------------------------------------------------------------------- Affidavit Describes Drug Use At Fair (According To 'The Register-Guard' In Eugene, Oregon, Undercover Linn County Prohibition Agents Filed An Affidavit In Support Of A Warrant To Search The Property Of Bill Conde, Describing 'Rampant Drug Use And Brazen Drug Sales' At Conde's 'Cannabis Carnival' Earlier This Month, Even By Security Guards - Conde Said Detectives Were Motivated By Politics And Their Search Last Week Effectively Shut Down His Redwood Lumber Business By Confiscating Computers And Business Records) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 19:01:34 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US OR: Affidavit Describes Drug Use At Fair Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: Olafur Brentmar Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Contact: rgletters@guardnet.com Website: http://www.registerguard.com/ Author JANELLE HARTMAN AFFIDAVIT DESCRIBES DRUG USE AT FAIR HARRISBURG - Undercover Linn County sheriff's deputies described rampant drug use and brazen drug sales - even by security guards - at Bill Conde's "Cannabis Carnival" earlier this month, according to an affidavit filed in support of a warrant to search his property last week. "People were walking around calling out `shrooms, nuggets,' like peanut vendors at a ball game," a detective wrote, referring to street terms for hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana bud. Detectives said they bought drugs 26 times during the three-day event and were approached by sellers numerous other times. Drugs described in the affidavit were marijuana, mushrooms and blotter acid. Conde, an outspoken marijuana activist who has hosted numerous marijuana-themed events, said Tuesday that he didn't see any of the alleged drug sales. Furthermore, he said, he tried to prevail on fairgoers not to buy or sell drugs on his property. According to the affidavit, Conde told undercover detectives who approached him before the event that they could smoke marijuana there "as long as you don't try to peddle it or are blatant about using it." On stage at the event, however, he allegedly asked the crowd to avoid "blatant transactions." While on stage, detectives said, Conde took a rolled joint from his pocket and showed it to his 4-year-old daughter, asking her if she knew what it was. She didn't answer, but Conde allegedly said she'd picked up a bud of it when she was 2 years old and told him, "Daddy, this smells good." Detectives said he then urged everyone to "light it up." "Conde lit his joint and the majority of spectators did the same," according to the affidavit. Conde hasn't denied smoking pot or allowing others to smoke it on his property, saying using or possessing less than an ounce isn't a crime. Under Oregon law, it is considered a violation and can result in a citation similar to a traffic ticket. Conde said detectives were making too much of his daughter's exposure to marijuana. "I could compare it to maybe a guy drinking a beer and his daughter knowing what a beer looks like," he said. "My children have never smoked any pot." Conde said detectives effectively shut down his redwood lumber business when they searched his property last week, taking computers and business records, among other items. He was charged with a felony count of possessing marijuana after detectives allegedly found just more than an ounce of marijuana during the search. He also is facing about $45,000 in fines for alleged violations of county building, sanitation and mass gathering codes. Conde continued to call the search politically motivated, saying the affidavit didn't justify why detectives had the right to search his house and business. The carnival site, just north of Conde's lumberyard and home, wasn't searched, he said. "There's nothing in that affidavit that determines that they could go into my house or Conde's Redwood Lumber," he said. "Yet that's where they struck. Their investigation was trying to do something to me, rather than trying to find out what's going on." Sheriff Dave Burright said Conde "has been squealing a lot about computers." But he said the affidavit makes it clear that authorities saw pertinent records, such as names of carnival vendors, being stored in computers. Detectives are using the records to try to identify vendors and security guards who sold drugs, according to the affidavit. The affidavit said one security guard "openly talked about mushrooms and acid he'd been taking" and arranged for detectives to buy marijuana from a young man wearing a red wrist band - the color used to identify event employees. Later, another security guard introduced a pair of undercover detectives to a guard at the front gate to arrange another drug sale. While his co-worker relieved him, the guard took the detectives - a man and a woman - to his car. There, he allegedly took out a set of scales, weighed an eighth of an ounce of marijuana and sold it for $40. Conde said he doesn't believe the detectives were dealing with members of his security force. "They've got some surprises in store for them, in terms of who was working here and who wasn't," he said. However, he said, if he finds that any guard was selling drugs, he'll never hire him again. "If I find any security guards doing that, shame on them," he said. "They were specifically instructed not to tolerate that." Conde said he and his lawyers have filed motions to compel sheriff's officials to answer questions about the raid, and are seeking a restraining order to prevent authorities from reviewing his personal computer records, or using what information has already been accessed. He said the computer files include information about political action committees, as well as about people they've registered as voters. "There's nothing in there they had a right to take," Conde said. "They went way beyond the scope of the warrant."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Challenge To Suicide Law Is Dismissed ('The Oregonian' Says US District Judge Michael Hogan Tuesday Reluctantly Refused To Revive A Lawsuit Against Oregon's Physician-Assisted Suicide Law, Apparently Ending Nearly Four Years Of Legal Challenges) The Oregonian letters to editor: letters@news.oregonian.com 1320 SW Broadway Portland, OR 97201 Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/ Challenge to suicide law is dismissed * U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan says his hands are tied by a higher court ruling, forcing the law's critics to look to Congress for help Wednesday, September 23 1998 By Ashbel S. Green and Erin Hoover Barnett of The Oregonian staff A federal judge Tuesday reluctantly refused to revive a lawsuit against Oregons physician-assisted suicide law. The decision ends a nearly four-year legal battle and apparently extinguishes opponents last hope of overturning the law in court. "Although I am bound by (a higher court) decision in this case, I find it troubling because it may well render (the law) incapable of judicial review, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan wrote. This court questions a decision which effectively places a statute of such consequence outside the parameter of consitutional review. In 1995, Hogan ruled that Oregons assisted-suicide law lacked constitutional safeguards and overturned it. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Hogan in 1997, ruling that those who challenged the law had no standing to sue. Assisted-suicide opponents asked Hogan, who is based in Eugene, to revive the case, but he concluded Tuesday in his 10-page opinion that the 9th Circuit decision prevented him. Hogans decision came two days before a rescheduled vote in Congress on a bill that would, in effect, invalidate Oregons law. The bill, introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., would prevent doctors from prescribing lethal doses of drugs for terminally ill people who wish to end their lives. Oregon voters approved the nations first assisted-suicide law in 1994, allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to competent, terminally ill adults who request it. Assisted-suicide opponents went to court to block the law. They argued that it lacked safeguards to prevent terminally ill people who oppose assisted suicide from killing themselves in a state of depression. Hogan agreed and declared the law unconstitutional. But in 1997, the 9th Circuit said Hogan never should have addressed the merits of the law because the plaintiff had no standing to sue. Janice Elsner, who has muscular dystrophy, argued that she might use the law if she were depressed, even though she opposes suicide. The 9th Circuit said that argument was too speculative. In order to challenge a law in federal court, a person must be actually, not hypothetically, injured by it. The Supreme Court declined to take an appeal. Meanwhile, in November 1997, Oregon voters overwhelmingly refused to repeal the law. Assisted-suicide opponents went back to court, asking Hogan to consider another argument on standing. On Tuesday, Hogan said the 9th Circuit left him no room to consider such an argument. He made it clear that he did not agree with the higher court. "Had the voters enacted a measure that permitted members of a certain race, gender, religion or age group to avail themselves of physician-assisted suicide, would outraged members of such classes lack standing to challenge the legislation on the ground they had no intention of committing suicide?" he wrote. James Bopp, the Indiana attorney who represented Elsner, could not be reached for comment. Valerie Vollmar, a law professor at Willamette University who has watched the case closely, said Hogan's dismissal made clear legal sense. "Personally, I'm relieved to hear that the judge felt bound by the case law because I thought the case law was pretty clear," Vollmar said. Vollmar credited opponents of assisted suicide for their tenacity at fighting the law in court. She said she does not expect them to give up, even if they fail to get an anti-assisted suicide law through this session of Congress. Both sides react Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, said she was saddened by the decision. "I will say in absolutely certain terms that the evil assisted suicide poses to Oregonians has not changed and will not change," she said. "We will pursue every avenue to protect those who are threatened by assisted suicide in this state. We will never waiver from our commitment." Barbara Coombs Lee, executive director of the Compassion in Dying Federation and co-author of the Oregon law, said she was glad that Hogan heeded the 9th Circuit. "It's one more little victory, one more barrier put in front of it that it has overcome," said Lee, calling the law "the little engine that could." Lee said she thinks the movement to give the terminally ill control of the timing of their deaths has gained a permanent foothold. "At this point, I just think the forces of change and the consciousness of the nation have been transformed and . . . can't be reversed," she said. Cancer victim comforted Charyl Failor, 52, of Newport agrees. She had a radical mastectomy in June after doctors diagnosed an aggressive form of breast cancer. She said she feels comforted in knowing the assisted-suicide option exists and has nervously watched challenges to the law. She called Tuesday's development "incredible." "I thought (Hogan) was going to dog that forever," she said. Failor said she is optimistic that Hogan's ruling signals that the powerful forces against assisted suicide might not be strong enough to keep it from becoming a right for all Americans. That's just what Ellie Jenny fears. Jenny, who is disabled and a member of the anti-assisted suicide group Not Dead Yet, was disappointed by Tuesday's news. She had hoped that assisted-suicide advocates would be called to testify in Hogan's court. Jenny wants to expose what she views as a movement to expand assisted suicide to include the disabled. Such a move, she said, would create a climate in which disabled people would feel compelled to kill themselves. "It's a culture of death," Jenny said. "Instead of learning to help people live with their pain, we're finding ways to help them terminate it and themselves. And the bottom line is the buck." Her hopes, she said, turn to Congress to stop Oregon's law. In August, the Oregon Health Division reported that eight terminally ill people had used the assisted-suicide law to end their lives. Lee, of Compassion in Dying, said she knew of additional patients who have died using lethal prescriptions since the report. She would not say how many.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Coalition Opposes Hyde-Nickles Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act ('The St. Louis Post-Dispatch' Relays Commentary On The Bill That Would Nullify Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law, From Some Of The More Than 50 Associations And Organizations Who Have Joined Together To Oppose The Legislation) From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net) To: "-News" (when@hemp.net) Subject: Coalition Opposes Hyde/Nickles Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 20:34:27 -0700 Sender: owner-when@hemp.net Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Online: http://web3.stlnet.com/postnet/ Pubdate: 09/23/98 Contact: Scott Swenson, 202-326-8712 Writer: U.S. Newswire No byline Newsjunkie: ccross@november.org Coalition Opposes Hyde/Nickles Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act WASHINGTON -- The following was released today by a coalition of groups on behalf of patients and families: In the rush of politics and policy, the real lives that are affected by legislation are sometimes forgotten. Here are two case studies of people that would be affected by this Thursday's (Sept. 24th) expected vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on H.R. 4006, The Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act. More than 50 associations and organizations representing millions of Americans concerned about health care, pain management and states rights have joined together to oppose this legislation. A companion bill (S. 2151) introduced by Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), is scheduled for mark-up by the Senate Judiciary Committee, also on Thursday. The coalition of health and patient care groups opposing H.R. 4006/S. 2151 has steadily gained momentum and members as more people have grown to understand the consequences of this legislation. The bill would give the Drug Enforcement Administration the authority to investigate a physicians ``intent´´ in prescribing controlled substances to patients, thus putting the federal agency in the position of second-guessing any physician who writes prescriptions for high doses of medication for pain and suffering. Many medical studies, including one from the Institute of Medicine, already indicate that pain is severely under-treated in this country due to existing laws and regulations. Many states are working to improve palliative care and reduce regulatory impediments to adequate symptom management, efforts that would be thwarted by this shift of authority from state medical and licensing boards to the federal government and the DEA. A coalition of more than 50 associations and organizations is opposing H.R. 4006/S. 2151, representing millions of Americans concerned for either personal or professional reasons about the delivery of high quality health care. The coalition includes: Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, American Pain Foundation, American Pharmaceutical Association, American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Americans for Better Care of the Dying, Choice in Dying, National Hospice Organization, Oregon Hospice Association. A complete list can be found in an advertisement placed by the coalition in the Wednesday, September 23, 1998 issue of The Hill Newspaper. CASE STUDY (Provided by Americans for Better Care of the Dying, 202-467-2222) Mr. Smith, a 72-year-old man with prostate cancer, was dying rather miserably. He could not walk and had to have a catheter. His bones were riddled with cancer and he had a great deal of pain. He was already taking 120mg of morphine in a sustained release form every six hours and still said that the pain is ``11 on a scale of 0 to 10.´´ He could not move in bed. Baths were excruciating. Enemas caused so much pain that he became nauseous and dizzy. He had lost 40 pounds. His home care nurse called his doctor seeking more pain medication. The doctor had not seen him at home ever and had not seen him at all since he was last in the hospital for radiation, three months ago. The doctor had never had a patient on this much morphine. No one had suggested hospice care. The doctor said to try hot water bottles and to move him less. The nurse was distraught and convinced his wife to call another doctor who might come see him at home. The second doctor was uncomfortable with the situation and tried to just offer to talk to Doctor No. 1 about options in pain management -- but Dr. No. 1 was not interested. All this had taken four days before Doctor No. 2 came to see him. The patient was immobile and withdrawn. Any movement caused unbearable tension in muscles and resulted in expletives, along with ``Get away from me. You are no good.´´ Mrs. Smith was in tears. Doctor No. 2 agreed to take over care from this time to death but decided not to suggest hospice support because it would mean losing the trusted home care nurse. He set up a schedule that gradually doubled the morphine dose. Once on this dose, with periodic increases, Mr. Smith actually had some good time to share with his wife. He reassured her that he loved her and they shared some time in reminiscences. He promised her that he would be waiting ``on the other side.´´ The pharmacy resisted delivering this much of an opioid drug, but finally agreed. However, the sudden jump in opioid use through this pharmacy occasioned a call from the DEA. In error, the agent ended up calling Doctor No. 1 who said that Doctor No. 2 was using narcotics irresponsibly. Mr. Smith had died before the agent called Doctor No. 2, who contended that everything was done correctly. The agent called the wife and nurse. They readily admitted that they wanted Mr. Smith to die and would have been grateful if Doctor No. 2 had just given him enough morphine to see that he died: ``He was suffering so much.´´ However, they are not sure whether Doctor No. 2 really did that or not. Doctor No. 2 claimed that he had no such intent, but he acknowledged that he increased the doses in the last few days on the basis of reports from the wife and nurse, since he did not see the patient alive again after that first visit. The agent was quite perplexed as to what the ``intent´´ was here, and whether there is anything to be troubled by. Doctor No. 2, on the other hand, was much less perplexed. He has lost reputation and income for trying to help out in a tough situation. It will be a long time before he does that again. CASE STUDY (Provided by Skip Baker, American Society for Action on Pain, 757-229-1840) I suffer from Ankylosing Spondylitis of the sacrum, which is like having the base of your spine in a steel vice at all times. It produces truly ``suicidal pain levels´´ if not treated with adequate narcotic pain medicine, which is nearly impossible for victims to get. It took me 13 years of battle to have my medication approved at 500mg per day, and even now each month when it comes time for my next month´s supply I have to ask myself: ``Is THIS the month they come after my doctor and I look into the abyss? Is this the month I die? Will he be able to write my prescription?´´ Ankylosing Spondylitis causes the joints and vertebra to try to fuse together. This puts pressure on the nerves and causes excruciating vice-like pain. It won't show up on film for 14 years, on average, after the pain starts and many doctors are afraid to treat the pain because of this lack of proof on film -- but the HLA-B27 antigen blood test should be proof enough. However some patients don't get diagnosed because doctors don't want to be ``stuck with´´ another Chronic Pain Patient. The devastation is total: loss of job, loss of car, loss of wife and home, and finally the patient faces the unending pain unless he or she can get diagnosed and treated. Mornings are the worst time for a victim of Ankylosing Spondylitis. The vice-like burning pain affects the entire body. It takes me two hours each morning to get enough pain medicine into my blood to control the pain. Many doctors have turned me down for pain medication. Since my very life depended on getting the medicine, I had to spend a great deal of my time ``doctor shopping´´ to get enough medicine to function. That cost jobs and income. At times I had to go for more than a year without adequate pain medicine, trying to function on other types of medication that didn´t work to control the pain, because of doctors´ fears of the regulators. Many times when I was able to get prescriptions, I'd have problems getting pharmacists to fill the prescriptions. I now get messages almost daily from other pain patients who also have problems with their pharmacists, unwilling to fill their prescriptions over their fear of the DEA. So the patient is caught between the doctors, the pharmacists and the DEA in a life and death struggle. Pure panic soon sets in and the patient faces that for years. It's like bending a coat hanger back and forth until it snaps. What happens if a severe pain sufferer can't get the medication they need? They commit suicide, or die of heart attacks and strokes, or suffer inhuman, unbearable pain. One woman couldn't get a doctor to prescribe pain medicine for her and a week later she took her own life. Suicide rates have shot upwards, according to the Centers for Disease Control, for the first decade since the 1940s, in part due to the problems in getting pain medication since the mid-1980s. That's when it started to get very hard to get pain medication because of the DEA's war on drugs which, for pain sufferers, has become a war on patients. Before that, doctors treated pain more compassionately. But with an overly zealous DEA looking over their doctor's shoulder, many patients are given only one or two four-hour pain pills per day. Some can only get 30 pills per month. That would be just fours hours of pain relief per day, if the pill is strong enough to control the pain, which it often is not. By expanding the DEA's powers, increasing its control over the practice of medicine, and further scaring physicians and pharmacists from prescribing and supplying adequate amounts of pain medication, the proposed ``Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act´´ would twist this bad situation even more out of shape. It will be a disaster for those who suffer from chronic, intractable pain and will drive many pain sufferers to suicide. *** For more information about H.R. 4006/S. 2151 contact Scott Swenson at 202-326-8712 or any of the groups mentioned.
------------------------------------------------------------------- NewsBuzz - Follow Up - If You Got 'Em, Smoke 'Em ('Willamette Week' In Portland Notes The Local Impact On Cigar Sales Following Allegations That President Clinton Used A Cigar To Diddle Monica Lewinsky) Willamette Week 822 SW 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97205 Tel. (503) 243-2122 Fax (503) 243-1115 Letters to the Editor: Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com Web: http://www.wweek.com/ Note: Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. NewsBuzz - Follow Up - If You Got 'Em, Smoke 'Em On the day porn writer Kenneth Starr's report swept the Internet, Rich's Cigar Store got a phone call from a woman who wanted to know if the shop carried presidential cigars. She wasn't kidding, and the answer wasn't a joke. There are two kinds of presidential cigars, according to Shannon Pattison, assistant manager at the downtown store. One is a category of cigar-- a size designation, really. "Presidentes" are larger than most. The other is the brand that Clinton actually smokes - or, uh, uses. As far as Pattison knows, it is Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur No. 1, from Honduras, the largest cigar in that product line. As for the scandal's effect on sales, Pattison says there have been more lame jokes than presidential cigars crossing the counter at Rich's. A quick search on the Internet for "presidential cigars" pulled up several Web sites for cigar aficionados and one unfortunate site where one can purchase a "Monica Smoothinsky." (Not surprisingly, this one has a link to Rush Limbaugh's home page.) Also online is www.Bluehavana.com, which is selling special-edition "Lewinsky Presidential Cigars" that can be dipped in either amaretto or rum for $10 each. Bluehavana has been designated one of the top 100 Monica sites by Gomonica.com, a site dedicated solely to promoting the Lewinsky in all of us. --Patty Wentz
------------------------------------------------------------------- The Crime That Changed Punishment ('Willamette Week' Presents A History Of Ballot Measure 11 In Oregon - An Initiative Requiring Mandatory Minimum Sentences For Supposedly Violent Crimes - Showing How The Law-Making Process Works In Oregon Through The Example Of Steve Doell, Whose Daughter Was Killed By A Hit-And-Run Driver) Willamette Week 822 SW 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97205 Tel. (503) 243-2122 Fax (503) 243-1115 Letters to the Editor: Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com Web: http://www.wweek.com/ Note: Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. Pubdate: Sept. 23, 1998 The Crime that Changed Punishment * In 1992, Steve Doell's daughter was killed. Since then his rage has helped transform Oregon. BY MAUREEN O'HAGAN mohagan@wweek.com Her name was Lisa Doell. Just 12 years old, she was a star pupil at Waluga Junior High who dreamed of becoming an actress. She had just gotten off the school bus that October afternoon in 1992 and was walking along Lake Oswego's North Shore Drive. The car struck her from behind. Within two blocks of her grandmother's house, she was killed instantly by the impact. The teenager behind the wheel sped away. When police caught up with 16-year-old Andrew Whitaker, he explained how it happened. He just "homed in," stepped on the accelerator and ran her down. "It wasn't an accident," Whitaker told police. "I did it on purpose." He had even bragged to a friend about the dent in his father's silver Oldsmobile. The crime was bad enough. The punishment only added to the horror. Instead of intentional murder, a jury found Whitaker guilty of manslaughter, which under state law carried a maximum sentence of three years. Thirty-six months didn't seem like much when weighed against a girl's life. Especially at a time when fear of violence was sweeping the country, when politicians were duking it out to win the tough-on-crime crown, and when Oregon's criminal justice system was already under fire. "In that kind of atmosphere, sometimes a very small spark can cause a large explosion," says Dick Springer, who at the time served on the state Senate Judiciary Committee. "That's kind of how I would see Lisa Doell's death." Her father's grief and rage have been part of the fuel. For five years, Steve Doell has played a central role in a kind of people's revolution. Last year, he became head of Crime Victims United, an advocacy group that--since his daughter's death--has had remarkable success in shaping crime policy in this state by taking power away from elected officials and putting it in the hands of voters. In the last four years, five silver-bullet ballot measures--two of which were crafted specifically with Lisa Doell in mind--have steamrolled years of legislation and precedent. Love it or hate it, the influence that crime victims like Steve Doell have had in changing this state's priorities is undeniable. Need proof? Since 1993, the combined budget for the Department of Corrections and the Oregon Youth Authority has almost doubled--from $440 million to $836 million. This November, Doell, 48, will take an even more public role as a co-sponsor of Measure 61, which will take the revolution one step further by lengthening sentences for 35 different crimes (see "Tougher on Crime," page 25). Most observers expect Measure 61 to pass if it reaches the ballot, although the state Supreme Court is now considering a signature-count challenge by opponents. With Oregon's justice system now determined the same way as its tax policy is--through the initiative process--it's time to take a look at the clout of one grief-stricken dad. Just over ten years ago, Oregon's system of crime and punishment was a joke. We hadn't added a prison bed in years. Because of overcrowding, virtually all prisoners were released at least six months before their scheduled parole dates, and some inmates were given temporary leave to make room for the endless supply of new convicts. "There was a gigantic gap between what was being said in the courtroom and what was actually happening," Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk recalled. "[In some cases], 10-year sentences were really 60 days. It was ridiculous." There was also a problem with equity. While there were maximum sentences on state law books, judges had tremendous leeway in doling out punishment. For example, a thief from Coos Bay might be sentenced to five years behind bars while one in Portland would get a short stint in jail. In 1987, the Criminal Justice Council, a committee of prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, probation officers, legislators and citizens, embarked on what would become a two-year project to transform that broken system. They came up with a system called Sentencing Guidelines. It was essentially a new scale of justice that weighed the need to punish offenders, particularly violent ones, against the desire to keep prison spending at a reasonable level. Under the guidelines, sentences were standardized across the state, although judges still had the power to tailor those sentences to individual offenders using specific criteria. Most important, in 1988 then Gov. Neil Goldschmidt reluctantly agreed to build hundreds of new prison beds (a promise that was later followed through by his successors) so that offenders would serve their full sentences. Parole, the bane of crime victims, was eliminated. "Oregon's sentencing guidelines were considered about the best in the country," says Multnomah County Presiding Judge James Ellis, who worked on the committee. There was just one problem: Even with the new prison cells, there wasn't room for everybody at the inn, so some sentences still seemed too lenient. For example, the standard sentence for a car thieves was generally probation, possibly including some jail time--even for two-time offenders. Some violent offenders could receive probation if they had no prior offenses. But without building even more prison beds--something few in the Legislature had the stomach for--the sentences couldn't change. The story of a disturbed teenager and the girl he killed helped convince voters to take matters into their own hands. In the summer of 1992, Steve Doell was floundering. After working in sales and marketing at Tenneco for 15 years, he was without a job. The company offered him a promotion, but it would have required moving to Los Angeles. "It was either up or out," he recalls. He chose the latter because he wanted to stay in Lake Oswego near his two children, Lisa and her older brother, Scott, who were living with their mother. The couple had divorced three years earlier (see "Irreconcilable Differences," page 29). At the time, Doell figured he would find a new career in a related field. Then, on Oct. 21, he got the awful news: Lisa had been killed by a hit-and-run driver. The next 12 months were torture for the Doells. They endured a seven-day remand hearing to determine whether Whitaker should be tried in juvenile court. "It was very long and very painful," Steve Doell says. "You have to listen to clinical psychologists and psychiatrists saying why [defendants] are just real good people who were having a bad day. That's very painful to a family." In the end, the judge sided with the prosecution. Whitaker would face trial as an adult. Then, the Doells sat through a eight-day trial and three days of jury deliberation. In the end, Whitaker was found innocent of intentional murder, despite the fact that he told police he had run the girl over on purpose. He was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, a crime which under Sentencing Guidelines carried a maximum sentence of 36 months. Steve Doell decided to fight. He joined Crime Victims United, an advocacy and support group headed at the time by Bob and Dee Dee Kouns. The couple, now retired, began working on crime issues in 1980, after their daughter Valerie disappeared in California. (Her body has never been found, and no one has been prosecuted for the crime.) Today, the group has about 800 members statewide, only about 25 to 50 of whom are active. "It's run on a very thin dime," Doell says. He says he relies on a settlement from his daughter's death to pay his bills. CVU worked to change the justice system on two fronts: through the Legislature and through the initiative process. Legislative successes were few; CVU was often blocked by Democrats who were in control of both chambers until 1991. The group did get several initiatives approved by voters--for example, a victims' rights measure in 1986--but these were isolated victories in a climate otherwise unreceptive to getting tough on crime. From the early 90s, that all changed. In 1994, the country underwent the Republican revolution, as Democrats were tossed from office nationwide. In 1995, Republicans gained control of both chambers of the Oregon Legislature, giving CVU a more receptive audience. In addition, inmates who were convicted before the Sentencing Guidelines took effect were still being released early. Publicity over these releases--and the growing fear of crime--played into CVU's hands. And, of course, there was the story of Lisa Doell. By 1994, the political climate was ripe for crimefighters. Then state Rep. Kevin Mannix, an ambitious Democrat from Salem (who is now running for office as a Republican), jumped on the opportunity. He proposed a triumvirate of ballot measures--10, 11 and 17--that would dramatically alter the way justice was meted out in this state. Measure 11 was the most sweeping of the three. It required long minimum sentences for certain crimes, including robbery, rape and murder, and it applied to first-time offenses. It also required offenders as young as 15 to be treated as adults--a provision Mannix says he added with Whitaker's grueling remand hearing in mind. Doell's daughter was a key player in the campaign. Lisa's death was mentioned in radio ads, in the Voters' Pamphlet and in editorial boardrooms. "We heard a lot about Lisa Doell and her circumstances," recalls Ingrid Swenson, a Portland defense lawyer who fought the measure. For example, Lisa's paternal grandfather, Edward Doell, penned this Voters' Pamphlet statement: "My beautiful 12-year-old granddaughter, Lisa Marie Doell, was murdered October 21 1992 in a violent and random act...If your family were victimized by violent crime, which sentence would you want imposed on the criminal?" Opponents of the measure were unable to counter such volatile emotional fuel. It passed overwhelmingly, with 65 percent of the votes in favor, thereby tossing out a large portion of the Sentencing Guidelines. Judges could no longer tailor the sentence to the crime. Without this discretion, they were, as one prosecutor said, "like potted plants in the courtroom." "Measure 11 is the gorilla that ate the whole system," Swenson says. "It runs the whole show here." That same year, 65 percent of voters approved Measure 10, which prevents the Legislature from overturning any part of Measure 11 without a two-thirds majority. And 70 percent of voters passed Measure 17, which required all state inmates to work full time to earn their keep. If the justice system was knocked upside down in 1994, it was given another stiff kick two years later. In 1996, CVU pushed for Measures 26 and 40. Once again, Lisa Doell was a key figure in the campaigns. Steve Doell even helped to write one of the measures with his daughter in mind. A Voters' Pamphlet statement in favor of Measure 26, which eliminates the Constitution's prohibition against "vindictive justice," read: "Remember the horrific story of a teenage boy who purposely ran over a young girl simply for the thrill of doing it?" The statement was signed by Sen. Gordon Smith, Rep. Chuck Carpenter and Rep. Beverly Clarno. Doell took particular interest in the crafting and passage of Measure 40, called a crime victims' "bill of rights." Among other things, the measure allows 11-1 jury verdicts in murder cases (instead of only unanimous verdicts) and changes the rules of evidence--provisions that stemmed directly from his daughter's case. Both initiatives passed with overwhelming margins, although portions of Measure 40 have since been thrown out by the state Supreme Court. Taken in combination, says Emily Simon, a Portland defense lawyer, the measures have amounted to "virtually a revolution in the way in which the criminal justice system works." Like the Kounses before him, Doell has also worked another angle--the Legislature. "He's a pretty tireless guy," says Mark Gardner, special counsel to the attorney general. "He's [at the Capitol] all the time. He's lobbying and lobbying and lobbying." Observers in Salem have mixed opinions about his skills. Some, like former Rep. John Minnis, say he's a "very articulate man" who knows how the political game is played. Rep. Peter Courtney calls him "a CEO type" and a "force to be reckoned with." Others call him awkward and criticize his stiff demeanor and his sometimes unyielding disposition. One lawyer describes him as an "ice man with a volcano underneath." "It's a mystery to me where this guy gets his power," says Portland defense lawyer Paul Levy, who has testified on criminal-justice issues in Salem. "I'm not sure it is him. I think it's what he represents: the fear of crime." That's not a concept many politicians want to be seen as knocking. "I know how politicians and candidates fear [Doell] and worry about him," Courtney says. In addition to lobbying, Doell dabbles in electoral politics. For example, Eugene legislator Karsten Rasmussen lost a reelection bid in 1994 after he was blitzed with eight straight days of radio ads branding him as soft on crime. Doell read the script, which mentioned his daughter's death. "That is the kind of thing that sends ripples through [the Capitol]," said one Legislature-watcher. Doell has also had influence in judicial appointments. Henry H. Lazenby Jr., the governor's legal counsel, says that "we weigh [CVU's viewpoint] along with other opinions" when choosing judges. Dick Springer, who was seeking appointment as a referee in late 1997, thinks Doell's influence may be more significant. "He appeared twice before the Supreme Court to testify and present written testimony that really blistered me as an enemy of the people because I had chosen to disagree with him," Springer says. The court chose not to approve Springer as a pro tem judge. (Some say that he wouldn't have gotten the job with or without Doell, and in fact a bar committee did not recommend him.) This year, Doell and former Rep. Bob Tiernan decided to take their concerns over individual judges to a broader level by sponsoring a ballot initiative that would have drastically changed the way they were elected. Lawyers were so worried about this measure that they formed a PAC and quickly raised almost $60,000 to try to block it. At the last minute, Doell and Tiernan withdrew the measure but threatened judges with bringing it back in 2000. The District Attorneys Association, which has benefited from crime victims' initiatives, was the only major group of lawyers not to oppose the measure. Steve Doell and his supporters acknowledge that they have revolutionized the way justice is doled out in Oregon. And they argue their efforts have been effective in reducing crime. In fact, the violent crime rate has declined since 1994. "There were 12,000 Oregonians who weren't raped, murdered assaulted or robbed because Measure 11 passed," Mannix says. The best criminal justice experts in the country can't agree on exactly what causes the rise and fall of crime, although they all say that incarceration rates are but one piece of a puzzle that includes demographics, economics and various other factors. "It's complicated," says defense lawyer Levy, "and the desire of folks like Mannix and Doell is to make it seem simple." Even Mannix concedes that Measure 11 was drafted without the benefit of any real analysis of the correlation between sentences and crime rates. "It's my own personal scale of justice," he says. "Even if it didn't make a dent in the crime rate, it was the right thing to do." While opinions differ on the effect of ballot measures on the crime rate, there is no debate about the extent to which Doell's efforts have tied the hands of judges. Judge Ellis tells a story of his first Measure 11 case, a shoplifter who struggled when she was caught. According to Ellis, she said, "Let me go. I've got a gun"--even though she did not have a weapon. Because she physically resisted and claimed she was armed, the charge was second-degree robbery, a Measure 11 crime that carries a mandatory 70-month sentence. Eventually, she accepted a plea bargain--pleading guilty to a lesser offense--and went to prison for 14 months. "She was a single parent with two preschool children and no prior record," Ellis said. "I suppose you could say it's a good lesson to a shoplifter, but it's so wildly disproportionate to the level of the crime. I'm not sure what social end was achieved by that." As justice in Oregon has been transformed by Doell, so has the amount we pay for it. "Voters made a decision for us in '94 that we would spend money on construction and operation of new prisons," says Bob Applegate, Kitzhaber's spokesman. "That vote was a budget decision." As tax revenues grew to unprecedented levels from a booming economy, they were quickly eaten up because elected officials were forced to allocate more money for prisons. The shift has been dramatic. While overall the state budget has risen 39 percent since 1993, the corrections portion has increased by 90 percent, mainly to pay for the building of new prison cells. Since 1994, the Department of Corrections has added 2,350 beds. It has started construction on one new prison and sited five more. During that same time, the higher-education budget has risen by 0.5 percent, and human resources has increased by 16 percent. This biennium, Oregon will reach a dubious milestone. For the first time ever, the state will spend more on corrections ($836 million) than it will on higher education ($704 million). Measure 61, the tough-on-crime initiative on this November's ballot, could cost an additional $850 million to $1.4 billion over the next 10 years and will require the construction of between 2,800 and 4,300 prison beds. The problem, of course, is what isn't getting funded. "Only about 50 percent of the people who seek drug and alcohol treatment and counseling can find it in this state," Applegate says. "If you take the money we've put into expanding our prison system in the last four years and put a tenth of it in those kinds of services, might we be a safer place? That's how we feel about it, but it's too late. Measure 11 is law." If you believe, as Doell does, that protecting citizens is the most important mission of government, then this isn't a problem. Clearly, Doell has no regrets. "There's certainly more noble things we could spend our money on," he says, "but once we can get a real handle on the crime problem, which I think we're starting to see, then we can go more into the prevention mode. Hopefully, we can shift money the other way some day." Sidebars: Tougher on Crime - Property criminals get kicked with mandatory sentencing. Irreconcilable Differences - Domestic violence in the Doell household led to a 1989 divorce. [note: The next few paragraphs appeared along the left column margin of the lead story above.] Steve Doell helped Bob Tiernan in his bid for the state Supreme Court. The campaign was financed by Mark Hemstreet, Loren Parks and developer Robert Randall. This month, Tiernan dropped out of the race. Andrew Whitaker was acquitted of murder because of one hold-out juror, whose son accidentally killed someone in his car two decades earlier. The jury finally compromised on second-degree manslaughter. So far, $56 million has been budgeted for Measure 17, the 1994 inmate work initiative. The district attorney contributed to the problems with the Whitaker prosecution. For example, he didn't charge Whitaker with first-degree manslaughter, which could have earned him a tougher sentence. Whitaker was released from prison in March 1995. He was initially to live with relatives in Michigan but was drummed out of town with bad publicity. Gov. Kitzhaber has written a statement in opposition to Measure 61. Gov. Kitzhaber's spokesman Bob Applegate says, "you could probably fully fund Head Start with the money spent building one medium-security prison." The Oregon Youth Authority has built five juvenile jails and one juvenile boot camp since 1994. Today, the agency holds 1,018 young people; in 1994, that number was just 633. Oregon has had fluctuations in the crime rate without any changes in sentencing laws, according to Phil Lemman, who heads the state Criminal Justice Commission. In 1996, the Rand Corporation found that giving students incentives to graduate from high school was far more cost-effective in preventing crime than locking them up was. LEAD STORY SIDEBAR Tougher on Crime Measure 61 addresses a very real problem with state sentencing laws: Property criminals, even repeat offenders, escape any serious consequence for their crimes. The measure calls for 12-month sentences for 35 different crimes, many of which are property offenses. It also tacks on an additional one-year sentence if the offender has one prior conviction, two years for two convictions and three years for three. The "kicker" sentences are mandatory, while the initial 12-month sentence is discretionary; in other words, the judge could give a first-time offender probation. According to Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk, "There is a helluva problem with property crimes. We need to do something." But Schrunk is not supporting 61. One problem, he says, is the cost, estimated by state fiscal officers at $1.4 billion over 10 years for additional prison beds. Steve Doell, a co-sponsor of the measure, says that because many cases end in plea bargains, the price tag will be more like $850 million. Schrunk also believes these offenders can be better served with programs like drug treatment. "If there's one group we can manage in the community, it's property offenders," he says. Critics of the measure also argue that the state Legislature has addressed some of the problems with property crimes in a 1997 law that increases sentences for some offenses. --MO *** LEAD STORY SIDEBAR Irreconcilable Differences Steve Doell and his ex-wife, Colleen, divorced in the summer of 1989 because of "irreconcilable differences." According to court documents, the split was difficult. In November 1989, Colleen Doell took out a restraining order against her ex-husband. In it, she claimed that Doell pulled their son, Scott, by his hair and hit him on the head and back: "At about 3:30 am [one day in October], Steve threatened Scott by telling him to keep the physical abuse a secret or he would have to walk home, as well as other unspecific retaliation." Colleen Doell further claimed that her ex-husband "grabbed my neck, threw me against the wall of the house and choked me with sufficient force to cut off my ability to breathe or speak. Steve then struck my son several times in the head and grabbed my 9-year-old daughter [Lisa] and tried to force her into his car as she screamed for help." Doell does not deny the incidents. "What I did was wrong," he said. "There's no excuse for that type of behavior." Doell and his ex-wife also fought over child support. According to court filings, Doell suddenly stopped making child support and alimony payments about 12 months after the divorce. The lapse lasted 21 months, and the district attorney's and the attorney general's offices were called in to enforce the court-ordered support payments. At one point Steve Doell was nearly $21,000 in arrears. He has since paid what he owed. "Financial difficulties were part of it," he says, noting that he "did pay for other items that would never be listed there, like private school and that type of thing." --MO *** LEAD STORY SIDEBAR Tougher on Crime Measure 61 addresses a very real problem with state sentencing laws: Property criminals, even repeat offenders, escape any serious consequence for their crimes. The measure calls for 12-month sentences for 35 different crimes, many of which are property offenses. It also tacks on an additional one-year sentence if the offender has one prior conviction, two years for two convictions and three years for three. The "kicker" sentences are mandatory, while the initial 12-month sentence is discretionary; in other words, the judge could give a first-time offender probation. According to Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk, "There is a helluva problem with property crimes. We need to do something." But Schrunk is not supporting 61. One problem, he says, is the cost, estimated by state fiscal officers at $1.4 billion over 10 years for additional prison beds. Steve Doell, a co-sponsor of the measure, says that because many cases end in plea bargains, the price tag will be more like $850 million. Schrunk also believes these offenders can be better served with programs like drug treatment. "If there's one group we can manage in the community, it's property offenders," he says. Critics of the measure also argue that the state Legislature has addressed some of the problems with property crimes in a 1997 law that increases sentences for some offenses. --MO originally published September 23 , 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------- Patient Rally Sunday, September 27 (The Puget Sound-Area Green Cross Patient Co-Op Invites Medical Marijuana Patients To Gather 11 AM At Myrtle Edwards Park In Seattle During The Annual Walk Sponsored By The Northwest AIDS Foundation, Which Has Endorsed Initiative 692, The Washington State Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 16:45:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Green+Cross Patient Co-op (greencross@hemp.net) To: hemp-talk@hemp.net Subject: HT: Patient Rally Sun. 27th Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net SUNDAY the 27th at 11:00 am in Myrtle Edwards Park. Meet at the big rocks. We have a great opportunity to get the message out and to be visable in support of I-692. The Northwest AIDS Foundation annual walk goes through the park. Let's educate the walking public and all the political candidates that medicinal marijuana is an important treatment option in people with HIV/AIDS and other debilitating conditions. NWAF has officially endorsed I-692. Let's thank the walkers and ask them to vote yes. thanks, Dale Rogers (206) 762-0630
------------------------------------------------------------------- Synthetic Marijuana-Like Drug Eases Pain - Study ('Reuters' Says Dr Ian Meng And Researchers From The University Of California In San Francisco Published A Letter In The Science Journal 'Nature' Wednesday In Which They Explained How Cannabinoids Affect Brain Cells That Control Pain)Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 01:39:02 GMT To: drctalk@drcnet.org From: Dave Fratello (amr@lainet.com) Subject: WIRE: Marijuana-like drug eases pain Wednesday, September 23, 1998 Synthetic marijuana-like drug eases pain - study By Patricia Reaney LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - American researchers have shown that a synthetic drug that mimics the main active ingredient in marijuana works like morphine to reduce pain, they said on Wednesday. In a letter to the science journal Nature, Dr Ian Meng and researchers from the University of California in San Francisco explained how compounds in marijuana, known as cannabinoids, affect cells in an area of the brain that controls pain. Marijuana has been touted as a pain killer for a variety of medical conditions but studies of humans have produced inconsistent results and its use for medicinal purposes is still controversial. Meng's finding from his research on rats raises the possibility that marijuana-like drugs could be used to treat pain. "These results indicate that the marijuana-like drug can reduce pain by affecting the same pain modulating neurons (brain cells) as morphine, but through separate mechanisms," Meng said. Unlike morphine and other opiates which can cause nausea and respiratory depression, marijuana increases appetite without uncomfortable or serious side effects. The addiction potential of marijuana is also much lower. "The implications for future development or treatment would be looking at different combinations of therapies, a lower dose of morphine combined with a low dose of cannabinoid," Meng said in a telephone interview. "Perhaps you could eliminate the nausea or at least reduce it and increase the pain-killing effects," he added. The research is the latest study into the medicinal properties of marijuana. It follows a report by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States in July that showed cannabinoids could protect the brain from the damage caused by injuries and stroke. Meng and his colleagues tested the effects of the synthetic drug on a region of the brain called the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM). By measuring the time it took for rats to move their tails away from a heat source they showed the pain-relieving effects of cannabinoids. Rats given the drug kept their tails on the heat much longer than rats which didn't receive it. In a second experiment the researchers tested the effect of the drug on the neurons in the RVM of anesthetized rats and found it produced the same changes as morphine, but in a different way. Some sufferers of arthritis have used marijuana to relieve their symptoms. Cancer patients also claim it alleviates the nausea from chemotherapy treatments and medical evidence has shown it increases the appetite of AIDS sufferers with wasting diseases.
------------------------------------------------------------------- UCSF Study Backs Claim Pot Kills Pain ('The San Francisco Examiner' Version) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 18:39:03 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Ucsf Study Backs Claim Pot Kills Pain 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: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Contact: letters@examiner.com Website: http://www.examiner.com/ Pubdate: September 23, 1998 Author: Ulysses Torassa, Examiner Medical Writer UCSF STUDY BACKS CLAIM POT KILLS PAIN Research adds to evidence drug is medically useful A circuit in the brain stem that is switched on and off by the active ingredient in marijuana is the latest in a mounting pile of scientific evidence pointing to the drug's ability to kill pain, a new UC-San Francisco study said Wednesday. The substance, a synthetic form of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), has an effect similar to morphine in an area at the base of the skull that is known to block pain impulses. Importantly, researchers found that the substance uses a different way to trigger the blockage, suggesting that marijuana-like drugs might be developed as effective painkillers without the unwanted side effects of opiates. The area of the brain where the substance is active is known to block pain messages in extremely stressful situations like war, in which people have reported not feeling pain despite catastrophic injuries. The study, to be published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, comes in the midst of continuing debate over the therapeutic use of marijuana. Five states and the District of Columbia have initiatives on the November ballot similar to California's Proposition 215, which allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without being prosecuted under state law. To cannabis advocates like Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, the study is further proof that the thousands of people with cancer, AIDS and other diseases who are using the drug to feel better are on the right track. "These patients are not stupid and should not be going to jail," Thomas said. The drug is also receiving more attention from scientists. The UCSF study is one of several that have demonstrated painkilling properties of cannabinoids, the substances that are the major active ingredient in marijuana. "A hot field' "It's definitely a hot field right now," said UCSF's Ian Meng, author of the study reported in Nature. "There is a breakthrough every month, it seems. Scientists have really been taking a serious look at what cannabis can do." In Meng's experiments, a synthetic cannabinoid was given to two sets of laboratory rats - one in which the region of the brain stem involved in pain blockage was normal, and one group in which it was deactivated. The rats with the deactivated region showed no difference in their response to pain from rats without the drug. But those who had normal brain stems took longer to respond to a painful stimulus after receiving the cannabinoid. The results show that the cannabinoids are working directly at that site, which is also where morphine works. The experiments also worked when Meng gave the rats a drug that blocks the action of morphine, indicating the pathways used by the two drugs are different. "I think in the future you'll see different kinds of drug combination therapies, where you can use cannabis-like drugs with a lower dose of a morphine compound and possibly reduce side effects," Meng said. Morphine, which is highly addictive, can be fatal in high doses by depressing a patient's breathing and inducing nausea. Cannabis, on the other hand, has been shown to stimulate appetite and is much less addictive. UC-Irvine study Scientists at UC-Irvine reported this summer that cannabinoids cut down on pain when applied directly at the site of a wound. University of Texas researchers have also found the chemicals relieve arthritis-like inflammation, and scientists at the University of Minnesota recently showed the chemicals can be used to block a form of extreme sensitivity to pain called hyperalgesia. The National Academy of Sciences is also expected to report late this year on scientific evidence for the use of marijuana in medical treatments and recommendations for policy. "It's time for society and public policy to really look at the science that's out there," Meng said. J. Michael Walker, a neuroscientist at Brown University, also observed in 1995 and 1996 the painkilling effects of cannabinoids in the brain stem. He said the field has taken off since 1990, when scientists finally learned that many brain cells in areas that control pain contain receptors for cannabinoids. "There's a lot of this receptor in the brain, it's loaded up with this stuff," Walker said. "It's very exciting, from the neurobiology point of view." 1998 San Francisco Examiner Page A 1
------------------------------------------------------------------- UCSF Study Backs Claim Pot Kills Pain ('The Nation' Version) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:10:57 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: UCSF Study Backs Claim Pot Kills Pain Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: bparry@qualcomm.com (Bruce Parry) Source: Nation, The (US) Contact: letters@thenation.com Website: http://www.thenation.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 Author: Ulysses Torassa - Examiner Medical Writer UCSF STUDY BACKS CLAIM POT KILLS PAIN Research adds to evidence drug is medically useful A circuit in the brain stem that is switched on and off by the active ingredient in marijuana is the latest in a mounting pile of scientific evidence pointing to the drug's ability to kill pain, a new UC-San Francisco study said Wednesday. The substance, a synthetic form of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), has an effect similar to morphine in an area at the base of the skull that is known to block pain impulses. Importantly, researchers found that the substance uses a different way to trigger the blockage, suggesting that marijuana-like drugs might be developed as effective painkillers without the unwanted side effects of opiates. The area of the brain where the substance is active is known to block pain messages in extremely stressful situations like war, in which people have reported not feeling pain despite catastrophic injuries. The study, to be published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, comes in the midst of continuing debate over the therapeutic use of marijuana. Five states and the District of Columbia have initiatives on the November ballot similar to California's Proposition 215, which allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief, with a doctor's recommendation, without being prosecuted under state law. To cannabis advocates like Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, the study is further proof that the thousands of people with cancer, AIDS and other diseases who are using the drug to feel better are on the right track. "These patients are not stupid and should not be going to jail," Thomas said. The drug is also receiving more attention from scientists. The UCSF study is one of several that have demonstrated painkilling properties of cannabinoids, the substances that are the major active ingredient in marijuana. "A hot field' "It's definitely a hot field right now," said UCSF's Ian Meng, author of the study reported in Nature. "There is a breakthrough every month, it seems. Scientists have really been taking a serious look at what cannabis can do." In Meng's experiments, a synthetic cannabinoid was given to two sets of laboratory rats - one in which the region of the brain stem involved in pain blockage was normal, and one group in which it was deactivated. The rats with the deactivated region showed no difference in their response to pain from rats without the drug. But those who had normal brain stems took longer to respond to a painful stimulus after receiving the cannabinoid. The results show that the cannabinoids are working directly at that site, which is also where morphine works. The experiments also worked when Meng gave the rats a drug that blocks the action of morphine, indicating the pathways used by the two drugs are different. "I think in the future you'll see different kinds of drug combination therapies, where you can use cannabis-like drugs with a lower dose of a morphine compound and possibly reduce side effects," Meng said. Morphine, which is highly addictive, can be fatal in high doses by depressing a patient's breathing and inducing nausea. Cannabis, on the other hand, has been shown to stimulate appetite and is much less addictive. UC-Irvine study Scientists at UC-Irvine reported this summer that cannabinoids cut down on pain when applied directly at the site of a wound. University of Texas researchers have also found the chemicals relieve arthritis-like inflammation, and scientists at the University of Minnesota recently showed the chemicals can be used to block a form of extreme sensitivity to pain called hyperalgesia. The National Academy of Sciences is also expected to report late this year on scientific evidence for the use of marijuana in medical treatments and recommendations for policy. "It's time for society and public policy to really look at the science that's out there," Meng said. J. Michael Walker, a neuroscientist at Brown University, also observed in 1995 and 1996 the painkilling effects of cannabinoids in the brain stem. He said the field has taken off since 1990, when scientists finally learned that many brain cells in areas that control pain contain receptors for cannabinoids. "There's a lot of this receptor in the brain, it's loaded up with this stuff," Walker said. "It's very exciting, from the neurobiology point of view."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Synthetic Marijuana-Like Drug Eases Pain - Study (The Fox News Version) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 13:03:38 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: Synthetic Marijuana-Like Drug Eases Pain - Study 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) Pubdate: 23 Sep 1998 Source: Fox News Contact: comments@foxnews.com Website: http://www.foxnews.com/ SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA-LIKE DRUG EASES PAIN - STUDY LONDON, Sept 23 -- American researchers have shown that a synthetic drug that mimics the main active ingredient in marijuana works like morphine to reduce pain, they said on Wednesday. In a letter to the science journal Nature, Dr Ian Meng and researchers from the University of California in San Francisco explained how compounds in marijuana, known as cannabinoids, affect cells in an area of the brain that controls pain. Marijuana has been touted as a pain killer for a variety of medical conditions but studies of humans have produced inconsistent results and its use for medicinal purposes is still controversial. Meng's finding from his research on rats raises the possibility that marijuana-like drugs could be used to treat pain. "These results indicate that the marijuana-like drug can reduce pain by affecting the same pain modulating neurons (brain cells) as morphine, but through separate mechanisms,'' Meng said. Unlike morphine and other opiates which can cause nausea and respiratory depression, marijuana increases appetite without uncomfortable or serious side effects. The addiction potential of marijuana is also much lower. "The implications for future development or treatment would be looking at different combinations of therapies, a lower dose of morphine combined with a low dose of cannabinoid,'' Meng said in a telephone interview. "Perhaps you could eliminate the nausea or at least reduce it and increase the pain-killing effects,'' he added. The research is the latest study into the medicinal properties of marijuana. It follows a report by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States in July that showed cannabinoids could protect the brain from the damage caused by injuries and stroke. Meng and his colleagues tested the effects of the synthetic drug on a region of the brain called the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM). By measuring the time it took for rats to move their tails away from a heat source they showed the pain-relieving effects of cannabinoids. Rats given the drug kept their tails on the heat much longer than rats which didn't receive it. In a second experiment the researchers tested the effect of the drug on the neurons in the RVM of anesthetized rats and found it produced the same changes as morphine, but in a different way. Some sufferers of arthritis have used marijuana to relieve their symptoms. Cancer patients also claim it alleviates the nausea from chemotherapy treatments and medical evidence has shown it increases the appetite of AIDS sufferers with wasting diseases. Copyright 1998, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News Online.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Clinton Will Be Third Man At Davis-Lungren Debate ('The San Francisco Chronicle' Says The Latest Polls Indicate California Attorney General Dan Lungren, Nemesis Of Proposition 215, Has Come From Behind And Now Is Tied With Democrat Gray Davis In The Race For Governor - A List Subscriber Forwards A Collection Of California Media Addresses And Urges You To Write Letters Opposing Lungren For Governor) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 00:39:47 -0700 To: dpfca@drugsense.org From: R Givens (rgivens@sirius.com) Subject: DPFCA: Lungren Gaining In Polls Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/ According to today's San Francisco Chronicle Dan Lungren is even in the race for governor. (See article below) Anyone in the state hoping for any improvement in California drug policy knows that Lungren must be defeated in November. How many LTEs have you written damning Lungren to hell and gone? How many of your friends have you persuaded to vote for Davis??? How many anti-Lungren voters have you registered? (Oct 5 deadline). Are YOU registered??? If Lungren wins the Governor's office we can kiss the hope of reform for medical marijuana goodbye for the next eight years. If Davis wins we can expect a big decrease in Reefer Madness activity in Sacramento. For sure, Davis won't veto cannabis legislation passed by a Democratic legislature. Do your part to keep this rat dog from sneaking into the governorship with a phony campaign about "character." Because of the Clinton scandal Lungren might get away with playing piety game unless we do our part. Write a few letters to every paper in California. Send them via individual e-mails since editors are wise to the Bcc tactic now. Make sure every anti-Lungren voter you know gets to the polls on election day. This is a critical election. Let's kick narco ass. R Givens *** Bay Area Reporter, ebar@logx.com Modesto Bee, letters@modbee.com UCLA Daily Bruin, viewpoint@asucla.ucla.edu Bakersfield Californian, local@bakersfield.com Bakersfield Californian, opinion@bakersfield.com San Diego Mission Times Courier, editor@cyber-ace.com Santa Rosa Press Democrat, letters@pressdemo.com Editor, ajournal@foothill.net Union Editor, webmaster@TheUnion.com Davis Enterprise, editor@davis.com San Francisco Examiner, letters@examiner.com Ridgecrest Daily Independent, sfarwell@ridgecrestca.com San Jose Metro, dp@livewire.com San Jose Mercury News, letters@sjmercury.com Feather River Canyon News, frcn@cncnet.com Saratoga News, sn@livewire.com City News, citynews@local.net Newsroom, newsroom@blk.com Antelope Valley Press, editor@avpress.com Stockton Record, editor@recordnet.com Orange County Register, letters@link.freedom.com Half Moon Bay Review, hmbreview@hmbreview.com Los Angeles Times, letters@latimes.com LA Times, letters@news.latimes.com Tahoe Daily Tribune, kirk@tahoe.com Union Tribune, nancy.crisci@uniontrib.com San Diego Union Tribune, letters@uniontrib.com San Luis Obispo Telegram Tribune, slott@scripps.com Pacifica Tribune, pactrib@hax.com USC Daily Trojan, dtrojan@scf.usc.edu Pasadena Weekly, weekly@pasadenaweekly.com Los Gatos Weekly-Times, lgwt@livewire.com San Francisco Bay Guardian, letters@sfbayguardian.com Los Angeles Downtown News, ladtn@village.ios.com Ponc City News, ponca_city_news@okpress.tfnet.org San Francisco Chronicle, chronletters@sfgate.com Los Altos Town Crier, towncrier@losaltosonline.com Ojai Valley News, dewartim@ojaivalleynews.com Vacaville Reporter, letters@thereporter.com Santa Rosa Press Democrat, pdletters@aol.com Ventura County Star, vcstar@aol.com Contra Costa County Times, cctletrs@netcom.com Palo Alto Weekly, paweekly@netcom.com Press-Telegram, speakout@ptconnect.infi.net *** Clinton Will Be Third Man At Davis-Lungren Debate Robert B. Gunnison, Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writers Wednesday, September 23, 1998 A 15 The two major candidates for governor meet for their third debate tonight, with Republican Dan Lungren eager to discuss President Clinton and Democrat Gray Davis anxious to talk about anything else. With public opinion polls flashing mixed signals about Davis' lead, if any, over Lungren, the televised encounter will take place as both candidates are stepping up the intensity of their campaigns and television advertising. Lungren's chances have been bolstered by a Los Angeles Times poll last weekend that showed him dead even with Davis, with each getting 46 percent of likely voters. The attorney general's strategists are working overtime to tie Davis to the political woes of Clinton, who arrives in California this weekend for fund-raising events. Asked why Clinton's troubles matter in a California governor's race, Dave Puglia, Lungren's campaign director, said, ``People in this state are looking to these candidates for some leadership. There are issues of trust here.'' Even though Clinton's scandal appears to be on the front burner in this debate, Democrats say it isn't what matters most to California voters. ``We still want to talk about education, health care, choice, the assault weapons ban,'' said Michael Bustamante, spokesman for the Davis campaign. ``We will continue to talk about them.'' Lungren and Davis have fired up a television advertising war, based not on Clinton's character but on controversial issues in the race, including crime, abortion and health care. Last week, the Davis campaign began broadcasting an ad in which, looking directly at the camera, the candidate tells voters that Lungren's 10-year record in Congress shows repeated votes against abortion rights, even in cases of rape and incest. His ads emphasize the idea that Davis has ``experience that will move us forward.'' Lungren immediately fought back with his own ad, saying, ``I'm disappointed my opponent has chosen to get personal and misrepresent my beliefs on abortion.'' Lungren, noting that he is ``a lifelong Catholic,'' argued that he understands ``the need to make exceptions in cases such as rape, incest and when the mother's life is in danger.'' He then notes his positions on parental consent (which he supports) and public funding of abortion (which he opposes). His tag line: ``A governor you can trust.'' In his new crime ad, Lungren suggests that he deserves credit because crime rates are at their ``lowest level since 1966'' and that there are 1.2 million fewer crime victims in California than there were then -- ``enough to fill the Rose Bowl 12 times over.'' Davis, for his part, is campaigning on medical care reform in new ads, saying he wants to ``rein in these HMOs'' by making sure Californians can choose their own doctors and have the right to ``a very rapid appeal'' if patients are denied care. Like the previous gubernatorial debates, the face-off in Sacramento will not include questions or participation from state voters -- because both candidates want it that way. The Lungren and Davis campaigns, while not agreeing much on policy or politics, have agreed on a lengthy list of requirements for potential sponsors for such debates, records show. Those include a say in who will serve as debate panelists and in ticket distribution and technical setup for the events. Sponsors have been asked, for example, to pay not only for broadcast and satellite time, but also for fully equipped media facilities and for the $14,000 fee of the debate coordinator, Vic Biondi. Both sides have also been firm on the format; they agreed to candidate questioning from journalists and from each other, but there are no provisions for members of the debate audience or voters to ask questions. And although both Lungren and Davis have made good on their promise to participate in lengthier face-to-face debates, they have quietly scotched an agreement in principle to hold ``minidebates'' on weekly newscasts around the state. The idea of free television air time during prime-time newscasts was promoted as a first and as an innovative way for candidates -- who often grouse about the cost of paid commercial time -- to reach more voters in California, where the costs of TV advertising is astronomical. But representatives of both sides now say the five-minute ``Crossfire'' style debates, which were praised by journalists and political insiders as a refreshing way to provide voters with unfiltered views of candidates, will not happen. The minidebates were ``a good idea, yes,'' said Bustamante of Davis' campaign. ``Was it workable? I think (both sides) had serious questions about whether it was workable,'' due to schedule demands. ``And we're debating more (in this race) than in the last four gubernatorial races combined.'' Dan Schnur, who worked with the Alliance for Better Campaigns to help push the minidebate idea in California, said that ``neither gubernatorial campaign responded by the deadline, so we've moved on.'' But Schnur, who now works with the California Republican Party, said he still has hope that minidebates will take place in other statewide races and in the governor's race in the future. (c)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A15
------------------------------------------------------------------- Agents Wage War On Pot In California (An 'Associated Press' Article In 'The Las Vegas Sun' Portrays The Annual Campaign To Eradicate Marijuana Planting - CAMP - And Concludes The Program 'Barely Makes A Dent') From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net) To: "-News" (when@hemp.net) Subject: Agents Wage War on Pot in Calif Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 20:44:43 -0700 Sender: owner-when@hemp.net Source: Las Vegas Sun Pubdate: September 23, 1998 Online: http://www.lasvegassun.com Writer: No byline, AP Newsjunkie: ccross@november.org Agents Wage War on Pot in Calif UKIAH, Calif. (AP) -- Dressed in camouflage fatigues and combat boots and dangling from a cable 150 feet below a hovering helicopter, the two agents dropped into a clearing near the bottom of a wooded slope One pulled out a satellite locating device for guidance as the other slashed at brush with a machete. They had to watch for traps - shotguns mounted on trees or mousetraps armed with shotgun shells which go off if the trap is triggered. As they trudged up the hill, someone spotted a "hooch," a makeshift, wooden shelter high in a tree In less than a mile, they arrived at "the garden," surrounded by fine, black netting to protect it from wildlife. It's a big bust, but no one is arrested -- not unusual in the day-to-day war on drugs in California's forests The officers and two similar teams came from across the state to spend eight weeks with a multi-agency task force known as the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting CAMP was formed in 1977 to reduce the amount of marijuana grown in California. It hires local sheriff's deputies, Justice Department agents and state Highway Patrol officers The agents -- many of whom served in military intelligence or other undercover operations -- take their jobs seriously. They carry survival kits. They're all armed with semi-automatic pistols "I get the satisfaction that I'm depriving them of something illegal," said Randy Rimmey as he yanked a 4-foot pot plant out of the ground and shook dirt from the roots. "I'm not here to decide if a law is morally correct. A law is a law." Rimmey and 10 officers spent 12 hours on the job Tuesday about 20 miles southwest of Ukiah. This is prime pot-growing land: mountainous terrain fed by natural springs. They raided six gardens and collected 1,160 plants they estimated to be worth about $4.6 million Each area is named, photographed and assigned a case number. Evidence is gathered, plants are ripped from the ground, measured and counted Rimmey points out bugs on one plant's leaves and white spots of mold on its roots. "Root rot," he said. "This garden is overwatered. What a mess." The agents have become experts at marijuana growing techniques. They know one grower's handiwork from another A running tally of their "kills" is painted on the side of a truck used to haul the plants away for burning or burial -- one red marijuana leaf for 5,000 plants, one green leaf for 1,000 plants At this garden -- planted on land owned by a private lumber company -- they made no arrests. They find empty cans and bottles, pieces of clothing, a fertilizer container, but no one is nearby when they arrive In 300 raids this season, agents have made only about 60 arrests; CAMP's helicopter makes enough noise to warn people away "We know there's people growing marijuana who never get close to the garden. They're almost untouchable," said retired Madera County Sheriff Ovonval "Berk" Berkley Marijuana advocates say CAMP is a waste of money and succeeds only in pushing up pot prices and boosting foreign imports "We pay the state to destroy what could be a tax-paying crop," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator for California's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "They have an uncontrolled situation created by the laws they support." Proposition 215, passed in 1996, legalized marijuana use for medical purposes. People who have AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other illnesses may get their doctor's permission to use the drug and grow plants for personal use Marijuana remains the third most popular drug used recreationally, according to 1996 figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Only alcohol and tobacco are used more frequently. Seventy million Americans have smoked pot at some point in their lives, 10 million people consider themselves regular smokers and Californians alone consume $3 billion to $6 billion worth of marijuana annually, according to NORML In a hospitable environment where pot literally grows like a weed, the work by CAMP members barely makes a dent "There's so much out there it's unbelievable," Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy Bill Rutler said. "Every time I bury a ton of dope that's a ton of dope that's not getting smoked." Officers joke that growers plant extra gardens specifically for CAMP to find "If they retain one of five gardens they're happy," Rimmey said. "They know we're here."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Prison Growth Stealing Funds From Schools, Activists Say ('The Chicago Tribune' Says The Prison-Reform Movement Is Gaining Strength On College Campuses - Again - Angela Davis, 53, A Professor At The University Of California At Santa Cruz, As Well As College Students And Other Former Prisoners, Have Scheduled A Conference This Weekend At The University Of California At Berkeley Titled 'Critical Resistance - Beyond The Prison Industrial Complex,' To Draw Attention To The Issue - A Study To Be Released Wednesday Says In The Last Seven Years, Appropriations For Higher Education In California Dropped 3 Percent While Prison Spending Rose 60 Percent) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 18:46:03 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US: Prison Growth Stealing Funds From Schools, Activists Say Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net) Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Contact: tribletter@aol.com Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/ Pubdate: 23 Sept 1998 Author: V. Dion Haynes Section: Metro Chicago PRISON GROWTH STEALING FUNDS FROM SCHOOLS, ACTIVISTS SAY LOS ANGELES -- During the 1960s and early '70s as college students were protesting the Vietnam War, another movement began pushing its way to the fore: prisoner rights. Inspired in part by Angela Davis, the young black militant who was imprisoned before being acquitted of kidnapping and murder charges in 1972, the movement focused on overcrowding, rapes and other inhumane conditions in the nation's jails and prisons. By the 1980s, that movement largely succumbed to growing calls for tougher crime laws to combat the proliferation of gangs and illicit drugs. Now, nearly 30 years later, Davis and others are attempting to enlist a new generation of college students to spark a prison movement with a much different emphasis: pressing policymakers to shift budget priorities and reverse an apparent trend throughout the country that has seen state spending for prisons rise substantially while budgets for higher education increase at a lower rate. A study to be released Wednesday documents the spending disparity in California. The study says appropriations for higher education dropped 3 percent while prison spending has risen 60 percent in the last seven years. California Department of Corrections officials say it is naive to suggest that funds for higher education are being siphoned off by prisons. There are other factors in the equation, these officials note, including Proposition 13, the 1978 law that put a cap on property-tax increases, and growing demands from education, public assistance and numerous other budget items. The higher-education budget in California is $11.3 billion, nearly triple the funding for corrections. State officials say that despite the prison growth, university spending will continue to be a top priority. Davis, 53, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, as well as college students and other former prisoners, have scheduled a conference this weekend at UC-Berkeley titled "Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex" to draw attention to the issue. The conference is expected to call for a moratorium on prison construction and a focus on preventive measures to keep people out of prison. Davis "sees this as an ongoing work of what went on in the '60s," said Robin Templeton, a prison activist who is organizing the conference with Davis. "California is building (colleges and universities) 20 times slower than prisons. That creates a very devastating reality." The state's spending priorities have had a devastating effect on low-income and minority students who "have a higher likelihood of ending up in prison than a university," said Khaled Taqi-Eddin, a policy analyst at the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute and co-author of the study. According to the study, the number of African-American males enrolled full-time at University of California and California State University campuses decreased to 8,767 last year from 8,974 in 1990. During the same period, the number of black men incarcerated in the California prison system rose to 44,617 from 32,145. Nationally, the prison population has grown about eightfold to about 2 million over the last 30 years. California's prison population has risen to 160,000 from 19,000 in 1977, and the number of prisons has nearly tripled, to 33, during that same period. "The governor and the legislature are responding to demands of the public who are saying they want career criminals off the streets and they want to be safer in their homes," said Tip Kindel, an assistant director in the Department of Corrections. "Most of these new prisons have been authorized by voters at the ballot. The crime rate is significantly lower than it was 20 years ago, and that's because more career criminals are in prison and prison sentences are much longer." California's "three-strikes" law, which requires violent criminals to serve life sentences upon their third felony conviction, is helping propel the need for more prisons. But conference organizers also attribute the population growth to efforts to incarcerate non-violent criminals, who make up 60 percent of the prison population. They want state officials to cut prison spending by finding alternatives to incarcerating drug abusers and petty thieves. They cite an Oregon program that keeps petty thieves out of prison but forces them to work at a so-called restitution center until they can pay back their victims. "We want to promote (these kinds of programs) among policymakers," said Vincent Schiraldi, director of the Justice Policy Center. "These programs are not soft on crime but smart on crime."
------------------------------------------------------------------- Jails At Expense Of Colleges? ('The San Francisco Examiner' Version) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 08:52:27 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Jails At Expense Of Colleges? 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: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Contact: letters@examiner.com Website: http://www.examiner.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 Author: Venise Wagner OF THE EXAMINER STAFF JAILS AT EXPENSE OF COLLEGES? As state spent more on corrections, education lost out, new report declares Spending on the state's correctional system has jumped by more than half over the last decade at the expense of public higher education, according to a report released Wednesday by a think tank on criminal justice issues. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the nonprofit, nonpartisan, San Francisco-based Justice Policy Institute conducted the study comparing state spending on corrections and higher education from 1988 to 1998. It found that while general fund appropriations to corrections went up 60 percent, appropriations for higher education dropped 3 percent. From 1993 to 1995, prison spending hit its peak, taking up 8.7 percent of the general fund budget, the report states. During the same period, higher education reached an all-time low, accounting for 12 percent of the general fund. Justice Policy Institute analysts said they had discovered a near dollar-to-dollar correlation to the increase of spending on corrections and the decrease in higher education. Current higher education spending is about 13.2 percent of the $57.3 billion general fund budget, or $7.6 billion. About 7.8 percent of the state's general fund goes toward corrections, about $4.4 billion. The report will be presented Saturday at a three-day conference at UC-Berkeley, "Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex." It is being organized by longtime activist Angela Davis, a professor at UC-Santa Cruz, as well as college students and former prisoners. "The budget is the ultimate statement of priority," said Dan Macallair, an institute analyst. "When you decide to increase one portion of the budget and decrease another, there is a connection." Vincent Schiraldi, director of the Justice Policy Institute, said that since corrections and higher education were both funded with discretionary money from the general fund, they were constantly competing for dollars. Schiraldi said they were also targeting the same age group and "symbolize the state's plans and hopes for the future. Are we going to educate, or are we going to incarcerate? It's a hard question that people have to pose now to the governor, (gubernatorial candidates) and other officeholders." But Sean Walsh, Gov. Wilson's press secretary, called the comparison of spending on corrections and higher education ludicrous. "It's so nonsensical . . . you don't see a lot of kids going to our higher Ed institutions dropping out and going to prison," Walsh said. "That's not where the prison population is coming from. The real issue that apparently this group doesn't have the courage to address is the fact that our K-12 system has failed far too many children, particularly those in economically depressed and crime-ridden areas. "They drop out in ninth or 10th grade because they have not been prepared for school. We're investing literally billions of dollars to change that." According to the report, between 1990 and 1997 enrollment of black men in state universities fell slightly while their incarceration numbers rose dramatically. The result: For every African American male who enrolled in the University of California or California State University, 57 went to prison. The ratio of African American men in prison to those in state universities is 5-1. For Latino men, for every one who enrolled in state universities, three went to prison. "Just think about that from the standpoint of the future of young black men in California," said Macallair. "If we saw these kind of numbers with respect to white men, they would call a state of emergency. We'd be funding education and prevention and (drug) treatment." While university administrators acknowledge that spending on state colleges fell in the early 1990s, they contend state funding is on the upswing, and not just because there was a $4 billion budget surplus this year. "I feel optimistic in California that the governor and the Legislature have gotten a wake-up call," said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed. "I sense a turnaround where people realize California's future is going to be tied to its higher education system. There's a lot of work to do, a lot of make-up." Larry Hershman, vice president for the budget at UC, conceded that state universities had experienced budget difficulties in the last decade, but expressed concern at the report's methodology. "I'm a little bothered by looking only at corrections and higher education together," he said. "You have to look at all of (the budget). You can't just look at two categories, because when the Legislature is looking at it, they're looking at the whole budget." For more information about times and locations of seminars at the Critical Resistance conference, call (510) 643-2094. 1998 San Francisco Examiner
------------------------------------------------------------------- Report - Gap In Education, Prison Funds - Wilson's Office Calls Study `Drivel' ('The San Francisco Mercury News' Version) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 09:06:23 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Report: Gap In Education, Prison Funds 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) Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: letters@sjmercury.com Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Dan Reed REPORT: GAP IN EDUCATION, PRISON FUNDS Wilson's Office Calls Study `Drivel' Under the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson, more state tax dollars have gone to prisons and corrections than to the state's top two college systems -- a gap that has never been wider in at least 30 years -- according to a study released Tuesday. The report, which was quickly denounced by Wilson's office, was issued by a liberal think tank called the Justice Policy Group, and it cited a growing trend across the United States to spend on corrections, not instruction. ``States around the country spent more building prisons than colleges in 1995 for the first time,'' the report says. It also contends that the number of blacks in prison compared with the number in the state's universities has increased from 4-to-1 in 1996 to 5-to-1 this year. ``I think it's an awful sign for the future of California to consistently invest in prisons at the expense of higher education,'' said Vincent Schiraldi of the policy group. ``I think people need to ask (gubernatorial candidates), `What are we going to do about it?' The system needs balance. It's grossly out of balance.'' Report criticized But the governor's office faulted the report for selective use of numbers, such as not lumping in state spending for community colleges. And it said spending for higher education has always outstripped that for corrections. ``It's not worth the tree that was killed to print the paper which this drivel was put on,'' Sean Walsh, a Wilson spokesman, said of the report. Walsh contends community college spending was excised in a disingenuous attempt to score political points. But Schiraldi counters that community college funding should be separate because it's guaranteed under voter-approved spending levels, unlike funding of the University of California and California State University systems. ``Because they dominate a state's pot of discretionary funds,'' the report concludes, ``prisons and universities fight it out for the non-mandated portion of the state's budget,'' such as prisons and guard salaries. The study by the institute, which has offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., also claims that contributions to higher education have ``steadily decreased as a portion of the general fund, from 15 percent in 1988-89 to 13 percent in 1998-99. In 1980, the report says, California had 12 prisons, and prison guards made about $21,000 annually. Prisons up to 33 Now the prison count is 33, and correction officers' salaries average about $46,200. And while the funding increases have not kept pace with those for corrections, the fees for enrolling in the schools have soared 303 percent in the UC system and 485 percent in the CSU system, the study says. But Walsh claims that by counting large outlays to fund community colleges, the governor's budget in the year that expired June 30 allotted $6.6 billion for higher education and $4.2 billion for corrections. ``This year alone, we've increased spending on higher education at the UC level by 15.6 percent; 14.1 percent for CSU; and 6.6 percent for community colleges,'' Walsh said. As for the number of blacks going to prison compared with universities, he discounts it as a bogus comparison: ``People are not being accepted into San Jose State and then going ahead and enrolling in San Quentin,'' he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Search For Justice? (A Staff Editorial In 'The Orange County Register' Says Monday's Ruling By The California Supreme Court That Police Can Search People On Parole Or Their Residences At Any Time For No Reason Is Troubling - Parole Is A French Word Meaning 'On Your Word' - The Ruling Enlarges Police Powers And, Once Again, That Expansion Of Power Is Tied To The War On Drugs - Anyone Living With A Parolee Also Has His Or Her Fourth Amendment Rights Severely Proscribed, So This Ruling Could Encourage People To Shun The Parolee, Perhaps Forcing Them Back With Those Who Might Have Enabled A Life Of Crime) Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:03:07 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: Search for Justice? Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: John W.Black Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: letters@link.freedom.com Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 SEARCH FOR JUSTICE? A troubling California Supreme Court ruling on Monday could encroach on Americans' protection from unreasonable searches and seizures under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment. The case under review involves the rights of parolees from prison and people they associate with. When people commit crimes, they give up some rights upon conviction and imprisonment. Prisoners commonly are searched and their movement limited. But once a convict is paroled and leaves prison to live on his or her own, monitored by a parole officer, does the abridgment of rights continue? In recent years, the answer has been "no" regarding the Fourth Amendment. The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 1986 that parolees have the same Fourth Amendment rights as other citizens. Monday's decision overturns that earlier ruling by a narrow 4-3 margin. "The case involved Rudolfo Ryes of Woodlake in Tulare County, who was in the last year of a three-year parole term in February 1995 when his parole officer got an anonymous telephone tip about possible drug use and other misconduct," according to The Associated Press account. "Police saw Reyes in his yard that evening, found no sign that he was under the influence of drugs, but searched his shed and found a small amount of methamphetamine. "After unsuccessfully challenging the search, he pleaded guilty to possession and was sentenced to seven years in prison." The court ruling means police can search a parolee's person or dwelling at any time, without notice or a warrant, which requires approval by a judge. If a parolee lives with others, Deputy Attorney General Joel Carey announced after the ruling, the parolee's room and common areas can be searched. The government itself will determine what is a "common" area and what is a private area for non-parolees. The ruling enlarges police powers at the expense of private citizens' rights and, once again, that expansion of power is tied to waging the war on drugs. "There's a famous saying in criminal justice that 'drug cases make bad laws'," Gilbert Geis, professor emeritus of criminology at the University of California, Irvine, told us. "It's the old problem. They [the government] wage this extensive campaign against drugs, and they keep losing. They make the court make rulings that apply only to drug laws, but then apply the laws to everybody else. They can't say this [court ruling] applies only to drug parolees, because that's not equal protection. So it applies to everybody else, including white collar crime or tax evasion. They can go in and look at the books." The California Department of Corrections told us that the state currently has 109,367 parolees, of whom about 36 percent are drug offenders. The next highest category is property offenses at 27 percent. Are parolees criminals who need close watching? Mr. Geis pointed out that parole is a French word meaning "on your word." These people are let out of prison because it's assumed they can be trusted to resume normal lives. If they can't be trusted, then perhaps the parole system needs reform, not the search laws. The new court ruling is especially egregious in those instances where the parolee lives with others. The ruling would allow "searches of private homes in neighborhoods throughout the state, by day or by night, for any reason or no reason, if one of the home's residents is a parolee," wrote Justice Joyce Kennard in her dissent from the majority. That means anyone living with a parolee - parents, children, a spouse - also has his or her Fourth Amendment rights severely proscribed. Consequently, instead of encouraging people to welcome back a wayward family member, such as a child who experimented with drugs, this ruling well could encourage families and friends to shun the parolee, perhaps forcing the parolee back with those who might have enabled a life of crime. Finally, the Fourth Amendment always has allowed searches with a search warrant. "It's nasty for the state to be knocking down doors for the arguable gains they get" from warrantless searches of parolees, Mr. Geis said. "The police can go to court for a search warrant. It won't kill them. They can show a judge reasons why a search is needed." There are two ways Monday's ruling could change. Given the close margin of decision, should a separate but similar case reach the state Supreme Court and one new justice hear it, the outcome could go another way. And, Mr. Reyes's attorney, William Arzbaecher, announced an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Officer's Wife Admits To Role In Drug Ring ('The Detroit News' Says The Wife Of Police Commander Gary Johnson In Detroit, Michigan, Pleaded Guilty Tuesday To One Count Of Selling Drug Paraphernalia And Admitted To Playing A Role In A Drug Ring - Her Husband Is Not Under Investigation) From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net) To: "-News" (when@hemp.net) Subject: Officer's wife admits to role in drug ring Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 18:33:02 -0700 Sender: owner-when@hemp.net Source: The Detroit News Pubdate: September 23, 1998 Online: http://www.detnews.com/ Writer: Wayne Woolley Newsjunkie: ccross@november.org Officer's wife admits to role in drug ring DETROIT -- The wife of a Detroit Police commander admitted Tuesday to playing a role in a drug ring federal officials say operated in the Cass corridor since 1990 Trina Johnson, the wife of Cmdr. Gary Johnson, pleaded guilty to one count of sales of drug paraphernalia before U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr As part of the plea agreement, Johnson may be asked to testify against other members of the reputed drug organization at trials later this year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Stern said Gary Johnson, who was formerly the top officer on former Chief Isaiah McKinnon's staff and is assigned to the department's personnel section, is not under investigation, authorities said Gary Johnson declined comment His wife's attorney, Christopher Andreoff, said that she faces a possible prison term of six to 12 months as part of the plea agreement The judge, he said, has the option of allowing Johnson to serve part or all of the term in a halfway house The charges against Johnson stem from a sting operation that's led to federal charges against 20 people who allegedly were involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and food-stamp fraud in Detroit's Cass corridor and adjacent Brush Park neighborhoods Her role in the operation has not been disclosed The first arrests in the case were made in April 1997. Although Johnson was questioned early in the investigation, no charges were filed against her until Tuesday
------------------------------------------------------------------- Founder Of Wildlife Refuge To Be Sentenced September 30 ('The New Haven Register' Says Robert Salvatore, A Founder And Director Of The Former North American Wildlife Association Inc., Faces Up To 15 Years In Prison After His Conviction Earlier This Year On Charges Of Drug Cultivation And Possession - Salvatore Has Maintained His Innocence Since His Arrest In August 1997, And Claims He Was Set Up By Volunteers Who Worked At The Wildlife Reserve With Him) Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 18:25:30 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US CT: Founder Of Wildlife Refuge To Be Sentenced Sept. 30 Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: General Pulaski Pubdate: Fri, 23 Sep 1998 Source: New Haven Register (CT) Contact: editor@ctcentral.com Website: http://www.ctcentral.com/ Author: Peggy Schenk FOUNDER OF WILDLIFE REFUGE TO BE SENTENCED SEPT. 30 EAST LYME - Robert Salvatore, a founder and director of the former North American Wildlife Association Inc., will be sentenced Sept. 30 after his conviction earlier this year on charges of drug cultivation and possession. Salvatore, 50, who founded the nonprofit organization with his wife, Gloria, in 1987, faces up to 15 years in prison. His attorney, William Koch of Lyme, said Tuesday he is hopeful the judge will give Salvatore probation rather than prison time. He will be sentenced in Superior Court, New London. Sam Libby, a former friend and volunteer who was living at the refuge and was charged in the case, was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation for first-time offenders. Salvatore has maintained his innocence since his arrest following a police raid in August 1997 on association headquarters at 11 Mountain View Road. He claims he was set up by volunteers who worked at the wildlife reserve with him. He said marijuana was found in his bedroom, other areas at the house and on the 24-acre wildlife reserve, but he did not know how it got there. Over the years, Salvatore and his wife have cared for and rehabilitated more that 40,000 animals, including an injured sea hawk rescued from the beachfront property of actress Katharine Hepburn in the Borough of Fenwick in Old Saybrook. In appreciation, Hepburn donated an oil painting she did in the 1960s for an art auction arranged by association members in 1990 to raise money for the organization. It was the first and only time the actress, who continues to live in seclusion in the family home in Fenwick, agreed to have any of her paintings viewed in public or put up for sale. Things began to fall apart for the Salvatores in 1997, when Gloria Salvatore, who holds bachelor's and master'ds degrees in wildlife biology and rehabilitation, was charged with possession of counterfeit bills in Rhode Island. Wanted by federal agents and Stonington police on forgery charges, Gloria Salvatore fled to Egypt, where it is believed she remains. Salvatore has been free after posting $50,000 bail.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Lawyer - DEA Ignored Cop's Mental Problem ('The Miami Herald' Says Richard Fekete, A Federal Prohibition Agent Who Awoke In A Drunken Stupor Last Year And Shot To Death A Fellow Agent With A Wife And Two Children, Now Accuses The Drug Enforcement Administration Of Withholding Evidence That Superiors Knew He Was An Alcoholic And Had 'Jekyll/Hyde' Tendencies But Let Him Keep His Job Anyway - The Widow Of Shaun Curl, Fekete's Victim, Also Plans To Sue The DEA For Allowing Fekete To Keep His Job)Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 09:37:06 -0700 From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) To: mapnews@mapinc.org Subject: MN: US FL: Lawyer: DEA Ignored Cop's Mental Problem Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ Newshawk: Ginger Warbis (WebMistress@Fornits.com) Source: Miami Herald (FL) Contact: heralded@herald.com Fax: (305) 376-8950 Website: http://www.herald.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 Author: David Kidwell - Herald Staff Writer LAWYER: DEA IGNORED COP'S MENTAL PROBLEM Medical records sought for agent A federal drug agent who awoke in a drunken stupor last year and shot a fellow agent now accuses the Drug Enforcement Administration of withholding evidence they knew he had ``Jekyll/Hyde'' tendencies and let him keep his job regardless. An attorney for Richard Fekete, who turned 56 in Broward County Jail on Aug. 30, has asked prosecutors for help in obtaining medical records ``which are obviously being withheld by the Drug Enforcement Administration,'' according to a Sept. 16 letter. Those records include psychiatric evaluations, medical reports about brain damage from a 1993 fall, and papers explaining why Fekete was allowed to return to active duty despite a DEA psychiatrist's 1995 diagnosis of a ``mental health condition'' and conclusion that ``an overseas assignment would pose an undue risk.'' A DEA spokesman in Washington declined to comment on the allegations. ``If he was an undue risk to send overseas, why are they putting him back on active duty here?'' said Glenn Kritzer, Fekete's Miami attorney. ``They have all these warning signs that he was unfit for duty and what do they do? Do they put him in Arlington to teach classes? ``No, they hand him a gun and put him in Chicago to do undercover work. And now they're trying to hide what they knew,'' he said. ``I can only assume they're worried about civil liability.'' The widow of Shaun Curl, Fekete's victim, plans to sue the DEA for allowing Fekete to keep his job. Fekete was a known alcoholic who suffered blackouts and was sent home from Panama after holding a gun to his wife's head. Curl, a backup group supervisor, agreed to drive a drunken Fekete home after a Christmas party on Dec. 12. Curl was shot seven times while driving on U.S. 27 in Miramar. Fekete, a 32-year veteran whose undercover work from the jungles of Panama to the Florida Straits is almost legendary, had a blood-alcohol content of .269 percent -- more than three times the legal driving limit. Fekete says he doesn't remember the shooting. He is pleading not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder by reason of ``alcohol-induced psychosis.'' Curl left a wife, Kathy, and two children. ``Mr. Fekete's complete medical history is relevant to Kathy Curl's potential claims against the United States, as well as the issues involved in his criminal trial,'' said Katherine Ezell, Kathy Curl's attorney. In a six-page letter to Broward homicide prosecutor Pete Magrino, Kritzer claims the DEA has not turned over several records about Fekete. Kritzer said he knows the records exist because of references to them in documents disclosed by the U.S. State Department, which had custody of the records while Fekete was overseas but forwarded them to DEA when he was transferred to Washington, Chicago and finally Miami. For instance: A Jan. 4, 1995, memo from State Department employee George Sweeney that summarizes a psychiatric report on Fekete and his wife that ``reveals loss of control, personality change characterized by a propensity to physical abuse on both their parts, both revealing a Jekyll/Hyde consequence of intake.'' Kritzer said he got the memo from the State Department, but has not received the actual report from the DEA. A Sept. 27,1994, memo from DEA medical officer William Wright ordering ``no overseas work, aggressive law enforcement or firearms use until copy of current medical exam and report of assessment and treatment of medical condition is provided'' and a Nov. 24 Medical Clearance giving Fekete ``limited clearance for overseas assignment.'' There is no medical exam or report of assessment or treatment of medical condition, Kritzer says. Several memos and reports referring to Fekete's hospitalization after a 1993 fall in the line of duty, but no actual medical or hospital reports. Magrino said Tuesday that it took a court order from Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman to get many records regarding Fekete, but ``the federal government has assured me we have everything they have.'' ``I'm doing my best to follow up to see if there are any records missing,'' Magrino said. Copyright 1998 The Miami Herald
------------------------------------------------------------------- US Catches Wind Of Australian Drug Sniffing Dogs (An 'Australian Associated Press' Story Relayed By NINEMSN Says The White House Is So Impressed By Australian Research To Develop A 'Super Sniffer' Dog Breeding Program That It Has Set Aside $148,000 For The US Customs Service To Import Some Of The Australian Labradors And Develop A Breeding Program The United States Can Call Its Own - Four Of The Australian Dogs Will Be Introduced To Washington Tomorrow At A Press Conference And Are Expected To Be Let Loose To Romp Around The Ronald Reagan Building On Pennsylvania Avenue) From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen" (when@olywa.net) To: "-News" (when@hemp.net) Subject: Australian drug sniffing dogs Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 18:22:07 -0700 Sender: owner-when@hemp.net Source: NINEMSN Online: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/ Pubdate: Wed Sep 23 1998 Writer: No byline Newshawk: ccross@november.org US catches wind of Australian drug sniffing dogs The White House is making life in the dog house even better for a dozen Australian "super sniffer" Labradors helping to fight the war on drugs. The dogs were sent to the United States after being raised in Australia under a unique drug detector breeding program hailed by American law enforcement as a "huge scientific accomplishment". "It is a wonderful transfer of technology," said the Chief Scientist of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Al Brandenstein. "One with warm noses and wagging tails and an extraordinarily predictable capability for detecting smuggled drugs." The dogs were raised by Australian Customs with the assistance of the University of Melbourne under a program designed to breed canines with the temperament and characteristics needed for drug detection. The US Customs Service screens hundreds of dogs to find a single candidate for its drug patrols but with the aid of Australian research almost every dog bred in the program will most likely become a super sniffer. The White House was so impressed by the research that it has set aside US$148,000 to help the US Customs Service take care of the Australian Labradors and develop a "super sniffer" breeding program based on the experience down under. "The line of Australian super sniffers is exceptionally important to the global fight against drugs because, remember, we can only stop the drugs that we can detect," said Brandenstein. "The more dogs that are capable of doing the job that are deployed in this fight, the more drugs we will be able to stop from doing their damage." Four of the Australian dogs will be introduced to Washington tomorrow at a press conference hosted by Brandenstein, Australian Ambassador Andrew Peacock and US Customs Commissioner, Raymond Kelly. The dogs are expected to be let loose to romp around the Ronald Reagan Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Brandenstein said the US had provided Australia with it's first drug sniffing dogs and now it seemed to be pay back time. "The national character of Australia has to do with a positive, innovative, adventurous spirit and these dogs seem to be a reflection of that along with real good science," he said. -- AAP
------------------------------------------------------------------- Challenging Report On Pregnancy And Drug Abuse ('The Journal Of The American Medical Association' Says A New Report Titled 'Ethical And Legal Analyses Of Coercive Policies Aimed At Substance Abuse By Pregnant Women,' Written As Part Of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program, Documents What Is Currently Known About The Effect On Fetuses Of Substance Abuse By Pregnant Women And Concludes Imprisoning Pregnant 'Drug' Users Is Ineffective, Racist And Otherwise Unethical And Could Be Challenged On Constitutional Grounds - The Substances That Do The Most Harm Are Tobacco And Alcohol) Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 15:45:53 -0700 (PDT) From: bc616@scn.org (Darral Good) To: hemp-talk@hemp.net Subject: HT: Challenging report on pregnancy and drug abuse Reply-To: bc616@scn.org Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net From: tsupport@umi.com (UMI - ProQuest Direct) To: bc616@scn.org Date: Fri, 25 Sep Challenging report on pregnancy and drug abuse The Journal of the American Medical Association Chicago Sep 23-Sep 30, 1998 Authors: Charles Marwick Volume: 280, Issue: 12 Start Page: 1039 Copyright American Medical Association Sep 23-Sep 30, 1998 Full Text: IMPRISONING pregnant drug abusers is ineffective and unethical and could be challenged on constitutional grounds, say the authors of a new report entitled Ethical and Legal Analyses of Coercive Policies Aimed at Substance Abuse by Pregnant Women. The report, written as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program, documents what is currently known about the effect on fetuses of substance abuse by pregnant women and examines the ethical and legal issues associated with criminalizing these women for illicit drug abuse. "Since 1985, 240 women in 35 states have been criminally prosecuted for using illegal drugs or alcohol during pregnancy," said Mary Faith Marshall, PhD, director of the Program in Bioethics at the Medical University of South Carolina. She spoke at a press conference in Washington, DC, last month to announce the publication of the report, of which she is an author. Prosecution has occurred despite the fact that there is "no legislation in any state expressly criminalizing the use of an illegal drug or legal substance by a pregnant woman," added Lawrence J. Nelson, PhD, JD, of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California. Nelson, coauthor of the report and a practicing attorney as well as a bioethicist, said that the use of involuntary civil commitment of pregnant women for drug abuse, a legal means of intervention, may be increasing. (Such women are then, presumably, to be detoxified and treated, but whether treatment facilities exist and are used is a moot point.) Incarceration Rejected By rejecting the criminalization of perinatal substance abuse as policy, the report adds further support to the contention by a growing body of experts that incarceration for substance abuse is unworkable and ultimately self-defeating (JAMA.1997;278:378 and 1998;279: 1149-1150). As Marshall's figures (cited in the report and below) indicate, the number of women arrested and criminally charged for substance abuse while pregnant is not large. Nevertheless, she said it is a national problem and noted that the combined rates of substance abuse during pregnancy, including abuse of alcohol and use of tobacco, both of which are legal, are troublesome. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimated (in the 1992 National Pregnancy and Health Survey: Drug Use Among Women Delivering Live Births) that about 5.5% of US women (about 221000) have used an illicit drug while pregnant. Marijuana was used by 2.9% (119000), cocaine by 1.1% (45000), heroin by 0.1% (3600) and psychotherapeutic drugs without any physician prescription by 1.5% (61000). In addition, 18.8% (757000) of women used alcohol sometime during their pregnancy, and 20.4% (820 000) smoked cigarettes. Marshall noted that while illegal drugs get the attention, "the drugs that do the most harm and [into combating which] we should put the most resources are the legal drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco." Although abusers may use more than one drug, Marshall couldn't give a precise figure. However, she said, "Most cocaine users are also multiple drug users and, of course, a widespread combination is alcohol and tobacco." The NIDA survey says that "women who used an illicit drug during pregnancy were more likely to also use cigarettes and alcohol than women who did not use an illicit drug." One Imprisonment Only one woman has been imprisoned for substance abuse while pregnant. Cornelia Whitmer of Charleston, SC, is currently serving an eight-year sentence for using crack cocaine. She had not been on probation for drug offenses prior to her conviction, but admitted in court to having used the drug for which her newborn child-and a subsequently obtained urine specimen-tested positive. Commenting on the severity of the sentence, Marshall said, "We [that is, state authorities] are moralistic about drug abuse. And we want to punish these women." The case was appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision. However, trial courts in most states have refused to apply existing criminal statutes to women who abuse drugs, Nelson said. In instances where prison sentences were imposed, they were reversed by appellate courts. One state, Minnesota, expressly requires what is euphemistically termed involuntary civil commitment of pregnant women who have used illicit drugs. In the South Carolina case, the state Supreme Court held that viable fetuses are persons and so are subject to protection under child abuse statutes if their mothers take drugs while pregnant. Nelson maintained at the press conference that this position is wrong because the US Supreme Court has ruled that the unborn are not constitutional persons entitled to legal protection. The decision "is nothing less than legislation by judicial fiat," he said. If the state wishes to criminalize drug use among all persons, not just pregnant women, it is free to do so, he said, but noted that statutes that refer to persons, children, or human beings cannot apply to prenatal humans. Nelson also maintained that the Whitner case is open to challenge on constitutional grounds, saying that "the US Constitution bars enactment of a statute criminalizing prenatal drug use per se as violative of women's constitutional rights to reproductive freedom and to be free of sex discrimination." However, when the Whitner case was appealed to the US Supreme Court, the court declined to hear it and let the South Carolina decision stand. "Rush to Judgment" Since the 1980s, society has been concerned that prenatal exposure to drugs, cocaine in particular, causes serious physical and mental damage to unborn children. There has been a "rush to judgment" that these children were destined to become wards of society, said Barry M. Lester, PhD, director of the Infant Development Center at Brown University School of Medicine, also speaking at the Washington press conference. However, he said, claims about the "devastating" effects of drugs, including cocaine, have not been substantiated. Lester cited a study of more than 11000 infants who had been exposed in utero to cocaine (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998;846:296-305). No increase in physical abnormalities at birth was seen in this group. But only five studies have followed cocaine-exposed infants into school age. Overall, the findings are inconclusive, he said: "This is a field that is in its infancy." At the press conference Marshall, summarizing her findings, said that criminalization neither favorably affects infant health nor deters substance abuse. Indeed, she added, "It may have a detrimental effect. It has been shown that substance-abusing women may forgo early prenatal care or drug abuse treatment for fear of losing their children or being arrested" (Brown SS, ed. Prenatal Care: Reaching Mothers, Reaching Infants. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; 1988). She described this situation as "tragic" because "substance abuse treatment during pregnancy has been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of drug exposure before birth and in improving parenting after birth." Marshall also called unethical the requirement that clinicians, social workers, or anyone else report drug abuse to such authorities as, for example, South Carolina's Department of Social Services. "This is inappropriate to the caregivers role," she said. Furthermore, the criminalizing approach is tainted with discrimination based on race and socioeconomic status. "Only certain drugs - crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana - are targeted for screening," she said. "Other drugs - powdered cocaine, methamphetamines, or non-physician prescribed psychotherapeutics - are largely ignored." The result is that it is mostly minorities who get identified by the authorities. From 1989 to 1993, she said, 41 pregnant women arrested for abusing drugs in South Carolina; some were repeat offenders. Of these, Marshall said, 40 were black, and of the 240 women in the 35 states she reviewed, 70% to 80% were members of minority groups, primarily blacks and Hispanics. Yet, she added, current studies show that substance abuse during pregnancy is not a problem only of poor black and Hispanic women, but also of white women and women in other racial and ethnic groups. -by Charles Marwick Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Mindless Hypocrisy (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Edmonton Sun' Contrasts A Canadian Prosecutor's Zeal To Deport Morteza Borhania To Certain Death In Iran Because Of An Old Drug Conviction For Which He's Already Done His Time, With Canada's Past Refusal To Deport Americans Facing The Same Penalty In The United States For Real Crimes) Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org Pubdate: September 23, 1998 Source: Edmonton Sun (Canada) Contact: sun.letters@ccinet.ab.ca Website: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Author: Thomas J. O'Connell, M.D. MINDLESS HYPOCRISY Several years ago Canada refused to extradite an American fugitive named Charles Ng who was wanted in the San Francisco area as an accomplice in multiple murders. Canadian officials insisted on trying and convicting Ng for a shoplifting offence committed while a fugitive. He served his time in Canada before being returned to the U.S. The excuse offered by Canadian officials was that Ng could face the (gasp!) death penalty if he were returned and that it was against Canadian law to extradite someone facing that penalty. And so I fail to understand the prosecutor's zeal to deport Morteza Borhania to certain death in Iran because of what amounts to an old drug conviction for which he's already done his time. Am I missing something here? I always thought that we Americans had a corner on that type of mindless hypocrisy, but I guess I was wrong. Tom O'Connell
------------------------------------------------------------------- Drug Use Looks Set To Be Decriminalised In Switzerland - Even If Referendum Fails, Penalties Will Be Reduced ('Frankfurter Rundschau' Says Users Of Cannabis, Cocaine And Heroin May Soon Have No Need To Fear Legal Punishment In Certain Swiss Cities - The Government Is Now Deciding Where It Will Carry Out A 'Limited Experiment' Of Complete Drugs Decriminalisation) To: mattalk@islandnet.com Subject: Swiss moves toward decrim Date: Wed, 30 Sep 98 07:48:34 +1000 From: petrew@pcug.org.au (Peter Watney) Organization: P.I.C. ---- The following is the original message ---- From: "Alex Wodak" (awodak@stvincents.COM.AU) To: "Peter Watney" (petrew@pcug.org.au), Subject: Fw: switzerland Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 08:31:02 +1000 Forwarding: -----Original Message----- From: jan g. van der tas (jantasvd@xs4all.nl) To: 101675.2071@compuserve.com (101675.2071@compuserve.com); awodak@stvincents.com.au (awodak@stvincents.com.au); Date: Monday, 28 September 1998 23:39 Subject: switzerland Switzerland-Drugs DRUG USE LOOKS SET TO BE DECRIMINALISED IN SWITZERLAND Even if referendum fails, penalties will be reduced By Beat Leuthardt Basel, Switzerland - Users of cannabis, but also cocaine and heroin, may soon have no need to fear legal punishment in certain Swiss cities. The government is now deciding where it will carry out a "limited experiment" of complete drugs decriminalisation. It will not be the first time that this small country has charted a new course in drugs policy: the decision follows what by almost unanimous consent was a successful experiment under which doctors dispensed heroin to hard-core addicts. The federal government's Working Group on Drugs Policy recommended in a written report to both houses of parliament that Switzerland conduct the limited drugs decriminalisation experiment in "some cities" for a fixed period, after which the results will be assessed. Broader acceptance of the recommendations has been helped by the broad political base of the working group, which includes Social and Christian Democrat representatives, as well as members of the libertarian Radical Democratic Party and even the right-wing Swiss People's Party. According to the secretary of the working group, Marie-Louise Baumann, the experiments will be extensively monitored. Properly run, she told the newspaper SonntagsZeitung, they should considerably raise support among the population at large for the decriminalisation of drugs. The limited experiment should only be a transitional step, since officials confirmed this week that the Swiss Federal Health Office has already prepared a legislative proposal for the permanent decriminalisation of cannabas, cocaine and heroin. The measure will be included in a broader bill which, if passed, would liberalise Switzerland's overall narcotics policies. Parliament is expected to decide on the legislation shortly after the so-called "droleg" issue is put to Swiss voters in a referendum in November. "Droleg" - short for Drogenlegislation or drugs legislation - has become a codeword for the move toward the complete liberalisation of drugs use in Switzerland. Unfortunately for its backers, a majority of Swiss look set to reject the idea in the referendum. If they do, the Federal Health Office has alternative legislation prepared which would retain criminal penalties for drug use in Switzerland, but even then there would be incremental steps toward effective decriminalisation - specifically, a directive to the courts not to penalise individuals caught with small amounts of drugs. Meanwhile, drugs experts are not surprised so much by the plan to legalise drug use as by the rapid tempo of change that is being proposed and the acknowledgement by the Federal Health Office director, Thomas Zeltner, that "all substances should be treated the same" for legal purposes. Supporters of drugs legalisation saw this as a positive signal, since Zeltner had long been seen as an opponent of a more tolerant policy. Zeltner does, however, intend to continue resisting any moves toward the complete legalisation of cannabis if they include measures to decriminalise its production and sale. In practice, the tremendous hemp boom in Switzerland and elsewhere stands in stark contrast to his attitude. Officials estimate that Switzerland has thousands of small-time dealers and growers involved in the trade and production of all kinds of hemp - most definitely including the illegal variety. This leads to the occasional raid. But with the Swiss so ambivalent about the use of the criminal justice system to tackle drug abuse, police are said to look decidedly unenthusiastic on these missions. [ dokument info ] Copyright (c) Frankfurter Rundschau 1998 Dokument erstellt am 23.09.1998 um 20.45 Uhr Erscheinungsdatum 23.09.1998 *** Jan G. van der Tas The Hague Holland
------------------------------------------------------------------- DrugSense Weekly, Number 65 (The Original Summary Of Drug Policy News Includes A Feature Article By The Redford Citizens' Committee For Justice; Drug Czar Wants Interdiction Bill To Lose In Congress; House OKs $3.2-Billion Measure To Bolster The Fight Against Drugs; Hemp Study Released By North Dakota; Guarding The Truth About State Prison; Cloud Over Mexican Anti-Drug Force; US Links Top Mexican Agents To Traffickers; Massacre In Mexico; Victims' Drug Ties Likely Behind Mexico Massacre; House Rules Marijuana Dangerous; Editorial - A Nonsense Resolution; DC To Vote On Medical Marijuana; OPED - Pot Battle Shifts To Ballot Box; IOC - No Jail For Suspect Athletes; Australia - Troops Get The All-Clear To Dose Up On Energy Drugs; Canada - Market Forces Cut Heroin Price; Australia - Campaign Gets Up Close And Personal On Heroin Issue; Colombia's Way To Halt Drugs And War At Once; Colombia Fears US Anti-Drug Bill May Harm Peace Talks; Hot Off The 'Net - McCaffrey The Prevaricator Ad In 'The New Republic'; DrugSense Tip Of The Week - Excellent Article On The Hernandez Murder; Quote Of The Week) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 14:48:17 -0700 To: mgreer@mapinc.org From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org) Subject: DrugSense Weekly, Sept 23, 1998 No. 65 *** DRUGSENSE WEEKLY *** DrugSense Weekly, Sept 23, 1998, No. 65 A DrugSense Publication http://www.drugsense.org *** TABLE OF CONTENTS: * Feature Article The Redford Citizens' Committee for Justice * Weekly News In Review Drug War Policy (Unreal Division)- Drug Czar Wants Interdiction Bill To Lose In Congress House OKs $3.2-Billion Measure to Bolster the Fight Against Drugs Drug War Policy (Mundane Division)- Hemp Study Released By North Dakota Guarding The Truth About State Prison Mexico- Cloud Over Mexican Anti-Drug Force US Links Top Mexican Agents to Traffickers Massacre In Mexico Victims' Drug Ties Likely Behind Mexico Massacre Medical Marijuana- House Rules Marijuana Dangerous Editorial: A Nonsense Resolution DC To Vote On Medical Marijuana OPED: Pot Battle Shifts To Ballot Box International News- IOC: No Jail For Suspect Athletes Australia: Troops Get the All-Clear To Dose Up on Energy Drugs Canada: Market Forces Cut Heroin Price Australia: Campaign Gets Up Close and Personal On Heroin Issue Colombia's Way to Halt Drugs and War at Once Colombia Fears US Anti-drug Bill May Harm Peace Talks * Hot Off The 'Net McCaffrey the Prevaricator Ad in The New Republic * DrugSense Tip Of The Week Excellent Article on the Hernandez Murder * Quote of the Week Thomas Jefferson *** FEATURE ARTICLE *** Editor's Note: We normally do not publish or promote press releases or unpublished articles but felt that this well written piece deserved an exception to the rule particularly in view of the article referenced in the "Tip of the Week" section. COMMENT: by Kevin Zeese The children of Redford are afraid to go out and play after school; their parents fear going for walks at sunset -- they fear Marines are hidden in the bushes. Ever since the fatal shooting death of Esequiel Hernandez, Jr. by US Marines on May 20, 1997 the citizens of Redford have been denied the opportunity to speak publicly about the event. They were not asked to testify before the state or federal grand jury. They were not interviewed by Department of Justice officials who investigated civil rights violations. So far, Congress has not held any hearings into the shooting death. Our lead column this week highlights their first public statement. The statement was delivered last week as testimony about the environmental impact of various military projects along the US-Mexican border. For a detailed report of the shooting see "Tip of the Week" where we provide links to an article that appeared in the San Antonio Current by Monte Paulsen. A Statement from the Redford Citizens' Committee for Justice Regarding the Activities of JTF6 delivered by Enrique Madrid at environmental impact hearing By THE REDFORD CITIZENS' COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE Redford, Texas September 17, 1998 "Since JTF6 has proven ineffective in accomplishing any of its stated missions the intelligent course, in order to save taxpayer money and to protect the constitutional rights of citizens and the welfare of the environment, would be to discontinue JTF6 Support Services to shut it down. "We have the following objections to those operations of JTF6 which we are familiar with: "1. The use by JTF6 of military personnel in construction projects violates the American spirit of fair play and free enterprise because: A. They impose grossly unfair competition against civilian contractors who are denied bidding for this work. B. They deny civilian workers who would benefit from gainful employment in such project especially in high-unemployment areas throughout the border. C. Their building of new roads and other projects imposes an undue burden on County governments to maintain such facilities with monies not authorized by taxpayers and voters. "2. The use of military personnel by JTF6 and INS in enforcement and construction operations has the potential of adversely affecting the military preparedness of U.S. Forces. The use of soldiers on the border exposes them to serious confrontations leading to the deaths of American citizens. American soldiers are thus placed in jeopardy of being indicted, tried, convicted, imprisoned, and sentenced to death in State Courts for crimes committed while on duty. These circumstances will lead to the demoralization of the Armed Forces, and a demoralized military is an unprepared one. The "Department of Defense may not provide any support which will adversely affect military preparedness." (Report of Major General John T. Coyne, USMC, item 692, page 105) "3. Massive financial settlements paid out by the Federal Government for claims by Americans citizens against law enforcement and military agencies as a result of such crimes will pose an unfair and undue burden on American taxpayers. "4. JTF6 and Marine Corps activities in Redford in particular would have been extremely serious violations of International Law in times of war due to their impact on civilian noncombatants: A. Military units must be under the control of a commander. The Coyne Report points out systemic failures at all levels of command, inadequate coordination among all agencies involved, and an obfuscation of the responsibilities of everyone from top to bottom to the point that, essentially, no one was in charge of the Marines at Redford. B. Soldiers must wear clothing that identifies them as military and they must bear their arms openly. The use in covert operations of Ghillie suits, camouflage face paint, and the lack of any military insignia violated this rule. No one in Redford suspected they were there; they were invisible to every one of us. C. The military must obey the laws and customs of war. The substandard medical care given to Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., violated the Geneva Convention requirements that civilian wounded be protected and cared for. "All of these were violations of International Law which would have protected the citizens of Redford had it been an enemy village in wartime but were denied us by JTF6 as a community of Americans on American soil in peacetime. "5. The tiny community of Redford was publicly labelled as a "Drug Smuggling Capital of the Southwest" by U.S. drug enforcement officials in 1991. This is the defamation of an entire American community through military techniques of psychological warfare. This condemnation in the press contributed to the tragic killing there and echoes of it resound throughout the Coyne Report to justify military operations. For example, the Marine patrol was instructed that Redford was a hostile community that sheltered drug smugglers (Q. E. D.). They were not informed that they were observing a Class B Customs crossing and they were not told that their LP/OP was set up within the bounds of a residential area. (Coyne Report) "6. The irresponsible development and use of criminal/psychological profiles by law enforcement agencies and JTF6 and their provision to military units for use in Redford that depict goat herders, cowboys on horseback with saddlebags, and backpackers as armed scouts and drug traffickers reveal a profound ignorance of the cultural life of border communities. And they endanger the very lives of great numbers of the citizens of those communities. "7. In the Redford incident, 20 May 1997, JTF6 demonstrated an obvious disregard for private property rights. JTF6 violated the environmental regulations as set forth in their own PEIS of 1994. JTF6 infringed on the sovereignty of the State of Texas with wholesale violations of firearms statutes, i.e., firing across public roads, firing towards inhabited dwellings, and firing too close to a state highway. "8. And finally, JTF6's military support activities on the border includes the first killing in the entire history of the United States Marine Corps of an American citizen by an American Marine on American soil. "Therefore, it is urgent to the protection of our democratic form of government that JTF6 be terminated immediately. THE REDFORD CITIZENS' COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE Redford, Texas September 17, 1998 *** WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW *** Drug Policy (Unreal Division)- *** COMMENT: Despite nearly universal preoccupation with Presidential sex scandals, Congress contrived to make a fool of itself in a couple of drug policy areas. In addition to damning cannabis as medicine, the House also voted to override McCzar and force more money on the drug war for the purposes of interdiction. I wonder if any editors noticed that this is a purely political $3.2 billion dollar potshot at the Clinton Administration. No, they're too busy worrying about the 4.5 million it cost to have the President's denials thoroughly checked out by Starr. First things first. *** DRUG CZAR WANTS INTERDICTION BILL TO LOSE IN CONGRESS As the House voted to add $2.6 billion over three years to the government's drug-interdiction efforts,the White House's drug-policy coordinator was urging lawmakers to reject the legislation. Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said he would welcome extra money but criticized the bill, passed 384-39, as an ill-conceived exercise in micro management possibly motivated by election-year politics. The Senate has not yet voted on the measure. [snip] Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: letters@link.freedom.com Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: 17 Sep 1998 URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n811.a07.html *** HOUSE OKS $3.2-BILLION MEASURE TO BOLSTER THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday turned aside Clinton administration objections and overwhelmingly passed a $3.2-billion bill to bolster the Coast Guard, the Customs Service and Latin American governments in their struggle to stop drugs from reaching this country's borders. The House of Representatives passed the bill, 384 to 39, just hours after White House drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey testified in the Senate that a similar measure awaiting action there would be too expensive and would represent "micro-management of drug tactics based on a shallow analysis of the problem and our available tools." [snip] In the House, Republican leaders insisted that they were boosting the budget for drug interdiction because they believe that President Clinton has failed to stem the flow of drugs into the country. [snip] Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: letters@latimes.com Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 16 Sept 1998 Author: Stanley Meisler URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n814.a02.html *** Drug Policy (Mundane Division)- *** COMMENT: It's not surprising that the ripple effect from Canada's legalization of commercial hemp would be felt first just South of the border. An academic endorsement will be difficult for the DEA to refute, but you can bet they'll try. The possibility that 60 Minutes might do a piece on the Corcoran State Prison scandal must be terribly upsetting to Lungren. If aired before November, the negative publicity could be decisive in what shapes up as a very close contest for governor. *** HEMP'S BENEFITS OUTLINED A North Dakota State University study says industrial hemp has potential as an alternative crop in the state and recommends that the crop be grown for experimental production and processing. The study, led by David Kraenzel of the NDSU agriculture economics department, was presented to the Legislative Interim Commerce and Agriculture Committee Thursday afternoon at the Capitol. [snip] Source: Bismarck Tribune (ND) Contact: BismarckTribune@ndonline.com Website: http://www.ndonline.com/ Pubdate: 11 Sep 1998 Author: Mark Hanson, Bismarck Tribune URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n801.a04.html *** GUARDING THE TRUTH ABOUT STATE PRISON While everyone's interest is focused on Washington these days, one of the simmering issues that may soon come to the fore in California's election is the brutality of the prison guards at Corcoran State Prison. We're told "60 Minutes" is planning a piece on Corcoran, where 43 inmates were wounded and seven were killed by officers from 1989 to 1995. The political dimensions of this touch on attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren, whose office did a limited investigation of Corcoran that produced no criminal charges. Two months ago, the Los Angeles Times did an exhaustive piece concluding that probes by Lungren and Gov. Pete Wilson's administration had "whitewashed" allegations of brutality at the central California prison. [snip] Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: letters@sjmercury.com Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Pubdate: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n814.a04.html *** Mexico *** COMMENT: Last week's events on the Mexican border couldn't distract us from our national preoccupation with Presidential sex, but their ultimate significance could be enormous. Ever since two political assassinations propelled Zedillo into the Presidency and exiled ex-President Salinas to Dublin, the terrible damage done to Mexico by US drug policy has been beyond either containment or cover-up. The situation in Colombia may actually be a bit worse, but we don't share a 2000 mile border with the Colombians. Our frantic efforts to find Mexican law enforcement officers who aren't already corrupted seemed almost comical; at least until last week. However there's nothing funny about a mass execution which, at a stroke, eclipsed Chicago's St. Valentine's Day massacre. Another remarkable aspect of this story is that its meaning has yet to sink in North of the border. *** CLOUD OVER MEXICAN ANTI-DRUG FORCE Two years ago, U.S. and Mexican officials, frustrated by corruption in Mexican law-enforcement agencies called on the Mexican Army to take the lead in fighting the drug war. Forming the backbone of the effort were new, screened units trained by the U.S. Special Forces and given helicopters for mobility. But now the program is facing the same evil it was formed to combat. About 80 members of the elite units have been under investigation in recent weeks amid allegations that some of them took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to sneak cocaine-filled suitcases and illegal immigrants through the Mexico City airport on their way to the United States. [snip] Source: International Herald-Tribune Contact: iht@iht.com Website: http://www.iht.com/ Pubdate: 11 Sept 1998 Author: Douglas Farah and Molly Moore, Washington Post Service URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n802.a07.html *** US LINKS TOP MEXICAN AGENTS TO TRAFFICKERS Washington-most of the top investigators of an elite Mexican police unit that was trained by Americans may have ties to drug traffickers, U.S. officials say. The disclosure threatens to undermine an ambitious effort to overhaul the deeply corrupt law enforcement system of Mexico. U.S. government experts traveled to Mexico late last month to administer routine lie-detector tests to dozens of police agents. Now officials say some investigators who failed had been chosen for their posts after elaborate U.S. designed screening. U.S. officials said they were just beginning to assess the damage that corrupt investigators might have wrought, a task that could take months. Most senior officials in the unit were implicated by the lie-detector tests. But already, officials are saying that much of the sensitive information that U.S. law-enforcement agents shared with Mexican counterparts over the past year may have been compromised. [snip] Source: New York Times Contact: letters@nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Pubdate: 16 Sep 1998 Author: Tim Golden, The New York Times URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n810.a02.html *** MASSACRE IN MEXICO BY RICARDO SANDOVAL Mercury News Mexico City Bureau MEXICO CITY - At least 19 men, women and children were gunned to death Thursday near the resort town of Ensenada, 60 miles south of San Diego, in what police said could be a drug-related massacre ordered by leaders of one of Mexico's biggest trafficking cartels. Police say the families were rousted by gunmen at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, dragged outside, lined against concrete walls and shot repeatedly with assault rifles, handguns and at least one shotgun. [snip] Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) (Page 1) Contact: letters@sjmercury.com Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Pubdate: 18 Sep 1998 URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n815.a12.html *** 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. [snip] 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. [snip] 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 *** Medical Marijuana *** COMMENT: It was another eventful week for this issue, which, more than any other- arouses prohibitionists to fury. The House, in another unwitting display of scientific illiteracy and logical incompetence, voted overwhelmingly against the hated idea that marijuana could be medicine. Ironically, DC residents will get to vote on the same issue in November. Around the country, medical marijuana initiatives are on the ballot in Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, as well as in DC. As the article in the San Luis Obispo paper points out, the California governor and attorney general races amount to a second go-around on 215 for California voters. *** HOUSE RULES MARIJUANA DANGEROUS WASHINGTON (AP) 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. Efforts to legalize marijuana for medical use in several states are sending the wrong message to teen-agers and the nation as a whole, supporters of the resolution said during debate on the House floor. The Marijuana Policy Project, which opposed the measure, denounced the vote. [snip] Pubdate: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 Source: Associated Press Author: Cassandra Burrell, Associated Press Writer URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n806.a06.html *** A NONSENSE RESOLUTION Casually and with virtually no debate, U.S. Representatives rejected the idea that marijuana might have medicinal application for patients who seek relief. It is a position that ignores evidence both anecdotal and factual. It borders on the inhumane. [snip] Even more important, it told thousands of patients and their doctors - who believe that marijuana can alleviate their conditions, often with less serious and dangerous side-effects than "standard" prescription medications - - that Congress is pleased to see them continue to suffer or to obtain relief only at the price of becoming criminals. Perhaps it should be called the "Congress has no sense" resolution. [snip] Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: letters@link.freedom.com Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Pubdate: 17 Sep 1998 URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n811.a05.html *** D.C. TO VOTE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA WASHINGTON (AP) - Election officials approved an initiative Thursday to let voters decide whether to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in the nation's capital. The District of Columbia Board of Elections had rejected the initiative a month ago but reconsidered because of a Sept. 3 ruling by D.C Superior Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle that the board wrongly dismissed 4,600 signatures that a petitioner collected. [snip] Source: New York Times (NY) Contact: letters@nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Pubdate: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 Author: The Associated Press URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n815.a02.html *** POT BATTLE SHIFTS TO BALLOT BOX LOS ANGELES - Confusion reigns more than ever in California's medical marijuana wars this fall as the state's most liberal cities and counties struggle to find a legal way to distribute the weed to patients who need it, and federal and state authorities fight to close the few remaining cannabis buyers clubs. The battle figures to move both to the ballot box and a jury trial, this fall, as pot-supplying cooperatives in three Northern California cities remain open in the face of a four-month-old court order to shut down. The three face contempt of court charges and pro-marijuana activists are eager to see whether any jury will convict their leaders. [snip] It also means the November election will largely decide the fate of medical marijuana. "Electing Lungren and Stirling would mean four more years of chaos, because they are adamant about not allowing any sort of distribution," Imler said. "If they're elected, the only solution would be for the federal government to declare this a prescription drug - and they haven't shown any great eagerness to do it." Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis takes a noncommittal stance on medical pot, saying he's open to legalizing distribution to patients if academic studies show a true need. And state Sen. Bill Lockyer, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, never blocked passage of medical marijuana bills during his years as the Senate's president. [snip] Source: San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune (CA) Contact: slott@slnt01.sanluisobispo.com Website: http://sanluisobispo.com/ Pubdate: 16 September 1998 Author: Tom Elias Tel: 805-781-7800 URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n809.a05.html *** International News *** COMMENT: From Seoul, the IOC had a quick answer for the Australian Olympic Committee's request for criminal penalties for athletes using performance enhancing drugs. In a bizarre side-bar, it was also revealed that Australian troops are routinely given the same kind of drugs. It's comforting to learn that the US isn't the only nation prone to such irrationality. The heroin glut described by the Globe and Mail is world-wide, not just Canadian, confirming what Congress and McCzar refuse to accept: interdiction doesn't work. Australia, plagued by the same glut and a surge in heroin-related deaths, will spend an additional $75 million, mostly because Prime Minister Howard was stung by politically inspired "soft on drugs" criticism. What Howard should really be criticized for is scuttling the heroin maintenance trial approved earlier by Parliament. Colombia remains another place where the US is stubbornly repeating past mistakes, hoping for a different outcome. This time it's aerial spraying of defoliants and becoming more involved in a guerrilla war in which our proxies are no match for the guerrillas. Does any of that sound familiar? *** IOC: NO JAIL FOR SUSPECT ATHLETES SEOUL, South Korea-The International Olympic Committee declared its opposition Monday to the possibility of athletes being jailed for taking banned performance-enhancing drugs. The Australian Olympic Committee last month said the penalty for possession, manufacturing, trafficking and use of steroids and other banned substances should be the same as those for illicit narcotics. Under the proposal, anyone importing large amounts of performance-enhancers into Australia could be jailed for life. An athlete caught using doping substances could also face criminal charges. [snip] Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: letters@latimes.com Fax: 213-237-4712 Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Pubdate: September 14, 1998 Author: Stephen Wilson, AP Sports Writer URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n806.a01.html *** TROOPS GET THE ALL-CLEAR TO DOSE UP ON ENERGY DRUGS Australian troops have been officially cleared to use performance-enhancing chemicals, including drugs, and methods banned by international sports authorities, to improve their physical and mental strength. Guidelines on the use of the substances and techniques have been issued to the commanders of Australia's special forces units - the Special Air Service Regiment, 1 Commando Regiment and 4th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. The senior nutritionist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Mr Chris Forbes-Ewan, said that unlike in sport "all's fair in love and war". [snip] Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Contact: letters@smh.com.au Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Pubdate: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 Author: James Woodford, Defense Correspondent URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n812.a06.html *** MARKET FORCES CUT HEROIN PRICE Canadian police forces are unhappy to observe a buyer's market in the past five or six years for a particularly ugly consumer product: heroin. Not only has the street cost of the narcotic plummeted, but since 1992-93 the purity of the substance on offer has gone up considerably, says Detective Ed Roseto of the heroin section in the Toronto Police special investigations unit. While a gram of heroin might have sold for about $700 in Toronto a decade ago, it's now readily available for $200. And Det. Roseto adds: "We've had grams which we've bought [during undercover operations] for $100." Hard numbers for the heroin-addicted population in Canada don't exist, but Richard Garlick, spokesman for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in Ottawa, puts the figure at about 25,000 to 30,000, and says that the number has probably been fairly stable for the past 20 years. [snip] Pubdate: Thursday, September 17, 1998 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Author: Salem Alaton URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n811.a04.html *** CAMPAIGN GETS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL ON HEROIN ISSUE The election campaign turned bitter and personal yesterday when the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, accused Labor front bencher Senator Nick Bolkus of making a despicable claim and called on the Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley, to bring him into line. Mr Howard in effect accused Mr Beazley of letting others play dirty while he kept his hands clean. Senator Bolkus, shadow Attorney-General, issued a statement before Mr Howard's drugs policy release which said: "Under John Howard, the price of a cap of heroin has dropped from $40 to as little as $5." [snip] Among its initiatives in the drug fight, the Government is promising an extra $23.4 million to set up four more Australian Federal Police mobile strike teams; another $10 million for the drug education strategy; another $10 million to expand community-based treatment services; and a $31.6 million increase in funding for border protection. [snip] Pubdate: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 Source: Australian Financial Review Contact: edletters@afr.fairfax.com.au Author: Michelle Grattan URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n812.a09.html *** COLOMBIA'S WAY TO HALT DRUGS AND WAR AT ONCE Legal jobs would cut incentives to grow drugs - and profits to finance guerrillas. Standing in a pasture of browning grass, Victor Manuel Vanegas coos to a herd of skinny cows before recounting the day in May when the narcotics police dropped their calling card: a potent herbicide sprayed on his fields. [snip] Some peasants like Vanegas may stay away from coca, the plant whose leaves make cocaine, for fear of spraying or trouble with the law. But, overall, the total area of coca production has climbed sharply every year since 1992, from 91,000 to about 200,000 acres today. [snip] Source: Christian Science Monitor Contact: oped@csps.com Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/ Pubdate: Wed, 16 Sept 1998 Author: Howard LaFranchi URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n812.a05.html *** COLOMBIA FEARS U.S. ANTI-DRUG BILL MAY HARM PEACE TALKS Measure would halt aid over creation of demilitarized zone 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." 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. [snip] 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. [snip] Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Pubdate: 19 Sep 1998 Author: Tod Robberson, The Dallas Morning News URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n816.a05.html ***
HOT OFF THE 'NET Readers who have suspected that the drug czar is not always as careful with the truth as he might be are urged to have a look at: http://www.drugsense.org/barry.htm It is a full page ad that ran in the October 5th edition of The New Republic. This important magazine has a circulation of 110,000 with a very good demographic profile.*** TIP OF THE WEEK Excellent Article on the Hernandez Murder Those interested in the details of how Esequiel Hernandez came to be killed by US Marines on drug patrol as well background information on the policies and events leading to use of US military personnel for domestic police work are encouraged to read Monte Paulsen's in-depth report, "Drug War Masquerade" which appeared in the San Antonio Current. This outstanding expose was written with the help and feedback of Kevin Zeese and may be one of the best overviews on the subject to date. It can be downloaded in two parts at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n801.a05.html and http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n801.a06.html *** QUOTE OF THE WEEK "A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation." --Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. president. Letter, 20 Sept. 1810 *** FACT OF THE WEEK The women's prison population increased at an average annual rate of growth of 11.2% from 1985-1996, compared to an annual rate of 7.9% increase for men. As of 1991, 33% of women offenders in state prisons were incarcerated for a drug offense, compared to 21% for men. (1997), p. 5; Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice. Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Prisoners in 1996, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1993, March), p. 4. *** DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you. News/COMMENTS-Editor: Tom O'Connell (tjeffoc@drugsense.org) Senior-Editor: Mark Greer (mgreer@drugsense.org) We wish to thank all our contributors and Newshawks. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. REMINDER: Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug related issue to editor@mapinc.org PLEASE HELP: DrugSense provides this service at no charge BUT IT IS NOT FREE TO PRODUCE. We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are able to help by contributing a Tax Deductible Contribution to the DrugSense effort please make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to: The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a DrugSense PO Box 651 Porterville, CA 93258 (800) 266 5759 MGreer@mapinc.org http://www.mapinc.org/ http://www.drugsense.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in October 5th edition of The New Republic. The drawing was made by John Wilson, a medical marijuana patient-activist from Texas. This ad was prepared with the input of a variety of people and is the beginning of a series of ads we will be running. Please share this post with relevant lists and in particular let people in the media know about the ad. Kevin B. Zeese Common Sense for Drug Policy
3220 N Street, NW, #141
Washington, DC 20007
703-354-5694 (phone)
703-354-5695 (fax)
zeese@csdp.org
"There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed. This is not science. This is not medical. This is a cruel hoax."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (Drug Czar), Aug. 16, 1996.
"Smoked marijuana has been shown to lower intraocular eye pressure (IOP) in subjects with normal IOP and patients with glaucoma... Clinical studies and survey data in healthy populations have shown a strong relationship between marijuana use and increased eating... Inhaled marijuana has the potential to improve chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting."
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana, 1997."In the view of the nation's scientific and medical community, marijuana has a high potential for abuse and no generally accepted therapeutic value."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, July 22, 1997"Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medicinal use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat."
Editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997."Marijuana is also a gateway drug."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, July 22, 1997For every 104 people who have used marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine and less than one heroin addict.
Department of HHS, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 1997."The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States... That's drugs."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, July 23, 1998.The Dutch homicide rate in 1995 was one-fourth that of the United States
(1.8 vs. 8.0).
FBI,Uniform Crime Reports/Dutch Bureau of Statistics"[Needle Exchange] programs are magnets for all social ills - pulling in crime, violence, addicts, prostitution, dealers, and gangs and driving out hope and opportunity."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, April 24, 1998."A meticulous scientific review has now proven that needle exchange programs can reduce the transmission of HIV and save lives without losing ground in the battle against illegal drugs."
Donna Shalala, Secretary of HHS April 20, 1998."Methadone is one of the longest-established, most thoroughly evaluated forms of drug treatment. The science is overwhelming in its findings about methadone treatment's effectiveness."
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, July 24, 1998.TRUE! One out of Six is Not Good Enough!
Visit Drug War Facts at: http://www.drugsense.org
Paid for by Common Sense for Drug Policy
Kevin B. Zeese President, 703-354-5694, 703-354-5695 (fax), csdp@drugsense.org
[End]
The articles posted here are generally copyrighted by the source publications. They are reproduced here for educational purposes under the Fair Use Doctrine (17 U.S.C., section 107). NORML is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit educational organization. The views of the authors and/or source publications are not necessarily those of NORML. The articles and information included here are not for sale or resale.
Comments, questions and suggestions.
Reporters and researchers are welcome at the world's largest online library of drug-policy information, sponsored by the Drug Reform Coordination Network at: http://www.druglibrary.org/
Next day's news
Previous day's news
to the 1998 Daily News index for September 17-23
to the Portland NORML news archive directory
to 1998 Daily News index (long)
This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/980923.html