1998 News
About Cannabis and Drug Policy
October 8-14

Thursday, October 8, 1998:
• The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release (Marijuana Derivative Benefits Head Trauma Victims, Human Trials Show; Clinton Signs Law Denying Student Aid To Marijuana Smokers; UK Drug Czar Backs Limited Use Of Medical Marijuana; South Carolina High School Issues Ban On Hemp Jewelry)
• Truckers checked for drug use in special stops (The Associated Press says Oregon state troopers stopped 57 trucks over two days on US Highway 97 for drug and safety checks involving random urine tests. So-called drug impairment experts also visually checked each driver.)
• Seattle School Learns Life Isn't An Absolute (A staff editorial in The Columbian, in Vancouver, Washington, says "zero tolerance" public school policies make zero sense in the real world. It sounds good when politicians and school officials tout it during election time. The casualty, though, is common sense.)
• End Reefer Madness (A letter to the editor of The Herald in Everett, Washington, supports Initiative 692, the medical marijuana ballot measure.)
• Heavy Drinking Reported Among 10th-, 12-Graders (The Herald, in Everett, Washington, says a survey released Wednesday of 37,000 students around the state was carried out during the last week in March and the first week of April for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Department of Social and Health Services, and the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The survey suggested that students' use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana were all up slightly.)
• Students' Substance Use Increases (The Seattle Times version)
• Steve McWilliams jury trial (A list subscriber publicizes the San Diego trial of the medical marijuana patient who ran the Valley Center Cannabis Collective and was busted while delivering plants to another patient. A protest and rally begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 14, in front of the courthouse before the first day of the trial.)
• Sister Somayah (A list subscriber says the Los Angeles medical marijuana activist and sickle cell anemia patient is being held on $50,000 bail after being busted by four LAPD narcs who said her 30 plants were too many. They also said her 1997 physician's letter of recommendation for cannabis was too old, as if people recuperate from sickle cell disease. One of the police was an officer she had lodged a complaint against with the city council.)
• Bestselling Author to Call for Lungren's Impeachment At Libertarian Party Forum (PRNewswire says Peter McWilliams, the No. 1 bestselling author, medical marijuana patient, activist, and defendant, will call for Attorney General Dan Lungren's impeachment at a Libertarian Party forum to be held Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Arcadia.)
• California Medical Association Protests Unauthorized Use of Physicians' Names in Medical Marijuana Case (A CMA Alert says US District Court Judge Charles Breyer granted the association's request to protect the confidentiality of doctors who had recommended medical marijuana to members of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, disclosed by attorneys during the discovery process for the federal lawsuit against the OCBC and other northern California dispensaries. Dr. Tod H. Mikuriya says the CMA's court brief is the first occasion since the passage of Proposition 215 the organization has been actively involved with its implementation.)
• Marine helicopter mechanics arrested in drug probe (The Associated Press says six US Marines at Camp Pendleton in California were arrested for alleged marijuana and steroid use. Five of the Marines arrested were helicopter mechanics and the other worked at Camp Pendleton's substance abuse control center and allegedly helped Marines alter the results of their drug tests.)
• We're All Criminals (An op-ed in California's New Times discusses the ubiquity of speeders, underage drinkers, tax cheaters, litterbugs, jaywalkers, pot smokers and other scofflaws. "We break laws because human beings make mistakes and errors in judgment; we defy laws that we don't believe are just.")
• CIA Didn't Always Report Contractors' Alleged Drug-Dealing (The San Jose Mercury News says the Central Intelligence Agency disclosed in a report released Thursday that it failed to alert Congress or law enforcement about allegations of drug dealing by some of its hired hands during the 1980s secret war against the Marxist government of Nicaragua.)
• Boot-camp-style Ranch Gets OK For New License (An Associated Press article in The San Jose Mercury News says that, less than a week after a grand jury indicted five former workers at the Arizona Boys Ranch on child abuse and manslaughter charges in connection with the death of Nicholaus Contreraz, 16, of Sacramento, California, the Arizona Department of Economic Security allowed the facility to renew its operating license.)
• Militants, Activists Post Reward For Ex-Officer (The Houston Chronicle says The New Black Muslim Movement doesn't trust Houston police to find ex-narcotics officer Rex Gates, so it has offered a $500 reward. Kofi Taharka of the Black United Front and Travis Morales, a member of the national council of La Resistencia, denounced the case of Gates, who is white, calling police handling of the ex-officer an example of bias. Morales suggested Gates being allowed to get away might mean the ex-officer had "the goods" on corrupt officers.)
• Two arrested in alleged city hall drug ring (An Associated Press article in The Miami Herald says the chief computer programmer and a payroll clerk for the city of Gary, Indiana, were accused Wednesday of running a cocaine ring that made drug deals out of City Hall.)
• Farmer gets five-year term on drug charges (An Associated Press article in the The Star Tribune says Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Circuit Judge Henry Buslee sentenced Calvin Pluim Thursday after prohibition agents searched his barn and found 14 hay-like bales of marijuana weighing 843 pounds, 37 sealed paper bags of marijuana, 14 pairs of pruning shears, chest freezers, scales, grow lights and a 2-pound bag of marijuana cookies.)
• Vote For Steinberg To Stop Drug War (A letter to the editor of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, supports the candidacy of Peter L. Steinberg for Dane County District Attorney. Steinberg will focus on prosecuting crimes of violence and property crime, rather than wasting tax dollars and ruining lives by enforcing marijuana prohibition.)
• Drug Evidence Found In Improper Search Cannot Be Used In Court (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Madison, Wisconsin, ruled 2-1 Thursday that an affidavit explaining the need for a 1996 search of Lance Ward' s home in Beloit - which yielded 5.5 pounds of marijuana and about a third of a pound of cocaine - did not provide a link between evidence of criminal activity and Ward' s home.)
• 61st year of marijuana prohibition (A letter to the editor of The Mountain Eagle in Tannersville, New York, notes the state does not have a voter initiative process, so the Marijuana Reform Party of New York was established to bring the issue of marijuana prohibition before New York voters, with Thomas Leighton running as the MRP candidate for governor.)
• Dr Julian Heicklen's Trial (The Centre Daily Times says the retired Penn State professor was alternately "sobbing" and "shrill" while representing himself against marijuana possession charges. It took a jury in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 30 minutes to convict him.)
• A Pot Professor's Day In Court (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette version)
• Ibogaine experience from the ibogaine list (A list subscriber forwards an alcoholic's first-person account of his use of the psychotropic African plant to overcome his addiction.)
• Josette Shiner Vs. Bonnie Erbe - Medicinal Marijuana (An op-ed syndicated by Scripps Howard News Service featuring a debate between reefer madness proselytizer Josette Shiner, president of Empower America, and Bonnie Erbe of the Public Broadcasting Service's "To the Contrary.")
• Congress, Clinton Deny Financial Aid to Non-Violent Drug Offenders (A bulletin from the Drug Policy Foundation notes President Clinton yesterday signed the Higher Education Act of 1998, which also expands coerced treatment and drug testing.)
• US lawmakers sneak through controversial wiretap law (Reuters says that without debate or notice, US lawmakers were poised Thursday to approve a proposal for roving wiretaps, long sought by the FBI, that would dramatically expand wiretapping authority - an idea Congress rejected many years ago.)
• Brother Takes Over Mexican Drug Cartel (The Seattle Times says US authorities yesterday identified Vicente Carrillo-Fuentes, the brother of a Mexican drug lord who died in 1997, as the new leader of a Juarez-area cartel.)
• US targets suspected drug cartel leader (The Associated Press version)
• Indictment Launches Hunt For Drug Lord (A slightly different Associated Press account in The Houston Chronicle)
• US Indictment Targets Suspected Drug Cartel Chief (The Dallas Morning News version)
• US Adds Pressure For Narcotics Kingpin (The San Jose Mercury News version)
• Is Your Teenager Concerned About Inequality And Pollution? Call A Drug Counsellor (The Guardian, in Britain, notes a pamphlet by Gerald Smith, a criminology professor in Utah, featuring an introduction by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, a Mormon minister, warns that a teenager who shows "excessive preoccupation with social causes, race relations, environmental issues etc." may be exhibiting the first symptoms of drug addiction.)
• Methadone Turnabout Is A Welcome First Step (San Jose Mercury News columnist Joanne Jacobs says drug war propaganda has beaten pragmatism at every turn - until last week, when General Barry McCaffrey, in a speech to the American Methadone Treatment Association, called for expanding heroin addicts' access to methadone. Based on the logic of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, diabetics should be forced to give up their dependency on insulin.)
• Panic in needle park (A portrait of Toronto's junkie community in Eye magazine says needle exchanges were supposed to slow the spread of HIV, but infection rates are still rising. "We need more than a quick fix.")
• Officials Find 142 Mexican State Police Used False Military Credentials (An Associated Press article in The San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune says a routine inspection by military officials showed more than 10 percent of Mexico state's judicial police submitted false proof of military service to get their jobs.)
• Police Chiefs Plan Biggest Blitz Yet On Drug Dealers (The Scotsman says Scotland's eight chief constables are preparing to launch the biggest crackdown on drug dealers in the country's history.)
  Bytes: 159,000 Last updated: 11/12/98
  

  Friday, October 9, 1998:

• Drug defender to plead guilty (The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, notes Gideon Israel, a marijuana law reform advocate who has been holding four public gatherings at Rainbow Valley, his 42-acre property, every year for more than a decade, will plead guilty today to conspiracy to deliver marijuana and manufacture marijuana and possession with intent to deliver LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. He agreed to sell his property south of Littlerock, give half the proceeds to the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, and promised not to hold outdoor festivals in Thurston County for 10 years.)
• Scientist dissects wily ways of cigarettes (A Seattle Times account of Washington state's $2.2 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry for conspiring to violate antitrust and consumer-protection laws, focuses on the testimony of Jack Henningfield, a specialist in nicotine addiction and dependence, who suggested the industry used complex and devious tricks to encourage smokers to remain smokers.)
• Snuff bottles are intricate works of art (The Seattle Times reviews an exhibit of more than 260 snuff bottles from 17th- and 18th-century China, used by the wealthy to hold a fine mixture of powdered tobacco and herbs.)
• 1998 Washington State Hemp Voter's Guide Update (The Washington Hemp Education Network has added additional candidate responses and more to its online guide.)
• Car Seizure Law Upheld In Oakland (The San Francisco Chronicle says an Alameda County judge yesterday rejected the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge to a pioneering Oakland city ordinance that allows police to seize the cars of alleged drug buyers and prostitution customers.)
• Defending moms - a busy week so far (A list subscriber forwards a shocking account of prohibition agents in San Bernardino, California, running amok.)
• Jury Indicts Prison Guards (A Los Angeles Times article in The San Jose Mercury News says five correctional officers have been indicted by a special Kings County grand jury on conspiracy and other charges stemming from a 1993 rape at Corcoran State Prison by an inmate enforcer nicknamed "the Booty Bandit." The indictments came after a three-month investigation by the state attorney general's office into allegations of planned rapes and cover-ups at the San Joaquin Valley prison.)
• Marines Arrested In Drug Investigation (The San Jose Mercury News version of yesterday's story about six US marines being arrested at Camp Pendleton for alleged marijuana use.)
• Pro-Marijuana Group Settles Suit it Filed Over Ouster From '92 Fair (The Salt Lake Tribune says the group Mood For A Day, which advocates the use of hemp for food, fuel, medicine, paper and fiber, and therefore was ejected from the 1992 Salt Lake County Fair, has settled out of court for $32,500. Attorney Brian Barnard will receive the bulk of the settlement, leaving about $1,500 for the group, which lost an estimated $2,000 in sales of T-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers.)
• Michael Domangue's Choice (Colorado attorney Warren C Edson says the judge in the case of his client, medical marijuana cultivator Michael Domangue, has reversed himself and nullified Domangue's ability to present a "choice of evils" defense.)
• Oregon Physician Addresses Coloradans (An exchange, prompted by the previous item, between Dr. Rick Bayer, the chief petitioner for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, and reformers in Colorado and elsewhere who oppose Amendment 19, the medical marijuana initiative also sponsored by Americans for Medical Rights. Dr. Bayer explains why he agreed to appear in a television advertisement for Amendment 19.)
• Oregon's Attorneys Offering To Settle - Family Takes Step Toward Suing City (According to The Houston Chronicle, attorneys for the family of Pedro Oregon Navarro, an innocent man shot to death by Houston prohibition agents who broke into his apartment without a warrant, said Thursday they would settle with the city for $35 million, or a smaller amount if the city agreed within 30 days to change police policies and procedures.)
• Drug Unit Supervisors Admit Using Racial Slurs (The Chicago Tribune says Fredrick Guerra, a supervisor in an elite drug-enforcement unit, has continued to collect his $46,332 annual salary from the Cook County Sheriff's Police while his disciplinary hearing grinds through the system after he admitted eighteen months ago that he used racial and sexist slurs to refer to subordinates, informants and drug dealers and that he occasionally wore a black "Sambo" mask around the office. Several other supervisors in the Cook County Metropolitan Enforcement Group unit, including the deputy director, also were accused of running a unit in which blacks were routinely referred to in derogatory terms.)
• Fourth man indicted from RI Strike Force turns himself in (The Associated Press says Ronald House, a former agent with a disbanded Rhode Island prohibition squad who had been sought since Wednesday, pleaded innocent Friday to federal charges of fabricating evidence. Four men face charges of violating seven people's constitutional rights by fabricating evidence in drug cases.)
• Three Charged With Running 'Yuppie' Drug Ring (The Philadelphia Inquirer notes the arrests of a "mastermind" and two other people who allegedly operated a "yuppie" drug ring that sold cocaine and amphetamines in Center City and West and South Philadelphia. One of the suspects, Anna Cruz, is an editorial assistant at The Inquirer.)
• Higher Courts Must Debate Drug Laws (A staff editorial in The Centre Daily Times, in Pennsylvania, says a jury was right to convict retired Penn State professor Julian Heicklen of marijuana possession, but a higher court should seriously consider overturning the law. Clearly, the laws inspired by the War on Drugs are not working, because the drug problem persists and grows.)
• Bring Methadone Out Into The Open (A staff editorial in The Chicago Tribune says the announcement last week by General Barry R. McCaffrey that the federal government would facilitate the use of methadone to treat heroin addicts is a significant step toward a more realistic - and effective - drug policy, with a greater focus on treatment for those afflicted.)
• HEMPilation II's competition? (A bulletin from The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws says a new compact disc to benefit NORML will be released on Nov. 3, Election Day. The bulletin also includes a press release about "Lost Voices - The Songs of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison," a 15 song compilation of contemporary artists, scheduled for release Oct. 20 to benefit Phoenix House, the nation's leading non-profit drug treatment organization.)
• Contra Drug Link Unveiled (The Associated Press says a 410-page declassified version of a report on the Contra-cocaine scandal by Inspector General L. Britt Snider of the Central Intelligence Agency was posted on the CIA's Web site late Thursday. Prompted by The San Jose Mercury News' "Dark Alliance" series, the study says the CIA failed to fully inform Congress and law enforcement agencies of reports that Nicaraguan Contras were involved in drug trafficking.)
• Joe Camel Boosted Smoking In Teens (According to an Associated Press article in the New Bedford, Massachusetts, Standard-Times, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that the number of American youths who took up smoking as a daily habit jumped 73 percent from Joe Camel's debut in 1988 to 1996. Without any additional evidence, the CDC said the cartoon character was "partly to blame" for kids' increased smoking, illustrating how even so-called scientists can confuse correlation with causation. One could just as reasonably blame the increase on the correlated expansion of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.)
• Technicality Kills Misconduct Charges (The Toronto Star says allegations of misconduct against six Toronto drug squad officers - including questionable strip searches and searching homes without warrants - were dismissed after the officers' lawyer argued it had taken too long to bring them to the internal discipline tribunal.)
• Pro-Cannabis Campaigner Issues A Challenge (A letter to the editor of The Evening News in Norwich, England, rebuts a judge's contention that a burglar's troubles arose from cannabis use. The marijuana law reform advocate then asks the judge for the opportunity to present evidence by experts who would testify before him that pure cannabis is non-addictive, does not lead to hard drugs, is not toxic, does not a-motivate and does not significantly effect motor or cognitive skills.)
• Drink Bigger Menace Than Drugs, Says Police Chief (The Scotsman says drugs tsar Keith Hellawell was yesterday forced to defend government policy as the chief constable of Fife warned that alcohol was a greater menace in Scottish society.)
• The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 62 (The Drug Reform Coordination Network's original summary of drug policy news and calls for action, including - DRCNet Needs Your Help; "Drug Crazy" Goes to Second Printing; Harm Reduction Conference in Cleveland; New Law Denies Student Loans to Non-Violent Drug Offenders; Judge Dismisses Charges in George Singleton Case; Oregon Initiatives; Peter McWilliams Sues Attorney General for Failure to Enforce Proposition 215; and Editorial - Reality vs. Demagoguery)
  Bytes: 152,000 Last updated: 11/12/98
  

  Saturday, October 10, 1998:

• Fraction of juveniles punished under alcohol law (The Associated Press says juvenile court judges throughout Oregon have largely nullified a state law that requires them to suspend the driving privileges of youths caught possessing alcohol. More than 11,000 juveniles throughout the state were arrested for possession of alcohol last year, but only 2,646 had their licenses suspended.)
• Sex And Drugs And The World's Richest Man (According to The Irish Independent, a new book about Microsoft founder Bill Gates of Seattle, "The Microsoft File - The Secret Case Against Bill Gates," by Wendy Goldman Rohm, says the squeaky-clean embodiment of the American dream has a taste for expensive prostitutes and cannabis.)
• The California NORML Election Guide for 1998 (A list subscriber posts the URL for California voters looking for the inside scoop.)
• Kubby Is Good Alternative (A letter to the editor of The San Jose Mercury News endorses Libertarian candidate Steve Kubby for governor, and refers readers to the web site for the medical marijuana patient/activist's candidacy.)
• Second Prison Probe (An Associated Press story in The San Jose Mercury News says that one day after five prison guards were charged with helping to arrange the rape of an inmate at maximum-security Corcoran State Prison, California Attorney General Dan Lungren on Friday announced an investigation at a second prison, High Desert State Prison near Susanville. Lungren, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, dismissed suggestions that the latest round of indictments at Corcoran was politically motivated. He also declined to comment on the powerful prison guards union's endorsement of his rival in the governor's race.)
• Brutal Prison Guards Charged (A version in The Telegraph, in Britain)
• Birchwood Bust Sets Pot Record Cops Harvest $2.2 Million (The Anchorage Daily News indicates city, state and federal prohibition agents confiscated almost 1,100 marijuana plants they valued at $2,000 each from a Birchwood home Thursday night, the largest Anchorage pot bust in memory.)
• NH Growers way ahead of narcs (A Boston Globe article about marijuana cultivation in New Hampshire says police estimate about 3,000 plants are found there every year, while another 20,000 or more go undiscovered. But only about 10 percent of the marijuana sold on the streets is grown within the state. "A lot more is used than anyone wants to know or anyone wants to admit," said Sandown Police Chief J. Scott Currier. More marijuana is grown in Maine and Vermont, police said, because those states are more rural than New Hampshire.)
• Ex-Chief Could Get Up To 50 Years In Drug Conviction (The Houston Chronicle says Robert Sanger, the former chief of police in Premont, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury Thursday on one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of conspiring to distribute about a ton of marijuana, and one count of knowingly accepting gifts while acting as chief.)
• 102 Accused Of Supplying Crack To White-Collar NY Workers (A New York Times article in The Dallas Morning News says 102 members of five gangs were indicted Friday for selling millions of dollars' worth of crack cocaine to white-collar workers in midtown Manhattan during the last decade. The five gangs involved apparently shunned confrontation to avoid drawing police attention. To avoid warfare, dealers declared a truce and worked out a shift schedule among themselves, officials said.)
• Myopic About Marijuana (A letter to the editor of The Washington Post says recent news about the analgesic properties of cannabis should motivate voters to endorse Initiative 59, the Washington, DC, medical marijuana ballot measure.)
• Myopic About Marijuana (A second letter to the editor of The Washington Post, by Paul Armentano of NORML, says General Barry McCaffrey's zeal to probe the private lives of NBA players by instituting random drug tests for marijuana is misguided and unnecessary. The NBA is not a law enforcement agency, and it is inappropriate to force players who are not even suspected of using drugs - and whose job performance is satisfactory - to "prove" their innocence through this degrading procedure.)
• CIA Said To Ignore Charges Of Contra Dug Dealing In '80s (The New York Times version of Thursday's news on the Central Intelligence Agency's ongoing re-evaluation of what constitutes plausible deniability.)
• Parity For Mental Illness, Disparity For The Mental Patient (Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz writes in The Lancet, in Britain, that recent legislation in the United States mandating insurance parity for patients with medical illnesses and psychiatric illnesses is inconsistent with the disparity in their legal status. Patients with sarcoma are assumed to remain in possession of their mental faculties, but patients with schizophrenia are not. Medical patients are treated as contracting moral agents, while mental patients are commonly treated as if they are minors or unconscious, and are often institutionalized against their will and/or forced to take toxic medications. The Patient Self-Determination Act makes it mandatory for healthcare providers receiving Medicare or Medicaid payments to "inform patients of their existing rights under state law to refuse treatment and prepare advance directives." The problems that mental patients pose for themselves, their families, and society can be resolved if the familiar advance directive or "living will" is adapted to the circumstances of psychiatric patients and their carergivers.)
• Controlled Heroin Distribution Given The Nod (An Associated Press story in The Australian says Switzerland's experimental heroin maintenance program is set to be extended after Swiss lawmakers yesterday gave the go-ahead for doctors to prescribe heroin to long-term addicts on a permanent basis.)
  Bytes: 66,600 Last updated: 11/8/98
  

  Sunday, October 11, 1998:

• Voters favor medical marijuana, oppose recriminalization (The Oregonian says a statewide poll conducted Sept. 30 through Oct. 6 suggests 59 percent support Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, and 54 percent oppose Measure 57, which would recriminalize possession of less than one ounce of the herb.)
• Man quits chewing tobacco after using computer game (The Associated Press says Steve Guard of Springfield, Oregon, quit chewing tobacco with the help of a prototype program developed by Herbert Severson, a behavioral scientist at Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, who has been studying "smokeless" tobacco addiction for a decade. Severson collaborated with computer programmer Tom Jacobs and producer Steve Christiansen of Intervision, a Eugene-based multimedia company, with support from a grant by The National Cancer Institute.)
• I-692 A Proper Use For Marijuana (A staff editorial in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer strongly endorses Initiative 692, the Washington state medical marijuana ballot measure, saying the case for medical use of marijuana is compelling.)
• To Make Narcotics Legal Defies History And Science (The Baltimore Sun runs a three-book review by historian Jill Jones, author of "Hepcat, Narcs, and Pipedreams" and the curator of the new DEA Museum opening in Washington, DC, this year. A classic drug warrior, Jones thinks drug courts are the best thing to happen in the drug treatment industry since methadone. Because of her editorializing, you won't learn much about the import of Mike Gray's "Drug Crazy - How We Got Into This Mess, How We Can Get Out"; conservative Republican Dirk Chase Eldredge's "Ending the War on Drugs - A Solution for America"; and "The Fix - Under the Nixon Administration, America Had an Effective Drug Policy - We Should Restore It - Nixon Was Right," by Michael Massing.)
• Drug Makers in Hot Race to Find the Next Prozac (The New York Times writes about the competition among pharmaceutical companies to come up with the next big antidepressant. Sometime in the next five years, Eli Lilly's patents on Prozac will expire, so giant pharmaceutical companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the hope of developing the drug that supplants it as the market leader. However, the company that develops the next big antidepressant must be able to sell it, so it looks like research into cannabinoids is out of the question.)
• CIA Did Not Tell All About Contras' Drug Activities, Report Says (The Associated Press version in The Houston Chronicle of Thursday's news about the CIA's latest account of its role in the CIA-Contra-cocaine scandal uncovered by The San Jose Mercury News.)
• Cafe raid sparks backlash - From California to Nova Scotia, opinions pour in (The Vancouver Courier in British Columbia says the recent police raid on Vancouver's Cannabis Cafe and Hemp BC has raised a storm of criticism by Internet users who are critical of the city's brutal use of police to enforce political repression.)
• Doctors Told To Inform On Patients (Scotland on Sunday says the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland has recently recommended that patient confidentiality should not be protected in cases where injury could result from drivers or pilots impaired by alcohol or other drugs.)
• MPs Move To Outlaw Sale Of Cannabis Seeds (The Telegraph, in Britain, says police have lobbied for, and Home Office ministers favor, outlawing the possession of cannabis seeds and the equipment necessary for their cultivation.)
• Plant Patent Pits Scientists Against Indian Activists (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 12 years ago, California scientist and entrepreneur Loren Miller founded the International Plant Medicine Corp. and took out a US patent on a variety of ayahuasca, a sacred hallucinogen among Amazonian Indians. Miller started testing the plant for uses in psychotherapy and treating cancer. A few years ago, indigenous leaders learned of the patent, and relations between plant collectors and South American tribes have been headed downhill since.)
  Bytes: 68,300 Last updated: 10/19/98
  

  Monday, October 12, 1998:

• Plight Of The Desperately Ill Deserves Marijuana Access (A staff editorial in The Herald, in Everett, Washington, endorses Initiative 692, the medical marijuana ballot measure, saying the medical use of marijuana might help young people disassociate the drug from any false perception of glamour.)
• Public Should Wait For Proof That Supports I-692 (An op-ed in The Herald, in Everett, Washington, by John Turner, chief of police in Mountlake Terrace, opposes Initiative 692 with a bunch of lies and factual misstatements.)
• Initiative 692 will ease pain of many suffering patients (Another op-ed in The Herald, by William O. Robertson, MD, the former president of the Washington State Medical Association, endorses the medical marijuana ballot measure. For the patient who is suffering and believes that he or she will feel better, why does society choose to stand in the way, hold up its hand and shout "No way!")
• Medical marijuana is bad presciption (A staff editorial in The Tacoma News Tribune opposes Initiative 692, the Washington state ballot measure, admitting it is hard not to be swayed by emotional testimonials from cancer patients and others who say smoking marijuana eases their suffering. "We are realistic enough to believe that cancer victims and others who think they truly need marijuana will find ways to get it" without reform.)
• San Diego Medical Marijuana Trial Commences Wednesday, Oct. 14 (A message forwarded from an attorney says jury selection will begin Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court in the case of People v. Steven McWilliams and Dion Markgraaff, charged in connection with growing and supplying medical marijuana to local patients. Last minute expenses associated with the trial are mounting - please send donations.)
• Bob Ames is being busted as you read this (A San Francisco Bay area activist sends out an alert about the cultivation bust of a Sacramento medical marijuana patient.)
• Medical Marijuana Measure Is About Greed (An op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News by Wevley Shea, the former US attorney in Anchorage, says Ballot Measure 8, the Alaskan medical marijuana initiative, is about crime and the economic greed of cultivators, and attempts to "misuse the alleged individual rights to protect individuals and entities that grow, distribute, sell, transport, possess or use marijuana.")
• Whiffs of hypocrisy in hemp promotion (An op-ed in The Toronto Star comments on Health Canada's recent attempt to quash The Body Shop's sale of hemp-based skin care products. The Body Shop is even more annoying than Health Canada, using promotional slogans such as "Roll yourself in hemp fashions!" "High time for changes!" "Hope not dope!" while distancing itself from marijuana the drug. In light of Jim Wakeford's recent failure in his fight to smoke pot legally to help with his AIDS-related loss of appetite, promoting hemp through hip, drug-related colloquialisms while reiterating tired old stereotypes about a drug that's less harmful than alcohol is a cheap and hypocritical position. It's a little like saying you read Playboy for the articles - or that you never inhaled.)
• Crime Rate Is Higher Than US (The Scotsman says a report by the US Department of Justice shows that robbery, burglary and assaults are more common per head of population in England and Wales than in the United States, although the rates for murder and rape are lower. A Home Office spokeswoman said, "We believe the study is limited because it compares only two sets of figures.")
• Case Tests Legality Of Swiss Marijuana (Reuters says that after three years of rapid growth, dozens of Swiss marijuana retail stores could be facing imminent closure as prosecutors in Zurich take one shop owner to court in a test case. A turn of phrase in Swiss lawbooks leaves open a loophole by prohibiting trade in marijuana only if it is sold specifically as a "narcotic." Enterprising hemp retailers have been selling marijuana as potpourri, or dried hemp packed in small cloth bags as an herbal room scent and labelled "not for consumption.")
  Bytes: 52,600 Last updated: 10/19/98
  

  Tuesday, October 13, 1998:

• For the sick and suffering (A letter to the editor of The Bulletin, in Bend, Oregon, endorses Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, noting Marinol consists of just one cannabinoid - the most psychoactive - and patients and doctors should be allowed to avail themselves of the more than 60 cannabinoids in herbal cannabis.)
• Portland March Against Police Brutality Oct. 24 (A forwarded message invites you to a public protest against drug-war violence and repression, "Communities United to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation," beginning at noon Saturday at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cook Street. Numerous sponsors include Copwatch; Amnesty International Group 48 and PCC Students Against Violence.)
• Judge Rejects Marijuana Clubs' Defenses (The Associated Press says US District Judge Charles Breyer has ordered the closure of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative without a jury trial, saying he has no authority to decide whether the federal ban on marijuana is irrational.)
• Pot Grower Tells Police 33 Plants Were Medicinal (The Sacramento Bee describes the bust of medical marijuana patient Bob Ames of Rio Linda, California, for growing more than the two plants Attorney General Dan Lungren thinks patients should be allowed.)
• Bob Ames Arrest Report (A first person account by the medical marijuana defendant himself says Sacramento police stated that their policy is to arrest all persons caught with marijuana and "let the courts sort it out.")
• 'Real Criminals' (A letter to the editor of The Fresno Bee from a criminal defense attorney and Libertarian candidate for congress says tape recording police interviews with suspects would save the taxpayers the expense of a lot of trials, but halting prosecutions of victimless crimes such as using or selling illegal drugs would save a lot more.)
• CIA admits role in cocaine/contra scandal (A list subscriber forwards the URL for the Central Intelligence Agency's recently released report inspired by The San Jose Mercury News' "Dark Alliance" series.)
• Police Lies "Ruined My Life" (The New Zealand Herald says A Kerikeri woman plans to sue the New South Wales government in Australia after being jailed for three and a half years on the fictitious testimony of disgraced Sydney detectives. The NSW Criminal Appeal Court overturned her conviction because of a detective's confession in 1995 that the case was "straight fiction.")
  Bytes: 28,100 Last updated: 10/15/98
  

  Wednesday, October 14, 1998:

• Our Guide To The 1998 Ballot Measures - Chainsaws, Bongs & One-Eyed Jacks (Willamette Week in Portland opposes Measure 57, recriminalizing possession of less than one ounce of cannabis, and endorses Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.)
• Measure 67 KBOO debate (Dr. Rick Bayer, chief petitioner for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, says he will debate Mollala Police Chief Rob Elkins and invites Oregonians who support the rights of medical marijuana patients to call KBOO, 90.7 FM, between 7:30 and 9 am on Wednesday, Oct. 21.)
• The Matrix Files (Willamette Week says Multnomah Sheriff Dan Noelle has been able to fulfill his campaign promise of ending matrix releases of jail inmates, thanks to removal of a court order limiting overcrowding, taxpayers' contribution of new jail beds, and continued use of jails in other jurisdictions.)
• Notorious pot grower pleads guilty to federal court (The Associated Press says Rhett "Tom" Phillips, a star high school quarterback as a senior in McMinnville, Oregon, in 1971, built a marijuana-growing empire in the 1980s, then eluded authorities for more than five years before US marshals captured him in late 1997 near San Jose, California. He likely faces 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.)
• UO gets grant to battle drinking (The Register-Guard in Eugene says a survey of students at the University of Oregon suggests surprisingly many think everyone else is doing drugs but them, sort of like the McCarthy era, when everyone suspected everyone else was a communist. Although students thought 90.9 percent of other students used marijuana in the past month, only 29 percent did - 66 percent were thought to have consumed cannabis in the past week, but only 18 percent did.)
• State RICO law snares four of worst gangsters (The Oregonian notes the imminent incarceration of four racketeers in Portland, but not what they were racketeering in.)
• Man caught in North Portland raid faces charges (An Oregonian update on the case of Larry Anderson says the owner of property coveted by county officials is not being charged with trafficking, only possession.)
• Judge Orders Oakland CBC Shut - Protest! (California NORML breaks the news that federal judge Charles Breyer will close the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative without allowing any jury trial. A protest will be held 4 pm Friday at an unspecified location.)
• Judge rejects marijuana clubs' defenses (The Associated Press updates its version.)
• Pot clubs can't remain open, US judge rules (The San Francisco Examiner-Associated Press version)
• Judge Orders SF Jury Trial In Marin Pot Club Case (The Sacramento Bee version)
• End May Be Near for Embattled California Marijuana Clubs (The Reuters version)
• Alert - Protest Closure of Oakland Medical Marijuana Co-op (The Drug Reform Coordination Network asks you to write letters to President Clinton and your congressional representatives. The protest rally 4 pm Friday will be at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative - call the contact number for an address.)
• Mikuriya In Sonora (The Anderson Valley Advertiser, in Boonville, California, does a feature article about Dr. Tod H. Mikuriya, the Berkeley psychiatrist whose experience as the former director of marijuana research for the federal government has led hundreds of patients to seek his recommendation for cannabis under California's Proposition 215. Dr. Mikuriya's activism has led Attorney General Dan Lungren's office to single out the Quaker-raised patient advocate for scrutiny, but district attorneys find it difficult to challenge his testimony successfully.)
• Cocaine Theft From Police Raises Security Concerns (The Orange County Register notes someone ripped off fellow police in Riverside, California, for $3.2 million worth of cocaine planned for a reverse sting operation.)
• Kids' Inhalant Abuse Doing Serious Damage (The Orange County Register tries to launch a nationwide drug menace, quoting the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, saying Thursday that kids using inhalants is "probably the single biggest cause of unnecessary destruction in our society.")
• Pot Transport Tips (A letter to the editor of The Anderson Valley Advertiser, in Boonville, California, explains how Humboldt County medical marijuana patients who are supposed to be protected by Proposition 215 can harvest, manicure and transport their medicine while circumventing the occupying force.)
• Right On! (Another letter to the editor of The Anderson Valley Advertiser praises the recent column by John Jonik on the very real "successes" of the war on some drug users.)
• New York Times In Epic Climb-Down - CIA - We Knew (Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn in The Anderson Valley Advertiser in Boonville, California, present an insightful analysis of The New York Times' recent biased coverage of the CIA-Contra-Cocaine scandal.)
• Legalizing Pot for Medical Use a Largely Overlooked Ballot Initiative (The Las Vegas Sun says the most vocal opponents to Question 9 have been a group of senators, none from Nevada, who called a press conference against the initiative in Washington, DC. Dan Hart, the spokesman for the initiative, said internal polls are "very encouraging." "It's seen, by and large, as a noncontroversial issue," Hart said.)
• Officials Find Convict Who Fled In 1970 (The Dallas Morning News says Charles Edward Garrett, convicted of heroin possession, fled a Dallas courtroom in 1970 just before he was sentenced to life in prison. Nearly 30 years later, having avoided all trouble with the law, Garrett probably will begin serving his life term this week.)
• Ex-senator guilty of drunken-driving assault (The Houston Chronicle says Don Henderson, a former Texas state senator, was convicted Wednesday on three counts of "intoxication assault" for a March 31 drunken-driving accident in which three people were injured.)
• Three Debate Crime, Drugs (According to The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, the Republican candidate for district attorney of Dane County, Diane Nicks, says she's the most experienced at prosecuting cases and managing an office. Democrat Deirdre Garton says she has the best long-term vision to fight crime. And Libertarian Peter Steinberg says we'd all be better off if Dane County would quit prosecuting marijuana offenses.)
• DrugSense Weekly, No. 68 (An original summary of drug policy news, including the feature article, How to win, by Mark Greer. The Weekly News In Review includes - Drug War Policy - US abuses human rights, Amnesty International says; Amnesty International bites the hand that feeds it; Joe Camel boosted smoking in teens; Students' substance use increases; Top court allows wider testing for drugs in schools; CIA said to ignore charges of Contra dealing in '80s. Articles about Incarceration include - County jails getting crowded; Jail stays grow with the backlog; Jury indicts prison guards; Second prison probe. Medical Marijuana stories include - Accounting of pot petitions ordered; Editorial - I-692 a proper use for marijuana; Public nuisance or therapy? cannabis clubs. Stories relating to Recreational Marijuana include - Rally call for drugs goes to pot; A pot professor's day in court. International News stories include - UK - Bar warns Straw that his reforms could break law; UK - Random drug tests at 100 independent schools; UK - Police chiefs plan biggest blitz yet on drug dealers; Belize's quiet despair; Canada - Task force tackles dealers. Hot off the 'net - MAP hits $1 million in published letters; DrugSense tip of the week; Quote of the week - US Supreme Court.)
  Bytes: 136,000 Last updated: 11/12/98
  

Next week's news index
Previous week's news index
1998 Daily News complete index (long)

to Portland NORML news archive directory

This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/news98_index_1008.html