In Parts Of Washington's Gay Community, Crystal Methamphetamine Is Starting To Take A Toll -- And Creating A Demand For Treatment Special to The Washington Post Chad Upham had been the kind of kid any parent would be proud of -- an Eagle Scout, a good child who didn't cause problems in his fundamentalist Christian family. He didn't touch a beer until he was 21. Jump forward to an early Monday morning this past July. Upham, now 27, had been up all night after another weekend of drugs and sexual hookups with strangers he met online. [continues 2095 words]
How Bob Barr & Co. Killed Jonathan Magbie Thirteen months ago, Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin sentenced Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic, to a 10-day D.C. jail sentence for marijuana possession, assuring attorneys she had checked with the jail and that it could handle someone in his condition. By the fourth day of Magbie's sentence, he was locked in a cell with no ability to communicate or call for help. His breathing tube had been improperly placed; his weight had plummeted since his arrival; his apparent pneumonia had gone untreated. [continues 1521 words]
The GW chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is to be commended for taking on GW's zero-tolerance stance against marijuana. It would appear that President Trachtenberg has been deluded by the White House Office of National Drug Policy's "reefer madness" revisited campaign. The marijuana plant has not changed since Trachtenberg authored an article in 1972 arguing for decriminalization. What has changed is the federal government's willingness to lie and deceive to keep the drug war gravy train chugging along. [continues 171 words]
This letter is in response to last Thursday's article featuring GW NORML and particularly the comments of our fearless leader, President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg ("Group pushes for GW to change marijuana policy," Oct. 27, p. 1). Trachtenberg, despite having written an article for a journal in 1972 as a proponent of marijuana decriminalization, stated that he changed his stance on the matter because later studies showed that marijuana has more harmful effects than he was aware of at the time. More harmful? That's odd. The studies that I've read about suggest the exact opposite. [continues 163 words]
A new student organization is trying to persuade GW to lessen its penalties for drug violations, particularly for students who lose University housing after being caught with marijuana in their dorm rooms. Students in GW's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said they are critical of GW's policy against marijuana use because students can be evicted from campus after one drug offense. Junior Ronald Fisher, GW NORML president, said he thinks drug violations involving marijuana should be treated similarly to an alcohol violation. [continues 667 words]
A little advice for anybody who cheered when former House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay was indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges: Watch your back. You could be the next target of some ambitious prosecutor. DeLay has accused Texas U.S. Attorney Ronnie Earle of prosecutorial misconduct for going to a third grand jury when the first two in Travis County refused to indict him. Unfortunately for DeLay and other less well-known defendants, legal experts say, the federal grand jury system allows prosecutors to shop around for jurors willing to find probable cause that a crime has been committed. Just because one grand jury can't find a criminal offense doesn't mean the next one won't. [continues 548 words]
I agree with the Oct. 4 editorial "Imported Drugs and the Law" about Montgomery County Council President Tom Perez's pursuit of legislation to allow the importation of drugs from Canada despite federal law to the contrary. However, the editorial did not go far enough in pointing out the danger of a government knowingly breaking the law. What kind of signal does it send to county residents and employees when the council and its president pursue legislation that the state attorney general, the council's lawyer and two independent law firms have determined to be illegal? "Good government" means that if you can't change a law or have it overturned in a court, you must live with it, not knowingly break it. Civil disobedience is the domain of citizens, not government. Bill Pierce Silver Spring [end]
John Gross asked, "Can something be ethical but illegal?" The answer is yes, and here are two examples: Helping slaves to escape their legal owners in mid-19th century America and refusing to testify against friends during the McCarthy hearings. And what about using marijuana to ease the suffering of cancer patients? Perhaps a philosophy course along with the Logic 101 class that Mr. Gross referred to would help us all to better understand the relationship of ethics and the law. Ronald F. Balazik Alexandria [end]
Speaking only for myself, I am so happy that D.C. Mayor Tony Williams decided to pay a visit to Washington this week. He even made a little news while he was here by announcing that he wasn't going to run again next year. I enjoyed his self-appraisal, except the part about D.C. government workers' performance. "City services," he said in a statement, "rose from the basement to the top floor." Say what? Surely he couldn't be talking about the D.C. Corrections Department. [continues 1208 words]
IT'S BECOME commonplace in foreign capitals to pronounce that democracy can never be imposed by force. It's also frequently stated that unilateral diplomacy and sanctions are doomed. Now comes a proposal to encourage democracy in a country suffering under a dictatorial yoke and to use only peaceful, multilateral diplomacy to do so. It's difficult to imagine how any of those foreign capitals could object. The proposal originates with two of the most respected apostles of nonviolence, former Czech president Vaclav Havel (who helped manage the peaceful transition from communism) and South Africa's retired archbishop Desmond Tutu (who helped bring about the equally miraculous peaceful transition from apartheid). The country in question is Burma, now called Myanmar by its dictators. [continues 375 words]
Bravo to Colbert I. King for continuing to shine a light on the needless death of 27-year-old quadriplegic Jonathan Magbie in the D.C. jail ["Justice for a 'Death of Neglect,' " op-ed, Sept. 17]. I hope his family will receive compensation for what appears to have been criminally negligent stupidity by those entrusted with Mr. Magbie's care. Mr. Magbie, who used marijuana to ease pain from the childhood injury that left him disabled, need not have gone to jail in the first place. Had Congress allowed the medical marijuana initiative passed by District voters in 1998 to take effect, he probably would be alive today. If the District's jailers have blood on their hands, so do the members of Congress who conspired to treat Mr. Magbie and patients like him as criminals. Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project Washington [end]
City, Hospital Accused Of Not Giving Proper Care The mother of a quadriplegic inmate who died after suffering breathing problems at the D.C. jail has filed a lawsuit accusing the District government and Greater Southeast Community Hospital of failing to give him proper care. Standing on the courthouse steps yesterday, nearly a year after her son Jonathan Magbie died of acute respiratory failure, Mary Scott said she wants justice -- and $50 million in damages -- for what her suit called the repeated failures and "brutal insensitivity" of the city and hospital. [continues 520 words]
Next Tuesday marks the first anniversary of 27-year-old Jonathan Magbie's final encounter with the D.C. government. It will be no cause for celebration. It was on Sept. 20, 2004, that D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin sentenced Magbie, a quadriplegic since an accident at age 4, to 10 days in the D.C. jail. His crime? Possession of marijuana. Five days after falling into the hands of the D.C. government, Magbie was dead. He died a horrible death. It was preventable. But nobody in the system cared. [continues 853 words]
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says thousands may have died when Hurricane Katrina hit the city, which would make it one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. But if we can believe government-sponsored warnings, methamphetamine kills a similar number every week. That extravagant claim came to light as a result of the Bush administration's decision to join forces with the nation's most extreme methamphetamine alarmists, whom the Office of National Drug Control Policy not long ago accused of "crying meth." In response to criticism it was devoting insufficient attention and money to the latest drug scare, the administration decided to participate in the panic. [continues 641 words]
AS HE TRAVELS around the country meeting with prosecutors and police, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has been told repeatedly that street gangs constitute one of the two most vexing challenges facing law enforcement officials; the other is the rising use of the drug methamphetamine. It's good that the menace posed by violent gangs in American cities and suburbs has made an impression on Mr. Gonzales, although he appears utterly perplexed as to the genesis of the problem. Gangs have taken hold "not just in the Hispanic community but also in the African American community," he told a group of Post writers and editors on Monday. "I don't know why that's the case." He promised to think about it and get back to us. [continues 345 words]
In Frank Capra's legendary movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey's guardian angel is a lovable old fellow named Clarence. Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, was in a heap of trouble, and Clarence was heaven's public diplomat. Clarence's mission was to save George Bailey from hopelessness. He had the power to change facts, but only George Bailey could change his own attitude - -- the one that kept him in the Valley of Darkness. Clarence got the Stewart character's attention, altered conditions around him and left him to re-evaluate his attitude toward Clarence and the future. [continues 640 words]
WASHINGTON -- Acton Archie was a street criminal and likely high school dropout eight years ago in North Carolina. Now the 23-year-old graduate of North Carolina State University has a job as a business analyst for computer software firm SAS in Cary, N.C., where he makes $40,000 a year. (img) In ninth grade, Mr. Archie says, he was skipping school, using and selling drugs, stealing cars and "staying one step ahead of arrest and prison." Today, he serves a mentor and tutor for Communities in Schools (CIS), where he says he wants to help children in poverty to "stay in school and choose success." [continues 436 words]
Other than oil, the one area of reason and cooperation in U.S.-Venezuelan relations has been in fighting illicit drugs. Since 2002 Venezuelan officials have seized record amounts of cocaine, at levels comparable only to those of Mexico. Just last year Washington praised the "excellent" Venezuelan cooperation in disrupting drug trafficking organizations that take advantage of that country's porous 1,300-mile border with Colombia. Last week, however, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; he accused its agents of spying and later suspended their diplomatic immunity. Washington in turn revoked the U.S. visas of three Venezuelan military officers, including a top anti-drug commander, and reminded Caracas that under U.S. law, President Bush will have to decide next month whether Venezuela can be certified as "fully cooperating" in the fight against drugs. [continues 649 words]
WHEN THE HIGHER Education Act was reauthorized in 1998, Rep. Mark Edward Souder -- the Indiana Republican whose favorite pastimes include trying to disembowel the District's gun safety laws -- co-sponsored an amendment that would strip students of federal loans if they were convicted of possessing or selling drugs. Eligibility could be taken away for one year, two years or indefinitely, depending on the type and number of convictions. Since the law went into effect, it reportedly has had an impact on about 160,000 students. [continues 315 words]
"An Analytic Assessment Of U.S. Drug Policy" David Boyum and Peter Reuter AEI Press, $20, 133 pages There has always been a certain resistance on the right to the war on drugs. One of the most persuasive texts on that front came in 1972, when the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse put forth a report entitled "Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding." This document recommended decriminalization on the grounds that marijuana and its users did not sufficiently endanger the public safety to warrant criminal penalties. [continues 662 words]
Inside District of Columbia
