Funding For Study On Medical Marijuana Allocated In Washington State Budget
March, 1996, Olympia, WA: Washington State University and the state Department of Health will start looking for ways to make medicinal marijuana available to the seriously ill, under strict controls, though two appropriations provided in this year's operating budget.The funding for the study came through the efforts of state Senators Jeanne Kohl (D-Seattle) and Bob McCaslin (R-Spokane). The two senators co-sponsored a bill (SB-6744) that was used as a model for the appropriations provided in this year's budget.
The funds will be used by Washington State University, in conjunction with the state Board of Pharmacy, and the state Department of Health to conduct research on cultivating marijuana in a tamper-free environment. The study will also determine the appropriate organization to manufacture and distribute the drug for medical use.
The second appropriation will be used to fund a clinical study administered by the state Department of Health under the controlled substance abuse therapeutic program, in statute since 1979.
The study will be limited to patients under a physician's care. Only patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments, or suffering from glaucoma, AIDS or HIV related illnesses, multiple sclerosis, or other life threatening illnesses would qualify for the study.
Results of a statewide public-opinion poll directed by local political consultant Sharon Gilpin the weekend of March 2-3 indicate that the public supports the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The statewide survey of 400 voters found that 75 percent favored making marijuana available for patients if prescribed by a doctor.
Gilpin said the results were a complete surprise. "I know the people in the Northwest tend to be compassionate, but the high number was totally unexpected," she said. Gilpin said people who are concerned about the rising cost of health care are willing to look at alternatives to the high cost of fighting diseases such as AIDS and cancer.
"This is a great start that will lead to what we hope is a promising finish," said Dr. David Edwards, an Olympia physician and medical coordinator for the Washington Hemp Education Network (WHEN), an agency working on informing the public of the potential benefits of medicinal marijuana. "I expect the results to have a positive effect in our effort to provide organic marijuana to patients under strict medical guidelines."
Medical marijuana activist and founder of the Green Cross Cannabis Buyers Club, Joanna McKee, said she is confident the study will confirm what other tests have shown: the positive effects of medicinal marijuana. "The medical community is so focused on using chemicals to combat illness, they ignore a simple, organic solution that's readily available," she said. "This test will provide the answer to those who still question the effectiveness of THC."
Sen. McCaslin said if the results of the state study on THC is similar to others conducted, organic marijuana could be a boon for the seriously ill.
"It will not only aid them in their physical recovery, it could prove to be a psychological boost as well," he said.
Kohl said the study is the first step towards getting needed medicine to those who desperately need it. "If the synthetic drug is not working for a patient, it only makes sense they should be able to have access to organic marijuana."
Activists should be advised that the medicinal marijuana appropriations could potentially fall victim to a section-item veto by the governor.
However, Sen. Kohl's office tells NORML that she has been assured by the governor's staff that he will not take such action.
For more information or for the latest status on the Washington state medical marijuana appropriations, please contact Sen. Jeanne Kohl's office @ (206) 285-1869 or the office of Sen. Bob McCaslin @ (360) 786-7606.
In a move that stunned both proponents and opponents alike, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5-4 to send the bill to the full Senate for debate. A similar bill was introduced by Casey in 1995, but only received one vote of support in its first committee.
"We're talking about not just growing, but about the textile mills, the paper mills, [and] the food-processing products. We're talking about all the value-added things that can result from this," explained Casey.
The Colorado Industrial Hemp Production Act permits the planting of no more than 40 acres of industrial hemp (defined by the bill as marijuana containing no more than 0.5% THC) in Colorado in 1996 for agricultural, commercial, and scientific research. The legislation allows for full scale hemp production to begin in 1998 and has been endorsed by the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Colorado State Grange, and the National Federation of Farm Bureaus. The bill has also received support from Hollywood actor and hemp businessman Woody Harrelson.
Working diligently over the past year to gather support for this bill is the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project (CO-HIP), a grassroots organization of activists who have donated their time to volunteer on this campaign. CO-HIP notes that the bill currently has support in the Senate, but is probably three to five votes shy of a majority. Nevertheless, the group remains confident that the bill will pass the Senate and is actively pursuing the help of farm organizations and professional lobbyists to drum up support among legislators.
Colorado's legislative session ends on May 8, 1996.
For more information on this bill, please contact the office of Senator Lloyd Casey @ (303) 866-4865 or CO-HIP @ (303) 784-5632. For more information on the value of industrial hemp, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML @ (202) 483-5500.
Jess Williams, aka Fat Freddy, claims that he grew marijuana to combat the symptoms of his injury after discovering that cannabis worked more effectively than any conventional prescription drugs. Law enforcement agents who raided Williams home maintained that Williams possessed more plants than necessary for personal use.
Williams attorney, NORML Legal Committee member Jeffrey Steinborn, asserts that he will appeal the decision. "This case is a long way from over," he says.
William's case had risen to the forefront of the battle for medical access to marijuana in Washington State. While Steinborn admits that an acquittal would not have invalidated the law, he maintains that a "not guilty" verdict might have made prosecutors wary of bringing similar cases to trial.
Previously, medical marijuana user Ralph Seeley won a declaratory judgment from Pierce County Superior Court Judge Rosanne Buckner affirming that a cancer patient's need to use marijuana as a medicine overrides the state's interest in outlawing its prescription.
Some activists who attended William's trial noted that they felt the jury might have ruled differently had the defendant suffered from cancer or glaucoma. Williams was the "Freedom Fighter" of the month for the May issue of High Times magazine.
For more information on William's case, please contact Attorney Jeffrey Steinborn of Seattle @ (206) 622-5117.
Coordinated by activist Peter Keyes - an independent organizer for Californians for Compassionate Use (CCU) - the rally will be held from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will feature a variety of bands, disc jockeys, and speakers. Tentatively scheduled to appear include hemp activist and author of "Hemp: Lifeline to the Future," Chris Conrad and San Francisco Cannabis Buyer's Club Director, Dennis Peron.
For more information on this event, please contact Peter Keyes of Speed Up The Process @ (916) 484-4176. For more information on the California medical marijuana initiative, please contact Dennis Peron of Californians for Compassionate Use @ (415) 621-3986.
-END-
Regional and other news
The article by Willamette Week about the task force, "Reefer Madness: Portland Wages a New War on Pot" (March 29, 1995, full text at http://www.pdxnorml.org/reefer.html), states:
Mayor Katz also mentioned in her letter a responsibility to enforce all the laws, until the Oregon Legislature changes them. This is a canard. Every state in the country has laws on the books which are no longer enforced, for example, laws against homosexual behavior, or washing one's car on Sunday, etc. (If any attorney who receives this could cite a few relevant statutes for us, it would be very helpful.) Until the Oregon Legislature and Congress provide the tens of billions of dollars necessary to enforce their marijuana laws just in Portland or Multnomah County, Portland NORML activists will continue to lobby the mayor, city council and county commissioners to assign the marijuana laws the lowest priority, as San Jose, Santa Cruz and other communities in California have. This decision should be made openly and after public input by everyone concerned. When the people are presented with an honest choice between seriously enforcing the pot laws, or funding public schools, or public safety, they will make the right decision. This is what happened with alcohol Prohibition. As the federal government's own 1931 Wickersham Commission reported, Prohibition by then had been "nullified" in this manner by about one-quarter of the major cities around the country, a major factor leading to repeal of the 18th Amendment.
DARE is the only drug use prevention program specifically named in the 1986 Drug Free Schools and Communication Act. DARE receives 30 percent of its total funding through this federal grant alone. DARE has long been under attack from many fronts for having a negative impact on its graduates' long-term avoidance of illegal-drug use and abuse.
"An Evaluation of D.A.R.E.: Reducing The Risk of Drug Involvement Among Early Adolescents: An Evaluation of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)," by Michele Alicia Harmon, published in April 1993 by the Institute of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of Maryland (on the World Wide Web at http://turnpike.net/~jnr/dareeval.htm), was supported by a grant from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, and the Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students at Johns Hopkins University. It found that "The long-term effects of DARE prove to be minimal in terms of past year alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. The only statistically significant difference occurred at the first follow-up for last year marijuana use. Unfortunately, this finding occurred in the opposite direction than that expected. Significantly more marijuana use was reported by the DARE students than non-DARE students. Otherwise, no significant effects were found at any other time for any other drug type."
In an article titled "Truth or DARE" published Aug. 16, 1995, Willamette Week reported: "Chris Conrad of the Family Council on Drug Awareness, a featured speaker at Portland's upcoming Hemp Festival on Aug. 19, notes that the average age at which kids first try marijuana has dropped from 15 to 12. 'They're going after kids starting at age 11. What does this tell us? That DARE is counterproductive.'" (pp. 9-11)
While DARE officers earn a minimum of $75,000 a year, about $30,000 more than the average Portland Public School teacher, their educational training is far below professional standards. DARE is the brainchild of former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, who made headlines in 1989 with his suggestion that drug users be taken out and shot. (Later, around the time of the Los Angeles riots, Gates' own son nearly died of a so-called drug overdose.)
Another long awaited, federally funded and comprehensive academic review of the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program was published in the September 1994 American Journal of Public Health. The two-year study, conducted by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) of North Carolina, found that DARE was less effective than "programs emphasizing social and general competencies and using interactive teaching strategies. ... DARE's short-term effectiveness for reducing or preventing drug use behavior is small and less than for interactive prevention programs. ... [T]here is no evidence that DARE's effects are activated when subjects are older. Most long-term evaluations of drug use prevention programs have shown that curriculum effects decay rather than appear or increase with time. ... Who teaches DARE and how it is taught may provide other possible explanations for DARE's limited effectiveness. Despite the extensive DARE training received by law enforcement officers [and National Guard -ed note], they may not be as well equipped to lead the curriculum as teachers. ... Regardless of [the] curriculum leader, however, the generally more traditional teaching style used by DARE has not been shown to be as effective as an interactive teaching mode."
The study concluded, in part, "DARE's limited influence on adolescent drug use behavior contrasts with the program's popularity and prevalence. An important implication is that DARE could be taking the place of other, more beneficial drug use curricula that adolescents could be receiving."
Why hasn't the public heard more about this? As the Boston Globe of Sept. 29, 1994 reported, "With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake [approximately $750 million - ed note], the U.S. Justice Department has decided to reject a study it commissioned that concluded that the country's most popular school-based drug prevention program doesn't work."
"Studies Find Drug Program Not Effective" (USA Today, October 11, 1993, on the World Wide Web at http://turnpike.net/~jnr/dareart.htm), quotes Gilbert Botvin of the Institute for Prevention at Cornell University Medical Center: "'It's well-established that D.A.R.E. doesn't work.'" Other quotes from the USA Today article: "'Almost every researcher would agree there's enough information to judge D.A.R.E.,' says Rand Corp. researcher Phyllis Ellickson. ... 'Research shows that, no, D.A.R.E. hasn't been effective in reducing drug use,' says William Modzeleski, the top drug official at the Department of Education. ... Created in 1983 under the direction of former Los Angeles Police chief Daryl Gates, D.A.R.E. exploded after the Bush administration gave it heavy federal subsidies."
Most Americans react with disbelief to statistics showing Dutch youths consume one-fifth as much marijuana as American kids. How could this be true? As Eddy Engelsman, head of the Netherlands' Department of Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco once explained, "We don't use scare tactics, simply because they don't work. That way you give drugs the status as the ultimate evil. .... Never let the police enter the school to tell about drugs. That way drugs are immediately associated with crime and vice. The kids just love all those stories about narco-gangs and drug busts. One of the reasons people do drugs is to rebel and to make a statement against society. So we intend to take the glamour and romance out of drugs." (Interview, High Times, May 1991, p. 12 ff.)
The Oakland City Council in California last July cut its entire $600,000 budget for DARE (Willamette Week, ibid), and other cities and school boards around the country have since done the same. If Portland Public Schools needs an extra $3 million, somebody should bring this counteproductive waste to the board's attention.
The PLRA was designed to prevent prison-overcrowding litigation, which will become crucial as controlled-substance and "three strikes" laws fill prisons beyond capacity. We're not sure about Oregon state prisons, but Multnomah County jails, like thousands of other facilities around the country, are operating under court-ordered population limits. It's not clear if the PLRA would apply to county jail systems, but the PLRA would almost certainly lead to even more crowded conditions at Oregon state facilities. As Willamette Week, The Oregonian and KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8 have reported, Oregon's prisons are so crowded already that hundreds of inmates have been shipped out to Texas and other states, mostly drug offenders who have demonstrated they are not a behavior problem.
The PLRA would end existing settlement decrees governing prison conditions. It would terminate actions after two years unless the matter is relitigated. It would limit preliminary relief, which has been an important tool for providing immediate protection to prisoners. It would cap attorneys' fees at a level that would preclude many class action suits.
The Senate passed the bill as part of an omnibus appropriations measure, without full consideration. The statements of senators and a summary of the bill can be found at the Prison Law Page (http://www.wco.com/~aerick/).
Downstairs at a lower-Manhattan bar, in a room filled with black-light posters and tie-dye drapes, Johann Moore was hunched over, rifling through a large canvas tote bag. "Hi, Johann," called out a muscular man in sideburns and a taut T-shirt that said "Adventure Vacation."
"You busy today?"
"Not really," Moore said.
Actually, the small alcove was filling up with members of the New York Medical Marijuana Buyers' Club - mostly people with AIDS, who gather salonlike in this basement every Tuesday from five-thirty to six-thirty. (Moore explained that the bar's owner "sort of looks the other way.") The club, a two-year-old spinoff of ACT-UP, claims some thirty members, who suffer from symptoms that pot helps assuage, like nausea or sleeplessness. To these people, unlike the Mayor - who recently announced that people caught lighting up in certain public places would be arrested rather than issued a summons - "quality of life" means holding down a little weed and then finally holding down a meal. On a chintz couch sat two men and a woman, hollow-cheeked but robust; three others were propped on another sofa, which was largely depilated of its swirling velvet nap. A stylish man, unable to catch his breath, pressed a hand over a lung, fingers and hands splayed wide.
He had hoped for an outpouring of support from the AIDS community, but it hasn't come. Now he handed each new arrival a leaflet about the trial, hoping that club members would agree to testify. "It's a jury trial, and that's the smallest-scale revolution there is," Moore said to a man shouldering a Kenneth Cole bag. "Thirteen people at a time, we can educate the population about medical marijuana." .... Moore enforces just one rule: anyone wishing to join the club must provide proof of illness. A potential club member plucked a wallet from tight jeans and said,"I have my G.M.H.C. card." Glancing at it, Moore said, "That's cool."
Marijuana is "a folk medicine," he said. "For malabsorption, for energy, and..."
"And the appetite," a man with Nautilus biceps offered.
"Right? That's how it helps me," said a slight Latino man in his twenties. "I went to the doctor - I weighed one-forty-five, now I'm one-fifty which is good." He folded his bills and passed them to Moore.
The woman on the chintz sofa rose grandly and bought four bags, then kissed Moore's hand. When everybody left, having unburdened of thirty bags of pungent cannabis and his stack of flyers, he put on a fedora and headed toward SoHo, absolutely spent by the experience. At the corner of Broome and Wooster, he began a Tuesday-night ritual, lighting a tattered joint and breathing in luxuriously.
Editor's note: Johann Moore's jury trial will begin at 9:30 am on the morning of Wednesday, April 3 at the Criminal Court Building in Manhattan at 100 Centre Street. Picket will begin at 8:30 am. Moore is being prosecuted by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, (212) 635-9000.
[End of excerpts]
Needle exchanges help curb the spread of AIDS
A NEW NATIONAL poll showing that two-thirds of Americans support needle exchanges as a way to prevent AIDS should provide political cover to faint-hearted civic leaders who have dragged their feet in implementing the controversial programs.
The latest survey of 1,500 adults by the Menlo Park-based Kaiser Family Foundation found that 66 percent of Americans favor the distribution of clean needles to drug addicts to combat AIDS.
Unlike political leaders who steadfastly refuse to consider needle exchanges, the public apparently is aware of growing evidence that providing a clean needle in exchange for a dirty one does exactly what is intended-curb the increase of AIDS without increasing drug abuse. About one-third of AIDS cases are caused by the use of infected needles.
[End of excerpt]
Today, for instance, an older woman - in her sixties, I would guess - insisted on signing, and as she did so said, "My mother used to get cannabis at the drugstore to use for her Asthma. It came in a red can. She pulled out the leaf, and there was something on the lid that she would put it in and light it and then inhale the smoke. It was the only thing she found to help her asthma. She was so surprised when she went to the store and couldn't find it anymore."
"That must have been a long time ago," I said.
"Early 1930s," she said.
It was worth being out there all day - not to mention the 75 signatures - just to get that little bit of oral history, history the government would just as soon we all pretend never happened, FORGET it ever happened. I'm telling you so you'll help remember that it happened.
[End of excerpts]
[End]
This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/032896.html
Domestic Hemp Cultivation Bill Heads To Colorado Senate
March 22, 1996, Denver, CO: Legislation (SB 67) introduced by Sen. Lloyd Casey (D-Northglenn) to allow Colorado to become the first state to grow industrial hemp in almost 40 years is heading for the Senate floor.
Washington State Medical Marijuana Patient Found Guilty Of Drug Possession And Manufacture Charges
March, 1996, Tacoma, WA: A Pierce County resident who used marijuana to alleviate pain and seizures stemming from head injuries he suffered in a 1988 motorcycle accident was found guilty of charges that he possessed and manufactured marijuana. His sentencing is set for April 10.
Rally For Medical Marijuana To Be Held This Saturday
March 28, 1996, Sacramento, CA: A rally to bring awareness to the medical efficacy of marijuana and gather support for an initiative to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana as a therapeutic agent will take place on March 30 on the north steps of the Capitol in Sacramento.
Body Count
The "Portland" zoned edition in Thursday's Oregonian, delivered to subscribers in the central metropolitan area, says that 11 of 15 felons sentenced to jail or prison in the most recent week by Multnomah County courts were controlled-substance offenders. (March 28, 1996, p. 4 3M-MP). That means 86 of 144 felons sentenced to terms so far this year by Multnomah County courts were controlled-substance offenders, or 59.72 percent. Eleven down, 33,079 to go. ("Let's do the numbers," Portland NORML press release, Feb. 29, 1996, http://www.pdxnorml.org/022996.html#ldt.)
Marijuana Task Force II
Portland NORML Director T.D. Miller has received Portland Mayor Vera Katz' letter of March 18, mentioned in last week's press release. The operative sentence states, "Although requested by the Chief, I am not planning to fund the Marijuana Task Force with city dollars when the federal grant expires." The mayor's security liaison, Chuck Bolliger, confirmed that federal funding would expire June 30. Although the Portland Police Bureau's drugs and vice division will of course continue to enforce the law to the extent of its resources, a number of questions remain unanswered.
"The task force's mission was conceived last fall by the Portland Police Bureau's drug and vice division and begun just a month ago. It is the first Portland-area task force ever to target indoor marijuana growers and carries the endorsement of the city, the Multnomah County district attorney, and Oregon and Washington state police. The task force started with a $20,000 federal grant and employs six officers full time at a cost to their respective agencies of at least $250,000 a year."
If the federal portion of the task force's budget is only $20,000, that would mean the rest of the budget would be at least $230,000, including the pay and upkeep for the four Portland Police officers, and possibly other funds dedicated to the task force. Since that funding remains intact, it's not clear if somebody else will pick up the relatively small federal tab or even if the $20,000 is really vital to the task force's viability. The obvious questions have been submitted to Mr. Bolliger and Sgt. Hudson of the Police Bureau's drugs and vice squad. Stay tuned.
Portland Public Schools - $3 Million For DARE
Amid the intensive and widespread news coverage about the funding crisis facing Portland and Oregon schools (see Portland NORML's constantly evolving page of articles on this at http://www.pdxnorml.org/schools.html), KOIN Channel 6 News, the local CBS affiliate, reported last week that the Portland Public Schools have budgeted $3 million dollars next year for DARE. Oddly, this figure is nowhere to be found in the proposed 1996-1997 budget posted in the Portland Public Schools' Web pages at http://www.pps.k12.or.us/budget/budcover.htm. One query produced no response. Stay tuned.
Prison Litigation Reform Act
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), formerly known as the Stop Turning Out Prisoners Act, passed the Senate on March 19, 1996 as past of the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act II. The full bill goes to a conference committee before it is submitted to President Clinton.
The Next Black Market - Clothing
According to Whitney LaBlank of the Kansas City Bureau of Prisons office, federal prisoners have lost the right to wear their own clothing. By April 1 prisoners must ship out all clothing colored red, blue or black. Prisoners in camps who previously were allowed to receive clothing twice a year will no longer be allowed to receive clothes from outside. Prisoners who already have clothing will be allowed to keep it, as long as it is not red, blue or black. The reason for this change was that it has become increasingly difficult for BOP to monitor clothing parcels, and gang related activities. Prisoners must now buy their clothing from the BOP.
Career Opportunities
This has become so common, it's mentioned here sometimes only because other media never do. A former New York City police officer began serving a life sentence Wednesday, after being convicted for his role in running a drug ring that imported cocaine and heroin to St. Louis, Missouri. George DeLuca, 55, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. His sentencing followed Monday's sentencing in the same courtroom of his wife, Elisa DeLuca, 42. A federal jury convicted both DeLucas of drug conspiracy last December. Both husband and wife were sentenced to identical terms of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors charged the couple ran a drug ring that bought Colombian cocaine in New York and sold it in St. Louis.
"The Grass Menagerie"
The New Yorker, April 1, 1996, p. 43
By David France
....
Last August, when the club was temporarily locked out of its meeting place, Moore imprudently set up shop on a street corner, where he was busted by a vanload of housing cops. He was found with eight stout Baggies' worth of marijuana, forty grams in all, and charged with criminal sale in the fourth degree - a Class A misdemeanor. His lawyer, Ruth Liebesman, has rejected plea offers and pressed for a jury trial, which is set for April 3rd. Even when the DA's office proposed a deal that would have purged Moore's record if he stayed out of trouble for six months, the defense rejected the offer: Moore refused to stay out of trouble for six months. Without him the Tuesday salons would not happen.
"Time For Needle Exchange"
San Francisco Chronicle staff editorial, March 28, 1996
Marijuana: The Forgotten Medicine
Kim Greenwood of Washington state passed this along March 24:
.... It had been 1994 when I last hit the crowds, gathering signatures for Hemp. Yesterday I was back in the saddle, wandering the "Festival of Trees" in Port Townsend, a small and friendly crowd of plant buyers. There's something about this activity that I can only equate to the energy some politicians say they get wading out into the crowds "pressing flesh"..... I especially enjoy the anecdotes that come my way, the confessions I hear, the stories.
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