Maptalk-Digest Friday, December 26 1997 Volume 97 : Number 553
All I want for Xmas is FREEDOM!
From: Steve Kubby <>
Re: FOCUS Alert #50 Sun Sentinel SENT 12/24
From: Mark Greer <>
Re: Fw: FOCUS Alert #50 Sun Sentinel
From: Mark Greer <>
LTE SENT Focus#50
From: Mark Greer <>
PUB LTE: Another Opinion On Debate Over Medical Marijuana
From: Editor at MAP <> (by way of Editor at MAP <>)
NICOTINE=MEDICINE?
From: Peter Webster <>
Helping Tobacco Smokers
From: Jim Rosenfield <>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: All I want for Xmas is FREEDOM!
From: Steve Kubby <>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 09:01:03 -0700
Merry Christmas!
Let us take a moment on this special day to reflect upon those for whom
Christmas holds no cheer, the POWs of the Drug War. Can you guess which
government official made the following remark during the Christmas Holidays?
"No viewpoints are banned, except those than have been banned by the law."
(A) General Barry McCaffrey, Drug Czar, (a year ago) after threatening to
punish doctors who discuss medical marijuana with their patients.
(B) Dan Lungren, California Attorney General, after announcing he will
begin closing Cannabis Buyers Clubs, starting next month.
(C) Mohammad Khatami, President of Iran, after the arrest of the head of
Iran's token legal opposition, the Freedom Movement.
(D) All of the Above
*********************************
K U B B Y F O R G O V E R N O R
1998 CALIFORNIA 2002
http://www.alpworld.com/kubby98
*********************************
- --------------------------------------
"The strength of the Constitution lies entirely
in the determination of each citizen to defend it.
Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to
do his share in this defense are constitutional
rights secure."
--Albert Einstein
- --------------------------------------
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Subj: Re: FOCUS Alert #50 Sun Sentinel SENT 12/24
From: Mark Greer <>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 07:28:25 -0800
Very Good job Scott.
At 08:16 PM 12/24/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Re: Series on the drug problem
>
>The former Soviet Union kept itself virtually drug-free until it collapsed.
>With Russia's adoption of capitalism came a wave of drugs and crime
>similar to what we endure. Unless we want to adopt the police state
>tactics that the Soviets used to control both drugs and free enterprise,
>then I suggest that we develop a different response to the problem. Calls
>for a civil war on drugs, such as editor Driscoll makes, can only leave us
>stuck in the mire between a police dictatorship and gangster capitalism.
>
>I suggest that we develop a new approach that is compatible with individual
>free choice and responsible free enterprise. It would be a medicalization
>of drugs rather than our current criminalization of them. Several European
>countries are moving in this direction with startling successes in the
>reduction of crime and drug use while showing dramatic improvements in the
>rehabilitation of drug addicts. Unfortunately, your sensationalistic
>series never mentioned them.
>
>Denial is the largest obstacle to overcoming any addiction. Currently we
>are addicted to a drug policy that denies its own failure, and even points
>to those failures as reasons to keep pursuing the same policy, always with
>more vigor and intensity. Let's quit denying our addiction to
>authoritarian, anti-democratic methods of drug control, and begin putting
>some faith in human beings to learn from their mistakes, without the
>government making the consequences of those mistakes any more expensive or
>illegal than they need be.
>
>Scott Kremer
>
>
>
Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
http://www.DrugSense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org
------------------------------
Subj: Re: Fw: FOCUS Alert #50 Sun Sentinel
From: Mark Greer <>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 12:00:15 -0800
Clyde:
Is this ok? It's Great! The hardest thing about implementing the tremendous
power of MAP is getting people to write something...anything. Even a one
sentence letter has great value and sends a powerful message but well
considered publishable material like this can, when multiplied with the
efforts of others, actually change the mind set of a newspaper while
simultaneously convincing hundreds of thousands of readers. We need lots
more consistent letter writers just like you. Then we can end the drug war
one newspaper and/or media contact at a time. What can the average reformer
do that is more meaningful and powerful than this??.. and for free!!
Just DO it!
At 05:08 PM 12/25/97 +0000, you wrote:
>South Florida Sun-Sentinel "Drug Warrior" Series
>
>Dear Editor
> For sheer governmental absurdity, the War On Drugs is hard to beat.
>After three decades of increasingly punitive policies, illicit drugs are
>more easily available. drug potencies are greater, drug killings are more
>commonplace, and drug barons are richer than ever. The War on Drugs costs
>taxpayers more than the Commerce , Interior, and the State Departments
>combined---and it's the one budget item that is never questioned. A
>strangled court system, exploding prisons, and wasted lives galore, pushing
>the cost ever higher. What began as a campaign flourish in 1968 has grown
>into a monster. And while no one claims that the War on Drugs is a
>success, nobody suggests an alternative, because to do so {as U.S. Surgeon
>General Jocyelyn Elders learned] is political suicide.
> How did we reach such a grim impasse? with great enthusiasm! At one
>time or another the war on drugs has become a whipping boy for many
>factions. Parents appalled by their children's behavior, police starving
>for additional victims [spelled revenue]. Conservative politicians trying
>to 'act tough'. Presidents seeking distractions from scandals, government
>needing an enemy to replace communism. Yes the War on Drugs has been a lot
>of things, but only rarely has it been on drugs!
> I say it is about time we start taking the profit out of drugs and
>educate and
>decriminalize. There is no other sane and sensible way! Think about it!
>Even with the 'so called Drug War we have upward of half our kids on
>drugs.......[Phoenix area.]
> Time for sane and responsible education of thepeople.......not war.
> Clyde Harmon, Mesa,Arizona
>
>----------Is this okay?
>From: R. J. Tavel, J.D. <>
>To:
>Subject: FOCUS Alert #50 Sun Sentinel
>Date: Wed, Dec 24, 97 2:41 PM
>
>
>FOCUS Alert #50 December 22, 1997
>
>IF THIS DOESN'T GET YOU TO WRITE A LETTER PLEASE TELL US WHAT WILL!
>
>
Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
http://www.DrugSense.org/
http://www.mapinc.org
------------------------------
Subj: LTE SENT Focus#50
From: Mark Greer <>
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 09:39:44 -0800
Nice one from William Read
At 07:22 PM 12/24/97 +0000, you wrote:
> You know, I think you folks in Florida have every right to run your state in
>the manner you see fit. So if the Florida legislature wishes to act like a
>bunch of drooling idiots and make criminals or wards of the state out of your
>citizens who choose, or are compelled by need, to use illicit drugs, in the
>name of the Jihad on Drugs, go right ahead. More power to you - just don't
>ask or expect anyone else to help you foot the bill.
> Maybe it's *necessary* to ignore the Constitution now and again or
>frequently and consistently (as seems de rigeur in Broward County). After
>all, "All's fair in love and war," and it's clear you folks have had it with
>that "Love thy neighbor" nonsense. But since those pesky folks who are pawns
>of the Federal System like a lot of unenlightened U.S. District Court
Judges,
>I think you should give serious thought to seceding from the Union.
> If you do, however, please buy enough razor wire so you morons don't wander
>into the United States (I'm assuming you'll let anyone who wants to leave to
>do so if it looks like Utopia will become reality - they're undesirable
slugs
>anyway. Maybe they could exit through a gate anchored by big statues of Hugh
>O'Connor hanging himself - or, since the spirit of Disney World's Fantasy
Land
>has obviously gotten caught up in all that oppressive humidity and affected
>you loons, a big old statue of "drug dealers" hanging Hugh).
> And then you could concentrate on locking up drug addicts - 20 years for
>possession of 1/10th gram of marijuana, 30 years for everything else, life
for
>repeat offenders and execution meted out randomly and arbitrarily on the spot
>by black garbed members of the Broward County Sheriff's Department.
> Now we know you'll need cash to make this "solution" a reality, so I
>propose that the government just pay Florida the lump sum it collected for
>Social Security from all those retirees who decide to stay. Think of the
>savings!
> Without Medicare you wouldn't have to worry about any of the many retirees
>down there getting "addicted" to narcotics because they are doing something
>like dying of cancer. Then again, without Social Security, you probably
>wouldn't want a lot of them around anymore anyway.
> Perhaps you could invite them to leave or live under the constant threat of
>being visited by groups of "Social Workers" who only come in the dead of
night
>and permanently close any given client's file by morning's first light.
> And you could open negotiations with Cuba, seeking Fidel's advice on how he
>has managed to make drugs virtually non - existent. Now *that's* a real gold
>mine of untapped knowledge! And don't forget, most of the Cubans who have
>already come here did so seeking freedom, so I doubt they'd stick around once
>you put the kibosh on that.
> Of course most Cubans in Cuba can't afford an old rubber tire to get to
>Florida, but I suspect they won't want to come anymore so while Castro may
>not like the idea, the general plan will go a long way toward solving your
>"immigrant problem".
> Castro has a hard enough time oppressing the starving in his own country
>without a bunch of Junior Chamber of Commerce types asking him for advice.
> The U.S. would benefit as well. All the warped people who think repeating
>the same behavior, simply trying harder, will bring about a different result
>will flock to Florida, where employment would be plentiful in the corrections
>facilities and various "social programs" aimed at drugs, the aged and any
>other "undesirable elements". Therefore we would be spared the expense of
>paying the hospital bills of fools who try to make doors in buildings by
>crashing through brick walls, and in failing, keep hitting them harder and
>harder until either the wall, or the person, break.
> Besides, we already have one Bush vying to buy his drugs in Lafayette Park
>like Dad did, and we already have a Disneyland.
>William W. Read
>Contact Info
>
>
Forwarded by
Mark Greer
Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
d/b/a DrugSense
http://www.DrugSensemapinc.org/
------------------------------
Subj: PUB LTE: Another Opinion On Debate Over Medical Marijuana
From: Editor at MAP <> (by way of Editor at MAP <>)
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 21:00:37 -0500
Newshawk: Carl E. Olsen http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/
Source: The Altoona Herald - Mitchellville Index
Pubdate: Thursday, December 18, 1997
Page: 4A
Contact: Mail: Post Office Box 427, Altoona, Iowa 50009
Fax: 515-967-0553
Viewpoint - Letters to the Editor
ANOTHER OPINION ON DEBATE OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA
To the editor:
Regarding the reply of Altoona Police Chief John L. Gray to Carl Olsen
(Altoona Herald Dec. 11), Chief Gray demonstrates what I have seen untold
times in my position as Executive Director of a national news gathering
service on drug policy issues. Gray, like countless community leaders,
politicians and others in positions of power, are either being deliberately
disingenuous or are mind bogglingly uninformed on the subjects of drugs,
drug use and drug policy.
I was stunned that a police chief would publish a letter referring to the
defeat of a New York medical marijuana initiative. Not only were most of
his statements based on typical but wildly inaccurate "facts," but he
couldn't even get the right state or even side of the country correct (It
was actually in the state of Washington). In addition, he misnamed and
mispelled NORML (The National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)
as NORMAL and had inaccuracies in virtually every sentence of his letter.
The good police chief is most welcome to visit our web page at
http://www.mapinc.org and use it as a resource for future fact checking.
Nothing will help end this expensive, failed, misguided, "war on drugs"
quicker than educating those in power as to the facts, science, and truth
which belie the inaccurate rhetoric we are so often forced to endure.
Mark Greer, Porterville, Calif.
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Subj: NICOTINE=MEDICINE?
From: Peter Webster <>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 11:12:46 +0000
My friend in New York tells me his kid was watching television and saw an interesting ad for Nicoderm:
(forwarded)
>in Nicoderm ads he caught them saying it releases "a steady stream of medicine"
>as if nicotine becomes medicine because a Rx Co. gets paid for delivering it!!!
Any lingering doubts about the nature of advertising?
Peter Webster email:
------------------------------
Subj: Helping Tobacco Smokers
From: Jim Rosenfield <>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 09:17:35 -0800
Editors:
Re: "25% of U.S. Adults Smoke; Most Want to Quit ", here is a case where
the law should be used to help these people. Tobacco should be made illegal
and these smokers should go to jail. After all, we do have a national goal of
reducing smoking. Send them to prison. We are all aware that tobacco
smokers impose a cost on the rest of us. To some extent we all bear the
medical bills for some of the 400,000 people killed by tobacco each year.
Why should we?
If prohibition is good for marijuana users (marijuana kills zero people --
no one has ever died as a result of smoking marijuana) then it ought to work
for these irresponsible tobacco smokers. Obviously, with over 642,000
arrests for marijuana last year (up from 300,000 arrests in
1991, and 80% of those for mere possession), incarceration is a very popular
program for dealing with the scourge or pot and should be applied to the
tobacco smokers as well, in order to improve the nation's health and cut
costs.
In the recent study from Columbia University, publicized by no less a
scholar then Joe Califano (Chair of the Committee Against Substance Abuse
- - CASA) the findings showed that tobacco is the true Gateway Drug. The vast
majority of heroin users reported starting their illicit drug-use careers by
smoking tobacco. Clearly tobacco is the root cause of the heroin epidemic
(the number of hard-drug addicts has remained essentially unchanged and
miniscule for decades). Where busting pot-heads has made no difference in
the number of heroin users (only a tiny sliver of marijuana users ever try
heroin) putting tobacco users in prison, seizing their assets and saddling
them with felony convictions is obviously appropriate for these scoflaws who
are still not going along with our national priorities. Clearly they should
be prevented from harming the rest of us with "side-smoke".
We should put them in prison -- for their own good and to promote our
national priorities.
Jim Rosenfield
Culver City
Jim Rosenfield
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
tel: 310-836-0926 fax: 310-836-0592
http://insightweb.com
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End of Maptalk-Digest V97 #553
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Mark Greer () ___ ___ _ _ _ _
Media Awareness Project /' _ ` _ `\ /'_`)('_`\
P. O. Box 651 | ( ) ( ) |( (_| || (_) )
Porterville, CA 93258 (_) (_) (_) \__,_)| ,__/
(800) 266-5759 | |
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/list/maplists.htm (_)
|
