-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oregon Drug Deaths More Than Double In First Quarter Of 1999 (According to
the Associated Press, the state Medical Examiner's office said Monday that 80
people died of "drug"-related causes, compared to 39 during the same period
last year. However, as usual, the office didn't mention that nobody died from
marijuana. And, as usual, the Medical Examiner didn't count the deaths from
legal drugs such as tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical medicines - more
than 100 times the deaths from illegal substances. Heroin again was the
leading killer, playing a role in 70 deaths. Cocaine figured in 20 deaths.
Last year, there were 235 drug-related deaths, 179 of them involving heroin.)
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 17:49:26 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US OR: Wire: Oregon Drug Deaths
More Than Double In First Quarter Of 1999
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Mon, Apr 12 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
OREGON DRUG DEATHS MORE THAN DOUBLE IN FIRST QUARTER OF '99
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Drug deaths in Oregon during the first three months of
this year more than doubled from the same period a year ago, an increase
blamed largely on potent, inexpensive and widely-available heroin.
The State Medical Examiner's Office said Monday that 80 people died
drug-related deaths in the first quarter, compared to 39 during the same
period last year.
"It's bigger than people think," said Dennis Donin, director of development
for CODA Inc., a treatment, recovery and prevention program with clinics in
Portland and Eugene. "We're seeing more people moving away from crack
cocaine and methamphetamine to drugs like opiates."
Heroin again was the leading killer, playing a role in 70 of the deaths.
Cocaine figured in 20 of the deaths. Last year in the state, there were 235
drug-related deaths, 179 of them involving heroin.
"This year's statistics appears to be a significant upward trend," said Dr.
Karen Gunson, Interim State Medical Examiner. "If our statistics hold true,
over 300 people will die related to drug use this year in Oregon. This would
be the largest increase this decade."
Donin, who said the CODA clinics treat 850 former heroin users a day, blames
the rising deaths on a variety of factors, including a potent form of tar
heroin in circulation. Because Portland is a port of entry, the drug also
tends to be cheaper and more readily available in the area, he said. And
heroin appears to be gaining popularity, both among young users and those
who graduate from cocaine and methamphetamine.
"I don't know if it's from the glorification in movies or what, but the old
fear of heroin just doesn't seem to be in place anymore," he said.
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.
Gunson said most of the victims tended to be white males in their 20s and
30s.
"It's an unusual day when we don't have a heroin death," she said. "It's
just like you come in, have your coffee and do your drug overdose."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
House considers bill to bar communities from banning smoking in bars (The
Associated Press says the Oregon House of Representatives' Commerce Committee
held a hearing Monday on a bill to strip local governments' authority to
prohibit smokers from lighting up in bars and taverns. HB 2806 is a response
to a successful campaign by prohibitionists in Corvallis, the first Oregon
city to ban smoking in all enclosed public places. Twice in the past two
years, Corvallis city councilors and voters have upheld the decision. Under
HB 2806, Corvallis could keep its ban, but other cities would be prevented
from instituting their own drug policies.)
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Mon, Apr 12 1999
Source: The Associated Press (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Associated Press
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Author: Amalie Young, Associated Press
House considers bill to bar communities from banning smoking in bars
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- After her husband was laid off two years ago, Alice
Smith took a job at a Corvallis tavern to make ends meet.
Within two weeks of working in the smoke-filled bar, she was wheezing,
coughing and struggling with shortness of breath.
"I couldn't even afford to go to the doctor," she told lawmakers on the
House Commerce Committee on Monday.
The panel gave its first airing to a bill to strip local governments'
authority to prohibit smokers from lighting up in bars and taverns.
Corvallis is the first Oregon city to ban smoking in all enclosed public
places. Twice in the past two years, Corvallis city councilors and voters
have upheld the decision.
Under the measure, HB2806, other cities could be prevented from doing the
same, although Corvallis could keep its law.
"It's entirely appropriate to have local lawmakers weigh off the benefits
versus the costs (of such ordinances)," said Oregon Attorney General Hardy
Myers at a news conference Monday.
Myers and other opponents of the measure argue that local communities should
have the right to protect people from secondhand smoke.
But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, is defending what
may be the last public indoor refuge for smokers: bars.
Deckert said he doesn't want "big brother" to go too far in creating
restrictions.
"I know when I go to certain bars, that smoke is part of the environment,"
said Deckert, who is not a smoker. "Who am I to tell the majority of those
patrons not to smoke?"
Deckert said he supports the state's Clean Air Act, which requires
restaurants to offer a no-smoking section for customers. But he doesn't want
localities to be able to tighten restrictions for bars, which would only
affect adults.
Under the bill, Corvallis would be the only exception, Deckert said, adding
that he doesn't want a patchwork of various ordinances across the state.
"That leads to chaos in the marketplace and headaches in understanding where
to go if you want to smoke," said Rep. Jim Hill, R-Hillsboro, the chairman
of the House panel.
Hill said Deckert's proposal has enough support to be approved in committee
and possibly in the House.
The Oregon Restaurant Association supports the ban on local ordinances.
"We're not here to advance or promote smoking," said Bill Perry lobbyist for
the association. "This doesn't mean local establishments can't ban smoking
themselves."
Smith and others who work at bars and taverns said they don't want that
decision to be left to the whims of their employers.
A non-smoker, Smith stayed with her job even though she estimates she
inhaled the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes during a shift.
"Most of the people I work with were overjoyed when this thing went
through," she said of the Corvallis ordinance. "Everyone should be allowed
to work in a safe environment."
(c) 1999 Oregon Live LLC
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wheeler County officers seize mobile methamphetamine lab (The Oregonian notes
the suspicions of a police officer in the rural north-central Oregon county -
where approximately 1,600 residents are spread thinly over 1,713 square
miles - were first raised because "strangers tend to be noticed.")
Newshawk: Portland NORML (http://www.pdxnorml.org/)
Pubdate: Mon, Apr 12 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: Jeanie Senior, Correspondent
Wheeler County officers seize mobile methamphetamine lab
* Police arrest a woman on accusations of possessing a controlled substance,
and they search for a second suspect
Police in Wheeler County last week seized a mobile methamphetamine
laboratory and made one arrest in an operation that points to a basic truth:
In Oregon's least populous county, strangers tend to be noticed.
Officers seized three handguns, the chemicals and paraphernalia used in
making methamphetamine and what the county sheriff called a "substantial
quantity" of methamphetamine.
Late last week, Sheriff Craig Ward said he still hadn't had a chance to
weigh precisely the amount of the drug. "But it's a lot of methamphetamine
for Wheeler County," he said.
The north-central Oregon county's approximately 1,600 residents are spread
thinly over 1,713 square miles.
Deborah Lee Parker, 42, of Hermiston, was arrested on accusations of
possession of a controlled substance. A second suspect, a man, is being sought.
Ward, a Portland Police Bureau veteran who moved to Wheeler County in 1991
and has been the sheriff since 1995, was on routine patrol Tuesday morning
when he spotted an unfamiliar pickup and camp trailer parked outside the
designated camping area in Bear Hollow County Park.
He talked to the two Hermiston residents occupying the trailer, and "based
on their appearance, actions and answers to his questions," Ward said, he
became very suspicious. But the couple wasn't engaged in any "obviously
visible violations," so he couldn't pursue the matter.
But he told Chief Deputy David Rouse, who went back to the campsite that
evening to find the truck, trailer and people gone. Nearby, however, Rouse
found a large container with contents that included chemicals, glassware and
other materials commonly used in the production of methamphetamine, as well
as rubber gloves, a gas mask and a 9 mm pistol.
The next day, a state trooper called a tow truck after his patrol car broke
down while he was patrolling near the Bear Creek camp ground.
When a tow truck arrived, the driver said he had seen a woman walking by the
nearby creek in the remote rural area.
The trooper investigated and found the truck and trailer that had aroused
Ward's suspicions parked behind a berm by Thirty Mile Creek.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannabis Conundrum (The San Diego Union Tribune recaps the prosecution of
medical-marijuana patient/activist Steve Kubby and his wife, Michele, to
illustrate the failure to implement Proposition 215 in California. In the
vacuum created by the failure of two successive attorneys general to defend
the law, local district attorneys' varying interpretations mean some
prosecutors file charges against people with just a few plants while others,
such as the Kubbys, claim they need hundreds of plants for their own use.)
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 22:15:02 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: MMJ: Cannabis Conundrum
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Dan Litwin
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Apr 1999
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Bill Ainsworth, San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer
CANNABIS CONUNDRUM
Medicinal Marijuana Case Shows Vagueness Of Controversial Law
SACRAMENTO -- Last year Steve Kubby was a Libertarian candidate for
governor who trumpeted his efforts to pass a 1996 measure that allows
sick people to use marijuana.
Now he and his wife, Michele, face criminal charges for growing 265
plants at their Lake Tahoe home -- plants he insists he needs to fight
the nearly always fatal adrenal cancer he has survived for 23 years.
"This isn't supposed to happen," he said. "When you pass a law,
they're supposed to follow it."
But prosecutors in Placer County contend it's the Kubbys who are
breaking the law by growing far more pot than they can possibly use.
They have charged the couple with selling marijuana and seven other
felonies that could lead to lengthy jail sentences.
Their case illustrates the failure of California's groundbreaking
Proposition 215 to make a clear distinction between recreational
marijuana users and those who use the weed for medical purposes.
The law is so vague that it allows prosecutors to file charges against
people with just a few plants. At the same time, it allows the Kubbys
to claim they need hundreds of plants for their own use.
The Kubbys' lawyer, Dale Wood, said their case "shows most of all that
the Legislature and law enforcement really have to get down to work
and start passing enabling legislation to make this thing work."
Newly elected politicians in Sacramento are trying to do just
that.
A task force appointed by Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer is
working on ideas to create clear guidelines for identifying patients
and distributing pot. "They're trying to figure out how we can reform
a law that was poorly written," Lockyer said.
The law gives patients with a doctor's recommendation a defense
against prosecution for possessing marijuana. But the law doesn't say
how the patients should obtain the pot they need, how much they can
have or how they can avoid arrest altogether.
A federal roadblock
Lockyer, who supported Proposition 215, warns that the biggest problem
is the federal government, which has put the drug on its Schedule 1
list. That classification involves the most dangerous drugs and makes
them virtually impossible to prescribe. Because of this, the federal
government says marijuana is illegal despite Proposition 215.
"It always amazed me that we can give terminally ill people morphine,
but we can't give them marijuana," Lockyer said. "That doesn't make
any sense."
On a trip to Washington, D.C., last month, Lockyer tried to lobby
federal officials to change their view of marijuana, but he received
little encouragement. In fact, drug czar Barry McCaffrey warned that
even state-sanctioned research could violate federal laws.
Previously, Lockyer had talked with Vice President Al Gore about
changing the federal government's view. But in all of his discussions,
the only glimmer of hope he said he received was a commitment to do
more federal research on the possible medical benefits of marijuana.
Still, Lockyer's commitment to making the law work is a striking
contrast to the policy of his immediate predecessor, Republican
Attorney General Dan Lungren.
"Nobody under the former attorney general tried to make it work. They
tried to make it fail," said Bill Zimmerman, the consultant who ran
the Proposition 215 campaign and has led successful efforts to pass
similar measures in other states.
During the 1996 ballot measure campaign, Lungren railed against
Proposition 215, arguing that marijuana is addictive, harmful and that
its benefits are medically unproved.
He used the drug enforcement agents under his command to raid the San
Francisco Cannabis Club, operated by marijuana advocate Dennis Peron.
And, after the law passed, he encouraged the federal government to
launch a legal effort that closed clubs set up to distribute pot to
patients in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.
Lungren also issued guidelines suggesting that police throughout the
state could arrest anyone with more than two plants.
Advocates said that total was far too small.
"We call that the Dan Lungren strain of marijuana," Wood said,
"because only he could get a pound per plant. Everyone else can only
get about a quarter-pound."
But even Lungren supported a bill that would fund a large University
of California study on the effects of medicinal marijuana. The bill,
however, died in the Legislature after then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a
Republican, quietly signaled his opposition.
Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who opposed Proposition 215, said recently
that he supports the University of California study and wants to
devise a clear way of distributing pot to those who need it.
A medical miracle?
Lockyer's commitment to making the law work doesn't extend to helping
the Kubbys. He declined the Libertarian Party's request to intervene
in their case. For the 52-year-old Kubby, marijuana is more than just
an effective painkiller. He says it's a lifesaver.
In 1976, he was diagnosed with terminal adrenal cancer. The cancer
produces so much noradrenaline that it raises blood pressure and could
cause a heart attack at any time.
Kubby went through two surgeries, chemotherapy and tried numerous
medications for blood pressure. Still, he was vulnerable to sudden
blood-pressure attacks that caused blinding headaches and tunnel vision.
About 21 years ago, he discovered his unorthodox cure with a cannabis
cult figure.
While smoking a joint with his former college roommate, Richard Marin,
better known as Cheech -- half of the bumbling, pot-smoking Cheech &
Chong comedy duo -- he noticed that his condition improved.
His blood pressure improved and his attacks stopped. So he continued
smoking every day.
"When you're in a desperate situation, you go with whatever works,"
Kubby said.
The success of his self-styled marijuana therapy sparked his interest
in the medicinal marijuana movement. In 1996, he helped line up
wealthy donors to pay to gather the signatures needed to qualify
California's ballot measure.
Two years after the measure passed, Kubby used his role in passing
Proposition 215 as the centerpiece of his Libertarian candidacy for
governor.
His prominent role reunited him with his former physician, Dr. Vincent
DeQuattro, a professor of cardiology at the University of Southern
California medical school. DeQuattro found out about Kubby by reading
his voter guide listing the candidates for governor.
DeQuattro, who specializes in treating adrenal cancer, hadn't seen
Kubby in 12 years and assumed he had died -- as had all the other
patients he was treating along with Kubby.
"I describe it as a miracle," he said. "Faith healers would go
ecstatic over this one."
DeQuattro has recently re-examined Kubby and discovered that his tumor
still exists. He believes there may be something in marijuana that has
kept the symptoms in check.
He won't prescribe it for other patients now, but wants to do further
study -- especially because another patient with the disease reported
that his symptoms improved while smoking marijuana.
"It deserves a further look," he said.
Law officials unimpressed
But law enforcement officials in mountainous Placer County, which
covers much the Lake Tahoe area where the Kubbys live, weren't
impressed with his recovery. After watching their home for several
months, they arrested the Kubbys earlier this year, confiscated the
computer the couple used to publish their online outdoor magazine and
sent them to jail. Without his marijuana, Kubby said, his
blood-pressure attacks resumed for the first time in years.
The district attorney in Placer County has charged the Kubbys with
seven felonies and two misdemeanors, including possession of marijuana
for sale, possession of illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms, possession
of peyote and possession of an item with cocaine residue.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Cattran acknowledges that he has
no direct evidence that the Kubbys were dealing drugs, but he says the
265 plants provide circumstantial evidence.
"It's a heck of a lot of marijuana for personal use," he
said.
In addition, Cattran said his investigators found a list with
wholesale prices corresponding to various plants found in the Kubbys'
indoor growing room.
Kubby acknowledges that they had lots of plants, but said they were
following the guidelines developed by the now-defunct Oakland Cannabis
Club, which allows 144 plants per person.
He said half his plants were seedlings, and that extra plants are
needed to overcome the difficulties of indoor growing.
Furthermore, he said, his wife smokes marijuana each night to control
irritable bowel syndrome.
Kubby charges that he is being prosecuted because of his high-profile
role as an advocate of medicinal marijuana use and as a former
candidate for governor -- something Cattran denies.
Kubby said he has been forced into bankruptcy by the confiscation of
his computer.
Now he and his family are living in Laguna Beach until his May trial
and actively raising money for their defense from Libertarians and
medicinal marijuana advocates. So far, they have collected $15,000.
As a backer of Proposition 215, Kubby said he looks forward to his
trial, despite the possible jail sentences he faces.
"This is our opportunity to force these issues to the table where they
can be decided by people, not politicians."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
AIDS Activist Rathbun Dies (The Associated Press says "Brownie Mary" Rathbun,
the grandmotherly activist whose arrests for distributing pot brownies to
AIDS patients built momentum for the medicinal marijuana movement, has died
at 77 in San Francisco.)
From: ekomp@earthlink.net
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 16:48:22 -0700
To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Subject: DPFCA: AP on Brownie Mary
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: ekomp@earthlink.net
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
AIDS Activist Rathbun Dies
By Michael Warren
Associated Press Writer
Monday, April 12, 1999; 1:24 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- ``Brownie Mary'' Rathbun, the grandmotherly activist
whose arrests for distributing pot brownies to AIDS patients built momentum for
the medicinal marijuana movement, has died at 77.
Mary Jane Rathbun died at a hospital Saturday of undisclosed causes. She
had been hospitalized and in considerable pain ever since she injured her spine
in a fall last August, said her friend Larry Bittner.
Ms. Rathbun became a fixture at San Francisco General Hospital in the
early days of the AIDS epidemic, preparing and delivering marijuana-laced baked
goods to sick people to relieve their nausea and pain.
``I think she made 134 dozen a month during the heyday, 1984 to 1990. All
in her little old kitchen in her subsidized apartment. And you could smell it
all through her building. The old ladies there were all cool about it. Hey,
it's San Francisco,'' said Dennis Peron, who with Ms. Rathbun founded the
now-defunct San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club.
Ms. Rathbun was arrested three times and twice agreed to perform hundreds
of hours of community service, spending the time with AIDS patients, Peron
said.
The arrests helped build support for San Francisco's Proposition P and,
later, the 1996 state initiativve that made growing and using marijuana with a
doctor's permission legal under California law.
Her arrests also prompted research into whether marijuana really does have
medicinal benefits.
In 1991, she and Peron published ``Brownie Mary's Marijuana Cookbook,''
which is missing the brownie recipe. Peron said that before she died, she asked
him to try to sell the recipe and give the proceeds to charity.
``She would never put the famous brownie recipe in it,'' Peron said. ``Now
I've got to get the brownie recipe from her safe deposit box, and approach
Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, whatever, and sell it and use the proceeds for her
`kids.'''
She had no survivors. Ms. Rathbun had a daughter who died in a car
accident in the 1970s.
``She was the mother of every gay kid in San Francisco,'' Peron said.
(c) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
***
From: ekomp@earthlink.net
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:37:15 -0700
To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Subject: DPFCA: BROWNIE MARY LEAVES US
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: ekomp@earthlink.net
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
I just spoke to Dennis, who said there will be a memorial service - no
details yet.
From the Californians For Compassionate Use website http://www.marijuana.org/
>We are crying in pain over the loss of Brownie Mary Rathbun. She was a
>true friend and human being who relieved the suffering and pain of
>countless individuals in their time of greatest need. She worked in secret
>distributing her magic brownies throughout the AIDS wards of San Francisco
>General Hospital until she was busted in Sonoma County, baking for "her
>kids." She went public at that time and in so doing taught all of us about
>medical marijuana and compassion. She is the mother of the medical
>marijuana movement. Brownie Mary passed into Sainthood at 10:00 PM
>Saturday, April 10th, in Laguna Honda Hospital (top of twin peaks, SF, the
>oldest public hospital in America). We miss you Mary!
***
From: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
To: ralphkat@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: DPFCA: BROWNIE MARY LEAVES US
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 15:22:55 PDT
Jane, thanks for putting that info into prospective. It's always nice
to hear it from someone that was there.
Ralph
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: "Bud Fairy" (budfairy@thecluephone.com)
To: "ralph sherrow" (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
Subject: Re: DPFCA: BROWNIE MARY LEAVES US
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 12:07:29 -0700
re: Brownie Mary
I was with Brownie Mary Saturday at Laguna Honda up until she died,
and I'm really curious to know where John Entwistle came up with the
diagnosis of AIDS-related arthritis.
Not that it really matters now, but Mary did not have AIDS. Since
John was not present at the hospital, and since as far as I know he is
not a medical doctor, any reports from him regarding the cause of
death are speculative at best, and slanderous at worst.
Mary had arthritis, but I would not attribute that to her death. She
had fallen and broken her spine in several places some time ago, and
was in constant pain. We brought her baked goods several times to RK
Davies Hospital but the last few times we were prevented from doing
so. When she was moved to Laguna Honda hospice, it was understood that
she was dying, and that she didn't want any heroic measures taken.
Beth Moore and I stayed with her and made her as comfortable as we
could. Thanks to the kind and caring staff at Laguna Honda, she wasn't
in pain. She recognized us, indicated that she was glad we were there
with her, and she passed away very peacefully at 9:55 PM.
Questions regarding memorial arrangements may be directed to Larry
Bittner, her friend and conservator, at sfmaringuy@aol.com.
I will also post them when they are announced.
Thanks for letting me clear up this misunderstanding.
Jane Weirick
Compassion on Wheels (COW)
San Francisco Patients' Resource Center (SFPRC)
415-378-1110
budfairy@budland.com
-----Original Message-----
>From: ralph sherrow (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
>To: ralphkat@hotmail.com (ralphkat@hotmail.com)
>Date: Monday, April 12, 1999 11:45 AM
>Subject: Fwd: DPFCA: BROWNIE MARY LEAVES US
>
>Not to take away from anything that was said about Mary, I spoke
>with John Entwhistle this am & he said to tell everyone that they were
>expecting it. That she was living in pain & been sick for so long
>that she's better now. Her body couldn't take anymore. She supposedly
>had AIDS related arthritis.
>
>Ralph
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Study Finds Link Between Incarceration, Prior Abuse (According to the
Washington Post, a report made public yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics said that almost half the women and a tenth of the men in state
and federal prisons and local jails reported prior physical or sexual abuse.
Among those in state prison systems, 16 percent of male inmates and 57
percent of female inmates reported prior abuse. A third of the female inmates
in state prisons said they had been raped before their incarceration. Much of
the abuse occurred when the future prison inmates were children.)
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 20:18:34 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Study Finds Link Between Incarceration, Prior Abuse
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kendra E. Wright http://www.familywatch.org/
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Apr 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A02
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Edward Walsh, Washington Post Staff Writer
STUDY FINDS LINK BETWEEN INCARCERATION, PRIOR ABUSE
A high percentage of the nation's prison and jail inmates, especially
female inmates, say they experienced physical or sexual abuse before
their incarceration, the Justice Department said in a report made
public yesterday.
The report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics said that almost half
the women and a tenth of the men in state and federal prisons and
local jails reported prior abuse. Among those in state prison systems,
which account for the bulk of the nation's incarcerated population and
the vast majority of violent criminals, 16 percent of male inmates and
57 percent of female inmates reported prior physical or sexual abuse.
A third of the female inmates in state prisons said they had been
raped before their incarceration, according to the report.
Much of the abuse occurred when the future prison inmates were
children. The report said that 14 percent of the men in state prisons
and 37 percent of the women reported being physically or sexually
abused before the age of 18. Among the general population, the rate of
child abuse is estimated at 5 percent to 8 percent for men and 12
percent to 17 percent for women, the report said.
Overall, the statistics from surveys of prison and jail inmates in
1996 and 1997 suggest a link between dysfunctional families plagued by
alcohol and drug problems and future criminal behavior.
"These are striking and sobering findings," said Caroline Wolf Harlow,
the Justice Department statistician who compiled the report.
One of the strongest links suggested by the report was between prior
abuse and violent crime. The study compared the violent crime rate
among two groups of prisoners--those who said they had been abused and
those who said they had not. Among the almost 1 million male state
prisoners, 61 percent of those who said they had been abused were
serving a sentence for a violent crime. By comparison, 46 percent of
male prisoners who said they had not been abused had been convicted of
a violent crime. Among the more than 65,000 female state prisoners, 34
percent who had been abused and 21 percent who had not been abused
were in prison for a violent offense.
When prior convictions were counted, the numbers were even higher.
More than 75 percent of male prisoners and close to half of female
prisoners who reported being abused had been convicted of a violent
crime, according to the report.
"I think there's a definite relationship here," Harlow said. She added
that she suspects that the actual level of pre-incarceration abuse of
the nation's prison and jail inmates is higher than the numbers in the
report, which relied on interviews with a representative sample of
inmates.
Troubled family backgrounds was another common denominator, especially
among women in the state prison population. For example,
three-quarters of female prisoners who reported that they had a parent
who abused alcohol or drugs also said they had been physically or
sexually abused. Among those who did not report such problems in their
family, the abuse rate dropped to 46 percent.
For state prisoners who spent at least part of their childhoods in
foster homes or institutions, the abuse rate was even higher. The
report said that 44 percent of male prisoners and 87 percent of female
prisoners in this category reported abuse. Harlow said it is not known
whether the abuse occurred before or after these people were placed in
foster homes or institutions.
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Former Cop In Court (The North Shore News, in British Columbia, says Scott
Randall Simpson, a 12-year veteran of the North Vancouver RCMP, appeared in
court on Wednesday to face six marijuana trafficking charges. Simpson, 38,
is also charged with possessing marijuana, psilocybin, hashish and stealing
a "cobra fashioned smoking pipe.")
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 13:47:01 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Former Cop In Court
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: Mon, 12 April 1999
Source: North Shore News (Canada)
Copyright: 1999 by the North Shore News
Contact: editor@nsnews.com
Website: http://www.nsnews.com/
Author: Anna Marie D'Angelo
FORMER COP IN COURT
A former North Vancouver Mountie appeared in court on Wednesday to face six
marijuana trafficking charges.
Scott Randall Simpson, 38, is also charged with possessing marijuana,
psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and hashish and stealing a "cobra fashioned
smoking pipe."
The marijuana trafficking charges which includes two charges of possession
for trafficking purposes date back to events alleged to have occurred
between February 1998 to Feb. 17, 1999. Simpson was arrested on Feb. 16 at
work at the North Vancouver RCMP detachment. Simpson's home was searched as
part of the investigation. The search warrant was sealed by police,
preventing public scrutiny.
With drug charges pending, the suspended 12-year RCMP veteran quit work on
March 3. He had worked in North Vancouver for more than three years as a
patrol officer.
According to the charges, Simpson allegedly trafficked marijuana to a male,
in Richmond and in North Vancouver District. He alleged trafficked marijuana
to another person in North Vancouver District.He allegedly possessed
marijuana, magic mushrooms and hashish in the basement suite of a house in
the 3200-block of Regent Avenue in the Carisbrooke area on Feb. 16. The pipe
was allegedly stolen between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 1997 in North
Vancouver District, according to the charges.
The North Vancouver RCMP conducted the drug investigation. The charges were
approved by the Department of Justice in Vancouver. Drug charges are usually
approved by the local federal Crown prosecutor, but an exception was made in
this case. Simpson is scheduled for a North Vancouver provincial court
appearance on April 21 to fix a date for trial. An internal private
investigation by North Vancouver RCMP into Simpson's actions continues.
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for April 9-15