SANHO TREE VISITS THE DRUGSENSE CHAT ROOM

Sanho: Hi folks, I'm glad to be here tonight. To start things off, I
thought I'd post a short bio of myself so that you know where I'm coming
from. I look forward to your comments and questions.

Sanho Tree is a Fellow and Director of the Drug Policy Project at the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. The project works to end
the domestic and international "War on Drugs" and replace it with a harm
reduction approach that focuses on public health and safety as well as
economic alternatives to the illicit drug economy.

The intersection of race and poverty in the drug war is at the heart of the
Project's work. Mr. Tree has also worked as a military and diplomatic
historian and co-authored with Dr. Gar Alperovitz "The Decision to Use the
Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth" ( Knopf, 1995 ).

From 1996-97, he assisted entertainer Harry Belafonte in drafting his
memoirs and continues to work as an occasional consultant for him on
international issues. He was also associate editor of CoverAction
Quarterly, an award-winning magazine of investigative journalism. In the
late 1980s he worked at the International Human Rights Law Group. My
office website .. ( http://www.ips-dc.org ).

kaptinemo: Here's my Q: Sanho, i understand that there has been no prior
human testing of Cosmo-Flux, the additive in the Roundup used in Colombia.
Now the US government, courtesy of US Ambassador Patterson, says they
will test it...on Colombians. Has anyone asked the permission of those to
be 'tested'?

Sanho: Great point. Not to my knowlege

Dean: SANHO, do you intend to tour Colombia and or Panama on your upcoming
visit to the Andean region, and if so, what will you be looking for,
reporting on?

Sanho: I'm a little sensitive about announcing it publicly. It's a little
harry down there and I'd like to keep my head down. I hope you understand.

Sanho: I'll be in Colombia soon, but I'd rather not give details.

Dean: Sure Sanho, I now realize the predicament.

Lindy: SANHO: I'm a Canadian, how can other countries put pressure on the
USA re: world drug wars, through the United Nations?

Sanho: Unfortunately, the Cheney administration doesn't give a rat's ass
about the UN.

Sanho: European parliament resolutions and such are fine, but they don't
have much teeth

Sanho: My apologies to Vancouver!

Sanho: Yankee stay home!

kaptinemo: SANHO: would it be fair to say that other nations, tiring of the
US DrugWar, are quietly sidling away from the UN Single Convention Treaty?

Sanho: I would suggest people lead by example. That was the threat posed
by Nicaragua in the 1980s--the threat of a good example!

allan: Sanho- the American people, the demand side of (one of) Colombia's
problem(s), is unaware by and large of US GI deaths in S. Amer - can you
comment on Jennifer Odom and her crews death?

Sanho: The Odom crash hasn't been fully investigated to my knowledge. Only
an official investigation.

Sanho: Wouldn't surprise me if the FARC shot it down

allan: do you see a tie between their deaths and Col Hiett?

Sanho: There have also been several deaths of private military contractors,
but not much publicity

Sanho: Col. Hiett and his wife were part of the problem. Prohibition is an
equal opportunity corruptor.

Sanho: It's been rumored that the FARC have bought very sophisticated weaponry.

Sanho: Probably have stingers as well

Jo-D: bought? from?

Sanho: The drug producers we supported -- in Afganistan.

Sanho: Hiett got off like most priviliged white folks. Slap on the wrist.

Dean: SANHO: Aren't the Farc and the others like "regulators" from the wild
west, except with machine guns? Hired hands working for the ranch owners?

Sanho: The FARC have filled a gap left by the Colombian gov't. They've
totally abandoned much of the country side. Colombia is 70% urban and those
folks haven't cared much about the peasants in the countryside.

Sanho: There are many well meaning members of Congress who admit this won't
work as a drug control policy, but "we must help stabilize Colombia".

Sanho: But imposing stability w/out first establishing legitimacy is at the
root of the problem. It's called repression.

BigBong: SANHO: how important has the internet become in the fight to end
the WOD?

BigBong: has it helped or hindered?

BigBong: hindered as in "so many causes to support'

Sanho: I think the internet has been the great equalizer. For those who
have access, anyway.

Sanho: There's still that digital divide

Sanho: I work on the intersection of race & poverty and the WOD. It's also
the nexus with the digital divide.

kaptinemo: SANHO: do you know off-hand whether the average Colombian
considers the present Pastrana regime as being legitimate?

Sanho: Legitimate, but not popular.

Sanho: But the polls are oftend done by phone. Guess what class of folks
own telephones?

Sanho: It's like stopping all the Mercedes on Rodeo drive and asking them
if they support tax cuts for the rich!

Sanho: Also, who in Colombia would admit to supporting illegal armed
actors to a stranger?

Sanho: There are many factions in the Colombian gov't. SOme are more
dependent on US $$ than others.

Debra: Sanho, if Bolivia has not received any help w/replacement crops for
coca, why is the public to think this policy will work in Columbia, which
is so much less stable?

Sanho: The public aint! Bolivia has been an overall disaster.

kaptinemo: SANHO: there's been some very limited exposure in the uS press
about a package DynCorp, the major 'contractor' (translation: Mercs) had
sent back to their base in Florida. It supposedly contained liquid heroin.
nothing further has been heard since. Any news about that?

Sanho: Only Jason Vest's story on The Nation's website. Dyncorp has been
in many scandals of late!

Sanho: Dyncorp also supplies private international police officer in the
Balkans -- who have been accused of sexual slavery and trafficking of women.

Lindy: SANHO: What do you recommend we focus our efforts on in the
W.O.D.? What will have the most benefit, in the shortest time?

Sanho: Constituent pressure!!!!!

Sanho: You have absolutely no leverage over Jesse Helms, but you have
enormous pressure over your own representatives.

Sanho: If they don't hear from you, they assume there's no problem.

Sanho: This gov't sucks, but it's the only one we have for the time being.

Dean: SANHO, when is enough going to be enough, the real TRUTH is stacked
40 feet high and yet the supposed govt. truth is still in control, what's
the trigger to move the pendulum?

Dean: security over liberty, eh G?.. they have heard and will continue to
hear from me Sanho.. I'm going to pester others to do the same.. my parents?

Sanho: Thanks, Dean. I don't care what issues people care about as long as
they make their voices heard. Otherwise there's no traction between
opinion and social change.

Lindy: In Canada, it was the courts who pushed the government to allow
patients access to medicinal marijuana, why not in the USA?

Sanho: I don't know about Canada, but many of our judges are appointed by pols.

Kkraig: Sanho-The world spends $786 Trillion Agriculture[food], $764 Tril
Agri[clothes], $734 Tril illegal drugs[mostly agriculture].The rest of our
expenditures don"t add up to one of those items.How can 25% of the worlds
money be unaccounted for,unless the Gov has gone into the tulip business,
i.e.Monopolizing the icecube in Hell franchise.?

Sanho: The rest goes to the military!

Sanho: Star wars will be the bottomless pit of appropriations.

Sanho: They say you can't just throw money at a problem...unless it's for
defense contractors.

Sanho: By that logic we could have solved all of our societal problems by now.

Sanho: What a great racket! ka-ching!!!

Sanho: They want the technology to see and control what you do in your own
homes.

Sanho: If you're naughty, then ZAP! Zeus's thunderbolt from a satellite.

Sanho: Shop and behave!!!!!! Any questions?

Sanho: That's why I love Arianna Huffington. She speaks truth to power.

Sanho: She was a former Gringrinch desciple, but has since done a 180.

Sanho: check out http://www.ariannaonline.com/

allan: "We say in a democracy that good ideas will drive out bad ones, so
if the good ones aren't there, we're left with the bad ones" - Barry McCaffrey

Sanho: Nice quote, Allan!

Sanho: Unless we speak out, we're left with McCaffrey!

allan: I do a good McCaffrey imitation...

Debra: Sanho, can you talk about the court decision recently to halt, and
then resume aerial spraying in Putamaya.

Sanho: The Colombian judge seems to have run into some pressure from our
Ambassador.

Sanho: They get a lot of US aid and we call the shots down there.

kaptinemo: the same Ambassador one who wants to 'experiment' on the
campesinos to test the Cosmo Fliux

Sanho: Exactly!

Sanho: reminds me of the Tuskeegee experiments.

kaptinemo: has anyone poured a glass of this stuff, stuck it under her
nose, and suggested she drink some if it so safe?

Debra: It is repulsive.

BigBong: the USa has destroyed more of earths 'lung tissue' than any other
nation ever

Sanho: Lets study them to death and then publish the results.

Sanho: Or not

allan: in VN we effectively defoliated 10% of land area

Dean: US govt keeps trying to pretend we are some great moral nation, yet
for me, one question I ask is: would Jesus do that?.. we are ruled by lying
hypocrites!

Sanho: The question these days is "What would Reagan do?"

Sanho: The Senate will need to confirm the retreads from the Reagan-Bush
era like John Walters, Otto Reich, and the restof the Iran-Contra
gang. Tell your reps how you feel about that!

unknown: SANHO if we dare to predict a date for the legalizatioin of mj,
what would that date be???

Sanho: I can't even predict what will happen next week! But if you fight
against the rest of the WOD, mj will be the first domino to fall.

Sanho: Well folks, I've got about five more minutes if you have more questions.

Jo-D: sanho, anything you'd like to bring up that we've missed?

kaptinemo: SANHO: what would you like to ask us?

Sanho: Oy vey! There are so many things.

Dean: Sanho, first off, I want to thank you for being here. Are there ways
we could help your organizations? With flyers or handouts?

Sanho: Donations and foundation grants are always welcome! :-)

Sanho: Thanks folks! It's been a pleasure. Ciao!