-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical marijuana merely a path to legalization (An op-ed in The Bulletin,
in Bend, Oregon, by Deschutes County District Attorney Mike T. Dugan,
says Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, would let people
use marijuana if they stub their toes or their wives get the flu.)
From: cwagoner@bendnet.com
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 10:58:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: DPFOR: Medical marijuana merely a path to legalization
To: editor@mapinc.org, dpfor@drugsense.org
Sender: owner-dpfor@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfor@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
Newshawk: Curt Wagoner (cwagoner@bendnet.com)
Source: The Bulletin (bulletin@bendbulletin.com)
Website: http://www.bendbulletin.com
Pubdate: 10-17-98
Section: In my view
Page: A
Medical marijuana merely a path to legalization
By Mike T. Dugan
For the Bulletin
I believe that it is time for me to weigh in on Ballot Measure 67. Is
it really a measure to ensure that medical use of marijuana can be achieved
in Oregon, or is it a backdoor means of legalizing marijuana? A close look
at the lanquage of the proposed initiative leads to no other conclusion
than the latter. This is not a medical bill; this is a legalization proposal.
The measure proposes that any person with a "debilitating medical
condition" is eligible to receive the "registy identification card" which
authorizes the "medical use of marijuana." Let us look at the definition of
"debilitating medical condition." This condition exists if a person can
convince a doctor that he/she is suffering from "severe pain" (I stubbed my
toe last week and had a great deal of severe pain) or they are suffering
from "severe nausea". (My wife had the flu last month and it made me
nauseous.)
"Medical use of marijuana" is so broadly defined that it, in effect,
provides carte blanche authority to violate the criminal laws of this
state. It would allow the production (manufacture), possession and delivery
of marijuana. Of course, only those persons with the magic "card" can so
violate the law, but as the law is written it allows any person to
manufacture, possess or deliver marijuana so long as they can show a law
enforcement officer that they have applied for the card. In those cases
where the person does not have the card and has not applied for the card,
this law makes it an affirmative defense (an affirmative defense is raised
by notice only and must be disproved by the state beyond a reasonable
doubt) that the person either could have applied for the card or might have
the "debilitating medical condition." Short of this, the law allows any
person to raise a defense of "choice of evils." (Choice of evils means that
a person must violate a law in order to prevent greater harm, which would
occur by not violating the law.)
Children are also eligible to receive the "magic card" if only one of
the child's parents or legal guardians consents to such. This means that
children, persons under the age of 18 years, can manufacture, possess or
deliver marijuana without legal consequences. Is it not evident that
society should protect its children? Are we to assume that such a child
with the "magic card" will make the right decisions and not provide
marijuana to his/her friends at school?
It appears that the law is vaque on how much marijuana a person can
produce, possess or deliver. It says that the person with the "magic card"
can have "three mature marijuana plants, four immature plants and one ounce
of usable marijuana." But if the card holder has more than this they can
raise an affirmative defense to show that the greater amount possessed or
manufactured is medically necessary to treat symptoms suffered by the
person. One fully mature plant of today's high potency marijuana can be
sold for thousands of dollars.
Oregon district attorneys are generally opposed to this proposed
initiative and believe that it should be defeated in November. I am not
opposed to, nor do I believe most district attorneys are opposed to,
medically sound treatment procedures for patients with terminal diseases.
Self-medication is not the answer. This proposed initiative goes too far
This is a back door attempt to legalize marijuana. Should this proposal
pass, I believe virtually all criminal investigations and prosecutions for
marijuana law violations would cease.
I urge close and careful reading of this proposal. In doing so, you
will note that it is a bad law.
Note: Dugan is Deschutes County district attorney
***
Newshawk note: Mike T.Dugan can be reached at: Deschutes County
Courthouse, Bend, Oregon 97701. Phone: 541-388-6529, FAX- 541-383-0965,
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oakland Pot Club Gets OK to Stay Open Till Monday (The San Francisco Examiner
notes the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative received a temporary reprieve
Friday when a federal judge granted a stay to keep the dispensary open
through Monday.)
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:09:23 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Oakland Pot Club Gets OK to Stay Open Till Monday
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/
Copyright: 1998 San Francisco Examiner
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Oct 1998
Author: Robert Selna
OAKLAND POT CLUB GETS OK TO STAY OPEN TILL MONDAY
U.S. judge grants stay of court order to shut permanently
OAKLAND -- The Oakland Cannabis Buyers Collective received a temporary
reprieve Friday when a federal judge granted a stay to keep the medical pot
distributor open through Monday.
Just three days earlier, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had ordered the
club -- made up of 2,200 ailing individuals who have been prescribed
marijuana by their doctors -- to be inventoried and padlocked and employees
evicted. Lawyers representing the cooperative filed an appeal Thursday
which may be heard Monday.
Cannabis Buyers Cooperative employees were packing up and readying to close
when Executive Director Jeff Jones got word of the stay Friday.
"We had plans to go along with the order (to shut down) ..... we are not
trying to circumvent the law here," Jones said.
Jones noted that while Breyer ruled against the center Tuesday, he has
shown some degree of sympathy toward the medical marijuana distributor in
the past.
"He would have shut us down a long time ago had he not had some compassion
..... but he still has to follow the law," Jones said.
Cooperative members arriving to pick up their marijuana Friday were
concerned about the possibility of the center closing for good.
"Only through this clinic am I able to function and take care of my
family," said Cherie Haik, of Concord.
Haik, who has fibromyalgia, which causes severe aches and pains, said that
on doctor's orders she has been coming to the clinic for the past few
months. The mother of two said her doctor previously prescribed narcotics,
but they made her feel too "doped up" to do simple household chores.
Richard Purington, an Oakland resident diagnosed with AIDS 18 months ago,
said he would try to find marijuana through friends if the cooperative were
to close.
"Without it (pot) I have no appetite, and I get nauseated a lot," Purington
said.
On Tuesday, Breyer rejected the group's arguments that it had a medical
necessity to sell marijuana and found the cooperative in contempt of a May
injunction prohibiting the club from distributing pot. The cooperative,
along with five similar groups in Northern California, opened in 1996 after
state voters approved Proposition 215, allowing for the sale and
distribution of medical marijuana.
Oakland City Councilman Nate Miley -- who, in August, guided the passage of
a local ordinance to deputize cooperative employees as "officers of the
city" -- has encouraged the city to declare a state of emergency in the
event of a closure. The City Council will vote on the proposal Tuesday. "It
(the state of emergency) will not prevent the closing, but it might give
the judges something more to think about when considering the appeal," said
Miley aide Joe DeVries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Judge Gives Oakland Pot Club A Three-Day Break on Closing
(The San Francisco Chronicle version)
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 10:01:43 -0500
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Reply-To: compassion23@geocities.com
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now! http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DRCNet Medical Marijuana Forum (medmj@drcnet.org)
Subject: US CA: Judge Gives Oakland Pot Club A 3-Day Break on Closing
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: October 17, 1998
JUDGE GIVES OAKLAND POT CLUB A 3-DAY BREAK ON CLOSING
Oakland sales continue as lawyers ask longer stay
Henry K. Lee
Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday
An Oakland medical marijuana club that had been ordered shut down was
granted a three-day reprieve by a federal judge yesterday, just hours before
U.S. marshals were to padlock its doors.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
Cooperative could remain open until at least 5 p.m. Monday while its
attorneys seek an additional stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals in San
Francisco.
Club advocates hailed the decision by Breyer, the same judge who had called
for the club's closure on Tuesday after rejecting arguments by the
cooperative that medical marijuana relieves pain and saves lives.
``I think we're getting our due process in court,'' said Jeff Jones,
executive director of the 2,200-member club.
Drew Steckler, a San Francisco attorney who is representing the club, voiced
confidence that the appellate court would grant an appeal.
``We think we have an excellent claim, that irreparable injury will be
suffered by patient members of the cooperative -- who need the medicine to
stay alive or not suffer pain -- if the stay is not granted,'' Steckler
said.
Yesterday, customers mobbed the cooperative on Broadway in Oakland's
downtown, thinking it was their last day to buy pot brownies, muffins and
marijuana in small plastic bags. The club will be open today and Monday,
said employee Stacie Traylor.
In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows the use of
marijuana for medical purposes, but federal law -- which supersedes state
law -- says marijuana used for any purpose is illegal.
In January, the U.S. Department of Justice filed civil lawsuits against six
Northern California pot clubs. In May, Breyer issued an injunction banning
the six clubs from distributing marijuana pending the federal lawsuit.
Of those clubs, two in San Francisco and one in Santa Cruz have closed.
Besides the Oakland club, two others, one in Fairfax and one in Ukiah,
remain open.
(c)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A17
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State won't count marijuana vote - Petitions for drug's use as legal
medicine short of signatures (The Rocky Mountain News says Colorado
Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled Friday that there weren't enough valid
signatures for a medical marijuana initiative to be on the ballot, even
though it is. Buckley accepted 51,904 signatures and rejected 36,911,
saying the campaign fell 2,338 signatures short. "We will be checking
every bit of work that she did to make sure there aren't massive errors
like we found before," said Luther Symons, a spokesman for Coloradans
for Medical Rights.)
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 09:06:01 -0600 (MDT)
From: ammo (ammo@levellers.org)
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: AMR's Colo. Petition Falls Short (Officially)
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
Rocky Mountain News
October 17, 1998
State won't count marijuana vote
Petitions for drug's use as legal medicine short of signatures
By John Sanko
Rocky Mountain News Capitol Bureau
* It's official. Coloradans won't get to vote Nov. 3 on whether to use
marijuana as a medicine.
The on-again, off-again ballot proposal is off, even though it will be
printed on everyone's ballot. Election officials just won't tabulate the
votes.
Using an extra 24 hours granted by the Colordo Supreme Court, Secretary of
State Vikki Buckley ruled Friday that there weren't enough valid signatures
for the medical marijuana proposal to be on the ballot.
A line-by-line check ordered by the court revealed the petitions lacked the
required 54,242 signatures of registered electors, Buckley said. She said
the petitions fell 2,338 signatures short.
Buckley accepted 51,904 signatures and rejected 36,911.
The proposal would have allowed Coloradans with "debilitating medical
conditions" such as cancer, AIDS or glaucoma to use marijuana if a doctor
believed it might help.
Supporters were stunned by the news. But they said the fight might not be
over.
"We will be checking every bit of work that she did to make sure there
aren't massive errors like we found before," said Luther Symons, a
spokesman for Coloradans for Medical Rights.
"Should we find any legal basis for challenging this ruling, for example
that she made a large number of errors, we will pursue all of our legal
remedies. We will be carefully checking anything and everything. That
effort will begin immediately."
Opponents were cheered. Citizens Against the Legalization of Marijuana
virtually had shut down in August after Buckley said a random sampling
showed the petitions lacked sufficient signatures.
"That's very good news for the people of Colorado and especially the youth
of Colorado," said retired prosecutor Roger Allott, who co-chairs the
opposition group with Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan.
Allott said opponents, including prosecutors, law enforcement authorities,
health officials and church groups, had been gearing up to make a round of
speeches if the measure was placed back on the ballot.
"This would have increased the potential for children to use marijuana if
it passed," Allott said. "That would have been a very grim outlook for
Colorado and the kids."
After Buckley's initial ruling in August, supporters went to court,
complaining that signature counters had done shoddy work. Buckley conceded
some errors had been made.
Denver District Court Judge Herbert Stern on Sept. 10 ordered the measure
placed on the ballot. But the Colorado Supreme Court intervened Oct. 5,
ordering that Buckley make a line-by-line counting.
The court initially gave Buckley 10 days to complete the job, but tossed in
an extra 24 hours Thursday when she said she couldn't get enough temporary
workers in time. Because the issue already is on the ballot, the court
ruled that votes would not be counted if it lacked sufficient signatures.
Ric Bainter, Buckley's Democratic opponent, sharply criticized the GOP
officeholder's handling of the matter and other issues.
"It's just a tragedy this thing is continuing to drag on and there's
uncertainty in the process," Bainter said. "The whole process is too
important to be mismanaged like this."
***
Rocky Mountain News
400 W. Colfax
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: (303) 892-5000
Fax: (303) 892-5499
Email: letters@denver-rmn.com
Web: www.denver-rmn.com
***
Re-distributed by:
Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
Phone: (303) 448-5640
Email: cohip@levellers.org
Web: http://www.levellers.org/cannabis.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot-Initiative Signatures Ruled Insufficient (The Denver Post version)
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 16:27:54 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CO: Pot-Initiative Signatures Ruled Insufficient
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis (cohip@levellers.org)
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Oct 1998
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 1998 The Denver Post
Contact: letters@denverpost.com
Mail: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202
Fax: (303) 820-1369
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Author: Ann Schrader, Denver Post Medical/Science Writer
POT-INITIATIVE SIGNATURES RULED INSUFFICIENT
Oct. 17 - Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled Friday that there are
insufficient signatures for a Nov. 3 ballot measure that would allow
people with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana.
Proponents vowed to explore all legal avenues to keep the issue alive,
but for now votes cast for Amendment 19 next month will not count.
Buckley ruled that petitions submitted by supporters fell 2,338 votes
short of qualifying. Amendment 19 will still appear on the ballot,
which was printed several weeks ago.
The state Supreme Court, which got involved when Buckley appealed a
district court ruling, directed Buckley on Oct. 5 to count votes cast
for the initiative "if and only if'' she had determined there were a
sufficient number of signatures.
Buckley said Friday that 51,904 of the 88,815 submitted signatures
were valid, falling short of the required 54,242.
Reasons for throwing out signatures included not being able to find
the signer on voter registration rolls, addresses that didn't match
the signers', use of post office boxes instead of home addresses,
failure to sign, no signing date listed, people who signed more than
once, illegibility and people who registered to vote after signing the
petition.
"We remain in this really weird limbo,'' said Luther Symons, a
spokesman for the proponents, Coloradans for Medical Rights. "What
really concerns me is voters will think their votes for Amendment 19
won't count. We encourage voters to cast their ballots for the issue.''
Symons said the group will immediately begin to review Buckley's work
for errors. "Should we find any reason to believe that she has not
accurately counted the signatures, we will pursue all of our legal
remedies so this question can come before the voters,'' he said.
Buckley's opponent in the upcoming election, Ric Bainter, called the
situation "somewhat of a tragedy.''
"Both sides were put through this tortured process,'' Bainter said.
"Now it's less than three weeks before the election and this still
isn't decided.''
Bainter noted that two other initiatives - parental notice for minors
seeking abortions and term limits - also got on the ballot "by default.''
On Oct. 5, Buckley began a line-by-line review of the 88,815
signatures on petitions seeking to put the medicinal marijuana measure
on the ballot. The state Supreme Court gave Buckley 10 days to do the
recount.
Buckley was supposed to have completed the review Thursday but asked
the high court for a 24 hour extension because she couldn't hire enough
temporary workers to do the work. The court pushed aside an objection
by Coloradans for Medical Rights, which said another delay was
"absolutely intolerable.''
The state Supreme Court got involved after Buckley filed an appeal of
a Denver District Court ruling. Judge Herbert Stern had ordered Sept.
11 that the measure be put on the ballot unconditionally after Buckley
conceded in a Sept. 4 hearing that her random sampling of signatures
had been inaccurate.
On Aug. 6, after using a random sampling technique, Buckley ruled that
only 47,960 of the 88,815 signatures were valid - short of the 54,242
signatures needed.
"At this point, we're going to check the validity of her work,''
Symons said Friday. "Given our history with the secretary of state's
office, we are far from trusting.''
Symons said the signature shortfall is "a very tiny margin - just 6
percent short. Last time we checked her work, we found 11 percent to
12 percent errors.''
The proponents began the work Friday night, although Buckley's office
handed over data on only 10,882 of the submitted signatures. The
remainder was promised to be ready Monday.
"From a political standpoint, we will move forward as though this ruling
hadn't happened. We won't stop the campaign,'' Symons said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot Called State's 4th Largest Cash Crop (The Rocky Mountain News
in Denver, Colorado, summarizes the new crop report released Thursday
by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.)
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:01:03 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CO: Pot Called State's 4th Largest Cash Crop
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis (cohip@levellers.org)
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Oct 1998
Source: Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Contact: letters@denver-rmn.com
Website: http://insidedenver.com/news/
Copyright, Denver Publishing Co.
POT CALLED STATE'S 4TH-LARGEST CASH CROP
Colorado growers produce about $140 million a year in marijuana, making the
illegal plant the state's fourth-largest cash crop, the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said Thursday.
The figures are contained in NORML's 1998 Marijuana Crop Report, which
evaluates marijuana production, value and eradication efforts in the U.S.
The figures are based on Drug Enforcement Administration information
gleaned from the public record, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director
of NORML in Washington, D.C.
"The problem with the figures is that unless (marijuana) is a regulated and
taxed product, no one knows for sure how much is out there," he said.
DEA spokesman Mark Holm declined to discuss the NORML report, saying he
isn't familiar with the methodology.
"Unless you are familiar with their methodology, you really have a
difficult time commenting on the validity of their study," he said.
NORML's report says the retail price of marijuana in Colorado is $288 an
ounce. St. Pierre said most of the production is in small garden plots or
in homes, much of it by users.
Marijuana ranks behind hay, wheat and corn as cash crops in Colorado and in
the United States as a whole, NORML said.
Nationally, marijuana growers harvested at least 5.5 million pounds, NORML
said. That amount would be worth $15.1 billion to growers and $25.2 billion
in the street market.
The nonprofit research organization, which has been active for nearly 30
years, advocates taxing and regulating the drug.
NORML said the bulk of the enforcement efforts are directed at eradicating
"ditch weed," a wild-growing variety of hemp that has little value to pot
smokers because of its low potency.
"That's simply not true," said Holm of the DEA. "That's not being harvested
for sale. We're interested in the highly cultivated plants that are sold
for consumption."
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Michael O'Keeffe contributed to this report.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Foster Parent Prospect Has Hard Time Explaining Marijuana Pipe
(The Evansville Courier version of yesterday's cautionary tale about the man
from Glen Carbon, Illinois, who was arrested on his way to an adoption
hearing at the Madison County courthouse. Wesley Earl Lowry made it through
a rigorous process to win approval as an adoptive father, but now he suddenly
needs drug rehab to keep the kids.)
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 07:35:30 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IL: Foster Parent Prospect Has Hard Time Explaining Marijuana Pipe
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick Henry (resist_tyranny@mapinc.org)
Source: Evansville Courier (IN)
Contact: courier@evansville.net
Website: http://courier.evansville.net/
Copyright: 1998 The Evansville Courier
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Oct 1998
Author: AP
FOSTER PARENT PROSPECT HAS HARD TIME EXPLAINING MARIJUANA PIPE
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - He passed strict tests to become a foster parent.
He made it through a rigorous process to win approval as an adoptive father.
But on Thursday, just as Wesley Earl Lowry was on his way with his wife to
finalize the adoption of their two foster children in Madison County court,
sheriff's deputies say he failed one last test: the courthouse metal
detector alerted authorities to the marijuana pipe they say was in his suit
coat.
According to police reports, Lowry, 34, of Glen Carbon, voluntarily handed
over the metal pipe. But he looked nervous, so a deputy searched him and
found 4.9 grams of marijuana.
Lowry was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana or drug
paraphernalia and released on $200 bond. The adoption hearing was postponed.
Although adoption officials say the arrest causes them "grave concern," the
children - ages 4 and 6 - will remain in Lowry's home for now, said Mike
Sakolsky, the child welfare director for Catholic Charities of Springfield.
They have lived with Lowry and his wife for two years.
The agency placed the children for adoption under a contract with the state
Department of Children and Family Services and planned a full review of
Lowry's adoption petition.
His attorney, Barbara Joiner of Edwardsville, said she still hoped to
salvage the adoptions. She said that if Lowry gets drug counseling, it might
persuade the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to proceed
with the adoptions.
DCFS spokesman Maudlyne Ihejirika said the Lowrys were screened before being
allowed to host foster children and that no problems had been found.
Sheriff's Capt. Don Bridick said Lowry's arrest marked the sixth time in
five weeks that deputies have found drugs or drug paraphernalia on
courthouse visitors.
"You can't fix stupidity," he said. "Anybody in their right mind wouldn't
walk into the courthouse with a pipe."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DC To Decide On Marijuana Legalization (The Washington Post finally
acknowledges Initiative 59, which would legalize the possession, use,
cultivation or distribution of marijuana if recommended by a physician for
illnesses such as AIDS, cancer or glaucoma. It also would require the city to
provide for the "safe and affordable" distribution of marijuana to Medicaid
patients and other poor people whose doctors recommend it. Both of the city's
mayoral candidates favor the measure, as do a majority of DC Council members,
but US Representative Robert L. Barr Jr., a Republican from Georgia, attached
an amendment to the fiscal 1999 DC budget forbidding the city to use any
funds to conduct a vote.)
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 16:32:35 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US DC: D.C. To Decide On Marijuana Legalization
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: Washington Post (DC)
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Washington Post Company
Pubdate: 17 Oct 1998
Author: Julie Makinen Bowles Washington Post Staff Writer
Section: Page B01
D.C. TO DECIDE ON MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
Initiative 59 Would Allow Use for Medical Purposes
When Jim Fairchild's partner was dying of AIDS eight years ago, the gravely
ill man smoked marijuana to help increase his appetite.
"We grew it in the back yard. We didn't sell it to anybody; it didn't hurt
anybody," said Fairchild, who lives on Capitol Hill. "It helped. If people
are suffering, what's so wrong about it?"
Plenty, says Louise Davis, a drug treatment counselor in the District who
has glaucoma - a condition that some doctors say can be eased by marijuana.
"I use eyedrops, and they do me just fine. I don't need to go smoke
marijuana. Legalizing it would cause trouble."
Come Nov. 3, Fairchild and Davis will make their convictions known at the
ballot box, as D.C. voters decide whether to make it legal for seriously
ill people to use marijuana for medical reasons. The question was placed on
the ballot last month after activists gathered more than 17,000 signatures
from people registered to vote in the District and fought the city's
elections board in court to get their petitions validated.
The measure, known as Initiative 59, would legalize the possession, use,
cultivation and distribution of marijuana if "recommended" by a physician
for illnesses such as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma. It also would require the
city to provide for the "safe and affordable" distribution of marijuana to
Medicaid patients and other poor people whose doctors recommend it.
The District is just the latest stage for the decades-long debate over
marijuana and efforts to decriminalize it. Voters in Alaska, Arizona,
Oregon, Colorado, Nevada and Washington state will consider marijuana
initiatives this year. California approved a measure in 1996, touching off
a mini-war between pot-growing clubs there and U.S. officials who say
they're violating federal, if not state, laws.
Federal-local tensions over the issue are similarly high here, thanks to
the District's role as the nation's capital. Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr.
(R-Ga.) has tried to block a vote on Initiative 59 by attaching an
amendment to the fiscal 1999 D.C. budget forbidding the city to use any
1999 funds to conduct a vote on reducing penalties associated with marijuana.
Ken McGhie, general counsel to the D.C. Board of Elections, said ballots
including the marijuana question have already been printed. But Barr's
amendment would create "a limitation in terms of using people on the
payroll for things like certifying the results," he said.
Organizers of the initiative say they are proceeding as if the vote is
still on, but they have pledged to take the matter to court if necessary.
"We've come so far and fought so long for this that we will not be
stopped," said Wayne Turner, who has been working on the initiative for
more than a year. "Congress has never overturned a vote of the people. We
will go to court and say . . . this violates the Constitution."
Although the initiative has drawn opposition in Congress, it appears to
have substantial support within the city, which is heavily Democratic.
Mayoral candidates Carol Schwartz (R) and Anthony A. Williams (D) favor the
measure, as do a majority of D.C. Council members, including Chairman Linda
W. Cropp (D), Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Kevin P.
Chavous (D-Ward 7), Charlene Drew Jarvis (D-Ward 4), David Catania (R-At
Large) and Hilda H.M. Mason (Statehood-At Large). Officials at the
Whitman-Walker Clinic, the city's largest provider of AIDS-related
services, have endorsed it as well.
There is local opposition to the measure in neighborhoods where drugs and
violence are major concerns. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) has
said she cannot support the initiative because many people in her ward,
which runs from Capitol Hill to Anacostia, believe any attempt to legalize
marijuana will exacerbate the problem of open-air drug markets.
Hannah Hawkins, who runs the Children of Mine community center in Southeast
Washington, is urging people to vote "no" on the initiative.
"The voters will be playing right into the drug addicts' hands if they
approve this," Hawkins said. "I'm out here every day dealing with the
effects of drugs. . . . The average voter isn't intelligent enough to
decide these things. That's why we have the Food and Drug Administration."
Sandra Lee, 46, of Northeast, said she would feel more comfortable with the
measure if it required doctors to actually prescribe marijuana - not just
recommend it - and if patients could get it only at a pharmacy.
"If they had a clinic or a doctor's office where you could get it, that
would be good," Lee said. "But making it legal to get on the street? . . .
You have to think of the crime and violence problem, too."
Of course, the initiative has support from people who think all drugs
should be legal.
"I'm all for it," said Marty Martinez, 44, of Northwest. "I think drugs
should be legalized, period. It takes the criminal element out of it."
But others see a middle ground, saying marijuana can be decriminalized for
medical purposes without opening the floodgates to making all drugs legal.
"They said the same thing about the lottery -- that it would bring in
organized crime and all kinds of other gambling," said Dawn Robinson, 33,
of Northwest. "I don't think we need to be guided by paranoia and fear. . .
. Marijuana isn't like crack or something that really affects people's
behavior."
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States,
according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Nearly 70 million
Americans reported in 1996 that they had tried it at least once, according
to a survey by the institute. But although use is common, criminal
penalties in the District are light, and few people are convicted on
marijuana charges.
Under D.C. law, one of the most liberal in the country, a person arrested
for selling marijuana can be charged only with a misdemeanor, punishable at
most by a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Simple possession carries a
maximum fine of $1,000, and first-time offenders are eligible for probation.
Last year, D.C. courts recorded 313 convictions on marijuana-related
charges; 231 of those were for possession. In 1996, there were 216
convictions in total; in 1995, there were just 140.
Court officials said they could not recall any case in which a defendant
claimed a medical defense, but supporters of the initiative say fear of
prosecution discourages many people who could benefit from marijuana from
using it.
"There is fear not only of the Metropolitan Police Department and all the
other police agencies in D.C. but also the U.S. attorney's office," said
Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, which
supports reform of drug laws. "People recognize they have no protection if
trying to use marijuana for medical purposes."
Among physicians, there is no consensus on medical marijuana. Michael
Gambello, 35, a physician who works at the National Institutes of Health
and lives in Kalorama, said he supports the initiative.
"Doctors should be allowed to make the decisions they went to medical
school to learn how to make," he said.
Douglas Gaasterland, a glaucoma specialist in the District, sees it
differently.
"As a physician, I'm very concerned about people trying to achieve 'medical
progress' through votes of the general public," he said.
Gary DeSimone, a staff physician at Whitman-Walker, said four or five of
his 300 or so patients with HIV smoke marijuana to stimulate their
appetites or reduce nausea caused by medicines. He said that his patients
have found marijuana "on their own" and that he views it as a "treatment of
last resort for a very small subset of the population."
Unlike some of the medical marijuana campaigns in California and elsewhere
that have been spearheaded by groups bankrolled by tycoons such as George
Soros, the D.C. effort is being run on a bare-bones budget by Turner with
help from the D.C. Green Party and Whitman-Walker. The campaign has
attracted groups that advocate legalizing marijuana outright, but Turner
has tried to distance himself from them.
"We didn't do all this work just to promote marijuana," said Turner, whose
partner, Steve Michael, died of AIDS in May. "We did this to protect the
patients."
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Drug Cartel Hitmen Admit Killing Cardinal In Mexico (The Examiner,
in Ireland, says Adolfo Marin Cuevas and Carlos Garcia Martinez told
a United States district court in San Diego, California, yesterday, that they
had been recruited in San Diego as hitmen for the Tijuana-based
Arellano Felix drug cartel. As part of a guilty plea to conspiring
to distribute cocaine and marijuana, the two allegedly admitted they were
taking part in a hit on a rival drug dealer when Roman Catholic Cardinal
Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo and six other people were shot to death
outside a Guadalajara airport in 1993 - whether by accident or design
isn't clear.)
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 17:11:26 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: Drug Cartel Hitmen Admit Killing Cardinal In Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Oct 1998
Source: Examiner, The (Ireland)
Contact: exam_letters@examiner.ie
Website: http://www.examiner.ie/
Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998
DRUG CARTEL HITMEN ADMIT KILLING CARDINAL IN MEXICO
Two gangsters yesterday admitted working as hitmen for a drugs cartel
and having a role in the killing of a Roman Catholic cardinal in Mexico.
Adolfo Marin Cuevas (32) and Carlos Garcia Martinez (28) made the
admission in the United States district court in San Diego,
California, as part of a guilty plea to conspiring to distribute
cocaine and marijuana, according to a statement issued by interim US
Attorney Charles G La Bella. Marin and Garcia, working as hit men for
the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug cartel, were "participating" in
the shooting of a rival drug dealer when Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas
Ocampo and six other people were shot to death outside Guadalajara
airport, La Bella said.
Their exact role was not revealed and sentencing was adjourned until
January 6. Federal authorities said the San Diego "hit squad" was
instructed to kill Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman Loera, a rival drug kingpin,
at the Guadalajara airport in 1993. Guzman escaped, but the shootout
in the parking lot killed seven people including the cardinal, who
was sitting with his driver in a car parked in front of Guzman's
armoured Buick. Authorities had said they were not sure whether the
cardinal also was targeted because of his public stance against the
drug cartels in Mexico or just caught in the crossfire.
A federal indictment in February alleged that the Arellano Felix drug
smuggling gang recruited and used 10 gang members from San Diego to
assist in protection and enforcement for at least six years.
Ramon Eduardo Arellano Felix, Benjamin Arellano Felix and two other
brothers control the major routes funnelling cocaine, marijuana and
other drugs into the United States across the California-Mexico
border, federal authorities said yesterday.
The Mexican authorities have sought the brothers since the Roman
Catholic cardinal's death in 1993.
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[End]
to the 1998 Daily News index for October 15-21