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

Doctor defends medical marijuana - Richard Bayer defines Measure 67
as a health-care rights issue (The Statesman Journal, in Salem, Oregon,
asks some relatively good questions and gets some good answers from the chief
petitioner for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. In response to a question
about whether some people might get marijuana who don't really need it,
Dr. Bayer notes pain specialists report that less than 1 percent
of all addictions occur as a result of receiving pain medication. So even if
a person were able to fool a doctor, it would be very rare for such patients
to became dependent, and the risk is certainly outweighed by the benefits.)

From: "Rick Bayer" (ricbayer@teleport.com)
To: "Dpfor@Drugsense. Org" (dpfor@drugsense.org)
Subject: Salem Statesman Journal, 10/29/98
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 10:57:33 -0800

Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal
10/29/98

Doctor defends medical marijuana
Richard Bayer defines Measure 67 as a health-care rights issue.

Statesman Journal

Dr. Richard Bayer is a Portland physician and chief proponent of Measure
67, which would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes if
approved next week. Bayer spoke this week at the Statesman
Journal/Oregon Public Broadcasting newsmaker breakfast. Excerpts
follow:

Question: Most drugs and medications are in a pill or a liquid that's
swallowed in a prescribed dosage. Marijuana is very different in that
you smoke it. Why aren't there better alternatives that can be
administered in a more controlled way?

Answer: The only way to get cannabidiol (a derivative of cannabis that
is effective for certain conditions) is to use marijuana. With cancer
and chemotherapy, we're talking about people vomiting and retching. And
if they only have one choice of cannabinoid, and that's a pill, they can
vomit it up. It makes a lot more sense to have alternative forms
available such as marijuana that can be inhaled.

I agree that under the best circumstances, they'd be available in
patches and sprinkles and tablets and injections and all the other
methods.

But at this time the major question about Measure 67 is that people are
using it as medicine. Should these people be arrested? Those who vote
yes on 67 feel that dying and suffering patients should not be.

Q: The White House Drug Policy Office states its position this week
that it's dangerous to let a bunch of voters dictate what is and what is
not medicine. How would you respond to this?

A: Well, I'm very concerned that we have a four-general general who
insists on coming into the exam room and interfering in the relationship
between doctors and patients. I suspect that the voters wish to have
their medical decisions determined by them and their doctors.

All the standard methods have been tried legislation wise. Now it's
time to take it to the people, which is what democracy is all about.

Q: Why is it such a partisan issue? I mean, it's medicine after all
isn't it?

A: Health care should not be a partisan issue. None of us is free from
health problems whether we are Democrats, Republicans, or something
else.

Q: The first condition that can be treated with medical marijuana under
the bill is cachexia, generally know as wasting disease. But it's also
a very broad word, - "I feel bad today". And opponents have said that
this is the loophole that could lead people smoking lots of marijuana
when they don't really need it.

A: I think you've given a perfect example of the hyperbole of the
slippery slope. I never have talked to a doctor who doesn't know what
cachexia is, and considering that the doctor is the one who is going to
be writing down that it may help, I don't think there's going to be any
problem with that. It is a wasting syndrome. You can see it in AIDS,
you can see it in cancer, you can see it in conditions that are
long-term illnesses.

Q: Still, you don't think that more people will get marijuana than
really need it?

A: That's really hard to say. Certainly, patients do come in with some
bogus claims for other medications, but pain specialists report that
less than 1 percent of all addictions occur as a result of pain
medication being given to people. So if that does happen, it would be
very rare.

It would certainly be outweighed by the benefit, and it's certainly not
unique to marijuana because doctors can also prescribe morphine and
cocaine and methamphetamine.

Q: This measure presents some interesting issues for law enforcement
agencies. For example, you can't buy it or sell it but you can grow it.
How does a law enforcement agent figure out if they are growing it for
medicinal purposes or not?

A: As far as cultivation goes, this was a really difficult issue for
us, and we debated whether to place this in at all. The problem is that
we patients who are very sick. We felt that sending people into the
back alleys to get marijuana from a drug dealer was inhumane.

But we also put the permit I.D. card in there to let law enforcement
know who is physician-approved. And of course there are the other
safeguards - the limitations on the cultivation, the personal use
amounts, and no use in public place or in public view, and no driving,
and so on. We put those in to try to protect public safety.

Q: Typically when people give money, they expect something in return.
What do the three wealthy individuals from outside Oregon, who are
bankrolling this campaign, get out of this by passing a law in Oregon
and a handful of other states?

A: I think they get a lot of satisfaction. You could ask me why I am
doing this. I'm not making any money off of this; I'm actually losing
money because I rent an office in Portland. So the fact of the matter
is, a lot of us get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing that we're
helping patients.

Q: Of course, there is another marijuana measure on the ballot this
November. Measure 57 would increase penalties for possession of less
than one ounce of marijuana. I'm wondering if both of these measures
together will be confusing to voters. And taken together, will they be
a referendum on marijuana, on drug policy, on medical rights?

A: I am concerned about the possibility that there is maybe some
confusion between 'No on 57' and 'Yes on 67'. I mean, I would have to
admit that.

The 'No on 57' came about as a result of House Bill 3643 that was passed
last year, and I should note that Rep. George Eighmey tried to amend it
with medical marijuana effort. He said if you're going to recriminalize
marijuana, let's at least make an exception for patients. Because the
House and Senate voted this down, obviously I'm very opposed to Measure
57.

As for what this means, it will depend on whom you talk to. To me, I
look at this as a medical rights issue. I feel that it started a long
time ago, but some could say that Measure 16 (assisted suicide) was
medical rights. The intractable pain law, which our Legislature passed
in 1995, is medical rights. So I would like to think that there is a
revolution in the health care system where patients are actually going
to be heard from.

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

Backers Of Medical-Marijuana Initiative Roll Out TV Ads (The Seattle Times
says backers of Initiative 692 in Washington state have unveiled a $220,000
television campaign in the last week before the election. Opponents
have raised only about $12,000, but benefit from a well-funded national
anti-drug campaign orchestrated by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy - even though the White House is not supposed to spend its
public-education budget influencing the outcome of elections.)

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 05:06:06 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: Backers Of Medical-Marijuana Initiative Roll Out TV Ads
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Thursday, 29 October, 1998
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Seattle Times Company
Author: David Schaefer

BACKERS OF MEDICAL-MARIJUANA INITIATIVE ROLL OUT TV ADS

Backers of Initiative 692 - which would legalize medical uses of marijuana
in Washington state - have unveiled a $220,000 statewide television campaign
in the last week before the election.

And although opponents have raised only about $12,000, they are not unarmed
as voters decide on the issue for the second time in two years.

Although there is only a small local group opposing Initiative 692 -
including King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and state Lt. Gov. Brad Owen -
it is the beneficiary of a well-funded national anti-drug campaign operated
out of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The deputy
director of the drug-control office, Donald Vereen, is scheduled to appear
at a news conference with local officials tomorrow to argue against using
marijuana as medicine.

Initiative 692 would legalize the use of marijuana by patients suffering
from a number of ailments. They include nausea associated with chemotherapy,
complications from AIDS, muscle spasms connected to multiple sclerosis,
glaucoma and certain kinds of intractable pain. The use would have to be on
the recommendation of a doctor, and the ballot measure would not authorize
the sale of marijuana, just the possession for medical use.

Unlike Initiative 685, which failed at the polls a year ago, this year's
initiative would apply only to marijuana and not to other drugs.

The local sponsor is Rob Killian, a physician who has recommended marijuana
for hospice patients, among others. His brother, Tim, is the campaign
manager. Rob Killian also was the leader of last year's measure.

But behind the state initiative is a national battle over drug policy.

Medical marijuana initiatives are also on the ballot in Alaska, Oregon,
Nevada, Colorado and the District of Columbia. Arizona, which legalized the
medical use of a broad array of drugs in a 1996 election, is voting on the
same issue again this year because of opposition in the state Legislature.

With the exception of Arizona and D.C., the campaigns largely are funded by
three wealthy backers: billionaire George Soros of New York, an
internationally known financier; John Sperling, of Arizona, the millionaire
founder of the University of Phoenix; and Peter Lewis, an Ohio insurance
executive. The three also were the main supporters of Initiative 685 in
Washington state last year.

With the money flowing through a California-based organization, Americans
for Medical Rights, they have contributed most of the $775,000 spent in the
state.

Contributions from the group include $330,000 in Colorado, $130,000 in
Alaska, $230,000 in Nevada and $295,000 in Oregon.

Newspaper polls show the issue ahead in all five Western states, with 60
percent majorities in four of the states, and with a narrow lead in Nevada.
Dave Fratello, spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, said its private
polling shows similar numbers.

But countering the financiers is a concerted public-education effort from
the White House drug czar.

Although the White House is not supposed to spend its public-education
budget influencing the outcome of elections, Vereen, the deputy director of
the drug-control office, is appearing this week in four of the Western
states with marijuana measures on the ballot.

Vereen and his boss, drug czar Barry McCaffrey, held a news conference in
Washington, D.C., earlier this week to voice their opposition to medical use
of marijuana.

And their Internet Web site has an extensive listing arguing that marijuana
is an unproven medical technique that hasn't received full scientific
testing.

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

I-692 - Medical Marijuana - Agent Of Terror Or Compassion?
(The Statesman-Examiner, in Colville, Washington, does a pro-and-con article
about Initiative 692, the medical marijuana ballot measure,
with Nora Callahan of the November Coalition featured on the pro side
and a rather ignorant addiction specialist, Dr. Susan Garcia-Swain of Seattle
on the con side parroting such baseless drug warrior propaganda.as the claim
that "sex organs have a tendency to atrophy with the use of marijuana.")

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 17:28:13 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: MMJ: I-692: Medical Marijuana - Agent Of Terror Or
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Tom Murlowski http://www.november.org/
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: Statesman - Examiner (Colville, WA)
Contact: ccowbroughse@plix.com
Author: Lorraine Marie

I-692: MEDICAL MARIJUANA - AGENT OF TERROR OR COMPASSION?

Drugs like morphine are legal for pain relief, and medical marijuana will
also become an option someday if voters pass Initiative 692 this November.

The initiative allows' physicians to advise patients about using medical
marijuana for terminal or debilitating conditions.

Those opposing I-692 claim marijuana is addictive, lacks medical research,
and therefore is not a compassionate way to address pain. They also say
that an American Medical Association report finds marijuana to have "very
limited or no effectiveness" in treating ailments related to chemotherapy,
multiple sclerosis, AIDS, glaucoma or other afflictions.

That stance, according to November Coalition Director Nora Callahan, of
Colville, has a number of problems. The Coalition is a fast-growing
national organization engaged in educating the public about drug policy
reform.

As a Coalition speaker who tours the United States, Callahan has met with
people who have effectively used marijuana for things like the reduction of
AIDS symptoms, and she says it is "already known" that marijuana can be and
has been used for glaucoma, epilepsy, MS and a variety of ailments, and was
also used back in Colonial Times.

"We are now learning that medical marijuana may even be beneficial for
stroke patients," Callahan says.

She has found it instructive to `trace how marijuana developed a "bad boy'
image. Industrial hemp (for clothing and paper) was grown by Colonists and
through WWII. After WWII, on the heels of the "Hemp for Victory" campaign,
the paper and cotton industries felt threatened. With media influence (a
major owner and purchaser of paper) Callahan says a "Reefer Madness"
documentary portrayed marijuana as more dangerous than heroin.

'The Congressional hearings that outlawed marijuana used no testimony from
experts," Callahan points out. More recently, she adds, the government has
not allowed any significant funding to determine finally just how addictive
marijuana is, or whether addiction is related more to an individual's
addictive tendencies.

Political hesitancy appears to be declining. Callahan says numerous
organizations now endorse medical access to marijuana, including the
American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Society of Addiction
Medicine, Kaiser Permanente, The New England Journal of Medicine, the
American Bar Assoc. and the British Medical Assoc.

As well, The Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law
Judge, Francis L. Young, made a significant ruling in 1988 that Callahan
offers: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest
therapeutically active substances known...It would be unreasonable,
arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those
sufferers and the benefits of this substance."

Since 1978 Callahan says 35 states passed legislation admitting marijuana's
health value, and over 90 published reports and studies show that
"marijuana has medical efficacy." "Research rats don't suffer withdrawal
from marijuana and don't go back for more like they do with cocaine or
heroin," she has learned. "It appears that the main worry of 692 opponents
is that legalization will come next. But we've legalized morphine for
medical use, and that has not triggered instant addiction for those who
have used it medicinally, such as to relieve the agonizing pain that
accompanies cancer treatment." Opponents of medical marijuana say it is
hazardous in the way tobacco is, since it can be smoked. "Medical marijuana
can be eaten for relief," Callahan says, "but for those who have a
difficult time keeping food down, smoking is the preferred treatment."

"What I find disturbing is that Congress--with no medical background, and
law enforcement, with none--is dictating to doctors what they think is best
for patients. These people have no training compared to doctors' 12 years.

"We need compassion before politics."

There are already a wide variety of pain-relieving options on the market,
negating the need for medical marijuana, 692 opponents argue. But, "what
works for one person may not work for another," Callahan points out. "We
need more options."

"It still angers me to think how my father was forced to suffer before he
died of bladder cancer. He used to throw up his dentures. That mortified
him. Medical marijuana would have eased his suffering considerably."

How would it be determined what dose would have been good for her father?
Callahan says that is a decision that should he relegated to one's' doctor,
not to lawmakers, and that is one reason why the initiative does not make a
dosage recommendation.

Dr. Susan Garcia-Swain is a Seattle area specialist who has treated
addictions for the last 15 years. She has a number of concerns about I-692,
such as the effect on the immune system, and the hazards of the smoke.

Marijuana depresses the immune system, the doctor says, which should be
strongly considered in patients, such as those with AIDS, who are
experiencing compromised immune responses.

As to marijuana smoke, Garcia-Swain claims there are 500 to 600 chemicals
in marijuana, and one joint is equivalent to three-fourths to one pack of
cigarettes. The risk is further extended, she believes, since it is typical
for marijuana smokers to hold the smoke "deeper and longer." Callahan
disagrees with Garcia-Swain's statement, and says there have been no tar
studies that support her.

A third concern for the West Coast doctor is marijuana's affect on the
reproductive system. She says the sex organs have a tendency to atrophy
with the use of marijuana.

In speaking to the addictiveness of marijuana, Dr. Garcia-Smith admits
there is a lot of confusion. Unfortunately, she says, people have a
misguided image of addiction as "you try it once and you arc hopelessly
hooked." But in reality, she says, addiction has three phases: increased
tolerance; an increased desire to use the substance, and continued use
despite negative consequences. Another factor contributing to addictiveness
is an individual's personality, she noted.

Her own health concerns aside, Dr. Garcia-Swain suggests that I-692 might
have been better presented if it had been rewritten. For example, she said
hashish oil (higher in THC) taken on the tongue may be more desirable and
safer than smoking marijuana. She also believes it would be better to have
dosages standardized for record-keeping purposes, which would aid in
identifying abuse of the substance.

As the initiative stands, Dr. Garcia-Swain says doctors would be vulnerable
to malpractice by saying marijuana can be used for pain relief, but, "you
go find your own and be careful." In her own experience as a doctor,
Garcia-Swain says she has had patients come to her with tales of using
marijuana for pain relief, only to find the pain had worsened.

"Marijuana is a hallucinogen," she said. "How it affects a person depends
on their personality. There are antidotes for heroin if difficulties arise
when it is used for pain relief, but there are no antidotes for marijuana."

Callahan says that with the approval of I-692 critic's distribution and
dosage concerns will become a moot point.

"The federal government will not allow the medical use of marijuana," she
says. "But 692 will work toward making it pharmaceutically available, and
we will see progress toward offering pain relief for those unable to find
it in other drugs."

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

State Will Really Go To Pot (Another misinformed drug warrior
gets an insipid letter to the editor published in The Herald, in Everett,
Washington, opposing Initiative 692, the medical marijuana ballot measure.)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 14:37:21 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: MMJ: LTE: State Will Really Go To Pot
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Contact: letters@heraldnet.com
Website: http://www.heraldnet.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Daily Herald Co.
Pubdate: Thurs, 29 Oct 1998
Author: Don Johnson, Lake Stevens

Initiative 692

STATE WILL REALLY GO TO POT

Initiative 692 appears to be a plan that national pot promoters are trying
to pull off. No doctor is going to "recommend" a drug. If they think it is
the best medication for you, they will write a prescription. On the other
hand, they may recommend that you wash your hands after going to the toilet,
but they will not write a prescription.

Marijuana is a plant; therefore, like any plant, the chemical content will
vary with where it was grown and what has fallen or been sprayed on it.
Thus, a physician wouldn't know how much drug the patient would be getting,
nor the other chemicals in the plant. So, he or she will prescribe a drug -
a known entity.

Marinol, apparently, is the trade name for a chemical in marijuana that has
been shown, under FDA regulations, to be safe and efficacious for the
purpose for which it is labeled. Marinol, I uderstand, is so "touchy" that
some physicians will give the first couple of doses either in their office
or in the hospital, where they can observe the patient.

Finally, I don't understand how the state expects to overturn -or duck
around-federal law. Marijuana, I believe, is a controlled substance under
federal authorities. The state attorney general will have to show the
federal government that the stuff is not a burden on interstate commerce, in
which case the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Washington will then have to come
up with its own regulatory budget - called taxes. If Initiative 692 passes,
Washington state will really go to pot.

Don Johnson, Lake Stevens

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

Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative - good news (California NORML
forwards a message saying US district judge Charles Breyer has agreed
tomorrow to order US marshals to return co-op officials' office keys
and to allow them to resume all activities except for distributing medicine.)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 23:01:53 -0800
To: dpfca@drugsense.org
From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Subject: DPFCA: Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative-- good news
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

>From: "Dick Evans" (emr@javanet.com)
>To: (aro@drugsense.org)
>Subject: ARO: Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative-- good news
>Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 23:51:16 -0500
>Sender: owner-aro@drugsense.org
>Reply-To: "Dick Evans" (emr@javanet.com)
>Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
>
>I just learned that today (10/29/98) U.S. District Court Judge Breyer
>granted the OCCB's motion to re-enter the club premises, upon the club's
>promise to follow the terms of the injunction dated May 14, 1998, *with
>respect to the premises at 1755 Broadway* and declared that he will sign an
>order "first thing in the morning" (Friday Oct. 30) requiring the U. S.
>Marshall to turn the keys back over. The order is to be strictly limited to
>the premises at 1755 Broadway. All activities can resume, except for
>distribution (which presumably can move elsewhere).
>Dick

***

Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114

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

A Real Dope (A letter to the editor of The Las Vegas Review-Journal
drips sarcasm as it rebuts a recent op-ed opposing medical marijuana
written by the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey. "I'm sure
that I can trust the general to tell me how to vote in a Nevada election.
After all, my federal tax dollars are paying him handsomely to do it.")

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 15:10:54 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NV: MMJ: PUB LTE: A Real Dope
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: paul_bischke@datacard.com (Paul Bischke)
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Contact: letters@lvrj.com
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/
Copyright: Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1998
Pubdate: Thurs, 29 Oct 1998
Author: Bruce Allen, Tonopah [Nevada]

US NV: PUB LTE: A REAL DOPE

I, a poor dumb Nevadan, didn't know how to vote on Question 9, the state's
medical marijuana initiative. Then the smart federal government came to the
rescue. President Clinton's drug doyen, the so-called "drug czar," Barry
McCaffrey told me the facts in the his Oct. 18 commentary, "Seeing through
the haze of medical marijuana."

Mr. McCaffrey told me, for example, that, "This amendment does not represent
the grass-roots sentiments of Nevadans." The fact that he doesn't live
within 1,000 miles of Nevada is irrelevant.

Also some of his reasoning is a touch spotty. To take a few examples:

-- He says that marijuana addles the brain and is the second leading cause
of car crashes, after alcohol. He doesn't, though, want to outlaw alcohol.

-- He suggests that instead of taking marijuana people should take pills
that contain only its so-called "active ingredient;" to smoke marijuana
instead, he says is like eating bread mold rather than taking penicillin.
Using this reasoning, it certainly sounds as if I don't really have to eat
food. I could take vitamins instead.

-- He urges us to wait until there is more scientific evidence on marijuana.
He fails to discuss, though, either the federal rules that hobble this
research or the difficulty that truly impartial researchers have in getting
federal funds.

These lapses of reasoning aside, I'm sure that I can trust the general to
tell me how to vote in a Nevada election. After all, my federal tax dollars
are paying him handsomely to do it. Also, he works for President Clinton who
is rather a marijuana expert himself. The First Pot Smoker knows, first
hand, the dangers of smoking the stuff, if not of inhaling it.

Bruce Allen Tonopah [Nevada]

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

Counties Won't Save Marijuana Votes (The Rocky Mountain News
says advocates for medical marijuana patients and Amendment 19 struck out
in Denver District Court on Wednesday. Judge Connie Peterson refused to order
county election officials to preserve Colorado ballots for possible counting
in the event of successful legal challenges to the secretary of state's
decision to disqualify the initiative due to an alleged lack of valid
signatures.)

Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 04:43:54 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CO: Counties Won't Save Marijuana Votes
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis (cohip@levellers.org)
Source: Rocky Mountain News
Copyright: 1998 Denver Publishing Co.
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Contact: letters@denver-rmn.com
Mail: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204
Fax: (303) 892-5499
Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/
Author: John Sanko, News Capitol Bureau

COUNTIES WON'T SAVE MARIJUANA VOTES

Ruling Stops Attempt To Preserve Ballots For Use After Appeals

Medical marijuana supporters struck out in Denver District Court on Wednesday.

Judge Connie Peterson refused to order county election officials to
preserve votes on Amendment 19 on Tuesday's ballot.

The proposal, which would allow people with debilitating diseases to use
marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, already has been printed on
election ballots.

Despite a state Supreme Court ruling that the vote won't count, measure
supporters want ballots to be saved in case their appeals succeed. That's
what they asked Peterson to do.

Wednesday's legal skirmish is the latest in a running court battle that
started last summer when Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled that
petitions contained insufficient voter signatures for the initiative to
make the ballot.

The Denver ruling disappointed Martin Chilcutt, a leader of Coloradans for
Medical Rights who sat through the afternoon hearing.

"I don't have any more money," Chilcutt said in the hallways outside
Peterson's courtroom. He noted his side already has spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars in getting signatures and advertising.

"Coloradans for Medical Rights is broke," Chilcutt said. "It appears that
I'm not going to be funded any further. I don't know where I'm going to go
or what I'm going to do."

The latest ruling didn't disappoint Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan,
who leads the opposition and sat through the hearing. He said it would be
impossible to mount a viable campaign alerting voters to the dangers of the
measure in the few days before the election.

"I'm just baffled by the whole process that this has taken," Sullivan
admitted.

In refusing to issue an order, Peterson noted that attorneys for the issue
already had made a similar request to the Colorado Supreme Court. The high
court still has not issued a decision, but could do so today.

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

Judge Turns Back Pro-Pot Group (The Denver Post version)

Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 10:20:27 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CO: MMJ: Judge Turns Back Pro-Pot Group
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Citizens for Compassionate Cannabis (cohip@levellers.org)
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 1998 The Denver Post
Contact: letters@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Author: Howard Pankratz

JUDGE TURNS BACK PRO-POT GROUP

Oct. 29 - Supporters of the medical marijuana initiative failed
Wednesday in another 11th hour attempt to have votes for the
controversial measure tallied.

Judge Connie Peterson, ruling on a request identical to another the
supporters currently have before the Colorado Supreme Court, refused
to order the Secretary of State to tell the state's 63 county clerks
to tally the votes cast for and against Amendment 19.

"It is unfortunate Amendment 19 is in such a mess," said Peterson, who
is chief judge of the Denver District Court. "Certainly confusion
could have been avoided." But she said that she was denying the motion
primarily because the Supreme Court has an identical motion before it
and because the marijuana supporters have not shown "irreparable
injury" would occur should the votes not be tallied.

Peterson acknowledged that the supporters had shown injury in the
form of time and money spent on the issue, but emphasized that they
still may be able to have the issue voted on in two years by Colorado
voters.

If the measure isn't tallied this year, but a later review shows it
should have been on the 1998 ballot, it will be on the ballot in the
year 2000, said Peterson.

And she added that the Supreme Court, which was first presented with
the issue on Friday, may yet rule whether county clerks have to tally
the votes.

After Peterson's ruling, one of the biggest supporters of the
initiative said that Coloradans for Medical Rights, which sponsored
the amendment, is broke. Martin Chilcutt added that he foresees no
infusion of money into its campaign before the Nov. 3 election.

Legal wrangling has beset the initiative in recent
months.

And on Wednesday the Amendment 19 supporters went before Peterson
claiming that Secretary of State Vikki Buckley incorrectly found on
Oct. 16 that the supporters had not gathered enough valid petition
signatures.

Buckley made the finding after the Colorado Supreme Court ordered
her to do a line-by-line analysis of the 88,815 signatures submitted
to her by Coloradans for Medical Rights.

In ordering Buckley to make the analysis, the court said that "if and
only if" the analysis showed sufficient valid signatures could the
Amendment 19 votes be tallied.

But the marijuana supporters, claiming that Buckley failed to make an
accurate count, told Peterson that their own analysis showed Buckley
had invalidated 2,628 signatures that were, in fact, valid.

As a result, said lawyer Mark Grueskin, there were 290 signatures more
than constitutionally required to place the measure before voters.

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

HPD Panel Is Reviewing Oregon Case (The Houston Chronicle
says the Houston Police Department has completed its internal investigation
into the shooting of Pedro Oregon Navarro, an innocent man shot to death
by prohibition agents who broke into his house without a warrant.
The Internal Affairs Division completed its investigation and turned
its findings over to the department's Civilian Review Committee late Monday.)

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 05:04:16 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: HPD Panel Is Reviewing Oregon Case
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Copyright: 1998 Houston Chronicle
Author: Matt Schwartz

HPD PANEL IS REVIEWING OREGON CASE

The Houston Police Department has completed its internal investigation into
the shooting of Pedro Oregon Navarro, and a disciplinary committee is
reviewing the findings, a department spokesman said Wednesday.

The department's Administrative Discipline Committee is expected to turn any
recommendations it makes over to Chief C.O. Bradford within days, HPD
spokesman Robert Hurst said.

"Then, either he signs off on their recommendations or he has the authority
to change that to whatever degree he feels it needs to be, in his opinion,"
Hurst said.

The Internal Affairs Division completed its investigation and turned its
findings over to the department's Civilian Review Committee late Monday, he
said.

Mayor Lee Brown asked Bradford to expedite the department's investigation,
which had been put on hold while a Harris County grand jury investigated the
incident.

The grand jury last week declined to indict all but one of the six officers
involved in the fatal shooting July 12 at a southwest Houston apartment. The
lone officer indicted, six-year Patrolman James Willis, was charged with
misdemeanor trespassing.

Oregon, 22, died after being shot 12 times -- nine of them in the back -- by
officers who raided the apartment without search or arrest warrants, on a
tip by an informant that drugs were being sold there. Oregon had a gun,
which was found near his body, but it had not been fired. No drugs were
found in the apartment.

The grand jury's decision provoked outrage across Houston from citizens and
elected officials alike and prompted several protests. Two Hispanic law
groups and the League of United Latin American Citizens have called for a
second grand jury investigation.

Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. said last week that he
does not intend to present the case to another grand jury. He has maintained
that the public has not heard all facts in the case.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the case, in response to
requests from the mayor and the Mexican consulate in Houston.

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

Walk & Roll (A list subscriber forwards details about events scheduled
Nov. 1-4 in Washington, DC, dedicated to ending the war on medical marijuana
users. An itinerary and contact list provide more details about past and
future highlights of the rolling protest traveling from Boston to the
District of Columbia. Inspired by a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, who
allegedly said, "While preparing for my debate with Mr. Douglas, I preferred
to go into the woods nearby and sit on a stump with my harmonica and my pipe
with my Indian hemp," the Lincoln Memorial Harmonica Convergence is featured
at many events.)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 11:28:42 EST
Errors-To: jnr@insightweb.com
Reply-To: friends@freecannabis.org
Originator: friends@freecannabis.org
Sender: friends@freecannabis.org
From: "Richard J. Schimelfenig" (hempman@mindspring.com)
To: Multiple recipients of list (friends@freecannabis.org)
Subject: FW: Walk & Roll

For those that have not been following, these are the last few days of the
Walk and Roll for Medical Marijuana. Here's the itinerary and contact list.

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 1998 9:56 AM
To: Cc: editor@usatoday.com; today@nbc.com; mtp@nbc.com; washcp@aol.com;
letter@twtmail.com; oped@csps.com
Subject: Walk & Roll

3 Day Peace Vigil to End The
Drug War on Medical Marijuana
(The Drug War IS WWIII !)
Washington, DC, November 1-4, 1998

24 hours
Malcolm X Park, Noon, Nov.1-2nd
16th Street NW & W Street

48 hours
Lafayette Park, Noon, Nov. 2-4th
(The White House Peace Park)

Walk & Roll
Of Patients and Supporters of
Legitimate Marijuana Medicine
Arrives from Boston, October 3rd
From New York City, October 17th

Sunday, November 1, 1998
Arrives Malcolm X Park about 3:30PM
(Walking from College Park 1PM, Pierce & 51st)
4:20PM Welcoming Ceremony

Monday, November 2, 1998
Walk & Roll Rally 9-10AM Malcolm X Park
10AM Walk & Roll Marches on The White House
11AM W&R arrives in Lafayette Park for
Rally to End the Drug War on Marijuana

Tuesday, November 3, Election Day
Noon W&R Rally in Lafayette Park

Wednesday, November 4, 11AM Press Conference
Lafayette Park: Noon, End Vigil Ceremony and
Walk to the Surgeon General's Office

***

Walk & Roll
Good Medicine is Not a Crime!
Sunday, November 8, 1998
From The White House
To The Lincoln Memorial

Lafayette Park 12-2PM
Walk & Roll Rally
2-3 PM Walk & Roll to the
Lincoln Memorial for a 4:20 PM
Lincoln Memorial Ceremony
Demonstration of American Values
Bring your harmonica to remember Lincoln's relaxation preference
of : "My harmonica with my pipe and my Indian hemp"
The Lincoln Memorial Harmonica Convergence

***

CEASE FIRE!
Everyone Surrenders!
Wednesday, November 11, 1998
Veteran's Day, White House Peace Park
80th Anniversary of Armistice Day
11AM, Peace Treaty Signing Ceremony
Signing the Drug War Armistice
(gathering signatures until sunset)

12PM, American Flag Retirement Ceremony
Community Forum for America's Future
Dana Beal, Jack Herer, David Crockett Williams
To End all War, Start with the Drug War!

Celebration to End the Drug War
(The Drug War IS WWIII!)

***

Medical Issue Legal Reformers
WALK & ROLL
for a National Hemp Reform Act

Boston, October 3, 1998, Patients & Supporters of Medical Marijuana began W&R
New York City, October 17, 1998, W&R main organizing office, 212-677-7180
Wilmington, Delaware, October 30, 1998, W&R webmaster, Richard, 302-791-0560
Baltimore, Maryland, October 31, 1998, Environmental Crisis Center,
410-235-7110
College Park, Maryland, November 1, 1998, www.members.tripod.com/~ez2bkind
Washington, DC, November 2, 1998, David Crockett Williams, 202-887-5770 #2
9-10 A.M., Malcolm X Park, Walk & Roll joined by DC area supporters of I-59
Walk & Roll to White House Arrives at 11 A.M., Lafayette Peace Park
Nov. 3, 1998, Election Day, White House Peace Park Vigil, Vote Yes on I-59
P.O.N. "Put On Notice" campaign to notify government representatives of
The Truth
H/C/M (Hemp/Cannabis/Marijuana)
Hemp flowers make the best medicine.
Hemp stalks produce the best fibers.
Hemp stalks produce better and at least four times more paper per acre than
other plants.
Hemp seeds are the best food for humans.
Hemp produces about four times more bio-mass per acre for bio-fuels.
A small fraction of American farmland grown in hemp can replace U.S. fossil
fuels.
Hemp was outlawed 1937, as marihuana, by a fraud on the American Congress &
people.
When hemp is relegalized, it may lower prison costs and populations by up to
40%.
Hemp is the only plant with the capability and usefulness to stop global
warming.

Abraham (Lincoln):
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be
depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them
the real facts"

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance within
itself. It is a species of intemperance itself, for it goes beyond the
bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by
legislation, and it makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A
prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our
government was founded". (December 12, 1840)

"While preparing for my debate with Mr. Douglas, I preferred to go into the
woods nearby and sit on a stump with my harmonica and my pipe with my Indian
hemp."

A front page (13A) article on October 7, 1998, USA Today, "Canadian hemp
isn't going to pot", quotes David Des Roche (an aide to White House drug
czar Barry McCaffrey who specializes in hemp) "Legalizing hemp sends the
wrong message about marijuana. These poor farmers are being conned by the
marijuana legalization groups. If hemp were a viable crop, we'd have a
harder time putting forward our agenda [prohibition]. Thankfully it's not."
The balance of the long article details the facts of how hemp has already
become a viable crop in Canada in its first year of legal cultivation, 1998.
Saskatchewan farmer Neil Strayer says even his dwarf hemp variety, planted
late in the season, still performed well with only 70 days growing time,
yielding him a profit twice that of barley.

In a companion piece about modern day hemp information pioneer Jack Herer,
USA Today says that a consensus has developed among farmers and agricultural
experts that Herer is right about his most important point: Hemp is a
valuable crop, long used for fiber and oil, that answers many of today's
environmental concerns.

***

Global Peace Now!
Ending the American Drug War
The Final Days Events
WALK & ROLL 1998
Boston, October 3
New York, October 17
Washington, DC, November 1-11

The Walk & Roll campaign, endorsed by the United Nations 50th Anniversary
Memorial Global Peace Walk Project to instill "Global Peace Now!" as a
universal human resolve, is a combination of a Peace Caravan and the
spiritual walking practice as inspired by that of the successful Salt Tax
March of the spiritual/political revolution half century ago in India under
the guidance and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The Peace March/Caravan of
the Walk & Roll is by patients, supporters, and medical legal reformers to
revise National Drug Policy in an intelligent and effective manner so as to
immediately and very truthfully be able to declare a cease fire and an end
to the United States' "War on Drugs".

When, as now, suffering patients can greatly benefit by the use of certain
parts of the hemp plant as the best and most effective medication for the
therapeutic remedy of their symptoms of suffering, and when, as now, this
medication is held to be "illegal" under the laws of any state, it becomes
upon the responsible citizens of such states to appeal to their government
for a comprehensive reform of its medicine prohibition laws relevant to this
most valuable plant in human history whose widespread contemporary
cultivation may be the only effective and legitimate method of reoxygenating
the atmosphere in time to prevent the destruction of life on Earth in the
coming generation. For consuming carbon dioxide to reverse the increase in
greenhouse gases, hemp is the best plant bar none.

In order to heal the atmosphere before it is too late, we must revive the US
Department of Agriculture's 1941 Hemp for Victory emergency crash program to
grow hemp everywhere possible. In this case, not to win WWII but, to win the common
war of humanity against the ignorance, arrogance, and greed of its own mind
which have life on Earth on the brink of destruction. We need a National
Hemp Reform Act implemented immediately to relegalize and recommercialize
hemp for its many many uses especially including medical, and industrial,
energy (fuel), food, paper, chemical uses.

Patients and supporters began their Walk & Roll from Boston on October 3rd
on their way to Washington, DC, to appeal for drug policy reform to allow
proper use of hemp/ cannabis/marijuana for proven legitimate medical
purposes.

For updates on Walk & Roll schedule and events, see the website at
http://www.members.tripod.com/~ez2bkind, call New York main office
212-677-7180 Deleware W&R Coordinator and Webmaster is Richard Schimelphenig
at 302-791-0560, or hempman@mindspring.com. Baltimore W&R Coordinator is
Naron McCormick at the Environmental Crisis Center 410-235-7110, or
naron1@prontomail.com. DC contact is David Crockett Williams,
gear2000@lightspeed.net, voicemail and update messages at 202-887-5770,
#2.

Walk & Roll 1998 Schedule:

Friday, October 30, Wilmington, Delaware: 9:30 to 10:30 AM Wilmington
Park, come supporters join Walk & Roll Delaware Route to arrival at a Rally
in Rodney Square from 11AM to 6PM featuring speakers, music, media, and
harmonica convergence at 4:20PM. Base camp established at Greenbelt Park
until November 15th.

Saturday, October 31, (Hallowed Eve) Baltimore, Maryland: 10-11AM Clifton
Park, join W&R for walk to City Hall for a Noon rally on City Hall steps
(Holiday & Fayette). 2-4:20 PM Study Group on Hemp/Cannabis/Marijuana
convenes at Baltimore Public Library meeting room, session videotaped for
public and goverment distribution. Evening W&R delegation attends various
Univesity of Maryland and public Halloween (Hallowed-Evening) Celebrations.
Harmonica Convergence at 4:20PM.

Sunday, November 1, (All Saints Day) The Saints Come Marching In, College
Park to Washington, DC, 1-4:20PM. Gathering with local walkers 11AM to 1PM
near the corner of the Park on Pierce just west of 51st Street in College
Park.

Walk & Roll arrives in DC at Malcolm X Park for 4:20PM harmonica convergence
gathering (near 16th Street NW at Euclid Street).

Monday, November 2, Washington, DC, Rocks to Walk & Roll arrival Lafayette
Park.

9-10AM Gathering & Ceremony at Malcolm X Park. 10-11AM Walk to White
House.

11AM Walk & Roll Rally at The White House (in Lafayette Peace Park across
the street).

Begin 48 hour Election Day Vigil in Lafayette Park.

Tuesday, November 3, Election Day, Emancipation from Economic Slavery,
Washington

Election Day Vigil in Lafayette Peace Park outside The White House.

Information Center for individuals to Walk & Roll to their Congresspeople's
Offices leaving at NOON to Put them On Notice about the importance of a
National Hemp/Cannabis/Marijuana Reform Act for the immediate relegalization
and recommercialization of this plant for all of its good uses and
commercial values to motivate its rapid widespread cultivation to try and
heal the atmosphere before it is too late. "VOTE YES ON I-59" Compassionate
Use of Medical Marijuana in DC.

Wednesday, November 4, White House Peace Park (Lafayette), 11AM Press
Conference

48 hour Election Day Vigil Ends at Noon. Put On Notice campaign continues
with appeals to the national media to take up this story through this
approach to various government offices while inviting them to attend the
National NORML Conference.

NOON Walk & Roll to the Department of Health and Human Services at the
Office of the Assistant Surgeon General and Assistant Director for Health,
David Satcher, MD Phd 200 Independence Avenue SW, to offer information for
his consideration at 1 PM.

Thursday, November 5, White House Peace Park, Walk & Roll goes to The White
House 10-11 AM Gathering in Lafayette Park. 11AM Walk & Roll marches to
offices of the Director of the White House Office of Drug Policy Control
(ODPC), the so-called US Drug Czar, General Barry McGaffrey, to see David Des
Roche, ODPC hemp specialist,

Friday, November 6, Walk & Roll 11AM to NIDA National Institute for Drug
Abuse in Rockville, Maryland, to see Deputy Director Dick Milstein to offer
him information for consideration in government reevaluation of national
hemp/cannabis/marijuana policy.

Saturday, November 7, Morning Vigil outside Constitution Hall, 18th & D
Streets, NW, during the plenary keynote speech inside by His Holiness Dalai
Lama opening the First International Conference on Tibetan Medicine,
Revealing the Art of the Medicine Buddha, A Dialogue Between Traditional
Tibetan Medicine and Western Medicine.

7 Nov. Baltimore City Hall, 4:20 PM Harmonica Convergence & Drum Circle:
Begin Candlelight Vigil in memory of the deceased and the still suffering
victims of the US War on Drugs, vigil continues dusk until dawn.

Sunday, November 8, Walk & Roll Gathering in Lafayette Park for 2PM walk to
the Lincoln Memorial for a 3-6PM Demonstration of American Values there,
including a special harmonica convergence Lincoln Memorial Ceremony at
4:20PM. Remembering Abraham Lincoln and his way of relaxing before the
Lincoln-Douglas debates with "my harmonica and my pipe with Indian hemp",
quoted from Lincoln's letter to the Hoener Harmonica Company published in
Jack Herer's 1986 edition of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp and the
Marijuana Conspiracy". Bring your harmonica, relax, reflect on Abraham
Lincoln's relaxation medicine.

Monday, November 9, 11AM Walk & Roll arrives at NIH National Institutes of
Health in Maryland to see Director Harold Varmus.

Tuesday, November 10, 11AM Walk & Roll goes to Offices of Food and Drug
Administration in Rockville, Maryland

Wednesday, November 11, Noon, Veterans Day, American Flag Retirement
Ceremony in Lafayette Park as a demonstration of the proper way to burn an
outworn US Flag in an official community flag retirement ceremony and model
Forum for the Future of America featuring keynote address from Jack Herer,
American military veteran, historian, author.

Thursday, November 12 through Saturday 14Nov, National Conference of NORML,
the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Renaissance
Washington, DC Hotel (999 9th Street NW), beginning 9AM daily. Goal is to
get maximum media coverage and perhaps attendance by key government drug
policy makers. Conference includes world reknown speakers on all aspects of
hemp/cannabis/marijuana uses, dedicated to complete legal reform. Preceding
events are to gather maximum public, media, and governmental attention to the
expert testimonies presented here for a National Hemp Reform Act. DC area
events are also listed on the NORML website calendar of events along with
other authoritative information and links (www.norml.org). For additional
media connections and information see also www.mapinc.org.

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

Drug Or Medicine? Marijuana Faces Test At US Polls (A Reuters roundup
on medical marijuana ballot measures facing voters around the United States
makes the ridiculous claim that Proposition 215 has been wholly nullified
by court closures of cannabis buyers clubs.)

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 19:28:00 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WIRE MMJ: Drug Or Medicine? Marijuana Faces Test At US
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Reuters
Pubdate: 29 Oct 98
Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.
Author: Andrew Quinn

DRUG OR MEDICINE? MARIJUANA FACES TEST AT U.S. POLLS

SAN FRANCISCO - Is marijuana a medicine for the desperately ill, or
the "kindergarten of the drug industry" designed to hook people into a
life of addiction and despair?

These two opposing views of the cannabis plant will compete at the
polls next week as voters in four states and the District of Columbia
consider new state initiatives to allow the medical use of marijuana.

For embattled marijuana boosters, the new proposals in Washington
state, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada are a ray of hope in a landscape
grown dark with litigation.

A Casualty In The War On Drugs

While California and Arizona led the nation in 1996 by passing their
own state marijuana initiatives, both have been effectively quashed by
federal suits aimed at keeping marijuana subject to national narcotics
laws.

"We're looking for a situation where science prevails," said Jim
Gonzalez of the group Americans for Medical Rights, which is
coordinating efforts to legalize medical marijuana use in the western
states.

"We are not saying that marijuana is the only solution to nausea,
chemotherapy or wasting disease. But is a solution for a number of
patients, and those patients should not be made into criminals."

But critics say the medical marijuana movement promotes drug abuse and
criminal behavior by ushering young people into what one judge has
called "the kindergarten of the drug industry".

"Those who would surrender the war on drugs surrender our children to
addiction, surrender our neighborhoods to crime, and surrender our
streets to violence," Gilbert Gallegos, president of the Fraternal
Order of Police, said in one typical anti-marijuana broadside.

The Clinton administration has been uncompromising in its opposition
to medical marijuana. At a news conference this week, senior officials
came out swinging, saying there was no official proof to back the
contention that marijuana can help ease symptoms of AIDS, cancer,
multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases.

"Smoked marijuana has not been tested (by the government)," Dr. Don
Vereen, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
said.

We Must Keep An Open Mind

"We must keep an open mind about drugs with medical purposes, (but)
before you vote, ask yourself: 'What other medicines do you smoke?'
Smoked marijuana damages the brain, heart, lungs and immune system."

Barry McCaffrey, the administration's narcotics "czar", dismissed the
pro-marijuana camp as representing the thin edge of a wedge aimed at
weakening America's anti-drug resolve. "Let's have none of this
malarkey (nonsense) on marijuana smoking by cunning groups working to
legalize drugs," McCaffrey said. "American medicine is the best in the
world for pain management."

That claim rings false for pro-medical marijuana groups in California,
which have fought a long and ultimately unsuccessful battle to
implement Prop. 215, the 1996 state law which allowed seriously ill
people to use marijuana when advised to do so by their doctor.

$2 Million From Benefactors

Under relentless federal assault in the courts, the marijuana supply
clubs that sprang up to provide people with the drug have been forced
to close. The last, in Oakland, shut its doors this month -- leaving
its 2,000 "clients" will little option but to turn to street dealers
for the drug.

Now, the Santa Monica-based Americans for Medical Rights, which is
funded in large part by three multimillionaire philanthropists,
financier George Soros, insurance magnate Peter Lewis and
educator-entrepreneur John Sperling, is spending more than $2 million
in an effort to turn the tide back in favor of medical marijuana.

Gonzalez said lessons from the 1996 ballots in California and Arizona
had helped organizers to craft proposals that focus voter attention on
the potential benefits of controlled marijuana use by the very sick.

Unlike the earlier propositions, which critics said opened the door to
the legalization of everything from heroin to LSD, this year's ballot
measures are designed to minimize controversy and head off federal
challenges.

In Washington, Oregon and Alaska, the measures are seen as having a
good chance of passage, while in Nevada it is more of a toss up,
Gonzalez said.

"This is a long term patient rights movement," Gonzalez said. "It is
not a regional phenomenon. It is getting to be a national experience
of patients. You can't just say that's a bunch of old hippies in
California."

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

Slew Of Referenda Await USA's Voters (A USA Today roundup
about some 235 voter initiatives on the ballot in various parts
of the country says 24 states, primarily in the West, allow citizens to place
issues directly before voters. This is the 100th anniversary of the citizen
process - South Dakota was the first to approve the citizen referendum,
in 1898, and Oregon was the first to use it, in 1904.)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 15:11:04 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: USAT: MMJ: Slew Of Referenda Await USA 's Voters
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: kevzeese@laser.net
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: USA Today (US)
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Copyright: 1998 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Author: DAVID JUDSON, Gannett News Service

SLEW OF REFERENDA AWAIT USA'S VOTERS

WASHINGTON - While voters decide Tuesday who will be making their laws in
Congress, statehouses and governors' mansions, in 41 states and the District
of Columbia they also will be making laws themselves.

There are at least 235 exercises in direct democracy on state ballots this
year, including bans on cockfighting; giving certain sick people the right
to smoke pot to relieve their pain; permitting assisted suicide; and
expanding the rights of gays.

''There is always a lot to watch and a lot of groups will be looking at the
initiatives and referenda to determine strategy in 1999 and 2000,'' said
Dane Waters, president of the nonpartisan Initiatives and Referendums
Institute in Washington, which monitors ballot measures across the land.

In all, 24 states, primarily in the West, allow citizens to place issues
directly before voters by circulation of petition drives. Elsewhere, the
state legislature must put measures on the ballot. Of this year's statewide
measures, 60 were put there by citizens and the remainder are the product of
state legislatures seeking voter ratification of their work, said Jennifer
Drage, a researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Waters noted that this is the 100th anniversary of the citizen process:
South Dakota was the first to approve the citizen referendum in 1898; Oregon
was the first to use it in 1904.

Perhaps the most closely watched issue will be proposed bans on gay marriage
in Hawaii and Alaska, seen as a potential barometer of tolerance and a guide
to where the nation's mood is headed on the broader issues of homosexual
rights.

Those two initiatives were launched by conservative groups and are heavily
financed by religious organizations, including the Mormon church. That may
be a partial exception to the rule this year, though. While partisans of all
hues rely from time to time on the initiative process, this year it is
shaping up to be a tool of Democrats and liberals, said Waters.

For example, while Washington state voters will consider a
conservative-proposed ban on the issue of affirmative action and Coloradoans
decide whether to halt so-called partial-birth abortions, many issues
directly before voters derive from liberal activism.

That is in part because a majority of state legislatures are controlled by
conservatives, leaving liberals to push their issues directly, said Waters.

Among the products of liberal grass-roots initiative, use of marijuana as a
palliative by those suffering from disease will be on four state ballots. A
high-profile issue two years ago when voters endorsed the notion in
California and Arizona, the topic is now on ballots in Oregon, Nevada and
Alaska. Also, Arizonans will revisit the topic, perhaps reversing their
decision of 1996.

Animal rights activists are newly discovering the ballot measure as a means
to take political action. In issues closely watched as a measure of growing
animal rights consciousness, Alaska voters will be asked to consider a ban
on trapping wolves with snares; and Arizona and Missouri voters will weigh
bans on cockfighting. California voters will consider barring the trapping
of fur-bearing animals and human consumption or sale of horse meat. In
addition, Ohio voters will consider a ban on hunting mourning doves.

Many ballot measures deal with strictly local - and often non-partisan -
taxation issues such as a measure for school funding in Colorado, one to
finance high-tech research in Maine and one to finance cotton research in
Alabama.

In Michigan, the complex and emotional issue of physician-assisted suicide
will be before voters. The lawyer for notorious death doctor Jack Kevorkian
is a heavy underdog as the Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan.

Voters in Colorado and South Dakota are being asked to consider measures
that would curtail expansion of large corporate hog farms.

Religion in on the ballot in Alabama, where voters are being asked to
prohibit the ''burdening'' of the free exercise of religion.

Interracial marriage even is on the ballot in South Carolina, where a
house-cleaning item would square the wording of the state constitution with
prevailing law.

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

Free Contest - Five Copies of "Drug Crazy" (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network invites you to enter its online contest by Nov. 12 in order to win
a copy of Mike Gray's recent book, possibly the best history of the Drug War
ever written for a popular audience.)

Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 01:29:34 -0500
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: FREE CONTEST: Five Free Copies of Drug Crazy
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org

DRCNET TO GIVE AWAY FIVE FREE COPIES OF "DRUG CRAZY" TO
WINNERS OF ONLINE CONTEST -- ENTER BY NOVEMBER 12, 1998
TO BE ELIGIBLE

If you've been reading DRCNet for more than a few weeks, you
probably know about Mike Gray's book "Drug Crazy: How We Got
Into This Mess And How We Can Get Out," released last summer
by Random House, possibly the best book on the Drug War ever
written for the popular audience. Gray, a member of
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Pot for medical use, gets support (The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, in Ontario,
publicizes a benefit tonight at Yuk Yuks Comedy Club in Kitchener. The
benefit for MUM, a local buyers' club, is called "Oh Cannabis" and features
Alan Young, an Osgoode Hall law professor and courtroom cannabis crusader;
Dr. Alexander Sumach, hemp lectuer and the head of Hemp Future Study Group;
and an array of Canadian comics.)

From: "Starr" (seedling@golden.net)
To: "mattalk" (mattalk@islandnet.com), "FACTSS" (factss@familywatch.org)
Subject: Pot for medical use, gets support
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 16:45:30 -0500
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record
recordletters@southam.ca
Date: October 29, 1998
Section: Local News

POT FOR MEDICAL USE, GETS SUPPORT

Potheads unite.

A fundraiser to promote marijuana for medical use will be held tonight at
8:30 at Yuk Yuks Comedy Club in Kitchener.

The show, called oh Cannabis, will feature appearances by Alan Young, an
Osgoode Hall law professor and on of the recent cannabis court crusade; Dr.
Alexander Sumach, hemp lectuer and the head of Hemp Future Study Group; and
an array of Canadian comics.

Proceeds will go to the Marijuana Used for Medicine (M.U.M.), run by local
"pot humanitarian" Jeannette Tossounian, and the Medical Marijuana Defence
Fund, to be administered by Young.

Tickets cost $10 and are available at Shakedown Street at 276 King St. W.
and Encore Records at 54 Queen St. S. in Kitchener or by contacting M.U.M.
at 744-4721.

Yuk Yuks is located at the Clarion Inn, 1333 Weber St. E.

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MUM's the word (A letter to the editor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record
praises Marijuana Used for Medicine, the illicit local medical cannabis
buyers' club.)

From: "Starr" (seedling@golden.net)
To: "mattalk" (mattalk@islandnet.com)
Subject: MUM's the word
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 16:55:37 -0500
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record
recordletters@southam.ca
Date:October 29, 1998
Section: Letters to the editor

MUM'S THE WORD

I visited your fair city to Observe Oktoberfest and celebrate Thanksgiving.
One story I heard repeated in many different contexts was the success of
the Marijuana Used for Medicine (MUM) organization. Many people told me how
well this pilot project is working.

I applaud the progress of MUM and the proprietor, Jeannette Tossounian, and
the good work dispensing cannabis medicine to registered medical patients
without hassles.

The MUM project has earned the goodwill and support of a large and diverse
sector of Waterloo Region citizens who both value and appreciate the fruits
of compassionate pioneering in their communities.

MUM operates without government grants, which is admirable.

Kitchener should be proud that MUM is in place in this community, willing
and able to provide the medicine and information that Health Canada is not
in the position to provide at this time.

Alexander Sumach
Hemp Futures Study Group

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Drug Users Aim to Supply Pot to Ease Pain (The Guardian, in Britain,
says more than 70 potential customers have made contact within a couple
of days of the Medical Marijuana Co-operative's launch from a flat
in Stockport, Greater Manchester.)

Date: 	Fri, 30 Oct 1998 09:13:17 -0400 (AST)
Sender: ai256@chebucto.ns.ca
From: Chris Donald (ai256@chebucto.ns.ca)
Subject: UK: Medical Marijuana Club Announced By Chronic Pain Patient
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Copyright: Guardian Media Group 1998
Author: David Ward

DRUG USERS AIM TO SUPPLY POT TO EASE PAIN

Cannabis users have set up a network to supply good-quality stocks of the
drug to people seeking relief from the pain of crippling illnesses.

More than 70 potential customers have made contact within a couple of days
of the Medical Marijuana Co-operative's launch from a flat in Stockport,
Greater Manchester.

Colin Davies, the co-op's founder, and associates in Edinburgh and
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, are part of a growing movement agitating for
cannabis to be legalised for medicinal use. Until that happens, they want
their customers to be able to stock up without the worry of resorting to
street dealers. The co-op will be run without profit by patients for
patients.

"Cannabis is being regularly used for pain relief by people who have never
broken the law in their lives and have never even had a parking ticket,"
said Mr Davies.

"We want a change in the law. If we don't get it, we will have to break the
law, and we're going to let everyone know that we're breaking it."

Mr Davies was acquitted by a jury in June of a charge of cultivating
cannabis after police raided his home and found plants growing in his
bedroom. He defended himself and provoked laughter when he asked if he could
have his 18 plants back. He told the court he smoked up to four joints a day
to secure relief from back pain after a fall at work in 1994.

He now risks prosecution not just for possession but for supplying the drug,
grown at a secret location in Britain, to co-op members. "I've decided to do
this because of the amount of pain out there," he said.

The co-op idea was born after calls from sympathisers and users after Mr
Davies's acquittal. He made contact with the Cannabis Buyers' Club in Los
Angeles and devised rules to ensure that the drug goes to those who need it
most.

"We require a letter of diagnosis from a doctor," said Mr Davies, who spends
much of each day flat on his back to ease his own pain. "After verification,
patients are asked to agree to a code of conduct. The drug must not be
resold and must be used in private."

The co-op has produced an identity card with a photograph and a leaf from
the cannabis plant the patient uses. Mr Davies is so anxious for the
operation to be seen to be respectable that he says he would offer to run it
from a police station.

"The majority of people who use cannabis for medical reasons use very little
of it and only when the pain reaches a certain level. The law needs to be
addressed so that patients and their carers are no longer subject to
criminal prosecutions."

A Greater Manchester police spokeswoman said: "It is the duty of the police
to ensure that the laws concerning the supply and cultivation of drugs are
upheld."

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

Aerosol Deodorant Kills Boy Obsessed With Smelling Nice (An Associated Press
article in The Dallas Morning News says a 16-year-old boy in Manchester,
England, died July 29 after months of repeatedly spraying his entire body
with deodorant Jonathan Capewell had 10 times the lethal dosage of propane
and butane in his blood when he suffered a fatal heart attack.)

Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 16:05:18 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Aerosol Deodorant Kills Boy Obsessed With Smelling Nice
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Source: 1 - Dallas Morning News (TX) 2 - Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact: 1- letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Website: 1 - http://www.dallasnews.com/
Copyright: 1 - 1998 The Dallas Morning News
Contact: 2 - viewpoints@chron.com
Website: 2 - http://www.chron.com/
Copyright: 2 - 1998 Houston Chronicle
Author: AP

AEROSOL DEODORANT KILLS BOY OBSESSED WITH SMELLING NICE

MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy obsessed with smelling
nice died after months of repeatedly spraying his entire body with
deodorant, a coroner ruled Wednesday.

Jonathan Capewell had 10 times the lethal dosage of propane and butane
in his blood when he suffered a heart attack and died July 29, coroner
Barrie Williams said.

"His personal hygiene led him to use more than was normal in a
confined space, which limits ventilation," said the coroner, who
recorded the death as accidental.

Jonathan's father, Keith Capewell, said his son would cover his entire
body with deodorant at least twice a day.

"When we told him he was using too much, he said he just wanted to
smell good," Capewell said.

"Even when we were in a room downstairs we couldn't just smell it, we
could taste it," the father said. "You wouldn't have thought that
could have been the cause for someone to die. What a price to pay for
smelling nice."

Sue Rogers of the British Aerosol Manufacturing Association said she
had never heard of a similar incident.

"It is extraordinarily unusual and terribly tragic," she said. "The
aerosols have warnings about spraying in confined areas and
well-ventilated places, but these are for flammability risks, not
about accidental inhalation."

The boy's mother, Louise, called for better warnings on deodorant
cans."You just get up in the morning and spray it on, but who expects
it to kill you?" she said.

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[End]