cannabisnews.com: Big Guns Fire In Drugs Row





Big Guns Fire In Drugs Row
Posted by FoM on November 14, 1999 at 08:52:55 PT
By John Lehmann & Cameron Forbes
Source: The Australian
A Terse letter from the White House to Australian ambassador Andrew Peacock forced John Howard to intervene to cool tensions over an attempt to ban the most powerful US anti-drugs official from Sydney Olympic venues. 
The US reacted angrily to a move by AOC president John Coates to prevent General Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, from holding a media conference at Sydney Olympic Park. In a letter to Mr Peacock – obtained by The Australian – the Office of National Drug Control Policy said it was "dismayed" by the "unhelpful and uncivil" actions of Mr Coates. Mr Howard's office contacted an adviser to Olympics Minister Michael Knight at the weekend, stressing that General McCaffrey should be treated with due respect. In a letter to General McCaffrey, Mr Coates also attacked the US anti-doping programs. He revealed that he was told by USA Drug Enforcement Agency officer Jim Tolliver in October 1998 that US athletes using banned drugs undertook tests at private screening centres to avoid returning positive results when officially tested. General McCaffrey, who arrived in Sydney yesterday for the Howard Government's international anti-doping conference, was given brief and unguided access to the Olympic Stadium but had to give a media conference at the nearby Aquatic Centre. General McCaffrey asked a guide for a brief overview of the stadium but was declined. Monday, November 15, 1999Produced by News Interactive © News Limited 1999 Related Articles:Sydney 2000 To Ban U.S. Anti-Drugs Czar-Paper - 11/14/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3663.shtmlEuropeans Join IOC' s Drug Agency - 11/02/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3527.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by Dankhank on November 14, 1999 at 17:26:09 PT
Stay Home
kaptinemo said it best ...I just say this:To the drug czar:   We know what you are ... and the Aussies know what you are... and the Dutch know.Just stay home, you are wrecking enought lives here in America. Leave the rest of the nations of the world alone.Mr Czar, you are trying to expand your domain by addressing the sports drug issues. I think you should just retire. You are a failure. Go home ...
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 14, 1999 at 10:00:30 PT
"Due respect", the man says
With regards to the matter of the above, MISTER McCaffrey received all the 'due respect' he deserves. Given that he is on record as having been a liar (the remarks about Dutch crime statistics), a thief (he supports forfeiture) and at the very least, an accomplace to murder (Peter McWilliams at home, and God knows how many Colombians butchered in the US led narco-war down there) the Aussies are well within their rights to tell him to 'bugger off' and show him the door. In case anyone needs reminding, the Australians are a sovereign nation unto themselves, and can pick who they let in and who they don't. Given McC's nasty habit of insulting his hosts, I don't think I'd want to give him any chances to screw things up any more than he already has. And given the US's attempts to control their domestic policy viv-a-vis drug usage, I think I'd be pretty steamed, too. Another otherwise friendly country now has a beef with us because of Drug Warrior obsessions over drug usage.The Ugly American is alive and well... and runing the ONDCP.
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