1998 News
About Cannabis and Drug Policy
June 25-July 1

Thursday, June 25, 1998:
• NORML Weekly News (California Legislature To Debate Measure Providing Medical Marijuana Distribution By Local Communities; Judge Sets Bail At $10,000 For Retired Professor Who Smoked Marijuana; 29th Annual Rally, March, And Concert To End Hemp Prohibition Takes Place July 4 In Washington, DC)
• David Herrick's Sentencing Tomorrow (A Local Correspondent Gives An Update On The Case Of The Retired San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy, Convicted For His Activities On Behalf Of The Now-Defunct Orange County Cannabis Co-Op)
• If You Got 'Em, Smoke 'Em ('The Shredder' Column In California's 'NewTimes' Comments On The Bust Of Simi Valley Medical Marijuana Patient Dean Jones)
• Housing Authority Can't Evict Tenants For Outside Crimes ('The San Francisco Examiner' Version Of Yesterday's News That US District Judge Charles R. Breyer Has Banned The Oakland Housing Authority From Evicting Tenants For Illegal Drug Activity Happening Outside Their Homes, Ruling In Favor Of The First Challenge To The 'One Strike, You're Out' Policy Established By The Clinton Administration Two Years Ago)
• Dark Defiance (A Lengthy Excerpt From Gary Webb's New Book, 'Dark Alliance,' In 'The Metro,' The Silicon Valley Weekly Newspaper, Recounting His Investigation Of The CIA-Cocaine-Contra Scandal First Uncovered For 'The 'The San Jose Mercury News')
• Medtox Scientific Submits New Profiler-II Test To The FDA (A Company Press Release Posted To PRNewswire Says Medtox Diagnostics, Inc., A Subsidiary Of Medtox Scientific, Inc., Of St. Paul, Minnesota, Has Submitted Its New Illegal-Drug-Test Device To The Food And Drug Administration For Approval)
• Announcement Of Class Action Lawsuit (Medical Marijuana Patients Are Asked To Join The Federal Lawsuit - Includes Contact Information For Potential Oregon Plaintiffs - Lawrence Elliott Hirsch, Chief Counsel Of Hirsch And Caplan Public Interest Law Firm, Will File The Case June 29 In Philadelphia)
• Mandatory Minimums For Whitewater Rafting (A List Subscriber Notes The 11 People Who Drowned While Rafting In Colorado In The Past Month Probably Outnumbered The People Who Died From Illegal Drugs, And Sarcastically Mimics The Knee-Jerk Response Of Prohibitionists)
• Driver In Fatal Train-Truck Accident Tested Positive For Marijuana (Sensationally Biased Article In 'The New York Times' Omits The Actuarial Odds Of Such Drivers Testing Positive For Cannabis, And Fails To Say Whether The Driver In Portage, Indiana, Also Tested Positive For Other Drugs Such As Alcohol, But Notes The Driver's Equipment Didn't Meet Legal Standards Either)
• Police Say Test Shows Drug Use By Trucker In Train Crash (According To 'The Chicago Tribune' Version, Northwestern University Professor Ian Savage, Who Specializes In Truck Safety Regulation, Said That Even If A Driver Is Determined To Have Marijuana In His System, The Finding 'May Be A Red Herring')
• Amish Drug Arrests Sadden Staid Culture ('The San Jose Mercury News' Runs A 'Los Angeles Times' Article About Last Week's Bust Of Two Amish Men For Selling Cocaine)
• Chopper With Two On Board Missing In Tennessee ('Reuters' Says The Army National Guard Helicopter Was Believed To Have Crashed After Flying Into Bad Weather Wednesday Evening To Search For Marijuana In Rugged Mountains)
• Doctor Enjoyed Respect Of Peers ('The Tallahassee Democrat' Says Dr. Brence Sell, A Local Anesthesiologist, Was Arrested Tuesday And Held Without Bail On Charges Of Growing Marijuana And Trying To Bribe The Detectives Who Busted Him - According To Police, He Begged Detectives To Kill Him And Said His Life Was Over)
• Gene Mutation Helps Some Resist Nicotine Addiction ('The San Jose Mercury News' Says Research At The University Of Toronto Reported In Today's Issue Of 'Nature' Suggests About One-Fifth Of The Non-Smoking Population Carries A Genetic Lucky Strike - A Mutation That Makes Them Feel Lousy When They Try Their First Cigarette, And Less Likely To Become Addicted To Nicotine)
• DrugSense Focus Alert Number 70 - Nightline - Reform Goes Mainstream (DrugSense Asks You To Write A Quick Letter Thanking ABC For Supporting An Open And Honest Discussion Of Drug Policy)
• Mexican Ex-Police Chief Admits Taking Drug Money ('Reuters' Says Adrian Carrera Fuentes, The Jailed Former Chief Of The Federal Judicial Police, Admitted Under Police 'Interrogation' To Taking Bribes From Illegal Drug Traffickers, According To Court Documents Published In Mexican Newspapers Thursday)
• Cops Unearth Buried Pot Plantation ('The Edmonton Sun' Says The Royal Canadian Mounted Police 'Green Team' Made Its Biggest Bust Of The Year Yesterday, Finding 500 Plants Police Said Were Worth Up To $400,000, Hidden Underneath A Mobile Home Near Abee, Alberta)
• Evidence Gone To Pot ('The Calgary Sun' Notes A Calgary Judge Has Ruled There Is No Evidence A Banff Resident Obstructed Police By Swallowing His Roach)
• Designer Spins Hemp Into Grassroots Business (A Feature In 'The Toronto Star' On Hemp Clothes Designer Candice Levine, Who Views The Manufacture Of Hemp Clothing As A Way To Both Make A Modest Profit And Save The Planet)
• Weekly Action Report On Drug Policies, Year 4, Number 17 (Summary Of International Drug Policy News, From CORA In Italy)
  Bytes: 131,000 Last updated: 7/14/98
  

  Friday, June 26, 1998:

• The Government's War On Marijuana Is As Dishonest As It Is Lacking In Scientific Legitimacy (A Physician's Letter To The Editor Of 'The San Mateo County Times' Responds To The Newspaper's Editorial Blaming California's Medical Marijuana Supply Problem On 'The Antics Of Arrogant, Confirmed Potheads')
• Teen Abortions, Birthrates Both Falling, US Says (An 'Associated Press' Article In 'The Los Angeles Times' Notes A Fortunate Social Development That Occurred Without Any Prohibitions On Adult Behaviors)
• DARE Program Disappointing (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel' From A Parent Of DARE Students Believes DARE 'Does Encourage Kids To Try Drugs And Alcohol, While At The Same Time . . . Condemning Everyone Else For Drug And Alcohol Use')
• Who Caused Drug Prohibition Trouble? (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Standard-Times' In New Bedford, Massachusetts, Says It's Incorrect To Blame The Havoc Attributed To Illegal Drugs On Traffickers, Asking, 'Is It Not Obvious That The Government Created Them When It Abdicated Its Responsibility For The Regulation Of Certain Drugs, Just As It Created The Bootleggers' Market When It Prohibited Alcohol In The '20s?)
• Demonstrator Right To Push For Freedom (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Centre Daily Times' In Pennsylvania Supports Retired Penn State Professor Julian Heicklen For Protesting Marijuana Prohibition)
• Youths Using More Heroin, Pot, US Says ('The Chicago Tribune' Says That, Two Weeks Before The Clinton Administration Launches A Five-Year, $2 Billion Anti-Drug Media Campaign, The White House Drug Czar, General Barry McCaffrey, Said Thursday That Marijuana And Heroin Use Is Increasing Among Young People, Citing Its Own Unquestioned Semi-Annual 'Pulse Check' Statistics That The Newspaper Didn't Even Bother To Quote)
• High Court Thumps Repeat Offenders ('The Associated Press' Says The US Supreme Court Ruled Friday That The Constitutional Protection Against Being Tried Twice For The Same Crime Does Not Protect Convicted Criminals From A Second Sentencing Proceeding In Non-Capital Punishment Cases - In Effect Endorsing The Use Of California's 'Three Strikes' Law Against Yet Another Marijuana Offender)
• High Court OKs Stiff 'Three-Strikes' Sentences ('San Francisco Examiner' Version)
• Physicians Own Tons Of Tobacco, While Warning Of Smoking Risks (An Original Database Search By 'The Associated Press' Shows That Hundreds Of Doctors In 23 States Control Production Of More Than Seven Million Pounds Of Tobacco Worth $13 Million)
• RCMP Chief Says Lack Of Funds Means Mob `On A Roll' ('The Ottawa Citizen' Notes Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Philip Murray Is Shilling For Money To Fight Organized Crime, Saying Federal Police Have Been Reduced To The Regulatory Role Of 'Putting Out Isolated Fires In A Blazing Underworld Economy')
• Assessing The War On Drugs - Street Cop Says Police Exploit Crackdown To Raise Budgets ('The Ottawa Citizen' Says That, In A Telephone Interview, Vancouver, British Columbia, Police Constable Gil Puder Said The Fight To Get Illegal Drugs Off The Streets Is A Losing Battle And The Only Winners Are The Police Who Earn Big Bucks For Overtime, And Promotions For Arrests That Accomplish Little)
• Colombia Denies Report It Will Test Herbicide ('The Dallas Morning News' Quotes Colombian Officials Rebutting A 'New York Times' Front-Page Story Saturday Saying The Government Would Bow To US Pressure And Eradicate Coca Crops With Tebuthiuron)
• 11 Years For Waitress In Cocaine Plot (Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' Says A 24-Year-Old Woman Who Is Six Months Pregnant Was Given A Sentence Of 11 Years Yesterday While Her Older Brother Got Nine Years For Attempting To Smuggle An Unspecified Amount Of Cocaine Dissolved In Bottles Of Rum And Transported From New York Through Birmingham Airport)
• 'Outstanding' Doctor Is Jailed For Giving LSD To Party Guests (Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' Notes The Three-Month Sentence And End Of The Medical Career Of A 25-Year-Old Doctor After An Off-Duty Police Constable Who Voluntarily Took The Drug At The Doctor's Party Had A Bad Trip And Turned Him In)
• Emergency Ward Stress Led To Theft Of Drugs (Britain's 'Daily Telegraph' Says Dr Simon Hetherington Admitted The Theft To Leicester Crown Court, But Apparently In Part Because Of Testimony That He Was Not Impaired, Received A Non-Prison Sanction)
• Heroin Overdose Risk Rises After Abstinence ('Reuters' Summarizes Tomorrow's Report In Britain's 'Lancet')
• Study Reveals High Rate Of Drug Use By School Pupils ('The Scotsman' Says A New Survey From The Forth Valley Health Board Shows That Prohibition Has Yielded 42 Per Cent Of 16-Year-Old Pupils In Central Scotland Using Illegal Drugs, And 49 Per Cent Drinking Alcohol In The Last Seven Days)
• The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 47 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's Original News Summary For Activists, Including - The PRIDE Teen Survey; Drug Lords Attempted To Buy Russian Submarine; 'Coincidences' At Pain Patient March; And An Editorial By Adam J. Smith, 'The New L-Word')
  Bytes: 104,000 Last updated: 7/16/98
  

  Saturday, June 27, 1998:

• Portland Jail Gains Beds, But Space Is Still A Dream ('The Oregonian' Says That, Although 254 Bunk Beds Were Installed At The Downtown Portland Detention Center Six Months Ago, An Average Of 82 Inmates Each Week Still Are Released When The Jail Nears Its New Capacity Of 730 - 'The Oregonian' Points The Blame At Other Media For A Dirty Election Campaign To Build New Jails That The Newspaper Itself Spearheaded, But Characteristically Omits Pointing Out There Will Never Be Enough Jail Space For A Significant Proportion Of Illegal Drug Offenders)
• Atascadero Woman Sues Over Wrong Home Search ('The San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune' Says A Local Woman Filed Suit Thursday Against The San Luis Obispo County, California, Narcotics Task Force, Claiming The Agency Deliberately Raided The Wrong Home While Serving A Search Warrant Last July)
• A Drug Problem In Amish Country (An 'Associated Press' Article In 'The San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune' Responds To The Recent Cocaine Bust Of Two Amish Men By Looking For Trouble In Intercourse, Pennsylvania - Some Simply Associate Motorcycles With 'The Problem')
• Two Dead In Tennessee Helicopter Crash ('The Associated Press' Notes Two Prohibitionists Lost Their Lives Wednesday Trying To Eradicate Marijuana, A Plant That Never Killed Anyone)
• Nominee Approved As Envoy To Mexico ('The San Jose Mercury News' Notes The US Senate On Thursday Confirmed The Appointment Of Career Diplomat Jeffrey Davidow)
• British Columbia's Grass Really Is Greener ('The Toronto Star' Says Home-Grown, Highly Potent Marijuana Is Now As Important Economically To The Province As Logging)
• British Columbia Strikes Gold With Potent Crops (A Second Article In 'The Toronto Star' About The Province's Booming Cannabis Industry Says Most Marijuana Contains Only 2 Per Cent To 3 Per Cent THC, And That British Columbian Marijuana, According To The RCMP, Contains As Much As 15 Per Cent THC - But Robin Room Of Toronto's Addiction And Mental Health Service Notes Higher Potency Reduces Potential Harm Because Consumers Smoke Less)
• Panama - A New Base For A Lost War? (An Article In Britain's 'Economist' About The United States' Attempt To Maintain A Military Presence In Panama Beyond 1999 Through The Guise Of A 'Multilateral Counter-Narcotics Centre' Notes The US Southern Command Spent $155 Million To Interdict $1.2 Billion In Illegal Drugs In 1997)
• Bolivians Show New Resolve In War Against Drugs (A 'New York Times' Account Of Coca Eradication Efforts Notes Bolivia Claims Success While Americans Say That Ambushes Of Police Have Slowed Eradication Efforts)
• The Drug War's Fungal Solution? (The Spring Issue Of 'Covert Action Quarterly' Says The USDA Has Been Tinkering With The Genetic Code Of A Dangerous Fungus In An Attempt To Wipe Out The Andean Coca And Poppy Crops - But If Anything Goes Wrong, The Fusarium Fungus May End Up Destroying Food Crops And A Whole Lot More)
• ELN Says Army Is Using Chemical Warfare Against Colombian (A List Subscriber's Translation Of Correspondence From The Spanish-Language 'Voices' Says FARC, The Anti-Government Insurgents In Columbia, 'Already Have Clear Evidence Of How This New Chemical' - Dow's Tebuthiuron - 'Has Been Used In The Military Offensive That Began In The Beginning Of The Year')
• Copters For Colombia ('The Orange County Register' Says The United States Will Fund Colombia's War On Some Drug Manufacturers By Upgrading 10 Helicopters In Colombia's National Police Force And Providing Six New Helicopters From An Unspecified Manufacturer)
• Man Grew Cannabis To Relieve Back Pain ('The Evening News' In Norwich, England, Says Judge Paul Downes Has Spared A Norwich Man From Jail For Cultivating 60 Cannabis Plants In The Bathroom Of His Home - But The 50-Year-Old Man Now Must Get By On Herbal Remedies)
• Marijuana Special Report: High hazards (New Scientist, in Britain, summarizes the recent report commissioned by French health minister Bernard Kouchner showing cannabis to be the least dangerous of all potentially addictive drugs. It also concludes that alcohol is among the most dangerous.)
• Deaths From Heroin Overdose (The British Medical Journal, 'Lancet,' Summarizes The Ensuing Report From Scientists In Italy Who Analysed The Hair Of 37 Dead Heroin Addicts)
• Death From Heroin Overdose - Findings From Hair Analysis (The British Medical Journal, 'Lancet,' Reports Scientists Who Analysed The Hair Of 37 Dead Heroin Addicts In Italy Believe Their Findings Support The Theory Of Higher Susceptibility To Opioid Overdose After Periods Of Abstinence)
• Saudi Arabia Cleric OKs Viagra Use ('The Associated Press' Says That, With Pfizer's New Drug For Impotence Selling For $80 A Pop On The Illicit Market, Saudi Arabia's Top Cleric Has Said That Muslim Men May Use The Drug If It Does Not Contain Any Intoxicating Substances Or Contain Ingredients That May Harm Health)
  Bytes: 99,700 Last updated: 3/2/99
  

  Sunday, June 28, 1998:

• 1991 Drug Case Might Take License From Lawyer ('The Oregonian' Says Portland Attorney Nick Albrecht Has Never Been Prosecuted In The Seven Years Since Frederick Hugh Sturgis Was Caught In A Cocaine Sting And Began Cooperating With Authorities, But Now Multnomah County Prosecutors Are Using The Informant To Go After Albrecht's License To Practice Law)
• Panic In Needle Park ('Oregonian' Columnist Steve Duin Writes About A Sheltered Portland Woman Who Is Surprised Police Are Too Busy Busting Pot Offenders To Come Pick Up Hazardous Discarded Syringes From The Gutter At 25th Avenue And Northeast Knott Street)
• It's Time To Rethink The War On Drugs (Op-Ed In The Bend, Oregon, 'Bulletin' Responds To The '500 Drug Geniuses' Editorial In 'The Wall Street Journal' By Noting The Impact Of The War Against Some Drug Users On Norm And Pat Major, The Elderly, Middle-Class Eugene Couple Who Faced Prison, Confiscation Of Their Home And Fines Because Norm Grew And Used Medical Marijuana)
• Marvin Walks Home (A List Subscriber Says Orange County Cannabis Co-Op Defendant Marvin Chavez Got Out Of Jail After Three Months - Donations Still Needed For His $6,000 Bail)
• Five Los Angeles Deputies Sued Over Jailing Of Two Men ('The Orange County Register' Says A Federal Lawsuit Accuses The Deputies Of Jailing Two African-American Men For Eight Months On Trumped-Up Drug Charges - Two Other Deputies Are Also Under Investigation)
• A Battleground Without Winners In The War On Drug Abuse ('The New York Times' Version Of Wednesday's News That US District Judge Charles R. Breyer Banned The Oakland Housing Authority From Evicting Tenants For Illegal Drug Activity By Others Happening Outside Their Homes)
• Prohibition Laws Have Always Tragically Failed (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Rocky Mountain News' In Denver From Ross Diercks, A Wyoming State Representative, Says He Would Like To Join An 'Increasing Number Of Public Officials And Concerned Citizens In Applauding The Recent Comments Of Judge John Kane Jr. Regarding Our Nation's Disastrous War On Drugs')
• Book Review - Drug Crazy (High Praise In 'The Denver Post' For Mike Gray's New History Of The Drug War, By John L. Kane Jr., Senior US District Judge, District Of Colorado)
• Suspect Accuses Tobacco Firms Of Smuggling (A Knight Ridder News Service Article In 'The Seattle Times' Revealing The Perils Of Prohibitionist Taxes Says An Indictment Has Been Filed In US District Court In Syracuse, New York, Charging Las Vegas Businessman Larry Miller With Smuggling Cigarettes Across The US-Canada Border - Miller Says The RJR Tobacco Company Was Part Of The Operation - Two Louisiana-Based Managers Of The Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company Are Already Serving Time For Running A Different Smuggling Operation Into Canada)
• Tobacco Subsidies And Ethically Challenged 'Doctors' ('The Oakland Tribune' Shortens Friday's Original 'Associated Press' Story Showing That Hundreds Of Physicians In 23 States Control Production Of More Than Seven Million Pounds Of Tobacco Worth $13 Million)
• Investing In Tobacco Just Being American (More Of 'The Associated Press' Story In 'The Oakland Tribune' On Doctors With Lucrative Government Subsidies To Grow Tobacco)
• Government Explains Tobacco-Growing Rights (A Third Part To The Original 'Associated Press' Story In 'The Oakland Tribune' About Doctors Who Profit From Government Tobacco Subsidies)
• Tobacco-Owning MDs Urge Nonsmoking ('The Orange County Register' Version Of The Ironic New Research By 'The Associated Press')
• Physicians Growing Tons Of Tobacco ('The San Jose Mercury News' Version Of 'The Associated Press' Story)
• Cannabis Only Dangerous Due To Prohibition (A Letter To The Editor Of Ireland's 'Examiner' Notes 'It Was Only After World War II That The Americans Prohibited It In Europe')
• French Report Says Alcohol Is More Dangerous (Britain's 'Independent On Sunday' Recaps The Recent French Government-Commissioned Report Showing Cannabis Is Significantly Safer Than Alcohol)
• Britain Funds Biological War Against Heroin (Britain's 'Sunday Times' Says Britain Is Engaged In A Secret Attempt To Crush The Worldwide Heroin Trade With Biological Warfare, A Project Involving Spies, Scientists And Former Soviet Germ Warfare Experts)
• The West's Secret Weapon To Win The Opium War (A Related Article In Britain's 'Sunday Times' Says 'The Best-Kept Secret In The War Against Drugs' Is A Research Compound In Tashkent, The Capital Of Uzbekistan, Where Britain And The United States Are Funding An Effort To Culture A Fungus Called Pleospora Papaveracea, Which Prohibitionists Hope To Use To Devastate The Opium Poppy Fields Of Asia's Golden Crescent And Golden Triangle)
• Fungus Nips Drug In Bud (A Second Related Story In Britain's 'Sunday Times' About Research By Scientists Engaged In Biological Drug Warfare)
• War On Drugs Impoverishes Farmers ('The Boston Globe' Says Tens Of Thousands Of Cannabis And Poppy Farmers In Lebanon's Bekaa Valley Have Become Indigent Since The Civil War Ended And The Federal Government Launched A Massive Eradication Program With Support From The United States)
  Bytes: 103,000 Last updated: 7/16/98
  

  Monday, June 29, 1998:

• Mixing Driving, Over-The-Counter Drugs Could Become Illegal ('The Associated Press' Says More Than 300 Police So-Called Drug Recognition Experts Together With About 100 Prosecutors, Toxicologists And Highway Safety Advocates Are In Portland Through Tuesday For A National Conference - Police 'Experts' Want To Criminalize Oregon Drivers They Deem Impaired By Legal Drugs, But Dr. Robert Julien, An Anesthesiologist At Providence St. Vincent Hospital In Portland, Acknowledges A Lack Of Research On How Such Drugs Correlate With Behavior)
• No On Measure 57 Meeting Notes (A Summary Of A Meeting In Portland Sunday Night Intended To Organize Opposition To Recriminalizing Possession Of Less Than An Ounce Of Marijuana, To Be Decided By Oregon Voters In November)
• Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau's Syndicated Cartoon Makes Fun Of Prohibitionist Hyperbole In The Medical Marijuana Debate)
• Cops Seize Treats They Say Contain Pot ('The San Francisco Examiner' Notes San Francisco Police Busted Two Unnamed People In Separate Cases And Confiscated A Lot Of Goods Baked With Cannabis Near The Conclusion Of Sunday's Annual Gay Pride Festivities)
• Prisons Bringing In Millions Of Dollars (According To 'The San Francisco Examiner,' A Report By Berkeley Economist George Goldman Says California Prisons Generate More Than $150 Million A Year - It's Not Clear Whether Goldman Or Just The Newspaper Omits Any Information About The Billions Of Dollars Spent Building And Maintaining California Prisons, Or The Costs Involved In Filling Them With Victimless Drug Offenders)
• Attorney General Announces Anti-Methamphetamine Campaign (A Press Release From The Office Of California Attorney General Dan Lungren Notes The Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Has Received $18.2 Million From The Clinton Administration To Fight The Illegal Methamphetamine Market, With $1.8 Million For A Public Education Campaign And The Rest To Hire 131 Narcotics Agents, Criminologists And Lab Technicians Statewide)
• Washington Medical Pot Effort Plagued By Feuds (According To 'The Olympian,' Backers Of Initiative 692, Who Are Facing A Thursday Deadline To Qualify For The November Ballot, Say They May Already Have Enough Signatures To Send It To Voters - But Seattle Artist And Multiple Sclerosis Patient Karen Pehoushek, Who Co-Sponsored The Initiative With Tacoma Physician Robert Killian, Said Killian, His Brother, Tim, And The Influx Of Nationally Donated Money Have Destroyed The Effort To Pass The Initiative)
• Two In Washington Plead Guilty To Marijuana Smuggling ('The Associated Press' Says John Benjamin Ricker Of Exeter, New Hampshire, And Jim Garvorcauskas Of Newport, Rhode Island, Who Were Aboard A Marijuana-Laden Sailboat That Burned And Sank Off Neah Bay December 1, Pleaded Guilty June 12 To Importing Cannabis And Racketeering - Sentencing September 11)
• Marijuana Legalization Among Proposals For Arkansas Fall Ballot (A United Press International Article Says Only That The Ballot Initiative Would 'Legalize Marijuana')
• Tobacco Firm Admits Addiction Knowledge (According To 'The Orange County Register,' The 'News And Record' Newspaper In Greensboro, North Carolina, Reported Sunday That The 33 Million Papers Released This Year As Part Of A Tobacco Trial In Minnesota Include Some From Greensboro-Based Lorillard Tobacco Company Officials Who 'Suggested' That Customers Smoked Because They Were Addicted To Nicotine, That High School Students Were The Company's 'Customer Base' And That The Company 'Studied' Ways To Elevate The Delivery Of Nicotine And 'Considered' Developing A Brand Aimed At Image-Conscious Teen-Agers)
• Theater Review - Reefer Blandness ('The Chicago Tribune' Doesn't Think Much Of 'Pot Mom,' The New Play By Justin Tanner Of California, Who Also Wrote 'Still Life With Vacuum Salesman')
• When Clinics Gave Away Heroin ('The Baltimore Sun' Responds To A Recent Proposal To Establish A Heroin Maintenance Program In Baltimore With A Brief And Rather Biased History Of Heroin Maintenance In New York And Its Prohibition As A Result Of The 1914 Harrison Narcotic Act)
• Hemp Can Be Regulated (Staff Editorial In 'The Lexington Herald-Leader' Endorses Industrial Hemp For Kentucky)
• One More Major Study Online (Cliff Schaffer, Webmaster For The World's Largest Online Library Of Information On Drugs And Drug Policy, Has Posted 'Drug Addiction, Crime or Disease?' By The American Bar Association And American Medical Association)
• National Association Of Police Organizations Files Amicus Curiae Brief To US Supreme Court (US Newswire Says The NAPO Today Submitted A Legal Brief In The Case Of Patrick Knowles V. State Of Iowa, A Fourth Amendment Vehicular Search And Seizure Case In Which The Defendant Refused To Permit A Search That Turned Up Some Marijuana And A Pipe)
• Some Issues That Led To NBA Lockout ('The Associated Press' Says One Of The Issues In The Labor Dispute Between National Basketball Association Players And Owners Is The Owners' Desire To Drug Test The Players For Marijuana Use)
• Legal Experts Worry Border Patrol Agents Exceeding Their Authority ('The Associated Press' Notes The US Border Patrol Is Creating Controversy In Arizona By Using Unconstitutional Search And Seizure Tactics)
• Copter Crash ('The Orange County Register' Says Nine Mexican Soldiers And Two Police Crewmen Were Killed Sunday During A 'Drug Eradication Mission' Near Chilpancingo, 130 Miles South Of Mexico City)
• Gonzo Drug Czar (Staff Editorial In 'The Ottawa Citizen' Ridicules General McCaffrey's 'Bitter, Paranoid Attacks' Against Reformers During His Recent Testimony Before A US Senate Committee)
• Fungus To Kill Drug Poppies Under Study ('The Chicago Tribune' Version Of Yesterday's News)
• 'No One Demands Cocaine In The Grocery Store' (Translation Of An Article In 'Dagens Nyheter' In Which The 12 Swedes Who Joined Hundreds Of Other World Leaders In Signing An Open Letter Opposing The Global Drug War Respond To Swedish Social Minister Margot Wallstrom's Demand That They Explain Themselves)
• Booming Trade In Cut-Price Drugs Adds To Nigeria's Woes (The British 'Times' Finds A Novel Reason The Drug War Isn't Working In Nigeria, Said To Be A Transshipment Point For 40 Per Cent To 60 Per Cent Of The World's Heroin, And At Least A Third Of All Cocaine Consumed In Europe - The Success Of Local Police Against Nigeria's International Drug Traffickers Has Led To A Surge In Domestic Drug Use As Traffickers Dump Goods On The Local Market In 'Distress' Sales)
  Bytes: 82,300 Last updated: 7/17/98
  

  Tuesday, June 30, 1998:

• State Court Throws Out Crime Measure - The Ruling ('The Oregonian' Notes The Oregon Supreme Court Voided The State's New Voter-Approved 'Victim's Rights' Bill Tuesday Because It Violated The State's Constitutional Ban On Initiatives With More Than One Constitutional Amendment - However, Because The 1997 Legislature Passed A Bill That Enacted Most Of Measure 40 By Statute, Many Provisions May Remain In Effect)
• State Court Throws Out Crime Measure - The Process ('The Oregonian' Further Weighs The Import Of Thursday's Ruling By The Oregon Supreme Court Tossing Out The Measure 40 'Victim's Rights' Initiative)
• Medical Marijuana Distribution Bill Stalls In Face Of Lungren's Opposition (Bulletin From California NORML Says State Senator John Vasconcellos' Bill To Allow Local Governments To Establish Medical Marijuana Distribution Programs, SB 1887, Fell Two Votes Shy Of Passage In The Assembly Health Committee Today, Certifying Its Failure)
• Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau's Syndicated Cartoon Again Makes Fun Of Prohibitionist Hyperbole In The Medical Marijuana Debate)
• Media Blitz Aims To Stem 'Monster' Meth Problem ('The San Diego Union Tribune' Says California Attorney General Dan Lungren Yesterday Announced A New $18.2 Million Federally Funded Anti-Methamphetamine Media Blitz, Including Television, Radio And Billboard Ads And A World Wide Web Site - The Grant Will Also Finance The Hiring Of 131 Narcotics Agents, Criminologists And Lab Technicians)
• San Francisco Housing Investigation Broadens ('The San Francisco Chronicle' Says A California State Grand Jury Is Investigating Whether San Francisco Housing Authority Employees Are Using Federal Property As A Base For Drug Trafficking)
• At SFPD, 14 Guns Turn Up Missing (According To 'The San Francisco Examiner,' San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau Said Monday The Department Is Trying To Account For 14 Handguns Lent To Officers While On Temporary Duty With The Narcotics Division)
• Who Guards The Guards? (Staff Editorial In 'The Orange County Register' Discusses A New Report From The California Department Of Corrections About Brutality Against Prisoners At Corcoran State Prison, Noting The Report Concludes That Management At Corcoran 'Engaged In Selective Coverup Of Excessive Force,' And Says Charges That 'The Shroud Was Thrown Over This Investigation By Dan Lungren' Have A 'Certain Amount Of Plausibility')
• Time For A Change (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Fresno Bee' Says The Newspaper's 'Surrender' Headline Over A Column About The Open Letter Opposing The Global Drug War, Signed By 500 World Leaders, Was Inappropriate - 'Any Military Person Will Tell You That In A War When A Strategy Or Tactic Makes The Enemy Stronger, Better Equipped And More Able To Resist, That It Is Time To Change That Strategy Or Tactic - This Is Not Surrender')
• Bill To Allow Smoking In Bars Is Killed ('The San Jose Mercury News' Notes California's Unique Prohibition On Tobacco Use In Bars Was Saved Monday By An 8-8 Vote Along Party Lines In The California Assembly's Local Government Committee)
• Push For Medical Use Of Pot In Jeopardy ('The Las Vegas Sun' Says Nevadans For Medical Rights Appear To Be A Few Hundred Signatures Shy In Nye County - The Verification Process Must Be Completed By July 7)
• Prison Disturbance Creates A Wake-Up Call (A Staff Editorial In The Madison, Wisconsin, 'Capital Times' Suggests A Protest Sunday Night By Hundreds Of Inmates At Fox Lake Correctional Institution Was In Response To The Latest Moves By The State Department Of Corrections To Transfer More Wisconsin Prisoners Out Of State)
• Defense Begins Case, Calls On 'Dateline NBC' Associate Producer ('The Bangor Daily News' Peers A Light Into The Murky Reliability Of Urine Testing In An Update On The Lawsuit Brought By Truck Driver Peter Kennedy Against The National Broadcasting Corporation, Which Announced In 1995 That Kennedy Was Fired As A Result Of Two Positive Drug Tests)
• Drug Suspect Has Police Uniforms (United Press International Says Some Idiot Called Police In Baltimore, Maryland, To Report A Burglary And Police Arrested Him When They Found Marijuana In Plain View As Well As Weapons And Four Police Uniforms)
• Prison Officer Arrested ('Reuters' Says A Jailer At The Luther Luckett Correctional Complex In LaGrange, Kentucky, Has Resigned And Faces Misdemeanor Charges After Allegedly Agreeing To Buy Marijuana For An Inmate In A Sting Operation)
• Funeral For Helicopter Pilot ('Reuters' Update On The National Guard Pilot And US Forest Service Officer Who Died In A Crash On Holston Mountain In Sullivan County, Tennessee, Last Week, Trying To Eradicate Marijuana)
• Group Sues Writer For Sham Article ('The Associated Press' Says The Police Group DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education - Filed A $10 Million Libel Suit Monday In Los Angeles Federal Court Against Fired Journalist Stephen Glass For His Article In 'The New Republic')
• DARE Funding To Continue Despite Proven Ineffectiveness - Clinton Administration Continues To Ignore The Science, DPF Charges (News Release From The Drug Policy Foundation)
  Bytes: 76,300 Last updated: 7/16/98
  

  Wednesday, July 1, 1998:

• Rally At Oregon Capitol In Salem 3:30 PM Thursday To Turn In OCTA Signatures (Paul Stanford Of The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act Gives An Update On The Initiative Campaign As The Signature-Gathering Phase Is About To End Tomorrow, July 2)
• Up In Smoke ('Willamette Week' Says A Portland Woman Who Was Served With A Search Warrant By The Marijuana Task Force, Who Suspected Her Of Cultivation, Filed A Lawsuit Against PGE For Providing False Information About Her Electricity Use To Police, Only To Have It Thrown Out Because PGE Underestimated Her Use)
• Signature Gathers Race Deadline ('Associated Press' Update In 'The Seattle Times' About Several Washington State Initiative Campaigns Says The Sponsors Of The Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure Plan To Deliver The 179,236 Necessary Signatures Tomorrow, The Deadline)
• Last Call For Signatures (Timothy W. Killian, The Campaign Manager For Washington State's Initiative 692 Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure, Suggests You Can Still Turn In Signatures Tomorrow In Olympia)
• Prosecutors Want Marijuana Co-Op Patient Records ('The Sacramento Bee' Says Long Beach, California Attorney Robert L. Kennedy, Who Represents The Orange County Cannabis Co-Op, Including Former Co-Op Volunteers Marvin Chavez And David Herrick, Will Resist County Prosecutors' 'Fishing Expedition' Seeking Confidential Medical Records For Hundreds Of Former Co-Op Members)
• Re - Prosecutors Want Marijuana Co-Op Patient Records (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Sacramento Bee' Asks, 'Is There No Limit To The Lengths The Drug Warriors Are Prepared To Go?')
• 'Hollywood Set' Masked Pot-Growing Operation (An 'Associated Press' Article In 'The Seattle Times' Says Three People Face 20 Years To Life In Prison On Federal Charges After Police, Acting On Unspecified Information, Discovered 12,448 Marijuana Plants Growing Under 215 One-Thousand-Watt Lights In Four Buildings In A Rural Area Of Eastern Humboldt County, California)
• 'Dream Home' Hid Huge Drug Operation ('The Chicago Tribune' Version)
• City Wants Pot For Sick ('Reuters' Version Of Last Week's News About Oakland, California's Plans To Comply With Proposition 215)
• Doonesbury (Garry Trudeau's Syndicated Cartoon Shows The Real Reason Sick People Get Sent To Jail For Medical Marijuana)
• Watchdog Urges Cop Be Charged In Death Case (According To 'The San Francisco Examiner,' A San Francisco Citizens Police Watchdog Group Said Wednesday That Police Captain Gregory Suhr Should Be Charged With Neglect And Improper Conduct For Dousing With Pepper Spray And Causing The Death Two Years Ago Of A 317-Pound Drug Counselor Who Was Naked From The Waist Down, Shouting Incoherently At Passing Cars, And Who Attacked Police With A Crack Pipe)
• They Didn't Want To Know ('The San Francisco Bay Guardian' Prints An Excerpt From Gary Webb's New Book, 'Dark Alliance,' Outlining How Webb Started Investigating The Contra-Cocaine-CIA Scandal For 'The San Jose Mercury News')
• Gary Webb Interview ('The San Francisco Bay Guardian' Quotes The Author Of 'Dark Alliance' Saying 90 Percent Of His Book Is New Material - 'I Think The Thing That Frightened Them The Most About My Story Was That Suddenly There Was This Whole Reactivation Of Activist Black Groups Getting Together And Demanding Some Political Changes In Washington')
• Whiteout - How The Mainstream Press Tried To Squelch The 'Dark Alliance' Stories ('The San Francisco Bay Guardian' Outlines The Hatchet Job Performed By 'The Washington Post,' 'New York Times' And 'Los Angeles Times' Against Gary Webb's Series For 'The San Jose Mercury News' Documenting The CIA-Contra-Cocaine Connection)
• True Believer - Interview With Maxine Walters ('The San Francisco Bay Guardian' Notes The US Representative From Los Angeles Has Written The Foreword To Gary Webb's New Book That Elaborates On His 'Dark Alliance' Series For 'The San Jose Mercury News,' And, Based On Her Own Interviews In Nicaragua, 'Completely And Absolutely Confirms Gary Webb's Devastating Series' About The CIA-Contra-Cocaine Connection)
• Fate Of Medicinal Marijuana Drive Uncertain In Nye County ('Las Vegas Review-Journal' Version Of Yesterday's News About The Nevadans For Medical Rights Initiative)
• State Seeks Answers On Disqualified Pot Petition ('The Las Vegas Sun' Says The Last Hope For The Medical Marijuana Initiative Sponsored By Nevadans For Medical Rights May Hinge On Secretary Of State Dean Heller Finding That Clerks In Nye County Illegally Disqualified Some Signatures - Heller Said Only A District Judge Has The Authority To Dismiss A Petition Because The Person Who Circulates It Is Not Registered To Vote)
• July 6th March To End Prohibition (Press Release About The Pro-Hemp March To Westlake Center In Seattle, Gathering 6 PM Monday At Hammering Man On First And Union)
• Police Dog Sniffs Out Big Stash Of Marijuana (According To 'The Deseret News,' The Federally Funded Utah County Major Crimes Task Force Tuesday Night Seized 63 Pounds Of Marijuana They Valued At $352,000 From A Storage Unit In Orem, Utah, Plus Methamphetamine And Cocaine - The Bust Is Believed To Be The County's Largest Single Seizure Of The Nontoxic Herb - Two Mexican Nationals Apprehended In The Bust Will Likely Be Deported By The Immigration and Naturalization Service)
• Until 'Gateway' Case Is Closed, Pot Should Be Off-Limits ('Arizona Republic' Columnist Steve Wilson Responds To The Imminent Sentencing Of Marijuana Law Reform Activist Peter B. Wilson With Bad Science And Worse Logic, Saying Peter Wilson Shouldn't Go To Prison, But Cannabis Shouldn't Be Sold At Starbucks, Either)
• McVeigh Letters To Family Are Portrait Of Anger And Alienation ('The New York Times' Says Previously Undisclosed Letters By Timothy McVeigh, The Man Convicted Of Bombing The Federal Building In Oklahoma City, Suggest His Alienation May Have Originated When He And Nine Other Soldiers Were Taken To A Private Intelligence Briefing At Fort Bragg, Where They Were Told They Could Be Required To Participate In Government-Sponsored Drug Trafficking And Assassinations)
• Schmoke Rides On City's Violent Side ('The Baltimore Sun' Portrays A Day In The Life Of Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, Who Sped To Three Shootings Yesterday During On A Ride-Along With Police - Crime Is Down But The Ravages Of Prohibition Continue)
• $140,000 Drug Brick Found In $15 Software ('The Baltimore Sun' Says A 33-Year-Old Free-Lance Photographer Whose Work Appears In 'The Sun' And Elsewhere Impulsively Bought An Unspecified Clip-Art Package In Worcester County, Maryland, Illinois And Found More Than Two Pounds Of Cocaine Inside)
• Amish Anguish (Tsk-Tsk Staff Editorial In The 'Daily Herald' On The Cocaine Bust Of Two Amish Men In Pennsylvania)
• Farmers Will Raise Hemp Study This Weekend ('The Lexington Herald-Leader' In Kentucky Says On Friday, The Kentucky Hemp Museum And Library Will Release An 18-Month Study Of The Crop's Economic Viability - URL For Full Text Included)
• Hemp An Opportunity (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The Lexington Herald-Leader')
• Hemp Hysteria (A Column In The July-August Issue Of 'The Farm Journal' By Robin Hoffman Says Canada Has Allowed Its Farmers To Grow Hemp While US Interest Groups Are Devoting Their Energy To Mudslinging - At The Core Of The Impasse Is The Intense Emotion Driving The Anti-Drug Crusade In The US)
• A Soldier Storms DC (The July Issue Of 'George' Magazine Waters Down A Story About Drug Czar General McCaffrey's Penchant For Making Enemies And Undermining His Cause)
• Contra-Cocaine - Evidence Of Premeditation (The July-August Issue Of 'iF' Magazine Says New Evidence Strongly Suggests That The Reagan Administration's Tolerance Of Drug Trafficking By The Nicaraguan Contras And Other Clients In The 1980s Was Premeditated - Representative Maxine Waters Of Los Angeles On May 7 Introduced A 1982 Letter Into The Congressional Record Revealing How CIA Director William J. Casey Secretly Engineered An Exemption Sparing The CIA From A Legal Requirement To Report On Drug Smuggling By Agency Assets)
• GAO Report On Drug-Related Police Corruption (A List Subscriber Posts The URL For The General Accounting Office's New Report, Plus The 'Results In Brief' Summary)
• Anti-Tobacco Crowd Hasn't Learned Anything From History (An Op-Ed In The Illinois 'Daily Herald' Compares The Failure Of The McCain Tobacco Bill With The Failed Efforts Of Turn-Of-The-Century Tobacco Prohibitionist Lucy Page Gaston And Her Anti-Cigarette League Of America - She Was The Person Who Invented The Term 'Coffin Nails')
• Activism On-Line - The Revolution Will Be Wired (An Article In 'High Times' By Adam J. Smith Of The Drug Reform Coordination Network Explains Why The Internet Makes It Impossible For Government And Mass Media To Cover Up The Truth About The Failed War On Some Drugs)
• Pot Case Thrown Out ('The Calgary Sun' Says Provincial Court Judge William Gilbert Has Ruled That Neither Marc Zagar's Distinct Smell Of Pot, Nor Banff RCMP Corporal WL Young's Olfactory Skills Justified His Search Of Zagar That Turned Up A Joint)
• Illegal In Mexico (A Letter To The Editor Of 'The International Herald-Tribune' Says The United States Had No Right To Treat Mexico As It Did In 'Operation Casablanca')
• The War On Drugs From The Supply Side (A lengthy but excellent op-ed in Z magazine by a co-founder of the Colombia Support Network provides a much more accurate picture of the social and economic forces destroying Colombia in the name of the war on drugs than could ever be found in mainstream American mass media. About 4,300 Colombians are killed each year for political reasons out of a total annual death toll of 30,000 and a population of 33 million. According to the Colombian Commission of Jurists, only 2 percent of these political killings are drug related, while 28 percent of the deaths are at the hands of guerrillas and 70 percent are caused by the paramilitary/military alliance.)
• Herbicide Again (Another Letter To The Editor Of 'The International Herald-Tribune' Protests The United States' Parallel Policies Involving Poison In Colombia And Vietnam)
• Poppy Fungus Project Is Not 'Biological Warfare' Says UN (A UN Information Service Press Release Issued By Pino Arlacchi, Director Of The Vienna-Based UN Office For Drug Control And Crime Prevention, Tries To Finesse A Recent Article In Britain's 'Sunday Times')
• Victory Claimed In Battle With Drug Barons (According To 'The Irish Independent,' A 29-Page First-Year Review Of The Governing Coalition's Action Programme For The Millennium Claims The Criminal Assets Bureau Has Been Effective In Targeting Drug Barons)
• DrugSense Weekly, Number 53 (Summary Of Drug Policy News For Activists)
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