Exposing the Drug Warriors

The U.S. "war on drugs" is a massive hoax that benefits only law enforcement and penal bureaucracies while doing nothing to help the very real drug problem in America's deteriorating inner cities. The corporate mass media play right into the hands of corrupt officials and politicians by sensationalizing the drug problem while encouraging an oversimplistic pseudo-debate on the complex material issues at stake.

U.S. Government Exposed in Crack Scandal!
Still the top story here. The U.S. Federal Government is without a doubt the world's largest drug dealer. Get the facts here, as well as continual coverage of this (finally) unfolding scandal, which is being whitewashed by most mainstream media sources. Special thanks to reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News for making new evidence public in August of this year, and to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who has made exposing the CIA introduction of crack into South Central Los Angeles her number one priority. Write to her and express your thanks!
Designation of High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas
Report from Drug Czar Barry R. McCaffrey (09 April 1998). Read as the HMFIC in the drug war criminalizes most of the country.
Arm Yourself Against the War on Drugs. Great site with a terrific bibliography
Cops Raid Wrong Apartment; Kill Man of the Cloth:
A Minister dies in a botched drug raid. Just one of the many botched drug raid stories you will read on this page. More friendly fire in a losing drug war.
War Ends, Drugs Win: Great article from the Nation (6 January 1997) on the growing resistance to the drug war from judges, police, and government workers.
The Drug Library: The largest online collection of documents on Drugs and the Drug War.
DARE to Think for Yourself! Thought the DARE program was working to keep your children off drugs? If you thought so, that is because the corrupt and mendacious politicians running the program are doing everything in their power to keep honest criticism out of the mass media. This has proven a difficult task since DARE's own studies as well as those conducted by other independent and government researchers have concluded that DARE is a collosal waste of money. Anyone paying attention from the beginning would have told you this was just another excuse for a feeding frenzy at the public trough thinly disguised as a program to protect our children.
- Denise Hamilton, "The Truth About DARE," from the Los Angeles New Times (20 March 1997). Excellent article exposing the corruption of the DARE program in California, and their continual harassment of the authors of the Lindesmith study, funded by DARE, which concluded that DARE didn't work.
- Stephen Glass, "Don't You DARE," New Republic (03 March 1997)
- Pastor James Douglass Fyr, "The Dark Side of DARE." How DARE corrupts our children.
  Official Studies of DARE:
- In Their Own Voices: The full Lindesmith Center Study. What the politicians at Sacramento don't want you to know.
- How DARE Wastes Time, Money, and Police, also from the Lindesmith Center.
- US Rejects Unfavorable DARE Study. The Research Triangle Institute was paid $300,000 to study the impact of DARE; now the Justice Department doesn't want them to publicize the results of the study.
- DARE's Short-term Effectiveness Limited, says Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
- RTI Study Angers DARE, from the News Observer (27 February 1997)
  For Further Information:
- DARE Fact Sheet from DRCNet. Answer your frequently asked questions here.
- Collection of DARE Information from Hyperreal.
U.S. Sentencing Commission Recommends Lower Crack Cocaine sentences. The U.S. Congress's rejection of this reasoned recommendation led to prison riots. See also Study Finds Disparity in Justice for Blacks, from the New York Times. Finally, you can read the full report of the Sentencing Commission online.
Drug Expressive Art: Creativity Launched against Prohibition!
How the Drug War Created Crack, from Cures not Wars. Excellent article from the Village Voice in 1990 arguing that the U.S. "War on Drugs" led to the crack cocaine epidemic.
Shooting Up in Public, by Ron Reed. Great essay against prohibition which discusses the U.S. involvement in narcoterrorism in Central America and Vietnam. Mirrored here.
The Duplicity of the War on Drugs: a nice USENET post against drug prohibition which discusses the U.S. government's heavy involvement in the Southeast Asian heroin trade in the 1970s.
The Politics of Drugs in America, by Frank Morales. From MediaFilter.
Cops and Drugs: Details corruption of Law Enforcement Agencies Across the Nation.
Rhetorical Genealogy of the War on Drugs: a Drug War History I wrote a few years ago. Mentions some of the U.S. government complicity in the heroin trade, as well as the CIA's use of LSD in the 1950s and 1960s. Also see my links to drug legalization resources for further information.
Colombia and the Pentagon: Argues that the drug war is a cover for military adventurism in Central and South America.
Peasant uprisings against the narco-militarization of Colombia and Mexico.
Shadow Play in Southern Mexico: How America's Drug War encourages police repression south of the border.
Latino Immigrants targeted as narco-terrorists"
Majority of Police Chiefs call for an overhaul of the drug war.
Families Against Mandatory Minimums:
When a 17-year old girl who told her boyfriend how to find his drug dealer in a telephone conversation is sentenced to ten years in jail without parole, something is wrong with the system. There is no federal judge in the country in favor of mandatory minimum sentences, yet they are popular among politicians exploiting the public's fear of drug-related crime.
Forfeiture Endangers American Rights:
Apart from the absurdity of packing our prisons with nonviolent drug offenders while murderers and rapists walk free, laws concerning asset forfeiture are designed to allow police departments to confiscate private property from suspects without due process protections. This means they can take property without the suspect ever having been convicted of a crime. Travesty of justice or deterrent to criminals? You make the call.
Parents Against Corruption and CoverUp: This link was sent to me by Tom Burkett, whose son Tommy was murdered while working as a narc for the DEA. His murder and others like it have been subsequently covered up by government agencies. More victims of a foolish Drug War....
Cops Kill Man With Pot, Associated Press wire story with brief commentary from Ian Goddard. Don't we wish our favorite news actors were this direct..... By the way, the cops who murdered this man were granted a mistrial. The report on NPR said that the mistrial was called because a prosecution witness had "prejudiced the jury." Excuse me, but isn't that a prosecution witness' job?
House to Vote on Marijuana Reform Bill H.R. 2618. From Cures Not Wars. Includes a sample letter to write your representatives!
The Citizen's Guide to Marijuana Laws from NORML. NORML also provides Weekly Press Releases on Marijuana Law Reform, and a collection of documents on medical marijuana. More sample letters for HR2618 are here!
Georgia Teacher Fired for Refusing Urine Test: Yet another prisoner of the Drug War.
California Three Strikes Law attacks marijuana users rather than hardcore criminals. From the pages of High Times
Medical Marijuana: Thank You California!
Californians for Compassionate Use celebrates the passage of Prop 215 and offers continuing coverage of medical marijuana related issues. While I join them in their rejoicing of Prop 215, I can't help the nagging frustration that the more significant issues at stake in the drug war have been avoided in the public debate.
Related Sites:
- The History of Prop 215
- High Times Report on the Passage of Prop 215
- 1995 Marijuana Arrest Statistics
- Los Angeles Cannabis Buyer's Club Raided, and
- California Cops Raid San Francisco Cannibis Buyer's Club and Proposition 215 Offices: These were political moves by the District Attorney, not an attack on crime. Political prisoners are the hallmark of dictatorial societies. See also CCU's press release on the San Francisco raid. California District Attorney Dan Lungren has been challenged to a public debate on Marijuana reform; write him and tell him to accept the challenge or be exposed as the cowardly fool he is. Also hear Lundgren's idiotic attack on Doonesbury!
- Police Steal Brownies at Gay Fair! Now this is really taking it too far...
- Republicans for Proposition 215! It's not just us commie pinkos anymore....
- Nudes for Hemp! An Inspiring Evening with the Lick Sisters. (Really).
Pot Search Illegal, says Ohio Court

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Last Update: 11:52 PM on Sunday, 9 February 1997.
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