Article: Edmonds, Patricia. "A Quick Fix for the Drug War". Seattle Times. June 3. Page A16: Focus: Drug war in general. Good information on Crack Babies. Excerpt: Still, those interviewed for this article generally agreed on one thing: its a perilous mix when leaders try to make war on drugs, law on drugs and political hay on drugs at the same time. On this point, a favorite cautionary tale concerns the 375,000 crack babies. The story begins with Ira Chasnoff, a Chicago pediatritian, and his 1988 study of 154,856 births in 36 hospitals. Through interviews and tests, he learned that in 11 percent of the births, the babies had been exposed to some quantity of some illegal drug at some time during pregnancy. Chasnoff did not say the babies were born addicted, or afflicted. He did not say which mothers used cocaine daily and which used marijuana one weekend. He said: some quantity of some illegal drugs was used during pregnancy. Then Chasnoff did the arithmatic. If there was drug exposure in even 10 percent of the 3.75 million births in the U.S. annually, that would be 375,000 babies. "That," Chasnoff said, "is as far as it went". [...goes on to detail how William Bennett used this study to show that there were 375,000 crack babies in the U.S./year...] ------------------------------ Article: Berke, Richard L. "Can the rich and famous talk America out of Drugs?". New York Times. November 12 1989. sec 4 page E5 col 4. Focus: Gung-ho pro-PDFA article. Excerpt: Beyond the advertisment, the networks have all adopted formal or informal guidelines to avoid glorifying drug use on their programs. On NBC shos, for example, every drug-related criminal has to suffer serious consequences in the end, said Rosalyn Weinman, the network's vice president for program standards and community relations. "We've returned scripts where we very specifically say, 'this particular character has to suffer more in the end,'" she said. ------------------------------ Article: Cohen, Roger (New York Times). "Zurich Gives Up, Closes Its Needle Park For Addicts", S.F. Chronicle. Focus: Closing of Platzspitz ("Needle Park") in Zurich -- Reasons and reactions pro and con. ------------------------------ Article: Sharpe, Kenneth E. Blachman, Morris. "The Panama 'drug bust' goes bust. Dealers there thriving as never before 2 years after the US invasion." Boston Sunday Globe. Jan 5, 1992. pg 56. [adapted from an article written by Sharpe and Blachman along with Peter Andreas and Eva Bertram in "the current issue of Foreign Policy]. Focus: War on Drug failures in Panama and Latin America. Excerpt: When most US officials are confronted by the failure of Washington's drug-war efforts elsewhere in Latin America, their stock response is: Give us the time and the money to restructure these governments and militaries so they'll be willing and able to carry out US counter-narcotics strategy. But Panama is the best-case scenario: The United States rebuilt the government and military from scratch -- and the will to fight is still not there. It's time we face up to reality. Our southern neighbors are simply not going to make a dent in the supply of cocaine coming into the United States, no matter how much aid and training we give them. Let's stop busting drugs abroad and bring this wasted money back home to tackle the domestic roots of drug abuse, addiction and violence in our own cities. ------------------------------ Article: Cornell, Timothy. "In subsidized housing, drug suspicions suffice to evict", The Philidelphia Inquirer, Feb 8, 1992 B1 Focus: contains a description of a case where the government evicted someone from a house, after simply recieving a *tip* that a relative was dealing drugs. ------------------------------ Article: Shafer, Jack. "Flashback". The New Republic. Mar 2, 1992 Focus: Attacks LSD hysteria. See Newsweek Mar 3 1992 for opposite viewpoint. Excerpt: The odd thing about the recent wave of LSD reporting is that most of today's editors were on campus in the '60s and '70s, and many of them staged their own blitzkriegs through the pharmacopoeia. They know from experience that drug busts are exaggerated by the police, that not every drug user becomes a Charles Manson, and that not all drug use constitutes drug abuse. But many of these '60s people now have their own children, children they hope to send to fine schools like UVA. As the minds of these journalists sclerose, the thought of Jason and Heather tripping is scarifying. ------------------------------ Book: Thorton, Mark. "The Economics of Prohibition" Focus: Why Prohibition is and always must be an abject failure. ------------------------------ Book: Wisotsky, Steven. "Beyond the War On Drugs" ------------------------------ Book: Hamowy, Ronald (ed). "Dealing With Drugs: Consequences of Government Control". ------------------------------ Book: Boaz, David (ed). "The Crisis in Drug Prohibition" From: hughes@gary.enet.dec.com (Gary Hughes - VMS Development) Date: 6 Mar 92 17:31:04 GMT Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: Re: A call to arms (Partnership for a Drug-Free America) In article <1992Mar5.183443.17895@galois.mit.edu>, jbaez@jordan.mit.edu (John C. Baez) writes... >PDFA writes somewhere: >>To find out without cost how to mobilize your neighbors or talk to your >>kids, call the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention's National >>Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 1-800-729-6686. Tell >>them the Partnership sent you. [...] >Let's all call the toll-free number and post descriptions of the results >of this exercise! It's free! It's fun! I'm not sure that calling up NCADI and harrassing them is going to achieve anything. As their name implies, they are a clearing house for publications produced by OSAP and NIDA. If you want to read the "government reports" that are endlessly referred to in the media, this is the place to get them. [...] gary ****************************** Article Separation ***************************** From: hughes@gary.enet.dec.com (Gary Hughes - VMS Development) Date: 6 Mar 92 17:41:40 GMT Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: Re: A call to arms (Partnership for a Drug-Free America) In article , lamontg@milton.u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist) writes... >I you call that number get them to name some statistics which are *NOT* >self-reported... > If you call that number you can ask for a copy of the 1991 National Household Survey of Drug Use, Population Estimates. They are probably as close to unbiased estimates of usage as you will find. It is interesting to run them against PDFA claims. (* note: number is for NCADI 1-800-729-6686 *) ****************************** Article Separation ***************************** From: aldis@peg.pegasus.oz.au Date: 6 Mar 92 16:54:35 GMT Newsgroups: alt.drugs Subject: US incarceration rate world's highe /* Written 9:23 pm Mar 1, 1992 by rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu in peg:misc.activism.progressive */ /* ---------- "US incarceration rate highest in th" ---------- */ /** justice.usa: 137.0 **/ ** Topic: UNITED STATES: INCARCERATION RATE H ** ** Written 4:38 am Feb 25, 1992 by mphillips in cdp:justice.usa ** ~From: Margaret B. Phillips ~Subject: UNITED STATES: INCARCERATION RATE H /* Written 7:24 pm Feb 22, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */ /* ---------- "UNITED STATES: INCARCERATION RATE H" ---------- */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved. Permission to re- print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'. ~Title: UNITED STATES: INCARCERATION RATE HIGHEST IN THE WORLD new york, feb 19 (gin/ips) -- the united states once again ranks number one in the global community for its rate of incarcerations, according to the washington-based 'sentencing project' in its newly released annual report. the report says that the u.s. incarceration rate for the past year stood at 455 per 100,000 citizens -- a figure which represents a 6.8 percent increase over 1990. at second place was south africa, with a rate of 311 incarcerations per 100,000, which was 6.6 percent less than their 1990 rate. criticising the u.s. penal system, representative john conyers jr. of michigan said: ''we are not stopping crime, we are not curbing drugs, we are not helping victims, and we are not rehabilitating criminals.'' the cost of incarcerating the 1.1 million americans in prisons and jails is estimated to be 20.3 billion dollars a year. referring to this figure, senator edward kennedy of massachusetts said ''it's time to try an ounce of prevention -- 20 billion of cure isn't working''. the u.s. rate is as much as 10 times higher than that of japan and of the netherlands. also, there are currently twice as many americans imprisoned than there were a decade ago. marc mauer, assistant director of the 'sentencing project' said here that the increase in the prison population is not explained by the fluctuation of national crime rates alone. instead, he attributes the 6.8 percent rise to ''get tough'' policies which focus on punishment for crimes rather than on reducing felonies through social policies. for example, current federal policies direct 70 percent of anti- drug funding towards law enforcement, and 30 percent towards treatment and prevention. but mauer recommends a four-part strategy for reducing crime and rehabilitating criminals. firstly, he believes that drug abuse must be treated as a public health problem, not a criminal justice predicament. secondly, he says that mandatory sentencing laws must be repealed. united states: incarceration rate highest in the world(2-e) new york state's mandatory sentencing law, known as the second felony offender law, requires that a felon who commits a second offence within 10 years of the first must be imprisoned. it is felt that such laws contribute to prison overcrowding. the third part of mauer's strategy would be the development of employment and education programmes to serve as ''crime control'' mechanisms. and fourthly, he proposes a national commission on crime, which would study lawbreaking and its causes, and alternatives to imprisonment. mauer said that ''the only beneficiaries of (current) distorted criminal justice policies are prison constructing companies.'' according to mauer, the united states is faced with a choice: to continue in the present downward spiral, or ''develop policies that will do what jail time hasn't -- cut crime''. (end/ips-gin/ps/ak/yjc) ** End of text from cdp:justice.usa ** /** justice.usa: 137.1 **/ ** Written 4:39 am Feb 25, 1992 by mphillips in cdp:justice.usa ** The report may be ordered for $5.00 from The Sentencing Project, 918 F St. N.W., Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004, 202/628-0871, Fax 202/628-1091. Margaret Phillips ** End of text from cdp:justice.usa ** ****************************** Article Separation ***************************** From: gt6004a@prism.gatech.EDU (Michael G. Goldsman) Date: 3 Mar 92 22:14:55 GMT Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Subject: GERMAN COURT VOIDS ANTI-DRUG LAWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 3, 1992 GERMAN COURT VOIDS ANTI-DRUG LAWS Germany: From the country that guarantees its citizens the right to drive as fast as they dare, now comes the right to use marijuana and hashish. Declaring Germany's laws against drug use unconstitutionsal becuase they infringe on the "free development of personality," an appellate court said Germans have the same right to alter their mental state on cannabis as they do by using liquor or cigarettes. [...] ****************************** Article Separation ***************************** The New York Times March 3, 1992, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final SECTION: Section A; Page 5; Column 1; Foreign Desk LENGTH: 559 words HEADLINE: A Pro-Drug Ruling Stirs the Pot in Germany BYLINE: By STEPHEN KINZER, Special to The New York Times DATELINE: BONN, March 2 BODY: A German judge has set off a national debate by ruling that laws against possession of marijuana and hashish are unconstitutional. Leaders of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's governing coalition have condemned the decision, but many senior opposition figures have endorsed it. A final ruling from Germany's highest court is expected later in the year. The decision was handed down last week by Wolfgang Nescovic, an appeals-court judge in Lubeck. The case concerned a woman who had been sentenced to two months in prison for possession of 1.12 grams of hashish -- about one-twenty-fifth of an ounce. [...] "The physical effects of cannabis use are relatively limited," Judge Nescovic wrote. He cited a German medical study that concluded that smoking one or two joints of marijuana a day is harmless, "or at a minumum, less dangerous than the daily consumption of alcohol or 20 cigarettes." [...] Even if the German high court rules that current drug laws are constitutional, the political debate over legalization is likely to go on. Officials in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia said last weekend that they would submit a bill in the German Parliament to legalize possession of small amounts of hashish and marijuana.