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Knock, Knock, You're Busted (A lengthier version in Willamette Week, in
Portland, includes the transcript of the second of two phone calls to the
Marijuana Task Force in Portland by Neil Jeffery Hauser of Bend. Willamette
Week also dicusses other nefarious tactics used by police to ferret out pot
gardens without having to bother getting warrants. But the free shopper
believes "there's no real way to measure whether the task force has dampened
Portland's ganja habit," so here's a clue: Ask a few medical marijuana
patients in Portland and California, and you'll find cannabis on the illicit
market costs more in California.)
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 17:16:09 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US OR: Knock, Knock, You're Busted
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Barry Smith
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Mar 1999
Source: Willamette Week (OR)
Contact: mzusman@wweek.com
Address: 822 SW 10th Ave., Portland, OR 97205
Fax: (503) 243-1115
Website: http://www.wweek.com/
Author: Maureen O'Hagan
Note: This article started on the front page and contains three significant
sidebars (associated stories), below.
KNOCK, KNOCK, YOU'RE BUSTED
How Portland Cops Push The Limits Of The Law To Crack Down On Pot Growers.
Want to see a pot grower shake in his Birkenstocks? It's as easy as
knocking on his front door.
That's because over the last few years, a simple knock-knock-knock has come
to be recognized as the official calling card of the Portland Police
Bureau's Marijuana Task Force, which has busted pot growers at the
astonishing rate of almost one every working day.
While there's no real way to measure whether the task force has dampened
Portland's ganja habit, the group has taken truckloads of pot off the
street. In four years, officers have hauled in about 30,000 marijuana
plants and arrested at least 750 growers. They've seized hundreds of
thousands in assets under laws that allow authorities to confiscate a drug
dealer's ill-gotten gains. That the task force has accomplished this with
just six officers makes the record even more impressive--and more curious
to those who question its methods.
Other than the tragic 1998 marijuana bust of Steven Dons, which left one
police officer dead and two others wounded, the task force has been
virtually unstoppable. Time and time again, defense lawyers have argued
that the task-force tactics are coercive and invade of citizens' privacy - a
belief that even some police officers and prosecutors have privately told
WW they share. Butt those arguments haven't been proven in the courtroom.
In the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between growers and the law, the law has
clearly been winning. If the pot growers have their way, however, the task
force could soon lose one of its most potent secret weapons.
On March 16 Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael Marcus will make a
ruling on motions filed by 14 criminal-defense lawyers who claim that the
task force has been illegally gathering evidence against pot suspects. The
arguments date back to last summer, when a marijuana grower discovered that
for three years, the task force had been surreptitiously monitoring phone
calls to a store that sells indoor gardening supplies and using that
information to target suspects. To pot growers, the discovery was like a
Holy Grail: If Judge Marcus decides in favor of the defense lawyers'
motions, current charges against some growers could eventually be dismissed.
At this point, it's difficult to predict what will happen in the courtroom.
But no matter what Judge Marcus rules, some say the discovery of the phone
monitoring is just one more bit of evidence in a mounting case against the
task force. That's not to say this is a bunch of rogue cops acting outside
of the law. But when looked at as a whole--from the secret phone monitoring
to the scores of convictions--the task forces starts bearing a resemblance
to Big Brother.
"You have to do a lot of these cases before you start getting that funny
feeling," says Michelle Burrows, a defense lawyer. "If all of the judges
knew all of the facts of all of these cases, they would sit back in their
chairs and say, 'Something smells funny here.'"
That the task force is going after marijuana--which this state's voters
have approved as a medical treatment and decriminalized in small
quantities--makes the smell that much more sour.
For at least 20 years, pot connoisseurs nationwide have believed that some
of the best bud is grown in Oregon.
Years ago, when marijuana cultivation was strictly an outdoor activity, it
made perfect sense. With Oregon's moist climate and abundant federal forest
land on which to grow, the illegal crops thrived.
In the last decade or so, that practice became too risky: Not only were the
crops easy prey for thieves, but police began using airplanes, which made
the once-hidden caches easier to spot. As a result, pot farming moved indoors.
Now illicit gardeners use expensive halide lights and hydroponic equipment,
which allows the plants to grow without soil. Light, heat and nutrients can
be carefully controlled and replicated, whether you're in Astoria or
Antarctica. What's more, a new crop can be harvested every three or four
months instead of once a year.
Still, whether it's because of tradition, this state's relatively lax
marijuana laws or some sort of collective unconscious that gives us greener
thumbs, Oregonians continue to have a reputation as primo pot growers.
Of course, growing quantities of marijuana is still against the law. So as
the marijuana growers changed their methods, so did the authorities. In
1995, the Portland Police Bureau formed a specialized Marijuana Task Force
and came up with new ways to target the indoor crops.
The task force was the brainchild of Sgt. James Hudson, then a 17-year
veteran of the bureau who was assigned to the Drug and Vice Division.
Hudson (nicknamed "Gator" for his alma mater, Florida State University)
believes that marijuana is as dangerous as other drugs, and he says it's
also more prevalent.
With Chief Charles Moose's stamp of approval and a federal grant, Hudson
recruited three other veteran Drug and Vice Division officers--Kim Keist,
Nate Shropshire and Brian Schmautz--who have formed the core of the task
force ever since. What's notable about the group is what they're
not--stereotypical jug-head types who'd rather tackle you than talk.
Instead, they're hard-working, relatively laid back and, most of all,
clever. Some of the stoners they arrest even call their captors nice.
The group's superiors call them effective. In its first year, the task
force made 302 arrests, well over one every working day. That translates
into a per officer arrest rate three times higher than the rest of the Drug
and Vice Division.
The Marijuana Task Force says the area was ripe for a crackdown. "Growers
in this region present a target rich environment," the most recent Drug and
Vice Division annual report says, "and are there for the taking as fast as
the task force can get to them."
Not only is Portland a "target rich environment," but it boasts
comparatively rich targets. The task force takes advantage of civil
forfeiture laws, which allow authorities to seize any cash and property
that can be tied to drug dealing. The tool is extra potent against pot
growers.
"More than any other group we deal with on drug offenses, people that grow
marijuana are otherwise fairly middle class," says Mark McDonnell, who
heads one of two drug units in the district attorney's office. "A much
greater percentage hold down a job, own a home."
In the task force's first year of existence, marijuana-related forfeitures
more than covered the officers' salaries, something the rest of the Drug
and Vice Division couldn't even imagine. Last year, the task force seized
22 houses from accused pot growers, compared to the two houses the rest of
the Drug and Vice Division seized from other types of drug offenders.
The task force officers are good at what they do, but there's something
more to their success than skill and hard work. For several years, they've
been able to keep one of their tools--the stealth device that leads them to
growers in the first place--a closely guarded secret.
A secret, that is, until a pot grower named Neil Hauser came along.
When the Oregon State Police came knocking on Hauser's door last spring, he
just couldn't figure it out.
There's no question the Bend resident was growing 83 marijuana plants--that
much Hauser concedes. But what, he wondered, gave him away?
Hauser isn't the only guy who has asked this question. "For a long time, a
lot of us were in a puzzlement," says defense lawyer Pat Birmingham. "How
were they selecting our clients?"
With a little investigation of his own, Hauser found the answer, something
top defense lawyers had been trying to do for several years. All it took
was some acting--a little game of cops and stoners, if you will. Only this
time, the tables were turned.
In mid-June, Hauser called the Portland Police Bureau and got task-force
member Shropshire on the line. What happened next is a matter of debate.
Shropshire says that Hauser claimed to be a Bend police officer; Hauser
denies telling that lie, although he did drop some carefully calculated
suggestions to that effect.
In any case, with a few open-ended questions, Hauser wheedled the whole
story out of Shropshire. The cop told Hauser that the task force had used a
device known as a "trap and trace" that was secretly put on the phone of
American Agriculture, a business on Southeast 92nd Avenue and Stark Street
that sells lighting and growing equipment. (For a transcript of the
conversation between Shropshire and Hauser, visit www.wweek.com.) [See
below - ed.] The device is, in essence, like Caller ID, except the police,
not American Agriculture, get the numbers of every customer who calls the
business. The cops then use the customers' phone numbers to learn their
addresses--and, more importantly, to develop a list of suspects.
"For the most part," Shropshire told Hauser, "we start all our
investigations that way."
The idea was ingenious: Hit the growers where they shop. The police won't
say whether they're still using the device.
Hauser knew he had discovered something important. He had called American
Agriculture, and the task force must have tipped off the police in Bend. As
it happens, Hauser's case was dismissed because of a technicality. More
important, an ex-lawyer named Larry Olstad heard his story and began
spreading the word about trap and trace.
When the folks at American Agriculture found out their phone was, in
essence, tapped, they weren't very happy. Word is they're considering a
civil lawsuit, but the owners of the company did not return a call from WW.
It's clear, however, that they have a gripe. After all, none of their
products are illegal. And their customers aren't limited to pot growers. In
fact, even Judge Marcus, the jurist who is scheduled to rule on the issue
Tuesday, revealed in court that he once bought something from the company,
a blue plastic barrel used for training his dogs.
The reaction from the defense bar was swift. "The difference between what
these guys are doing and a legitimate police investigation is they have no
specific, probable-cause belief that a crime is being committed," says
defense lawyer Burrows. (Probable cause is an important legal safeguard
that protects citizens from unfair police intrusion.)
Working from initial research done by Olstad, a number of lawyers joined
together to challenge the legality of the use of the trap and trace device.
Last month, during a day-long hearing in Marcus' courtroom, the city and
the DA's office argued that the police had a court order to use the device.
Defense lawyers countered that they've used it too broadly and for too long.
The statute regulating trap and trace, they pointed out, is very narrowly
construed. It requires police to establish probable cause that a crime is
being committed and obtain a court order, which is only good for 30 days.
The idea is to put constraints on police so they don't use it like a "gill
net," says Olstad.
But that's exactly what the task force did, according to a number of
defense lawyers.
First, they point out, a phone call to a legitimate business is skimpy
evidence on which to open an investigation. Defense lawyer Bob Thuemmel
calls the tactic Orwellian.
"The use of the device appears to be geared to all individuals who call
American Agriculture, whether it is a Dr. Feelgood type looking for the
latest in marijuana technology or old Mrs. Peabody down the street whose
dahlias need something more in the way of spring fertilizer," he wrote in
court papers.
It's hard to tell exactly how many of the people on which the task force
opens investigations turn out to be law abiding. Officer Keist has
testified that about half of the investigations turn up nothing.
Defense lawyers have also hammered on the issue of the 30-day limit.
Although authorities aren't talking, it appears that they applied for an
extension of the court order every month. Even so, the use of the device
for three years seems to violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.
Judge Marcus will decide on Tuesday whether the defense is entitled to more
information on the use of the device. From there, the lawyers may then
argue that charges against their clients should be dismissed. Their
argument is based on a legal theory known as the "fruit of the poison
tree": If the use of the device is found to be illegal, any evidence found
while using it is tainted and should be thrown out.
Whether or not they're successful in this case, defense lawyers say the use
of trap and trace is part and parcel of a larger method of operation that
goes right up to the edge of what is lawful.
"I think what's sort of startling is the way that the courts analyze these
legal doctrines," says Margee Paris, a criminal law professor at University
of Oregon. "They break it down into these little pieces, and at the end
they find it was all legal. But when you look at the whole picture, it
becomes very disturbing."
The defense lawyers say that the only way to truly understand what they are
arguing is to look at the way the task force operates.
Every month, officers downloaded the phone numbers of American Agriculture
customers from the trap and trace device and used them to develop a list of
suspect addresses. Police say they try to screen out law-abiding citizens
by first checking electricity records for unusual power usage. Critics feel
this, too, is an invasion of privacy. Normally, power companies consider
these records so private that they will turn them over only to the
subscriber. Moreover, a high electricity bill isn't evidence of a crime.
After all, you could be using American Agriculture products to grow
hydroponic tomatoes.
After that initial screen comes the "knock and talk." Although the
technique didn't get widespread publicity until the 1998 Steven Dons
fiasco, in which Hudson and Keist were wounded and Officer Colleen Waibel
was killed, Portland officers have been using it since 1985. Well over half
the time, when a smooth-talking task-force officer (like Schmautz, who
studied acting) knocks on a door, he's allowed inside. Even marijuana
growers usually agree to these "consent searches." In most cases, finding a
crop of the green stuff is as simple as that--no time-consuming search
warrant necessary. Police say that's because even crooks feel guilty.
"People who do things that are wrong have a conscience," says Capt. James
Ferraris, who heads the Drug and Vice Division.
Others disagree that guilt is the motivating factor. "The Portland Police
Bureau...will go up to a person's front door and not take no for an
answer," says defense lawyer Birmingham.
In light of the evidence, the complaint may sound hollow. Most of the
people investigated, after all, are guilty of a crime. When law abiding
citizens are swept into their net, though, things look different.
Just ask Denise and Michael Harrington. The Laurelhurst couple runs a
well-regarded company that teaches people to communicate better. One of
their larger clients is Nike, which has hired them to work with Ken Griffey
Jr. and Tiger Woods. A few years ago, they even conducted a seminar for the
Portland Police Bureau. The Harringtons live in a neighborhood of perfectly
manicured lawns, with Volvos and baby strollers outside each door.
A year or so ago, the couple was surprised to open their door to two
plainclothes police officers from the Marijuana Task Force. "They said they
had a complaint we were growing marijuana," Denise Harrington recalls. "We
just about died laughing." Even though the officers had badges, they
flashed them quickly, and then asked to come in. "They could be anybody,"
she says. From watching cop shows on TV, she knew she didn't have to let
them in. So she and her husband said no.
"They said if people don't let them come in, they take it to the next
level," Denise says. "They said, 'We'll continue investigating until we
find out what's going on.' They got a little harder in the way they were
talking to us."
Soon three more officers showed up; one was in the neighbor's driveway
peering into the Harrington's yard. "They're hanging around, they're
embarrassing you in your neighborhood," Denise says. "It's escalating. It's
so stressful that they really intimidate you into making decisions to give
up your rights."
After almost two hours, the Harringtons let the police inside. The officers
conducted a thorough search but found nothing.
"It was a picture, to me, that you are guilty until proven innocent in
their minds," Michael Harrington says.
The Harringtons, who had only lived in their house for a few months at the
time, have no idea why police showed up. They have never called American
Agriculture, but it's possible that a previous owner did. Police won't say
what led them there, but the investigation is now closed.
Aside from the use of the trap and trace device, the task force's
techniques have thus far been upheld by the courts, despite the arguments
of defense lawyers.
"I heard a judge compare the Marijuana Task Force to a tax consultant,"
recalls Deputy DA McDonnell. "If you hire a tax consultant, he's going to
do everything he can legally to get you all your deductions. I think the
citizens expect the police to do everything they can within the bounds of
the law to apprehend criminals."
But their zealousness has raised questions, even among cops and
prosecutors. While they aren't criticizing their colleagues, some have
privately told WW they have mixed feelings about aggressive marijuana
prosecution. Though the drug is illegal, they consider it far less
problematic than other substances, even alcohol. In addition, they say the
task force works very hard, but it doesn't send many people to prison.
That's because lawmakers, voters and judges in this state have ranked
marijuana growing a lesser concern than other crimes. Moreover, according
to the DA's office, most pot growers they prosecute are first-time
offenders. And most first-time growers only get probation, plus some jail
time or a work release program.
There's also the memory of Colleen Waibel.
"I think there's a new look at these things," says police union vice
president Tom Mack. "We're getting killed over things that judges are
sentencing people to less than six months for."
Another officer puts it more bluntly. "I don't want any more policewomen
killed because someone is smoking a joint," he says.
In truth, questions about the task force are more ones of policy and
priorities than of law. For now, however, it's a policy the Police Bureau
has no plans to change, according to Drug and Vice Division head Ferraris.
"They have been very successful," he says. "At this point it's a viable
unit of the Drug and Vice Division, and I certainly don't see it being
dissolved or abolished in the near future."
The question is: What are citizens willing to sacrifice in order to fight
the war on drugs?
"Police depend on people's respect for law enforcement to get their jobs
done, and these cases abuse that respect," says Ed Jones, a public
defender. "This is really a self-defeating program. What they're doing is
encouraging people to not answer the door and not be respectful to the
police. But that note probably won't come due until long after these cops
are retired."
[sidebar notes:]
Last year, Oregon voters approved medical marijuana legislation allowing
people with "debilitating" illnesses to use and grow up to seven pot plants.
Sgt. James Hudson's quick thinking cut short Steven Dons' attack. He
retired from the force after the traumatic event.
Over the past few years, forfeitures have decreased for two reasons. The
cops have grown more conservative in what they seize, and drug offenders
are renting instead of owning homes.
Officer Kim Keist testified more than a year ago that the task force had
conducted about 1,500 knock and talks.
"If all of the judges knew all of the facts of all of these cases, they
would sit back in their chairs and say, 'Something smells funny here.'"
--lawyer Michelle Burrows
Deputy District Attorney Mark McDonnell says he's not worried about the
latest legal challenge to the Marijuana Task Force: "I expect we'll get
convictions in all these cases."
American Agriculture already sued the Portland Police once for aggressive
surveillance tactics, settling the case in May 1997.
Police say as few as 10 plants, harvested throughout the year, can be worth
as much as $30,000 to $40,000.
When the police come to your door without a warrant, you don't have to let
them in. But they are not legally required to tell you that you may refuse
their request, either.
Even Judge Marcus, the jurist who is scheduled to rule on the issue
Tuesday, revealed in court that he once bought something from American
Agriculture
Defense lawyer Pat Birmingham says police use "bluffing and intimidation"
in their "consent" searches.
American Agriculture may file a civil lawsuit against the police.
After he or she gathers evidence of a crime, it usually takes an officer
two to four hours to get a search warrant. A knock and talk is much more
efficient.
A handbook used by the Marijuana Task Force says "knock and talks increase
arrests, [and] the agency also realizes funds from asset seizure with only
minimal investigative expense."
After downloading your phone number from the trap and trace, police usually
wait three or four months to knock on your door. That's how long it takes
marijuana seedlings to bud.
"The Portland Police Bureau...will go up to a person's front door and not
take no for an answer." --defense lawyer Pat Birmingham
Although police initially seize ownership of pot growers' homes, that
doesn't mean a grower has to move. Normally, growers enter into plea
bargains and forfeit just a portion of the equity in their home.
Michelle Burrows, who specializes in defending drug suspects whose property
is seized, has trained other lawyers on the Marijuana Task Force's techniques.
***
[Lead Story Sidebar: Read the transcript of a taped conversation, in which a
member of the Marijauna Task Force unknowingly revealed their techniques.]
In early June, after he was arrested for growing marijuana, Bend resident
Neil Hauser called the Portland Police Bureau and asked to speak with the
Marijuana Task Force. He was connected with Nate Shropshire, a 16-year
veteran of the Bureau. By means that Hauser won't reveal, he got Shropshire
to talk about Task Force techniques. Hauser called back a second time and
pumped Shropshire for more information, this time recording the conversation.
Lawyers challenging the Task Force's techniques have included a transcript
of this conversation in public court files.
"NS" stands for Nate Shropshire. "RC" stands for Rex Cattock, the pseudonym
Hauser used during the conversation.
Although Hauser's marijuana case was dismissed, he was charged with
impersonating an officer because of his talks with Shropshire.
Woman What can I help you with?
Man Yes, is Nate Shropshire back there?
Woman Umm...I can check to see. Can I ask who's calling?
Man Yes, this is umm...umm...anyway Rex Cattock.
Woman I'm sorry. Say again?
Man Rex Cattock.
Woman Hold on a sec.
RC Hey Nate.
NS Hey.
RC This is Rex. How ya doing?
NS Good.
RC Calling back from Bend here.
NS Yeah.
RC How was your little excursion?
NS Oh, it was OK. I just didn't have enough people to help me do what I
need to do because we had two houses next door growing outdoor plants, and
so I got one, OK? And then other ones--they were like 11 two-inch dead
clones [marijuana seedlings] almost in the back yard--and we just went over
and grabbed and said, "Forget it. Forget it."
RC Do you get a lot of the outdoor stuff over there?
NS No, not really.
RC Really?
NS Sometimes, you know, in the summer, but for the most part, we don't. All
of their stuff is indoors.
RC Sure. I know. I didn't think you had time to do anything on that, but I
wanted to call back and see when...how long it might take you to get that
information.
NS It will just take me...ahhh...long enough to run through the...ahhh...I
have all that stuff on disk.
RC OK.
NS If it's there I'll, ahhh, bring it up.
RC What does that mean. You got a disk?
NS I have a disk that I get sent from, actually I download, ahh, what I'm
doing is I have this company who is a...they sell indoor growing stuff.
RC Oh, OK.
NS Basically. And what we did in 1995...I started investigating it,
actually before that, but we wrote a trap and trace order on their phone
number, so everybody who calls into their phone number is trapped and then
I, you know, write in that court order. I've got information from US West.
RC OK.
NS We simply download every week via computer.
RC Really...
NS ...and all that information so then I take that information [and] run it
through the power companies.
RC Umm, OK.
NS And then those, you know...we just go from there.
RC Sure.
NS And I, ahh, you know, ahh, a lot of it [how we choose whom to target]
has to do with age of people, type of power, type of house.
RC Sure.
NS You know. You have a lot of people look at it, and for the most part, we
start all our investigations that way, and ahh, go from that to a knock and
talk.
RC So, ahh, the shop is actually working with you.
NS Ohh, no, no, no...
RC Oh.
NS They have no clue.
RC OK.
NS They have no clue that we are trapping the phone numbers.
RC Oh, OK.
NS So, ahh...
RC No, I remember hearing that there was two or three light shops over there.
NS There's...there's, yeah, there's American Agriculture, Light
Manufacturing, and...ahh...Rain or Shine.
RC Oh, OK. I think I've heard that one before.
NS And ahh...you know...
RC And you've got all three of those.
NS No. I just have the one, American Agriculture. I have done the Light
Manufacturing, but it wasn't as profitable.
RC OK.
NS Theirs is pretty much smaller, you know, ahh, personal use, hydroponic
growers.
RC OK.
NS So that means that we don't have that one going. We do have the one
going right now at American Ag.
RC So you worked it out with US West? That's great.
NS Well, I have a court order that allows me to do it. I, ahh, you know,
every 30 days I re-up that court order.
RC OK.
NS And, ahh, so, get the information back and that's when we start passing
it off. I mean, if it's in Bend and if it's places where we're not going to
get to...
RC Sure. You pass it on.
NS...Through DOJ [the Department of Justice] we'll pass them off, and if I
know somebody in a particular area, I'll call them and say, "Hey, we got
this going, and this is the way, this is how we got it."
RC Sure.
NS Don't, you know...try not to use it in an affidavit.
RC Sure.
NS We have not ever referred to the trap in our affidavits.
RC OK.
NS And...ahh...you know, if we, if that's all we had, then we probably
wouldn't, you know...
RC Correct. Then you would just build it off of there.
NS That's, yeah, we just go from there, but ahh...
RC With their 800 number, you probably get calls all over the country.
NS Well, we don't trap their 800 number. What we do is order calls...
RC Ohh, OK.
NS It's an interesting thing.
RC Ohh...
NS Yeah, you're right. I mean, the last time we did that, we had...I mean
the stack of paper was like a half of ream, and we did...we sent that to
DOJ and the DOJ disseminated the information all over the place. They got
some guy down in California as a result of that.
RC Keeping them busy.
NS Yeah.
RC That's fantastic. Well, I have to take off tomorrow. Umm...why don't I
get back to you on Friday. Are you going to be around on Friday?
NS No.
RC No, OK, why don't I give you a call mid-week.
NS OK.
RC We are in no big hurry and I appreciate everything.
NS OK.
RC And I'll give you a call probably Wednesday.
NS OK. What was your phone number?
RC My number is 388-5551. And I will give you a buzz on Wednesday. I
appreciate everything that you've done.
NS You bet.
RC Alright, sir.
NS Alright.
RC Take it easy.
NS Bye.
RC Bye.
***
[Sidebar: Sniff and Grab: how the police are getting around those pesky
warrants.]
SNIFF AND GRAB
One of the most frequently cited examples of how far the Marijuana Task
Force will go in its efforts to catch pot growers is the use of a technique
defense lawyer Bruce Howlett has nicknamed the "sniff and grab."
Under normal circumstances, police can't enter someone's home without
either the resident's permission or a warrant. The only exception is in
"exigent circumstances"--for example, if there's a hostage situation
inside. Simply growing marijuana doesn't qualify.
Task Force Officer Brian Schmautz has perfected an ingenious way to get
around that constraint. When a suspect refuses to give Schmautz permission
to enter the house--and when Schmautz believes he can smell growing
marijuana--he reaches out as if to shake hands with the suspect. The
suspect, naturally, reaches across the threshold to return the gesture.
Instead of shaking hands, though, Schmautz grabs the suspect's arm and
yanks him outside. Once he gets the suspect out the front door, Schmautz
can legally place him under arrest on suspicion of growing marijuana.
Schmautz described it this way in one report: "I shook hands with him and
thanked him for his time. As I was shaking hands with him, I took his hand
into custody, and the remainder of his body followed out of the doorway."
Schmautz wouldn't talk to WW about his technique, but defense lawyers say
he uses it whenever he gets the chance.
The handshake trick is not unheard of in police circles, although it may be
more acceptable in apprehending, say, a murderer than a marijuana grower.
There is no doubt that it's "pushing the envelope," according to one law
enforcement source. Another told WW, "[It's] not crossing the line, but
it's walking the line."
***
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 17:15:20 -0800
From: Paul Freedom (nepal@teleport.com)
Organization: Oregon Libertarians Patriots
To: Constitutional Cannabis Patriots (cp@telelists.com)
Subject: [cp] Att! KNOCK AND TAlk-additional info.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Hey Paul:
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 07:09:13 -0800
From: wolfeyes (wolfeyes@cdsnet.net)
Reply-To: wolfeyes@cdsnet.net
Organization: CWA
To: Paul Freedom (nepal@teleport.com)
Carl Worden wrote:
hey Paul
Did you happen to see Maureen O'Hagan's article in Willamette Week?
That was the direct result of our work. We gave her that story,
including the lead on the taped telephone conversation. Pray for a
miracle March 16th, when the judge will rule on the admissibility of the
telephone evidence. If he declares it an illegal search, Portland will
have Hell to pay, because it will open the doors to reversal of all that
forfeited property, etc.
One thing bothers me: O'Hagan left out the transcript of the first call
Neil Hauser made, where Detective Shropshire tells him to "Just say he
could smell marijuana even if he can't". Man, that is as incriminating
as it gets. Shropshire even admits they's done that hundreds of times!
Did Maureen leave that out on purpose?? I don't know. She has a copy
now, because yours truly sent it to her yesterday. Maybe all you guys
ought to send her a note and ask her why she omitted it.
Carl F. Worden
Liaison & Intelligence Officer
Southern Oregon Militia
***
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lockyer Pushing Ways To Make Pot Law Work (A slightly different version of
the Los Angeles Times story, apparently from a different edition)
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 17:14:22 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Lockyer Pushing Ways To Make Pot Law Work
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Pubdate: March 10, 1999
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Author: Mary Curtius, Times Staff Writer
LOCKYER PUSHING WAYS TO MAKE POT LAW WORK
Health: Authorities, backers of Prop. 215 work together on system to
distribute marijuana for medical purposes.
SAN FRANCISCO Reversing his predecessor's approach to the medical
marijuana initiative passed by voters in 1996, state Atty. Gen. Bill
Lockyer has told law enforcement officials and marijuana advocates
who have fought each other for years to make the law work.
Since February, police chiefs, sheriffs, narcotics officers and
district attorneys have been discussing with cannabis center operators
and medical marijuana advocates the fine points of how best to
distribute marijuana and protect users from prosecution.
To nearly everyone's surprise, the longtime opponents, now working on
a task force together, have found common ground.
"There's kind of an armistice," said Scott Imler, director of the Los
Angeles Cannabis Resource Center in West Hollywood, the largest
marijuana center in the state that is still functioning. "Everybody
seems genuinely interested in trying to implement Proposition 215 in a
responsible way. It is an exciting and vital process." Christy
McCampbell, president of the California Narcotics Officers Assn.,
echoed Imler's assessment.
"We are all just trying to reach common ground on how to deal with an
extremely complex issue," said McCampbell, whose organization
represents 7,000 narcotics officers across the state and opposed
Proposition 215 during the 1996 campaign.
What remains to be seen is whether the group can devise ways to make
the law work that will win Gov.
Gray Davis' support and not bring down the wrath of the federal
government. Last year, the U.S. Justice Department won a court order
shutting most of the state's cannabis clubs on the basis that federal
lawwhich says it is illegal to possess, sell or distribute
marijuanasupersedes state law.
The Justice Department is skeptical of the work Lockyer's medical
marijuana task force is doing, but for now has no comment on its efforts.
"They are trying to implement a marijuana statute that the Department
of Justice and the federal government believe to be illegal and
unconstitutional," said one department source, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
Lockyer himself concedes that whatever recommendations his task force
makes may not be fully implemented unless and until the federal
government reclassifies marijuana as a drug with some therapeutic use.
"There are those who believe that the federal government will ignore a
wellregulated state system," Lockyer said, "but I haven't seen any
evidence of that yet." Davis has said that he voted against
Proposition 215, but so far has made no public comment on Lockyer's
efforts. The attorney general said he doesn't know whether the
governor will support the task force's recommendations.
Michael Bustamante, spokesman for Davis, said that the governor
"respects the decision of voters with issues that come before the
electorate, and clearly voters have spoken as it relates to the law."
Marijuana is smoked or ingested by people suffering a variety of
ailmentsincluding cancer, AIDS and spastic muscle conditions. Some
doctors and patients say the drug quells nausea, eases pain and
restores appetite.
Among the options the task force is considering is a proposal for a
statewide registry of medical marijuana patients. The state Department
of Health Services would create the registry and issue identification
cards to medical marijuana users. The cards would indicate to local
law enforcement officials that the bearer was using medical marijuana
with a doctor's recommendation.
The tiny Northern California town of Arcata employs such a system.
Police Chief Mel Brown has issued about 100 identification cards to
city residents who have met with him and given him their doctors' names.
After checking with the doctors, Brown said, he issued
photoidentification cards bearing his signature.
"It keeps me from paying my officers overtime to show up in court, it
keeps these people from being arrested, it keeps patients and doctors
from being dragged into court," said Brown, who also is serving on
Lockyer's medical marijuana task force.
Proposition 215 allows patients who need marijuana to treat pain or
ease other symptoms of a variety of illnesses to use it, with a
doctor's recommendation.
But thenAtty. Gen. Dan Lungren and the federal government took a dim
view of the law when it passed three years ago, charging that it was a
ploy to legalize a federally banned substance.
Lungren personallyand successfullycrusaded to shut down the state's
largest club, operated in San Francisco by Proposition 215 author
Dennis Peron. And Lungren welcomed the Justice Department's assault on
cannabis clubs in federal court.
By October, there was only one largescale marijuana distribution center
still operating in California: Imler's, which serves more than 500 people.
The other clubs had been shut by the courts, but Imler's lowkey operation,
his cooperation with local law enforcement and his tight screening
procedures kept him out of trouble.
Medical marijuana users and providers had reverted to growing plants
individually or buying the drug on the streets.
Days after he was sworn in, Lockyer said one of his top 10 law
enforcement priorities was the implementation of Proposition 215. He
formed the task forcechaired by state Sen. John Vasconcellos (DSanta
Clara) and Santa Clara County Dist. Atty.
George Kennedyin January and charged it with finding ways to safely
provide patients with medical marijuana.
"Prop. 215 has gaps and ambiguities that make it difficult to
implement," Lockyer said. "It can be amended, just like any other law.
I would hope that the task force agrees on clarifying language that
would provide more medical supervision of the program and answer local
law enforcement's desire to have clear rules." Amendments would
require a twothirds vote of the Legislature, but not a new ballot initiative.
Lockyer said the policy change is a priority because "the attorney
general has a duty to try to effectuate the people's will. And I voted
for Prop. 215.
"Having watched my mom die of leukemia when she was 50 and a little
sister die of leukemia when she was 39, it just always seemed odd to
me that a doctor could give them morphine but couldn't give them
marijuana." Lockyer said he also will lobby the federal government to
reclassify the drug so that physicians can legally prescribe it. He is
scheduled to attend a national conference of attorneys general in
Washington this month.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Steel said he had no comment on
Lockyer's approach. He said the department is reviewing medical
marijuana laws passed in November in Alaska, Washington, Oregon,
Nevada and Arizona.
The federal government is set to release a report March 17, by the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, on whether
there is any medicinal value to smoking or ingesting marijuana.
The longawaited reportwhich surveys past research efforts and includes
testimony from patients and doctorsis expected to say that there may
be some medical benefits to some patients, but more research is
needed. Some medical marijuana advocates see it as a first step toward
federal reclassifying of the drug.
In the meantime, they are applauding Lockyer for not waiting for a
change in federal policy.
"Certainly, the change from the Wilson administration is dramatic,"
said Bill Zimmerman, executive director of Americans for Medical
Rights and author of "Is Marijuana the Right Medicine for You?" The
nonprofit organization campaigned for passage of Proposition 215 and
has spearheaded medical marijuana campaigns in other states.
Zimmerman says he met with Lungren after the proposition passed, "and
I felt a little bit like Lucifer in that office." Now, he said,
"patients and advocates feel they can get a hearing instead of having
doors slammed in their faces." Zimmerman, who serves on the task
force, says that many of the law enforcement officials who are
participating introduced themselves at the first session by saying
they had voted against the proposition but now were committed to
making the law work.
"My own personal philosophy isn't relevant," said Kennedy, the Santa
Clara district attorney and cochairman of the task force. "The law
passed overwhelmingly. It doesn't make any difference what my views
are." Karyn Sinunu, Kennedy's deputy and chief of Santa Clara County's
narcotics unit, also serves on the task force, as does attorney Gerald
Uelmen, who has represented cannabis clubs and their operators.
Uelmen and Sinunu debate legal issues at the meetings, then square off
in Santa Clara Superior Court, where Uelmen is representing a cannabis
club operator charged with seven felonies.
"I don't think it is particularly awkward," Uelmen said of serving
with his court opponent. "We have a very different view of the
prosecution of Peter Baez, but we're in basic agreement that medical
marijuana is a good idea and that we should do what we can to
implement it." A spokesman for Vasconcellos said the senator expects
the panel to come up with recommendations by the end of April.
"The primary goal of the senator is to ease the distribution crisis
that occurred on Lungren's watch," said Rand Martin, Vasconcellos'
chief of staff. "Nobody in their right mind can argue that voters
thought that people with cancer were going to have to go out on the
street and buy their drugs from dealers in dark alleys."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Nightline: Getting Straight (The second part of ABC's three-night series by
Dave Marash focuses on the inadequacy of funding for treatment in U.S. drug
policy. "Getting addicts to accept treatment is tough enough. Getting the
treatment centers to accept the addicts can be even tougher.")
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 10:13:37 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Part 2 of 3 - Nightline: Getting Straight
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Mar 1999
Source: ABC News
Copyright: 1998 ABCNEWS and Starwave Corporation.
Website:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/nightline/transcripts/nl990310_trans.html
GETTING STRAIGHT, PART II
TED KOPPEL We love the image of declaring war on things we hate and
sometimes, as in the war on crime, it's an appropriate image.
Declaring war on drugs and drug addiction, on the other hand, is a
little more complex. As you may have heard on this program last night,
the most warlike approach-destroying drug production overseas-is also
the most expensive. Intercepting drug shipments at the US border is
cheaper, but also very costly. Law enforcement on the streets of our
towns and cities is a more efficient way of keeping drugs out of the
hands of our addicts. But the most efficient way by far, the cheapest,
the best, the most enduring way to reduce drug addiction in America is
through drug treatment.
It is also the least sexy, the most difficult to sell politically to
the taxpaying public. So we don't have enough drug treatment centers.
They tend to be insufficiently funded so that a lot of our addicts are
rushed through programs that are too short to be effective and all of
this, of course, assumes that there are enough trained, dedicated
people around to convince addicts that treatment is what they need.
Which brings us to Rafael Flores, who works from eight to four as an
intake counselor for the drug treatment clinic at Bronx Lebanon
Hospital in New York. Although it's not what he does on the job that
makes Rafael so interesting. It's what he feels compelled to do on his
own time. Nightline Correspondent Dave Marash has his remarkable story.
DAVE MARASH, ABCNEWS (VO) It's an hour before first light and already
a group of addicts is waiting in the vestibule of Beth Israel
Hospital. For Rafael Flores, fisher for souls, Beth Israel is like the
Gulf Stream.
RAFAEL FLORES I like finding people and offering them services. It's
as simple as that. People that are hurting and often there's drug
addicts, alcoholics, and I really like reaching out to people. I'm a
street worker. I've been doing it for 28 years and what I do is get
people into detox.
DAVE MARASH (VO) To be cleansed of their drugs or alcohol, people
start arriving as early as 2:00 AM for a detox unit that doesn't open
until 7:30. They know that many mornings not everyone in the vestibule
makes it to the unit. In New York City, as in the United States, just
one in four addicts seeking treatment gets it. For those who don't get
it, there's Rafael.
RAFAEL FLORES So like if there's any problems where you may not be
able to get in, you know, I could help you get into a detox and a rehab.
DAVE MARASH (VO) And mere detoxification without rehabilitation and
then long-term therapy is something Rafael says just doesn't work.
He'll accept nothing less than a commitment to all three.
RAFAEL FLORES Have you ever been at Beth Israel before?
1ST SUBSTANCE ABUSER Yes.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, so when was the last time you were here?
1ST SUBSTANCE ABUSER Last year.
RAFAEL FLORES Last year? OK. The, have you ever tried a long-term
program before?
1ST SUBSTANCE ABUSER No, no.
RAFAEL FLORES He's been in detox six times. He was never referred to a
next level of treatment. There are those people that go into detox to
clean themselves out but we have perfect opportunity to refer them to
a rehab for like say 28 days or to a long-term program directly from
the facility. There are many people, many agencies will not work with
street addicts per se. This is the population that I'm looking for.
This is the population that we need to make an extra effort to reach.
DAVE MARASH (VO) This population, says one of New York's top experts
on drug treatment, requires the constant care and long haul philosophy
that Rafael espouses.
DR JEFFREY FOOTE, ST. LUKE'S ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL You're talking about
learning a life as opposed to going back to a former life that you may
have had. In that case, you need time and you need protection and
that's what a long-term in-patient facility can offer you in a perfect
world.
RAFAEL FLORES You'll go in and you'll come out really quick and the
counselors may not be able to arrange long-term treatment from here. I
know I will be able to.
DAVE MARASH (VO) If you don't get in this morning, call me, says
Rafael. And if you do get into detox, call me when you get out.
RAFAEL FLORES If you make the right decision and say let me try this
or let me try that, let me do something a little different, it's
possible. It's possible to be clean. It's possible to wake up and not
have to need a drink.
DAVE MARASH (VO) With those final words of reassurance, Rafael's new
client enters the hospital. As we head uptown from Beth Israel, Rafael
is pleased. This street angel has accomplished his mission. He has
offered service and believes it will be accepted.
RAFAEL FLORES This client is motivated. He came here because he wants
to stop drinking, he wants to stop being in the streets. He told me
that he would like to learn how to walk and keep his head up high.
DAVE MARASH Rafael Flores, Ralph to his friends, learned his trade
here. Upstairs across the street there used to be an office called
Hotline Cares. Ralph ran the office for more than 20 years and saved
hundreds of his East Harlem neighbors from addiction. Then, the hot
line went bust. Ralph had messed up on his paperwork, offended some
funders and even some of his fellow workers so that today he
freelances his mission on the streets and at a place called Sister's.
RAFAEL FLORES We're going to go to what I call Sister's house. This is
a nun that has lived for the past 24 years, she has her own tenement
apartment in East Harlem and she provides a great deal of services to
people that are hurting, people from the streets. So I'm always
checking in with her to find out if anyone requires my services and we
just work together and try to hook it up. The place would not win an
award for decoration, but it has a lot of heart. Is sister in? Look
who's there! Look who's there!
2ND SUBSTANCE ABUSER Oh, thank you Jesus. It's been a long time.
RAFAEL FLORES It's so good seeing you. I know, it has been a couple,
at least two years, right?
2ND SUBSTANCE ABUSER A little more than two years.
RAFAEL FLORES A little more than two years since I last worked with you.
2ND SUBSTANCE ABUSER Yeah. You're the one that gave me a hard time.
RAFAEL FLORES Yeah.
2ND SUBSTANCE ABUSER But you saw in me what I didn't understand in myself.
RAFAEL FLORES And what do you think that was?
2ND SUBSTANCE ABUSER Tough love. What you gave me was tough love.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Little does Rafael suspect what challenges await him
at Sister's, challenges to his toughness and to his ability to love.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, but she told me that maybe I want to work with one
or two persons. She wanted me to talk to you.
CATHY ORTIZ Yeah.
RAFAEL FLORES OK. I'm glad you're here. I'm really glad you're here.
CATHY ORTIZ OK.
TED KOPPEL When Dave Marash continues, Rafael's next challenge, a mother of
eight.
(Commercial Break)
MICHAEL MASSING The overall number of people using drugs has declined
since the mid-'80s. If you look at the number of people who used
cocaine, let's say, at all on an annual basis, it has gone down sharply.
But the hard-core user population, those who are chronically using and
abusing heroin, cocaine, crack and methamphetamine has remained
stubbornly high.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Michael Massing, author of The Fix, introduced us to
Rafael Flores and to the world of America's four million hard core
junkies.
MICHAEL MASSING They are the ones who remain the core of the problem
because they're the ones committing crime, they're the ones
contracting AIDS, they're the ones who are neglecting and abusing
their children.
RAFAEL FLORES Sister told you I was coming.
CATHY ORTIZ Sister told you I where I was coming and she wanted to
know more exactly my problem and drug. I'm trying to get myself together.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, tell me what you're dealing with, you know, the
substance.
CATHY ORTIZ OK, I'm dealing-crack, heroin, methadone.
RAFAEL FLORES OK.
CATHY ORTIZ I'm on a methadone program.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Cathy Ortiz, still in her forties, a junkie more than
half her life. When Cathy started on drugs, the Nixon administration
was putting two thirds of its drug control budget into treatment
programs. Today, that proportion has been reversed and twice as much
money goes to law enforcement, to border control and to destroying
crops in foreign fields as goes to drug treatment.
RAFAEL FLORES When did you come out of the detox?
CATHY ORTIZ I came out a week and a half ago.
RAFAEL FLORES OK.
CATHY ORTIZ And I've been doing pretty good.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, so what we're talking about is a rehab=8A
CATHY ORTIZ Struggle.
RAFAEL FLORES A rehab?
CATHY ORTIZ Yeah, right.
RAFAEL FLORES OK. Tell me the issues that you want to deal with. What
do you want?
CATHY ORTIZ I want to get my life back together.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, what does that mean for you?
CATHY ORTIZ I want to get my kids.
RAFAEL FLORES OK.
CATHY ORTIZ And I want to live in my apartment with my kids.
RAFAEL FLORES In the past year how many detoxes have you been in?
CATHY ORTIZ I've been in about seven.
RAFAEL FLORES OK. Tell me-and we're going to get you in, but tell me
what is it that's motivating you this time? Why do you think it might
work this time or what decisions are you ready to make this time?
CATHY ORTIZ Because I'm just tired. I'm just tired. Being tired of
doing the same things over and over and over again.
RAFAEL FLORES How do I know it's possible to be clean and to learn how
to live without substance?
CATHY ORTIZ Exactly.
RAFAEL FLORES You know, and that has to be difficult.
CATHY ORTIZ It's a struggle every day.
RAFAEL FLORES That has to be difficult.
CATHY ORTIZ It's a struggle every day.
RAFAEL FLORES OK. We're going to start off with a rehab.
CATHY ORTIZ All right.
RAFAEL FLORES I will not place you in a rehab unless you commit to a
long-term program, OK?
CATHY ORTIZ OK.
RAFAEL FLORES Do you have your Medicaid?
CATHY ORTIZ Yeah.
RAFAEL FLORES Let's get on the phone. Listen, I kind of work a little
strange. It may happen even today.
DAVE MARASH (VO) One thing that may complicate Rafael's attempts to
book Cathy into rehab is the fact that she takes regular doses of
methadone to help her control her heroin addiction. Many drug-free
facilities won't accept people on methadone maintenance. But before
Rafael can even get to the telephone, he's interrupted by an old
friend and his second new client.
RAFAEL FLORES Sister, I'm meeting with Cathy =8A
SISTER Right.
RAFAEL FLORES She's ready to make a move. Hi, John.
JOHN CURTIS How you doing?
SISTER He's making a move, too.
RAFAEL FLORES Could I be of any help?
JOHN CURTIS No. I'm out of New York, period.
RAFAEL FLORES You're what?
JOHN CURTIS I'm out of New York, period.
DAVE MARASH (VO) John Curtis has fouled East Harlem's streets for
decades with drugs bought and sold, with lives laid waste, his teenage
son shot to death before his eyes, his two-year-old son in the process
of being taken from him and his wife dying of drugs and AIDS. Sister
has given him traveling money and a bus ticket west.
RAFAEL FLORES What did you want to say?
SISTER The thing that works very often best for us is to just get away
from this whole neighborhood, the whole scene.
RAFAEL FLORES Let him leave in five days. OK, I'll go along with that
if you let me get him in today, that way you'll get some basic medical
services that you could appreciate and be healthier when you do leave.
You'll still leave. You keep the ticket. But at least let me do my
thing.
JOHN CURTIS Well, I'll let you, I want you to do your thing. Hook me up.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Rafael's thing is to get John admitted to detox, the
first stage of drug treatment.
RAFAEL FLORES I think John must have, his substance abuse history has
affected him, his ability to be rational even on a basic level. I
think John wants to die. That's your what?
JOHN CURTIS That's for my degree, we have a permanent ID I got my
Medicaid card.
DAVE MARASH (VO) As John Curtis pulls out his Medicaid card, he's
reminded of a complication.
RAFAEL FLORES Is your Medicaid restricted?
DAVE MARASH (VO) John's Medicaid account has been assigned to an HMO,
Metro Plus, with a short list of treatment facilities it will use. The
last one they sent John to set up what can be for him and other
addicts a recurring roadblock to treatment-the requirement that he
accept treatment for alcoholism as well as his drug addiction.
JOHN CURTIS I don't drink enough. You know, I haven't drank in 14
years. I had to lie because they won't take you on just drugs alone.
You have to have alcohol and drugs or they won't accept you. So I said
yeah, I just drank yesterday.
DAVE MARASH You talk to a lot of people who are saying I want help but
they don't really want help.
RAFAEL FLORES Right.
DAVE MARASH What tells you that these two are ready?
RAFAEL FLORES When they get to the facility.
DAVE MARASH So right now we're still guessing?
RAFAEL FLORES We're still guessing.
TED KOPPEL Getting addicts to accept treatment is tough enough.
Getting the treatment centers to accept the addicts can be even
tougher. That part of the story, when we come back.
(Commercial Break)
DR DENI CARISE, TREATMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE Now, not only are there
more people on a wait list for the government programs, the wait lists
are longer.
DAVE MARASH So, in a sense, the neediest cases are the ones who go
untreated longest?
DR. DENI CARISE Right. That's true and what's so important about that
is that a lot of research has shown that when somebody's ready for
treatment and they want treatment, if they don't get it right away the
chances of them continuing and waiting and getting into treatment
later really diminish.
DAVE MARASH (VO) These are the conditions that face Rafael as he
starts phoning for John Curtis.
RAFAEL FLORES Joe, this is Rafael. I want to beep you. I have a client
here. I'm asking for a detox scholarship.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Rafael is sure that John's HMO will refuse to pay for
most of the programs that he can access so he's trying to get John a
scholarship for free care. Where's John, asks Rafael, pausing from his
non-stop dialing?
SISTER John will be with you in a little while. He was, he's crying
all right? He's a little upset.
RAFAEL FLORES OK, but where is he because I don't want to lose him.
SISTER No, he's not going nowhere.
RAFAEL FLORES Hello? Give me a scholarship, I'll give you the next
five Medicaids I get. Thank you. Please call me at Sister's. Thanks.
That's the negotiation. If they give me this one scholarship, I'll
give them the next five clients I receive, the next five clients that
have insurance.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Before phoning up John's next hope, Rafael checks up
on his missing client. John was last reported in the local laundromat,
reputedly a place an addict can make a drug connection.
RAFAEL FLORES I'm just looking for someone. Sister, I temporarily lost John.
SISTER Well, somebody told me he was in here.
RAFAEL FLORES Yeah. Well, we searched the place and he's not here.
Cathy said that he might be in some woman's apartment?
DAVE MARASH (VO) Rafael returns to the phone and soon gets good news.
CATHY ORTIZ Some woman is here. It gotta be a woman.
RAFAEL FLORES Who?
CATHY ORTIZ John.
RAFAEL FLORES Very good, girl.
CATHY ORTIZ OK. I'm getting my clothes. I told you I'm working.
RAFAEL FLORES Every time I meet with people I'm hoping that they might
be ready. I'm assuming that today is going to be a good day for them
and they might be ready today and it's my job to be ready when they are.
DAVE MARASH (VO) And, says Rafael, he knew exactly when Cathy Ortiz was
ready.
RAFAEL FLORES I was working with her doing some intake and she said
look, Ralph, I have to go to the laundromat. I'll be right back. I
lose most people at that point. The fact that she came back and told
me, "I'm back," she was telling me a lot. She was telling me I'm
ready, let's go.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Once again, Cathy's case moves to the top of Rafael's
agenda.
RAFAEL FLORES I wonder if I might please be able to speak to an intake
worker regarding a possible admission for a client into your rehab. As
soon as possible, today or tomorrow. No beds until next week?
DAVE MARASH (VO) In New York City, the demand for treatment far
exceeds the supply of beds. So far, Rafael has been unable to place
either of his two new clients.
RAFAEL FLORES Yes, but if I have to wait more than 24 hours, I'm going
to lose her.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Meanwhile, John's HMO's veto power has stymied
Rafael's attempts to find him treatment. But Rafael has a plan for
John. First he'll put him into a city crisis center, which will then
send him on to detox at a hospital on Staten Island.
RAFAEL FLORES So why don't I get him down there at five o'clock? OK.
I'll do that. Now, would your worker open the door for us? I mean I'll
be there with him. The best we were able to do is get him into the
crisis center tomorrow morning at five o'clock. We pick him up, we
take him there, but they want him there at five o'clock on the
morning. So we'll be there.
DAVE MARASH Now, who's going to keep an eye and a leash on him between
now and 5:00 AM?
RAFAEL FLORES Sister. That's the reality cause we can't chain him. Hi,
my name is Rafael Flores and I have a client that was in your rehab
about four and a half months ago and she needs to reenter into your
rehab.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Now it's back to Cathy's case, which also has its
absurdities. Cathy is rejected by Beth Israel because her last attempt
at rehab ended less than six months ago.
RAFAEL FLORES Would you consider making an exception, please?
She's highly motivated. She's been out of your rehab. She left in good
standing. She's been out of your rehab for four and a half months. She
has Medicaid. You have beds. Could we work out something? I would say
we have a shot. I would say we have a shot. If we don't, if it doesn't
work, then we get the next one, but we get your paperwork tomorrow.
CATHY ORTIZ OK.
RAFAEL FLORES So it's a little juggling but don't punk out on me.
CATHY ORTIZ No, I'm not. I'm not.
RAFAEL FLORES Stay with me.
CATHY ORTIZ Sister knows I'm a fighter.
DAVE MARASH (VO) Quite a day's work. Rafael has one yes for John and a
maybe for treatment for Cathy.
RAFAEL FLORES They both are going to try to support each other for the
tonight and tonight is a critical night. They need to stay alive in
order to live, yeah.
TED KOPPEL I'll tell you about tomorrow night's broadcast when I come
back, in a moment.
(Commercial Break)
TED KOPPEL Tomorrow, will John and Cathy make it through their first
night clean and sober and will they get into a treatment program?
Getting straight, the final report tomorrow. That's our report for
tonight. I'm Ted Koppel in Washington. For all of us here at ABCNEWS,
good night.
***
[link to Part 3, broadcast the next evening.]
[link to Part 1, broadcast the previous evening.]
to the 1999 Daily News index for March 5-11