-------------------------------------------------------------------
Former drug tester admits taking shortcuts (The Oregonian says Sherrie L.
Kaneaster, the former owner of a Portland-area urine-testing business,
pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to taking shortcuts in testing truck
drivers from 1995 to 1997. U.S. Department of Transportation drug-testing
regulations require a physician trained to evaluate drug tests to review
the results, both negative and positive. Kaneaster falsely certified that
such evaluations had occurred.)
The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Former drug tester admits taking shortcuts
* Sherrie L. Kaneaster, 34, faces sentencing in a federal fraud case
involving drug testing her company did on truck drivers
Tuesday February 9, 1999
By By Ashbel S. Green
of The Oregonian staff
The former owner of a Portland-area drug-testing business pleaded guilty in
federal court Monday to a charge stemming from a scheme to take shortcuts in
testing truck drivers.
Sherrie L. Kaneaster, 34, who also used the last names of Winks and Reavis,
owned a Portland-area business that contracted with various trucking
companies to test drivers for drug use from at least 1995 to 1997, according
to a federal indictment.
The business was known as Sherrie's Quality Services, Quality Service
Coordinators Inc. and Quality Specimen Collections Inc., according to the
indictment.
Kaneaster now lives in Hermiston but had addresses in Northeast Portland,
Fairview and Troutdale when she ran her drug-testing business.
The U.S. Department of Transportation requires all truckers to submit to
pre-employment, post-accident and random testing for the use of opiates,
cocaine, amphetamines, phencyclidine and marijuana. Drug-testing regulations
require that a physician trained to evaluate drug tests review the results,
both negative and positive, according to the indictment.
If a test is positive for drug use, the physician must attempt to contact
the driver to determine if something else could explain the result. In
either a negative or positive result, the physician must certify the results.
Kaneaster's business contracted with trucking companies to collect urine
samples, have them tested by a qualified laboratory and have a physician
review the results.
According to the indictment, Kaneaster devised a scheme to defraud trucking
companies in several ways. She claimed that drug tests had been reviewed by
physicians when they had not. She occasionally overturned positive tests and
indicated that a physician had certified them as negative. A 35-count
indictment issued in October charges her with falsely stating that a
physician had certified drug tests, mail fraud and wire fraud.
Some of the companies include Felton Trucking, T & G Trucking, Gulick
Trucking and Miller Trucking, according to the indictment.
Kaneaster pleaded guilty to one count of falsely stating that a physician
had reviewed a drug test. She faces a maximum five years in prison, but
under sentencing guidelines could be placed under house arrest.
Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner is scheduled for April 21.
You can reach Ashbel S. Green at 503-221-8202 or by e-mail at
Tonygreen@news.oregonian.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroin overdose deaths soar in Oregon (The Associated Press doesn't admit
the war on some drug users has failed, but says deaths in Oregon attributable
to injecting tainted street heroin totaled 179 in 1998, 10 times the 18
deaths recorded in 1991. The wire service ignores the toll from alcohol,
prescription drugs and coerced medicating in order to assert that heroin
accounted for 76 percent of the state's total so-called drug overdoses.)
Associated Press
found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/
feedback (letters to the editor):
feedback@thewire.ap.org
Heroin overdose deaths soar in Oregon
The Associated Press
2/10/99 4:49 AM
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Heroin overdose deaths in Oregon are 10 times what they
were in 1991, and drug counselors warn that the toll likely will stay high
because the addictive drug is cheap, potent and widely available.
Oregon recorded 59 heroin overdose deaths in 1990, 18 in 1991 and 179 in
1998. Last year's heroin deaths accounted for 76 percent of the state's
total drug overdoses.
"It's extremely reinforcing, then after they use it a couple times it
becomes a physical dependence," said Dr. Doug Bovee, medical director of the
CODA Addiction Treatment Services clinic in Eugene.
Most of the heroin comes from South America by way of Mexico. A gram sells
for about $50. Addicts go through agonizing withdrawal symptoms when they
quit, including cold sweats, nausea, muscle spasms and bone and joint aches.
"If they use heroin, within seconds it's gone," Bovee said. "It's so easy to
relieve it with heroin."
He and others said most deaths are accidental, the result of users getting
doses too large or too pure for their systems. Others die from using heroin
with other substances, including alcohol or methamphetamine.
"If it was just alcohol or just heroin it might not be enough to kill them,
but they combine the two and it knocks off their respiration centers and
causes them to die," Bovee said.
His clinic and one run by Lane County treat heroin addiction with methadone,
a synthetic narcotic that relieves withdrawal symptoms without causing the
high sensation of heroin.
The methadone clinics treat about 300 people between them.
In Lane County alone 33 people died of heroin overdoses in 1998. Heroin
accounted for 73 percent of the county's 45 overdose deaths last year.
"I'd say it's between massive and immense," he said. "It's a huge, huge
problem."
(c)1999 Oregon Live LLC
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Kubby Case To Go Before Grand Jury (The Auburn Journal, in California,
says 1998 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby's marijuana
cultivation case will be presented to a criminal grand jury on Feb. 17.
The district attorney's office will withdraw the existing indictment.
Dale Wood, a Tahoe City attorney representing the Kubbys, said the decision
would deprive Kubby of a public hearing of his case.)
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 05:00:17 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Kubby Case To Go Before Grand Jury
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Patrick McCartney
Pubdate: Tue, 9 Feb 1999
Source: Auburn Journal
Copyright: 1999 Auburn Journal
Contact: ElPatricio@aol.com
Address: 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Author: Patrick McCartney, Journal City Editor
Note: Our newshawk writes: "Dear Richard et al, This is a change in
direction of the case against Steve and Michele Kubby. Less open and no
chance for a judge to dismiss the case before trial. Pat."
KUBBY CASE TO GO BEFORE GRAND JURY
Former Libertarian candidate Steve Kubby's marijuana cultivation case will
be presented to a criminal grand jury, a Placer County prosecutor confirmed
on Monday. The grand jury hearing is set for Feb. 17. With the decision,
the district attorney's office will withdraw the existing indictment of
marijuana cultivate and possession for sale against Steve Kubby and his
wife Michele.
The Kubbys were arrested Jan. 19 at their Olympic Valley home by the
multiagency North Tahoe Task Force, which seized 265 plants growing in four
rooms. Steve Kubby, 52, openly espoused the use of medical marijuana for
his rare adrenal cancer during a 1998 campaign for governor. He was
instrumental in qualifying California's successful Proposition 215 in 1996,
which allows the use of marijuana with a physician's approval.
Christopher Cattran, a Placer County deputy district attorney, said
criminal grand juries are often used by the county's prosecutors. "We view
the grand jury as a body of independent people who will impartially review
all the evidence and render a fair decision," Cattran said. "It's not
unusual, especially in Placer County, for us to go in front of a grand jury."
Like the preliminary hearing it replaces, a grand jury is required to
determine whether enough evidence exists to refer a case to trial. Dale
Wood, a Tahoe City attorney representing the Kubbys, said the decision
would deprive Kubby of a public hearing of his case. Grand jury proceedings
are secret, and the transcript is usually sealed. In addition, defendants
are not allowed to be represented by counsel in the proceedings, which
serves as an alternative for preliminary hearings by a magistrate in court.
Wood called the grand jury hearing an "archaic" procedure, and said he had
advised the Kubbys not to attend.
"We are deprived of public and open hearings," Wood said of the grand jury
process. "A first-year law student can get an indictment out of a grand
jury." To compensate for the defendant's lack of legal counsel, Cattran
said the prosecutor carries an extra duty in proceedings.
"It is the responsibility of the (prosecution) to present all sides of the
case to the grand jury," Cattran said. "It is our responsibility to present
all exculpatory evidence to the jurors."
The Placer district attorney also sought a grand jury hearing for another
recent medical marijuana case, involving Rocklin dentist Michael Baldwin
and his wife Georgia. There case is pending.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Drug Law Is Racist (An op-ed in the Capital Times, in Wisconsin,
from an attorney in Madison says Madison Urban Ministry and other groups
fighting racism are to be applauded for their efforts, but there is a general
failure to recognize and address one area in which racism continues to be
both institutionalized and pervasive: the criminal justice system and the war
on drugs, particularly mandatory minimums and the crack cocaine/powder
cocaine sentencing disparity.)
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 16:39:31 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: Federal Drug Law Is Racist
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: 9 Feb. 1999
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 1999 The Capital Times
Contact: tctvoice@madison.com
Website: http://www.thecapitaltimes.com/
Author: Margaret Danielson is a Madison attorney.
FEDERAL DRUG LAW IS RACIST
Madison Urban Ministry and other groups working to raise awareness of
and fight racism are to be applauded for their efforts.
However, there is a general failure to recognize and address one area
in which racism continues to be both institutionalized and pervasive:
the criminal justice system and the war on drugs.
Just over a decade ago, in the wake of the death of NCAA basketball
star Len Bias, Congress - obsessed with proving to a gullible public
just how tough on (some) crime it could be - enacted the sentencing
guidelines and legislation mandating minimum prison sentences for
people convicted in federal court of drug offenses.
Known as the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the legislation was
expedited through Congress, which did not even have the customary
committee report analyzing the act's major provisions. The guidelines
and statutes, passed with appallingly little thought or analysis,
punish crack cocaine offenses 100 times more severely than powder
cocaine offenses.
A person convicted of an offense involving a mere 5 grams of crack
cocaine (less than one-fifth the weight of a 1-ounce letter) is
subject to a five-year minimum mandatory prison sentence. A person
convicted of an offense involving powder cocaine, however, is not
subject to the same mandatory minimum unless the offense involves 500
grams - 100 times more than is required for crack cocaine. A
conviction involving 50 grams of crack cocaine man-dates a 10-year
mandatory minimum prison sentence. It takes 5,000 grams of powder
cocaine to mandate the same sentence.
Guess which segment of the population uses crack cocaine and which
uses powder cocaine?
According to a report prepared by the U. S. Sentencing Commission in
February 1995, blacks comprised 88.3 percent of those convicted in
federal court in 1993 for crack cocaine distribution. A mere 4.1
percent involved whites. In powder cocaine cases, 32 percent of the
defendants were white, and 27.4 percent were black.
The distinction between penalties for crack and for powder is
rationalized on the grounds that crack cocaine is more highly
addictive. But, in fact, different forms of cocaine have the same
physiological or psychotropic effects. The difference is that crack
cocaine, which can be smoked, is more quickly absorbed into the
bloodstream.
Because of the huge disparity in the mandatory minimum prison
sentences applicable to crack cocaine and powder cocaine, low-level
street dealers of crack cocaine (usually black) routinely receive
longer sentences than kingpin dealers of powder cocaine from whom they
might buy.
Crack cocaine is made from powder cocaine, and it is not uncommon for
small-time dealers of crack to make that crack from powder cocaine by
mixing the powder with baking soda and cooking it in a microwave oven.
A dealer of powder can thus sell to dozens of individuals who convert
powder to crack, and the dealer of powder will get no longer a
sentence than any of the others.
According to the February 1995 Special Re-port to the Congress, a
person can distribute 500 grams of powder cocaine to 89 different
people who, if they convert it to crack, will all be subject to the
same five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence to which the dealer
himself is subject.
African-Americans continue to be treated most harshly by our drug
laws. It is time for people opposed to racism to stand up and demand
an end to the harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences and the unfair
disparity in the penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Madison A Major Center Of Drug-Testing Industry (The Wisconsin State Journal
says millions of dollars are spent in Madison by the federal government and
pharmaceutical companies to clinically test products for approval by the Food
and Drug Administration. The number of drugs that actually make it to the
market is extremely small. About one in 5,000 drugs will eventually make it
to human trials. The University of Wisconsin typically does about 500 new
trials a year, meaning there are between 1,000 and 1,500 trials being
conducted there at any given time.)
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 15:30:30 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: Madison A Major Center Of Drug-Testing Industry
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: February 9, 1999
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Contact: wsjopine@statejournal.madison.com
Website: http://www.madison.com/
Copyright: 1998, Madison Newspapers,
Author: Patricia Simms, Health reporter
MADISON A MAJOR CENTER OF DRUG-TESTING INDUSTRY
Drug testing is a multi-million-dollar industry in Madison.
Millions of dollars are spent in Madison by the federal government and
pharmaceutical companies to clinically test products for approval by
the Food and Drug Administration.
''It's a tremendous impetus to the economy of Madison,'' says Dr.
William Busse, internationally known UW allergist. ''If the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) dropped off the face of the Earth, the
problems economically in Madison would be immense.''
Every year, the NIH and pharmaceutical companies contract with local
centers and with many others across the nation to test new drugs for
safety and efficacy.
Madison is attractive for drug testing, Busse said, because of the
number of physicians here, the pool of bright, educated subjects and
the ease of getting around town.
In 1996, for example, investigators at the UW General Clinical
Research Center snagged about $46 million in federal and non-federal
funds for the medical school and hospital.
''We are talking millions of dollars coming into Madison,'' said
Dorothy Adams, executive director of the Jackson Foundation. ''There
is so much competition all over this country now, we have to continue
to market and try to get this stuff here. Everybody in the country is
trying to do it now.''
There are four major players in Madison: the University of Wisconsin, the
Jackson Foundation, the Dean Foundation and Covance Inc., an international
drug development company headquartered in Princeton, N.J. A handful of
physicians also operate small testing labs that compete in niche markets.
The local centers agree to round up subjects (if they're healthy) and
patients (if they're sick) to participate in the drug trials, which
are done in four phases and can last three or more years.
Last week, for example, UW advertised for test volunteers with
shingles, urinary incontinence, tennis elbow, depression or spinal
injury.
And again last week, an ad crawled across the bottom of the Weather
Channel, asking women with severe PMS if they wanted to be part of a
Dean Foundation clinical test.
Study coordinator Gemma Warner said the test, led by Dean psychiatrist
Leslie Taylor, has already started, but Warner is still screening for
a total of 16 women. ''We'll have to screen about 100 women to get
that,'' Warner said last week.
Few success stories
The drug testing industry has become far more sophisticated as drug
companies compete for the next pharmaceutical blockbuster.
Gone, said Rhonda Lagoni, director of the UW Center for Clinical
Trials, are the flush, open-ended budgets drug companies used to offer
universities for tests. ''Budgets are tighter,'' she said, forcing
academics to more carefully price their services. ''Years ago, you
just asked for money. Now you don't even get all the money up front.''
Drug companies invest a lot of money to get a new drug, Busse said.
First, it has to be tested in animals. Then, he said, it takes four or
five years from the start of human trials for a drug to work its way
to FDA approval.
Meanwhile, the patent on the drug generally lasts 17 to 20 years,
Lagoni said. After that, the drug becomes generic, and the price is
likely to plummet.
''If the drug is under a protected patent,'' Busse said, ''chances are
that the financial profit will be greater. The more rapidly the study
is done, the greater the financial benefit to the company.''
And the number of drugs that actually make it to the market is
extremely small, he said. About one in 5,000 drugs will eventually
make it to human trials, then there's further dropout. ''The chances
of being a successful product are extremely remote.''
Across the board at the UW, Lagoni estimated, at least four of every
10 human clinical trials may fall through.
The UW typically does about 500 new trials a year, she said. ''That
doesn't count anything already up and running. We could have between
1,000 and 1,500 trials running at any stage.''
Adams said the Jackson Foundation runs about 50 new tests a year. Dean
Foundation runs about 35, according to director Peg Dovi.
Covance's facility on West Washington Avenue conducts between 20 and
40 clinical trials involving about 500 people annually, according to
Deborah Keller, vice president of marketing.
There is a difference, however: Covance is a contract research
organization (CRO), a market-driven phenomenon that has developed in
the last five to 10 years.
While Covance here in Madison only does Phase I trials on healthy
normal subjects, the corporation maintains a network of investigators
worldwide, including some of the doctors in Madison, that may be used
to conduct the later, more extensive trials known as Phase 2, 3 and 4.
Patient benefits
Lagoni said CROs have cut deeply into the traditional dominance of
universities in drug testing. In Madison, she said, the UW has lost a
chunk of market share to private shops.
Keller said the business has grown and changed in the last decade
because of the need to decrease drug development time and cost.
For the subjects or patients, the drug trials can be a source of
additional revenue or not. Many of the trials offer the subject
payment, some offer just free drugs, treatment and expenses.
In 1993 Jan Michaelis, a 59-year-old Oregon grandmother, answered an
announcement her daughter saw in the newspaper. The UW center was
seeking congestive heart failure patients.
Michaelis had been facing the probability of a heart transplant, but
the heart drug she tested from 1993 to 1996 worked for her.
''They shortened the trials up because the results were so good that
the (FDA) Food and Drug Administration approved it early,'' said Michaelis.
Michaelis received free drugs and treatment but no money. Many
subjects, however, do receive some payment.
''We do reimburse patients, most likely,'' Adams said. ''When we are
inconveniencing a patient for the benefit of drug companies, then let
the drug companies reimburse them for their time.''
Adams said reimbursement could be as much as $200 per trial or $20 to
$25 a visit when the patient comes back in.
Busse, however, offered a caution. ''You do not want to use such a
large incentive that it becomes an enticement, that patients would
disregard the risk for the financial benefit. Compensation should not
be an excessive allurement.''
Added the UW allergist, ''There are people who do this repetitively,
but you cannot make a living from this.''
Some people do volunteer for trial after trial.
Lagoni said ill patients may ''follow'' a particular physician in any
trial he or she supervises. Others just appreciate the extra attention.
''I've been with Jackson for 32 years,'' Adams said, ''and there are
some people who have been in one study or another for all those years.
It's a great benefit to the patient because they have access to
these new medications sooner.
''And some people like the little extra hand holding. For the sick
patient, it's nice to have another person you can call when you don't
feel right.''
Lagoni agreed. ''It can be almost like a social connection for them.
They can meet other patients and commiserate. It's very lovely care.
For some, it's really like a little social outing.''
Patients who have a disease may truly just want to help further a
cure. ''It's very clear to me that some of these people are doing it
for altruistic reasons. They've had the disease, and they're
interested in seeing breakthroughs.'' Busse said.
For Michaelis, the decision to participate was driven by her desire to
avoid a heart transplant.
''I had marvelous results,'' Michaelis said. ''Had it been a different
drug, it may not have worked. But this drug worked for me.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Top New York Judge Calls For Easing Some Drug Laws (The New York Times
says New York state's chief judge, Judith Kaye, proposed several reforms
to the state's Rockefeller drug laws that would reduce sentences
for some defendants found guilty of selling or possessing narcotics.)
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 15:30:20 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: Top New York Judge Calls For Easing Some Drug Laws
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: derek
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Alan Finder
TOP NEW YORK JUDGE CALLS FOR EASING SOME DRUG LAWS
ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York state's chief judge, Judith Kaye, proposed
several changes to the state's drug laws Monday that would reduce
sentences for some defendants found guilty of selling or possessing
narcotics.
New York's drug laws, commonly called the Rockefeller drug laws and
enacted in 1973 under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, carry some of the
stiffest sentences in the country. For years, critics have contended
that the laws were too harsh, but the Republican-controlled state
Senate has resisted change. Someone convicted of selling more than two
ounces of cocaine, heroin or other controlled substances -- or
possessing more than four ounces -- must be sentenced to a minimum of
15 years in prison.
Judge Kaye proposed legislation that would permit state appellate
judges to reduce the 15-year sentence, on a case-by-case basis, when
the judges believed that such a long minimum sentence would represent
a "miscarriage of justice."
"The proposed statute would require the Appellate Division to consider
the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and character
of the defendant and public safety concerns in determining whether an
injustice has occurred," Judge Kaye said in an annual speech on the
state's judicial system delivered in the ornate courtroom of New
York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, in Albany.
Under the proposal, the appellate courts could reduce the minimum
sentence to no less than five years in prison. Judge Kaye said only a
limited number of defendants would have their sentences adjusted. She
noted that in wading into a highly disputed area of the criminal law,
she was not asking the state Legislature for broad revisions in the
drug laws.
"We do not presume to take on the larger policy issues," Judge Kaye
said. "But we do seek to address aspects of the law that can work
unjustly, and to supplement the law with some of the lessons we in the
courts have learned over the past decade on effective responses to
drug-based crime."
The chief judge also proposed expanding experimental court programs
that allow nonviolent, drug-addicted defendants accused of low-level
drug violations to defer prosecution or to defer serving a prison
sentence by entering and completing drug-treatment programs.
Under her plan, people accused of possessing or selling very small
amounts of narcotics would be eligible for drug treatment instead of
prison terms, provided that both the trial judge and the prosecutor
agreed. As many as 10,000 low-level drug defendants a year could be
permitted to defer prosecution or jail time if the proposal became
law, court officials said.
Gov. George Pataki called the proposal thoughtful and intelligent.
"I'm not at this point prepared to endorse it, but it's certainly one
that warrants further review," the governor said.
John McArdle, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Joseph
Bruno, said Bruno was open to discussing the chief judge's ideas but
in the context of other proposed changes to the justice system,
including expansion of state prisons.
Patricia Lynch, a spokesman for the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver,
declined to comment. The Assembly, controlled by the Democrats,
traditionally has been the branch of the Legislature most critical of
the Rockefeller drug laws.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Police Misconduct We Never See (An op-ed in the New York Times by an
attorney experienced in police-misconduct cases recounts several local
instances of outrageous behavior by New York's finest. Most claims of police
misconduct never make headlines, but the reality is that accusations against
the police for excessive force, illegal arrests and the like have risen
sharply in New York City in the past four years, much more so than other
claims against the city.)
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 05:31:49 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: NYT: OPED: The Police Misconduct We Never See
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Don Beck (dlbck@nwol.net)
Pubdate: 9 Feb 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author: Joel Berger
THE POLICE MISCONDUCT WE NEVER SEE
By now everyone who follows the news knows that four New York police
officers gunned down Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant who was
unarmed, in the Bronx last week. They also know the name of Abner Louima,
who was tortured in a Brooklyn police precinct last year. And they may
remember the killing of Anthony Baez by an officer who took umbrage when a
football struck his car. All three cases have angered people in the
neighborhoods where they took place and have sparked public protests.
Of course, most claims of police misconduct never make headlines. But the
reality is that accusations against the police for more routine misconduct
-- excessive force, illegal arrests and the like -- have risen sharply in
New York in the past four years, much more so than other claims against the
city. Consider these figures, released by the City Comptroller's office
last summer:
From July 1993 to June 1997 (figures are in fiscal years), new claims of
police misconduct rose by 45 percent. From July 1997 to June 1998, 2,266
such claims were filed. Five years earlier (July 1993-June 1994), only
1,567 such claims had been filed.
Between fiscal years 1993 and 1997, payments by the city in police
misconduct cases rose 38 percent. In fiscal year 1997, it paid more than
$27.5 million for such claims, compared with about $20 million in 1993.
Typical of these claims are two cases I am familiar with because I
represent the complainants in their suits against the city.
A Latino real estate agent said he and his client were jumped and roughed
up last October by three plainclothes officers in East Harlem, allegedly
because the officers were responding to a call of a man with a gun and
thought the client's umbrella might be a gun. The real estate agent claims
the officers did not present any identification, and when pressed to do so,
one of them wrote down a phony name, badge number and precinct number.
Neither the agent nor his client were arrested.
The real estate agent, who had moved here from Hawaii two months earlier,
naively reported the incident to the Police Department's Internal Affairs
Bureau. The bureau could have traced the officers' identities from duty
rosters, the 911 call and dispatcher records within hours. Yet the bureau
merely "referred" the case to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which
must wait months for the same information that Internal Affairs can command
overnight.
There is also the case of a television sports producer who was arrested and
hauled off in handcuffs to a midtown police station for allegedly throwing
a container of coffee on the car of an off-duty police officer. The
producer maintained that he was merely asking the officer to stop tossing
garbage from his car onto the street. He also complained that the officer
was cursing in the station house after the arrest about how the officer,
rather than the neighborhood residents, "owned" the streets.
A Civilian Complaint Review Board investigator found a witness who
supported the producer's account of what happened in the station house, and
the board substantiated charges against the officer for abuse of authority
and discourtesy. That was two months after a Criminal Court judge had
dismissed the disorderly conduct charge the officer had filed against the
producer. The producer is still waiting for the Police Department to take
action. But the department fails to take any action in nearly two-thirds of
the cases substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and in the
remaining one-third the penalties are extremely minor.
Both the real estate agent and the producer say it will be a long time
before they can forget the indignities they endured. If the Police
Department does not follow up on complaints of misconduct -- and if it does
not insist that officers report such incidents rather than look the other
way to promote a "blue wall of silence" -- we will see a continued rise in
complaints.
Joel Berger, a lawyer in private practice, was a senior litigator for the
City Office of Corporation Counsel, where he monitored police misconduct
cases from 1988 to 1996.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MS Patient Faces Marijuana Trial (The Associated Press notes Renee Emry
Wolfe, a 38-year-old mother of three from Ann Arbor, Michigan, faces a trial
April 26 in Washington, D.C., and up to 180 days in jail for lighting a joint
Sept. 15 in the office of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to bring attention to
the issue of medical marijuana. "This patient has run out of patience," said
Mrs. Wolfe.)
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 14:47:40 -0500
From: Scott Dykstra (rumba2@earthlink.net)
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Subject: MS Patient Faces Marijuana Trial
Reply-To: drctalk@drcnet.org
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
MS Patient Faces Marijuana Trial
By CATHERINE STRONG Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's ban on using marijuana for
medicinal purposes will be tested in the nation's capital as a woman
suffering from multiple sclerosis stands trial for lighting a joint in a
congressman's office.
Renee Emry Wolfe said taking a few puffs of marijuana is the only way she
gets relief when her muscles go into spasm from the disease she has had for
two decades.
For Mrs. Wolfe, ``having a joint is like an asthmatic having a bronchial
inhaler,'' said her attorney, Jeff Orchard.
Last Sept. 15, Mrs. Wolfe lighted a marijuana cigarette in the office of
Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to bring attention to the issue of medical
marijuana.
``This patient has run out of patience,'' Mrs. Wolfe, a 38-year-old mother
of three from Ann Arbor, Mich., said in an interview.
``It's an uphill battle that I'm fighting,'' she said after Superior Court
Judge Anita Josey-Herring set an April 26 trial date. ``I feel that if I have
to talk to every judge in this country to get things changed, I will.''
Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office here, said
prosecutors are pushing the case because ``possession of marijuana is against
the law'' in the District of Columbia.
There is a growing national debate over the use of marijuana for medical
reasons.
Voters in six states -- California, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and
Washington -- have approved measures in the last few years allowing use
of marijuana for medical reasons. Congress barred the District of Columbia
from counting of voting results from a similar ballot initiative last fall.
The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of medical
marijuana and the American Medical Association, altering its policy, voted
to urge the National Institutes of Health to support more research on the
subject.
Last fall, Mrs. Wolfe went to McCollum's office to protest his resolution
that day on the House floor, which said marijuana is a dangerous and
addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use. McCollum is
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's crime panel.
In his legal argument, Orchard contends that Mrs. Wolfe started to feel
tense when McCollum's aides did not want to talk with her and she lighted
the marijuana cigarette because she felt her symptoms returning. When she
gets attacks, her hands shake and she loses control of her legs.
However, McCollum aide Shannon Gravitte said she spoke to Mrs. Wolfe.
Gravitte said the incident seemed like a publicity stunt since Mrs. Wolfe
had brought several cameras and a reporter with her.
``She was very calm and almost immediately lit up the joint,'' Ms. Gravitte
said.
Mrs. Wolfe was arrested and spent several hours in jail. Charged with a
misdemeanor, she would face up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine if
convicted.
Prosecutors contend a medical defense does not apply because there was
no immediate danger to Mrs. Wolfe and there was a legal medical alternative
available.
``The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that her real purpose was to
conduct a protest in the United States Capitol in order to publicize her
position regarding the marijuana laws,'' prosecutors wrote in a legal brief.
Orchard said jail time could hurt her health: ``Right now, she does not
always have to be in a wheelchair. If she does 180 days without any
(marijuana), she will always be in a wheelchair.''
AP-NY-02-09-99 1434EST
Copyright (c) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical need or publicity stunt? (A slightly different Associated Press
account in the Ann Arbor News)
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 12:11:23 -0600
From: "Frank S. World"
Reply-To: compassion23@geocities.com
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DRCNet Medical Marijuana Forum
Subject: US MI: Medical need or publicity stunt?
Sender: owner-medmj@drcnet.org
Source: The Ann Arbor News
Contact: http://aa.mlive.com/about/toeditor.html
Website: http://aa.mlive.com/
Pbdate: Tuesday, February 9, 1999
MEDICAL NEED OR PUBLICITY STUNT?
Ann Arbor marijuana advocate to go on trial for lighting up
By CATHERINE STRONG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON - Renee Emry Wolfe says the only way she gets relief when her
muscles go into spasm from multiple sclerosis is to take a few puffs from a
marijuana joint.
Last year, the Ann Arbor woman lit up a joint in a congressman's office to
bring the issue of medical marijuana to the federal government's attention.
Now Wolfe is facing trial here for possession of a controlled substance.
"This patient has run out of patience," the mother of three said while
sitting in her wheelchair after a Monday morning court hearing. "It's an
uphill battle that I'm fighting. But I feel that if I have to talk to every
judge in this country to get things changed, I will."
U.S. attorneys are prosecuting the case because "the possession of marijuana
is against the law in the District," spokesman Channing Phillips said.
The trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but District of Columbia Superior
Court Judge Anita Josey-Herring delayed it until April 26.
There is a growing national debate over the use of marijuana for medical
reasons.
Voters in six states have approved measures in the last few years allowing
use of marijuana for medical reasons - California, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon,
Nevada and Washington.
Congress has barred the counting of voting results from a similar measure on
the ballot last fall in the District of Columbia.
The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of medical
marijuana, and the American Medical Association altered its policy and voted
to urge the National Institutes of Health to support more research on the
subject.
On Sept. 15, Wolfe went to the offices of Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., to
protest his resolution on the House floor that day that said marijuana is a
dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use.
The 38-year-old Wolfe said she uses marijuana as a medical necessity to
control attacks in which her hands shake and she loses control of her legs.
Her lawyer, Jeff Orchard, said Wolfe started to feel tense when aides to
McCollum did not want to talk with her and she lit up a joint because she
felt her symptoms returning.
However, an aide to McCollum said she talked to Wolfe, then Renee Emry
before her recent marriage, and the incident that day seemed more like a
publicity stunt because Wolfe had several cameras and a reporter with her.
"She was very calm and almost immediately lit up the joint," Shannon
Gravitte said.
Wolfe, who was diagnosed with MS in 1979, was arrested and spent several
hours in jail. Possession of a controlled substance is a misdemeanor, so her
case is being decided by a judge rather than a jury.
However, if Wolfe is found guilty, she faces up to 180 days in jail and a
$1,000 fine.
Her attorney says jail time could hurt her health because multiple sclerosis
is a progressive disease.
"Right now, she does not always have to be in a wheelchair. If she does 180
days without any (marijuana), she will always be in a wheelchair," Orchard
said.
Wolfe, who says she is pregnant with her fourth child, is using a medical
necessity defense, arguing her multiple sclerosis compelled her to use the
marijuana. "For Renee Emry, having a joint is like an asthmatic having a
bronchial inhaler," Orchard said.
However, prosecutors argue that a medical defense does not apply in this
case because there was no immediate danger to Wolfe and there was a legal
medical alternative available.
"The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that her real purpose was to
conduct a protest in the United States Capitol in order to publicize her
position regarding the marijuana laws," prosecutors wrote in a legal brief.
Denis Petro, a defense witness and a neurologist from Arlington, Va., said
that studies have shown an ingredient in marijuana is effective in
controlling muscle spasms associated with MS and is much quicker than
swallowing a pill that can take a half hour or more to work. "It's amazing
what it does for spasticity," he said.
Wolfe says legal drugs, such as pills, make her ill. She has been smoking
marijuana since 1981 when she was in a clinical study at the University of
Michigan on the use of marijuana to treat MS. She is able to mitigate her
spasms in seconds with marijuana, and it is much less costly than pills,
Wolfe said.
"Within 5 seconds it affects the motor skills part of my brain," she said.
"If I go without my medical marijuana for six months, I will be bedridden."
Wolfe has been convicted at least two times in the past in Ann Arbor on
marijuana charges. She said she was also ticketed last year under the city's
pot law, which makes possession of small amounts of marijuana a civil
infraction, but the case was tossed out after she told the court she uses
marijuana for medicinal purposes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please help publicize the prosecution of a medicinal marijuana user (A press
release from the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., asks you to
call your local mass media about the upcoming trial of multiple sclerosis
patient and medical marijuana activist Renee Emry-Wolfe.)
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 18:59:13 -0500
From: Marijuana Policy Project (MPP@MPP.ORG)
Organization: Marijuana Policy Project
Reply-To: MPP@MPP.ORG
Sender: owner-mppupdates@igc.apc.org
Subject: Please help publicize the prosecution
of a medicinal marijuana user
To: MPPupdates@igc.org
The Marijuana Policy Project has convinced the Associated Press to write a
story about Renee Emry-Wolfe's upcoming medicinal marijuana trial. Most
newspapers in the country have already had this story wired into their
offices, and then they will decide whether or not to print it. Please read
the article at http://www.mpp.org/renee_ap.html, then do the following:
1. Call your local newspapers and any major newspapers in the state;
2. Ask to speak to a news editor who decides which AP stories to print
(specifically the editor who deals with criminal justice issues);
3. Explain to the editor (or whomever you end up talking to) that
"there is a medicinal marijuana user facing six months in jail in
Washington, D.C., for smoking one marijuana cigarette!"
4. Tell them, "I know that lots of your readers would be interested in
learning more about this, as medicinal marijuana is an important issue
in our area. Luckily, the Associated Press just wrote an article about
this case which will soon go to trial in Washington, D.C. Would
you please print the story?"
5. If they do not agree to print it, ask some of your friends to call
as well.
Whether or not you call any newspapers, if you see the story in print,
please mail a copy to the Marijuana Policy Project at P.O. Box 77492,
Washington, DC 20013.
Good luck!
***
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 8, 1999
Protesters Blast Justice Department
for Prosecuting Medicinal Marijuana User
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nearly two dozen protesters picketed in front of
the D.C. Superior Court this morning, protesting the U.S. Department of
Justice's prosecution of a multiple sclerosis patient for smoking one
medicinal marijuana cigarette. Renee Emry-Wolfe, who needs marijuana to
treat the spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis, faces six months in
D.C. jail.
When Emry-Wolfe, 38, arrived in court, she learned that the trial,
scheduled to begin today, will be delayed for the second time since she
was arrested on September 15, 1998, for smoking marijuana in the office
of U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Florida). The indigent mother of three
from Ann Arbor, Michigan, will have to return to D.C. for a third time
on April 26.
"It is outrageous that the thugs at the U.S. Department of
`Justice' are working to put a multiple sclerosis patient in jail for
using her medicine," said Chuck Thomas, director of communications for
the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.
Thomas sharply criticized the federal government through his
megaphone as the demonstrators held up signs and shouted, "Stop
arresting patients," "Free Renee," and "Medical Marijuana Now!"
"When I was arrested in September, I spent the day in a cold cell
with violent women," said Emry-Wolfe. "I shivered so hard that I almost
had convulsions. If I am sent back to jail and have to live without my
medicinal marijuana for six months, I will be bedridden. Even worse, I
could start a downward spiral that would kill me in a few years."
"It is mind-boggling to see people with so little compassion that
they are willing to prosecute Renee," said Thomas. "President Clinton
once held a joint in his hand just for fun, and now he is letting his
federal prosecutors go after a patient for possessing the same amount
for medical purposes."
"It's not enough for them to prosecute her -- they have to torture
her, too, by making her leave her children and fly to D.C. every few
months for a trial, only to have the case delayed again and again when
she gets here," said Thomas. "This cruel treatment of patients is
typical. Renee's case exemplifies why the laws must change. It's time to
remove criminal penalties for patients like Renee."
- END -
NOTE: The CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. (WUSA-Channel 9) broadcast
coverage of the protest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Vice President Unveils Plan To Fight Drugs (The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram,
in Texas, says Al Gore yesterday released the Clinton administration's
$18 billion, five-part strategy for escalating the war on some drug users.)
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 23:11:46 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Vice President Unveils Plan To Fight Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Contact: letters@star-telegram.com
Website: http://www.star-telegram.com/
Forum: http://www.star-telegram.com/comm/forums/
Copyright: 1999 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
VICE PRESIDENT UNVEILS PLAN TO FIGHT DRUGS
"We must do so much more," Al Gore says in announcing the $18 billion effort.
WASHINGTON - Releasing the administration's five-part strategy to
fight drugs, Vice President Al Gore called yesterday for an "all-out
effort to banish crime, drugs and disorder and hopelessness from our
streets."
Administration officials said the plan continued to build on recent
success in the fight against drugs, noting that government estimates
show drug use by adults is at half what it was in 1979 and that drug
use by young people has started to decline.
"But when drug dealers still roam our streets and rob our children of
their dreams, and drug-related crime still ravages so many of our
neighborhoods, we know that we have barely begun," Gore said. "We must
do so much more."
The nationwide effort includes nearly $18 billion to be spent this
year by the federal government. White House drug policy director Barry
McCaffrey wants children to be the focal point for the drive against
drugs.
The five parts of the administration plan call for educating children,
decreasing the addicted population, breaking the cycle of drugs and
crime, securing the nation's borders from drugs and reducing the drug
supply.
The blend of strategies is aimed at reducing the use and availability
of drugs by 25 percent by 2002 and 50 percent by 2007. Achieving the
goal would mean 3 percent of the U.S. population age 12 and older
would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is estimated at 6.4
percent. In 1979, the rate was near 15 percent.
But some advocates were unconvinced that the administration's proposal
would do enough to boost treatment and prevention.
"Unfortunately, it's just another example of throwing billions of
dollars down the bottomless pits of interdiction and failed prevention
programs," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, a
drug policy think-tank funded by billionaire George Soros.
Nadelmann and the American Civil Liberties Union said that two-thirds
of the drug-control budget was still dedicated to law enforcement and
interdiction. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has had a hand in writing
anti-drug legislation in Congress, said the Clinton administration's
budget numbers didn't match its promise to emphasize education and
treatment.
McCaffrey defended the administration's commitment to prevention,
highlighting an advertising campaign that generated more than $195
million in matching contributions from media companies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New Anti-Drug Proposal Puts Focus On Children (The Tulsa World version)
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 23:11:47 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: New Anti-Drug Proposal Puts Focus On Children
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Contact: tulsaworld@mail.webtek.com
Website: http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Copyright: 1999, World Publishing Co.
NEW ANTI-DRUG PROPOSAL PUTS FOCUS ON CHILDREN
WASHINGTON (AP) Vice President Al Gore released the administration's
five-part strategy against drugs Monday, adding a call for an
"all-out effort to banish crime, drugs and disorder and hopelessness
from our streets."
But despite the Clinton administration's promise of a balanced
approach in cutting the country's drug problem in half by 2007,
advocacy groups decried what they saw as a continued emphasis on law
enforcement over prevention and treatment.
Administration officials said the plan continued to build on recent
success in the fight against drugs. They noted that government
estimates show drug use by adults is at half what it was in 1979 and
that drug use by young people has started to decline.
"But when drug dealers still roam our streets and rob our children of
their dreams, and drug-related crime still ravages so many of our
neighborhoods, we know that we have barely begun," Gore said. "We must
do so much more."
The effort includes nearly $18 billion to be spent this year by the
federal government. White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey
wants children to be the focal point for the campaign.
The White House "seeks to involve parents, coaches, mentors, teachers,
clergy and other role models in a broad prevention campaign,"
McCaffrey said in the four-volume strategy sent to Capitol Hill on
Monday.
The five parts of the administration plan are educating children,
decreasing the addicted population, breaking the cycle of drugs and
crime, securing the country's borders against drugs and reducing the
drug supply.
The blend of strategies aims to reduce the use and availability of
drugs by 25 percent by 2002 and 50 percent by 2007. Achieving the goal
would mean just 3 percent of the U.S. population age 12 and older
would be using illegal drugs. The current figure is estimated at 6.4
percent. In 1979, the rate was near 15 percent.
But some advocates were not convinced that the proposal did enough to
boost treatment and prevention.
"Unfortunately, it's just another example of throwing billions of
dollars down the bottomless pits of interdiction and failed prevention
programs," said Ethan Nadelmann, the director of the Lindesmith
Center, a drug policy think-tank funded by billionaire George Soros.
Nadelmann and the ACLU said that two-thirds of the drug-control budget
was still dedicated to law enforcement and interdiction. Rep. Rob
Portman, R-Ohio, who has had a hand in writing anti-drug legislation
in Congress, said the Clinton administration's budget numbers didn't
match its promise to stress education and treatment.
"My concern is that the president's budget priorities don't match the
rhetoric from the White House," Portman said.
McCaffrey defended the administration's commitment to prevention. He
pointed to an advertising campaign that generates more than $195
million in matching contributions from media companies.
"If you take a three-year snapshot, we've increased prevention dollars
by more than 40 percent," he said. "If you look at drug treatment
dollars it's up 17 percent, and the FY 2000 budget continues that."
McCaffrey also trumpeted reduced coca cultivation in the Andean
region, especially in Peru and Bolivia. However, cultivation in
Colombia, where the product of the coca plant is used to produce
cocaine, has risen 26 percent in just one year.
Gore said the fight against drugs was linked to a "spiritual" struggle
for the hearts of the country's youth, and that education and adult
role models were just as important as law enforcement.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Gore Says Drug Issue Is In Part 'Spiritual' (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
version suggests Vice President Al Gore apparently wants to be in charge
of the theocracy.)
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 19:20:18 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Gore Says Drug Issue Is In Part 'Spiritual'
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Copyright: 1999 PG Publishing.
Contact: letters@post-gazette.com
Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/
GORE SAYS DRUG ISSUE IS IN PART 'SPIRITUAL'
STRATEGY STILL DEVOTES MORE TO ENFORCEMENT THAN TO PREVENTION
Releasing the administration's annual drug control strategy yesterday, Vice
President Al Gore called drug abuse a "spiritual problem" and said young
people beset with feelings of emptiness and alienation are more likely to
succumb to "messages that are part of a larger entity of evil."
In response, Gore called for greater efforts to improve schools and create
greater economic opportunity for young people, especially in minority and
low-income communities.
The administration seeks nearly $18 billion for drug control programs in its
new budget. As with its previous drug control strategies, the administration
allocates about two-thirds of anti-drug spending for law enforcement,
interdiction and other efforts to attack the supply of illicit drugs; the
remaining one-third goes to prevention, treatment and other programs to
reduce the demand.
"We are confident that this is a balanced strategy," said ret. Gen. Barry R.
McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. He emphasized that demand reduction programs had been growing
faster than those aimed at supply. If the administration's requests are
adopted by Congress, spending on demand programs will have increased by 36
percent since 1996 compared to a 30 percent spending increase for supply
programs.
The drug strategy drew criticism from advocates of greater spending on
programs meant to reduce the appetite for illegal drugs. The Drug Policy
Foundation found the strategy "hypocritical and disappointing," and said in
a statement that "the White House and the Congress need to shift from a
criminal justice-based drug policy to a public health-based policy."
Again this year the centerpiece of the administration's prevention strategy
is a multimedia advertising campaign designed to alert adolescents to the
dangers of illegal drug use. With additional funding of $10 million
requested in the next budget the drug control media campaign would grow to
$195 million.
In unveiling the drug strategy, Gore emphasized his view of attending to the
broad underlying causes of drug abuse rather than focusing only on more
stringent attacks on criminal behavior. "It is an interconnected problem,
and so our solution must also be interconnected," Gore said, pointing to
spiritual, psychological, social and economic factors that combine to
promote drug abuse, particularly among young people.
"I've always believed that, along with all the other dimensions of this
problem, this is a spiritual problem," he said.
"And if young people have emptiness in their lives, if they have a lack of
respect for the larger community of which they're a part, if they don't find
ways to feel connected to the adults who are in the community, if they feel
there's phoniness and hypocrisy and corruption and immorality, then they are
much more vulnerable to the drug dealers, to the peers who tempt them with
messages that are part of a larger entity of evil."
To counter this, Gore said, "We have to do more to expand opportunity, to
create jobs for our young people, especially in communities that have too
often been passed by in good times."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Gore: Drug Policy To Tackle `Spiritual Problem' (The San Jose Mercury News
version)
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 00:16:00 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Gore: Drug Policy To Tackle `Spiritual Problem'
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: Tue, 9 Feb 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Author: ROBERTO SURO, Washington Post
GORE: DRUG POLICY TO TACKLE `SPIRITUAL PROBLEM'
WASHINGTON -- Releasing the administration's annual drug control
strategy Monday, Vice President Al Gore called drug abuse a
``spiritual problem'' and said that young people beset with feelings
of emptiness and alienation are more likely to succumb to ``messages
that are part of a larger entity of evil.''
In response, Gore called for greater efforts to improve schools and
create economic opportunity for young people, especially in minority
and low-income communities.
The administration seeks nearly $18 billion for drug control programs
in its new budget. As with its previous strategies, the administration
allocates about two-thirds of anti-drug spending for law enforcement,
interdiction and other efforts to attack the supply of illicit drugs;
the remaining one-third goes to prevention, treatment and other
programs to reduce the demand.
``We are confident that this is a balanced strategy,'' said retired
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy. He said programs aimed at reducing demand have
been growing faster than those aimed at supply.
If the administration's requests are adopted by Congress, spending on
programs aimed at cutting demand will have increased by 36 percent
since 1996, compared with a 30 percent spending increase for programs
aimed at reducing the drug supply.
The drug strategy drew criticism from advocates of greater spending on
programs meant to reduce the appetite for illegal drugs. The Drug
Policy Foundation called the strategy ``hypocritical and
disappointing,'' and said in a statement that ``the White House and
the Congress need to shift from a criminal justice-based drug policy
to a public health-based policy.''
The centerpiece of the administration's prevention strategy again is a
multimedia advertising campaign designed to alert adolescents to the
dangers of illegal drug use. With additional funding of $10 million
requested in the next budget, the media campaign would grow to $195
million.
In unveiling the strategy, Gore emphasized his view of attending to
the broad underlying causes of drug abuse rather than focusing only on
more stringent attacks on criminal behavior.
``It is an interconnected problem, and so our solution must also be
interconnected,'' Gore said, pointing to spiritual, psychological,
social and economic factors that combine to promote drug abuse,
particularly among young people.
To counter this, Gore said, ``We have to do more to expand
opportunity, to create jobs for our young people, especially in
communities that have too often been passed by in good times.'' He
called for greater efforts to improve schools to help students
``empower themselves with the trained minds that make them stronger.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Toronto Cop Faces Drug Charges (The National Post, in Canada,
says that when Abraham Norman Chesley Bailey was arrested at his Coffee Time
doughnut shop in Toronto last Friday, a place frequented by local high school
students, and charged with a sheaf of drug trafficking offences, his former
colleagues at the Toronto Police department weren't in the slightest
surprised. Roughing up prisoners may be okay; framing suspects is arguably
tolerable if they're believed to be guilty anyway, but dealing heroin to
young people? Well, that's beyond the pale.)
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 12:30:08 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Former Toronto Cop Faces Drug Charges
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: Tue 09 Feb 1999
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: Southam Inc.
Contact: letters@nationalpost.com
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Forum: http://forums.canada.com/~canada
Section: News A1 / Front
Author: Christie Blatchford
FORMER TORONTO COP FACES DRUG CHARGES
When Abraham Norman Chesley Bailey was arrested at his Coffee Time
doughnut shop in Toronto last Friday, and charged with a sheaf of drug
trafficking offences at a place frequented by local high school
students, his former colleagues at the Toronto Police department and
senior officers to whom he had once reported sniffed and expressed
various degrees of shock, horror, and disgust that the 19-year veteran
had allegedly ``gone bad.''
That, at least, is what they said on the record.
Privately, most of those who know the 49-year-old former constable
weren't in the slightest surprised. As one officer at 31 Division,
where Mr. Bailey worked for at least a decade of his 19 years on the
mean streets of Toronto, said yesterday, ``What most people said
around here when they heard was, `I'll believe it when I see him
convicted' '' -- meaning no one was at all taken aback that Mr. Bailey
was in trouble again, merely skeptical that any of it would stick to
him.
In fact, if there is anything surprising about Mr. Bailey, it appears
it's not that he finds himself in difficulty -- he's facing a raft of
charges of trafficking in heroin and cocaine, as well as running a
common gaming house, from his North York coffee shop -- but that he
managed to survive for almost two decades on the country's biggest
police force.
``Put it this way,'' says one of his former superiors, now a member of
the force's upper command, ``and I wouldn't say this about anyone else
who worked for me, but I always kept my gun in my tophand drawer when
he came in to see me, and I'm not kidding, either.''
Though Mr. Bailey, known as ``Ace'' or ``Chris'' on the force, joined
in 1975 and served throughout the 1980s, leaving under a cloud in 1996
-- he was facing two internal Police Act charges of discreditable
conduct -- he was in many ways a throwback to an earlier, looser style
of policing, a colourful character who made a lot of ``good pinches
[arrests]'' but often, allegedly, in a less-than-orthodox manner.
``Who knows if he framed them [the suspects],'' one source ruminated
yesterday. ``He'd bounce prisoners up, wipe the walls with them. Guys
[other officers] would put up with it, because that's our own internal
police culture.''
When police suspected he was allegedly dealing hard drugs -- a
definite no-no in the police world -- and was allegedly heard bragging
he could ``smell a UC [undercover officer]'' a mile away and saying he
didn't give a hoot who his buyers were, they put Mr. Bailey under
surveillance. Though these rumours swirled around Mr. Bailey for
years, nothing was ever proven. And it was only when the drug
trafficking allegations came to light did many of his former
colleagues consider that he'd crossed the line, which provides an
interesting glimpse into the subculture of even one of Canada's most
progressive police forces at the dawn of a new century: Roughing up
prisoners may be okay; framing suspects is arguably tolerable if
they're believed to be guilty anyway, but dealing heroin to young
people? Well, that's beyond the pale.
The stories about Mr. Bailey, a native Newfoundlander who addressed
everyone -- suspect or partner -- as ``Buddy'' and who for years has
worn a gaudy Star of David on a thick gold chain around his neck,
though no one who worked with him knows him to be Jewish, are legend,
even considering that a police force can be the most gossip-prone
organization in the world.
He was known as a notoriously dreadful dresser in his off hours, prone
to wearing black slip-on dress shoes with a pair of stiff, cheap blue
jeans and any one of a series of inexpensive acrylic pullovers, a
thin, short, and unprepossessing guy who nonetheless when in uniform
inspired a certain respect from the riff-raff with whom he dealt daily.
One officer who worked with Mr. Bailey in the public housing projects
in the northwest part of Toronto where 31 Division sits, laughed
yesterday as he remembered how, as they would walk into a complex to
make an arrest, the drug dealers would scatter and immediately lapse
into the thick patois of the Caribbean. Mr. Bailey, his Newfoundland
accent overriding his efforts to sound Jamaican, ``would taunt them
right back.''
The National Post attempted in vain to confirm one infamous tale about
Mr. Bailey, whereby he is alleged to have physically threatened a
fellow officer who reportedly had taken up with his ex-wife and who
had made the mistake, shortly after hooking up with the woman, of
coming into the division and complaining bitterly that the car Mr.
Bailey had left behind with the ex-wife was sorely in need of
replacement. ``You better get us a new car,'' this officer is alleged
to have told Mr. Bailey, who allegedly flew into a rage.
Other stories were confirmed by people who were there when the
incidents in question happened.
In one such instance, Mr. Bailey, who was a member of ``B'' platoon at
31, joined some of his colleagues for so-called ``choir practice,''
the police custom of having a few beer on a Wednesday night after a
platoon's last shift on nights.
This night, a few of the boys headed over to Downsview Dells, a park
in the division, and one of them had far too much to drink and was
barely functioning. Mr. Bailey, trademark cigarette hanging out of his
mouth, a beer in one hand, pulled out his penis with the other and
casually relieved himself in the man's boot as he continued to talk to
the blissfully ignorant fellow. Sources say it was likely his right
hand he used to grab his organ -- the hand with the index finger
missing from the knuckle up, lost, as Mr. Bailey was fond of
mysteriously telling friends, who were wisely cynical, ``in Vietnam.''
That same night, Mr. Bailey and another colleague engaged in ``spit
swapping,'' whereby the two officers would spit into the air and catch
one another's spittle as it fell to earth.
He was frequently in trouble internally, but, as one former colleague
says wryly, ``he was slippery, too. People would start off wanting to
sue him and end up buying him dinner.''
On one occasion, when officers from internal affairs showed up at the
station to interview him about alleged misconduct, they set up, as
they always do, in a small room, tape recorder ready to go. Mr. Bailey
entered the room, and one of the officers said, ``You can sit over
there.'' ``I'm not sitting,'' said Mr. Bailey. ``What do you mean,
you're not sitting there?'' the officer said. ``I'm not sitting
down,'' Mr. Bailey snapped, and promptly pulled out a small tape
recorder of his own.
``What's that?'' the officer asked. ``A tape recorder,'' said Mr.
Bailey. ``I'm taping this, too.''
The interview ended then and there.
Another time, expected at headquarters downtown for a Police Act
trial, Mr. Bailey gravely approached his superior officer at 31 and
told him, ``You know, this time I'm going to go down there and plead
guilty.'' The supervisor took him seriously and said, ``Well, that's a
very mature attitude, officer. Good for you,'' to which Mr. Bailey
chortled and replied with a snort, ``Ha, ha. I lied.''
He was, eventually, ``done,'' as police lingo has it, on three
internal charges -- once in 1985 for insubordination, and in 1988 for
insubordination and neglect of duty. He was facing two discreditable
conduct charges when he quietly resigned from the force on March 31,
1996, which meant he couldn't be prosecuted. The charges were
withdrawn April 18.
Those charges were related to a criminal charge of sexual assault Mr.
Bailey faced a couple of years ago, and of which he was acquitted. He
had been under paid suspension for about the last year of his service
with the force -- it was at this time he apparently bought the
doughnut shop -- and it appears that when he saw the chance to leave
on with a modest early-retirement incentive that was being offered in
1996, he grabbed it.
In recent years, Mr. Bailey has been living at a North York apartment
building known as a haven for divorced officers.
The story that may best illustrate the difference between the way Mr.
Bailey has been officially portrayed since his arrest and the way his
colleagues truly remember him is his reaction to having fatally shot a
51-year-old man named Alexander Misztal in April of 1977.
This weekend, a local newspaper reported that after Mr. Bailey, who
shot Mr. Misztal through the window of his cruiser, had learned the
man had been carrying a toy gun, he sat down on the sidewalk and wept.
But officers who then worked with him at 14 Division downtown, where
Mr. Bailey had recently been transferred, told another version.
According to them, when Mr. Bailey returned to the station after the
shooting, he was ``happy and goofy'' and told colleagues he was
``going to be promoted'' instead. His story appears not the tragedy of
a man who, after decades on the street, succumbed to its wild life,
but rather the tragi-comedy of an out-of-time character who may have
come into the job looking to work the angles.
``Ace'' Bailey appeared briefly in court in Newmarket yesterday, where
he was remanded in custody for a bail hearing this morning. In
addition to the drug and gaming house charges, he is also facing two
counts of threatening death, dating back to last September, in
connection with an incident with a female security guard who had asked
him to move his car.
It is worth noting that in the small bail court yesterday, there was
no one present in support of the middle-aged, paunchy man in the black
dress pants and sweatshirt who used to be known as Badge No. 6600:
Even the members of the blue brotherhood have a point of no return.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. officials say Colombian cocaine production is booming (According to the
Los Angeles Time, General Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, said
cultivation of cocaine has jumped 26 percent in the past year in Colombia,
with signs of an increase in opium production there as well.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Is Colombian cocaine production booming?
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 20:02:44 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Posted at 06:02 a.m. PST; Tuesday, February 9, 1999
U.S. officials say Colombian cocaine production is booming
by Eric Lichtblau
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Even as they unveiled an optimistic plan for combating drug
abuse in the next decade, federal officials disclosed yesterday that they
have seen an alarming new "explosion" of cocaine production in Colombia.
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, said cultivation of cocaine
has jumped 26 percent in the past year in Colombia, with signs of an
increase in opium production there as well.
The troubling trend has threatened to cut deeply into the dramatic gains
made recently in stemming drug-trafficking in the Andean region -
particularly in Peru and Bolivia, McCaffrey said.
McCaffrey blamed the Colombian upturn in part on the fact that heavily armed
paramilitary groups now effectively control some 40 percent of the nation,
tying the hands of President Andres Pastrana and his young administration.
"The problem that President Pastrana and his team face is enormous, and it's
getting worse," said McCaffrey, director of the White House's Office of
National Drug Control Policy.
The general stressed, however, that Pastrana's administration has
demonstrated "a tremendous sense of partnership" with the United States and
a strong commitment to curtailing drug production.
That sentiment could prove a key factor next month when it comes time for
the Clinton administration to certify whether Colombia and other nations
have cooperated in anti-narcotics efforts. Colombia's status was upgraded
last year after two years of economic penalties. Colombian officials had no
immediate reaction yesterday to McCaffrey's comments.
McCaffrey, speaking at a press briefing, refused to elaborate on some
elements of the Colombian situation until his office can put out a more
detailed analysis in the next few days.
In fact, the Colombian issue drew no mention from top Clinton administration
officials at a White House ceremony as they presented a long-term plan for
controlling drugs in the United States.
Vice President Al Gore and other officials stressed that the nation must not
ease up in the drug war, despite recent gains in quelling drug use among
young people and other problem groups.
"When drug dealers still roam our streets and rob our children of their
dreams, and drug-related crime still ravages so many of our neighborhoods,
we know that we have barely begun," Gore said. "We must do so much more."
As part of $17.8 billion in anti-drug funding proposed in President
Clinton's recent budget plan, the National Drug Control Strategy seeks a 50
percent reduction in drug use and availability by 2007.
But some anti-drug groups and Republican lawmakers were clearly unimpressed,
saying the White House's priorities are misplaced.
"More of the same failed policies" was the reaction from the Lindesmith
Center, a drug research group based in New York.
The group said federal officials should rely more heavily on proven
treatment programs instead of pumping more money into a "bottomless pit" of
failed programs, including another $195 million allotment this year for
slick celebrity advertisements urging young people off drugs.
"We're just really disappointed with all this," said Lindesmith spokesman Ty
Trippet. "We've seen no clear benefits from these ads. It's a big PR
campaign."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Antidrug Effort Is Unveiled (The Philadelphia Inquirer version)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 08:17:07 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US DC: Major Antidrug Effort Is Unveiled
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: General Pulaski
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Feb 1999
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: Inquirer.Opinion@phillynews.com
Website: http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Eric Lichtblau, Los Angeles Times
MAJOR ANTIDRUG EFFORT IS UNVEILED
Colombia, Meanwhile, Is Seeing An Increase In
Cocaine And Opium Production.
WASHINGTON -- Even as they announced an optimistic plan for combating
drug abuse in the next decade, federal officials disclosed yesterday
that they have seen an alarming new "explosion" of cocaine production
in Colombia.
Cultivation of cocaine has jumped 26 percent in the past year in
Colombia, with signs of an increase in opium production there as well,
said Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, the White House drug czar.
The trend has threatened to cut deeply into the dramatic gains made
recently in stemming drug-trafficking in the Andean region,
particularly in Peru and Bolivia, McCaffrey said at a news briefing.
McCaffrey attributed the Colombian upturn in part to the fact that
heavily armed paramilitary groups now effectively control 40 percent
of the nation, tying the hands of President Andres Pastrana and his
young administration.
The general stressed, however, that Pastrana's administration had
demonstrated "a tremendous sense of partnership" with the United
States and a strong commitment to curtailing drug production.
That sentiment could prove a key factor next month when it comes time
for the Clinton administration to certify whether Colombia and other
nations have cooperated in anti-narcotics efforts. Colombia's status
was upgraded last year after two years of economic penalties.
No reaction
Colombian officials had no immediate reaction yesterday to McCaffrey's
comments.
The Colombian issue also drew no mention from top Clinton
administration officials at a White House ceremony as they presented a
long-term plan for controlling drugs in the United States.
Addressing several hundred supporters before a backdrop of antidrug
displays, Vice President Gore and other officials stressed that the
nation must not ease up in the drug war, despite recent gains in
quelling drug use among young people and other problem groups.
"When drug dealers still roam our streets and rob our children of
their dreams, and drug-related crime still ravages so many of our
neighborhoods, we know that we have barely begun," Gore said.
As part of $17.8 billion in antidrug funding proposed in President
Clinton's recent budget plan, the National Drug Control Strategy seeks
a 50 percent reduction in drug use and availability by 2007.
Multipronged approach
It offers a multipronged approach through education, prosecution,
treatment, interdiction and other means, and it establishes 97
"performance targets" to track how well those measures are working.
"We're going to hold ourselves to achieving absolute results,"
McCaffrey told the gathering.
But some antidrug groups and Republican lawmakers were unimpressed,
saying the White House's priorities are misplaced.
"More of the same failed policies" was the reaction from the
Lindesmith Center, a drug research group based in New York.
The group said federal officials should rely more heavily on proven
treatment programs instead of pumping more money into a "bottomless
pit" of failed programs, including a $195 million allotment this year
for celebrity ads urging young people to stay off drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Heroin Overdose Deaths Hit A Record 600 (The Sydney Morning Herald, in
Australia, says a study by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
has found that heroin-related deaths have increased 10 per cent in the last
year. The centre's executive director, Professor Wayne Hall, didn't mention
that alcohol and tobacco probably killed more than 100 times as many
Australians, but he did predict that the heroin toll is likely to continue
increasing because people do not tend to die early in drug use. He warned
that this peak in the cycle of deaths "throws up a desperate search for
one-stop solutions" which could not work for a problem that had developed
over 30 years. He called for a State or national drug summit to try to find
solutions and lift the issue out of the political arena. "I don't think there
is an answer," he said. "There are a variety of things which could be done."
Ensuring safer injecting and giving users somewhere to inject away from the
street could contribute, he said.)
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 22:19:41 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Australia: Heroin Overdose Deaths Hit A Record 600
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Russell.Ken.KW@bhp.com.au (Russell, Ken KW)
Pubdate: Tue, 9 Feb 1999
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact: letters@smh.fairfax.com.au
Website: http://www.smh.com.au/
Author: Debra Jopson
HEROIN OVERDOSE DEATHS HIT A RECORD 600
The number of people dying from heroin overdoses has risen to its highest
level in Australia, leaping 10 per cent in just a year to 600 deaths.
In NSW, which accounts for half the nation's deaths from opiate overdoses,
deaths rose by 13 per cent between 1996 and 1997, a National Drug and
Alcohol Research Centre study has found.
The centre's executive director, Professor Wayne Hall, said the analysis of
the 1997 figures showed the nation in the grip of a "contagion" which began
about three years ago, striking vulnerable disadvantaged youth "but with a
lot of middle-class kids caught up in it as well".
"These cycles happen about every 10 years and the lessons of the previous
one are forgotten," Professor Hall said.
"The casualties of the previous epidemic are no longer as visible and
younger people come through thinking they're not going to end up like that.
"As the problems become apparent, younger kids coming behind see what
happens and it slows, but we'll be living with the consequences for some
time."
Professor Hall predicted that the high toll is likely to continue because
people do not tend to die early in drug use. Casualties of the latest
epidemic began three to five years ago and are only now showing in
statistics.
The deaths also reflected a world awash with drugs, as comparatively new
opiate production in the former Soviet Union, Colombia and Mexico joined the
more traditional sources of supply in Asia.
"A lot more people are using it," Professor Hall said. "It's a lot purer
than it was three to four years ago and it makes it easier to overdose if
you have 50 to 60 per cent purity."
Users in this new peak in the cycle appeared to be taking up drug use
younger and were therefore dying younger, Professor Hall said. They were
still mostly male, accounting for four out of five of the deaths, although a
new trend of young women taking up heroin could change that in future
statistics, he said.
Professor Hall warned that this peak in the cycle "throws up a desperate
search for one-stop solutions" which could not work for a problem that had
developed over 30 years.
He called for a State or national drug summit to try to find solutions and
lift the issue out of the party political arena.
"I don't think there is an answer," he said. "There are a variety of things
which could be done to attempt to reduce [the impact]."
Ensuring safer injecting and giving users somewhere to inject away from the
street could contribute, he said.
"The biggest factor requires public money and is a fairly substantial
increase in treatment capacity. You need to pull a lot more heroin users
into treatment. The death rate would improve. We might also end up being
able to reduce the demand for heroin and reduce the scale of the illicit
market."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Vatican Killer Had 'Traces Of Cannabis' (According to the Times, in Britain,
the Vatican said yesterday, after a nine-month investigation, that the case
of a Swiss Guard who killed his commanding officer and then shot himself was
closed. The Vatican also suggested for the first time that the murderer had
been under the influence of cannabis, apparently because "traces of cannabis"
were in his system. Just like a zillion other 23-year-old Italians who smoked
cannabis at some point in the last few weeks, but didn't kill anybody.
Vice-Corporal Cedric Tornay's mother contested the Vatican's conclusions,
insisting her son had been "framed" as part of a Vatican plot to eliminate
the commander.)
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 13:23:03 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Italy: Vatican Killer Had 'Traces Of Cannabis'
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)
Pubdate: February 9 1999
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: letters@the-times.co.uk
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author: Richard Owen
VATICAN KILLER HAD 'TRACES OF CANNABIS'
After a nine-month inquiry, the Vatican yesterday said that the case
of a Swiss Guard who killed his commanding officer and then shot
himself was closed, and suggested for the first time that the murderer
had been under the influence of cannabis.
A summary of the judicial findings confirmed the Vatican's assertion,
immediately after the tragedy last May, that Vice-Corporal Cedric
Tornay, 23, killed Colonel Alois Estermann, 44, the newly appointed
head of the Pope's protection force, and his wife Gladys, 49, in a
"fit of madness".
It said that Vice-Corporal Tornay was mentally unstable, had felt
persecuted by Colonel Estermann, and resented being passed over for a
military honour.
Muguette Baudat-Tornay, Vice-Corporal Tornay's mother, contested the
Vatican's conclusions, insisting that her son had been "framed" as
part of a Vatican plot to eliminate the new commander.
Nicola Picardi, the Vatican lawyer who led the inquiry, said traces of
cannabis were found in Vice-Corporal Tornay's body after the murder.
to the 1999 Daily News index for Feb. 5-11