Portland NORML 1999 News Index, February 5-11

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1999 News
About Cannabis and Drug Policy
February 5-11

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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)
Bytes: 130,000 Last updated: 2/22/99

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.)
Bytes: 59,000 Last updated: 2/17/99

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.)
Bytes: 93,000 Last updated: 3/10/99

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.)
Bytes: 127,000 Last updated: 3/2/99

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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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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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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