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

NORML Weekly News (Kentucky Farmers File First Ever Federal Lawsuit To End
Hemp Prohibition; Judge Orders Closure Of Six California Medical Marijuana
Providers - Intent Of Proposition 215 In No Way Challenged By Ruling)

From: NORMLFNDTN (NORMLFNDTN@aol.com)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 13:05:56 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 5/15/98 (II)

NORML Foundation's Weekly Press Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
Internet: www.norml.org

May 15, 1998

***

Kentucky Farmers File First Ever Federal Lawsuit To End Hemp Prohibition

May 15, 1998, Lexington, KY: A coalition of Kentucky farmers brought
suit today against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S.
Department of Justice asserting that Congress never intended to ban
industrial hemp. The suit, the first of its kind filed in a federal
court, asks a judge to determine whether farmers can use their land to
grow and produce hemp for commercial and industrial purposes.

"Kentucky farmers deserve the same economic opportunity that Canadian
farmers have been given to explore the development of industrial hemp
industries," said Andrew Graves, president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative Association. "We should be allowed to utilize industrial
hemp to stimulate and create the much needed economic development for our
rural farming communities."

The plaintiff's attorney, NORML Legal Committee member Michael Kennedy
of New York, contends that the DEA has violated the fundamental
constitutional doctrine of separation of powers by ignoring the will of
Congress, first articulated during the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act
of 1937, which specifically exempted the production of hemp prohibition.

"The time has come for a federal court to set the record straight:
Congress intended to prohibit marijuana, not hemp. For centuries, hemp
has been and will in the future be a valuable and essential part of
Kentucky agriculture."

Presently, farmers in over 30 countries - including Canada, France,
England, Germany, Japan, and Australia - grow hemp for industrial
purposes. Additionally, both the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Taxes and Tariffs (GATT) recognize
the crop as a valid agricultural plant.

For more information, please contact either Michael Kennedy @ (212)
235-4500 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Judge Orders Closure Of Six California Medical Marijuana Providers
Intent of Prop. 215 In No Way Challenged By Ruling

May 15, 1998, San Francisco, CA: U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer
complied yesterday with the federal government's request to temporarily
enjoin the operations of six California medical marijuana dispensaries
named in a civil lawsuit. Breyer found that the defendant's conduct
"likely" violates the Controlled Substances Act and concluded that the
Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution requires the court to
order the clubs from continuing to violate the federal statute.

The preliminary injunction prohibits the distribution of medical
marijuana to seriously ill patients by the San Francisco Cannabis
Cultivators Club, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, San Francisco
Flower Therapy, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the Santa Cruz
Buyers' Club, and the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club. The clubs compliance
with the order may force as many as 10,000 clients to find alternate
sources for medical marijuana. Any club continuing to operate in
defiance of the order could face contempt of court charges.

"This decision sets the stage for a showdown between federal bureaucrats
and the people of California who are attempting to meet the legitimate
medical needs of patients under Prop. 215," said California NORML
Coordinator Dale Gieringer. "No matter what the courts say, Californians
will continue to work to ensure that medical marijuana remains available
to patients who need it."

The federal Controlled Substances Act forbids the distribution of a
Schedule I controlled substance - including marijuana - to any patient
outside of a strictly controlled research project approved by the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA). Breyer noted that the passage of
California's medical marijuana statute fails to alter the authority of
the federal law. However, Breyer specified that his ruling in no way
challenges the authority of California's Proposition 215 to exempt
medical marijuana patients from the state's drug laws.

"Because of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, the
only issue before the Court is whether the defendant's conduct violates
federal law," Breyer wrote. "The Court concludes that ... it is likely
that it does.

"Once again, however, the Court must caution as to what this decision
does not do. The Court has not declared Proposition 215
unconstitutional. Nor has it enjoined the possession of marijuana by a
seriously ill patient for the patient's personal medical use upon a
physician's recommendation. Nor has the Court foreclosed the possibility
of a medical necessity or constitutional defense in any proceeding in
which it alleged a defendant has violated the injunction issued herein."

Breyer rejected defendants contention that Congress lacks the authority
to regulate the conduct of state medical marijuana dispensaries because
they only engage in intrastate commerce. He opined that although the
defendant's conduct may not have had any effect on interstate commerce,
"it is not true that the ... nonprofit distribution of medical marijuana
necessarily does not affect interstate commerce."

Breyer also rejected defendants assertion that temporarily closing the
six clubs would infringe upon a class of patients "fundamental right to
be free from unnecessary pain, to receive palliative treatment for a
painful medical condition, to care for oneself, and to preserve one's own
life." While Breyer did not deny that such a right may exist, he held
that defendants failed to establish that the right to such treatment is
"so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked
as fundamental."

Responding to Breyer's decision, medical dispensaries in the Bay Area
vowed to violate the injunction and continue providing marijuana to those
patients in need.

"We will do everything in our power to stay open," said Jeff Jones,
director of the 1,300 member Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. "The
alternative that the government is giving [patients] is the street;
that's not adequate."

Jones and others who defy the order will likely face a jury trial where
defendants would have the ability to raise the defense of medical
necessity. Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights,
said that the clubs stand a better chance before a panel of their peers.

"It has been proved time and time again that the prohibition of
marijuana for medical use is a wildly unpopular policy," he said. "In
the court of public opinion, the federal government is already in a
losing position. If medical marijuana patient advocates are given their
day in court, ... the government could - and should - lose big."

Oakland Buyers Club defense attorney Robert Raich agreed. "We look
forward to being vindicated by a jury of Californians who recognize the
medical value of marijuana," he said.

Wednesday's ruling is narrow in scope and pertains only to the
distribution and manufacture of marijuana by the six defendants. The
ruling does not apply to activities of other state medical marijuana
dispensaries.

NORML Legal Committee member William Panzer, who represents two of the
clubs named in the suit, said that this issue is far from over. "We will
put the government on trial and show that it has acted arbitrarily and
capriciously," he said.

For more information, please contact either William Panzer of The NORML
Legal Committee @ (510) 834-1892 or attorney Robert Raich @ (510)
338-0700. California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer may be reached @
(415) 563-5858.

				- END -

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Oregonians For Medical Rights Web Site
(Sponsors Of The Oregon Medical Marijuana Initiative Are Now Online)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 21:29:37 -0700
From: Rick Bayer (ricbayer@teleport.com)

Subject: Oregonians for Medical Rights Website/
Oregon Medical Marijuana Act listing

Dear friends and supporters

Just finished Oregonians for Medical Rights website today with the complete
copy of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act., etc. Please pass along the URL
www.teleport.com/~omr. Any comments, corrections, etc. are welcome.

As far as I know, this is the first complete listing on the web of two
important medical articles on the value of inhaled marijuana and THC in the
papers by Vinciguerra, et al. and Chang et al. respectively. Look under the
medical journal articles in the bibliography. If you find them elsewhere,
maybe you shouldn't tell me (yes, please do) since getting the tables
correct, etc. was a lot of work for this minor league webmaster (web
"learner" is more like it).

Please forward this website URL to anyone interested in patient advocacy and
medical marijuana. Thanks.

Rick Bayer, MD
6800 SW Canyon Drive
Portland, OR 97225
503-292-1035 (voice)
503-297-0754 (fax)
ricbayer@teleport.com

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Moved For PMs ('Associated Press' Says Proposals To Privatize Oregon Prisons
Are Expected To Draw Serious Consideration From The 1999 Legislature,
Which Convenes In January)

Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
05/15/98 5:11 PM Eastern

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Private prisons could be 10 percent cheaper
to run than state-run lockups, but a poorly run facility could suck
money by getting mired in expensive lawsuits, a national expert
told a legislative panel.

The Senate Interim Committee on Judiciary is looking into the
pros and cons of privatizing at least one Oregon prison.

"Assume the worst, and be prepared to handle the worst," warned
James Austin, executive vice president of the National Council on
Crime and Delinquency.

The number of private prisons across the country is growing as
convict populations swell because of harsher sentencing laws.
During the past decade, the number of jailed Americans more than
doubled to 1.8 million.

For-profit prisons hold an estimated 95,000 prisoners, mostly in
the United States, England, Australia and Puerto Rico.

But there have been problems.

South Carolina pulled the plug on a privately run juvenile
detention center last year amid allegations of abusive treatment of
offenders.

A federal court recently blocked admissions to a private prison in
Ohio after two inmate homicides sparked a flurry of criminal
charges and civil lawsuits.

Two years ago, 240 Oregon sex offenders were returned from a
private prison in Texas after two inmates escaped, prompting an
outcry from Taxes residents.

However, Austin said, many private prisons operate without
significant problems. "Each one can be shaped in a negative way
or a positive way," he said. "It all depends on how they're
managed."

Some states protect themselves with opt-out clauses in their
contracts with private prison operators. If state officials are
unhappy with the way the prison is being run, they can cancel the
arrangement.

Austin said private prisons generally cut costs by employing fewer
staff than state-run prisons. They also provide leaner fringe
benefits, typically by replacing guaranteed pensions with a cheaper
stock-ownership plan.

"If you have a rich fringe-benefit package in your state, you'll save
money," Austin said.

In Oregon, proposals to privatize are expected to draw serious
consideration from the 1999 Legislature, which convenes in
January.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.

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Judge Tells Medical Marijuana Clubs They're Going Down
('Oakland Tribune' Version)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:55:57 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Tells Medical Marijuana Clubs They're Going Down
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Source: Oakland Tribune
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Monica Gyulai, staff writer

JUDGE TELLS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CLUBS THEY'RE GOING DOWN

A federal judge Thursday told a half-dozen Northern California medical
marijuana clubs he plans to shut them down for violating federal drug laws.

The federal government and club owners have until Monday to respond to the
proposed order by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, but both parties
anticipated the preliminary injunction would be signed. Each side balled
the decision as a victory in their battle over the 1996 state Initiative
that legalized marijuana for the seriously ill.

"Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear - the
distribution or cultivation of marijuana is unlawful," U.S. Attorney
Michael Yamaguchi said. De said all medical mari-juana clubs in the state
should close voluntarily in light of the decision.

Club owners have different plans. By staying open, operators will risk
contempt or criminal charges that would pave the way for a jury trial.

"Judge Breyer has found a way to let a jury of Californians decide what
they think is appro-priate," said Oakland attorney Robert Raich, who
represents the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. "We know Californians
recognize cannabis as medicine. We look forward to bringing this case
before Northern Californians, and we look forward to vindication."

Breyer could issue the injunction as early as Tuesday. The federal
government then would have to decide whether to go after clubs in Oakland,
Ukiah, Santa Cruz, Mann County and two in San Francisco. Although more than
30 medical marijuana clubs may be in the state, only six were named in the
lawsuit.

"We plan on staying open until they take us away," said Jeff Jones,
executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.

In November 1996, 56 percent of state voters approved Proposition 215,
making it legal under California law for seriously ill patients and their
primary care givers to possess and cultivate marijuana.

But federal, state and local officials and medical marijuana advocates have
battled over the specifics of the initiative and whether it should be
defended or discarded.

Breyer's decision responded to a lawsuit filed by the federal government in
January charging that six Northern California cannabis clubs violate the
federal Controlled Substances Act. Breyer wrote in his 27-page decision
that "there is a strong likelihood" Prop. 215 violates federal law.

He ruled that state law legalizing medical marijuana does not override the
federal ban.

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

Judge Says Six Pot Clubs Must Close ('San Jose Mercury News' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:15:05 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Says 6 Pot Clubs Must Close
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, 15 May 1998
Author: Howard Mintz - Mercury News Staff Writer

JUDGE SAYS 6 POT CLUBS MUST CLOSE

Proposition 215: Federal law supersedes state statute, ruling states.

A San Francisco federal judge on Thursday nudged the state's medicinal
marijuana clubs closer to extinction, siding with the U.S. Justice
Department's argument that six Northern California operations must close
because they are violating federal drug laws.

In a blow to voter-approved Proposition 215, U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer issued a preliminary injunction that essentially forces the clubs to
cease dispensing medicinal marijuana or face the prospect of a crackdown by
federal law enforcement officials. Breyer concluded in his 27-page ruling
that federal drug laws trump the clubs' right to operate under Proposition
215, which legalized pot for medical use.

``A state law which purports to legalize the distribution of marijuana for
any purpose, even a laudable one, nonetheless directly conflicts with
federal law,'' the judge wrote. ``It does not exempt distribution of
marijuana to seriously ill persons for their personal medical use.''

Breyer's ruling is limited and does not invalidate Proposition 215. But it
spells trouble for the national movement to legalize medicinal marijuana.
There are efforts in at least six states to put similar measures on this
fall's ballot, all of which risk legal challenge from the Clinton
administration.

Breyer tailored his ruling in such a way that the clubs and their attorneys
were predicting another showdown with the Justice Department over the
medicinal pot law.

Among other things, the judge did not foreclose the possibility of the
clubs presenting some of their arguments to a jury. The clubs could thus
provoke a showdown simply by refusing to comply with Breyer's injunction, a
move that would lead to contempt proceedings.

Pro-215 forces said Thursday that they'd defy the injunction and expose
themselves to contempt charges to take their arguments to a jury.

``This case is going to go on,'' said Oakland attorney William Panzer, who
represents the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and clubs in Southern
California. ``At least some of them will stay open. It's an opportunity to
put the government on trial and show it is acting arbitrarily.''

Justice Department officials had little to say about the judge's ruling,
other than to warn all marijuana dispensaries in the state to take notice
of the court's conclusions.

``Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear,'' said San
Francisco U.S. attorney Michael Yamaguchi. ``The distribution or
cultivation of marijuana is unlawful. I call on all of the marijuana
distribution clubs in California to take cognizance of this order and
voluntarily shut down.''

The Justice Department sued six clubs earlier this year, arguing
Proposition 215 is superseded by federal law. The suit named two clubs in
San Francisco, including the now-defunct club owned by Proposition 215
co-author Dennis Peron, and clubs in Santa Cruz, Oakland, Marin County and
Ukiah.

While the federal case has been pending, state Attorney General Dan Lungren
succeeded in shutting down Peron's Cannabis Cultivators Club in a separate
state court lawsuit. Peron's club has been replaced by the Cannabis Healing
Center, which for now is not affected by Breyer's ruling.

The Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers Club, one of the targets of the federal
suit, also has closed on its own in recent months. The Santa Clara County
Medical Cannabis Center, which closed in San Jose this month because of the
arrest of owner Peter Baez, was never a defendant in the federal case.

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

Judge Will Close Clubs For Medical Marijuana
('Orange County Register' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:14:56 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Will Close Clubs For Medical Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

JUDGE WILL CLOSE CLUBS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A federal judge in San Francisco struck a possibly fatal blow to
medical-marijuana clubs Thursday, saying he would order closure of six
Northern California clubs for violating federal laws against distributing
drugs.

Proposition 215, the November 1996 initiative that legalized medical
marijuana under California law, did not and could not override the federal
ban on marijuana, said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.

He rejected the clubs' argument that they were entitled to furnish the drug
because their customers, many of whom suffer from AIDS or cancer, cannot
survive without marijuana to ease the pain and side effects of therapy.

Nevertheless, San Francisco's largest medical marijuana club, now called
the Cannabis Healing Center, said it would defy the order, risk a
contempt-of-court charge, and offer a "medical necessity" defense when
brought to trial.

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The Peron For Governor Campaign Presents A 'Get Out The Vote' Rally
(The Former Director Of The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club
Plans A Benefit There For His Gubernatorial Campaign Next Saturday, May 23)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 20:04:30 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: HSLotsof 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Peron for Gov. CA

womack@java.coffeenet.net (hal womack)
Date: Fri, May 15, 1998 02:12 EDT
Message-id: <6jgmdb$41q@java.coffeenet.net>

Peron for Governor Campaign
1444 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 621-3986 Fax (415) 621-0604
email: cbc@marijuana.org

***

For Immediate Release May 11, 1998

Who: The Peron for Governor Campaign Presents

What: A "Get Out the Vote" Rally featuring Gary Duncans Quicksilver
(founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service) and Linda Imperial &
Friends.

Where: At the San Francisco Cannabis Healing Center at 1444 Market Street
(near Van Ness)

When: Saturday, May 23rd, from 7:00 p.m.10:00 p.m.

There will be a cameo performance by David Nash. Invited guests will include
medical marijuana pioneer, Brownie Mary, Margo St. James, founder of
C.O.Y.O.T.E., and David Frieberg, former member of the Jefferson Airplane.

Plus, there will be a Techno Party on the Third Floor, featuring San
Franciscos hottest underground DJs.

Refreshments Food Public Invited

Suggested Donation: $5.00

For Further Information, Call (415) 621- 3986

"This candidacy is about giving hope for the future, about empowerment of
those people who have given up on voting in the past, about bringing back
compassionate leadership in our state. Its about who we are as a people and
where we are going as a nation."

--Dennis Peron

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

Pot Clubs Vow To Defy Judge's Order
(According To 'The San Francisco Examiner,'
Robert Raich, An Attorney For The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative,
Said Judge Breyer's Decision On Thursday Opened Up A Variety
Of Legal Avenues To Pursue In Defense Of
The Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:44:26 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Pot Clubs Vow To Defy Judge's Order
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Ray Delgado, Examiner Staff

POT CLUBS VOW TO DEFY JUDGE'S ORDER

Citing federal laws, court is demanding they stop giving out medical marijuana

Another crushing blow for proponents of medical marijuana, another defiant
pledge to keep going.

But keeping the doors open to four pot clubs across Northern California
isn't going to be so easy in the wake of the strongest legal setback yet
delivered by a federal judge.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with the federal
government's argument that the Cannabis Healing Center and three other clubs
in Northern California are violating federal drug laws and he ordered the
clubs shut down.

The preliminary injunction goes into effect once Breyer reviews arguments
from both parties and signs the injunction, which could occur as early as
Monday afternoon. What happens after that will be up to the clubs.

"It's the saddest day for medical marijuana that I can envisage," said Tony
Serra, an attorney for local club founder Dennis Peron. "I believe Judge
Breyer's decision is morally bankrupt."

Several of the clubs, including the S.F. operation, have vowed to defy the
injunction and risk a raid by federal marshals if Breyer then holds them in
contempt and orders them forcibly shut down.

But Breyer could also allow the clubs to remain open while ordering a
contempt hearing. That trial would allow the defense to present a number of
legal challenges that could keep the clubs open.

"We're allowed to argue the medical necessity defense if we break the
injunction, which we plan to do," said Peron, who predicted that his act of
defiance would be followed by undercover federal marshals trying to purchase
marijuana with a doctor's note next week.

Breyer's ruling expressly avoided deciding on the legality of a sick person
possessing pot for medical use or the possibility that local governments
might take over the distribution of medical marijuana, an idea floated by
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. California's Proposition
215, passed by voters in 1996, legalized the cultivation and medical use of
marijuana by patients with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and a variety of other
illnesses.

The Justice Department filed civil suits in January seeking to halt
operations of six clubs: Peron's Cannabis Cultivators Club and Flower
Therapy Medical Marijuana Club in San Francisco, and similar operations in
Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ukiah and Fairfax. The Flower Therapy and Santa Cruz
clubs have since closed and the Cannabis Cultivators Club renamed itself the
Cannabis Healing Center.

The other 11 clubs in the state, including major ones in Los Angeles and San
Jose, were not named in the suits but could now become targets.

U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi hailed Breyer's decision and asked the clubs
to close down voluntarily.

"Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear - the distribution
or cultivation of marijuana is unlawful," Yamaguchi said. "I call on all of
the marijuana distribution clubs in California to take cognizance of this
order and voluntarily shut down."

Also praising the decision was state Attorney General Dan Lungren, a leader
in the effort to shut the clubs down through legal challenges and
enforcement efforts soon after they opened.

"We're pleased by the court's decision," said Matt Ross, spokesman for
Lungren's office. "It's consistent with what we have always held, which is
that cannabis buyers' clubs are not allowed under state or federal law."

Ross said the attorney general's office would continue to fight in state
Superior Court for a preliminary injunction to close down the Cannabis
Healing Center.

Organizers at three of the four cannabis clubs mentioned in the decision
vowed to defy the order while the director of the fourth one, the Ukiah
Cannabis Buyer's Club, said he was still weighing the risks.

"We're looking at alternatives and seeing what we can do," said Marvin
Lehrman, director of the Ukiah club, which treats 200 patients regularly.
"It's a daily feeling we have that we're facing down the federal government
and they can come at any moment. I see them as being heavy-handed and
mean-spirited, but I'm not afraid of them."

Oakland Cannabis Club Executive Director Jeff Jones said he would defy the
order and was awaiting his day in court.

"What we're doing here is a necessity to patients," Jones said. "Because of
Prop. 215, we feel that what we're doing here is within the law."

Robert Raich, attorney for the Oakland club, said the judge's decision
opened up a variety of legal avenues to pursue in defense of the clubs, most
notably arguing that marijuana is a medical necessity for sick patients and
that citizens have constitutional rights to be free from pain and to dictate
their own medical treatment.

Those arguments would be heard before a jury and must be either accepted or
rejected unanimously, a chance Peron is willing to take.

"We believe we can defend ourselves," Peron said. "If we do so successfully,
we'll bring this issue into the national arena. We're going to have our day
in court."

(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner

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

Trial Hinges On Pot's Purpose ('Sacramento Bee'
Describes The Medical Marijuana Trial By Jury Of Placer County, California
Defendant David Dale Black - Judge J. Richard Couzens Ruled The Defendant
Could Not Invoke Proposition 215 As A Defense Because He Did Not Seek
Or Obtain A Doctor's Recommendation To Use Marijuana Until Three Months
After His Arrest, Even Though He Has Tourette's Syndrome)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:37:02 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Trial Hinges on Pot's Purpose
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@mapinc.org)
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Wayne Wilson - Bee Staff Writer

TRIAL HINGES ON POT'S PURPOSE

Man says it was for medical treatment; DA argues it was for sale

He says he smokes marijuana to relieve a stutter that has afflicted his
speech for 41 of his 49 years.

But prosecutors allege that the pound of marijuana seized by sheriff's
deputies in the Dutch Flat home of David Dale Black was not for his
personal use - either medicinally or recreationally.

They have charged Black with possession for sale, and on Thursday they
opened his trial in Placer County Superior Court by contending that a
scale, sandwich bags and $3,620 in cash found in close proximity to the
weed prove their point.

Black's defense - that the drug was used strictly as a medical treatment
for a speech impediment - hit a snag Wednesday when Judge J. Richard
Couzensruled Black could not rely on Proposition 215, the medical marijuana
initiative, as a legal justification.

Couzens pointed out that Black did not seek or obtain a doctor's
recommendation to use marijuana until three months after his arrest.

The judge did say, however, Black could testify about the benefits he
receives from marijuana to explain the presence of the pot in his home.

It will be up to the jury panel of 10 women and three men (one will be
designated an alternate at the close of the case) to decide which scenario
is true.

According to Deputy District Attorney David H. Tellman, Black admitted on
the day of his arrest in February 1997 to selling marijuana to friends.

Black's attorney, Robert A. Young, did not offer an opening statement to
the jury Thursday, but he said that when his client testifies, it will be
clear just how important marijuana is to his well-being. Young said Black
has been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder caused
by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

In a pre-trial proceeding, Black declared: "I'm in perfect health, except
for hyper-anxiety. In other words, I can't talk two words, back-to-back,
without smoking marijuana, once every other day, to where it stays in me,
you know, as a pill might work."

The trial will continue today.

Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee

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

Addicted To Pleasure And To Pain (An Unapologetic Heroin User Speaks Out
In Cintra Wilson's Column In 'The San Francisco Examiner' -
'After Eight Years In Narcotics Anonymous,
I Renounced Abstinence From Drugs')

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 01:27:40 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Gerald Sutliff 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: unapologetic heroin user speaks

Subject: Addicted to pleasure and to pain
Source: Cintra Wilson's column (once weekly), SF Examiner, Living Section
(5-15-98)
Contact: letters@examiner.org OR zintra@aol.com
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff

Cintra Wilson FEELS YOUR PAIN
Addicted to pleasure and to pain

Dearest Dope-sick and Dry-heaving Readers:

The following is an excerpt from a much longer letter (that, if not hurting
for space, I would have loved to print in full), from the wise and extreme
soul of one Carl L., who offers another refreshingly amoral view of the
heroin topic:

My Wise, Lovely and Compassionate Cintra:

I used heroin, opium and various other opiates continually for 15 years.
After eight years in N.A., I renounced abstinence from drugs. It's
difficult to write about without turning it into an autobiography or
philosophical manifesto; it opens up too many basic questions regarding the
nature of good and evil, the meaning of "life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" in the political philosophy of liberal democracy vs. social
'engineering. Are hedonistic drug vices somehow inherently dehumanizing,
worthy of channelizing in order to save civilization from some eventual
collective suicidal speed ball run?

I would like to add some experience-based perspectives to some of what was
written in last Friday's column. Regarding methadone: It sucks! I was on it
for 21/2 years. Only about 10 percent of chronic dope fiends are on the
program at any given time, and most drink or use other drugs with it. In
your last column, it was stated: "Research shows that ... methadone is the
most successful treatment for opiate addiction." The reason this is so is
because methadone maintenance is opiate addiction - how-ever, it is an
opiate few find satisfying enough to trade for heroin.

I found long-term use of methadone to be, unlike heroin, debilitating and
draining of my energy and ambition. Methadone is far more domplex than
organic opiates. It is synthesized from petroleum. It is not quickly
processed and expelled from the body, and methadone withdrawal is
longer-lasting and more severe than withdrawal from organic opiateL I do
not believe that the physiological effects of its long-term use are as
benign as those of heroin.
Considering the (illegal) context in which heroin use occurs, methadone is
a safer and saner alternative that does save lives. Using heroin also means
using drugs of varying quality in unknown doses adulterated with a host of
different "cuts," most of which are more physiologically damaging than the
drug. I once nearly died from shooting dope cut with shoe polish. I never
felt quite the same after that unpleasant experience.

In your last column, a reader writes of falling into depression in her
seventh year clean and turning to antidepressants. My story is very
similar: after seven years I went on Prozac. People in recovery commonly
voice this same view and speak of having to confront frustrations and
personal demons after the first five years and some kind of painful
existential abyss during the second five. The antidepressant effects (of
Prozac) pretty much ceased for me after a year. Seven years of loneliness
and sexual frustration prompted a rational though very passionate decision
to inject a jolt of straight-up euphoria and ecstasy into my life: I fixed.

To call heroin an antidepressant is an understatement. Within perhaps 30
seconds of a "mainline" injection I become mentally healthy in the extreme.
Fear, pain, neuroses and frustration do not exist in this universe; only
pleasure, euphoria and optimism. All wants and needs are met. This effect
is rather short-lived, and the harder one chases that euphoria the more
fleeting it becomes.

Narcotics are simple compounds. Human beings, on the other hand, are
extremely complex and variable in chemistry and personality, and the result
of the mix is highly variable. To suggest that narcotics might have some
beneficial therapeutic effects in raising the level of mental health in
some individuals would surely infuriate moralists, with their seeming
in-ability to grasp concepts like "complexity" or "variability" in regard
to questions they feel are moral in nature. Heroin addiction dearly is a
form of self-medication. Junkies (myself included) seem to suffer from low
self-esteem, social ineptitude and an inability to handle life on its own
terms. But to call drug use or drug addiction simply self-medication is to
present an incomplete picture. Heroin is great for running from pain, but
even better for chasing pleasure in an extreme form. The sensation a dope
fiend is chasing is more like that which for me is also available through
sex and romantic passion. Had medication of pain been my only objective,
some low-class drug like alcohol or Valium would have sufficed.

Cintra! How I suffer from, and how I enjoy my tragic romantic personality
disorder! I do love pleasure and pain. Both make me feel so alive. So
human. I believe many, if not most, addicts suffer from and revel in this
affliction. Just listen to the Velvet Underground or to Jim Carroll's
"Catholic Boy" album. This angle should be considered in understanding why
some people voluntarily make unwise choices. Mental health bores me to death.
- Carl L

Drug users Tell your happy tales.

Please write to: CINTRA WILSON FEELS YOUR PAIN, San Francisco Examiner,
P.O. Box 7260, San Fancisco, CA 94120, or email the Psychic Supergenius
at zintro@aol.com

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

Teenage Shooting Victim Ran With Wrong Crowd ('San Francisco Examiner'
Tries To Portray The 17-Year-Old-Girl Killed By Police In San Francisco
Who Were Trying To Bust A Fugitive Wanted On Crack Cocaine Charges,
But Refuses To Examine The Failed Policies That Led To Her Death)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:32:34 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Teenage Shooting Victim Ran With Wrong Crowd
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Tyche Hendricks, Examiner Staff

TEENAGE SHOOTING VICTIM RAN WITH WRONG CROWD

Sheila Patricia Detoy loved to swim in the Russian River and visit with her
grandma and her aunts in the tranquillity of their Guerneville home.

But the 17-year-old also loved the edgy excitement of hanging out with a
fast-living, drug-dealing crowd in her hometown, San Francisco, her aunts
said Thursday.

It was her association with that alluring underworld that may have led to
her death Wednesday. She was shot through the head by a police officer who
fired on the getaway car in which she was riding with two alleged drug
dealers wanted by police.

Thursday night, her aunts Sheila and Patricia Detoy, for whom she was named,
remembered their niece as "a brilliant, beautiful girl" whose death, they
believe, symbolizes the failings of America's war on drugs.

"She was innocent, but she was hanging around with this world like she was
living out some hip-hop song," said Sheila Detoy. "I've been scared to death
something would happen to her for a long time."

Patricia Detoy said her niece didn't realize the danger she was putting
herself in.

"This was kind of a lark," she said. "How serious are kids at that age?"

The aunts described their niece as a precocious young woman who dropped out
of St. Ignatius High School because she was unhappy there, but who had
promptly gotten her high school general equivalency diploma.

The teenager lived at home with her mother and older sister, Sheila Detoy
said, adding that the girl's father - a fourth generation San Franciscan,
born in his parents' home on Magellan Avenue in Forest Hill - had died in
an accident when the girl was 3.

She used to love visits with her grandmother in Guerneville, where Aunt
Sheila raises flowers that Aunt Patty sells at the farmer's market in San
Francisco.

"I talked to her the day before (she was killed)," said Patricia Detoy. "We
were planning our summer vacation up here."

Co-workers at a coffeehouse where Sheila had recently worked also remembered
her fondly.

Mike Wall, who worked with her at the Java Beach Cafe at the Ocean Beach end
of Judah Street, described her as a "very beautiful, charming young lady."
He said that young men noticed her waist-length, reddish-blond hair and her
smile.

"She was very friendly, everyone here liked her a lot," said Wall.

"We all loved her," said another co-worker who would not give her name.
"We're really sad about this. I can't imagine this happening to her."

Her aunts say Sheila was a victim of a high-powered war on drugs that has
become a war on kids, leading to unnecessarily violent standoffs such as the
one in which she died.

"This is a terrible, botched tragedy," said Sheila Detoy. "This cop screwed
up; he had to have. Something went really wrong, because a really innocent
girl got killed."

Rather than putting money into police stakeouts and violent confrontations,
she said, more money should be devoted to drug rehabilitation and mental
health programs to help kids find a saner life. "This poor policeman,"
Sheila Detoy said, lamenting the officer who shot her niece. "They're both
victims. We're failing our kids and we're failing our cops."

(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner

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

Cocaine Convictions Are Reinstated ('San Francisco Examiner'
Says A Federal Appeals Court On Thursday Reinstated The 20-Years-To-Life
Sentences Of The Alleged Leader Of An Oakland Drug Gang
And Four Of His Colleagues, Overturned By A Federal Judge
Because A Juror Commented During Deliberations That He Believed
The Leader Of An Associated Gang Had Killed A Government Witness)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:41:36 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Cocaine Convictions Are Reinstated
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/

COCAINE CONVICTIONS ARE REINSTATED

SAN FRANCISCO - The cocaine convictions of the alleged leader of an Oakland
drug gang and four of his colleagues, overturned by a federal judge because
of jury misconduct, were reinstated Thursday by a federal appeals court.

A juror's reported comment during deliberations that he believed the leader
of an associated gang had killed a government witness had little to do with
the charges against Anthony Flowers and his codefendants, said the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals.

Flowers was convicted in December 1996 of conspiracy to distribute more than
11 pounds of cocaine between January and August 1994. Four other men also
were convicted.

After the convictions, the jury was supposed to hear other charges,
including an accusation that Flowers operated a continuing criminal
enterprise, the "drug kingpin" law punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
But the jury was dismissed because some jurors had read a newspaper story of
post-verdict comments by U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi saying homicides in
Oakland had fallen after Flowers and his codefendants were arrested.

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

DARE We Ask? (Letter To The Editor Of 'The Orange County Register'
From A Parent In Irvine, California, Says The DARE Program There
Is Trying To 'Teach' His Son The Dangers Of Private Firearm Ownership)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 10:26:24 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: DARE We Ask?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

DARE WE ASK?

I was informed by my son that he was shown a film at Sierra Vista by the
DARE officer which was apparently intended to demonstrate the potential
horrors of firearm ownership. The film showed a pair of youths getting hold
of a handgun belonging to one's parents, terrorizing a local convenience
store clerk and then fatally shooting one of the boy's brothers. I did not
see the film, so I want to avoid jumping to conclusions, but I am concerned
that:

The DARE program may have been captured by individuals who intend to use it
as a forum for delivering their own social-engineering messages (not so
rare in our school system); and

DARE is diverting resources from objectives and practices that we all
support - the fight against drug abuse - and turning those resources toward
objectives that I, and others like me, cannot support.

William C. Prentice - Irvine

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

State High Court Ruling Toughens Three-Strikes Law ('Los Angeles Times'
Notes The California Supreme Court Decided Thursday
That A Single Criminal Act Can Count As More Than One Crime -
4-To-3 Ruling Upholds Sentence Of 25 Years To Life Given To A Man
Convicted Of Stealing A Carton Of Cigarettes Who Had Been Convicted
15 Years Earlier Of Two Felonies Stemming From A Single Knife Attack
On A Neighbor)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:34:13 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: State High Court Ruling Toughens 3-Strikes Law
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Maura Dolan, Times Legal Affairs Writer

STATE HIGH COURT RULING TOUGHENS 3-STRIKES LAW

Justice: Two felonies can stem from a single criminal act, majority finds.
Three justices issue strong dissent.

SAN FRANCISCO--In a ruling that affects scores of criminal defendants, the
California Supreme Court decided Thursday that a single criminal act can
count as more than one crime under the state's three-strikes law.

The 4-to-3 ruling upheld a sentence of 25 years to life given to Russell
Benson, a Lancaster man who was convicted of stealing a carton of
cigarettes from a Target store. He had been convicted 15 years earlier of
two felonies that stemmed from a single knife attack on a neighbor. Had his
earlier conviction been considered as only one strike, Benson would have
faced a maximum six-year sentence.

The court's ruling--its first decision on how the three-strikes law affects
such cases--held that multiple felonies can be punished as separate strikes
even if they arise from a single criminal act. A 100-year-old law prohibits
multiple punishment for a single act, but the majority held that the
three-strikes measure supersedes that law.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who wrote the majority opinion, cited
language in the 1994 ballot initiative that said the three-strikes measure
applied "not withstanding any other provision of the law."

"The Legislature and the voters, through the initiative process, clearly
intended that each conviction for a serious or violent felony counts as a
prior conviction," George wrote, "even where the convictions were based
upon conduct against a single victim committed at the same time with a
single intent."

Under the court's ruling, a single car hijacking could produce two strikes
because defendants in such cases are often convicted of both car hijacking
and robbery.

In an example cited by the dissenting justices, a person who stops a
pedestrian at knifepoint and demands a watch could be convicted of three
felonies or strikes: felony false imprisonment, assault with a deadly
weapon and attempted robbery.

"The question before us has major practical consequences," Justice Ming W.
Chin, a court conservative, wrote in a dissent. "Multiple convictions can
often arise out of a single act."

"We should not transform one strike into two," said Chin, who was joined by
Justices Stanley Mosk and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.

The ruling has "abrogated the fundamental promise that . . . has been made
for over a century," Chin wrote, adding that prosecutors may eventually
regret their victory. Trial judges, now realizing that felonies from a
single crime count as separate strikes, may decide simply to dismiss them.

"Dismissal, of course, is exactly what should not happen," Chin wrote. If
the defendant's primary conviction is overturned on appeal, the prosecutor
would have no other convictions to keep the defendant in prison.

But the majority said the ruling was required by the clear language of the
three-strikes law. "The courts of this state on occasion have found fault
with the imprecise nature of language contained within statutory
enactments," George wrote for the court. "We find it difficult, however, to
imagine language clearer, or more unequivocal" than the words of the
three-strikes initiative.

The three-strikes law, designed to put repeat offenders behind bars,
doubles a sentence for a second violent felony and carries a
25-year-to-life term for anyone convicted of a third felony.

The court's ruling drew praise from law enforcement officials.

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said the court had interpreted the three-strikes law
"as it was intended."

"We have a pretty tough three-strikes law, and that is the reason we have
seen such a dramatic drop in the crime rate," Lungren added.

A spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson pronounced the governor "pleased with
today's strong law-and-order decision."

"This ruling puts the teeth back into the three-strikes law and brings us
back to the intent of the voters," he said.

"There is no doubt this is a strict interpretation of the three-strikes
law," said Deputy Atty. Gen. Ellen Birnbaum Kehr, who argued the case
before the Supreme Court. The ruling was necessary because it "affects a
lot of defendants," she added. "This was not a rare case."

But Russell S. Babcock, who represented Benson, called the decision
"absurd" and a "shocking result that is going to cause a lot of problems
for both the prosecution and the defense as well as the judiciary."

"It parts company with 100 years of prior case law," Babcock said. "I don't
think voters had a clue that this is what they were getting when they
enacted this."

Judges have been trying to avoid deciding how to handle multiple felony
convictions involving single acts pending the outcome of the current case,
Babcock said.

With the ruling in place, defendants who were convicted of two prior
felonies but received probation could now face life in prison for a
relatively minor crime, he said. "It is a really frightening result."

Benson was arrested in 1994 and convicted of petty theft with a prior. The
judge, assuming the two prior felonies counted as separate strikes,
sentenced Benson to 25 years to life.

Benson's prior conviction stemmed from a 1979 attack on a woman in his
apartment building. Benson had borrowed a vacuum cleaner from her and later
returned, saying he had forgotten his keys inside. He stabbed the woman 20
times. The victim identified him to police, and he turned himself in the
next day.

A jury convicted Benson of burglary and assault, but he was sentenced for
only one crime because the felonies stemmed from a single course of
conduct--he had entered the apartment not to steal, but to stab the woman.
His appellate attorney said Benson was upset with the neighbor for reasons
that are now unclear.

Under a law passed in 1872, an act that is punishable in different ways is
still only subject to a single penalty, regardless of the number of
convictions, so long as the criminal violations are all part of a single
course of conduct. A man who both rapes and robs a woman, for example,
could be punished twice for two criminal acts, but a person charged with
rape and lewd conduct would be subject to only one punishment even though
the conduct violated two laws.

Courts, as in Benson's case, have routinely "stayed" multiple felonies
stemming from one act. This allowed the secondary convictions to be
resurrected if the primary case was overturned on appeal. Otherwise, the
separate convictions would not be used.

Benson will now return before the trial judge, who has the option of
striking one of the two prior felonies if the judge believes a life
sentence would be unjust. At the time Benson was originally sentenced, it
was unclear whether judges had that option.

Copyright Los Angeles Times

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

Man To Be Evicted (A Reporter For The 'South County Journal' In Seattle
Says He Interviewed A Medical Marijuana Patient Today Who Is Being Evicted
From His King County Housing Authority Apartment - And Wants To Know
About Any Similar Cases Locally)

From: WWonders (WWonders@aol.com)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 10:33:14 EDT
To: jackie.reis@southcountyjournal.com
Cc: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Re: man to be evicted
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

In a message dated 5/14/98 10:34:42 PM, you wrote:

Hi,

My name is Jackie Reis. I'm a reporter for the South County Journal and
interviewed a man today who said he is about to be evicted from his King
County Housing Authority apartment because he uses marijuana to relieve
the pain of a eight-year-old spinal injury.

Have you heard of cases like this before? Is there anything he can do?
He says marijuana is the only drug he can take for the pain that will
not leave him unable to drive and care for himself and his 12-year-old
son. I would appreciate hearing back from you either by e-mail or phone
(253) 872-6717, and please specify what can be quoted of what you write
or say.

Thanks for your help,
JR

***

High Jackie

Yes, I think there was a similar case in King County in the last year or so.

I took the liberty of forwarding your message to Hemp-Talk. Someone on this
email list may have more information for you than I.

Let me (us) know if you plan to write an article, I'm sure you will find
several folks on this list more than willing to share their opinion.

Shame on the King County Housing Authority for punishing this man AND HIS 12
YEAR OLD SON for using a SAFE, effective herb to find relief from his pain.

What will "society" gain by forcing this man and his son to live on the
streets?

Give attorneys Jeff Steinborn (Steinborn & Assocs., 206 622 5117 - 622 3848
fax) and/or Carolyn Ramamurti (Kolker & Ramamurti, 206 464 1761 - 624 3391) a
call, they maybe able to help.

Feel free to use anything I said or may say in the future concerning this
injustice.

Sincerely,

...Jimmy
253 474 0838

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

District Apologizes For Drunken Driving Exhibit (School Officials
In Sandpoint, Idaho, Haul A Smashed Car To School,
Providing An Inadvertent Warning To Students About The Dangers Of Sobriety)

Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
05/15/98 3:02 PM Eastern

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) - The wrecked car towed to
Sandpoint High School was meant to be a graphic display of what
happens when people drink and drive. It didn't appear anyone
could have survived the 1989 Ford Tempo that had been struck
by a train.

But Tom and Kathy Parks knew the driver survived, and wasn't
on drugs or alcohol. Tom Parks was the driver.

School district officials are sending a formal written apology to the
Parks family, and the car has been towed from the school, drug
education coordinator Don Medrano Tennison said.

A high school counselor didn't fully check details about the car
before it was brought in, Tennison said.

"It was not our intent to cause any harm," he said. "It appears to
look dishonest to put a car out there that looks pretty smashed up
and imply it was from drinking and driving. This was not a drunk
driving accident."

The Parks learned the district their wrecked car was on display
when their daughter stepped off a school bus at the high school.

"The first thing my daughter said was `Oh my God, that's my
dad's car.' She called and told me to go to the front of the school.
She was pretty much in tears," Kathy Parks said.

School officials told Parks they had gotten the car from a
wrecking yard and had been unable to locate the owner.

"Granted, the car is a total disaster. They were trying to scare
students, but one of the students is our 15-year-old daughter,"
Parks said. "It was the car that brought her to Idaho. It was very
upsetting. Kids were asking her how drunk her dad was."

But Tom Parks wasn't drinking when the accident occurred last
November. He was cited by police for driving too fast for
conditions after apparently falling asleep and driving onto railroad
tracks east of Sandpoint.

The car became stuck. Parks got out before a train arrived and
crushed the car.

The family plans to talk to an attorney about the fiasco at the
school.

"We were hoping we had finally gotten the accident out of our
minds," Kathy Parks said. "Here it shows up in front of our
daughter's high school."

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.

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

Customs Seizes Two Tons Of Cocaine In Laredo ('Orange County Register'
Says The Load Worth $200 Million, The US Custom Service's
Biggest Confiscation Of The 'Narcotic' In At Least Three Years,
Was Found By Texan Prohibitionists In A Steel Tank
Usually Used To Haul Animal Fat)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:14:28 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Customs Seizes 2 Tons Of Cocaine In Laredo
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

CUSTOMS SEIZES 2 TONS OF COCAINE IN LAREDO

U.S. Customs Service inspectors in Laredo, Texas, said Thursday that they
seized 2 tons of cocaine packed into a tanker truck, making it the agency's
biggest confiscation of the narcotic in at least three years.

The load, with a street value of $200 million, was hidden in two elaborate
compartments in the middle of a steel tank usually used to haul animal fat,
said Louis DeAnda, group supervisor for the Customs Service in Laredo.

The illicit white powder was packed in more than 1,600 plastic
shrink-wrapped bundles and weighed 4,350 pounds.

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

Student Rioters Demand The 'Right To Party' (First Of Four Articles
In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education' Summarizes The Recent Outbreak
Of Campus Violence And Its Connection To Drug Policy)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:30:51 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Student Rioters Demand the 'Right to Party'
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/

A SPECIAL REPORT

STUDENT RIOTERS DEMAND THE 'RIGHT TO PARTY'

It's being called the "Right to Party" movement.

On several campuses in recent weeks, large groups of students have clashed
with police on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War protests of a
generation ago.

This time, the protests are over alcohol. The continuing toll of
alcohol-related deaths on campus is prompting colleges to crack down against
underage and irresponsible drinking -- and students are not taking it well.

They are fighting for the right to drink in familiar areas and during
traditionalparty weekends. They are demanding to be permitted to drink even
though most of them are not of legal age. They want to drink when they have
previously agreed that they will not drink, and they want to drink when the
clock says No.

* At Michigan State University, 2,000 students rioted after administrators
announced a ban on alcohol at a popular spot for tailgate parties during
football games.

* At the University of Connecticut, hundreds of students rioted when police
moved in to extinguish a bonfire that threatened to consume an apartment.
The conflict with police resumed the next night, when students set a car on
fire.

* At Washington State University, police used tear gas to restrain hundreds
ofstudents who were throwing beer cans and rocks at officers. The riot was
sparked by students who were frustrated by a policy banning alcohol at
fraternity social functions. At least 24 officers were injured in the
five-hour rampage, and three people were arrested.

* At Plymouth State College, more than 500 people, many of them students,
chanted, burned furniture, and threw rocks and beer bottles at police who
tried to stop an annual party called "Spring Fling." Seven people were
arrested.

* At the University of Tennessee at Martin, police had to use pepper spray
to disperse a crowd of 150 at an end-of-the-semester fraternity party that
had erupted in violence. One student was arrested.

* At Ohio University, students pelted officers with bottles, pieces of
asphalt, and coins for the second consecutive year on the day when an hour
of drinking time was lost because bar owners turned clocks ahead for
daylight time.

Some say the violence is just a bad case of spring fever: After a long year,
students are bound to go a little crazy. But students see something more
noble, and police see something more disconcerting.

"It's about basic freedom," says Joe Uscinski, a junior at Plymouth State.
"We want the town and college to allow us to have fun for one weekend a
year."

Robert Hudd, police chief at the University of Connecticut, says even
"veteran demonstrators" may agree with him that the violence is gratuitous
-- especially when the "issue" is drinking, not peace or civil rights.
"There's nota cause, there's not a stand, there's not a message, there's not
a theme."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

At Michigan State, A Protest Escalates Into A Night Of Fires, Tear Gas,
And Arrests (Second Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education'
Says Students, Administrators, And Police Have Different Views
About Why 2,000 Students Rioted In East Lansing On May 1, But Admits
The Event Began At Munn Field As A Protest Against The Administration's
Recent Decision To Ban Alcohol There During Football Season)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:58:47 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MI: At Michigan State, a Protest Escalates Into a Night of Fires,
Tear Gas, and Arrests
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Kit Lively

A SPECIAL REPORT

AT MICHIGAN STATE, A PROTEST ESCALATES INTO A NIGHT OF FIRES, TEAR GAS, AND
ARRESTS

EAST LANSING, MICH. - Many people at Michigan State University expected
something big to happen at Munn Field on the night of May 1. They just
didn't know what.

E-mail messages had been flying all week, urging people to gather at Munn to
protest the administration's recent decision to ban alcohol there during
football season. The open, grassy field is a popular spot for students and
some alumni to gather for tailgate parties on game days.

Many students wanted to demand a greater voice in such decisions. Others
were just curious and wanted to watch from a safe distance. But many planned
to come packing beer, ready to let loose after the last day of classes
before exams.

What students found when they arrived on that cold, rainy night was that
police had closed the field, with officers standing along the chain-link
fence surrounding it. The crowd grew quickly to several hundred people.
Around 9:45, students began hurling bottles and cans at the police. Then
they toppled the waist-high fence and streamed onto the field. Police
responded with brief bursts of tear gas, but the crowd did not disperse.
Students milled around the field peacefully for half an hour before a chant
went up to march to the president's house.

By 11 p.m., the throng, by then more than 1,000 strong, had moved off campus
and onto city streets. Many of the original protesters had left, to be
replaced by people coming out of neighborhood bars. As the night went on,
the crowd grew to about 2,000 and became wilder. By dawn, police had lobbed
several rounds of tear gas, and firefighters had extinguished at least half
a dozen bonfires, one of which licked higher than a traffic signal above a
street. Seventeen students had been arrested on charges including
trespassing and kindling a fire.

In the aftermath last week, questions and regrets settled over Michigan
State like a hangover.

Many students and administrators were embarrassed by televised footage of
the riot, which was played over and over again on the national news.

Michigan State is huge, they said. Even if 2,000 students rioted, that means
40,000 did not. Administrators also regret that the violence eclipsed news
that two Michigan State professors had just been elected to the National
Academy of Sciences.

But if most people deplore the riot, students, administrators, and police
have different points of view about why it took place and how it got out of
hand.

M. Peter McPherson, Michigan State's president, said putting an end to
underage drinking at tailgate parties was an easy decision. Students had
occasionally burned furniture at Munn parties, and a few times revelers were
carted away with blood-alcohol levels four to five times the legal limit for
driving. The president called the revels "a riot waiting to happen."

Many students, conversely, said the parties were just a good time to
socialize with friends. Most people have only a few drinks, students said.
"It's fun on Munn," said Laura Coatta, a senior. "Sure, some people get
obnoxious and out of hand. But they will do that anywhere they drink."

Mr. McPherson reacted to the riot this month by announcing efforts to
examine and combat alcohol abuse on campus. The state's "zero-tolerance" law
already empowers police to arrest anyone under 21 who has been drinking.

But Adam Herringa, a senior who helped organize the demonstration, said a
focus on alcohol abuse was too narrow. His main beef was with a series of
rules and restrictions that he and other students believe had been imposed
with too little student involvement. The Munn Field ban was just the latest,
he said. Several students also said the riot might not have erupted if
police had not closed the field and confronted students.

Bruce L. Benson, the campus police chief, called the tactic a non-violent
show of force that was necessary to control the crowd. He closed the field,
he said, because he had heard that students planned to bring in alcohol. "If
the message had been 'Let's take pizzas and Pepsis and go have a protest on
Munn Field,' we would have helped facilitate them in doing that."

Many students consider the alcohol ban at Munn "anti-student." The field is
the most popular tailgate spot among students -- and now is the only one
where alcohol is banned. Alumni and donors will still be able to drink at
their own gathering places, said students, who add that adults, too, can get
drunk and rowdy. But Mr. Benson said no other tailgate spot has had as many
problems as Munn.

"We don't care about the age of the people," he said. "The issue is the
behavior."

One reason Munn has problems, officials said, is its size. At 10.5 acres, it
has room for 1,200 cars. Except for a few Saturdays in the fall, the field
is used for intramural sports. Ground crews must work weekends after
football games to clean up glass and debris so that intramural games
scheduled for Mondays can be played.

President McPherson and Chief Benson said they had asked student leaders
several times to suggest solutions to problems at Munn Field. Last month,
they invited four student groups to attend the annual meeting of police and
university administrators, at which the merits of a ban were discussed. Only
one of the groups sent a representative. Mr. McPherson said he was not sure
that more communication would have persuaded students in general to accept
the ban, but he acknowledged that he might have pushed harder to have
students attend the meeting.

For their part, students said the Munn ban was not the only rule that had
dampened popular traditions. Last fall, for example, the administration had
cut the period during which students move into dormitories, called "Welcome
Week," from a week to a few days. Mr. Benson said the two weekends had
turned into a time for freshmen to learn how to drink.

Students have also complained about restrictions that East Lansing has
placed on rental houses, such as limiting the number of unrelated students
who can live together. Students said the administration should intercede.

"It wasn't just a protest about drinking," said Laurie Denby, a freshman.
"It was everything they keep slapping on us. It's No, No, No."

Anytime a privilege is taken away, students said, people will rebel. Some
students added that banning alcohol would just make it more attractive.

Those 21 and over can drink in dormitory rooms at Michigan State, but the
university has no pub or liquor store on the campus. Mr. McPherson knows
that plenty of students will still drink themselves silly at off-campus
bars, but he does not want to appear to endorse underage drinking.

The president said he would not back down from the ban at Munn. "The
demonstration made the point on why Munn was potentially an explosion
point," he said.

But more rules aren't necessarily the solution, he added, noting that people
need to find a balance between rights and responsibilities. He has announced
that Michigan State will have an alcohol-free dormitory next year. He also
has said he will appoint a committee, which will include students, to
discuss alcohol abuse and hold public forums.

Mr. McPherson hopes to persuade the committee to view alcohol as a
public-health issue about which attitudes can be changed, just as they began
to be changed a generation ago about drunk driving. One way, he believes, is
to educate students widely and clearly about the dangers posed by excessive
drinking, especially for women. "If you have strong feelings about
acquaintance rape, you should be concerned about excessive drinking," he
said.

He sent an e-mail message to all students last week, inviting them to share
their thoughts.

Nate Smith-Tyge, a leader in student government, said that the riot may end
up having a positive effect if it brings all sectors of the university to
the same table.

"There is no simple answer to alcohol misuse or student involvement," he
said. "It is something we need to sit down and discuss."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

At Connecticut's Party Weekend, Days Of Music Replaced By Nights Of Vandalism
(The Third Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education'
About Student Violence Notes Another 2,000 Students Fought With Police
At The University Of Connecticut In Storrs On The Weekend Of April 25,
And Suggests Students Were Rebelling Against Increasing Restrictions
On Underage And Other Drinking)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:54:33 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CT: At Connecticut's Party Weekend,
Days of Music Replaced by Nights of Vandalism
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Ben Gose

A SPECIAL REPORT

AT CONNECTICUT'S PARTY WEEKEND, DAYS OF MUSIC REPLACED BY NIGHTS OF
VANDALISM

STORRS, CONN.- The 80 police officers did not move last month as bottles,
cans, and rocks were lobbed at them by a crowd of students and their friends
partying in a dirt parking lot that adjoins the University of Connecticut
campus.

When some in the crowd of 2,000 people overturned a black Honda Accord, the
police, from university, local, and state forces, stood their ground. Even
when some men set a couch on fire, the police remained on the edge of the
lot.

Only when the students put the burning couch on the Honda -- raising the
possibility that its gas tank would explode -- did the police move in, using
pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

The torching of the Honda on Saturday, April 25, marked the climax of a
riotous weekend here. By Sunday morning, six cars had been turned over,
numerous bonfires started, and 27 police cars vandalized. Police arrested 87
people, about 40 of them Connecticut students, on charges ranging from
inciting to riot to assaulting a police officer.

The mayhem, captured on videotape by both the police and students, was the
worst ever at University Weekend, the last big blowout here before final
exams. The campus tradition is known for parties with names like
"Kill-a-Keg." Last year's events, too, were marred by riots and dozens of
arrests.

Robert Hudd, the university's police chief, said some students these days
are looking for any excuse to spar with police.

"You almost have the police more in the 'Gandhi-esque' mode," he said. "We
took a beating for hours. Our attitude was, 'You can have a party, and
you're clearly going to break the law -- just don't break it on a massive
scale.'"

Students say University Weekend is their big chance to let loose in a small
town that offers little excitement -- and they don't like police cramping
their fun. On the night before the Honda was burned, police broke up a
massive party at Carriage House, a complex of 16 apartments in a wooded area
about a mile west of the campus. When a bonfire fed with furniture
threatened one of the units, police in riot gear moved in to scatter the
crowd as students pelted them with bottles and cans.

"It feels awkward to have all those police officers around," said Scott
Berni, a sophomore who attended the Carriage House party. "Students see it
as a violation of their right to have a good time."

Other students said police went too far when they moved to quell the riots.
Amy Rydzy, a freshman, said she was merely taking in the spectacle in the
parking lot on Saturday night when the police decided to clear the crowd.
She was hit in the face and neck with pepper spray and knocked to the ground
by an officer's shield, she said. "I was up the entire night with ice on my
face and neck," she said.

University officials said bystanders should have known better. "Anyone with
two cents of intelligence should have been getting their butt out of there,"
said Vicky L. Triponey, Connecticut's vice-chancellor for student affairs.

The riot came despite months of planning by administrators, police, and
student leaders, who had hoped that on-campus events would limit any
violence. The university held a party featuring rock bands, body piercing,
and beer sales, for students who were 21, on the same night as the Carriage
House gathering.

But only about 100 students attended the university event, compared with
4,000 to 5,000 people in a clearing near the Carriage House apartments.

Adrienne Miller, a freshman, said the university's party failed because
underage students couldn't purchase alcohol, and because it had been planned
by student leaders. "They didn't contact any of the normal kids to see what
we wanted to do," she said. The many students with friends in town skipped
the university's party because it was open only to Connecticut students, she
added.

Saturday's disturbances began shortly before midnight, when students in the
crowded dirt lot tried to expand the party to an adjoining university
parking area. But police had barricaded the area, because they didn't want
the gathering of drunken students to spill over into the crowd of 1,700 that
would soon be leaving a nearby auditorium where a cultural event known as
"Latin Fest" was being held.

The presence of the police incited the crowd, Ms. Miller said. "The more
authority that shows up, the more people are going to want to rebel. If the
people start throwing bottles at police next year, maybe the police should
leave."

The police who endured the hail of bottles had a different view. "It's like
a bunch of spoiled brats who have never been told No," one officer told Ms.
Triponey.

University Weekend hasn't always created havoc. Karen Williams, a university
spokeswoman and a student here in the 1970s, recalls mellow afternoons of
cold beer and loud bands on the grass in back of the student union. The
minimum drinking age then was 18. "I don't remember any fights or
vandalism," she said.

But the minimum age was raised to 21 in virtually every state by 1986, when
Congress threatened to withhold highway-construction funds from states that
didn't do so. That law has "complicated" the way colleges manage social
events, said Mark A. Emmert, Connecticut's chancellor.

"You combine the 21-year-old drinking law and the fact that students don't
consider a party a success unless it has alcohol, and you've got a real
recipe for problems," he said.

Mr. Emmert will appoint a committee of students, faculty members, and
police, which may recommend that University Weekend be scrapped. But doing
so may be pointless: Some students are already boasting of plans to flip
police cruisers next year.

The riots have sparked outrage among the state's citizens, many of whom
believe that swift punishment is the only way to prevent more mayhem.
"Students involved in the vandalism and arson should be expelled, no
questions asked," said an editorial in The Hartford Courant.

Governor John G. Rowland has called for the university to change its student
code of conduct; currently, the university can't punish students for
off-campus offenses.

Connecticut officials say they may expand the code so that it applies to the
entire local area, but they worry about becoming wrapped up in dealing with
crimes that they can't properly investigate.

Philip E. Austin, the university's president, conceded that punishments have
been lax in the past. But that would no longer be the case, he said. "If,
over the years, people are allowed to engage in unacceptable behavior at
very little cost, it is not surprising that that behavior would continue.
Those who act inappropriately must be expelled."

Some students who were arrested in last month's riots worry that their days
at Connecticut are numbered.

Joshua Satin, a sophomore, faces three misdemeanor charges -- first-degree
riot, breach of peace, and third-degree criminal mischief -- for his
behavior on Saturday night.

Sitting on a couch in the student union, he pointed to bite marks above his
elbow that he said he received from a police dog as he fled the dirt lot.
When he returned to his dormitory -- with a torn, bloody shirt and his face
stinging from pepper spray -- he broke a window (a classmate pushed him into
it, he said) and yelled some insults at the police.

"I was acting out of rage and fear," said Mr. Satin, who admits that he was
drunk that night. "I'll be devastated if I'm expelled."

Next year, if he's still around, he plans on taking "a nice weekend trip,"
out of town, over University Weekend.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

Some Experts Say Colleges Share The Responsibility For The Recent Riots
(Last Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education' About Natives
Getting Restless On American College Campuses Describes The Recent
And Widespread Crackdown On Student Drinking)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:10:24 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Some Experts Say Colleges Share the Responsibility for the Recent
Riots
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Leo Reisberg
Editors note: DrugSense sponsors a University Drug Policy Forum. If you are
interested in working on this project, joining our strategy discussion
group, discussing ideas on the project or volunteering to organize students
and faculty at your school, please send a note to Josh Sinoway
(jsinoway@drugsense.org) or see:
http://www.drugsense.org/udpf/

A SPECIAL REPORT

SOME EXPERTS SAY COLLEGES SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RECENT RIOTS

Although many people are quick to chastise the students involved in recent
riots in several states, colleges share some of the blame, according to
administrators and alcohol experts.

For many years, college officials looked the other way when underage
students drank. But a string of high-profile, alcohol-related deaths in
recent years -- including one last fall at Louisiana State University, and
another at Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- has prompted colleges to
crack down on minors who drink. Alcohol arrests on college campuses jumped
by 10 per cent in 1996, the latest year for which data are available,
according to a recent survey by The Chronicle (May 8).

Public pressure may also be contributing to stricter enforcement. Last week,
in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, David Satcher, the
U.S. Surgeon General, described alcohol as "a serious problem with our young
people at every age, but especially on college campuses, as we see more
binge drinking."

The way students see it, their "right" to drink is being stripped away. When
they are intoxicated and in large groups, the resulting anger can escalate
into mob violence.

"Colleges have really gotten themselves into this mess," said Arthur E.
Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University and author of a
new book, When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student
(Jossey-Bass). "Over the years, colleges tended to wink at the alcohol
policies, and then they started enforcing and changing policies without
involving students in the decisions. It was the ideal set of circumstances
to bring about these riots."

Another theory is that students are acting up because they feel disengaged
from their campuses. Vicky L. Triponey, vice-chancellor for student affairs
at the University of Connecticut, believes that students are resentful and
eager to defy authority because few adults on the campus are reaching out to
them. "We've become more segmented," she said, and students feel alienated
as a result. "If we can get students connected to something bigger than
themselves, they're going to be less likely to behave this way."

Others say students cling fiercely to their booze because they see it as a
symbol of having escaped their parents. "It represents a sense of autonomy,
freedom, and independence -- and it's hard to compete with that," said
Philip W. Meilman, director of counseling and psychological services at
Cornell University and co-director of the Core Institute, which conducts
surveys of student alcohol use.

Some students say they simply want the freedom that an earlier generation
took for granted. Many of the college officials who are cracking down today
drank legally throughout their own college days.

"Students are just tired of being busted on," said Joe Uscinski, a junior
majoring in political science at Plymouth State College. He was one of
hundreds of partyers caught in a melee with police this month. "Everybody in
college is 18 and older. We're all adults, and we don't need someone to tell
us we can't drink alcohol."

When Plymouth State officials tried to stop an annual celebration called
"Spring Fling" this month, hundreds of students gathered on a city street,
carrying beer and radios. They pelted police with bottles, cans, and rocks,
and did not disperse until the officers drew their billy clubs.

"You could analyze this to death, but the bottom line is that these are
young, immature people who are finding their joy in the wrong way, and they
can't handle that amount of alcohol," said Dick Hage, Plymouth State's dean
of student affairs. "When you have large groups and a lot of alcohol, it's a
lethal combination."

Some administrators at the colleges that have experienced riots in recent
weeks find hope in the experience of Iowa State University, which managed to
pull off a previously notorious spring party with few problems this year.
Riots had broken out at the weekend event, known as "Veishea" -- an acronym
representing the university's original schools -- in 1988 and 1992, and a
visitor was stabbed to death during last year's party.

Instead of canceling this year's Veishea, the college asked
student-government and Greek leaders to help persuade students to sign a
pledge that they would not drink during the festival. For its part, the
university agreed to spend $80,000 to add rock bands, such as Tonic, and the
comedian Kevin Nealon to the weekend lineup.

Only 120 people were arrested or issued citations, down from 420 last year,
and just five of the arrests were for underage drinking.

"The administration could have shut Veishea down, but instead it gave
students an option," said Steve Sullivan, a university spokesman and an
adviser to the students who planned the festival. "Alternative events are
also important. If a university expects something from the students, they
need something in return."

That approach hasn't worked at some other places. Connecticut held a
university-sponsored party to try to restrain off-campus mischief during the
annual spring celebration last month, but students weren't interested.
Instead, the vast majority partied off campus -- and rioted on two
consecutive nights.

Ms. Triponey, the Connecticut dean, said the university's plan "blew up in
our faces."

"You think you know the nature of these weekends, but it's just not
predictable anymore," she said. "From an administrative point of view,
that's frightening."

Plymouth State officials said they, too, had planned alternative events
during Spring Fling. But a play, a concert with a local band, and a health
fair all drew meager crowds.

The college-sponsored events at Connecticut and Plymouth State were planned
with the help of student leaders, who were apparently ill-informed about
what most of their classmates wanted.

Likewise, at Washington State University, fraternity leaders made a promise
that many of their members never intended to follow. The Interfraternity
Council agreed last summer to ban alcohol at all social events in fraternity
houses. Fraternity members have been grousing about the policy ever since,
and the frustration boiled over during the early-morning hours of May 3,
when a large crowd of students squared off with police.

Manny DeCoria, a senior at Washington State, said he was on his seventh can
of Busch beer when police arrived at an off-campus party that had drawn as
many as 2,000 people. He kept his distance as students hurled bricks and
bottles, and the police responded with tear gas and water hoses.

"People started to adopt this idea that, 'Well, we're rebelling, so let's
find a cause,'" he said later. "Obviously, an easy cause is the alcohol
policy, and how people are feeling more of a crackdown."

Last week, the university said it would bar six fraternity chapters that
were involved in the riots from rushing new freshmen next fall, unless any
new evidence absolves them of blame. The chapters may also be expelled from
campus.

"The party's over at Washington State University," said Samuel H. Smith, its
president. "I am sick of the party school image that refuses to go away."

Colleges should brace for more protests, said Thomas G. Goodale, who
organized a national conference on college drinking last month at the
College of William and Mary (The Chronicle, April 30). "We're going to have
a lot more of this for a period of time, until we move from being a
permissive, laissez-faire environment to one where students are held more
accountable for their behavior," said Mr. Goodale, an education professor at
the college. "We're in a transition."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

Wrong Police Raid Brings $20 Million Lawsuit ('United Press International'
Says A Brooklyn Woman Is Suing The City Of New York For $20 Million
Over Police Who Terrorized Her And Her Young Children
By Raiding Their Apartment For Drugs By Mistake Last June)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 20:24:14 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NY: Wire: Wrong police raid brings $20M lawsuit
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: James Hammett 
Source: United Press International
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

WRONG POLICE RAID BRINGS $20M LAWSUIT

NEW YORK, May 13 (UPI) - A Brooklyn woman who says she and her young
children were terrorized by police who raided their apartment for drugs and
guns by mistake is suing the city of New York for $20 million.

Attorney Susan Karten says this is the second time in a week a lawsuit has
been filed charging the city's police with going to the wrong apartment to
execute a search warrant and harassing the people who live there. She is
filing her suit today in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

The lawyer tells United Press International, ``You can't suspend the rights
of minorities in the name of a drug crackdown.''

Karten's client is a 29-year-old Hispanic woman and mother of four
children. Two of the children, ages 2 and 7, were home during the raid.

The attorney says that last June, 15 narcotics detectives stormed her
client's apartment, dragged the almost-naked woman from her bed and held a
gun to her head, demanding to know where her stash of guns and drugs were.

Karten says the woman's baby was screaming in terror and the police refused
to let her comfort the child. She adds that while some of the detectives
spent nearly two hours ransacking the woman's apartment, others
interrogated her 7-year-old, asking for information about the woman and her
boyfriend.

She says that when her client asked the officers for a search warrant, she
was ordered to ``shut up.''

Karten adds that the police neglected to apologize to her client when they
realized they had the wrong apartment.

The lawyer says she will release photos of the ransacked apartment and a
copy of the search warrant that authorizes the Brooklyn Narcotics Swat Team
to search apartment 2M of 396 New Jersey Ave. for drugs and guns. The woman
and her children live in apartment 2L at that address.

In a similar, unrelated incident last February, Bronx narcotics cops
mistakenly broke down the door of the wrong apartment and pumped 24 bullets
inside after a terrified tenant fired one shot at the officers because he
thought he was being robbed. Ellis Elliott says he is also launching a
multi-million lawsuit against the city.

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

Farmers Will Sue To Legalize Hemp Crops ('New York Times' Says A Group
Of Farmers And Trade Organizations Plans To File A Lawsuit
Against The Federal Government In Kentucky On Friday To Make Hemp
A Lawful Crop Again - Plaintiffs Intend To Argue That The Illegal Status
Of Hemp, As Defined By The Controlled Substances Act Of 1972,
Violates A 1937 Determination By Congress That The Plant Poses None
Of The Psychoactive Problems Supposedly Caused By Its Cousin, Marijuana)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 18:51:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US KY: Farmers Will Sue To Legalize Hemp Crops
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Michael Janofsky

FARMERS WILL SUE TO LEGALIZE HEMP CROPS

LEXINGTON, Ky. - More than 25 years after hemp was last grown in America
legally, a group of farmers and trade organizations plans to sue the
federal government on Friday to make hemp a lawful crop again.

The plaintiffs intend to argue in U.S. District Court here that the illegal
status of hemp, by definition of the Controlled Substances Act of 1972,
violates a 1937 determination by Congress that the plant poses none of the
psychoactive problems caused by its cousin, marijuana.

The plaintiffs say in their lawsuit, the first of its kind, that Congress
had stipulated hemp, which has many commercial uses, was different from
marijuana and that hemp's prohibition by the Drug Enforcement
Administration violates the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers
of government.

But the central thrust of the legal action is economics, with thousands of
farmers throughout the South and Midwest looking at hemp as another crop to
include in their annual rotations that now involve grains, vegetables and
tobacco.

For many of the farmers, particularly those here in eastern Kentucky who
are almost wholly dependent on tobacco for their income, hemp would provide
a viable hedge as a disease-resistant plant - especially when the future
of tobacco in the country is so uncertain.

As the region's most valuable crop, tobacco can generate as much as $5,000
an acre in gross sales. Most food crops, like corn, soybeans and wheat,
don't have anywhere near that kind of return. But farmers like Jim Barton,
whose family raised hemp in Lexington when it was last legal - during a
"Hemp for Victory" drive in World War II - predicted that an acre of hemp
could gross as much as $1,200.

"Hemp is no more controversial today than tobacco is," said Andrew R.
Graves, a plaintiff in the suit as president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Council, a group of 60 would-be hemp farmers, including Barton. "You go
into any store and you can buy hemp products. But he and I as farmers" --
he pointed to Barton - "get no portion of that money. That makes no sense
to me."

Terry Parham, a spokesman for the drug administration, said the agency had
not seen the lawsuit and, as a result, would have no comment.

Imported hemp products, now manufactured in more than two dozen countries,
including Canada, have been abundant in the United States for years. They
include animal feed, shoes, clothes, paper products and bedding for horses.

The frustration of would-be hemp farmers and marketers in the United States
-- and the basis of the lawsuit - centers on the long-standing policy of
the Department of Justice and the DEA to make no distinction between hemp
and marijuana because they contain the same psychoactive chemical --
delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. Government officials
fear that hemp would provide camouflage for growing marijuana.

But the lawsuit argues that Congress in 1937 recognized the differences
when it passed the Marijuana Tax Act and excluded hemp from any
prohibition. And scientists have determined that THC constitutes less than
1 percent of hemp's weight, not enough to cause any psychoactive effects,
compared with 4 percent to 7 percent for marijuana.

For many years, hemp played a large role in American farming. George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it, and many towns were named after
it, like Hempstead, New York. In the early decades of the country, it was
especially useful in making sails and paper products.

Despite the 1937 law that made a distinction between hemp and marijuana,
hemp farming virtually died out over the three decades that followed,
except for the wartime program. By then, rayon, nylon and other fabrics had
captured its market. The law was repealed when the 1972 act was passed,
dooming hemp for good as a domestically grown crop.

The farmers' lawsuit asks that the court rule that it was illegal for the
executive branch of government to ban hemp, that chemical distinctions
between marijuana and hemp should be recognized and that states should have
the right to regulate hemp production.

As a result, Graves said, a new market would emerge for farmers at a time
when many of them are struggling to stay in business.

"If nobody considers the plight of the farmers, then we're in a heck of a
fix," he said. "Everybody wants you to get rid of tobacco, but nobody wants
to talk about what you do to replace it."

Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company

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

Kentucky Farmers Filing Suit In Attempt To Legalize Hemp (Lexington
'Herald-Leader' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 02:53:41 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US KY: Ky. Farmers Filing Suit In Attempt To Legalize Hemp
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joe Hickey
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Section: Front Page
Contact: hledit@lex.infi.net
Website: http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/
Author: John Cheves, Staff Writer

KY. FARMERS FILING SUIT IN ATTEMPT TO LEGALIZE HEMP

Several Kentucky farmers and agricultural organizations are filing a federal
lawsuit today to force the legalization of industrial hemp as a crop in the
United States.

One of the plaintiffs, Fayette County tobacco farmer Andrew Graves, said the
time is right for a challenge to anti-hemp policies.

"Hemp is no more controversial today than tobacco is," said Graves, 40,
president of the 100-member Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association,
which also is a plaintiff in the suit.

"You can go into any grocery store or co-op today and find all sorts of hemp
products," he said. "But as a farmer, I'm not allowed to participate in that
part of the economy. I want a judge to explain that to me."

Industrial hemp is one variety of the plant genus cannabis, as is marijuana.
However, marijuana plants contain 10 percent to 20 percent of the
hallucinogenic chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Hemp typically
contains less than 1 percent of THC.

The tall, cane-like hemp was grown widely in the United States, and
particularly in Kentucky, and its tough fibers used for products like rope,
paper and clothing. But starting in 1937, the federal government - hoping to
eliminate hemp's cousin plant, marijuana - began to pass laws restricting
most types of cannabis growth and trade.

Today, it's illegal to grow hemp in the United States. Hemp-related products
sold in this country are made from fibers grown in other Western nations,
such as Canada, which raises the ire of American farmers looking for new
cash crops.

In their lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington, the
farmers contend Congress never meant to outlaw hemp as it cracked down on
marijuana. The anti-hemp policies were the mistaken interpretation of the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Justice Department, they allege.

The suit names those agencies and Attorney General Janet Reno as defendants.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Famularo of Lexington, who likely will argue the
federal government's case, did not return two telephone calls to his office
yesterday.

At the heart of the suit is the clear botanical difference between hemp and
marijuana, said Lexington lawyer Burl McCoy, who helped prepare the arguments.

Many pro-hemp advocates - including the plaintiffs in this case - oppose
marijuana legalization, because marijuana, with its THC, can be used as a
narcotic. "Our farmers aren't asking to legalize drugs," said Joseph W.
Hickey, executive director of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association.

"One farmer told me, 'Why would I want to grow a field full of marijuana?'"
Hickey said. "'It would be like having 300,000 cases of beer sitting out
there behind two little strands of barbed wire. There would be problems.'"

Historically, Kentucky was a major producer of hemp, and the state's courts
have been the focus of legal challenges to laws making it illegal to grow
the plant.

Last July, Lee Circuit Judge William Trude struck down part of a state law
that viewed industrial hemp and marijuana in the same light. The defendant
in that case, actor Woody Harrelson, challenged the law by planting four
hemp seeds in Lee County.

Trude's ruling is pending before the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

In coming weeks, the University of Kentucky will release a study that shows
how much hemp could boost Kentucky's economy, Hickey said yesterday.

Aside from providing a crop as profitable as tobacco, hemp farms probably
would lead to jobs-heavy processing plants throughout the state that could
turn the plant's leaves and seeds into a variety of useful items, he said.

"The hemp industry today is where the plastics industry was in the 1920s and
'30s," Hickey said. "We could be on the ground floor of something big."

All Contents (c) Copyright 1998 Lexington Herald-Leader.

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

Farmers To Sue Government Over Hemp Production Source
('Associated Press' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:23:18 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Farmers To Sue Government
Over Hemp Production Source
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Ben
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: Associated Press

FARMERS TO SUE GOVERNMENT OVER HEMP PRODUCTION SOURCE

NEW YORK (AP) Saying it has none of the psychoactive properties of its
cousin marijuana, farmers and trade organizations want the federal
government to make hemp a lawful crop again, The New York Times reported today.

Hemp growing was made illegal 25 years ago under the Controlled Substances
Act of 1972.

The farmers and trade groups contend in a lawsuit against the federal
government that hemp's illegal status violates a 1937 determination by
Congress that the plant doesn't share marijuana's psychoactive effects, the
Times reported.

The lawsuit was expected to be filed today in U.S. District Court in
Lexington, Ky.

Plaintiffs claim the hemp prohibition by the Drug Enforcement Administration
violates the constitutional doctrine of separation of government powers, the
Times said.

Farmers have long complained that the government makes no distinction
between marijuana and hemp, which has industrial uses from rope to paper to
clothing.

Farmers in the South and Midwest view disease-resistant hemp as a rotation
crop among grains and vegetables, and in eastern Kentucky, provide a hedge
against tobacco's uncertain future.

Government officials fear that hemp farming would provide a camouflage for
growing marijuana.

Hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the cannabis sativa plant. But hemp
typically contains less than 1 percent of the active ingredient, THC, that
makes pot smokers high.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the first of its kind, include The Kentucky Hemp
Growers Council, a group of 60 would-be hemp farmers.

Terry Parham, a spokesman for DEA, said the agency had not seen the lawsuit.

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

Kentucky Farmers Will Sue For Right To Grow Hemp (Louisville, Kentucky,
'Courier-Journal' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 15:02:49 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US KY: Kentucky farmers will sue for right to grow hemp
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joe Hickey 
Source: Louisville Courier-Journal (KY)
Contact: cjletter@louisv02.gannett.com
Website: http://www.courier-journal.com/
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Author: Joe Ward, Staff Writer

KENTUCKY FARMERS WILL SUE FOR RIGHT TO GROW HEMP

Action will be filed today in Lexington to challenge 1937 law

A group of Lexington-area farmers who have been battling for legalization
of industrial hemp in Kentucky plans to go to federal court today in
Lexington to sue for the right to grow the plant.

Hemp, which was grown historically by both George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson, was a staple crop through much of Kentucky's history, and a
viable one as recently as World War II.

But a law passed in the 1930s aimed at curbing the cultivation of
marijuana, a biological sibling of hemp that contains a high concentration
of the psychoactive ingredient THC, has been enlarged to ban hemp growth as
well.

Andy Graves, a Lexington Farmer and president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative Association, said there are indications hemp crops could net
Kentucky farmers $300 to $350 an acre - somewhat less than tobacco, but
well ahead of corn and soybeans.

Graves noted that tobacco is "becoming very controversial" and there are
questions about how much longer it will remain the lucrative crop it is for
many Kentucky farmers. "We don't think a hemp crop will rival net income
from tobacco," said, "but with hay, cattle and other things it might help."

Graves said Michael Kennedy, a New York attorney, will file a suit asking
for a series of judgements declaring that the 1937 law was not intended to
outlaw hemp, that the federal government has left regulation of hemp to the
states by default, and that hemp and marijuana are legally distinct.

Burl McCoy, a Lexington attorney working on the suit with Kennedy, said
there is a Kentucky law against cultivation of hemp, but that hemp forces
have challenged it, and have won an initial victory in a case involving
actor Woody Harrelson.

McCoy said the suit to be filed today will introduce testimony from the
Congressional Record showing that sponsors of the 1937 law repeatedly
assured a Kentucky Congressman that it was not intended to interfere with
production of hemp as a crop in any way.

Graves said hemp is a multi-purpose and versatile plant, with seed that can
be converted into food, oil, animal feed and cosmetics, and fiber that can
be used in cloth, rope, carpets, construction materials and paper.

Because it can be grown much more quickly than trees and its production and
processing don't involve the environmental concerns associated with paper
from pulpwood, large paper companies have been scrutinizing hemp for some
years.

Graves said hemp can be grown without pesticides or herbicides, and can
itself be used against the threat of cyst nematodes to soybeans. In tests
in Canada where hemp has been grown in rotation with soybeans, he said, it
has reduced the effects of nematodes by 80 per cent.

Graves also is president of the Farm Bureau organization in Fayette County.
He is joined as a plaintiff in the suit by his father, Jake Graves - a
well-known Lexington banker - and other individual farmers, besides the
association.

He said Kennedy - whose high-visibility clients have included Ivana Trump
-- got interested in the question through an association with Planet Hemp,
a New York store that sells hemp products.

Graves said Kennedy saw viability in a challenge of the DEA's position on
marijuana, and chose Kentucky as a good place to test it. "People here are
comfortable with hemp," Graves said. "The population knows the word. Their
grandfathers grew it. It meant good money years ago, and it will in the
future."

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

Kentucky Historical Hemp Signs (Roadside Attraction At The Jessamine
County Courthouse In Nicholasville, Kentucky)


Return-Path: mrhorse@kih.net
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998
17:15:01 -0400
To: pdxnorml@pdxnorml.org
From: Melodi Cornett
(mrhorse@kih.net)
Subject: Re: Kentucky jpgs

Hello,

The historical sign is in the
front yard of the Jessamine
County Court House, in
Nicholasville, Kentucky.
Nicholasville is about 10
minutes south of Lexington
on U.S. Highway 27. The
sign proclaims Jessamine
County's, and Kentucky's
role in hemp production
both before and during
WWII.

The sign has been standing
there probably since 1970
(I assume this because of
the date at the bottom of
the sign.) My wife and I
took the pictures about 1 1/2
to 2 years ago. We have
more of the sign that we
haven't scanned yet. Hemp
has played a major role in this
Commonwealth, and I am
constantly bewildered as
to why we can't get it
legalized again.

Kevin and Melodi Cornett

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

Wesley Pomeroy, 78, Security Chief At Woodstock (Obituary In 'New York Times'
For A Peace-Loving Peace Officer And Longtime Supporter
Of Marijuana Law Reform Who Worked In A Variety Of Jobs
Ranging From Chief Of Police In Berkeley, California, To Board Member
Of The National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws,
To Assistant Director Of The Drug Enforcement Administration)

From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" 
Subject: MN: US FL: Wesley Pomeroy, 78, Security Chief At Woodstock, dies
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 17:31:18 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Pubdate: May 15, 1998
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Author: Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.

WESLEY POMEROY, 78, SECURITY CHIEF AT WOODSTOCK

Wesley A. Pomeroy, a peace-loving peace officer who maintained order with
friendly persuasion at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San
Francisco and who later became a counterculture hero as the benign and
highly effective security chief at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died
May 4. Pomeroy, 78, died at a hospital near his home in Hollywood, Fla. He
had retired in 1995 as head of the Dade County police review board. His
family said the cause was heart failure.

If Pomeroy had had his way, the revolutionaries of the 1960s would not have
had much to rebel against. That was because Pomeroy, a member of the
American Civil Liberties Union and an advocate of the decriminalization of
marijuana, was a law enforcement officer who viewed protesters as citizens,
not criminals, and whose approach to crowd control was to coddle, even if it
meant sharing police communications systems with a rally's organizers and
teaching angry counter-protesters how to set up picket lines. Pomeroy's
theories first came to national attention in 1964 when, as undersheriff of
suburban San Mateo County, he was put in charge of security for the
Republican Convention at the San Francisco Cow Palace. With the party deeply
split over a number of hot-button issues, there were fears that the
convention, which eventually nominated Barry Goldwater for president, would
disintegrate into factional clashes. But with Pomeroy in charge of a
security force drawn from 18 police departments, the convention was close to
a model of decorum. And when a group of teen-age girls did invade the hall,
and went limp, Pomeroy had them carried out on stretchers, not dragged off.

A native of Burbank, Calif., who attended Pacific Union College, Pomeroy,
who later received a law degree from the San Francisco Law School, became a
law enforcement officer largely on a whim. When he placed first on a civil
service test he joined the California Highway Patrol. After serving with the
Marines in the Pacific in World War II, he resumed his career and later
joined the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department.

His work at the 1964 convention was so impressive that in 1968 Attorney
General Ramsey Clark made him a special assistant to coordinate federal
anticrime efforts, including security at the national political conventions.
As he had four years earlier, Pomeroy helped make the 1968 Republican
Convention a peaceful success, but when he tried to arrange cooperation
between the Chicago police and various protest groups for the Democratic
Convention, his efforts were rebuffed by Mayor Richard J. Daley, making the
resulting notorious clashes all but inevitable.

By the end of 1968 he had been named the Republican member of the
three-member board formed to run the new Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration, but soon after President Richard Nixon took office in 1969,
he was replaced.

As a private consultant, Pomeroy, who later became a Democrat, was hired as
security chief of the Woodstock festival in Bethel, N.Y., where his
compassionate handling of hundreds of thousands of music lovers was credited
with helping to make the festival the peaceful love-in it became known as.
The work led to assignments as security chief at a Led Zeppelin rock tour
and other large events, but in 1974 Pomeroy returned to traditional law
enforcement as chief of police in Berkeley, Calif.

He returned to Washington in 1977, holding a series of posts in the Carter
administration, including assistant director of the Drug Enforcement
administration, something of an anomaly for a man who had been a board
member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or
NORML, and who continued to call for decriminalization, joining the
Coalition Advocating Medical Marijuana as recently as last year. Before
being named director of the Metropolitan Dade County Independent Revi ew
Panel in 1983, he served four years as Deputy Director of the Michigan
Department of Mental Health; it was his long-held belief that the most
efficient way to fight crime was to deal with poverty, mental illness and
its other underlying causes.

It was a reflection of his effectiveness as head of the the Dade County
police review board that the mandatory retirement age for government
officials was repeatedly waived so he could remain in the job until illness
forced him to step down four years ago.

Pomeroy, whose first marriage ended in divorce, is survived by his wife,
Lonna Caroll of Hollywood, Fla.; three daughters from his first marriage,
Nancy Bucher of Palm Springs, Fla., Virginia Pomeroy of Germantown, Wis.,
and Victoria Pomeroy of Germantown, Tenn., and 11 grandchildren.

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

McCaffrey - Videotape Of Peru Visit Doctored
(According To 'The Orange County Register,' The US Drug Czar
Says Vladimiro Montesinos, A Fellow Drug Warrior
Working For Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori,
Edited A Videotape Of The General's Visit To Peru Last Month
In A Bid To Improve Montesinos' Shadowy Public Image)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:14:40 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: McCaffrey: Videotape Of Peru Visit Doctored
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk:John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

McCAFFERY: VIDEOTAPE OF PERU VISIT DOCTORED

White House drug policy chief Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Thursday accused a
top Peruvian security official of doctoring a videotape of his visit to
Peru last month in a bid to improve his shadowy public image.

McCaffrey said Vladimiro Montesinos, a controversial security adviser to
President Alberto Fujimori, had tried to rehabilitate himself in the eyes
of Peruvians by being seen talking to the White House official.

McCaffrey said a doctored videotape combined images from different meetings
in Lima to give the impression that Montesinos had been chairing the
proceedings.

"I was offended by what I saw as an exploitation of my visit by this
official," he said.

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

Pray For Peace Foundation News, May 1998 (Articles Include - Woody Harrelson
And Todd McCormick Tonight On 'Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher';
This Year's Insensitivity Award Goes To Dick Gephart; New Book -
'Drug Crazy'; Activists Wanted; Internet-Telephone Campaign Successful;
Plus An Excellent And Informative Editorial, 'Ganja In The Hindu Religion'
By Nori Muster)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 16:39:41 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Todd McCormick (todd@a-vision.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: [Fwd: May Newsletter]

Dear Friends,

Thought I would pass along the newsletter. Tonight's show was a lot
of fun to tape and should be just as fun to watch. Last Monday Dr Drew
invited me onto his radio show "Love line", I thought he was going to
take a stance against medical mj. but instead he was anti-prohibition
and very supportive for the two hours we were on the air. "Love line" is
syndicated nationally, and was a great fun as well as very educational
for the listeners.

Peace,

TM

***

Return-Path: (PFPFNews@aol.com)
From: PFPF News (PFPFNews@aol.com)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 14:41:37 EDT
Subject: May Newsletter

***

Pray For Peace Foundation News
May 1998

***

TUNE IN - TURN ON - DROP OUT

According to ABC, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson and
Todd McCormick will air tonight, Friday May 15 at midnight. (The web site
http://www.abc.com/pi/ lists different guests, but the office said the web
site is "incorrect.")

On May 14, CNN Headline News carried the story of U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer ordering the closure of six buyers clubs, and Lynn Vaughn interviewed
Dennis Peron on the air by telephone. Peron said that the clubs plan to defy
the judge's order and thereby gain the right to a jury trial.
CNN will be following the story.

***

THIS YEAR'S INSENSITIVITY AWARD GOES TO DICK GEPHART

"It's time to remember who the enemy is in our war on drugs. The enemy is not
the other political party. And it's not our next door neighbor or our
neighbors to the south." --Dick Gephart (D-MO)

***

New Book:
"DRUG CRAZY"

A new book about the history of American drug policy (Random House, 1998),
explains that rather than a planned assault, the drug war happened almost by
accident, like a trunk tumbling downstairs, kicked along by political
opportunists. Please call your local bookstore and ask if they carry Drug
Crazy, by Mike Gray.

***

ACTIVISTS WANTED

Cheryl Miller, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, traveled from her home in
New Jersey to Washington, D.C., with her husband Jim to protest House
Resolution 372 (anti-medical marijuana legislation). Jim fed marijuana to
Cheryl in her representative's office, in front of twenty TV cameras and a
dozen reporters. Police arrested Cheryl and Jim but their case was dismissed.
Cheryl encourages others who feel strongly about the issue to contact MPP and
volunteer for civil disobedience in Washington, D.C.

***

INTERNET-TELEPHONE CAMPAIGN SUCCESSFUL

The House of Representatives postponed the vote on anti-pot legislation, House
Resolution 372, perhaps thanks to our telephone campaign.

There is another bill pending that would lower marijuana from Schedule I to
Schedule II. A Marijuana Policy Project spokesman commented:

>H.R. 1782 has ten co-sponsors and will probably not make it out of
>committee during this session, but it is still important for people to
>ask their representatives to co-sponsor it and their senators to
>introduce companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

Therefore, please call or write your Representative and Senators about HR
1782.

Congress:
The Honorable _________
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Congressional Switchboard (202) 225-3121

Senate:
The Honorable __________
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

A brief respectful letter is the best way to influence your legislators!

FULL TEXT OF HR 1782 is posted at the PFPF web site:
http://www.steamboats.com/pfpf/hr1782.html

***

Editorial:
GANJA IN THE HINDU RELIGION
by Nori Muster, ed.

As a follower of the Hindu religion, I was curious to learn where other Hindu
sects stand on the marijuana issue. Therefore, I've been asking priests,
sadhus and gurus to comment. Generally, Shiva devotees practice (or tolerate)
ganja meditation.

I asked a disciple in the Shavite lineage of Ramana Maharshi to describe his
experiences using hashish with a sadhu in India, and this was his reply:

"Most people do not realize that in the ancient Hindu texts, such as the
Ramayana, the God Shiva was often depicted as a god in bliss, smoking ganja in
beautiful nature settings, such as the in the Himalayas or by the holy river
Ganga.

"The person conducting the ceremony was simply a wandering Shavite sadhu, with
his begging bowl and Shiva trident. The smoking of the sacred substance was
done in the context of a ceremony of praising Shiva. There was a special
shrine room, which in the middle was a Shiva lingum [a stone deity of Shiva].
Offerings of milk, coconut water, and water from the Ganga (we were in
Varanasi, India, considered to be a Shavite city) were first made to the
lingum (to Shiva).

"A chillum [pipe] with the snake of Shiva and an OM sign on it was filled with
hashish, and before each puff, the chant 'Om Shiva!' was declared out loud. We
then sat in silent meditation in front of the lingum.

"It seemed that the hashish helped to create the space for the meditation. It
seems it has been a tradition of the Shavites, reportedly back to the time of
Shiva, to include that as part of the meditation, although it seemed to be a
tradition of the Shavite sadhus, and not the India and Nepalese people who did
worship to Shiva."

There are disagreements between the various Hindu sects, especially between
followers of Shiva and followers of Vishnu. For one thing, although Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva are a divine trinity, there is an ancient argument over which
god is supreme. Strict Vaishnavas tend to look down on Shiva worshipers, in
some cases.

I asked a Vaishnava brahmin priest of the Kothanda Ramar temple in Ramesvaram,
South India, how he felt about ganja. He said:

"No god will accept the ganja smoking, which is absolutely injurious to
health. Then how Lord Shiva only can accept this foolish activities? I cannot
admit this opinion that, Shiva devotees can smoke the ganja, to sharp their
mind towards their god."

Of the Vaishnava sects, only a few practice ganja worship. For example, Lord
Balarama (Krishna's brother, an avatar of Vishnu) accepts offerings of spirits
(wine) or ganja (hemp flowers).

Last November the New American Church Association (NACA), PFPF's sister
organization, applied for nonprofit 501(c)3 organizational status. NACA is
still awaiting the federal government's decision, but the State of California
turned down the application saying that the sacrament is illegal. Guy Mount of
NACA is preparing a letter to California requesting reconsideration. For one
thing, Guy points out that NACA does not intend to provide marijuana. He said,
"Certainly other organizations have worked to change public policy, so I think
we have the same right to organize and seek donations, as long as we are not
doing anything illegal."

The government has shown prejudice toward other sacred natural medicines, as
well. Consider the case of peyote, a sacrament for followers of the Native
American Church. PFPF and NACA support interfaith dialogue and ask Christian
officials to take our religious beliefs into consideration.

American Hindus, Rastafarians, hippies, Dead Heads and Rainbow Family members
share certain values in common, such as our respect for ganja and our legacy
of persecution for using it. PFPF and the NACA advocate and seek to establish
a religious exemption for using marijuana, regardless of ethnic heritage,
religious affiliation or medical condition.

As adult citizens of a free country, we want the right to practice our faith
without government persecution.

***

Blessings of the Mother

Karunamayi Bhagavati Vijayeswari Devi has resumed her U.S. tour after being
called back to India. She will visit California next month. For her new
schedule, visit http://www.Globeworks.com/karunamayi

***

PRAY FOR PEACE FOUNDATION
est. 1995
http://www.steamboats.com/pfpf

Pray For Peace Foundation was founded to spread awareness, education and
devotion to the Great and Holy Mystery that is God. We accept all paths as
true; all religions are but branches of the same tree. We promote interfaith
dialogue and exchange programs to develop tolerance between religions.

Pray For Peace Foundation is dedicated to nonviolence (vegetarian diet) and
daily meditation. Pray For Peace members are committed to the legalization of
sacred natural medicines for spiritual healing, for all people.

				-30-

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

Cannabis Canada Changes Its Name To Cannabis Culture Magazine
(News Release From The Home Office In Vancouver, British Columbia,
Says The Change Becomes Effective With The July/August Issue)

From: creator@hempbc.com (Cannabis Canada)
To: cclist@hempbc.com
Subject: CC: Cannabis Canada changes its name
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:51:54 -0700
Lines: 35
Sender: creator@hempbc.com

Cannabis Canada Changes Its Name To Cannabis Culture Magazine

Continual police harassment has had at least one good effect on Cannabis
Canada magazine. It has stimulated us to continually re-evaluate our
role in the world-wide cannabis community.

In our 3 long years of publication, we have seen our readership grow from
about 6,000 to an astounding 120,000 readers across North America and
around the world. Hundreds of thousands more enjoy our magazine on-line at
http://www.cannabisculture.com/ And we keep growing!

We have had great success within Canada and are now poised to conquer the
international market. Part of the reason for changing our name to Cannabis
Culture is because we want to appeal to a wider international audience. The
change in our name is effective immediately with issue 13, July/August 1998.

Our most recent addition has been a marijuana music section. In future
issues, we will be expanding our consideration of all things hemp with a
hemp fashion section. While we will continue to inspect the politics of
marijuana prohibition, our future direction will include a greater
exploration of human interest stories. We will also continue to offer the
best grow advice from the cutting edge of cultivation technology.

Cannabis Canada developed a reputation as a high-quality magazine with
interesting articles and a snazzy layout. As Cannabis Culture, we will
continue with interesting articles and a snazzy layout. As Cannabis
Culture, we will continue to adhere to that high standard, and we will
continue to grow and improve our magazine in every way possible.

Without the support of our advertisers we could not continue to exist as a
magazine. When you spend money with us you are putting your funds back into
the cannabis community, and you are contributing to ending marijuana
prohibition in Canada and around the world.

***

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/

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

Cannabis Canada's New Online Cannabis Event Listings (Have Your Event
Publicized For Free)

From: creator@hempbc.com (Cannabis Canada)
To: cclist@hempbc.com
Subject: CC: Cannabis Event Database
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:59:58 -0700
Lines: 20
Sender: creator@hempbc.com

Cannabis Canada's New Online Cannabis Event Listings

For all those people who are organizing events, protests and gatherings for
the Cannabis Community, Cannabis Canada is now providing free space to
spread the word on our well-travelled website.

Anyone planning an event should send a brief description of the event, the
date, the location, a contact name and number and any other pertinent info
to mailto:chaplain@cannabisculture.com or contact us at (604) 669-9069 in
Vancouver, Canada.

Anyone looking for cannabis events to attend should take a look at our
website, where we will soon be posting the info. See our website at
http://www.cannabisculture.com/

***

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/

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

Amsterdam Cafe Raided (Bulletin From 'Cannabis Canada'
Says Police Confiscated Pipes, Bongs And Seeds From The Store
In Vancouver, British Columbia - Raid Thought To Be Prompted
By American Television Coverage)

From: creator@hempbc.com (Cannabis Canada)
To: cclist@hempbc.com
Subject: CC: Amsterdam Cafe Raided
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:54:23 -0700
Lines: 34
Sender: creator@hempbc.com

Amsterdam Cafe Raided

At just after 12:00 today, Friday, May 15, the Amsterdam Cafe was raided by
police. Police seized pipes, bongs and seeds from the cafe. But they left
books, magazines and hemp clothes. The store was occupied for about two and
a half hours, after authorities took the names of some employees and
patrons.

Police were a lot better mannered than usual. Books, magazines and hemp
clothes are often illegally seized by police during raids of hemp stores.
At the request of Karen Watson, store owner, the police gently removed
merchandise.

"They were very well behaved," said Watson, "The police didn't want to be
here. One guy said he used to smoke pot and that he was only doing his job."

The raid on the Amsterdam follows a pattern evidenced at Hemp BC and the
Cannabis Café. Just like raids on the two latter stores, the raid on the
Amsterdam occurred after major media coverage by American television. The
Amsterdam had just recently been featured on Hardcopy and King 5. It seems
likely that pressure from American authorities precipitates a fair deal of
police action against hemp stores in Canada.

"I'm not mad at the police. They're just doing their job. I'm mad at the
people who tell the police what to do," Watson said.

The search warrant cited 462.2 of the criminal code, which makes it illegal
to promote or sell items for "illicit drug use." Although police did not
lay charges at the time of the raid, they promised to return to do so at a
later time.

Karen Watson can be reached for offers of moral or monetary support at
(604) 683-7200, in Vancouver, BC.

***

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/

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

Son Of Justice Has Drug Case Moved To British Columbia ('Halifax Daily News'
Says The 27-Year-Old Son Of Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Gordon Tidman,
Who Was Busted With 5.5 Kilograms Of Cannabis When He Came To Nova Scotia
To Get Married, Is A Resident Of British Columbia,
Where He Works At A Snowboard Factory)

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Son of justice has drug case moved to B.C
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 07:14:12 -0700
Lines: 55
Source: Halifax Daily News
Contact: letterstoeditor@hfxnews.southam.ca
[Portland NORML notes - While Webster's says a 'bluenose' as someone
who seeks to impose their moral views on others, the word also explicitly
refers to anyone from Nova Scotia, like "webfooters" are from Oregon.]

Friday, May 15, 1998

Son of justice has drug case moved to B.C

By Brendan Elliott - The Daily News

A 27-year-old son of Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Gordon Tidman
will plead guilty to trafficking marijuana later this year in
Abbotsford, B.C.

James Tidman was scheduled to appear in Dartmouth provincial court
yesterday for a trial on allegedly being in possession of 5.5
kilograms of the drug for the purpose of selling it.

But being a Vancouver resident, the snowboard-company employee decided
to conclude the case in British Columbia.

When a jurisdiction move such as that takes place - known as a waiver
file - the accused has to plead guilty to the charge, said a clerk in
the Vancouver Crown attorney's office.

The young man's West Coast lawyer, John Conroy, appeared in Vancouver
provincial court on Tidman's behalf yesterday, and asked for the file
to be transferred yet again, this time to Abbotsford.

A guilty plea will not be entered until he appears in the bedroom
community's court house.

While Conroy was unavailable for comment yesterday, his secretary, who
would only identify herself as Danielle, told The Daily News the move
to Abbotsford was requested because Conroy practises in that city, an
hour out of Vancouver.

"(James) wasn't able to attend court (yesterday), so it just made
sense to move it to Abbotsford," she said.

The Vancouver judge did set June 3 as a return date for Tidman, just
to ensure the file and everything pertaining to it, makes it to
Abbotsford.

Conroy's assistant said an Abbotsford court date hasn't yet been set,
but added it would likely be after the June 3 Vancouver appearance.

Tidman was arrested by Halifax regional police Oct. 16, the day he
arrived in town from B.C. for his wedding to a Bluenoser he'd been
dating for a few years.

At the time of the arrest, Justice Tidman said the family, in town for
the nuptials, was shocked by the revelation.

"It's not something that you expect or that you appreciate; but these
things happen," he said.

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

Substance Abuse Problem Grows In The Military ('Vancouver Sun' Account
Makes It Clear The Big Problem In Canada Is With Alcohol)

From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Substance abuse problem grows in the military
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 07:15:30 -0700
Lines: 142
Source: Vancouver Sun
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca

Fri 15 May 1998 News A1 / Front

Substance abuse problem grows in the military

By: Stewart Bell

ESQUIMALT - The bearded sea captain, a long-service medal pinned to
his navy dress uniform, stood with his arms at his sides as the court
martial began.

``How do you plead?'' asked the military judge.

``Guilty,'' the captain replied.

The career of Commander Robert E. Bush wasn't supposed to come to
this. The Vancouver-born sailor had 22 years of service, held key
posts, including a stint at NATO, and was liked by his crew.

But like too many in Canada's military, he also had a drinking problem
-- and paid the price, losing command of his ship. This week, he was
sentenced to a severe reprimand and a $1,000 fine.

It's been five years since the alcohol-induced mess created by
Canadian troops in Somalia, but Bush's court martial shows that
substance abuse problems continue to haunt the Canadian Armed Forces.

The number of armed forces members disciplined for substance abuse has
remained fairly stable in the last five years, but at the same time
the number of men and women in the military has dropped by about
10,000.

Since 1993, more than 600 members of the army, navy and air force have
been investigated for alcohol and drug offences. More than 100 have
been discharged for misuse of alcohol. Another 100 were discharged for
drugs.

And, as Bush's case suggests, the problems are not limited to the
lower ranks of non-commissioned officers. Among those reviewed by
defence headquarters for career discipline in recent years were senior
officers, including a major, a lieutenant colonel and a lieutenant
commander. Twelve junior officers were also subject to career reviews.

Alcohol abuse has been a matter of concern in the military for the
past few years following a series of embarrassing scandals, prompting
some politicians and high-ranking officers to call for a ban on
drinking in the field.

Alcohol was a factor in the March 1993 death of 16-year-old Shidane
Arone, who was tortured and killed by members of the Canadian Airborne
regiment during the U.S.-led aid mission to Somalia.

Last year, a military investigation found that Canadian peacekeepers
at the Bakovici mental hospital in Bosnia were drunk on duty, beat a
patient, shaved the genital area of a 17-year-old female patient and
had consensual sex with nurses.

Bush's actions were not nearly so grave. He was drinking about three
hours before he took HMCS Calgary to sea from Campbell River last
July, in violation of military rules that prohibit drinking within six
hours of duty. At the time, the Calgary was escorting Lieutenant
Governor Garde Gardom on a tour of the B.C. coast.

After he was stripped of his command in October, Bush was diagnosed as
alcohol-dependent and checked into a civilian treatment centre in
Nanaimo. His recovery is going well, mostly due to his commitment to
fight the problem.

A military survey in 1994 found almost 25 per cent of men in Canada's
armed forces get drunk every three weeks. Fifteen military deaths a
year are linked to alcohol, the study found.

That may sound high, but it's not that far off the rate of drunkenness
in the general population, says Dr. Eric Single, director of the
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

``I think it is a little bit worse in the military, because they are
more socially-isolated and probably the culture of the military still
represents a certain problem.''

But unlike the public, armed forces members are supposed to refrain
from drunkenness. They have access to weapons, fly warplanes, command
heavily armed ships and must be ready at any time to respond to
emergencies both in Canada and abroad.

``The Navy cannot afford, and indeed the public cannot afford, any
degree of impairment on behalf of those who operate warships,''
military prosecutor Commander Jim Price told Bush's court martial this
week.

Major Louis St. Laurent, the armed forces' drug and alcohol program
coordinator in Ottawa, said one factor that may contribute to military
drinking is stress.

``Since the incidents in Bosnia, the military have been under a lot of
stress,'' he said. ``The cuts that we've been going through since 1995
are stressful for everybody. There's a lot of work to be done in
certain times, and sometimes there's not enough people to do it all.''

But St. Laurent said he believes the armed forces is winning the fight
against alcohol. ``Right now I feel very comfortable in that we're
doing a whole lot,'' he said.

``Sometimes I feel that I don't know that we'll ever get to the end --
I don't know if that's a fair objective - but I do feel satisfied
that compared to other industries or companies and organizations, at
least we have [programs to deal with alcohol abuse].

``Personally, I would hate to see that the cuts will be so severe with
the [Canadian Forces] that we'll have to cut into those type of
programs.''

For his part, Bush said he is satisfied with the amount of help
available for armed forces members with alcohol problems. He called
the military program ``as good as it gets.''

Military documents show some members of the armed forces have long
records of alcohol problems. Several have three or four convictions
for impaired driving.

A corporal whose case was sent to Ottawa last June 11 had already been
deemed a ``treatment failure'' following his admission to a recovery
program in 1989. He also had a drinking and driving conviction in
March 1991 and was sent to jail for 30 days following a subsequent
conviction in October 1991.

Defence officials decided last March 4 not to take career action
against a corporal who had four impaired driving convictions.

Problems with other drugs generally involved marijuana and cocaine,
but also ecstacy, halothane gas, morphine, Ritalin, magic mushrooms,
LSD, valium and steroids. Some soldiers were caught for possession
while others were accused of trafficking.

``Like the rest of society we still have problems of substance
abuse,'' said Captain John Morgan, who looks after matters of career
discipline at defence headquarters in Ottawa. ``But from my desk I
have not seen what I would say are any surges.''

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

Silenced On Drug Policies, Says Police Chief
(According To 'The Sydney Morning Herald,'
Australian Police Commissioner Ryan Disclosed Figures Yesterday
Which Suggest Heroin Use Is Increasing, But He Said He Would No Longer
Discuss Alternative Harm Reduction Policies After Being Warned
To Stay Silent By State Politicians)

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 17:45:16 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Australia: Silenced on Drug Policies, Says Police Chief
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Ken Russell
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact: letters@smh.com.au
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Kate McClymont and Bernard Lagan

SILENCED ON DRUG POLICIES, SAYS POLICE CHIEF

The Police Commissioner, Mr Ryan, disclosed figures yesterday which suggest
that heroin use is increasing, but said he would no longer involve himself
in alternative drug policies after being warned to stay silent by State
politicians

In a wide-ranging interview on the first anniversary of the report of the
Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, Mr Ryan said that in one town
with a population of about 30,000, a needle exchange had recorded 3,000
needles handed in over four weeks.

"It does give an indication of a trend, and the trend has obviously been
growing," he said.

Mr Ryan said heroin abuse in particular was the major underlying cause of
most crime involving property. But how society tackled drug abuse "has got
to be a political decision".

"I am charged with the enforcement side and I've already been told to mind
my own business when it comes to anything else so that I will do and just
continue with the enforcement side."

Mr Ryan said that it was essential that better border controls be developed
to help control the amount of narcotics pouring into Australia through
containers, people arriving by aircraft, and ships anchoring kilometres
offshore.

He said that while many positive improvements had happened in the past
year, "it's a five-year process of change, in some cases a generation. I
cannot fix it in 12 months".

The involvement of his Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jeff Jarratt, in a Police
Integrity Commission (PIC) inquiry had "deflected" from other police
issues.

Mr Ryan admitted that he was being overwhelmed by the number of official
bodies - including the PIC, ICAC and the Ombudsman - watching the force.
While he understood that it was too soon after the royal commission to
remove some of the watchdogs, "I think we have to be given more trust".

At the same time, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nick Cowdery, QC,
criticised the Carr Government for what he said was its failure to provide
funds to deal with the vast amount of work arising from both the royal
commission and the PIC.

Mr Ryan also said that he now regretted his outburst at the Nagano Winter
Olympics when he attacked unnamed senior colleagues for "white-anting" him.

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

Heroin Hooks Children Of New Russian Rich (Britain's 'Guardian'
Plays Up The Extent Of Heroin Use In The Former Soviet Union
While Noting Russia Has Some Of The Harshest Drug Laws In The World -
Recently They Were Tightened Still Further To Criminalise Not Only Dealing
And Possession But Also Use, Making It Possible To Imprison Anyone
Who Tests Positive For Drugs, Or Admits To Having Used Drugs)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:53:38 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Russia: Heroin Hooks Children of New Russian Rich
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Martin Cooke 
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: James Meek in Moscow

HEROIN HOOKS CHILDREN OF NEW RUSSIAN RICH

'There are still 2 million junkies but at least heroin is not fashionable
any more'

The wealthy young patients at the Kundola medical centre, in thick woods a
few miles outside the Russian capital, live according to a strict regime.
Their comfortable suites in the clean, bright clinic in a heavily-guarded
compound have the air of a gilded cage.

The 24-hour security cordon and camera-monitored perimeter fence exist not
to stop them running away nor to protect them from attack, but to defend
them against the temptation that brought them here: heroin, which dealers
and friends of the addicts have been known to smuggle in or throw over the
fence.

The Kundola centre, where a three-week course of treatment costs at least
£2,500 - more than an average Russian earns in a year - is a symptom of the
drugs craze blighting the children of Russia's richest families.

Yakov Marshak, a senior doctor at the clinic, said the youngest patient
they had treated was 12.

"She didn't want to be cured. While she was here she dreamed about drugs,
drugs were the best thing in the world. She was very hostile," he said.
"Surprisingly, we managed to get her off drugs for several months."

The fashion for hard drugs among the hedonistic offspring of the rich hit
the headlines earlier this week when Liza Berezovskaya, daughter of
billionaire politician Boris Berezovsky, was arrested by police in St
Petersburg for possession of cocaine.

Miss Berezovskaya, aged 27, a Cambridge graduate, artist and buyer of
British art, is a member of the tusovshchiki - the "shuffled ones". This is
the name given to young people who frequent nightclubs in Moscow and St
Petersburg, switching venues and drugs as fashions change.

Russian newspapers reported that Miss Berezovskaya was held overnight and
released on bail after voluntarily surrendering 0.85 grammes of cocaine.
Her boyfriend, Ilya Voznesensky, a model and great-grandson of Joseph
Stalin, was also detained after police confronted them at a nightclub.

Russia has some of the harshest drugs laws in the world. Recently they were
tightened still further to criminalise not only dealing and possession but
also use, making it possible to imprison anyone who tests positive for
drugs, or admits to having used drugs. But few believe the tough stance
will get more people off drugs.

Statistics are unreliable, but it is believed that heroin users number
millions and, with needle-sharing rampant, the HIV virus is spreading
rapidly. Drugs appear to have tightened their grip on the bored,
Western-educated children of the elite.

Ben Aris, a contributor to a new Time Out guide to the Russian capital,
wrote in the English-language daily Moscow Times: "Moscow met heroin again
around 1996. Within six months a big chunk of clubland was hooked, but by
mid-1997 heroin usage was petering out. There are still about 2 million
junkies in Russia, but at least heroin is not fashionable any more. Coke is
fashionable."

Fashionable or not, nine out of 10 patients at the Kundola centre are
heroin addicts. Dr Marshak cures them by diet, the anti-opiate drug
naltrexon, the 12-step programme followed by Alcoholics Anonymous and yoga
exercises.

Dr Marshak also counsels distraught parents who find it difficult to
believe that their children are spending their new wealth on drugs.

"I would never have dreamed there were such wealthy people," Dr Marshak said.

"One father tried flying his daughter around the world, moving her every
three days to cure her. But every time he brought her to a country where
she didn't speak the language and didn't know anyone, by evening she would
find out where the drugs were."

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

The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 42
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network's Original News Summary For Activists,
Including An Article On Multiple Sclerosis Patient Craig Helm,
Convicted In Hillsboro, Oregon, Despite The Help Of The NORML
Medical Marijuana Defense Fund, Which Paid The Air Fare
For Virginia Neurologist Dr. Denis J. Petro To Fly To Portland
To Present Expert Testimony)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 19:22:26 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 #42

THE WEEK ONLINE WITH DRCNet, ISSUE #42 - MAY 15, 1998

-- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --

(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:drcnet@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)

(This issue can be read on our web site at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html.)

NEWSFLASH: Woody Harrelson and Todd McCormick on
Politically Incorrect TONIGHT (5/15)

GO CRAZY FOR DRUG CRAZY: Keep the calls flowing in to the
bookstores for Mike Gray's DRUG CRAZY (see our alert at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-29.html). Your phone
calls to bookstores in your area - whether big chains or
local independent stores - will make the booksellers look
twice at Drug Crazy and help propel it to the bestseller
list. Just call up, ask them if they have Drug Crazy, from
Random House, and say thank you. (You don't even have to
order a copy, though you may as well, because it's well
worth the price.) Many of you have done this already, and
we think it's having an effect. DRCNet is lauded and
prominently featured in the book's appendix, together with
an Internet directory of drug policy reform and
informational resources, so building up Drug Cray will build
DRCNet and the movement too! Some book chains that may be
in your area: Crown, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Border's,
Doubleday, Brentano's, Scribner's, Waldenbooks, Pyramid --
let us know if we've missed any, so we can add them to the
next alert. Call, call, call!

Nearly 300 DRCNet members have taken advantage of our offer
for free copies of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts. We are
planning to continue this offer until the end of May, and
then move on. If you want your copy, make sure to send in
$30 or more for membership by the end of the month.

DRCNet e-mail subscribership has reached approximately
5,300, and our paying membership is approaching 900 - thank
you for your support! Our mid-year membership goal is
1,300, which is a major challenge for us. Fulfilling this
ambitious goal will give our funders confidence in our
ability to make it in the big leagues, bringing in the money
to go from 5,000 to 50,000 and from 50,000 to 100,000,
turning us into a major political force with which to be
reckoned. If you haven't yet voted with your checkbook and
signed up, or if you have, but want to renew your support,
we hope you'll take a minute to do so, by visiting
http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html on our web site, wire in
your credit card donation through the secure version, or
print it out and send in with your check or money order --
or just send your check to: DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite
615, Washington, DC 20036. Contributions to DRCNet are not
tax-deductible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Preliminary Injunction Granted Against 6 California
Buyers' Clubs... Medical Marijuana to Get its Day in
Court
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#dayincourt

2. Kentucky Farmers Seek Federal Court Ruling on Hemp
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#kentucky

3. Santa Clara County Buyers' Club Closes After Police
Seize Assets
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#santaclara

4. Portland MS Patient Found Guilty of Marijuana
Possession, Manufacturing
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#craighelm

5. Another Botched Raid in New York, Another Innocent
Family Terrorized in the Name of "Our Children"
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#badraid

6. San Mateo County Votes to Study Medicinal Marijuana,
Says Research Will Provide Access for Patients
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#sanmateo

7. Record Two Million Private Conversations Monitored by
Government in 1997
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#wiretaps

8. Forfeiture Victims Need Help
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#hansons

9. Medical Journal Reports AIDS Patient's Persistent
Hiccups Relieved by Marijuana
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#hiccups

10. EDITORIAL: McLies
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#editorial

***

1. PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION GRANTED AGAINST 6 CALIFORNIA
BUYERS' CLUBS... MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO GET ITS DAY IN
COURT

On May 14, US District Court Judge Charles Breyer granted
the Federal Government's request for a preliminary
injunction barring the distribution of marijuana by six
Northern California medical marijuana providers. That
injunction will go into effect sometime next week. Breyer
refused, however, to grant the government's requests for
summary judgment and permanent injunction, paving the way
for a federal jury trial in which the defendant providers
will be able to test the government's interpretation of
"caregiver" under Proposition 215, which would not include
the clubs, against a defense of medical necessity.

The ruling is expected to result in contempt proceedings
against the clubs and their operators, who have vowed to
continue their operations despite the injunction. "We will
do everything in our power to stay open," said Jeff Jones,
director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which
serves some 1,300 seriously ill members. "The alternative
that the government is giving them is the street. That's
not adequate. We have a moral imperative to keep our
facility open."

Defense attorney William Panzer was happy with the effect of
the ruling. "We will have our day in court" he said,
indicating that the federal government's continued bad faith
in dealing with patients, clubs and local governments would
be put on trial.

(A couple of important books on medical marijuana:

* Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine, by Dr. Lester
Grinspoon and James Bakalar, Harvard University Medical
School, a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of
conditions for which marijuana has some medical value,
including individual testimonials and a review of the
scientific evidence.

* Marijuana Medical Handbook: A Guide to Therapeutic Use,
by noted authorities Ed Rosenthal, Tod Mikuriya and Dale
Gieringer.

Go to http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#medmjbooks
on our web site, follow the amazon.com links, and DRCNet
will earn 15 percent from your purchases!)

***

2. KENTUCKY FARMERS SEEK FEDERAL COURT RULING ON HEMP

On Friday (5/15), a group of Kentucky family farmers will
seek a declaratory judgment in Federal Court on the issue of
whether the production of industrial hemp is in violation of
federal law. The farmers, represented by attorney Michael
Kennedy, base their suit, and their contention that the
cultivation of hemp is beyond the scope of federal concerns,
on three principal grounds:

* Congress never intended to prohibit the legitimate
production of industrial hemp, and therefore that the
defendants' interpretation and enforcement of the Controlled
Substances Act (CSA) to prohibit industrial hemp violates
the separation of powers;

* Congress has never preempted the regulation of industrial
hemp and therefore its production should be left to the
individual states and citizens, and states may enact
legislation regarding the production of industrial hemp
without violating federal law; and

* Hemp and marijuana are botanically and legally distinct
products of the cannabis plant and should therefore be
treated differently.

The farmers, who are principally tobacco growers facing
difficult economic times, would like to have the opportunity
to explore industrial hemp as an alternative crop. Joining
the suit is the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative
Association and the Hemp Company of America, which can
guarantee a market for the crop. The farmers say that the
only thing preventing them from growing hemp is the fear
that the federal government will step in and seize their
farms.

Farmers in Canada were recently given permission to plant
hemp by the government there. Hemp production is now legal
in every Western democracy outside of the US.

Last month, in an appearance in Kentucky, at the University
of Louisville, Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey ridiculed the
notion of hemp as a viable crop, or even as a real issue.
He called the argument that hemp could be an alternative to
tobacco "silly," insisted that economic viability would
depend upon paying laborers "very low wages" and, as to hemp
cloth, the retired general stated that "it doesn't even hold
a crease." "The bottom line is..." said McCaffrey, "...a
thinly disguised attempt... to legalize the production of
pot." Finally, in a derisive reference to one of hemp's
most public and outspoken proponents, McCaffrey said that he
comes to his conclusions about hemp's viability despite the
wisdom of "noted agronomists like (actor) Woody Harrelson."

But McCaffrey's views on agriculture are at odds with other
agronomists as well. Jeffrey Gain, former chief of the
national Corn Growers' Association, recently told the
Lexington Herald-Leader, "it's an incredible opportunity.
There is too much emphasis on too few crops." And Andy
Graves, President of the Fayette County Farm Bureau, is also
a hemp supporter. "We want to force the DEA to come to
grips with the fact that hemp is not marijuana."

Michael Kennedy, attorney for the plaintiffs, spoke with The
Week Online: "We shouldn't be surprised that the Drug Czar
comes up with these inane arguments that he can't justify
either legally or factually. He is simply attempting to
cover up fundamental issues. The DEA has never had the
authority, under any doctrine or law, to regulate or
prohibit the production of industrial hemp. This is one of
the bases of our case."

Kennedy continued, "The farmers represented here are
primarily small family farms whose ability to rely on
tobacco has been greatly diminished. They need an
alternative crop to rotate with their corn or soybeans or
whatever else they're scratching out a living growing. Hemp
is, without question, the best and most environmentally
benign crop around.

"As to the marketability of the crop, joined in this lawsuit
is the Hemp Corporation of America. They have joined
because they have assured the farmers that they will buy all
the hemp that they can produce. Hemp Corporation is
completely committed to marketing their hemp-based products
through a variety of outlets. We have never, in America,
relied upon narcotics agents to determine our markets. The
problem is, at this point, that the DEA is desperate to
continue to justify the incredible mounts of taxpayer money
that they are spending, under the guise of drug control, to
pull up ditch-weed. Their budgets are dependent upon these
absurd programs, and unfortunately, the American farmer is
being hurt by this bureaucratic power grab."

(Last week we reported that a Vermont state auditor's report
had found that more than 99% of "marijuana" eradicated with
federal eradication funds was non-psychoactive, wild hemp
rather than cultivated marijuana. See
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-8.html#ditchweed.)

(Drug Czar McCaffrey, a retired four-star general, would do
well to review his military history. During World War II,
the federal government encouraged farmers to grow hemp,
which was seen as important to the war effort. If your
browser has video capability, you can see "Hemp for
Victory", a USDA film created to convince farmers to grow
hemp again, after the government had wiped the industry out
a few years before. Check it out on the Oregon Cannabis Tax
Act's web site at http://www.crrh.org/hemp4victory.html.)

(The University of Kentucky Press reprinted "A History of
the Hemp Industry in Kentucky" last year, a scholarly
history by James F. Hopkins, originally published in 1951.
You can buy it from amazon.com by following our link from
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-15.html#hempbook --
DRCNet will earn 15 percent of your purchase!)

***

3. SANTA CLARA COUNTY BUYERS' CLUB CLOSES AFTER POLICE SEIZE
ASSETS

The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center closed down
on Friday after San Jose police searched their medical
records and seized a $29,000 bank account. Authorities have
charged the center's director, Peter Baez, with six felony
counts for allegedly selling marijuana without a valid
doctor's recommendation in nearly seventy cases.

Peter Baez's cousin, folk singer Joan Baez, and several
patients, held a press conference to mourn the loss of the
club. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the famous
folk singer claimed that the demise of the club could be
attributed to an attempt by local law enforcement to
"impress a certain narrow segment of society."

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney, Denise Raabe
told the San Francisco Chronicle that Baez's prosecution
"isn't some governmental crackdown. Peter Baez didn't
follow the rules. He violated the law."

Mike Alcalay, Medical Director for the Oakland Cannabis
Buyer's Club, reviewed all the suspected cases and told The
Week Online that they fall within state law. The law states
that patients must have a written or oral recommendation.
According to Alcalay, in many of the cases the authorities
are singling out, there were written recommendations. In
the remaining cases an oral recommendation is verifiable
through phone records. "They are basing these charges on
phone calls where the police intimidated and harassed
doctors over the phone causing many to fear prosecution and
therefore deny that they recommended marijuana."

Legally, the center may remain open, but with its bank
account seized, the operators will be unable to pay growers
or rent. Baez will appear for a preliminary hearing on the
charges on June 16.

The center serves 270 clients who will no longer have a safe
and easily accessible way to obtain their medicine. Some
patients said they will travel to San Francisco to get their
medicine legally, but for others like cancer patient Ramon
Mayo that is not feasible. "I guess I have to become a
criminal and get from the best place I can - the nearest
dealer," said Mayo to the San Jose Mercury News.

***

4. PORTLAND MS PATIENT FOUND GUILTY OF MARIJUANA POSSESSION,
MANUFACTURING

In Portland, Oregon last week, multiple sclerosis patient
Craig Helm was sentenced to two years probation and two $100
fines after a jury found him guilty of marijuana manufacture
and possession. He was arrested at his home in Hillsboro,
Oregon in 1996, after a police raid that netted eight
marijuana plants.

Mr. Helm, 48, is a former truck driver whose MS has confined
him to a wheelchair in recent years. He began using
marijuana, he says, when his prescription for the painkiller
Baclofen failed to calm the wrenching muscle spasms in his
legs, and his doctors told him they wanted to surgically
implant a pump that would feed the drug directly into his
spinal canal.

Helm's attorney, Leland Berger, told The Week Online that
Helm had rejected a pre-trial offer of bench probation in
part because he hoped that the case might be dismissed on
the basis of a "choice of evils" medical necessity (between
marijuana and the surgically-implanted pump) defense. To
that end, and with the help of the Medical Marijuana Defense
Fund, Berger was able to fly Virginia neurologist Dr. Denis
J. Petro to Portland to provide expert testimony on the
efficacy of marijuana in the treatment of Helm's symptoms.

Deputy District Attorney Greg Olson called the studies Dr.
Petro cited "junk science" and sought to have his testimony
stricken from court records, but Circuit Judge Gregory
Milnes decided to allow it.

Also encouraging was the testimony of Helm's own
neurologist, Dr. Michelle Mass. "She told the court that
she would have prescribed Marinol for Craig had he asked for
it in the past, and that she would do so in the future,"
Berger said. "She also said that she would prescribe
marijuana if it were legal."

Though the defense tactic was ultimately unsuccessful in
Helm's case, Berger said the trial elicited strong local
support for the medical rights issue. "The very experience
of having twelve people (the jury) sit there watching Craig
and listening to testimony over three days will have
positive ripple effects throughout the community," he said.

(To read more about Craig Helm's case, including Leland
Berger's posted updates and the response he received from a
jury member after the trial, visit the Portland NORML web
site at http://www.pdxnorml.org/news98_index_0430.html.)

***

5. ANOTHER BOTCHED RAID IN NEW YORK, ANOTHER INNOCENT FAMILY
TERRORIZED IN THE NAME OF "OUR CHILDREN"

Last week, for the fourth time in three months, police in
New York City broke down the wrong door. The New York Times
last week reported that on the morning of May 1, police
acting on a confidential tip burst through the door of the
Shorter family in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and tossed a stun
grenade into the front hall. At home were Mr. Basil
Shorter, a retired baker, his wife Cecilia, and their two
teenage daughters Isis, 14, and Phebi, 18. "I thought
America was invaded, that some force, a foreign force, came
to kill us," Mr. Shorter said at a press conference last
week. "My family was helpless. I was helpless."

Mrs. Shorter told the Times that she was terrified the
police would shoot Phebi, who is mentally retarded and was
bathing when the raid began. Police pulled Phebi from the
shower and handcuffed her. She was given a robe to cover
herself with, but Mrs. Shorter said that police ignored her
warning that her daughter was menstruating, and gave her a
sanitary pad only after she was obviously bleeding.
Meanwhile, the entire family was herded into the hallway as
neighbors passed by. "I was so embarrassed," Mr. Shorter
recalled tearfully.

No drugs were found in the apartment, though investigators
told the Times that drug dealers sometimes operate out of
other people's homes "without their knowledge." Organized
Crime Control Bureau Chief Martin O'Boyle said he believes
the information the police had on the Shorter's apartment
was good. A raid of another apartment in the building named
by the confidential informant, according to police, turned
up a gun and "a small amount of drugs."

The Shorters have hired an attorney, Harvey Weitz, who will
pursue a $200 million dollar case against the city. The
Week Online asked Mr. Weitz for his comment on the Shorter
case and others like it. "It's appalling what we in this
country have come to condone in the name of law and order,"
he said. "No-knock warrants allow the police to break into
an innocent family's home, like the Shorters', at any hour
of the day or night, on nothing more than the word of an
informant, and essentially set a bomb off in the living
room, and round everyone up." Mr. Weitz's firm has taken on
the Shorter's case in the hopes of bringing public attention
to the dramatic curtailment of civil rights in recent years.
"People have to recognize that these raids are the
equivalent of the excesses of fascist countries, being
played out in America every day. It's time to say, 'let's
take a moment to reexamine where we're going.'"

***

6. SAN MATEO COUNTY VOTES TO STUDY MEDICINAL MARIJUANA, SAYS
RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE ACCESS FOR PATIENTS

As municipalities all over California struggle to find
appropriate ways to implement proposition 215, officials in
San Mateo County, which includes part of San Francisco,
think they might have found a way to bypass the legal
complications of the buyer's clubs and provide marijuana
directly to those who need it most. Last week, county
supervisors voted three to one to develop a research study
into the medicinal uses of marijuana. If it goes forward,
the project would run for three years and include as many as
2,000 patients who suffer from a variety of ailments thought
to benefit from marijuana. And if it is successful, county
supervisors hope the results could lend support to 215 and
even lead to a change in federal laws.

The biggest hurdle facing the proposed study now is approval
from the FDA, DEA and other regulatory agencies, who control
access to the US' only legal source of marijuana. For the
past twenty years, the government has approved access only
for those clinical studies which seek to show the harmful
effects of marijuana. Researchers who want to study the
potential benefits of the drug have been rejected outright
or stalled in red tape for years. Nevertheless, proponents
of the San Mateo project hope their chances will be improved
by the conclusions of an expert panel convened by the
National Institutes of Health last February, which
acknowledged the need for further clinical research on
medical marijuana.

***

7. RECORD TWO MILLION PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS MONITORED BY
GOVERNMENT IN 1997

A recently released government report indicates that a
record number of wiretaps (1,186) were approved by state and
federal judges in 1997. The average number of conversations
intercepted by each tap was 2,081, meaning that over two
million separate conversations were surreptitiously
overheard. 73 percent of the taps were approved as part of
narcotics-related investigations. These figures represent
only those cases where neither of the parties to a
conversation was aware or approved of the tap.

New York topped the list of states in which wiretaps had
been approved with 304. New Jersey was second with 102.

"The Clinton Administration's law enforcement bureaucracy
has sought wiretap authorizations at historically
unprecedented levels," Eric Sterling, President of the
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation tells The Week Online.
"Some of this is the product of the unprecedented growth of
federal law enforcement in recent years. One rationale for
such growth is wiretapping itself, as it is a very labor-
intensive practice. But like nearly every law enforcement
tool that has been extended in scope and utility over the
past twenty years, there hasn't been a very significant
positive payoff."

***

8. FORFEITURE VICTIMS NEED HELP

David Hanson was arrested May 9, 1993 for a first-time, low-
level marijuana offense for which he spent 17 months in
federal prison. Additionally, the state of Minnesota seized
$40,000 from the bank account belonging to him and his wife,
Rose, and the federal government seized their home.

Rose and David Hanson are the Minnesota coordinators for the
organization Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR).
They have been fighting to keep their house, but their
appeals were denied by the 8th Circuit Court. The
government has agreed to accept $30,000 from the Hansons as
a settlement. The Hansons are retirees living on social
security, so to pay the $30,000, they applied for a reverse
mortgage, under which the lender will pay the government, in
exchange for ownership of the home, and the Hansons will be
able to live there for the rest of their lives.

The Hanson's reverse mortgage was approved, but in the
meantime, interest rates increased by 1.1 percent, causing a
$2,200 shortfall in the proceeds. The government attorney
has adamantly refused to settle for less than $30,000.

The Hansons have not asked for help, but fellow anti-
forfeiture activists have issued an appeal for funds to help
them make up the shortfall and keep their home. If interest
rates drop again and the funds are not needed, they have
promised to return all checks uncashed. We at DRCNet know
the Hansons and feel confident that the appeal is
legitimate. To help the Hansons, please mail checks to:

David and Rose Hanson
6040 Wentworth Avenue S.
Minneapolis, MN 55419

We have just posted the first document in our asset
forfeiture Topics in Depth section - An Epidemic of Abuses
of Federal Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws, by Rachel King, the
new crime lobbyist at the ACLU's DC National Office. Check
it out at http://www.drcnet.org/forfeiture/epidemic.html.
A few important, relevant books are listed at the end of the
article - follow the links to buy them from amazon.com, and
DRCNet will earn a percentage of your purchase! Also,
please visit FEAR's current legislative alert at
http://www.fear.org/980417a.html and take action!

***

9. Medical Journal The Lancet Reports Persistent Hiccups in
AIDS Patient Relieved by Marijuana

The British medical journal The Lancet reports (VOL. 351;
No. 9098; Pg. 267) that an AIDS patient with a persistent
case of hiccups gained relief by smoking marijuana. At
least five different medically-indicated remedies were
administered over the 10 day episode, with none offering
more than very brief relief. Smoked marijuana reportedly
ended the hiccups immediately. Persistent hiccups are a
rare but documented symptom in patients with AIDS.

The Lancet's report concludes: "Because intractable hiccups
is an uncommon condition, it is unlikely that the use of
marijuana will ever be tested in a controlled clinical
trial, and blinding would be difficult. Despite federal
policy which forbids the use of marijuana therapeutically,
this report should be considered for hiccups refractory to
other measures."

***

10. EDITORIAL: McLies

This week, a group of more than 100 Kentucky farmers filed
suit in Federal Court seeking the right to grow industrial
hemp without having the federal government swoop in and
seize their property. Also this week, in California, the
San Mateo Health Department voted to present a proposal for
medical marijuana research which would simultaneously make
them the legitimate supplier for 2,000 patients, thus
obviating much of the need for the embattled buyers' club.
These two groups, farmers on the one hand and a county
health department on the other, would seem about as
upstanding and mainstream as anyone who has run up against
the excesses of the federal drug war. But be that as it
may, a look at recent history informs us that it would be
foolish to expect the government, and more specifically Drug
Czar Barry McCaffrey, to be supportive of either of these
common-sense efforts.

Industrial hemp was a staple crop in Kentucky until early
this century when federal agencies decided - without legal
basis, it is being argued - to forbid its cultivation.
Recently, around the globe, hemp has been re-introduced as a
cash crop. Farmers in Canada, for instance, just won
approval to plant the stuff, which, in addition to being
widely useful, requires neither harmful pesticides nor much
in the way of fertilizer to prosper. A burgeoning American
hemp products industry, until now forced to rely upon costly
imported materials, eagerly awaits a domestic crop.

"Nonsense," says the Drug Czar. The movement to legalize
industrial hemp is nothing but a "smokescreen" for the
legalization of marijuana. McCaffrey likes to use words
like "nonsense," as they fit in well with his preferred
style of argument... dismissing his adversaries as know-
nothing and their positions as too absurd to merit serious
consideration. On at least two occasions, McCaffrey has
publicly ridiculed the assertions of one hemp advocate and
actor as the opinions of "noted agronomists such as Woody
Harrelson." But the truth is that the legalization of
industrial hemp cultivation is supported by respected bodies
across North America - including the government of Canada,
which legalized it earlier this year - as well as by the
farmers themselves.

But McCaffrey's derisive dismissal of those with whom he
disagrees is not an isolated incident, it has surfaced
before, and in each case McCaffrey has used the tactic to
cover for the fact that he was either woefully misinformed,
or else simply lying.

In the aftermath of the passage of Proposition 215 in
California for instance, McCaffrey told the San Francisco
Chronicle on August 16, 1996, "There is not a shred of
scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is
useful or needed. This is not science. This is not
medicine. This is a cruel hoax." Then, on December 30
1996, McCaffrey was asked by CNN's Carl Rochelle, "is there
any evidence... that marijuana is useful in a medical
situation?" McCaffrey's response: "No, none at all. There
are hundreds of studies that indicate that it isn't." The
reaction of reformers and researchers to this misstatement
of fact was so swift and convincing that on January 2,
ONDCP's Chief Counsel Pat Seitz, appearing on the CNN show
"Burden of Proof," tried to retract the Drug Czar's mistaken
statements, insisting, "He has not said there is no
research. He has not said there is no research."

Further, McCaffrey has ridiculed the entire idea of
medicinal marijuana, calling it "Cheech and Chong medicine,"
as well as saying "it's preposterous to think that any
qualified doctor would tell a patient to inhale the fumes
from burning leaves." This despite supportive positions for
medical marijuana research and/or access by such
organizations as the American Public Health Association, the
California Medical Association and the British Medical
Association, as well as editorials in favor of medical
marijuana access by the editors of the Journal of the
American Medical Association, the Lancet Medical Journal and
the New England Journal of Medicine.

As a former four star general, perhaps McCaffrey is not used
to having his positions questioned. And as an ardent drug
warrior, perhaps he has been told that the only real
opposition to the prosecution of the drug war comes from the
radical fringe. This would account for both his willingness
to speak disingenuously on the issues and his mocking tone
when addressing or referring to his ideological opposition.

But McCaffrey is no longer a general, he is a highly placed
official in a democratically elected administration. And as
such, his positions are, and should be, open to legitimate
and vigorous examination and criticism. And the drug war,
as public policy, is no longer above reproach. It is, in
fact, being called into question by an ever-expanding number
of mainstream Americans. On both counts, the Drug Czar
seems woefully out of touch with reality. And if he doesn't
come around soon, his tactics of derision and obfuscation
are going to cost him what little credibility he has left.

Adam J. Smith
Associate Director

***

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