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

NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (Body's Own Marijuana-Like Agents
Holds Hope For High Blood Pressure Patients; Marijuana For Pain, MS Trials
Approved In England; Support for Medical Marijuana, Industrial Hemp Strong,
State Survey Shows; Oklahoma Governor To Decide Medical Marijuana Patient's
Fate This Month)

From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 17:51:52 EST
Subject: NORML WPR 1/14/99 (II)

NORML Foundation Weekly News Release

1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
foundation@norml.org

January 14, 1999

***

Body's Own Marijuana-Like Agents Holds Hope For High Blood Pressure
Patients

January 14, 1999, Nottingham, England: Marijuana-like compounds
produced naturally by the body may hold the key to reducing high blood
pressure, research at the University of Nottingham Medical School
suggests.

"These are natural substances present in all our bodies that seem to
have important effects on our circulation," said Professor Brian
Pentecost, medical director of the British Heart Foundation. "Hopefully,
this project will shed new light on how we could use these effects to
help heart patients."

The British Heart Foundation is funding the Nottingham study.
Preliminary research reveals that anandamide, an endogenous marijuana
like substance, relaxes blood vessels and may reduce blood pressure.

"This research should tell us a great deal more about how these
substances affect our circulation," said Dr. David Kendall of The Queen's
Medical Centre. "This is a new and exciting area of research which could
ultimately lead to better treatments for a range of cardiovascular
diseases."

Researchers first identified anandamide in 1992 and are just now
beginning to study how the agent interacts with the body to control pain
and other functions. Scientists named the compound after the Sanskrit
word for eternal bliss.

For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen
St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Marijuana For Pain, MS Trials Approved In England

January 14, 1999, London, England: Two government sanctioned
clinical trials on the therapeutic value of marijuana will begin shortly,
the governing body for British pharmacists announced this week. The two
protocols seek to determine marijuana's ability to control muscle spasms
in multiple sclerosis patients and provide relief to post-operative pain
sufferers.

"The potential benefits of cannabis are absolutely enormous," said
Dr. Geoffrey Guy, who is licensed by the government to grow marijuana for
medical research. "We are really only beginning to take the blinkers off
that have been on this material for the last 30 years."

The upcoming human trials will adhere to strict guidelines approved
Monday by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The new
guidelines will give the results added scientific weight to groups like
the World Health Organization, who remain skeptical of marijuana's
medical value, a RPS spokesman said.

The first study will involve approximately 600 MS patients.
Volunteers will be divided into three groups. The first will receive
conventional medication for controlling muscle spasms while a second
group will consume standardized doses of marijuana. A third will only
receive doses of THC, an active compound in marijuana, to help
researchers determine if constituents in marijuana other than THC have
medicinal benefit. Patients will likely consume marijuana through a
special inhaler designed to administer measured amounts of the drug.

The second series of trials will follow similar guidelines and
involve approximately 300 volunteers suffering from acute post-operative
pain disorder or cancer.

Researchers said they expect to present their findings within two
years. Botanists recently harvested 5,000 marijuana plants from a
secret, government farm to supply volunteers with the drug.

Dr. Guy praised the British government's willingness to support
medical marijuana research. "We enjoy a very liberal research
environment," he said. "Our first objective is to get research done, not
to find a thousand reasons to block it."

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

Support for Medical Marijuana, Industrial Hemp Strong, State Survey Shows

January 14, 1999, Missoula, Montana: More than two-thirds of
Montanans support the use of marijuana for medical purposes and believe
that legislators should legalize hemp cultivation, according to a survey
conducted by Montanans for Medical Rights.

"Montanans are known for their common sense and this survey confirms
that," said John Masterson of Montana NORML. The survey polled
approximately 400 respondents from more than 50 counties.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they supported the medically
approved use of marijuana, and 65 percent said they would back a
legislator who advocated medical marijuana reform. The high degree of
support mimics percentages found in national polls conducted by ABC News,
CBS News, Luntz Research and others showing majority support for medical
marijuana. "With such a high percentage of Montanans saying they would
support a legislator in favor of medical marijuana, it will be
interesting to see which lawmakers rise to the occasion," Masterson said.

Seventy percent of respondents said they supported the cultivation of
hemp for industrial purposes. At least 29 nations, including Canada,
France, England, Germany, Japan, and Australia, allow farmers to
cultivate the non-psychoactive crop for its fiber content.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said that they believed marijuana's
potential harm to health were no greater than those posed by alcohol.
Respondents were evenly divided on whether marijuana smokers should
continue to face criminal penalties.

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre of The
NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751 or Montana NORML @ (406) 542-8696. Raw
figures are available online from Montana NORML at:
http://www.montananorml.org/survey.txt.

***

Oklahoma Governor To Decide Medical Marijuana Patient's Fate This Month

January 14, 1999, Oklahoma City, OK: Gov. Frank Keating will decide
this month whether to accept or reject a parole board order to release
medical marijuana patient Will Foster from jail. Keating received
Foster's unanimous recommendation for parole late last month and must
make a decision within 30 days.

An Oklahoma jury sentenced Foster in 1997 to 93 years in jail for
cultivating marijuana in a 25-square foot underground shelter and other
lesser marijuana-related charges. Foster maintains that he grew the
marijuana to alleviate the pain of rheumatoid arthritis; however,
Oklahoma law does not accept the defense of medical necessity as a basis
for acquittal on a marijuana charge.

This fall, an appeals court panel found Foster's sentence excessive
and reduced the term to 20 years. At Foster's first parole board hearing
days later, officials unanimously voted to release him on parole upon
approval from the governor.

The NORML Foundation urges concerned parties to contact the governor
and demand parole for Will Foster so he may be reunited with his family.
Contact Gov. Frank Keating at the following address:

State Capitol Building, Room 212
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(P) (405) 521-2342
(F) (405) 521-3317 or (405) 523-4224


For more information on Will Foster, please contact either Keith
Stroup, Esq. of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Dave Borden of The Drug Reform
Coordination Network @ (202) 293-8340.

				- END -

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

Federal agents arrest man who aided police (According to the Oregonian,
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service says Louie Lira, who did
anti-gang work in Portland for the last eight years and served as an unpaid
volunteer with the Portland Police Bureau's Crisis Response Team, is really
Gerardo Morales Alejo, who was deported to Mexico in 1985 after robbery and
drug convictions in California.)

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Federal agents arrest man who aided police

* Louie Lira, who did anti-gang work in Portland, is really Gerardo Morales
Alejo, who was deported to Mexico in 1985, the INS says

Thursday, January 14 1999

By Maxine Bernstein
of The Oregonian staff

A man who sought to steer youths from gang activity in Portland was taken
into custody by federal agents, accused of re-entering the country illegally
after having been deported to Mexico in 1985 after robbery and drug convictions.

On the job, he used the name Louie Lira. He had worked since 1991 for the
Youth Gang Outreach Program, based in Northeast Portland. He also served as
an unpaid volunteer with the Portland Police Bureau's Crisis Response Team,
helping to counsel families or friends of crime victims.

But agents from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service say Lira was
actually Gerardo Morales Alejo, 40, and was deported from the United States
in 1985 after arrests in California.

Two INS agents, accompanied by an FBI agent, took Alejo into custody about
noon Friday in the parking lot of the Youth Gang Outreach Program, said Phil
Crawford, deputy director in the INS Portland office.

Alejo is also being investigated by the FBI in a separate criminal matter,
police said, but FBI spokesman Gordon Compton on Wednesday said he could not
confirm or deny that.

John Canda, director of the Youth Gang Outreach Program, confirmed that
Alejo worked for the program for the past eight years but declined further
comment.

"I can't make any more statements," Canda said.

In 1985, Alejo was deported from California after he was convicted of
robbery, possession of narcotics and being under the influence of narcotics,
Crawford said.

In Portland, Alejo worked closely with officers from the police Gang
Enforcement Team.

For at least the past four years, Alejo was a volunteer with the police
Crisis Response Team, and worked to defuse retaliatory violence after
gang-related shootings or other criminal activity occurred, Northeast
Precinct Cmdr. Derrick Foxworth said. The bureau provided him with a
volunteer identification card, a police jacket and pager and, at times, a
police radio to help him monitor calls.

"We're making efforts to recover that equipment," Foxworth said. "He's no
longer considered to be a part of the Crisis Response Team."

Police said the bureau did conduct a criminal background check on the man
they knew as Lira before he was allowed to be a bureau volunteer. No prior
arrests turned up because police did not realize his true identity and had
no reason to suspect him.

He was not the person he claimed to be because he provided identification
under the name Louie Lira, Foxworth said. If police had suspected a problem,
they would have run a check on his fingerprints, Foxworth said.

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

Weapons will boost firepower for police (The Oregonian says that with little
discussion or debate, the Portland city council awarded a $103,771 contract
Wednesday to Specialized Armament Warehouse of Chandler, Arizona, to provide
the Portland Police Bureau with 175 semiautomatic rifles. Officials didn't
cite any local incidents that might have turned out more favorably if police
had had bigger guns.)

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Weapons will boost firepower for police

* The Portland City Council will buy semiautomatic rifles to
help officers fight criminals' sophisticated arsenals

Thursday, January 14 1999

By Maxine Bernstein
of The Oregonian staff

The City Council Wednesday awarded a $103,771 contract to an Arizona-based
gun dealer to provide the Portland Police Bureau with 175 semiautomatic rifles.

The Colt AR-15s, which have shortened barrels and hold .223-caliber
ammunition, will give police greater firepower at a time when the bureau is
concerned about being outgunned by criminals with sophisticated weapons.

The semiautomatic rifles are considered more accurate at longer ranges than
the Glock 9mm handguns and 12-gauge shotguns that officers now carry,
Portland Firearms Sgt. Larry Baird said. Police expect to have them in
patrol cars sometime this fall, Baird said.

The bureau still has to develop a policy on who will use the weapons, when
they will be fired and how they will be mounted in patrol cars. Firearms
instructors are expected to be trained on their use this summer, and they,
in turn, will provide training to the rank-and-file officers, Baird said.

"The chief wants to get these out on the streets as fast as we can. We're
already six months behind where we thought we should have been," Baird said.

Changes in the bid specifications for the rifles caused a delay in their
purchase.

With little discussion or debate, the council Wednesday voted unanimously to
award Specialized Armament Warehouse, of Chandler, Ariz., the contract. The
company was one of three bidders, providing the middle offer that priced
each Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at $591, and each 20-round clip at $11.50.

The low bidder, Keith A. Ward of Keith's Sportings Goods Inc. in Gresham,
submitted a letter to the council objecting to that award. The Police Bureau
rejected the Gresham company's bid, saying it did not meet technical
specifications.

"This is simply not true," Ward wrote in his letter. "Before the council
allows an additional $14,000 to be spent to no one's benefit, other than the
dealers profit, I would hope a thorough review of the process be conducted."

Ward did not attend Wednesday's council meeting. Police gave a short
presentation, and the council voted to accept their recommendation.

In a report to the city recommending the purchase of the rifles, the bureau
said it was seeking parity with heavily armed criminals.

The bureau had been discussing alternatives to the shotguns for years but
began in earnest in August 1997, six months after a highly publicized
shootout between Los Angeles police and two heavily armed bank robbers. In
the past two years, two Portland officers have been shot to death, one while
chasing a suspect, the other during a drug raid gone sour.

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

Air scope turns up heat on crime (The Oregonian says the Oregon State Police
have a new helicopter equipped with a Forward-Looking Infrared Detection
unit, or FLIR, that will allow them to find the warm bodies of fleeing felons
in the dark. One assumes the unit will spend the rest of its time flying
around looking for midnight gardens.]

The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/

Air scope turns up heat on crime

Thursday, January 14 1999

By Peter Farrell
of The Oregonian staff

The Oregon State Police are catching up with television stations when it
comes to fancy camera work.

OK, some TV news departments have more helicopters. For the state police,
it's the Power of One.

But that one helicopter, which does almost all of the police helicopter work
in Oregon, now can find warm bodies in the dark -- bad news for fleeing felons.

In its first weeks in the air, the heat-seeking FLIR scope has assisted in
two searches over wide areas, helping catch a carjacking suspect and a
suspect who fired shots at police from a vehicle that was reported stolen.
Police recovered guns in both cases.

The Forward-Looking Infrared Detection unit, or FLIR, that helped police
arrest the suspects is similar to that used in TV news coverage and by
firefighters trying to see through smoke. The infrared devices compare heat
readings to form TV-like images. The scope is on loan from FLIR Systems, the
Portland company that makes and sells thermal imaging systems for government
agencies and private companies here and abroad.

Senior Trooper Erik Vognild, who pilots the state police helicopter, said
that in the two recent nighttime police searches, units on the ground had
the general area surrounded.

In an Amity police pursuit the day after Christmas, the helicopter and
infrared system saved police the trouble of searching acres of field and brush.

Police were chasing a suspected drunken driver in a stolen pickup on Oregon
233 when someone fired shots from the pickup. Near McMinnville Airport, the
driver jumped out and ran into the brush. Vognild swept over the open area
in the helicopter and was quickly able to determine that no people were in
the woods.

Instead, the FLIR scope detected a spot where the man had lain down and his
body heat had left the ground a little warm. "Because I was able to
eliminate the field, that narrowed the search to where there were some
buildings," Vognild said. "That's where the suspect was found by the people
on the ground."

Timber Mac Morrow, 24, was arrested and accused of attempted first-degree
assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, probation violations and
other crimes. A woman who surrendered when the pickup stopped was arrested
on similar accusations.

Police said they found three guns in the truck and a fourth on the ground
nearby.

Vognild had been involved in a similar hunt Dec. 8 after armed carjackers
took a Corvette from people in an RV park in Grand Ronde. The car flipped
over about a mile away. Two people ran, and Polk County deputies began a
search over a large patch of scotch broom and blackberry brambles. They
called for Vognild and his FLIR imager.

The thermal imager's temperature sensor showed Vognild why the searching
officers and their police dog were having trouble finding the two. They were
in a bog, hiding in the water.

"The water was cool and there was a heat picture where there shouldn't have
been a heat picture," Vognild said. "They stuck out like a sore thumb."

Vognild showed the ground officers where the men were.

The State Police pilot calls that search only a partial success because the
older of the two men ran a second time and got away. Vognild was low on fuel
and couldn't finish the hunt. A farmer found the fugitive the next morning
in a barn, where he had hanged himself.

He was Jeffery Elbert Stires, 27, who had put a blanket over barbed wire to
escape from a Montana jail where he had been held on a domestic assault
complaint. He was identified as the man who fired a warning shot into the
floor of a camper as he demanded the keys to a man's 1980 Corvette.

Hundreds of FLIR Systems infrared devices are in use, said Doug Little,
public relations manager of the Portland company. But the Oregon State
Police, strapped for cash in its last several budgets, could not afford the
$250,000 to $500,000 cost of a complete system.

So the company loaned the agency a scope. In return, FLIR plans to test its
designs with Vognild's help.

Vognild said the scope is simple to operate, but he is still learning how to
tell people on the ground where a target is. Locating something with
navigational readings adds complexity.

"It's not quite the same as shining my spotlight on them," he said.

One of the fancy add-ons for the system is a slave unit that would
automatically point the spotlight at the target on the scope.

The big advantage the scope provides at night seems much more dramatic than
its daytime uses, but that could change if Vognild ever needs to find lost
people or fugitives wearing camouflage in the woods or white clothing on snow.

"It doesn't care what you are wearing,"Vognild said. "It just measures heat.
If you are warmer or cooler than what is around you, it will find you."

Kathleen Blythe of The Oregonian library helped research this story.

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

Senate briefing I-692 (A list subscriber forwards a notice from Washington
state senator Jeanne Kohl about a Department of Health briefing in Olympia
Jan. 21 regarding implementation of Initiative 692, the voter-approved
medical marijuana law.)

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:02:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Lunday (robert@hemp.net)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Senate briefing I-692 (fwd)
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net

Mark your calendars for Thursday, Jan 21st.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 09:56:03 -0800
From: "Kohl, Sen. Jeanne" (KOHL_JE@leg.wa.gov)
To: "'Lunday, Robert'" (robert@hemp.net)
Subject: Senate briefing I-692

The Department of Health will be giving a briefing on I-692 implementation
before the Sen. Health & Long-Term Care Committee on Jan. 21 at 1:30 p.m. in
Sen. Hearing Room 4.

***

hemp-talk - hemp-talk@hemp.net is a discussion/information
list about hemp politics in Washington State. To unsubscribe, send
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net with the text "unsubscribe hemp-talk".
For more details see http://www.hemp.net/lists.html

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

A Drug Sniffing Society (Officials at Boise High School who are considering
urine tests for students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities
cause Boise Weekly columnist Bill Cope to come out against the drug war.
One of these days, we Americans - Idaho Americans in particular and Canyon
County Americans in particular - are gonna have to sit down and figure out
exactly what and how much we're willing to give up to keep waging the war on
illegal drugs. Don't expect it to happen anytime real soon, though. To
conduct a reasonable community discussion that might result in some
reasonable community solutions, it's going to take some reasonable community
leaders. At this point in the endless war, you'd have more luck spearing
squid out of Lake Lowell than in finding a local official with the guts to
suggest the drug problem has not been, nor will it be, solved by the
us-versus-them policy that's been flopping about on the deck of America's
ship of state for three decades now, all the time crushing more and more of
what keeps the boat afloat in the first place.)

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 10:45:54 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US ID: Column: A Drug Sniffing Society
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Henders88@aol.com
Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jan 1999
Source: The Boise Weekly (ID)
Copyright: 1999 The Boise Weekly
Contact: rspeer@boiseweekly.com
FAX: (208) 342-4733
Mail: 109 South 4th Street, Boise, ID 83702
Website: http://www.boiseweekly.com/
Columnist: Bill Cope
Note: The website states that "Bill Cope is a moderate contributor
to Boise Weekly."

A DRUG SNIFFING SOCIETY

'I suspect that some of these cars they are going to pick up on are going to
have merchandise with no receipts.' --Sheriff George Nourse, anticipating an
incidental benefit to the use of drug-detecting dogs in Canyon County
parking lots.

'Shucks, they might even flush out an ACLU lawyer or two.' -- Anonymous
drug-detecting-dog enthusiast, anticipating a perfect world.

One of these days, we Americans--Idaho Americans in particular and Canyon
County Americans in particular--are gonna have to sit down and figure out
exactly what and how much we're willing to give up to keep waging the war on
illegal drugs.

Don't expect it to happen anytime real soon, though. To conduct a reasonable
community discussion that might result in some reasonable community
solutions, it's going to take some reasonable community leaders. At this
point in the endless war, you'd have more luck spearing squid out of Lake
Lowell than in finding a local official with the guts to suggest the drug
problem has not been, nor will it be, solved by the us-versus-them policy
that's been flopping about on the deck of America's ship of state for three
decades now, all the time crushing more and more of what keeps the boat
afloat in the first place.

I bring it up because over the last several weeks people in a position to
have their public fingers in our private pies are encouraging some definite
escalation on the drug battlefield. The mayor of Boise, for instance, has
suggested that every employer in Idaho should require employees to tinkle in
a jam jar now and then and submit the contents for chemical analysis.

Officials at Boise High School are considering a policy that would demand
that students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities first
pass a drug screen. And most controversial, if not most intrusive, 2-C
Sheriff George Nourse is walking narcotics dogs around Canyon County parking
lots in search of stray methamphetamine spoor.

This war has already cost us a bundle, and I'm not talking about mere money.
Sure, the billions the nation has poured down this rabbit hole add up to
some significant bread, but we can always make more money. We can flush durn
near more money than you can imagine into septic systems like Vietnam, 'Star
Wars,' tobacco subsidies, Ken Starr--yet we always bounce back, don't we? If
there's one thing this country does well, it's making more money.

But there are other expenses not so easily bounced back from. It's not so
easy to recoup the hundreds of thousands of wasted lives once they've
withered away under the poverty of addiction or inside the razor-wire
reservations filling up the desert heart of America.

It's not so easy to uncorrupt local law-enforcement agencies, federal
mega-bureaucracies, and entire foreign countries once the deluge of both
drug and anti-drug monies have corrupted them. It's not so easy to unweave a
criminal drug empire once it's been woven.

And it won't be so easy to un-erode our civil liberties once they've been
eroded to promote an impossibly pristine vision. Take my word for it.

Hell, don't take my word for it. Take Thomas Jefferson's word for it. Take
the Weimar Republic's word for it. Once those civil liberties are gone,
they're damn tough to get back.

So how many random pee tests are you willing to endure to ensure a drug-free
workplace? If one a month is such a swell idea, maybe three a day is better.
Maybe you wouldn't mind a permanent catheter running straight from your
bladder to the boss' office.

Are you pleased that your kids might have to test negative before they can
join debate club, play football for the home team, tootle flute in the pep
band, or engage in any of those activities that would naturally distract
their attentions away from the drug culture? Maybe you'd be even happier if
the brats couldn't attend school at all until they prove they're clean. No
sense teaching a druggie how to function in life, huh?

I know you personally have nothing to hide from those pooches sniffing at
your mini-van, citizen, so maybe you wouldn't mind if they check out your
home, too. Just to be on the safe side.

These are just a few of the things we need to hash out, fellow Americans.
Just how far do we go? All the way, like with the National Guard on
permanent border patrol, troops on the streets, and mandatory urinalysis at
the polls? Might work, and it'll only cost us the democracy.

Or maybe we could discuss decriminalizing the stuff--regulating the trade,
cleansing the poisons from the substance, stripping profits from the
dealers, offering treatment instead of jail time, looking for medical
answers instead of prison space. That, too, might work--if we're willing to
accept a certain level of dependency. Or we could continue along as we
are--pouring good billions upon bad, building a prison nation, enriching the
crime cartels, and watching people die. We already know it doesn't work, but
it does keep the dogs busy.

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

Political Shift May Usher In New Pot Club (The San Francisco Chronicle
says that despite pledges from the federal government to shut her down,
Jane Weirick, the executive director of the San Francisco Patients Resource
Center, plans to open a new medical marijuana dispensary. She hopes to have
the facility running in six weeks or less, as soon as she locates a building
to house the club. The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative has agreed
to handle the club's eligibility paperwork and issue membership cards.
Organizers are hoping the election of Bill Lockyer as Attorney General
will lead to a compromise with the federal government that would allow
medical marijuana dispensaries to re-emerge in California to fulfill
the mandate of Proposition 215.)

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 10:39:11 -0600
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Reply-To: compassion23@geocities.com
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DRCNet Medical Marijuana Forum (medmj@drcnet.org)
Subject: US CA SF CHRON: Political Shift May Usher In New Pot Club
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Thursday, January 14, 1999
(c)1999 San Francisco Chronicle

POLITICAL SHIFT MAY USHER IN NEW POT CLUB

Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Heartened by the change of administrations in Sacramento, advocates of
medical marijuana are gearing up to open a new medicinal pot club in San
Francisco -- even though they may be headed straight for a federal shutdown.

State and local authorities have indicated tacit support for a new club, a
marked change in policy from Sacramento. This week, however, federal
officials said they could not allow a new club to remain open.

Supporters of medical marijuana say the city generally has been bereft of
legal pot since the San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club was closed in
April.

The San Francisco Sheriff's Department shut the club on a Superior Court
order after a long campaign against the outlet by former Attorney General
Dan Lungren.

But now that Democrat Bill Lockyer is attorney general, say the advocates,
the time is ripe for therapeutic pot clubs to once again open their doors in
San Francisco.

``A couple of small outlets are currently operating, but the level of
service they can provide is really minimal,'' said Jane Weirick, the
executive director of the San Francisco Patients Resource Center, an ad hoc
organization that plans to open the new club.

Weirick envisions an outlet comparable in size to the old Cannabis
Cultivators Club, which served about 9,000 patients under the direction of
its controversial leader, Dennis Peron.

Weirick said her group is searching for a building to house the new club,
which she hopes to have running in six weeks or less.

The group has enough money to start, said Weirick, ``but we could always use
more.''

One thing that will not inhibit the opening is the availability -- or
rather, unavailability -- of the high-quality pot needed for medical use,
said Weirick.

``There's a lot of it around,'' she said. ``That's the least of our
problems.''

Weirick said the new club will operate along stricter guidelines than the
old CCC. Peron was pilloried and ultimately prosecuted for what law
enforcement officials said was a lax operation.

``We plan to run a very tight ship, using the model for the Oakland Cannabis
Club, which set up a very workable system,'' she said.

``In fact, the Oakland club will handle all our eligibility paperwork and
issue our membership cards,'' she said. ``They're already geared up to do
it, and there's no point in reinventing the wheel. Eventually, we'd like to
see a statewide cooperative of clubs that would all honor the same cards.''

Jeff Jones, the executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Club -- which saw
its dispensary shut down October 20 by federal marshals -- said his
eligibility requirements are simple but tough.

``First, we get a letter of recommendation from a physician,'' he said.
``Then we have a staff nurse call the physician to make sure the
recommendation is not fraudulent. Then we call the state medical board to
make sure the physician can legally prescribe drugs and that there are no
complaints against his or her license.''

As far as the planned San Francisco club goes, said Weirick, only
cardholders authorized to buy marijuana will be allowed into the areas where
the pot is dispensed.

``That way there will be no doubt about the legality of the operation under
Proposition 215 (the medical marijuana initiative that passed in 1996).''

Proposition 215 decriminalizes the use and possession of medical marijuana
at the state level, but pot remains illegal under federal law.

``It is still a controlled substance under the U.S. Controlled Substances
Act,'' said Evelyn James, the public information officer for the San
Francisco office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. ``That hasn't
changed.''

``Our position (in San Francisco) is that because it is a controlled
substance, it would be appropriate to move against a new club,'' she said.

With such a shutdown in mind, Weirick said, the new club will have a
separate clinic and administrative center.

``That way, we'll be able to conduct patient support even if the clinic
(where the marijuana is dispensed) is forced to close,'' she said.

Weirick's group seems to be getting a green light from city officials.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan said a major medical
marijuana outlet is a good idea for San Francisco -- as long as it is
tightly regulated.

``I've always said that it is more of a health issue than a legal issue,''
he said. ``Locally, this should strictly be a matter for the city Department
of Health.''

Weirick said Peron will have no direct involvement in the new club ``except
as a spiritual adviser. Without him, we never would have come this far.''

Flamboyant and aggressively partisan, Peron opened his first cannabis club
in 1992. He soon became a prime target for state prosecutors. State agents
raided his Market Street outlet in August 1996. Three months later, voters
approved Proposition 215, the medical marijuana legalization initiative that
Peron had drafted.

Despite 215's passage, Lungren continued his campaign against Peron. State
charges for the illegal possession and distribution of marijuana remain
outstanding against Peron and several associates, though it is unclear
whether Lockyer -- who voted for Proposition 215 -will continue to pursue
the matter.

``There are no plans at this time (to drop) that case,'' said Hilary McLean,
a spokeswoman for Lockyer.

McLean said that Lockyer generally supports the idea of medical marijuana
but that he has some problems with Proposition 215.

``Bill voted for the initiative, and he has always supported access to
appropriate medicine for people who need it,'' she said, noting that
Lockyer's mother and sister both died of leukemia.

``But he has also said he sees some real problems with 215,'' McLean said.
``It runs counter to federal law, and it is in conflict with some aspects of
state law. Bill wants to work out some kind of accommodation with the
federal government and state legislators so that the people who truly need
this medicine can get it.''

Hallinan also thinks the federal government could inhibit the resuscitation
of San Francisco's cannabis clubs.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against six state cannabis clubs
last year, and federal agencies apparently remain uniformly opposed to
medical marijuana.

Still, Hallinan is moderately optimistic.

``With a new state administration, we can hopefully reach an accommodation
with the feds,'' said Hallinan. ``The main reason they came down so hard on
the clubs in the past was because Lungren was urging them to do it.''

DEA agent James said that she didn't know if the advent of a new
administration in Sacramento could presage a change in the opinions of U.S.
Department of Justice and DEA administrators regarding medical marijuana.

James said that federal agents are unimpressed with Proposition 215 and the
thesis that marijuana has genuine therapeutic applications.

``Here you have a situation where the opinion of registered voters takes
precedence over the medical establishment,'' she said. ``My heart goes out
to people who are sick, but I worry that these folks are being sold a bill
of goods -- that they're missing out on legitimate therapies because they've
been taken in by the medical marijuana hype.''

(c)1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A15

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

2 Convicted for Running Indoor Marijuana Farms (A cautionary tale
in the Los Angeles Times says Drug Enforcement Administration agents
picked up the trail of the defendants, Daniel Carson Adams, and his
son-in-law, Earl Martin Torgerson, by staking out a hydroponics equipment
store in North Hollywood and following one of the suspects after he purchased
supplies. Six defendants have now been convicted for growing more than 1,800
plants in three houses. All face mandatory minimum federal sentences, except
the leader of the conspiracy, Gary Manuel Margado, who was the chief witness
against the others, apparently in an attempt to shorten his 10-year term.)

From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: 2 Convicted for Running Indoor CA Marijuana Farms
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 19:39:10 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net

Thursday, January 14, 1999
Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

2 Convicted for Running Indoor Marijuana Farms

* Court: Six people have now been found guilty in a ring that grew more than
1,800 plants in three houses.

By DAVID ROSENZWEIG
Times Staff Writer

Two San Fernando Valley men were convicted Wednesday of taking part in a
sophisticated marijuana growing enterprise that operated indoors in three
suburban homes.

A federal jury returned guilty verdicts against Daniel Carson Adams,
58, of Woodland Hills and his son-in-law, Earl Martin Torgerson, 51, of
North Hollywood.

Six defendants have now been convicted in the marijuana growing scheme,
which operated out of residences in Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills and La
Puente.

More than 1,800 plants were being cultivated inside the rented homes
using hydroponics, a system of growing plants in nutrient solutions instead
of earth.

The method has become increasingly popular among marijuana farmers as
law enforcement authorities intensify their crackdown on outdoor growing in
Northern California.

Trial testimony revealed that Drug Enforcement Administration agents
picked up the trail of the defendants by staking out a hydroponics equipment
store in North Hollywood and following one of the suspects after he
purchased supplies.

Los Angeles police narcotics officers entered the case about the same
time after getting a tip that marijuana was being grown in a two-story house
on Morrison Street in Sherman Oaks.

The two agencies joined forces and raided the house Sept. 8, seizing
665 marijuana plants in a sealed and windowless section of the home.

Further investigation led to another house on Calvert Street in
Woodland Hills, where 619 plants were found, and to a home on Don Julian
Street in La Puente, where 518 plants were being cultivated.

Torgerson and Adams were convicted on three felony counts and are
scheduled to be sentenced March 15 by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real.
Torgerson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; Adams
faces a minimum term of five years behind bars.

The chief witness against them was Gary Manuel Margado, 62, of Bel-Air,
leader of the conspiracy. He pleaded guilty earlier and also faces a minimum
10 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Lowe, who prosecuted the case, told jurors
that Torgerson, who has a college degree in chemistry, served as Margado's
chief lieutenant, supervising day-to-day growing operations at the indoor
sites.

Lowe said documents recovered during police searches indicated that
Margado took a 65% cut and Torgerson received 35% of the proceeds after the
others in the scheme were paid. Lowe said the operation grossed about
$60,000 a month.

Defense attorneys said Torgerson and Adams knew nothing about the
marijuana growing operation.

Adams' lawyer said her client was hired by Margado to be a caretaker at
the Woodland Hills house, that he had no access to the marijuana growing
operation and that he had lived in the home only six days before it was
raided.

Torgerson contended that he was supervising remodeling projects at
other two homes Margado owned and that he, too, was unaware of the
operation.

In addition to Margado, those pleading guilty previously were Don
Edward Baxter, 29, who lived in the Sherman Oaks house; Michael Onil
Estrada, 28, who lived in the La Puente house, and Victor Demeter, 32, of
Tustin, Margado's son-in-law. They, too, are awaiting sentencing.

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

San Francisco Marijuana Reform Forum Feb. 11 (A bulletin
from the Lindesmith Center West publicizes a public meeting
featuring Keith Stroup of NORML and Dale Gieringer
of California NORML.)

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 19:44:20 -0800
To: dpfca@drugsense.org
From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer)
Subject: S.F. MJ Reform Forum Feb 11

The Lindesmith Center West Invites You to a Forum:

MARIJUANA REFORM 1999

Featuring: Keith Stroup, Executive Director, National Organization for the
Refom of Marijuana Laws and Dale Gieringer, Coordinator, California NORML

Date: Thursday Feb. 11, 1999, 5-7 p.m.
Place: S.F. Medical Society, 1409 Sutter (at Franklin)
Open to the public - Phone (415) 921-4987 to reserve a space

***

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

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

South Dakota Governor Proposes Mandatory Jail For Drug Offenses
(USA Today says Gov. Janklow told state lawmakers in his State of the State
address that anyone caught with "drugs" in South Dakota should have to spend
at least 30 days in jail.)

Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 10:23:09 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US SD: South Dakota Gov. Proposes Mandatory Jail For Drug
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 1999 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Pubdate: 14 Jan 1999
Author: from staff and wire reports
Page: 5A
Note: Headline by MAP Editor

South Dakota GOV. PROPOSES MANDATORY JAIL FOR DRUG OFFENSES

Pierre - Anyone caught with drugs in South Dakota should have to spend at
least 30 days in jail, Gov. Janklow told state lawmakers in his State of
the State address. Janklow also said he will offer amnesty during 45 days
this spring to anyone who admits to not pay-ing taxes.

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

Marijuana Inhaling May Be Healthy (The Daily O'Collegian
at Oklahoma State University covers a campus teach-in by the Drug Policy
Forum of Oklahoma. Michael Pearson, the forum's organizer and a registered
pharmacist, said studies have proven marijuana to be helpful with multiple
sclerosis, spinal cord injury spasms, high blood pressure, migraines, joint
pain, menstrual problems, asthma and rheumatism. Pearson said patients get
prescriptions for Valium from doctors and then trade it on the black market
for marijuana, which is rumored to be more effective. Drug companies are
reluctant to accept the drug because a plant is difficult to patent, he said,
and because marijuana works as an anti-depressant. "What would happen to
Prozac and other drugs that make up half [the drug companies'] money?")

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 18:32:11 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US OK: Marijuana Inhaling May Be Healthy
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Michael Pearson (oknorml@swbell.net)
Source: The Daily O'Collegian (OK)
Contact: colling@okstate.edu
Webform: http://www.ocolly.okstate.edu/Feedback/default.html
Website: http://www.ocolly.okstate.edu/
Author: Jana Clark, Staff Reporter
Pubdate: 14 Jan 1999

MARIJUANA INHALING MAY BE HEALTHY

An organization that endorses the use of marijuana to help ailing patients
met Wednesday at the Wellness Center to discuss the issue.

The Drug Policy Forum of Oklahoma explores "alternative drug strategies and
issues." The group's goal is to reduce the harm of drugs to individuals and
society by determining how to change current drug policies.

Michael Pearson, the forum's organizer and a registered pharmacist,
advocates the use of marijuana to patients who suffer from certain
illnesses. Studies have proven that marijuana has been helpful with
multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury spasms, high blood pressure,
migraines, joint pain, menstrual problems, asthma and rheumatism, he said.

Pearson said marijuana alleviates pain in instances that morphine is
effective and can reduce or eliminate the need for opiates or morphine.
Marijuana also can enhance the ability of morphine-like drugs.

Pearson said using marijuana as medicine is not a new concept. He said the
medical use of marijuana originated five thousand years ago in China when
physicians used the plant to treat malaria, absent-mindedness and "female
disorders."

Pearson said he advocates regulation of the drug.

"(I advocate) control like tobacco or alcohol is controlled," he said. "We
don't want it sold in convenience stores next to the candy."

Pearson said individuals should be able to grow marijuana in their back yards.

"But the minute (they) start making money, (they) need a license," he said.

Other drugs such as Valium are now traded illegally for marijuana. Pearson
said patients get prescriptions for Valium from doctors and then trade it
on the black market for marijuana, which is rumored to be more effective.

Ron duBois, coordinator for the forum, said, the public is suffering the
consequences of the government's war on drugs.

DuBois said law enforcement has a "lock 'em up and throw away the key"
mentality and the public is beginning to see that it has failed.

"Treatment is less expensive than incarceration," duBois said. "(It) has a
chance to arrest the disease, and (it) has a chance to return those
recovering from the disease to full citizenship," he said in an editorial.

Pearson said November elections passed medical marijuana ballot questions
in five states: Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Pearson said drug companies are reluctant to accept the drug because a
plant is difficult to patent and because marijuana works as an
anti-depressant which might compete with other drugs for profits.

"What would happen to Prozac and other drugs that make up half (the drug
companies') money?" Pearson said.

Amy Trogdon, biology premed junior, said she thinks medical marijuana is
acceptable under strict, doctors' supervision.

"Marijuana may have some medical benefits," she said. "But I'm concerned
that if it were allowed in the medical field that the supervision would be
lax."

Julia White, nutrition premed senior, said, "It's okay to use (marijuana)
in a medical situation under strict supervision of a doctor. If it's
marijuana or nothing, marijuana should be used."

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

Progress Made In War On Drugs, Federal Official Reports (The Daily Herald,
in Arlington Heights, Illinois, says Donald Vereen Jr., deputy director
of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the Chicagoland
Chamber of Commerce that use of marijuana among eighth-graders
did not increase in 1997.)

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 21:32:30 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IL: Progress Made In War On Drugs, Federal Official Reports
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: 14 Jan. 1999
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Section: Sec. 1
Contact: fencepost@dailyherald.com
Web: http://www.dailyherald.com
Author: Melissa Galin

PROGRESS MADE IN WAR ON DRUGS, FEDERAL OFFICIAL REPORTS

A federal drug official Wednesday said that progress is being made in
moving toward President Clinton's goal of reducing drug use by 50
percent by 2007. Donald Vereen Jr., deputy director of the U.S. Office
of National Drug Control Policy, reviewed the status of the war on
drugs in a speech before the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce in the
Palmer House Hilton. Partly as a result of education and prevention
efforts, use of marijuana among eighth-graders did not increase in
1997, he said.

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

Drug Testing Expands (The Washington Post, which apparently does not consider
alcohol to be a drug, says the number of "drug addicts" released on parole
and probation in Maryland who are now required to take twice-weekly urine
tests has increased five-fold in the past two months under the state's new
"Break the Cycle" program. Under the plan, all 25,000 drug addicts on parole
and probation in Maryland eventually will be required to undergo treatment
and frequent testing - and face swift, escalating punishments if they skip a
treatment session or test positive for "drug" use. The enterprise faces a
range of obstacles, particularly if large numbers of ex-offenders test
positive and the state is unable to "punish them effectively.")

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 18:07:36 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MD: Drug Testing Expands
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Rob Ryan
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Author: Philip P. Pan
Pubdate: Thurs, Jan 14, 1999
Page M01

DRUG TESTING EXPANDS

State targets more ex-offenders

Nearly 6,200 criminals released on parole and probation in Maryland have
been ordered to report to authorities twice a week for urine tests as part
of a landmark attempt to overhaul how the state supervises drug-addicted
ex-offenders, according to state officials.

The figure is more than five times higher than it was just two months ago--a
sign that the state's ambitious Break the Cycle program is expanding
rapidly. Under the plan, all 25,000 drug addicts on parole and probation in
Maryland eventually will be required to undergo treatment and frequent
testing--and face swift, escalating punishments if they skip a treatment
session or test positive for drug use.

No other state has tried to hold its entire population of drug-addicted
parolees and probationers accountable to such a frequent regimen of testing,
and Maryland's attempt to do so is being watched by criminal justice
policymakers across the nation.

The enterprise faces a range of obstacles, particularly if large numbers of
ex-offenders test positive and the state is unable to punish them
effectively. But if it succeeds, proponents such as Lt. Gov. Kathleen
Kennedy Townsend (D) believe it could cut demand for heroin, cocaine and
other drugs in the state nearly in half--undermining the illicit drug
markets that fuel crime and violence in many neighborhoods.

In addition, Townsend and others say, the program could wean thousands of
addicts off drugs and bring about sharp reductions in the kinds of low-level
crimes that drug offenders are known to commit repeatedly, such as
burglaries, thefts, vandalism and prostitution.

The testing began slowly this fall in seven jurisdictions: Prince George's,
Montgomery, Howard, Charles, Washington and Baltimore counties and Baltimore
City. As local judges, probation agents, treatment providers and jail
officials worked out the details, the number of ex-offenders ordered into
the program jumped sharply, from about 1,200 in the first week of November
to nearly 6,200 as of last week.

Each jurisdiction has devised its own sanctions for ex-offenders who test
positive for drugs or skip treatment sessions. In Prince George's, for
example, agents will supervise them more closely after the first infraction,
order them to watch court proceedings for two days after the second
infraction and impose community service after the third infraction. Further
violations would result in more severe penalties, such as home detention,
and a seventh violation would put them back in court.

The goal is to use the criminal justice system to force drug addicts to
remain in treatment--a departure from the conventional wisdom that addicts
must "want to change" to kick their habits.

"I've been putting people into Break the Cycle, and I'm optimistic it's
going to make a difference," said William D. Missouri, the Circuit Court
administrative judge in Prince George's. "But I probably won't have a good
sense of the results until the beginning of February."

Though testing of ex-offenders is well underway in the seven jurisdictions
and is set to expand to the rest of the state by the end of the year, it's
unclear whether they are being punished quickly or severely enough to change
their behavior.

"We're still far from where we want to be," said Adam Gelb, Townsend's
policy adviser. "The sanctions are not as swift, as certain or as stiff as
we'd like to see them, but we are clearly moving in the right direction."

Leonard Sipes, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and
Correctional Services, said the state has not yet determined how often
ex-offenders are failing the drug tests, how they are being punished when
they do so or how many of them are completing treatment programs.

He said the greatest obstacle will be trying to force probation agents to
act quickly when an ex-offender fails a drug test or misses a treatment
appointment. In the past, agents rarely learned when ex-offenders dropped
out of treatment, and they could order only seven urine tests a month for
their entire caseloads, which average more than 100 ex-offenders apiece.

"The challenge is rearranging the culture of parole and probation," Sipes
said. "Remember, the average offender has received very little face-to-face
contact with agents because of the huge caseloads. . . . Now we're trying to
change that for the majority of the active caseload. The bottom line is
whether this department can rally to such an intensive supervision
strategy."

The first hint of how well Break the Cycle is working will come next month,
when University of Maryland criminologist Faye Taxman completes a
preliminary report on the program's progress in the seven jurisdictions.

"The data I have suggest that things are actually moving along pretty
smoothly in each of the jurisdictions, but I'm anticipating different
problems in different places," she said. "We anticipate most of the
jurisdictions will do very well in testing offenders. The question will be,
if offenders continue to test positive, how will the agents and judges
respond?"

Breaking the Cycle

The number of drug addicts released on parole and probation in Maryland
who are now required to take twice-weekly urine tests as part of the state's
new Break the Cycle program has increased five-fold in the past
two months.

As of Nov. 5, 1998
Baltimore County: 138
Baltimore City: 714
Howard: 55
Charles: 35
Prince George's: 102
Montgomery: 81
Washington: 103

Total: 1,228

As of Jan. 7, 1999
Baltimore County: 415
Baltimore City: 4,800
Howard: 265
Charles: 64
Prince George's: 241
Montgomery: 291
Washington: 118

Total: 6,194

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

DrugSense Focus Alert! PBS Frontline gives reform a major boost
(DrugSense asks you to write a letter to the Public Broadcasting Service
and other media praising Frontline for its Jan. 12 television documentary
on federal drug informants. Plus URLs where you can view or listen
to the program.)

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:12:20 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: Focus Alert! PBS Frontline gives reform a major boost

PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #93 1/14/99
Prepared by Richard Lake

FRONTLINE's documentary feature "Snitch"

Your assignment should you choose to accept it:

Bill Steigerwald wrote, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

" ... 'Snitch' shows in powerful detail the damage done to real people and
society in general by a judicial system that rewards snitching and lying.
Along the way it also provides a frightening indictment of the totalitarian
lengths to which politicians, government prosecutors and drug police are
willing to go in their all-out effort to win the war against illegal drugs.

As one defense lawyer at the end of the 90-minute program sums up the
argument, 'We're trading our paranoia to get rid of these drugs for our
Constitutional rights, and we're making a terrible mistake in doing that.'"

If you missed the PBS show, it is on-line as realvideo at:
http://www.legalize-usa.org/TOCs/video7.htm

and realaudio at: http://www.legalize-usa.org/TOCs/video7.htm

plus there is a SNITCH website at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/

Please send FRONTLINE a letter of acknowledgement, asking for reruns and
encouraging further coverage of this topic. (Sample Letter Below)

Thanks for your effort and support.

WRITE A LETTER TODAY

It's not what others do it's what YOU do

***

PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,
Phone, fax etc.)

Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if
you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer@mapinc.org
Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn
from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit

This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and
effectiveness.

***

CONTACT INFO

Frontline@wgbh.org

Mail:
Frontline Producer
WGBH
125 Western Avenue
Boston, MA 02134

Send a copy of your letter, or write another one, to your local PBS station
so that they also know you approve of the broadcast of the SNITCH show. You
can find your local PBS station address at:
http://www.pbs.org/voice/stations.html

***

EXTRA CREDIT

R Givens wrote:

"We can get extra mileage out of the SNITCH show by writing the newspapers
about the PBS special and voicing our opinions. Remember that an LTE
doesn't have to be about something that appeared in the paper. Omissions
and stories like this from other sources are fair play so lay it on.

"We should be able to get some PUB LTEs out of this disgusting documentary
on American injustice.

"The newspapers are not giving this matter enough attention and we should
give them hell about it."

So, if you wish, give it a try! The contact addresses of many newspapers
may be found at: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm

and links to newspaper websites at: http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm

***

ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts

3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm

Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm

***

SAMPLE LETTER (SENT)

Dear Frontline,

Thank you for producing and broadcasting 'Snitch.' I hope you will rerun
it, and do a follow-up on this and other atrocities of the so-called War on
Drugs.

As a retired Army officer, I find it very frightening that those freedoms
for which Americans fought and died over two centuries are being thrown out
in the name of this War. Apparently, our political leaders believe that the
ends justify the means.

Now I read, in the current issue of Public Health Reports, the Journal Of
The US Public Health Service, of all places, an article that says "Drug
laws and their massive, cruel imposition on millions of young men and
women--not simply the use of drugs--have stigmatized and estranged our most
disadvantaged minorities, creating a "new American Gulag" with its own
archipelago of prisons, jails, courts, probation, parole, and, most
recently, compulsory treatment as an alternative to incarceration, blurring
the boundary between treatment and punishment."

Have we become our cold war enemy?

Let us hope that someday 'Snitch' will be recognized as one of the turning
points that moved our country back on course.

Richard Lake
CW3, US Army, Retired

***

Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org

Just DO It!

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

Pray For Peace Foundation News, December 1998-January 1999
(A periodic summary of drug policy and other news from the Pray for Peace
Foundation, whose members are "committed to the legalization of sacred
natural medicines for spiritual healing, for all people.")

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 14:02:05 +0000
From: Nori Muster (pfpfNews@steamboats.com)
Reply-To: pfpf@steamboats.com
Organization: Pray For Peace Foundation
To: pfpfnews@aol.com
Subject: Dec. 98 - Jan. 99 Newsletter

***

Pray For Peace Foundation News
December 1998 - January 1999

***

Congratulations

Hemp Hill Reservation incorporated in Tennessee to grow industrial
hemp. Happy harvesting. -pf eds.

***

Pot in the News

Several columnists have come out in favor of marijuana,
decriminalizing marijuana and bringing peace in the war against
marijuana.

On 1/5/99 Ann Landers said:

Dear Sad Mother: I'm sad about your son's predicament. If the police
added "intent to distribute" without real evidence, your son will need
the help of a competent lawyer who can get those charges dismissed. I
have long believed that the laws regarding marijuana are too harsh.
Those who keep pot for their personal use should not be treated as
criminals. Thirty years in prison makes no sense whatsoever. I'm with
you.

On 1/3/99 Robert Scheer (L.A. Times columnist) said:

Still hung over from all that New Year's revelry and once again
promising yourself to abstain? Maybe you should have tried pot instead
of booze.

Just kidding.

This is not a marijuana commercial, although it would be good to
counter those smug advertising council ads pimping the drug war.

***

Help for Children in Drug War Times

Judges, psychiatrists and government officials in California are
taking steps to protect abused children in the state's care from
improper and unmonitored doses of potent psychiatric medications. The
officials are responding to an expose published in the L.A. Times,
revealing rampant abuse.

Keep kids off drugs the natural way. Ask a naturopath how organic
food, biofeedback, exercise and herbal supplements can help. Also see:
http://www.bhakti.com/pfpf/4kids.html

***

Happy New Year Contest from Our Corner of the World

L.A. Times columnist Steve Harvey challenges us: "No offense to Dick
Clark, but, as an Angeleno, I'm tired of ushering in the new year by
watching a 3-hour-old rerun of the big ball falling in New York's
Times Square."

The editorial staff wholeheartedly agrees with Mr.
Harvey, and encourages all PF readers to participate in helping Harvey
think of a new New Year's Eve tradition for Los Angeles. Suggestions so far:

* King Kong jumps off the Hollywood sign (or Capitol Records
building, or L.A. City Hall) at midnight (movie: Mighty Joey Young).

* A 60-second freeway chase, starting at 11:59 P.M.

If you get an idea, please send it to: Steve Harvey, Metro, L.A. Times, Times
Mirror Square, L.A. 90053, fax: (213) 237-4712 or email:
steve.harvey@latimes.com so he can begin to lobby the L.A. Mayor's office to
prepare for next Dec. 31.

***

More Good News for Hollywood

The violent crime rate reached its lowest level in 28 years. Also, beginning
this month, Hollywood civic leaders will repair 1,500 sidewalk stars
that have had tree root damage over the years. The Hollywood Chamber now
allows fans to "adopt" the stars. The Walk of Fame attraction started in 1960
and now numbers 2,128 stars Along Hollywood and Vine. Twenty plaques are added
each year. Call the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for a prerecorded
message about the Walk of Fame: (323) 469-8311.

***

Excerpts from American Journalism Review on the TV pundit epidemic
(Jan./Feb. 1999), article by Alicia C. Shepard :

"When they go into the booking process, they look for polarizing,"
says Tim Graham, Media Research Center.

"The Big Show" and another [MSNBC] nightly offering, "The White House
in Crisis," focused on the Clinton/Lewinsky matter relentlessly night
after night, when there were major developments and when there
weren't. Viewers who encounter such fare are likely to get the
impression that the "crisis" is much more serious than it actually is
at that precise moment.

"The shows are very conflict-oriented, and they perpetuate the
conflict without ever trying to work through or resolve a conflict,"
says Jan Schaffer, executive director of the Pew Center for Civic
Journalism. "When we frame everything as an argument, it alienates
people."

MSNBC, in particular, has boosted its ratings by striving to become
the all-Monica, all-the-time network.

To read the article, link to "White Noise," at: http://www.ajr.org

***

Holidays Are Over

Please call your two U.S. Senators (202) 224-3121 and tell them your
wishes for the new year. Use the Pray For Peace Activist's Workshop
for more links to your legislators and the media:
http://www.bhakti.com/pfpf/workshop.html

***

Affirmations for 1999:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done . . .

***

Pray For Peace: End the War on Drugs in 1999

***

PRAY FOR PEACE FOUNDATION
est. 1995
http://www.bhakti.com/pfpf

Pray For Peace Foundation was founded to spread awareness, education
and devotion to the Great and Holy Mystery that is God. We accept all
paths as true; all religions are but branches of the same tree. We
promote interfaith dialogue and exchange programs to develop tolerance
between religions.

Pray For Peace Foundation is dedicated to nonviolence (vegetarian
diet) and daily meditation. Pray For Peace members are committed to
the legalization of sacred natural medicines for spiritual healing,
for all people.

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

Anti-pot fungus poses eco hazard (Now magazine, in Canada,
says the U.S. Congress passed a $690 million anti-drug package this week
that included $23 million for a fungus purported to kill marijuana, poppy
and coca plants. Unspecified scientists are criticizing the project, saying
other plants may be susceptible to the bio-engineered fungus. For example,
they note that an alkaloid similar to one in the coca plant is also present
in tobacco and coffee plants.)

From: Carey Ker (carey.ker@utoronto.ca)
Reply-To: carey.ker@utoronto.ca
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: Anti-pot fungus poses eco hazard
Date: 	Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:19:28 -0500 (EST)
Newshawk: Carey Ker
Source: Now Magazine(Canada)
Pubdate: Thursday, January 14, 1999
Page: 15
Website: http://www.now.com
Contact: letters@now.com
Author: ENZO Di MATTEO

ENVIRONMENT

Anti-pot fungus poses eco hazard

The U.S. government is developing a fungus to kill pot, poppy and coca
plants. Some scientists warn that it may pose an ecological threat to other
legal cash crops, like tobacco and coffee.

The $23-million plan, part of a $690-million anti-drug package passed by
Congress this week, is to loose the fungus on drug hot spots around the
world, including Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

But scientists say other plants may be susceptible to the bio-engineered
fungus. They note that an alkaloid similar to one in the coca plant is also
present in tobacco and coffee plants.

"This project is the political equivalent of athlete's foot fungus," says
Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian party in Washington.
"It's nasty, it's dangerous and it needs to be stopped before it spreads."

But Shannon Gravitte, press secretary for Florida Republican Bill McCollum, a
backer of the drug package, says eco concerns are premature. "There's nothing
going ahead at this point," she says, and their preliminary research shows
the fungus is safe.

­ ENZO Di MATTEO

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

900 In Trials To Test Claim That Cannabis Has Medical Benefits (The Daily
Mail, in Britain, says the legalisation of cannabis moved a step closer
yesterday as doctors announced details of the first medical trials for the
herb. Over the next three years, 900 sufferers of multiple sclerosis and
post-operative pain will be given regular doses of cannabis through an
inhaler or as a pill. If the drug is shown to ease the volunteers' symptoms
without causing side effects, doctors could be prescribing cannabis pills
to some of Britain's 85,000 MS sufferers within five years.)

Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 21:20:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: 900 In Trials To Test Claim That Cannabis Has Medical
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: CLCIA
Pubdate: 14 Jan 1999
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 1999 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Contact: letters@dailymail.co.uk
Pubdate: 12 Jan 1999
Author: David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent

900 IN TRIALS TO TEST CLAIM THAT CANNABIS HAS MEDICAL BENEFITS

The legalisation of cannabis moved a step closer yesterday as doctors
announced details of the first medical trials for the drug.

Over the next three years, 900 sufferers of multiple sclerosis and
post-operative pain will be given regular doses of cannabis through an
inhaler or as a pill.

If the drug is shown to ease the volunteers' symptoms without causing side
effects, doctors could be prescribing cannabis pills to some of Britain's
85,000 MS sufferers within five years.

The move to legalise cannabis for medical treatment was welcomed by
patients, who claim thousands take the drug illegally to ease the symptoms
of MS.

One drug company - GW Pharmaceuticals - has already been granted Home
Office permission to grow cannabis for medical purposes.

Its first crop of 5000 plants was sown last August in a secret greenhouse
in the south of England and is now ready for harvest.

The company will eventually grow 20,000 plants at the site, which is being
guarded round the clock. The plant - a member of the hemp family -
contains chemicals which can numb pain, easing the aches and spasms
associated with MS. Cannabis is also used by some epilepsy sufferers.

The 8 foot-tall plants will be chopped off just above the stem, hung to dry
and then ground up.

For the tests, which could begin within a few months, the powder will be
made into capsules, or given to patients using an inhaler.

Professor Tony Moffat, chief scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society,
believes the trials will prove cannabis has medical benefits.

"Although trials into the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids -
the active chemicals in cannabis - have taken place in the past, they have
never been accepted by the World Health Organisation as proof," he said.

He aid a sufficient number of patients would participate in the
scientifically-based trials to determine cannabinoid effectiveness for the
first time.

Some of the volunteers - made up of 600 with MS and 400 suffering from
post-operative pain - will take cannabis oil, while others will be given a
placebo.

Their health will be studied for up to two years by researchers led by
experts at Imperial College, London.

If the test results are accepted by the World Health Organisation, it would
pave the way for the Government to reclassify cannabis, making it legal
when prescribed by doctors but illegal for recreational use.

A recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report backed the
medical use of cannabis, a Class B drug.

The British Medical Association has also supported calls for the drug to be
put through clinical trials and made available on prescription.

Writer Sue Arnold, 56, uses cannabis to relieve a hereditary eye condition
that has left her almost completely blind.

She said a pill version of the drug could help thousands.

"For me it is beneficial," she told the BBC yesterday. "For MS sufferers
it is beneficial, so why not if it does relieve pain and spasms? As soon as
you take a joint they go and you feel better and you are guaranteed a good
night's sleep."

The Multiple Sclerosis Society which has called for clinical trials,
welcomed yesterday's launch of their details.

British doctors were allowed to prescribe cannabis until 1973, when it was
removed from a list of prescription drugs that still includes heroin and
morphine.

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

Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5 No. 2 (A summary
of European and international drug policy news, from CORA in Italy)

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 10:49:32 +0100
To: CORAFax EN (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
From: CORA Belgique (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
Subject: CORAFax #2 (EN)
Sender: owner-hemp@efn.org

ANTIPROHIBITIONIST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ....
Year 5 #2, Juanuary 14 1999

***

Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies

Edited by the CORA - Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination, federated to
- TRP-Transnational Radical Party (NGO, consultive status, I)
- The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War

***

director: Vincenzo Donvito
All rights reserved

***

http://www.agora.stm.it/coranet
mailto:cora.news@agora.stm.it

CORA NEWS

***

ITALY - 1998-2000 NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN AND DRUG ADDICTION

It has been published with a year's delay, and is full of good intentions
that have not been followed yet by any concrete action, which is made
impossible by the situation of pervasive illegality of the anti
prohibitionist laws.

***

ITALY/FRANCE - SAME HYPOCRICY IN ROME AND PARIS

The Italian and French Governments do not intend to change their anti
prohibitionist laws, although they speak of a pragmatic approach to the
drug question. The only policies that promote information, responsibility
and order are the Dutch and Swiss ones.

***

ITALY - INAUGURATION OF THE JUDICIAL YEAR

Las t year a change in style had been announced, but this year the new
General State Attorney has complained about the fact that keeping drugs for
personal use is not a crime anymore. The only way to stop crime related to
drugs is to adopt policies that legalise them, and not to enact emergency
laws or to suspend constitutional rights.

NEWS FROM THE WORLD

***

000441 08/01/99
E.U. / FRANCE
ADDICITION
MISCELLANEOUS

A special interministerial commission has proposed that alcohol and tobacco
be considered on the same level as heavy drugs, while the use of light
drugs should be depenalised and punished only with a fine.

***

000442 08/01/99
E.U. / FRANCE
ADDICITION
LIBERATION

Bertrand Lebeau, director of the Parmentier methadone center, asks where
the new policies on public health and drug addiction that the Prime
Minister had publicised have disappeared. He says that time to enact these
policies has not run out altogether.

***

000436 07/01/99
E.U. / NL
ADDICTION
FRANKFURTER

A research by the University of Rotterdam shows that in Holland the number
of habitual hashish consumers is of 323000 people (2,5% of the population),
half of what it was thought to be until now.

***

000437 14/01/99
E.U. / ITALY
ADDICTION
L'ESPRESSO

Buprenorfine is often used in France as a substitute for heroin. It can be
prescribed by general phisicians and because of this the number of addicts
that are turning to their family doctor has doubled. In Italy
pharmaceutical companies don't seem to be interested in this market.

***

000432 09/01/99
E.U. / ITALY / MILAN
CRIME
CORRIERE DELLA SERA / IL GIORNALE

In Milan the Albanese bosses control the drug market together with the
local mafia. 74,5% of the Milanese people sees the growing crime as a
direct consequence of drug traffic and prostitution, and 60% of them are
afraid to go out at night.

***

000433 08/01/99
E.U. / GERMANY
INITIATIVES
FRANKFURTER / SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.

The Health Minister, Andrea Fischer, says that the German Government will
soon start a project for controlled distribution of heroin, modelled on the
Swiss experience.

***

000434 09/01/99
EUROPE / SWITZERLAND
INITIATIVES
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.

Controlled distribution of heroin and other measures in favour of drug
addicts certainly can save human lives. In 1998 there have been 209 deaths
realated to drug consumption,31 less than in 1997.

***

000435 10/01/99
E.U. / FRANCE
INITIATIVES
LE MONDE

In a press conference Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who will run for the Green party
in the June European Elections, said:'If we want anything to change in our
city districts, we must change the polcies on drugs'.

***

000438 07/01/99
E.U. / ITALY
TRAFFIC
IL GIORNALE / THE TIMES

A lawyer has denounced the Cuban President, Fidel Castro, for international
drug traffic. He says he will present the same charge in Italy, Great
Britain and Belgium. The denounciation has also been signed by the daughter
of a Cuban colonel who was executed for drug traffic in 1989.

***

000439 14/01/99
AMERICA / USA
TRAFFIC
L'ESPRESSO

The marines of Camp Pendelton, on the border with Mexico, are involved in
cocaine trafficking. 50 of them were arrested last year during an
intervention by the DIA. A corporal was arrested for having introduced 14
tons of cocaine in the United States.

***

000443 16/01/99
AMERICA / COLUMBIA
WAR ON DRUGS
THE ECONOMIST

The USA, by financing with 290 million $ this year various initiatives
against drug traffic, are doing their part in the difficult peacemaking
process between the guerrilla and the Columbian government.

***

000444 13/01/99
AMERICA / COLUMBIA
WAR ON DRUGS
HERALD TRIBUNE

In Bolivia and Peru coca plantations are diminishing thanks to the
collaboration of their governments. In Columbia coca fields are augmenting.
The government negotiates peace with the guerrilla, which is allied with
the narcos and reluctant to collaborate.The USA supports those policies,
which don't make the plantation diminish, and the Columbian army, that has
been accused of crimes against human rights.

***

000445 12/01/99
E.U. / GB /
WAR ON DRUGS
THE TIMES

Andy Hayman has been appointed by Scotland Yard as Chief Coordinator in the
fight against drugs.

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

[End]