Stop illegal gov't actions against drug law reform

HELP STOP ILLEGAL GOV'T EFFORTS AGAINST DRUG POLICY REFORM

Most IndyMedia readers already know that U.S. drug laws (and the largely U.S.-imposed drug Prohibition of many other countries) are in need of serious reform. We also know that mainstream politicians aren't too interested in making the needed reforms, and some have gone out of their way to block reform (as when Congress first barred a vote count on a medical marijuana initiative in Washington DC, then blocked all funding to implement the initiative when it passed 70-30).

What you may not know is that some politicians are engaging in illegal activities as part of their anti-reform efforts. I'm posting this article in the hopes that others will either take action by writing to their Congresspeople (boring, but potentially effective), or at least pass this information on to others who might be interested. My own sample letter to my Congressfolk is attached below.

One such case involves the DEA website (http://www.dea.gov). This site includes almost 30 pages of information on "Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization" (see below for URL), including one page which contains the following gems:

"[M]any who advocate legalization are attempting to 'normalize' drug use, and that many may be people who have tried drugs without significant adverse consequences. Others see potential profit in legalizing drugs..."

So the DEA is taking an official public position to the effect that drug-law reformers are druggies and/or cynical profiteers who are ignorant of the potential harms of drug abuse. Now, the DEA, like the Justice Department of which it is a part, is an enforcement agency. It is not supposed to publicly lobby either for or against current laws. And yet the content of these pages-- clearly propaganda, and maybe slanderous to reformers as well-- is presented as "the position of the Drug Enforcement Administration", a clear breach of the DEA's enforcement-only mandate.

In a way, this may not seem like much-- we're so used to overzealous anti-drug propaganda that this kind of thing seems normal. In fact, that makes it all the more important that we take action. The DEA and the public need to know that it is not appropriate for enforcement agents and agencies, who have a financial stake in continued drug Prohibition, to be spending taxpayer dollars on a campaign supporting continued drug Prohibition. The conflict of interest is plain. And if we don't stop this kind of arrogance at the DEA, harmless though it may seem to some, we will see similar misbehavior elsewhere.

Like in Ohio, where reformers from the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies are trying to place a treatment-not-jail initiative on the November ballot (similar to California's Proposition 36 [http://www.prop36.org], which passed in November 2000 and has been a resounding success since going into effect in July 2001). There, Governor Taft of Ohio, along with his wife and many of their staff, have also been illegally misusing taxpayer money to develop an overtly political campaign against the proposed initiative. While on the clock and receiving government pay, the Ohio group met in government buildings (including the US Senate) with fellow drug warriors from other states and from the federal government, to discuss how to "beat back the initiative nationwide, not just state-by-state". Once again, this is illegal: the government is using YOUR tax dollars to tell you what to think about drug policy, and to actively campaign against anyone proposing a change in current policy. Independent journalist Daniel Forbes (of Salon.com fame) broke the Ohio story in a report to the Institute for Policy Studies (see below for URL).

Visit the DEA website, read the Forbes report, and then consider sending a fax or snail-mail to your Senators and Representative (visit http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov/writerep to find out who they are and where to write them). My own sample letter is included below; feel free to use it as a template, but if possible you shuold change it at least a little bit (add something about how this affects you personally, your state more than other states, etc.). Again, this kind of activism isn't particularly exciting, but it's all part of our long-term effort to change the political climate so that politicians can no longer assume they can get away with absolutely anything in the name of their War on (certain) drugs, i.e. the war on minorities and "counterculture".

Other drug policy links:
http://www.csdp.org Common Sense for Drug Policy
http://www.drugpolicy.org Drug Policy Alliance (formerly Lindesmith Center)
http://www.mapinc.org Media Awareness Project (Internet activism)

Please write to me at drugpolicyfocus [at] hotmail.com with any questions or comments.


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SAMPLE LETTER TO SENATOR

Senator Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Senate Building
Washington DC 20510

June 21, 2002

Senator Feinstein:

In the last few years, there's been a growing public debate on possible alternatives to the U.S. "war" on (certain) drugs. As your constituent, I am writing to object to the position that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has taken in this ongoing debate.

The DEA, like the Justice Department of which it is a part, is an enforcement agency. It is not supposed to publicly lobby either for or against current laws. At its Web site, however, the DEA maintains a set of pages entitled "Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization" [1]. There are over 20 pages filled with text, political cartoons, charts, and other material, exhorting visitors to do everything they can to resist what the DEA perceives as a growing campaign for "legalization" (their misleading term for any change in the current drug laws). The content of these pages is presented as "the position of the Drug Enforcement Administration" [2], a clear breach of the DEA's enforcement-only mandate.

It's not just the general principle, but the content of the pages that is objectionable. Among its more outrageous claims, the DEA site suggests that "many who advocate legalization are attempting to 'normalize' drug use, and that many may be people who have tried drugs without significant adverse consequences. Others see potential profit in legalizing drugs..."[3]

So the DEA is taking an official public position to the effect that drug-law reformers are druggies and/or cynical profiteers who are ignorant of the potential harms of drug abuse. This is clearly propaganda, and might be considered slander as well. It certainly doesn't belong on the taxpayer-funded website of a federal enforcement agency.

Unfortunately, this is not the only case in which federal and state officials have illegally used taxpayer funds to campaign against drug-policy reform. In Ohio, where reformers are trying to place a treatment-not-jail initiative on the November ballot (similar to California's Proposition 36), Governor Taft's office has worked with federal officials (and their staff) from the U.S. Senate, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and the DEA to illegally campaign against that ballot initiative. As detailed in journalist Daniel Forbes' report to the Institute for Policy Studies [4], this illegal campaign was (and is perhaps still being) waged at taxpayer expense, with the conspirators meeting and acting "under color of office", in government facilities (including the East Front 100 room of the U.S. Senate), while "on the clock" and receiving government pay. Among the federal officials involved are William Olson from the office of Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA); Mary Ann Solberg, ONDCP Deputy Director; and DEA special agent Rich Isaacson.

I urge you to visit the DEA site, to read Mr. Forbes' report, and then to seek an investigation of these unethical and wasteful uses of taxpayer dollars for political campaigns. Whatever one's position on drug-policy and reform may be, it should be obvious that the government officials involved in these campaigns have crossed the line from legitimate policy debate into illegal political campaigning on the taxpayer's dime. In the name of government integrity in Washington and nationwide, please do whatever you can to stop this illegal and unethical activity.

I look forward to learning your thoughts on this important matter.

Yours,

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[1] See http://www.dea.gov/demand/druglegal/index.html
[2] See http://www.dea.gov/demand/druglegal/intro.htm
[3] See http://www.dea.gov/demand/druglegal/06dl.htm
[4] Full report: see http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/drugpolicy/ohio.pdf
Web page: see http://www.ips-dc.org/projects/drugpolicy/ohio.htm