Rosenthal Still Fighting To Ignore Reality Of Drug War NOTE: Rosenthal is one of our favorite drug warrior targets. His supreme lack of logic combined with his know-it-all doctrinaire attitude make him easy pickings. If you will read the article below, you will likely be moved to write a letter responding to his inaccurate foolishness. PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #201 Saturday March 10, 2001 Columnist A.M. Rosenthal was fired by the New York Times last year, but that doesn't seem to have shattered any of his illusions about the drug war. The outspoken supporter of prohibition now writes for the New York Daily News, and this week he is shocked to learn that the message of drug policy reform has now made it to Hollywood (see his column below). While even many prohibitionists have found something to like in the film "Traffic," Rosenthal sees it as nothing more than an insult to his fellow drug warriors and part of a larger "conspiracy" against them (a conspiracy of common sense perhaps?) . As usual, Rosenthal disparages a few wealthy individuals who have supported drug policy reform with a few million dollars in recent years, while he neglects the fact that the illogical prohibitionist effort spends more than a billion dollars every _month_ on the utterly failed and monumentally expensive "war on drugs." Of course, Rosenthal and his ilk are right to be concerned that they have lost control of public discourse on this issue as that is most obviously the case as demonstrated by the sea change in the national attitude and the growing support for reform, not only in Hollywood, but in the print and broadcast media as well as in public opinion. Please write a letter to the Daily News to remind editors that Rosenthal's notion of a noble and righteous drug war may be sustainable in Rosenthal's closed mind, but in the real world, fewer citizens are buying it every day. WRITE A LETTER TODAY Just DO it! If not YOU who? If not NOW when? PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO: Source: New York Daily News (NY) Contact: ARTICLE US NY: Column: Hollywood's Dangerous Drug Line URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n419.a08.html NewsHawk: Sledhead Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 Source: New York Daily News (NY) Copyright: 2001 Daily News, L.P. Contact: Address: 450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001 Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/ Forum: http://www.nydailynews.com/manual/news/e_the_people/e_the_people.htm Author: A.M. Rosenthal HOLLYWOOD'S DANGEROUS DRUG LINE The President has appointed a new drug czar - a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Before the judge takes office, he goes to the Mexican-American border and to Mexico itself. He sees the brutality of Mexican police officers, themselves part of drug gangs. He sees American anti-drug agents risk their lives and often lose them. As he is preparing for his first press conference at the White House, he finds out that his daughter Caroline, a wholesome-looking teenager, is a junkie. She is so captured by narcotics that she prostitutes herself for them. At the press conference, he begins to read his prepared speech about the importance of the war on drugs to save the 68 million American children who have been targeted by the narcotics kings. He cannot go on. He puts down his speech, turns to leave the room and his career and says: "I can't do this. If there is a war on drugs, then our own families have become the enemy. How can you make war on your own family?" That's it - that's the message that the film "Traffic" delivers toward the end, where messages are put to be remembered. It is also a message peddled by Americans who have created a national network of organizations devoted to ending the war on drugs and making more narcotics more available to more Americans without legal penalty. They use nicey-nicey phrases like "drug reform" or "harm reduction" because they know the public would reject any honest move toward their real goal - outright legalization. Supporters of the drug war, like myself, did not think any such destructive movement would become accepted among people who consider themselves informed and intelligent, including journalists. Wrong. With propaganda funds from a few truly rich Americans, the legalizers have convinced more and more columnists and editorial writers. They have won state plebiscites that used tricky, concealing language to make more narcotics available for "medicinal" purposes. Particularly generous are financier George Soros, Ohio insurance executive Peter Lewis and the founder of the for-profit University of Phoenix, John Sperling. They and their organizations hack away at the very foundation of the struggle against drugs: the three-way combination of law enforcement, interdiction and therapy. The money these billionaires put into their hatred for the drug war, out of whatever cradle trauma, could make helping addicts impossible by destroying the law enforcement that is essential to effective therapy. I went back to anti-drug experts I have trusted and learned from for years. All of them have contributed more to therapy for addicts in a single week than the moneybags of the war against the drug war have in their combined lifetimes. I asked these experts if I'm missing something, if I'm behind the times, about the importance of the union of therapy, law enforcement and interdiction. Here's what they said: Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal, probably the most important therapist in the country, creator of Phoenix House, the national group of therapeutic communities where addicts often work a year or more ridding their minds and bodies of drugs: "Ninety percent of the people who need treatment do not seek it out themselves. They have to be coerced by a wife, an employer, a probation officer, a court, the police. Very few addicts wake up in the morning and say, 'I am destroying my life. I am out of control. I need help.'" Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University, considered by both supporters and enemies of the anti-drug struggle as one of the country's top experts: "The opposition to interdiction does not include me. It is part of the essential three. It would be wrong to fight and fight against drugs and leave the sources of drugs untouched, even if they cannot be controlled fully." Is addiction a disease, or is it behavior? "It is a disease that erodes but does not erase the ability to make choices, as diabetes gives the patient the choice between eating chocolate bars and refusing them." Sue Rusche, director of National Families in Action, an organization that provides a university of knowledge on drugs and an army fighting them: "Addicts rarely enter treatment voluntarily. ... We must not repeat the mistake made when we deinstitutionalized mental health hospitals and produced a homeless population of untreated mentally ill people." Richard Brown, Queens district attorney: "The major reason for the drop in crime around the city, including murders, is the breakup of gangs and the putting away of the criminals who created open-air markets and public housing drug bazaars." Those are their messages for Hollywood directors and producers to think about - and President Bush, when he gets around to his delayed duty of appointing a strong drug czar, maybe. SAMPLE LETTER To the editor: How typical of A.M. Rosenthal (column 'Hollywood's Dangerous Drug Line' March 9th). First he builds a case that a few rich Americans have somehow hoodwinked all those voters who pass initiatives against the excesses of the War on Drugs -- from cops stealing property for the gain of their departments without the owner being found guilty of a crime at least 80% of the time, called asset forfeiture -- to marijuana, a substance who's medicinal value was recognized in a detailed, government funded, study by the Institute of Medicine. Then he asks "if I'm missing something"? But who does he ask? Two doctors who make their living off the War or its victims, a DA who supports the Draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, and the leader of a pro-War lobby. It appears that Mr. Rosenthal is still missing something. But don't expect him to ask anyone who really understands what is happening any time soon. It appears that Hollywood, with the film "Traffic," may have the message right. They could have scripted an ending more to Mr. Rosenthal's beliefs, then asked the government for a nice check for their efforts. Richard Lake Sylvania, Ohio IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Richard Lake - http://www.mapinc.org and Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com Focus Alert Specialist

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