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| Ashcroft Renews War on Drug Trade |
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Posted by FoM on March 20, 2002 at 07:26:50 PT By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times Source: Washington Times 
Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday committed the Justice Department to a renewed war on drugs, saying federal prosecutors and investigators plan to specifically target international narcotics smugglers whose profits are used to finance terrorism. Top Stories In a speech to agents and employees at the Drug Enforcement Administration's headquarters in Arlington, Mr. Ashcroft said the department's $19.2 billion drug-control strategy is aimed at reducing the flow of illegal drugs by 10 percent over the next two years and, eventually, by 25 percent in 2007. The attorney general said there is "an undeniable link" between acts of terrorism and illicit drugs, noting that narcotics trafficking — mainly cocaine — forms an important part of the financial infrastructure of terror networks. Mr. Ashcroft said that of the 28 terrorist groups identified last year by the State Department, a dozen use drug smuggling as their primary source of revenue. He said Americans spend about $64 billion annually on illegal drugs. One of those terrorist organizations surfaced this week as one of the first targets in Mr. Ashcroft's renewed war on drugs when a federal grand jury in Washington indicted leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for conspiring to send tons of cocaine into the United States. The sealed indictment, handed up March 7 but unsealed Monday, was the first to name members of the Marxist rebel organization known by its Spanish initials FARC. The indictment charged three FARC leaders, Tomas Molina Caracas, Carlos Bolas and Oscar El Negro, and four others, including three Brazilian nationals, with drug smuggling and conspiracy. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has said FARC is among several terrorist organizations that annually receive illicit-drug profits to finance their activities. The agency said that the Colombia-based group gets about $300 million from drug sales annually, and that another Colombia organization, the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), relies on the illegal drug trade for up to 70 percent of its income. FARC and the AUC, along with the National Liberation Army, all are designated as terrorist groups by the State Department, which said in a recent report that they "control much of Colombia's narcotics production and distribution, reaping enormous profits." U.S. aid to Colombian President Andres Pastrana's anti-drug program, known as "Plan Colombia," has been limited to counterdrug measures. In recent months, however, the Bush administration has been considering a Colombian request to redirect some of its assistance to combat insurgency movements. According to the ONDCP, the now-ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which provided safe haven to terrorist Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, used revenues from opium and heroin to stay in power. The agency said that in 2000, Afghanistan was responsible for more than 70 percent of the world's opium trade, resulting in significant income to the Taliban. The ONDCP recently reported that the growing link between terrorists and the drug trade had contributed to an increased threat to the United States. The agency said drug and terrorist organizations were taking advantage of the global economy to expand the scope, scale and reach of their activities and, as a result, their ability to harm American citizens and to damage U.S. interests was dramatically expanding. Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch II Related Articles: Does US War on Drugs Help or Hurt Terrorists? Anti-Drug Efforts Might Be Helping Terrorists Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 20, 2002 at 11:14:01 PT |
| I see you posted a press release from the Marijuana Policy project and I thank you. I want to make sure all the press releases from the Marijuana Policy Project get posted but my Internet connection is so poor it's hard for me to do more then I am. It takes a long time just to get up the articles I do so would you make sure to post any you receive? I'd sure appreciate it and I know the Marijuana Policy Project would too. If you don't want to that's fine. If you do try to post them on as close to a related article as possible and then they will compliment each other. Thanks so much! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on March 20, 2002 at 08:43:37 PT |
| From first post: "Mr. Huthcinson rightly praised Ms. Mogil for her courage in discussing her addiction." He ducked out early and thereby proved, beyond a showdow of a doubt, his cowardice. As long as these jokers can hide behind their so-called power and their phony baloney jobs, all of their huffing and puffing, they do as they please. When their authority is challenged, they disappear into the woodwork. Good riddance, too. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by Dark Star on March 20, 2002 at 08:21:25 PT |
| I am greatly encouraged by the latter news release. If public officials espouse harsh legal penalties for behavior, and lie in public, there is no reason whatsoever that they should not be accosted and confronted with their behavior and its consequences. At a point when they dare not show their faces, perhaps a bit of self-reflection will occur and lead to changes. This assumes the presence of a conscience, however, which may be asking for too much after all. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on March 20, 2002 at 08:12:36 PT:
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| From: Peter Webster
From: Marijuana Policy Project Medical Marijuana Patients Confront DEA Chief Cancer Patient Asks, "Should I Be Arrested?" --
Hutchinson Doesn't Answer CONTACT:
Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ....... 202-462-5747 x113 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND -- Medical marijuana patients, frustrated by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's contradictory and sometimes
inaccurate statements regarding medical marijuana, confronted DEA
Administrator Asa Hutchinson during an appearance in Rockville,
Maryland, this evening. Hutchinson left the event early in an apparent
attempt to avoid further questioning. Hutchinson appeared at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in
Rockville's Montrose Crossing shopping center, in what was advertised
as a "community discussion" with Cindy Mogil, author of "Swallowing a
Bitter Pill: How Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Abuse is
Ruining Lives -- My Story". Lawrence Silberman, who found that marijuana was the only medicine
that allowed him to endure the harsh side effects of high-dose
chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma -- a lethal and difficult-to-
treat form of cancer -- asked Hutchinson directly, "Do you think
people like myself should be arrested, sir?" Hutchinson responded vaguely, saying "the DEA is not in the habit
of going after individual users." He repeatedly failed to answer
directly, despite follow-ups from Bruce Mirken, director of
communications of the Marijuana Policy Project, and Fernando Mosquera,
a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park. Mosquera
described how marijuana helped him cope with the debilitating symptoms
of Crohn's disease in a poignant column in the March 11 Baltimore Sun. Hutchinson repeated claims that "science has not yet come to
consensus" on the advantages of marijuana -- similar to claims he made
in justifying February DEA raids on medical marijuana providers in
California. He did not acknowledge the Institute of Medicine's 1999
report, commissioned by the White House drug czar's office, which
stated, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety ... all can be
mitigated by marijuana." The report pointed out that "there is no
clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that
might be relieved by smoking marijuana" -- and urged that marijuana be
made legally available to such patients on a case-by-case basis. Hutchinson then took advantage of the first pause in the
proceedings to leave early, heading for the stairs without good-byes
or acknowledgments of any kind. "Ms. Mogil eloquently discussed the dangers of drugs that doctors
legally prescribe every day -- drugs that are far more toxic and
addictive than marijuana, which has never produced a fatal overdose,"
said Mirken. "Mr. Hutchinson rightly praised Ms. Mogil for her courage in
discussing her addiction," Mirken added. "But it also took courage for
these two patients to look the DEA Administrator in the eye and say,
`I am a medical marijuana user. Do I deserve to be arrested?' They
have a right to know why they must risk arrest and jail for using a
medicine that eases their suffering, when much more dangerous
substances remain perfectly legal. They have a right to honest
answers. We will keep pressing Mr. Hutchinson until he gives us a
straight answer." The Marijuana Policy Project works to minimize the harm associated
with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that
are intended to prohibit such use.
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