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Tribulations of tobacco trial steel victors for followup (The Oregonian
interviews the two Portland attorneys, Ray Thomas and Bill Gaylord, who won
an $80.3 million judgment from Philip Morris this week. Thomas harbors dark
and deeply personal thoughts about the tobacco industry. A lifelong smoker
himself, he has tried numerous times to quit. "I'm not the world's smartest
person," he says. "If we can beat 'em, they ought to be worried.")
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Sun, Apr 04 1999
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Author: Patrick O'Neill of The Oregonian staff
Tribulations of tobacco trial steel victors for followup
* The two attorneys who won a $80.3 million judgment from Philip Morris
revel in their fame even as they face their everyday toils
No scraps of confetti, no stray champagne corks litter the offices in the
law firms of Ray Thomas and Bill Gaylord.
Only a lone bouquet of stargazer lilies and a yellow balloon printed with
the word "Congrats" adorn a small table in Thomas' reception area. Everybody
is either too tired or too busy to celebrate the stunning news the two
Portland lawyers heard shortly after noon Tuesday.
The moment Judge Anna Brown read the verdict, Thomas says he thought of his
mother. Gaylord recalls a rush of exhilaration: "We did it!"
In that instant, Brown's courtroom on the Multnomah County Courthouse's
sixth floor became the center of the universe for legal action against
tobacco companies.
Thomas and Gaylord had won a staggering $80.3 million judgment against
Philip Morris Inc., the tobacco giant that makes Marlboro cigarettes, the
world's most popular brand. The award, after a five-week trial, is the
largest for personal injury in tobacco litigation history.
The suit was brought by the family of Jesse D. Williams, 67, a retired
Portland school janitor who died of lung cancer on March 17, 1997, after
smoking Marlboro cigarettes for 42 years. Philip Morris attorneys from the
Kansas City, Mo., firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon promise they will appeal.
But the victory brought a sudden flash of fame to the two Portland attorneys
who argued the case on behalf of the Williams family. By Thursday, Thomas'
office had taken calls from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The
Wall Street Journal, the BBC, USA Today, The Associated Press and Reuters.
The morning after the verdict, the lawyers appeared with Mayola Williams,
widow of Jesse Williams, on NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America."
Besides the media crush, the ninth-floor suite of Swanson, Thomas & Coon
overlooking Pioneer Courthouse Square and the offices of Gaylord & Eyerman
nestled above Interstate 405 have been deluged with calls from prospective
clients near and far, smokers who have been sickened or loved ones of those
killed by cigarettes who want to sue.
Wall Street tobacco stock analysts also call: Could they meet to get an idea
of the future of tobacco litigation in America?
In the mad scramble, the attorneys churn away on their next cases: For
Thomas, it's a suit against Ford Motor Co. scheduled for trial on April 26
in Spokane; a Ford Bronco rolled over, injuring the driver. For Gaylord,
it's a medical malpractice case that goes to trial Monday.
Office attire casual
Thomas toils in a black T-shirt and faded jeans, cell phone on his belt,
gunslinger style. Tall and angular, he sips coffee from a Starbucks paper
cup and munches a panino dolce roll as he paces the length of his firm's
claustrophobic law library. "They're very hard, and you can eat them while
you work without making a mess."
He's talking to a speaker phone on a desk, preparing for his Bronco trial.
"We'll need a hard copy and the video," he tells a mechanical engineering
professor on the other end. Thomas has compiled 39 pages of exhibits. Some
he has; some he still needs. He ends his conversation and gestures at the
exhibit list.
"That's 100 hours' worth of work," he says, pointing at the pages.
A receptionist tells Thomas he has another call.
This time it's an old friend, John Cabaniss, an automotive engineer and
product liability lawyer from Milwaukee. Cabiniss is calling from Barcelona,
Spain, where he and his bride are honeymooning.
"I bought a USA Today," Cabiniss says. "I'm drinking a glass of wine, and I
turn the paper over, and there you are. All the Spaniards are toasting your
victory. They're all smoking, too."
"Artillery fire" Thomas accepts Cabiniss' congratulations and gives him the
short version of the trial: "It was like being in the foxhole under heavy
artillary fire for five weeks."
Philip Morris sent an armada of attorneys steaming into Portland on a tide
of cash: six to eight lawyers in the courtroom throughout the trial and
who-knows-how-many stashed in nearby offices. Each of the company's
witnesses had a separate lawyer who acted as a "handler."
Against the Philip Morris invasion stood four attorneys: Thomas and Gaylord
-- the two lawyers who presented the Williams case to the jury -- along with
Jim Coon, Thomas' partner, who handled much of the legal research, and
Charles Tauman, of counsel for the Portland firm of Bennett, Hartman,
Reynolds & Wiser, who coordinated the flow of witnesses and evidence.
Thomas relives for Cabiniss an awful moment when Dr. Victor E. Gould lobbed
a grenade into the middle of the Williams case. Gould, testifying for Philip
Morris, is a kind of international guru of medical pathology. The tobacco
company flew him in from Chicago to testify that, no, Williams didn't die of
"adenosquamous carcinoma," as the plaintiffs alleged. He actually died of
something called "mucoepidermal carcinoma," practically the only kind of
lung cancer that isn't associated with smoking.
"They came up with a form of cancer nobody'd every heard of," Thomas says.
"It gutted our case . . . ."
"Well, congratulations," Cabiniss counters. "Every once in a while, the good
guys win."
Cabiniss pauses. "It's for your mother, right?"
"Yeah," Thomas says. "Yeah."
Maggie Thomas, Ray Thomas' mother, is a big reason why Thomas says he got
involved in the case.
Thomas' mother
In 1964, Maggie Thomas became a news reporter at WGEM-TV and Radio in
Quincy, Ill.
Leo Henning, the station's vice president and general manager, says she was
a pioneer among women in the broadcasting industry, probably the first woman
to break into the previously all-male world of hard-news reporting in the
Midwest.
And she was a heavy smoker.
Maggie Thomas regarded a pack of cigarettes as essential for blending in
with a group of male journalists.
"She was a complete addict," Thomas says. He recalls nagging his mother
about her smoking. He remembers his mother saying the link between smoking
and cancer wasn't proved, that so many substances can cause cancer.
In 1990, doctors diagnosed lung cancer, and Maggie Thomas underwent a brutal
round of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer seemed to go into
remission. Then it reappeared with a vengeance.
A popular speaker, she was set to address a Fourth of July gathering in 1991
in Quincy. But two days before, she ended her pain.
They found her body in her car in her garage, where she killed herself with
carbon monoxide at age 62.
"When my mom died, I got to talking about how our office should put together
a low-budget run at the tobacco industry," Thomas says.
Personal thoughts
Thomas harbors dark and deeply personal thoughts about the tobacco industry.
A lifelong smoker himself, he has tried numerous times to quit.
He recalls a visceral attraction to nicotine when, as a small child, his
grandfather smoked cigars around the house. He thinks he was sensitized to
nicotine from infancy through his mother's breast milk.
Years later, "I saw these tobacco executives stand up in front of Congress
and testify that nicotine isn't addictive," he says. "It made me mad."
Thomas, in fact, smoked Marlboros off and on until November, when Philip
Morris attorneys compelled him to travel all the way to Crockett, Texas, for
depositions in the Williams case.
Thomas slapped on a nicotine patch and quit.
But the stress of the trial drove him back.
"They (tobacco company officials) were right," he says, referring to a
Philip Morris document presented in evidence. "People do smoke when they're
under stress.
"I started again when the jury was out," he said. "I just couldn't handle
it." This time, it was unfiltered Camels.
On Friday, Thomas quit again, but he knows he faces a lifetime of temptation.
Although $80.3 million sounds like an awful lot of money, Thomas says
there's no telling when, or if, the family or the attorneys will see any of
it. Appeals could take a decade or longer. And the tobacco company certainly
will try to beat down the amount of the award.
Under Oregon law, 60 percent of the $79.5 million in punitive damages goes
to a state victim's assistance fund. Thomas says state law would allow
attorneys to collect 20 percent of the remaining $31.8 million -- about
$6.36 million -- to be shared among the participating firms. But those
figures are bound to change during appeals, he says.
Tested and tried
Thomas and Gaylord aren't what you'd call novices in the world of
litigation. In 1989, the pair won $5 million in punitive damages against
Honda Motor Co. Their client, Karl L. Oberg of Salem, was severely injured
when a Honda three-wheeler he was riding flipped over. Honda appealed the
verdict, but in 1995 the Oregon Supreme Court upheld it. Honda doesn't sell
three-wheelers in the United States anymore.
The two have complementary courtroom styles. Thomas, outgoing and emotional,
is the showman. He paces and gestures, stabbing the air to emphasize a
point. Sometimes he struggles for words in the heat of legal battle.
Gaylord, composed and low-key, appeals to the intellectual side of the jury.
In a deceptively conversational style, he examines witnesses, wrapping them
in python coils of logic.
Both stay in good physical condition. Thomas, 47, is a fanatic bicyclist. In
good weather, he rides 25 miles to his office in downtown Portland from his
125-acre farm near Cornelius. He recently won an award from the Bicycle
Transportation Alliance for lending his legal services to cyclists.
Gaylord, 52, is an Alpine skier and a former ski instructor at Mt. Hood
Meadows. In rare spare time, he plays "bluegrass and out-of-date folk" on
guitar.
Pull of addiction
Like Thomas, he's felt the pull of nicotine addiction. "I smoked
sporadically for 12 or 14 years," Gaylord says. "But I was one of the lucky
ones who was never really habituated."
Both lawyers acknowledge the value of teamwork in the four-lawyer group that
carried the burden in the tobacco trial. But at the outset, neither had high
hopes of winning.
"We always knew this was a tough case and a long shot," Gaylord says.
Thomas is blunter: "I was expecting to lose this case and go to my family
and forget about it."
Thomas particularly thought they'd lose during the testimony of Gould, the
pathologist.
"We were devastated by that," he said. "It came out of nowhere." But fast
footwork on Tauman's part found a physician -- a videotaped deposition
played back to the jury to counter Gould's claims.
Fortunately for the Williams family, the jury leaned heavily on confidential
Philip Morris documents in which company executives acknowledged the
cancer-causing and addictive potential of cigarettes.
Thomas worries about the future.
"The tobacco industry isn't going to allow this to happen the same way
twice," he says.
But then, big tobacco should worry, too. "I'm not the world's smartest
person," he says. "If we can beat 'em, they ought to be worried."
You can reach Patrick O'Neill at 503-221-8233 or by e-mail at
poneill@news.oregonian.com
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Million Marijuana March in Seattle (A press release from Seattle Events Inc.,
producers of the Seattle Hempfest, publicizes events May 1 organized in
conjunction with the worldwide reform rally.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 01:01:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Vivian (viv@hemp.net)
To: hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: HT: Press release: Million Marijuana March in Seattle (fwd)
Sender: owner-hemp-talk@hemp.net
Subject: Press release: Million Marijuana March in Seattle
Updated *preliminary* Press Release:
In conjunction with Cures Not Wars (www.cures-not-wars.org/mmm/) Seattle
Events Inc., producers of Seattle Hempfest, invites you to join justice
activists around the world to stand up and be counted in demanding an
immediate end to the immoral, unjust and criminal war against marijuana
users globally. Over 600,000 are aressted for marijuana a year in the U.S.
alone! 10 million arrested total. Over one million in jails world-wide!
May 1, 1999, 12 noon, meet at Volunteer Park, Seattle. We will march for
amnesty for all persons incarcerated for marijuana, for persons needing
medicinal marijuana, and for global hemp production and utilization. Rain
or shine.
Destination will be Westlake Park, Seattle. Rally with amplification and
speakers. Street addresses and parade route to be posted soon. This will be a
legal parade and rally and will have police escort. Proper permits and City
approval are in process. Bring signs, banners, friends, family. Donations of
money accepted at rally to offset costs. Trained, experienced "Peace Keepers"
desired.
Vehicular shuttles will be provided for medical patients and elderly
(pre-registration preferred).
We ask that you respect our request to abstain from civil disobediance.
See our website at www.seattlehempfest.com (announcement re: MMM
forthcoming).
In direct coordination with May 1 marches in Auckland, Amsterdam, Atlanta,
Chicago, Cleveland, Glasgow, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne,
New York, Nimbin, San Fransisco, Seattle, Tampa, Vancouver.
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT *NOT* TO REMAIN SILENT! WE DEMAND JUSTICE NOW!
MEDICINE, FOOD, FUEL, FIBRE, ECOLOGY, ECONOMY, SANITY, DIGNITY NOW!
High Pride! Green Power!
Initial contact for potential speakers and all media:
Vivian McPeak
e-mail: viv@hemp.net (contact for personal ph#)
voice mail: 206-781-5734 (allow some turn around time)
postal: 916 N.E. 65Th #269 seattle, washington, 98116-6751
Please forward to all appropriate parties en masse.
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded
by the opprsssed" -Martin Luther King, 1968
"People should never believe that demonstrations are useless. People power
on the streets does change things" - Caroline Coon, Founder of Drug Charity
Release UK, 1968
"Prohibition goes against the bounds of reason in that it attempts to
control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things
that are not crimes" - Abraham Lincoln, 1800's
"Don't ever underestimate your ability to make a difference" - Stephen
Gaskin, 1976
***
hemp-talk - hemp-talk@hemp.net is a discussion/information
list about hemp politics in Washington State. To unsubscribe, send
e-mail to majordomo@hemp.net with the text "unsubscribe hemp-talk".
For more details see http://www.hemp.net/lists.html
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We're All Prisoners Of Our Incarceration Policies (Seattle Times columnist
Jerry Large says everybody knows we've been sweeping something under the rug.
The lump is too big not to notice, but until recently few people have had any
inclination to clean house. Terry Kupers thinks that is changing. Kupers, an
Oakland psychiatrist, says that for too long, mentally ill people have been
disappearing into prisons while the rest of us looked the other way. His new
book gives his diagnosis and prescription for our penchant for hiding people
with whom we do not want to be bothered. "Prison Madness," arriving in book
stores this month, provides anecdotes, statistics and a very large pill: Stop
using police and prisons to treat social ills.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 11:40:47 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WA: Column: We're All Prisoners Of Our Incarceration Policies
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John Smith
Pubdate: Sun, 4 Apr 1999
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author: Jerry Large, Times Staff Columnist
WE'RE ALL PRISONERS OF OUR INCARCERATION POLICIES
Everybody knows we've been sweeping something under the rug. The lump is too
big not to notice, but until recently few people have had any inclination to
clean house. Terry Kupers thinks that is changing.
Kupers, a psychiatrist, says that for too long, mentally ill people have
been disappearing into prisons while the rest of us looked the other way.
"We live in a very cruel time," he told me recently. "There is not a lot of
sympathy for the poor or for immigrants. There is harshness toward the
underdog." So it is not surprising, he said, that most people have not cared
about the fate of people who suffer from mental illnesses.
But he thinks the pendulum has swung as far in the direction of cruelty as
it can go.
The wrong antidote
Kupers has written a book that gives his diagnosis and prescription for our
penchant for hiding people with whom we do not want to be bothered. "Prison
Madness" arrives in book stores this month with anecdotes, statistics and a
very large pill: Stop using police and prisons to treat social ills.
We've been fooled (willingly) into believing our biggest problem is crime,
so that while we focus on locking up as many people as we can, the real
problems - joblessness, homelessness, inadequate education, drug abuse,
inequality - go unaddressed and keep churning out new people for us to
imprison.
Kupers practices in Oakland, where he is president of the East Bay
Psychiatric Association and a fellow of the American Psychiatric
Association. He has been a consultant to the Civil Rights Division of the
U.S. Department of Justice and to Human Rights Watch and is the author of
several books on mental-health issues.
He doesn't oppose locking up people who pose a danger to others, but he says
most of the people sent to prison each year in this country are sent there
for nonviolent crimes. A significant number of those people are mentally
ill.
Even as we approach a new millennium, our attitudes toward mental illness
remain stuck in the very distant past. In our own state, mental-health
funding is woefully inadequate, and across the country insurance companies
refuse to treat mental illness as seriously as they treat physical illness.
If it doesn't bleed, it can't be real.
Jails and prisons, which see more than their share of people with mental
problems, are even less accommodating.
In his book, Kupers argues that many people who commit crimes because they
are mentally ill become victims of more violent criminals in prison. Some of
them learn to be violent themselves, as do other nonviolent inmates.
More violent people come out of prison than go in.
Kupers also says the conditions in most prisons are likely to drive some
previously sane or borderline inmates across the line into psychosis.
Prisons are often crowded, noisy places where people are deprived of privacy
and constantly fearful of being preyed upon.
He describes beatings and rapes, feces fights and other behavior so common
in prison that it's a wonder anyone there remains sane.
The capacity of most prisons to deal with mental illness is limited.
Sometimes there are resources only for treating the most dangerous
psychotics without offering care to the large numbers of other prisoners who
might need it.
Controlling, not healing
Even when there is care, it often is aimed at controlling rather than
healing people. Health-care workers with the best intentions become
overwhelmed and many times burn out.
In the course of studying many prisons, Kupers came to this conclusion: "Our
prisons are designed to fail." If the prison system curbed crime, the system
would begin to shrink, but if it contributes to crime, it grows and
prospers.
"We know that prison overcrowding causes increased rates of violence,
psychiatric breakdown and suicide, yet we keep pouring more people into our
prisons," he writes.
"We know that well-designed rehabilitation programs help prisoners prepare
for `going straight' whereas idleness leads to violence and emotional
disability, yet we keep on dismantling prison rehabilitation programs."
He cites Washington as one of the states where serious efforts are being
made toward reform, but even here there are a multitude of obstacles.
In the end the burden of change rests with us. We have to make it clear,
with our votes and our voices, that we want less madness in and out of
prison.
You can reach Jerry Large c/o The Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.
Phone: 206-464-3346. Fax: 206-464-2261. E-mail: jlarge@seattletimes.com.
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A Poet In Exile (Los Angeles Times columnist Al Martinez describes the plight
of Peter McWilliams, the best-selling Los Angeles author who is dying of AIDS
because the Feds won't let him smoke marijuana, even though California voters
legalized its use for medicinal purposes three years ago.)
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 11:50:04 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Column: A Poet In Exile
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Pubdate: 4 Apr 1999
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times.
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/HOME/DISCUSS/
Author: Al Martinez
A POET IN EXILE
Peter McWilliams lives in a house overlooking Laurel Canyon with a view
that stretches past the wooded hills all the way to the clustered towers of
downtown. Frank Lloyd Wright called it the most inspirational site in
Southern California, but it doesn't always feel that way to McWilliams.
It has become a kind of prison for the 49-year-old writer-publisher who
hasn't been out of it since February. He doesn't have many guests over
either, because his immune system is almost nonexistent and flu could kill
him.
McWilliams is dying of AIDS, but the Feds won't let him smoke marijuana to
ease his pain and nausea, even though California's voters legalized its use
for medicinal purposes three years ago.
As far as Washington is concerned it's the devil weed and it's illegal, and
McWilliams can writhe in hell for all anyone seems to care. He's just a
human being in pain, and the law, like Holy Writ, is above all that.
Even a recent report by the Institute of Medicine that found marijuana
useful in treating pain, nausea and appetite loss hasn't changed the mind
of federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey. He offered the equivalent of a shrug
and ordered another study.
So McWilliams sits up there like a poet in exile in a house with a view
that's almost spiritual, counting the days and the ironies that round out
what could be the fading seconds of his life.
***
He was indicted by a federal grand jury last July for conspiring to
possess, manufacture and distribute marijuana. The charges came a year
after federal agents raided the BelAir mansion of medical marijuana
advocate Todd McCormick and found more than 4,000 cannabis plants.
They said McWilliams financed the operation through his half a dozen or so
books, including "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do," a learned and often
wry treatise on the absurdity of consensual crimes.
He's out on $250,000 bail on the condition that he not smoke marijuana, a
deprivation which, he says, has aggravated his already frail condition and
made his life a kind of nauseatortured hell. The trial is set for September.
"They're making me out to be some kind of drug kingpin and I'm not," he
said the other day in his hilltop home. A haze lay over the view, blurring
the outlines of the downtown towers.
McWilliams says he hadn't smoked marijuana for years until he came down
with AIDS. Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1996, he tried a joint to
ease the side effects of chemotherapy, and it worked like a miracle drug.
"I took one hit and the nausea began going away. Using marijuana, I
relaxed, regained my appetite and even wrote a book. I sailed through chemo
after that. No doubt about it, it was the marijuana. I saw the truth in
something. I saw suffering turn around."
Since the court order prohibiting him from using the drug, McWilliams says,
he's lost 30 pounds, his immune system has crashed and, because of the
chemical cocktail he takes to treat AIDS, he lives with nausea every moment
of his life.
The law, he says, is killing him.
***
Not everyone wants Peter McWilliams to suffer. Not the judge who, in
seeking a solution, asked the federal prosecutors to "help me struggle."
Not the prosecutors who revealed their own human sympathies in court but
insisted they must adhere to the letter of the law.
Voters in California and five other states also expressed compassion by
allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Even in the face of
mighty campaigns to curb drug use, they understood the racking,
debilitating effects of pain and the existence of a weapon to fight it.
Dying is a journey we take alone, a scary path toward a darkness impossible
to fathom. The emotional trauma associated with that final walk is by
itself enough to shrink the will of anyone who faces it. Physical pain lays
another heavy burden on the trip.
I'm not a big advocate of drugs. I've seen too many young people turn
bleary-eyed sneaking joints as a way of coping and I've seen them pay a
heavy price for it. But I also see no need to deprive anyone of a medicine
that will ease one's final days.
This isn't a drugfree society. We sell booze over a bar, painkillers over a
counter and rivers of prescription chemicals at pharmacies to alleviate
just about every symptom imaginable. Hypocrisy drapes like a shroud over
those who pop pills and damn medical marijuana as a cultural evil.
I doubt that Peter McWilliams is a drug king, but that's not for me to
determine. I do know that he's a prisoner of feuding disciplines that have
subjugated compassion for statutes and left him dying in pain on a hilltop.
Al Martinez's column appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. He can be reached
online at al.martinez@latimes.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prison Chief Says State's Facilities At Breaking Point (According to an
Associated Press article in the Orange County Register, Robert Presley,
California Governor Gray Davis' new Cabinet secretary for prisons, said that
by April 2001, the state will have run out of prison space, even with the use
of temporary housing. The state system now holds 160,000 inmates. California
spent more than $5 billion in an attempt to build its way out of
over-crowding in the 1980s and early 1990s. But voters stopped approving
prison bonds in 1990.)
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 22:23:09 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Prison Chief Says State's Facilities At Breaking Point
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: John W. Black
Pubdate: 4 April 1999
Source: Associated Press
Section: News page 19 (second front page)
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: Steve Geissinger-The Associated Press
PRISON CHIEF SAYS STATE'S FACILITIES AT BREAKING POINT
Overcrowding: He predicts that space will be used up by 2001,and suggests
alternatives to imprisonment.
Tract - Hundreds of prisoners cover the floor of the old gym like fans
rushing the court after a big game. Sullen young men, they mill
endlessly in the dimly lit, narrow aisles between rows of bunk beds
stacked two and three high.
They sleep almost head-to-toe, sit elbow-to-elbow to use the toilets,
and wait in lines for phones and water. They swelter in summer with no
air conditioning, get chills, and pass colds in winter. Always, they
fight the rats and spiders.
A guard shielded by razor wire watches from an overhead walk-way. She
carries a rifle to halt fights among the car thieves, drug dealers,
burglars and gang members, a racially tense checkerboard of brown,
black and white men that swells to more than 600 at the evening count.
"It's scary," said Lt. Cindy Lincoln, a veteran prison guard, gazing
at what seems a vision of hell. But it's the future of prisons in
California, which is losing the race to find space for inmates.
Even with the use of temporary housing, such as the converted gym at a
state prison near Tracy, 60 miles east of San Francisco, the state
expects to run out of room for more inmates in two years.
"April 2001," Robert Presley, Gov. Gray Davis' new Cabinet secretary
for prisons, said in an interview. "By then, we will have exhausted
every cranny and nook."
Although a slowing crime rate has eased inmate growth projections, the
former Democratic state senator from Riverside has warned lawmakers
that the system now holding 160,000 inmates "is approaching critical
mass."
"This is a time to take a critical look at all facets of the
correctional system. This is a good time to consider alternatives."
Any new alternatives to incarceration could have a better chance with
Democrats controlling both the legislative and executive branches.
For advocates of social change, it's an opportunity.
"Prison should not be the catchall solution to all of the social
problems that we have - to mental illness, to homelessness, to lack of
health care, to the lack of education," says Angela Davis, a former
'60s militant turned author, professor and prison reformer.
Taking advice from the Little Hoover Commission, Presley already says
he will try to reduce recidivism among the 110,000 supervised parolees
by expanding drug-treatment programs and boosting educational
opportunities for inmates.
The watchdog commission also recommended diverting low-level and
nonviolent inmates to nonprison programs.
But talk of social reform isn't new. And neither are overcrowded
prisons. California has been adopting stricter sentencing laws for
almost two decades, culminating in the 1994 "three strikes, you're
out" law.
California spent more than $5 billion in an unprecedented attempt to
build its way out of over-crowding in the 1980s and early 1990s. As
the inmate population increased sixfold, the system to house them
almost tripled, from 12 to 33 prisons.
Voters approved about half of the money. The rest was covered by
lease-purchase bonds not requiring voter approval. But voters stopped
approving prison bonds in 1990, and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson
deadlocked with Democratic leaders over expensive new construction.
Now the burden falls on Davis, who's still forming his policies, and the
Democrat-controlled Legislature: Build more prisons or possibly be forced
in a few years by courts to release felons.
"Fortunately, we have yet to have that happen at the state level in
California," Presley said. "We were always able to demonstrate that we
were trying to solve the problems ... by building."
After meeting with Presley, Assemblyman Bill Leonard, a Rancho
Cucamonga Republican, introduced a $4 billion prison-construction bond
measure that would go before California voters in March 2000.
"I'm very concerned ... we will have court orders when we reach full
capacity that would entail release of violent felons," Leaonard said
in an interview.
Complaints about overcrowding are legion among inmates. In the
converted gym at Deuel Vocational Institute, Rafael Harper, a
38-year-old drug offender built like a heavyweight boxer, emerged from
the crowd to read a list of particulars: "It's unconstitutional. It's
very crowded. You can't hardly move around. In the bathrooms, your
buttocks are bumping each other."
Ronald Viera, a 23-year-old auto thief sitting atop a three-tier bunk,
said, "I worry about falling off in the middle of the night. It's kind
of high."
Construction to relieve crowding, even if approved, would take three
to four years and must be combined with social reforms to reduce the
number of inmates, the Legislature's analysts warn.
The state has contracted for private space to hold some inmates in the
short term, but Presley, who was chairman of the legislative prisons
committee during the '80s buildup, said government can do the job better.
In the meantime, prison officials are using every space they can find
for inmates, creating a volatile atmosphere in a system already
plagued by violence.
At the Tracy state prison, "temporary" conversion of the dingy,
half-century-old gym to house all but the most dangerous inmates has
lasted more than a decade. TV monitors haven't prevented fistfights
among the inmates, many of whom have tattoos and shaved heads.
"When it's crowded like this, the potential for anything to happen is
that much worse," Glenn Schmidt, a muscled 37-year-old burglar in a
tank top, said over the din.
Added Rene Gallegos, 24, a slight drug offender wearing prison blues,
"We're human beings. We can't be living like savages. That's what it's
coming to."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug Seizure Money Bypassing Schools (The Omaha World-Herald says when
Nebraska police confiscate large bundles of cash linked to drug dealing, the
state's constitution directs that half the money go to schools. But that
rarely happens. Instead, police take forfeiture cases to federal court, which
takes a 20 percent cut for the government and returns the rest to the local
law-enforcement agency that confiscated the money. Besides getting to keep
the cash, local police find that the Feds don't require proof of a crime
before suspected drug money can be forfeited.)
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 19:17:53 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NE: Drug Seizure Money Bypassing Schools
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Weston S. Hartwell
Pubdate: 4 Apr 1999
Source: Omaha World-Herald (NE)
Copyright: 1999 Omaha World-Herald Company.
Contact: pulse@owh.com
Website: http://www.omaha.com/
Forum: http://chat.omaha.com/
Author: Patrick Strawbridge
DRUG SEIZURE MONEY BYPASSING SCHOOLS
This is one in a series of World-Herald articles looking back on the 20th
century.
When Nebraska law officers confiscate large bundles of cash linked to drug
dealing, the state's constitution directs that half the money go to schools.
But that rarely happens.
Instead, police funnel the drug money through the federal government, which
takes a 20 percent cut and returns the rest to the local law-enforcement
agency that confiscated the money.
Schools get nothing.
It's an end run around the state constitution, but it's allowed under
federal rules for handling assets seized from drug dealers.
Law enforcement officials in Nebraska say the maneuver is proper and
useful. It gives them extra cash to help finance their fight against drug
traffickers.
State Patrol Maj. Gale P. Griess said his agency has used the $618,000 it
has received in the past five years to purchase body armor, computers,
cameras and other gear it needs and cannot normally afford.
"These days, it seems we're asked to do more and more with less," he said.
But some Nebraska lawmakers don't like the sidestepping of the
constitution, and several legal experts question whether police ought to
profit from seizing suspects' money.
Clarence Mock, an Omaha area attorney who has worked on several forfeiture
cases, said it's bad public policy to let police keep the money they find.
"It encourages them to be hyper-aggressive when they shouldn't be," Mock said.
The funneling of locally seized drug money through the federal government
is common in states such as Nebraska where legislatures have sought to
restrict the unfettered flow of drug money into the pockets of local police.
In states such as Iowa, where laws allow police to keep most of the drug
money they confiscate, police more often go through state court.
When money is forfeited through Nebraska courts, the 50 percent not set
aside for schools is earmarked for anti-drug efforts. But police departments
don't have direct access. The cash is placed in a county drug fund and
disbursed through an independent board. The money can be used by police, but
it also helps fund educational programs.
Additionally, state law requires more proof of a crime before a government
can keep suspected drug money than what is needed for such a seizure under
federal rules. So local police frequently turn to the U.S. Attorney's
Office when they find a cache of cash.
Tom Monaghan, U.S. attorney for Nebraska, said the federal government takes
an active interest in all cash seizures of more than $5,000 and sees itself
as the coordinator of all major forfeitures. In some cases, the assets are
seized as part of a joint investigation between local and federal officials.
In other cases, though, police simply take money they find through federal
court even if there was no apparent federal connection to the investigation.
The U.S. government won't release records that would distinguish which cases
were handled by which agencies, but several court cases give a glimpse of the
money Nebraska schools aren't getting:
A May 1997 traffic stop for speeding on Interstate 80 led an Omaha police
officer to discover more than $404,000 hidden in a U-Haul trailer. Although
Omaha police investigated the case, the money was given to federal
prosecutors. Omaha police stand to receive as much as $320,000. Douglas
County schools won't see the $202,000 they would have been entitled to under
state law.
A search of two south Omaha homes by Omaha police in 1996 turned up more
than $30,000 and small quantities of drugs. Although the suspected drug
dealer who owned the money was prosecuted on state charges, the cash was
given to the federal government. Loss to schools: $15,000.
A Valley, Neb., police officer pulled over a Mercedes sedan in September
1995 after the driver allegedly swerved off the road and onto the shoulder.
A search of the car turned up a small amount of marijuana and more than
$54,000 cash. After the seizure, the Valley department notified the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency, which initiated forfeiture proceedings.
Eventually, the Valley department split the bulk of the money with the
Douglas County Sheriff's Office, which had provided the dog that helped
search the car. Valley Police Chief K.C. Bangs said the money was used to
buy safety equipment gear for his officers.
"It was a big help," Bangs said.
Lt. Eric Buske, a narcotics lieutenant with the Omaha Police Department, said
forfeited money has been a big boost to his unit's ability to combat drugs.
"The schools, in my mind, are not part of the equation," he said. "They are
in the sense that they get some of the money, but we're the ones making the
recovery."
The Nebraska Attorney General's Office does not track the overall amount
forfeited through state court. But Douglas County - the state's leader in
forfeiture cases - sees about $54,000 each year.
In Iowa, state law allows police to keep 90 percent of what they find. The
Iowa Attorney General's Office keeps the balance, said Iowa Deputy Attorney
General Doug Marek.
"We've seen amounts of $40,000, $50,000, even $60,000 in state court," he
said.
Marek said that between $1 million and $1.2 million is forfeited through
Iowa's state courts each year. "Overall, it's worked quite well," Marek said.
National experts, however, said that when police departments profit
directly from cash seizures, it creates an incentive for them to cross the
line.
Jim Gurule, an associate dean of law at the University of Notre Dame, said
many legislatures - including those in Nebraska, Missouri and Wisconsin -
specifically tried to keep departments from reaping the benefits of their
searches.
"When law enforcement has a financial interest in the amount that officers
uncover, the potential for abuse exists," said Gurule, who has co-written a
legal text on forfeitures.
Griess, the state patrol major, said that motivation has not materialized
in Nebraska.
"Our guys are out there to get the bust and get the drugs," he said. "I'll
argue that until the cows come home."
He also downplayed the danger of overzealous officers. Even when local
departments go the federal route, he said, they sometimes have to share
proceeds with other states. In all, Griess said, the state patrol keeps
only about 27 percent of what it finds.
Monaghan said that if any law enforcement officers did cross the line, he
would refuse to take the case - and has done so.
"That's not an issue here," he said.
In addition to the extra money, there's another reason local officials use
the federal system when it comes to forfeiture cases.
In federal court, once police prove they have probable cause to suspect the
money was linked to drug trafficking, the burden of proof shifts to the
money's former owner.
If that person can't prove he or she earned the money legally, the government
keeps the cash - even if the person is never charged with a crime.
In state court, prosecutors have the burden of proof, said Corey O'Brien, the
assistant Douglas County Attorney who oversees local forfeitures.
"It's a quasi-criminal proceeding in that I have to prove it beyond a
reasonable doubt," O'Brien said.
Mock said the deck is stacked in favor of law enforcement in the federal
system.
"It's another impetus for police to take it to the feds," he said.
Although federal guidelines generally keep cases involving less than $5,000
in the state court system,
O'Brien said he has taken one or two smaller cases to federal court because
he did not think they could be won at the state level.
The Douglas County school fund has received $37,000 for each of the past
two years from smaller forfeiture actions left in state courts. Had some of
the money taken to federal court been deposited in the county's coffers, the
difference may have been only pennies to each taxpayer.
"Those pennies clearly add up," said Robert Bligh, an attorney for the
Nebraska Association of School Boards. "I think every dollar makes a
difference, especially when the Legislature has put a lid on how much tax can
be levied."
Several Nebraska legislators questioned whether police ought to ignore the
state constitution. It undermines a law that was approved directly by
voters, said State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.
"The federal government should not help these agencies evade the state
constitution," said Chambers, a frequent critic of police. "I'm really
dismayed. There may need to be some legislation to ensure it gets done they
way the constitution says it should be."
Sen. Ardyce Bohlke of Hastings, chairman of the Legislature's Education
Committee, said the practice would seem to go against the wishes of voters,
who frequently support schools and tax relief.
"Money like that could make a very big difference in some of our schools,"
she said. "I plan to find out what the dollar amount is."
Legislative efforts are no guarantee against police turning to federal
court. Although the Missouri Legislature attempted to curb the practice in
1993, it has endured in that state.
That's a shame, said Gurule, the law professor.
"I support forfeiture laws, I think it's a valuable tool," he said, but
"this is an attempt to circumvent the will of the state legislature and the
will of the people."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Smaller Crowd, Fewer Arrests At Annual Pro-Marijuana-Legalization Event (The
Detroit Free Press says 3,500 to 4,000 people mixed politics mixed with
partying at Saturday's 27th annual Hash Bash at the University of Michigan at
Ann Arbor.)
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 19:44:59 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MI: Smaller Crowd, Fewer Arrests At Annual
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: Sun, 4 Apr 1999
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 1999 Detroit Free Press
Contact: editpg@det-freepress.com
Feedback: http://aa.mlive.com/about/toeditor.html
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Forum: http://www.freep.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Associated Press
SMALLER CROWD, FEWER ARRESTS AT ANNUAL PRO-MARIJUANA-LEGALIZATION EVENT
ANN ARBOR -- Politics mixed with partying at Saturday's 27th annual
Hash Bash, at which marijuana users and their sympathizers gather on
the University of Michigan campus to rally for legalized pot.
University officials estimated the crowd at 3,500 to 4,000, smaller
than the 1998 turnout of 5,000. Organizers said they believed 5,000 to
8,000 people showed up.
By 2:30 p.m., campus police had made "12 to 15 arrests," fewer than
the number arrested a year earlier, university spokeswoman Julie
Peterson told The Ann Arbor News.
"All in all, they were well-behaved ... (police) were pleasantly
surprised," she said.
Most of the arrests Saturday and in past Hash Bashes were for
marijuana possession, which is punishable in Ann Arbor by a $25 fine.
Legislation that would force Ann Arbor and other cities with similar
penalties to match the tougher state penalty -- a $100 fine and
maximum 90 days in jail -- has cleared the state Senate, making
Saturday's rally a bit more political than in years past.
The crowd cheered loudly for several speakers who criticized Sen. Mike
Rogers, R-Howell, one of the bill's sponsors.
"It seems like Senator Rogers wants to turn the Bill of Rights, the
Constitution and the Ann Arbor City Charter into toilet paper," said
Tom Harris, a local activist. "He thinks that's what they're for."
Another speaker, Renee Emry Wolfe, talked about her arrest last
September at the Washington office of U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla.,
who opposes the medical use of marijuana. She was jailed after
lighting a marijuana cigarette to forestall what she said would have
been a seizure related to her multiple sclerosis.
"I don't know what constitutes medical necessity, if this didn't,"
said Ms. Wolfe, who faces trial later this month in Washington. "We
should stand up and make our voices heard."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CIA's Gottlieb Ran LSD Mind Control Testing (The New York Times publishes an
obituary for Sidney Gottlieb, a Bronx-born biochemist with a Ph.D. from
Caltech whose job was to concoct the tools of espionage: disappearing inks,
poison darts and toxic handkerchiefs. Gottlieb also worked during the 1950s
and 1960s on MKULTRA, the agency's secret experiments with mind-altering
drugs, including lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. While the CIA was still
examining the drug's possibilities as a means of mind control, many young
Americans were dropping the hallucinogen as a vehicle of mind expansion and
recreation, thanks, in part, to the CIA's activism in the '50s in the name of
national security. It was not until 1972 that Gottlieb called a halt to the
experiments with psychedelics, concluding that they were "too unpredictable
in their effects on individual human beings . . . to be operationally
useful.")
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: Obit: CIA's Gottlieb Ran LSD Mind Control Testing
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 08:39:46 -0700
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
Sunday, April 4, 1999
New York Times
CIA's Gottlieb Ran LSD Mind Control Testing
Scientist, who died at 80, oversaw invention of devices for assassination
and gave 'acid' to human guinea pigs.
By ELAINE WOO, Times Staff Writer
James Bond had Q, the scientific wizard who supplied 007 with dazzling
gadgets to deploy against enemy agents. The Central Intelligence Agency had
Sidney Gottlieb, a Bronx-born biochemist with a PhD from Caltech whose job
as head of the agency's technical services division was to concoct the tools
of espionage: disappearing inks, poison darts, toxic handkerchiefs.
Gottlieb once mailed a lethal handkerchief to an Iraqi colonel and
personally ferried deadly bacteria to the Congo to kill Prime Minister
Patrice Lamumba. It wasn't his potions that eventually did in the two
targets, but Gottlieb, once described by a colleague as the ultimate "good
soldier," soldiered on.
Poisons and darts were not his sole preoccupation during 22 years with
the CIA. He labored for years on a project to unlock and control the
mysterious powers of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. Could it be a
potent spy weapon to weaken the minds of unwilling targets?
In the 1950s and 1960s, answering that question was one of Gottlieb's
missions in MKULTRA, the code name for the agency's secret experiments to
probe the effects of mind-altering drugs. Chief among them was LSD,
discovered by Dr. Albert Hofman, a Swiss chemist, in 1943.
By the early 1950s, the CIA, fearful of LSD falling into Soviet hands,
had cornered the market on the drug, which in minute doses could produce
overwhelming sensations ranging from kaleidoscopic acuity to temporary
insanity. The agency also started to fund research, covertly funneling
hundreds of thousands of dollars to academics in prestigious institutions
around the country who tried the drug themselves and reported the results to
Gottlieb.
Gottlieb and his associates in MKULTRA also took LSD "trips," although
the concept of tripping would not enter the American lexicon for another
decade. They laced coffee with LSD and served it to each other without
warning, then observed each other's reactions. Later Gottlieb expanded the
field tests to subjects outside the agency--drug addicts, prostitutes,
prisoners, mental patients--people who were unlikely to complain and even
less likely to be believed if they did. Among the dosed were hookers and
their clients in a CIA-sponsored brothel in San Francisco, later the
epicenter of the LSD explosion.
One human guinea pig was subjected to an astounding 77-day trip. Some
subjects suffered chronic mental problems after being dosed. One person--an
Army germ warfare researcher--sank into dark depression and paranoia,
leaping to his death from the 10th floor of a New York hotel several days
after being slipped an LSD Mickey Finn at a CIA retreat. The CIA covered up
its role in his demise for two decades, and barely reprimanded Gottlieb.
In the early 1960s, Gottlieb was promoted to the highest deputy post in
the technical services operation. By 1967, he had risen to the top of the
division, guided by his longtime CIA mentor, Director Richard Helms. At that
time, LSD was not a secret anymore. While the CIA was still examining the
drug's possibilities as a means of mind control, many young Americans were
dropping the hallucinogen as a vehicle of mind expansion and recreation.
America was tuning in, turning on and dropping out, thanks, in part, to the
CIA's activism in the '50s in the name of national security.
It was not until 1972 that Gottlieb called a halt to the experiments
with psychedelics, concluding in a memo that they were "too unpredictable in
their effects on individual human beings . . . to be operationally useful."
He retired the same year, spending the next few decades in eclectic
pursuits that defied the stereotype of the spy. He went to India with his
wife to volunteer at a hospital for lepers. A stutterer since childhood, he
got a master's degree in speech therapy. He raised goats on a Virginia farm.
And he practiced folk dancing, a lifelong passion despite the handicap of a
clubfoot.
A malignant, real-life Q, or an eccentric genius whose intentions were
honorable and just?
Gottlieb led the agency in 149 mind control experiments, of which about
25 were conducted on unwitting subjects. According to the survivor of one
victim, the way Gottlieb duped American citizens was nothing but despicable.
Less black and white in his assessment is John Marks, author of the
definitive book on the CIA's mind control programs, "The Search for the
'Manchurian Candidate.' " Marks sees Gottlieb as an unabashed patriot who
nonetheless "crossed the same ethical lines we hanged German doctors in
World War II for."
There is also the view of former CIA psychologist John Gittinger, who
says his close friend was a gentle man whose actions were widely
misunderstood. The agency's LSD experiments bloomed in the era of Josef
Stalin and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and "during that time of Cold War,"
Gittinger said recently from his home in Norman, Okla., "the attitude we had
and the agency had was we were still fighting a war. And when you are
fighting a war, you do things you might not ordinarily do."
Gottlieb died on March 7 in Washington, Va. He was 80. His family did
not divulge the cause of his death.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
ACM-Bulletin of 4 April 1999 (An English-language bulletin from the
Association for Cannabis as Medicine, in Cologne, Germany, features news
about several developments in Germany - The drugs commissioner shows sympathy
for the medical use of cannabis; Handing over of signatures in support of the
Frankfurt Resolution; and, an announcement of a trial before the
Constitutional Court. The science report discusses the new patent for
dexanabinol as a TNF-alpha inhibitor.)
From: "Association for Cannabis as Medicine" (info@acmed.org)
To: acm-bulletin@acmed.org
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 23:03:26 +0200
Subject: ACM-Bulletin of 4 April 1999
Sender: info@acmed.org
***
ACM-Bulletin of 4 April 1999
***
Germany:
- Drugs Commissioner shows sympathy for the medical use of
cannabis
- Handing over of signatures in support of the Frankfurt
Resolution
- Announcement of a trial before the Constitutional Court
***
Science: New patent for dexanabinol as TNF-alpha inhibitor
***
1. Germany:
- Drugs Commissioner shows sympathy for the medical use of
cannabis
- Handing over of signatures in support of the Frankfurt
Resolution
- Announcement of a trial before the Constitutional Court
On 22 March 1999 11,000 signatures in support of the Frankfurt
Resolution for the medical use of marijuana and the promotion of
research were handed over to the Drugs Commissioner of the
Government, Christa Nickels (Member of Parliament, the
Greens). Mrs. Nickels said in a press release that, based on
medical experience, the use of cannabis was promising in
different diseases such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Therefore, she would support corresponding research efforts.
The Frankfurt Resolution was presented on 4 December 1998
during the congress "Medical Marijuana" in Frankfurt. It is
supported by AIDS support groups, the Association for Cannabis
as Medicine (ACM), the Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe, the German
Association for Epilepsy, the German Society for Algesiology, the
German Society for Drug and Addiction Medicine, the German
Working Group for Therapists of the HIV Infected (DAGNAE),
the Federal Union for Poliomyelitis and the
SCHMERZtherapeutisches Kolloquium (STK, Society of Pain
Therapists).
In a meeting between supporters of the Frankfurt Resolution and
representatives of the Federal Health Ministry a discussion was
held concerning the possibilities of how to enable legal access to
the medical use of cannabis, without waiting for approval of a
licensed cannabis preparation. Among the participants were Dr.
Gerhard Mueller-Schwefe, Chairman of the STK, Ruediger
Kriegel, Board of Directors of the Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe, Trixi
Frings from the Berlin Self Help Group, Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen,
Chairman of the ACM, Mrs. Nickels, her personal adviser Martin
Koehler and Dr. Moeller from the Department for Narcotics of
the Federal Health Ministry.
Grotenhermen said after the conversation: "Mrs. Nickels made it
clear that cannabis will not be exempted from the normal
procedures for approval of medicaments. However she does
express much sympathy for people that are already using
cannabis products therapeutically today, and she is interested in
pragmatic solutions for an early legal access."
In a press conference before the meeting physicians announced
plans for a trial before the Constitutional Court
(Bundesverfassungsgericht) against the prohibition of a therapy
with cannabis. Participants will be members of the Board of
Directors of the STK, the DAGNAE and the ACM as well as
other physicians. The complaint is based on article 12 of the
German Basic Law (Grundgesetz), which grants physicians
freedom of treatment. While this freedom may be restricted by
laws such as the Narcotics Act, the prohibition of a treatment
with cannabis in severe illnesses would be disproportional.
(Source: ACM)
***
2. Science: New patent for dexanabinol as TNF-alpha inhibitor
Pharmos Corporation announced on 23 March that it has received
a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office for a new patent entitled Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha
Inhibiting Pharmaceuticals, with claims covering the use of
dexanabinol as well as various non-psychotropic cannabinoid
analogs, derivatives or metabolites in the treatment of multiple
sclerosis.
The non-psychtropic THC-derivative dexanabinol has been
extensively examined in animal studies during the last years. It is
effective in protecting brain cells against the effects of ischemia
and hypoxia (decreased circulation and supply with oxygen).
Dexanabinol exhibits pharmacological properties of a NMDA-
receptor antagonist and is a novel inhibitor of TNF-alpha
production. TNF-Alpha is a mediator (cytokine) produced by
some immune cells, playing a role in inflammation, blood
production, healing of wounds, and other important body functions.
Dexanabinol might be used to treat brain damage following head
trauma and stroke, and might neutralize the damaging effects of
nerve-gas.
In preclinical tests, Pharmos has demonstrated that dexanabinol
could exert anti-inflammatory effects. It does not produce certain
side effects of other anti-inflammatory drugs used in the treatment
of multiple sclerosis, such as cortisone, and it does not cause the
psychoactivity of THC.
"Our expectations of dexanabinol having multiple neurological
applications are confirmed by, among other factors, its
amelioration of the severity of multiple sclerosis in animals," said
Dr. Haim Aviv, Pharmos' Chairman. "Dexanabinol's
neuroprotective properties could also be beneficial by preventing
or decreasing the cumulative neurological damage caused by
multiple sclerosis, which is a chronic degenerative disease. We
are looking forward to the beginning of Phase III trials to confirm
dexanabinol's efficacy in head trauma patients."
The recent completion of a successful Phase II clinical study
showed dexanabinol to be safe and well-tolerated in severe head
trauma patients. There were no unexpected adverse experiences
reported for either the drug treated or placebo group. Intracranial
pressure, an important factor and a predictor of poor neurological
outcome, was significantly reduced in the drug treated patients
through the third day of treatment, without a concomitant
reduction in systolic blood pressure.
(Sources: PR Newswire of 23 March 1999, Dow Jones of 23
March 1999, ACM)
***
3. News in brief
***
Science:
The 290-page prepublication copy of the complete U.S. Institute
of Medicine report "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the
Science Base" released on 17 March 1999 is online at:
http://www.taima.org/nas/iom0.htm and
http://prop1.org/thomas/iom_report/iomlv.htm
***
Science:
A study of identical and fraternal twins found that, in general,
genetic influences on drug addiction account for one-third of
addiction, family another third, and peers, friends and co-workers
the remaining third. But all types of addiction are not equal. The
study, which appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found
that genes accounted for more than half of the risk of heroin
addiction and for 33 per cent of marijuana addiction. "It doesn't
mean that addiction is predetermined by genes. It just means that
some of us are more susceptible than others to abusing drugs if
we try them,'' says Dr. Jack Goldberg of the University of Illinois
in Chicago. The study, headed by Harvard's Dr. Ming Tsuang,
also overturns the old belief that the use of less-addictive drugs
such as marijuana sets people on the path to becoming hooked on
cocaine or heroin.
(Source: Toronto Star of 26 March 1999)
***
Science:
People who smoke moderate amounts of marijuana are not much
more dangerous behind the wheel than completely sober drivers,
Canadian researchers said on 31 March. Drivers who smoke it
and drive should not be demonised. While marijuana, like alcohol,
impairs performance, people who drive after smoking moderate
amounts of pot compensate by driving more slowly and cautiously,
said University of Toronto reasearcher Alison Smiley: "The more
cautious behaviour of subjects who received marijuana [in studies]
decreased the drug's impact on performance. Their behaviour is
more appropriate to their impairment, whereas subjects who
received alcohol tend to drive in a more risky manner."
(Sources: Toronto Star of 30 March 1999, Reuters of 31 March
1999)
***
Sports:
Swimmers will be allowed to smoke cannabis without being
banned from the sport as long as it's not during a competition
under new rules. The rule changes, were agreed to by an
extraordinary congress of the sport's governing body FINA.
FINA has created two lists of banned substances - those
prohibited only during a competition and those banned out of
competition. Steroids and masking agents are on both lists but
cannabis has been placed in the same category as cold medication.
(Source: Australian Associated Press of 1 April 1999)
***
4. THE COMMENT
... on the conclusions of the recent Institute of Medicine (U.S.)
report:
"Twenty-one years ago, New Mexico became the first state to
initiate a pilot program that ultimately concluded what a federal
study stated only this past week: Marijuana can relieve suffering
for some ill or terminally ill patients. (...) In 1984, after 5 1/2 years
of treatments, the program's director reported that 75 percent of
about 200 New Mexico patients -- ranging in age from 12 to 78 -
received benefit. (...) New Mexico's program received high
marks from researchers around the country, and 32 other states
followed its lead, but in June 1986, the $50,000 program fell
victim to budget cuts and never was revived."
Editorial, Albuquerque Journal of 22 March 1999
***
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for April 2-8