From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Date: 19 Jul 93 09:59 PDT
Subject: Story of Hoover Inst Res

Introduction to the Hoover Resolution

by Clifford A. Schaffer July 15, 1993

On December 28, 1992 I wrote to Judge James P. Gray of Orange
County, California to  ask him to help me draft a letter which
prominent people could sign, and ask others to sign, to  show
that they were united in demanding major reform of our national
drug policy.  Judge Gray,  Dr. Clarke Smith, and I, wrote the
bulk of the wording of what was to become known as the Hoover
Resolution.  By happy coincidence, Kathy Smith, the wife of Dr.
Clarke Smith, arranged a meeting with Dr. Milton Friedman and
Joseph McNamara to discuss the resolution.  News of the  meeting
spread farther and more quickly than even we had intended and,
before we knew it, we  had a list of attendees for the meeting
which included some of the world's most prominent citizens  and
internationally recognized experts on drug abuse, some of whom
have been in the field for  more than fifty years.

On February 26, 1992 we met at the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University, finalized the wording, and signed the resolution
which calls for an objective Federal Commission to review the
evidence on drug policy and to form a new drug policy which does
not do so much harm.  A  list of these signers is enclosed.

The purpose of the resolution is to 1) draft a statement which
all fair-minded people  would agree with, and thus build a
consensus for reform and 2) call for concrete action for reform.

Reaction to the resolution has been beyond our wildest dreams. 
The mayors and chiefs of  police of San Francisco, Oakland, and
San Jose held an unprecedented joint press conference to publicly
sign the resolution.  Major medical organizations, religious
organizations, and literally  dozens of judges, law enforcement
officials, and others have publicly announced their support of
the Hoover Resolution and the call for a Federal Commission to
review and rewrite drug policy.  We are also beginning to receive
major support for the resolution from around the world.  There 
will be more news about this later.

The resolution has received major news coverage across the
nation, including an excellent article by Federal Judge Jack B.
Weinstein in the NY Times, July 8, 1993, and a call for the
Federal Commission by three Federal judges on Nightline on (or
about) July 10, 1993.  It has also received a combined total of
several complete pages of coverage in the LA Times, the San
Francisco Examiner, and the SF Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune,
the San Jose News-Mercury, the Baltimore Sun, Newsweek (June 14,
1993), and many, many others.  It has received more favorable
news coverage for drug policy reform than any other single event
of the last twenty-five years.

Some of the original signers of the resolution support
"legalization" or "decriminalization".  However, we do not ask
anyone to support or endorse any particular approach to the drug
problem.  We simply ask everyone to admit that the current drug
policy has not worked and that it is time to review the evidence
in an open and honest commission and to form a new drug policy
which does not do so much harm -- whatever that policy may be. 
Let's lay the facts on the table, and let the chips fall where
they may.

I have enclosed a copy of the resolution, along with a list of
signers, and some of the more important facts relative to drug
policy.

We (the signers of the Hoover Resolution), ask that you sign the
Resolution and send a copy to President Bill Clinton, The White
House, Washington, DC.  We also ask that you ask others to sign
the resolution and send it in to Bill Clinton.  If the Resolution
is signed or endorsed by any groups or organizations we ask that
you send those endorsements to: 

Jim Rosenfield, c/o 7400 Bandini Blvd, Commerce CA 90040

Please remember that we are not asking you to endorse
legalization, or decriminalization, or any other approach to
drugs.  We are simply asking you to admit that the time has come
to re- examine the facts and fairly investigate other possible
approaches.

Some people have asked whether we are accepting contributions or
if we have a formal organization.  We do not solicit or
distribute funds because it would create ethical problems for the
judges.  Everything that has happened or been done with respect
to the resolution has been funded entirely out of the personal
funds of the people involved (and it has often been
considerable.)  We do not have a formal organization because that
would require funding which, as I said, might create ethical
problems for the judges.  This is entirely a grass-roots effort
with no leader, no staff, but an awful lot of committed
supporters. This makes it all the more amazing what this
resolution has done is such a short time.

There are some people who are engaged in fund-raising activities
who also agree with and are promoting the Hoover Resolution.  On
some occasions, you may find the Hoover Resolution at places
where they sell clothing, drug war stamps, or whatever.  Please
understand that these sales activities are entirely the business
of those individuals and they do not raise funds for any of the
original signers or promoters of the Hoover Resolution.  The
Hoover Resolution is free to everyone who wants it and the
original signers do not want it connected with any attempt to 
collect money in any form.
RESOLUTION

Whereas, the overall situation regarding the use of drugs in our
society and the crime and misery that accompanies it has
continued to deteriorate for several decades; and

Whereas, our society has continued to attempt, at enormous
financial cost, to resolve drug abuse problems through the
criminal justice system, with the accompanying increases of
prisons and numbers of inmates; and

Whereas, the huge untaxed revenues generated by the illicit drug
trade are undermining legitimate governments world-wide; and

Whereas, the present system has spawned a cycle of hostility by
the incarceration of disproportionate numbers of
African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups; and 

Whereas, the number of people who have contracted AIDS,
hepatitis, and other diseases from contaminated hypodermic
needles is epidemic under our present system; and

Whereas, in our society's zeal to pursue our criminal approach,
legitimate medical uses for the relief of pain and suffering of
patients have been suppressed.

Therefore be it resolved that our society must recognize drug use
and abuse as the medical and social problems that they are and
that they must be treated with medical and social solutions; and 

Further be it resolved that an objective commission be
immediately empowered by the President and by Congress to
recommend revision of the drug laws of these United States in
order to reduce the harm our current policies are causing.

Signature:_______________________________________  Date:______________

Name:___________________________________________  Title:______________

Organization:_________________________________________________________


Please send to:  
     Jim Rosenfield, c/o 7400 Bandini Blvd., Commerce CA 90040 
and send a copy to to:  
     President Bill Clinton, White House, Washington, DC