Mention Dan Forbes to most people and they'd draw a blank. But the Office of National Drug Control Policy certainly knows who Dan Forbes is. In January, Forbes, 44, broke the story on Salon.com about how the ONDCP secretly gave financial incentives to television networks to insert the government's zero-tolerance War on Drugs message into the scripts of prime- time shows. Forbes, a graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, with experience in social work and acting, wrote and researched most of the story from his Brooklyn apartment. Forbes followed with articles about how the ONDCP used the same cash-for-content method to convince major national magazines to print anti-drug propaganda and how the successes of the November '96 California and Arizona medical-marijuana initiatives helped spark this paid media campaign strategy. [continues 2241 words]
A fractured drug reform movement struggles for unity. The organized resistance to America's War on Drugs seems to have taken its political cues from Monty Python's Life of Brian: forming hundreds of groups, adopting acronyms, holding meetings, bickering over trivia and espousing conflicting political stances while the enemy runs roughshod. Yes, Connecticut's drug reform movement certainly has its equivalents of the Popular People's Front, People's Front of Judea and Popular People's Front of Judea: Three years ago Cliff Thornton left his $70,000-a-year middle management job at the phone company to start Efficacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the War on Drugs. He and his wife, Maggie, work out of their Windsor home full-time, telling anyone who will listen that rather than enforcing antiquated and unjust prohibitions, the common sense answer is legalizing and regulating marijuana and medicalizing hard substances such as cocaine and heroin. [continues 2837 words]
Why the White House is watching Scoop The White House called the Hartford Advocate last week to check up on Scoop after Scoop interviewed Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). McCaffrey visited the Hartford Club for a Drugs Don't Work luncheon, awarded plaques to drug warriors and spoke about drug policy. During the luncheon, Scoop inquired about the recent Institute of Medicine report confirming that marijuana has medicinal value, this after McCaffrey said three years ago that pot had no healing qualities. [continues 184 words]
If you get busted for marijuana, wait a while before committing another dumb act--like publicizing your 20th birthday party at a nightclub. After Scoop saw a flyer advertising the gig Sunday, April 25, at the Spotlight Cafe on Walnut Street, Scoop couldn't resist visiting El-Amin's elusive tactics regarding interviews. Upon entering, Scoop is carded. A bartender says that El-Amin will show, that he comes to the bar all the time. The manager says that El-Amin won't be here. The promoter forgot El-Amin is underage, he says. A security guard confirms El-Amin is a regular. [continues 174 words]
Or "Dude, Where's The Grassroots Party At?" Will Disjointed Drug Reformers Burn Themselves Out? The hundreds of groups that form the drug policy reform movement nationwide seem to have taken their political cues from Monty Python's Life of Brian. While the organized resistance to America's official war on drugs is not a comedy set in Christ's Jerusalem, a look inside the movement reveals reformers doing exactly what makes Life of Brian so hilarious: adopting acronyms, holding meetings, bickering over trivialities and espousing conflicting political stances while the enemy runs roughshod. [continues 3548 words]
Pot-carrying UConn basketball star Khalid El-Amin: hero or goat? Scoop sees it both ways. The Drugs Don't Work clones must figure he's a goat and bad example, while the drug reform policy crowd wants him to be a hero and urge for legalization. The Husky Media Horde calls him a dope, calls for an apology, and calls for him to change his evil ways. Scoop calls for people to look at this situation rationally—it's a darn shame El-Amin has to drive to Hartford and risk arrest for DWB (driving while black) just to score some weed. El-Amin lives on a perfectly good college campus, where hundreds of hippies, nerds and jocks spark up—all day, every day. That's higher education, right? [continues 92 words]
What should Connecticut lawmakers do about unjust, racially biased and overly expensive mandatory minimum statutes? Should a convicted murderer expect to spend more time in jail than someone caught with two ounces of crack cocaine? Common sense may dictate yes, but the reality of mandatory sentencing would prove you wrong. Faced with this absurdity, Connecticut legislators listening to Jonathan Caulkins, Ph.D., expound on the costliness of mandatory minimum sentences for cocaine offenses waited all night recently for the answerthat never came: What should Connecticut lawmakers do about unjust racially biased and overly expensive mandatory minimum statutes? [continues 667 words]
