The supply of cocaine on American city streets is running short these days. Prices are up -- way up. You have to wonder what all of this will lead to. Will addicts change drugs? Will violence escalate as cocaine gets more valuable? Does anybody believe that there is a relationship between cost and use?
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Mexico's crackdown on drug cartels and U.S. authorities' seizures at
sea have helped to sharply reduce the availability of cocaine in 37
American cities, according to a report released Tuesday by federal
anti-narcotics officials.
The shortage has driven up prices to
their highest levels in nearly two decades, with the cost of cocaine
increasing 24%, from $95.89 to $118.70 per gram over the six-month
period ending in June, according to the
Office of National Drug Control
Policy.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Washington and New York are among the cities reportedly experiencing shortages.
Critics
of U.S. drug policy remain skeptical, saying it's too early to
determine whether the statistics signal an important milestone in the
war on drugs.
The report, they say, comes as the Bush
administration prepares to ask Congress for an aid package of nearly $1
billion to help Mexico fight traffickers.
But John Walters,
director of the White House drug policy office, said at a news
conference in San Diego that the multibillion-dollar anti-drug effort
appears to be causing major disruptions in trafficking routes from
Colombia to the U.S.-Mexico border.
In August, a company that does a lot of drug testing for workplaces said
positive tests were way down.
'Jena Six' As a Music Video
John Mellencamp just released
a new single called "Jena." He said he wanted to get it out to the public right away, so he released it online, for free.
Here are some of the lyrics:
An all white jury hides the executioner's face
Is this how we are, me and you?
Everyone needs to know their place
And here we thought this blackbird was hidden in the flue
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
At the same time, I read in
The Town Talk newspaper that spineless callers have been threatening everybody from the Jena librarian to the local sheriff's department.
Click here to read a Q & A I put together with
The Town Talk's editor, Paul V. Carty.
Just two weeks after
the march on Jena, the story has already fallen off the national radar again.
Kids Pressure Parents to 'Go Green'
The story a few weeks ago that one day there may be no polar bears left really shook my 10-year-old son. He also has seen stories on TV about the ocean rising, and he has asked many times not if, but when, our Florida house is going to flood. If you think back on anti-smoking and "Buckle up for Safety" campaigns of the past, you will recall that sometimes the most effective ads aimed their message at kids, with the goal of having the kids pressure their parents to act responsibly.
The Wall Street Journal has a piece about kids pressuring their folks to become more environmentally conscious:
In households across the country, kids are going after
their parents for environmental offenses, from using plastic cups to
serving non-grass-fed beef at the dinner table. Many of these kids are
getting more explicit messages about becoming eco-warriors at school
and from popular books and movies.
This year's global-warming documentary "Arctic Tale,"
for instance, closes with a child actor telling kids, "If your mom and
dad buy a hybrid car, you'll make it easier for polar bears to get
around." Kids on field trips to the Garbage Museum in Stratford, Conn.,
are sent home with instructions to recycle cans, bottles, newspaper and
junk mail. The museum hosted 388 schools visits last year, 42 more than
the year before. At one California elementary school, kids are given
environmental activities to do with their families -- including one
where parents have to yank out the refrigerator and clean the coils to
make it more energy efficient.
The piece continues:
In Princeton, N.J., James Verbeyst's energy-saving
fixation cost his mother $5,500 -- the difference between the Toyota
Matrix she was going to buy and the hybrid she finally purchased. With
every car she looked at that wasn't a Prius, the 8-year-old protested
by announcing the Prius's gas mileage. James says now he likes the
Prius more than his dad's Jaguar. His reason: "You're not hurting any
animals."
The New Jersey Environmental Federation, a chapter of
the nonprofit Clean Water Action, tells kids on its Web site to ask
their parents to take a "no-idling pledge" when they bring them to and
from school. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's Web site
has "Captain Earthworm" instructing kids to tell their parents to
return used oil to gas stations and lube centers.
The Natural Resources Defense
Council, the New York nonprofit, has been trying to secure permission
from various media companies to use a cartoon character to spread the
word. "It is the really, really young kids who are going to change
their parents' behavior," says Phil Gutis, the group's spokesman,
adding that the message to children ought to be straightforward: "I
think it'd be as simple as, 'Kids, tell your parents.' "
The story is accompanied by a nice
sidebar on how to talk to your kids about the environment, especially
when they are demanding that you buy a hybrid car and turn off all the night-lights in the house to save power.
Trouble in the Pumpkin Patch
There probably won't be a pumpkin shortage, but a summer drought has
hurt production in the biggest pumpkin-producing states for the second year.
Pumpkins, as you might imagine, require a lot of moisture to grow. The biggest pumpkin-producing states, including Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, all say they are having a tough year. In some places such as Southern Illinois, up to one-third of the crop is lost. Coordinators of fall festivals and pumpkin contests say they probably will not see record-setting pumpkins.
When I moved to Florida, I was amazed to find that once you carve a pumpkin and set it outside, the thing grows mold and rots in about two days.
Monks on the Web
Here is an interesting story about monks who are using the Internet to sell stuff and connect with religious communities:
Examples include the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Va., which sells brandy-laced fruitcakes, honey and truffles at Monasteryfruitcake.org.
Web surfers connecting to the online bookstore of Florence, Ariz.-based St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery can choose from books, recorded Byzantine music, prayer ropes, incense and other items.
Woolen goods from the flock of sheep of the Pine City, N.Y., Mount Saviour Monastery are available at its Web site.
The Abbey of Gethsemani's Web site
has a welcome center and gift shop, as well as a link for anyone
wishing to make a retreat in the context of a monastery and its
communal prayer life.
As vocation director at Gethsemani, Armour regularly receives e-mail applications from VocationsPlacement,
a Florida-based service that matches religious communities with
individuals who are contemplating a life as priests, monks or nuns.
"It's unusual for me to get any inquiries through the regular
mail anymore," said Armour, who has welcomed about seven monks to the
Abbey via VocationsPlacement.
A group of monks in Wisconsin also runs the Web site called LaserMonks, which sells laser printer ink and toner, and donates the proceeds. My friends Steve Hartman and photojournalist Les Rose at CBS News did a story last year on the brothers. (By the was Les will be teaching a Power Reporting seminar with me here at Poynter in a couple of weeks.)
This Dog Will Die in 24 Hours
A new Web site is touching a soft spot in the hearts of dog lovers' by showing pictures of cute dogs that are scheduled to be euthanized.
DogsinDanger.com shows how many hours the dog has left to live to prompt people to take action.
See this story on C/Net.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
A Salt Lake City radio station suggested using watermelons instead...
