If they get a federal commission and a White House photo opportunity they will mark it a success. They are a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. Most of the African American leadership continues to support the very programs that are destroying the black community.

This makes Kevin Zeese’s accomplishment all the more remarkable. At the very least, they seem to have upset the Drug Czar.

I would bet that the second story gets more national coverage. "Police brutality" is an acceptable topic. Criticizing the Drug Czar for lying is not.

Again, the juxtaposition of these two stories is something that would only be possible on the Internet.)

Coalition Protests Government’s Hard-Line Drug Policies

February 25, 1999

By ERIC LICHTBLAU, LA Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON—
Black leaders and public health advocates on Wednesday joined to protest several hard-line aspects of the federal government’s anti-drug strategy, accusing the White House of spreading misinformation.

In a letter to Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, more than two dozen scholars and activists Said they were "deeply troubled" by McCaffrey’s "inaccurate and misleading statements" in opposition to needle exchange programs and medicinal marijuana, among other issues.

McCaffrey has often found himself at odds with groups that want to ease enforcement actions and strict sentencing guidelines and place more emphasis on drug treatment and research.

McCaffrey said the letter simply reflects "different, legitimate viewpoints" about how to interpret available drug research, rather than any distortion by his office.

The missive was delivered the same day McCaffrey met with Pino Arlacchi, His drug-fighting counterpart at the United Nations, to map out ways of beefing up multinational anti-drug efforts.

At a news conference later, the two men offered little in the way of specific new strategies, but stressed the need for increased international teamwork in combating drug traffickers, and in developing new sources of revenue for rural areas that now depend on drug production.

Those signing Wednesday’s letter to McCaffrey said the United States’ Effort has been misguided, focusing on border interdiction and law enforcement crackdowns at the expense of treatment and research.

"We’re disappointed with the White House policy. It’s more of the same, and more of the same isn’t working," said Kevin Zeese, president of the drug policy group.

Pointing to a surge in drug overdoses and incarcerations, Zeese said: "We’ve got to look at the drug policy honestly and recognize the failure."

Voters already have begun to do so, Zeese said, by approving measures in Six states last year that make medicinal marijuana legal and authorize other more liberal policies in the areas of sentencing and treatment. "The voters are way ahead of the politicians on this," he said.

Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson, a specialist in racial issues who signed the letter to McCaffrey, said he is appalled by the administration’s misleading public statements concerning drug issues, including McCaffrey’s assertion that needle exchange programs are "a magnet for social ills."

"Anyone who has done any work on this will tell you that this can only do good in terms of reducing AIDS" and other diseases among drug users, he said.

Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - African American leaders Thursday reminded President Clinton of their solid support during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and called on him to return the favor by leading their campaign against police brutality.

Demanding an end to what he called law enforcement’s "open season" on minorities, National Urban League President Hugh Price said, "These are the very people who have stuck with you through thick and thin."

Price, along with other black, religious and congressional leaders, held a news conference at which they urged Clinton to host a White House summit "placing the spotlight smack on this problem" and challenged the Justice Department and others to produce solutions.

Their demand was prompted in part by the Feb. 4 shooting in New York of Amadou Diallo, 22, an unarmed street vendor from the West African country of Guinea. Diallo was hit 19 times in a barrage of 41 bullets fired by four white officers as he stood in the doorway of his apartment building in the Bronx.

The four officers have been placed on administrative leave pending investigation.

Activists have staged demonstrations almost daily in New York since the shooting. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was challenged about the incident when he testified Wednesday before a U.S. congressional committee about his efforts to fight crime in New York.

The Congressional Black Caucus has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the practices of the New York Police Department. Representative Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, told the news conference he and his colleagues would seek similar action against other departments that allegedly violate the civil rights of individuals.

"The citizens of this country must be reassured that we, the federal government, can effect positive change," he said.

Cases like Diallo’s have mobilized minority communities, whose members fear that the allegedly discriminatory policies and aggressive tactics employed by many police departments have reached a crisis point, especially for blacks and Hispanics.

"We have a national epidemic of brutality. President Clinton, you need to step up to the plate and provide leadership," the Urban League’s Price said.

The African American leaders also called for the creation of a blue-ribbon investigative panel with subpoena powers, police-civilian review boards at state and local levels, and the withholding of federal money from police departments with unusually high brutality records.

At her weekly news conference, Reno acknowledged the gravity of the problem. She said that in the past five years, her department has criminally prosecuted more than 300 officers, resulting in more than 200 convictions, with another 100 investigations ongoing.

"There is so much that has been done and we are going to continue to do it because for an officer to use the authority in a way that violates the civil rights of Americans is just wrong. It is an example of government authority being abused, and that we should not tolerate," Reno said.

See
Los Angeles Times Prints Expanded Version Of State Senator Vasconcellos'
Defense Of Medical Marijuana: "Listen Up, Washington, the People Have Spoken"
and
Court Refuses to Return The Kubbys’ Computers, Forcing Them Into Bankruptcy;
How Seizing Computers Undermines Our 4^th Amendment And Other Basic Rights.
and
In Hawaii Two Police Helicopters Supposedly Used In "Marijuana Eradication"
Flew Low Over Activist’s Home One Day After He Testified Before The Legislature
In Support Of Medical Marijuana! Trying To Eradicate Dissent?
and
Sacramento Area Narcs Are Arresting Medical Marijuana Patients,
And The State Is Investigating Their Doctors. Hidden War.
"There seems to be more medicinal busts than recreational or black market busts."
and
Brady Update: State Judge Rules That Prop. 215 Does Not Apply, Even In A California Court;
Subjects Brady To Random Testing By The Same Police Who Are Trying To Railroad Him!
and
Press Release And Full Text Of Letter From AIDS Groups
Calling For Immediate Access To Medical Marijuana.
and
Patients In Eastern Washington State Continue To Live In Fear; "We’re all scared."
and, well, you get the picture.