-------------------------------------------------------------------
Standoff At The 'Methadone Juice Bar' Continues (Press Release
From American Antiprohibition League Says Demonstrations Continue
Weekly In Support Of Portland Health Clinic
Beset By Ignorant Clutch Of Neighbors)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 04:20:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Anti-Prohibition Lg
To: AAL@inetarena.com
Subject: CanPat - GOOD MORNING: The "Methadone Juice Bar"
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com
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
Email:AAL@InetArena.com
Standoff at the "methadone juice bar" continues
Portland, Oregon -- Now in it's forth week protesters and counter-
demonstrators will once again make a spectacle of themselves at SE 26th
Avenue and Belmont Street, starting about 9:00a.m. The subject of
controversy is a methadone clinic which opened, unannounced, last
December and has been serving about 300 patients per day since then.
(With no major problems that we know of.)
Methadone is a heroin substitute which helps some addicts kick the
street drug for an addiction to it instead. Because of current federal
and state laws, only clinics like the one on Belmont may dispense the
drug and then only under very close supervision. Usually in
conjunction with individual and group counseling, and regular drug
tests.
The protesters are local residents upset the clinic set up shop
without talking to them first. That was unfortunate, and badly
miscalculated by the clinic operators, General Health Inc., a private
corporation based in Tigard. "These protesters are hard as nails,"
commented League director Floyd Landrath recently. "They are adamant
and have shown no indication of even budging. Some of them really feel
invaded, outraged and have convinced themselves this clinic will
destroy the community." One of the protest signs callously reads: "No
Methadone Juice Bar Here!"
The counter-demonstrators (us) repeat our pledge of support
for all those who are struggling with their addiction disease
and find methadone helpful in that regard. We sympathize
with the protesters having to suddenly accept this clinic and
agree it was wrong to have it dumped on them the way it was.
Someone should be held accountable for that. A good
neighbor plan should be drafted and implemented as soon as
practical. But the protesters should come to grips with the
situation, they should understand there's no way to get rid of
the clinic.
Perhaps if these misguided neighbors looked a little closer,
got to know some of the patients they would come to understand
that methadone maintenance programs, though far from optimum,
do help some people move off the street, away from crime and drug
dealing. We believe, generally speaking methadone helps reduce the
overall "drug" problem. Methadone also saves tax dollars, reduces
the need for new jail cells and weakens the illegal drugs black-market.
Frankly we'd like to see more clinics, expanded maintenance programs
(including heroin) and less "war." Especially between neighbors who,
if they would simply sit down and listen to each other for a minute
might find they have much more in common than not.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oral Drug Test Screens For Use Of Marijuana ('The Oregonian'
Says US Food And Drug Administration Has Approved New Test
That Uses Lollipop-Like Collection Device Made By Epitope
In Suburban Portland)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 05:26:47 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US OR: Oral Drug Test Screens For Use Of Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Phil Smith
Source: Oregonian, The
Author: Steve Woodward of The Oregonian staff
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
ORAL DRUG TEST SCREENS FOR USE OF MARIJUANA
Beaverton's Epitope and its partner have added to the sophisticated methods
available
Drug testing for marijuana just became as simple as sucking a lollipop.
Thanks to a Beaverton biotech company and its Pennsylvania partner, the
nation's first high-tech marijuana test using oral fluid is moving closer
to reality. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month approved the
new test, which uses a lollipop-like collection device made by Epitope Inc.
The test is riding a wave of experimental drug-testing technologies that
use saliva, sweat, hair and Epitope's specialty, oral mucosal transudate,
to find illegal drugs where they shouldn't be - in the bodies of employees,
job applicants, probationers, Olympic athletes and children.
Lynn Gray, author of an industry study for Business Communications Company
Inc. of Norwalk, Conn., writes that drug testing is bustling with
sophisticated technologies such as hair analysis, skin patches and the use
of hand-held devices to detect chemical substances on objects rather than
in people.
Technology is even turning parents into gumshoes, as they use
over-the-counter kits to analyze residue from their children's clothing and
furniture.
The quarry of the new technology is the traditional urine test. Epitope and
STC say their test is less invasive and less embarrassing.
In Epitope's case, the company is working with STC Technologies of
Bethlehem, Pa., on a test that will use a single oral fluid sample to
detect the presence of the so-called NIDA-5 drugs of abuse: cocaine,
methamphetamine, cannabinoids (marijuana), opiates and phencyclidine,
commonly known as PCP or angel dust.
The test requires the subject to place a specially treated OraSure
absorbent pad between his or her cheek and gum. The pad singles out mucosal
transudate, which is a fluid that migrates into the mouth from blood
vessels. The tester then seals the pad in a case filled with buffered
solution and sends it for analysis in a testing laboratory.
So far, STC Technologies has FDA approval to use its test, called an enzyme
immunoassay, in combination with Epitope's collection device, for cocaine,
methamphetamines and cannabinoids.
Once the partnership receives approval later this year for opiate and PCP
testing, it will begin marketing the test kit to three primary markets:
government-mandated drug testing, such as testing of federal transportation
workers; forensic testing, including police work and parole programs; and
workplace testing.
Epitope already is selling a similar test for the detection of cotinine, a
byproduct of nicotine. Insurance companies use it to ensure that applicants
who claim to be nonsmokers aren't sneaking a few drags.
John Morgan, Epitope's president and chief executive officer, said the drug
test proves the versatility of the OraSure technology, which developed as
the nation's first HIV test using oral fluid.
STC Technologies, in partnership with PharmChem Laboratories Inc. of Menlo
Park, Calif., developed the nation's first drug test based on sweat
samples. The tamper-proof PharmChek skin patch absorbs NIDA-5 drug
molecules in sweat.
For parents who favor old-fashioned urinalysis, there is Dr. Brown's Home
Drug Testing System, approved last year by the FDA as the nation's first
nonprescription drug test. The test detects marijuana, PCP, amphetamines,
cocaine, heroin, codeine and morphine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prop 215 Doesn't Protect The Sale Of Pot, Judge Rules
('Orange County Register' Says Orange County Superior Court Judge
William R. Froeberg Ruled Friday That David Herrick
Of The Orange County Cannabis Co-op, Arrested By Santa Ana Police
In May 1997, Will Not Be Able To Invoke The California Compassionate
Use Act At His March 9 Trial, Accepting The Prosecutor's Argument
That Proposition 215 Does Not Protect The Sale Of Pot)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:22:23 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Prop 215 Doesn't Protect the Sale of Pot, Judge Rules
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
Author: Stuart Pfeifer - Orange County Register
PROP 215 DOESN'T PROTECT THE SALE OF POT, JUDGE RULES
David Herrick's lawyer says the decision will not cripple the defense.
The first Orange County test of the medical marijuana initiative may not be
a test at all.
Accused pot peddler David Herrick will not be able to use the controversial
Prop. 215 as a defense when he stands trial March 9 in Orange County
Superior Court, Judge William R. Froeberg ruled Friday.
That's because the evidence shows Herrick sold Marijuana-and Prop. 215 does
not protect the sale of pot, said Deputy District Attorney Carl Armbrust.
"It only covers them for possession of marijuana and cultivation of
marijuana," Armbrust said. "As far as sales, transportation, possession for
sales ... it doesn't cover them at all."
Defense attorney Sharon Petrosino said she will ask the judge to reconsider
his decision after she presents evidence at the trial. The ruling does not
affect a key element of the defense - that Herrick did not sell the
marijuana, but only accepted voluntary donations to the Orange County
Cannabis Co-op.
Santa Ana police arrested Herrick, 47, in May 1997 after they found seven
bags of marijuana in his motel room. The marijuana was marked "Not for
sale. For medical purposes only."
Witnesses will testify that they wanted the marijuana to deal with illness
and thought they were protected by Prop. 215, Petrosino said.
"He may have won a battle, I don't think he won the war," Petrosino said.
Prop.215, approved by voters in November 1996, allows patients with a
doctor's note and "caregivers" to cultivate and possess small amounts of
marijuana.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Officer Fired For Marijuana Use Admits 'Mistake' ('Saint Paul Pioneer Press'
Says St. Paul, Minnesota, Police Officer Will Appeal Dismissal
After Tipster And Garbage Search Out His Cannabis Use)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 19:17:21 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "MICHAEL C. CLARK"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Officer fired for marijuana use admits 'mistake'
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
Saturday, February 28, 1998
Officer fired for marijuana use admits 'mistake'
*But St. Paul sergeant says penalty too harsh, will appeal termination
David Hanners - staff writer
It was perhaps an incongruous scene:
Dakota County sheriff's deputies secretly
picking up - and then carefully sorting
through - the garbage tossed by a decorated
St. Paul police detective.
But the deputies claimed they found
enough evidence in two searches of St.
Paul Police Sgt. Cregg Brackman's
garbage to corroborate an informant's
story that Brackman had smoked marijuana.
On Friday, Brackman, of St. Paul,
admitted he had made "a mistake" but
complained that his firing Tuesday by
Police Chief William Finney was too harsh
and that he and his union planned to
appeal to get his job back.
"Everybody's human, and people make
mistakes," said Brackman, 47, a 21-year
veteran of the department. "I'm not mini-
mizing mine by any means, but when you
do make a mistake, it's important that you
stand up and are honest about them and
deal with those consequences."
Finney has said that state privacy laws
prevent him from discussing the case until
the officer's appeals are exhausted. But
others were talking.
"Taking someone's job for an error in
judgment seems to be quite a harsh punish-
ment," said Patrick Finnegan, president of
the St. Paul Police Federation, the union
that represents the city's police force. "It
obviously didn't affect his job performance,
not that we can see."
Brackman's fellow officers across the
state named him Minnesota's sex crimes
investigator of the year last year. He had
played a key role in piecing together the
case against suspected serial rapist Tony
Dejuan Jackson, who is on trial in
Washington County on the first of four
rape charges.
Brackman was fired after he allegedly
failed a urinalysis that tested for marijuana.
The testing was not random; rather, two
police supervisors (as required by depart-
ment procedures) requested the test after
learning that Brackman may have smoked
marijuana.
That information came from a woman who
had been arrested in Dakota County on
drug charges. In an apparent attempt to
get a reduced charge, she told authorities
that she had seen Brackman smoking
marijuana.
Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmundson
said that after his department questioned
the woman, deputies decided to do a
"garbage pull" at Brackman's St. Paul
home.
"We did a garbage pull. We take your
garbage," said Gudmundson. "We did it
twice. What the issue is there is that
people who use narcotics put different
things in the garbage. You don't have a
right to privacy for your garbage, according
to the U.S. Supreme Court."
Officers searched the garbage and
allegedly found enough evidence to confirm
the informant's story, but not enough for
probable cause for a felony search
warrant to search Brackman's home,
Gudmundson said.
"You need more than a couple of stems
and seeds or a dope pipe to get a search
warrant," the sheriff said. "You're not
going to get a search warrant on that.
There was not enough."
There was enough to turn the information
over to the St. Paul Police Department's
internal affairs unit, however. Following
their inquiry, Finney fired Brackman.
Brackman said Friday that while he had
made a mistake, he believed he should
get another chance. He said he believes
he has a good appeal.
"I would say that dealing with what I
was dealing with as a cop, I've had a
lot of high-profile cases, and I do not
want one isolated mistake to cause
problems with putting away people that
need to be put away," he said.
"I'm very good at what I do because I care
a lot about my victims," he said. "For
that matter, I've got suspects who still
call me and thank me for being fair and
honest. The biggest thing in my life has
been my truth and integrity. And if that
means being honest and getting slammed
for it, then that's what it means. But I
think that's important for the kids out there
to know that when you make a mistake,
you've got to admit it and stand up for it."
John Laux, executive director of the state's
Board of Peace Officer Standards and
Training, said administrators' responses to
police officers accused of drug law violations
vary with the circumstance.
"If you're caught in a criminal situation, there's
not a lot I can do for you," said Laux, a former
Minneapolis chief of police. "But if you've got
a drug problem, we'll offer you treatment.
We'll take you to a chemical dependency
program and treat whatever it is. Whether
you're a cop or an automobile assembly line
person or a doctor or whatever else, you've
usually got to hit rock bottom first before
you get any help.
"Obviously, the red flag didn't go up on this
guy," said Laux. "He was the sex crimes
investigator of the year last year."
Laux said he didn't believe there was a big
problem with peace officers using drugs
or smoking marijuana in Minnesota. "I
don't know if it's the big undetected problem
that's going on out there and we're unaware
of it. We don't have mandatory random
drug screening."
Police unions have resisted such screening,
but have permitted testing if there is a
reasonable suspicion that the officer is
using or has used drugs. But there are also
financial issues for police administrators,
Laux said.
"When you do a drug screen, what do you
screen for?" he said. "The more you screen
for, the more expensive the lab analysis is.
Some of these screens can be $250, $350.
They're not going to run a $300 drug screen
on all of their people. They can't afford it."
Phil Willkie, formerly of the executive board
of the Grassroots Party, an organization
advocating legalization of marijuana, said
more people smoke marijuana than most
know.
"It's outrageous that this man's career was
ruined because of his personal life," said
Willkie. "It didn't seem to affect his good
work. It's really a tragedy. And meanwhile,
someone on the force who might be an
alcoholic can stay on the force because
alcohol is legal."
Brackman said he will wait for the appeal
to run its course, but in the interim, he's
not sure what he'll do other than look for
work.
What does a sex crimes investigator do?
Good question," he said. "It's a pretty
specialized field. I don't know right now."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
More Turmoil In St. Paul Police Department (Minneapolis 'Star Tribune'
Notes The Fired Police Officer, Sergeant Cregg Brackman, Was Honored
Just Last Year As The Top Sex-Crimes Investigator In Minnesota)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 10:39:44 -0800
From: Jim Mork (jimmork@wavetech.net)
Reply-To: jimmork@wavetech.net
Organization: Minnesota WaveTech
To: pdxnorml@pdxnorml.org
Subject: More turmoil in St. Paul Police Department
More turmoil in St. Paul Police Department
Saturday, February 28, 1998
Minneapolis 'Star Tribune'
http://www.startribune.com/
By Heron Marquez Estrada
Turmoil continued to roil the St. Paul Police Department on Friday as
officers learned that a highly respected sergeant in the sex crimes unit had
been fired after testing positive for marijuana.
Sgt. Cregg Brackman, honored last year as the top sex-crimes investigator in
the state, doesn't deny smoking marijuana. He said, however, that the drug
use was limited to smoking a joint in January and another in December.
"It was bad judgment on my part," said Brackman, a 21-year veteran of the
force whose dismissal was ordered Tuesday. "I was under personal stress at
the time."
He said that prior to December, the last time he had smoked marijuana was in
1985 when cancer was diagnosed in his son.
Finney, who had himself admitted bad judgment Wednesday when he apologized
for a letter he wrote on behalf of a convicted arsonist, was in his office
Friday, but refused to answer questions about Brackman or the department's
policies on drugs. Department spokeswoman Sylvia Burgos said Finney had no
time to talk Friday.
Burgos said Finney wants to make it clear to his officers that they are
expected to be drug free at all times. "You are a cop 24 hours," she said.
"Drug abuse is very serious."
Brackman, 47, most recently gained notoriety for helping to apprehend
serial-rape suspect Tony Dejuan Jackson, who is on trial in Washington
County for allegedly raping two women in May 1997.
Jackson is also a suspect in the rape of a 31-year-old woman in St. Paul on
May 4 and the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Inver Grove Heights on May 17.
He also is under investigation by Iowa authorities working on the 1995
disappearance of TV anchorwoman Jodi Huisentruit in Mason City, where
Jackson lived about two blocks from the TV station at which Huisentruit worked.
Brackman was the key investigator in the St. Paul case and helped link the
other cases involving Jackson. Authorities don't think that Brackman's
firing will have much affect on those cases.
Police informant
The investigation into Brackman's alleged marijuana use began in December
when an investigator with the Dakota County Sheriff's Department got a call
from an informant.
Sgt. Mike Scott, who works with the East Metro Drug Task Force, said the
informant told him that since 1996 she had seen Brackman openly smoke
marijuana on several occasions, including at least once while she was a
guest in Brackman's home.
Contrary to published reports, Scott said, the informant didn't offer the
information as part of a deal to get leniency.
"There were no charges pending against this informant and the informant got
nothing for this information," Scott said. "It's hard to believe, but the
informant was simply upset that a police officer was using drugs. The
informant said, 'I can't be doing this, but that officer is using drugs.'"
Once in December and again in January investigators searched the garbage at
Brackman's St. Paul home. Several baggies with marijuana residue were found
in the December search and empty baggies were found in January, Scott said.
The small amounts of drugs found, however, were not enough to obtain a
search warrant or support a criminal prosecution, Scott said. The matter was
turned over to the St. Paul police.
Brackman, however, said no one has told him about the garbage searches or
that that someone saw him smoking as long ago as 1996. "I think I would
check into the background of that informant because that's not true,"
Brackman said.
Scott said he has used the informant in the past and the information
provided has been reliable. So reliable, in fact, that her report was enough
to persuade his superiors to proceed. He said the case was not treated
differently because the suspect was a police officer.
"I asked him, what would you do normally and he said pull the garbage,"
Dakota County Sheriff Don Gudmundson said Friday. "So that's what we did, we
pulled the garbage."
Brackman, who is expected to appeal his firing within the next 21 days, said
he found it curious that he was fired even though there wasn't enough
evidence to prosecute him or seek a search warrant.
Police Federation President Pat Finnigan said the union's board decided to
take a position on the matter during a meeting Thursday. Finnigan, however,
wouldn't confirm a report that the board voted to contest Brackman's firing.
He said that decision would be made public later.
Finney has been quoted as saying that no other officer in department history
has been fired for drug abuse. But Finnigan disputed that, although he
wouldn't elaborate. Burgos said no other officer has been fired for drugs
since Finney became chief in 1992.
"Any option besides termination," Brackman said when asked what should have
been done. "When you get up to that, it's pretty harsh. My being charged
with nothing speaks for itself."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Suspect Killed In New York Drug Shootout ('New York Times'
Says Police Sergeant Leading Undercover Buy-And-Bust Operation
Was Wounded And A Drug Suspect Was Killed In A Burst Of Gunfire
Early Friday As They Wrestled In A Notorious Crack House In Brooklyn)
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 10:11:03 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: US NY: Suspect Killed in New York Drug Shootout
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Dick Evans"
Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Robert D. McFadden
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
SUSPECT KILLED IN NEW YORK DRUG SHOOTOUT
NEW YORK -- A police sergeant leading an undercover buy-and-bust operation
was wounded and a drug suspect was killed in a burst of gunfire early
Friday as they wrestled in a notorious crack house in Brooklyn.
The police said the sergeant, who was saved by his bulletproof vest, may
have been shot by backup officers.
Investigators said 11 shots were fired by the sergeant and two backup
officers in scenes of wild and bloody confusion as the sergeant grappled
with two suspects in the narrow hallway of a tenement abandoned by all but
the drug trade at 325 Franklin Ave., in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The struggle, moments after an undercover officer had bought $20 of crack
in the hallway and emerged safely, ended with Sgt. Dexter Brown, 35, a
highly decorated 13-year police veteran, shot in the lower back, and a
suspect, Steven Service, 20, dead with bullets in the head, torso and leg.
Three other suspects were seized but a fourth escaped.
No nonpolice weapons were found at the scene, and the police said that,
pending ballistic tests and further investigation, it was unclear if the
sergeant was shot by his partners with his own gun in the struggle, or
perhaps by the suspect who got away.
But a narcotics supervisor said the sergeant had most likely been hit by
the gunfire of backup officers who rushed in to save him from what they saw
as a life-and-death struggle.
It was not a case of mistaken identity, he said, as has happened in several
other police undercover shootings by officers. "It looks like an accident,"
said the supervisor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said three
shots were fired from the sergeant's gun and eight from the backup
officers' weapons. One potentially fatal shot hit the sergeant in the back,
but did not penetrate his vest, while another entered his lower back and
came out his side.
One of 5,000 buy-and-bust operations every year, Friday's operation by a
four-member team of the Brooklyn North Narcotics unit began at 1:40 a.m.
The target was a dilapidated two-story red-brick building that had been the
subject of many complaints from the neighborhood. It had been raided before.
One undercover officer, steered in by an accomplice working in the street,
entered the hallway to buy drugs, the police said. He wore no bulletproof
vest, because buyers are often searched and a vest would have given him away.
After he bought crack and emerged safely to report that there were three or
four suspects inside, Brown, the recipient of many citations for his 200
career arrests, including 130 felonies, led the charge to make the arrests.
Crashing through a red metal door, the sergeant was met by two Brooklyn men
with criminal pasts: Service, of 445 Schenck Ave., and Nathan Stone, 21, of
42 Pulaski St., both with records for robbery, drugs and other offenses. As
Service wrestled with the sergeant, grappling for his weapon, Stone yoked
the sergeant from behind. As the three men struggled on the floor, three
shots were fired from the sergeant's gun.
At that point, two of the three backup officers rushed in and opened fire,
the police said. Service rolled away, fatally wounded, and Stone was seized
and handcuffed.
Also seized were Carman Catala, 46, the accomplice who had steered the
officers in from the street, and Juan Herrera, about 19; their addresses
were unknown. A fourth suspect in the building escaped and was at large
Friday night, the police said. Brown was taken to Kings County Hospital,
where he was in stable condition Friday night. The police said he was
expected to recover fully.
At the hospital, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spoke of "an excellent job" by
officers exposed to "tremendous danger."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Deaths From Medication Errors More Than Double In Decade
('Associated Press' Article In 'Orange County Register'
Summarizes Report In Britain's 'Lancet' Saying Deaths
From Medication Mistakes More Than Doubled In The United States
From 1983 To 1993)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:22:45 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Deaths From Medication Errors More Than Double in Decade
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
Author: Emma Ross - The Associated Press
DEATHS FROM MEDICATION ERRORS MORE THAN DOUBLE IN DECADE
Fatalities among outpatients account for more than half the total from 1983
to 1993.
LONDON-Deaths from medication mistakes in the United States more than
doubled between 1983 and 1993, with the sharpest increase coming in deaths
among outpatients, according to research published Friday.
During that period, the number of deaths from accidental poisoning by drugs
and other medicines climbed from 851 to 2,098, said the report published in
today's issue of the British medical journal The Lancet.
Included in those figures is the number of deaths among outpatients, which
increased from 172 to 1,459. In 1983, outpatients were three times more
likely than inpatients to die of medication errors, but by 1993 the risk
was 6.5 times greater.
"Something scary is going on and we should be worried," said David
Phillips, a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego, who
headed the research team.
The group analyzed all U.S. death certificates that listed cause of death
as a medication mistake. The certificates did not make clear whether the
deaths were caused by a medical professional's error or patient error, the
report said.
The study did not include deaths caused by natural adverse reactions to
medicine, the researchers said.
The researchers found that the increase in death rate attributable to
medication mistakes is sharper than the increase for any cause of death
other than AIDS, Philips added.
He said the data show the problem is not the medicines themselves, because
the same medicines so not cause such increased death rates when used on
patients in the hospital.
"It has to do with the quality control of the way in which it is given or
taken or the way in which the patient is monitored," Phillips said. "They
were either given the wrong dose, the wrong medicine, or the patient could
overdose or mix it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Certifiably Wrong On Mexico (Staff Editorial In 'New York Times'
Says Certification Process Is A Farce But Clinton Administration
Should Play Along With It)
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 09:54:18 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: NYT Editorial: Certifiably Wrong on Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Dick Evans"
Source: New York Times (NY)
Section: Editorial
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
CERTIFIABLY WRONG ON MEXICO
The Clinton Administration does no favor to Mexico or its own credibility
by certifying that Mexico is "fully cooperating" in the fight against drug
trafficking.
Compounding the damage, the White House Drug Policy Director, Barry
McCaffrey, fatuously claims that Mexican cooperation is "absolutely
superlative."
A more truthful assessment can be found in the Drug Enforcement
Administration's confidential evaluation, described by Tim Golden in
yesterday's Times.
The D.E.A. concludes that "the Government of Mexico has not accomplished
its counter-narcotics goals or succeeded in cooperation with the United
States Government." Mexican trafficking has increased, the D.E.A. notes,
and the corruption of its enforcement agencies "continues unabated."
Though Washington finds it diplomatically inconvenient to acknowledge,
Mexico has a chronic problem with drug traffickers who always seem able to
secure the political influence they need to avoid arrest and prosecution.
This drug corruption greases the flow of narcotics into the United States.
Mexico's drug networks span the border, supplying cocaine, heroin and
marijuana to American users. Mexico must face up honestly to its drug
corruption problem as it tries to create a more democratic and accountable
political system. The most flagrant abuses come from corrupt military and
police officials who take payoffs to protect one set of traffickers at the
expense of their rivals.
President Ernesto Zedillo's Government has made efforts to reform drug
enforcement, but with little visible result. He has not moved aggressively
enough to clean up civilian police agencies and has relied too heavily on
military officials, exposing them to the same temptations that led the
civilians astray. A more vigorous cleanup might force a showdown with
corrupt elements of Mr. Zedillo's Institutional Revolutionary Party, which
would benefit Mexican democracy.
Meanwhile, it is misleading for Washington to assert that Mexico is fully
cooperating. The law mandates penalties, including reductions in foreign
aid and limits on international lending, for countries found to be
insufficiently cooperative.
But these penalties can be waived in the interest of national security.
That should have been done with Mexico.
Certification is a clumsy tool for encouraging better narcotics enforcement
abroad. The annual review process, now required by law, forces Washington
into difficult choices between papering over problems or offending
otherwise friendly countries. It should be eliminated.
But as long as certification remains on the books, the Administration has a
duty to report truthfully to Congress and the American people. It has
failed to do so in the case of Mexico.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia Welcomes US `Certification' As Drug-Fighting Ally ('Chicago Tribune'
Notes Clinton Administration Thursday Lifted Two-Year-Old Economic Sanctions
Against Colombia Regarding Cooperation With US Drug War)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 06:22:11 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US: Colombia Welcomes U.S. `Certification' As Drug-Fighting Ally
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Steve Young
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Section: 1, page 6
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
Author: Paul de la Garza, Tribune Staff Writer. AP contributed to this report.
COLOMBIA WELCOMES U.S. `CERTIFICATION' AS DRUG-FIGHTING ALLY
Colombia breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after the Clinton
administration said it would lift 2-year-old economic sanctions because the
country has made gains in the war on drugs in the last year.
The decision, part of the annual "certification" of nations the
U.S. considers allies in the drug war, came as a surprise, considering that
relations between the two countries have been on ice since Colombian
President Ernesto Samper was linked to drug money.
But the U.S. did not certify Colombia as fully cooperating because
officials believe its anti-narcotics effort has serious shortcomings.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in making the announcement in
Washington on behalf of President Clinton, praised the Colombian police and
counter-narcotics forces for an "effective eradication and interdiction
effort."
While Colombia rejoiced, other nations, including Mexico, took the
opportunity to once again criticize the process.
Although Clinton certified Mexico, against the wishes of many in Congress,
the Foreign Ministry said it rejected "the so-called `certification
process' due to the fact that it is a unilateral process and is contrary to
the spirit of international cooperation."
Critics also charge that the certification process is hypocritical, because
Americans are among the world's biggest consumers of illegal drugs,
spending an estimated $50 billion a year.
Of 30 countries formally evaluated by the U.S., most were expected to be
"certified" as fully cooperating with U.S. anti-narcotics efforts.
Colombia had joined Afghanistan, Burma, Nigeria and Iran on the list of
decertified countries ineligible for most U.S. assistance.
The primary effect of decertification has been the humiliation of appearing
on Washington's list of pariah narco-states.
Decertification also means the U.S. may deny requests for loans and other
financial aid.
Waiver of the sanctions on Colombia means there will be fewer impediments
to U.S. assistance to the country's anti-drug efforts.
Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer and a big supplier of heroin and
marijuana, also will be spared economic penalties.
Clinton administration officials believe that Samper took $6.2 million from
the Cali drug cartel to finance his 1994 presidential campaign.
Samper recently offered to step down six months ahead of schedule to
improve relations with the U.S., but it was not clear if he was serious or
if it was a ploy to gain certification.
In any case, Samper's term in office expires in August and that made the
U.S. decision to waive sanctions easier. Presidential elections are set for
May.
Foreign Minister Maria Emma Mejia called the U.S. decision a triumph "for
the country, which has suffered greatly, which has lost a lot of lives (in
the war on drugs) and for the president, of course, who has helped us
emerge from this predicament we've had for two years that did not serve us
well."
Despite claims of successes in the drug war, U.S. law enforcement officials
say the flow of drugs reaching the U.S. from Colombia and Mexico continues
unabated, about $30 billion worth of traffic a year.
Officials say the smuggling of drugs from Mexico is becoming increasingly
difficult to detect because narco-traffickers are using sea routes and
avoiding closely watched border crossings.
For Mexico, the certification process has reached the point of predictability:
Weeks before the March 1 deadline, reports surface in the American press
alleging weak government efforts to fight drugs the previous year. Mexican
officials object, the Clinton administration certifies Mexico, and all is
forgotten for a year.
Earlier this month, a report surfaced in a Washington newspaper tying
Mexico's newly appointed interior minister, Francisco Labastida Ochoa, to
narco-traffickers, charges the Mexicans vehemently denied.
Some Mexican officials think the negative press reports come from opponents
of Mexico in the U.S. who think the country should be decertified.
"I think people exist who are not moral," said Mexico's drug czar, Mariano
Herran Salvatti.
"I can't say whom, but people always exist who try to damage relations
between our two countries."
Last year, Clinton came under intense pressure to decertify Mexico, with
opponents in Congress pointing to rampant corruption at the highest levels
of the Mexican government.
It didn't help that just weeks before the deadline, Mexico's drug czar,
Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was arrested on charges of protecting one of
the nation's most powerful drug lords in exchange for money, cars and an
apartment.
The spin from Mexican and Clinton administration officials was that the
arrest marked a new era in Mexico, with the authorities cracking down on
corruption.
Before, they argued, the general would have been allowed to retire.
This year, Clinton administration officials praised the nation's
drug-eradication efforts, as well as a newly announced bilateral strategy
aimed at fighting the drug war.
"Mexico destroyed more drugs than any other country in the world last
year," a U.S. official familiar with the certification process said.
"They're cooperating."
Under the joint drug strategy, the U.S. and Mexico plan to strengthen
cooperation among law enforcement, intelligence agencies and prosecutors.
The idea is to crack down not only on narco-traffickers, but also on
money-laundering and gun-running, which help prop up the drug trade between
the two countries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombian Coca Crops Increase Despite US Efforts ('New York Times' Version
Gives More Extensive Historical Background)
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 13:51:00 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: Colombia: NYT: Colombian Coca Crops Increase Despite U.S.
Efforts
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Dick Evans"
Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Diana Jean Schemo
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
COLOMBIAN COCA CROPS INCREASE DESPITE U.S. EFFORTS
POPAYAN, Colombia -- At first, nothing could have been easier for these
struggling rural hamlets than getting into the drug business. Up and down
the Valle del Cauca these scattered villages climbed on the coca bandwagon
early, enjoying a five-year joyride that is still referred to here to as La
Bonanza.
But as more and more farmers grew coca instead of food, prices for coca
leaf dropped, and the cost of the food they had to buy soared. Crop-dusters
financed by American anti-drug efforts poisoned the harvest. And gradually,
the problems that cocaine has fueled in urban ghettos -- violence,
shattered families and an addiction to easy money reached back to the
valley like a curse returning to its roots.
As life unraveled, the coca growers learned that although Colombia was
spending $1.1 billion a year fighting drug trafficking, and Washington was
pouring more than $100 million a year into Colombia's anti-narcotics
police, hardly any of that money was available to help communities stop
growing illegal crops.
Washington's strategy in Colombia, where some 80 percent of the cocaine
sold in the United States originates, never included the kind of highly
effective programs in Bolivia and Peru that have helped peasants raise
alternative crops.
Indeed, while drug crops in Bolivia and Peru -- where fumigation is banned
-- have continued to fall, the world's leading producer of coca last year
was Colombia, where fumigation is Washington's weapon of choice.
"It's ironic and disturbing that the one country where you have massive
aerial eradication is the one where you've got an increase in coca
production," said Coletta Youngers, a senior associate at the Washington
Office on Latin America, a nonprofit policy research organization. "There's
something fundamentally wrong there."
(After two years of imposing sanctions on Colombia for failing to enforce
drug laws, the Clinton administration announced on Thursday that it would
grant a waiver to Colombia this year as an acknowledgment that it is making
progress in destroying crops. But the results have not been encouraging.
Last year, Colombian pilots poisoned 40,000 hectares of coca crops in the
most intense program ever, and yet the total area under coca cultivation
rose nearly 20 percent.)
Far from the hardscrabble roads where peasants live all but forgotten by
their government, Washington formulates policies to reduce drug trafficking
by attacking bridges, blowing up labs and poisoning crops. The strategy's
limited successes are trumpeted widely.
But less well known is the way the policy affects the peasants who took up
illegal crops in a Faustian bargain to join the middle class.
"They confuse us with the Cali or Medellin cartel," said Eider Gironza
Mamian, a coca grower whose community is weighing the prospects of ending
coca cultivation. "Maybe they think we're rich, too, but in reality, we're
poor. And our children go hungry."
Under President Ernesto Samper, whose relations with Washington have been
plagued with accusations that Cali drug dealers bankrolled his election,
the Colombian government has tried to promote crop substitution with aid
from the European Community and the United Nations.
But the dearth of help from the United States has sown deep bitterness
among Colombians. Indeed, U.S. officials at the Bank for Inter-American
Development recently voted against a $90 million loan to boost crop
substitution in Colombia, an automatic consequence of Washington's
decertification of Colombia over the past two years as a partner in the
fight against drug trafficking.
At the same time, the U.S. anti-narcotics funding for Latin America's
military and police more than tripled between 1996 and 1997, according to a
report by the Washington Office on Latin America. Most of the money goes
for shooting down planes transporting coca leaves or paste to Mexico and
Colombia from Bolivia and Peru, destroying crops and seizing drugs bound
for the United States.
Still, the seizure of tens of thousands of tons of heroin and cocaine
between 1988 and 1995, and the destruction of about 135,000 acres of coca
had "made little impact on the availability of illegal drugs in the United
States and on the amount needed to satisfy U.S. demand," according to a
1997 report by the General Accounting Office.
One State Department official said that in the 1980s the Bush
administration offered the Andean nations crop-substitution programs along
with military and police aid to battle drug smuggling. While Peru and
Bolivia were interested in the alternative-crop idea, the Colombian
military and police traded agricultural aid for increased military
assistance, the official said.
Officially, the U.S. government has no plans to switch tactics in Colombia.
In a statement, Randall Beers, acting assistant secretary for international
narcotics and law enforcement affairs, defended fumigation as "the most
cost-effective way to reduce narcotics substances, particularly in areas
not under control of the central government."
One State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
emphasis on fumigating crops was likely to intensify. "The feeling is very
strong to push on in Colombia, regardless of what the results are," the
official said.
The rationale was that fumigation could succeed if applied more thoroughly,
and neither the Colombian nor the U.S. government wanted to shower
agricultural programs on regions believed to be under guerrilla influence.
For the Colombian military, the resumption of U.S. anti-drug aid is being
eagerly awaited as a boost in the undeclared war against leftist
guerrillas, the chief of the combined armed forces, Gen. Manuel Jose
Bonnet, said in an interview.
In recent years, the political breakdown in Colombia has weakened the
traditional ties of peasants to the land. Civil strife pitting the army and
landowner-financed paramilitary groups against leftist guerrillas, and the
purchase of vast tracts of farmland by drug barons, has displaced an
estimated 1.2 million Colombians from rural areas, according to
human-rights organizations here.
Since the country's economic opening in the early 1990s, promoted by the
United States, thousands of small farmers in Colombia have gone out of
business, unable to compete with the world prices for corn, rice, and other
grains, said Juan Manuel Ospina, president of the Colombian Farmers'
Society. Many families displaced by the upheaval have drifted to remote
frontiers and grow coca where the lack of roads is not a problem. For coca
and poppy, traffickers fly into clandestine airstrips.
Abigail Velazco, a 41-year-old Guambiare Indian who grew poppy in the
mountains outside Popayan, said drug dealers first appeared after a disease
had destroyed the tribe's potato and onion harvest.
If the importance of an agriculture extension service in the remote
mountains of the Guambiare had not occurred to the government, the same
could not be said of the drug dealers. Velazco said the first trafficker, a
North American who went by a name that sounded like Don Ever, supplied
seeds, fertilizer, four months of groceries and a pledge to buy the harvest
for a set price.
"It started out with only a few people growing wild poppies," said
Francisco Muelas, the tribal chief's agricultural adviser. "After that,
flowers started appearing everywhere." Before long, 70 percent of the
13,500 Guambiare had given up raising food crops to grow poppy for the
traffickers, cutting down forest to do so. Like the lowland Colombians
growing coca, the Guambiare saw the fabric of their culture -- respect for
nature, families and the head of the tribe -- fray amid the influx of
money, strangers and violence.
"The community said: 'Look, we're destroying ourselves. Why don't we pick
up our traditions, recover our way of life?' " Muelas said. Pushed by their
leader, the community presented the government with a "Plan of Life" to
help the Guambiare give up drugs.
It was not easy, admitted Muelas. Some tribesmen threatened the leader's
life, and a letter purporting to be from the local commander of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America's oldest Marxist
guerrilla group, warned the tribe not to stop growing poppy.
But the tribe's reaction was an unusual demonstration of its conviction and
courage: It selected a group to trek up the mountain and explain the "Plan
of Life." After talking, the guerrillas denied having made any threat, and
pledged not to interfere in the tribe's switch to legal crops.
Though officials in Washington said guerrillas in Colombia are an
impediment to government crop-substitution efforts, Juan Carlos Palou, the
director of Plante, Colombia's crop-substitution program, said no farmer
has ever been killed for giving up illicit crops.
Now the Guambiares' program, backed by some financing from the Colombian
government, is a showcase for crop substitution. Fields where poppy had
been growing are planted with corn, onions and beans. The tribe is raising
500 chickens. The Guambiares built an aqueduct to divert water from a
nearby river to a fish hatchery, where they are raising trout from eggs
imported from California. They have cleared the forest around a highland
lake where they plan to build a fishing resort. A rudimentary factory makes
concrete blocks to build houses.
Measuring the success is tricky, because crops abandoned in the Valle may
pop up under the Amazon canopy where they are harder to eradicate. It is
slow work turning around a community's decay against a continuing increase
in both coca production and fumigation.
"Nobody ever calls the hard line into question on the basis of results,"
Palou said. "But people are always asking for results when you take a mild
line." Success comes slowly, measured in a region's permanent switch to
legal crops as the government builds credibility among its citizens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Police Not Turning Other Cheek To Dope - Popularity Of British Columbian
Snowboard Hero Not Altering Approach By Drug Unit ('Calgary Herald' Says
Locals Can Still Expect $100 To $200 Fine For Possessing Cannabis, But
Experience Of Olympic Gold Medal Winner Has Stoked Debate
On Parliament Hill About Decriminalizing The Drug)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 14:16:16 -0700
Subject: Calgary Herald Article
From: "Debbie Harper3"
To: mattalk
Newshawk: Debbie Harper cozmi@shaw.wave.ca
Calgary Herald February 28, 1998 Pg. B4
letters@theherald.southam.ca
Police not turning other cheek to dope
Popularity of B.C. snowboard hero not altering approach by drug unit
Tony Seskus and Sheldon Alberts
Calgary Herald
Although snowboarder Ross Rebagliati's Olympic success won the hearts of
many Calgarians, it won't earn pot smokers any favors from the city police
drug unit.
They'll continue to reward dope smokers with charges that could result in
fines of between $100 and $200.
"The guys had their own personal views as to whether he should keep his
medal or not," said Staff Sgt. Gord Banack. "But we're obligated to enforce
the law whenever we come across it. It's not a matter of choice."
Rebagliati, the 26 year-old snowboarding hero from Whistler, B.C. had his
gold medal reinstated after appealing a decision to disqualify him for
testing positive for marijuana.
Banack said the marijuana grown in western Canada is world-class, but warned
against inhaling.
People need to weigh the risks, he said, adding that getting caught could
keep them from getting student loans or government jobs. "It's a bit like
unsafe sex," he said, "You shouldn't just look at the immediate 15 minutes."
Rebagliati's experience with the highs and lows of marijuana use has stoked
debate on Parliament Hill about decriminalizing the drug.
Several MP's, including Justice Minister Anne McLellan, say they'd support
the issue coming before the Commons for clear-headed discussion.
"My colleague, the minister of health, and I have indicated we are willing
to look at the question of decriminalization for medicinal purposes, and
that in fact our officials have begun that discussion," McLellan said.
Grant Hill, Reform MP for Macleod, applauded the decision to have
Rebagliati's medal reinstated and said he took the snowboarder at his word
when he claimed not to have smoked the drug since April.
Hill, who practiced medicine in Okotoks and is a skier, said he might be
"OK" with decriminalizing marijuana only if it was allowed for medical
purposes.
But Rebagliati's vindication at the Olympics shouldn't be seen as an
endorsement of smoking pot, he said.
"I've seen the problems. I've seen the lack of motivation that comes with
regular marijuana use. It's not so much a physical addiction but a psychic
addiction to marijuana." Hill said.
He said marijuana and alcohol cause similar impairment, but cannabis stays
longer in a person's system.
"I would never want my (airplane) pilot to have half a dozen beer in him. I
would never want my pilot to have toked," he said.
"The difference is that marijuana is very slow to leave the body. It's
stored by our fat cells. Alcohol is absorbed in hours. Marijuana, as
Rebagliati's case proves, is absorbed in months."
NDP Leader Alexa McDonough suggested the snowboarder "will go down in
history" as having brought some sanity to the issue. She said it's "madness
that the simple possession and use of marijuana, for young people,
especially," leads to a criminal record.
"I think it's time for the government to get its head out of the sand and
deal with this issue." she said.
"Law enforcement officers have been recommending that we should
decriminalize marijuana. That's not legalization. It's decriminalization."
Solicitor General Andy Scott said he would welcome debate on
decriminalization.
Reform Leader Preston Manning backed Rebagliati's appeal but said he is
firmly against marijuana use.
B.C. Reform MP John Reynolds, who represents the Whistler ski and snowboard
haven, called on Prime Minister Jean Chretien to demand "an apology from the
International Olympics Committee for this unfortunate event and what amounts
to an insult to all Canadians.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Supplements Still One Of Safest Bets ('Victoria Times Colonist'
Staff Editorial Notes Industry Representatives For Canadian
Herbal Supplement Industry, After 12 Years Of Wrestling
With Federal Government Over Regulation Of Vitamins And Supplements,
Last Week Seemed To Reach Agreement On Creating Separate Category
In Drug Schedule For Their Products - Paper Says Agreement Should Go Forward,
Considering Small Number Of Problems Caused By Supplements,
Especially When Compared To Those Caused By Prescription Drugs)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: arandell@islandnet.com (Alan Randell)
Subject: Supplements still one of safest bets
Newshawk: Alan Randell
Pubdate: February 28, 1998
Source: Victoria Times Colonist (B.C.)
Contact: timesc@interlink.bc.ca
Our View
Supplements still one of safest bets
Here's hoping Sleeping Buddha doesn't spark calls for
control
It's unfortunate that Deep Cove dance therapist Renata
Herberger briefly became addicted to a drug she hadn't
even known she was taking. But what's equally unfortunate
is that the latest revelation about the secret ingredient
in Sleeping Buddha comes just as the health food industry
is poised to find its place in Canada.
After 12 years of wrestling with the federal government
over the level of regulation for vitamins and supplements,
industry representatives on an advisory committee came out
of a hearing this week feeling like an agreement was in
the works. The industry wants a separate category created
for their products, and Ottawa's standing committee on
health seemed supportive.
And then the Herberger story broke, more than two months
after Sleeping Buddha had been recalled by the federal
Health Protection Branch. Local Vitamin Store owner Bruce
Reid says he's no "grassy knollist" but the timing
couldn't have been worse.
Finding a prescription-level drug in an herbal remedy is
just the kind of hammer some regulators have been looking
for to drive home laws limiting easy access to health
supplements. While the health-food industry has argued
against supplements being classified as drugs, opponents
have argued that consumers are at risk if they can buy the
products off the shelf that haven't been through the
rigors of full testing.
Indeed, there have been some problems. Herbal remedies
containing ephedra caused a handful of deaths in the U.S.,
and supplements such as melatonin and the amino acid L-
tryptophan - now available only with a prescription - have
been associated with health risks.
But considering the millions of dollars worth of herbs,
vitamins and supplements bought by regular folks across
the country, there have been almost no problems of note.
The typical consumer is well-informed and health-savvy, so
much so that tales of misadventure, such as the Herberger
incident are rare enough to create a flurry of media
interest.
Compare that to the damage done daily by prescription
drugs, highly regulated and available only through medical
doctors. In the U.S., it's estimated that 140,000 people a
year die from the side-effects of prescription drugs.
That's 14 times the combined number of deaths from street
drugs such as cocaine and heroin. If consumers have reason
to worry about what they're swallowing, it's far more
prudent to worry about what they're getting from their
doctor than from a health-food store.
Reid says the irony of the Sleeping Buddha incident is
that if health-food industry had the quality assurance
program it has long wanted, the product likely would never
made it on to store shelves.
The health-food industry has had to operate on the fringes
long enough. We need a category that is somewhere between
"food" and "drug," something that ensures wary consumers
can continue to take the lead in their health care rather
than depending on their doctor to know best.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LSD Tested On Female Prisoners - Scientists Experimented On Inmates
At Kingston's Prison For Women In 1960s ('Ottawa Citizen' Says Report
Completed In January Recommends That All 23 Women Involved
Receive Full Apology And Settlement Package From Canadian Government)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: LSD tested on female prisoners
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 08:50:55 -0800
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Contact: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
Saturday 28 February 1998
LSD tested on female prisoners
Scientists experimented on inmates at Kingston's Prison for Women in 1960s
Mike Blanchfield
Twenty-three inmates at Kingston's Prison for Women were given LSD as
part of a psychology experiment in the early 1960s, the Citizen has
learned.
The study involving the powerful hallucinogenic drug was conducted
with the full knowledge of the prison's superintendent and federal
corrections officials. The subjects included a 17-year-old girl who
was unable to give informed consent to the experiment and who still
suffers from periodic acid flashbacks.
"This use of LSD with inmates in the Prison for Women was a risky
undertaking," says a report into the LSD use completed in January by
Correctional Services. "We conclude that the administration of LSD at
the Prison for Women, particularly when it was administered at the
prison rather than the Institute of Psychotherapy, could lead to
substantial, debilitating long term negative effects."
The report recommends that all the women involved receive a full
apology and a "settlement package" from the federal government.
But locating the women who were part of the study may prove difficult.
The investigators who wrote the report discovered that many inmate
files were either missing or had been destroyed.
"The access to administrative and inmate files has been
unsatisfactory," the report states.
"The inability to obtain relevant administrative files and most inmate
files made it impossible to provide a full account of the use of LSD
or ECT (electroshock therapy) at the Prison for Women."
Investigators interviewed two of the women and uncovered documents
that referred to an additional 21 who were part of the pilot study by
a psychologist and psychiatrist. Both women complained of long-term
effects that continue to plague them decades after their first
exposure to LSD.
The report says the women suffer from a recognized psychiatric
syndrome called Post-Hallucinogen Perceptual Disorder.
"It's a very sad indictment of our commitment to human rights and
social justice, and a number of principles I think Canadians hold
dear," said Kim Pate, the executive director of the Canadian
Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. "We're happy to parade around
the globe maintaining this is one of the best countries to live. The
reality is: not when you go into the bowels of some of our
institutions. You certainly don't see the short fingers of the rule of
law creeping in there to protect prisoners."
As the head of the Canada's leading female prisoner's rights group,
Ms. Pate has researched the history of Kingston's Prison for Women.
She has yet to uncover documents that back up the inmates' claims of
"weird stuff happening in segregation" that dates back decades.
"It's outrageous," Claire Price, the executive director of the Council
of Elizabeth Fry Societies of Ontario, said yesterday when told of the
report. "I didn't think things of this sort went on in Canada. You
always hear these conspiracy theories about various studies they do on
prisoners in the (United) States."
These experiments at the Prison for Women add another chapter to a
dubious era in Canadian medical research history.
The study was conducted at the same time as the LSD brainwashing
experiments by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allen Memorial Institute at
McGill University in Montreal in the 1950s and early 1960s. That
scandal has cost the federal government at least $7.7 million because
it compensated Dr. Cameron's victims to the tune of $100,000 each.
Dr. Cameron's research was initially funded by the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency. It was also the subject of a two-part CBC
television drama called The Sleep Room, which aired in January. So far
no one, including the report's authors, have been able to link the CIA
with the experiments that were conducted in Kingston.
Between 1952 and 1962, 500 people were given LSD at Saskatoon's
University Hospital, Regina General Hospital and Weyburn Union
Hospital. Businessmen, students, artists, inmates and hospital staff
volunteered for the research project, which was funded by the federal
and provincial governments.
The Kingston investigation was sparked when a former inmate, Dorothy
Proctor, complained in October 1995 to then-solicitor general Herb
Gray. Last year, Correctional Services struck a board of inquiry to
investigate the complaint.
The report concluded researchers tried to exercise care in the
selection of subjects but that they did not obtain proper consent from
Ms. Proctor when they gave her her first dose of LSD in 1961. She was
in solitary confinement at the time. That first exposure caused Ms.
Proctor to have traumatic hallucinations -- what is commonly known as
a "bad trip."
In an interview, Ms. Proctor said she doesn't expect "a compassionate
response from the Canadian public at large" because prison inmates are
not generally held in high regard and "I know how complacent Canadians
are."
"Hopefully the day will come when taxpayers realize it is their money
being spent by past mistakes of government," she said. "Maybe then,
they'll be more vigilant."
The Commissioner of Corrections, Ole Ingstrup, declined to be
interviewed. Department spokesman John Vandoremalen said yesterday he
could not answer specific questions about the report.
He said the department needed to "study" the findings. Some of the
issues to be studied, said Mr. Vandoremalen, would include the issues
of compensation and the missing documents.
"The issues are rather complicated," he said.
He would not say what, if anything, the department is doing to track
down the missing study subjects.
In testimony before the board of inquiry last year, Ms. Proctor said
she believed she was was targeted by researchers because she was
viewed as a "throwaway" who had no family connections beyond prison
walls.
"I had no friends. If I had died in Kingston Penitentiary, the report
would have said I just died," Ms. Proctor testified. "I think I was
targeted because I was 16, I was black, and I didn't have anybody on
the outside who cared."
The board of inquiry conducted interviews throughout 1997 with Ms.
Proctor, retired prison staff and the two men who conducted the study.
The two researchers provided investigators with written records of
their study.
In the early 60s, LSD was legal and was viewed in the psychiatric
community as potential wonder drug that could break down the brain's
defences and be an effective therapeutic tool. That promise was never
realized. As the report states: "this promise was considered more of a
hypothesis than a proven fact."
The drug was banned in Canada in 1969. By the end of the decade, the
drug had penetrated the flower child subculture.
The complaint was one of two filed by Ms. Proctor with the federal
Solicitor General. She also complained the RCMP mistreated her during
her tenure as a paid crown agent in the 1970s and 1980s. Her role was
to infiltrate the drug underworld on behalf of police.
She alleged that the Mounties took advantage of the fact she was a
drug addict who came from an abusive background. They plied her with
drugs and took advantage of her sexually, she alleged. An
investigation has cleared at least one Mountie of any criminal
wrongdoing. However, and internal disciplinary probe is still under
way.
The Corrections Canada investigation into Ms. Proctor's LSD complaint
has concluded. Her complaint was corroborated by one other former
inmate and through written records about the experiments uncovered
during the investigation.
Ms. Proctor said she is pleased with the report's findings, and was
well treated by Corrections Canada officials during the course of the
investigation. She hopes she will receive a suitable financial
settlement that will allow her to go to university. Ms. Proctor kicked
her drug habit several years ago.
Ms. Proctor and her lawyer are to meet in March with Corrections
Canada officials to discuss a financial settlement. No lawsuit has
been filed, however her lawyer, James Newland, said he won't hesitate
to take the matter to court if a "substantial" settlement can't be
negotiated.
"I found the report disturbing," said Mr. Newland. "Put yourself in
the place of a 17-year-old young woman in solitary confinement. To be
in that vulnerable of a position and have the last vestiges of your
identity swept away with this kind of drug is a scary proposition."
In 1960, Dorothy Proctor was a troubled 17-year-old who was sentenced
to three years in prison along with three accomplices for her role in
an armed robbery and break-in at a private home in southern Ontario.
It was Ms. Proctor's first run-in with the adult court system,
although she had been in and out of juvenile detention facilities. She
was born and grew up in the Maritimes, where she was sexually abused
as a child.
Ms. Proctor complained that her exposure to LSD in prison, which she
said was her first experience with drugs, was the first step in
becoming a drug addict. In the next three decades, she experimented
with soft drugs, heroin and cocaine. By the time she was recruited by
the RCMP in the early 1970s, she had bottomed out and was living on
skid row.
"Arguably, the administration of LSD in prison was a major aspect of
her going down a road in life which was not a very happy experience
for her," said Mr. Newland. "She's managed to pull herself out of that
life. She deserves credit for doing that."
While the LSD experiments were going on at the Prison for Women, a
researcher at Queen's University was also studying the drug. Dr.
George Laverty, a psychiatrist and professor was studying "perceptual
heightening" of subjects while under the influence of LSD.
However, as Corrections Canada investigators found, Dr. Laverty's
experiments were conducted under much different circumstances than
those carried out on inmates across the city. "While Dr. Laverty's
work was neither on the use of LSD for treatment purposes, nor carried
out in a prison setting, it does speak to other views on what was
appropriate at the time," the report states.
The experiments were conducted at Kingston Psychiatric Hospital using
volunteers. Emotionally unstable people were screened out because they
were known to be prone to adverse effects. The subjects were also
supervised until the effects of the drug wore off; family members or a
researcher would remain with the subjects overnight.
In Ms. Proctor's case, she was abandoned in her cell in solitary
confinement in the basement of the penitentiary. During her bad trip,
the walls melted, the bars of her cell turned into snakes.
"I remember dry screaming, screaming but nothing coming out," she
testified at the board of inquiry. "No one (was) there to help me...
things all over my body."
The report concluded that giving Ms. Proctor LSD while in solitary
confinement "fell far short of what was considered suitable in the
field at that time" and could be "conducive to negative effects during
the session and possibly long term as well."
Another female inmate, whose name was withheld in the report, told
investigators about being locked in her cell after she was given her
LSD dosage. She slashed her left arm. When it bled she imagined
spiders crawling out of the wound. She could not sleep because she
hallucinated that "spider semen crawled up my legs and into my vagina
and some crawled up my body and entered through both ears. That night
I waded up toilet paper and plugged my vagina, anus and ears. I never
slept."
The long-term affects on both women were severe.
Ms. Proctor avoids opening cans because she imagines the lid growing
large and moving towards her to slice her. She can only sleep if she
holds her arms across herself or clasps her hands together. She avoids
looking into mirrors to avoid being drawn into them. She also avoids
her reflection in store windows or pools of water. She has difficulty
with depth perception and walking down stairs. If she looks at her
body too long, she imagines her skin starting to bubble and ooze.
The unnamed woman said she continues to hear voices in her head. She
can only sleep three hours at a time, and only if she can feel the
stability of a wall. She has panic attacks on escalators and
elevators. She avoids mirrors for fear of being drawn into them.
"We are struck by the similarity of some of the long-term affects
reported by these two subjects of LSD treatment at the Prison for
Women," the report states. "We are certain they have had no contact
with one another."
The report says the women likely suffer from a condition called Post
Hallucinogen Perceptual Disorder (PHPD), which was first recognized in
1958. It is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, the recognized handbook of mental illnesses.
The manual says flashbacks are a feature of the disorder, which
"causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social,
occupational, or other important areas of functioning...the perceptual
disturbances may include geometric forms, peripheral-field images,
flashes of color, intensified color, trailing images (images left
suspended in the path of a moving object remaining after removal of
the object)..."
The flashbacks can be triggered by entering a dark environment, drugs,
fatigue, anxiety or other stressors, the manual says.
The Prison for Women remains open despite plans to close it and
transfer female inmates to five smaller regional facilities across
Canada.
As of late last year, it was home to 24 female prisoners.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Case For Prison's LSD Tests (In A Science Journal Essay,
The Man Who Experimented On Several Inmates At Kingston's Prison For Women
Defended The Importance Of His Research, As Described By Mike Blanchfield
Of 'The Ottawa Citizen')
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: The case for prison's LSD tests
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 09:52:40 -0800
Lines: 190
Source: Ottawa Citizen
Contact: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
Sunday 1 March 1998
The case for prison's LSD tests
Mike Blanchfield
The Ottawa Citizen
In a science journal essay, the man who experimented on several
inmates at Kingston's Prison for Women defended the importance of his
research. Mike Blanchfield reports.
He saw it as his role as a researcher to cure jailed drug addicts who
were an "enormous wastage of manpower in our own and other countries."
And in the early 1960s, in the basement of the Kingston Prison for
Women, he decided to administer the powerful hallucinogenic drug LSD
to at least 30 women who were locked behind bars there.
"We must know more," psychologist Mark Eveson wrote in 1964. "It is
the fundamental responsibility for every professionally trained worker
in this field to carry out such research -- to try to answer in an
objective manner the questions posted by our own inability to
effectively and consistently deal with the offender."
Mr. Eveson was writing in the January 1964 edition of the Canadian
Journal of Corrections. The article details the psychologist's
approach to administering LSD to inmates during research there.
As revealed yesterday in the Citizen, the LSD experiment by Mr. Eveson
and a Kingston psychiatrist caused long-term damage that still plagues
at least two of his study subjects three decades later. A report by a
board of inquiry by the Correctional Services of Canada recommends
that women involved in the study receive an apology and a settlement
package for being included in the study.
Back in the early 1960s, LSD was legal in Canada. It was touted as a
possible wonder drug in treating mental illness. That hypothesis has
since been discredited. LSD was banned in the late '60s.
During an investigation last year, Mr. Eveson said he did his best
under the ethical framework that existed in the early 1960s to conduct
his research with the best of intentions. In their report,
investigators said Mr. Eveson and his colleagues did their best to
meet the standards of the day, but fell short on at least one
significant occasion -- when they used LSD on a teenage girl locked in
solitary confinement. She was in no position to give informed consent,
the report concluded.
"It was unethical today and it was unethical 35 years ago," says
Arthur Schafer, the director of the University of Manitoba Ethics
Centre.
"Our rules are very much more highly developed now than they were in
the 1960s, and it's because of a lot of the abuses that took place
then," says Margaret Somerville of the McGill Centre of Medicine,
Ethics and the Law.
Both ethicists agree that it can be a tricky proposition to impose the
moral values of one generation on another when it comes to the use of
human beings as research subjects.
And while the climate was much different a generation ago when the
concept of a written consent form did not exist, both ethicists say
researchers such as Mr. Eveson should have known better.
At the end of the Second World War, the international community
drafted a set of guidelines on the boundaries of human
experimentation. They were the result of the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi
war criminals, at which the world learned the horrifying human
experiments by doctors in the Third Reich. In 1948, the Nuremberg Code
was drafted. It said that that consent of all human subjects was
essential.
"This means that the person involved should have the legal capacity to
give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free
power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force,
fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other form of constraint or
coercion," says the code.
Unfortunately in the decades following the war, says Mr. Schafer, the
Nuremberg Code was not widely followed.
Mr. Eveson's LSD study was done with full knowledge of the prison's
superintendent and senior corrections officials in Ottawa.
"Profoundly unethical research was going on, was funded by prestigious
government agencies, the results were published in respected medical
journals for decades after the war."
Mr. Eveson's 1964 article was titled "Research with Female Drug
Addicts at the Prison for Women." He was a staff psychologist at the
prison back then.
In the article, he describes choosing 30 addicts and 30 non-addicts at
random from among the prison's 110 inmates. The recent report done by
Corrections says only 23 women received LSD as part of the experiment.
At the time, LSD was the subject of hundreds of academic papers, many
of which claimed it had potential to break down a patient's defences
and speed the pace of psychotherapy.
"Despite much controversy in the literature," Mr. Eveson wrote, "it
was thought that there existed some hope that a single optimal dose of
this drug could effect penetration of appropriate defence mechanisms
and give insight into depressed problems."
Mr. Eveson wrote that the drug could be "a very effective instrument
in this modification of criminal behavior."
Mr. Eveson said he had a problem "establishing a generally acceptable
method of treatment management and dosage." He said further study
would be required. He also said he had a larger scale study in the
works "pending the approval of the Ministry of Health."
Initially, Mr. Eveson found that a single dose of LSD brought "marked
improvement in a minority of inmates."
"Improvement was marked in subjects whose institutional life had been
marked by violence and opposition to custody," he wrote.
One of the women who took part in the study disagrees. Former inmate
Dorothy Proctor was 17 when she was given her first dose of LSD while
in solitary confinement in 1961. A year earlier, she had become the
first woman to successfully escape from the Prison for Women. She
spent several stints in solitary confinements for fighting with other
inmates. The first time she was given LSD she had a traumatic series
of hallucinations in which walls melted and the bars of her cell
turned into snakes.
Mr. Eveson noted his LSD subjects experienced a "significant shift
towards introversion." He said this might help "create an atmosphere
of treatment receptiveness not previously possible."
He reported that 90 per cent of his subjects felt cut off from friends
"and expressed a desire for isolation."
Ms. Proctor disagrees. She says she felt cut off -- but not because of
the drug. She had no family or friends outside the prison who kept in
touch with her. If anything, she says, her isolation made her an
attractive study subject -- because if something happened to her, no
one on the outside was likely to raise a fuss.
"Anxiety was also heightened in a high proportion of the group," Mr.
Eveson wrote. "These trends offer powerful possibilities for the
minimization of the role of the delinquent subculture ..."
Mr. Eveson did note that some of his subjects suffered from
hallucinations, or what is called a "bad trip." Ms. Proctor and
another former inmate interviewed for the recent Corrections report
complained of such hallucinations and said they are plagued to this
day by flashbacks.
"The hallucinatory effects of the drug detracted from therapeutic
value and dosages were calculated to avoid any gross sensory changes,"
Mr. Eveson wrote. "The results of this preliminary investigation
appear most promising."
Three decades later, Corrections would find that Mr. Eveson was not
completely successful at avoiding "gross sensory changes."
One former inmate said in the recent Corrections report she imagined
spiders crawling out of wounds in her body and hallucinated that
"spider semen crawled up my legs and into my vagina and some crawled
up my body and entered through both ears."
In his paper, Mr. Eveson said he hoped to do more research, using up
to 90 inmates.
In conclusion, he wrote: "The work described in this paper has, I
hope, given some indication of the research interests of the unit at
the Prison for Women, both in carrying out small scale investigations,
and for proposing experimental hypotheses for more exact study."
Dr. Somerville, of McGill University, says that a prison is too
coercive a setting in which to obtain legitimate consent from a
potential research subject.
Prisoners forfeit some rights, but not all of them. "You don't lose
your right not to be used as an experimental animal," she says.
"It is sometimes said that you can best test the ethical tone of a
society by how it treats its most vulnerable weakest and its most
in-need members," she says. "It's not how you treat the people you
like that tests your ethics; it's how you treat the people you really
despise."
Copyright 1997 The Ottawa Citizen
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Marketing Of Antipsychotic Drugs Attacked (''British Medical Journal'
Faults Latest Trend In United States Of Pharmaceutical Companies Advertising
Antidepressants And Other Psychiatric Prescription Drugs
Directly To General Public)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 21:42:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar
Subject: MN: US: Marketing Of Antipsychotic Drugs Attacked
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Zosimos
Source: British Medical Journal (UK) , No 7132 Volume 316
Contact: bmj@bmj.com
Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 1998
MARKETING OF ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS ATTACKED
Drug companies in the United States are facing criticism for
advertising psychotrophic drugs directly to the general public and to
patients. One drug company is even offering university scholarships to
schizophrenic patients who switch to their new antipsychotic drug.
Last August the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules to
allow advertisers to market drugs directly to the public, as long as
they provided adequate information about a drug's indications and side
effects, or the advertisement directed the consumer to where this
information could be found. Consumers in the United States are now
deluged with glossy pharmaceutical advertisements in magazines, on
television, and on the internet.
Eli Lilly has been inviting schizophrenic patients to switch over to
its new antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa (danzapine), and offering
university scholarships for those who do. The campaign was criticised
for pressurising doctors to prescribe Zyprexa and for unduly raising
the hopes of people with schizophrenia, as most of them cannot cope
with the stresses of higher education. Interestingly, a similar
scholarship offer by Eli Lilly for students with insulin dependent
diabetes did not require the patient to be taking a Lilly product.
Aggressive marketing of Zyprexa seems to have paid off as the new drug
grossed $550m (£343m) in its first year of sales.
Eli Lilly also sponsors a "psychoeducational" campaign for
schizophrenic patients, which provides educational material and a
social structure for patients and their families. Visitors to the
Janssen pharmaceutical internet website are invited to register for
drug updates, and people with schizophrenia who take Janssen's drug
Risperdal (risperidone) can register for a person to person telephone
call to remind them to take their medicine.
While many of these initiatives may be laudable, Dr Sidney Wolfe of
the consumer group Public Citizen warned that mentally ill people
often have poor judgment and are therefore particularly vulnerable to
advertisements.
Manufacturers defend their direct advertisements as educational. Alan
Holmer, the president of the pharmaceutical manufacturers association,
said: "This is the information age, and more information empowers
patients to have more meaningful conversations with their doctors
about cures and treatments."
The increase in direct public marketing has also resulted in higher
treatment costs to deflect the price of advertising. Dr Sam Ho, the
vice president for Pacificare Health Systems, a California based
health maintenance organisation estimates that Prozac, the most widely
promoted antidepressant drug, costs 50% more than similar, but less
advertised drugs in its class.
Prescriptions for antidepressant drugs have also reached record
breaking rates in recent years. According to a recent study led by Dr
Harold Pincus and reported in JAMA,the journal of the American Medical
Association, the number of prescriptions for mental health problems
rose from 32.7 million to 45.6 million from 1984 to 1994, with the
greatest increase occurring for antidepressant drugs. Although it is
unclear how much of this increase is due to direct drug marketing,
many psychiatrists believe that up to 80% of the antidepressant
prescriptions are unwarranted and are prescribed for people who are
not clinically depressed. Others have attributed the increase to a
greater acceptance of depression as an illness warranting medical
attention, with a consequent reduction in stigma.
Deborah Josefson San Francisco
to 1998 Daily News index for February 26-March 4