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Plight Of The Desperately Ill Deserves Marijuana Access (A staff editorial
in The Herald, in Everett, Washington, endorses Initiative 692, the medical
marijuana ballot measure, saying the medical use of marijuana might help
young people disassociate the drug from any false perception of glamour.)

Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 21:37:51 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: Plight Of The Desperately Ill Deserves Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Monday, 12 October, 1998
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
Website: http://www.heraldnet.com/
Copyright (c) 1998 The Daily Herald Co.
Author: Editorial

PLIGHT OF THE DESPERATELY ILL DESERVES MARIJUANA ACCESS

The difficult and serious question of medical marijuana is back.

Voters will decide this November whether to approve a state law
allowing limited medical use of marijuana for patients with terminal
or serious illnesses.

This is a much improved initiative measure that treats the question
with the thoughtfulness that was scandalously absent last year. But
because federal laws can't be removed by state action, vexing
questions will remain whether or not Washingtonians support medical
use of marijuana. Indeed, the federal questions limit how well the
measure can be written.

Despite the problems that will remain, voters will nevertheless do
well to say yes to Initiative 692 as a matter of imperfect compassion
and support for the very sick and dying.

Voters should do so only with some careful understandings of the
opposing views. The state medical association, for instance, doesn't
support the initiative. What evidence there is about marijuana's
medical effectiveness has not been subjected to the usual federal
reviews. There is no quality control for any marijuana that will be
obtained by patients. Indeed, opponents can reasonably speak of the
initiative as abandoning the normal Federal Drug Administration
process for approving medicines.

Yet, there is no real prospect for the FDA to move forward anytime
soon, at least without pressure from the states. This initiative is
miles ahead of the measures passed in recent years by California and
Arizona. Initiative 692 defines carefully who can use marijuana for
medical purposes. Principally, those are cancer and AIDS patients,
chronic pain sufferers and people with serious muscle diseases, such
as multiple sclerosis. The measure also attempts to prevent the circus
atmosphere around California "buying clubs" by saying that no person
may provide medical marijuana to more than one person.

In most circumstances, there are many traditional medical alternatives
to marijuana. But society also ought to be as supportive as possible
toward desperately ill individuals for whom those treatments aren't
working. Compassion ought to be the guiding principle when patients
are dying. That's especially true for a state that has rejected
assisted suicide.

If initiative supporters are being honest, this measure is not about
legalizing marijuana. Legalization would be a horrible idea, widening
use of a drug with some extraordinarily bad effects on the mental
state of users. If somehow passage of the initiative were to be used
to promote wider recreational use of marijuana, the Legislature would
have an absolute duty to amend or wipe out the initiative,
immediately.

In fact, we would not support a yes vote if we weren't prepared to ask
the Legislature to deal with any problems that may occur. Legislators
are notoriously reluctant to overturn any initiative. But it is
reasonable to hope that legislators would act if drug abuse or crime
were to increase because of this measure. If legislators hear
conflicting assessments, our advice would be to listen to those who
know the problems best - police and prosecutors.

If the medical marijuana initiative can be implemented responsibly,
however, young people are capable of understanding that marijuana is
being approved only for the desperately ill. They can see that first
hand by watching a beloved older family member suffer from an illness.

In such an instance, the medical use of marijuana might help young
people disassociate the drug from any false perception of glamour.

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

Initiative 692 will ease pain of many suffering patients (Another op-ed
in The Herald, by William O. Robertson, MD, the former president
of the Washington State Medical Association, endorses the medical marijuana
ballot measure. For the patient who is suffering and believes that he or she
will feel better, why does society choose to stand in the way, hold up
its hand and shout "No way!")

Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 21:03:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: bc616@scn.org (Darral Good)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Willaim O. Roberston MD says yes on initiative 692
Reply-To: bc616@scn.org
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
The Herald
http://www.heraldnet.com/
Everett, Wash
Comments: newmedia@heraldnet.com

Letters
Monday,
October 12, 1998

Op-ed: Initiative 692 will ease pain of many suffering patients

By WILLIAM O. ROBERTSON, M.D.

Last year, I voted against the marijuana Initiative 685. Its target
was far too broad - way beyond the medical use of marijuana. This
year, I'm going to vote for Initiative 692. By contrast, it is sharply
honed and carefully worded to have Washington follow the lead of
Arizona and California in bettering the quality of life of seriously
ill patients. And it will do so without "legalizing" marijuana -
without treading on the turf of those militaristic purists seemingly
dedicated to banishing any and all drugs of abuse from the face of the
earth.

But, you might ask, is there really scientific evidence to
substantiate the claims of advocates that marijuana can actually
improve impoverished appetites, that it can quell overwhelming
sensations of nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy, or that it
can lower the intraocular pressure of glaucoma and all its
consequences? I don't know for certain. Solid data supports the
effectiveness of one of its ingredients - annibinol - but I'm far
from being convinced that either marijuana or its ingredient work as
well as many other modern drugs. But that is not the issue. The issue
is giving the patient a choice of what he or she believes in.

Certainly I'm pleased that at long last the National Institutes of
Health have finally gotten around to trying to find out if marijuana
works by funding scientific studies that are long overdue. In the
meantime, for the patient who is suffering and believes that he or she
will feel better, why does society choose to stand in the way, hold up
its hand and shout "No way!" Why has it been so, so rigid in its
opposition down through the centuries? In truth I'm even less certain
about the answer to that question than I am to the question of
marijuana's effectiveness.

I'll admit to being a simple pragmatist on the topic - and I'm proud
of it. As a physician, I have to be reasonably comfortable in making
many recommendations to sick patients that I'm not at all sure will
really be all that helpful. But, if both the patient and I believe it
will, many, many times it works. I always worry that my treatment
might instead hurt the patient or somehow be harmful. In the case of
marijuana, worrying about harm is really a negligible issue for the
terminally ill or chronically debilitated. (As you might suspect, I'm
far more wary when it comes to the risks of marijuana for the youthful
user but that is an entirely different matter.)

Admittedly, we physicians are under the gun to do a better job in
helping the chronically ill. Most certainly we ought to be able to do
a better job. Some of us blame our shortcomings on being caught
between governmental regulators who thrive on making more and more
rules about how we should use pain medicines, and those patients who
seem to take advantage of pain medicine for other than relief of pain.
Remember too, that 50 years ago, physicians seemed to be fully
occupied trying to cope with acute life-threatening infections. Today,
these infections -- tetanus, diphtheria, polio, etc. -- are gone. Or
they tried to cope with poorly understood dietary deficiencies that
today are simply historical oddities. In contrast, coping effectively
with chronic disease is a task of recent vintage for both physicians
and our patients. For the long haul, we'll want to use all the
scientific tools at our disposal to find out what works best and how
to get everybody to use it. But, for the short term, I'm convinced
that we physicians can and should do more -- and listen to patients'
ideas about what they think will work -- and then use it if the risks
to the patient are minimal.

To me that is the basic question for you to consider when you vote on
Initiative 692. Will it make life more tolerable for patients whose
lives are simply miserable? I strongly believe that it will. Will it
pose a risk to those patients? Of course, it will. Anything carries
some risk. Does its use impose a huge cost akin to open heart surgery?
No way! It's cheap. And Initiative 692 protects both the patient and
the physicians from the clutches of the thought police. And, as I see
it, Initiative 692's passage will also go a long way in bringing the
"war on drugs" out of the closet for up-front, on-top-of-the-table
reconsideration of how our modern society can best learn to live with
all the chemicals that are out there. There simply has to be a better
way.

Marijuana's history dates back more than 12,000 years. The plight of
the terminally ill is equally as ancient and neither is going to go
away. Using one to ameliorate the anguish of the other as outlined so
lucidly in Initiative 692 would bring solace to the suffering to the
detriment of no one and to the credit of our civilization. Vote "Yes"
on Initiative 692.

William O. Robertson, M.D. is past president of the Washington State
Medical Association.

Copyright (c) 1998 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash.

***

hemp-talk - hemp-talk@hemp.net is a discussion/information
list about hemp politics in Washington State. To unsubscribe, send
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net with the text "unsubscribe hemp-talk".
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-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical marijuana is bad presciption (A staff editorial
in The Tacoma News Tribune opposes Initiative 692, the Washington state
ballot measure, admitting it is hard not to be swayed by emotional
testimonials from cancer patients and others who say smoking marijuana eases
their suffering. "We are realistic enough to believe that cancer victims
and others who think they truly need marijuana will find ways to get it"
without reform.)

Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:25:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ben (ben@hemp.net)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
cc: editor@mapinc.org
Subject: HT: Tacoma News Tribune Opposes 692
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Title: Medical marijuana is bad presciption
Pubdate: October 12, 1998
Source: Tacoma News Tribune
Contact: leted@p.tribnet.com

Initiative 692, authored by Tacoma physcian Rob Killian, is a new and
improved version of a "medical marijuana" measure voters soundly rejected
last year.

Although the version that faces voters Nov. 3 is far less objectionable
than the wildly irresponsible proposal Killian wrote last year, it is
still bad medical and social policy - and voters should say no again.

Killian insists his motives are purely compassionate, aimed at allowing
people suffering from "terminal or debilitating illnesses" to relieve pain
by legally using marijuana. Indeed, it is hard not to be swayed by
emotional testimonials from cancer patients and others who say smoking
marijuana eases their suffering.

To that end, Initiative 692 would allow patients suffering from cancer,
HIV, multiple sclerosis, seizure disorders and other conditions involving
intractable pain to use marijuana on the written recommendation of a
physician.

The initiative forbids the use of "medical marijuana" in public, says
health insurers can't be required to pay for it, and says neither the
patient nor a designated "primary caregiver" may possess more than a
60-day supply of marijuana. But what constitutes a 60-day supply isn't
defined in the initiative - a loophole that could open the door to abuse.

Let's grant that of all medical marijuana initiatives that have surfaced
around the country, including measures voters approved in Arizona and
California, Initiative 692 seems the most tightly written. There's nothing
that would allow California's notorious cannabis clubs, nor would it
dramatically change drug laws, as Arizona's now-repealed statute did.

But the national and state medical establishment - including the American
Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute - remains staunchly
opposed to legalizing marijuana as medicine. The evidence for marijuana's
value as medicine is not grounded in the kind of solid scientific research
that is required for all legally prescribed medicines.

If marijuana is a medicine, it is an exceedingly crude one; there is no
practical way to control its quality or regulate the dosage of the active
ingredient or ingredients that alleviate pain or nausea. In addition,
smoking marijuana is known to have adverse effects on lungs and other
parts of the body. A National Institutes for Health study last year, for
example, noted that marijuana smoking increases the risk of potentially
fatal pneumonia for HIV-positive patients and weakens some parts of the
immune system - a special concern with cancer and AIDS patients.

We are realistic enough to believe that cancer victims and others who
think they truly need marijuana will find ways to get it. We also believe
prosecutors are not going to go out of their way to throw dying and sick
people in jail for using it.

There is no need to legalize medical marijuana, nor is it wise to
deliberately bypass all the protections and protocols that ensure any
medicine is safe and effective. Initiative 692 is bad policy and bad
medicine.

***

hemp-talk - hemp-talk@hemp.net is a discussion/information
list about hemp politics in Washington State. To unsubscribe, send
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net with the text "unsubscribe hemp-talk".
For more details see http://www.hemp.net/lists.html

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

San Diego Medical Marijuana Trial Commences Wednesday, Oct. 14
(A message forwarded from an attorney says jury selection will begin
Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court in the case of People v. Steven
McWilliams and Dion Markgraaff, charged in connection with growing
and supplying medical marijuana to local patients. Last minute expenses
associated with the trial are mounting - please send donations.)

From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Fwd: San Diego Medical Marijuana Trial Commences Wed 10-14-98
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 13:42:21 PDT

From: "JAMES SILVA" (wscbc@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Cc: ekomp@slonet.org, normlattny@aol.co
Subject: San Diego Medical Marijuana Trial Commences Wed 10-14-98
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 14:49:29 PDT

San Diego Prosecutor, David Songco is going forward with the
prosecution of two medical marijuana activists who have openly tried to
pioneer the implementation of the new law in the dangerous and thus far
uncharted political waters of the southland. Jury selection will begin
October 14 in San Diego Superior Court in the case of People v. Steven
McWilliams and Dion Markgraaff.

Steven McWilliams is represented by Venice Attorney, James M. Silva,
who also currently represents Marvin Chavez in an upcoming medical
marijuana trial in Orange County (October 19th), and is a member of the
defense team that is coordinating the defense for the several cannabis
dispensaries in the northern bay area. McWilliams was arrested in
March, 1998 while delivering eleven plants to a patient with
quadraplegia in Warner Springs, Ca whose supply of marijuana was
destroyed just days earlier in raid on his property by law enforcement
officers; the same officers who are prosecution witnesses in this case.
Later the next morning, these officers raided McWilliams home and
destroyed a grow room that constituted the only supply of medicine for
several serious ill patients in the San Diego area.

McWilliams was arrested and ultimately charged with felony
cultivation, maintenance of a location for cultivation and conspiracy to
distribute and faces up to eight years in state prison. McWilliams was
originally held on a $35,000 bond. Through arrangements made by James
Silva, Acme Bail Bonds (800 442-0530) agreed to show their support for
the medical marijuana movement by posting the bond without a premium and
has since provided bonds at a reduced rate for medical marijuana
patients who are charged with crimes. For more information, contact
attorney James Silva. 310-450-2690

Co-defendant, Dion Markgraaff is charged with seven counts of sales of
marijuana to undercover agents, one count of cultivation, and is joined
in the conspiracy and maintenance of a location charges. Markgraaff
dismissed his public defender shortly after one was appointed for him
and is representing himself.

It is expected that prosecutors will rely on the testimony of special
agents to support their position that the marijuana was not for medical
purposes. In defense of the charges against McWilliams, several medical
patients have agreed to give testimony.

Attorney, James Silva has also arranged for the testimony of Dr. Tod
Mikuriya, who has examined and recommended that McWilliams use marijuana
for the treatment of his medical condition. Mr. Silva has also arranged
for the expert grow testimony of Michael Corral who is the gardener for
WAMM and primary caregiver for his wife and founder of WAMM, Valerie
Corral.

Last minute expenses associated with the trial, including travel
expenses, accommodations, copying costs, patient transportation and the
like are mounting. We are calling upon the medical marijuana community
at large to show support for Steve and Dion by coming to the hearings
and contributing to the defense fund. For more information, please
contact:

James M. Silva, Esq.
33 Clubhouse Avenue, No. 3
Venice, California 90291
(310) 450-2690

-OR-

Steven McWilliams
Santmyre Cannabis Cooperative
3707 Fifth Avenue, No. 216
San Diego, California 92103
(619) 291-9617

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

Bob Ames is being busted as you read this (A San Francisco Bay area activist
sends out an alert about the cultivation bust of a Sacramento medical
marijuana patient.)

From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Bob Ames is being busted as you read this 6:00pm 10-12
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 13:46:44 PDT

10-12-98 5:30pm

Everyone, Bob Ames of (bob@rush.com) is sitting in his livingroom with
the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, while they're waiting for a search
warrant. They came about 3 hours ago and Bob wouldn't let them search
without a warrant so they're getting one. Bob has been talking to them
about MMJ and showing them his & his mom's doctors notes. They ain't
goin' for it.

Reported to me by Newshawk Ryan Landers. For more info call Ryan Landers
at 916-448-6442

Send in and ask for your absentee ballot and vote for "DAVIS" &
"LOCKYER", If you don't vote for anything else, vote for GRAY DAVIS &
BILL LOCKYER. Ralph

***

From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Bust in Sacramento
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 13:50:41 PDT

Hi everyone, Bob Ames of Sacramento was busted yesterday for cultivation
(31 plants) Bail $3,000.00. Joe Farina (Libertarian , running for AG and
also Ryan Landers lawyer) is defending him, pro-bono. Tommorrow 10-14-98
he will appear for arraingnment and ask for release on his O.R..

Originally the city narcotics agents appeared at his door saying they
were investigating a cultivation report & asked to be allowed to search.
Bob declined unless they had a search warrant so they detained him while
they obtained a search warrant. (2:00pm 'til 7:00pm). They took his 215
propaganda and grow books. There's a big story in the Sacramento Bee.
They left his computer 'cause it was his mom's. Took his equipment &
plants.

For further info call: Ryan Landers 916-448-6442

Ralph

***

From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Bob's out on O.R.
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 14:40:21 PDT

Bob's out on his O.R. He was released from jail in Sacramento about
2:00 pm today 10-13-98 His arraignment has been set for Tuesday,
10-20-98. 11 am department #8.

I will get back to you with a press release as soon as bob can put one
together. Him and his mom have been up all night so they're gonna want to
get some sleep. Ralph

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

Medical Marijuana Measure Is About Greed (An op-ed in the Anchorage Daily
News by Wevley Shea, the former US attorney in Anchorage, says Ballot
Measure 8, the Alaskan medical marijuana initiative, is about crime and the
economic greed of cultivators, and attempts to "misuse the alleged individual
rights to protect individuals and entities that grow, distribute, sell,
transport, possess or use marijuana.")

Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 22:44:00 -0800
To: ammo@levellers.org
From: chuck@mosquitonet.com (Charles Rollins Jr)
Subject: CanPat - WEV Goes WILD!
Sender: owner-cannabis-patriots-l@smtp.teleport.com

Hi

The following is a editorial about the medicinal cannabis measure that
will on the Nov. 3 ballot. It appeared in todays Anchorage daily news.

I have already finished a position statement on Wevs comments in the
election pamphlet, and also I also comment on the ballot measure in General.

The position paper is due to be released on Oct the 27 at the earliest.
Finally feel free to distribute this to anyone, across the net.

See ya
Chuck

***

MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEASURE IS ABOUT GREED.
Wevley William Shea
Anchorage Daily News
10-12-98

Ballot Measure No. 8, "Allowing Medical Use of Marijuana," before Alaska
voters in November, would be a bad law. All Alaskans concerned about the
future of this great state should vote no on Ballot Measure No. 8. It
creates a large new "bureaucratic Agency" in the department of Health and
Social Services.

Ballot measure No. 8 requires a confidential registry of drug user patients.
It requires the state to police the medical use of marijuana .Ballot
measure 8 allows the drug user patient or the caregiver to cultivate, grow,
possess and distribute marijuana for the patient. The patient and/or
caregiver may grow and possess the following amounts of grass.

1. No more than 1 ounce of marijuana in usable form.
2. No more than 6 marijuana plants, with no more than three mature flowering
plants producing usable marijuana at any time.

Basically, the patient drug user is allowed to grow his own pot. There is
absolutly no quality control provisions in Ballot Measure No. 8. The
pateints physican would be prescribing "street-grade grass" for an alleged
"debilitating condition."

"Debilitating" is so broadly defined in the bill as a medical condition that
it can easily be misused by the patient, caregiver and or the prescribing
physician.

The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, tetrahyrocannbinol, is commonly
referred to as THC. Today the THC or psychoactive ingredient in high
quality-street grass is 50 to 100 times stronger than the pot of the 1960's
smoked at the Fillmore West, Golden Gate park and the Haight-Ashbury
district of San Francisco. Many of the 1960s free-thinkers are now trying to
push legalization nation wide

Within 50 miles of Anchorage, marijuana with the highest THC content ever
recorded is cultivated, grown, distributed and smoked. This is a very cash
rich crop that sells in the area of $7,000 to $8,0000 per pound. This pot is
raised in ideal indoor growing conditions and grafted to the best strains
worldwide to achieve its exceptional quality.

The grass growing business is so cash rich that individuals are willing to
risk everything to receive the high economic benefit. . Those at the top of
the marijuana distribution chain do not use the product. They know the
effects of marijuana on the mind, body, and soul. It destroys motivation,
understanding and growth in all users, especially Alaska's youths.

Marinol (Dronabinal) is an approved drug that contains the principal
psychoactive substance in marijuana. Physicians prescribe this approved,
quality-controlled drug for symptoms ranging from anorexia in AIDS patients
to nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy. Street-grade grass is not
needed, nor is it a substitute for Marinol.

The psychoactive effect of marijuana is parallel to Marinol on drug users:
decreased cognitive performance and memory, decreased ability to control
drives and impulses and alteration of reality, including distortions in
perceptions of objects, sense of time, and hallucinations. In addition, drug
users experience mood changes of euphoria, detachment, depression,
anxiety, panic and paranoia. Street pot with no quality control is bad for
any drug user.

Marinol is a controlled substance with high quality control requirements.
Ballot Measure No. 8 has no quality control guidelines. The drug user can
grow his own street grass of unknown psychoactive or THC content.

Ballot measure No. 8 is simply a bad law that creates another large state
bureaucracy. Basically, Alaskans will be forced to pay for the ill advised
control of illegal drug users. In addition, drug user patients, their
caregivers and physicians prescribing the street grass are held harmless
for the consequences of pot use. Alaskan society as a whole must bear the
burden economically and socially of pot users.

How can a well meaning, professional and competent physician prescribe a
psychoactive drug that has not been tested and has no quality control
criteria? The answer is that he or she cannot in good faith and in the
best interest of the patient prescribe psychoactive marijuana without
knowing the potency. Ballot measure No.8 is so poorly conceived and drafted
that it is even a disgrace to the marijuana-legalization movement nation
wide. It appears that the author of ballot measure No. 8 may have been
smoking the product he or she endorses during drafting the bill.

Do not be fooled. Ballot Measure No. 8 is not about helping debilitated
patients, the sick, the infirm or the dying. The act is about crime and
economic greed. Ballot Measure No. 8 is an attempt to misuse the alleged
individual rights to protect individuals and entities that grow, distribute,
sell, transport, possess or use marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana tells Alaska youths that adults believe an
illegal, non controlled street drug can be used responsibly. No drug can
used responsibly when the "prescribing physician" has no knowledge of the
strength of the psychoactive ingredient or THC.

Alaska youths need your support. Vote no on ballot measure No. 8. Approval
of this bill would make it difficult, if not impossible, to reach Alaska's
youths and convince them doing drugs is bad.

Wevley Shea is an Anchorage attorney and a former US attorney for Anchorage.

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

Whiffs of hypocrisy in hemp promotion (An op-ed in The Toronto Star
comments on Health Canada's recent attempt to quash The Body Shop's sale
of hemp-based skin care products. The Body Shop is even more annoying
than Health Canada, using promotional slogans such as "Roll yourself in hemp
fashions!" "High time for changes!" "Hope not dope!" while distancing itself
from marijuana the drug. In light of Jim Wakeford's recent failure in his
fight to smoke pot legally to help with his AIDS-related loss of appetite,
promoting hemp through hip, drug-related colloquialisms while reiterating
tired old stereotypes about a drug that's less harmful than alcohol is a
cheap and hypocritical position. It's a little like saying you read Playboy
for the articles - or that you never inhaled.)

Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 08:41:24 PDT
From: Carey Ker (carey.ker@utoronto.ca)
Subject: OPED: Whiffs of hypocrisy in hemp promotion
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
Newshawk: carey.ker@utoronto.ca
Source: Toronto Star
Contact: LetterToEd@thestar.com	
Pubdate: Monday October 12, 1998

Whiffs of hypocrisy in hemp promotion

By Rachel Giese

Last week, The Body Shop, the socially progressive cosmetics franchise,
launched a new line of skin care products made with an industrial grade hemp,
the non-mind altering sister herb of marijuana.

Packaged in slick silver tins, the new hemp bath oils, moisturizers and soaps
promise, like most Body Shop products, to soothe the skin while protecting
rain forests, saving endangered species and providing jobs for oppressed
people.

But the new hemp line almost didn't make it on to shelves here. Just before
the launch, Health Canada threatened to raid stores that carried the
products. Health Canada - which is currently studying the risk of long-term
marijuana use - recanted after a visit from The Body Shop's head chemist, who
showed that the products contained less than the prohibited amounts of THC,
the active ingredient in smokeable hemp.

Hemp isn't a new product in the Canadian market. Health food and other
specialty stores have been carrying hemp-based clothing, furniture and paper
goods for the past few years. But recently, a hemp store in British Columbia
came under attack. Officials from The Body Shop say they've experienced
problems stocking the new line in other countries, too.

What a panic over an herb that proponents call a miracle plant. Anita
Roddick, the hyperbole-prone founder of The Body Shop International, said at
a press conference that hemp ``should win a Nobel Prize.''

There's no denying hemp's value. It's a hardy, naturally pest-resistant, an
excellent rotation crop that's much easier on the environment than cotton. It
can grow in just about any climate and can be used as fuel or food and in
textiles and building materials. In the past, the plant was widely grown and
utilized - as a pro-hemp activists like to point out, Rembrandt and van Gogh
painted on hemp canvases, the first pair of Levi's were made of hemp cloth
and the Gutenberg Bible was printed on hemp paper in 1455.

What's new about hemp is that it's so hip - it has become a cause celebre for
hippies, environmentalists and liberal yuppies. It's been made into sneakers
by Adidas and BMW is exploring hemp's use in the dashboards of its cars.
There are hemp magazines, websites and advocacy groups. The plant even has a
movie star spokesperson in actor Woody Harrelson, who work a hemp tuxedo made
by designer and supporter Giorgio Armani to the Academy Awards.

Compared to this, Health Canada and other regulatory bodies look downright
square and regressive in their efforts to ban a plant which has such
Earth-saving potential solely on the grounds that it may encourage or
glamourize drug use.

Health Canada can rest easy - there's little glamour to be had in hemp. The
clothing made from the product is as sexy as sack-cloth. The skin care
products, while effective, stink like a dirty bong. Hemp is way too
granola-wholesome to pose anything of a threat to vulnerable teens, who are,
apparently, just one 100 per cent hemp T-shirt away from heroin addiction.
Reefer madness, this ain't.

Even more annoying, however, than governmental prudishness are many hemp
activists themselves and, in this case in particular, The Body Shop.

The company's press bumpf is filled with facts about hemp, quotes from
scientists, archival photos of happy hemp farmers and plenty of cheeky puns:
``Roll yourself in hemp fashions!'' ``High time for changes!'' ``Hope not
dope!''

The product itself bears the iconic image of the five-fronded marijuana
leaf - the very symbol of the ``legalize it'' movement. And yet, The Body
Shop is quick to distance itself from marijuana the drug, even going so far
as to use an angel image to represent hemp, and the images of a devil, a
criminal and an evil alien to represent pot.

This is particularly ironic in light of Jim Wakeford's recent failure in his
fight to smoke pot legally to help with his AIDS-related nausea and loss of
appetite. It's certainly a more serious battle than the right to use
hand-cream, and one The Body Shop could have used its high profile to
support, but didn't.

Promoting hemp through hip, drug-related colloquialisms while reiterating
tired old stereotypes about a drug that's less harmful than alcohol is a
cheap and hypocritical position. It's a little like saying you read Playboy
for the articles - or that you never inhaled.

Giese is the features editor of Xtra, Toronto's lesbian and gay biweekly.
E-mail: rachel.giese@xtra.ca

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Crime Rate Is Higher Than US (The Scotsman says a report by the US Department
of Justice shows that robbery, burglary and assaults are more common per head
of population in England and Wales than in the United States, although the
rates for murder and rape are lower. A Home Office spokeswoman said, "We
believe the study is limited because it compares only two sets of figures.")

Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:56:27 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Crime Rate Is Higher Than US
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: shug@shug.co.uk
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Oct 1998
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Copyright: (c) (c)The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: Tanya Thompson

CRIME RATE IS HIGHER THAN US

Report Claims That Life In Britain Is More Dangerous

BRITAIN is becoming a more dangerous place to live than the United
States, according to a report by the US Department of Justice.

Jack Straw, the Home Secretary is considering the findings, which were
submitted to the Home Office at the end of last month. The report
shows that robbery, burglary and assaults are more common per head of
population in England and Wales than in the US.

The less common crimes of murder and rape are higher in the US, where
guns are more prevalent, but the gap is narrowing. A larger proportion
of accused are convcted in the US and are likely to receive prison
sentences double or even two thirds longer than in the UK.

The report showed that in 1995, 7.6 per cent of 1,000 people in the UK
had experienced robbery compared with 5.3 per cent in the US. The
prevalence of burglary was 82.9 per cent compared to 47.5 per cent in
the US and assaults here were at 20 per cent, against 8.8 per cent.

Norman Brennan, the national director of the Victims of Crime Trust,
said: "I hope that these figures will shock the British public into
realising that very little is being achieved in our battle against crime.

"The Government will not be allowed to get away with the rhetoric of
window-dressing exercises, looking for the soft option and endorsing
weak sentences for those who are the blight of our criminnal justice
system."

News of the report comes as the Home Office is about to release new
crime statistics for England and Wales tomorrow.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have been aware of the comparisons
for a while. We believe the study is limited because it compares only
two sets of figures." She added that the Government was looking at
alternative methods of dealing with offenders rather than increase
their jail terms.

Alum Michael, a Home Office minister, said yesterday: "We are
determined to learn the right lessons from the report and reverse this
trend."

Last night, a spokesman for the Scotiish Office said it did not record
crime on a per capita basis, making a direct comparison difficult but
he added that crime in Scotland was falling.

The total number of crimes recorded north of the Border fell from
451,956 in 1996 to 420,642 last year. Housebreaking reached a peak in
1992 at 113,160, but dropped substantially last year to 55,471. The
number of serious assaults also fell to 6,053 last year - down by 13
per cent.

The spokesman said: "Although it is difficult to compare the figures
in England and Wales let alone in the US, we can say that the number
of crimes in Scotland is falling.

"The trend is definitely down with some large decreases in
housebreaking. The chances of you being involved in a violent crime is
very small."

The number of robberies dropped by 15 per cent to 4,484 last year.
However, petty assaults has risen to 50,088, up 5 per cent compared to
1996 and there has been a worrying increase in sexual assaults. In
1997 there were 1,979 sexual assaults, up 14 per cent on the previous
year. Police say the fact that people are more willing to report
sexual crimes may account for the rise.

In the Strathclyde region, serious assaults were down 7.7 per cent,
robbery and assaults fell by 10.1 per cent and theft by housebreaking
fell 6 per cent.

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Case Tests Legality Of Swiss Marijuana (Reuters says that after three years
of rapid growth, dozens of Swiss marijuana retail stores could be facing
imminent closure as prosecutors in Zurich take one shop owner to court
in a test case. A turn of phrase in Swiss lawbooks leaves open a loophole
by prohibiting trade in marijuana only if it is sold specifically as a
"narcotic." Enterprising hemp retailers have been selling marijuana as
potpourri, or dried hemp packed in small cloth bags as an herbal room scent
and labelled "not for consumption.")

Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:24:45 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Switzerland: Wire: Case Tests Legality Of Swiss Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kimmo Wilska (wilska@kaapeli.fi)
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Oct 1998
Source: Reuters
Copyright: (c) 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Author: Marcus Kabel

CASE TESTS LEGALITY OF SWISS MARIJUANA

ZURICH, Oct 12 (Reuters) - In little shops springing up around Switzerland,
you can buy all the marijuana you want. You just aren't supposed to smoke it.

Drugs made from the hemp plant are illegal in Switzerland, as in most
countries, but a turn of phrase in Swiss lawbooks leaves open a loophole by
prohibiting trade in marijuana only if it is sold specifically as a narcotic.

Enterprising hemp retailers are testing the limits of the law by selling
marijuana as potpourri, or dried hemp packed in small cloth bags as an
herbal room scent and labelled "not for consumption".

But after three years of rapid growth, dozens of hemp shops could be facing
imminent closure as prosecutors in Zurich take one shop owner to court in a
test case. "I don't accept responsibility for misuse of the product," says
Bruno Hiltebrand, who is due in court on October 16 to face charges of
selling marijuana as a narcotic.

Hiltebrand, a 39-year-old pixie-like figure with spiky hair dyed bright
blond, sells 22 varieties of Swiss-grown hemp at between 20 and 100 Swiss
francs ($15-75) per sachet with names like "Juicy Fruit", "Lemon Skunk" and
"Organic Northern Light".

Hiltebrand echoes the standard defence that others in the new Swiss hemp
trade have been using since a few growers and their friends came up with
the idea in the mid-1990s.

The argument is simple. The potpourri sachets are legal, the shop owners
say, because they are sold for aroma therapy and expressly marked as not
for consumption as a drug.

What the buyer does at home with the contents is outside the vendor's
control, they say.

"If the police catch a Porsche driver going over the speed limit, they
don't punish the car salesman," Hiltebrand said. "If we get a customer who
says they want something to smoke, we tell them firmly that we don't have
anything to smoke, just aroma sachets."

PROSECUTORS REJECT VENDOR'S ARGUMENT

This is a line that prosecutors in Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, are no
longer willing to accept.

"After carefully reviewing the legal situation, the district prosecutor's
office believes the law is very clear," said Prosecutor Max Spoerri.
Consumption of marijuana is illegal and so is its sale for consumption, he
said. "I am convinced this case will be decisive regardless of which way
the verdict goes," Spoerri said.

If the court finds Hiltebrand guilty of trafficking in commercial narcotics
and the verdict is upheld on appeal, then prosecutors across Switzerland
will file similar charges aimed at shutting down other hemp shops, Spoerri
says. If the verdict is not guilty, then politicians will probably start
work quickly on rewording the law to seal the loophole, according to the
head of the Swiss Federal Health Agency.

"It is no secret that we have been watching the development of so many hemp
shops in Switzerland with some concern," said the agency's director Thomas
Zeltner. "Hemp as a narcotic is prohibited by Swiss law and the idea is
that it should stay prohibited."

OTHER PRODUCTS

From a handful two or three years ago, the number of hemp sachet shops has
grown to around 160 and is growing by about 50 per year, according to
experts. Besides the aroma sachets, most hemp shops sell a wide range
of less controversial products from clothes made of hemp fibre to hemp
seed-flavoured ice cream. The fact that these shops were selling
marijuana from Swiss fields and greenhouses started making headlines in
1997. Zurich prosecutors opened their investigation after a critical story
in the conservative Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper. "The cause was various
complaints, for example from parents who were upset that their children
were spending their entire pocket money in these shops," Spoerri said.

"Even the police in (neighbouring) southern Germany complained that people
were coming back with marijuana from here and so did police in northern
Italy." Spoerri is seeking a 14-month suspended sentence for Hiltebrand, a
fine of 20,000 Swiss francs and a further 100,000 Swiss francs in alleged
illegal profits. The figure of 100,000 francs is Spoerri's estimate of the
net profit Hiltebrand's shop earned on hemp sachet sales of 195,000 francs
from the start of the investigation in August 1997 to April, when charges
were filed. Hiltebrand's shop "James Blunt" is typical of the genre, a
small and crowded storefront in a side street behind the city's central
train station. Its plate glass windows are painted with the names of
ailments allegedly treatable by inhaling the aroma of bagged hemp --
everything from sleeplessness and irritability to impotence and hair loss.

"I have loved hemp for a long, long time," says Hiltebrand. "That's why I
opened this business, because I saw that other people were doing it and not
having any legal problems."

Spoerri says it was probably a mistake to let the hemp sachet business
flourish for so long before intervening.

The Zurich local court is due to reach its verdict on or shortly after
Friday's one-day hearing.

But a final decision could be delayed by months or even years through
appeals all the way to the Swiss supreme court, leaving time for the active
community of Swiss hemp farmers to find other ways to dispose of their
harvest. "Experience teaches us that hemp growers have a very active
imagination when it comes to finding new ways to market their product,"
said Zeltner. ($1=1.318 Swiss Franc)

REUTERS 0209 121098 GMT

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[End]