-------------------------------------------------------------------

NORML Weekly Press Release (Canada's House declares support for medical
marijuana; Florida high court dismisses state's challenge to medical
marijuana necessity defense; NIDA solicits would-be pot farmers for marijuana
research projects; England: Nearly 100 MPs support bill to legalize medical
marijuana.)

From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 19:19:28 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 5/5/99 (II)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

NORML Weekly Press Release

1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
foundation@norml.org

June 3, 1999

***

Canada's House Declares Support For Medical Marijuana

June 3, 1999, Ottawa, Ontario: Canada's House of Commons passed a
motion last week urging the government to "take steps" toward approving
the limited use of medical marijuana.

Members of Parliament approved the measure, M-381, as amended, by a
204-29 vote. The revised motion implores health officials to develop
guidelines for the medical use of marijuana, including the establishment
of clinical trials and a legal supply.

Health Minister Allan Rock says that his office is already exploring
the issue.

MP Bernard Bigras (Bloc Quebecois-Rosemont), who sponsored the bill,
said that its passage "ensure[s] that the government keeps its word on
this question." Bigras has repeatedly criticized Rock for his failure to
follow through on promises to introduce regulations allowing patients
legal access to medical marijuana.

Bigras' motion originally proposed the government to undertake "all
necessary steps to legalize the use of marijuana for health and medical
purposes." Bloc Party members opposed amending it, but eventually voted
for the watered down version to put the House on record in support of
medical marijuana. Bigras emphasized that he still favors making medical
marijuana available to some patients before the completion of new
clinical trials.

"I'm sure I'll have seriously ill people coming up to me in coming
days, saying these [upcoming] clinical trials won't give them access to
marijuana for three years, so what we're saying is we favor clinical
tests but we [also] need immediate access to the drug," Bigras said.

Rock said he will announce details of the impending trials this
month. His office has already received 26 formal requests from patients
seeking legal access to the drug.

For more information, please contact R. Keith Stroup, Esq. of NORML @
(202) 483-5500 or attorney Alan Young of Osgoode Hall Law School @ (416)
736-5595.

***

Florida High Court Dismisses State's Challenge To Medical Marijuana
Necessity Defense

June 3, 1999, Tallahassee, FL: The Florida Supreme Court let stand
today a decision allowing seriously ill patients to raise the defense of
"medical necessity" against criminal prosecution if they are using
marijuana medicinally.

"This is a pivotal decision for the thousands of patients in Florida
who need marijuana to relieve pain and suffering," said NORML Executive
Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. "Without the protection offered by this
defense, patients would be subject to harsh jail sentences for using the
only medicine that helps them."

The Court dismissed a petition by the state to overturn an appeals
court ruling affirming the defense. Florida courts had previously
exempted glaucoma and AIDS patients from criminal prosecution because
they demonstrated a bona fide medical need to use marijuana.

The defendant in this case, George Sowell, cultivated marijuana to
treat glaucoma and combat nausea. NORML Legal Committee member Grant
Shostak of St. Louis, Missouri, filed an amicus curaie brief for The
NORML Foundation in support of Sowell.

For more information, please contact Grant Shostak of the NORML Legal
Committee @ (314) 725-3200 or R. Keith Stroup, Esq. of NORML @ (202)
483-5500.

***

NIDA Solicits Would Be Pot Farmers For Marijuana Research Projects

June 3, 1999, Washington, D.C.: The National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) is seeking "qualified organizations" to grow, harvest, and supply
marijuana for clinical research, according to an announcement posted on
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website. NIDA oversees a
marijuana farm at the University of Mississippi at Oxford and is the only
legal U.S. producer of marijuana for research purposes.

"NIDA's 25 year stranglehold on marijuana research may be loosening,"
NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "For too
long, NIDA has hand-picked its marijuana research protocols and
researchers, which have consistently been anti-marijuana."

The NIDA announcement states that organizations wishing to grow marijuana
"must possess the necessary field or growing facility, laboratory space,
instrumentation and experience to conduct the work." The Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) must approve security for the facility, and register
researchers to handle the drug.

NIDA will accept proposals from interested parties until August.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of
NORML @ (202) 483-5500. NIDA's guidelines for marijuana production appear
online at: http://www.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not99-099.html

***

England: Nearly 100 MPs Support Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana

June 3, 1999, London, England: Ninety-five House members have signed
on to a motion to legalize the medical use of marijuana. The record
showing of support steps up pressure on the government to allow
physicians to prescribe marijuana to seriously ill patients.

"Public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of this change," bill
sponsor MP Paul Flynn (Labour-Newport West) said. "I believe the
government has accepted the principle that cannabis will one day be
authorized. The only question is 'When?' In the meantime, my bill
should be accepted and the cruel, wasteful persecution and jailing of
seriously ill people should end."

Flynn's motion states: "This House deplores the continuing
criminalization of thousands of otherwise law abiding people who use
cannabis medicinally to relieve chronic pain and distress caused by
multiple sclerosis, AIDS and the side effects of chemotherapy; and
supports the simple change in the law recommended by the House of Lords
Select Committee on Science to allow a limited number of doctors to
prescribe cannabis to named patients in the same way that millions of
other prescriptions are now dispensed."

The House of Commons is scheduled to debate the bill on Friday, June 11.

In November, a House of Lords panel recommended legalizing the use of
marijuana by prescription after completing a one year inquiry on the
subject. However, government officials immediately rejected the
findings, and said that Parliament will not change the law until more
research is completed. Human trials regarding inhaled marijuana's
medical value in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and chronic pain
began this year.

For more information, please contact R. Keith Stroup, Esq. of NORML @
(202) 483-5500. A listing of motion co-sponsors is available online at:
http://www.paulflynnmp.co.uk/ database/news_Detail.cfm?ID=46.

				- END -

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Marijuana And Miracles (An op-ed in the Sacramento News & Review by Steve
Kubby, the medical-marijuana patient, activist, defendant and 1998
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in California, explains the documented
efficacy of marijuana in preserving his life, and the injustice of his
persecution at the hands of prohibition agents in Placer County who have
ignored Proposition 215.)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 09:06:14 -0700
To: "Kubby Announce" (Kubby-Announce@list.kubby.com)
From: Steve Kubby (steve@kubby.org)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: Sac News & Review: Marijuana And Miracles
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Sacramento News & Review
Pubdate: Thu, 3 June 1999
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
FAX: (916) 498-7920
Mail: 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Author: Steve Kubby (steve@kubby.com)
Note: "Marijuana and Miracles" appeared on page 5 (the opinion page) of the
June 3rd issue. The only thing they added was a small photo of the author, a
one line bio and contact information, including http://www.kubby.com.

Marijuana And Miracles
by Steve Kubby

I should be dead. That's what doctors recently told me after completing
extensive medical tests at the University of Southern California's School of
Medicine. According to Dr. Vincent DeQuattro, a USC professor and world
authority on adrenal cancer, my blood shows lethal levels of adrenaline.

That's really not surprising, since everyone who has ever had my disease has
died within a few years. Except for me. Thanks to medical marijuana, I'm now
entering my 23rd year of survival, something DeQuattro considers a "medical
miracle."

Dr. DeQuattro has even written a letter advising that I could suffer a heart
attack or stroke if deprived of marijuana and that no other form of therapy
is available.

Unfortunately, none of this seems to matter in Placer County, where 20 armed
officers from four different agencies stormed our Squaw Valley home four
months ago. Armed with laser guided automatic weapons, body armor and a
battering ram, a SWAT team from the North Tahoe Narcotics Task Force blocked
off our street, raided our home and confiscated almost everything we own.

Besides taking my plants, gardening equipment and medicine, they seized all
of our electronic publishing equipment. That action effectively killed our
on-line magazine, Alpine World, which had been rated as the 25th top
electronic magazine in the world. This raid destroyed our primary source of
income, forcing us out of our home and into bankruptcy.

The Task Force confiscated our passports and social security cards. They
stole our company's petty cash and then went through our safe deposit box.
We still don't know what they stole from our box, they have the keys. They
even took the cash out of our wallets. Then they arrested us, handcuffed us,
and took us away to jail for three days. After taking everything we own,
they arbitrarily set bail at $200,000. Fortunately, our attorneys were able
to persuade a judge to drop all bail and release us on our own recognizance.

Although both my wife and I are legal patients with doctor recommendations,
we face a 19-count criminal indictment, just for the crime of using a
medicine, which is not government, approved. Absolutely none of our medical
marijuana was ever sold or illegally distributed.

The City of Oakland is the only jurisdiction in California that has set
guidelines since the passage of Proposition 215. We carefully kept our
home-grown medicine within that one set of The Oakland Guidelines - which
also happens to be lower than the 7.1 pounds of marijuana our federal
government currently sends to each of the eight patients on the
Compassionate IND program each year.

We hope our case will achieve in the jury box what we were supposed to have
won at the ballot box - the right for medical patients to not be treated as
criminals. It's time to stop arresting sick and dying people.

***

THE KUBBY FILES
http://www.kubby.com
Monarch Bay Plaza #375
Dana Point, Ca 92629

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Marijuana - America's Most Profitable Plant (The spring issue of Whole Earth
features San Francisco criminal defense attorney Tony Serra railing
eloquently against official efforts to undue Proposition 215 - and the jurors
that let them get away with it. "Jurors have become mad dogs, they have been
so conditioned by media and police propaganda. . . . I can still win a jury
trial. At this office, we do marijuana case after marijuana case, and we win
many of them. But it's nothing like the sixties, when all levels of society
showed a robust interest in actualizing constitutional rights and expanding
the common denominator for justice. It is fairly dismal out there now.")

Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 11:46:24 -0700
To: restore@crrh.org
From: "D. Paul Stanford" (stanford@crrh.org)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: Marijuana - America's Most Profitable Plant
Source: Whole Earth, Spring 1999 p74(1).
Title: Marijuana - America's Most Profitable Plant Now Brings An Early
Warning Of Subverted Constitutional Rights, Brainwashed Juries,
Bloated Federal Power, Judicial Racism, And Hamstrung Lawyers.
Author: Tony Serra
Electronic Collection: A54321430 RN: A54321430
Full Text COPYRIGHT 1999 Whole Earth

Marijuana - America's Most Profitable Plant

We all appreciate that California voters passed Proposition 215, which allows
for medical usage of marijuana for seriously ill Californians: a person with a
recommendation from a doctor is entitled to grow and use marijuana. Now legal
authorities at all levels of law enforcement admit up front that they are
doing everything they can to de-actualize that law. That is, they will arrest
people who have doctors' recommendations. They will seize plants grown by
terminally ill people and turn them over to the district attorney. Most of the
time, if it's a bona fide medical-use case, district attorneys won't
prosecute, but the medicines--the marijuana plants and the marijuana in
smoking form--are seized and never returned.

Worse than that, they outlaw the marijuana clubs and the people who grow for
them. They give lip service to the legalization of milk, and then outlaw the
cow.

Through the supremacy clause, federal authorities have claimed the right to
interdict these organizations. Prosecutors have applied mandatory sentencing
minimums using the federal system, which does not recognize 215. They have
sought and accomplished the closure of a number of clubs through federal
injunctions.

The feds, claiming separate-sovereign status, are stultifying the will of the
electorate. That's a slap in the face of the democratic process, and a slap in
the face of the law-and-order approach that 215 has established. They always
say, "If you don't like the law, then change it!" Then when you finally change
just one of the untold numbers of onerous laws, they won't actualize it, they
won't give it full faith and credit, they won't even honestly enforce it.

Back in the sixties, we believed that marijuana was going to be
decriminalized. We're now in the latter part of the nineties. For the small
percentage of decriminalization that applies to medical use, law enforcement
and often district attorneys won't give us the benefit of the law. They're
very punitive and very retaliatory. They don't like the law, and they're not
fulfilling the mandate of the electorate.

I'm painting a very grim and pessimistic picture of what's going on in the
judicial process. Normally, I'm an optimistic, positive-oriented person. But I
think that any criminal-defense practitioner will tell you that the war on
drugs is a false premise, an illusion. Under this rubric in the last decade or
so, we as a culture have been effectively stripped of constitutional rights.

Consider motions to suppress evidence, where the defendant claims unlawful
seizure, or that his right to privacy has been invaded, or that the police had
no probable cause or no search warrant. In the sixties and early seventies, we
would win four out of five of these cases because law enforcement typically
failed to meet legal requirements. Now, we're lucky to win one out of twenty.
Judges do not want to apply constitutional standards with full force and vigor
against law enforcement, because they're fearful of being viewed as lenient in
this war on drugs.

Jurors have become mad dogs, they have been so conditioned by media and police
propaganda. I got a case in Boston where the jurors believed, almost, that
marijuana was shot into your veins like heroin. They had no idea what
marijuana was, they were merely recipients of propaganda. In a political drug
case where law enforcement's word is pitted against a private citizen's word,
attorneys will now say, "You have to establish five reasonable doubts; one
reasonable doubt won't do it." Juries want to adopt the prosecution version.
They've been brainwashed. They believe that crime is rampant, that drugs lead
ultimately to robbery. We're in a very, very constitutionally threatened
atmosphere based on the mass mentality of the populace.

I can still win a jury trial. At this office, we do marijuana case after
marijuana case, and we win many of them. But it's nothing like the sixties,
when all levels of society showed a robust interest in actualizing
constitutional rights and expanding the common denominator for justice. It is
fairly dismal out there now. We're hopeful that the pendulum will swing back.
We look at things like elections (in this state, the governor's, attorney
general's, and senatorial races). Ultimately, we look to the media to promote
more honesty so the general populace isn't spoon-fed war-on-crime propaganda.
We look to other levels of media, to the film industry, to change a lot of its
crime or police hero-worship plots and narrative. If we can't turn public
attitude, law enforcement, and the courts around, we are heading toward the
worst repression in our country's history.

Tony Serra has been the most effective jury lawyer on marijuana and other
drug-related cases in the United States. He helped keep Hacsi Horvath, one of
our staff members, out of jail when he was entrapped in an LSD sales caper. He
has been an outstanding spokesman for the integrity of the judicial process,
independent of political influence. Other segments of this conversation
appeared in Whole Earth No. 95.

-- End --

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Calif. Police Sued For Profiling (The Associated Press says the American
Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in San Francisco
against the California Highway Patrol and the California Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement, asking for unspecified damages and an injunction forbidding the
two police agencies from engaging in racial profiling. The lawsuit also asks
that the agencies collect data on the race and ethnic background of motorists
stopped for traffic violations. The suit stems from an incident on June 6,
1998, when Curtis Rodriguez, a Hispanic attorney from San Jose, documented
five traffic stops in which the drivers were all Hispanic. Rodriguez's car
was the next to be stopped without just cause - and searched without
permission or a warrant.)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 03:47:38 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Wire: Calif. Police Sued For Profiling
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: EWCHIEF
Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jun 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: William Schiffmann, Associated Press Writer

CALIF. POLICE SUED FOR PROFILING

SAN FRANCISCO - Two state police agencies were named Thursday in
a lawsuit demanding an end to "racial profiling," the use of race or
color to decide who is stopped by officers on the highway.

The federal suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union
against the California Highway Patrol and the state Bureau of
Narcotics Enforcement.

The ACLU asks for unspecified damages and an injunction forbidding the
practice. It also asks that the agencies collect data on the race and
ethnic background of motorists stopped for traffic violations.

The suit stems from an incident on June 6, 1998, when Curtis
Rodriguez, a Hispanic attorney from San Jose, observed five traffic
stops in a 10-mile stretch of Highway 152 near Pacheco Pass, about 90
miles south of San Francisco.

All the drivers were Hispanic, the suit said.

As his passenger, attorney Arturo Hernandez, took pictures of the last
two stops, Rodriguez was pulled over. He said the CHP officer told him he
was stopped for having his headlights on and for "touching the line."

Rodriquez refused permission for the officer to search his car, but
the officer searched it anyway, he said. He found nothing and, after a
lengthy delay, let the men go without citing them.

"What happened on Pacheco Pass that day was illegal, it was immoral,
it was racist, and it's high time these practices stop," Rodriguez
said.

On Wednesday, the ACLU released a study in New York on racial
profiling that said the war on drugs has resulted in a sharp increase
in the practice.

In April, North Carolina became the first state to require data
collection

on traffic stops. Similar bills have been introduced in Congress and
in California, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad Blitz Latest Push To Reform Drug Laws (The Times Union, in Albany, New
York, says an advertising blitz urging an end to mandatory-minimum sentences
for drug offenders enacted in 1973 during the Rockefeller administration will
hit airwaves across New York next week as advocates make a final push for
reform before the legislature ends its regular session June 16. The
Lindesmith Center in Manhattan is preparing the ads on behalf of several
reform groups.)

Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 20:14:49 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: Ad Blitz Latest Push To Reform Drug Laws
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Capital Region NORML
Pubdate: Thursday, June 3, 1999
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 1999, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Address: Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212
Feedback: http://www.timesunion.com/react/
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Forum: http://www.timesunion.com/react/forums/
Author: Lara Jakes, Capitol Bureau

AD BLITZ LATEST PUSH TO REFORM DRUG LAWS

Albany -- Proposals to change sentencing mandates have yet to pass, so
advocates are taking to TV airwaves

An advertising blitz on the Rockefeller Drug Laws will hit airwaves across
New York next week as advocates make a final push for reforms in the tough
sentencing mandates before the Legislature ends its regular session.

So far, lawmakers have failed to approve any of a half-dozen proposals
touted in 1999 to ease the 26-year-old laws that require minimum prison
sentences of 15 years for even low-level drug offenders. Reform advocates
hope the television ad campaign will motivate the public to pressure
elected officials into action before the legislative session wraps up June 16.

"Here in Albany, much of the major legislation is put through in the last
week," said John Dunne, chairman of the Coalition for Effective Criminal
Justice, one of the advocacy groups that helped produce the campaign. "So
the timing is fine."

The TV spots will be aired throughout the state, but several people
familiar with the blitz said Wednesday the ads will run mainly in upstate
rural and western New York areas, where the staunchest opposition to the
reforms is based.

Under the Rockefeller laws, which were enacted in 1973, a person with no
prior record and no history of violence who is convicted of a single sale
of two ounces or possession of four ounces of a narcotic faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of 15 years to life. No other state has such a tough law,
nor does the federal government.

A wide, bipartisan range of lawmakers and advocates -- including Gov.
George Pataki, a Republican, and Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, a Democrat --
have called for reforms in 1999, an off-election year. Few people on either
side of the political spectrum disagree that some kind of change is in order.

But Capitol gridlock between Pataki and the Democratic Assembly on nearly
every legislative issue this session has also stymied movement on the
Rockefeller laws. Fearing his membership would appear "soft on crime" in
the November 2000 elections, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last month
indicated he would not support Pataki's proposal to modestly scale back the
laws. Silver, who declined an interview request Wednesday, so far has not
allowed other proposals to be brought to a vote in his chamber.

"The last couple of weeks have certainly darkened the prospects" for
reform in 1999, said Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Queens, who authored a
bill to repeal the prison terms set by the Rockefeller guidelines.

The ad campaign, Aubry said, aims to "further educate the public on the
nature of the law, and what we believe are inequities and injustices
associated with it. A lot of people don't understand what the Rockefeller
Drug Laws are and don't understand how they are applied. Changing public
opinion has been part of what the whole effort is all about."

The TV ads are still being edited but will be ready to be aired by Tuesday,
said David Mickenberg of the Lindesmith Center in Manhattan. The advocacy
group is preparing the ads, but Mickenberg did not immediately know the
cost of the campaign or where specifically the TV spots will be aired.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Give Judges Discretion In Drug-Case Sentencing (A letter to the editor of the
Times Union, in Albany, New York, from Warren M. Anderson, the former New
York state Senate majority leader, comes out in favor of reforming the
state's Rockefeller-era mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines.)

Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 17:48:41 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NY: LTE: Give Judges Discretion In Drug-Case Sentencing
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Capital Region NORML http://www.midtel.net/~reply2/
Pubdate: Thursday, June 3, 1999
Source: Times Union (NY)
Copyright: 1999, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Contact: tuletters@timesunion.com
Fax: (518) 454-5628
Address: Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212
Feedback: http://www.timesunion.com/react/
Website: http://www.timesunion.com/
Forum: http://www.timesunion.com/react/forums/
Author: Warren M. Anderson
Note: The writer is former state Senate majority leader

GIVE JUDGES DISCRETION IN DRUG-CASE SENTENCING

"Dealing with drugs: Counterpoint" (May 16), by Onondaga County District
Attorney William Fitzpatrick, requires a response to correct one basic
misconception.

The article criticizes those who would call for repeal of the Rockefeller
drug laws, laws I supported as the majority leader of the Senate when they
were enacted.

However, the article written by John Dunne, which states the position of
the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice, calls not for repeal, but for
meaningful, balanced reform of those laws.

Basically, the amendments to the law propose to give sentencing discretion
back to judges so they may appropriately target nonviolent drug-addicted
offenders, who pose no danger to public safety, and divert them to
treatment rather than to prison.

This is a far more effective way of reducing drug offenses, as demonstrated
by drug-treatment diversion programs across the state, including one in
Onondaga County cited by Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Our position is that judges, in consultation with prosecutors, ought to be
making these sentencing decisions, as judges are best suited to objectively
review each case and determine which offenders should be sent to prison or
to a drug-treatment program.

Unquestionably, how the criminal justice system deals with nonviolent drug
offenders is a public safety issue.

Our contention is simply that public safety will be enhanced by giving
judges the flexibility to place nonviolent drug offenders in cost-effective
drug-treatment programs.

Warren M. Anderson
Binghamton

The writer is former state Senate majority leader

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Woman Kept In Jail Sues VA Officials (The Washington Post says Cassondra Sue
Betancourt, 37, is seeking $550,000 from the Virginia attorney general and
other state officials because she was kept in a Richmond area prison for 161
days after the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned her conviction.
Betancourt was convicted of murdering her boyfriend by spiking his drink with
cocaine, but the appeals court ruled that there was not enough evidence to
rule out an accidental overdose or suicide.)

Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 23:05:03 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US VA: Woman Kept In Jail Sues VA Officials
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: dlbck
Pubdate: Thurs, 03 June 1999
Source: Washington Post (DC)
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: Maria Glod, Washington Post Staff Writer

WOMAN KEPT IN JAIL SUES VA. OFFICIALS

Conviction Reversed Long Before Release

A woman who spent 161 days in prison after the Virginia Court of Appeals
overturned her murder conviction in the death of her Loudoun County
boyfriend is suing the attorney general and other state officials for $550,000.

Cassondra Sue Betancourt, 37, filed the lawsuit last week in Loudoun County
Circuit Court.

Betancourt was convicted of killing Walter Montague, 65, five years ago in a
Sterling hotel room by lacing his drink with cocaine. Prosecutors argued at
her trial that she killed him to collect on a $500,000 insurance policy that
he had taken out in connection with a furniture refurbishing business they
were planning to open.

But a three-judge panel of the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that there
was not enough evidence to rule out an accidental overdose or suicide and
reversed the conviction in January 1998.

After the ruling, Betancourt remained in a Richmond area prison while the
attorney general's office appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court. She spent
months trying to get released on bond but could not find a state or federal
judge who claimed jurisdiction to release her. She was finally released June
30, 1998.

In the four-page lawsuit, Betancourt's attorney, Paul A. Morrison, argues
that Betancourt's constitutional rights were violated during the appeal
because Virginia law does not allow an inmate whose conviction has been
reversed to seek bond while awaiting appeal.

"Once we're found to be innocent, we ought not be locked up, or in the very
least we should have the opportunity to be given bond," Morrison said. "Ask
anybody out in the community what it would be worth to them to avoid 161
days in the penitentiary after they had been found to be innocent."

A Loudoun Circuit Court judge ruled that he didn't have the authority to
order bond in the case because Betancourt was incarcerated in a state
facility, not the local jail. Betancourt then took her request to the state
Court of Appeals, which also ruled that it did not have jurisdiction.

Morrison finally went to the Virginia Supreme Court seeking bond. But before
the court ruled on the bond question, a three-judge panel of the same court
declined to consider the attorney general's appeal of the reversal of
Betancourt's conviction, and she was released.

"The plaintiff was found to be innocent by the reviewing Court, and was held
in custody without bond for 161 days and without any statutory basis for any
Court of the Commonwealth to set a bond in these procedural circumstances,"
the lawsuit states. "The Code of Virginia provides that each citizen shall
be admitted to bail, pending determination of guilt or innocence. This right
is guaranteed under the Federal and State Constitutions as well."

The suit seeks $100,000 each from the attorney general's office and the
Department of Corrections, plus $350,000 in punitive damages. Morrison noted
that there is a $100,000 cap for compensatory damages on claims against the
government.

David Botkins, spokesman for the attorney general, said his office will ask
that the case be dismissed. "This is a wholly frivolous lawsuit," he said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Court OKs Ky. Tax On Illegal Drugs (The Cincinnati Post recaps Monday's news
about the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting a double-jeopardy claim and allowing
Kentucky to continue to impose its tax on marijuana and other illegal
substances. The decision sets in motion plans for broader enforcement of a
statute on the books since 1994.)

Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 07:14:56 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US KY: Court OKs Ky. Tax On Illegal Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: EWCHIEF
Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jun 1999
Source: Cincinnati Post (OH)
Copyright: 1999 The Cincinnati Post
Contact: postedits@cincypost.com
Website: http://www.cincypost.com/

COURT OKs KY. TAX ON ILLEGAL DRUGS

Kentucky's top tax collectors watched and waited as a test case
challenging a law that allows the state to tax marijuana and other
illegal drugs made its way through the court system.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week let the law stand - a decision that
sets in motion plans for broader enforcement of a statute on the books
since 1994.

The law was enacted by the General Assembly as a way to take the
profits out of crime.

While marijuana generates millions of dollars under the table and is
believed to be the second largest cash crop in Kentucky behind
tobacco, only about $255,110 has been collected since the drug tax law
was enacted and a legal challenge filed.

Guier didn't have an estimate on how much money the drug tax could
provide. However, the law says controlled substances that are not
sold by weight could be taxed at $2,000 for every 50 pills or
tablets; marijuana could be taxed at $1,000 per plant; and controlled
substances at $200 per gram.

One potential source of drugs subject to state taxes are those seized
at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

High court changes its mind on hearing medical malpractice case (The
Associated Press says the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea
from state Attorney General Bob Butterworth seeking to abolish the "medical
necessity" defense sought by medical-marijuana cultivator George Sowell of
Chipley. Sowell had been convicted of possession and cultivation of marijuana
and sentenced to probation two years ago. But the 1st District Court of
Appeal overturned the conviction because the trial judge had not allowed
Sowell the medical necessity defense. Sowell, who is in his 60s, received a
kidney transplant 17 years ago after the drugs he was taking for his glaucoma
caused kidney failure.)

Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 20:03:05 -0500
From: "Frank S. World" (compassion23@geocities.com)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
Organization: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: restore (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: US FL MMJ WIRE: High court changes its mind on hearing
medical malpractice case

6/3/99 -- 4:10 PM

HIGH COURT CHANGES ITS MIND ON HEARING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The case against a Panhandle man who grew the
marijuana he needed to ease his glaucoma and nausea doesn't belong in the
state Supreme Court, the justices decided Thursday.

The court's dismissal of the case means sick people who argue they need
marijuana for health reasons can continue to use the defense of "medical
necessity" in Florida trial courts if charged with growing marijuana.

Attorney General Bob Butterworth had asked the state's high court to rule
that the "medical necessity" defense could not be used.

The case began with George Sowell of Chipley, who had been convicted of
possession and cultivation of marijuana and sentenced to probation two years
ago. But the 1st District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction because
the trial judge had not allowed Sowell to use the "medical necessity"
defense.

The DCA ruling applies to the entire state because no other DCA has issued a
conflicting decision. Butterworth's office appealed to the Supreme Court to
overturn the DCA ruling.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in early April. In an
unsigned order Thursday, the justices unanimously agreed the issue deals
with "an extremely narrow principle of law" and therefore doesn't belong
in the high court.

Sowell, who is in his 60s, received a kidney transplant 17 years ago after
the drugs he was taking for his glaucoma caused kidney failure. Sowell said
recently that marijuana helped ease his symptoms.

"I can't eat without using a little bit of it to kill the sickness in my
stomach," he said two months ago after the court's oral arguments.

He did not immediately return a phone message left at his home Thursday
seeking comment.

Sowell stopped growing marijuana after his conviction and now gets the three
marijuana cigarettes he smokes daily from someone else.

"I am a law-abiding citizen, and I don't want to be breaking the law, but
they force me to," he said recently.

In mid-March, the Institute of Medicine concluded marijuana has medical
benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS. Marijuana's active
ingredients can ease pain, nausea and vomiting, according to the institute,
which is affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences.

Grant Shostak, a St. Louis attorney for a national non-profit group that
supports legalizing marijuana, said the Supreme Court's decision "will
allow many extremely ill people to defend themselves on the basis of medical
necessity and hopefully be relieved of tremendous pain and suffering.

Shostak had filed a brief in the case for The NORML Foundation.

Sowell's attorney, John F. Daniel of Panama City, did not immediately return
a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

Jim Rogers, chief of the bureau of criminal appeals for Butterworth's
office, said the dismissal leaves the defense of medical necessity as an
option in Florida's trial courts.

Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Court May Be National Model (The Las Vegas Sun says Nevada's newest
weapon against crime - an expansion of the Drug Court program to cover
early-release parolees - will be the star attraction this week at the
National Drug Court Conference in Miami. District Judge Jack Lehman left
Wednesday to explain the program to 2,500 representatives of the nation's 400
other drug courts. Lehman spearheaded the creation of a Drug Court in
Nevada - the first in the nation - more than six years ago and smiles when he
talks about how only 14 percent of those who complete the program commit
additional crimes. No word on what percentage drops out of the coerced
treatment regimen.)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 00:30:16 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NV: Drug Court May Be National Model
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jo-D Harrison Dunbar
Pubdate: Thu, 03 June 1999
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Copyright: 1999 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
Contact: letters@lasvegassun.com
Website: http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Author: Bill Gang, gang@lasvegassun.com

DRUG COURT MAY BE NATIONAL MODEL

Nevada's newest weapon against crime -- a Drug Court for newly released
prison inmates -- will be the star attraction this week at the National Drug
Court Conference in Miami.

District Judge Jack Lehman left Wednesday after a last minute request to
explain the program -- the first in the nation -- to 2,500 representatives
of the nation's 400 other drug courts, just two days after the Nevada
Legislature approved and funded the program.

Lehman spearheaded the creation of a Drug Court in Nevada more than six
years ago and smiles when he talks about how only 14 percent of those who
complete the program commit additional crimes.

By contrast 80 percent of prison inmates convicted of nonviolent
drug-related crimes become repeat offenders when they are released into the
community with little supervision.

Before he left, Lehman said the purpose of the program is to see if the
success of Drug Court will translate to ex-cons and keep them from returning
to the expensive confines of prison.

In exchange for participating in the new program and addressing their drug
problems, inmates can be released from prison up to two years early.

"We want to see if we can accomplish with early-release parolees what we
have done with drug addicts in the community," Lehman said. "I find this a
real challenge."

Initially there will be only 100 carefully chosen participants in Clark
County and 50 in Washoe County. There will be no violent or sex-crime
offenders and no one who has been convicted of more than two felonies that
are drug related, Lehman said.

He emphasized that the convicts need not be in prison for drug charges to
qualify but only for a drug-related charge, such as a conviction for theft
to support a drug habit.

Once accepted into the program through a screening committee, participants
will be restricted to house arrest and required to undergo intensive counseling.

Weekly appearances will be required before the Drug Court judge, who can
send them back behind bars if they don't cooperate.

To fund the program, the state is paying $4,250 per person.

By contrast, prisoners in work camps cost taxpayers about $7,000 a year, and
inmates in regular prisons cost between $16,000 and $22,000 annually.

That translates into an initial savings to taxpayers of between $2,750 and
$17,750 per participant, or between $412,000 and $2.66 million for the 150
who will be in the program.

In addition, Lehman noted, there will be savings for police, prosecutors and
courts for each participant who does not commit new crimes.

The judge said the bonus is that the public will be safer since Justice
Department statistics indicate that drug addicts commit about 100 crimes
annually to support their habits.

"We will save in crimes that don't happen," he said.

"I think we are at the forefront of something that could be important
nationally," Lehman said, noting that Nevada's entire congressional
delegation has supported the program.

While Lehman testified at the Legislature in support of the program, he said
it was Gov. Kenny Guinn who pushed through the bill.

In the final vote on Sunday, Senate Bill 184 cleared the Assembly with a
41-0 vote.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Teens Give Adults A D+ In Fighting Youth Drug Use (A Reuters article in the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a nationwide survey of teen-agers sponsored by
Uhlich Children's Home in Chicago and conducted in January and February by
Teenage Research Unlimited, a research company based in Northbrook, Ill.,
found that young Americans give adults a barely passing grade on their
efforts to stop them from drinking, smoking and using "drugs." Tom Vanden
Berk, president of Uhlich Children's Home, said "We thought that we needed
to turn the table on adults, and give teen-agers a chance to grade adults on
issues of importance to the well-being of young people.")

Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 17:48:34 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Teens Give Adults A D+ In Fighting Youth Drug Use
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: unoino2
Pubdate: Thu, 03 June 1999
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 1999 Post Dispatch
Contact: letters@pd.stlnet.com
Website: http://www.stlnet.com/
Forum: http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/index.nsf/forums
Author: Reuters News Service

TEENS GIVE ADULTS A D+ IN FIGHTING YOUTH DRUG USE

Teen-agers give American adults a barely passing grade on their efforts to
stop young people from drinking, smoking and using drugs, according to a
"report card" released Wednesday. The young people also believe adults are
not doing much better combating gangs or gun violence, the survey found.

On the positive side, the teen-agers surveyed gave a higher grade to their
elders' efforts to create jobs, provide quality education and spend time
with their families.

The research was based on a nationwide survey of 981 teen-agers. It was
sponsored by Uhlich Children's Home in Chicago, a youth social services
organization.

The lowest grade - a D+ - went to adult efforts to stop youngsters from
drinking, smoking tobacco and using drugs, and for efforts at running the
U.S. government.

"We thought that we needed to turn the table on adults, and give teen-agers
a chance to grade adults on issues of importance to the well-being of young
people," said Tom Vanden Berk, president of Uhlich Children's Home.

Adult efforts to get rid of gangs rated only a C-, but they got a C+ when
it came to attempts to keep schools safe from violence and crime.

The highest grade, a B-, went to adults' efforts to create jobs, provide
quality education, spend time with their families, fight AIDS and prevent
child abuse.

The survey of boys and girls ages 12 to 19 had an error margin of plus or
minus 3 percentage points. It was conducted in January and February by
Teenage Research Unlimited, a research company based in Northbrook, Ill.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Fight Has Fostered Racial Bias, ACLU Reports (According to the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties
Union says the war on drugs has significantly increased the number of traffic
stops based on race. Ira Glasser, the ACLU's executive director, pointed to
such problems as the DEA's "Operation Pipeline," which has trained at least
27,000 law enforcement officials how to spot drug couriers on highways in
such a way as to create a perception that blacks, Hispanics and other
minorities are more likely to possess illegal drugs. The ACLU is calling on
police departments to begin documenting incidents of racial profiling.)

Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 20:14:47 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MO: Drug Fight Has Fostered Racial Bias, ACLU Reports
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: unoino2
Pubdate: Thu, 03 June 1999
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 1999 Post Dispatch
Contact: letters@pd.stlnet.com
Website: http://www.stlnet.com/
Forum: http://www.stlnet.com/postnet/index.nsf/forums

DRUG FIGHT HAS FOSTERED RACIAL BIAS, ACLU REPORTS

The war on drugs has significantly increased the number of traffic stops
based on race, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released
Wednesday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really
resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," said Ira Glasser, the
group's executive director.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has trained at
least 27,000 law enforcement officials on how to spot drug couriers on
highways and has unfairly created a perception that blacks, Hispanics and
other minorities are more likely to possess drugs, Glasser said.

The ACLU said the practice is so common that minority communities have
given it the derisive term "driving while black or brown." The ACLU has
filed suits in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma challenging
racial profiling.

Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington did not
immediately return calls for comment.

The ACLU's 43-page report is largely a collection of case studies from 23
states. It was released to rebut police denials that racial profiling
exists, said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Toledo in
Ohio and an author of the report.

"By laying out the facts in such detail in this report, we hope that we can
now get beyond 'Is there really a problem?' to 'What are we as a nation
going to do about it?'" Harris said. "We don't suggest that this will be
easy, only that it is necessary if we are to call ourselves a democratic
nation."

The ACLU is calling on police departments to begin documenting incidents of
racial profiling. Some already have, such as the departments in San Diego
and San Jose, Calif.

In April, North Carolina became the first state to pass a law requiring the
collection of such information on all traffic stops. Similar bills have
been introduced in Congress and in Arkansas, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Texas and Virginia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Racial Profiling Tied to Drugs (The Associated Press version in the Statesman
Journal, in Salem, Oregon)

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 03:25:12 -0700
From: Paul Freedom (nepal@teleport.com)
To: Constitutional Cannabis Patriots (cp@telelists.com)
Subject: [cp] RACIAL PROFILING TIED TO DRUGS

RACIAL PROFILING TIED TO DRUGS
Statesman Journal
AP
6-3-99

NEW YORK - The war on drugs has increased significantly the number of traffic
stops based on race throughout the country, the American Civil Liberties
Union said in a report released on Wednesday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really
resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," ACLU Executive Director
Ira Glasser said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has trained at
least 27,000 law enforcement officials on how to spot drug couriers on
highways and has created an unfair perception that blacks, Hispanics and
other minorities are more likely to posses drugs, Glasser said.

The ACLU said the practice is so common that minority communities have given
it the derisive term "driving while black or brown." The ACLU has filed
lawsuits in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma challenging racial
profiling.

DEA officials in Washington did not return calls for comment.

The ACLU's 43-page report is largely a collection of case studies from 23
states rather than a statistical analysis.

It was released to rebut police denials that racial profiling exists, said
David Harris, a law professor at the University of Toledo in Ohio and an
author of the report.

"By laying out the facts in such detail in this report, we hope that we can
now get beyond 'Is there really a problem?' to 'What are we as a nation going
to do about it?'" Harris said. "We don't suggest that this will be easy, only
that it is necessary if we are to call ourselves a democratic nation."

In April, North Carolina became the first state to pass a law requiring data
collection on all traffic stops. Similar bills have been introduced in
Congress and in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Nation's War On Drugs Has Increased Highway Stops Based On Race, ACLU Says
(The Baltimore Sun version)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 18:29:37 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MD: Nation's War On Drugs Has Increased Highway Stops Based
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Rob Ryan
Pubdate: Thu, 3 Jun 1999
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 1999 by The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.sunspot.net/
Forum: http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/ultbb/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

NATION'S WAR ON DRUGS HAS INCREASED HIGHWAY STOPS BASED ON RACE, ACLU SAYS

Report Details Incidents To Rebut Police Denials

NEW YORK -- The war on drugs has significantly increased the number
of traffic stops based on race throughout the country, the American
Civil Liberties Union said in a report released yesterday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really
resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," ACLU Executive
Director Ira Glasser said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has trained
at least 27,000 law enforcement officials on how to spot drug couriers
on highways and has unfairly created a perception that blacks,
Hispanics and other minorities are more likely to possess drugs,
Glasser said.

The ACLU said the practice is so common that minority communities have
given it the derisive term "driving while black or brown." The ACLU
has filed lawsuits in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma
challenging racial profiling.

DEA officials in Washington did not return calls for comment.

The ACLU's 43-page report is largely a collection of case studies from
23 states rather than a statistical analysis.

It was released to rebut police denials that racial profiling exists,
said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Toledo in Ohio
and an author of the report.

"By laying out the facts in such detail in this report, we hope that
we can now get beyond `Is there really a problem?' to `What are we as
a nation going to do about it?' " Harris said. "We don't suggest that
this will be easy, only that it is necessary if we are to call
ourselves a democratic nation."

The ACLU is calling on police departments to voluntarily begin
documenting incidents of racial profiling.

In April, North Carolina became the first state to pass a law
requiring data collection on all traffic stops. Similar bills have
been introduced in Congress and in Arkansas, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Texas and Virginia.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ACLU: Drug War Increases Racial Profiling On Roads (The St. Petersburg Times
version)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 00:30:14 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: ACLU: Drug War Increases Racial Profiling On Roads
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: EWCHIEF
Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jun 1999
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 1999 St. Petersburg Times.
Contact: letters@SPTimes.com
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/
Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html

ACLU: Drug war increases racial profiling on roads

NEW YORK - The war on drugs has greatly increased the number of traffic
stops based on race, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report
Wednesday.

"Skin color has become a substitute for evidence in a way that really
resembles Jim Crow justice on the nation's highways," executive director Ira
Glasser said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has trained at
least 27,000 law enforcement officials on how to spot drug couriers on
highways and has unfairly created a perception that minorities are more
likely to possess drugs, Glasser said.

The ACLU has filed lawsuits in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Oklahoma
challenging profiling.

The report is largely a collection of case studies from 23 states.

The ACLU is asking police departments to voluntarily document incidents of
racial profiling. Departments in San Diego and San Jose, Calif., have such
programs.

In April, North Carolina became the first state to pass a law requiring data
on all traffic stops. A similar bill has been introduced in Florida.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Gouk's Survey Says Legalize Medicinal Marijuana? (The Nelson Daily News, in
British Columbia, says a recent survey by Jim Gouk, a member of Parliament
representing Kootenay, Boundary and Okanagan, showed 49.9 per cent of
respondents supported the commercial growth of marijuana for medicinal
purposes. Only 19.6 per cent were "totally" opposed and 30.5 per cent wanted
more information. Though careful not to endorse any type of illegal activity,
Gouk does recognize the importance of marijuana to the area. "I think a lot
of people would be shocked if they knew the impact that the growth of
marijuana has on the growth of this area," said Gouk. "These people go out
and buy cars and eat in restaurants . . . the spinoffs are tremendous.")

Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:08:45 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Gouk's Survey Says Legalize Medicinal Marijuana?
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Felix
Pubdate: Thurs, 3 June 1999
Source: Nelson Daily News (Canada)
Contact: ndnews@netidea.com
Website: http://www.nelsondailynews.com/
Author: Bob Hall

GOUK'S SURVEY SAYS LEGALIZE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA?

A recent survey by Kootenay-Boundary-Okanagan MP Jim Gouk shows almost 50
per cent of respondents in his riding support the commercial growth of
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The Reform Party MP sent a questionnaire out with his fall, 1998 newsletter
asking questions on bank mergers, the MAI and marijuana. The results of the
final question were that 49.9 per cent were in favour of commercial growth,
19.6 per cent were "totally" opposed and 30.5 per cent wanted more
information.

"The reason that question was in there is because I have had people bring it
up in the riding," Gouk said from his Castlegar office.

"Because it's such a controversial area I basically wanted to go to the
public and say 'there are people who are proposing this and there is a lot
of discussion about it, how do you feel?' If a tremendous amount of the
riding says they don't want me to have anything to do with it, well, I'm
here to represent those people.

One of the main advocates of legalizing marijuana for health reasons is
Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor who currently has proposals before the
federal government.

Though not a scientific poll, Gouk said the results from the survey do give
him confidence to keep a careful eye on the proposals and concerns from his
riding.

"I will follow-up with the application that they're (Taylor) doing, it's
their project not mine," Gouk said. "I'm not going out beating the drum
trying to generate groups growing marijuana. But, I will support a group
within the riding seeking to find a way to become involved with getting a
legal permit to grow marijuana under controlled conditions to supply for
legal medical use."

Since he lives in one of North America's most notorious pot growing regions,
Gouk said over the years the issue of legalizing marijuana has come up
over-and-over. Medicinally, the MP said he believes the argument has merits.

"After talking to a lot of people I believe there is benefit for some
people from marijuana," Gouk said. "The second thing is if you accept that
premise then why should they be forced to break the law in order to get that
particular ingredient to help them?"

If it happens Gouk said it would have to be strictly regulated. "We're going
step-by-step, we're not just throwing caution to the wind and saying let's
make all kinds of drugs available to people for whatever they want to use
them for," he said.

Though careful not to endorse any type of illegal activity, Gouk does
recognize the importance of marijuana to this area.

"I think a lot of people would be shocked if they knew the impact that the
growth of marijuana has on the growth of this area," said Gouk. "These
people go out and buy cars and eat in restaurants... the spinoffs are
tremendous. If you could somehow put something in the air and marijuana
would no longer grow here, people would notice the impact and they would
notice significantly."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Canada quietly looks at testing marijuana inhaler (Reuters says Canada is
quietly investigating the possibility of testing a marijuana inhaler being
developed by GW Pharmaceuticals that would help ease the pain of suffering
patients but stop short of making them high. The British company has been
testing vaporised marijuana, heated and inhaled through a nebulizer. "It's
not that there's some strange marijuana somewhere that doesn't have a
psychoactive effect," says Mark Rogerson of GW Pharmaceuticals. "It's just
that the dosage required to relieve the pain would be much less than what is
required to make you high." The company is trying to deliver the drug through
an inhaler to avoid the harmful action of smoking and hopes to have a product
on the market within five years. Tests have already been conducted on healthy
volunteers and, within two weeks, trials in Britain will begin on multiple
sclerosis patients.)

Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 14:50:37 -0400
From: Dave (hansi@lancnews.infi.net)
To: NTL (NTList@fornits.com)
Subject: [ntlist] Canada quietly looks at testing marijuana inhaler

Canada quietly looks at testing marijuana inhaler

06:44 p.m Jun 03, 1999 Eastern

By Luke McCann

TORONTO June 3, (Reuters) - Canada is quietly investigating
the possibility of testing a marijuana inhaler being developed by
a British company that would help ease the pain of suffering
patients but stop short of making them high.

Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals has been testing vaporised
marijuana, heated and inhaled through a nebulizer -- similar to
the inhalers used by asthma sufferers -- to relieve pain in
chronically ill patients.

"Certainly we are looking at what is going on in the international
community," Bonnie Fox-McCintyre, spokeswoman for
Canada's health minister, told Reuters. "But I think it would be
too fine a point to say we're already negotiating."

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Thursday.
that the government has begun talks with the company to test the
product in its own clinical trials.

In March, Health Minister Allan Rock ordered clinical trials for
the medical use of marijuana and to determine how to grant safe
access to the drug. Last week, Rock expressed a preference for
growing a supply of the drug in Canada.

If the trials prove marijuana helps relieve pain, the government is
expected to allow its use.

"It's not that there's some strange marijuana somewhere that
doesn't have a psychoactive effect," Mark Rogerson,
spokesman for GW Pharmaceuticals, told Reuters from London
on Thursday. "It's just that the dosage required to relieve the
pain would be much less than what is required to make you
high."

"I've seen reports that (the Canadian government) has invited us
to negotiations, but I can't comment on that," Rogerson said.

The drug's painkilling capabilities are believed to prevent
epileptic seizures, and relieve pain for multiple sclerosis and
cancer patients.

"There's about 4,000 years, give or take, of anecdotal
evidence," Rogerson said.

The company is trying to deliver the drug through an inhaler to
avoid the harmful action of smoking and hopes to have a
product on the market within five years. Tests have already been
conducted on healthy volunteers and, within two weeks, trials in
Britain will begin on multiple sclerosis patients.

GW Pharmaceuticals clones marijuana in a greenhouse to ensure
a secure a constant supply of the drug, something Canada has
considered.

Reuters Toronto Newsroom, 416 941-8100,
toronto.newsroom+reuters.com

***

Non-Testers List (NTList) news list.
A consumer guide to anti-drug testing companies.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6443/ntl.html To Join or Leave
NTList send "join ntlist" or "leave ntlist" in the TEXT area (NOT the
subject area) to: ntlist-request@fornits.com Don't forget "ntlist" in
your command. For Help, just send "help". List owner:
thehemperor@webtv.net (JR Irvin)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mexico OKs Drug Suspect Extradition (The Associated Press says Mexico's
Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Miguel Caro Quintero, a man suspected of
being a top drug trafficker, can be extradited to the United States to face
charges - if and when he is arrested by Mexican police. Caro Quintero is
wanted on several U.S. charges, most recently a 1994 indictment in Arizona
alleging money laundering and marijuana trafficking, said Jim Molesa, a DEA
agent in Phoenix.)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 03:48:02 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Mexico: Mexico OKs Drug Suspect Extradition
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: EWCHIEF
Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jun 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: Michelle Ray Ortiz Associated Press Writer

MEXICO OKS DRUG SUSPECT EXTRADITION

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a man
suspected of being a top drug trafficker can be extradited to the
United States to face charges if he is arrested by Mexican police.

The court upheld a lower court ruling that rejected Miguel Caro
Quintero's effort to block his extradition, a court official said on
condition of anonymity.

Caro Quintero controls a large portion of drug trafficking along
Mexico's northwestern border with the United States, said Jim Molesa,
a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Phoenix.

Caro Quintero is wanted on several U.S. charges, most recently a 1994
indictment in Arizona alleging money laundering and marijuana
trafficking, Molesa said. The United States has asked Mexican
authorities to arrest him.

He has headed a cocaine and marijuana ring based in the northern state
of Sonora since 1985, when his brother, Rafael, was imprisoned in the
murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, the DEA said.

An official at the Mexican federal Attorney General's Office said on
condition of anonymity that it would be the agency's "obligation" to
arrest Caro Quintero but could not immediately comment on what steps
might be taken to do so.

Authorities believe Caro Quintero lives on a ranch near Hermosillo,
Sonora, 165 miles south of the Arizona border.

Authorities arrested him on Mexican charges in 1992 but the
accusations were later dropped.

Molesa welcomed Wednesday's court ruling as a sign of progress in U.S.
efforts to get Mexico to do more to prosecute drug traffickers.

"This perhaps is recognizing that for the Mexican judicial system, the
status of being a major mafia figure is no longer going to be a cloak
for nonextradition," he said.

The Supreme Court ruling follows this week's extradition of an Arizona
man, William Martin, to face charges of marijuana- and cocaine-dealing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Trinidad Gallows Ready As Drug Gang's Time Runs Out (The Times, in London,
says last-minute legal efforts to save the lives of nine convicted
murderers - members of a vicious drug gang - on Trinidad and Tobago's death
row appear unlikely to succeed. A series of hangings due to begin there
tomorrow have divided the small twin-island nation in the southern Caribbean.
The newspaper says public pressure for wider use of the death penalty has
grown in recent years with the escalating cocaine trade from South America to
the United States and Europe, which has left as by-products a heap of
bullet-ridden corpses, soaring crime, drug abuse and embittered relatives of
victims. One infers the reason there isn't more public pressure to end drug
prohibition to achieve the same ends lies with the media's unwillingness to
allow an open discussion.)

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 16:32:25 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Trinidad: Trinidad Gallows Ready As Drug Gang's Time Runs Out
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Martin Cooke (mjc1947@cyberclub.iol.ie)
Pubdate: Thu, 03 June 1999
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: letters@the-times.co.uk
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author: David Adams, in Port of Spain

TRINIDAD GALLOWS READY AS DRUG GANG'S TIME RUNS OUT

Last-minute legal efforts to save the lives of nine convicted
murderers on Trinidad and Tobago's death row appear unlikely to
succeed. A series of hangings due to begin here tomorrow have divided
the small twin-island nation in the southern Caribbean.

Lawyers for the nine men - members of a vicious drug gang - were
reported yesterday to be preparing to contest the executions on
constitutional grounds, hoping to win a temporary stay of execution
while arguments are heard before Trinidad High Court.

But the gallows are being readied at the capital's Frederick Street
jail and graves are being dug at a prison cemetery. Relatives of the
killers are being allowed what could be their last visits. Amid
repeated rumours of planned jailbreaks, security has been tightened,
with soldiers guarding blocked streets near the jail.

The first three due to be executed on Friday include the gang leader,
Dole Chadee. Three more are scheduled to die on Saturday. The last
three are due to die on Monday.

But a last-minute reprieve would be no surprise to Trinidadians, many
of whom are tired of the tortuous legal see-saw over the death penalty.

Death warrants have been read to the nine three times since they were
sentenced in 1996 for their part in a brutal quadruple murder. But on
each occasion their executions were delayed by appeals to the courts,
including the Privy Council in London - the last court of appeal for
Commonwealth states.

London's position has sparked moves across the Caribbean to sever
legal ties to the Privy Council in favour of a regional court. The
resumption of hangings was made possible only after the Privy Council
rejected the appeals last week.

Public pressure for wider use of the death penalty has grown in recent
years with the escalating cocaine trade from South America to the
United States and Europe, which has left as by-products a heap of
bullet-ridden corpses, soaring crime, drug abuse and embittered
relatives of victims.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Japan OKs Birth Control Pill After Decades of Delay (The Los Angeles Times
says Japan decided Wednesday that it will legalize the birth control pill, 34
years after the contraceptive was first submitted for approval, and after
three decades of propaganda about its dangers. By contrast, in a country
where politics are dominated by men, Viagra was quickly approved five months
ago.)

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 18:48:09 -0700
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
From: Jim Rosenfield (jnr@insightweb.com)
Subject: art/lat: Japan OKs Birth Control Pill After Decades of Delay
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org

[newshawk note - another case of hysterical fears shaping national policy to
the detriment of one class of citizens, victims of the majority in power.
Many readers will be offended at the blatant ignorant sexism of the Japanese
society and maybe able to see similarities with the campaign against
marijuana users. Certainly it compares to the stalling on medical marijuana
in its hypocrisy.]

***

Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source: Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Pubdate: June 3, 1999
Author: SONNI EFRON, Times Staff Writer

Japan OKs Birth Control Pill After Decades of Delay

Asia: Female contraceptive took 34 years for approval, while men
waited only six months for Viagra to go on sale.

TOKYO - Japan decided Wednesday that it will legalize the birth control pill,
34 years after the contraceptive was first submitted for approval and less
than five months after Viagra gained rapid permission for sale here.

But more than three decades of propaganda about the dangers of the
pill may discourage many Japanese women from using it when marketing begins
in the autumn, family planning experts said.

In a newspaper poll last year, only 7.2% of women surveyed said they
would take the pill, while 54.2% said they would not, mainly citing fear of
side effects. Nevertheless, activists cheered the fact that Japanese women
soon will have another contraceptive option.

"This is a society that hates to give women choice - whether it's about
keeping their own names after marriage or about taking the pill," said
lawmaker Mizuho Fukushima. "They are afraid that society will be turned
upside down if women are allowed to decide things for themselves. That's
why this has been going on for more than 30 years." Japan has come under
international scrutiny from women's groups as the only United Nations
member country where oral contraceptives are banned. And the Health and
Welfare Ministry was accused of hypocrisy, even by the male-dominated
Japanese media, in January when it approved the male anti-impotence drug
Viagra after six months of consideration, while applications to market the
female oral contraceptive had been languishing at the ministry for decades.

In fact, an estimated 200,000 Japanese women are using a highdosage,
1960s vintage pill that was approved in 1966 for use only in treating
menstrual disorders. This pill is prescribed illicitly by doctors for birth
control, despite its known adverse side effects. Meanwhile, some Japanese
women go overseas to obtain the safer, lowdose pill that is used by an
estimated 90 million women worldwide.

Applications to market the lowdose pill had been pending at the
ministry since 1990. But approval was blocked in the early 1990s over
concerns that approving the pill would lessen condom use and thus hasten
the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In the past two
years, new fears have been raised about the possibility that the pill's
hormones might disrupt the human endocrine system and the environment.

On Wednesday, the Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Councilthe powerful
committee that advises the health ministerrecommended approval of the
lowdose pill, as well as the female condom and one type of copper
intrauterine device. Some older types of IUDs are used in Japan, but
contraceptive implants and injections remain banned. More than 70% of
Japanese who use contraception rely on male condoms.

The council's recommendation virtually assures formal approval of 16
different types of lowdose pills from nine pharmaceutical companies within
about a month, Japanese media reported.

"Finally, we're becoming a normal country," said Dr. Tomoko Saotome,
an obstetriciangynecologist with the Professional Women's Coalition for
Sexuality and Health. She noted concerns that some doctors may advise
patients against taking the pill and some clinics may not dispense it
because of ideological opposition.

Demand probably will not be steep initially because of fears about the
pill, said Yuriko Ashino, deputy executive director of the Family Planning
Federation of Japan.

"I won't take the pill. I'm afraid of all the side effects, and besides,
it's so unnatural," said Kozue Nakahara, 23, who was window-shopping at
Condomania, a condom store in the trendy Harajuku area of Tokyo. While she
will continue to rely on condoms, Nakahara said the ban on the pill has been
"unfair to all women." However, the pill's bad press may be changing. The
June issues of several women's magazines feature long, informative and
ideologically neutral articles explaining the pros and cons of the low-dose
pill. Cosmopolitan magazine ran a manga comic series about the interpersonal
politics of the pill, including an episode in which a woman asks her
boyfriend to sign a contract promising to pay half the cost of the
contraceptive.

Other women said they are eager to find out for themselves why millions of
women in other countries use the pill.

"It is said here that birth control pills have so many scary side
effects, but they have been used for so many decades in so many countries
that I am not that worried," said Miki Matsuo, a 31-year-old travel agent.

Contrary to the stereotype that Japanese women are shy and submissive,
several women interviewed this week were eager to vent pent-up anger at
their government and their mates.

"I absolutely will take it unless I get bad side effects," said Akiko
Morita, a 41-year-old homemaker who abandoned the high-dose pill 20 years ago
after suffering nausea and headaches. "I'm now using condoms for
contraception, but I have to ask him to use it.

"How rude! Men should take responsibility too, but at the moment the
women have to take all the risks. Japanese men don't think enough about
women." Some Japanese women as well as men have expressed concern that the
pill's approval will lead to a rise in promiscuity. But others hope that it
will reduce the rate of abortions, which end about one in four pregnancies
in Japan. Lawmaker Fukushima said that with only 1.1% of Japanese children
born out of wedlock, the enduring stigma of illegitimacy creates enormous
social pressure for unmarried women to abort.

Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Changes to Cannabis Laws - Some Questions (An e-mail from HEMP SA - Help End
Marijuana Prohibition South Australia - responds to the South Australian
governor's assent today to a new decree limiting the number of cannabis
plants people can grow for their personal use from 10 to three. Before making
such a big change in drug policy, the problem should be studied. SA's laws
have seen a flattening of the supply pyramid. More people are growing less
cannabis. Mr Bigs have been overtaken by Mr & Ms Smalls and the big guys
don't like it - but the Government has acted on the basis of police
allegations that "criminal syndicates" are taking advantage of the 10-plant
limit. Section 45A-7 of the Controlled Substances Act gives police the power
to prosecute anyone who is growing even one cannabis plant for commercial
sale or supply. The police already had the power to crack down hard on
criminals. They didn't need a new law to do it. The proposal also
discriminates against outdoor growers and will encourage cultivators to shift
indoors.)

Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 13:04:09 +0930
To: "Pot News from hemp SA" (pot-news@beetroot.va.com.au)
From: Help End Marijuana Prohibition (hempSA@va.com.au)
Subject: [pot-news] Changes to Cannabis Laws in SA - Some Questions

Changes to Cannabis Laws - Some Questions

By HEMP SA

Background: On June 3 1999 the Governor assented to changes in the Expiation
of Simple Cannabis Offences Regulations, so that anyone caught with more than
three plants may no longer be issued an "On the Spot Fine" (Cannabis
Expiation Notice).

Minister Brown Has No Credibility

Before making such a big change in drug policy, the problem should be
studied. People need to be sure that the Government at least knows what it is
doing. But Human Services Minister Dean Brown, the Minister in charge of the
drug laws, has no credibility on this issue, since he claimed that cannabis
is more harmful than tobacco, on Derryn Hinch's 5DN radio show in April 1999.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, about 18,000
Australians died of tobacco related causes in 1997. There are no recorded
deaths from cannabis use. So every statement that Minister Brown makes on
this issue must be examined closely to see if it stands up to the facts.

Why is this the wrong thing to do?

SA's laws have seen a flattening of the supply pyramid. More people are
growing less Cannabis. Mr Bigs have been overtaken by Mr & Ms Smalls and the
big guys don't like it!

Now the Government is suggesting that "criminal syndicates" are taking
advantage of the ten plant limit, implying that the police aren't able to
prosecute people who get caught with 10 plants or less. This is absolutely
wrong. Section 45A (7) of the Controlled Substances Act gives police the
power to prosecute anyone who is growing even one cannabis plant for
commercial sale or supply. The police already had the power to crack down
hard on criminals. They didn't need a new law to do it.
			
This proposal discriminates against outdoor growing and will encourage, if
not force, Cannabis growers to shift indoors and use hydroponics. Growing
three outdoor plants once per year will just not guarantee ordinary users a
year's supply. Even with so-called sophisticated hydroponics technology, to
get three mature plants, you may have to start with six seedlings and
therefore risk conviction and jail. If ordinary people can't grow indoors
they will be forced to the black market - making real criminals that sell a
range of drugs, richer.

Does the Government want ordinary people to be criminally convicted and go to
jail for minor Cannabis offences?

Calling people "drug traffickers for growing four plants" and sending them to
jail is a damaging and expensive move. It will lead to a bigger drain on
police time (especially in hated paperwork), meaning that they won't be
available for patrol, or dealing with violent crime. Is this what the
Government wants? The government's changes fly in the face of rank and file
support for the current system. How will being forced to prosecute obviously
personal home growers affect police morale and resources?

What will the effect be on prosecution and Court costs?

Does the Government know how many people are likely to face jail as a result
of these new laws?

How much will this cost the taxpayer?

Why isn't the Government focusing on large scale traffickers (of hard drugs)
instead of re-criminalising small scale users and growers?

The Social Impact Study's survey of attitudes amongst the The Chief Justice,
the Chief Magistrate, the office of the DPP, the NCA, police prosecutors,
members of the Drug Task Force and police patrol officers, Correctional
Services and attorney generals showed virtually all agreed that it would be
better for SA to continue to issue expiation notices for minor cannabis
offences.

Why does the government want to criminalise young Cannabis offenders?

Why didn't the government keep the plant level at 10 for outdoor grown plants
to ensure people weren't encouraged or forced to grow indoors?

Why didn't the government make the plant limit five to bring us into line
with the ACT?

Why didn't the government consider setting a dry weight limit?

What harms do the government intend to reduce by this legislation?

How will this legislation prevent syndicates from pooling their cannabis for
sale?

How will this legislation affect the market for Cannabis and other drugs?

Will this legislation make marijuana more expensive and heroin relatively
cheaper?

Why didn't the government listen to the recommendation of the Social Impacts
study to abolish the offence of possession of implements?

How does this proposal fit with the guiding principle of Harm minimisation?

Why haven't the government accepted or even acknowledged the recommendation
that a cautioning system be introduced for small scale offences?

Why has the government committed no funds to education or to publicise the
changes despite the documented lack of community understanding of the current
laws?

Not only is this change flawed and counterproductive, but it has been done as
quietly as possible. In an article in the Advertiser in December 1997, the
Member for Bragg admitted that the Liberal Party had agreed on this plan, but
had kept quiet about it during the 1997 State Election.

The Controlled Substances Advisory Committee, which meets in secret, advises
the minister for Human Services on this issue. Why has their report not been
made public? Neither CSAC nor the Minister has contacted cannabis user groups
(such as HEMP SA) to get the point of view of ordinary cannabis users.

And as a last act of contempt, this change to the regulations was gazetted on
Thursday June 3 1999, the day of the biggest political story in years (Trevor
Crothers crossing the floor to vote with the Government on the ETSA bill).

Why has the Government tried to hide the change to cannabis regulations from
Parliament and the public?

These regulations should be struck down, and not approved until these
questions have been scrutinised, debated and satisfactory answers provided by
the Government.

***

HEMP SA Inc - Help End Marijuana Prohibition South Australia
PO Box 1019 Kent Town South Australia 5071

mailto:hempSA@va.com.au
Internet: http://www.hemp.on.net.au/

Check out our on-line news service - Pot News!

to subscribe to Pot News e-mail subscribe-pot-news@lists.va.com.au

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies, Year 5, No. 21 (A summary of European
and international drug policy news, from CORA, in Italy)

Date: 6 Jun 1999 10:58:40 -0000
Mailing-List: ListBot mailing list contact CORAFax_EN-help@listbot.com
From: CORA Fax_EN (cora.belgique@agora.stm.it)
Delivered-To: mailing list CORAFax_EN@listbot.com
Subject: CORAFax #21

ANTIPROHIBITIONIST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ....
Year 5 #21, June 3 1999

***

Weekly Action Report on Drug Policies

***

Edited by the CORA - Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination, federated to
- TRP-Transnational Radical Party (NGO, consultive status, I)
- The Global Coalition for Alternatives to the Drug War

***

Info WEB - http://www.agora.it/coranet
Info EMAIL - mailto:cora.news@agora.stm.it

***

The List on the WEB
http://www.radicalparty.org/elist/main_en.htm

***

SUBSCRIBE the Mailing List CORAFax
mailto:CORAFax_EN-subscribe@listbot.com

***

UNSUBSCRIBE the Mailing List CORAFax
mailto:CORAFax_EN-unsubscribe@listbot.com

***

director: Vincenzo Donvito
All rights reserved

***

NEWS FROM THE WORLD

***

000638 28/05/99
E.U. / SPAIN
ADDICTION
EL PAIS

Official figures show that 2,5% of young Spaniards between 14 and 18 have
taken ecstasy. Out of these, 20% admit they have driven under the effects
on the drug, and 50% say they have been passengers in cars driven by
people under exactas.

***

000643 30/05/99
E.U. / FRANCE
ADDICTION
LE MONDE

The Otris (Drug Traffic repression Office) figures for 1998 confirm three
tendencies: there have been less deaths for overdose; less use of cannabis
among minors; and a growth of multiple addictions (i.e. those from mixing
legal and illegal substances).

***

000639 29/05/99
E.U. / GB
CONSUMERS
THE ECONOMIST

There has been a lot of discussion about the fact that during a television
programme rugby player Lawrence Dallaglio was publicly denounced of using
cocaine. The sanction for personal use of cocaine is the same as the one
for not payng a car park, and it doesn't grow in case of relapse.

***

000637 31/05/99
EUROPE / SWITZERLAND
HEALTH
DER SPIEGEL

Paul Parin, the 83 year old ethnologist and psychiatrist, declares himself
an anti prohibitionist. He is in favour of any substance, including
heroin, that will calm physical and mental pain in elderly people.

***

000630 28/05/99
E.U. / SPAIN
INITIATIVE
EL PAIS

What model to follow in the program of controlled distribution of heroin
and how to handle it will be decided by a commission of 21 experts.

***

000631 29/05/99
E.U. / GERMANY
INITIATIVE
SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.

The Green Party says that the time has come to see hashish consumption
under a new light. It is time that it be legalised.

***

000640 31/05/99
EUROPE / SWITZERLAND
INITIATIVE
NEUE ZUERCHER Z.

From a report on the first three years of activity in two centres for
controlled distribution of heroin: many patients have already achieved a
great result just in that they have managed to stabilise their condition
as a chronic one; others try total abstinence from drugs, but there is to
say that here gradual therapy is not used as much as it is in
rehabilitation centres.

***

000629 28/05/99
E.U. / FRANCE / PARIS
JURISPRUDENCE
LE FIGARO

The three organisers of the '18 joint' demonstration, which was held on
the 22.nd of June 1997, have been condamned to pay fines ranging from 5000
to 10000 FF.

***

000633 28/05/99
AMERICA / CANADA
LAWS
LIBERATION

With 204 votes against 29 the House of Commons approved a motion which
asks the Government to legalise therapeutic use of marijuana, and the
Police be more tolerant towards who uses or grows cannabis for medical
purposes.

***

000632 27/05/99
E.U. / GB
LEGALISATION
THE TIMES

David Hockney, the famous British artist who is now living in California,
during a meeting at the Royal Art Academy pronounced himself in favour of
legalisation of marijuana and cocaine. Nonetheless he said that when he is
creating 'art and drug's don't mix'

***

000641 01/06/99
E.U. / GB
MARKET
THE TIMES

The Interpol has announced that 1.7 tons of heroin were sequestered last
year in Britain, the biggest quantity ever among all the western European
countries. In USA the largest amount of sequestered heroin was of 1.5 tons.

***

000642 28/05/99
AMERICA
MARKET
FINANCIAL TIMES

The USA Government says that the campaign for eradicating coca plantations
has achieved succes, together with the help to South American farmers for
converting their crops. Nonetheless the drug cartels still manage to move
their production sites elsewhere, and drug addictions is growing also in
these countries.

***

000634 27/05/99
E.U.
PREVENTION
FRANKFURTER

These are the proposals for fighting drugs that the European Commission
has presented to the Member States: co-operation between police forces to
reduce drug demande and offer; homogeneous criteria in establishing
sanctions; priority to figting synthetic drugs.

***

000635 27/05/99
E.U. / GB
PREVENTION
IL GIORNALE

An English firm is making a portable detector that is capable of telling
whether a person has used drugs by analysing a drop of his or hers saliva.

***

000636 26/05/99
EUROPE / SWITZERLAND
PREVENTION
THE TIMES 26/05 / NEUE ZUERCHER Z. 27/05

Jack Cunningham, responsible for the anti drug campaigns, has announced
stronger initiatives for the next ten years. There will be more
information in schools and more assistance for drug addicts. This even if
drugs are being consistently sequestred by the police and even if they are
always more available, of better quality and at cheaper prices.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

[End]