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This advertisement appeared in The New Republic, the National Review, the Weekly Standard and The Nation in 1999.

“We are deeply troubled ...” February 24, 1999 General Barry McCaffrey Office of National Drug Control Policy Washington, D.C. Dear General McCaffrey,   As academics, journalists, public health experts, and community leaders, we are deeply troubled by a series of inaccurate and misleading statements you have made as Drug Czar.   In particular, we are concerned by statements you have made on the following: • NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAMS   In March 1998, you described needle exchange programs as "magnets for all social ills," including violence, drug dealers and prostitution. Yet in study after study, scientific researchers have found that needle exchanges reduce the transmission of HIV without increasing drug use.   Also, in April, you claimed that two Canadian needle exchange studies showed that needle exchanges were ineffective in reducing the spread of HIV and may have worsened the problem. Missing from your analysis was the fact that Canada, unlike the United States, allows needles to be purchased without a prescription and as a result the Canadian study did not include more affluent and healthier addicts who were less likely to engage in the riskiest activities.   Your statements so disturbed the Canadian scientists that they felt compelled to publish an op-ed in The New York Times to repudiate the misuse of their findings. • MEDICAL MARIJUANA   On August 15, 1996, you said, "There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax."   Yet exhaustive research, including numerous studies by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other authoritative institutions, have concluded that marijuana possesses therapeutic value and effectively treats chemotherapy-related nausea and appetite loss.   Even after the New England Journal of Medicine, which represents the mainstream medical community, editorialized in support of medical marijuana, you have made no statements recognizing the scientific research backing the medicinal value of marijuana. • INTERNATIONAL MODELS OF DRUG CONTROL   On July 24, 1998 the Chicago Tribune quoted you as saying: "The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States...That's drugs."   In fact, the Dutch homicide rate is only one-fourth that of the United States. The Dutch rate has never approached, much less exceeded, that of the United States.   When you claimed that the Dutch murder rate was higher, you blamed Holland's drug policies. Yet when confronted with the facts, you did not suggest that U.S. drug policies are the cause of our higher homicide rate.   The media and the public rely on your office to avoid unfounded speculation, to recognize and disseminate scientific consensus when it exists, and to provide, when available, material facts that could help us deal realistically and effectively with our very real problems of addiction. Therefore we urge you and other national leaders to provide the news media and the public with the most accurate scientific findings available.   We realize that speaking forthrightly requires leadership and courage in the current ideological atmosphere but, given your distinguished record in the military, the public has reason to expect nothing less. Respectfully, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Chair of Afro-American Studies, Harvard University Willie L. Brown Jr., Mayor of San Francisco Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Harvard Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Professor of Endocrinology, Arkansas Children's Hospital, former Surgeon General Orlando Patterson, Professor, Harvard University William Julius Wilson, Professor, Harvard University Dr. David Duncan, Clinical Associate Professor, Brown University Medical School and Chair, Council on Illicit Drugs, National Association for Public Health Policy Ira Glasser, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union Rebecca Isaacs, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Lindesmith Center Kevin Zeese, President, Common Sense for Drug Policy Kathleen Stoll, Center for Women's Policy Studies Dr. Patricia D. Hawkins, Associate Executive Director, Whitman-Walker Clinic Glenn C. Loury, Director, The Institute on Race and Social Division Ronald E. Hampton, Executive Director, National Black Police Association Eva Patterson, Executive Director, Layers Committee for Civil Rights Daniel Maccallair, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice Pat Christen, Executive Director, SF AIDS Foundation Regina Aragón, Public Policy Director, SF AIDS Foundation Cynthia Pearson, Executive Director, National Women's Health Network John Cavanagh, Executive Director, Institute for Policy Studies Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias, Co-Director, Pacific Institute for Women's Health Trish Moylan Torruella, Executive Director, Mothers' Voices : United to End AIDS Craig E. Thompson, Executive Director, AIDS Project - Los Angeles Duane Poe, Executive Director, Black Coalition on AIDS, Inc. R. Keith Stroup, Executive Director, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Martin Waukazoo, Executive Director, Native American Health Center Ron Rowell, MPH, Executive Director, National Native American AIDS Prevention Center Loras Ojeda, Community Relations Director, Mobilization Against AIDS Dennis deLeon, Executive Director, Latino Commission on AIDS Lupe Lopez, Executive Director, People of Color Against AIDS Network Rob Kampia, Exectuve Director, Marijuana Policy Project Margaret Batchelor White, President, Black Women's Agenda, Inc. Dr. James T. Black, President, 100 Black Men of Los Angeles Luz Alvarez Martinez, Executive Director, National Latina Health Organization Alvan Quamina, Executive Director, African American AIDS Support Services and Survival Institute

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		Introduction Supreme Court Justice Questions Marijuana Policy Meet the Drug War Winners and Losers Iraq Vets Victims of the Drug War A Letter to Mom The Blue Ribbon Report Richard Nixon Chose to Bury Good News for Doctors and Pain Patients The Man Who Gave Us the Drug War The Devil Weed and Harry Anslinger Why Not Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Is It Sound Policy to Jail Expectant Mothers A Riveting 12-Minute Documentary Mexico Is Becoming the Next Colombia Suffering from Chronic Pain Another Drug Baby Media Scare Methamphetamine Crisis - Hype Or Fact They're telling the Attorney General to butt out How can judges and jurors dispense justice and mercy without relevant information? Urine drug testing fails at school and work Isn't rewarding achievement the American way? Are we addicted to drug war money? Who says we are winning the drug war? Shafer Commission 30th Anniversary The public is saying 'No More Drug War!' Now we are in a real war . . . isn't it time to abandon the war on ourselves? Is the funding of terrorism another unintended consequence of drug prohibition? Should Coerced Treatment Replace Prison For First Time, Non-Violent Drug Offenders? Change of Tune on drug policy? UK Police End Cannabis Seizures White Kids Use and Sell, Black Kids Go To Prison Time for the Government to Provide Safe Access to Medical Marijuana Annual Causes of Deaths in the US Pregnant Women: Drug War Casualties? Bush Offers Hope Clinton Interview Drug Czar Wanted Voting Rights Drug Courts A Real War in Colombia? What We Know About Ecstasy How We Judge a Fallen Hero Crooked Cops Findings of the British Police Foundation Just Say Not Guilty? The More We Escalate, The More Die Protecting Kids? What Should We Tell Our Kids? Happy Valentine's Day? McCaffrey Resign Drug Problem in Perspective Ending the Drug War Is Popular Time to admit the War on Drugs has failed Mandatory Sentencing is Bad Controlled Access to Heroin Do Drug Laws Focus on the Dangerous Drugs? Arizona Stops Jailing Drug Users We Are Deeply Troubled A Police View on the War on Drugs Dutch Drug Policy Even More Effective Treatment More Effective Than Enforcement It's as Simple as 123 Has the Drug Czar Bought the Media? Compromising Integrity and Prestige? Constitution a Victim of the Drug War? Marijuana Myths/Marijuana Facts Dutch Drug Policy Works Pinocchio McCaffrey