-Caveat Lector- [radtimes] # 170 An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send $$ to RadTimes!! --> (See ** at end.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --CSIS Report On Organized Crime --Computer criminals weave Web of deceit --US crews involved in Colombian battle --Feds vs. Bongs: Heads Up for Head Shops --How To Confront Globalization: Take It To The Streets --Tissue consent an issue --Robert Anton Wilson Speculates On Government --Drug Abuse, Trafficking Up Worldwide =================================================================== CSIS Report On Organized Crime CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE CANADA ANNUAL REPORT ON ORGANIZED CRIME IN CANADA 2000 - http://www.cisc.gc.ca/Cisc2000/annualreport2000.html English and French. Visit this site for information on: - Asian-based Organized Crime - East European-based Organized Crime - Traditional Organized Crime - Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs - Sexual Exploitation of Children - Other Monitored and Emerging Issues - Contraband Smuggling (includes information from Aboriginal-based Organized Crime, the Illegal Movement of Firearms and Organized Crime in Marine Ports projects) - Illegal Gaming - Technology and Crime =================================================================== Computer criminals weave Web of deceit Cyber criminals are targeting companies, with lucrative results. by Simon Goodley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (LONDON) February 22, 2001 Internet and technology companies often claim that the risk of high-tech crime is exaggerated, but the threat is real enough. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for example, said its technology-based case load has nearly tripled over the past three years. In October 1997, it had around 453 pending investigations into such areas as computer intrusions and viruses. It now has more than 1,200 such cases, which do not even include other internet-related crimes, including fraud or child pornography. The spectre of digital crime has also got the UK government worried enough to dedicate pounds 25m over three years to establish a new National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, which will be launched in April. The unit, which is currently looking for a chief superintendent to head a team of 40 dedicated "cybercops", will investigate internet crime, including the highest profile offences: credit card fraud, paedophile rackets and hacking. Credit card fraud receives almost as much media scrutiny as the seedy world of internet pornography. According to the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS), "card not present fraud"- which includes internet purchases as well and phone and mail order - amounted to pounds 47.2m in the first 11 months of last year, an increase of 80pc on the previous year. It is estimated that 15pc of "card not present fraud" is conducted over the Net. Hacking, the term widely used for illegally breaking into a computer system, also appears to be growing sharply. Last year, the US computer giant Microsoft called in the FBI to investigate a hacker who had penetrated its computer systems and accessed top secret information on its software. JANET-CERT, a report into malicious attacks on computer systems in academic institutions, said there were 944 reported attacks last month, compared with 206 in January 2000. If academic institutions don't seem like an obvious target for high-tech criminals, financial institutions do. Predictably, there have been only a few reported cases of criminals hacking into banks' computers as the banks only like to talk about security to explain how safe their systems are. But the secure image that the financial industry likes to cultivate is not the full picture. In 1994, hackers penetrated Citibank's computers and extracted around $10m ( pounds 6.7m). The bank claimed that the size of the withdrawal was because it allowed a series of hacks to co-operate with law enforcement authorities. Citibank, however, still admits to losing $400,000. Michael Vatis, director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Centre, says: "Banks often have relatively good security, but even they are not immune from attack. We have seen intrusions into banks in the US and abroad which are still under investigation." Other banks have proved to be as impregnable as a wendy house, even to the point that criminals can literally walk in off the street and remove their computer systems. Since last autumn, police have been chasing a gang of thieves who hit a number of top City investment banks, including one bank that was targeted more than once, as well as other businesses around the UK and mainland Europe. In total, they made away with around pounds 1.7m in computer hardware. On some raids, the gang used traditional methods: threatening or overpowering security guards. At other times, acting on information supplied by insiders at the bank, the thieves would simply dress in suits, walk into the bank's offices during a busy period and nonchalantly make their way past security. The team, which in one case stole as many as 20 machines weighing around 20 kilograms, were thought to be interested in the resale value of the computers, rather than the data stored on them. Two people are awaiting trial this summer for their part in the robberies after their getaway car was clamped. A subcontractor, employed by one City bank who provided information to the gang, has also been arrested, while police are still seeking two more gang members. Meanwhile, software counterfeiting is proving such a problem that trade bodies are assembling their own police forces. The European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has a team of 14 former police and trading standards officers who investigate counterfeiting operations. ELSPA estimates that counterfeiting costs the UK software industry pounds 3 billion a year, but its investigations scratch only the surface of that activity. Last year, it conducted 1,000 raids, seizing nearly 230,000 discs with a retail value of more than pounds 6.5m. The organisation says it finds evidence of other crimes in around 80pc of its raids. Terry Anslow, chief investigator at ELSPA and a former drugs and bomb squad officer with 32 years experience on the West Mercia police force, said: "When we make a discovery, we commonly find the people involved are also doing drug trafficking, selling pornography or involved in terrorism." The Republic of Ireland's police force, the Garda, are investigating links between terrorist organisations and counterfeiting groups after officers examining a haul of fake goods were overpowered by a gang of masked gunmen in December. The gang of seven men, who appeared after three unarmed uniformed police officers were called to inspect a van at Irish border town Feede, escaped with the vehicle into Northern Ireland. Customs officers had contacted the Garda after an inspection of the van had uncovered 3,000 counterfeit videos, DVDs and CDs. Four days later, the Garda discovered a major counterfeiting base four miles south of the border near Dundalk. At the site, thousands of fake videos and computer discs were seized, along with 24 CD copying machines. In total, four people have so far been arrested. Despite governments' understandable concern about high-tech crime, there is very little that appears particularly original. Bank robbers existed before computer systems, child pornography before the internet. In 1999, the UK had its first conviction for cyber-stalking, but this was hardly the first example of stalking. James Macaonghus, an analyst with internet research company Jupiter MMXI, said: "The internet facilitates crime but there are very few crimes, which are internet specific. "Crime will occur online, just as it does offline." Moreover, criminals are likely to exploit easy targets. Mr Vatis said: "Because the state of security on the internet is still so poor, the opportunity to steal money or information, or cause massive disruption of critical systems, is enormous." =================================================================== US crews involved in Colombian battle http://thescotsman.co.uk/world.cfm?id=49768 Jeremy McDermott in Medellín US PERSONNEL have become involved in fighting in Colombia's 37-year civil war for the first time, rescuing the crew of a helicopter brought down by left-wing guerrillas, it emerged yesterday. The US is funding the world's largest aerial eradication programme in an attempt to destroy drug crops in Colombia. In an engagement at the weekend, guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fired on a crop dusting aircraft and supporting helicopters. The pilot of a US-supplied Huey helicopter was hit in the barrage of small arms fire, but managed to land his stricken craft. Two other helicopter gunships circled the grounded helicopter, firing on the guerrillas, while the crew of a third helicopter rescued the crew. The pilots of some of the choppers in the rescue were Americans contracted by the US state department, a US Embassy source said. "The FARC were 100 to 200 yards away," Capt Giancarlo Cotrino, the pilot of the downed helicopter, said from his hospital bed in Bogotá. "We fought for seven or eight minutes - one of my crewmen had a grenade launcher and I had a pistol - until the SAR [search and rescue helicopter] came in behind us, landed and picked us up in the middle of a very hot firefight." The rescue helicopter carried four US citizens and two Colombians, all armed with M-16s. Most of the SAR teams in Colombia are former members of the US special forces, the US source said. Last year, when the $1.3 billion (£900 million) aid package to Colombia was approved by Congress, several rules were imposed. One was that no more than 500 US military personnel could be stationed in Colombia at any time. Another was that they were not to become directly involved in fighting. "The department of defence will not step over the line that divides counter-narcotics from counter-insurgency," Maria Salazar, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for drug enforcement policy, told a US congressional subcommittee. However, private US companies, paid by the state department and staffed by former US special forces and pilots, face no such restrictions. US military personnel in Colombia conduct a variety of training and monitoring roles. Three US-trained and equipped anti-narcotics battalions have been created, while US navy specialists train Colombian marines, who patrol the rivers that are the only means of transporting much of the nation. Five radar and listening stations are manned by US personnel, and others are liaison officers at the Colombian Joint Intelligence Centre (JIC), which the US helped set up. According to the letter of the law, the rules regarding US involvement in the civil conflict have not been broken, as serving military personnel have not been caught in active combat roles. However, by providing intelligence on guerrilla movements and actions, the US is already taking an active role in the counter-insurgency war. In March 1999 the US government issued new guidelines that allow sharing of intelligence about guerrilla activity in Colombia's southern drug-producing region, even if the information is not directly related to the fight against narcotics. The activities of private companies in the pay of the US are not covered under the rules imposed on military personnel. "This is what we call outsourcing a war," said one congressional aide in Washington, who asked not to be named. The company involved in last weekend's engagement with guerrillas is called DynCorp. It has been contracted since 1997 by the US state department to provide pilots, trainers and maintenance workers for the aerial eradication programme. What had not been known was that they piloted helicopter gunships that are used in an offensive capability when crop dusting aircraft came under fire. Three DynCorp pilots have been killed in operations, but one pilot said that at $90,000 a year tax free, the rewards were as high as the risks. Another company, hired by the US defence department on a $6 million a year contract, is Military Professional Resources Inc (MPRI), a Virginia-based military-consultant company run by retired US generals. Its 14-man team, holed up in an upmarket hotel in Bogotá, refuses to speak to The Scotsman. Brian Sheridan, the senior Pentagon official who oversees the work of MPRI, said in congressional testimony in March last year that the firm's role in Colombia was not sinister, just "a manpower issue", insisting the US southern command did not have the men to spare to give strategic and logistic advice to the Colombian army. "It's very handy to have an outfit not part of the US armed forces, obviously," said the former US ambassador to Colombia, Myles Frechette. "If somebody gets killed or whatever, you can say it's not a member of the armed forces." Despite massive military aid to Colombia, the US has insisted it is not getting itself into another Vietnam. But an MPRI spokesman, Ed Soyster, a retired US army lieutenant general and former director of the defence department's defence intelligence agency, compared the need for secrecy in Colombia with the need for secrecy in Vietnam. "When I was in Vietnam, I wouldn't want to tell you about my operation," he said. "If the enemy knows about it, he can counter it." Human rights groups say the use of private contractors in Colombia is a ploy to ensure actions are carried out that US troops under congressional restrictions cannot perform. They say "deniability" is the name of the game. "We're outsourcing the war in a way that is not accountable," said Robin Kirk of Human Rights Watch. =================================================================== Feds vs. Bongs: Heads Up for Head Shops http://www.drcnet.org/wol/174.html#headsup Adam Engleby thought everything was cool. Yes, his shop, Hemp Cat in Iowa City, sold, ahem, "smoking accessories," or bongs, pipes, and rolling papers, but the Iowa City Police Department visited regularly, and they never had any problem with Hemp Cat's back room. Heck, Engleby even had signs in his store advertising the accessories as being for use with tobacco, he wouldn't allow any talk about drugs in the shop, and he certainly didn't allow minors into the back room. And after all, Iowa City is a progressive, tolerant college town, and local police reflected the relaxed attitude. The Iowa City Police Department's Sgt. Brotherton said as much to DRCNet. "We don't see [the Hemp Cat] as a major problem," he said. "We weren't paying much attention." But what was an acceptable arrangement for the community wasn't good enough for the feds. On February 11th, Engleby's home and business were raided by teams of civilian-dressed law officers, headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration. "The DEA led the raids," Engelby told DRCNet. "The only badge I was shown was a DEA badge. They had warrants for "drug paraphernalia" and any sort of records, and they took everything. They took our rolling papers, they took real tobacco pipes, and, of course, they seized all of our computers -- four of them, two at the store and two at home. They even took my wife's computer." "The Iowa City PD never hassled us in six years of business," groaned Engleby, "and no one ever came in and told us to stop, no one complained." No one was arrested, Engleby said, and no charges have been filed, but Engleby has now joined a growing number of "alternative store" (the industry cringes at the term "head shop") owners and operators being rudely awakened to the reality of federal drug paraphernalia laws. Unlike many state and local paraphernalia statutes, which allow for a subjective, contextual interpretation of whether a given object is indeed drug paraphernalia -- sometimes a spoon is only a spoon -- federal law is black and white: Possession of a bong is a federal offense, and so, of course, is sale or manufacture of a bong, or conspiracy to do so. It can get you three years in federal prison. And it doesn't matter if the bong has never been used or if it is a jewel-encrusted work of art; a bong is a crime. And to make things even rosier, since 1990 federal law has made drug paraphernalia violators subject to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) and money laundering charges, as well. "It's simple," head shop defense attorney Robert Vaughan, the long-time publisher of an industry newsletter, told DRCNet. "If you have a bong, you're violating federal law. You can get a license to own a tommy gun, but you can't get one to own a bong." "Stores that have bongs are screwed," the Nashville-based lawyer said. "They can't win. The Supreme Court upheld its so-called objective standard in US vs. Pipes and Things in 1994, and now categories of items are per se illegal." That was news to Engleby and his customers. "The customers are really disappointed, they're saying can they do that?," Engleby said. "Everyone is shocked that DEA has that kind of power. One city council member came in to express his support; he didn't think it was right." Unfortunately for Jerry Clark and Kathy Fiedler of Des Moines, they were already well aware of federal paraphernalia laws. Their shop, Daydreams, was raided by the feds last year, and they are scarred by the experience. "We were raided by US Postal Inspectors, the DEA, and local cops and sheriff's deputies," Clark told DRCNet, "and we're barely hanging on now. It's hurt us financially; we've lost over $250,000 in inventory and paid out lots of money in legal fees." "And they're using the RICO act on us, so we're facing 10 to 12 years," Clark said bitterly. "They've seized my partner's properties under the asset forfeiture laws. But all we can do is try to litigate our way out or come to a negotiated settlement. We're trying to work out a better deal than going to court." "We weren't aware of the federal law," interjected Fiedler, "but let's face it, we weren't the only ones. We did everything to the letter of the law as we knew it, we did not sell to minors, we checked ID, if they didn't have ID, tough luck." Clark and Fiedler remain in business, but they are angry. "This is a bullshit law," snorted Clark, "and you have to get mad at the people who created this stupid law. But," he hesitated, "looking at the penalties we face, we're not going to do anything to rock the boat." "We don't feel like felons," added Fiedler, more hurt than angry. "These people don't have any idea who's smoking -- they think it's the kids, but our customers are lawyers, preachers, even people from the state Attorney General's office. They're nice, average people, but instead of drinking a six-pack, they'd prefer to smoke things." "Morally, I see nothing wrong with what we're doing," she insisted. That doesn't matter to the feds. Although the anti-head shop campaign is irregular and occasional compared to the feds' halcyon days of Operation Pipeline in the early 1990s, when they ran most major manufacturers out of business, it is Engleby's and Clark's and Fiedler's misfortune to live in an area where the United States Attorney happens to be one of the most experienced and enthusiastic in dealing with federal drug paraphernalia violations. So who ordered the raids? Hard to say. Repeated calls to the DEA were referred to the US Attorneys' office in Des Moines, and they didn't return calls. The Iowa City Police Department's laconic Lt. Wyss, who coordinates the Johnson County Multi-Agency Task Force, did confirm that his officers participated at the DEA's request. When asked why his officers were devoting their time to busting bongs, Wyss told DRCNet: "Because they violated the law, I suppose. The DEA asked us and we were happy to help." Attorney Vaughan, who is representing Clark and Fiedler, finds it all faintly ridiculous were it not for the serious consequences. "With Operation Pipeline they managed to knock out all the big boys," he told DRCNet, "but all they've created is a whole multi- level cottage industry, and lot's of these people don't even know about the federal law, they don't have any historical memory of Pipeline, and enforcement is sporadic. What a waste of time and resources and peoples' lives." "It's as if the feds we're out arresting the guy smoking a joint on the corner," he said. =================================================================== How To Confront Globalization <http://www.inthesetimes.com/web2508/klein2508.html> Take It To The Streets by Naomi Klein 03/19/01 It looks a little like one of those press conferences announcing a merger between corporate giants: a couple of middle-aged guys shaking hands and smiling into a bank of cameras. Just like on CNN, they assure the world their new affiliation will make them stronger, better equipped to meet the challenges of the global economy. Only something is askew. More facial hair for one thing: The man on the left has a scruffy beard and the one on the right has a rather distinctive handlebar moustache. And come to think of it, their alliance is not a merger of corporate interests, designed to send stock prices soaring and workers wondering about their "redundancy." In fact, the men say, this merger will be good for workers and lousy for stock prices. Another clue we're not watching CNN: Someone passes a message to the man on the right. It seems the police are threatening him with arrest. That definitely doesn't happen during your average corporate-merger announcement, no matter how flagrantly the consolidation violates antitrust laws. The man on the left is Joao Pedro Stedile, co-founder of Brazil's Landless Peasants Movement. The man on the right is José Bové, the French cheese farmer who came to world attention after he "strategically dismantled" a McDonald's restaurant to protest a U.S. attack on France's ban on hormone-treated beef. And this isn't Wall Street; it's the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. To read the papers, these men should not be sharing a platform, let alone embracing for the cameras. Third World farmers are supposed to be at war with their European counterparts over unequal subsidies. But here in Porto Alegre, they have joined forces in a battle much broader than any intergovernmental trade skirmish. The small farmers both men represent are attempting to fight the consolidation of agriculture into the hands of a few multinationals, through genetic engineering of crops, patenting of seeds and industrial-scale, export-led agricultural policies. They say that their enemy is not farmers in other countries, but a system of trade that is facilitating this concentration, and taking the power to regulate food production away from national governments. "Today the battle is not in one country but in every country," Bové tells a crowd of several thousand. They break into chants of "Ole, Ole, Bové, Bové, Bové" and, in a matter of hours, hundreds are wearing badges declaring, "Somos Todos José Bové" ("We are all José Bové"). This type of cross-border alliancea globalization of movements, is the real story of the World Social Forum, which ended January 30 and attracted more than 10,000 delegates. After 13 months of international protests against global trade institutions, the forum was a chance to share ideas about social and economic alternatives. It is a new kind of intellectual free trade: a Tobin tax swapped for a "participatory budget"; national referenda on all trade agreements in exchange for local lending alternatives to the International Monetary Fund; farming co-operative models traded for community policing. But there is one idea with more currency than any other, expressed from podiums and on flyers handed out in hallways, "Less talk, more action." It's as if talk itself has been devalued by overproduction, and little wonder. At the same time in Davos, Switzerland, the richest CEOs in the world sound remarkably like their critics: We need to make globalization work for everyone, they say, to close the income gap, end global warming. Oddly, at the Brazil forum, designed to help talk our way into a new future, it seems as if talking has become part of the problem. How many times can the same story of inequality be told, the same outrage expressed, before that expression becomes a paralyzing, rather than catalyzing, force? Which brings us back to the two men shaking hands. The reason the police are after José Bové (and why he is being treated like a cheese-making Che Guevera) is that he took a break from all the talk. While in Brazil, Bové travelled with local landless activists to a nearby Monsanto test site, where three hectares of genetically modified soybeans were destroyed. Unlike in Europe, where similar direct-action has occurred, the protest did not end there. The Landless Peasants Movement has occupied the land and members are planting their own crops, pledging to turn the farm into a model of sustainable agriculture. Why didn't they just talk about their problems? In Brazil, 1 percent of the population owns 45 percent of the land. In the past six years alone, 85,000 families have joined the ranks of the landless. At the first World Social Forum, the most talked-about alternative turns out to be an alternative to talking: acting. It may just be the most powerful alternative of all. ---- Naomi Klein is the author of No Logo. A version of this article originally appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail. =================================================================== Monday, February 19, 2001 Tissue consent an issue <http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-02-19-0006.html> Ethics council says military should have parental approval to use foreskin By PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN An Alberta-based military research team using newborns' foreskins for chemical warfare research and the doctors who supply the raw material should have the parents' consent first, the president of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research told The Edmonton Sun. One of the Medicine Hat doctors involved in providing the foreskins to the Defence Research Establishment at CFB Suffield said parents were only told about the fate of the flesh if they asked. But Dr. Jan Storch, the president of the ethics council, said that isn't good enough. "About 10 years ago excess tissue was regarded as something that was quite useable for research purposes without asking consent," she said. "But the climate has changed and now the guidelines are that, as a mark of respect, permission should be sought to use the tissue for research. "I would think any university researcher applying to one of the granting authorities who did not follow the guidelines would be refused funding." The head of the chemical and biological warfare defence section at Suffield, Dr. Cam Boulet, said the project had been passed by both the ethics committee at the base and the Medicine Hat hospital about 10 years ago. "The hospital is responsible for supplying the tissue, but in view of what you have told me, we will be revisiting the arrangement," he told The Sun. "Until now I haven't been aware of a concern, but it is our policy to be as open as possible about our work." The Suffield scientists use cell scrapings from foreskins supplied by the hospital to grow cell cultures. The cultures are then used to test antidotes to various chemical weapons. Boulet estimated around 50 to 100 foreskins were used every year for the research over the last decade. Storch, director of the school of nursing at Victoria University in B.C., said it appeared the project had been approved before the guidelines on human tissue use and the need for express consent from donors were clarified. "This one appears to have slipped by so far but perhaps someone should look at it again in the light of current ethical thinking," she said. Medicine Hat is 600 km south of Edmonton. =================================================================== Robert Anton Wilson Speculates On Government By Mr. Greg Spring 2000 Mr. G: The recent riots in Seattle, Washington, during the WTO meeting renewed publicity and public awareness of anarchism. Do you see that happening as an historical event, working to coalesce a strong anti-corporate movement, or more of a minor explosion to release tension or . . .? Any opinions on the self-described "black-hooded messengers" are most welcome. RAW: It seemed to me that the Seattle protests did represent a real historical marker -- the first time since the 1930s [70 years ago, more or less!] that the labor unions and the radical youth worked together for a common goal. I hope this represents a real change. More got accomplished in the '30s than in the '60s because we had that kind of unity during the Depression and we haven't had it since then. Mr. G: What protest group or alliance of concerned citizens do you believe has the greatest potential to effectively direct political and social concerns over the next ten years? RAW: All things considered, I have more faith in the World Game than in any traditional politics. Check them out at http://www.worldgame.org/wwwproject/ Mr. G: Given the fact that the US government continually runs operations like COINTELPRO against activists and its own citizens, whom do you believe they will be focusing their attention on over the next ten years? RAW: The people who use computers. We have much more power than we realize, and the governing elite has started to worry about that. They may have to give up the War Against Some Drugs, not for any sane or moral or Constitutional reason, but to use the money for a War Against Some Information. Freedom of communication represents the greatest threat our Power Elite has ever confronted. Janet ["Burn, Waco, Burn"] Reno comes out with a new plan to abolish the first amendment twice a week and one of them just might pass Congress. On one hand, I don't think such schemes can "work" -- Internet has too much "redundance of control" to allow effective censorship. On the other hand, the War Against Some Drugs can't work either -- never has worked, never will work -- but trying to make it work has given us the biggest prison population in world history. Trying to censor internet may fill the prisons even more, but information will still travel faster and further than the governing class wishes. The genie is out of the bottle. The gap between what legislators can understand and what technologists can do is wider and deeper than any abyss you can imagine. Mr. G: In an ideal world, what form of government would you choose to live under? RAW: None. I would prefer a contractual association [as presented by the individualist-anarchist model] or at least some form of anarcho-syndicalism. Nobody's life or liberty are safe as long as a government exists. Mr. G: In the Sixties Timothy Leary, like many activists, was sure that marijuana would be legalized in a couple of years. It is now thirty years later and the weed is still illegal. Why do you think this is the case? RAW: We have about 1,500, 000 people in prison for marijuana offenses and an estimated 65,000,000 pot-heads who ain't been caught yet. Calculate how many people's yearly earnings depend on maintaining this system -- the cops, the sheriffs, the DEA, the defense attorneys, the prosecutors, the social workers, the prison guards, the contractors who build new prisons, the architects etc. plus the labs who do the urine tests, the nurses who administer, the chemists etc etc. If you add to this the amount of graft in this system, as shown by the recent Los Angeles and other investigations, you'll probably agree with the estimate that this black market is worth billions, not millions, per month. That's a mighty big vested interest opposed to a free market. Mr. G: You have written several dozen books. You have made numerous speaking engagements. You have cavorted with some of the most interesting cultural revolutionaries around. What words of wisdom or advice can you offer to aspiring cultural hipsters? RAW: Oh, hell, you expect wisdom from me? I'll give you wisdom. "Think for yourself, shmuck!" =================================================================== Drug Abuse, Trafficking Up Worldwide <http://www.jointogether.org/sa/default.jtml?O=266163> 2/23/01 A United Nations agency report says that abuse and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances have grown substantially worldwide, UPI reported Feb. 21. According to the report for the year 2000 from the International Narcotics Control Board <http://www.incb.org/>, there has been increased abuse of heroin, cocaine, crack and hallucinogens, such as Ecstasy, in both rich and poor countries. In the United States, abuse of Ecstasy among high-school seniors rose by 67 percent between 1998 and 1999, the report said. The report also showed an increase in heroin addiction in Bangladesh and Nepal and an "alarming increase, among the highest in the world" in Iran and Pakistan. In addition, the heroin death rate in Australia continues to rise. In Europe, cocaine abuse has increased in Belgium, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, while heroin abuse is a growing problem in Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and other nations of central and Eastern Europe. In Asia, abuse of opiates is a "serious problem" in China, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The report also noted that overuse of psychotropic drugs, such as depressants, sedatives, hypnotics, tranquilizers and stimulants, "is becoming a socially acceptable habit," particularly in rich nations. The report added that trafficking in marijuana, heroin and cocaine continues to increase in Canada. In New Zealand, LSD trafficking is a growing problem. The report is based on information from government law-enforcement agencies, the International Criminal Police Organization, and the World Customs Organization. =================================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ====================================================== "The world is my country, all mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion." -Thomas Paine ______________________________________________________________ To subscribe/unsubscribe or for a sample copy or a list of back issues, send appropriate email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ______________________________________________________________ **How to assist RadTimes: An account is available at <www.paypal.com> which enables direct donations. If you are a current PayPal user, use this email address: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, to contribute. 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