-------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop The Violence, End Prohibition, Again! (A Second Statement
From Floyd Ferris Landrath Of American Anti-Prohibitionist League
Regarding Shooting Death Of Portland Marijuana Task Force Officer
During Warrantless Break-In)
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 03:54:21 EST
Reply-To: aal@inetarena.com
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Anti-Prohibition Lg
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Stop the violence, end Prohibition, AGAIN!
The AMERICAN ANTIPROHIBITION LEAGUE
Sponsors of the
OREGON DRUGS CONTROL AMENDMENT
http://ns2.calyx.net/~odca
"Drug War or Drug Peace?"
3125 SE BELMONT STREET
PORTLAND OREGON 97214
503-235-4524
fax:503-234-1330
Email:AAL@InetArena.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Feb. 2, 1998
Portland, Oregon -- Imagine you're an alien just landed on our
beautiful little blue/green sphere and come to find the country side
crawling with armed goons searching for people who grow a particular
plant. A plant that is, for no good reason, out of favor with the
powers that be. Imagine how crazy that space critter would think we
are when it found out we actually put people in prison for growing that
forbidden fruit and even sometimes engage in fatal combat over it. Of
course aliens are much smarter and thus having observed our folly,
would no doubt hasten a departure.
Last Tuesday's tragic death of Portland Police Officer Colleen Waibel
was 100 percent preventable. Waibel died defending a prohibition
agenda. Was it her agenda also? We do not know, nor do we care. She
was doing her duty following orders from her grossly incompetent
superiors like Mayor and Police Commissioner Vera Katz and her next in
command Police Chief Charles Moose. Both egged on by Multnomah County
District Attorney Michael Schrunk.
If these and other political leaders do not quickly reconsider our
drug laws Waibel will not be the last brave police officer to die, for
no good reason. The prohibitionists can lie and exaggerate the dangers
of marijuana all they want, but even if one drag on a joint caused
instant addiction and a life of depravity, which of course it does not,
no amount of pot is worth a life, anyone's life. Period.
As long as marijuana is prohibited from adults there will be un-
regulated (sometimes crazy) growers and dealers to provide it. Massive
profit drives the entire illegal drug market. A market controlled by
thugs, guns and violence.
Yes of course we are all sad Waibel is dead, but we are not
surprised. As many of you know we have been denouncing the Marijuana
Task Force for years, particularly for their inappropriate use of the
now infamous "knock and talk." To us and many others, including
Portland NORML, OCTA, Copwatch, etc., it was never a question of if, it
was when.
Now that we are here, sans any intergalactic means of escape, where
do we go next? There are alternatives to current drug laws, aka
prohibition. Alternatives that might work better and actually reduce
the level of drug abuse and violence in our society. Alternatives that
would make everyone a little safer, especially the police who fight and
die defending what's clearly a failed POLITICAL agenda.
If Officer Waibel's death means anything to you, Mayor Katz, Chief
Moose, DA Schrunk, Gov. Kitzhaber, etc., then the time to act is now.
Immediately dismantle the Marijuana Task Force and join us in our
struggle for "Drug Peace!"
Floyd Ferris Landrath - Director
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A Heartfelt Thanks ('The Oregonian' Conveys Gratitude To Community
Of Families Of Officers Shot During Portland Marijuana Task Force
Warrantless Break-In)
The Oregonian
oregonlive.com
February 2, 1998
letters@news.oregonian.com
A heartfelt thanks
In the aftermath of the shooting death of Portland
Police Officer Colleen Waibel, her family and that
of her husband, police Sgt. Mark Fortner, offer
this thanks:
"The Fortner and Waibel families wish to express
our profound gratitude to all the people of
Portland and beyond who have given such an
outpouring of support, love and remembrance for
Colleen Waibel.
"To see you all from the
bridges and overpasses, and
lining the streets along the
way of the cortege in the
bitter cold and wind, meant
so much to our families; it
showed how much you cared, your own
participation in our shared grief, and a promise to
heal the divisions and violence in our city. From a
tragedy such as this, our only hope is to honor her
memory by striving to be better people, and to
actively build a better city and world where the
things Colleen valued most can flourish.
"Our families wish to thank Chief Charles Moose
and the men and women of the entire Portland
Police Bureau for being so conscientious in
helping our families during this most trying time;
being always so professional in protecting Colleen
in her line of duty and retrieving her as soon as
possible from the scene. Special thanks needs to
be extended to the men and women who make up
East Precinct for the overwhelming attention
given our families, spending time with us and
bringing food and flowers of remembrance. The
honor guard, who watched over Colleen's body
from the time she died until she was laid to rest,
was truly a moving tribute received by Colleen
and her families which we will never forget.
"Legacy Emanuel Hospital, especially the trauma
team there, did so much to help Colleen and her
husband and families. So much kindness and
sensitivity were extended, and the assistance in
avoiding intrusions into one of the saddest times
our families have ever experienced helped us all
feel safe even as we grieved.
"We wish to thank Archbishop John Vlazny, the
Archdiocese of Portland, Father Joseph
Jacobberger, and all the staff and parishoners at
St. Mary's Cathedral for opening their doors in
our need to make the liturgical celebration, with
music provided by Oregon Catholic Press, and
the Cathedral choir under the direction of
Angela-Westhoff Johnson, so beautiful and
prayerful. Priests of the archdiocese, priests and
monks of Mount Angel Abbey, Sisters of St.
Mary of Oregon, and many friends and relatives
made the suffering bearable these past days.
"The men and women of the Portland Fire
Bureau, with fire boats spouting, with ladders
raised with flags, and offering every medical
assistance at the time of the tragedy and right up
to the end, was so beautiful and unexpected and
appreciated.
"To the pastors and staff of New Hope
Community Church in Clackamas, we owe
another debt of gratitude for opening your hearts
and doors to make possible a further service for
the community at large. To be able to come
together - literally thousands and more - and
make our prayers and tributes, was a civic and
ecumenical act that will not be forgotten. The
presence of Mayor Vera Katz at Emanuel
Hospital, and later both she and Gov. John
Kitzhaber at the memorial, showed us, Colleen's
family, that this tragedy went beyond a small
portion of the city; it affected all of Portland, all
of the state of Oregon, and all who care and work
for a better world.
"At this time it is hard to remember each and
every person by name who gave their time and
talents to honor Colleen. If we have failed to
mention you by name or group, please let us
know so we can do so properly. And while there
are omissions, no doubt, our appreciation goes
out to you in the name of Colleen.
"One of Portland's finest has been taken from us.
May we remember all that Colleen did and lived
and died for. Please pray for us during this time
of grieving.
"Thank you so much for everything,
"The Fortner and Waibel families."
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Cannabinoid Investigations Entering The Mainstream (Article
In 'The Scientist' Recounts Research Developments In 1980s-1990s
That Revealed New Promise Of Cannabis As Medicine, Particularly Progress
Arising From Discovery Of Cannabinoid Receptor Sites In Brain)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 12:20:19 EST
Originator: medmj@drcnet.org
Sender: medmj@drcnet.org
From: "Carl E. Olsen"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: News: Cannabinoid Investigations Entering The Mainstream
http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1998/feb/finn_p1_980202.html
Cannabinoid Investigations Entering The Mainstream
Author: Robert Finn
Date: February 2, 1998
With the passage last year of Proposition 215 in California and similar
measures in Arizona and other states, voters have indicated their belief
that marijuana should be made available for medicinal purposes. In response,
the Office of National Drug Control Policy requested that the Institute of
Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences undertake an 18-month study to
assess the science base, the therapeutic use, and the economics of medical
marijuana. The study will not be completed until the end of this year, but
it is certain to highlight the extent to which research on medical marijuana
has entered the mainstream of science.
But it's not just the impetus of political events that is [Image]
driving the renewed interest in studying marijuana and its NEW TOOLS:
active compounds, the cannabinoids. Interest in cannabinoid Wake
research started to snowball after some key discoveries in Forest's
the mid-1980s. As Steven R. Childers, a professor of Steven
physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University School Childers
of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., puts it, "During the notes that
late '70s and early '80s, when there was a tremendous researchers
explosion of information from other areas of drug abuse-like only
opiate receptors and enkephalins and endorphins, and the recently
concept that cocaine acts on dopamine transporters-the became able
cannabinoid field was strangely silent." to study the
interaction
"Before 1990 we really didn't have much of an understanding of
of how cannabinoids worked," agrees Norbert E. Kaminski, an cannabinoid
associate professor of pharmacology, toxicology, and compounds
pathology at Michigan State University. "Many, if not most, with their
people in this area of research thought the compounds worked receptors.
nonspecifically by perturbing cell membranes, because -------------
they're very lipophilic compounds."
Because of this lipophilicity, delta9-tetra-hydrocannabinol (THC)-the main
active ingredient in marijuana-and its derivatives are poorly soluble in
water, which makes them difficult to study. According to Childers, it wasn't
until the mid-1980s that researchers developed the tools that allow them to
study cannabinoid pharmacology-the interaction of the compounds with their
specific, membrane-bound receptors-in detail.
With the development of these tools came increased funding from the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which funds the bulk of basic cannabinoid
research. "Until we had the proper pharmacological tools to examine the
system from the basic science point of view, it was really very difficult to
propose projects," notes Childers, who has been reviewing grants for NIDA
for about a dozen years. "There's no question that cannabinoid research
funding has increased."
Receptor Pharmacology
With the discovery and cloning of two key cannabinoid receptors, the
receptor story has become fairly clear and straightforward, and the field
has blossomed. The CB1 receptor, which is found mainly in the brain, was
discovered in 1988 (W.A. Devane et al., Molecular Pharmacology, 34:605-13,
1988) and cloned in 1990 (L.A. Matsuda et al., Nature, 346:561-4, 1990). The
CB2 receptor, which is found mainly outside the brain, was discovered and
cloned in 1993 (S. Munro et al., Nature, 365:61-5, 1993).
Both receptors belong to the G-protein-coupled family of receptors. "That
very basic finding catapulted this field into the mainstream of
neuroscience," notes Childers. When either cannabinoid receptor is
activated, there's an intracellular decrease in cyclic AMP production, a
decrease in calcium-channel conductance, and an increase in
potassium-channel conductance. These actions indicate that cannabinoids have
an inhibitory effect on neurotransmission.
"CB1 and CB2 are highly homologous to one another, which is very typical for
members within the same family of receptors, but there are a number of
important differences," Childers points out. "The homologies within CB1 and
CB2 are not nearly as great as the homologies within other types of receptor
families [the opioid receptors, for example]. The implication [is] that it's
quite likely that pharmacological agents can be produced which are highly
selective and distinguish between the receptor types."
"One of the nice things about these receptors is that they've stimulated
chemists around the world to synthesize new and exciting derivatives,"
observes Childers. Among the plethora of new compounds that interact with
cannabinoid receptors, three in particular have emerged as standard research
tools. Researchers are using compounds called WIN 55,212-2 and CP 55,940 as
standard agonists, and one called SR141716A as the standard receptor
antagonist. All three have a higher affinity for cannabinoid receptors than
delta9-THC, which turns out to be a weak partial agonist.
The field was further energized with the 1992 discovery by a team led by
Raphael Mechoulam of Hebrew University in Jerusalem of the first cannabinoid
neurotransmitter that is "endogenous"-normally present in the brain (W.A.
Devane et al., Science, 258:1946-9, 1992). It's an arachidonic acid
derivative, called anandamide. Recently Danieli Piomelli of the
Neurosciences Institute in San Diego discovered another endogenous
cannabinoid called sn-2 arachidonylglycerol (2-AG). Interestingly, "the
endogenous compounds are not particularly potent," Childers points out.
"They have about the same affinity for the CB1 receptor as delta9-THC. And
they're extremely unstable."
Cannabinoid Neuroanatomy
The CB1 receptor is exceedingly abundant in the brain. According to
Childers, it's by far the brain's most common G-protein-coupled receptor,
and it even approaches some of the receptors for excitatory amino acid
transmitters, such as glutamate, in quantity.
"Certainly no one would ever have predicted that a receptor for marijuana
would exist in such high quantities in brain," Childers contends. "We
believe there are significant functional consequences to the large amount of
receptors that are there." For example, he explains, "if it weren't for the
fact that there are so many of these receptors in brain, it's probably
likely that cannabis itself would not be an effective drug," since D9-THC is
such a weak partial agonist.
In terms of the distribution of CB1 receptors, "when you look at an
autoradiogram, the thing that really jumps out at you are motor systems,"
Childers observes. "Motor systems throughout the brain are activated by the
agonist." This may provide a partial explanation for the reported ability of
marijuana to ease muscle spasticity in disorders like multiple sclerosis.
Additionally, he notes, "We know by a variety of animal tests that
cannabinoids produce significant effects on short-term memory tasks, and
that really makes sense from the very, very high distribution of cannabinoid
receptors in the hippocampus," an integral part of the memory system.
Researchers are as interested in the areas where cannabinoid receptors
cannot be found as in the areas where they exist in high concentration. In
contrast to the opioids, for example, there are few cannabinoid receptors in
the brainstem nuclei that mediate respiratory depression. Since respiratory
depression is one of the main toxic effects of opioid overdose, this
suggests that cannabinoids are relatively safe.
[Image] Glaucoma
PROBING THE
POSSIBILITIES: It's not easy, however, to move from cannabinoid receptor
Wisconsin's pharmacology to the medical usage of marijuana. Some of
Paul Kaufman marijuana's clearest potential medical effects are seen
hopes to study in glaucoma, a condition in which elevated intraocular
cannabinoids to pressure (IOP) is associated with damage to the optic
learn about the nerve and progressive loss of vision. Although smoked
hydrodynamic marijuana reduces IOP to the same degree as approved
mechanisms of medications, the enthusiasm for using marijuana as a
the eye front-line treatment has waned since the 1970s, explains
---------------- Paul L. Kaufman, director of glaucoma services at the
University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.
The main stumbling block is duration of action. Marijuana reduces IOP for
only three or four hours, requiring frequent dosing, while some of the newer
medications need to be taken only once or twice a day. Another problem,
notes Kaufman, is that marijuana's mechanism of action in reducing IOP
remains unknown. "People say, 'Let's just legalize marijuana, and it will be
the cure for glaucoma.' Well, that's not the way to develop a drug. The way
you develop a drug is to understand the mechanism-which we don't for the
cannabinoids-and then to take the good points about that mechanism, change
the molecule around to give you more of what you want, less of what you
don't want, put it through basic studies, put it through clinical trials,
and hopefully if you're lucky you wind up with a therapeutically useful
compound. And that's the way this should be handled."
Nevertheless, Kaufman remains
tantalized by the promise of FOR MORE INFORMATION
the cannabinoids. "With the
new compounds and the new International Cannabinoid Research
knowledge of cannabinoid Society (ICRS)
receptor pharmacology, maybe 98 Brookes Ave.
we can use [these agents] as Burlington, Vt. 05401
probes to learn something Phone and Fax: (802) 865-0970
about the hydrodynamic ICRS@together.net
mechanisms of the eye. Whether http://129.49.19.42/ICRS/ICRS_main.html
that would lead to * Roger Pertwee, President
cannabinoids as drugs, or * Diane Mahadeen, Director
whether that would give us * 190 members
some insight into what other
types of noncannabinoid The Institute of Medicine is conducting
compounds that we might an 18-month study to assess the
develop to attack those same therapeutic potential of marijuana and
mechanisms, I think that's its components. For more information,
exciting." contact:
Janet E. Joy, Study Director
But at least one glaucoma Institute of Medicine
patient, interviewed on 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W.
condition of anonymity, Washington, D.C. 20418
believes that there's no (202) 334-1805
reason to wait for new Fax: (202) 334-1317
compounds, clinical trials, or med-mj@nas.edu
a refined understanding of http://www2.nas.edu/medical-mj/
marijuana's mechanism of
action. He had tried five or Review articles are available on
six of the standard several aspects of cannabinoid
medications-and experienced research. For an article on cannabinoid
unpleasant side effects with receptor pharmacology, see R.G.
each-before trying marijuana. Pertwee, Pharmacology and Therapeutics,
"The marijuana gives me 74(2):129-80, 1997. For an article on
absolutely no side effects," the cannabinoids in immune function see
he maintains. Without N.E. Kaminski, Journal of
marijuana, "the pressure Neuroimmunology, 1998 (in press).
builds up in my eye to such a
point that . . . it feels like someone has their finger back behind my eye.
Marijuana relieves this within seconds." Kaufman acknowledges that marijuana
might be useful for people who cannot get relief from the standard
medications.
Pain And Immunology
Another area of great clinical interest is the cannabinoids' reported
ability to alleviate pain. According to Howard L. Fields, a professor of
neurology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, "I
think the recent explosion of knowledge about cannabinoids, in particular
the cloning of the receptors and the development of antagonists, is going to
allow us to determine a new mechanism for analgesia."
Fields's studies have zeroed in on a brainstem nucleus called the
rostroventral medulla (RVM). "It's the part of the brainstem that directly
controls the pain transmission system at the level of the spinal cord,"
Fields explains. "And it's a major site of action of endogenous opioids and
morphine."
In a series of animal experiments Fields injects combinations of cannabinoid
and opioid agonists and antagonists into the RVM while simultaneously
recording the physiological responses of RVM neurons and monitoring the
animal's pain responses. (These experiments have not yet been published,
except in abstract form: I. Meng et al., Society for Neuroscience Annual
Meeting Abstracts, 1997.)
Opioid agonists produce analgesia, and this response is blocked by the
opioid antagonist naloxone. Likewise, WIN 55,212-2 produces analgesia that
is blocked by SR141716A. But naloxone doesn't block cannabinoid analgesia,
and SR141716A doesn't block opioid analgesia.
The cellular neurophysiology mirrors the behavioral responses. "In every
way, from an electrical standpoint, cannabinoids and opioids are the same,"
explains Fields. "However, they're acting at different molecular sites, and
they're acting on the cell by different mechanisms."
Moreover Fields can prove that the RVM is essential for cannabinoid
analgesia even when the compounds are administered systemically.
Inactivating the RVM with the local anesthetic lidocaine blocks the
cannabinoids' analgesic effects.
"We clearly have a new bullet for treating pain," Fields [Image]
rhapsodizes. But how will this weapon be used? Sandra P. WINNING
Welch, an associate professor of pharmacology and COMBINATION?
toxicology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Sandra Welch
thinks that cannabinoids might be used in combination with of the
opioids. Medical
College of
"Our goal is to determine whether one can lower the dose of Virginia
cannabinoids down to such a low level that you would not hopes to use
see any other side effects," she elaborates, "nor would you cannabinoids
get tolerance to that cannabinoid, and combine it with an and opioid
opioid at very, very low therapeutic levels where you would for analgesia
not get tolerance to the opioid. By the combination of without
these two [perhaps the researchers would] get an enhanced development
effect such that you'd see an analgesic effect for the two of tolerance.
in combination and not see tolerance development." --------------
Cannabinoids clearly affect tissues outside the brain as well. In the immune
system, for example, cannabinoids-at much higher doses than recreational
marijuana users normally experience-inhibit many different immune functions,
including lymphokine production by T cells and nitric oxide production by
macrophages. But paradoxically, notes Kaminski, "there is some evidence that
at lower doses these cannabinoids can enhance immune responses."
"The problem in trying to correlate that to people actually smoking
marijuana is that there are over 60 cannabinoid compounds in the smoked
material," Kaminski points out. "We really don't know what concentration of
cannabinoids these people are getting."
Kaminski thinks cannabinoid effects on the immune system may well turn out
to be of more than academic interest. "I think there's some indication that
these might be useful as relatively weak immune modulators, perhaps to be
used as anti-inflammatory agents or even maybe for asthma," which is thought
to be an autoimmune disease.
In addition to its effects on glaucoma, pain, motor systems, and the immune
system, researchers are examining marijuana's potential as an antinausea
drug for use with chemotherapy and as an appetite stimulant, for use in AIDS
wasting and other such conditions.
Childers summarizes cannabinoid research by saying, "I think that what we've
seen here is a dramatic transformation of this field. Twenty years ago
cannabinoid research was dealing with a fairly innocuous drug of abuse,
looking into . . . how it produces its psychological effects. We now see the
research in this area has been transformed into mainstream neuroscience,
where now we're not just looking at a drug of abuse but we're looking at a
major neurotransmitter system in the brain."
Robert Finn, a freelance science writer based in Long Beach, Calif., can be
reached online at finn@nasw.org.
***
(The Scientist, Vol:12, #3, p. 1,8, February 2, 1998)
(Copyright (c) The Scientist, Inc.)
WE WELCOME YOUR OPINION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON THIS STORY, PLEASE
WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES:
editorial@the-scientist.com
or
The Scientist, 3600 Market Street, Suite 450, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
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Therapeutic Cannabis Initiative Proposed For Colorado Ballot (Colorado
Citizens For Compassionate Cannabis File Ballot Initiative - Text Online -
Not Associated With Americans For Medical Rights)
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 11:07:25 -0700 (MST)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
X-Sender: cohip@saturn.eagle-access.net
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
Subject: Therapeutic Cannabis Initiative Proposed for Colorado Ballot
For immediate release: February 2, 1998
Contact: Joseph Vigorito (303) 258-3990 support@eagle-access.net
Laura Kriho (303) 784-5632 cohip@levellers.org
Therapeutic Cannabis Initiative Proposed for Colorado Ballot
Text of the initiative:
http://www.levellers.org/ctca.htm
or send email to cohip@levellers.org for a text version (long)
Information on other campaigns to allow therapeutic cannabis use:
http://www.levellers.org/cannabis.html
[Denver] -- On Friday, January 30, Colorado Citizens for Compassionate
Cannabis filed a ballot initiative, the Compassionate Therapeutic Cannabis
Act, that would allow the therapeutic use of cannabis by medical patients
under the advice of their physicians. CCCC is a group of Colorado patients
and family members, medical professionals, caregivers, and others who
support the compassionate use of cannabis in the treatment of symptoms of a
variety of illnesses.
The Compassionate Therapeutic Cannabis Act (CTCA) would allow patients,
under the care of a physician, to obtain and cultivate cannabis for the
purpose of alleviating the symptoms of adverse medical conditions or of the
side-effects caused by other treatments. Cannabis is beneficial in the
treatment of symptoms caused by many illnesses, including cancer, AIDS,
glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain, wasting syndrome, and
nausea caused by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The initiative also
allows patients to appoint primary caregivers to help them obtain their
medicine.
In order to clarify the intent of the amendment, the CTCA eliminates the
term "marihuana" from all Colorado statutes and mandates the use of
accurate terminology based on the historic uses and varieties of Cannabis
sativa. The initiative redefines marihuana in three distinct classes:
cannabis (formerly marihuana), cannabis concentrate (formerly marihuana
concentrate), and hemp (non-psychoactive industrial hemp.) The
clarification of the former definition of marihuana necessitates the
treatment of industrial hemp as an agricultural product.
"The time for redefinition of cannabis, to include two of the most
historically significant uses, is upon us," says Joeseph Vigorito,
co-author of the amendment. "In the face of overwhelming evidence to this
effect, our federal government is intransigent. The people, in the states,
must now take this lead."
The CTCA creates the Therapeutic Cannabis Commission, composed of seven
members appointed by the Governor, to aid in the implementation of the
article. The Commission will enact licensing requirements for therapeutic
cannabis dispensaries to ensure a safe supply of medicine to patients who
cannot cultivate their own. The Commission will also enact requirements
for therapeutic cannabis use by minor patients under 18 years of age,
including provisions for adequate parental control and notification of
therapeutic cannabis use.
The initiative does not provide for the recreational or personal use of
cannabis nor does it allow the use of cannabis by minor patients unless
they meet the requirements to be set forth by the Therapeutic Cannabis
Commission.
"Our initiative is about compassion. There are thousands of people in
Colorado that would benefit from cannabis as medicine if they were allowed
to use it," says Kathleen Chippi, CCCC spokesperson.
The CTCA has been proposed in opposition to a medical marijuana initiative
sponsored by California-based Americans for Medical Rights. CCCC believes
the AMR initiative would endanger patients and encourage a black market in
cannabis. The AMR initiative sets limits on cultivation and possession
that would prohibit a patient from maintaining an adequate supply of
medicine. In addition, the AMR initiative fails to set up a legitimate
distribution system. This will put seriously-ill patients into danger by
forcing them into the black market frequently to re-supply their medicine.
The AMR initiative would also allow children under the age of 18 to use
marijuana as medicine. "We didn't feel comfortable with a group from
California deciding how to best regulate the use of cannabis as medicine by
sick children. These decisions should be made by the Colorado parents and
physicians, not by Californians," says Laura Kriho, co-author of the CTCA.
AMR has stated that their initiative was written to appease the concerns of
the law enforcement community. The AMR initiative has therefore received
the label "the law enforcement model of medicine."
"The CTCA is based on the therapeutic model of medicine. We value the
needs of the patient foremost and trust licensed physicians to determine
the medical needs of their patients. To address the concerns of law
enforcement, the CTCA allows law enforcement to participate in the
Therapeutic Cannabis Commission. But we feel it is best to leave medical
decisions to physicians, not police," says Kriho.
The authors of the CTCA hope it will be used as the therapeutic model for
cannabis reform in the country. But they will fight a tough battle with
AMR's law enforcement model. AMR is funded primarily by billionaire George
Soros, and thus AMR is confident that they can buy election wins in
Colorado, Washington, D.C., Maine, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, and
Nevada. As in Colorado, many of the local patients and advocates question
AMR's motives.
"The American people are strongly in favor of therapeutic cannabis. But if
AMR's model is allowed to succeed, patients may actually be put in further
danger. We proposed the CTCA to help prevent AMR's model from becoming
constitutional law in Colorado and to help patients and advocates in other
states see that there is an alternative to the law enforcement approach,"
Kriho says. "The American people are ready for some honesty and compassion
in their laws."
***
CTCA Signature Deadline: August 3, 1998
Needed: 55,000 valid signatures
***
Donations are essential:
Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
Phone: (303) 784-5632
Email: cohip@levellers.org
Web: http://www.levellers.org/cannabis.html
Re-distributed as a public service by the:
Colorado Hemp Initiative Project
P.O. Box 729, Nederland, CO 80466
Hotline: (303) 784-5632
Email: (cohip@levellers.org)
Web: http://www.welcomehome.org/cohip.html
"Fighting over 60 years of lies and dis-information
with 10,000 years of history and fact."
ARE YOU REGISTERED TO VOTE???
To be added to or removed from our mailing list,
send email with the word SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the title.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
San Jose Pot Center Avoids Shutdown (Student Paper
At San Jose State University Notes Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center
Wasn't Among Those Targeted By Federal Lawsuits Filed January 9
Against Northern California Cannabis Clubs, But Ax May Fall Soon)
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 19:36:04 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: San Jose Pot Center Avoids Shutdown
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@netmagic.net)
Source: Spartan Daily (Student paper for San Jose State University)
Contact: SDAILY@jmc.sjsu.edu
Fax: 408-924-3237
Pubdate: Mon, 2 Feb 1998
Author: Lois Jenkins, Opinion Editor
SAN JOSE POT CENTER AVOIDS SHUTDOWN
Proposition 215 no longer a safe haven
The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center avoided the boot in the six
federal lawsuits filed against Northern California cannabis clubs on Jan.
9, but it may not be long before the shoe drops.
"They bypassed us this time, but it doesn't mean we can't get shut down,"
said Peter Baez, the center's executive director and co-founder.
Despite the fact that California voters approved Proposition 215, the
initiative that allows the possession and cultivation of marijuana for
medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation, the U.S. Justice
Department appears determined to shut down the clubs that now exist.
San Jose City Attorney Joan Gallo said she's not really sure why the center
on Meridian Avenue, which opened on April, 1997 and serves nearly 250
members, was not included in the lawsuits.
"Our approach in San Jose is not a club (atmosphere), and that may or may
not be the reason they weren't included in the federal lawsuit," Gallo
said, referring to Baez and Jesse Garcia, who is the center's director and
secretary.
Baez said the center dispenses marijuana, but does not allow consumption of
the drug on the premises, unlike many other clubs such as the San Francisco
Cannabis Buyers' Club and the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.
"We don't allow smoking on the premises, including the parking lot," Baez
said. "If someone is caught doing that, we void their membership."
It's quite all right for the members of the San Francisco club to light up,
according to Lynne Barnes, a nurse volunteer who has worked there for three
years.
"People can come here and smoke and socialize, as opposed to the pharmacy
like atmosphere of other clubs," Barnes said. "Some people think this is a
negative thing, but we see it as very positive."
Barnes said people who come to the club can buy their marijuana and meet
others who suffer from the same illness. She said socializing helps them
get through some of the bad times.
"Some clubs try to distance themselves from Dennis Peron and his co-op
idea, thinking it will keep them safe from the lawsuits," Barnes said.
Peron is the founder of San Francisco's club and the author of Proposition
215.
"If the case makes it to the Supreme Court," Barnes said, "we think it will
be a 10th Amendment defense. States rights should be reserved for the
states, not the feds."
Baez said that the agreement between the center and the city of San Jose is
in violation of federal laws regarding the possession and transportation of
controlled substances.
"The city's actually telling us to break federal law by saying that we must
grow our own," Baez said. "Right now it's just a nod and a blink and keep
your nose clean."
Director Garcia said the center's present location precludes growing
marijuana on the property because there is no arable land, so they are
negotiating that part of the agreement with the city.
"We're in the process of working on a cultivation agreement with the Santa
Cruz center to grow it for us in Santa Cruz County," Garcia said. "We're
working with them and the Santa Cruz P.D. and our P.D."
In the meantime, the center buys its marijuana from several unnamed sources
in the Bay Area, and, so far, there have been no complaints about its
operation.
James Cook, a member who has AIDS and has been buying his marijuana there
since the center opened, is glad he doesn't have to buy it off the streets
any more.
"I was having to go to Oakland to buy it because I couldn't get it locally
very easily," Cook said. "The center being there eliminates a lot of
unnecessary effort and crime that people have to go through to get what
they need."
Wendee West, from the operations department at the Better Business Bureau
of Santa Clara County, said the bureau had no file on the center.
"That means either it's too new to have established a performance record or
no complaints have been brought to our attention," West said.
The center's next door neighbors don't seem to have serious complaints,
either. Paul Liccardo, owner of Option Realty, said he's never met the
people at the center and doesn't have a strong opinion about it except for
the general principle of the thing.
"I think it's ridiculous that they don't dispense (marijuana) in pharmacies
like they should," Liccardo said.
Corey Ebadat, one of the owners of E.G.S. Insurance, said the employees of
the center were nice people, but it's a little disconcerting for his
clients in business suits.
"We're willing to risk doing this because we think it's right," Baez said.
Baez said the federal government's position on the issue is hypocritical at
best.
"For the last 22 years the federal government has been running a program
called Uncle Sam's Pot Farm," Baez said, referring to an experimental
program for people with various illnesses such as AIDS and glaucoma in
which patients were given marijuana free of charge in an effort to study
the benefits of the drug.
"As soon as the AIDS epidemic hit, they shut the program down, except for a
few remaining patients who still get their marijuana shipped to them," Baez
said. "I think once a lot of the old, white, Bible-thumping guys in the
Senate die off, things will change for the better."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Where Have The Criminals Gone? ('San Francisco Chronicle'
Looks At Declining Rate Of Violent Crime Across United States
And Ponders Possible Causes)
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:40:37 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Where Have the Criminals Gone?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Mon, 02 Feb 1998
Author: Bill Wallace, Chronicle Staff Writer
WHERE HAVE THE CRIMINALS GONE?
No single explanation stands out for drop in crime rates
It is a mystery that police, prosecutors and criminologists can't seem to
solve: Why have crime rates been going down?
The recent improvement in the economy, shifts in population, more
aggressive law enforcement strategies and tougher sentencing laws -- all
have been advanced as reasons for the decline, but none seems to completely
explain the downward trend.
``Each of the explanations that pundits and social scientists put forth
these days are partially on point, but nobody can definitively argue for
one over the other,'' said Gregg Barak, chairman of the critical
criminology division of the American Society of Criminology and a professor
at the University of Michigan.
Jeremy Travers, the director of the U.S. Justice Department's National
Institute of Justice, echoed Barak's assessment.
``There is a tendency for a lot of people to claim credit for this,'' he
said, ``and there is a need on the part of the public to find a simple,
single answer for what has been happening. But that's a tendency that has
to be resisted.''
The one thing that is certain is that the types of traditional crimes
reflected by statistical data have been declining since 1993.
Violent crime nationwide declined by 5 percent during the first six months
of 1997, according to FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics, and property
crimes declined by 4 percent.
Victimization surveys by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice
Statistics show violent crime down nationwide by 10 percent and property
crime down by 8 percent.
In releasing last year's annual victimization survey in November, Jan
M.Chaiken, the director of the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice
Statistics, noted that some types of criminal activity had dropped by as
much as 44 percent in the past four years.
``The victimization rates in 1996 are the lowest recorded by the National
Crime Victimization Survey since its inception in 1973,'' Chaiken said.
EXPLANATIONS ELUSIVE
Yet explanations of why crime seems to be on the wane depend on who is
doing the explaining.
Many academics and law enforcement sources point to recent growth in the
U.S. economy as a factor, noting that crime always seems to drop when
employment rates are high.
A study of declining homicide rates in seven U.S. cities over the past
decade released in November by the National Institute of Justice seems to
support this argument. The report noted that certain increases in
unemployment in New Orleans, Richmond, Va., Washington, D.C., Atlanta and
Tampa, Fla., were accompanied by rising homicide rates in those cities,
indicating a potential connection.
However, there are also weaknesses in the improving economy hypothesis for
falling crime rates: Although national unemployment figures have been
falling since 1992, some categories of crime actually increased temporarily
since then -- and crime has climbed steeply in some cities where economic
conditions have improved.
For example, the national murder and assault rates both went up between
1992 and 1993, even though unemployment dropped nearly a whole percentage
point during the same period.
One Justice Department source noted that the U.S. employment rate
fluctuated drastically during the 1970s, while violent crime rates remained
relatively stable.
``I'm not so sure you can draw a relationship between the two,'' he said.
AGING POPULATION FACTOR
Another common explanation for falling crime rates is the country's aging
population. The vast majority of all criminal suspects arrested in the
United States are between the ages of 18 and 40. According to the aging
population hypothesis, the number of people in this age category has
declined by more than 7 percent since 1990, and the drop in crime has been
a result of this demographic change.
Again, some evidence seems to support the argument. Since 1970, the median
age of the U.S. population has climbed from 28 years to 34.6 years, while
crime has tapered off. But the surprisingly high decreases in crime in
recent years seem out of proportion to the relatively modest decrease in
the size of the age group in which most potential offenders are to be
found.
Another possible cause for the falling crime rate is the decline in the
nation's crack cocaine problem, which is associated with large increases in
violent crime among young people in the 1980s.
Noting that homicide rates for most other segments of the population
remained fairly stable during that decade, Travers said murders involving
young people doubled over a seven-year period, and much of the increase
appears to have been associated with the crack epidemic.
He said that crack use has declined and the market for the drug has
stabilized, with established older dealers controlling the market. ``The
introduction of crack into our large cities brought with it an increase in
violence among kids, and sucked guns into the hands of young people, who
then used them in connection with non-crack-related activities,'' he said.
As police shifted enforcement strategies to crack-dealing hot spots where
many of these crimes were occurring, the rates fell off, he said, noting
that the upsurge of crack trafficking was an anomaly that appears to have
been directly related to historically high crime rates in metropolitan
areas.
``We're really just starting to offset the increases that occurred in the
1980s,'' he said. ``We have not suddenly become a much safer society. We
have just gone through a very traumatic decade.''
GET-TOUGH APPROACH
Similar to the crack epidemic hypothesis is the theory that crime has
fallen because of a nationwide get-tough approach to law and order: more
aggressive policing strategies by law enforcement agencies coupled with
tough new sentencing laws such as California's ``three strikes.''
Law enforcement advocates tend to credit the recent apparent decline in
crime to these tougher police and prosecution policies.
In reporting a continuing drop in California crime rates for the first six
months of 1997, state Attorney General Dan Lungren pointed to community
policing and tougher sentences as the primary factors.
``I have heard naysayers state that crime is only dropping because of
demographics,'' Lungren said. ``When are these so-called experts on crime
going to admit that what we have done in California is dramatically driving
down crime?''
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno struck a similar tone last fall on the
third anniversary of the signing of the federal Crime Act, noting that
crime had decreased steadily since 1994, and the federal statute, with its
provisions for tougher sentences and hiring more local police officers,
``is one of the most important reasons.''
Similar arguments have been offered by a host of analysts on the political
right. In a report for the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis
earlier this fall, Morgan O. Reynolds, a law professor from Texas A&M
University, wrote that crime rates rose between 1950 and 1980 as the amount
of jail time served for criminal convictions declined.
``Between 1980 and 1995, expected punishment for serious crimes increased
from 9.7 to 22.1 prison days, a 128 percent increase, and serious crime
declined,'' Reynolds wrote.
Like the other explanations for decreasing rates of crime, the get-tough
argument appears to be partially supported by fact. But even law
enforcement-oriented sources like the National Institute of Justice note
that increases in police staffing levels and hard-line enforcement and
prosecution policies fail to totally account for falling crime rates.
``However, in most of the cities, all these programs were started too
recently to judge their impact on homicide trends during the 10- year
period that ended in 1994,'' analysts from the institute said.
`THREE STRIKES' EFFECT UNCLEAR
And a study of the national ``three strikes'' movement released by the
institute in September says that it is still too early to tell whether
California's tougher sentencing law is having any substantial impact on
crime rates -- although it is already clear that it has had a major effect
on the state's prison capacity and criminal court caseloads.
In fact, some analysts note that a number of states -- including California
-- began increasing sentences for convicted offenders through the
imposition of determinate sentences and tougher penalties for certain
categories of crime in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Despite the longer
sentences that resulted, there was no substantial decrease in crime rates
until 1993.
Critics of the get-tough approach have argued that innovations such as
determinate sentences and ``three strikes'' have had a minimal impact on
crime rates, but have tied up public resources on prison expansion and
construction that could have been used on other governmental programs.
``The tripling in the number of violent offenders in prison during the
1980s resulted in only an estimated additional 9 percent decrease in
violent crimes above the decrease that would have occurred had imprisonment
not grown,'' William J. Sabol and James P. Lynch wrote in an August 1997
review of the get-tough strategy for the Urban Institute, a liberal
Washington, D.C., think tank.
Many experts on crime believe some of the explanations offered for
declining crime rates may be partially correct, but that none completely
explain the phenomenon or help predict what directions the trend may go in
the future.
``Each situation (in which a crime occurs) is different,'' said one Justice
Department official. ``There are so many elements involved that you can't
simply ascribe weights to them. It's scientifically impossible.
``Every year we get reports of 35 million crimes. There are different
reasons for 35 million of them. . . . You can't just point to one thing and
say, `This is what is causing this.' There is no way to accurately measure
it.''
CHART 1: CALIFORNIA VIOLENT CRIME Total violent crime statistics and
percent change from 1992 to 1996 -- Adult arrests
Offense 1992 1996 % change
Murder 2,724 2,090 -23.3%
Forcible rape 3,389 2,630 -22.4%
Robbery 22,284 16,671 -25.2%
Source: FBI Chronicle Graphic
CHART 2: VIOLENT CRIME
1993 1994 1995
Murder 24,530 23,330 21,600
Forcible rape 106,010 102,220 97,460
Robbery (a) 659,870 618,950 580,550
(a) - Robbery total consists of: Street/highway, gas or service station,
convenience store, residence, bank, other businesses and miscellaneous
Source: FBI Chronicle Graphic
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Cabbie (Third Item In Taxi Driver's Regular Column
For 'San Francisco Examiner' Mentions Picking Up CBS Reporter,
Who Admits War On Drugs Is Failing)
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 14:51:53 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Night Cabbie
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Source: San Francisco Examiner
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com
Pubdate: Mon, 02 Feb 1998
Editor Note: "Night Cabbie" is sort of a gossip column. There is one
customer who mentions the War on Drugs. Other than that, there isn't much
here other than interesting reading.
NIGHT CABBIE
ELLIS AND TAYLOR. I've just dropped an old woman off and a young man comes
running up the street toward me. Where to? I ask when he gets in. "I don't
know, my car's been towed." I tell him he better have lots of cash because
Golden Gate Tow's moved to Bayshore. It'll cost him $150 including cab
fare. We get on the freeway and he starts talking. "I'm from San Jose," he
says. "I came to San Francisco for a good massage." Then he smiles. "In San
Jose, it's against the law to be touched, so they put a towel over you." I
ask what kind of massage he's talking about. "Well, I was getting the full
treatment when they towed my car." He mentions the name of the massage.
It's supposed to be pretty good. On the Bayshore exit he tells me, "I don't
have a girlfriend right now, so I come here once or twice a month to get
the full boat. Nothing wrong with that, right?" I tell him no, that's what
they're there for. But next time, pick a better spot to park.
POWELL AND BROADWAY. It's 2 a.m. and raining. All the bars are closing and
I'm roaring through the tunnel. Suddenly I see two or three couples
frantically waving for a cab. I pull up and signal to one couple to get in.
Three guys run up and cut in front of them. One of them says, with an
accent, "I know how America works. I'll give you $30 to take us to
Maxwell's hotel." I do a quick compute. It's a $4 fare. I tell the couple,
sorry, I'm taken. They start to call me names while the three men get in.
We're off and one of them says to me, "Your country's symbol is the dollar
bill. Didn't they know that?" I tell him they probably did, but they didn't
realize they were at an auction.
SFO. When nothing is happening in The City, the airport is a good place to
read a newspaper. I do it at least once a week. I drive out without a
passenger and sit. Tonight, after hanging in the holding lot for 40
minutes, I head for the United terminal. A man in a dark suit with two
small bags gets in, going to the Park Hyatt. I ask if he's here on
business. "I'm in town to do an interview," he says. For? "I work for CBS.
We're doing a story on the war on drugs, which is failing." I ask about
Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No' campaign. "That never worked," he says. I ask
who he's going to interview. "Just a few people under your mayor," he says.
So I tell him if he needs a good story on drugs and city officials, I have
one for him. I give him a phone number. He thanks me and gets out at the
hotel.
POWELL. I'm humming up from the wharf and a woman with brown hair and tight
black pants flags me. She looks like she works out. "Larkin and O'Farrell
please," she whispers as she gets in. I ask if she's going to work. "Yes,
and it should be a good night, too." I wait a few minutes, then ask her:
Are you one of the stars, or do you work with them? She says, "Suzy Suzuki
is the star tonight, and we work around her." I tell her I should come see
the show some night. She looks at me and doesn't say a word. We pull up to
the New Century Theatre and, sure enough, the big sign says, "Starring
Tonight, Wet and Wild Suzy Suzuki!" She pays me and gets out. I drive away
quickly, before I get distracted.
GOLD AND MONTGOMERY. This is a part of town that used to be reserved for
women of the evening. That was in 1849. Tonight I get flagged by a man,
about 60 in a suit and overcoat, a block from the old Belli building. He's
going to Third and Folsom. That's a great complex, I tell him. A close
friend lives there and I always drop her at the back door. He says he wants
the front door. No problem, I tell him. By the way, I ask him. Did you live
there when the big murder took place? "What murder?" he wants to know. It
was in the papers, I say, and it was pretty gruesome. "They didn't tell me
about any murder when I moved in," he says. "What happened?" I tell him I
don't know if I should say, being as how he lives there and all that. "I
really want to know." We're already there, and as he pays me I tell him:
When they opened the place a few years ago, they found some guy chopped up
and stuffed in trash bags all over the complex. He doesn't say anything
else, just looks at me, then walks up the steps and into the building.
FAIRMONT HOTEL. A young woman, about 30, taps on my window. Her hair's in a
bun and she has blue jeans on. She wants to go to Washington, between
Spruce and Maple. I look at her in the rearview and ask if she works in
advertising and marketing. "No," she says, "I'm a writer." I ask her name.
"Lisa Flood," she says. I ask if she's the great-granddaughter of James
Flood. "He was my great-great-great-grandfather," she says. I tell her I
know all about him and the Comstock Silver Lode and the history of James
Flood and his partners. The Bill Gates of 1900, I say. I ask what she's
written. "Cowboy High Style," she says. "And another book called "Rocky
Mountain Home.' " So, you're a real cowgirl, I say. "I like it out on the
range in the mountains," she tells me. I ask what she knows about all those
secret tunnels between James Flood's mansions in Pacific Heights. "There's
never been a full explanation for them," she says. I ask about his
illegitimate daughter, and she tells me the woman was paid and no one knows
what happened after that. I tell her I'm going to buy some of her books,
get an autograph and give one to my youngest daughter. She also spends time
with horses and prefers them to people. After I drop her off, I go get a
burger on Lombard. I didn't tell her that two of my daughters went to
school in one of the Flood mansions. Maybe next time.
The Night Cabbie appears every other Monday in The Examiner. You can leave
him a message at (415) 777-8738; write him c/o The Examiner, P.O. Box 7260,
San Francisco, CA 94120; or e-mail him at cabbie@examiner.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Protesters Assail Rising Use Of Police Cameras ('New York Times' Says
More Than 200 New York City Residents Rallied In Washington Square Park
Sunday Against Giuliani Administration's Increasing Use
Of Surveillance Cameras To Fight Crime)
US NY: Protesters Assail Rising Use of Police Cameras
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Source: New York Times
Contact: [2]letters@nytimes.com
Author: David M. Halbfinger
Website: [3]http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Mon, 2 Feb 1998
PROTESTERS ASSAIL RISING USE OF POLICE CAMERAS
With dozens of uniformed police officers looking on -- not to mention
those who might have been watching on a video monitor in a precinct
house -- more than 200 New York City residents rallied in Washington
Square Park yesterday against the Giuliani administration's increasing
use of surveillance cameras to fight crime.
The hourlong protest came a month after the police installed two
cameras on light poles along the southern edge of the park to
discourage the small-scale drug dealing that had become as common
there as dog-walking and hand-holding.
Under a plan announced a year ago by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and
Police Commissioner Howard Safir, surveillance cameras have already
been installed in some housing projects, and the Mayor and the
Commissioner, reporting sharp drops in crime as a result, have pledged
that more cameras are coming soon to other public spaces.
"We're at a point where we now have many more requests for cameras
than we have cameras, or than we're ready yet to do, because we want
to make sure we're doing this in a careful way," the Mayor said
yesterday.
The protesters argued that surveillance cameras in public places
smacked of a police state. They said the cameras would destroy the
kind of privacy in public places that New Yorkers have come to expect,
eroding the quality of life for law-abiding city residents far more
than they would help catch and prosecute criminals.
Several speakers warned that the cameras in Washington Square Park had
already set a dangerous precedent.
"Once you give them the O.K. to do this, they will take it and run
with it," warned Tonya D. McClary, director of research at the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. "We've pretty much allowed
them a green light to put these cameras in parks, in public schools,
in the subway system and in city buses. Soon, none of us will have a
place where we can sit back and be ourselves."
In the last month, several speakers said, the neighborhood drug
peddlers have simply moved out of range of the cameras, to West Third
Street. Safir, contemplating that kind of shift, promised last month
that the police would "be there when the traffickers go to adjacent
areas."
To some, that heightened concerns about the limits of the new policy.
"Are we going to put surveillance cameras on every pole in this city?"
asked Michael Rosano of the New York City Gay and Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project. "Remove the cameras. We live in a democracy. We
do not live under Giuliani's police state."
Rosano worried aloud that the police might next decide to install
cameras along the Greenwich Village piers, long a cruising area for
gay men. But he said that even in Washington Square, the cameras could
inhibit many closeted homosexuals from expressing themselves freely,
even by merely holding hands, for fear "that the tapes would get into
the wrong hands."
Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties
Union, which organized the rally, said that left unchecked, a citywide
network of police cameras raised the specter of government's "creating
a video database of the free movement of lawful New Yorkers."
He said that at a minimum, the city should require that videotapes
made with the surveillance cameras be destroyed after 72 hours if they
do not reveal criminal activity.
Deputy Inspector Michael Collins, a police spokesman, said the
videotapes from Washington Square Park are held for seven days before
being erased, because crimes are often reported a few days after they
occur. He said the police had already used the cameras in the park
successfully at least twice - -- once "live," when an officer watching
the monitor saw a crime occurring and radioed the police to make an
arrest, and once on tape, as evidence against a suspect already under
arrest.
At the rally's end, a few Greenwich Village residents showed up to
support the surveillance cameras. Among them was Diane Whelton, who
said she and members of several neighborhood groups had been pleading
for the cameras for years.
The Rev. Peter Laarman, senior minister of Judson Memorial Church, on
Washington Square South, told her that he had been asked to allow a
camera to be installed on the church's spire, overlooking the park.
But he told Mrs. Whelton, "We didn't want to be a party to that level
of ---- "
"Of the safety of people on the street," she said, interrupting him,
"who might not know that there's somebody coming up behind them?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'90s Moonshiners Add Drugs And Guns To Recipe ('New York Times' Says
Making Illicit Whiskey Still Endures In Much Of South - Markets Established
As Far North As New York - One Agent Estimates 500,000 Gallons Distilled
In Virginia, Much Of It In Franklin County, Widely Considered
Moonshine Capital Of The South - Street Value $25 Or More A Gallon)
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 16:06:26 -0500
From: "R. Lake" (rlake@utoledo.edu)
Subject: MN: US VA: NYT: 90s Moonshiners Add Drugs and Guns to Recipe
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-to: rlake@mapinc.org
Organization: http://www.mapinc.org
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Source: New York Times
Author: Tom Verde
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Monday, 2 Feb 1998
'90s MOONSHINERS ADD DRUGS AND GUNS TO RECIPE
ROCKY MOUNT, Va. -- At the first sound of baying watchdogs, Jay Calhoun, a
special agent of the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Commission Liquor
Task Force, crouched in a thicket of mountain laurel and waited. In
camouflage, Calhoun and two other agents remained motionless, their eyes
focused on a corrugated-steel building less than 50 yards away through the
trees, where they believed moonshine was being manufactured.
As soon as the dogs lost interest, Calhoun said, "Let's go, the gig's up."
The agents were on their feet, moving toward the building, a still house, as
it is called. They arrived just in time to capture one suspect who was
trying to escape through the woods and another who was trying to flee in a
pickup.
With their hands in their pockets, the suspects watched as the agents used
axes to break up the stills, four 800-gallon fermenting tanks, or black
pots, that resemble home heating-oil tanks.
Moonshining, which endures in numerous Southern rural towns, is not as
widespread as it was during Prohibition. But law-enforcement officials say
the illegal manufacture and sale of whisky remains a multimillion-dollar
business, with ties to gun trafficking and drugs and established markets as
far north as New York.
"I would say that 60 percent of the moonshine being produced here is headed
for Philadelphia, D.C. and other cities up north," said Jimmy Beheler,
assistant special agent in charge of the state's five-member liquor task
force, the lone squad in the country dedicated solely to combating
moonshiners.
Beheler estimated that each year 500,000 gallons of moonshine are distilled
in Virginia, much of it here in Franklin County, widely considered the
moonshine capital of the South, about an hour south of Roanoke, in the
foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With a street value of $25 or more a
gallon, the moonshine industry in Virginia is a $12.5 million enterprise.
"There's still a big demand out there for it, or else moonshiners wouldn't
be making hundreds of gallons a week," said Randy Knight, deputy director
for operations at the Alcohol Law Enforcement division of the North Carolina
Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. Last year, North Carolina
officials seized almost 7,000 gallons of moonshine and destroyed almost
60,000 gallons of mash, a syrupy fermented concoction of sugar or corn,
water, yeast and grain that moonshiners distill into whisky.
Some modern moonshiners have built air-conditioned stills outfitted with
electric pumps and other gadgets. But the process is not so different from
the distilling that Scotch-Irish immigrants introduced to this region in the
early 1700s.
Steam from a near-boiling vat of mash is drawn off and condensed into a
liquid through a coil of 3-inch copper tubing called a worm or sometimes
through an old car radiator submerged in cold water. An 800-gallon tank of
mash produces around 100 gallons of moonshine.
The harsh 80- to 90-proof clear liquor, also called white lightning, is
similar in flavor to low-grade tequila. Because moonshining is unregulated,
rust from radiators or lead from soldered pipes can contaminate the liquor.
Stills are usually run by hired help called still hands, who are paid $100 a
run, or batch, which takes six to eight hours to produce. "For a lot of
these people, this is all they've ever done," said Chet Bryant, director of
the Alcohol and Tobacco Division of Georgia. "It's a way of life and a way
of making money."
Agents in Georgia said they seize about 15 stills a year.
The stills are often owned by investors who cover the costs of the
operation, which including ingredients and distilling, run about $1,200 a
pot. The pots are typically sheet metal wrapped around a wood frame. Added
to those expenses are transportation costs.
According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, moonshine
makes its way to metropolitan markets in Southern and Northern cities hidden
in trucks or campers. Bootleggers pay moonshiners $35 to $100 for a 6-gallon
case. The bootleggers, in turn, sell the whisky to the operators of "shot
houses," unlicensed after-hours bars where customers can also buy drugs and
firearms, law officials say.
"As far as we've determined, these kinds of establishments are probably the
main consumer of illicit alcohol," said Charles Thomson, special agent in
charge of the Washington Field Division of the ATF.
The possession of illegal spirits is a misdemeanor here, and possession of
or operating a still is a felony. The crime of moonshining is basically one
of tax evasion, and moonshiners and government agents have been at odds
since the days of Washington and Jefferson, both of whom owned stills.
To help pay Revolutionary War debts, the new federal government imposed the
first tax on whisky in March 1791, leading to the Whisky Rebellion. In 1862,
the government established the Office of Internal Revenue to collect taxes
on spirits and empowered agents, known to moonshiners as revenuers, to
arrest those who tried to evade the 20-cent-a-gallon tax.
Today the federal tax is about $20, and state taxes are usually less than
$5. "It can all add up to a fairly large tax loss," said David Wilson, chief
of enforcement in the Mississippi Division of Alcohol Beverage Control.
Wilson calculated that the federal and Mississippi governments had lost
almost $1 billion in revenue over 30 years just from illegal operations in
Mississippi.
Today's operators are a far cry from the old-time moonshiner who kept a
20-gallon copper still behind the henhouse and a jug on the shelf. "The
majority of the moonshiners we deal with today are felons who've been
convicted of everything from drug selling to murder and manslaughter,"
Beheler said.
Yet, in other ways, moonshiners, who still hide in remote mountain hollows,
are every bit as crafty as they were during the days of Prohibition.
"They know all the tricks," said Bev Whitmer, an alcohol agent here who is a
former police officer, "such as doubling back or having other cars as
lookouts. In terms of surveillance, they're definitely more skilled at
eluding capture than any drug dealers I ever dealt with."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NIDA Boss Touts Addiction Studies ('The Scientist' Interviews Alan Leshner,
Director Of US National Institute On Drug Abuse,
Who Insists Marijuana Is Addictive 'Because It Causes Compulsive Use')
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 12:22:29 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "Carl E. Olsen"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: NIDA Boss Touts Addiction Studies
http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1998/feb/leshner_p1_980202.html
NIDA Boss Touts Addiction Studies
Date: February 2, 1998
Editor's Note: Scientists looking for a crash course in effective
communication of their research findings should catch Alan Leshner in
action. During recent months, the personable director of the Rockville,
Md.-based National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has been moderating a
series of "Town Meetings" in such metropolises as Philadelphia, Dallas,
Chicago, and Atlanta. In the keynote talk he gives on the myths and
realities of drug abuse and addiction, he juxtaposes graphs and cartoons
with anecdotes, jokes, and research findings (NIDA funds more than 85
percent of the world's research on health aspects of drug abuse and
addiction), keeping large audiences rapt.
Leshner supports his central message-that drug addiction is a chronic,
relapsing brain disease-with such ear-catching sound bites as, "We know more
about drugs in the brain that we know about anything else in the brain."
Listeners tend to nod in agreement when he declares, "Drugs hijack the
brain." He explains many research projects that have helped to establish
structural and functional differences between drug-addicted and normal
brains at the molecular and cellular levels. He advocates a "whole-person
treatment," encompassing biology, behavior, and social context, an approach
he says recognizes addiction as a bio-behavioral disorder. And he lambastes
what he calls "The Great Disconnect" between ideology and science that he
believes is impeding the formulation of more effective national policies in
prevention and treatment of drug abuse and addiction. In the following
edited transcript of an interview with Senior Editor Steve Bunk, Leshner
elaborates on some of these points.
***
[Image]
Q Which group has been the hardest for you to convince DRUGS AND
that addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease-the DISORDER:
general public, the medical science community, or Addiction is a
politicians? bio-behavioral
disorder,
A I would say each of them carry very different baggage. declares NIDA's
Politicians seem to be among the easiest. The general Alan Leshner.
public carries strong beliefs. The medical profession ----------------
seems to be tied to their ideologies about the efficacy
of treatment. They think treatment is not quite possible, and therefore it's
not real. But, of course, treatment is possible and it is real. The easiest
group to impact are criminal justice people. They get it immediately. They
deal with addicts in nontherapeutic situations, and they know there's
something wrong with them.
***
Q How much progress has been made in understanding the intracellular
processes after an addicting drug binds to receptors?
A A lot. I just saw the other day we spend about $45 million a year on
molecular and cellular neurobiology. We know what's happening in the
biochemical cascade after the receptor is activated, in excruciating detail,
for heroin, cocaine, alcohol, less for marijuana, less for nicotine. And we
know, in a good amount of detail, the difference between the addictive brain
and the nonaddictive brain at the cellular level. We've made a lot of
progress. That's where some of the targets are coming for medication
development. Some are gross, at the level of a receptor-you know, pick the
receptor, activate it or deactivate it. But we also are now seeing some of
the changes in transcription factors, and maybe we should be intervening
there.
***
Q Does NIDA have drugs in the pipeline that will have chemical activities
similar to some of these addictive drugs but will exert therapeutic effects?
A I'm trying to avoid substitute medication. I think the ideology around
substitute medications is so bad that no one will ever accept them. And so,
I keep saying we're not going to develop any substitute medications. We are
looking at molecules that are similar in some ways to, say, cocaine, but I
don't acknowledge that they're substitutes. I call them analogs.
***
Q You recently announced that NIDA would fund a study on medicinal use of
marijuana [no such study had been funded for 10 years, until a team led by
professor of medicine Donald I. Abrams at the University of California, San
Francisco, was awarded a grant in October]. Tell us about the new project.
A It's a study of smoked marijuana vs. Marinol [a tablet containing
marijuana's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol] and the variety of
metabolic factors in HIV-infected patients taking indinavir [a protease
inhibitor]. It's an inpatient study with controlled dosing, beautifully
designed to answer the questions. They're going to give people three joints
a day, one before each meal. It's over two years. I love this study, because
it shows that you can do research on difficult topics, and I think it also
says that by sticking to our scientific standard, we get better science.
There was a lot of pressure to either do or not do earlier iterations. I
think what the data show is that you can design a good study and [the
National Institutes of Health] will deliver. It's about $900,000 total cost,
provided by four [NIH] institutes.
***
Q In 1995, you said your goal was for science to replace ideology as the
foundation of the nation's anti-drug abuse strategies by the year 2000 (K.Y.
Kreeger, The Scientist, Aug. 21, 1995, page 12). Is that still the goal?
A That's still the goal. And I think we're making what I would call very
good progress. There has been a lot more coverage in the last couple of
years, more and more, as there are people feeding back to me things about
drug abuse and addiction, and I think the climate is changing itself.
***
Q If science ultimately is to underpin policy-setting for drug abuse
prevention and treatment, does it follow that science should underpin all
social policy?
A Sure. But policy has two pieces to it. There's a fact part of policy, and
that should always be based on science, and then there's a value part of
policy, and that's separate. So when people ask me what my view is on this
or that policy, I only have a view on the fact end of it. I don't really
think it's my place to have an opinion about the value part.
***
Q But how can you expect science to replace ideology, when ideology is based
on values that sometimes run contrary to perceived facts?
A I want science to be the foundation for the decisions, but it's not
reasonable to expect it will be the only factor.
***
[Image]
Q Would you agree that religion is the primary 'THE GREAT
underpinning of Western society's concepts of justice DISCONNECT':NIDA's
and values, which have to do with sin and Alan Leshner
retribution? decries the gap
between ideology
A Sure, that's the foundation of how we do it now. and science in
It's not working. formulating
--------------------------- addiction treatment
policies.
Q What I'm suggesting is, it's such a sea change for --------------------
people to think differently. You're not worried about
that? I am worried about it, but it does not stop me from [keeping] my
conviction that it is this disconnection between the moral view and a
pragmatic view that's giving us all the trouble. So, my job is to generate
the knowledge, and then make sure it gets to the right people, and then pray
like hell that they use it.
A What do you say to people who suggest that there's a difference between
addiction and other sorts of brain disorders, like Alzheimer's disease or
schizophrenia, because the latter conditions don't arise from a voluntary
act of will? But lung cancer does occur from a voluntary act of will, and we
still pay to treat people for it. The question is whether you want to fix it
or not. Whether you think the person is evil and you hate them is not
relevant. It's only relevant whether you want them to not do it anymore, and
stop robbing your mother [for drug money]. And if you want them to not rob
your mother, you need to treat them. You need to deal with it as a health
issue, even if you hate them while you're doing it.
***
Q If addicts are told that relapse is a statistical norm of their disease,
does this create a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy for them to relapse?
A Yes and no. But we don't lie to people in health settings, or we won't be
effective. And even if relapse is the norm, that doesn't mean we like it
when it happens, and it doesn't mean we don't have to do something about it.
We're not saying that controlled use is okay, which I object to, by the way.
And we're not saying that a relapse is okay. Just like it's not okay to have
a diabetic coma. All we're saying is a relapse is going to happen. When it
happens, we need to do an intervention.
***
Q You mentioned that you're against controlled use of drugs. How do you
define drugs in that context? For example, would they include sugar or
caffeine?
A It depends on how bad they are for you and how bad they are for me if you
use them. I have a very pragmatic view of it. I don't want people using
marijuana and driving. If they want to smoke it in their bedroom, that's
foolish, but I certainly don't want them smoking marijuana and driving the
car, flying an airplane, or in any of a number of settings where it could
endanger other people.
***
Q You reported during the town meeting that there now is some evidence of
withdrawal symptoms from marijuana. But earlier, you said that whether or
not an illicit drug causes physical withdrawal is irrelevant to its
dangerousness.
A There's an interesting paradox in our business. People seem to think that
the only drugs that are dangerous are drugs that cause physical withdrawal,
because they don't know about cocaine and amphetamines not causing it. And
everybody thinks cocaine and amphetamines are dangerous. My predecessors and
people in the health community have been saying for years that marijuana is
bad for you, marijuana is addicting. People kept saying, no it isn't,
because it doesn't cause great physical withdrawal symptoms. Well, we now
have rat studies that show that if you precipitate withdrawal with an
antagonist, you do get physical withdrawal symptoms, and everybody's all
excited. To me, it doesn't matter. I thought it was addicting before and I
think it's addicting now. It's just that other people now agree it's
addicting, because it causes this physical withdrawal. But the truth is,
it's addicting because it causes compulsive use. The thing that matters and
causes problems in families, society, for individuals, for anybody, is the
fact that compulsive use means that you do terrible things to get the drug.
***
Q Your message seems a simple one, although obviously the research behind it
is complex.
A My message is, "Add the health perspective." It's not, "Substitute a
health perspective." I believe drugs should be illegal, and I believe that
we should seize them at the border. But I also believe we need to treat drug
abuse or addiction as a health issue, as well. And the problem is, we've
missed that part in most of our strategies. Now we have to increase its
role.
***
The Scientist, Vol:12, #3, p. 1,7, February 2, 1998
WE WELCOME YOUR OPINION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON THIS STORY, PLEASE
WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES:
editorial@the-scientist.com
or
The Scientist, 3600 Market Street, Suite 450, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Just Say 'Research' - Antidrug Program Stresses Science ('The Scientist'
Looks At 'Mind Over Matter,' A New Program From US National Institute
On Drug Abuse Purporting To Use Neuroscience Research Results To Teach,
Rather Than Preach To, Students About Dangers Of Addictive Drugs)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 12:22:38 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "Carl E. Olsen"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: News: Just Say 'Research': Antidrug Program Stresses Science
http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1998/feb/lewis_p1_980202.html
Just Say 'Research': Antidrug Program Stresses Science
Author: Ricki Lewis
Date: February 2, 1998
A new program from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [brochures]
(NIDA), "Mind Over Matter," is using neuroscience research SPREADING THE
results to teach, rather than preach to, students about the WORD:
dangers of addictive drugs. "People have historically seen Materials
drug abuse as purely a social problem that results from developed by
voluntary behavior and remains voluntary. But science has NIDA use a
taught us that addiction is expressed in a behavioral way neuroscience
[and] comes about from the result that drugs have on the approach to
brain," says NIDA director Alan Leshner. The program will teach
help fulfill the December 1997 recommendation of the students
Institute of Medicine's Committee to Identify Strategies to about the
Raise the Profile of Substance Abuse and Alcoholism dangers of
Research that the science of addiction be more prominent in drug abuse.
curricula, from elementary school to medical school. --------------
Neuroscience-based teaching about drug addiction uses imaging technologies
such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) to show what happens when addictive drugs flood the brain. The
approach can work, according to Cathrine Sasek, science education
coordinator at NIDA, the project officer who developed the program. She
frequently talks to middle- and high-school classes. "If you even so much as
hint at giving an antidrug talk, you lose them," she reports. "You can,
however, talk about the brain-they pay attention to the neurobiology of drug
abuse."
The program's developers also hope it may spark interest in science. "Young
people are intrigued by their bodies, particularly at the middle-school
level. We know that science is interesting to them, and it is a vehicle to
teach about science and drugs," says Leshner.
But there's no guarantee that Mind Over Matter will either prevent drug
abuse or propel students onto a science career track. "Showing pictures of a
brain on drugs will interest those kids already interested in science, but
for the others, it won't mean much," predicts Godfrey Pearlson, a professor
of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He uses PET scans to
study cocaine-induced binding of dopamine to receptors on brain neurons (see
accompanying story). Still, he adds, the approach is worth a try.
Funding for Mind Over Matter came
from NIDA, with about $50,000 used The Neuroanatomy of Addiction
to develop the written materials.
These include six glossy magazines A good program to combat drug
that open out into posters and a addiction begins with a definition.
long booklet for teachers on "The "Addiction is not withdrawal, it is
Biological Effects of Drugs" that drug craving and seeking behavior
is packed with facts and figures. in the face of knowing the negative
Ten NIDA staffers with scientific consequences of such actions," says
expertise provided the information Alan Leshner, director of the
and reviewed the content of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
program, and several outside (NIDA). He hypothesizes a
artists and writers contributed. "metaphorical switch" as the start
Feedback for the program, which of addiction. "Drugs produce
was field-tested in classrooms, long-lasting effects and dramatic
has been overwhelmingly positive, changes in the brain, as if a
according to Sasek. "We have taken switch goes on that changes
the materials to several teachers' voluntary drug use to
meetings [National Association of uncontrollable, compulsive
Biology Teachers and National behavior." Probably biochemical,
Science Teachers Association], and the switch clicks at different
the teachers have loved the levels of usage for different
materials," she says. "In individuals, he adds.
addition, the prevention community
is also very enthusiastic about The seat of addiction is a
the materials." Materials are free pea-sized cluster of brain neurons
at these conferences or available called the nucleus accumbens (NA).
from the National Clearinghouse Neurons from a nearby region
for Alcohol and Drug Information. synapse with those of the NA,
triggering release of the
Many drug-education efforts differ neurotransmitter dopamine and
markedly from the science-based branching to the frontal cerebral
approach. A fried egg sizzles on a cortex, disturbing thought
television screen, with the processes. The entire neural
message "this is your brain on network is called the mesolimbic
drugs." Celebrities and reward system.
law-enforcement officers tell
classes that drugs kill, while Positron emission tomography (PET)
teachers and parents urge students scanning can highlight any part of
to "just say no." But statistics the addiction process, including
indicate that these efforts are the drug, the neurotransmitter it
not effective in reaching many affects, the molecule that
young people. transports the neurotransmitter, or
the cell surface receptor that
Statistics On Teen Drug Use binds it. For example, Godfrey
Pearlson, a professor of psychiatry
Facts and figures on drug use are at Johns Hopkins Medical
abundant. The National Institutions, and his colleagues
Longitudinal Study on Adolescent recently reported evidence that
Health, sponsored by the brains of long-time cocaine users
Department of Education's Safe and "burn out" compared to the brains
Drug-Free Schools Program, queried of people just starting to use the
12,118 seventh- to 12th-graders in drug (T.E. Schlaepfer et al.,
1997. The study found that 25.7 American Journal of Psychiatry,
percent of respondents smoked 154:9, September 1997). They gave
cigarettes, 17.9 percent drank 11 volunteers a chemical that binds
alcohol, and 25.2 percent smoked weakly to dopamine receptors, which
marijuana. These figures, however, are labeled. When the participants
varied considerably among school were given cocaine, the resulting
districts. rush of dopamine literally knocked
off the weak chemical from the
Data on trends, while useful, receptors. "In the younger people
sometimes send mixed messages. For who have used cocaine for a shorter
example, a survey by Atlanta-based time, we saw a marked increase in
Parents Resource Institute for the amount of available dopamine.
Drug Education (PRIDE) conducted But the individuals who are older
in 1996 and 1997 of 141,077 junior and have used cocaine longer show
and senior high schoolers found a an apparent decrease in available
statistically significant increase dopamine and an attenuated response
in monthly drug use among sixth- to cocaine. This correlation
to eighth-graders but unchanged suggests that chronic cocaine use
monthly use among high-school can decrease the number of dopamine
students. And a United States receptors," Pearlson says.
Department of Education survey of
10,000 fifth- and sixth-graders as But drug addiction is more than a
they progressed in school from dopamine rush in the mesolimbic
1991 to 1995 found a similar reward system, some researchers
increase in drug use by eighth say. Effects on other brain regions
grade. Yet the 23rd annual produce the complex behaviors that
Monitoring the Future Survey, go with the condition or help to
released Dec. 20, 1997, by the trigger it. "Addiction and dopamine
Department of Health and Human binding are two different levels of
Services (HHS), showed increased analysis. Downstream changes in
drug use among 10th- and neuronal systems mediate the
12th-graders, but a leveling off development and persistence of
among eighth-graders. Leshner and addiction," explains Martin F.
HHS Secretary Donna Shalala Sarter, a professor of psychology
interpret the findings to reflect and psychiatry at Ohio State
a glimmer of success in drug abuse University. Sarter suggests that
education programs, but all the science-based drug addiction
studies conclude that the absolute education programs also teach kids
numbers on drug use remain to recognize the feelings and
alarming. behaviors that lead to use of
addictive drugs.
The National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse, based at -R.L.
Columbia University, found that
from 1995 to 1996, the proportion FOR MORE INFORMATION
of teens who said that they would
never try illegal drugs fell from American Council for Drug Education
86 percent to 51 percent. Several http://www.ACDE.org
of the center's studies identified
school as the most common place to College on Problems of Drug
procure drugs-suggesting that this Dependence
might also be the best place to http://views.vcu.edu/cpdd
introduce drug abuse education
programs such as Mind Over Matter. National Clearinghouse for Alcohol
and Drug Information
Enter NIDA http://www.health.org
Mind Over Matter targets grades National Center on Addiction and
five to nine, which includes Substance Abuse at Columbia
youngsters typically not yet University
tempted to try drugs as well as http://www.casacolumbia.org
those in the highest-risk age
group. Program materials include National Institute on Drug Abuse
six oversized brochures in which a http://www.nida.nih.gov
cartoon character, Sara Bellum,
takes students on a guided tour of U.S. Department of Education's Safe
the brain on drugs. (The original and Drug-Free Schools Program
name, Nerve Anna, was rejected http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SDFS
because students would associate
her with Kurt Cobain, guitarist and singer of the band Nirvana who had a
well-known drug abuse problem and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in
1994.) The idea is that packaging science information attractively will hold
students' attention.
The Mind Over Matter magazines discuss marijuana, inhalants, opiates,
hallucinogens, steroids, and stimulants. A seventh magazine on nicotine will
be available soon. Each magazine opens into a poster that is a real image of
a neuron. The writing is vibrant. The narrative on opiates, for example,
describes the Cowardly Lion and Dorothy succumbing to the effect of poppies
in The Wizard of Oz. The neurobiology is presented in easy-to-understand
language, such as: "These cells grow so used to having the opiate around
that they actually need it to work normally." A cartoon story introduces
neurons, synapses, neurotransmitters, and receptors, and a teacher's guide
provides background. Success will be determined by how quickly the initial
2,000-copy print run is depleted and from teacher feedback.
[Image] Scientific Approach Not New
JUST THE
FACTS: Using science to teach about drug abuse is not a new idea. The
Martha American Council for Drug Education, based in New York City,
Gagné of has used information on the nervous system in its publications
the since its inception in 1977, says director Martha Gagné. Plus,
American the council's Web site features exercises to demonstrate the
Council effects of particular drugs on the brain and other organs.
for Drug "The Web site offers scientifically accurate data on
Education substances and their abuse to counteract the often-misleading
says material that now clogs up traffic on the information
children highway," she adds. The site has been active since June 1997.
respond According to Gagné, several hundred teachers access it
better to monthly, mostly to retrieve lesson plans and curriculum tips.
science
than to The College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) is a
scare Philadelphia-based professional organization of about 400
tactics. scientists who research drug abuse and addiction. According to
----------- the group's mission statement, CPDD "serves as an interface
among academic, governmental, and corporate communities,
interacting with regulatory and research agencies as well as with
educational, treatment, and prevention facilities in the drug abuse field."
The organization has a journal and an annual meeting; its members provide
consulting services and expert witness testimony and sponsor programs to
attract young investigators to drug abuse research, says president Linda
Dykstra, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychology and Pharmacology at
the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Television also is embracing a scientific approach to drug [Image]
abuse education. On March 29, PBS stations will present the ON THE TUBE:
first installment of "Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home," Penn's Anna
a five-part documentary exploring social, political, and Rose
scientific aspects of drug addiction. The second part, "The Childress
Hijacked Brain," will feature the work of Anna Rose will be
Childress, a clinical associate professor in the department featured on a
of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of PBS
Medicine and a clinical psychologist with the drug documentary,
dependence treatment unit of the Philadelphia Department of reporting her
Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In their research, she and findings on
her coworkers show participants videos of cocaine-related signals
scenes while their brains are being PET scanned. "We have triggering
confirmed that limbic structures indeed activate in cocaine
response to signals which trigger cocaine craving in craving.
humans; this does not happen in response to viewing nature --------------
videos or in control subjects who have no cocaine history,"
Childress says. Such signals include people, locations, objects, sounds,
sights, and smells that are associated with the drug, she adds.
The Neuroscience Approach
Some drug-education programs may backfire because inquisitive students do
not believe the information given. Threats that marijuana use inexorably
leads to heroin use do not ring true to students who know this is not always
the case. "We learned in the '70s and '80s that hyperbole and exaggeration
do not work," says Leshner.
Lynn E. Zimmer, a professor of sociology at Queens College in New York and
coauthor with John Morgan of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of
the Scientific Evidence (New York, The Lindesmith Center, 1997), agrees with
Leshner. "It is hard to scare kids away from anything. I am concerned that
massive exposure to antidrug messages is counterproductive. How could they
possibly believe all the bad things about drugs?" she asks.
Zimmer does not believe that any current drug education programs work. The
Partnership for a Drug Free America, she maintains, overloads kids from
preschool age with antidrug messages. The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education) program, in which police officers teach fifth- and sixth-graders
drug-resistance skills, has also had mixed results. "Kids exposed to the
program have a stronger antidrug attitude during that time, when they are
not really thinking about drugs, and you can get them to respond. But there
is no benefit once kids pass that age," Zimmer says.
The Mind Over Matter approach may penetrate typical adolescent arrogance
because it is not judgmental. But some researchers think this might not be
enough to overcome human nature. "We have known for years that cigarettes
are bad, and that has had no effect," Pearlson points out.
The best way to cut drug use among youth, suggest Zimmer and Pearlson, is to
take a variety of approaches. But the key to any program, Zimmer maintains,
is to provide information, not a guilt trip or fear. "Many places in Europe
have a more harm-reduction form of drug education. Young people are given
more information about how at one point, drugs go from potentially dangerous
to quite risky. This is not done in the U.S.," she contends. If a student in
the U.S. asks a teacher what a dangerous dose of a particular drug is,
Zimmer says, the teacher must refer the student to a drug counselor.
A science-based view of drug abuse education is most effective, according to
Gagné, when it follows other programs that begin in preschool. "The best
approach to preventing drug use is to start as early as possible and instill
life skills in children that allow them to accept drug prevention education
as they get older," she says. Children need to learn ways to build
self-esteem, coping strategies, and decision-making abilities. "Then, if
scientific facts are presented-unlike media dramatization and scare
tactics-children and youths get a sense of truthfulness and reality, and
they are more likely to believe what they hear," she concludes.
Ricki Lewis, a freelance science writer based in Scotia, N.Y., is the author
of several biology textbooks. She can be reached online at
76715.3517@compuserve.com.
***
The Scientist, Vol:12, #3, p. 1,6, February 2, 1998
***
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