Unanimous City Council Resolution to Put Military Money into Drug Treatment

By Liza Smith
After hours of waiting in the hot Santa Cruz, California city council room, listening to the impassioned arguments in favor and against off-leash dog use at a nearby beach; and seeing a lengthy power point presentation on the plans for a new building in downtown Santa Cruz, we were losing our steam.

It seemed likely that our resolution, requesting that all US military aid to Colombia be re-directed to domestic drug prevention and rehabilitation programs, wouldn’t be considered until after 7pm when the council members returned from their evening recess. Fortunately Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty noticed that we had been patiently waiting all afternoon (thankfully we had all brought work with us: the UC Santa Cruz Colombia research cluster grad students were grading papers while others worked on their laptops) and pushed our agenda item to the top of the list before the break. At 6pm, life-long activist Bert Muhly from 3 Americas took the floor.

Reminded after two minutes that his time was almost up, Bert was not distracted and continued speaking about US policy towards Latin America over the years and that he himself had “been in Colombia with FOR.” Then Sandra Alvarez, a long-time Colombia activist, Ph.D candidate at UCSC and member of FOR’s Colombia Committee, spoke to the power of passing local resolutions on international issues, saying “it is here where we can have an impact.” A Vietnam veteran, clearly a regular at Santa Cruz City Council meetings, also spoke in favor of the resolution and went on to profess about the evils of electing John McCain (only to be reminded by the mayor that we were talking about Colombia!).

Audience members included long-time FOR activist and Latin America Program Officer at the Appleton Foundation, Phil McManus, who said, “U.S. military aid is simply pouring gas on the fire. Sooner or later, Colombians will have to work out Colombian problems and resolve their conflicts. Cutting off military aid will contribute positively to the conditions necessary to build a future in Colombia rooted in peace and justice for its long-suffering people.”

When the time for the vote came, it passed unanimously! Although some council members usually don’t support resolutions that touch on international policy and prefer to focus on local issues, this resolution was an exception. After it was approved, council member Mike Rotkin referred to the resolution’s specific language, which urged the mayor to notify other cities across California and ask them to also take a stand on the failed drug war and its impacts on people at home and abroad.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel briefly noted the resolution, saying, “the council approved a resolution calling for a shift in U.S. drug policy away from fighting illegal drug production in foreign countries, especially Colombia, to curtailing the demand for illegal drugs in the United States.”

The resolution encourages the Santa Cruz mayor to publicize the City Council’s action and to send copies of this Resolution to Representative Farr and to Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. It also urged Congressman Sam Farr to “step up his leadership to terminate all military assistance to the Colombian Army, and to re-direct these funds” to “substance abuse prevention, harm reduction, and treatment programs.”

The Berkeley and Fairfax city councils have passed similar resolutions, making this the third of its kind, and FOR hopes to repeat the effort in many more cities. To download FOR’s organizing kit on how to pass a resolution in your city or county, please see: www.forcolombia.org/resolution