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1 US DC: Chavez Joins Ecuador In Slamming U S War On DrugsWed, 20 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC)          Area:District of Columbia Lines:61 Added:12/21/2006

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's president on Wednesday backed Ecuador's president-elect Rafael Correa in his fight against U.S.-funded spraying of Colombian drug crops, accusing Washington of hypocrisy in its war on drugs.

President Hugo Chavez also accused the United States of using its anti-narcotics drive to gain a military foothold in Latin America and charged the American envoy in Caracas with lying when he said drug smuggling was soaring in Venezuela.

"The battle against drug smuggling has been an excuse that imperialists have used for several years to penetrate our country, trample our people and justify a military presence in Latin America," Chavez told reporters at Caracas' airport during a visit by his leftist ally Correa.

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2 US DC: PUB LTE: A Middle Ground On Drug PolicyThu, 14 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Sharpe, Robert Area:District of Columbia Lines:38 Added:12/16/2006

Kevin A. Sabet's prescription for a "third way" on drug laws [op-ed, Dec. 4] sounds a lot like the status quo. Reducing the gap between penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine possession while still leaving the arbitrary disparity intact is not the answer.

There is a viable middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce drug use, disease, death and crime rates among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use.

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3 US DC: PUB LTE: Treat Dope Less HarshlyMon, 11 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Newman, Robert Area:District of Columbia Lines:41 Added:12/15/2006

Regarding the Dec. 3 news story "Afghanistan Breaks Records for Opium Production": The Post reported that "after the overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S. forces . . . the Bush administration said that keeping a lid on production was among its highest priorities." And yet the flow of opium, nearly eliminated by the Taliban just a few years ago, is greater than ever. If this defines American effectiveness in pursuing one of the country's "highest priorities," one can only imagine what our record looks like with respect to other goals.

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4 US DC: PUB LTE: A Middle Ground On Drug PolicyThu, 14 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Mirken, Bruce Area:District of Columbia Lines:51 Added:12/15/2006

In arguing for a modest reform of cocaine sentencing laws, Kevin A. Sabet presents a false choice between "strict prohibition or lax legalization," and suggests that the only alternative to these extremes is to fine-tune the current drug war.

But at least in the case of marijuana, a "third way" exists: regulate marijuana as we do tobacco and alcohol, with licensed, taxed and regulated producers and merchants. To keep their licenses, such businesses would have to obey strict rules against selling to kids and would be subject to standards for labeling, purity and potency. Instead of the marijuana market being controlled by unregulated criminals, we'd know who and where sellers are and could monitor their operations.

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5 US DC: Editorial: Commute This SentenceSat, 09 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC)          Area:District of Columbia Lines:53 Added:12/09/2006

A Clemency Case Not Even President Bush Can Ignore -- or Can He?

THE SUPREME Court this week declined to review the case of Weldon Angelos, leaving in place his obscene sentence of 55 years in prison for small-time marijuana and gun charges. The high court's move is no surprise; the justices have tended to uphold draconian sentences against constitutional challenge. But it confronts President Bush with a question he will have to address: Is there any sentence so unfair that he would exert himself to correct it?

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6 US DC: OPED: A Third Way on Drug LawsMon, 04 Dec 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Sabet, Kevin A. Area:District of Columbia Lines:101 Added:12/04/2006

Some say that the state of Michoacan, deep in south Mexico, is where the "war on drugs" really started, back in 1985. It was there that Mexican drug lords upped the stakes by burying in a shallow grave the body of a young Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Enrique Camarena, whom they had kidnapped and killed. The U.S. Congress responded months later with strict anti-drug laws, including a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for anyone trafficking in five grams of crack cocaine or 500 grams of powder cocaine.

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7 US DC: Homeless Ministry Gets Back To BasicsThu, 23 Nov 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Duin, Julia Area:District of Columbia Lines:252 Added:11/26/2006

"He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord" -- Proverbs 19:17

From the Heart Back to Basics is a church for the homeless, the drug addicts, the criminals, the mentally ill, the hopeless and the lost.

"Isn't this what Christianity is supposed to be about?" asks the Rev. Milt Matthews, 59, its founding pastor. "Aren't we supposed to be seeking the lost, helping the poor and getting people functional? If we can't change people, then why are we Christians?"

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8 US DC: Edu: Experts Say Drug War Policies UnsuccessfulMon, 20 Nov 2006
Source:Eagle, The (American U, DC Edu) Author:Newhall, Marissa Area:District of Columbia Lines:87 Added:11/22/2006

The United States' international policies regarding the War on Drugs are hurting the environment and spreading anti-American sentiment throughout Central and South America while doing little to reduce drug use in the U.S., according to a panelist of drug policy experts who spoke at the national Students for Sensible Drug Policy conference Saturday.

The panelists voiced doubt about both the U.S.'s eradication policy, which includes spraying an industrial herbicide on coca crops with crop-dusting planes, and alternative development, which gives farmers incentive to grow crops other than coca.

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9 US DC: Student-Member ConferenceMon, 20 Nov 2006
Source:Roll Call (DC) Author:Hammon, Jamie Area:District of Columbia Lines:36 Added:11/20/2006

Roughly 300 high school and college students came to Capitol Hill on Friday to lobby Congress to reverse a higher education law that denies financial aid to an estimated 200,000 students with drug convictions. The students were in Washington, D.C., for a conference of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nonpartisan, grass-roots group that seeks drug policy reform.

After a "Lobbying 101" session, students dispersed to 85 meetings with Members and staff, said SSDP Campaigns Director Tom Angell.

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10 US DC: Students Protest Federal Law Cutting Aid To Minor DrugMon, 20 Nov 2006
Source:GW Hatchet (George Washington U, DC Edu) Author:Koutsoudakis, Mike Area:District of Columbia Lines:94 Added:11/20/2006

Students Protest Federal Law Cutting Aid To Minor Drug Offenders

Nathan Bush had the bad luck of being a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by police who uncovered a small stash of marijuana inside. The political science major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was charged with felony drug possession.

Craig Selken, now a senior majoring in history at Northern State University in South Dakota, was charged with a misdemeanor when officers found a small amount of marijuana in the common area of the dorm room he then shared with two roommates.

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11 US DC: Column: Building On Plan ColombiaSat, 04 Nov 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Sanchez, Marcela Area:District of Columbia Lines:94 Added:11/04/2006

Residents of Bojaya in the impoverished Colombian province of Choco know misery -- flooding for four months of each year, electricity two to three hours every couple of days, drinking water obtainable only through rain collection. Their one thing of value -- the town's location along the Atrato River -- landed them in the middle of a 10-year battle between the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the country's right-wing United Self-Defense Forces (AUC) as the groups vied for control of an important transit zone for illegal drugs and weapons.

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12 US DC: PUB LTE: Raising Awareness of the Higher Education ActMon, 23 Oct 2006
Source:Eagle, The (American U, DC Edu) Author:Sharpe, Robert Area:District of Columbia Lines:49 Added:10/25/2006

Dear Editor,

Thank you for raising awareness of the Higher Education Act's (HEA) denial of student loans to youth convicted of drug offenses. Instead of empowering at-risk students with a college degree, HEA limits career opportunities and increases the likelihood that those affected will resort to crime. Speaking of crime, convicted rapists and murderers are still eligible for federal student loans. Most students outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving drugs. An arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering.

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13 US DC: Column: Pot Proposals vs. Drug WarriorsSun, 22 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Sullum, Jacob Area:District of Columbia Lines:95 Added:10/22/2006

Nevada is known for gambling, 24-hour liquor sales and legal prostitution. Yet the main group opposing Question 7, an initiative on the state's ballot next month to allow sale and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults 21 or older, is called the Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable.

In Colorado, opponents of Amendment 44, which would eliminate penalties for adults possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, are equally certain of their own rectitude. "Those who want to legalize drugs weaken our collective struggle against this scourge," declares the Colorado Drug Investigators Association. "Like a cancer, proponents for legalization eat away at society's resolve and moral fiber."

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14 US DC: Column: Buzz KillMon, 16 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:McCaslin, John Area:District of Columbia Lines:52 Added:10/21/2006

First, it was Office of National Drug Control Policy Director John P. Walters contending last week that of the "roughly 7 million people we have as an estimate that need treatment because of dependence or abuse of illegal drugs, roughly 60 percent are dependent on marijuana."

To which Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project on Capitol Hill, responded that Mr. Walters was being "deliberately and rather brazenly disingenuous," because the majority of medical-treatment admissions he cited "were referred by the criminal justice system -- i.e., kids were arrested and offered treatment instead of jail."

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15 US DC: Edu: Drug Use May Limit AidThu, 19 Oct 2006
Source:Eagle, The (American U, DC Edu) Author:Franko, Elyse Area:District of Columbia Lines:92 Added:10/19/2006

A rising number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. may put marijuana-using students at greater risk of being denied financial aid, according to the non-profit Students for Sensible Drug Policy, but many AU students do not know about the legal provision which mandates this.

According to a 1998 provision of the Higher Education Act, federal financial aid is to be revoked for a minimum of one year on the first charge of drug possession and can be suspended indefinitely after the third charge.

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16 US DC: Doctor Will Remain In Prison Until RetrialThu, 12 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Markon, Jerry Area:District of Columbia Lines:81 Added:10/16/2006

Physician, Whose Drug Conviction Was Overturned, Deemed a Flight Risk

Former Northern Virginia pain-management doctor William E. Hurwitz, whose conviction on drug-trafficking charges was overturned, will not be released from prison until his retrial, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler said he was concerned that Hurwitz might flee after a federal jury in Alexandria convicted him in 2004 of running a drug conspiracy out of his McLean office and trafficking in narcotics. Hurwitz is perhaps the most prominent doctor to be targeted in a federal crackdown on what authorities call the over-prescribing of OxyContin and other painkillers.

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17 US DC: Colombia Sees Gains In Jobs, Drug War From US PactThu, 05 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Palmer, Doug Area:District of Columbia Lines:66 Added:10/07/2006

WASHINGTON - A U.S.-Colombia free trade pact that faces a battle in Congress next year could help both nations fight drug trafficking and boost employment in the Andean country, a Colombian trade official said on Thursday.

"A sound and formal economy will be the most powerful incentive to keep our people from being involved in undesirable activities," said Hernando Jose Gomez, Colombia's chief negotiator in the bilateral talks.

The United States has poured more than $3 billion in mainly military aid since 2000 into Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine.

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18 US DC: Column: 2 DC Courtrooms, 2 Very Different QuestsTue, 03 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Fisher, Marc Area:District of Columbia Lines:126 Added:10/03/2006

Two rooms, one block apart, two worlds:

In the federal courthouse downtown, a platoon of lawyers, representing easily $10,000 in nicely tailored wool suits, wage battle over the government's three-year investigation of Douglas Jemal, the daring developer who has done more than anyone else in Washington's private sector to transform a dead downtown into an alluring, vibrant cityscape.

Day after dreary day, before a jury that is nodding off and zoning out, government lawyers painstakingly plow through invoice after invoice -- janitorial services, building contractors, repairmen -- trying to build a case that Jemal ripped off the District's taxpayers by bribing a city official and landing highly profitable city leases.

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19 US DC: In Show of Prisoners' Artwork, It's Redemption That's On DisplaySun, 01 Oct 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Pierre, Robert E. Area:District of Columbia Lines:101 Added:10/01/2006

As visitors flipped through bins of paintings, lingering on the ones they liked, Anthony Papa couldn't help but recall what a paint and brush had done for him during the 12 years he was behind bars for distributing drugs. He had been desperate, and it was his first offense.

"Art saved my life," he said yesterday. "It helped me to retain my sanity and regain my freedom. The greatest thing for me was my discovery as an artist."

In a makeshift gallery in the basement of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington yesterday, the works of dozens of incarcerated people from across the country were on display. There were serene landscapes and joyous clowns as well as celebrity portraits, including Tupac Shakur, Malcolm X and Ray Charles. There were also sober renderings of prison life: a pair of shackled hands, a roll of toilet paper next to a barren toilet.

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20 US DC: PUB LTE: Illegal, but Easy to GetSat, 30 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Heath, Stephen Area:District of Columbia Lines:41 Added:09/30/2006

Stan White ["Maligned Marijuana," letters, Sept. 20] asked how long the Drug Enforcement Administration can keep marijuana away from Americans.

I dispute the notion that the agency is keeping marijuana from many citizens.

Save for the persistent efforts to place obstacles between patients and their medical marijuana, the millions of Americans who want marijuana don't have much trouble getting it.

Nor do users of other illicit drugs, despite decades of ever-escalating drug war policies carried out by the DEA.

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21 US DC: Movie Review: 'The U.S. vs. John Lennon': A Man Who Dared to DreamFri, 29 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Hornaday, Ann Area:District of Columbia Lines:110 Added:09/28/2006

One of the weirdest episodes in American history is engagingly chronicled in "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's revelatory documentary about the American government's surveillance of the former Beatle in the 1970s.

And readers tempted to write that episode off as yet another paranoid fantasy of The Left should take heed: "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" includes the firsthand testimony of the spies themselves, from apostate FBI agents to the unapologetic G. Gordon Liddy. It's all there on the record, for the benefit of those who care enough about history not to repeat it. And at a time when the country is engaged in fresh debates about the fragile relationship between privacy and national security, this particular chapter seems worth revisiting.

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22 US DC: Residents Say Drug Roundup Gave Some ReliefSat, 23 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Cauvin, Henri E. Area:District of Columbia Lines:111 Added:09/24/2006

Standing in the middle of a courtyard yesterday in the Woodland Terrace public housing complex, a 24-year-old mother said life in the Southeast neighborhood was a little better these days -- ever since police started taking down the drug dealers who have long operated openly in the complex.

"Before, this whole place would be crowded with people, with boys that don't even live around here," the mother said late yesterday afternoon, her son and daughter at her leg clamoring to go home.

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23 US DC: Key House GOP Members Support Dem Anti-Narcotic MeasureTue, 19 Sep 2006
Source:Hill, The (US DC) Author:Tiron, Roxana Area:District of Columbia Lines:139 Added:09/23/2006

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) may not have expected his $700 million amendment to the defense-spending bill to pass; Democratic amendments are usually shot down one by one.

But the senator's proposal to allocate money for narcotics eradication in Afghanistan passed by voice vote in early September.

It won the vote of the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) among others, and has support from several key GOP members in the House.

One is Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), chairman of the Government Reform subcommittee with jurisdiction over drug policy, who admitted on the House floor last week that he is "not always a big ally of Sen. Schumer."

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24 US DC: Edu: Progressive Student Groups Oppose Drug LegislationThu, 21 Sep 2006
Source:GW Hatchet (George Washington U, DC Edu) Author:Ramonas, Andrew Area:District of Columbia Lines:101 Added:09/21/2006

Members of a national progressive student organization with a GW chapter want to repeal a federal law that prohibits students with a criminal drug history of being eligible for financial aid.

According to a section of the Higher Education Act, legislation creating federal grant and loan programs for colleges and universities, students who have a drug conviction are unable to receive federal financial aid.

The national SSDP organization has filed a lawsuit against the government in an effort to repeal this section of the Higher Education Act.

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25 US DC: PUB LTE: Maligned MarijuanaWed, 20 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:White, Stan Area:District of Columbia Lines:29 Added:09/20/2006

It seems as if every week medical researchers, universities and journals report more benefits and therapies available from cannabis/marijuana ["Marijuana Aids Therapy," Vital Evidence, Sept. 13] with fewer side effects. How much longer can the Drug Enforcement Administration's reefer madness keep cannabis away from American citizens?

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

26 US DC: Access To Clean Needles Key To Reducing HIV In DrugWed, 20 Sep 2006
Source:Whitehorse Star (CN YK)          Area:District of Columbia Lines:77 Added:09/20/2006

WASHINGTON - A prestigious U.S. scientific body is urging governments to adopt politically controversial measures to cut the spread of HIV-AIDS among injection drug users.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine, commissioned by UNAIDS and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, suggests the scientific evidence is clear: programs that provide access to methadone therapy and clean syringes reduce the risk of transmission of HIV among people who inject illegal drugs.

"A clean needle won't prevent a sexual transmission. . . . But it will prevent a needle-borne transmission," Dr. Hugh Tilson, chair of the panel that wrote the report, said in an interview.

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27US DC: Afghan Heroin Biz Booms As US Nods, Chuck SezTue, 19 Sep 2006
Source:New York Daily News (NY) Author:Meek, James Gordon Area:District of Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:09/19/2006

WASHINGTON - With Afghanistan's record poppy crop supplying nearly all the world's heroin, lawmakers are questioning the Pentagon's narcotics-fighting efforts there.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld explain why he only requested $18 million to fight Afghan drug trafficking, which has helped fuel the Taliban's violent resurgence.

The U.S. military has only mounted three joint combat operations to hit opium processing labs with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration commando teams since agents arrived in Kabul 18 months ago, sources told the Daily News.

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28 US DC: Column: When Malls Stay Open on Sundays, the Pious PartyThu, 14 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Morin, Richard Area:District of Columbia Lines:73 Added:09/15/2006

Who knew Satan worked at the local mall?

While bars, cheap hotels and similar places of questionable repute may remain America's favorite spots to sin, two economists say that giving people an extra day to shop at the mall also contributes significantly to wicked behavior -- particularly among people who are the most religious.

Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Daniel M. Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame discovered the malevolent Mall Effect by studying what happened when states and counties repeal "blue laws." Those statutes prohibit the sale on Sunday of certain nonessential items, such as appliances, furniture and jewelry, typically sold in shopping malls, as well as liquor and cigarettes.

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29 US DC: PUB LTE: Drug Treatment: Essential, Effective, UnderfundedWed, 30 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Heit, Howard A. Area:District of Columbia Lines:47 Added:09/04/2006

In her Aug. 19 op-ed, "Treat the Addict, Cut the Crime Rate," Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, states indisputable facts about the economic and social implications of the lack of treatment of the brain disease of addiction. As a physician who treats patients with addiction, I have made this observation: No patient says, "When I grow up, I want to be an addict and go to jail." Most addicts feel, incorrectly, that addiction is a moral failing rather than a disease.

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30 US DC: LTE: Drug Treatment: Essential, Effective, UnderfundedWed, 30 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Weiner, Robert S. Area:District of Columbia Lines:34 Added:09/04/2006

Nora D. Volkow neglected the key element in her Aug. 19 op-ed -- funding. There is good reason that this brilliant Bush administration appointee would make her accurate point that surging rates of violent crime can be cut with drug treatment but neglect the part about funding such programs: During this administration, the anti-drug budget has been reduced from $19.2 billion in 2001 to $12.7 billion for fiscal 2007, a decline of about a third.

Robert S. Weiner

Accokeek

The writer was director of public affairs for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1995 to 2001.

[end]

31 US DC: OPED: Scold War BuildupFri, 01 Sep 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Hamilton, John R. Area:District of Columbia Lines:91 Added:09/02/2006

The Perils of Foreign Policy by Report Card

Attempts to explain the vehemence of anti-U.S. feeling abroad correctly home in on Iraq and other unpopular policies of the current administration. But over the past three decades the kudzu-like growth of another U.S. practice, used by Congress and by Democratic and Republican administrations alike, has nurtured seething resentment abroad.

This is what might be called "foreign policy by report card," the issuing of public assessments of the performance of other countries, with the threat of economic or political sanctions for those whose performance, in our view, doesn't make the grade. The overuse of these mandated reports makes us seem judgmental, moralistic and bullying.

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32 US DC: PUB LTE: Drug War Damaging To Families, SocietyTue, 29 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Examiner (DC) Author:Sharpe, Robert Area:District of Columbia Lines:42 Added:08/30/2006

Re: "Fixing Virginia's prison woes," by Ronald Fraser, Aug. 25

Virginia is not the only state grappling with overcrowded prisons. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.

A study conducted by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance-abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. And there is far more at stake than tax dollars.

The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior.

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33 US DC: Column: On This D.C. School System Quiz, No One SucceedsWed, 30 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Milloy, Courtland Area:District of Columbia Lines:127 Added:08/30/2006

Okay, teachers. It's your turn. The back-to-school pop quiz is not just for kids today. Here are six multiple-choice questions. Answer them correctly, and you'll also be able to answer the one question that boggled the best minds on the D.C. Council this summer: What is a "high-quality" education -- and how do you get one free?

Question One: In July, the D.C. Council considered placing on the November ballot a referendum on giving public school students the legal right to a "free, high-quality" education -- "with the term high-quality to be defined by local law enacted by the Council of the District of Columbia." But the idea was scrubbed because:

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34 US DC: OPED: Fixing Virginia's Prison WoesFri, 25 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Examiner (DC) Author:Fraser, Ronald Area:District of Columbia Lines:102 Added:08/27/2006

WASHINGTON - Sadly, America's first national prison commission in 30 years failed to tackle, head-on, our lock 'em up culture and to find ways to reduce the number of people behind bars in Virginia and elsewhere.

The commission's recent report is little more than a how-to manual to help wardens cope with overcrowded prisons that breed violence, disease and recidivism. What we really need is a road map to drastically shrink Virginia's prison population and, at the same time, save state taxpayers a lot of money.

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35 US DC: OPED: Treat the Addict, Cut the Crime RateSat, 19 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Volkow, Nora D. Area:District of Columbia Lines:108 Added:08/19/2006

There was a time when the nation's crime rate was front-page news. In the 1990s, the crime rate began to drop and we worried less. But a preliminary report released by the FBI in June shows an increase in robberies and violent crime in 2005. Inasmuch as drug abuse can facilitate criminal behavior, this is a good time to take a closer look at how the science in substance abuse has started to provide some answers on how to solve these problems.

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36 US DC: OPED: Black America Must Confront AIDSMon, 14 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Bond, Julian Area:District of Columbia Lines:101 Added:08/14/2006

It's been 25 years since we first learned of a disease that was killing a handful of white, gay men in a few of our nation's largest cities -- a disease that later became known as AIDS. But lulled by media images that portrayed AIDS mainly as a white, gay disease, we looked the other way: Those people weren't our people. AIDS was not our problem. It had not entered our house.

We had our own problems to deal with, so we let those people deal with their problem. But that was a quarter-century ago, and a lot has changed. Now, in 2006, almost 40 million people worldwide have HIV, and 25 million are dead. And most of those who have died and are dying are black. That's not just because of the devastation the pandemic has wreaked upon Africa.

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37 US DC: PUB LTE: Legalize DopeSun, 06 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Boudreaux, Donald J. Area:District of Columbia Lines:36 Added:08/09/2006

DeForest Rathbone rightly laments the thousands of deaths caused each year by drug abuse but wrongly asserts that legalizing drugs "would drive that horrific statistic much higher" ("Don't legalize dope," Letters, Monday). On the contrary, it's the current system of prohibition that keeps this statistic inhumanely high. If drugs were legalized, addicts would more readily seek treatment. Also, suppliers would be under competitive and legal pressures not only to ensure the quality of their products, but to standardize information about dosages.

Furthermore, sellers would lose incentives to push drugs to schoolchildren. Anyone who doubts this claim should ask himself when he last saw Anheuser-Busch or Seagram's peddling their intoxicating wares on schoolyards.

Donald J. Boudreaux

Chairman Department of Economics

George Mason University

Fairfax

[end]

38 US DC: Column: U.S. Fish and (Blocked) ServiceMon, 07 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Kamen, Al Area:District of Columbia Lines:48 Added:08/07/2006

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service folks can forget about online gambling or learning about cultivating weed or watching porn at work. There's a new computer filter that will "block inappropriate use of the Internet," acting deputy director Kenneth B. Stansell writes in a recent memo.

Yes, indeed, it's time to focus on fish and furry creatures. "What types of websites will be blocked?" the memo asks. Plenty of your favorites, is the answer. Sites with "nude or semi-nude human forms" or ones "that describe sexual acts or activity," as well as those focused on "sex-oriented businesses such as clubs, nightclubs and escort services."

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39 US DC: Column: Housing That Means FreedomSun, 06 Aug 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Broder, David S. Area:District of Columbia Lines:105 Added:08/06/2006

CHICAGO -- What I saw here on a recent summer weekend was a sight I never imagined. I am not referring to two-year-old Millennium Park, the stunning mixture of greenery and architecture that has been built over the old railroad yards east of Michigan Avenue. I am talking about another of Mayor Richard M. Daley's legacies, the mixed-income townhouse and apartment developments south and west of the Loop that have replaced those 16-story monuments to drugs, despair and degradation that were the landmarks of Chicago's public housing for 50 years.

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40 US DC: LTE: Don't Legalize DopeMon, 31 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Rathbone, Deforest Area:District of Columbia Lines:55 Added:08/01/2006

Terry Michael's column ("Legalize drugs," Op-Ed, July 24) and three letters to the editor on Thursday all titled "Legalize drugs" try to make the point that the nation would be better off if it just legalized drugs. But that idea is dangerous and preposterous given the evidence we have today of the influence that mind-altering and addictive substances have in destroying children, families, schools and communities.

Currently, drugs directly cause about 3,000 overdose deaths each month, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is the equivalent of the deaths on September 11 occurring every month year in and year out. Legalizing drugs would drive that horrific statistic much higher.

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41 US DC: Column: Have Ban, Will TravelSat, 29 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Sullum, Jacob Area:District of Columbia Lines:97 Added:07/29/2006

Although they supposedly speak English in England, they have different names for certain things. When they say "lift," they mean "elevator." "Lorry" is their word for "truck." And to them a "businessman" is what we call a "racketeer."

David Carruthers, former chief executive officer of Bet-OnSports, discovered the significance of that difference during a recent layover at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, where he was arrested for helping Americans bet on sports. His arrest is part of a larger attempt by the U.S. government to impose its brand of repressive paternalism on countries with more tolerant policies.

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42 US DC: PUB LTE: Legalize DrugsThu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Mirken, Bruce Area:District of Columbia Lines:41 Added:07/27/2006

Terry Michael suggests many reasons to question America's so-called war on drugs and its peculiar obsession with marijuana, but one seems particularly obvious: It hasn't worked, most obviously in the case of marijuana.

The Justice Department's Drug Threat Assessment 2006 reports, "Marijuana availability is high and stable or increasing slightly" despite an all-time record number of marijuana arrests -- 771,984 in 2004. Eighty-nine percent of those arrests were for possession -- more arrests for marijuana possession than for all violent crimes combined.

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43 US DC: PUB LTE: Legalize DrugsThu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Muse, Kirk Area:District of Columbia Lines:41 Added:07/27/2006

Thank you for publishing Terry Michael's outstanding Op-Ed column, "Legalize drugs" (Monday). When we legalized alcohol in 1933 after Prohibition, we didn't surrender to the alcohol cartels - we put them out of business.

When we legalize, regulate, tax and control our now-unregulated, untaxed and uncontrolled drugs, our overall crime rate will decline substantially. The drug dealers, drug lords and drug cartels will be put out of business overnight, and our robust prison-building industry will come to a screeching halt.

[continues 122 words]

44 US DC: PUB LTE: Legalize DrugsThu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Sharpe, Robert Area:District of Columbia Lines:48 Added:07/27/2006

Terry Michael did a good job listing the societal harms caused by the drug war in "Legalize drugs," but he forgot to mention that the drug war simply doesn't work. Creating a punitive nanny state has not resulted in lower rates of drug use. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that punishes people who prefer marijuana to martinis.

[continues 166 words]

45 US DC: OPED: Legalize DrugsMon, 24 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Michael, Terry Area:District of Columbia Lines:122 Added:07/24/2006

An open letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch: stop reefer madness here, as well as in Dubai.

Mr. Hatch, you have demonstrated willingness to act beyond ideology, when a practical approach makes more sense than "conservative" or "liberal" purity.

You did so recently, for an American victim of draconian drug penalties of the United Arab Emirates. This is an appeal for your leadership to stop the equally devastating American "War on Drugs."

Many officials admit behind closed doors that our drug policy needs radical revision. Few will say so publicly. This "third rail" of politics is exacerbated by the collusion of mainstream media, suspending usual rules of journalistic practice, publishing government propaganda without quoting critics of drug-war policy.

[continues 725 words]

46 US DC: Lonise Bias Brings A Message Of Tragedy And HopeSun, 23 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Norris, Stephen A. Area:District of Columbia Lines:83 Added:07/24/2006

Mother Of Deceased Maryland Star Speaks At Basketball Camp

Don and Maryjo Vanwingerden haven't had a son on the verge of NBA stardom, but they are able to relate to the pain Lonise Bias spoke of Thursday night at Dan Lawray's Basketball Camp at Benton Middle School.

In June 1986, Lonise Bias's son Len, arguably the greatest basketball player in University of Maryland basketball history, died of a cocaine overdose two days after being selected No. 2 in the NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. Four years later, Lonise lost a second son, Jay, who was shot to death.

[continues 546 words]

47 US DC: LTE: Len Bias's LegacySun, 09 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Puglisi, Gemma Area:District of Columbia Lines:57 Added:07/09/2006

I appreciated The Post's coverage of the 20th anniversary of the death of college basketball great Len Bias, particularly Michael Wilbon's June 19 Sports column ["The Story of Bias's Death Should Always Have Life"].

I worked at NBC News at the time of the University of Maryland basketball star's death. A few years later, I decided to produce a segment with correspondent Bill Schechner for "Sunday Today" on Len's mom, Lonise Bias. Bill and I spent some time taping Lonise as she spoke to students, prisoners and teens about the dangers of drugs.

[continues 290 words]

48 US DC: House Told Criminals Swelling Alien TideSat, 08 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Times (DC) Author:Hurt, Charles Area:District of Columbia Lines:87 Added:07/09/2006

Most of the people who sneak across the border are no longer good people in search of honest work, the sheriff of a border county in Texas told a House subcommittee yesterday, but rather criminals who belong to gangs and drug cartels.

"For years we have seen individuals enter the country illegally," said Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr., sheriff of Zapata County. "However, recently we feel that many of these persons are no longer entering the country to look for legitimate employment. We are now seeing that many of these persons are members of ruthless and violent gangs."

[continues 478 words]

49 US DC: PUB LTE: Customs Crosses the LineSat, 01 Jul 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Nadelmann, Ethan Area:District of Columbia Lines:37 Added:07/02/2006

Rush Limbaugh's detention by border control officials for possession of Viagra without a prescription in his name has crossed over into the absurd [The Reliable Source, June 27].

Tens of millions of Americans take pharmaceutical drugs, sometimes many of them. Some people like to put all their medications in one container or a pillbox, or to keep the original prescription container at home so it doesn't get lost. When the amount is small enough to indicate it is almost certainly for personal use, it seems ludicrous for Customs officials or anyone else to hassle people about it.

[continues 55 words]

50 US DC: OPED: Undo This Legacy of Len Bias's DeathSat, 24 Jun 2006
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Sterling, Eric E. Area:District of Columbia Lines:95 Added:06/23/2006

When Len Bias, the basketball star, overdosed on cocaine 20 years ago, Len Bias, the symbol, was born. To many he symbolized the corruption of college athletics -- stars whose academic performance is poor, if not irrelevant, but who are essential to bringing in donations and other revenue. To others, he became the object lesson: Cocaine is dangerous, don't do it, you can die. For yet others, Bias symbolizes the danger that arises when a powerful symbol overwhelms careful judgment about what ought to be the law.

[continues 613 words]


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