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

NORML Foundation Weekly News Release (Advocates Anticipate
Reopening San Francisco Medical Marijuana Facility; State Marijuana
Eradication Program Poses Environmental, Human Hazards, Residents
Testify; American Farm Bureau Drops Opposition To Hemp)

From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 17:55:29 EST
Subject: NORML WPR 1/20/99 (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 21, 1999
	
***

Advocates Anticipate Reopening San Francisco Medical Marijuana Facility

January 21, 1999, San Francisco, CA: Proponents are in final
planning stages to open what would be California's largest operating
medical marijuana dispensary. Advocates are encouraged by statements
made by new Attorney General Bill Lockyer who announced that he would not
raid state cannabis clubs.

"I watched my mother and sister die of leukemia and I know they could
have used [marijuana] to ease their pain," he said. Lockyer added that
he supports the existence of well-regulated statewide medical marijuana
dispensaries, and said that his office would not raid such a facility if
one were to re-open in San Francisco.

Jane Weirick, executive director of the San Francisco Patients
Resource Center, intends to do just that. "We plan to run a very tight
ship," she said, adding that she envisions opening an outlet comparable
in size to the former San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club. She said
that the city's existing clubs are too small to meet demand and hopes
that a new facility could serve thousands of patients.

Weirick said her group is searching for a building to house the
dispensary, which she intends to open by the end of February.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan voiced support for
the facility. "I've always said that it is more of a health issue than a
legal issue," he told The San Francisco Chronicle. "Locally, this should
strictly be a matter for the city Department of Health."

California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer agrees. "Medical
marijuana dispensaries are an asset to the community," he said. "They
provide medicine to the truly ill, divert traffic from street dealers,
generate gainful employment and taxes, and keep pot out of the hands of
kids. That's better than our federal policy has done."

Although approximately 30 medical marijuana facilities began
operating after the passage of Proposition 215, most closed their doors
because of raids by former Attorney General Dan Lungren and a civil
lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department.

For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer of
California NORML @ (415) 563-5858 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML
Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

State Marijuana Eradication Program Poses Environmental, Human Hazards,
Residents Testify

January 21, 1999, Redway, CA: Eyewitnesses and former CAMP
(California Against Marijuana Planting) employees testified at hearings
Monday to the environmental and human damage caused by the government's
aerial marijuana eradication program. Witnesses largely focused on the
dangers posed by the program's low-flying helicopter sweeps and
camouflaged, gun-toting agents.

"Every officer that's been in a helicopter involved in the CAMP
program, if they were going to tell you the truth, would say: 'Yes, we
have flown under 500 feet' [in violation of legally mandated
guidelines,]" testified Gary Holder, a former deputy sheriff and CAMP
officer. "We got as close as we could to treetops to hover; we have
looked into peoples windows."

California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer called the use of
helicopters and paramilitary personnel "unwarranted and inappropriate"
because marijuana poses minimal harms to public safety. Gieringer said
the only way to control marijuana cultivation would be through legally
regulated commerce.

Several other witnesses complained that the raids posed hazards to
wildlife and livestock, disrupted work and school, and risked public
safety.

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project (CLMP) and The Rights
Organization (TRO) organized Monday's hearings on behalf of plaintiffs in
a federal suit against the government's 1990 Operation Greensweep, in
which helicopters and armed troops invaded a remote wilderness area of
Humbolt County to eradicate marijuana. As part of the settlement in that
case, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was ordered to issue
guidelines for marijuana eradication operations in Northern California
and hold public hearings.

The BLM's proposed guidelines are open to public comment until
February 10, 1999. Copies are available from the offices of NORML Legal
Committee member Ron Sinoway at (707) 923-3905 or the CLMP at (707)
923-4646.

For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer of
California NORML @ (415) 563-5858 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML
Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.

***

American Farm Bureau Drops Opposition To Hemp

January 21, 1999, Albuquerque, NM: Delegates for the American Farm
Bureau Federation withdrew language approved last year opposing research
and domestic cultivation of industrial hemp, Reuters News Service
reported.

Representatives from 11 states pushed for the removal of the
language, adopted last year at the request of Missouri Farm Bureau
president Charles Kruse. Kruse lobbied the Farm Bureau after hearing
concerns from law enforcement that hemp and marijuana were
indistinguishable.

Delegates initially endorsed a resolution in 1996 to "encourage
research into the viability and economic potential of industrial hemp
production in the United States, ... includ[ing] planting test plots ...
using modern agricultural techniques." Delegates voted 198 to 168 last
year to reverse that position.

A spokesman from the Farm Bureau said they dropped their opposition
to hemp because farmers are in need of alternative crops, the Reuters
report said.

At least 29 nations, including Canada, France, England, Germany,
Japan, and Australia, allow farmers to grow non-psychoactive hemp for its
fiber content. This fall, authors of a University of North Dakota study
recommended allowing American farmers to grow test plots of hemp for
experimental production, and estimated that the crop could yield profits
as high as $141 per acre to farmers.

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

				- END -

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

Bill would add restrictions to assisted-suicide law (The Associated Press
says two at least Oregon legislators want to thwart the will of voters a
third time, and have introduced separate bills intended to restrict Oregon's
physician-assisted suicide law, the Death With Dignity Act. Senator Neil
Bryant, a Republican from Bend, denied his bill was meant to nullify the law.
The sponsor of the other bill isn't named.)

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

Bill would add restrictions to assisted-suicide law

The Associated Press
1/21/99 4:29 PM

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Two bills before the state Legislature are intended to
restrict Oregon's assisted suicide law.

The broader bill, introduced by Sen. Neil Bryant, R-Bend, would limit where
and with whom a terminally ill person could take lethal medication. It also
would spell out a system for investigating doctors who participate in an
assisted suicide but do not comply with the law.

The other piece of legislation would allow health care providers who oppose
assisted suicide to sanction doctors who perform assisted suicides on their
grounds.

While Bryant's bill would make more than a dozen changes in Oregon's
existing law, Bryant said it is not intended to block the law.

"It's an emotional issue," he said. "But when people realize you're not
talking about a referral or a repeal, hopefully that will take the emotion
out of it."

Instead of defining who is incapable of making the decision to use the
lethal medication, as stated in current law, the bill would define who is
capable -- potentially a higher standard. The bill also requires a patient
to designate another adult to be present when the patient takes the lethal
medication.

In addition, it would allow patients to use the medication only at a health
care facility, at a private home or at a doctor's office -- a condition that
would prevent patients from dying in public places, Bryant said.

"You can imagine the shock people have coming upon that," he said.

Bryant doesn't expect any opposition from supporters of assisted suicide.
His bill, he said, isn't an end-run around the law, which was overwhelmingly
upheld by voters in November.

So far, at least 15 terminally ill patients have taken a lethal dose of
medication under the assisted suicide law.

The law's supporters are circumspect about the latest legislation.

"We would want to look more closely at the language to make sure it's not
punitive and undermining," said Hannah Davidson with the Oregon Death with
Dignity Legal Defense and Education Center. "We would oppose anything that
limits a patient's ability to reasonably access the law."

George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion in Dying in Oregon and a
former state legislator, said the law doesn't need any changes.

"What we have going for us is this is working," Eighmey said. "There have
been no horror stories or mistakes. Everything has occurred as we predicted:
People die at home surrounded by loved ones."

But Dan Field, vice president of Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health
Systems, said the law needed stronger clarification about a hospital's right
to opt out. Hospitals have policies banning some procedures like abortion,
so he thought Bryant's legislation was appropriate.

"This doesn't interfere with access," Field said. "It's really not changing
anything that's not occurring now. It just makes clear what everybody's
rights are."

(c)1998 Oregon Live LLC

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

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

Bill would tighten assisted-suicide restrictions (The Oregonian version)

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/

Bill would tighten assisted-suicide restrictions

* The Senate proposal would limit where and with whom terminally ill
patients could take lethal medication

Thursday, January 21 1999

By Erin Hoover Barnett
and Lisa Grace Lednicer
of The Oregonian staff

Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law landed back on the operating table
in the Legislature this week with a bill that would restrict where and with
whom a dying person could use a lethal prescription.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Neil Bryant, R-Bend, also proposes more than a
dozen other changes in the law. Among them are an expanded definition of the
Oregon residency requirement and language giving hospitals the right to
sanction doctors who participate in an assisted suicide when it conflicts
with hospital policy.

Bryant said his measure is not intended to block implementation of the law
or to lead to another repeal effort, as happened when the Legislature last
debated doctor-assisted suicide in 1997.

"I feel it's our responsibility as a Legislature to properly implement an
initiative even though we don't agree with it," Bryant said. "It's an
emotional issue. But when people realize you're not talking about a referral
or a repeal, hopefully that will take the emotion out of it."

Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, the only one in the nation, was
approved by voters in 1994 but was blocked by a court injunction until Oct.
27, 1997. A week later, 60 percent of Oregon voters stopped a repeal measure
put on the ballot by legislators such as Bryant.

Advocates for the physician-assisted suicide law had not seen the bill
Wednesday. But George Eighmey, director of Compassion in Dying of Oregon and
a former House member who supported the assisted-suicide law, said, "The act
is working, and it's working quite well . . . so why are we changing
anything when it's working?"

Eighmey said, however, that he is willing to listen to reasonable
suggestions for changes. His organization would oppose any changes that
limit the access of dying Oregonians to this option, he said.

Bryant's bill, filed in draft form Wednesday, proposes that:

* A terminally ill patient must designate another adult to be present when
the patient takes the lethal medication. If the patient does not, the doctor
or other health care provider must do so.

* Patients can use the medication only at a health care facility, at the
patient's home or the home of another consenting person, or the medical
office or clinic of the attending physician.

* A qualifying resident is someone who can show such documentation as an
Oregon driver's license, voter registration or a recent tax return. Current
law limits participation to Oregon residents without defining the term.

* A new panel would advise the Oregon Health Division about how to handle a
doctor who has not complied with the law. The Oregon Board of Medical
Examiners handles this function, but that is not spelled out in the law.

The law generally prohibits sanctioning doctors if they follow the
assisted-suicide law. But the bill says doctors participating in assisted
suicide on the premises of a health care facility that forbids it could be
penalized.

And although the law defines who is incapable of making the decision to use
lethal medication, the bill suggests defining instead who is capable. It
also would add new language saying no one shall qualify for the law "solely
because of age or disability."

Bryant said another adult should be present at the time of an assisted
suicide in case the medication doesn't immediately take effect. "Let's say
you feel miserable, and you try to get help by driving a car," he said.
"That doesn't seem to be a good idea to me."

As for requiring that assisted suicide take place in certain places, Bryant
said he wants to prevent patients from dying in public places, such as in
the Capitol or on a beach.

"You can imagine the shock people have, coming upon that," he said. "Right
now, if you want to go to Cannon Beach and end your life, you could. Even if
you have a note pinned to your chest, police still have to do an investigation."

Gov. John Kitzhaber has not seen Bryant's bill. He has supported Oregon's
assisted-suicide law as the will of the people but would be willing to
consider improvements, said his spokesman, Bob Applegate.

"I can tell you for a fact that we have an open mind toward implementation
questions," he said. "I cannot tell you whether Sen. Bryant's bill is on the
right track."

A separate measure, Senate Bill 19, came out of an interim committee charged
with fine-tuning the assisted-suicide law. Rep. Lane Shetterly, a
co-chairman of the panel, said Providence Health System and the Oregon
Medical Association met with him and former Sen. Ken Baker, R-Clackamas, to
discuss whether a doctor could be sanctioned for participating in an
assisted suicide at hospitals such as Providence that forbid it.

Shetterly, R-Dallas, said the bill is awaiting review by Attorney General
Hardy Myers to determine whether the assisted-suicide law already allows
such sanctions.

Providence spokeswoman Marcia Williams said the bill's intent is to allow
Providence, and other hospitals that forbid assisted suicide, "to live out
our values within our facilities and our contractual arrangements. The law
as it stands is ambiguous, and what we're looking for is clarification."

Bryant's bill also could reopen a debate between doctors and pharmacists by
requiring that the drug's purpose be written on any prescription for
assisted suicide.

Doctors had opposed this, fearing a threat to patient confidentiality.
Pharmacists favored it to ensure they would know the purpose and could
choose not to participate.

The two professional groups reached a compromise last year.

Reporter Erin Hoover Barnett can be reached at 294-5011 or by e-mail at
ehbarnett@news.oregonian.com.

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

Libertarian Candidate For Governor Arrested In Marijuana Investigation
(The Associated Press version in the Oakland Tribune)

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 19:30:33 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Libertarian Candidate For Governor Arrested In
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: gsutliff@dnai.com (Gerald (Jerry) Sutliff)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)
Contact: eangtrib@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/
Copyright: 1999 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers

LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR ARRESTED IN MARIJUANA INVESTIGATION

TAHOE CITY, Calif. (AP) -- The 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for
governor and his wife were arrested after authorities found some 300
marijuana plants in their home.

Steve and Michele Kubby were detained Tuesday at their Olympic Valley
home near Tahoe City for investigation of cultivation of marijuana,
possession of marijuana for sale and conspiracy.

They were being held Wednesday at the Placer County jail in Auburn in
lieu of $100,000 bail each, and were scheduled to be arraigned
Thursday in Tahoe City.

Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force, a law enforcement unit
made up of investigators from Placer and Washoe counties and the
Nevada Division of Investigation, said officers found about 300
marijuana plants at the Kubby residence.

Officers said the plants are capable of producing five ounces to a
pound each of marijuana and have a street value of about $420,000.

The couple's attorney, Dale Wood of Truckee, said the marijuana
officers found at the Kubbys' home was being legally grown for medical
purposes and that the amount of bail was ``insane.''

``You find people who committed robbery, crimes of violence who have
lower bail settings than that,'' Wood said. ``It's like they have some
heinous criminal that has hurt someone. In fact, what they are growing
is medical marijuana.''

Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996, attempted to
allow seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana to ease pain
and nausea with a doctor's recommendations.

But efforts to implement the measure have largely failed because
opposition from former state Attorney General Dan Lungren and the
federal government.

Lungren's successor, Democrat Bill Lockyer, says he wants to make the
proposition work.

Wood said Steve Kubby uses marijuana as part of his treatment for
cancer and hypertension.

``Marijuana is the only thing that has been able to assist him,'' Wood
said. ``He has been advised by more than one physician to use
marijuana.''

Wood said Michele Kubby also uses marijuana for a medical condition
but he said he didn't know any details about her illness.

Steve Kubby, 52, publisher of an online recreation magazine, ran
fourth in the race for governor last November, taking nearly one
percent of the vote.

Mark Hinkle, chairman of the California Libertarian Party, called the
arrests ``an outrage and a slap across the faces of California voters.''

``Steve and Michele Kubby are law-abiding citizens and the police have
no authority to raid their home, throw them in jail and jeopardize
Steve's health,'' Hinkle said in a statement.

``How long will the state of California continue violating the will of the
voters? How many people will have to suffer or die before the government
realizes the extreme harm it is causing medical marijuana patients who are
denied their rightful medicine?''

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

Libertarian Candidate, His Wife Jailed After Raid
(The San Jose Mercury News version)

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 10:12:52 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Libertarian Candidate, His Wife Jailed After Raid
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Author: Reuters

MARIJUANA PLANTS ALLEGEDLY FOUND AT THEIR HOME

LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE, HIS WIFE JAILED AFTER RAID

TAHOE CITY -- Police arrested the Libertarian Party's 1998 candidate for
California governor and his wife after investigators found hundreds of
marijuana plants at their home, officials said Wednesday.

Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force said Steve Kubby, 52, and his
wife Michele were arrested Tuesday and were being held on $100,000 bail
apiece at the Placer County Jail.

Kubby, who placed fourth overall in the November election with 1 percent of
the vote, and Michele Kubby were to be formally arraigned today on charges
of cultivation and possession of marijuana and conspiracy, Allen said.

The Kubbys' attorney, Dale Wood, said the former candidate and his wife
were both medically approved to use marijuana under the provisions of
California's landmark 1996 state law.

"The D.A.'s position is hogwash,'' Wood said, adding that the high bail was
ridiculous. "If somebody took a baseball bat to their neighbor, they would
be free for less.''

Kubby, a strong proponent of the 1996 law known as Proposition 216, has
used marijuana for some 20 years as part of a treatment program for cancer
and hypertension, Wood said. Michele Kubby also has a medical prescription
for the drug, he said, but added that he did not know what specific ailment
she suffers from.

Wood said the Kubbys intended to argue that the estimated 300 marijuana
plants found on their property at Olympic Valley were entirely for personal
use.

Police estimated that the plants could produce up to a pound of marijuana
apiece, with a total street value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

California's medical marijuana initiative was all but derailed last year by
Republican state Attorney General Dan Lungren and the federal government,
which argued that existing anti-narcotics laws prevented any legal use of
marijuana.

But Lungren's Democratic successor Bill Lockyer has said he hopes to find a
way to implement the state law, which allowed people suffering from AIDS,
cancer and other serious ailments to use the drug under a doctor's
guidance.

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

Medicinal Marijuana Advocate Arrested For Cultivation
(The Tahoe Daily Tribune version)

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 08:59:23 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Medicinal Marijuana Advocate Arrested For
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Source: Tahoe Daily Tribune
Copyright: Tahoe Daily Tribune
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1998
Website: http://www.tahoe.com/tribune/
Email: tribune@tahoe.com
Forum: http://www.tahoe.com/community/forum/index.html
Author: Joelle Babula

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE ARRESTED FOR CULTIVATION

OLYMPIC VALLEY - A former Libertarian candidate for governor and his wife
were arrested Tuesday on drug charges.

Steve Kubby, 52, and his wife, Michele, 32, were charged with possession of
marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy, according to a
report from the North Tahoe Task Force.

Following a six-month investigation, members of the North Tahoe Task Force
obtained a warrant to search the Kubby's residence at 1102 Olympic Way in
Squaw Valley.

"Investigators located four separate grow rooms in the residence, one in an
unused shower stall, one in a room built under the house, one in a
downstairs room and the last in the unfinished dirt area of the basement,"
the report said.

Libertarian state chair Mark Hinkle said Kubby uses marijuana for medicinal
purposes and has a doctor's approval to use it. Kubby played a key role in
the campaign to pass Proposition 215 - the medicinal marijuana bill - in
1996, he said.

"This arrest is a slap across the faces of California voters," Hinkle said.

Although the investigation into the Kubbys has been going on for six
months, Lt. Mike Allen of the Nevada Division of Investigation, said he
couldn't comment at press time about what triggered the probe.

"They are still in jail in Auburn right now," Allen said.

Also according to the report, approximately 300 marijuana plants, ranging
in size from small nursery plants to full grown plants with buds were
confiscated. Other evidence removed from the residence included growing
equipment and drug paraphernalia.

The total street value of the confiscated drugs is estimated at $420,000.

Kubby, a 23-year cancer survivor, is an active proponent of medical
marijuana use. On his Web site, Alpine World ( http://www.alpworld.com/ ),
Kubby credits the use of medical marijuana to his survival.

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

Candidate Arrested For Pot (The Tahoe World version)

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 16:16:35 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Candidate Arrested For Pot
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: rlake@mapinc.org
Source: Tahoe World (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Tahoe World
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Contact: world@tahoe.com
FAX: (530) 583-7109
Mail: P.O. Box 138, Tahoe City, CA 96145
Website: http://www.tahoe.com/world/
Forum: http://www.tahoe.com/community/forum/index.html
Author: Joelle Babula

CANDIDATE ARRESTED FOR POT

OLYMPIC VALLEY - California Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate and Olympic
Valley resident Steven Kubby was arrested Tuesday and charged with growing
marijuana in his home.

Kubby, 52, and his wife, Michele, 32, were charged with possession of
marijuana for sales, cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy, according to
a report from the North Tahoe Task Force.

Following a six month investigation, members of the North Tahoe Task Force
obtained a warrant to search the Kubby's residence at 1102 Olympic Way in
Squaw Valley.

"Investigators located four separate grow rooms in the residence, one in an
unused shower stall, one in a room built under the house, one in a
downstairs room and the last in the unfinished dirt area of the basement,"
the report said.

Although the investigation of the Kubbys had been going on for six months,
Lt. Mike Allen of the Nevada Division of Investigation, said he couldn't
comment at press time about what triggered the investigation.

"They are still in jail in Auburn right now," Allen said.

Also according to the report, approximately 300 marijuana plants, ranging
in size from small nursery plants to full grown plants with buds were
confiscated. Other evidence removed from the residence included growing
equipment and drug paraphernalia.

The total street value of the confiscated drugs is estimated at $420,000.

Kubby, a 23-year cancer survivor, is an avid proponent of medical marijuana
use. On his Web site, Kubby credits the use of medical marijuana to his
survival.

As well, during his campaign for governor, Kubby advocated the legal use of
marijuana for medical purposes.

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

Former Calif. Governor Hopeful Held On Drug Charge (The Reuters version)

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 19:14:13 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Wire: MMJ: Former Calif. Governor Hopeful Held On Drug
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: The Media Awareness Project
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999

FORMER CALIF. GOVERNOR HOPEFUL HELD ON DRUG CHARGE

TAHOE CITY, Calif. (Reuters) - Police arrested the Libertarian Party's 1998
candidate for California governor and his wife after investigators found
hundreds of marijuana plants at their home, officials said Wednesday.

Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force said Steve Kubby, 52, and his
wife Michele were arrested Tuesday and were being held on $100,000 bail
apiece at the Placer County Jail in this resort area near Lake Tahoe.

Kubby, who placed fourth overall in the November election with one percent
of the vote, and Michele Kubby were to be formally arraigned Thursday on
charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana and conspiracy, Allen said.

The Kubby's attorney, Dale Wood, said the former candidate and his wife
were both medically approved to use marijuana under the provisions of
California's landmark 1996 state law.

``The D.A.'s position is hogwash,'' Wood said, adding that the high bail
was ridiculous. ``If somebody took a baseball bat to their neighbor, they
would be free for less,'' he said.

Kubby, a strong proponent of the 1996 law known as Prop. 216, has used
marijuana for some 20 years as part of a treatment program for cancer and
hypertension, Wood said. Michele Kubby also has a medical prescription for
the drug, he said, but added that he did not know what specific ailment she
suffers from.

Wood said the Kubbys intended to argue that the estimated 300 marijuana
plants found on their property at Olympic Valley, Calif., were entirely for
personal use.

Police estimated that the plants could produce up to a pound of marijuana
apiece, with a total street value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

California's medical marijuana initiative was all but derailed last year by
Republican state Attorney General Dan Lungren and the federal government,
which argued that existing anti-narcotics laws prevented any legal use of
marijuana.

But Lungren's Democratic successor Bill Lockyer has said he hopes to find a
way to implement the state law, which allowed people suffering from AIDS,
cancer and other serious ailments to use the drug under a doctor's
guidance.

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

Outrage In Law (A staff editorial in the Orange County Register
says the arrest of the Libertarian candidate for governor is outrageous,
and raises yet again the question of whether Proposition 215 will ever be
implemented properly in California. It would be helpful to hear more from
Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who could do much to ensure compassionate
and uniform enforcement of the law. The refusal of the local sheriff's
department to provide Mr. Kubby any marijuana while he is in jail is
outrageous. But it highlights the need to develop guidelines for the
implementation of Prop. 215, a responsibility the previous attorney general
shirked.)

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 18:49:49 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Editorial: Outrage In Law
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Mark Greer
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com

OUTRAGE IN LAW

Steven Kubby, the Libertarian Party candidate for governor and an
acknowledged medical marijuana patient, and his wife Michele were arrested
Tuesday and charged with possession of marijuana for sales, cultivation and
conspiracy.

About 300 plants were confiscated with street value estimated at $420,000,
according to Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force.

The arrest, which followed a six-month investigation, raises yet again the
question of whether Proposition 215 will ever be implemented properly in
California. It would be helpful to hear more from Attorney General Bill
Lockyer, who campaigned as a supporter of the rights of medical marijuana
patients and could do a great deal to ensure compassionate and uniform
enforcement of the law.

The law -- Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code -- exempts
patients with an authorization from a licensed physician and "primary
caregivers" from the laws against possession, cultivation and use of
marijuana. Selling, transporting and distributing marijuana are still
illegal under state law, although appeals court decisions suggest the
necessity of some leeway for patients and caregivers. So far no court has
determined exactly how much leeway will be allowed and the state has not
issued guidelines.

Mr. Kubby and his wife are patients who say they have authorization from
licensed physicians and who acknowledge they grow marijuana plants in their
basement for their own use but deny they distribute to anyone. They were
rousted from their home in North Lake Tahoe Tuesday evening by a dozen
members of the North Tahoe Narcotics Task Force and taken to the Placer
County Jail in Auburn. Their bail, Mr. Kubby said, was set at $100,000 each
and they were denied access to marijuana while in jail.

This is of great concern to those who know the couple. Mr. Kubby, 52, has
malignant pheochronocycoma, or terminal adrenal cancer. Without medication,
he says, his blood pressure "spikes" to dangerous levels. When we talked to
him from jail yesterday afternoon he told us he had had three episodes of
high blood pressure and was concerned that he might have a stroke.
Marijuana works for Mr. Kubby better than conventional medications, and his
doctor has authorized it. (The Kubby's attorney, Dale Wood, told us he
didn't know what Michele's medical condition is, but that she does have a
physician's recommendation.)

Mr. Wood said the local sheriff's department has refused to provide Mr.
Kubby any marijuana while he is in jail. Such a decision is outrageous. But
it highlights the need to develop guidelines for the implementation of
Prop. 215, a responsibility the previous attorney general shirked.

The real outrage is that Mr. Kubby was arrested at all. As Robert Raich, an
attorney who is a member of the city of Oakland's medical marijuana working
group, told us, "I can't think of anybody to whom Prop. 215 more directly
applies than Steve Kubby. He has a physician's authorization and he was
growing only for his and his wife's personal medical use. It's troubling
that he won't have access to his medicine while in jail, but it's even more
troubling that he is in jail at all. Prop. 215 was written to keep patients
out of jail."

Bill Lockyer's press representative, Hilary McLean, told us that the
attorney general's policy is usually not to intervene in local decisions on
prosecution and she knew of no plans to intervene in Mr. Kubby's case.

It should be the attorney general's job to make sure that law enforcement
officials abide by the statewide law. California voters passed Prop. 215
more than two years ago. The proposition itself hasn't been challenged in
court and has not been overturned -- although various law enforcement
agencies have nibbled at its edges in the way they have treated patients.

It's time for law enforcement and the courts to respect that law.

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

Kubbys Released OR! (The Media Awareness Project breaks the news
that medical marijuana patients Steve and Michele Kubby have been released
from jail on their own recognizance following their cultivation bust
in Tahoe City, California.)

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 16:22:58 -0800
To: "dpfca@drugsense.org" (dpfca@drugsense.org)
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DPFCA: Kubby's Released OR!
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/

I just got word that Steve and Michele Kubby were released on their Own
Recognizance (OR). This means that the bail of $100,000 each was reduced to
nothing. The judge didn't even want to hear the arguments for maintaining the
idiotic bail. Good guys one Jack booted thugs zero!

Mark Greer
Executive Director
DrugSense
MGreer@mapinc.org
http://www.drugsense.org
http://www.mapinc.org

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

Hawaiian Officer Warns On Cannabis (The Dominion, in New Zealand,
says Honolulu police officer Leighton Kaonohi, founder of the No Hope in Dope
programme, has just returned to Hawaii after a two-week observation trip
to New Zealand. He said New Zealand politicians appeared to be seriously
considering loosening the law on cannabis use and possession, and police
were half-hearted about enforcing the law. "I was appalled. In America,
I know of no law enforcement agency that would ever succumb to legalisation
in any form," he said. The high proportion of people of indigenous heritage
in prisons - 80 per cent in Hawaii and 50 per cent in New Zealand - was a
direct result of drug use, he said.)

Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 18:43:29 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: New Zealand: Hawaiian Officer Warns On Cannabis
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: David Hadorn (hadorn@dnai.com)
Pubdate: Thur, 21 Jan 1999
Source: Dominion, The (New Zealand)
Website: http://www.inl.co.nz/wnl/dominion/index.html
Contact: letters@dominion.co.nz
Author: JONATHAN MILNE

HAWAIIAN OFFICER WARNS ON CANNABIS

HAWAIIAN drug enforcement officer has criticised the New Zealand police's
"soft and lazy" stance in dealing with cannabis problems.

Honolulu police officer Leighton Kaonohi, founder of the No Hope in Dope
programme, has just returned to Hawaii after a two-week observation trip to
New Zealand. During that time he spoke to schools, maraes and the local No
Hope in Dope organisation about the dangers of marijuana.

He said New Zealand politicians appeared to be seriously considering
loosening the law on cannabis use and possession, and police were
half-hearted about enforcing the law.

"I was appalled. In America, I know of no law enforcement agency that would
ever succumb to legalisation in any form," he said. "Federal, state and
municipal law enforcement agencies continue to take a fervent stand against
any form of legalisation - any form ... at all."

He said cannabis was a particular problem among indigenous peoples such as
native Hawaiians and Maoris, who were generally in a lower socioeconomic
group.

The high proportion of people of indigenous heritage in prisons - 80 per
cent in Hawaii and 50 per cent in New Zealand - was a direct result of drug
use, he said.

"It's from drug use that people are led to a number of other crimes, from
burglaries to homicide."

Despite Hawaii's and New Zealand's relative isolation as island states, he
said customs services were unable to stop the influx of hard drugs. He said
cannabis was a drug that nations could never afford to legalise, and
enforcement needed to take the forefront, along with education. He pointed
to Singapore, with its tough anti-drug laws, as an example that New Zealand
and the United States could follow.

"The people of New Zealand cannot allow, in any way, shape or form, the
legalisation of a drug that's been proven scientifically to not only be
harmful to anyone who uses it, but [also] has absolutely no health benefit
to users."

Through a spokeswoman, Government duty minister Bill English said cannabis
was a controlled drug and it was illegal to possess it.

"The Government has not signalled any intention to change that, but there's
a legitimate debate about the best way to avoid the harm it can do," he
said.

Mr Kaonohi said he visited medical clinics in Waikato, where children and
adults exhibited physical problems and sickness stemming from marijuana use.

A lax attitude to drug enforcement in Hawaii five or six years ago had
resulted in problems in the schools and social services, with children and
babies impaired by their parents' drug use, he said. More than 1000 "drug
babies" were born each year in Hawaii - a problem that New Zealand could
also face.

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

HPD chief unveils plan to expand DARE programs (The Houston Chronicle
says that five months after an independent study found the city's
$3.7 million a year DARE program largely ineffective, Houston Police Chief
C.O. Bradford on Wednesday announced plans to expand the drug awareness
program so it reaches students in fourth grade and 10th grades,
as well as parents.)

From: adbryan@ONRAMP.NET
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 07:23:01 -0600 (CST)
Subject: ART: HPD chief unveils plan to expand DARE programs
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

There going to expand the DARE program into lower grades?
What the hell are they trying to do -- make age 6 the average
age of first drug use? DARE encourages drug use.

***

1-21-99
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com
viewpoints@chron.com

HPD chief unveils plan to expand DARE programs

By MATT SCHWARTZ
Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle

Five months after an independent study found the city's DARE program
largely ineffective, Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford on Wednesday
announced plans to expand the drug awareness program to younger students
as well as parents.

Calling it an enhanced Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, Bradford
said Houston police also will include other local anti-drug and alcohol
programs as a way to reinforce the DARE message.

Bradford unveiled the plan in a presentation to City Council on
Wednesday, saying he believed the changes would make Houston's DARE a
model program for the nation.

"I think DARE works," Bradford said. "I think DARE must be revised
before we can move forward with the program."

Last August, a study by a University of Houston-Downtown social sciences
professor concluded that the city's DARE program was only marginally
successful in steering youngsters away from substance abuse.

"There is very little compelling evidence to suggest that the primary
goal of the DARE program is being reached at a statistically significant
level," Professor Bruce Gay wrote.

On Wednesday, Gay stood beside Bradford and discussed the changes
recommended by an advisory committee convened by the chief after
receiving last year's critical study.

Among the changes:

* The program will be expanded to younger and older students. During the
last school year, 29,100 fifth-graders and 24,200 seventh-graders were
taught the 17-week DARE curriculum. In addition, 135,000 kids in
kindergarten through fourth grade received visits from DARE officers.

Under the revised program, the early grade visits would be discontinued
in lieu of a set of four 20-minute lessons presented to about 17,000
fourth-graders. Bradford said that would begin during the current
semester.

By narrowing the focus to fourth-graders, DARE officers will be able to
spend more time with students, he said.

The chief said the department also would begin a pilot program for
10th-graders at Madison High School this semester.

* HPD will make the DARE program available to all parents, emphasizing
communication, peer pressures, resistance skills, media messages, drug
recognition and an examination of their own lifestyles and choices that
may influence their children.

Bradford said the DARE parent programs and materials would be offered in
the workplace, as well as at public facilities across the city.

"Children, in some instances, know more about drugs, and the anti-drug
methods and drug recognition than parents do," the chief said.
"Unfortunately, some of the parents are not armed with the information
they need to provide the proper guiding, coaching, counseling for their
children."

Bradford hopes to include other anti-drug, anti-tobacco and
anti-violence programs in DARE. Implementing programs such as the STEP
Tobacco Program and the Palmer Drug Abuse Program could reinforce the
DARE message, Bradford said.

* An annual professional evaluation of the DARE program would be
conducted to ensure its objectives are being met.

Council member Ray Driscoll, who has been one of the strongest critics
of DARE, commended Bradford for revising the program. During last year's
budget process, Driscoll unsuccessfully attempted to cut the city's DARE
funding by 50 percent, arguing that the program was ineffective.

Driscoll said he was particularly pleased to see the department look to
other local programs in making the changes.

"I think we are going in the right direction," the council member said.
"It's not necessarily the same direction as the national DARE. I'm
hoping the trial program you're going to be running this semester works
out."

Bradford said the national program, DARE America, had participated in
the committee and agreed to the recommendations to deviate from its
original curriculum.

Mayor Lee Brown also praised the changes, saying he thought it would
make the program better.

The city's DARE program costs $3.7 million a year to operate. Bradford
said the changes could be implemented at no additional cost to the city.

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

Prisons Aren't Answer To Drug Problem (An op-ed in the Des Moines Register
by an attorney in Cedar Rapids says roughly 60 percent of the inmates in Iowa
prisons have been arrested for drug offenses. The drug war - with its
billions of dollars spent, with its mandatory jail sentences, with its
additional prisons - hasn't reduced demand one whit. The London Economist
raised the question, "How long will the American people permit this bloody
and useless war to continue?" The answer is - just as long as people fall
for the propaganda that decriminalizing drugs will make zombies of us and
just as long as they fall for the political propaganda that drug usage can
be controlled or eliminated by force.)

Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 16:49:37 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IA: OPED: Prisons Aren't Answer To Drug Problem
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Carl Olsen
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 99
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 1999, The Des Moines Register.
Website: http://www.dmregister.com/
Contact: letters@news.dmreg.com
Page: 9A
Author: David M. Elderkin

PRISONS AREN'T ANSWER TO DRUG PROBLEM

10 Years Ago, Rehnquist Warned That These Cases Would Cripple Our
Courts

A front-page article in the Jan. 9 Register stated that "unless Iowa
curtails the growth of its prison population, the state will need to
build at least six news prisons by 2008. They would cost about $175
million to build and cost more than $285 million if the money were
borrowed. The number of our prisoners in Iowa jails will go to more
than 14,000 over the next decade, in which event Iowa will need to
construct the equivalent of six 750-bed prisons simply to maintain a
prison system operating at less than 140 percent of its designed capacity."

It seems to me that it might take a little more than our politicians'
wisdom, but a little less than a genius, to first analyze whom we are
putting in these prisons and why.

Roughly 60 percent of the inmates in Iowa prisons are those arrested
for drug offenses - about one-third of whom are there not for selling,
but for simple drug possession. About another third are there for
larceny, robbery and murder in order to get enough money to buy drugs.

We have an obsession that drug use can be eliminated or curtailed by
putting people in jail. And if this doesn't do it, we extend the jail
terms with mandatory sentences. New federal sentencing guidelines
provide that a person caught with crack cocaine, with no prior
convictions, can be given life in prison with no chance of parole.

Senator Charles Grassley 10 years ago in an essay in the Register
stated that a reinvigorated criminal system will attack the problem at
its point of attack against American society. He said it would take
back the streets and provide a drug-free America tomorrow. Well, this
is tomorrow. Even as moderate a person as Gov. Tom Vilsack wants to
give meth dealers life imprisonment. Grassley also stated that drug
users are enemies of society, echoing William Bennett, the first drug
czar, who made the statement as he was putting out a cigarette.

It isn't that we haven't been warned. Ten years ago, Chief Justice
William Rehnquist warned that drug cases were crippling our courts.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Irving of San Diego announced his
resignation: "It's a game I can't continue to play." He had sentenced
some 900 people for drug convictions, and he said, "Every time I put
somebody in jail, I get five more. There is so much money in it that
there is always somebody to fill their shoes."

Judge Myron H. Bright of the 8th Circuit, which includes Iowa, said,
"This is the time to call a halt to unnecessary and expensive costs of
putting people in prison for a long time based upon the mistaken
notion that such an effort will win the war on drugs."

According to the U.S. Customs Service, the war on drugs has not made a
dent in the total drug supply. Nor has filling our jails and
penitentiaries cut down on the number of drug dealers. There is
simply too much money involved.

Most important, all of the drug war - with its billions of dollars
spent, with its mandatory jail sentences, with its additional prisons
- hasn't reduced the demand one whit. I don't for a moment advocate
or sympathize with the use of drugs. We haven't had a drug-free
society since the first human being dropped out of the trees and
nibbled on a betel nut. Why this is true, I don't know. Certainly it
must be addressed and up a point it can be, but not by the clumsy
method of carting everyone off to jail. As we are beginning to find,
we don't have enough jails.

Of the billions of dollars we've spent on the drug war, 70 percent
goes for police arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment. Only 30
percent is spent on education and treatment. Not too long ago, an
attempt was made in Congress to reverse this percentage and spend 70
percent for education and treatment. It was defeated. Ask your
representatives in Washington how they voted on this one.

The London Economist raised the question, "How long will the American
people permit this bloody and useless war to continue?" The answer, I
think, is just as long as the people fall for the propaganda that
decriminalizing drugs will make zombies of us and just as long as
they fall for the political propaganda that drug usage can be
controlled or eliminated by force.

Refreshingly, the scene is changing a little. Federal drug czar
Barry McCaffrey has made at least a 90-degree turn from the Bennett
line by publicly stating that the drug answer is not to see how many
people we can lock up.

And the splendid Jan. 10 essay by U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt on
senseless sentencing is particularly rewarding. Perhaps, as Freud
observed, "The voice of the intellect is soft, but persistent."

DAVID M. ELDERKIN, Cedar Rapids attorney.

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

NYPD to begin seizing cars of people arrested for drunk driving
(According to the Associated Press, New York City Police Commissioner
Howard Safir said Thursday that police would implement a Zero Tolerance
Drinking and Driving Initiative in the next month, under which anyone
arrested for driving drunk will have their car forfeited.)

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 21:25:16 -0500
From: ARON KAY* (pieman@pieman.org)
Reply-To: pieman@pieman.org
Organization: WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN!
CC: cp@telelists.com
Subject: [cp] Re: GOVT. THEFT

Mike Steindel wrote:

Well a whole lot of people are gonna start getting a taste of what its
like to lose it all...It started as a law for Drug Kingpins. Then it was
for any amount of dope...It was extended to include John's seeking
Prostitutes and now its made it to Driving under the Influence...It will
not be safe to drive cause they want your PROPERTY...Next you will loose
your car for playing subversive music...and get ten years too....What if
you are sleeping in a car after a party, you could be homeless...HOW
ABOUT SOME COMMENTS....Here's the story....mike

***

NYPD to begin seizing cars of people arrested for drunk driving

By DONNA DE LA CRUZ
The Associated Press
01/21/99 8:10 PM Eastern

NEW YORK (AP) -- Anyone arrested for driving drunk in New York City will
have their cars seized and not given back unless they are acquitted of
the charges, the police commissioner said Thursday.

"There's nothing more serious to the innocent public than people who
drive drunk," Commissioner Howard Safir said.

The NYPD plans to implement its so-called "Zero Tolerance Drinking and
Driving Initiative" within the next month, Safir said. He said New York
is the first major city to implement such an initiative.

Under the forfeiture provision in the city's administrative code, police
can seize "instrumentalities of crime," Safir said. But the provision
does not specifically say that police can seize cars from drunk drivers.
"This is a creative use of a law designed to deal with instrumentalities
of crime," Safir said.

Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union,
thinks Safir's plan can be legally challenged because the provision does
not cite drunk driving.

"The executive branch can't add punishment to the drunk driving laws,"
Siegel said. "We recognize that drunk driving is a serious crime, but an
open-ended grant of authority ... is not adequate in our perspective."

Last year, 6,368 people were arrested for drunk driving in the city,
down slightly from 1997 when there were 6,836 arrests. There were 31
fatalities attributed to DWI last year, compared with 52 in 1997,
according to police statistics.

***

November Coalition Forum

***

ARON KAY
Please visit the following:
http://www.pieman.org
http://www.acidtrip.com
http://www.calyx.net/~pieman
IGNORANCE IS THE OPIATE OF THE MASSES!
WHEN PIES ARE OUTLAWED!
ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE PIES!

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

Ex-trooper gets jail for cocaine theft (The Morning Call, in Allentown,
Pennsylvania, says Charles F. Ondo, an undercover state trooper who stole
2-1/2 kilos from an evidence room in Bethlehem to feed his own addiction,
was sentenced Wednesday to eight months in prison. According to the
prosecutor, the sentence was more than a civilian with no criminal record in
a similar situation may have gotten.)

From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Ex-trooper gets jail for cocaine theft
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 18:57:43 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net

[How to steal 2-1/2 kilos of cocaine from the police evidence room to
feed your addiction and only get an 8-month minimum? Wear a badge! --cc]

Newshawk: ccross@november.org
Source: The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
Online: http://www.mcall.com/html/news/allentwn/29961.htm
Reply: letters@mcall.com

Ex-trooper gets jail for cocaine theft

Charles F. Ondo turned to the drug out of stress, quickly became addicted.

01/21/99
By DEBBIE GARLICKI of The Morning Call

Charles F. Ondo sometimes had two personalities. His job required it.

As an undercover state trooper whose beard and long hair were disguises, he
would mix with unsavory characters. Then he'd put on a suit, raise his right
hand and testify in court.

The recipient of numerous commendations, Ondo later found his two roles
switched. He was masquerading in a trooper's uniform.

''At home, I was looking in the mirror at a drug addict,'' said the
33-year-old who had achieved the rank of corporal.

A cocaine addiction that led him to steal 2-1/2 kilos of the drug from an
evidence room of Troop M in Bethlehem has landed him in the same place as
some of the people he arrested.

Ondo, a trooper for nine years and a former Marine, was sentenced Wednesday
to eight months to four years in state prison. He also was fined $6,000.
''This is not a pleasant sentence to impose,'' said Lehigh County Judge
William H. Platt.

The judge said he thought long and hard about whether to send Ondo to a
state prison or the county jail. He decided that Ondo would be safer in the
state prison system, which has procedures for classifying inmates.

Platt agreed to add a comment to sentencing sheets notifying prison
authorities that Ondo was a state trooper, who could be a target of
harassment or worse if housed with the wrong crowd.

Six witnesses, including a retired trooper and friend, testified at the
hearing that Ondo was a loving father to his 4-1/2-year-old son and a
standout police officer who entered law enforcement not to arrest people,
but to help them.

Ondo spoke at length about how he turned to cocaine to cope with stress in
his life. Almost overnight, he said, he was hooked.

''It shows that nobody is immune from getting addicted to drugs,'' said
Assistant District Attorney Theodore Racines. The jail sentence ''shows the
evils of drugs and what can happen to good people who start to use drugs.''

Platt denied a defense request to delay the sentence so Ondo could tend to
personal affairs before going to prison.

While deputy sheriffs waited to take him from the courtroom, Ondo hugged his
girlfriend over the railing separating the gallery from the judge and jury
area.

He doubled over and cried loudly before standing and embracing other friends.

Platt said he was impressed with the support Ondo received from his family
and friends, his sincere statement in court and his record as an officer.

But the judge noted that he also had to consider the large quantity of
cocaine that had been stolen over 1-1/2 years and the fact that his illegal
conduct could have impaired prosecutions.

Ondo said he intentionally only stole cocaine from cases that had been
closed. While he was a custodial officer in property management, he replaced
the drug with baking soda.

He was arrested in June and later resigned. Tests on Ondo's hair indicated
he was a chronic cocaine user. Ondo never sold any of the drug.

The sentence wasn't the harshest Ondo could have received but it was more
than a civilian with no criminal record in a similar situation may have
gotten, the prosecutor said.

Ondo received a sentence at the top of the aggravated range of state
sentencing guidelines. Someone else pleading guilty to theft may have
received a sentence in the standard range, which is probation to a month in
jail, Racines said. He called Ondo's term ''a substantial sentence.''

Ondo said he wanted to apologize to all troopers and to tell them he is
sorry he disgraced their name.

''I respected my job. I still respect it,'' he said. ''I am the one who made
the mistake.

''I was not a borderline cop who went bad,'' he said. Ondo now sees his
friends driving by in troopers' cars and regrets the loss of their
friendship and a promising career, he said.

Platt read letters written on Ondo's behalf by former prosecuting attorneys,
police dispatchers and state police officials.

Ondo said he tried to kick the habit. The duplicity sickened him when he'd
put on his uniform and look in the mirror. He'd flush the drug down the
toilet.

He attended a rehabilitation program at night because he didn't want to lose
his job. One or two months would go by, and he'd find himself wanting
cocaine again.

Shortly after his arrest, he got a sales job for a company that sells pagers
and cellular phones. Witnesses said he excelled and was in line for a
promotion.

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

$6 million study to sniff out the appeal of coffee (The Associated Press
says Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is due to open its
Institute for Coffee Studies in the next six months with $6 million from
trade groups in top coffee-growing nations in South America. "We're going
to help people get over the idea that coffee is caffeine," said Peter Martin,
the director of Vanderbilt University's Addiction Center, who will head the
institute. "Caffeine actually is a very small component of coffee. There are
a lot of other components in coffee that are not very well understood." Some
studies have suggested coffee can help relieve depression, treat alcoholism
and prevent colorectal cancer. The institute's mission is to understand why.)

From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: $6M study on appeal of coffee
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 16:41:04 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net

Posted at 06:19 a.m. PST; Thursday, January 21, 1999

$6 million study to sniff out the appeal of coffee

by Amy Driscoll
The Associated Press

NASHVILLE - Millions of Americans know the therapy a cup of coffee can
deliver in the morning.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University say it's possible coffee could do more,
perhaps even help people with depression and alcoholism.

"People drink coffee because they like it or they like the way it makes them
feel," Peter Martin, director of Vanderbilt University's Addiction Center,
said yesterday. "My suggestion is that we really don't know what causes
those effects."

Vanderbilt is due to open its Institute for Coffee Studies in the next six
months with $6 million from trade groups in top coffee-growing nations in
Latin America, including Brazil and Colombia.

Some studies have suggested coffee can help relieve depression, treat
alcoholism and prevent colorectal cancer. The institute's mission is to
understand why.

"We're going to help people get over the idea that coffee is caffeine," said
Martin, who will head the institute. "Caffeine actually is a very small
component of coffee. There are a lot of other components in coffee that are
not very well understood."

Some studies have suggested that caffeine might slightly boost
blood-pressure and cholesterol levels.

But Edward Giovannucci, an assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard
Medical School, said most Americans have nothing to worry about.

He spent a year reviewing medical literature on the health benefits of
coffee drinking and found the risk of colorectal cancer drops 24 percent
among those who drink four or more cups of coffee a day.

"I wouldn't tell people to go out and start drinking coffee," Giovannucci
said. "But there isn't much harm in drinking coffee."

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

ACLU of Florida Defends Man Who "Just Said No" to Workplace Urine Test
(A news release from the American Civil Liberties Union describes a lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of preemployment drug testing, filed
on behalf of "Magic Man" Thomas Baron, an accountant who lost his job
with the city of Hollywood, Florida.)

Subject: [cp] Fw: 3 Important ACLU News Items...Piss Testing and Terrorism
Important
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 19:33:00 -0500
From: "Paul Giroux" (girouxp@globetrotter.qc.ca)
To: "Cannabis Patriots" (cp@telelists.com)

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Dykstra
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 1999 6:44 PM
Subject: 3 Important ACLU News Items...Piss Testing and Terrorism Important

ACLU of Florida Defends Man
Who "Just Said No" to Workplace Urine Test

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 21, 1999

FT. LAUDERDALE -- At a news conference this morning, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Florida announced the filing of a lawsuit on behalf
of an accountant who lost his job with the City of Hollywood after
refusing to take a urine test.

Under the city's employment policy, new employees are subject to
mandatory drug testing even in the absence of reasonable suspicion that
the employee is using or has used drugs.

Thomas Baron, the plaintiff named in the lawsuit, was hired by the city
of Hollywood after working as a temporary accountant through an agency
for three months. Baron received praise for the quality of his work
performance from Treasury Manager Doreen Lam, who called him "Magic
Man." But when he refused to submit to the drug test, the city revoked
its decision to hire him as an accountant.

"Employers have the right to expect workers not to be high or drunk on
the job," said Ephraim Hess, ACLU Cooperating Attorney. "But employers
who conduct drug tests on workers who are not suspected of any use of
drugs are policing private behavior that has no impact on job
performance. That is an unjustifiable intrusion on a person's bodily
integrity, a freedom guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution."

The ACLU lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction enjoining the City of
Hollywood from requiring suspicionless urinalysis drug testing as a
condition of public employment, as well as compensatory damages for
Baron. The case was filed by the ACLU's Broward County Chapter in U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

"The City of Hollywood incorrectly believes that it has the right to
require searches of bodily fluids in order to judge whether someone can
perform the job of an accountant," said ACLU Cooperating Attorney
Colleen O'Loughlin. "Requiring urine tests for public employees like
Baron is both unnecessary and unconstitutional."

Baron worked for Interim Accounting Professionals, an accounting
temporary employment agency hired by the City of Hollywood. After a
three-month period, the City of Hollywood hired Baron as part of the
city's own accounting pool. His duties included preparing bank
reconciliations of all accounts and preparing a database of all lease
agreements with the city, as well as other sources of city revenue.

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Most Overdoses On Legal Drugs (The Age, in Australia, says statistics
prepared for the newspaper by the Victorian Injury Surveillance System
at Monash University Accident Research Centre, leading public hospitals,
and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, show that slightly more than
1 per cent of all hospital admissions, or about 10,000 patients a year,
are being treated in Victoria for drug overdoses. Most overdoses involve
prescription or legal drugs, including tranquillisers, anti-depressants and
analgesics. Doctors said the number of victims suffering overdoses was higher
than the hospital statistics indicated because hundreds of victims were not
brought to hospitals.)

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 19:26:52 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Most Overdoses On Legal Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: kenbo01@ozemail.com.au (Ken Russell)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Section: Page- A1, 6
Contact: letters@theage.fairfax.com.au
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Copyright: 1999 David Syme & Co Ltd
Author: Darren Gray

MOST OVERDOSES ON LEGAL DRUGS

Up to 10,000 patients a year are being treated in Victorian hospitals
for drug overdoses, new statistics show.

And most have overdosed on prescription or legal drugs, including
tranquillisers, anti-depressants and analgesics.

Medical authorities believe the number of overdoses is rising steadily
and that this is further proof of the community's overdependence on
drugs.

The statistics, prepared for The Age by the Victorian Injury
Surveillance System at Monash University Accident Research Centre,
leading public hospitals and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service,
provide a rare insight into the misuse of drugs in the wider community.

One of Australia's leading drug researchers, Dr Nick Crofts, said the
research indicated that Australians were an increasingly
drug-dependent society, frequently resorting to unnecessary use or
overuse of drugs in a variety of circumstances - from curing minor
ills to illicit drug dependence and suicide attempts.

``It's a drug-oriented, drug-using society. It's artificial to
separate out heroin and the other illicit drugs as abnormal human
behavior when we look to drugs to solve everything,'' Dr Crofts said.

And a leading emergency doctor in Melbourne, Dr Joseph Epstein, said
that the number of people treated for drug overdoses in casualty
departments appeared to be increasing.

Dr Epstein, the clinical director of emergency medicine at the Western
Hospital and a board member of the Melbourne Ambulance Service, said:
``Every indicator that we are able to identify points to a significant
growth in the number of drug overdoses presenting to emergency
departments.''

There were one million to 1.1 million emergency department attendances
in Victoria each year and it was believed that slightly more than 1 per
cent were because of overdoses, Dr Epstein said.

The new statistics show that:

* Overdoses attended by Melbourne ambulances have leapt by at least
36 per cent from 1997 to 1998.

* Many victims take a cocktail of drugs.

* About 40 per cent of overdose patients are aged 15 to 29.

* More females suffer drug overdoses than males, but more males
overdose on heroin.

The hospital research cannot clearly separate how many of the
overdoses are suicide attempts or unintentional overdoses or
recreational drug abuse.

And while it is also unable to establish the exact proportion of
overdoses through legal or illegal drugs, doctors said the majority
were people who fell victim to prescription or legal drugs.

Doctors said the number of victims suffering overdoses was higher than
the hospital statistics indicated because hundreds of victims were not
brought to hospitals.

Many victims were often treated at the scene by ambulance officers, a
small number were treated by general practitioners and others survived
overdoses and chose not to seek medical care, they said.

The figures emerge days after police disclosed that in the first week
of the year heroin overdoses took two lives a day in Melbourne.

Drug squad police announced at the time that they and members of the
coroner's office were investigating 25 fatal heroin overdoses to try
to ascertain the personal circumstances of the victims.

They want to know, among other things, how and why the victims
developed a drug habit and whether factors in their early lives pushed
them towards drugs.

Doctors said yesterday they were concerned about the increasing number
of occasional heroin-users they were treating as well as a growing
number of people injured in car accidents after overdoses.

Dr Stuart Dilley, an emergency physician at St Vincent's Hospital,
said it was crucial that overdose victims received medical attention
as quickly as possible.

``Quite a number of them are just getting dropped off in the ambulance
bay by their mates. They scream up the road, land in the ambulance
bay, call for help and you are dragging this blue guy or girl out the
back of the car who is not breathing,'' Dr Dilley said. `` ... Some of
them have been unconscious for too long and have suffered brain damage.''

Dr Epstein said that society should consider mounting a similar effort
against the drug death toll as it had against the road toll.

Professor Joan Ozanne-Smith, the director of the Victorian Injury
Surveillance System, said recording and monitoring hospital treatments
for drug overdoses was essential. ``They can help us by identifying
problems that need to be targeted. They can be used to look
geographically at where some of the major problems are,'' she said.

Overdosing

* Up to 10,000 are treated in hospital each year for overdoses.

* The number of overdose victims treated by ambulance crews has been
steadily rising for two years.

* Most overdoses involve prescription drugs.

Source: Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre.

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

Public Schools Accept Drug Culture (The Independent, in Britain,
says a survey of 2,400 pupils in 20 schools, carried out by the Schools
Health Education Unit, found that one in three 14-year-olds in leading public
schools had tried "drugs" and one in ten was a regular user. The survey also
showed that more than four out of ten sixth-formers have tried "drugs." The
heads of the fee-paying schools who commissioned the survey are said to be
"stunned" by the findings. A report from the Headmasters' and Headmistresses'
Conference argues that illegal drug-taking "is no longer limited to a
disaffected and rebellious few. It is part of the culture of teenagers." The
report also suggests that schools should end the "zero option" of expelling
pupils for all drug offences.)

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 10:46:10 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: UK: Public Schools Accept Drug Culture
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999
Author: Judith Judd, Education Editor

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACCEPT DRUG CULTURE

ONE IN THREE 14-year-olds in leading public schools has tried drugs and one
in ten is a regular user, head teachers said yesterday.

A survey also showed that more than four out of ten sixth-formers have
tried drugs.

The heads of the fee-paying schools who commissioned the survey are said to
be "stunned" by these findings.

A report from the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference argues that
illegal drug-taking "is no longer limited to a disaffected and rebellious
few. It is part of the culture of teenagers".

It suggests that schools should end the "zero option" of expelling pupils
for all drug offences. Instead, they should concentrate on drug education
and random tests for pupils suspected of using drugs.

While drugs are the greatest concern for heads of boarding schools, the
report says, day school heads are more concerned about the use of alcohol.
More than half of boarding schools, but only a quarter of day schools,
reported that they had at least one drug-related incident a year.

The heads recommend that senior pupils be issued with identity cards and
that staff in all pubs and off-licences be urged to request to see them.

The survey of 2,400 pupils in 20 schools, carried out by the Schools Health
Education Unit, found that slightly fewer 14-year-olds in public schools
had used drugs than 14-year-olds in state schools. One in three heads
expected to find as few as 5 per cent of their younger pupils had tried
illegal drugs.

Only among girls is drug-taking more prevalent in private schools than in
state schools. Cannabis is by far the most frequently used drug, and six
out of ten pupils believe it is not harmful. Poppers come next but Ecstasy
is very rare.

The report is firmly against the legalisation of cannabis and challenges
pupils' belief that it is safe. But it argues that schools should be
flexible. "While it is arguable that the 'zero option' approach of
prohibition and threats may well have inhibited even greater proliferation,
it is clear that, by itself, it will not stop or solve the problem. We
emphasise that this is not a reason for abandoning it, particularly in
schools which have confidence in it, but many schools are choosing to
modify it."

Boarding schools take a tougher line than day schools. Just over half -
compared with a fifth of day schools - expel students automatically for
bringing drugs into school. Three-quarters of boarding schools but less
than a third of day schools - use drug testing.

Patrick Tobin, a past president of the conference, said both the police and
the Government needed to do more to break the "chain of supply" of drugs to
young pupils, usually outside of school. Mr Tobin, head of Stewart's
Melville College and Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, said: "If I pursue
the drugs chain in Edinburgh, I find it almost unchecked. I see no evidence
that the police are interested in the small fry."

Dr John Barrett, head of the Leys School, Cambridge, chaired the working
party that produced the report. He uses the more flexible approach to
drug-taking incidents, which increasing numbers of public schools are
adopting.

"We say that if you are involved in drugs in any way then you are liable to
be expelled. I would always expel someone for dealing in drugs. But we have
some flexibility in the policy and I may use suspension for some pupils if
I have reason to believe they feel they have made a serious mistake."

Dr Barrett secures the written agreement of all parents to conduct drug
tests on those pupils suspected of taking drugs or those found in
possession of drugs.

He said he would suspend a pupil who had used drugs and who had no previous
record of drug-taking.

James Sabben-Clare, head of Winchester and this year's HMC chairman, said
that any pupil involved with drugs was liable to be expelled but exceptions
were made.

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

Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 3 (A summary
of European and international drug policy news, from CORA in Italy)

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 15:35:46 +0100
To: CORA Fax (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
From: CORA Belgique (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
Subject: CORAFax #3 (EN)
Sender: owner-hemp@efn.org

ANTIPROHIBITIONIST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ....
Year 5 #3, Juanuary 21 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- CARABINIERI GENERAL AGAINST PROHIBITIONISM

General Francesco Delfino, during an interview for Radio Radicale, says
that imprisoning drug addicts is of no use. They need assistance, and
controlled distribution of heroin would break the monopoly of the drug
traffickers. The CORA says that the list of public officials that are
against prohibitionist policies is getting longer, but nonetheless the
legislation is not changing.

***

NEWS FROM THE WORLD

***

000455 18/01/99
E.U. / GB
ADDICTION
LE FIGARO

A research by British private schools says that one out of ten students is
a regular drug consumer, and that alcohol consumpion is spreading.

***

000446 13/01/99
E.U. / GB
CONSUMERS
THE TIMES

The Marquis of Bristol is not the only high ranking heroin addict. Sean
Thomas, journalist and former heroin addict, says and tries to prove that
heroin exerts a particularly strong attraction power on wealthy people.

***

000453 19/01/99
E.U. / SPAIN
INITIATIVES
EL PAIS

The Andalusian Government has obtained from the Ministry of Health a legal
excuse to carry on a project of controlled distribution of heroin: the
definition of heroin as a 'research product' for pharmaceutical use only.

***

000454 19/01/99
E.U. / ITALY
INSTITUTION
IL SOLE 24 ORE

The remaining public funds from 1998 for fighting drugs will be usable in
1999 provided the requests are sent within the 29th of January. The total
amounts to a figure between 400 and 600 billion Lire.

***

000447 23/01/99
AMERICA / CUBA
JUSTICE
THE ECONOMIST

In occasion of the 40th annivarsary of the revolution President Castro has
declared that crime and drug dealing are both rising in Cuba. The
situation, he says, is not yet what it is in Europe. None the less police
forces have been increased and alerted.

***

000452 19/01/99
E.U. / ITALY
JUSTICE
CORRIERE DELLA SERA

The Court of Cassation has established that an infiltrated investigator can
use any method, also illegal ones, to discover and stop drug traffic. The
sentence in particular regards general Mario Mori of the ROS, who was
discovered while carrying a ton of cocaine from Medelin to Florence. At the
time it was not clear for whom he was working.

***

000448 14/01/99
E.U. / ITALY
PEOPLE
IL GIORNALE

Marilyn Manson's new video, now viewable also in Italy, is a shocking
portray that denounces new kinds of addiction, including those from
television and religion.

***

000449 17/01/99
E.U. / ITALY / GENOVA
PUSHERS
CORRIERE DELLA SERA / IL GIORNALE

Don Gallo, a priest in the forefront battle of assisting drug addicts, says
that immigrated children under 10 are being used as guinea-pigs for testing
cocaine and become thereafter addicts themselves. The Police deny this,
but Don Gallo seems to have proof of what he claims.

***

000450 14/01/99
AMERICA / USA
TRAFFIC
HERALD TRIBUNE

The 'electronic dog' is in vogue now. It is a sensor that can detect
whether airplane passengers are carrying drugs or any other kind of illegal
substance.

***

000451 16/01/99
E.U. / NL
WAR ON DRUGS
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.

The killing of two girls by a coffee shop owner and the general rising of
crimes related to the drug world are causing a consistent prohibitionist
reaction in the public opinion.

***

000456 18/01/99
E.U. / SPAIN
WAR ON DRUGS
EL PAIS

Official figures regarding drug traffic in 1998 show that sequestrations of
hashish have grown by 31% while those of cocaine, heroin and synthetic
drugs have gone down, mainly because of the diminishing consumption of
these drugs.

***

000457 19/01/99
E.U. / AUSTRIA
WAR ON DRUGS
DIE PRESSE

The Austrian OeVp Christian Democratic Partyh as proposed that students be
admitted to pedagogics university courses only if they declare they are not
drug consumers. It is an open debate.

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[End]