-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Club Figure Gets 6 Years (The Los Angeles Times version
of yesterday's news about Marvin Chavez, founder of the Orange County
Cannabis Co-op, being sentenced to six years in a California prison
for selling marijuana to undercover prohibition agents and mailing pot
to a cancer patient.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 18:15:07 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Cannabis Club Figure Gets 6 Years
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Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)-Orange County Edition
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Author: Daniel Yi, Times Staff Writer
CANNABIS CLUB FIGURE GETS 6 YEARS
Courts: Advocates of medicinal use urged leniency for Marvin Chavez, but his
past crimes are cited in ruling out probation.
Despite impassioned pleas for leniency from advocates of medicinal marijuana
use, a judge on Friday sentenced the founder of an Orange County cannabis
club to six years in prison for selling and transporting the drug.
The stiff sentence caps a closely watched case that focused attention on the
issue of who is entitled to legal protection under Proposition 215, the
state's medicinal marijuana initiative passed two years ago.
Marvin Chavez Sr., who was convicted last November of selling marijuana to
undercover officers and mailing the drug to a cancer patient, was
immediately taken into custody after the judge made his decision.
The 45-year-old Garden Grove man, who said he takes marijuana to ease the
pain of severe spinal arthritis, grimaced as he raised his arms to be
shackled by deputy marshals.
"Hang in there, Marvin!" one supporter cried out.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Borris cited a Probation
Department report that found Chavez was not a good candidate for probation
because of past brushes with the law.
Chavez was twice convicted of carrying a loaded firearm in 1976, according
to the report, and was convicted in 1990 of cocaine trafficking.
Chavez and his supporters argued that he had paid his debt to society for
those crimes, and that it was unfair to penalize him again.
"I've made mistakes in my life, and I paid for them," an emotional Chavez
told Borris, his trembling arm held by his attorney James Silva. "I am here
to obey the law as a citizen. I don't endorse illegal activities or drug
abuse."
Chavez said he was acting in the spirit of Proposition 215 when he
distributed the drug to those he believed had serious medical conditions.
"Marvin Chavez felt that he was operating under the law," said his lead
attorney, J. David Nick. For political reasons, he added, "the powers that
be were convinced that he was not."
Prosecutor Carl Armbrust, however, called Chavez a "sophisticated drug
dealer" operating under the guise of the law.
"Marijuana is still an illicit drug in the United States," Armbrust said.
"And California is still part of the United States."
Under Proposition 215, "it is legal to grow and possess [for medicinal
purposes], but the law does not imply you can sell marijuana," he said.
Medicinal marijuana advocates called the sentencing a major setback for
their efforts in Southern California.
"People in Orange County have no clearer idea of the law," said Steve
McWilliams, a proponent from San Diego.
McWilliams and others pointed out that since Proposition 215 passed,
different jurisdictions have been selective in the way they enforce the law.
Prosecutors in Alameda County and San Francisco, for example, have publicly
stated they will not pursue such cases.
"In Orange County, the message sent out today is 'hide,' " said attorney
Silva.
Chavez founded the cannabis club in 1996. A member of the group was arrested
in late 1997 on suspicion of possessing marijuana, and Chavez was charged as
a co-conspirator. Chavez was freed on his own recognizance on condition that
he stop distributing the drug. But undercover investigators posing as
seriously ill patients later bought marijuana from Chavez, and he was
arrested.
A jury convicted Chavez on two felony counts of selling marijuana and one
count of transporting it by mail. But it acquitted him on two other charges
and downgraded five felonies to misdemeanors.
On Thursday, Borris suspended the sentences on the lesser charges, but
handed down a total of six years on the other counts.
Chavez's supporters, numbering about 20 in the small courtroom, deplored the
tactics of the district attorney's office.
"With serious crimes rampant, the narcotic officers found it necessary to
set up a sting, entrapment," said Julie O'Donovan Ireland of Laguna Beach.
Ireland, whose husband and son have terminal cancer and lost six family
members to the disease, said "cannabis is a blessing in alleviating the
devastating effects of treatment. It is people like Marvin Chavez who are
there for us."
Chavez's case illustrates the ambiguities of Proposition 215, which allows
doctors to prescribe marijuana, and for patients and their "primary
caregivers" to possess the drug legally. Borris ruled Chavez could not use
Proposition 215 as a defense in the trial because he did not meet the
criteria of "primary caregiver."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medicinal-Pot Advocate Gets Prison Term (The Associated Press version
in the San Jose Mercury News)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 11:06:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Medicinal-Pot Advocate Gets Prison Term
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
MEDICINAL-POT ADVOCATE GETS PRISON TERM
Co-op founder convicted of selling, mailing marijuana
WESTMINSTER (AP) -- The founder of an Orange County medicinal marijuana
co-op was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison for selling
marijuana to undercover police and mailing pot to a cancer patient.
Asking for lenience, Marvin Chavez, 42, described himself as a casualty of
the war on drugs, using marijuana to ease the pain of an old back injury
and supplying it without profit to people for therapeutic use.
``His motivation is to help others in pain,'' said defense attorney J.
David Nick, who added he would appeal.
Citing two previous firearms violations and a conviction for selling
cocaine in the late 1980s, prosecutor Carl Armbrust called Chavez ``a dope
dealer, pure and simple.''
Chavez faced a maximum sentence of eight years for three felony marijuana
convictions: two of sale and one of transport.
Nick said Chavez gave marijuana to cancer sufferers, AIDS patients and
others in need, accepting only voluntary donations in return.
Immediately remanded into custody by Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Borris,
Chavez winced as a bailiff cuffed his hands behind the back brace that
protruded under his sport coat.
Proposition 215, passed in 1996, legalized the possession, cultivation and
use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, but not its sale. Prosecutions have
been handled in various ways. Several issues are pending on appeal.
Chavez mentioned friends who have been arrested and patients who have died
in pain, calling them casualties in the war on drugs. David Herrick, a
retired San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy who volunteered at the
co-op, was sentenced in July to four years in prison.
Armbrust acknowledged that Chavez gave away marijuana, but said he did it
only as a come-on for customers.
Chavez said he was trying to create a legal ``white market'' because the
clandestine leaf was so expensive.
About 20 Chavez supporters were in court, many sporting marijuana-leaf pins
and shirts. Their grumbles rose as Armbrust, who retired after the trial
and returned to work only for sentencing, excoriated Chavez.
Nick compared Armbrust to Javert, the obsessed policeman who hounds the
protagonist through life in Victor Hugo's ``Les Miserables.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Supporters Are Grim As Chavez Led Away To Jail
(A different Orange County Register account)
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 19:07:52 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Supporters Are Grim As Chavez Led Away To Jail
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Section: News
Page: 24
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Author: Teri Sporza and John McDonald
SUPPORTERS ARE GRIM AS CHAVEZ LED AWAY TO JAIL
Marvin Chavez grimaced as his arms were pulled behind him. Handcuffs
clicked closed around his wrists.
And as bailiffs led him away to jail Friday, the last thing his army
of ardent supporters saw were Chavez's hands, hanging beneath the
awkward outline of his back brace.
Sobbing, Andrea Nagy crumpled into the arms of a friend. "There is no
justice! No good deed goes unpunished!" yelled David Zink.
"Totally wrong," said Jack Shachter, grimly shaking his head. "Totally
wrong."
Chavez, founder of Orange County's medical marijuana co-op, was
sentenced to six years in state prison for selling pot to undercover
officers posing as medical patients, and for mailing pot to a cancer
patient. Chavez's past had come back to haunt him, and numerous
tearful appeals did not convince Judge Thomas Borris to grant Chavez
probation, or to allow Chavez the shield he insists he has under
Proposition 215, a ballot initiative that legalized marijuana for
medical use.
"It's harshly unjust," said J. David Nick, one of Chavez's attorneys,
likening Chavez to Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo's "Les
Miserables." "It's persecution after persecution. We will appeal."
The grounds: Judge Borris did not allow Chavez to mount a defense
under Prop. 215, the medical marijuana initiative approved in 1996.
Chavez, who suffers from severe back pain, began crusading for Prop.
215 months before it passed. After its victory, he founded the co-op,
got a business license and worked to familiarize people with the new
law.
But Chavez's understanding was apparently wrong. When officers posing
as patients came to him for pot, complaining of pain, Chavez gave them
"medicine" in exchange for "donations."
That, prosecutor Carl Armbrust successfully argued to the jury, is a
marijuana sale.
"While a law has been passed that people in need of marijuana can
possess, and use, and cultivate marijuana, there is no law that says
people can sell marijuana," he said.
In arguing for prison rather than probation, Armbrust brought up
Chavez's arrest record, which dates back more than 20 years. In the
1970s, Chavez twice was arrested on suspicion of carrying a loaded
firearm in public.
In the 1980s, he was convicted of cocaine possession and sent to a
drug diversion program, which he didn't complete. In the 1990s he was
arrested for cocaine trafficking. Though not convicted, the arrest
landed him to prison for two years based on conditions of the earlier
conviction.
After his arrest for selling marijuana last year, Chavez promised a
judge he would stop distributing is, and was released. Shortly
afterward, Chavez mailed pot to a patient in Chino. That broken
promise weighed on the judge's decision.
"The defendant's record does indicate a pattern of increasingly
serious conduct," Borris said. "Probation is not appropriate in this
case."
While Armbrust said Chavez is nothing more than a sophisticated street
dealer using Prop. 215 as a front, Chavez's friends say nothing could
be further from the truth.
"Marvin's intention was always to help people who were in pain," said
his mother, Ruby Harbaugh.
Confusion about how to implement Prop. 215 is still rampant in
California. Many cannabis clubs have been shut down in Northern
California, and many local authorities do not agree on
interpretation.
A local police officer who stole drugs recently received just a
one-year sentence, said Julie Ireland, a former Los Angeles police
officer. Chavez helped Ireland's husband and son, both terminal cancer
patients. "This case should have never gone to trial," she said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Chavez Sentence Is Criminal (Orange County Register senior editorial writer
Alan W. Bock says Marvin Chavez's severe six-year prison sentence
shows the importance of developing guidelines and protocols for the
implementation of Prop. 215. Others need to step up on this issue.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office says he is assembling
a task force to develop a statewide plan to implement Prop. 215. Perhaps
he should enter the appellate process on Mr. Chavez's behalf as well.
Newly elected Gov. Gray Davis has the authority to pardon Mr. Chavez
or to commute his sentence.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 07:03:57 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: EDITORIAL: MMJ: Chavez Sentence Is Criminal
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
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Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Source: The Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Author: Alan W. Bock
Note: Mr. Bock is the Register's senior editorial writer
CHAVEZ SENTENCE IS CRIMINAL
Marvin Chavez's severe sentence, handed down Friday, points up the
importance of developing guidelines and protocols for the orderly and legal
implementation of Prop. 215.
Mr. Chavez was sentenced by Judge Thomas J. Borris in Orange County's West
Court to 6 years in state prison for selling marijuana, slightly less than
a potential penalty of 8 years. Mr. Chavez contended he was attempting to
deliver marijuana to patients who needed it, under protection of
Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, which allows marijuana use with
a doctor's recommendation. Prosecutors claimed the transaction was a simple
sale, which is still illegal under state law. Mr. Chavez plans to appeal.
In the wake of Mr. Chavez's sentence, sick and disabled people with a
legitimate need for marijuana have no clearer idea of how to obtain their
medicine legitimately than they did before.
If anything, James Silva, one of Mr. Chavez's attorneys, had it right when
he told us after the sentencing, "The message this sends to patients is
simple: hide."
It shouldn't be that way. And it could and should have been less painful
for all concerned.
The first mistake was made by law enforcement officials who refused to
speak or meet with Mr. Chavez after Prop. 215 was approved. A patient
himself, Mr. Chavez early on announced his intention to develop a
cooperative to permit patients access to medical marijuana and tried to
elicit advice and cooperation from law enforcement officials.
Instead of sitting down with him and saying, "Listen, these are the rules.
If you follow them you'll be OK, if you don't you're going to jail," the
DA's office commenced undercover investigations against him. In other
localities in California local officials have closed medical marijuana
distribution operations through civil injunctions rather than criminal
charges.
Mr. Chavez, as it turned out, could not look to Prop. 215 to help him in
court. Judge Borris prohibited the jury to consider Prop. 215 during their
deliberations. Consequently, the jury considered a narrow transaction and,
on a larger scale, the final outcome does little to help develop legal
guidelines for giving patients access to medical marijuana through
legitimate channels.
Judge Borris, to be fair, was looking at an imperfect person in this
defendant. Mr. Chavez had had previous brushes with the law -- in fact, he
received the injuries that led to his disabilities while in prison on a
cocaine possession charge (he says he stopped doing it). One of those
violations took place when he was released on his own recognizance. So it
might be understandable that Judge Borris would refuse to release Mr.
Chavez on probation without prison time.
But the magnitude of the sentence still seems on the high end of the range
in sentencing guidelines. Mr. Chavez may have tried to implement Prop. 215
imperfectly, even illegally, but he was trying to follow the proposition
the best way he knew how. We talked to many patients who attended the trial
who have been helped by Mr. Chavez. The authorities should have worked with
him rather than pose as patients to meet him, ask for marijuana, then
"sting" him when a voluntary donation to the group changed hands.
James Silva and J. David Nick, Mr. Chavez's attorneys, say they will try to
ensure that Mr. Chavez has access to the medicine to which he himself is
legally entitled -- as all parties in this case have explicitly
acknowledged -- while he is in custody.
Others need to step up on this issue. California Attorney General Bill
Lockyer's office says he is assembling a task force to develop a statewide
plan to implement Prop. 215. Perhaps he should enter the appellate process
on Mr. Chavez's behalf as well. Newly elected Gov. Gray Davis has the
authority to pardon Mr. Chavez or to commute his sentence.
Local officials can help also. Sheriff Mike Carona and District Attorney
Anthony Rackauckas could meet with people on all sides of the issue who
have a stake in the development of consistent policies toward medical
marijuana patients and establish guidelines that will tell people how to
avoid running afoul of the law. The county supervisors could study the
matter and develop an implementing ordinance. Council members in local
cities could develop guidelines and ordinances -- as is happening in fits
and starts in other California cities.
Mr. Chavez will lose more of his life to incarceration in large part
because state and local officials failed to implement the voters' mandate.
That shouldn't happen again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pot Club Lawyers Try For A Merger (The Long Beach Press-Telegram,
in California, says Venice attorney James Silva and San Francisco attorney
J. David Nick are scrambling to file an appeal for Marvin Chavez of the
Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support Group. The attorneys plan to link
the Chavez appeal to another for cannabis co-op volunteer David Lee Herrick,
previously sentenced to four years. Meanwhile, the attorneys are now
scheduled to defend yet a third member of the cannabis co-op, Jack Shachter,
a Garden Grove resident whose case has been on hold pending the completion
of Chavez's trial.)
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 18:31:33 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Pot Club Lawyers Try For A Merger
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: FilmMakerZ
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA)
Contact: crutch@ptconnect.infi.net
Website: http://www.ptconnect.com/
Copyright: 1999 Press-Telegram.
Author: Joe Segura, Staff writer
POT CLUB LAWYERS TRY FOR A MERGER
Law & Order: Cannabis club attorneys scramble to avoid more
setbacks.
Defense attorneys for Orange County Patient-Doctor-Nurse Support Group
will have their hands full in the upcoming weeks.
Currently, Venice attorney James Silva and San Francisco attorney J.
David Nick are scrambling to file an appeal for medicinal-marijuana
advocate and activist Marvin Chavez, who was sentenced Friday to six
years in state prison for convictions on drug-sale charges. They
contend that the judge erred in not allowing the jury hear a defense
based on Prop. 215, known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
The attorneys noted that the appeal process is lengthy, with an
average two-year wait, but they added that another appeal on behalf
of cannabis co-op volunteer David Lee Herrick has been put on a
fast-track schedule. And they said they plan on linking the Chavez
case with Herrick's.
Herrick, who is serving four years, also was not allowed to use Prop.
215 as part of his defense.
Meanwhile, the attorneys are now scheduled to defend yet a third
member of the cannabis co-op, Jack Shachter, a Garden Grove resident.
Shachter's case has been on hold, awaiting the completion of Chavez's
trial. A hearing is set for Wednesday.
Prior to Friday's sentencing of Chavez, the two defense attorneys were
somewhat hopeful of making inroads in their efforts to have Prop. 215
introduced as a defense.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Marijuana Distribution Imperfect (The Associated Press
examines the difficulties faced by patients in California in the wake
of the federal closure of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative
and other dispensaries. Many former co-op members are forced to seek out
small, low-profile groups and buy from street dealers. Dozens have been
arrested for having plants. Ryan Landers, who has AIDS, travels to
Middletown, 90 miles north of San Francisco, where Proposition 215 author
Dennis Peron and members of his two defunct San Francisco pot clubs
grow marijuana. This summer, Peron plans to begin delivering plants
to thousands of San Francisco patients who will pay for them at cost.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 08:51:26 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Medical Marijuana Distribution Imperfect
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Marcus/Mermelstein Family (mmfamily@ix.netcom.com)
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION IMPERFECT
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. - Ryan Landers didn't plan on being a farmer.
Then again, he never planned on getting AIDS and needing marijuana to
stay hungry enough to keep him from wasting away.
He used to buy pot at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. But
that club, like many that opened after a 1996 medical marijuana
initiative passed, has been shut down by federal court order.
Now many club members, including Landers, increasingly are forced to
seek out small, low-profile groups and buy from street dealers. Dozens
have been arrested for having plants. Short of a federal change of
heart allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, co-ops that grow pot to
give or sell to patients may be their best hope.
For Landers, that means traveling 100 miles to this tiny, rural town
in the wine county about 90 miles north of San Francisco to buy the
pot that will ease his nausea. Here, Proposition 215 author Dennis
Peron and members of his two defunct San Francisco pot clubs grow
marijuana. This summer, Peron plans to begin delivering plants to
thousands of San Francisco patients who will pay for them at cost.
``This was really horrible when the clubs shut down,'' Landers said.
``(People) don't know where to get plants and seeds.
``It's been more than two years. People should be growing pot. They
shouldn't be scared to.''
After the medical marijuana law passed, allowing the cultivation and
use of marijuana for medical purposes, the number of clubs in
California peaked at around 30, said Dave Fratello, one of the authors
of the bill. Similar medical marijuana measures later passed in five
other states and the District of Columbia.
But in California, then-Attorney General Dan Lungren oversaw a series
of state-initiated efforts that closed about two-thirds of the
clubs, most in Northern California. Federal raids and court rulings
also contributed to the shutdowns, although some advocates say that
for every club that has closed, at least another has opened -- albeit
quietly -- in its place.
State officials and medical marijuana advocates say a national
Institutes of Medicine review scheduled for release next month will be
critical in getting federal officials to consider reclassifying
marijuana as a less-dangerous drug or allowing doctors to prescribe
pot. The 18-month review of the health effects and medical treatment
benefits of marijuana was ordered by drug czar Barry McCaffrey.
``The cannabis clubs were a great stopgap measure ... but it wasn't a
solution,'' said Scott Imler, director of the Los Angeles Cannabis
Resource Center in West Hollywood. The center is one of two well-known
pot clubs in Southern California and has 1,100 members from
Bakersfield to Palm Springs.
Imler and others are optimistic that things will change with a new
governor and attorney general in office and new district attorneys and
sheriffs in communities that have been hostile to distribution efforts.
``The main problem we've had is lack of guidance to law enforcement,''
said Jason Browne, a trustee of the Humboldt Cannabis Center in
Arcata. ``Everyone is waiting for someone else to do something and
meanwhile the patients are at risk.''
Brian Steel, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, would not
comment on why smaller co-ops have survived while the larger groups
were shut down.
``The Department of Justice is committed to following the law that
Congress has passed, and to that end, Congress has said the use or
distribution of marijuana is illegal,'' he said. ``Consistent with
that, that's what we're going to do.''
Advocates say the clubs were safe and convenient.
``I like the clubs better. There's no hassle, no pressure. You get
what you need and leave,'' said Chris Ward, 39, who bought pot at the
Oakland club to ease the effects of chemotherapy. Now he plans to go
to a new Berkeley co-op, about 200 miles south of his home in Oak Run.
Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, hasn't said whether he'll support
proposed legislation to authorize $1 million annually to study medical
marijuana or a plan to specify or standardize the enforcement of
Proposition 215.
``I believe good science should resolve this issue,'' Davis has
said.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer, also a Democrat, said he voted for the
medical marijuana law and agrees more guidance is needed. His mother
and sister both died of leukemia.
``There are omissions and gaps and ambiguities in the initial statute
that would benefit from clarification,'' Lockyer said. ``It's unclear
exactly who can be a caretaker and exactly what the system is for
setting up a dispensary and clinic.''
Patients can still get pot at operations in San Francisco, West
Hollywood, San Diego, Fairfax, Sonoma County, Ukiah, Arcata, Berkeley
and Hayward. Peron's farm was twice raided by Drug Enforcement Agency
officials, who confiscated hundreds of plants but made no arrests.
``Unless the federal government changes its policy or adopts a
noninvasive role, the California statute scheme can never be legally
implemented,'' Lockyer said.
``If our law were tighter and there was more of a clinic -- not cult
structure to the statute -- that might be partially persuasive to the
federal government if they see there is a tight regulatory system.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ground Troop Use On Border Curtailed, Officials Say (According to the Dallas
Morning News, the U.S. military says the use of ground troops along the
U.S.-Mexico border has "almost ended" now that the Pentagon has issued new
rules that require special permission for armed anti-drug units there. The
lack of policy change comes well over a year after Esequiel Hernandez Jr.,
a high school sophomore, was shot and killed by camouflaged U.S. Marines near
the small border town of Redford, Texas, while tending his family's goats.)
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 16:25:24 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: Ground Troop Use On Border Curtailed, Officials Say
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: isenberd@DynCorp.com (Isenberg, David)
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
Source: Associated Press
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 1999 The Dallas Morning News
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Forum: http://forums.dallasnews.com:81/webx
Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Author: Associated Press
Note: The Drug Policy Forum of Texas has superb webpages on the Hernandez
murder at:
http://www.mapinc.org/DPFT/hernandez/hernandez_index.htm
GROUND TROOP USE ON BORDER CURTAILED, OFFICIALS SAY
HOUSTON - The use of ground troops along the U.S.-Mexico border has almost
ended now that the Pentagon has issued new rules that require special
permission for armed anti-drug units there, the military says.
Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Milord said permission must come
from the secretary of defense or his deputy.
The policy change comes well over a year after a high school sophomore was
shot and killed by Marines in the small town of Redford, a village that
straddles the Mexican border just west of Big Bend National Park.
Esequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, was shot to death after U.S. Marines contended
he opened fire on them. The youth was tending his family's goat herd at the
time of the shooting.
The shooting prompted Defense Secretary William Cohen to suspend similar
missions.
Troops continue to carry out other anti-narcotics duties along the border
as part of a joint task force with federal authorities, including civil
engineering projects, air reconnaissance and intelligence analysis.
"The policy change really gives the secretary of defense oversight for
these missions," Col. Milord said.
The decision was made quietly in October, he said.
Marine Cpl. Clemente Banuelos fired the fatal shot from about 200 yards
away after, he said, Mr. Hernandez raised his rifle to fire a third time.
Two Presidio County grand juries refused to indict Cpl. Banuelos and his
fellow Marines. A civil rights probe by the Justice Department also did not
bring charges against the troops, in part because they had received
permission by radio to fire.
A Marine Corps inquiry cited "systemic failures at every level" during the
mission.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, issued a scathing report, saying the Justice and
Defense departments undermined criminal investigations into the incident.
In December, a Texas Ranger who investigated the killing contended that the
military obstructed an inquiry into Mr. Hernandez's death and that he wants
a grand jury to consider the case a third time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Search Of Couple's House 'Within Law,' Judge Rules
(The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says Washington County Circuit Court
Judge William Storey ruled Friday that the arrest in Texas of Stephen Miller,
a former alderman in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and his wife, Janette,
was valid, and that a subsequent search of their Fayetteville home
was proper. Defense attorneys argued that prohibition agents went onto
the Millers' property without a search warrant, and that the preceding search
of their car was illegal. The ruling allows their criminal trial to proceed
Feb. 11.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 09:19:13 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US AR: Search Of Couple's House 'Within Law,' Judge Rules
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Newshawk: James Markes
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright: 1999, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Contact: voices@argemgaz.com
Pubdate: 30 Jan 1999
Author: Pamela Hill (Pam_Hill@adg.ardemgaz.com)
SEARCH OF COUPLE'S HOUSE 'WITHIN LAW,' JUDGE RULES
FAYETTEVILLE -- The Texas arrest of former Alderman Stephen Miller and his
wife, Janette, was valid, and a search of their Fayetteville home was
proper, a Washington County Circuit Court judge ruled Friday. The ruling
allows the criminal drug case against the couple to proceed. They are set
for trial Feb. 11.
The pair's attorneys had asked Judge William Storey to suppress evidence
that drug agents seized from the Millers' home -- namely 7.79 pounds of
suspected marijuana, six plants, two sets of scales, bags, four rifles, a
pistol and $5,680. Their home was searched and the items seized a day after
a Texas Highway Patrol trooper arrested them on suspicion of having 3
pounds of suspected marijuana in the trunk of their rental car. At a
hearing Friday afternoon, Fayetteville lawyers Woody Bassett, who
represents Stephen Miller, and Charles Stutte, Janette Miller's counsel,
argued that the Texas arrest and search of their car were illegal.
Therefore, the search warrant obtained by drug agents to search the
Millers' 228 Mill Ave. home should also be declared illegal because it
stemmed from information from the Texas arrests.
"It's all proper and within the law," Storey commented as he denied the
motion to suppress.
Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Sharalyn Fichtl pulled the Millers over late
Oct. 22 after she clocked Stephen Miller driving 81 mph in a 70-mph zone.
Fichtl testified Friday that she became suspicious of Stephen Miller
because of his behavior. He paced, fidgeted and talked constantly, she
testified. When he learned that a criminal-history check turned up late
1960s and early 1970s charges, including drug violations, he became
defensive, the trooper said. The couple also had no luggage that the
trooper could see, even though they said they were traveling to Dallas and
would be there two days.
The defense attorneys also argued that two officers with the 4th Judicial
District Drug Task Force went onto the Millers' property before they
obtained a search warrant.
A task force sergeant testified that he did go to their house without a
search warrant as soon as Fichtl notified Fayetteville police of her arrest
the night before.
The sergeant said he called for another officer to watch the house while he
and others obtained a search warrant.
The officer called to "watch" the house said he saw marijuana plants in the
Millers' backyard garden as he looked into the yard from another person's
property. He said he was not on the Millers' property. The smell the
sergeant noticed at the back door and the plants spotted in the garden were
both items used to obtain the search warrant, in addition to information
about the Millers' arrest in Texas.
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Mistrial Declared In Case Of Jury Foreman Accused Of Taking Bribe
(The Chicago Tribune says a judge declared a mistrial Friday in the trial
of Miguel "Mike" Moya, a jury foreman in Miami, Florida, charged with selling
his vote for $500,000 in a major 1996 cocaine-smuggling case. Jurors said
they were "at each other's throats." Defense attorneys said Moya's wealth
came not from any bribe but from a cousin, Ramon "Ray" Perez, a convicted
drug smuggler and former Miami police officer. Prosecutors said they would
try the case again in April.)
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 17:52:05 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US FL: Mistrial Declared In Case Of Jury Foreman
Accused Of Taking Bribe
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Steve Young
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 1999 Chicago Tribune Company
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
MISTRIAL DECLARED IN CASE OF JURY FOREMAN ACCUSED OF TAKING BRIBE
MIAMI -- A judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a jury foreman
charged with selling his vote in a major cocaine-smuggling case after jurors
said they were "at each other's throats."
U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King dismissed the jury in the trial of
Miguel "Mike" Moya, who was accused of taking a nearly $500,000 bribe to
sell his vote in a 1996 verdict.
Jurors sent a note to King on Thursday, after four days of deliberations,
saying they disagreed about whether Moya is innocent or guilty.
"We are unable to come to a unanimous decision," jury foreman Carlo Hollis
said in the note. "We are at each other's throats . . . HELP!!!" He wrote
that the jury had been split evenly before shifting to a majority favoring
one side.
King asked jurors Friday if there was any chance of reaching a verdict. They
said no. Prosecutors had no comment except to say they would try the case
again in April.
The voting breakdown of the jury was not disclosed. King told the jurors
that if they receive any telephone calls or inquiries about their
deliberations, they should say nothing.
Moya was charged with money laundering, witness tampering, conspiracy and
bribery and could face life in prison. His parents, Jose and Rafaela Moya,
were on trial on money laundering, witness tampering and accessory charges
and faced up to 62 1/2 years in prison.
Prosecutors contended Moya took the money to vote innocent and persuade
others to do the same in the trial of reputed drug kingpins Augusto "Willie"
Falcon and Salvador "Sal" Magluta. The two were acquitted in February 1996
of charges they smuggled 75 tons of cocaine from Colombia into the U.S.
About the time of the trial, Moya and his parents began living in luxury,
buying a home in the Florida Keys, a two-week vacation in Hawaii, season
tickets to the Florida Marlins, tickets for the World Series and other
items.
Attorneys for the Moya family said the family's wealth came not from any
bribe but from a cousin, Ramon "Ray" Perez, a convicted drug smuggler and
former Miami police officer.
Perez, who served 4 years in prison for drug trafficking, testified that he
paid $385,000 to Moya and family members to deliver cocaine and $100,000 to
store 880 pounds of the drug.
"The Moya family has a past that they are not proud of," defense attorney
Curt Obront said in his opening argument.
The Falcon-Magluta jurors had deliberated for three days when they sent a
note to the judge saying they were locked in a "personal conflict" and
"could not reach a verdict." Hours later, they returned the acquittals.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prozac's Irish Life (The Irish Times says Prozac has become
the most prescribed antidepressant in the Republic since its introduction
in June 1989. It has "revolutionised" the management of depression
because the same one-capsule-per-day dosage is prescribed for every sufferer,
and because it acts on numerous mental illnesses. More than 200,000 people
in the State suffer major depression, while one in three will have an episode
of major depression, which has been linked to the majority of the 380
suicides in the Republic each year.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 09:00:19 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Ireland: Prozac'S Irish Life
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Pubdate: Sat, Jan 30, 1999
Source: Irish Times (Ireland)
Copyright: 1999 The Irish Times
Website: http://www.irish-times.ie/
Contact: lettersed@irish-times.ie
Section: Features
Author: Kitty Holland
PROZAC'S IRISH LIFE
Prozac has become the most prescribed branded antidepressant in the
Republic since its launch here in June 1989. It has "revolutionised"
the management of depression because the same one-capsule-per-day
dosage is prescribed for every sufferer, and because it acts on
numerous mental illnesses. In the majority of cases it is the sole
antidepressant taken by the patient.
"Before Prozac," says Dr Patrick McKeown, chairman of Aware, the
charity for sufferers from depression, "there were numerous
anti-depressants, such as lithium, which were just as good but had to
be measured very specifically for each individual and often had to be
taken several times a day. With Prozac there are fewer side-effects;
there's almost no danger of a fatality with overdose, and it can be
used in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders, eating
disorders and panic attacks, as well as depression."
Prozac is an SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. As Dr
McKeown explains, it increases the levels of the brain chemical
serotonin, which regulates mood. Over time, as the levels increase,
the transmission of electrochemical signals in the brain improves (in
a depressed person the transmission of electrochemical signals occurs
less efficiently), and the depression lifts.
Dr McKeown stresses that antidepressants should not be used to treat
all mental illnesses on a permanent basis. He points out that there
are different types of depression, some induced by circumstances such
as a bereavement or relationship problems, and others due to chemical
problems in the brain, which may have genetic or biological causes.
While Prozac may be useful in some cases as a once-off to lift the
depression - which should then be treated with psychotherapy -
biological or chemical depression may need longterm medication.
More than 200,000 people in the State suffer major depression, while
one in three will have an episode of major depression in their life.
It has been linked to the majority of the 380 suicides in the Republic
each year (on average). Dr McKeown says Prozac is not the "miracle"
answer to end all research into the medical treatment of depression.
"We are still looking forward to an antidepressant which has no
side-effects such as tummy upset or reduced libido - both of which can
be brought on by Prozac."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shrug Drug (A feature article in the Irish Times by Elizabeth Wurtzel,
the author of "Prozac Nation" and one of the early beneficiaries of the
anti-depressant, assesses the drug's legacy 10 years after it first became
available to her. In 1997 patients in the United States filled 65 million
prescriptions for anti-depressants. In the US, where there is no National
Health Service and doctors' duties are dictated by insurance companies,
Prozac has been a perfect solution to the financial unmanageability of mental
health care. Indemnifiers would no longer cough up for therapy sessions, but
they would gladly pay for a pill. The Food and Drug Administration eventually
endorsed Prozac to cure obsessive-compulsive disorder, obesity, attention
deficit disorder - a whole range of mental illnesses. Essentially, Prozac
became the shrug drug, it was one big "why-not?" Prozac's permanent legacy
may be that it medicalised mental health, even when the symptoms were fairly
slight.)
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 09:47:47 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Ireland: The Shrug Drug
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: Irish Times (Ireland)
Copyright: 1999 The Irish Times
Website: http://www.irish-times.ie/
Contact: lettersed@irish-times.ie
Pubdate: 30 Jan 1999
Fax: ++ 353 1 671 9407
Mail: Letters to Editor, The Irish Times, 11-15 D'Olier St, Dublin 2, Ireland
Section: Features
Author: Elizabeth Wurtzel
THE SHRUG DRUG
Prozac has changed people's lives and transformed the medical profession's
approach to mental health. Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation and
one of the early beneficiaries of the drug, assesses its legacy 10 years
after it first became available to her
When I woke up this morning - and let's be honest here, it was more like
this afternoon - I began my day by swallowing two Prozac capsules. I also
took some lithium, the salt substance that was long ago established as an
antidote to manic depression and other mood disorders. On top of that I had
a pink caplet called Depakote, the brand name for valproic acid, an
anti-seizure remedy once prescribed for epilepsy, but now used to combat
mood swings. And finally, I chased down the other pills with a
blood-pressure medication called atenolol - my 92-year-old grandmother also
takes this - to alleviate the Parkinson's-like handshake that I get from
taking all these drugs.
Later in the day, probably with dinner, I will take nortryptaline, a
tricyclic anti-depressant, one of the pre-Prozac variety that acts on the
dopamine and neuropene phrine systems of the brain. At the same time, I
will down my evening doses of lithium and Depakote, along with some more
atenolol for the kind of shakes that by dinnertime can make it awfully hard
to get a fork and food to my mouth, and have been mistaken by many for
delirium tremens.
Strangely, although this crazy salad of pills makes me exhausted and
lethargic all day, I often cannot get to sleep at night. My energy level is
mysteriously invigorated at midnight. So, in an attempt to get my circadian
rhythms attuned to the rest of the world's, sometimes I take Ambien, a
non-narcotic, non-addictive sleep remedy that seems to have a blackout,
knockout effect. Tomorrow morning, I will wake up and do the same thing
again. I have been doing this - different pills, same routine - for the
past 11 years.
If you have any doubt that Prozac has changed the world, consider the drug
regimen I am on. And consider the chemical cocktails so many people have
been taking since Prozac was launched in 1988. In just one year - 1997 - 65
million anti-depressant prescriptions were filled in the US alone. More to
the point, Prozac has swelled the market for psychotropic drugs. Its
minimal side-effects allowed physicians to prescribe it, if not exactly on
a whim, then at the first note of a patient's pained whimper. And then, if
Prozac was not sufficiently effective, other medications could be prescribed.
Suddenly there were all these doctors whose entire practice involved a
prescription pad and the occasional use of a blood-pressure monitor. They
called themselves psychopharmacologists, and all they did was try to get
the right mix of medications to keep patients relatively sane. Although no
one really knows how these psychopharmaceuticals work, the existence of
experts resulted in a tendency to pretend there was real know-how in a
process that is mostly trial and error marked occasionally by alchemy:
one pill was said to be good for the rejection-sensitive, another for
those with object-constancy problems, and blah blah blah.
In spite of my tendency to mock psychopharmacologists, I saw one for a
period when I was not in therapy with a medical doctor - I referred to him
as the Pusherman. And it's difficult to say which is worse: a specialist in
prescriptions, or a general practitioner who gives Prozac to a patient he
barely knows because, well, it probably won't hurt and it may help. And
this kind of thing happens a lot. In the US, where there is no National
Health Service and the doctor's duties are dictated by insurance companies,
Prozac has been a perfect solution to the financial unmanageability of
mental health care - indemnifiers would no longer cough up for therapy
sessions, but they would gladly pay for a pill.
Essentially, Prozac became the shrug drug, it was one big "why-not?" The
Food and Drug Administration, which controls the licensing of drugs in the
US, eventually endorsed it to cure obsessive-compulsive disorder, obesity,
attention deficit disorder - a whole range of emotional bogeymen. And this
may well be Prozac's permanent legacy: it medicalised mental health, even
when the damage was rather mild, the symptoms fairly slight.
Suddenly, you did not have to jump out of a window or run through the
streets wearing nothing but your knickers for your behaviour to be worth
more than just the talking cure. Often the therapist would suggest a visit
to a psychopharmacologist for a consultation, with the assumption that
until you were lifted out of your misery by biology, all the Freudian work
that could be accomplished five days a week would not help at all. The
depression itself was pushed out of the way, and your real fears could be
explored. The little green and white pills delivered emotional expediency.
When I first went on Prozac, none of this was so. My trouble, the complaint
I carried with me until my third year in college, was that I was crazy,
that I felt waves crashing in my head for reasons I didn't know - but in
spite of the persistence of emotional emergency, no one was going to listen
to my plea as long as I was ambulatory. There was, I had no doubt, a fierce
physicality to my depression - I knew it because I felt it - that no
discussion of the slights I experienced in the playground at the age of
three or the Picassovivid dreams I was awakened by each night could
possibly penetrate. And I knew there was some medicine for these feelings.
I knew there had to be because if not I was going to have to kill myself. I
believed, as anyone who is depressed but resists suicide must, that there
was something that could be done for me. I was a student then, with all the
resources of a large university at my disposal, and I went from doctor to
doctor, begging for a medicinal cure.
No one would help me.
Though a variety of classes of antidepressant was available and would
certainly have helped me before Prozac, it wasn't until that drug arrived
that a psychiatrist saw fit to offer me chemical aid. At the time I was
sufficiently ill to be staying at the college infirmary, and still Prozac
was the first antidepressant I was given. When I think now of how much
sooner I could have been paroled from this prisonhouse of the mind, I am
often angry, deeply angered for all the missing years.
Of course, the world is now completely turned on its head in its
relationship to medication. In 1995 I participated in a college panel that
essentially asked, "Prozac - pro or con?" For me, this was a ridiculous
question: Prozac made people - sick, miserable people - feel better. It
treated a mental state that I knew to be nothing less than a deleterious
disease. It was astonishing for me to hear student opposition to the drug's
use. It was difficult for me to understand its controversy in general,
because to me it has always been simple: I felt a deep debt to the inventor
of this lifesaving pill. But these students were upset by its
depersonalising effects, by the way that when they went to their health
services seeking therapy or emotional support of any kind, all they got was
a Prozac prescription. They felt like toddlers being stuck in front of the
television by a nanny who didn't care for them, rather than being hugged by
a parent who did.
And when I went on a tour to support my book Prozac Nation, I'd frequently
sign copies for teenagers - 14- or 15-year-olds - who would tell me that
they were on Zoloft, but they were switching to Paxil, or they were on
lithium but the new doctor thought they should try Depakote. And it was
through meeting these young people that I started to understand the
frightening, Huxleyan nightmare Prozac could create. You see, I, in a
sense, had to work to earn my Prozac. I had spent years trying every other
form of help that was available and I had lived for so long in complete
darkness. I did not have to wonder if Prozac was necessary - I knew. But
drugs were now being handed out so liberally that each wretched little pill
represented a resentment, a neglect, a shrug.
Dr Sterling, the psychiatrist who first put me on Prozac, and who was a
wonderful therapist in every way, now runs a mental health clinic in
California. No long-term therapy goes on there - in fact not much
counselling of any kind goes on there. What does happen is a lot of
prescription writing. When Sterling sees people to refill their drug orders
she gets a chance to talk to them and find out what they need to cope by
way of medication. And she builds up some sort of bond with patients over
time. In her limited capacity, Sterling feels that she is doing some real
good. "Now, instead of some people getting a lot of help, a lot of people
are getting some help," she says.
But it isn't like it was with me, and she says this is her choice: seeing
suicidal patients with extreme needs exhausted her and deprived her of any
emotional wherewithal for her husband or her children. It's not just
patients who are desperate for
whatever relief Prozac can provide - doctors, too, are overwhelmed. The
needs that their deracinated, unstable and alienated clients bring to
therapy in an age of divorce are almost too much to be handled without
non-human intervention.
Recently there was a newspaper article about "uplift anxiety", examining
how recovery from depression with Prozac and other drugs "can bring a new
array of personal problems, from social uneasiness and crises of identity
to professional and marital strains". I understand this - one of the
reasons I believe that medication must be taken in conjunction with some
sort of therapy is that Prozac is helpful, but the miracle of overcoming a
depression requires a more strenuous overhaul than any pill can contain.
But the article still seemed absurd - after living under the weight of
depression for many years, the lightness of life seems a very luxurious
problem. I don't believe there is such a thing as too much joy.
Besides, these popular notions about Prozac tend to overstate its
transformative power. No antidepressant is a happy pill, and if you emptied
out a Prozac capsule, cut its contents into lines and snorted them up, you
would not get high. Dream on! All this family of drugs has ever offered is
access to the part of a person that wants to be happy, but has been
cordoned off. Once you get through those velvet ropes, it is up to you to
learn to enjoy the party.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Israeli Government to Give Marijuana Guidelines (The Lancet, in Britain,
says the Israeli Health Ministry established a committee Jan. 20 to provide
the country's doctors with guidelines for prescribing marijuana. The
six-member group of physicians, jurists, and public officials was asked
to define the medical conditions under which physicians will be permitted
to prescribe marijuana. Until now medical marijuana has been available only
on an ad hoc basis by special permit, provided by police from confiscated
supplies. Boaz Lev, an internist and the ministry's deputy director-general
for medical affairs, said "we don't want people to have to break the law
to get treatment when no other drug is effective.")
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 11:04:38 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Israeli Government to Give Marijuana Guidelines
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: Lancet, The (UK)
Website: http://www.thelancet.com/
Contact: lancet.editorial@elsevier.co.uk
Copyright: The Lancet Ltd
Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jan 1999
Author: Rachelle H B Fishman
Volume 353, Number 9150
ISRAELI GOVERNMENT TO GIVE MARIJUANA GUIDELINES
On Jan 20, the Israeli Health Ministry established a committee to provide
doctors with guidelines for prescribing marijuana. Until now marijuana may
only be given by special permit with the drug being provided by the police
from confiscated supplies.
Boaz Lev, an internist and the ministry's deputy director-general for
medical affairs, has asked the six-member committee of physicians, jurists,
and public officials to define the medical conditions under which
physicians will be permitted to prescribe marijuana, rather than continue
on an ad hoc basis. "We want to establish the general guidelines and the
optimum mechanism to provide marijuana to those who need it, but also to
supervise distribution so the drug is not abused for non-medicinal use."
Marijuana can provide relief from severe chronic pain, muscular spasms,
nausea, and loss of appetite caused, for example, by chemotherapy or AIDS.
But Lev says "we don't want people to have to break the law to get
treatment when no other drug is effective". Possession or trade in even the
smallest quantities of the drug in Israel is punishable by a jail sentence.
Calls for a committee to examine the medicinal use of marijuana have been
made in the last few years. In 1995, at a meeting held at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Rafi Mechoulam, a pharmacologist and a pioneer in
marijuana research, suggested that an expert committee should look at the
medicinal properties of the drug.
Earlier this year, a Knesset subcommittee, chaired by MK Naomi Chazan
(Meretz) strongly recommended the Health Ministry establish an expert
group. The committee also suggested that the safety and efficacy of the
drug be tested in clinical trials. Chazan made it clear that "we do not
expect the drug to be widely prescribed, and want to make it clear that it
is being considered as a totally different issue from whether it should be
legalized or decriminalized" the committee said.
No change in the general policy about marijuana use is planned or expected.
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for Jan. 29-Feb. 4