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Portland Homicide Number 48 (American Anti-Prohibition League Press Release
With City Council And Multnomah County E-mail Addresses And Phone Numbers)

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 02:01:59 EST
From: Anti-Prohibition Lg (aal@inetarena.com)
To: Portland OR City Council -- Comish Charlie Hales (hales@ci.portland.or.us),
Comish Erik Sten (Esten@ci.portland.or.us),
Comish Gretchen Kafoury (gkafoury@ci.portland.or.us),
Commish Jim Francesconi (jfrancesconi@ci.portland.or.us),
Mayor Vera Katz (mayorkatz@ci.portland.or.us)
cc: Multonomah County Commissioners -- Chair Beverly Stein (mult.chair@co.multnomah.or.us),
Comish Dan Saltzman Dist 1 (dan.r.saltzman@co.multnomah.or.us),
Comish Gary Hansen Dist 2 (gary.hansen@co.multnomah.or.us),
Comish Sharron Kelley Dist 4 (sharron.e.kelley@co.multnomah.or.us),
Comish Tanya Collier Dist 3 (tanya.d.collier@co.multnomah.or.us),
FUCHS Michele A (Michele.A.FUCHS@co.multnomah.or.us),
Multnomah Country District Attorney -- Mult Co DA (Brenda.B.Clark@co.multnomah.or.us)

Subject: PR: Portland homicide #48

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE : Monday, December 1, 1997 - Midnight, PST

The AMERICAN ANTIPROHIBITION LEAGUE

Sponsors of the
OREGON DRUGS CONTROL AMENDMENT
http://ns2.calyx.net/~odca

"Drug War, or Drug Peace?"

3125 SE BELMONT STREET
PORTLAND OREGON 97214
503-235-4524
fax:503-234-1330
E-mail: AAL@InetArena.com

Portland Action: Each Wednesday at 10 a.m. for city council meetings,
please wear a black armband to signify your opposition to drug wars and
support for "Drug Peace!" The council meets at the Portland Building
downtown, 1120 S.W. 5th, 2nd floor auditorium. Tell your friends.

Portland, Oregon -- Mocking the sanctity of human life, a few
ruthless and well armed gangsters rule this mainly poor, mainly black
neighborhood called Humboldt. Meanwhile nothing but silence from City
Hall, even after the latest gang-related shoot-out Friday night, Nov.
28, left another young man dead on these mean streets. The 48th
homicide in Portland this year. The police have 2 suspects in custody
and are searching for 2 others. The police also recovered 2 guns
thought to be connected. This is the second gang-related death in so
many weeks, several other people have been wounded, the community
terrorized.

It's old news, from Any Inner-city, USA.

But we are told Portland has a more enlightened approach towards
drugs, like the local drug court and treatment options for first-time
offenders. Nonetheless I dare any Commissioner to look me in the eye
and tell me we've made real progress on ANY of the following points:

* Reducing gang and drug market-related violence and crime;
* Reducing drug availability;
* Reducing drug use among young people;
* Expanding voluntary, on-demand treatment, detox, Methadone;

We have big problems that keep getting bigger. They will not go away
by repeating past mistakes or without questioning basic assumptions.
Gov. John Kitzhaber put it well when he recently addressed the Citizens
Crime Commission on the subject of crime prevention, "We are creating
new crimes, we are building more prisons - we certainly know how to do
that. But frankly, that doesn't take much heart." We have lots of
sticks, but we need more carrots.

Here's a very moderate suggestion which would be a good first step at
partially disabling gangs, getting more addicts into recovery and
remain politically palatable: Declare a Public Health Emergency and
back it up with enough resources. Let's do everything possible to help
those who are ready to kick drug addiction, to do less is hypocritical.
Let's break this connection between gangs and their customer base.

Unfortunately most addicts will probably not come in from the cold
without addiction maintenance (the really big carrot). What's really
needed is a full-blown Harm Reduction approach, complete with medically
supervised addict maintenance. The Swiss, for example, have made
dramatic breakthroughs in stabilizing incorrigible addicts, getting
them away from crime and gangs. The Mayor should appoint a fact
finding team to go to Switzerland, immediately.

If you agree please call Mayor Vera Katz at (503-823-4120) to let her
know, and come to the Wednesday City Council meetings noted above.

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Burning Boat - Three Rescued, Pot Bales - Arrests Follow
('Associated Press' Newscast By KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate,
About US Coast Guard Interdiction Of 50 Bales Of Marijuana
In Neah Bay, Washington)

KOIN Channel 6
Portland, Oregon
http://www.koin.com/
letters to editor:
c6knews@koin.com

Burning Boat: 3 Rescued, Pot Bales
Arrests Follow

NEAH BAY, Wash., Updated 7:57 p.m. December 1, 1997-- The Coast Guard
rescued three people - and more - from a burning sailboat near Neah Bay,
Wash. Fifty bales of marijuana baled too.

That's the word from The Associated Press.

Customs officials say 30-year-old John Benjamin Ricker, 43-year-old Jim
Garvorcauskas and 48-year-old Amir Llumbantobing were trying to smuggle
marijuana.

All three appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Seattle this afternoon and
face a detention hearing Friday morning. They are being held on charges
of possessing marijuana on board vessels and attempting to import
controlled substances.

Spokeswoman Martha LaGuardia says the 60-foot sailboat "OK Tedi" attracted
attention just after midnight because it was sailing without running lights
five miles west of Cape Flattery.

But things weren't so okay with "OK Tedi."

According to AP, officers aboard the cutter Point Bennett were talking to the
sailboat crew by radio when the sailboat caught fire. Three men abandoned
ship into a life raft. They were taken to Neah Bay where they were arrested
by the Customs Service.

The AP reports that Coast Guard boats and helicopters are searching for
more dope found floating from the boat.

Compiled by Channel 6000 Staff

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Lawmaker Proposes Legalizing Pot For Medical Use, Growing Hemp For Cash
(New Hampshire State Representative Timothy Robertson)

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 10:04:49 EST
From: adbryan@onramp.net
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: ART: Lawmaker proposes legalizing pot
From the 12-1-97 Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/
letters@globe.com
Associated Press, 12/01/97 07:48

Lawmaker proposes legalizing pot for medical use, growing hemp for cash

KEENE, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire farmers who want to grow hemp as a cash
crop have little more than fields of dreams, but a Keene lawmaker wants
to change those dreams into a reality.

State Rep. Timothy Robertson is sponsoring one bill to allow residents
to grow and sell hemp as a cash crop, and another legalizing marijuana
use for medicinal purposes.

This is the first time the legalization of either hemp or medicinal
marijuana has been proposed in New Hampshire. A more controversial bill
Robertson sponsored last year that would have made marijuana possession
a misdemeanor failed.

``It's a subject we ought to be discussing in this country,'' Robertson
said.

Mark Lathrop of Chesterfield said growing hemp would bring him as much
as $1,500 an acre per year. Lathrop grew 10 acres of hay this year that
he didn't even bother to cut because it wasn't good enough for horses to
eat.

``If I was allowed to grow hemp, I could pay my mortgage,'' he said.

Robertson, a 65-year-old Democrat, said he is old enough to have seen
the effects of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use. He said marijuana
``didn't seem to have the destructive force that the other two drugs
had.''

But Robertson said he is not an advocate of recreational use of any
drug. ``I just think prohibition doesn't work,'' he said.

At least 36 states have laws allowing medicinal use of the drug, but
federal law prohibits it. When state and federal laws conflict, the more
stringent law applies.

New Hampshire already allows medicinal use of marijuana under strict
conditions. It is given only to patients receiving radiation or
chemotherapy.

While patients can get a prescription for medical marijuana, the federal
government won't allow pharmacies to issue the drug. The prescription
would be for ``cannabis-type drugs.'' That means Marinol, a pill
containing the active ingredient in marijuana.

Those who want to grow hemp say the crop has been unfairly painted with
the same brush used to disparage marijuana legalization efforts.

Marijuana and hemp can come from the same plant, cannabis sativa, which
can either be cultivated to produce marijuana or made into fiber for
commercial products, such as clothes, rope or other items.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency vehemently opposes letting people grow
hemp. Officials say legalizing hemp would create cover for those wishing
to grow marijuana.

``The cultivation of the marijuana plant exclusively for commercial,
industrial purposes has many associated risks relating to diversion into
the illicit drug traffic,'' said Gwen Phillips, a spokeswoman for DEA.

Robertson said his bill has enough safeguards to prevent abuse. It only
allows for plants with 1 percent or less of marijuana's active
ingredient. Seeds would have to be obtained through the state Department
of Agriculture and hemp growers would have to be licensed.

The hemp bill is in the House's Environment and Agriculture Committee
and has received a favorable response, according to Robertson.

``It should come out of that committee with a recommendation to pass,''
he said.

His bill on medical marijuana soon will be heading to either the Health,
Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee or the Criminal Justice and
Public Safety Committee.

He hopes that even if the bills fail, his fellow representatives will at
least think about it. As long as he is in office, he plans to push the
issue.

``When they hear testimony, some of it will stick in their head and what
they think one year will change the next year,'' Robertson said.

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Canada - Just For The Hemp Of It ('BC Business' Magazine Article
On Hemptown Clothiers)

Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 00:16:45 -0800
] Subj: Canada: Just For The Hemp Of It
] Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 11:34:18 -0500
Newshawk: Ethan Nadelmann
Source: BC Business, Vol 25; No 12; pg 14
Pubdate: December, 1997

JUST FOR THE HEMP OF IT

Jason Fnnis wants to be touched. He'll even encourage you, proffering an
arm with an eager, "Here, feel my sleeve." Consider it part of the
26-year-old entrepreneur's mission: to promote his Hemptown clothing line
and to move hemp from fringe fibre to the mainstream.

The shirt he's wearing, though made of 55 per cent hemp fibre, looks
stylish but ordinary, which is of course the point. An articulate advocate
for hemp as an environmentally superior (fewer pesticides, fast-growing)
textile alternative to cotton, Finnis wants to take his business "away from
the grass roots." Instead of hawking his line at head shops, he's targeting
upscale boutiques. Instead of the loose-fitting, multi-colored garments
that are the norm in hempwear, Finnis, working with designer Birgitta
Hellman, is pitching a tasteful look that he likes to compare to lines from
U.S. mail-order giant J. Crew. To boost his company's profile, he's even
sponsored a race car team, providing hemp hats, shirts and pants for the
crew of Stefan Johansson's Indy Lights Racing Team, a move that gives
Hemptown billing on a race car with co-sponsors like Marlboro and Firestone.

Eco-minded critics might call it selling out; Finnis calls his approach
realistic. The strategy appears to be working: since launching his company
in 1995, Finnis has seen his sales climb by 300 per cent per annum.
Hemptown imports finished hemp fabrics from China and manufactures its line
in Vancouver. Eventually Finnis hopes to buy his fabric from Canadian
suppliers. He may have a long wait. In Canada, hemp can only be grown for
research purposes, although new regulations are expected by early 1998.

Some estimates peg the North American hemp clothing market in 1997 to be
worth as much as 50 million, up from million in 1993. Finnis is confident
he can grab a significant piece of that business from his East Vancouver
warehouse. "The companies who have never bought hemp clothing come to us
because we look like who they're used to buying from -- we don't have
dreadlocks or 'hippie clothes'; we've got an ultra-conservative look."

Copyright Canada Wide Magazines Ltd 1997

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