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.)
Bytes: 56,700 Last updated: 5/13/99
