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NORML Weekly News (Colorado Legislature Okays Resolution Rejecting Efforts
To Legalize Medical Marijuana; Former Marijuana Smokers Denied Entrance
To The US, Canadian Paper Reports; Judge Rules Cannabis Healing Center
Can Stay Open; Minnesota Governor Vetoes Hemp Research Bill)

From: NORMLFNDTN (NORMLFNDTN@aol.com)
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 22:11:14 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 4/30/98 (II)

NORML Foundation's Weekly Press Release

NORML Foundation
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste.710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
Email: normlfndtn@aol.com
Internet: www.norml.org

April 30, 1996

***

Colorado Legislature Okays Resolution Rejecting Efforts to Legalize
Medical Marijuana

April 30, 1998, Denver, CO: The Colorado Legislature approved a
resolution on Tuesday opposing any efforts to exempt seriously ill
patients who use marijuana medically from criminal penalties. The
measure -- House Joint Resolution 1042 -- further mandates the
Legislature to reject any information provided to the general public
demonstrating that marijuana has medical utility.

"This is an incredibly close-minded and mean-spirited resolution that
fails to consider the scientific evidence and disregards the pain and
suffering experienced by thousands of seriously ill patients who only
find therapeutic relief from marijuana," said NORML Executive Director R.
Keith Stroup, Esq. He noted that the state's own nursing association
supports legal access to medical marijuana.

"The Colorado Nurses' Association recognize[s] the therapeutic use of
cannabis [and] support[s] efforts to end federal policies which prohibit
or unnecessarily restrict marijuana's legal availability for legitimate
health care uses," the agency resolved in 1995. "Marijuana must be
placed in a less restrictive Schedule and made available to patients who
may benefit from its use."

Ironically, the Legislature is a former supporter of the use of medical
marijuana by the seriously ill. House Bill 1042, enacted in 1979,
allowed qualified patients to use marijuana medically if they suffered
from cancer or glaucoma. The legislature repealed the measure in 1995.

The Legislature's latest action comes at the same time voters await the
opportunity to decide whether to legalize marijuana for those patients
who use it under the supervision of their physician. Petitioners
Coloradans for Medical Rights are presently gathering signatures for an
initiative to allow patients suffering from a "debilitating medical
condition" and holding a state-issued identification card to legally
possess up to two ounces of marijuana. Petitioners must collect
approximately 55,000 signatures from registered voters by August 3 to
place the proposal on the November ballot.

For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @
(202) 483-5500 or Marty Chilcutt of Coloradans for Medical Rights @ (303)
861-4224. For a directory of medical organizations supporting legal
access to medical marijuana, please contact Paul Armentano of The NORML
Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Former Marijuana Smokers Denied Entrance to the U.S., Canadian Paper
Reports

April 29, 1998, Ottawa, Canada: American immigration inspectors are
refusing to allow Canadians who admit they once smoked marijuana to enter
the U.S., The Ottawa Citizen reported on April 23. The paper revealed
that Canadians who tell U.S. border officials the truth about their past
use of marijuana will be denied entry to America indefinitely.

Calgary lawyer Michael Green, who is national secretary of the Canadian
Bar Association's immigration and citizenship section, said that American
immigration inspectors have taken a "gatekeeper approach" that includes
asking about one's marijuana history. Green criticized the policy, which
he said began last April, arguing that the same strict adherence to the
law by Canadian inspectors would prohibit President Bill Clinton from
entering their country.

"Canadian officers are specifically trained not to ask that question
because if we did ask, possibly half your population under 50 would be
inadmissible to the country," he said.

Admissions of marijuana use are entered into U.S. records and will
result in future denials by inspectors, The Citizen reported. Those who
admit to marijuana use may only enter the U.S. if they obtain a waiver
from the immigration service.

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Tanya
Kangas, Esq. of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Judge Rules Cannabis Healing Center Can Stay Open

April 30, 1998, San Francisco, CA: A Superior Court judge yesterday
rejected California Attorney General Dan Lungren's request to immediately
close San Francisco's newly renamed medical marijuana dispensary, the
Cannabis Healing Center. The judge ruled that the state failed to
present sufficient evidence that the club was engaging in illegal
activity.

"I'm delighted," said 79-year-old Hazel Rogers, the club's new director.
"It will give us some breathing room and allow us ... to serve our
thousands of sick and dying patients."

Judge William Cahill will hear evidence from both sides of the issue at
a new hearing in June.

"We're saving lives," explained Rogers, who took over for former club
director Dennis Peron last week. "We will be happy to go to court and
show Judge Cahill how important it is for us to be here relieving pain
and suffering."

Attorney J. David Nick, who represents the club, argued that Rogers is a
legally authorized "caregiver" to the estimated 500 patients who visit
the center each day and require medical marijuana.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge David Garcia granted an
injunction calling for the closure of the city's largest dispensary --
then named the San Francisco Cultivators Club -- after finding evidence
that it supplied medical marijuana to other clubs. Rogers said that the
Healing Center only provides medical marijuana to individualized patients
who possess a doctor's recommendation.

"Our patients, and there must be 9,000 of them, if they don't have this
place for them to get legal medical marijuana they'll have to become
criminals, or at least take chances and do it out on the street," Rogers
said.

For more information, please contact either Tanya Kangas, Esq. of The
NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751 or Dale Gieringer of California NORML @
(415) 563-5858. To contact Californians for Compassionate Use, please
call (415) 621-3986.

***

Minnesota Governor Vetoes Hemp Research Bill

April 29, 1998, Minneapolis, MN: Governor Arne Carlson (R) vetoed
legislation that would have authorized the University of Minnesota to
study the "feasibility of industrial hemp production." The legislation
previously passed the Senate by a vote of 59-1 and the House by a vote of
68-64.

"It is unfortunate that political leaders continue to allow 'reefer
madness' to cloud their judgment on what is clearly an agricultural
issue," said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML
Foundation. "It is ironic that this veto comes at a time when farmers in
Canada are growing commercial quantities of hemp for the first time in
over 50 years."

The bill would have also authorized "field demonstration projects using
experimental plots as part of the study to develop optimal agricultural
practices for growing hemp in Minnesota." St. Pierre noted that there
already exists ample evidence that hemp is a feasible crop in the state.
Citing 1996 figures from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Domestic
Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program, he said that 98 percent of the
four million marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in Minnesota were
wild growing marijuana.

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

				-END-

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$1 Million Cost Overrun In King County Jail ('Associated Press'
Says The Facility For Seattle Inmates Is Headed For A Shortfall
Because Police Are Booking More Suspects Than Anticipated
By Its $68 Million Budget)

From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" 
To: "-Hemp Talk" 
Subject: HT: $1 million cost overrun in King County Jail
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 19:20:14 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

$1 million cost overrun in King County Jail
The Associated Press
04/30/98 7:37 AM Eastern

SEATTLE (AP) -- The King County Jail's budget is headed for a $1 million
shortfall, because police are booking more suspects than anticipated.

The number of prisoners being booked has been climbing steadily and is not
expected to decline, said Art Wallenstein, director of the county
Department of Adult Detention.

The jail's $68 million budget this year is based on a daily average
population of 2,546 prisoners at the jails in downtown Seattle and at the
Regional Justice Center in Kent. Now, jail officials are projecting a daily
average of 2,874.

Jail administrators plan to ask the Metropolitan King County Council to
approve a $1 million supplemental appropriation.

"This is far beyond any historical projection or reports we had (on
projected bookings) last summer," Wallenstein said Wednesday. "The increase
flows from a growth in felony bookings, drug cases across the board, DWI
and the no-tolerance policy on warrants."

The money crunch does not mean a space crunch, Wallenstein said. Among
major counties nationwide, King County is the only one that has not had to
release prisoners early or refuse to book certain types of offenders, such
as misdemeanor suspects, to meet jail-space needs, he said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

San Jose Pot Club Will Shut Its Doors Forever Next Week
('San Francisco Chronicle' Says Executive Director Peter Baez
Announced Yesterday That Mounting Legal Problems
And A Frozen Bank Account Would Force The Closure
Of Santa Clara County's Only Medical Marijuana Dispensary)

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 20:57:59 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Melodi Cornett 
Subject: MN: US CA: San Jose Pot Club Will Shut Its Doors Forever Next Week
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Maria Alicia Gaura

SAN JOSE POT CLUB WILL SHUT ITS DOORS FOREVER NEXT WEEK

Faced with mounting legal problems and a frozen bank account, Santa Clara
County's only medical marijuana center will close for good next week,
Executive Director Peter Baez announced yesterday.

``We're going out of business at 3 p.m. May 8,'' Baez said. ``We're planning
to wear black and hold a memorial service, because we feel that we've been
killed by the police and the district attorney.''

While the San Jose club was announcing its closure yesterday, the Cannabis
Healing Center in San Francisco was winning a judicial ruling keeping its
doors open.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge William Cahill instead ordered the Market
Street marijuana dispensary to do a better job of policing activities out front.

Attorney General Dan Lungren had sought a temporary restraining order
against the center, claiming it is merely a sham to thwart a court-ordered
closure of its predecessor at the site, the Cannabis Cultivators Club.

The closure of the San Jose marijuana center was agonizing, Baez said,
because the center's 270 clients now have almost nowhere to turn for legal
marijuana. The nearby Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers' Club closed last month,
and two large clubs in San Francisco and Oakland are facing government lawsuits.

One San Jose woman cried in frustration yesterday over the planned closure
of the Cannabis Center there. She wondered where she will now find marijuana
for her 78-year-old husband, who is dying of cancer.

``The week after they took out his esophagus he went from 189 pounds to 134
pounds,'' said the tearful woman, who asked that her name not be printed.
``We gave him some marijuana candy and he gained five pounds. Now that this
place is closing what am I going to do?

``The doctors say there's no hope for him, and all I want is to help him
feel better for a little longer,'' she said. ``It's not fair.''

The future of the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center has been in
question since March 23, when San Jose Police arrested Baez and charged him
with one count of selling marijuana without a valid doctor's recommendation.

After searching through the center's patient files, county prosecutors filed
five more felony counts against Baez on April 6, and seized a bank account
holding about $29,000. The charges, which Baez denies, could lead to a
sentence of nine years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Denise Raabe, who is handling the case against
Baez, said police went out of their way to prevent the club's closure,
leaving some operating cash and most of the marijuana after the March raid.

Baez said he has run out of cash and credit since the police raid, and is
also dealing with a resurgence of his colon cancer, which will require
further surgery in June.

``I owe $17,000 to growers, $1,200 for rent, and $15,000 in legal bills,''
Baez said. ``My credit is out. I can't get any more marijuana.''

Prosecutors said they are not responsible for the closure.

``It sounds to me like they made a business decision to close,'' Raabe said.
``I don't think it has much to do with the pending charges against them.

``Proposition 215 (the law legalizing medical marijuana in California) is
still in effect,'' Raabe said. ``Patients can still possess marijuana and
cultivate it.''

But Kathleen Wells, attorney for the now-closed Santa Cruz club, said the
result of closure will be more money for street-level drug dealers.

``I know our former patients are out there scrounging for what they can get
from the black market,'' Wells said. ``Is that what the government wants?
What good is this law if there's no access to legal marijuana?''

In San Francisco, Judge Cahill found that there was not enough evidence of
what was going on inside the Cannabis Healing Center to justify the
immediate closure of the center.

He ordered that the center ensure that areas within 150 feet of the center
be free of drug use, drug transactions, littering and underage drinking.

In court on Tuesday, Cahill heard conflicting arguments that the new center
is either an illegal ``drug house'' or a legal operation providing care to
people in need of medicinal marijuana.

J. David Nick, attorney for the center, said that its current operator,
Hazel Rodgers, is a legally authorized ``care-giver'' to 300 to 500 patients
a day. The 79-year-old Rodgers began operating the center the day after club
founder Dennis Peron closed the Cannabis Cultivators Club on April 20.

(c)1998 San Francisco Chronicle

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medicinal Pot Center To Close ('San Jose Mercury News' Version)

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 02:58:20 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Melodi Cornett 
Subject: MN: US CA: Medicinal Pot Center To Close
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/

MEDICINAL POT CENTER TO CLOSE

Heavily in debt, the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center will go out
of business for good next week, a co-founder of the facility said Wednesday.

Peter Baez, who along with Jesse Garcia started the center last year with
the blessings of city and county officials, said it will close May 8.

The center is being forced to close, he said, because its assets have been
frozen by the district attorney's office in connection with a criminal case.
Baez is facing felony charges of illegally selling marijuana.

Baez, a cancer patient, said that because of the freeze, the center no
longer can buy marijuana for its clients and has barely been able to pay its
rent. And, he said, ``we are $16,000 in the hole to marijuana growers.''

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News Release - Rally For Marvin Chavez (Demonstration May 7
In Support Of The Director Of The Orange County Cannabis Co-op,
Jailed Pending Trial)

From: FilmMakerZ (FilmMakerZ@aol.com)
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:33:32 EDT
Subject: News Release -- Rally for Marvin Chavez

April 30, 1998

For Immediate Release

RALLY FOR MARVIN CHAVEZ

When: Thursday, May 7, 8:30 am

Where: Orange County Central Courthouse, 700 Civic Center Drive West, in Santa
Ana. Rally in front of the courthouse, then pack the courtroom, in division
313, to show support.

Contact: Jack Shacter (714)537-4880

Marvin Chavez, director of the Orange County Cannabis Co-op, is in the jail
for giving away medicinal cannabis to sick and dying patients. Marvin is a
medical cannabis patient himself, and suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis, a
degenerative spinal condition. He is suffering in jail because he has been
denied any pain medicine, and is not allowed to use his back brace.

The Orange County District Attorney is targeting medical marijuana patients in
order to deny them access to a medication recommended by their doctors and to
thwart the will of California voters. Marvin is one of three people from the
Orange County Cannabis Co-op facing charges from the Orange County District
Attorney.

Show the Orange County District Attorney that we won't stand for these
heartless attacks on people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, arthritis, MS, and
other illnesses which are helped with medicinal cannabis. Show Marvin we
support his efforts to aid the sick and dying.

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Medical Marijuana Patients Urged To Seek Jury Trials (News Release
From Steve Kubby, Libertarian Candidate For California Governor,
Says That Although Prosecutors And Judges Are Acting Illegally
To Oppose The Compassionate Use Act Of 1996, 'Not One Patient
Has Been Convicted In A Jury Trial, Using A Prop 215 Defense')

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 00:28:56 -0500
From: Arthur Sobey 
Reply-To: asobey@ncfcomm.com
To: Steve Kubby 
Subject: Medical Marijuana Patients Urged to Seek Jury Trials

Kubby For Governor
News Release
30 April, 1998

Medical Marijuana Patients Urged to Seek Jury Trials

"Medical marijuana patients aren't taking advantage of their protection
under Prop 215," according to Steve Kubby, one of the key players in the
Prop 215 campaign. "In one case after another, we see patients being
bullied into giving up their right to a jury trial and the results have
been a disaster. Almost without exception, prosecutors and judges are
throwing the book at medical marijuana patients."

Kubby says that patients need to know that only a jury trial will save
them from prison. "Although prosecutors and judges are continuing,
illegally, to oppose the new law and persecute medical marijuana
patients, not one patient has been convicted in a jury trial, using a
Prop 215 defense," said Kubby.

The California electorate passed Prop 215 by over a million votes, and
every poll taken since has shown solid support for medical marijuana.

Kubby recommends that patients who go to trial use "expert witnesses,"
something that has been very effective lately. Adds Kubby, "we've seen
several cases lately where prosecutors seem determined to send someone
to jail, but quickly drop their case when they find out expert witnesses
are scheduled to appear for the defense."

Arthur R Sobey
Communications Director
Kubby for Governor Campaign
asobey@ncfcomm.com

K U B B Y F O R G O V E R N O R
1998 CALIFORNIA 2002
http://www.kubby.com

STATEWIDE CAMPAIGN OFFICE
Voice: (714) 537-9200
Fax: (714) 537-9203
Toll Free: (877) GO-KUBBY

-------------------------------------------------------------------

New Medical Pot Club Allowed To Stay Open ('Orange County Register'
Notes Superior Court Judge William Cahill Refused Wednesday
To Order The Immediate Shutdown Of A Medical Marijuana Dispensary
That Opened A Day After Dennis Peron's Cannabis Cultivators Club,
On The Same Site, Was Closed By Court Order)

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 21:48:40 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Melodi Cornett 
Subject: MN: US CA: New Medical-Pot Club Allowed to Stay Open
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/

NEW MEDICAL-POT CLUB ALLOWED TO STAY OPEN

A San Francisco judge refused Wednesday to order the immediate shutdown of a
medical marijuana club that opened a day after the Cannabis Cultivators
Club, on the same site, was closed by court order.

Superior Court Judge William Cahill instead told the new Cannabis Healing
Center to curb drug sales and other illegal activities within 150 feet of
its premises and appear at a hearing June 4,along with Attorney General Dan
Lungren's office, to see if drug laws are being broken inside the club. The
club operates under Proposition 215, the November 1996 initiative that
allowed patients to use marijuana for side effects of cancer therapy, AIDS
and other illnesses with a doctor's recommendation.

The Cannabis Cultivators Club supplied marijuana to about 9,000 patients and
was run by Dennis Peron, author of Prop. 215.

A state appeals court last year that the club, a commercial entity that
served patients coming off the street, was not a "primary caregiver"
authorized by Prop.215 to provide marijuana. Lungren went to court for a
shutdown order.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Judge Tells Pot Club To Curb Illegal Sales ('San Jose Mercury News' Version)

Date: Sun, 03 May 1998 19:44:26 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Melodi Cornett 
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Tells Pot Club To Curb Illegal Sales
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/

JUDGE TELLS POT CLUB TO CURB ILLEGAL SALES

Hearing set: Lungren's bid to close the operation is rejected but will be
considered again June 4.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A judge refused Wednesday to order the immediate
shutdown of a medicinal marijuana club that opened a day after the Cannabis
Cultivators Club, on the same site, was closed by court order.

Superior Court Judge William Cahill instead told operators of the new
Cannabis Healing Center to curb drug sales and other illegal activities
within 150 feet of its premises and to appear at a hearing June 4, along
with Attorney General Dan Lungren's office, to see whether drug laws are
being broken at the club.

The Cannabis Cultivators Club supplied marijuana to about 9,000 patients. It
was run by Dennis Peron, author of Proposition 215, the November 1996
initiative that allowed patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes,
easing the side effects of cancer therapy, AIDS and other illnesses, with a
doctor's recommendation.

A state appeals court ruled last year that the club, a commercial entity
that served patients coming off the street, was not a ``primary caregiver''
authorized by Proposition 215 to provide marijuana. Lungren went to court
for a shutdown order, but Peron contended he was complying with the ruling
and serving only patients for whom the club provided continuing care.

Superior Court Judge David Garcia sidestepped the dispute and instead
ordered the club closed based on Peron's admission that it sold marijuana
not only to patients but also to caregivers of bedridden patients.

The club closed April 20. The next day, the Cannabis Healing Center opened
in the same storefront, under the direction of 79-year-old Hazel Rodgers,
who uses marijuana for glaucoma.

The center says it is acting as primary caregiver for 300 to 500 patients a day.

Lungren's office went back to court, saying the center was the old club with
a new name and in any event could not qualify as a primary caregiver. The
attorney general also offered a sworn statement from the manager of a nearby
cocktail lounge that people were smoking marijuana outside the club and also
selling the drug to others.

But Cahill, who heard the case Tuesday after each side challenged a judge,
said in Wednesday's order that he lacked evidence of activities inside the
club that would justify closing it.

At the June hearing, ``we'll give him more evidence that this is a drug
house,'' Lungren spokesman Rob Stutzman said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

New Statewide Study Of Ohio 11th Graders Finds DARE Curbs Drug, Alcohol Use
(A Press Release On PRNewswire From The Corporation That Administers DARE
Programs Around The United States Says A New Ohio State University Study
Of 3,150 High School Juniors Found That Students Who Completed Two Or More
Semesters Of DARE's Drug Education Program Were 50 Percent Less Likely
To Become High Risk Abusers Of Drugs And Alcohol Than Students Who Had Not
Received The DARE Curriculum)

Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 08:42:21 -0700
To: samuhel@rti.org
From: Jim Rosenfield (jnr@insightweb.com)
Subject: New DARE Study

***

Attn: Christopher Ringwalt and Jody M. Greene:

I wonder if you have come across the most recent study of DARE by Dr. Joseph
Donnermeyer, a survey-interview with Full Program graduates in Cedar City,
Utah called 'Attitudes and Beliefs about D.A.R.E.", reported in "New
Statewide Study of Ohio 11th Graders Finds D.A.R.E. Curbs Drug, Alcohol Use"
distributed by DARE. The text of the article is included below. I wonder
if you have any response to this study, any thoughts on how they could come
to conclusions so strikingly different than your study released in April.
For your information, I have posted an html version of your study at
http://mall.turnpike.net/~jnr/uic.htm

Jim Rosenfield

Here is the article:

***

SOURCE: D.A.R.E.

New Statewide Study of Ohio 11th Graders Finds D.A.R.E. Curbs Drug,
Alcohol Use

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/980430/oh_dare_st_1.html

Students with Multiple Semesters of D.A.R.E. 50% Less Likely to Be High
Risk Drug Users

Strengthens Peer Resistance Skills, Police Officer Respect

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Ohio State University
statewide study of 3,150 high school juniors found that students who
completed two or more semesters of D.A.R.E.'s drug education program
were 50 percent less likely to become high risk abusers of drugs and
alcohol than students who had not received the D.A.R.E. curriculum.

The evaluation found that students, even with only one semester of
D.A.R.E., showed lower alcohol and drug use than students who had no
exposure to D.A.R.E., according to Dr. Joseph Donnermeyer, associate
professor of The Ohio State University, who conducted the comprehensive
study.

High risk abuse is defined as students who regularly use several drugs.

The new study further concluded D.A.R.E. strengthens peer resistance
skills that enables youngsters to reject pressures by other kids to
experiment or use drugs or alcohol, Dr. Donnermeyer added.

Eleventh graders who have completed at least one semester of D.A.R.E are
more likely to discuss the dangers of getting drunk or using drugs with
their parents, according to the study.

D.A.R.E., short for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a multiple
semester curriculum designed for youngsters in kindergarten through high
school and taught in the classroom by specially trained local police
officers.

The Ohio State University study is the first ever to analyze the effect
on students who have graduated from multiple semesters of the D.A.R.E.
program. Previous studies have focused on high school students who took
one semester of the program in elementary school.

``What we found is that the D.A.R.E. program works in curbing drug and
alcohol use,'' said Dr. Donnermeyer. ``And while one semester of
D.A.R.E. gives students greater resistance skills compared to the
youngster who hasn't taken the programs, two or more semesters of
D.A.R.E. is even more effective.''

``The study proves the importance of reinforcing drug and violence
prevention, education and resistance skills as the child moves through
elementary, middle and high school,'' said Glenn Levant, president and
founding director of D.A.R.E. America and the former deputy chief of the
Los Angeles Police Department. ``Children obviously change and grow and
the D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to help them, at different grade
levels, to reject tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gangs and violence.''

Another major finding shows that D.A.R.E. program graduates have 68
percent greater respect for police officers than high school juniors
without D.A.R.E. training.

Additionally, The Ohio State University study found that D.A.R.E.
students had superior skills in judging TV programming and commercials
depicting drugs and alcohol. ``This is very encouraging because too
often the mass media -- movies, TV, music -- romanticizes getting high
or getting loaded,'' Levant said. ``D.A.R.E. emphasizes that these
messages are false, that smoking, drinking and drugging harms young
bodies. Our message is getting through.''

Still, according to Levant, the key to raising drug free kids is the
role of the parents. He said the study underscores the fact that a
school based drug education program ``and open and honest, blame-free
communications between parents and kids work hand in hand.''

An article summarizing the findings of The Ohio State University
evaluation of D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness has been accepted for publication
by the American School Health Association's Journal of School Health.

The D.A.R.E. program is the world's largest anti-drug, anti-gang and
anti-violence prevention education program and is currently taught in
over 75 percent of all U.S. schools. More than 44 countries have adopted
D.A.R.E. In 1998, 35 million school children worldwide will benefit from
the D.A.R.E. program.

***

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 21:46:49 EDT
Reply-To: dare-list@calyx.net
Originator: dare-list@calyx.net
Sender: dare-list@calyx.net
From: "Rolf Ernst" (rolf_ernst@buyer-link.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dare-list@calyx.net)
Subject: RE: New DARE Study

Jim,

I have the study. (I guess I have most of their trash by now). I'll be
posting it in a couple of days. As the study says - It is Attitudes and
Beliefs about D.A.R.E. - they asked student how they liked the program ...

I guess they forgot to ask them how they would like to have Fridays off ...

Anyhow - this is about hearsay, not about measurements of any kind.
Definitely a shot in the foot for D.A.R.E.

Rolf

***

Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 10:07:25 EDT
Errors-To: server-admin@calyx.net
Reply-To: dare-list@calyx.net
Originator: dare-list@calyx.net
Sender: dare-list@calyx.net
From: "Rolf Ernst" (rolf_ernst@buyer-link.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dare-list@calyx.net)
Subject: Ohio study

Cumulative Effects of Prevention Education on Substance Abuse Among 11th
Grade Students in Ohio, By Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Russell r. Davis

is now available at

http://www.legalize-usa.org/documents/pdf/ohio.pdf

Kind regards

Rolf Ernst

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Attitudes And Beliefs About DARE" (A list subscriber critiques the poor
methodology used by Joseph Donnermeyer of Ohio State University in another
study of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program he carried out in Cedar
City, Utah.)

***

Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:54:39 EDT
Errors-To: server-admin@calyx.net
Reply-To: dare-list@calyx.net
Originator: dare-list@calyx.net
Sender: dare-list@calyx.net
From: "Rolf Ernst" (rolf_ernst@buyer-link.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dare-list@calyx.net)
Subject: Attitudes and Beliefs about D.A.R.E.

Hey,

in today's meeting with the D.A.R.E. cop he handed me a fax of 'study' if
you can call it that entitled 'Attitudes and Beliefs about D.A.R.E., A
survey-interview with Full Program graduates in Cedar City, Utah. The thing
is very hard to OCR, there is only a short excerpt at the DARE-AMERICA site
and I'd like to have it machine-readable. It's pretty much a prime example
of a study done as bogus as you can:

a.) The asked the kids after class whether they liked the program
b.) They purportedly measured involvement with Drugs etc.

For b.) the comment in the study is: 'Program D.A.R.E. graduates are at a
frequency of only 1 so that the power of D.A.R.E. may be masked by floor
effects ...

Wow, sounds like that is *really* representative. The whole study involved
70 people. I wonder if you can make more mistakes. I mean I only know
statistics 101 but I see that this is not a representative sample.

Anyhow, I'd like to have this in an easily duplicable way. If you got, let
me have it ...

Kind regards

Rolf Ernst

Visit us at http://www.legalize-usa.org
The resource for the anti-prohibitionist activist!

***

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 23:54:04 EDT
Errors-To: server-admin@calyx.net
Reply-To: dare-list@calyx.net
Originator: dare-list@calyx.net
Sender: dare-list@calyx.net
From: "Rolf Ernst" (rolf_ernst@buyer-link.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dare-list@calyx.net)
Subject: RE: What has been happening

Folks,

always a step ahead of the game ...

I got the study today and am holding it in my hand. I can make you (Jim) a
copy and mail to you. It doesn't look horribly hard to OCR and I will do so
maybe tomorrow. A first look reveals that the study has come to
contradictory results than the UIC study. However, it *only* compares
D.A.R.E. to the 'Just say No Club' (an extracurricular activity, i.e. kids
hanging out and playing games, 'Red Ribbon Week', an annual one-time event
for the year and Quest. Quest evaluation was not even taken into
consideration by Drug Strategies which sought studies for many programs. It
would appear as if Donnermeyer picked the most obscure items he could come
up with. He also did not only compare the previously mentioned programs to
D.A.R.E. as such but lists D.A.R.E. three times (elementary, middle and
senior high). What is surprising is that the study apparently looked into a
total of 10 programs but only compares to the three obscure ones. Sounds to
me like the results would have looked different if the other studies had
been reviewed.

I guess what makes the study totally bogus is that it is a one-time shot, no
follow-up, no time factors etc. One self-reporting survey which admittedly
has verifying questions built in (making sure students wouldn't lie) but all
it measures is students feel about it. What is 'light marijuana and alcohol
use' vs 'heavy marijuana and alcohol use'? I personally very much distrust
these self-validating tests. I have taken the MMPT test (a crackpot test to
determine how nuts you are - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Test, used by
every shrink in the nation, 500+ questions), scored just fine on
truthfulness on both and came up with totally different scales on them.

The study has absolutely no follow-up on students that did not use drugs,
then used drugs and compared their program influences. The study is also
clearly prefaced by the statement that it does not intend to reflect
causalities.

While on the surface the study is in itself okay (it presents numbers
gathered and essentially tabulates them). Where it fails is when eventually
in the summary it attempts to actually draw conclusions from the numbers
which is completely invalid, since it does not take *development* into
consideration.

This is as much as I can discern after looking at the study for 30 minutes.
I definitely need to brush up on my statistics 101...

All in all - if this is their best shot I'm not afraid. I received some
other info which I haven't gone through yet. One is entitled 'The truth
behind the headlines' and makes an attempt to refute the studies by RTI and
UIC. It calls them seriously flawed! (The reasons they quote are bogus and
only sound scientific). The document is very emotional and I can send it to
interested individuals or you can get it from D.A.R.E. directly (I am sure
they will be more than happy to send you a copy). It has a lot of emotional
stuff in there, giving you the impression that it is only the pot-smoking
parents that oppose D.A.R.E.. Well, think again, I don't use pot or drugs
other than prescription at all (anymore).

So far I have seen nothing backing D.A.R.E.'s claims up, but you have to
take the time to read the fine print.

I NEED MORE INFO ON DONNERMEYER!

[extraneous stuff snipped - ed.]

Got a little long, but wanted to tell everything. So if everybody has more
info on Donnermeyer, please send me some.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Clinton Defends McCaffrey (Transcript Of Presidential News Conference
Comments On Needle Exchange Controversy)

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:59:30 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Dave Fratello 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Clinton Defends McCaffrey (WH p/c xscpt)

TRANSCRIPT
Presidential News Conference
Thursday, April 30, 1998

(late in the event)

Q Mr. President, General Barry McCaffrey is in the
midst of controversy over the needle exchange program, as well as a
personality conflict. Mr. President, what are your words to General
McCaffrey's detractors, especially those in your Cabinet, your
administration, and those Democrats in the CBC [congressional black caucus]
that are joining Newt Gingrich to get McCaffrey out of the Drug Czar's Office?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I think we ought to
look at his record. I think he's got quite a commendable record. We
have more than double -- we've had a strategy that was as follows
with the drug issue: One, to try to help parents teach their
children that drugs are wrong and illegal and can kill you. Two, to
try to support local law enforcement efforts and local community
efforts at not only punishment, but prevention. Three, to try to
increase our capacity to stop drugs from coming in at the border.

We more than doubled border guards, for example, from
3,000 to 6,000. We've got another 1,000 coming in this budget.
We've got a fund set aside in the highway bill to increase the
technological capacity of the government to stop drugs coming in at
the border.

And General McCaffrey has been behind a lot of that.
He's also done enormous work with the supply countries and Latin
America, trying to get them to work with us. And he's made some real
headway. He's one of the reasons we've got this alliance against
drugs at the last Summit of the Americas. He supported huge
increases in funding for treatment and for testing and treatment for
inmates not only in federal, but in state and local penitentiaries.
So I think he's got a good record.

Now, he believes that the benefits of needle exchange
are uncertain and that the message you send out is not good, that
somehow the government is empowering drug use. There are people all
over the country who agree with that. Now, the weight of medical
research and the American Medical Association has a different view.
Their view is that it may help to lower the transmission of HIV, and
there is no evidence that it increases drug use.

I think -- if I might, I mean, that's the next logical
question, why did we make the decision we did -- because the weight
of scientific evidence was what I just said. But if you look at it,
it's clear -- if you go all across the American cities or go to
Vancouver, Canada, anyplace where they've had a needle exchange
program where there has been serious testing, the only place it
really works to reduce HIV transmission and to reduce drug use is
when the people who come in to exchange needles get pulled into
treatment programs.

So the real issue is, will there be more funds for
treatment. And that's, obviously -- I'm getting as much money out
there as I can, but that's why I think it should remain a local
decision and why I made the decision I did, and why I'd like to see
this controversy put behind us, because I think in a way, in terms of
impact on people, it has been -- there has been more heat than light
on it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A Vote Against Federal Needle Swap Funds ('San Francisco Chronicle'
Says The US House Of Representatives Voted 287 To 140 Yesterday
To Impose A Permanent Ban On Federal Funding Of Needle Exchange Programs
To Stop The Spread Of AIDS)

Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 20:57:17 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Melodi Cornett 
Subject: MN: US: A Vote Against Federal Needle Swap Funds
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Louis Freedberg, Chronicle Washington Bureau

A VOTE AGAINST FEDERAL NEEDLE SWAP FUNDS

House tries to make Clinton's ban permanent

The House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to impose a permanent ban on using
federal funds to support needle exchange programs designed to stop the
spread of AIDS.

Yesterday's 287-to-140 vote was largely symbolic. It came just two weeks
after Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala announced that
the administration would not lift the ban, despite conclusive scientific
evidence that needle exchanges as part of a comprehensive treatment program
prevent the spread of AIDS and do not encourage drug use.

``Yesterday's vote does nothing to change the science,'' said Representative
Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, who led the opposition to the legislation on
the House floor. ``Needle exchange programs work, and they work well.''

The bill still requires Senate consideration. White House officials
condemned the vote, which they said was ``unnecessary and unwarranted.''

However, opponents of needle exchanges feared that without imposing a
permanent ban, the administration might succumb to pressure and lift the ban
in the future.

Republicans also signaled that they intend to use the administration's
position on needle exchange programs against it during the current election
season.

``The Clinton administration's endorsement of needle exchange programs is
part of an intolerable message to our nation's children sent by the White
House that drug use is a way of life,'' said Representative Gerald Solomon,
R-N.Y., a sponsor of the legislation.

And House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said the House action was
necessary to counter a ``deadhead president that supports a program that
gives free needles to drug addicts.''

On one level, the vote was a vindication of President Clinton's refusal to
lift the ban on federal funding. White House officials argued two weeks ago
that even if they had moved to lift the ban, it would have been overturned
by Congress.

In fact, Speaker Newt Gingrich had speeded up consideration of the bill,
which did not go through the usual committee process.

AIDS activists, however, contend that the issue has such dire life and death
consequences, and the scientific evidence is so conclusive that the
president should have been willing to stand up to Congress on the issue.
``Speaker Gingrich's cynical action puts politics ahead of the lives of the
most vulnerable Americans,'' said Daniel Zingale, executive director of AIDS
Action in Washington, D.C.

``Putting Newt Gingrich in charge of the science of AIDS is like putting the
Spice Girls in charge of Congress.''

(c)1998 San Francisco Chronicle

-------------------------------------------------------------------

House Republicans Vow To Make US Drug Free ('Reuters'
Says Top Republicans Thursday Held A Packed Rally
In One Of The Most Ornate Congressional Hearing Rooms
To Unveil A Package Of Bills To Combat Drug Abuse,
Pledgiing To Make America Virtually Drug-Free By 2002)

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 14:53:39 -0400
From: Scott Dykstra 
Organization: http://www.november.org/
To: annmaria@webtv.net
Subject: CanPat> [Fwd: Stronger Drug Free Bullshit]
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@teleport.com

***

"It is not the person who has a dissenting opinion who is
a danger to the system, it is the "conformist" who is a danger
to our freedoms"

***

Scott Dykstra
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9584/

***

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 14:47:08 -0400
From: Scott Dykstra (rumba2@earthlink.net)
To: rumba2@earthlink.net
Subject: Stronger Drug Free Bullshit

Just don't forget one thing here. The judges, police, prosecutors,
lawyers, judges, prison union, urine-testing companies, pharmaceutical
companies, prison stockholders, bankers, and corporate America are
actually paying the politicians to "get tough on drugs".

The constant chipping away at the Constitution is so evident here, it
makes me want to hurl. To create a false nationwide problem and come up
with a solution whether it is successful or not, will get these
do-gooders elected. Only when ALL of our rights are gone will it
require extra ordinary measures to take them back.....by then, it will
be too late.

***

08:18 PM ET 04/30/98

House Republicans vow to make U.S. drug-free

By Joanne Kenen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans Thursday unveiled a
package of bills to combat drug abuse and vowed to make America
virtually drug-free by 2002.

At a packed rally in one of the most ornate Congressional
hearing rooms, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other top
Republicans unveiled several drug bills, some focusing on
community-based drug programs, others seeking to stamp out drug
production overseas and a third series aiming to hold anti-drug
agency officials more accountable.

Citing 14,000 deaths a year directly related to drugs and
another 6,000 indirect deaths, Gingrich said if that level of
casualties was happening in Bosnia, Iraq or Korea ``we would be
up in arms.'' Instead, he said, ``people shrug their
shoulders.''

Gingrich said drug use went down during the ``Just Say No''
years under Republican Presidents Reagan and Bush, and has risen
under President Clinton. He called for an intense, four-year
drive to lower drug use and said he had told House appropriators
to make it their top priority.

Before the Republican event, House Democrats said drug
policy had traditionally been bipartisan and urged Gingrich to
keep it that way.

The Republican rally was not a bipartisan event, but was not
a hard-edged partisan attack on Democrats either. ``I liked the
tone,'' White House anti-drug chief Barry McCaffrey said in a
telephone interview.
``We want to build bipartisan support for this effort,'' he
said, adding he would examine the bills ``very carefully.''

Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who chaired the House
Republican task force on drugs, said the country had ``veered
off course'' in the 1990s and had to send out a clear message
that ``we have zero tolerance for illegal drugs.''
``Drugs are not an American value,'' he said.

House Republicans have said they want to twin anti-drug and
anti-teen smoking efforts, but most of the speakers at the rally
did not mention tobacco and Gingrich mentioned it only briefly.

House leaders say they still plan on incorporating an
anti-smoking initiative into the drug bills, although the
proposals unveiled Thursday did not deal with smoking.

REUTERS

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Task Force Relaunches War Against Drugs
(Version In Massachusetts' 'Standard-Times')

Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 00:21:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Mike Gogulski 
Subject: MN: US: Task force relaunches war against drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John Smith
Source: Standard-Times (MA)
Contact: YourView@S-T.com
Website: http://www.s-t.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Author: Jennifer Maddox, Scripps Howard News service

TASK FORCE RELAUNCHES WAR AGAINST DRUGS

WASHINGTON -- Upset with what they say has been five years of absent
leadership on the drug issue, House Republicans yesterday are announcing a
task force designed to "recommit" the nation to the war on drugs.

"We have the will to make it happen," said Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who
was designated chair of the task force by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich and his 32-member task force will kick off their effort in a "War
on Drugs Deployment Ceremony" on the Capitol steps yesterday afternoon.
With school groups, grass roots organizations and anti-drug coalitions
assembled around them, they will announce a strategy that includes 14 bills
aimed at reducing drug supply and demand both in and outside the country.
Each bill will target a specific area, from schools to highways to public
housing.

"We have the extraordinary heavy weight of an engaged leadership that is
prepared to completely focus on this in the House," said Rep. Porter Goss,
R-Fla., a task force member who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
"The Clinton administration is not going to do it. We're going to do it."

Such bravado traces back to the Kennedy administration in 1963, when the
president's Advisory Commission on Narcotic and Drug Abuse called for the
appointment of a special authority "to initiate immediately a more
aggressive action in the national interest."

In 1975, the Domestic Council on Drug Abuse Task Force "urgently
recommend(ed) that the federal government reaffirm its commitment to
combating drug abuse."

In 1988, The White House Conference for a Drug Free America issued a report
saying, "America is at war. We may lose this one ... We are in nothing less
than a fight for our national life, and we must commit ourselves to success."

Many other reports have been issued, groups formed and laws passed in an
effort to fight the so-called war on drugs. Despite such efforts over 35
years, the urgent rhetoric about drug abuse is the same, leading critics to
suggest the government has failed to fulfill its directives.

"Up until now, I find that, generally, the leaders of the federal
government have been unable to face the facts in regard to drugs," said
Arnold Trebach, a professor at American University who has studied drug
policy in the United States and other countries. "The science goes one way
and the policy goes the other way."

Studies show that drug treatment, rather than tougher sentencing measures,
is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and drug-related crime.
Treatment, however, makes for "soft" public policy.

"What's disappointing is that the momentum has never changed. There's been
no ability to step back and say, 'This didn't work,' " said Jonathan
Caulkins, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz
School of Public Policy. "It's very hard for legislators in general to step
back from tough incarceration politics."

In his studies at American University, Trebach said he's found that the
level of drug use in America is not at all tied to government policies.

"Drug use rises and falls totally independently from government
intervention," he said. "Its triggers are sudden, stylistic decisions by
millions of individuals. It comes and goes like the hoola-hoop."

Statistics suggest that, among youth, drugs are back in fashion. According
to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, fewer teens perceive drugs
such as marijuana, crack and cocaine as harmful, and increasing numbers of
them are using them at younger ages.

"Since serious measures of the drug problem began in the late '70s, a lot
of these indicators have never been worse," said John Walters, former
deputy director of the office. "The acceleration of use (among youth) has
never been more rapid."

Also troubling to some is the growing movement to legalize certain drugs
such as marijuana for medical purposes, adding to the perception that such
drugs are acceptable.

"There's never been quite as well-funded and quite as powerful a push for
legalization," Walters said. "Use, supply and public attitudes are quite
heavily moving in the wrong direction."

To that extent, Congress and the president can play a symbolic, if not
legislative, role, by raising general awareness, Caulkins said.

"The bully pulpit can play a role," he said. "Role models who shape our
children's views are more likely to send the message that drugs are bad if
they're quite aware of the problem."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Update On House Resolution 372, Notes On Republican Drug War News Conference
(An Excellent First Person Account Of The GOP Hatefest From Chuck Thomas
Of The Marijuana Policy Project In Washington, DC - Gingrich Vows
That 'Any Other Federal Spending Program Would Be Cut If Necessary
To Fund The New Drug War')

Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 16:26:59 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Marijuana Policy Project 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: update on H.Res. 372, notes on Republican drug war news conference
Organization: Marijuana Policy Project

Dear friends:

There has been no action on House Resolution 372, the anti-medicinal
marijuana resolution -- perhaps, at least in part, because of the flood
of letters from constituents and Cheryl Miller's recent civil
disobedience. Still, it is very possible that the House Republicans
will bring House Resolution 372 to the floor for a vote in the context
of debating and voting on the other drug war legislation described
below. If you have not already done so, please make sure you contact
your U.S. representative, asking him or her to vote against House
Resolution 372. (Please see http://www.mpp.org/la031398.html.)

***

[The following are MPP Director of Communications Chuck Thomas'
personal observations on Newt Gingrich's 4/30/98 news conference.]

I just returned from Newt Gingrich's news conference announcing the
Republicans' new drug war. It was disgusting.

During the past week, the media reported that Newt was looking into the
ideal "props" for the event. They were going to use a clock ticking off
some drug-related atrocities, but they couldn't come up with a good
number to use. (During Newt's speech he mentioned that there are
"20,000" annual deaths directly or indirectly caused by drugs.
According to my calculations, that's barely two per hour, which would
have made a boring clock.) This morning's _Washington Post_ reported
that they might use needles.

Instead, they used old faithful -- children. They spoke with about 100
children standing behind them.

The rhetoric was cruel and hate-filled, calling drug users and dealers
every nasty name in the book. More than 50 members of Congress -- most,
if not all, Republican -- surrounded the podium while Gingrich,
McCollum, Portman, Hastert, and a couple of others spoke. Celebrities
also spoke, including the Olympic gold medal hockey team woman (not the
snowboarder!), an actor from TV's Walker Texas Ranger who runs a
"cowboys'" anti-drug group, and astronaut "Buzz" Aldrin. The celebrities
basically gave feel-good, "just say no"-style pep talks without (much)
bashing of drug users.

The main theme is that the drug war can be won in four years with a
WWII-style battle plan. Gingrich said that as much money would be spent
as it will take to win. "Any other" federal spending program would be
cut if necessary to fund the new drug war. He said that it must be won
very quickly, or the public will get cynical and "the movement to
legalize drugs" will succeed.

The substance of the event consisted of a 12-point battle plan,
detailing the Republicans' priority legislation. Like the Contract With
America in '94, this plan was heavily influenced by polls and hired PR
firms.

*** The good news is that medicinal marijuana was not even mentioned.
Not a peep in any of the speeches, news releases, or priority
legislation. HOUSE RESOLUTION 372 WAS *NOT* INCLUDED! (If your desk is
made of wood, please knock on it.) My guess is that the pollsters and
PR firms advised Republicans to avoid the medicinal marijuana issue. As
we all know, every poll consistently finds strong support of medicinal
marijuana, and Cheryl Miller's recent civil disobedience (which was
covered in both major Capitol Hill publications) demonstrated that there
is a price to pay for bashing medicinal marijuana. I hope that they
will quietly let H.Res. 372 die, but please keep writing to your members
of Congress, just to be on the safe side.

The bad news is that there is a tremendous amount of extremely harmful
legislation on the agenda, all of which we can assume was supported by
polls and focus groups. Here's the full list:

DETERRING DEMAND
* Drug-Free America Blue Ribbon Campaign Resolution
* Drug-Free Congressional Leadership Resolution
* Drug-Free Communities Act
* Drug-Free Workplaces Act
* Drug-Free Youth Resolution (H.Res. 267)
* Drug-Free Student Loans Amendment (H.R. 6)

STOPPING SUPPLY
* Drug-Free Borders Act
* Drug-Free Hemisphere Act
* Life-In-Prison for Speed Trafficking Act

INCREASING ACCOUNTABILITY
* Drug Czar Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2610)
* Needle Ban-Plus Bill (H.R. 3717) [which passed this week]
* Drug-Free Money Laundering Act of 1998

I don't have time to go into the details of these bills, except to say
that they are generally very aggressive and punitive.

The goals are extremely unrealistic -- their strategy is bound to fail.
For example, McCollum said that supply will be reduced by 80% within
three years! WE MUST HOLD THEM TO THESE GOALS, AND MAKE SURE THAT THE
PUBLIC GETS THE MESSAGE WHEN THEY FAIL MISERABLY.

Other tidbits:

* The crowd was stacked with prohibition advocates. Gingrich got a
thundering round of applause when he boasted about the anti-needle
legislation.

* Civil disobedience would have stolen the show. Two or three medicinal
marijuana users could have EASILY stood up in front of Gingrich to
eat/smoke marijuana, tell him off, hold up posters and chant, etc. As we
know from Cheryl Miller's experience, they would unlikely serve any
prison time.

* The Democratic National Committee are cowards. They passed out a
sheet called, "Speaker Newt Gingrich: Ten Ways He Has Set Back America's
Fight Against Illegal Drugs." This included: "#5 Gingrich has yet to
institute a drug testing program for the House of Representatives,"
"#7 Gingrich's Republican Congress provided no money to drug test
teenage drivers," and, most offensively, "#8 Gingrich's Republican
Congress showed no leadership when medical marijuana propositions were
on state ballots." Ironically, the Republicans did not bash medicinal
marijuana at all today, but the Democrats did. DEMOCRATS SHOULD KNOW
BETTER! They are doing the wrong thing because they are afraid to look
soft. Shame!

* Finally, after the event I saw Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Vice-Chair Tom Hedrick walking down the street SMOKING A TOBACCO
CIGARETTE! I think their hypocrisy bothers me even more than their
hatred.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

New Book Available In June - 'Drug Hate And The Corruption
Of American Justice' (Review From Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Describes Work Of David Sadofsky Baggins, Associate Professor
Of Political Science At California State University At Hayward,
Who Says The Hatred Of 'Drugs' Has Led To A Fundamental Shift
In The Nation's Policies, Away From The Progressive Orientation
Dominating The Roosevelt Era Through The Sixties, And Towards
The Punitive Orientation That Emerged During The Nixon Presidency
And Continues To This Day)

Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 10:59:47 -0700 (PDT)
To: ndsn@ndsn.org
From: Ronald Chad Thevenot 
Subject: New Book Available in June
Drug Hate and the Corruption of American Justice
By David Sadofsky Baggins
Praeger Publishers. Westport, Conn. 1998. 200 pages
LC 97-32946. ISBN 0-275-95956-2. C5956 $49.95
Available 05/30/98 (Info. Updated 4/30/98)

** Description **

The hatred of drugs, according to the author, is the axis of politics that
has fundamentally shifted the nation's policy format--from the progressive
orientation that dominated from the time of Roosevelt to the Sixties, to the
punitive orientation that emerged during the Nixon presidency and continues
to this day. This triumph of the political use of drug hate is simultaneously
a disaster in policy consequences as it corrupts the criminal justice system,
exacerbates class inequality, drains public resources, and denies the public
their Constitutional heritage.

Sadofsky Baggins shows that the political success of the domestic war has
overwhelmed the policy failure in the nation's deliberations. The War on
Drugs is politically successful because it serves traditional racial
antagonisms, media need for theater, religious needs for piety and
denunciation of sinful pleasures, and maintains conservative coalition
politics by emphasizing punishment over progress toward social justice. This
book recognizes the need to reassess the War on Drugs as a necessary step
toward national healing and future policy development. Recent popular
movements and initiatives, as well as the failure of some politicians to
benefit from deploying drug hate rhetoric, are considered as the opening
of such an awakening.

Sadofsky Baggins treats the War on Drugs as the epic of politics and
civilization in our time. This book continues his efforts to explain how
well-meaning citizens and manipulative politicians and institutions construct
laws that miserably fail in their intended purpose and harm the nation in
significant unintended ways. This book is of interest to concerned citizens
as well as scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with legal,
drug, and political issues.

** Contents **

-- Preface
-- Drug Hate, Criminal Justice and Public Policy
-- Constitutional Limits on Police Authority and the War on Drugs
-- The Supreme Court, Constitutional Law and the War on Drugs
-- The Symbolic Importance of Drugs
-- Winners in the War on Drugs
-- The Passing of the Hate Age?
-- Selected Bibliography
-- Index

** Author **

DAVID SADOFSKY BAGGINS is Associate Professor of Political Science at
California State University at Hayward.

Place an Order

Greenwood Publishing Group, 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881
Tel: (203) 226-3571, E-mail to: webmaster@greenwood.com

Chad Thevenot
Managing Editor, National Drug Strategy Network
Operations and Research Manager,
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hemp BC And Cannabis Canada Raided . . . Yet Again
(Bulletin From 'Cannabis Canada' Says Police In Vancouver, British Columbia,
Apparently Had The Misguided Idea That Marc Emery Was Still The Owner)

From: creator@hempbc.com (Cannabis Canada)
To: cclist@hempbc.com
Subject: CC: Hemp BC and Cannabis Canada Raided... yet again
Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 10:11:04 -0700
Lines: 61
Sender: creator@hempbc.com

In yet another futile and senseless police raid, the Hemp BC storefront was
occupied by Vancouver Police today, April 30, after the store had been
closed, from about 7pm to 11pm.

About 25 officers emptied the store of bongs and pipes, and also seized
the store computer.

Police also occupied the Cannabis Canada Magazine production office, a few
blocks away on Water Street. They originally threatened to seize all of the
Cannabis Canada production computers, but in the end they only seized three
machines, with all of Cannabis Canada s financial records. Police also
seized all the pipes and bongs from the Cannabis Canada mail-order
stockroom.

No arrests were made, and no charges have been laid in relation to the raid
and seizure.

The police apparently had the misguided idea that Marc Emery was still the
owner of Hemp BC, which he is not. They seemed genuinely surprised that
Emery was no longer the owner.

A crowd of over 50 gathered in front of the Hemp BC store in protest of the
police raid. The crowd smoked joints and calmly but loudly told the police
they were misguided and that they should just go home.

Police were drawn from the surrounding area to assist in hanging around and
watching the crowd, leaving the surrounding neighbourhood vulnerable to
real crimes.

Marc Emery was not able to go to the Hemp BC storefront, as he is still
banned from that block as a result of being accused of giving a half gram
of hash to an American tourist.

The police raid was ostensibly to find information and evidence backing up
their charges against Marc Emery. The police called a Justice of the Peace
and had an additional warrant faxed to the office to justify their seizure
of the bongs.

The Cannabis Canada office is located on the fifth floor of our building.
The building elevator is turned off after hours, so the cops had to hike up
and down five long flights of stairs, carrying out boxes of bongs and big
computer monitors.

Hemp BC will be open for business tomorrow, and production of Cannabis
Canada magazine will continue. We will not let this police harassment deter
us from our ultimate goal. With each raid they expose the war on drugs as
the morally corrupt beast that it is. It s painful and unpleasant for us
all, but regular police raids are apparently a necessary price to pay for
telling the truth about our forbidden love affair with marijuana.

Dana Larsen (muggles@hempbc.com)
Editor, CANNABIS CANADA MAGAZINE, www.cannabiscanada.com
Suite 504 - 21 Water Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1A1
tel (604) 669-9069; fax (604) 669-9038

Are you outraged by these raids? Express your anger.

vpd@city.vancouver.bc.ca (Vancouver City Police Dept.)
provedpg@pacpress.southam.ca (Vancouver Province Newspaper)
sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca (Vancouver Sun Newspaper)

***

CClist, the electronic news and information service of CANNABIS CANADA,
"Canada's National Magazine of Marijuana & Hemp"

***

Subscribe to Cannabis Canada! Call 1-800-330-HEMP for info.
Write to: Suite 504, 21 Water St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1A1
Visit Cannabis Canada online at http://www.cannabiscanada.com/

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Illegal Drug Fight Is Costly And Ineffective (Columnist Jay Bryan
Of 'The Montreal Gazette' Says Canada's Policy Of Tolerating Drugs
Like Alcohol And Nicotine While Imposing Draconian Penalties
On Those Who Possess Other Drugs Is So Obviously Counterproductive,
So Costly And So Offensive To A Liberal Democracy's Concept
Of Civil Liberties That It Is A Monument To The Power Of Myth
Over Rational Thought)

Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 16:15:21 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar 
Subject: MN: Canada: Column: Illegal-Drug Fight Is Costly And Ineffective
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Pelli Moulante
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 1998
Source: Montreal Gazette (Montreal Quebec Canada)
Contact: letters@thegazette.southam.ca
Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Author: Jay Bryan, The Gazette

ILLEGAL-DRUG FIGHT IS COSTLY AND INEFFECTIVE

The need to decriminalize Canada's costly and ineffective campaign against
illegal drugs is one of the few areas of social policy where you find
everybody from soft-hearted social activists to free-market capitalists
sharing the same arguments, and many of the same solutions.

The reason isn't hard to find: Canada's policy of tolerating drugs like
alcohol and nicotine while imposing draconian penalties on those who
possess other drugs is so obviously counterproductive, so costly and so
offensive to a liberal democracy's concept of civil liberties that it is a
monument to the power of myth over rational thought. What's more, it's
darned expensive.

Perhaps the most complete estimate of the cost to Canada's economy of
illegal drugs comes from Eric Single, a professor of public health at the
University of Toronto.

At a recent conference on Canada's urban drug problem, Single estimated
that as of 1992, it cost about $400 million a year to enforce drug laws,
including policing, court costs and prison costs. Add in another $823
million in lost economic productivity resulting from illness and premature
death of illegal drug users, $88 million for health care and smaller
amounts for research, prevention and other related activities and the total
cost to the economy each year is $1.4 billion.

Now it's true that taken alone, these figures don't add up to an indictment
of Canada's prohibitionist approach to drugs. After all, it might be said
that without the current drug laws, there would be still more drug use and
the cost to society would be still higher.

One might even find some support for this position by looking at the tragic
balance sheet of Canada's most popular legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco,
which together cost the country an estimated $18.4 billion each year,
mostly for illness, premature death and law-enforcement.

But isn't it strange, then, that nobody is calling for alcohol and tobacco
to be prohibited. This experiment has already been tried with alcohol in
the U.S. and proved to be a terrible failure, turning otherwise law-abiding
citizens into criminals and spawning widespread violence and contempt for
the law.

That's why most countries settle for a policy of regulating alcohol and
tobacco, educating youths about their dangers and cracking down hard on
drug users who might harm others (such as those who drink and drive.) This
approach might not be ideal, but it seems to minimize the hurtful impact of
drug use better than prohibition, which not only converts recreational drug
users into felons but seems to be remarkably ineffective at discouraging
consumption.

Political scientist Patrick Basham of the Fraser Institute, who organized
the conference on Canada's drug problem, notes that despite today's harsh
penalties for illegal drug use, annual spending on such drugs is estimated
by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to be nearly $10 billion. That figure
is rising, Basham says, and the impact of drug use is widespread, with 3
million Canadian families estimated to have at least one member who uses
illegal drugs.

So what is to be done? Probably the most important step our politicians
need to take is to understand that it is hypocritical and counterproductive
to legislate morality. It may be that drug users are fools, and maybe
they're immoral, but as long as it is legal to drink and smoke yourself to
death, it makes no sense to imprison some of our immoral fools and not
others. It does make sense, however, to reduce the harm done by drug users
to society and to themselves. That's what we already do with legal drugs,
and that's the approach that some countries, including the Netherlands and
Switzerland, are trying out on illegal drugs.

Such an approach doesn't legalize drugs, but shifts the focus of drug
policy - at least as far as users are concerned - from punishment to
control.

Ueli Minder, an official in Switzerland's federal office of public health,
told the Fraser Institute conference that Swiss authorities supplement
their educational and law-enforcement efforts by providing about 14,000
drug addicts with methadone, a synthetic narcotic, and another 800 with
controlled quantities of pure heroin.

Clearly, this policy hasn't ended drug addiction, but it doesn't seem to
have worsened the problem either. Drug use among youths has stopped
increasing in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the sickness and crime related to addiction is down. Deaths
related to drug use plunged to 241 last year from 419 five years earlier,
while both AIDS and hepatitis infections are "noticeably reduced."

Better still, even the hard-core addicts receiving heroin therapy have done
well: homelessness has fallen to one per cent from 12 per cent,
unemployment was cut to 20 per cent from 44 per cent and about one-fifth
have dropped heroin entirely to go on a less-drastic form of treatment.

Really, the only difficulty with such a policy is that it requires some
humility from politicians, which might mean that it will be a long time
before its obvious logic is accepted in Canada.

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Police Snuff Out Major Pot Ring ('Canadian Press' Item
In The Kitchener-Waterloo 'Record')

From: "Starr" 
To: "mattalk" 
Subject: Police snuff out major pot ring
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:12:49 -0400
Source: The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo)
recordletters@southam.ca
Date: April 30, 1998

POLICE SNUFF OUT MAJOR POT RING

Police say they've smoked out a major pot importing ring in Toronto.

"This is a pretty big seizure," said Det.Sgt. Doug Rumley, of Peel Regional
Police. "It will make a significant impact on the local supply."

Drugs, cash, cars and a loaded semi-automatic handgun were seized after a
three month investigation by police.

Facing various conspiracy and drug-related charges are Mississauga
residents Micheal Annis, 24, Kien Quoc, 23, Richard Croke, 45, Sasho
Stojanoski, 22, and Gary de Souza, 24.


-Canadian Press-

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From Danny Tungate, Independent Legalise Cannabis Candidate
For Catton Grove, Norwich, UK (British Candidate Supports Full Legalisation)

To: ts@timewarp.co.uk
From: webbooks@paston.co.uk (CLCIA)
Subject: From Danny Tungate, Independent Legalise Cannabis Candidate
for Catton Grove, Norwich, UK
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 12:13:12 +0100

Danny Tungate
21 Saffron Square
Norwich
Norfolk
NR3 3PU
England

Tel : 01603 413753

For Publication

Sirs,

I am standing for election on the issue of legalising cannabis because I
believe it is one which effects all of our lives in ways which not all of us
may be aware of. As well as being smoked and eaten as a recreational
substance, the cannabis plant has many more important uses. If cannabis is
fully legalised it will allow us to explore these uses and replace many of
today's polluting synthetic alternatives, which would benefit the
environment and health. The 'single issue' of cannabis has implications for
civil rights, law and order, health, education, the environment, transport
and employment.

Until the turn of the century cannabis, also called hemp - it is the same
plant - was used to produce most of the world's paper (including Bibles,
maps and newspapers), rope, canvas, sails, oils for paints and lacquers.
The therapeutic value of cannabis has been known since the days of the
Ancient Chinese and Egyptians. It's use as a source of fuel (petrol, gas,
electricity) was recognised by Henry Ford when he made his first Model T
(much of the bodywork was also made out of cannabis).

The laws which ban cannabis have suspiciously put an end to most of that in
1928. Since then huge companies have polluted the world and profited at our
expense, producing nylon, plastic, diesel, petrol, nuclear fuels, wood pulp
and synthetic drugs and medicines.

The real costs of prohibition are the BILLIONS of pounds of tax-payers money
spent trying to police an unenforceable law, and the millions of UK citizens
alienated and in fear of arrest and prosecution for the so-called offence of
cannabis use in the privacy of their own homes - crimes with neither victims
nor malice. We all pay this price for an unjustifiable law. The
legalisation of cannabis has been largely ignored by most politicians,
despite recent media attention.

Legalisation is supported by some Judges, Police, Doctors, Psychiatrists,
Clergy, businesspersons, press, teachers, scientists and millions of people.
Cannabis is an issue which effects us all and this election will give YOU a
chance to express your support.

If I am elected to this office I will fight for the good of the community,
based upon what you the voters want, and the principles of human rights to
health , education, privacy and freedom of choice.

Cannabis can be made into: trousers and jeans, shirts and coats, shoes and
hats, belts and purses, furniture, fuel, paper, rope, canvas, paint,
lacquers. Its seed can be eaten raw or cooked into burgers, cakes,
porridge, pasta, pancakes. It can be used to make cosmetics, shampoo,
massage oils, cleaners and lotions. It is therapeutically valuable in
treating cases of MS, AIDS, depression, insomnia, loss of appetite,
glaucoma, excema, psoriasis, cramps, muscle spasms , spasticity, migraine,
asthma, back pain, rheumatism. That is what the law is
stopping you from having.

Yours sincerely,

Danny Tungate

Election Agent : Mick Pryce, 13 Ayler Tower, Norwich, Norfolk, UK.

***

The drugtext press list.
News on substance use related issues, drugs and drug policy
webmaster@drugtext.nl

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Less Jobs Makes For More Junkies (Translation Of An Article
In Sweden's 'Svenska Dagbladet' Wherein Swedish Criminologist Leif Lenke
Tells His Isolated And Insular Countrymen That A Repressive Policy
May Not Be The Best Response To Drug Abuse)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 20:15:08 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Sweden: Less Jobs Makes For More Junkies
Newshawk: Olafur Brentmar 
Pubdate: 30 Apr 1998
Source: Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)
Contact: brevred@svd.se
Website: http://www.svd.se/svd/ettan/dagens/index.html
Translation: John Yates 
Note: A bit out of date, but translations do take there time.

LESS JOBS MAKES FOR MORE JUNKIES

Swedish drug policy debaters should be careful when they brag. A strict
narcotics policy does not necessarily lead to less drug abuse, says Leif
Lenke - lecturer in criminology.

Mass unemployment and geographical location at least equally important in
explaining why some European countries have worse narcotics problems than
others. This conclusion has been reached by criminologists Leif Lenke and
Borje Olsson. Commissioned by the Council of Europe, they have made a study
of the relationship between prevalence of narcotics and narcotics policy in
Europe.

"It is widely accepted in Sweden that a repressive policy is the only thing
which properly tackles drug abuse. We have shown that other factors have
much more significance" says Leif Lenke of Stockholm University.

Unemployment And Heroin

The researchers have, amongst other things, compared the number of known
heroin abusers in 14 countries with the employment situation in each
respective country. The comparison shows a definite statistical relationship
between high unemployment in, for example, Italy, Holland and Great Britain
at the beginning of the 1980's and greatly increased heroin abuse.
Countries like Sweden, with low unemployment, were better equipped to
withstand the the influx of heroin. The other risk factor that influences
drug abuse is geographic location, say the researchers. Using police
statistics of heroin seizures and drug availability in each European
country, it is possible to grade them according to vulnerability.

The greatest influx affected Italy, France, Holland, Spain and Great
Britain. After those come Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The
least affected were Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland and Portugal.

Leif Lenke advocates a restrictive alcohol and narcotics policy in Sweden
and Europe. But he is critical of the smug attitude that some Swedish drug
policy debaters show both at home and abroad. "I don't like that sort of
flag waving. We should not boast too much about Swedish success.

High Swedish Mortality.

For example, Sweden has had noticeable difficulties in coping with heroin
problems, says Leif Lenke. We have comparatively few heroin abusers, around
2000 - 3000. But the mortality rate of Stockholm's heroin addicts is the
highest in Europe. Countries that have adopted methadone treatment and harm
reduction policies have shown better results.

In the future we must be watchful of youth unemployment says Leif Lenke. If
it continues to rise, the risk of widespread narcotics abuse will
increase. The German city of Hamburg had a policy of strict narcotics
control of the Scandinavian model in the 1980's. In 5 years, from 1986 to
1991, the number of heroin abusers rose from 2000 to 8000 despite a 10 fold
increase in arrests. What caused the narcotics explosion? According to
Leif Lenke it was the rapid rise in unemployment together with a sudden
access to cheap heroin -

"If we should be confronted with a similar situation here in Sweden and keep
it under control, only then can we turn to the rest of Europe and tell them
how clever we are."

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United Nations (List Subscriber Asks You To Please Sign An Online Statement
To The UN Assembly)

Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 19:06:28 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "mario lap" 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: un

hello

please sign statement to the UN assembly found at
http://www.drugtext.org/statement/

ciao,
mario




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[End]