-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hard Data Trickles In As Scientists Study Marijuana (The San Mateo County
Times narrowly summarizes the history and status of research into
medical marijuana in the United States. Three studies in particular - the
University of California study of AIDS patients led by Dr. Donald Abrams,
a completed National Institutes of Health workshop, and a review by the
Institute of Medicine expected to be released next month - are anxiously
awaited by both sides of the smoldering debate over marijuana's medicinal
value. San Mateo County also hopes to launch a $500,000 project next month.
New research and political sea changes led the California Medical
Association's legal adviser to issue an internal memo last month suggesting
the organization could participate actively in a new marijuana distribution
structure to ensure patient health and safety.)
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 11:02:18 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Hard Data Trickles In As Scientists Study Marijuana
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: Sat, 6 Feb 1999
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright: 1999 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Page: 7
Contact: eangsmc@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
Author: Matthew B. Stannard, Staff Writer
Note: Our newshawk writes: "This is the first of several IMPORTANT factual
articles on MMJ in CA. They are all from a surprising source: The San Mateo
County Times. They dominate the Saturday issue, with 2 appearing on page 1
with pictures."
HARD DATA TRICKLES IN AS SCIENTISTS STUDY MARIJUANA
Paul Mocko really doesn't like to smoke.
But for 25 days, beginning in October, Mocko voluntarily puffed and coughed
his way through three marijuana cigarettes every 24 hours as researchers
watched for interactions between the cannabis and all the medications the
54-year-old takes to fight AIDS.
The data they are gleaning from that ongoing study is valuable, researchers
say. Legions of AIDS patients in the Bay Area have been using cannabis for
years to whet their appetites, not knowing how it mixes with the 30-odd
pills they take every day.
But many activists, physicians and research participants say another reason
the study is so significant is because it has the blessing and even
financial support of a wary U.S. government.
"I'm selective about what studies I participate in, but I try to
participate in the ones that seem promising," Mocko said, sipping a bowl of
soup in his San Francisco home. "This is a study that is sponsored and
funded by the federal government.... It's a historic study."
A number of new efforts are in the works to assess whether and how
marijuana affects ailments and chronic conditions, ranging from glaucoma
and AIDS to cancer and multiple sclerosis. Studies range from large-scale
surveys by the federal government to a $500,000 project San Mateo County
hopes to launch next month.
But three studies in particular - the University of California study Mocko
joined, a completed National Institutes of Health workshop, and a review by
the Institute of Medicine expected to be released next month - are
anxiously awaited by both sides of the smoldering debate over marijuana's
medicinal value. It's a debate long marked by complaints there isn't enough
data to prove either side's assertions.
The three studies could lead to a new "gold standard" for physicians and
policy makers to follow.
Marijuana has been used by humans for centuries, and by Western physicians
since at least the mid-19th century as a physical and psychiatric
medication. But in 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act drove the first nail into
the coffin of medicinal cannabis. The drug's removal from the U.S.
Pharmacopoeia in 1942 was the second.
Attributing marijuana's murky status to "ignorance based hysteria,"
Berkeley psychiatrist Dr. Tod Mikuriya has prescribed the drug to treat
more than 120 ailments - from alcoholism and AIDS to thyroiditis and motion
sickness - between 1994 and 1998. He claims the drug helps his patients.
"I keep finding new ones all the time," said Mikuriya, who has served as
medical coordinator for cannabis clubs in Oakland and San Francisco, and on
medicinal marijuana panels for Oakland and the California Medical
Association. "Giving (patients) safe haven with medical status is very like
being a conductor at the end of the underground railroad."
Marijuana users and some researchers and doctors contend medicinal
marijuana is a wonder drug: an antidepressant, anticonvulsant, analgesic
and an appetite stimulant that can be smoked, vaporized, eaten or mixed
into poultices.
While the plant's main psychoactive ingredient,
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is available legally by prescription in pill
form, growers insist the complete plant contains many more ingredients that
might be equally important.
But even proponents acknowledge marijuana has its problems, most of them
linked to the inhalation of smoke from a burning plant into the lungs. The
National Institute of Drug Abuse warns that heavy cannabis use can diminish
learning ability, driving skills and workplace performance. And natural
forms of the drug can contain aspergillus, a mold dangerous to people with
damaged immune systems, such as those suffering from AIDS.
Nevertheless, Mikuriya wants to see marijuana placed on the 11 required
drug lists of all health maintenance organizations, to be tried before
medications with more serious side effects. He doesn't expect that to
happen soon - not unless significant changes occur at the federal level.
"We have a breakdown of the health care delivery system," he said.
"Instead of the surgeon general controlling policy, we have the attorney
general controlling policy."
Dr. Donald Abrams, professor of clinical medicine at University of
California, San Francisco, understands that frustration. Beginning in 1993,
Abrams submitted a handful of proposals for studies to measure the
effectiveness of the cannabis his AIDS patients were using to improve their
appetites time after time, his proposals were rejected.
"They were perhaps not great proposals," Abrams said, "but I think there
were a lot of politics involved."
Finally, Abrams proposed a study that would focus on interactions between
cannabis and the protease inhibitors many AIDS patients also take. To his
surprise, the National Institute of Drug Abuse approved that proposal,
doling out $1 million and 1,400 marijuana cigarettes.
The next logical step, Abrams said, is more studies measuring the
effectiveness of cannabis as a medicine for a range of conditions - the
kinds of studies the government rejected before. Similar work has been done
from time to time since marijuana was rescheduled in 1942, but those
studies just aren't sufficient, Abrams said.
Although many users say marijuana helps them cope with everything from
multiple sclerosis to migraines, personal endorsements don't constitute
pure science. "Anecdote is fine, but it's not data at this point," Abrams
said. "If we show that marijuana is not dangerous and may have some
positive effects, I think we should pursue additional study."
Abrams isn't the only physician coming to that conclusion - nor the most
prominent. In August 1997. the National Institutes of Health reviewed the
studies of marijuana made to date and concluded more research is needed.
That recommendation led the non-governmental Institute of Medicine to spend
18 months reviewing past studies of marijuana. The report won't be released
until next month, but doctors and activists already are abuzz about the
institute's possible findings. Predictions range from another call for more
research to a complete federal reclassification of marijuana.
Those possibilities haven't escaped the attention of the California Medical
Association, which does not endorse widespread distribution of medicinal
marijuana but would favor its availability for medical use if controlled
studies prove it is effective.
New research and political sea changes led the association's legal adviser
to issue an internal memo last month suggesting the organization could
participate actively in a new marijuana distribution structure to ensure
patient health and safety.
"We believe that the distribution of marijuana, medicinal marijuana, should
not be dissimilar to that of other pharmaceuticals," said Sandra Bressler,
the association's director of professional and scientific policy. "In
general, I think we were concerned about quality, consistency and
controlled distribution."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
County To Seek Federal Approval (The San Mateo County Times says county
officials will file an application March 1 seeking permission from the
federal government to carry out a $50,000 study to see whether marijuana
can ease the suffering of critically ill people. A reply is expected by
April 1. Officials hope to use the study eventually to receive federal
permission to distribute marijuana for medicinal uses.)
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 15:23:16 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: County To Seek Federal Approval
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: Sat, 6 Feb 1999
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright: 1999 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Page: 8
Contact: eangsmc@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
Author: Rebecca WaIlace, Staff Writer
Note: Two other items on this edition featuring medical marijuana are at:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n137.a06.html
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n137.a02.html
COUNTY TO SEEK FEDERAL APPROVAL
REDWOOD CITY - County of officials plan to apply to the federal government
March 1 for permission to study whether marijuana can really ease the
suffering of the critically ill.
In May 1998, the Board of Supervisors voted to spend $50,000 designing the
three-year study. Officials said they hope it will give scientific proof to
supplement anecdotal evidence that marijuana can aid those with diseases
such as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma.
They also hope to use the study to eventually receive federal permission to
distribute marijuana for medicinal uses.
Officials expect to find out by April 1 if they will be allowed to proceed
with the clinical study, said Supervisor Michael Nevin, who made it his
mission in 1997 to put Proposition 215 into play by having The County
distribute the drug.
Prop. 215, passed by state voters in 1996, allowed use of marijuana for
medical purposes.
"It's the correct thing to do, no matter what the political view is," Nevin
said.
The study is designed to include between 500 and 1,000 patients. Last year,
it was estimated that 175,000 people in The County qualify for medical
marijuana as defined in Prop. 215.
Officials estimate the study will cost $500,000 over three Years and will
be conducted in San Mateo County under the auspices of the federal
government, Nevin said.
County officials will be applying for permission from the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the National
Institute on Drug Abuse.
Nevin also has been named to a subcommittee of state Attorney General Bill
Lockyer's task force on Prop. 215. His committee is looking into the
possible source and distribution of medical marijuana.
Implementation of Prop. 215 has proven difficult. Former state Attorney
General Dan Lungren
closed down cannabis clubs, saying they didn't meet the qualifications for
a "primary caregiver" defined in Prop. 215.
An earlier County proposal met with the same fate.
County Health Services Director Margaret Taylor has said this clinical
study is the only way The County will be able to provide marijuana for the
ill.
Supervisor Jerry Hill said he was "excited" about the possibility of the
clinical trials.
"I think it's a wonderful idea. I hope we can make some headway," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Is Marijuana Medicine? California Focuses On Legal Distribution Of Pot
To Patients (The San Mateo County Times discusses the prospects for medical
marijuana reform in California. Attorney General Bill Lockyer has formed a
task force to figure out how the herb can be distributed. State senator John
Vasconcellos, cochairman of a legislative task force on medical marijuana,
intends to introduce a bill, as yet unwritten, which would create a legal
framework for distribution. Meanwhile, the California Medical Association,
recognizing that the state's new administration "appears to have quite a
different attitude toward Prop. 215," might position itself to play a key
role in distributing medical marijuana.)
Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 00:39:46 +0000
To: vignes@monaco.mc
From: Peter Webster
Subject: [] California Focuses On Legal Distribution Of Pot To Patients
Pubdate: Sat, 6 Feb 1999
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright: MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact: eangsmc@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
Author: Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Page: 1
IS MARIJUANA MEDICINE?
California Focuses On Legal Distribution Of Pot To Patients
Big Shift In Attitude Could Clear The Smoke Over Proposition 215
A progressive attorney general and a veteran South Bay lawmaker are
taking steps that could result in a major victory for Californians who
long have struggled to use medicinal marijuana with legal protection.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer has formed a task force to figure
out how medicinal marijuana can be distributed under voter-approved
Proposition 215 without running afoul of federal laws.
And state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, cochairman of a task
force whose members include medical experts, federal officials and
state law enforcement representatives, intends to introduce two bills
this month to bolster that mission.
Their efforts could pick up considerable momentum if a couple of
soon-to-be-released reports recommend a federal reclassification of
marijuana to make it more accessible for research and
prescription.
Meanwhile, the influential California Medical Association, recognizing
that the state's new administration "appears to have quite a different
attitude toward Prop. 215," might position itself to play a key role
in the drugs distribution.
"If some sort of medical marijuana distribution is likely in Cali-
fornia ... in order to minimize any harm to patients and/or public
health, CMA should actively Participate in creating the structure
under which such distribution takes place," suggests an internal
medical association memo dated Jan. 11. Officials of the association,
which has two members on the task force, have not yet taken that position.
But if the association does so later, the position would be consistent
with its "damage control" approach in other medical controversies,
such as endorsing needle exchanges for drug addicts.
'The same type of proactive involvement may be appropriate here,
especially in light of the fact that five other states have enacted
marijuana initiatives similar to Prop. 215 and will be searching for
the means to implement their new laws."
Already, the shift in attitude since the Nov. 3 election is
noticeable.
Where former Attorney General Dan Lungren had no qualms about
overriding local prosecutors' decisions by calling in federal drug
agents and prosecutors, Lockyer has switched to a hands-off policy,
"This department should be a support system for local law enforcement
and local DAs rather than the top of the pyramid," Lockyer said. "Our
policy is to respect the discretion exercised by local elected
officials. San Francisco is different from Bakersfield or Redding or some
other community."
Meanwhile, he is working with attorneys general in the five other
states that approved medicinal marijuana initiatives in November to
push for changes in federal policy that outlaws marijuana, both
medicinal and recreational.
And the task force called together for the first time last
Tuesday will try to "address gaps and omissions and ambiguities left by
Prop. 215.
"The basic policy ... is 'clinics, not cults. 'We really need to
provide medicine for people that need it, and not be an open door to
recreational use," Lockyer said.
Long Struggle
From the outset, California struggled to implement Prop. 215, or the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996, because of all the gaps, omissions and
ambiguities Lockyer mentioned, and the fact it conflicts with federal
law.
Like many of the people who had opposed the ballot initiative, Lungren
and former Gov. Pete Wilson feared Prop. 215 was a front for those who
want to legalize recreational marijuana. Opponents also resented the
in-your face attitude some medicinal marijuana providers took to
publicize and advance their cause.
"The brunt of the reaction pretty much occurred in the autumn of
last year, before the election - that was when they pulled out all the
stops," said Dale Gieringer, coordinator of California's National
Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) chapter.
"They had their greatest strength then. They had elected officials in
California who were supporting the crackdown, and they hadn't the
votes from the other states yet ratifying California's decision."
A San Francisco cannabis club twice was shut down by the courts; as
was Oakland's cooperative once last year, for violating federal drug
laws.
Despite court-ordered closures, cannabis clubs in San Francisco,
Oakland and other cities still are distributing medicinal marijuana
while keeping as low a profile as possible,
Whether and how hard local law enforcement cracks down on clubs or
users depends, to a large extent, on how district attorneys read the
law.
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney ~ Jeff Rubin said his
prosecutors treat marijuana cases like all other - they look at the
facts and decide whether a provable crime without a valid defense was
committed. To him, Prop. 215 "is no different than any other defense
that could be available to a defendant charged with a crime,"
including claims of self defense, duress or entrapment.
San Mateo County District Attorney James Fox takes a similar approach
toward users.
"Of course ... if somebody has five kilos and! says it's for
medicinal purposes, we would tend to disbelieve that," Fox
said.
But the way Fox interprets the law, neither clubs nor clinics should
provide medicinal marijuana. Only a patient or primary care giver has
the right to grow it.
"That's not to say the law cannot be changed," he said. "But absent a
change in the law, we are not going to just wink at distribution
centers in San Mateo County."
A change in the law is exactly what Vasconcellos has in mind, and he
intends to introduce two bills this month to accomplish just that.
One bill would establish a $1 million-a-year University of California
medicinal marijuana research program, said Vasconcellos' spokesman,
Rand Martin. Although Republican opposition sank a similar bill last
year, Martin said the senator believes it could pass this year with
more Democrats in the Legislature and Democrat Gray Davis as governor.
The second bill, as yet unwritten, would create a legal framework for
medicinal marijuana distribution. Vasconcellos hopes Lockyer's task
force will help him find a way to operate such a system in a manner
"that doesn't generate further arrests and law enforcement closing
them down and the various other tragic scenarios we've seen play out
over the last two years," Martin said.
Federal Law Unchanged
If Vasconcellos succeeds, there is still federal law to consider. U.S.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Steel said federal agencies must
uphold laws passed by Congress, and "marijuana possession and
distribution, according to the U.S. Congress, is illegal.
"We are just as committed to enforcing the laws that Congress has
passed, notwithstanding what local law enforcement has done,". Steel
said. "There is no sea change. Our policy is the same,"
Congress passed a bill last October reaffirming that it supports "the
existing federal legal process for determining the safety and efficacy
of drugs, and opposes efforts to circumvent this process by legalizing
marijuana ... for medicinal use without valid scientific evidence and
the approval of the Food and Drug Administration."
Bad as that may sound for marijuana advocates, it actually is what
they wanted to hear because the bill also ordered the Food and Drug
Administration to prepare a report on enforcement of a law that would
require marijuana to meet "extensive scientific and medical standards"
before it is deemed a safe, effective drug.
Pro-marijuana forces hope that report will recommend switching
marijuana from Schedule I - a federal list of dangerous, illicit,
non-medicinal drugs - to a less restrictive schedule subject to
research and prescription. Marijuana now is more restrictively
scheduled than PCP, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The deadline for that report was Jan. 21.
"We're still working on the report," agency spokesman Larry Bachorik
said last week.
As state and federal agencies toiled to shut down the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Cooperative last year, the Oakland City Council tried to
legally and politically protect the group by declaring its leaders
officers of the city.
Councilman Nate Miley, who helped lead the effort, said he is glad
Lockyer is calling the shots now and medicinal marijuana is catching
on in other states.
"I think that is just great," he said. "If the political scene hadn't
changed ... oh boy, I'd feel like we were fighting an uphill battle on
a slippery slope. But this is not an issue that's going to go away.
Miley said he is banking on Lockyer and Vasconcellos to set things
straight. Cities at least should be able to regulate medicinal
marijuana clubs through zoning and business licenses, he said.
Jeff Jones, president of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, also
believes the tide has changed.
"The federal government isn't going to come in over the attorney
general and say, 'This isn't right,'" he predicted. "If they don't
have local ground support, they're going to stay away, I think. They
see the handwriting on the wall now, just a little bit, that there is
a lot of support for this."
Summing up the battle ahead, Jones said "it's the great debate of
1999. I think they're going to come to some conclusions before the end
of this year as to what to do with this issue."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Not-So-Secret Farm Keeps Growing (The San Mateo County Times
portrays the Lake County Cannabis Cultivation Project operated legally
by Dennis Peron and other medical-marijuana activists in northern California.
The group cultivates juvenile plants for Proposition 215 patients, who pay
only for the group's labor, about $50 per plant. Each plant will yield
roughly two ounces of smokeable weed in six to eight weeks, after budding
in a patient's bathtub or closet. The article includes rare testimony from
a psychiatric patient about marijuana's efficacy for her severe condition.)
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 17:29:22 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Not-So-Secret Farm Keeps Growing
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Pubdate: 6 Feb. 1999
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Copyright: Feb 6 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact: eangsmc@newschoice.com
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/smct/
NOT-SO-SECRET FARM KEEPS GROWING
MIDDLETON - If the Lake County Cannabis Cultivation Project is
difficult to find, it's not because anybody is trying to keep it a
secret.
A giant red canvas banner proclaiming "Medical Marijuana" beckons
motorists, and a World Wide Web site and steady stream of faxed news
releases keep everyone - including law enforcement agencies - updated
on the 20-acre farm's doings. After all, those growing and providing
marijuana to visitors and Bay Area residents believe their operation is
completely legal.
"We're trying to show what you can do under the law without any
trouble or dispute," says John Entwistle, a legislative advocate,
spokesman, amateur horticulturist and chief bottle washer for
Californians for Compassionate Use, which runs the farm.
The distinctive smell of burning marijuana wafts from inside a house
where people are smoking in the living room, sitting amid memorabilia
of years of pro-marijuana activism. Some are in wheelchairs like Sandi
Patrick, who suffers paralysis and other ailments from a car accident.
They smoke intermittently all day or !eat cake baked with
marijuana-spiked butter.
Pam McConnell of Clear Lake says she has struggled with mental illness
for many years.
During one of her frequent hospital stays, a niece found her too
medicated to walk straight.
So McConnell quit taking the hospital's medicine and smoked a joint
her niece gave her.
Nurses and doctors remarked on her rapid improvement and discharged
her a few days later.
Eighteen years later, she has been hospitalized only once, when she
ran out of marijuana for a few days.
"I'm functional, I'm sitting here talking to you instead of up in St.
Helena with my thumb in my mouth," she says. I'm not doing anything
wrong. I'm taking care of myself, keeping myself alive."
In two hothouses on the farm, $300 sodium lamps radiate the heat and
light the plants crave, while fans blow a constant breeze to strengthen the
growing stalks. Entwistle carries the plants onto the porch and
tenderly bathes each one with a garden hose, moving stalk by stalk,
top to bottom, washing away parasites that could stunt growth.
Just before the plants mature, they are sexed. Female plants produce
blossoms that are dried and smoked; male plants are ground and used in
cooking or poultices.
Entwistle says buyers pay only for the labor - about $50 for a plant
that will yield roughly two ounces of smokeable weed, after budding in
a patient's bathtub or closet.
"We're really proud of this. He's not going to have to do anything
with this," Entwistle says. caressing the leaves of a plant ready for
shipping. "All you need to make this plant into medicine now is one I
light."
As nine plants are loaded ' into Entwistle speaks of distributing
marijuana like an old-fashioned milkman by making weekly deliveries
customers along a route.
Lake County Sheriff Rod says the farm isn't his highest priority. If he
finds farmers overstepping their legal bounds, he will act. Otherwise,
he will sit tight.
Somebody needs to Say these are the standards," he said. "There is
nothing under that law that gives a standard. There is no number of
plants, there is no plant-to patient ratio, there is nothing."
So the minivan uneventfully passes a few police cars while wending
through wine country, and the marijuana-scented group gets only a few
odd looks when it stops at a Taco Bell in Napa.
Later, on a darkened Berkeley street, Dennis Peron shakes his head at
the cloak-and-dagger feel of handing plants over a wooden slat fence
to a member of a local ring of medicinal users.
"Clandestine meeting in the middle of the night," says the flamboyant
former head of San Francisco cannabis club. "I drove 100 miles to hand
these over a fence. Something's not right."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Corrections Board Approves Prisoner Surtax (The Des Moines Register
notes the war on some drug users just got more lucrative Friday as the Iowa
Board of Corrections approved plans for state inmates to pay a 6 percent
surtax on cigarettes, candy, shampoo and anything else they buy in order
to pay more of their cost of incarceration. Collection of the 6 percent
surtax already began in November.)
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 19:17:07 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US IA: Corrections Board Approves Prisoner Surtax
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Sat, 06 Feb 1999
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 1999, The Des Moines Register.
Contact: letters@news.dmreg.com
Website: http://www.dmregister.com/
CORRECTIONS BOARD APPROVES PRISONER SURTAX
Inmates will pay an extra 6 percent for candy, cigarettes and other items to
help with their keep.
Iowa inmates will pay a 6 percent surtax on cigarettes, candy, shampoo and
other items to help pay part of their keep under plans approved Friday by
the Iowa Board of Corrections.
Many prisoners in the past had paid $5 a month for the so-called
"incarceration fee." But Iowa Corrections Director W.L. "Kip" Kautzky said
some inmates had avoided payments by making sure their prison accounts had a
very low balance.
The new approach is more equitable because every inmate makes purchases from
prison stores, Kautzky said.
The 6 percent surtax should generate $300,000 to $310,000 annually, about
the same as the $5 per month payment, officials said. However, plans are
being made for centralized purchasing of retail products for all of Iowa's
prisons, and the savings will be passed on to inmates. That should help
offset the effect of the surtax, Kautzky said.
Deputy Corrections Director John Baldwin said collection of the 6 percent
surtax began in November, but the board's action Friday approves it as a
state administrative rule.
On other matters, Kautzky told the the state panel:
* A new, 100-bed "special needs" prison unit for women will open this month
at Mount Pleasant. The inmates, who have problems such as mental illness,
mental retardation or social inadequacy, will be transferred from the state
prison at Mitchellville, which should help alleviate crowding there.
* A "zero-tolerance" policy toward offenders who use illegal drugs in
community corrections facilities has had "astonishing" success in curbing
drug use. The policy has been used in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and
Council Bluffs areas, and will be expanded statewide, Kautzky said.
* A plan is being studied by the Iowa Legislature to prevent some
probationers who violate rules from being sent to prison. Instead, the
offenders would be assigned to drug treatment programs at mental health
facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Trooper Says State Police in New Jersey Discriminate (The New York Times
says Emblez Longoria, a 10-year veteran of the New Jersey State Police,
has filed a lawsuit accusing fellow state troopers of using race-based
profiles to stop black and Hispanic drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike
in the hope of making drug arrests. Longoria, who is of Puerto Rican descent,
alleges he too is the victim of discrimination.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Cop NJ state cops discriminate
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1999 22:32:08 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
February 6, 1999
New York Times
Trooper Says State Police in New Jersey Discriminate
By JENNIFER PRESTON
RENTON -- A 10-year veteran of the New Jersey State Police has accused
fellow state troopers of using race-based profiles to stop black and
Hispanic drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike in the hope of making drug
arrests, according to court papers filed Thursday.
The trooper, Emblez Longoria, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed in
United States District Court here. The suit also says that Longoria, who is
of Puerto Rican descent, has been the victim of discrimination, including
being denied positions he has repeatedly sought. At a recent assignment, he
found a pacifier nailed to his mailbox, along with various "derogatory and
offensive statements," the suit said.
Longoria's lawyer says he is the first state trooper on active duty who has
claimed that members of the state police are involved in racial profiling --
stopping cars for no reason other than the occupants' race or nationality --
which is illegal.
In court papers, Longoria said that he had heard about profiling, but that
he did not learn firsthand of the practice until a tour of duty on the New
Jersey Turnpike in 1997.
At that time, Longoria said in court papers, he was required to "stop
motorists clearly on the basis of race and/or perceived nationality, so as
to interdict drug trafficking, and boost his arrest statistics." The filing
of the suit was first reported Friday in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The
Star-Ledger of Newark.
The state has consistently dismissed allegations of profiling. The most
recent furor occurred last year after an April 23 shooting incident on the
New Jersey Turnpike in which state troopers stopped a van carrying four New
York City residents: three black men and one Hispanic man.
The police contend that they stopped the van because it was speeding, and
that they began firing shots at the van after it went into reverse, striking
one of the troopers. Three of the men in the van were wounded, two
seriously. The occupants of the van said that they were not speeding, and
that the van went into reverse by mistake.
A special state prosecutor is still investigating the case. Last month, the
four young men helped state police investigators recreate some aspects of
the shooting.
In response to Longoria's lawsuit, Col. Carl A. Williams, superintendent of
the New Jersey State Police, said Friday that he could not comment on the
specifics of the lawsuit.
But he insisted that the state police did not condone the use of racial
profiling.
"As I have continued to maintain, it is extremely important that state
troopers and the public understand that racial profiling -- or any form of
discrimination for that matter -- is not, and will not be, tolerated," he
said.
Philip J. Moran, the lawyer representing Longoria, said his client was
ordered by superiors to use the tactics of racial profiling when he began a
tour of duty in 1997 on the turnpike to "make his numbers."
Moran said Longoria was concerned that he would "not be backed up" if he did
not follow the orders. He soon requested, and was granted, a transfer from
duty on the turnpike.
Longoria's lawsuit also alleges that the state police have discriminated
against him, most recently by reassigning him to a position at Fort Dix last
year.
Moran said his client had been punished for his friendship with another
state trooper, Sgt. Vincent Bellaran, who won a racial harassment verdict
against the state police in Federal court.
Moran also represented Sergeant Bellaran and two other state troopers who
have brought discrimination suits against the New Jersey State Police.
David G. Ironman, a Staten Island lawyer who, along with Johnnie L. Cochran,
represents two of the young men injured in the April 23 shooting incident,
said the latest lawsuit was further proof that the troopers routinely
engaged in profiling.
"I believe, as our investigation has indicated, that it is a pattern and a
practice that is encouraged," Ironman said. "I am sure the New Jersey
authorities will deny once again that it occurs, but this is one of their
own troopers, alleging it in his complaint."
***
When away, you can STOP and RESTART W.H.E.N.'s news clippings by sending an
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net. Ignore the Subject: line. In the body put
"unsubscribe when" to STOP. To RESTART, put "subscribe when" in the e-mail
instead (No quotation marks.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
US Agency Curbs Psychosis Tests, Reviews Funding (According to the Boston
Globe, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Steven E.
Hyman, said yesterday that he had suspended controversial studies that sought
to induce psychotic symptoms in mentally ill patients, and had begun to
review funding of such research. "We are not going to be funding research
that will produce harm," he said. The suspended studies used ketamine, an
approved anesthetic drug that also is abused on the streets for its
hallucinogenic properties under such names as "Special K.")
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 17:08:06 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: US Agency Curbs Psychosis Tests, Reviews Funding
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Galasyn
Pubdate: Feb 6, 1999
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Contact: letters@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Copyright: 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
Author: Dolores Kong, Globe Staff
US AGENCY CURBS PSYCHOSIS TESTS, REVIEWS FUNDING
BETHESDA, Md. - The National Institute of Mental Health has suspended some
Controversial studies that seek to induce psychotic symptoms in mentally ill
patients and has begun to review its funding of such research, the
institute's director said yesterday.
Dr. Steven E. Hyman, who left Boston two years ago to head the
nation's mental health research agency, also won approval yesterday
for a more stringent review of proposed studies to induce psychosis or
withdraw or deny medication from mentally ill volunteers.
''We are not going to be funding research that will produce harm,''
Hyman said at a meeting of the National Advisory Mental Health
Council, which unanimously approved his plan to create a new grant
review subcommittee. That panel will be composed of council members,
outside bioethicists, and people with mental illness or their relatives.
The suspended studies used ketamine, an approved anesthetic drug that
also is abused on the streets for its hallucinogenic properties under
such names as ''Special K.''
''Those [studies] on our campus have stopped,'' Hyman said in an
interview, adding that new subjects had not been enrolled in ketamine
studies at the Bethesda institute for about a year. The institute is
now reviewing its funding of outside research involving ketamine, Hyman said.
Ketamine has been used in people with mental illness and in healthy
volunteers to study the biology of psychoses. In a four-part series
three months ago, the Globe focused attention on reports of harm done
to mentally ill volunteers by studies that involved administering
ketamine and other drugs or denying or withdrawing medication for research.
Hyman and other officials at the National Institute of Mental Health
have said their review of the studies began before the Globe series.
But an article two weeks ago in the journal Science cited the
''devastating four-part series full of research horror stories'' as
having mobilized the agency to step up its efforts.
Other publications also have focused on the issue. Hyman called some
accounts sensational, but acknowledged that they highlighted a growing
public mistrust of research.
''What will chill and kill clinical research will be the loss of
public trust,'' he said in proposing the new review process.
Institute officials said their ketamine studies had been suspended for
lack of scientific merit following a review last month, but they
denied that patients had been harmed. If study designs are improved,
that line of research could start up again, said Clarissa Wittenberg,
an institute spokeswoman.
Hyman said the agency is studying options on how to proceed with
outside ketamine research it funds. Yale University, the University of
Maryland, and others are among those receiving institute funding for
ketamine studies.
The agency could do anything from alerting outside researchers of its
concerns to suspending funding, Wittenberg said, adding that ''the
message is getting out pretty clearly on where the institute is
standing on all of this.''
The agency's actions have angered some psychiatric researchers who are
concerned that it will have a chilling effect on scientific
advancement, but they earned praise from people with mental illness
and their advocates.
One professional organization, the American Psychiatric Association,
put its support squarely behind the new review process yesterday. In a
statement, Dr. Steven M. Mirin, medical director of the 40,000-member
group, said: ''The issue is how to craft protections for research
participants so they do not unnecessarily and inappropriately impinge
on the pursuit of new treatments of these devastating disorders. The
proposals ... meet this test.''
Some advocates, however, said the institute is not doing enough. Adil
Shamoo, a University of Maryland bioethicist, welcomed the suspension
of the ketamine studies but added, ''The important question is, are
they stopped temporarily or permanently?''
Shamoo and Vera Hassner Sharav, cofounders of the New York-based
Citizens for Responsible Care in Psychiatry and Research, have called
for a moratorium on studies that induce psychosis or withdraw
medications.
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To City Hall, Sister Icee is Public Enemy No. 1 (Vancouver Sun columnist
Ian Mulgrew says city officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, have resorted
to the lowest kind of character assassination in an attempt to keep Shelley
Francis, a marijuana-law reform activist also known as Sister Icee, from
obtaining a business license for Hemp B.C. and the Cannabis Café. The city's
licensing and legal departments have basically argued that Francis is either
a puppet of Marc Emery or is following in his scofflaw footsteps. There is
scant evidence of that, and more than 10,000 people have signed petitions of
support. But it doesn't appear to matter. The city council's egregious
conduct of the hearing Thursday night left little doubt about where it
stands.)
From: creator@islandnet.com (Matt Elrod)
To: mattalk@listserv.islandnet.com
Subject: Canada: Column: To City Hall, Sister Icee is Public Enemy No.1
Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 09:18:20 -0800
Lines: 98
Newshawk: Sister Icee
Source: Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Pubdate: Feb-06-1999
Author: Ian Mulgrew
TO CITY HALL, SISTER ICEE IS PUBLIC ENEMY NO.1
A bid to keep the pro pot activist from getting a business license featured
the lowest kind of character assassination.
I celebrated my birthday stifling laughter and shaking my head at the
tactic's of the city's legal department in it's war with Shelley Francis,
aka Sister Icee.
You'd think the counter-culture entrepreneur was Public Enemy Number one
given the venom employed to shut down her hemp emporium and adjoining cafe
at 307 West Hastings Street.
The fight began last year when the city refused to issue a 1998 business
license to Francis because of "bad business management". That prompted a
"Show Cause Hearing" at which council reviews the evidence and either
upholds or overturns the judgment of civic staff.
On Thursday night, city hall rested the case against Francis after four
rowdy nights of public evidence that featured the lowest kind of character
assassination.
In a scene reminiscent of Reefer Madness, the anti-drug film that became a
cult classic because of it's self-righteous silliness, city lawyer John
Nelson used snippets from a TV interview with Francis to portray her as an
unfit mother and a dope fiend.
"For your viewing pleasure,"Nelson said with a smile before rolling perhaps
six seconds of video tape in which Francis said:"I've smoked pot for 20
years...daily."
Snapping the machine off, Nelson quipped: "That's all I wanted you to hear
about that!"
Everyone knows smoking grass daily prohibits you from getting a business
license. Not.
Nelson then played another snippet in which Francis said that she had two
kids and had "used marijuana medicinally for the children rather than baby
aspirin or gripe water."
The insinuation provoked an immediate howl of derision from Francis's dozen
or so supporters in the public gallery. "Burn her at the stake," mocked one
heckler.
I'm surprised provincial social workers weren't standing by, although what
her parenting skills have to do with selling hemp sweatshirts is beyond me.
Councillor George Puil, acting as the hearing's chairman, did a great
imitation of former mayor Tom Campbell, who liked to turn the fire hoses on
pot smokers. "We do have the authority to clean the place out completely
and finish the hearing in camera," he fumed.
It was not his or council's finest moment. In fact, the persecution of
Francis could not have been handled more incompetently if the B.C. Ferry
Corp. were in charge.
The acrimonious assault on Hemp B.C. and the Cannabis Cafe is actually a
product of the antipathy between Mayor Phillip Owen and Marc Emery, failed
mayoralty candidate and former owner of the businesses.
So eager last year was Owen to rid the city of this scourge that he told a
New York Times reporter Emery and Hemp B.C. would be "toast" by fall. (That
commemt by the way, forced the mayor to withdraw from the current hearing
because of an appearance of bias.)
Emery was a blow-smoke-in-your-face marijuana activist who wanted to turn
Vancouver into an Amsterdam of the Pacific, and it's easy to see why he got
under Owen's skin.
Still, faced with non-stop police harrassment, Emery surrendered and
sold out to Francis, who signed an agreement with the city promising not to
sell, promote or facilitate the sale of marijuana.
The city's licensing and legal departments, however, have basically argued
that Francis is either a puppet of Emery or is following in his scofflaw
footsteps.
There is scant evidence of that.
Merchants and local residents say Francis stopped drug dealing in the
store. "She's been a very positive influence and part of the rejuvenation
and renaissance of the neighbourhood," according to Steve Lippold, who has
operated a nearby vintage clothing store for 25 years.
As well, more than 10,000 people have signed petitions of support.
It doesn't appear to matter. Council's egregious conduct of the hearing
left little doubt about where it stands.
You may reach Ian Mulgrew at imulgrew@pacpress.southam.ca or at
(604)605-2195, fax (604)605-2323.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Cop Held On Drug Rap (The Toronto Sun reluctantly identifies Abraham
Bailey as the former Toronto police constable who was charged yesterday
with selling heroin and cocaine in a school district. After receiving
community complaints about "drug" trafficking, Toronto Police raided Bailey's
Coffee Time store Thursday, seizing heroin, cocaine and marijuana with an
estimated value of $14,000, plus $25,000 in Canadian currency, $4,000 U.S.
in greenbacks, jewelry worth $10,000, and three video game machines.)
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 22:23:35 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Ex-Cop Held On Drug Rap
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Sat, 6 Feb 1999
Source: Toronto Sun (Canada)
Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: editor@sunpub.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/
Author: Ian Robertson, Toronto Sun
EX-COP HELD ON DRUG RAP
Heroin, coke seized in coffee shop near school
Toronto area cops expressed disgust yesterday after a former Toronto Police
constable was charged with selling heroin and cocaine in a school district.
Since hearing of the charges against the ex-cop and his commonlaw wife at
their Vaughan coffee shop, "I've had a number of calls" from colleagues,
including Chief David Boothby, Supt. Ron Taverner said.
He wouldn't repeat his boss' comments, but said, "It would be fair to say
all officers of all ranks feel really saddened that a former police officer
for such a long time would (allegedly) get involved with such issues."
After receiving community complaints about drug trafficking, Toronto Police
on Thursday raided a Coffee Time on Steeles Ave. W., east of Bathurst St.,
in a joint operation with York Regional Police and the Ontario illegal
gaming enforcement unit.
Investigators said they arrested the owners and four visitors, seized
heroin, cocaine and marijuana with an estimated value of $14,000, plus
$25,000 in Canadian currency, $4,000 U.S. in greenbacks, jewelry worth
$10,000, and three video game machines.
Taverner called the investigation "a quick one," because of the risk to
students at nearby schools, who frequent the coffee shop.
Since several young people were using the gaming machines when police
arrived, investigators are worried some teenagers may have also bought
drugs.
"We're quite happy this has been stopped," Newtonbrook Secondary School
vice-principal William Macdonald said yesterday. No parents or students have
sought help since school officials learned of the arrests, "but we'll be
monitoring students next week."
York Region Insp. Ivar Vittans said the ex-cop was arrested recently on
non-drug charges, but would not elaborate, saying the case is before the
courts.
The accused ex-cop was remembered by former colleagues as a one-time
employee of Ponderosa Restaurants, who joined the force in 13 Division
during a major 1970s campaign to have two officers in each cruiser.
After being transferred to 14 Division, he shot dead a drifter who
confronted him with a replica handgun.
"When he walked over to the guy and saw it was a fake gun, he dropped his
weapon and sat down on the sidewalk and cried," a former colleague told The
Saturday Sun.
The death on Ossington Ave. in April 1977 of Alexander Misztal, 51, who was
known to police as an unemployed, tough, mouthy drunk with a love for guns,
sparked a major campaign to ban realistic-looking toy handguns.
The ex-cop ended his career as a 31 Division constable in North York, after
taking early retirement in 1996.
Abraham Bailey, 49, who used the name Chris and was known as "Ace," is
charged with trafficking in heroin, cocaine, possessing drugs to traffic,
having crime proceeds and keeping a common gaming house.
Bailey appeared in a Newmarket court yesterday. He was escorted in wearing
handcuffs and was remanded to custody until a bail hearing Monday.
Conchita Garcia is charged with keeping a common gaming house, keeping
machines for gambling, controlling money tied to gambling and possessing a
controlled substance. She appears in Newmarket court March 11.
-- With files from Alan Findlay
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for Feb. 5-11