-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot eases spasms that harder drugs didn't touch (The Business Journal, in
Portland, describes the painful difficulty John Crause has encountered in
obtaining medical marijuana. Although the quadriplegic living at the Oregon
Veterans Home in The Dalles complies with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act,
he can't easily access the herb. He says he's called pharmacies and no one
wants anything to do with it.)
From: "sburbank" (sburbank@orednet.org)
To: "DPFOR" (dpfor@drugsense.org)
Subject: DPFOR: Article in the Business Journal
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 13:01:59 -0700
Sender: owner-dpfor@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfor@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
Special To The Business Journal
March 22, 1999
Pot eases spasms that harder drugs didn't touch
by Josh Feit
Marijuana is supposed to be a gateway drug. For John Crause, however, it
worked the other way around. The hard stuff - daily injections of Demerol,
Valium and morphine - drove him to pot.
Crause, a 48-year-old Vietnam veteran, is a quadriplegic. He has been
confined to an electric wheelchair since breaking his neck in a diving
accident in 1982. To combat his back spasms, which he describes as "being
fully conscious during an epileptic seizure," Crause moved into the Oregon
Veterans Home in The Dalles in November 1997.
The need for professional nursing care became necessary because Crause began
having too many dangerous emergencies in the middle of the night. However,
the spasms worsened and treatment became intolerable at the veterans home,
too.
Crause had to be held down by nurses and shot with drugs every four hours to
stop the body-wracking spasms. The drugs and elaborate care were expensive
and he was "out of it" most of the time.
Last October, Crause followed the recommendation of other quadriplegics and
tried smoking pot to control the spasms. "I'll be damned. I couldn't believe
the difference," he said. "I could drive my (powered) wheelchair without
jumping out. It was remarkable."
Now, about three times a day, Crause drives his wheelchair outside and
discreetly smokes a little pot. He said he needs about three tokes each time
and the effect is no stronger than a few beers. The change in his condition,
however, is a blessing. Crause said he no longer needs the drug injections,
and the spasms are under control.
Crause actually has no reason to be discreet about smoking pot since his
daily tokes are legal under new Oregon law. In fact, a week after Oregon
voters passed the medical marijuana law last November, Crause asked his
physician, Dr. Robert Hartog, a member of The Dalles Family Practices, to
write a note giving him the A-OK under Oregon law.
"I asked him straight out after it passed," Crause said. "And he said, `I
guess I don't see why not.'" Crause said Hartog wrote a note stating that he
could smoke marijuana to control the spasms and relieve pain from a pinched
nerve. Crause carries the note in his backpack.
Hartog told The Business Journal he is aware of the Oregon Medical
Association's concerns, but in this particular case, he condones the use of
medical marijuana. He said Crause is the only patient he has authorized to
use medical marijuana.
"It's within the laws of the state," Hartog said. "It's helping this patient.
The facility he is in agrees that he can use it. It's not the OMA's place to
tell me how to run my practice."
John Hutchison, executive officer for the state-owned veterans home in The
Dalles, said he helped Crause get the note. "We don't follow him around and
watch him, but Crause is free to do what he wants under Oregon law and
revised statutes. We absolutely support patients' rights 110 percent."
Despite Hartog's approval, however, Crause can't easily access the drug. He
says he's called pharmacies and no one wants anything to do with it.
"Everybody's just sticking their head in the sand," the Vietnam War veteran
said.
The fact is, pharmacists are wise to keep Crause at bay. While the new law
makes it legal for him to possess the drug, buying and selling pot is still
illegal.
"If you're selling marijuana (to anyone)," said Dr. Grant Higginson, deputy
administrator for the Oregon Health Division, "you're in trouble."
Crause is relying on friends and family to bring him about an eighth (of an
ounce) a week, which costs $40.
"We voted for this," Crause said. "Why does the state of Oregon make me go
out onto the street to buy it? I might not be getting clean grade. It's risky
and it's expensive."
Higginson said it would make sense to set up a distribution system for
marijuana in Oregon, but the new state statute doesn't deal with
distribution and procurement of marijuana. That is a federal issue, he said.
"In this situation, where the people of Oregon have said marijuana has
medical value, is it logical to set up a system where quality is maintained
and there are no harmful chemicals? Yes, that is logical," Higginson said.
"Whether or not that is going to happen depends on the federal government.
Right now, it would not be legal for the state to set up a system. The
(federal government says) marijuana has no medical value and Oregon says it
does. There's a real conflict there."
Maybe so, but not in John Crause's mind.
***
Sandee Burbank
2255 State Road, Mosier, OR 97040
phone or fax 541-298-1031
sandee@mamas.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prevent, treat drug abuse (A staff editorial in the Oregonian shows editors
are too uninformed to recognize the patent duplicity in the 1999 National Drug
Control Strategy, outlined by the White House drug czar, General Barry
McCaffrey, in his visit to Portland last week.)
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Mon, Mar 22 1999
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Editorial: Prevent, treat drug abuse
* If you're going to put an emphasis on incarceration, you've also got to
have prison treatment for drug offenders
The most dangerous drug scene in America, hands down, is "a 12-year-old
smoking pot on weekends and drinking beer," White House drug-war czar Barry
McCaffrey says, and he intends to do something about it.
Not by himself, of course, but with the help of parents, teachers, coaches,
ministers, social workers, political leaders and, yes, police, prosecutors,
judges and jailers.
Alcohol is by far the primary drug abused, but McCaffrey also cites tobacco
in the same breath as illegal drugs.
The 1999 National Drug Control Strategy, which McCaffrey outlined in his
visit to Portland last week, stresses prevention and treatment, without
moving away from enforcement, incarceration and interdiction of drugs coming
into the country.
It's a welcome emphasis, building as it has been over the last 10 years of
reshaping national anti-drug strategy. Prevention and treatment are less
expensive -- and more effective -- than locking up users after they've
broken laws, only to see them eventually released to commit new crimes.
Numerous studies confirm that the vast majority of prisoners started using
drugs early and committed their crimes to buy drugs or while under the
influence of drugs. In Multnomah County, for example, about 70 percent of
the prisoners at any time in county jails admit drug use.
The county is building up its investment in treatment, and wisely so.
McCaffrey deplored the fact that jails and prisons provide so little
treatment for drug abuse. And just as bad, no follow-up when inmates are
released.
Both work, experience shows, if not the first time or even a second and
additional times, but eventually. "And when they work, society regains a
constructive citizen and saves money."
Oregonians can see the value of his words in their tax bills for new
prisons, new county jails and more police, prosecutors and judges.
The toughest nut, however, probably is prevention. "You can't unload all
this on the schools," McCaffrey correctly insisted. He called on families,
friends, employers and community youth leaders to step up, to talk to
youngsters about tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs and the problems they
bring to lives.
Parents often struggle to talk to their children about things they're doing
or have done, but McCaffrey advises them to recognize that they're not
talking about their own pasts, but about their children's future.
His is a call that parents and others concerned about kids and crime need to
answer, clearly defining the tragedies of drug abuse and supporting efforts
for more effective and cheaper programs -- prevention and treatment -- in
jail, and in the community.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbers get more training than police, law enforcement officials complain
(The Associated Press says police in Washington state get 440 hours of
training, far less than barbers, cosmetologists or even embalmers. Law
enforcement officials and some lawmakers are asking the legislature for $1.5
million a year to increase training to 720 hours.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "HempTalkNW" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: Barbers get more training than police, law enforcement officials
complain
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 19:59:36 -0800
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Barbers get more training than police, law enforcement officials complain
By HAL SPENCER
The Associated Press
03/22/99 5:34 PM Eastern
OLYMPIA (AP) -- Cops in Washington get far less training than barbers,
cosmetologists or even embalmers -- a situation law enforcement officials
and some lawmakers call dangerous and inexcusable.
They are lobbying legislative budget writers for at least part of the nearly
$1.5 million a year required to increase the level of police training from
the current 440 hours to 720 hours, a level they consider adequate.
Backers of more training note that the 440 hours now required of rookie
policemen and women hasn't changed since 1975 to keep up with the changing
nature of crime and the rising expectations of the community.
"It's not the same street I knew when I was a police officer. We've got
mobile meth labs out there now. We've got more mentally ill, tougher drunk
driving laws and just many more complicated laws to enforce than we had 25
years ago," said Mike Patrick, a former Seattle police officer now lobbying
for the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs.
"My hairdresser gets 1,600 hours of training, and the policeman on the
streets gets 440 hours. I know my hair's important, but my life is more
important," House Criminal Justice and Corrections Co-Chairwoman Ida
Ballasiotes, R-Mercer Island, said Monday.
Budget writers, squeezed by voter-imposed spending limits and rising demands
for more spending on education and salmon-protection, want the police to
find new funding sources for the training -- perhaps through increases in
fines and forfeitures.
But Ballasiotes and Patrick worry that this well has already been pumped
dry, and argue that at least part of the funding should come out of general
government revenue.
Patrick also rejects another idea -- that the would-be cops themselves pay
the cost much as a college student pays tuition.
"We're already having a hard time recruiting qualified police officers. This
would just make it worse," he said.
"The integrity of our law enforcement system is vital to the public's safety
and security. Is there no issue more important than public safety?" Patrick
asked.
Ballasiotes noted that barbers need 1,000 hours of training before they can
snip hair for a living, cosmetologists need 1,400 hours and embalmers
require 3,600 hours.
"We are asking the police to go into our communities and deal with the
things they have to face these days, and we're not giving them the training
they need," she said.
The level of knowledge needed by the average street cop is far higher than
it was 25 years ago, she and Patrick said.
"Take dealing with mentally ill offenders," Ballasiotes said. "There are so
many more of them on the street now than there used to be, and with them,
you never know what's going to happen. You need training and knowledge to
deal with them."
Backers of more funding for training are proposing that Washington's Basic
Law Enforcement Academy be provided more money for staff and that it also be
given $550,000 for a "Mobile Training Van" to take the classroom to the
rookies, a move that would save money.
Patrick observed that the state already recognizes the importance of police
training, best evidenced by the fact it pays for 22 weeks of training for
Washington State Patrol troopers.
"For the police in this state, it's past time for more training," Patrick
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Smoke Clears (A staff editorial in the Fresno Bee about the Institute of
Medicine report on medical marijuana says it remains unclear whether the
government is willing to fund studies to isolate marijuana's medicinal
components. Even if the government did, would a drug company be willing to
gamble on investing in a product that may prove less popular than its illegal
counterpart? In the meantime, the case becomes more compelling for Congress
to let states experiment with various ways to regulate marijuana while
researchers work on finding a better, safer and less controversial
alternative.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 12:06:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: The Smoke Clears
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison Dunbar
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Fresno Bee
Contact: letters@fresnobee.com
Website: http://www.fresnobee.com/
THE SMOKE CLEARS
A new report on marijuana by the Institutes of Medicine offers a
rational approach to one of the nation's most controversial
substances. In the most comprehensive review to date by a panel of
distinguished medical experts, the IOM has concluded that chemicals in
marijuana known as THC and cannabinoids are, indeed, medicine. The
medical challenge now is to isolate all of marijuana's helpful
ingredients from the harmful ones in some new form, such as a pill or
vapor that is inhaled.
The IOM's first conclusion undoubtedly will please the marijuana
advocates: "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value
of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of
nausea and vomiting and appetite stimulation." This caveat, however,
will please marijuana's foes: "Smoked marijuana, however, is a crude
THC delivery system that also delivers harmful substances."
Neither conclusion is shocking or unexpected. What is important is
that it comes from the nation's medical establishment, which for years
avoided the marijuana controversy until voters in California, Arizona,
Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington sought to make the drug
available for certain medical conditions.
The report doesn't resolve the ongoing legal deadlock. Although a
growing number of states seek to legalize the drug for certain
patients, federal law bans the drug and designates marijuana as one of
the nation's most controlled substances. The IOM does, however,
provide considerable ammunition for relaxing federal law to allow
states, which now regulate the practice of medicine, to decide
medicinal uses of marijuana as well.
The IOM, for example, found "no conclusive evidence that the drug
effects of marijuana are casually linked to the subsequent use of
other illicit drugs." Neither did it buy the argument that medicinal
use of marijuana would increase its use in the general population.
It remains unclear whether the government is willing to fund studies
to isolate marijuana's medicinal components. Even if the government
did, would a drug company be willing to gamble on investing in such a
product that may prove less popular than the joint?
In the meantime, the case becomes more compelling for Congress to let
states experiment with various ways to regulate marijuana while
researchers work on finding a better, safer and less controversial
alternative.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical-Pot Activist More Hopeful (The Orange County Register says local
medical-marijuana activist Anna Boyce is optimistic that the new sheriff,
Mike Carona, "will be listening to all sides" after she met Thursday with his
right-hand man, Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo. Carona, who campaigned on
a promise to find a way to enforce Proposition 215, was elected to replace
Brad Gates, who campaigned against the initiative.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 19:16:49 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Medical-Pot Activist More Hopeful
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Section: Metro
Page: 3
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: Teri Sforza
MEDICAL-POT ACTIVIST MORE HOPEFUL
Anna Boyce Gets Some Respect From The New Sheriff's Right Hand Man.
Once, the squat concrete building was the lair of her nemesis. The
bunker where he labored for her defeat.
So it was with curiosity, and a little irony, that Anna Boyce breezed
into the stark Sheriff's Department building Thursday to discuss
something near and dear to her heart - how to implement California's
medicinal marijuana law, which she helped write and labored to pass in
1996.
"We're going to work very well together," Boyce said after her meeting
with Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo, who is the new sheriff's
right-hand man.
It was a sweet victory in and of itself: The old sheriff, Brad Gates,
spearheaded the statewide opposition to the initiative, and would not
meet with activists after it passed. The new sheriff, Mike Carona,
promised to find a way to enforce the law.
"It was very eye-opening for all concerned," said Jaramillo. "These
are important matters in people's lives, and we in law enforcement
need to be responsive to them."
Big problems remain, but Boyce is hopeful.
"We left there smiling, feeling very secure that they will be
listening to all sides," Boyce said.
Boyce is not just another medicinal-marijuana activist. She's a
grandmother and registered nurse who stumbled upon her cause in 1995,
when husband J.J. was dying of cancer. She was told that marijuana
would ease his pain and stimulate his appetite and finally persuaded
him to try it - but felt like a criminal.
Boyce hoped the new law would ensure that never happened again - but
it hasn't worked out that way. California's law is in direct
opposition with federal drug law; and while the initiative makes it
legal for patients with a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana,
the question of how they actually get it is still a thorny one.
"When we wrote this it never occurred to us that there would be
distribution problems," she said. "We always assumed there would be
centers where people would go for cannabis, because a few already
existed. We assumed - that's the icky part."
Orange County set up such a center - and now one director is in jail
for six years for selling and transporting marijuana, and a
co-director is heading to trial on similar charges.
Boyce plans to work with the Legislature and federal officials to
fine-tune the law.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Candidate Kubby And Wife Plead Not Guilty In Drug Case (The Orange County
Register notes medical-marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby and his wife,
Michele, were arraigned Friday on cultivation charges in Placer County,
California.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 19:54:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Ex-Candidate Kubby And Wife Plead Not Guilty In
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: 22 March 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Section: Courts/State-Metro page 5
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
EX-CANDIDATE KUBBY AND WIFE PLEAD NOT GUILTY IN DRUG CASE
Aubern- Former Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby
and his wife have entered not-guilty pleas to drug charges.
Kubby, 52, and his wife, Michele, 32, entered the pleas Friday at
their arraignment in Placer County Superior Court.
The Olympic Valley residents were charged with cultivating marijuana,
possession of marijuana for sale, two counts of conspiracy to commit a
crime, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession
of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana, and possession of an ingestion
device.
The couple say they were growing the 265 marijuana plants seized at
their home in a Jan. 19 raid for their own medical use and not for
sale.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Candidate Pleads Innocent To Drug Charges (The San Luis Obispo County
Telegram-Tribune version)
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 04:36:53 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Candidate Pleads Innocent To Drug Charges
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Gail Lightfoot http://www.kubby.com
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 1999 San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune
Contact: wgroshong@telegram-tribune.com
Address: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112
Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/
CANDIDATE PLEADS INNOCENT TO DRUG CHARGES
AUBURN - Former Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby
and his wife have entered innocent pleas to drug charges against them.
Kubby, 52, and his wife, Michele, 32, entered their pleas on Friday at
their arraignment in Placer County Superior Court.'
The Olympic Valley residents were charged with cultivating marijuana,
possession of marijuana for sale, two counts of conspiracy to commit a
crime, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession
of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana and possession of an ingestion
device.
The couple say that they were growing the 265 marijuana plants seized
at their home for their own medical use and not for sale. The plants
were taken in a raid on Jan 19.
Steve Kubby, who was diagnosed with adrenal cancer about 15 years ago,
has a Feb 4 letter from Dr. Vincent DeCuattro, a professor of medicine
at the University of California stating that Kubby still has a
malignancy, for which the marijuana "in some amazing fashion" ... has
not only controlled the symptoms ... but in my view has arrested the
growth."
A trial date of May 18 was set in the same court.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Double Talk On Medicinal Pot (A letter to the editor of the Minneapolis
Star-Tribune agrees with columnist Doug Grow that Minnesota Gov. Jesse
Ventura was the real killer of Sen. Pat Piper's medical-marijuana bill.
Ventura let the bill die despite his pro-medical-marijuana campaign stance
and despite this month's Mason-Dixon Research poll, which shows 65 percent of
Minnesotans favoring medical use and only 20 percent opposed. Indulging in
the bait-and-switch politics-as-usual he forswore only weeks ago, Ventura
sided with Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 20:17:38 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MN: PUB LTE: Double Talk On Medicinal Pot
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: pmb@multitech.com (Paul M. Bischke)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 1999 Star Tribune
Feedback: http://www.startribune.com/stonline/html/userguide/letform.html
Website: http://www.startribune.com/
Forum: http://talk.startribune.com/cgi-bin/WebX.cgi
Author: Paul M. Bischke, St. Paul.
DOUBLE TALK ON MEDICINAL POT
A bill that would have protected doctors and patients employing
marijuana as a medicine died Wednesday night at the hands of Public
Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver. Columnist Doug Grow rightly
pointed out March 17 that Gov. Jesse Ventura was the real killer of
Sen. Pat Piper's bill, despite his pro-medical-marijuana campaign
stance and despite this month's Mason-Dixon Research poll that finds
65 percent of Minnesotans in favor of medical use and only 20
percent opposed (15 percent ride the fence). Indulging in the
bait-and-switch politics-as-usual he forswore only weeks ago,
Ventura sided with Weaver, who has applied his own campaign slogan
of "tough, not nice" against debilitated patients.
Why the opposition? Weaver called the tiny medical use exception in
Sen. Piper's bill "a law enforcement nightmare." Presumably he
doesn't fear pot-crazed cripples attacking cops in the streets or
cancer patients lurching from their beds to commit unspeakable acts
of reefer madness. Real meaning: Drug cops don't like having to ask
any questions before kicking down the door for their beloved raids,
like that upon wheelchair-ridden Darryl Paulson.
Weaver complained that: (1) marijuana is sometimes more potent today,
and (2) that smoke is an irritant.
These arguments cancel each other out. High potency delivers the
medicine with minuscule smoke exposure.
Weaver also said Ventura would not support a state law that leaves
medical marijuana users in violation of federal law. That's double
talk to cover Ventura's political cowardice.
As the Institute of Medicine report confirms, marijuana is a safe
and effective medicine, albeit with minor respiratory risks.
Patients need protection, not from marijuana, but from coercive
big-government. Ventura, who once decried overbearing government,
now presides over the state enforcers who remain authorized to kick
down patients' doors, put guns to their heads, throw them in prison
and confiscate their earthly possessions. Ventura's odd reasoning:
To protect patients from federal prosecution they must remain
subject to state prosecution. That's a big help, Jesse.
-- Paul M. Bischke, St. Paul.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana Deserves Try (A staff editorial in the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel says the Institute of Medicine report helps expose the folly of the
federal government's hard-as-granite position on marijuana.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 21:58:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: Editorial: Medical Marijuana Deserves Try
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 March 1999
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Contact: jsedit@onwis.com
Fax: 414-224-8280
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
MEDICAL MARIJUANA DESERVES TRY
Striking a blow for common sense and effective medical care, a private
scientific institute has recommended that marijuana cigarettes be made
available to help seriously ill patients whose misery might be relieved by
smoking the now-outlawed substance.
The recommendation flies in the face, and helps expose the folly, of the
federal government's hard-as-granite position on marijuana. Federal law
still outlaws its use, and last fall Congress adopted a resolution
condemning marijuana's use, even under medical supervision.
Yet a mountain of anecdotal evidence, plus an explosion of new scientific
research, show that the active ingredient in marijuana appears to be useful
for treating pain and other symptoms associated with cancer and AIDS in some
patients, reported the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the prestigious
National Academy of Sciences.
Further demolishing any justification for the government's across-the-board
ban, the institute study, issued last Wednesday, said there was no evidence
that making marijuana available to sick patients would increase its
recreational use, or that marijuana introduced users to more dangerous
narcotics such as heroin.
It should be emphasized that the institute recommended nothing that would
encourage young people or others to smoke pot. On the contrary, the
institute urged that marijuana be used only under medical supervision; for
only a short time; only by patients suffering from a few specific maladies,
and only when other treatments have failed.
Moreover, it warned would-be users that the smoke in marijuana cigarettes is
dangerous, and for this reason it urged the development of new ways to
administer the drug, such as inhalers.
Very often, doctors prescribe medicines that are lethal when used
carelessly. For example, highly addictive narcotics are prescribed in
certain situations. No rational, humane person objects to this, especially
to relieve pain in patients who are mortally ill.
By the same token, there is no legitimate reason to object to the medical
use of marijuana. If marijuana helps doctors make life more bearable for
people who are suffering, it would be unreasonable and cruel to deny
physicians -- and their patients -- this tool.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
America, Land Of Prisons (A staff editorial in the Chicago Tribune responds
to the latest figures showing the U.S. prison population rose to 1.8 million
last year, rivaling Russia's. There is considerable evidence, however, that
the imprisonment binge does not explain falling crime rates. For one thing,
the growth in the jail population has been attributable almost exclusively
to tougher charges and longer sentences, not more arrests by police.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 20:46:27 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Editorial: America, Land Of Prisons
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young (theyoungfamily@worldnet.att.net)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 March 1999
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 1999 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
AMERICA, LAND OF PRISONS
No doubt there is a connection between America's falling crime rates and its
soaring prison populations. It's the nature of that connection that demands
scrutiny. Many think the former was purchased with the latter. Lock up more
criminals for longer periods and it is inevitable the streets will become
safer. And they have.
This is a trade-off most Americans have been willing to make. It's
expensive, but locking up felons is a government activity that taxpayers
always seem willing to fund.
Still, the latest incarceration summary from the Justice Department ought to
give pause to everyone who cherishes this land of the free. It reports that,
as of last June, there were 1.8 million Americans behind bars, or 4.4
percent more than the previous year. If present trends continue, the U.S.
rate of incarceration will surpass Russia's in two or three years, making
this nation the world's busiest jailer.
Oddly enough, last year's increase marked a slowing. The prison population
had been rising at a 7.3 percent annual clip from 1985 to 1998, during which
time our rate of incarceration (inmates per 100,000 population) more than
doubled, to 668. Since 1972, when the prison-building boom began, the number
of inmates held in federal, state and local jails has increased sixfold.
There is considerable evidence, however, that the imprisonment binge does
not explain falling crime rates. For one thing, the growth in the jail
population has been attributable almost exclusively to tougher charges and
longer sentences, not more arrests by police. Most crime still goes
unpunished, but those who are caught are being convicted more often of more
serious offenses carrying longer prison terms.
It can be argued that this is having a deterrent effect on would-be
criminals, and, therefore, depressing the crime rate. Perhaps. But it also
can be argued that jailing almost 2 million people is, in the long run,
neither a cost-effective nor a humane method of maintaining domestic
tranquility. Not when it costs around $30,000 a year to keep someone in a
typical prison. And not when our prisons are as likely to harden criminals
as rehabilitate them.
Violent incorrigibles belong in prison, no question. Yet the fastest-growing
segment of the prison population is non-violent drug offenders. These young
people are more apt to gain bad habits in jail than to shed them.
Education, job opportunities, drug treatment--these are the long-term
solutions to crime. More prisons are not the answer. We have enough.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Panel Sees Benefits Of Marijuana (The Times Union, in Albany, New
York, summarizes last week's Institute of Medicine report.)
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 08:34:15 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: Medical Panel Sees Benefits Of Marijuana
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Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 1999, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Address: Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212
Feedback: http://www.timesunion.com/react/
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Forum: http://www.timesunion.com/react/forums/
MEDICAL PANEL SEES BENEFITS OF MARIJUANA
WASHINGTON -- The active ingredients in marijuana ease pain and nausea in
AIDS and cancer patients and "should be tested rigorously" in scientific
studies, a prestigious medical panel advising the federal government said
Wednesday.
In one of the most comprehensive assessments of the medical uses of the
drug, an 11-member panel of investigators for the Institute of Medicine
warned against permitting smoked marijuana for such patients -- as some
advocacy groups are seeking -- and instead proposed development of an
inhaling device.
In its study, the Institute of Medicine, which is affiliated with the
independent, quasi-federal National Academy of Sciences, rebutted a
long-held view of many opponents of marijuana that it is a "gateway" drug
to more dangerous narcotics.
The report says there is "no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of
marijuana are causally linked to subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."
"Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that
patients must inhale harmful smoke," said Dr. Stanley J. Watson Jr., one of
the study's principal investigators, at a news conference called to release
the inch-thick study.
"Until researchers develop a safe and effective delivery system,
care-givers must consider the health problems that can result from smoking
when deciding whether to recommend marijuana to patients," said Watson,
co-director of the University of Michigan's Mental Health Research
Institute in Ann Arbor.
"Marijuana's future as medicine does not involve smoking," he added.
The institute said that for people undergoing chemotherapy and those
suffering from AIDS, chemicals in marijuana stimulate the appetite, ease
pain and anxiety and reduce nausea and vomiting.
But the panel said marijuana, which has been touted by some advocacy groups
as a treatment for glaucoma, reduces eye pressure accompanying the disease
only temporarily.
The study proposed development of new drugs derived from the chemicals in
marijuana called "cannabinoids" that could be delivered through an inhaler.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved only one such medication,
Marinol, currently available in pill form, for use by seriously ill AIDS
patients or those with cancer undergoing chemotherapy.
The report said smoked marijuana should be permitted only in a few
circumstances until additional marijuana-derived drugs and the inhaler are
available.
Dr. John A. Benson Jr., dean of the Oregon Health Sciences University
School of Medicine and the other principal investigator for the study, said
marijuana should be smoked only by "terminally ill patients or those with
debilitating symptoms that do not respond to approved medications." Benson
called for strict medical supervision in such instances.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which commissioned
the study, called the findings "the most thorough analysis to date of the
relevant scientific literature" on the medical use of marijuana.
But the office, headed by retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who has
opposed legalizing marijuana for medical use, did not endorse the findings.
In a statement, McCaffrey said he "will carefully study" the
recommendations, adding, "We note in the report's conclusion that the
future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked marijuana, but in chemically
defined drugs," the statement said.
Patient advocacy groups hailed the study. Chuck Thomas, co-director of the
Marijuana Policy Project here, said the report "shows that marijuana is a
relatively safe and effective medicine for many patients."
Wayne Turner, an executive with the gay rights group ACT-UP, said, "This
report is a long time coming. Once and for all, we now have the stamp of
approval for what we've been maintaining all along, that marijuana has
medical benefit."
But Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who led a successful fight to get the House
to condemn medical marijuana last fall, said he is "deeply concerned" that
the report might encourage people to smoke marijuana.
He acknowledged that some of the chemicals in marijuana can be useful but
said their place is in inhalers or pills. "We should not sanction smoked
marijuana because there is no way to control that," McCollum said.
Robert Maginnis of the conservative Family Research Council insisted
doctors have other medicines to treat any ailment that marijuana can help.
Public opinion on using marijuana for medical purposes has been divided.
Ballot initiatives supporting such use were approved by voters in
California in 1996 and voters in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington last year.
But the Clinton administration has denounced the measures and said federal
law prohibits medical use of the drug except in a few cases. Last year's
House resolution said marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug and
should not be legalized for medical use.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A Drug War Against The Sick (An op-ed in the New York Times by Richard
Brookhiser of the conservative National Review recounts his illicit use of
marijuana while undergoing chemotherapy, and says the Institute of Medicine's
report last week medical marijuana raised serious questions about the
toxicity of marijuana smoke. But many medicines are toxic. The relevant
question is, toxic compared to what? Support for medical marijuana is not an
exception to conservative principles but an extension of them.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 10:14:51 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: OPED: A Drug War Against The Sick
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Richard Brookhiser
A DRUG WAR AGAINST THE SICK
A Government-commissioned panel of experts reported last week that there had
been "an explosion of new scientific knowledge" on the medical uses of
marijuana. The chemicals in marijuana, they concluded, can fight the nausea
induced by chemotherapy, boost the appetites of AIDS patients and ameliorate
some symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
The report was no news to me. I had reached the same conclusions as a cancer
patient, seven years ago. In 1992 I was found to have testicular cancer.
My chemotherapy put me in the hospital for five days at a time, once a
month, for four months.
But midway through my treatment I could tell that Zofran, then a hot new
drug prescribed to combat nausea, was losing its effect.
For the remainder of my chemotherapy I turned to marijuana to keep my head
out of the toilet. None of the doctors or nurses at the hospitals I went to
for treatment (New York University Medical Center) or consultation (Memorial
Sloan-Kettering) discouraged me from using marijuana should the need arise.
They said they had patients who had benefited from it when other drugs had
failed.
But none of them could prescribe it, because using marijuana was a crime --
and remains so, despite half a dozen state referendums since 1992 urging
that it be legalized for medical use. Federal laws still ban marijuana as
stringently as heroin.
Not that I was ever at much risk of arrest.
As a member of the media elite, I was not a likely target for a drug bust,
and living in Manhattan, I could acquire what I needed under the cover of
urban anonymity.
But people in less privileged professions, or from different ZIP codes, do
get into trouble when buying or growing marijuana for medical purposes.
Unequal enforcement is a sign of bad law.
The experts' report raised serious questions about the toxicity of marijuana
smoke. But many medicines are toxic.
The relevant question is, toxic compared to what? The chemicals in
chemotherapy are dangerous; so is radiation; so are the drugs in AIDS cocktails.
An AIDS patient facing starvation might well be willing to damage his lungs
instead.
Further work should be done on alternative delivery systems, like inhalers
and patches. But in the meantime there are sick people who could use relief
now. Polemicists in the war on drugs fear that acknowledging marijuana's
medical efficacy would set a bad example.
Then why don't we take morphine out of hospital medicine cabinets?
There is also little risk of inducing bad habits in patients.
Using marijuana medically is the ultimate aversion therapy, forever linking
the plant to hospital smells and IV poles. In almost every case when the
medical use of marijuana has been put on a ballot, it has been approved by
voters.
Supporters have been as diverse as the rainwater liberals of Oregon and the
cowboy libertarians of Arizona. We will probably discover that the District
of Columbia approved an initiative last fall, too, if Congress allows the
votes to be counted.
On this issue, voters have shown that they are more mature than the
political class. For obvious reasons, there has been no leadership on this
issue from President Clinton, who began his career of evasion at the
national level by telling us he didn't inhale.
Conservative Republicans, my ideological soulmates, have also been woefully
stubborn.
They hammered Hillary Clinton's health care plan because it would come
between doctors and patients, yet they support Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey and
the Office of National Drug Control Policy when they do the same thing.
Support for medical marijuana is not an exception to conservative principles
but an extension of them. My chemotherapy worked, and I haven't smoked
during the entire Clinton Administration. But should I ever need to turn to
marijuana again, I'd like to be able to do so without the added burden of
breaking the law.
Richard Brookhiser, a senior editor of National Review, is the author of
"Alexander Hamilton, American."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Debate Is Re-ignited: Is Pot A 'Gateway'? (USA Today says last week's
Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana has infuriated many drug
abuse experts, prosecutors and lawmakers by concluding that "There is no
conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to
the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." Lynn Zimmer, a sociologist at
Queens College in New York and co-author of the book, "Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts," says the gateway theory is as likely to be true as the idea
that early bicycle riding "causes" motorcycling. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.,
chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice,
Drug Policy and Human Resources, called the Institute of Medicine report "the
biggest waste of money in the entire war on drugs." However, Mica announced
plans to hold hearings in late April on drug legalization and medical
marijuana.)
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 08:16:36 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Debate Is Re-ignited: Is Pot A 'Gateway'?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kevin Zeese http://www.csdp.org/factbook/
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Address: 1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington VA 22229
Fax: (703) 247-3108
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Author: Patrick McMahon, USA TODAY
DEBATE IS RE-IGNITED: IS POT A 'GATEWAY'?
The major study on medical marijuana released last week did more than
conclude that marijuana may help treat certain sick and dying patients.
Eminent researchers also tackled the long-debated question of whether
marijuana leads users to abuse hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
Their finding: "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of
marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."
This statement elicited sweet satisfaction from marijuana proponents, but
it infuriated many drug abuse experts and prosecutors and some lawmakers.
"In my mind, there is no question about the statistical relationship"
between marijuana and the abuse of hard drugs, says Joseph Califano, a
former U.S. secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Califano cites
studies showing that a child who uses marijuana before age 12 is 79 times
more likely to use harder drugs than a child who never smokes marijuana.
Califano says the connection is more statistically significant than the
1964 surgeon general's report that first linked smoking and lung cancer.
"To say there is no relationship - that is preposterous."
Califano is currently head of the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University in New York, perhaps the
nation's foremost promoter of the "gateway theory" - that marijuana is a
gateway drug that leads to heroin and cocaine.
The medical director of CASA, Herbert Kleber, says research on the brain's
pleasure center may provide more evidence of a direct link. "We don't have
the smoking gun yet, but we are closing in," he says.
Portland, Ore., medical professor John Benson, co-director of the Institute
of Medicine study, defends it, but also stresses, "We are, of course,
worried about the association between marijuana and further drug use,
particularly among teen-agers."
He also noted that the study, commissioned and paid for by the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy, "came out strongly against smoking"
marijuana.
In the report, Benson and University of Michigan researcher Stanley Watson
say that because marijuana use usually precedes hard drugs, "it is indeed
a 'gateway' drug" in some sense.
But, they continued, "because underage smoking and alcohol use typically
precede marijuana use, marijuana is not the most common and rarely the
first 'gateway' to illicit drug use."
The factors that best predict use of illicit drugs beyond marijuana are
actually "age of first alcohol or nicotine use, heavy marijuana use and
psychiatric disorders," the study said.
The most frequent explanation for marijuana as a gateway drug is that
youths who use it enter the world of illegal drugs, where they have a
greater opportunity and are under greater social pressure to try other
illegal drugs.
This interpretation "is supported by - although not proven by - the
available data," the report conceded.
But, the report also argued, the data is unconvincing. Too often, the data
provides no indication of what proportion of marijuana users become serious
drug abusers, only that drug abusers usually use marijuana before they
smoke crack cocaine or inject heroin.
Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project says that if there is anything
about marijuana that drives teen-agers to hard drugs, it is the likelihood
they'll have to buy it from drug dealers. His group, based in Washington,
D.C., seeks to eliminate jail penalties for marijuana use.
Lynn Zimmer, a sociologist at Queens College in New York and co-author of
the book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, says the gateway theory is as
likely to be true as the idea that early bicycle riding "causes" motorcycling.
Marijuana use "may give you a hint that your kid might be interested in
other drugs," she said.
Zimmer favors an approach used in the Netherlands that separates the
marijuana market from other drugs by allowing small amounts of marijuana to
be sold to people over 18 at certain businesses.
Zimmer's attitude is not shared by most law enforcement officials. "People
who work in our drug court tell me" that marijuana and more serious drugs
are connected, says Doug Moreau, the district attorney in Baton Rouge.
"It's only common sense. There's a natural human tendency" once you are a
regular user of one drug "to start looking for something that gives you a
bigger kick."
Santa Fe District Attorney Henry Valdez says that "almost every case we've
had" of major drug use began with marijuana, and he thinks social pressure
as much as anything leads people to use hard drugs after they're tried
marijuana.
The Institute of Medicine report drew criticism from Rep. John Mica,
R-Fla., chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal
Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.
Mica announced plans to hold hearings in late April on drug legalization
and medical marijuana, and called the Institute of Medicine report "the
biggest waste of money in the entire war on drugs."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Supreme Court Rejects School's Drug Test Appeal (Reuters says the U.S.
Supreme Court today upheld an appellate court's decision that a high school
in Anderson, Indiana, can't require drug tests from all students who want to
return to school after being suspended.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 16:17:02 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Supreme Court Rejects School's Drug Test Appeal
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David Hadorn (hadorn@dnai.com)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.
Author: James Vicini
SUPREME COURT REJECTS SCHOOL'S DRUG TEST APPEAL
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court returned Monday to the
controversy over high school drug testing,letting stand a ruling that struck
down for violating privacy rights mandated tests for all suspended students.
The justices rejected without comment or dissent an appeal by a school
district in Anderson, Indiana, after an appellate court struck down its
drug-testing program for violating the constitutional right against
unreasonable searches.
The policy, adopted in 1997, requires that all students suspended from
school for any reason for three days or more take a urine test to screen for
drug or alcohol use before they may be readmitted.
Besides suspended students, tests are required for any students who use or
posses tobacco products, who are habitually truant or who are suspected of
being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The last major decision on school drug-testing was handed down in 1995, when
the Supreme Court ruled that schools may randomly test those who play
sports.
In 1998 the Supreme Court without any comment or dissent allowed a school
district to require all students involved in extracurricular activities to
submit to random drug tests.
The latest case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by James Willis, who in 1997
was a freshman at Anderson High School and was suspended for fighting with
another student.
After the five-day suspension ended, Willis was told he would be tested for
drugs and alcohol. When Willis refused to provide a urine sample, he was
suspended again.
He was told that if he refused again to provide the urine sample, he would
be deemed to have admitted unlawful drug use and would be suspended a third
time, pending expulsion proceedings.
A federal judge upheld the school's policy, but a U.S. appeals court struck
it down as unconstitutional, ruling that the school must meet the
traditional standard -- suspicion that a student used drugs or alcohol
before requiring the test.
It ruled the school's interests do not outweigh Willis' privacy rights.
In its Supreme Court appeal, the school district argued Willis has a
``lesser'' expectation of privacy as a public school student and the
infringement of his privacy rights from the drug test was ``minimal.''
The school district said it has a ``legitimate and compelling interest'' in
deterring student drug use and that its policy was ``very effective and
narrowly tailored.''
Last, the school district said there may be a link between drug or alcohol
use and fighting, giving ``individualized reasonable suspicion'' that the
cause of Willis' violent behavior may be drugs or alcohol.
But attorneys for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, which represented
Willis, said the dean of students examined Willis after the fight and
concluded there was no reasonable suspicion he was under the influence of
drugs or alcohol.
They also said there was no need for the Supreme Court to expand the
boundaries on what constitutes sufficient cause to justify a drug test.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruling Bars Mandatory Drug Testing Of Students (The Associated Press version)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:41:06 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Wire: Ruling Bars Mandatory Drug Testing Of Students
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David Hadorn (hadorn@dnai.com)
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
RULING BARS MANDATORY DRUG TESTING OF STUDENTS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court today refused to let an Indiana
school district require all high school students suspended for
disciplinary reasons to undergo drug testing before they are reinstated.
The justices, without comment, let stand a ruling that struck down the
requirement as a violation of students' privacy rights.
Today's action is not a decision and sets no precedent. In fact, the
court's denial of review could confuse the already-murky law
surrounding student drug-testing across the nation.
At issue was a drug-testing policy formerly imposed at two Anderson,
Ind., high schools. Lawyers for the Anderson Community School Corp.
asked the justices to reinstate the policy, which they called vital to
``deterring drug and alcohol use among students.''
The Supreme Court in 1995 ruled in an Oregon case that random drug
tests for student athletes do not violate the Constitution's Fourth
Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.
That 6-3 ruling emphasized the ``role model'' effect of student
athletes' drug use but also noted the importance of ``deterring drug
use by our nation's schoolchildren.''
Just last October, the highest court let another Indiana school
district -- in rural Rush County -- continue conducting random drug
testing for all students participating in extracurricular activities.
The justices left that policy intact by rejecting, without comment, a
challenge to it.
But no court has ever condoned the random testing of all public school
students.
In striking down the drug-testing policy in Anderson, a three-judge
panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals drew a distinction
between it and those involved in the Oregon and Rush County cases.
``A testing policy for students in athletics or other extracurricular
activities applies only to students who have voluntarily chosen to
participate in an activity,'' the appeals court said. ``Drug testing
could be construed as part of the `bargain' a student strikes in
exchange for the privilege of participating in favored
activities.''
But in the Anderson case, the appeals court said, ``Such testing is a
consequence of unauthorized participation in disfavored
activities.''
The policy adopted in 1997 for Anderson's two public high schools
required that all students suspended for any reason for three days or
more take a urine test to screen for drug and alcohol use before being
readmitted.
If the test detected drug or alcohol use, the result was disclosed
only to parents and a designated school official. The test result was
not used for additional punishment.
James R. Willis II was a freshman at Highland High School when in
December 1997 he was suspended for five days for fighting. The school
official to whom Willis was taken right after his fight later
testified that there was no indication he had been using drugs or alcohol.
Willis refused to take the required drug test for readmission, and,
with his father, sued the school district.
A federal trial judge upheld the drug-testing policy, but the 7th
Circuit court reversed that ruling.
The appeals court said the school district must restrict drug testing
in such disciplinary cases to students individually suspected of using
drugs or alcohol.
The case is Anderson Community School Corp. vs. Willis, 98-1183.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What teens hear in marijuana debate (According to the Christian Science
Monitor, which fails to interview a single young person, Mark Kleiman, the
notorious drug warrior in residence at the University of California at Los
Angeles, claims last week's Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana
could lead teens to think "first, marijuana is sort of healthy, and second,
the government is stupid and doesn't get it. . . . The argument about
medicinal marijuana carries a greater threat to changing juvenile attitudes
than any policy that's adopted." The nationally distributed newspaper says
Mr. Kleiman and other "experts" worry that the medical-marijuana debate is,
for teens, "morphing into questions about marijuana itself, and even drugs in
general." Good heavens, we can't have that, can we? The newspaper doesn't say
whether the national policy of defunding education while expanding the
prison-industrial complex might have some bearing on teens' concerns about
drug policy.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 10:35:34 -0600
From: "Frank S. World"
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 CHRISTIAN SCI MON: What teens hear in marijuana debate
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Website http://www.csmonitor.com/
Email oped@csps.com
Forum http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/vox/p-vox.html
Pubdate: MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1999
WHAT TEENS HEAR IN MARIJUANA DEBATE
By Paul Van Slambrouck, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For parents and others concerned about teen drug use, this is a time for
extra vigilance, say analysts.
The intensifying debate over the medical value of marijuana is, in many
respects, a loud clanging over a relatively minor issue. In the world of
medicine and drugs, marijuana as a treatment is a peripheral topic, way down
the list of pressing national health concerns.
But the decibel level of the debate and its content, rich with mixed
messages, make it especially dangerous, analysts add. The argument, they
point out, is well within earshot of the nation's teens, who could find it
confusing at best or, at worst, justification for experimentation.
A report last week by the Institute of Medicine found marijuana "potentially
effective" in treating certain symptoms of illnesses, including AIDS, a
message that ran counter to the Clinton administration policy of staunchly
opposing any medical use of the drug. While the administration's own Office
of National Drug Control Policy requested the study, it's unclear what, if
any changes in policy will result.
Yet the message to teens could well be "first, marijuana is sort of healthy,
and second, the government is stupid and doesn't get it," says Mark Kleiman,
a specialist in drug policy at the University of California at Los Angeles.
What Mr. Kleiman and other experts worry is that the medical-marijuana
debate is, for teens, morphing into questions about marijuana itself, and
even drugs in general. And because the issue of marijuana's medicinal value
is not clear-cut, it could muddy unequivocal warnings against marijuana, and
drugs, overall.
Indeed, Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse (NCASA) at Columbia University in New York, warned in a
statement following the release of the government report: "It is imperative
to distinguish between the issue of medical marijuana and marijuana as a
threat to America's kids."
Propelling the debate has been a rebellion of sorts from seven Western
states where voters in recent years have passed ballot measures legalizing
the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Since California did that in
1996, marijuana club owners and state and federal law-enforcement officials
have engaged in an cat-and-mouse game of closures and legal appeals.
Vaguely worded ballot initiatives have provoked some of the legal wrangling.
They didn't clearly spell out how the process - from cultivation to use -
was to work. But the federal government says state laws can't supercede
federal law outlawing the drug.
Beyond the state actions and legal maneuvers, though, are deeper reasons
explaining the intensity of the medical marijuana wars. In many respects,
marijuana sits on a fault line of American culture, an emblem of the 1960s
social revolution that continues to ripple across the political landscape
today.
"In many respects, this issue eludes analysis on a scientific basis and
quickly descends to passionately held positions," says Eric Sterling,
president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation in Washington.
On one hand, there is the position that allowing marijuana as medicine will
encourage recreational marijuana use, which, in turn, will lead to use of
other drugs. On the other, many fighting for medicinal marijuana believe the
marijuana laws in general are too heavy-handed and inconsistent with the
status of other drugs, like alcohol.
Some groups pushing for medicinal marijuana clearly would like to go
further. Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project says: "It's possible
that legalization might bring a net harm. But there is a whole range of
policies, including permitting adults to grow their own, that might be a net
positive," compared with the blanket-criminalization approach used now.
There are indications the teen-drug picture is improving. While illicit drug
use by teenagers has risen during the 1990s, there has been a modest decline
in the last two years, according to surveys by the University of Michigan.
Still, the problem is seen as large - so large that some dismiss the notion
that allowing controlled medical use of marijuana will have any measurable
impact on the overall problem. Kleiman says there is no evidence to support
the notion of "leakage" from one type of use to another.
On the question of whether marijuana is a "gateway" to other drug use, there
is disagreement. For his part, Robert MacCoun, a professor of public policy
at UC Berkeley, wrote in a recent report: "In the absence of causal
evidence, a strong allegiance to any particular gateway theory would seem to
reflect ideology or politics, rather than science."
Whatever the linkages to other drugs, NCASA says parents should talk more to
their children about drugs and be watchful when they turn 13, a "critical
turning point" when access and exposure to drugs skyrocket.
Exposure to the arguments about medical marijuana has also skyrocketed, and
that holds its own risk. As Kleiman puts it, "the argument about medicinal
marijuana carries a greater threat to changing juvenile attitudes than any
policy that's adopted."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Focus Alert No. 102 - IOM Report (A bulletin from DrugSense says
the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana has virtually destroyed
the main arguments against medical marijuana. At the same time, the IOM
report dispels the myths that prohibitionists have relied for on for decades
to prevent general legalization. Also included are a few related media
reports and a list of newspapers to send letters to about the IOM report.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 12:54:02 -0800
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense FOCUS Alert IOM Report
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #102 Monday March 22, 1999
While Somewhat of a Compromise, The Institute of Medicine Report Not Only
Supports Medical Marijuana But Shoots Down Most of The Main Arguments of
Prohibition in General. See
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/enter2.cgi?0309071550.html
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS PLEASE SEE THE INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FOCUS ALERT
***
PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE
***
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #102 Monday March 22, 1999
The IOM Report on Medical Marijuana has virtually destroyed the main arguments
against Medical Marijuana while, at the same time, dispelled the myths that the
prohibitionists have relied for on for decades to prevent general legalization.
"The problem for the prohibitionists is that they tied the two subjects
together, both by using the same arguments against medical marijuana as they
use for marijuana prohibition, and by saying that medical marijuana would
undermine marijuana prohibition and its stated objectives."- Richard Cowan (See
www.marijuananews.com/will_the_titanic_of_marijuana_pr.htm
1. Marijuana is not a "gateway drug" to harder substances.
2. Marijuana is not addictive and withdrawal, if any, is "mild and
short-lived".
3. Decriminalization or legalization of cannabis will not increase its use
among the general population.
4. Marijuana is indeed a useful medicine in treating and prevention of severe
pain, nausea, and appetite loss.
5. Despite considerable research, marijuana has not been shown to cause
immunological damage in humans.
The compromise lies in the recommendation that more research be done with
regard to Medical Marijuana and its delivery systems. (The report ignores the
practice of vaporization and ingestion via foods or tea in lieu of smoking,
which is the IOM's main objection to medical marijuana.) Many see this as more
stalling tactics while sick and dying people continue to suffer and risk arrest
and incarceration.
The IOM also sets "burdens for access to marijuana that do not apply to any
other drugs, even while they admit that 'except for the harms associated with
smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range of effects
tolerated for other medications.' They know that marijuana is far less
dangerous by any measure than most other drugs, simply because there is no
lethal dose. In short, they ignore existing technology and programs, and set
standards for access to medical marijuana not justified by their own data.
While the report will be useful in the Class Action lawsuit, and it will help
the states' medical marijuana movements, the IOM has actually made a stronger
case against marijuana prohibition than for medical marijuana.
That is really not surprising. The medical establishment has consistently
failed the public in dealing with the marijuana issue in general, with the
ironic exception of the 1937 hearings that created marijuana prohibition in the
first place. They just struck out again, but this time they may have knocked
out marijuana prohibition in the process.
Oh well, unintended side-effects are one of the risks of medicine." - Richard
Cowan (See www.marijuananews.com/will_the_titanic_of_marijuana_pr.htm
Thanks for your effort and support.
WRITE A LETTER TODAY
It's not what others do it's what YOU do.
***
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone,
fax etc.).
Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you
are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer@mapinc.org. Your
letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts
and be motivated to follow suit.
This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and
effectiveness.
***
CONTACT INFO
Pubdate: Wed 18 Mar 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Joanne Jacobs
***
EXTRA CREDIT - All are encouraged to read the IOM report and then ask the
important questions to your newspapers and other media. (See below). Questions
such as how many more millions of dollars and years of research and studies
will it take before our government does the right thing regarding a virtually
benign substance (compared to the legal alcohol and tobacco) for which there is
no lethal dose or attributable deaths in over 5000 years?
Other papers running IOM articles
The Orange County Register
REPORT: MARIJUANA HAS SOME BENEFITS
letters@link.freedom.com
San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
FEDERAL STUDY SAYS POT HAS MEDICAL VALUE
chronletters@sfgate.com
Toronto Star article
U.S. REPORT BACKS EASING OF RESTRICTIONS ON POT
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n312.a02.html
lettertoed@thestar.com
Oakland Tribune article at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n309.a08.html
Guardian, The (UK)
EXPERTS TELL THE WHITE HOUSE THAT MARIJUANA MAKES MEDICINAL SENSE
letters@guardian.co.uk
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n320.a05.html
Arizona Republic (AZ)
STUDY: MARIJUANA NOT A 'GATEWAY' DRUG
REPORT URGES CLOSER LOOK AT PAIN, NAUSEA TREATMENT
Opinions@pni.com
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n316.a01.html
NOTE There are plenty more. If you want to find other articles in other
locations please search on "Institute Medicine" (no quotes) in the DrugNews
Archive at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/
-OR-
Send your letter to any or all of the newspapers in your state using the NEW
DrugSense MEDIA EMAIL DATABASE. Simply go to the website below and select your
state or other criteria and presto a list of media contacts complete with names
of the media organization will be presented or E-mailed to you.
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm
NOTE: For best possibilities of getting published DO NOT BCC: to many papers at
once. This will practically insure that you are not published.
If your intention is the widest distribution of your thoughts in the least
amount of time BCC may be acceptable in rare instances but is really a bad
habit and considered bad form by most media contacts.
***
EXTRA CREDIT #2
Let the San Jose Mercury news know that the reform movement appreciates the
article and its author whose views reflect the intelligent and educated
insights of the Medical Marijuana issue.
***
Pubdate: Wed 18 Mar 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Joanne Jacobs
REMOVE THE ROADBLOCKS TO MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
[snipped to avoid duplication. Follow the link. - ed.]
***
(Always include this)
ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts
3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm
Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm
***
SAMPLE LETTER (SENT)
It may turn out, after all is said and done and studied and researched and
reclassified, that the best answer to the medical marijuana question will be
general, unrestricted legalization. State initiatives, task forces and IOM
studies still leave us with the conflicts between state and federal law.
Implementation of state initiatives and processes for patients' access outlined
by the IOM are all so cumbersome and beleaguered with bureaucratic red tape
that doctors will remain afraid, law enforcement will remain confused at best
and over-zealous at worst and-most importantly-patients will remain helplessly
sick and dying.
Patients are still suffering and risking arrest and imprisonment while awaiting
implementation of state laws that the federal government will never recognize.
Patients are still dying while awaiting research that the government loves to
recommend but never intends to do with any alacrity-if at all. Patients are
still dying while studies are published in 1982 and now in 1997 (at a cost of
millions of dollars) that conclude what we all already know to be true but the
politicians choose to ignore.
Yes, it may just be that unrestricted adult legalization, regulation and
taxation will be the most effective, cheapest and fastest way to get marijuana
to the people who need it. One side effect of this is that it will be the most
effective, cheapest and fastest way by far to get marijuana out of the hands of
underage users who may now obtain marijuana on street corners and church and
school parking lots despite the millions spent every year on the drug war.
Without marijuana prohibition the war on drugs would virtually be reduced to a
pillow fight. In the absence of the cold war we still have a war based economy
but Americans are the enemy and law enforcement and the prison industrial
complex stand to lose the most in a pillow fight scenario.
Let's tell all of the sick and dying people of this country that despite the
IOM's debunking of all of the myths and lies that have for decades been the
basis for prohibition, we just can't afford to legalize marijuana.
***
Prepared by Mark Honts (frodo999@msn.com) DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist
(with a little help from his friends)
***
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
Please utilize the following URLs
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, Newshawks and letter writing
activists.
NOTICE:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.
REMINDER:
Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug
related issue to editor@mapinc.org
***
NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE
DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE TO
PRODUCE.
We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are able
to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our convenient donation
web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
-OR-
Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your
contribution to:
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville, CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.mapinc.org/
http://www.drugsense.org/
***
Just DO It!
***
Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org
http://www.mapinc.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug And Alcohol Use In The Workplace (The Los Angeles Times prints some
discredited propaganda from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
and the National Institute on Drug Abuse about the supposed cost of alcohol
and other drugs to workers' productivity, apparently hoping to benefit the
drug-testing industry. The drag on productivity from having a correctional
population of almost 6 million isn't considered, nor the recent research
showing that drug-testing workers reduces a business's productivity by almost
20 percent.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 17:01:27 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Drug And Alcohol Use In The Workplace
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison Dunbar
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 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/
DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE IN THE WORKPLACE
According to federal health officials, drug and alcohol abuse is a
major problem in the workplace. About 68% of illegal-drug users are
employed either full time or part time, the National Institute on Drug
Abuse estimates. One out of every 10 people in the United States has
an alcohol problem, officials said.
Some basic facts:
* Workers who abuse alcohol and drugs are far less productive, miss
more workdays, are more likely to injure themselves or someone else,
and file more workers' compensation claims, according to federal officials.
* Employers can't absorb all these costs, which are passed on to
employees through higher insurance premiums and reduced salaries or
benefit packages, and to consumers through higher-priced products.
* Hidden costs include damage to equipment, drains on supervisory time
and stress to others who continually fill in for absent or tardy co-workers.
Signs of substance abuse include:
* Frequent tardiness or absenteeism.
* Abrupt changes in mood or attitude.
* Frequent complaints of not feeling well.
* Poor relationships with co-workers.
* Uncharacteristic errors in judgment, poor concentration.
* Unusual flare-ups of temper.
* Deterioration of personal appearance and hygiene.
* Repeated or unusual accidents.
* Deteriorating job performance.
* Borrowing money from co-workers or frequently requesting advances on
paychecks.
* Using a company credit card for personal business.
Treatment can be successful in helping people with serious addiction
problems. After treatment, recovering addicts are less likely to be
involved in crime and more likely to improve job performance.
PHONE HELP Some helpful phone numbers:
Hotline (800) BE SOBER
Alcoholics Anonymous (714) 556-4555
Adult Children of Alcoholics (714) 549-5733
Drug Use Is Life Abuse (714) 647-4593
Marijuana Anonymous (714) 999-9409
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Drugs Drive Fails To Stem Abuse (The Guardian, in Britain, says
unpublished results from the first national audit carried out for the drugs
tsar, Keith Hellawell, designed to provide the first glimpse into the state
of the government campaign against drug abuse, show the war on drugs in
Britain is proving ineffective. The results from three of the 100 drug action
teams around the country show many initiatives are overloaded or never even
get evaluated, despite being in place for years. All three reports showed
drug treatment services were already overloaded, with many agencies reporting
that they were finding it difficult to meet current demand levels.
Publication of the audit is being delayed until after the Scottish, Welsh and
local elections in May.)
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 18:10:57 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: OPED: Anti-Drugs Drive Fails To Stem Abuse
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: 22 Mar 1999
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1999
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Author: Alan Travis, Home Affairs Editor
ANTI-DRUGS DRIVE FAILS TO STEM ABUSE
The drive against drug abuse in Britain is proving ineffective with many
initiatives overloaded or never even evaluated despite being in place for
years, according to unpublished results from the first ever national audit
carried out for the drugs tsar.
The results from three drug action teams in Avon, Cumbria, and
Gloucestershire sent to the Guardian provide the first glimpse into the
state of the official campaign against drug abuse and reveal a dismal picture.
They show that there is a very patchy provision of drug education and
treatment services across the country and there is little evidence that the
police and others are making any significant headway in stifling the
availability of illegal drugs to young people.
Under Whitehall rules, the publication of these disturbing results is being
delayed until after the Scottish, Welsh and local elections in May.
Last night the drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, confirmed that the findings
from the three areas were typical of the reports from the 100 drug action
teams around the country although some others displayed a more co-ordinated
approach. 'The whole purpose of the exercise was to identify for the first
time the real position in this country and it has achieved that purpose,'
said Mr Hellawell.
The Gloucestershire drug action team report says: 'Overall there is no
formal monitoring of the onset and incidence of young people's illegal drug
use in the county. There is therefore no current information which
contribute to any judgements on the effectiveness of drug education.' It
says that the most recent such data is four years old.
There had been no specific work on heroin abuse among young people, the
report said, nor any evaluation of the action taken to involve local
communities in tackling drug problems, such as substance abuse groups,
Crimestoppers or through police informants or work by the Gloucestershire
police in pubs and clubs.
The report also said that there had been no evaluation of the efforts to
reduce access to drugs for five-to 16-years-olds.
Asked to state their long-term priorities, the drugs action team said: 'A
revised and coherent strategy.'
The report from the Avon drug action team painted a slightly brighter
picture. It said there had been no long-term evaluation of the
effectiveness of the initiatives being taken to reduce drug misuse amongst
the under-25s, but there did appear to be greater understanding of
drug-related issues among students who had been through such courses than
those who have not. Parents said their confidence in talking to their
children about drugs had increased.
Asked about what action was being taken to reduce exclusions from schools
arising from drug related incidents, the Avon drug action team said it had
difficulty obtaining the figures.
It added that there was also a significant problem with heroin abuse
amongst the under-25s but gave no evidence to show whether their response
was effective.
It added that there was no evidence to show that the effort to disrupt the
supply of drugs locally was working.
The report from the Cumbria team was even more frank. It said that the
evidence that drug education in schools was working was very patchy: 'There
is a very real lack of information on the effectiveness of drug education
in terms of proper, comprehensive before-and-after studies on pupils'
knowledge and attitudes towards drugs. This is a national issue.'
It said there was no evidence to suggest that recent initiatives had
succeeded in reducing drug-related crime. These schemes included the launch
of drug action lines, a pubs and clubs against drugs plan in which
photographs of known dealers were displayed, and the new Crime and Disorder
Act Partnerships.
All three reports showed drug treatment services were already overloaded
with many agencies reporting that they were finding it difficult to meet
current demand levels.
However, there were positive aspects in all three reports. The Cumbria team
wants to see the rest of the country adopt its policy whereby pharmacists
dispense the heroin substitute, methadone, to addicts only on a daily basis
under supervision. Cumbria argues it has reduced leakage of methadone to
the illegal market and cut the danger of patients overdosing on methadone.
The report said: 'The police make a conscious effort to stay away from
methadone supervision and needle exchange sites which is most helpful in
encouraging patients to participate in these schemes.'
Danny Kushlik of the drugs charity, Transform, said the reports showed that
nobody really knows what the state of the drug services are: 'They show
that almost all the initiatives that have been in place for years are
either ineffective, overloaded or unevaluated. This audit is long overdue
and it shows that enforcement has not reduced availability.'
Mr Hellawell said: 'The feedback we have given to each individual drug
action team points at the particular shortcomings within their area and
makes specific recommendations for the coming year.
'Most drug action teams recognise the work they have to do and their plans
need to be in line with our ten year strategy which will achieve the
improvements we need to impact on the problem in the way we all desire.'
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Arrested RCMP officer resigns (The North Shore News, in British Columbia,
says Constable Scott Simpson, a 12-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police in North Vancouver, was arrested Feb. 16 under suspicion of possessing
and distributing marijuana.)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Cc: editor@mapinc.org
Subject: Canada: Arrested RCMP officer resigns
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:11:15 -0800
Lines: 37
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Source: North Shore News (Canada)
Contact: editor@nsnews.com
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1999
Author: Katharine Hamer
Arrested RCMP officer resigns
A North Vancouver RCMP officer under investigation for drug trafficking has
tendered his resignation.
Const. Scott Simpson was arrested Feb. 16 under suspicion of possessing and
distributing marijuana.
Simpson, a 12-year veteran of the force, has not yet been charged with
these offences, although he was suspended from work immediately after his
arrest.
North Vancouver RCMP Supt. Jamie Graham said at the end of last week that
Simpson had signed an "irrevocable" termination document "of his own
volition" to quit, and was now no longer a member of the force.
Search warrant information regarding Simpson's case was sealed by police at
the time of his arrest.
However, the results of an internal police investigation will be presented
to a federal prosecutor within the next few days. Local Mounties have
already recommended charges of possession and trafficking.
Const. Simpson had been based in North Vancouver for three years.
In a letter to the News last week, North Vancouver teen Jamie-Lee Markle
described the policeman, who spent a lot of time working with local youth
groups, as "a great cop and a great friend."
To press time Tuesday, no representatives of the detachment were available
for further comment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for March 19-25