of National Drug Control Policy at 3:00pm to protest the current federal prohibition of the medical use of marijuana. A medical rights rally and concert at Henry Bacon Ball Field (located between 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue) will take place after the march. "The purpose of this march is to convince Congress that a lot of us don't have five, 10, 20 years to wait for more marijuana research," said Millennium Medical Marijuana March organizer and AIDS patient Richard Eastman. "I don't know if I have five more years of fighting Congress." Eastman and the other producers of the Millennium Medical Marijuana March will be holding a press conference at 2:00pm, on Friday at Henry Bacon Ball Field to announce the national park service has issued the permit for the events. They will also release the final list of speakers and entertainers and address any final announcements. For more information, please contact Richard Eastman, Millennium Medical Marijuana March organizer, at (323) 547-9000; or Jeff Jones, Executive Director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, at (202) 483-5500. ================ 7. This is Only a Test http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#onlyatest A 70-year-old Canadian woman returning from vacation in Florida last week was surprised to find a bag of marijuana marked "Revenue Canada" in her luggage. She later learned that Canada Customs had placed the bag there as part of a training program for its drug dogs. "My eyes just about popped out of my head," the woman, Jackie McCormick, told the Vancouver Province. Canada Customs apologized for the mistake. "We're sure it created some stress," a spokesperson told the Province. ================ 8. URGENT Action Items http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#actionitems Please take ACTION on the following urgent alerts: STOP THE HELICOPTERS Help stop the much criticized $1.7 billion Colombia military drug war package. Only an outpouring of citizen opposition can stop this ill-conceived legislation from passing and prevent the increase of human rights abuses that will attend it. Please visit http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ to tell Congress you oppose the Colombia package, and please tell your friends and spread the word! NEW YORK: Rockefeller Drug Laws Please join the May 8th protest on the 27th anniversary of New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, and New Yorkers please tell your legislators these unjust laws should be repealed! Visit http://www.drcnet.org/states/newyork/ to send an e-mail or fax to your legislators and get their phone numbers, http://www.reconsider.org to learn about ReconsiDer: Forum on Drug Policy, our partner in this New York web site, and http://www.kunstler.org/wmknewsletter.html to learn more about the protest, or call (212) 539-8441. Visit last week's issue at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/134.html#newyork to find out about upcoming legislative hearings and other important New York information. WASHINGTON: Legislators' Medical Marijuana Sign-on Letter Washington state residents, please support the legislators' call for a medical marijuana research program! Visit http://www.mpp.org/Washington/ for information and to contact your state representative and senator, asking them to sign-on to Sen. Kohl-Welles' sign-on letter. RAISE YOUR VOICE: Students with Drug Convictions Losing Financial Aid July 1st Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of students will lose all federal financial aid under a provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA) passed in 1998, going into effect July 1. Several things are needed to help get this destructive law repealed: 1) Visit http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com to send a letter to Congress supporting H.R. 1053, a bill to repeal the HEA drug provision. Tell your friends and other like-minded people to visit this web site. Follow up your e-mail and faxes with phone calls; our system will provide you with the phone numbers to reach your US Representative and your two US Senators. 2) Educators are needed to endorse our sign-on letter to Congress. If you teach or are otherwise involved in education, or are in a position to talk to educators, please write to us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] to request a copy of our educators letter and accompanying activist packet -- available by US mail or by e- mail. 3) Please contact us if you are involved with organizations that have mainstream credibility that might endorse a similar organizational sign-on letter -- organizations endorsing already include the NAACP, American Public Health Association, ACLU, United States Student Association, NOW, and a range of social, religious and other groups. 4) We urgently need to hear from students who have been affected by this law, especially students who are willing to go public. 5) We need students at more campuses to take the reform resolution to their student governments. Campuses recently endorsing it include University of Michigan, Yale University, University of Maryland, University of Kansas, the Association of Big Ten Schools, Douglass College at Rutgers University and many more. Visit http://www.u-net.org for information on the student campaign and how to get involved. Visit http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com and make your voice heard! ================ 9. New Study Shows Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#newstudy "And Justice for Some," a new study funded in part by the Department of Justice, along with six major foundations, has found that non-white juveniles are treated more harshly at every point in the justice system. The report found that non-white juveniles are more likely to be arrested, held in jail, remanded to adult court, convicted, sentenced to prison and given longer sentences. Among offenders who have never before served time, black youths were six times as likely as whites to be sentenced to prison. For violent crimes, they are nine times as likely to be incarcerated, and then are sentenced to an average of 254 days versus 193 days for whites. For those charged with drug offenses, black youths are 48 times as likely to be sentenced to juvenile detention as white youths. The report, which can be found on the web at <http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org>, was funded in part by the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Walter Johnson Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. ================ 10. Events http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#events April 26-29, Portland, OR, NASEC X, The Tenth North American Syringe Exchange Convention, sponsored by the North American Syringe Exchange Network. Visit http://www.nasen.org for further information. May 3, Washington, DC, Building Peace in the Midst of War: Civil Society Initiatives in Colombia, seminar presented by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the George Washington University (GWU) Andean Seminar on Culture and Politics. At GWU's Marvin Center, room 403, noon to 2:00pm, simultaneous translation available. Contact Peter Clark of WOLA at (202) 797-2171 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or Jamie Foster of GWU at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for further information. May 6, Millennium Marijuana March, multiple locations, visit http://www.cannabis2000.com for information. Also, Washington, DC, Millenium Medical Marijuana March, call (323) 547-9000 or see article above. May 7, Los Angeles, CA, Benefit for Todd McCormick legal defense, featuring Spitfire, with confirmed speakers including Bill Maher, Michael Franti, Krist Noveselic, Exene Cervenka and more. At the House of Blues, admission $20. May 8, Albany, NY, protest marking the 27th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Call (212) 539-8441, write [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://www.kunstler.org for further information. May 10-13, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 9th International Conference on Penal Abolition. At Ryerson Polytechnic Metropolitan United Church, $200 CND (agency), $140 CND (individual), $40 low-income, negotiable. Visit http://www.interlog.com/~ritten/icopa.html for info and to register. May 17-20, Washington, DC, the 13th International Conference on Drug Policy Reform, sponsored by the Drug Policy Foundation. Visit http://www.dpf.org, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call (202) 537-5005 for further information. May 22, New York, NY, 7:00pm, Gala Premiere of "GRASS" to benefit NORML. Preview screening of documentary by Ron Mann, at the AMC Empire, 25 Theatres, 234 W. 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues). Party following at Bar Code, 1540 Broadway (between 45th and 46th Streets), 9:00-11:00pm. Tickets $50 each, call 1- 888-67-NORML, seating limited. August 10-13, San Francisco, CA, "Fourth Annual Hepatitis C Conference," sponsored by the HCV Global Foundation. For information or to register, visit http://www.hcvglobal.org or contact Krebs Convention Management Services, 657 Carolina Street, San Francisco, CA 94107-2725, (415) 920-7000, fax (415) 920-7001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================ 11. Media Scan http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#mediascan John Ashcroft's Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999 has publishers, civil libertarians, and drug reformers arming for battle over free-speech rights: http://www.motherjones.com/news_wire/methweb.html Can a simple vaccine kill the appetite for cocaine? http://www.salon.com/health/feature/2000/04/26/vaccine/ ================ 12. EDITORIAL: Image of an Invasion http://www.drcnet.org/wol/135.html#editorial Adam J. Smith, Associate Director, [EMAIL PROTECTED] One photo, one image, has, in the space of a week, captured the nation's attention. The picture, of course, is the one of Elian Gonzalez, in a closet in the arms of the man who saved him, face to face with the barrel of an automatic weapon in the hands of an agent of the federal government in full body armor. Whatever one's opinion of the merits of the custody battle, it is an image that shakes the conscience and focuses our attention on the issue of the government's willingness to show and use force against individuals in their homes. That the photo is somewhat unique belies the fact that across the nation, every day, people's homes are violated, their safety and the safety of their children is compromised, and physical and psychic harms are perpetrated by government agents dressed in the same body armor, with the same automatic weapons, in the name of the War on Drugs. The difference, of course, and the victims of such raids, or at least the intended victims, are not so cute, nor is there generally an AP photographer on hand. But the truth is that our societal response to the issues of substance use and abuse has become so militarized, and the rhetoric so reinforcing, that home invasions, including the use of stun grenades, screaming federal agents and powerful weaponry are now routine. Often, there are children present in the home, and often, the inhabitants, those whose homes are stormed, are completely innocent of any wrongdoing. The justification for such raids -- the premise upon which warrants are often obtained -- is often no more substantial than the word of a "confidential informant." Moreover, these informants are often people who are trading a list of names for a reduction in sentence, or for money, or both. Sometimes, agents storm the wrong house, as was the case in Massachusetts several years ago when a 75 year-old retired minister died of a heart attack, handcuffed, face down in a pool of his own vomit. Or in Houston, where 22 year-old Pedro Navarro was shot twelve times in his bedroom. No drugs or weapons were found. William Pitt put into words a sentiment that was once considered one of the underlying principles of our nation's founding when he said: "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail -- its roof may shake -- the wind may blow through it -- the storm may enter -- the rain may enter -- but the King of England cannot enter -- all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement." That our government now views the sovereignty of the home as a quaint anachronism should trouble us all. It should raise serious questions about the loss of freedom occasioned by the enforcement of prohibition. It should make us consider our own children, or our children's children, and the threat that the government now poses to their health and safety. It should give us pause when yet another politician promises a "real drug war" and a "zero-tolerance" approach. Because the costs, in this case the violation of the sanctity of the home, are borne by us all. Not just by the cute little Cuban boy with the photographer in his bedroom and the gun in his face. ----------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to DRCNet's weekly newsletter and action alert list, visit http://www.drcnet.org and enter your name, e-mail address and state in the "quick-signup form" on the right-hand side of the page. To unsubscribe from DRCNet, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words signoff drc-natl as the message or mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] for help. DRCNet needs your support! Please visit our registration form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to make a donation on our bencryption-secured credit card form or enter your name, address and pledge amount to print out and mail in with your check or money order -- or just mail them to: DRCNet, P.O. 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