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The Campaign To Kill House Resolution 372
(Bulletin From Marijuana Policy Project Updates Status
Of US House Of Representatives' Anti-Medical Marijuana Resolution)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 00:27:42 -0400
From: Marijuana Policy Project
Organization: Marijuana Policy Project
Reply-To: MPP@MPP.ORG
Sender: owner-mppupdates@igc.apc.org
Subject: 4/10/98 update: The campaign to kill H.Res. 372
TO: Interested.persons@igc.org
FROM: Robert D. Kampia, MPP director of government relations
DATE: Friday, April 10, 1998
SUBJECT: The campaign to kill House Resolution 372
MPP recently turned up the heat in its campaign to oppose House
Resolution 372, holding simultaneous protests in Los Angeles and
Washington, D.C., on March 30 that resulted in a marijuana-using
patient getting arrested in an act of civil disobedience in a
congressional office. (Please see below for details.)
As reported in MPP's last legislative update on March 27, the
U.S. House of Representatives has delayed its vote on House
Resolution 372, the anti-medicinal marijuana resolution, until
Tuesday, April 21, at the earliest. This would be the first ever
congressional vote on medicinal marijuana legislation. (Please note
that the abbreviation for this resolution is "H. Res. 372," not
"H.R. 372.") If you are a patient, doctor, or otherwise have a
personal story to tell about medicinal marijuana, please call the
office of your U.S. representative to schedule a meeting while he or
she is visiting his or her office near your home town during the
April 4 - 20 congressional recess. Please call MPP for background
materials to take to the meeting.
Since MPP's last update, the opposition to House Resolution 372
has grown:
* The March 19 protest outside of the office of U.S. Rep. Bill
McCollum (R-FL) -- the sponsor of House Resolution 372 -- was
covered by the _Tampa Tribune_, _Orlando Weekly_, WESH-TV in
Orlando, 89.1 FM in Gainesville, University of Florida public
radio, and Tampa public radio.
* MPP helped launch a similar protest outside the office of
U.S. Rep. Jim Rogan (R-CA) in Pasadena on March 30. Rep. Rogan
flip-flopped on the medicinal marijuana issue by voting for
House Resolution 372 in committee on March 4, 1998, even though
he voted for positive medicinal marijuana legislation in the
California legislature in 1995.
* MPP also organized a protest inside Rep. Rogan's office on
Capitol Hill the same day. Cheryl Miller, who suffers from
multiple sclerosis, traveled from her home in New Jersey to
Washington, D.C., with her husband Jim to protest House
Resolution 372. In an act of civil disobedience, Jim fed
marijuana to Cheryl in front of 20 TV cameras and a dozen other
reporters. (To view footage of this protest on-line, please see
http://www.mpp.org/millers.html.) The two were arrested and
released two hours later; Cheryl now faces six months in D.C.
jail. This arrest and the Los Angeles protest were covered by:
-- CNN, ABC's _World News This Morning_, and Fox News Channel's
_Fox News Now_;
-- WBZ-AM and WFXT-TV (Boston); WJBK-TV (Detroit); KABC-TV,
KCAL-TV, KNBC-TV, and KTLA-TV (Los Angeles); WINS-AM
(New York); KGW-TV (Portland); KX-TV (Sacramento); KING-TV
(Seattle); KTVI-TV (St. Louis); News Channel 8, WJLA-TV, and
WRC-TV (Washington, D.C.); and
-- _USA Today_, _Los Angeles Times_, _Orlando Sentinel_,
_Glendale News-Press Leader_, _Pasadena Star-News_, and
AP's on-line "video of the day."
* On April 3, _AIDS Treatment News_, based in San Francisco,
published MPP's legislative update in its twice-monthly
newsletter. Additionally, MPP received word from AIDS Treatment
Initiatives in Atlanta that it is opposing House Resolution
372. Other health, medical, and patient-services groups are
encouraged to contact MPP if they oppose this resolution.
* MPP allies and members are getting their letters-to-the-editor
opposing House Resolution 372 published in their local
newspapers. For a sample letter-to-the-editor, please see
http://www.mpp.org/hres372ltr.html.
While MPP is lobbying against House Resolution 372 on Capitol
Hill, we cannot stop it without your help. By expressing your strong
opposition now, we can kill this resolution if and when it reaches the
House floor. House Resolution 372 states, in part, the following:
"The U.S. House of Representatives is opposed to legalizing
marijuana ... a dangerous and addictive drug ... for medicinal
use, and urges the defeat of state initiatives which would seek
to legalize marijuana for medicinal use."
Please call, fax, or write and say the following: "I am [writing/
calling] to urge [you/Representative _________] to vote against
House Resolution 372, the anti-medicinal marijuana resolution.
I believe patients should be allowed to use medicinal marijuana if
their doctors approve of such use. At the very least, Congress should
not take any action on this issue until the Institute of Medicine
completes its review of medicinal marijuana this coming December."
(Institute of Medicine's phone number is 202-334-1805.)
***
To find out the name of your U.S. representative (on the Web):
First, find out your ZIP+4 ...
http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html
Then, use it to get the name of your U.S. representative ...
http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html
TO CALL: To call your U.S. representative's office, please call the
congressional switchboard operator at 202-225-3121. The
operator will ask you for your zip code if you do not know
who your U.S. representative is.
TO FAX: To fax your U.S. representative, please call your U.S.
representative's office or e-mail MPP@MPP.ORG for his or
her fax number. If you choose to e-mail MPP, please be sure
to include your U.S. representative's name.
TO WRITE: U.S. Rep. [name]
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
TO E-MAIL: Please DO NOT e-mail your U.S. representative unless you
have already called or faxed.
***
For up-to-date information on the status of House Resolution 372
and how to oppose it, please visit the MPP's World Wide Web site
at http://www.mpp.org/la031398.html.
***
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
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Rebuttal Of House Resolution 372 - A Case Of Mistaken Identity
('The Nation' Provides A Point-By-Point Refutation
Of The Anti-Medical Marijuana Resolution To Be Voted On
By The US House Of Representatives April 21)
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 09:30:22 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)
Subject: MN: US: Rebuttal of H. Res. 372- A Case of Mistaken Identity
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Ed Glick
Source: The Nation (US)
Contact: letters@thenation.com
Website: http://www.thenation.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 1998
Author: Ed Glick, RN
REBUTTAL OF H. RES 372 - A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTIDY
Introduction
H. Res.. 372 was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 26,
1998. It constitutes a "sense of the House of Representatives that
marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for
medicinal use."
This paper is a rebuttal of H. res. 372 and an argument that marijuana has
several extensively documented applications and a high safety margin with
medically supervised use. In addition it refutes the rhetorical tool of of
connecting the issues of substance use and abuse to medically supervised
use as inconsistent with the accepted protocols which govern the medical
research process. It questions the underlying legal, moral and political
priorities which criminalize sick, suffering and dying people for their
medically supervised use of marijuana as fundamentally inconsistent with
basic tenets of nursing practice which strive to care for and support ill
people with compassion. Each rebuttal paragraph corresponds to the item
of the same number in the text.
The vote on H. Res.. 372 is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 21'st,
1998.
1. The Controlled Substances Act was signed into Law in 1970 by President
Richard Nixon. It classifies certain drugs or substances with a high
potential for abuse into schedules. There are 5 schedules which represent
graded levels of control. Schedule one is for drugs which do not meet any
of the three basic requirements of listing:
1.No recognized medical value; 2. Toxic; 3. Highly dependence forming
Schedule one placement of marijuana is inappropriate on two of the three
parameters. Numerous scientific studies document five notable uses. (anti
seizure effects, anti nausea effects, appetite stimulant effects, analgesic
effects and intraocular pressure reduction effects.) In 1987 DEA Chief
Administrative Law Judge Francis Young conducted extensive and well
documented hearings into marijuanas placement into Schedule
1. He subsequently ruled that marijuana should be immediately reclassified
into schedule 2 His ruling was dismissed by DEA Administrator John Lawn
claiming the evidence was not scientific enough. In the intervening decade
documentation about the therapeutic uses of cannabinoids (the chemicals in
marijuana responsible for its effects) has increased including numerous
books, research papers and patient accounts.
2. Marijuana use is not associated with domestic violence when used alone.
Alcohol is. Marijuana is ranked as one of the least toxic drugs in
wide-spread use today. There is no documented mortality associated with
acute overdose of cannabis in the medical literature encompassing 5000
years of use. In contrast, four hundred-thousand Americans die each year
from diseases brought on by tobacco smoking. Research citing increases in
traffic accidents related to cannabis intoxication is ambiguous at best.
Some studies show that drivers intoxicated by marijuana actually compensate
for their impairment by driving more carefully. Alcohol use is clearly
associated with more aggressive driving patterns. Obvious wisdom would
dictate that driving while under the influence of ANY drug is foolish.
3. This paragraph in H. Res. 372 expands upon and repeats paragraph 1.
Research clearly shows that medical complications of Heroin, PCP, and
Cocaine use can be severe and life-threatening. Approximately twenty-five
thousand Americans die each year from complications of illegal drug use
such as heart attacks and strokes. Medical contraindications of marijuana
relate to a large extent on inhaling as the route of delivery. Pulmonary
complications such as bronchitis, and respiratory infections can and do
occur. Immune impairments are probably minimal, with some studies showing
enhanced immunity. Cognitive impairments can occur to some heavy conic
users-most notably reversible short-term memory deficits. Cannabis
Dependence Syndrome is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental disorders (DSM-IV) as an affliction based upon inability to control
use. Reproductive research is far from conclusive, and has often been
based upon large doses of cannabinoids infused rapidly into rodents.
Research purporting to prove the existence of withdrawal symptoms also is
based upon wildly unrealistic research protocols in rodents. There is no
documented malignant pathology (cancer) associated with exposure to
marijuana in humans in spite of the fact that marijuana smoke contains many
of the same harmful combustion by-products as tobacco smoke. Large scale
mortality research has shown no increase in mortality associated with
marijuana use when confounding variables are considered. By far the
greatest contra-indication to marijuana is that associated with its illegal
status. These include arrest, prosecution, loss of home and employment,
fines, jail time and child protective service investigations.
4. Dronabinol, known by the trade name Marinol is a synthetic version of
the THC molecule-one of the major cannabinoids. It is approved for use by
the FDA as a schedule 2 drug for appetite stimulation related to AIDS
wasting syndrome and as an anitemetic in cancer chemotherapy. Marinol
costs $15 or more per capsule and is dispensed in 2.5 mg, 5 mg and 10 mg
doses in a sesame oil formulation. It is effective for some patients
however others prefer the ease and speed of the inhaled route. The lungs
deliver cannabinoids to the brain in 1-10 minutes allowing patients to
easily self regulate the dose and effect. Marinol may take 3 hours to
digest and patients complain of excessive sedation, dizziness. Patients
who are nauseated often cannot tolerate pills. Phase 3 clinical trials by
the FDA have not been conducted in spite of much evidence of efficacy. In
February 1997 The National Institute of Health conducted an inquiry about
medical uses of marijuana and concluded that several indications merit
further study.
5. Marijuana has an extensively documented history of medical use spanning
5000 years. Marijuana was widely prescribed by physicians in Europe and
America as a tincture (an alcohol based preparation) until its use was
effectively banned in 1937 by passage of the Marihuana Tax Act.
In western medical science drugs are evaluated primarily for efficacy. Many
obscure, dangerous and potent drugs exist and are used when necessasary by
physicians.
6. Numerous governmental and scientific commissions have publicly
positioned themselves in support of a medically supervised and regulated
supply of marijuana. These include The World Health Organization, and many
physician and nursing groups. Unfortunately, decades of Federal Government
obstruction has confused Americans.
7. In November of 1996 voters in the states of Arizona and California
approved initiatives which legalize marijuana for medical use. Shortly
thereafter, on December 30th 1996, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, National
Drug Coordinator Barry McCaffery and Attorney General Janet Reno conducted
a press conference openly threatening to revoke the DEA license of doctors
who prescribe marijuana to their patients. Doctors filed suit and gained
an injunction forbidding Federal authorities from carrying through on their
threat.
8. Shortly after Arizona voters approved of the medical use of marijuana
legislators in Arizona passed legislation nullifying the vote. Voters
refiled another petition to bring the question to a vote. Arizonans will
again vote on the issue this November.
9. In the United States there are no laws which completely forbid citizens
of one state from financially supporting legislative or political efforts
underway in another state. Millions of dollars cross state lines each year
for many different issues.
10. Organizations like the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML) have long supported compassionate use of marijuana
when governmental and health care agencies have not. Many other
pro-legalization groups have advocated for reform of laws surrounding the
war on drugs. Public support of medical marijuana may be a result of
widespread experience of loved ones, family members and friends who have
benefited by using marijuana. Americans overall oppose unregulated access
to marijuana but continue to support medically supervised access.
11., 12. Many children in the United States have drug abuse problems. Many
parents do also. Problems of addiction in the United States cost billions
of dollars annually and result in approximately half a million deaths.
Billions more dollars are spent in interdiction efforts. Drug availability
on the street remains high, prices for hard drugs have fallen and purity
has increased. Marijuana use in children has risen in recent years partly
because of a perception of safety. But many children appear confused about
the mixed messages they receive about substance use in our society. These
messages that connect legal drug use with prosperity, glamour and health
are pervasive. The DARE program, ostensibly a medical class taught by law
enforcement personnel, is in 80% of public schools. It has repeatedly
been shown as ineffective at teaching children the risks and benefits
associated with all drugs. There is simply no logical connection between
safe and effective drugs used under medical supervision and their potential
for abuse by others, a point repeatedly acknowledged by governmental
commissions.
13. References to statistical associations between marijuana use and hard
drugs are misleading and inconclusive. The 1997 National Drug Strategy
reports that some 80% of marijuana users do not use hard drugs. Increased
use of hard drugs by marijuana using teenagers can be explained by looking
at personality types which are more risk-taking. Troubled youths coming
from troubled homes are more likely to behave in anti-social or unhealthy
ways-including using marijuana. This does not make marijuana a causative
agent in the progression to more deadly substances. There is no biochemical
connection between marijuana use and the use of other substances. Marijuana
users are more likely to drink alcohol. It is absurd to assert that
marijuana use leads to alcohol use, or vice-versa. The gateway theory has
been repeatedly used as a pretext for marijuana prohibition. It has been
discredited by studies which describe it as faulty logic with no basis in
fact. There is a statistical association with alcohol use and violence.
Alcohol works on parts of the brain which affect self-control. This is a
biochemical explanation. Tobacco use over many years is statistically
associated with cancer. This also is a biochemical association. Cocaine,
Heroin, PCP and Methamphetamine use is statistically and causally related
to a variety of medical complications including death. IV injection of
drugs with contaminated syringes has a clear statistical association with
increases in the transmission of the AIDS virus. Use of marijuana by
children does not lead to hard drugs. Government interdiction efforts which
strive to end the massive flow of drugs into the United States however seem
to be statistically correlated with increases in hard drug use in this
country.
14. In US society children receive many ambiguous messages regarding
sexual activity, drug use, and money through practically all mass media but
particularly through television. But cultural messages which glamorize
drug use have nothing to do with medically supervised access to a valuable
medicine. Marijuana occupies a niche along with thousands of other plants
and drugs. Appropriate medical use of a drug does not glamorize
inappropriate use of it and is a spurious argument. On the other hand,
deceptive emotional laden rhetoric which persistently assigns moral
overtones to a medical or public health issue is a disservice to Americans
who depend on their government to be honest. Many other public health or
medical issues have been mischaracterized by politicians, mostly
republicans, as breakdowns in moral fabric, including passing out condoms,
sterile needles and elective abortion. Not only does this deceive
Americans, but it neglects to evaluate public health issues on a balanced
playing field.
There is widespread addiction , mortality, morbidity and suffering
associated with substance use. Legal behaviors kill half a million
Americans each year.
15. 16. Many Americans, particularly teenagers are distrustful of the
Federal Government. Poor quality politically motivated drug education
epitomized by the DARE program, serves to cultivate ignorance, apathy and
distrust of the Federal Government. Inequities in public health policy
abound. Children perceive an illogical association between the high rate of
legal tobacco related death and the non-existent death associated with
illegal marijuana. In addition, children have seen first hand how loved
ones have benefited from using marijuana, or watched them slowly die from
using tobacco. As such, the more Americans understand about the medical
use of marijuana, the more they approve of it. It is mostly conservative
politicians and Federal Government agencies which continue a long tradition
of misinforming the public about the beneficial uses of marijuana. As a
result, large numbers of patients endure arrest, and prosecution because of
their use of it.
CONCLUSION
H. Res. 372 represents an attempt to maintain polarization in the debate
about medical marijuana and illegal drug use by disregarding a large body
of evidence which supports medically justified use. Many of the assertions
made in H. Res. 372 are either demonstrably false, or casually unrelated to
the risk/benefit assessment that governs drug research and use in this
country. It fails to place the relatively small issue of medical marijuana
into a balanced perspective of drug use and addiction in our society. By
deflecting attention away from public health behaviors which cause an
alarming degree of mortality and morbidity, like tobacco use, H. Res. 372
serves to misinform the public. Americans , and particularly children are
distrustful and cynical about government. Large numbers of sick and dying
patients are currently using marijuana for documented relief of several
conditions. Federal attempts to criminalize patients, and their health
care providers result in more pain and suffering, a more intrusive Federal
Government and a more cynical and uninformed public.
Within the medical framework of the United States compassion and knowledge
should be integrated. Disallowing a valuable medicine for poorly
documented and morally dubious reasons is inconsistent with the basic
cornerstones of medical care.
Edward Glick, RN
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The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 37
(The Drug Reform Coordination Network's News Summary For Activists
Features 11 Original Articles Including - Free Todd McCormick Rally Monday,
April 13, In Los Angeles; Needle Exchange Funding Band Decision
To Be Released Within Two Weeks; 'It's The Pain, Stupid' - Kevorkian, Pain,
And The DEA; Update On Drug And Harm Reduction Policies In Central
And Eastern Europe And The Newly Independent States; German Doctors Vote
In Favor Of Heroin Prescription; Medical And Public Health Organizations
Oppose Criminalization Of Pregnant Addicts; And, Vaclav Havel's Second
Prague Spring, By Adam J. Smith)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 07:40:15 EDT
Originator: drc-natl@drcnet.org
Sender: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (manager@drcnet.org)
To: Multiple recipients of list (drc-natl@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #37
THE WEEK ONLINE WITH DRCNet, ISSUE #37 -- APRIL 10, 1998
-- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --
(To sign off this list, mailto:listproc@drcnet.org with the
line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
mailto:drcnet@drcnet.org for assistance. To subscribe to
this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
SPRINGFIELD, MASS: Springfield Harm Reduction Conference
Friday 4/10 (today), 9am - 4pm, Springfield Marriott
corner of Boland & Columbus Ave., FREE
LOS ANGELES: Free Todd McCormick Rally!
Monday, April 13, 1998, 6:30pm, Federal Courthouse, Downtown
L.A., Main St. near Temple St. For info and background, see
http://www.marijuananews.com/free_todd_mccormick_rally.htm
OKLAHOMA CITY: Free Will Foster rally! Capitol Building,
April 20, 4:00pm (mistakenly reported as noon last week).
Info: Call OK NORML at (405) 366-8058, or visit
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-3.html#freewill
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Sensible Solutions to the Urban
Drug Problem, A Fraser Institute Conference, April 21
Info: Patrick Basham, (604) 688-0221 x329
pbasham@istar.ca, http://www.fraserinstitute.ca
JOIN DRCNET: $25 or more for one-year membership plus free
copy of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, this month only!
http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html or mail to DRCNet, 2000 P
St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036. Donations not
tax-deductible.
(DRCNet apologizes for the double posting last week, which
was due to a technical error -- you're not subscribed
twice, unless you received four copies!)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. DRCNET EXCLUSIVE: SYRINGE EXCHANGE FUNDING BAN
DECISION TO BE RELEASED WITHIN TWO WEEKS
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#dhhs
2. OAKLAND ASSET FORFEITURE LAW CHALLENGED -- AND, FEDERAL
FORFEITURE UPDATE
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#forfeiture
3. SENATE WOULD EXTEND MARIJUANA PROHIBITION TO INCLUDE
MEDICAL RESEARCH
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#senate
4. FELONY CHARGES FOR WOMAN CULTIVATING MARIJUANA FOR UKIAH
CANNABIS BUYERS' CLUB
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#ukiah
5. "IT'S THE PAIN, STUPID": KEVORKIAN, PAIN, AND THE DEA
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#bostonbill
6. VACLAV HAVEL VETOES BILL CRIMINALIZING DRUG POSSESSION
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#havel
7. UPDATE ON DRUG AND HARM REDUCTION POLICIES IN CENTRAL
AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#nis
8. GERMAN DOCTORS VOTE IN FAVOR OF HEROIN PRESCRIPTION
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#maintenance
9. DRUG POLICY LETTER FOCUSES ON WOMEN AND DRUGS
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#dpletter
10. MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSE
CRIMINALIZATION OF PREGNANT ADDICTS
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#whitner
11. EDITORIAL: VACLAV HAVEL'S SECOND PRAGUE SPRING
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#editorial
***
1. DRCNET EXCLUSIVE: SYRINGE EXCHANGE FUNDING BAN DECISION
TO BE RELEASED WITHIN TWO WEEKS
- Adam J. Smith
The Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS was all set
to vote (4/9) on a resolution which would have demanded that
the President direct Secretary of Health and Human Services
Donna Shalala either make a determination regarding the ban
on federal funding for syringe exchange, or resign. That
vote, however, has been put on hold in the wake of
information that a decision is forthcoming.
Sources familiar with the situation told the Week Online
that President Clinton's Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles,
called commission chairman Dr. Scott Hitt on the eve of the
vote to tell him that Secretary Shalala is "supportive of
the issue" of exchange, and that HHS' internal review would
be complete and a decision announced within two weeks.
While the White House has not guaranteed what the decision
would be, the Commission has decided to table any action on
the resolution pending prompt action by Shalala.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not return
calls for comment.
In a letter that was leaked to Congress and the New York
Times last week in which Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey indicated
his opposition to lifting the ban, McCaffrey pointed to two
Canadian studies as evidence that syringe exchange does not
necessarily prevent, and may actually increase HIV
transmission. Syringe exchange opponents in Congress also
pointed to the studies as evidence mitigating against
lifting the ban. On Thursday, April 9, however, Drs. Julie
Bruneau and Martin T. Schechter, the authors of the studies,
published an op-ed in the Times claiming that the officials
had misinterpreted the research and that factors such as the
population sample, the type of drugs injected (cocaine,
which is generally injected far more frequently by users
than heroin) and the under-provision of exchange services
were responsible for the high transmission rates that the
studies reported.
***
2. OAKLAND ASSET FORFEITURE LAW CHALLENGED -- AND, FEDERAL
FORFEITURE UPDATE
- David Borden
The American Civil Liberties of Northern California sent a
letter last week to the Oakland City Council, notifying them
of a recent opinion issued by the Legislative Counsel of
California which concluded that the City of Oakland's
vehicle seizure and forfeiture ordinance "is void as
contradictory to state law."
At issue is an ordinance titled "Operation Beat Feet", which
the Oakland Police Department has utilized to seize and sell
automobiles allegedly used to solicit acts of prostitution
or acquire illegal drugs -- even when there is no criminal
conviction. State law prohibits forfeiture in such cases,
except when following conviction and proof of guilt beyond a
reasonable doubt. For more info on the Oakland issue, visit
http://www.aclunc.org/pressrel/980331-seizure.html.
On the national front, Forfeiture Endangers American Rights
(FEAR) reports that HR 1965, a bill that would have further
increased federal powers and weakened citizens' protections
against property seizure, has been abandoned by its sponsor,
Rep. Henry Hyde.
Hyde's support for HR 1965, a bill drafted in close
consultation with the Dept. of Justice, was considered by
forfeiture reform advocates to be odd, given his formerly
strong advocacy on behalf of reform, including authoring of
a book, "Forfeiting Our Property Rights: Is Your Property
Safe from Seizure?", published by the Cato Institute,
endorsed in a press conference by the ACLU, and his
sponsorship of HR 1835, a decent forfeiture reform bill
supported by advocates. Hyde's apparently contradictory
positions led to speculation (unconfirmed) that he may have
been misled by staff members, or that the illness and death
of his wife may have been a contributing factor in his
misjudging DOJ's bill.
Hyde is again supporting HR 1835, but forfeiture reform is
still very much an uphill battle. For further information
on forfeiture and how to get involved in reform efforts,
visit FEAR's web site at http://www.fear.org.
(Two important books on asset forfeiture are Henry Hyde's
book, mentioned above, and "A License to Steal: The
Forfeiture of Property", by Leonard W. Levy, professor of
law at the University of North Carolina. Both books can be
purchased from amazon.com by following the links from
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/4-10.html#forfeiture;
DRCNet will earn 15% of your purchase price on Levy's book
but not Hyde's. The Hyde book can also be purchased
directly from the Cato Institute, http://www.cato.org.)
***
3. SENATE WOULD EXTEND MARIJUANA PROHIBITION TO INCLUDE
MEDICAL RESEARCH
- adapted from NORML weekly news, http://www.norml.org/
The Senate approved a "sense of the Senate" resolution on
April 3 denying funding for any future medical marijuana
research projects. The amendment, introduced by Sen.
Gordon Smith (R-OR), is included in Senate Concurrent
Resolution 86, a measure outlining Congressional budgets for
the next five years. Although the amendment is not legally
binding, the resolution may influence Congress when
determining funding levels for health and research programs.
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup said, "This
amendment is a slap in the face to respected scientific and
medical institutions such as the National Institutes of
Health, the American Medical Association, the National
Academy of Sciences, the American Cancer Society, and
others -- all of which have recently urged the federal
government to facilitate clinical trials to better determine
marijuana's therapeutic potential."
Senate Amendment 2180 states that "no funds appropriated by
Congress should be used to... fund or support, or to compel
any individual, institution, or government entity to...
support any item, good, benefit, program, or service, for
the purpose of marijuana for medicinal purposes." Smith
argued that his amendment will help ensure that America's
children are not sent mixed messages on drug use."
Currently, all scientific protocols to examine marijuana's
medical potential must receive federal funds. According to
Rick Doblin -- head of the Multidisciplinary Association for
Psychedelic Studies -- this is because the only legal
supplier of marijuana for research purposes remains the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, and that agency will only
consider providing marijuana to projects that have
passed the NIH grant review process. NIH is currently
funding only one study regarding marijuana's medical
potential.
Senate Con. Res. 86 now goes to the House for consideration.
For more information, contact either Paul Armentano or Keith
Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-5500.
***
4. FELONY CHARGES FOR WOMAN CULTIVATING MARIJUANA FOR UKIAH
CANNABIS BUYERS' CLUB
- Troy Dayton
On April 2, Lake County, California district attorney
Stephen Hedstrom slapped Yvette Rubio with felony counts of
possession and cultivation of marijuana for sale. Rubio was
arrested last fall. Rubio was supplying marijuana to
Cherrie Lovett, medical marijuana patient and founder of the
Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club. Rubio cultivated the plants
assuming she was covered by Proposition 215, the 1996
initiative legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana.
The 51 plants were surrounded by fences with copies of a
contract identifying the crop as a supply for a cannabis
buyers club. If convicted, Yvette Rubio could face three
years in state prison.
Rubio's property lies on the border between Lake County and
Mendocino County. Mendocino County's Board of Supervisors
has written letters and passed resolutions denouncing
federal opposition to the Ukiah CBC. Evidently, Lake County
does not feel the same way.
Marvin Lehrman, Director of the Ukiah CBC told the Week
Online, "This is a big step backward. We were moving in the
other direction. People in need are getting relief from
this plant. I can't understand why anyone would want our
potential suppliers prosecuted. Luckily, for our patients,
we were able to find other sources." Rubio, however, is not
as lucky.
According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Lake County
district attorney Stephen Hedstrom maintains that his
actions are within the guidelines of Prop. 215. According
to Hedstrom, the recent ruling against Dennis Peron of the
San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club makes it clear that
marijuana cannot be grown as a commercial enterprise.
Hedstrom claims he waited for the outcome of the Peron case
before deciding whether to prosecute Rubio.
"We are not a commercial enterprise. We are a volunteer,
not-for-profit organization, dedicated to providing patients
with safe, affordable marijuana in a safe environment under
a law passed by the majority of Californians," said Lehrman.
Rubio's attorney, David Nelson, told the Press Democrat,
"What we don't like is the felony prosecution. She's got
plans in her life. She wants to go to school. It's a
killer."
***
5. "IT'S THE PAIN, STUPID": KEVORKIAN, PAIN, AND THE DEA
- David Borden
A March 16 Boston Globe article reported that Bill
Connaughton of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, known as
"BostonBill" in the online chat rooms that he organized for
people with fibromyalgia, became the 98th client of Dr.
Kevorkian. BostonBill was active to the end, providing
advice, encouragement and support to his fellow patients
through the net. Hence, his sudden end was a shock to the
online patient community.
The Globe article, which can be accessed by visiting
http://www.boston.com and going to keyword "BostonBill",
discussed and quoted extensively from the ensuing online
debate over physician-assisted suicide (though in a letter
distributed posthumously, BostonBill explained that he
considered it to be submitting to euthanasia, rather than
suicide, considered a sin in his religion, Catholicism.
A side of the issue not discussed, however, was the reason
so many chronic pain patients consider the suicide option:
undertreatment of pain. In a post on the Usenet titled
"It's the Pain, Stupid", an individual, perhaps another
patient, wrote:
"I just feel I need to shout out how sad it is that a
fibromyalgia patient has to resort to Dr. Kevorkian for
relief from his pain. If we didn't have so many doctors
scared to prescribe the medicine necessary to relieve the
pain, BostonBill would still be alive today, helping others
in need and advancing the cause to find a cure for this DD.
I think it is just about criminal to let patients suffer
when there are meds available."
In 1996 DRCNet reported on the case of Dr. William Hurwitz,
a Virginia physician whose license was revoked for pain
treatment practices that were lauded by experts but
considered controversial by the state's Board of Medicine
(see http://www.drcnet.org/guide10-96/pain.html to read
about the incident and the harassment suffered by some of
his former patients at the hands of DEA agents). Hurwitz
followed the principle that the appropriate dose of
medication for a pain patient is the dose that relieves the
patient's pain.
In a dramatic turnaround last year, the board, with many of
the same members, restored Hurwitz's license to practice
medicine and prescribe controlled substances, and voiced
their approval of Hurwitz's general method of pain control.
Hurwitz is still not back in business, however, as the DEA
has continued to withhold his federal controlled substances
license, leading some pain patient advocates to conclude
that the DEA is the enemy in the fight for pain relief.
Skip Baker, President of the American Society for Action on
Pain (ASAP), commented, "that pain could have been
controlled if Dr. Hurwitz was permitted by the DEA to do his
life saving work the DEA is now blocking... It's not a
matter of physician assisted suicide, it's a matter of no
pain control in America making physician assisted suicide
necessary!"
ASAP is a patient support network advocating for adequate
use of opioids (narcotics) in pain treatment. Check them
out at http://www.actiononpain.org and read about ASAP's
March on Washington this June.
***
6. VACLAV HAVEL VETOES BILL CRIMINALIZING DRUG POSSESSION
- Adam J. Smith
Vaclav Havel, legendary fighter for freedom and human rights
and now President of the Czech Republic, has vetoed a bill
this week (4/6/98) which would have banned possession of
drugs for personal use in that country. Havel cited human
rights concerns. Spokesman Ladislav Spacek told Reuter's
News Service, "The President reached the opinion that the
law would lead to the prosecution of victims rather than
culprits." Reuter's also reports that experts have warned
the Czech president that such a law would drive up drug
prices, fueling crime, and that criminalized addicts would
be less likely to seek treatment.
NOTE: See this week's editorial.
***
7. UPDATE ON DRUG AND HARM REDUCTION POLICIES IN CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPE AND THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES
- Jean Paul Grund for DRCNet
These are interesting times for drug policy in Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly Independent States (NIS).
In the Russian federation, rather draconian drug laws have
recently been passed which will turn providers of needle
exchange or substitution treatment into criminals -- even
discussing safer drug use practices with an injection drug
user could be construed as "inciting to use drugs" under the
new law -- and have disastrous consequences for the
prevention of AIDS and Hepatitis C. Meanwhile, we are
witnessing the dawn of an explosive HIV epidemic in Russia,
which will make the epidemic in the U.S. look futile.
On the other hand, countries like Poland, Hungary, and
Lithuania seem bound on a more pragmatic path. All three
countries recently introduced legislation which allows for
(increasing) substitution treatment with methadone, and, in
Lithuania, other opioid agonists. In the Czech Republic and
Slovakia, methadone treatment was introduced in 1997. This
treatment is also available in Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia,
Latvia and Estonia. While Poland recently criminalized
possession of drugs, it exempted small quantities for
personal use. In the Ukraine, which is confronted with an
immense injection-related HIV epidemic, the Deputy Minister
of Justice recently signed a statement that harm reduction
interventions are not in contradiction with the national
legislation of the country.
The latest decision of President Vaclav Havel to veto the
law banning possession of drugs for personal use, citing
human rights concerns, is definitively a victory for common
sense and pragmatic drug policy. This is a very promising
action, especially when taken by a revered man such as
Havel, but it does not come totally out of the blue. While
the prohibitionist forces are definitively part of the
policy spectrum in the Czech Republic, it seems that at
present drug policy is made by people with pragmatic and
harm reduction oriented attitudes. Pavel Bem, for example,
the chairman of the national drug commission (the Czech drug
czar), is a young psychiatrist and a very sophisticated
thinker. Likewise, drug services in Prague are increasingly
working with harm reduction models and cannabis use seems to
be tolerated and not a reason for major concern.
During my recent visit to the Czech Republic I witnessed
rather open use of this drug in several music clubs. In my
view the drug policy situation in the Czech Republic
resembles the situation in the Netherlands in the 1980s.
Perhaps the country can become an example for sensible and
pragmatic drug policy for the whole CEE region. I don't
know what it's worth as an indicator, but until now, there
is hardly any injecting related HIV reported in the Czech
republic.
(Jean-Paul C. Grund, Ph.D. is Director of International
Harm Reduction Development for the Lindesmith Center, a
project of the Open Society Institute. You can find them
on the web at http://www.lindesmith.org.)
***
8. GERMAN DOCTORS VOTE IN FAVOR OF HEROIN PRESCRIPTION
- Adam J. Smith
The British Medical Journal (4/4) reported that the German
Medical Council has voted unanimously in favor of allowing
heroin to be prescribed to long-term addicts. The issue
will now go to the Minister of Justice, with the Council's
recommendation, for approval. Council member Dr. Ingo
Flenker told the BMJ that the doctors were influenced by the
results of the Swiss maintenance trials, in which over 1,000
addicts were given access to the drug over a three year
period. The results of that experiment are considered by
the Swiss to be overwhelmingly positive, with marked
improvement in housing, employment, admissions to treatment,
health and mortality among participants.
The BMJ further reports that a poll, taken by the German
newspaper Die Woche, found that 55% of Germans support
making the drug available to hard core addicts under a
doctor's supervision.
Dr. Ethan Nadelmann, Director of the Lindesmith Center, a
drug policy think tank, told the Week Online, "The Swiss
experiment proved that heroin maintenance can be a
successful part of an overall policy aimed at reducing the
harms of substance abuse both to the user and to society.
It is truly encouraging that the German Medical Council has
followed the science, rather than ideology in making this
recommendation. With more and more countries, Australia,
the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and now Germany
expressing interest in replicating the Swiss model, and
assuming that the results of future trials are similar to
what we have already seen, it's going to be difficult for
countries like the U.S. to continue to denigrate this
modality and to dismiss it out of hand."
(The First International Conference on Heroin Maintenance
will take place on June 6, at the New York Academy of
Medicine, 5th Ave. and 103rd St. in Manhattan. For
information, contact the Lindesmith Center at (212) 548-0695
or e-mail lbeniquez@sorosny.org.)
If you missed our story on how Swiss voters overwhelmingly
approved of heroin maintenance, check it out at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1997/9-28-1.html#switzerland.
And if you missed our story on back-door U.S. pressure on
Australia to not conduct a similar trial, check it out at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1997/7-24-1.html#blackmail.
***
9. DRUG POLICY LETTER FOCUSES ON WOMEN AND DRUGS
- David Borden
The current issue of the Drug Policy Letter, publication of
the Drug Policy Foundation, focuses on the topic "Women and
Drugs". Articles include "Women and Treatment", by Marsha
Rosenbaum, discussing the biases and shortcomings faced by
women seeking treatment; "Dorothy Gaines: Guilt by
Association", by Rob Stewart, the story of an innocent woman
serving a 19-year, 7-month sentence for conspiracy to
distribute crack cocaine; "Caught in the Crossfire", by
Robin Lloyd, chair of the Drug Policy Committee of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, on the
Colombian women's movement opposing aerial fumigation of
coca fields and the increasing presence of the Colombian
military; "The Price of Principle", statement of Sherry
Hearn, a former high school teacher in Chatham County,
Georgia who was subjected to persecution after criticizing
the school and local police's random, lockdown searches in
the schools; an essay by Scott Ehlers on the women's repeal
movement, based on a book by Kenneth D. Rose, American Women
and the Repeal of Prohibition.
"In Their Own Words", by Whitney Taylor, features
conversations with members of the Bridgeport Needle Exchange
Program's Women's Group, a group of 50 women in various
stages of use, recovery and abstinence. Insights shared by
members of the group, gained from their real-world
experience, verify the claims made by reformers and medical
and public health groups that fear of the system drives
pregnant women drug users away from the treatment services
and prenatal and other health care that they and their
children need. "Here in Connecticut," says a woman named
Kathy, "if a woman is pregnant and she has a heroin habit
and she going into the hospital to have her child, they will
take her children away... It is making them go further and
further out into the street. They're afraid."
"The United Nations & the Taliban", by Karynn Fish,
describes the unholy alliance between the United Nations
Drug Control Program and the extremist religious group that
has seized control of two-thirds of Afghanistan and has
institutionalized a system of extreme discrimination against
women (see http://drcnet.org/rapid/1997/12-5-1.html#taleban
for background). The UNDCP's plan to fund the barbaric
Taliban is one of the issues to be protested during the
Global Days Against the Drug War this June 6-8 -- see
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/ for more
information and to sign on.
To join the Drug Policy Foundation and subscribe to the Drug
Policy Letter, send $25 or more for annual membership dues
to: DPF, 4455 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite B-500, Washington,
DC 20008, or sign up online at http://www.dpf.org, or
write or call (202) 537-5005 for a sample copy.
***
10. MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSE
CRIMINALIZATION OF PREGNANT ADDICTS
- David Borden
Last November we reported that the South Carolina Supreme
Court had upheld an 8-year prison sentence for a woman whose
newborn child tested positive for cocaine from her cocaine
use. This week, a coalition of physicians, health advocacy
groups and drug treatment providers filed a "friend of the
court" brief with the U.S. Supreme Court today opposing
Whitner v State, a South Carolina Supreme Court decision
which allows a woman to be criminally prosecuted for conduct
during her pregnancy.
According to Margaret W. Crawford, Board Chair of The
Alliance for South Carolina's Children, "This case is about
ensuring newborns a healthy future. South Carolina's
Attorney General Charles Condon thinks jail will deter
substance abuse. However, treatment centers are already
reporting that far fewer women are seeking treatment and
prenatal care due to this policy -- causing further harm to
women, children and families."
Daniel Abrahamson, Director of Legal Affairs for The
Lindesmith Center, stated, "Mr. Condon has ignored the
countless pleas of physicians and alcohol and drug treatment
providers to treat, not prosecute, pregnant women suffering
from chemical dependence. Now, the women and children most
in need of help are suffering horribly as a result of Mr.
Condon's misguided and draconian policies."
Among the medical groups and public health organizations
submitting the brief are the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Nurses
Association and the American Medical Women's Association.
For the full list of signatories, a fact sheet on the
Whitner case, a fact sheet on cocaine and pregnancy, and
selected news articles about the case, visit the Lindesmith
Center's Office of Legal Affairs web site at
http://www.lindesmith.org/about_tlc/legal.html.
***
11. EDITORIAL: Vaclav Havel's Second Prague Spring
In the Czech Republic last week, Vaclav Havel, true to his
history, took a courageous stand for liberty, human rights,
and the rational ordering of society when he vetoed a bill
which would have criminalized the possession of drugs for
personal use. In doing so, he cited not only the cruelty of
punishing the victim, but also the absurdity of driving up
prices, fostering crime and empowering the forces of the
black market. Havel, a writer and intellectual, played an
active role in the democratization and renewal of culture
that took place in 1968, helping to usher in a brief moment
of freedom in Czechoslovakia before the Soviet tanks rolled
in to reassert their dominance and put an end to that now-
legendary Prague Spring.
Much has changed since 1968. Havel, who was jailed by the
Communists as a dissident, is now the President of the Czech
Republic. And although its dominance over Havel and his
compatriots lasted for another twenty-one years, the Soviet
Empire, unable to maintain their control over information in
an age in which walls could no longer keep out words, is no
more. But in vetoing that bill, in refusing to subvert the
rights and the well-being of people to the dictates of
ideology, Havel, and the world, may very well find that it
is 1968 once again, and that the tanks are gathering at the
gates, preparing to crush a rising rebellion.
Across the globe, the movement to end the Drug War is
growing. And just as Alexander Dubcek, Vaclav Havel and a
generation of Czechs were responding to the failures and the
oppression of Communist rule, so too today's dissidents are
responding to the failures and oppression of the Drug War.
But now as then there is much at stake for the ideologues:
money, careers, power, control. And now as then, dissent
itself poses a real threat to an ideology without
intellectual or moral legitimacy.
In June, the United Nations will hold its first-ever Special
Session on Narcotics. Far from an open discussion of the
impact and effectiveness of the global war, the agenda will
be tightly controlled. Its mission, as stated, is to
encourage greater international cooperation and wider
participation in the war effort. Vaclav Havel's writings
during his years under Communist rule often spoke to the
intellectual contortions of people striving to function
under an obviously flawed and illogical system. At the UN,
a similar display is in the offing as the Session's
attendees attempt to ignore the fact that the enemies in
their war -- a global criminal network, legions of corrupted
officials and institutions, and the proliferation of
dangerous and addictive substances -- have all been either
exacerbated or created entirely by the very system that the
session is designed to perpetuate.
Ironically, it is the United States, arch-enemy of the old
Soviet empire, that is the driving force behind the global
Drug War. Domestically, the war has made the U.S. the
world's number one per capita incarcerator, highlighted by
an astounding one in three young African-American males
under criminal justice supervision. That such oppression
has failed to reduce the availability of drugs has only made
the prohibitionists more determined. According to America's
Republican Congressional leadership, legislation will be
introduced this spring which will outline "a World War II-
style" effort to replace the "half-hearted" and "weak"
status quo. Internationally, the prosecution of the war has
led the U.S. to steadily increase its military involvement
in Latin America, including arms and personnel sent into a
35 year-old Colombian civil war -- a war which has grown
exponentially as the native coca crop has been alchemized by
prohibition -- and a planned "Hemispheric Anti-Narcotics"
military base in Panama.
It is illustrative that Drug War dissenters within the U.S.
have often faced Soviet-style silencing. In 1993, Surgeon
General Jocelyn Elders was first marginalized, and
ultimately forced to resign after suggesting that the
legalization of drugs be studied. In 1994, Representative
Gerald Solomon sponsored a bill which would have stripped
the tax-exempt status of any non-profit organization
advocating the legalization of drugs. In 1996, California
Attorney General Dan Lungren held a press conference to urge
that the nation's newspapers refuse to run a Doonesbury
comic strip supportive of a state medical marijuana
initiative. And over the past two years, Barry McCaffrey,
dispensing the powers of the aptly named office of the "Drug
Czar", has met several times with American media executives
to lay out the government's views on the proper and improper
depiction of drugs and the people who use them.
Despite, or rather because of the escalating and heavy-
handed methods of the U.S.-led Drug War, voices of dissent
are rising up not only in America but around the world. It
is becoming quite apparent that this dissent, and the
obvious failure to which it points, have made the
prohibitionists desperate to prove that their system can
work. Their only possible response, given their lack of
success at the current level of repression, and their
steadfast support of the prohibitionist model, will be to
escalate.
This week, Vaclav Havel stood up once again for the rights,
the freedoms and the dignity of Man. As in 1968, his action
comes amidst a growing spirit of reform, and a sense of hope
that an age of repression is ending. But now as then the
ideologues cannot allow the reform movement to grow, and the
forces of repression, this time American-led, will
undoubtedly respond. But instead of the Czechs, standing in
the path of the coming onslaught will be the peoples of
Central and South America, of Central Asia, of the United
States, and of any nation that follows her lead.
Make no mistake, the current ascendancy of reform is but
another Prague Spring, and the tanks are even now gathering
at the gates. But unlike the last time, Vaclav Havel and
the rest of the world will not have to suffer for a
generation before the ideologues fall. Because this is
1998. And today, unlike thirty years ago, we are living in
an age of electronic communication and the free flow of
information. And information is the single most potent
weapon in the fight against repression. Just ask the
Soviets.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
***
DRCNet
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[End]
to 1998 Daily News index for April 9-15