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NORML Weekly News (California Medical Association Backs Removal
Of Marijuana From Schedule I Prohibitive Status; NORML, Others Testify
Against DEA Marijuana Eradication Program At Washington, DC Hearing;
San Francisco Officials Explore Distributing Medical Marijuana
In Wake Of Cannabis Healing Center's Closure;
International Drug Reform Coalition Declares
'Global Days Against The Drug War')
Thu, 28 May 1998 16:41:54 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 16:41:54 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 5-28-98 II
The NORML Foundation News Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Suite 710
Washington, D.C. 20036
P (202) 483-5500
F (202) 483-0057
E-mail: normlfndtn@aol.com
URL: www.norml.org
May 27, 1998
***
CMA Backs Removal Of Marijuana From Schedule I Prohibitive Status
May 27, 1998, Sacramento, CA: One of the country's largest state
medical associations supports rescheduling marijuana so that researchers
may better study the drug's therapeutic value.
"Due to the lack of scientific justification for Schedule I
classification of marijuana and the consequent virtual standstill in
research on its medical benefits, ... we support efforts to reschedule
marijuana," the California Medical Association's Board of Trustee's
announced last week. "In addition, the Board support[s] efforts to
obtain federal approval for a safe, reliable source of marijuana in
California for research."
The Board also voted to back "federal control over [the] distribution
[of marijuana] for medical use in California through closely regulated
sources."
The CMA joins the American Public Health Association, the Florida
Medical Association, the California Nurses Association, the AIDS Action
Council, and over 20 other prominent medical groups that presently
support rescheduling marijuana.
The announcement marked a major policy shift for the CMA, which had
previously taken the position that more research was needed before making
marijuana legally available.
California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer praised the CMA's decision.
"The CMA has now come to the realization that the federal law is
bankrupt," he said. "It is apparent that the CMA is concerned about the
conflict between federal and state law and the lawless manner in which
marijuana is distributed now."
Gieringer also said that the CMA's position may undermine the passage of
federal House Resolution 372, a "sense of the House Resolution" stating
that "marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug [that] should not be
legalized for medical use." The House will likely debate the issue
shortly.
"I don't know how any California Congressman could support the measure
in light of this evidence," Gieringer speculated.
For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano of The NORML
Foundation at (202) 483-8751 or Alice Mead at the California Medical
Association at (415) 541-0900.
***
NORML, Others Testify Against DEA Marijuana Eradication Program At
Washington, D.C. Hearing
May 28, 1998, Washington, D.C.: NORML joined other concerned groups and
citizens to testify against the aerial application of herbicides in
DEA-sponsored marijuana eradication efforts, at a public hearing
yesterday. The meeting, organized by the Department of Justice, was part
of an ongoing review of the "environmental impact" posed by the DEA's use
of herbicides, particularly glyphosate, to eliminate wild growing
marijuana. The agency has not conducted such a review since May 1986.
"The NORML Foundation strongly opposes the aerial directed spraying of
herbicides from low flying aircraft for the purpose of eliminating wild
growing marijuana plots," Publications Director Paul Armentano told DEA
officials. "After evaluating the DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication
Suppression Program, we find it misguided, excessively burdensome on
taxpayers, counterproductive, and potentially harmful to the health and
safety of residents and the environment."
Armentano cited evidence that the multi-million dollar a year program
targets almost entirely nonpsychoactive hemp, and that the aerial use of
glyphosate in marijuana eradication efforts is ineffective and
environmentally hazardous.
"This program almost exclusively eradicates ditchweed which presents no
threat to public safety," he said. "In addition, the aerial application
of herbicides to eliminate ditchweed poses a demonstrated threat to the
general public and wildlife through contamination of ground water,
surface water, air and soil, and the elimination of many animals'
habitat. Only in America do federal law enforcement continue to place
public safety at risk and our tax dollars to waste eliminating this
proven worldwide cash crop."
Previous forums held in Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, and Atlanta also drew
testimony and criticism from drug reform activists and environmentalists.
The DEA will review the testimony and include it in the final supplement
to the Environmental Impact Statement.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano of The NORML
Foundation at (202) 483-8751. Copies of NORML's testimony are available
upon request.
***
S.F. Officials Explore Distributing Medical Marijuana In Wake Of Cannabis
Healing Center's Closure
May 27, 1998, San Francisco, CA: City officials seeking alternatives to
the state's privately-run medical marijuana dispensaries are promoting
plans to distribute the drug through the Department of Public Health.
"The will is there to put this [issue] in Public Health's court,"
Supervisor Tom Ammiano said shortly after local law enforcement officials
complied with a court order to shut down the city's 9,000 member Cannabis
Healing Center. "We have to make this happen as soon as possible."
Ammiano said the Board of Supervisors may soon draft legislation to
allow the health department to distribute marijuana to city residents who
use the drug under their doctor's supervision. The proposal shares the
support of District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who compares the idea to
the city's policy of distributing clean hypodermic needles to addicts.
While the latter program violates federal law, Department of Justice
officials have not challenged the issue.
Mitchell Katz, director of the Public Health Department, said his agency
is examining the distribution issue. "We believe that medical marijuana
eases suffering and that providing it is a compassionate service," he
said.
City officials will meet today with Mayor Willie Brown's office to
debate the issue, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
For more information, please contact Dale Gieringer of California NORML
at (415) 563-5858.
***
International Drug Reform Coalition Declares "Global Days Against The
Drug War"
May 28, 1998, New York, NY: More than 90 drug policy reform groups
worldwide will participate in the upcoming "Global Days Against the Drug
War," a five day series of events beginning on June 5 to be held in
response to the United Nations Special Session on Narcotics. Several
groups -- including NORML, the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet),
Common Sense for Drug Policy, and others -- will host events in over 40
cities to promote alternative drug policies.
Participating cities include Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Auckland, New
Zealand; Dallas, Texas; London, England; Los Angeles, California; Madrid,
Spain; Munich, Germany; New Orleans, Louisiana; Paris, France; Rome,
Italy; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco, California; Seattle,
Washington; Sidney, Australia; Tuscon, Arizona; Washington, D.C., and
Winnipeg, Canada.
For more information on scheduled events, please contact Adam Smith of
DRCNet at (202) 293-8340 or Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug Policy at
(703) 354-5694. Additional information is available on-line at:
stopthedrugwar.org
- END -
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The Fall Of St. Peter - Why Public Officials Abandoned
Medical Marijuana Advocate Peter Baez.('The Metro,'
A San Jose, California Weekly, Recounts The Case Of Peter Baez
And The Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center
And Finds Police Acted In Bad Faith)
The Metro
http://www.metroactive.com/
San Jose, California
May 28-June 3, 1998
The Fall of St. Peter
Why public officials abandoned medical marijuana
advocate Peter Baez.
Crucifying St. Peter
While spouting rhetoric supporting the Compassionate
Use Act, local officials launch an attack against
the man they once called a hero
Story by Eric Johnson
Photos by Christopher Gardner
'LUCY VALENZUELA" does not want to reveal her real
name because she is afraid of being seen as a
criminal. To control her almost constant pain, the
56-year-old San Jose woman, whose hands are
disfigured from diabetic nerve damage and who walks
with crutches, likes to smoke a bit of marijuana.
"The pills my doctor gives me make me confused, like
I'm stumbling around," she says. "The marijuana just
relieved my spasms. I could feel OK. It also took
some of the stress off my life, of having to live this
way."
Until recently, Valenzuela believed the government -
via the will of the people - had agreed to allow her
to do this in peace. Now she's not so sure.
Until last month, Valenzuela was a client of the
Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center. When San
Jose police arrested founder Peter Baez in March and
seized its records, they decided that Valenzuela was
not a legitimate patient. Now she is known in court
documents as Buyer Number 5.
Valenzuela did not know that she was named in Baez's case until I
interviewed her last Friday. She cried when she found out--but she was more
angry than sad. "I feel like something was taken away from me," she said,
choking back tears. "Not just my medicine but my rights. This was something
very private to me."
She said she couldn't understand why Baez and his partner, Jesse Garcia, are
being targeted.
"I don't know why the government would want to attack them," she said. "They
came into this with good clean hearts. They put their necks on the line to
help people. They don't know it, but I pray for them every day. I pray to
God and the Virgin Mary. I have my santitos."
To become a santito, a person has to perform a miracle. It isn't enough to
be a good person or to follow some kind of calling--sainthood requires the
accomplishment of an impossible task, like making a desert rock spout water
or curing a sick person. On Friday, May 8, when the doors of the Santa Clara
County Medical Cannabis Center closed for good, it became clear that Peter
Baez cannot do the impossible.
Baez did, however, attempt a miracle. He tried to implement the
Compassionate Use Act, the law allowing the use of marijuana as medicine.
And as medical-marijuana clubs throughout the state have discovered, that
can't be done.
At least three agencies of the federal government are working to subvert the
law, which was passed when Californians voted for Proposition 215. Dan
Lungren's gubernatorial ambitions have set him on a crusade to thwart it.
And local officials--because of political pressure and sheer cowardice--are
now geared up to send the man who ran the only medi-pot dispensary in San
Jose to prison. If convicted, Baez, who suffers from colon cancer, could be
sentenced to nine years in prison.
The legal case charges that most of the patients at the SCCMCC did not have
written doctors' notes recommending marijuana. All of them--including the
five whom the DA has selected for prosecution--have documented ailments. The
legal question focuses narrowly on whether their doctors officially gave
them the green light to use marijuana.
Police and prosecutors also have launched a media campaign to depict Baez as
a liar and a thief. They condemn him for betraying their trust and have
charged that he ripped off his ailing clients--comparing his activities at
the center to "street-level drug dealing."
The evidence which was presented to the grand jury to procure an indictment,
however, suggests that while he may have violated the letter of an
imprecisely written law, Baez was trying to support the spirit of its
passage, to help dying and suffering people lead better lives. And he
received very little help from the public servants and elected officials
whose job, by voter mandate, was to make Prop. 215 work.
Two Faces of Government
THE COMPASSIONATE USE Act mandates that governments themselves "implement a
plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all
patients in medical need." Since Prop. 215 passed, local law enforcement and
elected officials have made assurances to the 66 percent of the citizenry
who supported the bill that they would see that it was carried out.
Some, like assistant district attorney Karin Sinunu and former police chief
Lou Cobarruviaz, stated their full support for the measure. Others were more
reluctant, making it clear that while they did not believe in marijuana as
medicine, they were willing to bow to the will of the people.
Lawmakers and police did, however, promise to keep a very close eye on how
the law was implemented. Unlike those in other California cities--including
San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz, which developed a more or less
relaxed attitude about enforcement--San Jose and Santa Clara County
officials decided to closely monitor the way medical marijuana was dispensed.
They were pleased when Peter Baez approached them with his idea to form an
unofficial partnership with the city to carry out the Compassionate Use Act.
Baez, himself a cancer patient, had a reputation as a clean-cut do-gooder.
He had been commended in 1993 by Mayor Susan Hammer for his volunteer work
on AIDS, and he was a member of Gilroy's anti-graffiti task force.
Baez had spent years championing medical marijuana after developing a close
relationship with Jesse Garcia, a Gilroy man suffering from AIDS. Following
the passage of 215, Baez and Garcia had launched a guerrilla medi-pot
dispensary, which they operated out of a car in the parking lot of Valley
Medical Center.
After months of clandestine distribution, Baez and Garcia decided to open a
legitimate dispensary. They had a feeling the best way to do that was to
work closely with local law enforcement.
When the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center opened its doors just
over a year ago, local officials pledged to work with Baez. His subsequent
efforts to get marijuana to sick people--and to do it by the book--won him
much praise. At times, it did seem as though he were being canonized.
Karin Sinunu called him "the Eagle Scout of the medical marijuana movement."
National media flocked to San Jose to profile Baez, lauding the local center
as a statewide model. But, as it turns out, the official line of support for
Baez did not run very deep.
Now, as pressure from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and federal
prosecutors heats to a fever, six California mayors are petitioning the feds
to back off. Mayor Susan Hammer, a longtime friend of Baez's, declines to
comment on the subject and refers all questions to the police. And the SJPD,
through department spokesman John Carrillo, is hardly enthusiastic about
abiding by the Compassionate Use Act.
"I don't know how long 215 is going to be valid," Carrillo said. "It is not
legal under federal statute, and that takes precedence over California law.
"Currently, 215 was voted into effect. It is now currently law, and we must
follow the law, so it will be allowed. But what I can tell you as the
department spokesman is that the fate of 215 is in the courts."
Baez and Garcia both feel that they have been betrayed. They also think it
is more than coincidence that acting chief Walt Atkins took over the reins
of the department the very day of the SCCMCC raid.
"We had a great relationship with Chief Cobarruviaz," Garcia says of San
Jose's recently retired chief. "Suddenly, Atkins comes in, and boom. What
are we supposed to think?"
Atkins did not reply to requests for an interview for this article. But City
Attorney Joan Gallo says that "there has been no philosophical change
whatsoever" since Atkins took over. She points to the fact that this week,
she presented an ordinance to the City Council which would make it easier
for a cannabis center to operate.
However, she says pressure from the Clinton administration is making it
almost impossible for the city.
"With the federal government taking the unreasonable position that it is
taking, it is going to be very difficult for anybody to operate a legal
marijuana dispensary," Gallo says.
Give Pete a Chance: Joan Baez was on hand to support her cousin Peter Baez
(left) and friend Jesse Garcia (right) during the official closing of the
Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Club early this month.
With Friends Like These ...
IN THE YEAR that the San Jose medi-pot center operated, the city offered
Baez and Garcia little in the way of support for their pioneering operation,
and then blamed Baez when the city decided that the experiment had failed.
The club's founders say that they had a one-way relationship with public
officials. "We felt like we were putting ourselves and our patients at risk
[by providing documentation and communication], and nobody would communicate
with us," Garcia says.
In Baez's apartment in Gilroy, the two have a file folder full of letters
requesting meetings with various officials, most of which never occurred. On
June 23, 1997, for instance, they asked Mayor Hammer to consider adopting a
resolution similar to one in Oakland that protects medi-pot dispensaries. On
Sept. 5, they wrote to assistant city attorney Carl Mitchell regarding
patients' concerns about the confidentiality of their medical records. On
Feb. 2 of this year they asked Hammer, Cobarruviaz and others to help them
contract with a local grower, so they could solve the thorny problem of
transporting the pot, another issue not resolved in the wording of the law.
They received no responses.
Instead, the city pushed the responsibility for dealing with the club on
Sgt. Scott Savage of the SJPD narcotics division.
When I interviewed Baez and Garcia for another article last May, they both
spoke highly of Savage. This unlikely trio--a narcotics officer and two
medi-pot activists--were at the time working together to set up an indoor
growing operation at the center's Meridian Avenue site (a plan that fell
through because the center's landlord feared he'd lose his property under
federal forfeiture law). In the months that followed, Baez even called
Savage to turn in five people who had come to him with forged doctors' notes.
Baez's motives in playing it straight with Savage were not altogether
saintly or even Boy Scoutish: He saw it as a matter of survival. The DEA was
sending undercover narcs into every pot club in California and filing
charges up and down the state. The SCCMCC was about the only club which
could not be stung--a fact Baez credits to his strict patient-intake procedures.
But according to police and prosecutors, Baez wasn't nearly careful enough.
In October of last year SJPD officers picked up a man named Enrique Robles,
a client of the SCCMCC, on a charge of possession. In his defense, Robles
said that as a member of the center, the pot he was carrying was legal.
Sgt. Scott Savage called Baez to confirm that Robles was a client and asked
Baez to give him the name of Robles' doctor. According to Savage's report,
Baez hemmed and hawed a bit and then named two local physicians. Savage
called both, and they denied having recommended pot for Robles.
The following Monday, March 24, Savage showed up at the SCCMCC's Meridian
Street office with a half-dozen undercover officers. Savage went inside and
asked Baez to turn over all of the center's files. Baez refused on the
grounds of patient confidentiality, claiming that the center's clients who
were dying of AIDS and cancer had a right to expect privacy. Savage produced
a search warrant and placed Baez under arrest.
According to court records, Savage seized all of the center's patient files,
a checkbook and check register, daily sales logs and the center's computer,
as well as some marijuana and cash as evidence. Police left some marijuana
at the premises, although the amount they left is in dispute.
After poring over the 270 patient files, Savage concluded that 25 percent of
the center's clients "appear to not comply with the Compassionate Use Act."
He then obtained a warrant to seize the center's bank account in Gilroy,
which contained almost $30,000.
Lighten Up: Clients at the Santa Clara County Medical Cannabis Center held a
wake last month on the day the center closed.
Dealing the Dirt
AS A RESULT of this raid, Baez now faces seven federal charges: five for
allegedly selling pot to five people who did not qualify under 215, one for
allegedly operating a "drug house" and one for allegedly committing grand
theft by accepting $705 per month in federal disability housing assistance.
Police and prosecutors also believe Baez stole money from the SCCMCC
checking account. The press release that went out last Monday following a
grand jury indictment says that "there is a large discrepancy, approximately
$73,454, between documented sales to SCCMCC clients and the amount of money
received by SCCMCC." It also says "there are $51,000 in checks written to
Peter Baez for cash," and that "Peter Baez purchased a brand-new Toyota RAV 4."
The press release doesn't mention that all of this information was
discovered because Baez--who was a banker for 10 years--accounted for every
nickel that came in the door. Nor does it mention that every nickel of the
alleged discrepancy was found in the center's bank account. Of course, it
stands to reason that these details were left out, because the press release
was circulated by Baez's prosecutors.
Baez still believes that if law enforcement officials had talked to him, if
they had asked him to walk them through his books, they would have reached a
different conclusion.
In fact, the center's books (copies of which were obtained by Metro) suggest
that Baez used the $51,000 to purchase the center's marijuana--which had to
be paid for in cash. A meticulous detail freak, Baez points to highlighted
dated entries, each of which is cross-referenced to a purchase of pounds of
"Yoli," "Boli" or "Mexican"--names of different grades of pot. He then
produces another document that shows when and how each pound was distributed
to patients.
He says he understands how Savage might have concluded there was a
discrepancy between patient files and daily tallies. The daily tally sheets,
he says, contain slash-marks for every eighth-ounce sold, regardless of the
price the center charged. If a client bought an ounce and received a
quantity discount, Baez made eight slash marks. Instead of paying eight
times $60, or $480, however, the patient might have paid $300, and that is
the amount recorded in the patient files, which were kept in dollars.
"Maybe that was a sloppy way of doing it," Baez now concedes, "but it isn't
criminal-sloppy. It's just busy-sloppy.
"More than 90 percent of our sales were cash," Baez adds. "If I had wanted
to steal that money, why would I keep records of it at all? Why would I put
it into a bank account where I know it could be found?"
He answers every charge in similarly exhaustive detail. When asked about the
RAV4 which the DA says he bought with stolen money, he produces another
file-folder containing a bank statement from South Valley Bank in Gilroy. It
shows a $8,000 wire transfer on July 21, 1997, from Samuel Baez, his
father--a retired U.S. Navy chaplain. Three days later, the register shows a
check written to Gilroy Toyota. The difference between the $8,000 and the
price of the RAV4 was made up by trading in his 1995 Pontiac Sunfire
convertible, he says, reaching for more paperwork to prove it.
Garcia, however, points out that even if he and Baez had chosen to take
money from the center, in the form of salaries, that would have been legal.
He says the pair was only using about $300 to $400 per month to cover
work-related expenses.
"We were volunteers," he says, "but there is nothing in 215 that says a
person has to be a volunteer to operate a center. It's one thing that we're
being asked to account for allegedly illegal activities. It doesn't seem
appropriate that we're also being asked to account for legal activities."
The legal issue is not so much that Baez stole money--although the DA
insists that he did. It's that he sold pot to people who didn't qualify
under the law.
All of the talk about Baez's alleged misuse of SCCMCC's funds is a
smokescreen, he believes, designed to turn public opinion against him and
against the medical-marijuana movement in general.
The Letter of the Law
AT THE HEART of the actual criminal case lies a real contradiction stemming
from the fact that Prop. 215 puts the state of California's laws at odds
with the laws of the U.S. government. Proposition 215 states that patients
must have a doctor's recommendation, but prescribing marijuana puts doctors
in violation of a federal law.
A document released by the California Medical Association in January invokes
the law and tells physicians in the state to steer clear of prescribing pot.
Issuing such a recommendation could make them ineligible to participate in
the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs, costing them serious money, and could
also result in their losing their licenses to write prescriptions for pain
medication, according to the CMA.
The memo reminded doctors that "the federal government, after the passage of
Proposition 215, indicated that it would seek sanctions against physicians
who recommended marijuana to their patients." It then described one of a
half-dozen lawsuits orbiting around 215, which culminated in a court ruling
that doctors may only recommend marijuana to a very narrow set of patients,
including those suffering from AIDS and cancer.
However, the most frightening section of the letter, to many physicians,
warns them against issuing any written recommendations. In a
needle-threading paragraph, the CMA clearly tries to find a way for doctors
to provide their patients the letter which the law says they need, but
points out that "a strong argument can be made that such a letter ...
constitutes aiding and abetting--a violation of federal law.
"It should be noted that the court did state that a physician can be subject
to punishment for aiding and abetting the cultivation or possession of
marijuana," the paragraph concludes.
Finally, the CMA document tells doctors to "avoid communicating with a
marijuana distributor, such as a buyers club, to confirm a recommendation
made to a patient in an office dialogue."
Obviously, this creates an impossible situation. Dr. Martin Fenstersheib,
public health officer with the county health department, tried to intervene.
A couple of weeks after the CMA issued its letter, Fenstersheib sent out a
memo detailing guidelines for recommending medical marijuana, as well as
forms for doctors, patients and dispensaries like SCCMCC. The county's
guidelines and forms stopped short of a full-blown recommendation. Instead,
they called on doctors to state only that they "discussed the medical
benefits of marijuana" and that they would "continue to monitor" the patient.
Baez and his attorneys insist that all of the center's patient files meet
these two criteria: a physician's knowledge of the patient's marijuana use
and willingness to continue to see the patient.
But the DA maintains that only 70 of the center's 240 patients were legit.
In a court affidavit, Savage reported that many of the center's files
"contain no written medical recommendations, although some have notations of
oral recommendation." In a subsequent report, Savage writes that he called
many of the doctors from whom the center claims to have received oral
recommendations, and that those doctors deny ever having heard from the center.
Dr. Tod Mikuriya, former director of marijuana research at the National
Institute of Mental Health, has reviewed all five of the patient files
associated with the charges against Baez. Mikuriya provided Baez's attorneys
with a report of his analysis of each patient's file.
He writes that the file of Rick Robles, whose arrest led to the police raid
on SCCMCC, shows that he had a broken back, and that his doctor "was aware
of use" of marijuana. It also shows that the doctor was contacted by phone
to confirm that Robles was a patient.
Savage reports that the doctor denies ever receiving a call. SCCMCC's phone
records, however, document a call to Robles' doctor's number on Oct. 22, 1997.
Buyer Number 2's physician, according to Mikuriya, "appears to have accepted
[the patient's] use of cannabis and tried to avoid putting himself at risk
by prescribing Marinol [a THC pill]." A third doctor noted that his patient
"requests that I consider providing a prescription for marijuana." These
files, according to Baez and his lawyers, prove that the SCCMCC was abiding
by 215's requirements.
The case of Buyer Number 5 ("Lucy Valenzuela") appears from Mikuriya's notes
to be borderline. While her file contained a diagnosis of a condition
protected by 215, there does not appear to be any doctor contact. However,
Mikuriya notes that Valenzuela "expressed concerns that MD may not sign
because of fear of reprisal."
In each case, the center clearly was forced to exercise discretion. In each
case, Mikuriya concludes, the two standards set up by Fenstersheib had been
satisfied.
"Each and every individual appears to suffer serious chronic illness that
qualifies for protection by Health and Safety Code 11362.5 [the
Compassionate Use Act]," Mikuriya writes.
"The apparent denials encountered by police investigators from treating
physicians are clearly responses to appropriate fear and concern for the
medical licenses based upon information provided them by the general media
and by the California Medical Association."
Hugs Not Drugs: Jesse Garcia, co-founder of San Jose's cannabis club, says
the saddest part of the club's closure is that ailing clients who depended
on the club will have nowhere to turn.
Ending the War on Drugs
BEYOND THE bureaucratic Catch-22s of the Compassionate Use Act is a simple
fact: For the past 30 years, the government has considered marijuana to be
unmitigated evil. So have many law enforcement officers, elected officials
and doctors. Claiming marijuana as a miracle cure is pure heresy.
Jeremy Griffey believes marijuana saved his life. A 44-year-old AIDS
patient, Griffey credits the banned herb with miraculous curative
abilities--only some of which have been verified through research.
As many AIDS sufferers do, he speaks matter-of-factly about the details of
his ailments. Smoking marijuana, he says, controls his nausea and restores
his appetite so he can keep food down and take his medications. Eating pot
muffins, he says, stops his diarrhea. Laughing, he almost guiltily admits
that it also elevates his mood. Without it, he says, he often became depressed.
Griffey says he began using pot medicinally while caring for his partner of
21 years, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1992. He believes marijuana
kept his partner alive for a year and made the last year of his life bearable.
George Hanamoto, another medical-marijuana user, also believes the stuff
works like magic. The 57-year-old Morgan Hill TV repairman is afflicted with
glaucoma, arthritis and low-back pain. He says he started smoking marijuana
for his glaucoma but found that it also cured his pain.
"It happened like that," he says, snapping his fingers. "The very first
time. Couldn't feel the pain at all. It was just gone." As a bonus, he says,
his doctor took him off physically addictive eyedrops after he'd been
smoking pot for a few weeks.
A veteran nurse at a local hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, credits
the survival of her own mother and sister, both of whom have cancer, to
marijuana. She says she became a believer when she saw it work for her
brother, who died of cancer last year.
These stories, which are ubiquitous among users of medical marijuana, drive
Drug War hawks batty. Assistant district attorney Karin Sinunu, who alone
among local officials makes it clear that she does not consider Baez "a
common criminal," says the charges against him are not an attack on the
concept of medical marijuana. "I wholeheartedly support the spirit of 215,"
she says. Nevertheless, her office presses forward with its case.
Talking to Denise Rabbe, one of Sinunu's deputy DAs, it is clear that two
worlds are clashing in San Jose. The deputy assistant DA seems fixated on
the details that, she believes, show Baez broke the law--but how else could
she possibly see the case? The Compassionate Use Act may be a crack in the
ideology which holds that marijuana is the Devil Weed, but law enforcement
officials are a long way from loosening up loopholes so that it can be
implemented.
Peter Baez may have committed sins against the state. Perhaps he was
overzealous in making marijuana available to people who he believed
desperately needed it. Maybe he failed to follow the letter of the law, as
interpreted by the DA's office, and even declared some expenses that don't
match its definition of "business-related." But if there is betrayal
involved in this case, it more likely came at the hands of officials who set
Baez up to fail and then crucified him when he did.
From the May 28-June 3, 1998 issue of Metro.
Copyright (c) Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Spotlight Shifts To Small Pot Clubs ('San Francisco Examiner'
Publicizes Three Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Left In San Francisco
After The Shutdown This Week Of The Cannabis Healing Center,
The State's Biggest And Oldest Cannabis Buyers' Club)
Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 10:09:54 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Spotlight Shifts to Small Pot Clubs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 28 May 1998
Author: Marianne Costantinou of the Examiner Staff
SPOTLIGHT SHIFTS TO SMALL POT CLUBS
It looks like a college dorm, circa 1968. Mismatched couches and lounge
chairs. Bad art on the walls. Purple painted bookcases and funky rugs. ...
A bong on the coffee table. A joint in the ashtray. The sweet smell of pot
in the air.
The talk in the room is of peace and love and changing the world. But it is
also of pain and loneliness and the fear of dying.
This is a pot club, 1998. With the shutdown this week of the Cannabis
Healing Center, the state's biggest and oldest pot club, only three pot
clubs now remain in San Francisco.
Unlike the megaclub founded by gubernatorial candidate Dennis Peron, the
existing clubs are small and discreet, ever mindful of looming federal and
state court battles that are challenging their legality despite Proposition
215, which state voters passed to approve medicinal marijuana.
"Discretion is the better part of valor," said Ken Hayes Jr., head of
C.H.A.M.P., an acronym for Cannabis Helping Alleviate Medical Problems, at
194 Church St. off Market.
"We try to keep a low profile. ... One of the reasons we're still open, I
believe, is that we haven't been in your face, smoking in front of the TV
cameras."
Now, with Peron's place at 1444 Market padlocked by deputy sheriffs, the
remaining clubs are braced for a stampede of clients they feel ill-equipped
to handle, what with their cozy rooms and small staffs.
Until now, the other clubs have let Peron, with his 9,000 members, grab the
headlines and take the political heat. They were content to quietly serve
their clientele of just a few hundred each.
But with word spreading of their existence, two of the three -- C.H.A.M.P
and ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power -- have extended their
hours to handle the constant stream of patients who have been arriving this
week at their unmarked doors.
At the 500-member C.H.A.M.P., open since December 1996, many newcomers have
been turned away, Hayes said. Fear of a bust triggered by the infiltration
by undercover drug agents -- one of Peron's downfalls -- forces the staff
at C.H.A.M.P. to be suspicious of any applicant, even those in wheelchairs.
C.H.A.M.P. not only insists on a doctor's note recommending the use of
marijuana for the patient's medical condition, but the club wants the note
to be dated within 30 days. Staff members then call the doctor to verify
the note, Hayes said.
Once approved, the applicant is issued a photo ID card. With the whole
process taking an hour or two, the handful of staff members can handle only
five or six applications a day, Hayes said.
Over at ACT UP, at 3991 17th St., off Market in the Castro, membership has
gone up at least 33 percent this week, up from 300. The club opened about
three months ago, around the time another place, Flower Therapy, was
pressured by authorities to close its doors.
ACT UP doesn't ask for a doctor's note. It demands only that prospective
clients sign a notarized declaration under penalty of perjury that a doctor
has recommended pot for their medical condition.
"We're not doctors here or judges," said Michael Bellefountaine, 32. "If
you make a promise that you are sick and you need pot, I give you pot."
Unlike C.H.A.M.P. and Peron's old club, which were set up as hangouts for
clients to smoke their pot and socialize, ACT UP bans any smoking inside
its tiny converted apartment. Clients come in, show their ID, check out the
pot for sale, pay for it, and leave.
"It's like going to a butcher shop," Bellefountaine said. " "What do you
have today in lamb chops?' "
At C.H.A.M.P. and ACT UP, the top price for an eighth of an ounce bag of
pot grown in California is $55, but prices can go as low as $15 for Mexican
pot.
Prices go as high as $70 across the street from ACT UP, at the Market
Street Club, a one-man operation with 150 members run by AIDS patient James
Green, 36.
Green opened his business in December 1997, just as the federal and state
campaign against pot clubs really heated up. Ever since, Green has been
watching the door of his second-floor, black-paneled office, fearful of a
bust.
Green also bans smoking at his club and doesn't even have any chairs.
Clients fill out the paperwork at a counter and must be able to submit a
doctor's recommendation.
Keeping a straight-laced business image is key to survival, Green said. He
even sells other items, from body lotion and vitamins to hand-carved Indian
kachina dolls, to give the appearance of a legitimate shop to the casual
passerby.
"When people see a party atmosphere, they get the wrong impression," said
Green, explaining his nonsmoking rule.
Although he considers selling pot a business, Green said he was barely
paying for his supplies and the rent. ACT UP, which takes in about $25,000
a month, is also just a grand or two ahead. C.H.A.M.P. has monthly revenue
of about $35,000, Hayes said.
To them, the purpose of selling pot is not making money, but helping those
in need. Most of their clients have AIDS, but they also have patients with
cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy and arthritis.
"I don't relish the idea of being raided and being busted," Green said. "I
think I'm doing the right thing, even though it might turn out to be
unfortunate for me."
To people who need the marijuana to ease pain and stimulate their
appetites, the pot clubs make their lives possible.
Sandi Patrick, 49, a paraplegic suffering from arthritis, traveled miles in
her motorized wheelchair to get to the ACT UP club Wednesday afternoon. She
had been a volunteer at Peron's club, located just around the corner from
her house.
For 13 years, she took morphine and methadone for her condition, and barely
had enough energy to get out of bed. She's been smoking pot for two years.
"Before, there wasn't much quality to my life," she said. "I feel now I can
live again."
1998 San Francisco Examiner
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Thurston's Crowded Jail Copes With Illnesses, Too - Corrections Officers
Deal With More Visits To Clinic (The Tacoma, Washington 'News Tribune'
Notes Thurston County's War On Some Drug Users Is Largely A War
On Sick People - Between 1994 And 1997, The Number Of Inmates
Treated Annually At The Jail's Part-Time Medical Clinic Rose
From 1,300 To 2,541, While The Daily Inmate Population Rose
From 284 To 391)
From: "W.H.E.N. - Bob Owen - Olympia" (when@olywa.net)
To: "-Hemp Talk" (hemp-talk@hemp.net)
Subject: HT: Thurston's crowded jail copes with illnesses, too
Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 21:27:11 -0700
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Doesn't mention drugs, but Thurston Co. is overcrowded from drug prisoners.
Bob_O
***
Thurston's crowded jail copes with illnesses, too
Corrections officers deal with more visits to clinic
Karen Hucks
The News Tribune
When Kenneth Henson took a job as a correctional officer at the Thurston
County jail a year ago, he had no idea he would be playing nurse and social
worker, too.
But these days, Henson says, he has to help sick inmates on and off the
toilet, clean up AIDS-tainted blood after fights, give inmates their
medicine and watch them grow weaker with terminal illnesses.
Not only is the population at Thurston County Correctional Facility in
Olympia growing, but it is getting sicker, jail officials say.
Between 1994 and 1997, the number of inmates treated annually at the jail's
part-time medical clinic rose from 1,300 to 2,541, while the daily inmate
population rose from 284 to 391, nurse Marla Fredericks said.
On an average day this year, the doctors and nurses treat 25 inmates,
compared with 12 four years ago, she said.
It puts a strain on everyone. Henson cringes as he remembers one terminally
ill inmate last year. The man's ankles swelled, his belly bloated and he
couldn't control his bowels.
"I kind of wanted to avoid him," Henson said.
Part of the increase in medical visits is caused by the sheer volume of
inmates. The jail, and an annex that opened last year to relieve
overcrowding, have 358 bunks - and they are bursting at the seams.
The average daily population under the jail's control in 1998 is 455
inmates, including people in alternative programs that allow them to sleep
elsewhere. Inside the jail this week, 54 inmates were sleeping on the
floor, said Karen Daniels, chief of corrections for Thurston County.
But the number of sick inmates is growing even faster than the population.
"We're seeing everything from people being diagnosed with cancer to people
with other terminal conditions," said Fredericks, whose position is funded
for 30 hours a week. "A lot of them come in from long periods of using
illegal substances and have been ignoring symptoms."
When they get into jail and no longer can take drugs to mask their
symptoms, they want their health issues tended to immediately.
Last week, medical officials diagnosed one inmate with a brain aneurysm and
another who may have ovarian cancer, Fredericks said.
The most typical problems are AIDS, hepatitis C and heart disease,
Fredericks said. About 15 percent of the problems the medical clinic treats
are dental, such as abscesses caused by untreated tooth rot.
There also are many more inmates with mental illnesses. The jail has a
psychiatrist four to six hours each week.
Thurston County is not alone in its battle against illnesses in jail.
"From a basic correctional philosophy, this is happening across the
nation," said Julie Lord, Pierce County jail health services manager.
"The population is getting older, and with that you're dealing with elderly
illnesses, and there is an increase in AIDS - and we're seeing it like
everyone else is."
Poor medical care was a major part of a 1995 class-action lawsuit filed by
inmates in Pierce County Jail who alleged inhumane conditions. The county
reached a settlement with the inmates that, among other things, gave
inmates better access to health care.
In cities up and down the Interstate 5 corridor, medical conditions have
played a role in inmate lawsuits, corrections chief Daniels said. The
possibility of a lawsuit is worrying Thurston County officials now, too.
The American Civil Liberties Union is investigating dozens of complaints
from Thurston County inmates about alleged inhumane conditions at the jail.
The county will open a 300-inmate regional jail near Tumwater within two
years, and a population management committee is investigating solutions to
the jail's crowding problems, including early release.
But there doesn't seem to be any easy solution, and Mark Bolton, associate
jail administrator, said he only expects it to get worse.
Thurston County's clinic is open nine hours a day on weekdays. At other
times, a nurse is on call and correctional officers like Henson handle
crises and make minor medical decisions, which Daniels said they are not
trained to do.
Inmate Larry Neal, 56, said sicknesses cause stress for and between
inmates. Other inmates started shying away from him when he got some sores
on his face.
"You don't know who has AIDS and who doesn't, so when they see open sores,
they have a tendency to get very uptight," said Neal, who said he doesn't
have the disease.
Inmate Tim Matson, 31, said his medical problems - he has hepatitis C and
kidney stones - make him more temperamental. He said that last year he
urinated blood for more than a week before he got an appointment at the
clinic.
"Me, I'm not the smallest guy in this place," said Matson, who's 5 feet 11
inches tall and weighs 253 pounds. "My temper becomes pretty frazzled, and
somebody with a bad attitude can set me off."
Correctional officer John Zimmaro said it's not just the sick inmates who
get stressed out about illness in the jail. The problems carry over to
healthy inmates who can't get attention they need for administrative
matters because officers are so busy devoting time to sick people.
"It's constant where you've got to ignore the other 60 percent of the
inmates because you're tied up dealing with (sick) people," Zimmaro said.
"If they're not getting answers to their legitimate questions, then stress
is building up on them."
***
Staff writer Karen Hucks covers Thurston County. Reach her at
1-800-388-8742, Ext. 8660, or by e-mail at kxh@p.tribnet.com
(c) The News Tribune
May 28, 1998
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week Online With DRCNet, Issue Number 44 (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network's Original News Summary For Activists)
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE NOW!
Have you received your copy of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts? If we
received your contribution before April 28, you should have gotten your copy
by now -- let us know if you haven't, and we'll get it out right away. If we
received your donation after that date, the book should be going in the mail
this week. Please accept our apologies for the delay. THIS OFFER IS FINALLY
EXPIRING, THREE DAYS FROM NOW -- SEE ITEM 2 BELOW FOR HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF IT BEFORE IT'S OVER!
Table of Contents
1.Drug Crazy Hits the Stores!
2.Final Week for Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts Offer!
3.Colombian Soldiers Being Trained By US Special Forces
4.Helicopter Manufacturers Battle Over Which Will Arm Colombians
5.Washington: Conference on Latin American and the Drug War
6.Medical Marijuana Summit in California
7.California Medical Association Calls for Rescheduling of Marijuana
8.Speaking at Medical Marijuana Conference Lands Patient in Jail
9.Geriatric Prison Approved for Construction in Oklahoma
10.Romania's Secret Service Implicated in Cigarette Smuggling
11.Web Site News
12.Quote and Link of the Week
13.Editorial: Medicinal Marijuana, Summits and Balloons
(visit last week's Week Online)
1. Drug Crazy Hits The Stores!
- David Borden, Executive Director
Two evenings ago, I got a call from the local bookstore in my neighborhood,
letting me know that a copy of the book I had inquired about -- DRUG CRAZY:
How We Got INTO THIS MESS & How We Can GET OUT -- had arrived. I picked it
up yesterday morning -- my personal copy -- and returned yesterday evening
to recommend the book and ask whether they had more copies in stock. I was
told that two more were on order, perhaps because a copy had been purchased.
It was early in DRCNet's history, 1994, when author Mike Gray found us on
the Usenet talk groups, signed up, and told me about a book he was working
on that would lay out the enormous damage being wrought by the prohibition
laws, in a way, he hoped, that would speak to the all-powerful Middle
America. I was excited to hear about the project, particularly because of
Mike's illustrious career -- his credits include the hit movie "The China
Syndrome" -- I figured that this guy was good, and if anyone could pull it
off, it would be him. Mike later joined our advisory board, at my invitation.
Drug Crazy took until now to complete because of the meticulous research
that went into it -- practically every page required its own research
project, taking Mike from Chicago, to Liverpool, to who knows where -- and
because Mike continued to write about the history as it unfolded, all the
way through last year. There are portions of the book that made me stop and
think, "wait a minute, that's not history yet!" Like drug czar McCaffrey's
foolish praise of his Mexican counterpart Jesus Guttierez Rebollo, who was
arrested weeks later for being on the drug lords' payroll -- or the state of
Virginia's ill-advised targeting of pain doctor William Hurwitz, with tragic
consequences for his patients -- or the passage of California's Prop. 215.
After all these years, I am looking at an actual copy of the book, no less
timely.
A chapter that is sure to rivet you to your seat is chapter one, "A Tale of
Two Cities -- Chicago: 1995/1925", contrasting a narrative of a fast-paced
drug raid/shooting spree from our time, with the story of Alcohol
Prohibition, 70 years in the past.
My favorite passage from the book is from chapter six, "The River of Money,"
where Mike takes readers to the Peruvian jungle to witness the futility of
the "Andean Initiative" for themselves: "Three thousand miles to the south,
where the headwaters of the Amazon spring from the Andean cordillera, an
aging Vietnam-era Huey was choppering through the jungle haze, and in the
doorway, like a haunting snapshot of another era, a DEA agent in green
fatigues cradled an AR-15 automatic as he scanned the undulating landscape."
I am sharing these personal recollections, in the hope that you will get
inspired, and will call or visit your local Border's, or Barnes & Noble,
other chains or independent bookstores, ask if they have a copy of DRUG
CRAZY from Random House, and maybe pick one up, so the stores will order two
more, or five, or ten, or even create a display. So that more thinking
citizens will receive this vital information, feel some of the horror and
the anger that led me and many of you to get involved, and stand with us to
demand change.
And when some of them do decide to take a stand, they will be able to find
us on the Internet, using the comprehensive index of reform groups and
resources provided in Appendix B. The introduction to the appendix is a
brief history of how DRCNet got started and what it has become. So your
support for DRUG CRAZY will not only educate the public, but will build
DRCNet and the movement as a whole. Call today!
(Take a look at the book cover in last week's WOL archive, at
http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1998/5-22.html#drugcrazy. You can order the book
there through amazon.com, and DRCNet will earn a 15% commission off of your
purchase -- though we urge you to go the bookstore route instead to help the
book go big. If, as in chapter six, you do go the amazon route, make sure to
buy directly through our link -- otherwise, we'll only earn 5%, or possibly
nothing.)
2. Final Week for Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts Offer!
After several months and over 300 copies, we are winding up our offer of
free copies of the Morgan/Zimmer book on May 31! Your contribution of $30 or
more must be postmarked, or submitted via our online registration form, by
the last day of this month, to qualify. (Okay, if you don't happen to read
this until after that date, or if you need to wait a little longer for your
next paycheck, we'll let you slide -- honor system! Write us a note to let
us know.)
DRCNet needs your help! Thanks to the generosity of our major donors and of
many of our members last quarter --beyond our expectations -- DRCNet is
almost in the black. We need your continued support to finally get there and
stay there. Just as important as the money is increasing our number of
paying members. Your contribution represents a vote for DRCNet and reform.
So if you have never joined DRCNet before, your donation, no matter how
small, is worth even more. The more of our current 5,500 subscribers
actually join and contribute, the more confident our major donors will be in
our ability to make it in the big leagues, and the more support they will
provide, to help us go from 5,500 to 55,000, and from 55,000 to 100,000.
Currently, about 900 of you have sent in membership dues and joined. Help us
break 1,000 by June 1! Please use our secure online registration form at
http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html, or send your check or money order to:
DRCNet, 2000 P St., NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036.
Please note that contributions to DRCNet are not tax-deductible. If you are
considering making a substantial gift, but need a tax deduction, please call
us at (202) 293-8340 or e-mail drcnet@drcnet.org and we will explain an
arrangement we have for that purpose.
3. Colombian Soldiers Being Trained By US Special Forces
The Washington Post reports this week (5/25) that US Special Forces units
are currently training members of the Colombian military under a program
which sidesteps requirements that US military aid go only to units which
have not been implicated in human rights abuses. The Post indicates that the
program, which involves "hundreds" of US troops, represents a deeper and
more hands-on involvement of US forces in Colombia's internal conflict. The
program, "Joint Combined Exchange Training" (JCET) is the same one under
which Indonesian troops have been trained for the past seven years, even
though many members of Congress were under the impression that all military
ties with the Suharto regime had been severed.
4. Helicopter Manufacturers Battle Over Which Will Arm Colombians
Helicopter News reported last week (5/22) that Sikorsky, makers of the UH-60
Black Hawk helicopter, and Bell Helicopter Textron, makers of the UH-1 Huey,
are jockeying for position to determine who will get to fulfill the $36
million commitment Congress has made for the Colombian National Police (CNP).
The Hueys, of which the CNP currently has 40 -- although few are operational
and most are in need of parts -- are Vietnam-era helicopters which have been
upgraded by the manufacturer in recent years. The Black Hawks are, according
to their manufacturer, more "suviveable" in crashes and are able to
withstand ground fire more easily; they are also more expensive. Bell, for
its part, claims that the same $36 million which could purchase three Black
Hawks would afford the purchase of 21 Huey helicopters.
Joseph Miranda, former instructor at the American School for Special
Warfare, told The Week Online, "It's no secret that the Drug War has
replaced the Cold War as America's number one excuse for military
expenditures and the sale of military hardware. But unlike the Cold War,
during which the demand was for ultra high-tech, very expensive hardware,
the Drug War has allowed for the sale of light arms, medium-tech equipment
like night vision goggles, and helicopters.
"The defense industry doesn't care whether or not the war itself is a good
idea, that's not their job. In fact, it's an enormous advantage, from their
standpoint, that there are no real measurable or achievable objectives.
There's no end-game, and so their interest lies in keeping the war going for
as long as possible, because as long as the policy lasts, there will be a
never-ending market for their products."
(Check out Joe Miranda's analysis of the military and the drug war at
http://www.drcnet.org/military.)
5. Washington: Conference on Latin America and the Drug War
The War on Drugs: Addicted to Failure -- a conference presented by Accion
Andina, George Washington University, the Institute for Policy Studies, the
Transnational Institute and the Washington Office on Latin America.
Thursday, June 11, 1998, 1:00-5:00pm, GWU, Funger Hall Room 103, 2201 G
Street, NW, Washington, DC. Open to the public, free of charge. For
additional information please contact Laurie Freeman at WOLA, (202) 544-8045.
6. Medical Marijuana Summit in California
On Wednesday, May 26, two dozen Democratic members of the California State
Senate met with police officers, state officials and medical marijuana
advocates in an attempt to hammer out a workable distribution plan in the
wake of the federal government's continued hard line against the
implementation of Proposition 215. Unfortunately for the attendees, the
federal government, which has maintained its attack upon California's
medical marijuana law on a variety of fronts, refused to participate in the
summit.
State Senator John Vasconcellos (Santa Clara) who called for the meeting,
along with Senate president Pro Tem John Burton and 21 other senators and
assembly members, sent a strongly-worded letter to the President, which
said, in part, "Mr. President, we can't ignore this issue. It won't go away,
so long as human beings believe they have the right to attend to their own
illness, as their doctor recommends, rather than as government dictates."
The letter also noted that "It's ironic you question our people's judgment
about proposition 215 while not questioning the wisdom of our returning you
to office." Proposition 215 received 56% of the popular vote; Clinton's
total in California was 52%.
Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, told The Week
Online, "One interesting idea which came out of the meeting was the use of a
loophole in federal law which allows state or local officials to handle
otherwise illegal substances in conjunction with the enforcement of a state
or local ordinance. This was written to allow the police and others to
handle drugs for sting operations, but it's written very broadly. There was
some agreement that this provision might well cover local health officials
who were handing out marijuana."
Todd McCormick, a long-term cancer patient and medical marijuana user who is
awaiting trial on charges of growing marijuana, also attended the summit.
McCormick told The Week Online, "I know that right now the federal
government is trying to make it impossible for people to have access, but
some of the plans which have been tossed around don't sound a whole lot
better. I'm very concerned about the whole idea of ID cards for medical
marijuana users. To single people out, to say 'hey, you're a marijuana
user,' sounds a little like making people wear a pink triangle or a yellow
star. I don't want to give up my privacy to the state because they don't
like the way I choose to treat my pain."
After much discussion, most agreed that the central obstacle to any plan was
the federal government. Vasconcellos, addressing the attendees, called the
feds' refusal to attend the summit "disappointing, shameful and arrogant."
7. California Medical Association Calls for Rescheduling of Marijuana
Citing "the lack of scientific justification for Schedule I classification
of marijuana," the California Medical Association voted this week (5/26) to
call for a rescheduling of marijuana to Schedule II. Schedule I is the
classification for substances which have no medical utility and a high
probability of abuse. Substances so classified are illegal under all
circumstances (other than highly limited federal licensing systems,
primarily for drug abuse research). Schedule II is reserved for substances
of medical utility which have a high probability of abuse. These are
generally tightly controlled, with triplicate prescription forms and
specific record-keeping procedures.
8. Speaking at Medical Marijuana Conference Lands Patient in Jail
- Marc Brandl for DRCNet
On Wednesday afternoon (5/27), Greg Scott, who uses medical marijuana to
treat symptoms of AIDS, was arrested for reportedly shouting and
interrupting an anti-medical marijuana conference. Details were sketchy as
of press time, but supporters of Scott, who was a registered participant of
the conference, were told by police officers he would be booked and have to
post bail.
The conference taking place in Orlando, Florida this week, entitled
"Marijuana Education Summit: Training the Trainer" is featuring such
speakers as former drug czar William Bennett, Rep. Bill McCullum, DEA Chief
Adminstrator Thomas Constantine, former NIDA director and highly paid drug
testing consultant Dr. Robert DuPont, and others. Sponsored by a myriad of
top anti-drug and law enforcement groups such as the Drug Free America
Foundation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the summit's focus
is medical marijuana and state initiatives. A brochure claims, "participants
will receive current and comprehensive information about how these
initiatives will impact health care, crime in our communities, the work
place and our children". Topics include: "History of the 'medical' marijuana
movement", "Teens, children and the mixed message of 'medical marijuana'
and, "The hidden agenda behind 'medical' marijuana messages".
Medical marijuana advocates have serious doubts about the openness of the
summit to ideas other than prohibition. In a press release by the Florida
group Coalition Advocating Medical Marijuana (CAMM), Irvin Rosenfeld, one of
the eight patients who receives medical marijuana from the government
states, "Although the brochure claims they will present 'comprehensive
information' on medical marijuana, there's no one talking about the benefits
of medical marijuana. I offered to debate any one of the top guns they've
brought from Washington, but they refuse." The group planned to hold a press
conference on Wednesday as well as pass out copies of Marijuana Myths,
Marijuana Facts to all of the 200 participants attending.
The summit is taking place in Florida where a major effort has recently
begun to collect signatures for a medical marijuana initiative in '99.
For more information on Florida's medical marijuana initiative and related
news, visit the Coalition Advocating Medical Marijuana home page at
http://www.medicalrights.org or call (954) 763-1799.
9. Geriatric Prison Approved for Construction in Oklahoma
- Marc Brandl for DRCNet
The ever growing private and state-run prison industry has found a new way
to make sure its expansion continues. Proof of this will soon be found in
Lexington, Oklahoma, where a geriatric unit, attached to the Joseph Harp
Correctional Center, has just been approved for construction by the state
Corrections Board in a unanimous vote.
The new prison for the elderly is a first for the state, and when completed
will have 250 cells, a 50 bed infirmary with an additional 80 beds for
transient housing of sick inmates who need routine medical attention.
Construction costs are estimated at $18.7 million with annual operating
costs of around $5.8 million. 138 new employees are thought to be needed to
staff the new facility.
Currently, of Oklahoma's 14,700 inmates housed in state-run prisons, only
about 150 inmates now qualify for the new prison. But according to
Corrections board Chairman Michael Roark, in a statement to The Oklahoman,
"that [geriatric] population will be growing."
With a steady stream of stories in the media about dangerous conditions in
America's prisons, from gang violence to rape, this new facility may well be
welcomed by many of those 150 aging prisoners who qualify for a cell, but
many questions remain unanswered. How much of a criminal threat are
prisoners who need a geriatric facility, especially non-violent offenders?
How much more money will it cost taxpayers to house and feed these prisoners
who'll inevitably need more health care than younger prisoners? In
Oklahoma's regular state-run prisons, the cost is $43 dollars per prisoner
per day, or about $16,000 per year. And what percentage of our current
prison population is going to need such facilities in the future?
For a more in-depth look at the aging of the prison population keep tuned to
the following issues of the Week Online.
10. Romania's Secret Service Implicated in Cigarette Smuggling
Romania's infamous Special Security Services will be cut by 24% in the wake
of allegations of large-scale cigarette smuggling involving officers at the
highest levels of the agency. 369 people will be fired in the initial phase
of the downsizing. The scandal came to light last month when a top officer
was arrested for his role in a shipment of 30 million smuggled cigarettes to
Bucharest Airport.
11. Web Site News
One of the movers and shakers profiled in DRUG CRAZY is Rufus King, a
Washington attorney who brought together the Ford-funded Drug Abuse Council
and who locked horns with the nation's infamous first drug czar, Harry
Anslinger. King's recollections of Anslinger's tactics and the sordid story
of how drug prohibition started in America are fascinating bits of history
that need to be remembered.
King is the author of "The Drug Hang-Up: America's Fifty Year Folly",
published in 1972, now re-released by DRCNet at
http://www.druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhumenu.htm on our "drug
library" web site, created and maintained by DRCNet board member Clifford
Schaffer. As King points out, the Drug War didn't start with Richard Nixon.
Check out this important history that is now more available than ever before.
12. Quote and Link of the Week
On Tuesday, May 26, ABC Television aired a remarkable and important hour of
programming, John Stossel's "Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults." Featured,
among others on the show were Peter McWilliams, author of "Ain't Nobody's
Business if You Do" and Will Foster, imprisoned for 93 years for cultivation
of medicinal marijuana.
But the show's highlight, or low-light, was DEA Chief Thomas Constantine,
who unwittingly demonstrated the hypocrisy of the Drug War, and who, when
asked about cigarettes, stated his belief that the war will engulf far
larger numbers of Americans in the future when he said:
"When we look down the road, I would say 10, 15, 20 years from now, in a
gradual fashion, smoking will probably be outlawed in the United States."
The transcript of "Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults" can be viewed at
http://www.abcnews.com/onair/abcnewsspecials/transcripts/specials_stossel980
526_trans.html. To send your congratulations to John Stossel and ABC, e-mail
stossel@abc.com.
13. EDITORIAL: Medicinal Marijuana, Summits and Balloons
In California this week, a summit was convened by State Senator John
Vasconcellos in an attempt to figure out a way to implement Proposition 215,
the 1996 medical marijuana initiative which passed with 56% of the popular
vote. Prop 215 gave Californians in medical need and their appointed
caretakers the option of growing and possessing marijuana for medicinal use.
But for all of the doomsday prognostications by opponents, and for all of
the cheering of advocates upon its passage, there were two things that Prop
215 didn't do. First, the initiative (now the law) did not provide for a
method of distribution to those who could not feasibly grow their own pot.
This was due to an oversight in the construction of the language. Second,
the initiative did not anticipate the cruel and hyperbolic response of the
federal government to its passage. This was due to an underestimation of
just how important the "fail at any cost" drug war is to the Washington
elite, and to what lengths they will go to beat back any measure which will
take the power to prosecute it out of their hands.
Since the emergence of 215 late in the campaign season of 1996, the federal
government has used taxpayers' money to campaign against it, convened three
former presidents to warn of its dire implications for the future of the
nation, held senate hearings to belittle the voters who passed it,
threatened the careers, and implicitly the freedom of doctors who so much as
discussed the use of marijuana with their patients, raided medical marijuana
dispensaries over the objections of local communities, sued in federal court
in an effort to close down still more dispensaries, ignored repeated
communications from local officials pleading for cooperation, or at least a
ceasing of aggressions in its implementation, and spent more taxpayer money
on literature and public forums designed to outline the threat -- and call
for the defeat of -- "the forces of legalization."
All of this because AIDS, cancer and glaucoma patients, as well as others
who daily face the horrors of chronic or terminal illness, have found that
there is a plant which, when smoked, eaten or made into a tea eases their
suffering, enhances their appetite, clears their vision or calms their
spasms. This is a plant, mind you, which has been used medicinally for five
thousand years, one which has never killed a single human being through its
physiological effects, which has virtually no negative interactivity with
other, more dangerous but legal drugs, and to which almost no one is
seriously allergic.
Not surprisingly, the federal government was just about the only significant
party that refused to participate in the California summit. If they had,
however, they would have seen for themselves that neither their steadfast
opposition to allowing patients to choose their own medicines, nor their
heavy-handed tactics in imposing their will are much appreciated by either
the people of California or their elected officials. Terence Hallinan, the
District Attorney for San Francisco -- a city where AIDS has taken a
tremendous toll and the home of 215 sponsor and former cannabis cultivators'
club impresario Denis Peron -- suggested that local governments pass laws
allowing their health departments to cultivate and distribute marijuana to
those in medical need. San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, among others,
agreed.
But the feds didn't need to show up to hear what many in the California
state government felt about their intrusion into local health issues. To
make sure that the administration in Washington was aware of their
discontent, a letter was sent to President Clinton, signed by approximately
two dozen members of the state assembly and senate, including Vasconcellos
and Senate president Pro Tem John Burton, which said in part: "Mr.
President, we can't ignore this issue. It won't go away, so long as human
beings believe they have the right to attend to their own illness, as their
doctor recommends, rather than as government dictates." The letter also took
a shot at the popular approval of 215 in a state which was important to the
president's election. "It's ironic you question our people's judgment about
proposition 215 while not questioning the wisdom of our returning you to
office."
But proponents of medical marijuana have, to a large degree, misunderstood
the forces they are fighting. They believe, and rightly so, that they are
trying to allow suffering people to choose their own treatment regimen. The
government, however, sees the issue far differently. To them, this is not
about people with AIDS, or glaucoma, or cancer, this is about their Drug
War, that cash cow which continuously accrues more power, both domestically
and internationally, to Washington DC. It is about protecting a morally and
intellectually indefensible policy against the slightest reform. Reform, you
see, can only lead to further examination, and to more reform, until the
raging torrent of money and power which flows from this war is reduced to a
trickle. And the feds admit as much, albeit in a misleading and disingenuous
way, when they say, over and over again, 'medical marijuana is not about the
sick and dying, it is about legalization of drugs.' And to them, at least,
it is.
To Senator Vasconcellos, however, along with the millions of other
Californians disgusted by the federal government's sledgehammer approach,
Prop. 215 always was about sick people. But now, in the face of that federal
approach, it is becoming an issue of local versus federal control, and
freedom, and the basic human right to tend to ones own body as one sees fit.
And, even more ominously for the feds, it is making an issue of the drug war
itself. For just as proponents of syringe exchange, and of Latin American
sovereignty and rights, and of access to pain medication, and of asset
forfeiture reform, and of sentencing reform, and of police practice reform,
and of racial justice, and of smaller government, and of violence reduction,
and of civil liberties are discovering, it is impossible to advocate for
rational changes in one part of Prohibition without feeling the full weight
of an opposition dedicated to the maintenance of the illusion that it can
work. Because when as great a structure as the Drug War machine has been
constructed on a foundation of thin air, akin to an overfilled balloon, it
is the unassuming man with the pin in his hand who must be silenced and
defeated.
So the feds are right. Medical marijuana is not about the sick and the
dying. It is about Lockheed Martin and the defense industry. It is about the
private prison industry, and the companies who build them, and the unions of
the men and women who staff them. It is about textile and petrochemical
companies. It is about an excuse to deploy our military forces in Latin
America. It is about the seizing and conversion of assets into the
treasuries of governments. It is about the perpetuity of bureaucratic
careers and bureaucratic agencies. It is about the stick which is used in
controlling poor and minority communities. And it is about federal power
over the lives of every single American in every state of the union. It is
not about the sick. Or the dying. Or the children. Or even marijuana. It is
about the Drug War itself.
So the time is upon us. The time for all of those advocates of all of those
rational reforms to arrive together at the inescapable conclusion that the
feds, in their own deceitful way, have been right all along. To paraphrase
President Clinton's own campaign theme, "It's the Drug War, stupid." And it
is time, through the prism of caring for the sick, or allowing syringes to
the addicted, or justice to the oppressed, that all of the advocates of all
of the various sub-issues begin to examine, very critically and very
publicly, what the war has wrought. For we are fighting a common enemy in
the drug war establishment. And in defending their indefensible system, the
thing they want most to avoid is the coalescing of the resistance. Their
structure, the enormous and imposing Drug War machine, sits upon a
foundation which, like an overfilled balloon, is full of nothing but air.
What we need to understand, as the drug warriors obviously do, is that we,
as reformers, are in possession of the pins.
Adam J. Smith
Associate Director
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to 1998 Daily News index for May 28-June 3