Portland NORML News - Thursday, May 21, 1998
-------------------------------------------------------------------

NORML Weekly News (House Amendment To Higher Education Bill
Bars Marijuana Smokers From Receiving Student Aid; Medical Marijuana
Distribution Summit To Take Place Next Week; San Mateo County, California,
Allocates Funding For Medical Marijuana Study)

From: NORMLFNDTN (NORMLFNDTN@aol.com)
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 14:01:01 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 5/21/98 (II)

NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release

NORML Foundation
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-5500 (p)
202-483-8751 (f)
Email: normlfndtn@aol.com
Internet: www.norml.org

May 21, 1998

***
Link to earlier story
House Amendment To Higher Education Bill Bars Marijuana Smokers From Receiving Student Aid May 21, 1998, Washington, D.C.: The House overwhelmingly approved legislation this month denying convicted marijuana offenders from receiving federal student loan assistance. The language, introduced by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) as House Amendment 582 to the Higher Education Programs Authorization Extension Bill (H.R. 6), mandates that "An individual student who has been convicted of any offense under any Federal or State law involving the possession or sale of a controlled substance shall not be eligible to receive any [federal] grant, loan, or work assistance." NORML National Campus Coordinator Aaron Wilson said that the legislation unfairly punishes marijuana users. "It is outrageous that Congress would pass this law denying financial aid to students for minor non-violent drug offenses, while a felony conviction for a serious violent crime brings no such penalty," he said. "What kind of message is Congress sending?" Souder's amendment suspends first time drug offenders from receiving student aid for a period of one year. Second time offenders will be ineligible for two years, and multiple repeat offenders will be barred indefinitely. Drug sellers will be ineligible for two years after their first conviction, and indefinitely prohibited from receiving aid upon a second conviction. Students may resume eligibility before the completion of their suspension if they participate in a drug rehabilitation program and pass two random drug tests. Wilson questioned how fairly the new law would apply to marijuana offenders. "In many states, marijuana possession is decriminalized (a civil violation punishable by payment of a small fine), while in others it's a misdemeanor or a felony. Depending on which state students live in, this legislation may or may not apply to you." The House approved H.R. 6 by a vote of 414 to 4, far exceeding the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto by President Clinton. The bill now awaits action from the Senate. For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup, Esq. of NORML at (202) 483-5500 or Aaron Wilson at (212) 362-1964. *** Medical Marijuana Distribution Summit To Take Place Next Week May 21, 1998, Sacramento, CA: The California State Senate Committee on Public Safety hosts a forum next week to determine alternate methods of distributing medical marijuana to seriously ill California patients. The summit, organized by Rep. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), marks the first large scale legislative effort to "implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of [medical] marijuana" specified by the passage of Proposition 215. "This summit is to see whether we can find some way to assure safe access to medical marijuana for sick Californians," Vasconcellos said. Representatives from the medical marijuana reform community, state health agencies, and law enforcement, as well as district attorneys from around the state will participate in the summit. United States Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Janet Reno, declined to attend the meeting. California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer suggested that private medical marijuana dispensaries remain the best alternative for distributing the drug to patients. "Experience has shown that well-run patient cooperatives offer benefits to both public health and safety," he said. "[They give] patients a safe, reliable, accountable source of medicine and relieve them of the need to rely on illicit street traffickers. State legislation should therefore focus on legitimizing and regulating the operation of cannabis patients' cooperatives until such time as federal law is changed to permit other alternatives." The federal Controlled Substances Act forbids the distribution of a Schedule I controlled substance -- including marijuana -- to any patient outside of a strictly controlled research project approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan backed a plan that will allow the city to distribute medical marijuana. "My feeling is that if it is done properly by a health department, ... the federal government will pass on it, as they do with the needle exchange." A spokesman from state District Attorney Dan Lungren's office will also attend the summit, but only to reaffirm the D.A.'s position that no distribution of medical marijuana is legal in California. Vasconcellos' office said they hope to bring a state-sponsored medical marijuana distribution proposal before the California Legislature later this year. For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer of California NORML at (415) 563-5858 or Dave Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights at (310) 394-2952. *** California County Allocates Funding For Medical Marijuana Study May 21, 1998, Redwood City, California: San Mateo County officials appropriated $50,000 to design a three-year research project to study marijuana's therapeutic effects on patients. The decision marks the third time in recent years officials in a state have endorsed establishing a state-run medical marijuana research program. Prior state-backed protocols in Washington state in 1996 and Massachusetts in 1997 failed to gain approval from federal officials and were never implemented. "We see this as the best and only alternative to legitimize the use of medical marijuana," said Margaret Taylor, the county's health director. "This is about taking care of people with medical problems." Taylor said that it will take several months to prepare a formal protocol for the clinical study, but estimated that as many as 2,000 patients may qualify. If approved by the FDA, the study must then also be okayed by either the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to move forward. Presently, neither agency supports the study of marijuana for medical purposes. Starting in the late 1970's, several states -- including California, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, and Tennessee -- began looking for ways to make marijuana available to patients despite the federal government's blanket prohibition. Each state eventually passed laws establishing state-run "controlled substances therapeutic research programs" where patients suffering from specific illnesses could qualify to receive marijuana as part of their medical treatment. By the early 1980s, thousands of seriously ill patients gained access to government-grown whole-smoked marijuana through these state programs. The majority of patients and their physicians reported favorable results. However, all state research abruptly ended by the late 1980's after the FDA approved oral THC (Marinol) for prescription use and NIDA made acquiring marijuana for medical research more difficult. Presently, the California Legislature is waiting to vote on a larger proposal to establish a "Medical Marijuana Research Center" at a campus of the University of California. For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer of California NORML at (415) 563-5858 or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. Copies of NORML's publication: "Smoked Marijuana as an Effective Treatment for Nausea and Vomiting Associated with Cancer Chemotherapy in Six Separate State Clinical Trials: 1982-1986" are available from NORML upon request. - END -
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More Teens Abstaining From Risk, Survey Says ('The Oregonian'
Omits The Decline In Statewide Teen Marijuana Use In An Article
About The Biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report
From The Oregon Health Division)

[Portland NORML notes: If you follow the URL at the bottom of the ensuing
article and download the Adobe Acrobat .pdf file at
http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/cdpe/chs/yrbs/97report/marij.pdf, you will
find out that 23 percent of Oregon teenagers who responded to the 1997
Oregon Health Department survey said they had used cannabis within the past
30 days, compared to 25 percent in 1995. This is important ammunition
for Oregon reform activists promoting any or all of the five
marijuana-related initiative campaigns trying to get on the ballot. Download
and print out the .pdf file in case you ever need to rebut assertions that teen
use of marijuana is increasing.]

***

More teens abstaining from risk, survey says

The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/

5-21-98

More teens abstaining from risk, survey says

The latest report on youth behavior shows that fewer of Oregon's high school
students are trying drugs and sex

By Erin Hoover
of The Oregonian staff

Geniece Battlewas 10 minutes from finishing her last day as a Madison High
School senior Wednesday when she found out that a new state survey says her
views on sex might represent a growing trend.

"A lot more people are being able to stand up for what they really want --
abstinence seems to be more of what they believe in," said Battle, 18.

The 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report, which the Oregon Health Division
will release today, says more teens are saying no to sex. Sixty-five percent
of students reported that they have never had sex, an increase from the 53
percent reported in 1991. And 69 percent of students surveyed said they
would advise a classmate to wait until they are married or older to have
sex, compared with 61 percent in 1993.

The study is Oregon's fourth Youth Risk Behavior Survey. It covers behaviors
that could lead to injury, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, sexual
behavior, dietary practices and physical activity.

The state's findings are not definitive. The Health Division wanted a random
sample of 50 of the state's 233 public high schools. But participation in
the survey is voluntary, and only 24 schools, or 48 percent of the chosen
schools, responded.

The state used 32,378 of the completed surveys, rejecting 1,100 surveys in
which inconsistencies showed the teens had answered untruthfully. Most
participants were white, but the survey also included students from a
variety of races and socioeconomic groups.

Battle, who was not involved in the survey, said that since her freshman
year, she has been bombarded with messages about abstinence from the
school's health center, teachers and peer programs such as Students Today
Aren't Ready for Sex (Stars).

Students "are starting to listen to them," said Battle, a student council
member at the Northeast Portland school who said that abstaining makes her
feel safer.

The survey's finding is a boost for people involved in Gov. John Kitzhaber's
1997 action agenda to reduce teen pregnancy. Such programs as Stars, in
which teens deliver the abstinence message to 30,000 Oregon sixth- and
seventh-graders each year, might be having an effect.

Yet, the survey also made it clear that parents, health leaders and
educators also must do their part.

"Even though the majority of kids are healthy and using healthy behavior,
there is a minority of kids who are not and in a few instances we are seeing
some negative trends," said Dr. Grant Higginson, state health officer for
Oregon.

Compared with previous Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, for example:

* Fewer students said they worried about pregnancy or getting infected with
a sexually transmitted disease. That percentage fell from 37 to 35 percent.

* About 58 percent of this year's respondents said they used condoms,
showing no difference in safe-sex behaviors.

* More of this year's students reported using alcohol or drugs before last
having sexual intercourse.

In other areas:

* 27 percent reported being physically abused at some time, and 15 percent
said they have been sexually abused.

* 11 percent said they carried a weapon other than a gun on school property,
and 2 percent reported carrying a gun on school property.

* 13 percent said they had been in a fight on school property, compared with
18 percent in 1993.

* 33 percent were offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school property
in the 12 months prior to the survey.

* And in a new survey category, 31 percent said they had been harassed at
school by another student. Of those, 24 percent said the harassment was
unwanted sexual attention or comments. Six percent said the comment involved
their race or origin.

For a copy of the report, contact Oregon Health Statistics at 503-731-4354 or
check the Internet at http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/cdpe/chs/statinfo.htm
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Police Find Meth Lab (KOIN, Portland's CBS Affiliate, Notes Portland Police
Get Stuck Cleaning Up A Prohibition-Caused Mess Of Toxic Precursor Chemicals)

KOIN Channel 6000
Portland, Oregon
http://www.koin.com/
letters to editor:
c6knews@koin.com

Meth lab cleanup

May 21, 1998

Police Find Meth Lab

* Early A.M. Investigation Leads To Bust

PORTLAND, Posted 5:32 a.m. May 21, 1998 - Police
busted a methamphetamine lab in northwest Portland
early this morning.

According to KOIN 6 News, an investigation into
stolen property led police to an apartment building on
NW Irving Street. But when they arrived at the apartment early
this morning, they found more than they expected, including a supply
of the dangerous chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The meth lab was not in use when they found it this morning. But police
called in the emergency hazardous materials team, pictured, to disassemble
the possibly toxic lab.

Police closed off part of NW Irving for a time while they cleaned up the
lab. The street is now re-opened to traffic.

Compiled by Channel 6000 Staff
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DEA Raids Cannabis Farm; Federal Judge Orders Pot Clubs To Shut
('The Bay Area Reporter' Summarizes How State, Federal, And Moral Laws
Are Working For And Against San Francisco's Cannabis Healing Center
And Other Bay Area Medical Marijuana Dispensaries)

Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 21:06:07 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: DEA raids cannabis farm;
federal judge orders pot clubs to shut
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Mira Ingram
Source: Bay Area Reporter
Contact: ebar@logx.com
Website: http://www.ebar.com/
Address: 395 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: (415)861-5019
Pubdate: 21 May 1998
Author: Mark Mardon

DEA RAIDS CANNABIS FARM; FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS POT CLUBS TO SHUT

Federal authorities delivered a one-two blow against beleaguered Cannabis
Healing Club (CHC) patients last week, temporarily setting back volunteer
efforts to provide marijuana for sick and dying people in San Francisco.
First a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of a Justice Department
civil suit seeking the closure of six cannabis clubs in California,
including the CHC. Just days later, in a scene reminiscent of Prohibition
Era smashing of bootleggers' stills, a cadre of Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) agents descended on the CHC's pot farm in Northern California's Lake
County, handcuffed patients there, and systematically ripped out all the
farm's carefully cultivated plants.

Marijuana's soothing effects are particularly valued by patients with HIV
and AIDS, who suffer nausea and other acute side effects of
combination-drug therapies. Evidence suggests it is also hugely effective
against glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and the effects of cancer chemotherapy.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer issued a ruling Wednesday, May 13
in the federal civil case against six cannabis clubs in California. He
ordered a preliminary injunction against the clubs, to go into effect this
week.

However, Breyer refused to grant the Clinton administration's call for an
immediate permanent injunction against the clubs. He declined to address
the constitutionality of Proposition 215, the Compassionate Care Act passed
by California voters in 1996, and held out the possibility that local
governmental agencies could carry out the humanitarian mandate that
citizens envisioned when they voted to approve the law.

State, federal, and moral laws

Breyer also ruled that "the court is not deciding whether a seriously ill
person who possesses marijuana for personal use upon a physician's
recommendation is in violation of federal law. Rather, the sole issue here
is whether defendants' conduct, which may be lawful under state law, may
nevertheless violate federal law and can thus be enjoined"

Attorneys J. Tony Serra and Brendan R. Cummings had argued, on behalf of
the Cannabis Cultivator's Club (now renamed the Cannabis Healing Center, or
CHC), that "federal intervention into California's attempt to effectuate
the 'Compassionate Use Act' is inappropriate. Californians should have the
opportunity to make the [state] law compatible with federal law before that
chance is taken away from them."

Nevertheless, Breyer concluded that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S.
Constitution puts federal law ahead of state law, observing that "there is
a strong likelihood that defendants' conduct violates the [federal]
Controlled Substances Act."

"We plan to continue serving our sick and dying patients," said Hazel
Rodgers, 79-year-old director of the CHC. "It would be against moral law
for us to do otherwise."

Rodgers indicated that her center would defy any injunction, opting instead
to be held in contempt of court. Such an act of civil disobedience, she
noted, would enable patients and their lawyers to take the case to a
federal jury trial. In such a proceeding, the defendants would be able to
mount a medical necessity defense that could potentially change federal law.

"On the surface this ruling looks like bad news, but it is really good
news," commented ever-defiant Proposition 215 author Dennis Peron. "This
will give us our day in court, and the whole world will be watching and
waiting for us to make the case for compassion and against the hypocrisy
that is the status quo."

Planters' twarts

Just two days after Breyer's ruling, at about 8 a.m. on Friday, May 15,
some 20 DEA agents surprised four patients at the Lake County Cannabis
Healing Center, a branch of the San Francisco CHC. The agents kept the
four handcuffed for at least an hour, confiscated a computer, and ripped
out most of approximately 500 pot plants that volunteers had planted in
several carefully cultivated plots.

CHC volunteers believe Lake County Sheriff Rodney Mitchell, who previously
had shown little inclination to shut down the operation himself, gave the
DEA agents the green light to raid the farm.

Apart from marijuana, the DEA agents found no other drugs or even alcohol
at the farm, which includes a cabin perched on a plateau at 1,800 ft. The
retreat, operated entirely by some 120 patients from the CHC, is enhanced
by a sun deck, toolshed, vegetable garden, citrus trees, a spring-fed lake,
a pumphouse, wild blackberry bushes, bluejays, lizards, grazing cattle,
horses, and Fred, the local basset hound.

The DEA raid came one day before a scheduled "media open house" at which
CHC patients were planning to take journalists on a tour of the property,
proudly displaying the fruits (or buds) of their labor.

"The agents admitted they were here to thwart our event," said John
Entwistle, legislative analyst for the CHC, who was among those handcuffed.
Entwistle has been spearheading the cultivation at the Lake County retreat.

Once the DEA agents left with their cache of uprooted pot plants, Entwistle
and the other CHC patients immediately set about replanting the denuded
plots, determined to keep their medicine growing.

"We will not give up," said Rodgers, who was in San Francisco at the time
of the Lake County raid. "No one has ever died from using marijuana, yet
there are people who are so sick that they will die if they don't use it.
This is a human rights issue. They can pull up our plants all they want,
but we will keep replanting."
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Marijuana Clubs In Standoff With Federal Officials In San Francisco
('San Francisco Examiner' Notes That With Operators Of Bay Area
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Vowing To Keep Their Doors Open
In Defiance Of A Federal Judge's Order, US Authorities In San Francisco
Said They Would Hold Discussions Thursday With The Justice Department
In Washington, DC, Before Taking Any Action)

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:45:09 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Marijuana Clubs in Standoff with Federal Officials in SF
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Contact: letters@examiner.com
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Author: Diana Walsh

MARIJUANA CLUBS IN STANDOFF WITH FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN S.F.

Authorities plan to meet with Justice before taking action

With operators of local marijuana clubs vowing to keep their doors open in
defiance of a judge's order, federal authorities in San Francisco said they
will hold discussions Thursday with the U.S. Justice Department in
Washington, D.C., before taking any action.

"We definitely hope that they will close down, (but if they don't) we are
going to reconvene and decide what course of action to take. ... There are
lots of options," said Stephen Shefler, chief assistant U.S. attorney for
Northern California.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued preliminary
injunctions ordering six Bay Area cannabis clubs shut down, saying that
federal law supersedes a statewide initiative approved by voters that
legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Local pot clubs said the ruling would not deter them and seemed relieved
that it would set them up for a federal trial that would allow them to
challenge the federal marijuana laws.

"We are going to remain open. We feel what we're doing here is a medical
necessity," said Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers' Cooperative. "If we were to stop doing it, the patients would
suffer. Some could potentially die without having access to cannabis.

"We're going to be in contempt of court, and the next thing will be a jury
trial. We feel a jury of our peers, or at least one of them, will find that
what we're doing is a necessity."

In San Francisco, the Cannabis Healing Center, formally known as the
Cannabis Cultivators Club, said Wednesday that in the wake of the judge's
rules they were once again redefining themselves, but acknowledged that the
new definition was one of semantics.

"We're going to carry on here. We're saying we're not selling and
distributing it. People are coming in and getting the medicine that belongs
to them. ... We're joint users collectively sharing our medicine," said
Lynne Barnes, spokeswoman for the club. "It's terminology here. We're
saying this all belongs to the patients. They come in here and they can get
their medicine. It's like they are joint owners of this medicine."

1998 San Francisco Examiner
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Judge Orders Medical Marijuana Clubs To Close ('Associated Press'
Version In 'Sacramento Bee' Quotes Jeff Jones, The Director
Of The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, Saying 'Until A Jury
Of Our Peers In California Says That We Should Shut Down,
We're Going To Stay Open')

Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 20:34:46 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Judge Orders Medical Marijuana Clubs To Close
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Author: Associated Press

JUDGE ORDERS MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS TO CLOSE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Two of six Northern California medical marijuana
clubs have vowed to defy a federal judge's order to close their doors for
violating federal laws against distributing drugs.

Despite U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's order, made public Wednesday,
the Cannabis Healing Center in San Francisco and the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers' Club both refused to shut down.

In his preliminary order, issued May 13, Breyer said that Proposition 215,
the November 1996 initiative that legalized medical marijuana under
California law, did not and could not override the federal ban on the drug.

"A state law which purports to legalize the distribution of marijuana for
any purpose ... even a laudable one ... directly conflicts with federal
law," Breyer wrote.

He rejected arguments that the clubs should be entitled to furnish the drug
because their customers cannot survive without marijuana to ease the pain
and side effects of their cancer and AIDS therapy.

"We're not going to close, even if we have to go to jail," said Hazel
Rodgers, the 79-year-old glaucoma sufferer who became the San Francisco
club's director last month when its predecessor, the Cannabis Cultivators
Club, was closed by state court order.

"So many thousands of people depend on us," she added.

The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club, with 1,700 patients, also planned to
take the issue to trial and planned to openly dispense medical marijuana to
patients beginning this morning.

"We are going to remain open until they physically come in and shut us
down," Executive Director Jeff Jones said. "We feel that this is a
necessity to the patients that we serve, and until a jury of our peers in
California says that we should shut down, we're going to stay open."

The ruling covers only the six clubs that the Justice Department targeted:
two in San Francisco and one each in Oakland, southern Marin County, Santa
Cruz and Ukiah. But Breyer's reasoning could apply to any of the more than
30 medical marijuana clubs in California, most of which sprang up after
Proposition 215 passed.

Copyright (c) The Associated Press
Copyright (c) The Sacramento Bee
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California Marijuana Distribution Continues Despite Judge's Order
(Different 'Associated Press' Version)

Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 14:20:51 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Wire: California marijuana distribution continues
despite judge's order
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: BulldogUSA 
Source: Associated Press
Pubdate: 21 May 1998
Author: Karyn Hunt, Associated Press Writer

CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION CONTINUES DESPITE JUDGE'S ORDER

OAKLAND, Calif. (May 21, 1998 4:56 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) -- The
smell of burning marijuana filled the air Thursday at the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Club, which opened for business as usual despite a judge's order
banning distribution of the drug.

"We're willing to let this be decided by a jury," said Jeff Jones, director
of the club, which lists 1,700 patients. "We're willing to go to court."

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's final order was made public Wednesday.
In a preliminary ruling May 13, he said the November 1996 initiative that
legalized medical marijuana under California law did not override the
federal ban on the drug.

The ruling did nothing to stop the Oakland club, which served about 50
clients in the first half hour Thursday. Pot ranged in price from $5 to $16
a gram. Brownies, muffins and cereal treats laced with the drug also were
available.

"It's good for appetite stimulation," said Rodney Wilson, 51, who has AIDS
and said he lost 57 pounds after his diagnosis in 1995.

"It also helps release some of the stress from AIDS," he said. "You deal
with a lot of stress when you have AIDS; financial disasters,
hospitalization and things like that."

The Cannabis Healing Center in San Francisco also opened Thursday.

In his ruling, Breyer rejected arguments that the clubs' customers cannot
survive without marijuana to ease the pain and side effects of cancer and
AIDS therapy.

The ruling covers only the six clubs the Justice Department targeted: two
in San Francisco and one each in Oakland, southern Marin County, Santa Cruz
and Ukiah. But Breyer's reasoning could apply to any of the more than 30
medical marijuana clubs in California, most of which sprang up after the
ballot initiative.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Medical Marijuana Clubs To Defy Order To Shut Down
('San Mateo County Times' Version)

Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 19:50:14 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Medical Marijuana Clubs To Defy Order To Shut Down
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: tjeffoc@sirius.com (Tom O'Connell)
Source: San Mateo County Times (CA)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Contact: feedback@smctimes.com
Website: http://www.smctimes.com/
Source: San Mateo County Times
Author: Josh Richman STAFF WRITER

MEDICAL MARIJUANA CLUBS TO DEFY ORDER TO SHUT DOWN

Medical marijuana clubs in Oakland and San Francisco promised
Wednesday to defy a federal judge's order to shut down.
A federal prosecutor stopped short of saying the clubs will be
forcibly closed, but warned that the clubs should comply with the order.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued preliminary injunctions
Tuesday against six Northern California clubs for violating federal
drug laws. The injunctions were announced Wednesday.

Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers
Cooperative, reacted by calling a press conference for today at which
he'll openly dispense medical marijuana to four seriously ill patients.
"For these four patients, and others like them, medical marijuana is a
medical necessity," Jones said in a written statement. "To deny them
access would be unjust and inhumane."

He couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, but calls to
the cooperative were greeted by Jones' recorded voice promising, "We
are going to remain open for member service until we are physically
shut down." The recording also urged supporters to fill out
declarations supporting the cooperative, to be used in upcoming court
actions.

Across the Bay, a spokeswoman for the state's largest medical
marijuana center also voiced defiance.

"We are going to remain open and we will continue to serve our
patients," said Lynn Barnes, a registered nurse who volunteers with
the Cannabis Healing Center in San Francisco. "A number of them would
either be in a lot of pain, in danger of losing their eyes or in
danger of not being able to eat without marijuana."

Barnes said the center, which serves about 8,000 patients, is eager to
make its case in federal court. "It's time to change the hypocrisy in
this nation - it's a big black mark on our conscience," she said.

"We think this is a civil rights issue and we will non violently be
here. serving our patients in a very gentle contempt-of-court for the
greater good , she said. "We're law-abiding people, but this situation
demands us laying ourselves on the line."

Barnes said the club hopes to keep while the matter is
litigated.

But if it's shut down, volunteers will serve patients "in any way that
we possibly can."

Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Sheller in San Francisco said
what happens next is "up to the clubs - our hope and expectation is
that they will comply" by closing. When told of Jones' and Barnes'
statements, Shefler said his office will consult with federal Justice
Department officials in Washington, D.C., on the next steps to take.

Other clubs affected by Breyer's injunctions are in Marin County,
Santa Cruz and Ukiah.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

DEA Agent Busted By Activists (California Gubernatorial Candidate
And Medical Marijuana Patient Steve Kubby Notes The Press Conference Today
At The Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative Was Interrupted
When An Undercover Drug Enforcement Administration Narc Tried To Buy
Medical Marijuana Using A Forged Prescription And Was Apprehended
And Exposed In Front Of All The Media)

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 20:38:40 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
To: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" (cohip@levellers.org)
Subject: DEA Agent Busted by Activists
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 16:53:16 -0700
From: Steve Kubby (skubby@powernet.net)
Subject: DEA AGENT BUSTED BY JEFF JONES

DEA AGENT BUSTED BY JEFF JONES

Jeff Jones, the founder and director of the Oakland CBC, just called me
with this fantastic story...

CNN, and all the major Bay Area media were at the Oakland CBC to attend a
press conference Jeff was holding. Just as the conference was about to
begin, Jeff was informed by his security people that a DEA agent was in the
building, posing as a patient, trying to buy medical marijuana.

Jeff went to the room where the DEA agent was sitting and asked him to
verify all the papers he had just submitted. Jeff then escorted the agent
into another room and opened the door to a roomful of media.

Jeff told the media that he had just caught a DEA agent trying to make an
illegal purchase with falsified papers. The terrified agent fled and tried
to escape down the elevator. Someone shut off the power, trapping the DEA
agent in the elevator.

Jeff informed the press what was happening and invited them to use the
stairs to get to the ground floor and meet the elevator, once Jeff turned
the power back on.

As soon as the elevator door opened the cameras and journalists were all
over the DEA agent who was struggling to cover his face, like a common
criminal. The DEA agent finally escaped and Jeff was interviewed
extensively about this incident afterwards.

--sk

***

K U B B Y F O R G O V E R N O R
1998 CALIFORNIA 2002
http://www.kubby.com

STATEWIDE CAMPAIGN OFFICE
Voice: (714) 537-9200
Fax: (714) 537-9203
Toll Free: (877) GO-KUBBY

***

[Portland NORML notes - Jones has denied he turned off power to the elevator.
According to the OCBC director, the doors to the elevator in question
remained open as the DEA fraud sought to escape the scene of his crime
because the media jammed their cameras and microphones in the doorway,
keeping it from closing as they peppered the agent with questions.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Crowd Protests Death Of Girl Shot By San Francisco Police
('San Francisco Chronicle' Notes City Residents Protest Death
Of Innocent 17-Year-Old Girl, Another Collateral Casualty
In The War On Some Drug Sellers)

From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: US: CA: Crowd Protests Death Of Girl Shot By S.F. Police
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 18:56:27 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/

CROWD PROTESTS DEATH OF GIRL SHOT BY S.F. POLICE

Several people demand cop be suspended

Stephen Schwartz
Jaxon Vanderbeken
Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, May 21, 1998
San Francisco Chronicle

About 75 people crowded the San Francisco Police Commission hearing room
last night to voice their anguish and outrage over the death of Sheila
Detoy, a 17-year-old shot dead by police last week.

Detoy, of San Francisco, was killed on May 13 by officers who were in the
path of a car that carried Detoy, a man sought in a drug case and a second
man.

``Detoy was handed a death certificate for being in the wrong place at the
wrong time,'' said a young woman who identified herself only as Jasmine.

John Crew, director of the police practices project for the Northern
California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the commission
that the investigation of the shooting needs to be made public.

``Secrecy is (your) enemy,'' he said.

According to police, officers had been on a drug stakeout and had moved to
arrest their suspect when the car gunned toward an investigator. Inspector
Greg Breslin told authorities that he was in the path of the car, felt his
life was threatened and fired. The shot struck Detoy, who was in the front
passenger seat. Inspector Michael Moran said he fired in defense of his
partner.

Several speakers demanded Breslin's immediate suspension from the force and
some called for his dismissal.

Van Jones, a spokesman for the Bay Area Police Watch citizens group, said
the death of Detoy and investigation of the shooting are ``not being taken
seriously.'' Jones said Breslin should be suspended.

Other speakers said that charges against suspect Raymondo Cox, 21, who was
in the car, should be dropped. Cox was arrested the day after Detoy's death.
The suspected driver, Michael Negron, 22, is still being sought.

Deputy Chief Earl Sanders said the investigation of the shooting continues.
``We will investigate thoroughly and fairly, so that we get to the truth,''
he said.

In other actions, the commission postponed action on the inquiry into
alleged misconduct by two fraud investigators, who were accused of
mishandling the Foxglove murder conspiracy case.

The commission agreed to allow Chief Fred Lau, who was absent last night, to
present his recommendations June 17 in the case of Inspectors Daniel Yawczak
and Gregory Ovanessian.

The two were the original investigators who looked into allegations that
elderly men had been poisoned for their assets. They have since been taken
off the Foxglove case, which has led to charges against eight suspects.

Lau is seeking to transfer the charges against Yawczak and Ovanessian to an
internal hearing rather than a full-blown commission review.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Drug Tests Urged For Skydiving Instructors ('Sacramento Bee'
Says The Local Federal Aviation Administration Will Recommend
That All Tandem Skydiving Instructors In The United States Be Required
To Undergo Mandatory Urine Tests - The Cause Of The April 16 Accident
Precipitating The FAA Recommendation Is Unknown, But The Instructor
Was Found To Have Alcohol In His Blood And Cannabis Metabolites -
The Parents Of 26-Year-Old Jump Student Stephanie Ann Cotter Have Vowed
To 'Commit The Rest Of Their Lives To Increasing Governmental Oversight
Of Skydiving')

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 22:21:55 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US CA: Drug Tests Urged for Skydiving Instructors
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@mapinc.org)
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Author: Pamela Martineau Bee Staff Writer

DRUG TESTS URGED FOR SKYDIVING INSTRUCTORS

In the aftermath of the skydiving deaths last month of Sacramento woman and
her tandem jumping instructor, investigators with the local Federal
Aviation Administration are recommending that all tandem skydiving
instructors in the United States be required to undergo mandatory drug
tests.

The recommendation is part of an official FAA report on the deaths April 18
of Stephanie Ann Cotter, 26, and her skydiving instructor Seth Blake, 28.
They died while jumping in tandem from an airplane at 9,000 feet after
their parachute -- for unknown reasons -- failed to open.

Deaths are not extraordinarily rare in skydiving, but the accident last
month at the SkyDance SkyDiving Company in Yolo County has become
controversial since Blake's autopsy report revealed he had traces of
marijuana in his blood and a 0.04 percent blood alcohol level.

FAA regulations -- the only governmental oversight of skydiving -- forbid
alcohol or drug use by skydivers or their instructors. But the FAA does not
require drug testing of the jumpers or their teachers.

At high altitudes, alcohol and drugs can severely hinder reflex responses.

"I feel very strongly that this should be mandatory and regulated," said
Robert Cotter, Stephanie's father who has said he and his wife, Edith, will
commit the rest of their lives to increasing governmental oversight of
skydiving.

"It took my kid's death to do this," Cotter said.

Tim Pile, a spokesman for the FAA's Western region, cautioned that
recommendations in official investigations must travel through many
channels before being adopted -- and many don't make it.

"Something like this would be controversial. There would be opposition,"
said Pile.

If officials in Washington chose to pursue the change, he said, they must
solicit comment across the country. Managers at SkyDance SkyDiving
adamantly maintained that Blake was neither intoxicated nor high the
morning of his fatal jump.

"We have a very clear rule that we don't tolerate that here," said Ray
Ferrell, co-director of Sky- Dance SkyDiving. "Seth had been on duty since
8 o'clock that morning and there was no alcohol apparent."

Owners of the skydiving company speculated that Blake's allergy medication
could have triggered a positive reading for alcohol, a contention that
officials at the Yolo County Coroner's Office have declined to comment on.

Cotter filed suit earlier this month against SkyDance SkyDiving and its
parent company Prestar, charging that the owners and managers of the
company were negligent in allowing his daughter to jump with an instructor
who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The FAA investigative report on the deaths of Cotter and Blake has not yet
been made public, but investigators within the Sacramento office of the FAA
said Wednesday that the final report will include the mandatory drug
testing recommendation. Cotter said he hopes the proposed rule will be
adopted sooner, rather than later.

"Clerks at the hardware store where my wife and I shop have to be drug
tested before being hired," he said. Ferrell said SkyDance SkyDiving is
looking into adopting a company policy of drug testing employees.

Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Night Out Ended Drug Sting ('Washington Post' Article
In 'International Herald-Tribune' Recounts The Night 12 Mexican
Banking Executives Were Arrested In Nevada On Money Laundering Charges
As Part Of 'Operation Casablanca')

Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 21:13:23 -0400
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Big Night Out Ended Drug Sting
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Peter Webster
Source: International Herald-Tribune
Contact: iht@iht.com
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Pubdate: May 21, 1998
Author: Molly Moore and Douglas Farah, Washington Post Service

BIG NIGHT OUT ENDED DRUG STING

The dozen men appeared to be just another gathering of high-rolling,
wellheeled business executives who had traveled by private jet to discuss a
major deal over dinner and drinks at a casino designed to look like a set
from a classic Bogart movie.

After dinner, a convoy of limousines arrived to whisk the men from the
Casablanca Casino Resort in Mesquite, Nevada, 75 miles (120 kilometers)
across the desert for a night on the town in Las Vegas.

But the limos roared right past the neon lights of downtown and back onto
the open-highway, where policemen in patrol cars with lights blazing waved
them to the side of the road.

Victor Manuel Alcala Navarro's chauffeur lowered the glass partition
separating him from the passenger seats and apologized, saying, "Sorry, I
guess I was speeding."

Mr. Alcala Navarro, allegedly a top money launderer for Mexico's most
powerful drug cartel, peered out the window at a flock of plainclothes
agents heading toward the car and responded, "I think this is more than
just a speeding ticket."

The Saturday night limousine roundup on the outskirts of Las Vegas ---as
described Tuesday by U.S. Customs authorities familiar with the
operation---was part of what law enforcement officials describe as the
largest drug-money laundering case in U.S. history, note that for the first
time tied Mexico's banking system directly to the wholesale cleansing of
illicit drug profits.

The three-year sting operation, which was directed by the U.S. Customs
Service, implicated some of Mexico's largest and most prestigious banks and
penetrated Mexico's Juarez drug cartel.

Details of the investigation, in which more arrests were made Tuesday, have
stunned Mexico's law enforcement, political and financial establishments --
none of which was informed of the operation until the formal announcement
in Washington on Tuesday.

While both Mexican and U.S. authorities have attempted in the past to
prosecute individuals involved in specific cases of money laundering and
have documented widespread corruption in Mexican law enforcement and
political circles, never before has either government cast an investigative
net that attempted to document systematic drug-based corruption in Mexico's
financial institutions.

U.S. officials said the investigation could involve as much as $152 million
in more than 100 bank accounts in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.

The sting operation, codenamed "Casablanca," began with a smallscale
investigation three years ago in an attempt to "target and penetrate those
people that were invisible to us" -- busmessmen who routed millions of
dollars in drug proceeds through complex financial paths that transformed
the cash into apparently legitimate business proceeds, according to a
senior U.S. Customs Service supervisor who directed the operation.

The sting was set in motion when undercover agents established a front
company, which they called Emerald Empire Corporation, with offices in the
Los Angeles suburb of Santa Fe Springs according to indictments unsealed in
Los Angeles federal court Monday.

Agents posing as company executives then went in search of Mexican banks
willing to accept their "dirty money." That the money was always presented
as drug proceeds was never a factor with the Mexican bankers; the only
debate was over the size of the commission the bank would receive for
handling the money. Their cut was usually about 4 percent of the amount of
the transaction.

The purported drug money was then deposited in Mexican bank accounts under
fictitious names and companies. Once deposited, a corrupt banking
official---sometimes a branch vice president or a division chief---would
call an unsuspecting counterpart at a U.S. branch of the same bank and tell
him to approve a transfer of money involving the fictitious company or
individual.

Mr. Alcala Navarrto, who quickly realized he had been trapped on the
highway outside Las Vegas on Saturday night, was one of the undercover
agents' best contacts, according to the indictment.

"Alcala Navarro would locate bankers who worked for banks based in Mexico
and request their assistance in laundering money which was represented to
be the proceeds of the sale of illegal narcotics," and he played a key role
in recruiting other bankers, the indictment said.

It described a series of meetings between Mr. Alcala Navarro and law
enforcement informers and undercover agents in which he allegedly arranged
for the laundering of tens of millions of dollars on behalf of the Juarez
cartel in Mexico and the Cali cocaine and heroin syndicate in Colombia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

US Sting Operation Nets Venezuela Indictment ('Orange County Register'
Says The US Treasury And Justice Departments Expanded 'Operation Casablanca'
To Venezuela Wednesday By Charging Four Banks And Five Individuals
With Laundering $9.5 Million From The Illegal Drug Industry)

Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 18:27:20 -0500
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Huge US Sting Operation Nets Venezuela Indictment
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: John W.Black
Source: Orange County Register(Ca)
Pubdate: 5-21-98
Contact: letters@link.freedom.com
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/

HUGE US STING OPERATION NETS VENEZUELA INDICTMENT

Federal authorities extended their massive undercover
money-laundering sting to Venezuela with an indictment charging four
banks and five individuals with laundering $9.5 million in illegal
drug-trafficking proceeds.

The indictment, announced Wednesday by the Treasury and Justice
departments, is the fourth stemming from the U.S. Customs Service-led
"Operation Casablanca," the largest drug-money laundering case in U.S.
history.

On Monday, officials disclosed the three-year operation, which exposed
links between Mexico's largest banks and the Cali drug cartel of
Colombia and the Juarez cartel of Mexico.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Salinas' Brother Found Innocent Of Money Laundering ('Reuters' Article
In 'Los Angeles Times' Says A Mexican Appeals Court Wednesday
Found Raul Salinas De Gortari, Brother Of Former President
Carlos Salinas De Gortari, Not Guilty Of Money-Laundering Charges -
Salinas Has Been In Mexico's High-Security Almoloya Prison Near Mexico City
Since February 1995, When He Was Arrested Under Orders From President
Ernesto Zedillo Shortly After The Latter Took Office - Salinas Still Faces
Charges Of Murder And Illegal Enrichment)

Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 10:51:36 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Mexico: Salinas' Brother Found Innocent
of Money Laundering [After All -- ED]
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Fax: 213-237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: May 21, 1998

SALINAS' BROTHER FOUND INNOCENT OF MONEY LAUNDERING [AFTER ALL -- ED]

Reuters -- A Mexican appeals court Wednesday found Raul Salinas de Gortari,
brother of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, not guilty of
money-laundering charges, his lawyer said.

"Today, a federal appeals court found my client not guilty of the charge of
money laundering. This was one of the most important charges against him,"
the lawyer, Raul Cardenas, said.

Cardenas said his client, who had been accused of hiding millions of
dollars in bribes paid by druglords in secret Swiss bank accounts, still
faces charges of murder and illegal enrichment.

Cardenas said the appeals court ruling on money laundering charges could
not be revoked by a higher court.

Salinas has been in Mexico's high-security Almoloya Prison near Mexico City
since February 1995, when he was arrested under orders from President
Ernesto Zedillo shortly after the latter took office. Salinas has denied
charges that he took bribes from cocaine barons while his brother ran the
country and that he was involved in the murder of former top ruling party
official Francisco Ruiz Massieu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ex-President's Brother Cleared On One Charge ('Chicago Tribune' Version)

Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 20:39:54 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: Mexico: Ex-President's Brother Cleared On 1 Charge
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: Steve Young
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Section: sec. 1, page 10
Contact: tribletter@aol.com
Website: http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Author: From Tribune News Services

MEXICO: EX-PRESIDENT'S BROTHER CLEARED ON 1 CHARGE

MEXICO CITY - An appeals court on Wednesday found the brother of former
President Carlos Salinas not guilty of laundering millions of dollars for
drug lords during his brother's rule, his lawyer said.

Lawyer Raul Cardenas said Raul Salinas, who has been in jail since 1995
while his brother fled into exile, was delighted to be absolved of one of
the most serious charges against him.

Salinas had been accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from
the country's cocaine barons during the l988-94 reign of his brother.

Raul Salinas was to remain in prison pending trial on other charges
including master-minding the murder of a former top ruling party official
and running a protection racket for drug barons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Been To Amsterdam Lately? (First Of Three Activists' Letters To The Editor
Of 'The Calgary Sun' Rebuts The Editor's Implication
That Dutch Cannabis Policy Has Increased Crime By Noting
Its Next-Door Neighbor, Belgium, Decreed On April 20 That It Too
Was Going To Relax Enforcement Of Marijuana Laws)

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 09:54:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Kelly T. Conlon" (conlonkt@mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA)
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
Subject: PUB LTE's: Been To Amsterdam Lately?

Source: Calgary Sun
Pubdate: 21 May 1998

YOU RECENTLY added the comment "Been to Amsterdam lately?" to a letter
advocating a relaxation of marijuana laws. This comment was clearly meant
to indicate Amsterdam was having notable problems as a result of its
tolerant attitude toward marijuana. How odd then that the Netherlands'
next-door neighbor, Belgium, decreed on April 20 of this year it too was
going to relax the enforcement of marijuana laws. I guess this means no
one from Belgium has been to Amsterdam lately?

Craig Schroer

(Watch Belgium's petty crime rate soar.)

***

YOUR COMMENTS following Dave Haan's letter (May 19) suggest to me you do
not understand a capitalist society. There will always be a demand for
drugs. There will also always be people who will supply drugs. Will they
be immoral cowboys or will they be licensed, regulated business people?
The answer is obvious.

Anonymous

(Yes, it is obvious. Drug dealers are criminals.)

***

RE: YOUR editorial remark under a letter on drug use, "These people got
sick, if you want to call it that, because someone sold them drugs
illegally." Why must you play the devil's advocate? Don't you want to make
your country better -- wouldn't you rather that police prioritize
predatory crime instead of the growing crackdown on medical marijuana
users? Most medical marijuana users are legitimately sick individuals;
that is, they have medical conditions that warrant the recommendation from
a physician for the use of marijuana. This is an alternative to harder
pain-killers which doctors frequently prescribe to these same
people. Marijuana use did not cause their underlying medical condition.

Kirk Nechamkin

(The letter writer was referring to drug abuse as a sickness or medical
condition, Kirk.)

***

From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 09:06:07 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: PUB LTE's: Been To Amsterdam Lately?
To: mattalk@islandnet.com

>(Watch Belgium's petty crime rate soar.)

Watch their overdose rate plummet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Re - Been To Amsterdam Lately? (Letter Sent To The Editor
Of 'The Calgary Sun' Challenges The Editor To Offer Any Evidence
That Cannabis Causes Any Crime Whatsoever Other Than The Violation
Of An Insane Prohibition Law Based On 'Reefer Madness' Allegations)

Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 08:32:30 -0700 (PDT)
To: mattalk@islandnet.com
From: R Givens (rgivens@sirius.com)
Subject: Re: PUB LTE's: Been To Amsterdam Lately?

The Calgary Sun's penchant for inserting editorial comments to every LTE is
very annoying. It's a very unfair debating tactic to allow potshots like
this without the duty to present any evidence to support their insane
positions. Indeed, what they leave unsaid proves that their position is
nothing but propaganda and puffery. Put bluntly, the Calgary Sun has put
themselves into the category of REEFER MANIAC because of their knee-jerk
support for drug prohibition. Their continual perjurious sniping got me
riled up enough to answer so here's my rejoinder....

sent to Calgary Sun
contact: callet@sunpub.com

"Watch Belgium's petty crime rate soar." the Calgary Sun says in response
to the fact that Belgium is legalizing marijuana. What evidence do you have
that cannabis causes any crime whatsoever other than the violation of an
insane prohibition law based on Reefer Madness allegations that pot causes
mayhem, murder, burglary, rape, racial mixing, insanity and a few other
felonies. If you cannot confirm these accusations the foundation for your
prohibition disappears, so how about some proof? How many marijuana
homicides has the Calgary Sun reported in the last 60 years? And how many
related to alcohol, hypocrite!

Perhaps you could offer some evidence that marijuana causes any of these
woes. You blithely assert that the crime rate in Belgium is going to
increase, but will you print a retraction a year from now when your lie is
revealed beyond dispute? Meanwhile how about offering some factual
testimony that marijuana use has ever caused an increase in crime anywhere.
Like in Holland for starters.

Harry J Anslinger made many fantastic claims to get marijuana outlawed. I'm
just surprised that supposedly educated people still swallow such hogwash.
Your intellectual bankruptcy is showing.........

R Givens
contact info
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Discrepancy In The Values Of Drugs Seized (Letter To The Editor
Of 'The Scotsman' Shows Scottish Police Lie About Drugs
To Suit Their Own Objectives And Perpetuate Failed Prohibition Policies)

From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
Subject: MN: UK: PUB LTE: Discrepancy In The Values Of Drugs Seized
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 19:00:14 -0500
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Newshawk: shug@shug.co.uk
Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Author: Hugh Robertson

DISCREPANCY IN THE VALUES OF DRUGS SEIZED

Sir, - I am curious as to how the Strathclyde Police arrive at their figures
for the values of drugs seized from dealers. According to your report (19
May), on Monday, Strathclyde Police seized "enough heroin for 7,000 deals",
which, they claim, had "an estimated street value of £250,000". This works
out at about £35 a deal.

According to an earlier report (15 April), Keith Hellawell, the drugs tsar,
said: "Wraps of heroin are being sold for as little as £2". There is more
than a slight discrepancy in these figures.

Is it a case of the Strathclyde Police grossly exaggerating their seizures
of drugs to justify their existence? After all, 7000 deals won't go very far
in Glasgow, where there are thousands of addicts, each requiring several
doses per day.

In reality, all the police have done is to take 38 dealers off the streets,
which will allow 38 other addicts to step into their shoes. At the same
time, they have deceived your reporter, deliberately, so that he will report
this incident in a good light, rather than question the huge expenditure
being squandered in trying to prop up a failed system of prohibition.

Hugh Robertson (aka Shug) Barrack Street, Perth
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Trying To Think About Drugs, II ('San Francisco Chronicle' Columnist
Jon Carroll Follows Up On 
  • Yesterday's Essay By Suggesting The Goal Is To Keep Drugs Out Of The Hands Of Young Men, And The Strategy Should Be To Take All The Money Going To Vast Interdiction And Law Enforcement Programs And Use It To 'Protest The Children' - With Programs That Would 'Reach Every Male In This Country When He Is 12 Years Old, Some Combination Of Group Therapy And A Bar Mitzvah') Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 23:10:43 -0500 To: mapnews@mapinc.org From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews) Subject: MN: US CA: Trying to Think About Drugs, II Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World) Source: San Francisco Chronicle Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998 Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Author: Jon Carroll TRYING TO THINK ABOUT DRUGS, II WHAT'S BAD ABOUT drug abuse? It might be useful to start there. Ignore the strange distinction between legal and illegal drugs; consider the nature of all recreational chemicals and how they harm society. That means, for the moment, ignoring those malign effects caused by the criminalization of certain drugs. Gang warfare, crimes by addicts to get money to pay the inflated prices of street drugs, stuff like that. Those are real problems, but they are caused by social decisions rather than chemical reactions. Recreational chemicals reduce inhibitions. They impair judgment. They promote impulsive and sometimes destructive behavior. Drunken driving is a good example. Bar fights. Spousal abuse. Chemical dependency also destroys families. An addict always has another lover, another home. An addict cannot do the hard work of raising a child or tending a marriage because an addict is doing the hard work of being an addict. People tend to forget how much time it takes to nurture an addiction. By far the greatest damage done to society by recreational chemicals is child abuse. When those inhibitions go down, the urge to strike out -- and every parent has felt that urge -- is not mitigated by love or common sense or fear of consequences. It turns into physical violence. The self-loathing that comes with addiction is easily transmuted into rage, and the rage becomes violence against those unable to defend themselves. And what do we know about abused children? They become abusers themselves. They also become criminals; the statistics on this matter are overwhelming. THEREFORE, THE MOST rational thing we can do to improve society is to protect our children. We can take all the money going to vast interdiction and law enforcement programs -- programs that have created needless suffering while failing to solve the problem -- and use it instead to help the children. Rather than targeting drug pushers, we target abusive parents. Rather than looking for stashes of marijuana, we look for bruises on the bodies of children. Take it as a given that human beings will want to experience pleasure using chemicals. If the pleasure does not result in violent behavior, ignore it. Concentrate on protecting the children. There is a role for jails and prisons, and here it is -- lock up the people who hit kids. Because the abused child is the greatest danger to society that we know. ONE OTHER THING: Overwhelmingly, it is young men, 14 to 26, who commit violent acts. The drugs just make it worse because young men are aggressive and judgment-impaired on their brain chemicals alone. It is time that we understood that young men are an at-risk population. They are being betrayed by their own hormones. They are rutting in the fields and blindly fighting for territory according to genetic imperatives older than any culture. So if we want to protect society, we want to keep drugs out of the hands of young men. That's where the damage is done. Perhaps we need some kind of huge program, the Young Males Reclamation Act, to intervene with guys and make them understand the nature of their guyness. Take all the money that goes to warehouse the men in prison, and apply it to a program that would reach every male in this country when he is 12 years old, some combination of group therapy and a bar mitzvah. Educate parents about what it means to have a son. Start male studies programs at every university. These strange and violent people walk among us, confused and enraged -- why would we not reach out to them? Think of drug diversion programs in terms of monster truck rallies, video games, boxing, safe sex, hostile takeovers, the modern biathlon, an entire sublimation infrastructure. Keep the young men sane, and we can all get some work done.
  • -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Re - Trying To Think About Drugs, II (Letter Sent To The Editor
    Of 'The 'San Francisco Chronicle' Finds Several Errors And Self-Delusions
    In Jon Carroll's Column)
    
    Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 08:45:17 -0700
    To: maptalk@mapinc.org, mattalk@islandnet.com
    From: Pat Dolan (pdolan@intergate.bc.ca)
    Subject: Sent LTE Re: TRYING TO THINK ABOUT DRUGS, II
    
    Jon Carrol's motives are good. He wants us to start thinking differently
    about drugs. But along the way he falls into one or two of the old traps.
    
    First, he lumps all drugs together as 'chemicals'. Fine, but he then goes
    on to speak of the consequences of chemical dependency ("They promote...
    drunken driving,...bar fights, spousal abuse.") as if these were the same
    in all cases. They are not. The consequences differ from drug to drug.
    Marihuana and heroin users are simply not given to going home and
    indulging in spousal or child abuse.
    
    Secondly, Mr. Carroll tells us an addict cannot do the hard work of raising a
    child or tending a marriage because an addict is doing "the hard work of
    being an addict".
    
    Here, again, he is confused. The "hard work" he refers to is the result of
    the illegality which he asked us to leave out of the equation. When
    addicts have a secure supply of their drug of choice, they have generally
    shown themselves to be well able to look after themselves and their
    responsibilities as heroin and methadone maintenance programs have
    proved wherever they have been tried.
    
    (194 words)
    
    Pat Dolan
    503-Pendrell St.
    Vancouver BC
    V6E 3N4
    604-689-4342
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Audit Assails LAPD's Accounting For Seized Valuables ('Los Angeles Times'
    Says An Audit By Controller Rick Tuttle, The First Since 1992,
    Found The Los Angeles Police Department's Supervision Of 'Property,'
    Including $2 Billion Worth Of 'Drugs' Every Year, Has Internal Weaknesses
    That Jeopardize The Success Of Criminal Prosecutions
    And Create Easy Opportunities For Abuse And Theft)
    
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    To: "MN" (mapnews@mapinc.org)
    Subject: MN: US: CA: Audit Assails Lapd's Accounting
    For Seized Valuables
    Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 18:58:06 -0500
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
    Pubdate: May 21, 1998
    Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
    Contact: letters@latimes.com
    Website: http://www.latimes.com/
    Author: By Matt Lait
    
    AUDIT ASSAILS LAPD'S ACCOUNTING FOR SEIZED VALUABLES
    
    Police: Although conceding that gains have been made since the last survey
    in 1992, report says storage problems raise temptation of theft and abuse.
    
    The Los Angeles Police Department is "sloppy" when it comes to storing and
    accounting for guns, drugs, jewelry, electronic equipment and other property
    seized by police, the city's controller said Wednesday.
    
    A 35-page audit released by Controller Rick Tuttle found that the LAPD's
    supervision of property has internal weaknesses that jeopardize the success
    of criminal prosecutions and create easy opportunities for abuse and theft.
    
    Each year, the LAPD's property division processes about 250,000 pieces of
    property, ranging from weapons, cash and guns to blood- and semen-stained
    clothing. Officials said the LAPD's 18 police stations received, on an
    annual basis, about 13,000 guns, $2 billion worth of drugs and as much as $5
    million in currency.
    
    Auditors discovered that some of those items were either misplaced or
    missing with no explanations. Other property, such as drugs, were not always
    kept in the most secure locations.
    
    In one case, some "high-value drugs" and cash were stored next to employees'
    snack foods in a vault.
    
    "They don't have good inventory control," Tuttle said. "They have a lot of
    improvement to do here."
    
    While acknowledging that improvements can be made, LAPD officials bristled
    at the accusation that the department is careless in handling and securing
    property.
    
    "It's absolutely untrue," said William R. Moran, head of the LAPD's fiscal
    and support bureau. "The volume of evidence we process is staggering. . . .
    This is a system that deserves commendation instead of being attacked."
    
    The LAPD's processing and safeguarding of evidence was one of the dominant
    issues raised by defense attorneys during the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
    The attorneys accused the department of shoddy procedures.
    
    According to the auditors' report, one troubling lapse in oversight occurs
    when the property no longer needs to be stored by the LAPD and is auctioned
    or junked. Auditors said the department does not properly track exactly
    which items are sent to, or sold at, auctions. In a small sampling of 27
    items listed for disposal, auditors found two items--a radar detector and a
    car stereo--missing. The department also does not adequately track property
    that eventually is acquired for department purposes, such as video cameras.
    
    Another problem, the auditors said, is at the department's armory. According
    to the controller's report, the LAPD does not keep backup records for
    tracking firearms in its possession. Moreover, no records are kept on the
    inventory of parts for firearms.
    
    Such procedural shortcomings may lead "to waste, misuse or theft of
    property," the report states.
    
    In addition to developing better procedures for monitoring evidence and
    property, the auditors recommended that the LAPD install security cameras in
    areas where the items are stored, rotate officers who work in the property
    rooms and implement a "bar coding" system similar to what supermarkets use
    to scan prices on groceries.
    
    The LAPD, Moran said, already is working on implementing the bar-coding
    procedures that he expects to be in use by summer. He said he will review
    the recommendations in the report and "figure out what we can do with the
    facilities and resources that we have."
    
    Some of the problems in tracking property, Moran said, are the result of
    automating the manual records six years ago. "It's a data conversion
    problem, basically," he said, adding that he expects those problems to be
    resolved as the older property is discarded.
    
    Moran said that the department has made remarkable improvement in its
    handling of property compared to a decade ago when nothing was computerized
    and property tags were known to come off items, making them difficult to ide
    ntify. He added that he knew of no criminal cases that had to be dismissed
    because of missing evidence.
    
    "We're light-years ahead of where we were," Moran said. "A lot of other
    agencies would love to have an automated system like we do."
    
    Tuttle and his auditors acknowledge that the LAPD has made significant
    improvements since their last audit in 1992.
    
    Auditors said the sheer volume of evidence also has caused some storage
    concerns. At the Scientific Investigation Division, for example, employees
    maintained a cache of firearms that "is too large for its current storage
    space."
    
    Timothy B. Lynch, administrative deputy at the controller's office, said
    auditors did not try to undercover any criminal activity at the property
    room, but rather identify weaknesses in the department's policies and
    procedures in processing the property.
    
    He said auditors found loopholes in the department's handling of property
    that make the temptation of criminal activity too great.
    
    "The whole system needs to be tightened up," Lynch said.
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Pot And The Governor's Race ('Sacramento News and Review' Article
    Focusing On California Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Kubby
    Notes Kubby, Dennis Peron And Dan Lungren, Perhaps The Three
    Most Important Figures In The Proposition 215 Campaign, Now Find Themselves
    In An Unlikely Sharing Of What Is Commonly Considered The Right Side
    Of The Political Spectrum In Gubernatorial Politics)
    
    Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:58:24 -0400
    To: mapnews@mapinc.org
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    Subject: MN: US CA: Pot And The Governor's Race
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: Arthur Sobey 
    Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
    Source: Sacramento News and Review
    Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
    Website: http://www.newsreview.com/sacto/
    Author: Michael Pulley
    
    POT AND THE GOVERNOR'S RACE
    
    Gubernatorial Candidates Share Link With California's Battle Over Medical
    Marijuana.
    
    In the summer of 1996, Steve Kubby, an author and political thinker who
    argues that the medical use of traditional plants such as marijuana is a
    freedom protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, was
    hiking with his wife, Michele, up the Desolation Wilderness trail out of
    Squaw Valley just a few miles from their home.
    
    On the trail, they encountered their neighbor, Brian Lungren, a brother and
    adviser to state Attorney General Dan Lungren. "What do you guys plan to do
    about our Proposition 215 medical marijuana initiative?" Kubby asked the
    attorney general's brother.
    
    In Kubby's account, Lungren responded: "Well, you guys don't have a chance.
    We're not even going to bother thinking about you guys."
    
    Kubby had become an indispensable player in the campaign for the now-famous
    California initiative that legalized cultivation and use of marijuana for
    treatment of medical problems such as cancer, AIDS and glaucoma. In fact,
    many of the key players in the campaign had already dubbed Kubby the
    initiative's savior, because it was Kubby more than anyone who convinced
    multibillionaire philanthropist George Soros and other wealthy businessmen
    to put up the funds that got 215 placed on the November 1996 state ballot.
    
    Meanwhile, contributions had slowed to a trickle down at the San Francisco
    Cannabis Buyers' Club, where founder Dennis Peron and an army of volunteers
    managed the grassroots efforts of the 215 campaign. State drug agents, under
    the direction of Dan Lungren, had the campaign headquarters and the club
    that distributed marijuana to sick people under constant surveillance. In
    August of that year, Lungren had the club raided and shut down. As the
    bizarre raid turned into a national media spectacle, donations started
    flowing once again into 215's diminishing campaign fund. A few months later,
    the state's voters made history by overwhelmingly approving 215.
    
    Now Kubby, Peron and Lungren-perhaps the three most important figures in the
    Prop. 215 campaign-find themselves faced off in another big campaign-the
    California governor's race. It's one of the ironic twists of politics in the
    late 1990s that the three gubernatorial candidates most linked with
    California's battle over medical marijuana find themselves in an unlikely
    sharing of what is commonly considered the right side of the political
    spectrum in gubernatorial politics.
    
    On the left, the Democrats have moved solidly into the "war on drugs" camp.
    After all, it was the Clinton administration that launched the crackdown on
    Prop. 215 just one week after it was approved by voters, when the
    administration threatened California doctors who recommended marijuana for
    medical reasons. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein made a campaign contribution
    against Prop. 215 that was missed by the media because it was sneaked in as
    a late filing contribution. And Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray
    Davis has recommended drug testing for children.
    
    Lungren, considered by many to be the front-runner in the race, will
    undoubtedly lock up the Republican Party nomination in the June primary.
    Peron, by his decision to challenge Lungren as a fellow Republican in
    California's first open primary election, will certainly lead a significant
    number of liberals to abandon their traditional Democratic Party voting
    habits for the first time and cast a vote for Peron in the primary.
    
    Kubby's meteoric rise to the top of the Libertarian Party in California is
    one of the most intriguing stories in modern politics. His role in saving
    the Prop. 215 campaign helped give him credibility among Libertarians and he
    locked up the Libertarian Party nomination for the California governorship
    long before the primary election. So, Kubby will emerge as one of the
    leading third-party contenders on the November ballot to Lungren and the
    Democratic choice.
    
    Like Peron, Kubby had his political consciousness formed during the
    anti-Vietnam war days of the 1960s. Fresh out of college, Kubby garnered
    national attention with his camp for children known as Earth Camp One.
    
    But his life veered in a whole new direction after the young entrepreneur
    learned a disturbing fact. He had contracted a deadly form of adrenal cancer
    that no one had lived longer than five years with. The chemotherapy
    treatments seemed to make him worse. Written off by Western medicine, Kubby
    began to explore alternative forms of healing. He traveled to Bermuda, where
    he tried a blood plasma treatment that was illegal in the United States. He
    also smoked marijuana regularly, which offered relief from his symptoms. At
    51, Kubby is alive and well 23 years after he was first diagnosed, the only
    person known to medical science to have survived his form of cancer.
    
    This experience led Kubby to explore a curious question. How could a country
    based on the Constitution outlaw naturally occurring plants such as
    marijuana and peyote, which have been used by other cultures for their
    healing abilities since the beginning of time? The answer to his question
    was his book, The Politics of Consciousness. A sort of political manifesto
    of the 1990s, the book presents a convincing argument that Americans' rights
    to use naturally occurring plants for their healing and spiritual properties
    are protected by the U.S. Constitution and that the founding fathers would
    be horrified by the current war on drugs. As Kubby notes in the book, the
    war on drugs has put 600,000 people behind bars for acts that would not have
    been considered a crime until about 60 years ago.
    
    The book was hailed by psychedelic visionaries and radical thinkers such as
    Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary. But to get it published, Kubby had to go
    to Loompanics Unlimited, a controversial press that has published many of
    the radical, pro-gun books sought by militia types.
    
    Today, Kubby is still a medical marijuana patient. He displays his official
    Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club identification to a reporter to prove it. He
    also holds up a letter from his prominent Truckee doctor, who approves of
    his smoking marijuana for medical reasons. But Kubby is discrete about his
    medical use of the plant, opting for privacy when it's time to smoke.
    
    That's a contrast to Peron, who frequently speaks at hemp rallies and has
    become known as the medical marijuana candidate because he's quick to smoke
    marijuana in front of television cameras and news photographers and take
    credit for the passage of Prop. 215.
    
    While Peron played an important role in the passage of 215, Kubby's
    little-known role may have been the most critical element. An articulate and
    persuasive activist, Kubby served as a behind-the-scenes motivator and
    mediator. The proponents of Proposition 215 were an odd clique of
    dreadlock-adorned, pot-smoking hempsters, gay activists, Libertarians,
    progressive-minded business executives, leftist campaign consultants,
    multibillionaire philanthropists and visionaries of the drug policy reform
    movement.
    
    Somehow such a disparate collection of politically-minded individuals found
    a common ground with medical marijuana. But each group had different
    motivations and goals in supporting an initiative. The grassroots organizers
    such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
    had been working on the issue for more than two decades. Their involvement
    had evolved out of the anti-war politics of the 1960s. They brought the
    passion and zeal that any lasting movement is based on, but they had failed
    in all previous attempts to put a major drug policy reform measure on the
    California ballot. The professionals were often Johnny-come-latelys, but
    they had the money and organizational savvy that the grassroots level most
    needed to move forward.
    
    There were disagreements and the coalition was in danger of collapsing.
    Kubby was the glue that kept the fractious group working together. His
    particular genius was the ability to communicate with such a grab bag of
    political activists and convince them that the window of opportunity for
    medical marijuana in California was at hand and everyone needed to step up
    to the plate.
    
    George Zimmer was one of the key figures he brought into the movement. The
    highly-visible owner of the San Francisco-based Men's Warehouse retail
    chain, Zimmer met Kubby after reading The Politics of Consciousness, which
    struck a chord with the retail executive because his own mother had died
    from cancer.
    
    So in January 1996, Zimmer joined Kubby, Peron and a host of leading medical
    marijuana advocates in plotting the early stages of the Prop. 215 campaign.
    But the supporters had their backs against the wall because they were facing
    an impending May deadline to get the initiative on the ballot. In February
    of that year, the coalition fell apart after the biggest supporters learned
    that the 200,000 voter signatures collected for the initiative under the
    direction of Peron through the Cannabis Buyers' Club were mostly invalid.
    Peron had been defrauded by unscrupulous signature gatherers, according to
    Kubby.
    
    Soros, the chief financier of the campaign, lost faith and pulled out. Kubby
    got on the phone to Soros' representative and convinced the wealthy
    philanthropist to hang tough on the campaign.
    
    While Kubby's key involvement with 215 has linked him closely with the
    medical marijuana issue, he has put together a well-thought-out
    gubernatorial campaign that addresses most of the key issues facing the
    country. On environmental issues, an area that has caused liberals to part
    camp with the Libertarians in the past, Kubby has intriguing opinions. How
    can the U.S. government, he wants to know, be expected to protect the
    environment when it's the biggest polluter in the country? His environmental
    protection plan is based on the principle of strict liability and trespass.
    
    He points out that no insurance would underwrite a nuclear plant and the
    industry only came into being because of the U.S. government's subsidy.
    Kubby believes that laws that waive liability for polluters are part of what
    keeps individual citizens from protecting themselves from the dangers of
    pollution caused by corporations and big government.
    
    Kubby and his wife, Michele, tell a reporter that they are the authentic
    baby boomer couple, whose beliefs and principles are in line with their
    generation, unlike those of President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham
    Clinton, who are still pushing the "old policies." They paint themselves as
    the new face of the Libertarian Party.
    
    To the critics who say third parties don't have a chance in the governor's
    race regardless of the medical marijuana issue, Kubby points to the recent
    statements by political pollster Mervin Field, who says that anything is
    potentially possible in California's first open primary election. Kubby,
    Peron and Lungren are hoping to use that opening to pull away swing votes
    and traditional Democratic voters.
    
    "There's a lot of Democrats that would like to see a Democratic candidate in
    this election, but they don't have one," said Kubby. "They all look like
    Republicans, talk like Republicans. They're wealthy and they get all their
    donations from wealthy people."
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    State Wins Access To Tobacco Data (According To 'The Seattle Times,'
    An Attorney For Washington State Said Yesterday That The State Has Won Access
    To Internal RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company Memos Written By A Researcher
    Who Tracked Concerns In The Medical Community About Smoking -
    King County Superior Court Judge George Finkle Ruled Last Week
    That Most Of The 2,800 Documents Failed To Meet The Criteria
    Of Attorney-Client Privilege - The Industry Has Already Settled
    With Minnesota, Texas, Florida And Mississippi For A Total Of $36.5 Billion,
    And The Trial For Washington's Lawsuit Is Scheduled To Begin September 14
    In Seattle)
    
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    Subject: MN: US: WA: State Wins Access To Tobacco Data
    Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 03:59:54 -0500
    Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: John Smith
    Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
    Source: Seattle Times (WA)
    Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
    Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
    Author: Hunter T. George
    
    STATE WINS ACCESS TO TOBACCO DATA
    
    OLYMPIA - Washington state, next in line to take its tobacco lawsuit to
    trial, has won access to internal R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. memos written by
    a researcher who tracked concerns in the medical community about smoking, an
    attorney said yesterday.
    
    After reviewing a random sample, King County Superior Court Judge George
    Finkle ruled last week that most of the 2,800 documents failed to meet the
    criteria of attorney-client privilege and ordered them released to the
    state.
    
    John Hough, a senior assistant attorney general who's overseeing the state's
    lawsuit against the tobacco industry, said the documents contain memos
    written by longtime RJR researcher Frank Colby.
    
    Hough said it was Colby's job to review concerns in the medical community
    about smoking and cancer, and to report what he found to RJR officials.
    
    "I don't think we'll find any particular smoking guns in here. But it's one
    of the building blocks of our case," Hough said of the documents, which were
    part of Minnesota's case against the industry that was settled earlier this
    month for $6.6 billion.
    
    "They show the extent to which tobacco companies were trying to learn what
    was going on in the medical community so they could plot their counter
    strategies."
    
    A spokesman for RJR, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., could not be reached for
    comment.
    
    The state has sued seven tobacco companies, their research divisions and a
    public-relations firm to recover medical costs for smoking-related
    illnesses.
    
    Under Finkle's ruling, RJR has until Tuesday to turn over most of the
    documents and explain why any documents still being withheld should remain
    confidential.
    
    As has been the case in previous battles over company documents, Finkle's
    ruling allows the attorney general's office to review the documents, but it
    doesn't clear the papers for release to the public.
    
    Hough said the state will continue to examine lists of documents that the
    tobacco industry has claimed are protected by the attorney-client privilege,
    as it did in the case of the Colby memos.
    
    The industry has reached settlements with Minnesota, Texas, Florida and
    Mississippi for a total of $36.5 billion.
    
    Trial for Washington's lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 14 in Seattle.
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Scientists Locate Neighborhood Of Alcoholism Gene ('Associated Press'
    Says Dr. Enoch Gordis, Director Of The National Institute On Alcohol Abuse
    And Alcoholism, Said Yesterday At A National Press Club Briefing
    That Researchers Mapping The Highway Of Human Heredity Have Found
    Some Streets, Or Multiple Genes, That May Lead To Alcoholism -
    Inheritance Plays A Role In The Disease, But No Single Factor,
    Whether It's Genetics Or Environment, Is Sufficient To 'Cause' Alcoholism)
    
    Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:49:23 -0700
    To: mapnews@mapinc.org
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    Subject: MN: US: Scientists Locate Neighborhood
    of Alcoholism Gene
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: John Smith
    Source: Standard-Times (MA)
    Contact: YourView@S-T.com
    Website: http://www.s-t.com/
    Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
    Author: Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press writer
    
    SCIENTISTS LOCATE NEIGHBORHOOD OF ALCOHOLISM GENE
    
    WASHINGTON -- Researchers mapping the highway of human heredity have found
    some streets that may lead to alcoholism.
    
    Their work could lead to ways of identifying youngsters most at risk of
    becoming alcoholics and helping them avoid that future.
    
    An estimated 14 million Americans suffer from alcoholism and it has long
    been known that the problem runs in families. But it had not been clear if
    it was inherited or a result of environment, Dr. Enoch Gordis, director of
    the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said yesterday.
    
    Now, he said, researchers have concluded that inheritance plays a role and
    they have located likely neighborhoods for the genes that can lead to
    trouble.
    
    "These genes are for risk, not for destiny," Gordis stressed at a National
    Press Club briefing.
    
    He said further studies to locate the exact genes could lead to treatments
    for alcoholism, more focused prevention efforts and better understanding of
    the role of environment and the working of the human brain.
    
    Genes are portions of the human chromosome, a pair of long molecules in
    each cell that determine the characteristics of the person. Each parent
    provides one of the two paired chromosomes. Some inherited diseases have
    been found to result from faulty genes.
    
    "Alcoholism is multi-gene, it is not due to a mutation in a single gene,"
    Gordis said. "In all likelihood, it is a handful of genes."
    
    "No single factor, whether it's genetics or environment, is sufficient to
    cause" alcoholism, added Dr. Jeffrey Long of the National Institutes of
    Health. "So we're looking for things that shift the balance."
    
    Long likened DNA, the major constituent of the chromosome, to a highway 500
    miles long in which the scientists are able to locate mile markers.
    
    The studies reported yesterday have located mile markers that show promise
    as areas related to alcoholism. Now the challenge is to find the specific
    genes, which Long said would correspond to an area of perhaps a few feet
    between mile markers.
    
    By identifying the specific genes, doctors could then determine who might
    be a "carrier" of the propensity to alcoholism, he said. Even if that
    person did not become an alcoholic, it could be useful to know that they
    might transmit the gene.
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Senate Rejects $1.50-A-Pack Increase In Cigarette Tax ('Sacramento Bee'
    Says The US Senate On Wednesday Left Intact A $1.10 Tax Increase
    Favored By Senator John McCain, The Republican From Arizona,
    Author Of Legislation To Put Sweeping New Government Controls
    On The Tobacco Industry - The Newspaper Calls The 58-40 Tally
    The First Bellwether Vote For The McCain Bill)
    
    Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 15:14:58 -0700
    To: mapnews@mapinc.org
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    Subject: MN: US: Senate Rejects $1.50-a-Pack Increase in Cigarette Tax
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: Joel W. Johnson (jwjohnson@mapinc.org)
    Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
    Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
    Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
    Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
    Author: James Rosen Bee Washington Bureau
    
    SENATE REJECTS $1.50-A-PACK INCREASE IN CIGARETTE TAX
    
    WASHINGTON -- The Senate rejected a bid Wednesday to raise cigarette taxes
    by $1.50 a pack in the first bellwether vote on legislation to put sweeping
    new government controls on the tobacco industry.
    
    The 58-40 vote against the $1.50 tax hike left intact a $1.10 increase
    favored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., author of the tobacco bill.
    
    Senators met into the evening as they debated another key proposal that
    would strip the $516 billion measure of all liability limits for cigarette
    companies. A vote on that amendment was expected today.
    
    On the third day of contentious debate in the Senate, President Clinton
    urged lawmakers to pass the measure to protect 3,000 teenagers who begin
    smoking each day.
    
    "Today, we stand on the verge of passing legislation that will do far more
    than anything we have ever done to stop the scourge of youth smoking,"
    Clinton said.
    
    One of the country's most famous teen athletes, figure skater Tara
    Lipinski, joined Clinton and 700 other youths on the South Lawn of the
    White House.
    
    "Mr. President, in the fight to protect kids from tobacco and save lives,
    our team is going to win," Lipinski said.
    
    In the Senate, conservatives led by Republican John Ashcroft of Missouri
    spent four hours trying to stem the tobacco bill's momentum.
    
    "This is a massive tax increase, this is a massive expansion of government,
    this is an affront to the effort of families to provide for themselves,"
    Ashcroft said.
    
    But a group of mainly Democratic senators tried in vain to set an even
    higher tax than McCain's levy of $1.10 a pack, already 41/2 times larger
    than the current federal excise tax of 24 cents.
    
    Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts noted that those opposing
    the higher tax increase -- on the grounds that relatively poor people pay
    most cigarette taxes -- were the same senators who resisted his successful
    effort last year to increase the minimum wage.
    
    "How elitist and arrogant it is for those voices on the other side to cry
    these crocodile tears about working families!" Kennedy thundered.
    
    Forty-five of the Senate's 55 Republicans voted against the $1.50 tax hike,
    along with 13 of the 45 Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein of
    California. Feinstein said the steeper tax increase would fuel a black
    market in cigarettes. California already loses as much as $50 million a
    year in revenue through illegal sales with a state excise tax of 37 cents a
    pack, she said.
    
    McCain said the attacks on his bill from both ends of the political
    spectrum -- from senators opposed to any tax increases and those who want
    even higher taxes and other anti-tobacco penalties -- show that the measure
    is well-positioned.
    
    McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, continued to express
    confidence that the Senate will approve his legislation, though he was less
    certain it will do so by the end of the week.
    
    "You can't get through a minefield without setting off some explosions,"
    McCain said. "This is a very large, very controversial bill. The watchword
    is patience."
    
    The McCain legislation requires the tobacco companies to pay the government
    $516 billion over 25 years, much of which would come from the $1.10-a-pack
    tax increase. The cigarette makers would have to make additional payments
    -- up to $4 billion a year -- if youth smoking rates fail to decline
    rapidly enough.
    
    Copyright 1998 The Sacramento Bee
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Senate Kills Higher Tax On Cigarettes Of $1.50 A Pack
    ('Los Angeles Times' Version)
    
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    To: "MN" 
    Subject: MN: US: WA: Senate Kills Higher Tax On Cigarettes Of $1.50 A Pack
    Date: Mon, 25 May 1998 09:03:08 -0500
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: Jim Rosenfield
    Pubdate: May 21, 1998
    Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
    Contact: letters@latimes.com
    Website: http://www.latimes.com/
    Author: Myron Levin, Alissa J. Rubin
    
    SENATE KILLS HIGHER TAX ON CIGARETTES OF $1.50 A PACK
    
    WASHINGTON--Public health groups on Wednesday lost a bid to raise the price
    tag on sweeping tobacco control legislation when the Senate killed a
    proposal to raise cigarette taxes by $1.50 per pack--40 cents above the
    amount sought by the bill's sponsor.
    
    In the 58-40 vote, 45 Republicans joined 13 Democrats in defeating the
    amendment by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to raise the cigarette tax by
    the higher amount as a way to discourage teen smoking, reimburse health care
    costs and fund anti-smoking programs.
    
    The vote appeared to set the upper limit of any tobacco tax likely to pass
    Congress this year at $1.10 per pack, as originally proposed in the bill
    sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and supported by the White House.
    California's Democratic senators split on the $1.50 proposal--Barbara Boxer
    supported it while Dianne Feinstein voted against it.
    
    In another important vote that signaled broad support for the legislation,
    senators soundly defeated, 72 to 26, a proposal by Sen. John Ashcroft
    (R-Mo.) to strip the measure of any tax increase. Under the McCain bill,
    part of the new taxes would provide federal public health and medical
    research programs with nearly $30 billion over the next five years. Even
    more money would go to the states, in part to pay for anti-smoking programs.
    
    Both Boxer and Feinstein opposed the proposal by Ashcroft, a conservative
    who wants to kill the bill. Only Republicans--less than half of the Senate
    GOP membership--backed his amendment, indicating that there is enough
    bipartisan backing to pass a major tobacco bill this year. However,
    lobbyists and lawmakers said that showdowns expected today and Friday in the
    Senate over aid to tobacco farmers and legal protections for the tobacco
    industry could still derail the legislation.
    
    President Clinton weighed in in opposition to an amendment to wipe out the
    bill's major legal protection for tobacco companies--an $8-billion cap on
    the amount of damages that cigarette manufacturers would have to pay in any
    one year. Given that the bill is considerably tougher than a proposed
    settlement negotiated by the industry last year, supporters--including
    Clinton--said that without getting some benefit, tobacco companies can be
    expected to file legal challenges and delay implementation for years.
    
    In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Clinton said
    that he opposed the amendment to eliminate the cap, offered by Sens. Judd
    Gregg (R-N.H.) and Patrick J. Leahy, (D-Vt.).
    
    "If a cap that doesn't prevent anybody from suing the companies and getting
    whatever damages a jury awards will get tobacco companies to stop marketing
    cigarettes to kids, it is well worth it for the American people," said
    Clinton.
    
    The Kennedy amendment to hike cigarette taxes by $1.50 a pack was backed by
    many health experts and anti-smoking groups, who argued that such a sharp
    increase is the best way to discourage smoking, particularly among
    price-sensitive teens. But opponents condemned the increase as a highly
    regressive tax on blue-collar workers and the poor, who dominate the ranks
    of smokers.
    
    Cigarettes now cost about $2 a pack, so the proposed $1.10 increase would
    raise the price at least 50%--although at that level U.S. cigarette taxes
    would still be lower than in other industrial countries.
    
    McCain's Commerce Committee originally had passed a bill containing the
    $1.10 price increase. But the Finance Committee, which also had jurisdiction
    over the legislation, changed the bill to include a $1.50 tax increase. The
    Senate leadership dropped the tax increase Monday, reverting to the McCain
    plan when the chamber began debating the bill.
    
    Support for the Kennedy amendment among Democrats was less than unanimous,
    in part because the White House had agreed to support the $1.10 level and
    lobbied against any increase.
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Diplomat Seeks Post Of Ambassador To Mexico (Background Piece
    In 'The San Jose Mercury News' On Relations With Mexico And The Prospects
    Of Jeffrey Davidow, A Career Diplomat Likely To Be Confirmed By The US Senate
    As The Next Ambassador To Mexico)
    
    Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 18:50:09 -0500
    To: mapnews@mapinc.org
    From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
    Subject: MN: MEXICO: Diplomat Seeks Post Of Ambassador To Mexico
    Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
    Newshawk: Marcus-Mermelstein Family
    Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
    Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 1998
    Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
    Website: http://www.sjmercury.com
    
    JIM PUZZANGHERA
    Mercury News Staff Writer
    
    DIPLOMAT SEEKS POST OF AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO
    
    Davidow's prospects for Senate approval better than Weld's
    
    WASHINGTON -- Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Davidow will stride
    into a stately, wood-paneled hearing room this afternoon and fold his
    6-foot-6 frame into a maroon leather chair facing members of the
    Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
    
    With those unspectacular actions, he will have taken one giant step
    farther in his quest to become the next ambassador to Mexico than
    President Clinton's last nominee.
    
    Last summer, committee Chairman Jesse Helms, in a battle of political
    wills, refused to grant a hearing to former Massachusetts Gov. William
    Weld for the position.
    
    If, as expected, Davidow's nomination encounters no major roadblocks
    in today's hearing, the career diplomat with an irrepressible sense of
    humor and a deep understanding of Latin America could soon be walking
    into the ambassador's residence in Mexico City.
    
    And the United States could be on its way to repairing the
    public-relations damage it has suffered south of the border by leaving
    the post vacant for nearly a year during a crucial juncture in
    relations between the two countries.
    
    Drugs, immigration, trade, political strife and a fragile economy in a
    country that shares more than 1,000 miles of border with the United
    States make Mexico perhaps our most crucial and complicated foreign
    relation, diplomatic experts say.
    
    California's stake
    
    Nowhere are the stakes larger than in California.
    
    The state is home to more than 6 million people of Mexican descent and
    conducts more foreign trade with Mexico than any other country besides
    Japan. But the relationship has been strained by California's passage
    in 1994 of Proposition 187, which denied benefits to undocumented
    immigrants, and Gov. Pete Wilson's outspoken stance against illegal
    immigration, Mexican drug traffic and bilingual education. Wilson is
    so unpopular in Mexico that the country's ambassador to the United
    States met secretly with him last month to avoid public
    embarrassment.
    
    A U.S. ambassador in Mexico could help improve relations with
    California, said Professor Gregorio Mora Torres, who teaches
    Mexican-American history at San Jose State University.
    
    ``I think the relations between Mexico and California are not very
    good; people are very aware of the anti-Mexican hysteria going on
    there,'' Torres said. ``He's not representing California specifically,
    but he may be able to show Mexicans that, in fact, California politics
    are influenced by local issues, not national issues.''
    
    Powerful symbolism
    
    The top spot in Mexico City -- home to the United States' largest
    foreign embassy -- has been vacant since June. Mexico sees the choice
    of ambassador sent to its country as a symbol of how the United States
    views it, experts said.
    
    The appointment of a politically powerful friend of the president
    shows the country is viewed in high regard. A vacancy that lasts for
    months on end means it isn't.
    
    ``There's a myth among the Latin Americans that they have to have this
    very well-known national figure as the U.S. ambassador, that it's a
    reflection of the importance of the country,'' said Otto Reich, a
    former ambassador to Venezuela who is now a consultant for U.S.
    companies on international trade and investment.
    
    Mexicans saw Weld, at the time one of the country's most prominent
    governors, a rising star in the moderate wing of the Republican Party
    and an old friend of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton's, as just such a
    figure, Reich said.
    
    But Weld's support for the use of marijuana for some medicinal
    purposes and of needle-exchange programs for drug addicts ran head-on
    into the rock-solid conservatism of Helms, a North Carolina Republican.
    
    Helms believed that Weld's liberal stance on these key drug issues
    made him less than ideal to be ambassador to a country in which
    illegal drugs are a significant problem. Weld had also angered Helms
    in 1996 by not pledging to support re-election of Helms as committee
    chairman during Weld's unsuccessful run for the Senate. Helms used his
    chairmanship to block a hearing for Weld, who withdrew last September
    after a very public, two-month fight.
    
    When Weld backed out, Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., another committee
    member, urged Clinton to pick an experienced diplomat who could easily
    be confirmed. Clinton obliged, tapping Davidow on April 28.
    
    But people who know Davidow say Mexico won't be getting some mousy
    civil servant, a gray bureaucrat who melts into the wallpaper. First
    of all, that's hard to do when you stand as tall as Michael Jordan.
    
    ``It seems silly, but that's worth something, when you have somebody
    moving around and being visible,'' said Martin Needler, dean of the
    University of the Pacific's School of International Studies. People in
    Latin American countries tend to emphasize a person's physical
    attributes much more than they do in the United States, Reich said.
    
    Davidow, a 29-year State Department veteran who is fluent in Spanish,
    has been ambassador to Zambia and Venezuela. Since mid-1996, Davidow,
    54, has served as assistant secretary for Inter-American Affairs, the
    State Department's top person in Latin America.
    
    Latin American expertise
    
    ``Imagine a gentleman who has lived there (in Latin America) for many
    years, totally fluent in Spanish, who has enjoyed the culture and the
    people, who has many, many friends all over the continent,'' said
    Sergio Casanueva, the Mexican consul in San Jose. ``I'm looking
    forward to seeing his performance because I'm sure it's going to be a
    fascinating performance. . . . He could be a great ambassador.''
    
    Reich has seen Davidow perform in the past. He was Reich's No. 2
    official in the Venezuelan embassy from 1986 to 1988.
    
    ``He's probably one of the most talented people I have ever worked
    with, in or out of government,'' Reich said. ``I can't overemphasize
    the diplomatic way in which he gets things done.''
    
    Part of that diplomacy, Reich and others said, is Davidow's use of his
    sense of humor.
    
    ``Latins tend to be generally pretty formal, much more formal than we
    are, and he disarms them with a very self-deprecating sense of humor,
    and I think they really like it,'' said Peter Romero, Davidow's deputy
    in Inter-American Affairs. ``At least you can tell that they really
    warm to him as a result. He is the direct antithesis of
    aloofness.''
    
    As is his style, Davidow made a quip when he was sworn into his
    current job in 1996: He called Thomas Jefferson's attempt to stop
    exports the ``Hams-Bourbon Act'' because it targeted ham producers and
    corn-liquor distillers. The pun played off the Helms-Burton Act, which
    imposes economic sanctions against Cuba.
    
    That topic, however, might not be a laughing matter at today's
    hearing. Helms reportedly has not been happy with the way Davidow has
    enforced a section of the act, which denies U.S. visas to top
    executives of foreign companies that do business on Cuban property
    confiscated from Americans after Fidel Castro's revolutionaries took
    control in 1959.
    
    But Helms' problems with Davidow are minor compared to his problems
    with Weld. Senate sources said the simple fact that Davidow is getting
    the hearing Weld was denied means that Helms will allow the nomination
    to be approved.
    
    Davidow's handling of that issue, should it arise at today's hearing,
    is an example of the many political situations he'll be faced with if
    he becomes ambassador. That's a concern about career diplomats, who
    often are unaccustomed to dealing with politics. But Reich said
    Davidow had been around Washington for long enough in his current,
    politically charged post, that he should handle it fine.
    
    ``He's a very unusual and very capable person. . . . I'm sure he'll do
    a very good job,'' Reich said. ``And I hope they have very tall door
    jambs.''
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Two New Lists In Spanish - NA-Latina And Adicciones (Calyx Webmaster
    Announces Debut Of E-Mail Listservers For Harm Reduction Issues
    And Narcotics Anonymous Members, Sponsored By
    The Drug Policy Foundation)
    
    Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 21:18:53 EDT
    Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
    Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
    From: Nicholas Merrill (lists@mojo.calyx.net)
    To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org)
    Subject: 2 New Lists (in Spanish)- NA-Latina and Adicciones
    
    There are two new lists being run from the DPF-sponsored list server
    here at Calyx:
    
    Adicciones@calyx.net
    
    which is a list concerning addiction and harm reduction in Spanish
    this list already has subscribers from Peru, Finland, Argentina, France,
    Spain, and Mexico, the USA and Panama
    
    Here is a short description in Spanish:
    El foro de discusisn acerca de las adicciones.
    
    To subscribe to adicciones send an email to listproc@calyx.net with
    the subject blank and with the BODY of the message containing nothing
    but the following words:
    
    subscribe adicciones yourname
    
    and
    
    NA-Latina@calyx.net
    
    which is a Narcotics Anonymous support mailing list in Spanish
    this list has subscribers from Honduras, Bolivia, Argentina, Spain,
    Uraguay, Puerto Rico, the USA and Panama
    
    here is a short description in Spanish:
    
    El foro de comunicacion electronico de habla hispana para los miembros de
    Narcoticos Anonimos.
    
    To subscribe to NA-Latina send an email to listproc@calyx.net with
    the subject blank and with the BODY of the message containing nothing
    but the following words:
    
    subscribe na-latina yourname
    
    
    ***
    
    Nicholas Merrill
    24 Hour pager: 917-381-0500
    Voice: 212-966-1900
    President / CEO
    http://www.calyx.net
    Fax : 212-966-3965
    Calyx Internet Access
    13-17 Laight St.
    NYC NY 10013
    Email: nick@calyx.net
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Weekly Action Report On Drug Policies, Year 4, Number 11
    (Summary For Activists Of International Drug Policy News,
    From CORA In Italy)
    
    Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 13:46:13 EDT
    Originator: drctalk@drcnet.org
    Sender: drctalk@drcnet.org
    From: cora.belgique@agora.stm.it
    To: Multiple recipients of list (drctalk@drcnet.org)
    Subject: CORAFax 11 (EN)
    
    ANTIPROHIBITIONIST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD ....
    Year 4 #11, May 21 1998
    
    ***
    
    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
    
    ***
    
    director:Vincenzo Donvito All rights reserved
    
    ***
    
    http://www.agora.stm.it/coranet/
    mailto:cora.news@agora.stm.it
    
    NEWS FROM THE CORA
    
    ***
    
    EP / INTERVENTION OF TRP SECRETARY ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS
    
    Olivier Dupuis (of the ARE group) said: "the PPE, the Very New Labour
    and the Scandinavians are not aware of the fact they have lost the
    first war against drugs of the traditional type. This is so true that
    even if there are already 5 million consumers, they 're inventing a new
    war, which is lost in the beginning.
    
    ***
    
    ITALY / THE REAL OFFENCE TO DECENCY IS REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC
    SERVICES TO DRUG ADDICTS
    
    This is what Giulio Manfredi of the CORA says
    about the arrest of a Turinese who was arrested while injecting heroin
    in a public square.
    
    ***
    
    UNDCP IN CHINA / ARLACCHI EXPRESSES CONGRATULATIONS FOR EFFECTIVENESS
    OF WAR AGAINST DRUGS
    
    In a note the TRP underlines that this battle is
    being conducted employing the death penalty for drug dealers and
    consumers. This is in contrast with the International Convention on
    Narcotics, which establishes a "minimum level of punishment" for this
    kind of offence.
    
    ***
    
    CHIRAC / G8 SUMMIT
    
    The TRP sends its congratulations to the French President for his
    stance on light drugs, which is in tune with the frivolous atmosphere
    of the summit. While Chirac chooses to protect young people and put
    them on guard, other countries of the EU are discussing
    depenalization.
    
    ***
    
    NEWS FROM THE WORLD
    
    ***
    
    000036 20/05/98
    E.U. / ITALY / TURIN
    ADDICTION / RIGHTS
    LA STAMPA
    
    To inject heroin on public premises can cause police arrest for
    offence against decency. This has happened to an addict who was
    injecting in a city square. For the police forces these are 'new
    rule', but the opinion of Carmelo Palma of the CORA is that 'drug
    addicts may create problems for public security, not decency'.
    
    ***
    
    000035 20/05/98
    AMERICA / MEXICO
    DRUG MAFIA / RECYCLING / DENOUNCES
    HERALD TRIBUNE / SUEDDEUTSCHE Z. / LE MONDE 21/05
    
    The Ministry of Finance has denounced 12 out of 19 Mexican banks for
    recycling of dirty money from international drug traffic. A three
    year long investigation has evidenced links between Mexican and
    Columbian cartels and the banks.
    
    ***
    
    000026 18/05/98
    E.U. / ITALY
    INFORMATION / PUBLICITY
    CORRIERE DELLA SERA
    
    The Jury which auto regulates publicity has stigmatized the videoclip
    'Acido-Acida', of the pop group Prozac + because, the Jury says, it
    propagandizes drug consumption. The members of the pop group answer:
    'Young people are well aware of reality, and know that it is also made
    of ugly things'
    
    ***
    
    000027 18/05/98
    E.U. / ITALY
    INFORMATION / PUBLICITY
    CORRIERE DELLA SERA
    
    The Italian Society of Psychopathology is against the new Government
    anti-drug campaign, which in some cases puts use of anti depressive
    medicines and use of drugs on the same level. This, they say, is an
    insult to those who are fighting against depression.
    
    ***
    
    000028 18/05/98
    E.U.
    INFORMATION / REPORT
    CORRIERE DELLA SERA / IL GIORNALE / IL MESSAGGERO
    
    A report of the Pompidou Centre - the anti drug nucleus of the
    European Council on drugs, alcohol and tobacco consumption among
    European adolescents - says that diffusion of legal and illegal drugs
    is very high. In Italy 21% of adolescents smokes marijuana; 42% in
    Ireland and the United Kingdom.
    
    ***
    
    000025 15/05/98
    E.U. / FRANCE
    JURYSPRUDENCE / SENTENCE / NEWS
    LIBERATION
    
    The Tribunal Correctionel has recognised the Collectif d'Information
    et de Recherche Cannabique guilty of having violated the prohibition
    to demonstrate during the '18th joint', which took place on the 22nd
    of June of 1997, but has not sentenced any punishment. This is a new
    fact which spurs the CIRC to fight for a revision of the 1970 law on
    drugs.
    
    ***
    
    000029 16/05/98
    AMERICA / USA / KENTUCKY
    LAWS / CULTIVATION
    FINANCIAL TIMES
    
    A group of farmers has resorted to the Federal Court asking to be
    allowed to cultivate hemp. They say that Congress, with its
    'Controlled Substances Act' has not prohibited cultivation of hemp for
    industrial use, which should be governed by different laws than those
    which control marijuana growing.
    
    ***
    
    000030 13/05/98
    E.U. / GB
    LAWS / PRISONERS
    THE TIMES
    
    Prisoners who use marijuana will be treated less severely than those
    who use heroin and cocaine, but this should not be seen as pardoning.
    The Government will repress consumption of heavy drugs, which are more
    dangerous for health and safety in the prisons.
    
    ***
    
    000033 20/05/98
    E.U. / GERMANY / HAMMBOURG
    MARKET / SMUGGLERS / SENTENCE
    FRANKFURTER / SUEDDEUTSCHE Z.
    
    The Constitutional Court has accepted the reasons of a drug smuggler
    who had denounced the police that imposed surgery on him to remove 14
    cocaine capsules from his stomach. The Court has asked that it be
    verified whether police forces are guilty of injury.
    
    ***
    
    000034 19/05/98
    E.U.
    MARKET / TRANSPORT / CONTROLS
    LIBERATION
    
    On the night between the 16th and the 17th of May police forces and
    excise officers have operated thousands of controls in road blocks on
    'drug routes' in the Schengen territory, between Holland, Belgium and
    France. Other controls have taken place on Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris
    trains. As a result high quantities of drugs have been sequestered.
    
    ***
    
    000031 13/05/98
    E.U. / GB
    WAR ON DRUGS
    THE TIMES
    
    The anti-drug 'tzar' Keith Hellawell says that one of his targets is
    to fight the campaign for legalization of cannabis that is being
    brought forth by the 'Independent on Sunday'. Hellawell claims that
    the campaign would cause an augment in heroin consumption among young
    people.
    
    ***
    
    000037 20/05/98
    WAR ON DRUGS
    IL MESSAGGERO / LA REPUBBLICA
    
    After three years the USA have finished the 'Casablanca' operation.
    With the aid of the Italian Carabinieri a gigantic international
    recycliing of narco-dollars that involved banks, managers and mafia
    bosses from Columbia, Mexico, Italy, the USA and other countries has
    been blocked.
    
    ***
    
    000032 17/05/98
    E.U. / GB / BIRMINGHAM
    WAR ON DRUGS / SUMMIT
    CORRIERE DELLA SERA / IL MESSAGGERO / IL SOLE 24 ORE / LA REPUBBLICA /
    LA STAMPA / THE WALL STREET / FINANCIAL TIMES / LIBERATION / LE MONDE
    / THE TIMES
    
    The G8 summit will take on the task of reducing
    production, demand and dealing of drugs and drug addiction. Clinton
    and Chirac have stated once again their firm contriarity to the
    depenalization of light drugs.
    
    ***
    
    CLIPPINGS
    
    ***
    
    ITALY - The Italian Senator Pedrizzi, of Alleanza Nazionale (a
    moderate right-wing opposition party) has asked the Government to
    "Stop the pop group Prozac+, because their songs are a celebration of
    drug consumption".
    
    ITALY - Drug traffic and dirty money recycling. Police forces in
    Bergamo put up a trap consisting in a fake financial company. Three
    banks are under observation: BNL, Rolo and MPS.
    
    USA - An anti-prohibitionist interview with the Nobel Prize Milton
    Friedman appears on the "San Jose Mercury News"
    
    WORLD - 5th - 10th of June will be the '1998 Global days against the
    Drug War'. Anti-prohibitionist initiatives will take place in various
    parts of the world.
    
    ***
    
    CORA
    
    -COORDINATION RADICALE ANTIPROHIBITIONNISTE
    -ANTIPROHIBITIONIST RADICAL COORDINATION
    -COORDINAMENTO RADICALE ANTIPROIBIZIONISTA
    
    Federated with the Transnational Radical Party NGO
    with category I consultative status at the UN
    
    Emailto:cora.news@agora.it
    
    http://www.agora.stm.it/coranet
    
    Emailto:cora.belgique@agora.it
    
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    

    [End]

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