>>> Part 13 of 15...
     A 46-year-old practical nurse was observed driving his
     fairly new car to a Harlem crack house while parking his
     other car near his co-op apartment. ... Among the other
     regular users at the crack house were social workers, a
     maintenance man, and other healthy looking people with
     conventional jobs.
     ...
     Upper-income users may find it easier to get drugs fromOB
     physicians and powerful people could have access that is not
     possible for others.  Narcotics Commissioner Harry J.
     Anslinger, the leading foe of narcotics maintenance,
     secretly authorized the use of maintenance for specific
     persons on a number of occasions.  Thus, in the 1950's he
     maintained influential United States Senator Joseph R.
     McCarthy, who was a political ally, on morphine for years.
     ...
     Studies in different societies, both economically advanced
     and underdeveloped, and involving a range of substances,
     have documented the use of habituating drugs by persons who
     are effective workers.
     An investigation in Thailand found that some hill tribes
     reported that opium enabled them to function and it was not
     unusual to see a villager who had been addicted for 30 to 40
     years and was still working actively.
     In Jamaica, where ganja plays a significant role in social
     and economic life, the drug often facilitates the
     accomplishment of work by individuals and groups. ... users
     generally feel that ganja enhances their ability to work by
     promoting strength and stamina.  Supervisors agreed that the
     ganja helps workers in the arduous job of reaping sugar
     cane.
     Dutch cocaine users not only used it while functioning
     effectively on the job, but typically worked while under the
     influence.  American observers at national meetings of the
     Dutch ``junkie union'' have been surprised at seeing members
     injecting heroin and then chairing the meetings with
     facility and skill.
     A report by a British investigator concluded that a
     substantial proportion of the addicts receiving heroin at
     English clinics in the late 1960's could be characterized as
     stable, with high employment, legitimate income, and no
     hustling.
     ...
     Other cultures provide clues that, without repressive laws,
     adult users may be able to regulate their own behavior and
     decide for themselves what constitutes appropriate use.  The
     Dutch study of cocaine users, for example, demonstrated that
     a significant proportion of the samples experienced periods
     of increasing use.  For others, cocaine use became so
     problematic that they abstained, either for long periods of
     time or entirely.  So long as our government policy is based
     upon the assumption that nonmedical drug use is destructive,
     we cannot develope substantial knowledge of the factors that
     enhance such effective self-regulation of use.
[14] JOURNAL OF ADDICTIVE DISEASES Vol 12(2) 1993 pp 43-56
``Laboratory Tests for Rapid Screening of Drugs of Abuse in the
Work-place'' by Richard H. Schwartz, MD; H. Westly Clark, MD; and
Patricia S. Meek, PhD
     ABSTRACT:  The use of rapid, on-site drug detection devices
     is reviewed.  These tests permit the detection of various
     psychoactive substances in urine, and are easily used by
     nonskilled personnel ... The tests have potential use in the
     emergency room, doctor's office, drug treatment program, and
     the work place. ...
[15] U.S.A. Today side-bar, and a front page article, also in
U.S.A Today on the last week of July, entitled ``Is the War on
Drugs Racist?''  (eventually I will find an exact reference for
this one, too.)
     MINIMUM FEDERAL SENTENCE FOR A FIRST OFFENDER
                    Powder      Crack
     Amount         Cocaine     Cocaine
     ----------------------------------
     5 grams        Probation   5 years
     50 grams       1 year      10 years
     500 grams      5 years     11 years
     5,000 grams    10 years    17.5 years
     Note: defendants serve 85% of sentence.  There is *no*
parole.
 >>> Continued to next message...
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