DrugSense Weekly, No. 96 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Update on Steve and Michelle Kubby, by Steve Kubby. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Cannabis, Hemp and Medicinal Marijuana, including - Libertarians launch Prop. 215 web site inspired by Kubby arrests; Another victory for medical marijuana; Bad marijuana bill; Hemp: Now we're wearing it, eating it, even building with it; Drug-war supporters turned freedom fighters; and, $10 million claim filed in pot arrest. Articles about Drug War Policy and Law Enforcement & Prisons include - California police forced to return marijuana; Arizona shows the way on drugs; Reno at large; Study backs treatment, not prison, for addicts; Drug treatment said to reduce crime; Parents key in drug war, study says; and, U.S. antidrug campaign's impact to be closely tracked by surveys. International News includes - Police chiefs want possession of all narcotics decriminalized; Cops can't keep up with B.C. drug trade; and, Police like pot-penalty plan. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net notes Family Watch has announced an online bookstore. The Fact of the Week documents that the Institute of Medicine Report discounts the risk that medical use of marijuana will lead to increased non-medical use. The Quote of the Week cites Thomas Jefferson.)
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Thursday, April 29, 1999:
NORML Weekly Press Release (Reform Party, Canada's top cops back removing criminal pot penalties; California high court says police must return medical marijuana to [atients; Oregon first state to license medical marijuana patients; Swiss government committee says legalize marijuana; House reps. to introduce student drug testing bills in Congress)
Rescheduling marijuana resolution HJM 10 (A list subscriber says the resolution before the Oregon legislature calling on Congress to make marijuana available to physicians and patients was approved by a 4-3 committee vote this morning.)
Sheriff's deputy is accused of child sex abuse (The Oregonian says Robert William Morrissey, 44, a Washington County sheriff's deputy, was arrested Wednesday on accusations of sexually abusing two preschool-age girls.)
Alterna Blankets Los Angeles With Hemp Again (A company press release on Business Wire says Alterna Applied Research Laboratories, which produces professional hemp hair care products, has re-posted its thought-provoking hemp-leaf ad images all over Los Angeles County in an effort to keep the message of industrial hemp alive. Alterna was forced to take down 100 of its hemp-shampoo ads last October in Los Angeles as a result of a drug-baiting campaign by DARE America.)
Juror Conviction Reversed (A bulletin from the Jury Rights Project provides a URL to the text of today's ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals overturning the contempt of court conviction of Laura Kriho.)
U.S. Court Overturns Juror's Contempt Conviction (Reuters says the Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial for Laura Kriho, a juror who was convicted of being in contempt of court because she was not asked and didn't reveal her opposition to drug prohibition when she was selected for a jury in a methamphetamine case.)
Michigan To Begin Welfare Drug Testing (The Associated Press says Michigan Governor John Engler signed a bill into law Wednesday that will require drug tests of welfare applicants in three areas of the state beginning Oct. 1. The new law is believed to be the first in the nation to require drug tests of all welfare applicants, and requires such tests to be given statewide beginning April 1, 2003.)
Tempest Over A Small Pot (A staff editorial in the Meriden Record-Journal says the bust of University of Connecticut basketball star Khalid El-Amin for marijuana possession has distracted people from America's primary drug problem, which is not marijuana, but alcohol. To treat El-Amin's arrest as a momentous, even scandalous, event when high school and college athletes develop far more serious problems far more regularly from alcohol abuse is absurd. But we treat this problem with less severity. We do not cast the same opprobrium upon it as we do other drugs and, in fact, alcohol is seen by some as a natural part of the machismo that accompanies the sporting culture.)
New Jersey Police Enlist Hotel Workers in War on Drugs (The New York Times says New Jersey state troopers have quietly enlisted workers at dozens of hotels along the New Jersey Turnpike to tip them off about suspicious guests who, among other things, pay for their their rooms in cash or receive a flurry of phone calls. The Hotel-Motel Program, modeled on a similar program in Los Angeles initiated by federal prohibition agents, routinely allows troopers, without a warrant, to leaf through the credit card receipts and registration forms of all guests, and provides $1,000 rewards to workers whose tips lead to "successful" arrests. Hotel and motel managers say they are assured that their workers will never be required to testify or have their names revealed in court documents. Police also tell them to take racial characteristics into account and pay particular attention to guests who speak Spanish.)
Stanford Study: Films Show Drug Use, Omit Consequences (The San Jose Mercury News says a $400,000 study was released Wednesday by Stanford University researchers being paid by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The government researchers looked at the 200 most popular movies rented in 1996 and 1997 and found 98 percent showed characters using tobacco, alcohol or "drugs," yet only 12 percent showed "long-term consequences" of "risky behavior." Music was much less likely than film to include "questionable content." Tellingly, the researchers bemoan the fact that "even when the impact was shown - such as the late actor Chris Farley falling down drunk in the film 'Tommy Boy' - the effect was often played for laughs." Like, the feds don't think laughter can be used to teach realistic truths about alcohol abuse.)
Films And Music Glamorize Substance Use, Government Says (The Associated Press version in the Orange County Register)
Movies' Depiction Of Drug Use Scored (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version)
Drug Testing In Schools Proposed (The Associated Press says two Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, John Peterson of Pennsylvania and James Rogan of California, introduced different bills Wednesday that would fund random drug testing in schools, supposedly as a way to reduce youth violence such as the recent high school massacre in Littleton, Colorado. Toxicology tests revealed no alcohol or other "drugs" in the bodies of the Colorado gunmen, but Peterson said there had been incidents elsewhere that involved "drugs." Unfortunately, AP refused to ask where.)
The Fix is In (A list subscriber forwards an excellent book review by Stanton Peele, from an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy, of "The Fix," by Michael Massing, and "An Informed Approach to Substance Abuse," by Mark Kleiman. "It is hard to escape the conclusion that Kleiman and Massing ignore legal remedies for our current drug policy mess because they wish to avoid offending their audiences rather than due to their straightforward evaluation of the current drug scene. They support an anti-drug stance because it is essential for legitimacy in popular, scientific, and political circles in the U.S.")
Cocaine Disguise (According to the Times, in London, Barry McCaffrey told a U.S. Senate committee in Washington that American narcotics agents were very concerned that Colombia's drugs cartels had developed a black cocaine that sniffer dogs and chemical tests cannot detect.)
Seed production made illegal (A list subscriber forwards news from Britain that a law that took effect April 21 in the Netherlands bans the production of marijuana seeds. Possession is still legal, but those caught growing plants for seeds now face up to four years in jail.)
Door Slams On Dealers - Marijuana Limit Cut To Three Plants (The Australian says that in response to police concerns that South Australia's current 10-plant cultivation limit is allowing traffickers sell cannabis in the eastern States in exchange for harder drugs, the Cabinet has approved in principle new regulations cutting the personal-use limit to three cannabis plants. Apparently nobody was allowed the opportunity to dispel police misconceptions. Mr Mike Elliott, the Australian Democrats State parliamentary leader, said the move would not make "an iota of difference in terms of supply. Cannabis consumption in SA is the same as in other States - it hasn't gone up because of our drug laws, so it's hard to see what this is trying to achieve.")
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 17 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Wednesday, April 28, 1999:
Support petition to regulate cannabis, restore hemp, please! (Paul Stanford, a chief petitioner for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, says OCTA's political action committee, the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp, in the first week of petitioning collected more than 1,000 signatures of the 90,000 needed.)
County will discuss buying land for jail (The Oregonian says the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will hold a closed meeting today to discuss land for a new $55 million, 225-bed, medium-security jail. In three years, the county has gone through more than 100 potential jail sites, dozens of public meetings and more than $2 million in taxpayer money - all without laying a single brick. The latest delay is caused by a dispute over where to put 300 beds for alcohol and drug treatment. A levy to operate the new jail will have to be approved by voters at some point, but the newspaper doesn't say how much it will cost to operate the jail or how commissioners will try to prevent voters from perceiving the levy as a referendum on the county's costly drug policy.)
Accounts differ on Salem killings (The Oregonian says an attorney for Timothy E. Espinoza, 17, told a jury in Espinoza's murder trial Tuesday that the defendant was trying to sell two teen-agers marijuana when he thought he saw one of them reach for a gun and fired in self-defense. Juan Torres, 18, and Fidencio Ceja, 17, both students at McKay High School, died after being shot three times each on Oct. 11. Prosecutor Diana Moffat said Espinoza approached the two, pretending to sell marijuana in order to get them to step off the street so he could shoot them.)
Pot Cultivation Charges Dropped (The Auburn Journal, in Auburn, California, says Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino on Wednesday dismissed cultivation charges against a Rocklin dentist and his wife who were busted with 146 plants, issuing what could turn out to be a landmark ruling - that Proposition 215 exempts patients from prosecution on cultivation charges once they obtain a physician's recommendation. Michael and Georgia Baldwin, however, still face charges of selling marijuana, and the defense began presenting its case Wednesday following the favorable ruling on cultivation.)
Men, Not Women, Grab A Smoke To Lift Mood - Study (Reuters says a study presented at the American Lung Association conference in San Diego Tuesday suggests that contrary to popular belief, men are more likely than women to grab a cigarette if they are angry, anxious, sad or tired. Women are more likely to smoke for social rather than emotional reasons. Apparently unpublished, the study by Dr. Ralph Delfino and Dr. Larry Jamner of the University of California at Irvine suggests possible gender differences in the effect of nicotine on the central nervous system, possibly because of different interactions with hormones. The researchers arrived at their conclusions by tracking 25 women and 35 men ages 18 to 42 who made three diary entries an hour for up to 48 hours to record their mood and smoking behavior.)
Colorado shooting - no drugs (A list subscriber says that, according to the Denver Post, no "drugs" or alcohol were found in the bodies of two adolescents thought to have committed mass murder-suicide at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Left unsaid is whether post-mortem drug tests checked for pharmaceutical drugs, for example, antidepressaants.)
Gangbangers Ordered To Move Out Of Town (The Chicago Tribune notes officials in Cicero, Illinois, unanimously approved two ethnic cleansing ordinances Tuesday. Individuals shown to be gang members through a "preponderance of the evidence" can be ordered out of town, and face a $500-a-day fine if they stick around. Cicero officials also said they plan to follow up these ordinances by filing a $10 million lawsuit against more than 100 alleged gang members for violating other residents' rights. Town President Betty Loren-Maltese said the town also plans to erect gates in the most gang-infested areas to help keep evicted gangsters from re-entering the town. "If this is unconstitutional, then somebody ought to look at the Constitution," she declared.)
Pataki Offers Drug Law Reform (The Times Union, in Albany, New York, says New York's harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws would undergo their first major revision in 26 years under a soon-to-be-unveiled Pataki administration proposal that links sentencing reform with the elimination of parole.)
What Happened When New York Got Businesslike About Crime (An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal praises the "management by objective" policies of New York police under Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The results were stunning - crime dropped across the city's 76 precincts by 50 percent to 90 percent in three years. But this was stunning only because governmental problems are traditionally treated in such a way as to make them seem insoluble. Unfailingly, governmental problems, unlike business problems, become the occasion for "solutions" whose purpose is to please a constituency not directly related to the problem. Thus crime has been an occasion for promoting gun control, welfare spending, education spending, public housing, and myriad other causes for which powerful constituencies clamor. That's how politics works. It's not how business works.)
Con Says He Ran a Pot Ring Inside Jail (An Associated Press article in the Daily Press, in Virginia, says the attorney for Michael Fulcher tried to separate his case from those of 21 prison guards and other defendants implicated in drug trafficking at Bland Correctional Center by claiming Fulcher was working for the government's war on drugs. The only problem is that authorities say they didn't know about it.)
Give LSD To An Artist At Paris Cafe In 1952? (The Wall Street Journal describes a federal trial under way in New York in which the estate of the late Stanley Glickman is suing the late Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA scientist who tested the effects of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD on unwitting victims. The essence of the suit is that an American artist living in Paris in 1952 went to a cafe, where a club footed man slipped a mind altering drug into his drink. The artist ended up in the hospital suffering from hallucinations. He was treated with electroshock therapy and began a 40 year decline into mental illness. The defense contends Mr. Glickman actually suffered from naturally occurring schizophrenia.)
The DEA Takes The Wraps Off Its New Training Facility (UPI briefly notes the Drug Enforcement Administration will open a 100-acre, $30 million training academy today in Quantico.)
Therapeutic Marijuana Use Supported While Thorough Proposed Study Done (The Journal of the American Medical Association says the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana provided "advocates" support by recommending that clinical trials and drug development proceed. But marijuana's acceptance as a prescribed drug appears to be years away - if it happens at all. A brief summary of the IOM report includes the investigators' six recommendations.)
Denying Education Is No Answer to Drug Use (A list activist invites you to point your browser to www.RaiseYourVoice.com to make a constructive protest against the provision in the Higher Education Act that bars financial aid to college students caught possessing marijuana or other supposedly controlled substances.)
McGuinty, Hampton Admit To Past Marijuana Use (The Ottawa Citizen says both of Ontario's opposition leaders admitted yesterday to smoking marijuana in the past, and urged that possession of the drug be decriminalized. The admissions from Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and NDP Leader Howard Hampton came immediately after Premier Mike Harris vowed that his Progressive Conservative government's zero-tolerance policy on crime will continue to include the herb. Yesterday, a private members bill was introduced by Reform MP Keith Martin from B.C. in the House of Commons to decriminalize marijuana in an attempt to free valuable police resources and backlogged courts so they can deal with more serious criminal cases.)
Party leaders come clean on pot (The Toronto Star version)
Pot Isn't Harris' Cup Of Tea (The Toronto Globe and Mail version)
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Tuesday, April 27, 1999:
Senate approves measure to clarify state's suicide law (The Associated Press says the Oregon Senate approved a bill Monday to revise the state's unique physician-assisted suicide law, saying it would give the Death With Dignity Act much-needed clarification. Health groups that oppose assisted suicide, such as Providence Health System, a network of Catholic hospitals, will now be able to punish affiliated doctors if help a patient under the voter-approved law.)
Kubby Update (A bulletin from Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor, and his wife, Michele, describes their recent court hearing in Auburn regarding their indictment on cultivation charges. "Everyone in town is rooting for you," said a receptionist at their hotel. The trial date has been moved back, to July 20.)
Medicine - Not Pot (An op-ed in the Washington Post by Robert L. DuPont, the former head of NIDA from 1973 to 1978, puts the drug-warrior spin on the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana.)
Justices To Decide If FDA Can Regulate Cigarettes As A Drug (The Houston Chronicle says the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear the Clinton administration's appeal of a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the federal government does not have the authority to regulate cigarettes as a drug.)
Marijuana Bill Tabled (The Calgary Herald says Reform MP Keith Martin introduced legislation in Canada's Parliament yesterday that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, as recommended last week by the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs. The chiefs say they could maximize their dwindling resources by targeting organized crime instead of busting potheads. Justice Minister Anne McLellan is willing to look at the law, but not until after formally meeting with police chiefs in August.)
Reform Party Tables Pot Bill (The Toronto Sun version)
Magazine Stays (According to the New Zealand Herald, police in New Zealand are stymied in their efforts to remove High Times magazine from shop shelves. The Health Ministry was able to ban the importation of overseas cigar magazines by saying that they breached the Smokefree Environments Act, but the ministry decided it has "no jurisdiction over marijuana promotion.")
Moral Muddle In The Drugs Debate (A staff editorial in the Scotsman ponders the varying public perceptions and moralities suggested by the sensationalism that ensued after the death of a teenager, Leah Betts, who took ecstasy, and the widely ignored deaths last year of 80 people who took street heroin in Strathclyde. "A sensible drugs policy would treat each drug according to the risk it posed to health. Criminalising the true killers, unfortunately, is impossible as we cannot end society's affair with alcohol and tobacco. What we can do is to try to redress the balance in the way we deal with illegal drugs.")
Swiss Recommend Legalizing Cannabis (The Associated Press says a panel appointed by the Swiss government recommended Friday that the country legalize the sale and use of marijuana, but with controls to avoid becoming a "drug haven." The existing ban on marijuana hasn't worked and may even encourage its use among young people, the panel said. No other European nation, including the Netherlands, has technically legalized the possession or sale of cannabis.)
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Monday, April 26, 1999:
Suicide coverage passes review (The Oregonian says the Oregon Medical Association's House of Delegates voted Sunday in Sunriver in favor of a resolution allowing pharmacists to give "morning-after" contraception without a prescription, but voted against a resolution opposing coverage of physician-assisted suicide by the Oregon Health Plan.)
Libertarians launch Prop. 215 web site inspired by Kubby arrests (The Libertarian Party of California announces the debut of www.215Now.com, intended to pressure government officials into fully implementing Proposition 215.)
Million Marijuana March Tampa Florida 1 May 1999 (A list subscriber publicizes a rally Saturday at Gaslight Park being organized by the Florida Organization for Reformed Marijuana Laws, or FORML.)
Drug Talks Cut Teen Use, Survey Says (According to an Associated Press article in the Houston Chronicle, a study released Sunday by the Partnership for a Drug Free America found that teens who received strong anti-drug messages from their parents were 42 percent less likely to use "drugs" than teens whose parents ignored the issue - "drugs" in this case meaning drugs that are illegal for adults. Among teens who learned a lot at home, 26 percent said they had used marijuana. Among those who said they learned nothing at home, 45 percent said they had used marijuana. For inhalants, the first group reported 14 percent, the latter group 28 percent. For LSD, the figures were 7 percent and 20 percent; for cocaine, 7 percent and 16 percent. But no figures are reported for tobacco and alcohol, which are illegal for teens and also the most widely used.)
Parents Key in Drug War, Study Says (The Los Angeles Times version)
Study: Drug Talks Work (The New York Times version in the Orange County Register)
Reducing Abuse Of Drugs Begins At Home (An op-ed version by Eric Lichtblau of the Los Angeles Times in the San Jose Mercury News)
U.S. Antidrug Campaign To Be Closely Monitored (The Wall Street Journal notes the $2 billion federally sponsored propaganda campaign to promote the drug war and keep kids from using certain drugs is putting the government into the unfamiliar business of measuring advertising effectiveness. U.S. drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired four star general, said Friday he would hold Madison Avenue to the same high standard of accountability he was used to in the military. The government has hired the scientific survey firm Westat to question about 20,000 children and parents every six months to measure the campaign's progress. Market researchers also will do telephone sampling every month or two, for more immediate feedback. Early results are encouraging to the drug warriors, but it's not clear how they'd respond if the campaign backfired and "drug" use increased.)
Needle 'Exchanges' Often Aren't (A letter to the editor of the Washington Post from an official for the Drug Free America Foundation expresses doubt about the scientific basis for needle exchange programs for intravenous drug users.)
Run-On Sentencing - How The Affluent Got An Exemption In The War On Crime (The New Republic magazine says that for those in the top quarter of the income-distribution scale, the fight against crime seems to have merged with indifference to the suffering of those being excessively punished. Even if they commit drug offenses, persons of privilege can often arrange to keep themselves out of jail. The threat of prison has become in the '90s what the draft was the Vietnam war - a burden for the typical person from which the elite are nearly exempt. During the Vietnam years, American society pronounced itself willing to oppose communism at any cost, but if that had really been so, the affluent would have borne an equal share. Now, in the war on drugs and crime, society has pronounced itself willing to impose any level of punishment. But if that were really so, the affluent would be as likely to be jailed, and that is not happening. From the standpoint of the upper middle class, the crime crackdown is almost all dividend: the more sleazy people taken off the street and locked away the better.)
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Sunday, April 25, 1999:
Hemp Issue Divides Farmers, the Law (The Register-Guard, in Eugene, covers Thursday's hearing by the Oregon House of Representatives' Agriculture and Forestry Committee on an industrial hemp bill. Rep. Floyd Prozanski, the Eugene Democrat who is sponsoring HB 2933, predicted that industrial hemp would become legal and widespread within five years. He also told a Senate panel that Oregon could become a center for high-quality hemp seed, much as it is now for grass seed. Plus the URL for an online audio recording of testimony on HB 2933.)
Town questions inaction in police case (The Oregonian says residents of Gold Hill, Oregon, wonder why their city council was slow to put Police Chief David M. Crawford on leave after his indictment on five criminal charges. According to Alan Scharn, deputy director of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, "In most police agencies in the state of Oregon, the mere fact that you've been arrested or indicted on these charges means you'd be out the door on your ear before you could bat an eye.")
Marijuana as Medicine: Let's Make the Law Work (A staff editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle says the 25-member task force appointed by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer shows state government finally appears ready to properly implement Proposition 215. More than 70 modern scientific studies and 2000 years of anecdotal evidence support claims that pot is a helpful folk medicine for people suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, migraine headaches and an array of other ailments.)
Drug War Unfairly Targets Black Community (An op-ed in the Dallas Morning News by a member of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas rebuts pro-drug-war statements to the Greater Dallas Crime Commission by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as well as Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk's proud assertion that there are no major problems between the police department and the city's minority communities. Drug-crime statistics for 1998 and data obtained through the Open Records Act, the North Texas Council of Governments, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse reveal that Dallas police are clearly and unfairly targeting the black community in the drug war.)
Most Nations Permit Growing of Industrial Hemp (The Knoxville News-Sentinel, in Tennessee, interviews Erwin "Bud" Sholts, director of agriculture at the University of Wisconsin and chairman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council. "Industrial hemp is grown in Canada, Germany, England - all over the place. Why is it illegal here? The United States is an island of denial in a sea of acceptance," Sholts said. Law enforcement officers claim they can't tell the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana. But proponents say the methods of cultivation are so different anyone can tell the difference. "Industrial hemp seed is planted with a grain drill about six inches apart so as to produce a lot of stalk," Sholts said. "Pot is planted 2 and 2 1/2 feet apart to produce a low bushy plant with leaves and buds. If you plant industrial hemp too close to marijuana, it will cross pollinate and ruin the marijuana crop," he said. "It's actually a marijuana fighter. The cross pollination leads to a lower THC.")
Another Victory For Medical Marijuana (Rolling Stone magazine examines the political implications of the March 17 Institute of Medicine report. What drew the most attention was the IOM's finding that some of the 66 cannabinoids found in smoked marijuana have "potential therapeutic value . . . moderately well-suited for certain conditions." Less noticed, however, was the report's point-by-point dismantling of anti-marijuana arguments made by drug warriors, including the gateway theory, the supposed abuse potential of marijuana, the notion that medical use of marijuana will lead to wider recreational use, and the idea that marijuana is dangerous to its users. All of this doesn't help McCaffrey's War on Drugs, which in 1997 resulted in 695,000 marijuana arrests, 87 percent of them for possession.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 16 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Saturday, April 24, 1999:
"Marijuana is Medicine" Rally April 30th in Salem (Stormy Ray, a multiple sclerosis patient and chief petitioner for the voter-approved Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, urges advocates for medical marijuana patients to help solve the supply problem by lobbying legislators and showing up Friday at the capitol to support House Joint Memorial 10, a resolution introduced by state representative Jo Ann Bowman that would ask Congress to reschedule marijuana. Plus the current text of HJM 10, and addresses for a short list of key legislators.)
Can you help? (A list subscriber summarizes Friday's 10-minute Oregon legislative hearing on HJM 10, and also asks you to lobby lawmakers. The chair of the committee, Rep. Mannix, indicated the rescheduling resolution would stand a better chance of passing out of committee if the wording was based from the standpoint that OMMA is the law and that marijuana in Schedule I is federal interference with Oregon Law. With amendments, the resolution may get a hearing before an April 30 deadline.)
Juvenile crime package revived (The Oregonian notes a group of Republican Oregon state senators seeking to exploit for political purposes Tuesday's bloody rampage at a Colorado high school has supposedly "revived" Gov. John Kitzhaber's flagging $30 million "juvenile crime" prevention package and vowed to fight for its success. In addition to $30 million for at-risk youths, the plan also includes $20 million for alcohol- and drug-abuse prevention programs and $7 million for early childhood intervention. That the senators couldn't really care less about the high-school kids massacred in Littleton is evidenced by the comments of Sen. Gene Derfler, R-Salem, who says any money spent on prevention efforts after age 10 is "simply wasted." The newspaper fails both to describe the "drug abuse prevention" programs to be funded, and to explain why state politicians are linking "drugs" with school shootings, when the only drugs involved seem to be antidepresssants.)
Judge shuts tap on strip club's free beer (The Oregonian says Marion County Circuit Judge Albin Norblad issued a temporary restraining order Friday that prohibits Scores Entertainment Inc., in Salem, from giving away beer. The "nude dance club" doesn't have a state liquor license but argues that it doesn't need one as long as it doesn't receive any financial consideration for the beer. The TRO remains in effect pending a May 18 hearing.)
Judge Rules Marijuana Test Invalid (A news release from best-selling author Peter McWilliams says that after two days of exhaustive medical and scientific testimony, federal Judge James McMahon ruled Friday in Los Angeles in the case of Todd McCormick, McWilliams' co-defendant, that McCormick's bail should not be revoked because there is no way to distinguish between Marinol and marijuana in drug tests. McCormick originally secured bail after agreeing to submit to urine tests the government claimed would distinguish between Marinol and THC-V, which is unique to marijuana. McWilliams also notes the Society of Neuroscience in October 1997 said "New research shows that substances similar to or derived from marijuana, known as cannabinoids, could benefit more than 97 million Americans who experience some form of pain each year.")
Arizona Shows The Way On Drugs (A New York Times staff editorial recaps Wednesday's news about the Arizona Supreme Court study documenting the benefits accruing from Proposition 200's requirement that drug offenders receive treatment instead of prison. The newspaper says Congress and the legislatures of New York and other states should take heed.)
Drug Smugglers To Get No Dignity (The Globe and Mail, in Toronto, says the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday that subjecting travellers to a "bedpan vigil" is a fair price to pay in balancing the right to individual privacy with the state interest in detecting "drugs." The ruling overturned the acquittal of Isaac Monney, a citizen of Ghana who arrived in Canada on a flight from Switzerland and was detained in a "drug loo facility" before providing officers with the self-incriminating evidence they were hoping for.)
Easing Drug Laws (The New York Times briefly notes yesterday's news about a Swiss government commission recommending that the sale and use of marijuana be legalized under certain conditions.)
Swiss Panel Calls For Marijuana Legalization (A similarly brief Orange County Register version)
News From Portugal - The Government Announces Decriminalisation (A list subscriber forwards a correspondent's e-mail saying the Portuguese government announced two days ago a decision by the council of ministers to decriminalise the use and the possession of drugs for personal use, replacing jail terms with fines, community service and driving restrictions. The decision appears framed in the new national drug strategy.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 88 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original online drug policy newsmagazine features - HEA reform campaign gets boost; Report: District of Columbia drug policy a disaster; Heroin in Australia: a conversation with Brian McConnell of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform; North Dakota becomes first state to legalize hemp cultivation; Oregon Supreme Court to review forfeiture as double jeopardy; Book: "No Equal Justice, Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System"; Report: In search of a new ethic for treating patients with chronic pain; Seminar in NYC, Friday, 5/28)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 95 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Learn from the Civil Rights Movement: Get organized, by Kevin B. Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, Law Enforcement & Prisons, including - U-Conn star El-amin faces a drug charge; Srawberry arrested for drugs, solicitation; Study slams corruption on border; City settles firefighter's suit in controversial drug case; Fairfax teacher suspended after arrest on drug charge in D.C.; Former cop in court; 2 correction officers to serve time; Firefighter's back after fine for pot; Students face drug charges; 89-year-old man sentenced for selling crack; Ex-candidate faces trial in medical marijuana case; and, Voices of our time: Joseph D. McNamara. Articles about Cannabis, Hemp and Medicinal Marijuana include - Marijuana hoax; Ready for medical marijuana research; and, Cannabis has herbal benefits research can help unlock. International News includes - US company to build 2 plants for hemp processing in Canada; and, Treatment demand stretches clinics. The DrugSense Volunteer of the Month features Gerald Sutliff. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net directs your browser to the Marijuana Policy Project's highlights of the IOM report; "Marijuana Rx: The Patient's Fight for Medicinal Pot" online; and an online transcript of the recent rebroadcast of "Sex Drugs and Consenting Adults." The Fact of the Week documents that 1 in 3 young blacks is under the control of the criminal justice system. And the Quote of the Week cites Horace Mann)
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Friday, April 23, 1999:
California Police Forced To Return Marijuana (A Reuters article in the Press Democrat, in Santa Rosa, says Christopher Brown sauntered into the Ukiah sheriff's office Thursday and walked out with a half pound bag of marijuana after the California Supreme Court dismissed the government's contention that any order forcing police to return the marijuana would transform officers into "drug pushers." Prohibition agents had confiscated Brown's medicine during a 1997 raid on his house in Willits, about 120 miles north of San Francisco.)
Arcata Police Chief Finds 'Local Solution' To Pot Law (The Sacramento Bee looks favorably on the registry system for medical marijuana patients instituted by Mel Brown, the top cop in Arcata, California.)
Pot Grower Has Home Confiscated (The Montana Standard, in Butte, says Duane D. Gray, a U.S. Marine veteran, tried painkillers, lithium and Prozac, watched what he ate and soaked in mineral-filled springs, but nothing worked like marijuana to relieve the nausea, fatigue and muscle pains he suffered from Gulf War Syndrome. On Thursday, Butte District Court Judge James Purcell gave him a three-year suspended sentence, fined him $1,000 and confiscated his home for growing 77 marijuana plants.)
Decriminalize Therapeutic Marijuana Now, MP Says (According to the Vancouver Sun, in British Columbia, Bernard Bigras of the Bloc Quebecois said Thursday during a visit to Vancouver that Ottawa should not wait until the completion of clinical trials before it decriminalizes marijuana for therapeutic reasons. Bigras's medical-marijuana bill is to be debated in June and he is on a national tour to raise the issue. Bigras said many MPs are still resistant to the idea of any reform, but the Quebec member of Parliament expects strong support from other Bloc members, the NDP, many Tories, some Liberals and Reformers, and national groups representing people with AIDS, hemophiliacs and senior citizens.)
Cops Stir Up The Great Pot Debate (The Ottawa Sun says Canadian Parliamentary Bureau Justice Minister Anne McLellan is receptive to a pitch by the country's top cops to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot and hash. "We're going to take a look at this and we'll see where it leads us," McLellan said yesterday.)
Senior Police Officer Calls For Rethink On Cannabis (The Herald, in Britain, says Mr Tom Wood, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, told a major drugs conference in Edinburgh yesterday that Scotland's Parliament should re-examine society's attitudes toward cannabis. "Speaking personally, I do not and will not support the legalisation of cannabis. I merely think it is time to take a fresh look at drugs," he said. Mr Wood's comments on the cannabis issue came just days after Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace announced he remained "open-minded" on the legalisation of cannabis when he outlined his party's drugs strategy.)
Swiss Recommend Legalizing Cannabis (According to the Associated Press, a government-appointed panel in Bern recommended Friday that Switzerland legalize the sale and use of marijuana - but with controls to keep the nation from becoming a drug haven. The committee's recommendation to the Cabinet will be considered as part of an ongoing study to revise Switzerland's drug laws, but would probably have to receive approval in a national referendum.)
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Thursday, April 22, 1999:
NORML Weekly Press Release (North Dakota becomes first state to legalize hemp cultivation; Drug czar's office endorses arresting, jailing medical marijuana smokers despite report backing drug's value; Hawaiian hemp research cultivation bill in final stages; Canada's parliament resumes historic medical marijuana debate)
CMA Lobbies State Legislators (Synapse, a publication of the medical school at the University of California at San Francisco, describes the recent meeting of 500 members of the California Medical Association regarding various proposed state health care legislation, particularly the medical marijuana task force established by Attorney General Bill Lockyer. In addressing CMA members, Lockyer seemed to suggest that physicians could approve patients' use of medical marijuana without fearing federal intervention, if they did it quietly. He summarized his stance as, "We won't go looking, but don't bring yourselves to our attention.")
Judge Suspends Baldwin Medical Marijuana Trial (The Auburn Journal, in California, says the trial of Michael and Georgia Baldwin was put on hold for one week Wednesday morning in order for Judge James D. Garbolino to read the meager case law on Proposition 215. Although both Baldwins have recommendations from their physicians, Placer County sheriff's detectives arrested them Sept. 23 for 146 plants at their Granite Bay home.)
Hemp: Now We're Wearing It, Eating It, Even Building With It (The Orange County Register says hemp is so hot that many hemp manufacturers don't even bother anymore with doper jokes.)
Controversy: The Legal Ties That Bind Hemp Farming (The Los Angeles Times says states are leading the drive to re-introduce industrial hemp production. On Saturday, North Dakota became the first state to permit the growth and sale of industrial hemp, although growers will still need permits from the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sales of hemp products are booming. In 1993, worldwide retail sales amounted to only a few million dollars. In 1997, sales surpassed $75 million, according to HempTech, a hemp research organization based in Sebastapol, California.)
Possible April 20 (420) Connection to Pot Smoking Sub-Culture In Littleton Tragedy, FRC Says (A revealing press release from the drug-warrior Family Research Council, distributed by PR Newswire, jumps the gun by suggesting Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teen-agers who committed mass murder-suicide Tuesday at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, were pot smokers celebrating "4-20" rather than abstemious Nazi sympathizers whose only "drug" use involved a pharmaceutical antidepressant.)
Reno at Large - U.S. Would Do Well To Prescribe Truce In 'Other' Drug War (An op-ed in Newsday, in New York, by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno says America is fighting not one but two parallel and exceedingly costly drug wars. One is against suppliers of mood-altering illegal substances. The other is among manufacturers of mood-altering legal substances. The suppliers seem to be winning both wars. And the cost to the nation - measured in bulging jails, prohibition-associated violence, clogged courts, the rising cost of health care and a growing uninsured population - is huge. But Reno offers no evidence that the government is doing anything but abetting the problem, and offers no solutions to the systemic problems she presides over.)
'Just Say No': An Exchange (A letter to the editor of the New York Review of Books from Sue Rusch, often cited as the leader of the "parents' movement" that ended marijuana-law reform efforts in the 1980s, denies an allegation in "The Fix," by Michael Massing, that the movement ended a policy initiated in the Nixon administration to aggressively provide treatment to heroin addicts. Rusch's protests are ably dismissed by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of NYRB's review of Massing's book.)
High On Fragrance (The Washington Post takes note of the moisturizing creams and soaps made with industrial hemp being sold by 300 Body Shop stores in the United States. Hempseed's protein-rich oil contains a fatty acid that penetrates dry skin. Body Shop, the trendy retailer of skin, body care and fragrance products in 47 countries, pushes the marijuana connection with a musky fragrance and suggestive pitch and packaging. "They can't arrest your skin," says one slogan. "The best moisturizer in the world and we promise you won't get the munchies," says another.)
Police Like Pot-Penalty Plan (According to the Vancouver Province, in British Columbia, Vancouver police Chief Bruce Chambers says he's taking a "serious look" at supporting a plan to decriminalize possession of small quantities of cannabis products. The proposal was approved last week by directors of the Association of Canadian Police Chiefs. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Andre Guertin said the Mounties support the plan, because it would reduce a court backlog and free police to investigate more serious offences.)
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Wednesday, April 21, 1999:
Female inmates need protection (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian from a board member of Amnesty International USA seeks support for Oregon House Bill 3596, introduced by Rep. Kathy Lowe, D-Milwaukie, which would criminalize sexual misconduct between guards and inmates. Male prison and jail guards in this country fondle, rape and coerce sex from female inmates. Amnesty International was instrumental in getting custodial sexual-misconduct legislation passed in three states this year - Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington. Oregon is one of the few states that still do not have statutory protection for female prisoners.)
Don't link tobacco, schools (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian says the proposal by Oregon Treasurer Jim Hill to cash out the state's interest in its settlement with tobacco companies, thereby raising money to pay school costs, defers finding another source of education funding to the next biennium and leaves the tobacco-related health costs to be paid later, too.)
$10 Million Claim Filed In Pot Arrest: Cancer patient had prescription (According to the Sacramento Bee, Robert DeArkland, 71, of Fair Oaks, California, who suffers from prostate cancer and arthritis, filed the claim against Sacramento County in response to prohibition agents from both Sacramento and Placer counties raiding his home last October and seizing 13 marijuana plants, $420 in cash and a scale. "I might not get a dime, but at least it may stop other people from being harassed," DeArkland said. He added that he would file a lawsuit against the county if his claim is rejected.)
Police brutality at drum circle in Salt Lake City, Utah (A list subscriber forwards a first-person account of Sunday's confrontation that differs considerably from the Salt Lake Tribune's version.)
Study: Drug Treatment Cuts Crime (The Associated Press says an Arizona Supreme Court study commissioned by the state legislature found that the mandatory treatment provision for nonviolent, first- and second-time drug offenders included in Proposition 200 led to reduced crime, saved taxpayers more than $2.56 million, and resulted in 78 percent of participants later testing drug-free. The 1996 law, which also allows doctors to prescribe marijuana, was repealed by the legislature but reapproved last fall in a second vote.)
Arizona's Prop. 200 Saving Millions of Dollars, Cutting Drug Abuse, Says New Report by State Supreme Court (The PR Newswire version)
Arizona Finds Cost Savings in Treating Drug Offenders (The New York Times version)
Drug Diversion Law In Arizona Paying Dividends (The Los Angeles Times version)
Study Backs Treatment, Not Prison, For Addicts (The Chicago Tribune version in the Seattle Times)
Defendant Again Represents Himself In Marijuana Case (The Dubuque Telegraph Herald, in Iowa, says Gregory Sharkey argued at his retrial Tuesday that the plants he was busted for in October 1995 were just ditchweed and he was maliciously prosecuted. Sharkey was first sentenced to multiple 15-year sentences for 380 grams of marijuana and 66 marijuana plants. But in 1998 the Iowa Supreme Court reversed the conviction, saying his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated because a sufficient inquiry into his understanding of legal representation was not conducted.)
The Double Standard - Inequality In Criminal Justice May Be A Good Thing For The Favored Classes (The New York Times reviews the book "No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System," by David Cole. "No Equal Justice" makes a strong case that we have tolerated a law enforcement strategy that "depends on the exploitation of race and class divisions." Cole offers three solutions. The first two admit the mistake, then revamp the rules to reduce the influence of race and class - but are probably unrealistic, especially as the new rules could reduce "the rights that the privileged now enjoy." Cole's third solution endorses "community-based criminal justice," the antithesis of the "tough on crime" approach, and would also be a tough sell.)
Drug Law (A staff editorial in the Charlotte Observer, in North Carolina, endorses a proposed local anti-paraphernalia ordinance, even though a similar state law already exists.)
Cops Can't Keep Up With B.C. Drug Trade (The Kelowna Daily Courier says figures compiled by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics show that in 1997, British Columbia had 13 per cent of Canada's population but was responsible for 25 per cent all the cannabis "incidents" in the country, 28 per cent of cocaine offences and 61 per cent of all heroin incidents. B.C.'s rate of drug charges is 26 per cent higher than the national average. But the drug problem is so prevalent, fewer than one in three cannabis offences resulted in criminal charges.)
Police chiefs want possession of all narcotics decriminalized - Fight court backlog (According to the National Post, the newspaper has learned that Canada's police chiefs have recommended that the federal government decriminalize possession of small quantities of all illegal narcotics, including heroin. The proposal was approved last week by the board of directors of the Association of Canadian Police Chiefs and will be submitted to the membership for a vote later this year. The recommendation is meant to clear the courts of a backlog of drug cases and allow police to concentrate resources on more serious crimes.)
Arthritis Drug Linked To 10 Deaths In US (According to the Scotsman, reports handed to the US Food and Drug Administration by the Wall Street Journal showed that Celebrex, a painkiller patented by Monsanto and manufactured by GD Searle, its St Louis-based subsidiary, has been linked to ten deaths and 11 cases of gastrointestinal bleeding in its first three months on the US market. More than two million people have taken Celebrex for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis since January. Scarlett Lee Foster, a Monsanto spokeswoman, said "You can't draw any conclusions from the adverse incident reports.")
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Tuesday, April 20, 1999:
Report on April 15 hearing regarding registry system for medical marijuana (Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse summarizes the recent public meeting in Portland sponsored by the Oregon Health Division regarding implementation of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Plus, details about the "Marijuana is Medicine" rally April 30 in Salem.)
Los Angeles County Deputies Raid Andrea Nagy (A list subscriber forwards the marijuananews.com version of yesterday's news, interspersed with comments by Steve Kubby.)
A Grass-Roots Effort To Legalize Hemp (The Santa Barbara News-Press, in California, spreads the news about industrial hemp as related by Al Espino, the owner of Hempwise, an Isla Vista store that sells hemp clothing. The article also publicizes the hemp bash today in Anisq' Oyo' Park in the heart of Isla Vista. According to a report in the Washington Post, worldwide sales have gone from $5 million in 1993 to $75 million in 1995.)
Drums of Disapproval Are Still Pounding (The Salt Lake Tribune, in Utah, says local police armed with nightsticks, riot gear and gas launchers swept drum-circle celebrants out of Liberty Park Sunday afternoon, issuing citations to 16 people for alcohol violations, possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia or distribution of drugs and one for not keeping his dog on a leash. "We cannot afford to let that park deteriorate to open lawlessness, to where drugs and weapons are being brought into that park," Police Chief Ruben Ortega said Monday, without explaining who besides police had weapons. Police allege up to 150 people taunted them as they busted one man for selling marijuana. Many drum circlers saw it differently. Only a few incorrigibles taunted the police, they say. Some in the drum crowd say they never heard an order to disperse. Several in the crowd were hit with nightsticks, although no serious injuries were reported.)
Mass E-Mail Protest Targets Rule Requiring Reports (The Salt Lake Tribune says civil libertarians and other groups are flush with their success in forcing regulators to drop the proposed "Know Your Customer" rules on tracking bank customers' habits, and are organizing a campaign to end reporting requirements for cash transactions. Legislation proposed by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, would repeal the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires banks to report customers' cash transactions of $10,000 or more, as well as "suspicious activities" to law-enforcement authorities.)
Norwalk Drug-Ed Officer Charged (The Des Moines Register says Thomas Nolan, a police sergeant and DARE officer in Norwalk, Iowa, was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after the Marion-Warren County drug task force searched his home Sunday. Sgt. Dave Murillo of the Des Moines Police Department, who lives in Norwalk, said he learned from one Norwalk officer that "narcotics" evidence had been disappearing from the Norwalk department.)
Veteran State Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charges (UPI says Richard Corey Jr., of East Falmouth, a veteran Massachusetts state police officer, pleaded guilty today to charges of taking payoffs from a cocaine dealer in exchange for feeding him confidential information about police undercover agents and informants.)
Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Pleads Guilty (A lengthier version on PR Newswire)
N.J. Report Admits Racial Profiling (According to the Associated Press, the New Jersey Attorney General's office acknowledged Tuesday that some state troopers have engaged in "racial profiling" in pulling over minority motorists. The state is also dropping its appeal of a 1996 court ruling that troopers demonstrated racial bias in making arrests along the turnpike. The court decision could affect dozens of pending criminal cases.)
Useful excerpts from the IOM medicinal marijuana report (The Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., publicizes its new online guide, "Questions about medicinal marijuana answered by the Institute of Medicine's report." Despite a statement at the IOM's March 17 news conference by Principal Investigator Dr. John Benson that "we concluded that there are limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses," and a Gallup poll conducted March 19-21 that showed 73 percent of Americans support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering," the latest issue of Psychiatric News says the Drug Czar's office still endorses arresting medical marijuana users. Chuck Thomas of the MPP said that at first, the drug warriors pretended to like the IOM report, but for the past month they've been ignoring it and outright maligning it.)
Pot Advocate Called Refugee From U.S. 'War' (The Vancouver Province, in British Columbia, says a legal battle began yesterday in the B.C. Supreme Court to keep Renee Boje, a 29-year-old California woman, from being deported to the U.S. to face marijuana-related charges in connection with the 1997 Bel Air bust of Todd McCormick.)
Western Canadian Hemp Acres Could Be High As A Kite (Resource News says good yields from the first Canadian hemp crop and depressed prices for traditional crops like canola and wheat will fuel dramatic growth in hemp production this summer on the Western Canadian prairies. Bruce Brolley, a new crops specialist with the Manitoba provincial agriculture department, says he's estimating about 15,000 acres will be planted in the province this spring, up from approximately 1,300 acres last summer.)
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Monday, April 19, 1999:
HJM 10, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Rescheduling Memorial (A list subscriber says the resolution before the state house of representatives asking Congress to reschedule marijuana to make it available as medicine will receive a "tap-tap" hearing this week to keep it alive.)
Andrea Nagy Raided (A list subscriber says the founder of the now-defunct medical marijuana dispensary in Ventura County, California, was busted by an unspecified agency today for her and her mother's 64 plants.)
Industrial Hemp Legal in North Dakota (A list subscriber forwards an unsourced press release announcing that Governor Schafer on Saturday signed HB 1428, which reportedly means "any person in this state may plant, grow, harvest, possess, process, sell, and buy industrial hemp." North Dakota's Senate passed HB 1428 by a vote of 44-3 on April 12. The week before the House passed the bill 86-7.)
U.S. Drug Policy, Problem Need Fix (According to an editorial in the Topeka Capital-Journal by Gene Smith, Barry McCaffrey, who says he didn't ask for his job as drug czar, came to Kansas last week to promote the national drug control strategy, spending nearly an hour with the newspaper's editorial board. General McCaffrey's attempt to tone down the language of the "war on drugs" may be too late. The past several years show the already tattered Bill of Rights may have suffered permanent damage. Maybe the white-haired ex-general can find a way to both wage the drug war and preserve the Constitution. "Let us pray that he does. And that, like a physician, he first does no harm.")
Rally Held In Houghton In Support Of Legalization Of Marijuana (WLUC, the NBC affiliate in Marquette, Michigan, says Michigan Tech University students associated with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws held their annual campus rally Sunday.)
Ritalin Abuse Is Rampant In American Schools Today (Syndicated commentator Betsy Hart writes in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, about an indictment of Ritalin in the most recent issue of the Heritage Foundation's Policy Review magazine - not a periodical most medical school libraries subscribe to. Hart emphasizes the DEA's classification of methylphenidate as a "stimulant," ignoring its role as one of the first antidepressants, and the doctors, pharmacologists and educators who could explain that, for psychiatric patients, including kids with Attention Deficit Disorder, it's not a stimulant at all. Unfortunately, Hart misses the boat by failing to endorse the sort of research that could reveal Ritalin's real hazards, for example, a longitudinal study of a representative sample of longterm users. Plus commentary from various list subscribers.)
2 N.J. State Troopers Indicted (The Associated Press says a grand jury today in Trenton, New Jersey, indicted John Hogan and James Kenna, the two cops who opened fire last April on a van on the New Jersey Turnpike containing four unarmed minority men. The two troopers were accused of falsifying records by misrepresenting the race of the motorists they had stopped and searched, and of illegally searching vehicles and occupants in the three months prior to the shooting.)
DEA: Status of the proposed rescheduling of dronabinol (Jon Gettman, the former director of NORML who has been petitioning the Drug Enforcement Administration since 1995 to reschedule marijuana, based on the government's own science, shares a letter from the DEA indicating his objection to reclassifying Marinol as a Schedule 3 drug, apart from marijuana, is causing the DEA "concern" because, "by intertwining Mr. Gettman's petition with the proposed transfer of Marinol, the respective issues" have become "confused," a word Gettman would probably replace with "linked." Then the DEA has the incredible gall to imply that Gettman's objections may be harming sick people.)
Statement on Marinol (Jon Gettman and High Times magazine officially repond to the DEA's "confusion" about the relationship between Marinol - pure THC - which the DEA wants to move to Schedule 3, and marijuana, which the DEA wants to keep in Schedule 1.)
It's Time to Open the Doors of Our Prisons (An op-ed in Newsweek by Rufus King, a Washington lawyer and perhaps the longest-active drug-policy-reformer in the United States, explains how freeing first-time drug offenders now would make economic sense.)
Jamaican Spring Break: Sun, Sea and Sex (The Salt Lake Tribune says about 20,000 students from northeastern U.S. universities are expected to spend their spring vacations at Jamaica's three main resort towns by the end of April - up from 13,000 last year - lured by the promise of hot sunshine, cool seas, all-night parties and plenty of booze. For some, an additional attraction is "ganja," or marijuana.)
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Sunday, April 18, 1999:
Friends pay tribute to Brownie Mary's life (The San Francisco Examiner says a candlelight vigil in the Castro District honored "Brownie" Mary Rathbun, the late activist who helped launch the medical marijuana movement by baking marijuana brownies for AIDS patients. "Brownie Mary was my friend," San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan told the crowd while standing on the back of a red pickup truck. "Brownie Mary was a hero. She will one day be remembered as the Florence Nightingale of the medical marijuana movement." Hallinan then pledged that as long as he is DA, "Nobody is going to prosecute in the city and county of San Francisco anyone who uses and cultivates marijuana with a legitimate doctor's recommendation.")
Ready For Medical Marijuana Research (A staff editorial in the Oakland Tribune says the "unruly debate" over medical marijuana persists because the federal government is stubbornly obstructing the will of the people. Science is ready and the people have spoken, but are the bureaucrats ready?)
These are your kids on drugs (An op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner by Steven Okazaki, an Academy Award-winning film maker who produced "Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street" for HBO, criticizes the White House drug czar's $1 billion anti-drug advertising campaign. "Not one of the kids I talked to was ignorant of the dangers of drug use when he or she began." Certainly, prevention is important. But it's not prevention to tell kids to stay away from drugs while we ignore the circumstances of their lives. Don't expect things to get better as long as policy makers refuse to back off the tough-on-crime bluster and address the frayed social services net and lack of treatment options for addicts.)
Bad Marijuana Bill (A letter to the editor of the Daily Herald, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, from the director of the Illinois State Crime Commission, pans HB 792, which would make it illegal for anyone to transmit "cannabis information" through the Internet. The crime commission oftentimes finds itself delivering new, sometimes groundbreaking information about illegal drugs. Supporters of the measure admit that HB 792 contains a number of "gray areas" that would have to be addressed by the courts.)
El-Amin's Joint More Important Than War In Kosovo? Get A Grip (Republican-American columnist Ed Daigneault, in Waterbury, Connecticut, says hysteria surrounded the bust of University of Connecticut basketball star Khalid El-Amin this week. El-Amin's possession of a tiny amount of marijuana became the lead story on local television news and received prominent play in Connecticut newspapers. Daigneault doesn't mention that if convicted, El-Amin faces the loss of student aid under the recently approved Higher Education Act.)
El-Amin Gets Warm Reception (The Charlotte Observer, in North Carolina, says Khalid El-Amin, arrested for marijuana on Tuesday, was clearly the fan favorite Saturday during a parade in Hartford honoring the University of Connecticut's NCAA championship basketball team.)
Billboards Come Down In 45 States (The News-Times, in Connecticut, says a settlement with that takes effect Friday will remove all billboard and transit advertisements for four tobacco companies' cigarettes. The settlement also obliges tobacco companies to turn over the remaining time on their advertising leases to the states' attorneys general so the states can run anti-amoker propaganda. Until now, the tobacco companies spent $300 million a year in outdoor advertising.)
D.C. Medical Marijuana Referendum Is In Limbo (The Kansas City Star describes how Congress quashed the results from Initiative 59 in Washington, D.C. last November. After five months, a federal judge still has not ruled on whether anyone should see them.)
JAX Election Scam! (A bulletin from the Florida Cannabis Action Network says petitioners for a medical marijuana ballot measure being sponsored by Floridians for Medical Rights were once again prohibited from gathering signatures Tuesday near a polling station in Jacksonville, despite a federal court order prompted by similar repression November 3. A local law enforcement official allegedly threatened to arrest petitioners and another stood by as a Baptist preacher threatened them with violence.)
ACM-Bulletin of 18 April 1999 (An English-language bulletin from the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, features news about an Australian Survey on the medical use of cannabis; a science report on the Interaction of anandamide with dopamine, a basis for the treatment of movement disorders and schizophrenia; and a California town's attempt to implement the voter-approved medical marijuana law.)
Russian Police Make Major Pot Bust (According to the Associated Press, the ITAR-Tass news agency said Sunday that police seized 1,320 pounds of marijuana from a truck crossing into Russia from the Central Asian republic of Kazakstan.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 15 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Saturday, April 17, 1999:
Let Adults Decide What To Ingest (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian dismisses the newspaper's recent editorial on the Institute of Medicine report by asserting the primacy of individual rights.)
Strip club suit keeps beer flowing for free (The Oregonian says Scores, in Northeast Salem, wants to continue to give away beer without a liquor license and is asking a judge to declare the practice legal in a lawsuit filed Friday in Marion County Circuit Court. The flow of free beer resumed Friday after a day's halt for a special event.)
Hayden hearings (A bulletin from California NORML says SB 1261, a bill sponsored by state senator Tom Hayden that would create a commission on drug policy and violence, was approved by the senate Public Safety Committee on a 6-0 vote now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Here's some swing votes to lobby.)
Cannabis Has Herbal Benefits Research Can Help Unlock (An op-ed by a professional herbalist in the Buffalo News, in New York, summarizes the pharmacological history of cannabis.)
Drug And Alcohol Use Jump In Nation's Capitol (According to an Associated Press article in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which implies that alcohol is not a drug, District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams cited a new report by Drug Strategies that claimed adult cocaine and heroin use rates in the district were twice the national average in 1993, the latest figures available. The Drug Strategies report also showed heavy drinking was 50 percent more prevalent among adults in the capital than among their peers nationwide, and alcohol-related deaths in the district were double the national rate. Unfortunately, AP doesn't mention Drug Strategies' methodology or its agenda.)
Study Finds Drug Abuse At Heart Of City's Ills (The Washington Post version is similarly one-sided and uncritical.)
'Crisis' Of Black Males Gets High-Profile Look (The Washington Post says nationally, one in three young black men is under the supervision of the criminal justice system, and the rate approaches 50 percent in some states. In all, 12 states and the District of Columbia imprison blacks at rates 10 times those of whites, according to the latest government figures. The composite picture has become so alarming that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights made it the subject of an unusual two-day conference this week in Washington, D.C.)
New Drugs For Old Habits (The Economist, in Britain, says advances in the understanding of how alcohol, cocaine, heroin and nicotine affect the brain at the cellular and molecular level are leading to new approaches to treating substance abuse. A few companies such as Merck and DuPont have already taken the plunge, at least for alcohol abuse.)
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Friday, April 16, 1999:
Oregon legislative hearings on HB 2933, for industrial hemp, and HJM 10, for medical marijuana (A list subscriber says a hearing has been scheduled for Rep. Prozanski's hemp bill at 8:30 am Thursday, April 22, in Hearing Room D at the capitol. A hearing on Rep. Bowman's medical marijuana resolution is also likely to take place by April 23.)
Oregon high court OKs double-jeopardy review (The Oregonian says the state Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear an appeal claiming double jeopardy in a 1994 Portland case involving the civil forfeiture of a house and a criminal indictment based on the same marijuana arrest. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that civil forfeiture is not punishment for purposes of considering a double-jeopardy claim. But the Oregon Supreme Court never has reviewed the state civil forfeiture statutes under the state Constitution. According to Stephen Kanter, a professor at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College, in Portland, the Oregon Constitution's ban on double jeopardy is broader than the U.S. Constitution's.)
Control Dispute Reappears At Jail Meeting (The Oregonian says about 300 beds for inmates undergoing treatment for alcohol or other drug abuse are being considered for a proposed 225-bed Multnomah County jail along North Portland's Bybee Lake. A county attorney pointed out a new wrinkle at a Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday. If the county puts the jail and the treatment beds in the same facility, it could create constitutional problems for inmates undergoing coerced treatment who have served out their sentences.)
Students questioned over drinking at model U.N. (The Associated Press says as many as 100 students from two Portland High Schools are being questioned about drinking at a model United Nations event last week at the University of Oregon in Eugene.)
Model U.N. students quizzed about drinking (The Oregonian version)
A Josephine County medical marijuana martyr (A rural Oregon man dying from hepatitus C, contracted in the Marines, rues his legacy.)
Seattle Million Marijuana March sign-making gathering April 26 (A list subscriber invites local activists to the Queen Anne Library to prepare for the Seattle rally scheduled in conjunction with others around the world Saturday, May 1.)
Norman Vroman's views on crime, punishment and paying taxes set him apart (The Santa Rosa Press Democrat says the newly elected district attorney in Mendocino County, California, has charted a new course in dealing with domestic violence, drunken driving and marijuana cultivation. Vroman also signaled a new tack toward asset forfeiture by ousting a veteran prosecutor who had handled such drug-related cases. He says there are two types of criminals, those who are predatory and violent, and those who make mistakes but who are basically benevolent. The newspaper says concern is stirring within law enforcement and victim advocacy groups, but that Vroman continues to receive strong support from both sides of Mendocino County's political spectrum, which share a common distrust of the government.)
Brownie Mary dies, but lives on in memorials this week (An obituary in the Bay Area Reporter for Mary Jane Rathbun quotes Dennis Person saying, "Mary adopted every gay kid in San Francisco. She was there before we knew what AIDS was, when it was referred to as 'GRID,' and even back then she always had a batch of brownies there to relieve the pain of her kids.")
Report: Lett Fails Drug Test (According to UPI, the New York Times is reporting that Leon Lett, the Dallas Cowboys' defensive tackle, has failed a drug test for the third time and faces a lifetime suspension from the National Football League. The Times report did not say what drug was involved. One of Lett's agents, Michael Claiborne, told the Dallas Morning News that his client had been tested an average of ten times a month for the past four years.)
Senate Hardens Pot-Sale Penalty (The Des Moines Register says a bill that would make it a felony to sell even the smallest quantity of marijuana in Iowa passed 34-11. The bill would also provide up to five years in prison for anyone who gave away one-half to 1 ounce of marijuana. Having already sailed through the House. It still needs Gov. Tom Vilsack's signature to take effect. Sen. Jeff Lamberti, R-Ankeny, who guided debate of the bill, said it treats marijuana more like other illicit drugs.)
Couple Sent To Prison For Growing Marijuana (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in Wisconsin, says Gary & Dawn Roth forfeited their 460-acre farm in Vernon County and were sentenced to 10 years, and three years and one month, respectively, after police found 4,244 marijuana plants in a converted hog barn in December.)
Illinois "Cannabis Info" bill dead (A list subscriber forwards a message from an ACLU-Illinois legislative coordinator predicting the demise of HB 792, which would make it a Class A misdemeanor to "transmit information by the Internet about a controlled substance knowing that the information will be used in furtherance of illegal activity.")
Four Co-Defenders Say Cop Was Drug Kingpin (The Chicago Tribune says four co-defendants pleaded guilty Thursday to drug conspiracy charges and accused Officer Joseph Miedzianowski, a Chicago policeman, of leading a double life as a cocaine kingpin who allegedly interfered with a murder investigation, armed gang members with semi-automatic weapons and betrayed fellow officers working undercover. In exchange for their cooperation and their testimony against Miedzianowski and others, the four likely will receive sharp reductions in prison sentences that could have sent them away for anywhere from 17 years to life.)
Merle Haggard Still Calls The Tune (A Boston Globe feature article on the country music legend from Bakersfield, California, quotes him saying "Okie from Muskogee" was a kind of joke, and that conservatives - especially the anti-marijuana forces - have gone too far. "America has sure gone to some sort of a police state in the last 10 years," he said. Thanks to "zero tolerance" policies by U.S. authorities at the Canadian border, he won't play in Canada now for fear of having tour buses forfeited.)
El-Amin Apologizes, Gets One Day Of Community Service (The Middletown Press says University of Connecticut basketball star Khalid El-Amin apologized Thursday to his family, his teammates and the people of Connecticut and Minnesota for his arrest on marijuana possession charges 15 days after leading the Huskies to their first national championship. The 19-year-old Minneapolis native was stopped for a traffic violation in Hartford and a small amount of marijuana was discovered during a pat-down search.)
89-Year-Old Man Sentenced For Selling Crack (The Associated Press says Brose Gearhart, who turns 90 today, was sentenced Monday to up to four years in prison for running a $1,000-a-week operation from his home in Saugerties, New York, and routinely trading drugs for sex with prostitutes.)
Strawberry Arrest Adds Bleak Note To Yankees (The Washington Post recounts yesterday's news about the cocaine bust of baseball legend Darryl Strawberry in Florida.)
Yankees' Strawberry Is Charged With Drug Possession, Solicitation (The Philadelphia Inquirer version)
Report: Strawberry Begged To Be Let Off (The UPI version says the Yankees slugger told Tampa police he was only joking when he offered $50 to an undercover police officer for sex. He also said he knew nothing about the cocaine that was allegedly found wrapped in a $20 bill in his wallet, claiming he found the money in the glove compartment of a borrowed car.)
Million Marijuana March web endeavor - millionmarijuanamarch.com (A list subscriber forwards information about the worldwide reform rally scheduled for Saturday, May 1. The world wide web is making it all possible.)
Zero tolerance sparks mutiny in police ranks (The Australian News Network says New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir, who has overseen a sharp drop in crime with a much-vaunted zero-tolerance policy, faces a mutiny in the ranks for turning the city into a "police state" where people despise men and women in uniform. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, representing police officers, has cast a unanimous vote of no confidence in Safir amid rising concern about police misconduct.)
Salvos Stop Saying 'No' (The Australian says the Salvation Army has jettisoned its "just say no" approach to drug and alcohol rehabilitation, forcing Prime Minister John Howard's chief drug adviser and his best-known advocate of zero-tolerance policies to concede the agency had allowed itself to be depicted as too hardline.)
Moral Crusaders Must Be Ignored (A letter to the editor of the Canberra Times says prohibition never works. All that making a drug illegal does is put money into the hands of organised crime. The "war against drugs" does not exist. It is a war waged by certain sections of Australian society to impose their moral beliefs and drug of choice - alcohol - onto the rest of society.)
Treatment Demand Stretches Clinics (According to the Irish Examiner, representatives of the Eastern Health Board, the main treatment provider in Dublin, told the Dail Public Accounts Committee yesterday that at any one time, 600 people are on waiting lists seeking treatment for heroin addiction.)
WHO Cautious On Swiss Experiment (The Associated Press says a study sponsored by the United Nations concluded Friday that while Switzerland accepts the evidence that its heroin maintenance program leads to health gains for addicts, its claims must be tested carefully in "rich" countries before other "rich" countries copy the program. The World Health Organization criticized the Swiss for not including a control group, even though last year, 209 drug-related deaths were reported, down from a peak of 419 in 1992. The Swiss put the heroin program on a permanent legal footing last year.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 87 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original online drug policy newsmagazine includes - HEA reform campaign online petition launched; Conyers reintroduces racial profiling legislation; Conyers introduces legislation to end federal disenfranchisement; Unarmed boy shot in drug raid; California legislators consider "three strikes" modification; Doctor's undertreatment of pain draws penalty; Nevada legislature mulls marijuana decriminalization bill; Seminars at the Lindesmith Center; and an editorial: Disparity dilemma)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 94 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Kosovo is Small Potatoes Compared to the Drug War, by Mark Greer. The Weekly News in Review spotlights several articles about Drug War Policy, including - Drug survey of children finds middle school a pivotal time; Iowa report: 1 in 25 workers showed evidence of drug use; Editorial: the Fourth Amendment suffers at court's hands; 'Black tar' grimly covers S.F. streets; and, Number of drug deaths in Florida rises. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - As inmate population grows, so does a focus on children; Losing battle to revise drug law; The politics of punishment; Editorial: federalizing crime; and, Feds to join local war on drugs. Articles about Cannabis & Hemp include - Farmers show interest in hemp; Hemp-Ventura; High court hears man's case to grow marijuana for medicine; Marijuana as medicine - state bill inches forward; and, Movement on 215. International News includes - Australia: Bid for zero tolerance in schools doomed; Fugitive former governor of Mexican state charged with trafficking; and, Canadians favour the use of medical marijuana. The weekly "Hot Off The 'Net' feature points you to Steve Young's online book, "Maximizing Harm." The Fact of the Week uses the government's own statistics to document that mandatory minimums increase crime. The Quote of the Week shares an e-mail from British Member of Parliament Paul Flynn, who uses the DrugSense and MAP web sites.)
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Thursday, April 15, 1999:
NORML Weekly Press Release (NORML Foundation Family Custody Project victorious in New Jersey parenting rights case; Nevada decriminalization legislation clears first hurdle; Hawaii medical marijuana resolutions move forward in senate; U.K. researchers to use DNA technology in drug testing, tracking marijuana; New Hampshire lawmakers say no to marijuana decriminalization measure, halt further debate until 2001.)
Appeals Court OKs city's restrictions on suspects (The Oregonian says a three-judge panel from the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday allowing Portland police to resume handing out exclusion orders that prohibit people charged with drug or prostitution offenses from going into designated parts of the city. A 1997 lower court ruling said that issuing a temporary exclusion order and prosecuting someone for the same drug arrest violated the constitutional ban on double jeopardy.)
Police volunteer indicted in Portland bank robbery (According to the Oregonian, Louie Lira Jr., who was supposedly excluded from the United States altogether after drug and robbery convictions in California led him to be banished to his native Mexico, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Portland. The longtime gang outreach worker and volunteer with the Portland Police Bureau faces charges of armed bank robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony for monitoring a police scanner and giving suspects details that allowed them to escape.)
State group offers proposals to reduce underage drinking (According to the Oregonian, yet another closed committee of self-designated experts appointed by Oregon Gov. John "Prisons" Kitzhaber, this one charged with examining the problem of alcohol use by minors, issued vague recommendations Wednesday that appear to be destined to lead to yet another hugely expensive and useless lawmaking bureaucracy. Underage alcohol use has dropped in recent years.)
State says free beer at strip club a violation (According to the Oregonian, Dylan Salts, the manager of Scores cabaret in Salem, said he's ready to resume a recent tavern promotion offering two free beers for customers age 21 and over, even though Scores has no license to serve alcohol from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. Scores argues that the club doesn't need a license if it gives away the booze instead of selling it.)
Pot, Police, And Prostitutes (Seattle Weekly sex columnist Cherry Wong compares and contrasts pot and prostitution policies in America and the Netherlands. People make up their own minds about certain vices with or without the law on their side. By keeping prostitution illegal in most of this country, it's giving the message that Americans don't have the individual common sense to choose what's right or wrong for them. Ditto for the pot.)
Ex-Candidate Faces Trial in Medical Marijuana Case (The Los Angeles Times examines the prosecution of medical marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby in the context of Proposition 215's history and prospects. Prosecutors aren't even debating Kubby's tale of herbal success. Instead, they contend the number of plants cultivated by Kubby and his 33-year-old wife, Michele, were too many for personal medical use. "If the jury feels 265 plants is sufficient for medical use, then justice is done," said Christopher Cattran, a Placer County deputy district attorney. "If they decide 265 plants is too much, then justice is done, too." The case is set for trial May 18 in Auburn. Charles Lepp, a 46-year-old Vietnam War veteran who uses pot for a variety of ailments, including chronic back pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and manic depression, was acquitted in December in Lake County of charges that he grew 131 marijuana plants for sale.)
Obituary - 'Brownie Mary' (The San Francisco Examiner says a candlelight vigil in memory of Mary Jane "Brownie Mary" Rathbun will be held in the Castro District Saturday night. A second memorial is being planned for May 1 at Laguna Honda Hospital.)
Council Moves to Repeal Drug Tests for Members (The Los Angeles Times says the city council in South El Monte, California, voted 4-1 Tuesday to take the first step toward repealing "voluntary" random drug tests for its members.)
Teacher Held on Charges of Shipping Drugs (The Los Angeles Times says William D. Hubbell, a junior high school teacher in Burbank and the son of a local school board member, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of trafficking in cocaine after prohibition agents observed him shipping a box with $80,000 worth of cocaine to Hawaii.)
Marijuana Lesser Of Two Evils? (The Summit Daily News, in Colorado, can't believe that a U.S. Department of Transportation study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded drunk drivers pose a far greater threat than drivers who had smoked marijuana. The study shows marijuana's adverse effect on drivers is "relatively small" compared to alcohol and even some medicinal drugs. "Marijuana impairment represents a real, but secondary, safety risk. THC is not a profoundly impairing drug. Of the many psychotropic drugs, licit and illicit, that are available and used by people who subsequently drive, marijuana may well be among the least harmful.")
Hemp Help - Two Area Republicans Are Among The Backers (The Capital Times, in Madison, Wisconsin, says two local Republicans, state representative Eugene Hahn, of Cambria, and state senator Dale Schultz, of Richland Center, are among the backers of a resolution calling on Congress to legalize the commercial production of industrial hemp.)
2 Correction Officers To Serve Time (UPI says Rafael Lopez and Victor Cabrera, two former New York City jail guards, were sentenced to 2 to 6 years for attempting to smuggle drugs into the Rikers Island jail. Both men were trapped in sting operations.)
Quality of Life Policing: Giuliani Cop System Doesn't Work (An op-ed in Newsday, in New York, by Joseph D. McNamara, a former New York police officer, says that when Amadou Diallo, an innocent man, died in a hail of 41 bullets, so did quality-of-life policing, an errant style of law enforcement promulgated by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the two police commissioners he appointed, William Bratton and Howard Safir, who have been exporting it to other cities.)
Fatal Error Shouldn't Undo The Good Done In New York (Columnist Mona Charen writes in the Daily Herald, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, that most New Yorkers are delighted with the change Mayor Giuliani has wrought.)
Strawberry Arrested For Drugs, Solicitation (UPI says Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player for the New York Yankees, was busted Wednesday in Tampa, Florida, with three-tenths of a gram of cocaine after offering an undercover policewoman $50 for sex.)
Study Slams Corruption On Border (According to the Houston Chronicle, a yearlong study by the General Accounting Office found that drug interdiction efforts in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California are compromised by federal agents and other field staff on the payrolls of Mexican drug cartels.)
Fairfax Teacher Suspended After Arrest On Drug Charge In D.C. (The Washington Post says Fred Benevento, a math teacher at Fairfax High School in Virginia and former head football coach at Langley High School, has been suspended without pay due to his arrest March 19 for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute. District of Columbia police conducting a stakeout said they found 13 bags of crack in his car. Benevento told police that the bags of cocaine "came flying through his open window" and that he "was just looking at them when the police officers arrived." Police found $136 on the man who allegedly sold Benevento the 13 bags.)
Students Face Drug Charges (UPI says an unspecified number of Lake Brantley High School kids were among 32 people busted yesterday in Longwood, Florida, for selling marijuana and cocaine.)
City Settles Firefighter's Suit In Controversial Drug Case (The Charlotte Observer says lawyers for Karen Goff, a former firefighter, and the city of Gastonia, North Carolina, agreed to a $30,000 settlement Tuesday arising from a search of Goff's locker that supposedly yielded cocaine. Prosecutors dropped charges after tests by the State Bureau of Investigation showed the substance to be inositol, an over-the-counter nutritional supplement. Then Goff filed suit, so the city did more tests and found traces of cocaine in the nutritional supplement. A laboratory worker for the city also said inositol is commonly used to dilute cocaine. Still more tests by a laboratory chosen by Goff's lawyers found no cocaine at all.)
Firefighter's Back After Fine For Pot (The Edmonton Sun, in Alberta, says Dean Troyer, an Edmonton firefighter who was fined $2,500 after being convicted of growing medical marijuana, is back on the job. "The department is satisfied that the courts have dealt with this matter and it doesn't affect his job performance," said Jean Kirkman, a fire department spokesman.)
US Company To Build 2 Plants For Hemp Processing In Canada (According to the Journal of Commerce, in the United States, Douglas Campbell, the president of the Canadian division of Consolidated Growers and Processors, says CGP plans to build two hemp-processing plants by 2001 in Manitoba.)
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Wednesday, April 14, 1999:
Fundamentally Flawed (A letter to the editor of Willamette Week, in Portland, criticizes the task force created by Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers that has proposed legislation to coerce patients with severe mental illnesses to take psychiatric drugs. The only way the mental-health system knows how to "treat" people is with powerful drugs. Many mental-health clients reject these drugs not because of "side effects" but because of real effects that can be painful, permanently disfiguring or even result in death.)
Laws separate euthanasia and assisted suicide (The Oregonian vies with the Catholic Sentinel for right-to-life subscribers.)
Brownie Mary's Legacy (A staff editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle eulogizes "Brownie Mary" Rathbun, the grandmotherly volunteer at San Francisco General Hospital whose marijuana-laced brownies helped launch the medical-marijuana movement. It isn't always the job of society's critics to find the exact solutions to painful problems. Raising the issue and marching forward can be enough. It would be a fitting legacy if a workable solution could be found to passing out Brownie Mary's goods to those who need it.)
Driving While White (Alexander Cockburn's column in the Anderson Valley Advertiser, in California, summarizes an article in this month's Esquire magazine about "Operation Pipeline," by Gary Webb. According to Webb, Operation Pipeline takes us beyond the basic "driving while black" scenarios that presume that cops pull over people merely because they are black or brown and show that millions and millions of federal DEA dollars and training sessions by the thousand have sent cops out on the roads to look for the trace signs that spell "drug carrier." Police commands in 48 states now participate in Pipeline in some fashion.)
State Spending Big Bucks To Tell Us What To Do (The San Francisco Examiner says more than ever before, the government wants to change the way you think. Public officials are spending billions on new campaigns, even buying expensive ads on prime-time television. It's called social marketing - part behavioral science, part propaganda, part Madison Avenue - and it has become the most popular political antidote to society's many shortfalls. California alone has spent $220 million on such propaganda since 1997. Federal anti-drug and anti-tobacco campaigns have $2.45 billion budgeted for advertising over the next five years. "The bottom line is it's all about politics," said Bob Belinoff, a sort of social marketing guru from New Mexico who has a Web site on the subject, www.mkt4change.com. "The people who are putting this stuff on the air are all politicians elected because of television.")
Reefer Madness in Illinois (The online version of Wired magazine notes legislation drafted by Bill Mitchell, a Republican state representative, would make it a Class A misdemeanor to "transmit information by the Internet about a controlled substance knowing that the information will be used in furtherance of illegal activity." The bill passed the state house of representatives last week and was presented to a state senate committee on Wednesday.)
Marijuana Legislation Raises Free-speech Concerns (The Associated Press version)
Lawmakers: Marijuana Is A Dangerous And Addictive Drug (UPI says the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted "overwhelmingly" today to reject a bill sponsored by Tim Robertson of Keene that would have decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.)
U-Conn Star El-Amin Faces A Drug Charge (The Philadelphia Inquirer says Khalid El-Amin, who last month helped the University of Connecticut win its first national basketball championship, was arrested in Hartford yesterday and charged with possession of less than four ounces of marijuana. Star junior Richard Hamilton was with El-Amin, but was not charged. Members of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force also impounded the late-model red Cadillac the players were in.)
Ann Landers: U.S. Approach To Drug Use Inhumane (A letter to the syndicated advice columnist, in the Washington Post, applauds her proposal last January to reduce the harm caused by marijuana laws.)
Ancient Treatment Helps Fight Addictions (The Washington Post examines the increasing use of acupuncture as a treatment for people dependent on alcohol, nicotine, opiates and cocaine. The only place in Prince George's County that offers it, the Underground Railroad, is a private "community center for wellness and recovery" that opened two months ago in Suitland. Alaine Duncan of Hyattsville, a licensed acupuncturist, hopes to expand the center into a state-supported operation, similar to acupuncture detox programs in Baltimore and Portland, Oregon. The 1997 National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on Acupuncture approved it for the treatment of various pains and ailments, including such things as tennis elbow, vomiting and dental pain.)
Petition: Raise Your Voice to Congress Today for HEA Reform (A bulletin from the Drug Reform Coordination Network asks you to take two short minutes to raise your voice to Congress asking for a repeal of the provision in the Higher Education Act of 1998 that delays or denies all federal financial aid for any drug conviction, no matter how minor - including marijuana possession.)
Canadian House of Commons debates medical marijuana (The Media Awareness Project provides a URL to a lengthy transcript of today's debate.)
Green Light For USA To Operate From Curacao And Aruba (Jane's Defence Weekly says that last week, Dutch and U.S. government officials reached an agreement to station U.S. counter-drug forces in the Caribbean at Hato Airfield on the Dutch Antilles island of Curacao and Reina Beatrix on Aruba following the closure of U.S. bases in Panama.)
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Tuesday, April 13, 1999:
Drug death rate doubles in Oregon (The Oregonian notes yesterday's news about the 80 drug-related deaths recorded in the state during the first three months of the year, compared with 39 during the same period in 1998. Seventy deaths involved heroin, up from 27 a year ago. The newspaper continues to perpetuate the heroin "overdose" myth exposed more than two decades ago by the Consumers Union, blaming the deaths on increasing purity rather than toxic contaminants, or concurrent use of alcohol.)
Bill wouldn't let local governments prohibit smoking in bars (The Associated Press says the Oregon House of Representatives' Commerce Committee heard testimony Monday on HB 2806, which would allow Corvallis to continue to be the only city in the state with its own drug policy.)
Marijuana club challenges closure, wants jury trials (The Associated Press says lawyers for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative on Tuesday presented oral arguments for the club's appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The cooperative said its forced closure last October by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer violated the rights of its 2,000 patient-members, who should have been allowed to argue their medical necessity. The club also said the closure failed to recognize the legal effect of the city of Oakland's involvement in the club's operations. AP doesn't say when a ruling is due.)
Mary Jane Rathbun, 77 (The Associated Press obituary for "Brownie Mary," the San Francisco activist, says her arrests for distributing marijuana brownies to AIDS patients built momentum for the medical marijuana movement.)
'Brownie Mary' Gave Pot To Dying AIDS Patients (The Reuters version in the Toronto Star quotes Dennis Peron saying, "Before it was a cliche, Brownie Mary was compassionate. She was willing to go to jail for her kids.")
Activist Whose Pot Brownies Fueled Medicinal-Marijuana Push (The Chicago Tribune obituary)
Brownie Mary in the San Francisco Chronicle (A list subscriber forwards relevant excerpts from Scott Ostler's column.)
Existing Law Goes Bit Too Far (A staff editorial in the San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune endorses California state senator Tom Hayden's bill to reform the state's "three strikes" law. In one case, a young man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for serving as a lookout for a drug deal. The law would work better if it were tempered - in certain situations - not with mercy, but with fairness.)
'Black Tar' Grimly Covers S.F. Streets (The San Francisco Chronicle previews Steven Okazaki's "Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street," a documentary premiering tomorrow on cable television as part of HBO's "America Undercover" series. The documentary follows the lives of five bruised and ailing San Francisco junkies as they alternately try to support their habits and kick them. The film director says he's frustrated by the city's lack of counseling and rehab programs. "The addict population has gotten much younger: The average age 10 years ago was 27; now it's 19 to 20," he says. "The mayor and the city government people should be ashamed. They're part of the problem.")
Voices Of Our Time: Joseph D. McNamara (The San Jose Mercury News features the former cop and veteran drug-war critic saying, "I think that improved Internet communication in the long run is more likely to spread human freedom and prosperity, provided governments don't suppress it.")
Feds To Join Local War On Drugs (The Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, has agreed to send a team of federal drug experts to New Bedford to help assess needs and to develop a drug-fighting strategy. Gen. McCaffrey's three paragraph letter to Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr. does not specify when the team will arrive, nor what exactly it will do.)
Probation Officer Sentenced To Prison (The Tampa Tribune says Debra D. Leeks, a 13-year veteran Polk County probation officer, was sentenced to 30 months in prison Monday for her role in shaking down a cocaine dealer under her supervision. Leeks pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to commit extortion, conspiring to obstruct justice, lying to federal agents and tampering with a witness. But Monday, appearing before U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr., the resident of Lake Wales, Florida, declared her innocence.)
Jury Clears Lawyers In Federal Case (The Tampa Tribune says the federal jury in Tampa, Florida, acquitted Paul D. Lazarus of Miami and Howard Freidin of Fort Myers, who were charged with conspiring to get an illegal sentence reduction for Daniel Hostetter, a cocaine dealer.)
Strike A Balance In The Marijuana Debate (An op-ed in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, by John A. Benson Jr. and Stanley J. Watson Jr., the co-principal investigators of the Institute of Medicine's March 17 report on medical marijuana, reiterates the study's conclusions without clarifying its contradictions, or its failure to realistically "weigh the reality of this crude drug-delivery system against the benefits it might bestow." Nor do they acknowledge that the purported "risks" of smoking marijuana are theoretical rather than epidemiological. Instead, Benson and Watson say "Our review of the science behind marijuana and cannabinoids convinces us that the debate so far has been miscast. Rather than focusing on drug control policy, the medical marijuana debate should really be about the promise of future drug development." Like countless patients suffering right now give a hoot about helping pharmaceutical companies' bottom line.)
Media Alert: "Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults" Rebroadcast this Thursday, 4/15 (A bulletin from the Drug Policy Foundation, in Washington, D.C., says ABC is rebroadcasting last May's report by John Stossel on consensual crime in America. Check local listings for the time.)
Another '60 Minutes' Apology on a Drug Smuggling Story (The Washington Post follows up on CBS' retraction of a story implying corruption on the part of Rudy Camacho, the San Diego district director of the U.S. Customs Service.)
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Monday, April 12, 1999:
Oregon Drug Deaths More Than Double In First Quarter Of 1999 (According to the Associated Press, the state Medical Examiner's office said Monday that 80 people died of "drug"-related causes, compared to 39 during the same period last year. However, as usual, the office didn't mention that nobody died from marijuana. And, as usual, the Medical Examiner didn't count the deaths from legal drugs such as tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical medicines - more than 100 times the deaths from illegal substances. Heroin again was the leading killer, playing a role in 70 deaths. Cocaine figured in 20 deaths. Last year, there were 235 drug-related deaths, 179 of them involving heroin.)
House considers bill to bar communities from banning smoking in bars (The Associated Press says the Oregon House of Representatives' Commerce Committee held a hearing Monday on a bill to strip local governments' authority to prohibit smokers from lighting up in bars and taverns. HB 2806 is a response to a successful campaign by prohibitionists in Corvallis, the first Oregon city to ban smoking in all enclosed public places. Twice in the past two years, Corvallis city councilors and voters have upheld the decision. Under HB 2806, Corvallis could keep its ban, but other cities would be prevented from instituting their own drug policies.)
Wheeler County officers seize mobile methamphetamine lab (The Oregonian notes the suspicions of a police officer in the rural north-central Oregon county - where approximately 1,600 residents are spread thinly over 1,713 square miles - were first raised because "strangers tend to be noticed.")
Sacramento County Dismisses Cultivation Charges! (A forwarded e-mail message says charges were dropped against medical marijuana patient Robert DeArkland regarding 13 plants. The dismissal is thought to be the first such act of compliance by the county with the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996.)
Cannabis Conundrum (The San Diego Union Tribune recaps the prosecution of medical-marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby and his wife, Michele, to illustrate the failure to implement Proposition 215 in California. In the vacuum created by the failure of two successive attorneys general to defend the law, local district attorneys' varying interpretations mean some prosecutors file charges against people with just a few plants while others, such as the Kubbys, claim they need hundreds of plants for their own use.)
AIDS Activist Rathbun Dies (The Associated Press says "Brownie Mary" Rathbun, the grandmotherly activist whose arrests for distributing pot brownies to AIDS patients built momentum for the medicinal marijuana movement, has died at 77 in San Francisco.)
Cops Allege Drive-Through Drug Sales (A Reuters article in the San Jose Mercury News says Sadik Sufi, 26, the night manager of a Burger King in Novato, California, was arrested early Friday for allegedly using the drive-through window to sell cocaine.)
Study Finds Link Between Incarceration, Prior Abuse (According to the Washington Post, a report made public yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said that almost half the women and a tenth of the men in state and federal prisons and local jails reported prior physical or sexual abuse. Among those in state prison systems, 16 percent of male inmates and 57 percent of female inmates reported prior abuse. A third of the female inmates in state prisons said they had been raped before their incarceration. Much of the abuse occurred when the future prison inmates were children.)
Former Cop In Court (The North Shore News, in British Columbia, says Scott Randall Simpson, a 12-year veteran of the North Vancouver RCMP, appeared in court on Wednesday to face six marijuana trafficking charges. Simpson, 38, is also charged with possessing marijuana, psilocybin, hashish and stealing a "cobra fashioned smoking pipe.")
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Sunday, April 11, 1999:
Case should give Ninth Amendment new life (An op-ed in the Oregonian by Randy E. Barnett, a former prosecutor and Boston University law professor, says the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative deserves to win its appeal Tuesday to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Oakland's brief argues that the people have reserved the power to enact popular initiatives. When the people pass an initiative protecting a particular liberty, judges should respect this unenumerated liberty as they would an enumerated right. In other words, the initiative process enables the voters of each state to decide themselves if a liberty is fundamental, rather than leave that decision solely to judges. While popular initiatives that restrict personal or economic liberties should be given the same constitutional scrutiny as any other state law, the people who approved medical marijuana ballot measures in California, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington decided to protect a liberty.)
Harsh sentences chop crime (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian reveals the ignorance of a man who is unfamiliar with the arrest rates for marijuana offenses and other basic aspects of the history of drug prohibition in America.)
Cigarette-maker knew of danger (Another letter to the editor of the Oregonian defends the recent decision of a Portland jury to award a record $80.3 million to the family of a dead former smoker. Despite tort law, which clearly holds smokers personally responsible for the risks they take, the author contends Philip Morris also breached its responsibilities, negating Jesse Williams' responsibility and making the company - in reality, current tobacco consumers - liable for damages. The author claims "cigarettes are the only consumer product that, when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer, addicts, sickens and kills," which would seem to ignore substances such as alcohol and a number of FDA-approved and doctor-prescribed medicines.)
Movement On 215 - In the Courts and the Capitals, the Case is Made for Medical Marijuana (Orange County Register columnist Alan W. Bock examines the federal and state developments that are converging in ways that could lead to dramatic break-throughs in the medical marijuana movement. On the federal front, the Institute of Medicine Report released March 17 shows that marijuana shouldn't remain a Schedule 1 controlled substance. On the state front, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer was elected to enforce California law. Barry McCaffrey and Janet Reno are appointed federal officials attempting to nullify a law put into place by the people of California. Lockyer's loyalty should be to the people who elected him and voted for Prop. 215. The federal government had every opportunity to challenge Prop. 215 in court. It chose not to do so. To try to nullify it by administrative fiat is despicable. Bock also reviews several pending court cases that could lead to reform, including Jon Gettman's rescheduling petition.)
The Politics of Punishment (Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters writes in the Oakland Tribune that the California Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday approved state Senator Tom Hayden's bill to reform California's "three strikes" mandatory-minimum sentencing law by requiring the third offense to be a violent or serious one. The committee also approved another bill to study the "three strikes" law. But the Assembly Public Safety Committee cleared a $4.1 billion bond issue to build six more state prisons. The debate continues.)
Principal Charged In Cocaine Sales (The Chicago Tribune says Delores Hill, 53, a principal known for tough words about drug abuse, has been charged with running a cocaine ring at the Tabernacle Church of God Elementary School in Brooklyn, New York. Authorities shut down the private, 160-student school when Hill was arrested along with the school nurse, a janitor and another worker after she allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover policewoman on school grounds.)
Losing Battle To Revise Drug Law (Newsday, in New York, says reformers' campaign to soften the state's 1973 Rockefeller mandatory-minimum drug laws is stymied by several political factors. According to state lawmakers, those include the continuing opposition of Senate Republicans intent on building prisons; a change in Governor Pataki's position that some believe is linked to his national ambitions; and the reluctance of top Democrats to tackle an issue they say was used as recently as last year to label them as soft on crime. It doesn't matter that a statewide poll released last month showed that 69 percent of New Yorkers favored giving judges sentencing discretion.)
Earth to Supreme Court: Woman's Purse More Than a Container (Marianne Means, a columnist for Hearst Newspapers, writes in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision giving police even greater latitude in searching motorists. Men carry billfolds to hold money and credit cards, usually in those pockets the court is protecting. But women carry purses in order to keep with them at all times their most intimate possessions. The "Supremes" do not realize the mischief they are creating here. No self-respecting woman is likely to hand over the secrets of her purse to police snoops without a fight. We have not heard the last of this issue.)
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Saturday, April 10, 1999:
After 11 years, man has "LSD" tattoo removed from forehead - free (The Associated Press says that thanks to a White Bird counselor, a dermatologist and a PeaceHealth hospital policy of community service, Curtis Surpless of Eugene is getting rid of the tattoo he received at the age of 16. Surpless started using hallucinogenic mushrooms when he was 9 and is currently in rehab, but the tattoo drew tons of unwanted attention and derision. Cops searched him. Workers at McDonald's and Greyhound refused to serve him. Even a Eugene Mission employee checked with a superior before helping him when he arrived in March.)
San Mateo County Wants Pot Study (The San Francisco Examiner recounts the recent news about San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, seeking permission from the federal government to carry out its own research to document the efficacy of medical marijuana.)
Federalizing Crime (A staff editorial in the Houston Chronicle praises the American Bar Association's recent report on the trend in Washington, D.C., to federalize local crime problems. While 95 percent of all crime is prosecuted by the states and only 5 percent or less by the federal government, federalization has led to an unhealthy concentration of policing power at the federal level, clogged the dockets of federal courts and created disparate sentences for similarly accused defendants. Congress and President Clinton should stop the inappropriate federalization of criminal activities and let states combat local crime.)
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Friday, April 9, 1999:
Portland-area police chiefs denounce racist auto stops (The Oregonian says Oregon State Police, 23 Portland-area police departments and police unions plan to send a unified message today that they will not tolerate police actions based on a person's race. The cops plan to sign a resolution that takes a strong stand against "race-based profiling." Spencer "Mike" Neal, a Portland attorney who specializes in police misconduct cases, dismissed the resolution as politics. "Talk is cheap," said Neal, who as a Filipino American has experienced racially motivated police stops, he said. "When I start seeing people being disciplined for those things, then I'll believe it.")
Medical Marijuana Users Licensed (An Associated Press article in the Las Vegas Sun examines the policies being implemented by Mel Brown, the police chief in Arcata, California, with the help of a community task force. Brown personally issues photo identification cards bearing his signature to medical marijuana patients after confirming their doctor's recommendation. So far, he has issued about 100 "stay out of jail" cards. Arcata is in Mendocino County, where District Attorney Norman Vroman plans to announce a similar ID card system next month.)
Hemp-Ventura (An Associated Press article excerpted from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says that despite the support of Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, who was recently featured on the cover of Hemp Times, an industrial hemp bill that had been approved by the state Senate died in committee after it was sent to the House.)
Reno calls on police to deal with 'profiling' incidents (An LA Times-Washington Post news service article in the Oregonian says U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno made an impassioned plea at her weekly news briefing Thursday, asking local police and other law enforcement officials to deal with citizen complaints about searches based on "racial profiles." A proposal to require a national study of why police stop and search drivers died in Congress last year but will be taken up again.)
Marijuana smell insufficient reason for arrest: Court (The Toronto Star says Ontario's highest court ruled yesterday in the case of Peter Polashek that police do not have an automatic right to arrest someone for suspected drug possession based on the smell of marijuana coming from a vehicle. In Polashek's case, the officer couldn't say whether the smell of burned or unburned marijuana was coming from the car. Polashek's lawyer, Alan Young, said such incidents give rise to questions about whether police ever fabricate claims of smelling drugs as an excuse for a fishing expedition. Mr. Justice Marc Rosenberg, writing for a unanimous three-judge court, said "The sense of smell is highly subjective and to authorize an arrest solely on that basis puts an unreviewable discretion in the hands of the officer.")
Bid For Zero Tolerance In Schools Doomed (The Age, in Melbourne, says most state and territory leaders at today's Premiers' Conference are expected to oppose Australian Prime Minister John Howard's push for a policy of zero tolerance towards drug users in schools.)
ME Sufferer Grew 'Pot' To Ease Pain (The Daily Telegraph, in Britain, says Candace Kelly, a 51-year-old woman in Halwell, Devon, had her sentence for growing marijuana suspended because she used it medicinally to treat a form of chronic fatigue syndrome.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 86 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original online drug policy newsmagazine includes - Driving while non-white; Search and seizure protections weakened; 53-year-old grandmother robbed, beaten while trying to buy cannabis for her arthritis; California's Y2K+1 crisis; Illinois bill criminalizes marijuana information on the internet; Report: Crises of the anti-drug effort, 1999; New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition - action alert; Leaders of South American indigenous peoples challenge U.S. ayahuasca patent; Exhibit: "Human Rights and the Drug War" in Virginia; Gore 2000 or Gore 1984?; Lies, damn lies and statistics; Cato Forums: Jesse Ventura, prosecutorial abuse, forfeiture reform; Editorial: There oughta be a law: protecting the masses from themselves)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 93 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article, a Statement to the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in Vienna, by Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt. The Weekly News in Review features several articles on Drug War Policy, including - U.S. targets drugs, violence in schools, crime; Federal officials forge anti-drug partnership with Maryland, Oregon; General sends anti-drug message to kids; and, Drug war without a plan. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Drug seizure money bypassing schools; Drug dealers' property on auction block; Providence police lack records on seized cars; We're all prisoners of our incarceration policies; and an editorial, Enough prisons? Pieces about Cannabis & Hemp include - When the means clash with the ends; The smoke clears: marijuana can be medicinal, but the smoke is not; and, Farmers lobby to legalize the growing of hemp. International News includes - Peruvian police seize two tons of cocaine; Thai villagers killed in apparent drugs dispute; Tories demand life sentences to combat drugs menace; 'Too pure' heroin claims 14 lives; Australia: More teenage girls using illicit drugs; and an Australian editorial: The PM must listen on drugs. Two items in the weekly Hot Off The 'Net note DrugSense is now providing web services for MarijuanaNews.com; and how Peter McWilliams' "Online Mall" helps support his case. The Tip of the Week provides a URL for the War on Drugs Clock, a good way to make a quick point. The Fact of the Week documents that the IOM Report is not new information with an excerpt from the 1972 Shafer Commission report. The Quote of the Week cites Albert Einstein.)
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Thursday, April 8, 1999:
NORML Weekly Press Release (Marijuana like chemical could hold key to treating movement disorders; Illinois bill criminalizes marijuana information on the Internet; California county submits medical marijuana research proposal to federal government; Nearly eight out of 10 Canadians favor medical marijuana)
Tobacco fast cash gets cool reception (According to the Oregonian, the Oregon House of Representatives' majority whip, Mark Simmons, R-Elgin, and other lawmakers said Wednesday that a plan to convert part of Oregon's annual tobacco settlement payments into $400 million in immediate cash could be a wise move, but not as a solution to the state's budget impasse. State Treasurer Jim Hill has proposed selling $400 million in bonds, which would be repaid with $900 million in tobacco revenues during the next 20 years. Oddly, the newspaper doesn't ask why politicians are worrying about the "risk of future settlement payments drying up.")
Meth labs potential chemical nightmares (The Oregonian continues to present just one side of a recent story about a house that was allowed to burn down in Portland after a methamphetamine lab was supposedly found in the basement. An otherwise quotidian bit of fear-mongering about the toxic chemicals and risks posed by such labs typically fails to note they are the inevitable result of the law of supply and demand. The newspaper also typically fails to explain such labs within the context of the history of amphetamine prohibition.)
Lawmakers Asked To Soften Nevada's Marijuana Possession Law (The Sacramento Bee says Assemblywoman Chris Guinchigliani urged Nevada lawmakers Wednesday to vote for her bill, AB 577, which would reduce the penalty for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from a felony to a misdemeanor. First-time offenders could be fined $500 but would face no jail time. Currently the offense is punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.)
The Fourth Amendment Suffers At Court's Hands (A staff editorial in the Greensboro News and Record, in North Carolina, says bit by bit, the U.S. Supreme Court has been dismantling the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches. The justices' ruling this week that a police officer who stops a car may rummage through a passenger's personal belongings without a search warrant is nonsense. The Supreme Court has been all too willing to put the convenience of law enforcement ahead of the rights of citizens. Where will it end? Random pat-downs on street corners?)
High court hears man's case to grow marijuana for medicine (According to an Associated Press article in the Naples Daily News, the attorney for 61-year-old George Sowell, who says smoking marijuana is the only way to ease his glaucoma and nausea, asked the Florida Supreme Court Wednesday to let his client grow the illegal herb in his yard. Sowell received a kidney transplant 17 years ago after glaucoma drugs caused his to fail. Sowell's trial judge refused to allow a "medical necessity" defense, but the 1st District Court of Appeal overturned Sowell's conviction and probation sentence on the grounds that the argument should have been allowed. The state attorney general's office appealed to the state Supreme Court, which likely won't make a final ruling for several months.)
State Justices Hear Debate On Use Of Pot For Illnesses (The Miami Herald version)
Zoned Out (The Daily Planet, in Tampa, Florida, says Hillsborough County law enforcement agencies have delineated 47 areas of the county off limits to the 2,200 county residents on probation for drug offenses, mostly possession.)
Drug Survey of Children Finds Middle School a Pivotal Time (The New York Times notes a new nationwide survey by PRIDE, the Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education, based in Atlanta, is the first to include elementary-school children among the respondents. The survey found, not surprisingly, that more youngsters use "drugs" in middle school than primary school, but both PRIDE, the New York Times and General Barry McCaffrey frame the survey results to benefit their pro-drug-war, anti-marijuana agenda.)
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Wednesday, April 7, 1999:
Taking Civil Liberties (A letter to the editor of Willamette Week, in Portland, says Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle is overstepping the boundaries of his position by using his official title and resources to amend Oregon's medical-marijuana law.)
A Modest Proposal (A like-minded letter to the editor of Willamette Week proposes an addendum to the legislation that would largely nullify the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Rep. Mannix and Sheriff Noelle would be the people who make the random searches of ill citizens who are certified to grow and smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. If they propose such invasive and offensive laws, they should carry them out themselves - if the Oregon Legislature proves to have the same kind of forward thinking as the good sheriff and his political pal.)
Need For Addiction Services Exceeds County Aid (The Oregonian says Jim Peterson, Multnomah County's addictions services manager, told the county Board of Commissioners in Portland Tuesday that the $10.8 million budgeted for about 8,200 drug treatment slots in this fiscal year was inadequate by about 25 percent. Sometimes, he said, the treatment programs end up competing with the county's Corrections Department for money.)
Plan seeks tobacco money in lump sum (The Oregonian says state Treasurer Jim Hill plans to propose today that Oregon swap its rights to part of $2.4 billion in tobacco settlement payments over 25 years for a lump sum that could be used right now to solve the Legislature's school finance stalemate.)
The Smoking Gun (Willamette Week, in Portland, says last week's record $80.3 million judgment against Philip Morris is mostly attributable to the jury being exposed to confidential tobacco industry documents, which revealed that executives knew about the addictive and carcinogenic properties of cigarettes but engaged in a decades-long effort to suppress such information.)
Tobacco judgment a sad victory (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian from Wendy Bjornson of the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon says a Portland jury's recent $80.3 million judgment against Philip Morris was sad because Jesse "Williams' death was among more than 6,000 in Oregon caused by tobacco every year." Bjornson's logic is clearly prohibitionist, suggesting all sorts of problems will magically disappear just by targeting tobacco companies.)
Freedom of Choice (A letter to the editor of Willamette Week from a 56-year-old woman with severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder follows up on a recent article on Ritalin, noting it is a drug that can give some patients more choices by freeing them from the impulse to respond to every new stimulus.)
One Size Doesn't Fit All (Another letter to the editor of Willamette Week says its recent article about proposed legislation that would lock up some people with mental illnesses and force them to take dangerous drugs omitted the perspective of patients who have experienced civil commitment.)
Careful What You Wish For (A similar letter to the editor of Willamette Week says that making civil commitment and forced treatment easier won't affect just a tiny group of weirdos. Psychiatrists claim that most people are crazy. A 1993 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health claims that over a lifetime, more than half the population is mentally ill, yet only 4 percent who "need" it receive treatment. Think about that before advocating that people should be forced to take psychiatric drugs, which cause serious brain damage and turn people into bloated and numbed-out near-zombies. The rights the attorney general wants to take away may be your own.)
Student Drug Use, Violence Rising, Survey Finds (The Seattle Times says the seventh annual Kids Count Data book survey of Washington students suggests the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs that are illegal to Washington schoolchildren is on the rise, with "regular" use starting in sixth grade and escalating to more than one in four 12th-graders reporting they went to school drunk in the past year. More than one in three adolescents also showed signs of clinical depression.)
Dr. Donald Abrams to Speak on "Medical Marijuana: Tribulations and Trials" (A list subscriber says the Lindesmith Center will sponsor a talk May 25 at the San Francisco Medical Society by the UCSF professor who is carrying out the first research with marijuana allowed by the federal government in this decade.)
Judge keeps smoking verdict, cuts damages (According to the Oregonian, a judge in San Francisco refused Tuesday to grant a new trial or to overturn a local jury's verdict against Philip Morris, but lowered from $51.5 million to $26.5 million the amount the company must pay to a former three-pack-a-day smoker with inoperable lung cancer. When Patricia Henley won $51.5 million in February, it was the largest award ever in a tobacco liability lawsuit filed by an individual smoker. However, that verdict was surpassed last week by a Portland jury, which ordered Philip Morris to pay a record-setting $80.3 million in damages to the family of Jesse Williams, a school custodian and longtime Marlboro smoker. Philip Morris said it will take the case to the California Court of Appeal.)
Truth or DARE - The Dubious Drug-Education Program Takes New York (The Village Voice says over the next four years, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program will implement its full curriculum - kindergarten through 12th grade - in all of New York City's public schools. After first gaining a foothold in the city in 1996, DARE America now donates $1.5 million worth of supplies annually for 271 New York City elementary schools, while the NYPD covers $8.5 million a year in salaries and benefits for the city's DARE officers. Since 1983, DARE has become the world's dominant drug prevention program. The $230 million operation conducts courses in all 50 states and in 44 countries, from Sweden and England to Brazil and Costa Rica. Eighty percent of U.S. school districts have DARE. More than a dozen studies have concluded that DARE has no lasting impact. And one six-year study found increased drug use among suburban kids who graduated from DARE.)
As Inmate Population Grows, So Does A Focus On Children (The New York Times examines some of the unintended consequences for families of America's booming prison-industrial complex. There are 7 million children with a parent in jail or prison or recently released on probation or parole. Experts warn that the nation's emphasis on imprisonment may be helping to create the next generation of criminals.)
Farmers Show Interest In Hemp (The Intelligencer Journal, in Pennsylvania, says Lancaster County Farm Bureau president Jane Balmer believes that falling prices for corn, soybeans and tobacco mean the time is ripe for local farmers to consider planting alternative crops, including hemp. The farm bureau board voted Tuesday night to investigate the matter, so an organizational meeting to explore the viability of forming the Pennsylvania Hemp Growers and Processors Co-op will be held April 16 in New Holland. According to Shawn Patrick House, owner of Lancaster Hemp Co., a wholesale distribution business, Lancaster County in 1850 was growing 540 tons of hemp, the same amount that was imported to the United States in 1996.)
Number Of Drug Deaths In Florida Rises (The Tampa Tribune says deaths in Florida last year attributable to illegal drugs increased dramatically. There were 206 deaths caused by contaminated street heroin and the ignorance of users, up 51 percent from 1997. More than five times as many people - 1,128 - died from cocaine-related causes, up 65 percent since 1992, including last year's 8.6 percent jump. The state's new drug czar, James McDonough, formerly of the White House drug czar's office, said many of the victims were long-term addicts in their 30s and 40s who finally succumbed to years of drug abuse.)
FBI investigating death of DEA agent (The Associated Press says George Gehring, 34, who had been assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, was found Wednesday morning with a bullet wound to the temple. Police recovered a pistol at the scene. The wire service doesn't say whether a copy of the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana was also found nearby.)
Smoke eater fined $2,500 for pot (The Edmonton Sun says Dean Troyer, a city firefighter, was sentenced yesterday in an Alberta court for growing 15 cannabis plants to combat depression and physical pain.)
Canadians high on medicinal pot: poll (According to the Edmonton Sun, a recent Decima poll showed 78 percent of Canadians support the use of marijuana as medicine. Only 18 percent of respondents opposed it. The strongest support, 83 percent, came from households with at least $60,000 annual incomes and individuals with a university education. The poll shows medical marijuana "is more popular than any of the political parties. They're lucky to get 40 percent support," said Amanda Stewart, director of the Cannabis Re-legalization Society of Alberta. Stewart estimated about 10 percent of the population in Edmonton already uses the herb to ease physical pain and-or mental anguish.)
Canadians Favour The Use Of Medical Marijuana (The National Post version)
Fugitive Former Governor Of Mexican State Charged With Drug Trafficking (An Associated Press article in the Seattle Times says the indictment of Mario Villanueva yesterday, the day after the expiration of his term as governor of the state of Quintana Roo, came nine days after he dropped out of sight. Prosecutors denied they delayed the criminal case to avoid charging and impeaching a sitting governor, something that has never been done in Mexico. Villanueva said in a letter published yesterday by Mexican newspapers that the case was politically motivated.)
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Tuesday, April 6, 1999:
HB 3052 Hearing Alert (A list subscriber forwards news about a "public" hearing tomorrow in Salem on Rep. Kevin Mannix's bill that would eviscerate Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Notice of the hearing was published Monday morning and news of it did not spread even at the capitol until Monday afternoon.)
Tobacco verdict shows wisdom (A letter to the edtior of the Oregonian praises a Multnomah County jury's recent, record $80.3 million verdict against Philip Morris.)
Claim part in destructive habits (Another letter to the editor of the Oregonian suggests the recent $80.3 million verdict against Philip Morris wouldn't be duplicated if someone using the same logic sued alcohol manufacturers or the state lottery.)
Legislature 1999: House won't touch pot bill - Measure to refine voter-passed medicinal marijuana law dies in committee (The News Tribune, in Tacoma, says the Washington state House Judiciary Committee failed to vote on Senate Bill 5704 Friday, essentially killing it. Representatives were leery of changing the law this session because they didn't want to change something the voters had approved.)
Clinic and medical legal colloquium on medical cannabis (An e-mail from Jim Rosenfield, who maintains one of the drug policy reform sites making up the Drug Reform Coordination Network online library, publicizes a clinical session with a "well-known California physician" June 11 in Los Angeles for people who feel that cannabis might help with their medical problems, but who have had difficulty getting a recommendation from their frightened physicians. A separate legal colloquium will be held that evening for physicians on recommending medical marijuana under California law.)
McCaffrey Has The Gall To Meddle In State Business (A letter to the editor of the Orange County Register says the drug czar has a lot of nerve, threatening to arrest California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Why did it take a constitutional amendment to prohibit alcohol but only an act of Congress to prohibit marijuana?)
The McWilliams Mall (Peter McWilliams, the best-selling author and AIDS/cancer patient being murdered by the federal government in the land of Proposition 215 as he awaits trial on trumped up marijuana conspiracy charges, needs money. Please check out his new online mall at http://www.mcwilliams.com/mall "where you can buy practically anything.")
Benefit for "Brownie" Mary Rathbun, San Francisco Legend (An e-mail list notice publicizes a variety show featuring the best talent from San Francisco's gay community Monday, April 19, at Theater Rhino. Along with comedians, singers and dancers, Dennis Peron is scheduled to appear. "Brownie" Mary gained fame for distributing marijuana in medicinal brownies she baked for AIDS patients at San Francisco General Hospital.)
In Search Of A Good Death (The second part of a two-part article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the problem of chronic pain focuses on issues related to chronic pain in the dying. Four out of 10 such patients are in severe pain most of the time, according to one recent survey. Experts insist that the statistics only mask the real tragedy: Most of the suffering can be avoided. But four months of interviews and bedside visits with people in terminal stages of illness revealed that adequate pain relief remains an elusive goal - the exception rather than the norm.)
Prisons Bulge With Drug Offenders (A staff editorial in the Valley Morning Star, in Texas, endorses "The Effective National Drug Control Strategy" recently proposed by a consortium of drug policy reform groups. "As politically dangerous as these proposals may be, they offer a realistic alternative to an ever-expanding and costly prison-building campaign that continues to fill the prison with drug offenders, and not just those who are menaces to society.")
Iowa Report: 1 in 25 Workers Showed Evidence of Drug Use (The Omaha World-Herald, in Nebraska, says the first in what is to be annual report by the Iowa Public Health Department required by law, private employers in 1998 conducted 31,740 drug tests on workers or job applicants, and 1,379 - or 4.3 percent - indicated traces of "drugs," mostly marijuana.)
Allentown drug dealer wins high court battle (The Morning Call, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, says the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in the case of Amanda Mitchell, a relatively low-level seller of cocaine, that defendants have a right to remain silent about evidence at their sentencing hearings and, if they invoke that Fifth Amendment right, it cannot be held against them. The ruling means Mitchell, who originally received a 10-year sentence, will probably be sentenced again.)
Medical Marijuana Suit (A news release from the Cannabis Action Network says supporters of medical marijuana patient Joe Tacl and his family will demonstrate tomorrow at the courthouse in Levy County, Florida, as Gainesville attorney Gary S. Edinger files a lawsuit alleging that a sheriff's deputy vandalized and stole items in the Tacl home during a cultivation bust. Mr. Tacl, his wife and son all face felony charges for the same five plants.)
The Irrelevance of Evidence (Jim Rosenfield, who maintains a huge online library of information about the failures of DARE, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, forwards some fascinating excerpts from a February 1998 study on "The Irrelevance of Evidence in the Development of School-Based Drug Prevention Policy, 1986-1996," by D.M. Gorman. Since the late 1960s drug prevention courses have never worked; they have always tended to correlate with increased use of illegal drugs by students. To understand why such counterproductive policies continue to be funded, it's instructive to compare Soviet agricultural policy as it developed in accordance with the theories and research of Trofim Lysenko during the Stalin era. Lysenko's "science" thrived under Stalin's regime, in the face of disastrous consequences, as it was totally in accord with the prevailing political philosophy: research data were irrelevant.)
Lobbyists Winning Marijuana Fight (A letter to the editor of the San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune recalls a picture that appeared in Life magazine in the mid-1960s that showed wall-to-wall liquor lobbyists packed together in the halls of Congress with representatives. The alcohol lobbyists declared there would never be legal marijuana as long as they were around.)
High Court Expands Police Power In Traffic Searches (The Los Angeles Times recounts yesterday's news about the U.S. Supreme Court expanding the drug exception to the Constitution. The judges ruled that a police officer who stops a car and has reason to suspect that it contains illegal drugs or guns may search everything in the vehicle, including a passenger's belongings. Monday's decision concerned only purses, bags and other belongings, the court stressed. Officers cannot search the passengers themselves and check their pockets, the justices said, reaffirming a 1948 ruling.)
High Court Backs Searches Of Car Passenger Belongings (The Associated Press version in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Court Loosens Car Search Rules (The Los Angeles Times version in the San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune)
Justices Expand Car-Search Rules (The Chicago Tribune version)
Court Broadens Police Search Powers (The New York Times version in the Orange County Register)
Police Searching Car May Include Passenger's Things (The original New York Times version)
Ruling Expands Police Powers In Car Searches (The Washington Post version in the San Francisco Chronicle)
High Court Expands Car Search Authority - Passenger Property May Be Examined (The original Washington Post version)
Car Search Police Power Expanded (The Florida Times-Union version)
The PM Must Listen On Drugs (A staff editorial in the Age, in Melbourne, says Australian Prime Minister John Howard's vocal support for the decision by Pymble Ladies College in Sydney to expel nine girls for smoking marijuana exemplifies an approach that has demonstrably failed. Drugs have become more readily available and cheaper on Australian streets than ever before. The number of young people dying from heroin as a consequence has risen at an alarming rate. A prohibitive regime alone does not and cannot work. By enunciating such views yet again, Mr Howard sends all sorts of messages, particularly to the young: that he is out of touch with street realities, and that he is stubborn in his refusal to accept the advice and views of others more experienced in the drugs question.)
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Monday, April 5, 1999:
Public gathering to kick off the OCTA 2000 petition drive (A news release from the American Antiprohibition League, in Portland, publicizes the opening of the signature-gathering campaign for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act initiative petition 2 pm Tuesday, April 20, at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland. Speakers include the three chief petitioners: Dr. Phillip Leveque, a retired professor of pharmacology and toxicology; Portland attorney Paul Loney; and D. Paul Stanford of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp, the organization promoting OCTA.)
Oregon Industrial Hemp Bill - HB 2933 (A list subscriber urges Oregon residents to contact their state representatives and urge them to support Rep. Floyd Prozanski's industrial hemp bill.)
Hemp Farming: Learning From The Past - Saving The Next Generation's Future (The spring issue of the Central Oregon Green Pages features a plug for the restoration of industrial hemp farming.)
Industry entwined with politics (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian says the FDA doesn't regulate the tobacco industry and Congress doesn't prohibit tobacco because the tobacco industry pays a lot of taxes and makes a lot of campaign contributions, both of which are inimical to the author's apparent objective - prohibition.)
Living in Pain - Part 1 - For chronic pain sufferers, even hope can hurt (The San Francisco Chronicle examines the problems faced by chronic pain sufferers such as Chris Ally of San Francisco, who smashed his motorcycle nearly 28 years ago. Chronic pain - the kind that lasts longer than the injury that may have caused it - afflicts nearly 100 million people in the United States, more than a third of the population, according to the Society for Neuroscience. Chronic pain can detrimentally "rewire" the nervous system, but is misunderstood, misdiagnosed and mistreated in as many as half of affected patients. At least 16,000 Americans die each year from gastrointestinal problems caused by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs, widely used pain relievers such as ibuprofen and aspirin. Yet physicians and patients alike are often reluctant to use narcotics because of the stigma surrounding them. The medical system routinely fails pain patients. "Pain patients require a lot of talking and a lot of listening," said Gerald Gebhart, a pharmacologist.)
Small Farm Town's SWAT Team Leaves Costly Legacy (The Los Angeles Times says a federal jury last month ordered Dinuba, California, to pay out $12.5 million for brutality after its elite special-weapons-and-tactics squad shot a 64-year-old farm worker, Ramon Gallardo, 15 times, killing him. With insurance covering only $9.5 million, and its annual budget less than half the size of the award, residents now face the very real prospect of crippling cuts in public services. Now, everyone wonders why Dinuba, known as Raisinland U.S.A., with a dozen cops on the beat and not a single murder on the books in 1997, thought it needed a paramilitary police unit complete with submachine guns and head-to-toe combat gear. A 1996 survey of small-town police departments nationwide showed that 65 percent boasted a fully operational paramilitary unit.)
Nearly 5,000 Gather For 27th Hash Bash (The Michigan Daily, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, says about 5,000 people attended Saturday's festival, including Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong and Steve Hager of High Times. Some at the rally raised the issue of using marijuana as medicine. Belleville resident Rachel Gagnon is epileptic and has spent much of her life suffering from seizures. For years she was on a prescription drug that caused her to lose her hair, lose control of her bowels and even stop breathing one day. "I quit taking that drug and now I smoke marijuana," Gagnon said. "I feel normal. It keeps me calm so I don't have seizures.")
A2 Police Report Fewer Offenses (A second article on the 27th annual Hash Bash in the Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan says only 29 people were cited for being in possession of marijuana and taken to the DPS office for processing - a decline from last year. Police found more violations unrelated to marijuana, including nine people who were ticketed for carrying or consuming alcohol on city streets and four minors who were ticketed for using and/or carrying tobacco. The campus newspaper doesn't say how many of the marijuana offenders were UW students who will now lose their student loans or other financial aid under the Higher Education Act.)
City's Marijuana Ordinance Gets Rehashed (According to the Detroit Free Press, Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon said Sunday that she and other Republican council members are studying whether to put the city's $25 marijuana possession penalty on the local ballot again. The city's pot penalty has come under attack recently as too lenient by Republican Wisconsin state senators Mike Rogers and Beverly Hammerstrom, who are backing a bill to prevent local communities from levying drug penalties less stringent than the state law. The bill passed the Senate 36-1 last month and is headed to the House. Sheldon said that while she does not oppose the state penalty, she is concerned that lawmakers are "trying to interfere with what Ann Arbor citizens have voted on.")
Conveyor-Belt Justice (Syndicated columnist William Raspberry writes in the Washington Post that one of the recurring gags on the old "I Love Lucy" television show had Lucy working on an assembly line, when the boss sped up the line. Suddenly there was no way for the frantic Lucy to keep up. She wrapped or boxed as quickly as she could, obviously determined to do her best under dreadful circumstances, but the packages always overwhelmed her - until someone thought to pull the switch. It was funny when it happened to Lucy. It's not funny when it happens in the criminal justice system. In state after state, jailers are overwhelmed. It is the incarceration rate, not the crime rate, that is the problem.)
High Court Says Police Can Search Passengers In Vehicle (An Associated Press article in the Seattle Times says the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 today in a Wyoming methamphetamine case that police can search the personal belongings of all passengers inside a car when lawfully seeking criminal evidence against the driver.)
Ruling Expands Scope Of Traffic-Stop Searches (The version in the Omaha World-Herald)
Crackdown on Corruption (The Washington Post says the U.S. Customs Service, faced with concerns that its inspectors are increasingly vulnerable to bribes by drug smugglers, plans to make the fight against corruption a priority for agency officials. Customs Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has started to shake up his top management, strengthen disciplinary procedures, improve training for employees and revise hiring procedures. He also has asked for authority to use polygraphs when hiring new agents. However, the Customs Service is already embroiled in internal conflicts such as that between criminal investigators and Internal Affairs agents.)
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Sunday, April 4, 1999:
Tribulations of tobacco trial steel victors for followup (The Oregonian interviews the two Portland attorneys, Ray Thomas and Bill Gaylord, who won an $80.3 million judgment from Philip Morris this week. Thomas harbors dark and deeply personal thoughts about the tobacco industry. A lifelong smoker himself, he has tried numerous times to quit. "I'm not the world's smartest person," he says. "If we can beat 'em, they ought to be worried.")
Don't Prohibit Guns (A letter to the editor of the Bulletin, in rural Bend, Oregon, compares the prospect of gun prohibition with the realities of drug prohibition. Despite 80 years of drug prohibition, at a cost of billions of dollars, and at great loss to our civil liberties, anybody of any age that has a couple of bucks can buy illegal drugs. They're cheaper, more pure, more diverse and more widely available than ever before. The illicit drug market is an unregulated free market with no age limit and no ID required. As with drugs, gun prohibition would only create more of what gun opponents claim they want to stop.)
Million Marijuana March in Seattle (A press release from Seattle Events Inc., producers of the Seattle Hempfest, publicizes events May 1 organized in conjunction with the worldwide reform rally.)
We're All Prisoners Of Our Incarceration Policies (Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large says everybody knows we've been sweeping something under the rug. The lump is too big not to notice, but until recently few people have had any inclination to clean house. Terry Kupers thinks that is changing. Kupers, an Oakland psychiatrist, says that for too long, mentally ill people have been disappearing into prisons while the rest of us looked the other way. His new book gives his diagnosis and prescription for our penchant for hiding people with whom we do not want to be bothered. "Prison Madness," arriving in book stores this month, provides anecdotes, statistics and a very large pill: Stop using police and prisons to treat social ills.)
A Poet In Exile (Los Angeles Times columnist Al Martinez describes the plight of Peter McWilliams, the best-selling Los Angeles author who is dying of AIDS because the Feds won't let him smoke marijuana, even though California voters legalized its use for medicinal purposes three years ago.)
Medical Marijuana Action Welcome (A staff editorial in the Ukiah Daily Journal supports efforts by Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver and District Attorney Norm Vroman to help local medical marijuana patients by implementing the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996. However, the newspaper is concerned that "doctors under federal scrutiny for the slightest adherence to the new medical marijuana law will be put in compromising positions if asked to go on record prescribing pot, since federal drug war storm troopers have threatened to yank prescribing licenses from doctors who do.")
Founder Of Co-Op Hopes To Receive Pot In Prison (The Orange County Register says James Silva, the attorney for Marvin Chavez, the founder of Orange County's medical marijuana co-op who is serving a six-year sentence at Wasco State Prison for giving away marijuana to Proposition 215 patients, plans to "push" the California corrections department a second time to allow Chavez access to marijuana behind bars for his debilitating back pain.)
Prison Chief Says State's Facilities At Breaking Point (According to an Associated Press article in the Orange County Register, Robert Presley, California Governor Gray Davis' new Cabinet secretary for prisons, said that by April 2001, the state will have run out of prison space, even with the use of temporary housing. The state system now holds 160,000 inmates. California spent more than $5 billion in an attempt to build its way out of over-crowding in the 1980s and early 1990s. But voters stopped approving prison bonds in 1990.)
Drug Seizure Money Bypassing Schools (The Omaha World-Herald says when Nebraska police confiscate large bundles of cash linked to drug dealing, the state's constitution directs that half the money go to schools. But that rarely happens. Instead, police take forfeiture cases to federal court, which takes a 20 percent cut for the government and returns the rest to the local law-enforcement agency that confiscated the money. Besides getting to keep the cash, local police find that the Feds don't require proof of a crime before suspected drug money can be forfeited.)
Smaller Crowd, Fewer Arrests At Annual Pro-Marijuana-Legalization Event (The Detroit Free Press says 3,500 to 4,000 people mixed politics mixed with partying at Saturday's 27th annual Hash Bash at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.)
CIA's Gottlieb Ran LSD Mind Control Testing (The New York Times publishes an obituary for Sidney Gottlieb, a Bronx-born biochemist with a Ph.D. from Caltech whose job was to concoct the tools of espionage: disappearing inks, poison darts and toxic handkerchiefs. Gottlieb also worked during the 1950s and 1960s on MKULTRA, the agency's secret experiments with mind-altering drugs, including lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. While the CIA was still examining the drug's possibilities as a means of mind control, many young Americans were dropping the hallucinogen as a vehicle of mind expansion and recreation, thanks, in part, to the CIA's activism in the '50s in the name of national security. It was not until 1972 that Gottlieb called a halt to the experiments with psychedelics, concluding that they were "too unpredictable in their effects on individual human beings . . . to be operationally useful.")
Politicized Drug-War Issues (A letter to the editor of the Washington Post criticizes yesterday's duplicitous staff editorial about medical marijuana. That smoked marijuana is a crude delivery system, and an irritant to the anti-smoking and the anti-drug stalwarts, does not justify the actions of government leaders who willfully obstruct the delivery of effective medicine to the sick. At this point in time, it would be better to err on the side of a smoking Camel, a coughing Marlboro man or appetite-enhancing marijuana brownie than continue witchcraft politics that prohibit medicinal marijuana. It is wrongheaded for national leaders, editorial boards and drug czars to lag so far behind an informed public opinion on the medical marijuana question.)
ACM-Bulletin of 4 April 1999 (An English-language bulletin from the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, features news about several developments in Germany - The drugs commissioner shows sympathy for the medical use of cannabis; Handing over of signatures in support of the Frankfurt Resolution; and, an announcement of a trial before the Constitutional Court. The science report discusses the new patent for dexanabinol as a TNF-alpha inhibitor.)
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Saturday, April 3, 1999:
Federal officials forge anti-drug partnership with Maryland, Oregon (The Associated Press says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, signed an agreement Friday with Maryland to make the state, along with Oregon, a national model for a joint federal-state partnership in the war on some drug users. The partnership agreement does not involve any funding commitments. It does set up a series of committees and working groups with representatives from the state and federal governments, and commits the groups to work together to cut illegal drug use in half by 2007.)
Court of Appeals affirms decision against physician (The Oregonian says the Oregon Court of Appeals has affirmed the state Board of Medical Examiners' actions in disciplining a Corvallis internist for his role in a euthanasia case. The board had reprimanded and temporarily suspended the medical license of Dr. James Gallant in 1997 for unprofessional or dishonorable conduct in allowing a nurse to give a dying and comatose patient a lethal injection. Gallant has said that his patient "was adamant in obtaining my promise that I would not let her suffer should she become ill with no hope of recovery to a meaningful life.")
Judge says Keizer doesn't owe former police chief more termination pay (The Associated Press says Marion County Circuit Court Judge Albin Norblad has ruled that the city of Keizer does not owe Charles Stull, its former police chief, any more termination pay. The husband of Shirley Stull, the Oregon legislator who backed marijuana recriminalization in early 1997, was fired in June 1997 after an investigation concluded he had intimidated and harassed employees.)
Hayden Drug Reform Bill (An action alert from California NORML urges California residents to contact their legislators in support of Sen. Tom Hayden's bill, SB 1261, which would set up a state commission to study the connection between drug laws and violence. California NORML has endorsed SB 1261 as a welcome step in the right direction which could set the stage for a serious discussion of marijuana and drug decriminalization.)
Enough Prisons? (A staff editorial in the Fresno Bee says there's widespread agreement, and considerable evidence, that jailing more violent and repeat criminals has contributed to the sharp drop in crime against both persons and property. But as John J. Dilulio Jr., a leading conservative criminologist, pointed out recently, the same evidence suggests that we've now reached the point where jailing more offenders, particularly nonviolent ones, draws dollars away from more promising and efficient crime-control spending: drug treatment, policing, improved probation and parole and programs aimed at preventing juvenile crime.)
San Francisco May 1 Event Announcements (A news release from California NORML publicizes events scheduled in conjunction with the global Million Marijuana March reform rally, including speakers, music and a dance party. Volunteers are needed!)
Utah Meth Problem Gets Publicity While Rising Use Of Marijuana Goes Unnoticed (The Salt Lake Tribune says Utah ranks third in the nation for meth lab seizures, but a survey of 10,000 students in grades seven through 12 in May 1997 by Brigham Young University shows marijuana use by Utah children has gone up 50 percent in the last 13 years.)
State Jail Warden Arrested (The Houston Chronicle says Jeffrey Jeffcoat, the warden of the 2,100-inmate Gist State Jail in Beaumont, Texas, was arrested Friday on allegations that he accepted a bribe from a prison employee seeking a promotion.)
City Betrayed Officers In Oregon Case, Fired Cop Says (According to the Houston Chronicle, James Willis, the lone officer charged in connection with the shooting death of Pedro Oregon Navarro during a warrantless break-in by six prohibition agents, says Houston city and police officials betrayed him and his fellow officers to avoid taking political heat.)
Oregon's Family Clears A Hurdle (The Houston Chronicle says the federal civil rights lawsuit over the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro hasn't gone to court yet, but his family's lawyers have already won a small victory. By keeping Oregon's brother, Rogelio, off the stand in the misdemeanor criminal trespass trial of former Houston police Officer James Willis, attorneys for the family have protected their key witness in the civil rights suit, several criminal defense lawyers agree.)
Semi-Legal Drugs - A Field Full Of Buttons (The Economist, in Britain, examines the peyote industry sanctioned by Congress for American Indians only. In the United States, the peyote cactus - Lophophora williamsii - grows naturally only in four counties in Texas, and it cannot be cultivated successfully elsewhere. The Texas Department of Public Safety regulates the harvesting and transportation of peyote buttons by licensing seven people - peyoteros - and monitors them on a quarterly basis. But the supply of peyote is shrinking even as Native American Church demand increases. There is an easy solution: using peyote stocks that stretch 300 miles or more into Mexico, a reserve that might produce twice the output of the United States. Yet, ironically for a government that has often run into trouble with American officials for enforcing drug laws too weakly, Mexico continues to stand firm on peyote, preventing any harvesting or possession of the cactus on its side of the border.)
Beyond DARE - Dane County Communities Search For New Ways To Prevent Teen Drug Abuse (The Wisconsin State Journal looks back on the 16 years since the nation's first crop of fifth-graders DARE'd to be substance free. It's been 13 years since Nancy Reagan pleaded with Generation X-ers to "Just Say No." Use of alcohol and marijuana is increasing. There is no evidence that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has had any more beneficial effect than Nancy Reagan's attempt to shift public attention away from the news that her astrologer was running the country. Three Dane County school districts - Madison, Deerfield and Mt. Horeb - have dropped DARE. So has Lodi in Columbia County. Those who still back DARE no longer view it as an end-all. Some say answers lie in a new buzzword for the millennium: assets. But even those buying into it admit there's little proof that it works either.)
Providence Police Lack Records On Seized Cars (The Providence Journal-Bulletin, in Rhode Island, says its investigation into how a 1991 Honda Accord obtained in a drug arrest wound up in private hands has led Capt. John J. Ryan, the Providence Police Department's director of administration, to disclose that over the past eight years, the department has sold 250 cars seized in drug arrests, but has almost no records of how much the cars were sold for, or who bought them.)
Former Chief Turns Against His Men (The New York Times says Alexander V. Oriente, the former police chief in West New York, New Jersey, a small blue-collar town across the Hudson River from Manhattan's Upper West Side, has already admitted to payoffs, kickbacks, shakedowns and bribes. He has declared himself a liar, a loan shark, even a common thief. Even more surprising, for more than a week, Oriente has been testifying as a government witness against four of his former officers accused of taking bribes and kickbacks. The indictments in the case paint a detective-novel picture of illicit after-hours bars, illegal video gambling dens and police-protected prostitution rings. With its shady characters and film noir backdrop, Oriente's tale is exceptionally noir. For nearly a decade, prosecutors say, Oriente and his officers turned their department into a bustling organized crime enterprise that collected and shared as much as $1.5 million in illegal gains.)
Do We Fear Pot - Or Those Who Smoke It? (A letter to the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in Virginia, pans a recent editorial cartoon. "Why does our society spend so much time and effort on this prohibition? I believe we can find a hint in your cartoon. While it depicts a clean-cut doctor, the patient has long hair. Could it be there is something other than marijuana that bothers us about its users?")
Medical Marijuana (A typically duplicitous staff editorial in the Washington Post about the March 17 Institute of Medicine report says "There are good reasons to be skeptical of the movement for medical marijuana. The issue has become a kind of stalking horse for marijuana legalization generally, one that avoids the serious public policy questions legalization presents." This after more than 25 years of activists' efforts to get government to confront "the serious public policy questions legalization presents" and a lengthier period of stonewalling by government, including, most recently, the quashing of voters' rights in Washington, D.C.)
FDA Approves Drugs Even When Experts On Its Advisory Raise Safety Questions (A letter to the editor of the British Medical Journal questions the journal's conclusion that the Food and Drug Administration is "probably not" approving drugs too fast. For example, the transcript of the meeting of the FDA's advisory committee for mibefradil, which is available at the administration's website, supports the increasingly common view that the FDA has become the pharmaceutical industry's partner rather than its watchdog.)
'Too Pure' Heroin Claims 14 Lives (The Guardian, and the British police the newspaper gets all its information from, promote the myth that it's the heroin rather than the contaminants in street drugs that are killing users. This in a country where addicts receive 100 percent pure heroin in maintenance programs that have recorded no deaths from "overdoses," which the Consumers Union explained 25 years ago to be a misnomer anyway.)
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Friday, April 2, 1999:
Oregon Medical Marijuana Rules - Public Hearing April 15 (Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse publicizes a hearing in Portland on the Oregon Health Division's proposed rules for implementing the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, scheduled to take effect May 1. Plus a follow-up with more details by Stormy Ray, a multiple sclerosis patient and chief petitioner for Measure 67.)
Senate panel passes bill to tighten assisted suicide law (The Associated Press says the Oregon state Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved SB 491, a bill that would give Catholic-affiliated hospitals that oppose assisted suicide a firmer hand to punish doctors who flout hospital policy and help patients end their lives.)
Revision of suicide law draws less heat (The Oregonian version)
Drug Czar - Hung By His Own Report (Orange County Register columnist Alan Bock gives a close reading of the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana and says it may be true that its conclusions are "politically colored, but that may not be such a bad thing. Perhaps including a few politically correct demurrers like undue fear about the effects of smoking per se in an era in which smoking anything has been so demonized is a small price to pay for enhancing the credibility of the nuggets of valuable truth the report contains." And Bock proceeds to tease a number of profound implications from one sentence in the report that says "it is the legal status of marijuana that makes it a gateway drug.")
Medical Marijuana Stalls (The Orange County Register responds to a threat by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, to arrest California Attorney General Bill Lockyer for carrying out medical marijuana research by urging Lockyer to defy the political appointee. "Mr. McCaffrey's bullying attitude is intolerable. Attorney General Lockyer can be a hero. He should seize the day.")
Prosecutors move to vacate drug trafficking convictions (The Associated Press says nearly 20 convictions were overturned and at least two prisoners were set free Friday in New Hampshire because the convictions were based on illegal searches by Rockingham County Deputy Sheriff Wayne Powers, who opened about 100 air freight packages without warrants while assigned to the state attorney general's drug task force.)
Evidence Used To Prosecute The Cases Was Illegally Obtained (The UPI version)
Arthritic Grandmother Beaten, Robbed Trying To Buy Pot (The Associated Press says police in Winnabow, North Carolina, are considering filing charges against Tinkey Mae Sullivan, 53, who was robbed while trying to buy marijuana for her rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments with her 13-year-old grandson in the car. Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington, D.C., defended Mrs. Sullivan. "Clearly you're not contributing to the delinquency of a minor if what you're doing is trying to get drugs that are in some cases lifesaving and relieve pain and suffering. It's almost a human right.")
The Holy Grail of drug testing (A list subscriber forwards the URL to a recent report assessing the accuracy of all currently manufactured urine tests used in pre-employment screening. "This study proves their total unreliability." Another forwarded message points out the study cited concerns only on-site testing, rarely used by employers.)
U.S. Targets Drugs, Violence In Schools, Crime (The Los Angeles Times says U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno announced Thursday an "unprecedented partnership" between three Cabinet-level departments - Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services - would commit $300 million in new grants to school districts that can demonstrate effective ways of combating violence and drugs. The grants are ostensibly a response to last year's "spate" of school-yard shootings, neither of which were linked to illegal "drugs.")
U.S. DEA helps Mexico hunt for missing governor (According to Reuters, the Drug Enforcement Administration said on Thursday that its agents had joined Mexican authorities in a search for Mario Villanueva, the governor or the Mexican state of Quintana Roo who disappeared days before he faced possible arrest for alleged ties to drug traffickers. Although the D.E.A. denied it was engaged in any criminal investigation of Villanueva, his lawyer said Villanueva fears he will be arrested and subjected to an unfair trial in Mexico. The Washington Post said Thursday that law enforcement officials in the United States, Mexico and other countries were investigating bank accounts in the names of Villanueva, family members and friends that allegedly contain millions of dollars, including a Swiss account with $73 million in his name.)
Under Drug Probe, Mexican Governor Disappears (A different Reuters version)
Peruvian Police Seize Two Tons Of Cocaine (Reuters says Thursday's bust was the largest in four years. Most of the cocaine was being shipped to Europe, where it would have been worth $185 million on the street.)
Cannabis DNA bid to beat traffickers (The Herald, in Glasgow, Scotland, says forensic scientists at Strathclyde University have developed a DNA test for marijuana that will allow police to trace different cannabis samples to the same source, while detailing the supply routes of "drug" traffickers across the world. The new technology would seem to suggest that cultivators might want to think twice about whom they give away their clones to.)
Thai Villagers Killed In Apparent Drugs Dispute (According to Reuters, police in Bangkok said on Friday that a group of about 30 gunmen, believed to be members of the United Wa State Army based in Myanmar, attacked Maesoon village in Chiangmai province, taking an unknown number of hostages and killing nine.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 85 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original online drug policy newsmagazine includes - Portland, Oregon police called to account for surveillance operation; Two new polls show strong public support for drug policy reform; Courts place limits on drug testing in workplace, schools; Hash Bash draws ire of state lawmakers; California Democrats give nod to industrial hemp; Government reports: prison, drug use trends; ACLU: Financial privacy update; and an editorial by Adam J. Smith - Funding the unknown soldier)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 92 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Marijuana and Medicine - Assessing the Science Base - Report of the Institute of Medicine, by Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, including - It's a 1980s policy on 1990s drug crime; Slow the drug-test frenzy; Heroin use is unabated, report says; Heroin use booming in Spokane; Condemning dissident authors to death; and, Net becomes battleground in drug war. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Taking a hard look at state's jammed jails; More than 1m nonviolent prisoners; High court asked to hear challenge to prosecution deals; and, You're under arrest, and on tv. Cannabis articles include - The grass roots of teen drug abuse; Bill toughens marijuana laws; Calaveras man convicted of cultivating marijuana; Lockyer: U.S. will end push for nuke dump at desert site; and, Why is marijuana for the suffering still illegal? International News includes - U.N. to create own satellite program to find illegal drug; Scotland: National unit to wage war on drugs; UK: 10-year-olds being offered drugs; and, German health minister supports medical marihuana. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net points you to the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana, now online and fully scanned; the DrugNews archive of more than 20,000 searchable news articles; and the Conservatives for Reform web site. The Tip of the Week notes four recent letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal are worth $18,000 to the reform movement, and shows you how you can help. The Quote of the Week cites a 19th-century article in Scientific American by Dr. W.H. Stokes.)
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Thursday, April 1, 1999:
NORML Weekly Press Release (Marijuana induces minimum driving impairment compared to alcohol, Toronto study says; Gallup poll shows Americans support medical marijuana by three to one margin; California Democrats adopt resolution supporting hemp; Senate okays bill forcing Michigan cities to impose criminal penalties for marijuana offenders; Crime committee kills Minnesota hemp bill)
Pedal Pusher (Willamette Week, in Portland, tries to make sense of a press release sent to it by a local bicycle messenger calling himself Jolly Dodger, who hopes to set up a non-profit organization to deliver medical marijuana to qualified patients. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act clearly forbids such activity, but Geoff Sugerman of Oregonians for Medical Rights says Jolly Dodger's idea proves that the federal government needs to get involved in developing a regulated distribution system.)
Philip Morris case is far from over (The Oregonian says the tobacco company will appeal the $80.3 million judgment against it by a Portland jury. Punitive damages make up $79.5 million of the verdict.)
School informant project runs into objections (The Oregonian says the Brooklyn Action Corps, a neighborhood association in Southeast Portland, wants to put a stop to the Campus Crime Stoppers, a citywide school program that offers money to students to turn in their peers for criminal activity such as underage drinking and drug possession, even if it happens after school. "It scares a lot of people," said John Mathiesen, a member of the association. At a recent meeting attended by parents, teachers and others in the neighborhood, nobody was in favor of the program. Mathiesen pointed to a recent situation involving his son, an eighth-grader at Sellwood Middle School. He said his son and a classmate were falsely accused by another student of marijuana possession.)
Award sets off emotional ride (The Oregonian follows up on yesterday's news about a Portland jury awarding a record $80.3 million to the family of Jesse Williams, a dead smoker. The family is pretty happy about it.)
Overnight, Addicts Get Parkinson's, Scientists Get Breakthrough (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes how Dr. Phil Ballard and Dr. J. William Langston set out in 1982 to solve the mystery of a patient paralyzed by contaminated street drugs and ended up making a major breakthrough in the study of Parkinson's disease. "Addicts" in strangely frozen postures were turning up in emergency rooms all over the San Francisco Bay area. They had one thing in common. Each had been using designer street "narcotics." By chance, one researcher recalled reading an obscure journal report years earlier about a young college student who had ended up with identical symptoms after synthesizing his own drugs. Ballard found the article, though it wasn't even in the medical center library. It turned out that a contaminant called MPTP caused both the college student's symptoms and those of the street addicts. MPTP can slip across the blood-brain barrier, where it converts into a chemical that kills the dopamine-producing cells in the brain. A shortage of dopamine - the main neurotransmitter involved in coordinating movement - leads to Parkinson's disease.)
Dying AIDS Patient Peter McWilliams Demands Drug Czar Implement Recommendations From Institute of Medicine Report (A harrowing e-mail from the best-selling author and medical-marijuana patient describes his suffering, denied marijuana as he awaits trial on federal conspiracy charges in Los Angeles. Includes a URL to the complete 15-page letter to General Barry McCaffrey.)
Pot Has Little Effect On Driving, Study Says (The Orange County Register recounts the University of Toronto research suggesting that people who smoke moderate amounts of marijuana are not much more dangerous behind the wheel than completely sober drivers.)
Gang Escapes With $1 Million In Cigarettes (An Associated Press article in the San Jose Mercury News says an armed gang backed a truck up to a warehouse in Corona, California, Wednesday and made off with what was believed to be the state's biggest cigarette heist since the first of the year, when prices jumped nearly $1 a pack to about $3.50.)
When The Means Clash With The Ends (Daily Pilot columnist Joseph Bell, in Costa Mesa, California, comments favorably on the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana, as well as the recent study by the Justice Policy Institute of San Francisco that found no correlation between California's general drop in crime and its three-strikes sentencing law.)
Marijuana As Medicine - State Bill Inches Forward (The Little Rock Free Press says HB 1043, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act penned by state representative Jim Lendall, has been placed on the active agenda of the state House's Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, though it may not be taken up before the legislature is expected to adjourn on April 9.)
Drug Dealers Play Musical Chairs (A letter to the editor of the New London Day, in New London, Connecticut, by George Klinch Clarke, a local drug warrior, describes his efforts to promote the war and how they led him realize they were counterproductive.)
Drug Dealers' Property On Auction Block (The Philadelphia Inquirer runs a free ad for an April 24 auction in Bristol Township, to be conducted by the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, of personal property seized from convicted drug dealers during the last eight months. The auction is the 16th since 1987 in a series that has generated $745,342 to pay for undercover narcotics investigations and crime-fighting equipment. Another $872,909 has been raised by auctioning seized real estate.)
General Nonsense (The April issue of Reason magazine features senior editor Jacob Sullum reviewing the reign of error by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey. When McCaffrey took over the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1996, he invited Americans to think about the difference between drugs as an enemy and drugs as a cancer. Lately, though, the former general has been prompting us to ponder the fine line between appalling ignorance and bald-faced mendacity. For example, McCaffrey wrote to USA Today in October that "Marijuana is now the second leading cause of car crashes among young people." But, typically, McCaffrey's allegation contradicts the government's own researchers.)
Culture Vultures: Call Off The War On Drugs (A contrarian but sometimes insightful and often delightful critique of the war on some drug users in the April issue of American Spectator magazine by Mark Steyn, a resident of New Hampshire, begins by observing that one of the few things his state does require of every grade school is that they post signs on the road warning motorists they are now entering a "Drug-Free School Zone." "It irks me. At board meetings, I'm tempted to stand up and demand we replace it with 'You Are Now Entering a Latin-Free School Zone' - which at least has the merit of being indisputable. And instead of being quietly ashamed of this stunted redefinition of education, we flaunt it as a badge of pride, out on the highway, even at a rural north country elementary school. For even kindergartners and first-graders must understand that they, too, are foot-soldiers in the 'war on drugs.' Best of all, like almost all other awards in the American school system, you get it automatically: every educational establishment in the state triumphantly displays the same sign, regardless of whether it's a Drug-Free School Zone or a School-Free Drug Zone.")
General Sends Anti-Drug Message To Kids (The Meriden Record-Journal, in Meriden, Connecticut, covers a talk Wednesday night by the White House drug czar, General Barry R. McCaffrey, who rallied the troops at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Laura Spitz of Burlington - a member of a state-based group called Efficacy that aims to legalize marijuana - said she purchased a $25 ticket to question the general's policies, but she was never picked to ask her question.)
Farmers Lobby to Legalize the Growing of Hemp (The New York Times says legislation to revive hemp passed in Hawaii this month and has been introduced in legislatures in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Virginia, Vermont and Hawaii. In North Dakota, the Republican-controlled legislature also appears likely to enact laws promoting hemp. Until recently, the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy asserted that making hemp legal would send the wrong message. But in late March its director, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, indicated in an interview that his opposition was softening. "If people believe that hemp fiber can be sold in the marketplace for a profit, and aren't actually trying to normalize the growing of marijuana around America, to the extent you want to grow hemp fiber we'd be glad to work with you," McCaffrey said. But as a profitable crop, he said, "I think it's going nowhere.")
Deals On Wheels (The Face, in Britain, prints a rare and excellent feature article portraying a day in the life of a messenger working for a marijuana delivery service in Manhattan. The article also explains how the underground marijuana economy works in New York, including an account of the origins and auspicious future of the market. Pot sellers such as "Dean," who makes $250,000 to $300,000 a year tax free, are indebted to New York Mayor Rudolph Giulani's recent crackdown on street dealers, which has expanded the pager trade, rapidly increasing the demand for deliveries to apartments and offices.)
Drug War Without A Plan - Needed: A Florida Drug Czar (A staff editorial in the Miami Herald calls for the creation of an office to coordinate and evaluate the efforts of "14 state agencies, thousands of private nonprofit social-service organizations and hundreds of police departments" waging the drug war. An audit showing the total budget of all those drug warriors or a cost-benefit analysis apparently doesn't interest the newspaper, however.)
Hemp Farmers High on Profits (The Winnipeg Free Press says 27 hemp farmers in Manitoba who planted approximately 1,700 of hemp grossed almost $500 an acre last year. This year, 125 Manitoba farmers are contracted to plant more than 12,000 acres, said Douglas Campbell, general manager of Consolidated Growers & Processors Canada. CGP hopes to build a $15 million, 25 employee hemp processing plant in Manitoba. There are no such facilities in Canada. All the crop is exported overseas or to the United States for processing.)
Joint Ventures (The online April issue of Saturday Night magazine, in Canada, features an excerpted account of a tour through the underground marijuana economy in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ten years ago, you could have symbolized the red-blooded British Columbia resource sector with a photograph of a commercial fisherman and a hog-fat chinook salmon. But now the salmon has turned into a bale of marijuana. Police estimate that the annual British Columbia crop is worth about $2 billion. Reform activists say it's larger, but nobody disputes that cannabis growing has become a mammoth resource industry in B.C., worth at least twice as much as all the wholesale fisheries revenues combined. Law enforcement authorities estimate they intercept only about one percent of exports to the United States.)
More Teenage Girls Using Illicit Drugs (The Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia, says a federal survey released yesterday, a week before Prime Minister John Howard is scheduled to unveil a new strategy in his war on drugs, shows 46 per cent of Australians admitted last year to having used illicit drugs - up from 39.3 per cent in 1995. More than half of teenage girls, 51.6 per cent, said they had used illicit drugs, up from 33.5 per cent in 1995. That compares with a rate for teenage boys of 50.6 per cent, up only marginally from 50.3 three years previously. Cannabis use among girls rose from 24.4 per cent to 44.8 per cent, while for teenage boys a small decrease was reported, from 44.7 per cent to 44.5 per cent. In fact, the survey shows women of all ages are using cannabis more. Even for those older than 60, the proportion using the drug climbed from 0.9 per cent to 4.3 per cent. For all age groups of women, the rise was from 24.4 to 35.1 per cent, compared to an increase among all men from 37.7 per cent to 43.7 per cent.)
Japan Police Seize 210 Kg Of Stimulants (According to Reuters, Japanese police on Thursday seized 462 pounds of a supposedly controlled substance they did not identify, the fourth largest haul of illegal drugs in the country's history, estimated to have a street value of $109 million. The haul brings the quantity of confiscated drugs this year to 650 kilograms, already surpassing the total for all of 1998.)
U.S. Exports Zero Tolerance (A translation of an article from Le Monde Diplomatique by Loic Wacquant analyzes the dubious punitive social policies that have evolved in the United States during the past two decades and are now being exported to Western Europe, including France.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 13 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Wednesday, March 31, 1999:
Scoreboard: This week's winners and losers (Willamette Week, in Portland, briefly notes the lawsuit against the Portland police regarding the Marijuana Task Force's trap-and-trace device at American Agriculture has resulted in police deciding to give up "the dirt" to defense attorneys for cannabis cultivators, while trying to keep it secret.)
Suit may change how landlords operate (The Oregonian says Gregory Amerson and his sisters talked to at least eight attorneys before they finally found one who would take their groundbreaking case against the landlord of a suspected drug house in Northeast Portland. Now, without even being fully litigated, the case seems likely to increase the price for Portland landlords and tenants of the war on some drug users. The law firm that represented Amerson's family has already used it to encourage another landlord to evict tenants from a problem house.)
Latest jail fight pits sheriff vs. board (The Oregonian says a disagreement between Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Noelle and the county Board of Commissioners over 300 beds for inmates receiving treatment for alcohol and other drugs may impede planning for a $55 million, 225-bed, medium-security jail next to Bybee Lake in North Portland.)
Philip Morris told to pay $81 million in damages (The Oregonian says a Multnomah County jury ordered Philip Morris Inc. to pay record damages to the estate of Jesse Williams, a former Portland school janitor who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboro cigarettes for 42 years. Jurors didn't buy the tobacco company's principal defense: that smoking is a personal choice and that choices carry responsibilities.)
Company documents prove key to verdict (According to the Oregonian, jurors say it was Philip Morris' own documents - some of them decades old - that led them to award $81 million to the estate of a Portland man who died of lung cancer. One juror, April Dewees, a science teacher at Sherwood High School, said she and other jurors were upset by documents that showed that Philip Morris apparently knew about the addictive properties and cancer-causing potential of cigarette smoke but avoided telling its customers.)
A Few Bills We Like (Willamette Week, in Portland, supports Oregon Senate Bill 529, sponsored by Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland, which would require insurance companies to increase coverage for mental-health and substance-abuse treatment programs.)
County Seeks Medical Pot Study Appproval (The San Mateo Independent says San Mateo County, California, submitted a proposal to the National Institute on Drug Abuse on March 19 seeking approval for a clinical study of the medical use of marijuana by AIDS and cancer patients. If it can obtain NIDA approval, the county will next seek the blessing of the Food and Diug Administration. Clinical trials in the county could start this summer at the earliest.)
House Panel Dumps Hemp Bill After Hearing Crime Concerns (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Minnesota House of Representatives' Crime Prevention Committee voted 10 to 7 Tuesday against the hemp bill sponsored by Rep. Steve Dehler, R-St. Joseph, after Tim McCormick, the head of the Minneapolis office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, testified there is no difference between marijuana and its fiber-crop cousin.)
ISU Financial Aid, Professors Don't Approve Of New Ban (The Indiana Statesman at Indiana State University examines the ramifications of the misguided U.S. Higher Education Act, which forbids loans and oher financial aid to students convicted of possessing marijuana.)
Drug convict gets new trial (The Associated Press says U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha, in Vermont, set aside the 1992 conviction of Robert A. Bloomer Jr., who is free after serving seven years in federal prison for manufacturing and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Bloomer's appeal concerned the jury instructions of now-retired U.S. District Judge Franklin S. Billings, who said the jury "may" rather than "must" acquit if government prosecutors failed to prove Bloomer's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Billings, a former Vermont Supreme Court justice, also equated "reasonable doubt" with "substantial doubt," something the Second Circuit ruled was "clearly and ... obviously constitutionally deficient." Bloomer faces a new trial in six months.)
Phila. Man Guilty Of Dealing From Cell (The Philadelphia Inquirer says Michael Diaz, who admitted he set up cocaine sales from behind bars in a Philadelphia jail, was sentenced yesterday to two to four years in Bucks County Prison.)
Murder Suspect "Panicked" (UPI says the attorney for Roy Lee Carver, an Okeechobee, Florida man charged with the 1998 murder of Christian Giotis, a Clementsville cultivator, says Carver "panicked" when Glotis confronted him in the course of a marijuana rip-off, and he shot Glotis six times.)
The IOM report 'Marijuana and Medicine' on line (A list subscriber posts the URL for an .html version of the Institute of Medicine report released March 17.)
Reefer Madness Logic (Four letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal rebut the recent op-ed by Joseph Califano trying to discredit the conclusion of the March 17 Institute of Medicine report that marijuana is not a "gateway" to harder drugs.)
Amazon Tribal Leaders Challenge U.S. Patent (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Amazon medicine men adorned in shell necklaces and exotic bird feathers visited the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in suburban Washington Tuesday in order to challenge the validity of a patent awarded a California entrepreneur for the main ingredient of their healing potion - the hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca. The 13-year-old patent has become an issue of such magnitude that it has stirred physical threats, led to the cancellation of U.S. aid to South American tribes and all but shut down "bioprospecting" for valuable plants in Peru, Ecuador and the rest of the Amazon basin.)
Cop probe launched (The Calgary Sun says the Edmonton Police Commission wants Alberta Justice to direct another police service to investigate allegations of coverups and possible criminal activity made against the capital's police service by one of its own. Yesterday, the commission held an emergency closed-door meeting to discuss what to do about a formal complaint made against Edmonton Chief John Lindsay by 24-year veteran Det. Kenneth Montgomery.)
Anti-Drugs Chief Backs 'Medicinal' Cannabis (The Times, in London, says Keith Hellawell, the Government's chief anti-drugs campaigner, endorsed the medical use of cannabis yesterday, saying doctors should be allowed to prescribe the class B drug to ease pain and suffering. "There appear to be many qualities within the herb that are likely to have an impact on different suffering," he told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.)
Cannabis 'No Longer Rebellious' (According to the Independent, in Britain, Keith Hellawell, the British drugs tsar, admitted yesterday that the use of cannabis is so commonplace among British schoolchildren that smoking it is no longer regarded as an act of rebellion.)
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Tuesday, March 30, 1999:
Jury awards $81 million in Oregon smoking suit (The Associated Press says a jury in Portland, Oregon, ordered Philip Morris to pay a record $81 million to the family of Jesse Williams, who died of lung cancer in 1997 after smoking Marlboros for four decades. No similar verdict against the tobacco industry has survived on appeal.)
Prisoner allowed to cultivate while on probation (A San Francisco Bay area list subscriber recounts the case of Greg Richey. Busted for cultivation a year ago in San Bernardino County, California, Richey was sentenced yesterday to 250 days in jail and three years' probation. The court ruled that under Proposition 215, Richey could, while on probation, cultivate, use and possess marijuana - just what he was busted for.)
The Smoke Clears: Marijuana Can Be Medicinal, But The Smoke Is Not (A staff editorial in the Sacramento Bee infers that the political challenge posed by the March 17 Institute of Medicine report is "how to handle marijuana" in the coming years before a "real," that is, pharmaceutical, alternative to herbal cannabis is on the market. The report doesn't resolve the ongoing legal deadlock. 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.)
Cop Who Planted Drugs Wins Round (The Cincinnati Post says Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman granted a motion Monday to suppress a statement by fired Cincinnati police Sgt. John Sess in which he admitted planting marijuana in 1984 on Shadarle Ragan.)
Marijuana May Yield Medicines, Panel Says (The Washington Post conservatively interprets the Institute of Medicine report released March 17.)
Pot users take fewer road risks than drunks study says (The Toronto Star says a new University of Toronto study suggests that while marijuana, like alcohol, impairs performance, people who drive after smoking moderate amounts of pot compensate for any impairment by driving more slowly and cautiously.)
Pot called less risky than booze on the road (The Globe and Mail version)
Mexican banks to plead guilty to laundering drug money (The Los Angeles Times says that with their trial in Los Angeles just days away, two of Mexico's biggest banks have agreed to plead guilty to laundering millions of dollars for the Cali and Juarez drug cartels. Indicted as a result of the United States' "Operation Casablanca" sting, Bancomer will pay $9.9 million in fines while Banca Serfin will pay $4.7 million. Bancomer is the second-largest bank in Mexico and Banca Serfin is the third-largest. After the indictments were issued, U.S. authorities instituted forfeiture actions against the U.S. assets of 14 Mexican and Venezuelan banks and confiscated more than $68 million, including $16 million from Bancomer and $9.5 million from Banca Serfin.)
Cannabis Growers Bask In Spotlight (The New Zealand Herald says two Northland growers wanted to show the world the "honest and authentic" New Zealand, so they led a BBC travel show crew to a cannabis plot in the bush. But when the show screened in Britain recently, it upset expatriate New Zealanders who protested that it showed "the wrong image.")
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Monday, March 29, 1999:
An Oregon initiative - the Innocent Property Initiative (John Flanery, the chief petitioner for a state ballot measure that would require a conviction and prevent forfeiture proceeds from being used by law enforcement, posts the text of the proposed law.)
Bill would use lottery money to treat addicts (The Associated Press says SB 118, a bill that would dedicate 1 percent of lottery proceeds to programs to help problem gamblers, has cleared the Oregon state senate Trade and Economic Development Committee. The measure would raise $6 million, 50 percent more than the current budget. It would also create a permanent funding source to help gambling addicts.)
Project puts 80 inmates to work in woods (The Oregonian says that starting in May, about 80 Oregon prisoners will spend two months in a new work program in a remote area of the Deschutes National Forest, living in tents pitched in the woods about 30 miles outside Bend and working 10 hours a day, six days a week. Creating work for Oregon inmates will have cost the state $34 million by the end of the budget biennium.)
Heroin Use Booming In Spokane (The Seattle Times says a Washington Department of Social and Health Services report released last week shows the number of Spokane County residents admitted for heroin treatment nearly quintupled between 1992 and 1998, from 78 to 367. Spokane County, in rural Eastern Washington, is the state's per capita leader in treating heroin addicts. Rates exceed those in Seattle during the mid-1990s' heroin boom. Roger Silfvast, head of Community Detox, said heroin prices have fallen to $20 to $25 for a large quarter-gram dose as dealers flood the market.)
San Francisco Million Marijuana March May 1 (A list subscriber posts details about the gathering noon-5 pm at Civic Center Plaza organized in conjunction with reform rallies elsewhere around the world.)
Taking A Hard Look At State's Jammed Jails (According to a staff editorial in the Orange County Register, one might have imagined that with a Democratic majority in both houses and a Democratic governor, and with prisons filled to the bursting point with some people who have little or no business being there, that the California legislature would be full of bills seeking to reform the prison and criminal justice system. Instead it's a mixed bag - and some of the legislation that in the past might have been viewed as "liberal" is being carried by conservative Republicans. It is time for Californians to take a step back from the urge to incarcerate, and to take a look at the ongoing and projected costs of locking up so many people for non-violent and victimless crimes.)
Congress nothing but trendy (Denver Post columnist Diane Carman observes that the Congressionally mandated loyalty oaths of the '60s and '70s have been replaced by the war on drugs. And once again federal financial aid programs are being manipulated for political gain. A new provision of the Higher Education Act denies financial aid to any student convicted of a drug offense, including marijuana possession. Murderers and rapists, on the other hand, can continue to receive financial aid under the act. Furthermore, the act makes no provision for enforcement. Obviously, Congress doesn't care about the fair and efficient administration of this program - or the justice system in general. Their reality has been completely distorted by the war on drugs and the political high they get from exploiting it.)
2 Colo Deputies Face Drug Charges (According to UPI, the FBI says Ouray County Undersheriff John Radcliff, his wife, the sheriff's two daughters and a deputy sheriff are among 19 people charged with methamphetamine trafficking in western Colorado.)
Next Hash Bash May Be Just For Tourists (The Detroit News previews the 28th annual Hash Bash beginning at noon Saturday at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Michigan state Senator Beverly Hammerstrom, a Republican from Temperance - no kidding - has introduced a bill to nullify Ann Arbor's $25 fine for marijuana possession and enforce the state's $100 penalty. Hammerstrom's bill won easy approval in the Senate last week, and is expected to get a receptive hearing in the House.)
Behind the Blue Wall (An e-mail message publicizes a web site about New York Police Department officer Kenneth Eurell, convicted on federal RICO charges. The site also is said to detail Eurell's cooperation with the DEA against Colombian drug dealers and his former partner, Michael Dowd.)
Exclusionary Rule Challenge Fails (The Associated Press says the U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from a Florida woman, Alishia Pryor, who said her 11-year sentence for possessing and intending to distribute crack cocaine was twice as long as it would have been if authorities hadn't taken into account evidence they seized illegally. In a series of recent rulings, the court has narrowed the exclusionary rule, which, since 1914, supposedly bars evidence obtained by violating the Fourth Amendment. As a result, prosecutors can now use evidence illegally seized by police in deportation cases, grand jury and civil tax hearings and certain other legal proceedings. The justices never ruled that the exclusionary rule doesn't apply to sentencing, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did so in rejecting Pryor's first appeal.)
Judge - Company's Drug Policy Violates ADA (The The Legal Intelligencer says a lawsuit filed on behalf of John A. Rowles, an epileptic, over drug testing in the workplace has led Chief U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo to rule that employers can be sued for wrongful discharge when their policy requires employees to disclose any prescription drugs they are taking that force them to reveal their medical conditions.)
No Green Light Yet (Newsweek magazine suggests the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana was so timid that the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, decided he didn't have to act on its conclusions that cannabis does not have a high potential for abuse, but does have medical value, conclusions that flatly contradict the rationale for its being a Schedule 1 controlled substance.)
Gallup Poll on Medical/Recreational Marijuana Use (A list subscriber forwards the results of a survey of 1,018 adults showing 73 percent would vote for medical marijuana but only 29 percent would vote for "legalization.")
Net Becomes Battleground In Drug War (The Washington Times admits the two new web sites sponsored by the office of the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, are just a reactionary response to all the "Web sites put out by people who think drugs should be legalized." But Allen St. Pierre, the director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says the Internet is dominated by those who want to see drugs legalized because this is the general consensus.)
Mexican Politicians Face Probe (The Associated Press says in the past, men in top business and political positions were allowed to flee abroad until things cooled off in Mexico, but international pressure to clean up Mexico's drug mess has prosecutors cracking down on once mighty members of Mexico's freewheeling elite. The reputation for corruption earned by Mexican law enforcement, however, has helped make it possible for some Mexicans to believe that members of the ruling class are now the victims of a witch-hunt.)
Bin Laden Buys Child Slaves For His Drug Farms In Africa (The Daily Telegraph, in Britain, accuses Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, of buying child slaves from Ugandan rebels and using them as forced labour on marijuana farms in Sudan to fund his international terrorism network.)
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Sunday, March 28, 1999:
Snohomish County Needs A New Jail For The Future (A timid staff editorial in the Everett, Washington, Herald heralds the construction of a new jail in Everett within 18 months, saying the current county jail, built just 13 years ago for 277 inmates, is already over its revised capacity of 477 prisoners, with 511 inmates. Unfortunately, the newspaper believes "Voters have repeatedly said they want stiff sentences attached to drug crimes," so its observation that the local "tough-on-drugs policy may be beginning to back-fire" falls a little flat. Even though Sheriff Rick Bart says 80 percent of crime in the county is directly related to alcohol and other drugs, the editors believe a new jail is still necessary. As with other American mass media, the newspaper instinctively shrinks from providing any estimate of what it would cost to fully enforce the laws against consensual crimes.)
Different Kind Of Drug War Being Waged In S. El Monte (The Los Angeles Times says the tiny San Gabriel Valley community of South El Monte is believed to be the first in California to approve voluntary, random drug tests for its City Council members. Councilwoman Blanca Figueroa sponsored the policy, which was approved 3-2 by the council, after her students - citing the cocaine possession conviction of Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez and Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre's testing positive for cocaine - questioned how she could preach against drugs when two potential role models ran afoul of them. "It's voluntary only in name," said ACLU attorney Elizabeth Schroeder.)
What The Ruiz Ruling Wrought (The Houston Chronicle says in the early 1980s, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice first ruled that Texas' overcrowded prisons were unconstitutional, and set population limits. He also banned the use of building tenders, a hierarchy of inmates who helped maintain order through brutality and threats. Texas has spent an estimated $10 billion since then to comply with Judge Justice's humane micromanagement of the state prison system. The judge now says solitary confinement is unconstitutional, and the state is suing to regain control.)
The Way Things Are In Prison (The Houston Chronicle provides a brief, insider's history of Texas prisons through the eyes of Roger Pirkle, who entered his first state-run institution at 11 and emerged from his last one at 46, three years ago. A class-action lawsuit that grew out of complaints filed by him and David Ruiz led to the dismantling of the building tender system in the mid-1980s. The trouble was, they didn't do anything to fill the void. The gangs sprang up in 1984 and '85 - and, at first, prison officials didn't seem to mind. "They let us gamble. They let us smoke marijuana." They did all that because they had to to keep order by themselves. Then, the guards were co-opted into them. Then it got out of hand and they couldn't stop it. Now, when a kid comes into prison, he's going to be recruited. "If he doesn't join, he better be able to fight or he's going to be raped and turned out by somebody.")
8th Graders Face Lewdness, Drug Charges (UPI says residents of Belmar, New Jersey, are shocked with the Monmouth County prosecutor's decision to charge a group of rowdy kids with drug possession, lewdness, simple assault and improper touching.)
More Class Action documents (Carl Olsen, a founding member of the Drug Reform Coordination Network online library, publicizes his growing archive of documents about the lawsuit against the federal prohibition on medical marijuana being litigated in Philadelphia by public interest attorney Lawrence Elliott Hirsch.)
Medical marijuana not acceptable in Georgia (The Associated Press says Superior Court Judge J. Carlisle Overstreet sentenced paraplegic Lewis Edward Covar of Augusta to seven years' probation and a $1,000 fine for possession of marijuana, warning the newly created criminal to "keep it to yourself.")
Healer Weed (A Vancouver Province article focuses on "Jackie," a 61-year-old medical marijuana patient dying of cancer in Surrey, British Columbia, and the 700-member Compassion Club, in Vancouver. A devout, non-drinking Christian, Jackie had sold her car, turned her house over to her son, and was suicidal when a friend who is a prison guard recommended marijuana to her. It dulled the pain. She overcame the mid-afternoon depressions. A couple of puffs before bedtime and she'd sleep like a baby. She gained 50 pounds. The most recent poll shows 83 percent of Canadians sympathize. While Allan Rock, the health minister, dithers, police are taking a hands-off approach. Abbotsford lawyer John Conroy is preparing to force the issue by putting together a request for medical marijuana exemptions on behalf of about 500 members of the Compassion Club.)
Tories Demand Life Sentences To Combat Drugs Menace (According to Scotland on Sunday, David McLetchie, the leader of the Scottish Tory party, said yesterday that drug dealers convicted for the second time should be given mandatory life sentences.)
U.N. To Create Own Satellite Program to Find Illegal Drug Crops (The New York Times says the International Drug Control Program received unanimous approval last week in Vienna from 53 countries making up the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs to acquire its own satellite system to monitor production in source countries. Pino Arlacchi, the executive director of the drug control program who has set a goal of eliminating drug cultivation in 10 years, estimated that the satellite monitoring could cost as little as $15 million a year, and would start in about a year. The accuracy of satellite spying is dubious, however. The Colombian government said it had eradicated 123,500 acres of coca last year, while the CIA said only 14,000 acres were defoliated.)
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Saturday, March 27, 1999:
Sheriff's deputies follow tip to drug lab (An Oregonian article about the bust of a methamphetamine lab Friday in a Southeast Portland apartment - the 11th such investigation this year - quotes Sgt. Lane Sawyer of the special investigations unit making false claims that "Methamphetamine is our fastest-growing threat" and that "Meth is the No. 1 drug of choice in Multnomah County.")
Gold Hill's police chief faces charges of assault, coercion (The Oregonian says David Crawford has been indicted in Jackson County on assault and coercion charges for allegedly roughing up a dirt-biker and threatening to arrest him for drunken driving if he complained. Chief Crawford already faces trial April 22 on two unrelated charges of coercion after an elderly Shady Cove couple complained that he threatened to burn down their home if they reported a July 1996 incident of road rage.)
Roseburg doctor faces penalty on pain control (The Oregonian says the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners intends to discipline Dr. Paul A. Bilder for failing to give six seriously ill or dying patients adequate pain medication.)
A Kilo Of Cocaine Hits The Streets, Courtesy Of The Police Department (The Charlotte Observer, in North Carolina, notes undercover prohibition agents in Bellevue, Washington, who allegedly sold 2.2 pounds of cocaine to a would-be dealer arrested him and kept his $17,000 - but failed to retrieve the cocaine. Unfortunately, the newspaper doesn't bother to explain how police can sell controlled substances on the street under a controversial clause in the Controlled Substances Act.)
Lockyer: U.S. Will End Push For Nuke Dump At Desert Site (The Sacramento Bee says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, threatened California Attorney General Bill Lockyer with arrest Friday when Lockyer told McCaffrey that state law authorizes him to conduct certain marijuana-related research.)
DrugSense Focus Alert No. 103 - Califano in the Wall Street Journal (DrugSense asks you to write a letter to the editor of the business daily in New York to rebut the op-ed defending the "gateway" myth by Joe Califano of CASA.)
Prison Terms Change Crime Fighters (According to the Associated Press, three former high-profile public officials who were once proud to show how tough they were on crime spoke at a meeting Saturday of Families Against Mandatory Minimums in Arlington, Virginia. Webster Hubbell, a former associate attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department; former Pennsylvania Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr., and former California Republican leader Pat Nolan said they discovered the humanity of the prison population and the error of their crime-fighting ways when they became prisoners themselves. Preate said "we're on a collision course with social catastrophe" unless more is done to rehabilitate criminals and find alternatives to prison for the 65 percent of inmates locked up for nonviolent crime.)
Teacher Busted For Pot (UPI says Kaye Seymour, 44, was busted at Ravenswood Middle School in Orlando, Florida, for having marijuana in her car after a suspicious principal called police.)
Re: Water pistols with bong water to fool drug sniffing dogs (A list subscriber shares a recycling tip.)
Institute Of Medicine Says Marijuana Has Benefits (The Lancet, in Britain, summarizes the report released March 17 in the United States.)
Let them smoke pot (The version in Britain's New Scientist)
Why your brain is primed for a high (New Scientist briefly summarizes the recent Nature Neuroscience article about research by scientists at the University of California at Irvine who found that cannabinoids may be effective in treating dopamine-related movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Tourette's syndrome.)
You're Under Arrest, And On TV (The Economist, in Britain, says the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in two cases that raise the question of whether media "ride-alongs" with police carrying out search or arrest warrants violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. If the court decides to restrict the practice, many local-news and tabloid television shows will, at a stroke, be deprived of a staple subject. An amicus brief was filed by 26 media organisations.)
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Friday, March 26, 1999:
Portland jury begins deliberating in case of family vs. Philip Morris (The Oregonian says a jury in Multnomah County is drawing national attention as it begins to decide today whether Philip Morris Inc. is liable in a $101 million lawsuit filed by the family of Jesse D. Williams, who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboro cigarettes for many years. Much of the medical testimony on both sides tried to show that Williams' cancer arose either before or after 1988. If the jury concludes that Williams' cancer was caused by cigarettes smoked before 1988, Philip Morris can't be held liable under Oregon law.)
Calaveras Man Convicted Of Cultivating Marijuana (The Modesto Bee says a jury in Calaveras County, California, on Thursday convicted Robert Galambos, a medical-marijuana patient, of cultivating cannabis, but deadlocked on a charge of possession for sale. Galambos was busted in 1997 with 382 plants and about 6 pounds of bagged marijuana at his home in Paloma. He admitted to growing not only for himself, but also for an Oakland cannabis club, under the auspices of Proposition 215. Galambos will be sentenced May 14; he faces a sentence ranging from probation to three years in prison.)
Condemning Dissident Authors To Death (Vin Suprynowicz, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, ponders the politically inspired prosecutions of author/publishers Peter McWilliams and Steve Kubby, both California medical marijuana patients charged with growing "too many" plants.)
Where Pot Activism Grows (The Santa Rosa Press Democrat interviews veteran medical-marijuana activist Dennis Peron at his marijuana farm in Lake County, California. Peron feels vindicated by the Institute of Medicine report released last week that said marijuana effectively counteracts pain, nausea and weight loss. "Even the study said certain patients have to use marijuana. The handwriting is on the wall: Medical necessity is greater than federal law.")
$500,000 Worth of Pot Found Growing in House (The San Francisco Chronicle says police in South San Francisco, in San Mateo County just south of San Francisco, busted Jay Chen for 125 plants supposedly worth $4,000 each. A "concerned citizen" notified police about the marijuana.)
Nation's top drug officials not high on Proposition 215 (The Associated Press says California Attorney General Bill Lockyer returned from the nation's capital Friday after failing to persuade U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey to reclassify marijuana. Apparently it hasn't occurred to Lockyer to do the only thing he's really qualified to do and file a lawsuit to uphold the California constitution.)
California Demos set to endorse industrial hemp (A press release from Chris Conrad, the director of the Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp, says the state Democratic Party Resolutions Committee voted 27-2 today to include a plank supporting industrial hemp on the consent calendar for the party platform at the state convention this weekend in Sacramento.)
Officer Cleared In Oregon Case (The Houston Chronicle says a jury in Houston took about 70 minutes Thursday to acquit the only police officer charged in connection with the killing of Pedro Oregon Navarro, who was shot 12 times - nine times in the back - during a warrantless entry last July by six prohibition agents who never found the crack cocaine they were looking for.)
Sole Indictment Of Willis Confounded Many (The Houston Chronicle analyzes the quick acquittal Thursday of fired Houston prohibition agent James Willis, the only one of six police charged in connection with the shooting death of Pedro Oregon Navarro during a warrantless entry. As to why Willis was indicted in the first place, one source said some grand jurors just didn't like Willis, thought he was arrogant and were angry that he would not concede that he and the other officers might have done something improper.)
'Cheech and Chong Medicine' (Arkansas Times columnist Mara Leveritt says the White House drug czar, Barry R. McCaffrey, didn't let a little thing like being debunked by the Institute of Medicine report prompt him to re-examine his position on medical marijuana. After the report's release on March 17, he explained that "the future of marijuana as medicine lies in things like inhalers" and in drugs extracted from the plant - certainly not in the raw vegetation. Development will take years. It has never mattered in the past how many people's lives, how many civil liberties, or how much of the nation's wealth had to be sacrificed to keep marijuana illegal. Nothing appears likely to change that - neither science, nor sense, nor mercy.)
Bill Toughens Marijuana Laws (The Des Moines Register says that with no discussion and little dissent, the Iowa House on Thursday approved a bill that would make giving away marijuana weighing more than a half-ounce a felony. Under current law, giving away an ounce or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor. Even Democrats were silent as the bill was quickly approved 86-5.)
Bensenville Cops Tainted By Charges Of Tampering (The Chicago Tribune says the police department in Bensenville, Illinois, wants to fire William Wassman, an officer charged with stealing cocaine. Meanwhile, Sgt. Joseph DeAnda, who once headed the department's detective division, was put on administrative leave Wednesday after an investigation of evidence taken in drug and gambling cases.)
The Grass Roots of Teen Drug Abuse (An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by 'Smokin' Joe Califano of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University assails the conclusion of the recent Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana that "there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs." Califano, a lawyer with no apparent understanding of statistics who has made a career at CASA based on the "gateway" theory, cites the usual illusory correlations, but completely fails to acknowledge why correlation isn't necessarily causation.)
Marijuana-Like Chemicals Could Treat Disease (Reuters says a report published in the April issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience by researchers from the University of California at Irvine found that anandamide, a marijuana-like chemical in the brain that helps regulate body movement and coordination, might be useful in treating diseases that produce tics and shaking, such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. The researchers found that anandamide interferes with the effects of nerve cells that transmit dopamine. Uncontrolled production of dopamine has been blamed for some of the symptoms of schizophrenia and the nervous tics and outbursts associated with Tourette's syndrome. A lack of dopamine is blamed for the shaking and motor hesitation that marks Parkinson's disease.)
Widely used diabetes drug linked to liver failure, deaths (According to the Associated Press, officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said today they have linked 38 cases of acute liver failure to the diabetes drug Rezulin and believe the risk of liver problems grows over time as patients take the drug. At the same time, several doctors said Rezulin helps many of their most afflicted diabetes patients, and the benefits outweigh the risk.)
N. Korea Sponsoring Drug Trafficking (According to UPI, today's Washington Post quotes U.S. and international drug officials saying that Korean diplomats have been captured in recent years carrying large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine. South Korean intelligence sources and North Korean defectors confirm North Korea's entry into the illegal drug business.)
The North Korean Connection (According to the original Washington Post version, U.S. officials said in 1990 there have been at least 26 documented incidents of North Korean diplomats being arrested on drug trafficking charges, and many more involving other smuggled goods. North Korea has become the largest recipient of U.S. aid in Asia in recent years.)
National Unit To Wage War On Drugs (The Scotsman says Henry McLeish, the Scottish home affairs minister, announced yesterday that a Scottish drug enforcement agency would be in place by the end of the year to "wage war" on the relentless rise in drugs crime. Apparently not satisfied that drugs offences had more than quadrupled in the past decade, from 7,000 to 31,500, the Government promised to invest £36 million more to train and equip 200 extra detectives to catch drug dealers and importers, doubling the specialist police manpower to combat drugs at a national level.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 84 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - New report finds one million Americans incarcerated for non-violent offenses; IOM findings strengthen administrative challenge to repeal marijuana's prohibited status; Alert: support California syringe decriminalization bill; American Pharmaceutical Association adopts syringe deregulation position; Vancouver needle exchange study clarifies previous study's results; Newsbriefs; and an editorial by Adam J. Smith, Rolling back the tide)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 91 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - A Viagra-model solution to the war on drugs, by Bernhard Haisch, Ph.D., who really is a rocket scientist. The Weekly News in Review includes several articles about Drug War Policy, including - High court limits drug testing of students; School drug testing proposal moves through senate; Senators pledge 1,000 more agents for border patrol; and, When a bad policy fails. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - The prison boom; America, land of prisons; and, Prison policy is both costly and irrational. Articles about Forfeiture include - When can police seize private property?; Stealing by the state; and, Property seizures trample the Constitution; News about Cannabis includes - Study: Marijuana helps fight pain; Let science run marijuana debate; Medical marijuana smoking to remain illegal; Lockyer gives quiet OK to S.F. pot clubs; Judge denies advocate's request to smoke pot; and, Federal judge lets lawsuit on medical marijuana go on. International News includes - Heroin users' starting-up age plummets into teens; Anti-drugs drive fails to stem abuse; RCMP drug raid was dopey; and, Top Mexican off-limits to U.S. drug agents. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net points you to the new Commons Sense for Drug Policy web site at http://csdp.org; and to the full text of the IOM report online. The Quote of the Week cites Thomas Jefferson.)
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Thursday, March 25, 1999:
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release (Bill to restore student loans to minor drug offenders introduced in Congress; Nevada legislature mulls bill to decriminalize marijuana possession; Marijuana-like drug to receive patent for use treating multiple sclerosis; IOM findings strengthen administrative challenge to repeal marijuana's
prohibited status)
So Much For The Mormons (Mike Assenberg, the disabled medical-marijuana patient in Waldport, Oregon, who gained notoriety in January after threatening to sue the Abby's Pizza in Newport for not letting him smoke cannabis, now has a legitimate complaint. The Mormon church has excommunicated him for using medical marijuana, even though it's legal.)
Driver's license stripe idea stalls (The Associated Press says an Oregon House committee Wednesday shelved a bill that would put a red stripe on the driver's licenses of convicted drunken drivers, criticizing it as nothing more than a toothless gesture.)
Congressman attacks suicide law (According to the Oregonian, U.S. Representative Tom Bliley of Virginia, an opponent of Oregon's doctor-assisted suicide law, is pursuing a new strategy to limit the law's effectiveness. Bliley, the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, on Wednesday accused the federal Health Care Financing Administration of paying for assisted-suicide services in Oregon in violation of a law banning federal funds for such services.)
Jury out on medical pot claim (The Modesto Bee says a jury in Calaveras County, California - where voters opposed Proposition 215 - deliberated for nearly two hours Wednesday without reaching a verdict in the cultivation trial of Robert Galambos, a medical-marijuana patient who says his 382 marijuana plants were intended for himself and an Oakland medical marijuana dispensary. Galambos' defense attorney from San Francisco, J. Tony Serra, the subject of the Hollywood movie "True Believer," made an impassioned argument alternating between whispers and roars.)
Breaking The Medical-Marijuana Logjam (The Chico News & Review, in Northeast California, says Humbolt County medical-marijuana activist Robert Harris and others are convinced that an Arcata ordinance designed to implement Proposition 215 could serve as a model for other California cities, particularly Chico. Arcata Police Chief Mel Brown and local marijuana caregivers fashioned the measure together. After being approved by the Arcata City Council it became law in March 1998. Four members of the Chico City Council say they would be willing to discuss implementing an ordinance similar to Arcata's, but two others remain skeptical of the very legitimacy of medical marijuana.)
Oregon Drug Raid Detailed (According to the Houston Chronicle, fired Houston police officer James Willis told a jury Wednesday that the investigation that led to the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro turned sour when his brother, Rogelio Oregon, bolted from Houston prohibition agents at the door of their apartment, leading them to believe he was either going for a gun or about to destroy evidence. The plan had been to do a knock-and-talk, since the police had no search warrant.)
Principal's Principle (UPI says the principal of Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic School near Cincinnati, Ohio, will suspend all the sixth grade students for one day for not informing on another student who brought marijuana to school.)
Why Is Marijuana For The Suffering Still Illegal? (An op-ed in the Bergen Record, in New Jersey, says the United States is a great nation, dedicated to freedom, roaming the planet to bring justice to the oppressed, comfort to the suffering, democracy to all. And yet, we remain unspeakably cruel to our fellow citizens. No other word exists to describe the federal government's steadfast refusal to allow the medical use of marijuana. It is cruel - heartless, sadistic, mean-spirited. "I have a friend with a chronic disease of the nervous system. Marijuana is the only thing that alleviates the symptoms. The medical establishment knows this. Others with the disease know it. The government knows it. And yet, she cannot get relief from excruciating pain because to do so would be to risk everything - her career, her good name, her freedom.")
Cities and towns that have discontinued the DARE program (A list subscriber forwards a comprehensive list and asks for additions or corrections.)
Pot-Like Substance May Offer Tic, Shaking Relief (The Orange County Register describes the report published in the April issue of "Nature Neuroscience" finding that anandamide, a cannabinoid-like brain chemical, acts as a kind of brake on dopamine production in rats, suggesting a potential treatment for such maladies that produce tics and shaking as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. "This shows for the first time how anandamides work in the brain to produce normal motor activity," said Daniele Piomelli, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of California at Irvine who helped lead the study. "Patients with schizophrenia and other diseases have reported that marijuana appears to relieve some of their symptoms, but scientists have never found a physiological reason why," Piomelli said.)
Over One Million American Non-Violent Prisoners (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cites a Justice Policy Institute figure.)
More Than 1M Nonviolent Prisoners (A lengthier Associated Press version says U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, D-New York, cited the study as he pushed for legislation eliminating mandatory five-year penalties for crack cocaine crimes and an end to the sentencing disparity between offenses for crack and powder cocaine.)
ACLU Calls for Reform of Racially Discriminatory Cocaine Laws (A press release from the American Civil Liberties Union provides more details about the reform bill introduced today by U.S. Representative Charles Rangel.)
Internet: War On Drugs Launches Web Sites (The Dayton Daily News, in Ohio, notes the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, has managed to get ABC and America Online to provide web sites promoting fear, ignorance, misinformation, and other aspects of the government's war on some drug users.)
Anti-Drug Web Sites (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version)
It's a 1980s Policy on 1990s Drug Crime (Newsday columnist Sheryl McCarthy, in New York, notices the Clinton administration claims to have a new approach, but is using the same battle plan to fight the drug war that George Bush drafted a decade ago. Two-thirds of the budget still goes to law enforcement and only one-third to treatment, prevention and research. Instead of arresting marijuana smokers, we should be going after hard drugs and treating addicts. At McCaffrey's press conference, he repeated a remark he heard somewhere that "the most dangerous person in America is a 12-year-old smoking marijuana on a weekend." If that's what the war on drugs is about, we're in deep trouble.)
More details about the U.S. House hearing on drug legalization and medical marijuana (A list subscriber follows up on Monday's USA Today story by publicizing a web site listing the members of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources - and showing you how to lobby them.)
Bumper crop in Mexico resulting in large marijuana seizures (The Associated Press says a bumper crop of marijuana is apparently making its way to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, resulting in huge seizures. From Falcon Dam to Boca Chica, where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico, agents have seized 222,304 pounds of marijuana valued at $178 million in the last six months - 50 percent more than the same period a year ago.)
GOP To Seek Change On Mexico (The Washington Post says U.S. Representative John L. Mica, R-Florida, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, and Representative Benjamin A. Gilman, R-New York, the chairman of the International Relations Committee, cited new allegations yesterday that senior Mexican military and political officials were involved in drug trafficking as they announced they would co-sponsor a bill that would overturn President Clinton's certification of Mexico as an ally in the war on some drug users, but waive economic penalties.)
Grandson Of Italian King Faces Drugs Trial (The Daily Telegraph, in Britain, says Prince Serge of Yugoslavia, a grandson of the last king of Italy, faces five years in jail after he was allegedly caught last year buying cocaine in Turin, where he has a home and works as a design consultant.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 12 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Wednesday, March 24, 1999:
Pot need not be controlled (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian addresses the allegation that Measure 67 had loopholes that need a legislative fix. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act is a carefully crafted statute. It was written so that if implementation problems do arise, they can be handled legislatively in the next session. No need currently exists to amend the act other than to further the agenda of those who opposed its passage.)
Unlocking Doors (Willamette Week, in Portland, says nobody is happy with Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers' proposal to coerce mentally ill people to take drugs they perceive to be worse than their disease.)
Measures avert early jail releases (The Oregonian says Multnomah County averted the early release of inmates from its five jails Tuesday after taking several measures to keep the prisoner population from exceeding its unspecified federally mandated limit. The county now maintains 2,063 beds.)
Burned house center of eviction battle involving Ingerid Pearson (The Oregonian says a Southeast Portland residence at the center of a dispute between mother and son led to an eviction of the mother, which in turn led to the alleged discovery of what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab in the basement. Portland firefighters waited for specialists to deal with the hazard until smoke mysteriously started coming from the home's basement about 4 p.m. Fire Bureau policy bars risking firefighters in houses with drug labs unless someone's life is in danger. So firefighters allowed the house to burn - and any evidence of a meth lab with it.)
Operators Of Cannabis Clubs Plead Guilty (The Sacramento Bee says Steven McWilliams and Dion Markgraaff, who operated a couple of San Diego County medical-marijuana dispensaries, pleaded guilty Tuesday to maintaining a place for distribution of a controlled substance. In exchange for their pleas, prosecutor David Songco dropped seven other felony charges. The two men each face up to three years in prison when they are sentenced April 20, but lawyers on both sides said they will likely receive probation.)
Medicinal Marijuana Trial Starts March 30th in Placer County (A list subscriber invites you to the trial in Auburn, California, of two medical marijuana patients, Dr. Michael Baldwin and his wife, Georgia Chacko, for cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to sell.)
Slow the Drug-Test Frenzy (A staff editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle finds hope in this week's U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the ruling of an appellate court that a high school in Anderson, Indiana, went too far in requiring drug tests of all students who had been suspended but wanted to return to school.)
The Secret Society Among Lawmen (The Los Angeles Times says tattooed groups like the Grim Reapers are enjoying renewed popularity in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. A federal judge hearing class-action lawsuits against the department in 1996 described the most well-known of the groups, the Lynwood Vikings, as a "neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang" and found that deputies had engaged in racially motivated hostility. The county paid $9 million in fines and training costs to settle. Today, some of the lawyers now suing the Sheriff's Department on behalf of clients who say they were beaten, shot or harassed, have demanded that deputies accused of misconduct roll down their socks and reveal if they have one of the distinguishing tattoos. In one case pending in federal court, attorneys want two deputies who allegedly shot a man to death to show whether their ankles bear the Vikings insignia.)
2 admit cross-border drug corruption (The Arizona Daily Star says two men admitted their involvement in drug corruption on the Arizona-Mexico border yesterday in U.S. District Court. Former immigration inspector Jesus A. Corella acknowledged he accepted a $75,000 bribe in exchange for allowing 1,289 pounds of cocaine to cross at Nogales in 1996. And Fernando L. Suarez of Rio Rico admitted driving a load of cocaine across the border and paying a bribe. A federal grand jury indicted Suarez and Corella on Jan. 27 along with seven other defendants, including two other immigration inspectors. All but one were charged with drug-related crimes.)
Witness: Pedro Oregon Dealt Drugs (According to the Houston Chronicle, an informant told a jury Tuesday that Pedro Navarro Oregon, the man slain by Houston police during a supposed drug raid, helped his brothers deal crack cocaine and agreed to supply it the night of his death, even though no drugs were found at the scene. But a legal fight to keep the dead man's brother from testifying overshadowed the misdemeanor criminal trespass trial of former Houston police Officer James Willis, who is charged in connection with the shooting of Oregon.)
The First National Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics (A press release from Patients Out of Time says the advocacy group for medical-marijuana patients has joined with the College of Nursing and the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa to sponsor a symposium at the university in April 2000. The conference will feature experts in the clinical use of cannabis as well as six of the eight patients in the United States who receive their medical cannabis from the federal government.)
Former Candidate, Editor Gives Herself Up In Marijuana Case (The Des Moines Register says Lois Kennis, a 1998 independent candidate for lieutenant governor, turned herself in to Urbandale authorities Tuesday on cultivation-related charges. The editor and publisher of Iowa Lady Magazine is also the wife of Mark Kennis, host of the local cable television show "Big People News" and an advocate for marijuana-law reform.)
Heroin Use Is Unabated, Report Says (The New York Times describes the latest semiannual "Pulse Check" report on national trends in illegal-drug use released Tuesday by General Barry McCaffrey in New York. The survey, based on reports from 200 treatment centers and law enforcement officials in 16 cities, shows heroin use in New York City remains high, with more young people trying heroin and more users now sniffing the drug than injecting it. McCaffrey said that in the last month, nationwide, illegal drugs were used by 13 million Americans, of whom 4.1 million were "chronically addicted," which must be like, the opposite of "temporarily addicted"?)
Press Clippings - Pot Shots (The Village Voice, in New York, credits Chuck Thomas of the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., for waging a superb behind-the-scenes public relations campaign that helped produce a favorable spin in American mass media regarding the March 17 Institute of Medicine assessment of medical marijuana. "It's too early to tell, but so far, no major paper has defended McCaffrey's wait-and-see attitude." By calling marijuana smoke a risk factor for cancer and lung damage, it gave the government one last myth to work with: the idea that marijuana is dangerous. If McCaffrey's strategy was to play up the harmful effects of smoking, it definitely worked. the New York Times even used the word "toxic" to describe pot smoke. Obviously, there is some risk in smoking burning leaves, but marijuana is relatively safe, as drugs go, according to the report. And the IOM found no proof that it causes cancer.)
Medical Pot: Knee-Jerk Opposition (A notably rational staff editorial in the Charleston Gazette, in West Virginia, is prompted by the March 17 Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana to conclude that cannabis should be made "legal for desperately ill people - and probably for everyone." The newspaper thinks political resistance to reform is rooted more in posturing against "sin" than in intelligent science.)
"Officer Of The Year" Facing Drug Charges (UPI says the FBI has arrested William Alonzo Banks Jr., 31, a police officer in Lakeland, Florida, on charges of possessing and dealing cocaine over the past two years.)
Seizure Of Drug Suspect's Vehicle Stirs Supreme Court (The Houston Chronicle says the U.S. Supreme Court weighed the constitutionality of the drug war Tuesday as it considered whether police in Florida need a warrant before seizing and searching a car suspected of having been used in a cocaine deal. The issue was whether police violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures when they failed to get a warrant before impounding and examining the car of a man suspected of dealing drugs from the vehicle. David Gauldin, a Florida assistant public defender representing Tyvessel White, said Florida's goal was not to take White's car off the streets but to secure evidence against his client, an effort that, he said, required a warrant.)
High Court Asked To Hear Challenge To Prosecution Deals (The Baltimore Sun says Sonya Evette Singleton of Wichita, Kansas, is filing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to rule that federal prosecutors may not offer defendants leniency in exchange for testimony against another defendant - a practice followed by generations of prosecutors. Singleton is serving a 46-month sentence after being convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The only evidence against her was testimony by another defendant who was promised leniency if he implicated her. A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Denver agreed with Singleton's argument in July, but the full court reconsidered the case and reversed that decision in January.)
Anti-Drug Internet Sites Unveiled (According to an Associated Press article in the New York Times, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy announced Wednesday it was sponsoring two new web sites where children and their parents can get information about fighting "drugs.")
Marijuana Hoax (A syndicated column by Jacob Sullum recasts his Reason magazine essay about how the Institute of Medicine report commissioned by General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, contradicts the statements he made in 1996 and 1997 while campaigning against medical-marijuana ballot initiatives in California and Arizona. If, as the IOM report indicates, marijuana's benefits are genuine and its hazards have been greatly exaggerated, the real hoax is the one that men like McCaffrey have perpetrated on the American public for more than half a century.)
Brain has marijuana-like chemicals that may fight disease (The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recounts yesterday's news about researchers at the University of California at Irvine finding that anandamide, a natural cannabinoid-like brain chemical, interferes with another chemical in the brains of rats: dopamine. Still unanswered is how the new study seems to contradict the much-publicized contention of U.S. government scientists a couple years ago that marijuana increases dopamine production.)
Mexico Extradites Drug Trafficker (The Associated Press says Tirso Angel Robles, who escaped to Mexico from a California prison in 1995, was returned to U.S. officials on Tuesday, just as two key Republican U.S. House members moved to overturn President Clinton's certification of Mexico last month as a fully cooperating drug war ally.)
Drugs money linked to the Kosovo rebels (The Times, in London, notes the sudden ascendancy of Kosovan Albanians in the heroin trade in Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia coincides with the sudden growth of the Kosovo Liberation Army from a ragamuffin peasants' army two years ago to a 30,000-strong force equipped with grenade launchers, anti-tank weapons and AK47s. Senior police officers across Europe think the KLA, which has won the support of the West for its guerrilla struggle against the heavy armour of the Serbs, is led by Marxists and funded by dubious sources, including drug money.)
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Tuesday, March 23, 1999:
New scanners refine airport luggage exams (The Oregonian says Portland International Airport has installeda a pair of $1 million devices that employ CAT-scan technology to check baggage for explosives and "narcotics" - apparently the newspaper's attempt to make you think most of the contraband being found isn't "marijuana.")
Eviction takes twist when home burns (The Oregonian says what began as an eviction from a Southeast Portland home Monday turned into the discovery of a suspected methamphetamine lab, which somehow led to a two-alarm fire that consumed the $450,000 house. Firefighters, fearing toxic chemicals, watched the house burn to the ground. Plus the Associated Press version, and commentary from two skeptics familiar with the case and official testilying.)
California cop: Feds need to make a decision about marijuana (According to the Associated Press, Walt Allen, vice president of the California Narcotic Officers Association, says the federal government must soon decide whether to ease restrictions on the use of pot so that states can figure out how to implement voter-approved medical marijuana laws.)
A Drug War Fought On Ideology (Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer notes the Institute of Medicine report last week found that marijuana isn't addictive or a gateway to harder drugs, and the effects of marijuana smoking are no more threatening than smoking cigarettes. So why then is the cultivation, trade and use of pot regarded as a crime? Every other serious study of the effect of marijuana has concluded the same thing. The huge and highly profitable antidrug war industry is hooked on marijuana as justification for its enormously expensive and disruptive crusade. Madness can properly be defined as a state of mind in which facts and logic are of no consequence. What better way to describe our failed drug policy?)
Study: Caffeine not as addictive as, say, cocaine (According to the Associated Press, a study funded by the French coffee industry and released Monday at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Los Angeles indicates that drinking up to three cups of coffee a day has no effect on the part of the brain responsible for addiction. And it may actually be good for you - if you're a rat. But caffeine studies are all over the map when it comes to health effects. One skeptic is Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, who says "there is pretty substantial literature in animals and humans showing chronic administration of caffeine produces acute dependency syndrome.")
Actor died on day of scheduled court appearance in drug case (The Associated Press says David Strickland, an actor on television's "Suddenly Susan," apparently committed suicide by hanging himself in a Las Vegas motel room the night before he was due to give a Los Angeles court a progress report on the coerced treatment he was sentenced to after pleading no contest to cocaine possession. Warner Bros. and NBC said production of "Suddenly Susan" was being halted indefinitely.)
Police Arrest Singer Ray Price On Marijuana (The Associated Press says the Grammy Award-winning country singer known for hits such as "For the Good Times" and "Release Me" was arrested last Friday at his ranch near Mount Pleasant, Texas, charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and fined $700.)
Marijuana-Scented Cigarettes Tested (According to the Associated Press, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press claims that tobacco industry documents reveal Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. sought to cash in on the popularity of marijuana in the 1970s by developing a cigarette that mimicked the herb's smell. A company chemist noted in a June 3, 1974, memo that mixing Virginia and Turkish tobaccos, pekoe teas, alfalfa and oregano produced "a foreign taste, liked by some, with a sidestream aroma easily mistaken for marijuana.")
Candidate Has Two Kinds Of Aspirations (The Des Moines Register interviews Mark Kennis of Grimes, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States who was charged last week with manufacturing marijuana and conspiring to distribute it to a minor. Kennis, who is also a former independent candidate for Iowa governor, uses the herb to relieve pain from diabetes and heart problems. During his campaign he says he will advocate the "legalization" of marijuana.)
District Replaces DARE Program (The Chicago Tribune says the Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102 Board of Education announced plans Monday night in Buffalo Grove to replace its Drug Abuse Resistance Education program with a new class called C.O.D.E., which stands for Community Organized Drug Education.)
Former Officer Gets A Life Term In 10 Murders For A Drug Gang (The New York Times says John Cuff, a former housing police officer in the Bronx, avoided the death penalty Monday by pleading guilty to Federal charges that he had killed 10 people after he was recruited by the Preacher Crew.)
Pinellas Teacher Busted On Drug Charges (UPI says Sofia Forte, a 29-year-old teacher in Pinellas County, Florida, is facing drug charges after a police dog found cocaine in the teacher's lounge at Osceola Middle School.)
Puerto Rico Police Suspended On Drugs Allegations (Reuters says eight Puerto Rico commonwealth police agents allegedly offered protection to drug dealers, and were involved in importing drugs into Puerto Rico from Caribbean islands such as St. Croix and Curacao, as well as from Mexico.)
Pharmos Corporation Receives Notice Of Allowance On Dexanabinol Patent For Use In The Treatment Of Multiple Sclerosis (A company press release on PR Newswire says the Pharmos Corporation has filed a claim with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering the use of its synthetic cannabinoid, as well as various other non-psychotropic analogs, derivatives and metabolites, in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. A recent, successful Phase II clinical study also showed dexanabinol, invented in Israel, to be safe and well-tolerated by patients suffering from severe head trauma. The worldwide market for dexanabinol in the treatment of severe head trauma may reach $1 billion annually and is significantly larger if other neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and stroke are treated with the drug.)
Scientists Find How Brain Chemical Acts Like Pot (The San Jose Mercury News says scientists funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced Monday that their research, to be published in the April issue of the journal "Nature-Neuroscience," shows they have discovered how one of the body's natural cannabinoids, anandamide, counteracts another brain chemical, dopamine. Their research suggests that natural THC-like compounds may prove useful in the development of medications for treating diseases that seem to involve dopamine imbalances in the brain, such as schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome.)
The Scoop, Medical Marijuana (Mother Jones Wire says never mind what the drug czar's own study by the Institute of Medicine recommends. Barry McCaffrey insists that medical marijuana is gonna stay illegal - because it impairs memory, interferes with motor skills, and impairs memory.)
Snorting Heroin Becoming More Popular - U.S. Report (Reuters says the semi-annual "pulse check" released Tuesday by General Barry McCaffrey's Office of National Drug Control Policy indicates the practice of inhaling heroin is growing more popular, while the drug is being used increasingly by women, the affluent and suburbanites. Reuters doesn't say so, but implicitly the report shows the U.S. war on some drug users continues to correlate with lower heroin prices and increased availability and increasing deaths. The use of methamphetamine on the West Coast and "club drugs" generally is also increasing.)
Court Refuses To Review Guidelines On School Drug Checks (The Washington Post expands on yesterday's news about the U.S. Supreme Court upholding 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.)
High Court Rejects Proposal to Expand School Drug Tests (The Washington Times version)
Supreme Court Actions Affect Teens (The Associated Press version in the Orange County Register notes the justices also left intact a curfew for children under 17 imposed by Charlottesville, Virginia.)
Court Limits Drug Tests (A different Associated Press version)
High Court Limits Drug Testing Of Students (The San Jose Mercury News version)
When Can Police Seize Private Property? (The Christian Science Monitor says the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case involving police who used Florida's forfeiture law first to seize and then to justify a warrantless search of a car belonging to Tyvessel White, who was subsequently convicted of possessing two pieces of crack cocaine. The Florida case marks the first time the high court will consider whether a warrant is needed in forfeiture cases.)
Anti-Money Laundering Rules Dropped (The Associated Press says U.S. banking regulators, responding to a public outcry over privacy concerns, on Tuesday scrapped the "Know Your Customer" anti-money laundering rules that would have tracked the transaction patterns of bank customers. The rules were put out for public comment in December by four federal banking agencies. Since then, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. alone has received about 225,000 e-mail messages and letters, nearly all opposing the rules.)
The Prison Boom (Washington Post columnist Geneva Overholser says the combination of strong opinions and little expertise among lawmakers has given us a huge and continuing boom in prison building, but little else in the way of sound public policy to deal with the problems filling the cells. Perhaps the 15-minute spotlight supposedly being focused now on the prison-industrial complex will nudge us toward the better path that social science research is bringing to light.)
10-Year-Olds Being Offered Drugs (The Belfast Telegraph says a recent survey by the Health Promotion Agency found that almost a quarter of 10 to 16-year-olds in Northern Ireland had been offered "drugs." Of those who had been offered drugs, more than half had experimented with them at least once and a third had continued using drugs.)
German Health Minister Supports Medical Marihuana (A list subscriber translates excerpts from Stuttgarter Zeitung about Christa Nickels, the German health minister, speaking in Bonn yesterday on "Marihuana as Medicine." Nickels said it was sensible to use marihuana and hashish for therapeutic purposes, noting they are "more cost effective than synthetic substitutes.")
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Monday, March 22, 1999:
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.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
Candidate Pleads Innocent To Drug Charges (The San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune version)
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.)
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.)
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.)
Medical Panel Sees Benefits Of Marijuana (The Times Union, in Albany, New York, summarizes last week's Institute of Medicine report.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
Ruling Bars Mandatory Drug Testing Of Students (The Associated Press version)
Suits vs. City Cops Soar - $28m In Settlements (The New York Daily News notes New York City residents are filing 57 percent more lawsuits since 1988 claiming rights violations by police. And the city is paying a record amount for police misconduct - $28.3 million last fiscal year, nearly three times the $10 million taxpayers were soaked for a decade ago.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
Hope for AIDS man - Judge to re-open medical pot case (The Toronto Sun notes Saturday's news about Judge Harry LaForme's decision to allow AIDS patient Jim Wakeford to resume his lawsuit seeking access to medical marijuana. The Canadian government has refused to enforce a provision in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act the judge thought Wakeford could use to obtain the medicine.)
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.)
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.)
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Sunday, March 21, 1999:
Congress should heed pot report (A staff editorial in the Bulletin, in Bend, Oregon, says Congress should take the recommendations from the Institute of Medicine report seriously for two reasons. First, it is wrong to allow politics to stand between sick people and whatever drugs might alleviate their suffering. Second, lifting the federal classification of marijuana as a therapeutically useless drug will preclude "awful ballot initiatives like Oregon's which makes pot available to just about anybody who feels he needs it for medical reasons.")
Lockyer stance on pot praised (The San Francisco Examiner gauges local reaction to announcement by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer that he won't intervene if local officials allow medical-marijuana dispensaries to operate.)
Let Pot Clubs In City Operate Quietly (The Orange County Register version)
Libertarian Candidate Pleads Innocent To Pot (UPI notes Steve Kubby, the medical marijuana patient/activist and 1998 candidate for California governor, faces a May 18 trial after pleading not guilty Friday to cultivation charges in Placer County.)
Drug Firms Try To Cash In On Pot (A letter to the editor of the San Jose Mercury News responds to the Institute of Medicine report by expressing the concern that "the pharmaceutical companies and others who insist that the only way marijuana can become a viable medicine is for some huge company to make it into something that they can sell back to the public for a profit. Marijuana is, and should remain, a free medicine. Anyone can grow it and use it to help with aches and pains.")
Benefits of Medicinal Pot (A staff editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune says the recommendations in the recent report by the Institute of Medicine add to what is becoming a preponderance of evidence that some patients benefit from marijuana and that government has no more right withholding it than it would to refuse penicillin to someone who could benefit from it.)
POWD Alan Carter McClemore's Executioner (A list subscriber forwards an update on the case of the former Texas lawyer who was disbarred and imprisoned four years ago for growing his own medicine to alleviate his debilitating depression, eating disorder and migraine headaches. Two and a half months ago, the prisoner of the war on drugs was allowed to enter a halfway house in Beaumont, Texas. His doctor worked it out with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons so Alan could be put back on Marinol. The transformation in his health has been dramatic. But now Kenneth Laborde, the local head of probation for the B.O.P in Beaumont, allegedly says he will violate McClemore if he takes Marinol and fails his urine tests. So McClemore will soon be very sick again, and when he is put on five years' probation, the person he will report to is Kenneth Laborde.)
Prison Policy Is Both Costly And Irrational (A staff editorial in the Capital Times denounces Wisconsin's correctional spending policies - but not the war on some drug users at the heart of the problem. At a time when state officials say they do not have the money to keep tuition at the University of Wisconsin affordable, to provide adequate consumer protection or develop mass transportation, the Department of Corrections has requested an additional $120 million over the next two years to cover the skyrocketing costs of transferring prisoners out of state. At the same time, the department is spending $228 million to open four new prisons over the next two years, while closing down entire units at existing prisons.)
Support For Marijuana Use Grows In Medical Circles (The Philadelphia Inquirer presents patients' perspectives on Wednesday's Institute of Medicine report.)
Parents Warned On Drugs (The Sunday Mail, in Adelaide, says Australia's top Scouting organisation has told parents that if they use marijuana, their children should be allowed to smoke it too. The Scout Association's national executive committee also told parents the illegal herb is not addictive and does not cause cancer or birth defects. The new Scouts Australia publication, "Issues in Adolescent Health," which was designed as a "common sense" information guide for parents, says girls and boys have been entering puberty younger and younger over the past 200 years by an average advancing age of three months every decade. Scouts Australia say there is no sign of the phenomenon "flattening," and predicts that in 100 years, girls will be sexually mature at an average age of 8 and boys at 10.)
ACM Bulletin of 21 March 1999 (An English-language news summary from the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, focuses on the U.S. Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana; new research on the treatment of Tourette's Syndrome with marijuana and THC; and the official response of the House of Lords to the rejection of their recommendations regarding medical marijuana by the British government.)
Bytes: 58,300 Last updated: 4/6/99
Saturday, March 20, 1999:
Putting pot in its place (A staff editorial in the Oregonian mischaracterizes the Institute of Medicine assessment of medical marijuana, asserting that the report's endorsement of medical marijuana is quite limited and making too much of its suggestion that the "widespread smoking of pot is not the best route." Oddly, the newspaper vaguely contradicts itself, faulting the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act for being "weak.")
The Humane Approach (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian says the mass media are spinning the Institute of Medicine report. People should read the report for themselves.)
Is This Really America? (A list subscriber forwards a first-person account from Twin Falls, Idaho, illustrating how the war on marijuana users has led to blatant disregard by cops for Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted searches.)
Lockyer Gives Quiet OK To S.F. Pot Clubs (According to the San Francisco Chronicle, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer told San Francisco authorities yesterday that medical marijuana distribution in the city can proceed if it continues discreetly, so federal authorities won't feel the need to intervene. Lockyer tacitly acknowledged medical marijuana is quietly being dispensed in San Francisco despite the ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordering the closure of the Cannabis Cultivators Club.)
Lockyer Suggests Medical Marijuana Be Distributed Quietly (The Associated Press version in the Sacramento Bee)
Life As A Drug War Prisoner (The web site promoting the campaign of Libertarian Steve Kubby for governor of California in 2002 releases a heartbreaking first-person account of the prosecution of Pete Brady, the medical-marijuana patient and journalist who faces up to four years in prison for interviewing Kubby.)
Couple Pleads Not Guilty (The Sacramento Bee says Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in California, and his wife, Michele, entered not-guilty pleas to cultivation charges Friday in Placer County Superior Court. A trial date of May 18 was set.)
Libertarian Candidate Enters Innocent Plea To Drug Charges (The San Francisco Chronicle version)
Libertarian Candidate Enters Innocent Plea (The Associated Press version)
Invitation to a Trial (A list subscriber forwards information about the trial beginning Tuesday, March 23, of Steve McWilliams and Dion Markgraaff from San Diego's Shelter From the Storm Cannabis Collective. McWilliams and Markgraaff were busted a year ago after the medical marijuana dispensary tried to deliver a van full of plants to a quadrapeligic patient whose garden had previously been destroyed by the San Diego county sheriiff's department.)
New Steps Sought Against Drugs, Alcohol (UPI says a poll of Californians by the Field Institute shows 70 percent favored shifting money from prisons to treatment programs for alcoholics and other drug abusers.)
TV Personality Faces Drug Charges (The Des Moines Register says Mark Kennis of Grimes, Ohio, a former independent candidate for govemor who advocated the legalization of marijuana and was busted for cultivating it Friday, is also the host and producer of "Big People News," which focuses on perceived discrimination against large people.)
Marijuana As Medicine (A staff editorial in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the Institute of Medicine report says that if reason and compassion trumped politics, the fears of the drug warriors would be realized. But the U.S. government is so invested in a drug war that has targeted marijuana as an irredeemable enemy that it is unlikely to be moved by the new evidence. A polite thank you and an acknowledgment that more study is necessary is the standard response.)
Class Action Goes To Trial (The best critique yet of the Institute of Medicine report comes in a message forwarded from Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in a class-action federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia against the government's ban on medical marijuana. "It is our contention that the binding agreement between the first legal recipient Robert Randall and the government of the United States created a law and a policy that bound the United States government to supply medical marijuana to all citizens who have a medical need to use cannabis. . . . This report, however, lacks any substantial foundation. The very first question that should have been addressed by the IOM was the establishment of the Compassionate Access Program, which was started in 1978. . . . I was particularly disturbed at the report's suggestion that medical marijuana is not a good medical treatment for glaucoma. Robert Randall received therapeutic cannabis for glaucoma, as a medical necessity. Elvy Musikka, the third legal recipient, had her eyesight saved by therapeutic cannabis supplied by the government. Corrine Millet of Nebraska also is a legal recipient for glaucoma. The government intentionally failed to perform any research or analysis of any of the legal recipients because it never wanted the research to be on the books and subject to disclosure to the public.")
The humane approach (A staff editorial in the Savannah Morning News, in Georgia, about the recent Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana notes the IOM already concluded in 1982 that the active ingredients in marijuana could help seriously ill patients and should be studied at greater length. Perversely, the newspaper contradicts the 1999 report by asserting that marijuana is a stepping stone to harder drugs. But it also agrees scientific studies should go forward, and if the efficacy of medical cannabis stands up to scrutiny, "then the humane response is to make marijuana accessible to those who will benefit.")
Federal Report Supports Case For Legalizing Medical 'Pot' (A staff editorial in Florida Today summarizes last week's Institute of Medicine report, and concludes Florida needs to join the growing list of states that have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana.)
Health Care Science Is Needed (An editorial by the drug warriors on the staff of the Florida Times-Union tries to put a negative spin on the Institute of Medicine report. Like other American media, the Times-Union notes the IOM report "warned that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease and lung cancer," but, like the report, it fails to note no cases of cancer or other lung disease have been linked to smoking the herb after 5,000 years of recorded use. The newspaper alleges "Head shops have sprung up all over California" as a direct result of Proposition 215. "Anyone can walk in with a slip of paper that says they need pot, and get it.")
Actions are louder with words! (A list subscriber posts a few URLs for sites featuring contact information for state and federal representatives, as well as attorneys general, and asks you to write letters to the upholders of prohibition regarding the Institute of Medicine report.)
Republicans In Senate Unveil Their Crime Agenda (An Associated Press article in the Orange County Register says the GOP unveiled a $17.5 billion bill Friday that would impose tougher penalties for drug traffickers.)
Senate Republicans Challenge Reno's Bid To Cut Money For Fighting Crime (A lengthier version in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Medical Marijuana: The Smoke Clears (The Economist, in Britain, says the endorsement of medical marijuana recently issued by the Institute of Medicine was expressed "in the most timid possible terms.")
Feds told to testify in pot use hearing (The Calgary Herald says Harry Laforme, the Ontario judge presiding over the constitutional challenge of AIDS patient Jim Wakeford, on Friday ordered a Health Canada official to testify as to when the government plans to decide whether Wakeford can legally use marijuana. Wakeford initially filed suit in February 1998. Laforme ruled in September that Wakeford should seek immunity from prosecution not through the courts but under section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. However, Wakeford on Friday told the judge that did not work. Wakeford's lawyer, Alan Young, said he wrote six letters to the Department of Health asking for exemptions for Wakeford but received only one reply that stated the department was looking into the "extraordinary request.")
AIDS Victim Back In Court (The Toronto Star version)
Mayday press release text (A news release from the International Cannabis Coalition publicizes worldwide rallies May 1 calling for the end to cannabis prohibition. So far events are confirmed on four continents, in six countries and seventeen cities.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 11 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
Bytes: 94,300 Last updated: 5/13/99
Friday, March 19, 1999:
Time doesn't fit the crime (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian contrasts two recent news articles to illustrate the injustice of the war on some drug users. A Portland bus driver who raped a mentally disabled passenger was previously released from prison after serving nine years for a 1973 murder, while a young woman with a cocaine habit is still serving a life sentence for cocaine possession.)
Restaurant owners fight smoking ban in Corvallis bars (The Associated Press says the Oregon Restaurant Association urged the Oregon Court of Appeals Wednesday to overturn a Corvallis ordinance that bans smoking in drinking places, citing a state law that exempts taverns. The restaurant association says the issue is whether cities are free to make choices of policy that go beyond what the legislature decides, and is appealing a decision by Benton County Circuit Judge Robert Gardner last April that local governments can establish smoking restrictions that are more strict than the state's. This would seem to be a case to watch for marijuana-law reformers in Portland and elsewhere in Oregon who want to sponsor local reform initiatives.)
Lawmaker held in DUI investigation (The Seattle Times says Washington state representative Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, was arrested early Friday on a drunken driving charge.)
Study: Marijuana Not A 'Gateway' Drug (The Arizona Republic summarizes the Institute of Medicine report released Wednesday.)
Marijuana As Medicine (A staff editorial in the Arizona Daily Star says the Institute of Medicine assessment of marijuana as medicine was "measured and responsible," in contrast to the Arizona legislature, which as recently as September passed a resolution declaring marijuana addictive and opposing its medical use.)
McCaffrey Opposes Use Of Marijuana, Even For Medical Reasons (A staff editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times about the Institute of Medicine report says the White House drug czar's continued opposition to marijuana as medicine shows General Barry McCaffrey is apparently in search of a yes man - or at least a group of scientists who sees things his way. Why bother ordering studies if they are to be disregarded? The medical community should be the one to determine what are appropriate medications to grant relief for patients suffering terrible diseases.)
Politics And Marijuana's Promise (A staff editorial in the Chicago Tribune says the Institute of Medicine report released Wednesday will likely be ignored and the federal ban on medical marijuana will probably continue due to politicians' fear of appearing "soft on drugs.")
Hemp Growing (Foster's Daily Democrat says the New Hampshire House on Thursday voted 183-174 to defeat a bill that would have made it legal to grow hemp in New Hampshire. Supporters asked that the bill be returned to committee for reworking since the vote was so close.)
Case Shows Legal Problems With 'Zero Tolerence' (The Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, says the "zero tolerance" drug policy enacted by school officials in Easthampton led to the town paying undisclosed settlements to four students who sued after being expelled for marijuana possession.)
Marijuana Rx: Legalize Pot to Treat Cancer, AIDS (A staff editorial in Newsday, in New York, says the Institute of Medicine's carefully nuanced assessment of medical marijuana ought to end the arguments over the principle of using marijuana to treat the sick.)
Report On Medical Use Of Marijuana Brings New Fight (A New York Times analysis of the Institute of Medicine report released Wednesday says the study ostensibly concerned the herb's medicinal uses, but has opened a debate into marijuana's longstanding role as a linchpin to the national policy of zero tolerance toward illicit drugs.)
For A Very Few Patients, U.S. Provides Free Marijuana (The New York Times describes the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program, sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Eight patients still receive 300 mediocre but efficacious joints every month under the federal program. A trial scheduled for June will challenge the Bush administration's arbitrary and unilateral 1992 decision to close the door to new patients.)
Patients Using Marijuana As Medicine Hail Report Backing Claims (Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service notes the Institute of Medicine issued its long-awaited report last week lending scientific credence to the potential medical benefits of marijuana touted by AIDS patient Kiyoshi Kuromiya of Philadelphia and other activists.)
Debate Heats Up Study: Marijuana Has Medical Uses (The Virginian-Pilot version)
For The Record (The Washington Post interviews an assiduously ignorant U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno about the Institute of Medicine report she still hasn't read.)
Marijuana, Science, and Public Policy (Jon Gettman, the former director of NORML who for the last five years has been petitioning the DEA to get it to admit that the science shows marijuana does not belong in the Controlled Substances Act's list of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 drugs, announces his related library on cannabis, science, medicine and the law has been reposted at the High Times web site after disappearing from NORML's site more than a year ago.)
Heroin Users' Starting-Up Age Plummets Into Teens (The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, says the Australian Illicit Drug Report 1997-98, prepared by the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and released yesterday, reveals a continued fall in the age of first-time heroin users - now on average just 17.5 years old - an alarming increase in multiple drug use among injecting drug users, and a gradual increase in heroin purity. The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, yesterday refined his "zero tolerance" message on drugs. Announcing $20 million in new funding for rehabilitation programs, he said he had compassion for drug users and their families but contempt for traffickers.)
US Lights Up Marijuana Controversy (The New Zealand Herald summarizes Wednesday's U.S. Institute of Medicine report on the efficacy of medical marijuana.)
Philippine congressman identifies 285 drug syndicates (The Kyodo News Service, in Japan, says Congressman Roilo Golez has identified 285 drug syndicates and gangs operating in the country, 61 of which have connections to military and police officials. Golez added the illegal drug trade rakes in $6.6 billion annually and about 1.8 million Filipinos are using illegal drugs. The congressman said he decided to reveal the list to generate public support for the government's antidrug campaign.)
RCMP Drug Raid Was Dopey (A staff editorial in the Ottawa Citizen says the sight of AIDS victim Jean-Charles Pariseau crying as he watched Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers smash marijuana-growing equipment outside a Vanier home this week brought the issue of medical marijuana home with a thud. That is the real face of the debate over medical marijuana, a debate that is slowly beginning to make official waves in Canada.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 83 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - Institute of Medicine report confirms marijuana's medicinal value; Higher Education Act reform bill introduced in Congress; Rep. Rangel seeks end to cocaine sentencing disparities; Canada: Husband of medical marijuana user arrested as government announces clinical trials, possible medical exemption; Minnesota hemp bill progressing; DPF grant deadline coming up; and an editorial: IOM report leaves only one thing left to say)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 90 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Spinning the IOM report: what policy changes can we expect? by Tom O'Connell M.D. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, including - Nightline: getting straight; The wrong way to fight drug war; The drug war has failed; Customs Service reworks controversial airport drug searches; Gramm and Boxer sponsor legislation that would alter the US drug-certification process; and, Suit blames CIA for crack epidemic. Law Enforcement & Prisons articles include - Americans now the most jailed people on earth; Two million prisoners are enough; Stop the prison madness and build schools; and, Incarcerated by illusions? Articles about Medical Marijuana include - Judge denies AIDS patient's request for marijuana; Libertarian Party vows to fight marijuana case; Feds rebuff marijuana researchers; and, The latest buzz on hemp. International News includes - Pot charges on the rise; Cabinet rules out legalising cannabis; Financial notes - the buying power of illegal narcotics; and, The changing face of the drug trade. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net lets you point your browser to read worldwide media coverage of the IOM report; Volunteer of the month - Ashley H. Clements. The Quote of the week cites Rodney S. Quinn.)
Bytes: 136,000 Last updated: 4/10/99
Thursday, March 18, 1999:
Study backs medical pot use (The Oregonian describes the report released yesterday by the Institute of Medicine on the efficacy of medical marijuana.)
National marijuana report doesn't pacify Oregon lawmaker (According to the Associated Press, state representative Kevin Mannix, the chairman of the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee and sponsor of a bill that would eviscerate the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, said that despite the Institute of Medicine report released Wednesday, "The negative aspects of making marijuana available strongly outweigh the positives." Only 60 people have sought to register with the state as patients so far, but Mannix insists Measure 67 is loosely crafted and full of loopholes.)
Confirmed child abuse cases hits record high (The Associated Press says a report released Wednesday by the State Office for Services to Children and Families claims the number of child abuse cases rose 4 percent last year to hit a record high that state officials blame mostly on "drug" use by parents. Unfortunately, AP doesn't explain how the state of Oregon has merely changed the definition of what constitutes child abuse, and is devoting all the resources it can to identifying parents who use cannabis and stealing their children from them, regardless of how well such children are actually cared for. And unfortunately, AP doesn't explain the numbers involved, including the unsustainable cost of the state's ethnic cleansing campaign.)
Senate OKs change in marijuana law (The News Tribune, in Tacoma, says a bill that would let the Washington state Health Department write rules to "flesh out" the state's new medical marijuana law squeaked by the state Senate on Wednesday 33-12. Because the bill would change a voter-approved initiative, it required the approval of two-thirds of the senators. It now heads to the House.)
Scientists Back Use Of Marijuana For Medical Therapy (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer summarizes the Institute of Medicine report released yesterday.)
Pot Farm: Group Serves Ill And Offers Support (The San Jose Mercury News does a feature article on the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM, a non-profit collective of patients at a tiny medical marijuana farm in northern Santa Cruz County. While cooperating with law enforcement authorities, members help the plants thrive, even as they themselves wither and die. Patients contend the companionship, hard work and soft ocean air are as valuable as the marijuana. Valerie Corral, who with her husband, Michael, founded and helps run the group, says "Our model could work throughout the state. It could work throughout the nation.")
Lockyer Working To Carry Out State's Law (The Sacramento Bee joins the ranks of California media who continue to maintain that Attorney General Bill Lockyer is trying to implement Proposition 215, even while letting cases proceed against dozens if not hundreds of patients, and prison terms to continue for dozens of patients such as Marvin Chavez.)
Testimony begins in trial of a man accused of growing marijuana (The Sacramento Bee says testimony was set to begin today in the trial of Robert Michael Galambos, a Calaveras County man charged with growing 382 pot plants for himself and to supply a medical marijuana club in Oakland.)
Kubbys Update (A news release from the web site promoting the campaign of Libertarian Steve Kubby for governor of California in 2002 says the medical marijuana patient/activist and his wife, Michele, were arraigned Friday in Auburn Superior Court on cultivation charges. A trial date will be set April 26.)
Report: Marijuana Has Some Benefits (The Orange County Register summarizes the Institute of Medicine report assessing the efficacy of medical marijuana.)
Marijuana As Medicine Still Debated Topic (A different Orange County Register version)
Federal Study Says Pot Has Medical Value (A staff editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes Wednesday's Institute of Medicine report and says the federal government should put politics aside and sponsor serious scientific research into pot's potential. Meanwhile, California should find a way to distribute medical marijuana to patients whose doctors recommend it, the way Proposition 215 originally intended.)
Federal Panel Urges Tests of Medical Pot (A different San Francisco Chronicle version)
Report finds medical value in marijuana (The version in the Santa Rosa, California, Press Democrat)
Report Says Marijuana May Be Medically Useful (The version in the Santa Maria Times, in Santa Maria, California)
Marijuana Has Treatment Value, Study Finds (The Los Angeles Daily News version)
Study Sees Limited Medicinal-Marijuana Role (The San Jose Mercury News version)
The Medicinal Marijuana Debate: Pot Proponents Gain A Victory (A different San Jose Mercury News account focuses on the IOM report's implications for medical marijuana policies in California.)
Marijuana Has Medicinal Value, Panel Says (The Associated Press version in the San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune)
Let Science Run Marijuana Debate (A staff editorial in the San Mateo County Times, in California, says this week's Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana should send a message to the feds that it's time to start letting science - not politics - steer the debate. The federal government is finding itself defending a less and less defensible position. It's time for policy makers to get smart - and compassionate - and allow clinical studies to move forward.)
Re: Let Science Run Marijuana Debate (A letter sent to the editor of the San Mateo County Times from a local physician says the newspaper's hope that the Institute of Medicine report would allow reason and evidence to control implementation of California's medical marijuana law is naïve. For one thing, General McCaffrey has already flatly stated even though a pure aerosolized cannabinoid is not available, "smoked marijuana" will remain illegal on the grounds that it is unhealthy - never mind that many of the patients who gain unique relief from it are already dying and most have no other effective alternative. "There is absolutely no evidence that the requisite amount of smoking has ever produced one cancer - in other words, the smoking objection is entirely theoretical.")
Remove The Roadblocks To Medicinal Marijuana (San Jose Mercury News columnist Joanne Jacobs discusses the scientific aspects and political ramifications of the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana. Scientific data shows that the active ingredients in marijuana, known as cannabinoids, may relieve pain, control nausea and vomiting and stimulate appetite. And "The psychological effects of cannabinoids may contribute to their potential therapeutic value.")
Clearance For Marijuana? (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register notes the Institute of Medicine already found marijuana to be medicine in 1982. The most significant policy implication of the IOM report released yesterday is that marijuana does not belong in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which by law is reserved for substances with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. The study should give the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, the firepower it needs to rule favorably on Jon Gettman's rescheduling petition - and soon.)
Scientists Urge Study Of Medicinal Marijuana (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in Missouri, summarizes the Institute of Medicine report released yesterday.)
Medicinal Marijuana Bill Dead In 1999 Legislature (The St. Paul Pioneer Press says Minnesota, state senator Pat Piper, DFL-Austin, the chief Senate author of a medical marijuana bill, asked for an indefinite postponement of a committee vote Wednesday night, citing a lack of consensus, effectively ending any hope of passing the legislation this year.)
Panel Touts Marijuana - Without The Smoke (The Wisconsin State Journal version)
Marijuana Is Boosted As Benefit To Patients (The Detroit Free Press version)
Drug Czar's Study Supports Uses For Medical Marijuana (The Chicago Tribune summarizes the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana released yesterday.)
Institute Advocates Medical Use Of Pot (The Akron Beacon-Journal, in Ohio, summarizes the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana released yesterday.)
Research: Pot Helps Ill, Study Finds (The Dayton Daily News version)
Study: Marijuana Can Be Medicinal (The Cincinnati Enquirer version)
Medicinal Marijuana Uses Seen (The Boston Globe version)
Scientific Report Backs Medical Marijuana (The Associated Press version in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts)
Study Backs Marijuana's Medical Use (The Hartford Courant version)
Government Study Labels Marijuana A Useful Medicine (A characteristically misleading New York Times version of yesterday's news about the release of the long-awaited Institute of Medicine report asserts the IOM scientists found marijuana smoke to be "toxic," meaning it kills, something demonstrably false, rather than "risky," the latter term reflecting only on the current state of the science - which the government apparently will continue to suppress.)
Panel Sees Value In Medical Marijuana (A different New York Times version)
The Medical Dope - Independent Panel Says Marijuana Can Help Patients (The version in New York's Newsday)
Federal judge lets lawsuit on medical marijuana go on (The Morning Call, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, says U.S. District Senior Judge Marvin Katz ruled on March 10 in Philadelphia that a class-action lawsuit challenging the federal government's refusal to legalize marijuana for medicine can move ahead. Katz concluded that the plaintiffs have a right to delve more deeply into the fairness of a federal program that gives marijuana to some ill people but not others. However, Katz dismissed other legal claims in the lawsuit, including those challenging the constitutionality of the federal Controlled Substances Act. The judge put the case in his June 21 trial pool, meaning it could go to trial then. Lawrence Hirsch of Philadelphia, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, predicted the trial would last all summer.)
Medical Study A Score For Marijuana (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version of yesterday's report from the Institute of Medicine)
Medical Marijuana Is Endorsed By Researchers In A Federal Report (The Philadelphia Inquirer version)
A Summary Of Findings On The Effects Of Medical Marijuana (A Philadelphia Inquirer sidebar summarizes key points in the Institute of Medicine report issued yesterday.)
National Institute Urges Medical Marijuana Use (The Knight Ridder Newspapers version in the Centre Daily Times, in Pennsylvania)
Study: Pot 'Moderately' Useful As Medicine (The Washington Post version in the Tampa Tribune says Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar who requested the report, said he endorsed it "thoroughly." McCaffrey said he wouldn't oppose limited studies of smoked marijuana until a less harmful way of inhaling the substance's active ingredients is found.)
U.S. Panel Sees Potential For Medical Marijuana (The original Washington Post version)
Report Concedes Pot Has Medical Benefits (The Washington Times version)
Medical Role For Pot Is Seen (The Richmond Times-Dispatch version quotes Dr. Billy Martin of Virginia Commonwealth University, a government researcher who served as an adviser for the report, saying the additional clinical trials it recommends "are not a politically positive thing to do.")
Medicinal Marijuana Gets Support (The News & Observer version, in North Carolina.)
U.S. Experts Advocate Marijuana For Patients (The Miami Herald version)
Medical Pot Gets Support (The Orlando Sentinel version notes U.S. Representative Bill McCollum, the Republican control freak from Longwood, Florida, who led the fight to get the House to condemn medical marijuana last fall, said he is "deeply concerned" the Institute of Medicine report might encourage people to smoke marijuana, failing to note that the IOM explicitly said there was no evidence that medical use of the drug would increase nonmedical use. The newspaper apparently didn't think to ask if McCollum had actually read the report. McCollum said he would rather let AIDS and cancer patients suffer and die than allow them to use herbal cannabis "because there is no way to control that.")
Legalize It, Group Says, For The Sick It Should Be Option, Local Patients Say (The Northwest Florida Daily News interviews local patients and advocates about the medical efficacy of marijuana.)
Reno: Go Slow On Marijuana (A UPI account of the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana notes U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno admitted today that she hadn't read it yet, and said only that "testing can give information that gives a medically sound approach.")
Politics & Policy (The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, in Washington, D.C., summarizes the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana.)
Medical Marijuana Supporters Elated (The Associated Press says the Institute of Medicine report hands advocates for medical marijuana patients an important weapon - science - in their battle with the federal government to legalize the herb for medical use. Apparently reason won't be enough, however. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., who led the fight to get the U.S. House of Representatives to condemn medical marijuana last fall, condemned the IOM study, saying he is "deeply concerned" the report by itself might encourage people to smoke marijuana.)
Drug Czar: More Money Needed (The Orange County Register says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, wants Congress to pass legislation that would require insurance companies to include drug and alcohol treatment in health plans.)
Excite Poll on Medical Marijuana (A list subscriber forwards details about yet another online poll showing support for medical marijuana, 82 percent to 8 percent, with 10 percent unsure.)
Drug Policy Foundation Network News (The original monthly online summary of drug policy news from DPF, in Washington, D.C., examines - Barney Frank's drug policy reform bills; Anti-Know Your Customer bills; Rangel addresses crack cocaine sentencing disparity; Hatch seeks expansion of maintenance therapies; McCain attacks methadone; White House releases strategy; Mexico certified as fully cooperating in drug war; Gov. Ventura slams drug war; Other legislation to watch.)
U.S. report backs easing of restrictions on pot (A Reuters article in the Toronto Star summarizes the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana.)
Medical Marijuana Gets Nod (The version in Canada's National Post)
Canna Pharm shut down in Ottawa (A list subscriber forwards a photo from Le Droit, a French language newspaper.)
Feds Screwed Up On Pot (NOW magazine, in Canada, says federal health minister Allan Rock has made no move to improve the lot of medical marijuana patients. His announcement last week that the government intended to establish guidelines for clinical trials is considered by many a cynical manoeuvre to lend the appearance of sophistication and compassion to a stalling operation. Marie Andree Bertrand, a member of the government's famous Le Dain commission that recommended the decriminalization of pot in the early 1970s, says Rock's insistance on more studies before allowing medical use is to "laugh in the face of the Canadian public." The research, she says, was done and paid for 25 years ago. Among other evidence, the Le Dain commission cited a series of classified U.S. army studies from the 1950s showing a number of potentially valuable therapeutic effects from the use of synthetic cannabinoids for everything from fever and epilepsy to high blood pressure. Says the commission's Bertrand, "We spoke of all the symptoms that would be alleviated by cannabis," contradicting what she calls "lies" emanating from public health authorities.)
Mexico Furious Over Report Linking Official To Drug Cash (An Associated Press article in the Chicago Tribune says the Mexican Embassy has formally asked the Clinton administration to respond to charges by a former U.S. Customs official, William Gately, published in the New York Times Tuesday, that his undercover investigation into Mexican drug trafficking was shut down after the name of Mexico's defense minister, Gen. Enrique Cervantes, surfaced in it.)
Experts Tell the White House That Marijuana Makes Medicinal Sense (The Guardian, in Britain, briefly summarizes the U.S. Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana.)
US Urged By Panel To Give Medical Trial To Marijuana (The version in Ireland's Examiner)
US Medical Report Backs Marijuana Use (The Scotsman version)
Official US Report Backs Medical Use Of Marijuana (The Reuters version in Pakistan's Dawn)
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Wednesday, March 17, 1999:
60 Oregonians declare intent to use marijuana (The Oregonian says the Oregon Health Division won't issue registration cards for patients protected by the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act until May 1. But Dr. Grant Higginson, state health officer, says 60 people have sent in the paperwork needed to get the cards.)
Dope Meddlers (Willamette Week, in Portland, describes the attempt by state representative Kevin Mannix to nullify the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, incorrectly asserting that "even proponents" of Measure 67 "conceded that it needed some fine-tuning.")
City must explain 'trap and trace' or concede it's illegal, judge says (The Oregonian says Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael Marcus yesterday gave Portland until March 29 to either disclose how its Marijuana Task Force used a "trap and trace" telephone tap at the American Agriculture hydroponics store to identify 20 defendants now charged with growing the herb - or to concede that the practice was illegal. If the city refuses to reveal the phone-tapping information and will not concede the practice is illegal, it also could dismiss the cases or seek an immediate appeal of Marcus' ruling that would take the proceedings to the Court of Appeals before the cases proceed.)
Judge orders city to explain pot-tracking method or admit it's illegal (The Associated Press version)
NewsBuzz: Passing the Sniff Test (The Willamette Week version)
Police volunteer goes to prison for illegal immigration (The Oregonian says Louie Lira Jr., a former employee of the Portland Youth Gang Outreach program and a volunteer with the Portland Police Bureau, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Tuesday for entering the country as an illegal immigrant twice in the past 15 years. The newspaper fails to mention Lira was deported the first time partly because of a drug offense. The Mexican national still faces a trial over an accusation that he used his police-issued scanner to assist a Nov. 4 bank robbery in Southeast Portland.)
Marijuana Facts (Another letter to the editor of the Hood River News, in Hood River, Oregon, debunks recent assertions about marijuana by Maija Yasui of the state Commission on Children and Families, and recounts a few more government lies that led to or have perpetuated pot prohibition.)
Scientific Report Says Marijuana May Be Medically Useful (An Associated Press article in the Argus Observer, in Oregon, summarizes the report on medical marijuana released today by the Institute of Medicine.)
New Government Study Vindicates People's Vote on Medical Marijuana (A press release on PR Newswire from Washington Citizens for Medical Rights summarizes the Institute of Medicine report released today. Dr. Rob Killian, sponsor of Washington state's successful 1998 state ballot proposal on medical marijuana, says "The Federal Government can no longer make the claim that marijuana has no medical value. The only issue that remains is for our political leaders to find a way to provide this safe and effective medicine to our patients who need it.")
Campus Crime Stoppers conjures visions of Big Brother (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian from a Grant High School junior criticizes the Campus Crime Stoppers program that pays up to $1,000 to student informers in Portland whose tips lead to the arrests, but not necessarily the convictions of other students for such crimes as smoking marijuana off campus after school. "The use of monetary incentives makes a commodity of citizenship and corrupts our sense of community responsibility. Instead of teaching students how to think about right and wrong, these programs teach that everything is for sale.")
Socal Group Expects Good News From Drug Report (According to UPI, Americans for Medical Rights, in Southern California, says it's expecting good news from the report to be issued this morning by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C.)
Institute of Medicine Confirms Medical Value of Marijuana, Sidesteps Critical Drug Policy Concerns (California NORML says the $1.1 million review of the scientific literature on medical marijuana commissioned by the White House drug czar in 1997 confirms the herb offers potential therapeutic benefits for a broad range of symptoms, including pain relief, nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. While dismissing the notion that marijuana is a gateway to drug abuse, or that its medical use sends a dangerous message to children, it refrains from judgments about current marijuana laws. The full report is online at http://www2.nas.edu/medical-mj/index.html.)
Data Supports Medical Pot Argument (The Oakland Tribune summarizes the Institute of Medicine report released today.)
Medical pot gets cautious kudos (The San Francisco Examiner version)
Lockyer on medical marijuana (A list subscriber forwards a press release about the IOM report from California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.)
Institute of Medicine Report on Medicinal Cannabis to Be Released March 17, 1999 (The Colorado Hemp Initiative Project forwards a summary of the IOM report by Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, who asks you to call today requesting the resignation of the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, based on his statement in 1996 to the effect that "marijuana has no shred of medical evidence to show it has therapeutic qualities." Plus, a request from the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., asking you to call your U.S. seantor and representative, seeking support for H.R. 912, the medical-marijuana bill recently introduced by Rep. Barney Frank.)
Backers Call Medical Marijuana Report a Victory (The Arizona Daily Star interviews several locals who offer "pro" and "con" views about today's release of the Institute of Medicine report, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base.")
Backers Praise Report On Pot Medical Uses Cited By Federal Study (The Arizona Republic summarizes the Institute of Medicine study on medical marijuana.)
School Drug Testing Proposal Moves Through Senate (The Tulsa World says Oklahoma House Bill 1289, sponsored by state Rep. Dale Smith, D-St. Louis, and state Sen. Brad Henry, D-Shawnee, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. For the first time, the bill would give schools legal authority to drug test tens of thousands of students who engage in extracurricular activities, including sports, band, debate, choir or any other school-connected activity. The House has already approved the bill. Apparently everyone knows whether the governor will sign it.)
Medical marijuana bill hits snag (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says a state senate committee held a hearing Tuesday on a medical-marijuana bill introduced by Sen. Pat Piper, DFL-Austin, which would allow adults with a physician's recommendation to possess 1 ounce of marijuana. The committee meets again tonight to try to reconcile differences.)
Panel delays decision on medical marijuana (The St. Paul Pioneer Press version says the Minnesota Senate Health and Family Security Committee postponed a vote on the medical marijuana bill in order to allow the bill's sponsor and top officials in Gov. Jesse Ventura's administration to try to negotiate compromise amendments addressing the concerns that Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said Governor Ventura has with the bill. The committee is tentatively scheduled to resume debate on the bill 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Capitol.)
Medical marijuana use still mired in politics (Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Doug Grow describes the hearing Tuesday for a medical-marijuana bill before a Minnesota senate committee. The witnesses poured out their pain. They explained that marijuana had comforted them when other drugs had failed. They were passionate and powerful. But the unhearing drug warriors mouthed the same old canards. The people who testified about their horrific pains only could shake their heads at the old, cold words they were hearing. It's 1999 in most of the world, but in government, we're still in dense, dark times whenever the subject is medicinal use of marijuana. Even Gov. Jesse Ventura's cabinet was sending mixed messages.)
Record For The Man Imprisoned Longest (Boston Globe columnist David Nyhan discusses America's prison-industrial complex and the recent statistics on America's prison population. The Guinness Book of World Records notes Paul Guidel is the man imprisoned longest in the United States. He was 17 when he committed second-degree murder. He lived in a New York prison for 68 years, eight months, and two days before being released at age 85. But he's got a lot of company these days, and there's no hope of reform in the near term. Longer sentences and harsher penalties sound great on the evening news to fearful voters, eager-to-please pols, and those making money off the billions we spend for new $100,000-a-pop prison cells, where it costs 30 grand a year to keep some wretch locked up. Academic studies have shown a direct correlation between voters' fear of crime and media hype, tabloid outrages exploited by news reports, with television the leading offender. "If it bleeds it leads" is cynical TV shorthand for the allure of bloody tales to jack the ratings up. Our print brethren gasp trying to catch up in the titillation department. The ultimate result is harsher treatment of criminals.)
Official U.S. Report Backs Medical Use Of Marijuana (Reuters says the Institute of Medicine report released today looks likely to prompt a thorough review of U.S. efforts to ban almost all marijuana use as dangerous drug abuse. Cannabinoids work on both the brain and the body. They can help to modulate pain and alleviate other symptoms of serious illness such as anxiety, lack of appetite, and nausea. Regarding the smoking of herbal cannabis, the IOM report says, "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions." To help these patients, the report suggests doctors be allowed to carry out single-subject clinical studies. Bill Zimmerman, director of Americans for Medical Rights, said "They are in effect saying that most of what the government has told us about marijuana is false . . . it's not addictive, it's not a gateway to heroin and cocaine, it has legitimate medical use, and it's not as dangerous as common drugs like Prozac and Viagra.")
Study: Marijuana Helps Fight Pain (The Associated Press version)
Federal Panel Recommends Scientific Trials Of Medical (A slightly different Associated Press version in the Seattle Times)
Report: Marijuana May Have Medical Uses (The UPI version has a hard time getting past drug-warrior preconceptions.)
Marijuana Report Draws Mixed Reactions (A quite different UPI version quotes Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School, who wrote 20 pages of criticism as a peer reviewer for the IOM report, saying "they certainly have shied away from an honest assessment of its use as a medicine." Grinspoon criticized the report for, among other things, emphasizing the hazards of smoking. He said machines have been developed overseas that allow for the vapors of marijuana to be delivered to patients without smoking the plant. Dr. Kathleen Boyle, a psychologist at the UCLA Drug Abuse Research program, said she was "pleasantly surprised" by the report . . . . "but I think they too narrowly focused on AIDS and cancer-type diseases.")
Federal Report Reignites Medical Marijuana Debate - Panel Finds Therapeutic Benefits (The CNN version)
Marijuana's Components Have Potential as Medicine; Clinical Trials, Drug Development Should Proceed (The official National Academy of Sciences press release about the Institute of Medicine report being released today.)
IOM Medical Marijuana Report is Important First Step in the Right Direction (A press release from the Drug Policy Foundation comments on the Institute of Medicine's review of the scientific literature on marijuana as medicine.)
U.S. Government Study: Benefits of Medical Marijuana Outweigh Risks, Long-Awaited Science Review Concludes (A similar press release from the Lindesmith Center)
Institute of Medicine Releases Report on Medicinal Marijuana (A company press release from Roxane Laboratories, Inc., the manufacturer of Marinol, ungrammatically asserts that the ONDCP and IOM agree that "chemically-defined drugs" such as Marinol is the future of cannabinoid drugs.)
Reefer Madness or Reefer Medicine? (Cable News Network broadcasts a panel discussion about the medical marijuana report released today by the Institute of Medicine. Mary Tillotson moderates commentary from General Barry McCaffrey, former cancer patient Richard Brookhiser of the National Review, Betty Sembler of Drug Free America; and Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, a cancer specialist at the University of Southern California.)
Institute of Medicine Issues Report Strongly Supporting Medical Use of Marijuana (Cable News Network medical correspondent Eileen O'Connor comments on the impact of the Institute of Medicine report, noting patient advocates are angered, saying "the calls for more research are basically just calls for more stalling. And they are pointing to the research that the IOM has done, saying that it itself admits that for some patients there is no alternative.")
Statement by General Twaddle (A list subscriber forwards the official statement made by General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, about the report he commissioned on medical marijuana, to be released today by the Institute of Medicine.)
Medical Marijuana Smoking To Remain Illegal (Reuters notes the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, said Wednesday in response to the IOM report that marijuana would remain on the government's list of illegal drugs despite a report saying smoking it could be beneficial to certain patients.)
Senators Pledge 1,000 More Agents For Border Patrol (The Orange County Register says several Senate Republicans pledged Tuesday to overrule the Clinton administration and add 1,000 new Border Patrol agents next year.)
Alcohol and driving (The ADCA News of the Day, from the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, says a survey released yesterday by Curtin University's National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse suggested cannabis use by drivers is a relatively minor safety hazard compared to alcohol use.)
Health - Support for medicinal use of cannabis (The BBC summarizes the report on medical marijuana released today by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.)
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Tuesday, March 16, 1999:
Hemp for Health & Wealth (A press release - rendered into an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file here - from Sister Somayah Kambui, the medical-marijuana activist and sickle-cell anemia patient, publicizes the May 1 Million Marijuana March at Magic Johnson Park in Los Angeles.)
CIA Sued For Not Reporting Drug Trade (The San Francisco Chronicle says two Oakland women filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oakland against the Central Intelligence Agency Monday, alleging that the agency's decision not to report drug smuggling to other authorities in the 1980s caused the crack epidemic to spread in inner-city communities. A similar suit was filed in Los Angeles.)
Suit Blames CIA For Crack Epidemic (The version in the Oakland Tribune says the lawsuits are based on testimony from CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz when he appeared before the House Intelligence Committee a year ago today.)
Drug Crimes Allegation Leads To CIA, Justice Suit (The San Francisco Examiner version)
Suits Allege U.S. Failed To Stanch 'Crack' Epidemic (The San Jose Mercury News version)
Communities Sue U.S. Agencies Over Lack Of Drug Interdiction (The Orange County Register version)
CIA, Justice Department Sued Over Cocaine Damage (The Seattle Times version combines accounts from Knight Ridder Newspapers and the Associated Press.)
Officials working out details on medical marijuana bill (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says a medical marijuana bill proposed by Minnesota state senator Pat Piper faced an uncertain future Tuesday after a senate panel hearing.)
Stealing By The State (According to a staff editorial in the Cincinnati Post, prosecutors in Hamilton County, Ohio, spent hours last January convincing a jury that Michael Nieman was an innocent victim, a jeweler murdered in his bed by a stripper girlfriend who just wanted his money. But as soon as the trial was over, federal prosecutors turned around and launched legal proceedings to seize Nieman's house, vehicles, cash, jewelry and other assets, arguing that he had really been a drug dealer, even though he had no record of drug crimes. The Hamilton County sheriff helped seize Nieman's estate. An attorney for Nieman's daughter called it legalized stealing. The attorney is right. Congress and states such as Ohio should sharply curb their pre-conviction asset forfeiture laws.)
Prison Population: 18 Million, Growing (A staff edtitorial in the Daily Herald, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, suggests the latest U.S. prison population figures are a good thing because they have reduced crime. The editors express fleeting concern about mandatory minimum sentences and the fact that the prison population includes a "disproportionately large number of black men," which has "serious implications" for urban black communities. Failure to find ways to improve the situation "could carry devastating economic and cultural consequences," as if they weren't happening already.)
The 'War On Drugs' Cannot Be Won (A letter to the editor of the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, says the drug war is not, as advertised, a war "against drugs." Like all wars, it is a war against people. It may be "excused" by shouting the talismanic word "drugs," but drugs are just inanimate objects. The war is against the people of America and, now, all the peoples of the world.)
They Are Humans, Not 'Cockroaches' (Another letter to the editor of the Standard-Times responds to a New Bedford resident who likened neighborhood drug dealers to "cockroaches," explaining why "we could get a lot further on this problem if we could remind ourselves that drug dealers, hard-core addicts and others whom we don't approve of are human beings and fellow citizens in need of help and education, and not cockroaches to be exterminated.")
Incarceration Rates A Victory For Prisons (An op-ed in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, by Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project, in Washington, D.C., says the United States' latest prison-population figure, 1.8 million, is six times the number of people incarcerated just 25 years ago. Since the 1980s, every state has adopted some form of mandatory sentencing, most often for drug offenses. Half the states have also enacted a "three strikes and you're out" law, requiring a sentence of up to life without parole for a third felony. To divert money to education and other needed services, Mauer recommends several reforms lawmakers should embrace: Divert drug offenders to treatment. Reconsider mandatory sentencing. And divert low-level property offenders to community-based supervision.)
When A Bad Policy Fails (Syndicated columnist Sean Gonsalves of the Cape Cod Times, in Massachusetts, discusses the report released two weeks ago by the Network of Reform Groups, "The Effective National Drug Control Strategy," which concluded that the so-called war on drugs had failed to protect America's children from drug abuse and had failed to reduce the availability of cocaine and heroin. The report was released on the same day the drug czar testified before a House subcommittee on his fiscal year 2000 budget request.)
Property Seizures Trample the Constitution (A staff editorial in the Greensboro News & Record, in North Carolina, says in America, no one can take your property except through a legal process involving a finding of guilt. So says the Constitution of the United States in Articles IV, V and XIV. But don't kid yourself. Administrative actions based on nothing more than allegations of criminality, and not court trials, are taking property from people who many times are set free and not even prosecuted. The spreading of the practice and the piling up of evidence of abuses and injustices has coalesced civil rights advocates and politicians such as Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who are pushing for reforms of the forfeiture laws, mainly by mandating that government has to show "clear and convincing evidence" for taking the property.)
Drug Testing Positivity Rates Down 65% in Past Decade (A press release from SmithKline Beecham, the largest processor of urine tests in the United States, features biannual statistics on the percentages of workers who tested positive for supposedly controlled substances in the last six months. As usual, nobody tested positive for alcohol, and not a single false positive is noted. Needless to say, no mention is made of the recent study suggesting companies that resort to drug testing suffer almost 20 percent lower productivity.)
Marijuana Report Expected Next Week (A UPI brief inaccurately says the Institute of Medicine report reviewing the research on marijuana as medicine will be released "next Wednesday," though in fact the release date is tomorrow.)
NORML Special News Bulletin - Politics, Science Clash In IOM Medical Marijuana Report (NORML says the Institute of Medicine's review of the scientific literature on medical marijuana is a political rather than a scientific document, finding that cannabinoids hold value as medicine to treat a number of serious ailments, but should not be used by most patients until a non-smoked, rapid onset delivery system becomes available. Allen St. Pierre of NORML said, "It is nothing less than an act of political cowardliness for the IOM to admit that inhaled marijuana benefits some patients, while at the same time recommending to those patients that their only alternative is to suffer." The IOM report did dismiss allegations that marijuana is causally linked to the subsequent use of other illicit drugs, that the drug has a high potential for addiction, or that it holds short term immunosuppressive effects. The researchers also concluded that "the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications.")
Marijuana Rescheduling Facts (An email from Jon Gettman, the former director of NORML who for years has been successfully fighting a lawsuit against the federal government to reschedule marijuana, comments on the Institute of Medicine report to be released tomorrow. "If the IOM report concludes that marijuana has an abuse potential less than cocaine and heroin, then the IOM report will have verified the scientific argument made by my rescheduling petition.")
IOM and the Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. Agree: Smoking Marijuana is Not Medicine (A press release on Business Wire from the Drug Free America Foundation, in St. Petersburg, Florida, mischaracterizes the Institute of Medicine report on medical marijuana to be released tomorrow.)
U.S. Said To End Mexico Drug Probe (According to the Associated Press, the New York Times reported today that an undercover U.S. probe into Mexican drug trafficking was shut down by the Clinton Administration even as U.S. Customs agents were looking at Mexico's defense minister, Gen. Enrique Cervantes, as a suspect.)
Top Mexican Off-Limits To U.S. Drug Agents (The original New York Times version)
U.S. Reportedly Closed Cash-Laundering Probe That Implicated Official (The Chicago Tribune version)
U.S. May End Mexico Drug Probe (The Associated Press says the Mexican embassy formally asked the Clinton administration Tuesday to respond to charges from a former U.S. customs official that his undercover probe into Mexican drug trafficking was shut down after the name of Mexico's defense minister surfaced in it.)
Americans Now The Most Jailed People On Earth (The Irish Independent recounts yesterday's news about the latest statistics from the U.S. Justice Department.)
US Has 1.8 Million In Prison (The version in Britain's Independent notes America's prison population is so large that it distorts US unemployment figures and skews the voting register. Texas and Louisiana both have more than 700 per 100,000 of their populations in jail, well over the Russian figure of 685 per 100,000.)
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Monday, March 15, 1999:
Report says state failing to meet its own goals in many areas (The Associated Press says the Oregon Progress Report, which gauges 92 indicators of the state's economic, social and environmental health, suggests Oregon is flunking its own Year 2000 goals for fighting child abuse, job distribution and halting high-school dropouts. Kay Toran, director of Services to Children and Families, blames an increase in child abuse on an increase in "substance abuse," without clarifying whether she was talking primarily about legal alcoholics, tobacco consumers, people who need coffee in the morning, or just casual pot smokers. "When you have parents that are addicted, they aren't able to provide the care and nurturing children need," she said, without clarifying the role of prohibition in making certain addictions more damaging than others.)
Oregon at its best earns C-plus grades in progress (The Oregonian version)
Medicinal marijuana nears mainstream (USA Today focuses on the experiences of JoAnna McKee of the Green Cross in Washington state in an update on the political battle for medical marijuana. The medicinal use of the herb is now legal all along the West Coast, and more state ballot victories seem likely. On Wednesday the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is expected to release a long-awaited study commissioned by White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey on the effectiveness of marijuana as a medicine.)
Communities Sue Over Crack Epidemic (The Associated Press says two federal civil rights lawsuits were filed in Oakland and Los Angeles today against the CIA and U.S. Justice Department. The lawsuits, which claim the federal government did nothing to stop neighborhood crack-cocaine sales in the 1980s, were partly prompted by last year's disclosure of a 1982 agreement between CIA Director William Casey and former Attorney General William French Smith that the spy agency had no duty to report drug crimes to the Justice Department. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of "mostly black residents whose babies were born addicted to crack, whose relatives died in drug-related drive-by shootings and whose communities were affected by crowded emergency rooms and gutted business districts.")
Senate Considers Marijuana Proposal (The Duluth News-Tribune says Minnesota citizens and legislators who favor a medical-marijuana bill proposed by Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, are counting on the growing support among cancer patients and the popularity of Gov. Jesse Ventura to push their bill through the legislature. The measure will receive its first hearing Tuesday morning in a senate committee. A move to tighten the bill's language appears likely.)
He Dares Question Idiocy Of Drug War On College Campus (Columbus Dispatch columnist Steve Stephens reflects on an encounter with Heath Wintz, 21, a clean-cut, well-spoken sophomore studying environmental engineering at Columbus State Community College, in Ohio. Wintz was gathering signatures last week, seeking to reform the U.S. Higher Education Act of 1998, which allows murderers and rapists to obtain federal student aid, but not pot smokers. That idiocy, however, is not what turned Wintz against the drug war. DARE did that, back when he was in middle school. In an earlier attempt to petition, campus officials and security guards forced him to scram. Some students refuse to sign Wintz's petition because they fear government reprisal. One can't fault them. In times of war, there's no such thing as paranoia. Stephens' stand on casual drug use resembles Hillary Rodham Clinton's on casual adultery: He doesn't endorse it, but he tolerates it for the sake of the Constitution.)
Federal Judge OKs Pot Case (UPI briefly notes U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz in Philadelphia has refused to dismiss a class-action lawsuit seeking access to medical marijuana.)
Ballplayer Killed In Police Chase (UPI notes police in Tallahassee, Florida, nabbed one man and 28 bags of cocaine early Friday after a high-speed chase ended at an Interstate 10 interchange. The suspect's car crashed into a van carrying a baseball team from Bluefield State College in West Virginia, killing Shannon Stewart, a freshman.)
Study Links Prenatal Smoking To Offspring's Criminal Actions (The Philadelphia Inquirer publishes the Reuters version of yesterday's news about the study published in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a subsidiary of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at the arrest histories of 4,169 men born between 1958 and 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and found that those born to women who smoked during pregnancy ran a higher risk of criminal behavior. The researchers speculated the correlation was caused by central nervous system damage from cigarettes.)
Doubling Of Prison Population Has U.S. On Track To Be Leading Jailer (According to an Associated Press article in the Chicago Tribune, a Bureau of Justice Statistics report released by the U.S. Justice Department Sunday indicates the number of American adults imprisoned in county, state and federal jails and prisons in mid-1998 was a record 1.8 million, an increase of 4.4 percent from mid-1997. The number of prisoners has more than doubled in the last 12 years. There were 668 inmates for every 100,000 residents in the U.S., compared to 685 out of every 100,000 in Russia. However, a planned amnesty of 100,000 prisoners in Russia and the expectation of continued increases in the U.S. inmate population means the United States will likely become the world's leading jailer in a year or two. Even worse, the wire service neglects to mention the total correctional population is actually more than 7.3 million, much greater than in Russia, which can't afford to supervise 5.5 million people on probation, parole, under house arrest, doing community service and so on, as reported in the latest BOJ figures released at the end of 1996.)
Prison Population Still Rising, but More Slowly (The Washington Post version notes the federal prison system is growing faster than state prisons and local jails, with drug offenders making up 60 percent of the federal inmate population. Only 23 percent of state prisoners have been convicted of drug-related crimes - but the figures for local jails are omitted. Similarly, the newspaper notes parole violators now account for about 35 percent of inmate admissions, but doesn't say how many of such inmates were violated for failing junk-science urine tests or committing other "non-drug" offenses that were really drug offenses.)
Inmate Population Reaches Record 1.8 Million (The New York Times version)
Prison Population 1.8 Million, Rising (The Oakland Tribune version)
The Drug War Has Failed (A New York Times staff editorial in the International Herald-Tribune agrees with the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, when he says "We have a failed social policy and it has to be re-evaluated." Unfortunately, the newspaper's opinion that that "The drug war was created in reaction to a wave of urban violence triggered by crack cocaine" is so patently ignorant that nobody but a moron would ever look to the New York Times for insight again.)
War On Drugs Has Woman In Hiding (The Coast Independent, on the Sunshine Coast, in British Columbia, recounts the case of Renee Boje, 29, an American on the Sunshine Coast who is facing deportation to California, where she's wanted by the federal government on charges related to Peter McWilliams' indictment for conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. Boje says she was hired only to do free-lance artwork for a magazine Todd McCormick was publishing. The B.C. Compassion Club Society is providing two lawyers to help Boje, who faces an April 19 extradition hearing.)
War On Marijuana Waste Of Time, Money - Critics (The Halifax Daily News, in Nova Scotia, describes the enormous amount of resources spent by Canadian police to detect, prosecute and punish marijuana growers such as Leland Dosch of rural Saskatchewan. Police taped 2,000 hours of his family's phone calls, studied his daily routine and even broke into his home to plant listening devices. Then, in a carefully planned raid of his farmhouse, they found only 30 immature plants and a kilogram of herb. The Dosch case and others like it - as well as the latest statistics showing marijuana accounting for 72 per cent of all drug offences in Canada - have some experts questioning the wisdom of devoting so much time and money to battle a drug that many people regard as harmless and millions of Canadians use. "There's nothing more costly than a drug case for Canadian criminal justice," said Alan Young, a professor at Osgoode Hall law school in Toronto.)
Financial Notes - The Buying Power Of Illegal Narcotics (An op-ed in the Independent, in Britain, by David Yallop, the author of "Unholy Alliance," says the international market for supposedly controlled substances amounts to $500 billion a year. "Imagine a multi-national company so big that its annual turnover is equal to China's gross national product. A company whose gross turnover for just one financial year is sufficient to buy at current market value the world's three largest public companies, General Electric, Royal Dutch Shell and Microsoft. A company where just 10 days turnover is in excess of the combined assets of the world's top 50 banks.")
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 10 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Sunday, March 14, 1999:
Democracy overruled (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian urges Oregon residents to contact their state representatives and ask them to oppose Rep. Kevin Mannix's attempt to nullify the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act by voting against HB 3502.)
Compassionate Use Benefit - Call 530-272-5333 (A list subscriber publicizes a public gathering featuring speakers with information about medical marijuana, plus music and festivities, April 10 in Grass Valley, California. The NORML Foundation is sponsoring the event.)
Due Process Key in Eviction Law (A staff editorial in the Los Angeles Times pans the experimental new California law that mandates fines for landlords in Buena Park who refuse to evict someone the police allege is a drug-law offender, even if that person has not been convicted of anything. A landlord who runs afoul of the law four times in a year can be jailed.)
Incarcerated By Illusions? (An op-ed in the Oakland Tribune by Sean Gonsalves, a former Oakland resident who writes for the Cape Cod Times, recalls William James' observation that some people who think they are thinking are really only re-arranging their prejudices. Such "thinking" colors the popular "debate" on race and the American criminal justice system. Whenever Gonsalves writes a column about the numerous studies indicating racism is part and parcel of the criminal "justice" system, some self-proclaimed "conservative" writes to point out the "obvious" reason there are a disproportionate number of blacks behind bars: blacks commit more crime than white people do! It's that kind of thinking that probably led J.S. Mill to say: "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that all stupid people are conservative.")
Prosecutors Turn Their Sights on California's Mexican Mafia (The New York Times says cops in California are turning their sights once again on la Eme, known as the Mexican Mafia, one of California's oldest and most powerful prison gangs, charging its members under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act with waging a brutal campaign for control of Southern California's gangs and drug trade. Those often in harm's way from la Eme are the group's own members. Federal prosecutors hoped to break the gang's power by sprinkling members throughout the larger federal prison system. That somewhat weakened la Eme. But as a result, a truce that was once enforced by the Mexican Mafia is in tatters, and 24 people have been killed on the streets of East Los Angeles in the resulting gang war over the last six months.)
U.S. Medical-Marijuana Movement Awaits Key Report (Reuters says the $1.1 million report on medical marijuana from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, commissioned by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, will be released Wednesday. The U.S. battle over medical marijuana has been waged on the streets, in the courts and at the ballot box. This week the fight focuses on science. The report is supposed to assess claims that marijuana can alleviate suffering associated with everything from AIDS and cancer to glaucoma and chronic pain. While few believe the report will offer specific policy recommendations, marijuana-law-reform activists say that even a suggestion that further research should be conducted would be powerful new ammunition.)
Study shows link between smoking during pregnancy, adult crime (The Associated Press says a study published in this month's Archives of General Psychiatry is the first to examine the relationship between mothers who smoke tobacco and their children's adult behavior. The researchers - from Emory University in Atlanta, the University of Southern California and the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Denmark - found that more than a quarter of the men whose mothers had the highest levels of smoking and delivery complications were arrested for a violent crime as an adult. However, David Fergusson, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand, wrote an accompanying editorial saying there is not enough research to add prenatal smoking to the list of established risk factors for adult crimes.)
Dealer To The Desperate Faces Court (The Province, in Vancouver, British Columbia, says AIDS patient Ernest Stanking faces a trial May 3 in a Port Coquitlam courtroom on a charge of possession for the prupose of trafficking. For the past 15 years, Stanking has been growing a forest of top-notch pot in his Port Coquitlam back yard. He sniffs at the hydroponic stuff grown quickly - and profitably - in basements across the Lower Mainland. "There's only one way you can grow medical marijuana," he insists. "It's in the ground, in clean living soil." Stanking supplies about 130 medical marijuana patients - people who suffer from AIDS or cancer - for $125 an ounce, about one-third the going rate.)
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Saturday, March 13, 1999:
Don't Exaggerate (A letter to the editor of the Hood River News, in north central Oregon, by Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse, debunks recent assertions about marijuana by Maija Yasui of the state Commission on Children and Families. MAMA thinks it is better to teach children skills to evaluate the risks of all drug use and provide them with accurate information about all drugs. This will serve them far better than lies.)
State failed inmates who had X-rays, judge rules (The Oregonian says Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael Marcus ruled Thursday night that the Oregon Department of Corrections has not followed a state law intended to protect the health of 69 former inmates exposed to radiation experiments between 1963 and 1973. Marcus said the state had failed to adequately notify the former inmates, failed to provide psychological counseling and failed to conduct a study to determine the long-term effects of the testing. A law passed in 1987 required the Department of Corrections to provide for any resulting medical needs of the men. Instead of issuing an injunction, Marcus ordered the state to make changes and told the two sides to try to come up with a resolution based on his findings.)
1 in 4 Oregon high schoolers drops out (The Oregonian says an Oregon Department of Education report released Friday shows 25.26 percent of Oregon students who enter high school will drop out before graduating. The four-year rate projected for Portland Public Schools was 40 percent. If you don't understand the connection to the war on marijuana users, check out Portland NORML's "Oregon Services Plundered for Drug War" page.)
Los Angeles Million Marijuana March (A list subscriber publicizes the reform rally scheduled for Saturday, May 1.)
Million Marijuana March Rallies Scheduled Around the Globe May 1 (A preliminary press release from Cures Not Wars, in New York, publicizes reform rallies scheduled in Seattle and elsewhere.)
Drug War Backfires (A staff editorial in the New York Times finds encouragemnt in a statement by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, in the newspaper's recent article about how the 1986 crack cocaine scare has created a booming prison-industrial complex. "We have a failed social policy and it has to be re-evaluated," said McCaffrey, who also repeated a statement he made after replacing Lee Brown, that "We can't incarcerate our way out of this problem." Unfortunately, the newspaper fails to note that such hypocritical statements by McCaffrey have been consistently contradicted by his budget priorities.)
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Friday, March 12, 1999:
Re: Making a hash of the law (A letter to the editor of the Bulletin, in Bend, Oregon, applauds the newspaper for opposing state representative Kevin Mannix's HB 3502, which would nullify the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. "It's perhaps most constructive to note that Mannix won his seat in Salem by less than 300 votes. But old 'Mad Dog' Mannix does serve one good purpose. He is a prime example of how this 'winner take all' election system fails and why so many Oregonians have given up on it. Here's a man who got into office by the skin of his teeth. Yet he is warmly embraced as though he won by a landslide and appointed by the Republican leadership to the Chair of the very powerful House Judiciary Committee. Then, the first thing he does is try to overthrow the will of The People!")
Guinea-Pig Kubby (Orange County Weekly gives an update on the prosecution of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor who was recently busted on cultivation charges. "Orange County is leading the way on this issue - the media, the OC Weekly, the Orange County Register, the OC Libertarians, Marvin Chavez," Kubby said. While in Orange County, Kubby will undergo medical examinations so doctors can try to learn more about why Kubby's use of marijuana seems the sole barrier between life and death from an incurable form of adrenal cancer. Kubby has already announced plans to run for governor again in 2002. His wife, Michele, a UC-Berkeley graduate with degrees in political science and international studies, is considering a run for the U.S. senate.)
Medical Marijuana Debate Continues In House (The Keene Sentinel says advocates for marijuana law reform, including Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified Wednesday before the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice subcommittee in favor of two bills sponsored by Rep. Timothy N. Robertson, D-Keene that would allow the medical use of marijuana and decriminalize those who possess the herb. Nicholas Pastore, the former police chief in New Haven, Connecticut, said the nation's war on drugs was a failure. The jails are full of marijuana smokers who have no history of violence and pose no danger to society, he said.)
Two Million Prisoners Are Enough (An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by John J. DiIulio Jr., a professor of public policy at Princeton University, says the justice system is becoming less capable of distributing sanctions and supervision rationally, especially where drug offenders are concerned. It's time for policy makers to change focus and aim for zero prison growth. Five reforms to aim for include: Repeal mandatory minimum drug laws. Reinvent and reinvest in probation and parole. Stop federalizing crime policy and modify federal sentencing guidelines. Study and promote faith-based crime prevention and restorative justice. And redouble efforts at juvenile crime prevention.)
Stop The Prison Madness And Build Schools (Syndicated columnist Carl Rowan observes in the Grand Rapids Press, in Michigan, that that while bond issues to build schools often fail, the United States is building a 1,000-bed jailhouse or prison every week. Millions of Americans, conservative and liberal, are awakening to the reality that incarcerating 400,000 people on drug charges has not reduced the curse of drug abuse in America. The uprising against the current outrageous situation seems great enough that any number of politicians might take the lead without fear of falling to the old cries, "soft on crime." Enough Americans seem now to understand that the current punitive policy has been a failure. Still, both will and courage to admit error and change policy seems to be in short supply in Washington these days. Millions of more voices are needed.)
Feds Rebuff Medical Marijuana Researchers (UPI says the Institute of Medicine study commissioned in 1997 by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, is scheduled for release on Wednesday, March 17. No original research has been allowed by the federal government for more than 10 years. Several cases illustrate how the government has stonewalled would-be scientists. Researchers who want to conduct clinical trials on the efficacy of medical marijuana say the government publicly invites such studies, but privately works to quash them. Ultimately, the researchers tell United Press International, the federal government unfairly works to end the movement to legalize the drug as a medicine for seriously ill patients.)
Customs Service Reworks Controversial Airport Drug Searches (Florida Today says new statistics show the number of cocaine and heroin smugglers caught at airports dropped by one-fourth in 1998, while investigations and lawsuits alleging abusive tactics have increased. So the Customs Service is retraining officers who check airline passengers for drugs and trying new technology to reduce the need for invasive body searches.)
Gramm and Boxer Sponser Legislation That Would Alter the U.S. Drug-Certification Process (The Orange County Register says a political odd couple, conservative Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and liberal Sen. Babara Boxer of California, introduced legislation Thursday that would revamp the current process that causes an annual rift between the United States, Mexico and other countries battling the illegal international trade in supposedly controlled substances.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 82 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - Internet campaign convinces Congress to condemn "Know Your Customer," battle not yet over; George Bush Jr. hires private eye to dig up own past; Report: US anti-drug forces corrupted; Alaska bill introduced to amend state's new medical marijuana law; Drug policy campus activism conference; Washington state bill would increase judges' discretion in drug cases; Judge denies California AIDS patient's urgent plea for medical marijuana; Federal judge allows medical marijuana class action suit to proceed, questions why government supplies medical marijuana to some patients, not others; Events; Online petitions)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 89 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - How important is the drug policy reform effort? by Rolf Ernst; The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, including - Smugglers corrupting U.S.'s anti-drug forces, study says; War on drugs needs a new battle plan; America's misguided drug war; Chronic pain under treated, expert says; and, Senators join outcry to halt new bank rules. Articles about Law Enforcement and Prisons include - Less crime, more criminals; Criminal justice system just plain bizarre; Incarceration won't solve drug problem; and, US criticism of China rings hollow in US prisons. Articles about Medical Marijuana include - MP challenges Rock pot move; The Kubby prosecution; Not fit to print? The medical marijuana class action hearing; and, a letter to the editor, Medical marijuana. International News includes - another letter to the editor, Copy successful anti-drugs policy; Expert rejects zero tolerance stand; Caribbean nations suspend US treaty; and, New drug army rules atop 'Golden Triangle.' The weekly Hot Off The 'Net publicizes a transcript from the medical marijuana class action lawsuit in Philadelphia; and gives the URL for a RealVideo episode of television's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" featuring Joe Califano and singer Dave Matthews. The Fact of the Week documents that the "Land of the Free" is No. 1 in imprisoning its citizens. The Quote of the Week cites state senator John Vasconcellos, the Democrat from Santa Clara, California.)
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Thursday, March 11, 1999:
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release (Judge denies California AIDS patient's urgent plea for medical marijuana; Marijuana successfully treats Tourette's Syndrome, study shows; New Hampshire considers medical marijuana, decriminalization legislation; Federal judge allows medical marijuana class action suit to proceed; questions why government supplies medical marijuana to some patients, not others)
Making A Hash Of The Law (A staff editorial in the Bend, Oregon, Bulletin says the newspaper still thinks voters erred last November in approving the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. But the attempt by state representative Kevin Mannix to gut the law by introducing HB 3052 with the support of the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police is a terrible idea too. His objections may be valid, but the decision of voters to ignore them last fall clearly indicates that Measure 67 reflects their will. Mannix should respect it. Subverting it will merely encourge future petitioners to forsake statutory initiatives and play around with the Constitution instead.)
Oregon class sizes grow (The Oregonian says limited data show Oregon's classroom student-teacher ratios, already the fourth worst in the nation, are still deteriorating. If you don't understand the connection to the war on marijuana users, check out Portland NORML's "Oregon Services Plundered for Drug War" page.)
Schoolrooms feel the squeeze (The Oregonian, which, like Oregon legislators, would rather bankrupt public education than end the war on some drug users, says Oregon lawmakers Wednesday held their first hearing this session on reducing large classes in crowded schools. Supposedly nobody knows where more money for schools can be found.)
Police seek way to halt traffic stop race bias (According to the Oregonian, Oregon State Police Superintendent LeRon Howland and Portland Police Chief Charles Moose say that documenting traffic stops would help determine how frequently minorities are stopped for no other reason than the color of their skin. But don't expect that to happen in Oregon anytime soon. Characteristically, the newspaper doesn't even mention it's the drug war that leads to such profiling.)
May 1st Marijuana Rally in San Francisco (A bulletin from California NORML publicizes the Million Marijuana March, co-sponsored by the Drug Peace Campaign and California NORML as part of a coordinated worldwide effort to promote reform.)
States Push Medical Marijuana Challenge (UPI notes Alaska this week joined the small but growing list of states with medical marijuana laws in effect that defy the federal government. The Minnesota legislature is also considering similar legislation. Efforts to get the federal government to change its position on medical marijuana include a bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank March 2 to lift the federal ban and reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug. And in Philadelphia, U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz on Wednesday allowed a class-action suit seeking to legalize the herb's use for medical reasons to proceed.)
The Drug War: Suppression Tactics Will Never Work (An op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star by Rodney S. Quinn, the former Maine secretary of state and a retired Air Force officer, notes Thomas Constantine, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, blames the failure of the war on some drug users on a public that is unwilling and unable to fight the war. It seems more likely the public is willing to fight, but dissatisfied with current tactics. From the beginning, official exaggerations and manipulation of statistics have guided the drug war, elevating "drugs" in the public consciousness from a behavioral and psychological concern to a major national depravity. These essentially natural products that have been with us for history have suddenly become evil incarnate - the 20th century snake in the American Garden of Eden. The war on drugs is simply not winnable as long as we insist on using the tactics of suppression. The true measure of drug availability is cost. For the past 20 years, the street price of drugs, in constant dollars, has hardly kept up with inflation.)
Judge Wants Pot Explanation (The Philadelphia Daily News says U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz ruled yesterday that the federal government must explain why it provides marijuana to some sick people for medicinal reasons, but not to others. The Compassionate Investigational New Drug program stopped taking new applicants in 1992 and only about eight people continue to participate. Katz's ruling stems from the class action lawsuit for medical marijuana filed on behalf of 170 plaintiffs by Philadelphia public interest attorney Lawrence Elliott Hirsch.)
U.S. Judge Will Allow Pot Lawsuit (A second account in the Philadelphia Inquirer says U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz refused yesterday to dismiss a class-action medical-marijuana lawsuit, ruling that the plaintiffs deserved the chance to prove the government had no reason to deny the drug to seriously ill people. The victory for Philadelphia attorney Lawrence Elliott Hirsch keeps alive the lawsuit that many legal experts assumed had no chance of success when it was filed in July.)
Judge declines to dismiss medical marijuana lawsuit (A slightly longer version of the Philadelphia Inquirer article, apparently from a different edition)
Breaking News: Judge rules against government in medical marijuana class action suit (A list subscriber posts a URL where Judge Katz's decision is located, and summarizes key elements of his decision.)
Ann Landers: Views On Marijuana Come In All Varieties (The nationally syndicated advice columnist based at the Chicago Tribune shares a variety of "pro" and "con" responses to her recent column calling for the reform of marijuana laws.)
Nightline: Getting Straight (ABC News' last night of a three-part series by Dave Marash continues last night's focus on Rafael Flores, a freelancer who combs the streets of New York at night trying to con addicts into accepting treatment and treatment centers into giving them a bed. Flores is also a walking barometer of our own failure. No matter how much we succeed in cutting the supply, no matter how many dealers we throw in prison, until we make drug treatment accessible to those who need it, we're losing the war.)
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Wednesday, March 10, 1999:
Defense Lawyers Want Police To Disclose Task Force's Ways (The Oregonian says lawyers for Neil Jeffery Hauser of Bend are demanding to know whether Portland police illegally used a "trap and trace" device to provide Portland's Marijuana Task Force with the phone numbers of everyone who called American Agriculture, a Portland hydroponics supply store. Hauser is charged with posing as a police officer when he taped a phone conversation with an officer on the task force. Hauser's lawyers say the case could lead to the reversal of hundreds of marijuana grow convictions if a judge rules the trap was illegal and that evidence obtained as a result must be thrown out. In addition, hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug forfeiture assets might be up for grabs. According to cops, the Multnomah County District Attorney's office prosecuted an estimated 175 marijuana grow cases last year, 248 in 1997 and 364 in 1996. Official figures claim the Marijuana Task Force seized 126 marijuana grows last year and got $186,000 in forfeited cash, property and real estate.)
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.)
Bill gutting the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act/Measure 67, HB 3052, now available online (A list subscriber posts the URL for the full text of legislation recently proposed by Oregon state representative Kevin Mannix with support from the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police.)
Pierce County teacher suspended in drug investigation (The Seattle Times says an unidentified teacher at Curtis High School, a 15-year-veteran of the University Place School District, has been suspended with pay after police found several bags of a substance believed to be methamphetamine in his private desk on campus.)
Feds Want McWilliams To Die (USA Today briefly notes a federal judge refused Tuesday to allow Los Angeles writer-activist Peter McWilliams to use medical marijuana while awaiting trial on drug cultivation, trafficking and possession charges.)
Judge Denies AIDS Patient's Request For Marijuana (The Los Angeles Times version)
State Reversing Stand On Medicinal Pot (The Los Angeles Times claims California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who so far has failed to lift a finger to stop the persecution of patients protected by Proposition 215, is finally going to do something.)
Lockyer Pushing Ways To Make Pot Law Work (A slightly different version of the Los Angeles Times story, apparently from a different edition)
Monitoring Mary Jane - The Difficulty In Regulating Medicinal Pot (The Pacific Sun, in California, discusses the struggle to implement Proposition 215 in Marin and Sonoma counties and California at large.)
Ex-officer gets 27-year prison term - Former cop made $10,000 in drug scam (The Houston Chronicle says Michael Lee Bogany, a Houston police officer who was fired in November, was sentenced to 27 years in prison Wednesday for stealing controlled substances from illegal dealers and then selling them to other dealers.)
The Wrong Way To Fight Drug War (Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson discovers that the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, is a flaming hypocrite. From some of the things he says, it sounds as if McCaffery wants to end the hysteria that has turned the drug war into Vietnam. But McCaffrey does not yet have the courage to put enlightenment into action. Last week, McCaffrey went to Capitol Hill to detail his $17.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2000. The portion of the budget reserved for prevention and treatment, $6 billion, is only 34 percent of federal drug-war spending, exactly the same percentage as in 1991. But the portion of the budget for domestic law enforcement, i.e. cops and incarceration, rose from 41 percent in 1991 to 52 percent in 2000. While the budget for prevention and treatment would rise by 3.6 percent, the budget for the Bureau of Prisons would go up 13 percent, 19 percent for the FBI and 50 percent for the US Attorney's office. A spokesman for McCaffrey said the prison budget is difficult to control because there has to be a place to put the people already arrested. The spokesman said McCaffrey wants more money for prevention, but the need for prisons is so great that it will take several years to see a change in funding.)
Ruling on the Philadelphia Medical Marijuana Suit: We are still alive (California NORML breaks the news that U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz has allowed the class action lawsuit to proceed. A member of the legal team headed by Lawrence Elliott Hirsch summarizes Judge Katz's decision in Philadelphia.)
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.")
Pot Charges Higher Than Ever, Even Police Call For Softer Law (The London Free Press, in Ontario, says marijuana prohibition has become the leading cause of drug-related criminal charges in the 1990s, despite growing ambivalence about whether the weed should remain illegal. Figures from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, released yesterday by Statistics Canada, indicate the overall number of offences hasn't changed much since 1983. But marijuana-related charges accounted for 72 per cent of the total in 1997, compared with 58 per cent in 1991. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is against "legalization," but wants Ottawa to look at decriminalization in some circumstances. Barry King, the police chief in Brockville, said officers are getting fired for using their discretion and Ottawa has to take the lead on giving police the option of letting minor drug offenders go.)
Weed leads to most charges (The Canadian Press version)
Pot charges on the rise (The Toronto Star version)
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Tuesday, March 9, 1999:
Lawmaker Takes Aim At Medical Marijuana Measure / Oregon Medical Marijuana update (Dr. Rick Bayer, a chief petitioner for Measure 67, forwards an undated Associated Press article about state Rep. Kevin Mannix's attempt to gut the voter-approved law. Preceding the AP article is Dr. Bayer's assessment of today's meeting of the Oregon Health Division OMMA Rules advisory committee, together with an advance notice about the committee's next rule-making meeting, 2-5 pm Thursday, April 15, at the Oregon State Office Building in Portland. Dr. Bayer also details what physicians should and should not do in order to help their patients comply with the OMMA while minimizing the legal risks to themselves.)
Judge denies advocate's request to smoke pot (KNBC, the Los Angeles affiliate of NBC, says U.S. District Judge George H. King has sanctioned the government's murder of Peter McWilliams, the AIDS patient being denied medicine while awaiting trial on cultivation charges.)
Libertarian Party Vows To Fight Marijuana Case (According to UPI, the California Libertarian Party says it has "not yet begun to fight" the indictment of 1998 gubernatorial candidate and medical-marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby and his wife, Michele, on cultivation charges.)
Senate Gives Preliminary Approval To Legalized Hemp (An Associated Press article in the Duluth News-Tribune says the Minnesota senate approved a bill Monday that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp.)
Chicago Cop Is Facing Drug Charges In Mississippi (The Chicago Tribune says Peter Ramon was being held Monday in a Mississippi jail after deputies said they found 120 pounds of marijuana in a van in which he was traveling.)
Detecting Teen Substance Abuse (The Washington Post notes new guidelines were released last week by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, as a free advertisement for the coerced-rehab industry. The guidelines are designed to give physicians, teachers, coaches and others who regularly deal with teens "screening tools" to determine who may have "a substance abuse problem." Among the indications for undergoing substance abuse screening are "psychological difficulties, substantial behavior changes, hospital emergency room visits for trauma injuries as well as for gastrointestinal disturbances, sudden changes in grade-point averages, unexplained school absences and a general tendency toward being accident prone.")
Nightline: Getting Straight (Dave Marash of ABC News begins a three-night examination of U.S. drug policy based on the perspective of Michael Massing's book, "The Fix," which in turn looks at U.S. drug policy from the perspective of a 1994 report by the Rand Corporation that found drug treatment to be 10 times more effective than border interdiction. The latest federal survey showed just one addict in four desiring treatment actually getting it. Over the first seven years of the Clinton administration, the share of drug control money spent for demand reduction has actually fallen slightly. The White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, says, "I think the bigger problem . . . is we simply lack health parity for drug treatment in the private sector.")
Dope Activist's Hubby Charged (The Edmonton Sun, in Alberta, says police raided the Cannabis Compassion Centre in London, Ontario, arresting Mike Harichy, 47, the proprietor and husband of Lynn Harichy, the multiple sclerosis patient and medical marijuana activist.)
Husband Of Pot Crusader Arrested (The version in the London Free Press, in Ontario)
Cabinet Rules Out Legalising Cannabis (According to the Dominion, in New Zealand, the New Zealand Government has rejected the recommendation of its parliamentarian health select committee that the Government review the legal status of cannabis. The Government has not only ruled out decriminalising cannabis, saying that making the herb legal would send confusing messages to young people, it also announced that it would ban drug paraphernalia such as "bongs.")
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Monday, March 8, 1999:
The Kubby Prosecution (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register gives an update on the prosecution of Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor. Local drug warriors, in conjunction with state and federal officials, argued in court last Tuesday that the 265 plants found growing in the Kubby home constitute evidence of cultivation for sale, so Kubby should be prevented from invoking California's medical-marijuana law. For prosecutors to press forward, despite Kubby's compliance with Proposition 215, smacks of malice or worse - an overt effort to turn a duly passed law into a dead letter.)
Another Border Shooting Disputed (The Houston Chronicle version of the shooting of Abecnego Monje in the back Jan. 25 while the 18-year-old was attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border with only a jug of water. Monje was paralyzed by Wilbur Honeycutt, a Texas law enforcement officer participating in a federal Drug Enforcement Agency programan. Honeycutt says he saw the flash of a gun and fired. Last September alone, the U.S. Border Patrol was involved in four shootings of illegal immigrants in San Diego, two of them fatal.)
Chronic Pain Undertreated, Expert Says (According to the Omaha World-Herald, in Nebraska, Dr. Steven D. Passik, a psychologist who is director of oncology symptom control research at the Indiana Community Cancer Care Center in Indianapolis, told an ethics conference Saturday at Creighton University in Omaha that many Americans with chronic pain don't receive the treatment they need due to doctors' and patients' unmerited concern that the use of opioid painkillers would lead to substance abuse, and doctors' worries about legal problems.)
Not Fit to Print? The MMJ: Class Action Hearing (MAP, the Media Awareness Project, protests the lack of media coverage of developments in the federal class-action medical-marijuana lawsuit being litigated in Philadelphia by Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, by posting several news accounts or URLs to news accounts from alternative online media such as High Times and marijuananews.com. "Judge Katz himself reacted with surprise when the feds acknowledged that the IND program's suspension had absolutely nothing to do with medicine.")
The Latest Buzz On Hemp (U.S. News & World Report, in Washington, D.C., suggests American farmers are starting to get serious about reforming the country's ban on industrial hemp production. In North Dakota last year, wheat, barley, and canola farmers such as David Monson endured floods, heavy snow, pelting rains, and crop disease while watching neighbors' farms go bust. In the fall, Monson's profit was a paltry $25 an acre. Meanwhile, 20 miles away, across the border in Canada, Brian McElroy, who had planted his first hemp crop, earned $225 an acre. Last month, the Virginia legislature endorsed "controlled, experimental" cultivation of the plant. Similar pro-hemp action is pending in 11 other state legislatures, including Hawaii and Vermont. An unlikely hemp proponent, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, who represents the North American Industrial Hemp Council, says "If you want to get rid of marijuana, there's nothing better to do than plant a lot of industrial hemp." The reason is that hemp pollinates marijuana, lowering its potency.)
America's Misguided Drug War (An op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor by Mike Tidwell, author of "In the Shadow of the White House: Drugs death and redemption on the streets of the nation's capital," says there is no credible evidence that stringent enforcement of America's prohibition of controlled substances actually reduces drug use. Indeed, the opposite seems true: Law-enforcement efforts actually promote illicit drug use. The endless police raids on crack houses, shooting galleries, and various open-air markets simply help push drugs block-by-block through the city, guaranteeing that every D.C. teenager will eventually have a full-blown market on his street corner. Attacking supply without addressing demand guarantees it will continue. It's important to be very clear on this point: Our law-enforcement efforts actually help peddle drugs.)
Jailed Colombia Drug Lords Said Preparing For War (According to Reuters, anonymous Colombian police officials claimed Monday that jailed Colombian illegal-drug exporters were preparing to launch a domestic campaign of terror against their possible extradition to the United States and have earmarked $9.6 million dollars to finance it. The fact that the Columbian police and military have been carrying out just such a campaign against civilians for decades isn't mentioned. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno also exhibited a little bloodlust in a highly publicized visit to Colombia last week when she said she would like to see the death penalty imposed in some drug cases tried before U.S. courts.)
Detective Alleges Mass Corruption By Senior Police (According to the Examiner, in Ireland, Scotland Yard Detective Chief Superintendent David Wood, head of CIB 3, the elite anti-corruption squad, told the Sunday Telegraph in London that corrupt senior officers were passing information to criminal gangs for sums exceeding £350,000. "The kind of criminals involved in large-scale drug smuggling don't hesitate to use violence," he said, without citing a single such incident or explaining why illegal-drug distributors had passed up so many opportunities.)
Copy Successful Anti-Drugs Policy (A letter to the editor of the Examiner, in Ireland, says a proposal to start imprisoning young people who experiment with soft drugs such as cannabis and ecstasy won't work. One has only to look at the US, which has the largest proportion of its population behind bars of any of the developed countries in the world, a sizeable minority, if not a majority, of them for non-violent drugs offences. And yet drug use continues to soar in the US. The proposal also ignores the fact that Ireland already incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other EU country. And the suggestion that Ireland should copy the UK's example ignores the fact that the UK is the only country in the EU with a higher rate of teenage drug use than Ireland. The report of the Crime Forum, issued towards the end of last year,actually suggested we should seriously consider the option of legalising drugs. At the time, one national newspaper even called for a public debate on the matter. Nothing has been heard since.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 9 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Sunday, March 7, 1999:
Alaska Law Allows Marijuana Use (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in Wisconsin, notes the medical marijuana law approved last November by nearly 60 percent of voters went into effect last week. Alaska is the sixth state to offer a legal shield to people who smoke the weed for a short list of medical ailments.)
Minnesota Legislature Ponders Medical Marijuana Measure (UPI says Austin state senator Pat Piper, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1987, has introduced a bill to permit the limited use of marijuana as medicine.)
Agriculture Chief's Son Arrested In Methamphetamine Raid (An Associated Press story in the Rockford Register Star says Christopher Hampton, the son of the director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, was arrested Friday by state and federal agents who were searching the home of another man accused of manufacturing methamphetamine. Hampton was accused of supplying anhydrous ammonia from the family farm. Joe Hampton, Christopher's father, wept as his handcuffed son was led away.)
Campus Activists Hit Law Stripping Aid From Drug Offenders (The Boston Globe says New Hampshire Youth Mobilization, a group based at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, that focuses on social justice issues, will work to repeal a provision of the U.S. Higher Education Act of 1998 that denies or delays federal education grants, loans or subsidized job opportunities to any student convicted of possessing or selling "drugs," particularly marijuana. New Hampshire student activists say the law is punitive and discriminates against less affluent students. The Drug Reform Coordination Network, in Washington, D.C., is organizing students across the country to lobby Congress to repeal the provision, charging that it turns the nation's drug war into "a war on student access to higher education.")
Welfare Law May Limit Addiction Recovery (The Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, says a wrinkle in the 1994 federal welfare reform law has prevented some people from receiving substance abuse treatment and may jeopardize the existence of some recovery programs. The law bars states from providing cash assistance and food stamps to anyone convicted of a drug-related felony. But many drug treatment programs depend on benefits such as food stamps and welfare cash payments to help pay for treatment.)
Less Crime, More Criminals (New York Times columnist Timothy Egan ponders America's inability to control its prison-industrial complex. Later this month, the U.S. Justice Department will release new figures showing that 2 million people - one of every 150 people in the United States - is in prison or jail - omitting approximately 5 million additional people under house arrest, or on probation or parole. With the crime rate having fallen for six straight years, by all logic, prisons should be experiencing a few vacancies. But because the war on some drug users has failed to reduce the use of supposedly controlled substances, a prison peace dividend is nowhere in sight. Instead, the guessing game now is: At what point does the world's largest penal system hit a plateau - 2.5 million inmates, 3 million? Cleaning up after a crusade, some lawmakers say, has proven much harder than they anticipated. Edwin Meese, attorney general under President Reagan, has started to look favorably on treatment for low-level offenders rather than jail. "I think mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders ought to be reviewed," said Meese.)
Medical Marijuana and Herpes (A list subscriber forwards a first-person account testifying to the efficacy of raw cannabis used as a poultice to alleviate symptoms of a herpes outbreak quickly.)
Smugglers Corrupting U.S.'s Anti-Drug Forces, Study Says (A Knight Ridder news service article in the Seattle Times says the U.S. General Accounting Office is about to release a yearlong study that concludes that drug-related corruption along the U.S.-Mexico border is a serious and continuing threat, according to a draft of the report obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Last month the U.S. Customs Service called drug trafficking "the undisputed, greatest corruption hazard confronting all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies today." The number of state and local law enforcement and other public officials convicted for drug corruption has increased from 79 in 1997 to 157 last year. Between 1994 and 1997, there were 46 drug-related indictments in the United States of border law enforcement officials.)
Caribbean Nations Suspend US Treaty (According to the Associated Press, Caribbean Community nations have agreed to suspend a treaty of cooperation with the United States to fight drug trafficking, angered by the U.S. position in a trade dispute over banana exports to Europe.)
ACM-Bulletin of 7 March 1999 (An English-language news bulletin from the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, focuses on a United Nations report encouraging research into the medical use of cannabis; the Canadian health minister's announcement about clinical trials into medical marijuana; the introduction of a bill in Britain's parliament to allow the medical use of cannabis; and the introduction of a medical marijuana bill in the U.S. congress.)
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Saturday, March 6, 1999:
More Using Jury Box For Civil Protest (The Seattle Times adds the local angle to a rewrite of a recent Washington Post article alleging an increase in jury nullification.)
Leman Targets Marijuana Law (The Anchorage Daily News says state senator Loren Leman, a Republican from Anchorage, has introduced a bill to roll back large parts of the medical marijuana initiative approved by Alaska voters in November. "He's not hiding his motives," said David Finkelstein, treasurer of Alaskans for Medical Rights, the group that pushed the initiative. "He'd like to repeal it." The Alaska Constitution bars the Legislature from repealing a citizen initiative for the first two years after it takes effect. But lawmakers can amend initiatives.)
Drug Statistics Don't Square With 'War' (A letter to the editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, in Massachusetts, debunks a central concept underlying the war on some drug users - that prohibited drugs are far more dangerous than non-prohibited drugs. Actually, marijuana kills no one, and other prohibited drugs account for less than 1 percent of all deaths from non-medical drug use, about 14,000 annually. Reactions to prescribed medications also kill 100,000 Americans annually.)
Doubt Cast On Brain Chemical Role Of Dopamine Not So 'Feel-Good' (The Florida Times-Union recounts Thursday's news about a report in the journal Nature which suggests that, rather than being the key player in the pleasure process, dopamine is only a "messenger" and just one of several components of addiction. What chemical or process is ultimately responsible for the pleasure is "not really clear right now," said Anthony Grace, a professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.)
Senators Join Outcry To Halt New Bank Rules (An Associated Press article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says the U.S. Senate voted 88-0 Friday to ask the government to withdraw its proposed "Know Your Customer" anti-money-laundering rules that would invade bank customers' privacy. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Banking Committee on Thursday adopted an amendment to a big financial services bill that would kill the proposed banking rules.)
Peddling Drugs (An editorial in New Zealand's online Newsroom by Matthew Thomas discusses how New Zealand's politics and political system block reform of marijuana laws.)
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Friday, March 5, 1999:
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release (House Of Commons holds first ever debate on medical marijuana - considers motion to legalize drug for medical purposes; British MP backs marijuana by prescription; House rejects South Dakota governor's plan to impose mandatory jail time for pot offenses; Alaska medical marijuana law takes effect this week)
War On Crime Doesn't Win Many Battles (A staff editorial in the Columbian, in Vancouver, Washington, discusses how the media and politicians are mostly ignoring the American Bar Association report in which former Reagan Administration attorney general Ed Meese and 15 other panelists found that Congress has gone too far in federalizing crimes that should be dealt with locally.)
Aiming to alter pot law (The Juneau Empire says that, on the same day medical marijuana became legal in Alaska, state senator Loren Leman, an Anchorage Republican, introduced Senate Bill 94, which would severely restrict the new law.)
Medical Marijuana Legislation Dead In Hawai'i For 1999 Session (A media advisory from the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i blames stiff opposition from cops and a "lack of political will" by the chairs of the Hawaiian legislature's house and senate judiciary committees for blocking a public hearing on a medical marijuana bill.)
Customs Seeks Own Intelligence Unit (According to the Associated Press, U.S. Customs Director Ray Kelly said Thursday that current tip-sharing arrangements with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the CIA do not give him the tactical information he needs, so the Customs Service should be able to gather its own overseas drug intelligence.)
Clinical Trials Of Marijuana Will Not Halt Arrests Of Terminally Ill (The National Post, in Canada, says that despite Health Minister Allan Rock's announcement Wednesday that his office will conduct clinical trials on the medical use of marijuana, police will continue to arrest terminally ill Canadians who are growing and smoking marijuana. According to Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, Mr. Rock has the power, under section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and the Substances Act, to exempt any person from the application of the law.)
MP Challenges Rock Pot Move (According to the London Free Press, in Ontario, Bernard Bigras, a Bloc Quebecois member of Parliament, accused Health Minister Allan Rock yesterday of plotting to derail his Commons motion to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. "I think it's a minister's campaign to destabilize all the people working on the proposal." Bigras said if Rock honestly plans to move forward with the tests, he should support the Bloc motion when it comes to a vote in June.)
The Changing Face of the Drug Trade (Inter Press Service says the Peruvian government has officially notified Washington that it will not allow the United States to set up an anti-drug military airbase in Peru. Washington has sounded out several other Central American countries about the possibility of obtaining authorisation for the installation of military bases - negotiations that are no longer based on the concept of "hemispheric security," but on "cooperation" in the war on some drug users.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 81 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - HEA reform campaign gains momentum - DRCNet attacked by Republican Rep. Souder; Hundreds rally against Rockefeller drug laws; Amnesty International charges that women behind bars suffer "rough justice"; Drug policy coalition calls for reversal of budget priorities; Federal bill reintroduced to legalize medical marijuana; Canada's House of Commons debates medical marijuana; Australian prime minister criticized over FBI invitation; Sen. Hatch advocates for expansion of maintenance therapies for opiate dependency; Hemp reform efforts underway; an editorial by Adam J. Smith, "Million man madness"; and an Errata note)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 88 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - "An Effective National Drug Control Strategy," by Kevin Zeese. The Weekly News in Review includes several articles about Drug Policy, including - The war on drugs retreats, still taking prisoners; Soldiers of the drug war remain on duty; Blacks getting AIDS at record rates; Gains cited in drug war; New York mayor tilts to totalitarianism; Political fallout over New Jersey State Police Col. Carl Williams; and, Coalition protests government's hard-line drug policies. Drug Policy articles about Certification include - Mexico, Colombia drug efforts approved; Drug war pretenses; Congressmen want Mexico blacklisted for drugs; Sinaloa: Mexico's capital of drug crime. Articles about Prisons include - Juvenile jail sought; Number of blacks in prison nears 1 million; GOP lawmaker seeks to reform drug sentencing. Articles about Medical Marijuana include - Writer faces jail after interviewing medical marijuana activist; Listen up Washington; and, Canada to test medical marijuana. International News includes - Shipley signals tougher anti-drugs stance; and, Start heroin trials, urges Australian politician. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net discusses the "Effective National Drug Control Strategy." The Tip of the Week discusses how to use the "Effective National Drug Control Strategy" to our advantage. The Quote of the Week cites Mark Crossley.)
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Thursday, March 4, 1999:
A Garden Gone To Seed (A letter to the editor of the Source, in Oregon, says locking up drug dealers and throwing away the key does no good so society as a whole, especially when forfeiture laws give police a motive to fabricate evidence.)
California NORML Report on 1999 State Marijuana Legislation (A bulletin from California NORML summarizes six bills that have been introduced to the legislature, and includes the URL for current legislative information and who to lobby.)
Alaska Medical Marijuana Law Starts (The Associated Press says the medical marijuana law approved by 60 percent of voters in November goes into effect today. Ned Tuthill wishes the law had come about a few years earlier. The retired airline pilot was busted for growing his own medicine to ease chronic pain caused by a severe car crash. The terms of his probation forbid him from smoking marijuana. "I have period of times when my pain is so severe that I just can't do anything," said Tuthill, 48, who says other pain medications nauseate him.)
Fairmont State Baseball Coach Quits (The Associated Press says Donnie Retton, the baseball coach at Fairmont State University in West Virginia and brother of Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton, has resigned after being charged with drunken driving and possession of marijuana.)
Dopamine Apparently Isn't The Pleasure Chemical After All (An Associated Press article in the Orange County Register says a study published today in the journal Nature suggests dopamine, discovered in 1957, may not be the brain's only "feel good" chemical. Scientists trying to unlock the secrets of drug addiction may therefore have been off target for the past two decades. The report infers that the brain chemical, rather than being the key player in the pleasure process, is only a "messenger" and just one of several components of addiction.)
Brain Chemical Dopamine May Not Be Addiction Key (A longer version in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Role Of Dopamine In Doubt (The version in the Augusta Chronicle, in Georgia)
War On Drugs Needs A New Battle Plan (Cox news service columnist Tom Teepen, writing in the Arizona Daily Star, notes the war on some drug users has failed, and discusses the proposals put forth yesterday in a report issued by the Network of Reform Groups.)
Frank Supports Medical Marijuana (The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, in Massachusetts, notes local U.S. Representative Barney Frank introduced a bill Tuesday that would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance, meaning it could be prescribed by doctors.)
Abuse of Female Prisoners in U.S. Is Routine, Rights Report Says (According to the Washington Post, a report scheduled for release today by Amnesty International USA finds that women inmates in the nation's prisons and jails are routinely subjected to sexual abuse by male guards. The document also describes serious problems with medical care, including the use of shackles while prisoners are giving birth. Primarily as a result of the war on some drug users, the number of female inmates rose about 11 percent each year between 1985 and 1996, compared with 7.9 percent for men.)
The Politics Of Pot - A Government In Denial (Eric Schlosser, in Rolling Stone magazine, devastatingly critiques the failure in the United States of governments and politicians at all levels to deal rationally with marijuana-related issues.)
Ottawa to test medicinal use of pot (According to the Calgary Herald, Health Minister Allan Rock announced in the House of Commons Wednesday that the government plans to conduct human clinical tests to determine if smoking marijuana can reduce pain in terminally ill patients, a first step toward legalizing the drug for medical purposes.)
Ottawa Approves Clinical Marijuana Trials (The Globe and Mail version, in Toronto, says the Canadian Health Department has already consulted with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - which is also planning similar trials - about acquiring a supply of the herb for the clinical trials. Making marijuana available to patients by prescription will not require an amendment to the criminal code, a Health Department source said.)
Rock OKs Clinical Trials Of Medicinal Marijuana (The National Post version notes the health minister's announcement comes more than a year after an Ontario judge, Justice Patrick Sheppard, ruled that it was legal for Terry Parker, an epilepsy patient in Toronto, to grow and use marijuana for medical use. Sheppard said criminalizing Parker deprived him of his "right to life, liberty and security.")
Canada to test medical marijuana (The Ottawa Citizen version)
Marijuana health test backed (The Toronto Star version)
Canada Orders Clinical Trials Of Medical Marijuana (The Reuters version)
Medicinal marijuana - background materials (The Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy posts the URL for House of Commons' transcripts and media reports related to the announcement by Minister of Health Alan Rock about the clinical trials for medical marijuana.)
An Outpost In The Banana And Marijuana Wars (The New York Times says that when American troops in December helped destroy more than one million marijuana plants in the rugged northern regions of St. Vincent, the Caribbean island nation, growers were outraged. There is also a marked hostility against Clinton for waging war with Europe over banana trade preferences, the backbone of the legitimate economy. Some government and business leaders say the United States risks undermining its anti-drug efforts if banana growers turn to drugs - not just marijuana - as an alternative. At the very least, the banana issue is creating such deep resentment that it may compromise the willingness of Caribbean countries to continue cooperating in anti-drug efforts. "When Caricom countries meet in July, I think you'll see a bold statement of resistance," said Ivelaw Griffith, a Caribbean expert at Florida International University in Miami.)
Simich Taken To Task For Marijuana Comment (According to the Dominion, New Zealand Police Minister Clem Simich was taken to task yesterday by a former undercover policeman for saying in Parliament that marijuana was harmful, while at the same time allowing undercover policemen to use the drug. Simich also had a novel theory to explain police perjury. The former agent, whose name has been suppressed by the High Court, claimed officers were required to smoke marijuana every day during their training to familiarise themselves with its affects and to build up tolerance. The former agent is a spokesman for a group of more than 50 former policemen who are claiming exemplary damages from the police for stress and addiction. A recent survey showed a 20 per cent to 50 per cent rate of drug addiction among undercover agents.)
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Wednesday, March 3, 1999:
Health Care: Drinking and Voting (Willamette Week, in Portland, promotes Oregon Senate Bill 529, the Mental Health Parity Act, which would force insurance companies to deal with disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and alcoholism the same way they deal with chronic physical illnesses such as asthma and diabetes - without imposing arbitrary limits on the amount of money spent, the length of a patient's stay or the number of visits allowed. A poll commissioned by the Oregon Medical Association, released March 3, shows 85 percent of Oregon voters favor parity for mental illness, and 66 percent favor parity for chemical dependency. But SB 529 remains bottled up in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Chairman Bill Fisher, a Roseburg Republican, said he would not schedule a hearing.)
Crime and Justice: The Snitch Switch (Willamette Week says a bogus police report circulating among gang members in Northeast Portland makes Isaac Harden look like an even bigger stool pigeon than Aaron Walker, who testified against Isaac and Danny Harden in their recent attempted-murder trial. As a result, when Harden enters prison, he'll be considered a snitch, a marked man.)
Sidestepping Side Effects (A letter to the editor of Willamette Week, in Portland, says the newspaper's recent article on Ritalin failed to mention the serious side-effects children can suffer. Some have developed Tourette's syndrome after long-term use.)
Pot shots: Peron stages sit-in at Migden's office (The San Francisco Bay Guardian says medical marijuana activist Dennis Peron and a handful of supporters staged a 45-minute sit-in at the San Francisco office of state assembly member Carole Migden on Feb. 26 to protest Migden's refusal to sponsor a bill that would legally reschedule marijuana in California if and when it's rescheduled by the federal government.)
California State Sen. John Vasconcellos Has Just Touched The Tip Of The Iceberg (A letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times explains the mindset among federal judges caused by Congress killing the federal sentencing commission. As a result, judicial timidity is subverting the constitution and murdering medical marijuana defendant Peter McWilliams. California officials should storm the Bastille and protect their citizen from a federal government gone mad.)
Marijuana Brings Relief (A testimonial letter to the editor of the Bangor Daily News from a veteran caregiver who is currently watching her sister-in-law die "an inch at a time" from pancreatic cancer urges Maine voters to support a November ballot measure that would legalize marijuana for medical conditions.)
Place Called Mena - Just Some Facts (Wall Street Journal editorial writer Micah Morrison clues in corporate America to what is probably the real Clinton administration scandal - the officially sanctioned smuggling of illegal drugs through Mena airport while Clinton was governor.)
Report Due This Month On Medical Marijuana (An otherwise unremarkable letter to the editor of USA Today by Francis X. Kinney from the Office of National Drug Control Policy reiterates federal policy on medical marijuana - but notes the comprehensive review of existing research on marijuana's potential "benefits and harms" will be released by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine "this month.")
Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced (The Associated Press says U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts proposed legislation Wednesday that would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, meaning it could be prescribed by doctors under certain conditions, just as cocaine and other controlled substances are. The bill would set aside the federal ban on marijuana in those states where voters have permitted medical use of the drug, but would not affect states that have not permitted such use.)
DRCNet Newsflash (A bulletin from the Drug Reform Coordination Network alerts online activists to two developments - a "48 Hours" newscast on chronic pain, and opposing op-eds by U.S. Rep. Mark Souder and DRCNet's Adam J. Smith in the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, regarding the Higher Education Act's ban on loans to student pot smokers.)
US Criticism Of China Rings Hollow In US Prisons (Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson contrasts the U.S. State Department's report last week on human rights abuses in China with Sunday's New York Times article about human rights abuses in America attributable to the crack cocaine scare of 1986. It is increasingly difficult for the United States to demand that China be on the "right side of history" when you could take many parts of the State Department report, change only the location, and have the same report about the United States. For example, the State Department complains that China is in denial about racism against its ethnic minorities, yet nearly every serious study of the American criminal justice system has found that it profoundly discriminates against African-Americans and Latinos.)
Dad lacks strength to read dead son's journal (A letter to the editor of the Province, in British Columbia, from a father whose son was poisoned in 1993 by adulterated street heroin, says prohibition also killed Allister Marselje, who weighed out gram bags of cannabis in a Vancouver smoke-easy. Bigoted and ignorant citizens are needed to maintain the war on drugs. Jean Chretien, the Canadian prime minister, could do something, but refuses to lift a finger to save the lives of our children. Allister's death must be laid at Chretien's door.)
Canada To Study Medical Marijuana (The Associated Press says Canada's health minister, Alan Rock, has authorized clinical trials to determine if marijuana is a useful medicine for people suffering from terminal illnesses and other painful conditions. Rock stressed during debate in Parliament Wednesday that the decision did not mean the government was moving toward wider legalization of marijuana for non-medical purposes. Aside from gathering scientific evidence, The health minister also said he wants officials to examine how to provide access to a safe supply of medical marijuana for those who might need it.)
Rock agrees to pot trials (The Canadian Press version)
Canada Orders Clinical Trials Of Medical Marijuana (The Reuters version)
Dope Inquiry Aside, Status Quo To Stay (The New Zealand Herald says that despite a parliamentary committee's report in December encouraging the Government to review cannabis policies, the Minister of Police, Clem Simich, has indicated that no changes are in the pipeline.)
New Drug Army Rules Atop 'Golden Triangle' (According to an Associated Press article in the Seattle Times, the U.S. State Department calls the United Wa State Army, one of many ethnic groups not controlled by the central government of Myanmar, part of "the world's biggest armed narcotics-trafficking organization." A generation ago, the Wa were feared headhunters. Now, Thai officers monitoring the border say the Wa are becoming the masters of the Golden Triangle, where the frontiers of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand converge. Tensions have risen as the central government has demanded that the Wa head back toward their old strongholds near China. The Wa, unwilling to lose heroin gateways through Thailand, have ignored the order and begun preparing for war.)
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Tuesday, March 2, 1999:
NORML Special News Bulletin: Federal Bill Reintroduced To Legalize Medical Marijuana (A press release from NORML says Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, introduced the "Medical Use of Marijuana Act" today in Congress. Keith Stroup of NORML said, "Historically, states have been more receptive to the medical marijuana issue than the federal government," noting that 36 state legislatures have passed laws recognizing marijuana's medical value. "This legislation addresses this paradigm and effectively gets the federal government out of the way of those states that wish to make marijuana available as a medicine." Co-sponsors of the bill include Reps. Tom Campbell, R-Calif.; John Conyers, D-Mich.; John Olver, D-Mass.; Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Pete Stark, D-Calif.; and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.)
Minorities cringe at the sound of sirens (The Oregonian notes a group monitoring the effect of a one-year-old law that gives police virtually limitless powers to stop and search anyone delivered a report to the state legislature Monday. House Bill 2433, sponsored by "the law enforcement community" and passed by the 1997 legislature, allows police to stop a person if an officer "reasonably suspects" the person is about to commit a crime. While the newspaper suppresses the actual results of a survey of Oregon minorities included in the report, it suggests minorities do not think relations with police have declined since the law went into effect because civil rights violations by police couldn't get much worse anyway.)
Lawmakers May Soften Drug Penalties To Cut Prison Costs (The Seattle Times says skyrocketing prison costs are causing Washington legislators to concede mandatory minimum sentencing hasn't worked, especially with drug offenders. House Bill 1006, introduced by state Rep. Ida Ballasiotes, R-Mercer Island, would free judges from imposing mandatory sentences on controlled-substance violators and allow some offenders to be sentenced to treatment programs in lieu of more prison time. The bill is popular. It was approved unanimously by the House Criminal Justice and Corrections and has the backing of prosecutors, judges and most lawmakers.)
State Liquor Board is due for a wholesale makeover / Five things you can do to support the McCoys (Seattle Times columnist Michelle Malkin gives an update on the city of Seattle's attempt to close the business of innocent restauranteers Oscar and Barbara McCoy under a drug-abatement law. The Washington Liquor Control Board is accused of serving as a patsy for the city attorney in helping to close Oscar's II. Tomorrow a grass-roots group called Citizens for Free-Market Liquor will file a statewide initiative to privatize liquor sales. Exempt from market forces and political accountability, the liquor agency has gradually amassed unchecked authority and personnel. Plus a list subscriber tells you how to help prevent the closure of Oscar's II.)
3 Strikes Law Found to Be of No Effect (The Los Angeles Times says a new study by the Justice Policy Institute, to be released today and published this fall in the Stanford Law and Policy Review, says California's law mandating 25 years to life for a third felony offense has had no measurable effect on reducing violence. Crime has fallen at about the same rate in counties that aggressively enforce the three strikes law as in those that do not. The study also found that the one age group most affected by the law, felons ages 30 to 39, have committed more crimes. "In other words, the age group that is most likely to be sentenced under three strikes witnessed increases in felony arrests and violent crime," the study reports. About one fifth of third-strike inmates were found guilty of a violent offense, including robbery. By contrast, 37 percent were convicted of property crimes, such as theft, and 30 percent were found guilty of "drug" offenses, mostly possession.)
Real Justice in Riverside, California. Tyisha Miller (A list subscriber forwards a statement that it's "time to force the Riverside Police Department to admit the drug tests for the four police officers that gunned down Tyisha Miller got lost. . . . That explains why the retired doctor was blown away in Redlands. He got access to those test results and they had to kill him.")
Incarceration Won't Solve Drug Problem (Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer comments on Sunday's seminal New York Times article about the role of the 1986 crack cocaine scare in exacerbating America's prison-industrial complex. There are 400,000 people in American prisons simply because the government claims it must save them from themselves. What will it take for Americans to give a damn that so many people who pose little or no threat to others are nonetheless languishing in prison due to an out-of-control "drug war" that has irrationally defined their vices as more dangerous than others that are demonstrably more risky to others? Even driving drunk is punished much less severely than the mere possession of crack cocaine. The nation's drug war is irrational, racist, draconian and hugely expensive.)
Medical marijuana legal on Thursday (The Juneau Empire notes the law approved by Alaska voters last November goes into effect March 4.)
Judge keeps supervision of prisons - System remains cruel, he says; AG to appeal (The Dallas Morning News says after three weeks of hearings in January and February, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice issued a 167-page decision Monday finding that Texas prisons are still brutal and inhumane, and ordered Texas prisons to remain under federal oversight. Attorney General John Cornyn said "All along we felt the final decision would be made by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and that's where we head next.")
California Medical Marijuana Bills (A news release from California NORML says two medical marijuana bills have been introduced in Sacramento by state senator John Vasconcellos. The first, S.B. 847 would establish a $1 million medical marijuana research program. The second, S.B. 848, would establish a distribution system based on recommendations from the Attorney General's working group on medical marijuana.)
What casualties has the drug war left behind? (Molly Ivins, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram's syndicated columnist, recapitulates yesterday's seminal New York Times article on what fear of crack cocaine has done to the American criminal justice system. "Unless you are a drug user or know somebody in the joint, all this may seem far removed from your life. It's not. They're taking money away from your kids' schools to pay for all this, from helping people who are mentally retarded and mentally ill, from mass transit and public housing and more parkland and . . .")
Pataki To Propose Stiffer Sentencing Laws (The Times Union, in New York, says Governor George Pataki, the former cannabis consumer, will propose next week a ban on parole for nonviolent felons. Last year, the governor succeeded in abolishing parole for violent felons. Now, his focus is on nonviolent offenders.)
Firing Renews Police Debate (The San Jose Mercury News says the allegation that police single out minorities for car stops has arisen again and again, in class-action lawsuits from Gloucester County, N.J., to Toledo, Ohio, to Eagle County, Colo.; in a new suit in Maryland; in judges' findings; in calls for federal legislation - and now, in the firing of New Jersey's state police superintendent, Col. Carl Williams.)
Police Chief Fired For Race-Drugs Slur (The Irish Independent version)
Political Fallout Over NJ State Police Col. Carl Williams (The Philadelphia Inquirer says a day after New Jersey Governor Whitman ousted Col. Carl A. Williams as the head of the state police for saying the drug trade is handled mostly by minorities, a top black leader and Democratic legislators demanded that she delay the nomination of her attorney general to the state Supreme Court until his office completes a review of the state police force.)
Racial Attitudes In Jersey's State Police (A staff editorial in the New York Times says New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman did the right thing in dismissing Col. Carl Williams as superintendent of the state police. Williams' comments linking minorities with drug trafficking provided new insight into the possibility that racial profiling may be deeply rooted in the police agency.)
Judge Says Ban Against Hemp Growing Doesn't Hurt Kentucky Farmers (The Lexington Herald-Leader says U.S. District Judge Karl S. Forester has dismissed a lawsuit filed last May by Kentucky farmers and the 100-member Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association, seeking to overturn the state and federal ban on industrial hemp. The judge never actually examined the law and how it affects hemp. Forester ruled that the farmers do not have standing to challenge the law that prohibits growing hemp because they are not being hurt by it. And they are not being hurt by the law because nobody grows hemp.)
Number Of Blacks In Prison Nears 1 Million (A Boston Globe article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says an analysis of Justice Department statistics by the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, an Arlington, Virginia, legal reform group, shows the number of black adults behind bars will hit the 1 million mark - roughly one in 10 black men - for the first time in 2000. That represents nearly an eightfold increase from 30 years ago. "We're incarcerating an entire generation of people," said Laurie Levensen, a former federal prosecutor and associate dean at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.)
"Effective National Drug Control Strategy" released (A news release from Common Sense for Drug Policy, in Virginia, says the Network of Reform Groups, a coalition of two dozen organizations working for more sensible drug policies and representing more than 100,000 people, will release a report tomorrow while the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, testifies before a House subcommittee on his year 2000 budget request. The report - available online - used government data and independent research to show current policies have failed to protect America's children from drug abuse and failed to reduce the availability of cocaine and heroin. The report also suggests a comprehensive alternative strategy.)
U.S. Congressmen Want Mexico Blacklisted For Drugs (Reuters says a group of Republican congressmen introduced a resolution Tuesday to overturn President Clinton's decision last Friday to certify Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in the United States' war on some drug users. But Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell of Georgia said he did not think decertification of Mexico would pass in the Senate.)
Drug War Pretenses (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register about the annual battle over certifying Mexico as an ally in the drug war says the president will pretend that Mexico is cooperating. The Mexican government will go along with the pretense. But the annual pretense is only a small part of a larger, ongoing game of pretense and denial. The government pretends that the drug war is a good idea. It pretends that dealing with drug use as a law-enforcement problem rather than a personal or medical problem doesn't make every aspect of drug use worse rather than better. Until citizens are ready to deal with the larger game of "Let's Pretend," the annual pretense over certifying Mexico will continue.)
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Monday, March 1, 1999:
Public Health Emergency: Oregon health officials remain silent as record drug deaths fall hardest on the poor, minorities (A bulletin from Floyd Ferris Landrath, who exchanges needles for intravenous drug users at the Harm Reduction Zone in Portland, discusses the recent report that heroin-related deaths in Oregon have hit a new high. Local health officials are showing the usual dereliction of duty by failing to respond to a study on the health emergency caused by the war on some drug users, published by Dr. Ernest Drucker in the January-February issue of Public Health Reports, the official journal of the U.S. Public Health Service.)
Quiet Death In Oregon (A New York Times staff editorial in the International Herald-Tribune says Oregon's unique physician-assisted suicide law seems to show that it is possible to make law and bureaucratic rules that allow people to take responsibility for themselves, without the state or anyone else abusing them. That is cause for relief.)
Clicking For Contraband (The San Francisco Chronicle says the black market has never been more accessible. Anyone with a computer and an Internet account can find all sorts of contraband for sale on the Web: machine guns, marijuana, prescription drugs, switchblade knives, endangered species, Cuban cigars and much more. Even when law enforcers are aware of black market activity, it is not easy to take action.)
Juvenile Jail Sought (The San Jose Mercury News says the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is proposing to spend $250 million to build a 540-bed jail for kids to relieve crowding at its juvenile hall, despite some concerns that too many children will end up locked away. Targeted to open in 2003, the jail would be second in size only to Los Angeles' facilities, which hold about 1,500 children. Alameda County probation officials say the expansion is desperately needed, in part because a rise in juvenile crime is predicted over the next several years.)
Bill Seeks To Clarify Who Gets Drug Loot (The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says the large amount of supposedly drug-tainted cash forfeited to police has prompted Sen. Wayne Dowd, D-Texarkana, to introduce Senate Bill 555. Dowd's bill seeks to resolve some of the conflict between state and federal authorities over which entity gets the booty in such seizures and how seized property is recorded. Dowd claimed that agencies are taking forfeiture cases to federal court so they can keep more of the loot. Dowd also said he had heard stories of prosecutors using forfeited vehicles for personal use. SB 555 would put an end to prosecutors' practice of releasing some people while signing forfeiture orders against their property. Dowd said no one's property should be taken without a judge's order.)
Crack's Legacy: Second Of Two Articles: Soldiers of the Drug War Remain on Duty (The New York Times says it was the escalation of the drug war that brought military-style policing, particularly SWAT teams, into most American cities. The police said they felt outgunned and underarmored against gangs. But now that the worst violence associated with the gang and crack wars of the '80s has faded, the police presence has remained and, in many cases, escalated. The expanding role of SWAT teams across the country has been fed by the forfeiture laws that allow the police to keep much of what they take in raids. But there are no figures on the total amount of property seized by all police departments nationwide.)
Lawyer says people's militia may be answer to combating police brutality (The Associated Press says New York City attorney Roger Wareham and a civil rights group called the December 12th Movement are planning a commmunity forum Monday evening at a Harlem church. The purpose of the meeting is to consider forming a people's militia, because local, state and federal officials have failed to address the problem of police brutality in the city.)
N.J. Police Superintendent Is Fired (The Associated Press follows up on yesterday's news about New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman firing State Police Superintendent Col. Carl Williams on Sunday after he said in an interview with the Star-Ledger of Newark that minority groups were more likely to be involved in drug trafficking.)
N.J. Police Leader Fired As Critics Claim Bias (The version in the Charlotte Observer, in North Carolina)
NJ Gov. Ousts Police Superintendent (The UPI version)
Police Chief Fired Over Remarks (The New York Times version in the San Jose Mercury News)
Emergency Last Minute Plea For Help (A bulletin from a publicist for the federal medical marijuana class action lawsuit being litigated by Lawrence Elliott Hirsch seeks donors to help as many patients as possible attend oral arguments March 3 in Philadelphia.)
Treatment of Tourette's Syndrome With Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (The March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry features a report by four German physicians about their single-subject experiment documenting the efficacy of the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana as medicine for the neuropsychiatric disorder.)
Dear Abby: Battle Lines In Drug War Not So Easily Drawn (Abigail Van Buren, America's venerable syndicated advice columnist, says marijuana laws are overdue for an overhaul, that she looks favorably on the use of marijuana as medicine, and recommends parents learn the facts about marijuana by reading "Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts," by Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D., and John P. Morgan, M.D., published by the Lindesmith Center.)
McCaffrey Denies Rumors of Resignation (An excerpt from Semena, a magazine in Colombia, quotes General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, denying a recent Washington Times claim that he will leave soon for the American Red Cross.)
Hemp BC's Final "Show-Cause Showdown" With the City (A news release and call to action issued by Cannabis Culture magazine, in Vancouver, British Columbia, notes a city hearing on March 8 will be the hemp store's last chance to renew its business licence. Actually, the "decision" seems to have been made already. The only thing that might make a difference is a public outcry. Hemp BC's Sister Icee has already attended four of the city council hearings. The hearings, characterized by the local media as a "kangaroo court," have been fraught with shows of bad faith, disrespect for the Supreme Court of BC, and blatant lying by the city and its lawyers. Fear-mongering police officers, instrumental in past busts against Hemp BC, have been called as witnesses to slander Icee's store. In the gallery, a disaffected public hiss and boo at the outrageous injustice of the city's machinations.)
Censoring Pot (A letter to the editor of the National Post says the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board recent criticism of Canadians' freedom of speech deserves the scrutiny of the International Misleading Rhetoric Control Board.)
Mexico Drug Certification Likely (The Associated Press says congressional critics of the Clinton administration's decision to certify Mexico as an ally in the United States' war on some drug users are moving to formally challenge the president. But opponents - mostly in the House - seem unlikely to muster the necessary votes.)
Paraguay Suggests Politics Behind U.S. Drugs Policy (Reuters says Paraguay attacked U.S. drug policy on Monday, after the United States' government decertified Paraguay Friday as an ally in its war on some drug users. Paraguay suggested political considerations unrelated to the drug war explained how the United States' government went about certifying or not certifying various nations.)
Prescriptions Put 80,000 In Hospital: Study (According to the Age, in Melbourne, Australia, a study released today in the Journal of Quality in Clinical Practice, written by Ms Libby Roughead, a pharmacist at the school of pharmacy and medical science at the University of South Australia, More than 80,000 people are taken to hospital each year because of adverse drug reactions, between 32 per cent and 69 per cent of them avoidable. Between 2.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent of all Australian public hospital admissions were likely to be "drug-related," costing hospitals at least $900 million annually. Meanwhile, a study by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners found that 50 per cent of adverse events in general practice were drug-related. Apparently neither study estimated the number of pharmaceutical-related deaths.)
Parents Fit Secret Cameras To Spy On Their Children (The Daily Telegraph, in Britain, says American parents, who 30 years ago got high and hallucinated that there was a police state in placid middle America, are resorting to Cold War espionage techniques to fight drug and alcohol abuse, bugging their children's telephones, installing secret cameras in clock radios and sending strands of hair retrieved from pillows for analysis at drug laboratories.)
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Sunday, February 28, 1999:
Grand jury finds shooting by Bend officer justified (The Oregonian says a Deschutes County grand jury Friday found that the Bend policeman who shot and killed 21-year-old Adam Gantenbein acted in justifiable self-defense. The family of Gantenbein, who moved to Bend from Portland several months ago, says he was a "nice guy" whose steady behavior is at odds with police accounts of the incident. Adam's father, Calvin Gantenbein, a former Portland Police officer, said that he and another retired Portland police officer had interviewed people who witnessed the shooting. What those witnesses said "does not match what the police were saying," he said in an interview Saturday. They intend to conduct their own investigation. "The family questions why the police department and the DA's office find it necessary to violate Oregon public records law," he said.)
Thurston County wraps up case against marijuana advocate (The Associated Press says Gideon Israel is supposed to report to the Thurston County Jail on Monday to begin serving a nine-month sentence for conspiracy to deliver and manufacture marijuana and possession with intent to deliver LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. Israel is the former proprietor of Rainbow Valley, 42 acres on the Black River south of Littlerock, where he lived and held rock concerts for 12 years. The People's Land Trust has filed a lawsuit against the county task force and the King County Sheriff's Office, seeking to save Rainbow Valley from forfeiture.)
Showdown Looms On California Medical Pot Law (An editorial in the Auburn Journal by the newspaper's city editor, Pat McCartney, says this week, two high-profile cases in Placer County will test California's medical marijuana law. On Monday, Rocklin dentist Michael Baldwin and his wife Georgia will return to court in Auburn to answer felony cultivation charges. The next day, online magazine publisher Steve Kubby and his wife, Michele, will attend a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge James D. Garbolino, seeking the return of some of the marijuana they grew. All we need is some compassion to implement Proposition 215. In Steve Kubby's case, it's a matter of life or death.)
Rational Talk On Pot A Rare Event (Jim Wasserman, a columnist for the Fresno Bee, says marijuana is an old cause that never quite dies. Although the government blows ever more money trying to eradicate it and imprisons ever more citizens trying to stop it, people will still drift into a Fresno art gallery on a Thursday night to talk about it. But outside, it's a law-and-order world, where corporations make drug testing the newest solution and elected officials make illegal drugs impossible to talk about rationally. You wouldn't even know medical marijuana is legal locally.)
War On Drugs Is Not Right (A letter to the editor of the Log Cabin Democrat, in Arkansas, says reform of medical marijuana laws has been supported by the DEA's own administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, the New York City Bar Association and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science.)
Is There A Ventura In Kentucky's Future? (Robert T. Garrett, a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, says Annie Shimp is the stuff of nightmares, or at least insomnia, for Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. She's a swing voter who is highly disgruntled with both major political parties. She might vote for a Jesse Ventura-type candidate, if there were an option comparable to the new Minnesota governor on this year's ballot. Shimp, 66, of Prospect, called the newspaper the other day to find out how to help Gatewood Galbraith obtain the 5,000 signatures he needs to qualify this fall as an independent candidate for governor. She thinks his idea of restoring hemp cultivation on Kentucky farms is a good one.)
Crack's Legacy: First of Two Articles - The War on Drugs Retreats, Still Taking Prisoners (The New York Times notes the worst legacy of the crack cocaine scare the newspaper took the lead in hyping in 1986 has been the harsh laws passed by Congress that have increased the number of incarcerated drug offenders by more than 400 percent, shifted money from schools to prisons and transformed police work, hospitals, parental rights, and courts. Marijuana was never mentioned in the floor speeches in Congress when the drug laws were rewritten in 1986, but the new penalties for crack were accompanied by harsher sentences for most "drugs." Ten years later, more people were sentenced under the federal system for marijuana than for any other substance. What the prison boom has not done, however, is reduce illicit drug use. The most recent National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, for 1997, estimated about 14 million people had used an illegal drug in the last month, a number barely changed since 1988. Of those, 600,000 had smoked crack, unchanged since 1988. In Congress, which enacted the 1986 drug laws without a single hearing, another major legacy has been an inability for more than a decade to engage in policy discussions about prisons and drugs.)
N.J. Police Superintendent Is Fired (The Associated Press says New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman fired State Police Superintendent Col. Carl Williams on Sunday after he said in an interview with the Star-Ledger of Newark that minority groups were more likely to be involved in drug trafficking.)
Mom Mourns Son Lost To Mean Streets (The Vancouver Province, in British Columbia, travels to Calgary to interview the grieving mother of 21-year-old Allister Marselje, who died trying to navigate safely through the seamy underbelly of the marijuana culture in Vancouver created by prohibition. Allister's beaten body was discovered last December in a dumpster behind the Cross Town Traffic Cafe, a smoke-easy off Vancouver's West Hastings Street where Marselje earned a living weighing out gram bags. Police believe he was the victim of a struggle for power and money in the city's lucrative, world-famous marijuana underworld, killed because he was believed to have information about a contract on the life of a major player in the cafe's business. The contract may not even have existed. Charged with Allister's murder is Alhaj Hadani, 28; Ross Living, 22, and Jamie Yochlowitz, 25. All three will appear in court tomorrow to set a trial date.)
Re: Mom Mourns Son Lost To Mean Streets (A letter sent to the editor of the Vancouver Province says prohibition, not marijuana, killed Allister Marselje. A 1998 study by the U.S. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found the number of state inmates incarcerated for violent crime who were under the influence of cannabis alone at the time of their offense was too small to be recorded statistically. The report found 21 percent of state inmates incarcerated for violent crime were under the influence of alcohol alone when they committed their crime. Only 3 percent were under the influence of cocaine and 1 percent were under the influence of heroin alone.)
Judge Sentenced For Laundering Drug Cash (The Chicago Tribune version of Friday's news about Robert Flahiff, the Quebec Superior Court judge who is free on bail while appealing a penalty of 3 years in prison for laundering more than $1 million in drug money between 1989 and 1991, while he was still a lawyer)
Clinton Certifies Mexico As Full Partner In Drug War, Despite Reports Of Corruption (The Buffalo News, in New York, says President Clinton on Friday gave his stamp of approval to Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in the "crusade against drugs," despite testimony from U.S. law enforcement officials that illegal-substance syndicates south of the border had gained enormous power.)
A Forgiving Relationship (An editorial in the San Diego Union Tribune ponders President Clinton's whirlwind summit in Merida this month with Mexican President Zedillo. Mexico detests the certification process and the annual criticism it foments from its overbearing neighbor to the north. It is American drug consumption that provides the rich incentives for narco-criminals, whose work undermines law and order in Mexico. "We feel that it's a unilateral, subjective and unfair process," said Mexico's former ambassador to the United States, Jesus Silva-Herzog. "It's difficult for us to understand how is it possible that the largest consumer of drugs in the world becomes the judge." There is a vast disparity between living standards in Mexico, a nation of 95 million people with an average per capita income of $4,400 per year, and the United States, where, with 250 million people, per capita income averages seven times that.)
Sinaloa: Mexico's Capital Of Drug Crime (The San Francisco Examiner rewrites a recent Los Angeles Times article about the social disintegration in the Mexican state caused by prohibition in America.)
Mexico Holds Former Police Chief For Drugs - Reports (According to Reuters, El Universal newspaper and Reforma daily said Rodolfo Leon Aragon, the former head of Mexico's equivalent of the FBI, the federal judicial police, was arrested Friday in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on charges of taking up to $1 million in bribes from the Juarez drug cartel. Leon Aragon's detention meant police had carried out six of the just-under-40 arrest warrants issued last weekend in connection with the drugs trade and money-laundering operations in the state of Quintana Roo.)
Pilots Face Tough New Breath Tests (The Mail on Sunday says Britain's aviation minister, Glenda Jackson, is reacting to fears that pilots are flouting the ban on consuming alcohol 48 hours before flying by unilaterally requiring pilots to submit to breath tests. Foreign pilots are the main target. Refusal to take the tests will result in an immediate ban from flying into or out of UK airports.)
Anger as police take pupils to cannabis cafes (The Daily Telegraph, in Britain, says certain parents and teacher groups are angry about a plan to take 60 schoolchildren to visit cannabis cafes in Amsterdam's red light district as part of a drugs education project run by police. Police believe the teenagers need to have a rounded picture of drug-taking, even if that means taking them to places where drugs are legal and taken freely. A spokesman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations said: "There is a danger that in giving children too much information about drugs, we encourage them to experiment.")
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Saturday, February 27, 1999:
State sees more neglected children, many left to wander (The Oregonian prints a classic piece promoting the war on some drug-using parents, alleging that throughout Oregon, "Parents who can't hear their children crying through a fog of drugs or alcohol" leave "Toddlers wandering alone in busy parking lots. Children living in homes full of garbage, rats and lice." The newspaper avoids discussing one aspect of the impossible task faced by caseworkers, who give the highest priority to removing children from the homes of parents who use cannabis or other illegal substances, failing to note the actual numbers involved or the fact that the vast majority of parents who use alcohol or other drugs do so responsibly.)
Moose reiterates volunteer policies (The Oregonian says Portland Police Chief Charles Moose alerted staff Friday that background investigations must be carried out on all civilian volunteers. Moose's memo comes in the wake of the arrest for bank robbery of Louie Lira Jr., a former gang outreach worker and police volunteer who turned out to have re-entered the country illegally after being expelled for robbery and drug convictions in California.)
Smokers responsible for plight (A letter to the editor of the Oregonian raises an issue the newspaper ignored in its sympathetic article about the $110 million lawsuit against the tobacco company, Philip Morris, which went to trial last week in Portland. Namely, how the family of Jesse Williams, a man who smoked Marlboros for 42 years, apparently until he died, in 1997, can get around the issue of personal responsibility as defined by tort law.)
No space: Jail sends 19 home (The Herald, in Everett, Washington, says the Will County jail has exceeded its 318-bed limit by more than 100 prisoners. Will County Executive Chuck Adelman said, "When I first came on the county board, law enforcement accounted for a third of the budget. Now it accounts for about three-quarters. . . . We've got some tough decisions in the next few years." Ending the war on some drug users apparently hasn't occurred to anyone, however.)
Renegade Jurors (A letter to the editor of the Washington Post from Laura Kriho corrects the newspaper's recent article about jury nullification, noting her conviction in Colorado was for an unprecedented crime - sitting on a jury and not reading the mind of a prosecutor and not volunteering information that wasn't asked.)
DEA Is Sued Over Border Shooting (The Associated Press says the family of Abecnego Monje Ortiz, an unarmed 18-year-old Mexican man shot in the back and paralyzed last month by Wilbur Honeycutt, a drug task force officer stationed in Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border, is seeking $25 million from the Drug Enforcement Administration.)
Ex-tobacco executive charged in smuggling scheme (The Associated Press says Leslie Thompson, a former R.J. Reynolds marketing executive, was arrested this week in Detroit on money laundering charges for allegedly helping smugglers scheme to sell nearly $700 million worth of cigarettes on the Canadian black market. Two dozen people have been convicted in the case and are awaiting sentencing. In December, Northern Brands International, an R.J. Reynolds subsidiary, admitted helping the smuggling ring and paid $15 million in fines and forfeitures.)
Veteran Bensenville Police Officer Is Accused Of Evidence-Tampering (The Chicago Tribune says William Wassman, a 14-year veteran of the police department in Bensenville, Illinois, was charged Friday with switching evidence that eventually was used to convict an unnamed defendant in a 1995 cocaine possession case. Steps are being taken to vacate the conviction, according to Joseph Birkett, a DuPage County state's attorney.)
Agitation for softening harsh drug statutes more vocal than ever (The Associated Press says vocal opposition to New York state's mandatory minimum Rockefeller Drug Laws has never been louder. Calls for reform from the chief judge of the state's highest court, Judith Kaye, and the state's newly elected attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, have been seconded by Human Rights Watch and a group that includes Warren Anderson, Douglas Barclay and John Dunne, three former Republican state senators who voted in favor of the laws when they were first passed 25 years ago.)
The Cost Of Banning Dope (Syndicated columnist William F. Buckley writes in the New York Post about the pretrial death sentence being inflicted by the federal government on medical marijuana defendant Peter McWilliams in California. In the heated polemical traffic on the McWilliams case one letter stands out, from ex NORML director Richard Cowan: "One of the problems that the marijuana reform movement consistently faces is that everyone wants to talk about what marijuana does, but no one ever wants to look at what marijuana prohibition does. Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.")
AIDS Epidemic Hitting African-Americans The Hardest (The Baltimore Sun covers the first medical conference on AIDS among black Americans, where about 1,000 health care providers and activists gathered in Washington, D.C. AIDS in the United States is evolving from a disease that once mostly affected white homosexuals into one largely of poor blacks, often infected from dirty drug needles or heterosexual encounters. Blacks make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population but a devastating 45 percent of new AIDS cases, receive poorer care than whites and die faster. Prisons are one cause of the disproportionate spread of AIDS to black women. Disproportionate allocation of medical resources outside black communities is another.)
Health Workers Fight An AIDS Racial Divide (A lengthier version in the Austin American-Statesman identifies the source as Cox Interactive Media.)
Details Surface Of Deputy's Drug Arrest (The Charlotte Observer says Sgt. Bryant Reginald Hudson, a sheriff's deputy in Sumter County, North Carolina, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly selling cocaine to pay for his sick child's medical expenses.)
McCaffrey Wants Mexico Certification (The Associated Press says the Clinton administration was expected to announce today that it would certify Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in the United States' war on some drug users. The White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, warned drug warriors in Congress that refusing to certify Mexico would send an unwise and wrongheaded political message.)
Many Mexicans See Little Use For Certification (Reuters says there is a growing realization among all classes that the United States' annual certification ritual is not a viable policy with regard to Mexico. One thing is for sure. Next year's certification exercise, which will coincide with the start of a presidential election campaign, will be far more stormy. If the United States were to take the plunge and decertify Mexico, it could play straight into the hands of Mexican politicians with a nationalist agenda, analysts said.)
Despite Flood Of Drugs, U.S. Says Mexico Is Staunch Ally (According to the Wilmington Morning Star, in North Carolina, President Clinton certified Mexico and Colombia Friday as fully cooperative allies in the United States' war on some drug users, even though most "hard drugs" flooding the United States come from those countries.)
Mexico, Colombia Certified As Anti-Drug Allies (The New York Times version in the San Jose Mercury News)
Clinton OKs Mexico's Effort At Fighting Drugs (The Des Moines Register version)
Clinton Praises Mexico As He Certifies It As Partner In Drug War (The Associated Press version in the Orange County Register)
U.S. Certifies Mexico As Drug War Ally (The Cox Interactive Media version in the Austin American-Statesman)
Mexico Grumpy But Pleased With Drug Certification (An Associated Press article in the San Diego Union Tribune quotes an undersecretary at the Foreign Secretariat saying Mexico was happy "that an obstacle has not been imposed to cooperation." "It should be us who certify the United States," said Vicente Yanez, the president of the National Chamber of Manufacturing Industries.)
Quebec Judge Sentenced To 3 Years (The Associated Press version of yesterday's news about Robert Flahiff, a Quebec Superior Court judge, remaining free on bail pending his appeal of a three-year sentence for laundering more than $1 million in drug money while he was still a lawyer)
Are cannabis and psychosis linked? (The Lancet, in Britain, continues its unscientific revisionism on cannabis issues, asking an epidemiological question and finding an Australian drug warrior to provide a subjective answer that ignores what little epidemiological evidence exists. Wayne Hall, executive director of National Drug and Alcohol Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, makes the classic error of looking only at the schizophrenia patients for whom cannabis was not effective. Using the same logic and methodology, one could blame Thorazine for causing or exacerbating psychosis by studying only those whom it didn't help. And both Hall and the Lancet examine the issue without context or degree, as if it hadn't been established long ago that alcohol use is much more prevalently associated with psychosis.)
Start Heroin Trials, Urges Australian Politician (The Lancet says Jeff Kennett, the premier of Victoria, where heroin-related deaths outnumber traffic fatalities so far this year, has lent his support to national heroin maintenance trials.)
Acne and Ecstasy - Spots might show that drugs are destroying your liver (In a monument to reductionist thinking, New Scientist, in Britain, uses the cases of two German patients exposed to a street drug supposed to be MDMA to assert that a rash that looks like acne may identify people who risk suffering severe side effects from ecstasy. Not mentioned - the same sort of rash is a not uncommon side effect of some antidepressants. As well as, one assumes, whatever contaminants tainted the street drugs used by the two German patients.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 8 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
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Friday, February 26, 1999:
Cigarette sales go down in Oregon (According to the Associated Press, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that local sales of cigarettes decreased 11.3 percent from 1996 to 1998, despite a 2.7 percent increase in Oregon's population. The CDC says a tax increase of 30 cents to 68 cents a pack, passed by voters in November 1996, contributed to a 6.3 percent decline in cigarette sales. However, AP doesn't mention the latest state figures showing an increase in tobacco consumption among 11th-graders, or the extent to which cigarette consumers may be boycotting the formal market.)
Group criticizes Oregon's assisted-suicide report (The Associated Press says Americans for Integrity in Palliative Care, a group opposed to physician-assisted suicide that lists former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop among the nine doctors and two lawyers who founded it late last year, criticized an Oregon state report on the Death With Dignity Act Thursday, saying the study's positive conclusions are unfounded. The group said, for example, that just because patients didn't convey cost concerns to their doctors didn't mean that the patients weren't worried about their pocketbooks.)
Prison mistakenly feeds TV reporter a false story (The Associated Press says a public information officer at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton taking part in a drill caused a false story to be broadcast by KATU, Portland's ABC affiliate.)
U.S. to Fight Man's Plea to Use Medicinal Marijuana (The Los Angeles Times describes the plight of Peter McWilliams, the best-selling author, AIDS patient and medical-marijuana activist in Los Angeles who is being killed by the federal government. Prosecutors are preventing him from using marijuana while he awaits trial on marijuana cultivation charges, and will fight his motion for mercy at a pretrial hearing today.)
War Against Medical Marijuana Causes Misery (A letter to the editor of USA Today from Peter McWilliams scorns the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, for abandoning the field while people are still dying from his mistakes.)
Ann Arbor Hash Bash Days Numbered (UPI says state senators Mike Rogers and Beverly Hammerstrom have introduced a bill intended to end Ann Arbor's annual "hash bash" at the University of Michigan by prohibiting local governments from instituting lower drug penalties than the state imposes. Currently, possesssion of marijuana in Ann Arbor carries a $25 fine while state law mandates a $100 fine and 90 days in jail. A similar proposal over drug penalties was introduced in Michigan in 1998, but got stymied in the Democratically controlled House.)
Hash Bash Organizer Fires Back At Critics (According to the Ann Arbor News, James Millard, the organizer of this year's Hash Bash, said an effort by Michigan legislators to toughen up Ann Arbor's relatively lenient marijuana ordinance in an effort to stop young people from coming to Ann Arbor the first Saturday in April only provided publicity for the event. "We can drop all our advertising money" for the Hash Bash because of the news coverage, Millard said.)
GOP Lawmaker Seeks To Reform Drug Sentencing (The Times Union, in New York, says state senator John DeFrancisco, a conservative from Syracuse, announced Friday he was introducing a bill to reform the state's Rockefeller laws. DeFrancisco's bill would allow more lenient prison sentences for non-violent, low-level drug dealers by doubling the quantity of drugs that would have to be sold or possessed before the tougher terms kicked in.)
New York Mayor Tilts To Totalitarianism (New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, syndicated in the Standard-Times, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, says New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani likes to push people around. His latest targets are people suspected of driving drunk. The cops have been given the power to seize their vehicles on the spot. Why bother with an annoyance like due process? Hizzoner makes the rules. And he says even if the drivers are acquitted they may not get their cars back. Richard Emery, a local attorney, says "The problem is that Giuliani has a vision of what is essentially an unconstitutional society. He views privacy and the rights of innocent citizens as a far lower value than law enforcement's domination of not only the streets, but also private areas of people's lives. He's doing it for what he believes are good reasons. He wants a civilized society. One understands his vision. It's not new. But it's an idealistic, totalitarian vision that tramples on everything a free society stands for.")
Accountability Comes With Aid (An op-ed by Indiana U.S. Representative Mark Souder in the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, defends the Higher Education Act's ban on student loans to pot smokers. "There are those organizations, though, who work to create controversy and twist common sense principles in order to advance their own agendas. Take the Drug Reform Coordination Network, for example. My office has received calls from college newspapers from all over the country who have been fed propaganda by this group. If their website is any indication - the address includes the manifesto, 'stopthedrugwar' - their primary goal can only be the legalization of drugs.")
Blacks Getting AIDS At Record Rates (The Associated Press says about 1,000 health care providers and activists gathered Thursday in Washington, D.C., for the first medical conference on AIDS among black Americans - almost 20 years into the AIDS epidemic. AIDS in the United States is evolving from a disease that once affected mostly white homosexuals into one largely affecting poor blacks, infected from dirty drug needles or heterosexual encounters. Blacks make up 12 percent of the U.S. population but a devastating 45 percent of new AIDS cases. AIDS is the leading killer of blacks between 25 to 44. Blacks receive poorer care than whites and die faster. One in 50 black men and one in 160 black women are estimated to be infected.)
Gains Cited In Drug War (The Associated Press says the U.S. State Department today released a massive 733-page annual report on the illicit drug trade worldwide. The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report claims the United States and allied countries made "solid gains" in 1998, citing progress in crop reduction and drug interdiction. Separately, President Clinton was issuing his assessment of the counterdrug performance of 28 countries.)
Violence plagues city's top pot spot (The Vancouver Province, in British Columbia, says the badly beaten body of Allister Irvine Marselje, 21, who made a living by weighing, bagging and delivering one-gram bags of marijuana to sellers at the Cross Town Traffic Cafe at 314 W. Hastings St., was found Dec. 5 in a downtown Vancouver dumpster. Mark Smith, a friend of Marselje's and a pot dealer who now runs a private smoking club off a hallway in the cafe, said last year's shift of power to "ruthless gangsters" dramatically altered the culture in the area.)
Clinton OKs Mexico Antidrug Efforts (The Associated Press says that, as expected, the U.S. president on Friday certified Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in America's war on some drug users, even though seizures of illegal drugs along the border decreased in the past year. At the time, Colombia was certified and Haiti was decertified with a national interest waiver, as were Cambodia, Nigeria and Paraguay. Afghanistan and Burma were decertified with no national interest waiver. All told, 22 countries were certified as fully cooperative with American counterdrug efforts. Meanwhile, a 733-page State Department study titled "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report" and released simultaneously with the certification announcement said Mexico continues to be the primary route for northbound South American cocaine and is a major source of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine.)
Mexico, Colombia Drug Efforts Approved (The UPI version)
Mexico Engaged In War Vs Drugs, McCaffrey Says (According to a different Associated Press article in the Orange County Register, the White House drug czar on Thursday told the House Government Reform Committee's panel on criminal justice, drug policy and human resources, that it would be a mistake for the U.S. government to decertify Mexico as an ally in the United States' war on some drug users.)
Judge gets three years in prison for laundering drug money (A Canadian Press article in the Ottawa Citizen says lawyers for Justice Robert Flahiff of Quebec Superior Court, who was found guilty in January of laundering $1.7 million while he was still a lawyer, immediately filed an appeal, paving the way for Flahiff's possible release later Friday.)
Paraguay angry with US decertification in drug war (The Associated Press notes Paraguay reacted sarcastically Friday to the U.S. decision to decertify it as an ally in its war on some drug users, saying it understood the concerns of a nation with such a huge appetite for controlled substances. Paraguay's $10 billion official economy is "dwarfed" by its black market. One study estimated the revenue generated just from smuggling at $12 billion a year.)
Expert Rejects Zero Tolerance Stand (According to the Age, in Australia, Mr John Fogarty, who recently retired from the Family Court and is now a board member of Defence for Children International, a United Nations-affiliated child-welfare group, yesterday condemned the zero-tolerance heroin strategy that the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, is considering. "The idea that deep-seated social and personal issues of young persons leading to drug use can be miraculously overcome by prosecuting and imprisoning is nonsense. It is akin to a reversion to the penal attitude of 200 years ago at the beginning of the establishment of our society," Mr Fogarty said.)
Dutch Minister Takes High Tone Over Marijuana Jobs (According to Reuters, the Netherlands' social affairs minister, Klaas de Vries, said this week he was astonished at a decision by officials in Leeuwarden to subsidise the work experience of four unemployed people by having them sell marijuana in coffee shops. Municipal officials, citing the law, don't see what the fuss is about.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 80 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - UN drug control board laments reform, urges member nations to tow the drug war line; Iran says executing drug smugglers "unsuitable solution" - but US legislators want to try it here; DEA chief Constantine rips US drug war efforts, bemoans Mexican situation; Jesse "the Governor" Ventura on the drug war; Sen. McCain seeks radical cutbacks in methadone maintenance; California officials comment on medical marijuana; South Carolina mulls making sale of urine a felony offense; American Farm Bureau reverses position on hemp at convention; Canada: terminally ill man will continue to smoke marijuana despite conviction; Author of "Drug Crazy" lecturing in Dallas March 2nd; and an editorial: Mr. Ventura comes to Washington)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 87 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Black leaders and public health advocates criticize misinformation by drug czar. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, including - DEA chief: drug fight lacks desire; Customs admits its own drug corruption; Border patrol adds high-tech tools to its arsenal; Editorial: ACLU is off base on city drug tests; Bad hair days; Testing the drug test labs; and, Drunken drivers' cars to be seized at arrests. Articles about Mexican Drug Policy include - Mexico greets Clinton like an old friend; Mexico's troubadours turn from amor to drugs; and, Minuet in Mexico. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Authorities release account of shooting, say marijuana found in house; Shaking this habit will be tough; Texas inmates tell US judge of abuses; and, The Nazi comparison. Articles about Medical Marijuana include - The politics of pot: a government in denial; AIDS groups plead for 'medical marijuana'; and, Kubbys reassure Libertarians. International News articles include - MP's marijuana motion gathering steam; Addicts fuel 7 bil. Industry; And, Freeh advice on drugs: inject money and political will. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net provides a Happy99.exe Virus Explanation and Fix; and notes the Kubby Web Site has been updated. The Tip of the Week points to some Windows "Tune Up" Hints. The Quote of the Week cites Thomas Carlyle.)
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Thursday, February 25, 1999:
NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (U.N. calls for medical marijuana research, maintains hardline on recreational use; Body Shop owner sends White House hemp, congratulations; South Dakota governor proposes mandatory jail time for pot offenses; South Carolina mulls making sale of urine a felony offense)
Trial begins in dispute over responsibility in smoker's death (The Associated Press says a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury on Wednesday heard opening statements in a lawsuit brought by the family of Jesse D. Williams of Portland, a lifetime cigarette smoker and lung cancer fatality whose survivors are seeking $110 million in damages from Philip Morris. His family says Philip Morris Inc. duped Williams into thinking smoking wasn't harmful. The cigarette company says Williams knew the health risks. Legal experts say the trial's outcome could have national significance, coming as it does after a San Francisco jury's groundbreaking award earlier this month of $51.5 million to a former smoker with inoperable lung cancer.)
AG Seeks Pot Reclassification (Yahoo says California Attorney General Bill Lockyer will travel to Washington, D.C., next week to ask the federal government to re-classify marijuana as a prescription drug.)
Bay Area Coalition for Alternatives to the War on Drugs sponsors workshop Friday in Oakland (The Oakland Tribune publicizes a public meeting that will focus on such topics as "Drugs and the CIA," featuring former Los Angeles police narcotics officer Michael Ruppert. Other topics include the courts, youth drug prevention, and jury nullification.)
Government: State voters approved the use of medical marijuana. The feds should honor that. (An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times by California state senator John Vasconcellos says state and federal governments have colluded to thwart the will of voters who passed Proposition 215 in California. Together, they closed most of the providers of medical marijuana in California, threw several legitimate caregivers in jail and currently are preventing a seriously sick defendant - author Peter McWilliams, now in failing health as a result - from using medical cannabis. A tidal wave of support for medicinal marijuana has begun in the Western United States. The future of many federal officials will depend, in large part, on whether they ride that wave into a compassionate future or, standing in the way, are rendered irrelevant by the voters.)
Peter McWilliams Hearing 3:30 p.m. Friday in Los Angeles (The best-selling author, medical-marijuana patient/activist and federal defendant invites Southern California activists to attend his court hearing tomorrow, where he will seek permission to resume using cannabis to combat AIDS.)
Is The Party Over For The Hash Bash? (The Detroit News says Republican state senators Beverly Hammerstrom and Mike Rogers, who represent districts bordering Ann Arbor, have co-sponsored a bill in the Michigan legislature that would prohibit local communities from enacting drug ordinances with penalties less severe than state law. The bill was introduced about a month before the 28th annual Hash Bash, scheduled for the first Saturday of April. Ann Arbor levies a $25 fine for marijuana possession. It's the only city that deviates from the state law, which calls for a $100 fine and up to 90 days in jail.)
Discrimination Plagues Act (An op-ed in the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, by Adam J. Smith of the Drug Reform Coordination Network points out the racial and social iniquities to be fostered by the Higher Education Act's ban on aid to students convicted of possessing marijuana or other controlled substances.)
Coalition Protests Government's Hard-Line Drug Policies (According to the Los Angeles Times, more than two dozen scholars and activists joined in Washington, D.C., to protest the federal government's anti-drug strategy, and accused the White House of spreading misinformation. The campaign, organized by the Virginia-based nonprofit group Common Sense for Drug Policy, issued a letter to the White House drug czar, saying participants were "deeply troubled" by Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey's "inaccurate and misleading statements" in opposition to needle exchange programs and medicinal marijuana, among other issues.)
DEA: Mexican Cartels Penetrate U.S. (The Associated Press says Thomas Constantine of the Drug Enforcement Administration reported Wednesday to a Senate panel that monitors illegal-drug trafficking that the leaders of Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking organization, the Arellano-Felix group, appear to be immune from any law enforcement effort. Constantine said corruption in Mexican law enforcement has no parallel with anything he has seen in 39 years of police work. The DEA chief sidestepped a question from Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., as to whether Mexico should be certified as an ally in the United States' war on some drug users. But, he said, there has been a dramatic increase over the past five years in the "penetration" of the United States by Mexican illegal-drug importers.)
D.E.A. Chief Warns Senate On Traffickers In Mexico (The New York Times version)
Mexico Rails At U.S. Drug Cop's Finger-Pointing (According to Reuters, Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Labastida said DEA director Thomas Constantine was "totally wrong" to hold Mexican crime syndicates responsible for a large chunk of the drug distribution, violence and crime north of the border. Constantine told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that Mexican illegal-drug traffickers had more money and firepower today in the United States than the Mafia ever did in its heyday.)
Don't Advocate A Trial, Advisers Told (According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia, Prime Minister John Howard's hand-picked advisory body on drugs has been told the Government will never support a heroin-maintenance trial and is not interested in receiving contrary advice, even though up to 12 of the 15 council members favour the option.)
PM Puts Drugs On Agenda (The Age, in Melbourne, says Australian Prime Minister John Howard will try to enlist the support of state and territory leaders for his war on drugs by offering more money for anti-drug education and rehabilitation programs when he meets the premiers on April 9.)
This Is A Potty Situation, Surely? (An op-ed in the Independent, in Britain, by Sue Arnold, a medical marijuana patient, responds to the sentencing yesterday of Eric Mann, a Welsh grandfather, to a year in prison for growing cannabis to relieve his arthritis. At least this way he'll be guaranteed a regular supply without having to grow his own. Everyone knows that getting hold of pot in prison is easier than growing it organically oneself on the outside, as Mann did. "When I talked about the Welsh Connection to my friend Lester Grinspoon yesterday, his chief concern was that even now Mr Mann was being prescribed some really dangerous drug to relieve his arthritic symptoms by well-meaning prison authorities - aspirin for instance.")
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Wednesday, February 24, 1999:
Crime, arrest rates down in Oregon (The Associated Press says the latest statistics from the Oregon Law Enforcement Data System indicate crime in Oregon dropped 1.2 percent in the first six months of 1998. Violent crimes declined 0.6 percent, property crimes were down 0.8 percent and "behavioral crimes," including child abuse, drunken driving and illegal gambling, were down 2 percent. However, crime increased in 20 of the state's 36 counties - 0.4 percent in Clackamas County, 1.8 percent in Lane County, 3.1 percent in Marion County and 2.1 percent in Washington County. In Portland it dropped 13.7 percent.)
Lockyer Plans D.C. Trip To Talk Changes In Pot Laws (According to the San Jose Mercury News, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Tuesday he and attorneys general from other West Coast states with medical marijuana laws will meet next month with federal officials to discuss reclassifying marijuana as a drug that can be prescribed by physicians.)
Ex-Corona Del Mar High Student Sues To Bar 'Zero Tolerance' (The Orange County Register says Ryan Huntsman, 19, a student at Loyola Marymount University who last year successfully fought the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's "zero tolerance" policy, filed a lawsuit Monday in Orange County Superior Court, seeking to have zero-tolerance policies declared unconstitutional on the grounds that they violate due process and are cruel and unusual punishment.)
Indiana News Briefs (UPI notes Marion County prosecutor Scott Newman says his office is going to start forfeiting houses where "drugs" are sold.)
Ex-Teacher Admits Growing Marijuana (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in Wisconsin, says Paul Langhoff Soik, who formerly taught computer science at Oak Creek High School, faces up to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of keeping a drug house and a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.)
Disabled Man Faces Another Drug Charge (The Associated Press says Daniel Asbury of Oregon, Ohio, a quadriplegic who was convicted three years ago of growing marijuana in his backyard for medicinal purposes, has been charged with felony drug possession after he allegedly received three pounds of marijuana in the mail.)
We Ended Vietnam War 26 Years Ago; We Also Can Call Off The War On Drugs (A letter to the editor of USA Today by Gene Tinelli, an addiction psychiatrist at the State University of New York in Syracuse, says if you include all psychoactive drugs - alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, performance-enhancing substances and others - the vast majority of Americans use psychoactive drugs. We can't defeat them because they are us. We have been here before. Thirty years ago, the Vietnam conflict was sucking us dry, and we apparently were addicted to that horrible war. How did it end? Eventually, when the leaders of the war and media realized that our country was unwilling and unable to win the battle, we just said "no" to the war.)
DUI Technician Arrested On Drug Charges (UPI says Michael Albaladejo, a technician for Orange County, Florida, who processed motorists suspected of driving under the influence, was arrested after he allegedly purchased three grams each of powder cocaine and crack cocaine from an undercover deputy sheriff.)
British MPs Show Some Support For Cannabis Bill (Reuters says the bill has virtually no chance of becoming law, but British members of parliament on Wednesday allowed Paul Flynn of the Labour Party to introduce legislation in Parliament that would make it legal for doctors to prescribe the herb. Flynn pointed out that earlier this week a British pensioner, Eric Mann, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for growing cannabis to relieve his chronic pain.)
Plea For Cannabis On Prescription (The version in Britain's Independent)
U.N. Drug Board Urges Research on Marijuana as Medicine (The New York Times version of yesterday's news about the International Drug Control Board in Vienna recommending that governments conduct impartial scientific research into the herb's benefits. "The increasingly politicized battle over cannabis must end, since it has had a negative effect on attitudes toward drug abuse, particularly from young people," said Dr. Hamid Ghodse, an Iranian-born psychiatrist working in Britain and speaking without benefit of any evidence.)
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Tuesday, February 23, 1999:
Pot Law Backer Shuns Legislative Tinkering (According to the Associated Press, Dr. Rob Killian of Seattle, who sponsored Washington's voter-approved law legalizing the medical use of marijuana, said Monday he's wary of legislative attempts to "clarify" the measure. But state prosecutors are backing Senate Bill 5771, sponsored by Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, which would require doctors to notify the state every time they "advise patients to try marijuana" and allow employers to fire patients if they deemed marijuana smoking to pose a safety risk or to leave a patient "too stoned to work." Senate Bill 5704, on the other hand, a supposedly milder bill sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, would prescribe the same amount of medicine for all patients, nullifying the "60 day supply" clause.)
Medical Marijuana Sponsors Blast Senate Attempt to Gut I-692 (A press release from Timothy W. Killian, the campaign manager for Initiative 692, the Washington state medical marijuana ballot measure approved by voters in November, criticizes SB 5771, proposed legislation that would allow police to inspect patients' medical records, require physicians to report to the state every time they advised a patient about the medical use of marijuana, and allow employers to fire workers who used medical marijuana with their doctors' approval.)
Court Refuses to Return Kubbys' Office Equipment (A list subscriber forwards a message from a friend of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor. Steve and Michele Kubby attended their first preliminary hearing Monday at the Tahoe City Justice Court regarding their bust for marijuana cultivation. Although it's been over a month now and no evidence of sales has been shown, Judge James Garbolina ruled that the Kubbys should still be denied the use of their office equipment and the tools they need to manage their magazine, 'Alpine World.' As a result, the Kubbys have been forced into bankruptcy and presented a letter to Judge Garbolina from their bankruptcy attorney directly blaming the raid on the Kubbys for their financial difficulties. Attorneys for the Kubbys continue to demand the return of their medical marijuana and have submitted two letters from physicians which argue that Steve may die if denied medical marijuana.)
Montana's Industrial Hemp Resolution (A list subscriber posts the text of HR 0002, a resolution passed 95-4 today by the Montana House of Representatives, which asks the federal government to repeal restrictions on industrial hemp production.)
Drug, Alcohol Abuse Up Among Teens (UPI says a survey of 158,324 students in grades seven through 12 released by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse shows more than a third said they had used "drugs" at some point in their lives, and 72 percent had used alcohol - suggesting the news service and about 40 percent of Texas secondary school students don't realize alcohol is a drug. About 10 percent of secondary students said they had attended class while drunk during the past year, while 13 percent said they had attended class high on marijuana. Seventh, eighth and ninth graders showed modest declines in marijuana use.)
Marijuana Has Therapeutic Uses (An op-ed in the Kansas City Star by Paul Armentano of NORML says the best established medical use of smoked marijuana is as an anti-nauseant for cancer chemotherapy. During the 1980s, researchers in six different state-sponsored clinical studies involving nearly 1,000 patients determined smoked marijuana to be an effective anti-emetic.)
Drug War Lacks Honesty and Integrity in its Leadership (Michael Levine, the former DEA agent who left the agency in disgust and now hosts the "The Expert Witness Radio Show" in New York, responds to a recent statement by DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine in USA Today, that the nation lacks the will and resources to fight the drug war. What he should have said is that we lack the honesty and integrity in both our leadership and the so-called Fourth Estate. Our "watch dog" media has turned out to be more of a pig for taking a $2 billion bribe from the White House Office of National Drug Control - enough money to buy every single coca leaf grown in South America.)
Pot Smoker To Disregard Sentence (According to the Halifax Herald, in Nova Scotia, Mark Crossley, a terminally ill cancer patient in Noel, says he'll keep on smoking marijuana despite a conviction Monday on cultivation charges. He was handed a four-month sentence to be served at home, followed by 18 months' probation.)
Cancer Patient Convicted (The Toronto Star version)
Freeh Advice On Drugs: Inject Money And Political Will (According to the Sydney Morning Herald's New York correspondent, Louis Freeh, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, says the war on some drug users requires two key ingredients - an abundance of funding and an equally generous amount of political will. Australian Prime Minister John Howard may not like Freeh's message. Money and bravery are the two commodities most governments find hardest to provide.)
Churches Join Drug Trial Call (According to the Age, in Melbourne, Australia, the leaders of Melbourne's Anglican Church and Uniting Church joined the call yesterday for a heroin-maintenance trial, saying their welfare agencies had noticed an alarming increase in drug use and a drop in the age of drug users.)
U.N. Seeks Medical Marijuana Study (The Associated Press says the annual report released today in Vienna by the International Drug Control Board, a 13-member, quasi-judicial organization overseeing U.N. drug treaties, recommends ending the politicized debate over medical marijuana by conducting in-depth and impartial scientific research into its possible benefits. "Only scientific evidence can end the current debate.")
Canada contributing to global drug trade (The National Post, in Canada, says a report issued today by the International Narcotics Control Board, a 13-member United Nations organization based in Vienna, criticizes Canada for its effort in the war on some drug users. The annual global survey for 1998 said the chief problem is a sharp increase in potent, high-quality cannabis being produced in British Columbia. The yearend roundup also criticizes the Canadian and U.S. governments for failing to tackle the problem of drug-promoting Web sites.)
Re: Canada contributing to global drug trade (A letter sent to the editor of the National Post protests the United Nations' opposition to freedom of speech. The International Narcotics Control Board's 1997 report also whined about favorable reportage concerning drugs and asked governments to consider whether "freedom of expression cannot remain unrestricted when it conflicts with other essential values and rights.")
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Monday, February 22, 1999:
Man sentenced to 25 years for killing friend over marijuana stash (The Associated Press notes Cameron Blaine Perry of Wimer, Oregon, was given a mandatory minimum sentence Monday for murdering his childhood friend, Paul "Bern" Miller, for stealing his stash of marijuana. Perry's defense attorneys argued that Perry shot Miller in a rage because he suffered from a psychological condition known as intermittent explosive disorder. What do you think? Would Miller still be alive and Perry free if marijuana weren't illegal?)
Effort to pin tobacco ills on firms alights in Oregon (The Oregonian says a Multnomah County jury trial beginning this week will weigh a $110 million lawsuit against Philip Morris filed by the family of Jesse Williams, a former janitor the newspaper describes as "a retired Portland Public Schools employee" who smoked Marlboros for 40 years.)
State hooch outlets battle wedge efforts (An editorial in the Columbian, in Vancouver, Washington, by D. Michael Heywood says Washington state's hard-liquor stores and workers fought progress, but consumers can now buy beer and wine in grocery stores, even after midnight and on Sunday. The latest effort to wedge open another crack in the state's control over alcohol is a bill pushed by Tennessee-based Brown-Forman, which wants to sell Lynchburg Lemonade, Downhome Punch and other premixed cocktails in grocery stores and convenience markets. The full and immediate privatization of the state's monopoly on hard liquor might make better sense than the long-drawn skirmish between the private sector and the official jug store. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen.)
Don't Gut Marijuana Law (A staff editorial in the Seattle Times says Washington state's new voter-approved medical marijuana law needs to be tweaked, not turned over. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles' proposal is the more reasonable of two bills that would fine-tune I-692, while maintaining the law's spirit of compassionate public policy.)
Medical-Marijuana Forum Set (The Fresno Bee notes KFCF 88.1 and the Fresno Free College Foundation will present a public forum on "Medical Marijuana - The Real Story" 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Spectrum Gallery in Fresno.)
Let Us Be Compassionate With Medical Marijuana (A staff editorial in the San Mateo County Times asks, why should the U.S. government continue stalling on medical marijuana, while allowing physicians to prescribe protease inhibitors and other AIDS medications before clinical trials are completed? The feds should extend the Food and Drug Administration's flexibility on emerging AIDS-related drugs for HIV and AIDS patients to marijuana without further delay. It's sensible to play safe and pursue additional research, but it could be years before it proves beyond doubt what the anecdotal evidence of terminally ill patients has already shown. They shouldn't be asked to wait, or, if they don't, to die as criminals.)
Snail's Pace On Prop. 215 (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register says California Attorney General Bill Lockyer ran as a supporter of Prop. 215 and has promised to reverse the foot-dragging policies of the previous attorney general. He has appointed a task force headed by Democratic state Sen. John Vasconcellos of San Jose to recommend implementation policies, but the task force has held only a preliminary general meeting. If new laws are to be passed this year, they must be introduced in the legislature by this Friday. It's long past time for the politicians to catch up with the people.)
Legislators Hold Back Bill On Medical Marijuana (The Honolulu Star-Bulletin notes the death of a bill before the Hawaii state legislature that would have allowed the medical use of marijuana. Sidney Hayakawa, the agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Honolulu, said the Health Committee is doing the right thing in not moving the bill forward. He then contradicted himself, saying, "[W]e're law enforcement officials and it's our duty to enforce the law, not to make law or change law.")
Shaking This Habit Will Be Tough (A staff editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Governor Tommy Thompson's vow to build no more prisons flies in the face of the fact that Wisconsin has the nation's fastest-growing inmate rolls. The governor's budget calls for spending by the Department of Corrections to jump $228 million during the next two years. Drunks not uncommonly vow that their present binge is their last. How much credence should go to Thompson's vow that the present prison-building binge is the state's last depends on how much support Thompson can muster from other politicians.)
Drunken Drivers' Cars To Be Seized At Arrests (A New York Times article in the San Jose Mercury News says New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced Saturday that police would begin Monday seizing the cars of everyone arrested for drunken driving. City officials described the new municipal policy against drunken driving as the toughest in the nation.)
Drug Abuse (A letter to the editor of the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, counters a recent editorial and column supporting the section in the Drug-Free Student Loan Amendment that takes away student loans from anyone caught possessing marijuana.)
Foolish Rule (Another letter to the editor of the Cavalier Daily also protests its recent column endorsing the provision in the Higher Education Act that bans student loans for anyone caught possessing marijuana. "The absurdity of the proposal baffles the mind! It is the logic of a political class hell-bent on punishment no matter the cost to society . . . . What any rational society should engage itself in is the education of criminals, not the criminalization of students.")
Unfair Clause (A third letter to the editor of the Cavalier Daily also rebuts its editorial and column supporting the Higher Education Act's ban on loans to pot smokers. "Why does the government insist on making the consequences of drug laws more damaging than the consequences of drug use?")
Shipley Signals Tougher Anti-Drugs Stance (The Dominion, in New Zealand, says that rather than listen to the recommendations from a New Zealand parliamentary committee, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley plans to pursue tougher policies after discussing Australia's drug problems with its prohibitionist prime minister, John Howard.)
Drugs Trade 'The Third Largest Economy' (According to the Independent, in Britain, the Financial Action Task Force of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations has estimated that at least $120 billion from the illegal-drugs trade are laundered through the world's financial system a year, making it the third biggest economy in the world today. In fact, according to more alarmist estimates of its value, it could even be starting to catch up with the United States as the leading player in the world economy. In Russia, the illegal economy created by prohibition has filled the vacuum created by the transition from Communism, and its dominance now prevents the emergence of normal economic institutions.)
Riots In Mauritius After Reggae Singer Dies In Jail (Reuters says about 2,000 protesters clashed with police after Joseph Reginald Topize, or Kaya, a local reggae singer, died in jail Sunday, three days after his arrest for smoking marijuana at a rally to decriminalise the herb in the Indian Ocean nation.)
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Sunday, February 21, 1999:
Gang outreach a tempting tightrope (The Oregonian describes the downfall of Louie Lira Jr., also known as Gerardo Morales Alejo, enlisted by Portland police as a gangbuster but now in custody awaiting charges of aiding a bank robbery. Portland police knew he was using an alias, but they apparently were unaware he was in the country illegally after being deported to Mexico in 1985 following robbery and drug convictions in California. Police said they don't routinely check U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service records.)
'She was my girl; she was my best friend' (The Oregonian eulogizes Ashley Carlson, a 7-year-old girl who was lured from a park in Astoria and killed. Her mother couldn't watch her because she was in jail being punished for a "drug" violation.)
California Pot Law Author Charged Along With Spouse (The Washington Times, in the District of Columbia, recounts the cultivation bust of Steve Kubby, the California medical marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor.)
The Suit Behind The Men's Wearhouse (The San Francisco Examiner does a feature article on George Zimmer, the Oakland founder of the Men's Wearhouse, a clothing chain with 420 stores - yes that's 420 - in 40 states. A self-described child of the '60s, Zimmer donated more than $250,000 to California's successful Proposition 215 campaign in 1996.)
Pioneer Drug Pilot Blazed Illicit Trail (An obituary in the Albuquerque Journal eulogizes Martin Willard Houltin of Columbus, New Mexico, a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Aleutian Islands. Houltin was an innovator among drug smugglers, using small aircraft to ferry tons of Mexican marijuana across the border into the United States. He was the first U.S. pilot to have an aerial confrontation with federal officials while drug smuggling, in 1967, in an incident from which he walked away free. He achieved minor celebrity status in 1978 when High Times magazine published an interview calling him the "Flying Ace of the Dope Air Force." Houltin never carried a gun, never smoked marijuana himself, and never imported hard drugs. He began his career as a smuggler going the other direction - flying merchandise subject to high import duty fees, including heavy machinery, candy bars and liquor, into Mexico. He did it largely for the challenge.)
Painkillers Deterring Suicides (The Chicago Tribune says a survey of American Society of Clinical Oncology members showed support for doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia among cancer specialists declined by more than 50 percent during the last three years. Some believe the reason is that doctors are being more careful about prescribing adequate amounts of narcotics - despite the study of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, which found the law was not being used by people afraid of extreme pain.)
Sinaloa Pays In Blood For Drug War (The Los Angeles Times says the assassination of Aguirre Meza, the esteemed police chief of Navolato, Mexico, and a founding member of the Sinaloan Commission for the Defense of Human Rights, is only the latest outrage in a state grown numb to social disintegration. For the last five years, Sinaloa has been besieged by warfare and executions among competing drug gangs, who increasingly target prominent citizens like Aguirre Meza. Sinaloa is home to the Mazatlan tourist resort. It is also the birthplace of Mexican drug smuggling. Virtually every major Mexican drug lord is from Sinaloa. Today, more than 200 well-armed gangs are based in Sinaloa, according to police officials. Those allegedly murdered by drug traffickers in recent years include 47 lawyers, 40 state police officers and 12 university professors. Prominent farmers, ranchers, merchants, professionals and social activists have been kidnapped or killed.)
ACM-Bulletin of 21 February 1999 (An English-language news bulletin from the Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, features news of a potential pain therapy based on blocking the reuptake of endogeneous cannabinoids; pregnant women and drugs; and an Australian report finding males with high testosterone levels consume relatively more cannabis.)
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Saturday, February 20, 1999:
Family, friends bewildered by man's rampage (The Oregonian recounts a case of demon rum turning "a nice guy" from Bend, Adam M. Gantenbein, into a would-be cop killer - and then a corpse.)
The Oregon Case Federal Grand Jury (The Houston Chronicle says U.S. District Judge Sim Lake refused Friday to issue a gag order sought by six fired Houston prohibition agents involved in the fatal shooting of Pedro Oregon Navarro, and denied their request that they not be deposed by the family's lawyers until a federal criminal investigation of the incident is complete. Also on Friday, Oregon's brother-in-law and a family friend, both of whom were in his apartment the night agents burst in without a warrant, testified before the federal grand jury that began investigating the shooting this week.)
16-year-old To Be Tried As Adult On Cocaine, Marijuana Charges (The Daily Herald, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, says Richardo Marquez, a 16-year-old McHenry County youth, recently found out he would be prosecuted as an adult on drug charges, meaning he faces a minimum prison term of 9 years and a maximum of 40.)
Renegade Jurors (Three letters to the editor of the Washington Post respond to the newspaper's recent one-sided articles on jury nullification.)
Scientists Urge Presidential Order for Marijuana Testing (A list subscriber posts a press release from the Federation of American Scientists web site saying the group today urged President Clinton to instruct the National Institutes of Health to carry out research on marijuana wherever there are prima facie indications of possible efficacy, without waiting for the Institute of Medicine to complete a study focused on a review of relevant literature.)
Corrections Corporations of America profits (A list subscriber posts an excerpt from the Joshua Report showing the stock of the private prison business has increased from $8 in 1992 to $30 in 1996. State legislator Kevin Mannix of Oregon has issued an invitation to Nike to shift its operations from Indonesia to his state. At 17 cents per hour, "We could offer competitive prison labor," says Mannix. The drug war is good for business. Invest your son.)
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Friday, February 19, 1999:
Oregon Health Division Rules for Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (Dr. Rick Bayer, a chief petitioner for the new law approved by voters in November, notifies advocates for medical marijuana patients of a public meeting of the OMMA Rules Advisory Committee in Salem on Monday, March 8. "This may be your best chance at having an impact on the rules that govern the Registry ID card, maturation of the plants rule, and the application for 'new debilitating conditions' rules to be added. Those are the only three topics that will be discussed at this public OHD rules meeting but they are very important." Plus Dr. Bayer's related letter to Dr. Grant Higginson, the Oregon Health Division official in charge of implementing the OMMA.)
Man enters guilty plea in fatal crash (The Oregonian says James J. Parkins, 27, will spend at least the next three years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to criminally negligent homicide for a drunken-driving crash in Portland that killed a passenger in his car.)
Two will file complaint against Eugene police (The Oregonian says two women are suing police to make them stop demanding people's Social Security numbers as an "alternative form of identification." The federal Privacy Act states that it is unlawful to deny an individual's rights because of that person's refusal to disclose a Social Security number. But according to Eugene police spokeswoman Jan Powers, "There's no law that prevents us from asking. If a person refuses . . . we have the right to take that person in and ask for anything that confirms that person's identity.")
ACLU Is Off Base On City Drug Tests (A staff editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer opposes the American Civil Liberties Union's attempt to block mandatory drug testing of Seattle municipal job applicants. The civil rights group is appealing the ruling last month by King County Superior Court Judge R. Joseph Wesley upholdng the city's revised policy.)
Peter McWilliams Court Date Change (An e-mail from the best-selling author and medical marijuana defendant being killed by the federal government says today's hearing in Los Angeles has been postponed until next Friday, Feb. 26.)
Clinton Gets Off; I Head to the Cemetery (An op-ed submitted to the Los Angeles Times by Peter McWilliams, the bestselling author, AIDS/cancer patient, and federal defendant being put to death pretrial by having medical marijuana denied to him, despite Proposition 215, says McWilliams' viral load has skyrocketed to more than 250,000. "Finding no mercy in either the legislative or executive branches, among Republicans or Democrats, I wonder if I will find it among the judiciary. Meanwhile, I have purchased for myself a crypt for my ashes in Westwood Memorial Park, midway between Marilyn Monroe and Oscar Levant. What a place to spend eternity.")
Pot Eradication Opponents Eager For Program Review (The Hawaii Tribune Herald says Hawaii County's delay in undertaking a review of its marijuana eradication program has left reform advocates who have long demanded the investigation questioning if it will ever be finished.)
Hemp Takes Root In Senate Committee (The West Central Tribune, in Minnesota, says the state senate's Agriculture and Rural Development Committee voted unanimously Thursday to legalize hemp production. Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe introduced the bill. Sen. Dallas Sams, chairman of the agriculture committee, said the legislation has been endorsed by the Farm Bureau, Farmers Union and a host of other farm organizations. A similar bill is moving through the house.)
Police Release Marijuana Figures For 1998 (According to an Associated Press body count in the Bangor Daily News, Roy McKinney, the head of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said this week that Maine law enforcement agencies last year seized a total of 9,900 marijuana plants worth an estimated $23 million, seized 127 pounds of processed marijuana, 117 guns and nearly $250,000 in cash. They also made 87 marijuana-related arrests.)
DEA Chief: Interdiction Won't Succeed - Drug Fight Lacks Desire (According to USA Today, DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine, in an interview Thursday, said the nation has neither the will nor the resources to win the drug war. Despite the confiscation of record amounts of drugs at the borders, Constantine said interdiction will not solve the problem. "The key is not in the source countries," he said. "The key is in the United States, within those things we can control.")
Border Patrol Adds High-Tech Tools to Its Arsenal (The Washington Post says the U.S. Border Patrol, after years of waging a losing battle to control the 2,000-mile border with Mexico, is increasingly throwing high technology into its fight against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. According to the newspaper, the high-tech equipment, much of it originally developed for the military, combined with a major increase in manpower, is making the agency more "efficient" - without having turned the tide. People and drugs still flow across the border in large volumes, as does all sorts of contraband from Freon to avocados.)
Mexico's Troubadors Hail New Kind Of Hero (A New York Times article in the Orange County Register says hundreds of Mexican country bands are playing drug ballads, known in Spanish as narco-corridos, that chronicle illegal-drug traffickers' daily lives and violent routines. The extraordinary popularity of their music in Mexico and the United States shows how deeply the "drug" industry has sunk roots into North American popular culture. The phenomenon suggests that millions of fans quietly admire the smugglers' fabled wealth, anti-establishment bravura and bold entrepreneurial skills.)
Mexico's Troubadors Turn From Amor to Drugs (The original New York Times version)
Addicts Fuel 7 Bil. Industry (The Herald Sun says a study by Access Economics found that "The illegal drugs industry in Australia is a major industry, equivalent in size to the oil industry and larger than the tobacco industry." However, the war on some drugs is an even bigger business. Taxpayers paid an average of $13 billion annually over the past 15 years to fight the drug war, spread across law enforcement services, public health, treatment and counselling services, crime, prisons, social security and costs to families. Despite the massive cost, crime authorities admit the fight against drugs under present policy has been lost.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 79 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original publication featuring drug policy news and calls to action includes - Less than three weeks left to defeat "Know Your Customer" rules; ABA to Congress: stop federalizing drime; Connecticut addressing racial disparities in drug enforcement, sentencing; U.S. Customs Service report acknowledges corruption; Man shot dead in home by police, small amount of marijuana found; Medical marijuana opponents mount challenges in Oregon, Washington; Hemp beer served on Air Force One; Oregon schools to pay students for anonymous tips; Rally: mothers in prison, children in crisis, New York City, May 9; and an editorial by Adam J. Smith: Another isolated incident)
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Thursday, February 18, 1999:
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release (AIDS Coalition Demands White House Legalize Medical Marijuana; Medical Marijuana Opponents Mount Challenges In Oregon, Washington; Medical Marijuana Gains Ground in Hawaii)
Firefighter exposed to chemicals (The Oregonian says neighbors saw three people leaving a house Wednesday in Gresham, Oregon, a suburb east of Portland, before smoke started coming out of it and they called 911. A Gresham firefighter was exposed to chemicals associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine, but returned to work later. The newspaper doesn't say whether the victim intended to complain to his state legislators for maintaining a public nuisance by perpetuating the prohibition on amphetamine-related drugs.)
Suicide Law Painless, Oregon Says (An Associated Press article in the Chicago Tribune says a report published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine by Oregon health officials summarizes the state's first year of experience with the nation's only physician-assisted-suicide law. The study found 15 terminally ill people in Oregon had used the law to end their lives. There was no evidence they suffered painful, lingering deaths as opponents had warned. The authors said fears that the law would be used as an easy way out by people afraid of financial ruin or extreme pain proved unfounded. Rather, officials found that the law so far had been invoked overwhelmingly by strong-willed patients who wanted to exercise some control over the way they died.)
Suicide backers to Legislature: Hands off suicide law (According to the Associated Press, backers of the physician-assisted suicide law passed by Oregon voters say a favorable report released Wednesday by the state Health Division shows there's no need for the legislature to try again to revise the state's Death with Dignity Act.)
15 Oregonians chose assisted suicide in '98, report says (The Oregonian version)
Lawmakers question whether federal dollars paying for assisted suicide (The Associated Press says Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives are questioning whether Oregon is complying with federal law by covering assisted suicides in its health plan for the poor. Congress in 1997 prohibited the use of federal funds for assisted suicide. The Oregon Health Plan is funded in part by federal Medicaid dollars, but state officials have said assisted suicides are paid for entirely by the state.)
Former King County Deputy Prosecutor Faces Drug Charges (The Seattle Times updates its story yesterday, saying Douglas Willas Miller, 36, is the name of the man arrested Tuesday night and charged with attempting to sell $2,400 worth of amphetamines to an undercover officer. Miller resigned last year after he was arrested for bringing cocaine into the King County Courthouse.)
Drug Arrest Tests The Charmed Life Of Ex-Prosecutor (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer version says what proved to be Miller's undoing was a former roommate who had been his alibi in the courthouse incident.)
The hidden war - Narcs are arresting medical pot patients and the state is investigating their doctors (The Sacramento News & Review says that more than two years after California voters approved Proposition 215, a behind-the-scenes war is still raging. Dozens of patients have been investigated, arrested and jailed for growing pot. And now a number of physicians who have recommended marijuana to patients under the provisions of Prop. 215 are being investigated by the Medical Board of California. The investigation of Dr. Alex Stalcup, a physician in the Bay Area community of Concord, is but one of the grand ironies of the war against Prop. 215. The prominent physician is considered by law enforcement officials to be one of the nation's leading authorities on illegal drugs and has worked for years as a consultant to the California Narcotics Officers Association.)
Jailbird or Lab Rat? Medical Expert Says Kubby Should Be Studied, Not Busted (Orange County Weekly, in Costa Mesa, California, says Steve Kubby, the medical marijuana patient/activist, 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor, and now cultivation defendant, credits the herb for his surviving malignant pheochromocytoma, a rare form of adrenal cancer that is generally fatal within five years of its diagnosis. Now Kubby has a champion. USC Medical Center's Dr. Vincent DeQuattro first diagnosed Kubby's disease 15 years ago. In a letter to Placer County authorities, Dr. DeQuattro, one of America's leading specialists on the disease, said he contacted a colleague in Michigan who is also an expert on the disease and on Kubby's treatment. "He told me that every patient other than Steve with Steve's condition had died" within the usual five-year time frame. "Steve was the only survivor," Dr. DeQuattro wrote.)
Very Important Message from Peter McWilliams (Marijuananews.com forwards a message from an unwell Peter McWilliams announcing an ACLU press conference Feb. 19 in Los Angeles regarding McWilliams' prosecution. McWilliams also shares a statement of support for him issued today by California state Senator John Vasconcellos, who eloquently pleads with the federal government to quit killing the medical-marijuana defendant by denying him access to cannabis. The viral load of the best-selling author has risen from fewer than 400 copies per milliliter to more than 250,000.)
Letter from Marvin Chavez (A list subscriber forwards a letter from the medical-marijuana patient and founder of the Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support Group, recently sentenced to six years for helping sick people. Please write a letter to Chavez - here's his address.)
Exploration Of Medical Marijuana Should Go On (A staff editorial in the Honolulu Advertiser suggests the debate in the medical community among politicians, quacks, and real physicians over the medical utility of marijuana would be enough to scare most lawmakers away from considering reform. Fortunately, Gov. Ben Cayetano and a handful of state legislators are more farsighted than that. The House Health Committee has - admittedly with reservations - kept alive Cayetano's proposal to permit the medical use of marijuana. The decision to move the debate forward, to give Hawaii a real chance to decide for itself whether this idea makes sense, is both progressive and sensible.)
Medical Use Of Marijuana Sends Right Message (A letter to the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser addresses the concern that allowing sick people to use marijuana as medicine would send a "mixed message" to young people about condoning marijuana use. In supporting humane policies regarding the health needs of our sickest community members, we are sending a message to our children that we care about - and have compassion for - those of our neighbors who are suffering most and need our help. To do anything less is not only immoral, but sends the message to our children that we will not do everything in our power to care for those in our community who are suffering, even though we have the means to do so.)
Medical Marijuana Alleviates Suffering (A letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin rebuts a drug warrior's flawed reasoning.)
NYPD officer arrested in North Carolina for trafficking cocaine (The Associated Press says Andre Formey, a New York City police officer, was arrested Thursday while driving through North Carolina with his five children, ranging in age from 2 to 14, and more than two pounds of cocaine.)
Drug Use Doesn't Deserve Aid (An editorial by freshman Erin Perucci, an associate editor for the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, defends the Higher Education Act's ban on aid to students convicted of possessing marijuana.)
Drug War Has Been Lost (A letter to the editor of the Tampa Tribune, in Florida, says making drug abuse a medical problem instead of a criminal one could prevent 10,000 deaths a year, cut major and minor crime by 50 percent, allow everyone to have cheap or free medical care, stop drug dealers and cartels from making money, stop gangs, cut medical costs 30 percent to 90 percent, stop 10 million lives from being destroyed each year, and provide a 25 percent tax cut to everyone.)
AIDS Groups Issue First Call for Drug Czar to Approve Medical Marijuana (A press release on PR Newswire provides more details about yesterday's letter from the heads of 17 AIDS organizations to General Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office for National Drug Control Policy, asking for physicians to be allowed to prescribe marijuana as an emergency measure to people with HIV/AIDS without further research. Includes the text of the letter and its signers.)
AIDS Groups Urge U.S. to Approve Medical Marijuana (The Reuters version)
Iranian Aide Says Executions No Answer To Drugs (According to Reuters, Iran's official news agency, IRNA, on Thursday quoted Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, the Iranian president's designated expert on drug issues, saying "The execution of this country's youth is no loss to mafia gangs which direct the region's drug trade." Iran has executed nearly 2,000 drug dealers and traffickers since 1989. However, 2,500 of its police and soldiers have been killed in clashes with drug traffickers in the past 20 years. Official statistics indicate one out of every 50 Iranians is "addicted to drugs, mostly opium." Unofficial estimates say the rate is three times that.)
Russia Police Seizing Just 12 Percent Of Narcotics: Official (According to Itar-Tass, in Russia, Vladimir Kharetdinov, the head of Moscow's prohibition force, told a news conference Thursday that police at the present time seize only 10 percent to 12 percent of all "drugs" smuggled into Russia. Moscow is the destination of 80 percent of the smuggled drugs.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 7 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 86 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense leads with the weekly Feature Article - Something you can do right now! The Weekly News in Review features several articles about domestic drug policy, including - Gore: drug policy to tackle `spiritual problem'; Accountability promised for drug effort; Major antidrug effort is unveiled; and, Federal `drug war' strategy is bound to fail - again. Articles about drug policy and Mexico include - Mexico strains drug ally status; Mexico rejects extradition for 5; and, Mexico slams U.S. drugs certification policy. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Drug money investigation to be started; 19 inmates moved in bid to bust drug ring; and, Drug reform: it's time. Articles about Medical Marijuana & Hemp include - Auburn grand jury to hear Kubby marijuana case; Medical marijuana collides with power politics; Human body found to produce its own version of marijuana; and, Ventura says he'll sign hemp bill. International News includes - Cocaine production exploding; Peru army No. 2 arrested in drug case, sources say; Myanmar raps Britain, U.S. over drug talks; I won't budge on heroin: PM; and, 'Contribution to ending the war on drugs'. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net notes a RealAudio interview with Larry Hirsch regarding his medical marijuana class action suit. The Fact of the Week notes National Guard drug agents are much more numerous than DEA agents. The Quote of the Week cites Thomas Sowell.)
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Wednesday, February 17, 1999:
Legislators Aim To Tighten Medical Marijuana Law (The Statesman Journal, in Salem, Oregon, says that three months after voters approved medical marijuana at the ballot box, Rep. Kevin Mannix and the Oregon Police Chiefs Association unveiled draft legislation today that would strip some of the measure's provisions. Aspects of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act to be dismantled would include the so-called "affirmative defense" for those who exceeded the three-plant limit; and the mandate that police preserve marijuana seized from someone who claims a medical marijuana defense. "Starting from the assumption that we don't approve of the law, we would generally welcome constructive clarification of the law," said Bob Applegate, a spokesman for Governor Kitzhaber. Follow this link to the Oregon legislature's web site for the email addresses of your state senator and representative - and please send a brief protest note.)
Three men stage home-invasion robbery in Vernonia (A cautionary tale in the Oregonian says three men between the ages of 16 and 19 burst into a home in a quiet neighborhood thirty miles northwest of Portland on Monday and held two women at gunpoint, apparently believing they would find a marijuana grow operation. The newspaper doesn't say whether the victims intended to complain to their state legislators for maintaining a public nuisance by perpetuating marijuana prohibition.)
NewsBuzz: Coveting Their Assets (Willamette Week, in Portland, says state Rep. Jo Ann Bowman of North Portland has drafted a bill that would siphon half of all forfeited "drug" assets away from local police departments and use it to fund programs to help parolees be successful when they finish their mandatory minimum sentences, such as alcohol and drug treatment programs, job-readiness training, child care, and housing. Although Bowman is on the House Judiciary Committee, she's concerned that the police lobby is so powerful her bill will never get a hearing.)
Readin', Writin' and Ritalin (Willamette Week, in Portland, says the state of Oregon released a survey three weeks ago showing that kids' use of marijuana, cocaine and speed had leveled off over the past two years. What the survey didn't show is the extraordinary increase in kids' use of Ritalin, a Schedule II controlled substance. While kids have been learning to say "no" to drugs, their parents have been learning to say "yes" to Ritalin. Drug Enforcement Agency figures show Ritalin use has soared more than 700 percent in the '90s. Experts in Portland estimate that nearly 5 percent of all school-age children take it - more than 4,000 kids in Multnomah County alone.)
Marijuana Backers Wary Of Tinkering (The News Tribune, in Tacoma, Washington, says the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys is already lobbying the legislature to nullify Initiative 692, the state's new medical marijuana law, claiming they only want to improve it, of course. But Senate Bill 5704 would allow the state Department of Health to write rules to flesh out the law. Its primary sponsor, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who supported the initiative, said the department could clarify the law without encroaching on patients' newfound rights. The really bad bill is SB 5771.)
Former Prosecutor Held In Drug Case (The Seattle Times refuses to name the former King County deputy prosecutor who was arrested last night in North Seattle for investigation of possession of methamphetamine residue and paraphernalia. Last year, the former prosecutor, 36, was accused of possessing a crank pipe in the King County courthouse.)
THC-Treated Rats Lived Longer, Had Less Cancer (AIDS Treatment News, in San Francisco, summarizes and comments on a 126-page draft report of a major toxicology study of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The study was completed over two and a half years ago, and passed peer review for publication, but has been kept quiet until this month, when someone leaked copies of the draft report. The public apparently has never been told about this research - for example, the drug-reform movement seems not to have known about its existence. It may have been hushed because its findings are not what the drug-war industry wants. "The newly available Federal toxicology study provides the best evidence yet that the risks of THC are small. What other drug would increase life expectancy of rats when given in huge overdoses daily for two years?")
High crimes? Writer faces jail after interviewing medical marijuana activist (The San Francisco Bay Guardian recounts the case of Pete Brady, a medical marijuana patient and freelance journalist whose New Year's Day interview with fellow patient/defendant Steve Kubby may land him five years in a California prison. Brady's arrest for possession of about an ounce of marijuana came on the last day of his five-year probation term for possession.)
Medical-Marijuana Fight Is About Power, Not Medicine (Sacramento Bee columnist Peter H. King, syndicated in the Orange County Register, discusses the cultivation bust of medical-marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for California governor.)
Medical Pot Bill Advances (The Hawaii Tribune-Herald says the Hawaii House of Representatives' Health and Public Safety committees agreed to forward a medical-marijuana bill to the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday following a hearing that lasted more than three hours in which people who were ill or caring for sick people made sometimes eloquent pleas for legislative relief. The committees combined elements of two bills - one submitted by Gov. Cayetano, one crafted by Health Committee Chairman Alex Santiago. If the bill becomes law, Hawaii would become the first state to approve use of medical marijuana through the legislative process.)
Authorities Release Account Of Shooting, Say Marijuana Found In House (An Associated Press article in the Topeka Capital-Journal says prohibition agents in Osawatomie, Kansas, shot Willie Heard dead early Saturday when he picked up a .22-caliber rifle in his bedroom after they burst into his house. Police had a warrant to look for crack cocaine but all they found were two or three roaches. Heard's 16-year-old daughter, who was sleeping on the couch when officers burst in, said they never identified themselves.)
Friend in Oklahoma City (A list subscriber forwards a note explaining why Oklahoma Governor Keating refused to sign the parole papers for Will Foster, the medical marijuana patient originally sentenced to 93 years in prison on cultivation charges. Keating was a member of the DEA under Reagan. His reputation rests largely on his stance against "drugs.")
Apathy, America's Greatest Vice (An op-ed in the Little Rock Free Press by Jack Page, a veteran of the Proposition 215 campaign in California and now president of NORML Arkansas, faults the apathy that allows marijuana prohibition to continue. "Marijuana has become the symbol of oppression in our country and across the globe. . . . As an insider I'd like to reveal a little known fact about the now historic Prop. 215. . . . Just as we were resigning ourselves to failure, it happened. Someone very rich and powerful in the state got busted buying marijuana for a sick family member.")
The Nazi Comparison (A compelling op-ed in the Rock River Times, in Rockford, Illinois, by Dr. John Beresford, a retired psychiatrist who visited Nazi Germany in his youth, says America's vast network of prisons, boot camps, and jails invites comparisons to the detention machinery of totalitarian regimes. With its war on some drug users, America is treading the same path as Nazi Germany. The War on Drugs and Hitler's war on anyone he took exception to share the same symptoms. Where it all ends depends on reformers' efforts.)
Best Drug Policy Is Straight Ahead (An op-ed in Newsday by Marsha Rosenbaum of the Lindesmith Center West says the Clinton administration's new plan to reduce drug use by half by the year 2007 is a natural response to our country's ongoing struggle with drug use. The problem is that Clinton's plan is just more of the what we've already been trying - and look at the results. More drug education, of the sort existing already, cannot be expected to reverse the trend. Indeed, study after study shows that current drug education programs have no effect on drug use whatsoever. Quite simply, they lack credibility. Our first priority ought to be gaining the trust of young people.)
TV Notes: Bad Hair Days (New York Times television reviewer Lawrie Mifflin praises the CBS Morning News for Roberta Baskin's three-part series this week on hair testing for illegal-drug use. Many experts say the tests are unreliable and possibly racially biased. Testing the testers, Baskin found that different labs came up with widely different results on samples from identical heads of hair. Drug testing labs also came up with different results on hairs of darker or lighter color but exposed to the same level of drugs.)
Testing The Drug Test Labs (A CBS news broadcast by Roberta Baskin says she had identical batches of eight hair samples tested by three corporations - Associated Pathologists Laboratories in Las Vegas; United States Drug Testing Laboratories, outside Chicago; Psychemedics' home testing kits. The results showed just how flawed hair testing can be. "Consider this: if drug testing labs were wrong just one percent of the time, it would add up to 250,000 wrong results.")
Ex-Officer Found Guilty In Drug Case (The Philadelphia Inquirer says a federal jury yesterday convicted Peter Henry, a former Philadelphia police officer, of using his police credit-union account to help launder the gains of his extended family's illegal marijuana dealings.)
Nighttime Drug Raid - Wrong House (The Miami Herald describes a recent home invasion by prohibition agents in Hallandale, Florida. Wrong apartment. Wrong building. Mixed-up search warrant. Innocent people terrorized. Wrong man arrested, humiliated and jailed in his wife's underwear.)
Police Officer Perjury Not Rare, Observers Say - Indictment May Be a First in Pr. George's (The Washington Post says Cpl. Rickey Rodriguez Davis, a nine-year police veteran in Prince George's County, was indicted on two counts of perjury in connection with his 1994 court testimony that fellow officer Timothy J. Moran did not hit a handcuffed man. Moran later admitted in federal court that he did hit the man. "Officers are more likely to get struck by lightning" than prosecuted for perjury, said Chris Slobogin, a University of Florida law professor. "It's extremely rare for prosecutors to indict what is essentially a co-worker," Slobogin said. In Philadelphia, at least 283 cases of police perjury have been dismissed in the wake of a corruption scandal involving two officers who were convicted of framing suspects and lying on the witness stand.)
Medical Marijuana: AIDS Activists Call On McCaffrey To Intervene (According to the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, this morning's USA Today says a coalition of 17 AIDS organizations has written a letter to General Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, asking him to speed government approval of marijuana for medical uses, contending that just "as promising AIDS medications have been made available prior to final Food and Drug Administration approval, so too should marijuana, when recommended by a physician." Government officials are waiting for an Institute of Medicine study due out next month before taking further action.)
AIDS Groups Plead For 'Medical Marijuana' (The original USA Today version)
Body & Mind; Kids Getting More Antidepressants (The Cincinnati Enquirer says dentists are concerned about the rapid increase in children taking antidepressants, because a common side effect of such drugs is reduced saliva production. Children on antidepressants are at increased risk of developing cavities and mouth infections because saliva coats teeth with protective minerals and is a natural bacteria-fighter. According to a 1998 study by IMS, a research company, 800,000 American children were prescribed Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil, three common antidepressants, and another half million were taking anti-seizure drugs.)
U.S. Customs Admits Its Own Drug Corruption (The New York Times says U.S. Customs Service officials acknowledged Tuesday in a report to Congress that the agency had failed to combat corruption aggressively. In an atmosphere of neglect, internal affairs inquiries languished and were sometimes impeded because of infighting. In addition, the agency announced Tuesday the appointment of William A. Keefer, a former federal prosecutor, to head Internal Affairs. Keefer is replacing Homer J. Williams, a Customs official who was transferred after he became the subject of a federal inquiry in California into whether he told a colleague that she was under scrutiny in a corruption case.)
Minuet in Mexico (An op-ed in the Washington Post by Michael Kelly, the editor of National Journal, ponders the annual certification of Mexico as an ally in the United States' drug war, and finds the Clinton administration hypocritical, but doesn't say whether Mexico should be decertified or the dance should be ended by Congress.)
Policeman Tipped Off Friend Over Raid (The Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia, says Senior Constable Christan Bruce, a crewman on a New South Wales police helicopter, admitted to the NSW Police Integrity Commission yesterday that he had tipped off a friend and former police officer that police were about to raid his home for ecstacy and cocaine. The phone was tapped. The hearing continues today.)
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Tuesday, February 16, 1999:
Alert - Medical Marijuana Under Attack (John Sajo of Voter Power responds to list subscribers' alarm over news of an attempt by Rep. Mannix in the Oregon legislature to dismantle the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, saying Oregonians for Medical Rights are carefully watching the legislature and are working to prevent any changes to OMMA. Sajo also forwards the text of a resolution drafted by Voter Power that has been introduced by Rep. Jo Ann Bowman, calling on the federal government to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. The idea behind the resolution is to have those who won the marijuana votes last fall set the agenda, not the people who lost. "Mannix and our other opponents will help us in the long run. We need them to articulate their ideas, which are no longer aligned with most voters.")
Hyping The Drug War (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register pans the Clinton administration's latest drug-war battle plan, saying the real issue is whether America should continue to step up its drug war, or seek out less politically expedient, but more promising approaches. What's missing is the realization that most low-level drug use poses no harm to society. Most disturbing about the administration's plan: It uses the specter of a teen drug epidemic to maintain popular support. But the nation's drug problem is most severe among aging baby boomers. Focusing on the teen drug problem is dishonest.)
Just Say So: D.A.R.E. Doesn't Work (An op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner by Kendra E. Wright of Family Watch says drug education and prevention will never succeed as long as DARE - the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program - is ensconced in 70 percent of our children's schools. Over the last five years, studies have been conducted for the federal General Accounting Office and Justice Department and for the California Department of Education. They describe how DARE and other anti-drug programs fail to reach the teenagers most at risk of drug abuse. Joel Brown of Berkeley-based Educational Research Consultants was hired by the California Department of Education to conduct one of the most extensive qualitative studies of drug education programs to date. He found that DARE and other programs may actually be hurting our kids.)
Lawmakers Consider Bills To Permit Use Of Marijuana For Medical Reasons (The Honolulu Star-Bulletin says three committees in the Hawaii legislature considered two different bills today that would allow the medical use of marijuana. While commending Gov. Ben Cayetano for introducing HB 1157, advocates for medical marijuana patients generally preferred the less restrictive HB 1341, submitted by House Health Chairman Alex Santiago.)
Drugs Won't Pay (An editorial in the Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, argues against the Drug Reform Coordination Network's campaign to organize college students to overturn the ban in the Higher Education Act on student loans to anyone convicted of possessing marijuana or other supposedly controlled substances.)
Hemp Beer Served Aboard Air Force One (The online Drudge Report says stewards passed out Hemp Golden Beer Monday evening to the president, members of Congress, the press and other personnel returning from Mexico aboard Air Force One. The tasting came just weeks after the Air Force banned the use of all products containing hemp oil - including Hemp drinks. "The president tasted, but did not swallow," laughed one reporter aboard the plane.)
Clinton Talks Of Self Renewal (An Associated Press account of the U.S. president's visit to Mexico concludes by confirming "Stewards passed out Hemp Golden beer" on the trip back home aboard Air Force One.)
Panel Finds Too Many Crime Laws (The Associated Press says a 56-page report prepared over two years by a blue-ribbon task force sponsored by the American Bar Association and chaired by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III has concluded that the avalanche of new laws Congress has passed since 1970 to make America's streets safe has failed. "There is no persuasive evidence that federalization of local crime makes the streets safer for American citizens," says the report. More than 40 percent of all federal criminal laws enacted since the Civil War were passed since 1970.)
Many Anti-Crime Laws Not Needed, Study Says (The Orange County Register version)
Meese Panel Urges Curbs on Federal Offenses (The New York Times version)
Tougher Laws Fail To Stem Use Of Drugs (The Dayton Daily News, in Ohio, briefly notes the American Bar Association has released a new report showing illegal drug use has increased despite record expenditures on punishment.)
Medicinal Marijuana Battle to Heat Up with Release of Long-Awaited Institute of Medicine Report Next Month (A press release from the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., says MPP is preparing to challenge the likely interpretation of the Institute of Medicine's long-awaited medicinal marijuana report, to be released in mid-March. Government officials are sure to misrepresent the report's findings in order to justify the existing laws prohibiting the use of medicinal marijuana.)
Australian report on cannabis and testosterone (According to the Australian Associated Press, a new study by Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, director of psychiatry for the Dandenong Area Mental Health Service, showed that in a small group of 40 males, those with the highest levels of testosterone also showed the highest levels of cannabis use - as well as symptoms of psychosis. The study suggests there may be a biological reason why males use cannabis more prevalently than females, which until now has been put down to social factors. Plus more research on cannabis, THC and reproductive biology.)
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Monday, February 15, 1999:
Survey respondents feel good about how Oregon is run (The Associated Press says a telephone survey released today by the Oregon Progress Board and the state Office of Economic Analysis found that 41 percent of respondents said the state was doing a good job of "controlling drug use," an increase of 2 percent from a 1996 survey.)
Good times are rolling, survey says (The Oregonian version)
Ex-Candidate Defends Drug Use (The San Jose Mercury News says Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor who was recently busted on cultivation-related charges, together with his wife, Michele, told a Libertarian state convention in San Jose Sunday that "There were no sales." Kubby turned over most of his time Sunday to his wife, who talked with emotion about what their family has been through. "We have no business anymore," she said of their online magazine. "They have taken our computer, our printer, our digital scanner. They took all our plants, all our lights. They've destroyed our business and our life.")
Kubbys Reassure Libertarians (The Sacramento Bee version)
Bay Area briefs (The Sacramento Bee version)
Drug Reform: It's Time (A staff editorial in the Times Union, in New York, says the modest reforms of the state's Rockefeller-era mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drug offenders proposed by the chief judge of New York, Judith Kaye, are a welcome beginning toward returning sanity, not to mention justice, to the drug war. Gov. Pataki and the legislature should lend their support.)
Reform Rockefeller Drug Laws (A staff editorial in the Daily Gazette, in New York, also endorses Judge Kaye's call for reforming the state's Rockefeller-era mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines for drug offenders.)
Group Attempts Overturn Of Financial Aid Drug Act (The Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, describes the Drug Reform Coordination Network's effort to organize college students nationwide to overturn the Higher Education Act's ban on aid to students convicted of possessing a supposedly controlled substance, including marijuana. U.S. Representative Mark Souder, R-Ind., introduced the provision last spring and it was signed into law Oct. 7.)
Mexico Greets Clinton Like An Old Friend (The News & Observer, in North Carolina, says President Clinton basked in a warm reception Sunday in Merida, Mexico, the tropical capital of the Yucatan, on arriving for talks with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. The affectionate welcome came even though the leaders are expected to address such thorny issues as drug policy and immigration during the one-day visit.)
15 Feb 1999 Survey of German Language Newspapers (Translations of three items include - an article titled "Contribution to ending the War on Drugs," in Nordkurier Online, which says Martina Bunge, the Schwerin social affairs minister, voiced the opinion that decriminalizing drugs could help end the war on drugs, as well as strike a "blow for freedom." A Berliner Zeitung article looks at the projected crackdown making it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.5 per cent. And the visit to Mexico of our American friend, Bill Clinton, is covered by Die Welt.)
Egypt Judge Jailed For Cocaine Possession (Reuters says Edmond Hefzi, an Egyptian judge, has been sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour for 70 grams.)
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Sunday, February 14, 1999:
Medical Marijuana Collides With Power Politics (Sacramento Bee columnist Peter H. King recounts the recent cultivation bust of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 California gubernatorial candidate. Prohibition agents obtained a search warrant after they observed Kubby showing a plant to a man they believed was a customer. In reality, the man was Pete Brady, a correspondent for High Times magazine.)
Diluted cocaine may be tied to Richmond killings (According to the Contra Costa Times, in California, police in the Bay Area community of Richmond theorize that a recent spate of shootings and perhaps even two of this year's homicides may be linked to an alleged shortage of cocaine. Police believe the supposed shortage is caused by their successful interdiction efforts and as a consequence, there is an increase in "bunk dope" cut with everything from detergent to plasterboard.)
Valentine's Massacre Marked End Of Era (Katie C. Moore, a columnist for the Daily Herald, in in Arlington Heights, Illinois, says the warehouse where bootleggers killed their rivals in 1929 was demolished in 1967, when a Canadian businessman purchased the wall, once stained with the blood of the seven gangsters executed in front of it, and rebuilt it, brick by brick, in a men's club in Saskatchewan. "There's no question that what [Al Capone] did in the 1920s and '30s laid the foundation for organized crime today," said Ross Rice, a spokesman for the FBI. Some of the Mafia leaders of the 1970s were Capone's underlings in the 1920s. While street gangs and mob crime families do not now deal in illegal alcohol, they still have their hands in drugs, gambling and businesses in the Chicago area.)
Study shows minorities more likely to do time for drug-related crimes (The Associated Press says a study by the Connecticut General Assembly's Office of Legislative Research found that while 62 percent of those arrested on drug offenses in 1997 were white, that group made up only 11 percent of those serving prison time for drug convictions. Statistics from the U.S. Justice Department show that nationwide, blacks account for 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted.)
Dad Fights School On Drug Tests (UPI says the father of a teenager who was suspended from school in Ewing, New Jersey, for refusing to take a drug test after he fell asleep in class, says he and his son are ready to fight the school board.)
19 Inmates Moved In Bid To Bust Drug Ring (The Washington Post says hundreds of prison guards and state police, under the guise of conducting an emergency drill, yesterday removed 19 inmates from Maryland's maximum security House of Correction in Jessup. The exercise was intended to break up a network that officials said was dealing drugs and bootleg liquor in the 1,200-prisoner institution. Three correctional officers were also stopped as they came to work when special ion-scan machines at the prison entrance detected illegal drugs on their bodies.)
Newspaper: Probes launched into Customs Service (According to the Associated Press, the Miami Herald said Sunday that investigators from the U.S. Senate and Treasury Department had launched nationwide probes into alleged mismanagement in the U.S. Customs Service. The probes were prompted in part by stories in the Herald that recounted dozens of examples of employees whose careers flourished despite instances of dating drug smugglers, tampering with evidence, skimming seized drug cash and having sex with a paid informant.)
Federal Probes Target Customs (The Knight-Ridder news service version in the San Jose Mercury News)
Clinton To Discuss Drug War, Trade In Mexico (Reuters says U.S. President Clinton was due to arrive in the Yucatan city of Merida Monday for talks with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo that will focus heavily on the two countries' strained alliance in the drug war.)
Clintons, Lawmakers Headed For Mexico (The UPI version notes Clinton was accompanied by two dozen members of Congress. On March 1 Clinton is expected to certify Mexico as a fully cooperating ally in the war on some drug users.)
Clinton Turns Focus To Mexico (The Chicago Tribune version)
Clinton And Zedillo To Talk About Drug War (The Houston Chronicle version)
Clinton for Mexico for quick summit (The Associated Press version)
Clinton To Go To Mexico (A different Associated Press version goes into more detail on the behind-the-scenes certification struggle.)
U.S. Is Brushing Off Mexico's Drug Data (A New York Times piece about the annual contortions experienced by the United States government while certifying Mexico as an ally in the drug war says that by most statistical measures, the Mexican record looks especially bad this year. Drug seizures by the Mexican police have fallen significantly. Nearly all of the most important Mexican narcotics traffickers identified last year remain at large. The promised extraditions of some Mexican drug suspects to the United States have not materialized, and drug enforcement programs have been rocked by a series of public conflicts between the two governments. But "This is not about what Mexico has done," said one official with the Clinton administration. "This is about convincing the Hill that whatever Mexico has done is enough.")
Pot Gets Judge's Approval (The Sunday Mail, in Australia, says Justice Alan Demack of Queensland last week discharged an invalid pensioner, 54, who had pleaded guilty to unlawfully producing and possessing a dangerous drug and two related charges. The judge ruled that marijuana use is acceptable for pain relief and noted once Anthony George Bulley used marijuana, he was able to stop using oral narcotics.)
US Tinky Stink Makes British Week (A Boston Globe dispatch from London says the Brits are beside themselves over the Rev. Jerry Falwell's "Parents Alert" Thursday to guard children against the alleged gay influence of Tinky Winky, the largest of the four Teletubbies, the British import that has become a staple on US public television for toddlers. Commenting on stupidity among Americans is a favorite pastime here, but it takes a vivid imagination to find anything sexual about the Teletubbies. In London, teenagers and young adults have been known to take drugs and hold parties watching tapes of the show. Some critics here have suggested the underlying theme of the children's series is not sex, but the ingestion of prodigious amounts of hallucinogens.)
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Saturday, February 13, 1999:
Outpatient Commitment Bill (A list subscriber forwards an alert from Support Coalition Northwest, in Eugene, asking you to take action against a bill being drafted by Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers that would radically expand "involuntary outpatient commitment." Already allowed in 40 states, including Oregon, the Orwellian and Kafkaesque law currently requires psychiatric patients to take certain drugs in order to remain free - no matter how useless or toxic such drugs are to them. The Myers bill would reportedly allow any two Oregonians to begin the process of an "investigation and intervention" of any other Oregonian who was not yet commitable. After an "investigation," if the subject refused to appear before the judge, the subject could be arrested. The judge could then order the subject to follow a "treatment plan," including taking psychiatric drugs against his or her will.)
Patients get wrong mixture in dialysis (The Oregonian says one Portland-area patient is in critical condition and 84 others had abnormally low levels of sodium bicarbonate in their blood after they received the wrong kind of chemical solution this week during their dialysis treatments by Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and Providence Newberg Hospital.)
Rogue Of The Week (Willamette Week, in Portland, jumps on the bandwagon of Oregon media trying to whip up voters' emotions over Oregon's new medical marijuana law, faulting Mike Assenberg for not knowing his rights under the voter-approved initiative.)
Police Impound Store's Alleged Drug Paraphernalia (The Herald, in Everett, Washington, says local prohibition agents confiscated bongs, cigarette lighters, scales and other alleged drug paraphernalia from the Evergreen Smoke Shop Thursday afternoon.)
Medical Synthetic Marijuana Is Expensive (A letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin rebuts an earlier letter from a drug warrior opposing medical marijuana.)
Book Can Help Explain Medicinal Marijuana (Another letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin rebuts untrue statements about marijuana by plugging "Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence," by Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D., and Dr. John P. Morgan.)
Ventura Says He'll Sign Hemp Bill (According to UPI, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura told a radio talk-show Friday in the Twin Cities that he and state Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson both support an industrial hemp bill pending in the state senate.)
Judge Asks Sheriff For Drug Case List (The Topeka Capital-Journal, in Kansas, says Shawnee County District Judge Eric Rosen on Friday ordered Sheriff Dave Meneley to hand over a list of cases investigated by five of his prohibition agents. Rosen also ordered the district attorney's office to hand over copies of recent memos between prosecutors and the sheriff's office in which District Attorney Joan Hamilton requested explanations from Meneley for the decreased weight of the marijuana seized in the arrest of Carlos Hernandez, who is seeking dismissal of two drug charges from 1995.)
Texas Inmates Tell U.S. Judge Of Abuses (A New York Times article in the San Jose Mercury News says Texas prisoners and their lawyers have been arguing for three weeks that the federal court supervision to which the state's prison system has been at least partly subject since 1980 should continue. Much of the testimony from prisoners has been a grim litany of abuses and humiliations. One man described being locked in a cage for five days. Another suffered a stroke, but his guards, failing to recognize it, simply ridiculed his stumbling gait rather than immediately summoning medical help. Yet another, driven to despair by abuse, tried to kill himself by biting into his arm until he hit a vein. Prisoners told of being raped by other inmates, beaten by guards, and covered in pepper spray. With 73 prisons and more than 140,000 prisoners, Texas's correctional system is second in size only to California's.)
In Encounter, Police Altered His Opinions (The New York Times says Charles Padro stopped supporting New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's "quality-of-life" campaign after an encounter with the police themselves, who arrogantly ignored his civil rights. Padro said the two plainclothes officers told him he fit the profile of people who come to Washington Heights to buy drugs. "I'm Puerto Rican," Padro explained. "But I look more Italian. . . . Being a victim of crime prevention is an interesting thing," Padro said. "Once it happens, you start looking at the police very differently. You don't trust them.")
With Liberty For Some: 500 Years Of Imprisonment In America (The Economist, in Britain, reviews the new book by Scott Christianson, "A Land Of Bondage," which examines the origins of the United States' prison-industrial complex. After Russia, America has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world. One in every 163 Americans is in jail or prison, a rate six times the average in Europe. America's zeal for imprisonment is usually attributed to a recent shift towards harsh law-enforcement policies, especially against drug users. To some degree, this is true. The number of people locked up has tripled since 1980. But the recent surge is not an anomaly. Bondage of one sort or another has played a central role in American history from the beginning. Popular support for mass incarceration and ever longer prison sentences is not merely a by-product of the past two decades' war on crime, but a consistent and ugly side of American society which has remained unquestioned for far too long.)
Clinton To Go To Mexico Tomorrow (The Associated Press says Mexico's war against drug traffickers, highlighted by a new $400 million, land-sea-and-air battle plan, tops the agenda for a two-day meeting between U.S. President Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo beginning Sunday on the Yucatan Peninsula.)
Mexico Anti-Drug Cooperation Key To Clinton Trip (The Reuters version)
Clinton's Visit To Mexico Shadowed By Paradoxes (A different Associated Press article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer tries to explain the Mexican perspective on relations with the United States, and the role of the drug war in that relationship. While U.S. drug war hawks criticize Mexico for refusing to extradite its citizens to face American charges, Mexican officials have been trying for three years to convince a U.S. court to return former Deputy Attorney General Mario Ruiz Massieu to face charges of corruption and obstruction of justice. U.S. courts have said they lack evidence.)
Mexico slams U.S. Drugs Certification Policy (According to Reuters, Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Labastida criticised the United States on Friday ahead of a visit by President Clinton, saying Washington's practice of certifying allies in the war on drugs was unfair and inhibited cooperation. Diplomats from both countries said the certification issue was not a topic scheduled for discussion by Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. But the two will dedicate a big part of their meeting to drawing up new accords linked to the "Binational Alliance against Drugs," created in May 1997 during Clinton's first visit to Mexico.)
Mexico Freed Drug Suspect, Official Says Release Ordered Despite Warrant (The Washington Post says the Mexican attorney general's Organized Crime Unit recently captured Humberto Garcia Abrego, the man believed to be the country's most notorious drug money launderer, detained and interrogated him for three weeks, and then set him free despite a federal warrant for his arrest.)
Jail Breeds Gang 'Virus' Say Analysts (The Edmonton Sun, in Alberta, says a program to be broadcast tonight on CBC's "Rough Cuts," produced by Katerina Cizek, a filmmaker who documented Winnipeg's street gang problem, shows that a divide and conquer anti-gang policy in Manitoba prisons has sent the once local problem countrywide.)
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Friday, February 12, 1999:
Campus weapons violations top 540 (The Oregonian says a report by the state Department of Education shows Oregon public schools also expelled 692 students for violations involving alcohol and other drugs during the 1997-98 academic year.)
Former California Candidate, Wife to Make First Public Appearance Sunday (A press release on U.S. Newswire announces a news conference to be held in conjunction with the Libertarian Party of California state convention at the San Jose Doubletree Hotel. Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor, and his wife, Michele, will speak about their recent Prop. 215 arrest for cultivating marijuana.)
Police Sued Over Arrest, Pot Seizure (The Los Angeles Times says Dean Jones of Simi Valley filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city's Police Department, alleging that officers illegally arrested him and seized marijuana plants that he was cultivating for medicinal use. Jones, 62, is seeking an injunction against the department forcing officers to investigate whether a person is allowed by law to cultivate marijuana before making an arrest or seizing pot plants.)
Narc Dog Sniffs Out 'Niner Fan (San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler says the money that Christine Clark Fed-Ex'd to a friend in Virginia to pay off a losing bet on the 49ers-Falcons playoff game was delivered by two badge-flashing narcs who thought the package seemed suspicious - maybe because it was the shape and size of a Cheech and Chong doobie.)
A Selective Passion For Truth (Arkansas Times columnist Mara Leverett follows up on her call last week for less scrutiny of President Clinton's dealings with Monica Lewinsky and more scrutiny of his connection to Barry Seal's officially sanctioned cocaine smuggling through Mena airport. Republican Arkansas U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson, the House manager who has been so aggressive in his prosecution of Clinton, expounding repeatedly on his desire only to get at "the truth" of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, was the U.S. attorney for western Arkansas back in the 1980s, when he had a chance to prosecute Seal, the smuggler, and expose the drug trade's connections to Clinton, Bush, and the CIA. But in fact, various witnesses indicate Hutchinson stymied several investigations into alleged drug-trafficking at Mena. At the time, and to this day, Hutchinson casts himself as an anti-drug crusader.)
Public Education With A Twist: Office Of National Drug Control Policy Reaches Youth In Unconventional Ways (A press release on PR Newswire from the White House drug czar's office about your tax dollars at work says ONDCP will spend some of its new $2 billion anti-drug advertising budget on an online concert Feb. 15 by an Australian rock band, Silverchair.)
McCaffrey: Headed For Red Cross? (According to the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, today's Washington Times says the White House drug czar will take the helm at the American Red Cross by June 1, and a search for the third Clinton drug czar is underway.)
Using Diet To Combat Addiction (The Toronto Star says that when Kathleen DesMaisons, the head of Radiant Recovery, an addiction centre in New Mexico, seriously delved into the research about sugar, brain chemistry, mood disorders and alcoholism, there was a lot to review. Besides scores of scientific papers and journals linking sugar and brain chemistry to alcoholism, there were many books published. Her research became the basis for a diet program with an unheard of 92 per cent recovery rate for alcoholics. This has stayed at 85 per cent in a five-year follow-up. Recovery rates for alcoholism programs vary from as low as 25 per cent to about 50 per cent, depending on the support available and how recovery is defined. Today she believes that even people who are not addicted to alcohol or other drugs can have a skewed body chemistry that plunges them into a type of sugar sensitivity that leads to what has often been labelled "an alcoholic personality" - prone to mood swings, poor impulse control, and excess in many aspects of living. Her research became her doctoral thesis, then a book, "Potatoes Not Prozac," now being released in paperback.)
Clinton To Visit Mexico For Crucial Negotiations (A Knight-Ridder news service article in the Orange County Register says U.S. President Clinton is traveling to Merida, on the Yucatan Peninsula, to meet Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo on Monday for their seventh - and probably most important - summit. The meeting may yield new agreements on fighting drug traffickers.)
Mexican official balks at certification (According to UPI, Francisco Labastida Ochoa, Mexico's interior minister, criticized the unilateral American practice of certifying drug-war allies in a radio interview today in Mexico City, in advance of a trip to Mexico by U.S. President Clinton on Sunday and Monday.)
Cocaine Production Exploding (According to UPI, General Barry McCaffrey, citing previously secret CIA crop estimates that now will be made public periodically, told a group of diplomats and academics at the University of Miami Thursday that coca production rose 26 percent in Colombia last year. He also said that between 1995 and 1998, coca cultivation declined by 56 percent in Peru and 22 percent in Bolivia.)
U.S. Rethinks Anti-Drug Aid To Colombia (A Dallas Morning News article in the Orange County Register says a decision by Colombian President Andres Pastrana to halt anti-drug efforts and extend leftist rebel control over a giant demilitarized "peace zone" the size of Switzerland has prompted a potentially serious policy dispute with Washington, putting $289 million in U.S. drug war funding under scrutiny.)
Peru Army No. 2 Arrested In Drug Case, Sources Say (Reuters says an anti-drugs court in Peru ordered the arrest of Gen. Tomas Marky, the army's second-in-command. Gen. Marky was detained early this month following accusations by an army lieutenant - himself in prison on drug-trafficking charges - that the general failed in 1995 to inform authorities that he had confiscated traffickers' suitcases believed to hold $1 million.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 78 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original compilation of news and calls to action regarding drug policy, including - As certification debate nears, Mexico declares "total war" on drugs; White House releases drug strategy amid criticism from reformers; New York state's top judge calls for rethinking of Rockefeller drug laws; County requests federal okay to conduct medical marijuana study; Impact of the closure of a needle exchange program; an editorial by Adam J. Smith, Young entrepreneurs and the culture of prohibition)
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Thursday, February 11, 1999:
NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (Employee Fired For Legal Marinol Use Can Sue, Federal Appeals Court Rules; No Link Between Miscarriages And Marijuana Use, Study Says; County Requests Federal Okay To Conduct Medical Marijuana Study; Air Force Forbids Use Of Legal Hemp Seed Oil; Congressman Introduces Bill Banning Research On Drug War Alternatives)
Vote on prison bill causes a stir (The Oregonian says Republicans in the Oregon Senate have forced a vote today on a prison-siting bill that would reverse Governor Kitzhaber's attempt to put a new women's prison and intake center near Wilsonville, just south of Portland. The GOP legislation would instead put the 1,300-bed complex in the Eastern Oregon city of Umatilla. The governor's office says the bill gives unfair financial incentives to the Umatilla area.)
Marion County seeks anti-gang funds (The Oregonian says county law enforcement officials want $4.6 million from the Oregon legislature. The unpleasantness in Eugene seems to have been forgotten.)
High schoolers can get $1,000 bounty under new drug "snitch" program (A press release from the Libertarian Party, in Washington, D.C., protests a plan by three high schools in Portland, Oregon, to reward teenagers who anonymously turn in other students on drug charges.)
Kubbys Knew Of Impending Arrest (Tahoe World, in Tahoe City, California, recounts the cultivation bust and legal strategy of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor, and his wife, Michele.)
Auburn Grand Jury To Hear Kubby Marijuana Case (The Tahoe World says the district attorney in Placer County, California, will withdraw the existing indictment for marijuana cultivation and possession for sale against Steve Kubby and his wife, Michele, so the case can be presented to a criminal grand jury on Feb. 17. Dale Wood, the attorney representing the Kubbys, said the decision would deprive them of a public hearing.)
Marijuana Never Killed Anyone, Unlike Other Drugs (A letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin is skeptical about a drug warrior's rhetoric. "If marijuana isn't a medicine, why are patients being supplied marijuana by the federal government, and why is the active ingredient in marijuana used as medicine in pills?")
Is Hemp Economically Sound? (MSNBC KTSM-TV, in El Paso, Texas, says an industrial hemp bill before the New Mexico legislature passed its first hurdle when the House Agriculture Committee recommended its passage. The bill has to pass through one more committee before it can go to the full house. The proposed law would allocate $50,000 to New Mexico State University to study the economic feasibility of a state hemp industry.)
Drug Money Investigation To Be Started (The Associated Press says Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill announced Wednesday that her office had begun an accounting of the way police departments deal with seized property. Police have been diverting from public schools millions of dollars seized in drug cases. State law requires such money seized by police to go through a state court, which usually designates the money to be used for educational purposes.)
Make Pot Fine $5,000, Brookfield Judge Says (According to the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, in Wisconsin, Judge Richard J. Steinberg says the $2,000 fine currently assessed for marijuana possession locally is "getting the attention of pot smokers," so the threat of a $5,000 maximum fine might have a bigger impact still. Judge Steinberg suggested adopting the higher fine to the city attorney's office this week. But according to Brookfield Police Chief Robert Jacobs, "I don't see any increased benefit from doing that. If a kid doesn't care about the $2,000, they're not going to care about the $5,000, either.")
Two Freedom Fighters With One Stone (Diane Fornbacher, High Times magazine's Freedom Fighter of the Month for January, describes her latest arrest and that of May 1998 Freedom Fighter Julien Heicklen at Penn State University.)
Man Arrested A Second Time For Marijuana Operation (A cautionary tale revealing typical American journalistic objectivity, by MSNBC WMSV-TV, Channel 4 in Nashville, Tennessee, says the station informed on Terry Barbour, a somewhat naive local cannabis retailer and enthusiast, after it interviewed him following his arraignment on pot charges, and taped him and friends using "drugs" in the news crews' presence. Barbour is now being held in the Putnam County jail without bond.)
Federal `Drug War' Strategy Is Bound To Fail - Again (San Jose Mercury News columnist Joanne Jacobs says this year's Clinton administration blueprint for the war on some drug users reveals the same old strategy, and it's likely to produce the same old results. Despite this year's $17.8 billion budget, the cost to eradicate coca crops in South America keeps going up, while the street price of cocaine keeps going down. The one strategy that works - treatment for addicts - gets only a fraction of the funding.)
MP's Marijuana Motion Gathering Steam (The Toronto Globe & Mail notes Bloc Quebecois Member of Parliament Bernard Bigras is sponsoring a motion in the House of Commons asking the government to study the benefits of medical marijuana. Mr. Bigras is suggesting that Health Canada conduct a three-year research program involving 400 to 600 patients before considering legalizing the substance. His motion will force the government to come up with a position on this issue before it comes to a vote in May.)
Howard's Drug War Strategy Misfires (An op-ed in the Age, in Melbourne, notes the Australian Prime Minister claimed in Parliament on Tuesday that his Government's "tough on drugs" strategy was working. The evidence? Howard quoted figures to show that the authorities were making record seizures of illicit drugs. But a cap of heroin on the streets of Melbourne is now about the same price as a slab of full-strength beer. For two or three teenagers looking for a buzz or oblivion, heroin represents good value by comparison to booze - and it's easier to obtain. The war on drugs has failed. The function of society is to ensure that experimentation with drugs occurs as safely as possible and, for those who become addicted, supply and distribution is organised so that the addicts can lead a productive life outside crime.)
U.S. Troubled By Interpol's Myanmar Drug Meeting (According to Reuters, the United States said Thursday it would not attend an Interpol anti-narcotics meeting in Myanmar because it believes Yangon may use the event to give a false picture of its drug suppression efforts.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 6 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)
DrugSense Weekly, No. 85 (The original summary of drug policy news from DrugSense opens with the weekly Feature Article - Scapegoating teens buttresses drug war, by Mike Males. The Weekly News in Review features several articles about Drug War Policy, including - Hitting a wall of opposition; Welfare drug test plan gets mixed reaction; Court files: truth or DARE; and, The erosion of our rights. Articles about Law Enforcement & Prisons include - Drug arrests continue; Westbound I-40 pours drug cash on police; Feds pay drug case witness $2 million; Is plea bargaining an illegal tactic?; and, The prison craze and the crime rate. Articles about Medical Marijuana include - Supporters are grim as Chavez led away to jail; Kubbys prepared for marijuana arrests; Not-so-secret farm keeps growing; and, Hard data trickles in as scientists study marijuana. International News articles include - Mexico turns to high-tech tools in war on drugs; Mcleish set to create a task force of drug busters; Chirac calls for EU to harmonise anti-drug laws; Heroin overdose deaths hit a record 600; and, Anti-drug aid endangered. The weekly Hot Off The 'Net points your browser to Pritchett cartoons on drug policy; and the "face lift" at the Legalize-USA site. Volunteer of the Month: Mike Gogulski. The Quote of the Week cites Stanislaw Lec.)
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Wednesday, February 10, 1999:
Stealing Newborn Children Due To Cannabis (D. Paul Stanford, a chief petitioner for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, explains how poor expectant mothers who have to use the Oregon Health Plan for their primary health insurance can avoid secret drug testing in the doctor's office and hospital that would incite the state of Oregon to steal their children.)
CRRH e-mail list, TV show and more (D. Paul Stanford of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp invites people interested in cannabis-related issues to join the CRRH e-mail list. Plus, find out about CRRH's weekly 30-minute cable television show in Oregon called "Cannabis Common Sense," and the online video library maintained by CRRH.)
$20 million damages against drug company upheld (The Associated Press says the Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the punitive damages assessed by a jury after Douglas Axen of Multnomah County went blind from taking amiodarone, manufactured by American Home Products' pharmaceutical division, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, under the brand name Cordarone.)
Bill would ban live TV coverage of police tactical events (The Associated Press says the Oregon Council of Police Associations has asked the legislature to ban live television news coverage of tactical police operations, apparently concerned that local news broadcasters showed Portland police trying to kill Steven Dons last winter by trussing his naked bleeding body over a police van and withholding medical care from him for several hours.)
Police want to pull plug on live broadcasts (The Oregonian version)
Take two chocolates and call me in the morning (The Oregonian marks Valentine's Day with a review of what's been learned in recent years about chocolate as a psychoactive substance. One intriguing study about chocolate's chemicals that appeared in the journal Nature nearly three years ago continues to receive attention. Daniele Piomelli of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego reported chocolate contains substances that might mimic the effects of marijuana.)
DEA Employee Kills Himself in Field Office (The Los Angeles Times says Charles Carlon, a civilian employee of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, suspected of using his computer to download child pornography, shot himself to death Sunday at the agency's Los Angeles field office.)
Legalize, Then Tax Drugs (A letter to the editor of the Austin American-Statesman, in Texas, says that in order to understand what happened to the unkept promises of progress for racial minorities in the 1960s, one has to consider the history of prohibition and today's illicit drug trade, which was spawned in the '60s. Prohibition is a recipe for disaster, which is what we have. If you want to start healing the damage, by all means teach personal responsibility, but teach by example, by first legalizing, taxing and regulating all drugs, gambling and other vices, so that users, not the purveyor or the state, are solely responsible for the consequences of their behavior.)
DEA Bust Leads To School Bus Crash (According to UPI, the Drug Enforcement Administration says a car containing 50 kilograms of cocaine and a special agent's unmarked car both hit a school bus in Yonkers, New York, during a chase, sending 28 children and the driver to the hospital.)
Lemmy Motorhead Frontman Lemmy Wants Drugs Legalised (According to World Entertainment News Network, the hard rock icon said, "I can't understand why people are so stupid as to put kids in jail for smoking a few joints." However, Lemmy draws the line at decriminalising heroin.)
Woman Tests D.C.'S Ban On Medicinal Use Of Marijuana (An Associated Press article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes multiple sclerosis patient Renee Emry Wolfe is being prosecuted for lighting up a joint in the office of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.)
Medical Marijuana: Movement Finds Unexpected Ally (The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report says this week's National Journal, published by Kaiser, reports that former Reagan administration aide Lyn Nofziger has penned a laudatory foreword to the new book "Marijuana Rx: The Patients' Fight for Medical Pot." Nofziger writes that he obtained "marijuana illegally to help his daughter ease the effects of the chemotherapy used to treat her lymph cancer.")
Prison-Industrial Complex Is A Growing Threat (Washington Post columnist Neal R. Peirce, syndicated in the Houston Chronicle, belatedly recounts Eric Schlosser's disturbing report, "The Prison-Industrial Complex," in the December issue of Atlantic Monthly. Noting the violent crime rate in America is at a 25-year-low, Peirce says the idea that crime is declining because of high incarceration rates is reprehensible on three counts: the bestial nature of prison life, a race-based denial of equal rights and civil rights reminiscent of the old South Africa, and a bloated, overwhelmingly white prison-industrial complex making money off the whole. The prison craze besmirches the name of America. In the best of economic times, in a nation dominant on the world stage, it's more intolerable than ever. We need a vigorous political debate: how to build safer communities without incarcerating so many millions of our fellow citizens.)
Schools To Get Tough On Drugs (The Daily Courier, in Kelowna, British Columbia, says that in response to more students showing up stoned and drunk in local classrooms, the school district will unveil an innovative anti-drug program tonight that promises to help teenage drug users kick their habit, curtail distribution and educate students before they start experimenting. The new, improved program is based on an existing anti-drug initiative in schools, but will have a lot more money behind it. Of the 1,300 suspensions of up to 10 days handed to students last year, about 50 were due to drug use or trafficking in school. Of the 68 students suspended for 10 days or more last year, a dozen were drug-related and another dozen showed up drunk.)
Clinton Faces Thorny Issues In Mexico Visit (Reuters says U.S. President Clinton is set to visit Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo this weekend to discuss the thorny issues of drug trafficking, illegal immigration and border pollution.)
Mexico Strains Drug Ally Status (The Washington Post says Mexico has produced such dismal results in combating drug trafficking in the past year that Mexican and U.S. officials say they are braced for an aggressive attempt by the U.S. Congress to decertify its southern neighbor as an ally in the drug war and add it to the "black list" of nations judged failures in the antidrug effort.)
I Won't Budge On Heroin: PM (The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, says drug experts denounced Prime Minister John Howard last night after he refused to drop his opposition to heroin-maintenance trials despite new statistics showing a sharp increase in drug-related deaths.)
Myanmar Raps Britain, U.S. Over Drug Talks (According to Reuters, Myanmar's military government said Wednesday it greatly regretted decisions by the United States and Britain to boycott an Interpol conference on heroin production and trafficking to be held later this month. Yangon said Britain and the United States, as two of the largest markets for heroin, had a "special responsibility" to take part. The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway have also said they will not attend.)
Scientist's Knife Trick Leaves Testing In Chaos (The Daily Mail, in Britain, says Dr David Brown, a physical chemist, believes he has proved what athletes have long claimed - that the security packs in which their urine samples are transported to laboratories for testing can be opened and resealed without detection. The implications are enormous. In three minutes, with just a kettle of boiling water and a small knife, Dr Brown has so drastically damaged the credibility of drugs testing that sports federations worldwide could be left facing huge claims for compensation from athletes whose careers have been shattered.)
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Tuesday, February 9, 1999:
Former drug tester admits taking shortcuts (The Oregonian says Sherrie L. Kaneaster, the former owner of a Portland-area urine-testing business, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to taking shortcuts in testing truck drivers from 1995 to 1997. U.S. Department of Transportation drug-testing regulations require a physician trained to evaluate drug tests to review the results, both negative and positive. Kaneaster falsely certified that such evaluations had occurred.)
Heroin overdose deaths soar in Oregon (The Associated Press doesn't admit the war on some drug users has failed, but says deaths in Oregon attributable to injecting tainted street heroin totaled 179 in 1998, 10 times the 18 deaths recorded in 1991. The wire service ignores the toll from alcohol, prescription drugs and coerced medicating in order to assert that heroin accounted for 76 percent of the state's total so-called drug overdoses.)
Kubby Case To Go Before Grand Jury (The Auburn Journal, in California, says 1998 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby's marijuana cultivation case will be presented to a criminal grand jury on Feb. 17. The district attorney's office will withdraw the existing indictment. Dale Wood, a Tahoe City attorney representing the Kubbys, said the decision would deprive Kubby of a public hearing of his case.)
California NORML Report: 1999 State Marijuana Legislation (A news release from California NORML reviews the status of several cannabis-related bills in the state legislature. Expect a repeat of Sen. Vasconcellos's medical marijuana bill, S.B. 535 to be passed and signed into law by Gov. Davis - minus some undesirable details that were incorporated to win former Attorney General Lungren's support.)
Federal Drug Law Is Racist (An op-ed in the Capital Times, in Wisconsin, from an attorney in Madison says Madison Urban Ministry and other groups fighting racism are to be applauded for their efforts, but there is a general failure to recognize and address one area in which racism continues to be both institutionalized and pervasive: the criminal justice system and the war on drugs, particularly mandatory minimums and the crack cocaine/powder cocaine sentencing disparity.)
Madison A Major Center Of Drug-Testing Industry (The Wisconsin State Journal says millions of dollars are spent in Madison by the federal government and pharmaceutical companies to clinically test products for approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The number of drugs that actually make it to the market is extremely small. About one in 5,000 drugs will eventually make it to human trials. The University of Wisconsin typically does about 500 new trials a year, meaning there are between 1,000 and 1,500 trials being conducted there at any given time.)
Top New York Judge Calls For Easing Some Drug Laws (The New York Times says New York state's chief judge, Judith Kaye, proposed several reforms to the state's Rockefeller drug laws that would reduce sentences for some defendants found guilty of selling or possessing narcotics.)
The Police Misconduct We Never See (An op-ed in the New York Times by an attorney experienced in police-misconduct cases recounts several local instances of outrageous behavior by New York's finest. Most claims of police misconduct never make headlines, but the reality is that accusations against the police for excessive force, illegal arrests and the like have risen sharply in New York City in the past four years, much more so than other claims against the city.)
Martin In Federal Court (The San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune, in California, says eight days after playing in the Super Bowl, Atlanta Falcons receiver Tony Martin was brought to court in manacles and charged Monday with money laundering and conspiracy stemming from his longtime friendship with a seller of illegal drugs. Martin is not accused of involvement in his friend's drug business. Prosecutors said he wrote checks to lease luxury cars and pay legal fees because his friend's lawyers wouldn't take cash.)
MS Patient Faces Marijuana Trial (The Associated Press notes Renee Emry Wolfe, a 38-year-old mother of three from Ann Arbor, Michigan, faces a trial April 26 in Washington, D.C., and up to 180 days in jail for lighting a joint Sept. 15 in the office of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to bring attention to the issue of medical marijuana. "This patient has run out of patience," said Mrs. Wolfe.)
Medical need or publicity stunt? (A slightly different Associated Press account in the Ann Arbor News)
Please help publicize the prosecution of a medicinal marijuana user (A press release from the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., asks you to call your local mass media about the upcoming trial of multiple sclerosis patient and medical marijuana activist Renee Emry-Wolfe.)
Vice President Unveils Plan To Fight Drugs (The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, in Texas, says Al Gore yesterday released the Clinton administration's $18 billion, five-part strategy for escalating the war on some drug users.)
New Anti-Drug Proposal Puts Focus On Children (The Tulsa World version)
Gore Says Drug Issue Is In Part 'Spiritual' (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version suggests Vice President Al Gore apparently wants to be in charge of the theocracy.)
Gore: Drug Policy To Tackle `Spiritual Problem' (The San Jose Mercury News version)
Former Toronto Cop Faces Drug Charges (The National Post, in Canada, says that when Abraham Norman Chesley Bailey was arrested at his Coffee Time doughnut shop in Toronto last Friday, a place frequented by local high school students, and charged with a sheaf of drug trafficking offences, his former colleagues at the Toronto Police department weren't in the slightest surprised. Roughing up prisoners may be okay; framing suspects is arguably tolerable if they're believed to be guilty anyway, but dealing heroin to young people? Well, that's beyond the pale.)
U.S. officials say Colombian cocaine production is booming (According to the Los Angeles Time, General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, said cultivation of cocaine has jumped 26 percent in the past year in Colombia, with signs of an increase in opium production there as well.)
Major Antidrug Effort Is Unveiled (The Philadelphia Inquirer version)
Heroin Overdose Deaths Hit A Record 600 (The Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia, says a study by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has found that heroin-related deaths have increased 10 per cent in the last year. The centre's executive director, Professor Wayne Hall, didn't mention that alcohol and tobacco probably killed more than 100 times as many Australians, but he did predict that the heroin toll is likely to continue increasing because people do not tend to die early in drug use. He warned that this peak in the cycle of deaths "throws up a desperate search for one-stop solutions" which could not work for a problem that had developed over 30 years. He called for a State or national drug summit to try to find solutions and lift the issue out of the political arena. "I don't think there is an answer," he said. "There are a variety of things which could be done." Ensuring safer injecting and giving users somewhere to inject away from the street could contribute, he said.)
Vatican Killer Had 'Traces Of Cannabis' (According to the Times, in Britain, the Vatican said yesterday, after a nine-month investigation, that the case of a Swiss Guard who killed his commanding officer and then shot himself was closed. The Vatican also suggested for the first time that the murderer had been under the influence of cannabis, apparently because "traces of cannabis" were in his system. Just like a zillion other 23-year-old Italians who smoked cannabis at some point in the last few weeks, but didn't kill anybody. Vice-Corporal Cedric Tornay's mother contested the Vatican's conclusions, insisting her son had been "framed" as part of a Vatican plot to eliminate the commander.)
Pot, Brain Cyst Might Explain Vatican Killing (A brief but surrealistic Orange County Register version says the Vatican based its conclusions partly on ".38 interviews.")
2 Policemen Sentenced In Rostov-On-Don (Itar-Tass, in Russia, says the two prohibition agents were sentenced to three and four years, respectively, for abuse of office, illegal entry, robbery, battery, bribe-taking and narcotic drugs storage. Paradoxically, the crimes were committed in the "Order" operation and exposed by a hardened criminal.)
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Monday, February 8, 1999:
Virtues Of Hemp Winning Over Fans In Farm-Minded Idaho (A Spokane, Washington, Spokesman-Review article in the San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune says Mike Schlepp, president of the Kootenai-Shoshone chapter of the Idaho Farm Bureau, and a lot of other Idaho farmers like him are interested in growing industrial hemp. The Idaho Farm Bureau, which represents 11,300 members, voted in 1996 to "encourage the legalization of cultivation and production of industrial grade hemp." Pat Takasugi, the state's director of agriculture, says "Agriculture in Idaho is under the gun. We're looking for alternative crops.")
Escaped Inmate Jailed for 10 Days (The Associated Press notes Circuit Judge Charles Stone today mercifully sentenced Alfred Odell Martin III, who was extradited from Michigan to Virginia after leading an "exemplary" life for 25 years while on the lam for selling $10 worth of marijuana to an informant. Martin is currently serving a one-year jail sentence for his original marijuana conviction. But he has been held for more than two months and could be released early for good behavior.)
Florida Initiative (A list subscriber posts the text of a medical marijuana ballot measure that would amend the state constitution.)
In Jury Rooms, A Form of Civil Protest Grows (A lengthy article in the Washington Post says jury nullification is increasing to unprecedented levels - and the newspaper wants to help stamp it out so much that it completely ignores the legal and constitutional foundations for jury nullifaction. The most concrete sign of the trend is a sharp increase in the percentage of trials that end in hung juries. If jurors vote not to convict because they don't believe drug laws are fair, they may disguise their true feelings by simply saying the evidence wasn't there or the prosecution didn't make its case. Otherwise, they risk being ejected from the jury box.)
One Juror's Convictions (A sidebar to the Washington Post's article on the increasing prevalence of jury nullification recounts the prosecution in Colorado of Laura Kriho. The 34-year-old college research assistant was convicted of obstructing justice for failing to reveal during the jury screening process that she had been arrested for LSD possession 12 years earlier, and for failing to disclose that she was opposed to the enforcement of some drug laws. The Colorado Court of Appeals is expected to rule on her case any day.)
Pot Fight Unites Clinton Nemesis With The Man Who Didn't Inhale (The Washington Post notes the constitutionality of the budget resolution sponsored by Rep. Bob Barr preventing District of Columbia voters from learning whether they approved a local medical-marijuana ballot measure last November is being defended in the courts by the Clinton administration's Justice Department, Barr's nemesis.)
Greener Grass (U.S. News & World Report says the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, wants out.)
New Anti-Drug Strategy Announced (An Associated Press article in the Orange County Register says the Clinton administration is announcing a five-part plan designed to cut the nation's drug problem in half by 2007, emphasizing the need for a drug-control strategy that measures success and failure - apparently so the government can know which statistics to manipulate.)
Drug Warriors To Be Held Accountable In 5-Part Plan (The headline of the Arizona Republic version seems a little optimistic.)
Accountability Promised For Drug Effort (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version)
Fact Sheet on 1999 National Drug Control Strategy (A White House press release announces today's release of the 1999 National Drug Control Strategy, described as "a comprehensive long-term plan to reduce drug use and availability to historic new lows.")
Remarks by the Vice President on the 1999 National Drug Control Strategy (A White House transcript of Al Gore mouthing the obligatory platitudes and inanities about the purported progress of the war on some drug use.)
Briefing by Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and General Barry McCaffrey, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (A White House transcript of the official spin on the drug strategy just announced by the Vice President.)
In A Course For Drug Users, Emphasis Is On Saving Lives (The Province, in Vancouver, British Columbia, describes Peer Support Training offered by the Vancouver-Richmond health board. It isn't trying to talk users out of their drugs. Instead, it offers addicts blunt lessions on how to survive illegal hard drugs and what to do to revive a friend having a toxic reaction.)
Mexico Rejects Extradition For 5 (According to the Chicago Tribune, Mexico on Sunday rejected the U.S. request for the men implicated in "Operation Casablanca," the largest money-laundering case in U.S. history, saying it would instead try them in Mexico.)
U.S. Offers To Help Mexico Convict Drug Suspects (Reuters says the dispute between the United States and Mexico over America's "Operation Casablanca" money-laundering sting continued Monday when the U.S. offered to "help" Mexico prosecute the five accused bankers it refuses to extradite.)
Govt Plans Drugs Debate (The Illawarra Mercury, in Australia, says the New South Wales Government announced a parliamentary summit on the drugs crisis yesterday as a Health Department report cleared staff at Redfern's Caroline Lane exchange of supplying needles to a youth who was pictured in the Sun-Herald shooting up in the gutter.)
Police Unable To Hinder Youths Narcotics Use (A translation of an article from Svenska Dagbladet, in Sweden, says a report from the Crime Prevention Council has concluded that the involvement of police in two drug education programs appears to have had little effect on pupils' attitudes. The study investigated VAGA, the Swedish DARE franchise; and the Rave Commission. Criminal statistics shows that drug use among Swedish youths is on the increase.)
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Sunday, February 7, 1999:
Oregon Medical Marijuana Act patient forms (Contigo-Conmigo, an Oregon non-profit group dedicated to supporting patients who use medical marijuana and educating health-care professionals who should know about it, provides two forms, rendered here into Adobe Acrobat .pdf files: a Cannabis Patient Drug Information Sheet, of dubious value due to unmerited warnings, such as that cannabis is "not recommended if patient has liver failure,"; and application instructions for patients seeking registry cards from the state Health Division.)
East Side Still Hazy On Marijuana Law (The Spokesman-Review, in Spokane, Washington, says medical marijuana may be legal west of the Cascades, but in Eastern Washington, the new state law has so far been all smoke. Vague definitions in the law leave police, physicians and patients in an odd game of cat-and-mouse, anxiously waiting for someone to make the first move. Although police in Eastern Washington apparently haven't busted any medical-marijuana patients yet, the commander of the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force, sheriff's Lt. Chan Bailey, says police are grappling with the uncertainty of the law, particularly the undefined "60-day supply" it allows. The Food and Drug Administration says that's a pound. The California Attorney General's Office draws the line at two ounces.)
Reason Has Been Lost In The War On Crime (Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large slams America's prison-industrial complex, making reference to Eric Schlosser's article in the December Atlantic Monthly, Angela Davis's recent eloquence on the issue, and Washington state Rep. Ida Ballasiotes, R-Mercer Island, whose daughter was murdered by a convicted sex offender, and who introduced a bill to save taxpayers money by reducing sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. The Atlantic article traced the current emphasis on prisons back to liberal politicians who needed a shield against conservative claims they were soft on crime. They found that building prisons was an easy retort. And now everyone is afraid to stop for fear of seeming weak.)
Idaho Farmers Look To Hemp As New Crop (The Spokesman-Review, in Spokane, Washington, says Mike Schlepp, president of the Kootenai-Shoshone chapter of the Idaho Farm Bureau, and a lot of other Idaho farmers like him are interested in growing industrial hemp. The Idaho Farm Bureau, which represents 11,300 members, voted in 1996 to "encourage the legalization of cultivation and production of industrial grade hemp." Pat Takasugi, the state's director of agriculture, says "Agriculture in Idaho is under the gun. We're looking for alternative crops.")
Ex-Candidate Knew Of Probe (The San Jose Mercury News says the cultivation bust of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor, promises to become one of the highest-profile tests to date of Proposition 215.)
Former Gubernatorial Candidate Tipped Off To Marijuana Investigation (A lengthier version in the Sacramento Bee identifies the article's source as the Associated Press.)
Steve Kubby requests LTEs to Sacramento Bee (The Media Awareness Project forwards a plea from the medical-marijuana patient/activist seeking letters to the editor of the most widely read newspaper in Placer County, where the 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor was arrested for growing marijuana. The grand jury hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.)
Arrest Of California Cannabis Journalist Shows That The War On Medical Marijuana Has Become A War on The First Amendment (Richard Cowan of marijuananews.com analyzes the disturbing arrest of Pete Brady, a veteran reporter for marijuana-related publications. Brady is on federal and state probation arising from a 1994 marijuana arrest, and faces two to four years in prison after being charged by federal and state authorities in connection with the arrest of Steve Kubby in California. Using the law to persecute medical marijuana users and activists is intolerable. When the people being persecuted also happen to be professional journalists doing their job, it becomes political prosecution of the sort that is dangerous to everyone. Organizations such as PEN that are devoted to defending journalists who risk their lives covering civil wars in other countries must not turn their backs on people like Pete Brady.)
Chavez Sentence Is Terribly Unjust (A letter to the editor of the Orange County Register expresses dismay over the six year prison sentence imposed on Marvin Chavez, a spinal arthritis victim, for illegally distributing marijuana to cancer patients in severe pain. Chavez is an activist! Activists are heroes, not criminals. They deserve medals, not prison sentences. Our country was founded by activists. Whether you agree with an activist's cause is academic, once you recognize that his motivation is social change, not personal gain.)
IOM report release date (Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative says the release of the long-awaited report on medical marijuana from the Institute of Medicine, commissioned two years ago by the White House drug czar, has been delayed again, until at least mid-March.)
1999 California NORML State Conference at Pismo Beach, California - Feb. 13-14 (California NORML posts the program agenda for its gathering next weekend.)
Anti-Marijuana Legislation in Sacramento (A news release from California NORML asks activists to lobby against S.B. 273, introduced by Senator Bill Knight, which would increase the fine for marijuana possession from $100 to $1,000; and ABX1-21, introduced by Assemblyman Ken Maddox, which would require schools immediately to suspend and recommend expulsion of students caught possessing less than an ounce of marijuana.)
Cigarette Hikes Fire Up Black Market (The Oakland Tribune says that after tax hikes on Jan. 1 nearly doubled the price of cigarettes in California, stolen and illegally imported cigarettes are feeding a burgeoning black market. Far from getting smokers to quit, the tax hike is simply forcing them to get creative, retailers say. Russell Graham, manager of the Tobacco Loft in Pleasanton, said his store had sold out of rolling machines.)
Truth or DARE (The Los Angeles Times version of last week's news about the private corporation that administers DARE, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, seeking $50 million, alleging it was libeled in a March 1998 article by freelance writer Stephen Glass)
By Look And By Deed Cops' Tactics Can Cast Suspicion On Innocent (The Arizona Republic says that, to police, Mickel Morales behaved like a drug dealer after he flew into Tucson on a one-way airline ticket bought at the last minute. However, a two-day investigation that included following him and finally asking to search his belongings revealed the actions of a fiber optics repairman sent to Tucson on an emergency repair job. Morales said Friday that he was considering filing a harassment complaint against police in Tucson. And he is not alone. The repairman's experience shows the pitfalls of racial profiling and judging people simply by their appearance and actions.)
Most Dangerous Occupation: Cop? Narc? Fireman? Cab Driver? Soldier? (According to a list subscriber, ABC News indicates being a narc is 30 times less dangerous than commercial fishing.)
Local Woman Arrested In Congressman's Office (Ann Arbor News, in Michigan, notes a trial begins Monday for Renee Emry Wolfe, the local multiple sclerosis patient busted Sept. 15 for lighting a marijuana cigarette in the outer offices of U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, the Florida Republican.)
Law Without Mercy (Washington Post editorial staff writer Fred Hiatt ponders the irony in the "private bill" introduced last month by Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to prevent the deportation of a "drug-using, check-kiting, parole-busting immigrant from Canada" who was ordered out of the country under tough legislation McCollum backed in 1995 and 1996. McCollum says it's irrelevant that the immigrant's father is the Republican county treasurer in the congressman's district. The bill backed by McCollum in 1996 widened the definition of deportable crimes from murder, rape and drug trafficking to encompass possession of small quantities of "drugs" and other offenses punishable by a year in jail. Congress then removed judicial discretion. But over the telephone, McCollum now tells Hiatt he believes that the 1996 bill was "too harsh" - and that he will submit legislation to correct some of its unfairness.)
White House unveils new strategy to halve drug use by 2007 (The Associated Press says the Clinton administration is announcing a five-part plan consisting of: educating children, decreasing the addicted population, breaking the cycle of drugs and crime, securing the nation's borders from drugs, and reducing the supply of drugs. Achieving the goal would mean just 3 percent of the U.S. household population aged 12 and over would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is 6.4 percent - up from 6.0 percent when Clinton took office. A major piece of the effort is an advertising campaign that hopes to generate more than $195 million a year in matching contributions from mass media.)
Drug Czar To Be Named (UPI says Florida Governor Jeb Bush is expected to fill the new office by appointing James McDonough, the retired Army colonel and flak from the White House drug czar's office.)
Have You Voted? Medical Marijuana Poll at Snap (A list subscriber alerts you to an online poll at snap.com.)
Mexico Rejects Extradition Request (The Associated Press says Mexico on Sunday rejected an American extradition request for five men wanted in the largest money-laundering case in U.S. history - "Operation Casablanca" - saying it would instead try them in Mexico. Seventy other people are still being sought in the case.)
Magazine Links N. Korea To Drugs, Counterfeiting (According to Kyodo News Service, the latest edition of the weekly U.S. News and World Report says North Korea earns more than $100 million per year for its nuclear-weapons program through state-run opium and ephedrine production, counterfeiting rings and other illegal operations. North Korean diplomats have been arrested in over nine countries on suspicion of smuggling illegal drugs such as heroin, hashish and cocaine.)
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Saturday, February 6, 1999:
Hard Data Trickles In As Scientists Study Marijuana (The San Mateo County Times narrowly summarizes the history and status of research into medical marijuana in the United States. Three studies in particular - the University of California study of AIDS patients led by Dr. Donald Abrams, a completed National Institutes of Health workshop, and a review by the Institute of Medicine expected to be released next month - are anxiously awaited by both sides of the smoldering debate over marijuana's medicinal value. San Mateo County also hopes to launch a $500,000 project next month. New research and political sea changes led the California Medical Association's legal adviser to issue an internal memo last month suggesting the organization could participate actively in a new marijuana distribution structure to ensure patient health and safety.)
County To Seek Federal Approval (The San Mateo County Times says county officials will file an application March 1 seeking permission from the federal government to carry out a $50,000 study to see whether marijuana can ease the suffering of critically ill people. A reply is expected by April 1. Officials hope to use the study eventually to receive federal permission to distribute marijuana for medicinal uses.)
Is Marijuana Medicine? California Focuses On Legal Distribution Of Pot To Patients (The San Mateo County Times discusses the prospects for medical marijuana reform in California. Attorney General Bill Lockyer has formed a task force to figure out how the herb can be distributed. State senator John Vasconcellos, cochairman of a legislative task force on medical marijuana, intends to introduce a bill, as yet unwritten, which would create a legal framework for distribution. Meanwhile, the California Medical Association, recognizing that the state's new administration "appears to have quite a different attitude toward Prop. 215," might position itself to play a key role in distributing medical marijuana.)
Not-So-Secret Farm Keeps Growing (The San Mateo County Times portrays the Lake County Cannabis Cultivation Project operated legally by Dennis Peron and other medical-marijuana activists in northern California. The group cultivates juvenile plants for Proposition 215 patients, who pay only for the group's labor, about $50 per plant. Each plant will yield roughly two ounces of smokeable weed in six to eight weeks, after budding in a patient's bathtub or closet. The article includes rare testimony from a psychiatric patient about marijuana's efficacy for her severe condition.)
Your efforts are paying off! (A list subscriber forwards an update on the prosecution of Steve Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient/activist and 1998 Libertarian candidate for California governor, for growing marijuana. Kubby asks activists to keep up their appeals to the district attorney's office.)
State's Rights (A letter to the editor of the Sacramento Bee says California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has a responsibility to defend patients protected by Proposition 215 from federal civil rights violations. The federal government's insistence that federal law supersedes state law, even in areas not specifically granted in the Constitution, deserves to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.)
Corrections Board Approves Prisoner Surtax (The Des Moines Register notes the war on some drug users just got more lucrative Friday as the Iowa Board of Corrections approved plans for state inmates to pay a 6 percent surtax on cigarettes, candy, shampoo and anything else they buy in order to pay more of their cost of incarceration. Collection of the 6 percent surtax already began in November.)
Trooper Says State Police in New Jersey Discriminate (The New York Times says Emblez Longoria, a 10-year veteran of the New Jersey State Police, has filed a lawsuit accusing fellow state troopers of using race-based profiles to stop black and Hispanic drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike in the hope of making drug arrests. Longoria, who is of Puerto Rican descent, alleges he too is the victim of discrimination.)
US Agency Curbs Psychosis Tests, Reviews Funding (According to the Boston Globe, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Steven E. Hyman, said yesterday that he had suspended controversial studies that sought to induce psychotic symptoms in mentally ill patients, and had begun to review funding of such research. "We are not going to be funding research that will produce harm," he said. The suspended studies used ketamine, an approved anesthetic drug that also is abused on the streets for its hallucinogenic properties under such names as "Special K.")
To City Hall, Sister Icee is Public Enemy No. 1 (Vancouver Sun columnist Ian Mulgrew says city officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, have resorted to the lowest kind of character assassination in an attempt to keep Shelley Francis, a marijuana-law reform activist also known as Sister Icee, from obtaining a business license for Hemp B.C. and the Cannabis Café. The city's licensing and legal departments have basically argued that Francis is either a puppet of Marc Emery or is following in his scofflaw footsteps. There is scant evidence of that, and more than 10,000 people have signed petitions of support. But it doesn't appear to matter. The city council's egregious conduct of the hearing Thursday night left little doubt about where it stands.)
Ex-Cop Held On Drug Rap (The Toronto Sun reluctantly identifies Abraham Bailey as the former Toronto police constable who was charged yesterday with selling heroin and cocaine in a school district. After receiving community complaints about "drug" trafficking, Toronto Police raided Bailey's Coffee Time store Thursday, seizing heroin, cocaine and marijuana with an estimated value of $14,000, plus $25,000 in Canadian currency, $4,000 U.S. in greenbacks, jewelry worth $10,000, and three video game machines.)
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Friday, February 5, 1999:
Appeals court asked to decide the status of paid petitioners (An Associated Press article in the Oregonian says the state Employment Department asked the Oregon Court of Appeals Thursday to decide whether paid signature collectors for state ballot measures are independent contractors or employees. Apparently the Employment Department doesn't think a related recent U.S. Supreme Court decision applies to it.)
City Of Seattle's Drug Testing Upheld (The Seattle Times says King County Superior Court Judge R. Joseph Wesley on Jan. 26 upheld a nearly 3-year-old policy requiring urine tests of applicants for some safety-related jobs. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state, which originally filed suit in 1997, said it would appeal the decision to an unspecified court.)
Where the Grass is Greener (The San Francisco Chronicle says Dennis Peron's urbanite days are mostly behind him now. The former proprietor of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club has turned over a new leaf, and is rusticating on a 20-acre farm in Lake County, growing and giving away what he once sold. "I'll never deal pot again," he vowed. "No more buying it and selling it. From now on, I'm strictly growing it.")
Marvin Chavez update 2/5/99 (A list subscriber describes a visit to the Orange County jail to visit the medical marijuana patient/activist just sentenced to six years in a Caifornia prison.)
New Mexico's Medical Marijuana Program Hinges On Outcome Of Class Action Suit (A press release comes from an unusual source, Bryan Krumm, a registered nurse who is one of 165 litigants in the class action federal lawsuit seeking access to medical marijuana that has been filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania by Lawrence Elliot Hirsch. Krumm says Judge Marvin Katz's decision in the case may revive New Mexico's moribund Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act of 1978, the first state law in the nation to re-legalize medical marijuana.)
Missing Marijuana Prompts Request to Dismiss Case (The Topeka Capital-Journal, in Kansas, says a public defender once again asked the Shawnee County District Court to dismiss marijuana charges against her client Thursday, since law enforcement officials got to smoke more of it than he did. In her appeal, Kris Savage summarized the 1996 Kansas Bureau of Investigation probe into the theft of 0.75 ounce of cocaine from a sheriff's department property room.)
Lobbyists May Push For Limited Legalization Of Hemp (An Associated Press article from the Free Press of Mankato, republished in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, features an interview with Minnesota state Representative Bob Gunther, a conservative grocer from Fairmont who plans to support an industrial hemp bill in the legislature. Kentucky is already allowing hemp to be cultivated in a demonstration project. "It proves to be more profitable in Kentucky, apparently, than corn and soybeans," Gunther said. He also notes that hemp was grown in Blue Earth County and other parts of Minnesota during both world wars.)
High Court Asked To Clarify Rules In No-Knock Drug Cases (The Wisconsin State Journal says state appellate judges want the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether evidence obtained by prohibition agents who burst into homes unannounced can be used at trial. The dispute arises from three southern Wisconsin cases affected by a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said Wisconsin's highest court erred when it allowed no-knock searches in all felony drug cases.)
State High Court Is Asked For Ruling On Drug Searches (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel version)
Less Lewinsky, More Barry Seal (Arkansas Times columnist Mara Leveritt considers the impeachment trial unfolding in Washington, D.C., little more than a tawdry spectacle - bread and circuses, if you will - distracting us not only from crucial affairs of state, but from a far nastier scandal that could tarnish Democrats and Republicans alike. President Clinton has yet to offer the slightest explanation for why Barry Seal was allowed to smuggle cocaine unimpeded into Mena airport in Arkansas for years, even though the nature and scope of Seal's activities were known to the DEA, the FBI, the IRS, the Louisiana State Police, and the Arkansas State Police.)
Westbound I-40 pours drug cash on police (The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette describes the lucrative local drug-interdiction business along Interstate 40. Prohibition agents refer to the eastbound lanes of I-40 as "the drug side" and the westbound lanes as "the money side," where the cash is hauled back to the drug manufacturers. Under Arkansas forfeiture law, the maximum state police can keep from any single confiscation is $250,000. Any amount over the cap must go to the state's asset forfeiture fund. Because state and local law enforcement agencies that have confiscated more than $250,000 have always gone through federal forfeiture procedures to get back the money, as in Missouri, the state's asset forfeiture fund is penniless.)
Drug Arrests Continue (The Southwest Times Record serves as police spokesman in a one-sided account of a roundup of 22 alleged drug offenders in Van Buren, Arkansas, after a three-month undercover investigation by the 21st Judicial District Drug Task Force.)
Daughter: Wynette was taking narcotics and wanted divorce when she died (The Associated Press says one of the daughters of Tammy Wynette, the country music star, says her mother was taking narcotics and wanted a divorce from her fifth husband when she died last year in Nashville, Tennessee. Jackie Daly says she has no evidence of wrongdoing, but wants an exhumation and autopsy performed in order to know if her mother's death was drug-related.)
City officer faces drug charges (The Morning Call, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, says Thomas W. Ritter was charged with theft and possession of a controlled substance Thursday, a decade after the Bethlehem police vice officer stole cocaine worth about $1,600 from a police evidence room. Police say the case was broken when Ritter's wife filed for a protection-from-abuse order in early January and told police he was addicted to drugs and had stolen cocaine from an evidence locker.)
5th-Grader Busted For Selling Drugs (The Associated Press says the 11-year-old boy in Middletown, New York, was charged with selling marijuana mixed with oregano and fake crack cocaine to his classmates. The news service fails to note adult prohibition has, for the last 25 years, made marijuana and other illegal substances more accessible to kids than adults: According to annual Monitoring the Future surveys, about 85 percent of high school seniors have consistently reported that marijuana is or would be easy for them to find, if they wanted it.)
Need your coffee? Here's why if you can't get going (According to an MSNBC broadcast, a new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth shows that for women, addiction to caffeine may "be genetic.")
McCaffrey reported to pack heat (A list subscriber posts an excerpt from the Washington Times saying the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, has been "deputized" by the U.S. Marshals Service so that he can legally carry a concealed firearm. It's sort of surprising, since McCaffrey is never seen in public, where someone might challenge his record of lies and disinformation.)
Clinton Budget Is Soft On Crime, Republicans Say (According to a Los Angeles Times piece syndicated in the Seattle Times, Republicans on Capitol Hill yesterday said the White House's newly released budget proposal would mean deep cuts in the war on drugs, money for local police, and other law-enforcement black holes. White House officials dismissed the GOP claims, noting that since 1993, when Clinton took office, Justice Department funding has increased 88 percent. Clinton's proposed budget calls for $17.8 billion for the federal war on some drug users, an increase of about $800 million from Clinton's budget proposal last year.)
Mexico Declares 'Total War' On Drugs (A Knight Ridder news service article in the Orange County Register says the Mexican government unveiled a new armada of high-tech weapons Thursday, from satellites to radar-equipped speedboats. The government's demonstration of sincerity began just as U.S. lawmakers launched their annual debate over whether to certify Mexico as an ally in the war on some drug users.)
Mexico Turns To High-Tech Tools In War On Drugs (The Los Angeles Times version in the San Francisco Chronicle)
Doctors Warn On Danger Of Heroin-alcohol Mix (The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, says a four-month study last year that analysed treatments at St Vincent's Hospital emergency department for intravenous drug-related problems, including overdoses, found that nearly one in four intravenous drug users treated in emergency had used alcohol or other hard drugs in conjunction with the drug which supposedly caused their "overdose." While the newspaper performs a public service by alerting intravenous drug users to a real peril, it fails to note the recent study only confirms the 1972 Consumers Union Report on Licit & Illicit Drugs, particularly the chapter on "The 'Heroin Overdose' Mystery and Other Hazards Of Addiction," which explains why so-called "heroin overdoses" are caused by prohibition, not heroin itself.)
Charmed Life Of Smuggler Who Got Away (According to the Daily Telegraph, in Britain, it could be said in the wake of a case dismissed yesterday at Bristol Crown Court that Brian Charrington, a car dealer, police informant and convicted drug smuggler, has enjoyed a remarkably charmed life. As he sits in the sun at his luxurious Spanish seaside villa, he can reflect on the fact that he has prevailed in two of the biggest drugs cases in British criminal history, after investigations by police and Customs which have cost British taxpapers tens of millions of pounds.)
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 77 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original compilation of news and calls to action regarding drug policy, including - Fungus funding; Clinton's new drug control strategy repeats mistakes of the past; Pentagon restricts use of troops in border drug war; Interview with Timothy Dunn, author of "The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992"; Needle exchange controversy in Australia; Memorial - Rod Sorge; Event info; First prisoner released under Michigan 650 Lifer Law reform; Increased penalties, prison sentences don't deter drug use, ABA study finds)
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Thursday, February 4, 1999:
NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (Post-arrest approval for medical marijuana no protection, California appeals court rules; Increased penalties, prison sentences don't deter drug use, ABA study finds; Athletic association mandates drug testing for Louisiana high school students; Portland, Oregon schools offer students $1,000 incentive to snitch on classmates)
Lockyer Task Force to Look at Medical Marijuana Law (The San Francisco Chronicle says California's new attorney general, Bill Lockyer, invited about 35 law enforcement officials, health professionals, politicians and medical-marijuana patient advocates to the state Justice Department's Sacramento office yesterday for the first meeting of a new task force whose mission is to clear up the legal questions still remaining more than two years after the passage of Proposition 215.)
Criminal Prosecution Body Count Grows In War On Medical Marijuana (Orange County Weekly surveys local law enforcement officials' war on medical marijuana patients, particularly the six-year sentence handed down last week to Marvin Chavez of the Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support Group. Jim Silva, the attorney for Chavez, said, "Judge Borris' decision took me completely off-guard. It may change the whole political landscape. Marvin only provided marijuana to patients or to undercover cops pretending to be patients. But Judge Borris didn't even consider that as a mitigating factor in his sentencing." Silva said the 30-page probation report used to justify Chavez's sentence noted, "Mr. Chavez says he would continue to travel around the state and 'educate' people about medical marijuana." Silva says "The report makes it abundantly clear they don't want Marvin to exercise his rights to free speech.")
Kubby To Test State Pot Law (Tahoe World, in California, examines the prosecution of Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor, and his wife, Michele. Both are Olympic Valley residents and medical-marijuana patients and both are charged with possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana, and conspiracy. Christopher Cattran, the deputy district attorney, said the approximately 300 marijuana plants found in four grow rooms in the Kubbys' home "was for more than personal use." But then, police also estimated the value of each plant at $14,000, so what do they know? Kubby noted there is no limit to the amount of cannabis patients can grow under Proposition 215. Michele Kubby said, "My husband has a terminal illness. No one else has survived this illness. My question is, how much is too much?")
Some Good News Re: Peter Baez (A list subscriber forwards news that a judge in San Jose County, California, ruled in favor of all three motions heard today in the case of the former operator of Santa Clara County's only medical marijuana dispensary.)
Court Says Airline, Rail Workers Can Sue for Disability Bias (An Associated Press article in the Sacramento Bee says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that an airline mechanic who was fired in May 1996 for using Marinol, a prescription drug consisting of synthetic THC, the primary cannabinoid in marijuana, can sue for disability discrimination. The three-judge panel also ruled unanimously that the victim of drug testing could also claim he was fired in violation of public policy, which could bring punitive damages for emotional distress. Saridakis' doctor prescribed Marinol to relieve the pain and insomnia he suffered from injuries.)
The Erosion Of Our Rights (San Diego Union Tribune columnist Joseph Perkins writes in the Oakland Tribune about recent encroachments on civil liberties carried out or sought by police in Buena Park, California, who stopped every car looking for invalid licenses; by police in New York City, who want the DNA of anyone arrested; and by police in three Northern California cities - Palo Alto, Menlo Park and San Pablo - who want to keep "problem drinkers and common drunkards" from being served by local merchants. One need not be soft on crime to recognize that when the government is able to chip away at any of our rights under whatever seemingly reasonable pretext, it is not long before it finds other seemingly reasonable pretexts to further erode those rights until those cherished rights no longer exist for all practical purposes.)
Major Ariz. Pot Smuggler Of '80s Is Buried After Shooting in Mexico (The Arizona Daily Star says Manuel Federico Meraz Samaniego, a former resident of Douglas who was convicted of running a multimillion-dollar marijuana smuggling operation in the 1980s, was shot and killed early Monday in a small farming village near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. According to Chihuahua police, Samaniego was shot in what is believed to have been an ongoing dispute with another former drug kingpin.)
3 Boston Police Officers Fail A First Drug Test (The Boston Globe says the Boston Police Department, which implemented a policy Jan. 4 of drug testing all 1,500 patrol officers, confirmed yesterday that three officers of 197 given hair tests so far had come up positive for unspecified illegal substances.)
Study strengthens smoking-cocaine-miscarriage link (The Associated Press says a study in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine regarding 970 pregnant women who sought emergency room treatment for miscarriage or other problems at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia found no link between marijuana or alcohol use and spontaneous abortion. The report suggested smokers were almost twice as likely to miscarry as non-smokers, and cocaine users were nearly 1 1/2 times as likely to miscarry as non-users. Still, the link between cocaine use and miscarriage was not entirely persuasive, said an accompanying editorial by Dr. James Mills of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The increased risk was small, and other factors could have skewed the results. "One of the things we have learned from this study is that self-reporting is far from perfect," said Dr. Roberta Ness of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, the lead author of the report.)
Drug Study At Odds With Drug Czar Findings (USA Today says a study released Thursday by the American Bar Association found that increased drug arrests and longer prison sentences had not impeded illegal drug use. The report used statistics from several federal reports and surveys to find that illegal drug use increased 7 percent from 1996 to 1997, to 14 million people. The report contradicts a study earlier this year by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Barry McCaffrey, the ONDCP director, said he had not seen the ABA study, but said the general issues it raised were being addressed. There were 1.2 million Americans arrested on drug charges in 1997.)
Keep Financial Privacy, New Legislation Urges (The Denver Post says U.S. Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, unveiled a far-reaching legislative package Wednesday that would, among other things, block proposed anti-money-laundering rules that would track the habits of bank customers. At least two federal banking agencies are reconsidering the proposed "Know Your Customer" rules in response to the public outcry that started in December.)
Hitting A Wall Of Opposition (According to the Chicago Tribune, federal regulators said Wednesday in Chicago that the "Know Your Customer" regulations proposed for U.S. banks would be rewritten or even scrapped because of public outcry.)
GOP Wants Drug Smuggling Stopped (The Associated Press recounts recent Republican agitation for increased interdiction efforts in the war on some drug users. About 14 percent of President Clinton's proposed budget for 2000 would go to interdiction programs, compared with nearly 18 percent in 1999. The wire service fails to point out who wins when traffickers' cost of increasing production is cheaper than the government's cost of increasing interdiction.)
Drug Approved To Fight Heroin Addiction (The Daily Telegraph, in Australia, says the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee has approved the anti-addiction drug Naltrexone, which can rescue heroin and alcohol addicts from their deadly habits. The drug, to be marketed as Revia, will be available by prescription beginning in March. The drug reportedly can remove cravings and is seen as superior to methadone, which is a replacement for, not a counter to, dangerous drugs. Previously, Naltrexone has been available only in trials of rapid detoxification programs. Desperate heroin addicts have paid up to $30,000 for treatments in the US and Israel.)
Needle Swap Could Get Nod (The Age, in Melbourne, Australia, says that after the newspaper revealed yesterday that a teenager whom authorities knew was HIV-positive was sent to the Malmsbury youth training centre, where he shared a syringe with six other boys, the state government indicated it was prepared to consider experimenting with needle exchange programs in juvenile jails. The opposition party called instead for the appointment of a panel of experts for advice on the issue.)
There Must Be An Election Due Soon (A letter to the editor of the Canberra Times, in Australia, explains why Andrew Refshauge, the New South Wales Health Minister, didn't have the public's best interests in mind when he suspended a needle-exchange program in Redfern after a photo appeared in the Sun-Herald the day before showing an as-yet unidentified boy injecting an unknown substance.)
McLeish Set To Create A Taskforce Of Drug Busters (The Scotsman says Henry McLeish, the Scottish home affairs minister, will create a taskforce to oversee a new multi-million pound campaign against "drugs." Under the proposals, the Scottish Crime Squad - which already spends 90 per cent of its time tackling drugs, at an annual cost of £7 million - would be doubled in size from 100 to 200 officers to create a new Drug Enforcement Agency. Drugs squads in the eight individual police forces in Scotland would also be increased in strength by 100 officers. Mr McLeish has also proposed changing the law to allow the civil courts to confiscate the assets of suspected drug dealers, a system already in place in the republic of Ireland and in the US.)
Chirac Calls For EU To Harmonise Anti-Drug Laws (Reuters says French President Jacques Chirac told an audience in Lisbon, Portugal Thursday that illegal drug use in Europe was reaching "dramatic" levels, and urged European Union members to agree on common laws to help fight the problem - which he previously has identified as the Netherlands.)
Doping Summit Ends In Disarray (The Associated Press says the International Olympic Committee "drug summit" in Lausanne, Switzerland, which ended Thursday, laid the groundwork for major anti-drug initiatives in the future. But AP editorializes that what progress was made fell far short of the tough, immediate action the IOC needed to reassert its legitimacy. The IOC had to back off the two main planks of the meeting: creating an international anti-doping agency and imposing a mandatory minimum two-year sanction for positive drug tests.)
Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 5 (A summary of European and international drug policy news, from CORA in Italy)
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