DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 240 Fri, 26 Apr 2002 Smoke Pot and Kill the Environment PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE The United States Drug Czar, John Walters, got loose with his second published OPED earlier this week out of his great respect for the environment and the supporters of Earth Day and other right thinking American ideals. He is gravy-training on the two month old ONDCP ad campaign which continues to tell Americans that if they smoke pot they are funding terrorism. As if that is not enough to weigh down the conscience of tens of millions of citizens, now they must also accept the burden of being responsible for environmental damage. Most noted are the destruction of South America and also North America...in short -- half the planet or better. The OPED is full o' bull in nice heaping helpings for those who enjoy rebutting tired and stale accusations wrapped coyly in the thin, easily penetrated onion skin of a new 'angle'. We invite you to consider writing one or both of the newspapers it ran in (to date), and let them know how you feel about some of the points that Walters makes. Please do not send the same exact letter to both papers since they are in very similar geographical markets. If time is a concern, consider at least a few modifications so each letter is distinct. Thanks for your support and enjoy. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do - it's what YOU do 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 if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is our way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO: The OPED was printed in these newspapers, and perhaps others. April 22 in The Oregonian US OR: OPED: The Other Drug War URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n782/a03.html Contact: Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/ and April 24 in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer US WA: OPED: Drugs Destroy Environment Too URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n795/a08.html Webpage: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/67652_drugop.shtml Contact: Website: http://www.seattle-pi.com/ Here is a portion of the column, from the webpage URL above: DRUGS DESTROY ENVIRONMENT TOO Wednesday, April 24, 2002 By JOHN P. WALTERS, DRUG CZAR We know that illegal drugs do a great deal of harm -- to our bodies, our minds and our communities. But there's another harm associated with illegal drugs that more and more Americans are beginning to understand: The billions of dollars Americans spend on drugs each year are taking a horrific toll on some of the most fragile and diverse ecosystems on the planet. Consider the Andes and Amazonian regions of South America. In countries such as Colombia and Peru, astonishing environmental riches abound. The Huallaga region of Peru may be the world's richest in all forms of fauna, hosting record numbers of species among butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Colombia contains roughly 10 percent of the Earth's biodiversity, second only to Brazil. But that diversity is rapidly being destroyed. Environmental journalist Stephanie Joyce, reporting in International Wildlife, described the scenes she had witnessed in the Andean region: "a devastated landscape ... an accordion of scarred red hillsides dotted with rotting tree stumps. The forest has disappeared as far as the eye can see." Who cut down the forest, wiped out the fragile wildlife, depleted the soil and left behind a chemically poisoned scar that had once been rainforest? It's a tragic story of greed and dependency. But the culprit here isn't a rapacious corporation. It's our demand for illegal drugs. It is time we look at the real, far-reaching consequences of our drug use and the damage we are doing to our selves and to our world. Our government and the host nations have tried to curtail cocaine production by spraying coca fields with glyphosate (the chemical compound that has been used safely by millions of Americans for years). But our spraying is not the engine driving all this environmental destruction; it's the growing and processing of cocaine itself. Illegal drug manufacturers, obviously, follow no environmental or safety rules. SAMPLE LETTER 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. To the Editor: Drug Czar Walters weaves a tawdry web of deceit in his column and leaves us struggling to identify our most astonished moment when reading. Since over 85% of illegal drug use he references is adults smoking marijuana, it is a fanciful twist to tie them in with the growers of coca and the manufacturers domestically of methamphetamines. However after his Super Bowl ad campaign theme of linking us to Osama Bin Laden, I guess it's par for the course. His observations would have more value if he acknowledged that current U.S. drug policy is directly responsible for the obscene profits of illegal drug sales. We note that alcohol and tobacco users are not destroyers of the environment since their products are produced in a legal and regulated marketplace. But likely even more boggling was Walters' , "Our government ....have tried....spraying coca fields with glyphosate (the chemical compound that has been used safely by millions of Americans for years)." Thus, Mr. Walters with a straight face now cites glysophate as being a 'safe' product to be dumping out of airplanes with huge barrels and sprayers. Day after day after day across the Colombian farmlands. Mr Czar, please note this is not what I read on the bottle of glysphate I bought at the nursery last week as following label directions for the front lawn of my house. If America continues to swallow the odorous and misleading guidance of the White House and ONDCP drug policy, far more than the environment is doomed. Stephen Heath Clearwater FL (always provide your email and phone contacts so that editors may verify that you sent the letter) ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ Prepared by Stephen Heath, DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist

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