McCaffrey Teams up With Housman To Bend the Truth (Again) For a compendium of examples of former drug czar McCaffrey's loose affiliation with accuracy and facts please see "Is Truth a Casualty of the Drug War" http://www.csdp.org/ads/ Note: Please see a new MAP feature the "Target Analysis" at the bottom of this Focus Alert. PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #202 Thursday March 15, 2001 Once again drug warriors are taking their misinformation campaign to the people, this time in a March 15th column in the Los Angeles Times. Robert F. Housman and Barry R. McCaffrey, former Assistant Director and Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, are claiming success in the never ending drug war. This despite the finding of last year's Monitoring the Future survey that heroin use among high school seniors is at record levels. Likewise, drug-related emergency rooms are at record levels, along with drug war spending, yet the promotion of reefer madness hysteria remains the top priority of Housman and McCaffrey. McCaffrey has a history of using the availability of pure THC in the form of the prescription drug Marinol as reason to deny marijuana to sick and dying patients. However, in this instance the authors chose to demonize marijuana's active ingredient, even going so far as to defend tobacco, by far the deadliest drug in America. Please write a letter to the Los Angeles times to remind their readers that Housman and McCaffrey can't have it both ways. 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: Los Angeles Times (LA) Contact: US CA: OPED: Hollywood Is Ignoring A Valid Drug War Script URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n455.a09.html Pubdate: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times Contact: Address: Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 Fax: (213) 237-7679 Feedback: http://www.latimes.com/siteservices/talk_contacts.htm Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Forum: http://www.latimes.com/discuss/ Authors: Robert F. Housman, Barry R. Mccaffrey Note: Robert F. Housman Was Assistant Director for Strategic Planning in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy From 1997 to January 2001. Barry R. Mccaffrey Was Director of the Office From 1996 to January 2001 HOLLYWOOD IS IGNORING A VALID DRUG WAR SCRIPT On NBC's "The West Wing," President Bartlet sees the fight against drugs as a lost cause and a huge waste of money. His surgeon general has declared marijuana less dangerous than cigarettes. His staff overwhelmingly favors legalizing drugs. Meanwhile, in the Oscar-nominated movie, "Traffic," the new drug czar is so rocked by the enormity of the drug problem and his own daughter's addiction that he walks away from the job. All this makes great entertainment. But it is about as accurate as saying "The Brady Bunch" was a portrait of real life in America. The fact is, our national strategy against drugs is working. Over the last two years, youth drug use dropped 21%. Workplace drug use has fallen to an 11-year low--4.6%, down from 13.6% in 1988. The number of murders related to narcotics laws dropped from 1,402 in 1989 to 564 in 1999, the lowest point in more than a decade. The number of people receiving drug treatment nearly tripled between 1980 and 1998. Neighborhoods, like New York City's Harlem, have been taken back from the dealers and gangs and, once again, offer safe places for hard-working families to live. It is true that the number of people arrested for drug crimes has grown, arguably one reason why drug crimes are down. However, at the same time, we have dramatically increased the number of diversion programs to break the cycle of drugs and crime. These programs, such as drug courts, offer nonviolent, drug-addicted offenders supervised treatment in lieu of jail. Ironically, the actor who plays President Bartlet, Martin Sheen, is one of the nation's leading advocates for drug courts and against legalization; he believes that the threat of jail time helped his son break free of addiction. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom you may see on movie and TV screens, with exceedingly few exceptions, we are not locking people up for simple possession of marijuana. During fiscal year 1998, only 33 federal defendants were sentenced to jail for base offenses involving less than 5,000 grams of marijuana. At the state level, more than 70% of drug offenders were incarcerated for drug trafficking as opposed to possession. An overwhelming majority of the total state prison drug offender population had prior criminal histories, a quarter of which were violent. Along these same lines, "The West Wing's" surgeon general would be wise to consider new research out of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggesting that marijuana users may be at higher risk for cancer than cigarette smokers. THC, the active component in marijuana, has been shown to cause cancerous tumors. Marijuana deposits four times more tar in the respiratory tract than cigarette smoke. And studies show that young people who smoke pot tend to be lethargic, socially removed, more prone to committing violent and property crimes and do worse in school. None of these effects are equally associated with cigarettes. President Bartlet's policy team should also take a harder look at the real impact of legalizing drugs. Each year drug use costs the U.S. 52,000 drug-related deaths and roughly $110 billion in additional societal costs. Legalizing drugs would compound this suffering. One of the main reasons why the majority of young people never try drugs is societal disapproval. Legalizing drugs would make drug use an accepted behavior and, inevitably, more young people would use them. More people using drugs would mean more addicts, more traffic fatalities, more human and economic costs. Nor would legalization cut crime. The average drug criminal isn't waging a turf war over black market territory or shooting it out with the police. Most drug-related crime is committed by addicts to get money to buy drugs--the vast majority of drug users rely to some degree on illicit money to support their addiction. Legalization would only increase the number of people robbing, stealing and prostituting themselves for drug cash. Shows like "Sports Night," "Dawson's Creek," "ER" and "Third Watch"--some with the sponsorship of the Office of National Drug Control Policy--have done accurate portrayals of the devastating impact of drug use on people, families and friends. However, when the entertainment industry takes dramatic license with the facts about drug use, it has a real impact. Children see drugs as less risky. Parents grow less concerned and talk to their children less frequently about the dangers of drug use. Public support diminishes for the men and women of law enforcement who safeguard our families. Policymakers are less inclined to do what's necessary to fight drugs. Walking away in disgust from the realities of drug use can add drama to a movie or a TV script, but in the real world it is plain irresponsible. SAMPLE LETTER Robert F. Housman and Barry R. McCaffrey want to have their cake and eat it to. In their Mar. 15th column the former Assistant Director and Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy claim that THC, the principle active component in marijuana, has been shown to cause cancerous tumors. Yet when arguing against medical marijuana McCaffrey routinely touts the prescription availability of 100% pure THC in pill form as a healthy alternative. Housman and McCaffrey exhibit an appalling willingness to bend the truth to suit their needs. Contrary to what they would have the public believe, THC has not been shown to cause tumors, in fact recent research conducted by the Complutense University in Madrid found that THC eliminates tumor cells in rats. Their complete lack of credibility is glaring. The $110 billion in societal costs cited includes the cost of keeping drug offenders behind bars. The high cost of maintaining the largest prison system is certainly no reason to put more Americans behind bars. Likewise, the authors purported 52,000 drug-related deaths per year is extremely disingenuous. It is not possible to obtain such an inflated estimate without including deaths caused by alcohol and tobacco, by far the deadliest drugs in America, despite their legality. Marijuana, the drug that Housman and McCaffrey mention most, has never been shown to cause an overdose death. America's drug problem is far too serious to allow the blatant misinformation provided by drug warriors to dominate the debate. Sincerely, Robert Sharpe, Washington, DC 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. TARGET ANALYSIS Los Angeles Times Your letter, if published, could impact 1.5 MILLION L.A. Times Readers. Even if it is not published your letter helps educate and influence an important publication and may help other letters to be published. The LA Times tends to publish shorter LTEs, ranging from 101 to 211 words for the body of the LTE, with an average of 151 words. However, they have frequently printed more than one letter in response to an item, sometimes as many as four or five. You may review the 161 letters published by the Times in the MAP published letter archives by clicking this link http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Los+Angeles+Times 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, Robert Sharpe, and Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com Focus Alert Specialists

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