Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum
Letter to the Editor of St Pete Times
Antigen:
Here's something Wes just posted
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Cannabis Culture did a piece last year on Mel and Betty Sembler and their destructive treatment rehab called Straight, Inc. which has been plagued with a large number of suicides of former clients. The education arm of Straight now calls itself Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF). Since that article DFAF's founder Mel Sembler has become the US ambassador to Italy and the International Drug Awareness & Education Society" (IDEAS) held a symposium on drug policy at the Vancouver Trade and Exhibition Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia. This conference was co-sponsored by DFAF. Calvina Fay of DFAF was a speaker at that conference. And now less than two weeks ago the US Supreme Court handed down a ruling that extended the unwarranted search for drugs of high school kids and DFAF was a major lobbying influence in that decision. So we are planning a protest in Washington, DC and elsewhere about America on July 18. There are three ways you can help.
Background. (This is all detailed on my web page at http://www.thestraights.com ) In 1995, stemming from a school district's decision out in Oregon, the US Supreme Court ruled that any kid who wanted to play extra-curricular sports could be drug tested. Straight's former consultant Robert DuPont testified for the school district in that decision. He is now chief of the scientific advisory board for Psychemedics--the world's leading hair testing company, and he is on the advisory board for DFAF along with Jeb Bush (the governor of Florida and brother to the President of the United States). Now, less than two weeks ago the Supreme Court has extended the search to include a student desiring to participate in any extracurricular activity including the honor society or chorus. The court's decision was heavily influenced by an Amicus Curie Brief submitted to the court. Straight was a big player in that brief. Again the details are all spelled out on my web page.
DATIA (Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association) is a Washington, DC -based association of over 1,000 members involved in drug and alcohol testing. It is an educational and a lobbying association and is a signer, along with DFAF, of the Amicus brief. Immediately after the Supreme Court's decision DATIA announced, "Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined it is constitutional for schools to subject extracurricular participants to mandatory, suspicionless drug tests, DATIA is pleased [to] host a comprehensive training workshop." That workshop will occur on July 18 in Washington, DC. The workshop co-sponsors include: DFAF(e.g. Straight), Institute on Global Drug Policy (a division of DFAF), International Scientific and Medical Forum on Drug Abuse (a division of DFAF), Legal Foundation Against Illicit Drugs (the organization co-founded by DFAF to write the brief), and Save Our Society From Drugs (SOS), a non-profit founded by Straight founder Betty Sembler. It turns out that individuals from these organizations all signed the Amicus brief leading the judges to think that a wide spectrum of American drug policy makers were behind the brief when in fact many of the signers were tied to Straight! We are sick and tired of the continuing influence that Ambassador Mel Sembler, his wife Betty and the DFAF has on national and international drug policy. (Carta, an Italian magazine, recently asked me for permission to use data off my web page to write an article about out ambassador to Italy and his destructive treatment cult--Straight.) Consequently we are going to picket the DATIA workshop in Wash DC on July 18 and also the Italian Embassy in Wash DC, as well as other places about the country,
Here's how you can help.
1. Help us advertise the protest and help us protest in America. (For those of you who still do not know about Straight's criminal child abuse, you will be appalled.)
2. For the Canadians. Stage a protest(s) in Canada--perhaps of the Italian Embassy. There is a Straight descendant program in Calgary. Maybe sign banners could say, "Keep them in Italy away from North American kids."
3. For Cannabis Culture and Pete Brady. Last year Pete Brady wrote an excellent article for Cannabis Culture on Straight. In there is a photo of Betty Sembler. We want your permission to use that picture or any other picture Pete may have (could you blow it up Pete). We want to put it on a tee shirt and probably write Betty under it, put it all in a circle and draw a line thru it. Or maybe add "just say no to Betty" or something like that. We will sell the tee shirts for as a fund raiser for Arnold Trebach's Institute's rehabilitation project. (Arnold who was the founder of the old Drug Policy Institute is working closely with us.).
Wes Fager
http://www.thestraights.com
Antigen:
And here's my reply to the SPX
Dear Ed,
In response to Calvina Fay's July 5th letter, "Student testing helps parents to fight drugs", I just have to shake my head and sigh. Ms. Fay presents herself as "a drug prevention professional and expert on drug testing" and tells us "it is an excellent tool for detecting and deterring drug use, preventing addiction and for saving lives."
Whether or not there can be such a vocation as drug prevention professional is questionable. Since Nixon declared this war on allegedly controled substances three decades ago, there has been no evidence at all of any success at preventing drug use among our youth or adults for that matter. So it's very questionable whether or not she or anyone else can claim any expertise in this field.
Ms. Fay is, however, a drug testing expert. And I would like to bring to your readers' attention that Ms. Fay's organization, "Drug Free America Foundation" (formerly known as Straight, Inc.) is cosponsoring a workshop at the posh Hyatt Regency hotel in DC along with the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industries Association. The title of the symposium is "Implimenting a Student Drug & Alcohol Testing Program". Aparently, DATIA and DFAF view this new precedent as a very effective tool for mandating public and private spending on their member corporations' products and services.
Judging by the snazzy brochure, I'd say DFAF has been preparing for this event since long before the Supreme Court descision. Were they counting on it? Why not. It was an Amicus Curei brief filed with the court by DFAF that likely prompted a swing in favor on this very close decision. And DFAF is accustomed to getting what it pays for.
Of course, being a working mom, I can't afford the $309 registration fee to find out how better to consume the products and services of DATIA's member corporations. So I'll have to stand outside with my friends from The Oakton Institute, Survivors and Friends for the Ethical Treatment of Youth Network (SAFETY Net) and other organizations who seem to think something smells about this whole arrangement and want to let attendees and passers by know what we think of these child abusers making and then exploiting public policy like this.
Sincerely,
Ginger Warbis
P.O. Box 67
Monessen, PA 15062
724-314-2707
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