RTna 01/12/95       Dutch govt to lodge protest over U.S. drug report

    THE HAGUE (Reuter) - The Dutch government said Thursday its embassy in
Washington would lodge a protest over a U.S. government report that it said
grossly misrepresented the country's drugs policy.
     A report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that said
Dutch authorities condoned the street trade in drugs was described by Foreign
Minister Hans van Mierlo as a "blatant violation of the facts."
     "We have instructed our embassy in Washington to point out our opinion of
the report to the U.S. authorities," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman.
     The DEA report was entitled "How to hold your own in a drug legalization
debate."
      Drugs are illegal in the Netherlands, but the sale of cannabis in
euphemistically named "coffee shops" is tolerated and the possession of small
quantities of heroin and cocaine allowed for personal use.
     The Dutch claim this liberal approach has helped contain the number of its
addicts. But France and other countries have heavily criticised Dutch policy,
saying it encourages drug use.
  REUTER



UPn  01/16/95      Parental oversight lowers drug risk

   DETROIT, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Children whose parents are home or reachable after
school, and who enforce nighttime curfews, are less likely to experiment with
tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs, a study said Monday.
   The study conducted by a researcher at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital tracked
the drug-related behavior of 900 third- and fourth-graders in Baltimore.
   It concluded that parental monitoring, even among single parents, improved
chances that youngsters would steer clear of drugs.
   The study was published in the January issue of The American Journal of
Epidemiology.
   "This is the first study that indicates that parents who develop and maintain
consistent guidelines for their children, and make an effort to know where they
are and what they're doing, have an opportunity to prevent their children from
starting drug use at very early ages," said Howard D. Chilcoat, study author and
researcher at the hospital's Department of Psychiatry.
   Previous research has suggested early drug use increases the risk of drug
problems later in life as well as involvement in delinquent activities, Chilcoat
said.
   More than 900 students in grades three and four, between ages 8 and 10, were
interviewed in 1989 and 1990 for the latest study. They were asked about
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and inhalants.
   None of the students tried drugs before the first interview. But 4.2 percent
said they had tried drugs or tobacco by 1990.
   Among those interviewed, Chilcoat said, 2.7 percent reported using tobacco
and 1.5 percent used alcohol. Less than 1 percent used inhalants, marijuana or
cocaine, but nearly 2 percent reported use of more than one of the items.
   At the start of the study, children were asked about parental supervision,
including after-school and weekend curfews; the presence of an adult within an
hour after the child came home after school; and if the child knew how to
contact parents after they came home from school.
   Chilcoat said the study found high levels of parent monitoring in 1989 was
linked to a lower risk for drug sampling over the next year. The children with
the highest level of parental monitoring showed the lowest incidence of drug
use, he said.
   Also, the relationship between monitoring and risk of drug sampling did not
change in single-parent families. Although children from single- parent families
reported lower levels of parental monitoring, the incidence of drug sampling did
not differ in single-parent versus two- parent families.



PR   01/16/95      STUDY FINDS PARENTAL MONITORING AFFECTS KID'S EARLY 

    DETROIT, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents who monitor their child's behavior
and whereabouts reduce the likelihood of the child sampling drugs at an early
age, according to a study published in the January issue of The American Journal
of Epidemiology.
    "Recent research suggests that early drug use is linked to a greater risk of
later drug problems as well as involvement in delinquent activities," said
Howard D. Chilcoat, Sc.D., author of the study and a researcher in the
Department of Psychiatry at Henry Ford Hospital. "This is the first study that
indicates that parents who develop and maintain consistent guidelines for their
children and make an effort to know where they are and what they're doing have
 an opportunity to prevent their children from starting drug use at very early
ages."
    More than 900 Baltimore-area elementary students in grades three and four
(8-10 years old) were interviewed in 1989 and again in 1990 about their use of
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and inhalants.  None of the students in the
study had sampled drugs at the time of the first interview.  However, in 1990,
4.2 percent said they had tried drugs. The most frequently mentioned drug was
tobacco, with 2.7 percent of all children in the sample using it, followed by
alcohol (1.5 percent), inhalants (0.8 percent), marijuana (0.5 percent) and
cocaine (0.1 percent).  Almost two percent reported use of more than one of
these drugs.
    At the start of the study, children were asked about the supervision they
 experienced at home and the extent to which parents monitored activities and
behavior outside the school environment.
    Among the factors included in the report were:
      Established rules about when the child should come home after school or on
weekend nights.
      The presence of adult supervision within one hour of the child going home
after school.
      If the child knew how to contact parents if they were not at home after
school
    The study found high levels of parent monitoring in 1989 signaled subsequent
lower risk for drug sampling.  The children with the highest amount of parent
monitoring showed the lowest incidence of drug use. When variables such as sex,
 age, minority status, level of affiliation with drug using peers and level of
antisocial behavior were considered, the relationship between parent monitoring
and drug sampling remained significant.
    Also, the relationship between monitoring and risk of drug sampling did not
change in single-parent families.  Even though children from single-parent
families reported lower levels of parent monitoring, the incidence of drug
sampling did not differ in single-parent versus two-parent families.
    "Changes in parent monitoring also were related to drug sampling," said Dr.
Chilcoat.  "Although it is normal for parent monitoring to decline as children
mature from middle childhood to adolescence, this study indicates that the more
parent monitoring declines, the higher the risk for starting drug use."
    -0-                       1/16/95



UPma 01/18/95       Marijuana defendant commits suicide

   GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A local and state investigation was
underway into the apparent suicide of Keith Wise, 38, of Las Vegas, who shot
himself Tuesday in front of his lawyer's office.
   Wise was dead at the scene in the suburban Columbus community one hour before
he was expected to plead guilty to two federal conspiracy charges -- conspiracy
to distribute more than a ton of marijuana and conspiracy to launder money.
   Kevin Durkin, Wise's lawyer, discovered his client's body as he walked to his
office from a parking lot. Wise appeared to be shot in his head and a handgun
was on the ground under one of Wise's legs.
   Grandview City Attorney Brian Cook said the death is being investigated by
city police detectives, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation, and the Franklin County coroner's office.
   Wise was one of 19 people, including Upper Arlington businessman Robert Hill,
indicted in August in connection with a gang that allegedly smuggled more than
three tons of marijuana to Columbus from Tucson, Ariz., during a five-year
period ended in October 1993.
   Hill, the alleged ringleader of the smuggling operation, faces up to life in
prison after pleading guilty last week to a drug kingpin charge and one count of
conspiracy to launder money.



DJ   01/18/95      Drug Comeback: One Sad Trend Lost In Shuffle

By Gerald F. Seib
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
  The new Congress isn't exactly short of things to do, but here's one task
crying out for attention: putting a stop to the backsliding underway in the
national war against drugs.
  Subtly, almost imperceptibly, drug use is creeping back up among America's
youth. Worse yet, all the warning signs of bigger problems ahead are flashing.
Use of marijuana, often a precursor of cocaine use, is up sharply among teens.
Simultaneously, young people's perception that drugs are risky is declining, an
attitude change that usually forecasts an actual upturn in drug use.
  At least one powerful voice is trying to persuade the new,
Republican-controlled Congress to fix its eyes on this troubling picture. The
voice belongs to William Bennett, the former drug czar, who has been pressing
new GOP members to get drugs onto at least their second 100 days' agenda. His
message, Mr. Bennett says, is simply this: "You cannot ignore it."
  In truth, though, ignoring the problem is what a lot of people, in Congress
and out, have been doing. Consequently, the country is in a position roughly
akin to that of a drug abuser who may appear to be recovering but who actually
is in grave danger of a relapse.
  Over the last few years, it was possible to conclude that, outside of the
inner cities, broader American society had finally turned the tide in its long
battle against illegal drugs. Studies by the University of Michigan Institute
for Social Research, for instance, showed that drug use among high school
seniors declined gradually but steadily through the second half of the 1980s and
into the 1990s. Not coincidentally, perceptions that regular drug use was risky
rose through the same period.
  Now, those comforting trendlines have turned. The University of Michigan
research shows that illicit drug use has been rising, slowly but clearly, among
eighth and 10th graders and high school seniors in each of the last two years.
Particularly alarming was the rise found in the use of marijuana. Over the past
two to three years, the share of students reporting use of marijuana at least
once in the past year has doubled among eighth graders, grown by two-thirds
among 10th graders, and jumped by 40% among high school seniors.
  The rise in marijuana use is particularly troubling, because historical trends
show that marijuana is a "gateway" drug often leading to other drugs. Recent
studies by Columbia University's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, or
CASA, document a link between marijuana, as well as alcohol and tobacco, and
later cocaine use. To put a grim human face on the latest statistics, CASA
estimates that the jump in youthful marijuana use means 820,000 more young
Americans will try cocaine in their lifetime, and that 58,000 of them will
become regular cocaine users as adults.
  Why is this happening? The best guess is the broadest one. The country is
letting down its collective guard.
  For starters, society generally has stopped pounding home the theme that drugs
are dangerous, meaning that a whole new set of young Americans isn't getting the
same kind of clear signal their older brothers and sisters did. "The message is
getting mixed," frets Joseph Califano, the former health, education and welfare
secretary and CASA's chairman. "It's everything from the fact that we're
starting to see pot come back to the movies and the music business, which are
incredibly important to young people, to the fact that Jocelyn Elders is sending
out an ambiguous message."
  (END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-18-95
   6 23 AM



RTna 01/20/95       Canadian province to study decriminalizing drugs

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuter) - The Canadian province of British
Columbia said Friday it would look into decriminalizing some drugs like heroin
under certain circumstances in an attempt to combat overdose deaths.
     The province's chief coroner, Vince Cain, proposed not prosecuting users
for possessing some drugs and perhaps even providing heroin to some hardened
addicts. His ideas were outlined in a report released Friday on reducing drug
deaths.
     "I am recommending the decriminalization of simple possession of specific
'soft' and 'hard' drugs. ... I am suggesting the possibility of providing heroin
to seriously addicted people in a paramedical model," Cain said.
     Such moves may reduce drug-related crime and trafficking and encourage
addicts to enter treatment programs, he said.
     Such an approach, which treats drug addiction as a health problem rather
than a crime, has been tried elsewhere, including the Netherlands and Liverpool,
England, Cain said.
     Overdose deaths have soared in British Columbia on Canada's Pacific Coast
due to an influx of extremely pure heroin from Asia.
     Illegal drug use is the leading cause of death in the province for people
between 30 and 44 years old, and heroin was involved in 90 percent of those
deaths in 1993, Cain said.
     Cain did not name the drugs he wants decriminalized and said they should be
determined through further study.
     Marijuana and hashish are commonly considered soft drugs, while cocaine and
heroin are usually classified as hard drugs.
     Government officials announced the creation of a task force to explore the
proposals, and officials said they planned to discuss them with counterparts in
Canada's federal and provincial governments.
     "This represents a significant shift in social policy which cannot be
undertaken without national consensus," said British Columbia health minister
Paul Ramsey.
 REUTER



APn  01/20/95    Tattletale Son

   PONTOTOC, Miss. (AP) -- A 5-year-old home from school with the chicken pox
called 911 five times and got his pot-smoking mother busted.
   "The boy was so proud of himself," Sheriff Randy Roberts said Thursday. "He
was tickled to death at what he'd done."
   Authorities got five emergency calls in nine minutes on Wednesday afternoon
from the child's home. The caller hung up the first three times, but the 911
system showed where the call came from.
   "Then on the fourth call the dispatcher told him that a car was being sent
out to check on him and he said, `Don't send the law,'" Roberts said. "Then he
called a fifth time and hung up again."
   Deputies said they arrived at the house and found the woman smoking
marijuana. Her son showed them where to find a small amount of the drug hidden
under a couch, police said.
   The mother, whose name wasn't released, faced misdemeanor drug charges. The
child was being cared for by relatives.



RTec 01/22/95       Dutch minister proposes regulating soft drugs

AMSTERDAM, Jan 22 (Reuter) - The Dutch government is considering the
regulation of soft drugs supplied to the country's "coffee shops," where the
buying of marijuana and hashish is tolerated, the Justice Ministry said on
Sunday.
     A spokeswoman confirmed comments made by the justice minister in the press
on Saturday, but emphasised that the Netherlands was not proposing the
 legalisation of drugs.
     "There has been some exaggeration in the media, but the minister is only
proposing regulation and she must have talks with the public prosecutor and
health ministry," she said.
     The Dutch tolerate the buying and smoking of small quantities of soft drugs
in the hundreds of coffee shops spread throughout the Netherlands, but the
supply of these drugs is still illegal.
     "We must get over the hypocrisy of what is not allowed in front of the (the
coffee shop) door and what is tolerated behind it. It may have worked well in
the seventies, but now it is getting out of hand," justice minister Winnie
Sorgdrager told the de Volkskrant newspaper.
     Sordrager said she was looking at the possibility of the state regulating
 the supply and production of soft drugs within the Netherlands, which currently
attracts criminal gangs.
     "It should be possible to differentiate between what is produced within the
Netherlands and what is produced abroad," she said.
     A spokesman for the coffee shops estimated, during an interview on Dutch
television on Saturday, that about half the soft drugs consumed are produced
domestically.
     He said there were about 600,000 "regular" users of marijuana and hashish
in the country and around 400,000 "occasional" users.
     French authorities have strongly criticised liberal Dutch drugs policies
arguing that they promote drug consumption and criminality.  REUTER
 


DJ   01/23/95       High Court To Hear Case Of   Ex-Prisoner Who Accused Quayle

   By Paul M. Barrett
  Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
  WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of a former federal
prison inmate who claims that just before the November 1988 election he was
illegally prevented from publicizing his allegation that years earlier he had
sold marijuana to Dan Quayle.
  The high court said Friday it would review a preliminary procedural question
in Brett Kimberlin's civil lawsuit against the former director of the federal
Bureau of Prisons. The prison official, J. Michael Quinlan, ordered that Mr.
Kimberlin be held in special detention rather than being allowed to communicate
 with journalists.
  The case, which is expected to be decided by July, won't address the merits of
the drug-sale allegation, which former Vice President Quayle has denied and
which hasn't been otherwise substantiated.
  In November 1988, journalists learned that Mr. Kimberlin, then in a U.S.
prison in Oklahoma on drug and explosives violations, was claiming that he sold
marijuana to Mr. Quayle in the early 1970s when Mr. Quayle was a law student.
The prison warden set up a group interview with media organizations. But after
the Bush/Quayle campaign expressed dismay over the situation, Mr. Quinlan
ordered the press conference canceled and had Mr. Kimberlin placed in a special
detention cell.
  Mr. Kimberlin, who has since been paroled, sued Mr. Quinlan, claiming that the
 official had violated his constitutional right to free speech. A federal judge
here ruled at a preliminary stage that the suit could go forward. But the
federal appeals court here reversed that ruling and ordered the suit dismissed.
  The appeals court set a tough standard for such a suit to avoid early
dismissal: Even before trial, the appeals court said, the plaintiff must provide
"direct evidence" of government officials' intent to violate constitutional
rights.
  Mr. Kimberlin appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. The Clinton
administration, asked by the justices for its views, had urged them to use the
case to decide whether direct, as opposed to circumstantial, evidence is
required for such suits to go to trial.
  If Mr. Kimberlin wins the case it could go back to the trial court at a time
 that could be embarrassing for Mr. Quayle's plans to run for president next
year. The truth of Mr. Kimberlin's allegation against Mr. Quayle wouldn't be an
issue in the trial, however.
  (Kimberlin vs. Quinlan)
  (END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-23-95
   6 18 AM



UPne 01/23/95   Marijuana target of new ad campaign

By TRACY CONNOR
   NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Pot. Hashish. Mary Jane. Cannabis. Whatever you
call it, marijuana is the target of a new nationwide public service advertising
campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
   At a news conference in Manhattan Monday, partnership officials said studies
have shown that marijuana use by teenagers has risen sharply over the last two
years and positive perceptions of the drug are growing among youth.
   "After years of progress and a very dramatic reduction in drug use, a
reversal is now occurring," said partnership Chairman James Burke, who was
flanked by Lee Brown, director of the White House Office on National Drug
 Control Policy.
   "Leading national indicators suggest a marijuana crisis is now emerging,"
Burke said, introducing seven new television spots.
   Dr. Lloyd Johnstone of the University of Michigan, who conducts yearly
surveys of teenagers on drug use, said that although marijuana use declined
steadily between 1979 and 1991, it has doubled among eighth-graders in the last
two years.
   Thirteen percent of eighth graders surveyed in 1994 admitted using the drug
in the previous 12 months, up from 6.5 percent in 1992, when the increase began
to be seen. In addition, use among 10th graders was up to 25 percent in 1994
from 15 percent in 1992. And among 12th graders, usage rose to 31 percent in
1994 from 22 percent two years before.
    He said the current crop of teenagers faces different attitudes toward
marijuana than in the '70s, when use among minors peaked at 50.8 percent. Many
parents of today's teens used the drug; some popular rap and rock groups
encourage its use; and the five-point marijuana leaf has become a popular design
motif.
   "I think it's unlikely things are going to get better in the near future," he
said. "They'll get worse before they get better again."
   Allen Rosenshine, chairman of BBDO Worldwide, a noted advertising firm,
created the anti-marijuana advertising campaign at no cost to the partnership,
which is a non-profit coalition of representatives from the communications
industry and anti-drug activists.
   He said the creative team behind the ads had to consider several obstacles:
 teenagers' perception that most of their peers smoke pot and that marijuana will
help them cope with the daily problems of life, and the common knowledge that
marijuana will not cause any immediate, direct harm to the user.
   Instead, the youngsters in the ads talk about their increasing dependence on
marijuana, its role as a "gateway" to harder drugs, and the impact on their
lives.
   The campaign does not use any of the slogans the partnership is best known
for, such as the "This is your brain on drugs," line that accompanied a shot of
a messily fried egg.
   Allen St. Pierre, deputy national director for the National Organization for
Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that although his group supports legalization for
adults only, the partnership's newest campaign is "misguided."
    "You have to ask why they are devoting their enormous resources to a campaign
on teens and marijuana when they could be focusing on crack, cocaine, tobacco or
alcohol, all of which are killing people right now," he said.
   Since March 1987, volunteers for the partnership have created over 400 ads,
and the value of air time and print space donated to the group is over $1.7
billion.



AAP  01/24/95    MAIN STORIES IN COURIER-MAIL

   BRISBANE, Jan 24 AAP - Main stories in today's Courier-Mail,  first edition:
   PAGE 1: The state government has sanctioned the clinical use of  a derivative
of cannabis (local, exclusive).



AAP  01/24/95   CLINICAL USE OF CANNABIS DERIVATIVE SANCTIONED: REPORT

   BRISBANE, Jan 24 AAP - The Queensland government had sanctioned  the clinical
use of a derivative of cannabis, according to  Brisbane's Courier-Mail.
   A new drug called dronabinol, which was identical to cannabis,  was given to
a seriously ill AIDS patient late last year, the paper  said.
   The paper said the permission to prescribe the new drug ended  years of
caution about using cannabis and similar drugs for medical  treatment.
   Health Department public health director Gerry Murphy was quoted  as saying
the state could authorise future use on a case-by-case  basis while the federal
 government considered approving dronabinol.
   In the report he said the drug, created synthetically, was used  to treat the
nausea suffered by AIDS patients to allow them to eat  and gain weight.
   AAP hig/srw 
 

[End]