Saturday, July 22, 2006
One More Opinion
This is a press release based on a survey sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. 997 FDA scientists responded. The findings, nonetheless, merit further investigation.
July 20, 2006
FDA Scientists Pressured to Exclude, Alter Findings; Scientists Fear Retaliation for Voicing Safety Concerns
Public Health and Safety Will Suffer without Leadership from FDA and Congress
WASHINGTON, DC—The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released survey results that demonstrate pervasive and dangerous political influence of science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one-fifth (18.4 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey UCS has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.
"Science must be the driving force for decisions made at the FDA. These disturbing survey results make it clear that inappropriate interference is putting people in harm's way," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Senior Scientist and Director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program. "FDA leaders should act now to improve transparency and accountability and renew respect for independent science at the agency."
The UCS survey, which was co-sponsored by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, was sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. Forty percent of respondents fear retaliation for voicing safety concerns in public. This fear, scientists say, combines with other pressures to compromise the agency's ability to protect public health and safety. More than a third of the respondents did not feel they could express safety concerns even inside the agency.
"This is more than just a bureaucratic problem within the agency," said Kim Witczak, WoodyMatters.com, who lost her husband due to side effects of a dangerous anti-depressant.
"It has real human impacts which can be devastating. My husband paid the ultimate price for FDA's lack of accountability."
The survey also revealed other compelling points of concern:
* 61 percent of the respondents knew of cases where "Department of Health and Human Services or FDA political appointees have inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions."
* Only 47 percent think the "FDA routinely provides complete and accurate information to the public."
* 81 percent agreed that the "public would be better served if the independence and authority of FDA post-market safety systems were strengthened."
* 70 percent disagree with the statement that FDA has sufficient resources to perform effectively its mission of "protecting public health…and helping to get accurate science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health."
"The FDA regulates products vital to the well-being of all Americans, including food, drugs, vaccines, and medical devices," said Dr. Grifo. "To fully protect public health and safety, the FDA must have the best available independent scientific data."
To address the concerns raised by FDA scientists, UCS recommends:
– Accountability: FDA leadership must face consequences if they side with commercial or political interests and not with the American people.
– Transparency: Scientific research and reviews should be open so any undue manipulation is immediately apparent.
– Protection: Safeguards must be put in place for all government scientists who speak out.
"What we see at the FDA, while dramatic and frightening, is all too common at many federal agencies," said Dr. Grifo. "All federal scientists need protections so they can speak out when their science is manipulated, and all federal agencies need fully functioning independent advisory committees. FDA leadership must understand and support independent science and it is up to Congress to hold them accountable."
This is a press release based on a survey sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. 997 FDA scientists responded. The findings, nonetheless, merit further investigation.
July 20, 2006
FDA Scientists Pressured to Exclude, Alter Findings; Scientists Fear Retaliation for Voicing Safety Concerns
Public Health and Safety Will Suffer without Leadership from FDA and Congress
WASHINGTON, DC—The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released survey results that demonstrate pervasive and dangerous political influence of science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one-fifth (18.4 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey UCS has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.
"Science must be the driving force for decisions made at the FDA. These disturbing survey results make it clear that inappropriate interference is putting people in harm's way," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Senior Scientist and Director of UCS's Scientific Integrity Program. "FDA leaders should act now to improve transparency and accountability and renew respect for independent science at the agency."
The UCS survey, which was co-sponsored by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, was sent to 5,918 FDA scientists. Forty percent of respondents fear retaliation for voicing safety concerns in public. This fear, scientists say, combines with other pressures to compromise the agency's ability to protect public health and safety. More than a third of the respondents did not feel they could express safety concerns even inside the agency.
"This is more than just a bureaucratic problem within the agency," said Kim Witczak, WoodyMatters.com, who lost her husband due to side effects of a dangerous anti-depressant.
"It has real human impacts which can be devastating. My husband paid the ultimate price for FDA's lack of accountability."
The survey also revealed other compelling points of concern:
* 61 percent of the respondents knew of cases where "Department of Health and Human Services or FDA political appointees have inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions."
* Only 47 percent think the "FDA routinely provides complete and accurate information to the public."
* 81 percent agreed that the "public would be better served if the independence and authority of FDA post-market safety systems were strengthened."
* 70 percent disagree with the statement that FDA has sufficient resources to perform effectively its mission of "protecting public health…and helping to get accurate science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health."
"The FDA regulates products vital to the well-being of all Americans, including food, drugs, vaccines, and medical devices," said Dr. Grifo. "To fully protect public health and safety, the FDA must have the best available independent scientific data."
To address the concerns raised by FDA scientists, UCS recommends:
– Accountability: FDA leadership must face consequences if they side with commercial or political interests and not with the American people.
– Transparency: Scientific research and reviews should be open so any undue manipulation is immediately apparent.
– Protection: Safeguards must be put in place for all government scientists who speak out.
"What we see at the FDA, while dramatic and frightening, is all too common at many federal agencies," said Dr. Grifo. "All federal scientists need protections so they can speak out when their science is manipulated, and all federal agencies need fully functioning independent advisory committees. FDA leadership must understand and support independent science and it is up to Congress to hold them accountable."
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Maybe I'm not an optimist:
I think there was a time when I was, but I have to agree with my partner and admit I no longer am an optimist. I don’t think I’m a pessimist and I’m too much of a dreamer to be called a realist.
Maybe a certain amount of cynicism has crept in over the past few years, given the past six I can see that. But I’m hopeful too, and I have faith in human beings. Not always in individuals, as people make mistakes, and there are bad people too. But in general I believe there are more good people than bad people. I believe good people want to help make the world a better place.
But my faith has been shaken in the past few years by the events of the world around me. I’ve seen so much destruction and violence and nastiness recently, it makes me fearful for both the present and the future. It also makes me grateful for the great love I have in my life. Erik. My family and my friends. We deeply care for each other and are always there for each other. That makes all the difference in the world. Then there are all the little moments when I see people being kind to each other. They stand out with me. They help restore my faith.
I was very interested in the discovery that mice in the same cage have empathy for each other. I have no doubt in human empathy, but I believe it’s hard to feel that empathy – not difficult, but hard to experience. With all the hostility around us our senses get hit pretty hard with negativity. I hope all the good things help balance that out for people. We all have stories where our feelings warned us, and sometimes saved us.
I was at a funeral a little while ago, and my friend’s great-grandmother had demanded their entire family leave their cabin, (this is around the 1900s when whole families lived and worked the land together,) and that night a tornado ripped the cabin apart. Their entire family would have been wiped out had they not listened to the old woman’s intuition. They did not want to believer her, pack their things and go to the town, leaving their home and land – but they did. They found pieces of the cabin over 35 miles away.
So I believe in intuition, and I trust mine. I’m not always right, but then, none of us are. I think my only wish is that I would be better at holding my counsel. Patience and waiting are the hardest thing for me, and that’s what I want to learn. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently.
I think there was a time when I was, but I have to agree with my partner and admit I no longer am an optimist. I don’t think I’m a pessimist and I’m too much of a dreamer to be called a realist.
Maybe a certain amount of cynicism has crept in over the past few years, given the past six I can see that. But I’m hopeful too, and I have faith in human beings. Not always in individuals, as people make mistakes, and there are bad people too. But in general I believe there are more good people than bad people. I believe good people want to help make the world a better place.
But my faith has been shaken in the past few years by the events of the world around me. I’ve seen so much destruction and violence and nastiness recently, it makes me fearful for both the present and the future. It also makes me grateful for the great love I have in my life. Erik. My family and my friends. We deeply care for each other and are always there for each other. That makes all the difference in the world. Then there are all the little moments when I see people being kind to each other. They stand out with me. They help restore my faith.
I was very interested in the discovery that mice in the same cage have empathy for each other. I have no doubt in human empathy, but I believe it’s hard to feel that empathy – not difficult, but hard to experience. With all the hostility around us our senses get hit pretty hard with negativity. I hope all the good things help balance that out for people. We all have stories where our feelings warned us, and sometimes saved us.
I was at a funeral a little while ago, and my friend’s great-grandmother had demanded their entire family leave their cabin, (this is around the 1900s when whole families lived and worked the land together,) and that night a tornado ripped the cabin apart. Their entire family would have been wiped out had they not listened to the old woman’s intuition. They did not want to believer her, pack their things and go to the town, leaving their home and land – but they did. They found pieces of the cabin over 35 miles away.
So I believe in intuition, and I trust mine. I’m not always right, but then, none of us are. I think my only wish is that I would be better at holding my counsel. Patience and waiting are the hardest thing for me, and that’s what I want to learn. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought recently.
Friday, July 07, 2006
When good people are infiltrated by the under-handed:
By Phillip T. Alden
San Francisco, CA - July 2006.
One of the things about being a good person is that we tend to be trusting. When a person comes along who seems good we want to believe the best about them, believe they are also good people. This is part of our condition.
But many bad people like to insinuate themselves among good people for many reasons. Sometimes they want to pretend they are good people, afraid to admit to themselves they are not. Sometimes they only wish to use us for their own selfish ends. As sad as it is, if you live long enough this will happen because bad people are drawn to us. They see our warmth and desperately hope it will reduce the cold they feel inside, though it never does.
And it often starts with little things. Being good people we forgive, thinking these events are just mistakes made by other good people. It isn’t until the bad person does something that makes it clear to everyone exactly who and what they are, that we finally drive them from our midst. Being good people we don’t want to believe the worst of others, we don’t want to believe the person we have let become close is a bad person, and we get burned. Only then do we look back and see the little events as the warnings they were. Hindsight is 20-20.
As much as it pains us, and goes against our beliefs, we should be cautious when we see the little things because they are often harbingers of the future. Bad people give themselves away in ways both subtle and gross, but good people often miss the subtle warnings.
Bad people are often quite adept at making themselves look good. Like a chameleon they develop subterfuges to make them appear as good people. Even after they are shown to be what they are, we don’t want to believe it. That is not a fault. Our belief that others are basically good in nature speaks to the content of our character. Bad people know this and use it.
Because that is what bad people are – users. When they see another person they look for ways they can manipulate them, look for ways they can use the good person to their advantage. They calculate outside the world of mathematics.
They also work very hard at covering their tracks, hiding their background lest someone figure out what they are. They usually run far from their home because they have used their family and friends, burned every bridge. One of their great fears is we will discover their dark past. It would be great to suspect people who hide their familial connections and where they come from, but many people come from highly dysfunctional families where they were victimized. Bad people use this too.
Trust is part of our nature. We are incapable of looking upon new people with distrust because it runs contrary to our very core. We would rather trust and take the chance of getting burned than live in suspicion and distrust. That’s where bad people live. It’s one of the things that separate us from the bad people.
I am not suggesting we try and change our nature. To a certain extent, bad people will always be able to take advantage of us. It’s just a fact of life. But we should use caution when we see things that seem out of place for a good person. While we wish to believe that some of us are simply good people making a mistake, there are some behaviors that can clue us in, some things that should make us question.
Good people make mistakes. Usually we apologize and do our best to make amends. It is the people who justify their bad acts, who work very hard to rationalize to us why they behave in ways that seem untoward to us. It’s the second warning sign. Especially when they try to make themselves look good by making the other person look bad. This is the third warning sign.
And bad people will try very hard to make their behavior look like a mistake when it is anything but. They will attempt to save face by making their behavior look like an oversight. This is another manipulative act they use to stay hidden among us. When we see an action that seems opposite to what we believe, we should become vigilant. When we start to observe and tread with care things will make themselves clear to us.
I wish it were not this way. I wish there were only good people in the world. Barring that, I wish bad people were open and honest about who and what they are. But as the old saying goes; “If wishes were horses, dreamers would ride.” We cannot deny the darkness any more than we can deny that night follows day. It is the way of the universe.
So keep being open and warm and inviting. But be careful also. In Texas they have many sayings, and one that applies here is; “Water finds its own level.” Good people are drawn to other good people and we discover each other all the time. Bad people will eventually be found out – that also happens to be their greatest fear.
A good person is never ashamed or fearful of their past. Regretful yes, shameful no. A good person will let you truly know them, even if they have siblings or parents they may find embarrassing. They are not afraid to show where they come from and who their people are. Good people are not generally secretive. Everyone has a private life but good people rarely have a hidden life.
A good person may get hurt every now and again – but love, dignity, loyalty and serenity are things no power in the universe, no matter how dark, can ever take from us.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Drug War is Our War:
by Phillip T. Alden
(for "The Guide")
July 1, 2006
Introduction:
Drug Prohibition throughout the 20th century is defined by a litany of legislation designed to discriminate against people of color and protect specific industries. Therefore, the fight against abusive drugs laws is also a civil rights struggle, historically and currently.
The so-called “war on drugs” has in reality been a war of violence visited upon people of color and the poor by the White power structure – fearful of equal rights granted to Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans.
This “drug war” has also been waged against users of medical marijuana, many of whom are people living with HIV/AIDS. The GLBT Community has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement and our work has spurred the science that has demonstrated the validity of marijuana as medicine.
And this war is an economic discriminator as well as a racial one. From sentencing laws that impose harsher penalties on crack than on powdered cocaine, to the divide between street drugs and pharmaceutical drugs, there is one thing that stands out – the wealthy get off and the poor go to prison. The hypocrisy is staggering.
And we are also being targeted through our main social outlet – dance clubs. Recent legislation, poorly thought out and badly written, has been designed to shut down the places where we congregate and socialize.
Our community is plagued by a new wave of destruction known as Crystal, and while we want our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to see the harm Crystal is doing we have no desire to see them thrown into the brutal and violent prison-industrial complex.
And when it comes down to it, we have no desire to see anyone thrown into prison for doing what they want with their own bodies if they’re not harming anyone else. Our history has always been about personal freedom, whether it be sexual or drug-related. When did it become okay in America to tell people what they can and cannot do with their person? When did we abandon our basic rights and freedoms?
The History of Prohibition, Race and Violence:
The first drug law in our modern age was a prohibition against the smoking of opium in opium dens in 1875 – a method favored by Chinese railroad workers. The movement for the law was a panic based on the fear that White women would be seduced into having sex with Chinese men under the influence of the drug. Laudanum, the liquid form of opium favored by Whites, was left untouched. The law was based on the method ingestion, not the drug itself.
Then cocaine was targeted as part of a fear campaign against black men, with headlines like “Cocainized Niggers” and “Negro Cocaine Fiends” intent on whipping up hysteria with fears of White women (once again) being raped by drug-addled black men. Police used this hysteria as an excuse to switch from .32 caliber pistols to .38 caliber guns, using reasoning that stated a .32 caliber bullet was inadequate for killing a black man high on cocaine.
Not “stopping” a black man, “killing” him.
This same line of reasoning has been updated, with police departments claiming a need for automatic weapons and armor piercing rounds, escalating an arms war on American streets. Some law enforcement officials claimed that drug distributors were out-gunning them, but it has been shown it was the police who escalated first – with the opposition playing catch-up.
The drug war has been built upon lies told by politicians and law enforcement officials to muddy the waters and justify their war against people of color. Today we see a continuation of these lies, with the federal government stating in 2006 there was no medical basis for the use of marijuana, when a government-commissioned study by the Institute Of Medicine (IOM) has shown clear relief from nerve pain using medical cannabis.
The disastrous effects of the American prohibition against alcohol, causing the rise of organized crime in the United States in the 1930s, has been well-documented. The alcohol prohibition did not last but we still have organized crime to this day. The hard truth is the so-called “war on drugs” has caused more violence and death than it has prevented.
Medical Marijuana, AIDS and the Federal Government:
In 1937 the federal government passed the Marijuana Tax Act, the first in a series of anti-marijuana laws based on “Reefer Madness” hysteria. The Commissioner for the Bureau of Narcotics, (which is now the Drug Enforcement Agency,) was a man named Henry J. Anslinger, and he testified that cannabis had “a violent effect on the degenerate races.” This racial attack was aimed at Mexican immigrants who entered the country seeking work during the Great Depression. The American Medical Association (AMA) protested the law so Anslinger and his cronies lied to the public by stating they had supported it.
But there was more going on behind the scenes than just racially-based White hysteria when it came to cannabis. Before 1937 hemp was so common that marijuana still grows wild along American rail tracks, because so much of the crop was transported across the country. The U.S. Navy even used hemp rope on their ships. It took less water and less poisonous chemistry to grow hemp than it took to grow cotton or paper fiber, making hemp more environmentally-friendly.
But the lobby for cotton was wealthier and more powerful than those who organized at the grass-roots level for hemp production and use. In addition, DuPont Chemicals had invented a product based upon petroleum called Nylon, and hemp competed directly with their product. Our current troubles in Iraq are a prime example of how anything involving the oil industry can drive politics and destroy young lives.
The Civil Rights era of the 1960s and the expansion of individual freedom terrified the old White guard, who saw the “hippies” and the “niggers” poised to take over the country, which they could not countenance. In response, Richard Nixon launched what we currently call the “war on drugs.” In reality this was just an extension of the racist policies began in 1875, and one of its strongest supporters was Strom Thurmond, the infamous racist Senator who ruled Washington politics for decades.
Today the federal government is waging a separate war against medical marijuana despite the growing body of evidence that shows multiple benefits from cannabis. An extensive May 2003 article in The Lancet; Neurology – a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal in England – identified the presence of cannabinoid receptors around nerve ends, and that there are more of these receptors than there are opiate receptors in the same areas. This discovery answered the question that had been plaguing medical scientists: Why does medical cannabis treat nerve pain more effectively (and with fewer side-effects) than opiate-based drugs?
This same article stated that medical marijuana has a protective effect regarding nerve endings, and therefore may help protect the body from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even stroke. More recent studies this year have shown that smoking marijuana does not damage the respiratory system, as cigarettes do, and that medical cannabis may even have a protective effect on the bronchia and lungs.
It has been shown in numerous medical studies that cannabis calms the stomach and increases appetite – two essential factors in helping a Person With HIV/AIDS (PWA) tolerate antiviral therapy and maintain a healthy weight. Much of the medical basis for the use of marijuana comes from the fight against AIDS, and the gay community has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement.
But we know from twenty-six years of Republican-driven politics the federal government has little compassion for gays and lesbians, and even less for people with HIV and AIDS. Jerry Falwell is still spouting the same virulent homophobic rhetoric he put forth at the beginning of the epidemic, and in the world of Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly he has found a new group of ignorant, hate-filled people willing to listen to his bigoted ranting. Every person with HIV is just another “diseased fag” to such people, who seem to have the ear of our current political leaders and the endorsement of Radical Right media moguls like Rupert Murdoch, the racist and violently homophobic owner of Fox Media.
There is an ongoing boycott of Fox News.
We have fought for everything a PWA in America has access to today, and we need to fight for the right of all Americans to access and use medical marijuana. This includes people with Cancer undergoing chemotherapy and people like Julie Falco, a member of Illinois Drug Education and Legislative (IDEAL) Reform who has been living with multiple sclerosis for 20 years. Ms. Falco drives to Springfield in spite of the terrific pain she lives with to fight for the rights of all medical marijuana patients in her home state.
Rich Drug Users and Poor Drug Users:
Pity poor Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-show host who argued in 1995 that all drug abusers should be prosecuted and imprisoned. “We have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”
But Rush softened his stance after he was accused of purchasing thousands of pain-killers from his maid in 2003. In July of this year Rush was stopped at customs for trying to reenter the country with a bottle of Viagra that had no label or prescription.
And what penalty did Rush suffer for trying to buy 1,733 Hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 Xanax tabs and 40 time-release morphine pills?
18 months of drug treatment. Upon completion of this program there will be no criminal mark on his record. He will not have his right to vote taken from him. He will never serve a day in jail. “It should be recognized that people like Rush should be helped, not prosecuted,” his attorney, Roy Black stated. That’s swell for Rush.
It’s also public knowledge that George W. Bush abused cocaine and alcohol, and he has no criminal record, has served no time in jail or prison for his drug abuse. Instead he was given the presidency by the Supreme Court.
But what about the nearly two million ordinary Americans caught using street drugs? They get a free pass and drug treatment, too. Right?
Wrong. In Colorado, for example, there are 4,000 inmates in prison for non-violent drug offenses. The U.S. has locked up more than two million Americans, most for non-violent drug offenses. The so-called “war on drugs” has created a prison-industrial juggernaut and has been used to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of people.
But while we have been throwing poor people into our prison system for using crack cocaine and other street drugs, we have been ignoring the new drug epidemic involving prescription medications. Rush Limbaugh is on the cutting edge as it turns out. According to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs sent more people to the emergency room in 2005 than cocaine. But because these drugs also have legitimate legal uses there is not the same rallying cry to throw abusers into a prison cell.
“We Can’t Dance:”
But there is another way the “war on drugs” is targeting the gay community. “The Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act,” also known as “The RAVE Act,” introduced by Sen. Joseph Biden, (D-Delaware,) goes after club promoters and owners for drug use that may take place at their businesses. This law does not go after drug users themselves or even drug dealers. If there’s any drug use at these clubs owners can be fined up to $25,000 per customer. Even though the final wording watered-down this badly written overly broad piece of legislation, it’s enough to put a club owner out of business for things totally beyond their control. The broad use of the word “Rave” could be used to describe gay clubs and circuit parties – anyplace we go to have a little fun and dance with each other. This anti-youth, anti-gay and anti-club piece of legislation even refers to bottled water and glow sticks as “drug paraphernalia.”
It makes me wonder if Sen. Biden is going go after Walt Disney World as both bottled water and glow sticks are sold in their parks every day.
But the RAVE Act is not the only anti-club legislation being pushed through Washington. The CLEAN-UP Act, (Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize and Undermine Production of Methamphetamines,) further criminalizes club owners and concert promoters for the actions of people who attend their events. These two acts are so vague they can apply to almost any club or concert, anyplace we may gather to dance and meet.
The history of America is fraught with examples of homophobic law enforcement agencies perverting laws to go after places where gays and lesbians gather, and this expansion of the drug war allows greater discrimination and targeting of our social clubs, and by extension, us as a group. One or two high patrons would be enough to levy fines that could put a club or bar owner out of business.
The Future of Drug Policy and the GLBT Community:
It’s no secret that Crystal is a huge problem in our community, and the world at large. When my partner and I were in New Zealand in April of this year we found the country refreshing and wonderfully different, until the subject of Crystal came up. There is no place in the world not being impacted by Crystal, and we know that its use is another epidemic sweeping through our community. The brain damage done by Crystal is also pushing suicide rates among gay men.
But that does not mean we want our brothers and sisters treated like violent criminals and thrown into our massive prison-industrial complex. We also don’t want a few Crystal users to be the catalyst for shutting down our bars and clubs. We know how to help the members of our community with this problem and we don’t need law enforcement throwing us into prison and destroying our meeting places.
This so-called “drug war” is our war, or more importantly, it’s yet another war on us. We know from experience our enemies will use any and every law and excuse to shut us down and destroy our community. The legislative juggernaut that started in 1875 has become a hydra with too many heads to count, much less decapitate. It will take a major policy shift to stop this monster they call the “war on drugs.”
The GLBT Community has been the driving force behind policy changes in the United States. Prohibition does not work and we know this from our country’s history. It’s past time for our community to step up and initiate yet another policy change for the better. When our leaders speak, their words have the power to change hearts and minds, such is our effectiveness as political and social activists. We need to unify with other groups trying to stop the damage done by this collective insanity in our political landscape and bring about positive change.
by Phillip T. Alden
(for "The Guide")
July 1, 2006
Introduction:
Drug Prohibition throughout the 20th century is defined by a litany of legislation designed to discriminate against people of color and protect specific industries. Therefore, the fight against abusive drugs laws is also a civil rights struggle, historically and currently.
The so-called “war on drugs” has in reality been a war of violence visited upon people of color and the poor by the White power structure – fearful of equal rights granted to Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans.
This “drug war” has also been waged against users of medical marijuana, many of whom are people living with HIV/AIDS. The GLBT Community has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement and our work has spurred the science that has demonstrated the validity of marijuana as medicine.
And this war is an economic discriminator as well as a racial one. From sentencing laws that impose harsher penalties on crack than on powdered cocaine, to the divide between street drugs and pharmaceutical drugs, there is one thing that stands out – the wealthy get off and the poor go to prison. The hypocrisy is staggering.
And we are also being targeted through our main social outlet – dance clubs. Recent legislation, poorly thought out and badly written, has been designed to shut down the places where we congregate and socialize.
Our community is plagued by a new wave of destruction known as Crystal, and while we want our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to see the harm Crystal is doing we have no desire to see them thrown into the brutal and violent prison-industrial complex.
And when it comes down to it, we have no desire to see anyone thrown into prison for doing what they want with their own bodies if they’re not harming anyone else. Our history has always been about personal freedom, whether it be sexual or drug-related. When did it become okay in America to tell people what they can and cannot do with their person? When did we abandon our basic rights and freedoms?
The History of Prohibition, Race and Violence:
The first drug law in our modern age was a prohibition against the smoking of opium in opium dens in 1875 – a method favored by Chinese railroad workers. The movement for the law was a panic based on the fear that White women would be seduced into having sex with Chinese men under the influence of the drug. Laudanum, the liquid form of opium favored by Whites, was left untouched. The law was based on the method ingestion, not the drug itself.
Then cocaine was targeted as part of a fear campaign against black men, with headlines like “Cocainized Niggers” and “Negro Cocaine Fiends” intent on whipping up hysteria with fears of White women (once again) being raped by drug-addled black men. Police used this hysteria as an excuse to switch from .32 caliber pistols to .38 caliber guns, using reasoning that stated a .32 caliber bullet was inadequate for killing a black man high on cocaine.
Not “stopping” a black man, “killing” him.
This same line of reasoning has been updated, with police departments claiming a need for automatic weapons and armor piercing rounds, escalating an arms war on American streets. Some law enforcement officials claimed that drug distributors were out-gunning them, but it has been shown it was the police who escalated first – with the opposition playing catch-up.
The drug war has been built upon lies told by politicians and law enforcement officials to muddy the waters and justify their war against people of color. Today we see a continuation of these lies, with the federal government stating in 2006 there was no medical basis for the use of marijuana, when a government-commissioned study by the Institute Of Medicine (IOM) has shown clear relief from nerve pain using medical cannabis.
The disastrous effects of the American prohibition against alcohol, causing the rise of organized crime in the United States in the 1930s, has been well-documented. The alcohol prohibition did not last but we still have organized crime to this day. The hard truth is the so-called “war on drugs” has caused more violence and death than it has prevented.
Medical Marijuana, AIDS and the Federal Government:
In 1937 the federal government passed the Marijuana Tax Act, the first in a series of anti-marijuana laws based on “Reefer Madness” hysteria. The Commissioner for the Bureau of Narcotics, (which is now the Drug Enforcement Agency,) was a man named Henry J. Anslinger, and he testified that cannabis had “a violent effect on the degenerate races.” This racial attack was aimed at Mexican immigrants who entered the country seeking work during the Great Depression. The American Medical Association (AMA) protested the law so Anslinger and his cronies lied to the public by stating they had supported it.
But there was more going on behind the scenes than just racially-based White hysteria when it came to cannabis. Before 1937 hemp was so common that marijuana still grows wild along American rail tracks, because so much of the crop was transported across the country. The U.S. Navy even used hemp rope on their ships. It took less water and less poisonous chemistry to grow hemp than it took to grow cotton or paper fiber, making hemp more environmentally-friendly.
But the lobby for cotton was wealthier and more powerful than those who organized at the grass-roots level for hemp production and use. In addition, DuPont Chemicals had invented a product based upon petroleum called Nylon, and hemp competed directly with their product. Our current troubles in Iraq are a prime example of how anything involving the oil industry can drive politics and destroy young lives.
The Civil Rights era of the 1960s and the expansion of individual freedom terrified the old White guard, who saw the “hippies” and the “niggers” poised to take over the country, which they could not countenance. In response, Richard Nixon launched what we currently call the “war on drugs.” In reality this was just an extension of the racist policies began in 1875, and one of its strongest supporters was Strom Thurmond, the infamous racist Senator who ruled Washington politics for decades.
Today the federal government is waging a separate war against medical marijuana despite the growing body of evidence that shows multiple benefits from cannabis. An extensive May 2003 article in The Lancet; Neurology – a prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal in England – identified the presence of cannabinoid receptors around nerve ends, and that there are more of these receptors than there are opiate receptors in the same areas. This discovery answered the question that had been plaguing medical scientists: Why does medical cannabis treat nerve pain more effectively (and with fewer side-effects) than opiate-based drugs?
This same article stated that medical marijuana has a protective effect regarding nerve endings, and therefore may help protect the body from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even stroke. More recent studies this year have shown that smoking marijuana does not damage the respiratory system, as cigarettes do, and that medical cannabis may even have a protective effect on the bronchia and lungs.
It has been shown in numerous medical studies that cannabis calms the stomach and increases appetite – two essential factors in helping a Person With HIV/AIDS (PWA) tolerate antiviral therapy and maintain a healthy weight. Much of the medical basis for the use of marijuana comes from the fight against AIDS, and the gay community has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement.
But we know from twenty-six years of Republican-driven politics the federal government has little compassion for gays and lesbians, and even less for people with HIV and AIDS. Jerry Falwell is still spouting the same virulent homophobic rhetoric he put forth at the beginning of the epidemic, and in the world of Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly he has found a new group of ignorant, hate-filled people willing to listen to his bigoted ranting. Every person with HIV is just another “diseased fag” to such people, who seem to have the ear of our current political leaders and the endorsement of Radical Right media moguls like Rupert Murdoch, the racist and violently homophobic owner of Fox Media.
There is an ongoing boycott of Fox News.
We have fought for everything a PWA in America has access to today, and we need to fight for the right of all Americans to access and use medical marijuana. This includes people with Cancer undergoing chemotherapy and people like Julie Falco, a member of Illinois Drug Education and Legislative (IDEAL) Reform who has been living with multiple sclerosis for 20 years. Ms. Falco drives to Springfield in spite of the terrific pain she lives with to fight for the rights of all medical marijuana patients in her home state.
Rich Drug Users and Poor Drug Users:
Pity poor Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-show host who argued in 1995 that all drug abusers should be prosecuted and imprisoned. “We have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”
But Rush softened his stance after he was accused of purchasing thousands of pain-killers from his maid in 2003. In July of this year Rush was stopped at customs for trying to reenter the country with a bottle of Viagra that had no label or prescription.
And what penalty did Rush suffer for trying to buy 1,733 Hydrocodone pills, 90 OxyContin pills, 50 Xanax tabs and 40 time-release morphine pills?
18 months of drug treatment. Upon completion of this program there will be no criminal mark on his record. He will not have his right to vote taken from him. He will never serve a day in jail. “It should be recognized that people like Rush should be helped, not prosecuted,” his attorney, Roy Black stated. That’s swell for Rush.
It’s also public knowledge that George W. Bush abused cocaine and alcohol, and he has no criminal record, has served no time in jail or prison for his drug abuse. Instead he was given the presidency by the Supreme Court.
But what about the nearly two million ordinary Americans caught using street drugs? They get a free pass and drug treatment, too. Right?
Wrong. In Colorado, for example, there are 4,000 inmates in prison for non-violent drug offenses. The U.S. has locked up more than two million Americans, most for non-violent drug offenses. The so-called “war on drugs” has created a prison-industrial juggernaut and has been used to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of people.
But while we have been throwing poor people into our prison system for using crack cocaine and other street drugs, we have been ignoring the new drug epidemic involving prescription medications. Rush Limbaugh is on the cutting edge as it turns out. According to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs sent more people to the emergency room in 2005 than cocaine. But because these drugs also have legitimate legal uses there is not the same rallying cry to throw abusers into a prison cell.
“We Can’t Dance:”
But there is another way the “war on drugs” is targeting the gay community. “The Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act,” also known as “The RAVE Act,” introduced by Sen. Joseph Biden, (D-Delaware,) goes after club promoters and owners for drug use that may take place at their businesses. This law does not go after drug users themselves or even drug dealers. If there’s any drug use at these clubs owners can be fined up to $25,000 per customer. Even though the final wording watered-down this badly written overly broad piece of legislation, it’s enough to put a club owner out of business for things totally beyond their control. The broad use of the word “Rave” could be used to describe gay clubs and circuit parties – anyplace we go to have a little fun and dance with each other. This anti-youth, anti-gay and anti-club piece of legislation even refers to bottled water and glow sticks as “drug paraphernalia.”
It makes me wonder if Sen. Biden is going go after Walt Disney World as both bottled water and glow sticks are sold in their parks every day.
But the RAVE Act is not the only anti-club legislation being pushed through Washington. The CLEAN-UP Act, (Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize and Undermine Production of Methamphetamines,) further criminalizes club owners and concert promoters for the actions of people who attend their events. These two acts are so vague they can apply to almost any club or concert, anyplace we may gather to dance and meet.
The history of America is fraught with examples of homophobic law enforcement agencies perverting laws to go after places where gays and lesbians gather, and this expansion of the drug war allows greater discrimination and targeting of our social clubs, and by extension, us as a group. One or two high patrons would be enough to levy fines that could put a club or bar owner out of business.
The Future of Drug Policy and the GLBT Community:
It’s no secret that Crystal is a huge problem in our community, and the world at large. When my partner and I were in New Zealand in April of this year we found the country refreshing and wonderfully different, until the subject of Crystal came up. There is no place in the world not being impacted by Crystal, and we know that its use is another epidemic sweeping through our community. The brain damage done by Crystal is also pushing suicide rates among gay men.
But that does not mean we want our brothers and sisters treated like violent criminals and thrown into our massive prison-industrial complex. We also don’t want a few Crystal users to be the catalyst for shutting down our bars and clubs. We know how to help the members of our community with this problem and we don’t need law enforcement throwing us into prison and destroying our meeting places.
This so-called “drug war” is our war, or more importantly, it’s yet another war on us. We know from experience our enemies will use any and every law and excuse to shut us down and destroy our community. The legislative juggernaut that started in 1875 has become a hydra with too many heads to count, much less decapitate. It will take a major policy shift to stop this monster they call the “war on drugs.”
The GLBT Community has been the driving force behind policy changes in the United States. Prohibition does not work and we know this from our country’s history. It’s past time for our community to step up and initiate yet another policy change for the better. When our leaders speak, their words have the power to change hearts and minds, such is our effectiveness as political and social activists. We need to unify with other groups trying to stop the damage done by this collective insanity in our political landscape and bring about positive change.
