tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214277052024-02-07T03:10:52.487-05:00Miscellany's FactotumA bit of everything under the sunUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-50227716787256217732010-11-07T09:17:00.019-05:002010-11-09T18:45:49.569-05:00How Graphene Ping-Pong Balls will Change the World<div align="center"><strong>How Graphene Ping-Pong Balls will Change the World</strong><br /><br />Steve Coulter<br /></div><div align="center">Nov 6, 2010<br /><br /></div><div align="left">Graphene is a recently-discovered material of remarkable physical and electrical properties. It is actually found in abundance in nature in the form of graphite. Graphene is simply a single molecular layer of graphite. Graphite is common pencil lead. When you write with a pencil, you create a thin layer of graphite on paper. Apply ordinary scotch tape to that graphite, and you can pull off tiny specks of graphene.<br /><br />If you had studied these specks of carbon monolayer graphene macromolecules ten years ago, you might have earned the Nobel Prize instead of Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, of the University of Manchester.<br /><br />Courtesy of Wikipedia, here's a nice drawing of two layers of graphene:<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Graphite.gif"></a><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Graphite.gif"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 452px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 504px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Graphite.gif" /></a><br /> <br /><div align="left">The most intense interest around graphene has been the potential applications in electronics. Graphene has a conductive "cloud" of electrons on each side of this sheet of carbon atoms. These electron clouds can be manipulated to form the smallest possible transistors.<br /><br />Graphene-based elctronics promise enormous adavances in smaller computer size and reduced power requirements.<br /><br />We will probably soon see graphene-based photovoltaic solar cells that will be able to generate electricity from sunlight with astonishingly thin, light-weight layers.<br /><br />Graphene is really a crystalline form of carbon. Diamond is the more familiar crystalline form of carbon. Graphene is stronger than diamond, but it is somewhat elastic.<br /><br />Crystals have a tendency to be quite stable physical forms. They can often be "grown" in the laboratory under precise conditions. This is also true of graphene, which can be formed in layers deposited on, e.g., copper.<br /><br />Now consider a factory which might produce spheres of graphene the size of ping-pong balls. The stuff is stronger than diamond, but if we produced spheres of only one molecule thickness, they'd be too fragile to hold their own weight. So we're here considering spheres of sufficient thickness to have the approximate strength of ping-pong balls. One imagines these would have a thickness of thousands of layers. "Thousands of layers" sounds thick, but at atom-sized dimensions, were still talking about microscopic thickness.<br /><br>These could be formed inside molds of two copper half-spheres. One side of the mold would have a tiny port for a needle-like probe to introduce the carbon substrate to be deposited on the inside of the mold.<br /><br />Open the mold, and you have a graphene sphere with a miniscule hole. It would probably resembe a soap bubble of the kind you might see a child blow for fun.<br /><br />Now, put that bubble in a vacuum, and seal the hole with a tiny dot of adhesive tape. There's now a vacuum inside the ball, so the tape hardly even needs adhesive to stay put. Alternatively, it might be possible to deposit more graphene at the hole to complete the sphere.<br /><br />The peculiar thing about this ping-pong ball is that it's lighter than air. The whole sphere would weigh only perhaps a few milligrams and the vacuum inside would weigh nothing. The sphere would be considerably lighter than if it were filled with helium gas or hydrogen gas. But it would be far stronger than any lighter-than-air balloon.<br /><br />Since the raw material for graphene is essentially coal or natural gas, it could be possible in the remote future to mass produce vacuum-filled graphene spheres for pennies per liter of vacuum.<br /><br /><br /><strong>GSVB Aircraft</strong><br /><br />Fill a few common garbage bags with these, tie the bags together, and you can lift yourself into the sky. Bring a parachute before you lift off, please.<br /><br />Graphene sphere-based lift has powerful advantages over current balloon-based bouyancy using helium or hydrogen gas. Balloons have to permit expansion of gas as they rise, and cannot generally be made into structures of mechanical rigidity or stregth. Only in very large sizes can they be turned into navigable aircraft (dirigibles, or blimps).<br /><br /><em>Graphene Sphere Vaccuum Bouyancy</em> (<strong> <em> GSVB </em> </strong>) devices offer astounding versatility and applications. You can pack these spheres into lightweight structures comprised primarily of fabric like nylon, shaped in any way you like. The dimensions don't change with altitude, the graphene spheres don't expand or contract.<br /><br />So lets think about unmanned GSVB aircraft design. These things will hover without using any power. Now put solar cells on the top surface (which will soon be graphene-based and ultralight in weight), and put some lightweight batteries in the structure (which may also soon be graphene-based and ultralight in weight). Add a computer control, radio interface, and propulsion by simple electric fans.<br /><br />What you now have is a lighter-than-air drone aircraft that can stay aloft for <em>years at a time</em>. With GPS technology, it can hover over a very precise location, at a controlled altitude of anything from a few feet to several miles high. It could be as small as a basketball or as large as the QE2 ocean liner.<br /><br />Now consider almost ANY application, invention, or device that has ever been conceived of using unmanned aircraft, blimps, ballooons, dirigibles, or satellites. Most of the ideas that have ever been cooked up since the first balloon flight of 1783 can now be carried out with this new and more-versatile technology.<br /><br />Since these drone aircraft are navigable, they can be released from anyplace on the globe, travel to any point on the globe, stay there as long as desired, and then navigate back to base for maintenance and refitting.<br /><br />Obviously, surveillance devices would be a prime use. Espionage, security, border control, law enforcement uses spring to mind. Unlike heavier-than-air drones, these craft would be silent. Unlike balloons, they could not be easily shot down with mere bullets.<br /><br />Many current applications for communication satellites could be deployed more cheaply with GSVB drones. A single communications drone a few miles in altitude might only be able to serve a single metropolitan area, but these drones could simultaneously have functions of modern microwave relay stations. <br /><br />A cloud of such hovering communications drones could provide TV and internet service to whole nations with minimal ground-based equipment. Laying coaxial cable or fiberoptic lines over miles of ground could soon become obsolete.<br /><br />Again, with GPS positioning and solar-powered navigation, an entire fleet of communications drones could have almost totally automated operations, carrying limitless total bandwidth over unlimited geographic range.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Shipping and Transportation</strong><br /><br />The era of lighter-than-air dirigible transportation mostly died with the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. A promising mode of transportation was probably quashed prematurely. GSVB aircraft might bring this transportation mode back.<br /><br />With GSVB technology, lighter-than-air craft will be far more compact, rigid, and flight-worthy than balloon-based craft, but will still be somwhat bulky, and therefore much slower than current aircraft. It is unlikely that there will be significant demand for mass passenger travel using such aircraft. <br /><br />Perhaps there might be specialty demand for airliner cruises that might resemble contemporary oceanliner pleasure cruises. <br /><br />On the other hand, personal helicopter-like craft could be of use in areas where ground transportation is difficult. With automation, on-board radar, and GPS technology, this transportation mode could be pilotless. You might get into your personal GSVB aircraft, punch in your destination with Google Maps, sit back and await your arrival. In the event of mechanical trouble, you might need to be retrieved by someone, but you wouldn't plummet to the ground. Parachute optional here.<br /><br />Nor is this technology suitable for freight of heavy cargo. However, relatively lightweight, high-value cargo whose delivery is not time-sensitive could be transported by this mode.<br /><br />In particular, one thinks of the vast trade in consumer goods from China to the US. With unmanned, solar-powered GSVB aircraft, these items could be shippped over the Pacific -- without the fuel expense, labor expense, or maintenance cost of oceanliners. These craft could be packed in Shanghai, programmed, and launched to arrive at a Los Angeles airport in a week or two.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Ladder to Space</strong><br /><br />Regardless of how great GSVB drone craft might be, mankind will still want to send some items into orbit and then interplanetary space. Current rocket technology makes sending items into orbit very expensive. Engineers have conceived of a number of cheaper alternatives for sending up massive amounts of space cargo. Among these is the idea of a kind of cannon to shoot items ballistically from ground to space.<br /><br />The force, energy, and speed necessary to deliver items to space ballistically is a daunting challenge, and the cargo so transported would be subjected to ferocious g-forces at launch. One might be able to reduce the difficulty by having a launch platform start the journey at high altitude.<br /><br />It would be a relatively straightforward matter to design a very, very large GSVB aircraft to carry the air cannon capable of accelerating a payload of hundreds of pounds to near escape velocity.<br /><br />More extraordinary pie-in-the sky ideas for space delivery have included a "space elevator." GSVB technology could provide the mechanical support for such a structure from the level of ground to tens of miles high.<br /><br /></div><div align="left"><strong>Climate Change</strong><br /><br />If graphene spheres can be manufactured at extremely low cost per-unit, a solution to global warming could be at hand.<br /><br />These spheres can be coated with white or black coatings. The spheres could be made to be heavier on one side, giving a bottom and top to each floating sphere. Put, say, a white titanium dioxide coating on the top, and a black carbon coating on the bottom. Cheap stuff, really. Release many trillions into the atmosphere.<br /><br />Sunlight hitting the white side of these spheres would reflect light back into space, increasing the "albedo" of the earth to cool it. Heat radiation from the ground need not be reflected back, but would be absorbed by the dark bottom of each sphere, slightly warming the surrounding air in the upper atmosphere, which by convection would deliver the warmth above the sphere-laden layer. Effectively, we'd have a cooling blanket for the earth.<br /><br />These spheres are very durable and resilient. They could surely be designed to stay aloft for years, even decades before ultraviolet rays and other radiation would break them down to the point of air entry and fall to earth. The stuff is really mere graphite, found in nature, and non-toxic.<br /> <br />Realistically, nobody would launch trillions of individual spheres that could not be retrieved. If we overshot the cooling or needed to turn off the system, the whole globe would be in trouble. <br /><br />Really, we'd assemble these spheres into massive sheets held together to form rafts the size of multiple square miles. Around the periphery of each massive floating high-altitude raft would be solar-powered, radio-controlled aparatus to permit these rafts to stay flat and horizontal, and be kept to specific locations and permitting the sheets to be retrieved if necessary.<br /><br />These navigable rafts could be brought to areas for spot-cooling of the globe. Too hot in Europe? Bring a fleet of sheets there for some shade. Areas near the equator could be cooled to become more livable. The Sahara desert could become a temperate zone while also helping to cool the globe as a whole. Saudi Arabia could become a delightful paradise. The Arctic and Antarctic could be kept cool in coming decades and centuries to save polar bears, ice sheets, fisheries, and humanity itself.<br /><br />Even if the globe as a whole had misgivings about such schemes, individual nations like Saudi Arabia might choose to pursue such plans. </div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"> <br> It may be time to start filing patent applications.....<br /><br />P.S. I cross-posted this over at the half-bakery (http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Graphene_20Vacuum_20Balls#1289342392). The brilliant minds there have kindly sought to poke holes in this apparent hare-brained scheme. Rough estimates of the strength of graphene would seem to suggest that these spheres might indeed act pretty much as I've suggested here. Actually manufacturing a prototype would be the main hurdle, but advances in handling this material have been developing at a breath-taking pace. I'm quite optimistic a prototype could be built within 2 years. </div><div align="left"></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-54869096153571183302010-01-23T09:12:00.008-05:002010-01-28T15:54:17.169-05:00Treason for Profit, 100% Legal. Get Rich Quick !!!!!!!!!<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3YvKNeYUZsp9B4dKS6kumJATcRYtik2COmUPqVdUByjbU-RXspiEUobuFNB3wNVC4sKbLd7PiK_CkOGkRGXxe3ANTt0V2Kwgo9Yhl65pcDAtHFgWTb4HKfA54cx3JibvDWpH/s1600-h/FlagsCapitol.bmp"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3YvKNeYUZsp9B4dKS6kumJATcRYtik2COmUPqVdUByjbU-RXspiEUobuFNB3wNVC4sKbLd7PiK_CkOGkRGXxe3ANTt0V2Kwgo9Yhl65pcDAtHFgWTb4HKfA54cx3JibvDWpH/s320/FlagsCapitol.bmp" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429579943731068482" /></a> <img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 155px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIJ9k3dojkSty7a52TAye2zVfmOLFlcxjHFV90QI82RRLARC6JTX5ijrrQdtNfBkHUCeVsKaLTlg1CM4fjDl77QTqWjM7VfBmXwDGBJvg1d3c1UWI3qcFbH5TMI4kVfbybbjT/s320/FlagDistress.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429580261195624370" /></p><p>Sadly, that headline can be accurate, thanks to the Supreme Court's decision last week, <b>Citizens United Vs. FEC</b>. This decision, bizarrely, recognized corporations as having free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. <br /><br />The position is fundamentally un-American. Our founding doctrine is that rights are bestowed upon people by "the Creator," and are inalienable. That is, they aren't granted by government or law -- government can only respect or infringe these intrinsic rights. The Supreme Court majority seems to think that corporations can or should have rights bestowed upon them by government. Theologically, this is blaspemy. In terms of political philosophy, it is hubris. Pragmatically, it opens the floodgates to treason for profit.<br /><br />The coporations that now have freedom to make their own unlimited election campaigns now include any group incorporated in a US territory or state. Actually, as of today, I know of no valid law that forbids even foreign corporations from broadcasting such election ads in the US. Traditionally, even foreigners have had unencumbered free speech in the US. <br /><br />Still, election ads are likely to still have to have the group paying for the ad to be named, and election advertising is unlikely to be effective if its byline says "paid for by The National Bank of Switzerland." Usually, it works better to say something like "paid for by Americans for Truth and Beauty."<br /><br />So a new, lucrative business plan is now possible. I'll start up a new public-relations corporation called "Americans for Truth and Beauty, Inc." I can incorporate ATB online in Delaware for about $100. Then file for an IRS tax ID number online and I can be in business in a day.<br /><br />I then contact the 100 largest corporations of the China stock market in Shangai. These are, of course, generally controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. No matter, business-to-business deals in this globalized economy is simply free trade, there's no legal reason not to do business with them.<br /><br />I tell them that I'm going to produce materials to support the campaigns of candidates who:<br />--oppose tarrifs against Chinese goods, on "free trade" grounds<br />--believe we shouldn't criticize the human rights records of our trading partners<br />--don't think China or anyone else should have to cut down on coal-fired power plants<br />--favor strong unions in America, which coincidentally will make it harder for American businesses to compete against Chinese ones<br />--oppose a strong US military presence in the Pacific, because our Pacific allies should carry their own military burden.<br /><br />I ask these foreign companies (or heck, even the Chinese Communist Party itself) for seed money to allow me to interview candidates of both parties who might be prepared to support this agenda. I find a number of candidates who can be persuaded to promise to follow this agenda, regardless of what might be said in their "official" campaigns.<br /><br />List in hand, I go back to those Chinese corporations. They say they won't give me money directly, but that I should expect lucrative contracts from various US-based partner organizations to produce materials sympathetic to these candidates and smearing their opponents. Millions of dollars pour into my company to fund these independent election PR efforts.<br /><br />Last week, this business plan would have been in violation of federal election laws. The Supreme Court just overturned those laws. This business plan is 100% legal today. Even if restrictions are placed on foreign-owned corporatons, my US corporation (discreetly working with with hidden foreign partners) can continue with this scheme legally.<br /><br />Traitors to American now have a 100% legal get-rich-quick scheme to line their own pockets. <br /><br />It's not WalMart and Exxon we need to worry about. American national sovereignty just got gutted by the Supreme Court.<br /><br />We now need an amendment to the Constitution to undo this damage to our country.<br /></p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-61565851674070745332010-01-22T09:19:00.016-05:002010-01-22T10:38:10.525-05:00Next US President? China, Inc.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3YvKNeYUZsp9B4dKS6kumJATcRYtik2COmUPqVdUByjbU-RXspiEUobuFNB3wNVC4sKbLd7PiK_CkOGkRGXxe3ANTt0V2Kwgo9Yhl65pcDAtHFgWTb4HKfA54cx3JibvDWpH/s1600-h/FlagsCapitol.bmp"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3YvKNeYUZsp9B4dKS6kumJATcRYtik2COmUPqVdUByjbU-RXspiEUobuFNB3wNVC4sKbLd7PiK_CkOGkRGXxe3ANTt0V2Kwgo9Yhl65pcDAtHFgWTb4HKfA54cx3JibvDWpH/s320/FlagsCapitol.bmp" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429579943731068482" /></a> <img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 155px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXIJ9k3dojkSty7a52TAye2zVfmOLFlcxjHFV90QI82RRLARC6JTX5ijrrQdtNfBkHUCeVsKaLTlg1CM4fjDl77QTqWjM7VfBmXwDGBJvg1d3c1UWI3qcFbH5TMI4kVfbybbjT/s320/FlagDistress.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429580261195624370" /><br /><br />Every American needs to read the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs FEC.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a href="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf">http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf</a></span><br /><br />It explicitly gives corporations free speech rights, including in electioneering, right up to election day. A candidate's official campaign remains regulated and restricted, but any "independent" campaigning on any candidate is now unlimited. <br /><br />A constitutional amendment is now required to restore elections to a regulated activity.<br /><p>Nothing in the decision limits this right to US-based or US-owned corporations. As of today, <strong><em>China, Inc</em></strong>., or Europe's <strong><em>Airbus</em></strong>, or Russia's <strong><em>Gazprom</em></strong> can now produce and run election ads in America, to try to determine US elections. </p><p>If anyone thought US liberals/progressives were dangerous, SCOTUS has unleashed foreign influence without any legal restriction. Before, foreign interests had to influence elections secretly. Now they don't even need a fig leaf. <br /><br />For an idea of what mayhem foreign organizations could cause in America, see: <br />How Vladimir Putin Selected Obama:<br /><a href="http://stevemdfp.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-vladimir-putin-selected-president.html"><span style="font-size:78%;">http://stevemdfp.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-vladimir-putin-selected-president.html</span></a><br /><br />Today, America has ceased being a democracy, ceased being a republic. and is now an indirect multinational plutocracy. Thanks to the Supreme Court's "Gang of Five," rule by multinational corporations is now enshrined in our Constitution.<br /><br />Heaven help us.<br /><br />Read more: </p><p><a href="http://tinyurl.com/CitizensVsFEC">http://tinyurl.com/CitizensVsFEC</a></p><p><br /> <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-39743618223756358462009-10-12T10:50:00.013-04:002009-10-12T13:14:07.199-04:00Some Doctors Are Poopy-Heads: Influenza Immunization, Reticent Healthcare Workers, and the current H1N1 Swine-Flu Pandemic<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WL4Y5w2YzdAS-TJ3uLgzRsKjGtq7y0kmn27v9x7Gt7S0mscGf6T_LX-Wa8AFpVNC4jUFiSfDH2faRpnqywnCM9gP6ome2D3cbbVrdiGfEN5U0n_v9sUfW1RcAxFL43LdbX_/s1600-h/ShotArmNurseVintage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WL4Y5w2YzdAS-TJ3uLgzRsKjGtq7y0kmn27v9x7Gt7S0mscGf6T_LX-Wa8AFpVNC4jUFiSfDH2faRpnqywnCM9gP6ome2D3cbbVrdiGfEN5U0n_v9sUfW1RcAxFL43LdbX_/s320/ShotArmNurseVintage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391754228340809810" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.medscape.com/">Medscape</a> is a popular site for medical professionals. They run a closed forum for doctors and nurses. There should be no surprise that some discussion concerns the response of the medical community to the current pandemic crisis. A few recognized authorities have posted matter-of-fact pieces about the importance of doctors and nurses getting immunized, so as not to spread influenza to vulnerable patients.<br /><br />You'd think that doctors and nurses would be almost unanimous about getting the flu vaccine to ensure they don't inadvertently expose vulnerable patients. You'd think they'd expect their peers to roll up their sleeves for the good of the profession's image as well as sound patient care. You'd be wrong.<br /><br />It's a closed forum, so I won't reveal the words or screen names of other participants. If you happen to be a medical professional, however, you can join in the fray here:<br /><a href="http://boards.medscape.com/forums/.29f68ec3/27">http://boards.medscape.com/forums/.29f68ec3/27</a><br /><br />To summarize, the discussion starts with a video clip of Paul G. Auwaerter, MD discussing New York State's recent decision to require healthcare workers to receive this year's influenza vaccines, and urging his peers to roll up their sleeves to get on board, even those not legally required. It's here:<br /><a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709580"><br />http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709580</a><br />(for access to this, you just need to register for the site. It's only the professionals' area you have to be validated to join).<br /><br />The professionals' closed debate about this video clip begins with 18 comments--all decrying the vaccine, the concern about pandemic, and the "state tyranny" of requiring physicians to receive it to continue seeing patients. This is unanimous condemnation of doctors being expected to put up with a tiny inconvenience and a remote personal risk in order to protect their own patients. So, I contributed the following:<br /><br /><blockquote>#19 of 28, Added By: SteveMDFP, MD, Family Medicine, 9:55PM Oct 07, 2009<br /><br />The comments here currently are quite hostile to the idea of mandatory immunization for healthcare workers. I have to disagree with a couple of issues, but agree on one significant point.<br /><br />Required immunizations for the public would be a violation of rights. For a licensed healthcare worker, however, the question is different. Retaining the PRIVILEGE of legally treating patients could reasonably include ensuring that these licensed individuals have minimized the possibility of transmitting influenza to frail individuals. There may not be double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials to prove that immunizing healthcare workers reduces risk to patients, but it's not hard to make the argument based on current (imperfect) knowledge. I think the New York State decision is a bit intrusive, but not entirely unreasonable.<br /><br />I do have a concern about the H1N1 vaccine, however. I think trace mercury or tiny amounts of aluminum pose no credible risk. However, the possible use of squalene as an adjuvent in this somewhat novel vaccine may reasonably raise serious concerns. "Gulf War Syndrome" has been epidemiologically linked to troops receiving the military anthrax vaccine (which contained squalene). Injected squalene causes an auto-immune syndrome in lab animals. If squalene is used in this vaccine, there is no possible way to demonstrate that it is "safe" from causing an autoimmune syndrome that may not become apparent for months, and could cause devastating, progressive injury for years. See:<br />Antibodies to squalene in Gulf War syndrome.<br />Exp Mol Pathol. 2000 Feb;68(1):55-64.<br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10640454/">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10640454/</a><br /><br />Personally, I won't be taking the injected H1N1 vaccine, unless I'm certain it does not contain squalene. I would not hesitate, however, to take a FluMist version.<br /> </blockquote>You'd think pointing out that the thrust of Auwater's encouragement to be vaccinated is all about protecting their own patients would shift the tone of the remaining debate among my peers. No, more direct language is needed. The next response asserts that physician transmission of influenza is vanishingly rare, and that the respondent has never taken the vaccine and never transmitted influenza virus to a patient. Good golly, high school health students know you don't have to already be sick to be able to pass respiratory viruses around. But sometimes even experts need to be reminded of the basics. My reply:<br /><br /><blockquote>#21 of 28, Added By: SteveMDFP, MD, Family Medicine, 2:59AM Oct 08, 2009<br /><br />xxxx,<br /><br />See also extensive discussion here:<br /><a href="http://boards.medscape.com/forums?128@@.29f60079%21comment=1">http://boards.medscape.com/forums?128@@.29f60079!comment=1</a><br /><br />You write, " [essentially, two decades and half a million personal encounters did not result in a single transmission of flu, and xxxx doesn't take the flu shot. --- actual words removed for confidentiality] ..."<br /><br />I'm sorry, this just doesn't hold up. Influenza is roughly the most contagious disease known. Maximum viral shedding begins *before* onset of symptoms. Most infections are undiagnosed, and some are experienced as simple colds or are totally asymptomatic.<br /><br />Published studies do demonstrate reduced risk of patient death when health care workers get the flu vaccine. It's entirely plausible that you had asymptomatic influenza many times and exposed dozens or hundreds of patients, several of whom may have then died of pneumonia without "influenza" being diagnosed in them or you, or anyone else. Or perhaps the number of avoidable influenza-related deaths from your work really is zero, but maybe the first avoidable nosocomial death will be this January in a patient of yours. If a doctor taking flu shots for a whole career prevents only a single avoidable death in a vulnerable patient, would that not be plenty reason to take the vaccine every year?<br /></blockquote>That link refers readers to another discussion thread, in which the originating essay calls physicians who refuse immunization as "Dumb Asses" because of their ignorance of the issues at hand and needless risk to their own patients. Most physicians responding denounced the indignity and outrage of such ungracious language and disrespect of peers.<br /><br />I am reminded of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis">Semmelweis</a>, who discovered that hand-washing by obstetricians could save the lives of ten percent of women who had deliveries performed by doctors. His evidence was incontrovertible. Physicians' resistance to the innovation was stubborn and unreasoned. In the face of ongoing needless patient deaths and irrational obstinacy by his peers, Semmelweis called his disbelieving colleagues murderers. This is a tad stronger than "Dumb Ass." Today, he is regarded as one of medicine's truly great heroes and pioneers.<br /><br />Finally, one contributor pipes up that we should, indeed, act to avoid infecting our patients, and protect their health, even if there's a very small personal risk by taking the vaccine.<br /><br />You'd think that reminding a doctor of the biology of disease transmission and the vulnerability of some of our frail patients would settle the matter. You'd be wrong. The original respondent to my first contribution then casts doubt about virus shedding during infections, and on the existence of influenza infections that cause no obvious illness in some individuals. Sigh. I do teach medical students, and I expect such questions from some of them. Not from a highly-experienced peer. So, I was forced to carry coals to Newcastle:<br /><br /><blockquote>#25 of 28, Added By: SteveMDFP, MD, Family Medicine, 7:47AM Oct 09, 2009<br /><br />xxxx-<br /><br />There is nothing new or esoteric about the knowledge that infections with influenza virus can display a range of symptoms from severe to asymptomatic, including viral shedding by asymptomatic individuals. Reference to these issues is here:<br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18230677">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18230677</a><br /><br />That you or I have had influenza SYNDROME rarely does not mean we haven't had influenza INFECTION many times.<br /><br />You simply cannot know with confidence whether you have had an influenza infection in any given winter, or whether you have exposed frail patients. There is no way to know whether you've infected a patient who then develops pneumonia 5 days after the last time you saw him/her.<br /><br />You want more than one peer-reviewed published study to demonstrate that health care workers getting influenza vaccine reduces death rate of patients? Most of what we do as a matter of clinical practice standards has no such level of support. Where's the evidence that performing a physical exam on a hospitalized patients improves outcomes? You won't find such a study. But what would you think of a doctor who simply never uses a stethoscope or touches a patient, or looks at a patients body?<br /><br />Similarly, can you find a randomized controlled trial to show that wearing sterile surgical gloves for surgery reduces post-op infections more than simple handwashing, with surgery done with bare hands? I'd be shocked if you could find a study to support this. But what would you think of a surgeon who did surgery with bare hands?<br /><br />The rationale for expecting health care workers to receive influenza vaccine is straightforward and commonsense. The risk or inconvenience of this is far less than the risk of seeing patients with infections. The potential hazard to frail patients from unimmunized healthcare workers is substantial, in the minds of the best-regarded clinicians who have examined all the available evidence.<br /><br />The burden of proof here should be on those who say health care workers needn't be expected to be vaccinated (absent a decent contraindication).<br /></blockquote>Sigh. The collective response is then two more posts citing side effects of the vaccine and envisioning doctors being crippled <span style="font-style: italic;">en mass</span>. Sigh. As if these were syringes of plague, not vaccine. These are doctors. I swear, the vetting to get access to these forums is rather rigorous. This is like having to introduce an SAE-certified auto mechanic to an exotic instrument known as a socket wrench. Yes, socket wrenches can hurt you, the ratchet mechanism could fly apart and a fragment could hit you in the eye. Your arm could slip and hit a hot exhaust pipe. It could fall and hit your toe. People have died from using socket wrenches, I'm sure. But auto mechanics use them because its part of the job they signed up for. Sheesh. Then my colleagues cite a lack of randomized, controlled trials to prove that influenza vaccination of doctors saves patient lives. My reply:<br /><br /><blockquote>#28 of 28, Added By: SteveMDFP, MD, Family Medicine, 2:44AM Oct 11, 2009<br /><br />This is misleading. "Lack of evidence of efficacy is not evidence of lack of efficacy." Readers would do well to look at the actual article referenced:<br /><a href="http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab005187.html">Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers who work with the elderly</a><br /><a href="http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab005187.html">http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab005187.html</a><br /><br />There is published research showing a significant decrease in patient mortality when healthcare workers are immunized. See:<br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8985189">Influenza vaccination of health care workers in long-term-care hospitals reduces the mortality of elderly patients. </a><br /><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8985189">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8985189</a><br /><br />Again, this is far stronger evidence than we have for supporting other clinical practice standards. Can you find comparable evidence to support wearing sterile gloves for surgery instead of just a hand scrub? But what would you say of a surgeon who only washed his hands, and then performed surgery with bare hands?<br /><br />Level of evidence ethically necessary to prescribe a treatment is different from the level of evidence ethically necessary to mandate a practice standard among practitioners. It's unnecessary and unethical to insist on such a level of evidence before implementing a standard of professional practice.<br /><br />Level of risk to a practitioner in being immunized is infinitesimal in comparison to the level of risk suffered by a patient cared for by a practitioner shedding influenza virus. We really should try to kill as few patients as possible, and insist that our peers do likewise.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsNVANK9kTBZM_cFZNPj9uNWE3tMlMktTEGJ4iqZw9eNOHVUXRPRF0uzorWkdH3JTYwVqNIBwuEkvQJV90dpZgDAPsAS_1PE8FjrcOrHVd8Lv-zLjds_NVeeIpnEoZ-1w-ztT/s1600-h/4-yearFluMortalityChart.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIsNVANK9kTBZM_cFZNPj9uNWE3tMlMktTEGJ4iqZw9eNOHVUXRPRF0uzorWkdH3JTYwVqNIBwuEkvQJV90dpZgDAPsAS_1PE8FjrcOrHVd8Lv-zLjds_NVeeIpnEoZ-1w-ztT/s400/4-yearFluMortalityChart.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391758777471161442" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2008-2009/images/picurve36.gif"><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2008-2009/images/picurve36.gif</span></a><br /></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-54217119822751874872009-05-10T22:21:00.013-04:002009-10-12T12:24:22.791-04:00India's 'Untouchables' and the West's Addicts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7pgAO9NuFVL1qxu64xmWjfBsGzG0PfoM9wFApENOcPiOyJavDMZxORm_LS5u7GtQNcyOAVdgQVj97R_6Yy06W2obPJkwQI12byQw7AM64oHsCLKzVEzfraS8bxXkgJB4K60R/s1600-h/addicts.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7pgAO9NuFVL1qxu64xmWjfBsGzG0PfoM9wFApENOcPiOyJavDMZxORm_LS5u7GtQNcyOAVdgQVj97R_6Yy06W2obPJkwQI12byQw7AM64oHsCLKzVEzfraS8bxXkgJB4K60R/s200/addicts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334394725677967026" border="0" /></a> <img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgklJZ5UBDRnrT5BQEhgPhJ3FRqnVlcwfwBMrlCOWZdLVYLio0ej5izsrEgK5OkV7RiQjfTOW_Dv9yTfaG443xumok2AY6ycVOIXS34Ee7uNa_fQhCH6jTgAvCrMTkF638wJi7n/s320/Dalits.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334386347809034674" border="0" /> _________________________________________________________<div align="left">The "untouchable caste" of India, the "Dalits," are culturally in much the same position as addicts in the West. They are commonly viewed with fear, disdain, hate, and revulsion. Their lives, human value, and sufferings are typically discounted. For example, when a Dalit dies, the event is often treated with little concern, a mere footnote on society's functioning.<br /><br />See: </div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.dalitnetwork.org">http://www.dalitnetwork.org</a><br /><br />Some in India have come forward to address the plight of the Dalits. Progress has been made, but at a slow pace. Mahatma Gandhi championed this cause decades ago. He successfully freed India from British colonial rule, but made only small progress in addressing the plight of the Dalits. Political and legal problems, even on a global scale, are easier to fix than cultural attitudes.<br /><br />If one imagines a service program designed to help the plight of a population of Dalits in India (perhaps an educational, nutritional, or legal aid program), one can envision predictable issues which need to be considered.<br /><br />The biggest issue would be staff attitude. Many or most might be expected to approach their duties from an enlightened stance, having examined and worked through their prejudices. But others would be expected to approach their employment with a residual attitude of superiority, condescension, and even hostility. The obligations of duty of care and other ethical standards can be forgotten in the face of such prejudice.<br /><br />A rational service program would have to be carefully designed to detect poor staff attitude or poor program policies and procedures, with vigorous mechanisms for correction. The centerpiece of such quality control would need to be systems for concerns and grievances of clients to be solicited, listened to carefully, and addressed with respect and compassion.<br /><br />It would be utterly inadequate to require client grievances to be submitted in writing; this is difficult for many on psychological grounds, and often impossible on literacy grounds. It would be utterly inadequate for grievances to be heard first only by the supervisor of an employee. In any organization, supervisors and subordinates ALWAYS develop interdependent relationships which hamper the freedom of a supervisor to address client grievances objectively. Superiors and subordinates generally anticipate a long relationship in which easy relations are essential to be able to work productively and effectively. In essence, there can be a real conflict of interest for any supervisor to be the primary mechanism of hearing of grievances by any client in ANY service organization.<br /><br />It would be utterly inadequate for such quality control measures to depend upon client questionnaires being distributed and handed back to program personnel. Any client feeling fear (rationally or irrationally), would not want that questionnaire to be seen by program personnel, and would tend to self-censor or "whitewash" any concerns in any such document. <br /><br />A rational system would have to be designed with an independent ombudsman or "office of the client advocate" who could hear grievances in any form and investigate, with resulting recommendations to be addressed at high levels.<br /><br />Most organizations with active internal quality control mechanisms employ "exit interviews." Most commonly, exit interviews are given to employees leaving a business as a way to raise and address problems which current employees may not feel free to bring up, for fear of retribution. The same kind of process can, however, be employed with clients of service organizations. These need not necessarily be face-to-face interviews with every exiting client. The process could be carried out by phone or written questionnaire, and might be done with only a statistical sampling of clients. As with exit interviews for employees, an effective approach would not be to question only those leaving in good standing, but also those who are fired or quit. <br /><br />Any kind of service organization without vigorous quality control procedures in place can be expected to suffer characteristic aggravations. Clients who do not feel able to have grievances and concerns listened to within organizational channels will tend to carry their concerns elsewhere. Such unanticipated and less-effective channels can include public word-of-mouth, stories in the press, reports to outside governmental authorities, malpractice suits, and even criminal complaints to law enforcement. When one sees a service organization having clients raise concerns in unusual venues, such as within advisory councils, the primary lesson to be gleaned, I think, is that effective internal quality control measures are deficient.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-46680197155930280452008-11-11T08:47:00.014-05:002009-10-11T03:41:33.018-04:00Calling the BottomRemember nine months ago, when economists were marvelling over an exceptionally well-performing world economy? Though energy and commodity prices were high, the overall picture seemed rosy. Consumer confidence was good, and all sorts of productive technologies were coming into application all over the globe. Steady increases in productivity, fostered especially by almost magical information technology, promised rising prosperity and increases in economic activity the world over.<br /><br />What happened? The real estate speculative bubble burst, and the resulting jitters sent essentially everyone all over the globe to execute a generalized "run on the bank." Investments and assets of all kinds were suddenly being cashed-out. The fall in asset values across the board was thus the very definition of a deflationary crisis. An incredibly rapid contraction of the money supply thus fed this self-reinforcing spiral.<br /><br />The crisis has been answered with reassuring speed and vigor by concerted central bank actions to re-expand the underlying money supply. Have the credit conditions been responding appropriately? Yes. The single best measure of the liquidity and health of the credit system is probably the "TED-spread." This is the difference in interest rates between Federal Reserve debt obligations and highest-quality commercial obligations for the same term. Effectively, Federal Reserve obligations are the working definition of zero-risk debt. The perceived risk of bonds of the highest quality, then, is effectively a good measure of overall economic confidence in future growth and ability of the entities to repay their obligations. If the spread between these two rates is small, there is confidence globally in the health of the global economy, and thus a willingness and ability to lend to good borrowers for good purposes. Though still rather high by historical standards, the spread as of today, November 11 is 1.75, falling very rapidly indeed from its mind-blowing, absolutely unprecedented peak of 4.64 on October 10, 2008. <br /><br />By this TED-Spread measure, the current crisis started on the ironic anniversary, 9/11, when the spread stood at 1.21, already moderately high. One week later, it hit a new peak, 3.13, which was completely unprecedented. It had never in its history exceeded much over 2.0. Just another three weeks was needed for this to reach the mind-boggling peak of 4.64. See:<br />_____________________________________________________________________________________<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVyCOjTS_n1dumRsjJg49P1R-z0vCMSsGJRt241WyDq-Wu-654aDioHOUWke16Alz5ckRAEhN-TtmhzWfghXhMr_IHm_cvkvWF4z4gimQaKUm-1YzzaHL2Xp0AmaqUAg6Q4Ck/s1600-h/tedspr1yr.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVyCOjTS_n1dumRsjJg49P1R-z0vCMSsGJRt241WyDq-Wu-654aDioHOUWke16Alz5ckRAEhN-TtmhzWfghXhMr_IHm_cvkvWF4z4gimQaKUm-1YzzaHL2Xp0AmaqUAg6Q4Ck/s320/tedspr1yr.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267418232329054610" /></a><br />_____________________________________________________________________________________<br />[courtesy of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Bloomberg</span>.com,<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=.TEDSP:IND">http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=.TEDSP:IND</a>]<br /><br /><br />For a broader perspective, look at this measure over five years:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKozfPVy9ib5kb4UKZzLSmjlW1liBm33sO1dfkMpg5VRGXpNHk7hJfEOYkHkm6QeWCmAX1e0ty9Fq7izeXcBOUgyV8oYuhYv28CpC-vsTTIAN87r7FUx_-Q4oE94zwknNKOsJ/s1600-h/tedspr5yr.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKozfPVy9ib5kb4UKZzLSmjlW1liBm33sO1dfkMpg5VRGXpNHk7hJfEOYkHkm6QeWCmAX1e0ty9Fq7izeXcBOUgyV8oYuhYv28CpC-vsTTIAN87r7FUx_-Q4oE94zwknNKOsJ/s320/tedspr5yr.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267419074099927826" /></a><br />_____________________________________________________________________________________<br />From the perspective of the credit markets (where this crisis originated and demolished the financial pillars of the "real economy"), the credit "crisis" is now just a moderate credit "crunch" and may well be back to fairly normal range within a week.<br /><br />So, looking forward, what are the prospects for resumption of brisk growth? Excellent. Although willingness of consumers to spend may be dampened for some months, there is great benefit to having that income saved and re-invested rather than simply consumed. The underlying engine of economic growth--technology and it's inventive application to productive uses of all kinds all over the globe--never took a breather through this crisis. Great plans and ideas are sill on the drawing boards in every country on earth. Computing power and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">information </span>transmission and processing capabilities are better now than they were a year ago.<br /><br />There is one advantage right now that the global economy didn't have a year ago. Energy and raw materials are <span style="font-weight:bold;">much cheaper</span>. With access to capital for sound infrastructure investments, all those wonderful plans sitting on drawing boards can now be funded and carried out at substantially lower cost than they could have just one year ago. When in the history of economics have such investment opportunities existed before? Never. Never.<br /><br />What we went through over the past two months is comparable <span style="font-weight:bold;">in intensity</span> to what happened during the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. The fairly mind-boggling difference is that we went from good times to abyss and now solidly on the way to recovery in <span style="font-weight:bold;">two months</span> rather than <span style="font-weight:bold;">ten years</span>.<br /><br />How could this be? Simply, most money exists as <span style="font-weight:bold;">information</span>, not physical currency--account balances, ledger entries, contract obligations and the like. This is simply data. In this electronic information age, this data can be transported, recorded, verified, and exchanged all over the globe in the blink of an eye, in quantities that defy the ability of the mind to comprehend. The "positive feedback loops" of money creation and destruction now can now develop and reverse in days to weeks rather than months to years. <br /><br />As long as the central banks can respond rationally, quickly, and vigorously, these self-reinforcing cycles of money creation and contraction (inflationary spirals and deflationary crashes) can be corrected with breathtaking speed. The central banks today sit at the tiller of a supersonic speedboat, instead of the great wheel of a stately steamship. Through the first eight months of 2008, they didn't realize the economy was drifting towards a deflationary crisis. Once the picture became clear, however, their actions were brisk, vigorous, rational, and concerted. Over this time, the central bankers look first pretty incompetent, and subsequently brilliant and courageous.<br /><br />This morning, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">economic </span>future looks exceptionally bright. The "real economy" however, will surely take a few more months to reflect this reality; it hasn't had time to fully reflect the emergency (and near-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">catastrope</span>) that has already happened in the financial markets.<br /><br />In summary, Warren Buffet is surely correct that equity investments today represent an opportunity that may be of unprecedented value in the history of finance. It is time to invest.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-83236577588978294332008-11-05T03:37:00.024-05:002009-10-29T23:50:25.196-04:00How Vladimir Putin Selected President Obama<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cb5SbrhbNOrzDQrYHiODB0mxim_OBHT8QX7UhHPdaZdX-Uj-L2ajR4LPur6qGyyWdos5ylXLUmAejb6yUSN00EAE-c_P9nEEkPwyqSX1aux4K6gcGWraJxVo8dM2B3gc8j4-/s1600-h/FabFour.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4cb5SbrhbNOrzDQrYHiODB0mxim_OBHT8QX7UhHPdaZdX-Uj-L2ajR4LPur6qGyyWdos5ylXLUmAejb6yUSN00EAE-c_P9nEEkPwyqSX1aux4K6gcGWraJxVo8dM2B3gc8j4-/s320/FabFour.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391266669304092514" /></a><br /><p>____________________________________________________________<br />If you were a foreigner watching the unfolding US election, had a stake in the outcome, and had a few hundred billion dollars to spare, what would you do?<br /></p><br />How many people have been in such a position in the current election cycle? Three: Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.<br /><br />Recent figures show dollar reserves of these three nations have been enormous, and rising briskly. Russia's dollar reserves recently stood at $260 billion. Saudia Arabia has banked over $800 billion. China holds over a trillion dollars. In all cases, current trade surpluses ensure that these reserves are guaranteed to increase briskly for some time to come--none of these autocratic rulers has any reason to be shy about using these funds for any reason of national importance.<br /><br />Who would these powers prefer to win the US election, and how badly? In all cases, Obama, very badly. In Saudi Arabia's case, there are conflicting considerations. A McCain presidency might be viewed as more friendly to oil interests around the globe, not just domestic US oil company interests. McCain has had a long history of voting against alternative energy initiatives; Obama has supported vigorous support for alternatives to fossil fuels. As long as the US remains dependent upon oil for its transportation needs, imports are inevitable, regardless of how much "drill, baby, drill" unfolds. At first glance, McCain might be the preferred candidate for the Saudis.<br /><br />But Saudi Arabia's rulers have interests more pressing than just keeping the oil money pouring in. The monarchy has never been entirely politically secure. Religious extremists within the kingdom routinely call for its downfall; al Qaeda has repeatedly called for an overthrow of the regime. More than anything else, the Saudi royal family needs to have political stability in the Middle east. From their perspective, a long-term presence of US troops in Iraq would likely continue to radicalize "the man on the Arab street," threatening the regime's security.<br /><br />There is also the consideration of Iran. There is no love lost between the Sunni Saudis and the Shi'ite Ayatollahs of Iran. But a McCain administration would seem hell-bent on confrontation with Iran, quite plausibly leading to military strikes. Under such circumstances, the perception of an epic struggle between Islam and the Christian West would tend to overide narrower sectarian concerns; Sunni and Shia would unite in their fear and rage, and the Saudi royal family, being widely perceived as allied with US interests, would be at imminent risk of being deposed.<br /><br />In contrast, an Obama administration promises a prompt (but not precipitous) withdrawal from Iraq, and dialogue with Iran that seems most likely to avert military conflict, while tending to keep Iran's potential influence in the region relatively reigned-in. This approach couldn't be more appealing to the Saudis if they'd written the plans themselves.<br /><br />China's considerations in the election are similar, and possibly similarly compelling. On China's border sits North Korea, a nation of 23 million impoverished souls. McCain has publicly advocated a "get tough" policy with North Korea, opposing its removal from the US list of state sponsors of terror. McCain has also joked about engaging in military strikes against North Korea. The prospect of a renewed Korean War involving the US on its border must fill President Hu Jintao with dread. If nothing else, a war on its border would have a devastating effect on foreign investment in China. China would strongly favor a win for Obama.<br /><br />The case with Russia is more compelling still. McCain has been a vigorous proponent of expansion of NATO within the borders of the former Soviet Union. McCain was especially bellicose during the recent war between Russia and Georgia. The tone of the McCain's commentary seemed to suggest the use of US troops to repulse the Russian invasion. The risk of such conflict between two nuclear powers might alarm the entire world, but nobody more than Vladimir Putin.<br /><br />So, we have a list of suspects, we have established motive and ability. What would be the modus operandi for this detective mystery? The approach is straightforward. Beginning over a year ago, these three leaders would understand that a US economic downturn would tend to favor the Democratic challenger running against a Republican administration. It would also be obvious that Democratic campaigns have always been under-funded compared to the more wealthy and business-friendly Republican Party.<br /><br />Two basic, simultaneous approaches would almost guarantee the desired outcome: funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the Obama campaign, and engineer a severe economic downturn in the US.<br /><br />Engineering the downturn would have been primarily accomplished by the Saudis. All they had to do (and did) was to dial down the spigots of oil output. Petroleum demand, being inelastic, promptly resulted in marked increases in prices. Overall, this strategy was no sacrifice for the Saudis...their reward for flat or decreased oil pumping was higher net revenues. With additional billions being pumped out of the US economy by oil imports, and with higher costs for economic activity, it is surprising that the economic downturn in the US didn't happen more quickly.<br /><br />But all those vast holdings of US dollar-denominated assets could be used to push the economy down as well. Federal Reserve data has shown a fall in M3 "money supply" beginnning about a year ago, and accelerating since the summer. This could reflect cashing out investments, and holding currency in reserves in vaults or secured warehouses. There is a process of "money creation" in which currency in circulation expands many-fold as account balances that exist as ledger entries rather than paper bills. If $100 in currency is withdrawn from circulation, the fall in money supply is ten times greater. This piece of the economic maniupulation might have been accomplished most easily by the Chinese. Somewhere, there may be warehouses owned by China, packed with $100 bills withdrawn from the US economy.<br /><br />The sale of stock and real estate holdings would also tend to depress the stock market indices and real estate prices. A rapid deflationary death spiral was triggered, then, that has been enormously greater than the initial stress to the economy. A firecracker was thrown into a dynamite factory, in effect. Those responsible probably only expected a loud bang. The actual explosion has shaken the entire global economy. Rapid, assertive central bank actions across the globe seem to be putting Humpty Dumpty back together again fairly promptly.<br /><br />The other leg of the election strategy would have been accomplished by Putin's KGB friends. The goal would have been to funnel perhaps 100 million dollars or so into the Obama campaign without the origin of the funds being detected. KGB agents have long been active in the US, and have cultivated a vast range of contacts across the country. Distributing hundreds of briefcases full of $100 bills to contacts in organized crime syndicates, unions, and selected private groups could then translate into hudreds of thousands of "individual small donors." Donations of under $200 are not then reported by the campaign and would be ultimately untraceable in any case.<br /><br />If this had actually happened, we would have seen the Obama campaign receive an unprecedented number of small donations, accounting for a remarkably high proportion of an enormous total campaign war chest. Is this what happened? You betcha.<br /><br />Did the three foreign rulers act in concert, or each individually? Only the leaders of the three states know for sure. Each may have pursued such strategies independently, each unaware that the others were hoping to have a similar influence on the election outcome.<br /><br />Would the Obama campaign have been knowing accomplices to these actions? Not a chance. There would have been no purpose to letting Obama know that his campaign was getting a foreign boost. If the information had gotten out prior to election day, the facts would have devastated Obama's chances. He'd have remained most effective if he believed all those small contributors were legitimate, patriotic US citizens.<br /><br />Is there a shred of hard evidence to back up this interpretation of recent events? No. But if the plans had been executed carefully, there wouldn't be any convincing public evidence.<br /><br />This could make a great movie. Secret plots, briefcases and warehouses full of cash, word leaders conspiring, scenes of Riyadh, Beijing, Moscow, and DC. Some James Bond character jet-setting around trying to piece together the clues, hounded by shadowy KGB agents....only, he discovers the plan only at the last minute, and is prevented from reporting the truth in time....stranded somewhere as the new world order unfolds, he and a beautiful KGB agent decide to make love, not war....<br /><br />Anyway, globalization may have done more than give foreign nations a stronger interest in the outcome of US elections--it may have motivated actual interventions in the political process. A concern for genuine national security might favor a system of mandatory public campaign financing. Perhaps both parties might now embrace the concept.<br /><br />______________________________________<br /><br />Share this article:<br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://stevemdfp.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-vladimir-putin-selected-president.html&title=how-vladimir-putin-selected-president">Del.icio.us</a><br /><br /><a href="http://digg.com/political_opinion/How_Vladimir_Putin_Selected_President_Obama#">Digg</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=http://stevemdfp.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-vladimir-putin-selected-president.html">Technorati</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-52961708827467933822008-10-10T18:24:00.015-04:002009-10-11T05:24:58.499-04:00Wall Street Meltdown -- thoughts on the Deflationary Death Spiral<em></em><br />The press has mostly been describing the current economic meltdown as a "credit crisis." Well, this is true, but the term is not particularly illuminating.<br /><br />There are other terms which more clearly describe the current crisis:<br /><br />-- rapid contraction of the money supply<br /><br />--"run on the bank," where "bank" means all financial institutions all over the globe<br /><br />--deflationary crisis<br /><br />--deflationary death spiral<br /><br />The last is fairly inflammatory, but may be the most accurate. We haven't seen deflation since the Great Depression. <br /><br />The bit of economic data few seem to be recognizing is that ALL major items which can be purchased are falling in price, rapidly: stocks, real estate, commercial bonds, most commodities. The only things that don't seem to be falling rapidly are items that are considered essentially equivalent to currency: T-bills, gold, silver, the Japanese Yen, and the Swiss Franc. Even gold and silver aren't particularly strong.<br /><br />If almost everything is falling in price, we have DEFLATION, by definition. Many will be slow to recognize the truth of this, because just a few months ago food and energy prices were increasing briskly. But crude oil prices are currently in a nosedive over the past week, and consumer price index data is pending for food.<br /><br />What is a deflationary spiral all about? Loss of confidence in financial institutions results in increasing numbers of depositors closing accounts and converting balances to currency or the above dollar-equivalents. <br /><br /> From Wikipedia, entry for "deflation":<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation</a> <blockquote>There have been three significant periods of deflation in the United States....<br />The third was between 1930-1933 when the rate of deflation was approximately 10 percent/year, part of America's slide into the Great Depression, where banks failed and unemployment peaked at 25%.<br /><br />The deflation of the Great Depression, as in 1836, did not begin because of any sudden rise or surplus in output. It occurred because there was an enormous contraction of credit (money), bankruptcies creating an environment where cash was in frantic demand, and the Federal Reserve did not adequately accommodate that demand, so banks toppled one-by-one (because they were unable to meet the sudden demand for cash— see Fractional-reserve banking). From the standpoint of the Fisher equation (see above), there was a concomitant drop both in money supply (credit) and the velocity of money which was so profound that price deflation took hold despite the increases in money supply spurred by the Federal Reserve.</blockquote> Sound familar? The similarities are very close. In both cases, the contraction came at the end of a speculative investment bubble that developed in the absence of effective, enforced regulations to prevent widespread fraudulent practices. <br /><br />The biggest difference between 1930 - 1933 and 2008 is that the current economy is tied together with near-instantaneous communications. News events now cause changes of capital flows in minutes to hours, not weeks to months. This means that the development of new equilibrium of prices and money supply can happen much, much faster.<br /><br />Reaching a new equilibrium much more quickly means that the pace of the contraction is accelerated and the time to "bottom" is quicker. It is entirely plausible that changes which took a decade to stabilize in the Great Depression might (MIGHT) now resolve over a period of months. There is today a much clearer understanding of the role of the money supply in these economic changes, and the Federal Reserve is now probably much more comfortable taking bold steps quickly.<br /><br />Crucial to understanding the current disruption is a comprehension of the usual process of "money creation." Actual currency in circulation inexorably becomes the "support" for a much larger quantity of "money." Currency that is deposited in banks is lent out. The currency lent out is inevitably deposited again, only to be lent out again. Thus, a single $100 might "support" bank account balances totalling $1000. The bank balances these obligations with loans owed to them to balance their books. But the demand accounts entail a right of depositors to withdraw cash at any time. Loans can't generally be called in on demand. Similar processes apply to essentially any kind of "account" in which money is transferred in any way that could be deposited (or invested) elsewhere.<br /><br />What happens when ten different depositors all want to simultaneously withdraw the same, single $100 bill that "supports" all this economic activity and wealth? In the absence of FDIC insurance, only the first-comer gets his money, the others find the establishment is out of business. Even with FDIC insurance, ony the first-comer gets his money right away--the others have to wait to be reimbursed.<br /><br />This reality is both a cause and effect of money supply contraction. A demand to "cash out" accounts and investments and then hold onto cash (and cash-equivalents) means that the <strong><em>ratio of currency to total wealth becomes larger.</em></strong> A monetarist would say that the "velocity of money" is decreased. If the amount of currency in circulation is not increased to accomodate the new ratio, wealth must necessarily decrease, as measured in dollar terms. <br /><br />Consider that in a deflationary crisis, holding currency itself (e.g., cash in home safes or under mattresses) is the best investment available--these bills are increasing in value just by sitting there. All other asset classes are decreasing in value, as measured in appreciating dollars.<br /><br />We can also view this deflationary process as a reversal of the money-creation process described above with the $100 that multiplies like the proverbial loves and fishes into $1,000 of wealth. In the electronic "information age," this process can reverse at very, very high speed. This is what we're witnessing this week.<br /><br />Now, imagine a scenario in which the Bureau of the Mint has made a terrible mistake in printing of currency. All currency suddenly crumbles into dust. What happens to the economy? With no money in circulation, almost all economic activity stops or is replaced with barter or the like. How should this disaster be fixed? By putting new currency in circulation immediately. Fairness would dictate that the money should be distributed specifically to reimburse holders of crumbled bills. But the immediate problem of restoring economic activity will be corrected by any distribution approach that spreads these dollar bills widely. Economists speak hypothetically of dropping currency from helicopters. That would actually work in our current situation, but there are more advantageous methods of distribution.<br /><br />Now, is the dollar really appreciating as fast as the stock market is falling? Almost certainly not. Banks, other financial institutions, and many businesses currently have an absolute requirement to obtain cash. With a contraction of the money supply and inexorable demands of customers to "cash out" accounts, many institutions have an absolute requirement to acquire more cash. Ordinarily, they could obtain short-term loans. But, one might note, such borrowing is currently grinding to a halt. Many, many institutions (and many individuals) have no choice but to raise cash by selling assets. When such a crisis develops quickly, <strong><em>liquid assets</em></strong> are inevitably sold before less-liquid assets. Thus, changes in value of liquid assets are going to be faster and more dramatic than changes in price of, say, say real estate, or art work, or stamp collections, etc. Essentially, stocks are now being sold "at fire sale prices." We can expect less-liquid assets to fall in price more slowly and reach their new equilibrium before falling to such low prices.<br /><br />Now, if stocks and corporate bonds are truly being sold at "fire sale prices," and if we can anticipate relatively quick restoration of adequate money supply by vigorous Federal Reserve action, what does that say about the future dollar value of these over-depreciated stocks?<br /><br />Yeah, this is an exceptional buying opportunity for stocks, almost certainly. This is not to say that the market has reached its bottom. Its bottom will almost certainly occur in close proximity to the bottom of the money supply contraction. Probably the best daily measure of the pace of money supply contraction is the "TED-spread." (Well, the TED-spread reflects a number of different factors, but right now, as long as it remains at historically unprecedented highs, we can be quite sure that the money supply is contracting.) See: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=.TEDSP:IND">TED-spread<br />http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=.TEDSP:IND</a><br /><br />My own hunch is that the market bottom will occur when the TED-spread reaches about 2.o. Maybe 1.0. But today, the spread appears to be at an all-time high, 4.64. Today, the money supply is probably contracting faster than ever before. This could change by Monday, though. Or not. It will change when the Federal Reserve pours currency into the economy faster than people are cashing out accounts and investments. The necessary action by the Fed is so far out of range of "normal" actions, that this institution might take weeks or months to gear up to actions of appropriate vigor. <br /><br />If I were forced to guess the date of the stock market bottom and subsequent rally, I would suggest November 5. (Yes, the election. Markets hate uncertainty. The global economy would strongly prefer Obama, but I'd bet there'd still be a rally with a McCain victory.) With some ups and downs (of course) the Dow should be at 20,000 within 5 years, maybe 3. That's another wild guess. Don't sue me if the market stays in the doldrums for a decade.<br /><br />Right now, I think it extremely prudent for the Federal Reserve and/or Treasury to start purchasing equity in stressed (but fundamentally sound) companies. The taxpayer will be buying low and will enventually be selling high. If the needed short-term monetary stimulus ends up causing an excessive growth in the money supply (as when all those home safes are emptied to put money back into real investments), the money supply can be quickly reigned in with the sale of those Fed-owned shares.<br /><br />What should a wise individual do?<br /><br />- ensure one is holding a generous supply of currency. (About the only stock to be buying is of companies that make and sell home safes.) The banks can literally run out of cash; ATMs could really stop dispensing cash.<br /><br />-Don't blindly sell stock holdings. But some companies will fail in the current, deepening recession. You don't want to hold much in any individual company. Diversification is crucial.<br /><br />-Diversification should be viewed very, very broadly. Not just stocks and bonds, but dollar-denominated assets should be balanced with a range of global investments in other currencies. Consider cash-in-hand as a part of a sound investment portfolio.<br /><br />-Consider re-investing any substantial cash holdings into the stock market. Not necessarily right away, but soon. One could put, say, 2% of surplus cash holdings in the market each week. My suspicion is that the stock purchased over the next few weeks will be cheaper than subsequently, but nobody has a crystal ball.<br /><br />-Don't have conniptions about news stories of the government dishing out vast amounts of money. Money HAS to be distributed for the crisis to end. But pumping lots of money into banks alone would be unjust. The poor, folks who have lost their jobs, and retirees who have lost so much of their holdings should get a share of this money. Remember, the restoration of economic activity right now requires that the federal government supply more currency. Only the federal government can supply more money. We actually have no problem with how spending needs are to be "paid for." There is an urgent need for the printing and distribution of more money. We actually need to have HUGE federal budget deficits for the next year or two. We currently have the luxury of funding these deficits with newly-printed money. <br /><br />The truth of the last three sentences surely boggles many minds. For everyone's lifetime, big budget deficits have been considered irresponsible. How can they be necessary, or even prudent? In truth, if one can put aside preconceptions and conventional wisdom, the logic is inexorable.<br /><br />A <strong><em>deflationary</em></strong> crisis can only be reversed with massive <strong><em>"inflationary"</em></strong> stimulus.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-51792212701395778812008-10-07T03:52:00.002-04:002008-10-07T04:00:40.091-04:00Another Thinker's Take on the Current Deflation CrisisWhat follows is an anstonishingly prescient post, since disappeared from the internet.<br />Original URL: <a href="http://investing.rogerdeng.com/blog/blog1.php/dow-theary-august-18-2008">http://investing.rogerdeng.com/blog/blog1.php/dow-theary-august-18-2008</a><br /><br /><br />Roger's Investing Thoughts [I presume this would be Roger Deng - ed]<br />Investing for the future ....<br /><br />Dow Theory - August 18, 2008 --<br />....<br />To give you a hint of what I think the combined markets are now telling us -- I believe we are on the eve of world deflation. I pulled out a headline from the August 5 Wall Street Journal headline -- "INFLATION PACE IS FASTEST IN 17 YEARS."<br /><br />Forget it, this is history -- this is not what's happening in the market. From what I see, the markets are telling us to prepare for hard times, and a global spate of the worst deflation to be seen in generations. This is why gold has been sinking, this is why stocks have been falling -- big money, sophisticated money, is cashing out, raising cash, preparing for world deflation. This is probably why Lowry's Selling Pressure stays at its high, smart money is selling into the stock market, day after day. They're raising cash in preparation for the hard times when deflation is in the saddle. Deflation is ushering in the new strong dollar. Big money sees deflation and the lower rates that go with deflation. Look, if you have five million dollars and you are only receiving 2% in interest on your money, that's only an income of hundred thousand dollars on your five million.<br /><br />Big money realizes that in a deflation you need a mountain of cash to keep up your lifestyle.<br />What I see is a coming world deflation, and I believe that's the message the markets are sending.<br /><br />What's the best stance in a deflationary situation? Lots of cash, and safe, solid, investments. Two areas that fit that requirement -- US dollars and US Treasury paper. What happens to stocks during deflationary times? They're sold to raise cash. What happens to business in deflationary times? It's crushed by ever-lower prices. What happens to the average citizen who's loaded with debt during deflationary times? They're battered unmercifully, as income buys less and less and as debt crushes them. What happens to assets during deflationary times? They're worth less and less and their sale brings in fewer and fewer dollars. Isn't the price of gold and oil already telling us that?<br /><br />I just finished reading The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Barron's and there isn't a hint of what I'm writing about above in any of these publications. Unfortunately, these coming deflationary times will come as a complete surprise to most people.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-72757250613227685122008-10-05T16:49:00.003-04:002009-10-11T05:35:59.603-04:00Nothing Proposed Will Solve the Credit CrisisThe right terminology leads to more direct problem-solving.<br />Yes, we have a "credit crisis." But taking the facts from a different perspective, this is exactly the same as a "contraction of the money supply." Or, if you prefer, a DEFLATIONARY crisis. We haven't seen deflation since the start of the Great Depression, so the thinking is unfamiliar to most.<br /><br />Government action can only make a given institution more creditworthy by giving it funding. Do it piecemeal, institution by institution, and you may or may not help the systemic problem, depending on specifics.<br /><p></p><p>People are pulling cash out of accounts and into safes and under mattresses. A fairly small amount of this behavior can collapse lending instutions, even those well-run. The collapse of banks leads to more cash withdrawals, leading to more failures, leading to more withdrawals, and a high-speed reversal of the usual money creation process. For evidence of the current money supply contraction, see, for example:</p><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/58199-money-supply-growth-it-s-much-worse-than-that" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://seekingalpha.com/article/58199-money-supply-growth-it-s-much-worse-than-that</a><br /><br />Vast sums of real money are disappearing from the economy. Only the Federal government can produce more. If this doesn't happen, quickly, an unprecedented financial collapse will ensue. The Federal govenment might need to literally print trillions of dollars.<br /><br />One immediately hears cries "but that will lead to inflation!!" Umm, yeah. That's why we need to recognize the current problem as a deflationary crisis. One can only reverse a deflationary crisis with inflationary stimulus.<br /><i>About <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/wall-street">Wall Street Crisis</a></i><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/nothing-proposed-will-sol_b_131157.html#postComment">Read the Article at HuffingtonPost</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-22881094122731507642008-10-04T21:07:00.001-04:002008-10-04T21:07:29.933-04:00For bailout to work, housing market needs to mend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/41950/thumbs/s-HOUSING-large.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/41950/thumbs/s-HOUSING-large.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br/>re:<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/for-bailout-to-work-housi_n_131898.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/for-bailout-to-work-housi_n_131898.html</a><br />
<br /><br />
<br /><br />
<br />What we're seeing is a simultaneous bursting of the real estate bubble with contraction of the money supply. On the latter, see, for example:<br />
<br /><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/58199-money-supply-growth-it-s-much-worse-than-that" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://seekingalpha.com/article/58199-money-supply-growth-it-s-much-worse-than-that</a><br />
<br /><br />
<br />The two processes are mutually-reinforcing. Yes, a vicious cycle. This is a DEFLATIONARY crisis. <br />
<br /><br />
<br />The crux of the solution is monetary stimulus: expansion of the money supply--along with re-regulation of the finance industry.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />The US has been here before, with the Great Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. It took a few years for the Federal Government to get the right economists, the right laws, and the right approach in place.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />This time, I think the (New) New Deal can be put into place much more quickly. Perhaps right after Inauguration Day in January.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />Steve<br/><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/for-bailout-to-work-housi_n_131898.html">Read the Article at HuffingtonPost</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-10917539106543545282008-09-19T01:15:00.001-04:002008-09-19T01:15:49.968-04:00A Nation of Village Idiots<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/39116/thumbs/s-MARKETS-large.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/39116/thumbs/s-MARKETS-large.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br/>Re:<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/a-nation-of-village-idiot_b_127340.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/a-nation-of-village-idiot_b_127340.html</a><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Excellent research !! It's worth pointing out explictly that McCain voted for this Gramm-sponsored legislation, while Biden voted against it:<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00171#name" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00171#name</a><br />
<br /><br />
<br />Another fundamental cause of this crisis is Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which broke down much of the Depression-era regulation that separated insurance, banking, and the stock market. Again, sponsored by Gramm, voted for by McCain, and voted against by Biden.<br />
<br /><br />
<br />Conclusion: McCain has helped devastate the asset wealth of the wealthiest Americans. McCain has been toxic to the interests of the rich and poor, alike !!!<br />
<br /><br />
<br />Had Biden been listened to at the time, neither Enron nor any of the current chaos would have ever happened.<br/><i>About <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com:80/tag/economy">Economy</a></i><br/><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/a-nation-of-village-idiot_b_127340.html#postComment">Read the Article at HuffingtonPost</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-11377525998932891772008-01-10T15:30:00.000-05:002008-10-04T20:57:14.921-04:00<P align=right> </P> <P align=right><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> </FONT><A class=tabcontent id=publishedDocumentUrl href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_51f8z44zht" target=_blank><FONT color=#800080 size=1>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_51f8z44zht</FONT></A></P> <P></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>See:</FONT></P></FONT><U><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff> <P>http://www.audaciousideas.org/?p=33#comment-1184%23comment-1184</P></U></FONT> <P>the Audacious Ideas blog, of the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, Diana Morris, Director</P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P>John Fairhall has embarassed a fine newspaper by producing a series of articles on buprenorphine that is biased, misleading, and sensationalistic. His efforts make the Baltimore Sun look like a cheap tabloid.</P> <P> </P> <P>Even his self-defense, given in the face of rather blistering criticism, is misleading and/or false. He claims five "undisputed" key findings of his series. They are all wrong or misleading; as such, we dispute them all:</P> <P> </P> <P>1. "Diversion of buprenorphine is growing." All prescription medications are diverted to unprescribed uses to some degree. Buprenorphine wasn't on the market until recently. Until then, it couldn't be diverted. Now it can, therefore it is, in small amounts. The legitimate question is whether there is a substantial, problematic amount of diversion going on. There is no evidence of a significant problem of buprenorphine diversion in the US. His assertion is misleading.</P> <P> </P> <P>2. "Buprenorphine is being abused; naloxone hasn't prevented this as much as was hoped." Hoped? We all hope for world peace. Failing to achieve a hope isn't news. Bupe does get abused on occasion, so does Tylenol. So does Ex-Lax. As far as anyone can tell, abuse of Ex-Lax by young women wanting to remain thin is a far bigger problem than what is going on with buprenorphine. Will John Fairhall be producing a three-part expose of Ex-Lax?</P> <P> </P> <P>3. "Eight hours of training isn't enough." Compared to what? The ZERO hours required for prescribing morphine or cancer chemotherapy agents? The zero hours for performing any particular surgery? Only buprenorphine, among all medications, has a particular training requirement enshrined in federal law. Professional and state regulations guide legitimate practice. The federal training requirement is a peculiar, unique, unnecessary, and excessive requirement. It is eight hours more than enough.</P> <P> </P> <P>4. "The price of the drug and the associated doctor fees are an obstacle to treatment." The context here is healthcare in America. The price of any and all drugs, and any and all doctor fees, are obstacles to treatment of all diseases. This applies to cancer, heart disease, all mental health problems, everything. There is absolutely nothing unique here in regards to buprenorphine or addiction. His assertion is misleading. </P> <P> </P> <P>5. "Congress did not take these issues into consideration when it laid the legal foundation for widespread prescribing of bupe." Since "these issues" are false, exaggerated, misleading, or obvious, there's no evidence that Congress failed to take any of them into appropriate consideration.</P> <P> </P> <P>John Fairhall owes his newspaper, its readers, and his profession an apology, not additional distorted assertions.</P> <P> </P> <P>Steve Coulter, MD</P> <P>_______________________________</P> <P> </P> <P><FONT size=1> <b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> </FONT><A class=tabcontent id=publishedDocumentUrl href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_51f8z44zht" target=_blank><FONT color=#800080 size=1>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_51f8z44zht</FONT></A></P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-55228279314952007712007-06-28T23:29:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.930-04:00<B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt;TEXT-ALIGN:right> <FONT SIZE=1><B>document is publicly viewable at:</B> <A CLASS=tabcontent HREF=Doc?id=ddh9xk76_495644v4 TARGET=_blank>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_495644v4</A></FONT> </P> <P ALIGN=center STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2><BR> Adopted Resolutions</FONT></B> </P> <P ALIGN=center STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>June 2007</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>A NEW BOTTOM LINE IN REDUCING THE HARMS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>[p. 47]</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the United States Conference of Mayors has long been</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>concerned about substance abuse and its impacts on cities of all</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>sizes; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, this Conference recognizes that addiction is a chronic</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>medical illness that is treatable, and drug treatment success</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>rates exceed those of many cancer therapies; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, according to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>Health, an estimated 112,085,000 Americans aged 12 or over</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>(46.1% of the US population aged 12 and over) have used an</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>illicit drug at least once; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the United States has 5% of the world’s population, but</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>25% of the world’s prisoners, incarcerating more than 2.3</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>million citizens in its prisons and jails, at a rate of one in</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>every 136 U.S. residents—the highest rate of incarceration in</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>the world; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, 55% of all federal and over 20% of all state prisoners</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>are convicted of drug law violations, many serving mandatory</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>minimum sentences for simple possession offenses; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution at</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>its 74 Annual Meeting opposing mandatory minimum sentencing on</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>both the state and federal levels and urging the creation of</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>fair and effective sentencing policies; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, drug treatment is cost-effective: a study by the RAND</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>costs, a reduction that would cost 15 times as much in law</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>enforcement expenditure to achieve; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>shows substantial reductions in criminal behavior, with a 64%</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>decrease in all arrests after treatment, making public safety a</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>primary beneficiary of effective drug treatment programs; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a “Comprehensive</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>National Substance Abuse Strategy” at its 69 Annual Meeting,</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and a “Comprehensive Drug Prevention and Treatment Policy” at</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>its 66 Annual Meeting, both of which called for treatment to be</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>made available to any American who struggles with drug abuse;</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, federal, state, and local costs of the war on drugs</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>exceed $40 billion annually, yet drugs are still widely</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>available in every community, drug use and demand have not</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>decreased, and most drug prices have fallen while purity levels</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>have increased dramatically; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>(ONDCP), only 35% percent of the federal drug control budget is</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>spent on education, prevention and treatment combined, with the</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>remaining 65% devoted to law enforcement efforts; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, over one-third of all HIV/AIDS cases and nearly two-</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>thirds of all new cases of hepatitis C in the U.S. are linked to</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>injection drug use with contaminated syringes, now the single</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>largest factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S.; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has, on three separate</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>occasions, adopted resolutions in support of expanded access to</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>sterile syringes by people who inject drugs as a public health</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>strategy to decrease the transmission of blood-borne diseases</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and provide links to treatment without increasing drug use; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, virtually all independent analyses have found ONDCP’s</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>drug prevention programs to be costly and ineffective: the</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently found that both</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>the National Youth Anti-Drug Media campaign and the Drug Abuse</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>Resistance Education (DARE) program have not only failed to</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>reduce drug use, but instead might lead to unintended negative</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>consequences; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, blacks, Latinos and other minorities use drugs at rates</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>comparable to whites, yet face disproportionate rates of arrest</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and incarceration for drug law violations: among persons</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>convicted of drug felonies in state courts, 33% of convicted</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>white defendants received a prison sentence, while 51% of black</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>defendants received prison sentences; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, women are the fastest growing prison population in the</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>U.S., increasing by over 700% since 1977, to 98,600 at the end</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>of 2005. Drug law violations now account for nearly one-third</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>of incarcerated women, compared to one-fifth of men; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, at year end 2005, over 7 million U.S. residents—about</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>3.2% of the adult population, or 1 in every 32 adults—were</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>incarcerated or on probation or parole, of whom 28% were under</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>correctional supervision for a drug law violation; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, at its 73 and 72 Annual Meetings, the U.S. Conference</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>of Mayors adopted a resolution to promote the successful reentry</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>of people leaving prison or jail, through job training,</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>transitional housing, family reunification, drug abuse and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>mental health treatment, and the restoration of voting rights;</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, the cost of local law enforcement and of providing</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>services to formerly incarcerated residents is borne primarily</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>by local governments; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, cities across the country have experienced a rise in</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>violent crime and must prioritize scarce law enforcement</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>resources, yet the nation’s police arrested a record 786,545</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>individuals on marijuana related charges in 2005—almost 90% for</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>simple possession alone—far exceeding the total number of</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>arrests for all violent crimes combined; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>WHEREAS, there is no easy, “one-size-fits-all” solution to</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>substance abuse and drug-related harms: individual cities,</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>counties, and states face unique challenges and therefore</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>require local flexibility to pursue those policies that best</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>meet their specific needs;</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>of Mayors believes the war on drugs has failed and calls for a</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>New Bottom Line in U.S. drug policy, a public health approach</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>that concentrates more fully on reducing the negative</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>consequences associated with drug abuse, while ensuring that our</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>policies do not exacerbate these problems or create new social</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>problems of their own; establishes quantifiable, short- and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>long-term objectives for drug policy; saves taxpayer money; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>holds state and federal agencies accountable; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that U.S. policy should not be measured</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>solely on drug use levels or number of people imprisoned, but</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>rather on the amount of drug-related harm reduced. At a</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>minimum, this includes: reducing drug overdose fatalities, the</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis, the number of nonviolent drug</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>law offenders behind bars, and the racial disparities created or</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>exacerbated by the criminal justice system; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that short- and long-term goals should be</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>set for reducing the problems associated with both drugs and the</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>war on drugs; and federal, state, and local drug agencies should</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>be judged – and funded – according to their ability to meet</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>specific performance indicators, with targets linked to local</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>conditions. A greater percentage of drug war funding should be</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>spent evaluating the efficacy of various strategies for reducing</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>drug related-harm; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a wide range of effective drug abuse</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>treatment options and supporting services must be made available</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>to all who need them, including: greater access to methadone and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>other maintenance therapies; specially-tailored, integrated</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>services for families, minorities, rural communities and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>individuals suffering from co-occurring disorders; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>effective, community-based drug treatment and other alternatives</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>to incarceration for nonviolent drug law offenders, policies</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>that reduce public spending while improving public safety; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Conference supports preventing</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>by eliminating the federal ban on funding of sterile syringe</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>exchange programs and encourages the adoption of local overdose</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>prevention strategies to reduce the harms of drug abuse; and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2> </FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the impact of drug use and drug policies</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>is most acutely felt on the local communities, and therefore</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>local needs and priorities of drug policy can be best</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>identified, implemented and assessed at the local level. A</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>successful national strategy to reduce substance abuse and</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>related harms must invest in the health of our cities and give</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>cities, counties, and states the flexibility they need to find</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>the most effective way to deal with drugs, save taxpayer dollars</FONT></B> </P> <P STYLE=LINE-HEIGHT:100%;MARGIN-TOP:0pt;MARGIN-BOTTOM:0pt> <B><FONT SIZE=2>and keep their communities safe.</FONT></B> </P> <P> <B><FONT SIZE=2>_________________________________________________</FONT></B> </P> <P> <B><FONT SIZE=2>Original URL, see page 47 et seq.:</FONT></B> </P> <P> <B><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF=http://usmayors.org/75thAnnualMeeting/resolutions_full.pdf>http://usmayors.org/75thAnnualMeeting/resolutions_full.pdf</A></FONT></B> </P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-20068336838712893102007-06-28T18:35:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.939-04:00<div style="text-align: right;"> <font size="1"><a target="_blank" title="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_48dq62w3">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_48dq62w3</a> </font><br> </div> <br> Chat with William A. K. O.<br> http://www.myspace.com/madamedon4u24 <br> <br> <br> madamedon4u24 is online 06/28/2007 05:30 PM:<br> "TALK TO YOU LATE"<br> SteveMDFP: hello<br> madamedon4u24: Good day<br> SteveMDFP: g'day<br> madamedon4u24: am William A.K.O<br> madamedon4u24: sir<br> SteveMDFP: yes<br> madamedon4u24: where are you from<br> SteveMDFP: It's on my profile.<br> madamedon4u24: well sir do you have yahoo ID<br> SteveMDFP: yes<br> madamedon4u24: am on yahoo<br> madamedon4u24: this is not my ID<br> madamedon4u24: can we please meet there<br> SteveMDFP: sorry, no<br> madamedon4u24: well i would like to discuss something better with you<br> madamedon4u24: please<br> SteveMDFP: here is fine<br> madamedon4u24: but is not my ID<br> SteveMDFP: that's OK<br> SteveMDFP: i understand<br> madamedon4u24: am not a member of myspace<br> madamedon4u24: ok<br> SteveMDFP: why approach someone here, then?<br> madamedon4u24: well we can take a shout time here but the person here is waiting to use his ID<br> madamedon4u24: my is the next system<br> SteveMDFP: well, good luck, then.<br> madamedon4u24: that's why i say let's chat on yahoo before<br> SteveMDFP: you can find other people there, then.<br> madamedon4u24: is ok<br> madamedon4u24: well am WILLIAM A.K.O, am 20 years old from Sudan but am not in Sudan again<br> madamedon4u24: am in Ghana Refugee Camp<br> madamedon4u24: looking for assist<br> madamedon4u24: i meaning someone who can help me out of African with my small box of money with 24 kilo of Gold<br> SteveMDFP: hmm...that shouldn't be hard.<br> SteveMDFP: So, how is Accra today? And is that a UN-run camp?<br> madamedon4u24: the refugee camp in West Legon<br> madamedon4u24: you there<br> SteveMDFP: yes<br> madamedon4u24: do you know Accra<br> madamedon4u24: very well<br> madamedon4u24: please talk to me<br> madamedon4u24: i have know much time here<br> madamedon4u24: sir are you there<br> madamedon4u24: am waiting to heart from you<br> SteveMDFP: I'm here.<br> SteveMDFP: I've chatted with many from Accra.<br> madamedon4u24: that good<br> madamedon4u24: but for me i came last 3 weeks<br> SteveMDFP: Oddly, they all were liars, wanted my help financially, never told the truth. Seems to be a major industry there.<br> madamedon4u24: well for me i dont know of that<br> SteveMDFP: Are you looking forward to burning in hell?<br> SteveMDFP: For lying and preying on people's charity?<br> SteveMDFP: You should be ashamed of yourself.<br> madamedon4u24: there is know way i can burn in hell<br> SteveMDFP: lying, cheating...I think you will.<br> madamedon4u24: because i believe in God<br> madamedon4u24: so i will not<br> SteveMDFP: so you claim. Then why do you lie, cheat, and steal?<br> madamedon4u24: i just only want to know if you can help me or not<br> madamedon4u24: am not here for steeling<br> SteveMDFP: It would not be helping you to let you cheat me.<br> SteveMDFP: Yes you are.<br> madamedon4u24: and am not lieing?<br> madamedon4u24: fine<br> SteveMDFP: You are not from Sudan, you are not in a refugee camp, and you have no gold.<br> madamedon4u24: i dont think you can help me<br> madamedon4u24: fine<br> SteveMDFP: God might help you.<br> madamedon4u24: what make you think so<br> SteveMDFP: If you repent.<br> madamedon4u24: yes he will help me out<br> SteveMDFP: You're just like all the other scam artists from Accra who prey on well-meaning people.<br> SteveMDFP: You should be ashamed of yourself.<br> SteveMDFP: You should get an honest job.<br> SteveMDFP: Thief.<br> madamedon4u24: please know time for all this<br> madamedon4u24: talk to me well<br> madamedon4u24: or not<br> SteveMDFP: too many other people to cheat?<br> madamedon4u24: if you can help me inform or not<br> SteveMDFP: I can help. But not the way you're asking.<br> madamedon4u24: if you have the police number why dont you call them to verify for you<br> SteveMDFP: which police?<br> madamedon4u24: i have all my document with me here<br> madamedon4u24: police in Ghana<br> madamedon4u24: polic<br> madamedon4u24: can you call to them<br> SteveMDFP: you haven't committed a crime with me yet. Lies are not crimes.<br> SteveMDFP: Now, those who may have sent you money, you've defrauded them. That's a crime.<br> madamedon4u24: kw<br> madamedon4u24: you made mistake there<br> madamedon4u24: i say call the polic to see what i have here<br> madamedon4u24: if is it or t<br> SteveMDFP: They should be busy arresting criminals. As far as I know for sure, you've only been attempting to commit a crime.<br> madamedon4u24: you kw what<br> SteveMDFP: I wouldn't ask them to take up there time with something like this. I have too much respect for the police.<br> SteveMDFP: their<br> madamedon4u24: seeing is believe but t seeing is t believe<br> SteveMDFP: If you have kilos of gold, you need no help from a stranger in the US.<br> madamedon4u24: i have kw time to weste in Ghana before my father people come to get me here and get my fund from me<br> madamedon4u24: but am t in US<br> SteveMDFP: exactly.<br> madamedon4u24: i just need a way to go there<br> SteveMDFP: why?<br> SteveMDFP: do you have an entry visa?<br> madamedon4u24: but w that i dont have anyone there i can't just going there with anyone assist<br> SteveMDFP: I can't give you visa.<br> madamedon4u24: i will buy visa<br> SteveMDFP: They are not for sale. You have to apply at a consulate or embassy.<br> madamedon4u24: if i have the visa i can get the ticket my self<br> SteveMDFP: Yes, that's correct.<br> madamedon4u24: is just for me to go and get my international passport<br> SteveMDFP: Yes, that's correct.<br> SteveMDFP: Passport, visa, and ticket, and you can go anyplace you like.<br> madamedon4u24: my problem is who we help me recieve my fund there before i will arriver there<br> SteveMDFP: I'd recommend selling the gold there and getting traveller's checks.<br> madamedon4u24: sell the Gold here in Ghana<br> SteveMDFP: enough to buy passage, anyway, sure.<br> SteveMDFP: See? I'm helping you solve your problems.<br> madamedon4u24: the Gold is t my problem and the small box? i will make arrangement for diplomatic to take it there<br> SteveMDFP: You have diplomatic contacts? Perhaps you can help me.<br> madamedon4u24: here in the Refugee camp<br> madamedon4u24: help you?<br> SteveMDFP: Maybe a job. I always wanted to be a diplomat.<br> madamedon4u24: the diplomat who want to help me is a GENERAL<br> SteveMDFP: You have more money and better contacts than I do. I don't think you need my help.<br> madamedon4u24: his name is Mr. General Kashmir Koffi<br> SteveMDFP: But if you can spare a few ounces of gold, that would be nice.<br> madamedon4u24: the only help i need is for someone to recieve the fund for me<br> SteveMDFP: Oh. Sorry, I wouldn't be able to do that.<br> madamedon4u24: that is all<br> madamedon4u24: for me<br> SteveMDFP: well, good luck.<br> madamedon4u24: i will make all the arrangnment for the fund to live why i go back to my country to get my international passport and get the visa and live<br> SteveMDFP: I know how hard it can be to find someone who will take money.<br> madamedon4u24: who will talk to the Refugee camp for me as a father<br> SteveMDFP: ah, to pretend to be your father?<br> madamedon4u24: the person will get %30<br> madamedon4u24: yes<br> SteveMDFP: Oh. I'm sorry, I don't lie.<br> madamedon4u24: kw this is t lie<br> madamedon4u24: my father is dead<br> SteveMDFP: then why would the refugee camp need to talk to a dead man?<br> madamedon4u24: someone who will say that is going to take good care of me as a father<br> SteveMDFP: how old are you?<br> madamedon4u24: and my fund<br> madamedon4u24: am 20 years old<br> madamedon4u24: well sir<br> SteveMDFP: an adult then.<br> madamedon4u24: i think i have to live w<br> SteveMDFP: you need no guardian.<br> madamedon4u24: wow<br> SteveMDFP: you don't want my help?<br> madamedon4u24: like i say i have to live w<br> SteveMDFP: living is a good thing.<br> madamedon4u24: you say you cant help me<br> SteveMDFP: Oh, just not with what you're asking for.<br> SteveMDFP: I couldn't take your gold.<br> madamedon4u24: see i cry all day searching for someone to help me<br> SteveMDFP: And I don't think I look very much like your deceased father.<br> SteveMDFP: I understand. Nobody wants to take gold these days.<br> madamedon4u24: you are t taking the Gold<br> madamedon4u24: but only to recieve the fund for me that is all<br> madamedon4u24: i will come to there to meet the person my self<br> SteveMDFP: Ah. you have funds other than the gold<br> SteveMDFP: ?<br> madamedon4u24: and get it back<br> madamedon4u24: the money and the Gold<br> madamedon4u24: that is all<br> SteveMDFP: What guarantee are you asking for, to make sure the person gives it back to you?<br> madamedon4u24: the person who will receive the fund for me, will send his international passport copy to me and his full house address and the name<br> madamedon4u24: and i will send he the copy of my fund document to he? for he to get the fund from the diplomatic who is coming to his country<br> SteveMDFP: It would make more sense to put it in a bank account there. You can wire funds out securely, whenever you like.<br> SteveMDFP: See? You need my help.<br> madamedon4u24: is t easy in African here to deposit money at my age<br> madamedon4u24: we are talking about $2 million Dollar here<br> SteveMDFP: Ah! How did you end up in a refugee camp if you have 2 million dollars on hand?<br> madamedon4u24: the money is in box<br> madamedon4u24: t hand<br> madamedon4u24: they look like my close i put on<br> SteveMDFP: right. "on hand" is an expression. it means "readily available"<br> madamedon4u24: but kw one kw's what is inside the box<br> SteveMDFP: I'd suggest you take some of that money, and get yourself a hotel room for awhile. Get some nice clothes, a good meal, and open up a bank account there.<br> madamedon4u24: t in Ghana<br> madamedon4u24: my father told me t to use this money in African<br> madamedon4u24: he told me that the black can kill you for money<br> SteveMDFP: Right. Don't flash around 2 million dollars. Start with smaller amounts.<br> madamedon4u24: well i think i have to live w <br> SteveMDFP: I understand.<br> madamedon4u24: if you will help me get the fund please send me your information<br> madamedon4u24: here is my email address<br> madamedon4u24: williamako2008009@hotmail.com<br> madamedon4u24: thanks<br> SteveMDFP: Good luck with this terrible problem. I understand how hard it can be to dispose of millions of dollars in cash and gold.<br> madamedon4u24: thank you<br> madamedon4u24: bye<br> SteveMDFP: bye<br> <br> <br> <br> <br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-81578765850790715212007-06-13T05:08:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.954-04:00<div align="right"> <font size="2"><b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_46f8d5fv" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_46f8d5fv</a></font> </div> <p align="right"> <font size="1"><br> </font> </p> <p align="right"> <font size="1"> Originally from: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat4.section.18657">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat4.section.18657</a></font> </p> <p align="right"> <br> </p> <p> <img src="http://consensus.nih.gov/IMAGES/BANNER.jpg" border="0" height="80" width="770"> </p> <p> NIH Consensus Development Program — Consensus Development Conference Reports<br> <br> 108. Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction<br> <br> National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement November 17-19, 1997<br> <br> This statement was originally published as: <br> Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction. NIH Consensus Statement 1997 Nov 17-19; 15(6):1-38.<br> <br> For making bibliographic reference to consensus statement no. 108 in the electronic form displayed here, it is recommended that the following format be used:<br> <br> Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction. NIH Consensus Statement Online 1997 Nov 17-19; [cited year, month, day];15(6):1-38. <br> <br> NIH Consensus Statements are prepared by a nonadvocate, non-Federal panel of experts, based on (1) presentations by investigators working in areas relevant to the consensus questions during a 2-day public session; (2) questions and statements from conference attendees during open discussion periods that are part of the public session; and (3) closed deliberations by the panel during the remainder of the second day and morning of the third. This statement is an independent report of the consensus panel and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the Federal Government.<br> <br> </p> <p align="center"> Abstract </p> <p> <br> Objective.<br> <br> To provide health care providers, patients, and the general public with a responsible assessment of the effective approaches for treating opiate dependence.<br> <br> Participants.<br> <br> A non-Federal, nonadvocate, 12-member panel representing the fields of psychology, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, family medicine, drug abuse, epidemiology, and the public. In addition, 25 experts from these same fields presented data to the panel and a conference audience of 600.<br> <br> Evidence.<br> <br> The literature was searched through Medline and an extensive bibliography of references was provided to the panel and the conference audience. Experts prepared abstracts with relevant citations from the literature. Scientific evidence was given precedence over clinical anecdotal experience.<br> Consensus Process.<br> <br> The panel, answering predefined questions, developed their conclusions based on the scientific evidence presented in open forum and the scientific literature. The panel composed a draft statement that was read in its entirety and circulated to the experts and the audience for comment. Thereafter, the panel resolved conflicting recommendations and released a revised statement at the end of the conference. The panel finalized the revisions within a few weeks after the conference. The draft statement was made available on the World Wide Web immediately following its release at the conference and was updated with the panel's final revisions. <br> <br> Conclusions.<br> <br> Opiate dependence is a brain-related medical disorder that can be effectively treated with significant benefits for the patient and society, and society must make a commitment to offer effective treatment for opiate dependence to all who need it. All opiate-dependent persons under legal supervision should have access to methadone maintenance therapy, and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Justice should take the necessary steps to implement this recommendation. There is a need for improved training for physicians and other health care professionals and in medical schools in the diagnosis and treatment of opiate dependence. The unnecessary regulations of methadone maintenance therapy and other long-acting opiate agonist treatment programs should be reduced, and coverage for these programs should be a required benefit in public and private insurance programs.<br> <br> </p> <p align="center"> Introduction </p> <p align="left"> <br> In the United States, before 1914, it was relatively common for private physicians to treat opiate-dependent patients in their practices by prescribing narcotic medications. While the passage of the Harrison Act did not prohibit the prescribing of a narcotic by a physician to treat an addicted patient, this practice was viewed as problematic by Treasury officials charged with enforcing the law. Physicians who continued to prescribe were indicted and prosecuted. <br> <br> Because of withdrawal of treatment by physicians, various local governments and communities established formal morphine clinics for treating opiate addiction. These clinics were eventually closed when the AMA, in 1920, stated that there was unanimity that prescribing opiates to addicts for self-administration (ambulatory treatment) was not an acceptable medical practice. <br> <br> For the next 50 years, opiate addiction was basically managed in this country by the criminal justice system and the two Federal Public Health Hospitals in Lexington, Kentucky, and Fort Worth, Texas. The relapse rate for opiate use from this approach was close to 100 percent. During the 1960s opiate use reached epidemic proportions in the United States, spawning significant increases in crime and in deaths from opiate overdose. The increasing number of younger people entering an addiction lifestyle indicated that a major societal problem was emerging. This stimulated a search for innovative and more effective methods to treat the growing number of individuals dependent upon opiates. This search resulted in the emergence of drug-free therapeutic communities and the use of the opiate agonist, methadone, to maintain those with opiate dependence. Furthermore, a multimodality treatment strategy was designed to meet the needs of the individual addict patient. These three approaches remain the main treatment strategies being used to treat opiate dependence in the United States today. <br> <br> Opiate dependence has long been associated with increased criminal activity. For example, in 1993 more than one-quarter of the inmates in State and Federal prisons were incarcerated for drug offenses (234,600), and prisoners serving drug sentences were the largest single group (60 percent) in Federal prisons. <br> <br> In the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C viruses, and tuberculosis among intravenous opiate users. From 1991 to 1995, in major metropolitan areas, the annual number of opiate-related emergency room visits increased from 36,000 to 76,000, and the annual number of opiate-related deaths increased from 2,300 to 4,000. This associated morbidity and mortality further underscore the human, economic, and societal costs of opiate dependence.<br> <br> During the last two decades, evidence has accumulated on the neurobiology of opiate dependence. Whatever conditions may lead to opiate exposure, opiate dependence is a brain-related disorder with the requisite characteristics of a medical illness. Thus, opiate dependence as a medical illness will have varying causative mechanisms. There is a need to identify discrete subgroups of opiate-dependent people and the most relevant and effective treatments for each subgroup. The safety and efficacy of narcotic agonist (methadone) maintenance treatment has been unequivocally established. Although there are other medications (e.g., levo-alpha acetylmethadol [LAAM] and naltrexone, an opiate antagonist, etc.) that are safe and effective in the treatment of opiate addicts, the focus of this consensus development conference was primarily on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). MMT is effective in reducing illicit opiate drug use, in reducing crime, in enhancing social productivity, and in reducing the spread of viral diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis. <br> <br> Approximately 115,000 of the estimated 600,000 opiate-dependent persons in the United States are in MMT. Science has not yet overcome the stigma of addiction and the negative public perception about MMT. Some leaders in the Federal Government, public health officials, members of the medical community, and the public-at-large frequently conceive of opiate dependence as a self-inflicted disease of the will or as a moral flaw. They also regard MMT as an ineffective narcotic substitution and believe that a drug-free state is the only valid treatment goal. Other obstacles to MMT include Federal and State government regulations that restrict the number of treatment providers and patient access. Some of these Federal and State regulations are driven by disproportionate concerns about methadone diversion, concern about premature (e.g., in 12-year-olds) initiation of maintenance treatment, and concern about provision of methadone without any other psychosocial services.<br> <br> Although a drug-free state represents an optimal treatment goal, research has demonstrated that this goal cannot be achieved or sustained by the majority of opiate-dependent people. However, other laudable treatment goals including decreased drug use, reduced criminal activity, and gainful employment can be achieved by most MMT patients.<br> <br> To address the most important issues surrounding effective medical treatment of opiate dependence, the NIH organized this 2 1/2-day conference to present data on opiate agonist treatment for opiate dependence. The conference brought together national and international experts in the fields of the basic and clinical medical sciences, epidemiology, natural history, prevention and treatment of opiate dependence, and broad representation from the public. <br> <br> After 1 1/2 days of presentations and audience discussion, an independent, non-Federal consensus panel chaired by Lewis L. Judd, M.D., Mary Gilman Marston Professor, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, weighed the scientific evidence and wrote a draft statement that was presented to the audience on the third day. The consensus statement addressed the following key questions: </p> <blockquote> <p> <font size="4">• </font>What is the scientific evidence to support a conceptualization of opiate addiction as a medical disorder including natural history, genetics and risk factors, and pathophysiology, and how is diagnosis established? <br> <font size="4">• </font> What are the consequences of untreated opiate addiction to individuals, families, and society? <br> <font size="4">• </font>What is the efficacy of current treatment modalities in the management of opiate addiction including detoxification alone, nonpharmacological/psychosocial treatment, treatment with opiate antagonists, and treatment with opiate agonists (short term and long term)? And, what is the scientific evidence for the most effective use of opiate agonists in the treatment of opiate addiction? <br> <font size="4">• </font>What are the important barriers to effective use of opiate agonists in the treatment of opiate addiction in the United States, including perceptions and the adverse consequences of opiate agonist use and legal, regulatory, financial, and programmatic barriers? <br> <font size="4">• </font>What are the future research areas and recommendations for improving opiate agonist treatment and improving access? </p> </blockquote> <p> 1. What Is the Scientific Evidence to Support a Conceptualization of Opiate Dependence as a Medical Disorder Including Natural History, Genetics and Risk Factors, and Pathophysiology, and How Is Diagnosis Established?<br> </p> <blockquote> The Natural History of Opiate Dependence<br> </blockquote> <p> Individuals addicted to opiates often become dependent on these drugs by their early twenties and remain intermittently dependent for decades. Biological, psychological, sociological, and economic factors determine when an individual will start taking opiates. However, it is clear that when use begins, it often escalates to abuse (repeated use with adverse consequences) and then to dependence (opioid tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, compulsive drug-taking). Once dependence is established, there are usually repeated cycles of cessation and relapse extending over decades. This "addiction career" is often accompanied by periods of imprisonment. <br> <br> Treatment can alter the natural history of opiate dependence, most commonly by prolonging periods of abstinence from illicit opiate abuse. Of the various treatments available, MMT, combined with attention to medical, psychiatric, and socioeconomic issues, as well as drug counseling, has the highest probability of being effective.<br> <br> Addiction-related deaths, including accidental overdose, drug-related accidents, and many illnesses directly attributable to chronic drug dependence explain one-fourth to one-third of the mortality in an opiate-addicted population. As a population of opiate addicts ages, there is a decrease in the percentage who are still addicted.<br> <br> There is clearly a natural history of opiate dependence, but causative factors are poorly understood. It is especially unclear for a given individual whether repeated use begins as a medical disorder (e.g., a genetic predisposition) or whether socioeconomic and psychological factors lead an individual to try and then later to compulsively use opiates. However, there is no question that once the individual is dependent on opiates, such dependence constitutes a medical disorder. <br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> Molecular Neurobiology and Pathogenesis of Opiate Dependence:<br> Genetic and Other Risk Factors for Opiate Dependence<br> </div> <p> <br> Twin, family, and adoption studies show that vulnerability to drug abuse may be a partially inherited condition with strong influences from environmental factors. Cross-fostering adoption studies have demonstrated that both inherited and environmental factors operate in the etiology of drug abuse. These cross-fostering adoption studies identified two distinct genetic pathways to drug abuse/dependence. The first is a direct effect of substance abuse in a biologic parent. The second pathway is an indirect effect from antisocial personality disorder in a biologic parent, leading to both antisocial personality disorder and drug abuse/dependence in the adoptee. Family studies report significantly increased relative risk for substance abuse (6.7-fold increased risk), alcoholism (3.5), antisocial personality (7.6), and unipolar depression (5.1) among the first-degree relatives of opiate-dependent patients compared with relatives of controls. The siblings of opiate-dependent patients have very high susceptibility to abuse and dependence after initial use of illicit opioids. Twin studies indicate substantial heritability for substance abuse and dependence, with half the risk attributable to additive genetic factors. <br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> Neurobiological Substrates of Opiate Dependence<br> </div> <p> <br> Dopaminergic pathways from the ventral tegmentum (VT) to the nucleus accumbens (NA) and medial frontal cortex (MFC) are activated during rewarding behaviors. Opiates exert their rewarding properties by binding to the "mu" opioid receptor (OPRM) at several distinct anatomical locations in the brain, including the VT, NA, MFC, and possibly the locus coeruleus (LC). Opiate agonist administration causes inhibition of the LC. Chronic administration of opioid agonists causes adaptation to the LC inhibition. Rapid discontinuation of opioid agonists (or administration of antagonists) results in excessive LC neuronal excitation and the appearance of withdrawal symptoms. Abnormal LC excitation is thought to underlie many of the physical symptoms of withdrawal, and this hypothesis is consistent with the ability of clonidine, an alpha-2 noradrenergic agonist, to ameliorate opiate withdrawal.<br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Opiate Abusers<br> </div> <p> <br> Two independent human studies (using positron emission tomography) suggest that opiates reduce cerebral glucose metabolism in a global manner, with no regions showing increased glucose utilization. A third study demonstrates decreased D2 receptor availability in opiate-dependent patients compared with controls. Opiate antagonist administration produced an intense withdrawal experience but did not change D2 receptor availability. <br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> Diagnosis of Opioid Dependence<br> </div> <p> <br> Opioid dependence (addiction) is defined as a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms in which the individual continues use of opiates despite significant opiate-induced problems. Opioid dependence is characterized by repeated self-administration that usually results in opioid tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and compulsive drug-taking. Dependence may occur with or without the physiological symptoms of tolerance and withdrawal. Usually, there is a long history of opioid self-administration, typically via intravenous injection in the arms or legs, although recently, the intranasal route or smoking also is used. Often there is a history of drug-related crimes, drug overdoses, and family, psychological, and employment problems. There may be a history of physical problems including skin infections, hepatitis, HIV infection, or irritation of the nasal and pulmonary mucosa. Physical examination usually reveals puncture marks along veins in the arms and legs and "tracks" secondary to sclerosis of veins. If the patient has not taken opiates recently, he or she may also demonstrate symptoms of withdrawal, including anxiety, restlessness, runny nose, tearing, nausea, and vomiting. Tests for opioids in saliva and urine can help support a diagnosis of dependence. However, by itself, neither a positive nor a negative test can rule dependence in or out. Further evidence for opioid dependence can be obtained by a naloxone (Narcan) challenge test to induce withdrawal symptoms.<br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> Evidence That Opioid Dependence Is a Medical Disorder<br> </div> <p> <br> For decades, opioid dependence was viewed as a problem of motivation, willpower, or strength of character. Through careful study of its natural history and through research at the genetic, molecular, neuronal, and epidemiological levels, it has been proven that opiate addiction is a medical disorder characterized by predictable signs and symptoms. Other arguments for classifying opioid dependence as a medical disorder include: </p> <blockquote> <p> <font size="4">• </font>Despite varying cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, there is clear consistency in the medical history, signs, and symptoms exhibited by individuals who are opiate-dependent. <br> <font size="4">• </font> There is a strong tendency to relapse after long periods of abstinence. <br> <font size="4">• </font> The opioid-dependent person's craving for opiates induces continual self-administration even when there is an expressed and demonstrated strong motivation and powerful social consequences to stop. <br> <font size="4">• </font> Continuous exposure to opioids induces pathophysiologic changes in the brain. </p> </blockquote> <p> 2. What Are the Consequences of Untreated Opiate Dependence to Individuals, Families, and Society?<br> <br> Of the estimated total opiate-dependent population of 600,000, only 115,000 are known to be in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programs. Research surveys indicate that the untreated population of opiate-addicted people is younger than those in treatment. They are typically in their late teens and early to mid-twenties, during their formative, early occupational, and reproductive years. The financial costs of untreated opiate dependence to the individual, the family, and society are estimated to be approximately $20 billion per year. The costs in human suffering are incalculable.<br> <br> What is currently known about the consequences of untreated opiate dependence to individuals, families, and society? </p> <p align="center"> Mortality </p> <p align="left"> <br> Before the introduction of MMT, annual death rates reported in four American studies of opiate dependence varied from 13 per 1,000 to 44 per 1,000, with a median of 21 per 1,000. Although it cannot be causally attributed, it is interesting that after the introduction of MMT, the death rates of opiate-dependent persons in four American studies had a narrower range, from 11 per 1,000 to 15 per 1,000, and a median of 13 per 1,000. The most striking evidence of the effectiveness of MMT on death rates is studies directly comparing these rates in opiate-dependent persons, on and off methadone. Every study showed that death rates were lower in opiate-dependent persons maintained on methadone compared with those who are not. The median death rate for opiate-dependent persons in MMT was 30 percent of the death rate of those not in treatment. A clear consequence of not treating opiate dependence, therefore, is a death rate that is more than three times greater than that experienced by those engaged in MMT. </p> <p align="center"> <br> Illicit Drug Use </p> <p align="left"> <br> Multiple studies conducted over several decades and in different countries demonstrate clearly that MMT results in a marked decrease in illicit opiate use. In addition, there is also a significant and consistent reduction in the use of other illicit drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, and in the abuse of alcohol, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and amphetamines. </p> <p align="center"> <br> Criminal Activity </p> <p align="left"> <br> Opiate dependence in the United States is unequivocally associated with high rates of criminal behavior. More than 95 percent of opiate-dependent persons report committing crimes during an 11-year at-risk interval. These crimes range in severity from homicides to other crimes against people and property. Stealing in order to purchase drugs is the most common criminal offense. Over the past two decades, clear and convincing evidence has been collected from multiple studies that effective treatment of opiate dependence markedly reduces the rates of criminal activity. Therefore, it is clear that significant amounts of crime perpetrated by opiate-dependent persons are a direct consequence of untreated opiate dependence. </p> <p align="center"> <br> Health Care Costs </p> <p align="left"> <br> Although the general health status of people with opiate dependence is substantially worse than that of their contemporaries, they do not routinely use medical services. Typically, they seek medical care in hospital emergency rooms only after their medical conditions are seriously advanced. The consequences of untreated opiate dependence include much higher incidence of bacterial infections, including endocarditis, thrombophlebitis, and skin and soft tissue infections; tuberculosis; hepatitis B and C; AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases; and alcohol abuse. Because those who are opiate-dependent present for medical care late in their diseases, medical care is generally more expensive. Health care costs related to opiate dependence have been estimated to be $1.2 billion per year. </p> <p align="center"> <br> Joblessness </p> <p align="left"> <br> Opiate dependence prevents many users from maintaining steady employment. Much of their time each day is spent in drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. Therefore, many seek public assistance because they are unable to generate the income needed to support themselves and their families. Long-term outcome data show that opiate-dependent persons in MMT earn more than twice as much money annually as those not in treatment.<br> <br> </p> <p align="center"> Outcomes of Pregnancy </p> <p align="left"> <br> A substantial number of pregnant women dependent upon opiates also have HIV/AIDS. on the basis of preliminary data, women who receive MMT are more likely to be treated with zidovudine. It has been well established that administration of zidovudine to HIV-positive pregnant women reduces by two-thirds the rate of HIV transmission to their babies. Comprehensive MMT, along with sound prenatal care, has been shown to decrease obstetrical and fetal complications as well. </p> <p> <br> 3. What Is the Efficacy of Current Treatment Modalities in the Management of Opiate Dependence Including Detoxification Alone, Nonpharmacological/Psychosocial Treatment, Treatment With Opiate Antagonists, and Treatment With Opiate Agonists (Short Term and Long Term)? And, What Is the Scientific Evidence for the Most Effective Use of Opiate Agonists in the Treatment of Opiate Dependence?<br> <br> </p> <div align="center"> The Pharmacology of Commonly Prescribed Opiate Agonists and Antagonists<br> </div> <p> <br> The most frequently used agent in medically supervised opiate withdrawal and maintenance treatment is methadone. Methadone's half-life is approximately 24 hours and leads to a long duration of action and once-a-day dosing. This feature, coupled with its slow onset of action, blunts its euphoric effect, making it unattractive as a principal drug of abuse. LAAM, a less commonly used opiate agonist, has a longer half-life and may prevent withdrawal symptoms for up to 96 hours. An emerging treatment option, buprenorphine , a partial opioid agonist, appears also to be effective for detoxification and maintenance. <br> <br> Naltrexone is a non-addicting specific "mu" antagonist with a long half-life permitting once-a-day administration. It effectively blocks the cognitive and behavioral effects of opioids, and its prescription does not require special registration. The opioid-dependent person considering treatment should be informed of the availability of naltrexone maintenance treatment. However, in actively using opiate addicts, it produces immediate withdrawal symptoms with potentially serious effects.<br> Medically Supervised Withdrawal<br> <br> Methadone can also be used for detoxification. This can be accomplished over several weeks after a period of illicit opiate use or methadone maintenance. If methadone withdrawal is too rapid, abstinence symptoms are likely. They may lead the opiate-dependent person to illicit drug use and relapse into another cycle of abuse. Buprenorphine holds promise as an option for medically supervised withdrawal because its prolonged occupation of mu receptors attenuates withdrawal symptoms.<br> <br> More rapid detoxification options include use of opiate antagonists alone; the alpha-2 agonist clonidine alone; or clonidine followed by naltrexone. Clonidine reduces many of the autonomic signs and symptoms of opioid withdrawal. These strategies may be used in both inpatient and outpatient settings and allow medically supervised withdrawal from opioids in as little as 3 days. Most patients successfully complete detoxification using these strategies, but information concerning relapse rates is not available.<br> <br> </p> <p align="center"> The Role of Psychosocial Treatments </p> <p> <br> Non-pharmacologic supportive services are pivotal to successful MMT. The immediate introduction of these services as the opiate-dependent patient applies for MMT leads to significantly higher retention and more comprehensive and effective treatment. Comorbid psychiatric disorders require treatment. Other behavioral strategies have been successfully used in substance abuse treatment. Ongoing substance abuse counseling and other psychosocial therapies enhance program retention and positive outcome. Stable employment is an excellent predictor of clinical outcome. Therefore, vocational rehabilitation is a useful adjunct. </p> <p align="center"> Efficacy of Opiate Agonists </p> <p> <br> It is now generally agreed that opiate dependence is a medical disorder and that pharmacologic agents are effective in its treatment. Evidence presented to the panel indicates that availability of these agents is severely limited and that large numbers of patients with this disorder have no access to treatment.<br> <br> The greatest experience with such agents has been with the opiate agonist methadone. Prolonged oral treatment with this medication diminishes and often eliminates opiate use, reduces transmission of many infections, including HIV and hepatitis B and C, and reduces criminal activity. Evidence is now accumulating that suggests the effectiveness in such patients of LAAM and buprenorphine.<br> <br> For more than 30 years, the daily oral administration of methadone has been used to treat tens of thousands of individuals dependent upon opiates in the United States and abroad. The effectiveness of MMT is dependent on many factors, including adequate dosage, duration plus continuity of treatment, and accompanying psychosocial services. A dose of 60 mg given once daily may achieve the desired treatment goal: abstinence from opiates. But higher doses are often required by many patients. Continuity of treatment is crucial--patients who are treated for less than 3 months generally show little or no improvement, and most, if not all, patients require continuous treatment over a period of years, and perhaps for life. Therefore, the program has come to be termed methadone "maintenance" treatment (MMT). Patient attributes that have sometimes been linked to better outcomes include older age, later age of dependence onset, lesser abuse of other substances including cocaine and alcohol, and lesser criminal activity. Recently, it has been reported that high motivation for change has been associated with positive outcomes.<br> <br> The effectiveness of MMT is often dependent on the involvement of a knowledgeable and empathetic staff and the availability of psychotherapy and other counseling services. The latter are especially important since individuals with opiate dependence are often afflicted with comorbid mental and personality disorders.<br> <br> Because methadone-treated patients generally are exposed to much less or no intravenous opiates, they are much less likely to transmit and contract HIV and hepatitis. This is especially important since recent data have shown that up to 75 percent of new instances of HIV infection are attributable to intravenous drug use. Since for many patients a major source of financing the opiate habit is criminal behavior, MMT generally leads to much less crime.<br> <br> Although methadone is the primary opioid agonist used, other full and partial opioid agonists have been developed for treatment of opiate dependence. An analogue of methadone, levo-alpha acetyl-methadol (LAAM), has a longer half-life than methadone and so can be administered less frequently. A single dose of LAAM can prevent withdrawal symptoms and drug craving for 2 to 4 days. Buprenorphine, a recently developed partial opiate agonist, has the advantage over methadone that its discontinuation leads to much less severe withdrawal symptoms. The use of these medications is at an early stage, and it may be some time before their usefulness has been adequately evaluated.<br> <br> </p> <p> 4. What Are the Important Barriers to Effective Use of Opiate Agonists in the Treatment of Opiate Addiction in the United States, Including Perceptions and the Adverse Consequences of Opiate Agonist Use and Legal, Regulatory, Financial, and Programmatic Barriers? </p> <p align="center"> <br> Misperceptions and Stigmas </p> <p> <br> Many of the barriers to effective use of MMT in the treatment of opiate dependence stem from misperceptions and stigmas attached to opiate dependence, the people who are addicted, those who treat them, and the settings in which services are provided. Opiate-dependent persons are often perceived not as individuals with a disease, but as "other" or "different." Factors such as racism play a large role here but so does the popular image of dependence itself. Many people believe that dependence is self-induced or a failure of willpower and that efforts to treat it will inevitably fail. Vigorous and effective leadership is needed to inform the public that dependence is a medical disorder that can be effectively treated with significant benefits for the patient and society. </p> <p align="center"> <br> Increasing Availability of Effective Services </p> <p> <br> Unfortunately, MMT programs are not readily available to all who could and wish to benefit from them. We as a society must make a commitment to offer effective treatment for opiate dependence to all who need it. Accomplishing that goal will require: <br> </p> <blockquote> <font size="4">• </font> Making treatment as cost-effective as possible without sacrificing quality. <br> <font size="4">• </font> Increasing the availability and variety of treatment services. <br> <font size="4">• </font> Including and ensuring wider participation by physicians trained in substance abuse who will oversee the medical care. <br> <font size="4">• </font> Providing additional funding for opiate dependence treatments and coordinating these services with other necessary social services and medical care. </blockquote> <p> </p> <p align="center"> Training Physicians and Other Health Care Professionals </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> One barrier to availability of MMT is the shortage of physicians and other health care professionals prepared to provide treatment for opiate dependence. All primary care medical specialties (including general practice, internal medicine, family practice, obstetrics and gynecology, geriatrics, pediatrics, and adolescent medicine) should be taught the principles of diagnosing and treating patients with opiate dependence. Nurses, social workers, psychologists, physician assistants, and other health care professionals should also be trained in these areas. The greater the number of trained physicians and other health care professionals, the greater the supply not only of professionals who can competently treat the opiate dependent but also of members of the community who are equipped to provide leadership and public education on these issues. </p> <p align="center"> Reducing Unnecessary Regulation </p> <p align="center"> <br> </p> <p> Of critical importance in improving MMT of opiate dependence is the recognition that, as in every other area of medicine, treatment must be tailored to the needs of the individual patient. Current Federal regulations make this difficult if not impossible. By prescribing MMT procedures in minute detail, FDA's regulations limit the flexibility and responsiveness of the programs, require unproductive paperwork, and impose administrative and oversight costs greater than those necessary for many patients. Yet these regulations seem to have little if any effect on quality of MMT care. We know of no other area where the Federal Government intrudes so deeply and coercively into the practice of medicine. For example, although providing a therapeutic dose is central to effective treatment and the therapeutic dose is now known to be higher than had previously been understood, FDA's regulations discourage such higher doses. However well-intended the FDA's treatment regulations were when written in 1972, they are no longer helpful. We recommend that these regulations be eliminated. Alternative means, such as accreditation, for improving quality of MMT programs should be instituted. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can more effectively, less coercively, and much more inexpensively discharge its statutory obligation to provide treatment guidance to MMT programs, physicians, and staff by means of publications, seminars, Web sites, continuing medical education, and the like.<br> <br> We also believe current laws and regulations should be revised to eliminate the extra level of regulation on methadone compared with other Schedule II narcotics. Currently, methadone can be dispensed only from facilities that obtain an extra license and comply with extensive extra regulatory requirements. These extra requirements are unnecessary for a medication that is not often diverted for recreational or casual use but rather to individuals with opiate dependence who lack access to MMT programs.<br> <br> If extra levels of regulation were eliminated, many more physicians and pharmacies could prescribe and dispense methadone, making treatment available in many more locations than is now the case. Not every physician will choose to treat opiate-dependent persons, and not every methadone-treated person will prefer to receive services from an individual physician rather than to receive MMT in a clinic setting. But if some additional physicians and groups treat a few patients each, aggregate access to MMT would be expanded.<br> <br> We also believe that State and local regulations and enforcement efforts should be coordinated. We see little purpose to having separate State and Federal inspections of MMT programs. State and Federal regulators should coordinate their efforts, agree which programs each will inspect to avoid duplication, and target "poor performers" for the most intensive scrutiny while reducing scrutiny for MMT programs that consistently perform well. The States should address the problem of slow approval (at the State level) of FDA-approved medications. LAAM, for example, has not yet been approved by many States. States should harmonize their requirements with those of the Federal Government.<br> <br> We would expect these changes in the current regulatory system to reduce unnecessary costs both to MMT programs and to enforcement agencies at all levels. The savings could be used to treat more patients.<br> <br> In the end, an infusion of additional funding will be needed--funding sufficient to provide access to treatment for all who require treatment. We strongly recommend that legislators and regulators recognize that providing MMT is both cost-effective and compassionate and that it constitutes a health benefit that should be a component of public and private health care. </p> <p> <br> 5. What Are the Future Research Areas and Recommendations for Improving Opiate Agonist Treatment and Improving Access? </p> <p> <br> </p> <blockquote> <p> <font size="4">• </font>What initiates opiate use? <br> -- Define genetic predispositions <br> --Do some individuals take opiates to treat a preexisting disorder? <br> --Which of the multiple psychological, sociological, and economic factors believed to predispose individuals to try opiates are most important as causative factors? <br> --If the above are known, can one prevent opiate dependence? <br> <font size="4">• </font>What are the changes in the human brain that result in dependence when individuals repeatedly use opiates?<br> <font size="4">• </font>What are the underlying anatomical and neurophysiological substrates of craving? <br> <font size="4">• </font>What are the differences between individuals who can successfully terminate opiate dependence and those who cannot? <br> <font size="4">• </font>A scientifically credible national epidemiological study of the prevalence of opiate dependence in the United States is strongly recommended. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Rigorous study of the economic costs of opiate dependence in the United States and the cost-effectiveness of methadone maintenance therapy is also needed. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Longer term followup studies of patients who complete rapid detoxification are necessary. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The feasibility of alternative routes of administration for agonist and antagonist therapy should be explored. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Systematic pharmacokinetic studies of methadone during MMT maintenance therapy are essential. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Physiologic factors that may influence adequate methadone dose in pregnant women need to be defined. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The effects of reduction of entitlement programs for those patients on MMT must be assessed. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The effects of the early and systematic introduction of rehabilitation services in MMT should be evaluated. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Variables that determine barriers must be defined. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Research on changing attitudes of the public, of health professionals, and of legislators is needed. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Research on improving educational methods for health professionals should be performed. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Research on prevention methods is necessary. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Research on efficacy of other opiate agonists/antagonists should be compared to that of methadone. </p> <p align="center"> Conclusions and Recommendations<br> <br> </p> <p> <font size="4">• </font>Vigorous and effective leadership is needed within the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) (and related Federal and State agencies) to inform the public that dependence is a medical disorder that can be effectively treated with significant benefits for the patient and society. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Society must make a commitment to offering effective treatment for opiate dependence to all who need it. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The panel calls attention to the need for opiate-dependent persons under legal supervision to have access to MMT. The ONDCP and the U.S. Department of Justice should implement this recommendation. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The panel recommends improved training of physicians and other health care professionals in diagnosis and treatment of opiate dependence. For example, we encourage the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other agencies to provide funds to improve training for diagnosis and treatment of opiate dependence in medical schools. <br> <font size="4">• </font>The panel recommends that unnecessary regulation of MMT and all long-acting agonist treatment programs be reduced. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Funding for MMT should be increased. <br> <font size="4">• </font>We advocate MMT as a benefit in public and private insurance programs, with parity of coverage for all medical and mental disorders. <br> <font size="4">• </font>We recommend targeting opiate-dependent pregnant women for MMT. <br> <font size="4">• </font>MMT must be culturally sensitive to enhance a favorable outcome for participating African American and Hispanic persons. <br> <font size="4">• </font>Patients, underrepresented minorities, and consumers should be included in bodies charged with policy development guiding opiate dependence treatment. <br> <font size="4">• </font>We recommend expanding the availability of opiate agonist treatment in those States and programs where this treatment option is currently unavailable. </p> </blockquote> <p align="center"> Consensus Development Panel </p> <p> Lewis L. Judd, M.D.<br> Conference and Panel Chair<br> Mary Gilman Marston Professor and Chair<br> Department of Psychiatry <br> School of Medicine<br> University of California, San Diego<br> La Jolla, California<br> <br> Clifford Attkisson, Ph.D. <br> Dean of Graduate Studies<br> Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Academic Affairs<br> Professor of Medical Psychology <br> University of California, San Francisco<br> San Francisco, California <br> <br> Wade Berrettini, M.D., Ph.D.<br> Professor of Psychiatry and Director <br> Center for Neurobiology and Behavior<br> Department of Psychiatry<br> School of Medicine<br> University of Pennsylvania <br> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania <br> <br> Nancy L. Buc, Esq.<br> Buc & Beardsley <br> <br> Benjamin S. Bunney, M.D.<br> Charles B.G. Murphy Professor and Chairman <br> Professor of Pharmacology<br> Department of Psychiatry School of Medicine<br> New Haven, Connecticut<br> <br> Roberto A. Dominguez, M.D.<br> Professor and Director of Adult Outpatient Clinic <br> Department of Psychiatry<br> University of Miami School of Medicine<br> Miami, Florida<br> <br> Robert O. Friedel, M.D.<br> Heman E. Drummond Professor and Chairman<br> Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology<br> The University of Alabama at Birmingham<br> Birmingham, Alabama<br> <br> John S. Gustafson<br> Executive Director<br> National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, Inc.<br> Washington, D.C. <br> <br> Donald Hedeker, Ph.D.<br> Associate Professor of Biostatistics<br> Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics<br> School of Public Health University of Illinois, Chicago<br> Chicago, Illinois <br> <br> Howard H. Hiatt, M.D.<br> Professor of Medicine<br> Harvard Medical School <br> Senior Physician<br> Division of General Medicine <br> Brigham and Women's Hospital<br> Boston, Massachusetts<br> <br> Radman Mostaghim, M.D., Ph.D.<br> Greenbelt, Maryland<br> <br> Robert G. Petersdorf, M.D. <br> Distinguished Professor of Medicine<br> University of Washington Washington </p> <p align="center"> Speakers </p> <p> <br> M. Douglas Anglin, Ph.D.<br> "The Natural History of Opiate Addiction" <br> Director<br> UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center<br> Los Angeles, California<br> <br> Donald C. Des Jarlais, Ph.D.<br> "Transmission of Bloodborne Viruses Among Heroin Injectors"<br> Director of Research<br> Chemical Dependency Institute <br> Beth Israel Medical Center and National Development and Research Institutes <br> New York, New York<br> <br> David P. Desmond, M.S.W.<br> "Deaths Among Heroin Users In and Out of Methadone Maintenance" <br> Department of Psychiatry<br> University of Texas Health Science Center<br> San Antonio, Texas<br> <br> Rose Etheridge, Ph.D.<br> "Factors Related to Retention and Posttreatment Outcomes in Methadone Treatment: Replicated Findings Across Two Eras of Treatment"<br> Senior Research Psychologist<br> National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI, Inc.) <br> Raleigh, North Carolina<br> <br> Igor I. Galynker, M.D., Ph.D.<br> "Methadone Maintenance and Regional Cerebral Glucose Metabolism in Opiate Abusers: A Positron Emission Tomographic Study"<br> Physician-in-Charge <br> Division of Psychiatric Functional Brain Imaging<br> Department of Psychiatry <br> Beth Israel Medical Center<br> New York, New York <br> <br> G. Thomas Gitchel<br> "Diversion of Methadone: Expanding Access While Reducing Abuse"<br> Chief<br> Liaison and Policy Section of Diversion Control<br> U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Washington, D.C.<br> <br> Michael Gossop, Ph.D. <br> "Methadone Substitution Treatment in the United Kingdom: Outcome Among Patients Treated in Drug Clinics and General Practice Settings"<br> Head of Research Addiction Centre<br> Institute of Psychiatry<br> Maudsley Hospital<br> London, United Kingdom<br> <br> John Grabowski, Ph.D.<br> "Behavioral Therapies: A Treatment Element for Opiate Dependence" <br> Substance Abuse Research Center<br> Professor<br> Department of Psychiatry <br> <br> Henrick J. Harwood<br> "Societal Costs of Heroin Addiction"<br> Senior Manager<br> The Lewin Group<br> Fairfax, Virginia <br> <br> Jerome H. Jaffe, M.D.<br> "The History and Current Status of Opiate Agonist Treatment" <br> Director<br> Office for Scientific Analysis and Evaluation Treatment<br> Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Herbert D. Kleber, M.D.<br> "Detoxification With or Without Opiate Agonist Treatment"<br> Professor of Psychiatry<br> Division of Substance Abuse<br> Department of Psychiatry<br> Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons<br> New York, New York <br> <br> Mary Jeanne Kreek, M.D.<br> "Opiate Agonist Treatment, Molecular Pharmacology, and Physiology"<br> Professor and Head<br> Senior Physician Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases<br> Rockefeller University <br> New York, New York<br> <br> David C. Lewis, M.D.<br> "Access to Narcotic Addiction Treatment and Medical Care"<br> Director Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies<br> Brown University Rhode Island<br> <br> Dennis McCarty, Ph.D. <br> "Narcotic Agonist Treatment as a Benefit Under Managed Care"<br> Human Services Research Professor<br> Institute for Health Policy<br> Heller Graduate School<br> Brandeis University <br> Waltham, Massachusetts<br> <br> A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D.<br> "Problem-Service Matching in Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Policy Suggestions From Two Prospective Studies"<br> Scientific Director<br> DeltaMetrics in Association with Treatment Research Institute<br> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania <br> <br> Jeffrey Merrill, Ph.D.<br> "Impact of Methadone Maintenance on HIV Seroconversion and Related Costs"<br> Director<br> Economic and Policy Research <br> Treatment Research Institute<br> University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania<br> <br> Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Ph.D.<br> "Neurobiological Substrates for Opiate Addiction"<br> Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology<br> Department of Psychiatry<br> Connecticut Mental Health Center School of Medicine<br> New Haven, Connecticut<br> <br> David N. Nurco, D.S.W.<br> "Narcotic Drugs and Crime: Addict Behavior While Addicted Versus Nonaddicted"<br> Research Professor <br> Department of Psychiatry <br> University of Maryland School of Medicine<br> Baltimore, Maryland<br> <br> Mark W. Parrino, M.P.A.<br> "Legal, Regulatory, and Funding Barriers to Good Practice and Associated Consequences"<br> President Methadone Treatment Association, Inc.<br> New York, New York <br> <br> J. Thomas Payte, M.D.<br> "Methadone Dose and Outcome" Director<br> Drug Dependence Associates<br> San Antonio, Texas<br> <br> Roy W. Pickens, Ph.D.<br> "Genetic and Other Risk Factors in Opiate Addiction" <br> Senior Scientist<br> Division of Intramural Research Center<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Baltimore, Maryland<br> <br> D. Dwayne Simpson, Ph.D.<br> "Patient Engagement and Duration of Treatment" <br> Director and S.B. Sells Professor of Psychology<br> Institute of Behavioral Research<br> Texas Christian University<br> Fort Worth, Texas<br> <br> Barbara J. Turner, M.D.<br> "Prenatal Care and Antiretroviral Use Associated With Methadone Treatment of HIV-Infected Pregnant Women" <br> Professor of Medicine<br> Director of Research in Health Care<br> Thomas Jefferson University<br> The Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care Pennsylvania<br> <br> George E. Woody, M.D. <br> "Establishing a Diagnosis of Heroin Abuse and Addiction" <br> Chief, Substance Abuse Treatment Unit<br> Veterans Affairs Medical Center <br> Clinical Professor<br> Department of Psychiatry <br> University of Pennsylvania <br> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<br> <br> Joan E. Zweben, Ph.D.<br> "Community, Staff, and Patient Perceptions and Attitudes"<br> Executive Director<br> 14th Street Clinic and East Bay Community Recovery Project <br> Clinical Professor of Psychiatry<br> University of California, San Francisco<br> Berkeley, California </p> <p align="center"> Planning Committee </p> <p> James R. Cooper, M.D.<br> Associate Director for Medical Affairs<br> Division of Clinical and Services Research <br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Elsa A. Bray<br> Program Analyst<br> Office of Medical Applications of Research<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Bethesda, Maryland <br> <br> Mona Brown<br> Press Officer<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse <br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Kendall Bryant, Ph.D.<br> Coordinator<br> AIDS Behavioral Research <br> National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Jerry Cott, Ph.D.<br> Chief <br> Pharmacologic Treatment Research Program<br> National Institute of Mental Health <br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Donald C. Des Jarlais, Ph.D.<br> Director of Research Institute<br> Beth Israel Medical Center and National Development and Research Institutes <br> New York, New York<br> <br> John H. Ferguson, M.D.<br> Director<br> Office of Medical Applications of Research <br> National Institutes of Health <br> Bethesda, Maryland<br> <br> Bennett Fletcher, Ph.D.<br> Acting Chief<br> Services Research Branch<br> Division of Clinical and Services Research <br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Joseph Frascella, Ph.D.<br> Chief<br> Etiology and Clinical Neurobiology Branch<br> Division of Clinical and Services Research <br> National Institute on Drug Abuse <br> National Institutes of Health <br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> G. Thomas Gitchel<br> Chief<br> Liaison and Policy Section<br> Office of Diversion Control<br> U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency D.C.<br> <br> William H. Hall<br> Director of Communications<br> Office of Medical Applications of Research<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Bethesda, Maryland <br> <br> Jerome H. Jaffe, M.D.<br> Director and Evaluation<br> Center for Substance Abuse Treatment <br> Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Lewis L. Judd, M.D.<br> Panel and Conference Chair<br> Mary Gilman Marston Professor<br> Chair<br> Department of Psychiatry <br> School of Medicine<br> University of California, San Diego<br> La Jolla, California<br> <br> Herbert D. Kleber, M.D.<br> Professor of Psychiatry<br> Division of Substance Abuse<br> Department of Psychiatry<br> Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons <br> New York, New York<br> <br> Mitchell B. Max, M.D.<br> Chief<br> Clinical Trials Unit<br> Neurobiology and Anesthesiology Branch<br> National Institute of Dental Research<br> National Institutes of Health Maryland<br> <br> A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D. <br> Scientific Director<br> DeltaMetrics in Association With Treatment Research Institute<br> Philadelphia, Pennsylvania <br> <br> Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Ph.D.<br> Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology<br> Department of Psychiatry Mental Health Center<br> Yale University School of Medicine Connecticut<br> <br> Stuart Nightingale, M.D. <br> Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs <br> U.S. Food and Drug Administration<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Roy W. Pickens, Ph.D.<br> Senior Scientist <br> Division of Intramural Research<br> Addiction Research Center<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Baltimore, Maryland<br> <br> Nick Reuter, M.P.H.<br> Associate Director for Domestic and International Drug Control<br> U.S. Food and Drug Administration <br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Charles R. Sherman, Ph.D.<br> Deputy Director<br> Office of Medical Applications of Research<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Bethesda, Maryland <br> <br> Alan Trachtenberg, M.D., M.P.H.<br> Medical Officer<br> Office of Science Policy and Communications<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Frank Vocci, Ph.D.<br> Acting Director<br> Medications Development Division<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland <br> <br> Anne Willoughby, M.D., M.P.H.<br> Chief Maternal AIDS Branch<br> Center for Research for Mothers and Children<br> National Institute of Child Health and Human Development <br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland<br> <br> Stephen R. Zukin, M.D.<br> Director<br> Division of Clinical and Services Research<br> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> National Institutes of Health<br> Rockville, Maryland </p> <p align="center"> Lead Organizations </p> <p> National Institute on Drug Abuse<br> Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. <br> Director<br> <br> Office of Medical Applications of Research<br> John H. Ferguson, M.D. <br> Director </p> <p align="center"> Supporting Organization </p> <p> Office of Research on Women's Health<br> Vivian W. Pinn, M.D. <br> Director </p> <p align="center"> Bibliography </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> The speakers listed above identified the following key references in developing their presentations for the consensus conference. A more complete bibliography prepared by the National Library of Medicine at NIH, along with the references below, were provided to the consensus panel for their consideration. The full NLM bibliography is available at the following Web site: <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20040829/pubs/cbm/heroin_addiction.html">http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20040829/pubs/cbm/heroin_addiction.html</a><br> <br> Institute of Medicine.. Managing managed care: quality improvement in behavioral health Washington: National Academy Press; 1997. <br> <br> National evaluations of drug abuse treatment outcomes. Psych Addict Behav [Special Issue]. In press. <br> <br> Anglin MD, Speckart GR, Booth MW, Ryan TM.. Consequences and costs of shutting off methadone. Addict Behav 1989. 14:307-26. : <br> <br> Anglin MD, Hser Y.. Treatment of drug abuse In: Tonry M, Wilson JQ, editors. Drugs and crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press;: 1990. p.393-458. <br> <br> Ball JC, Ross A.. The effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment. New York: Springer Verlag; 1991. . <br> <br> Barrett DH, Luk AJ, Parrish RG, Jones TS.. An investigation of medical examiner cases in which methadone was detected, Harris County, Texas, 1987-1992. J Forensic Sci 1996 May. 41(3):442-8. : (PubMed) <br> <br> Cadoret RJ, Troughton E, O'Gorman TW, Heywood E.. An adoption study of genetic and environmental factors in drug abuse Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986. 43:1131-6.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Caplehorn JR, Hartel DM, Irwig L.. Measuring and comparing the attitudes and beliefs of staff working in New York methadone maintenance clinics Subst Use Misuse 1997. 32(4)1:399-413. : (PubMed) <br> <br> Caplehorn JR, Dalton MS, Haldar F, Petrenas AM, Nisbet JG.. Methadone maintenance and addicts= risk of fatal heroin overdose Subst Use Misuse 1996 Jan. 31(2):177-96.: <br> <br> Cooper JR.. Establishing a methadone quality assurance system: rationale and objectives In: Improving drug abuse treatment. National Institute on Drug Abuse Research Monograph Series #106. Washington: DHHS; 1991. p. 358-64.: <br> <br> Cooper JR.. Including narcotic addiction treatment in an office-based practice JAMA 1995a. 273:1619-20. : (PubMed) <br> <br> Cooper JR.. Methadone treatment and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome JAMA 1989. 252:1664-8. : <br> <br> Courtwright DT.. A century of American narcotic policy In: Gerstein DR, Harwood HJ, editors. Treating drug problems. Vol. 2. Institute of Medicine. Washington: National Academy Press; 1992. <br> <br> Des Jarlais DC.. Research design, drug use, and deaths: cross study comparisons In: Serban G, editor. The social and medical aspects of drug abuse. Jamaica (NY): Spectrum Publications; 1984. . p. 229-35.: <br> <br> Dole VP. . Implications of methadone maintenance for theories of narcotic addiction. JAMA 1988. 260(20):3025-9. : (PubMed) <br> <br> Dole VP.. On federal regulation of methadone treatment Conn Med 1996. 60:428-9.: <br> <br> Dole, VP.. Hazards of process regulations: the example of methadone maintenance JAMA 1992. 267:2234-5. : <br> <br> Edwards G, Gross MM.. Alcohol dependence: provisional description of a clinical syndrome Br Med 1976 . 1:1058-61.: <br> <br> Elk R, Grabowski J, Rhoades HM, McLellan AT.. A substance abuse research-treatment clinic Substance Abuse Treatment. 1993. 10(5):459-71.: <br> <br> Etheridge RM, Craddock SG, Dunteman GH, Hubbard RL.. Treatment services in two national studies of community-based drug abuse treatment programs J Subst Abuse Treat 1995. 7:9-26. : <br> <br> Frances A, Pincus HA, First MB, editors.. Substance related disorders. In: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fourth Edition. (DSM-IV). Washington: American Psychiatric Association Press; 1994. p. 175-272.: <br> <br> Gerstein DR, Harwood HJ, editors.. Treating drug problems. Vol. 1 Institute of Medicine. Washington: National Academy Press;: 1990. . <br> <br> Goldstein A.. Heroin addiction: neurobiology, pharmacology, and policy. J Psychoactive Drugs 1991 Apr. 23:(2)123-33.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Gossop M, Griffiths P, Bradley B, Strang J.. Opiate withdrawal symptoms in response to 10-day and 21-day methadone withdrawal programmes Br J Psychiatry 1989. 154:360-3. : <br> <br> Gronbladh L, Ohlund LS, Gunne LM.. Mortality in heroin addiction: impact of methadone treatment Acta Psychiatr Scand 1990 Sep. 82(3):223-7.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Grudzinskas CV, Woosley RL, Payte JT, Collins J, Moody DE, Tyndale RF, et al.. The documented role of pharmacogenetics in the identification and administration of new medications for treatment of drug abuse Problems of drug dependence 1995: Proceedings of the 57th Annual Scientific Meeting. NIDA research monograph; 1995. p. 60-3. : <br> <br> Hser Y, Anglin MD, Powers K.. A 24-year follow-up of California narcotics addicts Arch Gen Psychiatry 1993. 50:577-84.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Hser Y, Anglin MD, Grell, C, Longshore D, Prendergast M.. Drug treatment careers: a conceptual framework and existing research findings J Subst Abuse 1997. 14(3):1-16. : <br> <br> Hser Y, Yamaguchi K, Anglin MD, Chen J.. Effects of interventions on relapse to narcotics addiction Eval Rev 1995. 19:123-40.: <br> <br> Hubbard RL, Marsden ME, Rachal JV, Harwood HJ, Cavanaugh ER, Ginzburg HM. . Drug abuse treatment: a national study of effectiveness. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press; 1995. <br> <br> Hubbard RL, Craddock SG, Flynn PM, Anderson J, Etheridge RM.. Overview of one-year followup outcomes in DATOS Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 1997. 11(4).: <br> <br> Joe GW, Simpson DD, Sells SB.. Treatment process and relapse to opioid use during methadone maintenance Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 1994. 20(2):173-97.: <br> <br> Kleber HD.. Outpatient detoxification from opiates. Primary Psychiatry 1996. 1:42-52.: <br> <br> Kosten TR, Morgan C, Kleber HD.. Treatment of heroin addicts using buprenorphine. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 1991. 7(1):119-28.: <br> <br> Krystal JH, Woods SW, Kosten TR, Rosen MI, Seibyl JP.. Opiate dependence and withdrawal: preliminary assessment using single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 1995 Feb. 21(1):47-63.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Lewis D, Gear C, Laubli Loud M, Langenick-Cartwright D, English edition editors. . The medical prescription of narcotics, Rihs-Middel M, editor Toronto: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers; 1997. . <br> <br> Loimer N, Schmid R, Grunberger J, Jagsch R, Linzmayer L, Presslich O.. Psychophysiological reactions in methadone maintenance patients do not correlate with methadone plasma levels Psychopharmacology 1991. 103:538-40.: (PubMed) <br> <br> London ED, Broussolle EP, Links JM, Wong DF, Cascella NG, Dannals RF, et al.. Morphine-induced metabolic changes in human brain. Studies with positron emission tomography and [fluorine 18]fluorodeoxyglucose. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1990 Jan. 47 (1):73-81.: <br> <br> McLellan AT, Woody GE, Luborsky L, O'Brien CP.. Is the counselor an "active ingredient" in substance abuse treatment? J Nerv Ment Dis 1988. 176(7):423-30.: (PubMed) <br> <br> McLellan AT, Arndt IO, Alterman AI, Woody GE, Metzger D.. Psychosocial services in substance abuse treatment: a dose-ranging study of psychosocial services. JAMA 1993. (PubMed) <br> <br> McLellan AT, Alterman AI, Metzger DS, Grissom G, Woody GE, Luborsky L, et al.. Similarity of outcome predictors across opiate, cocaine and alcohol treatments: role of treatment services J Consult Clin Psychol 1994. 62:1141-58.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Mechanic D, Schlesinger M, McAlpine DD.. Management of mental health and substance abuse services: state of the art and early results. Milbank Q 1995. 73:19-55.: <br> <br> Merikangas KR, Rounsaville BJ, Prusoff BA.. Familial factors in vulnerability to substance abuse In: Glantz M, Pickens R, editors. Vulnerability to drug abuse. Washington: American Psychological Association; 1992. p. 75-97.: <br> <br> Molinari SP, Cooper JR, Czechowicz DJ.. Federal regulation of clinical practice in narcotic addiction treatment: purpose, status, and alternatives J Law Med Ethics 1994. 22(3)231-9.: <br> <br> Murphy S, Irwin J.. "Living with the dirty secret": Problems of disclosure for methadone maintenance clients J Psychoactive Drugs 1992. 24(3):257-64.: <br> <br> Musto DF.. The American disease Origins of narcotic control. Expanded edition. New York: Oxford University Press; 1987. . <br> <br> Nestler EJ.. Under siege: the brain on opiates Neuron 1996. 16:897-900.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Novick M, Joseph H, Salsitz EA, Kalin MF, Keefe JB, Miller EL, et al.. Outcomes of treatment of socially rehabilitated methadone maintenance patients in physicians' offices (medical maintenance): follow-up at three and a half to nine and a fourth years J Gen Intern Med 1994. 9:127-30.: <br> <br> Nurco DN, Hanlon TE, Balter MB, Kinlock TW, Slaght E.. A classification of narcotic addicts based on type, amount, and severity of crime. J Drug Issues 1991. 21:429-48.: <br> <br> Nurco DN, Cisin IH, Balter MB.. Addicts career II: the first ten years Addict 1981. 8:1327-56. : <br> <br> Nurco DN, Ball JC, Shaffer JW, Hanlon TE.. The criminality of narcotic addicts J Nerv Ment Dis 1985 . 173: 94-102.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Nurco DN, Shaffer JW, Ball JC, Kinlock TW.. Trends in the commission of crime among narcotic addicts over successive periods of addiction and nonaddiction. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 1984. 10:481-9.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Pickens RW, Svikis DS, McGue M, Lykken DT, Heston LL, Clayton PJ.. Heterogeneity in the inheritance of alcoholism. A study of male and female twins. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1991 . 48:19-28. : (PubMed) <br> <br> Rettig RA, Yarmolinsky A, editors. . Federal regulation of methadone treatment Institute of Medicine. Washington: National Academy Press; 1995. <br> <br> Rhoades H, Creson D, Elk R, Schmitz J, Grabowski J.. Retention, HIV risk, and illicit drug use during treatment: methadone dose and visit frequency Am J Public Health 1998. 88:34-9.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Rogowski JA.. Insurance coverage for drug abuse Health Aff 1992. 11(3):137-48.: <br> <br> Scott JE, Greenberg D, Pizzaro J.. A survey of state insurance mandates covering alcohol and other drug treatment J Ment Health Adm 1992. 19(1):96-118.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Senay EC, Barthwell AG, Marks R, Boros P, Gillman D, White G.. Medical maintenance: a pilot study J Addict Dis 1993. 12(4):59-76: <br> <br> Simpson DD.. Effectiveness of drug-abuse treatment: a review of research from field settings In: Egertson JA, Fox DM, Leshner AI, editors. Treating drug abusers effectively. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers of North America; 1997. p.42-73. <br> <br> Simpson DD, Joe GW, Dansereau DF, Chatham LR. . Strategies for improving methadone treatment process and outcomes J Drug Issues 1997. 27(2):239-60. <br> <br> Tennant FS, Rawson RA, Cohen A, Tarver A, Clabout C.. Methadone plasma levels and persistent drug abuse in high dose maintenance patients Subst Alcohol Actions Misuse 1983. 4:369-74.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Tsuang MT, Lyons MJ, Eisen SA, Goldberg J, True W, Lin N, et al.. Genetic influences on DSM-III-R drug abuse and dependence: a study of 3,372 twin pairs Am J Med Genet 1996. 67:473-7. : <br> <br> Vining E, Kosten TR, Kleber HD.. Clinical utility of rapid clonidine-naltrexone detoxification for opioid abuse Br J Addict 1988. 83:567-75.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Walsh SL, Gilson SF, Jasinski DR, Stapleton JM, Phillips RL, Dannals RF, et al.. Buprenorphine reduces cerebral glucose metabolism in polydrug abusers Neuropsychopharmacology 1994 May. 10(3):157-70.: (PubMed) <br> <br> Yancovitz SR, Des Jarlais DC, Peyser NP, Drew E, Friedmann P, Trigg HL, et al.. A randomized trial of an interim methadone maintenance clinic Am J Public Health 1991. 81(9):1185-91. : <br> <br> Zweben JE, Payte JT.. Methadone maintenance in the treatment of opioid dependence: a current perspective West J Med 1990. 152(5):588-99.: (PubMed)<br> </p> <p> __________________________<br> </p> <font size="3"><b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_46f8d5fv" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_46f8d5fv</a></font><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-91571899544981969022007-06-10T12:41:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.965-04:00<br> <p align="right"> <font size="1"><a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_45gffgmf" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_45gffgmf</a></font> </p> <br><p><br> </p><br><p align="center"><b><font size="5">Announcement: Addiction-L Google Group</font></b><br></p><p><br> </p> <p> Some months ago, I started thinking that the Addict-L e-mail<br> </p> <p> discussion list needed a web-based alternative. Many people are<br> </p> <p> finding their e-mail in-boxes to be bloated, spam-infested, and a<br> </p> <p> daily chore of shifting wheat from chaff. That is, we could benefit from <br></p><p>reading that list with a browser, rather than have those messages <br></p><p>compete with viagra ads in the in-box. </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> This may be a good time to invite List members to the site, as a sort<br> of vacation home for Addict-L devotees. My hope would be that the<br> site might become a read-only subscriber to the suspended list when it<br> re-emerges. During the List's hiatus, however, this Group can serve as an<br> alternative.<br> </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> As Group Owner, I will be pretty heavy-handed with banning those who<br> are not civil. I have a zero-tolerance approach to <i>ad hominem</i><br> attacks. Otherwise, let the ideas fly. Check it out, and join, if<br> you like:</p><p><br> </p> <p> <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/Addiction-L" rel="nofollow">http://groups.google.com/group/Addiction-L</a><br> </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> To submit contributions, you don't have to navigate to the page, you can just send e-mail to:</p><p><br></p><p> <a href="mailto:Addiction-L@googlegroups.com">Addiction-L@googlegroups.com</a> </p> <p> <a href="mailto:Addiction-L@googlegroups.com"><br> </a> </p> <p style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> <a href="http://www.maploco.com/vmap/898642.png" style="border: 0pt none ; background-color: transparent; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://www.maploco.com/vmap/898642.png" style="border: 0pt none ;" height="100" width="200"></a><br> </p> <br> <p style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> <br> </p> <p style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> _____________________________ </p> <br> <p style="text-align: left; clear: both;"> <br> </p> <div align="left"> <font size="1"><a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_45gffgmf" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_45gffgmf</a></font></div><p align="right"> </p> <p> <br> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-10418203156473319522007-05-30T16:25:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.971-04:00<div style="text-align: right;"> <font size="1"><b> publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_43cwhbsq" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_43cwhbsq</a></font> </div> <br> <p align="center"> <font size="5"><b>Benefit Car Wash</b></font><br> <br> <img src="http://www.cmrocks.org/images/carwash1.gif" border="0" height="279" width="300"><br> For the men of CMR's Housing Programs:<br> Chase Partnership House<br> Jefferson House<br> <br> <b>When</b>: Saturday, June 2, 2007 (Rain Date Saturday, June 23, 2007)<br> <br> <b>Where</b>: Community Ministries of Rockville<br> Next to Rockville United Methodist Church<br> 114 West Montgomery Ave.<br> Rockville, MD 20850<br> Rear parking lot.<br> Detailing is available by appointment. Call 301-315-1098 to schedule </p> <p align="center"> <br> </p> <p> Map: <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=114+W.+Montgomery+Ave,+rockville,+MD&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.240038,98.4375&ie=UTF8&ll=39.086437,-77.154193&spn=0.012625,0.024033&z=15&om=1&pw=2">http://maps.google.com/maps</a> </p> <p> <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=114+W.+Montgomery+Ave,+rockville,+MD&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.240038,98.4375&ie=UTF8&ll=39.086437,-77.154193&spn=0.012625,0.024033&z=15&om=1&pw=2"><br> </a> </p> <p> Simple Wash $ 5 (vans / SUVs $8) </p> <p> Wash / Wax $10 (vans / SUVs $15) </p> <p> Detailing $25 / $35 -- by appointment only. <br> Call CMR, 301-315-1098 to schedule </p> <p> MasterCard and Visa accepted<br> <font size="1">see <a href="http://www.cmrocks.org">http://www.cmrocks.org</a> for additional information</font> </p> <p> _______________________________ </p> <font size="2"><br> </font> <p> <font size="2"><b> publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_43cwhbsq" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_43cwhbsq</a></font> </p> <br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-25069969891214437572007-05-28T18:07:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.980-04:00 <div style="text-align: right;"> <font size="1"><b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_42fxpdvg" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_42fxpdvg</a></font> </div> <br> <p align="center"> <font size="4"><b>CIA, Cocaine, and the Contras<br> A Bibliography</b></font> </p> <p align="center"> Last updated: May 29, 2007<br>Copyright 2007, Licensed under <a title="Creative Commons License 3.0" target="_blank" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons License 3.0</a> </p> <p style="text-align: left;"><br> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4"><b><br> </b></font> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Powderburns-Cocaine-Contras-Drug-War/dp/0889625786/ref=sr_1_1/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.com/Powderburns-Cocaine-Contras-Drug-War/dp/0889625786/ref=sr_1_1/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-1<br> </a>Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War<br> by Celerino, III Castillo (Author), Dave Harmon (Author) </p> <p> There were a number of semi-suppressed stories during the Iran-contra scandal concerning the link between the contras and cocaine. Celerino Castillo knows about it first-hand. An all-American true believer, Castillo fought in Vietnam from 1971-1972, where he saw the effects of drugs on U.S. troops. By 1975 he was a Texas cop, later a detective working drug cases. In 1980 he joined the Drug Enforcement Administration and worked the streets of New York. Then it was off to Peru in 1984-1985, and Guatemala from 1985-1990. While stationed in Guatemala, Castillo was the DEA agent in charge of anti- drug operations in El Salvador from 1985-1987. This is when he discovered that Oliver North's contras were running cocaine from the Ilopango airport. <br> <br> He did his best to bust them, but they were protected by the CIA. "By the end of 1988," he writes, "I realized how hopelessly tangled DEA, the CIA, and every other U.S. entity in Central America had become with the criminals. The connections boggled my mind" (page 208). His life was in danger, and he got out in a hurry in 1990. DEA, meanwhile, was increasing the pressure with an internal investigation of Castillo. His career was over and he resigned. Lawrence Walsh's office extensively debriefed Castillo, but when Walsh released his massive report in 1993, the narcotics connection was nowhere to be found. End of story -- until this book was published. <br> ISBN 0-88962-578-6 ( <a href="http://www.namebase.org/sources/WS.html">http://www.namebase.org/sources/WS.html</a> ) </p> <p> Related account of Castillo's work:<br> <a href="http://www.drugwar.com/castillo.shtm">http://www.drugwar.com/castillo.shtm</a> </p> <p><br></p><p>______________________________ <br></p><p><br></p><a href="http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html" title="http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html">http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/TATUM/tatum.html</a><br>The Chip Tatum Chronicles: Testimony of Government Drug Running<br>By D.G. "Chip" Tatum<br><br>I'm afraid I find this account credible. I doubt I would have found it credible if I hadn't already read all the Mena-Contra-Cocaine material I've been reading lately. It paints a particularly damning portrait of Oliver North. There are a couple of parallels with P's account as it involves North, though. In both, North clearly knew of drugs being smuggled back into the US, but did not inform his subordinates up-front. North didn't admit to the drugs until confronted. In both cases, North responded to the confrontation with a lie that excused his own and the subordinates' role. In P's case, the lie was that the drugs were all Clinton's fault, and Clinton had the whole CIA over a barrel. In Tatum's case, North's lie was that the cocaine was "evidence" to be used to prove in court that the Sandinistas were dealing in cocaine.<br><br>Again, Dan Lasater is named by an independent source as being the man in Mena who handed the cocaine off to US drug lords and laundered the money.<br>_______________________________<br><br><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585/ref=sr_1_14/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-14"> http://www.amazon.com/Whiteout-Drugs-Press-Alexander-Cockburn/dp/1859842585/ref=sr_1_14/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-14<br> </a>Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press<br> by Alexander Cockburn (Author), Jeffrey St. Clair (Author)<br> Excerpt:<br> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/c/cockburn-white.html">http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/c/cockburn-white.html<br> </a>_____________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Contras-Cocaine-Project/dp/1893517004/ref=sr_1_2/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-2"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Contras-Cocaine-Project/dp/1893517004/ref=sr_1_2/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-2">http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Contras-Cocaine-Project/dp/1893517004/ref=sr_1_2/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-2<br> </a>Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'<br> by Robert Parry (Author)<br> A fairly long discussion by Parry on this subject:<br> Gary Webb R.I.P.<br> <a href="http://alternet.org/election04/20742/">http://alternet.org/election04/20742/</a> </p> <p> _____________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/crimes_of_mena.html"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/crimes_of_mena.html">http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MENA/crimes_of_mena.html<br> </a>The Crimes of Mena: The Suppressed Article<br> By Sally Denton and Roger Morris<br> This is the article which had been scheduled to appear in the Washington Post. After having cleared the legal department for all possible questions of inaccurate statements, the article was scheduled for publication when just as the presses were set to roll, Washington Post Managing Editor Bob Kaiser (Like George Bush, a member of the infamous "Skull & Bones Fraternity), killed the article without explanation. <br> _____________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.serendipity.li/wod/heartb.html"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.serendipity.li/wod/heartb.html">http://www.serendipity.li/wod/heartb.html</a><br> The Train Deaths: Don Henry and Kevin Ives<br> This is the most coherent narrative I've come across to explain and describe exactly what happened in the murder of these two high school boys, why, and who is responsible. Jean Duffey and Russell Welch appear to be the only two major officials in the whole controversy who have displayed consistent, courageous integrity. I take comfort that they've kept their lives. I'm appalled that their careers have been devastated. </p> <p> ____________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/witness_list.html"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/witness_list.html">http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ciadrugs/witness_list.html</a> </p> <p> A Witness List for House Hearings on Volume II of the CIA's Inspector General's Report on CIA Drug Trafficking<br> An exhaustive list of names with thumbnail sketches of the prominent characters in CIA drug dealings. </p> <p> ___________________________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780520214491&pwb=1&z=y"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780520214491&pwb=1&z=y">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780520214491&pwb=1&z=y</a><br> Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America<br> by Peter Dale Scott, Jonathan Marshall<br> Table of Contents:<br> <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780520214491&displayonly=TOC&z=y#TOC">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780520214491&displayonly=TOC&z=y#TOC</a> </p> <p> ______________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-Explosion/dp/1888363932/ref=sr_1_4/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-4"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-Explosion/dp/1888363932/ref=sr_1_4/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-4">http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-Explosion/dp/1888363932/ref=sr_1_4/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-4<br> </a>Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion<br> (Paperback)<br> by Gary Webb (Author)<br> Portions as published in the San Jose Mercury News:<br> <a class="tabcontent" href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m</a> </p> <p> _____________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Messenger-Crack-Cocaine-Controversy-Journalist/dp/1560259302/ref=sr_1_6/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-6"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Messenger-Crack-Cocaine-Controversy-Journalist/dp/1560259302/ref=sr_1_6/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-6">http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Messenger-Crack-Cocaine-Controversy-Journalist/dp/1560259302/ref=sr_1_6/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-6<br> </a>Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Paperback)<br> by Nick Schou (Author), Charles Bowden (Preface)<br> Excerpt: ( <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0641,schou,74552,10.html">http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0641,schou,74552,10.html</a> )<br> "Dark Alliance" was the first major news expose to be published simultaneously in print and on the Internet. Ignored by the mainstream media at first, the story nonetheless spread like wildfire through cyberspace and talk radio. It sparked angry protests around the country by African-Americans who had long suspected the government had allowed drugs into their communities. Their anger was fueled by the fact that "Dark Alliance" didn't just show that the contras had supplied a major crack dealer with cocaine, or that the cash had been used to fund the CIA's army in Central America—but also strongly implied that this activity had been critical to the nationwide explosion of crack cocaine that had taken place in America during the 1980s. <br> <br> It was an explosive charge, although a careful reading of the story showed that Webb had never actually stated that the CIA had intentionally started the crack epidemic. In fact, Webb never believed the CIA had conspired to addict anybody to drugs. Rather, he believed that the agency had known that the contras were dealing cocaine, and hadn't lifted a finger to stop them. He was right, and the controversy over "Dark Alliance"—which many consider to be the biggest media scandal of the 1990s—would ultimately force the CIA to admit it had lied for years about what it knew and when it knew it.<br> _____________________________________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cocaine-Politics-Central-America-Updated/dp/0520214498/ref=sr_1_5/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-5"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cocaine-Politics-Central-America-Updated/dp/0520214498/ref=sr_1_5/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-5">http://www.amazon.com/Cocaine-Politics-Central-America-Updated/dp/0520214498/ref=sr_1_5/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-5<br> </a>Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America<br> by Peter Dale Scott, Jonathan Marshall<br> Excerpt here:<br> <a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Drug_War/Cocaine_Politics.html">http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Drug_War/Cocaine_Politics.html</a><br> _______________________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a4fbde5657.htm"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a4fbde5657.htm">http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a4fbde5657.htm<br> </a>Prologue to Boy Clinton<br> By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.<br> Regnery Publishing Inc.<br> Washington D.C.<br> </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> Excerpt:<br> But during this, his most recent flight, what Brown, a seasoned narcotics investigator, was to learn troubled him deeply. Seal was bringing drugs and money back in the duffel bags. Consequently, as soon as Brown returned to Little Rock he approached Clinton and asked, "Do you know what they're bringing back on those planes?" Clinton froze. "They're bringing back coke," Brown told him. In fact "they" were trafficking in cocaine, money, and arms, Clinton's response was blase. He told Brown not to worry, adding "That's Lasater's deal. That's Lasater's deal."(2) At the time Dan Lasater, an Arkansas "bond daddy" known for his wide-open parties, was a major Clinton supporter. Clinton's occasional attendance at Lasater's parties had presented his bodyguard, Brown, with problems; in addition to young girls, the parties also included plenty of cocaine. </p> <p> </p> <p> Comment: This seems astonishing to me. If anyone was responsible for the massive, CIA-approved drug-running going on at Mena, it was Lasater. During the Contra re-supply operations, he was running business dealings that would rank well up in the Fortune 500. But his drug convictions were for giving away cocaine, and you have to scour the internet to find his name associated with the trafficking. How did such massive dealing leave such a tiny footprint of documentation? Well, it's actually pretty clear: there were vigorous efforts at both Federal and State levels to quash any and all investigations. </p> <p> ____________________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.serendipity.li/cia/larry1.html"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.serendipity.li/cia/larry1.html">http://www.serendipity.li/cia/larry1.html</a> </p> <p> Information Sources for Allegations Regarding Mena and<br> Other CIA-related Narcotics Trafficking Covert Operations<br> An exhaustive bibliography of mostly non-internet references </p> <p> __________________________________ </p> <p> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Denial-Deception-Insiders-Iran-Contra-Nation/dp/1560256494/ref=sr_1_13/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-13">http://www.amazon.com/Denial-Deception-Insiders-Iran-Contra-Nation/dp/1560256494/ref=sr_1_13/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-13<br> </a>Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11 (Nation Books)<br> by Melissa Boyle Mahle<br> This book has gotten mostly lukewarm reviews, and discusses little of the Contra affair. </p> <p> _________________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conspirators-Secrets-Iran-Contra-Insider/dp/097100420X/ref=sr_1_7/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-7"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conspirators-Secrets-Iran-Contra-Insider/dp/097100420X/ref=sr_1_7/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-7">http://www.amazon.com/Conspirators-Secrets-Iran-Contra-Insider/dp/097100420X/ref=sr_1_7/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-7<br> </a>The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider<br> by Al Martin<br> The material here looks mostly like cheap sensationalism.<br> Excerpt:<br> When George Bush, Bill Casey and Oliver North initiated their plan of State-sanctioned fraud and drug smuggling, they envisioned using 500 men to raise $35 billion.<br> <br> When Iran Contra finally fell apart, they had ended up using 5,000 operatives and making $350 billion.<br> <br> ....After Al Martin retired as a Lt. Commander from the US Naval Reserves, his life went into the fast lane as a black ops specialist in the Office of Naval Intelligence. His first assignment was in Peru, where he was tapped for a CIA-sanctioned operation, smuggling American Express cards into Argentina in 1979. After that, he met US Government-sponsored con man Lawrence Richard Hamil, a Department of Defense shadow player, who taught him the ropes of profitable covert operations. In 1984, Martin began marketing Hamil's "deals" through his Florida based Southeast Resources, Inc.<br> <br> At a meeting with General Richard V. Secord and Hamil, Martin was briefed about Iran Contra operations and allowed to view voluminous CIA white papers concerning "Operation Black Eagle," the code-name for the Bush-Casey-North program involving US Government-sanctioned narcotics trafficking, illicit weapons deals and wholesale fraud.<br> ____ </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> Three interesting leads from amazon.com that seem to be currently unavailable: </p> <p> <br> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Report-investigation-allegations-connections-trafficking/dp/B00010Y36Q/ref=sr_1_8/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-8">http://www.amazon.com/Report-investigation-allegations-connections-trafficking/dp/B00010Y36Q/ref=sr_1_8/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-8<br> </a>Report of investigation : allegations of connections between CIA and the Contras in cocaine trafficking to the United States (SuDoc PREX 3.2:C 76/V.1-) (Unknown Binding)<br> by U.S. Postal Service (Author) </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/investigation-concerning-allegations-connections-trafficking/dp/B000112XB2/ref=sr_1_9/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-9">http://www.amazon.com/investigation-concerning-allegations-connections-trafficking/dp/B000112XB2/ref=sr_1_9/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-9<br> </a>Overview, report of investigation concerning allegations of connections between CIA and the Contras in cocaine trafficking to the United States (SuDoc PREX 3.2:2001042000)<br> by U.S. Postal Service (Author) </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/CIA-contra-crack-controversy-Departments-investigations-prosecutions/dp/B00010Y8CU/ref=sr_1_10/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-10">http://www.amazon.com/CIA-contra-crack-controversy-Departments-investigations-prosecutions/dp/B00010Y8CU/ref=sr_1_10/104-5985058-3871968?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180293091&sr=1-10<br> </a>The CIA-contra-crack cocaine controversy a review of the Justice Department's investigations and prosecutions (SuDoc J 1.2:99006533)<br> by U.S. Dept of Justice (Author) </p> <p> ___________________________ </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813303710/theindepeende-20"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813303710/theindepeende-20">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813303710/theindepeende-20<br> </a>Reagan Versus the Sandinistas: The Undeclared War on Nicaragua (Hardcover)<br> by Thomas W. Walker (Editor)<br> Excerpt: <a href="http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65710540" title="http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65710540">http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65710540</a> <a href="http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65710540" title="http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=65710540"></a> </p> <p> <br> ____________________________________________<br> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.converge.org.nz/pirm/cia.htm"><br> </a> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.converge.org.nz/pirm/cia.htm">http://www.converge.org.nz/pirm/cia.htm</a><br> THE CIA's ADDICTION TO DRUGS<br> Paul Beres<br> Excerpt: </p> <p> Meanwhile, in Latin America, the CIA's proxy Contra army of "freedom fighters" was also supplementing its income. Smugglers working for the Colombian Medellin cartel would land on Contra air-strips for refuelling and either fly on to North America themselves or offload their cargoes to other smugglers on the North American run. In return for this service the Contras were able to fund their campaign to liberate Nicaragua from the Sandanisters.<br> <br> The CIA often used the same cocaine smugglers to, in turn, fly military supplies back to the Contras from North America. The cost of these supplies and their transportation was partly paid for by the CIA and partly paid for by the Contra's services to the Medellin cartel. In some instances no exchange of money was necessary; weapons and cocaine were the only means of exchange. Like the commanders of the KMT, many of the Contras leaders became drug traffickers in their own right.<br> <br> When the US Congress cut all aid to the Contras in 1984, the CIA began to operate landing strips of its own through John Hull who turned his Costa Rica ranch into a miniature airport. Support from other agencies was also forthcoming. Under National Security Council's Colonel Oliver North, two ex CIA operatives who served together in Laos, retired General Richard Secord and Thomas Clines, raised the necessary funds to buy more airplanes by illegally selling arms to Iran. <br> <br> The CIA was now actively involved in smuggling cocaine. Before a Capital Hill hearing, Gary Bretzner, a former pilot working for the Colombian drug smuggler George Morales, gave testimony of John Hull's complicity. <br> <br> "In July 1984 Betzner flew into Hull's ranch in a Cessna 402-B loaded with a cargo of weapons for the Contra southern front. Betzner was met at the airstrip by Hull and they watched the cargo of weapons being unloaded, and cocaine, packed in 17 duffel bags, and five or six two-foot square boxes being loaded into the now empty Cessna. With his cargo of cocaine, Betzner flew the Cessna north and landed at a field in Lakeland, Florida, without any search.". <br> <br> The contribution which these efforts made in increasing the supply of Colombian cocaine to the US deserves special mention. In 1980 the amount of cocaine reaching the US doubled and by 1985 regular cocaine users already outnumbered heroin addicts by more than ten to one. <br> <br> By 1986 cheap crack, cocaine converted from a powder to a granular base for smoking, had found its way into US schools, costing as little as $10 a tab. Not surprisingly cocaine use and profits now dwarf those of heroin.<br> <br> Although North America and Europe are the premium export markets for cocaine and heroin, new markets have been cultivated closer to home in the developing world. Pakistan, for instance, had a virtually non-existent heroin addiction problem before the Afghanistan conflict, but now has one of the largest and fastest growing population of addicts in the world, while in Thailand heroin addition is more widely spread throughout society than ever before. <br> <br> This brief history is by no means the full story, or even the end of the story. Despite this, the recurring trend of the drug trade becoming an 'end in itself' rather than a 'means to an end,' is clearly evident. This is more than just a recurring trend, however; it is a spiral with devastating consequences. <br> <br> Successive US Presidents have declared war on drugs, but have failed to acknowledge the CIA's part in batting for the opposition. On the contrary, they have increased the CIA's powers; the very same powers that have enabled CIA operatives to become so deeply immersed in the politics of drugs.<br> <br> Bibilography<br> <br> Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America by Peter Dale Scottand and Jonathan Marshall, University of California Press 1991.<br> <br> The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade by Alfred W McCoy, Lawrence Hill Books 1991. <br> <br> Reagan Versus the Sandinistas: The Undeclared War in Nicaragua, edited by Thomas W. Walker, Westview Press, Boulder and London 1987.<br> <br> Turning The Tide: US Intervention in Central America and the struggle for Peace by Noam Chomsky, published by Pluto Press 1985.<br> __________________________ </p> <br> <p> <br> </p> <p> <font size="2"><b>document is publicly viewable at:</b> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_42fxpdvg" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_42fxpdvg</a></font> </p><br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-50615820092493253242007-05-26T13:03:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:14.992-04:00 <br>From: http://rwor.org/a/firstvol/crack.htm<br><br><br>How the CIA Created the Crack Epidemic<br><br>September 15, 1996 <br><br>In the early 1980s, a new drug, crack cocaine, appeared on the streets--at a time when many youth in the inner city were being forced into the underground economy in order to survive. New burdens were being added onto the poor. In a situation of intolerable poverty, unemployment, lousy health care, falling apart schools and crumbling housing, the spread of crack cocaine brought intensified conflicts between street organizations and the painful desperation of people addicted to the pipe. The government launched brutal new invasions by the police--a so-called "war on drugs"-- using the spread of crack as an excuse.<br><br>This war on the people has resulted in an epidemic of police brutality and murder, the mass incarceration of Black and Latino youth, and the criminalization of a generation.It was widely believed that the sudden epidemic of crack cocaine into the oppressed communities--like the introduction of heroin in the Vietnam war era--could be traced to the authorities themselves.Now new facts are in, and it is revealed that this is precisely what has been going on.An exposé by reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News reveals that agents working with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sold tons of cocaine in the United States during those years and shipped the profits to the CIA-run army of Nicaraguan Contras. Webb based his work on "recently declassified reports, federal court testimony, undercover tapes, court records here and abroad and hundreds of hours of interviews over the past 12 months." He was assisted by journalists Georg Hodel and Leonore Delgado.Webb's report uncovered the names of the Contra operatives who bought tons of cocaine from the Colombian drug cartels and passed it on to various drug-dealing networks within the U.S. It documents how Contra drug dealers met with a major CIA agent before starting their operation. It reveals how the Salvadoran government air force flew the cocaine into Texas airfields. It details how tons of cheap cocaine flowed like a river into ghetto streets--first in Los Angeles and then beyond. And finally, Webb's report documents the repeated U.S. government efforts to protect these operations.It has been a long struggle to break through the government coverup of this CIA cocaine traffic. During the congressional Iran-Contra hearings in the late 1980s, two people stood up in the audience and shouted "What about the cocaine!?" They were arrested and sentenced to over a year in prison.Long-time readers of our newspaper, the Revolutionary Workerwill remember many articles, especially in 1988 and 1989, exposing the CIA's use of cocaine to finance their secret war in Central America. Our reports were based on the work of many other people--including the Christic Institute, columnist Alexander Cockburn, journalists Martha Honey and Tony Avirgan, filmmaker Barbara Trent (who created the film Coverup: Behind the Iran-Contra-Affair), and Professor Peter Dale Scott (author of The Iran Contra Connection--Secret Teams and Covert Operations in the Reagan Era). <br><br>Now an important new piece of the puzzle has fallen into place: Gary Webb documents that the CIA's agents did more than participate in the cocaine trade. He reveals in detail the role they played in creating the crack explosion that has caused so much suffering among the people.Here is a U.S. government that publicly preached "Just Say No!" and sent an army of police to attack the people in the name of a "war on drugs." And meanwhile, this same government had for years been at the nerve center of the operations that brought in the drugs! <br><br>Many people have suspected all along that the U.S. government was behind the crack explosion. Now here are the facts.In this article, we will pass on some of the information Gary Webb uncovered. And we will place it in the context of information documented by others about the role of the CIA and the Reagan/Bush White House in the cocaine trade.The full series by Gary Webb, called "Dark Alliance," appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on August 18, 19 and 20. It is available on the Internet at http://www.sjmercury.com/drugs/. <br>The Nicaraguan Contras--<br>a Covert, Self-Financing<br>CIA Operation<br><br>In the U.S. in 1980, cocaine was a drug that only the rich could afford. Gary Webb writes, "One study of actual cocaine prices paid by DEA agents put it at $5,200 an ounce." After high-level decisions in the U.S. government, this changed. <br><br>On December 1, 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed a secret National Security Directive (NSD) approving the CIA efforts to secretly organize an army to wage war against Nicaragua. <br><br>The brutal pro-U.S. Nicaraguan dictator, Anastasio Somoza, had been overthrown in a 1979 revolution and replaced by the leftist Sandinista government. The U.S. ruling class feared that the Sandinistas would weaken U.S. control over Central America and provide the Soviet Union with a "foothold" in a region the U.S. considered its own "backyard." <br><br>In August 1981, Col. Enrique Bermúdez--who'd been Somoza's Washington liaison to the U.S. Pentagon--announced the formation of the Fuerza Democrática Nicaraguense (FDN--in English, the "Nicaraguan Democratic Force"). Webb documents that it was the CIA that pulled together the forces who became the FDN--mostly from remnants of Somoza's hated National Guard. Under the leadership of U.S. and Nicaraguan CIA agents, the FDN waged a brutal "low intensity war" of assassination and sabotage to destabilize Nicaragua. Webb reports that Bermúdez was one of those agents who "received regular CIA paychecks for a decade, payments that stopped shortly before his still-unsolved slaying in Managua in 1991." <br><br>Webb documents that Ronald Reagan's secret NSD directive permitted the CIA to spend $19.9 million of direct U.S. money on this project--enough to get the Contras started, but not enough to maintain the ongoing military force. It was not necessary to allocate more money: This covert operation was self-financed, so that its crimes could not be easily traced back to the U.S. government. At the moment Reagan signed his NSD, Contra operatives were already buying and selling massive amounts of cocaine. <br><br>Gary Webb's exposé focuses heavily on the career of Oscar Danilo Blandón Reyes, the Contra operative directly in charge of selling cocaine in Los Angeles. Blandón testified about these operations in detail in March 1996--when he appeared as a star witness in the San Diego drug trial of his own protege "Freeway Rick" Ross. Webb writes that Blandón "who began working for the FDN's drug operation in late 1981, testified that the drug ring sold almost a ton of cocaine in the United States that year--$54 million worth at prevailing wholesale prices. It was not clear how much of the money found its way back to the CIA's army, but Blandón testified that `whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going for the Contra revolution.' " <br>The Planning Meeting That Started the Cocaine Trade<br><br>Danilo Blandón, the son of a wealthy Nicaraguan slumlord, was sent to earn a masters degree in U.S.-style "marketing." At the time of the Sandinista revolution, Blandón was living a life of privilege as Nicaragua's director of wholesale markets--heading a $27 million U.S.-financed program for creating "an American-style agricultural system" in Nicaragua. <br><br>Webb reports that, when the Somoza dictatorship collapsed, the Blandón family lost their cattle ranches and their property in sprawling urban slums. Blandón left for the United States where, by 1981, he was involved in the formation of the Contras. <br><br>Webb writes that Blandón's involvement with cocaine fundraising started when he was asked to pick up another exile, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, at the Los Angeles Airport. Blandón testified in the Ross trial that he and Meneses flew to Honduras and met with the CIA's leading Nicaraguan agent, Col. Bermúdez. Afterward, he said they "started raising money for the Contra revolution." In his testimony, Blandón claimed that Bermúdez didn't know that their fundraising project would be cocaine. Webb writes that "the presence of the mysterious Mr. Meneses strongly suggests otherwise." <br><br>Webb reports that Meneses was widely known as a major drug trafficker. Extensive police records in the U.S. documented his activities, and in Nicaraguan newspapers he was called "Rey de la Droga" [the Drug King]. And yet, he was quickly welcomed both into the United States and then into the leading circles of the FDN. In July 1979, Meneses entered the U.S. and was soon granted a visa and work permit as a political refugee. Then in 1981, Meneses himself claims, Bermúdez put him in charge of "intelligence and security" for the newly organized FDN forces in California. Meneses bragged "Nobody would join the Contra forces down there without my knowledge and approval." <br><br>With the approval of the U.S. government and the blessing of the CIA agent Bermúdez, Meneses settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. From there, he supervised the importation of thousands of kilos of cocaine into California--while his agent Danilo Blandón worked in Los Angeles marketing that cocaine to networks of drug dealers. <br><br>Blandón testified, "There is a saying that the ends justify the means, and that's what Mr. Bermúdez told us in Honduras. OK?" <br><br>In June 1984, at the height of their drug operation, Meneses was photographed at a meeting with the political boss of the FDN, Adolfo Calero. Calero is a former Coca-Cola bottler and long-time CIA agent, who served as the public face of the Contras, so that the old cutthroats of Somoza's National Guard could keep to the shadows. <br><br>All this evidence suggests that, from its earliest stages, the Contra cocaine operation had CIA approval and support. <br><br>Evidence that emerged during the 1980s suggests how high up that approval may have gone. Reagan's specialist in covert operations, Col. Oliver North, denied that anyone in the White House knew that Contra leaders were running drugs. But an August 9, 1985 memo written by North to his agent Robert Owens discusses a DC-6 airplane used to supply the Contras and notes that it "is probably being used for drug runs into the U.S." In another memo, North writes, "$14 M[illion] to finance came from drugs." (RW, January 16, 1989) <br><br>Meanwhile, in the Senate's Kerry hearings, an Oregon businessman involved in secret arms and drug shipments named Richard Brenneke said that Donald Gregg, the national security aide to then-Vice President George Bush, was the Washington contact for Brenneke's operation. Brenneke says that he flew a drug shipment to Amarillo, Texas in mid-1985 and discussed it with Gregg who answered, "You do what you were assigned to do. Don't question the decision of your betters." <br>Blessed with Government-Protected Transportation<br><br>In the 1970s, cocaine production was increasing in Latin America and Colombian groups were emerging as major refiners and distributors of the drug. However, cocaine remained extremely expensive in the United States because no one had worked out reliable ways of transporting large amounts of the drug. This was what the Contra operative brought to the drug trade: they hooked up street-level U.S. drug networks directly with the Colombian drug cartels, using transportation networks developed by U.S. intelligence. <br><br>In the film Coverup, a long-time CIA specialist in covert war, John Stockwell, says: "You have CIA bases in Costa Rica and Honduras. You have airplanes flying back and forth continuously landing at bases in the United States where they don't have to go through regular customs, with the CIA escorting people in and out." <br><br>According to Webb, the Meneses/Blandón wing of the Contra operation also relied on yet another U.S.-sponsored network: the Salvadoran air force planes flying into a U.S. Air Force base in Texas. Webb reports that Meneses had close personal and business ties to a Salvadoran air force commander Marcos Aguada--and Webb adds that Aguada is also known to have been a CIA agent. <br><br>During a 1992 court testimony, Enrique Miranda testified that he was an intelligence operative in Somoza's government and that, after the Sandinista revolution, he worked as Meneses' emissary to the cocaine cartel of Bogotá, Colombia. "He [Norwin Meneses] and his brother Luis Enrique had financed the Contra revolution with the benefits of the cocaine they sold," Miranda testified. "This operation, as Norwin told me, was executed with the collaboration of high-ranking Salvadoran military personnel. They met with officials of the Salvadoran air force, who flew [planes] to Colombia and then left for the U.S., bound for an Air Force base in Texas, as he told me." During the 1980s, the Salvadoran military was engaged in counterinsurgency against guerrilla forces and was closely supervised by CIA and U.S. military advisors. Webb writes, "U.S. General Accounting Office records confirm that El Salvador's air force was supplying the CIA's Nicaraguan guerrillas with aircraft and flight support services throughout the mid-1980s." <br>Bottom Line Arithmetic of the Crack Explosion<br><br>Blandón testified that after the 1981 meeting with Bermúdez, Meneses took him back to San Francisco for two days of schooling in the cocaine trade. Then, Blandón said, Meneses gave him two kilograms of cocaine, the names of two customers, and a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. <br><br>Meneses funneled the cocaine to California from its various entry points. Webb writes, "It arrived in all kinds of containers: false-bottomed shoes, Colombian freighters, cars with hidden compartments, luggage from Miami. Once here, it disappeared into a series of houses and nondescript storefront businesses scattered from Hayward to San Jose, Pacifica to Burlingame, Daly City to Oakland." <br><br>"Danilo Blandón is in charge of a sophisticated cocaine smuggling and distribution organization operating in Southern California," L.A. County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Gordon said in a 1986 affidavit. "The monies gained from the sales of cocaine are transported to Florida and laundered through Orlando Murillo, who is a high-ranking officer of a chain of banks in Florida named Government Securities Corporation. From this bank the monies are filtered to the Contra rebels to buy arms in the war in Nicaragua." <br><br>Webb reveals that Blandón deliberately targeted the Black communities of L.A.with his massive drug import operation--selling "the world's most expensive street drug in some of California's poorest neighborhoods." <br><br>According to Webb, Blandón recruited a small-time South-Central drug dealer named Ricky Donnell Ross. Ross sold the cocaine for Blandón in South Central L.A.and Compton, using contacts in various Crips street organizations and later among the Bloods. Ross swore he had no idea where Blandón got the drugs, and only knew that Blandón was "plugged" into powerful forces. <br><br>Quickly, within a year, Blandón and Ross had taken over much of drug traffic of Los Angeles. The reason for their success was simple: price. With cheap transportation and government protection--the Contras were able to deliver huge quantities of extremely cheap cocaine. When they started, a kilo of cocaine reportedly cost L.A. drug dealers about $30,000 or $50,000. But the Contra operatives were able to sell at $12,000 and still gather millions in profits for the CIA's covert war. <br><br>Webb says Blandón and Ross helped decide which drug organizations grew strong: Drug dealers either bought cocaine from "Freeway Rick" Ross, the frontman for the Contras, or else they went out of business. Ross said, "It was unreal. We were just wiping out everybody." Webb quotes Blandón, from a 1990 DEA tape, saying that he had sold between two and four tons of cocaine in Los Angeles during the 1980s. <br>A Blizzard<br>Hits the Ghetto<br><br>Not only was this Contra cocaine cheap enough to become a street drug for the first time, it was also cheap enough for the mass production of its recently invented, crystallized, smokeable form--crack. Crack delivers an explosive high--10 times more powerful than snorted powder cocaine. <br><br>Webb describes Blandón as "the Johnny Appleseed of crack." By late 1983, his cocaine operation became a massive crack operation. Rick Ross estimates his networks were sometimes distributing $2 million or $3 million worth of crack in one day. In their crack-manufacturing cookhouses, huge vats of bubbling cocaine had to be stirred with canoe paddles. <br><br>As everyone knows, the effect of the crack explosion--in oppressed communities, in the schools, and in the projects--has been devastating. Crack is extremely addictive. And thanks to the CIA's protection, it was also extremely cheap. <br><br>The legacy of this CIA operation is thousands of crack addicts, often homeless, living and dying in abandoned buildings, driven to desperate acts to feed their pipes. The violent capitalist competition of the drug trade, unleashed by U.S. government agents, has intensified deadly conflicts among the people. <br><br>And then, in the ultimate hypocrisy, this same government called for a war on drugs starting in the late 1980s--and sent its armed enforcers into oppressed communities, creating a new level of harassment and brutality. The authorities set legal penalties for possessing and selling crack cocaine many times higher than penalties for comparable amounts of powder cocaine--which has been more popular among the more affluent. As a result of this discrimination, tens of thousands of Black youth are serving hard time for possessing or selling small amounts of crack cocaine. A 1993 study showed that 88.3 percent of those convicted on federal crack offenses were Black. They have seized thousands of young men for imprisonment--for the crime of selling rocks that were introduced into oppressed communities by the CIA itself! <br>Protection and<br>Continuing Coverup<br><br>Webb reports that U.S. drug agencies investigated Meneses throughout the 1980s: "Agents from four organizations--the DEA, U.S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement--have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed `national security' interests." <br><br>Webb documents one police attempt to raid Blandón's operation in October 1986--after the Contras had snowed L.A.in cocaine for five years without interference. Agents of the FBI, IRS, LAPD and sheriffs fanned out to a dozen locations. Blandón and several of his agents were arrested. But nothing incriminating was found and no one was ever prosecuted. Webb writes, "Ron Spear, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, said Blandón somehow knew that he was under police surveillance. Others thought so, too. `The cops always believed that investigation had been compromised by the CIA,' Los Angeles federal public defender Barbara O'Connor said in a recent interview." <br><br>Webb documents that since then it also came out that the L.A. County Sheriff's elite narcotics squad, including the secret task force assigned to capture Ross, had been involved in massive corruption, beating suspects, stealing drug money and planting evidence. <br><br>After the Contra-Sandinista war ended, the Meneses/Blandón ring went into operations for themselves, and in 1989 the U.S. government started efforts to dismantle their operations--in a way they hoped would avoid producing exposure or political waves. Ross, who knew nothing of the Contra-CIA connection, was busted and sent to jail. When he was released he was busted (in a DEA sting run by Blandón) and faces more prison. <br><br>Meanwhile, Meneses moved from San Francisco to a ranch in Costa Rica before Federal prosecutors finally charged him with conspiracy to distribute one kilo of cocaine. Webb reports that after Nicaraguan police arrested Meneses on drug charges in 1991, his judge expressed astonishment that this infamous drug dealer had never been busted in the U.S. During a pretrial hearing Judge Martha Quezada asked: "How do you explain the fact that Norwin Meneses, implicated since 1974 in the trafficking of drugs...has not been detained in the United States, a country in which he has lived, entered and departed many times since 1974?" <br><br>"Well, that question needs to be asked to the authorities of the United States," replied Roger Mayorga, then chief of Nicaragua's anti-drug agency. <br><br>Meanwhile, the U.S. government worked systematically to suppress any evidence of CIA involvement in the crack explosion. "The Justice Department flipped out to prevent us from getting access to people, records--finding anything out about it," recalled Jack Blum, former chief counsel to the Senate subcommittee that investigated allegations of Contra cocaine trafficking. "It was one of the most frustrating exercises that I can ever recall." <br><br>Webb writes that this year, shortly before Blandón took the stand in San Diego as a witness against Ross, "federal prosecutors obtained a court order preventing defense lawyers from delving into his ties to the CIA." Assistant U.S. Attorney L.J. O'Neale argued that Blandón "will admit that he was a large-scale dealer in cocaine, and there is no additional benefit to any defendant to inquire as to the Central Intelligence Agency." <br><br>To provide for Blandón's cooperation, he was sprung from prison by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1994 and hired as a "full-time informant" for the Drug Enforcement Administration. <br><br>Webb writes, "According to his Miami lawyer, Blandón spends most of his time shuttling between San Diego and Managua, trying to recover Nicaraguan properties he left behind in 1979..." With the return to power of a pro-U.S. government in Nicaragua, Blandón stands a good chance of returning to his family's traditional slumlord business--profiting from the desperation of Nicaragua's poor. Several people have alleged that Blandón continues to organize international cocaine smuggling. <br><br>Webb writes: "A Freedom of Information Act request filed with the CIA was denied on national security grounds. FOIA requests filed with the DEA were denied on privacy grounds. Requests filed months ago with the FBI, the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have produced nothing so far. None of the DEA officials known to have worked with the two men would talk to a reporter. Questions submitted to the DEA's public affairs office in Washington were never answered, despite repeated requests." <br><br>When Webb's exposé appeared in the Mercury News, Assistant U.S. Attorney L.J. O'Neale even demanded to know how the press had gotten its picture of Danilo Blandón's face--claiming that the publication of that picture violated a court order. <br><br>The fact that this government continues to suppress all kinds of information connected with the CIA-Contra crack operations is itself a confession of guilt. <br><br>It seems clear that the information that has now come out--devastating though it already is for the CIA--is still only the tip of the iceberg. <br><br>Many questions remain unanswered: Who approved this massive flood of cocaine to the U.S.? And who decided that it would start by specifically targeting the Black communities of Los Angeles? How deeply was the White House itself--Ronald Reagan and his vice president George Bush--involved in these decisions? Who ordered the coverup? And who continues to insist on the coverup today? <br><br>"Everybody's talking about crime; tell me who are the criminals." <br><br>Peter Tosh<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-15802654667958130192007-05-24T00:20:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:15.025-04:00<BR> <DIV STYLE=TEXT-ALIGN:right> <A NAME=metatop> <B>document is publicly viewable at:</B> </A><A CLASS=tabcontent HREF=Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m TARGET=_blank>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m</A><A NAME=metatop> </A> </DIV> <H1 ALIGN=center STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop></A> </H1> <H1 ALIGN=center STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <BR> </H1> <H1 ALIGN=center STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> The Dark Alliance </A> </H1> <H3 ALIGN=center STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> Gary Webb's Incendiary 1996 SJ Mercury News Exposé </A> </H3> <CENTER STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <TABLE BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <P> <I><B>These articles were downloaded from the web site of the Seattle Times, since the San Jose Mercury News has removed the entire series from their web site.</B></I> </P> <P SIZE=+1> <B>Gary Webb's career as a professional journalist was destroyed shortly after these articles were published. Anyone who challenges the House of Rockefeller is <I>persona non grata</I> throughout the establishment.</B> </P> -The Editor </TD> </TR> </TBODY> </TABLE> </CENTER><A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000><BR> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 22, 1996</I> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Cocaine pipeline financed rebels </FONT><BR> <FONT SIZE=3>Evidence points to CIA knowing of high-volume drug network </FONT></B> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>For the better part </B>of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to an arm of the contra guerrillas of Nicaragua run by the Central Intelligence Agency, the San Jose Mercury News has found. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>This drug network opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the "crack" capital of the world. The cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America - and provided the cash and connections needed for L.A.'s gangs to buy weapons. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>It is one of the most bizarre alliances in modern history: the union of a U.S.-backed army attempting to overthrow a revolutionary socialist government and the "gangstas" of Compton and South-Central Los Angeles. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The army's financiers - who met with CIA agents before and during the time they were selling the drugs in L.A. - delivered cut-rate cocaine to the gangs through a young South-Central crack dealer named Ricky Donnell Ross. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Unaware of his suppliers' military and political connections, "Freeway Rick" turned the cocaine powder into crack and wholesaled it to gangs across the country. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Drug cash for the contras</B> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Court records show the cash was then used to buy equipment for a guerrilla army named the Fuerza Democratica Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Democratic Force) or FDN, the largest of several anti-communist groups commonly called the contras. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>While the FDN's war is barely a memory today, black America is still dealing with its poisonous side effects. Urban neighborhoods are grappling with legions of homeless crack addicts. Thousands of young black men are serving long prison sentences for selling cocaine - a drug that was virtually unobtainable in black neighborhoods before members of the CIA's army brought it into South-Central in the 1980s at bargain-basement prices. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>And the L.A. gangs, which used their enormous cocaine profits to arm themselves and spread crack across the country, are still thriving. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"There is a saying that the ends justify the means," former FDN leader and drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes testified during a recent cocaine-trafficking trial in San Diego. "And that's what Mr. Bermudez (the CIA agent who commanded the FDN) told us in Honduras, OK? So we started raising money for the contra revolution." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Recently declassified reports, federal court testimony, undercover tapes, court records here and abroad and hundreds of hours of interviews over the past 12 months leave no doubt that Blandon was no ordinary drug dealer. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Shortly before Blandon - who had been the drug ring's Southern California distributor - took the stand in San Diego as a witness for the U.S. Department of Justice, federal prosecutors obtained a court order preventing defense lawyers from delving into his ties to the CIA. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon, one of the FDN's founders in California, "will admit that he was a large-scale dealer in cocaine, and there is no additional benefit to any defendant to inquire as to the Central Intelligence Agency," Assistant U.S. Attorney L.J. O'Neale argued in his motion shortly before Ross' trial on cocaine-trafficking charges in March. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The 5,000-man FDN, records show, was created in mid-1981 when the CIA combined several existing groups of anti-communist exiles into a unified force it hoped would topple the new socialist government of Nicaragua. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Waged a losing war</B> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>From 1982 to 1988, the FDN - run by both American and Nicaraguan CIA agents - waged a losing war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, the Cuban-supported socialists who'd overthrown U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon, who began working for the FDN's drug operation in late 1981, testified that the drug ring sold almost a ton of cocaine in the United States that year - $54 million worth at prevailing wholesale prices. It was not clear how much of the money found its way back to the CIA's army, but Blandon testified that "whatever we were running in L.A., the profit was going for the contra revolution." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>At the time of that testimony, Blandon was a full-time informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a job the U.S. Department of Justice got him after releasing him from prison in 1994. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Though Blandon admitted to crimes that have sent others away for life, the Justice Department turned him loose on unsupervised probation after only 28 months behind bars and has paid him more than $166,000 since, court records show. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"He has been extraordinarily helpful," federal prosecutor O'Neale told Blandon's judge in a plea for the trafficker's release in 1994. Though O'Neale once described Blandon to a grand jury as "the biggest Nicaraguan cocaine dealer in the United States," the prosecutor would not discuss him with the Mercury News. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon's boss in the FDN's cocaine operation, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero, has never spent a day in a U.S. prison, even though the federal government has been aware of his cocaine dealings since at least 1974, records show. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Meneses - who ran the drug ring from his homes in the Bay Area - is listed in the DEA's computers as a major international drug smuggler and was implicated in 45 separate federal investigations. Yet he and his cocaine-dealing relatives lived quite openly in the Bay Area for years, buying homes, bars, restaurants, car lots and factories. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"I even drove my own cars, registered in my name," Meneses said during a recent interview in Nicaragua. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Meneses' organization was "the target of unsuccessful investigative attempts for many years," O'Neale acknowledged in a 1994 affidavit. But records and interviews revealed that a number of those probes were stymied not by the elusive Meneses but by agencies of the U.S. government. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>CIA hampered probes</B> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Agents from four organizations - the DEA, U.S. Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement - have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed "national-security" interests. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>One 1988 investigation by a U.S. Senate subcommittee ran into a wall of official secrecy at the Justice Department. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In that case, congressional records show, Senate investigators were trying to determine why the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, Joseph Russoniello, had given $36,000 back to a Nicaraguan cocaine dealer arrested by the FBI. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The money was returned, court records show, after two contra leaders sent letters to the court swearing that the drug dealer had been given the cash to buy weapons for guerrillas. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>After Nicaraguan police arrested Meneses on cocaine charges in Managua in 1991, his judge expressed astonishment that the infamous smuggler went unmolested by American drug agents during his years in the United States. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>His seeming invulnerability amazed American authorities as well. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>A Customs agent who investigated Meneses in 1980 before transferring elsewhere said he was reassigned to San Francisco seven years later "and I was sitting in some meetings and here's Meneses' name again. And I can remember thinking, `Holy cow, is this guy still around?' " </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon led an equally charmed life. For at least five years he brokered massive amounts of cocaine to the black gangs of Los Angeles without being arrested. But his luck changed overnight. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>On Oct. 27, 1986, agents from the FBI, the IRS, local police and the Los Angeles County sheriff fanned out across Southern California and raided more than a dozen locations connected to Blandon's cocaine operation. Blandon and his wife, along with numerous Nicaraguan associates, were arrested on drug and weapons charges. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The search-warrant affidavit reveals that local drug agents knew plenty about Blandon's involvement with cocaine and the CIA's army nearly 10 years ago. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Danilo Blandon is in charge of a sophisticated cocaine smuggling and distribution organization operating in Southern California," L.A. County sheriff's Sgt. Tom Gordon said in the 1986 affidavit. "The monies gained from the sales of cocaine are transported to Florida and laundered through Orlando Murillo, who is a high-ranking officer of a chain of banks in Florida named Government Securities Corporation. From this bank the monies are filtered to the contra rebels to buy arms in the war in Nicaragua." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Raids a spectacular failure</B> </A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Despite their intimate knowledge of Blandon's operations, the police raids were a spectacular failure. Every location had been cleaned of anything remotely incriminating. No one was ever prosecuted. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ron Spear, a spokesman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, said Blandon somehow knew that he was under police surveillance. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>FBI records show that soon after the raids, Blandon's defense attorney, Bradley Brunon, called the sheriff's department to suggest that his client's troubles stemmed from a most unlikely source: a recent congressional vote authorizing $100 million in military aid to the contras. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>According to a December 1986 FBI teletype, Brunon told the officers that the "CIA winked at this sort of thing. . . . (Brunon) indicated that now that U.S. Congress had voted funds for the Nicaraguan contra movement, U.S. government now appears to be turning against organizations like this." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That FBI report, part of the files of former Iran-contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, was made public only last year, when it was released by the National Archives at the San Jose Mercury News' request. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon has also implied that his cocaine sales were, for a time, CIA-approved. He told a San Francisco federal grand jury in 1994 that once the FDN began receiving American taxpayer dollars, the CIA no longer needed his kind of help. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>None of the government agencies known to have been involved with Meneses and Blandon would provide the Mercury News with any information about them, despite Freedom of Information Act requests. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon's lawyer, Brunon, said in an interview that his client never told him directly that he was selling cocaine for the CIA, but the prominent Los Angeles defense attorney drew his own conclusions from the "atmosphere of CIA and clandestine activities" that surrounded Blandon and his Nicaraguan friends. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Was he involved with the CIA? Probably. Was he involved with drugs? Most definitely," Brunon said. "Were those two things involved with each other? They've never said that, obviously. They've never admitted that. But I don't know where these guys get these big aircraft." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That very topic arose during the sensational 1992 cocaine-trafficking trial of Meneses after he was arrested in Nicaragua in connection with a staggering 750-kilo shipment of cocaine. His chief accuser was his friend Enrique Miranda, a relative and former Nicaraguan military intelligence officer who had been Meneses' emissary to the cocaine cartel of Bogota, Colombia. Miranda pleaded guilty to drug charges and agreed to cooperate in exchange for a seven-year sentence. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In a long, handwritten statement he read to Meneses' jury, Miranda revealed the deepest secrets of the Meneses drug ring, earning his old boss a 30-year prison sentence in the process. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"He (Norwin) and his brother Luis Enrique had financed the contra revolution with the benefits of the cocaine they sold," Miranda wrote. "This operation, as Norwin told me, was executed with the collaboration of high-ranking Salvadoran military personnel. They met with officials of the Salvadoran air force, who flew (planes) to Colombia and then left for the U.S., bound for an Air Force base in Texas, as he told me." </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Meneses - who has close personal and business ties to a Salvadoran air-force commander and former CIA agent named Marcos Aguado - declined to discuss Miranda's statements during an interview at a prison outside Managua in January. He is scheduled to be paroled this summer, after nearly five years in custody. </DD></A> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>U.S. General Accounting Office records confirm that El Salvador's air force was supplying the CIA's Nicaraguan guerrillas with aircraft and flight support services throughout the mid-1980s. <P> The same day the Mercury News requested official permission to interview Miranda, he disappeared. </P> <P> </P> </DD><DD>While out on a routine weekend furlough, Miranda failed to return to the Nicaraguan jail where he'd been living since 1992. Though his jailers, who described him as a model prisoner, claimed Miranda had escaped, they didn't call the police until a Mercury News correspondent showed up and discovered he was gone. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>He has not been seen in nearly a year. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 22, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Salvador air force linked to cocaine flights, Nicaraguan contras, drug dealer's supplier </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>One thing is certain: There </B>is considerable evidence that El Salvador's air force was deeply involved with cocaine flights, the contras and drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes' cocaine supplier, Norwin Meneses. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Meneses said one of his oldest friends is a former contra pilot named Marcos Aguado, a Nicaraguan who works for the Salvadoran air-force high command. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Aguado was identified in 1987 congressional testimony as a CIA agent who helped the contras get weapons, airplanes and money from a major Colombian drug trafficker named George Morales. Aguado admitted his role in that deal in a videotaped deposition taken by a U.S. Senate subcommittee that year. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>His name also turned up in a deposition taken by the congressional Iran-contra committees that same year. Robert Owen, a courier for Lt. Col. Oliver North, testified he knew Aguado as a contra pilot and said there was "concern" about his being involved with drug trafficking. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>While flying for the contras, Aguado was stationed at Ilopango Air Base near El Salvador's capital. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In 1985, the DEA agent assigned to El Salvador - Celerino Castillo III - began picking up reports that cocaine was being flown to the United States out of hangars 4 and 5 at Ilopango as part of a contra-related covert operation. Castillo said he soon confirmed what his informants were telling him. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Starting in January 1986, Castillo began documenting the cocaine flights - listing pilot names, tail numbers, dates and flight plans - and sent them to DEA headquarters. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The only response he got, Castillo wrote in his 1994 memoirs, was an internal DEA investigation of him. He took a disability retirement from the agency in 1991. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Basically, the bottom line is it was a covert operation and they (DEA officials) were covering it up," Castillo said in an interview. "You can't get any simpler than that. It was a cover-up." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 22, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Trio created mass market in U.S. for crack cocaine </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3><BR> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>If they'd been in a more respectable </B>line of work, Norwin Meneses, Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes and "Freeway Rick" Ross would have been hailed as geniuses of marketing. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>This odd trio - a smuggler, a bureaucrat and a ghetto teenager - made fortunes creating the first mass market in America for a product so hellishly desirable that consumers will literally kill to get it: "crack" cocaine. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Federal lawmen will tell you plenty about Rick Ross, mostly about the evils he visited upon black neighborhoods by spreading the crack plague in Los Angeles and cities as far east as Cincinnati. Tomorrow, they hope, Freeway Rick will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But those same officials won't say a word about the two men who turned Rick Ross into L.A.'s first king of crack, the men who, for at least five years, supplied him with enough Colombian cocaine to help spawn crack markets in major cities nationwide. Their critical role in the country's crack explosion has been a strictly guarded secret. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>To understand how crack came to curse black America, you have to go into the volcanic hills overlooking Managua, the capital of the Republic of Nicaragua. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Biggest military upset</B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>During June 1979, those hills teemed with triumphant guerrillas called Sandinistas - Cuban-assisted revolutionaries who had just pulled off one of the biggest military upsets in Central American history. In a bloody civil war, they'd destroyed the U.S.-trained army of Nicaragua's dictator, Anastasio Somoza. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In the dictator's doomed capital, a minor member of Somoza's government decided to skip the war's obvious ending. On June 19, Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes gathered his wife and young daughter and flew into exile in California. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Today, Blandon is a well-paid and highly trusted operative for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Federal officials say he is one of the DEA's top informants in Latin America, collecting intelligence on Colombian and Mexican drug lords and setting up stings. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In March, he was the DEA's star witness at a drug trial in San Diego, where, for the first time, he testified publicly about his strange interlude between government jobs: the years he sold cocaine to the street gangs of black Los Angeles. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Blandon swore that he didn't plan on becoming a dope dealer when he landed in the United States with $100 in his pocket, seeking political asylum. He did it, he insisted, out of patriotism. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>When duty called in late 1981, he was working as a car salesman in East Los Angeles. In his spare time, he said, he and a few fellow exiles were working to rebuild Somoza's defeated army, the Nicaraguan national guard, in hopes of one day returning to Managua in triumph. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But the rallies and cocktail parties the exiles hosted raised little money. "At this point, he became committed to raising money for humanitarian and political reasons via illegal activity (cocaine trafficking for profit)," said a heavily censored parole report, which surfaced during the March trial. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That venture began, Blandon testified, with a phone call from a wealthy college friend in Miami. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon said his college chum, who also was working in the resistance movement, dispatched him to Los Angeles International Airport to pick up another exile, Juan Norwin Meneses Cantarero. Though their families were related, Blandon said, he'd never met Meneses until that day. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"I picked him up, and he started telling me that we had to (raise) some money and to send to Honduras," Blandon testified. He said he flew with Meneses to a camp there and met one of his new companion's old friends, Col. Enrique Bermudez. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Bermudez - who'd been Somoza's Washington liaison to the American military - was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency in mid-1980 to pull together the remnants of Somoza's vanquished national guard, records show. In August 1981, Bermudez's efforts were unveiled at a news conference as the Fuerza Democratica Nicaraguense (FDN) - in English, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force. It was the largest and best-organized of the handful of guerrilla groups known as the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Bermudez was the FDN's military chief and, according to congressional records and newspaper reports, received regular CIA paychecks for a decade, payments that stopped shortly before his still-unsolved slaying in Managua in 1991. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Reagan OKs covert operations</B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>White House records show that shortly before Blandon's meeting with Bermudez, President Reagan had given the CIA the green light to begin covert paramilitary operations against the Sandinista government. But Reagan's secret Dec. 1, 1981, order permitted the spy agency to spend only $19.9 million on the project, an amount CIA officials acknowledged was not nearly enough to field a credible fighting force. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>After meeting with Bermudez, Blandon testified, he and Meneses "started raising money for the contra revolution." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>While Blandon says Bermudez didn't know cocaine would be the fund-raising device they used, the presence of the mysterious Mr. Meneses strongly suggests otherwise. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Norwin Meneses, known in Nicaraguan newspapers as "Rey de la Droga" (King of Drugs), was then under active investigation by the DEA and the FBI for smuggling cocaine into the United States, records show. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>And Bermudez was very familiar with the influential Meneses family. He had served under two Meneses brothers, Fermin and Edmundo, who were generals in Somoza's army. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Despite a stack of law-enforcement reports describing him as a major drug trafficker, Norwin Meneses was welcomed into the United States in July 1979 as a political refugee and given a visa and a work permit. He settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, and for the next six years supervised the importation of thousands of kilos of cocaine into California. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>At the meeting with Bermudez, Meneses said in a recent interview, the contra commander put him in charge of "intelligence and security" for the FDN in California. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Blandon, he said, was assigned to raise money in Los Angeles. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon said Meneses gave him two kilograms of cocaine (roughly 4 1/2 pounds) and sent him to Los Angeles. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Meneses was pushing me every week," he testified. "It took me about three months, four months to sell those two keys because I didn't know what to do. . . ." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> To find customers, Blandon and several other Nicaraguan exiles working with him headed for the vast, untapped markets of L.A.'s black ghettos. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon's marketing strategy, selling the world's most expensive street drug in some of California's poorest neighborhoods, might seem baffling, but in retrospect, his timing was uncanny. He and his compatriots arrived in South-Central L.A. right when street-level drug users were figuring out how to make cocaine affordable: by changing the pricey white powder into powerful little nuggets that could be smoked - crack. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B>Emergence of crack</B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Crack turned the cocaine world on its head. Cocaine smokers got an explosive high unmatched by 10 times as much snorted powder. And since only a tiny amount was needed for that rush, cocaine no longer had to be sold in large, expensive quantities. Anyone with $20 could get wasted. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>It was a "substance that is tailor-made to addict people," Dr. Robert Byck, a Yale University cocaine expert, said during congressional testimony in 1986. "It is as though (McDonald's founder) Ray Kroc had invented the opium den." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Crack's Kroc was a disillusioned 19-year-old named Ricky Donnell Ross, who, at the dawn of the 1980s, found himself adrift on the streets of South-Central Los Angeles. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>A talented tennis player for Dorsey High School, Ross had recently seen his dream of a college scholarship evaporate when his coach discovered he could neither read nor write. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>A friend of Ross' - a college football player home at Christmas from San Jose State University - told him "cocaine was going to be the new thing, that everybody was doing it." Intrigued, Ross set off to find out more. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Through a cocaine-using auto-upholstery teacher Ross knew, he met a Nicaraguan named Henry Corrales, who began selling Ross and a friend , Ollie "Big Loc" Newell, small amounts of remarkably inexpensive cocaine. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Thanks to a network of friends in South-Central L.A. and Compton, including many members of various Crips gangs, the pair steadily built up clientele. With each sale, Ross reinvested his hefty profits in more cocaine. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Eventually, Corrales introduced Ross and Newell to his supplier, Blandon. And then business really picked up. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"At first, we was just going to do it until we made $5,000," Ross said. "We made that so fast we said, no, we'll quit when we make $20,000. Then we was going to quit when we saved enough to buy a house . . ." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ross would eventually own millions of dollars' worth of real estate across Southern California, including houses, motels, a theater and several other businesses. (His nickname, "Freeway Rick," came from the fact that he owned properties near the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles.) </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Within a year, Ross' drug operation grew to dominate inner-city Los Angeles, and many of the biggest dealers in town were his customers. When crack hit L.A.'s streets hard in late 1983, Ross already had the infrastructure in place to corner a huge chunk of the burgeoning market. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>It was not uncommon, he said, to move $2 million or $3 million worth of crack in one day. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Our biggest problem had got to be counting the money," Ross said. "We got to the point where it was like, man, we don't want to count no more money." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Nicaraguan cocaine dealer Jacinto Torres, another former supplier of Ross and a sometime-partner of Blandon, told drug agents in a 1992 interview that after a slow start, "Blandon's cocaine business dramatically increased. . . . Norwin Meneses, Blandon's supplier as of 1983 and 1984, routinely flew quantities of 200 to 400 kilograms from Miami to the West Coast." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon told the DEA last year that he was selling Ross up to 100 kilos of cocaine a week, which was then "rocked up" and distributed "to the major gangs in the area, specifically the Crips and the Bloods," the DEA report said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>At wholesale prices, that's roughly $65 million to $130 million worth of cocaine every year, depending on the going price of a kilo. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"He was one of the main distributors down here," said former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics detective Steve Polak, who was part of the Freeway Rick Task Force, which was set up in 1987 to put Ross out of business. "And his poison, there's no telling how many tens of thousands of people he touched. He's responsible for a major cancer that still hasn't stopped spreading." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But Ross is the first to admit that being in the right place at the right time had almost nothing to do with his amazing success. Other L.A. dealers, he noted, were selling crack long before he started. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>What he had, and they didn't, was Blandon, a friend with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of high-grade cocaine and an expert's knowledge of how to market it. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"I'm not saying I wouldn't have been a dope dealer without Danilo," Ross stressed. "But I wouldn't have been Freeway Rick." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The secret to his success, Ross said, was Blandon's cocaine prices. "It was unreal. We were just wiping out everybody." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"It didn't make no difference to Rick what anyone else was selling it for. Rick would just go in and undercut him $10,000 a key," Chico Brown said. "Say some dude was selling for 30. Boom - Rick would go in and sell it for 20. If he was selling for 20, Rick would sell for 10. Sometimes, he be giving (it) away." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ross said he never discovered how Blandon was able to get cocaine so cheaply. "I just figured he knew the people, you know what I'm saying? He was plugged." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But Freeway Rick had no idea just how "plugged" his erudite cocaine broker was. He didn't know about Meneses, or the CIA, or the Salvadoran air-force planes that allegedly were flying the cocaine into an air base in Texas. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>And he wouldn't find out about it for another 10 years. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 22, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Crack was born during 1974 in S.F. Bay Area </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>Though Miami and Los Angeles are commonly </B>regarded as the twin cradles of crack, the first government-financed study of cocaine smoking concluded that it was actually born in the Bay Area in January 1974. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>After comedian Richard Pryor nearly immolated himself during a cocaine-smoking binge in 1980, the National Institute on Drug Abuse hired UCLA drug expert Ronald Siegel to look into the then-unfamiliar practice. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Siegel, the first scientist to document crack's use in the United States, traced the smoking habit back to 1930, when Colombians first started it. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But what was being smoked south of the border - a paste-like substance called BASE (bah-SAY) - was very different from what Californians were putting in their pipes, Siegel found, even though they called it the same thing: free base. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>BASE was a crude, toxics-laden precursor to cocaine powder. On the other hand, free base (which later became known as crack or rock) was cocaine powder that had been reverse-engineered to make it smokable. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> When San Francisco Bay Area dealers tried recreating the drug they'd seen in South America, Siegel learned, they'd screwed up. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"When they looked it up in the Merck Manual, they saw cocaine base and thought, well, yeah, this is it," Siegel, a nationally known drug researcher, said. "They mispronounced it, misunderstood the Spanish, and thought (BASE) was cocaine base." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The base described in the organic-chemistry handbook was cocaine powder separated from its salts, a process easily done with boiling water and baking soda. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> It was an immediate, if unintentional, hit. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"They were wowed by it," Siegel said. "They thought they were smoking BASE. They were not. They were smoking something nobody on the planet had ever smoked before." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Using the sales records of several major drug-paraphernalia companies, Siegel correlated crack's public appearance with the appearance of base-making kits and glass pipes for smoking it. The sales records zeroed in on the Bay Area. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We were able to show to our satisfaction that they were directly responsible for distributing the habit throughout the United States," Siegel said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> "Wherever they were selling their kits, that's where we started getting the clinical reports. It all started in Northern California." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>His groundbreaking study was never published by the government, purportedly for budgetary reasons. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Siegel, who said he grew concerned that the information would not be made available to other researchers, published it himself in an obscure medical journal in late 1982. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 23, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Drug king free, but black aide sits in jail </FONT><BR> <FONT SIZE=3>How cheap cocaine became the scourge of the inner city </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>For the past 1 1/2 years, the </B>U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to explain why nearly everyone convicted in California's federal courts of "crack" cocaine trafficking is black. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Critics, including some federal-court judges, say it looks like the Justice Department is targeting crack dealers by race, which would be a violation of the Constitution. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Federal prosecutors, however, say there's a simple, if unpleasant, reason for the lopsided statistics: Most crack dealers are black. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But why - of all the ethnic and racial groups in California to pick from - crack planted its deadly roots in L.A.'s black neighborhoods is something Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes may be able to answer. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon is the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California - the Crips' and Bloods' first direct connect to the cocaine cartels of Colombia. The tons of cut-rate cocaine he brought into black L.A. during the 1980s and early 1990s became millions of rocks of crack, which spawned new markets wherever they landed. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>On a tape made by the Drug Enforcement Administration in July 1990, Blandon casually explained the flood of cocaine that coursed through the streets of South-Central Los Angeles during the previous decade. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"These people have been working with me 10 years," Blandon said. "I've sold them about 2,000 or 4,000 (kilos). I don't know. I don't remember how many." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"It ain't that Japanese guy you were talking about, is it?" asked DEA informant John Arman, who was wearing a hidden transmitter. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"No, it's not him," Blandon insisted. "These . . . these are the black people." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Arman gasped. "Black?!" </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Yeah," Blandon said. "They control L.A. The people (black cocaine dealers) that control L.A." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But unlike the thousands of young blacks now serving long federal prison sentences for selling mere handfuls of the drug, Blandon is a free man today. He has a spacious new home in Nicaragua and a business exporting precious woods, courtesy of the U.S. government, which has paid him more than $166,000 over the past 18 months, records show - for his help in the war on drugs. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That turn of events both amuses and angers "Freeway Rick" Ross, L.A.'s premier crack wholesaler during much of the 1980s and Blandon's biggest customer. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"They say I sold dope everywhere, but, man, I know he done sold 10 times more dope than me," Ross said during a recent interview. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Nothing epitomizes the drug war's uneven impact on black Americans more clearly than the intertwined lives of Ricky Donnell Ross, a high-school dropout, and his suave cocaine supplier, Blandon, who has a master's degree in marketing and was one of the top civilian leaders in California of an anti-communist guerrilla army formed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Called the Fuerza Democratica Nicaraguense (FDN), it became known to most Americans as the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In recent court testimony, Blandon, who began dealing cocaine in South-Central L.A. in 1982, swore that the first kilo of cocaine he sold in California was to raise money for the CIA's army, which was trying on a shoestring to unseat Nicaragua's new socialist Sandinista government. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>After Blandon crossed paths with Ross, a South-Central teenager with gang connections and street smarts necessary to move the army's cocaine, a blizzard engulfed the ghettos. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Former Los Angeles police narcotics detective Stephen Polak said he was working the streets of South-Central in the mid-1980s when he and his partners began seeing more cocaine than ever before. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"A lot of detectives, a lot of cops, were saying, `hey, these blacks, no longer are we just seeing gram dealers. These guys are doing ounces; they were doing keys,' " Polak recalled. But he said the reports were disregarded by higher-ups who couldn't believe black neighborhoods could afford the amount of cocaine the street cops claimed to be seeing. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Major Violators (the LAPD's elite anti-drug unit) was saying, basically, `ahh, South-Central, how much could they be dealing?' " said Polak. "Well, they (black dealers) went virtually untouched for a long time." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>It wasn't until January 1987 - when crack markets were popping up in major cities all over the nation - that law-enforcement brass decided to confront L.A.'s crack problem head-on. They formed the Freeway Rick Task Force, a cadre of veteran drug agents whose sole mission was to put Rick Ross out of business. Polak was a charter member. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We just dedicated seven days a week to him. We were just on him at every move," Polak said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ross, as usual, was quick to spot a trend. He moved to Cincinnati and quietly settled into a woodsy, suburban home. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"I called it cooling out, trying to back away from the game," Ross said. "I had enough money." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>His longtime supplier, Blandon, reached the same conclusion about the same time. He moved to Miami with $1.6 million in cash and invested in several businesses. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But neither Ross nor Blandon stayed "retired" for long. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>A manic deal-maker, Ross found Cincinnati's virgin crack market too seductive to ignore. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Plunging back in, the crack tycoon cornered the Cincinnati market using the same low-price, high-volume strategy - and the same Nicaraguan drug connections - he'd used in L.A. Soon, he also was selling crack in Cleveland, Indianapolis, Dayton and St. Louis. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"There's no doubt in my mind crack in Cincinnati can be traced to Ross," police officer Robert Enoch told a Cincinnati newspaper three years ago. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But Ross' reign in the Midwest was short-lived. In 1988, one of his loads ran into a drug-sniffing dog at a New Mexico bus station, and drug agents eventually connected it to Ross. He pleaded guilty to crack trafficking charges and received a mandatory 10-year prison sentence, which he began serving in 1990. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In Miami, Blandon's retirement plans also had gone awry as his business ventures collapsed. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> He returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and began brokering cocaine again, buying and selling from the Nicaraguan dealers he'd known in his days with the FDN. In 1990 and 1991, he testified, he sold about 425 kilos of cocaine in Northern California - $10.5 million worth at wholesale prices. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But unlike before, when he was selling cocaine for the contras, Blandon was constantly dogged by the police. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Twice in six months he was detained, first by Customs agents while taking $117,000 in money orders to Tijuana to pay a supplier, and then by the LAPD when he was in the act of paying one of his Colombian suppliers more than $350,000. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The second time, after police found $14,000 in cash and a small quantity of cocaine in his pocket, he was arrested. But the U.S. Justice Department - saying a prosecution would disrupt an active investigation - persuaded the police to drop their money-laundering case. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Soon after that, Blandon and his wife, Chepita, were arrested by DEA agents on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. They were jailed without bond as dangers to the community, and several other Nicaraguans also were arrested. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The prosecutor, L.J. O'Neale, told a federal judge that Blandon had sold so much cocaine in the United States his mandatory prison sentence was "off the scale." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Then Blandon "just vanished," said Juanita Brooks, a San Diego attorney who represented one of Blandon's co-defendants. "All of a sudden his wife was out of jail and he was out of the case." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The reasons were contained in a secret Justice Department memorandum filed in San Diego federal court in late 1993. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Blandon, prosecutor O'Neale wrote, had become "valuable in major DEA investigations of Class I drug traffickers." And even though probation officers were recommending a life sentence and a $4 million fine, O'Neale said the government would be satisfied if Blandon got 48 months and no fine. Motion granted. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Less than a year later, records show, O'Neale was back with another idea: Why not just let Blandon go? After all, he wrote the judge, Blandon had a federal job waiting. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>O'Neale, saying that Blandon "has almost unlimited potential to assist the United States," said the government wanted "to enlist Mr. Blandon as a full-time, paid informant after his release from prison." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>After only 28 months in custody, most of it spent with federal agents who debriefed him for "hundreds of hours," he said, Blandon walked out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego, was given a green card and began working on his first assignment: setting up his old friend, "Freeway Rick," for a sting. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Records show Ross was still behind bars, awaiting parole, when San Diego DEA agents targeted him. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Soon after Ross went to prison for the Cincinnati bust, federal prosecutors offered him a deal. His term would be shortened by five years in return for testimony in a federal case against Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives that included members of the old Freeway Rick Task Force. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Within days of Ross' parole in October 1994, he and Blandon were back in touch, and their conversation quickly turned to cocaine. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>According to tapes Blandon made of some of their discussions, Ross repeatedly told Blandon that he was broke and couldn't afford to finance a drug deal. But Ross did agree to help his old mentor, who was also pleading poverty, find someone else to buy the 100 kilos of cocaine Blandon claimed he had. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>On March 2, 1995, in a shopping-center parking lot in National City, near San Diego, Ross poked his head inside a cocaine-laden Chevy Blazer, and the place exploded with police. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ross jumped into a friend's pickup and zoomed off "looking for a wall that I could crash myself into," he said. "I just wanted to die." He was captured after the truck careened into a hedgerow. He has been held in jail without bond since then. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ross' arrest netted Blandon $45,500 in government rewards and expenses, records show. On the strength of Blandon's testimony, Ross and two other men were convicted of cocaine-conspiracy charges in San Diego last March - conspiring to sell the DEA's cocaine. Sentencing was set for today. Ross is facing a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The other men are looking at 10- to 20-year sentences. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Acquaintances say Blandon, who refused repeated interview requests, is a common sight these days in Managua's better restaurants, drinking with friends and telling of his "escape" from U.S. authorities. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>According to his Miami lawyer, Blandon spends most of his time shuttling between San Diego and Managua, trying to recover Nicaraguan properties seized in 1979, when the Sandinistas took power. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Aug 23, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Cocaine sentences weighted against blacks </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>San Jose Mercury News</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>When it comes to cocaine, it isn't just a </B>suspicion that the war on drugs is hammering blacks harder than whites. According to the U.S. Justice Department, it's a fact. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The "main reason" cocaine sentences for blacks are longer than for whites, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 1993, is that 83 percent of the people being sent to prison for "crack" trafficking are black "and the average sentence imposed for crack trafficking was twice as long as for trafficking in powdered cocaine." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Even though crack and powder cocaine are the same drug, you have to sell more than six pounds of powder before you face the same jail time as someone who sells one ounce of crack - a 100-to-1 ratio. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That logic has eluded Dr. Robert Byck, a Yale University drug expert, from the moment he discovered the 100-to-1 ratio may have been his inadvertent doing. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In 1986, at the height of an election-year hysteria over crack, Byck was summoned before a U.S. Senate committee to tell what he knew about cocaine smoking. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Byck, a renowned scientist who edited and published Sigmund Freud's cocaine papers, had been studying crack smoking in South America for nearly 10 years, with growing alarm. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD> Sen. Lawton Chiles, a Florida Democrat (and now that state's governor), was pushing for tougher crack laws, and he asked Byck about testimony he had given previously that "some experts" believed crack was 50 times more addictive than powder cocaine. Byck acknowledged some people believed that. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Despite the speculative nature of the figure, Byck said, the addictive factor of 50 was "doubled by people who wanted to get tough on cocaine" and then, for reasons he still finds incomprehensible, turned into a measurement of weight. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The resultant 100-to-1 (powder-vs.-crack) weight ratio, Byck said, was "a fabrication by whoever wrote the law, but not reality. . . . You can't make a number." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Recently, the U.S. Sentencing Commission - a panel of experts created by Congress to be its unbiased adviser in these matters - tried and failed to find a better reason to explain why powder dealers must sell 100 times more cocaine before they get the same mandatory sentence as crack dealers. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The "absence of comprehensive data substantiating this legislative policy is troublesome," it reported last year. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In 1993, cocaine smokers got an average sentence of nearly three years. People who snorted cocaine powder received a little over three months. Nearly all of the long sentences went to blacks, the commission found. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Justice Department researchers estimated that if crack and powder sentences were made equal, "the black-white difference . . . would not only evaporate but would slightly reverse." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Based on such findings, the commission recommended in May 1995 that the cocaine-sentencing laws be equalized, calling the 100-to-1 ratio "a primary cause of the growing disparity between sentences for black and white federal defendants." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Apparently fearful of being seen as soft on drugs, Congress voted overwhelmingly last year to keep the crack laws the same. On Oct. 30, President Clinton signed the bill rejecting the commission's recommendations. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Oct. 3, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>Affidafit shows CIA knew of contra drug ring </FONT></B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Gary Webb and Pamela Kramer<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>Knight-Ridder Newspapers</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>LOS ANGELES - During the early </B>1980s, federal and local narcotics agents knew that a massive drug ring operated by Nicaraguan contra rebels was selling large amounts of cocaine "mainly to blacks living in the South Central Los Angeles area," according to a search-warrant affidavit obtained by the San Jose Mercury News. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The Oct. 23, 1986, affidavit identifies former Nicaraguan government official Danilo Blandon as "the highest-ranking member of this organization" and describes a sprawling drug operation involving more than 100 Nicaraguan contra sympathizers. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The affidavit of Thomas Gordon, a former Los Angeles County sheriff's narcotics detective, is the first independent corroboration that the contra army - the Nicaraguan Democratic Force - was dealing "crack" cocaine to gangs in Los Angeles' black neighborhoods. Known by its Spanish initials, the FDN was an anti-communist commando group formed and run by the CIA during the 1980s. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Gordon's sworn statement says that both the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI had informants inside the Blandon drug ring for several years before sheriff's deputies raided it Oct. 27, 1986. Gordon's affidavit is based on police interviews with those informants and one of the DEA agents who was investigating Blandon. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Twice during the past year, Ron Spear, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman, told the Mercury News that his department had no records of the 1986 raids and denied having a copy of Gordon's search-warrant affidavit. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The Mercury News obtained the entire search-warrant affidavit this week. Sheriff Sherman Block's office did not respond yesterday to written questions about the affidavit. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>A recent Mercury News series revealed how Blandon's operation, which sold thousands of kilos of cocaine to black Los Angeles drug dealers, created the first mass market for crack in America during the early 1980s and helped fuel a crack explosion that is still reverberating through black communities. Both the CIA and the Justice Department have denied government involvement. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But according to a legal motion filed in a 1990 case involving a deputy who helped execute the search warrants, one of the suspects involved in the raid identified himself as a CIA agent and asked police to call CIA headquarters in Virginia to confirm his identity. The motion, filed by Los Angeles defense attorney Harlan Braun on behalf of Deputy Daniel Garner, said the narcotics detectives allowed the man to make the call but then carted away numerous documents purportedly linking the U.S. government to cocaine trafficking and money-laundering efforts on behalf of the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The motion said CIA agents appeared at the sheriff's department within 48 hours of the raid and removed the seized files from the evidence room. But Braun said detectives secretly copied 10 pages before the documents were spirited away. Braun attempted to introduce them in the 1990 criminal trial to force the federal government to back off the case. Braun was hit with a gag order, the documents were put under seal and Garner was convicted of corruption charges. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Internal sheriff's department records of the raid "mysteriously disappeared" around the same time the seized files were taken, Braun's motion said. That claim was buttressed in an interview this week by an officer involved in the raid. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The officer, who requested anonymity, said the alleged CIA agent was Ronald Lister, a former Laguna Beach police detective who worked with Blandon in the drug ring. The 1986 search-warrant affidavit identifies Lister's home in Laguna Beach as one of the places searched. It says Lister was involved in transporting drug money to Miami and was Blandon's partner in a security company. The company, according to a former employee, was doing work at a Salvadoran military air base in the early 1980s. Lister pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking in 1991. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Oct. 23, 1996</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>How Web fueled story of CIA, crack </FONT><BR> <FONT SIZE=3>Difference in format a problem, says editor </FONT> </B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Eleanor Randolph and John M. Broder<BR> </FONT></I><FONT SIZE=3> <I>Los Angeles Times</I></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD><B>WASHINGTON - The controversy </B>that began with the San Jose Mercury News' publication of a series on cocaine and the Nicaraguan contras has become a case study in how information caroms around the country in the digital age. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In its printed version, as the paper's editor has pointed out, the stories were careful never to claim that the Central Intelligence Agency condoned or abetted drug dealing to support the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Reporter Gary Webb has said that his research into the CIA-crack connection "ended at the CIA's door," but did not firmly establish a link between the agency and the crack epidemic of the 1980s. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But that unproven link has become established as fact in the minds of many Americans, and the Mercury News' editor, Jerry Ceppos, says the way the paper used the World Wide Web to disseminate its material may have contributed to that misinterpretation. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Even before the stories were published in mid-August, managers of the paper's Web site, Mercury Center, were alerting Internet users to a coming bombshell. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The electronic version of the series appeared with a logo - a figure smoking crack superimposed on the CIA seal - that was more prominent than in the newspaper series. Underneath were the words, "the story behind the crack explosion." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Many Americans believed that the Mercury News had finally proved what had been a long-running rumor of government complicity in the scourge of drugs in U.S. cities. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ceppos said earlier this week that editing standards at the paper's Web site are not always consistent with those for the print version of the paper. He said the paper deleted the CIA logo from the Web site after it became controversial. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We changed the logo, because for a day or two it seemed to be the focus of attention," Ceppos said. "You have to make sure you're keeping your standards high, and we're going to have some more conversations about that." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The series has provoked startlingly different reactions in different media. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>It ignited a storm of controversy on black-oriented radio programs and in such newspapers as Louis Farrakhan's "The Final Call," which headlined its account of the Mercury News story, "How the U.S. government spread crack cocaine in the black ghetto." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Washington talk-radio host Joe Madison, who is also black, is starting a hunger strike to protest the CIA's alleged role in cocaine trafficking. The newspaper series was seen by many as confirmation of what had long been suspected in black neighborhoods. "We've always speculated about this, but now we've got proof," Madison said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>On the other hand, several prominent newspapers have published stories that have been skeptical about the allegations. The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times ran articles this month casting doubt on a direct link between the cocaine trade and the CIA's support of the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The reaction on the "new media" of the Internet has opened an additional dimension. The Mercury News' Web site received 100,000 additional "hits" a day after the series was posted, the paper reported. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The paper invited Internet readers to comment, and hundreds replied. Many indicated that they believed the paper had finally proved that the CIA was trafficking in cocaine in black neighborhoods. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The Mercury News broke new ground by making available not only the articles, but much of the supporting documentation - legal affidavits, court filings, charts, diagrams and interview transcripts. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But a key document that appears to undercut one of the series' central contentions is made available on the Internet site in heavily edited form with contradictory material left out. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>That document is the court testimony of convicted drug dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon. The paper's stories lean heavily on Blandon's testimony in the recent cocaine trafficking trial of Los Angeles drug dealer "Freeway" Ricky Ross in San Diego. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The stories cite the testimony as establishing that for a period of several years in the early- and mid-1980s, Blandon's drug profits were going to the contras. The Internet site includes portions of the trial transcript that support the story's contentions. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But the complete transcript, which is not included on the Web site, includes statements by Blandon that point in a different direction. According to his testimony, he diverted drug profits to the contras not for years, but only during a period of months early in his career - at a time when he was making virtually no money dealing cocaine. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>During the trial, Webb says, he gave questions to Ross' attorney that the attorney, in turn, asked Blandon under oath. Webb then used the statements elicited from Blandon as information for his series. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Webb dismisses criticism of the appearance of taking sides in a criminal case he was covering by saying that the Blandon testimony provided "the best interview I've ever had - while the man was under oath in a federal court and being vouched for by two federal agencies." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ceppos defended his reporter's relationship with Blandon's attorney. "I may be missing something here," he said, "but I think that everything he did with the lawyer was journalistically ethical and aboveboard." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Monday, May 12, 1997</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <B><FONT SIZE=5>CIA series fell short, says paper</FONT></B> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I><FONT SIZE=3>by Associated Press</FONT></I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>SAN JOSE, Calif. - The executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News has admitted to shortcomings in the newspaper's controversial series on the crack-cocaine explosion in Los Angeles in the 1980s. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In an open letter to readers in the newspaper's editorial section yesterday, Jerry Ceppos said the newspaper solidly documented that a drug ring associated with the contra rebels in Nicaragua sold large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles, and that some of the profits from those sales went to the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>However, he said, the three-part "Dark Alliance" series, published last summer, occasionally omitted important information and created impressions open to misinterpretation. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"I believe that we fell short at every step of our process - in the writing, editing and production of our work. Several people here share that burden," he wrote. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We have learned from the experience and even are changing the way we handle major investigations." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The series, written by reporter Gary Webb, reported that a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold cocaine in South Central Los Angeles, then funneled profits to the contras for the better part of a decade. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The series traced the drugs to dealers Danilo Blandon and Ricky Ross, leaders of a CIA-run guerrilla army in Nicaragua. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The Seattle Times ran the series on Aug. 22-23, 1996. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The reports sparked widespread anger in the black community toward the CIA, as well as numerous federal investigations into whether the CIA took part in or countenanced the selling of crack cocaine to raise money for contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The investigations never found that the CIA had any link to drug dealing. Several newspapers also disputed the Mercury News report. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ceppos wrote that while the newspaper did not report the CIA knew about the drug operations, it implied CIA knowledge. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Although members of the drug ring met with contra leaders paid by the CIA and Webb believes the relationship with the CIA was a tight one, I feel that we did not have proof that top CIA officials knew of the relationship," he wrote. "I believe that part of our contract with readers is to be as clear about what we don't know as what we do know. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We also did not include CIA comment about our findings, and I think we should have." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ceppos also said the series omitted conflicting information that Blandon testified he stopped sending cocaine profits to the contras at the end of 1982, after being in operation for a year. That information, Ceppos said, "contradicted a central assertion of the series" and should have been included. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The editor also said the series reported the profit figures from the drug sales as fact when they were estimates, and unfairly suggested the drugs funneled to Los Angeles played a critical role in the crack problem in urban America. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"Because the national crack epidemic was a complex phenomenon that had more than one origin, our discussion of this issue needed to be clearer," Ceppos said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A><HR STYLE=COLOR:#000000 WIDTH=50%> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>Wednesday, May 14, 1997</I> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <FONT SIZE=5><B>Mercury News retraction won't stop drug probe</B></FONT> </A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <H5 STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> by Thomas Farragher<BR> Knight-Ridder Newspapers </A> </H5> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>WASHINGTON - A federal investigator said he will continue to examine whether a California drug ring sold cocaine to aid a CIA-run guerrilla army, even though the San Jose Mercury News has backed away from some aspects of the stories that sparked the inquiry. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>"We have our own investigative agenda . . ." said Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The Mercury News series spawned twin investigations by the inspectors general of the CIA and the Justice Department. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Bromwich's comment came after the Mercury News on Sunday acknowledged that its series about shadowy drug dealers didn't meet the paper's standards. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>The inspector general drew a distinction between journalistic concerns of Mercury News editors and what interests government investigators. "We're not examining per se the practices in the newspaper that led to the publication of the article," Bromwich said. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>In its "Dark Alliance" series published last August, the Mercury News traced urban America's crack-cocaine explosion to a Northern California drug ring involving two Nicaraguan cocaine dealers who also were civilian leaders of the contras, an anti-communist commando group formed and run by the CIA during the 1980s. The series said millions of dollars in profits from the drug sales were funneled to the contras. It never reported direct CIA involvement, though many readers drew that conclusion. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>But on Sunday, Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos told readers that "we didn't know for certain what the profits were" and that the crack-cocaine scourge "was a complex phenomenon that had more than one origin." </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Ceppos also said the newspaper "did not have proof that top CIA officials knew of the relationship" of the drug ring and contra leaders. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <DD>Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the chief congressional champion of a thorough investigation into the newspaper's findings, insisted yesterday that the Mercury News, while acknowledging problems with its series, has not retreated from findings that some drug money went to the contras. </DD></A> </P> <A NAME=metatop STYLE=COLOR:#000000><BR> <BR> </A> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A NAME=metatop> <I>from </I></A><I><A HREF=http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/garywebb/garyWebbSpeaks.htm>http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/garywebb/garyWebbSpeaks.htm</A>:</I> </P> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <H2 ALIGN=center STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Gary Webb Speaks: A ParaScope Special Report </H2> <STRONG STYLE=COLOR:#000000><FONT SIZE=+1> Investigative journalist Gary Webb speaks to a packed house on the CIA's connection to drug trafficking, and the failure of the media to expose the truth. </FONT></STRONG><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <SPAN STYLE=COLOR:#000000> by Charles Overbeck</SPAN><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <SPAN STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Matrix Editor</SPAN><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <A HREF=mailto:easterisle@aol.com STYLE=COLOR:#000000>easterisle@aol.com</A><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <I>Dark Alliance</I> author Gary Webb gave a fascinating talk on the evening of January 16, outlining the findings of his investigation of the CIA's connection to drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan contras. Approximately 300 people, crowded into the First United Methodist Church in Eugene, Oregon, listened with rapt attention as Webb detailed his experiences. Webb's riveting speech was followed by an intense question-and-answer session, during which he candidly answered questions about the "Dark Alliance" controversy, his firing from the <I>San Jose Mercury News</I>, and CIA/contra/cocaine secrets that still await revelation. </P> <SPAN STYLE=COLOR:#000000> It was a fascinating exchange packed with detailed information on the latest developments in the case. Webb spoke eloquently, with the ease and confidence of an investigator who has spent many long hours researching his subject, and many more hours sharing this information with the public. ParaScope will have a full report on Webb's talk on Wednesday, January 20. </SPAN> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> In the meantime, you get another opportunity to see a ParaScope article come together from scratch, from behind the scenes. So check back with us soon for the latest additions as this piece is developed.<BR> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>[Last update 1:40 a.m. EST 1/21. Video clips and hypertext annotations coming soon.]</STRONG><BR> <BR> </P> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <FONT SIZE=+1 STYLE=COLOR:#000000><STRONG>Transcript: Gary Webb Speaks on CIA Connections to Contra Drug Trafficking (and Related Topics)</STRONG></FONT><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG STYLE=COLOR:#000000>Date: January 16, 1999<BR> Time: 7:30 p.m.<BR> Location: First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St., Eugene, Oregon</STRONG><BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I look like an idiot up here with all these mikes, the CIA agents are probably behind one or the other... [laughter from the audience]. It's really nice to be in Eugene -- I've been in Madison, Wisconsin talking about this, I've been in Berkeley, I've been in Santa Monica, and these are sort of like islands of sanity in this world today, so it's great to be on one of those islands. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One of the things that is weird about this whole thing, though, is that I've been a daily news reporter for about twenty years, and I've done probably a thousand interviews with people, and the strangest thing is being on the other side of the table now and having reporters ask me questions. One of them asked me about a week ago -- I was on a radio show -- and the host asked me, "Why did you get into newspaper reporting, of all the media? Why did you pick newspapers?" And I really had to admit that I was stumped. Because I thought about it -- I'd been doing newspaper reporting since I was fourteen or fifteen years old -- and I really didn't have an answer. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So I went back to my clip books -- you know, most reporters keep all their old clips -- and I started digging around trying to figure out if there was one story that I had written that had really tipped the balance. And I found it. And I wanted to tell you this story, because it sort of fits into the theme that we're going to talk about tonight. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> I think I was fifteen, I was working for my high school paper, and I was writing editorials. This sounds silly now that I think about it, but I had written an editorial against the drill team that we had for the high school games, for the football games. This was '71 or '72, at the height of the protests against the Vietnam War, and I was in school then in suburban Indianapolis -- Dan Quayle country. So, you get the idea of the flavor of the school system. They thought it was a cool idea to dress women up in military uniforms and send them out there to twirl rifles and battle flags at halftime. And I thought this was sort of outrageous, and I wrote an editorial saying I thought it was one of the silliest things I'd ever seen. And my newspaper advisor called me the next day and said, "Gosh, that editorial you wrote has really prompted a response." And I said, "Great, that's the idea, isn't it?" And she said, "Well, it's not so great, they want you to apologize for it." [Laughter from the audience.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> I said, "Apologize for what?" And she said, "Well, the girls were very offended." And I said, "Well, I'm not apologizing because they don't want my opinion. You'll have to come up with a better reason than that." And they said, "Well, if you don't apologize, we're not going to let you in Quill & Scroll," which is the high school journalism society. And I said, "Well, I don't want to be in that organization if I have to apologize to get into it." [More laughter from the audience, scattered applause.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> They were sort of powerless at that point, and they said, "Look, why don't you just come down and the cheerleaders are going to come in, and they want to talk to you and tell you what they think," and I said okay. So I went down to the newspaper office, and there were about fifteen of them sitting around this table, and they all went around one by one telling me what a scumbag I was, and what a terrible guy I was, and how I'd ruined their dates, ruined their complexions, and all sorts of things... [Laughter and groans from the audience.] ...and at that moment, I decided, "Man, this is what I want to do for a living." [Roar of laughter from the audience.] And I wish I could say that it was because I was infused with this sense of the First Amendment, and thinking great thoughts about John Peter Zenger and I.F. Stone... but what I was really thinking was, "Man, this is a great way to meet women!" [More laughter.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And that's a true story, but the reason I tell you that is because it's often those kinds of weird motivations and unthinking consequences that lead us to do things, that lead us to events that we have absolutely no concept how they're going to turn out. Little did I know that twenty-five years later, I'd be writing a story about the CIA's wrongdoings because I wanted to meet women by writing editorials about cheerleaders. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But that's really the way life and that's really the way history works a lot of times. You know, when you think back on your own lives, from the vantage point of time, you can see it. I mean, think back to the decisions you've made in your lifetimes that brought you to where you are tonight, think about how close you came to never meeting your wife or your husband, how easily you could have been doing something else for a living if it hadn't been for a decision that you made or someone made that you had absolutely no control over. And it's really kind of scary when you think about how capricious life is sometimes. That's a theme I try to bring to my book, <I>Dark Alliance,</I> which was about the crack cocaine explosion in the 1980s. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So for the record, let me just say this right now. I do not believe -- and I have <I>never</I> believed -- that the crack cocaine explosion was a conscious CIA conspiracy, or anybody's conspiracy, to decimate black America. I've never believed that South Central Los Angeles was targeted by the U.S. government to become the crack capitol of the world. But that isn't to say that the CIA's hands or the U.S. government's hands are clean in this matter. Actually, far from it. After spending three years of my life looking into this, I am more convinced than ever that the U.S. government's responsibility for the drug problems in South Central Los Angeles and other inner cities is greater than I ever wrote in the newspaper. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But it's important to differentiate between malign intent and gross negligence. And that's an important distinction, because it's what makes premeditated murder different from manslaughter. That said, it doesn't change the fact that you've got a body on the floor, and that's what I want to talk about tonight, the body. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Many years ago, there was a great series on PBS -- I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember this -- it was called <I>Connections</I>. And it was by a British historian named James Burke. If you don't remember it, it was a marvelous show, very influential on me. And he would take a seemingly inconsequential event in history, and follow it through the ages to see what it spawned as a result. The one show I remember the most clearly was the one he did on how the scarcity of firewood in thirteenth-century Europe led to the development of the steam engine. And you would think, "Well, these things aren't connected at all," and he would show very convincingly that they were. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> In the first chapter of the book on which the series is based, Burke wrote that "History is not, as we are so often led to believe, a matter of great men and lonely geniuses pointing the way to the future from their ivory towers. At some point, every member of society is involved in that process by which innovation and change come about. The key to why things change is the key to everything." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> What I've attempted to demonstrate in my book was how the collapse of a brutal, pro-American dictatorship in Latin America, combined with a decision by corrupt CIA agents to raise money for a resistance movement by any means necessary, led to he formation of the nation's first major crack market in South Central Los Angeles, which led to the arming and the empowerment of LA's street gangs, which led to the spread of crack to black neighborhoods across the country, and to the passage of racially discriminatory sentencing laws that are locking up thousands of young black men today behind bars for most of their lives. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But it's not so much a conspiracy as a chain reaction. And that's what my whole book is about, this chain reaction. So let me explain the links in this chain a little better. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The first link is this fellow Anastasio Somoza, who was an American-educated tyrant, one of our buddies naturally, and his family ruled Nicaragua for forty years -- thanks to the Nicaraguan National Guard, which we supplied, armed, and funded, because we thought they were, you know, anti-communists. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Well, in 1979, the people of Nicaragua got tired of living under this dictatorship, and they rose up and overthrew it. And a lot of Somoza's friends and relatives and business partners came to the United States, because we had been their allies all these years, including two men whose families had been very close to the dictatorship. And these two guys are sort of two of the three main characters in my book -- a fellow named Danilo Blandón, and a fellow named Norwin Meneses. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> They came to the United States in 1979, along with a flood of other Nicaraguan immigrants, most of them middle-class people, most of them former bankers, former insurance salesmen -- sort of a capitalist exodus from Nicaragua. And they got involved when they got here, and they decided they were going to take the country back, they didn't like the fact that they'd been forced out of their country. So they formed these resistance organizations here in the United States, and they began plotting how they were going to kick the Sandanistas out. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> At this point in time, Jimmy Carter was president, and Carter wasn't all that interested in helping these folks out. The CIA was, however. And that's where we start getting into this murky world of, you know, who really runs the United States. Is it the president? Is it the bureaucracy? Is it the intelligence community? At different points in time you get different answers. Like today, the idea that Clinton runs the United States is nuts. The idea that Jimmy Carter ran the country is nuts. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> In 1979 and 1980, the CIA secretly began visiting these groups that were setting up here in the United States, supplying them with a little bit of money, and telling them to hold on, wait for a little while, don't give up. And Ronald Reagan came to town. And Reagan had a very different outlook on Central America than Carter did. Reagan saw what happened in Nicaragua not as a populist uprising, as most of the rest of the world did. He saw it as this band of communists down there, there was going to be another Fidel Castro, and he was going to have another Cuba in his backyard. Which fit in very well with the CIA's thinking. So, the CIA under Reagan got it together, and they said, "We're going to help these guys out." They authorized $19 million to fund a covert war to destabilize the government in Nicaragua and help get their old buddies back in power. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Soon after the CIA took over this operation, these two drug traffickers, who had come from Nicaragua and settled in California, were called down to Honduras. And they met with a CIA agent named Enrique Bermúdez, who was one of Somoza's military officials, and the man the CIA picked to run this new organization they were forming. And both traffickers had said -- one of them said, the other one wrote, and it's never been contradicted -- that when they met with the CIA agent, he told them, "We need money for this operation. Your guy's job is to go to California and raise money, and not to worry about how you did it. And what he said was -- and I think this had been used to justify just about every crime against humanity that we've known -- "the ends justify the means." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, this is a very important link in this chain reaction, because the means they selected was cocaine trafficking, which is sort of what you'd expect when you ask cocaine traffickers to go out and raise money for you. You shouldn't at all be surprised when they go out and sell drugs. Especially when you pick people who are like pioneers of the cocaine trafficking business, which Norwin Meneses certainly was. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> There was a CIA cable from I believe 1984, which called him the "kingpin of narcotics trafficking" in Central America. He was sort of like the Al Capone of Nicaragua. So after getting these fundraising instructions from this CIA agent, these two men go back to California, and they begin selling cocaine. This time not exclusively for themselves -- this time in furtherance of U.S. foreign policy. And they began selling it in Los Angeles, and they began selling it in San Francisco. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Sometime in 1982, Danilo Blandón, who had been given the LA market, started selling his cocaine to a young drug dealer named Ricky Ross, who later became known as "Freeway" Rick. In 1994, the <I>LA Times</I> would describe him as the master marketer most responsible for flooding the streets of Los Angeles with cocaine. In 1979, he was nothing. He was <I>nothing</I> before he met these Nicaraguans. He was a high school dropout. He was a kid who wanted to be a tennis star, who was trying to get a tennis scholarship, but he found out that in order to get a scholarship you needed to read and write, and he couldn't. So he drifted out of school and wound up selling stolen car parts, and then he met these Nicaraguans, who had this cheap cocaine that they wanted to unload. And he proved to be very good at that. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, he lived in South Central Los Angeles, which was home to some street gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods. And back in 1981-82, hardly anybody knew who they were. They were mainly neighborhood kids -- they'd beat each other up, they'd steal leather coats, they'd steal cars, but they were really nothing back then. But what they gained through this organization, and what they gained through Ricky Ross, was a built-in distribution network throughout the neighborhood. The Crips and the Bloods were already selling marijuana, they were already selling PCP, so it wasn't much of a stretch for them to sell something new, which is what these Nicaraguans were bringing in, which was cocaine. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> This is where these forces of history come out of nowhere and collide. Right about the time the contras got to South Central Los Angeles, hooked up with "Freeway" Rick, and started selling powder cocaine, the people Rick was selling his powder to started asking him if he knew how to make it into this stuff called "rock" that they were hearing about. This obviously was crack cocaine, and it was already on its way to the United States by then -- it started in Peru in '74 and was working its way upward, and it was bound to get here sooner or later. In 1981 it got to Los Angeles, and people started figuring out how to take this very expensive powdered cocaine and cook it up on the stove and turn it into stuff you could smoke. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> When Ricky went out and he started talking to his customers, and they started asking him how to make this stuff, you know, Rick was a smart guy -- he still is a smart guy -- and he figured, this is something new. This is customer demand. If I want to progress in this business, I better meet this demand. So he started switching from selling powder to making rock himself, and selling it already made. He called this new invention his "Ready Rock." And he told me the scenario, he said it was a situation where he'd go to a guy's house, he would say, "Oh man, I want to get high, I'm on my way to work, I don't have time to go into the kitchen and cook this stuff up. Can't you cook it up for me and just bring it to me already made?" And he said, "Yeah, I can do that." So he started doing it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So by the time crack got ahold of South Central, which took a couple of years, Rick had positioned himself on top of the crack market in South Central. And by 1984, crack sales had supplanted marijuana and PCP sales as sources of income for the gangs and drug dealers of South Central. And suddenly these guys had more money than they knew what to do with. Because what happened with crack, it democratized the drug. When you were buying it in powdered form, you were having to lay out a hundred bucks for a gram, or a hundred and fifty bucks for a gram. Now all you needed was ten bucks, or five bucks, or a dollar -- they were selling "dollar rocks" at one point. So anybody who had money and wanted to get high could get some of this stuff. You didn't need to be a middle-class or wealthy drug user anymore. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Suddenly the market for this very expensive drug expanded geometrically. And now these dealers, who were making a hundred bucks a day on a good day, were now making five or six thousand dollars a day on a good day. And the gangs started setting up franchises -- they started franchising rock houses in South Central, just like McDonald's. And you'd go on the streets, and there'd be five or six rock houses owned by one guy, and five or six rock houses owned by another guy, and suddenly they started making even <I>more</I> money. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And now they've got all this money, and they felt nervous. You get $100,000 or $200,000 in cash in your house, and you start getting kind of antsy about it. So now they wanted weapons to guard their money with, and to guard their rock houses, which other people were starting to knock off. And lo and behold, you had weapons. The contras. They were selling weapons. They were buying weapons. And they started selling weapons to the gangs in Los Angeles. They started selling them AR-15s, they started selling them Uzis, they started selling them Israeli-made pistols with laser sights, just about anything. Because that was part of the process here. They were not just drug dealers, they were taking the drug money and buying weapons with it to send down to Central America with the assistance of a great number of spooky CIA folks, who were getting them [audio glitch -- "across the border"?] and that sort of thing, so they could get weapons in and out of the country. So, not only does South Central suddenly have a drug problem, they have a weapons problem that they never had before. And you started seeing things like drive-by shootings and gang bangers with Uzis. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> By 1985, the LA crack market had become saturated. There was so much dope going into South Central, dope that the CIA, we now know, knew of, and they knew the origins of -- the FBI knew the origins of it; the DEA knew the origins of it; and nobody did anything about it. (We'll get into that in a bit.) </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But what happened was, there were so many people selling crack that the dealers were jostling each other on the corners. And the smaller ones decided, we're going to take this show on the road. So they started going to other cities. They started going to Bakersfield, they started going to Fresno, they started going to San Francisco and Oakland, where they didn't have crack markets, and nobody knew what this stuff was, and they had wide open markets for themselves. And suddenly crack started showing up in city after city after city, and oftentimes it was Crips and Bloods from Los Angeles who were starting these markets. By 1986, it was all up and down the east coast, and by 1989, it was nationwide. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Today, fortunately, crack use is on a downward trend, but that's something that isn't due to any great progress we've made in the so-called "War on Drugs," it's the natural cycle of things. Drug epidemics generally run from 10 to 15 years. Heroin is now the latest drug on the upswing. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, a lot of people disagreed with this scenario. The <I>New York Times,</I> the <I>LA Times</I> and the <I>Washington Post</I> all came out and said, oh, no, that's not so. They said this couldn't have happened that way, because crack would have happened anyway. Which is true, somewhat. As I pointed out in the first chapter of my book, crack was on its way here. But whether it would have happened the same way, whether it would have happened in South Central, whether it would have happened in Los Angeles at all first, is a very different story. If it had happened in Eugene, Oregon first, it might not have gone anywhere. [Restless shuffling and the sounds of throats being cleared among the audience.] No offense, but you folks aren't exactly trend setters up here when it comes to drug dealers and drug fads. LA is, however. [Soft laughter and murmuring among the audience.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> You can play "what if" games all you like, but it doesn't change the reality. And the reality is that this CIA-connected drug ring played a very critical role in the early 1980s in opening up South Central to a crack epidemic that was unmatched in its severity and influence anywhere in the U.S. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One question that I ask people who say, "Oh, I don't believe this," is, okay, tell me this: why did crack appear in black neighborhoods first? Why did crack distribution networks leapfrog from one black neighborhood to other black neighborhoods and bypass white neighborhoods and bypass Hispanic neighborhoods and Asian neighborhoods? Our government and the mainstream media have given us varying explanations for this phenomenon over the years, and they are nice, comforting, general explanations which absolve anyone of any responsibility for why crack is so ethnically specific. One of the reasons we're told is that, well, it's poverty. As if the only poor neighborhoods in this country were black neighborhoods. And we're told it's high teenage unemployment; these kids gotta have jobs. As if the hills and hollows of Appalachia don't have teenage unemployment rates that are ten times higher than inner city Los Angeles. And then we're told that it's loose family structure -- you know, presuming that there are no white single mothers out there trying to raise kids on low-paying jobs or welfare and food stamps. And then we're told, well, it's because crack is so cheap -- because it sells for a lower price in South Central than it sells anywhere else. But twenty bucks is twenty bucks, no matter where you go in the country. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So once you have eliminated these sort of non-sensical explanations, you are left with two theories which are far less comfortable. The first theory -- which is not something I personally subscribe to, but it's out there -- is that there's something about black neighborhoods which causes them to be genetically predisposed to drug trafficking. That's a racist argument that no one in their right mind is advancing publicly, although I tell you, when I was reading a lot of the stories in the <I>Washington Post</I> and the <I>New York Times,</I> they were talking about black Americans being more susceptible to "conspiracy theories" than white Americans, which is why they believe the story more. I think that was sort of the underlying current there. On the other hand, I didn't see any stories about all the white people who think Elvis is alive still, or that Hitler's brain is preserved down in Brazil to await the Fourth Reich... [laughter from the audience] ...which is a particularly white conspiracy theory, I didn't see any stories in the <I>New York Times</I> about that... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The other more palatable reason which in my mind comes closer to the truth, is that someone started bringing cheap cocaine into black neighborhoods right at the time when drug users began figuring out how to turn it into crack. And this allowed black drug dealers to get a head start on every other ethnic group in terms of setting up distribution systems and trafficking systems. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, one thing I've learned about the drug business while researching this is that in many ways it is the epitome of capitalism. It is the purest form of capitalism. You have no government regulation, a wide-open market, a buyer's market -- anything goes. But these things don't spring out of the ground fully formed. It's like any business. It takes time to grow them. It takes time to set up networks. So once these distribution networks got set up and established in primarily South Central Los Angeles, primarily black neighborhoods, they spread it along ethnic and cultural lines. You had black dealers from LA going to black neighborhoods in other cities, because they knew people there, they had friends there, and that's why you saw these networks pop up from one black neighborhood to another black neighborhood. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, exactly the same thing happened on the east coast a couple of years later. When crack first appeared on the east coast, it appeared in Caribbean neighborhoods in Miami -- thanks largely to the Jamaicans, who were using their drug profits to fund political gains back home. It was almost the exact opposite of what happened in LA in that the politics were the opposite -- but it was the same phenomenon. And once the Miami market was saturated, they moved to New York, they moved east, and they started bringing crack from the east coast towards the middle of the country. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So it seems to me that if you're looking for the root of your drug problems in a neighborhood, nothing else matters except the drugs, and where they're coming from, and how they're getting there. And all these other reasons I cited are used as explanations for how crack became popular, but it doesn't explain how the cocaine got there in the first place. And that's where the contras came in. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One of the things which these newspapers who dissed my story were saying was, we can't believe that the CIA would know about drug trafficking and let it happen. That this idea that this agency which gets $27 billion a year to tell us what's going on, and which was so intimately involved with the contras they were writing their press releases for them, they wouldn't know about this drug trafficking going on under their noses. But the <I>Times</I> and the <I>Post</I> all uncritically reported their claims that the CIA didn't know what was going on, and that it would never permit its hirelings to do anything like that, as unseemly as drug trafficking. You know, assassinations and bombings and that sort of thing, yeah, they'll admit to right up front, but drug dealing, no, no, they don't do that kind of stuff. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Unfortunately, though, it was true, and what has happened since my series came out is that the CIA was forced to do an internal review, the DEA and Justice Department were forced to do internal reviews, and these agencies that released these reports, you probably didn't read about them, because they contradicted everything else these other newspapers had been writing for the last couple of years, but let me just read you this one excerpt. This is from a 1987 DEA report. And this is about this drug ring in Los Angeles that I wrote about. In 1987, the DEA sent undercover informants inside this drug operation, and they interviewed one of the principals of this organization, namely Ivan Torres. And this is what he said. He told the informant: </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> "The CIA wants to know about drug trafficking, but only for their own purposes, and not necessarily for the use of law enforcement agencies. Torres told DEA Confidential Informant 1 that CIA representatives are aware of his drug-related activities, and that they don't mind. He said they had gone so far as to encourage cocaine trafficking by members of the contras, because they know it's a good source of income. Some of this money has gone into numbered accounts in Europe and Panama, as does the money that goes to Managua from cocaine trafficking. Torres told the informant about receiving counterintelligence training from the CIA, and had avowed that the CIA looks the other way and in essence allows them to engage in narcotics trafficking." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> This is a DEA report that was written in 1987, when this operation was still going on. Another member of this organization who was affiliated with the San Francisco end of it, said that in 1985 -- and this was to the CIA -- "Cabezas claimed that the contra cocaine operated with the knowledge of, and under the supervision of, the CIA. Cabezas claimed that this drug enterprise was run with the knowledge of CIA agent Ivan Gómez." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, this is one of the stories that I tried to do at the <I>Mercury News</I> was who this man Ivan Gómez was. This was after my original series came out, and after the controversy started. I went back to Central America, and I found this fellow Cabezas and he told me all about Ivan Gómez. And I came back, I corroborated it with three former contra officials. <I>Mercury News</I> wouldn't put it in the newspaper. And they said, "We have no evidence this man even exists." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Well, the CIA Inspector General's report came out in October, and there was a whole chapter on Ivan Gómez. And the amazing thing was that Ivan Gómez admitted in a CIA-administered polygraph test that he had been engaged in laundering drug money the same month that this man told me he had been engaged in it. CIA knew about it, and what did they do? Nothing. They said okay, go back to work. And they covered it up for fifteen years. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So, the one thing that I've learned from this whole experience is, first of all, you can't believe the government -- on <I>anything.</I> And you <I>especially</I> can't believe them when they're talking about important stuff, like this stuff. The other thing is that the media will believe the government before they believe <I>anything.</I> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> This has been the most amazing thing to me. You had a situation where you had another newspaper who reported this information. The major news organizations in this country went to the CIA, they went to the Justice Department, and they said, what about it? And they said, oh, no, it's not true. Take our word for it. And they went back and put it in the newspaper! Now, I try to imagine what would happen had reporters come back to their editors and said, look, I know the CIA is involved in drug trafficking. And I know the FBI knows about it, and I've got a confidential source that's telling me that. Can I write a story about that? What do you think the answer would have been? [Murmurs of "no" from the audience.] Get back down to the obit desk. Start cranking out those sports scores. But, if they go to the government and the government denies something like that, they'll put it in the paper with no corroboration whatsoever. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And it's only since the government has admitted it that now the media is willing to consider that there might be a story here after all. The <I>New York Times,</I> after the CIA report that came out, ran a story on its front page saying, gosh, the contras were involved in drugs after all, and gosh, the CIA knew about it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now you would think -- at least <I>I</I> would think -- that something like that would warrant Congressional investigation. We're spending millions of dollars to find out how many times Bill Clinton had sex with Monica Lewinsky. Why aren't we interested in how much the CIA knew about drug traffic? Who was profiting from this drug traffic? Who else knew about it? And why did it take some guy from a California newspaper by accident stumbling over this stuff ten years later in order for it to be important? I mean, what the hell is going on here? I've been a reporter for almost twenty years. To me, this is a natural story. The CIA is involved in drug trafficking? Let's know about it. Let's find out about it. Let's do something about it. Nobody wants to touch this thing. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And the other thing that came out just recently, which nobody seems to know about, because it hasn't been reported -- the CIA Inspector General went before Congress in March and testified that yes, they knew about it. They found some documents that indicated that they knew about it, yeah. I was there, and this was funny to watch, because these Congressmen were up there, and they were ready to hear the absolution, right? "We had no evidence that this was going on..." And this guy sort of threw 'em a curve ball and admitted that it had happened. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One of the people said, well geez, what was the CIA's responsibility when they found out about this? What were you guys supposed to do? And the Inspector General sort of looked around nervously, cleared his throat and said, "Well... that's kind of an odd history there." And Norman Dix from Washington, bless his heart, didn't let it go at that. He said, "Explain what you mean by that?" And the Inspector General said, well, we were looking around and we found this document, and according to the document, we didn't have to report this to anybody. And they said, "How come?" And the IG said, we don't know exactly, but there was an agreement made in 1982 between Bill Casey -- a fine American, as we all know [laughter from the audience] -- and William French Smith, who was then the Attorney General of the United States. And they reached an agreement that said if there is drug trafficking involved by CIA agents, we don't have to tell the Justice Department. Honest to God. Honest to God. Actually, this is now a public record, this document. Maxine Waters just got copies of it, she's putting it on the Congressional Record. It is now on the CIA's web site, if you care to journey into that area. If you do, check out the CIA Web Site for Kids, it's great, I love it. [Laugher from the audience.] I kid you not, they've actually got a web page for kids. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The other thing about this agreement was, this wasn't just like a thirty-day agreement -- this thing stayed in effect from 1982 until 1995. So all these years, these agencies had a gentleman's agreement that if CIA assets or CIA agents were involved in drug trafficking, it did not need to be reported to the Justice Department. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So I think that eliminates any questions that drug trafficking by the contras was an accident, or was a matter of just a few rotten apples. I think what this said was that it was anticipated by the Justice Department, it was anticipated by the CIA, and steps were taken to ensure that there was a loophole in the law, so that if it ever became public knowledge, nobody would be prosecuted for it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The other thing is, when George Bush pardoned -- remember those Christmas pardons that he handed out when he was on his way out the door a few years ago? The media focused on old Caspar Weinberger, got pardoned, it was terrible. Well, if you looked down the list of names at the other pardons he handed out, there was a guy named Claire George, there was a guy named Al Fiers, there was another guy named Joe Fernández. And these stories sort of brushed them off and said, well, they were CIA officials, we're not going to say much more about it. These were the CIA officials who were responsible for the contra war. These were the men who were running the contra operation. And the text of Bush's pardon not only pardons them for the crimes of Iran-contra, it pardons them for <I>everything</I>. So, now that we know about it, we can't even do anything about it. They all received presidential pardons. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So where does that leave us? Well, I think it sort of leaves us to rely on the judgment of history. But that is a dangerous step. We didn't know about this stuff two years ago; we know about it now. We've got Congressmen who are no longer willing to believe that CIA agents are "honorable men," as William Colby called them. And we've got approximately a thousand pages of evidence of CIA drug trafficking on the public record finally. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> That said, let me tell you, there are thousands of pages more that we still don't know about. The CIA report that came out in October was originally 600 pages; by the time we got ahold of it, it was only 300 pages. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One last thing I want to mention -- Bob Parry, who is a fine investigative reporter, he runs a magazine in Washington called <I>I.F. Magazine,</I> and he's got a great website, check it out -- he did a story about two weeks ago about some of the stuff that was contained in the CIA report that we <I>didn't</I> get to see. And one of the stories he wrote was about how there was a <I>second</I> CIA drug ring in South Central Los Angeles that ran from 1988 to 1991. This was not even the one I wrote about. There was another one there. This was classified. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The interesting thing is, it was run by a CIA agent who had participated in the contra war, and the reason it was classified is because it is under investigation by the CIA. I doubt very seriously that we'll ever hear another word about that. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But the one thing that we can do, and the one thing that Maxine Waters is trying to do, is force the House Intelligence Committee to hold hearings on this. This is supposed to be the oversight committee of the CIA. They have held one hearing, and after they found out there was this deal that they didn't have to report drug trafficking, they all ran out of the room, they haven't convened since. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So if you're interested in pursuing this, the thing I would suggest you do is, call up the House Intelligence Committee in Washington and ask them when we're going to have another CIA/contra/crack hearing. Believe me, it'll drive them crazy. Send them email, just ask them, make sure -- they think everybody's forgotten about this. I mean, if you look around the room tonight, I don't think it's been forgotten. They <I>want</I> us to forget about it. They <I>want</I> us to concentrate on sex crimes, because, yeah, it's titillating. It keeps us occupied. It keeps us diverted. Don't let them do it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Thanks very much for your attention, I appreciate it. We'll do questions and answers now for as long as you want. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> [Robust applause.]<BR> <BR> <BR> </P> <BR STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <FONT SIZE=+2>Question and Answer Session</FONT> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I've been instructed to repeat the question, so... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> You talked about George Bush pardoning people. Given George Bush's history with the CIA, do you know when he first knew about this, and what he knew? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, I didn't at the time I wrote the book, I do now. The question was, when did George Bush first know about this? The CIA, in its latest report, said that they had prepared a detailed briefing for the vice president -- I think it was 1985? -- on all these allegations of contra drug trafficking and delivered it to him personally. So, it's hard for George to say he was out of the loop on this one. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> I'll tell you another thing, one of the most amazing things I found in the National Archives was a report that had been written by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa -- I believe it was 1987. They had just busted a Colombian drug trafficker named Allen Rudd, and they were using him as a cooperating witness. Rudd agreed to go undercover and set up other drug traffickers, and they were debriefing him. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Now, let me set the stage for you. When you are being debriefed by the federal government for use as an informant, you're not going to go in there and tell them crazy-sounding stories, because they're not going to believe you, they're going to slap you in jail, right? What Rudd told them was, that he was involved in a meeting with Pablo Escobar, who was then the head of the Medellín cartel. They were working out arrangements to set up cocaine shipments into South Florida. He said Escobar started ranting and raving about that damned George Bush, and now he's got that South Florida Drug Task Force set up which has really been making things difficult, and the man's a traitor. And he used to deal with us, but now he wants to be president and thinks that he's double-crossing us. And Rudd said, well, what are you talking about? And Escobar said, we made a deal with that guy, that we were going to ship weapons to the contras, they were in there flying weapons down to Columbia, we were unloading weapons, we were getting them to the contras, and the deal was, we were supposed to get our stuff to the United States without any problems. And that was the deal that we made. And now he double-crossed us. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So the U.S. Attorney heard this, and he wrote this panicky memo to Washington saying, you know, this man has been very reliable so far, everything he's told us has checked out, and now he's saying that the Vice President of the United States is involved with drug traffickers. We might want to check this out. And it went all the way up -- the funny thing about government documents is, whenever it passes over somebody's desk, they have to initial it. And this thing was like a ladder, it went all the way up and all the way up, and it got up to the head of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department, and he looked at it and said, looks like a job for Lawrence Walsh! And so he sent it over to Walsh, the Iran-contra prosecutor, and he said, here, you take it, <I>you</I> deal with this. And Walsh's office -- I interviewed Walsh, and he said, we didn't have the authority to deal with that. We were looking at Ollie North. So I said, did anybody investigate this? And the answer was, "no." And that thing sat in the National Archives for ten years, nobody ever looked at it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> Is that in your book? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Yeah. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> Thank you. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #1:</STRONG> Well, first of all, I'd like to thank you for pursuing this story, you have a lot of guts to do it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> [Applause from the audience.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> This is what reporters are supposed to do. This is what reporters are supposed to do. I don't think I was doing anything special. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #1:</STRONG> Still, there's not too many guys like you that are doing it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> That's true, they've all still got jobs. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> [Laughter, scattered applause.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #1:</STRONG> I just had a couple of questions, the first one is, I followed the story on the web site, and I thought it was a really great story, it was really well done. And I noticed that the <I>San Jose Mercury News</I> seemed to support you for a while, and then all the sudden that support collapsed. So I was wondering what your relationship is with your editor there, and how that all played out, and when they all pulled out the rug from under you. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, the support collapsed probably after the <I>LA Times</I>... The <I>Washington [Post]</I> came out first, the <I>New York Times</I> came out second, and the <I>LA Times</I> came out third, and they started getting nervous. There's a phenomenon in the media we all know, it's called "piling on," and they started seeing themselves getting piled on. They sent me back down to Central America two more times to do more reporting and I came back with stories that were even more outrageous than what they printed in the newspaper the <I>first</I> time. And they were faced with a situation of, now we're accusing Oliver North of being involved in drug trafficking. Now we're accusing the Justice Department of being part and parcel to this. Geez, if we get beat up over accusing a couple of CIA agents of being involved in this, what the hell is going to happen now? And they actually said, I had memos saying, you know, if we run these stories, there is going to be a firestorm of criticism. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So, I think they took the easy way out. The easy way out was not to go ahead and do the story. It was to back off the story. But they had a problem, because the story was <I>true.</I> And it isn't every day that you're confronted with how to take a dive on a true story. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> They spent several months -- honestly, literally, because I was getting these drafts back and forth -- trying to figure out how to say, we don't support this story, even though it's true. And if you go back and you read the editor's column, you'll see that the great difficulty that he had trying to take a dive on this thing. And he ended up talking about "gray areas" that should have been explored a little more and "subtleties" that we should have not brushed over so lightly, without disclosing the fact that the series had originally been four parts and they cut it to three parts, because "nobody reads four part series' anymore." So, that was one reason. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The other reason was, you know, one of the things you learn very quickly when you get into journalism is that there's safety in numbers. Editors don't like being out there on a limb all by themselves. I remember very clearly going to press conferences, coming back, writing a story, sending it in, and my editor calling up and saying, well gee, this isn't what AP wrote. Or, the <I>Chronicle</I> just ran their story, and that's not what the <I>Chronicle</I> wrote. And I'd say, "Fine. Good." And they said, no, we've got to make it the same, we don't want to be different. We don't want our story to be different from everybody else's. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And so what they were seeing at the <I>Mercury</I> was, the Big Three newspapers were sitting on one side of the fence, and they were out there by themselves, and that just panicked the hell out of them. So, you have to understand newspaper mentality to understand it a little bit, but it's not too hard to understand cowardice, either. I think a lot of that was that they were just scared as hell to go ahead with the story. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #1:</STRONG> Were they able to look you in the eye, and... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> No. They didn't, they just did this over the phone. I went to Sacramento. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #1:</STRONG> When did you find out about it, and what did you... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Oh, they called me up at home, two months after I turned in my last four stories, and said, we're going to write a column saying, you know, we're not going ahead with this. And that's when I jumped in the car and drove up there and said, what the hell's going on? And I got all these mealy-mouthed answers, you know, geez, gray areas, subtleties, one thing or another... But I said, tell me one thing that's wrong with the story, and nobody could ever point to anything. And today, to this day, nobody has ever said there was a factual error in that story. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>[Inaudible question from the audience.]</STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question was, the editors are one thing, what about the readers? Um... who cares about the readers? Honestly. The reader's don't run the newspaper. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>[Another inaudible question from the audience regarding letters to the editor and boycotts of the newspaper.]</STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, a number of them did, and believe me, the newspaper office was flooded with calls and emails. And the newspaper, to their credit, printed a bunch of them, calling it the most cowardly thing they'd ever seen. But in the long run, the readers, you know, don't run the place. And that's the thing about newspaper markets these days. You folks really don't have any choice! What else are you going to read? And the editors know this. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> When I started in this business, we had two newspapers in town where I worked in Cincinnati. And we were deathly afraid that if we sat on a story for 24 hours, the <I>Cincinnati Inquirer</I> was going to put it in the paper, and we were going to look like dopes. We were going to look like we were covering stuff up, we were going to look like we were protecting somebody. So we were putting stuff in the paper without thinking about it sometimes, but we got it in the paper. Now, we can sit on stuff for months, who's going to find out about it? And even if somebody found out about it, what are they going to do? That's the big danger that everybody has sort of missed. These one-newspaper towns, you've got no choice. You've got no choice. And television? Television's not going to do it. I mean, they're down filming animals at the zoo! </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> [Laughter and applause.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #2:</STRONG> I assume you have talked to John Cummings, the one that wrote <I>Compromised,</I> that book? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I talked to Terry Reed, who was the principal author on that, yeah. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #2:</STRONG> Well, that was a well-documented book, and I had just finished reading this when I happened to look down and see the headlines on the Sunday paper. And he stated that Oliver North told him personally that he was a CIA asset that manufactured weapons. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Right. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #2:</STRONG> When he discovered that they were importing cocaine, he got out of there. And they chased him with his family across country for two years trying to catch him. But he had said in that book that Oliver North told him that Vice President Bush told Oliver North to dirty Clinton's men with the drug money. Which I assumed was what Whitewater was all about, was finding the laundering and trying to find something on Clinton. Do you know anything about that? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Yeah, let me sum up your question. Essentially, you're asking about the goings-on in Mena, Arkansas, because of the drug operations going on at this little air base in Arkansas while Clinton was governor down there. The fellow you referred to, Terry Reed, wrote a book called <I>Compromised</I> which talked about his role in this corporate operation in Mena which was initially designed to train contra pilots -- Reed was a pilot -- and it was also designed after the Boland Amendment went into effect to get weapons parts to the contras, because the CIA couldn't provide them anymore. And as Reed got into this weapons parts business, he discovered that the CIA was shipping cocaine back through these weapons crates that were coming back into the United States. And when he blew the whistle on it, he was sort of sent on this long odyssey of criminal charges being filed against him, etcetera etcetera etcetera. A lot of what Reed wrote is accurate as far as I can tell, and a lot of it was documented. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> There is a House Banking Committee investigation that has been going on now for about three years, looking specifically at Mena, Arkansas, looking specifically at a drug trafficker named Barry Seal, who was one of the biggest cocaine and marijuana importers in the south side of the United States during the 1980s. Seal was also, coincidentally, working for the CIA, and was working for the Drug Enforcement Administration. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> I don't know how many of you remember this, but one night Ronnie Reagan got on TV and held up a grainy picture, and said, here's proof that the Sandanistas are dealing drugs. Look, here's Pablo Escobar, and they're all loading cocaine into a plane, and this was taken in Nicaragua. This was the eve of a vote on the contra aid. That photograph was set up by Barry Seal. The plane that was used was Seal's plane, and it was the <I>same</I> plane that was shot down over Nicaragua a couple of years later that Eugene Hasenfus was in, that broke open the whole Iran-contra scandal. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The Banking Committee is supposed to be coming out with a report in the next couple of months looking at the relationship between Barry Seal, the U.S. government and Clinton's folks. Alex Cockburn has done a number of stories on this company called Park-On Meter down in Russellville, Arkansas, that's hooked up with Clinton's family, hooked up with Hillary's law firm, that sort of thing. To me, that's a story people ought to be looking at. I never thought Whitewater was much of a story, frankly. What I thought the story was about was Clinton's buddy Dan Lasater, the bond broker down there who was a convicted cocaine trafficker. Clinton pardoned him on his way to Washington. Lasater was a major drug trafficker, and Terry Reed's book claims Lasater was part and parcel with this whole thing. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> Cockburn's newsletter is called <I>Counterpunch,</I> and he's done a good job of defending you in it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Yeah, Cockburn has also written a book called <I>Whiteout,</I> which is a very interesting look at the history of CIA drug trafficking. Actually, I think it's selling pretty well itself. The <I>New York Times</I> hated it, of course, but what else is new? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #2:</STRONG> Well I just wanted to mention that he states also -- I guess it was Terry Reed who was actually doing the work -- he said Bush was running the whole thing as vice president. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I think that George Bush's role in this whole thing is one of the large unexplored areas of it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #2:</STRONG> Which is why I think Reagan put him <I>in</I> as vice president, because of his position with the CIA. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, you know, that whole South Florida Drug Task Force was <I>full</I> of CIA operatives. <I>Full</I> of them. This was supposed to be our vanguard in the war against cocaine cartels, and if those Colombians are to be believed, this was the vehicle that we were using to ship arms and allow cocaine into the country, this Drug Task Force. Nobody's looked at that. But there are lots of clues that there's a lot to be dug out. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #3:</STRONG> Thank you, Gary. I lost my feature columnist position at my college paper for writing a satire of Christianity some years ago, and... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> That'll do it, yeah. [Laughter from the audience.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #3:</STRONG> And I lost my job twice in the last five years because of my activism in the community, but I got a job [inaudible]. But my question is, I knew someone in the mid-'80s who said that he was in the Navy, and that he had information that the Navy was involved in delivering cocaine to this country. Another kind of bombshell, I'd like to have you comment on it, I saw a video some years ago that said the UFO research that's being done down in the southwest is being funded by drug money and cocaine dealings by the CIA, and that there are 25 top secret levels of government above the Top Secret category, and that there are some levels that even the president doesn't know about. So there's another topic for another book, I just wanted to have you comment... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> A <I>number of topics</I> for another book. [Laughter from the audience.] I don't know about the UFO research, but I do know you're right that we have very little idea how vast the intelligence community in this country is, or what they're up to. I think there's a great story brewing -- it's called the ECHELON program, and it involves the sharing of eavesdropped emails and cell phone communications, because it is illegal for them to do it in this country. So they've been going to New Zealand and Australia and Canada and having <I>those</I> governments eavesdrop on our conversations and tell us about it. I've read a couple of stories about it in the English press, and I read a couple of stories about it in the Canadian press, but I've seen precious little in the American press. But there's stuff on the Internet that circulates about that, if you're interested in the topic. I think it's called the ECHELON program. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #4:</STRONG> I'm glad you brought up James Burke and his <I>Connections,</I> because there are a lot of connections here. One I didn't hear too much about, and I know you've done a lot of research on, was how computers and high tech was used by the Crips and Bloods early on. I lived in south LA prior to this, knew some of these people, and you're right, they had virtually no education. And to suddenly have an operation that's computer literate, riding out of Bakersfield, Fresno, on north and then east in a very quick period -- I'm still learning the computer, I'm probably as old as you are, or older -- so I'd like to hear something on that. The whole dislocation of south LA that occurred -- the Watts Festival, the whole empowerment of the black community was occurring beginning in the late '60s and into the early '70s and mid-'70s, and then collapses into a sea of flipping demographics, and suddenly by 1990 it is El Salvadoran-dominated. And that's another curious part of this equation as we talk about drugs. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, that's quite a bevy of things there. As far as the sophistication of the Crips and the Bloods, the one thing that I probably should have mentioned was that when Danilo Blandón went down to South Central to start selling this dope, he had an M.B.A. in marketing. So he knew what he was doing. His job for the Somoza government was setting up wholesale markets for agricultural products. He'd received an M.B.A. thanks to us, actually -- we helped finance him, we helped send him to the University of Bogata to get his M.B.A. so he could go back to Nicaragua, and he actually came to the United States to sell dope to the gangs. So this was a very sophisticated operation. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> One of the money launderers from this group was a macro-economist -- his uncle, Orlando Murillo, was on the Central Bank of Nicaragua. The weapons advisor they had was a guy who'd been a cop for fifteen years. They had another weapons advisor who had been a Navy SEAL. You don't get these kinds of people by putting ads in the paper. This is not a drug ring that just sort of falls together by chance. This is like an all-star game. Which is why I suspect more and more that this thing was set up by a higher authority than a couple of drug dealers. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #5:</STRONG> Hi Gary, I just want to thank you for going against the traffic on this whole deal. I'm in the journalism school up at U. of O., and I'm interested in the story <I>behind</I> the story. I was hoping you could share some anecdotes about the kind of activity that you engaged in to get the story. For example, when you get off a plane in Nicaragua, what do you do? Where do you start? How do you talk to "Freeway" Ricky? How do you go against a government stonewall? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question is, how do you do a story like this, essentially. Well, thing I've always found is, if you go knock on somebody's door, they're a lot less apt to slam it in your face than if you call them up on the telephone. So, the reason I went down to Nicaragua was to go knock on doors. I didn't go down there and just step off a plane -- I found a fellow down in Nicaragua and we hired him as a stringer, a fellow named George Hidell who is a marvelous investigative reporter, he knew all sorts of government officials down there. And I speak no Spanish, which was another handicap. George speaks like four languages. So, you find people like that to help you out. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> With these drug dealers, you know, it's amazing how willing they are to talk. I did a series while I was in Kentucky on organized crime in the coal industry. And it was about this mass of stock swindlers who had looted Wall Street back in the '60s and moved down to Kentucky in the '70s while the coal boom was going on, during the energy shortage. The lesson I learned in that thing -- I thought these guys would never talk to me, I figured they'd be crazy to talk to a reporter about the scams they were pulling. But they were <I>happy</I> to talk about it, they were <I>flattered</I> that you would come to them and say, hey, tell me about what you do. Tell me your greatest knock-off. Those guys would go on forever! So, you know, everybody, no matter what they do, they sort of have pride in their work... [Laughter from the audience.] And, you know, I found that when you appeared interested, they would be happy to tell you. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The people who lied to me, the people who slammed doors in my face, were the DEA and the FBI. The DEA called me down -- I wrote about this in the book -- they had a meeting, and they were telling me that if I wrote this story, I was going to help drug traffickers bring drugs into the country, and I was going to get DEA agents killed, and this, that and the other thing, all of which was utterly bullshit. So that's the thing -- just ask. There's really no secret to it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #6:</STRONG> I'd like to ask a couple of questions very quickly. The first one is, if you wouldn't mind being a reference librarian for a moment -- there was the Golden Triangle. I was just wondering if you've ever, in your curiosity about this, touched on that -- the drug rings and the heroin trade out of Southeast Asia. And the second one is about the fellow from the <I>Houston Chronicle</I>, I don't remember his name right off, but you know who I'm talking about, if you could just touch on that a little bit... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Yes. The first question was about whether I ever touched on what was going on in the Golden Triangle. Fortunately, I didn't have to -- there's a great book called <I>The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia,</I> by Alfred McCoy, which is sort of a classic in CIA drug trafficking lore. I don't think you can get any better than that. That's a great reference in the library, you can go check it out. McCoy was a professor at the University of Wisconsin who went to Laos during the time that the secret war in Laos was going on, and he wrote about how the CIA was flying heroin out on Air America. That's the thing that really surprised me about the reaction to my story was, it's not like I invented this stuff. There's a long, long history of CIA involvement in drug traffic which Cockburn gets into in <I>Whiteout.</I> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And the second question was about Pete Brewton -- there was a reporter in Houston for the <I>Houston Post</I> named Pete Brewton who did the series -- I think it was '91 or '92 -- on the strange connections between the S&L collapses, particularly in Texas, and CIA agents. And his theory was that a lot of these collapses were not mismanagement, they were intentional. These things were looted, with the idea that a lot of the money was siphoned off to fund covert operations overseas. And Brewton wrote this series, and it was funny, because after all hell broke loose on my story, I called him up, and he said, "Well, I was waiting for this to happen to you." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "I was exactly like you are. I'd been in this business for twenty years, I'd won all sorts of awards, I'd lectured in college journalism courses, and I wrote a series that had these three little letters C-I-A in it. And suddenly I was unreliable, and I couldn't be trusted, and Reed Irvine at Accuracy In Media was writing nasty things about me, and my editor had lost confidence in me, so I quit the business and went to law school." </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Brewton wrote a book called <I>George Bush, CIA and the Mafia</I>. It's hard to find, but it's worth looking up if you can find it. It's all there, it's all documented. See, the difference between his story and my story was, we put ours out on the web, and it got out. Brewton's story is sort of confined to the printed page, and I think the <I>Washington Journalism Review</I> actually wrote a story about, how come nobody's writing about this, nobody's picking up this story. Nobody touched this story, it just sort of died. And the same thing would have happened with my series, had we not had this amazing web page. Thank God we did, or this thing would have just slipped underneath the waves, and nobody would have ever heard about it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #7:</STRONG> I'm glad you're here. I guess the CIA, there was something I read in the paper a couple of years ago, that said the CIA is actually murdering people, and they admitted it, they don't usually do that. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> It's a new burst of honesty from the new CIA. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #7:</STRONG> They'll murder us with kindness. In the Chicago police force, there were about 10 officers who were kicked off the police force for doing drugs or selling drugs, and George Bush or something... I heard that he had a buddy who had a lot of money in drug testing equipment, so that's one reason everybody has to pee in a cup now... [Laughter from the audience.] The other thing I found, there was a meth lab close to here, and somebody who wasn't even involved with it, he was paralyzed... And as you know, we have the "Just Say No to Drugs" deal... What do you think we can do to stop us, the People, from being hypnotized once again from all these shenanigans, doing other people injury in terms of these kinds of messages, at the same time they're selling. Because all this money is being spent for all this... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I guess the question is, what could you do to keep from being hypnotized by the media message, specifically on the Drug War? Is that what you're talking about? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #7:</STRONG> Yeah, or all the funds... like, there's another thing here with the meth lab, they say we'll kind of turn people in... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Oh yeah, the nation of informers. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #7:</STRONG> Yeah. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> That's something I have to laugh about -- up until I think '75 or '76, probably even later than that, you could go to your doctor and get methamphetamine. I mean, there were housewives by the hundreds of thousands across the United States who were taking it every day to lose weight, and now all the sudden it was the worst thing on the face of the earth. That's one thing I got into in the book, was the sort of crack hysteria in 1986 that prompted all these crazy laws that are still on the books today, and the 100:1 sentencing ratio... I don't know how many of you saw, on PBS a couple of nights back, there was a great show on informants called "Snitch." [Murmurs of recognition from the audience.] Yeah, on <I>Frontline.</I> That was very heartening to see, because I don't think ten years ago that it would have stood a chance in hell of getting on the air. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> What I'm seeing now is that a lot of people are finally waking up to the idea that this "drug war" has been a fraud since the get-go. My personal opinion is, I think the main purpose of this whole drug war was to sort of erode civil liberties, very slowly and very gradually, and sort of put us down into a police state. [Robust burst of applause from the audience.] And we're pretty close to that. I've got to hand it to them, they've done a good job. We have no Fourth Amendment left anymore, we're all peeing in cups, and we're all doing all sorts of things that our parents probably would have marched in the streets about. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The solution to that is to read something other than the daily newspaper, and turn off the TV news. I mean, I'm sorry, I hate to say that, but that's mind-rot. You've got to find alternative sources of information. [Robust applause.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> How can you say that it was all a chain reaction, that it was not done deliberately, and on the other hand say it has at the same time deliberately eroded our rights? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, the question was, how can I say on one hand it was a chain reaction, and on the other hand say the drug war was set up deliberately to erode our rights. I mean, you're talking about sort of macro versus micro. And I do not give the CIA that much credit, that they could plan these vast conspiracies down through the ages and have them work -- most of them don't. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> What I'm saying is, you have police groups, you have police lobbying groups, you have prison guard groups -- they seize opportunities when they come along. The Drug War has given them a lot of opportunities to say, okay, now let's lengthen prison sentences. Why? Well, because if you keep people in jail longer, you need more prison guards. Let's build more prisons. Why? Well, people get jobs, prison guards get jobs. The police stay in business. We need to fund more of them. We need to give bigger budgets to the correctional facilities. This is all very conscious, but I don't think anybody sat in a room in 1974 and said, okay, by 1995, we're going to have X number of Americans locked up or under parole supervision. I don't think they mind -- you know, I think they like that. But I don't think it was a conscious effort. I think it was just one bad idea, after another bad idea, compounded with a stupid idea, compounded with a <I>really</I> stupid idea. And here we are. So I don't know if that answers your question or not... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #8:</STRONG> To me, the Iran-contra story was one of the most interesting and totally frustrating things. And the more information, the more about it I heard -- we don't know anything about it, I mean, if you look for any official data, they deny everything. And to see Ollie North, the upstanding blue-eyed American, standing there lying through his teeth, and we <I>knew</I> it... [Inaudible comment, "before Congress and the President"?] What galls me is that these people who are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors are now getting these enormous pensions, and we have to pay for these bums. It sickens me! </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Right. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #8:</STRONG> And I actually have a question -- this is my question, by the way, I know you have a thousand other questions [laughter from the audience] -- but the one that stays with me, and has always bothered me, was the Christic Institute, and I thought it was fantastic. And they were hit with this enormous lawsuit, and they had to bail out. This needs to be ["rehired"?] because they knew what they were doing, they had all the right answers, and they were run out of office, so to say, in disgrace, because of this lawsuit. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question was about the Christic Institute, and about how the Iran-contra controversy is probably one of the worst scandals. I agree with you, I think the Iran-contra scandal was worse than Watergate, <I>far</I> worse than this nonsense we're doing now. But I'll tell you, I think the press played a very big part in downplaying that scandal. One of the people I interviewed for the book was a woman named Pam Naughton, who was one of the best prosecutors that the Iran-contra committee had. And I asked her, why -- you know, it was also the first scandal that was televised, and I remember watching them at night. I would go to work and I'd set the VCR, and I'd come home at night and I'd watch the hearings. Then I'd pick up the paper the next morning, and it was <I>completely</I> different! And I couldn't figure it out, and this has bothered me all these years. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So when I got Pam Naughton on the phone, I said, what the hell happened to the press corps in Washington during the Iran-contra scandal? And she said, well, I can tell you what I saw. She said, every day, we would come out at the start of this hearings, and we would lay out a stack of documents -- all the exhibits we were going to introduce -- stuff that she thought was <I>extremely</I> incriminating, front page story after front page story, and they'd sit them on a table. And she said, every day the press corps would come in, and they'd say hi, how're you doing, blah blah blah, and they'd go sit down in the front row and start talking about, you know, did you see the ball game last night, and what they saw on Johnny Carson. And she said one or two reporters would go up and get their stack of documents and go back and write about it, and everybody else sat in the front row, and they would sit and say, okay, what's our story today? And they would all agree what the story was, and they'd go back and write it. Most of them never even looked at the exhibits. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And that's why I say it was the press's fault, because there was so much stuff that came out of those hearings. That used to just drive me crazy, you would <I>never</I> see it in the newspaper. And I don't think it's a conspiracy -- if anything, it's a conspiracy of stupidity and laziness. I talked to Bob Parry about this -- when he was working for <I>Newsweek</I> covering Iran-contra, they weren't even letting him go to the hearings. He had to get transcripts messengered to him at his house secretly, so his editors wouldn't find out he was actually reading the transcripts, because he was writing stories that were so different from everybody else's. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> Bob Parry tells a story of being at a dinner party with Bobby Inman from the CIA, the editor of <I>Newsweek,</I> and all the muckity-mucks -- this was his big introduction into Washington society. And they were sitting at the dinner table in the midst of the Iran-contra thing, talking about everything <I>but</I> Iran-contra. And Bob said he had the bad taste of bringing up the Iran-contra hearing and mentioning one particularly bad aspect of it. And he said, the editor of <I>Newsweek</I> looked at him and said, "You know, Bob, there are just some things that it's better the country just doesn't know about." And all these admirals and generals sitting around the table all nodded their heads in agreement, and they wanted to talk about something else. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> That's the attitude. That's the attitude in Washington. And that's the attitude of the Washington press corps, and nowadays it's even worse than that, because now, if you play the game right, you get a TV show. Now you've got the McLaughlin Group. Now you get your mug on CNN. You know. And that's how they keep them in line. If you're a rabble rouser, and a shit-stirrer, they don't want your type on television. They want the pundits. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> The other question was about the Christic Institute. They had it all figured out. The Christic Institute had this thing figured out. They filed suit in May of 1986, alleging that the Reagan administration, the CIA, this sort of parallel government was going on. Oliver North was involved in it, you had the Bay of Pigs Cubans that were involved in it down in Costa Rica, they had names, they had dates, and they got <I>murdered.</I> And the Reagan administration's line was, they're a bunch of left-wing liberal crazies, this was conspiracy theory. If you want to see what they <I>really</I> thought, go to Oliver North's diaries, which are public -- the National Security Archive has got them, you can get them -- all he was writing about, after the Christic Institute's suit was filed, was how we've got to shut this thing down, how we have to discredit these witnesses, how we've got to get this guy set up, how we've got to get this guy out of the country... They <I>knew</I> that the Christic Institute was right, and they were deathly afraid that the American public was going to find out about it. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> I am convinced that the judge who was hearing the case was part and parcel to the problem. He threw the case out of court and fined the Christic Institute, I think it was $1.3 million, <I>for even bringing the lawsuit</I>. It was deemed "frivolous litigation." And it finally bankrupted them. And they went away. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But that's the problem when you try to take on the government in its own arena, and the federal courts are <I>definitely</I> part of its own arena. They make the rules. And in cases like that, you don't stand a chance in hell, it won't happen. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> But if you cannot get the truth in the courts, if you cannot write it in the papers, then what do you do? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> You do it yourself. You do it yourself. You've got to start rebuilding an information system on your own. And that's what's going on. It's very small, but it's happening. People are talking to each other through newsgroups on the Internet. People are doing Internet newsletters. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Voice From the Audience:</STRONG> Do you have a website? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Emcee:</STRONG> Let's use the mike, let's use the mike. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question is, do I have a website. No, I don't, but I'm building one. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>[Inaudible question from the audience.]</STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, let's let these people who have been standing in line... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> [Commotion, murmuring. Someone calls out, "Please use the mike."] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #9:</STRONG> When you mentioned prisons a moment ago, I couldn't help but remember that it is America's fastest-growing industry, the "prison industry" -- which is a hell of a phrase unto itself. But it seems that the CIA had people aligned throughout Central America at one point, and El Salvador, with the contras, and in Honduras and Nicaragua, and in Panama, Manuel Noriega... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Our "man in Panama," that's right. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #9:</STRONG> Yeah. But something went wrong with him, and he got pinched in public. And I'm interested to know what you think about that. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question is about Manuel Noriega, who was our "man in Panama" for so many years. What happened to Noriega is that -- I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that he was a drug trafficker, because we knew that for years. What it had to do with was what is going to happen at the end of this year, which is when control of the Panama Canal goes over to the Panamanians. If you read the <I>New York Times</I> story that Seymour Hersh wrote back in June of 1986 that exposed Noriega publicly as a drug trafficker and money launderer, there were some very telling phrases in it. All unsourced, naturally, you know -- unattributed comments from high-ranking government officials -- but they talked about how they were nervous that Noriega had become unreliable. And with control of the Panama Canal reverting to the Panamanian government, they were very nervous at the idea of having somebody as "unstable" as Noriega running the country at that point. And I think that was a well-founded fear. You've got a major drug trafficker controlling a major maritime thoroughway. I can see the CIA being nervous about being cut out of the business. [Laughter from the audience.] </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But I think that's what the whole thing with Noriega was about -- they wanted him out of there, because they wanted somebody that they could control a little more closely in power in Panama for when the canal gets reverted back to them. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #9:</STRONG> Was there much of a profit difference between Nicaragua and Panama as far as the drugs went? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Well, what Noriega had done was sort of create an international banking center for drug money. That was his part of it. Nicaragua was nothing ever than just a trans-shipment point. Central America was never anything more than a trans-shipment point. Columbia Peru and Bolivia were the producers, and the planes needed a place to refuel, and that's all that Central America ever was. The banking was all done in Panama. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #10:</STRONG> You talk about how they sat on their stories, the newspapers? Why did they suddenly decide to pursue the stories? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> Which stories are these? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #10:</STRONG> The stories about the crack dealing and the CIA. Why did they suddenly decide that, well, actually... </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question was -- correct me if I'm wrong -- the question raised the fact that the other newspapers didn't do anything about this story for a while, and then after I wrote it they came after me. Is that what you're asking? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #10:</STRONG> Well, yeah, and then eventually the CIA admitted it... and I mean, why are people asking, it sat for a long time, and then suddenly everyone was on it. What was the turning point that made them decide to pursue it? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The turning point that made them decide to pursue the story was the fact that it had gotten out over the Internet, and people were calling them up saying, why don't you have the story in <I>your</I> newspaper? You know, I don't think the subject matter frightened the major media as much as the fact that a little newspaper in Northern California was able to set the national agenda for once. And people were marching in the streets, people were holding hearings in Washington, they were demanding Congressional hearings, you had John Deutch, the CIA director, go down on that surreal trip down to South Central to convince everyone that everything was okay... [Laughter from the audience.] And all of this was happening without the big media being involved in it at all. And the reason that happened was because we had an outlet -- we had the web. And the people at the <I>Mercury News</I> did a fantastic job on this website. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> And so, news was marching on without them. There's a professor at the University of Wisconsin who's done a paper on the whole "Dark Alliance" thing, and her thesis is that this story was shut down more because of how it got out than for what it actually said. That it was an attempt by the major media to regain control of the Internet, and to suggest that unless <I>they're</I> the ones who are putting it out, it's unreliable. Which I think you see in a lot of stories. The mainstream press gladly promotes the idea that you can't believe anything you read on the Internet, it's all kooks, it's all conspiracy theorists... And there are, I mean, I admit, there are a lot of them out there, but it's not all false. But the idea that we're being taught is, unless it's got our name on it, you can't believe it. So they can retain control of the means of communication anyway. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #11:</STRONG> You mentioned Iran-contra, which was private foreign policy in defiance of Congress, which means it was a high crime. From there, we get more drugs, we get erosion of civil liberties and the loss of the Fourth Amendment, which you mentioned. And we have to get that back, because without it, we're just commodities to one another. So what I'd like to ask you is, what are you working on now? And do you have your own journalistic chain of reaction? Are you going to be doing something that connects back to this? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> The question is what am I doing now -- believe it or not, I'm working for the government. [Laughter from the audience.] I work for the California legislature, and I do investigations of state agencies. I just wrote a piece for <I>Esquire</I> magazine which should be out in April on another fabulous DEA program that they're running. Actually, part of it's based here in Oregon, called Operation Pipeline. That story is coming out in April, and <I>Esquire</I> told me they want me to write more stuff for them, they want me to do some investigative reporting for them, so I'll be working for them. And I'm putting together another book proposal, and a couple of other things. I'm not going to work for newspapers any more, I learned my lesson. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #12:</STRONG> A year ago the editor of your newspaper was here to speak, sponsored by the University of Oregon School of Journalism. Before I got up here, I took a casual look around -- I don't know all of the members of the journalism faculty, but I didn't recognize any. We did have a student here who got up and asked a question. That leads to this question: I'd like, if you don't mind, to ask if there is someone from the University of Oregon journalism faculty here, would they mind being acknowledged and raising their hand? </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> All right, there's one back there. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Audience Member #12:</STRONG> There is one. Okay. [Applause from the audience.] I'm pleased to see it. There is that one person. My point is, I think much of what you've said this evening constitutes an indictment -- and a valid indictment -- of the university journalism programs in this country. [Applause.] Most Americans and I believe -- and I'm interested in your reaction -- that it reinforces that indictment when we see, to that person's credit, that she is the only faculty member from our school of journalism to hear you tonight. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>Gary Webb:</STRONG> I think the general question was about the state of the journalism schools. The one thing journalism schools don't teach, by and large, is investigative reporting. They teach stenography very well. That's why I consider most of journalism today to be stenography. You go to a press conference, you write down the quotes accurately, you come back, you don't provide any context, you don't provide any perspective, because that gets into analysis, and heavens knows, we don't want any <I>analysis</I> in our newspapers. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> But you report things accurately, you report things fairly, and even if it's a lie you put it in the newspaper, and that's considered journalism. I don't consider that journalism, I consider that stenography. And that is the way they teach journalism in school, that's the way I was taught. Unless you go to a very different journalism school from the kinds that most kids go to, that's what you're taught. Now, there are specialized journalism schools, there are master's programs like the Kiplinger Program at Ohio State, that's very good. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> So, I'm not saying that all journalism schools are bad, but they don't teach you to be journalists. They discourage you from doing that, by and large. And I don't think it's the fault of the journalism professors, I just think that's the way things have been taught in this country for so long, that they just do it automatically. I'd be interested in hearing the professor's thoughts about it, but that's sort of the way I look at things. I spent way too many years in journalism school. I kind of got shed of those notions after I got out in the real world. </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>[End of transcript.]</STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <STRONG>____________________________________</STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <BR> <STRONG></STRONG> </P> <P STYLE=COLOR:#000000> <B>document is publicly viewable at:</B> <A CLASS=tabcontent HREF=Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m TARGET=_blank>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_38dd326m</A> </P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-61674296415169168892007-04-18T09:46:00.000-04:002008-10-04T20:57:15.040-04:00<div style="text-align: center;"><font size="3"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Statement to County Council</span></font><br>Steve Coulter, MD SteveMDFP@gmail.com<br>Chair, Treatment Committee, AODAAC<br>April 16, 2007<br></div><br><br>Hi, I'm Doctor Steve Coulter. I serve on AODAAC, "ay-DAK," the Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Advisory Council. Our chair, Dawn Levinson, couldn't be with us; she's recently delivered a healthy baby boy, and I'm happy to attempt to fill her shoes here. I chair the body's Treatment Committee. I am a family physician by training. I've probably provided medical care to some of your friends or family.<br><br>Let me first thank this County Council for saving my life. Literally. I am in recovery from alcoholism myself. In my darkest hour, this county provided treatment that saved my life. Some of you personally voted to authorize funding for these programs. Some of you have been supportive of such funding. I thank you all.<br><br>But I've been saddened to witness some poor outcomes. At least three people I befriended while in our "continuum of care" are dead today, because they couldn't get into the kinds of programs that saved me. This is a problem that serves nobody's interests. It especially doesn't serve the interests of the taxpayers.<br><br>Nobody costs our society more than addicts and alcoholics in active addiction. They suffer, their friends and families suffer, the whole community suffers. And the taxpayer ends up funding their prosecution and imprisonment when they inevitably commit crimes. This happens when treatment isn't available. Treatment works to change the lives of these people and the paths of destruction that surround them. <br><br>There are many ill-informed cynics who don't think addiction is a treatable disease. I and dozens of my friends are living proof that it is, and that treatment works. For those who aren't persuaded by mass anecdotes (and I respect them) there is also a mountain of solid research evidence to support my assertion. I'll be happy to discuss that mountain of research, but not with the current time limitations. Suffice it to say, for one point, that the taxpayers of California have recently managed to save about two billion dollars so far by an initiative to shift sufferers of this disease from the criminal justice system into clinical treatment. <br><br>Of course, that can't succeed if treatment slots aren't made available. In this county, we currently have a crisis of lack of access to treatment for the most severe cases. Acute detox, rehab and residential care are impossibly difficult to access. We've had this crisis for years. But those mired in active addiction don't make good political advocates for themselves, and other segments of our county have been shy about speaking up for them. Those in active addiction or early recovery often don't get treated very well, ethically, or even in respect to their civil rights in our society. If nobody else speaks up to fix this problem, the taxpayers would be wise to do so. I'm also a taxpayer; I'm here, in part, to make the taxpayer's argument for more treatment over the status quo.<br><br>I'm thrilled to see that initiatives have just been passed by the State legislature to advance the approach of treatment over imprisonment, and that bills are expected to be signed by our new Governor. Progress is being made.<br><br>Among your challenges as a legislative body is the task of choosing cost-effective programs that address this continuously-unfolding tragedy. It wouldn't be hard to waste huge amounts of dollars in programs that aren't very effective. My advisory body has some cost-conscious suggestions to make.<br><br>In terms of prevention, after-school programs have the potential to steer out adolescents clear of drugs, alcohol, delinquency, crime and gang activity, in part by providing structured supervision while parents are at work. These need support.<br><br>In terms of treatment, expansion of existing treatment programs is essential, but creation of cost-effective approaches can leverage this investment. In particular, efforts to support sober housing options have the potential to bring proven, highly cost-effective approaches to clients in treatment. Too often, we send clients back into the same neighborhoods and dysfunctional homes where they couldn't stay sober in the first place. Providing low-cost housing in sober group homes permits those in recovery to supervise each other's recovery, when they haven't been able to supervise themselves. Solid research supports such an approach, and I've provided you with a report and supporting study for this initiative. <br><br>Montgomery County controls all alcohol sales locally. It would make sense to modify business practices to reduce the availability of the cheapest forms of alcohol, and to use any resulting increased revenue to support treament efforts. The resulting changes should prove appealing to the entire county community, especially including the taxpayers.<br><br>Thank you.<br>______________________________________<br><br><br><br>This document on the Web:<br><a title="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_37f46xn7" target="blank_" href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_37f46xn7">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_37f46xn7</a> <br><br>Reference: Sober Housing initiative:<br><a title="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_177p52k" target="blank_" href="http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_177p52k">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_177p52k</a> <br><br>Supporting research study:<br><a title="http://www.geocities.com/stevemdfp4/all/DePaulOxfordHouseStudy.pdf" href="http://www.geocities.com/stevemdfp4/all/DePaulOxfordHouseStudy.pdf%20">http://www.geocities.com/stevemdfp4/all/DePaulOxfordHouseStudy.pdf</a> <br><br>AODAAC Official Home Page:<br><a title="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp" target="blank_" href="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp">http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp</a> <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-19474115225339667312007-03-09T23:54:00.000-05:002008-10-04T20:57:15.048-04:00 <font size="1"><br></font> <p align="right"><font size="1"> from: </font><a title="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/exec/vacancies/PR_details.asp?PrID=3365" target="blank_" href="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/exec/vacancies/PR_details.asp?PrID=3365">http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/exec/vacancies/PR_details.asp?PrID=3365</a> </p> <p align="left"> <b><font size="4">Citizen advisory board for substance abuse issues, Montgomery County, Maryland<br> Vacancy Announcement </font></b><br> Release ID: 07-044<br> Media Contact: Beth Gochrach, 240.777.2528 - <a title="beth.gochrach@montgomerycountymd.gov" href="mailto:beth.gochrach@montgomerycountymd.gov">beth.gochrach@montgomerycountymd.gov</a> <br>For Immediate Release: 3/9/2007 - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Application Deadline: 3/30/2007 </span><br style="font-weight: bold;"> <br> Leggett Seeks Applicants For <b> Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Advisory Council </b><br> <br> County Executive Isiah Leggett is seeking applicants to fill eight vacancies on the Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Advisory Council. The vacancies are for:<br> </p> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> <font size="4">• </font>one treatment provider, <br><font size="4">• <font size="2">one prevention provider,</font></font><br> </div> <p align="left"> </p> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> <font size="4">• </font>one person in recovery, <br> </div> <p align="left"> </p> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> <font size="4">• </font>one member of the clergy, and <br> </div> <p align="left"> </p> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> <font size="4">• </font>one business representative (which includes non-profits and sole proprietorships). <br> </div> <p align="left"> <br> Four incumbents are eligible to apply for reappointment to other seats. Members serve three-year terms without compensation and meet the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in Rockville.<br> <br> The Council advises the Department of Health and Human Services, the County Executive, and the County Council in identifying local alcohol and other drug abuse program needs, assists in the development of plans to meet those needs, makes recommendations in the budget process relative to those programs, and promotes public dialog regarding alcoholism and other drug abuse. The body's official web page is: <a title="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/hhstmpl.asp?url=/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp" target="blank_" href="http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/hhstmpl.asp?url=/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp">http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/hhstmpl.asp?url=/content/hhs/BoardsAndCommissions/AODAAC.asp</a><br> <br>Authorizing legislation:</p><a title="http://aodaac.googlegroups.com/web/MoCoLawChapter24healthandsanitation.htm#JD_24-41" target="blank_" href="http://aodaac.googlegroups.com/web/MoCoLawChapter24healthandsanitation.htm#JD_24-41">http://aodaac.googlegroups.com/web/MoCoLawChapter24healthandsanitation.htm#JD_24-41</a> <p align="left"><br></p><p align="left"> Applicants should write by March 30 to:<br><br></p> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> County Executive Isiah Leggett<br> </div> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> Executive Office Building, <br> </div> <div style="margin-left: 120px;"> 101 Monroe St., Rockville, MD 20850<br> </div> <p align="left"> <br> or send an e-mail to: <a title="countyexecutive.boards@montgomerycountymd.gov" href="mailto:countyexecutive.boards@montgomerycountymd.gov">countyexecutive.boards@montgomerycountymd.gov</a> <a href="mailto:countyexecutive.boards@montgomerycountymd.gov"></a> <br> <b> Applicants should indicate the type of slot for which they are applying. A letter and brief resume that includes home and business telephone numbers should be enclosed. <br> </b><br> Members of County boards, committees and commissions may not serve on more that one such group at a time. Members of this Council are eligible for reimbursement for travel and dependent care for meetings attended. Leggett’s appointments are subject to confirmation by the County Council. Applications of those selected for appointment are made public as part of the confirmation process. <br></p><p align="left"><br></p><p align="left">Above re-published by current member, Steve Coulter,<br> <a href="mailto:SteveMDFP@gmail.com">SteveMDFP@gmail.com</a><br> <br>--------------------------------------------<br> This page on the web: </p> <p align="left"> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_356m87dq" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_356m87dq</a> </p> <br> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-5636460684508799412007-02-25T16:05:00.000-05:002008-10-04T20:57:15.057-04:00<P ALIGN=right STYLE=""> <A CLASS=tabcontent HREF=Doc?id=ddh9xk76_177p52k TARGET=_blank>http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_177p52k</A> </P> <P ALIGN=center STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><B><FONT SIZE=4 STYLE=FONT-SIZE:13pt><BR> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">Sober Housing is a Potent, Cost-Effective Treatment for Addiction</FONT></FONT></B></FONT></FONT> </P> <P ALIGN=center STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">A Report to AODAAC, Treatment Committee<BR> Steven T. Coulter, MD, Chairman<BR> </FONT><A HREF=mailto:SteveMDFP@gmail.com><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">SteveMDFP@gmail.com</FONT></U></FONT><U><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><BR> </FONT></FONT></U></A><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">October, 2006<BR> <BR> </FONT></FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3>The October 2006 issue of The American Journal of Public Health includes a DePaul University study on the effectiveness of Oxford House placement for graduates of addiction treatment programs (Jason et al, 2006). An Oxford house is a group home of people recovering from addiction. There is no staff; residents supervise each other's recovery. Since the only major cost for this arrangement is the rental expense of the house, this is a low-cost, long-term approach to supporting sobriety for those addicted to alcohol or other drugs.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><BR> The Oxford House movement was born here in Montgomery County. In the 1970's, a county-funded halfway house lost its budget. The residents decided the house was working too well for them to leave, and so they simply started paying the landlord rent on their own. The arrangement worked well, despite the lack of any staff. With some evangelical zeal, they started a non-profit organization to spread the concept. Today, there are 1200 Oxford houses in the US (see </FONT><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><A HREF=http://www.oxfordhouse.org/><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.oxfordhouse.org</FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">).</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> Clinicians "in the field" have long recognized that such living arrangements can be a highly effective support to those in recovery. Until the publication of the study mentioned above, however, there was no published measure of the effectiveness of such placements. The results of the study are impressive enough to put many (far more expensive) treatment options to shame. At 24 months:</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3>- rates of substance abuse were lower, at 31.3%, versus 64.8%, a 52% reduction<BR> - monthly income was higher, $ 989, versus $ 440, more than doubled<BR> - incarceration rates were lower, 3%, versus 9%, only a third as many were incarcerated.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> This "treatment" approach is inexpensive; these results are too good to ignore. Investing a modest amount of money to create placement slots in such housing could enhance the operations of other aspects of our county's "continuum of care." Many of the existing operations suffer from long waiting lists. For some of our clients on waiting lists, an Oxford house-like placement would suffice, permitting better access for others that need higher intensity care. Those individuals placed here would clearly be less likely to relapse; therefore reducing the numbers of repeat clients who cycle through our system over and over. In addition, some of our programs have great difficulty placing clients at discharge. A set of dedicated, low-cost placement slots would allow shorter lengths of stay (at, e.g., ARTC or ARCC), thus permitting these existing services to treat more patients per year.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> In such an arrangement, clients in such housing would presumably pay rent on a sliding scale according to income, up to a maximum of the market value of the housing they occupy. This should provide revenue to offset the bulk of the operating expense, while ensuring that clients who are or become disabled or unemployed are not made homeless.<BR> <BR> The closest comparable program we currently run is probably Lawrence Court. With a typical census of around 20 at Lawrence Court and an annual budget of $336,000, a placement there costs roughly $1,400 per client per month (which does not include any rental expense, since the property is owned by the county). Even though an Oxford house-like placement would presumably entail rental expense, the net cost after revenue should be well under $300 per client per month.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><BR> At least two local non-profits have been operating sober housing under this model for several years already. Community Ministries of Rockville (CMR, </FONT><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><A HREF=http://www.cmrocks.org/><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.cmrocks.org</FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">) has been running Hope Housing with a HUD grant. Community Ministry of Montgomery County (CMMC, </FONT><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><A HREF=http://www.communityministrymc.org/><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.communityministrymc.org</FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">) has been operating a parallel program. The funding stream for these programs is through Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (</FONT><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><A HREF=http://www.mcch.net/><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.mcch.net</FONT></A></U></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">). These three organizations are already partners with Montgomery County in providing services to the needy.</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> Estimates of benefits for relapse, income, and incarceration in the Hope Housing programs seem to match or exceed the results from the DePaul University study. The CMR program operates with a single full-time manager/director/case-manager for a census of about 21 clients, with some administrative support from the rest of the organization.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> Options for incorporating this model into the County's continuum of care might include replicating the Hope Housing model, assisting with the creation of new Oxford houses (existing Oxford houses in the county tend to operate at full occupancy already), or contracting with an agency such as CMR to expand existing operations to include county-funded beds. The treatment committee suggests that DHHS should consider issuing an RFP (request for proposals) to implement one or more of these options for providing sober housing. The Chairman of this Committee will be happy to assist with advising the County Council on the merits of funding this proposal.</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3>Reference:</FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">Jason, LA et al. <B>Communal Housing Settings Enhance Substance Abuse Recovery</B>. American Journal of Public Health. October, 2006. Vol 96, No 10. Pp 1727 - 1729. Abstract at:</FONT></FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><FONT COLOR=#0000ff><U><A HREF=http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/10/1727><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/10/1727</FONT></A></U></FONT></FONT></FONT> </P> <P STYLE=""> <BR> <BR> </P> <P STYLE=""> </P> <P STYLE=""> <FONT FACE="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3><BR> <FONT SIZE=1 STYLE=FONT-SIZE:7pt><FONT FACE="Arial, sans-serif">This document on the web:</FONT></FONT> </FONT></FONT><A CLASS=tabcontent HREF=View?docid=ddh9xk76_177p52k TARGET=_blank>http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ddh9xk76_177p52k</A> </P> <P CLASS=western STYLE=""> <BR> </P><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427705.post-33058152489153317362007-02-23T00:51:00.000-05:002008-10-04T20:57:15.068-04:00<div style="text-align: right;"><a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_31f3w2hm" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_31f3w2hm</a></div><div style="text-align: right;"> </div> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">From the Archives of Addict-L </font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/Addict-L.html" target="_blank">http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/Addict-L.html</a></u></font> </p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="494"> <col width="69"> <col width="425"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="69"> <p class="western"> <font color="#00681c">Jerry Costley</font> </p> </td> <td width="425"> <p class="western"> <img alt="Frame1" name="Frame1" src="http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddh9xk76_32c5sxmz" align="bottom" hspace="1"> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <table style="width: 643px; height: 982px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col width="602"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="602"> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> We have a director of a local Methadone clinic who has his doctoral degree in social work. He teaches substance abuse counselor (LSAC) courses at the local university. He is hung up on diversion possibilities and doesn't allow anyone take-home privileges for the first several months--he prides himself that his clinic is open seven days a week, 365 days a year. After two years someone can earn up to one week take-home privileges, max. I have asked him about trying to accommodate for people's employment, noting that research has suggested a good job is a huge predictor of success, and his response has been that individuals need to decide what is more important, employment or treatment, as though they are mutually exclusive. He also prides himself on never having applied for a federal exception for an individual. His clinic serves largely people who are on Medicaid or receive public assistance, so they don't have much of a choice. Most of the public dollars go to his clinic because the public funders feel more comfortable with the "tight ship" he is running….<br> <br> <br> Jerry </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> __________________________________________________________________ </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> To Jerry and the List:<br> <br> What you describe of this methadone clinic is the kind of bullshit, counter-productive, paternalistic, humiliating crap that methadone accreditation was supposed to prevent. A well-written letter to the accrediting body may be the most effective way to fix such defunct practices. The vast majority of methadone programs are accredited either by JCAHO or by CARF. For CARF, the way to submit a complaint is at:<br> <br> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.carf.org/consumer.aspx?content=content/contact/Feedback.htm" target="_blank">http://www.carf.org/consumer.aspx?content=content/contact/Feedback.htm</a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> or just <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="mailto:feedback@carf.org" target="_blank">feedback@carf.org</a></u></font><br> <br> For JCAHO, it's at:<br> <a href="http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/" target="_blank"><u><font color="#0000ff"><br> </font></u><font color="#0000ff"><u>http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/</u></font></a> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> or just <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="mailto:complaint@jointcommission.org" target="_blank">complaint@jointcommission.org</a></u></font><br> <br> <br> Each site has a directory to see if a given program is accredited with them. </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> <br> Best wishes,<br> <br> Steve<br> Steve Coulter, MD<br> SteveMDFP -at- gmail -dot- com </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western"> <br> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; margin: 0.07in 0.5in 0.07in 0.12in; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Hi Steve, </font></font> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; margin: 0.07in 0.5in 0.07in 0.12in; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Sorry to say the accreditation bodies service the providers, not the patients. Their words, not mine. <br> As for clinic policies, the Federal regulations are the most lenient, but the states can impose additional<br> restrictions and the individual clinics, even more restrictions. While some methadone clinics have<br> come around and are doing excellent work under difficult circumstances others just demonstrate<br> control, control and more control. Exactly what complaint would you file against the clinic director?</font></font> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; margin: 0.07in 0.5in 0.07in 0.12in; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Howard </font></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Howard S. Lotsof, President<br> Dora Weiner Foundation<br> 46 Oxford Place<br> Staten Island, NY 10301<br> <br> Dir. Tel: 1 718 442-2754<br> Dir. Fax: 1 718 442-1957<br> </font><font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.doraweiner.org/" target="_blank"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.doraweiner.org</font></a></u></font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> <br> ______________________________________</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">To Howard and the List:<br> <br> I really don't share your cynicism about accreditation bodies. They do get their income from the organizations being accredited, but my experience is that they take their work very seriously, and consider their chief customer to be the public at large. A few years ago, a well-regarded local hospital came very close to shutting its doors because of a complaint filed with JCAHO. My hunch is that they receive very few well-written complaints, especially from programs serving the poor and uninsured.<br> <br> Accredited methadone programs must meet the federal accreditation guidelines, and any additional requirements of their particular accreditation body. The federal guidelines are at:<br> </font><font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://dpt.samhsa.gov/regulations/accreditation.htm" target="_blank"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">http://dpt.samhsa.gov/regulations/accreditation.htm</font></a></u></font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> <br> An excerpt:<br> <br> 1. Patients have the right to treatment that:<br> a. is given with full informed consent;<br> b. is individualized and participatory;<br> c. responds adequately to patient needs;<br> d. promotes dignity and is humane;<br> e. promotes autonomy and patient responsibility;<br> f. protects confidentiality;<br> g. protects and promotes overall health and well-being.<br> 2. Program administration obtains and is responsive to patients' feedback concerning their care.<br> <br> The approach to take-home doses is supposed to be individualized. A policy of "we don't give anyone more than two days of take-homes" violates the accreditation standards. I'd be very surprised if the accreditation body didn't pursue a well-written complaint. </font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> </font><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Best wishes,</font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> <br> </font><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Steve</font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> </font><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Steve Coulter, MD</font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> </font><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SteveMDFP -at- gmail -dot- com</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">__________________________________________________________________</font> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">"High" Howard! (official addictions treatment salutation) </font></font> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-top: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0.07in;"> <font face="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><font size="3"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">I would like to chime in here briefly. I believe that I could speak for JCAHO but I will not since I am not directly involved with them. I have been a CARF accreditation surveyor for many years now & was involved with the "Opioid Treatment Program accreditation project" almost from inception. I conducted the two initial pilot tests of the study of whether or not accreditation was a viable model for improving patient care for "methadone programs" & I have consulted with or surveyed many U.S. "OTP's" since that time having worked with them since the early 1970's. I ensure you that patient-focused/centered care & client rights are a HUGE part of accreditation. There are many mechanisms built in an accreditation survey to determine whether or not the organization and program is in conformance to the standards surrounding and underlying these rudimentary practices. I cannot imagine that a complaint such as the one listed in this thread would not be taken<b><u><i> VERY</i></u></b> seriously by an accreditation body. If I were an accreditation surveyor visiting this organization, I would certainly pay close attention to this issue and it would have a<b><u><i> SIGNIFICANT</i></u></b> impact upon my findings and report. If this organization is accredited by CARF and you or anyone else would like to file a complaint, you should contact Bettye Harrison at </font></font><font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="mailto:BHarrison@carf.org" target="_blank"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">BHarrison@carf.org</font></font></a></u></font><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> . Patients can, and should file complaints as well. Another good place to check is <u><font color="#0000ff">www.methadone.org</font></u> .</font></font></font></font> </p> <p style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 255); border-width: medium medium medium 1pt; margin: 0.07in 0.5in 0.07in 0.12in; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.06in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Michael W. Bennett, MBA CAP CAPP ICADC CCCJS-MACe CCFC<br> Director of Operations<br> Addiction Recovery Systems<br> Three Mill Road, Suite #200<br> Wilmington, DE 19806<br> 904-307-6548 Mobile<br> </font></font><br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">__________________________________________</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> On 2/22/07, <b>DCReardon@aol.com</b> <DCReardon@aol.com> wrote: </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">I'm with Howard, here, MIke. I also have been involved with the OTP accreditation process from the beginning, and from my view, all accreditation has done is increased costs to patients and made more "make work" for already overburdened clinic staff. ARM has filed complaints to both CARF and JCAHO and unless the complaint meets an "accreditation element" (most of which have nothing to do with quality treatment) they do not do anything to help. In fact, the accreditors have never resolved a complaint that we have filed, we ALWAYS have to go all the way to the Feds at CSAT.</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">And remember Betty Harrison refers to herself as the "Queen of Forms" and thats exactly what CARF accreditation is......a TON of paperwork.</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">The intent of the accreditation system was good, but from the patients perspective it has been a huge failure.</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Chris Kelly</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Director</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Advocates for Recovery through Medicine</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Washington DC CHapter</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(192, 192, 192); border-width: medium medium medium 1px; padding: 0in 0in 0in 0.08in; background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; margin-left: 0.07in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">_________________________________________</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">To Chris and the List:<br> <br> I certainly can't argue with your experience on this matter. I'm surprised and outraged. Respectful, individualized, compassionate, flexible methadone treatment that enhances autonomy, employment and larger recovery <b>are</b> "accreditation elements." If JCAHO and CARF are not enforcing these accreditation elements, then these organizations themselves are subject to complaints filed at SAMHSA's CSAT. I would urge anyone with specific information to send such a letter. A cc to one's Senators and Representative tends to multiply the effectiveness of efforts to get federal agencies to do the jobs they're supposed to. An additional cc to JCAHO and CARF would be useful, too.<br> <br> Really, you're describing failure of federal licensees (CARF and JCAHO) to fulfill their contractual obligations. I believe the Inspector General of HHS has authority to investigate failure of contractors to perform their obligations.<br> <br> So, the specific people to inform would be:</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Center for Substance Abuse Treatment<br> Division of Pharmacologic Therapies<br> Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration<br> Attention: OTP Certification Program<br> 1 Choke Cherry Road, Suite 2-1073<br> Rockville, MD 20857 </font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">Phone and e-mail would seem to be:<br> Telephone: 1-866-INFO OTP (463-6687); e-mail: OTP@hq.row.com</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> And,</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="mailto:feedback@carf.org" target="_blank"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">feedback@carf.org</font></a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> And,</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="mailto:complaint@jointcommission.org" target="_blank"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">complaint@jointcommission.org</font></a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> And,</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a><font face="Arial, sans-serif">HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov</font></a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">See: </font><font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://oig.hhs.gov/hotline.html"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">http://oig.hhs.gov/hotline.html</font></a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> And, for one's congress-critters, you can look up your own Representatives and Senators at:</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-left: 0.42in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font color="#0000ff"><u><a href="http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/</font></a></u></font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><br> The laws, regulations, and standards are all already in place. All that's needed is a little dogged determination to make various people do the jobs they're paid to do. I think Addict-L has enough dedicated people to fix this problem.<br> <br> Best wishes,<br> <br> Steve<br> Steve Coulter, MD<br> SteveMDFP -at- gmail -dot- com<br> </font><br> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.17in;"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif">____________________________________________________________</font> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="813"> <col width="103"> <col width="6"> <col width="247"> <col width="404"> <col width="0"> <col width="2"> <col width="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="103"> <p class="western"> <b>SLOPPY METHADONE ACCREDITATION</b> </p> </td> <td width="6"> <p class="western"> <br> </p> </td> <td width="247"> <p class="western"> <font color="#00681c"><img name="smlnopresence" src="http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddh9xk76_33cwbrcn" align="bottom" border="0" height="9" width="9">"MICHAEL W. BENNETT" </font> </p> </td> <td width="404"> <p class="western"> <img alt="Frame2" name="Frame2" src="http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddh9xk76_34hrcf4f" align="bottom" hspace="1"> </p> </td> <td width="0"> <p class="western" align="right"> <br> </p> </td> <td width="2"> <p class="western" align="right"> </p> </td> <td width="0"> <p class="western"> <br> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="602"> <col width="602"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="602"> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff">I have been a "lurker" on the list for some time now, quietly observing from the shadows & I have been <u>GREATLY</u> impressed and inspired by the depth of some participant's passion and knowledge. This is a topic on which I can & will speak. While I cannot & will not address others' experiences I will share the accounts of my own adventures over the past decades, which have been many. </font></font></span></em> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff">I have worked in the field of "medication assisted treatment" for over 30 years. I have also had a great deal of additional experience but for the purposes of this thread I will focus on my work with opioid treatment programs. We have been under the regulatory control of the DEA & FDA since "the beginning of time", which focused on the control of the medication itself. The decision to transition away from the FDA & to move programs under the auspices of CSAT was a shift in the right direction in my opinion. The desire to finally instill some national standards for patient care was long overdue. I can tell you many "horror stories" of programs I have visited through the years where the words "patient care" could not be used in the same sentence. Too often rules & regulations came first & patients/families came second at best. </font></font></span></em> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff">My experience as an accreditation surveyor (& I do emphasize that this is MY experience) has been extremely positive. The programs I have worked with as a consultant & as a surveyor have consistently reported that the accreditation process has significantly improved the quality of patient care as demonstrated by measurable outcomes & based upon solicited feedback from the organizations' various stakeholders. We worked together to streamline systems so that redundancy was reduced so that resources are better allocated to patient needs & in some instances, paperwork was cut rather than increased. Patients consistently report that they are more empowered and engaged in their programs because that is something we measure as heightened participation is a desirable positive outcome. Barriers were reduced or eliminated altogether and bridges were constructed so that accessibility to services was increased. We know this because we measured it & we used that data in an on-going effort to improve at what we do. Wait-time for services was reduced and employee retention was increased as staff competencies were improved. Counseling services focused on use of effective therapeutic "tools" (discussed here) such as cognitive behavioral therapies, motivational enhancement/interviewing techniques, brief intervention, etc. & this was reflected in progress noting and treatment planning so that it could be clearly seen. ETC.</font></font></span></em> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff">I don't know if I'm being very clear as I'm doing too many things right now to write as well as many of you on this list who post on a regular basis but I hope that I've made my point in at least a satisfactory manner. I agree with Dr. Steve's post [above]. If you have complaints, PLEASE COMPLAIN as that's the only way that the system stands any chance of getting adjusted. I promise you that when I see/find problems that I fuss & fume loud & long because the bottom line is that the bad stuff has an adverse impact on patients & their families. However, when you see something that works to help patients & families, take a little time to "give it a little push" as well. </font></font></span></em> </p> <p style="margin-top: 0.07in;"> <font face="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif"><font size="3"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff">Michael W. Bennett, MBA CAP CAPP ICADC CCCJS-MACe CCFC<br> Director of Operations<br> Addiction Recovery Systems<br> Three Mill Road, Suite #200<br> Wilmington, DE 19806<br> 904-307-6548 Mobile<b><i> </i></b></font></font></font></font></font> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font color="#790619">HSLotsof</font> </p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="94"> <col width="94"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="94"> <p class="western"> to ADDICT-L </p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <font face="Geneva, Arial, sans-serif"><br> Hi Mike,<br> <br> My experience as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates and an observer of patient/clinic activities is that there was a rash of improvement in clinics during the accreditation process. Patient committees were supported. Things were spruced up around the clinic but for the most part once accreditation was achieved the clinics withdrew support for many of the activities they paraded in front of CARF and JCAHO during accreditation visits. My experience is that the accreditation organizations so distanced themselves from patient issues as to be of no value to patients at all. I must admit I haven't been on the front lines of these matters for 18 months or so but, I have heard nothing exemplary as to CARF and JCAHO from a patient perspective either.</font> </p> <p class="western" style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color rgb(0, 0, 0); border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p> <br> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> <br> <br> <a class="tabcontent" href="Doc?id=ddh9xk76_31f3w2hm" target="_blank">http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddh9xk76_31f3w2hm</a> </p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <br> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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