1998 News
About Cannabis and Drug Policy
January 22-28

Thursday, January 22, 1998:
• NORML Weekly News Release (17 Year-Old First Time Offender Faces 10 Years For Role In $20 Marijuana Sale In Missouri; AIDS Treatment Publication Defends Medical Marijuana; American Farm Bureau Reverses Position On Industrial Hemp; Former US Attorney General, New York Times Columnist, Others To Speak Out On The Drug War)
• Rolling Stones Concert Petitioning Blitz Needs You! (Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Seeks Volunteer Signature Gatherers January 30-31 At Rose Quarter Arena In Portland)
• Ralph Seeley, A Columnist, Lawyer And Father, Dies At 49 (Cancer Patient And Activist Who Lost Medical Marijuana Rights Case Before Washington State Supreme Court Last Summer)
• Medical Marijuana Bill - Chances Are Slim ('Seattle Times' Predicts Washington Senator Kohl's Proposed SB 6271Won't Make It Out Of Committee)
• Group Appeals To Keep Pot Clubs Open ('San Francisco Examiner' Reports Dennis Peron's Californians For Compassionate Use Has Filed Appeals In State Supreme Court Against Both State And US Justice Department Lawsuits Seeking Closure Of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries - Action Likely Within 90 Days)
• Legal Marijuana Smokers Testify At Institute Of Medicine's Public Hearing On Medicinal Marijuana (Press Release From Marijuana Policy Project In Washington, DC, Reports Barbara Douglass And Irvin Rosenfeld, Two Of The Eight Patients In Entire US Who Have Feds' Permission, Speak In New Orleans)
• IOM's Medicinal Marijuana Hearing In New Orleans (A Second Press Release From The Marijuana Policy Project Provides More Details)
• New Orleans Hearings On Medical Marijuana (A Belated First-Person Account Of The IOM Hearings In New Orleans)
• Re - New Orleans Hearings On Medical Marijuana (Professor Roger Roffman From University Of Washington Responds To Comments About His Testimony)
• Judge Jim Gray Has A Web Site (Clifford Schaffer Reports On Campaign For Congress By Proponent Of Drug Policy Reform - Santa Ana, California Jurist Opposes Bob Dornan For US House Seat Of Loretta Sanchez)
• Paul Wolf Setting Up Shop In Washington, DC (For Initiative 59, A Local Medical-Marijuana Bill Aimed At September 1998 Ballot)
• Watts' Sister Facing Six Drug Charges (Sister Of GOP Representative From Oklahoma Who Repeatedly Speaks Out Against 'Drug' Use Faces Life Behind Bars - Accused By Man Who Provided Methamphetamine To Undercover Agent, She Went On Lam For Two Months)
• FBI Arrests 44 Cleveland Cops (Agents In Sting Posed As Drug Traffickers Seeking Protection)
• 44 Ohio Police Officers Are Charged In Drug Sting ('Orange County Register' Version Of 'New York Times' Story Refers To At Least One Cop Selling Drugs - FBI Figures Show From 1994 To 1997, 508 Police In 47 Cities Have Been Convicted In Federal Corruption Cases)
• Looks Like Drug Arrest Is A Bust ('Philadelphia Daily News' Recaps Career Of Philadelphia Housing Authority Narc Whose Big Break - And New DEA Job - Were Based On His Lying Under Oath - Suborned Maybe Five Other PHA Cops)
• Cabinet To Oppose Medical Use Of Marijuana (According To 'The Miami Herald,' Florida Department Of Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore, Betty Sembler Of St. Petersburg's Save Our Society From Drugs Persuade Florida Governor Lawton Chiles And Florida Cabinet To Oppose Medical-Marijuana Initiative From Floridians For Medical Rights - Christy McCampbell, Chief Of Narcotics Enforcement For The California Attorney General's Office, Betrays Californians By Working Against Initiative)
• Drug Tests Work (Although 'Chicago Tribune' Article Reprinted By 'Orlando Sentinel' Says Urine-Testing Is Increasing And More Than 80 Percent Of Orlando, Florida-Area Businesses Now Test Job Applicants, No Evidence Is Offered That The Tests Are Accurate Or Cost-Effective)
• Coronado Survey Details Kids' Drug Use ('San Diego Union-Tribune' Article On Results From 1997 Survey Of 579 Students In Affluent Suburb - 'No Different From Elsewhere' - Almost Half Of 11th-Graders Used Alcohol In Past Month - Survey Designed By Rodney Skager In California AG's Office, Funded By Asset Forfeitures, Distorted Results By Contrasting Percentages Who Used Cannabis In Past Six Months)
• Hispanic Activists File Lawsuit To Stop Anti-Drug Operation Along The Border ('Houston Chronicle' Article About The Mexican American Legal Defense And Educational Fund's Lawsuit Asking US District Judge George Kazen Of Laredo, Texas, To Halt Military Construction Of 240 Miles Of Roads And Helicopter Pads)
• Seven Arrested In Rockwall Drug Case ('Dallas Morning News' Says Two Rockwall, Texas High School Students, Five Others Arrested For Dealing Heroin, Other Drugs - Investigation Launched After Calls About School Drug Use, But Cops Don't Claim Dealers Sold To Them On School Property - At Least One Student Denies Charges)
• Students Popping Ritalin To Stay Alert (Fear-Mongering From 'Montreal Gazette')
• Drug Funding Welcomed By Youth Council ('Irish Times' Notes National Youth Council Of Ireland Endorses Government's Extra £30 Million)
• China Drug Busts, Detox Camp Inmates Soared Last Year ('Reuters' Fails To Note The Overall Numbers Are Considerably Lower Than Those In Some US States)
  Bytes: 102,000 Last updated: 5/23/98
  

  Friday, January 23, 1998:

• Town Vows To Weed Out Drug Dealers ('The Oregonian' Seems To Applaud As Pilot Rock, Oregon Shows It Takes A Village To Raise A Mob - But Fails To Explain How Things Got Worse Than Ever After Last Intervention)
• Whitaker Students View National Anti-Drug Campaign ('The Oregonian' Prints A Characteristically Uncritical, Smiley-Face Story About The Premiere In Portland Of The New $195 Million US 'Anti-Drug' Advertising Campaign - Reporter Mystified When Students Laugh At First Of Four TV Spots Among 17 Prepared For National Campaign Aimed At Ages 9 To 17 - Lots Of Oregon Politicians Show Up At School System Plundered By Drug War To Take Credit)
• Marijuana And The Media - A Reporter's Inside Story (By Jeff Meyers Of 'The Los Angeles Times,' Exclusive To Marijuananews.com)
• Marijuana Cures Hiccups ('The Lancet' Reports On A Case Of Intractable Hiccups - A Complication Of AIDS - That Cannabis Smoking Ameliorated When Nothing Else Worked)
• Important News From DC (Steve Michael, A Sponsor Of Initiative 59 Medical Marijuana Campaign, Indicates Americans For Medical Rights And Initiative 59 Still In Competition For Washington Voters, But AMR Has Missed Filing Deadline And Fallen Behind)
• Re - Dying Need Compassion (Letter To Editor Of 'Oakland Tribune' Agrees With Earlier Letter That California Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Deserve Protection)
• Medical Marijuana - The Will Foster Case In Oklahoma (Reprint From 'AIDS Treatment News' Notes Foster Was Using Cannabis As An Antiinflammatory Drug, Just As AIDS Patients Often Do)
• Maine Medical Marijuana At Issue (Complete Version Of Letter To Editor Of 'Morning Sentinel' By Don Christen Of Maine Vocals, About Competing Medical Marijuana Ballot Initiatives)
• Ex-Agent's Past Catches Public Agencies Off Guard ('San Diego Union Tribune' Examines Latest Entrepreneur Set To Get Rich Off Drug-Testing - Former DEA Agent Rene De La Cova, The Man Who Slapped Handcuffs On Manuel Noriega In Panama - And Then Served Time For Stealing $760,000)
• Cop Indicted For Dealing Crack Cocaine ('Post-Dispatch' Says The St. Louis, Missouri Policeman Also Sold Cannabis - FBI Has Videotapes - 34-Year-Old Had Been Suspended Since 1996 After Coming Under Suspicion Of Shaking Down Drug Dealers)
• New Findings - DEA's Five-Year Record Is Off, But DEA Appears Somewhat More Effective Than FBI In Drug Enforcement (US Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse - TRAC - Report)
• Rescued Man Now Facing Pot Charges ('Denver Post' Reports On Colorado Snowmobiler Lost Four Days In Blizzard - Larimer County Sheriff's Deputies Cite His Subsequent 'Bizarre Manner' As Cause To Search His Home, Finding Cannabis Growing)
• Needling Giuliani ('New York Post' Editorial Says Needle-Exchange Programs 'Bankroll People's Drug Habits, Facilitate Addiction And Condone Hard-Core Drug Abuse' - Sidesteps Allegations In January 26 'New York Observer' That New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani Withheld A Report Prepared By His Own Office Calling For Needle Exchange)
• Needling Giuliani (Physician Criticizes Ignorant 'New York Post' Editorial Opposing Needle Exchange)
• Re - 'New York Post' - Needle Exchange Editorial (Another Response To The Purveyors Of Ignorance In Manhattan Cites Studies On Efficacy Of Needle Exchange)
• The World Is Watching You (Letter From Abroad To Editor Of 'New York Post' In Response To Its 'Needling Giuliani' Editorial Suggests Ignorance Has Evolved From 'Better Dead Than Red' To 'Rather AIDS Than Aid)
• 'Dark Alliance' Update ('San Jose Mercury News' Web Site Featuring Gary Webb's Series On CIA-Cocaine-Contra Scandal Says US Attorney General Reno Won't Release Report)
• Barkeeps Fuming Mad ('San Francisco Chronicle' Says Defiant Barflies Up And Down California Are Openly Blowing Smoke In The Face Of New Law Prohibiting Tobacco Use In Saloons - Hundreds Of Embittered Bartenders Say The Ban Is Hurting Business)
• Anti-Smoking Groups Appear To Close Ranks ('Los Angeles Times' Says Congressional Approval Of 'Immunity' Deal That The Tobacco Industry Has Been Desperately Seeking Is Endangered By Increasingly Unified Opposition Of Anti-Smoking Groups, Allegations Of Misconduct Against Clinton)
• The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 26 (News Summary For Activists, From The Drug Reform Coordination Network - Original Reports Include 'New York City Mayor Giuliani Is Caught Suppressing Report Of His Own AIDS Commission On Needle Exchange'; 'New Hampshire Man Kept Behind Bars For Refusing To Acknowledge God In His Recovery'; And An Editorial By Adam J. Smith, 'From Dr. King's Dream To Drug War Nightmare')
  Bytes: 113,000 Last updated: 5/23/98
  

  Saturday, January 24, 1998:

• DEA Policy On Suicide Law In Doubt ('The Oregonian' Quotes Senator Ron Wyden Saying US Department Of Justice Has Concluded Federal Law Does Not Prohibit Doctors From Writing Prescriptions Under Oregon's Assisted Suicide Law - But Clinton Administration Hasn't Made Final Decision)
• Pot Club Wins Reprieve As Judge Hints At Delay ('Associated Press' Item In 'San Jose Mercury News' Says California Attorney General Lungren's Attempt To Shut Dennis Peron's Cannabis Cultivators' Club In San Francisco Has Been Blocked Temporarily By Superior Court Judge David Garcia, Who Also Let The Club Reopen After Lungren Shut It Down Last Time, Saying It Was A 'Primary Caregiver' For Thousands Of Patients)
• Effort To Shut Marijuana Club Runs Into Snag ('Orange County Register' Version Of 'Associated Press' Article)
• Marijuana The Medicine (Letter To Editor Of 'San Jose Mercury News' Backhandedly Urges Government To Quit Blocking Proposition 215's Implementation)
• Laura Kriho's Medical Marijuana Web Page (Paul Wolf Of The Initiative 59 Campaign In Washington, DC, Promotes New Site Focusing On Schism Developing Between Voter Initiative Campaigns Sponsored By AMR And Others)
• Lungren Hit For Speech At Men-Only Club (California Attorney General Bidding For GOP Gubernatorial Nomination Says Crime Talk At All-Male San Marino City Club 'Not A Campaign Event')
• FIJA - A Different California Initiative (Voters In November 1998 May Get Chance To Restore Nullification Option To Juries)
• Marinovich Jailed On Marijuana Conviction ('Orange County Register' Says Former Los Angeles Raiders Quarterback Begins Six-Month Sentence Friday In Orange County Jail For Cultivating One Marijuana Plant)
• DARE's Straight Talk Can Be Effective (Op-Ed In 'Orange County Register' By Garden Grove Police Officer And DARE Instructor In Deep Denial Uses Rhetoric Instead Of Evidence To Maintain Program Is Effective)
• Liberty School Instructor Faces Marijuana Charges (Salem, Oregon, Elementary Teacher Popped On Marijuana Cultivation Charges)
• DEA Impounds Car, Destroys Credit Of AIDS-Cancer Patient Peter McWilliams - Without Bringing Charges ('Marijuananews.com' With More On DEA Harassment Of The Best-Selling Author Whose Computer With His Latest Book - About Cannabis - They Seized In December, An Act Already Denounced By Free-Speech And Free-Press Advocates From The ACLU To William Buckley)
• Watts Confirms Call From Fleeing Sister (US Representative JC Watts, Republican From Oklahoma, Confirms He Received Call From Sister Fleeing Meth Charges - 'Tulsa World' Says He 'May Not Have Contacted Authorities' Afterwards, A Legal Violation)
• Man Pleads Guilty Of Possessing Cigarettes ('St. Louis Post Dispatch' Indicates Iowa Man Who Showed Up For 45-Day Probation Violation At Nodaway County Jail In Maryville, Missouri, Didn't Know About Its No-Smoking Policy)
• Taking First Steps Of Freedom As An Inflexible Law Is Overruled ('New York Times' Reports On A Mother Reuniting With The 8-Year-Old Son She Bore In Prison Serving 15-Year Term, One Of 11 Nonviolent Drug Offenders Sentenced Under The Rockefeller Laws' Mandatory Minimums Granted Clemency By New York Governor George Pataki)
• Tip Leads To Four Men, 376 Pounds Of Pot (Local News From 'Chicago Tribune' - Another Informant, Another Bust, Another Day In The War On Drugs)
• Agents Seize $86,000 From Woman ('Associated Press' Doesn't Say Why US Customs Searched The Passenger At La Guardia Airport In New York)
• Spare Us Your Battle Plan (Fairfax County, Virginia Mother Naive About 'Washington Post' Bias On Drug News Writes Letter To Editor Expressing Dismay Her Cooperation With Paper Resulted In A Story Endorsing Drug-War Tactics And Priorities Rather Than Drug Treatment And Need For More Funding)
• Reno Orders Inspector General To Withhold Report On CIA-Crack Probe ('Washington Post' Says US Attorney General Is Quashing The 400-Page Report, Ready A Month Ago, Due To Unspecified 'Law Enforcement Concerns' - CIA Version, Held Up In December By Justice Department, Now Expected To Be Made Public Next Week)
• Reno Orders Delay In Release Of CIA Cocaine Report ('Reuters' Version)
• CIA-Crack Study Is Blocked By Reno ('San Jose Mercury News' Version, With Links To The Paper's Web Site Offering More Details)
• Reno Seals Report on CIA-Crack Claims ('Associated Press' Version In 'Los Angeles Times' Adds 'It Was Learned Officials Feared Release Might Compromise Undercover Operation Expected To Last Extended Period')
• Reno Makes Official Withhold Report On The CIA And Drugs ('Associated Press' Version In 'Orange County Register' Notes 400-Page Report That Took 15 Months To Investigate Is Titled, 'A CIA-Contra Crack Cocaine Controversy - A Review Of The Justice Department's Investigations And Prosecutions')
• Biotech Firm Grew High-Nicotine Tobacco ('Associated Press' Says DNA Plant Technology Of Oakland, California, Pleaded Guilty To One Misdemeanor Count Of Conspiracy, Giving The US Justice Department Its First Conviction In Its Investigation Of The Tobacco Industry)
• Illusions Of A War Against Cocaine ('New York Times' Editorial On Multinational Counternarcotics Center In Panama Allowing US Military To Stay After 1999 Says The Proposal Returns To 'A Strategy That Has Failed And Could Harm Latin Democracies')
• Two CNN Shows Sunday - McCaffrey & 'Canada Cannabis' (Program Your VCR)
• Pro-Pot Folks Find Splendour In Grass (Rambling Essay By Carey Ker In 'Toronto Star' Mentions Support Of 83 Percent Of Canadians For Medical Marijuana, DEA's Referral To HHS Of Jon Gettman's Petition, Background On 'High Times' - With An Endorsement Of Cannabis Decriminalization)
• Colombians Choking On Contraband - Drug Traffickers' Money Laundering Ruins Businesses ('San Francisco Chronicle' Report Suggests US Interdiction Programs Aren't Quite Effective Yet - Colombia's $3 Billion Contraband Trade Makes Up One Third Of Imports, But Destabilizes Some Parts Of Its Economy)
• Legalisation - The Answer For Lost War On Drugs (Op-Ed In 'Canberra Times' By Its Police Reporter Details Conclusions Of Just-Released Australian Illicit Drug Report - After Decades Of Pursuing Drug Criminals And Packing Them Into Jails, Things Are Worse Instead Of Better - Time For New Approach - Legalise)
• Palace Guard Jailed Over Drug Death (Britain's 'Independent' Says The Friend Of A Buckingham Palace Guardsman Has Been Jailed For Two Years For Giving His Friend Drugs - Guardsman Mixed Ecstasy With Unspecified Amount Of Amphetamines, Killing Himself - Another Man Gets Longer Term)
• The Home Counties Connection (Britain's 'Independent' Observes Violent Prohibition-Related Murders - And Murderers - Are Migrating From London To Its Suburbs)
  Bytes: 119,000 Last updated: 5/23/98
  

  Sunday, January 25, 1998:

• Leave Medical Pot Issue To Science (Stupid Tacoma, Washington 'News Tribune' Editorial Ignores US Government's Policy Of Denying Science Behind Medical Marijuana)
• Letter To 'News Tribune' (In Response To Its 'Leave Medical Pot Issue To Science' Editorial - First-Person Account Of Dying Father's Marijuana Use)
• Alison Bigelow Responds To Tacoma 'News Tribune' Editorial (Brief History Of Government's Refusal To Acknowledge Science Behind Medical Marijuana)
• Ralph Seeley Lived His Life As Testament To Life Itself (CR Roberts, A Friend Of The Late Cancer Patient And Medical Marijuana Activist, Writes A Eulogy For Tacoma's 'News Tribune')
• ACT UP Has Not Made A Deal With AMR (Steve Michael Of ACT UP In Washington, DC, Sponsors Of Medical Marijuana Initiative 57 And Now 59, Says Americans For Medical Rights' January 20 Press Release Erred)
• Book Review, 'San Francisco Chronicle' ('Corruption On The Border - Intrigue And Chaos In Tijuana,' By 'Los Angeles Times' Reporter Sebastian Rotella, Shows Interdiction To Be A Corrupting Failure On Both Sides Of Border - Also An Investigation Of The Complicated Webs Of Conspiracy Surrounding The 1994 Assassination Of Mexican Presidential Candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio, Containing Many Tantalizing Scooplets)
• Newsom Vows To Step Up Fight Against Drugs (Gavin Newsom, Youngest Member Of San Francisco Board Of Supervisors, Begins Monthly Series Of Town Hall Meetings On Drugs, Pledging To Press For More Residential Drug Treatment Programs For Youth)
• A Light For Prisoners Of Prohibition (Letter To Editor Of 'San Francisco Chronicle' Says, Across The Nation, Loved Ones Have Begun Leaving Lights In Their Windows Until Fathers, Mothers, Siblings And Children - All 'Prisoners Of Prohibition' - Can Come Home - When Our Nation's Government Said It Would Sue The Cannabis Clubs, We Decided To Put A Light In Our Window Too - We Urge All Californians Who Support Proposition 215 To Do The Same)
• The Real Issue (Another Letter To Editor Of 'San Francisco Chronicle' Says The Real Issue California Voters Addressed With Proposition 215 Wasn't Distribution System - They Meant, `We Don't Like A Policy - Now Work With Us, Please')
• Bars Unplug Lottery Machines To Protest Ban ('Santa Maria Times' Says California's New Prohibition On Smoking In Bars Prompts Day-Long And Week-Long Lottery Boycotts In City Of Tracy, And Sonoma, Humboldt, Riverside Counties)
• Smokeeasies (Writer Of Letter To Editor Of 'San Francisco Chronicle' Ridicules California's New Ban On Smoking In Bars, Notes Barkeeps Are More At Risk From Drunks Than Tobacco - Knows Of One 'Smokeeasy' Already)
• Films About Prisoners Take Top Sundance Awards ('Chicago Tribune' Writes That 'Slam,' Documentarian Marc Levin's Gritty Fictional Tale Of A Black Poet Jailed For Marijuana Possession In Washington, DC, Received Top Prize At The Festival In Utah Established By Robert Redford)
• Marijuana Use Sets Off League's Smoke Alarms ('Washington Post' And National Basketball Association Owners Wring Their Hands Over The Goose That Lay-Ups The Golden Egg And Consider Whether To Kill It)
• Police Feast On Military Surplus ('Washington Post' Article About How Millions Of Dollars Worth Of Used Military Surplus Is Given To Civilian Police Every Year - Preferably For Use In War On Some Drug Users)
• Thermal Imaging Raises Law Enforcement Questions (While 'Roanoke Times' Notes Several Courts Are Split Over Whether Infra-Red Heat Scans Violate Fourth Amendment, Its Legality In Virginia Has Let At Least One Magistrate Sign A Warrant For A Marijuana Grow Where None Existed)
• Transcript - McCaffrey Discusses Drugs Use Among Teenagers (Interesting Quotes On CNN's 'Both Sides With Jesse Jackson' - The Reverend Doesn't Take On Drug War But Faults Crack/Cocaine And Other Racial Sentencing Disparities)
• Colombia Fails In Try To Impress Drug Czar ('Dallas Morning News' Says During McCaffrey's Visit To Colombia Last October 18-21, Police Assault On Cocaine Processing Lab Turned Into Fiasco As 400 Guerrillas Killed Two And Shot Up Five Helicopters)
• Colombia Struggling To Counter Drug Image ('Dallas Morning News' Version Elaborates More Than San Jose Paper's)
• Mexico Arrests Former Governor For Drug-Lord Ties ('Reuters' Quotes Mexican Attorney General Saying Former Jalisco State Governor Flavio Romero de Velasco Traveled Through Europe And Africa With Known Drug Traffickers, Accepting Gifts)
• There Are Two Sides To Decriminalizing Drugs (And Mordechai Richler's Editorial In Canada's 'Calgary Herald' Comes Down Squarely In Favor Of Decriminalization, After Recapping The British Scandal Involving The Home Secretary's Son Selling Cannabis)
• Cannabis Campaign - A Cure For Hiccups? (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Continues Its Weekly Push For Marijuana Decriminalization With An Item On The New 'Lancet' Study)
• All You Need Is Pot, Says McCartney (The Former Beatle Tells Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Cannabis, Not LSD, Was The Creative Force Behind 'Sergeant Pepper' - Which Is Still The Number One UK Album According To New Poll)
• How We Fought And Lost The Drugs World War (A Lengthy But Excellent Essay By 'The Independent On Sunday' On How And Why Drug Prohibition Was Doomed To Fail, With Many References To Its US Origins And What The UK Can Expect If It Continues Following America's Example)
• Cannabis Campaign - When Straw Compared Pot To Thalidomide (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Suggests UK Drug Warrior Cribbed From America's Califano - Or Else Small Minds Think Alike)
• Campaign Supporters (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Prints The Names Of Some Of The People Who Are Standing Up In Support Of Its 'Cannabis Campaign' To End Marijuana Prohibition)
• Drug Money Corrupts The Met (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Says More Than 250 Of London's Metropolitan Police Are Under Suspicion)
• Let ICI Make Ecstasy, Says Drug Squad Ex-Chief (Britain's 'Sunday Times' Says Edward Ellison, A Former Head Of Scotland Yard's Drug Squad, Has Angered Ex-Colleagues And Politicians By Demanding That Drugs Such As Ecstasy Should Be Legalised And Manufactured By Reputable Firms)
• Clampdown On Date-Rape Drug ('BBC Online News' Says The British Department Of Health And The Home Office Have Agreed To Re-Categorise Rohypnol From Schedule 4 To Schedule 3 Of The Misuse Of Drugs Act Of 1971)
• Scottish Drugs Chief Set To Quit Over Funding Cut (Britain's 'Sunday Times' Says David Macauley, Outspoken Director Of Scotland Against Drugs, Looks Set To Quit After Government's Announcement Last Week It Was Cutting The Group's Funding By 75 Percent)
• Just Say No To A Drugs Campaign That Has Zero Resonance ('Scotsman On Sunday' Op-Ed Asks Whether 'Scotland Against Drugs' Campaign Succeeded In Stopping A Single Person From Taking Drugs)
• Russian Grannies Sell Their Drugs (An Interesting Socioeconomic Look At Penniless Pensioners By Britain's 'Sunday Times')
  Bytes: 168,000 Last updated: 2/4/98
  

  Monday, January 26, 1998:

• Salem Educator Faces Drug Charges ('The Oregonian' Says A Warrant Was Served At The Home Of The Fourth-Grade Teacher - 'One Of The Kindest Teachers And An Active Supporter Of School Activities' - After The Salem Area Interagency Narcotics Team And The Salem Community Action Team Received Tips - 73 Marijuana Plants Uprooted)
• DC Register - Error In AMR Filing In DC (Steve Michael Of Initiative 59 Medical-Marijuana Campaign In Washington, DC, Documents His January 23 Assertion That Americans For Medical Rights' Competing Initiative Will Have Only Five Weeks To Gather Signatures For September Ballot)
• US V. Gaines ('Federal Times,' An Independent Newspaper For Employees Of The US Government, Publicizes A New Way To Beat Urine Tests - Use Legal Hemp Seed Oil As A Health-Food Supplement And Your Body Will Convert The Cannabinoids To THC Metabolites, Getting You Off The Hook, Assuming You Save Receipts And Cite As Evidence These Abstracts Of Two Research Reports In 'The Journal Of Analytical Toxicology' Titled 'Hemp Oil Ingestion Causes Positive Urine Tests For Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Carboxylic Acid' And 'Marijuana-Positive Urine Test Results From Consumption Of Hemp Seeds In Food Products')
• 'Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts - A Review Of The Scientific Evidence' Censored In Upstate New York (Schools In Albany, Buffalo, Rochester And Syracuse Won't Accept Zimmer & Morgan Book For Libraries, Calling The Copiously Footnoted Reference Work Biased And One-Sided)
• Woman's Medicinal Clinic Fires Controversy In Thousand Oaks ('Los Angeles Times' Update On California Medical Marijuana Club's Status Focuses On Andrea Nagy, Who Has Waged A Determined Campaign To Make The Police, District Attorney And Elected Officials In Law-And-Order Ventura County Comply With 11362.5)
• Drugs And Alcohol Linked Overwhelmingly To US Prisoners ('Jet' Magazine Item On CASA Report)
• Get Tough On Prisoners (Letter To Editor Of 'Whittier Daily News' In California By 20-Year Military Veteran And Former Fresno County Juvenile Hall Counselor Urges Sure Punishment For 'Anti-Social' - But He Probably Means About Half The Population And Doesn't Explain Where The Tax Revenue Would Come From)
• Addiction Research (Letter To Editor Of 'Los Angeles Times' Urges Spending Prison Money On Search For Medical Cure For Addiction - Voters In US 'Now Imprison A Number Of People Larger Than The Population Of 15 States')
• Does Gift Of Wine Merit Suspension? (Staff Editorial In 'San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune' About School Zero-Tolerance Policies Mentions Plainview High School Students In Ardmore, Oklahoma, Who Have To Pass Sobriety Test To Dance, And Straight-A Atlanta Student Suspended For Giving His French Teacher A Bottle Of Wine For Christmas)
• Hemp In The Hollow ('Orange County Register' Business Article About Two-Year-Old Store In Laguna Beach, California, That Sells Hemp Clothing, Bags, Jewelry, Body Products And Edibles)
• Judge Denies Bail To Six Accused In FBI Sting (46 Other Cleveland Police Released On Bond After Being Arrested For Conspiracy To Distribute Cocaine, 'Associated Press' Says)
• Heroin's Death Toll (Biased Op-Ed In 'Dallas Morning News' By Terry Bleier, Director Of Texas Commission On Alcohol And Drug Abuse In Austin - Purity Is Up And 'Price Is Being Dropped As A Strategy To Win New Customers' - Wants Texans Hysterical Over 16 Heroin Deaths In First Nine Months Of 1997 But Doesn't Mention Toll From Alcohol, Tobacco Is 100 Times That)
• Drug Ed - Get 'Em Before They're Gone (US NIDA Offers Six Free Glossy Magazines That Unfold Into Posters 'And Explore The Effects Of Drugs On The Brain' - For Students In Grades Five Through Nine)
• Prohibition Serves Only To Support Crime (Letter To Editor Of 'Canberra Times' Responds To 'Cannabis Certainly No Soft Drug,' Citing Australian Illicit Drugs Report)
• Drug Is Found To Improve Memory Of Rats ('Irish Times' Says Researchers At NUI Dublin Testing An Unspecified 'Smart Drug' Produced By A Japanese Pharmaceutical Company Have Found The Substance Remarkably Improves Rats' Memory And Problem-Solving Abilities)
• To Blow Or Not To Blow? The Arguments For And Against The Legalisation Of Cannabis (Opposing Op-Ed Pieces In 'Irish Times')
• Glasgow Set To Show Dealers The Door (Although Public Housing Residents Can Already Be Evicted From If Convicted Of Selling Illegal Drugs, 'The Scotsman' Says Heroin Death Of Allan Harper, 13, Is Prompting Police, Tenants, Council Officials To Consider Changing Rules To Allow Eviction For Any Drugs-Related Conviction - As If Homelessness Discouraged Use Or Sale Of Drugs)
  Bytes: 76,300 Last updated: 5/24/98
  

  Tuesday, January 27, 1998:

• Three Officers Shot - Man In Custody In Southeast Standoff (Portland's NBC Affiliate, KGW NewsChannel 8, Covers Marijuana Task Force's Warrantless Break-In, Noting Station Complied With 'Police Requests Not To Show Live Images Of The Suspect Being Hauled Away By The Police SERT Van' Naked, Bleeding And Without Medical Attention)
• Three Police Officers Ambushed Outside House, One Dead, Two Wounded ('Associated Press' Description Of Marijuana Task Force Assault In Portland Omits Fourth Victim, Doesn't Explain How Someone Getting Their Door Broken Down By Armed Intruders Lacking A Warrant Can 'Ambush' Anyone)
• Three Police Officers Shot In Oregon, One Dead ('Reuters' Version Says Cops Were Shot Indoors, After They Forced Their Way Into The House)
• Police Officer Fatally Shot - Other Officers Injured (Version From KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate)
• Katz And Moose Respond To Tragedy (KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, Lets Portland's Mayor And Police Chief Put Their Spin On Warrantless Break-In By Their Marijuana Task Force)
• Comments To KOIN (Viewers Respond To Question Asked By Portland's CBS Affiliate At Its Online Forum - 'What's Your Opinion? Thoughts On Portland Media And Breaking News' - In Wake Of Warrantless Break-In By Marijuana Task Force That Left One Killed, Three Wounded)
• Oakland Writes Up Support For Pot Club ('Oakland Tribune' Says Oakland City Council Likely To Go On Record Tuesday Night Opposing Federal Lawsuits Against Six Medical Cannabis Clubs In Northern California, Including The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative - City Funding Of Defense Considered - Resolution Also Calls On Alameda County Board Of Supervisors To Declare State Of Medical Emergency Allowing Sales To Continue)
• Oakland City Council Resolution (Attorney Rob Raich's Follow-Up Quotes Portion Of City Council's Unanimous Endorsement Of Oakland CBC, Strong Condemnation Of Federal Lawsuit)
• Panel Backs Marijuana, Heroin Ban ('Richmond Times-Dispatch' Says After A Telephone Call To Former Drug Czar Robert DuPont, The Virginia Legislature's House Courts Of Justice Committee Has Voted To Repeal State's 1979 Medical-Marijuana Law)
• Jury Sets Award At $3.3 Million For Wrongful Arrest ('Los Angeles Times' Notes The Drug War Just Got More Expensive - Jury Orders Los Angeles Police Department To Pay Head Wrestling Coach At Cal State Fullerton For Lost Olympic Opportunity 11 Years Ago After Suspected Heroin Sale)
• Unlikely Freedom From Fear ('Los Angeles Times' Says All Across United Sates, Open Air Drug Markets Are Disappearing As Sellers And Buyers Take 'Domino's Approach' - Pagers, Delivery In 30 Minutes)
• Next Step For Troubled Teens Is The Right One ('San Jose Mercury News' Story On 'Next Step' YWCA Diversion Program For Santa Clara County Juveniles Who Have Violated Alcohol, Other Drug Laws)
• Court Program Offers Addicts Hope ('San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune' Article About Diversion Program For Felony Drug Offenders Administered Personally By Judge Using Once-A-Month Chat Sessions - 'Most Successful Locally In Curbing Drug Addictions' But Paper Doesn't Say According To Whom Or What Criteria)
• Saying No To Drugs (Letter To Editor Of 'Orange County Register' By Drug Awareness Chairman Of The Elks Club In Garden Grove, California, Says People Opposed To DARE Want Its Funding For Their Unspecified 'Political Agenda')
• Nevada Initiative Effort (Locals' Help Needed For Medical-Marijuana Campaign)
• Group Upset Over Libraries' Rejection Of Marijuana Research Book ('Associated Press' Account In 'Boston Globe' Of Censorship By Upstate New York School Libraries Of Zimmer & Morgan Book, 'Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts - A Review Of The Scientific Evidence,' Donated By ReconsiDer, A Drug Policy Reform Group That Includes Doctors, Judges And Law Enforcement Officials)
• Drug Education Suspended After Teacher Wears Officer's Loaded Pistol In Classroom ('The Daily Gazette' In Schenectady, New York, Says Johnstown School District Has Suspended Its DARE Program Indefinitely And Teacher For Two Days After She Wore DARE Officer's Holstered Gun Around Warren Street Elementary School)
• Tobacco Historically Given Little Media Coverage ('Mother Jones' Magazine Faults Other US Media For Soft Coverage Of Smoking Industry - Which, 'Basically Had Everybody In Their Pocket' - Including The AMA)
• Montana Prison Still Calm A Week After Tobacco Ban (Eighty Percent Of Inmates At Facility In Deer Lodge Smoked Or Chewed Tobacco - No Riot Yet But Warden Mike Mahoney Says, 'It's A Little Early' - Officials Admit Money That Inmates Would Have Spent On Illicit Drugs Is Being Used To Buy Tobacco - Guess Who Profits)
• James Brown Faces New Charges ('Los Angeles Times' Says Godfather Of Soul Busted For Marijuana, Guns - Recently Released From Treatment For Painkillers)
• Epilepsy Sufferer Is Big Game To Cops (Canadian Medical Marijuana Patient Terrorized By Edmonton Police, Who Tell Him They're There 'Because We Had Been Too Vocal' Over Marijuana Laws)
• Roll Up (Britain's 'Guardian' Writes About Howard Marks On The Occasion Of The UK's 'Favourite Drug Dealer' And Recent Candidate For Parliament Giving A Reading At The Smoke-Filled Shepherd's Bush Empire In London - Welsh Hempster And Indiana Ex-Con Authored 'High Time - The Life And Times Of Howard Marks' And 'Mr Nice')
• Organised Crime In Edinburgh - How Much Fiction Is Fact? ('The Scotsman' Examines The Flood Of Films, Novels And Television Dramas Depicting Glasgow As A Very Criminal Capital, But Finds Little Evidence Organised Crime Exists There At All)
• Results In The Summer Of Heroin Blackspots Studies ('Irish Times' Quotes Chris Flood, Irish Minister Of State With Responsibility For Drugs Strategy, Saying Three Studies In Dublin And Another In County Cork, Will Assess What Services Are Needed In Areas Most Affected By Heroin)
  Bytes: 137,000 Last updated: 3/4/98
  

  Wednesday, January 28, 1998:

• Officer Killed In Shootout (It Takes 15 'Oregonian' Reporters To Recap Yesterday's News About Portland Marijuana Task Force Shootings)
• SWAT Team In Portland ('Arizona Republic' Reportedly Runs Photo Of Naked Bleeding Victim Of Marijuana Task Force Assault Being Hauled Away On Rear Deck Of State Police Vehicle)
• 'Knock And Talk' Method Raises Concerns - Should Police Be More Careful? (Newscast On Marijuana Task Force Warrantless Break-In By KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, Quotes One Woman Who Says Task Force Team That Included Kim Keist Lied About Permission For Search, Intimidating Her And Detaining Her For Hours, Making It So Her Little Girl Couldn't Stop Crying)
• Desk Veteran Hit Streets With Enthusiasm ('The Oregonian' Portrays Cop With Portland Marijuana Task Force Who Was Fatally Shot Tuesday)
• City Mourns Officer's Death - Flags Fly At Half-Staff (Partial Drug-War Body Count By KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, Occasioned By Marijuana Task Force's Warrantless Break-In Yesterday)
• Suspect Is Said To Hate Police, Scorn Women (Characteristically, 'The Oregonian' Investigates Allegations Against The Accused While Ignoring Those Made Against Police In Portland's Marijuana Task Force By Previous 'Knock And Talk' Victims)
• Live TV Coverage Angers City, Police Officials ('The Oregonian' Notes KATU, KGW, KOIN And KPTV Are Accused Of Broadcasting Police Positions During Standoff Following Portland Marijuana Task Force Assault - Police Chief Moose Apparently Doesn't Care About Stations' Past Favors In Not Covering His Son's Bust For Crack Cocaine)
• More Equality In Ranks Brings With It More Risks ('Oregonian' Article On Equal Opportunity Prompted By Fatal Shooting Tuesday Of Woman Cop In Portland's Marijuana Task Force)
• Shooting Sparks Gun-Control Issue - Firearms Flow Despite Checks And Bans (KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, Tries To Focus Public Attention Away From Issue Of Whether Tuesday's Warrantless Break-In By Marijuana Task Force Was Justified By The Evidence, Or Whether Police Lied About Smelling Pot Burning In Fireplace, Which Would Disqualify Any Evidence About Guns Or Anything Else, And Expose Police To Civil Lawsuits And Indictments, And District Attorney To Appeals Regarding Hundreds Of Convictions And Forfeitures Predicated On Similar Police Testimony)
• Comments To KOIN (Viewers Respond To Possibly Irrelevant Question Asked By Portland's CBS Affiliate At Its Online Forum - 'What's Your Opinion? Should Oregon Tighten Up Its Gun Control Laws? If So, How Restrictive Should They Be? Speak Out On This Volatile Issue' - In Wake Of Warrantless Break-In By Marijuana Task Force That Left One Killed, Three Wounded)
• Neighbors Protest Arrival Of Clinic For Addicts ('The Oregonian' Says Some Residents Of Buckman Area In Inner Southeast Portland Don't Want Delta Methadone Clinic At 2600 SE Belmont)
• Oakland Against Closing Pot Clubs ('San Francisco Examiner' Briefly Notes Tuesday's Vote By Oakland City Council Opposing Federal Lawsuits Against California Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)
• Congress Review Of Legalizing Pot Sought ('Santa Rosa Press Democrat' Says Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors On Tuesday Unanimously Became First In California To Call On Congress To Conduct Hearings)
• San Francisco Drug Smuggler Sentenced To Prison ('Examiner' Says 23-Year-Old Woman Clothes Designer Gets 11 Years In Greek Prison For 12 Ounces Of Turkish Heroin)
• Drug Test The Pols (Letter To Editor Of 'San Francisco Chronicle' Pans Davis's Call For Student Drug Testing, Proposes Candidates Be Tested For Alcohol, Caffeine, Tobacco, Prescribed Drugs)
• Programs, Not Prisons (Letter To Editor Of 'Contra Costa Times' Urges Support For California Bills Introduced By Senators Rainey And Lockyer To Send Non-Violent Inmates To Community-Based Drug Treatment, Work Programs - State Prison Population Up 555 Percent Since 1980)
• January 31, 12-4 pm Meeting (Unity Sought In Seattle For 1998 Washington State Medical Marijuana Initiative)
• Pot Deal Leads To Arrest ('Bainbridge Review' Notes Westnet Task Force Busts Bainbridge Island, Washington, Woman For Selling $400 Worth Of Cannabis, Forfeiting Her Van - Call 1-800-585-TIPS To Narc On Marijuana Offenders)
• Colorado Hemp Bill DEA'd For 1998 (Press Release From Colorado Hemp Initiative Project Says Representative Kay Alexander Won't Re-Introduce Industrial Hemp Bill To Legislature This Year - Local Law Enforcement Allegedly Said They Would Work Against Her Re-Election If She Did)
• Pistons Notebook - Hill Believes Survey On Substance Abuses ('Detroit News' Sports Column Quotes Abstemious Basketball Player Grant Hill Saying 'New York Times' Survey Sunday Suggesting 60 Percent To 70 Percent Of Former NBA Players, General Managers And Agents 'Either Smoked Pot Or Drank Heavily' 'Didn't Sound Too Far Off The Mark')
• Lawyers For Money Launderer Ordered To Turn Over Fees ('Providence Journal-Bulletin' Says Rhode Island US Attorney Has Filed Motion In Federal Court To Forfeit Fees Paid To Five Lawyers In Five States By Convicted Drug Defendant)
• US Attorney Collects $4.4 Million In Fiscal Year ('Providence Journal-Bulletin' Quotes US Attorney In Providence - $4.4 Million Collected In Fines, Criminal Assets, Civil Litigation, About $1 Million More Than Cost Of Operating US Attorney's Office)
• James Brown Arrested On Drug, Weapons Charges ('Associated Press' Quotes Hardest-Working Man In Show Business Saying He Smoked Small Amount Of Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes)
• Teacher Arrested On Pot Charges ('Roanoke Times' Item About Bust In Southwestern Virginia Illustrates Perverse Reality That Prohibition Abdicates Control Of Pot To Kids)
• Support For High Doses To Kill Pain ('Reuters' Says New Survey Of 1,000 Americans, Commissioned By Mayday Fund In New York, Shows Majority Support Allowing High Doses Of Drugs To Alleviate Severe Pain)
• This Week's Focus At Hemp Nation (Canadian Online Magazine Features History Of Hemp In Canada With Hemp Timeline - Including The 1923 Hemp Bounties Act, How Reefer Madness Struck The Country in 1938)
• North Vancouver Seeks Decriminalization Of Marijuana ('Vancouver Sun' Says The North Vancouver District Council Recommended To The Federation Of Canadian Municipalities By 5-2 Vote That Possession Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol)
• Methadone Has To Be Part Of Solution To Drug Crisis (Staff Editorial In British Columbia's 'Vancouver Sun' Expresses Regret That Only $150,000 Of The $4.6 Million The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board Committed For Injection-Drug Users In The Downtown Eastside Will Be Spent On The Heroin Substitute - Paper Says Doctors Weren't Consulted)
• Medicinal Marijuana Use Back In Court ('Ottawa Citizen' Says Kitchener Man With Chronic Pain Cops Plea To Avoid Trafficking Charges)
• Hells Angels Infiltrate Port Staff, Says RCMP (The Recent Arrest Of A Member Of The Hells Angels In Nova Scotia On Drug Charges Leads 'Halifax Daily News' To Raise Alarm About Hells Angels And Presumed Drug Traffickers On Both Canadian Coasts)
• Proposals For Drugs Courts To Be Studied ('Irish Times' Says Experts From Ireland And US To Meet In Dublin This Weekend)
• Twenty Arrested In Swoop On Potential Heroin Trade Kings (Ireland's 'Examiner' Says The Roundup In Dublin Was Made Possible By Intelligence Gathered In Operation Cleanstreets, A Six-Week Covert Plan To Incriminate Serious Drug Dealers, Particularly Those Involved In Heroin)
• News Of The Weird Snippet (Johannesburg Trains Safety-Equipped For Cannabis)
• News Of The Weird (Schools With Zero Tolerance Policies Suspend Kids For Health-Food Lemon Drops, More)
• One In Ten Scots Doctors May Be Addicted To Drink Or Drugs ('The Scotsman' Says Report From British Medical Association Claims Rate In Britain 'May Be' One In Fifteen - 'Most Problems Were Alcohol Related')
• DrugSense Weekly, Number 31 (Summary Of Drug Policy News For Activists - Includes Original Article, 'Civil Asset Forfeiture,' By Tom Gordon)
  Bytes: 152,000 Last updated: 5/22/98
  

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