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Victim of police shooting led dual lives (The Associated Press describes the
curious case of Peter C. Gilbaugh, who held down a $55,000-a-year job, shot
the occasional round of golf, and lived in a tiny room in a low-income
building with a bathroom down the hall. That's where he was shot to death on
Dec. 31 during a late-night struggle with police who were called after he
urinated on a neighbor's door. Authorities have not released information
about Gilbaugh's blood-alcohol level at the time of the shooting, but his
friends say Gilbaugh was a friendly, level-headed man even when he had been
drinking.)

Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org

Victim of police shooting led dual lives

The Associated Press
1/19/99 4:14 AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- By day, Peter C. Gilbaugh enjoyed business lunches,
held down $55,000-a-year job and shot the occasional round of golf.

On his way home, though, he'd dump his clubs at a friend's house, take the
light-rail train downtown and return to his tiny room in a low-income
housing building with a bathroom down the hall.

That's where he was shot to death on Dec. 31 during a late-night struggle
with police.

About 3 a.m., two officers knocked at Gilbaugh's room, responding to a
complaint that he had been urinating on a neighbor's door.

Police said the 44-year-old came out fighting and shoved Officer Stephanie
D. Rabey into a wall so hard that her head dented the sheetrock.

The other officer, William D. Balzer, and Gilbaugh were wrestling on the
floor when Balzer's gun fired a shot into Gilbaugh's head, killing him.

As Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim McIntyre prepares to present the
shooting case to a grand jury for review Thursday, few details have emerged
about the encounter, but a picture of the victim has come into light.

Gilbaugh died on the last day of a year in which he made $55,000 in the
used-car business, but times had not always been that good. Several years
before, he bottomed out and had run-ins with police that brought him
drunken-driving convictions in 1993 and 1994.

Gilbaugh's mother died in 1992, which left him with no place to stay. After
living with friends for a short time, he eventually moved into the low-rent
building downtown and took up a job selling cars at Rytel Auto Truck
Warehouse in Milwaukie. Gilbaugh had worked there for nearly two years.

"He was very, very consistent as a salesman," said his sales manager Lee
Leslie. "He sold more cars for this company than any salesman in the
company's history."

Authorities have not released information about Gilbaugh's blood-alcohol
level at the time of the shooting, but his friends say Gilbaugh was a
friendly, level-headed man even when he had been drinking.

"He would come along to the beach with us, and we would have a few cocktails
and laugh and have a good time," said Carma Grohs. "Never once in the 10
years that I knew Peter did I ever see him be belligerent or be mean. The
only time I've seen him get angry at all is when he duffed a golf ball."

Leslie agreed that if Gilbaugh had attacked the two officers, the incident
was out of character.

"Far from becoming violent, he was a very loving, I-love-you guy after a few
drinks," Leslie said. "He was the sort of person who commanded respect. He
could talk to the owner of a company or a bum on the street."

While Gilbaugh made a name for himself and a sound living in the auto
business, he probably earned less than $10,000 when he first moved downtown.
That was the income restriction required to live in the Swindells Building
where he took up residence.

If the housing authority helped Gilbaugh get back on his feet, that was a
good result, said housing authority spokeswoman Joleen Colombo.

"We would like to see more people do that and become productive," she added.

(c)1998 Oregon Live LLC

Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Raids on California's medical marijuana outlets eased (The Washington Times,
in the District of Columbia, says California's new attorney general,
Bill Lockyer, promises that when local law enforcement agents refuse to shut
down pot clubs, he will not intervene. Mr. Lockyer also cautioned activists
not to expect his office to jump in and help them if and when local district
attorneys or federal authorities make arrests. "I'm not interested in
frivolous windmill tilting," Mr. Lockyer said. "If I can think of a theory
under which I can defend the state law the people passed, I will. But my
inclination is toward consensus, not confrontation, with the policy-makers.")

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:59:46 -0600
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DPFCA (dpfca@drugsense.org)
Subject: DPFCA: US CA WP MMJ: Raids on California's medical marijuana outlets eased
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
Source: The Washington Times (DC)
Contact: letter@twtmail.com
Website: www.washtimes.com
Pubdate: January 19, 1999

RAIDS ON CALIFORNIA'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA OUTLETS EASED

By Thomas D. Elias SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

SAN FRANCISCO - State law enforcement agents will no longer be raiding
medical marijuana outlets in California, and the newly installed Democratic
state attorney general has been talking to federal officials about changing
their laws.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer wishes he could do more to make practical
reality of his state's 1996 Proposition 215, which authorized use of medical
marijuana by patients with a doctor's recommendation. His stance is
precisely opposite that of his predecessor, Republican Dan Lungren, whose
agents sometimes raided marijuana co-ops that local and federal authorities
didn't want to deal with.

But Mr. Lockyer made it clear his election does not end this sometimes
confusing battle. In fact, the status of Proposition 215 may be more muddled
than ever.

"I would like to do what the people want, but we can't do it completely by
ourselves," he said. "As long as the federal government puts marijuana in
the same class as heroin as a dangerous narcotic, 215 will never really be
law."

But Mr. Lockyer promises that when local law enforcement agents refuse to
shut down pot clubs, he will not intervene. That's a sharp contrast to Mr.
Lungren, who sent state agents to raid pot co-ops and backed federal
prosecutors when they won court orders to close others.

"As an example, if the San Francisco club that Lungren raided were to
reopen, I would not raid it," Mr. Lockyer said.

Since local district attorney Terence Hallinan is a longtime backer of
medical pot, the only way that club or another one that still operates
quietly in the city could be shut down would be for federal agents to move
in.

Mr. Lockyer said he is frustrated by federal laws that now make it illegal
to grow or sell marijuana, even for medicinal purposes. He's already
lobbying federal officials to change the status of pot.

"The best suggestion for solving this problem is a two-parter," Mr. Lockyer
said. "First, we need to find ways to tighten our law to make sure that
medical marijuana doesn't become a vehicle for overall legalization. And
second, the federal government needs to make it a Schedule 2 drug that can
be prescribed. If we can give people morphine, why can't we give them this?"

Mr. Lockyer said the roots of his support for medical marijuana are highly
personal. "I watched my mother and sister die of leukemia and I know they
could have used this to ease their pain," he says. "People like Lungren say
medical marijuana will lead to overall legalization. But we've used morphine
and other opiates for many years, and no one except strict libertarians has
ever seriously suggested legalizing them for recreation."

Mr. Lockyer envisions a series of medical marijuana clinics around his
state, each carefully screening all customers to make sure their use of the
weed is strictly according to instructions from a physician. "But these
should be clinics, not cults, the way some of the marijuana clubs have
seemed to be at times.

"I've had talks already with the top federal law enforcement people on this,
and they seem fairly receptive," he said. "They know that Alaska, Arizona,
Oregon, Washington and Colorado have all passed their own medical marijuana
initiatives since we passed 215. In fact, wherever it's been voted on and
the ballots counted, it has passed. So it's not just crazy California by
itself any more."

But Mr. Lockyer realizes changing the status of marijuana for medical
purposes would be a dicey political move for the Clinton administration.

Noting that President Clinton has admitted smoking the weed as a youth but
claimed not to have inhaled, Mr. Lockyer said "that might make it
politically impossible for him to make the change."

Mr. Lockyer also cautioned activists not to expect his office to jump in and
help them if and when local district attorneys or federal authorities make
arrests. "I'm not interested in frivolous windmill tilting," Mr. Lockyer
said. "If I can think of a theory under which I can defend the state law the
people passed, I will. But my inclination is toward consensus, not
confrontation, with the policy-makers."

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Hunt For Cannabis Cure (The Daily Mail, in Britain, says two separate
research initiatives this year will try to establish if cannabis has
medicinal properties. The one carried out by a private company, GW
Pharmaceuticals, will involve an "aerosol mixture of pure cannabis."
The second, organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, will examine
whether the active ingredients in cannabis can be extracted and formulated
into a new medication somebody can make a lot of money off of.)

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 03:31:21 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: MMJ: Hunt For Cannabis Cure
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: webbooks@paston.co.uk (CLCIA)
Pubdate: Tue, 19 Jan 1999
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 1999 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Contact: letters@dailymail.co.uk

HUNT FOR CANNABIS CURE

THIS year will see two separate research initiatives which aim to
establish if cannabis does have medicinal properties.

One carried out by a private company, GW Pharmaceuticals, will involve
an aerosol mixture of pure cannabis.

The second, organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, will
examine whether the active ingredients in cannabis can be extracted
and formulated into a new medication.

If the research results are accepted as valid by the World Health
Organisation, then other pain sufferers will be able to use cannabis
on an individual 'named patient' basis until the law can be changed.

GW Pharmaceuticals spokesman, Mark Rogerson explains: "We are
producing an extract from the whole plants, which is a bit like syrup.
It will be delivered to the patient in the form of a heated vapour
because cannabis needs heat to work.

"Patients will use a very clever device rather similar to the
nebulisers used by people with asthma." In about six months time, two
trials will be carried out, overseen by the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society. One, involving 300 volunteers, will establish whether
cannabis can relieve post-operative pain (pain following surgery).

The other, with 600 volunteers, will check if the drug can relieve
muscle spasms in people with multiple sclerosis.

It has been estimated that 1000 people with MS already use cannabis
illegally to relieve muscle spasm.

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These Women Could Be The First To Take Cannabis Legally - But Should They
Be Allowed? (The Daily Mail interviews several British patients and "pillars
of the community" who currently break the law by using marijuana as medicine.
Each could be among the first Britons who will inhale cannabis legally as
part of a unique and controversial new study trying to establish if the herb
has medicinal effects. Why the women would break the law now in order to
purchase cannabis from street dealers if it didn't alleviate excruciating
pain and muscle spasms isn't explained.)

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 19:41:18 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: These Women Could Be The First
To Take Cannabis Legally - But Should They Be Allowed?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: webbooks@paston.co.uk (CLCIA)
Pubdate: Tues, 19 Jan 1999
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
Copyright: 1999 Associated Newspapers Ltd
Website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Contact: letters@dailymail.co.uk
Author: Ann Kent

THESE WOMEN COULD BE THE FIRST TO TAKE CANNABIS LEGALLY -
BUT SHOULD THEY BE ALLOWED?

These women are pillars of the community, the kind of people who always turn
up at school parents' evenings. Yet they also habitually break the law - by
smoking cannabis as a painkiller.

Now they could be among the first Britons to be administered the drug
legally. As part of a unique and controversial new study, they will inhale
cannabis to try to establish if it really does have medicinal effects. They
already take the illegal drug to alleviate excruciating pain and muscle
spasms, buying it from street dealers. At least now they will be able to
obtain it in a safe, standardised form.

DIANA BEEDLE, 44, from Torquay has been disabled with chronic back pain for
13 years. She says: "I tripped on the stairs when I was rushing to answer
the door and fell all the way down. It caused sever damage to discs,
vertebrae and nerves. I was on my back in hospital for three months, and
was left with severe pain and a leg that went into spasms.

"I stuck to prescription drugs for nearly three years and also tried TENS
machine and chiropractic. But nothing worked as well as cannabis -
something I tried, reluctantly, after a friend suggested it and bought some
for me.

I smoked it first thing in the morning. If I didn't, my muscles would go
into spasms and I would barely be able to move. I also smoke in the evening
to help me sleep. I see myself as a totally law-abiding citizen and would
hate anyone to think of me as a criminal. You see MPs interviewed with a
scotch in one hand and a cigarette in the other. They're taking much more
dangerous drugs than I am. There has never been a death attributed to
cannabis alone."

SYBIL LUCAS-BREWER, 43, of Preston was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid
arthritis ten years ago, and is registered as disabled. She says: "I don't
feel comfortable about taking an illegal drug, and using it is the most
illegal thing I have ever done. Unfortunately, with painkillers you get
immune to the effects.

"When my arthritis flares up, the pain is soul-destroying - life-sapping. If
you take too many painkillers, you just sit in a chair and dribble. You
want to go to sleep and not wake up.

"I try to relieve my pain by meditating, and use cannabis as a last resort.
It was something a friend told me about.

"If I am chosen for the trials there is a chance I will get a placebo, which
will do nothing for my pain. But it is worth the risk. I want the
authorities to realise how effective cannabis is, because even when I get
hold of it, I can't really afford it on my disability benefit.

"It is expensive because it is illegal. Cannabis would be cheap to
manufacture if legalised. If it could be made available as an aerosol
medicine, that would be ideal. It would hit the bloodstream instantly and
give maximum pain relief.

"An awful lot of people take cannabis, but you don't hear about them. When I
was in hospital a while ago, an old lady on the ward, who also had
arthritis, took me into the grounds and rolled me a joint. She was in her
70's and she was perfectly matter-of-fact about it."

CLARE HODGES, 41, a house-wife and mother from Leeds, has multiple
sclerosis. Seven years ago she set up the Alliance for Cannabis
Therapeutics (ACT) to campaign to have cannabis made available on
prescription. She says: "I am a nice, middle-class mother of two, and I
belong to our local Crimebusters Group. Until recently, the supporters of
Act have been lone voices. Now e have support in the House of Lords. I had
Ms for nine years before I tried cannabis. I found it stops muscle spasms
and helps against nausea. It also relieves bladder problems, so I don't
have to constantly get up in the night to go to the loo.

"I hope something is sorted out because thousands of people with medical
problems use cannabis in a potentially dangerous way. You don't know the
quality or the strength of what you are taking, and forced to break the law.

"I don't feel as if I am a threat to society. Nor are we a crowd of
dope-smokers - most people don't take enough to get high. We take cannabis
because we need to."

VOLUNTEERS for research should contact Disability Now, 6 Market Road,
London, N7 9PW

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