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

Number Of State Police On Highways Down Drastically ('Associated Press'
Bears Witness To How Oregon's Policy
Of Focusing Its Law Enforcement Budget On Building Prisons
And Enforcing Illegal-Drug Laws Has Paradoxically Reduced Services
And Increased The Risks To Public Safety -
The Number Of Drunken Driving Citations Is Down By 63 Percent)

From: "W.H.E.N." 
To: "-Hemp Talk" 
Subject: HT: Number of state police on highways down drastically
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 14:25:43 -0800
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

Who'd want to be on traffic patrol when there's meth labs to bust? Bob_O

***

Number of state police on highways down drastically
The Associated Press
03/22/98 4:02 PM Eastern

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- As the saying goes, drive like hell. You'll get there.

These days, because of drastically reduced numbers of state police on
patrol, the odds are pretty good that you won't be caught.

During the past two decades the number of speeding tickets has dropped by
69 percent and the number of drunken driving citations by 63 percent.
Reckless driving citations are down 37 percent.

On a given day, only a half dozen state troopers are on Interstate-5 from
Portland to Ashland. Along some stretches of Oregon's 17,000 miles of
highway, it could take hours for a trooper to respond to an emergency.

State budget cuts have reduced the ranks of patrolling troopers from 539
two decades ago to 332 today.

At the same time, the number of vehicles on Oregon's highways has grown by
1.3 million since 1980 and the number of Oregon licensed drivers and miles
traveled has increased by a third in that time.

Oregon State Police say the problems are such that it will take $42.4
million during the next two years to fix them.

That's the amount state police say they'll probably seek from the 1999
Legislature. It would increase the patrolling ranks by 256 -- a 77 percent
jump.

"The environment we've created by a lack of enforcement has led people to
take to the next step of recklessness," said State Police Maj. Lee
Erickson.

Diana Rouser of Salem knows what it's like not to have enough protection on
Oregon's highways.

Her car rolled to a stop on the side of the freeway during rush hour last
November.

With no trooper in sight, Rouser was relieved when a white van suddenly
pulled up. But her relief quickly turned to terror. Her rescuers were
hoodlums looking to rape her.

She got away after poking the two in the eyes. They sped off, knocking her
unconscious when they slammed her head to the pavement.

Hours after regaining consciousness, the 35-year-old paralegal said a
trooper came to her assistance along one of the state's busiest stretches
of highway near Tigard. Now she carries a cellular phone.

It's the sharp decline in arrests of intoxicated drivers that most concerns
Jeanne Canfield, chairwoman of Oregon's Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Oregon was the first state to lower the blood-alcohol driving limit to .08
percent and is considering reducing it more. Canfield wonders whether the
state should enforce the law it now has before making it stricter.

"Oregon has a lot of good drunk driving laws already in place that need to
be enforced," she said.

"You know what's happening out there: abusive drivers and just a total
disregard for safety out there is what the effect is on the safety of our
citizens," State Police Superintendent LeRon Howland said. "We can show
that statistically. Or you can go out there and drive and live it, every
day."

Oregon's 1995 highway fatality rate was 21 percent higher than Washington's
and 33 percent higher the following year. The state of Washington has twice
as many troopers than Oregon.

Oregon's troopers have never recovered from sharp budget cuts made in 1980
after voters shut off their gas tax revenue, Howland said. That has left
troopers to compete for general funds with schools, social programs and
other needs.

Leslie Carlson, a spokesman for Gov. John Kitzhaber, said the Legislature
squashed the governor's proposed transportation package last year, which in
addition to funding roads and highways would have financed 100 new
troopers.

"Certainly, the governor is aware there is a serious need for more troopers
on the roads," Carlson said.

Senate President Brady Adams, R-Grants Pass, agreed.

But if lawmakers increase the state police budget, they'll have to cut
elsewhere.

"I think there is an issue of the adequacy of staffing on the state
police," Adams said. "Assuming it is inadequate, then the argument is, how
do you pay for it?"

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

San Francisco To Defend Medical Pot Clubs ('Sacramento Bee' Version
Notes A Rally In Support Of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Is Set For Tuesday Morning Outside The Federal Courthouse
In San Francisco)

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 10:40:46 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US CA: S.F. to Defend Medical Pot Clubs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Chris Clay 
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998
Author: John Lyons, Bee Correspondent

S.F. SET TO DEFEND MEDICAL POT CLUBS

SAN FRANCISCO -- With government lawyers arriving from Washington this week
to shut down Northern California's medical marijuana clubs, this often
irreverent bay-side city has mustered all its political weight to make sure
the ill can still get pot.

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and the mayors of four other California
cities sent letters to the White House on March 18, asking the Clinton
administration to "respect local government's expertise" when it comes to
marijuana and the seriously ill.

City District Attorney Terence Hallinan filed friend-of-the-court papers
two days earlier threatening that the city might use its own workers to
distribute marijuana if the federal government closed the clubs, the main
outlet for the drug since it was legalized for medical use under
Proposition 215, a voter initiative passed in 1996.

"We're saying, 'Hey, this is not your business,' " Hallinan said in a
telephone interview. "San Francisco has been dealing with this for years."

Five years before Proposition 215, the city passed an initiative supporting
the distribution of marijuana to the sick. Proponents of the plant say it
helps AIDS and chemotherapy patients maintain their weight by fighting
nausea and increasing appetite.

On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Justice lawyers will ask a federal judge in
San Francisco for an injunction closing six Northern California marijuana
clubs that were shut as part of a civil suit filed in federal court Jan. 9.
Despite Proposition 215, all possession of marijuana is still against
federal law.

The clubs -- two in San Francisco and one each in Oakland, Santa Cruz,
Ukiah and Marin County -- represent about 80 percent of the medical pot
distributed in the state.

Marijuana activists see Tuesday's hearing as a major test for the new law,
and have dubbed the case "United States vs. Medical Marijuana."

The case is also the first attempt by Washington to regain its footing
since drug czar Barry McCaffrey threatened in 1996 to impose sanctions on
doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients. That plan backfired
when a federal judge said it violated the First Amendment and enjoined drug
officials from taking any action against doctors.

"If it wasn't such a political issue, I'd say the federal government has
finally found an effective strategy," said Michael Vitiello, a professor at
McGeorge School of Law who has written about Proposition 215. "The legal
issues aren't that difficult, but the political side is very interesting."

Justice Department lawyers will clearly have the law on their side,
Vitiello said. Federal law always trumps state law. But popular support for
giving the seriously ill access to marijuana could force the federal
government into some form of compromise on the issue.

Proposition 215 passed by about 56 percent of California voters.

The mayors of West Hollywood, Oakland, Santa Cruz and San Francisco said in
their March 18 letter writing campaign that closing the clubs completely
could endanger the public health of their cities.

"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. "This will not only endanger their lives, but place an unnecessary
burden on our local police departments." With a tradition of progressive
politics and active gay community, San Francisco has earned a reputation
for innovation and controversy on AIDS-related issues.

City leaders have openly rebuked efforts by state Attorney General Dan
Lungren to shut down medical marijuana outlets.

In 1992, San Francisco went against state law to endorse clean needle
exchange programs to stem the spread of the HIV virus by intravenous drug
users.

"San Francisco has always been a little ahead," Hallinan said. "I don't
think there's a person in this city who doesn't know someone who has been
affected by AIDS."

Leaders from San Francisco and other cities are expected to attend a rally
in support of the marijuana outlets set for Tuesday morning outside the
federal courthouse.

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

Medical Marijuana Battle Heats Up (NBC News Version)

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 21:45:10 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US; NBC: Medical Marijuana Battle Heats Up
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Pubdate: March 22, 1998
Source: NBC NEWS
Author: Dan Lothian, NBC News Correspondent
Contact: World@MSNBC.com
Website: http://www.msnbc.com/

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BATTLE HEATS UP

U.S. Seeks To Shut Down 6 Distribution Clubs In California

LOS ANGESLES, March 22 -- The U.S. government will go to court this week in
California to attempt to shut down centers for the distribution of
marijuana for medical purposes. Such distribution was made legal in the
state by the passage of Proposition 215.

IT MAY BE illegal under federal law, but in the state of California
marijuana as medicine is just what the voters ordered when they approved
Proposition 215 back in 1996.

The goal of the measure was to ease the pain of patients suffering from
serious illnesses like AIDS and cancer.

"I don't abuse medication so I don't abuse marijuana. I use it only when
when I need it," said David Sanders, a member of the Oakland Cannabis
Cooperative.

Clubs and co-ops across the state like the one in Oakland openly supply
marijuana.

"A lot of patients that we serve don't have access to this medicine in any
other means," said Jeff Jones, the executive director of the Oakland co-op.

But now the federal government is suing to have six of the distribution
clubs shut down, and that has pitted two high-profile law enforcers against
each other.

In San Francisco, District Attorney Terence Hallinan is a staunch defender
of Proposition 215. "we've learned to live with it," he told NBC News. "It
hasn't been a problem for the city of San Francisco."

In Sacramento state Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Dan
Lungren is an outspoken critic. "Two-fifteen has a very limited
application," Lungren says. He believes distribution centers for marijuana
are not protected by the law.

While most centers like the Oakland co-op are low key, dispensing drugs
like a clinic, the state's largest operation in San Francisco is not. The
Cannabis Cultivator's Club looks and feels much more like a club - and
that's what's making it controversial.

The club's director, Dennis Peron, vows they will not be shut down. "They
can come bring in the tanks here and I won't give up." The showdown over
medical marijuana comes to a federal courtroom later this week.

Hallinan has said he will find a way to help patients in need no matter
what the court decides.

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

'Homegrown' In Hollywood (An Excellent 'San Francisco Chronicle' Review
Of The New Movie 'Homegrown' By Its Screenwriter, Jonah Raskin,
Focuses On Marijuana Prohibition And The Film Industry -
You Can Show All The Violence You Want, But Wave A Joint Around
And The Industry's Self-Appointed Censors Go Ballistic)

Subj: US CA: OPED: 'Homegrown' in Hollywood
From: "Frank S. World" 
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 11:38:42 -0800
Newshawk: "Frank S. World" 
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998
Author: Jonah Raskin

"HOMEGROWN" IN HOLLYWOOD

Reefer Madness vs. the Studio System

When it comes to controversy, Hollywood usually runs scared. I've known
that for almost as long as I've been going to the movies. That began in the
late 1940s, around the time of the blacklist and the Hollywood Ten. My
father, who was a Communist, a lawyer and didn't like stool pigeons,
explained that if you were a screenwriter like Dalton Trumbo or a director
like Jules Dassin and you tackled sensitive subjects like anti-Semitism,
homosexuality or political corruption, you usually didn't last very long in
the movie industry.

Not that much has changed in the past half century. I found that out first
hand when I went to Hollywood in 1980 and tried to sell the idea of a
picture about marijuana growers and dealers in Northern California. Cheech
and Chong's zany comedy "Up in Smoke" had come out in 1978, and though I
found it very funny, I envisioned a more serious take on the subject, and
characters who weren't complete buffoons. After all, I knew potheads who
were judges, lawyers, doctors, and school superintendents and they seemed
perfectly capable of keeping their heads out of the smoke when they needed
to.

I'd also spent a couple of years poking around the pot scene in Sonoma,
Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, and I'd written about it for newspapers
and magazines, including The Examiner's California Living. What I saw, and
mostly tried to convey to readers was a story of hypocrisy. Main Street
businesses and Main Street merchants - bankers, real estate agents, car
dealers - were feeding on an illegal, underground economy at the same time
they insisted that there was no big-time marijuana in their neck of the
woods. They were law-abiding citizens. If it did exist, they'd be the first
to root it out.

What I found in Hollywood was a slice from the same hypocrisy pie. At
Warner Brothers, at Columbia and in the comfortable mansions of maverick
producers - some of them former '60s radicals who had made pictures about
the counterculture - I met genuine potheads - grown men and women who not
only loved to smoke dope and to get high, but who thought that pot was a
sacrament. At least to these folks, the dope dealer might as well have been
a messenger from God. Almost every night, these screenwriters, directors,
actors and producers would roll a joint or two - or three - and get stoned.
The next day, they'd be back at work making movies. Without naming names,
some of them were nominated for Academy Awards, and others won awards for
best actor and best director. Marijuana was an essential part of their
lives - along with gourmet food and fine wine - but they weren't going to
risk their reputations by making a movie about it. Moreover, they insisted
that no one would finance a marijuana movie.

It was the 1980s, and few Hollywood filmmakers wanted to tangle with Nancy
Reagan and her "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. Even if my movie could be
made, there would no end of protest from the Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA), the industry's own self-policing agency, and from every
church group in the country. It just wasn't worth it - or so I was told. I
was about to give up and go back home to Sonoma County. Then I met Stephen
Gyllenhaal, a young director who didn't smoke dope, hadn't cut his eye
teeth in the drug culture of the '60s and '70s, and wouldn't have been able
to tell the difference between Mexican weed and California sinsemilla if I
had blown the smoke in his face. Since then, Gyllenhaal has directed "Paris
Trout," "Losing Isaiah," "Waterland," and "A Dangerous Woman," but in the
early 1980s he was looking for a script that would help him climb to the
top. By the time I met Gyllenhaal, I'd been around the block a few times. I
realized that if I wanted to make a marijuana picture I'd have to think the
way Hollywood thinks, and not like a crusading journalist who wanted to out
everybody who smoked a joint or laundered a pot dollar. So I came up with a
45-second high concept sales pitch. The movie, I explained, would be a
remake of John Huston's 1948 classic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,"
which stars Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs, the desperate American
drifter, and Alfonso Bedoya as the stereotype of the Mexican bandit in the
big hat who spits out the immortal lines: "Badges? We don't need no
stinkin' badges."

In my picture, there would be marijuana fever, not gold fever, hippie
farmers, not gringo prospectors. There would be pot thieves disguised as
cops. At the end, the marijuana would be confiscated and burned by the
sheriff, and the wind would blow the smoke back to the mountains where the
marijuana had been cultivated. There would be something for everybody, and
everyone would be satisfied - even the Motion Picture Association of
America - because the picture would not show the marijuana growers getting
away with their crime. Granted, they wouldn't go to jail, but they wouldn't
get rich either, and getting rich through crime is ostensibly something
Hollywood tries not to celebrate, though there have been some notable
exceptions, especially Coppola's "Godfather" trilogy.

As everyone connected with the movie business knows, directors usually
don't buy ideas. They buy screenplays and treatments of possible stories,
but Gyllenhaal bought my idea - probably because it was so tidy - for a
small piece of change, and the promise that I'd receive story credit. With
the help of Nick Kazan, the son of the legendary director Elia Kazan - who
was ostracized by the Hollywood Left for naming names in the '50s - we came
up with a polished screenplay. But the project went nowhere fast.

Then in 1996, California voters approved medical marijuana, and marijuana
buyers clubs opened their doors for business all over the Bay Area.
Suddenly, the world of marijuana once again seemed like an intriguing for a
movie. We found financial backers, assembled a cast and shot the picture
quickly, quietly and without violating any drug laws.

I spent nearly a week in Santa Cruz, where the outdoor scenes were filmed
and learned a lot about how movies are made. Some of the dialogue was
changed even as we were filming. What was written down on paper was
sometimes stilted, while the improvised dialogue usually sounded a lot more
realistic and relaxed. Almost everyone in the cast approached me, and asked
whether I had made up the story and characters, or whether the movie was
based on real people and real incidents. That was a tough one to answer.
Whenever possible, I shrugged my shoulders ambiguously and left them to
wonder about the truth of the movie we were making.

I developed an appreciation for the art of acting, especially by "Sling
Blade's" Billy Bob Thornton, who plays an intense pot dealer named Jack. On
camera, Thornton was a totally different person than he was off. He walked
and talked with a swagger, and sometimes exuded a more menacing
personality. And when he wasn't acting, he'd also keep us entertained with
hilarious imitations of stars he had worked with, including Burt Reynolds.
When I was invited to be in the last scenes, I jumped at the opportunity.
If you watch the final minutes of the picture closely, you'll see me. I
don't have any speaking lines, but I wear sunglasses and a Miami
Hurricane's cap, and think I do a good job as a very stoned spectator.

This month, 18 years after I first went to Hollywood to pitch the idea for
it, "Homegrown" is finally coming to movie screens, courtesy of
Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures. My original idea is still there, and so are a
few of the big scenes I had in mind, and when the credits roll my name is
up there in big letters, along with Billy Bob Thornton's, and such big box
office stars as Ted Danson, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Lithgow and Jon Bon
Jovi, all of whom make cameo appearances as marijuana growers and dealers.

There are also major differences from my original approach. There's a
"Girl," of course; in a Hollywood picture there has to be a "Girl." In
"Homegrown," her name is Lucy. She's a feisty, feminist drug dealer, and
she's played by Kelly Lynch, who co-starred in "Drugstore Cowboy." The
picture has sex and betrayal, and a marijuana kingpin named Malcolm, who is
killed off in the opening scenes of the picture. And then there are Mafia
guys with names like Gianni who seem to have wandered onto the set of
"Homegrown" from an old gangster picture. There's recycled cliches from
half a dozen movies, including Antonioni's "The Passenger," in which Jack
Nicholson takes on the identity of a dead man. There are scenes of a
marijuana plantation the imitation plants cost $1,500 each - and actors
smoking something that looks like marijuana, scenes that don't make the
MPAA happy, but that the teenage sons and daughters of '60s hippies will no
doubt think are cool. (Some of the imitation plants were "liberated" from
the set. Abbie Hoffman lives.)

What I've learned from my 18-year love/hate relationship with the project
probably won't shock anyone, though it still makes me shake my head.
Hollywood people can be greedy, as greedy as pot farmers and dealers.
Hollywood can be crass, commercial and cowardly, too. Getting the MPAA to
approve the trailer for the picture was pure hell. Apparently you can show
all the violence you want, but wave a joint around and the industry's
self-appointed censors go ballistic.

Along with everyone else who worked on the picture, I'm supposed to get a
percentage of the box office receipts, but somehow I doubt I'll ever see
the money, whether the picture is successful or not. My students at Sonoma
State University will be impressed, but then anyone remotely associated
with Hollywood impresses them. Most of them smoke pot - or so they tell me
privately - and they'll probably conclude that a movie that shows pot
smoking somehow or other condones behavior that the college authorities,
their parents, and folks with badges disapprove of.

In a way then, I suppose that "Homegrown" has a subversive message. What
the picture has taught me is that to make a movie that deals with a
controversial subject like marijuana, you have to fight for it every inch
of the way. In case you've still forgotten, marijuana is still illegal;
doctors don't prescribe it for fear of prosecution by the federal
government and many of the marijuana buyers' clubs have been closed down
for violating the law.

"Homegrown" is an exception. Indeed, Hollywood rarely makes movies about
illegal activities unless it makes it absolutely clear that it disapproves
of them. Prohibition, and speakeasies and bootleggers didn't make it to the
screen in a big way until the Volstead Act had been repealed. Only in the
1930s did it become fashionable to romanticize gangsters, and even then
there had to be a final scene in which the tough guy with the machine gun,
often played by Paul Muni or George Raft, confessed his crimes and asked
for forgiveness.

"Homegrown" neither condemns nor condones marijuana. It's ambiguous on the
subject. I suppose that's progress of a sort for Hollywood, and maybe worth
the price of admission. If you were a card-carrying member of the
counterculture and grew a plant or two in your backyard, you might want to
check it out for the sake of nostalgia. Then, again, if you love
black-and-white classics, you might want to rent "The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre" once again, and watch Bogart go insane with gold fever, and
listen to Alfonso Bedoya as he tilts his hat and cries out, "Badges." My
father, the lawyer and the Communist, who grew and smoked his own marijuana
after he retired from the bar, would probably say I sold out. Maybe so,
dad. But if you want to make a Hollywood movie, you play by Hollywood's
rules or you don't play at all. Despite all the difficulties, I'd do it all
over again. In fact, I'm already working on my next picture. Just maybe
it'll be out, 18 years from now.

Jonah Raskin teaches film at Sonoma State University, where he is the chair
of the Communication Studies Department. He is the author of For the Hell
of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman.

1998 San Francisco Examiner Page MAG 20

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

Colorado Therapeutic Cannabis Act Of 1998, Title And Summary
(Text Of Ballot Title And Summary For Medical Marijuana Initiative
Sponsored By Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis -
Plus URL For Complete Text Of Initiative)

Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 00:44:09 -0700 (MST)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" 
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" 
Subject: Title & Summary: Colo. Therapeutic Cannabis Act

Colorado Therapeutic Cannabis Act of 1998
Title and Summary

Sponsored by:
Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
Vmail: (303) 784-5632
Email: cohip@levellers.org
Web: http://www.levellers.org/cannabis.html

Signature deadline: July 31, 1998
Needed: 55,000 valid signatures
Donations to pay for signature gathering are encouraged.

Ballot title, submission clause and summary approved by the Title Board
on March 4, 1998. The Title Board ruled unanimously that the initiative
complies with Colorado's single subject requirement.

For full text of the initiative, see:
http://www.levellers.org/ctca.htm

The summary prepared by the Board is as follows:

This measure amends the Colorado Constitution by the addition of a new
article XXVIII titled "Compassionate Therapeutic Cannabis". The measure
identifies the purposes of the new article, including authorizing the
compassionate therapeutic use of cannabis by a patient under advice from
his or her physician. The measure defines certain terms, such as
"cannabis", "hemp" and "medical conditions" for which therapeutic cannabis
may be used.

The measure directs the general assembly to amend statutes and regulations
by replacing the terms "marihuana", "marijuana", and "marihuana
concentrate" with the terms "cannabis", "cannabis concentrate", or "hemp".
The measure specifies that if the general assembly fails to act by May 15,
2000, any statutes that use the term "marihuana", "marijuana", or
"marihuana concentrate" shall be rendered void. Until such time, the
measure establishes an exception to the state's criminal laws for patients
who engage in therapeutic cannabis use, for primary caregivers who acquire,
cultivate, possess, transport, or distribute therapeutic cannabis for the
purpose of supplying patients with an adequate supply of therapeutic
cannabis, and for persons who cultivate or process hemp for industrial
purposes.

The measure sets forth certain declarations of policy, including allowing
the therapeutic use of cannabis and treating hemp either equally or less
restrictively than commercially produced cereal and fiber crops under state
law.

The measure establishes immunity from prosecution for persons who
reasonably believe that their actions conform to the provisions of the new
article. It further creates an affirmative defense for persons charged
with the violation of a state law relating to marihuana, marijuana,
marihuana concentrate, cannabis, cannabis concentrate, or hemp. The
measure ensures that a defendant shall be entitled to a trial by jury in
all trials in which an affirmative defense is raised.

The measure establishes an exception from arrest, prosecution, or denial of
right or privilege of or penalty against a physician for providing an
opinion or written recommendation to a patient advising the use of
therapeutic cannabis to treat a medical condition. The measure establishes
an exception to arrest, prosecution, or denial of right or privilege of or
penalty against a patient to engage in the therapeutic use of cannabis in
conformity with the new article.

The measure authorizes a patient to designate, in writing, as many as four
people as primary caregivers with significant responsibility for managing
the well-being of the patient. The measure allows a primary caregiver to
acquire, cultivate, possess, transport, or distribute an adequate supply of
therapeutic cannabis for use by patients and establishes an exception from
arrest, prosecution, penalty, or denial of right or privilege for such
action by a primary caregiver. The measure makes it unlawful for a person
intentionally and willfully to misrepresent his or her status as a patient
or primary caregiver.

The measure establishes the Colorado therapeutic cannabis commission and
defines the commission's membership. The measure sets forth the duties of
the therapeutic cannabis commission, including the duty to issue licenses
for the operation of therapeutic cannabis dispensaries, the duty to make
recommendations to the general assembly concerning the enforcement of the
new article, the duty to promulgate rules concerning certain matters such
as the therapeutic use of cannabis by patients who are less than eighteen
years of age, and the duty to report annually to the governor and the
general assembly concerning the degree of compliance with the new article
by certain entities and concerning recommendations for statutory changes,
research programs, and funding levels.

The measure allows the therapeutic cannabis commission to make
recommendations to the governor concerning persons to be considered for a
pardon or reprieve who were convicted prior to the enactment of the new
article for nonviolent offenses relating to the use of cannabis as a
medicine. The measure directs the therapeutic cannabis commission to
establish discussions between federal government agencies, state government
agencies, and other interested parties to establish a cohesive transition
where conflict of law may exist. The measure provides the therapeutic
cannabis commission with the power to issue subpoenas, hold hearings,
compel testimony, and hire experts. The measure also authorizes the
therapeutic cannabis commission to assess reasonable licensing fees for the
operation of therapeutic cannabis dispensaries.

The measure identifies the duties of the attorney general, the governor,
the general assembly, state governmental agencies and agents, and state
executive officers with respect to the implementation and enforcement of
the new article. The measure makes it the duty of a state executive
officer who is unable to separate his or her personal beliefs from the
implementation of the new article to resign his or her office. The measure
directs the general assembly to provide adequate funding levels to the
therapeutic cannabis commission to accomplish the goals of the new article.

The measure includes provisions for severability, liberal construction, and
self-execution of the new article.. The measure requires the governor, upon
passage, to inform the President and Congress of the United States of
America of the passage of the measure and to urge the repeal of the federal
prohibition against therapeutic cannabis and the enactment of laws similar
to or less restrictive than the new article.

The measure identifies an effective date.

The Office of State Planning and Budgeting estimates that costs for this
measure would be $91,400 in cash funds, consisting of the costs of
providing legal and administrative support to the general assembly,
governor, and the Colorado therapeutic cannabis commission. These funds
ultimately would be provided from cash fees paid by therapeutic cannabis
dispensaries.

The Department of Local Affairs has determined that there would be no
direct fiscal impact on local governments resulting from the enactment of
this measure.

***

Ballot title and submission clause:

SHALL THERE BE AN AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE USE
OF THE PLANT CANNABIS SATIVA, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, ALLOWING
THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS USE BY A PATIENT UNDER THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN FOR
THE TREATMENT OF MEDICAL CONDITIONS; ESTABLISHING AN EXCEPTION TO CRIMINAL
LAWS FOR PHYSICIANS WHO PROVIDE AN OPINION OR RECOMMENDATION TO A PATIENT
ADVISING THE THERAPEUTIC USE OF CANNABIS TO TREAT A MEDICAL CONDITION;
ESTABLISHING AN EXCEPTION TO THE CRIMINAL LAWS FOR THE THERAPEUTIC USE OF
CANNABIS BY A PATIENT; AUTHORIZING A PATIENT TO DESIGNATE IN WRITING UP TO
FOUR PRIMARY CAREGIVERS WHO MAY ACQUIRE, CULTIVATE, POSSESS, TRANSPORT, OR
DISTRIBUTE AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS FOR USE BY PATIENTS;
ESTABLISHING AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE TO CRIMES RELATED TO MARIHUANA,
CANNABIS, OR HEMP IF THE PERSON'S ACTIONS CONFORM TO THE INTENT OR
PROVISIONS OF THE MEASURE; DIRECTING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO AMEND STATUTES
AND REGULATIONS BY REPLACING THE TERMS "MARIHUANA" AND "MARIJUANA" WITH THE
TERMS "CANNABIS", "CANNABIS CONCENTRATE", OR "HEMP"; PROVIDING FOR STATUTES
USING THE TERMS "MARIHUANA" OR "MARIJUANA" TO BE RENDERED VOID IF THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY FAILS TO ACT BY A DATE CERTAIN; UNTIL THE STATUTES ARE
CHANGED, CREATING AN EXCEPTION TO THE STATE'S CRIMINAL STATUTES FOR PERSONS
WHO ENGAGE IN THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS USE, FOR PRIMARY CAREGIVERS WHO ACQUIRE,
CULTIVATE, POSSESS, TRANSPORT, OR DISTRIBUTE THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS FOR THE
PURPOSE OF SUPPLYING PATIENTS WITH AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF THERAPEUTIC
CANNABIS, AND FOR PERSONS WHO CULTIVATE OR PROCESS HEMP FOR INDUSTRIAL
PURPOSES IF SUCH ACTIONS ARE IN CONFORMITY WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE
MEASURE; ESTABLISHING IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION FOR OFFENSES RELATING TO
THE USE OF CANNABIS SATIVA IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH A PERSON HAD A
REASONABLE BELIEF THAT HIS OR HER ACTIONS CONFORMED TO THE PROVISIONS OF
THE MEASURE; PROVIDING FOR THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL WHEN AN AFFIRMATIVE
DEFENSE IS RAISED; ESTABLISHING THE COLORADO THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS
COMMISSION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ISSUING LICENSES FOR THE OPERATION OF
THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS DISPENSARIES, PROMULGATING RULES CONCERNING THE
THERAPEUTIC USE OF CANNABIS BY MINORS, AND REPORTING TO THE GOVERNOR AND
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCERNING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STATUTORY CHANGES AND
THE DEGREE OF COMPLIANCE BY CERTAIN ENTITIES; AUTHORIZING THE COLORADO
THERAPEUTIC CANNABIS COMMISSION TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNOR
CONCERNING PERSONS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR PARDON OR REPRIEVE WHO WERE
CONVICTED OF NONVIOLENT OFFENSES RELATING TO THE USE OF CANNABIS AS A
MEDICINE; IDENTIFYING THE DUTIES OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE GOVERNOR, THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, STATE GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AND AGENTS, AND STATE
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF
THE MEASURE?

***

Colorado Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
Phone: (303) 784-5632
Email: cohip@levellers.org
Web: http://www.levellers.org/cannabis.html

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

States Eye Arizona Drug Policy ('The Tribune' Says Maricopa County
Attorney Richard Romley, Who Championed Efforts
Against Arizona's Proposition 200, Said He Has Received Dozens Of Calls
From States Such As Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Nevada, Oregon
And Washington, That Are Facing Similar Propositions In November)

Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 18:55:11 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US AZ: States Eye Arizona Drug Policy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Pubdate: 22 March 1998
Source: The Tribune (AZ)
Contact: azforum@aol.com
Author: Kris Axtman - The Tribune

STATES EYE ARIZONA DRUG POLICY

In Oregon, marijuana is sold at liquor stores.

In Florida, drug dealers are not prosecuted.

In Nevada, kids get high on heroin prescribed by a doctor.

That could be the future if voters approve initiatives on November ballots
in other states around the nation. Frightened lawmakers and law enforcement
officials are turning to Arizona for help in fighting efforts to legalize
marijuana and other illicit drugs for medicinal purposes.

"They are going to have a real tough battle, there is no question at all,"
said Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley, who championed efforts
against Arizona's Proposition 200.

That proposition, the first of its kind to pass, took effect in 1996 and
allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana and other Schedule 1 drugs-such as
heroin, PCP and LSD-to ill patients.

Romley said he has received dozens of calls from states such as Alaska,
Colorado, Florida, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, that are facing
similar propositions in November.

"They've been interested in the Arizona experience. They want to know, not
just how we approached it, but to give a bit of insight as to what is
really occurring here," he said. "And since the passage of Proposition 200,
I think we have a little bit more of a background of exactly what the true
objective is."

That objective, Romley believes, is the legalization of drugs - and, in
speeches around the country, he is warning people to keep their eyes open.

"Medical marijuana is what I would call the Trojan horse for legalizing all
drugs," he said. "And it's an easy message to sell because Americans are
very compassionate people. Who doesn't want to provide any medicine that
will help he sick and the suffering?"

Sam Vagenas, an Arizona campaign consultant for drug policy reform who
worked for the state's effort, believes of the 10 states working on similar
propositions, more than half will make it on the November ballot.

"We are certainly helping to raise money and lend technical support to
encourage these other efforts," he said.

That worries cash-poor opponents in other states who fear a glut of costly
ads.

"In Arizona and California, no one had any money to go up against these
ads." said Betty Sembler, founder of Florida's Save Our Society From Drugs.

Some Arizonans counter that the drive had a legitimate purpose.

Mesa resident Josh Burner, who is suffering with terminal throat cancer,
claims marijuana helps him deal with his disease like no other drug.

"I get so tired of people saying this is legalization of marijuana. It's no
more legalization than anything else you need a prescription for," he said.

Burner said he has a prescription for marijuana, but has nowhere to fill
it. Federal law requires FDA approval of a drug before it can be prescribed
- something none of the Schedule 1 drugs have yet been granted.

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

Addicted Spiritual Leaders Need Healing, Support And Forgiveness
(Religion Columnist For 'Minneapolis Star-Tribune' Gives Advice
On How To Deal With Spiritual Leaders Impaired By Use Of Alcohol
Or Other Drugs, But Erroneously Asserts That Most Religious Traditions
Forbid The Use Of Illegal Drugs)

Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 14:29:46 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US: Addicted Spiritual Leaders Need Healing, Support And
Forgiveness
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Mike Gogulski
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Contact: opinion@startribune.com
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998
Website: http://www.startribune.com/
Author: John A. MacDougall

ADDICTED SPIRITUAL LEADERS NEED HEALING, SUPPORT AND FORGIVENESS

When confronted with a chemically dependent spiritual leader, the
congregation is often caught between the images of sin and disease. We say
that alcoholism is a disease, but then we behave as if it were a moral
failure, with shame, silence and secrecy. If the pastor, priest, rabbi or
lay leader had cancer or heart disease, the congregation would be public
with support and prayers. But if the spiritual leader has a drinking or
drug use problem, we often are quiet.

Some religious traditions forbid or discourage alcohol use, and most forbid
the use of illegal drugs. Spiritual leaders are expected to set good
examples in most areas, including morality and chemical health. This can
lead to pressure to hide areas of wrongdoing or failure to meet norms about
alcohol use.

The belief that spiritual leaders are above alcoholism and drug addiction
often leads congregations to unwittingly opt for health care plans that
provide minimal coverage for chemical dependency. Many plans cover only
outpatient care. It is quite difficult to break the addiction and start
recovery while serving as a congregational leader. Addiction is a
life-threatening disease; it can be treated best by allowing people time to
begin the healing process.

Chemically dependent spiritual leaders need to recover from addiction. They
also need to be forgiven for the specific things they have done wrong
during the course of their addiction. The Twelve Step programs of
Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous provide a mechanism for moving
from shame to guilt, from guilt to responsibility, and from responsibility
to forgiveness.

Guilt, Not Shame

In recovery, people admit their powerlessness over their addictions and
their unmanageable lives. This is often a shameful time, as the shame of
what they have done and the shame of what they have become floods over
them. Shame isn't a good place to stay. Guilt is better. Guilt means "I
made a mistake." Shame means "I am a mistake."

Next, recovering people make a searching moral inventory of themselves and
admit to God, themselves and another person the exact nature of their
wrongs. This identifies what their guilt is.

Recovering people take responsibility for their lives by becoming ready to
have God remove their character defects and shortcomings. Then they make a
list of the people they have harmed and make amends to them, unless those
amends would make things worse. In making amends, they are bringing
restoration and justice into their lives, and freedom results.

At this point the congregation needs to bring the gift of forgiveness. When
each person takes his or her own inventory, recognizes his or her defects,
and makes amends, the congregation needs to have a gracious response. If we
forgive too early, or in advance of change, we enable the disease to
progress. If we don't forgive at all, we may not hurt the recovering
person, but we impoverish ourselves by passing up the chance for
reconciliation.

Here's what a congregation can do to create a climate of recovery and
forgiveness:

Educate ourselves about the disease of chemical dependency so that it can
be prevented or promptly identified and treated.

Be our brothers' and sisters' keeper by gently confronting each other when
alcohol or drug abuse is in its early stages.

Intervene forcefully to move the chemically dependent person toward treatment.

Provide financial support for treatment and moral support for recovery.

Provide the time away from leadership duties for treatment and for ongoing
participation in AA or NA.

Forgive the conduct for which the recovering person has made amends.

In this, we will bear one another's burdens and become a better fellowship.

http://www.hazelden.org. -- John A. MacDougall is a doctor of ministry and
the supervisor of Spiritual Care at Hazelden, a nonprofit organization
based in Center City, Minn., that provides chemical dependency information,
education and recovery services. More information on addiction and recovery
is available through Hazelden's web site at To contact MacDougall, call
1-800-257-7800, ext. 4465.

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

Junior High Principal Charged With Marijuana Possession, Carrying A Gun
('Associated Press' Says Police Pulled Over The Truck Of The Cleveland,
Texas, Man Because Of An Obstructed License Plate,
But Then He Aroused More Suspicion When He Leaned Over And Appeared
To Be Hiding Something Under The Front Seat)

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 20:16:02 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US TX: Junior High Principal Charged With Marijuana
Possession, Carrying A Gun
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Chris Clay 
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998
Source: Associated Press

JUNIOR HIGH PRINCIPAL CHARGED WITH MARIJUANA POSSESSION, CARRYING A GUN

CLEVELAND -- A junior high school principal has been suspended with pay
after being charged with possession of marijuana and unlawfully carrying a
pistol.

Richard Kreiner, 47, of Cleveland, was released on $1,500 bail Friday after
being jailed overnight by the Woodbranch Village Police Department on the
drug and weapon charges.

He was in his first year as principal of Cleveland Junior High School after
having been a successful teacher in the Bryan school district.

"He was suspended, pending review of the police reports. If the charges are
true, they violate our code of ethics. We have a zero-tolerance policy here
on such things," said Nancy Fuller, interim superintendent for the
Cleveland Independent School District.

She said Kreiner did not have a criminal history.

Woodbranch Police Chief Stoney England said one of his officers pulled over
Kreiner's truck on U.S. 59 Thursday because of an "obstructed license
plate." He said Kreiner aroused suspicion when he leaned over and appeared
to be hiding something under the front seat.

The officer recovered a .357-caliber Magnum pistol, which Kreiner had no
permit for, as well as 28 grams of marijuana from under the seat, England
said.

Kreiner, who has an unpublished telephone number, could not be reached for
comment Saturday by The Associated Press.

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

Drug Charge Gets Principal A Suspension ('Waco Tribune-Herald' Version)

Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 22:09:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US TX: Drug Charge Gets Principal a Suspension
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John F. Wilson john@november.org
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald
Contact: letters@mail.iamerica.net
Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 1998

DRUG CHARGE GETS PRINCIPAL A SUSPENSION

CLEVELAND, Texas -- (AP) A junior high school principal has been suspended
with pay after being charged with possession of marijuana and unlawfully
carrying a pistol.

Richard Kreiner, 47, of Cleveland, was released on $1,500 bail Friday after
being jailed overnight by the Woodbranch Village Police Department on the
drug and weapons charges.

He was in his first year as principal of Cleveland Junior High School after
having been a successful teacher in the Bryan school district.

"He was suspended, pending review of the police reports. If the charges
are true, they violate our code of ethics. We have a zero-tolerance policy
here on such things," said Nancy Fuller, interim superintendent for the
Cleveland Independent School District.

She said Kreiner did not have a criminal history.

Woodbranch Police Chief Stoney England said one of his officers pulled over
Kreiner's truck on U.S. 59 Thursday because of an "obstructed license
plate." He said Kreiner aroused suspicion when he leaned over and appeared
to be hiding something under the front seat.

The officer recovered a .357-caliber Magnum pistol, which Kreiner had no
permit for, as well as 28 grams of marijuana, England said.

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

Parents Called Key To Fighting Drugs ('Dallas Morning News'
Says Some Families Lack Parental Involvement)

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 11:41:31 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US TX: Parents Called Key to Fighting Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Source: Dallas Morning News
Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998
Author: Brooks Egerton / The Dallas Morning News

PARENTS CALLED KEY TO FIGHTING DRUGS

Some say helping youths isn't that easy

Mom and Dad went out of town for the weekend, leaving their barely teenage
son home alone. He invited eight friends over for an all-night party, one
loud enough to make neighbors call the police.

"When I brought this to the parents' attention," says Plano Officer Susan
Baumert, "the reaction was, 'How dare you! What were you doing in our
house?' "

Not exactly a typical response, the officer says, but disturbingly common
all the same. She sees in it some of the underpinnings of Plano's drug
crisis - an absence of supervision and a knee-jerk defensiveness that
seemingly would rather save children from a juvenile record than save their
lives.

"A lot of what I see is parents who have looked the other way and made
excuses their whole life," says Officer Baumert, who's usually stationed at
Hendrick Middle School. "Many of them are in denial until it's too late."

A few years ago, perhaps, it was harder to imagine the fatal consequences
of such an attitude. But in the last 26 months, heroin has killed at least
a dozen young people with Plano ties. This week, students accused of
dealing a smorgasbord of drugs were arrested at their high schools.

At Monday's news conference announcing those arrests, Police Chief Bruce
Glasscock cited one of the most striking things that undercover officers
had seen in the preceding months: a lack of parental involvement in some
families.

"Know where your kids are," he said. "It has to start at home."

To those elsewhere in the trenches, such statements sound a bit like platitudes.

"It's not easy to know what your kids are doing," says Dr. Doyle Dean,
principal of Plano Senior High School. "It's hard to know how much freedom
to give a child."

Much easier, he says, is "to condemn someone you don't know."

Across the street at Disciples Christian Church, which offers a Narcotics
Anonymous meeting six days a week, Pastor Carl Zerweck utters similar
cautions.

He acknowledges that denial - by users, their relatives, the community at
large - is fueling this epidemic: "That's why the problem is probably going
to continue to get worse."

But he also stresses that he sees plenty of addicts from good homes with
good, caring parents. And he believes there are signs of hope, of a
community-wide solution to the problem.

"Addiction is a disease," Mr. Zerweck says. "When we put it in those terms,
it's not as easy to moralize about it.

"For some people, all it takes is one drink, one joint, one hit of chiva" -
the capsulized heroin-sleeping pill mix implicated in several Plano deaths
- "and they're a full-blown addict."

The uncle of the latest victim, 17-year-old Natacha Campbell, tried to
explain in a recent letter to The Dallas Morning News:

"You think they are too smart to take heroin," wrote Michael Graham. "Think
again. Remember when we were young and drunk? We may never have been
tempted to do heroin because we envisioned a skid-row bum with syringes.

"But what if a cool or good-looking guy came up to your unsuspecting
daughter and offered her a capsule form of heroin? The fairly innocent
victim is told that it is a new kind of drug that makes you feel great -
'Everyone's doing it, try it once!' "

At that noisy, unchaperoned party to which she was summoned, Officer
Baumert says she found no drugs - though she notes that it took 10 minutes
to get inside the house, plenty of time for evidence to go swirling down
the toilet.

What remained for officers to do that night was reconnect the revelers -
boys and girls, as young as 11 - with their parents. These adults, unlike
the host's parents, were merely clueless; they had been hoodwinked by the
old, "I'm staying over at so-and-so's" line.

"They were embarrassed and flabbergasted that they had been so completely
taken in," Officer Baumert says. Her simple counsel: "When your kids say
they're going to spend the night someplace, you've got to call" to check it
out.

The officer reels off other horror stories, many starting not when she
calls parents with news of a crime but merely with a heads-up.

Stories that start like this: Did you know your 14-year-old daughter is
having sex?

Mom's response: "You interrupted my day to tell me that? I've got
meetings." Later, she "came up here and screamed at me for 30 minutes."

Another example: Your 12-year-old son is threatening to commit suicide.

Response: "It's his life."

Or I'm going to arrest your child for threatening to kill a teacher.

Response: "We'll handle it at home - please don't file charges."

Officer Baumert caps her quiet sermon with a lament that stereotyping has
more often attached to the welfare mom:

"Unfortunately, it takes no qualifications to have children."

Danny Goldberg has hazy memories of an early encounter with Officer
Baumert, back when he was a middle-school pup of 12 or 13. Back before he'd
become a midlevel cocaine dealer, before a family car got torched, before
he got stabbed, before he got busted, before mixing coke and speed nearly
killed him.

And before more friends than he can count died.

Officer Baumert had an idea where the boy was headed and stopped by his
house. The father, now deceased, "knew I had smoked pot but didn't think it
was anything more," the son says. Wrong.

Dad threatened to sue for harassment. "My kid's not like that," Mr.
Goldberg recalls him saying.

"Yes, he is," came the officer's reply.

And "ever since then, she's been on my ass," Mr. Goldberg says. "She's a
wonderful woman."

Having survived to the ripe old age of 20, he says he's clean and sober,
working on a tech-school degree, paying off his debts to society and
determined to clear probation.

Mr. Goldberg's advice to the parents of those arrested this week at Plano's
high schools:

"I wouldn't bail 'em out."

For some of those caught, many of whom are in their late teens, it may be
too late even for tough love to work. Officer Baumert says it may have been
too late for a long time.

"Many kids start experimenting when they're just hitting the teenage
years," she says. "If you haven't laid the foundation by age 6. . . . "

Time now for Officer Baumert to walk the walk: She and her husband, a
fellow officer, have a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old.

"I'm a working mother," she says. "I'd love to stay at home, but we can't
afford it."

Her assessment of parenthood: "It's the hardest job in the world."

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

Zero Tolerance's Negative Side ('Washington Post' Says A Resident
Of Northwest Washington, DC, Who Pleaded For Eight Years For Police Patrols
To Stop Drug Dealing Near His Home Ended Up With $150 In Traffic Tickets
And A Higher Auto Insurance Rate After Police Responded With Zero Tolerance
Patrols - Drug Dealing Continued Unabated However)

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 17:11:28 -0400 (AST)
Sender: Chris Donald 
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: US DC: WP: Zero Tolerance's Negative Side (fwd)
Subj: US DC: WP: Zero Tolerance's Negative Side
Source: Washington Post
Author: Courtland Milloy
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998

ZERO TOLERANCE'S NEGATIVE SIDE

For the past eight years, Gary Kettler has pleaded for more police patrols
and city services for his neighborhood in Northwest Washington. He has
wanted police to stop the drug dealing that goes on near his home in
LeDroit Park, to say nothing of catching the people who mugged him recently.

Kettler, 47, also hoped that police would apprehend whoever threw a brick
through the window of his truck, although he knew that was wishful
thinking. The least the city could do, he thought, was to haul away the
abandoned automobiles that took up precious parking space on his block.

Last week, police finally showed up with a law enforcement campaign called
"Zero Tolerance." A traffic checkpoint was set up near Kettler's house. And
when Kettler drove through with his wife and 18-month-old baby on Tuesday
night, police fined both adults $50 apiece for not wearing seat belts.

The next night, Kettler's wife, on an errand two blocks from home,
absent-mindedly didn't fasten her seat belt. She was stopped by seven
police officers and fined another $50.

All told, the couple now faces a combined assessment of nine points on
their driver's licenses, enough to raise their insurance premiums by
several hundred dollars a year, plus $150 in fines.

Meanwhile, the drug dealers continue to operate in LeDroit Park and the
abandoned cars remain on their street.

"This 'zero tolerance' is just a gimmick to bring in more revenue for the
District," Kettler complained. "It has nothing to do with stopping crime or
catching criminals."

D.C. police acknowledge that such zero tolerance checkpoints have irritated
some residents. But they argue that by stopping motorists on minor
infractions, they frequently make arrests for more serious offenses.

"Invariably, at each checkpoint, we catch criminals and recover guns and
drugs," said Capt. Barry Malkin, whose 3rd District police station covers
LeDroit Park.

Kettler, though, is no criminal. Nor is his wife. He is a director at a
Washington-based multinational engineering firm. She is an architect with a
nonprofit housing corporation. Together, they are helping to revitalize one
of the District's most historic neighborhoods, as well as contributing
about $20,000 a year to the city's tax base.

It is precisely such people that experts say the District needs to attract.
A stronger middle-class presence is the key to improving public schools,
the experts say, and it is believed that new businesses would also move
into the city because of them.

Couldn't police have used some discretion? A first-time warning, perhaps?
It was, after all, a seat-belt infraction, not interstate transport of
firearms and drugs, which are the real public safety concern of District
residents.

"How are you supposed to discriminate?" Capt. Malkin asked. "How do you
give them a break and nobody else? Zero tolerance means zero tolerance."

Kettler said that he could accept that if it were true.

"My wife saw a young man with a gun beating up an old man, and we had to
walk through a gang of people dealing drugs to report the assault to the 10
police officers who were standing on another corner handing out tickets for
not wearing seat belts," Kettler said. "It may be zero tolerance for minor
offenses, but it's business as usual for the serious stuff."

Malkin said the workings of zero tolerance enforcement are more complicated
than it appears.

"You may see drug dealers on one corner and us on another, but a lot of
them eventually get caught because of the omnipresence of police," he said.

Malkin attributed the District's recently reported 22 percent drop in
crime, in part, to the zero tolerance campaign, although he acknowledged
that many checkpoints simply cause drug dealers to move from one
neighborhood to another.

Kettler said that what bothered him most about the zero tolerance campaign
was a "fascist attitude" that some police officers displayed.

"You find yourself surrounded by all of these police officers who are armed
and geared up to hassle you," he said. "You are presumed guilty as they
search to find anything to justify making the stop."

Frustrated that eight years of asking city officials for better police
protection had resulted only in his being caught not wearing a seat belt,
Kettler admits he lost his temper.

"You've got the wrong people," he recalled shouting at the police. "Why are
you giving us tickets while people are standing all around us dealing drugs?"

According to Kettler, one of the police officers replied, "If you don't
like it, move back to the suburbs where you came from." (Kettler's wife had
moved into the District from Takoma Park five years ago.)

Kettler said yesterday that he and his wife have decided to heed the police
officer's advice. They are putting their house up for sale and moving out.

"If the District needs $150 so badly that it has to treat my family with
contempt, then they can have it," Kettler said. "But we're taking our
$20,000 in annual income taxes to the suburbs."

(c) Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company

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

The Netrovert - Information On Politics Easy To Get
(Columnist For 'Northwest Florida News' Notes Drug Policy Reformers
On The Internet Have Obliterated The Influence Of The Political Culture
Of Sound Bites And Spin Doctors - Online, It's Very Difficult To Find Someone
To Defend The Massively Destructive And Massively Expensive Social Experiment
Known As The War On Drugs, And Impossible To Find Someone
Who Can Defend It Ably - The Drug Warriors Have Nothing But Reefer Madness
Propaganda To Support Their Position, And On The Internet,
With Its Instantaneous Access To Scientific Materials,
This Is An Overwhelming Disadvantage)

Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 07:02:28 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service , mattalk@islandnet.com
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: US: Column: The Netrovert - Information On Politics Easy To Get
Newshawk: Ray Aldridge
Source: The Northwest Florida Daily News
Page: 4F
Pubdate: 22 Mar 1998
Contact: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/today/feedback.html
FAX: (904) 863-7834
Website: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/
Columnist: Ray Aldridge
Note: Ray Aldridge is a novelist and Web designer who lives in Fort Walton
Beach. You may e-mail him at raya@nwfdailynews.com.

THE NETROVERT - INFORMATION ON POLITICS EASY TO GET

The Internet is changing the face of American politics.

The culture of sound bites and spin doctors that has dominated the
electoral follies for generations is beginning to lose its influence.

The Internet gives voters a new way to acquire political information,
independent of the moneyed interests that have had such a corrupting
influence on the process.

Consider, for example, that on the Internet, the war on drugs was lost a
long time ago.

Online, it's very difficult to find someone to defend this massively
destructive and massively expensive social experiment, and impossible to
find someone who can defend it ably.

The drug warriors have nothing but reefer madness propaganda to support
their position, and on the Internet, with its instantaneous access to
scientific materials, this is an overwhelming disadvantage.

Polls conducted among Internet users show a huge majority want to end the
war, and a lot of them have set up polished and professional Web sites
dedicated to that purpose.

One particularly good one is the Media Awareness Project
(http://www.mapinc.org/), which collects and archives news on the war.

A while back, for example, the site recorded a truly astonishing example of
political stupidity on the part of Steve Forbes, the man who would be
America's CEO.

It seems that the good citizens of Washington, D.C., were entertaining a
petition to permit the medical use of marijuana. Evidently Forbes saw this
as a golden opportunity to establish his drug warrior credentials.

He made the usual arguments, assuring us that allowing the sick and dying
to smoke pot without fear of incarceration would lead inevitably to the
collapse of civilization.

That's all well and good, from a political viewpoint. Lots of voters
believe the same thing.

But then Forbes goofed. He claimed that "well-financed legalization forces"
want to "make America safe for Colombian-style drug cartels."

The drug lords' greatest fear is that we might end the war, and take away
the countless untaxed billions they have come to expect as their due.

That Steve Forbes is apparently ignorant of this basic economic fact does
not argue well for his candidacy. If he doesn't understand that
"legalizers" and drug lords are the bitterest of enemies, how will he ever
grasp the more subtle aspects of statecraft?

His opponents in the primaries will, unfortunately, never take him to task
for his foolish remarks.

In American politics, to criticize even the most obviously deranged drug
war rhetoric is to leave yourself open to the charge that you're "soft on
drugs."

That accusation can be fatal to your career, and few politicians are brave
when their career is at risk.

But the Internet is slowly flooding America's political grassroots. It's
becoming America's political memory, and it never forgets. Voters can now
share their opinions directly with thousands of other voters, cheaply and
efficiently.

Some of them are going to be wondering if it's really such a good idea to
elect a dullard to the highest office in the land, even if they like his
political philosophy.

(c) 1998 Northwest Florida Daily News

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

Operation Intercept - Multiple Consequences Of Social Policy
(Clifford Schaffer Has Posted On The World Wide Web The Noteworthy Report
On Nixon's Attempt In 1969 To Interdict All Marijuana
Crossing The Mexican Border - Use Of Cannabis Dropped But Use Of Other,
More Dangerous And Addictive Drugs Increased)

Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 17:16:55 EST
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: "Clifford Schaffer" 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Operation Intercept - Multiple Consequences of Social Policy

For all those interested in the relationship between law enforcement and
drug use rates, see "Operation Intercept - the Multiple Consequences of
Social Policy", newly arrived in the Schaffer Library at

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/e1960/intercept/Default.htm

It describes what happened to drug use when the Feds tried to stop all
marijuana smuggling in 1969.

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

Cocaine Eradication (Letter To Editor Of 'Austin American-Statesman'
Notes That Most Americans Can't Keep Crab Grass Out Of Their Own Back Yards,
Yet They Continue Funding A Glorified Weed-Pulling Program
In A Tropical Jungle Approximately The Size Of The United States
East Of The Rocky Mountains)

Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 11:55:50 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US TX: PUB LTE: Cocaine Eradication
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Eric Traveno < http://www.november.org >
Source: Austin American-Statesman
Contact: letters@statesman.com
Website: http://www.Austin360.com/
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 1998

COCAINE ERADICATION

Futility strikes again in the form of certification for Mexico and waivers
for Columbia's cocaine eradication efforts. Source eradication is pure
folly; here's why:

Using a mere 1/20 of 1 percent of the entire coca-growing region, 795
metric tons of cocaine are produced annually using primitive farming
methods.

The coca-growing region of South America is approximately the size of the
United States east of the Rocky Mountains. One hundred percent of the
world's cocaine comes from South America.

Most Americans can't keep crab grass out of their own back yards, and yet
they continue funding a glorified weed-pulling program in a tropical
jungle. The certification process begins with "certified idiots": utopian
policy-makers in lock-step with warmongering drug cartels.

Let's eradicate stupidity. Let's certify harm reduction and tolerance.

John F. Wilson, Waco

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

US Asked To Lift Hemp Ban ('Associated Press' Version In 'Detroit News')

Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 20:39:36 -0500
To: DrugSense News Service 
From: Richard Lake 
Subject: MN: US: U.S. Asked To Lift Hemp Ban
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: creator@hempbc.com
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Author: Curt Anderson, Associated Press
Contact: letters@detnews.com
Website: http://www.detnews.com/
Pubdate: Sunday, March 22, 1998

U.S. ASKED TO LIFT HEMP BAN

Legalization May Hurt Efforts To Stamp Out Marijuana, Officials Say

WASHINGTON -- Industrial hemp has 25,000 uses ranging from construction
material to paper to clothing, but smoking it to get stoned is not among
them. Yet proponents of hemp say it could give farmers a financial high.

"There's an incredible opportunity," said Jeffrey Gain, a hemp proponent
and former chief of the National Corn Growers Association. "There is too
much emphasis on too few crops. We need to start adding crops."

But right now, the federal government bans cultivation of industrial hemp
and considers it a controlled substance, no different from its
hallucinogenic cousin marijuana.

Several groups, including the North American Industrial Hemp Council and
the Resource Conservation Alliance, want to change that.

They are preparing to petition the Drug Enforcement Administration to drop
hemp from the controlled substance list.

They want the Agriculture Department to set up a system of certifying hemp
seeds and licensing farmers.

"We're asking them to refine the definition of marijuana," said Ned Daly,
director of the Resource Conservation Alliance, on Friday. "Hemp is not a
drug and cannot be used as a drug."

Hemp has a long history in the United States.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it. The Declaration of
Independence was drafted on hemp paper. During World War II, the federal
government mounted a "Hemp for Victory" growing campaign for many military
uses, including ropes, tents and parachute cords.

Some agricultural economists say farmers today could gross up to $500 an
acre for hemp. Canada legalized it earlier this month after a 60-year ban,
in part because of the income potential for farmers, and several U.S.
states are promoting hemp research.

Hemp and marijuana are varieties of the cannabis sativa plant. But hemp
typically contains less than 1 percent of the active ingredient, THC, that
makes pot smokers high. Marijuana plants contain 10 percent to 20 percent THC.

"It's not psychoactive," said Paul Gordon Mahlberg, a biology professor at
Indiana University.

Still, the DEA and President Clinton's drug control policy director, Barry
McCaffrey, say hemp's legalization could hinder efforts to stamp out
marijuana.

"A serious law enforcement concern is that a potential byproduct of
legalizing hemp production would be de facto legalization of marijuana
cultivation," McCaffrey's office said in a statement. "The seedlings are
the same and in many instances the mature plants look the same."

Supporters of ending the ban say that is just blowing smoke. They say hemp
plants are far taller than marijuana, are grown much closer together and
typically are not allowed to flower. The flowering produces the buds that
marijuana growers covet.

"The dope argument lacks any merit," said Hawaii state Rep. Cynthia
Thielen, a Republican who says farmers in her state want hemp as an
alternative to sugar and pineapples.

"You can tell the difference. You're licensing farmers so you know where
the crop is. If someone's growing that isn't licensed, bust them."

The Agriculture Department, however, questions how profitable hemp might
actually be: It is labor intensive and cheaper alternatives already exist
for many of its uses. For instance, hemp linen costs $15 a square yard,
compared with only $7.50 for flax linen.

"Hemp production in the United States has no demonstrated economic value
potential as a cash crop," the McCaffrey statement said.

But proponents are undeterred, noting that Canadian farmers plan to plant
5,000 acres of hemp this spring and farmers in England and Germany have
turned solid profits from it for years.

Some of the more unusual uses for hemp include reinforcement in concrete,
as a replacement for fiberglass in cars, in shoes and even as a cosmetic oil.

Beyond the economic arguments, proponents say hemp is good for field
rotations that help sustain soil and reduce harmful insects.

"It's a legitimate crop with enormous economic and environmental
potential," Gain said.

Copyright 1998, The Detroit News