-------------------------------------------------------------------
Report Depicts How Oregonians Die ('The Oregonian'
Cites Oregon Vital Statistics Annual Report 1995
Compiled By The Oregon Health Division, Which Suggests 22.3 Percent Of Deaths
Were Linked To Tobacco Use, And That Alcoholism
Was The 11th Leading Cause Of Death -
Not A Single Death From Cannabis Mentioned)
The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/
April 17, 1998
Report depicts how Oregonians die
* The death rates for diabetes, lung cancer and diseases such as Alzheimer's
are rising as of 1995, according to some of the state's findings
By Steve Woodward
of The Oregonian staff
Diabetes is in. Arteriosclerosis is out. And the jury is still undecided on
AIDS.
Oregon's latest statistical report on death, scheduled for release today,
paints a portrait of a state whose people are beating back heart disease and
living longer but losing ground against diabetes, lung cancer and chronic
old-age diseases such as Alzheimer's.
A record 28,190 Oregonians died in 1995, the most recent year for which
complete statistics are available. That's 829 more people than in 1994,
according to the Oregon Vital Statistics Annual Report 1995, compiled by the
Oregon Health Division.
But the 1995 death rate - the percentage of the population that dies in a
year - has stayed almost flat since the end of World War II. The 1995 rate
was 9.0, meaning that nine Oregonians died of every 1,000 Oregonians living
that year.
As in past years, heart disease claimed the most lives - 7,529 - accounting
for one of every four deaths. But the death rate, 2.4 of every 1,000
Oregonians, was a record low. That rate was 21 percent lower than in 1985,
when the death rate from heart disease peaked.
Also, as in past years, cancer finished a close second to heart disease as a
killer, accounting for 6,824 deaths, or slightly less than one of every four
deaths. The cancer death rate has continued to rise slowly but surely during
the past two decades, driven primarily by an increase in lung cancer among
women.
Lung cancer is one of several fatal diseases linked to tobacco use in the
Health Division report. Using data from death certificates, the division
concluded that 22.3 percent of deaths were positively or probably linked to
tobacco use. The age groups most likely to die of tobacco-related illnesses
were between 55 and 84.
The Health Division reported several other findings:
* Strokes and other cerebrovascular diseases were the third leading cause of
death. The diseases killed many more women than men and occurred at a
significantly higher rate than the national average. The report said part,
but not all, of the difference between national and state rates was
attributable to Oregon's older population.
* Unintentional injuries were the leading cause of premature death, as well
as the leading cause of death among Oregonians younger than 45. Motor
vehicle accidents accounted for 45 percent of the 1,293 deaths in this
category. The death rate from unintentional injuries has risen 19 percent
since hitting a record low in 1991.
* The death rate for diabetes hit a new high for the ninth consecutive year.
The metabolic disease, increasingly recognized as one of the growing
epidemics of modern times, caused 705 deaths and contributed to an
additional 1,688 in 1995.
* The number of reported adolescent suicide attempts fell for the first time
since 1990, although the report cautioned that the decrease may be due to
poor reporting by hospitals. Although girls were four times more likely than
boys to attempt suicide, the boys succeeded more often in killing
themselves. Drug overdose was the overwhelming method of choice for suicide
attempts, but firearm use was the method that accounted for the most deaths.
* The death rate for Alzheimer's disease rose 13 percent in 1995. Women were
twice as likely to die from the disease, which is marked by mental
deterioration, and 90 percent of the victims were at least 75 years old.
* Alcoholism was the 11th leading cause of death but ranked fourth among
people ages 45 to 54. Half of the deaths occurred by age 56, the youngest
median age ever recorded for alcoholism deaths.
* AIDS deaths declined, albeit a tiny amount, for the first time since the
epidemic roared to life in the early 1980s. With the advent of new drug
therapies, AIDS claimed 10.6 lives of every 100,000 Oregonians, down from
10.7 deaths in 1994.
* The death rate for arteriosclerosis fell to a record low in 1995,
continuing a long-term trend downward. The artery disease caused 298 deaths
and contributed to an additional 1,019 deaths.
* Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder largely of old age, rose 17
percent in 1995, killing 232 Oregonians.
* The homicide rate fell 17 percent, to 158 deaths, significantly below the
national average. Eight children younger than 10 were murdered in 1995; half
were infants. Firearms were used in six of every 10 deaths.
* The infant death rate fell 14 percent, to 6.1 deaths for every 1,000 live
births. That's 20 percent lower than the U.S. infant death rate. Most of the
262 infants who died were less than 28 days old.
* Equal numbers of people died in hospitals, nursing homes and at home -
about 31 percent in each location.
* The oldest Oregonians who died in 1995 were a man and a woman, both 109.
* The county with the oldest median age at death, 82, was Gilliam County.
The lowest median age, 74, was in Morrow and Jefferson counties.
* Harney County had the highest death rate linked to tobacco use, 40.7
percent of all deaths. Wheeler County had the lowest, 5.9 percent.
* Grants Pass had the highest death rate of any Oregon city, with 1,627.7
for every 100,000 residents. Tualatin had the lowest rate: 277.3 deaths per
100,000 residents.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Club Leader Resigns In An Effort To Keep Shop Open
('Los Angeles Times' Version)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 10:11:28 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Cannabis Club Leader Resigns in an Effort to Keep Shop Open
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield and "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 17 Apr 1998
Author: Mary Curtius - Times Staff Writer
CANNABIS CLUB LEADER RESIGNS IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP SHOP OPEN
SAN FRANCISCO--A day after a Superior Court judge ordered him to
immediately cease operations, Dennis Peron said he has stepped down as head
of the state's largest cannabis club in a bid to keep it open.
The resignation came shortly after San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey
said Thursday that he will evict the staff and patrons and close the club
Monday or Tuesday, in compliance with San Francisco Superior Court Judge
David A. Garcia's order.
"I realized that either my department was going to do it or the state
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement would," Hennessey said. "I was afraid that
if the state came into our county, things would be much more tense, things
could escalate out of control."
Peron said he had promised Hennessey that the club's patrons will not
resist deputies who come to padlock the doors. But by turning over the club
to new owners and giving it a new name, he contended, he could comply with
the judge's ruling.
Peron had begun the day defiantly, opening the club's doors to a throng of
anxious clients at 11 a.m. and vowing to stay open despite the court order.
"We have done nothing wrong," Peron told reporters the morning after Garcia
ruled that he was illegally selling drugs from his four-story Market Street
club. "We will not be moved. We are going to be like Martin Luther King and
like Gandhi. We will go absolutely limp if they try to drag us away."
But by late afternoon, Peron said, it had become clear to him that the
club's only hope for survival lay in a drastic reorganization.
"It is a sad day for me," Peron said after announcing that he will no
longer direct the 9,000 member Cannabis Cultivators Club.
"I have folded the club. I am giving up my lease. The landlord has
negotiated with a new group of people, and they will reopen here as the
Cannabis Healing Center after Hennessey closes it down." The group, Peron
said, would include current staff members and clients who he said would
operate the club as a cooperative.
Peron said he plans to work full time on his campaign for the Republican
gubernatorial nomination. He has been running that campaign from his office
at the club and said he will negotiate with the new owners to rent space
from them.
Asked whether the resignation and reorganization is merely a legal
maneuver, Peron replied: "This whole thing has been technicalities upon
technicalities."
Hennessey said Thursday that his obligation ends once the club is shut down
and the keys are turned over to the landlord. "What the landlord does then
is up to him. You only get one shutdown per order," he said.
Within minutes of the Cannabis Cultivators Club's 11 a.m. opening Thursday,
the sales counter was doing its usual brisk business, serving dozens of
customers various grades of pot. The sweet smell of marijuana began wafting
through the third-floor lounge as clients smoked joints or puffed pipes at
the small tables scattered across the brightly painted room.
John Lassiter, 24, said he rushed to the club fearing that "it might be the
last chance to say goodbye to everybody." Lassiter, who said he is
HIV-positive, started coming to the club in December, shortly after moving
here from Washington. He said that daily use of marijuana keeps his
appetite healthy and helps him keep his weight stable.
"This place also offers intangibles that would never be admissible in a
court of law," he said. "It is a place for really ill people, people with
terminal diseases, to escape their loneliness. They come here for a few
hours to visit people."
Club operators across the state weighed the implications of Garcia's order
Thursday. The broad consensus: another serious setback for a movement that
has had little to rejoice about since 56% of California voters approved
Proposition 215 in 1996. The law says that patients suffering from serious
illnesses who obtain a doctor's recommendation may grow and use marijuana
for medicinal purposes.
The number of marijuana clubs and their operators facing civil and criminal
legal charges is such that some in the medical marijuana movement are
convinced it is only a matter of time before all the clubs are forced to
close.
"The state government does not want to implement this law," said Jeff
Jones, director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, whose club is
one of four named in a federal civil suit against Northern California
clubs. "They are squelching the will of the people."
Peter Baez, director of the Santa Clara cannabis club that many looked to
as a model of a well-run club, is facing eight felony counts in the alleged
sale of marijuana to someone who had no doctor's recommendation. Baez says
that he will close his club by the end of the month. Other clubs or their
operators are also in trouble. District attorneys in Orange, Ventura and
San Diego counties have moved to close clubs or charge operators with
criminal violations of drug laws.
"Last October, there were 28 clubs and start-ups," said Scott Imler,
director of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center. "Now, 14 of them are
still open and only three of those--the club in Arcata, the Women's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz and us, are not either
indicted or served with orders by federal, state or local officials."
Some blame politics for their troubles--President Clinton, club operators
say, needs to appear to be tough on drugs, and state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren
is campaigning for governor. But others blame mistakes made by the medical
marijuana movement's leaders and club operators.
"The problem is Dennis Peron," said Imler, a longtime critic of Peron
within the movement. "He became the Daddy Warbucks and the Godfather, at
least of the Northern California medical marijuana movement. He was
exciting and charismatic and he has been a disaster."
Peron is fighting criminal and civil suits brought against him by Lungren.
The federal government has also filed a civil suit against Peron, his club
and three others in Northern California.
"I am a full-time defendant who sometimes sells marijuana," Peron gloomily
said Thursday, as he sat surrounded by "Peron for Governor" banners in his
office at the club, hours before announcing his resignation.
Although Peron and his club have been Lungren's primary targets in the war
on cannabis clubs, the attorney general's office insists that a December
appellate court ruling that Proposition 215 did not legalize the clubs
means that they all must close. But Lungren has moved only against Peron's
club. Other club operators said Thursday that if Lungren wants to close
their operations, he will have to sue them.
"The state will have to take every dispensary into court to take us all
out," Jones said in Oakland. "We have had some major setbacks, but we are
not going to quit because they say we are operating illegally. We've done
everything in our ability to meet the law. We've incorporated; we pay
local, state and federal taxes."
In fact, Jones said, he expects a huge surge of business if Peron's club is
closed. "It will be pandemonium. It is going to be a circus over here for a
few weeks," he said. "Our phones already are ringing off the hook."
Whatever relief Jones may be able to offer Peron's clients may be
short-lived. This month, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is expected to
rule on the federal Justice Department's request to close the four Northern
California clubs, including the Oakland club and Peron's operation.
The Justice Department says that no matter what law California voters
passed, marijuana remains an illegal drug under federal law, and its
sale--by clubs or individuals--is illegal.
Undercover drug agents allegedly purchased marijuana in each of the clubs
the federal government has named in its civil suit, apparently by
presenting bogus doctor recommendations that the clubs failed to detect.
Imler said he was not surprised that agents were able to slip by the intake
procedures of the Northern California clubs.
"There are problems with how these clubs are run," he said.
Authors of Proposition 215 envisioned the clubs as a stopgap measure
pending action by the state legislature to regulate the pharmaceutical
dispensing of medical marijuana, Imler said. Instead, the Legislature has
done nothing and clubs--some operated by less-than-rigorous staffs--have
sprung up across the state.
"The Legislature has left patients and their families in the lurch," he
said. "We're praying for the day when we can close our club. But the only
way is if the government provides for prescriptive access. Then these clubs
will be a moot point."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Joint Debate (Transcript Of 'The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer'
Newscast On PBS About Developments
Regarding California Cannabis Dispensaries)
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 20:28:41 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: Richard Lake
Subject: MN: US: PBS NewsHour Transcript: The Joint Debate
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Source: PBS: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript
Pubdate: 17 April 1998
Contact: newshour@pbs.org
Website: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/
Editors note: Yes, Newshawks, we also want radio/TV show transcripts.
Please provide the lead line information as above (we do not have contact
or website info in our database) and send your items to editor@mapinc.org
More information on newshawking may be found at:
http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm
THE JOINT DEBATE
The NewsHour Reports On The Medical Marijuana Debate In California.
SPENCER MICHELS: Nearly two dozen cannabis clubs, where marijuana is sold
for medicinal purposes, have sprung up in California in the last year.
Their very existence flies in the face of a long-time state policy of
cracking down on drugs. Since 1982, California's law enforcement agencies
have engaged in war on marijuana. Officials of the Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting, CAMP, have swooped down on fields of cannabis and last
year claim to have destroyed 130,000 plants. CAMP operations are overseen
by California Attorney General Dan Lungren.
DAN LUNGREN, California Attorney General: And we've seen a doubling of the
use of marijuana by teenagers across the country. I am concerned about
teenagers who are being sold a lousy bill of goods by adults who say too
bad about the next generation, we went through it in the 60's; we ruined a
lot of lives; it doesn't matter; let 'em ruin some more lives.
SPENCER MICHELS: Despite Lungren's concerns, in 1996, California voters
enacted by a 56 percent majority Proposition 215, which allowed the use of
marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation. Most of the
medical marijuana sales made under that law take place in buyers clubs like
this one in San Francisco. It was started by marijuana activist Dennis
Peron, who led the fight for Prop 215.
DENNIS PERON, Cannabis Club Founder: We didn't legalize marijuana. What we
did is say we're taking away the criminal penalties for possessing and
selling marijuana to sick and dying people.
SPOKESMAN: Make sure that we have everyone in position. We're going to be
opening very, very shortly.
SPENCER MICHELS: Peron's club opens every morning to a rush of clients
anxious to buy marijuana. They show a club ID card obtained with a doctor's
letter affirming they have medical need for cannabis. And then they are
free to belly up to the bar and buy packages of pot, ranging in price from
$3 to $60 for an 1/8 ounce, depending on the quality. The club gets its
supplies from a number of small growers who claim to cultivate pot
exclusively for medical use. Health worker and club patron Sandy Cala
admits he used to use the drug recreationally, but now it's for health
reasons.
SANDY CALA: Sure. I grew up in Southern California on the beach, and we'd
smoke before hitting the ocean, but yet now it's smoking with a purpose. I
have liver disease, which is the reason for my vomiting. I'd start smoking
pot, and it would completely subside to the point where I don't throw up at
all. And that's the whole idea is keeping my food inside so my body gets
all its nutrients.
SPENCER MICHELS: Another client named "Mike" says he uses pot to reduce
side effects from pills he takes for bone cancer in his jaw.
SPENCER MICHELS: Now, how many joints is that a day? "MIKE": Maybe two. One
in the morning and one mid-afternoon, right after we take our pills and
stuff because you start getting nausea from the pills and stuff.
SPENCER MICHELS: But Attorney General Lungren does not think the club
should be allowed to exist. At a news conference at which confiscated
marijuana and money were displayed he announced civil and criminal charges
were being brought against Peron's club. The complaint alleges that people
who were not patients often bought marijuana. Undercover films were shown
to the press.
DAN LUNGREN: Some of the film showed toddlers in the smoking room receiving
secondhand marijuana smoke. This is a situation in which we saw 13--well
15-year-olds buying marijuana in the place.
SPENCER MICHELS: Peron, who was charged and who had previously done time
for marijuana possession, denies he sold to minors. He attributes his
arrest to another factor.
DENNIS PERON: To the government it is a cultural war that they've been
waging since the 70's, the 60's, and essentially now they're using patients
to continue this cultural war on people that they don't like.
SPENCER MICHELS: The case against the clubs goes beyond just who buys pot.
Lungren contends the clubs have no legal basis to exist because they never
were part of Proposition 215. Further, they don't qualify as a primary care
giver as required under the new law.
DAN LUNGREN: They can't shoehorn in the idea of cannabis buyers clubs
within the definition of primary care giver. Primary care giver is a
relatively simple term to figure out, and cannabis buyers clubs just don't
come within it.
SPOKESMAN: What are our priorities? Where is our compassion?
SPENCER MICHELS: But in San Francisco the clubs get a lot of support from
activists and city officials like San Francisco District Attorney Terence
Hallinan. He says that while the law didn't specifically establish buying
clubs, they were a logical way to distribute the drug.
TERENCE HALLINAN, District Attorney: The one thing that was left out that
was a mechanism by which marijuana was to be distributed to sick people, in
San Francisco we've had these--they call 'em clubs--we call 'em medical
centers--whatever name you choose to call 'em--they operate under a set of
rules adopted by the health commission. My office oversees 'em. We do
surprise pop-in visits. The Health Department has people going and
confirming that they are checking on the recommendations and checking with
the doctors. It works for us.
SPENCER MICHELS: But a state judge sided with the attorney general and this
week, ordered the San Francisco club closed based on the argument that it
is not a primary care giver. Officials in other jurisdictions interpret and
enforce the law differently. The operator of the San Jose cannabis club was
hauled into court recently for allegedly selling marijuana without a valid
medical recommendation after local police raided the club. That club may
soon close. But it's not only some local governments and the state that
want the clubs closed; so does the federal government, which claims all
marijuana use is illegal. The U.S. Attorney's Office recently filed a civil
suit to close down six cannabis clubs in Northern California.
MICHAEL YAMAGUCHI, U.S. Attorney: The issue is not the medical use of
marijuana; it is the persistent violation of federal law. And I'd like to
emphasize that. Again, it is not the medical use of marijuana; it's the
violation of federal law that's important here.
SPENCER MICHELS: At a press conference U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi
cited violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits
distribution or possession of marijuana unless the Food & Drug
Administration approves.
MICHAEL YAMAGUCHI: Under our system of federalism laws by Congress cannot
be overridden or supplanted by state law. Federal laws continues to
prohibit the distribution of marijuana at the cannabis clubs.
SPENCER MICHELS: But a pack of attorneys for the clubs contend there are
conflicting constitutional issues. William Panzer represents a buyers club
in Oakland.
WILLIAM PANZER, Cannabis Club Attorney: Every American citizen enjoys
what's called a substantive due process right, a fundamental constitutional
right to life, to bodily integrity, to be allowed treatment for
excruciating pain. The government, in essence, has taken the position that
the world is flat. When all the evidence is there, the science is there,
unequivocally that the world is round here, unequivocally that medical
marijuana is an effective, very safe medicine for use for a number of
ailments.
SPENCER MICHELS: Yamaguchi rejects the constitutional argument and as a
legal matter, the medical use of pot as well.
MICHAEL YAMAGUCHI: Marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in the
United States, and it's not been approved by federal health officials to
treat any diseases or conditions.
SPENCER MICHELS: Yamaguchi's federal suit brought quick denunciations not
just from these advocates but from the mayors of four cities, including San
Francisco's Mayor, Willie Brown.
MAYOR WILLIE BROWN, San Francisco: I wrote a letter recommending to the
president that he instruct the Justice Department to work out some
arrangement with not only this local government but all local governments,
so that, in fact, the administration of marijuana to people who are
terminally ill and who find that as the only method of relief, that that
opportunity can be afforded then. That's not flaunting the law. That's
complying with the law.
SPENCER MICHELS: Officials in San Francisco marching to what they claim to
be the beat of the pro 215 voters say that if the federal court closes down
the cannabis clubs, city health workers could distribute marijuana to
patients instead.
TERENCE HALLINAN: I don't see it as thumbing its nose. I see it as us
saying, hey, guys, look, we've found something here that works. The health
authorities of a city have authority under federal law and regulation to
distribute drugs that otherwise would be illegal if they were distributing,
if they're doing it in compliance with local laws and ordinances.
DR. DAVID SMITH, Haight Ashbury Clinic: The real barrier is getting them
into care.
SPENCER MICHELS: Dr. David Smith, who has run a free clinic in San
Francisco's Haight Ashbury District since the 60's, says all these legal
and medical arguments are being used for political gain.
DR. DAVID SMITH: There is such a blurring of the medical issues, and it
appears to me that both sides of this ideological debate use whatever
evidence they want in order to support their ideology.
SPENCER MICHELS: Smith says many of the problems with medical marijuana
could be solved if it didn't take the same form as the recreational drug.
The clubs, he says, deliver medical marijuana in the wrong way, smoked in
cigarettes or pipes full of harmful impurities
DR. DAVID SMITH: It is not the way medicine is delivered; therefore, what
we need to do is to open up the medical system so that they can get the
medication they need in a pure form that looks medical. For example, if a
pain patient in a hospital needs morphine, we have a delivery system for
morphine for pain that's medical. We don't say, well, the patient should
tie up and shoot up in the ward like the heroin addicts do on the street.
SPENCER MICHELS: Smith would like a smoke-free inhaled form of marijuana
bought at a drugstore prescription counter like an asthma inhaler. The
American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health favor
research on that idea. The federal case against California cannabis clubs
will be decided shortly. The state court order to close the San Francisco
club is being appealed. Meanwhile, initiative drives are underway in seven
other states and the District of Columbia to legalize medical marijuana.
JIM LEHRER: And yesterday Dennis Peron announced the Cannabis Cultivators
Club was going out of business and will reopen as the Cannabis Healing
Center. Peron said the new club will be run by a 78-year-old woman who will
provide marijuana only to patients. He claims the club will then conform to
California law.
Copyright (c) 1998 MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and PBS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Police Dispute Pot Club Costs ('San Jose Mercury News'
Says San Jose Police Are Alleging In Court Documents That Peter Baez,
Director Of The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center,
Charged Clients Four Times What The Center Paid For Pot,
Sold To Nearly 70 People Without A Required Doctor's Recommendation,
And Used Center Money To Pay For Such Questionable Expenses
As His Satellite Television Bill - But Baez's Lawyer
Says He Will Be Vindicated Of Any Financial Wrongdoing)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 21:48:24 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Police Dispute Pot Club Costs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 17 Apr 1998
Author: Raoul V. Mowatt - Mercury News Staff Writer
POLICE DISPUTE POT CLUB COSTS
S.J. cops say director inflated sale prices; question spending
In a court document equating the executive director of the Santa Clara
County Medical Cannabis Center with a street-level drug pusher, San Jose
police accuse Peter Baez of charging clients four times what the center
paid for pot, selling the drug to nearly 70 people without a required
doctor's recommendation and using center money to pay for such questionable
expenses as his satellite TV bill.
Baez, who currently faces six felony charges of illegally selling
marijuana, denied any wrongdoing Thursday. But his legal troubles could
worsen considerably if the allegations contained in a Santa Clara County
Superior Court affidavit are proved true.
Sgt. Scott Savage, the San Jose police department's liaison with the center
Baez co-founded about a year ago, said in the affidavit the center's check
register contained numerous questionable payments. He also wrote that about
a quarter of the center's 270 clients had no apparent recommendation from a
doctor. He added in those papers that the non-profit center charged $400
per ounce of marijuana, while paying only $100 per ounce.
``Based on my training and experience, I know that this type of profit
equals street-level trafficking,'' Savage wrote in the affidavit. The
eight-page document, made public this month, was filed in support of a
search warrant used three days after a March 23 police raid of the San
Jose-based center that led to the arrest of Baez, now free on $5,000 bail.
But Baez and his lawyer said Thursday that many of Savage's contentions
were exaggerated. ``Cops lie, and that's all I can say, for their own
agenda,'' said Baez, a 34-year-old Gilroy resident.
``If (Baez and center co-founder Jesse Garcia) wanted to live the lavish
lifestyle and have everything paid for, there was enough cash that they
could have done it without anybody knowing,'' said Baez's attorney,
Riccardo Ippolito.
``But they took meticulous notes and documented everything,'' he said.
``I'm certain . . . he will be vindicated of any financial wrongdoing.''
Ippolito also said that Baez, who has colon cancer, lives on Social
Security and disability payments -- a far cry from the impression left by
the affidavit.
Garcia, who was not named in Savage's affidavit, agreed with Ippolito.
``We've done everything to the best of our ability,'' he said.
Although the investigation into the center continues, a Santa Clara County
prosecutor confirmed the affidavit is the first step in efforts to
confiscate any illegal assets belonging to Baez or the center. If the case
proceeds, it may establish whether the state's asset-forfeiture law can
supercede Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that broadly sanctioned the
medicinal use of marijuana.
San Jose gained national attention when it established in 1997 its own
ordinance governing medicinal marijuana dispensaries, but has not moved to
shut down Baez's group despite its violations of that law.
The center has not completed the application process for a required
special-use permit, nor met a city requirement that the marijuana be grown
on-site.
``We didn't feel there was a need to oversee his operation because (we
felt) it served a greater benefit to the community,'' said Officer John
Carrillo, a police department spokesman. ``Not only has he betrayed the
police department, he's conned and betrayed the entire community.''
An accusation
Until recent weeks, the center had avoided the sort of legal troubles that
befell many of its counterparts in other cities.
That good fortune came to a halt after a suspect in a marijuana-possession
case claimed he was entitled to have the drug because of back pain.
Although Baez said a doctor authorized that patient's use of marijuana,
police said they found none of the patient's three doctors had recommended
it.
On March 23, police served a search warrant on the center, at 265 Meridian
Ave., to see if any other clients did not have the proper sanction to use
the drug. They arrested Baez, froze about $30,000 in assets and seized
patient files, a sampling of marijuana and club records. The charges
against Baez could result in a maximum nine years in prison.
Until last month, the center had enjoyed a seemingly close relationship
with local authorities, who said they had no wish to close the center even
after Baez was charged. But that relationship appears fractured.
Now, Deputy District Attorney Julie Sousa said her office would seek to
seize permanently at least part of the center's bank account, worth about
$29,000. Investigators are conducting an audit to see whether any of those
funds are illegal, and to determine what other assets the center might have
obtained unlawfully.
Sousa estimated she might file a forfeiture claim by mid-May. The case
would then proceed much like a civil lawsuit, she said.
Evidence in the March 23 search prompted Savage to seek -- and receive --
another search warrant, served on March 26.
Savage referred questions about the subject to Capt. Ralph Torres, who is
slated to act as deputy chief over the department's Bureau of
Investigations. But Torres said he has not been fully informed about the
issue, since he does not have authority over narcotics in his current post.
Payments questioned
In the March 23 search, Savage wrote, he obtained a check register with
payments for such ``apparently personal'' expenses as South Valley Refuse,
the city of Gilroy, car repairs and a refrigerator. Between November and
the day of the raid, court records show, about $400 was paid to the
satellite-television provider Primestar.
Asked about those payments, Baez said, ``I don't know anything about
that,'' and added he was limited in what he could say because of the
pending litigation.
Ippolito, however, said that all but one of the expenses Savage and
prosecutors questioned were clearly legitimate. The car was used in the
business, and Baez used the satellite service to keep informed about any
developments in Proposition 215.
Ippolito conceded there might be questions about payments to the refuse
service, which does not service San Jose: ``At best, you might have $18 a
month.''
Ippolito also said that the center paid $300 per ounce for most of its
marijuana, rather than the $100 that Savage contended it did.
Baez, Ippolito and Garcia all said they didn't know why the accusations
were focused on Baez. Sousa said that may have been because Baez had told
Savage he handled most of the sales.
With most of the center's assets frozen, it continues to operate on a
day-to-day basis, Garcia said. He added that he wished he and Baez could
sit down with city officials to discuss how to address the center's
problems.
``I think the city should just open up their own pot club,'' Baez said.
``It's so frustrating, dealing with bureaucracy on both ends.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 38
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network's News Summary For Activists
Features Nine Original Articles Including - Special Report - Medical Marijuana
In Canada, And Its Potential Impact On The US;
And Editorial - The 4-20 Debate, By Adam J. Smith)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 16:54:01 EDT
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 #38
THE WEEK ONLINE WITH DRCNet, ISSUE #38 -- APRIL 17, 1998
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html
-- 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.)
JOIN DRCNET: $25 or more for one-year membership plus free
copy of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, this month only!
http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html or mail to DRCNet, 2000 P
St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036. Donations not
tax-deductible.
FREE WILL FOSTER RALLY in Oklahoma City this Monday, and
other events, see item 8 below.
TV: Todd McCormick freed, appearing with actor Woody
Harrelson on POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, this
Monday night, April 20. See http://www.marijuananews.com and
http://www.marijuanamagazine.com/toc/articles/toddfree.htm
for more info.
ONLINE: Washington Post chat room hosting discussion on
whether the "voter approved marijuana dispensaries"
(California CBC's) should be closed. To participate, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/front.htm
(you'll have to register first).
IN PRINT: Pick up this Saturday's New York Times (4/18) for
letters to the editor responding to A.M. Rosenthal's latest
"backdoor to legalization" column.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Week Online Reprint Policy
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#reprint
2. UN Ambassador Richardson heads to Afghanistan...
Narcotics Tops Agenda
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#richardson
3. "Global Days Against the Drug War" United Nations Protest
Takes Shape
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#globaldays
4. Press Release: Dutch Study Finds Marijuana Use Lower
than Previously Thought
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#netherlands
5. Commerce Department Report: Over 100 Million People
Online... but most of them not on DRCNet
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#commerce
6. College Student Suspended for Two Semesters for
Protesting "Zero-Tolerance" Policy
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#stsu
7. Special Report: Medical Marijuana in Canada, and its
Potential Impact on the US
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#canada
8. Events Coming Up
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#events
9. Editorial: The 4-20 Debate
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-17.html#editorial
***
1. WEEK ONLINE REPRINT POLICY
As an advocacy organization dedicated to public education
regarding the harms of Prohibition, DRCNet welcomes, in fact
encourages, the re-printing, re-posting and general sharing
of any and all materials contained in The Week Online and/or
our Alerts. There are a few things that we ask you do, if
the venue permits:
1) Let us know -- online, in print, wherever it is going.
It is important that we be able to show our funders how
widely our work is being disseminated.
2) Credit DRCNet for the material, if possible including our
web site. Some lines you can use include "article appears
courtesy of the Drug Reform Coordination Network" or "(Drug
Reform Coordination Network -- www.drcnet.org)" or
"reprinted from The Week Online with DRCNet". You can also
use our other web site addresses -- www.druglibrary.org and
www.stopthedrugwar.org -- whichever one fits best with the
tone and format of the publication where our work is being
reprinted.
3) If the piece has a byline, please include it -- glory is
all we have to offer our volunteers!
4) If you are reposting our material online, please include
a link -- banner if possible, available upon request --
pointing back to our home page.
5) If it's in print, or an e-mail zine, send us a copy!
Following these small procedures will be a big help to the
organization, and will help enable us to continue doing what
we are doing to help you do what you are doing. If any of
these items is infeasible for some reason, however, go ahead
and distribute our material anyway, as getting the
information out is the bottom line.
***
2. UN AMBASSADOR RICHARDSON HEADS TO AFGHANISTAN...
NARCOTICS TOPS AGENDA
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, on a
tour of South Asia, will arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan on
April 17 to discuss human rights and the opium poppy with
the ruling Taliban. Afghanistan is said to be the world's
largest source of the opium poppy, raw material in the
production of heroin. The Taliban, in control of
approximately 75% of the country, are not officially
recognized by most of the world's governments due to their
extremist policies regarding women. These include barring
women from education and health care, from speaking in
public, and from appearing in public without a close male
relative. Penalties for failure to abide can include public
beatings, amputations or execution. The Taliban have
ignored repeated calls from international organizations to
reform these policies, calling their detractors, including
the leadership of several international women's rights
groups "infidels". (See "Sympathy for the Devil" at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1997/12-5-1.html#editorial.)
Pino Arlacchi, the new United Nations' "Drug Czar", has
seized upon Afghanistan's opium production to justify his
plan, as part of the soon to be released United Nations drug
strategy, to fund the Taliban to the tune of at least $250
million over ten years in return for their promise of opium
eradication. This despite the fact that the UN Department
of Humanitarian Affairs 1997 report warned that "(The
Taliban's) limited capacity to engage in substantial
processes of policy-making or the implementation of
governmental programs remains the main obstacle to
meaningful cooperation." The Taliban have also made a
mockery of other UN efforts by repeatedly attacking aid
workers, especially women, to the point that earlier this
year, the UN pulled most of them out of the southern part of
the country. In addition, a high-level United Nations
official has previously told The Week Online, "no one really
believes that (the Taliban) will follow through on this. It
seems to be (Arlacchi) looking for headlines."
***
3. "GLOBAL DAYS AGAINST THE DRUG WAR" UNITED NATIONS PROTEST
TAKES SHAPE
As June approaches, and the first-ever United Nations
Special Session on Narcotics draws near (June 8-10 in New
York), plans are being finalized for events all across the
globe in protest of the global Drug War. At least 35
separate events will be held in at least 30 different
cities, from Belgium to Tel Aviv, Amsterdam to San
Francisco. The events, all part of the "Global Days Against
the Drug War", will take place primarily over the weekend of
June 6-7.
A special event will be held starting on Monday, June 8 in
New York, which will allow for the participation of people
from all over the world. Details of this event, including
how you can become involved, no matter where you are, will
be available starting next week. For information regarding
events in your part of the world, or to make an
organizational endorsement of the sign-on statement, go to
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/.
***
4. PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LINDESMITH CENTER: DUTCH STUDY
FINDS MARIJUANA USE LOWER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 1998
Contact:
Ben Petrone at (212) 787-4822 or
Ty Trippet (212) 548-0604
www.marijuanafacts.org
DUTCH MARIJUANA USE LOWER
THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT:
NEW STUDY SHATTERS AMERICAN MYTH
THAT RELAXED DUTCH MARIJUANA LAWS
CAUSE INCREASED MARIJUANA USE
Despite Decriminalization, Dutch Use Less Marijuana
Than Americans
A new study with sweeping implications for marijuana policy
in the United States and abroad has found the number of
marijuana users in the Netherlands to be substantially lower
than previously estimated.
According to a study released today by the Centre for Drug
Research (CEDRO) at the University of Amsterdam, only about
2 to 3 percent of the Dutch population (ages 12 years old
and up) had used marijuana in the previous month. Earlier
studies had put the rate at about 5.0 to 6.5 percent.
"Previous estimates were based on surveys in Amsterdam,
which has a higher use rate than the rest of the country,"
said Peter Cohen, one of the authors of the study. "By
including the cities of Tilberg and Utrecht in our survey,
the results are more representative of the Dutch population
as a whole."
These findings offer new insight into the relationship
between marijuana use and marijuana policy. For the last
twenty years, Dutch citizens over the age of 18 have been
able to buy and use marijuana in government-regulated coffee
shops. In the United States, where it is illegal under
federal law to grow, purchase or use marijuana, U.S.
government studies have found Americans use marijuana more
often than the Dutch. According to a 1996 U.S. government
study, between 4.2 and 5.3 percent of the U.S. population
(ages 12 years old and up) had used marijuana in the past
month. Despite fundamentally different marijuana policies,
the Dutch use less marijuana than Americans.
"This study is further evidence that Dutch marijuana policy
has not resulted in an explosion of marijuana use," said Dr.
John P. Morgan, co-author of the book Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence (The
Lindesmith Center, $12.95 U.S., paperback). "Despite an
overly punitive policy toward marijuana in the U.S.,
Americans still use more marijuana." Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts co-author Lynn Zimmer asks, "If the Dutch
are using less marijuana, what purpose was served by
arresting 642,000 Americans for possessing marijuana last
year?"
***
5. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT REPORT: OVER 100 MILLION PEOPLE
ONLINE... BUT MOST OF THEM NOT ON DRCNET
A report issued this week (4/15) by the U.S. Department of
Commerce finds that as of the end of 1997, over 100 million
people world-wide were online, and that the volume of net
traffic (the number of messages being sent) has been
doubling every 100 days. The report indicates that it took
the Internet just four years to reach 50 million users,
compared to 38 years for radio and 13 years for television.
In 1994, just after DRCNet's founding, only 3 million people
worldwide were online.
The bad news is that 99.995% of these 100 million net-users
aren't subscribed to DRCNet! (Though many of them may be
reading our material via other lists or forums.) You can
help remedy this appalling situation by telling your
friends, colleagues and fellow list subscribers and forum
participants about DRCNet. If you like, use the following
text to do so:
***
* Are you tired of mandatory minimums and prison
construction?
* Are you appalled by the spread of AIDS and
other deadly diseases?
* Do you resent the atmosphere of paranoia and
suspicion prohibition creates?
* Do you want the cities to be safe again?
* Do you want to Help End the War on Drugs?
If you're opposed to Drug Prohibition, or even if
you just think the War on Drugs has gone too far,
you should sign up online with the Drug Reform
Coordination Network, drug policy reform central
on the Internet. DRCNet's weekly news bulletins
and as-needed action-alerts will keep you up to
date on what's going on with the issue and the
movement to change US drug policy. Just one,
sometimes two messages a week, DRCNet won't jam
your mailbox, but will put you "in the loop".
Every supporter of drug policy reform should be
on DRCNet.
Please visit our home page at http://www.drcnet.org
and follow the link to our "quick sign-up" form,
and you can get "in the loop" for drug policy
reform in less than a minute. Tell your friends!
***
6. COLLEGE STUDENT SUSPENDED FOR TWO SEMESTERS FOR
PROTESTING "ZERO-TOLERANCE" POLICY
Bryan Anderson, a student at Southwest Texas State
University, is fed up with the Texas State University
system's zero-tolerance policy which mandates a minimum two
semester suspension for any student caught in possession of
an illegal substance for any reason. Anderson is so fed up,
in fact that he has set himself up as its latest victim in
an effort to bring it down. On January 28, Anderson stood
on the campus' central Quad, read a statement denouncing the
policy, and lit a joint in front of campus police. He was
arrested and charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which
carries a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail.
On Thursday, April 2, Anderson's case was heard by a
tribunal consisting of two University-selected students and
one faculty member. At that hearing, Anderson was not
permitted to question witnesses against him, nor to present
evidence in mitigation. The tribunal's decision, mailed to
him last week, was that he too would serve a two-semester
suspension.
Anderson is already a local celebrity in San Marcos Texas.
For the past year he has been a disc jockey for KIND-Radio,
a "pirate" station which operates at low power (under 10
Watts) without an FCC license. KIND-Radio, like other
unlicensed broadcasters, has been involved in an ongoing
legal battle with the FCC over its right to exist. KIND-
Radio, which broadcasts to the San Marcos community at 105.9
FM, seems to have broad local support in their struggle.
KIND-Radio also broadcasts over the net in Realaudio at
http://www.mediadesign.net.
Anderson has no intention of backing down. He told The week
Online, "There have been a couple of other students who have
decided to challenge the University's disciplinary code, but
once they either graduated or pressured the University
enough to have their tuition refunded, they backed out. But
unlike most of the students who are caught up in the system,
I didn't get caught with marijuana in my dorm room, I
purposely and publicly smoked a joint in order to protest an
unjust policy."
David Sergi, Anderson's attorney, spoke with The Week
Online. "The hearing, as mandated in the University's
disciplinary handbook, does not allow for student's cases to
be considered on an individual basis. There is no provision
for the presentation of mitigating evidence, and no
opportunity for the student to question the witnesses
against him. There's a case, decided by the District Court
in Austin (Payne v. U. of Texas System), and affirmed by
reference by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which states
that within the University System, each student has the
right to present mitigating evidence. In other words, there
can be no "mandatory minimum" punishment based solely on the
act itself. Each case and each student must be considered
individually."
The school, however, is arguing that they are in compliance
with this requirement. "The school claims that there is a
right to appeal to the University president" said Sergi.
"But this option is not published anywhere, and therefore
students have no way of knowing that it exists. In
addition, this right of appeal is at the sole discretion of
the president. That doesn't exactly look like due process
as the Texas courts have apparently defined it."
Anderson plans to appeal to the president and to seek an
injunction in district court against the imposition of the
suspension.
NOTE: DRCNet subscribers are urged to email editors of both
the Austin American Statesman at letters@statesman.com and
the San Marcos Daily Record at SMDRnews@centuryinter.net.
You might consider telling them that any university policy,
especially at a state school, which refuses to allow the
facts of an individual case to be aired, is a poor way of
educating students as to the tenets of the American system
of justice. Or you might just let them know that Bryan
Anderson's act of civil disobedience highlights the
absurdity of filling Texas prisons with non-violent
marijuana users. Whatever your take on this incident, the
very act of writing to the editor will let the local press,
and the Texas state University system know that people
across the country, and around the world, are watching.
AND: Don't forget to check out KIND-Radio at
http://www.mediadesign.net. Tell 'em DRCNet sent you!
***
7. SPECIAL REPORT: MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN CANADA, AND ITS
POTENTIAL IMPACT ON THE US
- Marc Brandl for DRCNet
The first act of public civil disobedience Lynn Harichy
committed was in September of 1997, when she lit up a joint
in front of the London, Ontario police station. For that
act, she was charged with "possession of a narcotic". Since
then, Harichy, 36, a mother of two who uses medical
marijuana to alleviate the pain and spasticity of her
multiple sclerosis, has gone on to become one of the most
prominent activists in Canada for the right to safe and
legal access to medical marijuana.
Harichy's newest endeavor has been the opening of the London
Cannabis Compassion Center (LCCC). The goal of the club is
to keep patients in medical need off of the streets, by
providing them with access to safe marijuana. Although
things have started off slowly, progress is being made, says
Harichy, "Today, April 8th, I got back my first completed
application, and at 5:22pm it was approved." Patients must
supply a prescription from a doctor in order to qualify as a
member of LCCC.
Although Canada lacks any legal protection for medical
marijuana patients and their primary care providers like
Harichy's LCCC, public support remains high and officials
have been leery of cracking down. "Any police intervention
would make for a tremendous amount of bad press, and the
clubs would continue operating anyway." says Chris Clay of
HempNation and a board member of the Vancouver Cannabis
Compassion Club, which has been up and running for about a
year. Despite this small pocket of protection that has
emerged for cannabis buyers clubs (CBC's), operators like
Harichy still face problems due to medical marijuana's shaky
legal standing. "Most doctors are leery of filling these
[prescriptions] out because of the legal implications they
could be involved with. However, I have been assuring them
that everything would be kept under complete
confidentiality," states Harichy. "I will under no
circumstances divulge any information for any reason to
anyone, including the police."
Harichy is part of an association of CBC's called the
Medical Marijuana Centers of Ontario, of which she and her
husband Mike are the presidents. The group of ten activists
came together in February and announced publicly their
intention to open multiple CBC's in Ontario province. "We
are all working together and will support one another if any
or all are busted." says Lynn, "We are working together on
this because this is a medical necessity for people who are
suffering."
The case involving Lynn Harichy's act of civil disobedience
back in September is still working its way through the
courts. Professor Alan Young of the Osgoode Law School is
representing Lynn in the case and has also agreed to
represent the Ontario medical marijuana centers if
necessary. Young hopes through cases like Lynn's, and the
success of the CBC's, legal access to medical marijuana can
be attained.
The prospects for medical marijuana continue to look good
for Canada, but they are far from certain, and clubs such as
the one Lynn Harichy runs could still be busted. If that
happens, says Lynn, "I have been informing the police and
government and have told Alan Rock the Minister of Health
that if anyone goes to jail let it be me and me alone. If
anyone is punished in any way it must be me."
If anything is certain in the rugged landscape of medical
marijuana reform, the efforts of Lynn and other activists
will ensure the issue will not drop off the radar screen in
Canada anytime soon.
AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN CANADA
It is truly a small, interconnected world, as the existence
of this newsletter proves. Countries are now less and less
likely to make policy, especially regarding a global issue
such as drugs, by considering only internal political
forces. New policy in one country can influence laws being
written by another. We have seen this with some
environmental issues and laws passed to ban land mines, to
name just two areas. How do efforts at drug policy reform
in one country affect another? With Lynn Harichy and many
others' undaunted efforts in Canada in mind, the Week Online
sought out a U.S. perspective on medical marijuana
internationally.
Dave Fratello is the Director of Communications of Americans
for Medical Rights, which successfully headed the Prop. 215
effort in California and which is running similar
initiatives in several states in '98. The Week Online
briefly talked to Fratello about what successful efforts
like those in Canada might mean for the U.S., and what
problems other international efforts might face.
"Just as surely as pressure can be brought to bear on
Washington by the states, it can also come from progress
being made internationally. Frankly, the U.S. government
gets away with writing off the Dutch experience as an
anomaly. But when you see pressure and activity on medical
marijuana growing in Great Britain, France, and other parts
of Europe, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and even here
in North America, from Canada, the pressure on Washington
threatens to become real."
"The activity in Canada is interesting in this context.
What happens to our immediate north is inherently different
from what happens in the Netherlands or Australia, for
example. Americans generally feel that Canada is like the
United States. We're already seeing folks in some
Midwestern states who are supporting the industrial use of
hemp asking why Canadian farmers are going to be allowed to
grow it, but American farmers aren't. I think you'll see
the same kind of question if the Canadian policy on medical
marijuana continues to veer off from the path ordained by
Washington."
But countries do not make drug policy in a vacuum, and
Fratello says pressure from the U.S. is a real danger.
"What is clear about the whole medical marijuana controversy
is that the U.S. government is the greatest obstacle to
reform. Everyone involved internationally recognizes that
the U.S., through the DEA and even the reactionary, U.S.
dominated U.N. Drug Control Program, calls the shots on drug
policy. But the increased openness of some of these nations
provides real hope."
But now in 1998, the U.S. government will face a second
round of medical marijuana initiatives, creating an
international opportunity for reform. "One of the most
interesting questions is how the synergy might work between
what is going on internationally and what's due to happen
later this year in several U.S. states, with November votes
on marijuana initiatives. To the extent that certain
governments might feel cowed by the American hard line on
marijuana, the discrediting of federal policy by voters in
several states at once could embolden those governments who
are considering going their own way on issues like medical
marijuana."
(Check http://www.hempnation.com for continuing updates on
the Canadian drug policy situation.)
***
8. EVENTS COMING UP
(Please accept our apology to anyone whose important event
we missed. Submit your event listings by e-mail to
drcnet@drcnet.org, as far in advance as possible.)
Oklahoma City, 4/20: FREE WILL FOSTER RALLY! Capitol
Building, 4:00pm. Featured speakers include Will Foster's
wife, Meg, and DRCNet Associate Director Adam J. Smith. For
info, call OK NORML at (405) 366-8058, or visit
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#freewill. IF
YOU LIVE ANYWHERE NEAR OK CITY, PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND AND
PROTEST THIS EXTREME VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
Philadelphia, 4/20: UPDATE ON SYRINGE EXCHANGE AND LOBBYING
TEACH-IN. St. Luke's Church at 330 S. 13th Street, between
Pine and Spruce, 6:00pm. For info, call (215) 731-1844 or
e-mail Julie Davids at jdavids@critpath.org.
Vancouver, BC, 4/21: SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE URBAN DRUG
PROBLEM, A Fraser Institute Conference. For info, contact
Patrick Basham, (604) 688-0221 x329, pbasham@istar.ca,
http://www.fraserinstitute.ca.
Washington, DC, 4/22: SYRINGE EXCHANGE LOBBY DAY. For info,
contact Chris Lanier, National Coalition to Save Lives Now,
(212) 213-6376, e-mail ncsln@dti.net.
Baltimore, MD, 4/24-26: NASEC VII - 8th North American
Syringe Exchange Convention. For info, visit
http://www.nasen.org (it's too late to call).
Forums in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN):
4/27, 7:00pm, University of Minnesota Law School.
Ethan Nadelmann will speak on "Harm Reduction: An
Alternative Drug Policy."
5/28, 7:00pm, University of Minnesota Law School.
Joel Brown, Ph.D. will speak on "Future Directions
in Drug Abuse Prevention"
For info, contact Scott Warnick at (612) 292-9815
or e-mail warn0121@tc.umn.edu.
At various locations throughout Oregon: "MAMA's Vision",
4/20 - 5/8. Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and
Abuse will present a computer generated, animated show that
describes MAMA's harm-reduction based drug education
program. For info, call (541) 298-1031 or check the new
MAMA web site at http://www.mamas.org.
***
9. EDITORIAL: THE 4-20 DEBATE
At some point in the evolution of every social movement,
questions arise about the value of various forms of civil
disobedience (CD) as a tool for achieving change. In the
U.S. over the past thirty years, the civil rights movement,
the anti-war movement, the anti-nuclear movement, the
environmental movement and the AIDS movement have all made
use, with varying degrees of success, of civil disobedience.
But perhaps no American movement has had as ambivalent a
relationship with civil disobedience as the drug policy
reform movement. This is true not because those who are
involved in it doubt the effectiveness of CD as a concept,
but rather it is due to the nature of the most widely
employed method of those advocating drug law -- or more
accurately marijuana law -- reform: the large-scale
smokeout.
This week, the week of April 20th, is generally considered
by marijuana activists to be the "proper" time to hold a
smokeout. And so on that date, across the country, large
numbers of marijuana users come together to listen to
speakers rail against the status quo, to thumb their
collective noses at prohibition, to protest a set of laws
that are as universally ignored as they are unevenly
enforced, and to celebrate communally the mellow high of
their favorite intoxicant. Oh... and to listen to cool
bands.
The activists who organize these events are quick to point
out their value to the cause. Smokeouts tend to bring
together large crowds, sometimes 50,000 people or more
(depending on the bands, of course). They are a great place
for organizing, collecting names and addresses, handing out
literature, and providing a forum for other groups and
organizations who set up tables and gain access to the
(admittedly only marginally attentive) masses. Organizers
of the largest smokeouts point out that by bringing that
many people together, they are sending a message to
politicians. Further, they argue, since these events are
noteworthy for the lack of violence (due mainly to the
virtual absence of alcohol) or other disturbances, they are
a good way to show the public that marijuana is not the
demon drug that the prohibitionists would have people
believe. Finally, they say, the sheer empowerment of coming
together, in public, to share some bud and proclaim their
God-given right to partake in the ingestion of their
favorite plant on a sunny spring day, is a boost to the
morale of a population that is generally forced into the
shadows, lest they be picked off by local police and become
one of the statistics rattled off from the stage at next
year's event.
Other drug policy reformers hold a far different opinion of
smokeouts. They will tell you that while they have no
problem with the argument that there is a God-given right to
naturally occurring plants, or to do with those plants as
the individual sees fit, that this is not an argument which
is likely to sway the uninitiated. The smokeouts, they say,
present the image of drug policy reform as something out of
the 1960's -- a self-indulgent group of long-hairs who
simply want to be left alone to get stoned without being
hassled. (Not, they will reassure you, that they have
anything against long-hairs.) That image, they say,
devalues the message of reform, for which there is a real
moral, economic and social imperative. And not only
marijuana reform, but, by association, all drug policy
reform issues, from methadone maintenance to needle
exchange, from asset forfeiture to mandatory minimums, and
from pain control to the war in Colombia.
But by far the biggest problem that the anti-smokeout
reformers have with the tactics of their pro-smokeout
bretheren is the reaction of the media to the events. Hold
a smokeout, they say, any smokeout in any public space, and
do you know what happens? Some reporter with camera crew in
tow will head directly -- like a heat-seeking missile -- for
the single youngest smoker in the crowd. They'll snap
pictures of the grinning red-eyed kid and ask him some tough
questions, like: "Do you like smoking marijuana? Do you
wish it were legal?" And unless a nuclear holocaust happens
to erupt on the same day (and only if it happens somewhere
really important), guess what will be on the cover of the
next day's papers, or, if it was a video camera, leading off
the local news.
It is that image, of course, the image of the drug-taking
thirteen year-old, upon which the drug war survives. Never
mind that the kid with the joint in his mouth bought his
weed under a prohibitionist system that makes rational age
restrictions impossible. Never mind that rather than
licensed vendors, marijuana, along with heroin, cocaine and
LSD is available from the girl who sits next to this kid in
science class. And never mind that the organizers of the
protest may have done all that they could to discourage
underage people from smoking at the rally. That kid, and
his joint, will lead. Because the image of a pubescent
doing drugs has done more for drug war budgets than the
image of Joe Camel ever did for the sales of RJ Reynolds.
And don't expect the news story accompanying that image to
mention that the same anti-prohibitionist views being
preached from the stage have also been preached by such
noted hippies as William F. Buckley, George Schultz or
Milton Friedman. Nope. Here are your legalizers... and
here is the product of their message. And in the eyes of
reformers who argue against the use of smokeouts as mass
civil disobedience, that picture is worth a thousand words.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
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to 1998 Daily News index for April 16-22