-------------------------------------------------------------------
NORML Weekly News (MS Patients To Receive Whole Smoked Marijuana
In English Trials; Oakland City Council Votes To Shield Local Cannabis
Dispensary From Federal Prosecution; North Carolina Appeals Court Rules
Cops Can't Lie 'In Good Faith' To Secure Search Warrants; Off Campus
Pot Arrest Not Grounds For Expulsion, Connecticut Supreme Court Rules)
From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 17:31:54 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 7/30/98 (II)
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
normlfndtn@aol.com
July 30, 1998
***
MS Patients To Receive Whole Smoked Marijuana In English Trials
July 30, 1998, London, England: Clinical trials set to take place in
England will examine the therapeutic effects of whole smoked marijuana on
multiple sclerosis patients, a London researcher told a House of Lords
select committee Tuesday.
Dr. Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW Pharmaceuticals, said that he hopes
to begin administering marijuana to human subjects shortly. Guy received
permission from the federal government in June to grow marijuana for
medical research purposes. He said he hopes to license the drug as a
legal medicine within five years.
Guy said that several patients with MS report their spasticity
improves after smoking marijuana, and discouraged efforts to synthesize
medicinal compounds in the plant. "I don't see the value in taking apart
something that seems to work at the moment," he said.
Neurologist Denis Petro, who conducted clinical trials examining the
effects of THC on spasticity during the 1980s, applauded efforts to study
the medical benefits of whole smoked marijuana. Petro said that
inhalation is an "ideal" delivery method for some patients, and
speculated that marijuana's medical benefits come from several
constituents in the plant, not just one isolated compound. "If [Dr.
Guy's] studies focus on spasticity, the chances of a positive outcome are
high," he said.
Compounds in marijuana, particularly cannabidiol, have historically
demonstrated value as potenial therapeutic agents for treating patients
suffering from movement disorders, epilepsy and the spasticity associated
with multiple sclerosis. Recently, NORML compiled abstracts of nearly
twenty separate studies indicating therapeutic benefits of whole smoked
marijuana and it's constituents on spasticity disorders.
One of the strongest endorsements of marijuana's value in treating
spasticity comes from the Drug Enforcement Agency's own Administrative
Law Judge Francis Young. In 1988, after hearing two years of testimony
regarding marijuana's potential as a therapeutic agent, Young ruled:
"Marijuana 'has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States' for spasticity from MS and other causes. It would be
unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious to find otherwise."
Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, praised
the impending research trials. "It is encouraging to see English
researchers focusing on the medicinal potential of the entire plant
instead of limiting their scope to include only isolated compounds or
marijuana-like analogs. The United States government should follow
England's lead and approve similar medical marijuana protocols."
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre of The
NORML Foundation or Dr. Denis Petro @ (703) 528-2647.
***
Oakland City Council Votes To Shield Local Cannabis Dispensary From
Federal Prosecution
July 30, 1998, Oakland, CA: The Oakland City Council unanimously
passed an ordinance Wednesday designed to protect the city's local
medical marijuana dispensary from federal criminal and civil liability.
The ordinance allows city officials to "designate" the Oakland
Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to distribute medical marijuana to seriously
ill patients. The legislation attempts to provide immunity to the
Cooperative against a federal lawsuit aimed at closing the dispensary.
Supporters of the ordinance believe that Section 885(d) of the Controlled
Substances Act immunizes local officials who enforce local drug laws from
federal sanctions.
"Because the ordinance relies on provisions of federal law, it may be
replicated in cities throughout the country, not just in California or
other states that may pass laws similar to Proposition 215," said
attorney Robert Raich, who drafted the measure.
Oakland is the first city to apply the Controlled Substances Act in
this manner, Raich said.
For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer of
California NORML @ (415) 563-5858 or attorney Robert Raich @ (510)
338-0700.
***
North Carolina Appeals Court Rules Cops Can't Lie "In Good Faith" To
Secure Search Warrants
July 30, 1998, Raleigh, NC: Police may not knowingly make false
statements "in good faith" to a magistrate to attain a search warrant,
the state Court of Appeals ruled on July 21. The Court dismissed a man's
marijuana conviction because without the false statements, there did not
exist probable cause to procure a search warrant.
"It is shocking that this court of appeals decision would be necessary
to convince the police in Raleigh that they must be truthful when seeking
a warrant to search an individual's home," said NORML Executive Director
R. Keith Stroup, Esq. "This case illustrates the corrosive effect the
'War on Drugs' has had on the Fourth Amendment protection against
unreasonable search and seizure."
Police officer R.A. McLeod filed an affidavit claiming he recovered
"marijuana and cocaine from inside [the defendant's] residence, using
investigative means." He subsequently testified that he had not entered
the house, but instead discovered marijuana seeds in the defendant's
curbside trash. He said he used the phrase "investigational means"
because he believed local magistrates understood the term to mean a trash
search, whereas the defense would not know the phrase's true meaning.
McLeod claimed he did not intend to mislead the magistrate.
"It remains undisputed that no one entered the defendant's residence;
the statement to the contrary was false and the affiant knew that it was
false," Judge Y. Edward Greene wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.
"Because the statements made by Detective McLeod were false and made in
bad faith, they must be stricken from the affidavit."
The Court further determined that the term "using investigational
means" supports "our holding that the affidavit was entered in bad faith.
[McLeod] testified that he used the words ... to conceal from the
defendant how the evidence to support the search warrant was obtained."
A review by a Charlotte newspaper found that nearly one-sixth of all
search warrants issued for houses in that county bore the words "using
investigational means."
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @
(202) 483-5500 or attorney Tanya Kangas of The NORML Foundation @ (202)
483-8751.
***
Off Campus Pot Arrest Not Grounds For Expulsion, State Supreme Court Rules
July 30, 1998, Hartford, CT: A Connecticut school board's decision to
expel a high school senior for possession of marijuana off school grounds
violated constitutional guarantees, the state Supreme Court ruled this
week.
"A 'War on Drugs' does not have to be a war on the Constitution," said
attorney William Conti, who challenged the school policy. "People have
rights. An education is guaranteed in the Constitution. [This ruling]
is a terrific victory for students everywhere."
The high court determined a school board may only expel a student for
an off-campus action that "markedly interrupts or severely impedes the
day-to-day operation of a school," and not merely because the student's
action violated school policy. The court stated that conduct such as a
telephoned bomb threat, or threatening harm to a teacher while off campus
were adequate grounds for expulsion. The court found the controlling
statute too vague to support the school board's claim that the simple
possession of marijuana off school grounds was "seriously disruptive [to]
the educational process."
For more information, please contact either attorney Keith Stroup of
NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or attorney Tanya Kangas @ (202) 483-8751.
- END -
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor-Aided Suicide Is Backed In Poll ('The Washington Post'
Says A New Nationwide Poll Shows An Overwhelming Majority
Of Americans Oppose Legislation Before Congress That Would Nullify
Oregon's Unique Assisted Suicide Law - Sixty-Six Percent Of Respondents
Said They Approved Of Oregon's Law And Would Favor Similar Legislation
In Their Own State, While 30 Percent Disapproved Of The Oregon Law
And The Introduction Of A Similar Law In Their State)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 01:54:27 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Doctor-Aided Suicide Is Backed In Poll
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Paul Lewin
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: Washington Post
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: William Claiborne
DOCTOR-AIDED SUICIDE IS BACKED IN POLL
An overwhelming majority of Americans support physician-assisted suicide for
the terminally ill and oppose legislation before Congress that would
prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses to patients who want to
hasten death, according to a new national opinion survey.
The survey showed that, by 69 percent to 28 percent, respondents backed the
right of terminally ill patients to receive help from physicians to end
life. Seventy-two percent said they oppose federal legislation that would
prohibit physicians from prescribing doses of medications, like
barbiturates, that terminally ill patients could request to end their lives.
Only 26 percent said they favored such legislation.
The survey comes as Congress is considering a Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention
Act that would allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to lift a doctor's
license to prescribe controlled substances if he or she prescribes suicide
doses of medications. The measure was introduced by Rep. Henry J. Hyde
(R-Ill.) and Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) after a ruling in June by Attorney
General Janet Reno that the DEA does not have the authority to control
physicians' care of terminally ill patients if a state enacts an
assisted-suicide law. Hyde and Nickles are outspoken opponents of Oregon's
Death With Dignity Law, which took effect nine months ago following two
bitterly debated referendums and a long court battle.
So far, there have been only five reported cases of people who have ended
their lives under the Oregon law. It allows patients with six months or less
to live to receive prescriptions for lethal doses of medications after
making oral and written requests, obtaining consulting opinions by other
physicians, waiting 15 days and notifying state health authorities.
The opinion survey was conducted by an independent polling firm, GLS
Research of Los Angeles, for three groups that advocate assisted suicide. It
included 1,000 interviews conducted July 8 to 11, with a margin of error of
3.1 percent, GLS Research said. The results are scheduled to be released
today at a news conference to be held here by the Oregon-based Compassion in
Dying Federation and the Death With Dignity Legal Defense and Education
Center, as well as the Death With Dignity National Center, headquartered in
San Mateo, Calif.
Sixty-six percent of the respondents said they approve of Oregon's assisted
suicide law. The same percentage said they would favor a similar law in
their own state. Only 30 percent disapproved of the Oregon law and the
introduction of a similar law in their state.
Advocates and opponents of assisted death in other states have been watching
Oregon's experience with its law closely. Michigan is the only state where
petition signatures have been gathered for a November ballot initiative.
Barbara Coombs Lee, a nurse and lawyer who co-wrote the Oregon Death With
Dignity Law and is director of Compassion in Dying, said the survey shows "a
remarkable amount of support for laws like Oregon's and a growing awareness
for the need for greater choice at the end of life."
Coombs Lee said the poll data show surprisingly strong support for assisted
suicide across political, age, gender and geographic lines. For instance,
opposition to congressional action against physician-assisted suicide was 75
percent for Democrats, 78 percent for independents and 68 percent for
Republicans. Similarly, the levels of support for the practice differed
little between regions of the country.
Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Poll - Nation Sides With Oregon On Suicide Issue ('The Oregonian' Version)
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: US: OR: Poll: Nation Sides With Oregon On Suicide Issue
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 18:22:20 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: Oregonian, The
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Author: Erin Hoover Barnett and Jim Barnett
POLL: NATION SIDES WITH OREGON ON SUICIDE ISSUE
* A survey says most think Congress should not interfere with the
assisted-suicide law
A national poll to be released today indicates that most people do not think
Congress should interfere with Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law.
Release of the poll, commissioned by assisted suicide supporters, falls the
day before a U.S. Senate committee is scheduled to hear testimony on a bill
that could derail the Oregon law.
Pollsters hired by three advocacy groups used randomized dialing to
interview 1,000 adults throughout the country from July 8 to 11. The poll
has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Assisted-suicide opponents were quick to poke holes in the poll's approach.
For example, the poll refers to dying patients who wish to "end life" rather
than use the potentially less palatable "commit suicide."
The House and Senate are considering bills allowing the Drug Enforcement
Administration to revoke doctors' federal drug-prescribing privileges if
they prescribe controlled substances to assist in suicides. Many doctors
could not practice without such privileges, a consequence that could shut
down use of the assisted-suicide law.
"We're very pleased with the numbers" in the poll, said Hannah Davidson ,
program director for the Oregon Death With Dignity Legal Defense and
Education Center. Her organization commissioned the poll along with
Compassion in Dying, based in Portland, and the Death With Dignity National
Center in San Mateo, Calif.
"Take away the rhetoric, and people feel they would like this option for
themselves, and they don't want the federal government involved in the
relationship between the patient and the physician," Davidson said.
Advocates gave the poll results to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden is scheduled
to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday on the bill Sen.
Don Nickles, R-Okla., introduced in June.
The poll repeatedly hits on themes of federal intervention, states' rights
and the right to die. Responses consistently oppose federal intervention and
favor the other themes.
Among the poll's findings:
* Seventy-five percent of those responding said Congress "should not
overturn" Oregon's law.
* Seventy-two percent opposed "federal legislation that would prohibit
physicians from prescribing medications that terminally ill patients could
request to end life."
* Eighty percent agreed that because Oregon voters "overwhelmingly
approved the state law allowing terminally ill patients in Oregon to get a
prescription for medication to end life, Congress should respect the will of
these voters."
* Seventy-four percent agreed that "people in the final stages of a
terminal disease who are suffering and in pain should have the right to get
help from their doctor to end life."
The poll's findings on whether assisted suicide should be legal were similar
to previous national polls.
A Gallup poll in 1996, for example, found that 75 percent of Americans
favored giving doctors the legal right "to end the (incurably ill) patient's
life by some painless means if the patient and the family request it."
Burke Balch, director of medical ethics for the National Right to Life
Committee, criticized the Death With Dignity poll because it "never once can
bring itself to mention suicide or assisted suicide." Balch said respondents
could think that "ending a patient's life" meant withdrawing life support,
which is different from assisted suicide.
Polling organizations recognize that changing the wording of a question can
alter the response. In July 1996, Gallup used "to end life" for half of its
interviews and found 69 percent in favor of an assisted-suicide law. With
the other half of the interviews, pollsters used "commit suicide"; 52
percent of respondents were in favor.
Dr. Thomas Reardon, a Portland doctor who is president-elect of the American
Medical Association, questioned the effectiveness of the latest poll.
The AMA opposes assisted suicide. But the group also has been the most
powerful opponent of anti-assisted suicide legislation now in Congress. The
organization fears that the additional oversight of doctors mandated in the
House and Senate bills could keep doctors from prescribing adequate
medication to keep dying patients comfortable.
Reardon said the AMA agrees that the federal government should not interfere
with doctors' treatment of patients. He thinks the strong anti-government
intervention sentiment found in the poll was predictable.
"Nobody really wants the federal government in their life for any reason,
let alone when it comes to determining how they die," he said.
In Washington, advocates on both sides of the assisted-suicide question are
girding for a showdown Friday at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
In addition to Wyden, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., plans to testify.
Wyden, though opposed to assisted suicide, likely will restate his belief
that Congress should honor the will of Oregon voters.
Smith, also an opponent of assisted suicide, is expected to highlight what
he considers to be flaws in the Oregon law, an aide said.
He supports federal efforts to block the law but plans to tell the committee
he is concerned that the Nickles bill would retroactively punish Oregon
doctors who have already assisted in suicides.
Prospects for the Nickles bill and its companion in the House, introduced by
Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., are uncertain. Congress has a limited number of
working days this year. But the bills enjoy broad support and could be
attached to an annual spending bill, which President Clinton would have to
sign or face a partial government shutdown Oct. 1.
In preparation for the hearing, Wyden and Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., plan
to emphasize at a news conference today their determination to develop
policies to promote better care for terminally ill patients. Wyden and
Hooley have not committed to writing legislation but say they want to make
assisted suicide rare.
Joining them will be representatives of the American College of Physicians,
the American Geriatrics Society, the American Pharmaceutical Association and
the National Hospice Organization.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Urgent Alert - DEA Versus Pain Treatment (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network Asks You To Join With The The American Medical Association
And The American Geriatrics Society And Write To Your Senators
And Congressional Representative To Stop HR 4006, Would Nullify
Oregon's Unique Assisted Suicide Law And Have A Disastrous Effect
On Pain Management)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 18:06:03 -0400
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: URGENT ALERT: DEA VS. PAIN TREATMENT
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org
***
DRUG REFORM COORDINATION NETWORK
RAPID RESPONSE TEAM
***
ALERT: DEA VS. PAIN TREATMENT (7/30/98)
***
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:lists@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe
to this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
[This has been a busy week legislatively, hence the extra
postings. DRCNet will still only be making one post
during the typical week.]
(This bulletin is forwarded from Kendra Wright at Common
Sense for Drug Policy. Note that DRCNet has no position on
physician-assisted suicide, but that there are other
important reasons to oppose this bill, which are laid out
below. Last Sunday's Doonesbury gave a cutting commentary
on the impact of the war on drugs on pain treatment, a
problem that would be worsened by this bill. To see it, go
to http://www.sacbee.com/smile/comix/main.html, follow
the Doonesbury link and select July 26. For more info on
the pain treatment issue, visit the American Society for
Action on Pain, at http://www.actiononpain.org. We will
be posting information during the coming weeks about certain
compassionate physicians who have become victims of the DEA
and other drug law enforcers. Visit Common Sense for Drug
Policy at http://www.drugsense.org/csdp/.)
***
URGENT -- PAIN MANAGEMENT LEGISLATION ON FAST TRACK --
DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
CALL YOUR SENATORS BEFORE FRIDAY, JULY 31 at 10 AM & YOUR
CONGRESSMAN BEFORE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5. IF YOUR MEMBERS ARE
ON THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, YOUR INPUT IS ESSENTIAL!
The American Medical Association and the American Geriatrics
Society are seeking assistance to stop legislation which
will have a disastrous effect on pain management.
HR 4006 introduced by Congressman Hyde (R-IL) and S. 2151
introduced by Senator Nickles (R-OK), seek to prevent
assisted suicide by authorizing the Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) to revoke or suspend the federal prescription license
of a physician who "intentionally dispensed or distributed a
controlled substance with a purpose of causing or assisting
in causing" suicide. The legislation would also create a
Medical Review Board on Pain Relief to allow physicians
accused of violating the law to demonstrate that their
prescribing patterns were to relieve pain.
Once again, the Drug War is hindering the patient-doctor
relationship.
Whether or not you support physician-assisted suicide this
is bad legislation because:
* it will have an adverse effect on pain management and
result in more Americans suffering needlessly.
* unrelieved pain is already a widespread problem as
illustrated by a number of studies (the SUPPORT study showed
50% of patients experience moderate to severe pain at least
half the time in their last days of life).
* A 1997 Institute of Medicine study found "drug-
prescribing laws, regulations, and interpretations by state
medical boards frustrate and initimidate physicians" and
result in pain that is inadequately treated.
* many doctors are already reluctant to prescribe adequate
pain relief due to possible violations of existing pain-
prescription laws. This proposed legislation, which would
have the DEA investigating allegations of wrongdoing and
determining "intent," would greatly exacerbate the problem.
* contrary to its intent, the bill may prompt an increased
demand for assisted suicide from patients whose pain is
intolerable.
If you don't want to see your family and loved ones suffer
needlessly, take a moment to voice your objection to this
bill!
For a list of Senate Judiciary Committee members with
contact information:
http://www.senate.gov/committee/judiciary.html
For a list of House Judiciary Committee members with contact
information:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/mem105.htm
TAKE ACTION! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS TODAY!
To read a Washington Post news article on this legislation
which cites polling data which found "seventy-two percent
[of Americans] oppose federal legislation that would
prohibit physicians from prescribing doses of medications...
that terminally ill patients could request to end their
lives," access:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july98/suicide.htm
***
This message brought to you by the Drug Reform Coordination
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DRCNet
***
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ONLINE LIBRARY http://www.druglibrary.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Action Alert - Oppose Bills That Threaten Effective Pain Management
(The Common Sense For Drug Policy Version Distributed By
The Drug Policy Foundation)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 17:48:54 EDT
Errors-To: dpf-mod@dpf.org
Reply-To: dpnews@dpf.org
Originator: dpnews@dpf.org
Sender: dpnews@dpf.org
From: "Drug Policy News Service" (dpf-mod@dpf.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (dpnews@dpf.org)
Subject: ACTION ALERT: Oppose Bills that Threaten Effective Pain Management
The following was sent to DPF by Common Sense for Drug Policy
(http://www.drugsense.org).
***
URGENT -- PAIN MANAGEMENT LEGISLATION ON FAST TRACK -- DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
CALL YOUR SENATORS BEFORE FRIDAY, JULY 31 at 10 AM & YOUR CONGRESSMAN
BEFORE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5. IF YOUR MEMBERS ARE ON THE JUDICIARY
COMMITTEES, YOUR INPUT IS ESSENTIAL!
The American Medical Association and the American Geriatrics Society are
seeking assistance to stop legislation which will have a disastrous
effect on pain management.
HR 4006 introduced by Congressman Hyde (R-IL) and S. 2151 introduced by
Senator Nickles (R-OK), seek to prevent assisted suicide by authorizing
the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to revoke or suspend the federal
prescription license of a physician who "intentionally dispensed or
distributed a controlled substance with a purpose of causing or
assisting in causing" suicide. The legislation would also create a
Medical Review Board on Pain Relief to allow physicians accused of
violating the law to demonstrate that their prescribing patterns were to
relieve pain.
Once again, the Drug War is hindering the patient-doctor relationship.
Whether or not you support physician-assisted suicide this is bad
legislation because:
* it will have an adverse effect on pain management and result in more
Americans suffering needlessly.
* unrelieved pain is already a widespread problem as illustrated by a
number of studies (the SUPPORT study showed 50% of patients experience
moderate to severe pain at least half the time in their last days of
life).
* A 1997 Institute of Medicine study found "drug-prescribing laws,
regulations, and interpretations by state medical boards frustrate and
initimidate physicians" and result in pain that is inadequately treated.
* many doctors are already reluctant to prescribe adequate pain relief
due to possible violations of existing pain-prescription laws. This
proposed legislation, which would have the DEA investigating allegations
of wrongdoing and determining "intent," would greatly exacerbate the
problem.
* contrary to its intent, the bill may prompt an increased demand for
assisted suicide from patients whose pain is intolerable.
If you don't want to see your family and loved ones suffer needlessly,
take a moment to voice your objection to this bill!
For a list of Senate Judiciary Committee members with contact
information:
http://www.senate.gov/committee/judiciary.html
For a list of House Judiciary Committee members with contact
information:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/mem105.htm
TAKE ACTION! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS TODAY!
To read a Washington Post news article on this legislation which cites
polling data which found "seventy-two percent [of Americans] oppose
federal legislation that would prohibit physicians from prescribing
doses of medications...that terminally ill patients could request to end
their lives," access:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/july98/suicide.htm
***
To join DPF's Drug Policy News Service, please send email to:
listproc@dpf.org with the following message in the body of the email:
subscribe dpnews Firstname Lastname.
To sign off this list, mailto: listproc@dpf.org with the line "signoff
dpnews" in the body of the message.
***
The Drug Policy Foundation
"Creating Reasoned and Compassionate Drug Policies"
4455 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite B-500
Washington, DC 20008-2328
ph: (202) 537-5005 * fax: (202) 537-3007
dpf@dpf.org
www.dpf.org
www.drugpolicy.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana On Washington State Ballot ('Reuters'
Says Initiative 692, Sponsored By Washington Citizens For Medical Rights,
Has Been Certified For The November Ballot)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 10:30:33 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US WA: Wire: Medical Marijuana on Wash. State Ballot
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Source: Reuters
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
MEDICAL MARIJUANA ON WASH. STATE BALLOT
OLYMPIA, Wash., (Reuters) -- A citizens initiative to legalize the use of
marijuana for medicinal purposes will appear on the statewide ballot in
November, Washington state officials said Thursday.
State election officials said they had certified 198,378 signatures as
valid, about 19,000 more than the required number needed to place the
proposal before the voters.
Washington joins Oregon and Alaska as the three states that will put the
question of medicinal marijuana use before the public as a ballot
initiative this fall. Similar proposals are pending in Colorado and Nevada.
Voters in California and Arizona have approved measures in recent years to
legalize medicinal use of marijuana, but legal challenges and other
controversies in both states have prevented full implementation.
``I'm looking forward to a good campaign,'' said Washington state
initiative sponsor Dr. Robert Killian. ``There'll be a lot more media
attention probably nationally because of this. And I'm ready for it.''
The Washington state proposition permits patients suffering from terminal
or debilitating illnesses -- such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, or AIDS --
to get a doctor's authorization to smoke marijuana.
Patients would have to come up with the drug on their own after receiving
authorization. Killian said most patients would probably grow the plant
themselves.
Non-medical use of marijuana would still be prohibited.
The medical marijuana legalization campaign in the Pacific Northwest has
been bankrolled almost entirely by three multimillionaires. New York
financier George Soros, Progressive Insurance CEO Peter Lewis of Cleveland,
and Phoenix businessman John Sperling each donated $125,000 to the
Washington state ballot campaign and gave smaller amounts to the Oregon
effort.
Last November, Washington state voters soundly rejected a broader drug
reform initiative bankrolled by the same three men and run by Killian. That
effort sought to ease jail sentences for low-level drug crimes and legalize
medical use of a broad range of prohibited drugs, including heroin.
Killian predicted better chances for passage this year now that the ballot
measure has been narrowed to the concept he claimed has the widest popular
support: allowing people suffering from intractable pain to use marijuana.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Davis Tops Lungren In Examiner Poll ('The San Francisco Examiner'
Says Its Poll On Who's Leading The Race To Be California's Next Governor
Finds Democrat Gray Davis Ahead 48 Percent To 39 Percent Against Dan Lungren,
The Nemesis Of Proposition 215 - But In The Past, California Republicans
Have Shown Summer Polls Don't Mean Much)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-Hemp Talk" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: CA Demo tops Lungren in CA poll
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 20:35:04 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Davis tops Lungren in Examiner poll
By Robert Salladay
San Francisco Examiner
EXAMINER CAPITOL BUREAU
Thursday, July 30, 1998
SACRAMENTO -- In the first voter survey since the raucous and wildly
expensive June primary, an Examiner poll shows Lt. Gov. Gray Davis is
favored over Attorney General Dan Lungren, particularly among women and
independent voters, in the race for governor.
The poll of Californians likely to vote in the Nov. 3 election found Davis,
a Democrat, was the choice of 48 percent of those surveyed while 39 percent
favored Republican Lungren. Thirteen percent were undecided.
The differences between the candidates were most pronounced among women, who
said they favored Davis by 53 percent to 34 percent for Lungren. And the
fastest-growing group of California voters -- independents -- favored Davis
51 percent to 31 percent, according to the poll.
The survey comes as Davis and Lungren prepared to debate Friday evening in
San Diego, the first of five televised forums scheduled before the election,
and as Davis prepares to launch in August his first post-primary series of
TV ads.
"Davis has clearly seized the early advantage," said Del Ali, senior vice
president of Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research of Columbia, Md., which
conducted The Examiner poll. "I think it's going to be very important for
Lungren to portray himself as a centrist. For him to throw a bone to the far
right between now and November would be suicide."
The random telephone poll of 832 Californians was conducted Sunday through
Tuesday. All those surveyed said they regularly vote in state elections. The
poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
As expected, the poll showed Davis with strong support in the Bay Area and
metropolitan Los Angeles, traditional Democratic strongholds. Lungren had a
smaller margin of support in traditional Republican areas -- rural Northern
California, the Central Valley and San Diego.
Most people surveyed viewed Davis more favorably than Lungren, although more
than a third of those polled picked "neutral" when asked their opinions
about the candidates.
Lungren's "unfavorable" rating -- 19 percent of those surveyed -- has
remained the same since the last Examiner poll, conducted in May shortly
before the June 2 primary. But fewer people viewed Davis unfavorably in the
latest Examiner poll -- 13 percent compared to 16 percent in May.
While the June primary campaign was dominated by the massive amount of money
being spent on negative TV ads, the November election threatens to be about
issues: abortion, offshore oil drilling, assault weapons, tobacco, education,
crime and taxes.
Democrat multimillionaires Al Checchi and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Rolling Hills,
the duo who helped make the June primary the most expensive in U.S. history,
endorsed Davis after they lost. An estimated $64 million was spent on the
primary by the three Democrats and Lungren.
The Lungren campaigners may not be worried about The Examiner's poll results
or the debate: They only need to look at history.
During the summer of 1990, polls showed Democrat Dianne Feinstein with a
5-point edge over Republican Pete Wilson in the gubernatorial race. She
lost. Four years later, polls showed Democrat Kathleen Brown supported by
more voters than Wilson during the summer, as well. Wilson was re-elected by
55 percent to 41 percent over Brown.
Dave Puglia, campaign manager for Lungren, said the campaign's own polls
show Davis and Lungren in a dead heat, with Lungren competing strongly for
female voters and gathering support from independents.
Puglia criticized Davis for campaigning on periphery issues that have little
to do with the daily lives of Californians while Lungren is sticking to the
things that matter most -- crime, schools and the economy.
Davis has been attempting to hammer Lungren for many of the controversial
decisions he made as a member of the House of Representatives for 10 years
and as state attorney general for eight years.
"It's strange that in the course of 24 hours, before and after the primary,
Gray Davis decided voters no longer care about education, crime and taxes,"
Puglia said. "As you look at those issues, they are the ones voters will be
making their decisions on."
During the debate Friday, viewers can expect Davis to mention his service in
Vietnam and his long record of holding public jobs -- from assemblyman to
state controller to lieutenant governor.
And he'll likely hit Lungren for being less than aggressive in upholding the
state's assault weapons laws and for not more quickly pursuing a
state-sponsored lawsuit against tobacco companies to recoup health care
costs.
Expect Davis also to mention his support of abortion rights and Lungren's
opposition to state funding for the procedure. Analysts believe the gender
gap between Davis and Lungren may in part be due to the abortion question,
although the Lungren campaign believes most voters don't use the issue as a
litmus test.
Michael Bustamante, spokesman for Davis, said Lungren is "out of sync with
what the voters of California are thinking."
But the phlegmatic Davis has a much bigger task during the debate than
Lungren, at least on one important issue. "Davis has got to loosen up," said
H. Eric Shockman, a political scientist at USC. "He's a bright man. He's
obviously been in many elected offices, but he doesn't have the mediagenic
transfer. Lungren appears to be, believe it or not, very energetic."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Judicial Illogic (A Staff Editorial In 'The Orange County Register'
Faults Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald For Denying Medical Marijuana
Patient And Orange County Cannabis Co-Op Founder Marvin Chavez
The Ability To Invoke Proposition 215 In His Defense)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 10:55:47 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: Judicial Illogic
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk:John W.Black
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
JUDICIAL ILLOGIC
There's a fundamental contradiction at the center of Superior Court Judge
Robert Fitzgerald's rulings last Friday in the case of Marvin Chavez, a
patient who founded the Orange County Cannabis Co-Op, which has tried to
create an above-board "white market" for patients whose doctors believe
they could benefit from medical marijuana.
On the one hand, Judge Fitzgerald upheld the prosecution's request to be
given access to the Co-Op member's medical records, in order to access
(presumably from a prosecutor's perspective) whether those who joined the
club actually had valid maladies. The most compelling prosecution argument
was that the police had entrapped Mr. Chavez with a phony doctor's note;
so.maybe there were other phony notes in the Co-Op files.
Should prosecutors be in the business of second-guessing licensed doctors
or penetrating the doctor-patient relationship to conduct a fishing
expedition whose main purpose seems to be intimidation? Judge Fitzgerald
didn't address those questions in his ruling.
But in making the ruling, he acknowledged, as prosecutors have certainly
acknowledged, that Mr. Chavez's Co-Op has records that include notes from
doctors. That means the organization is engaged in activities related to
Prop. 215, which allows patients with recommendations from doctors to grow
and possess marijuana.
Mr. Chavez may be trying to implement Prop. 215 imperfectly, foolishly or
even illegally. His organization might not be a bona fide "primary
caregiver" as the proposition defines the term. But there's no question his
activities are related to the initiative California voters approved in
1996. Certainly there's no evidence that he has made a lot of money from
his activities; if anything the evidence is to the contrary.
In this regard, Judge Fitzgerald's ruling that Mr. Chavez cannot use Prop.
215 in his defense at his upcoming trial for selling marijuana is logically
inexplicable.
The ruling can only be understood from a certain narrow legal perspective.
Orange County Deputy D.A. Cecil Armbrust has argued that since Prop. 215
did not specifically authorize sales then all sales are still illegal, even
if cloaked as "donations." (The proposition, however, did speak of the
government implementing a system for "safe and affordable" distribution,
which seems to imply money might change hands.) So, according to this
reasoning, if the case involves selling marijuana, Prop. 215 doesn't come
into play and shouldn't even be mentioned.
But that's a legal reading that ignores the reality. It is widely known
that Marvin Chavez has been trying to set up an organization to provide
marijuana to medical patients, who since November 1996 have had a legal
right to it. Granted, perhaps he hasn't done it properly. Why couldn't the
authorities work with him to operate under proper guidelines - unless they
anticipate the county government setting up a program to grow marijuana and
distribute it to bona fide patients?
The alternative is to wink and send patients who have a legal right to
possess marijuana to the streets to find it, which only strengthens the
black market. Is that what prosecutors and law enforcement officials want
to do?
To treat Marvin Chavez as "just a marijuana dealer" and to forbid any
mention of Prop. 215 at his trial is to perpetrate a fiction in the
courtroom and deny the jury relevant information. The only explanation that
makes sense is that certain people in the law-enforcement and judicial
community are determined not to find a way to implement the law the people
voted for, but to prove that it can't be implemented and the people were
foolish.
Mr. Chavez's attorneys say Judge Fitzgerald's decisions will be appealed,
and they expect to prevail on appeal. Judging from appeals court rulings to
date on medical marijuana-related cases, they will probably be successful.
But that outcome won't excuse Judge Fitzgerald's illogical rulings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
No Marijuana Joints In Concord, Even Without Ordinance
('The Contra Costa Times' Confusingly Suggests City Officials
In The San Francisco Bay Area Community Of Concord Will Not Comply
With The Mandate In The California Compassionate Use Act To Find A Way
To Provide Safe And Affordable Medical Marijuana To Patients Who Need It,
And In Particular Will Not Allow Any Dispensaries To Open)
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 18:55:18 -0400
To: DrugSense News Service
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: No Marijuana Joints In Concord, Even Without Ordinance
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Contact: cctletrs@netcom.com
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Website: http://www.hotcoco.com/index.htm
Author: Andrew Gordon, Staff Writer
NO MARIJUANA JOINTS IN CONCORD, EVEN WITHOUT ORDINANCE
Concord has indicated that state and federal laws have snuffed out any
hopes of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city, even if Concord
wanted such establishments, which it doesn't.
The City Council adopted an urgency ordinance July 22, 1997, prohibiting
the establishment of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Concord, and
renewed the ordinance Sept. 2, 1997.
The unanimous vote to ban such joints was in reaction to Prop. 215,
approved by voters in 1996. The proposition allowed California residents to
grow or possess marijuana for medicinal purposes, and only when recommended
by a doctor.
The city's ordinance banning dispensaries expired June 17. But Assistant
City Attorney Mark Boehme pointed out that state and federal law prohibits
the establishment of such places. So even if Concord condoned such
businesses, federal law would supersede.
At a council subcommittee on policy development and internal operations
meeting July 10, Mayor Mark Peterson and Vice Mayor Mike Pastrick agreed
that the ordinance be allowed to burn out, pointing to federal and state laws.
Pastrick likened the issue to building casinos or brothels in Concord. Even
if the City Council approved such uses, he pointed out, federal and state
law would overrule such decisions.
On the federal level, marijuana is listed as a substance that cannot be
prescribed by a doctor because it has not been accepted for medical use.
In California, Attorney General Dan Lungren has pointed out that while
Prop. 215 protects the growth and use of medicinal marijuana for personal
use, it says nothing about the sale or transportation of medicinal marijuana.
And locally, District Attorney Gary Yancey has insisted that he will
enforce the Health and Safety code section pertaining to marijuana.
Recognizing the federal, state and local barriers against marijuana,
Peterson and Pastrick indicated that it would be best just to let the
Concord ordinance end.
When the council first considered the ban last year, a Martinez resident
had been inquiring about the possibility of setting up a medicinal
marijuana business in Concord. Beyond that, there has been very little
interest in establishing such dispensaries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Prison Officers Say State Ignored Charges ('The Los Angeles Times'
Says Two Former Supervisors And A Former Guard At Corcoran State Prison
Told A Legislative Hearing Wednesday That Their Attempts To Draw Attention
To Questionable Inmate Shooting Deaths By Guards Were Ignored
At The Highest Levels Of The California Department Of Corrections,
As Well As By An Unnamed Official In The Wilson Administration
Who Sounds A Lot Like Attorney General Dan Lungren)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-News" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: CA prison brutality cover-up
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 20:32:25 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Thursday, July 30, 1998
Los Angeles Times
Ex-Prison Officers Say State Ignored Charges
Hearing: They tell legislators frustration drove them to the FBI to allege
brutality at Corcoran facility.
By MARK ARAX, MARK GLADSTONE, Times Staff Writers
SACRAMENTO--Two former supervisors and a former guard at Corcoran State
Prison told a legislative hearing Wednesday that their attempts to draw
attention to questionable inmate shooting deaths by guards were ignored at
the highest levels of the state Department of Corrections, as well as by an
official in the Wilson administration.
With nowhere else to turn, Facility Capt. Ralph Mineau, former Lt.
Steve Rigg and former guard Richard Caruso said they had to take their
complaints about brutality and cover-ups at the prison to the FBI in 1994.
In turn, they said, they were met with death threats and intimidation from
fellow officers and supervisors, threats they say were ignored by
then-Warden George Smith.
"I am a whistle-blower. I am not sorry for the action I took," Rigg
told the joint panel in sworn testimony. "I am sorry I put my family through
the horrors of the reprisals and harassment we have been subjected to.
"My career came to an abrupt end. I am sorry I have been threatened
with death or harm. I am sorry my wife is frightened to sleep in our home at
night and often sleeps on the bathroom floor fearing an ambush."
Four years after the three officers and others came forward to provide
evidence about flawed prison policies and questionable shootings, they said
no one at the Department of Corrections or the state attorney general's
office has thoroughly investigated the shootings that led to seven inmate
deaths and 43 woundings.
Indeed, Caruso testified, a special team of Corrections Department
investigators dispatched to Corcoran last year at the behest of Gov. Pete
Wilson investigated and disciplined only one officer involved in a shooting.
That officer was Caruso, and the shooting was one that resulted in no
injuries to the inmates participating in a fistfight.
"Out of [all the] incidents at Corcoran State Prison with firearms, the
only one this team looked into was me," Caruso said, turning to top
corrections officials. "And the only one your office disciplined was me, the
whistle-blower."
The legislative hearings, in their second day, were called by four
committees to look into the allegations against Corcoran guards and
officials and into whether the Wilson administration and state attorney
general's office failed to adequately investigate problems at the prison.
The administration and attorney general's office cite an ongoing
federal investigation as the reason they decided not to delve into the
shooting deaths during two state probes in 1996 and 1997.
Rigg testified that he called Craig Brown, then undersecretary of the
state Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, with complaints in 1994. A
corrections official said later Wednesday that Rigg never put his complaints
in writing, so Brown, now Wilson's finance director, did not meet with him.
Rigg and the others also said their complaints were shunned by Eddie
Myers, the deputy director of the Corrections Department. He refused to take
their calls, they said.
"Eddie Myers would not talk to me," Rigg testified. "He told the
lieutenant that he didn't want to know who I was or my name."
Myers declined Wednesday to discuss the allegation.
Wednesday's session dealt in large part with the accounts of the three
whistle-blowers who kicked off the FBI investigation out of frustration with
what they termed a wide-scale cover-up of shooting deaths and other
brutality. The shootings occurred during prison yard fights watched over by
guards. Internal reports show that in all but a few cases, the inmates did
not carry weapons or cause so much as a swollen lip while brawling.
The whistle-blowers traced much of the violence to the department's
so-called integration policy--the practice of mixing rival gang members into
the same small exercise yards inside Corcoran's security housing unit.
"The integrated yard policy in the SHU was a loser," said Mineau, who
transferred to High Desert Prison in Susanville after he was threatened at
Corcoran.
Rigg said the policy led to countless fistfights that ended with guards
firing gas guns that discharged wood blocks and, occasionally, deadly
assault rifles--all in the name of stopping brawling inmates from injuring
each other. He said state shooting review boards, which ruled every shooting
justified, were composed of friendly wardens and associate wardens.
"I have reviewed every shooting review from Corcoran and have yet to
find a clean shooting, yet to find a shooting that was within departmental
policy," said Rigg, an FBI-trained firearms expert. "You cannot shoot the
victim of a fistfight and call it a good shooting. . . . You cannot use a
firearm to stop a stand-up fistfight."
Department of Corrections officials concede that there were deep
problems at Corcoran but say most of them have been addressed under its new
warden, George Galaza, and the state's new corrections director, Cal
Terhune. They say the integrated yard policy has been modified in the past
two years. No serious shooting injuries or deaths have taken place at
Corcoran since 1995.
"There have been problems, but the department has been working to
resolve them as they come up and do things better," Corrections Department
spokesman Tip Kindel said Wednesday.
Former guard Caruso, who took key documents about the shootings out of
the prison and handed them to the FBI, disputed that the system was fixed.
"The reason Corcoran got cleaned up was not the new warden. Don't be
fooled," he told legislators. "It was because of me and the other
whistle-blowers. But they didn't clean it all up. A lot of the officers
involved in these incidents are still there."
Caruso was involved in more discharges of the wood-block gun at inmates
than any other gunner at Corcoran, before he took a stress leave two years
ago. An investigation into one of those shootings was later reopened by the
corrections investigation team that did not probe the fatal and serious
shootings at Corcoran.
"The special investigation team came to me and said, 'Richard, you're
the key to this investigation,' " he said. " 'Without your testimony, we
can't get to the bottom of what's going on.'
"They ended up investigating and disciplining me."
During Rigg's testimony, the partisan nature of the hearings flared
when Assemblyman Jan Goldsmith (R-Poway) challenged the witness' veracity,
implying that, because Rigg had signed a movie deal, parts of his testimony
could not be believed.
The assemblyman's suggestion sparked an angry exchange along party
lines, with Democrats arguing that his comments were pointless.
Late Wednesday evening, former Corrections Department Chief James Gomez
testified that it was not until late 1994 that he first heard about problems
with shootings at Corcoran. This was after seven inmates had been shot dead
over five years.
He also said he was not aware until this week's hearings that wardens
could pick wardens from other state penal institutions to staff prison
shooting review boards. That practice, he said, was wrong. Gomez, when asked
why the investigation team he put into place did not look into any of the
serious or fatal shootings, expressed surprise. "I would have expected they
would have looked at all the facts relative to that three- or four-year
period."
He said the only restriction that federal authorities placed on state
investigators was to steer clear of a single fatal 1994 shooting and a few
related items.
Also testifying late Wednesday were members of the corrections
investigations team.
Member Bryan Neeley said the team was not allowed to use all the
available investigative tools in its probe. The investigators were told they
could not invoke a provision of the state government code requiring peace
officers to cooperate with a criminal investigation or face insubordination
charges, he said. That tool, Neeley said, was taken away "by someone in
Sacramento." He could not say by whom.
The hearings will continue today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
At Hearing, Ex-Prison Director Defends Actions In Probe
('The San Francisco Chronicle' Says The Second Day Of A Special Legislative
Hearing Investigating Violence At Corcoran State Prison Yesterday Featured
Former Corrections Department Director James Gomez Defending His Handling
Of An Investigation Of Violence At The San Joaquin Valley Prison - Explosive
Growth In The Number Of Inmates And Guards Has Made The State Prison System
Unmanageable, He Said)
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 1998 19:03:19 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: At Hearing, Ex-Prison Director
Defends Actions In Probe
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Page: A 17
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Author: Robert S. Gunnison - Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
AT HEARING, EX-(PRISON) DIRECTOR DEFENDS ACTIONS IN PROBE
Growth Added to Prisons' Troubles
Sacramento
Explosive growth in the number of inmates and guards has made the
state prison system unmanageable, the former director of corrections
yesterday told lawmakers investigating violence at Corcoran State Prison.
On the second day of a special legislative hearing, former Corrections
Department Director James Gomez vigorously defended his handling of an
investigation of violence at the San Joaquin Valley prison.
He said his intent was "100 percent to find the truth, to find the
facts."
"If I didn't meet that, I'm really sorry," he said.
In November 1997, Gomez's department cleared itself of allegations
that prison guards staged deadly fights among inmates at Corcoran.
Three months later, a federal grand jury indicted eight Corcoran
guards on federal civil rights charges that they staged fights in
which one convict was fatally shot by a guard in 1994.
Gomez, who stepped down as director in January, said the shooting was
considered within department guidelines until he learned that the FBI
was investigating the case.
He then said initial department attempts to investigate allegations of
wrongdoing were hampered by the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association, the guards' politically powerful union.
'He testified yesterday that members of the union refused to cooperate
with investigators. "They just refused to talk," he said. "They said,
'No, thank you.'"
Gomez's remarks echoed those of Kings County District Attorney Greg
Strickland, who testified Tuesday that his investigators probing
allegations of inmate abuse encountered opposition from officers who
refused to cooperate.
Gomez also said his investigation was limited because both the FBI and
state Department of Justice had warned the department to stay out of
the probe.
"I had no choice but to accede to the state attorney general," Gomez
said.
Gomez also told the committee that growth in the California system has
made the department difficult to control.
In 1970, California had 26,500 convicts in a dozen prisons. It now has
more than 150,000 inmates in 33 prisons and 38 camps.
"We've been adding 3,500 employees a year for 12 years," Gomez said.
"That growth is unmanageable. It's too much for any
department."
Corcoran, one of the new prisons, houses some of the state's most
dangerous inmates, and has been one of the most violent prisons in the
nation.
Members of the special legislative committee listened in rapt
attention yesterday as a former Corcoran guard, Richard Caruso,
testified under oath that he was harassed by his fellow staffers after
he presented evidence to the FBI about shootings by guards.
"They came in that office like thugs," he said.
He said the prison administration placed him on guard duty in the
kitchen after it was learned he was cooperating with the federal agents.
"They put me in there for retaliation, I believe," Caruso said. But he
added that the convicts did not attack him. "The inmates knew I ratted
for their protection," he said.
Caruso told how FBI agents took him to Fresno while being chased by
Department of Corrections investigators who insisted he had stolen
evidence from the prison.
The Department of Corrections has long insisted that the chase did not
take place.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
When Busts Go Bad - The Heat Takes Some Heat - Well-Publicized Drug Raids
Come Up Empty ('New Times' In San Luis Obispo County, California, Suggests
Local Prohibition Agents Have More Zeal Than Competence)
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 13:29:12 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: When Busts Go Bad
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison
Pubdate: Thursday, July 30 - August 6, 1998
Source: New Times, SLO County's News and Entertainment Weekly
Section: SLO County Scene,
Front Cover: When Busts Go Bad
Page: 10
Contact: mail@newtimes-slo.com
Website: http://newtimes-slo.com/
Author: Jeff McMahon is a staffwriter at New Times.
story not posted
WHEN BUSTS GO BAD
The Heat Takes Some Heat Well-Publicized Drug Raids Come Up Empty
SLO County residents arrested during bungled narcotics raids are
challenging the tactics of both of the county's narcotics squads.
An Atascadero woman sued the Sheriff's Department last month because its
narcotics officers blasted through the windows and doors of her home
instead of raiding the neighboring address listed on their search warrant.
In a second case, a San Luis Obispo man spent 16 days in jail and had his
name broadcast on television and printed in newspapers as an accused
methamphetamine manufacturer. The white powder narcotics officers found at
his home turned out to be sodium benzoate, a common food preservative.
Police and deputies defend their actions in both cases, claiming they made
legitimate arrests but lost both cases on technicalities.
"They thought they had the big banana," said Howard Leasure, who was
arrested March 18 during a Narcotics Task Force raid on property he rented
on O'Connor Way near SLO. The NTF had watched the property for at least six
months.
Leasure, who is Cheyenne, hosted regular spiritual gatherings at a sweat
lodge on the property. The sweat lodge consisted of willow branches curved
in a dome shape, covered with a tarp. A fire burned in a hearth nearby.
"I noticed whenever we had sweats, they were up in the hills watching us.
They had white shirts on. It was so obvious."
Leasure was on his way to pick up his wife from work on March 18 when
narcotics agents met him at the gate with a search warrant. They ransacked
the property, collecting evidence they said pointed to methamphetamine
manufacturing.
"They destroyed the sweat lodge and they knew what they were destroying.
They made a mess of it. They just totally desecrated it."
Leasure believes agents began watching his home after a man drove up from
Los Angeles to view a vintage car - a Packard - that Leasure's landlord
kept on the property. Leasure believes Los Angeles NTF agents were
following that man, and they reported his destination to local agents.
Police records suggest a different scenario. Narcotics agents had been
tracking Nickolaus Kopp, a Cambria sculptor who rented a workshop on the
same property. Agents traced phone calls between Kopp and a man they had
arrested at an earlier date for selling methamphetamines.
Agents raided two other properties rented by Kopp on the same day, and they
arrested both Kopp and Leasure on suspicion of manufacturing
methamphetamines.
San Luis Obispo Police Chief Jim Gardiner, then chairman of the Narcotics
Task Force, hosted a press conference on the property. Agents displayed
evidence including several crushed five-gallon cans the agents said once
held freon, a gas used in the manufacturing process.
Leasure contends those cans predated him on the property and that they
represent a small portion of tons of trash that has been dumped there over
the years. The cans were burnt, unlabeled, and rusty. Leasure has similar
explanations for other items found by police.
"There's stuff in your house that can be considered a chemical that can be
used to make methamphetamine," Leasure said. The NTF's display included
kitty litter, for example, which agents contend masks the odor of drug
manufacturing.
"Nothing's been going on here," said Leasure, who lived on the property for
11 months. "There's no lab. There may have been before I was here."
NTF agents concede that individual components can be explained away but
insist that together they add up to methamphetimes.
"There is virtually nothing that is only used for the manufacture of
methamphetamine," said Sgt. Jim English, a spokesman for the NTF.
"Everything has some other purpose. However, when you take everything we
found, we feel and the Department of Justice chemists feel that we have a
good case for manufacturing."
At the time of the arrest, NTF agents told the press that Kopp and Leasure
had manufactured up to 50 pounds per month and that waste products polluted
the property.
"I'm native American," Leasure said, "and we don't do that."
The state Department of Toxic Substances Control took soil and water samples.
"All the sample results we took came back below any levels we would
regulate," said Jerry White, who supervised the testing. The Regional Water
Quality Control Board is continuing to look for water contamination.
On July 17, the District Attorney's Office dropped the case. It withdrew
charges against both men. The most dramatic evidence against Leasure - more
than 10 pounds of white powder - turned out to be sodium benzoate, a
preservative found in most soft drinks. Leasure said he used it to test and
treat water in a mobile-home water tank.
"It doesn't even remotely mean that it wasn't a meth case," Sgt. English said.
"In any manufacturing case, you don't expect to find finished product. We
just happened to find something that looked like it initially. It had the
same color and consistency, and we thought maybe this is meth. If it had
been, that would have been gravy. It would not have been instrumental to
the case at all."
The NTF contends it withdrew charges only because its case threatened to
jeopardize a broader multiagency investigation. The district attorney can
refile these charges, English said, any time within the three years
stipulated by the statute of limitations.
As for Leasure's sweat lodge, English said: "No comment about anything like
that. I don't even know what a sweat lodge is."
Sheriff Ed Williams pulled his deputies out of the Narcotics Task Force in
1997 after an undisclosed internal dispute. Detective Nick Fontecchio and
Deputy David Marquez began conducting independent drug investigations for
the Sheriff's Department. Those included a July 2, 1997, early morning raid
on the Atascadero home occupied by Carole Ann Martin.
Fontecchio, Marquez, and other officers burst through the home at 6:30
a.m., clad in assault gear and armed with assault weapons. They charged
into the bedroom where Martin slept with her 3-year-old son.
Martin was sleeping unclothed, and she contends the officers refused to
allow her to dress or cover herself "for an appreciable length of time."
"Don't believe everything you read in the complaint," said Clayton Hall, an
attorney hired by SLO County to defend the deputies.
"She wasn't held naked in front of the officers as she claimed. That's
bunk. She was immediately turned over to a female officer and taken care
of."
Martin lived at 9101 San Gabriel Road. The search warrant held by the
deputies listed the address of the home next door - 9105 San Gabriel.
The warrant also named a different woman as the subject of the search. But
Hall contends the officers targeted the right woman, and the right house,
despite the wrong name and the wrong address.
"The arrest was suppressed based on a faulty warrant, but it wasn't really
faulty. The only thing that was faulty was that they had the wrong address,
off by four digits, but they properly described the house. They hit the
intended house. The one they intended to hit was the one she was residing
in."
Many people lived in the house, Hall said, and deputies arrived in assault
gear because they expected to encounter a well-armed man who is an
"enforcer" for the drug groups.
The officers cited Martin for being under the influence of a controlled
substance, but they did not arrest her. The allege that she confessed under
questioned to using "crank" and marijuana. They took a urine sample, and
Hall said it tested positive for both methamphetamine and THC, the
psychoactive component of marijuana.
Martin contends in her lawsuit that the officers falsified that
information. The court threw out the charges against her, but Hall argues
it did so based only on the wrong address, which deputies acquired from the
Atascadero Planning department.
"They won on a technicality on the criminal prosecution," Hall said,
calling the civil lawsuit "spurious."
Martin's lawsuit is not the first based on a faulty drug raid.
In 1994, Dirk and Lauren Winter sued the Narcotics Task Force for raiding
their Cambria home. Agents burst in at 6:30 a.m., held them at gunpoint,
and, they said, handcuffed them and made disparaging remarks about them in
front of their children.
The agents were investigating a meth lab down the road. They had a search
warrant, but it did not name the Winters. It described their home, but it
included incorrect directions to get there.
As in the raids on Leasure and Martin, the agents found no drugs.
"We settled with them, and we got about $10,000, and we had to pay the
lawyer out of that," said Lauren Winter.
"We felt that they pretty much owned up to it - that they were in the
wrong. It probably would have been morally right to stick it out and go to
court, but it's too much of a hassle."
The Winters' neighborhood has become much quieter since the settlement,
Lauren Winters said.
"It's been a lot better because they stopped buzzing over here with the
helicopters."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
War Of Words Heats Up On State's Drug Proposition ('The Arizona Daily Star'
Says Proposition 300 Is Unlike Proposition 200 In 1996, Which Included Other
Drug-Law Changes, And Notes A Hearing On The Lawsuit Over The Analysis
Of Proposition 300 In The State Voters Pamphlet Is Scheduled Tomorrow)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 11:23:12 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US AZ: War Of Words Heats Up On State's Drug Proposition
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Arizona Daily Star
Contact: letters@azstarnet.com
Website: http://www.azstarnet.com/
Pubdate: Thursday, 30 July 1998
WAR OF WORDS HEATS UP ON STATE'S DRUG PROPOSITION
PHOENIX (AP) - Supporters of a medical marijuana initiative adopted two
years ago accuse state officials of trying to mislead voters in an upcoming
referendum.
Defending the wording approved for the about-to-be-printed official voter
publicity pamphlet, one legislative leader said initiative supporters are
``trying to have us accept their spin as the official spin.''
The initiative, Proposition 200 on the 1996 ballot, would authorize
physicians to prescribe otherwise illegal drugs such as marijuana. However,
the Legislature in 1997 promptly amended the voter-passed law to, instead,
bar medical use of the drugs without federal authorization.
Federal officials have said such authorization won't be forthcoming.
Initiative supporters, who have bankrolled similar ballot measures in
several other states, responded to the 1997 law by collecting enough
signatures to force a referendum drive this year on the 1997 law adopted by
the Legislature.
The referendum is Proposition 300 on the state's Nov. 3 general election
ballot. The 1996 ballot measure also included other drug-law changes, but
those are not included in the current dispute.
Two lawsuits filed last week by initiative supporters assert that wording
drafted by state officials for the official voter publicity pamphlet and
the ballot itself is inaccurate or unfair.
The lawsuits asked for court orders blocking the state-drafted wording from
being used.
A legislative housekeeping committee agreed yesterday to make many changes
in the wording of the pamphlet's analysis of Proposition 300, but refused
to delete its partial list of affected drugs. Those listed were heroin,
LSD, marijuana and variations of PCP.
Selecting only ``those few that are most likely to inflame the senses of
some voters'' from among the more than 100 affected drugs was an attempt by
the initiative's opponents to garner votes for Proposition 300, one of the
lawsuits argued.
``That sows a level of confusion,'' said Jack LaSota, a lobbyist for the
initiative supporters. He suggested referring to the drugs involved as
``otherwise illegal drugs'' or ``otherwise illegal substances.''
Legislators balked, saying they have a constitutional duty to provide clear
explanations of ballot measures and that voters would not understand that
more than marijuana is involved.
``They would not have the foggiest idea what that means,'' said Sen. Tom
Patterson, a Phoenix Republican who is a physician.
``They're trying to have us accept their spin as the official spin, as the
all-inclusive spin,'' said Senate Majority Whip Gary Richardson, R-Tempe.
A hearing on the lawsuit on the pamphlet's analysis was scheduled tomorrow
in Maricopa County Superior Court.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Luther Drug Bust Nets Teacher, Wife ('The Oklahoman' Says Police In Luther,
Oklahoma, Busted The Owner Of A Home Day-Care Center And Her Husband,
A Teacher, Wednesday For Possession And Cultivation Of Marijuana -
The Couple Were Still In Jail Wednesday Evening, But There's No Word
On What Authorities Did To Their Three Children)
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: US: OK: Luther Drug Bust Nets Teacher, Wife
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 18:36:11 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Michael Pearson (oknorml@swbell.net)
Pubdate: 7/30/98
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/?ed-writeus
Website: http://www.oklahoman.com/
Author: Melissa Nelson
Luther Drug Bust Nets Teacher, Wife
LUTHER -- The owner of a home day-care center and her husband, a Luther
teacher, were arrested Wednesday on complaints of possession of marijuana.
Lynn Michelle Steffens, 37, and Eddie Lee Steffens Jr., 32, remained in the
Oklahoma County jail Wednesday evening.
They were arrested on complaints of possession of marijuana and possession
of drug paraphernalia.
Eddie Lee Steffens, an agriculture teacher with the Luther School District,
also was arrested on a complaint of cultivation of marijuana, said Mark
Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Control.
Agents from the bureau searched the couple's home and day-care center at
2655 NE 178 in Luther on Wednesday morning after aerial surveillance found
about 40 marijuana plants in the back yard, Woodward said.
Woodward said agents found four marijuana plants in a barn on the property
and a small amount of marijuana in the home.
A loaded shotgun was found in a bedroom, he said.
Plants in the back yard were likely removed before agents arrived, he said.
Five children, including the couple's three children, were at the home
day-care center when the arrests were made, Woodward said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Watts' Kin Gets Term Suspended ('The Associated Press' Says The Sister
Of US Representative JC Watts, A Republican From Oklahoma, Pleaded Guilty
To Six Charges Apparently Involving Possession And Distribution Of Marijuana,
Methamphetamine, Drug Paraphernalia And Maintaining A House Where Drugs
Were Kept, And Has Been Given A Seven-Year Suspended Sentence
After Successfully Completing A Boot Camp Program For Non-Violent Offenders)
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 18:28:25 -0500
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
From: cheechwz@mindspring.com (A H Clements)
Subject: Re: more barbarism in Oklahoma
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
Hey hey talkers,
I don't know about y'all, but it infurates me when I think of this
politicaly connected meth distributor getting a suspended sentence while
medicinal cannabis user Will Foster gets 93 years in the same state
(Oklahoma).
take care --- peace --- ashley in atlanta
PS: I pray there is a "special" hell for drug-warriors. If so, Oklahoma
shall be well represented.
***
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
WATTS' KIN GETS TERM SUSPENDED
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The sister of U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., has been
given a seven-year suspended sentence after successfully completing a boot
camp program for non-violent offenders.
Darlene Watts, 34, was charged a year ago with possession and distribution
of marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. She also was charged
with maintaining a house where drugs were kept.
She pleaded guilty four months ago to six drug-related counts.
Defense attorney Irven Box said Ms. Watts elected to remain in jail instead
of making bond last year. "Drugs were controlling her life, and she felt
she was better off in jail," he said.
As part of the probation, Ms. Watts must continue in an aftercare program
and be tested for drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
FBI Arrests More Texas Jailers Accused Of Abuse ('The Associated Press'
Says Three More Current And Former Guards Have Been Charged
In A Videotaped Shakedown Of Missouri Inmates Contracted Out
To The Brazoria County Jail South Of Houston)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-News" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: FBI arrests abusive Texas jailers
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 20:30:06 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
FBI arrests more Texas jailers accused of abuse
By Mark Babineck
Associated Press
07/30/98 03:43
HOUSTON (AP) - Three more current and former jailers have been charged in a
videotaped shakedown of Missouri inmates at the Brazoria County jail.
Former Sheriff's Lt. Lester Arnold, 47; former deputy David Cisneros, 38;
and current jailer Robert Percival, 36, were arrested Wednesday.
The men, along with former Capital Correctional Resources Inc. officer
Wilton Wallace, 51, are charged with aiding and abetting the assault of Toby
Hawthorne, a Brazoria County Detention Center inmate.
Hawthorne was kicked, shocked with a stun gun and bitten by a police dog
during a 30-minute incident recorded Sept. 18, 1996, during the making of a
training tape uncovered last summer by The Facts, a daily newspaper in
Brazoria County, south of Houston.
Arnold also is charged with shocking two other prisoners.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was pleased to learn of the indictments.
"We were promised this would be taken seriously. I applaud the authorities
for going forward with the indictments," Carnahan said in Jefferson City,
Mo.
CCRI vice president Jim Brewer did not a phone message left Wednesday by The
Associated Press. But Sheriff Joe King hinted that he doesn't believe the
indictments are justified.
"You can't print in a public paper what my opinion is of those indictments,"
King said. "I won't publicly express what I feel."
Cisneros, Percival and Wallace each could get 10 years in prison if
convicted. Arnold faces 30 years. Wallace faces an additional 10 years if
convicted in a separate, untaped attack on another inmate.
Cisneros and Percival were released on bond. Arnold's status after his
arrest was unclear. Wallace, who was initially arrested in June, was not
rearrested Wednesday.
The inmates were housed at the jail in Angleton, about 45 miles south of
Houston, through a contract with Groesbeck, Texas-based Capital Correctional
Resources Inc., a private prison company.
After The Facts exposed the videotape, Missouri canceled its contract, 215
remaining inmates were returned and Wallace and other CCRI staffers were
laid off.
About 500 have inmates filed a federal lawsuit against CCRI, alleging their
civil rights were violated in company facilities in Brazoria, Limestone and
Gregg counties.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Missing Cocaine A Mystery ('The Houston Chronicle' Says Police In Montgomery
County, Texas, Have No Explanation For How Almost 20 Pounds Of Cocaine
Valued At Up To $3 Million Disappeared Last Year From Their Evidence Room)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 11:19:45 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Missing Cocaine A Mystery
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Author: Paul McKay
MISSING COCAINE A MYSTERY
20 pounds disappears from evidence room
NEW CANEY -- Montgomery County authorities remain at a loss to explain how
almost 20 pounds of cocaine disappeared last year from the evidence room of
a constable who testified before a grand jury this week.
Precinct 4 Constable Travis Bishop and four employees from his New
Caney-based department testified Tuesday in what District Attorney Mike
McDougal described as an informal probe that targeted no suspects.
"We took testimony, but it wasn't really a situation where we were going to
indict or nobill anybody," McDougal said. "I just wanted to get some people
under oath and get their testimony on the record in case something develops
in the future. But right now, nobody has any idea how this stuff disappeared."
Bishop notified the Texas Rangers late last year after two of his employees
discovered that the cocaine was gone. Most of the missing contraband
already had been used as evidence in trials and was going to be destroyed,
McDougal said.
He said only Bishop and one deputy had keys to the evidence room, although
any number of other people could have found a way to get in.
"I wouldn't call it the most secure place, but it seemed adequately secure
to me," McDougal said. "Supposedly, the lock could be picked without a
whole lot of effort."
While estimates on the street value of drugs vary widely, McDougal said the
cocaine could have been sold for up to $3 million.
Bishop said Wednesday he is developing policies and measures to tighten
security. He noted that his offices are part of an annex housing several
other county agencies.
"There are all kinds of people milling around all the time," Bishop said.
"The justice of the peace has people working off traffic tickets around
here. For somebody to have gotten into our property room without forced
entry, it had to be somebody who knew our routine. If somebody wants to get
in and get something bad enough, they'll find a way to do it."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Juvenile Drug Cases Increasing (A Letter To The Editor
Of 'The Altoona Herald-Mitchellville Index' In Iowa From The Altoona
Police Chief Says Statistics Recently Released By The US Department
Of Justice Reveal That 1995 Juvenile Drug Offense Cases Jumped 145 Percent
From Those Reported In 1991 - But Doesn't Mention How Much Funding
Increased During The Same Period To Round Up Such Suspects)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 21:39:34 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US IA: LTE: Juvenile Drug Cases Increasing
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Carl Olsen
Source: Altoona Herald / Mitchellville Index (IA)
Pubdate: 30 Jul 98
Author: John Gray
The Altoona Herald - Mitchellville Index
Thursday, July 30, 1998, Page 6A
Post Office Box 427
Altoona, Iowa 50009
Phone 515-967-4224
Fax 515-967-0553
JUVENILE DRUG CASES INCREASING
To the editor:
Information recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice reveals
that 1995 juvenile drug offense cases jumped 145 percent from those
reported in 1991.
Drug offenses include possession or sale of marijuana, cocaine and other
illegal drugs. Although juvenile courts nationwide saw a decline in their
drug offense caseloads from 1988 to 1991, a sharp increase was noted from
1991 to 1995, the last year of the reporting period.
Males accounted for the vast majority of drug cases prosecuted in juvenile
court. Between 1986 and 1995, the male portion of the drug caseload ranged
from 83 percent to 88 percent. In 1986, white males accounted for 53
percent of such cases; black males for 31 percent. With all cases
considered, 58 percent of the drug caseload in 1995 involved male juveniles
age 16 or older.
President Clinton recently announced a new assault against the illegal use
of drugs. Millions of dollars will be spent on a media campaign, trying to
change America's ambivalence toward "casual" drug use. Complaints have been
heard about wasting tax dollars on what is essentially a public relations
blitz. We should remember, however, the highly successful inroads made with
a concentrated PR effort against drunk drivers. The very idea of a
designated driver would have been laughable in the '70s. It is an accepted
and valued norm today. Public opinion was swayed after a long and effective
campaign. The drunk driver, edging his way home on the side of the road, is
no longer topical humor.
At the risk of inflaming the passions of those who advocate drug
legalization, it's about time that we start using all of the tools
available to change the way people look at drug abuse: the media; the power
of advertising; the Office of the President. It's time to advertise that
cigarettes and marijuana are gateways to the abuse of other drugs.
Our youngest citizens are most at risk when movie and television stars,
talk show hosts and even parents downplay the dangers of illicit drug use.
Right now, comedians are trashing the government's new ad campaign against
marijuana, cocaine and heroin.
No one makes a joke about people who die from a grinding, heart-wrenching,
alcohol-induced traffic accident. Why is death-by-drugs still funny?
Because the public acceptance has yet to be effectively challenged.
The government's use of media influence can only help change things for the
better.
John L. Gray
Chief of police
Altoona
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New York City Lawyer Found Guilty In Largest Marijuana Cultivation Operation
Ever In New England (The 'Business Wire' Version Notes Derman Faces
A Mandatory Minimum 10-Year Sentence)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 03:42:33 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MA: Wire: NYC Lawyer Found Guilty
In Largest Marijuana Cultivation Operation Ever In New England
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: Business Wire
Authors: Amy Rindskopf, Samantha Martin
NEW YORK CITY LAWYER FOUND GUILTY IN LARGEST MARIJUANA CULTIVATION
OPERATION EVER IN NEW ENGLAND
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-A New York City lawyer was found guilty
by a jury late yesterday in connection with the largest and longest running
indoor marijuana growing operation ever in New England.
Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts,
George Festa, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration
in New England, and Michael Lahey, Acting Chief of the Criminal
Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service, announced that
Herbert B. Derman, age 67, a lawyer from New York City, and North Egremont,
Massachusetts, was found guilty after a three week jury trial of conspiracy
to cultivate more than 1,000 marijuana plants. The jury also found that
Derman's residence and 200 acres of real property in North Egremont, MA,
is to be forfeited to the United States.
U.S. Attorney Stern stated: "This case involved the largest and longest
running indoor marijuana growing operation in the history of New England.
Herbert Derman allowed his rural North Egremont, MA, land to be used to
operate a vast underground marijuana growing operation for over seven years."
According to evidence introduced at the trial, Derman conspired with Marcel
Rosenzweig, Richard Haber, Nicholas Pinto Edward Brennan, Marjorie Brennan,
Sabrina Brennan and others to grow over two hundred thousand marijuana
plants, first inside a huge underground bunker of Derman's property in North
Egremont, MA, from 1983 to 1991, and then inside a barn on Rosenzweig's
property in Sandisfield, MA, from 1992 to 1995. During two court authorized
searches of Rosenzweig's property in August, 1995, the Drug Enforcement
Administration seized over 5,000 marijuana plants and over $1 million in
cash and gold.
The jury acquitted Derman on related money laundering charges.
Since the indictment was first returned in the fall of 1995, Rosenzweig died
of natural causes, and eleven co-conspirators pled guilty to charges related
to the marijuana growing conspiracy.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor scheduled Derman's sentencing
for October 28, 1998. Derman faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
with a minimum mandatory term of 10 years.
The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and
the Western Massachusetts Narcotics Task Force and is being prosecuted by
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ariane D. Vuono and Kevin O'Regan in Stern's
Springfield office.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite No Memory Of Crimes, Cop Admits Seven Bank Robberies
('The Associated Press' Says Trenton, New Jersey Police Officer
Christopher Kerins, An Undercover Narcotics Officer, Pleaded Guilty
Wednesday To The Robberies, And Also Awaits Sentencing In Ohio,
Where He Pleaded Guilty In 1996 To Robbery And Drug Charges)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-News" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Heroin made cop into bank robber
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 20:29:24 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Despite no memory of crimes, cop admits seven bank robberies
By Jeffrey Gold, Associated Press, 07/30/98 07:29
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - He doesn't remember pulling on the ski mask or the latex
gloves, or brandishing his police-issue semiautomatic .40-caliber Glock
pistol at frightened bank workers.
Still, Trenton Police Officer Christopher Kerins believes he is the
"camouflage bandit" who committed seven bank robberies.
Kerins, an undercover narcotics officer, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the
robberies, telling a federal judge that bank photographs and other evidence
convinced him he was the criminal.
The spree at five different banks netted nearly $50,000 from November 1995
to April 1996.
Bank photographs described in court showed Kerins, who joined the police
force in 1985, always wore a full-face ski mask and latex gloves, and
carried his service pistol. Kerins also conceded that the camouflage jacket
found at his house matched the jacket worn during the robberies.
Defense lawyer Robert J. Fettweis thinks Kerins became addicted to heroin to
escape nightmares and hallucinations that haunted him since 1989, when he
shot to death a man who attacked him with a butcher knife.
His lawyers considered presenting an insanity defense, but concluded that,
while Kerins suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, he didn't meet
the stringent legal definition of insanity, Fettweis said.
Kerins, 41, faces about 10 to 12 years in federal prison without parole when
he is sentenced Oct. 26. Kerins is suspended without pay from the Trenton
force and will likely be dismissed after sentencing.
He also awaits sentencing in Ohio, where he pleaded guilty in 1996 to
robbery and drug charges, and could get more than 60 years in prison.
He has been in custody since his arrest in April 1996 while attending a law
enforcement conference in Cincinnati. Authorities there said they found
heroin in Kerins' luggage after he robbed a suburban Cincinnati bank and led
police on a six-mile chase before his tires were shot out by an officer he
tried to run down.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana - Suit Filed Against Marijuana Laws ('The Associated Press'
Breaks The Media Silence About The Class Action Lawsuit Filed
By Public Interest Attorney Lawrence Elliott Hirsch In Philadelphia,
Demanding That Laws Prohibiting The Medical Use Of Marijuana
Be Struck Down As Unconstitutional)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:14:45 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US PA: WIRE: Medical Marijuana,
Suit filed against marijuana laws
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Rumsey (dirtroad@mcn.org)
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
MEDICAL MARIJUANA, SUIT FILED AGAINST MARIJUANA LAWS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - One is a 21 year cancer survivor and an AIDS patient
whose body is wasting away from lack of appetite. The other suffers from
the "ice pick" pain of multiple sclerosis. The remaining 163 plaintiffs in
a class-action lawsuit represent every other imaginable argument for
overturning the federal governments 61 year stance on marijuana. Their
suit, filed this month in Philadelphia, seeks to end the nation's ban on
the medical and therapeutic use of cannabis.
Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, the chief counsel of the Philadelphia-based Hirsch
& Caplan Public Interest Law Firm, is asking a U.S. District Court judge to
declare the marijuana laws unconstitutional. He says his lawsuit
represents the millions of people who need to use marijuana to survive the
symptoms and treatments of a variety of diseases, These people, the suit
says, ought to be "free to use it for their health without control or
interference" by the government
Cancer chemotherapy, AIDS wasting syndrome and nervous disorders are among
scores of afflictions that can be treated successfully only by smoking the
natural plant, according to the suit, which seeks class action on behalf of
165 plaintiffs _ and perhaps many more. The suit was assigned to U.S.
District Judge Marvin Katz A spokeswoman at the Department of Justice's
Civil Litigation Division said she could not comment on the suit Monday
The government's 1937 classification of marijuana as a dangerous narcotic
was the result of political and moral forces seeking to take away
constitutionally guaranteed liberties, the suit contends. Hirsch says
marijuana laws are akin to prohibition, "only without a constitutional
amendment."
"Cannabis was freely and legally available in the United States for a wide
range of medicinal uses until the federal politicians desecrated,
demonized, defamed, prohibited and criminalized what many cultures
considered to be an invaluable resources," Hirsch wrote. "The government's
arbitrary, hypocritical classification of cannabis as the most dangerous
drug in America continues to be the law and policy of the United States of
America, criminalizing the sick and powerless."
Kiyoshi Kuromiya, 55, a Philadelphia AIDS activist and one of the lead
plaintiffs, was diagnosed with AIDS 10 years ago. He said smoking marijuana
is the only way he can maintain an appetite "There's a very powerful
correlation between weight loss and the disease's progression, and
survival," he said. "I can sit down to a meal and be able to eat maybe one
bite, or not be able to look at the food. Marijuana is very effective
Within a matter of a few minutes (after smoking) I can eat a whole meal.
Through the use of marijuana _ it's taken some time _ but I've been able to
regain a lot of the weight," he said.
Aside from chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Hirsch said marijuana has
been shown to be effective in the treatment of dozens of physical and
psychological maladies. They include ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease,
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, menstrual cramps, migraine
headaches and muscle spasticity related to central nervous system disorders.
Hirsch and Kuromiya point out that a pharmaceutical called Marinol, which
consists almost in its entirety of delta-9 tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) - the
main psychoactive and medicinal compound in marijuana has limited
effectiveness. Marinol is made under license from the government by Unimed
Pharmaceuticals and is available only by prescription. Because it comes in
a pill form, it is often no help to patients who are unable to take
medication orally, including many chemotherapy patients who develop mouth
sores, they said. They also say the cost of the drug is often prohibitive.
"When you're getting nauseated and you're about to vomit, you don't want to
swallow a pill, "said Kuromiya, who began the first Philadelphia-based
marijuana buyers' club in 1993 But it's the government's hypocrisy over the
use of THC, Hirsch said, that is also frustrating. He questions why the
government would allow synthetic drugs with THC and not allow it in its
natural form.
"To me the constitutional rights are obvious We're not a political firm.
We're a public interest law firm. This doesn't have a thing to do with
politics. It has to do with constitutional rights and public rights,"
Hirsch said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis A Minor Risk To Mentally Unstable - Doctor ('The New Zealand Herald'
Says Several Physicians And Public Health Officials Testified Yesterday
Before The Parliamentary Committee Holding An Inquiry Into The Mental Health
Effects Of Cannabis That Cannabis Use Causes No Significant Harm,
And At Worst Could Worsen The Condition Of Some Schizophrenics,
About One In 10,000 Of The Population - Though Cannabis Did Not Cause
Schizophrenia And Led To Fewer Problems Than Tobacco And Alcohol -
Research Has Not Shown That Cannabis Use Damages The Brain Structure,
And It Is Well Accepted For Stress Relief And Other Therapeutic Uses)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 03:48:35 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: New Zealand: Cannabis A Minor Risk
To Mentally Unstable: Doctor
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: NZ Herald (Auckland)
Contact: editor@herald.co.nz
CANNABIS A MINOR RISK TO MENTALLY UNSTABLE: DOCTOR
WELLINGTON - Cannabis use has little effect on mental illness, apart from a
small group of people suffering from schizophrenia or predisposed to the
disease, MPs were told yesterday.
Dr John Marks, who heads Capital Cost Health's drug and alcohol unit, told
the health select committee that cannabis use caused no significant harm.
The committee is holding an inquiry into the mental health effects of
cannabis and will report to Parliament and make recommendations to the
Government.
Dr Marks, a member of the Drug Policy Forum Trust, a doctors' group that
supports decriminalising the drug, said cannabis use could worsen the
condition of some schizophrenics - about one in 10,000 of the population.
Dr Nick Judson, the Ministry of Health's deputy director of mental health,
said cannabis caused fewer problems than tobacco and alcohol.
People who used cannabis occasionally had few health problems. Long-term and
heavier users could suffer subtle cognitive impairment.
Research had not shown that cannabis use damaged the brain structure, he
said. But in high doses it could cause acute psychosis.
Cannabis did not cause schizophrenia, but it might trigger the illness in
people at risk, said Dr Judson. No more than 3 per cent of the population
was at serious risk.
He said research showed cannabis could be therapeutic, particularly for pain
and stress relief.
The select committee announced its inquiry in April amid calls for the drug
to be decriminalised.
The inquiry will look at the effect of cannabis on people's development, the
role of the drug as a trigger for mental illness, the effects of cannabis on
Maori mental health, and the adequacy of services for those with
drug-related mental illnesses.
Ria Earp, the ministry's deputy director of Maori health, said more research
was needed on the effects of cannabis on Maori mental health. More
appropriate drug and alcohol services were needed for Maori.
The committee was told that about 10 per cent of cannabis users had a
dependency problem which was a similar level to other drugs but much less
than tobacco.
Dr Hadorn, who heads the doctors' trust, said the pharmacological effects of
cannabis were relatively benign. It had been used for centuries and was well
accepted for stress relief.
He said it was important to consider the research, rather than be distracted
by anecdotal evidence about the small number of people who had problems.
"The research evidence shows that cannabis is at most a small contributor to
the development and exacerbation of mental illness throughout the world."
People who dealt only with those who had problems with cannabis - such as
police and health workers - had a very narrow view, he said.
A trust member, Dr Peter Crampton, of the Wellington School of Medicine,
said the criminal status of cannabis made the mental health consequences worse.
Cannabis use had decreased or remained the same in countries or states where
its use had been decriminalised.
Dr Hadorn said anti-drug campaigns aimed at children increased drug use
because they stimulated curiosity. Children needed to be told at a young age
they should not smoke cannabis.
Dr Marks said studies of cannabis, dating back to last century, had all
exonerated the drug.
It was therapeutic for diseases such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer
and HIV. - NZPA
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Effect On Mental Illness Slight - Doctor
(A Slightly Different Version In The New Zealand 'Evening Post')
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:19:43 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: New Zealand: Cannabis effect on mental illness slight -- doctor
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Source: Evening Post (New Zealand)
Contact: editor@evpost.co.nz
Website: http://www.evpost.co.nz/
Pubdate: July 30, 1998
CANNABIS EFFECT ON MENTAL ILLNESS SLIGHT -- DOCTOR
Cannabis use has little effect on mental illness apart from a small group
of people suffering from schizophrenia or predisposed to it, a
parliamentary select committee was told yesterday.
Dr John Marks, who heads Capital Coast Health's drug and alcohol unit [sic;
he heads CCH's dual diagnosis unit], told the health select committee that
cannabis use caused no significant harm. The committee is holding an
inquiry into the mental health effects of cannabis.
Dr Marks, a member of the Drug Policy Forum Trust, a doctors' group that
supports decriminalising the drug, said cannabis use could aggravate the
condition of some people with schizophrenia -- about one in 10,000.
Dr Nick Judson, the Ministry of Health's deputy director of mental health,
said cannabis caused fewer problems than tobacco and alcohol.
People who occasionally used cannabis had few health problems. Long-term
and heavier users could suffer subtle cognitive impairment.
Research had not shown that cannabis use damaged the brain structure, he
said. But in high doses it could cause acute psychosis. Cannabis did not
cause schizophrenia, but it might trigger the illness in people at risk.
No more than 2 or 3 percent of the population was at serious risk, he said.
Dr Judson said research showed cannabis could have a useful therapeutic
effect, particularly for pain and stress relief.
The select committee will look at the effect of cannabis on people's
development, the role of cannabis as a trigger for mental illness, the
effects of cannabis on Maori mental health and the adequacy of services for
those with drug-related mental illnesses.
The committee was told that about 10 percent of cannabis users had a
dependency problem, which was a similar level to those on other drugs but
much less than tobacco users.
Dr Mark [sic] David Hadorn, who heads the Drug Policy forum Trust, said the
pharmacological effects of cannabis were relatively benign.
He said it was important to consider the research and not get distracted by
anecdotal evidence about the small number of people who had problems.
"The research evidence shows that cannabis is at most a small contributor
to the development and exacerbation of mental illness throughout the world."
Dr Hadorn said anti-drug campaigns aimed at children increased drug use
because they stimulated curiosity.
Trust member Dr Peter Crampton, from Wellington School of Medicine, said
the criminal status of cannabis made the mental health consequences worse.
Cannabis use had decreased or remained the same in countries or states
where its use had been decriminalised. - NZPA
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Use Not A Serious Risk To Health Says Ministry
('The Dominion' Version)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:18:38 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: New Zealand: Cannabis use not
a serious risk to health says ministry
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David.Hadorn@vuw.ac.nz (David Hadorn)
Source: The Dominion (New Zealand)
Contact: letters@dominion.co.nz
Website: http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html
Author: Helen Bain
CANNABIS USE NOT A SERIOUS RISK TO HEALTH SAYS MINISTRY
Cannabis does not pose a big health risk, the Health Ministry yesterday
told a select committee inquiry into the mental health effects of the drug.
The ministry's submission to Parliament's health select committee says most
New Zealanders who used cannabis used it only occasionally, and reported
few health problems.
"Overall, the current public health risks of cannabis use are small to
moderate in size, and are less than the public health risk of tobacco or
alcohol use," the ministry's submission says.
Studies had failed to demonstrate any evidence that even acute cannabis use
caused brain damage, and suggested that even long-term heavy cannabis use
caused only subtle impairment of cognition, the submission says.
High doses could produce short-term psychosis, and could exacerbate
schizophrenia in those already affected by the condition, and about 10 per
cent of users were dependent on cannabis, the ministry said.
"Beyond that it is difficult to draw any sort of definitive
cause-and-effect relationship between cannabis and mental illness."
Deputy director of mental health Nick Judson said no more than 2 to 3 per
cent of the population were at serious risk from cannabis.
The ministry also acknowledged that in many parts of New Zealand mental
health and drug and alcohol services had not been well coordinated, so
failed to meet the needs of many with mental health and substance abuse
problems.
Drug Policy Forum Trust director David Hadorn said that research had
largely exonerated cannabis as a cause of mental illness.
The mental health of New Zealanders was put at greater risk by
criminalisation of cannabis than cannabis itself, he said.
"Creating a climate of criminality around cannabis ensures that the
relatively few people who develop problems are less likely to seek help.
This sets off a spiral of alienation, marginalisation and anti-social
behaviour, which too often can culminate in criminality, mental illness and
violence."
"By driving cannabis use underground, we surely make the situation far
worse than would be the case under a controlled, regulated system of
cannabis distribution. Creating a flourishing black market for a widely
used substance inevitably fosters criminal activity."
Dr Hadorn said the only drug proven to contribute to violence was alcohol,
and cannabis had the opposite effect. "It tends to encourage people to
stay home and watch Cheech and Chong movies and listen to Pink Floyd."
"Honest" education programmes were needed to reduce cannabis use by young
people, but the "hyperbole approach" used by New Zealand police just
encouraged young people to experiment, Dr Hadorn said.
Assistant police commissioner Ian Holyoake said police opposed legalisation
of cannabis, but were "not blind to the issues raised by the legalisation
lobby".
But till there were better programmes to reduce the harm caused by
cannabis, its illegal status "remained a powerful tool", Mr Holyoake said.
"Police take the view that cannabis is an inherently harmful drug with
serious health risk to regular and long-term users, especially the young,"
he said.
Mr Holyoake admitted police had had limited success in reducing cannabis
offending, and had failed to halt involvement of gangs in cannabis
cultivation and distribution.
He said cannabis had a huge impact on Maori communities, especially in
Northland, Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay.
"Police working in these communities speak of a dead generation or two, and
of young people losing touch with their elders and their families. Their
focus in life is cannabis -- growing, smoking and the culture -- rendering
them blind to life's opportunities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Meeting August 24 - Future Of South Australia's Hemp Laws
(A Local Correspondent Describes The Meeting In Adelaide
In The Context Of The Relatively Progressive Policies Recommended
By The Sackville Royal Commission, Set Up By The South Australian
Labor Government In 1976)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 17:04:48 +0930
From: dave sag (dave@va.com.au)
Subject: public meeting August 24 - future of SA's Hemp Laws
To: pot-news@va.com.au
Reply-To: pot-news@va.com.au
Where: The Atrium: Level 2, 187 Rundle St
Adelaide (next to the SA Writer's Centre)
When: 7.30 pm Monday August 24
THE FUTURE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S CANNABIS LAWS
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia. Over 41% of
Australians over 14 have tried cannabis and 13% are regular users. Since
1964, cannabis has been the drug of choice of young Australians, and among
18 - 24 year olds, over 50% use cannabis regularly.
To begin with, Australian law followed the US War on Drugs zero-tolerance
model, though in 1986 South Australia became the first state to break with
this model.
In 1976 the South Australian Labor Government set up a Royal Commission
into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs. The Sackville Royal Commission spent
some time examining cannabis and came to some very interesting conclusions.
They discovered there was a huge difference between what many people
thought and the real medical and scientific facts about marijuana. They
concluded: The official record is noteworthy for the lack of complications
relating to cannabis, other than criminal proceedings
The Sackville Royal Commission looked at five different choices the law
could make regarding cannabis. These were: Total Prohibition, ("Zero
tolerance/War on Drugs), Prohibition with Civil Penalty (the "on-the-spot"
fines in South Australia and the ACT), Partial Prohibition (like Germany,
Spain and Italy), Regulated Availability (the Dutch Coffee shop model,
Alaska from 1975-1986) and a Free Availability option ( with no quality
control, age limits or government taxation).
When the Sackville Royal Commission recommened for partial prohibition,
legal use and cultivation in mid 1979, it put the proponents of cannabis
law reform in an unassailable position because all they had to call for was
the implementation of the governments own royal commission. Change,
nonetheless, was a long time coming.
In 1986 the Canabis Expiation Notice (CEN) or the "on-the-spot
fines"system passed (by one vote!) allowing people to grow up to ten
plants at the risk of only a $150 fine. The Liberal Party opposed the
"de-facto decriminalisation" and vowed to repeal it at the first
opportunity.
However, for over a decade the CEN system has continued unchanged in South
Australia while in the meantime, the ACT and latterly the Northern
Territory, Victoria and Tasmania have followed South Australia's lead in
backing away from 'the War on Drugs' total prohibition model.
In the ten years it has been operating significant problems have emerged
with the South Australia decriminalisation model.
Although one aim of the CEN scheme was to stop young people ending up with
a criminal record, this has not been the case. Since the introduction of
"on-the-spot" fines in 1987, four times as many people have been busted per
year. Over 17,700 people were issued with an expiation notice in 1994,
compared to less than 4,000 people arrested in 1987.
The police admit more people aren't smoking - the new laws have simply made
busting smokers easier. If you can't pay your fine then you go to court. If
convicted, you will receive a criminal record. In 1994 over 9,700 people
didn't pay their fine, went to court and got a permanent record. This is
more than double the number before "on-the-spot" fines were introduced.
While the Democrats and HEMP have argued it is necessary to go beyond the
CEN system to go to a model of regulated availability like the Dutch coffee
shop model (Democrat leader Mike Elliot currently has a bill to legalise
cannabis before parliament), the police and the Liberals want to reduce the
number of plants permitted from ten plants to three.
So why not have your say? A public meeting to discuss South Australia's
cannabis laws will be held at level 2, 187 Rundle St Adelaide (beside the
Writer's Centre) at 7.30pm on Monday August 24.
Guest speaker will be Mr Paul Christie for the Drug and Alcohol Services
Council of South Australia, one of the authors of the recently released
report on South Australia's Cannabis Expiation Notice scheme The Social
Impacts of the Cannabis Expiation Notice Scheme in South Australia.
Other speakers include:
Det. Supt. Denis Edmonds (SA Police Drug Task Force)
Det. Insp. Graham Lough (SA Police Community Liason Officer on Drug and
Alcohol issues)
We have also invited politicians from the Liberal, Labor, and Australian
Democrats as well as Pastor Morrie Thompson from Teen Challenge and Mr
Jamnes Danenberg from HEMP SA.
The meeting will be moderated by author/journalist Mr John Jiggens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Triumph On World Cup Stage Forgotten As France Fails The Dope Test
('The Scotsman' Sumamrizes The Doping Controversy Surrounding
The Tour De France Competition)
Date: Sun, 02 Aug 1998 18:52:57 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: France: Triumph On World Cup Stage Forgotten As France Fails
The Dope Test
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: shug@shug.co.uk
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: JULIAN NUNDY In Paris
TRIUMPH ON WORLD CUP STAGE FORGOTTEN AS FRANCE FAILS THE DOPE TEST
Triumph on World Cup stage forgotten as France fails the dope test
International competition is getting a rough ride among both the
cyclists and the grand masters.
AS CHARLES Dickens once said of another momentous period in French
history: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
There was always going to be a hangover after the revolutionary zeal
of the country's World Cup victory celebrations on Bastille Day. And
this summer's sporting party has been well and truly spoiled by the
Tour de France, the world's greatest cycle race, which has been
blighted by riders' strikes and allegations of drug-taking.
The tour sank into further chaos yesterday when the 133 riders left in
the race stopped 20 miles into the 17th stage, between Albertville and
Aix-les-Bains, to protest against anti-doping raids by police on team
hotels. Most riders - except for the Once and Banesto teams, who have
pulled out and the Riso Scotti team - started again. But they raced
without their race numbers, thus making the stage invalid. And they
continued only after the tour's director, Jean-Marie Leblanc, gave
them guarantees that future police hearings would take place "with
dignity and discretion".
The overall race leader, Marco Pantani of Italy, was among the first
to tear his number off his jersey. He later said he was ready to give
up if the rest of the riders did too.
Mr Leblanc said he was hoping the tour could go on in spite of the
riders' threat to quit if police searches of their hotels continued.
But there were more raids. Officers investigating the French/ Swiss
Festina team, who were kicked out of the race on doping charges,
turned up at the Once team's hotel in Chambery during the race.
Once, led by a Frenchman Laurent Jalabert, had in turn pulled out in
protest at a police raid on the TVM team hotel on Tuesday. "I stop. I
made this decision knowingly. I was too depressed to start the race,"
said Jalabert.
The TVM riders, who were taken to hospital by police on Tuesday night
for dope tests, decided to compete despite getting little sleep during
the night. The team leader, Jeroen Blijlevens, complained that the
police treated them "like animals, like criminals".
The Tour de France has been rocked by the doping scandals since its
start in Ireland on 11 July. As disgrace has descended on the tour,
the cars marked with the logo of the sporting daily L'Equipe, the main
race sponsor, have been singled out for special treatment. The
L'Equipe cars are targets for stones and insults as they follow the
race.
L'Equipe has become a whipping boy, both because its editor J=E9r=F4me
Bureau, campaigned for two years against the management and selection
methods of the national football side - making himself spectacularly
unpopular after the triumph against Brazil on 12 July - and because it
was L'Equipe which blew the whistle on dope in the Tour de France 18
months ago.
However, dope and the Tour de France have been synonymous for 30 years
since the death of a British rider, Tom Simpson, in 1967. Simpson had
been taking amphetamines. Now the drugs are most likely to be
hormones, often hidden by masking products. The respected French daily
Le Monde yesterday quoted an anonymous cyclist as describing the usual
treatment as "two steroid pills every morning, one injection of
testosterone a week and [hormones] to top it off". The same rider
said: "When you take them, you are no longer the same man. You
actually feel your body change."
Graeme Obree, Scotland's double world champion cyclist, has claimed he
was stripped of the chance to ride in the Tour de France because he
refused to take drugs and to pay into a "slush fund" to buy drugs. "I
broke two of the toughest records in the book ; and won two world
titles but after saying no to drugs, I never received one more offer."
His words echoed admissions by cyclists to French investigators. The
competing cyclists have told French police of payments from their
winnings into illicit funds to pay for drugs on the sly.
In the meantime, the cyclists have become the targets of the French
sense of humour, with an impersonator on the Europe 1 radio station
giving cruel daily updates on the woes of a fictional fallen star.
But even the low that the tour has reached has not taken all the
tarnish from that special trinket the French nation so
enthusiastically embraced after beating Brazil 3-0.
After a five-week football tournament highly praised for its
organisation, France has indulged in an orgy of pride.
Since then, youngsters have taking to wearing blue soccer shirts, as
often as not emblazoned with the number 10 of the scorer of the first
two goals, Zinnedine Zidane, and French flags are still fluttering
from balconies in a country little given to nationalistic outbursts.
At the same time, the impact of the Tour de France is more limited.
Most of the participants are European, and, while, the World Cup win
raised spirits in France's suburbs, the tour is mainly a festival for
the less populated countryside.
In the French popular perception, one Paris businessman said, in the
end, it will be the French establishment - from media to the police -
"who are the bastards". He went on: "They are the ones who have ruined
a summer festival".
The tour is scheduled to finish in Paris on Sunday. And the whole
country will be glad.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tour Protest Forces Police To Alter Inquiry Tactics
('The International Herald-Tribune' Says The Tour De France,
Plagued By Doping Scandals, Was Stopped Twice Wednesday
By Rider Protests And Faced A Premature End For The First Time
In Its 95-Year History - 'We Haven't Been Treated Like Human Beings . . .
If The French Police Want To Ruin Their National Race, They're Doing It,'
Said Bobby Julich, An American In Second Place)
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 13:26:46 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: France: Tour Protest Forces Police to Alter Inquiry Tactics
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Peter Webster
Source: International Herald-Tribune
Contact: iht@iht.com
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Author: Samuel Abt
TOUR PROTEST FORCES POLICE TO ALTER INQUIRY TACTICS
Angry Over Hotel Raid, Riders Stage Slowdown
A1X-LES-BAINS, France --- The Tour de France, plagued by drug scandals, was
stopped twice Wednesday by rider protests and faced a premature end for the
first time in its 95-year history.
The riders agreed to start Thursday only if the French police modify their
tactics in a spreading investigation of some of the 21 teams in the world's
greatest bicycle race. Not until Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director of the
race consulted with government officials and promised a change in police
methods---including questioning in team hotels rather than police
stations---did the riders call off their second sit-down.
But they ripped off their numbers, making the stage unofficial, and then
rode at a moderate speed without competition, reaching the finish line
nearly three hburs late. Three teams quit en route in protest, as did a
handful of individual riders. A fourth team quit later.
The turmoil was unprecedented. Six teams are now under suspicion; the
riders are divided in their response to the investigation, and Tour
officials spent the day trying to keep the race going to its scheduled end
in Paris on Sunday. They had been successful Friday, when the riders
refused to start to protest media treatment of the drug scandal, which
began before the race started in Dublin on July 11.
The focus of the protest Wednesday was a police raid on a hotel in which
four riders from the TVM team were taken to a hospital Tuesday night and
tested for drugs in their urine, blood and hair. A TVM car was seized by
French police in March and found to contain what was described as a huge
quantity of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
"They treated us like criminals, like animals," said one of the Dutch
team's members, Jeroen Blijlevens. "They took Bart out of the shower, made
us sign some papers and took us away," he continued, referring to his
roommate, Bart Voskamp. The riders were held more than four hours for the
tests and released half an hour after midnight.
Word of their treatment did not reach the full 140-man pack until it was
rolling Wednesday in the 17th of 21 daily stages, 149 kilometers (92
rniles) from Albertville in the Alps to Aix-lesBains. The riders also
learned then that the police would visit the hotels of three more teams,
Casino, which is based in France; Polti, based in Italy, and ONCE, based in
Spain.
Three officials of the Festina team based in France, had previously been
arrested, and two officials of the TVM team are being held in a French
jail. Another French team, Big Mat-Auber, came under suspicion Tuesday when
one of its vans was stopped by the police and found to contain medication
that was sent to a laboratory for analysis.
As the news of the TVM treatment and the police investigation at the three
team hotels Wednesday night filtered among the riders, they stopped for 25
minutes after 32 kilometers.
"I'm fed up," said their spokesman, Laurent Jalabert, the French national
champion and the world's top-ranked racer. "I can't continue under these
conditions, being treated like a criminal." He entered a team car, quitting
the race, and was followed shortly by the other ONCE riders.
His directeur sportif, or coach, Manolo Saiz, a Spaniard, said: "We may
never come to race in France again. This may be the end of cycling. It's
the biggest crisis we've ever had and we're a family heading for divorce."
Leblanc, the Tour director, pleaded with the riders and their coaches. "I
ask you, directeurs sportif my friends, I ask you, the riders, my friends,
to continue the race," he said on the radio that links the race.
"We were as astonished as the riders about the way TVM was treated," he
said on television later. "We are discussing with the authorities how
further investigation of the Tour de France riders can be handled with the
utmost dignity."
With that promise, the race resumed, but only for a dozen more kilometers.
Since Jalabert was gone, Leblanc met with the riders' new spokesman, Bjarne
Riis, a Dane with Telekom and the winner of the 1996 Tour.
"If the riders caa be assured that the investigation will be held with a
certain dignity, they will continue with the Tour de France tomorrow," Riis
said.
The riders then resumed the journey at a speed about half their usual 40
kilometers an hour. At the feeding zone, the Banesto team, like ONCE from
Spain, and the Riso Scotti team from Italy dropped out. So did individual
riders, including two TVM riders.
After the stage, the Vitalicio team, also from Spain, withdrew.
By the end of the day, the field was down to 111 riders.
Although representatives of teams with riders among the leaders were not
threatening further disruption, team officials and riders condemned police
tactics. The police, who are under the orders of an investigating
magistrate in Lille, far to the north, had no official spokesman and could
not present their side.
"I understand the riders' unhappiness," said Alain Bondue, a former racer
and now manager of the Cofidis team from France. "You have to let them do
their job. The TVM riders left the hospital at 12:30 without eating and
without being massaged. That's not right.
"That the police want to investigate is logical but why not wait till
Monday, a day after the race ends?" Asked if Cofidis expected a visit from
the police, Bondue said, "Who knows? They don't telephone ahead."
The police were waiting at the hotels of ONCE, Polti and Casino when the
race pulled into Aix-les-Bains. The four TVM riders remaining, including
some of those taken to the hospital Tuesday night, led, the pack across the
line and were applauded by a large crowd of fans who had remained for that
moment.
"If the French police want to ruin their national race, they're doing it,"
said Bobby Julich, an American with Cofidis who is in second place behind
Marco Pantani, an Italian with Mercatone Uno.
"We haven't been treated like human beings," he added. "Which TVM wasn't
last night. That's what we're protesting against. That's why the stage was
ruined today."
If the treatment continues, he said, "It was the understanding of the
riders that it wauld have pretty dire consequences. That's pretty much what
everyone said.
"Leblanc and Riis spoke, Leblanc said he spoke to the minister in charge of
the police, he gave his handshake, he gave his word that nothing like last
night would happen again."
Other riders, who preferred not to be identified, said they had been cool
to the stoppages but felt they had to concur in the mass action.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Riders Put Tour In Chaos ('The Los Angeles Times' Version
Of The Tour De France Doping Controversy)
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 13:45:11 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: France: Riders Put Tour in Chaos Cycling: Outraged by drug ...
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Pubdate: July 30, 1998
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Author: JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG, Times Staff Writer
Riders Put Tour in Chaos Cycling:
Outraged by drug investigation, they slow pace so much Jalabert withdraws.
Officials void results.
PARIS--Dogged by an unprecedented drug scandal, the riders in the Tour de
France mutinied Wednesday, slowing their pace to an amble and threatening
to reduce the 1998 edition of the summer cycling classic to a fiasco.
A disgusted Laurent Jalabert, one of the world's top cyclists, withdrew
from the race along with the rest of the riders from the Spanish ONCE team.
Two other squads, Banesto of Spain and Riso Scotti of Italy, also threw in
the towel.
The racers were protesting the treatment given the night before to
counterparts from the Dutch TVM team, whose hotel rooms were searched by
French police. Six TVM riders were taken into custody for more than three
hours so samples could be taken of their blood, urine and hair.
"We were treated like animals," TVM sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens said before
the Tour was supposed to resume Wednesday afternoon.
To vent their outrage, the cyclists turned the 92-mile leg between
Albertville and Aix-les-Bains in the French Alps into a sporting farce. In
one of the craziest days since the Tour began in 1903, the participants
took an hour to cover the first 15 miles, and halted twice to converse and
consult.
During the first 20-minute pause, Jean-Marie Leblanc, director of the
world's best-known cycling race, implored the racers to resume. They got
back on their cycles but removed the numbers they habitually wear, making
it impossible for Tour officials to register performances for the day.
At that point, Jalabert decided he had had enough. Along with his
teammates, he left the course in ONCE's escort automobiles. The Frenchman
said he and his comrades were tired of being treated "like criminals."
Banesto and Riso Scotti quit soon afterward.
In the afternoon and evening, French police searched the hotel rooms of at
least five teams, including Jalabert's ONCE, looking for illegal
performance-enhancing drugs.
This year's Tour has been under a dark cloud since it opened July 12. Three
days before the race began, Willy Voet, a trainer from the top-rated
Festina team, was caught by French customs officials with more than 400
vials and capsules of pharmaceuticals in his car.
Among the drugs, officials said, were EPOs, synthetic hormones that
increase an athlete's endurance by stimulating the production of red blood
cells.
Tour organizers subsequently expelled the whole Festina team, including
popular French cyclist Richard Virenque, who has strenuously denied using
drugs. But the admission by five of Virenque's teammates that they had been
using drugs has become the leading news story in France, and for days this
country has been arguing whether the Tour has become a superhuman contest
in which drugs are almost indispensable to win.
"I still don't know the extent of the sickness, the proportion of doped
racers, but I fear it's very important," said Daniel Baal, president of the
French Cycling Federation. "Today the boil is lanced; we must go all the
way. We must know everything." On Wednesday evening, the riders cruised
casually into Aix-les-Bains about two hours late, booed by some unhappy
spectators. In a show of solidarity, four members of the TVM team were
allowed to cross the finish line first. They were followed by Marco
Pantani, 28, the Italian hill climber who currently wears the leader's
yellow jersey.
The Tour is scheduled to end Sunday with a 91-mile dash across northern
France ending on the Champs-Elysees of Paris. Officials quickly declared
Wednesday's stage, the 17th in this year's contest, void. But even veteran
Tour watchers say it's now impossible to predict whether this year's race
will go all the way to the finish.
Leblanc, the Tour's director, said Wednesday that he was in touch with
authorities so that future police interrogations and medical tests would
take place in the cyclists' hotel rooms, and not in hospitals or police
stations. Leblanc met with Danish racer Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996
Tour, who informed the other riders during the second pause of the day of
what Leblanc told him. But even Riis didn't sound certain that this year's
race would run its full course.
"What we're doing is to save the Tour, to save cycling," Riis said of
Wednesday's protest. "Tomorrow, it will be another race. I hope we can
arrive in Paris."
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Riders' Protest Forces Organizers To Nullify 17th Stage
('The Associated Press' Version In 'The San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune')
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 02:04:30 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: France: Riders' Protest Forces Organizers To Nullify 17Th Stage
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison
Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jul 1998
Source: San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune (CA)
Section: Sports, page C-1
Contact: slott@slnt01.sanluisobispo.com
Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com
RIDERS' PROTEST FORCES ORGANIZERS TO NULLIFY 17TH STAGE
AIX-LES-BAINS, France (AP) - Angry Tour de France riders crossed the finish
line holding hands in symbolic victory, only to be told their entire day of
racing through the Alps would not count.
In another jarring day for cycling's showcase event, the Tour de France was
again hit wiht a protest Wednesday over a drug investigation.
It was the second such protest by the riders, who have grown increasingly
indignant since the race began July 11.
"I can't race in this climate of permanent suspicion where we are taken for
criminals," star French rider Laurent Jalabert said.
Organizers nullified the 17th stage after riders either dropped out or
slowed in protest.
The Dutch team TVM, implicated in the drug scandel, led the pack across the
line holding hands. The stage ended more than two hours later than scheduled.
Seventeen riders from three teams - ONCE, Banesto, Riso Scotti - dropped out
of the leg altogether.
Riders, fearing further police action, stopped for 15 minutes early in the
race and cruised slowly through more than three-quarters of the leg.
Many of the 133 riders stripped off their race numbers and briefly stopped
at the 20th mile of the leg from Albertville to Aix-les-Bains.
The tour has become vulnerable in the face of the growing police inquiry
into the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The Festina team has been
expelled, and at least five other teams have come under suspicion.
On Wednesday night, police in nearby Chambery detained Casino team coach
Vincent Lavenu following a search of the team hotel. Casino was one of at
least three teams susjected to searches Wednesday.
Tour judge Joel Menard announced that the stage was annulled. He said only
116 riders who crossed the line could continue riding today.
That put Jalabert of ONCE out of the competition, which is scheduled to end
Sunday in Paris.
"We're not animals, Everyone, including police, should treat us like normal
people," said Bjarne Riis, winner of the 1996 race. "What we did today was
to save the tour, save cycling, because it's our life."
"They're robbing our dreams," said Thierry Bourguiginon of the Dutch team.
"I have the impression the tour is finished. I'm sick."
Police on Wednesday descended on team hotels, around the Alpine town of
Chambery, including the ONCE team, a day after testing and searching the
Dutch TVM team.
Police were seen removing garbage bags full of objects from a van bearing
the ONCE insignia. France 2 television said that Jalabert was among those
questioned.
Also searched were the hotels of the Casino team and the La Francaise des
Jeux team.
Jalabert had led the riders' protest before his team simply dropped out of
the go-slow race.
Former champion Stephen Roche, speaking on the Eurosport network, said he
spoke to Jalabert before he withdrew.
"Jalabert was crying," he said. "He said, 'I cannot ride a bike in these
conditions. I prefer to work in a factory and be a normal person than be
treated like this.'"
Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc asked riders to restart. He promised to
speak with them and have "assurances concerning the conditions."
"We will restart when we have some guarantees from the police that we would
be treated well," overall race leader Marco Pantani said. "We want to be
treated like athletes and not as delinquents."
Leblanc said on Franc 2 radio that any police questioning would take place
in riders' hotels. He added the tour would continue today despite the protest.
On Tuesday night, member of the TVM team were taken by police for testing.
Police also seized suspect medication in a van driven by officials of the
Bigmat team. Earlier in the race, the top-ranked Festina team was expelled
from the tour.
The first protest came Friday with a sit-down strike, delaying the start of
the 12th stage by two hours.
One Tuesday, about 100 doses of medication were found in briefcases
belonging to Bigmat officials during a routine customs inspection in
Chambery on the Franco-Swiss border. The drugs were sent to a police labe in
Lyon.
Festina riders are accused of using the hormone EPO. TVM officials also are
being investigated for supplying the banned substance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Weekly Action Report On Drug Policies, Year 4, Number 22
(Summary Of International Drug Policy News, From CORA In Italy)
Return-Path: (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
Comments: Authenticated sender is (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
From: cora.belgique@agora.stm.it
To: "CORAFax -EN-" (cora.news@agora.it)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 17:51:55 +0000
Subject: CORAFax N.22 (EN)
ANTIPROHIBITIONIST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ....
Year 4 No. 22, July 30 1998
***
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies
Edited by the CORA - Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination,
federated to
- TRP-Transnational Radical Party (NGO, consultive status, I)
- The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War
***
director: Vincenzo Donvito All rights reserved
***
http://www.agora.stm.it/coranet
mailto:cora.news@agora.it
***
NEWS FROM THE CORA
CORA / ITALY / METHADONE
Methadone is considered to be one of the best pharmacological
treatments for heroin addiction, the same way insulin is so for
diabetics. The CORA reminds us about this, because the case of a
child who died after drinking a dose of methadone which was
accidentally left unguarded by her drug addicted parents has led some
people to ask for a restriction of its use.
TRP / RUSSIA
Upon initiative of the TRP 95 deputies of the Duma have presented an
interrogation to the Constitutional Court: Is the law on drugs
legitimate, even though it foresees obligatory medical care and exams
for drug addicts, prohibits cures in private hospitals or therapies
with toxic substances?
***
NEWS FROM THE WORLD
000155 26/07/98
E.U. / ITALY
CONSUMERS
CORRIERE DELLA SERA 23/07 / LA REPUBBLICA 26/07
Ecstasy, the 'Disco' drug becomes more frightening during new dancing
fads. New natural substances are sought for, and home grown mushrooms
are beconing more frequent. In the meanwhile the Government is up in
arms against Ecstasy, and new initiatives are being though of to offer
an alternative to drug consumption.
***
000164 28/07/98
E.U. / ITALY
DRUG ADDICT
MISCELLANEOUS NEWSPAPERS FROM / VARIOUS DATES
The death of a child who drank a dose of methadone which had been left
unguarded by her drug addicted parents under medical care of a public
service has opened the way to a lot of discussion. Some, like the
deputee Pedrizzi of the Alleanza Nazionale party, say that methadone
has caused more damage than anything else.
***
000165 28/07/98
EUROPE / SWITZERL / BERNE
DRUG ADDICT
LA STAMPA / NEUE ZUERCHER Z.
The 'witch's herb', popular term for identifing the 'dastura
stramonium' is being talked about. The plant can be used to make
hallucenogenic teas. There have been ten cases of intoxication, one of
which deadly. There is a lot of alarm about this because it is an
ornamental plant that can be found in parks and gardens.
***
000157 03/08/98
AFRICA / S.AFRICA
DRUG MAFIA
NEWSWEEK
Owing to poor control of the frontiers, impoverishment of the
population and lack of coordination among Police Forces, South Africa
is becoming a pole of attraction for international crime. Drug traffic
is the center point of such activities.
***
000158 24/07/98
E.U. / GB / LIVERPOOL
DRUG MAFIA
THE TIMES
A gang of drug pushers among whome there were militaries of the Royal
Regiment has been stopped. The soldiers confess they sold
anphetamines, but deny having done the same with cocaine, heroin or
ecstasy.
***
000162 29/07/98
ASIA / LEBANO
DRUG MAFIA
LA STAMPA
Drug traffic has incremented since November 1997, when the USA decided
to erase Siria and Lebanon from the list of States that produce
narcotics. Now many peasants grow marijuana and opium poppies again,
and there is less control over drug pushers. In the Beka region the
organized crime works at refining drugs. The whole business is
controlled by Siria and the Hezbollah.
***
000163 29/07/98
AMERICA / COLOMBIA
DRUG MAFIA
FINANCIAL TIMES
Public Prosecutor Alfonso Gomez Mendez has released news that more
bank accounts linked to the Cali cartel have been found. 37 thousand,
containing over 550 million $ and distributed over 90 differnt banks.
Former secrtearies of dpeartment, three former policemen, an
attorney-at-law and about 30 deputies are involved. On the whole 80
thousand bank accounts of this type have been discovered.
***
000160 23/07/98
E.U. / GB
HEALTH
IL MESSAGGERO
There is a certain alarm among doctors because of Viagra pills being
sold in discotheques together with ecstasy. There are high risks of
heart failures and cerebral strokes.
***
000156 25/07/98
AMERICA / USA
MARKET
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.
The Department of Justice has aquitted the CIA from the accusation of
having, in the eighties, sold crack in the ghettoes to finance the
Contras in Nicaragua in the war aginst the Sandinists.
***
000159 25/07/98
E.U. / FRANCE
PREVENTION
LE MONDE
The Prime Minister, given the new classification of drugs in the
Roques report, which bases criteria on toxicity of substances and not
on their being legal or illegal, has asked the interministerial office
for the fight against drugs (the Mildt) to elaborate new strategies.
***
000161 23/07/98
AMERICA / USA
WAR ON DRUGS
HERALD TRIBUNE
David C. Lewis and June Osborn, respectively Director and Member of
the scientific committee of the National Drug Policy say that the war
on drugs has been a political and economic failure, particularly
because repression has been favoured instead of medical care.
***
CLIPPINGS
ITALY - On the Emerald Coast, in Sardinia, investigations have started
on the recycling of money made by the Russian Mafia together with the
local Mafia from drug traffic.
ITALY - The city of Turin will invest 103 million Lire in a project of
prevention and care against drug addiction.
USA - PHILADELPHIA - "The Action Class for Freedom of Therapeutic
Cannabis: has denounced the Government because of the
unconstitutionality of the law that prohibits therapeutic use of
cannabis.
USA - LOS ANGELES - Peter Mc Willis, Publisher of the "The Medical
Marijuana Magazine", an on-line magazine, has been arrested by the
Federal Police with the accuse of drug pushing. Mr. Mc Willis has
Aids, and cures himself with a cocktail of medicines that cause him
nausea, which in turn he manages to overcome by using Marijuana. The
Government does not allow him to use this cure in prison.
***
CORA
-COORDINATION RADICALE ANTIPROHIBITIONNISTE
-ANTIPROHIBITIONIST RADICAL COORDINATION
-COORDINAMENTO RADICALE ANTIPROIBIZIONISTA
Federated with the Transnational Radical Party NGO
with category I consultative status at the UN
mailto:cora.news@agora.it
http://www.agora.stm.it/coranet
mailto:cora.belgique@agora.it
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for July 23-29