***

Journal of the American Medical Association Reports That Majority Of
Americans Favor Legal Access To Medical Marijuana

March 19, 1998, Chicago, IL: A study in the current issue of The
Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) summarizing 47
national surveys over the past 20 years indicates that roughly 60 percent
of those polled supported allowing physicians to prescribe medical
marijuana for seriously ill patients. Not all the studies surveyed
specifically examined respondents' views on medical marijuana.

"The JAMA finding reinforces the results of nearly a dozen polls
conducted after the passage of Prop. 215 in California indicating that a
majority of Americans strongly favor allowing seriously ill patients
access to medical marijuana," NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup,
Esq. said.

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. A breakdown of
medical marijuana opinion polls conducted between 1995 and 1997 appears
on NORML's website at: www.norml.org.

				-END-

MORE THAN 11 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965...ANOTHER EVERY 49 SECONDS!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Rally To Stop The Federal Veto Of Proposition 215 (Marijuana Policy Project
Publicizes Public Demonstration Tuesday In San Francisco
In Opposition To The Federal Lawsuit Against Six Northern California
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 17:29:53 -0500
From: Marijuana Policy Project (MPP@MPP.ORG)
Organization: Marijuana Policy Project
Sender: owner-approach-list@igc.org
Subject: PLEASE ATTEND MEDICINAL MARIJUANA RALLY
To: approach-list@igc.org

RALLY TO STOP THE FEDERAL VETO OF PROPOSITION 215!

** Defend Safe Access to Medical Marijuana **

Tuesday, March 24 in San Francisco

11:00 a.m. March from Harvey Milk Memorial Rainbow Flag Pole
(Castro and Market) to Federal Building

12:00 Noon Rally at Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate (at Polk)

Background:

In November 1996, Californians elected to give seriously ill patients
the right to use marijuana as a medicine by approving Proposition 215.
Now, the federal government is trying to take that right away.

On March 24th, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco will hear a
federal lawsuit (filed January 9) aimed at closing six medicinal
marijuana cooperatives or "clubs" in San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz,
Marin, and Mendocino. While California patients are legally permitted
to grow their own marijuana, most patients have had to rely on these
cooperatives for their supply of marijuana.

This lawsuit is just the latest step in the federal war on
Proposition 215. The time has come for the federal government to
declare a truce, halt its mindless war on California's patients and
marijuana providers, and attend to building the safe and affordable
distribution system called for in Proposition 215.

For more information, contact Communication Works at works@igc.org or
415-255-1946.

***

HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT:

To support the MPP's work and receive the quarterly
"Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual
membership dues to:

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)
P.O. Box 77492
Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C. 20013

http://www.mpp.org/membrshp.html
202-232-0442 FAX

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayors Ask Clinton To Leave Pot Clubs Alone ('Associated Press' Article
In 'San Jose Mercury News' Says The Mayors Of San Francisco, Oakland,
Santa Cruz and West Hollywood Have Asked The President To Call Off
The Federal Lawsuit Against Six Northern California
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:07:19 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Mayors Ask Clinton to Leave Pot Clubs Alone
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

MAYORS ASK CLINTON TO LEAVE POT CLUBS ALONE

Six cities affected by U.S. order to close

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Four California mayors appealed to President Clinton
on Wednesday to drop federal lawsuits against medical marijuana clubs
operating within their cities.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, along with the mayors of Oakland, Santa
Cruz and West Hollywood, said closing the facilities would hurt clients who
suffer from AIDS, cancer and other diseases and who use marijuana from the
clubs to ease their pain and nausea.

``If the centers are shut down, many of these individuals will be compelled
to search back alleys and street corners for their medicine. This will not
only endanger their lives, but place an unnecessary burden on our local
police departments,'' the mayors wrote.

Earlier this year, U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi filed civil suits
against medical marijuana clubs in six cities. A hearing in San Francisco
on those suits is scheduled for March 24.

These federal suits target only the clubs -- two in San Francisco and one
each in Oakland, southern Marin County, Santa Cruz and Ukiah -- and their
operators, not individual patients. The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis
Center is not one of the clubs targeted by the lawsuit.

Most of the medical marijuana facilities were started after the November
1996 passage of Proposition 215, which changed state law to allow patients
suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma or a variety of other illnesses to
possess and grow marijuana for medical use, with a doctor's recommendation.

But at least one facility, now called the Cannabis Cultivators Club, has
operated for years in San Francisco with the tacit approval of local law
enforcement. Its controversial founder, Dennis Peron, co-authored
Proposition 215.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayors Ask Clinton To Allow Pot Clubs To Stay Open (A Different
'Associated Press' Account In 'Orange County Register')

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:15:07 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Mayors Ask Clinton To Allow Pot Clubs To Stay Open
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Ron Harris-The Associated Press

MAYORS ASK CLINTON TO ALLOW POT CLUBS TO STAY OPEN

They argue that it will be safer if parents do not have to seek the drug on
the street for medicinal use.

San Francisco- Four California mayors say the streets will be safer if
President Clinton drops a federal lawsuit to close clubs that dispense
medical marijuana.

Mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and West Hollywood, in letters
dated March 12 to March 17, said closing the clubs would hurt those
suffering from AIDS and cancer who use the drug o ease their pain and
nausea.

"If the centers are shut down, many of these individuals will be compelled
to search back alleys and street corners for their medicine," the mayors
wrote in letters to the president.

The mayors also asked the president to drop an injunction against the
operation of the clubs and to "implement a moratorium on enforcement of
federal drug laws that interfere with the daily operation of the
dispensaries."

The club operators say a voter-approved initiative allows their operations,
but state courts have disagreed.

A White House spokesman, after checking with the office of drug policy,
said there is nothing planned on medical marijuana in California.

Outside San Francisco's Cannabis Cultivators' Club, Joel Whalen smoked a
joint while waiting for the club to open. He is HIV positive and supports
the mayors' efforts.

"With the mayors backing us, I think it's a lot better," said Whalen, who
uses marijuana to boost his appetite. "I quit all intravenous drugs, and
now that I've been smoking marijuana I feel healthier. I could actually run
a whole block, and sleep at night and eat."

"I was really, really sick. I lost my appetite. I lost my will to live. And
a lot of people here have given me the will to live."

A 27-year-old man, who identified himself only as Jaguar, said he was
diagnosed with HIV when he was 15. He sat with dog, Bear, at the club's
front door. Jaguar moved to San Francisco from Florida five years ago and
has been homeless ever since.

"Pot's like a major upper for me. It helps me eat. The more pot you smoke,
the more openminded you get ... your mind is going, and it keeps you
going."

Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, lauded the mayors'
efforts and said closing the clubs would increase street crime.

"I think the mayors realize that closing these clubs would force 10,000
people into criminality." Zeese said. "It would be chaotic."

"If Washington is smart, they'll realize they're in a lose-lose situation.
They can lose in the courts or lose in the streets."

Whalen agreed the streets would be safer if the clubs remain open.

"They're not out there looking, they're not out there sneaking, they're not
out there doing (anything) illegal," Whalen said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Four California Mayors Urge Clinton To Stop Lawsuits Against 'Cannabis Clubs'
('Washington Post' Version)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 08:11:26 -0500
From: "R. Lake" 
Subject: MN: US CA: WP: Four California Mayors Urge Clinton to Stop Lawsuits
Against 'Cannabis Clubs'
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Frank S. World and Kendra E. Wright
Source: Washington Post
Author: William Claiborne Washington Post Staff Writer
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

FOUR CALIFORNIA MAYORS URGE CLINTON TO STOP LAWSUITS AGAINST 'CANNABIS
CLUBS'

LOS ANGELES, March 18-The mayors of four California cities, including San
Francisco and Oakland, appealed to President Clinton today to drop federal
lawsuits aimed at closing "cannabis clubs" that opened after voters approved
a 1996 ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana.

San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. said he was "deeply troubled" by
Justice Department lawsuits and asked Clinton to impose a moratorium on
enforcement of federal drug laws that could interrupt the clubs' operations
until federal and local officials meet to discuss an end to the impasse.

Brown said 11,000 Californians in pain from AIDS, cancer and other illnesses
depend on the two dozen marijuana dispensaries, most of them in the northern
part of the state. If the patients are denied the drug, they will have to
"search back alleys and street corners for their medicine," the mayor said.

Joining Brown in sending similarly worded letters to Clinton were Oakland
Mayor Elihu M. Harris, Santa Cruz Mayor Celia Scott and West Hollywood Mayor
Steve Martin.

Brown said he will "abide by the primacy of federal law," but in return he
expects respect of local governments' experience and expertise in developing
community-based solutions to public health problems.

San Francisco's stridently liberal district attorney, Terence Hallinan, was
less restrained. He said if the federal government closes marijuana clubs,
city health workers may be called on to distribute the drug to patients.

Hallinan contended that a vast majority of San Francisco residents and
officials supports medical use of marijuana. If the clubs are closed, he
said, "what is now a reasonably well-controlled, safe distribution system --
one that has been characterized by cooperation with city officials and one
that is inspected by the Health Department -- will instead devolve into a
completely unregulated, and unregulable, public nuisance."

While stressing that the proposal to enlist city employees to distribute
marijuana is now only a "hypothetical," Michael Katz, director of the San
Francisco Health Department, said the city has an "absolute commitment" to
distribute marijuana to those who need it.

The federal lawsuits against six San Francisco Bay area cannabis clubs
contend that the clubs violate federal laws against cultivating and
distributing marijuana.

The new state law allows a doctor to recommend marijuana to ill people and
permits a patient to use it with a doctor's recommendation and a "primary
care giver" to provide it if the patient is unable to obtain the drug. State
Attorney General Dan Lungren contends -- with the backing of federal drug
officials -- that the law still does not allow commercial enterprises like
the cannabis clubs to distribute marijuana.

Earlier this week, Lungren, who is a Republican candidate for governor,
suggested he might prosecute city officials who dispense marijuana to
patients.

(c) Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Four Mayors Call On Clinton To Stop Pot Club Prosecutions
('San Francisco Chronicle' Version)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:12:41 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: 4 Mayors Call On Clinton to Stop Pot Club Prosecutions
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World"  =
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer

4 MAYORS CALL ON CLINTON TO STOP POT CLUB PROSECUTIONS

Tempering their remarks with an unusual declaration of fealty to federal
authority, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and mayors from three other
California cities have pleaded to President Clinton that he back off on his
prosecution of medical marijuana clubs.

``We honor and will abide by the primacy of federal law,'' the mayors wrote
in letters to the president yesterday. ``In return, we ask that the federal
government respect local government's experience and expertise (in public
health matters).''

Signed by Brown, Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, West Hollywood Mayor Steve
Martin and Santa Cruz Mayor Celia Scott, the nearly identically worded
letters warned that closure of the clubs could seriously affect their
cities.

The mayors said they were writing in defense of their citizens who have
been smoking marijuana to combat the nausea of cancer chemotherapy drugs,
the sight-destroying effects of glaucoma and the debilitating effects of
AIDS.

``If the centers are shut down, many of these individuals will be compelled
to search back alleys and street corners for their medicine. This will not
only endanger their lives, but place an unnecessary burden on our local
police departments,'' each of the four mayors wrote.

The letter-writing campaign was orchestrated by the Medical Marijuana
Caregivers Fund, an organization of pot clubs that are battling attempts by
both the Clinton administration and California Attorney General Dan Lungren
to close them down.

Mayor Martin said he expects to visit San Francisco on Tuesday to join
Brown for a rally and prayer meeting organized by the group. It will take
place just before a hearing on federal charges against Northern California
pot clubs.

``We're all in this together,'' he said. Martin's Los Angeles County
municipality has a large gay population that, like San Francisco's, has
been devastated by the AIDS epidemic. Patients contend that smoking
marijuana stimulates the appetite and wards off the wasting syndrome that
weakens people with AIDS. ``There are many of us for whom marijuana is a
part of daily living,'' he said.

The mayors and the pot club operators contend that it is not illegal to
provide marijuana for medical purposes after California voters
overwhelmingly approved Proposition 215 in November.

But U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi filed suit against six clubs January 9,
declaring that the sale of marijuana for any purpose but research was
strictly against the law. The March 24 hearing will consider consolidated
charges against four of the clubs that have remained open.

Oakland Mayor Harris issued a statement in support of Proposition 215.
``Californians have spoken,'' he said. ``Our intention is to comply with
the letter and the spirit of that initiative. We don't want to see medical
marijuana run into the underground.''

Yamaguchi's San Francisco office deferred all comment on the matter to
Washington, D.C., where the Justice Department has been calling the shots
on the pot club prosecutions. The Justice Department did not return calls
requesting comment.

San Francisco Mayor Brown also did not comment directly, but issued a
statement that ``the letter speaks for itself.''

Brown also called on the Justice Department to work with the Food and Drug
Administration ``to designate marijuana as a drug for prescription
purposes.''

Dennis Peron, founder of San Francisco's controversial Cannabis Cultivators
Club, said yesterday that he was gratified by the mayors' letters. ``This
means that the cities want to support this and defend democracy,'' he said.

Peron also noted that it was not a particularly unusual stance for the
mayors to take: Proposition 215 passed with more than 70 percent of the
vote in all four localities.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SF To US - Back Off On Medical Marijuana Law ('Los Angeles Times'
Tries To Make It Seem Like It's San Francisco Officials Violating The Law
By Standing Up For Proposition 215 Rather Than The State And Federal
Bureaucrats And Politicians Who Are Trying To Shut Down
The City's Medical Cannabis Dispensaries)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 17:29:40 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: S.F. to U.S.: Back Off on Medical Marijuana Law
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield and James Hammett 
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer

S.F. TO U.S.: BACK OFF ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Medication: Court fights are shaping up for city that revels in defiance.
Some say it's flirting with anarchy.

SAN FRANCISCO--Here in the self-proclaimed capitol of defiance, they are
preparing to wage a war, a battle of conscience over medical marijuana to
be fought on two distinct and separate fronts: the city versus the state of
California, the city versus the federal government.

Willie Brown joined forces Wednesday with several other California mayors,
firing off a salvo of letters to Washington, asking the Clinton
administration to stop persecuting medical marijuana clubs.

Two days earlier, Dist. Atty. Terence Hallinan--the city's chief law
enforcement officer--had promised that the city would distribute marijuana
on its own and threatened that police officers would stop making marijuana
arrests if the San Francisco clubs are closed.

Citywide rallies are planned for Tuesday, when federal prosecutors take
club operators to court here. Hallinan will appear at an early morning
prayer-for-pot breakfast, while two county supervisors will address a noon
demonstration.

As the courts and the state grapple with interpreting Proposition 215,
which legalized marijuana for medical purposes, this city is in lock-step
in support for marijuana to relieve the suffering of patients with ailments
such as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma.

"We have people who are suffering for health reasons whose suffering is
apparently alleviated by the use of marijuana," Hallinan said. "The city
wants this. We have seen proof."

Critics Fear Erosion of Norms

This is not the first time that San Franciscans have ignored state and
federal laws to tread what they felt was the moral high ground. But it is
probably the city's most united front in the face of possible prosecution.
>From the average voter to the office of the mayor, the message to state and
federal law enforcement officials is loud and clear: Back off.

But one person's fight for justice can be another's fomenting anarchy. Some
historians and experts in the legal and drug policy fields look at the
battle brewing here and worry about its implications.

While Hallinan boasts of pride in "San Francisco having its own
conscience," political historian Richard DeLeon voices "a sense of
astonishment that little San Francisco is throwing its weight around and
asserting its autonomy."

"They're really pushing the envelope with this," said DeLeon, author of
"Left Coast City." "There's a sense of erosion of the norms and
responsibilities of national citizenship. Those are disintegrating. There
could be a proliferation once again of each municipality going their own
way, and that portends something pretty dangerous."

Thumbing official noses at other people's policies is practically a sport
in San Francisco. The last decade alone offers a wealth of examples.

In 1992, then-Mayor Frank Jordan--formerly the chief of police and
considered conservative in these parts--made good on a campaign promise to
sign legislation endorsing needle exchange programs as a means to fight the
spread of AIDS.

Needle exchange efforts were illegal under state law at the time. But two
years earlier the city's health commission had supported such programs, and
city voters had approved Proposition O, which asked the Legislature to
eliminate penalties for the use and distribution of hypodermic needles
without prescriptions.

Today, needle exchange is legal if a city or county is under a state of
medical emergency, said Supervisor Tom Ammiano. "So we vote one in every
two weeks. That allows for needle exchange."

In 1989, the supervisors--whom Ammiano describes as "running the gamut from
moderate to progressive"--voted to declare San Francisco an official "city
of refuge" and barred police and city employees from cooperating with
federal authorities in any potential deportation matters.

Four years later the supervisors watered down the sanctuary law--but only a
little and only when threatened with the loss of millions of dollars in
state and federal funds. Today, Hallinan says, city employees can turn over
only the names of convicted felons to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.

And five years before state voters approved Proposition 215--which passed
by a larger margin here than in any other county--San Franciscans adopted
city Proposition P, which urged the legalization of hemp medication,
including marijuana. It passed with 80% of the vote.

DeLeon ranked the state's 58 counties on their level of political
tolerance, using a variety of state propositions and weighing how the
counties voted. The propositions included those concerning English-only
legislation, the quarantine of AIDS patients and the fate of affirmative
action.

Although DeLeon's index shows that the Bay Area as a whole is more tolerant
than the rest of the state, San Francisco is what is known in statistical
parlance as an "outlier."

"San Francisco is both a statistical outlier and a conceptual outlier,"
DeLeon said. "It stands out as way different from everyone else."

Gavin Newsom is the county's newest supervisor--a fourth-generation San
Franciscan and the only straight, white male on the board. Newsom is proud
of his region's place on the cutting edge of public debate and describes
the city's behavior this way:

Sometimes, he said, "we need to preempt the government. You feel compelled
to do that sometimes when the country does not represent your
constituency."

When it comes to making medical marijuana available at all costs, he said,
"we need to do things that thumb our nose at the status quo. You're dealing
with people's lives. . . . It's gutsy and bold and risky but that's what
San Francisco is all about."

Resisting Federal Laws

Just wait a minute, responds an incredulous Mark A.R. Kleiman, UCLA
professor and drug policy expert. For starters, he notes, there are far
more important drugs than cannabis that are being withheld from American
patients. If you want to pick a fight, why waste your time with this one?

That said, Kleiman worries about the precedent that San Francisco is
setting. After all, he says, "there's good reason to obey the Constitution
when you can."

"God knows what would happen if the city of San Francisco started having
its health department pass out cannabis," Kleiman said. "The fact that
those people are doing a city job is no defense against a felony charge."

And just look at some of those in history who have taken it upon themselves
to flout the nation's laws. Kleiman's favorite examples are the
Nullification Crisis of 1828 and 1950s efforts to block school integration
in the South.

As the Civil War began to brew and Southern cotton barons ostensibly chafed
under federal tariffs, John C. Calhoun came up with the Doctrine of
Nullification, a concept that declared all states sovereign and therefore
able to nullify any federal law that interfered with their interests. Not
terribly long after, the South seceded from the Union.

And then there was Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus, who used his National Guard
troops to block the mandated integration of Central High School in Little
Rock.

"Now here we have Terence Hallinan bravely arranging himself with Orval
Faubus and John C. Calhoun," Kleiman said. "What kind of company is that?"

San Franciscans would probably rather align themselves with the early 19th
century judges who chose to ignore the fugitive slave law. That law
required judges to turn in runaway slaves to their masters; many judges
refused, joining forces with the abolitionist movement in breaking the back
of slavery.

But Franklin Zimring, a professor of law and the director of the Earl
Warren Legal Institute at UC Berkeley, argues that "making this into either
Orval Faubus at the courthouse door or Harriet Beecher Stowe is a little
premature."

At issue here is a complicated interplay of local, state and federal
issues. On the one hand is federal law, which says that marijuana is
illegal. Under the U.S. Constitution, federal law is supreme.

However, the federal government has discretion about what laws it goes out
of its way to enforce. "Just because marijuana is illegal, the federal
government doesn't have to load all its guns," Zimring said.

"If Willie Brown were making a legal argument, he'd be in deep water,"
Zimring said. "But he's not. He's doing what he does best--making a
political claim. And the politics of this is very much in the free field."

Which brings us to this week. On Wednesday, Brown joined the mayors of
Oakland, Santa Cruz and West Hollywood in writing to President Clinton to
ask that the administration drop its federal lawsuits against six
California cannabis distributors and their 10 operators.

"I am deeply troubled by the Department of Justice lawsuits aimed at
shutting down medical marijuana dispensaries in our cities," Brown wrote.
"The harmful impact the closure of these patient clubs would have on
patient health and public safety cannot be overestimated."

The mayors asked in the letters that Clinton "drop the lawsuit and work
with state and local officials to find an amenable solution that will put
patients first. In the interim, I ask that you implement a moratorium on
enforcement of federal drug laws that interfere with the daily operation of
the dispensaries."

Brown has charged the local health department with overseeing the marijuana
clubs in concert with the district attorney's office. And when Hallinan
filed court documents Monday stating that the city would distribute
marijuana to patients if the clubs are closed down, Brown supported
Hallinan's position--although state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren threatened
potential prosecution of city workers.

While campaigning for governor in Sacramento, Lungren said: "All I know is
that I took an oath to uphold the law . . . and I would hope San Francisco
officials do the same. . . . I don't know how you can say . . . because I'm
an elected official I don't have to do what everybody else does."

But in his weekly news conference Tuesday, Brown said that Hallinan was "on
the right track." In addition, he said, the health department is "ready to
put the [distribution] operation together."

One big question remains: Just how far will official and unofficial San
Francisco go to protect the availability of medical marijuana?

Hallinan's answer is the elliptical, "What we do we will do with the advice
of the city attorney and in a way that we believe is legal."

Ammiano is a little more forceful but no more revealing: "I think we'll go
to the mat on this."

Copyright Los Angeles Times

-------------------------------------------------------------------

'Corcoran'-Style Carnage Continues In California - FBI Probes Deaths
At Two More State Prisons ('Los Angeles Times' Version In Bend,
Oregon, 'Bulletin')

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 20:06:41 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: 'Corcoran'-Style Carnage Continues in California
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Nora Callahan 
Source: Bulletin, The (OR)
Contact: bulletin@bendbulletin.com
Website: http://www.bendbulletin.com
Pubdate: Thu 19 Mar 1998
Author: Mark Arax, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

'CORCORAN'-STYLE CARNAGE CONTINUES IN CALIFORNIA

FBI Probes Deaths at 2 More State Prisons

Inquiries: Slayings of inmates at Pelican Bay and in Susanville lead to
investigations of guards. Corcoran officers plead not guilty in earlier
case.

FRESNO--As part of the federal government's growing scrutiny of California
prisons, the FBI is launching civil rights investigations at the Pelican
Bay and Susanville penitentiaries into the role guards may have played in
the beatings and killings of inmates.

FBI officials said the decision to investigate follows a number of recent
assaults and deaths of inmates at the two maximum-security prisons in
Northern California.

At Pelican Bay, agents will try to determine if rival inmates attacked each
other at the behest of prison staff, including at least one assault earlier
this month that resulted in the stabbing death of an inmate, according to
FBI officials. At the High Desert State Prison in Susanville, FBI agents
have begun looking into the Feb. 4 death of inmate David Torres, who was
gunned down by an officer during a prison yard fight.

"We have opened a preliminary civil rights investigation into the shooting
death of inmate Torres," said Jim Maddock, head of the FBI office in
Sacramento. "As far as Pelican Bay is concerned, that is being handled by
the FBI in San Francisco. At this point, I can't say anything more."

An FBI spokesman in San Francisco declined to comment on the probe, but a
U.S. Justice Department official in Washington confirmed that agents would
be focusing on possible violations of Pelican Bay inmates' civil rights.

The state Department of Corrections characterized the FBI probes as routine
investigations prompted by complaints from family members of the deceased
inmates.

"Just like any law enforcement agency, the FBI is required to follow up and
investigate any complaints," said Christine May, a department spokeswoman.
"It does not appear to be an investigation into the Department of
Corrections as a whole."

May said her agency was not aware of an FBI inquiry involving Pelican Bay.
She said the complaints arose out of the Torres killing at High Desert and
the death of an unnamed inmate at the California Medical Facility at
Vacaville. "Our understanding is that the FBI is looking at these two
specific complaints. Like any other investigation, we will cooperate with
them in any way they request."

Until now, most of the federal government's attention has been focused on
the troubled lockup at Corcoran in the San Joaquin Valley. On Wednesday,
eight prison officers and supervisors pleaded not guilty to charges of
setting up fights between rival inmates at Corcoran and then covering up
the violence by falsifying incident reports.

In one 1994 fight, prosecutors allege, some of the officers gathered in a
control booth to watch for fun as one officer quipped, "It's going to be
duck hunting season." The fight ended when an officer fired a rifle at one
of the aggressors and killed 25-year-old inmate Preston Tate by mistake.

In the federal court in Fresno, one lieutenant, two sergeants and five
officers were each charged with four counts that include bodily injury of
inmates, conspiracy to deprive inmates of their civil rights and depriving
inmates of their civil rights under color of law. One officer also was
charged with perjury. Six of the eight still work for the Corrections
Department and have been placed on administrative leave with pay.

All eight declined to comment after being released without having to post bail.

"We all believe that they are innocent," said Fresno attorney Curtis Sisk,
speaking on behalf of the eight lawyers representing the officers. "We're
quite convinced of it at this point, and we see no reason to think
otherwise."

Sisk said defense attorneys were eagerly awaiting the federal government's
"voluminous" documents as part of the discovery process. He said he doubted
that the government could support the charges and predicted that it would
"drag its feet" in producing the paperwork.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Carl Faller, who oversaw the four-year
investigation into alleged civil rights abuses at Corcoran, said the
government would comply with its legal responsibility. "We'll produce the
information to the defense as required by law, and we remain confident in
the ultimate success of the prosecution."

Corcoran Inquiry Raised Questions

In the past, prison watchdog groups say, federal agents have shied away
from investigating allegations of inmate abuse by correctional officers.
But federal authorities said the Corcoran investigation raised disturbing
questions about the possible role of corrections officials and the prison
guard union in covering up abuses.

Last month, when announcing the Corcoran indictments, the FBI's Maddock
denounced the "intentional efforts on the part of some correctional and
other officials to stymie, delay and obstruct" the federal probe.

State corrections officials and union representatives have denied impeding
the Corcoran investigation or overlooking officer wrongdoing at the Pelican
Bay and Susanville prisons.

Over the past two years, eight inmates have been killed by other inmates
inside Pelican Bay's Security Housing Unit, where the prison's most serious
offenders are locked up. At least six of the killings stem from an internal
war within the Aryan Brotherhood gang, according to corrections officials.

At the same time, officers at Pelican Bay have come under internal
investigation for allegedly setting up inmate attacks on convicted child
molesters. In January, one officer, 42-year-old Jose Garcia, was tried and
convicted of conspiring to assault child molesters at Pelican Bay.

Then, two weeks ago, an inmate who testified against Officer Garcia in his
Del Norte County trial was stabbed to death by another inmate. William
Stanton Boyd, 36, was slain on the general population yard at the North
Coast prison.

At least part of the FBI's interest in Pelican Bay concerns Boyd's death
and whether it was in retaliation for testifying against Officer Garcia,
according to two federal sources familiar with the case. Last week, a few
days after Boyd's slaying, a sergeant and an officer at Pelican Bay were
placed on administrative leave for unspecified reasons.

The pair, according to their attorney, had been accused by prison
authorities of helping Officer Garcia mastermind attacks on child
molesters. San Francisco lawyer Bob Noel contended that the accusations
were drummed up by a rival officer faction and said his clients were never
charged.

Noel, who also represented Officer Garcia, said there was no link between
Boyd's testimony at Garcia's trial and his murder. "Yes, Boyd was called to
testify by the prosecution against my client, Garcia, but his testimony
ended up helping Garcia," he said.

"Boyd denied beating up child molesters at the behest of Garcia and the
others. Boyd turned out to be a good witness for Garcia."

Noel said that if Boyd was killed on the orders of prison staff, it didn't
involve Garcia or his other clients.

At Susanville, FBI agents are trying to determine if the shooting death of
Torres in the recreation yard was justified. According to corrections
officials, the 29-year-old inmate from Orange County belonged to a Latino
gang and was involved in a melee with eight fellow gang members against 10
rivals. Torres was kicking the head of an inmate, who was on the ground,
when an officer fired the fatal shot, corrections officials say.

8 Guards Plead Not Guilty

As the FBI probes at Susanville and Pelican Bay get underway, the
investigation at Corcoran continues. On Wednesday, Corcoran Officers
Timothy Dickerson, 38, Michael Gipson, 43, and Raul Tavarez, 38, and Sgt.
Truman Jennings, 37, were charged with purposely releasing a black inmate
into a recreation yard with two rival Latino inmates. The defendants
allegedly goaded the Latino gang members by telling them that they should
keep the fights "one on one."

Lt. Douglas Martin, 54, Sgt. John Vaughn, 42, and Officers Christopher
Bethea, 33, and Jerry Arvizu, 30, were charged with placing prisoner Tate
and his cellmate into a yard with rival gang members. They did this
although they were aware that a fight was likely to occur, prosecutors
allege.

In a videotape of the shooting captured by prison cameras, Tate and his
cellmate are seen waiting for the charge of the two Latino gang members.
The tape shows shots being fired by Officer Bethea and Tate being hit in
the head by a bullet apparently intended for the aggressors.

Jennings, Dickerson, Gipson and Tavarez face 10 years in prison and fines
of $250,000 each if convicted of the civil rights violations. Martin,
Vaughn, Bethea and Arvizu face life terms if convicted of civil rights
violations and their roles in Tate's death.

"The fact that the state of California is paying for the legal defense of
these officers shows that they were acting within the scope of their
authority," said Mike Jimenez, vice president of the state correctional
peace officers association. "Apparently the feds haven't had much success
with prosecuting criminals, so now they're starting to prosecute cops."

LA Times staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this report.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Marijuana Wars (Staff Editorial In 'San Francisco Chronicle'
Says 'The Humane Use Of Marijuana To Allay Pain Is The Goal Here'
And Urges California Lawmakers To Unite
Behind State Senator John Vasconcellos' Bill)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:18:06 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Editorial: Medical Marijuana Wars
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" 
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

MEDICAL MARIJUANA WARS

SAN FRANCISCO'S marijuana wars are heating up again, with a needless
showdown in the making. Facing a legal onslaught by federal cannabis
hunters, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and District Attorney Terence
Hallinan are defending the local medical marijuana operation run by a
private group. Brown wants it left alone to dispense marijuana to the sick
and dying. Hallinan is even more defiant. If the Feds shut down the
Cannabis Buyers' Club, then the city's public health department should set
up shop in its place, he believes.

This head-on collision should be avoided. Since passage of Proposition 215,
which authorized selling marijuana as a pain killer to those in medical
need, all sides have shouted out their interpretation. Pot advocates,
especially in San Francisco, set up a loosely run dispensary that has
taunted federal and state drug-hunters. But other programs have worked
closely with law enforcement to set up more rigorous operations.

A bill by Senator John Vasconcellos, D- San Jose, may offer a way out of
this legal impasse. Convene a group representing all sides and work out
hard-headed ground rules for cultivating and dispensing marijuana to those
in need, his bill suggests. Prop. 215 danced around the problem area of how
to grow pot by ignoring the subject, and it pinned the job of distributing
the drug on vaguely-defined ``care givers.''

These are major gray areas that need better definition, and the
Vasconcellos bill could produce a useful agreement. Meanwhile, four
California mayors -- including Brown and Elihu Harris of Oakland, and the
mayors of Santa Cruz and West Hollywood, have appealed to President Clinton
to drop the federal lawsuits against the marijuana clubs. Brown told
Clinton that patients who need medical marijuana should not be forced into
``back alleys and street corners.''

The humane use of marijuana to allay pain is the goal here, not more court
fights.

All of the parties involved in this issue need to look for a compromise
that respects the clear will of the voters, which was to make marijuana
available to those with a legitimate medical need for it. The solution
should do no more and no less.

1998 San Francisco Chronicle

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lungren's Campaign (Letter To Editor Of 'Orange County Register'
Notes California Gubernatorial Candidate Lungren Has Thwarted The Will
Of 56 Percent Of Voters Who Supported Proposition 215)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 10:31:47 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Pub LTE: Lungren's Campaign
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

LUNGREN'S CAMPAIGN

Instead of attempting to engage in some form of reasonable compromise or
possibly use this opportunity to study the medical marijuana issue, the
Attorney General's office joined forces with the feds to engage in a
campaign of selective terrorism, frivolous prosecution and capricious civil
litigation. If these actions are any indications of hidden agendas, what
will Dan Lungren do if he is elected governor? A point that Lungren's
office may have overlooked is that 56 percent of the voting population
voted for the passage of Proposition 215. That is a rather large percentage
to alienate by refusing to accept and work with the will of the people.

It seems like business as usual. Lungren's office is powerless to do
anything about real crime, so they decide to come down hard on the small
stuff.

(no name provided)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

FBI To Probe Role Of Prison Guards In Beatings And Killings Of Inmates
('San Jose Mercury News' Says The Federal Bureau Of Investigation
Is Launching A Civil Rights Investigations At California's Pelican Bay
And Susanville Penitentiaries To Probe The Role Of Prison Guards
In The Beatings And Killings Of Inmates)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:07:36 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: FBI to Probe Role of Prison Guards in Beatings and Killings of Inmates
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

FBI TO PROBE ROLE OF PRISON GUARDS IN BEATINGS AND KILLINGS OF INMATES

FRESNO -- As part of the federal government's growing scrutiny of
California prisons, the FBI is launching civil rights investigations at the
Pelican Bay and Susanville penitentiaries to probe the role of prison
guards in the beatings and killings of inmates.

FBI officials said the decision to investigate follows a number of recent
assaults and deaths of inmates at the two maximum-security prisons in
Northern California.

Until now, most of the federal government's attention has been focused on
the troubled lockup at Corcoran in the San Joaquin Valley. On Wednesday,
eight prison officers and supervisors pleaded not guilty to charges of
setting up fights between rival inmates at Corcoran and then covering up
the violence by falsifying incident reports.

In one 1994 fight, prosecutors allege, some of the officers gathered in a
control booth to watch for fun as one officer quipped, ``It's going to be
duck hunting season.'' The fight ended when an officer fired a carbine
rifle at one of the aggressors and killed 25-year-old inmate Preston Tate
by mistake. The new probe at Pelican Bay will try to determine if rival
inmates attacked each other at the behest of prison staffers, including at
least one assault this month that resulted in the stabbing death of an
inmate, according to FBI officials. At the High Desert prison in
Susanville, FBI agents have begun looking into the Feb. 4 death of inmate
David Torres, who was gunned down by an officer during a prison yard fight.

``We have opened a preliminary civil rights investigation into the shooting
death of inmate Torres,'' said Jim Maddock, head of the FBI office in
Sacramento. ``As far as Pelican Bay is concerned, that is being handled by
the FBI in San Francisco.''

An FBI spokesman in San Francisco declined to comment on the probe, but a
U.S. Justice Department official in Washington said it would center on
whether prisoners' civil rights were violated.

The state Department of Corrections characterized the FBI probes as routine
investigations prompted by complaints from family members of the deceased
inmates.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Tribe Puts Hopes In Tobacco ('New York Times' Article
In 'San Jose Mercury News' Notes The Omaha Indian Tribe
In Nebraska Has Gone Into The Cigarette Manufacturing Business -
It Will Soon Be Joined In The Same Business By The Confederate Tribes
Of The Chehalis Reservation, Near Seattle)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 21:40:52 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US NE: Tribe Puts Hopes In Tobacco
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Author: Pam Belluck, New York Times
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

TRIBE PUTS HOPES IN TOBACCO

Rejecting Health Worries, Nebraska Indians See Cigarettes As Their Path To
Prosperity

MACY, Neb. -- The thrumming green machines in the new factory here are the
hope of the Omaha Indian tribe. Early sales are encouraging, and soon the
tribe will be tripling production.

``Our dream,'' said Jerry Montour, the factory's consultant, ``is to have
like 100 people working here at one time.''

And who would quarrel with that?

As it turns out, many might. The Omaha tribe is manufacturing cigarettes.

Even if the factory were not in a building that previously housed the
tribe's health club and wellness center, the debut of the Omaha Nation
Tobacco Co. might seem a little misguided.

After all, big cigarette companies are under fierce fire from states and
the federal government, with proposed legislation and lawsuit settlements
designed to force them to restrict cigarette advertising, jack up prices
and pay penalties to cover the costs of smoking-related afflictions like
lung cancer and heart disease.

Widespread use of tobacco

And those afflictions hit Indians particularly hard. Cancer and
heart-disease rates are rising faster among American Indians than the
general population, smoking is much more common than in other groups and
Indians start smoking at a younger age.

Several tribes have even filed lawsuits in tribal courts against companies
like Philip Morris, seeking direct compensation for illnesses related to
tobacco, instead of relying on money that states expect to receive. The
Omaha are thinking of filing such a suit as well, said the tribe's
Washington lawyer, Robert Rosette.

``Smoking is much more severe on Indian reservations and has a much harsher
impact,'' Rosette said. ``As a sovereign government, we have just as much
right to recoup from the big tobacco companies.''

Still, Rosette argued, ``You can't mix that in with our manufacturing
cigarettes, because we're a legal business.''

He added: ``We have a great product -- and we need avenues to get it out in
the market.''

If the logic seems cloudy, it is largely a reflection of the circumstances
many Indian tribes are grappling with these days.

Facing high unemployment, poverty and dwindling federal grants,
reservations, especially in remote areas, are struggling to create jobs.
They have only a few economic advantages over non-Indian communities,
including the right to operate casinos, and to be exempt from state taxes
on gasoline and cigarettes sold on Indian land.

First tribe with a cigarette firm

The Omaha, whose reservation spills from northeastern Nebraska over the
Missouri River into Iowa, is the first tribe to start a cigarette company.
But it will soon be joined by another, the Confederate Tribes of the
Chehalis Reservation, near Seattle, which is investing enough to add two
assembly lines to the one in the Omaha factory and is setting up a
cigarette plant on its own reservation. Montour said another joint venture
is being negotiated with an East Coast tribe.

``People aren't going to stop smoking,'' said Gary Lasley, Omaha tribal
chairman, puffing on an Omaha Full-Flavor cigarette. ``They're addicted
now. When you're out here in the middle of nowhere, what else are you going
to do for jobs?''

Omaha leaders even traveled to Washington recently to testify before the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee, hoping to influence federal legislation to
exempt tribal manufacturers from some penalties and proscriptions on big
tobacco companies. They want out of advertising restrictions like a
proposed ban on cartoon characters (Omaha cigarette packs feature an
Indian's face) and absolution from payments for illnesses before Omaha's
company existed.

While these special pleadings are unlikely to be endorsed by the Indian
Affairs Committee, it is likely to recommend that tribes be able to excuse
themselves from price increases or marketing bans that state governments
layer on top of whatever federal restrictions are approved.

Historical use of tobacco

That means tribal cigarettes could continue their edge not only on Indian
land, but even off reservations in some states. To Indian leaders this is
only fair, given tribes' historical and ceremonial use of tobacco.

``We understand there's a lot of negativity about the tobacco industry
right now, but we're not the ones who misrepresented and did all the
marketing to teenagers,'' Montour said. ``Native Americans have been
involved in tobacco for hundreds of years. It's only when these new
settlers came in that they were starting to do all this misrepresentation.''

Roped by fields yellow-gray with corn stubble on a recent winter day, the
Omaha reservation is home to about 3,400 of the tribe's 6,000 members and
has 60 percent unemployment, Lasley said. About a quarter of those on the
reservation are on welfare or receive food stamps.

Six years ago, the tribe opened Casino Omaha on its Iowa property, but
attendance and profits have been gutted by competing riverboat casinos.

Since September, when the tribe began selling its cigarettes, made from
tobacco imported from North Carolina, results have been promising, tribal
leaders say. So far, the factory has orders for half the 50,000 cartons it
makes a month, mostly from 26 tribes around the country.

Heart disease, cancer deaths

Nationally, more than 36 percent of Indians smoke. But even though heart
disease and cancer are the leading causes of Indian deaths, Omaha officials
say these afflictions are not their first health priority.

``The life expectancy isn't high enough for there to be a lot of cancer,''
said Greg Phillips, the tribe's vice chairman, who said the average tribe
member dies at 57. More obvious threats, he said, were alcoholism and
diabetes.

``Are they going to object when we try to manufacture Twinkies?'' he said.

Dr. Nathaniel Cobb, director of cancer prevention and control for the
Indian Health Service, has heard this before.

``When someone dies of lung cancer, they're usually in their 60s or older
and they usually die pretty quickly, and it's sad, but it's not devastating
to the community, compared to alcoholism or suicide,'' Cobb said. ``There's
a little disconnect there.''

-------------------------------------------------------------------

False Marijuana Claims (Letter To Editor Of 'Daily Herald' In Illinois
Cites Evidence Contradicting Newspaper's Junk Science)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 23:55:14 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: Olafur Brentmar 
Subject: MN: US IL: LTE: False Marijuana Claims
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Contact: fencepost@dailyherald.com
Page: 16, sec. 1

FALSE MARIJUANA CLAIMS

I am writing in response to the Feb. 15 article "Renewed tolerance of
marijuana is taking hold." I am an honors student at the University of
Illinois at Chicago. I cannot believe your newspaper would print
sensationalistic garbage like that.

The article claims that a given side effect of pot smoking is a duller
memory. This claim has no scientific backing. According to Microsoft's
Encarta 97 encyclopedia, "Consistent evidence that marijuana induces or
causes brain damage does not exist. Check your source. The New England
Journal of Medicine, the Canadian Health Council, the Australian Health
Commission, and countless government studies come to the same conciliation
as I do. Marijuana poses far less health risk than alcohol or tobacco, two
legal and highly addictive drugs.

I have been using marijuana since I was 14, and I am now 19 and still
using. In the past five years, I have achieved a "B" average for four
semesters of high school and one in college. I also posted straight A's my
entire junior year of high school.

The Herald's false claims are more mind dulling than a plant that grows in
al 50 of the United States. The editors should examine front page articles
more closely if they don't want their paper to lose its highly regarded
credibility.

Matt Ingratta Chicago

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Summit - Time Is Right To Find Effective Solutions
('Dallas Morning News' Notes The National Alliance For Model State Drug Laws
Is Meeting In Dallas, And Will Submit A Package Of Anti-Drug Laws
And Policies For The Texas Legislature To Consider In 1999)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:07:45 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US TX: Drug Summit: Time is Right to Find Effective Solutions
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Source: Dallas Morning News
Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

DRUG SUMMIT

Time is right to find effective solutions

When officials of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws scheduled
a summit in Texas last year, they didn't know how timely their meeting
would be.

The October Dallas gathering came in the midst of the tragic series of
heroin-related deaths involving Plano-area young people. The Texas summit
will convene here again today, just three days after the Plano Police
Department started rounding up suspected drug dealers.

The alliance will submit a package of anti-drug laws and policies for the
Texas Legislature to consider in 1999. Some of the legislation will be
designed to cut the profits for drug traffickers, strengthen neighborhoods'
ability to fight back and provide more effective drug education in the
schools.

Also on the agenda will be the impact of the North American Free Trade
Agreement on Texas' drug problems, prevention of substance abuse in the
workplace and more realistic ways to curb drug-related health costs in the
state.

The Alliance for Model State Drug Laws faces big challenges. But the
nonprofit organization has gone about the business of seeking effective
changes correctly.

Hundreds of people around the state participated in drafting the
legislation last year. The summit is sponsored by Attorney General Dan
Morales' office and the Greater Dallas Crime Commission, one of the state's
more effective anti-crime lobbying groups.

Texas already has taken some steps to control the flow of illicit narcotics
through the state. Drug traffickers now can face stiffer penalties if they
are repeat offenders. A zero tolerance policy toward drug use by young
people should have a positive effect.

But at least a dozen heroin overdose deaths in the Plano area in less than
two years should telegraph the Legislature that the battle is far from
over. That's why the Texas summit on model drug laws this week deserves
everyone's attention.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Treat Drug Addicts - It's Good Advice But We Ignore It (Staff Editorial
In 'San Jose Mercury News' Says That, As A Nation, We Have Ignored The Advice
Of Physicians To Give Drug Addicts Treatment Rather Than Jail,
And Consequently We're Paying The Price For It)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:06:55 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Editorial: Treat Drug Addicts -- It's Good Advice But We Ignore It
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

TREAT DRUG ADDICTS -- IT'S GOOD ADVICE BUT WE IGNORE IT

DON'T smoke cigarettes. Get plenty of exercise. Eat fruits and vegetables.

For years, doctors have been dispensing this sort of common-sense advice.
Millions of Americans have routinely ignored it, and many have paid the
price.

Here's another piece of good advice from some of our country's most
respected physicians: Instead of just locking up drug addicts who commit
crimes, give them substance-abuse treatment. It's a cost-effective way of
reducing crime and fighting drug use.

As a nation we have chosen to ignore this advice, and we're paying the price.

This week in Washington, a panel of prominent doctors and health officials
from the Clinton, Bush and Reagan administrations released several studies
on the value of drug treatment. The results: Jailing addicts is a
tremendous waste of money.

It costs $25,900 to keep an addict in prison for a year, but it costs
between $1,800 and $6,800 to send the addict to treatment. One study found
that drug treatment can cut crime committed by addicts by 80 percent.
Another study found that criminal activity among addicts dropped by
two-thirds when they got treatment. Still others have shown that treatment
helps reduce transmission of HIV, keeps pregnant women from having
drug-addicted babies and reduces homelessness.

This isn't exactly groundbreaking research. Back in 1994, the RAND
Corporation estimated that treating all the addicts in the United States
would cost $21 billion but would save more than $150 billion.

Still, most Americans think the best way to deal with drug offenders is to
lock 'em up. A study published in the latest Journal of the American
Medical Association found that 84 percent of people surveyed think tougher
sentences are the best way to fight drugs. Treatment is way down the list,
after drug education, increased police presence and mandatory drug testing.

Unfortunately, government policy continues to reflect this misguided
thinking. Only 20 percent of the federal drug-control budget is spent on
treatment programs. While we keep building more and more prisons, only 15
percent of addicts who need help can get it.

Such a policy is a disaster for both crime fighting and public health. It's
time to dramatically shift our drug-control priorities. Doctor's orders.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dodging Lawyers 'Bullets' In The Schools (Letter To Editor
Of 'Orange County Register' Suggests That Zero Tolerance School Policies
Are Instituted So Administrators Won't Have To Think - They Are Afraid
To Make Decisions About Degrees Of Culpability
For Fear Of Prompting Lawsuits)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:06:34 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: Dodging Lawyers 'Bullets' in The Schools
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Steve Smith-Mr. Smith,who lives with his wife and two daughters in
Costa Mesa,is the author of "If You Can't Make Time,Don't Make Kids."

DODGING LAWYERS 'BULLETS' IN THE SCHOOLS

The Issue: Zero-tolerance policies in schools may indicate school board
officials are afraid to make decisions about degrees of culpability for
fear of prompting lawsuits.

The Newport-Mesa school district expects to run about $5 million in the red
this year unless money can be found to make up the deficit. In spite of the
shortfall, the board trustees have recently voted to explore a program of
equipping all of their school buses with computers designed to identify and
track children as they go to and from school.

The computer solution came after some kids on buses were determined to be
unruly, and, in an effort to keep them in line, they want to issue kids
plastic identification cards with magnetic stripes which would be swiped in
a machine as they boarded their bus.

If I were not awake to read about it, I would not have believed this if it
were told to me by Walter Cronkite.

Picking on Newport-Mesa is easy for me because my wife and I have two kids
in the district and we try to keep track of the comings and goings, but
they're also an easy target because some of the decisions are just plain
folly.

This isn't necessarily about the Newport-Mesa school board, it's about local
bureaucracies that are out of control and so scared of their own shadows
that it has affected their ability to make rational decisions. Consider the
fact that only one of the Newport-Mesa board members, Wendy Leece, voted
against the computer idea. This, apparently, was a no-brainer for this
school aboard.

The Newport-Mesa board members obviously didn't care about the money. What
they did care about, and what they may never admit to, is that they are
afraid of lawyers. That's right - the fear of lawsuits may be driving the
decision-making at this and other levels of local bureaucracies.

The "zero-tolerance" policy in place in our district is a case in point. A
zero-tolerance policy forces the school district to transfer and, in some
cases, expel a student who is caught carrying or using weapons or drugs on
a school campus. Thus, the plastic butter knife used to cut a bagel and
carried in the student's backpack becomes the same as a loaded gun; the
aspiring brought on campus by a female high school senior experiencing a
particular problem morphs into heroin. No quarter is given.

The zero-tolerance policy for kids is safe harbor for school board members.
With this policy, they no longer have to think. Cases do not have to be
judged on their individual merits, they are simply rubber-stamped for the
convenience of the board and to decrease the likelihood of a lawsuit. If
everyone is treated the same way, the thinking goes, how can we be sued for
a discrimination decision?

Therein lies the problem. These board members, as were the ones in your
district, were elected because we thought they would be good leaders. Among
other qualities, a good leader is supposed to make the tough decisions and
suffer the consequences. Adopting a rule which only clears your desk of
some paperwork is not leading, it's laziness. And, in the meantime, it is
the kids who will suffer from this suffocating decision.

Consider then the case of Ryan Huntsman. Ryan was stopped by the Newport
Beach Police Department after the radio in his car was so loud it was said
to have been heard in Fullerton. The police found suspected "trace amounts"
of marijuana in his car, according to the Register news report, but he was
not cited for it. He was cited instead for "noise pollution," and his
police report, which mentioned the possible trace amounts of marijuana, was
forwarded to school officials, who applied zero-tolerance rules against
him. That led to his suspension from Corona del Mar High School. He is back
at school while his case is being appealed.

The "What, me worry?" attitude of the school board came back to haunt it.
Had they not been constrained by the one-size-fits-all zero-tolerance
policy, they would not have spent one minute debating this case before
moving on to other matters, such as how to spend money they don't have for
computer tracking devices they don't need.

The computers operate the same way. In an effort to homogenize and
de-individualize the bus-riding students, the board believes it has found a
way to absolve itself of any responsible decision-making and head off the
lawyers and hostile parents who would otherwise consider a lawsuit.
"Extenuating circumstances" is a phrase you will not hear in this school
district. Neither is "degree of crime," which applies in all criminal cases
before our courts. So if your kid acts up on a school bus there is no
degree of violation. Shooting a spit wad may be the same as punching
someone in the face. Well, I've got news for the school board - the only
way you'll get kids to sit quietly on buses is to outfit them with straight
jackets and give them 10 mg of Valium prior to departure. Kids goofed
around when I rode the bus 30-something years ago and they'll goof around
50 years from now when buses are flying home on rockets.

The best solution to all of these problems is also the cheapest.
Unfortunately, only Mrs. Leece has had the giblets (with apologies to Dr.
Laura) to say that parents ought to be responsible for teaching their kids
proper public behavior. That is truly where the responsibility lies. The
last thing we need is a bureaucracy "helping" parents by absolving them of
their responsibility to monitor their kids.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

US Said To Be Harming Drug Fight In Mexico ('Los Angeles Times'
Says A General Accounting Office Investigator
Told A Joint House-Senate Hearing Wednesday
That Mexico Was Accomplishing Little In The War On Drugs
And That The Pentagon Had Hindered The Effort By Supplying Mexico
With Useless Ships And Helicopters)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 19:06:44 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: U.S. Said to be Harming Drug Fight in Mexico
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source(1): Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
TITLE (1): U.S. SAID TO BE HARMING DRUG FIGHT IN MEXICO

Newshawk: ifcb456@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Source(2): Austin American-Statesman
Contact: letters@statesman.com
Website: http://www.Austin360.com/
TITLE (2): MEXICO, PENTAGON SCOLDED IN DRUG WAR

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Stanley Meisler, L.A. Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. government investigator Wednesday chastised Mexico for
accomplishing little in the war on drugs and lashed out at the Pentagon
for hindering that effort by supplying Mexico with ships and helicopters
that either do not work or have proved ineffective.

The comments by Benjamin Nelson of the General Accounting Office at a joint
House-Senate hearing came as Congress prepared to debate as early as next
week a move to overturn President Clinton's recent certification of Mexico
as a cooperative partner in the fight against narcotics.

Nelson's testimony is likely to bolster critics of the certification
decision. His disclosures on faulty military equipment being sent to Mexico
clearly angered several lawmakers. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a
leader of the effort to overturn Mexico's certification, said she intends
to investigate the equipment issue further.

Relating what sounded like a comedy of errors, Nelson testified that the
Pentagon sold two frigates to Mexico for $7 million. When they arrived last
year, Nelson said, they were found to be unsafe and inoperable. The U.S.
Navy estimated that it would take the Mexican navy two years and $400,000
to repair the ships.

Even though the U.S. Navy knew of the condition of the frigates, Nelson
said, the Department of Defense began a $1.3 million program to train 110
Mexican sailors to use the ships. That training ends this month; the
sailors are destined for other assignments while they wait for the frigates
to become seaworthy.

Nelson - director of international relations and trade issues for the GAO,
the investigative arm of Congress - testified that Pentagon officials told
him they approved the training because they were not informed by the U.S.
Navy that the ships would not be operational.''

The GAO official also had sharp criticism of 73 UH-1H helicopters the
Defense Department sent to Mexico in 1996 and 1997 as part of a $76 million
military assistance program to improve the Mexican army's counternarcotics
efforts.

Nelson said the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City informed him that the
helicopters were incapable of carrying out their main task: swooping down
on opium poppy fields and destroying them. The helicopters are of little
use in altitudes higher than 5,000 feet, he said, and most poppy fields are
cultivated on land higher than that.

The helicopters have proved to be of limited value in ferrying soldiers at
lower altitudes because of delays in the delivery of spare parts and other
logistical problems, he added.

Nelson also testified that the Pentagon supplied four C-26 aircraft to
Mexico for surveillance of drug cultivation and trafficking but neglected
to equip the planes with all the instruments needed to perform those tasks.
To equip each plane will cost the Mexican military at least $3 million.

Gerri Taylor, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said defense officials would not
comment on Nelson's remarks until they review his report.

In assessing Mexico's record in stemming narcotics trafficking, Nelson
noted that the country has passed laws that could lead to extradition of
drug criminals and made reforms that could root out corruption in its
judiciary and police systems.

But, he said, while Mexico's actions represent positive steps, it is too
early to determine their impact, and challenges to their full
implementation remain. No Mexico national has actually been surrendered to
the United States on drug charges, new laws are not fully implemented and
building competent judicial and law enforcement institutions continues to
be a major challenge.''

He added: No country poses a more immediate narcotics threat to the United
States than Mexico.''

Clinton's certification of Mexico will stand unless Congress overturns it
before the end of this month. By law, the president must decide every year
whether other nations are cooperating with drug -fighting efforts. Those
not certified face the loss of U.S. aid.

The anti-certification resolution Feinstein is pushing, however, would
exempt Mexico from punishment.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., are
sponsoring a compromise bill that would give qualified certification'' to
countries that cooperate with the United States but fail to make sufficient
progress in stopping drug production or trafficking.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mexico's Efforts In Drug War Criticized ('Orange County Register'
Says A New Report By Benjamin Nelson Of The US General Accounting Office
Concludes Corruption Is Rampant And Little Has Been Done
To Stem The Flow Of Illegal Drugs To The United States)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 10:37:34 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Mexico's Efforts in Drug War Criticized
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Mark Helm-Herst Newspapers

MEXICO'S EFFORTS IN DRUG WAR CRITICIZED

GAO says corruption is rampant and little has been done to stem the flow to
the United States.

Washington - In a report on Mexico's war on drugs, a federal investigator
said Wednesday that country has done little in the past two years to stem
the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

"No country poses a more immediate threat to the United States than
Mexico," Benjamin Nelson of the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, told a joint House-Senate hearing on
U.S.-Mexico drug cooperation.

He outlined a GAO report that said drug-related corruption of Mexican
officials remains "pervasive and entrenched within the criminal justice
system."

Nelson, director of international relations and trade issues for the
GAO,said U.S. law enforcement agents operating in Mexico have told him they
trust only one judge in the entire country to keep wiretapping orders
secret.

While praising Mexico for passing legislation last year to combat drug
traffickers, Nelson said the "new laws are not fully implemented, and
building competent judicial and law enforcement institutions continues to
be a major problem."

He also said Mexico has failed to fully cooperate with the United States on
extradition. Although the United States and Mexico have had a mutual
extradition treaty since 1980, no Mexican has ever been turned in to the
U.S. government on drug charges.

Nelson also criticized the Pentagon, which has provided Mexico with $76
million in drug-fighting equipment, for sending planes and helicopters that
are ineffective.

The report said the Mexican military has used the equipment to fight drugs
but that "inadequate planning and coordination within the Department of
Defense" has limited the hardware's effectiveness.

Nelson said some helicopters sit idle because the U.S. military has failed
to provide Mexico with spare parts and that two Navy ships have never been
used because they were not properly outfitted when they were delivered.

Four C-26 spy planes cannot carry out their missions without $3 million in
modifications on each plane, he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Mexico's anti-narcotics effort has
gaping holes and that President Clinton's decision on Feb. 26 to certify
Mexico as a fully cooperating partner in the war on drugs was a mistake.

Feinstein, who introduced a Senate resolution to decertify Mexico, pointed
to reports that Mexico is the primary transit country for cocaine entering
the United States from South America.

"Ignoring the failures of Mexico's anti-drug effort will not make them go
away," she said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said anti-drug efforts with Mexico "have been a
failure in every respect."

He added: "We've been having these same hearings every year, and it's not
getting better. It's getting worse. And it's going to get worse next year."

An effort to decertify Mexico was defeated last year. Instead, Congress
passed a watered-down resolution that voiced displeasure with Mexico's
anti-drug efforts. In addition, the Senate required Clinton to report later
on whether Mexico had made significant progress in its fight against, drug
traffickers. Last fall, he assured Congress that it had.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mexico, Pentagon Criticized In Report ('San Francisco Examiner'
Version)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:23:10 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Mexico, Pentagon Criticized in Report
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" 
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Mark Helm Examiner Washington Bureau

MEXICO, PENTAGON CRITICIZED IN REPORT

WASHINGTON -- Only a week before the Senate is expected to vote on Sen.
Dianne Feinstein's resolution to decertify Mexico as a partner in the war
on drugs, the General Accounting Office released a scathing report
attacking Mexico and the Pentagon for doing little to stem the flow of
illegal narcotics.

"No country poses a more immediate narcotics threat to the United States
than Mexico," Benjamin Nelson of the GAO told Wednesday's joint
House-Senate hearing on U.S.-Mexico drug cooperation.

The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

Nelson outlined a GAO report that said drug-related corruption of Mexican
officials remains "pervasive and entrenched within the criminal justice
system."

Nelson said U.S. law enforcement agents operating in Mexico have told him
they trust only one judge in the entire country to keep wiretapping orders
secret.

While praising Mexico for passing legislation last year to combat drug
traffickers, Nelson said the "new laws are not fully implemented, and
building competent judicial and law enforcement institutions continues to
be a major problem."

He also said Mexico has failed to fully cooperate with the United States on
extradition. Although the United States and Mexico have had a mutual
extradition treaty since 1980, no Mexican national has ever been turned in
to the U.S. government on drug charges, he added.

Nelson also criticized the Pentagon, which has provided Mexico with $76
million in drug-fighting equipment, for sending planes and helicopters that
are ineffective.

The report said the Mexican military has used the equipment to fight drugs
but that "inadequate planning and coordination within the Department of
Defense" has limited the hardware's effectiveness.

Nelson said some helicopters sit idle because the U.S. military has failed
to provide Mexico with spare parts and that two Navy ships have never been
used because they were not properly outfitted when they were delivered.

The helicopters are of little use above 5,000 feet, where most opium poppy
is cultivated, and four C-26 spy planes cannot carry out their missions
without $3 million in modifications on each plane, he said.

"You'd think we'd at least provide equipment which is fully operational,"
said Feinstein, D-Calif. "I'm surprised, disappointed and somewhat shocked
that the Defense Department didn't take this a little more seriously."

Nelson also said the agencies overseeing the anti-drug efforts -- the White
House drug office, the State Department and the Pentagon -- need to work
together better: "In some cases there isn't the appropriate amount of
coordination."

The White House in late February decided to certify Mexico for another year
for cooperating in fighting drugs. The administration cited Mexican efforts
to combat corruption and arrest drug dealers, new legal procedures to stop
trafficking and money laundering and a bilateral extradition agreement.

Feinstein, who has introduced a Senate resolution to decertify Mexico,
pointed to reports that Mexico is the primary transit country for cocaine
entering the United States from South America, as well as a major source
for heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines.

"Ignoring the failures of Mexico's anti-drug effort will not make them go
away," she said.

Feinstein said the Senate would vote as early as next week to overturn
Mexico's certification.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said anti-drug efforts with Mexico "have been a
failure in every respect."

He added, "We've been having these same hearings every year, and it's not
getting better. It's getting worse. And it's going to get worse next year."

Efforts last year to decertify Mexico failed. Instead, Congress passed a
watered-down resolution that voiced displeasure with Mexico's anti-drug
efforts. In addition, the Senate required Clinton to report later on
whether Mexico had made significant progress in its fight against drug
traffickers. Last fall he assured Congress that it had.

This year the Senate also will consider a bill by Sens. Kay Bailey
Hutchison, R-Texas, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to give only "qualified
certification" to countries that cooperate with the United States but fail
to make sufficient progress in stopping drug production or trafficking.

Under the legislation, a country receiving a qualified certification would
have a year to meet anti-drug goals set by top law enforcement officials
from the United States and that country.

Each year, under U.S. law, the president is required to assess by March 1
whether countries that produce or traffic in illicit drugs are cooperating
with the United States or taking "adequate" steps on their own to combat
narcotics.

Countries that are not certified as partners in the drug war can lose U.S.
aid. But the president can waive penalties, as he did this year with
Colombia.

Since the annual certification began in 1986, Mexico has always been deemed
a cooperating partner.

Thirty countries were assessed this year. Four were decertified but given
so-called "national-interest" waivers to avoid economic penalties. Besides
Colombia, they were Cambodia, Pakistan and Paraguay.

Four other nations -- Afghanistan, Burma, Iran and Nigeria -- did not
receive either certification or a waiver. The Associated Press contributed
to this report.

1998 San Francisco Examiner

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Newly Available GAO Reports And Testimonies (US General Accounting Office
Gives URLs For New Report, 'Drug Control -
Status Of US International Counternarcotics Activities')

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 10:06:02 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: adbryan@onramp.net
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Newly Available GAO Reports and Testimonies, March 19, 1998
-- Begin Included Message --
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 08:24:50 -0500
From: documents@gao.gov
To: daybook@www.gao.gov
Subject: Newly Available GAO Reports and Testimonies, March 19, 1998
Sender: owner-daybook@www.gao.gov
Reply-To: documents@gao.gov

March 19, 1998

The following items were added to GAO's World Wide Web site in
Portable Document (PDF) format.

- Drug Control: Status of U.S. International Counternarcotics
Activities. T-NSIAD-98-116. 18 pp. March 12, 1998.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/ns98116t.pdf


These reports and testimonies will also be added to our
WAIS database in ASCII and PDF formats within the next 24 hours.

This database can be searched from the World Wide Web from the
search page at:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml

If you are using speech synthesizer equipment or lack World Wide
Web access you may search this database with GPO's public swais
client by telnetting to: swais.access.gpo.gov

Any individual report may be retrieved directly from that archive
in text and PDF formats with the following URL:

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?RPTNO

replacing RPTNO with the report number (e.g., GAO/OCG-98-1).

To UNSUBSCRIBE from the GAO Daybook mailing list, send an e-mail
message to: majordomo@www.gao.gov
with: unsubscribe daybook (your_email_address)

in the message body. Please do not reply to this message to
unsubscribe from the mailing list.

Thank you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hemp Supporters Look North ('Associated Press' Interviews
North Dakota Advocates Of Industrial Hemp Who Hope Its Legalization
And Success In Canada Will Spur Its Reintroduction In The United States)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 17:11:04 -0500
From: "R. Lake" 
Subject: MN: US ND: Wire: Hemp Supporters Look North
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joe Hickey and GDaurer
Pubdate: March 19, 1998
Source: Associated Press
Author: JOHN MacDONALD

HEMP SUPPORTERS LOOK NORTH

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Canada's decision to let farmers grow industrial hemp
after a 60-year ban could provide just the political pressure needed to
persuade American regulators to lift their ban as well, hemp advocates say.

A North Dakota lawmaker who wrote legislation to study hemp's potential as a
cash crop says he doesn't expect the federal government to change its mind
overnight.

``But I think if it turns out that hemp is a viable crop that our farmers
could make some money with, certainly there would be a big push down here to
be allowed to grow it as well,'' added state Rep. Dave Monson of Osnabrock.

Canadian Health Minister Allan Rock said last week that farmers in that
country will be allowed to grow industrial hemp commercially in 1998.
Production will be highly regulated and permits will be required.

Industrial hemp fiber is used to make everything from paper, rope and
clothing to plastics and medicine. Several states are considering allowing
farmers to grow the crop.

In making the announcement, Rock said hemp farming has ``tremendous
potential'' for creating new jobs and boosting the agriculture economy of
the country. Supporters of legalized hemp farming say there is a $30-
million-a- year market for hemp products in North America.

It is that potential that hemp advocates fear U.S. farmers will miss out on
if regulators here don't revoke the growing ban.

Canada and the United States banned hemp farming in the late 1930s because
of its close association with marijuana. Hemp is a member of the cannabis
family that includes marijuana. While the plants appear similar, hemp
contains only minute traces of the substance in marijuana that gives smokers
their high.

Still, law enforcement agencies oppose legalizing hemp production because of
the difficulty in telling the two plants apart.

Hemp advocate Floyd Boutrous of Bismarck, whose sons operate a hemp clothing
maker in San Francisco, said U.S. laws prohibiting hemp are archaic.

His sons, for instance, must import pre-made fabric from other countries
where hemp production is legal.

North Dakota State University researcher David Kraenzel said there is no
shame letting Canada enter the hemp market first.

``There's advantages and disadvantages to being first,'' said Kraenzel, who
is leading the North Dakota State University hemp study provided by Monson's
bill.

``There's nothing wrong with being what I call the lead producer, but
there's nothing wrong with being the lead follower, either. Let those who
can afford to make mistakes lead the way,'' added Kraenzel, associate
director of the university's Institute of Natural Resources and Economic
Development.

Kraenzel's study is an attempt to determine whether hemp would be a viable
alternative crop in North Dakota, should the federal government ever make it
legal.

The probe will include an analysis of possible markets and the availability
of production and processing facilities. A final report is due by August.

Monson said he is eager to see the report and plans to watch what happens in
Canada very closely.

``Whatever Canada can do with it, we can, too,'' he said. ``If they can find
a way to make it work economically, there's nothing to say that we can't do
the same.''

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lynn's Witness List (Update On Lynn Harichy's Constitutional Challenge
To Medical Marijuana Prohibition In Canada Notes Her Witnesses
Will Include Doctors Morgan, Petro And Mechoulam)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 11:10:55 -0800
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: Chris Clay 
Subject: Lynn's witness list

The following experts have agreed to help with Lynn Harichy's medical
marijuana constitutional challenge. For background on Lynn's case, please see:

http://www.hempnation.com/focus/focus-0111.html

1) Dr. John Morgan (CUNY)

2) Dr. Paul Consroe (University of Arizona)(has done all the
major literature reviews and a few informal surveys among MS patients)

3) Dr. Michael Walker (Brown University) - (has done studies on
cannabis for pain relief)

4) Dr. Petro (currently working for Cynosure Inc) (did all the
early studies on MS and pot in the 1970's)

5) Dr. Roger Pertwee (University of Aberdeen) (helped author
British Medical Association report and head of a UK reserach group looking
into med mj)

6) Dr. Mechoulam (Hebrew University - Israel) - discovered THC and he has
done recent studies on pot and neurological disorders

Prof. Young will get affidavits from these witnesses, but hopes to bring at
least most of them to testify in person. It all depends on funds...
Donations, large & small, should me made payable to "Alan Young" and sent to:

Lynn Harichy
c/o The Organic Traveller
101-343 Richmond St.
London, ON
N6A 3C2

Thanks for your support!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy Smoke! A Church? ('Nelson Daily News' In British Columbia
Says The Holy Smoke Hemp Store Has Become The Holy Smoke Mission Of God,
A Branch Of The Church Of The Universe, Established In 1969,
Known For Its Marijuana-Smoking Devotees)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 20:22:25 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: Canada: Holy Smoke! A Church?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Herb
Source: Nelson Daily News-page 3 ( British Columbia, Canada)
Contact: ndnews@netidea.com
Pubdate:Thu, 19 Mar 1998
Author: Lara Schroeder - Nelson Daily News Staff

HOLY SMOKE! A CHURCH?

Religious angle at culture shop baffles city officials

The Holy Smoke Culture Shop is now the Holy Smoke Mission of God, and no
one seems sure what that means. Store owners Dustin Cantwell, Paul DeFelice
and Alan Middlemiss have been made missionaries of the Church of the
Universe based in Ontario, which has also declared the shop a church.

"It just means that Holy Smoke is a sacred space and that we're fighting
for spiritual freedom. That's what all churches aretrying to overcome
evil," said Cantwell.

The Nelson hemp products store has been the focus of media attention since
the three owners were arrested for marijuana trafficking and the city
jacked up its business licence fee to $1,000.

The owners and city officials aren't sure what becoming a branch of the
Church of the Universe would mean for the shop, which was notified of its
new status a few days ago. The Church of the Universe, established in 1969,
is known for its marijuana-smoking devotees.

"Basically, they consider the Sacrament to be the Tree of Life, which is
cannabis," Cantwell explained. "It's comparable to (Christians) drinking
wine or the Druids drinking mead. Each church has a sacrament."

Cantwell doesn't think the church was founded to fight for the legalization
of marijuana, but because it was part of their worship it became an issue,
he stated.

"It became political, since that's what their sacrament was," he said.

The three Holy Smoke owners, who were already members of the church, were
made missionaries because they're spreading the word and fighting for what
they believe in, according to Cantwell.

"You become a missionary when you stand up for what you believe in," he stated.

Cantwell isn't sure what kind of recognition the church has received from
governments and doesn't know what becoming a church will mean to Holy
Smoke. "We're not sure what it entails as an organization, what we're
entitled to," he said. "If you're a church, there may be a way to bypass
having (business) licences."

If the new religious establishment has services they will likely be in an
outdoor environment, according to Cantwell. "Holy Smoke looking at
rezoning - hoping to open up new church," he suggested as a newspaper
headline.

If they seriously want to be recognized as a church, they will have to
rezone, according to city administrator Victor Kumar. "If they're a church
they're in the wrong zone," Kumar said. "A church is not allowed in a C-1
zoning." Churches are allowed in R-1 through R-6 areas," Kumar stated.

Kumar isn't sure what it would mean if the shop decided to declare itself a
church and would have to know what they want from the city before he'd be
able to comment, he stated.

It does make the situation a bit more complicated, he said, because any
time religion comes up so does the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There
is no defiition of a church in the Municipal Act or in city bylaws, as far
as Kumar knows.

"I don't think you can really define what a church is in a bylaw. You'll
soon be hauled before the courts for a Charter of Rights violation," he
explained. "I'm not quite sure what the ramifications are," Kumar
eventually stated with a laugh as he admitted it's not a situation he's
ever had to deal with before.

Mayor Gary Exner also doesn't know what the change could mean.

"If they're a church or a temple, I don't know of any churches that pay a
business licence," he said. "I don't really want to comment on it, because
I haven't seen anything."

Smoking marijuana is against the law and breaking the law doesn't seem to
be a very Christian thing to do, Exner stated. The church's literature
quotes from the Christian Bible.

"I'm not sure where they're coming from, if they're legitimate," Exner
said. "I guess every religion to their own, or every church to their own."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Methadone Program - Baby Molly's Family Favors Controls On Addicts' Fertility
('Victoria Times Colonist' In British Columbia Says The Family Of The Baby
Born Dependent On Methadone Was Denied Custody In Favor Of A Foster Mother
Ignorant Of Her Needs Who Shook The Infant So Hard She Was Left Blind
And Severely Brain Damaged)

Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 21:07:50 -0800 (PST)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
From: arandell@islandnet.com (Alan Randell)
Subject: Family favors controls on addicts' fertility
Newshawk: Alan Randell
Pubdate: March 19, 1998
Source: Victoria Times Colonist (B.C.)
Contact: timesc@interlink.bc.ca

Methadone Program

Baby Molly's family favors controls on addicts' fertility

By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist Staff

(BOX)

Molly's story

Molly Delaronde was in hospital for the first two months of her
life while she withdrew from methadone.

Provincial government social workers then placed the baby with
foster mother Kim Kierkegaard, even though family members wanted
to take her and her aunt had custody of Molly's older sister.

Four days later Kierkegaard, not trained to deal with the needs
of a baby withdrawing from methadone, shook the infant. If Molly
had not had surgery that night, she would have died.

Earlier this month, Kierkegaard, who pleaded guilty to criminal
negligence causing bodily harm, was given a conditional sentence
of two years less a day, to be served in the community.

(END OF BOX)

A government that gives women drugs also should have the power to
insist she use birth control, say family members of Molly
Delaronde.

The spiral of horrors that resulted in Molly being left blind and
severely brain damaged could have been avoided if someone had
insisted mother Jackie Delaronde not become pregnant again while
on methadone, say her sisters.

However, spokesmen for the government-funded methadone program
say insisting clients use contraceptives would trample on their
constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently confirmed that the rights of
the mother take precedence over the rights of her unborn
children.

"Birth control doesn't have anything to do with the methadone
program. The patients have a heroin addiction and are placed on
methadone for treatment of that disease," said Peter Hickey,
executive director of the College of Physicians and Surgeons
which administers the methadone program.

Moll, now 13 months old, was born addicted because her mother has
been on the methadone program for about seven years.

After being withdrawn from the drug in hospital, Molly could have
lived a normal life if she had not been assaulted by her foster
mother.

"Molly and hundreds of other babies can be born addicted and have
to go through the withdrawal that their parents are too selfish
to go through," said Cindy Engbrecht, Molly's aunt, who now has
custody of the baby.

"We have to stop this happening to children. Molly should not
suffer for the sins of he parents."

But Brian Oswald, administrator of the Victoria methadone
program, said a woman having a methadone-addicted baby is
infinitely preferable to having a baby born to a mother addicted
to street drugs or alcohol where there is a likelihood of the
baby having lifelong problems.

The methadone program is a harm-reduction program and, if someone
was denied methadone because of pregnancy, they would probably
use heroin instead, he said.

During the past five years, there have been only about three
births among the 400 patients in Victoria, Oswald said.
Provincewide figures are not available.

Engbrecht said changes are needed.

"They have shot now that's good for three months. A woman should
be told she has to have the shot or she won't get her free
drugs," she said.

Molly was 40-year-old Jackie Delaronde's fifth child, but some
were born before her addictions surfaced and all are in the care
of family members and doing well, Engbrecht said.

"We're very proud of them all. The family has done everything
possible to try to break Jackie of her addictions, but nothing
has worked, said her sister, Lisa Stolth.

Shortly after Molly's birth, Jackie Delaronde consented to
sterilization and was in hospital, prepped and awaiting the
operation.

However, the surgery was delayed, apparently because staff had
not known she was on methadone, and Delaronde did not return as
requested, Stolth said.

"When you're dealing with someone like that, you don't say come
back tomorrow."

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Penguin Puts Dealers On Ice In $82Gs Drug Bust ('Ottawa Sun'
Notes A 12-Month Undercover Investigation Dubbed 'Project Penguin'
In The Suburban Ottawa Community Of Carleton Place
Has Resulted In 25 Arrests, A Small Amount Of Cash,
Plus Cannabis And Cocaine Allegedly Worth $82,500 -
Newspaper Omits Cost Of Investigation Or Prosecutions)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 09:17:53 -0800 (PST)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: PENGUIN PUTS DEALERS ON ICE IN $82GS DRUG BUST
Lines: 37

Source: Ottawa Sun
Contact: editor@sunpub.com

March 19, 1998

PENGUIN PUTS DEALERS ON ICE IN $82GS DRUG BUST

CREDIT: By MARIA McCLINTOCK -- Ottawa Sun

A 12-month undercover drug probe ended in a pre-dawn raid yesterday
as regional narcotics officers and the SWAT team swooped down on five
Carleton Place addresses, arresting over a dozen people.

The main targets of Project Penguin were street-level dealers
peddling a variety of drugs in the small town located west of Ottawa.

Twenty-five local residents have been charged with 65 possession and
trafficking-related offences. Earlier in the week, several people were
arrested in connection with the case.

Despite the lengthy investigation, police only seized a small amount
of cash and $82,500 in hash, marijuana and cocaine.

"It's hard to go in cold and make buys off the street," said OPP
Staff Sgt. Rick Burgess, who oversees the Ottawa-Carleton drug unit.

"The officers did a good job."

He added doing undercover work in a small community is difficult
because everyone knows one another.

"I'm not saying the arrests complete all the drug transactions in
Carleton Place, but they certainly put a dent in street-level drug
dealing," said the town's Police Chief Earl Johns, who contacted the
drug unit a year ago. "I believe this had a high impact because some
of the players were key dealers."'

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Alligators Snapped Up By Drug Dealers (Britain's 'Telegraph'
Says The Supposed New Trend Among American Drug Sellers
Was 'Accentuated' When Don Johnson Kept Elvis The Alligator
As A Companion On His Boat In The Television Crime Series, 'Miami Vice')

Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 17:16:03 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Alligators Snapped Up by Drug Dealers
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "(Zosimos) Martin Cooke" 
Source: Telegraph, The (UK)
Contact: et.letters@telegraph.co.uk
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

ALLIGATORS SNAPPED UP BY DRUG DEALERS

INSTEAD of pitbulls, alligators are becoming the new "guard dogs" of choice
for an increasing number of Americans, particularly members of drug gangs
anxious to protect their cash and narcotics.

In recent months, police in Massachusetts, where keeping large reptiles has
been illegal for more than 20 years, have encountered four alligators and
caymans used to protect property.

The most recent incident involved an alligator guarding drugs kept at the
home of a dealer in New Bedford. "It's the new status thing," said Victor
Mendes, a drug squad detective. "They've graduated from pitbulls to
alligators. They use the things to intimidate."

Caymans, in fact, are more useful for their bark than their bite: vets say
that, although the ferocious-looking members of the crocodile family can
reach up to six feet, they normally would not attack anyone unless
starving.

There is a big demand for the animals; one renowned for its "ferocious
leaping attacks" was stolen recently from a San Francisco zoo. In Lakewood,
Colorado, officers had to wrestle with a four-foot specimen while they were
evicting a tenant and, in Connecticut, a temporary animal shelter had to be
established to house seized reptiles.

For years, Americans have bought reptiles as pets, a trend accentuated when
Don Johnson kept Elvis the alligator as a companion on his boat in the
television crime series Miami Vice. Rumours abound of owners getting tired
of them when they grow too large and flushing them down the lavatory,
sparking wholly unsubstantiated stories in New York of monster alligators
residing in the sewers.

However, the trend to use exotic animals for protection is something new:
police in New York recently found a 12-ft snake in a cupboard guarding a
drug dealers' cocaine supply.

Sgt Robert Mercon, of Massachusetts environmental police department, said
there are obvious drawbacks to owning alligators and caymans. He said:
"They grow too quickly, they get too big and they get too vicious. And they
have very sharp teeth." The only upside, he reckons, is that "you don't
have to take them for walks and they don't get fleas."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Offenders To Be Dealt With At Special Court (Britain's 'Independent'
Notes That Apparently, Britain's Ruling Class Likes The Way
The War On Some Drug Users Is Playing Out In Florida,
Since They Are Establishing 'Drug Courts' Imported From There)

Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 17:58:49 -0500
From: "R. Lake" 
Subject: MN: UK: Drug Offenders To Be Dealt With At Special Court
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: "(Zosimos) Martin Cooke" 
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Aitjpr: Esther Leach
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 1998

DRUG OFFENDERS TO BE DEALT WITH AT SPECIAL COURT

Magistrates are soon to begin training for an experimental court dedicated
to dealing with drug offenders.

They will spend two days looking in depth and discussing with experts the
impact of hard drugs on society and the lives of people who take them and
deal in them.

The JPs, all very experienced, will sit at Wakefield and Pontefract
magistrates' courts in West Yorkshire, where they will decide if offenders
go on rehabilitation programmes or are sentenced in another way.

Constance Gilbey, 68, chair-woman of Wakefield magistrates, who is one of a
pool of 24 volunteer JPs, said the court should not be seen as an easy
option for offenders.

"Those who go on the treatment programme will follow a very strict regime
which will restrict their freedom," said Miss Gilbey. "The idea is to help
offenders to break the drugs habit and give them new lives ... what's useful
to the offender will be useful to society."

Miss Gilbey, a JP for 38 years, said magistrates will have to be convinced
that the offenders who come to their court are committed to the treatment
programme before they are allowed on to it.

The court, which begins work in June, is part of "Step" - substance misuse
and enforcement programme - initiated by Wakefield Health Authority, drugs
agencies in the area and the UK anti-drugs co-ordinator, Keith Hellawell,
when he was chief constable of West Yorkshire, after they saw a similar
scheme operating in Miami.

Police will refer offenders arrested for drug-related crimes to a Step
worker who will assess them in the cells before they are bailed or remanded
to the next available drugs court, which will be held weekly in Wakefield
and eventually Pontefract.

Their treatment taken while on probation will involve detoxification, using
drug substitutes, and therapy to change attitudes and behaviour. Regular
urine tests will be made to check that no drugs are being taken.

An offender will go back to court regularly so magistrates can monitor their
progress. If they do well they will graduate and the probation order
terminated or left to expire.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Cannabis As Medicine (Dr. Roger Pertwee, President
Of The International Cannabinoid Research Society,
Informs Readers Of 'The Scotsman' Why Marijuana Is Medicine)

From: enadelmann@sorosny.org
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 98 00:20:25 EST
To: #TLC__CANNABIS_at_osi-ny@mail.sorosny.org, tlc-cannabis@soros.org
Subject: UK: Cannabis as Medicine (Roger Pertwee)
Sender: owner-tlc-cannabis@soros.org
SOURCE: The Scotsman (UK)
DATE: February 19, 1998
WEBSITE: http://www.scotsman.com/
AUTHOR: Dr. Roger Pertwee, President of the International Cannabinoid
Research Society.

CANNABIS AS MEDICINE

The plant Cannabis sativa is the unique source of a set of more
than sixty related chemicals called cannabinoids. Among these is
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to which most of the known
pharmacological properties of cannabis can be attributed. For many years
the mode of action of THC remained a mystery. However, all this changed
recently with the discovery first, that our bodies contain specialized
sites (cannabinoid receptors) that mediate many of the effects of THC
and second, that our tissues can produce their own cannabinoids that
interact with these receptors to control the release of chemical
messengers in various parts of the body including the brain.

These important scientific advances have been paralleled by a
growing realization that cannabis probably has important medicinal
properties. Indeed, two cannabinoids, THC (dronabinol) and nabilone are
already used clinically in this country and elsewhere to suppress nausea
and vomiting provoked by cancer chemotherapy. THC can also be prescribed
in the USA to boost the appetite of AIDS patients and so reduce loss of
body weight. Although they are not licensed for any other clinical
purposes, it is likely that cannabis and individual cannabinoids would
also be effective in relieving the muscle spasms, pain and bladder
dysfunction of multiple sclerosis and spinal injury, in managing other
types of pain and in treating glaucoma and bronchial asthma. A few
British doctors currently prescribe nabilone for multiple sclerosis or
chronic pain. However, most are not prepared to do this as the drug is
not licensed for these purposes.

The evidence supporting the use of cannabinoids for multiple
sclerosis or spinal injury is particularly promising. It is based on
anecdotal, pharmacological and clinical data. The clinical evidence
comes from seven trials, albeit with rather small numbers of patients.
These showed that cannabis, THC or nabilone can reduce the intensity of
at least some signs and symptoms of multiple sclerosis or spinal injury,
particularly spasticity, pain and nocturia. THC has also been shown to
be effective in an animal model of multiple sclerosis. Results from
other trials as well as from animal studies lend further support to the
claim that THC relieves pain. As to the anecdotal data, these are to be
found in numerous newspaper reports and also in the responses to a
survey that we conducted recently. The survey targeted multiple
sclerosis patients who self-medicate with cannabis and there were 112
replies. Among the claimed benefits of cannabis were improvements in
spasticity at sleep onset (96.5%), pain in muscles (95.1%), spasticity
when waking at night (93.2%), pain in the legs at night (92.3%), tremor
of arms/head (90.7%) and depression (90.6%). Whilst many find the
existing data convincing, others remain skeptical and would like
to see larger, more extensive clinical trials that will test the
efficacy of cannabis or individual cannabinoids against signs and
symptoms of multiple sclerosis and spinal injury more conclusively. This
view is supported by the British Medical Association which recommended
in its recently published report on "Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis", that
"The Clinical Cannabinoid Group, interested patient groups,
pharmaceutical companies and the Department of Health should work
together to encourage properly conducted clinical trials to evaluate the
further potential therapeutic uses of cannabinoids, alone or in
combination , and/or in combination with other drugs". We at Aberdeen
intend to carry out such a trial - if we can obtain the necessary
funding.

Some of the effects of cannabis and THC are potentially hazardous.
For example, cannabinoids can increase heart rate and alter hormone
release. There is also evidence that cannabis can induce psychoses in
individuals predisposed to schizophrenia. Because of the tars produced
during the combustion process, cannabis is carcinogenic when smoked.
However cannabis and cannabinoids are also active by other routes. The
available data suggest that cannabis is not strongly "addictive". Nor is
there any pharmacological evidence that cannabis use leads on to the
taking of other illegal drugs. The evidence that cannabis and
cannabinoids can produce adverse effects should not rule out their use
as medicines as these effects are no worse than those of some prescribed
drugs.

Even though cannabis may produce unwanted effects in some people,
it can now be prescribed in Italy as well as in Arizona and California
(according to State Laws). It could also be prescribed in this country
until 1971. Indeed in 1968, a government advisory committee concluded in
its report to the Home Office (the "Wootton Report") that "Preparations
of cannabis and its derivatives should continue to be available on
prescription for purposes of medical treatment and research".

Further research into the medicinal properties of cannabis and
cannabinoids is needed. We also need to develop better drug formulations
and to optimize the mode of cannabinoid administration. As all this will
take considerable time, a strong case can be made on the grounds of
common sense and compassion for allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis,
nabilone or dronabinol now for disorders such as multiple sclerosis and
spinal injury. This would seem preferable to the present state of
affairs where many patients who in all other ways appear to be
law-abiding citizens feel so strongly that they should self-medicate
with cannabis that they are prepared to take the concomitant risks: the
chance of discovery and punishment, the total lack of medical
supervision of the cannabis consumption and the use of cannabis of
unknown potency and pedigree that may contain pathogenic organisms or
microbial toxins or have been be adulterated with other drugs or
pesticides. As yet dronabinol and nabilone are not licensed in Britain
for the treatment of anything other than chemotherapy-induced nausea and
vomiting. Hence patients wishing to be treated with cannabis-related
compounds for other disorders usually have no option but to seek out
cannabis as this is the only such drug that is available to them.

Dr Roger Pertwee, Reader in Biomedical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences
University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, Scotland, UK
Tel: 01224-273040 (within UK) or int code + 44-1224-273040 (direct line)
FAX: 01224-273019 (within UK) or int code + 44-1224-273019 Ext: 3040
email: rgp@aberdeen.ac.uk

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[End]