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

NORML Weekly News (Kentucky Farmers File First Ever Federal Lawsuit To End
Hemp Prohibition; Judge Orders Closure Of Six California Medical Marijuana
Providers - Intent Of Proposition 215 In No Way Challenged By Ruling)

From: NORMLFNDTN (NORMLFNDTN@aol.com)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 13:05:56 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 5/15/98 (II)

NORML Foundation's Weekly Press Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
Internet: www.norml.org

May 15, 1998

***

Kentucky Farmers File First Ever Federal Lawsuit To End Hemp Prohibition

May 15, 1998, Lexington, KY: A coalition of Kentucky farmers brought
suit today against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S.
Department of Justice asserting that Congress never intended to ban
industrial hemp. The suit, the first of its kind filed in a federal
court, asks a judge to determine whether farmers can use their land to
grow and produce hemp for commercial and industrial purposes.

"Kentucky farmers deserve the same economic opportunity that Canadian
farmers have been given to explore the development of industrial hemp
industries," said Andrew Graves, president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative Association. "We should be allowed to utilize industrial
hemp to stimulate and create the much needed economic development for our
rural farming communities."

The plaintiff's attorney, NORML Legal Committee member Michael Kennedy
of New York, contends that the DEA has violated the fundamental
constitutional doctrine of separation of powers by ignoring the will of
Congress, first articulated during the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act
of 1937, which specifically exempted the production of hemp prohibition.

"The time has come for a federal court to set the record straight:
Congress intended to prohibit marijuana, not hemp. For centuries, hemp
has been and will in the future be a valuable and essential part of
Kentucky agriculture."

Presently, farmers in over 30 countries - including Canada, France,
England, Germany, Japan, and Australia - grow hemp for industrial
purposes. Additionally, both the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Taxes and Tariffs (GATT) recognize
the crop as a valid agricultural plant.

For more information, please contact either Michael Kennedy @ (212)
235-4500 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Judge Orders Closure Of Six California Medical Marijuana Providers
Intent of Prop. 215 In No Way Challenged By Ruling

May 15, 1998, San Francisco, CA: U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer
complied yesterday with the federal government's request to temporarily
enjoin the operations of six California medical marijuana dispensaries
named in a civil lawsuit. Breyer found that the defendant's conduct
"likely" violates the Controlled Substances Act and concluded that the
Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution requires the court to
order the clubs from continuing to violate the federal statute.

The preliminary injunction prohibits the distribution of medical
marijuana to seriously ill patients by the San Francisco Cannabis
Cultivators Club, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, San Francisco
Flower Therapy, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the Santa Cruz
Buyers' Club, and the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club. The clubs compliance
with the order may force as many as 10,000 clients to find alternate
sources for medical marijuana. Any club continuing to operate in
defiance of the order could face contempt of court charges.

"This decision sets the stage for a showdown between federal bureaucrats
and the people of California who are attempting to meet the legitimate
medical needs of patients under Prop. 215," said California NORML
Coordinator Dale Gieringer. "No matter what the courts say, Californians
will continue to work to ensure that medical marijuana remains available
to patients who need it."

The federal Controlled Substances Act forbids the distribution of a
Schedule I controlled substance - including marijuana - to any patient
outside of a strictly controlled research project approved by the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA). Breyer noted that the passage of
California's medical marijuana statute fails to alter the authority of
the federal law. However, Breyer specified that his ruling in no way
challenges the authority of California's Proposition 215 to exempt
medical marijuana patients from the state's drug laws.

"Because of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, the
only issue before the Court is whether the defendant's conduct violates
federal law," Breyer wrote. "The Court concludes that ... it is likely
that it does.

"Once again, however, the Court must caution as to what this decision
does not do. The Court has not declared Proposition 215
unconstitutional. Nor has it enjoined the possession of marijuana by a
seriously ill patient for the patient's personal medical use upon a
physician's recommendation. Nor has the Court foreclosed the possibility
of a medical necessity or constitutional defense in any proceeding in
which it alleged a defendant has violated the injunction issued herein."

Breyer rejected defendants contention that Congress lacks the authority
to regulate the conduct of state medical marijuana dispensaries because
they only engage in intrastate commerce. He opined that although the
defendant's conduct may not have had any effect on interstate commerce,
"it is not true that the ... nonprofit distribution of medical marijuana
necessarily does not affect interstate commerce."

Breyer also rejected defendants assertion that temporarily closing the
six clubs would infringe upon a class of patients "fundamental right to
be free from unnecessary pain, to receive palliative treatment for a
painful medical condition, to care for oneself, and to preserve one's own
life." While Breyer did not deny that such a right may exist, he held
that defendants failed to establish that the right to such treatment is
"so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked
as fundamental."

Responding to Breyer's decision, medical dispensaries in the Bay Area
vowed to violate the injunction and continue providing marijuana to those
patients in need.

"We will do everything in our power to stay open," said Jeff Jones,
director of the 1,300 member Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. "The
alternative that the government is giving [patients] is the street;
that's not adequate."

Jones and others who defy the order will likely face a jury trial where
defendants would have the ability to raise the defense of medical
necessity. Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights,
said that the clubs stand a better chance before a panel of their peers.

"It has been proved time and time again that the prohibition of
marijuana for medical use is a wildly unpopular policy," he said. "In
the court of public opinion, the federal government is already in a
losing position. If medical marijuana patient advocates are given their
day in court, ... the government could - and should - lose big."

Oakland Buyers Club defense attorney Robert Raich agreed. "We look
forward to being vindicated by a jury of Californians who recognize the
medical value of marijuana," he said.

Wednesday's ruling is narrow in scope and pertains only to the
distribution and manufacture of marijuana by the six defendants. The
ruling does not apply to activities of other state medical marijuana
dispensaries.

NORML Legal Committee member William Panzer, who represents two of the
clubs named in the suit, said that this issue is far from over. "We will
put the government on trial and show that it has acted arbitrarily and
capriciously," he said.

For more information, please contact either William Panzer of The NORML
Legal Committee @ (510) 834-1892 or attorney Robert Raich @ (510)
338-0700. California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer may be reached @
(415) 563-5858.

				- END -

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Oregonians For Medical Rights Web Site
(Sponsors Of The Oregon Medical Marijuana Initiative Are Now Online)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 21:29:37 -0700
From: Rick Bayer (ricbayer@teleport.com)

Subject: Oregonians for Medical Rights Website/
Oregon Medical Marijuana Act listing

Dear friends and supporters

Just finished Oregonians for Medical Rights website today with the complete
copy of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act., etc. Please pass along the URL
www.teleport.com/~omr. Any comments, corrections, etc. are welcome.

As far as I know, this is the first complete listing on the web of two
important medical articles on the value of inhaled marijuana and THC in the
papers by Vinciguerra, et al. and Chang et al. respectively. Look under the
medical journal articles in the bibliography. If you find them elsewhere,
maybe you shouldn't tell me (yes, please do) since getting the tables
correct, etc. was a lot of work for this minor league webmaster (web
"learner" is more like it).

Please forward this website URL to anyone interested in patient advocacy and
medical marijuana. Thanks.

Rick Bayer, MD
6800 SW Canyon Drive
Portland, OR 97225
503-292-1035 (voice)
503-297-0754 (fax)
ricbayer@teleport.com

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Moved For PMs ('Associated Press' Says Proposals To Privatize Oregon Prisons
Are Expected To Draw Serious Consideration From The 1999 Legislature,
Which Convenes In January)

Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
05/15/98 5:11 PM Eastern

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Private prisons could be 10 percent cheaper
to run than state-run lockups, but a poorly run facility could suck
money by getting mired in expensive lawsuits, a national expert
told a legislative panel.

The Senate Interim Committee on Judiciary is looking into the
pros and cons of privatizing at least one Oregon prison.

"Assume the worst, and be prepared to handle the worst," warned
James Austin, executive vice president of the National Council on
Crime and Delinquency.

The number of private prisons across the country is growing as
convict populations swell because of harsher sentencing laws.
During the past decade, the number of jailed Americans more than
doubled to 1.8 million.

For-profit prisons hold an estimated 95,000 prisoners, mostly in
the United States, England, Australia and Puerto Rico.

But there have been problems.

South Carolina pulled the plug on a privately run juvenile
detention center last year amid allegations of abusive treatment of
offenders.

A federal court recently blocked admissions to a private prison in
Ohio after two inmate homicides sparked a flurry of criminal
charges and civil lawsuits.

Two years ago, 240 Oregon sex offenders were returned from a
private prison in Texas after two inmates escaped, prompting an
outcry from Taxes residents.

However, Austin said, many private prisons operate without
significant problems. "Each one can be shaped in a negative way
or a positive way," he said. "It all depends on how they're
managed."

Some states protect themselves with opt-out clauses in their
contracts with private prison operators. If state officials are
unhappy with the way the prison is being run, they can cancel the
arrangement.

Austin said private prisons generally cut costs by employing fewer
staff than state-run prisons. They also provide leaner fringe
benefits, typically by replacing guaranteed pensions with a cheaper
stock-ownership plan.

"If you have a rich fringe-benefit package in your state, you'll save
money," Austin said.

In Oregon, proposals to privatize are expected to draw serious
consideration from the 1999 Legislature, which convenes in
January.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.

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Judge Tells Medical Marijuana Clubs They're Going Down
('Oakland Tribune' Version)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:55:57 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Tells Medical Marijuana Clubs They're Going Down
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Source: Oakland Tribune
Contact: triblet@angnewspapers.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Monica Gyulai, staff writer

JUDGE TELLS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CLUBS THEY'RE GOING DOWN

A federal judge Thursday told a half-dozen Northern California medical
marijuana clubs he plans to shut them down for violating federal drug laws.

The federal government and club owners have until Monday to respond to the
proposed order by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, but both parties
anticipated the preliminary injunction would be signed. Each side balled
the decision as a victory in their battle over the 1996 state Initiative
that legalized marijuana for the seriously ill.

"Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear - the
distribution or cultivation of marijuana is unlawful," U.S. Attorney
Michael Yamaguchi said. De said all medical mari-juana clubs in the state
should close voluntarily in light of the decision.

Club owners have different plans. By staying open, operators will risk
contempt or criminal charges that would pave the way for a jury trial.

"Judge Breyer has found a way to let a jury of Californians decide what
they think is appro-priate," said Oakland attorney Robert Raich, who
represents the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. "We know Californians
recognize cannabis as medicine. We look forward to bringing this case
before Northern Californians, and we look forward to vindication."

Breyer could issue the injunction as early as Tuesday. The federal
government then would have to decide whether to go after clubs in Oakland,
Ukiah, Santa Cruz, Mann County and two in San Francisco. Although more than
30 medical marijuana clubs may be in the state, only six were named in the
lawsuit.

"We plan on staying open until they take us away," said Jeff Jones,
executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.

In November 1996, 56 percent of state voters approved Proposition 215,
making it legal under California law for seriously ill patients and their
primary care givers to possess and cultivate marijuana.

But federal, state and local officials and medical marijuana advocates have
battled over the specifics of the initiative and whether it should be
defended or discarded.

Breyer's decision responded to a lawsuit filed by the federal government in
January charging that six Northern California cannabis clubs violate the
federal Controlled Substances Act. Breyer wrote in his 27-page decision
that "there is a strong likelihood" Prop. 215 violates federal law.

He ruled that state law legalizing medical marijuana does not override the
federal ban.

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

Judge Says Six Pot Clubs Must Close ('San Jose Mercury News' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:15:05 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Says 6 Pot Clubs Must Close
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Howard Mintz - Mercury News Staff Writer

JUDGE SAYS 6 POT CLUBS MUST CLOSE

Proposition 215: Federal law supersedes state statute, ruling states.

A San Francisco federal judge on Thursday nudged the state's medicinal
marijuana clubs closer to extinction, siding with the U.S. Justice
Department's argument that six Northern California operations must close
because they are violating federal drug laws.

In a blow to voter-approved Proposition 215, U.S. District Judge Charles
Breyer issued a preliminary injunction that essentially forces the clubs to
cease dispensing medicinal marijuana or face the prospect of a crackdown by
federal law enforcement officials. Breyer concluded in his 27-page ruling
that federal drug laws trump the clubs' right to operate under Proposition
215, which legalized pot for medical use.

``A state law which purports to legalize the distribution of marijuana for
any purpose, even a laudable one, nonetheless directly conflicts with
federal law,'' the judge wrote. ``It does not exempt distribution of
marijuana to seriously ill persons for their personal medical use.''

Breyer's ruling is limited and does not invalidate Proposition 215. But it
spells trouble for the national movement to legalize medicinal marijuana.
There are efforts in at least six states to put similar measures on this
fall's ballot, all of which risk legal challenge from the Clinton
administration.

Breyer tailored his ruling in such a way that the clubs and their attorneys
were predicting another showdown with the Justice Department over the
medicinal pot law.

Among other things, the judge did not foreclose the possibility of the
clubs presenting some of their arguments to a jury. The clubs could thus
provoke a showdown simply by refusing to comply with Breyer's injunction, a
move that would lead to contempt proceedings.

Pro-215 forces said Thursday that they'd defy the injunction and expose
themselves to contempt charges to take their arguments to a jury.

``This case is going to go on,'' said Oakland attorney William Panzer, who
represents the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and clubs in Southern
California. ``At least some of them will stay open. It's an opportunity to
put the government on trial and show it is acting arbitrarily.''

Justice Department officials had little to say about the judge's ruling,
other than to warn all marijuana dispensaries in the state to take notice
of the court's conclusions.

``Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear,'' said San
Francisco U.S. attorney Michael Yamaguchi. ``The distribution or
cultivation of marijuana is unlawful. I call on all of the marijuana
distribution clubs in California to take cognizance of this order and
voluntarily shut down.''

The Justice Department sued six clubs earlier this year, arguing
Proposition 215 is superseded by federal law. The suit named two clubs in
San Francisco, including the now-defunct club owned by Proposition 215
co-author Dennis Peron, and clubs in Santa Cruz, Oakland, Marin County and
Ukiah.

While the federal case has been pending, state Attorney General Dan Lungren
succeeded in shutting down Peron's Cannabis Cultivators Club in a separate
state court lawsuit. Peron's club has been replaced by the Cannabis Healing
Center, which for now is not affected by Breyer's ruling.

The Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers Club, one of the targets of the federal
suit, also has closed on its own in recent months. The Santa Clara County
Medical Cannabis Center, which closed in San Jose this month because of the
arrest of owner Peter Baez, was never a defendant in the federal case.

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

Judge Will Close Clubs For Medical Marijuana
('Orange County Register' Version)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:14:56 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Will Close Clubs For Medical Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

JUDGE WILL CLOSE CLUBS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A federal judge in San Francisco struck a possibly fatal blow to
medical-marijuana clubs Thursday, saying he would order closure of six
Northern California clubs for violating federal laws against distributing
drugs.

Proposition 215, the November 1996 initiative that legalized medical
marijuana under California law, did not and could not override the federal
ban on marijuana, said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer.

He rejected the clubs' argument that they were entitled to furnish the drug
because their customers, many of whom suffer from AIDS or cancer, cannot
survive without marijuana to ease the pain and side effects of therapy.

Nevertheless, San Francisco's largest medical marijuana club, now called
the Cannabis Healing Center, said it would defy the order, risk a
contempt-of-court charge, and offer a "medical necessity" defense when
brought to trial.

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The Peron For Governor Campaign Presents A 'Get Out The Vote' Rally
(The Former Director Of The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club
Plans A Benefit There For His Gubernatorial Campaign Next Saturday, May 23)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 20:04:30 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: HSLotsof 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: Peron for Gov. CA

womack@java.coffeenet.net (hal womack)
Date: Fri, May 15, 1998 02:12 EDT
Message-id: <6jgmdb$41q@java.coffeenet.net>

Peron for Governor Campaign
1444 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 621-3986 Fax (415) 621-0604
email: cbc@marijuana.org

***

For Immediate Release May 11, 1998

Who: The Peron for Governor Campaign Presents

What: A "Get Out the Vote" Rally featuring Gary Duncans Quicksilver
(founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service) and Linda Imperial &
Friends.

Where: At the San Francisco Cannabis Healing Center at 1444 Market Street
(near Van Ness)

When: Saturday, May 23rd, from 7:00 p.m.10:00 p.m.

There will be a cameo performance by David Nash. Invited guests will include
medical marijuana pioneer, Brownie Mary, Margo St. James, founder of
C.O.Y.O.T.E., and David Frieberg, former member of the Jefferson Airplane.

Plus, there will be a Techno Party on the Third Floor, featuring San
Franciscos hottest underground DJs.

Refreshments Food Public Invited

Suggested Donation: $5.00

For Further Information, Call (415) 621- 3986

"This candidacy is about giving hope for the future, about empowerment of
those people who have given up on voting in the past, about bringing back
compassionate leadership in our state. Its about who we are as a people and
where we are going as a nation."

--Dennis Peron

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

Pot Clubs Vow To Defy Judge's Order
(According To 'The San Francisco Examiner,'
Robert Raich, An Attorney For The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative,
Said Judge Breyer's Decision On Thursday Opened Up A Variety
Of Legal Avenues To Pursue In Defense Of
The Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:44:26 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Pot Clubs Vow To Defy Judge's Order
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Ray Delgado, Examiner Staff

POT CLUBS VOW TO DEFY JUDGE'S ORDER

Citing federal laws, court is demanding they stop giving out medical marijuana

Another crushing blow for proponents of medical marijuana, another defiant
pledge to keep going.

But keeping the doors open to four pot clubs across Northern California
isn't going to be so easy in the wake of the strongest legal setback yet
delivered by a federal judge.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sided with the federal
government's argument that the Cannabis Healing Center and three other clubs
in Northern California are violating federal drug laws and he ordered the
clubs shut down.

The preliminary injunction goes into effect once Breyer reviews arguments
from both parties and signs the injunction, which could occur as early as
Monday afternoon. What happens after that will be up to the clubs.

"It's the saddest day for medical marijuana that I can envisage," said Tony
Serra, an attorney for local club founder Dennis Peron. "I believe Judge
Breyer's decision is morally bankrupt."

Several of the clubs, including the S.F. operation, have vowed to defy the
injunction and risk a raid by federal marshals if Breyer then holds them in
contempt and orders them forcibly shut down.

But Breyer could also allow the clubs to remain open while ordering a
contempt hearing. That trial would allow the defense to present a number of
legal challenges that could keep the clubs open.

"We're allowed to argue the medical necessity defense if we break the
injunction, which we plan to do," said Peron, who predicted that his act of
defiance would be followed by undercover federal marshals trying to purchase
marijuana with a doctor's note next week.

Breyer's ruling expressly avoided deciding on the legality of a sick person
possessing pot for medical use or the possibility that local governments
might take over the distribution of medical marijuana, an idea floated by
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. California's Proposition
215, passed by voters in 1996, legalized the cultivation and medical use of
marijuana by patients with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and a variety of other
illnesses.

The Justice Department filed civil suits in January seeking to halt
operations of six clubs: Peron's Cannabis Cultivators Club and Flower
Therapy Medical Marijuana Club in San Francisco, and similar operations in
Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ukiah and Fairfax. The Flower Therapy and Santa Cruz
clubs have since closed and the Cannabis Cultivators Club renamed itself the
Cannabis Healing Center.

The other 11 clubs in the state, including major ones in Los Angeles and San
Jose, were not named in the suits but could now become targets.

U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi hailed Breyer's decision and asked the clubs
to close down voluntarily.

"Federal law is clear and Judge Breyer's opinion is clear - the distribution
or cultivation of marijuana is unlawful," Yamaguchi said. "I call on all of
the marijuana distribution clubs in California to take cognizance of this
order and voluntarily shut down."

Also praising the decision was state Attorney General Dan Lungren, a leader
in the effort to shut the clubs down through legal challenges and
enforcement efforts soon after they opened.

"We're pleased by the court's decision," said Matt Ross, spokesman for
Lungren's office. "It's consistent with what we have always held, which is
that cannabis buyers' clubs are not allowed under state or federal law."

Ross said the attorney general's office would continue to fight in state
Superior Court for a preliminary injunction to close down the Cannabis
Healing Center.

Organizers at three of the four cannabis clubs mentioned in the decision
vowed to defy the order while the director of the fourth one, the Ukiah
Cannabis Buyer's Club, said he was still weighing the risks.

"We're looking at alternatives and seeing what we can do," said Marvin
Lehrman, director of the Ukiah club, which treats 200 patients regularly.
"It's a daily feeling we have that we're facing down the federal government
and they can come at any moment. I see them as being heavy-handed and
mean-spirited, but I'm not afraid of them."

Oakland Cannabis Club Executive Director Jeff Jones said he would defy the
order and was awaiting his day in court.

"What we're doing here is a necessity to patients," Jones said. "Because of
Prop. 215, we feel that what we're doing here is within the law."

Robert Raich, attorney for the Oakland club, said the judge's decision
opened up a variety of legal avenues to pursue in defense of the clubs, most
notably arguing that marijuana is a medical necessity for sick patients and
that citizens have constitutional rights to be free from pain and to dictate
their own medical treatment.

Those arguments would be heard before a jury and must be either accepted or
rejected unanimously, a chance Peron is willing to take.

"We believe we can defend ourselves," Peron said. "If we do so successfully,
we'll bring this issue into the national arena. We're going to have our day
in court."

(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner

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

Trial Hinges On Pot's Purpose ('Sacramento Bee'
Describes The Medical Marijuana Trial By Jury Of Placer County, California
Defendant David Dale Black - Judge J. Richard Couzens Ruled The Defendant
Could Not Invoke Proposition 215 As A Defense Because He Did Not Seek
Or Obtain A Doctor's Recommendation To Use Marijuana Until Three Months
After His Arrest, Even Though He Has Tourette's Syndrome)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:37:02 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Trial Hinges on Pot's Purpose
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@mapinc.org)
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Wayne Wilson - Bee Staff Writer

TRIAL HINGES ON POT'S PURPOSE

Man says it was for medical treatment; DA argues it was for sale

He says he smokes marijuana to relieve a stutter that has afflicted his
speech for 41 of his 49 years.

But prosecutors allege that the pound of marijuana seized by sheriff's
deputies in the Dutch Flat home of David Dale Black was not for his
personal use - either medicinally or recreationally.

They have charged Black with possession for sale, and on Thursday they
opened his trial in Placer County Superior Court by contending that a
scale, sandwich bags and $3,620 in cash found in close proximity to the
weed prove their point.

Black's defense - that the drug was used strictly as a medical treatment
for a speech impediment - hit a snag Wednesday when Judge J. Richard
Couzensruled Black could not rely on Proposition 215, the medical marijuana
initiative, as a legal justification.

Couzens pointed out that Black did not seek or obtain a doctor's
recommendation to use marijuana until three months after his arrest.

The judge did say, however, Black could testify about the benefits he
receives from marijuana to explain the presence of the pot in his home.

It will be up to the jury panel of 10 women and three men (one will be
designated an alternate at the close of the case) to decide which scenario
is true.

According to Deputy District Attorney David H. Tellman, Black admitted on
the day of his arrest in February 1997 to selling marijuana to friends.

Black's attorney, Robert A. Young, did not offer an opening statement to
the jury Thursday, but he said that when his client testifies, it will be
clear just how important marijuana is to his well-being. Young said Black
has been diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder caused
by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

In a pre-trial proceeding, Black declared: "I'm in perfect health, except
for hyper-anxiety. In other words, I can't talk two words, back-to-back,
without smoking marijuana, once every other day, to where it stays in me,
you know, as a pill might work."

The trial will continue today.

Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee

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

Addicted To Pleasure And To Pain (An Unapologetic Heroin User Speaks Out
In Cintra Wilson's Column In 'The San Francisco Examiner' -
'After Eight Years In Narcotics Anonymous,
I Renounced Abstinence From Drugs')

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 01:27:40 EDT
Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
From: Gerald Sutliff 
To: Multiple recipients of list 
Subject: unapologetic heroin user speaks

Subject: Addicted to pleasure and to pain
Source: Cintra Wilson's column (once weekly), SF Examiner, Living Section
(5-15-98)
Contact: letters@examiner.org OR zintra@aol.com
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff

Cintra Wilson FEELS YOUR PAIN
Addicted to pleasure and to pain

Dearest Dope-sick and Dry-heaving Readers:

The following is an excerpt from a much longer letter (that, if not hurting
for space, I would have loved to print in full), from the wise and extreme
soul of one Carl L., who offers another refreshingly amoral view of the
heroin topic:

My Wise, Lovely and Compassionate Cintra:

I used heroin, opium and various other opiates continually for 15 years.
After eight years in N.A., I renounced abstinence from drugs. It's
difficult to write about without turning it into an autobiography or
philosophical manifesto; it opens up too many basic questions regarding the
nature of good and evil, the meaning of "life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" in the political philosophy of liberal democracy vs. social
'engineering. Are hedonistic drug vices somehow inherently dehumanizing,
worthy of channelizing in order to save civilization from some eventual
collective suicidal speed ball run?

I would like to add some experience-based perspectives to some of what was
written in last Friday's column. Regarding methadone: It sucks! I was on it
for 21/2 years. Only about 10 percent of chronic dope fiends are on the
program at any given time, and most drink or use other drugs with it. In
your last column, it was stated: "Research shows that ... methadone is the
most successful treatment for opiate addiction." The reason this is so is
because methadone maintenance is opiate addiction - how-ever, it is an
opiate few find satisfying enough to trade for heroin.

I found long-term use of methadone to be, unlike heroin, debilitating and
draining of my energy and ambition. Methadone is far more domplex than
organic opiates. It is synthesized from petroleum. It is not quickly
processed and expelled from the body, and methadone withdrawal is
longer-lasting and more severe than withdrawal from organic opiateL I do
not believe that the physiological effects of its long-term use are as
benign as those of heroin.
Considering the (illegal) context in which heroin use occurs, methadone is
a safer and saner alternative that does save lives. Using heroin also means
using drugs of varying quality in unknown doses adulterated with a host of
different "cuts," most of which are more physiologically damaging than the
drug. I once nearly died from shooting dope cut with shoe polish. I never
felt quite the same after that unpleasant experience.

In your last column, a reader writes of falling into depression in her
seventh year clean and turning to antidepressants. My story is very
similar: after seven years I went on Prozac. People in recovery commonly
voice this same view and speak of having to confront frustrations and
personal demons after the first five years and some kind of painful
existential abyss during the second five. The antidepressant effects (of
Prozac) pretty much ceased for me after a year. Seven years of loneliness
and sexual frustration prompted a rational though very passionate decision
to inject a jolt of straight-up euphoria and ecstasy into my life: I fixed.

To call heroin an antidepressant is an understatement. Within perhaps 30
seconds of a "mainline" injection I become mentally healthy in the extreme.
Fear, pain, neuroses and frustration do not exist in this universe; only
pleasure, euphoria and optimism. All wants and needs are met. This effect
is rather short-lived, and the harder one chases that euphoria the more
fleeting it becomes.

Narcotics are simple compounds. Human beings, on the other hand, are
extremely complex and variable in chemistry and personality, and the result
of the mix is highly variable. To suggest that narcotics might have some
beneficial therapeutic effects in raising the level of mental health in
some individuals would surely infuriate moralists, with their seeming
in-ability to grasp concepts like "complexity" or "variability" in regard
to questions they feel are moral in nature. Heroin addiction dearly is a
form of self-medication. Junkies (myself included) seem to suffer from low
self-esteem, social ineptitude and an inability to handle life on its own
terms. But to call drug use or drug addiction simply self-medication is to
present an incomplete picture. Heroin is great for running from pain, but
even better for chasing pleasure in an extreme form. The sensation a dope
fiend is chasing is more like that which for me is also available through
sex and romantic passion. Had medication of pain been my only objective,
some low-class drug like alcohol or Valium would have sufficed.

Cintra! How I suffer from, and how I enjoy my tragic romantic personality
disorder! I do love pleasure and pain. Both make me feel so alive. So
human. I believe many, if not most, addicts suffer from and revel in this
affliction. Just listen to the Velvet Underground or to Jim Carroll's
"Catholic Boy" album. This angle should be considered in understanding why
some people voluntarily make unwise choices. Mental health bores me to death.
- Carl L

Drug users Tell your happy tales.

Please write to: CINTRA WILSON FEELS YOUR PAIN, San Francisco Examiner,
P.O. Box 7260, San Fancisco, CA 94120, or email the Psychic Supergenius
at zintro@aol.com

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

Teenage Shooting Victim Ran With Wrong Crowd ('San Francisco Examiner'
Tries To Portray The 17-Year-Old-Girl Killed By Police In San Francisco
Who Were Trying To Bust A Fugitive Wanted On Crack Cocaine Charges,
But Refuses To Examine The Failed Policies That Led To Her Death)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:32:34 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Teenage Shooting Victim Ran With Wrong Crowd
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Tyche Hendricks, Examiner Staff

TEENAGE SHOOTING VICTIM RAN WITH WRONG CROWD

Sheila Patricia Detoy loved to swim in the Russian River and visit with her
grandma and her aunts in the tranquillity of their Guerneville home.

But the 17-year-old also loved the edgy excitement of hanging out with a
fast-living, drug-dealing crowd in her hometown, San Francisco, her aunts
said Thursday.

It was her association with that alluring underworld that may have led to
her death Wednesday. She was shot through the head by a police officer who
fired on the getaway car in which she was riding with two alleged drug
dealers wanted by police.

Thursday night, her aunts Sheila and Patricia Detoy, for whom she was named,
remembered their niece as "a brilliant, beautiful girl" whose death, they
believe, symbolizes the failings of America's war on drugs.

"She was innocent, but she was hanging around with this world like she was
living out some hip-hop song," said Sheila Detoy. "I've been scared to death
something would happen to her for a long time."

Patricia Detoy said her niece didn't realize the danger she was putting
herself in.

"This was kind of a lark," she said. "How serious are kids at that age?"

The aunts described their niece as a precocious young woman who dropped out
of St. Ignatius High School because she was unhappy there, but who had
promptly gotten her high school general equivalency diploma.

The teenager lived at home with her mother and older sister, Sheila Detoy
said, adding that the girl's father - a fourth generation San Franciscan,
born in his parents' home on Magellan Avenue in Forest Hill - had died in
an accident when the girl was 3.

She used to love visits with her grandmother in Guerneville, where Aunt
Sheila raises flowers that Aunt Patty sells at the farmer's market in San
Francisco.

"I talked to her the day before (she was killed)," said Patricia Detoy. "We
were planning our summer vacation up here."

Co-workers at a coffeehouse where Sheila had recently worked also remembered
her fondly.

Mike Wall, who worked with her at the Java Beach Cafe at the Ocean Beach end
of Judah Street, described her as a "very beautiful, charming young lady."
He said that young men noticed her waist-length, reddish-blond hair and her
smile.

"She was very friendly, everyone here liked her a lot," said Wall.

"We all loved her," said another co-worker who would not give her name.
"We're really sad about this. I can't imagine this happening to her."

Her aunts say Sheila was a victim of a high-powered war on drugs that has
become a war on kids, leading to unnecessarily violent standoffs such as the
one in which she died.

"This is a terrible, botched tragedy," said Sheila Detoy. "This cop screwed
up; he had to have. Something went really wrong, because a really innocent
girl got killed."

Rather than putting money into police stakeouts and violent confrontations,
she said, more money should be devoted to drug rehabilitation and mental
health programs to help kids find a saner life. "This poor policeman,"
Sheila Detoy said, lamenting the officer who shot her niece. "They're both
victims. We're failing our kids and we're failing our cops."

(c)1998 San Francisco Examiner

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

Cocaine Convictions Are Reinstated ('San Francisco Examiner'
Says A Federal Appeals Court On Thursday Reinstated The 20-Years-To-Life
Sentences Of The Alleged Leader Of An Oakland Drug Gang
And Four Of His Colleagues, Overturned By A Federal Judge
Because A Juror Commented During Deliberations That He Believed
The Leader Of An Associated Gang Had Killed A Government Witness)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 03:41:36 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Cocaine Convictions Are Reinstated
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/

COCAINE CONVICTIONS ARE REINSTATED

SAN FRANCISCO - The cocaine convictions of the alleged leader of an Oakland
drug gang and four of his colleagues, overturned by a federal judge because
of jury misconduct, were reinstated Thursday by a federal appeals court.

A juror's reported comment during deliberations that he believed the leader
of an associated gang had killed a government witness had little to do with
the charges against Anthony Flowers and his codefendants, said the U.S. 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals.

Flowers was convicted in December 1996 of conspiracy to distribute more than
11 pounds of cocaine between January and August 1994. Four other men also
were convicted.

After the convictions, the jury was supposed to hear other charges,
including an accusation that Flowers operated a continuing criminal
enterprise, the "drug kingpin" law punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
But the jury was dismissed because some jurors had read a newspaper story of
post-verdict comments by U.S. Attorney Michael Yamaguchi saying homicides in
Oakland had fallen after Flowers and his codefendants were arrested.

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

DARE We Ask? (Letter To The Editor Of 'The Orange County Register'
From A Parent In Irvine, California, Says The DARE Program There
Is Trying To 'Teach' His Son The Dangers Of Private Firearm Ownership)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 10:26:24 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: PUB LTE: DARE We Ask?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

DARE WE ASK?

I was informed by my son that he was shown a film at Sierra Vista by the
DARE officer which was apparently intended to demonstrate the potential
horrors of firearm ownership. The film showed a pair of youths getting hold
of a handgun belonging to one's parents, terrorizing a local convenience
store clerk and then fatally shooting one of the boy's brothers. I did not
see the film, so I want to avoid jumping to conclusions, but I am concerned
that:

The DARE program may have been captured by individuals who intend to use it
as a forum for delivering their own social-engineering messages (not so
rare in our school system); and

DARE is diverting resources from objectives and practices that we all
support - the fight against drug abuse - and turning those resources toward
objectives that I, and others like me, cannot support.

William C. Prentice - Irvine

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

State High Court Ruling Toughens Three-Strikes Law ('Los Angeles Times'
Notes The California Supreme Court Decided Thursday
That A Single Criminal Act Can Count As More Than One Crime -
4-To-3 Ruling Upholds Sentence Of 25 Years To Life Given To A Man
Convicted Of Stealing A Carton Of Cigarettes Who Had Been Convicted
15 Years Earlier Of Two Felonies Stemming From A Single Knife Attack
On A Neighbor)

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 15:34:13 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: State High Court Ruling Toughens 3-Strikes Law
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998
Author: Maura Dolan, Times Legal Affairs Writer

STATE HIGH COURT RULING TOUGHENS 3-STRIKES LAW

Justice: Two felonies can stem from a single criminal act, majority finds.
Three justices issue strong dissent.

SAN FRANCISCO--In a ruling that affects scores of criminal defendants, the
California Supreme Court decided Thursday that a single criminal act can
count as more than one crime under the state's three-strikes law.

The 4-to-3 ruling upheld a sentence of 25 years to life given to Russell
Benson, a Lancaster man who was convicted of stealing a carton of
cigarettes from a Target store. He had been convicted 15 years earlier of
two felonies that stemmed from a single knife attack on a neighbor. Had his
earlier conviction been considered as only one strike, Benson would have
faced a maximum six-year sentence.

The court's ruling--its first decision on how the three-strikes law affects
such cases--held that multiple felonies can be punished as separate strikes
even if they arise from a single criminal act. A 100-year-old law prohibits
multiple punishment for a single act, but the majority held that the
three-strikes measure supersedes that law.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who wrote the majority opinion, cited
language in the 1994 ballot initiative that said the three-strikes measure
applied "not withstanding any other provision of the law."

"The Legislature and the voters, through the initiative process, clearly
intended that each conviction for a serious or violent felony counts as a
prior conviction," George wrote, "even where the convictions were based
upon conduct against a single victim committed at the same time with a
single intent."

Under the court's ruling, a single car hijacking could produce two strikes
because defendants in such cases are often convicted of both car hijacking
and robbery.

In an example cited by the dissenting justices, a person who stops a
pedestrian at knifepoint and demands a watch could be convicted of three
felonies or strikes: felony false imprisonment, assault with a deadly
weapon and attempted robbery.

"The question before us has major practical consequences," Justice Ming W.
Chin, a court conservative, wrote in a dissent. "Multiple convictions can
often arise out of a single act."

"We should not transform one strike into two," said Chin, who was joined by
Justices Stanley Mosk and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar.

The ruling has "abrogated the fundamental promise that . . . has been made
for over a century," Chin wrote, adding that prosecutors may eventually
regret their victory. Trial judges, now realizing that felonies from a
single crime count as separate strikes, may decide simply to dismiss them.

"Dismissal, of course, is exactly what should not happen," Chin wrote. If
the defendant's primary conviction is overturned on appeal, the prosecutor
would have no other convictions to keep the defendant in prison.

But the majority said the ruling was required by the clear language of the
three-strikes law. "The courts of this state on occasion have found fault
with the imprecise nature of language contained within statutory
enactments," George wrote for the court. "We find it difficult, however, to
imagine language clearer, or more unequivocal" than the words of the
three-strikes initiative.

The three-strikes law, designed to put repeat offenders behind bars,
doubles a sentence for a second violent felony and carries a
25-year-to-life term for anyone convicted of a third felony.

The court's ruling drew praise from law enforcement officials.

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said the court had interpreted the three-strikes law
"as it was intended."

"We have a pretty tough three-strikes law, and that is the reason we have
seen such a dramatic drop in the crime rate," Lungren added.

A spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson pronounced the governor "pleased with
today's strong law-and-order decision."

"This ruling puts the teeth back into the three-strikes law and brings us
back to the intent of the voters," he said.

"There is no doubt this is a strict interpretation of the three-strikes
law," said Deputy Atty. Gen. Ellen Birnbaum Kehr, who argued the case
before the Supreme Court. The ruling was necessary because it "affects a
lot of defendants," she added. "This was not a rare case."

But Russell S. Babcock, who represented Benson, called the decision
"absurd" and a "shocking result that is going to cause a lot of problems
for both the prosecution and the defense as well as the judiciary."

"It parts company with 100 years of prior case law," Babcock said. "I don't
think voters had a clue that this is what they were getting when they
enacted this."

Judges have been trying to avoid deciding how to handle multiple felony
convictions involving single acts pending the outcome of the current case,
Babcock said.

With the ruling in place, defendants who were convicted of two prior
felonies but received probation could now face life in prison for a
relatively minor crime, he said. "It is a really frightening result."

Benson was arrested in 1994 and convicted of petty theft with a prior. The
judge, assuming the two prior felonies counted as separate strikes,
sentenced Benson to 25 years to life.

Benson's prior conviction stemmed from a 1979 attack on a woman in his
apartment building. Benson had borrowed a vacuum cleaner from her and later
returned, saying he had forgotten his keys inside. He stabbed the woman 20
times. The victim identified him to police, and he turned himself in the
next day.

A jury convicted Benson of burglary and assault, but he was sentenced for
only one crime because the felonies stemmed from a single course of
conduct--he had entered the apartment not to steal, but to stab the woman.
His appellate attorney said Benson was upset with the neighbor for reasons
that are now unclear.

Under a law passed in 1872, an act that is punishable in different ways is
still only subject to a single penalty, regardless of the number of
convictions, so long as the criminal violations are all part of a single
course of conduct. A man who both rapes and robs a woman, for example,
could be punished twice for two criminal acts, but a person charged with
rape and lewd conduct would be subject to only one punishment even though
the conduct violated two laws.

Courts, as in Benson's case, have routinely "stayed" multiple felonies
stemming from one act. This allowed the secondary convictions to be
resurrected if the primary case was overturned on appeal. Otherwise, the
separate convictions would not be used.

Benson will now return before the trial judge, who has the option of
striking one of the two prior felonies if the judge believes a life
sentence would be unjust. At the time Benson was originally sentenced, it
was unclear whether judges had that option.

Copyright Los Angeles Times

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

Man To Be Evicted (A Reporter For The 'South County Journal' In Seattle
Says He Interviewed A Medical Marijuana Patient Today Who Is Being Evicted
From His King County Housing Authority Apartment - And Wants To Know
About Any Similar Cases Locally)

From: WWonders (WWonders@aol.com)
Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 10:33:14 EDT
To: jackie.reis@southcountyjournal.com
Cc: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Re: man to be evicted
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

In a message dated 5/14/98 10:34:42 PM, you wrote:

Hi,

My name is Jackie Reis. I'm a reporter for the South County Journal and
interviewed a man today who said he is about to be evicted from his King
County Housing Authority apartment because he uses marijuana to relieve
the pain of a eight-year-old spinal injury.

Have you heard of cases like this before? Is there anything he can do?
He says marijuana is the only drug he can take for the pain that will
not leave him unable to drive and care for himself and his 12-year-old
son. I would appreciate hearing back from you either by e-mail or phone
(253) 872-6717, and please specify what can be quoted of what you write
or say.

Thanks for your help,
JR

***

High Jackie

Yes, I think there was a similar case in King County in the last year or so.

I took the liberty of forwarding your message to Hemp-Talk. Someone on this
email list may have more information for you than I.

Let me (us) know if you plan to write an article, I'm sure you will find
several folks on this list more than willing to share their opinion.

Shame on the King County Housing Authority for punishing this man AND HIS 12
YEAR OLD SON for using a SAFE, effective herb to find relief from his pain.

What will "society" gain by forcing this man and his son to live on the
streets?

Give attorneys Jeff Steinborn (Steinborn & Assocs., 206 622 5117 - 622 3848
fax) and/or Carolyn Ramamurti (Kolker & Ramamurti, 206 464 1761 - 624 3391) a
call, they maybe able to help.

Feel free to use anything I said or may say in the future concerning this
injustice.

Sincerely,

...Jimmy
253 474 0838

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

District Apologizes For Drunken Driving Exhibit (School Officials
In Sandpoint, Idaho, Haul A Smashed Car To School,
Providing An Inadvertent Warning To Students About The Dangers Of Sobriety)

Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
05/15/98 3:02 PM Eastern

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) - The wrecked car towed to
Sandpoint High School was meant to be a graphic display of what
happens when people drink and drive. It didn't appear anyone
could have survived the 1989 Ford Tempo that had been struck
by a train.

But Tom and Kathy Parks knew the driver survived, and wasn't
on drugs or alcohol. Tom Parks was the driver.

School district officials are sending a formal written apology to the
Parks family, and the car has been towed from the school, drug
education coordinator Don Medrano Tennison said.

A high school counselor didn't fully check details about the car
before it was brought in, Tennison said.

"It was not our intent to cause any harm," he said. "It appears to
look dishonest to put a car out there that looks pretty smashed up
and imply it was from drinking and driving. This was not a drunk
driving accident."

The Parks learned the district their wrecked car was on display
when their daughter stepped off a school bus at the high school.

"The first thing my daughter said was `Oh my God, that's my
dad's car.' She called and told me to go to the front of the school.
She was pretty much in tears," Kathy Parks said.

School officials told Parks they had gotten the car from a
wrecking yard and had been unable to locate the owner.

"Granted, the car is a total disaster. They were trying to scare
students, but one of the students is our 15-year-old daughter,"
Parks said. "It was the car that brought her to Idaho. It was very
upsetting. Kids were asking her how drunk her dad was."

But Tom Parks wasn't drinking when the accident occurred last
November. He was cited by police for driving too fast for
conditions after apparently falling asleep and driving onto railroad
tracks east of Sandpoint.

The car became stuck. Parks got out before a train arrived and
crushed the car.

The family plans to talk to an attorney about the fiasco at the
school.

"We were hoping we had finally gotten the accident out of our
minds," Kathy Parks said. "Here it shows up in front of our
daughter's high school."

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback.

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

Customs Seizes Two Tons Of Cocaine In Laredo ('Orange County Register'
Says The Load Worth $200 Million, The US Custom Service's
Biggest Confiscation Of The 'Narcotic' In At Least Three Years,
Was Found By Texan Prohibitionists In A Steel Tank
Usually Used To Haul Animal Fat)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 19:14:28 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Customs Seizes 2 Tons Of Cocaine In Laredo
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

CUSTOMS SEIZES 2 TONS OF COCAINE IN LAREDO

U.S. Customs Service inspectors in Laredo, Texas, said Thursday that they
seized 2 tons of cocaine packed into a tanker truck, making it the agency's
biggest confiscation of the narcotic in at least three years.

The load, with a street value of $200 million, was hidden in two elaborate
compartments in the middle of a steel tank usually used to haul animal fat,
said Louis DeAnda, group supervisor for the Customs Service in Laredo.

The illicit white powder was packed in more than 1,600 plastic
shrink-wrapped bundles and weighed 4,350 pounds.

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

Student Rioters Demand The 'Right To Party' (First Of Four Articles
In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education' Summarizes The Recent Outbreak
Of Campus Violence And Its Connection To Drug Policy)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:30:51 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Student Rioters Demand the 'Right to Party'
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/

A SPECIAL REPORT

STUDENT RIOTERS DEMAND THE 'RIGHT TO PARTY'

It's being called the "Right to Party" movement.

On several campuses in recent weeks, large groups of students have clashed
with police on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War protests of a
generation ago.

This time, the protests are over alcohol. The continuing toll of
alcohol-related deaths on campus is prompting colleges to crack down against
underage and irresponsible drinking -- and students are not taking it well.

They are fighting for the right to drink in familiar areas and during
traditionalparty weekends. They are demanding to be permitted to drink even
though most of them are not of legal age. They want to drink when they have
previously agreed that they will not drink, and they want to drink when the
clock says No.

* At Michigan State University, 2,000 students rioted after administrators
announced a ban on alcohol at a popular spot for tailgate parties during
football games.

* At the University of Connecticut, hundreds of students rioted when police
moved in to extinguish a bonfire that threatened to consume an apartment.
The conflict with police resumed the next night, when students set a car on
fire.

* At Washington State University, police used tear gas to restrain hundreds
ofstudents who were throwing beer cans and rocks at officers. The riot was
sparked by students who were frustrated by a policy banning alcohol at
fraternity social functions. At least 24 officers were injured in the
five-hour rampage, and three people were arrested.

* At Plymouth State College, more than 500 people, many of them students,
chanted, burned furniture, and threw rocks and beer bottles at police who
tried to stop an annual party called "Spring Fling." Seven people were
arrested.

* At the University of Tennessee at Martin, police had to use pepper spray
to disperse a crowd of 150 at an end-of-the-semester fraternity party that
had erupted in violence. One student was arrested.

* At Ohio University, students pelted officers with bottles, pieces of
asphalt, and coins for the second consecutive year on the day when an hour
of drinking time was lost because bar owners turned clocks ahead for
daylight time.

Some say the violence is just a bad case of spring fever: After a long year,
students are bound to go a little crazy. But students see something more
noble, and police see something more disconcerting.

"It's about basic freedom," says Joe Uscinski, a junior at Plymouth State.
"We want the town and college to allow us to have fun for one weekend a
year."

Robert Hudd, police chief at the University of Connecticut, says even
"veteran demonstrators" may agree with him that the violence is gratuitous
-- especially when the "issue" is drinking, not peace or civil rights.
"There's nota cause, there's not a stand, there's not a message, there's not
a theme."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

At Michigan State, A Protest Escalates Into A Night Of Fires, Tear Gas,
And Arrests (Second Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education'
Says Students, Administrators, And Police Have Different Views
About Why 2,000 Students Rioted In East Lansing On May 1, But Admits
The Event Began At Munn Field As A Protest Against The Administration's
Recent Decision To Ban Alcohol There During Football Season)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:58:47 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US MI: At Michigan State, a Protest Escalates Into a Night of Fires,
Tear Gas, and Arrests
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Kit Lively

A SPECIAL REPORT

AT MICHIGAN STATE, A PROTEST ESCALATES INTO A NIGHT OF FIRES, TEAR GAS, AND
ARRESTS

EAST LANSING, MICH. - Many people at Michigan State University expected
something big to happen at Munn Field on the night of May 1. They just
didn't know what.

E-mail messages had been flying all week, urging people to gather at Munn to
protest the administration's recent decision to ban alcohol there during
football season. The open, grassy field is a popular spot for students and
some alumni to gather for tailgate parties on game days.

Many students wanted to demand a greater voice in such decisions. Others
were just curious and wanted to watch from a safe distance. But many planned
to come packing beer, ready to let loose after the last day of classes
before exams.

What students found when they arrived on that cold, rainy night was that
police had closed the field, with officers standing along the chain-link
fence surrounding it. The crowd grew quickly to several hundred people.
Around 9:45, students began hurling bottles and cans at the police. Then
they toppled the waist-high fence and streamed onto the field. Police
responded with brief bursts of tear gas, but the crowd did not disperse.
Students milled around the field peacefully for half an hour before a chant
went up to march to the president's house.

By 11 p.m., the throng, by then more than 1,000 strong, had moved off campus
and onto city streets. Many of the original protesters had left, to be
replaced by people coming out of neighborhood bars. As the night went on,
the crowd grew to about 2,000 and became wilder. By dawn, police had lobbed
several rounds of tear gas, and firefighters had extinguished at least half
a dozen bonfires, one of which licked higher than a traffic signal above a
street. Seventeen students had been arrested on charges including
trespassing and kindling a fire.

In the aftermath last week, questions and regrets settled over Michigan
State like a hangover.

Many students and administrators were embarrassed by televised footage of
the riot, which was played over and over again on the national news.

Michigan State is huge, they said. Even if 2,000 students rioted, that means
40,000 did not. Administrators also regret that the violence eclipsed news
that two Michigan State professors had just been elected to the National
Academy of Sciences.

But if most people deplore the riot, students, administrators, and police
have different points of view about why it took place and how it got out of
hand.

M. Peter McPherson, Michigan State's president, said putting an end to
underage drinking at tailgate parties was an easy decision. Students had
occasionally burned furniture at Munn parties, and a few times revelers were
carted away with blood-alcohol levels four to five times the legal limit for
driving. The president called the revels "a riot waiting to happen."

Many students, conversely, said the parties were just a good time to
socialize with friends. Most people have only a few drinks, students said.
"It's fun on Munn," said Laura Coatta, a senior. "Sure, some people get
obnoxious and out of hand. But they will do that anywhere they drink."

Mr. McPherson reacted to the riot this month by announcing efforts to
examine and combat alcohol abuse on campus. The state's "zero-tolerance" law
already empowers police to arrest anyone under 21 who has been drinking.

But Adam Herringa, a senior who helped organize the demonstration, said a
focus on alcohol abuse was too narrow. His main beef was with a series of
rules and restrictions that he and other students believe had been imposed
with too little student involvement. The Munn Field ban was just the latest,
he said. Several students also said the riot might not have erupted if
police had not closed the field and confronted students.

Bruce L. Benson, the campus police chief, called the tactic a non-violent
show of force that was necessary to control the crowd. He closed the field,
he said, because he had heard that students planned to bring in alcohol. "If
the message had been 'Let's take pizzas and Pepsis and go have a protest on
Munn Field,' we would have helped facilitate them in doing that."

Many students consider the alcohol ban at Munn "anti-student." The field is
the most popular tailgate spot among students -- and now is the only one
where alcohol is banned. Alumni and donors will still be able to drink at
their own gathering places, said students, who add that adults, too, can get
drunk and rowdy. But Mr. Benson said no other tailgate spot has had as many
problems as Munn.

"We don't care about the age of the people," he said. "The issue is the
behavior."

One reason Munn has problems, officials said, is its size. At 10.5 acres, it
has room for 1,200 cars. Except for a few Saturdays in the fall, the field
is used for intramural sports. Ground crews must work weekends after
football games to clean up glass and debris so that intramural games
scheduled for Mondays can be played.

President McPherson and Chief Benson said they had asked student leaders
several times to suggest solutions to problems at Munn Field. Last month,
they invited four student groups to attend the annual meeting of police and
university administrators, at which the merits of a ban were discussed. Only
one of the groups sent a representative. Mr. McPherson said he was not sure
that more communication would have persuaded students in general to accept
the ban, but he acknowledged that he might have pushed harder to have
students attend the meeting.

For their part, students said the Munn ban was not the only rule that had
dampened popular traditions. Last fall, for example, the administration had
cut the period during which students move into dormitories, called "Welcome
Week," from a week to a few days. Mr. Benson said the two weekends had
turned into a time for freshmen to learn how to drink.

Students have also complained about restrictions that East Lansing has
placed on rental houses, such as limiting the number of unrelated students
who can live together. Students said the administration should intercede.

"It wasn't just a protest about drinking," said Laurie Denby, a freshman.
"It was everything they keep slapping on us. It's No, No, No."

Anytime a privilege is taken away, students said, people will rebel. Some
students added that banning alcohol would just make it more attractive.

Those 21 and over can drink in dormitory rooms at Michigan State, but the
university has no pub or liquor store on the campus. Mr. McPherson knows
that plenty of students will still drink themselves silly at off-campus
bars, but he does not want to appear to endorse underage drinking.

The president said he would not back down from the ban at Munn. "The
demonstration made the point on why Munn was potentially an explosion
point," he said.

But more rules aren't necessarily the solution, he added, noting that people
need to find a balance between rights and responsibilities. He has announced
that Michigan State will have an alcohol-free dormitory next year. He also
has said he will appoint a committee, which will include students, to
discuss alcohol abuse and hold public forums.

Mr. McPherson hopes to persuade the committee to view alcohol as a
public-health issue about which attitudes can be changed, just as they began
to be changed a generation ago about drunk driving. One way, he believes, is
to educate students widely and clearly about the dangers posed by excessive
drinking, especially for women. "If you have strong feelings about
acquaintance rape, you should be concerned about excessive drinking," he
said.

He sent an e-mail message to all students last week, inviting them to share
their thoughts.

Nate Smith-Tyge, a leader in student government, said that the riot may end
up having a positive effect if it brings all sectors of the university to
the same table.

"There is no simple answer to alcohol misuse or student involvement," he
said. "It is something we need to sit down and discuss."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

At Connecticut's Party Weekend, Days Of Music Replaced By Nights Of Vandalism
(The Third Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education'
About Student Violence Notes Another 2,000 Students Fought With Police
At The University Of Connecticut In Storrs On The Weekend Of April 25,
And Suggests Students Were Rebelling Against Increasing Restrictions
On Underage And Other Drinking)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:54:33 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CT: At Connecticut's Party Weekend,
Days of Music Replaced by Nights of Vandalism
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Ben Gose

A SPECIAL REPORT

AT CONNECTICUT'S PARTY WEEKEND, DAYS OF MUSIC REPLACED BY NIGHTS OF
VANDALISM

STORRS, CONN.- The 80 police officers did not move last month as bottles,
cans, and rocks were lobbed at them by a crowd of students and their friends
partying in a dirt parking lot that adjoins the University of Connecticut
campus.

When some in the crowd of 2,000 people overturned a black Honda Accord, the
police, from university, local, and state forces, stood their ground. Even
when some men set a couch on fire, the police remained on the edge of the
lot.

Only when the students put the burning couch on the Honda -- raising the
possibility that its gas tank would explode -- did the police move in, using
pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

The torching of the Honda on Saturday, April 25, marked the climax of a
riotous weekend here. By Sunday morning, six cars had been turned over,
numerous bonfires started, and 27 police cars vandalized. Police arrested 87
people, about 40 of them Connecticut students, on charges ranging from
inciting to riot to assaulting a police officer.

The mayhem, captured on videotape by both the police and students, was the
worst ever at University Weekend, the last big blowout here before final
exams. The campus tradition is known for parties with names like
"Kill-a-Keg." Last year's events, too, were marred by riots and dozens of
arrests.

Robert Hudd, the university's police chief, said some students these days
are looking for any excuse to spar with police.

"You almost have the police more in the 'Gandhi-esque' mode," he said. "We
took a beating for hours. Our attitude was, 'You can have a party, and
you're clearly going to break the law -- just don't break it on a massive
scale.'"

Students say University Weekend is their big chance to let loose in a small
town that offers little excitement -- and they don't like police cramping
their fun. On the night before the Honda was burned, police broke up a
massive party at Carriage House, a complex of 16 apartments in a wooded area
about a mile west of the campus. When a bonfire fed with furniture
threatened one of the units, police in riot gear moved in to scatter the
crowd as students pelted them with bottles and cans.

"It feels awkward to have all those police officers around," said Scott
Berni, a sophomore who attended the Carriage House party. "Students see it
as a violation of their right to have a good time."

Other students said police went too far when they moved to quell the riots.
Amy Rydzy, a freshman, said she was merely taking in the spectacle in the
parking lot on Saturday night when the police decided to clear the crowd.
She was hit in the face and neck with pepper spray and knocked to the ground
by an officer's shield, she said. "I was up the entire night with ice on my
face and neck," she said.

University officials said bystanders should have known better. "Anyone with
two cents of intelligence should have been getting their butt out of there,"
said Vicky L. Triponey, Connecticut's vice-chancellor for student affairs.

The riot came despite months of planning by administrators, police, and
student leaders, who had hoped that on-campus events would limit any
violence. The university held a party featuring rock bands, body piercing,
and beer sales, for students who were 21, on the same night as the Carriage
House gathering.

But only about 100 students attended the university event, compared with
4,000 to 5,000 people in a clearing near the Carriage House apartments.

Adrienne Miller, a freshman, said the university's party failed because
underage students couldn't purchase alcohol, and because it had been planned
by student leaders. "They didn't contact any of the normal kids to see what
we wanted to do," she said. The many students with friends in town skipped
the university's party because it was open only to Connecticut students, she
added.

Saturday's disturbances began shortly before midnight, when students in the
crowded dirt lot tried to expand the party to an adjoining university
parking area. But police had barricaded the area, because they didn't want
the gathering of drunken students to spill over into the crowd of 1,700 that
would soon be leaving a nearby auditorium where a cultural event known as
"Latin Fest" was being held.

The presence of the police incited the crowd, Ms. Miller said. "The more
authority that shows up, the more people are going to want to rebel. If the
people start throwing bottles at police next year, maybe the police should
leave."

The police who endured the hail of bottles had a different view. "It's like
a bunch of spoiled brats who have never been told No," one officer told Ms.
Triponey.

University Weekend hasn't always created havoc. Karen Williams, a university
spokeswoman and a student here in the 1970s, recalls mellow afternoons of
cold beer and loud bands on the grass in back of the student union. The
minimum drinking age then was 18. "I don't remember any fights or
vandalism," she said.

But the minimum age was raised to 21 in virtually every state by 1986, when
Congress threatened to withhold highway-construction funds from states that
didn't do so. That law has "complicated" the way colleges manage social
events, said Mark A. Emmert, Connecticut's chancellor.

"You combine the 21-year-old drinking law and the fact that students don't
consider a party a success unless it has alcohol, and you've got a real
recipe for problems," he said.

Mr. Emmert will appoint a committee of students, faculty members, and
police, which may recommend that University Weekend be scrapped. But doing
so may be pointless: Some students are already boasting of plans to flip
police cruisers next year.

The riots have sparked outrage among the state's citizens, many of whom
believe that swift punishment is the only way to prevent more mayhem.
"Students involved in the vandalism and arson should be expelled, no
questions asked," said an editorial in The Hartford Courant.

Governor John G. Rowland has called for the university to change its student
code of conduct; currently, the university can't punish students for
off-campus offenses.

Connecticut officials say they may expand the code so that it applies to the
entire local area, but they worry about becoming wrapped up in dealing with
crimes that they can't properly investigate.

Philip E. Austin, the university's president, conceded that punishments have
been lax in the past. But that would no longer be the case, he said. "If,
over the years, people are allowed to engage in unacceptable behavior at
very little cost, it is not surprising that that behavior would continue.
Those who act inappropriately must be expelled."

Some students who were arrested in last month's riots worry that their days
at Connecticut are numbered.

Joshua Satin, a sophomore, faces three misdemeanor charges -- first-degree
riot, breach of peace, and third-degree criminal mischief -- for his
behavior on Saturday night.

Sitting on a couch in the student union, he pointed to bite marks above his
elbow that he said he received from a police dog as he fled the dirt lot.
When he returned to his dormitory -- with a torn, bloody shirt and his face
stinging from pepper spray -- he broke a window (a classmate pushed him into
it, he said) and yelled some insults at the police.

"I was acting out of rage and fear," said Mr. Satin, who admits that he was
drunk that night. "I'll be devastated if I'm expelled."

Next year, if he's still around, he plans on taking "a nice weekend trip,"
out of town, over University Weekend.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

Some Experts Say Colleges Share The Responsibility For The Recent Riots
(Last Of Four Articles In 'The Chronicle Of Higher Education' About Natives
Getting Restless On American College Campuses Describes The Recent
And Widespread Crackdown On Student Drinking)

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 11:10:24 -0400
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Some Experts Say Colleges Share the Responsibility for the Recent
Riots
To: DrugSense News Service 
Organization: The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family 
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pubdate: 15 May 1998
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: Leo Reisberg
Editors note: DrugSense sponsors a University Drug Policy Forum. If you are
interested in working on this project, joining our strategy discussion
group, discussing ideas on the project or volunteering to organize students
and faculty at your school, please send a note to Josh Sinoway
(jsinoway@drugsense.org) or see:
http://www.drugsense.org/udpf/

A SPECIAL REPORT

SOME EXPERTS SAY COLLEGES SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE RECENT RIOTS

Although many people are quick to chastise the students involved in recent
riots in several states, colleges share some of the blame, according to
administrators and alcohol experts.

For many years, college officials looked the other way when underage
students drank. But a string of high-profile, alcohol-related deaths in
recent years -- including one last fall at Louisiana State University, and
another at Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- has prompted colleges to
crack down on minors who drink. Alcohol arrests on college campuses jumped
by 10 per cent in 1996, the latest year for which data are available,
according to a recent survey by The Chronicle (May 8).

Public pressure may also be contributing to stricter enforcement. Last week,
in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, David Satcher, the
U.S. Surgeon General, described alcohol as "a serious problem with our young
people at every age, but especially on college campuses, as we see more
binge drinking."

The way students see it, their "right" to drink is being stripped away. When
they are intoxicated and in large groups, the resulting anger can escalate
into mob violence.

"Colleges have really gotten themselves into this mess," said Arthur E.
Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University and author of a
new book, When Hope and Fear Collide: A Portrait of Today's College Student
(Jossey-Bass). "Over the years, colleges tended to wink at the alcohol
policies, and then they started enforcing and changing policies without
involving students in the decisions. It was the ideal set of circumstances
to bring about these riots."

Another theory is that students are acting up because they feel disengaged
from their campuses. Vicky L. Triponey, vice-chancellor for student affairs
at the University of Connecticut, believes that students are resentful and
eager to defy authority because few adults on the campus are reaching out to
them. "We've become more segmented," she said, and students feel alienated
as a result. "If we can get students connected to something bigger than
themselves, they're going to be less likely to behave this way."

Others say students cling fiercely to their booze because they see it as a
symbol of having escaped their parents. "It represents a sense of autonomy,
freedom, and independence -- and it's hard to compete with that," said
Philip W. Meilman, director of counseling and psychological services at
Cornell University and co-director of the Core Institute, which conducts
surveys of student alcohol use.

Some students say they simply want the freedom that an earlier generation
took for granted. Many of the college officials who are cracking down today
drank legally throughout their own college days.

"Students are just tired of being busted on," said Joe Uscinski, a junior
majoring in political science at Plymouth State College. He was one of
hundreds of partyers caught in a melee with police this month. "Everybody in
college is 18 and older. We're all adults, and we don't need someone to tell
us we can't drink alcohol."

When Plymouth State officials tried to stop an annual celebration called
"Spring Fling" this month, hundreds of students gathered on a city street,
carrying beer and radios. They pelted police with bottles, cans, and rocks,
and did not disperse until the officers drew their billy clubs.

"You could analyze this to death, but the bottom line is that these are
young, immature people who are finding their joy in the wrong way, and they
can't handle that amount of alcohol," said Dick Hage, Plymouth State's dean
of student affairs. "When you have large groups and a lot of alcohol, it's a
lethal combination."

Some administrators at the colleges that have experienced riots in recent
weeks find hope in the experience of Iowa State University, which managed to
pull off a previously notorious spring party with few problems this year.
Riots had broken out at the weekend event, known as "Veishea" -- an acronym
representing the university's original schools -- in 1988 and 1992, and a
visitor was stabbed to death during last year's party.

Instead of canceling this year's Veishea, the college asked
student-government and Greek leaders to help persuade students to sign a
pledge that they would not drink during the festival. For its part, the
university agreed to spend $80,000 to add rock bands, such as Tonic, and the
comedian Kevin Nealon to the weekend lineup.

Only 120 people were arrested or issued citations, down from 420 last year,
and just five of the arrests were for underage drinking.

"The administration could have shut Veishea down, but instead it gave
students an option," said Steve Sullivan, a university spokesman and an
adviser to the students who planned the festival. "Alternative events are
also important. If a university expects something from the students, they
need something in return."

That approach hasn't worked at some other places. Connecticut held a
university-sponsored party to try to restrain off-campus mischief during the
annual spring celebration last month, but students weren't interested.
Instead, the vast majority partied off campus -- and rioted on two
consecutive nights.

Ms. Triponey, the Connecticut dean, said the university's plan "blew up in
our faces."

"You think you know the nature of these weekends, but it's just not
predictable anymore," she said. "From an administrative point of view,
that's frightening."

Plymouth State officials said they, too, had planned alternative events
during Spring Fling. But a play, a concert with a local band, and a health
fair all drew meager crowds.

The college-sponsored events at Connecticut and Plymouth State were planned
with the help of student leaders, who were apparently ill-informed about
what most of their classmates wanted.

Likewise, at Washington State University, fraternity leaders made a promise
that many of their members never intended to follow. The Interfraternity
Council agreed last summer to ban alcohol at all social events in fraternity
houses. Fraternity members have been grousing about the policy ever since,
and the frustration boiled over during the early-morning hours of May 3,
when a large crowd of students squared off with police.

Manny DeCoria, a senior at Washington State, said he was on his seventh can
of Busch beer when police arrived at an off-campus party that had drawn as
many as 2,000 people. He kept his distance as students hurled bricks and
bottles, and the police responded with tear gas and water hoses.

"People started to adopt this idea that, 'Well, we're rebelling, so let's
find a cause,'" he said later. "Obviously, an easy cause is the alcohol
policy, and how people are feeling more of a crackdown."

Last week, the university said it would bar six fraternity chapters that
were involved in the riots from rushing new freshmen next fall, unless any
new evidence absolves them of blame. The chapters may also be expelled from
campus.

"The party's over at Washington State University," said Samuel H. Smith, its
president. "I am sick of the party school image that refuses to go away."

Colleges should brace for more protests, said Thomas G. Goodale, who
organized a national conference on college drinking last month at the
College of William and Mary (The Chronicle, April 30). "We're going to have
a lot more of this for a period of time, until we move from being a
permissive, laissez-faire environment to one where students are held more
accountable for their behavior," said Mr. Goodale, an education professor at
the college. "We're in a transition."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

Wrong Police Raid Brings $20 Million Lawsuit ('United Press International'
Says A Brooklyn Woman Is Suing The City Of New York For $20 Million
Over Police Who Terrorized Her And Her Young Children
By Raiding Their Apartment For Drugs By Mistake Last June)

Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 20:24:14 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US NY: Wire: Wrong police raid brings $20M lawsuit
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: James Hammett 
Source: United Press International
Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 1998

WRONG POLICE RAID BRINGS $20M LAWSUIT

NEW YORK, May 13 (UPI) - A Brooklyn woman who says she and her young
children were terrorized by police who raided their apartment for drugs and
guns by mistake is suing the city of New York for $20 million.

Attorney Susan Karten says this is the second time in a week a lawsuit has
been filed charging the city's police with going to the wrong apartment to
execute a search warrant and harassing the people who live there. She is
filing her suit today in Brooklyn Supreme Cour