1. Chapter News: Meet the FLOWER Patrol

By Jane Tseng

DanceSafe FLOWER, Pittsburgh's DanceSafe chapter, has been one of the most successful and organized chapters since it formed a year ago this month. E-News spoke with FLOWER founder and president Heather McCoy to find out the secret to FLOWER's success.

E-News: What has made FLOWER so successful?
McCoy: The volunteers and all the different areas they came from. They all came from a different background and brought something with them. All the different types of people definitely made us what we are.
E-News: In the very beginning of FLOWER, did you have any problems with group structure or working out what the responsibilities of new volunteers would be?
McCoy: We started as five people and I wouldn't let anyone else join until we got through how we were going to structure it. Before we let any new people join we had everything mapped out so I knew the rules that we needed to abide by.
E-News: How many volunteers do you have now?
McCoy: We have 25-30 active volunteers, and we also have a lot of alumni now. People that are no longer active members move on to the alumni list.
E-News: How does FLOWER keep so many volunteers organized?
McCoy: For our volunteers, we use laminated tags. On the front we have our logo, and on the back we have the mission statement, bylaws, and their signature. The tags give people the status of being a FLOWER member, but this also comes with responsibility. The tags say that if the wearers violate any of the chapter bylaws, or if they were to do drugs at that party, they could get kicked out on the spot. We use a color-coded tee shirt system as well. People who have orange FLOWER shirts are thought of differently than people that have just have the FLOWER patrol laminates. We are also dividing our group one more way. People that have an EMS certification will be able wear the blue FLOWER shirts. So I have a lot of kids going for the certification so that they can wear blue FLOWER shirts instead of orange FLOWER shirts. It sounds unnecessary, but I like to have people as educated as possible. A lot of our volunteers are already CPR/First Aid certified.
E-News: How does FLOWER pay for its materials?
McCoy: We get a lot of donations from running coat checks. We make candy bracelets to sell. We also have someone working on grants.
E-News: Flower is getting office space soon. How will this expand your services?
McCoy: We will have office hours two days a week, and there is a separate conference hall that we can use for meetings. People can come to us with questions during office hours, or anything else that they need. We're hopefully also going to start doing oral AIDS testing. We're working on doing it at the booth and people will be able to pick up their results at the office, but they can also just come and get tested at the office.
E-News: Where does FLOWER get its safe sex materials?
McCoy: We get a lot of it from the Pittsburgh Aids Task force. But for everything else, our volunteers pick up literature, and I just call and ask if we can use it.
E-News: What is the most rewarding thing about being a part of FLOWER?
McCoy: Making people excited about doing harm reduction. After a meeting, people are so psyched. They have so much energy and they want to go out and do so much. You can just see it in their eyes that what you're doing is something they really want to be a part of. FLOWER is on the web at www.euphoricflower.com. To find other DanceSafe chapters, see www.dancesafe.org/findachapter.html. If you're interested in starting a chapter in your area, visit www.dancesafe.org/startachapter.html to learn how.

2. Counter-Review: "Traffic"

By Mike Males

Note: Mike Males contacted us after we ran a positive review of the movie "Traffic" in last week's issue (you can read it in here). We're sure you'll find his take on the film as thought- provoking as we do. Write us at editor@dancesafe.org and let us know what you think. --Eds.

ItÕs puzzling that reformers promoting rational drug policies champion Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic," a film so incoherent and anachronistic that hardliners like Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah, who cameos) also laud it. "Traffic," like the War on Drugs itself, is hopelessly mired in 1970 Baby-Boom imagery that has little to do with todayÕs realities. Indeed, "Traffic" upholds three cherished drug war myths that teenage drug abuse is a hidden scourge, legal drugs such as alcohol are a side issue, and drastic tactics (including illegal surveillance) are justified against drug suppliers menacing our youth.

"Traffic" chronicles a newly appointed drug czar disillusioned by the War on Drugsâ corrupt brutality and failure to curb drug addiction, exemplified by his teenage daughterÕs heroin habit. This latter image might have been apt 30 years ago, when the Vietnam War spawned a real heroin crisis among young adults against a backdrop of booze and barbiturate popping by grownups, but it has little relevance today. Despite vigorous scare campaigns by modern drug war interests to fabricate a suburban teenage heroin epidemic stoked by black inner-city junkies (a fiction "Traffic" upholds), thereÕs no teenage heroin crisis, suburban or otherwise. The latest Drug Abuse Warning Network reports released in December 2000 show that of 84,000 hospital emergency treatments for heroin, just 700 were adolescents; of 4,300 heroin deaths, only 23 were teens. The newest National Household Survey of 25,000 youths age 12-17 found only 75 used heroin at any time in the previous year.

Heroin is the plague of aging Baby Boomers. Today, 90% of heroin addicts and overdosers are over age 30; most are white. If "Traffic" sought realism, it would highlight the middle-aged hard-drug crisis, the worst in our history, as proof of the drug war's failure. (That is, after all, the situation Dutch reformers confronted to win marijuana decriminalization and public health management of older addicts). If a realistic "Traffic" depicted teens at all, they would be coping with a drug epidemic among their upscale 40-age parents while the kids occasionally socialized with marijuana or beer, same as the drug czar and grizzled peers unwinding with scotch.

But the myth that Baby-Boom dope dabbling is long past and todayÕs Boomer Burden is to rescue our drug-craving kids (by "war" or by "treatment") has crowded out rational debate. Both and drug warriors and many drug-policy reformers exploit fear of adolescent druggies to advance their agendas. "TrafficÕs most dubious assertion is that legal grownup drinking, while hypocritical, incorporates practical safeguards: the teenage daughter doesn't drink because "for someone my age, itÕs easier to get drugs than alcohol." Many drug reformers champion this misnomer to support claims that decriminalizing and regulating marijuana for grownups would reduce teenage access. Right. The National Household Survey shows 100 times more teenagers drink alcohol than use heroin; two to three times more teens patronize legal, regulated drugs such as beer and cigarettes than the most popular illicit, marijuana. While teenage alcohol abuse is drastically overstated (high schoolers are safer from drunken mishap than their parents), it is far worse than teenage illegal-drug abuse. If marijuana were legalized, teenage pot smoking would probably rise at the expense of drinking, hardly a terrifying prospect.

The images in "Traffic," like the modern drug debate, reflect 1970s "first generation" symbols of functioning alcohol- and pill-medicated grownups versus imperiled illegal-drug- abusing kids. The policies pushed by the drug war (punishing attacks on "gateway" soft-drug use mainly by young people) and drug reformers (legalizing drugs for grownups while demanding abstinence by teenagers) are completely mismatched to todayÕs "second generation" landscape of epidemic hard-drug addiction among 30-50-agers versus safer (if not completely safe) soft-drug usage by teens and young adults.

Drug wars ultimately are wars on unpopular populations -- the Chinese and opium, Mexicans and marijuana, the inner-city poor and crack or heroin, now teenagers and whatever drug du jour they're supposedly gobbling. By projecting the fable of clandestine teenage heroin and other drug epidemics, "Traffic" and drug-reformers commit a fundamental error they reinforce fear of youth that strengthens the War on Drugs and dashes hopes for reasoned drug policy.

--Mike Males is senior researcher for the Justice Policy Institute sociology instructor at UC Santa Cruz, and author of three books and numerous articles on adolescent issues. You can read selected examples of his work online at home.earthlink.net/~mmales/

3. The Facts About DXM
The DXM page was recently revised on the DanceSafe web site.

4. Media Action Alert! Tell the NY Times What You Think About "Experiencing Ecstasy"

The following is a link to "Experiencing Ecstasy," the cover article from the January 21, 2001 issue of the New York Times Magazine: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n122/a04.html?189

In the article, author Matthew Klam provides a fresh, balanced perspective on the physical and psychological effects of Ecstasy. The article is an oasis of sensibility in the current climate of sensationalist and alarmist "club drug" reporting. The news media is often under pressure to print slanted stories that demonize drugs and drug users at the expense of the truth. The Times is likely to hear from many who think the only good drug story is a drug scare story. It's up to you to let the Times know you appreciate their courage and honesty in publishing Klam's story. Send your comments to magazine@nytimes.com (you may request confidentiality, but you should include your name, address and phone number if you want your letter considered for publication). And please send a copy to us at editor@dancesafe.org.

5. Ecstasy Conference to be Web Cast

Info Courtesy of The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Get into "The State of Ecstasy" Online! Wanna go to the MDMA Conference, but gotta stay home to watch for the Groundhog's shadow? Tune in with your computer instead! "The State of Ecstasy: The Medicine, Science and Culture of MDMA" conference will be webcast from the conference web site! Just visit the website at www.drugpolicy.org/ecstasy on February 2, 2001. Check the conference program for the times of the speakers you want to hear, then follow the links to the webcast and start listening. It's that easy! All you need is RealAudio (a free download) and speakers on your computer.

So, you don't know anything about this cool conference yet? Where have you been? This gathering of the greatest minds in MDMA research, therapy and culture is something no one should miss. DanceSafe founder Emanuel Sferios is speaking on MDMA harm reduction. "Godparents of Ecstasy" Sasha and Ann Shulgin will be speaking on the history of MDMA as a therapeutic agent, and how it became a Schedule I drug. Dr. George Ricaurte, whose NIDA-funded research into MDMA's neurotoxicity has caused much of the confusion about Ecstasy's safety, will discuss his latest research. Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) will speak on his experiences with the regulatory bodies that keep MDMA out of the hands of responsible researchers. John Cloud, the author of this summer's excellent Time magazine article about Ecstasy, will speak about MDMA in the club and rave scene. Join us for this day of intelligent discussion about Ecstasy. I hope to see you there. But if not, you can always listen in to the web cast! Check the web site for more details. http//www.drugpolicy.org/ecstasy or call the conference office in San Francisco, (415) 921-4987, and ask for Jolayne or e-mail Jolayne at jo@harmreduction.

6. February 3, 2001 Benefit for Bay Area Chapter

Ravepic.com presents:
SuperStars: a Benefit Party for the San Francisco/Bay Area chapter of DanceSafe on February 3rd, 2001. For more information, visit http://ravepic.com/events.htm#super

The contents of E-News are (c)2001 DanceSafe and Respective Authors unless otherwise noted. Permission is hereby granted to freely reprint & reproduce DanceSafe E-News as long as proper credit is given, including links where appropriate.

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