-------------------------------------------------------------------
Aided Suicide Causes Storm In Congress ('The Oregonian'
Says At Least 138 Members Of The House And Senate
Have Written To US Attorney General Janet Reno
Urging Her To Rule That Federal Officials Can Block
Oregon's Unique Assisted-Suicide Law)
The Oregonian
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
Web: http://www.oregonian.com/
April 3, 1998
Aided suicide causes storm in Congress
At least 138 members have urged U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno to rule that federal officials
can block the Oregon law
By Dave Hogan
and Jim Barnett
of The Oregonian staff
WASHINGTON - Momentum appears to be
building in Congress for an attack on Oregon's
physician-assisted suicide law.
As U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno continues
to study whether federal officials can block the
Oregon law, at least 138 members of Congress
have urged her to say the answer is yes. The
issue has gained renewed attention and urgency
on Capitol Hill since last week's news that at least
two Oregonians have died using assisted suicide.
The latest salvo came Thursday, when 53
members of Congress sent a letter urging Reno to
uphold the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration's position that doctors who prescribe
lethal medication could be sanctioned.
Lawmakers who have signed letters to Reno
include House Speaker Newt Gingrich, other
Republican leaders in the House and Senate, as well
as Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill., the chairmen of the Senate and House
judiciary committees.
Hyde said he would consider drafting legislation
if Reno decides the DEA position is wrong.
"We'll take a look at it," Hyde said Wednesday.
"I'm interested in the subject. ... I wouldn't say
anything definite, but I'm interested in it."
The letters to Reno indicate there would be widespread
- and powerful - support for legislation seeking to block
the Oregon law.
They are the latest developments in a five-month
saga that began in November. At that time, DEA
Administrator Thomas A. Constantine replied to
an inquiry from Hatch and Hyde by saying his
agency interpreted the Controlled Substances Act
to say the DEA could discipline Oregon doctors
who prescribe drugs for assisted suicide.
Reno quickly said Constantine had not consulted
her office before sending that letter, and she
initiated a review of the issue. In January, a team
of Justice Department attorneys reported to Reno
their conclusion that federal law does not prohibit
doctors from carrying out Oregon's
assisted-suicide law.
Since that time, however, Reno has said only that
she is continuing to review the matter and that she
expected to have a decision shortly.
In the meantime, the White House began
participating in the review process. On Thursday,
Reno said only that the review is continuing and
she is waiting for specific recommendations.
"What we've tried to do is to make sure that
everybody has an opportunity to be heard," she
said.
"I am now anticipating some decision memos
giving the different perspectives of the department
so that I can take final action."
In the past month, the number of congressional
letters to Reno has increased. In Thursday's
letter, Gingrich, House Majority Leader Dick
Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay and
50 others wrote:
"In light of the incident last week in which the
death of an elderly woman was assisted by a
physician in Oregon, we urge you to act swiftly to
enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act and
prevent the deliberate and lethal misuse of
prescription drugs in the future.
". . . We are gravely concerned that the delay in
completing this review will lead many to believe
that this administration is willing to condone
assisted suicide. ..."
Like many of the other letters from Congress,
obtained by The Oregonian, they said all three
branches of the federal government have agreed
in recent decisions that assisted suicide should not
receive assistance or recognition from the federal
government.
They noted a unanimous Supreme Court decision
last year saying the Constitution does not
recognize a right to assisted suicide. They also
mentioned a 1997 law that bans federal financing
for physician-assisted suicide. The law passed last
April by a 99-0 vote in the Senate and 398-16 in
the House. In addition, President Clinton has
publicly stated his opposition to assisted suicide.
"A decision by a state to rescind its own penalties
for assisting a suicide cannot supersede federal
laws, compel federal support or remove federal
responsibility to uniformly enforce laws passed by
Congress and approved by the president,"
Thursday's letter said.
Among the signers of all the letters are 34
senators, including seven members of the
18-member Senate Judiciary Committee. And of
the 104 signers in the House, 12 are members of
the 35-member House Judiciary Committee.
Those committees oversee the Justice
Department.
Of the Senate and House members who sent
letters, 105 are Republicans and 33 are
Democrats.
Only six members of Congress - all five Oregon
Democrats plus Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. -
have argued that the federal government should
not intervene in Oregon law.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has said he would
support an effort by the Clinton administration to
enforce the DEA's interpretation of the Controlled
Substances Act, but he has not signed on to a
letter to Reno. "He's just not taking the lead on
this," said John Easton, a Smith spokesman.
Given the number of letters to Reno and last
year's votes prohibiting federal financing of
assisted suicide, Congress will step in if Reno
decides that federal law does not authorize a
federal response to the Oregon law, predicted
Richard Doerflinger, who has monitored the issue
for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But, he said, he is unsure whether Congress
would turn to legislation or oversight hearings or
some combination that included both. If there is
legislation specifically granting federal authority to
take action against doctors who prescribe lethal
medication, it would pass, he said.
"Not only would it pass, but I think the president
would sign it," Doerflinger said.
In addition to the letters to Reno, two senators
have written to Donna Shalala, the secretary of
Health and Human Services, expressing concerns
about Oregon's decision to include
physician-assisted suicide in procedures
subsidized through the Oregon Health Plan.
Because the health plan is partially financed by
federal Medicaid money, Sens. John Ashcroft,
R-Mo., and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., asked
Shalala what steps were being taken to make sure
there was no violation of the law prohibiting
federal money from being used to pay for assisted
suicide.
Oregon has specified that the state will bear the
entire cost of assisted suicide through the health
plan. Similarly, the health plan pays for abortions
entirely from state money.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot Candidate - High Hopes, High Visibility ('Los Angeles Times'
Interviews Dennis Peron, Nemesis Of California Attorney General Dan Lungren
Both In The Courtroom And In The Race
For California's Republican Gubernatorial Nomination)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 22:55:46 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Pot Candidate: High Hopes, High Visibility
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield and "Frank S. World"
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 3 Apr 1998
Author: Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer
POT CANDIDATE: HIGH HOPES, HIGH VISIBILITY
SAN FRANCISCO--Here's one way the nation's best-known marijuana distributor
campaigns to be the Republican candidate for governor: He goes to court.
Actually, he is taken to court. As a defendant. For distributing marijuana
to the ailing. And one of the people who keeps dragging him there is none
other than his most powerful opponent in the California gubernatorial race.
Dennis Peron--a chain-smoking, pot-toking, commune-living, gay, vegetarian,
Buddhist Vietnam veteran--is trying to make life miserable these days for
Dan Lungren, state attorney general, presumptive Republican nominee for
governor and none of the above. Yes, Peron is a blip on the California
political radar, an unlikely Republican--an unlikely candidate--running
with $10,000 (in small checks) and a vision. Yes, his court appearances are
far more reliably scheduled than his campaign appearances.
But unlike the dozen or so other political hopefuls setting their sights on
the governor's mansion from the very fringes of the political landscape,
Dennis Peron is a major minor candidate. He can't afford to buy
commercials--but he makes it to the top of the news anyway, talking about
pot when pot is hot. And for the past month--perhaps for the rest of the
primary season--marijuana is in the spotlight, thanks to the ongoing battle
over Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana when it was
overwhelmingly approved by voters in 1996 and which Lungren opposed.
Pressure on Lungren Expected
Peron "will certainly have Lungren defending his position all over the
state on medical marijuana," says San Francisco Dist. Atty. Terence
Hallinan, a medicinal pot proponent. "I don't envy him that." "Is Dennis
any relation to Evita, I wonder?" quips Republican analyst Tony Quinn. "He
has about as much chance of getting elected."
Peron, of course, begs to differ. Sitting in his second-story office at the
Cannabis Cultivator's Co-op, the smell of Big Bud and True menthols in the
air, Peron is eloquent and optimistic--if occasionally soft on the details,
like where he's speaking on a given day.
"What I really speak about most of the time is hope, empowerment and
compassion. So many people have just given up on America. They don't want
to be on juries. They don't vote. These are the people I want to bring
back. I know the economic picture is so rosy, but so many people slip
through the cracks. I look outside my office and see people sleeping in the
doorways. How can we allow this to happen? How?"
An equally perplexing, though less weighty, question is how a man with
Peron's past and predilections finds himself in the political company of
men and women like Newt Gingrich, Orrin Hatch, Anita Bryant, Strom
Thurmond. What could possibly be the Republican credentials of a man who
came back from Vietnam with two pounds of pot secreted in his luggage? A
man who has been imprisoned twice on marijuana charges? Who founded the
co-op in memory of his young lover--Jonathan West, who died from AIDS in
1990 and left Peron with a hole in his heart?
"I'm not tax-and-spend. I believe government has a role in your life, but
it's not going to solve all your problems. Every time [Democrats] start
talking about a new program, I cringe. Welfare keeps people down. I want to
eliminate the sales tax and the business tax."
It's 11:15 on a recent Tuesday morning, hours before Peron and his fellow
defendants--a.k.a. "the Compassionate 10"--are due in Department 8 of the
Phillip Burton Federal Building, where Judge Charles Breyer is set to hear
oral arguments in the U.S. government's case against six Northern
California cannabis clubs. A crew from "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,"
fresh from an interview with Peron, wanders around the club shooting
footage of buying, puffing, chatting members. Supporters from the Orange
County Cannabis Co-op arrive to throw their support behind Peron during a
day filled with rallies and legal wrangling.
"I admire everything you're doing, and I'm glad to get a chance to meet
you," says Jack Shachter, co-director of the Orange County club. "Hey,
Dennis, good luck, dude," pipes up Steve Morris of Los Angeles, as Peron
distributes "California's Choice, Dennis Peron Governor" placards and the
group heads to a pro-pot march from the Castro district to the federal
courthouse. The protesters stroll down the busy street. Burnelle Silk, 49
and resplendent in black cape with big green marijuana leaf, hops up onto a
garbage can, shouting, "Dennis Peron for governor!" "I am the spokesmodel
for medical marijuana," Silk smiles. "I'm a disabled Vietnam vet, and I'd
be standing on the pyramids naked shooting people without my medicine."
Dapper in donated gray tweed, Peron waves his campaign sign and joins the
march. The smell of pot wafts in the air. A KCBS radio reporter descends on
the candidate, who takes a breath and starts his spiel: We'll spread a new
era of hope in America. It's more than marijuana. It's about who we are and
where we're going. It's about democracy now.
Picture of Bush on Wall
Noon, back at the club, the candidate is seated behind his desk. A framed
picture of George Bush picked up for pennies at a garage sale smiles from a
nearby wall. Robo wanders in with a big white plastic bag. The men put
their heads together and do business, a neat deal for $2,400 worth of weed.
"It's called Big Bud," Robo says. "It's a mellower kind." Peron shrugs and
smiles: "The show must go on."
By 2 o'clock, the candidate is back at the courthouse for the tail end of a
pre-hearing rally. Scores of supporters in tie-dye and wheelchairs pack the
small plaza as the speeches drone on. An impassioned Peron defends
marijuana for patients with AIDS, with glaucoma, suffering from cancer,
from depression, from life. "I have come to the conclusion," he intones,
"that all use of marijuana is medicinal. If you believe in recreational
marijuana, you believe in recreational Prozac."
And he's off: "It's about who we are as a people. It's about where we're
going as a country. We're not just defending medical marijuana. We're
defending democracy. I'm glad to be here today. I'm proud to be your
leader, and I'm going to be your governor!"
A police officer has one question for the candidate: "What's your stand on
gun control?" A young hair-wrap artist, new to the city, clutches a voter
registration card and shares a joint with the candidate. Thirty minutes
later Peron is in court. Peron is due in court again today, this time on
civil charges stemming from an injunction Lungren obtained in August 1996
to shut down Peron's club. He also faces criminal charges that he worries
could put him behind bars for up to a dozen years. "We don't take him
seriously," says Lungren campaign spokeswoman Sara Brown. "I don't know if
anybody takes seriously a candidate who's under criminal indictment."
Field Full of Minor Candidates
One does not need to be under criminal indictment not to be taken seriously
in this race. Even avid newspaper readers would be hard pressed to say how
many candidates are running (19) or name anyone without money who's angling
for the office. Few know that Steve Kubby is running under the Libertarian
banner because he wants "the government to just leave my family and me
alone, respect my private property and stop treating me like a child."
Dan Hamburg, who represents the Green Party, may have it just a little
better. A former Democrat, he once was a congressman from Ukiah. Today, he
is "pushing things like a living wage for Californians," he says.
Pia Jensen, a city councilwoman in the Northern California town of Cotati
and a Democratic candidate for governor, finds the anonymity of being an
unknown candidate "extremely frustrating."
"The most frustrating piece is to sit back and calculate how much free
advertising the other candidates get," she says. "When you're in the
spotlight like they are, not only do they get attention, they get money
funneled to them."
Peron is perhaps the luckiest of the bunch, with cause and candidacy in
timely conjunction. Although there's no way to know how many votes he will
garner, he is definitely getting attention. One supporter notes in a
donation letter to the cannabis candidate: "In theory, [running for
governor] is only a gag to get free publicity." But "if Lungren slips on
some sort of banana peel, God forbid, just before the primaries. . . ," the
Walnut Creek resident writes, then anything goes. Oh, and the $100 check
enclosed? It's not for the campaign, the donor writes, but for Peron
personally. "Would you please buy something for yourself and enjoy."
Copyright Los Angeles Times
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cancer Patient, Medical Marijuana Patient Todd McCormick Jailed For Three
Weeks Because Federal Prosecutor Was 'Not Ready For The Hearing'
(News Release By Peter McWilliams, From 'Marijuanamagazine.com' -
Plus Tips From The Colorado Hemp Initiative Project On What Activists Can Do
To Help Persuade McCormick's Judge To Have Mercy)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 18:21:16 -0700 (MST)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
Subject: Todd jailed - prosecution presents no evidence
Update from Peter McWilliams
peter@mcwilliams.com
April 3, 1998
For background on Todd's case, see: The Medical Marijuana Magazine
http://marijuanamagazine.com
Cancer Patient Medical Marijuana Patient Todd McCormick Jailed for Three
Weeks Because Federal Prosecutor was "Not Ready for the Hearing"
Todd McCormick, who voluntarily surrendered himself this morning at 9:00AM
as he had agreed to do yesterday, was taken before Federal Magistrate
Judge James McMahon at 11:00 AM this morning.
The federal prosecutor claimed McCormick had violated his parole by using
medical marijuana. McCormick claims he did not. The prosecution, however,
did not call the necessary witnesses-or any witnesses, for that matter-to
substantiate its claim. The federal prosecutor admitted the government
was not ready for the hearing.
"Mr. McCormick is not a flight risk," McCormick's attorney, Eric Shevin,
told the court. "He turned himself in this morning, as agreed. He is out
on $500,000 bond. He is not a danger to the community. He is charged with
a nonviolent act, legal in California. There is no logical or legal
reason to imprison Mr. McCormick just because the government is not ready
to present its evidence."
Nevertheless, Judge McMahon jailed McCormick until April 22, 1998, while
the federal prosecutors call witnesses that could easily have been called
today.
McCormick had passed every one of the almost 100 drug tests he was
subjected to since his release on bail in August 1997. Deprived his drug
of choice, medical marijuana, he has been in unbearable cancer-induced
pain. And yet, he remained marijuana-free for seven months.
In early March 1998, McCormick received a prescription for Marinol(r) from
his physician. Marinol(r) is a powerful synthetic form of THC, an active
ingredient in medical marijuana. McCormick informed the government of his
prescription, and took this FDA- and DEA-approved medication until March
17, 1998, when Judge McMahon ordered him to stop using it.
McCormick was then drug tested five days in a row. The results of those
tests, as expected, show fluctuating levels of THC, spiraling downward.
This is precisely the pattern scientists would expect as the body
eliminates an oil-based prescription medication.
In today's non-hearing, the federal prosecutor failed to call the
necessary scientific expert(s) to present it's case that McCormick had
used marijuana. (The federal prosecutor thought another federal agency
had done this, but the other agency thought the prosecutor had.) The
government only had a piece of paper with test results, but no one to
verify whose test results they were or what the test results-a series of
numbers-actually mean.
Without at least one expert witness, such a scientist from the laboratory
that had tested McCormick, there was no legal way to link McCormick to
the test results or even know the meaning of the results. The prosecution
was simply not ready for the hearing.
Furthermore, because the government failed to call its expert witness(es)
as required, McCormick's attorney could not prove under cross examination
what any expert in drug-testing knows: If you take synthetic THC in the
legal form of Marinol(r), your urine will test positive for THC for weeks
thereafter.
So, without a formal hearing, McCormick is being held in federal custody.
This concerns his friends greatly, who have noticed a marked
deterioration in McCormick's physical and mental condition. The constant
pain he has had to endure for more than seven months is taking its toll.
"I cannot sleep for more than an hour a night," he wrote a friend. "Every
time I turn over, the pain wakes me up." The agony is so great as to
cause mild nausea; McCormick's weight is dangerously low.
A motion for an emergency appeal is being filed this afternoon. The
earliest it could be heard is next week.
Meanwhile, McCormick sits in federal custody, without a formal hearing,
for taking a prescription medication.
***
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
>From the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project
Please copy and re-distribute this announcement.
Please write and call Judge McMahon and ask that he have leniency on Todd
McCormick and allow Todd to remain free on bail until his trial, scheduled
to begin on May 27.
BE RESPECTFUL!
Todd's liberty is at stake. We don't want to irritate the judge, but we do
want him to know that a lot of people are concerned about this case
Federal Magistrate Judge James McMahon
Phone: (213) 894-6500 (Judge McMahon's law clerk)
If you can, send a letter to Judge McMahon asking that he exercise his
powers of leniency, compassion, and mercy over Todd:
Federal Magistrate Judge James McMahon
U.S. District Court
Central District of California
312 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
If possible, send copies of any letters sent by email to the Colorado Hemp
Initiative Project, Ann McCormick (Todd's mother) and Peter McWilliams
(Todd's publisher).
cohip@levellers.org, annmaria@webtv.net, peter@mcwilliams.com
***
DONATE TO TODD'S LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Todd McCormick Defense Fund
c/o David M Michael Client Trust Account,
Bank of America # 16644 11541, Pier 5
North The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111,
415-986-5591
***
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO???
1)Write LETTERS TO THE EDITOR of these California newspapers. Express
outrage at the persecution Todd McCormick. Tell them to STOP THE
WAR ON SICK PEOPLE!! For help on letter-writing, see the Media Awareness
Project at http://www.mapinc.org.
California Newspapers (compiled by Jim Rosenfield: jnr@insightweb.com)
cctletrs@netcom.com(Contra Costa County Times Calif.)
chronletters@sfgate.com(San Francisco Chronicle)
feedback@smctimes.com(San Mateo Times)
letters@blk.com(BLK, LTE's)
letters@examiner.com(San Francisco Examiner)
letters@latimes.com(Los Angeles Times)
letters@link.freedom.com(The Orange County Register)
letters@modbee.com(Modesto Bee)
letters@news.latimes.com
letters@sfbayguardian.com(San Francisco Bay Guardian)
letters@sjmercury.com(San Jose Mercury News)
letters@TheReporter.com(Vacaville Reporter)
letters@uniontrib.com(San Diego Union Tribune)
mail@newtimes-slo.com
opinion@bakersfield.com
opinion@sacbee.com
pdletters@aol.com(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)
triblet@angnewspapers.com
tribletter@aol.com
viewpoint@asucla.ucla.edu(Daily Bruin UCLA Viewpoint)
voice@villagevoice.com
***
2) SEND POSTCARDS to and CALL federal and state elected officials.
SEND EMAIL to the few who have email.
Tell them to help FREE TODD MCCORMICK!
Use this short email list to cut and paste into the Bcc: field of your
email program.
petewilson@ca.gov, gray.davis@ltg.ca.gov, piu@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us,
tmrozek@usdoj.gov, senator@boxer.senate.gov, senator@feinstein.senate.gov,
president@whitehouse.gov, vice.president@whitehouse.gov,
first.lady@whitehouse.gov
STATE GOVERNMENT
Governor Pete Wilson
State Capitol, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 445-4633
Email: petewilson@ca.gov
Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol, Room 1114
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-8994
Fax: (916) 323-4998
Email: gray.davis@ltg.ca.gov
Attorney General Daniel E. Lungren
1300 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-9555
Fax: (916) 324-5205
Attorney General's Office Public Inquiry Unit
Web: http://caag.state.ca.us/piu/mailform.htm
Email: piu@hdcdojnet.state.ca.us
***
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY AND SENATE:
Email list:
http://www.sonnet.com/CriminalJusticeReform/legislators.html
Other lists:
http://www.state.ca.us/s/govt/legisca.html
http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/members/mbrsstate/uolmfram.htm
***
U.S. CONGRESS
U.S. Senators of California:
Boxer, Barbara (D) senator@boxer.senate.gov
Feinstein, Dianne (D) senator@feinstein.senate.gov
For U.S. Senators in other states, see:
http://www.senate.gov/senator/membmail.html
http://www.earthlaw.org/Activist/senatadd.htm
U.S. Representatives:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
***
EMAIL THE WHITE HOUSE:
president@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov
first.lady@whitehouse.gov
***
U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Central District of California
Criminal Division
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Email: tmrozek@usdoj.gov
***
For background on Todd's case, see: The Medical Marijuana Magazine
http://marijuanamagazine.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Teenage Smoking Increases Sharply ('Los Angeles Times'
Says According To The US Centers For Disease Control And Prevention,
The Rate Of Tobacco Use Among High School Students Increased
Nearly One Third Over The Last Six Years, From 27.5 Percent In 1991
To 36.4 Percent In 1997)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 22:55:36 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Teenage Smoking Increases Sharply
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Title(1): STUDY FINDS SHARP RISE IN TEENAGE TOBACCO USE
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Newshawk: "Tom O'Connell"
Title(2): TEENAGE SMOKING INCREASES SHARPLY
Source: San Fransisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Fri, 3 Apr 1998
Tobacco use among teenagers jumped by nearly one-third during the past six
years, with an especially alarming increase among black youths, federal
health officials reported yesterday.
Rates of tobacco use - which includes consumption of cigarettes, cigars and
smokeless tobacco - rose among high school students from 27.5 percent in
1991 to 36.4 percent in 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
And smoking among black teens hailed not too long ago as the one success
story in an otherwise bleak picture has almost doubled, the CDC said.
The latest findings almost certainly further fuel efforts on Capitol Hill
and elsewhere to devise more effective ways to curb tobacco use among young
people. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved sweeping
tobacco legislation that sets specific targets for reducing teen smoking
and establishes penalties against the tobacco industry if these goals are
not met.
"We're losing ground in the battle to protect our children," said Health
and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. "There is no excuse for delay.
Congress must act promptly to enact comprehensive tobacco control
legislation."
Health officials said the latest trends are especially disturbing, given
the attention directed in recent years toward the problem of teenage
tobacco use.
"People ask: 'How can this be happening when so much attention is being
paid to teen smoking?"' said Dr. Michael Ericksen, director of the CDC's
office on smoking and health. I think the answer is that there has been a
lot of rhetoric but virtually no action. I think it's time for the rhetoric
to stop and the action to start!'
Ericksen and other health officials believe an approach that includes
product price increases, severe advertising restrictions and beefed up
education through the schools, community and media would have a notice.
able impact on teen tobacco use. 'We know what works, but we haven't done
what works," Ericksen said.
The Senate Commerce Committee bill contains some of the provisions called
for by Ericksen. It would raise the price of cigarettes by $1.10 a pack
over the next five years bringing the average price at the cash register
to more than $3 a pack and authorizes a variety of public education
programs designed to reduce tobacco use.
Lawmakers also are pushing for tobacco companies to agree voluntarily to
advertising limitations intended to curb their access to the teenage
market.
The new CDC data, from the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, measured
tobacco use among more than 16,000 U.S. students in grades 9 through 12.
The study found that nearly half 48.2 percent of male students and more
than a third - 36 percent - of female students had reported using
cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco during the past month.
The report also found that the consistent decline in smoking once seen
among black youth has now reversed sharply in recent years, increasing by
an estimated 80 percent between 1991 and 1997, from 12.6 percent to 22.7
percent.
The prevalence of smoking among black males doubled during that period,
from 14,2 percent to 28.2 percent, and increased 54 percent among females,
from 11.3 percent to 17.4 percent.
Health officials said they are baffled by the dramatic changes among black
teens, particularly Lmong girls. Since 1976 - and until this latest report
smoking had been declining among black teens while increasing for white
youths.
Health officials had believed that many black youths viewed smoking as "a
white thing," Ericksen said. He also said that past interviews with
teenagers indicated that black girls regarded smoking as a liability, which
makes them look trashy, unlike white girls, who think it makes them look
older and glamorous," Ericksen said.
But now, apparently, We are losing the only edge we had " he said. He
added: In 1976, there was no difference between blacks and whites. Then
there was this huge divergence, and now it has turned around, and we don't
know what happened."
Among white students, 51.5 percent of males and 40.8 percent of females
reported using cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco during the past
month, the study said.
Also, use of any tobacco product was higher among white high school
students - 46.8 percent - than Latinos - 36.8 percent - and black Americans
- 29.4 percent,. the CDC said.
Cigarette smoking was highest among whites, at 39.7 percent, having
increased from 30.9 percent in 1991. For Utinos, smoking increased from
25.3 percent in 1991 to 34 percent last year.
About 1 in 5 students reported using cigars during the past month; an
estimated 3 in 10 male students used cigars, compared with about 1 in 10
female students, the agency said.
On another tobacco-related issue:
M Alarm raced through Washington yesterday on tobacco critics' claims that
R.J. Reynolds was pulling out of the proposed settlement with 40 states'
attorneys general that had formed the basis for congressional legislation.
But by afternoon, the company vehemently denied it planned to do so,
M Senator John McCain, RAriz., who authored a Senate bill designed to curb
tobacco use by teenagers and raise $506 of billion for the government,
warned that tobacco companies that don't cooperate with the legislation
could face less than pleasant" alternatives.
Congressional officials said privately that those alternatives could
include stiffer cigarette taxes and limits on how many cigarettes companies
can export overseas - their fastest-growing markets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Kiwi Green Becomes Big Business (Third Of Three Articles In New Zealand's
'National Business Review' Says The Country's Cannabis Crop Is Up There
With Kiwifruit, Wool And Forestry As A Major New Zealand Commodity -
In Northland Marijuana Is Considered The Biggest Cash Earner
In The Regional Economy)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 17:01:46 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: NZ: NBR (3) Kiwi green becomes big business
Source: The National Business Review (NZ), p.11
Pubdate: Friday, 3 April 1998
Author: Deborah Hill
Contact: editor@nbr.co.nz
Kiwi green becomes big business
Pot, weed, dope, cannabis, marijuana - call it what you like, the country's
cannabis crop is up there with kiwifruit, wool and forestry as a major New
Zealand commodity.
Legitimate cannabis cultivation for industrial hemp is estimated to yield up
to $800 per acre whereas cannabis grown for sale as a recreational drug is
about as lucrative as it gets - provided you don't get caught.
"It's not a boutique industry anymore, it's a mainstream crop," one drug
world source said.
In economic terms, marijuana has become a currency of its own.
"A bag of cannabis may leave, say, the Coromandel and goes through a series
of transactions before it arrives in a joint between someone's finders.
Each one of the those transactions is untaxable and untraceable," a drug
world source explained.
In Northland marijuana is considered the biggest cash earner in the regional
economy, with locals citing two operators who grossed $5 million in one
season from plants grown in the Puketoto Hills as an example of the money to
be made.
Drug reform campaigners say prohibition is leading to a "drug and dole"
economy. They warn New Zealand is following the US down the road to gang
warfare, and a blood-soaked drug underworld.
A high-powered group of physicians and professionals agree prohibition has
failed and this week their independent Drug Policy Forum put the issue
firmly back on the political and business agenda.
A report from the trust, released this week, recommends a body be set up to
develop and enforce regulations for the production, distribution, sale and
use of cannabis.
"New Zealand politicians and public should accept that cannabis has become
part of our culture. Whatever harms are associated with cannabis are
magnified by driving its use underground," the trust concludes.
The trust, which includes Auckland Medical School medicine department head
Norman Sharpe and other respected health and legal figures, concludes the
health effects of cannabis are no worse than alcohol and tobacco.
It suggests a tobacco, alcohol and cannabis authority should be set up to
regulate the three substances, including setting age and point-of-sale
restrictions.
The trust's suggested regime would allow the government to reap millions of
dollars of tax revenue. Inland Revenue figures for the year to June 30,
1997 show $35 million in tax was assessed from people involved in illegal
activities.
In the late 1980s the annual value of the national cannabis crop was
estimated at $300 million, twice the value of kiwifruit exports or all the
cheese export trade.
More recent figures are hard to come by as the government appears reluctant
to conduct research - some say they don't want more proof showing
prohibition doesn't work.
Australian research found its cannabis industry was worth $18 billion and on
that basis New Zealand's industry would be worth about $3 billion.
In "New Zealand Green" Redmer Yska wrote that a nationwide wholesale and
retail marijuana network had developed linking the regions, and syndicates
bought between the regions to manipulate higher prices and bigger margins.
"[In the 1980's] drug barons squared off against the 'side roaders' in a
shadowy and ruthless turf war that has fed off faltering regional farm
economies and spiralling unemployment," Mr Yska wrote.
The homegrown industry became more sophisticated with new strains of seeds
and cultivation techniques which more than doubled the average potency of
marijuana.
Most New Zealand cannabis seeds originated from the "buddha sticks" imported
in bulk from Thailand by Marty Johnstone and his Mr Asia syndicate in the
late 1970s.
The violence surround the Mr Asia crime ring served to demonise cannabis in
middle New Zealand, who classified it as the same as the narcotics which the
ring also trafficked.
In the late 1990s drug reform campaigners want to separate "soft" and "hard"
drugs, pointing to the Netherlands' experience where an attempt was made to
keep the two separate.
A report by Netherlands Trimbos Institute says the more cannabis users
become integrated into a drug subculture where, apart from cannabis, hard
drugs can also be obtained, the greater the chance they will switch to hard
drugs.
"Separation of the drug markets is therefore essential," the report said.
New Zealand already has its own version of the crack house in the "tinny
house" - a gang-run dope shop operated on a strict business scheme marketing
to school students which minimises risk while maximising revenue.
It works like this: the gang rents a house near a high school which because
it is not owned, cannot be taken off them under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The "shop" is staffed by young people of only 13-14 years who, due to their
age, cannot be arrested. As less than an ounce of marijuana is kept on the
premises the risk of serious charges is reduced.
A motorcycle courier keeps the "shop" stocked, delivering packages of drugs
hourly, and the drugs, often pre-rolled into joints, are sold at highly
inflated prices of up to $20 for two joints. The tinny shops get their name
from the tin foil in which the marijuana is wrapped.
The infamous "hole in the wall" drug house in Yates Rd, Mangere, which was
raided in 1988, is believed to have generated many millions of dollars in
tax-free revenue for its gang masterminds.
The police estimated the Yates Rd house had turnover of $9 million but a
drug source said, as it was running 24 hours a day for several years, this
would be a conservative assessment.
"You're talking tens of millions of dollars, You have to have your own
accountants to launder the money so you can't get it taken off you," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sex And Drugs Crime On Increase (The Possibility That Police
Are Redirecting Their Priorities Seems To Elude 'The Scotsman' -
'Drugs Workers Said They Knew Of No Massive Increase In Drug Use
Or Drug Availability Last Year That Would Account For
The 22 Per Cent Rise In Arrests For Possession')
Date: Sun, 05 Apr 1998 21:15:31 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: UK: Sex And Drugs Crime On Increase
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "(Zosimos) Martin Cooke"
Source: The Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Pubdate: Friday, 3 April 1998
SEX AND DRUGS CRIME ON INCREASE
Pattern Shifts Away From Break-ins And Assaults
THE pattern of crime in Scotland is shifting, with fewer break-ins and
assaults, but more sex attacks and drugs offences recorded by the police.
In the last six years, crime has fallen back to levels not seen since the
early days of the Conservative government in 1981, reported crime
statistics for 1997 published by the Scottish Office yesterday suggest.
Last year, crime fell 7 per cent. Property crime fell the most, with
housebreaking halved in six years to 55,500 cases and car theft down 16 per
cent. Violent crime was down by 11 per cent on 1996, with the number of
serious assaults down 13 per cent or 900 cases.
Within the broad picture of less crime and fewer victims, reports of
serious sexual assault rose by 14 per cent, an extra 250 incidents. The
police also arrested 66 per cent more women for prostitution (1,550 instead
of 930), and 25 per cent more people for drug possession - 20,900 instead
of 16,700.
The home affairs minister, Henry McLeish, said: "My judgment is that the
number of sexual offences has increased. To what extent, it is difficult to
gauge. More people are now coming forward to tell the police about sexual
abuse crimes which may have been committed against them years and years ago."
The Scottish Office has set up two pilot projects to analyse whether the
extra sexual offences being reported are recent or happened in the past, Mr
McLeish said.
Women's groups have estimated that as few as one in 20 sex attacks are
reported. Against this backdrop, 28 per cent more women came forward last
year to complain of rape (123 extra cases), 39 per cent more cases of lewd
and libidinous practices were recorded (534 more reports), and 62 per cent
more families reported incest (37 extra cases recorded by the police).
Mr McLeish said Labour had cracked down on sex offences, creating the sex
offender register, proposing sex offender orders and much longer and
stricter supervision of released perverts, and setting up a panel under
Lady Cosgrove to look strategically at the whole issue.
He revealed that in June he would be launching a Scotland-wide campaign to
clamp down on violence against women and children. There would, however, be
no new funds for the campaign, a fact greeted with concern by hard-pressed
charities helping abused women.
June Strachan, an outreach worker with Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, said
it was ironic that Mr McLeish should highlight violence against women the
day after the Rape Crisis Centre suffered massive cuts to its core funding.
"I basically agree with Mr McLeish. More women are feeling confident to
report rape to the police these days," she said. "As to whether these
crimes are increasing, there is no way of knowing.
"We would like service provision to keep pace with the rising numbers of
incidents being reported. Next year, we will be struggling to provide the
same level of service, and will have to fundraise very hard simply to keep
going."
Alison Patterson, the director of Victim Support Scotland, whose Scottish
Office funding was frozen this year, said more women were coming forward to
report sex attacks, but they were still being let down by the legal system.
"Significant numbers who have reported and go through the system then find
there is no prosecution, or their experience in court is so horrendous they
would have been better not reporting," she said.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said
the rising number of sexual assaults was "worrying", but many of the
reports were historic, relating to crime committed several years
previously. The rise showed victims had more confidence in the police and
the courts.
Drugs workers said they knew of no massive increase in drug use or drug
availability last year that would account for the 22 per cent rise in
arrests for possession.
The police's crime clear-up rate rose in 1997 from 37 per cent to 39 per
cent. Strathclyde was the most crime-ridden area of Scotland, with 926
recorded crimes per 10,000 people. Second came Tayside with 885 crimes per
10,000 people, followed by Grampian with 835, and Lothian and Borders with
818. The Highlands were the most law-abiding area of Scotland, with just
437 crimes recorded per 10,000 people.
Sir Robert Smith, the Scottish Liberal Democrats' crime spokesman, said the
rise in crimes of indecency was concerning.
Roseanna Cunningham, the justice spokeswoman for the Scottish National
Party, saidScotland urgently needed a strategy to tackle the whole spectrum
of crimes related to violence against women.
Paul Cullen, the home affairs spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives,
said: "These figures for sexual and drug-related crime are very
disturbing."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 36 (The Drug Reform
Coordination Network's News Summary For Activists
Features 13 Original Articles Including - 'Free Will Foster' Rally To Be Held
In Oklahoma City; AIDS Advisory Council To Vote On Resolution
Calling For Shalala's Resignation; Shalala Milk Ad Parodied
By Pro-Needle Exchange Group; RIT Students Defend Open Debate -
Campus Marijuana Law Reform Group Pushes For University Recognition)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 16:57:28 EST
Originator: drc-natl@drcnet.org
Sender: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (manager@drcnet.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drc-natl@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #36
THE WEEK ONLINE WITH DRCNet, ISSUE #36 -- APRIL 3, 1998
-- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --
(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:drcnet@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. DRCNET MEMBERSHIP DRIVE A SUCCESS -- NEW OFFER FOR APRIL
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#members
2. "FREE WILL FOSTER" RALLY TO BE HELD IN OKLAHOMA CITY
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#freewill
3. AIDS ADVISORY COUNCIL TO VOTE ON RESOLUTION CALLING FOR
SHALALA'S RESIGNATION
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#shalala
4. SHALALA MILK AD PARODIED BY PRO-NEEDLE EXCHANGE GROUP
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#drinkmilk
5. SENATE FAILS TO REVERSE MEXICO'S CERTIFICATION
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#mexico
6. LUNGREN MOTION DENIED -- SAN FRANCISCO BUYERS' CLUB TO
REMAIN OPEN PENDING JURY TRIAL
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#lungren
7. MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENT, IN ACT OF CIVIL
DISOBEDIENCE, CONSUMES CANNABIS IN CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#protest
8. RIT STUDENTS DEFEND OPEN DEBATE: Campus marijuana law
reform group pushes for university recognition.
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#rit
9. MURDERED TEEN INFORMANT MADE DEAL DIRECTLY WITH BREA
POLICE
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#informant
10. LAWMAKERS CALL FOR FURTHER ARMS BUILDUP IN COLOMBIA
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#colombia
11. HIGH-POWERED NEW ZEALAND GROUP ISSUES REPORT: LEGALIZE
AND REGULATE CANNABIS
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#nzdpft
12. LINK OF THE WEEK: Take a Close-Up Look at the Action
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#link
13. EDITORIAL: Escalation in Colombia -- on a path into
the jungle
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#editorial
***
1. DRCNET MEMBERSHIP DRIVE A SUCCESS
Our heartfelt thanks to the many of you who responded to our
March 31 call for members. When we put out the bulletin
Tuesday afternoon, we were still 22 paying members short of
our 1st quarter of 750. By the end of the day, we had
topped 780, and many more have come in since then. Your
donations provided much need cash, and most importantly,
helped us reached our goal. Now we can go to our funders
and show them that our members support us and that we are on
the right track. Their major support will help us build the
rapid response team from its nearly 5,000 subscribers now,
to 50,000, and from 50,000 to 100,000. Those of you who
stepped up to the plate this week should be proud. You are
part of the solution; together we will help lead the world
out of the darkness of Prohibition and the War on Drugs.
Our second quarter goal, however, is much more ambitious:
we are trying to reach 1,300 paying members by July 1. That
means we need nearly 40 new people to send in dues each
week, nearly 6 per day. This ambitious goal is necessary,
in order to secure DRCNet's long-term financial stability,
so that we can advance to the next level. Some of these new
members will come in naturally, as the rapid response team
continues to grow. And some of them may come from prospect
mailings and events. You can help by getting more people to
subscribe to this list -- just tell them to go to
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org and enter their name, e-mail
address and state or country. If you are involved with drug
policy or other relevant events, or come into contact with
people on a regular basis, you can bring DRCNet e-mail
signup sheets with you and send them back to us with new
subscribers. (Please write if you are interested in helping
in this way.) We also have brochures that we will gladly
send to anyone who will distribute them.
If you haven't yet sent in your full membership dues or $10
virtual dues, you may be interested in the following offer,
good through the end of April: We will send free copies of
Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts to anyone sending in the
basic $25 annual dues ($5 down from the usual $30). As
excellent a book as MMMF is, we won't be offering it this
way for more than a few more months, so get your copy now!
Please visit our secure registration form at
http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html, or mail your checks to:
DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036.
(Credit card donors should make sure to follow the link to
the secure version.)
***
2. RALLY TO FREE WILL FOSTER SCHEDULED FOR OKLAHOMA CITY
At noon on April 20, people from Oklahoma and across the
country will hold a rally on the steps of the state capitol
in Oklahoma City to protest the 93 year sentence being
served by medical marijuana patient Will Foster. Foster,
who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, was sentenced on
February 27, 1997 to 70 years for cultivation, 20 years for
cultivation in the presence of a minor (his children, who
had no idea that their father was growing his medicine in a
bomb shelter, under lock and key underneath the house), two
years for intent to distribute (which is assumed for
possession of more than 10 grams in Oklahoma) and an
additional year for failure to have a tax stamp.
The Fosters' home was stormed by state, county and local
agents acting on an anonymous tip. Foster, who is 39 years
old, ran his own software business from the house and had no
prior record. His sentences are set to run consecutively.
We urge all of our subscribers in the Oklahoma City region
to attend this event and to urge your friends and family in
the area to attend. Featured speakers will include Meg
Foster (Will's wife) and DRCNet associate director Adam
Smith. The rally is being sponsored by Oklahoma NORML. If
you'd like more information, or to make a contribution, you
can call them at (405) 366-8058.
***
3. AIDS ADVISORY COUNCIL TO VOTE ON RESOLUTION CALLING FOR
SHALALA'S RESIGNATION
April 1 was an important date in the debate over the ban on
the use of federal anti-AIDS funds for syringe exchange. It
was on that date that a congressional moratorium forbidding
such funding expired, at which time the decision on whether
or not to lift the ban was left entirely in the hands of
Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. With
April 1 come and gone, and no such action taken by the
Secretary, the Associated Press reported that the
Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS has drafted a
resolution calling on the President "to direct the
Secretary... to immediately certify the efficacy of needle
exchange programs in preventing HIV infection while not
encouraging drug use... and, if she fails to expeditiously
take such action, to ask for her immediate resignation."
Two weeks ago, the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS
issued a unanimously approved double-barreled resolution,
expressing "no confidence" in the Clinton Administration for
their handling of the syringe-exchange issue, and strongly
urging Secretary Shalala to make the official determination
that syringe exchange reduces HIV transmissions without
fueling increased drug use. Such a determination is a
prerequisite to the lifting of the ban.
The Week Online has learned that in a private discussion at
the time of the resolution, members of the council made it
known that they would not abide by more delay, and that even
stronger action would be taken within 2-3 weeks if the
secretary failed to act. Last week, however, the politics
of the decision became even murkier as a letter from Drug
Czar Barry McCaffrey to AIDS Policy Director Sandra Thurman
indicating McCaffrey's opposition to syringe exchange was
leaked to members of Congress and the press. While the
decision is not McCaffrey's to make, the retired four-star
general's opinion and support carry much weight as
Republicans gear up for a Drug War legislative blitz later
this month in an attempt to paint the Clinton Administration
as "soft" on drugs.
The draft resolution, to be voted on by the Council on April
9, cites a "pattern of inaction, misrepresentation,
disingenuous communication, inconsistent messages, and
broken promises" which "has seriously eroded the secretary's
and the administration's credibility on all AIDS prevention
and related public health matters."
The Week Online spoke with Robert Fogel, a member of the
Council and an outspoken critic of the administration's
failure to lift the ban. "There was a conference call with
members of the Process Committee earlier this week" said
Fogel. "We had already been told that HHS was nearing the
end of its review process, and so we felt that it was time,
past time in fact, to make it clear that a determination has
to be made on this issue."
Fogel continued, "The resolution is addressed to the
President, not the Secretary. After months of being dealt
with in a less than forthright manner by the Secretary, we
felt it was important that the President be responsible to
answer to us. We're giving the President time to return to
the country and to take action on this, as the Council won't
vote on it until the ninth. But I have little doubt that at
that time the Council will pass the resolution, probably
unanimously."
At a news conference last week (3/27), democratic lawmakers
and health experts teamed up to urge that the administration
lift the ban. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters, "the
science is in. The findings are clear. The administration
has the evidence." Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Rep.
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) joined Pelosi at the event.
***
4. SHALALA MILK AD PARODIED BY PRO-NEEDLE EXCHANGE GROUP
(The National Coalition to Save Lives Now has been an
outspoken and provocative force in the national debate.
They may have outdone themselves this week, however, with
their stinging parody of Secretary Donna Shalala's recent
milk ad, online at http://www.harmreduction.org/ncsln/.
Print a copy out and fax it to her, with your name and
address, at (202) 690-6166, and/or call her at (202) 690-
7694 or (202) 690-7000. Also call President Clinton at
(202) 456-1414. Urge them to deregulate federal AIDS
funding and let state governments decide on needle exchange
for themselves.)
***
5. SENATE FAILS TO REVERSE MEXICO'S CERTIFICATION
Despite loud protestations from a bipartisan group of
Senators, including California Democrat Diane Feinstein and
Georgia republican Paul Coverdell, an attempt to overturn
the Clinton Administration's recent "certification" of
Mexico as a "fully-cooperative" partner in the Drug War was
defeated 54-45 last week (3/25). The vote came just days
after a secret DEA report was leaked to legislators
detailing corruption within the Mexican military far in
excess of previous estimates. The corruption is thought to
be so pervasive that one unnamed U.S. official told the
Washington Post last week that "it points to much of our
work in Mexico being an exercise in futility."
The certification process, under which the administration
makes unilateral determinations as to which countries are
adequately cooperating, has come under heavy criticism in
recent years by the source and transshipment countries.
Those criticisms focus on the fact that it is U.S. demand
which drives the international drug trade, while the
countries who are most negatively impacted are judged. A
decision to decertify a country requires the U.S. to
withdraw certain aid and to vote against loan requests from
that country in the World Bank.
In other news from Mexico, national broadcaster Radio Red
reported last week (3/27) that Adrian Carrera Fuentes,
former director of the Federal Judicial Police, was detained
on charges of conspiring with the Arellano Felix brothers
and their violent and prolific Tijuana cartel.
***
6. LUNGREN MOTION DENIED - SAN FRANCISCO BUYERS' CLUB TO
REMAIN OPEN PENDING JURY TRIAL
- Dale Gieringer, redistributed from California NORML,
http://www.norml.org/canorml
April 2, 1998: According to a press release from
Californians for Compassionate Use, California Superior
Court Judge David Garcia issued a preliminary ruling in the
case of the San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club, denying
the motion of Attorney General Lungren to close the club,
padlock its doors, confiscate all property, and evict all
persons from the premises. He also denied the motion by
defendants Dennis Peron and Beth Moore to dismiss the case
outright. Instead, Garcia ruled that there are try-able
issues concerning the concept of "caregiver" and ordered
that a jury trial be scheduled beginning April 27th.
"This vindicates our position that we are legal and that we
are working within the guidelines of the Court of Appeals
decision," said Peron, " We look forward to our Day in
Court."
***
7. MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENT, IN ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE,
CONSUMES CANNABIS IN CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE
- Troy Dayton for DRCNet
Washington, DC: On Monday, March 30, Cheryl Miller, a
Multiple Sclerosis patient who uses marijuana for medicinal
reasons, consumed marijuana -- with the help of her husband
Jim -- in the office of Congressman Jim Rogan (R-CA),
protesting House Resolution 372. Both were arrested for
their acts of civil disobedience.
House Resolution 372 is a non-binding resolution that is
"unequivocally opposed to legalizing marijuana for medicinal
use" and "urges the defeat of State initiatives which would
seek to legalize marijuana for medicinal use."
Congressman Rogan was targeted because he has supported
favorable medical marijuana legislation in the California
State Legislature and also had a cousin who used marijuana
successfully to alleviate the nausea associated with cancer
chemotherapy, yet he voted for H. Res. 372 in committee.
"Patients nationwide are angry and are beginning to target
hypocritical members of Congress with direct action.
Patients are ready for civil disobedience. We've only begun
to turn up the heat," said Chuck Thomas, Director of
Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the
organizers of the event.
"We can't let this awful resolution pass. I was arrested
today so that some day, other patients will not have to be,"
said Cheryl Miller. Cheryl, age 51, was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in 1971. She and her husband Jim live in
Silverton, New Jersey. She has tried all the standard drugs
to treat MS, most of which had horrific side-effects. She
has even been prescribed Marinol (synthetic THC), but finds
marijuana in its natural form to be the most helpful for her
muscle spasticity.
Also on hand were about a dozen protesters including another
patient and a doctor. Michael Krawitz is a 35-year-old
father and disabled veteran living in Elliston, Virginia.
Fifteen years ago, he fell victim to a poorly constructed
roadway and crashed his motorcycle. "I've had ten surgeries
and two total artificial hips," Mike explained "I use
cannabis as an adjunct to my narcotic pain medicine in
treating my sometimes extreme pain. Cannabis also treats
the nausea caused by my internal injuries." Dr. Dennis
Petro is a neurologist who has been studying marijuana's
therapeutic effects since the late 70's. Dr. Petro has
published many studies showing marijuana's medical efficacy
in peer-reviewed medical journals.
This is the first act of civil disobedience on this issue in
Congress and it garnered national media attention. Dozens
of journalists were on hand to report on the event,
including reporters from all three networks, CNN, Associated
Press, the Los Angeles Times and more. The Week Online
asked Rob Kampia, Director of Government Relations for MPP,
why he felt this act of civil disobedience was so
successful. "We've tried reason, we've tried lawsuits,
we've tried the FDA, we've tried to get co-sponsors for
Barney Frank's medical marijuana bill, and we've got public
opinion on our side, but Congress is just not responding.
In fact, they are doing the opposite." He pointed out that
civil disobedience is only helpful for causes that garner
wide public support. "I strongly urge against using civil
disobedience for recreational use because the public and the
media aren't with us." You can find the Marijuana Policy
Project on the web at http://www.mpp.org.
(The vote on H.R. 372 has been postponed until after the
current Congressional recess. Please contact your
Representative in opposition to this bill -- info at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/3-18-1.html. And try and
make an appointment with your Reps while they are in their
home districts this month.)
***
8. RIT STUDENTS DEFEND OPEN DEBATE
- Troy Dayton for DRCNet
Students at Rochester Institute of Technology demonstrated
outside of an administrative building this Friday to protest
President Albert Simone's decision to deny official club
recognition to the Rochester Cannabis Coalition.
Approximately 130 students gathered in one of the main quads
on campus. As they marched to the administrative building
their numbers grew to approximately 300 as they chanted
"Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Al Simone has got to go!" Once they
reached the administrative building, they set up sound
equipment. RCC President Shea Gunther stood on top of a
garbage can to address the crowd. "This country was founded
on the principle that if you don't like the way something is
done, you can work to change it. President Simone is
undermining that principle by not allowing us the same
rights as other clubs on this campus," said Gunther.
It also happened to be "Prospective Freshman Day" so parents
and high school seniors were on hand to watch the
demonstration. Unfortunately, the president was not in his
office, so he was unable to speak to the demonstrators. RIT
has no further comments on the situation.
"We won't give up. An important part of the Drug War is
stifling discussion of alternative policies. We will
continue to fight for our right to be a recognized club and
I call on all who believe in encouraging honest debate of
public policy to join the RCC in this fight," said Gunther.
(Help the RCC gain university recognition: call RIT
President Albert Simone at (716) 475-2394 or e-mail
ajspro@rit.edu. Shea Gunther can be reached at
gun@pongo.filment.net.)
***
9. MURDERED TEEN INFORMANT MADE DEAL DIRECTLY WITH BREA
POLICE
- Barrington Daltrey for DRCNet
Last week, DRCNet reported on the death of Chad MacDonald, a
minor who was murdered in the Los Angeles area after having
been used by the Brea police department as an informant. In
that report, we indicated MacDonald may have been acting
pursuant to a court plea arrangement. Further investigation
reveals that the case may not have ever made it as far as
court.
According to Lloyd Charton, the attorney for Chad
MacDonald's mother, MacDonald entered into an arrangement
with the Brea police department to avoid filing of charges
stemming from his arrest by the department. MacDonald's
mother, Cindy MacDonald, signed a "release" form at the
department's request.
Charton reports that the boy had been apprehended by police.
Mrs. MacDonald was contacted, and she proceeded directly to
the police station. However, by the time she arrived, she
was told that Chad, who was in tears, had "sung like a
canary" and was looking at substantial jail time if charges
were filed. Mrs. MacDonald was assured he would not be in
danger if she agreed to allow him to act as an informant as
they proposed.
Thereafter, the department decided MacDonald should make a
"buy" while wearing a wire. Mrs. MacDonald was not informed
of this arrangement until after the buy had taken place.
In our story last week, we concluded the arrangement had
been the result of a court plea agreement, based on the fact
that Brea police department had filed a petition with the
juvenile court seeking authorization to release details
about the arrangement. When asked whether the petition had
been filed in the action pending against MacDonald or
separately, Brea police chief Lentini indicated the
petition was filed in a separate action -- not mentioning
that in fact, no proceeding had been brought involving
MacDonald in the first place.
The unilateral action by the police department to coerce
MacDonald into acting as an informant by offering not to
file charges effectively prevented any involvement of the
district attorney or the juvenile court in determining
whether such activity would be in the best interests of the
minor -- who, if successfully prosecuted, would have become
a ward of the court.
According to Charton, MacDonald was arrested with 1/2 ounce
of speed in January. He also had a glass pipe at the time
of the arrest, but his mother, Cindy MacDonald, was not told
about the pipe, nor was it suggested to her that her son had
a drug problem, which may have qualified him for drug
treatment rather than the prison term that his mother was
hoping to avoid by signing the release. MacDonald was
accused of dealing the drug, along with other persons.
***
10. LAWMAKERS CALL FOR FURTHER ARMS BUILDUP IN COLOMBIA
Legislators as well as administration officials were calling
for more military support to be sent to Colombia in the wake
of admissions by both President Ernesto Samper and Colombian
military officials that their nation's 35 year-old civil war
will not be won without substantial help. Congress this
week passed, by voice vote, a resolution urging the Clinton
administration to provide three sophisticated Black Hawk
helicopters to the Colombian National Police.
According to the Washington Post, the Administration is
considering supplying advanced communications equipment,
intelligence support and additional training to the
Colombian military. The Colombian government has also
requested 12 Cobra attack helicopters. Other U.S. military
aid, some of which has been held up as the Colombian army
searches for a unit which has not been implicated in human
rights atrocities, and which would therefore be eligible to
receive it, includes 1,000 M-16A1 rifles and 500 M-60
machine guns.
The aid, of course, is labeled as "counter-narcotics" but
virtually no one familiar with the situation believes that
there is any way to keep their use separate from the
counter-insurgency activities of the military. There are no
units of the Colombian military dedicated solely to counter-
narcotics operations. Complicating matters is the fact that
the right wing paramilitaries, who operate with the
unofficial backing of the military and who have been widely
implicated in the massacre of thousands of civilians, are
also heavily financed by the coca trade. In addition, it is
well known that much of the Colombian military, as well as
elements within the national Police, have been corrupted.
Even President Samper is believed by the U.S. to have taken
millions in contributions from traffickers.
The State Department recently opposed the transfer of the
Black Hawks to Colombia's police. An unnamed State
department official told the Post, "We are really not
interested in getting sucked into this."
(If you missed our special report on Colombia, check it out
at http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/3-27.html#colombia.)
***
11. HIGH-POWERED NEW ZEALAND GROUP ISSUES REPORT: LEGALIZE
AND REGULATE CANNABIS
The New Zealand Drug Policy Forum Trust, a group of highly
respected doctors and professionals, released a report this
week (3/29) urging the government to legalize, regulate and
tax the sale of cannabis products in that country. The
report, a draft of which was issued last year for public
comment, says that in addition to massive savings in law
enforcement expenditures, tax revenue on the sale of
cannabis would bring in $50 million. The group is confident
that the report will start the ball rolling toward a more
rational discussion of cannabis policy in New Zealand.
DRCNet Advisory Board member Dr. David Hadorn, who heads the
group, told The Week Online "Our recent recommendations have
picked up some political support already and I expect more
will be forthcoming. Realistically, the best chance for
reform will come in the year 2000, after the next election.
It's unlikely that the existing government will try anything
so risky as cannabis law reform in the run-up to that
election."
But the political impact of the report is already being
felt. On April 1, the New Zealand Parliament's health
select committee announced that it will be holding an
inquiry into the effects of cannabis. Brian Neeson,
committee chair, told New Zealand's newspaper, The Dominion,
"Given the current level of public interest in the cannabis
issue, the intention of the inquiry is to gain as much
information as possible about the effects of cannabis on
mental health." The government has indicated that no move
will be made to decriminalize before the results of the
inquiry are in.
The NZDPFT report states that approximately 50 percent of
New Zealanders aged 15-50 have tried cannabis, and that
"nothing short of a scorched-earth policy will ever rid New
Zealand of cannabis." It recommends that a Tobacco, Alcohol
and Cannabis Authority be established to regulate all three
substances, issuing licenses for production and overseeing
packaging. Regulations would include age and point-of-sale
restrictions, but personal-scale production would be
allowed.
(The New Zealand Drug Foundation is hosting an online copy
of the NZDPFT report as well as last year's report and a
discussion forum, at http://www.nzdf.org.nz/dpf.htm.)
***
12. LINK OF THE WEEK
You'll need to have your video browser plug-in set up to
check this one out, but it was too good for us to pass up.
Cheryl Miller and the MPP's medical marijuana protest made
the Associated Press' "video of the day". Check it out at
http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/video/0331videoday.html and
see how exciting it is to be a part of the movement. Get
involved, and you could be a part of the next event!
***
13. EDITORIAL
Each week, the situation in Colombia seems to grow worse.
And each week, the call from U.S. drug warriors for
increased military involvement in the region grows louder.
But contrary to the oversimplified version of the situation
-- calls for help in the Colombian's fight against
"narco-guerrillas" -- the issues and the players involved in
that conflict are quite complex. It is imperative that the
magnitude of the problem, and the extent to which American
policy and American money have exacerbated it, be considered
and understood before we once again find ourselves involved
in a no-win situation deep in a foreign jungle, fighting an
enemy we cannot see and depending on allies whose allegiance
we do not have.
It is the nature of the Drug War that nearly every debate
and every decision is dominated not by possible outcomes or
careful strategies but by political grandstanding and
electoral considerations. But if such realpolitik
generalship is unwise when it leads to ineffective policy,
it is also morally reprehensible when it leads, as in the
case of Colombia, to untold death and suffering, and to the
hastening of the demise of long standing democratic
institutions.
US officials have, in recent times, attempted to shape the
debate over the war in Colombia by consistently referring to
rebel forces as "narco-guerrillas". While it is certainly
true that these forces, which control nearly 50% of the
country, are funding their efforts largely through "taxes"
levied on traffickers who are allowed to operate in those
areas, they are by no means alone. Right-wing
paramilitaries, unofficially allied with the Colombian
military, are also steeped in the cocaine trade. These
groups serve a vital purpose in the conflict by carrying out
massacres of civilians and practicing death squad tactics
with the tacit approval of the Colombian military, which has
an interest, though rarely successfully maintained, in
keeping its hands clean for the benefit of its American
benefactor. The military itself is known to be up to its
hips in drug corruption as well, and their record on human
rights has been called "atrocious" and "the worst in the
world" by human rights groups.
But all of this is bothersome nuance in the world of U.S.
officials and lawmakers hoping to appear as if they are
fighting the Drug War with fierce determination. The
Colombian government has to be the "good guys" in order to
allow us to help fight the "bad guys" responsible for
Colombia's position as the largest producer and exporter of
cocaine in the world. The fact is, however, that the war in
Colombia has been going on for over 30 years, and started
long before coca became an issue. But it is coca and its
derivative cocaine, both in the value it has attained under
American Prohibition, and in the money and hardware
introduced into the region to eliminate it, which has fueled
the escalation of hostilities and which has given both sides
of the conflict the power to inflict damage -- upon each
other and upon hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians -
- heretofore unimagined in the Andean rain forest.
One would think (if one were inclined to think at all) that
an intelligent strategy for trying to contain a decades-old
civil conflict between two (actually three) sides -- none of
whom having any claim to righteousness, each of whom having
been corrupted by the very economy we are supposedly
fighting to eliminate, and all of whom having proven
murderous to the civilian population -- would be to starve
the conflict of easy cash and sophisticated weaponry. One
would think that at the first sign of stalemate (which is
where the situation appears to be at the moment) the
strategy would be to flood the country with negotiators for
peace, not with more weapons of war. But the Drug War has
been nothing if not a thinking-person's nightmare.
So the U.S. doubles the number of "military advisors" in
Colombia (to go along with the untold numbers of DEA, CIA
and other operatives already on the scene), legislators and
members of the administration call for the introduction of
even more sophisticated weaponry into the conflict, and the
public is treated to a very tidy, but purely fantastical
account of the situation, pitting the good democratic
government of Colombia against the evil "narco-guerrillas"
in a morality play with nothing less than the health and
safety of America's children hanging in the balance.
US politics, of course, is playing a very important role in
this "debate" over Colombia. The Republicans are set to
introduce a drug war legislative package this spring with
the intention of making the Clinton Administration's drug
strategy appear weak. Newt Gingrich, his eyes fixed on the
White House, has decided that Clinton is vulnerable on the
drug issue, and he intends to take full advantage, leading a
charge of Republican legislators in a "World War II-style
victory campaign for a drug free America." Among his stated
goals is an 80% reduction in the supply of drugs, laughable
by any measure but truly an empty pledge without in some way
taking control of the situation in Colombia. Democrats, for
their part, seem split between those who will refuse to be
"out-toughed" on the issue and those who have begun to
embrace some modest harm reduction strategies, and who are
therefore left with the international war, source and
transshipment country efforts, as their "tough-on-drugs"
proving-grounds.
And where will this lead? Thus far it seems to be leading
straight into the jungle, down a path toward increased U.S.
involvement in Colombia's civil war. Each "side" of the
American political aisle seems to have painted itself into a
corner with its rhetoric. One needn't look too far into
America's past to see that official misrepresentation and
oversimplification of an international conflict can easily
lead to our involvement in a military quagmire -- although
the word hardly seems adequate to convey the suffering and
brutality of such a situation. We seem committed to pour
gasoline onto a fire. It is a fire which will consume
whatever good will is left between the U.S. and the citizens
of Latin America. A fire which will justify domestic
repression as we flail about to stop the flow of drugs in,
and cash out of our country. A fire in which tens or
hundreds of thousands of innocent people will be burned.
And it is a fire which is unlikely to be contained by
national borders once it gets roaring.
It is not a situation from which we will find it easy to
walk away. Our "side" in the conflict will eventually need
troops. They will be needed to go into the jungles to fight
a guerrilla war. But the war, from our perspective, is
against an ubiquitous cash economy, and that economy is not
only serving the interests of all of the combatants, but it
is also, in reality, besides the point of the conflict
itself. In Washington D.C. this week, a trail is being
blazed that leads deep into the Andean jungle. From the
looks of it, however, there may not be a safe way out.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
***
DRCNet
***
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for April 2-8