Drug Watch International

DRUG WATCH WORLD NEWS

DRUG INJECTION ROOMS — NOT IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

The explicit or tacit approval of so-called drug injection rooms, or 'shooting galleries', are seen as a step in the direction of drug legalisation, according to the views of the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). In its just released annual report, the Board points out that the existence and acceptance of facilities where addicts may inject themselves with illicit substances, not only promotes tolerance towards illegal drug use and trafficking but also runs counter to the provisions of the international drug control treaties. Drug injection rooms have been established in a number of developed countries and are under consideration in others.

The Board, which is mandated to monitor how Governments implement the provisions of the international drug control treaties, examined whether such drug injection rooms are in conformity with the provisions of the treaties and concluded that they are not in line with the international drug control treaties.

In its current 1999 report, the Board stresses its belief that, "any national, state or local authority that permits the establishment and operation of such drug injection rooms also facilitates illicit drug trafficking."

The Board further reminds Governments that they "have an obligation to combat illicit drug trafficking in all its forms. The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Drug Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988, requires parties to establish possession and purchase of drugs for personal (non-medical) consumption as a criminal offence."

The drug control treaties also require Governments to take action against illicit drug trafficking. "By permitting injection rooms, a Government could be considered to be in contradiction of the international drug control conventions by facilitating in, aiding and/or abetting the commission of possession and use crimes, as well as other criminal offences, including drug trafficking. In this regard, it should be recalled that many decades ago, the drug control conventions were established precisely to eliminate places such as opium dens, where drugs could be abused with impunity."

Instead of establishing injection rooms or similar outlets, the Board "encourages Governments to provide a wide range of treatment facilities, including the medically supervised administration of prescription drugs, in line with sound medical practice and the international drug control conventions."  (INCB press release, 2/23/00)

DRUG WATCH EYE-OPENERS
By:  Sheila Fuller

BEWARE!  Coming soon to your neighborhood — needle exchange

Advocates of needle exchange programs (NEP's) continue to demand that communities set up needle giveaways to addicts despite mounting evidence that these programs increase drug use, spread AIDS, and devalue neighborhoods.  Even as new programs spring up, angry residents (upset by crime, squalor, and drug trafficking) are forcing existing programs to shut down.

Consider the experience of a young mother and her little girl in the Mission Hills area of Boston.  The two saw police and EMS workers revive an unconscious addict in the vacant lot next door and then leave.  The addict remained, stumbled over to the woman's front gate, vomited, defecated, and directed a stream of four letter words at her and her child as they looked on in horror.  Next, the addict accosted a trash collector, loudly describing the sexual favors she would perform for him for $10.  The police said they couldn't remove her, and they couldn’t confiscate her “works” (syringes, alcohol swabs, bleach, etc.), because she had a needle exchange card.

A needle exchange program (NEP) in Willimantic, Connecticut, was closed down some four years after it was opened.  Residents were horrified when a child was stabbed by a dirty needle thrown into the bushes in her yard.  The director of the NEP admitted that not all the needles handed out were re-collected as they should have been after use.  This was not surprising since the official count of dirty needles found discarded in the area was 369.  Clinics are required to re-collect all used needles to prevent addicts from sharing dirty needles and thus spreading the AIDS virus.  Re-collecting has low priority, and needles keep turning up in the darndest places.  Diners in a restaurant in Darien, Connecticut, discovered a discarded dirty needle beneath their dinner table!

On the lower East Side of Manhattan, a citizens' group, tired of finding fresh trails of addicts' blood on sidewalks in the mornings, is engaged in a battle to rid their neighborhood of its NEP.  Posing as an addict, one resident visited the local needle giveaway where a very young aide did not require that she give her name, gave her 40 clean needles, showed her how to “shoot up” so that her veins wouldn't show it, and told her that she didn't have to return the needles.

Baltimore's residents have not been successful in getting rid of the entrenched needle program in their city.  Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke refused to admit the damage done by NEPs and backed funding for them throughout his tenure of office.  Baltimore's statistics tell the story.  In the 1950s, 1,000,000 lived in Baltimore, and roughly 300 of them were addicts.  Today, 600,000 people live in Baltimore, and 60,000 of them are addicts, nearly all heroin addicts.

If you hear rumblings that your local government plans to set up an NEP in your area, begin forming a citizens' group to fight it now.  It will save you the trouble of having to form one after the program is established and drug addicts and traffickers have taken over your neighborhood.

References:  Lea Cox, Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention, Inc.
Coalition for a Better Community, NYC
Kevin Kiss, Former Selectman, Willimantic, Connecticut

 GOVERNMENTS WARNED!

On February 23, 2000, the United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released its annual report.  The report contained a warning to governments that any “outlet” set up to facilitate drug use by any means violates international drug control treaties.

176. Drug injection rooms, where addicts may inject themselves with illicit substances, are being established in a number of developed countries, often with the approval of national and/or local authorities.  The Board reminds Governments that they have an obligation to combat illicit drug trafficking in all its forms. Parties to the 1988 Convention are required, subject to their constitutional principles and the basic concepts of their legal systems, to establish as a criminal offence the possession and purchase of drugs for personal (non-medical) consumption. By permitting drug injection rooms, a Government could be considered to be in contravention of the international drug control treaties by facilitating in, aiding and/or abetting the commission of crimes involving illegal drug possession and use, as well as other criminal offences, including drug trafficking. The international drug control treaties were established many decades ago precisely to eliminate places, such as opium dens, where drugs could be abused with impunity.

HEMP — TIME FOR COMMONSENSE 
By: Bill Walluks
Chief, Strategic Intelligence Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Wisconsin Department of Justice

Winter must be over, because the hemp advocates’ annual rite of spring has started.  The hempsters onslaught against common sense and sound research began early this year.  In February, they persuaded an Illinois Senate Agriculture Committee to approve a proposal to conduct research on hemp production.    

Illinois is faced with another round of pro-hemp activity.  In February, the Illinois Senate Agriculture Committee approved a proposal to conduct research on hemp production.  Last year, the Illinois House Agriculture Committee endorsed a pro-hemp resolution to the U. S. Congress. 

Hemp advocates told Illinois legislators that “fiber” marijuana hemp is easily distinguished from "drug" marijuana hemp, a claim that is untrue.  Fiber hemp, although of low THC content, is nonetheless attractive to drug users and especially to children.  Fiber hemp is not only abuseable as a drug, it can be used to "cut" or dilute high-potency drug hemp.   IDEA, the volunteer drug prevention network, has stepped to the forefront to educate legislators, farmers, and Illinois citizens.  

The eminent marijuana researcher, Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly, recently wrote, "Fiber hemp can have significant potential for narcotic applications."  Hemp would be especially dangerous to children, because "The threshold THC concentration (below which hemp would have no significant psychoactive/hallucinogenic properties) has not been determined.  It would depend on the naivety of the user and the degree of sensitivity to psychoactivity."

The Wisconsin Department of Justice demonstrated that wild marijuana, with 1 percent or less THC potency, is often diverted to the illicit drug market.  Marijuana of the same approximate potency as proposed for “industrial” hemp was used to get high in the 1960s.

Make no mistake about it.  Hemp products are often used to legitimize marijuana.  The marijuana leaf symbol on hemp clothing and other hemp products provides a clear link to the drug culture and refutes the claim that there is no relationship between “industrial” marijuana hemp and “drug” marijuana hemp.

Fiber hemp is not easily distinguishable from drug hemp.   Drug plants can be easily concealed in fiber fields, and only careful inspection can detect them.   Visual differentiation is possible in a field of hemp grown for fiber, but not in a field of hemp grown for seed.  Seedlings and plants grown for seed of both varieties of hemp are visually indistinguishable, as is the dried product chopped up for smoking.  Only expensive laboratory analysis can tell the difference.  

Hemp advocates also told legislators that hemp can improve family farming operations.  Hemp is not a boon to family farmers.  The U. S. Department of Agriculture, responsible for identifying and promoting good agricultural practices, recently published a research report stating that fiber hemp has very limited economic potential.  The report said, "The U.S. market for hemp fibers is, and will likely remain, a small, thin market." 

Farmers and non-farmers must learn the facts.  All citizens can suffer if farmers are misled into making a poor crop selection decision.  Canadian hemp growers are having a tough time being paid for their crops, and European countries subsidize the hemp farmer.  Because the truth about the small market potential for hemp is reaching policy makers and farmers, hemp proponents have changed their tactics.  They now admit the market is not there and say that hemp should first be legalized and then the markets will develop.  This is wishful thinking.  Do we really want to increase drug availability with fields of marijuana hemp on the chance that a “hemp market” will develop?  

The one sure outcome of legalized hemp would be increased drug problems, especially among the young, as hemp crops found their way into illicit drug-distribution channels.  Spring is always a welcome sight.  How much more welcome it would be without hempsters pushing a psychoactive product on which children can become dependent.  

LEGALIZING DRUGS IS A BAD IDEA
By:  Barry R. McCaffrey, Director
Office of National Drug Control Policy

The so-called harm-reduction approach to drugs confuses people with terminology.  All drug policies claim to reduce harm. No reasonable person advocates a position consciously designed to be harmful.  The real question is, “Which policies actually decrease harm and increase good?”  The approach advocated by people who say they favor harm reduction would in fact harm Americans.

The theory behind what some folks call harm reduction is that illegal drugs cannot be controlled by law enforcement, education, and other methods.  Therefore, proponents say, harm should be reduced by needle exchange, decriminalization of drugs, heroin maintenance, and other measures.  But the real intent of many harm reduction advocates is the legalization of drugs, which would be a mistake.  New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, who favors drug legalization, was overwhelmingly condemned by his state senate for this irresponsible position.

The plain truth is that drug abuse wrecks lives.  It is criminal that more money is spent on illegal drugs than on art or higher education, crack babies are born addicted and in pain, and thousands of adolescents lose their health and future to drugs. Addictive drugs were criminalized because they are harmful; they are not harmful because they were criminalized.  The more a product is available and legitimized, the greater will be its use.  If drugs were legalized in the United States, the cost to the individual and society would grow astronomically.

Many advocates of so-called harm reduction consider drug use a part of the human condition that will always be with us.  While we agree that murder, theft, and other evils can never be eliminated entirely, no one is arguing that we legalize these activities.

Treatment must differ significantly from the disease it seeks to cure.  Otherwise, the solution resembles the circular reasoning spoofed in Saint-Exupery’s "The Little Prince" by the character who drinks because he has a terrible problem: namely, that he is a drunk.  Just as alcohol is no help for alcoholism, heroin is no cure for heroin addiction.

As a society, we are successfully addressing drug use and its consequences.  In the past 20 years, drug use in the United States decreased by half and casual cocaine use by 70 percent.  Drug-related murders and spending on drugs decreased by more than 30 percent as the illegal drug market shrunk.

Still, we are faced with many challenges, including educating a new generation of children who may have little experience with the negative consequences of drug abuse.  We also must increase access to treatment for four million addicted Americans, and we must break the cycle of drugs and crime that has caused massive growth in the number of people incarcerated.  We need prevention programs, treatment, and alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug law offenders.  Drug legalization is not a viable policy alternative because excusing harmful practices encourages them.

At best, harm reduction is a half-way measure, a half-hearted approach that would accept defeat. Increasing help is better than decreasing harm.  Pretending that harmful activity will be reduced if we condone it under the law is foolhardy and irresponsible.

Barry McCaffrey was confirmed by unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate as Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on 29 February 1996.  He serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet, the President’s Drug Policy Council, and the National Security Council for drug-related issues.  By law, the Director certifies the $17.8 billion federal drug control budget and develops the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy.

Barry McCaffrey graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and the U.S. Military Academy.  He holds a Master of Arts degree in civil government from American University and taught American government, national security studies, and comparative politics at West Point.  He attended Harvard University’s National Security Program, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an associate member of the Inter-American Dialogue.

Prior to confirmation as ONDCP Director, General McCaffrey was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces Southern Command, coordinating national security operations in Latin America.  During his military career, he served overseas for 13 years, which included four combat tours.   At retirement from active duty, General McCaffrey was the most highly decorated and youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army. 

THE NATIONAL YOUTH ANTI-DRUG MEDIA CAMPAIGN
By:  Francis X. Kinney
Director of Strategy, Office of National Drug Control Policy

ONDCP’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign uses the full range of modern media, from television to sports marketing, from the Internet to radio, to give America’s young people the facts about drug use. The campaign also reaches out to the adults — parents, mentors, teachers, coaches, clergy, and others — to encourage them to get involved in the lives of our children and to steer them away from drugs and toward bright futures. The goal of the campaign — to help our children stay drug-free — is one we can all agree on and be proud of.

The anti-drug media campaign is a matter of law. Congress dictated that funds be spent for partnerships with “... professional groups ... [and] entertainment industry collaborations to fashion anti-drug messages...” Everything about this campaign has been conducted publicly with multiple congressional hearings, extensive news coverage, and a widely visited Web site (446,596 hits). http://www.mediacampaign.org

Congress sensibly requires media outlets to match federal anti-drug advertising dollars on a one-for-one basis.  Networks, magazines, and newspapers may elect to make this match with content, public service activities, or free advertising.  In connection with programming content,

ONDCP offers television networks and other media outlets a wide array of information, material, and expertise.  Anyone can contact us to receive accurate data and other scientific facts related to drugs.  Our goal is to encourage realistic depictions of drug-related issues, including the consequences of drug abuse.

In less than two years, the campaign’s messages have become commonplace in the lives of America’s youth and parents.  From network television advertisements to school-based educational materials, from youth basketball backboards to Internet Web sites, and from cultural community festivals to sitcom story lines, anti-drug messages have been conveyed to Americans.  During the past year, accurate drug information reached 95 percent of America’s youth at least eight times a week through advertising.  We are conveying anti-drug messages in 11 languages.  The strategic use of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian media vehicles is enhancing the credibility and impact of ads and programs dealing with this theme.

The media campaign has generated more than 265,000 public-service spots on radio and television.  These messages support 44 national organizations whose issues include underage alcohol and tobacco use, parenting skills, mentoring, and structured activities for youngsters’ groups, ranging from the 100 Black Men to the Boy and Girl Scouts.  Due to the pro-bono match component, our campaign is responsible for an overall increase in Public Service Announcements reported by the Ad Council. 

Young people are listening to our drug prevention messages.  Juvenile drug use in America decreased by 13 percent in 1998.  Illegal drugs cost this country more than $100 billion dollars and 52,000 deaths a year.  The federal investment in the media campaign is money well spent.

 Francis X. (Pancho) Kinney is the director of Strategic Planning for The Office of National Drug Control Policy, The White House.  He is an advisor on the comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for, and cut the supply of, drugs in America.  Mr. Kinney is a principal contributor to the President’s National Drug Control Strategy and a key player in the conceptualization, planning, and execution of national drug policies.

Mr. Kinney graduated from West Point in 1977.  He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a master’s degree in strategy from the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies. After 21 years of service, Mr. Kinney retired in 1998 from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.

WHY NEEDLE HANDOUTS WILL NOT WORK
By:  Eric A. Voth, M.D., FACP
Chairman, The International Drug Strategy Institute

In the summer edition of Drug Watch World News, I discussed some of the issues surrounding needle exchange programs (NEPs).  Specifically, Hepatitis B and C have been found to have higher prevalence among NEP participants in Seattle; HIV has higher prevalence among NEP participants in Montreal; and the HIV prevalence in Vancouver, a city with the largest NEP in North America, is 23 percent among IV drug addicts.

The theory behind NEPs originally had some superficial merit, i.e., give addicts clean needles, and they will use them instead of dirty needles, thus not spreading HIV and hepatitis.  As with many theories, reality has crept in, as mounting research demonstrates that NEPs are spreading the very diseases they were designed to curb. Interestingly, the public health community has doggedly held onto needle handouts as a centerpiece of their health policy.  Perhaps they are desperately holding onto NEPs for lack of what they perceive to be better alternatives.  A basic understanding of the neurochemistry of drug use and addiction should help us understand how “Harm Reduction” policies, such as needle-handouts and heroin handouts, are doomed to fail.

When an intoxicating drug is ingested, changes take place at the cellular level.  In short, neurotransmitters (nerve stimulators) are dumped into the nerve synapse (the area between cells that allows transmission of a nerve signal), and an intense feeling of euphoria is felt. Depending on the drug that is used, different sensations are caused by different neurotransmitters.  The intensity of stimulation also varies from drug to drug.   Typically, one of the most intensely stimulated areas of the brain is the limbic region, which controls appetite, satiety, sexual gratification, and most pleasure responses.  Cocaine, for instance, stimulates this region so intensely that individuals will seek repeated intoxication over food, sleep, and even sex.  This stimulation can be so intense that addicts experience salivation, feeling excitement, and even arousal as drug use is anticipated.  Some users feel intoxication from the needle penetrating their vein.  Once the drug is ingested and the initial euphoria is experienced, there are usually accompanying changes.  Depending on the drug, there may also be secondary effects of sedation, stimulation, changes in coordination, or other behavioral changes.

In the face of this stimulation and this intensely pleasureful response, the supporters of “Harm Reduction” policy expect the drug user to demonstrate “responsible” behavior.  They expect the young person to drink “responsibly” and fall back on a designated driver.  They expect the user to only use a little marijuana, cocaine, or other drugs.  They expect the user to stop before becoming “too” intoxicated.  They expect the intravenous user to not share needles, to use only clean needles, and to carefully dispose of the dirty ones!  Some Soros-funded harm reductionists have even offered “safe” drug use kits, encouraging smoking crack instead of injecting with needles!

Certainly, you can see how ridiculous this becomes.  The most reliable way to eliminate diseases associated with drug use is to separate the user from the intoxicant.  This is more easily said than done.  Aggressive outreach programs, incentive programs, and even forced sobriety situations have greater potential than these flawed “Harm Reduction” programs.  It is time for the public health community to admit error and find new, innovative interventions on drug use and related diseases.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
(January, 2000)

References available on request.  Send self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Drug Watch World News, P.O. Box 318, Carlinville, Illinois  62626

The risk of heart attack is 24 times higher the first hour after using cocaine, according to the first large study of the long suspected tie between the drug and heart disease.  “Cocaine significantly increases the risk of heart attack in individuals who are otherwise at low risk.” (Dr. Murray Mittleman, researcher at the Institute for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston.  HNN 6/1/99.)

Cocaine goes straight to the heart.  It sends the coronary arteries into spasms, and University of Michigan researchers recently found that the drug also encourages the immune system to turn on healthy cardiac tissue. (Michael Day, New Scientist, Jan. 22, 2000.  HNN 1/24/00.)

According to a Dutch newspaper, 13 of 17 owners of coffee shops where marijuana products are sold in Enschede, the Netherlands, have a criminal record. (Algemeen Dagblad, 1/14/00.  HNN 1/23/00.)

Peter Lewis, a wealthy businessman from Ohio who helped bankroll various efforts in the United States to soften drug laws, was arrested when entering New Zealand with more than three and one-half ounces of Hashish and marijuana.  The charges carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail; however, the Judge released the suspect without conviction and suppressed his name from publication in New Zealand.  New Zealand’s Weekend Herald newspaper reported that Lewis agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to a drug rehabilitation program after the ruling.  In 1998, Lewis pledged $50 million to the Guggenheim museum. (AP, 1/8/00, Auckland, New Zealand.)

A private study found that illegal drug use among adolescents in small-town and rural America is reaching alarming proportions. (National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1/26/00.)

The new mayor of Baltimore, MD, USA, recently said that one of  ten Baltimoreans is a drug addict, and the city lost more than 120,000 residents during the 1990s.  [Ed. Note: Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke encouraged needle exchange programs.] (HNN 1/26/00.)

In the town of Leicester, U.K., a specially trained cleansing team picked up more than 850 discarded needles last year.  Up to 500 were found at just one building being demolished in the city.  In a single week, the city council was alerted to up to 16 needles being discarded in streets, in playgrounds, or on business premises. (Leicester Mercury 6/25/99.  HNN 6/27/99.)

The indiscriminate discarding of needles throughout Hartlepool, U.K., is an ever-increasing problem.  A 24-hour hotline has been approved to help rid the town of discarded drug syringes.  The hotline was set up following reports of needles being found on school playing fields and in other public areas.  Heroin abuse is an increasing problem, and although there is a needle exchange program, obviously not everyone uses it, particularly not young users. (Northern Echo, 11/6/99.)

Scientists have studied the effects of Ecstasy, a drug popular at “rave” parties, and found that the drug affects the brain chemical serotonin and can do long-lasting damage to the brain.  NIDA-funded research on monkeys has shown that as little as four days of using Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, can cause damage lasting six to seven years.  People who take MDMA, even just a few times, are risking long-term, perhaps permanent, problems with learning and memory. (Alan Leshner, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse.)

Johns Hopkins researchers reported in the Journal of Neurology that a study of 24 Ecstasy users, who took an average of 440 milligrams of the drug per month for five years, suffered damage to their visual and verbal memory.  The drug appears to damage brain cells that make serotonin. (DFAF, 1/17/00.)

Based on a scientific review of the drug and its abuse potential, the U.S. federal government has put regulatory controls on ketamine, an anesthetic that has become increasingly popular as a “party drug.”  Ketamine, also known as “Special K” or “K,” is related to PCP. (Substance Abuse Letter, 4/1/99.  DREAM 11/99.)

The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research conducted an analysis of teen drug use and attitudes in grades eight, 10, and 12.  The data show that seniors’ use of marijuana increased during most of the 1970s and decreased throughout the 1980s.  Among all three age groups studied, use increased in the 1990s.  Teen disapproval of the drug and perceptions of marijuana’s hazards present a mirror image.  In years when levels of disapproval and perceived risk are high, levels of use are low.  Researcher Jerald Bachman concludes, “The implication is that prevention efforts should include realistic information about the risks and consequences of marijuana use and should present this kind of information, not just once but, repeatedly.” (HNN 5/4/9.9)

Thirty-three percent of motorists stopped for reckless driving tested positive for marijuana. (Brookoff, D., et al.  New England Journal of Medicine.  8/25/94; pp. 518 – 522.  Educating Voices, January 2000.)

Based on the thousands of studies that have been done, the FDA and major medical groups do not support the medicinal use of marijuana. (Leveque, Phillip, et al.  Hemp TV transmission:  “Marijuana and Medicine:  Assessing the Science Base.”  The National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine. 4/26/99.  Educating Voices, January 2000.)

Newborns affected by maternal substance abuse or addiction often require intensive, specialized, and lengthy hospital care.  A recent hospital study from Florida reports that in 1997 the average cost of medical care for one drug-affected newborn was $11,188.  This is more than twice the average cost of care for a newborn not affected by substance abuse.  Seventy-seven percent of drug-affected infants had significant medical needs, compared with 27 percent of all newborns.  The total cost in 1997 for Florida’s drug-affected infants is estimated at $6.7 million. (CSAT by Fax, Vol. 4, Issue 4, 6/30/99.)

The National Institute of Justice’s Arrestee and Drug Abuse Monitoring System (ADAM) drug-testing program found that over 60 percent of adult male arrestees for serious crimes tested positive for drugs in 20 of 23 cities in 1997.  For young adult males, 66 percent tested positive for marijuana use in 1997. (NIJ, ADAM.  ONDCP 5/10/99.)

One fourth to one half of men who commit acts of domestic violence also have substance abuse problems. (National Drug Control Strategy, p. 25.  ONDCP 5/10/99.)

Hair testing to detect illicit drug use is becoming popular among employers.  Now some schools are adopting the technique.  In New Orleans, six Catholic schools are testing students’ hair.  Traces of drugs remain in the hair, disclosing how long drugs have been used.  The laboratory can measure the presence of five drugs: marijuana, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, and phencyclidine. (The Herald (Washington), June 14, 1999.  Drug Abuse Update, Fall 1999.  Chemical People, Eric, PA, Fall 1999.)

Research by Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang at UCLA found that the carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco.  Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, and aging baby boomers, who have been indulging since the 1960s, might just be starting to feel its ravages. (Boston Globe, 12/18/99.)

New research has shown that individuals who abuse any one type of drug are at serious risk of abusing all other types of drugs.  “These findings bring home the reality that abuse of any illicit drug threatens an individual’s well-being and may have serious, unexpected ramifications,” said NIDA Director, Dr. Alan I. Leshner. (NIH News Release, 11/12/98.)

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) examined and evaluated the Swiss heroin project.  The INCB report stated that the studies have not provided convincing evidence that, even for persistent methadone failures, the medical prescription of heroin generally leads to better outcomes than further methadone-based treatment.  “The INCB perceives, in light of this study, no reason to alter its previously expressed concerns over the Swiss heroin project and policy of heroin prescription, which has not been based on scientific and medical results.  It therefore does not encourage other countries to follow this course of action.” (INCB press release, Vienna, 19 May, 1999.  U.N. Information Service.)

According to a University of Canterbury (New Zealand) survey, forestry workers high on cannabis have twice as many accidents on the job and days off as their sober colleagues. (HNN 12/14/99.)

“There has been much public attention on marijuana as a possible treatment of glaucoma.  Inhalation of marijuana does lower eye pressures.  Because it is thought that sustained lowering of eye pressure is likely to confer greater benefit, the amount of marijuana smoke needed to produce clinical benefits may be associated with substantial side effects, and thus, marijuana is not recommended as a treatment for glaucoma.” (Professor Anne L. Coleman, M.D., The Lancet, 11/29/99.)

According to a survey of nearly 5,000 students from grades seven to 13, substance abuse has been rising since 1993 and has reached levels in Ontario last seen in the 1970s.  The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health released the results of the survey on Nov. 15, 1999.  George Glover, executive director of the Teen Challenge Farm, said students feel less inhibited by a society that tolerates substance abuse. (London, Ontario, Free Press, 11/16/99.  L. Perkins, 11/16/99.)

Numerous studies have found that marijuana causes pre-cancerous changes similar to those of tobacco.  Smoking pot results in three to five times the amount of tars and carbon monoxide, and it damages pulmonary immunity.  Although marijuana does not obstruct airflow per se, it impairs oxygen diffusion capacity, one of the measurements of lung function.  For a bibliography, send a request to DW World News. (Eric Voth, M.D., FACP.  Tobacco vs. Marijuana, 11/22/99.)

QUOTES  – January 2000

David S. Noffs Installed as President of Drug Watch International

At its annual meeting in February 2000, Drug Watch International installed David S. Noffs as president of the prestigious worldwide drug prevention organization.  Mr. Noffs, who was a co-founder and the first president of Drug Watch, re-takes the helm at a critical time in the global struggle to halt drug trafficking and abuse.  Proponents of legalizing drugs and making them readily available are high profile these days and well financed.  Says Mr. Noffs of his new responsibility, "I am looking forward to working with our members worldwide to prevent the use of illicit drugs and illegal use of licit drugs, particularly among young people.  We want to make the public aware of the disastrous consequences of caving in to pro-legalization theories like decriminalization and harm reduction."

Mr. Noffs, who is also executive director and founder of Life Education Center Foundation, USA, a primary substance abuse prevention program operating in over nine countries, is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representative to the U. N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.  He presented at the Rio de Janeiro Global Forum in 1992; was a panelist at the U. N. International NGO Conference in New York in 1994, "Involving Communities in the Global Drug Problem"; was a guest speaker at the U. N. Special Session on Drug Demand Reduction in New York in 1998; and presented a paper on harm reduction at the Second Global Conference on Drug Abuse Primary Prevention in Bangkok in 1999.

In bringing his leadership skills to Drug Watch International, he succeeds the capable Sandra Bennett.  During her tenure as president, Mrs. Bennett gave powerful testimony before Congress exposing the drug culture's self-serving agenda for drug legalization.  She told the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources that the harm reduction policy being pushed by the drug culture was simply, "A variety of strategies for making illicit drug use safer and cheaper for drug users at the expense of the rest of society, regardless of the cost."

Mrs. Bennett will continue as a board member of Drug Watch International and as director of The Northwest Center for Health and Safety.

FROM THE DESK OF DAVID S. NOFFS
President, Drug Watch International

Dear Friends of Drug Watch:

It is an honor and a privilege to be elected as Drug Watch International's sixth President.  I would like to thank all of you for your hard work over the past year during Sandra Bennett's term as president.  In this short period of time, Sandra led this organization in many endeavors that have successfully intercepted the efforts of pro-drug forces to promote the decriminalization of drug use under the guise of so-called "harm minimization" practices.  It is a true honor to have Sandra and her husband, Dr. Bill Bennett, as a part of this organization.  They are committed and dedicated world citizens who have not only led many of our battles in the war on drugs, but have also invested time and resources to help save lives and make the world a better place for the children of the new millennium.

Drug Watch International and its partner organizations have been key players in drug policy decisions throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Australasia in the past year.  Yet even as I write this, I am alarmed at an article that appeared Feb. 24, 2000, in the Chicago Tribune entitled "Australia Plans New Tactic In Drug War."   The article outlines how government officials in the state of Victoria are so disheartened by an ever-increasing number of heroin deaths that they are going to try a "new" approach called "harm minimization," which includes the use of heroin shooting galleries to help save lives.  The article states that, "Australia, like the United States, has long subscribed to a prohibition policy on illegal drugs.  But ... shooting galleries have gone from an answer of last resort to a crucial part of Australia's new "harm minimization" drug strategy."

I can hear the cries of despair from our Drug Watch friends in Australia as they read this, knowing full well that Australia has already practiced harm minimization for over 10 years.  Tragically, I can also imagine American parents and children believing this article, when, in fact, it is misleading and displays journalism at its worst.  How much longer can Australian authorities continue to promote a solution that is itself the cause of an epidemic?  Many American drug experts know that the Australian Department of Health has pursued harm minimization for the past 10 years, with little concern for research or outcome data that show ever-increasing drug use, especially among young people.  Australia's "new" harm reduction strategy is nothing but a recycling of the failed policy that the Australian Department of Health refuses to let die.

When we hear that old and tiresome cry from the media and pro-drug lobby that the "War on Drugs Has Failed," just remember to ask your local reporters to do their homework, and to report the facts!  Compare household and student drug surveys (available over the internet) between America's war on drugs and Australia's (10 year old, hardly new) harm minimization approach.  I know what they find will shock them. Marijuana use among high schoolers has now risen in Australia to four times that of the United States.  But then, perhaps they are not interested in the facts, those journalists who refuse to research the data before they mislead millions of Americans.  Perhaps they are so convinced we need to reform our drug laws that they refuse to look at the facts.  Let us demand of the media truth in reporting, so we don't repeat history's mistakes, and in particular, catastrophic harm minimization practices.

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