Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 05:34:16 +0200
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A Duty to Censor by Phillip O. Coffin
U.N. officials want to crack down on the drug war protesters.
Reason Magazine (August 1998)
(Page 54) "Based on the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the INCB claims that all nations are obliged to enact laws that prohibit inciting or inducing people 'by any means' to 'use narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances illicitly.'
According to the INCB's report, offenders include anyone who 'shows illicit use in a favorable light' or who advocates 'a change in the drug law.' "
"The INCB even suggests that political campaigns based on calls for drug politics reform may be prohibited under international
treaties: 'Election campaigns have been conducted with candidates standing for parliament on a drug legalization platform. Some of the candidates for the European Parliament stood on such a platform and were successful. Thus, they were able to use their access and influence to win others over to their cause. Some campaigns, such as the successful campaigns for the "medical" use of cannabis in Arizona and California in the United States of America, have sought to change the law....",
Further in the article....
(Page 55) "But a more immediate threat is the suppression of politically incorrect views within the UN itself. The World Health Organization (WHO) removed a section from a recent report on marijuana concluding that the drug's hazards pale beside those of tobacco and alcohol. WHO said the section was dropped because ' the reliability andpublic health significance of such comparisons are doubtful.'
The lead researcher Robin Room of Cannonade's Addiction Research Foundation, disagreed. 'In my view' he wrote in the Toronto Globe and Mail, 'enough is known to be useful.' The real concern seemed to be the potential reaction from from U.N. drug control figures.
One source familiar with the controversy says the view at the Drug Control Program is that 'anyone who wants to make comparisons [between marijuana and illicit drugs] is a legalizer.' "
"U.S. officials continue to lead the international fight against deviation from the official line on drugs. According to staff members at the U.N. Drug Control Program, the INCB's U.S representative, Herbert Okum, has played a vital role in the developing the U.N.'s censorship standards. That role is not surprising, given the attitude of U.S. drug warriors toward American dissenters."
"In December 1996, a month after California and Arizona voters legalized the medical use of marijuana, Attorney General Janet Reno, drug czar Barry McCaffrey, and DEA Director Thomas Canstantine announced that the federal government would punish any doctor who recommended marijuana to a patient. A group of California physicians challenged the policy as a violation of the First Amendment, they won a temporary injunction from a federal judge. A year later, when a television character Murphy Brown smoked marijuana to relieve the nausea brought on by cancer chemotherapy, Constantine promised to investigate 'if any laws were broken'."
--
-- Mike Zarlenga
finger zarlenga@conan.ids.net for PGP public key
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