-------------------------------------------------------------------
Legalize Drugs (A Letter To The Editor Of The Bend, Oregon, 'Bulletin'
Says Our Silly, Ineffectual 'War On Drugs' Amounts To Shooting House Flies
With Cannon Balls And Pretending The Holes In The Wall Don't Matter)
From: cwagoner@bendnet.com
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 19:24:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: DPFOR: Pub. LTE: Legalize Drugs
To: dpfor@drugsense.org
Sender: owner-dpfor@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfor@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
Newshawk: Curt Wagoner
Source: Bend Bulletin (bulletin@bendbulletin.com)
Mail: 1526 NW Hill St., Bend, OR., 97701
Website: http://www.bendbulletin.com
Pubdate: 9-19-98
Page: A-6
Section: My Nickle's Worth
LEGALIZE DRUGS
From Cathrine Mann
Bend, OR
Our silly, ineffectual "war on drugs" amounts to shooting house flies
with cannon balls and pretending the holes in the wall don't matter.
Government cannot legislate personal choices. People will take drugs,
gamble, smoke, have abortions, drink, and take same sex partners whether
such choices are legal or not, and there's nothing the government can do
about it.
If the government wants to control drugs, it must make them as legal as
tobacco and liquor. Then it could regulate the purity, eliminating one
cause of death, and package them with a clean needle, eliminating another.
Legal drugs would be as affordable as liquor, removing the need to steal.
No drug peddlers would hang out at school yards. No one's property would be
confiscated on mere suspicion. Cops would have time to look for real
criminals. Marijuana for medical purposes could be obtained without hassle.
Hemp could be put to some of its numerous good uses. The "prison industry"
could be dismantled, and the money used to help people quit drugs.
Congress does not have the guts to legalize drugs. Politicians know the
blather like "war on drugs" gets them votes, and that talk about
legalizing gets pastors swinging their fists shouting "What kind of
message does this send to our children?"
Well, I'll tell you. Any kid who knows the difference between legal and
illegal knows it's only a crazy person who continues to do the same thing
over and over, hoping that next time the results will be different.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Suicide Bill May Escape House Vote This Year ('The Oregonian'
Says Backers Of Oregon's Physician-Assisted Suicide Law Left Capitol Hill
On Friday Optimistic That Their Efforts To Educate House Members
May Have Headed Off A Vote, At Least For This Year, On The Bill
Sponsored By Henry Hyde To Nullify The Law)
The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Suicide bill may escape House vote this year
* Backers of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law have
lobbied Congress against the bill, which would ban the
prescription of lethal doses of controlled drugs
Saturday September 19, 1998
By Jim Barnett
of The Oregonian staff
WASHINGTON -- Backers of Oregon's
physician-assisted suicide law left Capitol Hill on Friday
optimistic that their effort to educate House members
might have headed off a no-win vote, at least for this
year.
A bill intended to block the Oregon law still could win a
floor vote. But key members have raised doubts about its
approach, raising the possibility of a lengthy debate that
would be unwelcome with few legislative working days
left.
"I think that the tide has changed a lot on this issue," said
Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Ore.
The bill, written by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., would
prohibit doctors from prescribing lethal doses of
controlled drugs for terminally ill patients. Doctors'
groups complain that it would open their practices to
investigation by federal drug agents.
"This bill sets up a situation where the Justice
Department would be overseeing, second-guessing
physicians' decisionmaking," said Dr. Thomas Reardon,
a Portland doctor who is president-elect of the American
Medical Association. "It's like the IRS. You're guilty until
you're proven innocent."
Early this week, the Hyde bill was scheduled for a floor
vote. With a planned Oct. 9 adjournment looming, it
seemed headed for easy passage, thanks to support from
conservatives, including a considerable anti-abortion
voting bloc.
But as the week wore on, staunch antiabortion members,
including Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, a doctor, and Rep.
David Bonior, D-Mich., the minority whip, spoke out
against the bill, raising doubts about its approach.
By Friday, the bill seemed to languish on the House
calendar as Republican leaders - particularly Hyde, the
Judiciary Committee chairman - were preoccupied with
the possibility of impeaching President Clinton.
One of the Hyde bill's fiercest opponents, Rep. Barney
Frank, D-Mass., said Thursday that the delay was
merely a function of committee members' busy schedule.
But on Friday, he said the delay had allowed support to
slip.
"As people think about it, it becomes a problem," said
Frank, the No. 2 Democrat on Judiciary. "People say,
'Well, I'm against assisted suicide,' but they have a hard
time writing it in a way that does not also implicate
medical practice."
Compromise possible
One rumor swirling through House offices this week
was that the Hyde bill had been delayed to allow work on
a compromise with medical groups, including the AMA.
But Reardon said that his group's opposition was
absolute.
"At this point, we do not feel that the bill can be
perfected or modified to meet needs," he said.
Although the Hyde bill's fate is uncertain, the debate is
likely to continue.
On Wednesday, the Clinton administration proposed
creating a national commission to study use of
pain-killing drugs by the terminally ill. And next week,
the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up a
companion bill offered by Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla.
In the long run, the medical community must do a better
job of addressing pain relief for the terminally ill, Reardon
said. The AMA opposes the practice of
physician-assisted suicide, and it welcomes a debate that
can produce answers.
"Anything we can do to raise the level of awareness of
the need to improve the quality of care at the end of life
is good," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Border Checkpoints Impede Citizen Travel (Universal Press Syndicate
Columnists Patrisia Gonzales And Roberto Rodriguez, Who Are Both US Citizens,
Recount How Roberto Was Detained At An Internal 'Border' Checkpoint 20 Miles
North Of Las Cruces, New Mexico, While Three US Border Patrol And Two
Drug Enforcement Agents Took Apart Their Car Looking For Illegal Drugs -
The US-Mexico Border Is Not An Internationally Recognized Boundary, Rather,
It Follows Those Of Us With Red-Brown Skin Wherever We Go)
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 17:45:26 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Internal Border Checkpoints Impede Citizen Travel
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: GALAN@prodigy.net (G. A ROBISON)
Source: Universal Press Syndicate
Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 1998
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
by Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez
INTERNAL 'BORDER' CHECKPOINTS IMPEDE CITIZEN TRAVEL
On the way back to Albuquerque, N.M., from recent book signings in Los
Angeles and Tucson, Ariz., one of us (Roberto) was detained at an internal
"border" checkpoint, while three U.S. Border Patrol and two Drug
Enforcement agents took apart our car, 20 miles north of Las Cruces, N.M.
When asked for an explanation as to the cause of their actions, one of the
agents said that traveling on the I-10 and I-25 interstate highways was
cause for suspicion.
We are both U.S. citizens, and what we write about regularly has happened
to us. We have long written that the U.S.-Mexican border is not on the
internationally recognized boundary; rather, it follows those of us with
red-brown skin wherever we go. What we have learned is that the freedom of
movement and the right to travel unimpeded by U.S. citizens apparently
doesn't apply in the entire country.
A quick look at any U.S. map shows that Tucson and Las Cruces are not on
the border and that highway I-10 to I-25 is the most direct route between
Tucson and Albuquerque. Absent probable cause and articulable facts,
traveling between two U.S. cities should not be grounds for suspicion of
any kind. Also, U.S. citizens who are not traveling to and from any border
should not be subjected to searches by internal border checkpoints. This is
fundamentally different from inspecting motorists who come from the border
-- a right that courts have upheld.
U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey is calling for an increase of border patrol
officers, from 7,000 to 20,000, and for more miles of high-tech fences
along the border. McCaffrey, incidentally, is not the immigration czar.
On one hand, we're being told that the multibillion-dollar war against
immigrants -- exemplified by its various highly-touted dragnet operations
-- has effectively sealed the border. Then, we are told that we need even
more agents and more high-tech barriers. And if this wasn't enough, recent
raids throughout the Southwest have begun to target legal immigrants with
multiple drunk-driving convictions. What's next? Targeting naturalized
citizens with speeding tickets?
McCaffrey's clarion call also creates the impression that the nation's drug
problem will somehow be solved by more border patrol agents. In actuality,
many of the drugs consumed in the United States are either manufactured or
grown here or come in through places of entry other than the U.S.-Mexican
border.
The net result of these wars is that the "border" has been defined to
include U.S. cities that are not actually on the border. Perhaps politicos
in Washington D.C. are not aware that their immigration and drug wars are
having a deleterious effect on U.S. citizens and have given rise to many
costly lawsuits. As a result of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the
U.S. Border Patrol has broad powers within 100 miles of U.S. borders and
border equivalent zones (ports of entry), yet the politicos that gave them
this authority probably never envisioned that this would impede the freedom
of movement of U.S. citizens.
Also, the idea that border patrol agents simply operate within 100 miles of
the border is also fiction. They are no strangers to all parts of the
country -- including states such as Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska
-- many hundreds of miles from any border.
The solutions to immigration problems can be found at a negotiating table
-- dealing with it as an economic phenomenon rather than as a criminal
matter. To blur the distinction between immigration and drug-smuggling
serves no purpose other than to inflame the prejudices of those who will
not be happy until there's a moat around the United States.
The irony in all these immigration and drug "wars" is that aside from
abuses against immigrants, it is the rights of U.S. citizens that are being
assaulted on a daily basis. As an example, a friend, California-born Angela
Acosta, who works for the Willie Velasquez Institute in Los Angeles, says
that she and her family have been traveling from Colton, Calif., to Las
Cruces, N.M., regularly since she was a child. To this day, they are
continually subjected to humiliating inspections. "You can feel the fear
when the 'migra' (immigration agents) board the buses. Because we're dark,
we're suspect."
The solution is quite simple: Move the checkpoints back to the border or to
places where the free flow of interstate traffic is not impeded.
Copyright 1998 Universal Press Syndicate
* Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN
0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit.
Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN
0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the
antibook, The X in La Raza II and Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human. They
can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7905, 505-242-7282 or
XColumn@aol.com Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or PatiGonzaJ@aol.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Little League Coach Is Jailed 6-1/2 Years (For Making
And Selling Methamphetamine, According To 'The Morning Call'
In Allentown, Pennsylvania)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-News" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Little League coach made meth
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 19:42:25 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Source: The Morning Call
Website: http://www.mcall.com
Pubdate: Saturday September 19, 1998
Writer: Elliot Grossman
Newshawk: ccross@november.org
Little League coach is jailed 6-1/2 years
Frackville resident sold speed in Schuylkill County. Family, friends
crowd court.
One by one, friends and relatives walked to the courtroom podium and
described Charles Zendrosky as a wonderful father, good friend and
reliable Little League coach.
But that was only part of Zendrosky's personality. He also was a man who
kept methamphetamine in his family's home, along with 51 firearms and
supplies to make methamphetamine.
And he had pleaded guilty to supplying large amounts of methamphetamine,
also known as speed, to Schuylkill County drug dealers.
In an emotional hearing Friday, U.S. District Chief Judge Edward Cahn of
Allentown acknowledged Zendrosky's positive role with his family and
community but ordered him to serve 6-1/2 years in prison for his crimes.
''You made a terrible mistake. You were in the business big time,'' Cahn
said about Zendrosky's role in selling drugs. ''You didn't give me much
leeway.'' Zendrosky's five children -- ages 5 to 17 -- watched most of
the proceeding from benches in the back of the courtroom, crying
repeatedly.
About 40 of his relatives and friends also sat in the courtroom, and
many of them wiped tears from their eyes at times.
Zendrosky, 48, of Frackville, a former state president of the Warlocks
motorcycle gang, pleaded guilty in May to being involved in a conspiracy
to distribute methamphetamine.
He admitted distributing more than a pound of speed for sale between
December 1994 and September 1995 in Schuylkill County and elsewhere.
In September 1995, officers raided his home on N. Railroad Avenue in
Frackville and seized rifles, shotguns and handguns, 458 grams of
methamphetamine and $79,000 in cash. Officers also found $106,000 in
cash in his safe-deposit box.
Before the sentencing, he forfeited $181,000 in cash to the federal
government, which had accused him of illegally getting the money from
drug sales. He also forfeited a partly built vacation home in Butler
Township, Schuylkill County.
Federal prosecutors did not ask him to forfeit his Railroad Avenue home.
''It would be too much of a punishment to the family,'' said Mary
Crawley, an assistant U.S. attorney. ''It's a modest house, and they
need some place to live.''
Those who spoke as character witnesses painted glowing portraits of him.
Barbara Bechtel of Frackville, who introduced Zendrosky to his wife,
called him a great friend.
''He's a very kind, caring and compassionate person. He is a terrific
father,'' she said. ''He has the kind of marriage most people dream to
have.''
When Cahn asked her if she knew how Zendrosky supported his family,
Bechtel paused.
''I'm not quite certain,'' she replied. ''He did some contracting work,
but short of that I didn't butt into his personal business.''
As Zendrosky's wife, Tara, stood at the podium, defense lawyer Emmanuel
Dimitriou introduced each of the Zendrosky children and had them rise.
Then, Tara Zendrosky, married for 13 years, told Cahn it will be
difficult for the family if her husband went to prison.
''They need him and I need him to be there,'' she said. ''He is the best
father I have ever seen.''
She said she thought her husband supported the family by doing odd jobs.
Crawley told Cahn that Zendrosky's supporters gave only part of the
story. She noted that witnesses had said he coached youth baseball and
basketball.
''He had time to do these things because he was not working,'' Crawley
said. ''He was supporting himself manufacturing and distributing
methamphetamine.
''I doubt the people here would have the same things to say about him if
he had sold methamphetamine to their kids.''
Then Zendrosky, with a ponytail and goatee, spoke to the judge.
''I know I've done wrong. I'm truly sorry,'' he said. ''I feel if I can
go back to the community, I can become a productive member of society.''
In July, Cahn gave prison terms to the other defendants, who are from
Frackville. Robert Slotcavage received 97 months, Francis John
Slotcavage, 136 months, and Joseph Tenoschok, 90 months.
***
When away, you can STOP and RESTART W.H.E.N.'s news clippings by sending an
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net. Ignore the Subject: line. In the body put
"unsubscribe when" to STOP. To RESTART, put "subscribe when" in the e-mail
instead (No quotation marks.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AP Blows House Pot Bill Story! Cites draft resolution - Bill passed was
different! (A news bulletin from the web site of Californians for
Compassionate Use, associated with Dennis Peron, notes The Associated Press
coverage of House Joint Resolution 117 quoted the orginal draft version
with much more negative language and a different intent.)
Californians for Compassionate Use
http://www.marijuana.org/
San Francisco, CA
Lake County Farm, Lower Lake, CA
(707) 994-1901 Fax: (707) 994-2165
E-mail: cbc@marijuana.org www.marijuana.org
For Immediate Release:
Saturday, September 19th, 1998
AP Blows House Pot Bill Story!
Cites draft resolution - Bill passed was different!
The Associated Press coverage* of House Joint Resolution 117 began with
a total inaccuracy: "Marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug and
should not be legalized for medical use, the House said in a resolution
passed 310-93 Tuesday." This sentence was completely removed before the
resolution was passed, along with all the other negative rhetoric, such
as "unequivocally opposed to legalizing marijuana for medical use."
The sentence the AP emphasized was from a draft version of the
resolution. That sentence was replaced with: "Expressing the sense of
the Congress in support of the existing Federal legal process for
determining the safety and efficacy of drugs, including marijuana and
other schedule I drugs for medical use."
Congress did not rule "marijuana dangerous." They ruled in favor of
federal rescheduling over state by state initiatives, which are written
to circumvent federal policy.
"HJR 117, as passed, was a strong first step toward nation-wide
prescription pot," explains Dennis Peron, the author of California's
Compassionate Use Act. "We love the idea of buying marijuana in a
drugstore, but we also want to see Congress protect our right to grow
our own in California. That's the only bone of contention in this
resolution."
*"House Rules Marijuana Dangerous" By Cassandra Burrell, Associated
Press Writer, Tuesday, September 15, 1998; 8:14 p.m. (available online:
http://search.washingtonpost.com)
The text of H.J.R. 117 is available on the Internet:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What To Do About House Joint Resolution 117 (A Hawaiian
Medical Marijuana Activist Says You Have To Fight The Lies Of Mass Media
Such As 'Frontline' - And He Proceeds To Do So With A Well-Researched
Critique Of The Myth That Marijuana Smoke Is More Carcinogenic
Than Tobacco Smoke)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-Hemp Talk" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: From Hawaii: WHAT TO DO ABOUT H.J.RES 117
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 20:01:09 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
-----Original Message-----
From: WallyB41@aol.com (WallyB41@aol.com)
To: when@olywa.net (when@olywa.net)
Date: Saturday, September 19, 1998 6:05 PM
Subject: WHAT TO DO ABOUT H.J.RES 117
DEAR FRIENDS,
Thanks for your work on behalf of medical marijuana - an issue I brought
before the Hawaii courts from 1976 to my Supreme Court appearance in 1979.
My decision acknowledged that marijuana is a medicine in Hawaii - but that we
must first wait for federal approval before it is dispensed here. I am sure
you already know about the passage of H.J. Res 117 that puts the U.S. House
of Representatives dead set against medical marijuana.
One reason for the large majority vote in favor of this totally unscientific
resolution is that the reform movement has allowed vicious propaganda to go
unchecked - particularly in regards to claims that this medicinal herb is
more carcinogenic than tobacco. Please read the following UNANSWERED letter
to FRONTLINE's producer and check their web site at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/body/
and look at their "Fact Sheet". Then think about writing to FRONTLINE to
protest this propaganda posing as "facts" - and encourage them to do a new
show about the medical controversy. I believe this is particularly important
because of the tremendous credibility posed by the combination of PBS, the
Partnership for a Drug Free America and NIDA - in distributing this pile of
lies to anyone with an Internet connection.
Also of interest is the viewers comments section that is about 95% against
the existing prohibition in "discussion" section of the same PBS FRONTLINE
web pages from this same April '98 program:
May 3, 1998
David Fanning,
Senior Executive Producer, Frontline
C/O FRONTLINE COMMENTS
125 WESTERN AVE.
BOSTON, MA 02134
Dear David Fanning,
Thank you very much for producing the show last week on marijuana and the
harsh effects of prohibition. I would also like to thank you for your
excellent show that documented the tobacco companies' sneaky, evil tactics of
refusing to admit to the addictiveness of tobacco - while secretly using
genetically engineered tobacco with twice the normal nicotine level - to help
sell low tar cigarettes by satisfying the nicotine cravings.
Unfortunately, you have posted false "facts" about marijuana on your web page
by prominently posting the "Fact Sheet" from the Partnership for a Drug Free
America with a note that all their claims had been substantiated by NIDA.
Did you know that they are heavily sponsored by our tobacco, alcohol and
pharmaceutical companies?
Most of their section about "RESPIRATORY SYSTEM EFFECTS" is pure political
propaganda, particularly
"8. The daily use of 1 to 3 marijuana joints appears to produce approximately
the same lung damage and potential cancer risk as smoking 5 times as many
cigarettes. (UCLA) ...The same lung cancer risks associated with tobacco
also apply to marijuana users, even though they smoke far less. (reported in
NIDA Capsules)
9. Benzopyrene is the chemical in tobacco that causes lung cancer. An average
marijuana cigarette contains nearly 50% more benzopyrene than a tobacco
cigarette. An average marijuana cigarette contains 30 nanograms of this
carcinogen compared to 21 nanograms in an average tobacco cigarette
(Marijuana and Health, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine
Report, 1982)
Benzopyrene suppresses a gene that controls growth of cells. When this gene
is damaged the body becomes more susceptible to cancer. This gene is related
to half of all human cancers and as many as 70% of lung cancers."
In March of 1995 I wrote a 9 page letter to NIDA that I circulated up
through Donna Shalala, NORML and other activist groups. It debunked
what I call the "Benzopyrene Hoax".
Here is a summary:
1. 30 ng of benzopyrene is an amount comparable to what a person inhales each
day in an average city in the U.S. due to the burning of coal and other fuels
- the primary source of benzopyrene and other carcinogenic polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons in the U.S. Thus, benzopyrene is not the chemical in
tobacco that causes lung cancer. It occurs from 10-50 nanograms in
cigarettes. Both the 30 nanogram (or 31 ng as in my letter from NIDA) and 21
nanogram figures used are not "average" values, but rather values from single,
isolated tests.
2. Many foods have more benzopyrene and other polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons in quantities greater than one finds in the stale Mexican
marijuana tested by Hoffman and found to contain 31 ng of benzopyrene per
joint in his 1975 report. For example, a small portion of spinach has over
2.5 times as much benzopyrene as the confiscated marijuana joint supplied
by NIDA.
3. Most of our drinking water is contaminated with benzopyrene (BaP) and
other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
"The World Health Organization recommends maximum BaP concentration of 7.5
ng/liter and a total carcinogenic PAH limit of 30 ng/liter in drinking
water." Such limits are set up with a safety factor of at least a thousand
times to protect our health. Their survey of drinking water supplies found
BaP levels as high as 23 ng/liter.
4. The most relevant animal study which specifically used inhalation of
benzopyrene, found over 1,500 joints per day worth of benzopyrene to have no
negative effect on the little quarter pound hamsters used in the experiment.
Much larger doses were needed to produce tumors in the hamsters.
5. There are no cases of lung cancer to be found in anyone who has just
smoked marijuana, regardless of the strength of the herb or the number
of years of regular smoking.
6. When mice with implanted lung cancer tumors were given THC and other
major ingredients of marijuana, tumor growth was slowed down and these
test animals lived longer than those that did not receive these active
cannabinoids.
Thank you for also posting the important report from Kaiser Permanente in
California: "Marijuana Use and Mortality" from the April 1997 AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. It is the first major large scale study of the
actual health effects of marijuana in the U.S.
Since my particular interest is in the relative carcinogenicity of marijuana
vs. tobacco, I would like you to look at the TABLE 2 on page 587 that shows
the relative mortality of marijuana smoking and non-smoking populations in
regard to deaths from neoplasms. This table appears in the original article
but not on your webpage.
Not only did this report find that marijuana use did not significantly
increase the risk of dying - it found that current marijuana smokers have
much less fatal cancer than abstainers.
For women who smoke pot but not tobacco, their relative risk is only 56% of
that of nonsmokers to die of cancer (Neoplasm = Cancer). For the men the
measured protection from cancer by cannabis use was a relative risk of .75
or
75% of the risk of cancer death faced by the non-smokers in this large, ten
year study of 65,171 Kaiser members in California.
Although limited by the relatively low number of cancer victims who did not
smoke tobacco, this new finding agrees with another important article
"Anticancer Activity of Cannabinoids" concerning reduced growth of implanted
lung cancer tumors in mice published the JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER
INSTITUTE, Sept. '75 and an important article recently by Dr. Tashkin and
associates at UCLA published in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND
CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE, Vol. 155, pp. 141-148, that found that if a tobacco
smoker also smoked marijuana - the negative effects of the tobacco were
significantly less than if the person only smoked tobacco.
These new reports strongly support the idea that marijuana can, in fact, be
good for you - if it is used wisely. This means responsible adults should not
let it interfere with driving, work or family activities.
I hope you agree that the discussion of the actual "harm" done by marijuana
was missing from your show. To only present the distorted political
perspective of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America as the "facts"
violates the public trust that fair and unbiased reporting be utilized in
such informational programming such as Frontline.
I hope you will plan to do another show on the actual health effects of
marijuana that could also include the medical debate as well as footage from
Holland where pot is openly sold to adults.
Please let me know if you are interested in my complete 9 page report on
benzopyrene, full of very reputable references, so that you can see how
outrageous it is to claim that marijuana is very carcinogenic - while the
evidence points to the fact that it fights cancer rather efficiently. I am
enclosing a copy of the other articles I mentioned, along with case studies
of the life saving potential of marijuana medicines for cancer patients (Mrs.
Pagan) and for Crohn's disease, for your information.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Wally Bachman
cc. Rep. Neil Abercrombie Science Advisor &
Rep. Patsy Mink Secondary Science Teacher
Sen. Dan Inouye
Sen. Daniel Akaka and Michael Sullivan
ADDITIONS:
1. Article "Marijuana Use and Mortality", AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH,
April 1997, pages 585-590
2. Article "Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids", JOURNAL OF THE
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, Sept. 1975, pages 597-602
3. Article "Heavy Habitual Marijuana Smoking Does Not Cause an Accelerated
Decline in FEV1 With Age", AMERICAN JOURNAL RESPIRATORY CRITICAL CARE
MEDICINE, VOL155 (1997) pages 141-148
4. Article "Inhalation Studies With Benzo[a]pyrene in Syrian Golden
Hamsters", JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, March 1981, pages
575-578
5. Article "I Broke the Law to Save My Son" 9/97 GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MAGAZINE
6. Mrs. Minnie Pagan 1976 publication
7. SENATE RESOLUTION 98, 1992
8. HAWAII RAINBOW COALITION RESOLUTION B-30, May 22, 1993
9. Letter from Representative Patsy Mink agreeing that "Your research and
findings certainly raise the question of whether marijuana use does in fact
contribute to or increase the incidence of lung and other cancers.", March
27, 1995
10. Letter by Wally Bachman, August 1, 1996 "Marijuana shortage leads to
hard drugs" Honolulu Advertiser plus cartoon July 29, 1996
I hope you agree with me that we should take aim at such propaganda and try
to get them to disqualify the Partnership for a Drug Free America from being
a source of "facts".
This groups states that the this fact sheet's claims have been substantiated
by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (from the PBS web page - that needs
to be removed from the web as it contains more lies than Clinton's
testimonies - and serves as the basis for both the denial of medical
marijuana and for the arrests of over 600,000 Americans for marijuana
offenses each year!
***
IF YOU DECIDE TO WRITE TO FRONTLINE, PLEASE SEND ME A COPY AS I WANT TO
GATHER MANY SUCH LETTERS TO SHOW THAT IT IS NOT ONLY ONE INDIVIDUAL
COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS TERRIBLE PROPAGANDA - AS A SET OF LETTERS WOULD
BE MORE INFLUENTIAL IN BRINGING THIS ISSUE TO OTHER MEDIA PEOPLE THAN
MY SINGLE LETTER OF PROTEST.
Sincerely yours,
Wally Bachman
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Victims' Drug Ties Likely Behind Mexico Massacre
(According To 'The Houston Chronicle,' Mexican Officials Said Friday
They Were All But Certain That The 18 People Who Were Slaughtered
Near Ensenada Were Targeted Because Some Of The Victims Were Linked
To The Drug Trade)
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 15:29:00 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: Victims' Drug Ties Likely Behind Mexico Massacre
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: GALAN@prodigy.net (G. A ROBISON)
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 1998
Author: DUDLEY ALTHAUS, Houston Chronicle Mexico City Bureau
VICTIMS' DRUG TIES LIKELY BEHIND MEXICO MASSACRE
ENSENADA, Mexico -- Still baffled by the brutality of the act, Mexican
officials said Friday they are all but certain that 18 people were
slaughtered near this seaside community because some of the victims were
linked to the drug trade.
"The motive appears to be problems between two or three groups involved in
drug trafficking," said Baja California state Attorney General Marco Antonio
de la Fuente.
Police have detained 10 people for questioning in relation to the massacre,
De la Fuente said at a news conference. Marijuana and weapons that may be
linked to the crime have been seized in the town of Tecate along the
U.S.-Mexico border, he said.
Members of an extended family -- including a 1-year-old baby in diapers and
seven children between the ages of 2 and 16 -- were dragged from their beds
before dawn Thursday, herded against a low wall and shot with automatic
weapons and pistols.
"We can't begin to measure the brutality of the attack," de la Fuente said.
Attacks on rivals' family members is rare in the Mexican drug underworld.
Federal and state authorities said the apparent target of the attack was
Fermin Castro, head of a small marijuana-smuggling gang based in Ensenada
that allegedly had loose ties to powerful gangsters in Tijuana.
Castro, 38, a cattle rancher and rodeo promoter nicknamed the "Indian
Cowboy," survived the shooting but is in a coma with a gunshot wound to the
head.
Authorities said that Castro had apparently been tortured before he and the
others were shot.
Jose Luis Chavez, the top federal law enforcement official in Baja
California, said a chair in Castro's house was stained with blood, as if
someone had been interrogated there. There were indications that Castro had
been beaten, Chavez said.
Those killed include Castro's wife and their 2-year-old son; the sister of
Castro's wife, her husband and their children; and Castro's sister, her
husband, and their children. One of the five women who lost their lives was
eight months pregnant.
A 12-year-old nephew of Castro is hospitalized with bullet wounds. A
15-year-old niece apparently hid from the assailants and escaped unharmed.
"It has been violent here, but never like this," said Gerardo, a neighbor of
the victims who declined to give his last name. "I can't believe this. These
were good people."
Castro is well known in El Sauzal, a suburb of Ensenada about a 90-minute
drive south of the U.S. border that is a confused jumble of fish canneries,
U.S.-owned electronics factories and neat houses of wealthy retirees from
California.
Castro had put on a rodeo Tuesday not far from his home to help celebrate
Mexico's independence holiday.
Members of his extended family lived in a small walled compound of three
houses tucked behind a ceramics factory.
Soldiers guarded the compound Friday, refusing access to reporters and other
visitors, as law enforcement investigators went through the houses and the
yards.
Old cars and trucks, some on cinder blocks, sat in the tall grass behind the
houses. Castro's horses and cattle grazed in a small pen, munching on large
piles of hay.
Neighbors in small houses near the compound stayed indoors behind drawn
curtains. A salty breeze blew off the fog-draped Pacific Ocean, a half-mile
from the Castro compound.
Officials said Friday that the Ensenada area, a favorite weekend and
vacation destination for people from Southern California, has become
increasingly caught up in the drug trade in recent years.
"We had indications that the problems here in Ensenada were getting worse,
that drug trafficking was getting worse," Chavez said at the news
conference. "This is all because of the proximity to the border. This is a
corridor."
Murder usually is a state crime in Mexico. The Mexican federal police have
become involved in the investigation into the Ensenada killings because of
suspected links to drug smuggling, a federal crime.
Chavez said authorities had been watching Castro's organization for some
time but had failed to act on their suspicions. A recent article in Zeta, a
weekly newspaper in Tijuana, listed Castro's group among about a half-dozen
drug smuggling organizations that it said were flourishing in the Ensenada
area.
Chavez said Castro's small smuggling band unloaded marijuana-laden planes on
clandestine airstrips near Ensenada and transported the drug to the border
for sale in the United States.
Many such small gangs operate in Baja California, paying fees to larger drug
organizations for the right to smuggle, Chavez said.
Castro's and other small bands in the Ensenada area paid protection money to
an associate of the powerful Arellano Felix drug gang in Tijuana, Chavez
said.
But Chavez and other officials said there was no evidence that members of
Castro's group directly worked for the Arellano Felix organization or were
killed because of that gang's ongoing power struggle with other smugglers.
Many experts consider the Arellano Felix organization, headed by four
brothers from a well-to-do Tijuana family, as the most important criminal
organization in Mexico. U.S. and Mexican authorities say the group smuggles
tons of cocaine and other narcotics into the United States each year.
The gangland killing of entire families happens rarely in Mexico. Still,
there have been 250 murders so far this year in Baja California, most of
them in Tijuana. Authorities have linked many of those to the drug trade.
De la Fuente said Friday that although drug trafficking was likely behind
the Ensenada killings, there is no evidence linking the 18 deaths to a wider
gangland power struggle.
Having federal police on the case may not assure some people in Baja
California. Critics say that widespread corruption has kept many federal
officials in the pockets of drug smugglers for years.
Noting that witnesses describe the attackers as dressed in black -- the
uniform of the federal anti-drug police -- several Mexican reporters
pointedly asked Chavez on Friday about police involvement with area
traffickers.
The official said there was no evidence of any police involvement in
Thursday's massacre and vowed that the case will be solved. He said,
however, that the investigation may be hampered by human rights concerns.
"We can't touch a hair on any detained person, because it would be violating
their rights," Chavez said. "That's why this is so difficult. (But) I think
we're doing OK. We're working very hard."
Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle Mexico City Bureau
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexico Holds 10 For Questioning About Massacre ('The San Jose Mercury News'
Version Says The Detainees Were Being Held For Questioning
But Weren't Suspects, And The Killings Were Definitely Drug-Related
But Doesn't Say How)
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 13:58:05 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: Mexico Holds 10 For Questioning
About Massacre
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 1998
Author: RICARDO SANDOVAL Mercury News Mexico City Bureau
MEXICO HOLDS 10 FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT MASSACRE
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican police took 10 people into custody Friday for
questioning in connection with the massacre of 18 people Thursday in the
resort town of Ensenada -- killings police say were definitely drug-related.
The killings occurred on a quiet ranch just north of Ensenada on Baja
California's Pacific Coast. Police said the people killed included seven
children as well as a woman who was eight months pregnant. Three people
survived -- Fermin Castro, the head of the family of victims, who is in a
coma after a gunshot wound to the head; a 15-year-old girl who was not
injured; and a 12-year-old boy who is hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
Police stressed that the people being questioned are not suspects, but they
may have information that could help with the investigation into the
slayings.
The 10 people detained were found in the small border town of Tecate, about
50 miles east of Tijuana, at the end of a mountain highway that runs north
from El Sauzal, the suburb where the killings took place.
Despite the ambiguity over the people taken into custody, police say they
are now sure that drugs were involved in the massacre.
According to neighbors and other witnesses, Fermin Castro is connected to
marijuana growing and trafficking. But authorities say it is unclear for
whom Castro and his extended family worked.
Castro is a member of an Indian tribe that runs small farms in the nearby
Trinidad Valley, according to tribal leaders who staged a protest in
downtown Ensenada on Friday.
Members of the Papai tribe said drug dealers operate in the Trinidad Valley,
often forcing tribal members to do farm work and traffic in marijuana.
Tribal leaders said some members who have refused to work for the dealers
have been beaten.
People who live near Castro's Rancho Rodeo told authorities there was a lot
of traffic at his home, with people arriving at all hours in large vehicles
and even helicopters.
Federal officials believe Castro was a partner in a marijuana operation run
by a lieutenant of the Arellano Felix drug cartel, based in nearby Tijuana.
But Baja California officials say there is still no definite link between
the Castro family and the Arellano Felix cartel. Nor is there yet any link
between the victims and the Juarez cartel that operates along the
U.S.-Mexico border from Texas to Arizona.
The two cartels have been fighting recently over trafficking networks that
supply most of the cocaine and marijuana to the United States.
Police did say Castro appeared to have been tortured before being shot.
They reported finding a blood-stained chair inside the house, and lesions on
Castro's arms and legs. They also found weapons and marijuana inside the
home.
The massacre has rattled Mexican law enforcement officials, who mobilized
quickly, securing military assistance in the investigation. In Tijuana and
Ensenada on Friday, trucks carrying soldiers and state police patrolled
streets and rural roads.
Mexican authorities fear an escalating drug war between the Arellano Felix
cartel and the increasingly fragmented Juarez cartel to the east.
Thursday's massacre was the worst incident in the history of drug-related
violence in Mexico.
Ensenada, a salty town on the rugged Pacific coast where tuna boats harbor,
attracts hundreds of thousands of American tourists each year, and the Baja
state governor, Hector Teren Teren, said he feared the violence could harm
the area's image.
Mercury News wire services contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombia Fears US Anti-Drug Bill May Harm Peace Talks
('The Dallas Morning News' Says The Regional Anti-Drug Bill,
Which Passed The US House On A 384-39 Vote Wednesday,
Calls For Suspending Drug-Fighting Aid To Colombia
If The Pastrana Government Halts Counternarcotics Operations
In A Planned Demilitarized Zone Dominated By The Guerrillas
When Peace Talks Are Convened In November)
From: adbryan@ONRAMP.NET
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 08:45:59 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: ART: Colombia fears U.S. anti-drug bill may harm peace talks
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
9-19-98
Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com
letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Colombia fears U.S. anti-drug bill may harm peace talks
Measure would halt aid over creation of demilitarized zone
09/19/98
By Tod Robberson / The Dallas Morning News
BOGOTA, Colombia - President Andres Pastrana's government says it fears
that a proposed $2.6 billion U.S. anti-drug bill threatens to torpedo
upcoming peace talks with the nation's two main guerrilla groups.
The regional anti-drug bill, which passed the U.S. House on a 384-39
vote Wednesday, calls for suspending drug-fighting aid to Colombia if
the Pastrana government halts counternarcotics operations in a planned
demilitarized zone dominated by the guerrillas. The zone will be
established when peace talks are convened in November.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the anti-drug measure soon, with
members of the Republican majority saying it has good chances passing
before November's elections. The Clinton administration opposes the
bill, characterizing it as election-year posturing.
If the bill becomes law, it could lead to suspension of several hundred
million dollars in covert and nonsecret U.S. anti-drug aid to Colombia.
Upon taking office last month, Mr. Pastrana identified peace talks with
the guerrillas as his top priority.
Colombian officials and guerrilla leaders say that establishing the
demilitarized zone is the most crucial factor in advancing the peace
process.
Critics in Bogota and Washington say the zone, an area four times the
size of Connecticut in the heart of Colombia's cocaine-producing
southern region, would give the guerrillas free rein over drug
production and export without fear of government intervention.
The zone would cover nearly 17,000 square miles across five provinces.
An estimated 76 tons of coca are produced annually within the zone,
which the Colombian anti-narcotics police commander, Col. Leonardo
Gallego, said constitutes 12 percent of national production.
Pastrana government officials warn, however, that the threat to suspend
aid could scuttle the peace talks, because no anti-drug operations can
occur in the demilitarized zone without risking a direct military
confrontation with the guerrillas.
Foreign Minister Roberto Rojas said he plans to travel to Washington
next week in hopes of dissuading Senate members from passing the
measure.
White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey said Wednesday that "this bill is
not the answer. I understand that elections are coming, but they should
not vote for this bill."
Clinton administration officials noted that the bill faces several major
hurdles before it can become law. Foremost among them is its potentially
budget-busting price tag for anti-drug operations across Latin America.
A State Department spokeswoman called the bill "an admirable effort to
bring the war on drugs to the forefront" but criticized aspects of it as
an attempt at "micromanagement."
But she took a cautious approach to the issue of Colombia's proposed
demilitarized zone.
"We are for the peace process, but not at the expense of
counternarcotics operations," the spokeswoman said.
Col. Gallego insisted that airborne coca-eradication operations in the
demilitarized zone would not be affected by the peace talks. But he and
other officials have avoided comment on the trickier issue of
military-style assaults on cocaine laboratories and clandestine
airstrips in the zone, which typically are protected by the guerrillas
in exchange for a "tax" payment.
In its main editorial Friday, the Bogota daily El Espectador lambasted
the congressional measure as "absurd and unacceptable."
Referring to the Clinton administration's current preoccupation with the
Monica Lewinsky affair, the editorial added: "This decision underscores
the ease with which the U.S. Congress takes decisions on matters of
foreign policy and the lack of maneuvering room that the executive
branch has in certain areas. . . . Without doubt, the measure is as
inconvenient for the Clinton government as it is for the government of
Pastrana."
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., criticized the bill as bordering on
"interference in Colombian affairs" and a "threat to tie one arm behind
. . . [Mr. Pastrana's] back" in his negotiations with the guerrillas.
Carlos Salinas, who monitors Colombia for the human rights group Amnesty
International, said the bill seemed less an attempt at seriously
addressing the problem of drug trafficking than a show of "congressional
chest-thumping" during an election year.
"Definitely, this is a measure that these members of Congress can take
back to their constituents just before the elections and say, 'Look, I'm
tough on drugs,' " he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Easy Street For Hard Drugs (The Australian 'Advertiser' Says Hard Drugs
Such As Heroin And Speed Are Readily Available In Adelaide)
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 05:54:33 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Easy Street For Hard Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: kwr01@uow.edu.au (Ken Russell)
Source: Advertiser, The (Australia)
Contact: advedit@ozemail.com.au
Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 1998
Author: Police Reporters, Jeremy Pudney and John Merriman
EASY STREET FOR HARD DRUGS
HARD drugs such as heroin and speed are readily available in Adelaide.
Inquiries by The Advertiser suggest most users have "contacts" from whom
they can easily buy drugs such heroin.
Some dealers are also known to sell drugs in and around hotels, although the
risk of being caught is far higher.
Heroin sells for about $50 a "cap'; a small quantity packaged for individual
sale. Amphetamine which is taken by many first-time injecting drug users,
who then move to heroin can be bought for about $80 a gram.
And, The Advertiser has been told some dealers offer discounts to get users
hooked on the drug.
Once they are hooked the price is increased and many addicts turn to crime
to feed their hablt
It is believed the State has a minimum of 5000 illicit drug users and
possibly as many as l5,000.
In the past financial year, 1.7 million syringes had been distributed
through 191 needle exchange venues across South Australia.
Dr Jason White, from Adelaide University's Department of Pharmacology, said
heroin use seemed to have become fashionable" in recent years.
This may be the result of attention heroin has received in movies such as
Trainspotting or Pulp Fiction or even the fashion industry's controversial
"heroin chic".
"There has been quite a bit of attention and it is a bit hard to know which
comes first," Dr White sald. "From talking to younger users, more are
experimenting."
The average age of a first-time user is 20, while the average age of an
addict is about 30.
It is estimated about 61 per cent of injecting drug users are male, half
have committed crimes to support their habit and 31 per cent have served
tune in prison. About 36 per cent of addicts are unemployed but 67 per cent
have had some forn of tertiary education.
He said with Adelaide's increased heroin use had also come increased purity
in the drug. This may explain a higher incidence of overdoses.
"One of the things that can trip up heroin users is the purity, if they are
used to 40 or 50 per cent and then get a batch which is 90 per cent pure,"
he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
to the 1998 Daily News index for September 17-23