Hemp News No. 17 Compiled by Paul Stanford (treefreeeco@igc.org) The following wire stories are provided as a public service by Tree Free EcoPaper, makers of 50% hemp (cannabis) and 50% cereal straw paper. Tree Free EcoPaper is the world's only supplier of wholesale quantities of hemp paper. We offer an electronic catalog which you can receive by dropping us an e-mail request. We'll send you our free samples and hemp paper catalog if you give us a postal address. You can call us toll-free at 1-800-775-0225 from the U.S. and Canada. Our phone number for calls outside the U.S. is 503-295-6705. Our headquarters is in Portland, Oregon and our paper is produced in Asia. Without further ado, please enjoy the news: UPn 10/09/93 Couple draws life sentence for possession of gift-wrapped drugs WEATHERFORD, Texas (UPI) -- A Parker County jury needed only 45 minutes to sentence a Houston couple to life in prison for possession of marijuana, much of it gift-wrapped. Prosecutors charged that William Darrell Baldwin, 44, and Denise Hanrahan Swartz, 38, both of Houston, rented a plane at the McAllen, Texas, airport on May 23, loaded it with marijuana, and flew to an airfield in southern Parker County. Parker County District Attorney Amy Adams said an informant tipped state and federal authorities that the couple was carrying more than 100 pounds of marijuana aboard the plane. After a drug-sniffing dog confirmed that marijuana had been in the trunk of the rental car the couple drove to McAllen to rent the plane, a U.S. Customs Service aircraft followed the couple into North Texas. Adams said arresting officers at the airport found nine bundles of marijuana stuffed into toy boxes, in gift-wrapped boxes, a footlocker, a child's rocking horse box, and luggage inside the plane. She said, "Some (of the bundles) were gift-wrapped as presents. There were some real gift-wrapped presents found, too." The jurors handed Baldwin and Swartz the maximum of life in prison and fined them $50,000 each. APn 10/09/93 Drug Bust-Disney Trip AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- Drug agents returned $129 seized in a marijuana raid to a 9-year-old girl who was saving it for a trip to Disney World. Jeana Fontaine was caught in the middle after the Sept. 30 raid on the house where she lived with her mother and a man charged with drug trafficking. The tale of her plight was told in a newspaper column and on local radio, prompting calls for law officials to give the money back and a donation drive that raised nearly $200 for the girl. "I'm happy," said Jeana, whose weeklong Florida trip was to begin Sunday. Drug agency officials defended the delay, saying the man arrested, Duane Getchell, 42, was uncooperative so they couldn't immediately verify that some cash found in a safe belonged to the girl. "This little girl has an opportunity to go to Disney World and I want her to go down there, and so do the agents," District Attorney David Crook said Saturday. The girl's mother, Nancy Farrington, 29, said two agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency returned the money Friday. "They apologized to (Jeana) and explained things, why they do things the way they do," Farrington said. "And David Crook, he threw in $20 of his own money." APn 10/09/93 Quayle Prisoner By JAMES H. RUBIN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court tossed out a lawsuit by an inmate who accused prison officials of improperly muzzling his 1988 election-eve bid to publicize allegations he sold marijuana to Dan Quayle. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said Brett Kimberlin's claims that his rights were violated are based on insufficient evidence to warrant a trial against former Bureau of Prisons' Director J. Michael Quinlan and former Justice Department spokesman Loye Miller. The court split, 2-1, Friday with a dissenter saying the ruling is unjust. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, writing for the panel, said, "Kimberlin relies only on inference and weak circumstantial evidence." She was joined by Judge Stephen Williams. Both were appointed to the court by former President Reagan. In a sharply worded dissent, Judge Harry Edwards said the ruling is "unfathomable in this country under our constitutional system." "I simply cannot imagine that the judiciary of the United States will shut the doors of the courthouse and refuse to allow Kimberlin's suit to proceed for the specious reason that his complaint is based on circumstantial evidence," said Edwards, an appointee of former President Carter. Justice Department Inspector General Richard Hankinson concluded last month that officials unfairly disciplined Kimberlin. But Hankinson said there was no "conspiracy to silence" the inmate when Quayle was running for vice president on the Republican ticket with George Bush. Quinlan canceled a Nov. 4, 1988, prison press conference at which Kimberlin planned to make public his allegations about Quayle. Quinlan also ordered Kimberlin placed in a special detention cell that night at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Okla. On Nov. 7, the day before the election, Kimberlin was again placed in special detention because he tried to set up a telephone conference call with reporters in Washington. He again was disciplined on Dec. 22 after attempting to contact reporters. Kimberlin claimed he sold marijuana to Quayle years ago when the former vice president was a law student. Quayle has denied the allegation. The Drug Enforcement Administration concluded Kimberlin's claim was false. Kimberlin is serving 51 years for convictions including drug conspiracy and eight Indiana bombings and has been in jail since 1980. Quinlan said he did not have any contact with Bush-Quayle campaign officials around the time of the election and said he acted to protect Kimberlin's safety. Miller said he discussed the situation with a campaign aide but denied there was any attempt by the campaign to influence events. In her opinion Friday, Henderson said there is no direct evidence Quinlan acted "for any reason other than Kimberlin's safety." But Edwards said in his dissent that Quinlan's explanation "is entirely suspect." The judge said it is highly unusual for top government officials in Washington to get involved in disciplining federal prisoners. U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene ruled in 1991 that Quinlan and Miller were not immune from all of the claims in Kimberlin's suit. The two officials appealed. UPn 10/12/93 Medicinal pot defense launched SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- An HIV positive man on trial in San Diego for cultivating the marijuana he says helps him deal with his illness testified Tuesday in an attempt to portray his backyard marijuana patch as a medicinal herb garden. Samuel Skipper, 39, told the jury he was able to function far more normally under the influence of the weed than he would without it. "You feel so much better -- just that fast," Skipper said after taking a deep and noisy breath to mimic the act of smoking a marijuana cigarette. Skipper said his former lover died of AIDS, and that he had taken the more traditional drug AZT as well as 39 other prescription drugs. "AZT is poison because it kills the healthy cells, too, and (the drugs) kill you twice as fast," Skipper said. Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfeund last week allowed Skipper, who faces five years in prison if convicted, to become the first Californian to use medical necessity as a defense in a marijuana cultivation case. Skipper said he both smokes and eats marijuana to relieve the nausea caused by his illness. "I eat it. It soothes my hunger; I eat it fresh in bulk -- about five pounds at a time -- or I smoke it," said Skipper, who seems delighted with the limelight of the packed courtroom. Although an acquittal could have an impact on future defenses in marijuana cases, Skipper's lawyer said the defense was not a test case aimed at overturning drug laws. "This is not a case on legalization on the war on drugs and we are certainly not asking for whatever sympathy you may have for HIV patients or gays," defense lawyer Julianne Humphery told the jury. The prosecution has contended that Skipper has not tried all of the legal alternatives available. UPma 10/12/93 Troopers seize marijuana SWANTON, Ohio (UPI) -- The Ohio Highway Patrol announced Tuesday the seizure of 330 pounds of marijuana worth about $500,000 from a rental truck parked on an Ohio Turnpike service plaza parking lot near Swanton. The Monday seizure, made with the use of drug-sniffing dogs, resuled in the arrest of Jose Bustillos, 30, of Mesa, Ariz., who will be charged under federal statutes, troopers said. Bustillos told troopers said he was transporting the illegal weed from Mesa to Cleveland in 24 bales concealed inside cardboard furniture cartons. A passenger, Patty Bustillos, 29, also faces federal charges. The couple's children, who were also in the truck, were turned over the Lucas County officials. APn 10/12/93 Marijuana Lost MIAMI (AP) -- A ship intercepted by the U.S. Navy with 7,000 pounds of marijuana aboard sank while being towed to Colombia. Only two bales, totaling 100 pounds, were saved for evidence, Coast Guard spokesman Rob Wyman said Tuesday. The 40-foot Colombian-registered Elena de Troya was spotted Sunday by the crew of a Navy aircraft 90 miles north of Colombia's Guajira Peninsula. A Navy ship carrying a drug-tracking Coast Guard detachment intercepted the vessel and found four crewmen, along with 138 50-pound bales of marijuana. The Navy ship, which the Coast Guard would not identify, took the Elena de Troya in tow to hand over to Colombian authorities but it began taking on water and capsized, Wyman said. The ship's crew were handed over to Colombian officials on Monday. UPn 10/12/93 Drug fugitive arrested in Guatemala WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Authorities announced Tuesday the arrest in Guatemala of one of the U.S. Marshal Service's 15 most wanted fugitives, a man sought on drug charges. Paul Miller Harrison, 47, was indicted in Charlottesville, Va., for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, and firearms violations. Harrison was known as "Goliath" because of his 6-foot-5, 250-pound size. U.S. authorities contend Harison led an organization that distributed marijuana and cocaine along the Eastern Seaboard. His organization allegedly operated out of Front Royal, Va., where authorities say drugs were processed, packaged and stored. Authorities said Harrison was operating Mario's Marina in the Rio Dulce area of Guatemala when he was arrested without incident. Harrison was in custody in Livingston, Guatemalia, where he was awaiting extradition to the United States. His arrest was made Friday but not announced until Tuesday. circa 10/12/93 "The Big White Lie," by Michael Levine (Thunder's Mouth Press, 472 pages, $22.95) The subtitle of "The Big White Lie, the CIA and the Cocaine/Crack Epidemic, an Undercover Odyssey," leaves little double about the author's intentions. Michael Levine's 25 years as an undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency provides him with plenty of ammunition to fire against his own agency. Toward the end of his career, instead of attacking drug dealers, Levine found himself defending his actions against hard-nosed administrators, or "suits," who wanted him derailed when his probes targeted suspects with ties to the CIA. It's the CIA's involvement in drug cases that provides a pivotal subplot. Levine charges that many large drug dealers in South America are protected against prosecution in the United States because of their relationships to the CIA. As a consequence, he writes, cases against many of the larger dealers are dropped or the suspects are allowed to skip the country before they can expose the CIA's role in their activities. Levine's memory for detail, which he used in court to prosecute dealers, just as easily recalls battles with drug war bureaucrats who quashed his attempts to prosecute suspected kingpins. As a consequence, some of South America's biggest suspects were not pursued, while insignificant figures, presumably with no ties to the CIA, were prosecuted with a vengance to show taxpayers a war on drugs is being fought. Levine, who calls a white lie a well-meaning or diplomatic untruth, doesn't preach. He doesn't have to. Instead he lays out enough examples of DEA incompetence or outright violations by agency officials of laws governing the agency to persuade readers the war on drugs is a facade. Levine, who's now a drug bureau director on Cape Cod, also wrote "Deep Cover," which also was based on his experience with the DEA. By Jim Sielicki (UPI) UPwe 10/13/93 Washington state cop charged with drug smuggling TACOMA, Wash. (UPI) -- Authorities said Wednesday a Pierce County sheriff's detective was on administrative leave following his arrest on charges of attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States. Roy Rutherford, 36, an undercover officer, was charged with trying to smuggle hashish and marijuana through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. A sheriff's spokesman said Rutherford was arrested Friday after airport authorities allegedly found seven grams of hashish and two grams of marijuana in one of the detective's socks. He said Rutherford was returning from vacation in Europe when he was arrested. He said Rutherford was cited, then released because of the small amount of drugs involved. The spokesman called the incident "embarrassing." APn 10/14/93 Drugs-Congress By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's cutbacks in the Office of National Drug Control Policy were strongly criticized Thursday by one of the chief creators of the office. "In the real world of Washington, what secretary in a turf war cares what the drug czar says if almost every committee in the Congress has a larger staff than he does?" House Government Operations Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., asked at a hearing on reauthorizing the office. "What are we doing to him?" Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee postponed action on the Custom Service's $1.47 billion budget for the new year after Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., the committee chairman, complained that the agency's drug-interdiction effort is a waste. "Are we satisfied flying airplanes across the Mojave Desert with no effect?" Moynihan asked colleagues. "This is theatrics; it is not government." At the House hearing, the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative branch, delivered three reports critical of how the war on drugs is being handled. One found the Defense Department's expensive aerial surveillance efforts are not paying off. Another said the impact of Colombia's anti-drug programs is uncertain. The third said the drug control office could be improved, in particular by forcing it to devise specific performance criteria to prove the success of anti-drug efforts. Lee Brown, the office director, told reporters earlier this year that he protested to White House officials over reducing his office from the high of 146 people during the Bush administration to just 25 people. The cutback was part of President Clinton's vow in February to reduce White House staffing by 25 percent. The anti-drug office, which is part of the Executive Office of the President, was reduced by 83 percent. Brown lost that battle and accepted the cuts. A spokeswoman said Clinton had promised to give Brown the support he needed to do the job. In February, Conyers supported the office staff reduction, saying that if it were "offset by this real increase in power, the drug czar will in fact be able to do a far better job than previously." But Thursday, he called the cuts "unbelievable." "He's been put in the Cabinet, but his resources have been taken away," Conyers said, noting that his committee created the office and can eliminate it as well. At the Senate Finance Committee, no one defended Customs' drug efforts, which cost $132.4 million last year and would cost more than $95 million during the budget year that began Oct. 1. However, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., said the committee should hold hearings before deciding to eliminate the program. Wayne Hamilton, a Customs budget officer, told the committee the agency has seven radar-equipped P-3 planes and four P-3s without radar, and borrows several other aircraft from the Defense Department. "You have nothing to show for it," Moynihan said, calling the agency's drug-interdiction program "a flawed assignment." RTec 10/14/93 EP COMMITTEE DEBATES LEGALISATION OF DRUGS, PRESS FREEDOM EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT INFO MEMO PRESS RELEASE DOCUMENT DATE: OCTOBER 13, 1993 + COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS Chairman: Amedee Turner (UK, EPP) Meeting of 11, 12 and 13 October + COMMITTEE DEBATES DRUG LEGALISATION The committee continued its debate on the controversial question of drug legalisation with the presentation of a draft report by Marco TARADASH (I, Greens). Taking the view that the war on drugs was not succeeding, Mr TARADASH felt the time had come to look for other solutions. Mayors and police in many European cities were advocating a different policy, he claimed. The approach favoured by Mr TARADASH in his report is the establishment of a legal and controlled market for drugs. However, aware of widely differing views in the committee, Mr TARADASH said he was not suggesting the legalisation of illicit drugs. Rather at this time he wanted to see a serious discussion of the whole drugs issue and thus would be calling for a comprehensive study and for an international conference. Except for Dorothee PIERMONT (G, RBW), who favoured a frank discussion of new policies in the drug field, the initial reaction in the committee was hostile. With the European elections coming up in the next year, Florus WIJSENBEEK (Nl, LDR) felt it was the wrong time to be discussing drug legalisation. Pat COONEY (Irl, EPP) felt it was impractical to advocate legalisation. 'The answer to something wrong was not to declare it right', he said. He didn't agree that the present drug policies had failed saying that the fight against drugs had not been properly engaged, particularly in the area of demand. Michael ELLIOTT (UK, PES) recognised that the current repressive policies were not working but said he was very cautious and reluctant to go down the road of legalisation. Mr TARADASH will now prepare a draft motion for resolution as a basis for further discussion in the committee. RTw 10/16/93 JURY GIVES GO AHEAD FOR AIDS SUFFERER TO USE MARIJUANA SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 16 (Reuter) - A jury has given the go-ahead to an AIDS sufferer to use marijuana to fight the symptoms of the disease. "Live. That's the whole thing. Be Happy," said the defendant, Samuel Skipper, 39, of La Mesa, California, after the San Diego Superior Court jury declared him innocent on Friday of two felony charges of growing marijuana at home. Bob Randall, one of the United States' leading advocates for the medicinal use of marijuana, said after the verdict that it was the first time a jury had been asked to decide whether it was legal for a person to grow marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of a disease. Randall had appeared as a defence witness. During the three-day trial, Skipper admitted he grew marijuana plants in his house and backyard because he needed the drug to ward off nausea and weight loss brought on by AIDS. Drug agents seized more than 40 plants at his home earlier this year. Skipper said that most of the time he mixed the marijuana with the food he ate and, at one point during the trial, he brought a peanut butter ball containing marijuana to court to be used as evidence. It was seized by court officers. Jurors, who deliberated for two hours, afterwards said Skipper's defence proved he needed the marijuana to combat symptoms brought on by the AIDS virus. REUTER UPwe 10/16/93 HIV pot user cleared with medicinal defense SAN DIEGO (UPI) - A La Mesa man's contention that he grew and used marijuana to help fight his HIV virus infection has kept him out of jail. But the legal jousting over his gardening is not over. Samuel Skipper, 39, was the first Californian allowed to use medicinal need as a defense in a marijuana cultivation case. It paid off Friday when a San Diego Superior Court jury acquitted him on two felony counts of raising the illicit weed at his home. Skipper claimed eating and smoking marijuana daily relieved nausea caused by the HIV virus and kept him from losing large amounts of weight. "I'm not presently growing it, but I am using it and I am not going to stop," Skipper told reporters outside the courtroom. Jury foreman Bob Lenzi said Skipper "proved he had the necessity to use cannibas to save his own life." The verdict could have an impact on other HIV and AIDS patients who may turn to backyard gardens for treatment. Skipper, however, had pleaded guilty in 1991 to a charge of growing marijuana and faces revokation of probation which could send him to jail. Skipper also ran afoul of courthouse deputies during the trial when they seized a peanut butter ball laced with marijuana he had brought to court to present as evidence. Skipper predicted later that the seized snack would lead to a raft of charges involving transportation and possession of drugs. Police can enter Skipper's home without a warrant at any time because he is on probation. Prosecutors have said Skipper will be arrested if they catch him cultivating marijuana again. Skipper's lawyer, Juliana Humphrey, said she will ask the judge in the case to remove that condition from Skipper's probation. She said that will allow Skipper to resume growing marijuana. WP 10/18/93 Marijuana Makes a Comeback; Arrests Here Are Up by 19% for Drug That Was on the Wane By Dan Beyers and Avis Thomas-Lester Washington Post Staff Writers Marijuana use in the Washington area appears to be surging after years of decline, fueled in large part by the drug's renaissance among young people, new evidence suggests. An array of recent statistics on arrests, drug seizures, emergency room admissions and court-administered drug tests indicates that marijuana use is approaching levels not seen since the mid-1980s, when smoking marijuana laced with the hallucinogen PCP was common in several parts of the Washington area. Last year, marijuana-related arrests in the District and Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's counties were up 19 percent from 1991, reaching 3,198, or an average of almost nine a day, according to police in those four jurisdictions. The numbers are still climbing. In Prince George's County, police said they have arrested 221 people for marijuana possession and distribution in the first six months of this year, a 65 percent jump from the same period in 1992 and twice the number arrested in all of 1989. They said they also have seized $2.8 million worth of the drug during the same period, a fourfold increase over the first half of last year. In Montgomery County, marijuana-related arrests are up 6 percent for the first eight months of this year, and about $1 million worth of the drug has been seized so far, double the value of all Montgomery seizures in 1992. Police in Fairfax County said their 1993 arrest rate for marijuana is running at the 1992 level; last year, Fairfax reported 627 marijuana arrests, nearly twice the number made in 1988. The District said its 1993 arrest figures were unavailable, but Phil O'Donnell, the deputy police chief who commands the narcotics and special investigations unit in the District, said city police seized twice as much marijuana through May of this year - $974,000 worth - as they did in all of 1991. "For a while, because of all the law enforcement, cocaine got scarce. Because it was scarce, some people went back to marijuana," O'Donnell said in an interview earlier this year. "It is everywhere we turn right now," said Lt. Don Lenhart, who supervises vice and narcotics operations in Fairfax. "We're even finding it when we raid (suspected) crack houses." Howard County police announced Friday that authorities had broken up a major marijuana ring operating in central Maryland that was believed to be distributing 250 pounds of the illicit drug a month. Three Anne Arundel County men have been arrested so far, and one has been charged under the state's "drug kingpin" statute. As part of that operation, police seized 41 pounds of marijuana and $230,000 in cash and securities as they executed 28 search warrants in Baltimore and five counties. Hospitals in the Washington area have reported a 31 percent increase in the number of marijuana users seeking emergency treatment in 1992, an average of 100 people a month. Many patients said they also were using more dangerous drugs, which experts say probably worsened their health problems. Drug specialists said a compelling piece of evidence that marijuana use is on the rise is coming out of the District, where drug tests given to recent arrestees are showing higher rates of marijuana use. Juvenile use is rising the fastest, reaching its highest levels since the tests were first administered in 1986, according to the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency. Forty-five percent of the 255 youths who voluntarily submitted to drug tests in August tested positive for marijuana; 49 percent tested positive for drug use overall. Two years ago, only 10 percent of all arrested juveniles tested positive for marijuana in the month of August. The last statistic "is probably the most telling," said Clare Mundell, who has long tracked Washington drug trends for the University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research. "It is irrefutable evidence that marijuana use is on the rise among the juvenile criminal population." Last week, an official of the center told a special legislative committee that a study of teenagers in two state detention centers showed young people turning away from cocaine and toward marijuana and PCP. "There is evidence of a new epidemic in marijuana and PCP," said Eric Wish, of the center. "It's almost like people are saying, `Thank God it's not crack anymore.' " Marijuana long has been the most popular illegal drug with young people, and authorities have been predicting for some time that a new surge is around the corner. Marijuana also may be finding favor now because today's generation of young people came of age in a decade dominated first by the ravages of PCP and then crack cocaine, according to police, social workers and other drug experts. "Cocaine and PCP scared a lot of people," said George Koch, a Maryland State Police analyst who studies marijuana trends. "Marijuana is seen as less of a threat, more acceptable by society." That image is being reinforced by pop culture, where favorable references to marijuana are appearing increasingly in music of all tastes - from heavy metal to rap - and at colleges, where the legalization of marijuana is being debated. Some street vendors and trendy boutiques said they did a brisk business this summer selling T-shirts and caps adorned with a marijuana leaf or marijuana-related slogans. Some even sold hemp clothes made from marijuana plants. Clothing printed with marijuana emblems is now turning up in high schools. "Most of the kids say they are wearing the shirts because it is part of the style these days," said Frank Stetson, principal of DuVal High School in Prince George's County. "For whatever reason, it is still a concern." Like other principals in the area, Stetson said he usually tells the students to turn their offending T-shirts inside out or to cover the slogans with a jacket or another shirt. "Ninety percent of the time, when you ask them what they think their parents would say, the students will immediately turn their shirts inside out," said Stephen Tarason, principal of John F. Kennedy High School in Montgomery. "But there's always the 10 percent who say their parents already know what they are wearing." In addition to making a fashion statement, young people are using a new way to smoke marijuana - splitting open an inexpensive cigar called a Phillies Blunt and filling it with marijuana. In a May survey of 22 recent arrestees conducted by the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency, all but one of the District youths said they smoked marijuana in cigars. Sales of the Blunt brand cigars have tripled in the last year, according to one area wholesaler. Some young users say they consider their use of marijuana to be harmless, and even preferable to the other trouble they could get into. "I won't try crack or rock, because crack kills. You learn that from commercials and TV," said a 16-year-old girl from Gaithersburg, who said she started smoking marijuana a year ago, often in Blunts. "Marijuana gives you an inner peace. It makes you want to sit back and listen to music, or pig out with friends, instead of getting into trouble." "For me, marijuana is just like alcohol. No worse," said another Gaithersburg youth, a 15-year-old boy who said he tried his first joint earlier this summer. "You hear about it through the music. It's part of what is happening." The two Gaithersburg teenagers, whose names are being withheld at their parents' request, said they are currently receiving counseling for their drug use and other behavior problems. Their counselor, Vita Noble, said she is skeptical of claims that marijuana keeps young people out of more serious trouble. She said several of her young clients have become involved in scrapes and other violent encounters while high on marijuana. "Marijuana drops all the guards," Noble said. "These kids tend to lack fear when they are high, and they are less afraid of confrontation," Noble said. "They seem to attract violence like a magnet." Noble said she also is worried that the marijuana use could lead to more destructive behavior if it goes unchecked, and it may even stir the youths to try more dangerous drugs in the future. "I am concerned that we may see the cycle repeating itself with this generation," Noble said. "Marijuana use raises a lot of red flags." The Capital News Service contributed to this report. UPn 10/19/93 Four Swedes held on federal drug charges GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- Four Swedish men are being held in the Alachua County Jail until their federal court trial in December on charges they illegally transferred drug money into the United States. U.S. Magistrate Wade Hampton denied bond for the men Monday at their arraignment in Gainesville because they lacked ties to the community. Nicholaas Grenhagen, 30; Salih Moritz, 40; Fersten Taschkov, 45; and Borg Einarsson, 42; all pleaded innocent to the charges. Grenhagen also faces charges of marijuana smuggling. The trial is scheduled to start Dec. 13. The men were arrested last week in an undercover sting in which they allegedly gave agents a $10 million Mexican bond as a down payment for providing services to assist with smuggling drugs into the United States. Assistant U.S. Attorney David McGee said the government had tapes of the defendants discussing details of a plan to transfer $20 million out of the country. The government also is said to have tapes of alleged conversations in whichGrenhagen discussed smuggling $30 million to $40 million in Swedish bonds stolen in November 1990 from a Stockholm bank. APn 10/19/93 Foiled Escape GABRIELS, N.Y. (AP) -- An inmate who walked away from a state prison was caught in a nearby patch of woods, smoking marijuana with his lingerie-clad girlfriend -- an armed guard from a county jail, authorities said. Lisa Ingolia and inmate Thomas Rosati were arrested near Camp Gabriels minimum security prison, state police said. Ingolia, a Nassau County guard, was wearing a black teddy under a trenchcoat and was carrying a .38-caliber pistol, police said. State police were acting on a tip when they waited for the two to meet Saturday. Ingolia, 33, of New Hyde Park, was charged with promoting prison contraband, hindering prosecution and criminal sale of marijuana. She was being held without bail awaiting a preliminary felony hearing. Rosati, 28, was charged with escape and was transferred to another prison. The two met when Rosati was being held in the Nassau County jail six months ago, police said. She had since visited him four or five times at Camp Gabriels, about 125 miles north of Albany. RTw 10/20/93 DUTCH MAY BAN SALE OF MARIJUANA TO FOREIGNERS THE HAGUE, Oct 20 (Reuter) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it favoured banning the sale of hashish and marijuana to foreign tourists in cafes. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch-Ballin made this clear in parliament, saying such a move could halt a proliferation of coffee shops "deviating from their original aims." "In principle, the minister wants a bar on (soft drug) sales to all foreigners except legally registered Dutch residents," a justice ministry spokesman said. Though illegal, sales of non-addictive drugs like hashish and marijuana are tolerated under tight conditions through some high-street cafes. The Dutch believe the coffee shops' high visibility discourages criminal involvement. Hirsch-Ballin told parliament the numbers of such cafes could be reduced if they were asked to sell drugs only to a familiar, controllable adult clientele. One member of parliament said on Tuesday that the southern town of Maastricht, where the EC Treaty on European Union was signed, was alone visited by between 600 and 1,000 foreigners daily, all of whom came to buy drugs. Neighbouring countries, particularly France, have attacked Dutch lenience, saying it fuels drug abuse and trafficking and hinders plans to dismantle European border controls. The ministry spokesman said Hirsch-Ballin's approval did not mean the foreigner ban would automatically go ahead, citing problems of enforcing such a measure. REUTER APn 10/20/93 Drug Plan By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration's interim drug plan targets hard-core addiction that is fueling violence throughout the nation, the top drug policy official said today. The plan, released at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, "shifts the focus to the most challenging and difficult part of the drug problem -- reducing drug use and its consequences by hard-core users, especially those in our inner cities, among the disadvantaged, and among the criminal justice population," Lee Brown, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a prepared statement. "Hard core drug use fuels the overall demand for drugs and is the primary cause for so much of the disruption we see in our social landscape today," Brown said. He gave no estimate of how much the proposals would cost. The plan does not call for any across-the-board reductions in law enforcement efforts to pay for them. Democrats in the past have complained that previous Republican administrations wrongly devoted 70 percent of the anti-drug budget to law enforcement and international efforts, leaving only 30 percent for reducing the demand for drugs through education and treatment. The Clinton administration strategy relies on passage of the crime bill and its plan to fund 50,000 community police officers over the next few years, as well as the Brady Bill gun control measure, and President Clinton's health care plan, which would fund drug treatment. The strategy would reduce interdiction efforts in favor of promoting additional crackdowns within drug-producing countries, something criticized by former drug director William Bennett, who led president Bush's war on drugs for two years. Even the nomenclature is changing in the Clinton administration, which is rejecting the notion of a "war on drugs." "The strategy rejects the use of `war' analogies to discuss our nation's drug abuse policy," Brown said. "You cannot succeed in this effort by declaring `war' on our own citizens." Those hoping that the Clinton administration would reconsider legalizing drugs will be disappointed by the plan. "The administration is without any reservation opposed to the legalization, decriminalization or medicalization of illegal drugs," Brown said, crediting laws against drug use for the declines in drug use that have occurred. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., whose House Government Operations Committee helped create the drug policy office four years ago, praised the plan as "a step in the right direction towards reallocating the priorities to treatment and education -- if the funding matches the stated priorities." It "finally targets the hard-core drug users who account for 70 percent of the drugs consumed," he said. But Conyers criticized the plan for its continued support of efforts to prevent importation of drugs. "The General Accounting Office testified before my committee just last week that our multibillion-dollar interdiction efforts have not led to any reduction in the estimated flow of cocaine onto American streets," he said in a statement. Conyers said he believed the National Security Council had reached a similar conclusion, "yet the strategy provides for continued support of interdiction without even acknowledging such major critical evaluations." WP 10/20/93 Reno, in Speech, Says She Opposes DEA-FBI Merger By Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer Attorney General Janet Reno, turning thumbs down on a recommendation made by Vice President Gore, announced yesterday she would preserve the Drug Enforcement Administration as a "single mission" agency rather than fold it into the FBI. Reno's comments, made at a speech before the International Association of Chiefs of Police in St. Louis, represent at least a partial victory for DEA in an intensely fought bureaucratic battle between the drug agency and the FBI. Two federal officials attending the talk said the comments prompted a standing ovation. But Reno's extemporaneous remarks, made without any notice to Justice Department officials in Washington, leave unresolved how she plans to restructure the department's drug enforcement. In her speech, Reno said she was committed to ending turf battles between the agencies and that DEA and the FBI were not communicating satisfactorily, according to a federal official who attended the speech. "She has come out and said she is not in favor of the vice president's recommendation and for us that's big news and we're gratified to hear that," said Russell Hayman, executive assistant to DEA Administrator Robert C. Bonner. A spokesman for Gore said yesterday that the vice president's office, after checking with the Justice Department, was "completely unaware of any statement" made by Reno on the issue. Caroline Aronovitz, a Reno spokeswoman, said the attorney general has made "no decision" on the restructuring, but does plan to address the issue at her weekly news conference Thursday. After years of squabbling, the FBI earlier this year proposed to take over DEA. That plan gained momentum over the summer when it was endorsed by Gore's National Performance Review. The vice president's report proposed to "transfer law enforcement functions" of the DEA to the FBI as the first step in a larger reorganization that would also fold the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms into the bureau. But DEA officials and key members of Congress vigorously opposed the mergers, arguing that drug enforcement efforts would be diluted. Last month, Deputy Attorney General Philip B. Heymann said the department was reviewing alternatives, including designating a new drug authority within Justice to oversee the drug enforcement functions of both the FBI and DEA. UPwe 10/20/93 Federal agents seize 10 tons of marijuana NOVATO, Calif. (UPI) -- Federal drug agents revealed Wednesday they had arrested four suspects, seized 10 tons of Thai marijuana and confiscated nearly $420,000 in cash in a raid of a major Marin County pot distribution network. Ross Nadel, head of the local federal drug task force, said the ring had been under investigation since July when an informant tipped authorities. Undercover officers met with at least one of the suspects on several occasions to discuss purchasing marijuana, but there were no purchases made. Authorities felt they had gathered enough information and moved on the ring Tuesday, raiding a storage unit in Novato. Inside, the agents found eight tons of marijuana and the cash. Another two tons were found at an unspecified location. Nadel put the street value of the seized drugs at $30 million. Taken into custody at a Mill Valley residence were Karen Miriam Green, Marshall William Way and Joel Andrew Hillman. A fourth suspect, Robert Paul Singer, was arrested in San Francisco. The four were arraigned before a federal magistrate Wednesday on charges of possession with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. circa 10/20/93 [untitled - Victoria Sellers Pleads No Contest] ------ BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Victoria Sellers, daughter of the late Peter Sellers, pleaded no contest to marijuana possession and was fined $211. Miss Sellers, 28, entered the plea Tuesday to possession of 28.5 grams of marijuana. She was cited Aug. 28 while in a friend's car on Sunset Boulevard. Sellers made another appearance in court recently in a show of support for her friend, accused Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. ------ APn 10/21/93 FBI-DEA By CAROLYN SKORNECK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Drug Enforcement Administration will remain independent, Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday in rejecting a White House report that pressed for its merger into the FBI. At the same time, she gave FBI Director Louis Freeh the power to resolve problems arising from overlapping jurisdictions among the Justice Department's four law enforcement agencies: the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Border Patrol. Her arrangement falls far short of the recommendation by Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review last month to "transfer law enforcement functions of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the (Treasury's) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Gore approved of Reno's version during a meeting Wednesday night, she said. "So far as I know, the vice president and I were never in conflict .... We've been on the same wavelength all along," she said. Gore later said Reno's plan would "result in both savings for the taxpayers and enhanced performance of the law enforcement mission." The Carter and Reagan administrations also studied an FBI-DEA merger and also decided on lesser steps to coordinate their work. Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary crime subcommittee, praised the retention of DEA, but criticized the appointment of Freeh to the new job of Director for Investigative Agency Policies. "The conflicts between DEA and the FBI have been longstanding, intense and very public," Schumer said. Although praising Freeh's integrity, he said, "I strongly suggest that this history requires the appointment of a person whose decisions will be beyond even the slightest appearance of partiality." Reno said she did not anticipate such problems. "I think he can very easily resolve disputes, especially someone of Director Freeh's character." DEA Administrator Robert Bonner, a Bush appointee who has announced his resignation, said the DEA "fully supports the initiative ... to harmonize investigative activities. "The men and women of DEA deeply appreciate the confidence she has demonstrated by her decision in their expertise, capabilities and professionalism." Under the plan, the four agencies would retain their current responsibilities. However, Freeh would have the authority, subject to review by top Justice officials, "to resolve operational issues where there is overlapping jurisdiction among law enforcement agencies of the Department of Justice," Reno said. "This would include such matters as drug trafficking, violence and apprehension of fugitives." She also emphasized the need to coordinate procurement of radios and computer systems so the agencies can share information easily. None of the three other agency heads would report to Justice through Freeh, Reno said, leaving unclear how he would learn of duplication like rival investigations of the same drug organization. "We will work that out as we go along," Reno said. The elimination of duplication "could, in the long run, reduce the number" of agents, she said. However, no quick savings were anticipated. Reno reiterated that she was not interested in taking ATF from the Treasury but said she would continue talks with administration officials and members of Congress about it. Reno admonished a reporter who asked about a possible conflict with Gore: "You all just pick more fights between people than anybody else I've ever met." UPn 10/21/93 Reno proposes coordinator for law enforcement, DEA survives By MICHAEL KIRKLAND WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday she is proposing that a new position be created within the Justice Department -- a director who would oversee all law enforcement agencies of the department. The new director would coordinate activities where the agencies' investigations overlap. Those agencies include the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Border Patrol. The areas of overlapping responsibilities "would include such matters as drug trafficking, violence and the apprehension of fugitives, " Reno said, reading from a statement. Reno also proposes that FBI Director Louis Freeh become the first director of Investigative Agency Policies while continuing his present job. Her proposal does not include any FBI takeover of the law enforcement functions of the DEA, as apparently recommended by Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review. "DEA has a specialized mission...and does an excellent job," Reno said. "It's important...that the specialized mission should be continued." DEA's primary responsiblity is the enforcement of the federal narcotic laws -- which sometimes includes overseas operations to prevent drugs from being brought into the United States. The agency has offices in 54 countries, where agents liason with host governments. Agents in a special enforcement unit, "Operation Snowcap," are trained to survive in the jungle and work with Latin American nations to locate and dismantle cocaine laboratories. Reno said there is no contradiction between Gore's review and her proposal. In fact, she said, her recommendation was made in continuous consultation with Gore. Reno said she reported her final recommendation to Gore Wednesday night: "He said that sounded good." The attorney general has contended all along that the "headline" or "Action Point" in the review released earlier this year did not reflect the text of Gore's recommendations. The "Action Point" called for the FBI to take over the law enforcement functions of the DEA, as well as the police functions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The AFT, part of the Treasury Department, came in for massive public criticism following a bungled raid on a cult compound in Waco, Texas, last spring in which four ATF agents died. But Reno said the explanatory text following the "Action Point" did not specifically mention a takeover of law enforcement functions -- which would have effectively ended the existence of the DEA and the ATF. Reno believes the new directorship can be set up without formal congressional approval. "I think we can do it ourselves (on President Clinton's order)," Reno said, but she added that her proposal follows extensive consultation with members of Congress. For the time being, the new directorship would mean more staff rather than a reduction of force at the Justice Department. If Reno's proposal is approved by the president -- and it almost certainly will be -- Freeh would pick up a new administrative staff as director of Investigative Agency Policies, in addition to his immediate staff as FBI director. Reno she hopes the new staff can be kept to less than a dozen people. RTw 10/21/93 U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL REJECTS FBI-DRUG AGENCY MERGER WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuter) - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno Thursday rejected the proposed merger of the Drug Enforcement Administration into the FBI. She said she instead would create a new Justice Department job to cut duplication among its several enforcement agencies. Reno said at a news conference that Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh would be appointed to the new post, called the director for investigative agency policies. In his new job, Reno said, Freeh would seek to end duplication among the Justive Department's law enforcement agencies -- the FBI, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol. Freeh will be charged with making sure the agencies buy the same equipment and share intelligence. She was unable to say whether Freeh would be in charge of investigations at all the agencies. Freeh still would report to Reno and Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann. She said he would have a small staff of less than a dozen aides. Vice President Al Gore in his proposals on "reinventing government" had recommended that the DEA and FBI be merged, but Reno maintained that Gore supported her decision. "The vice president and I have never been in conflict," she said. "We've been on the same wavelength all along." Reno said she met with Gore Wednesday night to tell him of her decision and he replied, "That sounded good." Gore in his September report urged that the two agencies be combined even though Reno at the time was still studying the matter. Reno, who initially appeared to support the merger, said she finally decided the drug agency should be kept as a specialized, single-mission agency concentrating on illegal drug trafficking. She acknowledged the new structure probably would produce no additional savings over the next two years. "I never preclude anything," Reno said when asked if the merger idea might be resurrected later. REUTER circa 10/21/93 Dutch say no more marijuana for foreigners THE HAGUE (Reuter) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it favoured banning the sale of hashish and marijuana to foreign tourists in cafes. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch-Ballin said such a move could halt a proliferation of coffee shops "deviating from their original aims." "In principle, the minister wants a bar on (soft drug) sales to all foreigners except legally registered Dutch residents," a justice ministry spokesman said. Though illegal, sales of non-addictive drugs like hashish and marijuana are tolerated under strict conditions in some high-street cafes. - - - - APn 10/22/93 Netherlands-Drugs By JEFFREY STALK THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Tulips and windmills are the Netherlands' traditional tourist draw, but the government is worried about travelers who come for a different kind of trip. Hundreds of thousands of "drug tourists" pour into the country each year to frequent an estimated 1,500 coffee shops that sell hashish and marijuana over the counter. The coffee shops were originally sanctioned to sell "soft" drugs to keep customers away from street dealers selling heroin and cocaine. But hard drugs have increasingly penetrated the coffee shop circuit, and drug tourism has become a major source of friction between the Netherlands and its neighbors. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said this week that he supports a proposal to bar coffee house owners from selling hashish or marijuana to non-Dutch residents. The Dutch have decriminalized the possession of drugs for personal use, but their sale is still technically illegal and police crack down on large-scale dealers. The government is withholding a decision on the ban until the Justice Ministry completes a feasibility study in several months. But the nation's largest newspaper, Amsterdam's De Telegraaf, said Thursday that drug tourism could not be ended by "a discriminatory law directed against foreigners." Annie Wigger, a spokeswoman for the Labor Party, called the proposal contradictory. "In this period of the integration of Europe, one won't have to show a passport to cross the border," she said, "but you have to show it in a coffee shop to buy drugs." WP 10/22/93 Reno Appoints Freeh Peacemaker at Justice By Michael Isikoff Washington Post Staff Writer Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday gave FBI Director Louis J. Freeh new powers, naming him director for investigative agency policies, with authority to oversee all Justice Department investigations and end overlapping law enforcement efforts. Reno said the new position was her attempt to fulfill Vice President Gore's directive to consolidate federal anti-drug efforts. But she stopped short of Gore's proposal to merge the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. She said the DEA will remain a "specialized single-mission agency" with its own administrator and personnel. The new structure gives Freeh, a former federal judge who was sworn in as FBI director last month, authority to resolve interagency turf disputes, coordinate investigations and consolidate procurement for the FBI, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Border Patrol. Justice officials said they had not yet decided how the new arrangement will work in practice. Reno said that the chiefs of the DEA and other Justice agencies will continue to report to her through deputy attorney general, Philip Heymann. Freeh will retain his primary duties as bureau director. The action represented a victory for DEA officials, who had aggressively lobbied Reno to reject Gore's proposed merger, arguing that it would dilute federal anti-drug enforcement. But some members of Congress and some administration officials said privately that Reno's action would create an "unworkable" layer of bureaucracy. They said Reno has missed an opportunity to eliminate interagency squabbles that have plagued federal law enforcement for decades. "It appears that the Justice Department has repudiated the vice president," said Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. "This is a cop-out." There have been frequent reports of FBI and DEA agents investigating the same targets, refusing to share intelligence and trying to upstage each other in the media. Gore's National Performance Review last month sought to end those battles and proposed to "transfer the law enforcement functions" of the DEA to the FBI. Gore's proposal also called for eventually folding sections of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - which investigates federal gun violations - into the bureau. Yesterday, Reno dismissed any talk of merging ATF into the FBI. She said, "I didn't come to Washington seeking somebody else's jurisdiction." She also insisted there was no substantive difference between her plan and the vice president's proposal, saying that reports of a conflict were concocted by the media. "You all just pick more fights between people than anybody else I've ever met," Reno told reporters at her weekly news conference. "So far as I know, the vice president and I have never been in conflict." Reno said that she had met with Gore on Wednesday night to review her proposal and he said "that sounded good." Gore said in a statement last night that he was "pleased" with Reno's action. He said he has worked with her to develop a plan "for coordinating the work of these agencies in the most effective and sensible way. The plan announced today is a major step in that direction." The new arrangement resembles a plan adopted in 1982 by Attorney General William French Smith that required the DEA administrator to report directly to the FBI director. That plan broke down after resistance from DEA officials. But some department officials said Freeh was particularly well suited to settle turf battles, having worked with both DEA and FBI agents during the mid-1980s when he prosecuted the Pizza Connection case - a Mafia conspiracy to import heroin through pizza parlors. There were, however, some concerns yesterday that Reno's decision may give Freeh too much power. While saying he was pleased that Reno rejected the merger, Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the judiciary subcommittee on crime, said: "I question the wisdom of having (Freeh) wear both of these hats. This dual role will inevitably raise questions about his impartiality in making the tough decisions that wait down the road." APn 10/22/93 Drugs and Music By DAVID BAUDER Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- When the pro-pot rappers Cypress Hill recently took the stage of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," one member defiantly lit a joint and another wore a T-shirt advertising a kind of smoking device. Marijuana isn't just their pastime; it's their cause. They tout laws legalizing the drug at every opportunity. They are also the heralds of a new era of conspicuous consumption of drugs and alcohol in music. The "just say no" 1980s seem like long ago. Pro-marijuana songs have become a sub-genre, particularly in rap music. Musicians are falling all over themselves to endorse legalization. And anti-drug organizations say they're alarmed by polls that show usage on the rise. "People think it's OK to smoke weed now," Cypress Hill rapper B-Real recently told High Times magazine, a photograph accompanying the interview showing his face partly obscured by a cloud of smoke. B-Real has all sorts of company: --Rapper Dr. Dre, who boasted in a song released four years ago that he didn't smoke weed, named his current album, "The Chronic," after street slang for a potent strain of marijuana. It's been near the top of the charts for months. --The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws set up an information table at the Lollapalooza Festival, the summer's hottest concert tour. Such bands as the Black Crowes, Spin Doctors, Guns 'N Roses and Pearl Jam have all advocated the legalization of marijuana. --The rock band Urge Overkill advertises its new album as "recorded in cheebaphonic sound." --Some artists even make a statement with their names: Hash, the Alkaholiks and Bongwater are new groups on the scene. It's enough to make some 1960s veterans red-eyed with nostalgia. The drug and booze casualty list of that era would make up an all-star band: Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon. Joplin's drunken stage shows were legendary, and musicians then would think nothing about taking a drag on a marijuana cigarette during an interview. Drug references in music would often take the form of in jokes between a performer and his audience -- a band name like the Doobie Brothers, for example, or Billy Joel singing about "Captain Jack." But the explicitness of many of today's pro-drug messages makes it difficult to fathom that there was once a debate over whether the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" was a sly homage to LSD. Many of the references dried up during the anti-drug 1980s. Aerosmith typified the artists who talked about recovery from drug abuse and preached the virtues of staying clean. Musicians did anti-drug commercials on MTV. But with a baby boomer in the White House -- one who said he tried marijuana but didn't inhale -- times have changed. "It's like a cool thing -- drinking and smoking weed," says the 22-year-old Los Angeles rapper Hi-C whose new song talks about how he needs a 64-ounce drink to satisfy him -- though a handful of others, such as Public Enemy's Chuck D, have criticized the increased popularity of 40-ounce malt liquor bottles. Cypress Hill arrived last year with a loopy, slow-motion rap style, smoking marijuana in interviews and bragging about being on the High Times cover. Then came the explosive success of the trio's second album with such songs as "Hits From the Bong." Just as the Rolling Stones once carried an inflatable sex organ onstage, a Cypress Hill stage set features a huge marijuana cigarette. And the trio bows before it. At concerts by the Black Crowes and others, fans throw dozens of joints onstage. Officials at NORML once had trouble finding musicians to endorse their legalization efforts. No more. When the Black Crowes headlined a recent benefit concert, it attracted 60,000 people. "In 1991, there were virtually no bands doing this," said Allen St. Pierre, NORML's assistant national director. "Now there are 45 to 65 bands either contacting us directly or openly doing it." The drug craze has added a new word to the popular lexicon: "blunts," referring to hollowed-out cigars in which the tobacco is replaced by marijuana. Often, the blunts are soaked in malt liquor for sweetening before being smoked. T-shirts advertising Phillies Blunts, the brand of cigar used most frequently in blunts, have become a status symbol. Another popular clothing line features the marijuana leaf symbol. When worn by Dr. Dre in one of his videos, it was blacked out on MTV. In rap, pro-pot songs have become so trendy that each new one is scrutinized for evidence of whether the band really likes marijuana or is just trying to join the crowd, said Steve Bloom, music editor of High Times. "It's almost become competition," Bloom said. Pharcyde, Redman and Gang Star are among the rappers with pro-pot songs. The Atlanta-based anti-drug group Parents Resource Institute for Drug Education said its researchers can't tell whether the musicians are leading the way or just reflecting what's happening among young people. Either way, PRIDE doesn't like it. "I don't think you've ever before seen an entire line of clothing apparel that promotes an illicit drug in the fashion that it does," said PRIDE Vice President Doug Hall. "We think that is a major cultural shift that is occurring." PRIDE's survey of 250,000 youngsters during the 1992-93 school year showed that marijuana use increased from the year before in all age groups. The survey also showed that black schoolchildren, who traditionally have lagged behind whites in marijuana use, are quickly closing that gap. For example, the number of black females in junior high school who smoke marijuana doubled from the year before. Makani Themba, associate director of the Marin Institute, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in San Francisco, said she's disheartened by the music's marketing power. "It's interesting that the things they push are both high volume -- 40s and blunts," Themba said. "It's a lot of stuff to smoke and a lot of stuff to drink." The rappers in Cypress Hill say they see nothing wrong with marijuana use and won't be saddled with the blame for teen-agers who start smoking. But there's evidence that some artists are thinking about their status as possible role models. The Alkaholiks title their album, "21 And Over." Even Hi-C, who says his song about 40-ounce malt liquors is intended as a joke, turns serious when he talks about the current marijuana and malt liquor craze. "I hope they don't start smoking crack," he said. "If they start smoking crack then it's all over with. I think one thing leads to another." End Adv for Weekend Editions, Oct 22-24 and thereafter UPn 10/23/93 U.S. drug czar plans attack on domestic use By CRAIG SANTY LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The nation's new drug czar on Saturday told members of the American Civil Liberties Union that the government will curb drug use by attacking domestic demand rather than international suppliers. Lee Brown, director of the office of National Drug Control Policy, said community-based prevention programs and economic empowerment zones will play a major role in new drug control policies under President Bill Clinton. "What we've been doing is not getting the job done," Brown said. "We need to continue funding effective programs and drop those that don't work." Brown was a guest speaker at a town hall meeting entitled "The War at Home: Drugs and the Inner Cities" sponsored by the ACLU to evaluate the nation's drug policies. Brown advocated community-based prevention programs, which call on residents to assist police in eliminating crime and drug use in their neighborhoods. "We need to work on a manageable scale when dealing with drugs, house by house, block by block," he said. The new drug czar said drug use is particularly high in the nation's inner cities, where politicians have been unable to alleviate poverty, hopelessness and economic insecurity that "encourage the drug culture." Brown received loud applause from the audience when he said the Clinton administration no longer would be using the term "War on Drugs" in describing its efforts. "We don't believe a government should declare war against its own people," he said. In its efforts to reduce drug use, the administration will target hard core drug users rather than casual users, he said. WP 10/23/93 The Guard Isn't the City's Answer BY DOROTHY GILLIAM Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly's intention to call out the National Guard presents this paradox: She has at once too little power and too much. In the first instance, there is no question that the District, which has for some time been seeking statehood, does not now have the right to call out a state militia and must seek it from President Clinton, who has this power as commander-in-chief. On the other hand, we need to remember that it's in the nature of governments to exercise control and power when they are placed in a position to do so, and that authority tends to stay rather than to recede. Therefore the National Guard might - or might not - be withdrawn appropriately should they be called in. Implicit in the mayor's plan is an admission that local officials are unable to handle the city's violence, that the city's high-crime areas are, in effect, in a state of civil disorder. This suggests that we are helpless and have reason to panic. And it is precisely these unusual circumstances that give me pause. There are troubling questions that must be raised about the mayor's decision to counter the threat from individuals and gangs and their guns by taking the extreme measure of seeking to deploy the National Guard. Would the constitutional protection of due process be suspended, for example? What is regarded as cruel and unusual punishment? Would any suspensions of protections be temporary or permanent? Who would give the orders? Moreover, if the threat in the District is regarded as sufficient for National Guard protection, could not that also recommend a similar action in the drug wars of Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and even smaller cities? These are relevant questions because in saying that D.C. officials cannot control the situation and other parties must be called in to handle it lies the implicit invitation to do things that city officials have not done before. We could wind up with a form of quasi-martial law or a wholesale suspension of constitutional protections. And these absolutely critical questions need to be asked and answered before calling in the Guard. The greatest danger in situations of emergency are the suspension of ordinary constitutional protections. Certainly constitutional guarantees may have been suspended in 1968 when the National Guard was called out in cities around the country in the aftermath of the rioting that erupted after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The mayor is clearly not alone in her assessment that gangs and individual gangsters have in fact threatened the security of life and property in high-crime areas of the city. While some observers have suggested that we restrict the guard to patrolling around schools, I don't believe that would solve the fundamental problems. That results only in possibly depriving some people of their rights and not others. Of course, the question that emerges is, if the mayor does not call out the National Guard, what should she do in an out-of-control situation? Several members of the D.C. Council, objecting to the mayor's plan, have accused her of not fully using all of the resources that are available to the city. Those include, they say, increasing the number of foot patrols and beefing up the police presence at public housing complexes and schools. But clearly she is confessing police failure, that local resources aren't enough - a huge concession, by the way, for a people seeking statehood. I am convinced that we will not win the war on drugs as it is now constructed. All the years of police and Drug Enforcement Agency action, drug czars and even federal task forces have left us not better, but worse, off. Perhaps it is time to reach for more creative solutions. Unfortunately, we are at one of those times in history when we see no positive choices and must choose between threatening evils. Since we can elect to get rid of the demand for drugs or get rid of the reward for drug dealing, it may be time to heed the suggestion offered by Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and choose the evil of decriminalization (not legalization) of drugs, rather than risk making ourselves into a police state. [End] This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/HN_17.txt