Latest Edition Of Household Survey Fuels Election Year Rhetoric - NORML Responds To Calls To Escalate The Drug War

The use of marijuana, the illicit drug used primarily by adolescents, increased from 7.3 percent to 8.2 percent.

Not surprisingly, both prohibitionists and politicians are using the latest statistics to call for increased anti-drug efforts. "This is nothing short of a national tragedy," said Republican nominee Bob Dole. "Starting next January, I'm going to make the drug war priority No. 1 once again."

In light of the recent data, NORML issued the following statement:

"The statistics indicating rising levels of teen marijuana use cited by the National Household Survey should be an issue of concern for both parents and political leaders alike. NORML opposes the use of marijuana, or other drugs including alcohol and tobacco, by adolescents. " NORML remains committed to the notion that adolescents should grow up drug-free. However, there is no evidence to demonstrate that increasing penalties against adult users will address the problem. In fact, federal statistics indicate that just the opposite is true."

"Despite criticism that the Clinton administration has abandoned the drug war, FBI figures show that nearly one-half million Americans were arrested on marijuana charges in 1994, a remarkable 42 percent increase over the average yearly total for marijuana arrests under the Bush administration. That equates to an arrest every 65 seconds! (More than 83 percent of the arrest were for simple possession.)"

"In spite of this significant increase in the enforcement of marijuana laws, recent studies such as the Household Survey indicate that the use of marijuana is rising, especially among adolescents. This fact confirms that marijuana prohibition does not effectively deter marijuana use. "

"Today's rates of adolescent drug use are better understood when put in historical perspective. As late as 1988, during the height of the Reagan/Bush 'Just say no' campaign, the number of adolescents who reported using an illicit substance stood at 9.2 percent, just slightly below today's so-called 'emergency levels.' In addition, today's use rate - despite the recent increase - still remain well below the peak level in 1979 (16.7)."

"We will probably never know why marijuana use-rates fluctuate over time. It is worth noting that the recent increase has occurred among the same population of young people who have been exposed to a decade-long anti-marijuana campaign in the schools and the media. That campaign, based on exaggerations of marijuana's alleged harms and a 'Just say no' ideology has clearly failed."

NIAID will provide to Dr. Abrams an explanation for the rejection in six to eight weeks. Dr. Abrams will evaluate the comments and decide whether to revise and resubmit the protocol a third time.

In a 85-40 vote, the state council endorsed a resolution by the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) that calls for a change in the narcotics law through a referendum.

The FDP argued that using marijuana should no longer remain a punishable offense because 20 years of federal prohibition have not proved to be an adequate deterrent of either marijuana use or availability. Therefore, the proposal recommends that the sale of cannabis be organized and regulated by the state in order to insure quality and eliminate the black market.

On the advice of the city's District Attorney Terence Hallinan and Director of Health Sandra Hernandez, a Board of Supervisors committee backed off from the declaration. Many officials claimed that approving such a controversial measure could jeopardize the city's needle-exchange program that currently operates under an emergency declaration. The decision came one day after Mayor Willie Brown withdrew his support for the proposal.

"If it were up to me, I would have a state of emergency, but given the [advice], it doesn't look a state of emergency is going to fly," said Ammiano.

Brown said that he also felt a declaration of a medical marijuana emergency could legally endanger the clean needle program. He added that city officials were attempting to work out an agreement with the state attorney general's office to let another organization distribute marijuana to patients.

"If they say that it can't be done [by the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club and] it has to be done [by] some other organization that's free of any taint, then we'll do that," Brown said at his bi-weekly press conference.

"My interest is to get [medical marijuana] to an organization that has no history with legal or illegal use of marijuana," added police commissioner Pat Norman. "[This] should not be a political issue; it should be provided as treatment."

Responding to the possibility that city officials may attempt to procure an outside entity to distribute medical marijuana, San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club founder Dennis Peron told the San Francisco Chronicle that he would support any and all efforts to viably get medical marijuana to the sick.

For more information, please contact Mark Capitolo of Californians for Medical Rights at (916) 457-5546 or Dale Gieringer of California NORML at (415) 563-5858. For the latest information on the status of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club, please contact Californians for Compassionate Use at (415) 621-3986.

About 25 patients showed up for the giveaway, news of which was spread through word of mouth. Those possessing valid documentation were provided with one-eighth of an ounce of marijuana.

"I believe the moral stance [in this instance] is to break the law to make this marijuana available," said Rev. Jim Mitulski of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco. "Our church's spiritual vitality has always come from a willingness to act where people have been reluctant to act. This is not a bystander church."

Allen White, a community activist who helped organize the event, said he had notified Mayor Willie Brown, Assistant Police Chief Earl Sanders, and District Attorney Terence Hallinan Saturday night about the church's plan to distribute marijuana. Organizers said that they knew of no other church that had conducted such an operation.

Mitulski did not specify whether he would hold repeat giveaways, but added that there were no plans to distribute marijuana on a long-term basis. He said he hoped other churches will become actively involved in the issue.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of NORML at (202) 483-5500.

-END-

MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965 . . . ANOTHER EVERY 65 SECONDS!

Regional and other news

Body Count

Marinol 'Proven' To Reduce Memory Loss In Alzheimer's Patients

"Dr. Dean Edell (KGO ch.7 SF) did a report tonight on a pharmaceutical company who will be marketing Marinol for patients suffering with Alzheimer's disease. He said Marinol has been proven in clinical studies to increase appetite and reduce memory loss, anxiety and anorexia associated with the disease. He also said it elevates mood and overall quality of life and said if it wasn't for the drug war, more research could be done to confirm marijuana's medicinal benefits. He said the government should focus on 'the medicine not the mayhem' and stop using the drug war to interfere with medical research. He did not mention the name of the pharmaceutical company. He also stressed that patients who cannot swallow the pill should be able to smoke marijuana legally and safely."

NEW YORK (AP) - Chocolate contains substances that might mimic the effects of marijuana, boosting the pleasure you get from eating the stuff, researchers say.

The ingredients might make the texture, smell and flavor of chocolate more enjoyable and combine with other ingredients like caffeine to make a person feel good, researcher Daniele Piomelli speculated.

"We are talking about something much, much, much, much milder than a high," said Piomelli, a researcher at the Neurosciences Institute of San Diego. He reported the work with colleagues in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

But a researcher who studies the brain chemistry of marijuana said chocolate contains such low levels of the ingredients Piomelli identified that he doubts they have any effect.

Christian Felder of the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that a 130-pound person would have to inject the equivalent of 25 pounds of chocolate in one sitting to get any marijuana-like effect.

Piomelli found that chocolate contains anandamide, which is also produced naturally in the brain and which activates the same target that marijuana does.

He also found two chocolate ingredients that inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide, which could lead to heightened levels of anandamide in the brain.

Piomelli stressed that his work does not imply that chocolate is addicting.

[End quote]

Chocolate on the Brain
Aug. 21, 1996

Scientists say chocolate's effect on the human brain is similar to that of marijuana, perhaps partially explaining the fondness of millions of people around the world. Writing in the science journal Nature, scientists from San Diego's Neurosciences Institute say a chemical contained in chocolate mimics the effects of cannabis. The scientists say they looked at a molecule called anandamide that is contained in chocolate because it is a brain lipid, or fat -- and of course chocolate is high in fat. They say it could act as a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries signals between brain cells. Chocolate contains three different versions of anandamide, which could activate receptors in brain cells that are known to react to chemicals in marijuana.

[End quote]

Adam writes:

}Jay Leno (Tonight Show) said eating 25 lbs of chocolate
}was like smoking marijuana. If you smoke marijuana, you
}eat 25 lbs of chocolate. How could they tell the difference?
}:-) :-) :-)

You get twice as high? Then again, the sugar and caffiene might
counter act the anadamide.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Chocolate contains substances that might mimic the effects of marijuana, boosting the pleasure you get from eating the stuff, researchers say.

[snip]

Piomelli found that chocolate contains anandamide, which is also produced naturally in the brain and which activates the same target that marijuana does.

He also found two chocolate ingredients that inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide, which could lead to heightened levels of anandamide in the brain.

Piomelli stressed that his work does not imply that chocolate is addicting.

Piomelli seems to be overlooking the work of Drewnowski who has concluded that chocolate is addictive in the very same way the opiates are. If you take all the recent studies into consideration it quickly becomes clear that we are facing a "national tragedy" and an "upward spiral" of candy abuse, particularly among non-voting teens.

What sort of a "message" does Halloween send to the kids? Sure I experimented with marzipan in the sixties, didn't everybody? If I knew then what I know now ... Does anyone have any figures for chocolate ER mentions?

What's so bad about being a chocoholic? Plenty, says Adam Drewnowski, who is hunting for a drug to battle those cravings.

Chocolate is the food most desired by women who binge eat, because of a brain chemical that gives them physical pleasure from the sweet indulgence, says the University of Michigan nutritionist. So he and other scientists are pursuing drugs to block that brain chemical.

"It's possible that we may be able to control the onset of binges," Drewnowski said.

At issue are not just people who need to shed weight, but sufferers of medically defined disorders that cause severe food cravings and huge eating binges, often followed by vomiting or laxatives to fight the resulting pounds. About 1 million Americans, mostly women, suffer from one such disorder, bulimia.

Antidepressants that affect the brain chemical serotonin offer help to some binge eaters, but not all, and they can cause side effects. So doctors are looking for better alternatives.

Women who binge most desire foods high in fat and sugar - chocolate is the No. 1 urge - while men crave foods high in fat and salt, surveys show.

The brain naturally produces opiates, drug-like chemicals that cause pleasure sensations and are linked to addictions. Animal studies show that these chemicals could be a trigger for sweet, fatty cravings. And consuming such foods made the brain produce even more of the chemicals, as shown in studies of rats given chocolate milk.

When the brain's normal opiate production was blocked, rats chose their normal feed over previously tempting sweets.

Drewnowski tested the theory on 41 women, bingers and normal eaters. They were offered their favorite foods, from pretzels and jelly beans to chocolate chip cookies and chocolate ice cream. Half received injections of naloxone, a drug used to treat heroin overdoses because it blocks brain opiate receptors. The rest got a placebo of salt water.

Naloxone made bingers eat notably less - 160 fewer calories per meal, Drewlowski reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Their chocolate consumption dropped in favor of lower-fat foods like popcorn. When asked to rate their favorite foods again, chocolate dropped.

Non-bingers, however, weren't affected.

"The effect of naloxone was to reduce the pleasure response of food" in bingers, Drewnowski concluded. "Binge eaters often know a binge is coming. ... That may be the time to take the medication."

Naloxone is available only intravenously, which makes it impractical for chronic bingers. Drewnowski is searching for an easier-to-take drug.

"It's a promising avenue," said Dr. Katherine Halmi, an eating-disorder specialist at Cornell University. Drewnowski's work shows binge eating affects more than one neurotransmitter - opiates as well as serotonin. "There is a need for a spectrum of treatments," she said.

Penn State nutritionist Barbara Rolls cautioned that understanding of brain function is still in its infancy. "These are provocative findings ... but this is one first phase."

However, Wayne State University pharmacologist Mary Ann Marrazzi said she also has linked opiates to binge eating.

In a study to be published in International Clinical Psychopharmacology, Marrazzi reports that high doses of a similar drug, naltrexone, reduced binge eating and food cravings in 18 of 19 patients at Harper Hospital. None could control the symptoms while on a placebo. Six weeks of naltrexone left one woman binge-free since 1991, Marrazzi said.

Naltrexone, a cousin of naloxone, the drug Drewnowski tested, is prescribed for alcoholism. Marrazzi found that it interrupted binge symptoms just as it interrupts alcoholics' cravings, illustrating that eating disorders are themselves a form of addiction.

Naltrexone, unlike naloxone, can be taken orally, but experts caution that it can cause serious side effects, so more proof is needed of its benefits before it is offered to bingers. Marrazzi is beginning a larger study.

[End quote]

Wednesday August 21 10:25 PM EDT

Chocolate Affects Brain Like Marijuana

LONDON (Reuter) - It may not come as a surprise to chocolate junkies, but scientists in California said Wednesday they had found another chemical in chocolate that could explain its addictive properties.

The chemical mimics the effects of cannabis, Daniele Piomelli and colleagues at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego said.

They looked at the molecule, anandamide, because it is a brain lipid, or fat -- and of course chocolate is high in fat. They said it could act as a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries signals between brain cells.

Writing in the science journal Nature, they said tests showed chocolate contained varying amounts of anandamide while white chocolate, made of milk and cocoa butter, and coffee did not.

Chocolate contains three different versions of anandamide, which could activate receptors in brain cells that are known to react to chemicals in cannabis.

They said further experiments were needed to see if the chemicals would have this effect in a living animal.

"Canniboid drugs are known to heighten sensitivity and produce euphoria. A possible effect of elevated brain anandamide levels could be to intensify the sensory properties of chocolate thought to be essential to craving," they wrote.

Previous efforts to explain chocolate's appeal have focused on phenylethylamine, a molecule closely related to amphetamines. These drugs raise blood pressure and blood sugar levels, making people feel more alert and sometimes creating a sense of well-being.

Some studies have also said the chemical is secreted when people fall in love.

Chocolate also contains caffeine, which is addictive, and a very similar chemical known as theobromine. And cocoa butter melts just at body temperature -- meaning pure chocolate literally melts in the mouth, providing a very pleasant sensation.

Some researchers say binging on chocolate could be a form of self-medication.

Britons spend $5 billion a year on the confection, while Americans spent $11 billion. In Switzerland enough is sold for each citizen to eat 21 pounds a year.

[End quote]

"Of course we don't want people to use drugs, but that's not realistic," Delfzijl City Hall spokeswoman Marjon Edzes said Tuesday. "This is a healthier solution."

Authorities in the northern harbor town of Delfzijl are spending $294,117 to open a soft drugs shop on Sept. 1. It's modeled on a similar project in the town of Bussum, outside Amsterdam. Profits will fund education campaigns on drug use, and the store will be staffed with counselors and youth workers offering free health information on drug use.

Both hard and soft drugs are officially illegal in the Netherlands, but drug use is non-prosecutable. "Hard drugs" include heroin, cocaine and amphetamines, while the term "soft drugs" refers to marijuana and hashish.

Small-scale sales of hashish and marijuana are allowed in hundreds of officially sanctioned coffee shops around the nation -- part of a police effort to separate the soft drug trade from heroin and cocaine trafficking. Authorities say the policy discourages hard drug use.

CANNABIS will light up thousands of Irish homes by replacing Irish peat as a vital fuel to generate electricity. A fast-growing strain is said to be a perfect new crop for European farmers.

Scientists in Carlow, southwest of Dublin, have been growing cannabis in a secret area for the past four years, testing its properties as an energy source to burn in power stations. James Burke, who has grown three acres under licence from the Department of Justice, said that the plant flourished in Irish conditions, growing up to a height of 14ft.

It is a strain developed in France for agricultural use. Called Cannabis sativa L also known as hemp, it is essentially the same plant smoked by drug users, but modern science has removed the narcotic element. [I wish we could stop spreading this baloney--dpw]

"There is no possibility of everyone getting stoned from the fumes of a power station because the cannabis has no chemical constituent," said Dr. Burke, who works at Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority part-funded by the Government.

"Despite the name, it bears no resemblance to the other plant. You would have to smoke five or six acres of the stuff to get a high."

The plant has a slightly minty smell. Stringy fibres inside the stem burn as well as wood and yield similar energy levels, but the cannabis is easier and faster to grow than wood and dries out more quickly. A typical growing season lasts six months, from April to September.

The fibres can also be used to make fine paper, canvas shoes or car bumpers. Ireland intends to be the first country to use it to generate electricity.

The Government is holding an international competition to find the best design for a biomass power plant, which would burn cannabis, waste paper and chicken droppings. The plant could be in operation by 1999, generating electricity for more than 30,000 homes 1 per cent of Ireland's total energy needs.

Dr Burke said that Cannabis sativa would be a perfect alternative crop for farmers curtailed from producing more food for the European Union.At 3190 an acre, it is 350 cheaper to produce than wheat or barley.

Ireland's planned use of cannabis is a far cry from the staple fuel of bog peat which has warmed Irish houses for generations. But the bog is running out. There are 1.2 million hectares of bog in Ireland, 8 per cent of them owned by Bord na Mona, the national peat cultivator. Peat accounts for 12 per cent of the fuel used to generate electricity, fourth to coal, gas and oil. Bord na Mona says it has sufficient resources for another 30 years, after which its contribution to the national grid would dwindle.

Humans have been using hemp to make ropes and baskets for at least 6,000 years. The plant is widely grown in India and throughout Eastern Europe. Its main use is as a source of fibre used for twine, rope and string, and for coarse sacking and canvas.

The plant, an annual grown from seed, can grow up to a height of 16ft. In dense cultivation it usually reaches between 7ft and 10ft. The seeds are a source of oil used to make paints, varnishes, soaps and, more commonly, birdseed. The narcotic chemicals are usually found in the leaves and blossoms.

Drugs In Sport Should Be Legalized, Says Scientist

Unrelenting pain, often caused by such everyday calamities as automobile accidents, back injuries, migraine headaches and arthritis, is a cruel and consuming master.

Chronic pain takes a grim center stage in the lives of sufferers. It ends careers, ruins marriages and costs Americans billions of dollars in health-care expenses and lost wages.

Yet many physicians avoid treating chronic pain. While strong narcotics have been part of doctors' arsenals for decades, societal taboos have suppressed their use. Time and again, chronic pain sufferers are denied medication that would ease their misery.

Physicians worry that prescribing narcotics to knock out pain will turn patients into addicts, or even worsen the disability.

They also fear scrutiny from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which keeps a watchful eye on doctors who prescribe large amounts of so-called opiods, natural or synthetic drugs that kill pain like opium. The market for those drugs is lucrative: A 4 mg tablet of the powerful narcotic Dilaudid, which costs a patient less than $1 from a pharmacist, sells for $40 to $65 on the street.

Dr. Stephen P. Long, director of acute pain service at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, said a variety of factors fuel physicians' aversion to prescribing narcotics. Patients develop a tolerance to the drugs over time, so dosages must be gradually increased to levels that eventually appear alarmingly high.

Negative public attitudes toward narcotics, and physicians' reluctance to prescribe adequate doses for fear of harming their patients, play a major role in limiting pain control, Long said.

Even an aggressive pain practitioner like Long prescribes narcotics with caution, only after having exhausted ''all conservative approaches'' he said. ''We work our way up this ladder. Opioids are close to the top.''

Efforts by state and federal drug agencies to keep prescription painkillers from being resold on the street has a chilling effect on physicians, said Dr. John C. Rowlingson of the University of Virginia Medical Center's pain management center.

''Every other year we have the State Police people come in and talk to us about the things people do -- be they doctors or patients -- to divert medication'' to illegal channels, Rowlingson said. ''It's an issue but it shouldn't be so dominant that it obliterates the physicians' rational thinking in prescribing drugs.''

Next week, physicians and patients nationwide will be watching the case of a Washington, D.C., pain specialist whose license to practice medicine was summarily suspended by the Virginia Board of Medicine.

Dr. William E. Hurwitz lost his state license after the deaths of two patients, not terminally ill, who had been prescribed high levels of opioids.

The board charges that Hurwitz overprescribed drugs and inadequately supervised his patients. His lawyer argued that one of the deaths was a suicide, and the other patient was a drug abuser who deceived Hurwitz.

Hurwitz, president of the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association, a grass-roots organization with a membership of about 3,000, prescribed painkillers to more than 200 patients nationwide.

A hearing on whether to reinstate his license is set for July 29-31 in Richmond. The hearing originally was scheduled for last month, but after one day of testimony it was postponed so more patient records could be reviewed.

The hearing drew about 75 pain patients and family members from throughout the country. They've vowed to return next week.

''I'm standing by the man who gave back my life,'' said Mary C. Jacka of Bella Vista, Ark., an Army veteran who's been intermittently bedridden with debilitating pain after a car accident 10 years ago. ''I'll come if I have to crawl.''

Doug Ventura, national director of the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association, said the Hurwitz case has national implications because it illustrates the potential danger to doctors who treat chronic pain with narcotics.

''If this case is lost it will have a very chilling effect on the treatment of chronic pain patients throughout the country . . . and will undoubtedly cause the loss of lives,'' he said. ''I've talked to four or five people who said if they have to go without medication they're not going to go through that pain'' and will commit suicide.

The Hurwitz case illustrates the potential danger to doctors who treat chronic pain with narcotics.

While he declined to comment on the specifics of the Hurwitz case, Rowlingson said many doctors are already unwilling to prescribe opioids on a long-term basis for nonmalignant, nonterminal chronic pain.

''When you deal with patients with intense, acute pain you run into problems,'' he said. ''Medications which are available are not made available to patients upon prescription because the doctors or pharmacies won't provide them. . . . They're afraid of the regulatory agencies.''

The problem of prescription drug fraud is considered serious enough to warrant its own investigative unit within the Virginia State Police. The Pharmaceutical Diversion Investigation Unit was begun in 1988 and has 12 agents that cover the state, according to William R. Bess, assistant special agent in charge of the unit. From 1988 until June 1996, the agents made 1,218 arrests. In contrast, drug abuse violations in Virginia in 1994 alone accounted for 24,102 arrests, according to a Justice Department report.

Rowlingson acknowledged that the diversion of prescription painkillers to street abusers is a serious problem.

''But the majority of people are not out to jack the system. . . . The majority suffers because the minority is irresponsible.''

In other words, America's war on drugs has caught pain sufferers in a cross fire of competing interests.

In a society that demands that people ''just say no'' to drugs, those unfortunate souls who need painkillers just to get out of bed say they often are made to feel like low-life drug abusers.

One such patient is Eyssel Gurganous of Littleton, N.C., a former teacher who heads the southern region of the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association. For the past decade, Gurganous, a self-described teetotaler who opposes recreational drug use, has battled chronic back and leg pain.

Once athletic and energetic, she's spent weeks on end curled and crying in bed. Her dilemma has been compounded by doctors' inability to find the cause of her pain, even though her right leg barely functioned. She eventually was diagnosed with lumbar radiculopathy, a pain syndrome caused by severe nerve damage in the lower back.

Gurganous' 10-year medical odyssey to stop the pain has included a hysterectomy, back fusion, nerve blocks, acupuncture, physical therapy and healing prayers.

''When you're in chronic pain you'll bury a rag under the back porch'' if a doctor says it will help, said Gurganous, 45. ''It is the most miserable thing -- your life is slipping away, your money is gone. You're losing your personality, your friends.''

But she didn't lose her family. She and her husband, who own a clothing store in North Carolina and have a 19-year-old son in college, will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in February. Her mother moved in to help out when Gurganous was incapacitated by pain.

The back fusion did far more harm than good, she said. Rather than relieving her pain, the surgery compounded it, and now she faces another operation to remove the plates and screws in her back.

''People are pushed into these surgeries that kill you financially, emotionally and physically when they're unnecessary,'' Gurganous said.

Only in the past 20 months has Gurganous found reliable relief -- through daily doses of narcotics.

She now takes a combination of morphine and Dilaudid, and is allowed up to 30 pills per day. She spends about $500 to $600 per month on the medication, which her insurance doesn't cover.

Gurganous believes that if she had gotten narcotics earlier, she could have avoided the back surgery that now exacerbates her pain. She also resents the suggestion that she's taking medication because she's getting some kind of pleasure out of it.

''I don't feel anything -- just pain relief,'' she said. ''Nobody wants to be in this situation.''

She rues the day that former first lady Nancy Reagan began her campaign urging Americans to ''just say no'' to drugs.

''I'm sure she had no idea she was dooming a whole generation to no pain control,'' Gurganous said.

COPING WITH PAIN

Places to go for help and information:

• The National Chronic Pain Outreach Association -- NCPOA operates a referral service to doctors and clinics and has information on support groups throughout the United States. Write to 7979 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 100, Bethesda, Md. 20814; or call (301) 652-4948.
• The Arthritis Foundation -- Write to 1314 Spring St. NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30309; or call toll-free (800) 283-7800.
• The Back Pain Association of America -- Write to P.O. Box 135, Pasadena, Md. 21122; or call (410) 255-3633.
• The National Headache Foundation -- Write to 428 West St. James Place, 2nd floor, Chicago, Ill. 60614; or call toll-free (800) 843-2256.
• The National Organization for Rare Disorders Inc. -- Write to P.O. Box 8923, New Fairfield, Conn. 06812; or call toll-free (800) 999-6673.

Anheuser-Busch - This Lawsuit's For You

VAN NUYS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 1996--Just days before the first anniversary of a `search and seizure` drug operation conducted by Anheuser-Busch Inc. at its Los Angeles (Van Nuys), plant, an additional 19 of its current and former employees filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court for personal grievances and numerous civil rights violations during the alleged illegal operation. At a news conference held today in Los Angeles, a majority of the plaintiffs were present with their attorney, Andrew M. Wyatt, to provide details of the operation and lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which has to be filed before Aug. 18 because of a one year statute of limitations, is the second filed relating to the operation. On Nov. 21, 1995, four other Anheuser-Busch employees filed a lawsuit. Among the charges brought in the lawsuit were allegations of false imprisonment, false arrest, assault and battery, invasion of privacy, defamation, wrongful termination and malicious prosecution. Included among the defendants was August Busch III, chief executive officer of Anheuser-Busch who allegedly approved and ordered the operation.

Also named as defendants were:

Russ Whitmeyer and Associates Inc. and its principals, Russ and Leta Whitmeyer; Wells Fargo Guard Services; and Anheuser-Busch employees John Burke, Chris Hardin, George Logan, Robert Warner and Gary Prindiville. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit included three former Anheuser-Busch employees who were terminated as a result of the operation - Alex Bilich (Hollywood, Calif.), Noah Smith (San Fernando, Calif.) and Steve Simon (Castaic, Calif.) - as well as 16 current employees: Scott Anderson (Reseda, Calif.), Hector Martinez (Los Angeles), Steve Anderson (Covina, Calif.), Santiago Casillas (Granada Hills, Calif.), Larry Dillon (Hawthorne, Calif.) and Curtis McDowell (Simi Valley, Calif.). Other plaintiffs include: Tom Raymo (Acton, Calif.), Edward Simber (Palmdale, Calif.), Michael Scott (Saugas, Calif.), Willie Wesley (Arleta, Calif.), Steve Wilson (Palmdale), Michael Symonds (Lancaster, Calif.), Charlie Collins (Covina), Gregory Derossi (Covina), Cornelius Hines (Los Angeles) and Dennis Knittle (Simi Valley).

According to Wyatt, a Los Angeles-based attorney whose law firm specializes in civil litigation with an emphasis in employment law, the lawsuit seeks compensatory, punitive and special damages for emotional distress and physical and financial loss. The operation, Wyatt noted, was conducted at the Los Angeles brewery on Aug. 18, 1995 beginning at 4:30 p.m. and ending in the late evening. At 4:30 p.m., the turnstiles between the plant and the employee parking lot were locked by Wells Fargo as were the parking lot entrance and exit gates, he said.

Wyatt reported that personnel and dogs of the Whitmeyer security firm then checked all vehicles. If a dog indicated drugs were present, he pointed out, owners of the vehicles would be located and taken to a room in the administration building where they would be told to sign a consent form authorizing a search of their vehicles and persons. If they refused to sign the consent form, he emphasized, they were told they would be suspended and terminated.

Orders for the alleged illegal drug operation, Wyatt emphasized, `came from the top.` In testimony by Russ Whitmeyer under oath, he said he was informed by Burke, an Anheuser-Busch human resources executive in St. Louis that the corporation's legal department had approved it and that (August) Busch was quoted as saying: `the search better be conducted or (expletive) heads would roll.` Wyatt stressed that the operation also confirmed what had been rumored around the plant for years; that there existed a `hit list` of employees who were considered to be heavy drug users. The list included the names of: Steve Anderson, Dillon, McDowell, Simber, Scott, Symonds, Wesley, Wilson, Collins, Derossi and Hines. As an indication the list was being used, he said that Collins was singled out to have his car searched - even though he hadn't driven to work that day.

False arrest charges were brought on behalf of Smith and Simon, Wyatt reported, who were arrested and spent time in jail. When it was time for their hearings, no representatives of Anheuser-Busch or Whitmeyer appeared to testify. Five of the employees - Bilich, Martinez, Smith, Casillas and Simon - had both their bodies and cars searched, thus leading to charges of unreasonable search and seizure. The charge affecting the most plaintiffs was false imprisonment because they were locked in the plant and not allowed to leave while the operation was held. Plaintiffs `locked in` were Scott Anderson, Steve Anderson, Bilich, Casillas, Collins, Hines, Knittle, Martinez, McDowell, Raymo, Simber, Simon, Smith, Symonds and Wesley. Commenting on the operation, Wyatt remarked: `There are hardly any words to describe it; the whole operation was reminiscent of some of the horror stories emanating from Germany during World War II.` --30--jw/la.. CONTACT: Fisher & Associates Inc. Bob Fisher or Nele Freedman 818/593-2202 818/593-2281

"I tried it, yes, on a river trip," the former Colorado governor said in an interview on Denver radio station KTLK. "I used to do a lot of kayaking, and other people had some marijuana on a kayaking trip on the Green and the Yampa (rivers)."

Lamm, 60, who last week lost the Reform Party presidential nomination to Ross Perot, said the episodes were about 25 years ago, which is before he was elected governor but during the time he served in the Colorado House.

"We used to do a lot of kayaking, and they were a great bunch of people," Lamm said. "I remember looking into the coals of the fire, and it was an interesting experience."

Lamm, who was defeated by Perot in Reform Party balloting, was governor from 1975 to 1987 and made an unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination for Senate in 1992. He runs the University of Denver's Center for Public Policy.

By Michael Fleeman, Associated Press, as published in the Detroit News, August 14, 1996

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The latest weapon against terrorism can see right through you.

The Passive Millimeter Wave Imager can X-ray through clothing to "see" a concealed weapon, plastic explosives or drugs. A police officer can surreptitiously aim it into a crowd from as far away as 90 feet.

The new X-ray gun is becoming a danger symbol for an unlikely alliance of civil libertarians and gun owners who fear the fight against crime and terrorism may be waged at the expense of personal freedoms.

"I'm incredibly concerned," said John Henry Hingson, a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, meeting here this past week. "The entire nation could become a victim of illegal searches and seizures and the law is powerless to protect them from these police abuses."

But in these nervous times following the the crash of TWA Fight 800 and bombings at the Olympics, Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center, many Americans now say they are willing to trade some of their privacy and civil liberties for greater security.

A poll last week by the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of people -- 58 percent -- said they would give up some civil liberties if it would help to thwart terrorism.

Thirteen percent said it would depend on what rights were at stake. The poll didn't ask people to single out any rights.

The Clinton administration has proposed increased wiretapping and other anti-terrorism steps, and is doling out research grants for cutting-edge anti-crime technology that once may have been intended for purely military use.

Last year, the National Institute of Justice awarded $2.1 million to three companies to develop weapon detectors for airports, stores and public buildings.

Two models are being developed of the Passive Millimeter Wave Imager, a creation of Massachusetts-based Millimetrix Corp.

The larger one, about the size of a shoebox, is mounted on a patrol car and pointed at the unsuspecting person. The gadget doesn't send out X-rays; instead, it picks up electromagnetic waves emitted by human flesh.

Anything that stands in the way of those waves -- like a gun -- or anything that emits weaker waves -- like a bag of cocaine or a plastic explosive -- will show up on a little screen in the patrol car.

Clothes emit no waves. Neither do walls, allowing the device to be used even from outside a room.

A second model is a smaller, battery-operated version that an officer can operate by hand, like a radar gun.

Millimetrix hopes to field test the larger model soon at a police agency.

Hingson argues the device runs roughshod over bans against illegal searches and seizures.

The law says police can stop and frisk a person only when an officer has a "reasonable suspicion" the person is armed or involved in a crime.

Millimetrix points out that while the imager can see through clothing, it still leaves people some privacy. The device's display screen, the company says, "does not reveal intimate anatomical details of the person."

Chip Walker, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, noted that devices like the imager threaten the legal rights of people in 31 states who are allowed to carry concealed weapons with proper licenses.

"We certainly support efforts to disarm criminals, but we need to be careful that we're not painting with too broad a brush here," he said.

Walker said that as troubling as terrorism is, people would be playing into terrorists' hands by giving up their privacy.

"One of the broader issues is that if we start giving up certain civil liberties, that essentially means that the terrorists are starting to accomplish one of their goals," he said.

Subject: Colorado: Marijuana church Under Fire
Date: 19 Aug 1996

The mayor of Boulder, Colo., is pressuring police to arrest members of
a 300-member church that uses marijuana for holy communion. The Rev.
Michael Domangue, of the Sacred Herb Church, says any arrests will be
considered illegal religious persecution.

The whole story appeared this week in the Boulder Planet, a local
newspaper. Unfortunately, this paper is not on the Web. I called and
they sent me the article.

Their number is (303) 444-5761.

Their e-mail address is: news@boulderplanet.com

The author is Wayne Laugesen, who's at: wlaugesen@boulderplanet.com

[End]