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Our Guide To The 1998 Ballot Measures - Chainsaws, Bongs
& One-Eyed Jacks (Willamette Week in Portland opposes Measure 57,
recriminalizing possession of less than one ounce of cannabis,
and endorses Measure 67, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.)
Willamette Week
822 SW 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97205
Tel. (503) 243-2122
Fax (503) 243-1115
Letters to the Editor:
Mark Zusman - mzusman@wweek.com
Web: http://www.wweek.com/
Note: Willamette Week welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or
fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street
address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to
letters of 250 words or less.
Our Guide To The 1998 Ballot Measures - Chainsaws, Bongs & One-Eyed Jacks
originally published October 14, 1998
[excerpted]
Measure 57
Recriminalizes Possession Of Small Amounts Of Marijuana
Perceived Problem
The demon weed
How It Would Work
This measure's history is as long as a Rastafarian's dreadlocks and just as
twisted. Twenty-five years ago, Oregon was the second state in the nation to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot. Last session, the
Legislature suddenly started worrying about it. Lawmakers passed a bill to
recriminalize possession of less than an ounce, which the governor
"reluctantly" signed. Then some motivated marijuana advocates (how's that
for an oxymoron?) gathered enough signatures to force the Legislature to
halt enactment of the law and refer it to the ballot for voters to decide.
Hence we are forced to wade into a silly debate that was resolved a quarter
of a century ago. Under current law--and if the measure fails--an adult
caught with less than an ounce of marijuana is simply given a citation and
ordered to pay a fine between $500 and $1,000.
If Measure 57 passes, pot-carrying adults could be charged with a crime (a
misdemeanor) and fined. They could also be incarcerated, but that's highly
unlikely. Authorities say they'll continue to treat most marijuana
possession cases as infractions. Many other pot offenders will probably be
sentenced to probation. Juvenile offenders will be forced into diversion
programs and lose their driver's licenses.
Ultimate Conclusion
Why are we suddenly threatening pot smokers with criminal sanctions?
Proponents say it's about kids, and they point to a statistic from the state
Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs that at first glance seems
startling: Since 1990 Oregon eighth graders' use of marijuana has tripled
and is 36 percent above the national average.
Even us squishy liberals at WW don't think pre-pubescent puffing is a good
thing. But we're sober enough to see through the smoke and mirrors. That
statistic has nothing to do with decriminalization 25 years ago. Marijuana
use among Oregon teens has risen and fallen over the last 10 years,
independent of any changes in laws regarding its use. And although reported
pot use among Oregon eighth graders is higher today than in 1990, it's lower
than in 1986 and 1988. Furthermore, the surveys don't necessarily show how
much pot is being used. It just shows how many people are reporting pot use.
Blame this measure on Portland Police Chief Charles Moose and his buddies in
blue. They won't admit it, but the Police Chiefs Association, which brought
recriminalization to the Legislature last session, wasn't so much worried
about kids. Instead, it was frothing to expand its search and seizure
powers. Making pot use a crime would allow police to search people caught
with a joint--and perhaps find evidence of more serious crimes.
We're opposed to expanding search and seizure powers any further,
particularly since those powers were just expanded in July to allow more
searches of people who haven't even been accused of any crime.
We're also concerned about abuses of power that recriminalization could
bring. Police have already conceded that the new law will be only
selectively enforced. So who, exactly, are they going to bust?
Interestingly, even the proponents have backed away from this one. They've
raised exactly $309. Chief Moose, meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen on this
issue.
You Oughta Know
This one is kind of confusing, so put down that bong and listen very
closely: A vote in the no column is a vote for peace, love and
understanding. Vote yes and you're just saying no to drugs. Got it?
***
Measure 67
Exempts People With Debilitating Conditions From State Laws That Prohibit
Growing And Using Marijuana
Perceived Problem
Too hard to score if you're sore
How It Would Work
Despite what opponents may claim, if this measure passes, your doctor won't
have free reign to say "take two hits and call me in the morning," every
time you get a case of the sniffles. The measure is limited to specific
conditions such as cancer, glaucoma and HIV, as well as things like cachexia
(malnutrition or "wasting," frequently associated with AIDS), severe pain
and nausea, seizures and muscle spasms.
People with these ailments or symptoms would need a doctor to confirm that
medical marijuana may help. Patients would then register with the State
Health Division for a medical-marijuana card. With the card they would, in
essence, have permission from the state to maintain seven marijuana plants
(three mature, four immature) and carry up to one ounce on their person. For
those who can't grow their own, a "primary caregiver" can be chosen to be
the green thumb.
Ultimate Conclusion
Opponents raise three serious concerns.
First, Measure 67 would send the wrong message to children. If Johnny sees
grandpa light up after chemotherapy, the little tyke may think there's
nothing wrong with taking a toke himself.
Second, there is debate over the actual medicinal value. There need to be
more studies of marijuana, Measure 67 foes say. If the feds consequently
approve the drug, reefer should be reclassified and available through
doctors, who can control and monitor usage with clearly understood
guidelines. The current measure allows people to self-medicate as if pot
were echinacea.
Finally, law-enforcement officials say Measure 67 would disrupt their lives.
For starters, they're not too keen on the requirement that if police
officers seize plants from someone who uses the medical-marijuana defense,
they have to keep the cannabis alive.
But their biggest gripe is that the measure provides an out for people who
don't get a card: Anyone who gets busted can attempt to use medical
marijuana as a defense in court--even for conditions not listed in the law.
Cops and prosecutors fear that defense attorneys and sympathetic doctors
will tie the courts up with medical-marijuana claims, some of them bogus. If
the measure is truly about medicine, they ask, why leave that loophole?
But all those arguments fall flat for people who are sick and dying.
WW has spoken with several people with a variety of ailments who have been
secretly using marijuana for years. We're not talking about Deadheads; we're
talking about members of the Elks Lodge.
For them, Marinol, the synthetic THC, does not work.
It's true that some able-bodied stoners will try to use medical marijuana as
a defense when they get busted. And the courts will have to deal with that.
If it becomes a serious enough problem, the Legislature can fix it.
As for further study, whether you blame it on the drug war, the
pharmaceutical companies, the politicians or the American Medical
Association, there hasn't been enough pressure on the feds to get them to
take action on medical marijuana. If this measure, and similar measures
elsewhere, pushes them in that direction, all the better. Until then, sick
people should not have to buy their medicine on the street.
You Oughta Know
So far, all the money in support of this measure ($153,897) has come from
Americans for Medical Rights. AMR originally formed in California for
Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana there, and is now funding
six other medical-marijuana measures--in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada,
Colorado and the District of Columbia. AMR advocates legalizing marijuana
for everyone, not just sick people. But the chief petitioner, Dr. Richard
Bayer, is no pothead. His drug of choice is Mountain Dew, and he says he's
not trying to make pot legal. He just wants to make it available for those
who need it.
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UO gets grant to battle drinking (The Register-Guard in Eugene says a survey
of students at the University of Oregon suggests surprisingly many think
everyone else is doing drugs but them, sort of like the McCarthy era, when
everyone suspected everyone else was a communist. Although students thought
90.9 percent of other students used marijuana in the past month, only 29
percent did - 66 percent were thought to have consumed cannabis in the past
week, but only 18 percent did.)
Register-Guard
Eugene, Oregon
http://www.registerguard.com/
letters to editor:
http://www.registerguard.com/standingdocs/feedback.html
UO gets grant to battle drinking
October 14, 1998
By REBECCA HUNTINGTON
The Register-Guard
University of Oregon students believe their peers drink alcohol and smoke
marijuana more than they actually do. And that perception, UO officials say,
leads students to consume more themselves.
The UO announced plans Tuesday to launch an educational campaign to clear up
those misperceptions, thanks to a $236,000 grant from the U.S. Department of
Education.
The UO is one of seven universities nationwide selected for the grant, out
of 58 that applied, under the Education Department's Drug Free Schools Program.
"This grant is very significant in that it affirms the efforts already under
way at the University of Oregon to help address and combat a serious problem
of alcohol and drug abuse," UO President Dave Frohnmayer said Tuesday.
The UO began an effort last year to educate students about the actual rates
of campus drinking after a survey found that students far overestimated the
percentage of their peers who drink and use drugs.
Students, especially freshmen, are "going to try to fit into the norm,
whether that's real or imaginary," said Linda Devine, a UO assistant dean of
student life. Changing perceptions could be a tough sell, however. UO
students interviewed Tuesday said they don't think the UO's findings reflect
reality.
Education campaigns have gained credibility as the schools that pioneered
the efforts have reported positive results.
Northern Illinois University, for example, launched a mass-media campaign to
change student perceptions. Six years later, students reported a 35 percent
reduction in binge drinking. They also reported 31 percent fewer
alcohol-related injuries to themselves and 54 percent fewer alcohol-related
injuries to others.
College efforts to change student drinking habits have also gained urgency
in the wake of a string of alcohol-related deaths on campuses across the
country, said Laura Blake Jones, a UO associate dean of student life. She
also cited a national study showing that drinking has a significant impact
on academic performance.
The new UO campaign will target freshmen through their professors, dormitory
staff, the Greek system, interest groups and athletic staff. The plan also
calls for expanding late-night activities to keep students on campus and to
give them nonalcoholic forms of entertainment.
The UO will also intensify an advertising campaign, using posters and other
displays to spread the slogan: "When they party, 80 percent of UO students
drink zero to four drinks." The slogan is based on a UO student survey.
If students know how much their peers are drinking, Jones said, "they're
less likely to drink up to the misperception." In addition, the UO next year
will become one of the first colleges to target misperceptions about
marijuana, Devine said.
In last year's survey, students said 96 percent of their peers drank at
least once a week. But only 52 percent of students surveyed reported
drinking that often - a 44 percent gap between perception and reality.
Likewise, while students said 90 percent of their peers smoke marijuana at
least once a month, only 29 percent reported doing so.
However, students interviewed at the student union Tuesday expressed
skepticism about the UO's findings of actual use.
"I would definitely guess higher," said junior Alex O'Brien, 20. "My friends
drink a lot. It just depends on who you hang out with." Sophomore Whitney
O'Neill, 18, said she and her friends drink eight to 12 beers each at
parties. "Usually it's like three trips to the store," she said.
Louise Powell, a junior, said the findings on actual marijuana use appear
low. "It's illegal, so are a lot of people going to admit `Yeah, I smoke it
once a month'? "
REALITY GAP
A University of Oregon survey of 477 students in winter 1997 found that
students believe that their peers are drinking and taking drugs at a much
higher rate than they actually are.
Use at least once a month Use at least once a week
Substance
Perceived use Actual use Perceived use Actual use
Alcohol 99% 72% 96% 52%
Tobacco 96% 38% 89% 29%
Marijuana 90.9% 29% 66% 18%
Cocaine 24% xx 6% xx
Amphetamines 37% 2% 11% 1%
Sedatives 22% 1% 5% xx
Hallucinogens 32% 2% 6% xx
Opiates 16% xx 4% xx
Inhalants 14% xx 3% xx
Designer drugs 23% xx 5% xx
Steroids 20% xx 5% xx
Other 22% xx 7% xx
- xx denotes that use was less than 0.5 percent
Copyright (c) 1998 The Register-Guard
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State RICO law snares four of worst gangsters (The Oregonian
notes the imminent incarceration of four racketeers in Portland,
but not what they were racketeering in.)
[ed. note: It is odd that the ensuing article doesn't mention what these four
people were racketeering in. There is not even a single mention of
"drugs," for example. From this story, the defendants could have been
stealing cars, or selling atomic bombs, or smuggling illegal aliens, or any
number of other possible criminal enterprises. But if their "criminal
enterprise" indeed involved "drugs," you can bet these four guys won't show
up in the statistics as drug war prisoners. This article provides additional
evidence to Portland NORML's ongoing efforts to show how such prisoners
are intentionally and systematically undercounted.)
The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/
State RICO law snares 4 of worst gangsters
* The men, rated among the most dangerous in Portland, plead guilty or no
contest
Wednesday, October 14 1998
By David R. Anderson
of The Oregonian staff
Four gang members accused by prosecutors of being among the most dangerous
in Portland have pleaded guilty or no contest to racketeering charges.
The four agreed on Monday and Tuesday to sentences ranging from 4 1/2 to 7 1/2
years in prison rather than face trial.
The case against six members of the Kerby Blocc Crips is the second time
that the Multnomah County district attorney's office has used the law
against street gangs. And the racketeering prosecutions, along with tougher
sentences under Measure 11, are two factors that helped account for a
relatively quiet summer among Los Angeles-style gangs in Portland,
prosecutors said.
"They may be still carrying guns, but they're not using them like they used
to," said Tom Edmonds, a senior deputy district attorney.
Quantrill Thomas Bright, 27, Lamont David Carter, 23, and Harry James Villa
III, 23, pleaded guilty to racketeering. Tamir Hassan Lawrence, 21, pleaded
no contest to racketeering.
The 1981 Legislature passed the Oregon Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organization Act, which is patterned after federal statutes, commonly called
RICO. Prosecutors must prove a criminal enterprise exists and that the
defendants are members of the enterprise and have committed at least two
crimes on behalf of the enterprise.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Henry Kantor followed a deal between
prosecutors and Carter's attorney and sentenced him to 7 1/2 years in prison.
The three others will be formally sentenced in January. But Bright agreed to
four years and nine months in prison, Lawrence to 4 1/2 years in prison and
Villa to five years and 10 months in prison.
All four are eligible for good-time credits, so they might have their
sentences reduced by as much as 20 percent.
A fifth suspect, Amonne Lee Brown, 26, is scheduled to appear in court at
9:30 a.m. today. And the sixth defendant, Jonathan Demetrius Norman, 27, has
a racketeering charge pending against him, but prosecutors would not comment
on the status of his case.
Prosecutors originally planned to use the Oregon racketeering law against
eight Crips members. However, before indictments were prepared, Marcus
Catrell Jones, 23, was shot and killed as he played dominoes in a North
Portland house on Aug. 26, 1996. Then, Anthony Branch Jr., known on the
streets as " 'lil Smurf," was killed when shot in the neck outside a
Northeast Portland nude dance bar on Oct. 9, 1997.
Carter's attorney, James Halley, said that all the crimes committed by his
client were as a juvenile.
"My view is that the statute wasn't written for this type of prosecution,"
Halley said. "It certainly smacks of punishing a person again for something
they've already been punished for."
But prosecutors said these men continued to be the leaders among the Crips
gang and several committed crimes while they were released pending trial.
Police examined the criminal records of more than 400 suspected gang members
and used a secret formula to determine the most dangerous members within
that gang.
The first time prosecutors used the law, 15 members of two Bloods sets --
the Woodlawn Park Bloods and the Loc'd Out Pirus -- were convicted of
racketeering and other crimes in 1995. The average sentence was nearly eight
years, ranging from 18 months to 39 years.
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Man caught in North Portland raid faces charges (An Oregonian update
on the case of Larry Anderson says the owner of property coveted by county
officials is not being charged with trafficking, only possession.)
The Oregonian
letters to editor:
letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Web: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Man caught in N. Portland raid faces charges
Larry Anderson's attorney says his client will plead not guilty to counts
involving drugs and destructive devices
Wednesday, October 14 1998
By Maxine Bernstein of The Oregonian staff
Court records show that Portland police seized two baggies with a small
amount of methamphetamine and marijuana, 17 guns, two cannons, two grenades
and two police vests during a raid on a North Portland property that
involved the shooting of four dogs.
The Oct. 2 search of Larry Andersons home at 9014 N. Lombard St. and his
adjacent motorcycle-parts shop led to a grand jury indictment this week.
Anderson, 50, is expected to plead not guilty Monday to possession of a
controlled substance, child neglect, four counts of unlawful manufacture of
a destructive device and four counts of possession of a destructive device,
his attorney, Zack Lorts, said Tuesday.
"We're going to vigorously defend the case, and he denies the charges,"
Lorts said.
The grand jury did not indict Anderson on charges of selling
methamphetamine, which police alleged when he was first taken into custody.
Search warrant records filed Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court show
police confiscated a small amount of methamphetamine and marijuana from the
office of Andersons motorcycle parts shop. They found one baggie containing
methamphetamine on the office floor in his shop and another baggie
containing marijuana in a file cabinet drawer.
Police also seized a Tupperware container holding a "white crystalline
substance" and a "glass pipe with residue" located in the shop office, the
documents show.
Also confiscated from the office were two homemade hand grenades, two
carbide cannons and eight books on guns, booby traps, explosives and
demolitions, and motorcycle gangs, court records show. A couple of scales,
numerous baggies and various chemicals, including ammonium nitrate and
potassium chlorate, were also taken from the shop.
Most of the guns, including one shotgun and several rifles, were seized from
the shop. Anderson has described himself as a gun collector and said the
cannons are like toys. He said he set off one of his black powder cannons
outside his home last Veterans Day, which drew dozens of police officers to
his home.
Portland narcotics detectives, assisted by the police Special Emergency
Reaction Team and the Washington County sheriff's SWAT Team, surrounded the
house and motorcycle shop shortly after noon Oct. 2.
Anderson was taken into custody outside his home, but police forced their
way into the house and business when Andersons wife attempted to block them,
police and witnesses said. Police shot and killed Andersons four
Rottweilers, which police described as attack dogs, as they burst into the
house and shop.
Anderson thinks law enforcement officials are trying to push him from the
property, which Multnomah County has wanted for several years for a new
health clinic. Anderson owns the one parcel of land that is holding up the
clinics construction.
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Mikuriya In Sonora (The Anderson Valley Advertiser, in Boonville, California,
does a feature article about Dr. Tod H. Mikuriya, the Berkeley psychiatrist
whose experience as the former director of marijuana research for the federal
government has led hundreds of patients to seek his recommendation for
cannabis under California's Proposition 215. Dr. Mikuriya's activism has led
Attorney General Dan Lungren's office to single out the Quaker-raised patient
advocate for scrutiny, but district attorneys find it difficult to challenge
his testimony successfully.)
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 16:42:25 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Mikuriya In Sonora
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: d9 www.civilliberties.org
Pubdate: Wed, 14 October 1998
Source: Anderson Valley Advertiser (CA)
Copyright: Anderson Valley Advertiser
Contact: ava@pacific.net
Fax: 707/ 895-3355
Author: Fred Gardner
MIKURIYA IN SONORA
At 5 a.m. on a Friday morning in late September, Tod Mikuriya, MD,
leaves his house in the Berkeley hills to drive to Sonora to testify
in what he sarcastically calls "a wrong metabolite syndrome case." The
defendant, Robert Hemstalk (his people must have grown hemp once upon
a time), is a man in his 50s who tested positive for cannabinoids back
in March, one day after Mikuriya had recommended that he use marijuana
for relief of chronic pain and as an alternative to alcohol. "He
suffers encephalopathy, including cerebellar degeneration with obvious
ataxia when he walks," says Mikuriya, who interviewed Hemstalk at the
Oakland cannabis Co-op last spring. (You may have heard the condition
described as "wet brain.")
Robert Hemstalk's original crime was cultivation of three plants --
"for self medication," according to Mikuriya. "But in most of the 215
cases people plea bargain their rights away. They're facing time,
they're scared, and they take probation with the usual conditions --
meaning you give up every civil right. They can come by any hour of
the day or night and do a full search with digs, trash your
apartment...." Hemstalk accepted diversion and had to report to a
substance abuse program for urine testing. He tested clean for eight
months. After his counselor, Travis S. Busey, Jr., told Hemstalk that
a doctor's recommendation would entitle him to use marijuana, he drove
to Oakland and got one from Dr. Mikuriya. When he then tested positive
he was violated, as they say, and found himself facing prison time.
For three plants.
"It's just blatant non-compliance with the law," says Mikuriya, who,
at 62, still seems slightly surprised that not everybody took their
civics lessons as seriously as he did. "You have the government
blocking safe, affordable access when the law says it has to ensure
safe and affordable address. They're acting directly contrary to the
wording of the law and the will of the people." The law he refers ro
is section 11362.5 of the California Health and Safety Code -- born as
Prop 215.
Mikuriya was not keen to make the three-hour drive to the Sierra
foothills. He's had to cancel appointments because Tuolomne County
Superior Court Judge Eric DuTemple -- a Republican, like every
superior court judge appointed in California in the last 16 years --
had refused to accept into evidence a written declaration confirming
and explaining Mikuriya's recommendation of marijuana to Hemstalk.
DuTemple had also rebuffed the public defender's attempt to have
Mikuriya designated an expert witness -- which would have meant
remuneration of $400 an hour, the going rate for medical expert testimony.
Mikuriya has been denied expert witness status by other judges in
several other counties and is filing complaints against them with a
state agency called the Commission on Judicial Performance. He
testified without remuneration at a hearing in Humboldt for Pebbles
Trippet, and will do so again at her Trial (it's scheduled for October
19). The four charges against Trippet are possession and
transportation, which she doesn't deny, and intent to sell and driving
while impaired, which she denies unequivocally.
Because threats from the federal government have left so few doctors
in California willing to provide written recommendations for patients
with conditions covered by Prop 215, more than 1,000 people have
sought out Mikuriya; he has given the green light to cannabis to some
900. "I've never induced anybody to take cannabis," he says. "In my
contact with patients I passively listen and trust what they tell me."
Attorney General Lungren's office has singled out Mikuriya fro
scrutiny. Last September John Gordiner, the senior assistant whom
Lungren assigned to enforce his "narrow interpretation" of Prop 215,
sent a memo to the District Attorneys of California's 58 counties
asking to be informed of any cases involving Mikuriya. Gordiner -- who
provides the local DAS with lines of argument and motions to file in
prosecution 215 cases -- deposed Mikuriya at great length in
connection with People v. Peron last summer. Last month, when he was
leading a raiding party on a garden in Red Bluff, Gordiner ridiculed
the written recommendations from Mikuriya that the growers produced as
their bona fides.
"So far the harassment I've received has been kind of soft-core," says
Mikuriya. "Attacks on my credibility, forcing me to make drives like
this... But I wouldn't be surprised if Ayatollah Lungren issued a
fatwa against me before he leaves office." Add Lungren lore: one of
Dan's closest friends at Notre Dame was a classmate named Eddie de
Bartolo, Jr. They graduated in `68. Dan managed to avoid Vietnam by
claiming bad knees. Since his father was Richard Nixon's personal
physician, his draft board probably didn't question his letter of
diagnosis as closely as Lungren now questions the letters Mikuriya
writes for poor, sick people like Robert Hemstalk.
Mikuriya is not unprepared for his showdown with the DA in Sonora. He
has been studying cannabis his entire career. He grew up in Eastern
Pennsylvania. His mother, who shaped his politics, was a Quaker. "The
Quakers were proprietors of the Underground Railway, I'm proud to say.
The cannabis prohibition has the same dynamics as the bigotry and
racism my family and I experienced starting on December 7, 1941, when
we were transformed from normal-but-different people into war-criminal
surrogates." He attended the classy George School, flunked out of
Haverford, graduated from Reed, then went to Temple University School
of Medicine, where he read through all the pre-prohibition literature
on cannabis. He graduated in `62 and did his residency at Mendocino
State Hospital in Tallage. In 1967 he became the first director of
marijuana research at the National Institute of Mental Health. He left
when he was instructed to look only for negative effects. He came out
to Berkeley, where he has been in private practice for three decades.
When Dennis Peron opened the first cannabis buyers club in San
Francisco, Mikuriya saw "a unique research opportunity," signed on as
medical director, and began interviewing patients. For what conditions
were people actually using marijuana? In what forms and at what
dosages? Mikuriya developed a registration form designed to collect
and organize the members' anecdotal evidence. It included a list of
more than 50 conditions for which cannabis provided relief according
to the pre-prohibition literature, updated to include "conditions that
people who seemed to be credible had been treating with marijuana."
Versions of Mikuriya's form are being used by most of the surviving
clubs, including the Oakland Cannabis Co-op. He's still collecting
data and is the de facto medical director of the clubs in Hayward,
Arcata, and San Francisco (CHAMP), Since the passage of Prop 215 in
November `96, he has made three trips to Arcata to see people who want
to use marijuana for medical purposes. Mikuriya claims that
video-teleconferencing will enable him to conduct adequate interviews,
and that he and Jason Brrowne, the proprietor of the Arcata club, are
close to installing a workable system. Mikuriya charges the clubs
$1,000 for four hours. Interviews last roughly 15 minutes per
individual, "depending on how simple of complex the case is." On a
sojourn to Arcata in early September, Mikuriya spent two days straight
interviewing people who wanted recommendation for cannabis.
"Cannabis appears to be a unique immunomodulator analgesic that is
useful in the control of auto-immune inflammatory diseases throughout
the body," Mikuriya generalizes. He considers it "a gateway drug back"
for alcoholics and heroin addicts. "A Scottish physician named
Clendenning first used cannabis in 1843 for the detoxification of
alcoholics," he comments as the old moon fades into Lafayette. There's
already traffic in both directions.
"Chronic pain is a large category. Post-traumatic arthritis.
Post-injury muscular-skeletal problems. I run into a lot of people who
have suffered substantial injuries either in childhood of through some
sort of severe trauma -- car accidents, for example -- that result in
chronic problems. Construction workers who have suffered on-the-job
injuries. There are a lot of people out there who are suffering
needlessly as a result of inadequate medication. And believe me
they've tried. In most cases cannabis is a last resort. Usually the
history involves some sort of misadventure with prescribed medication,
such as GI bleeds from non-steroidals of significant incapacitation
from antispasmodics and benzodiazapenes."
"I see quite a few multiple sclerosis patients. In fact, there are
some people who have been trying to see me but can't because of being
housebound in the middle of nowhere. People hear about me by word of
mouth. I have a significant practice in Nevada County -- people come
down in groups and I see them in my office, which is now in my house.
I lost my office at the Claremont Hotel after Prop 215 passed. There
was a big crush of people wanting to see me -- patients for
certification, journalists for stories, police for surveillance or
verification. One of the Bay Area police entities requested of the
management that they keep me under close observation. That outraged
them but scared them at the same time. So, after 16 years, since there
was a threat form police, it's good-bye Dr. Mikuriya, `You're not part
of our mix anymore,' to quote the mealy-mouthed bureaucratic phrase
they used. By the way, the manager was a man whom I'd given a credit
reference to when he was new on the job, and played tennis with. So
much for friendship.
***
Public defender Gerry Kahl's office is a block east of the courthouse,
not in one of the old brick building favored by the private-sector
lawyers, but in a modern rectangle next to the 7-11. Kahl seemed
embarrassed - offended, almost - as Mikuriya told him what a drag it
was having to appear. The one matter they talked about before the
hearing was remuneration.
The courthouse in Sonora is a solid, old three-story building made out
of yellow brick, with big windows and high ceilings - the kind they
used to build before all the money disappeared. The handsome oak door
leading to Judge Eric DuTemple's courtroom has been retrofitted to
accommodate a big, ugly metal detector -- three girders in an inverted
U. DuTemple looks like Mr. Burns [from the prime-time television
cartoon The Simpsons] in his 40s -- your basic, mean, white man with
hair a slightly unnatural rust color. Hemstalk is gray-haired,
sunburnt, handsome, wiry and has a prominent scar on his cheek. His
voice is a rasp. Kahl's polyester suit looks like it might have been
worn to a disco in the `70s. His first client doesn't show and
Mikuriya takes the stand almost immediately. The DA, Clancy, is young
and sallow. He interrogates Mikuriya according to Gordiner's script.
Mikuriya is dignity personified as he describes his March 26, 1998,
interview of Hemstalk. He made a recommendation under section 11362.5
of the state Health & Safety Code. Written? Yes. The original is
entered into evidence. The diagnosis? Post-traumatic arthritis,
alcoholic encephalopathy with cerebellar atrophy leading to vocal
chord paralysis.
Did you perform a physical examination? No. Was your opinion based on
what Hemstalk said? Yes. Plus an examination of his records and
conversance with the medical literature. [Mikuriya got in that he'd
edited a collection called the Marijuana Medical Papers 1839-1972.]
What percent of your practice is devoted to time spent at the
so-called cannabis clubs? About ten percent. The rest? Going to
hospitals. I'm called in by attending physicians to see patients and
evaluate psychotropic medications. On a typical day at Oakland, how
many patients do you see? Three of four. What percentage do you
recommend marijuana for? About 85 percent. Do you get paid for the
work you do at these so-called clubs? $150 cash, per patient. Are you
board-certified? No, I'm board eligible.
The judge continued the DA's line of questioning. What do you charge
for a follow-up session? $120. With which hospitals are you
associated? Eden in Castro Valley, Vencor and St. Luke's sub-acute in
San Leandro, Vintage Estates in Hayward.
The prosecutor summed up: Hemstalk had simply paid $150 for a
recommendation to use marijuana. He and Mikuriya did not have a
"legitimate doctor-patient relationship as contemplated by 11362.5."
Mikuriya's recommendation was based on "a very superficial
examination."
Gerry Kahl argued that Hemstalk had tested clean for eight months and
assumed he was in compliance with the law by getting a doctor's
approval. He added that Mikuriya's recommendation reminded him of "the
way in which my own doctor has said, `we'll try this and see if it
works.'"
Judge DuTemple said he would consider the matter and rule in a
week.
***
Leaving Sonora we passed a crew from the Sierra Conservation Center
picking up trash along the roadside -- seven men in green jumpsuits
supervised by one deputy. "There they are, the fruit of the criminal
justice system," observed Mikuriya. He thought his testimony had gone
okay. "That young DA was really giving it the old college try. Asking
questions about how much I charged and how much time I spent in the
interview -- I'm sure that's part of the script suggested by Gordiner.
I think I would stack up favorably with almost any physician in the
amount of time I spend taking the history and the depth of information
I elicit. It was gratuitous prosecutorial effort. Asking if I
conducted a physical examination -- does a psychiatrist typically
conduct a physical examination? I should remind the defense attorneys
to ask me `What percent of psychiatrists do physical examinations on
office visits?' Most of them would probably go out of business if they
had to. It takes time and it takes staff."
"The judge was just a prosecutor-surrogate. But he's going to have
some problems as hee deliberates about what happened at the hearing.
The record will make him look pretty bad if he sends Hemstalk to
prison. Assertions by the prosecutor that I really didn't do a
good-faith examination and adequate medical work-up are not going to
hold up. The defense attorney appropriately rebutted them and we got
in enough material about the evaluation."
Mikuriya says he decided not to take the exam for certification by the
American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry "based on how much
preparation and study I would have had to have done, and the overall
impact on my professional career. I'm board eligible, which opens up
most of the jobs available for psychiatrists. Certainly it's a
desirable status to have. I guess I'm suspicious of some of these
institutions -- I've practiced as much as I can on the periphery. A
lot of people in medicine think that one more brownie point is going
to make for a better career. It's not necessarily so."
A week after the trip to Sonora Mikuriya called Kahl and was informed
that the judge was not going to send Hemstalk to prison. Nevertheless,
Mikuriya has filed a complaint against DuTemple with the Commission on
Judicial Performance. He charges that the judge with wrongfully
insisting that he testify in person and then wrongfully denying him
expert witness status. It's the principle of the thing, says Mikuriya.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Times In Epic Climb-Down - CIA - We Knew
(Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn in The Anderson Valley Advertiser
in Boonville, California, present an insightful analysis
of The New York Times' recent biased coverage of the CIA-Contra-Cocaine
scandal.)
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:35:31 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: OPED: New York Times In Epic Climb-Down: Cia: We Knew
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: d9
Source: Anderson Valley Advertiser (CA)
Contact: ava@pacific.net
Copyright: Anderson Valley Advertiser
Pubdate: 14 Oct 1998
Fax: 707-895-3355
Author: Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn
NEW YORK TIMES IN EPIC CLIMB-DOWN: CIA: WE KNEW ALL ALONG
The New York Times has taken the first step in what should by rights be one
of the steepest climb-downs in journalistic history. We allude to a story
by the Slut of Langley, James Risen, which appeared on page five of the
NYT, on October 10. The story, headed "CIA Said to Ignore Charges of Contra
Drug Dealing in `80s," must have been an unappetizing one for Risen to
write, since it forced him to eat rib-sticking amounts of crow.
The CIA, Risen wrote, "repeatedly ignored or failed to investigate
allegations of drug trafficking by the anti-Sandinista rebels in the
1980s." Risen went on to report that according to the long-awaited second
volume of CIA Inspector General Fred Hitz's investigation the CIA " had
concealed both from Congress and other government agencies its knowledge
that the Contras had from the very beginning decided to smuggle drugs to
support its operations."
Probably out of embarrassment Risen postponed till his fourteenth paragraph
the information from Hitz's explosive report that should rightly have been
the lead to a story that should rightly have been on the front page: "In
September, 1982, as a small group of rebels was being formed from former
soldiers in the National Guard of the deposed Nicaraguan dictator,
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a CIA informant reported that the leadership of
the fledgling group had decided to smuggle drugs to the United States to
support its operation."
Thus does Risen put the lie to all past reports on this topic in the New
York Times and his own previous story in the Los Angeles Times parroting
CIA and Justice Department press releases to the effect that vigorous
internal investigations had entirely exonerated the Agency. In that single
paragraph just quoted we have four momentous confessions by the CIA's own
Inspector General. One: the Contras were involved in drug running from the
very start, just as Gary Webb had described it in his San Jose Mercury News
series. Two: the CIA knew the Contras were smuggling drugs into the US in
order to raise money. Three: this was a decision not made by profiteers on
the fringe of the Contras, but by the leadership. Four: the CIA, even
before it got a waiver from the Justice Department, was concealing its
knowledge from the Congress and from other US government agencies such as
the DEA and the FBI. Remember also that the Contra leadership was
hand-picked by the CIA, both in the form of its civilian head, Adolfo
Calero, and of its military director, Enrique Bermudez.
The fact that the New York Times chose to run this story on the Saturday of
a three-day holiday, on and inside page suggests considerable embarrassment
on the part of a newspaper that has had a long history of attacks on those
who have charged CIA complicity in Contra drug smuggling, from Senator John
Kerry, to Gary Webb, to our book Whiteout, The CIA, Drugs , and the Press.
>From 1986 to 1988 Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts probed allegations
about Contra drug running and CIA complicity in same, and issued a
1000-page report. Even while the hearings were under way, the New York
Times belittled his investigation in a three-part series by its reporter
Kenneth Schneider, who attacked Kerry for relying on the testimony of
Contra pilots, many of them in prison. Some months after this series was
published, Schneider was asked by the weekly paper In These Times why he
had taken that approach. Schneider replied that the charges were so
explosive that they could "shatter the Republic. I think it's so damaging,
the implications are so extraordinary, that for us to run the story, it hd
better be based on the most solid evidence we could amass."
So now, over a decade later, the "explosive" and the "extraordinary"
charges are confirmed by the CIA's own Inspector General and the story ends
up on an inside page on Saturday.
The New York Times's vilification of Gary Webb was obsessive and even in
the midst of his October 10 climb-down Risen cannot resist another stab at
the man. Two weeks earlier the NYT Book Review featured an article on
Whiteout and Webb's book Dark Alliance. The author was James Adams, a
Washington-based hack who used to eke out a twilit existence as
correspondent for the Murdoch-owned London Sunday Times before transferring
from that lowly billet to the ignominious function of relaying Agency
handouts and news droppings from Congressional Intelligence committees for
UPI.
Adams leveled two charges against Whiteout, to the effect that there was no
evidence that any Contras were running drugs, and that our book could not
be taken seriously because we had not solicited a confession of guilt from
the Agency. In fact, as long ago as 1985, reporters accumulated and
published evidence of Contra drug running. Among these reporters were Bob
Parry and Brian Barger of the Associated Press, and Leslie Cockburn, in
documentaries for CBS. So far as Agency confessions are concerned,
Whiteout, completed in late June and published at the start of September,
contained precisely the main thrust of the Inspector General's conclusions
in the second volume, now discussed by Risen. Hitz anticipated this written
in his verbal testimony to Congress in May, when he acknowledged the
Agency's knowledge of Contra/drug links and also disclosed that in 1982 CIA
director William Casey had gotten a waiver from Reagan's attorney general,
William French Smith, allowing the CIA to keep secret from other government
agencies its knowledge of drug trafficking by its assets, contractors and
other Contra figures.
Unlike the Washington Post, the New York Times never reported Hitz's
sensational March 1998 testimony, and in his October 10 story Risen
disingenuously does not mention the 1982 waiver Hitz disclosed at that
time. The omission has the effect of implying that the Agency was somehow
acting in a "rogue" capacity, whereas the 1982 waiver shows clearly that
the Reagan presidency was four-square behind the whole strategy of
concealment of what the Agency was up to. As we wrote on the opening page
of Whiteout: "Whether it was Truman meddling in China, which created
Burmese opium kings; or the Kennedy brothers' obsession with killing Fidel
Castro; or Nixon's command for `more assassinations' in Vietnam, the CIA
has always been the obedient executor of the will of the US government,
starting with the White House."
For readers of the New York Times in its home port, the Newspaper's
climb-down was not nearly as drastic as in the edition distributed through
the rest of the country. The edition available in New York City did not
have the fourteenth paragraph (quoted above) nor indeed five other
concluding paragraphs. Why? A Times editor simply chopped them off to allow
space for a large Bloomingdale's ad for a rug sale, thus confirming the
truth of A. J. Leibling's observation years ago that the news diet of New
Yorkers depends entirely on a bunch of dry goods merchants. The full story
was also available on the New York Times's web site, but not on the
Lexis-Nexis database where it ends at paragraph 13, plus a bland and
uninformative final three-line resume of the missing material. Lexis-Nexis
is where most people looking for the Risen Story will go.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Legalizing Pot for Medical Use a Largely Overlooked Ballot Initiative
(The Las Vegas Sun says the most vocal opponents to Question 9 have been
a group of senators, none from Nevada, who called a press conference against
the initiative in Washington, DC. Dan Hart, the spokesman for the initiative,
said internal polls are "very encouraging." "It's seen, by and large, as a
noncontroversial issue," Hart said.)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 16:50:04 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US NV: Legalizing Pot for Medical Use
a Largely Overlooked Ballot Initiative
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Oct, 1998
Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV)
Contact: letters@lasvegassun.com
Copyright (c) 1998 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
Website: http://www.lasvegassun.com/
Author: Steve Kanigher
LEGALIZING POT FOR MEDICAL USE A LARGELY OVERLOOKED BALLOT INITIATIVE
With Nevadans focused on high-profile races for governor and Congress a
statewide ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes
isn't generating much smoke.
The initiative, which will appear as Question 9 on the Nov. 3 general
election ballot, is actually drawing more attention from outside the state.
Nevadans for Medical Rights, author of the initiative, has received all its
financial support from a like-minded California organization. The most
vocal opponents have been a group of senators, none from Nevada, who called
a press conference against the initiative in Washington, D.C.
That Nevadans aren't talking much about this issue doesn't bother Dan Hart.
As Las Vegas spokesman for the initiative's sponsor, Hart is content with
internal polls that are "very encouraging."
"It's seen, by and large, as a noncontroversial issue," Hart said. "Ours is
more a word of mouth campaign. This is an issue of individual rights, and
this is a state where individual rights are prized."
The Nevada Attorney General's Office opposes the initiative but hasn't been
outspoken on its position.
"A main issue is the fact it can never be implemented because federal law
will prevent the sale of marijuana in any event," said assistant attorney
general Brooke Nielsen. "That's a complete hurdle to implementation."
The Nevada State Medical Association also opposes the initiative,
preferring instead to support clinical research to determine whether
marijuana does have health benefits. The association doesn't believe that
science should be legislated.
Larry Matheis, executive director of the association, noted that heroin was
legally prescribed earlier this century but was replaced by far less lethal
medication.
"Right now there is evidence that marijuana can be used for some things but
in each case there is a better alternative available," Matheis said.
Matheis said doctors already may prescribe Marinol, which contains THC, the
same active ingredient found in marijuana. He said ophthalmologists use the
drug to relieve eye pressure in some patients. The drug is also used to
help stimulate appetites.
But Dr. Jerry Cade, co-founder of the AIDS unit at University Medical
Center, and a supporter of the ballot measure, said many of his patients
believe the plant works better than Marinol. He estimated that 10 to 20
percent of his AIDS patients have admitted to him that they use the plant
to stimulate weight gain, and that it works in most cases.
Cade said several other local physicians who treat either AIDS or cancer
patients, both of whom suffer from nausea, supported marijuana for
medicinal purposes.
"At least anecdotally smoking marijuana seems to help a good number of my
patients," Cade said. "They have gained weight. With the HIV disease,
that's the enemy to us, weight loss."
Although the Nevada Secretary of State's Office noted in its neutral
summation of Question 9 that "most law enforcement agencies" oppose the
initiative, some of the state's major crime-fighting organizations actually
have taken no position. These include the Las Vegas Police Protective
Association, which represents Metro officers, the Nevada Conference of
Police and Sheriffs, and the Nevada District Attorney's Association.
Ben Graham, legislative liaison for the district attorney's association,
said the group's only concern is that if the initiative becomes law, "we
would have to assure there are safeguards to make sure there are no
abuses."
The Nevada initiative, similar to the Proposition 215 ballot measure
approved in California in 1996 by 56 percent of the vote, would allow
possession of marijuana to treat a variety of ailments. These include
cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and other seizures, persistent nausea and
multiple sclerosis.
Adult users must get permission from their physicians. Minors would require
a diagnosis and written authorization from their physicians, along with
parental consent and parental control of the plant. The initiative also
would establish a confidential registry of users that would be available
only to law enforcement officials, and authorize appropriate methods to
supply eligible patients.
Hart noted that supplying the marijuana to the patient is the major legal
sticking point. Since federal law prohibits physicians from prescribing
marijuana, Hart said he is hopeful that either that ban will be lifted or
the state agrees to operate its own supply network.
In California, the plant is sold through marijuana clubs. California
Attorney General Dan Lungren, the Republican candidate for governor in that
state, attracted national headlines in 1996 when he ordered the raid and
closure of the Cannabis Buyers' Club in San Francisco.
A judge ordered the club reopened after Proposition 215 passed. Later in
1997, San Jose, Calif., became the first city in the nation to treat
marijuana clubs like any other commercial business.
Medical marijuana proponents in Nevada will have at least two years to work
out methods of supplying the plant because ballot initiatives to amend the
state's Constitution must be approved in two consecutive general elections.
Since the initiative is appearing for the first time in November, it will
have to pass both next month and in 2000 to become law. Even then, the
state Legislature will be asked to develop enabling legislation to
implement the law.
Hart is no stranger to Nevada politics, having managed campaigns for Las
Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and Las Vegas City Councilman Michael
McDonald.
"It's purely and simply an issue of compassion," Hart said of medical
marijuana. "It would allow doctors to use a tool on some patients where it
could be effective.
"I talked to a fellow who was paraplegic from a car accident four or five
years ago. He still gets spasms. He's on barbiturates, but they ate away
his stomach. Marijuana is the only thing that will reduce the spasms, and
it doesn't affect the lining of his stomach."
But Republican Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Wayne
Allard of Colorado and Frank Murkowski of Alaska urged voters in Nevada and
Washington state as well as their own states to vote against their medical
marijuana initiatives. Arizona approved a medical marijuana initiative in
1996, but that state's legislature nullified the law. The U.S. Justice
Department also has filed a legal challenge to California's law.
The senators, who were joined by former national drug czar William Bennett,
argued that such ballot measures "send the wrong message to youth." They
also argued that marijuana isn't medicine, that the restrictions would be
difficult to enforce, and that it would be the first step toward total
legalization of illicit drugs.
Hart resoundingly disagreed.
"We're not trying to legalize marijuana other than for medicinal purposes,"
he said.
Nevadans for Medical Rights raised $232,733 through mid-August, all of
which was contributed by Americans for Medical Rights of Santa Monica,
Calif. The California group was a major backer of Proposition 215.
Advertising in Nevada on this issue has been virtually nonexistent.
Nevadans for Medical Rights has run only newspaper advertisements
encouraging supporters to call them. Hart said a "couple hundred" people
called, many of whom were using marijuana for medical purposes. The ads
were scheduled to run for only one day last week but were repeated because
of a wrong number in the original ad.
Nevada political candidates, for the most part, have avoided discussing
their views on the issue. It is the type of issue they'll talk about only
if asked to do so.
In the governor's race, Democrat Jones said she favors the initiative.
Republican opponent Kenny Guinn said he is opposed, unless the American
Medical Association voices its support. The national association hasn't
supported such initiatives but favors research to determine whether
marijuana has medicinal uses.
Matheis and Cade agreed, however, that current federal drug policies have
discouraged research. The federal government, with its long-standing war on
drugs, has emphasized law enforcement crackdowns on production and
possession of the plant. The government also has threatened to strip
physicians of their licenses if they have anything to do with the plant.
"Part of the problem is that the federal government has been schizophrenic
in dealing with drug issues," Matheis said. "If there are benefits to
marijuana, we should know that."
About the only controversy generated by the ballot measure in Nevada has
been procedural in nature. Supporters of the initiative in March challenged
a state constitutional amendment that placed a $5,000 limit on
contributions from groups and individuals to a ballot measure.
Proponents argued that the contribution limitation was a constitutional
violation of free speech. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro agreed. He
prohibited the state from penalizing contributors who gave more than
$5,000, effectively nullifying that provision.
There were also doubts that the medical marijuana initiative would even
qualify for the ballot. But a recount of petition signatures in Nye and
Lyon counties indicated that the initiative did qualify. Proponents
gathered 74,466 signatures in 13 of the state's 17 counties, far exceeding
the 46,764 required statewide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials Find Convict Who Fled In 1970 (The Dallas Morning News
says Charles Edward Garrett, convicted of heroin possession, fled a Dallas
courtroom in 1970 just before he was sentenced to life in prison. Nearly 30
years later, having avoided all trouble with the law, Garrett probably will
begin serving his life term this week.)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 21:11:03 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US TX: Officials Find Convict Who Fled In 1970
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: adbryan@onramp.net
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Oct 1998
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Contact: letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Copyright (c) 1998 The Dallas Morning News
Author: Rick Klein / The Dallas Morning News
OFFICIALS FIND CONVICT WHO FLED IN 1970
Dallas man left court but didn't return, officials say
On Feb. 12, 1970, Charles Edward Garrett was convicted of heroin
possession. After the jury retired to decide on a sentence, Mr.
Garrett - whose release on bond was still in effect - told his lawyer
and family he was going to the bathroom and he left the courtroom.
When the jury returned about an hour later with a life sentence, Mr.
Garrett was nowhere to be found. He didn't return to court for 28 years.
Dallas County Sheriff's Department officials on Monday found a man
they say is Mr. Garrett, 56, living in Dallas under a new name. They
were led to him by an undercover officer who had heard Mr. Garrett was
living in Dallas with a new identity.
Investigators think Kowl Emil Williams, a maintenance technician at
the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, is Mr.
Garrett, said Detective George Arrieta of the Sheriff's Department.
"We found him at work, and we asked him, 'Does the name Charles Edward
Garrett mean anything to you?' " Detective Arrieta said. "He turned to
us and said, 'Yeah, that's me.' "
Mr. Garrett this week probably will begin serving the life term jurors
handed down in 1970 - a sentence that was not unusual for the time,
said Dallas County District Attorney John Vance. A judge probably will
send him to a state penitentiary this week, Mr. Vance said.
"I thought he'd be caught pretty quickly," said Mr. Vance, who
presided over Mr. Garrett's trial as a second-year judge. "He
surprised me."
Mr. Garrett's arrest brought to an end a 28-year odyssey that took him
to Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and New York before he returned to
North Texas in 1984, Detective Arrieta said.
Mr. Garrett, who was being held in Lew Sterrett Justice Center without
bail pending a hearing, could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Garrett apparently went to California first after his conviction.
Records indicate that a Kowl E. Williams received a Social Security
number in that state in 1970.
Detective Arrieta said Mr. Garrett probably used forged documents to
establish his new identity. A Social Security card could lead to a
job, and a driver's license and credit cards would not be far behind,
he said.
Mr. Garrett steered clear of the law for nearly 30 years. A warrant
for his arrest was issued shortly after his disappearance, and he knew
that any slip-ups would bring him back to jail, said Detective Pete
Castillo, who assisted on the investigation.
"When we arrested him, he said it was a relief," Detective Castillo
said.
Mr. Garrett married in 1986 and has several children, officials said.
His closest associates knew him only as Mr. Williams, Detective
Arrieta said.
Mr. Garrett even kept his secret from his wife. Asked if she was
surprised to learn of her husband's double identity, Earline Roberts
Williams said: "That's not even the word for it, but I don't want to
talk about it."
Mr. Garrett technically is not an escapee, but the DA's office could
try to build a case against Mr. Garrett for counterfeiting
identification, officials said. In an odd twist of fate, the man whose
courtroom Mr. Garrett walked out of nearly three decades ago can
pursue further charges against him.
Mr. Vance said he doubts that will happen.
"I'm not interested in filing anything on him," Mr. Vance said. "He's
got about all he can handle [with a life sentence]."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Debate Crime, Drugs (According to The Capital Times in Madison,
Wisconsin, the Republican candidate for district attorney of Dane County,
Diane Nicks, says she's the most experienced at prosecuting cases
and managing an office. Democrat Deirdre Garton says she has the best
long-term vision to fight crime. And Libertarian Peter Steinberg says
we'd all be better off if Dane County would quit prosecuting marijuana
offenses.)
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 11:07:43 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US WI: 3 Debate Crime, Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: compassion23@geocities.com (Frank S. World)
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Contact: tctvoice@madison.com
Website: http://www.thecapitaltimes.com/
Copyright: 1998 The Capital Times
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Oct 1998
Author: Luke Timmerman
[Newshawk Note: Peter Steinberg's website is at
http://www.mailbag.com/users/plsteinberg/]
3 DEBATE CRIME, DRUGS
DANE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Republican Diane Nicks says she's the most experienced at prosecuting cases
and managing an office. Democrat Deirdre Garton says she has the best
long-term vision to fight crime.
And Libertarian Peter Steinberg says we'd all be better off if Dane County
would quit prosecuting marijuana offenses.
It's clear the candidates for Dane County district attorney have carved out
three distinct ideological niches for voters to choose from. On Tuesday,
they continued to differentiate themselves in front of 50 people at a Dane
County Bar Assoclation lunchtime debate.
Incumbent Nicks told the group she has worked to trim a large backlog of
cases left by her predecessor, improved office communications technology,
and received support from most of the county's 29 prosecutors in her
11-month tenure after being appointed by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Nicks also defended policies that are tough on crime, such as the
life-without-parole sentence given in April to convicted murderer Brandon
Grady.
"Some of the legislation is tough, but some of it makes us safer in our own
homes," Nicks said.
All three candidates gave detailed descriptions of their experience. Garton
pointed to her 16 years of experience as an attorney, including seven years
a deputy district attorney working adult and juvenile cases under former
District Attorney Bill Foust. Although she's never worked a murder trial
she said some were "cakewalks", and that misdemeanors she prosecuted --
such as drunk-driving -- often could be much more complicated.
On the management side, Garton has worked since 1996 as a consultant for
the state Department of Administration to develop a computerized case
management system for prosecutors.
Nicks countered Garton's work with her own wide-ranging work as an elected
district attorney in Columbia County in 1977, 16 years as an attorney in
the state Department of Justice, and experience of prosecuting at least six
murder trials.
Steinberg was less specific and more blunt, saying his 20 years of
experience as a trial lawyer on a variety of cases -- including appearances
before the U.S. and state supreme courts -- make him the most qualified.
"I've seen the mistakes prosecutors make from the other side, and as the
district attorney, I would be on guard for that," Steinberg said.
The biggest mistake the District Attorney's Office makes involves its case
backlog, Garton said, and though she acknowledged progress Nicks has made,
Garton said juvenile crime would be a primary focus under her leadership,
because of a demographic rise in the number of teenagers over the next
decade.
"We must focus on kids and be sure they're on a fast track to
consequences," Garton said. "We're not talking about weeks, not months, but
days."
Steinberg agreed with the importance of fighting juvenile crime, and
stressed his view that violent crime would decrease if drugs were
legalized.
"As long as the 'War on Drugs' lasts, its program will be more police,
prisons, and prosecutions," Steinberg said. "There will be more violence
and more deaths unless people have the courage to end a failed policy."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DrugSense Weekly, No. 68 (An original summary of drug policy news, including
the feature article, How to win, by Mark Greer. The Weekly News In Review
includes - Drug War Policy - US abuses human rights, Amnesty International
says; Amnesty International bites the hand that feeds it; Joe Camel boosted
smoking in teens; Students' substance use increases; Top court allows wider
testing for drugs in schools; CIA said to ignore charges of Contra dealing
in '80s. Articles about Incarceration include - County jails getting crowded;
Jail stays grow with the backlog; Jury indicts prison guards; Second prison
probe. Medical Marijuana stories include - Accounting of pot petitions
ordered; Editorial - I-692 a proper use for marijuana; Public nuisance or
therapy? cannabis clubs. Stories relating to Recreational Marijuana include -
Rally call for drugs goes to pot; A pot professor's day in court.
International News stories include - UK - Bar warns Straw that his reforms
could break law; UK - Random drug tests at 100 independent schools; UK -
Police chiefs plan biggest blitz yet on drug dealers; Belize's quiet despair;
Canada - Task force tackles dealers. Hot off the 'net - MAP hits $1 million
in published letters; DrugSense tip of the week; Quote of the week - US
Supreme Court.)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 15:49:25 -0700
To: mgreer@mapinc.org
From: Mark Greer (MGreer@mapinc.org)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly, Oct. 14, 1998 No. 68
***
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
***
DrugSense Weekly, Oct. 14, 1998, No. 68
A DrugSense publication
http://www.drugsense.org/
This newsletter is available online at:
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1998/ds98.n68.html
***
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Feature Article
How to Win
By Mark Greer
* Weekly News In Review
Drug War Policy-
U.S. Abuses Human Rights, Amnesty International Says
Amnesty International Bites The Hand That Feeds It
Joe Camel Boosted Smoking In Teens
Students' Substance Use Increases
Top Court Allows Wider Testing for Drugs in Schools
CIA Said To Ignore Charges of Contra Dealing in '80S
Incarceration-
County Jails Getting Crowded
Jail Stays Grow With the Backlog
Jury Indicts Prison Guards
Second Prison Probe
Medical Marijuana-
Accounting of Pot Petitions Ordered
Editorial: I-692 A Proper Use For Marijuana
Public Nuisance or Therapy? Cannabis Clubs
Recreational Marijuana-
Rally Call for Drugs Goes to Pot
A Pot Professor's Day in Court
International News-
UK: Bar Warns Straw That His Reforms Could Break Law
UK: Random Drug Tests at 100 Independent Schools
UK: Police Chiefs Plan Biggest Blitz Yet on Drug Dealers
Belize's Quiet Despair
Canada: Task Force Tackles Dealers
* Hot Off The 'Net
MAP Hits $1 Million in Published Letters
* DrugSense Tip Of The Week
* Quote of the Week
U.S. Supreme Court
***
FEATURE ARTICLE
How to Win
by Mark Greer
It seems to me that our movement needs a template on how to end the
drug war.
To me it has always been a fairly simple plan that is difficult to
implement. Our objectives need to be the dissemination of honest,
accurate, facts about drugs and drug policy to largest possible
audience. That is all that is required to win. Intransigent politicians
and arcane laws will drop like rotten apples once the public knows the
truth.
If we could snap our fingers tomorrow and the entire nation was reading
the DrugSense Weekly every week or had read "Drug Crazy" or "Marijana
Myths Marijauna Facts" or if every American had "Shattered Lives" as a
coffee table book the drug war would be over in a matter of months.
The problem of course is that we are battling a huge, entrenched, and
well funded propaganda machine dedicated to keeping the average citizen
afraid, dumbed down, uninformed, and buying into the foolishness that
"drugs are bad so the drug war must be good."
So how do we make this huge transition from inaccurate propaganda and a
brainwashed public, to a populace that is at least moderately aware of
the facts, science, logic, and reason pertaining to the "War on Drugs?"
There are a number of tools that we can use to slay Goliath. Most
already exist but need expanding and more important the public needs a
broad awareness of the truth. The tools to accomplish this include
media activism, volunteerism, and most important the Internet,
information archives, and Email.
The Drug Library at: http://www.druglibray.org/
The Drugnews archive at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/
The Factbook at: http://www.csdp.org/factbook/
The Multimedia archive at: http:/www.legalize-usa.org/
... and a hundred other sites have provided the information database.
Now it is time to make the leap from preaching to a relatively small
choir and to dramatically increase our impact by using these resources
to influence the media and thereby educating the public.
We have accomplished truly amazing things over the last few years but
we have barely begun on the full scale frontal assault that will result
in the education of an entire nation. The Media Awareness Project, DRC,
DPF, Lindesmith and the efforts of many other effective reform
organizations have begun to move the mountain of disinformation. Now
it's time to pull out the stops and to begin sharing this information
with the millions who have never even thought of the drug war as a
problem. They are there for the taking. The vast majority of the
American public is little more than one or two rational conversations
or articles away from being pro reform.
This is not an essay with all the answers. It is a call for ideas. We
are heading in the right direction but it is crucial that we make the
jump from being a relatively obscure and small albeit effective and
timely movement to being a mainstream discussion and concern on the
lips and minds of our entire population.
Articles and ideas on how we take the next step from a few thousand
dedicated reformers to millions of aware informed and involved citizens
are hereby requested and encouraged. The best will be published in this
newsletter or, if more appropriate, be discussed in some of the behind
the scenes strategy groups.
To date we have done a very respectable job of creating the tools,
preparing ourselves for the coming battle and educating dedicated
reformers. It's time to start providing these tools and information to
Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class America.
***
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
***
Drug Policy Issues-
***
COMMENT:
Amnesty International's report criticizing American police and
incarceration abuses hasn't yet received detailed comment from
official government sources. AI's failure to specify the drug war as
an important engine of those abuses serves to call attention to the
policy's "Sacred Cow" status.
There was a rebuke issued to AI from an unexpected Canadian source,
but in general, press response to their charges could be described as
muted.
Two separate, but related reports on adolescent substance use appeared
last week: the CDC offered an evaluation of the effect of cigarette
advertising on teen smoking, and a report from Washington state
confirmed that today's teens are open to experimentation.
Two stories on recurrent themes round out the policy news: the
ever-vigilant Supreme Court extended the ability of school boards to
withhold civil rights from both students and teachers. Also, long
after the Mercury-News left Gary Webb swinging in the wind, the CIA's
Inspector General admits there was something to the CIA-contra-crack
connection after all. Imagine that.
***
U.S. Abuses Human Rights, Amnesty International Says
WASHINGTON - The world's leading human-rights group, Amnesty
International, is launching its first worldwide campaign aimed at the
United States, citing abuses such as "widespread and persistent" police
brutality, "endemic" physical and sexual violence against prisoners,
"racist" application of the death penalty and use of "high-tech
repression tools" such as electro-shock devices and incapacitating
chemical sprays.
The London-based group kicks off a yearlong USA Campaign with the
release tomorrow of a 150-page report highlighting what Amnesty calls
an American "double standard" of criticizing human-rights abuses abroad
while not doing enough to remedy those at home.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 05 Oct, 1998
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n871.a07.html
***
GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST OPPRESSION
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BITES THE HAND THAT FEEDS IT
New campaign against the United States for rights abuses ignores the
real brutes of the world
Amnesty International opens a world-wide, morally sound but
realistically questionable year-long campaign against the United States
today.
It must have its own peculiar death wish, something along the lines of
biting the hand that feeds it.
[snip]
Source: Calgary Herald (Canada)
Contact: letters@theherald.southam.ca
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Pubdate: October 6, 1998
Author: Catherine Ford
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n876.a07.html
***
JOE CAMEL BOOSTED SMOKING IN TEENS
ATLANTA - The number of American youths taking up smoking as a daily
habit jumped 73 percent between Joe Camel's debut in 1988 and 1996, the
government said yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tobacco ads that
rely heavily on giveaways and kid-friendly cartoons are partly to blame.
[snip]
Source: Standard-Times (MA)
Contact: YourView@S-T.com
Website: http://www.s-t.com/
Pubdate: 9 October, 1998
Author: Russ Bynum, Associated Press
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n884.a11.html
***
STUDENTS' SUBSTANCE USE INCREASES
By the time Washington students graduate from high school, more than 80
percent have experimented with alcohol, more than 60 percent have smoked
cigarettes and more than half have used drugs.
And the use of all three among adolescents is up from 1995,
according to the latest Washington State Survey of Adolescent Health
Behavior, which was released yesterday.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 08 Oct 1998
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Author: Tamra Fitzpatrick
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n881.a02.html
***
TOP COURT ALLOWS WIDER TESTING FOR DRUGS IN SCHOOLS
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday gave school officials broader
authority to administer drug tests to students and to discipline teachers
who inject controversial ideas into the curriculum.
Acting on two closely watched appeals on the first day of the court's
new term, the justices dismissed a constitutional challenge to an
expanded school drug-testing program in Indiana and rejected a First
Amendment challenge filed on behalf of a North Carolina drama teacher.
[snip]
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: Tue, 6 Oct 1998
Author: David G. Savage - LA Times
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n877.a01.html
***
CIA SAID TO IGNORE CHARGES OF CONTRA DEALING IN '80S
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 1998 - Despite requests for information from Congress,
the CIA repeatedly ignored or failed to investigate allegations of drug
trafficking by the anti-Sandinista rebels of Nicaragua in the 1980s,
according to a newly declassified internal report. In a blunt and often
critical report, the CIA's inspector general determined that the agency
"did not inform Congress of all allegations or information it received
indicating that contra-related organizations or individuals were involved
in drug trafficking.''
[snip]
Pubdate: 9 Oct1998
Copyright: (c) 1998 N.Y. Times News Service
Source: N.Y. Times News Service
Author: James Risen, N.Y. Times News Service
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n891.a06.html
***
Incarcertion-
***
COMMENT:
One tangible benefit of the Amnesty International report, is that
while it didn't single out the drug war specifically, its focus on law
enforcement and prison issues will mean that news stories on those
subjects will receive more critical scrutiny than usual.
Wisconsin's prison issues are much in their local news; this long
article from the State Journal detailing the rapid growth in their
jail population is an indicator of major problems in the near future,
especially if tax revenues decline. A long investigative piece from
the San Jose Mercury News carries a simple basic message: over-crowded
jails and prisons can be exacerbated by several factors, not the least
of which is a self-indulgent, undisciplined Bench, addicted to long
golf week-ends.
Also in California, home of the nation's largest prison system,
fall-out from the AI report highlights the indictment of 5 Corcoran
guards. To add insult to injury, in an obvious slap at the guards'
union for defecting from his gubernatorial campaign, Dan Lungren,
allowed yet another prison investigation to go forward.
***
COUNTY JAILS GETTING CROWDED
Most counties plan on building space for more prisoners
County sheriffs around Wisconsin have to be part magician when it comes
to using their jails these days either they have too many rabbits in
the hat or not enough. State statistics show county jails are housing
nearly 11,500 inmates, compared to about 2,000 in 1978 and 6,000 in
1988.
[snip]
Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Contact: wsjopine@statejournal.madison.com
Website: http://www.madison.com/index.html
Pubdate: 5 October 1998
Author: Richard W. Jaeger, Wisconsin State Journal
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n868.a04.html
***
JAIL STAYS GROW WITH THE BACKLOG
Length of time defendants are held has more than doubled in 6 years
On a typical Friday, Santa Clara County's Hall of Justice looks like it
is going out of business. Some judges are toiling away in their
chambers, but, with the exception of a few clerks and bailiffs,
courtroom after courtroom has been abandoned.
Despite a crushing criminal caseload, a five-month Mercury News
investigation documented that by lunch time on most Fridays, a cadre of
veteran judges, the men who hear the most notorious and heinous cases,
have left for home, are off running errands or are on their way to play
golf.
[snip]
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Pubdate: 4 Oct 1998
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n872.a03.html
***
JURY INDICTS PRISON GUARDS
Inmate rapes investigated
Los Angeles Times
FRESNO - Five correctional officers have been indicted by a special
Kings County grand jury on conspiracy and other charges stemming from a
1993 rape at Corcoran State Prison by an inmate enforcer nicknamed
``the Booty Bandit.''
The five officers, including a lieutenant, were booked at Kings County
Jail late Thursday on a variety of criminal charges including
conspiracy to aid and abet sodomy and preparing false reports. The
indictments came after a three-month investigation by the state
attorney general's office into allegations of planned rapes and
cover-ups at the San Joaquin Valley prison.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Oct 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: John Howard Associated Press
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n890.a02.html
***
SECOND PRISON PROBE
Alleged abuse investigated at Susanville
SACRAMENTO - A day after five prison guards were charged with helping to
arrange the rape of an inmate at maximum-security Corcoran State Prison,
Attorney General Dan Lungren on Friday announced an investigation at a
second prison, High Desert State Prison near Susanville.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Oct 1998
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Contact: letters@sjmercury.com
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: John Howard Associated Press
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n889.a07.html
***
Medical Marijuana
***
COMMENT:
On election day, the medical use of cannabis will be voted on in Alaska,
Arizona, Washington state, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and the District of
Colombia. In Nevada and Colorado, hostile state officials nearly kept the
issue off the ballot, claiming insufficient qualifying signatures. In a
bizarre twist, Colorado voters learned last week that their votes on
election day may or may not be for real.
In Washington state, the measure, known as I-692 , picked up an important
endorsement from the Post-Intelligencer.
Playboy afforded Dr. Grinspoon an opportunity to extol the medical
benefits of cannabis while countering the negative public image of buyers'
clubs.
***
ACCOUNTING OF POT PETITIONS ORDERED
State Supreme Court calls for signature count on marijuana
initiative
The state Supreme Court Monday ordered a line-by-line count of petitions to
legalize marijuana for medicinal use.
Issue 19 is already on the Nov. 3 ballot. But if the count shows too few
signatures by registered voters, the election won't count.
[snip]
Source: Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Contact: letters@denver-rmn.com
Website: http://insidedenver.com/news/
Pubdate: 6 Oct 1998
Fax: (303) 892-5499
Author: John Sanko Rocky Mountain News Capitol Bureau
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n881.a08.html
***
I-692 A PROPER USE FOR MARIJUANA
There are two simple motives for voting yes on Initiative 692 Nov. 3. They
are compassion and common sense, two solid virtues possessed by the
majority of Washington voters.
[snip]
Removal of marijuana from the DEA's Schedule 1 list would be sensible
federal policy. In the meantime, decriminalizing the medical use of
marijuana is sensible policy for Washington state. Decisions involving
personal health and private suffering are best made by patient and
physician, not police, politicians and prosecutors.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sunday, 11 October, 1998
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Contact: editpage@seattle-pi.com
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n893.a01.html
***
Public Nuisance Or Therapy? Cannabis Clubs
On one side stand the millions of Californians who voted in favor of
Proposition 215, the 1996 referendum that approved the possession and use
of marijuana for gravely ill patients.
[snip]
On the other side stand California's politically ambitious attorney
general, Dan Lungren, and his allies in Washington: Attorney General Janet
Reno, drug czar Barry McCaffrey and President Bill Clinton. Presumably,
these agents of the war on drugs have family members who feel no pain,
whose joints function effortlessly and whose appetites are never ravaged by
serious disease.
[snip]
Source: Playboy magazine
Section: The Playboy Forum
Pubdate: November, 1998
Contact: forum@playboy.com
Website: http://www.playboy.com/
Author: Dr. Lester Grinspoon
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n878.a05.html
***
Recreational Marijuana
***
COMMENT:
MassCann's annual Freedom Rally on behalf of marijuana legalization
continues to be controversial, both inside and outside the reform
movement, but no one can doubt that it generates more media coverage
than any other rally- witness a long article in the Hong Kong
Standard..
Closer to home, those who've seen the name of Julian Heicklen in news
articles, but can't quite place it, are urged to read Tom Gibb's story
in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. A dozen Professor Heicklens, willing
to risk jail, might finally get the issue of jury nullification out of
the closet.
***
RALLY CALL FOR DRUGS GOES TO POT
BOSTON: With swirls of marijuana smoke wafting through the air, about
40,000 people gathered in Boston on Saturday for a rally supporting
legalisation of the drug.
Police, who had vowed a crackdown on the 9th Annual Freedom Rally,
arrested about 40 on drug possession charges. That's far fewer than the
150 arrests at last year's event, which attracted about 10,000 more
people.
[snip]
Pubdate: October 4, 1998
Source: The Hong Kong Standard
Contact: editor@hkstandard.com
Website: http://www.hkstandard.com/
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n870.a01.html
***
A POT PROFESSOR'S DAY IN COURT
BELLEFONTE, Pa.-Centre County President Judge Charles Brown paused,
delicately felt around for the right touch of understatement, then told
jurors in his courtroom yesterday they were hearing "a rather unusual
case."
He expected something different?
The man on trial was Julian Heicklen, retired Penn State University
chemistry professor-a man so incensed by marijuana laws that he
repeatedly showed up at the campus gate last winter, smoked joints and
preached individual rights to lunchtime crowds.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 8 Oct 1998
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Contact: letters@post-gazette.com
Website: http://www.post-gazette.com/
Author: Tom Gibb
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n888.a011.html
***
International News
***
COMMENT:
Last week's news from the UK tended to confirm a suspicion that as
editorial comment has become more supportive of drug policy reform,
those in charge of have become enamored of the American model of
enforcement. Drug testing of students, police "blitzes" on dealers and
forfeiture of property seem very un-British.
Elsewhere, the story from Belize underscores the massive dimensions of
the illegal drug industry: pollution incidental to trafficking is
causing social devastation in several small nations along a trade
corridor.
Further evidence that the illegal drug market has become just as
globalized as legitimate markets is seen in the article from Vancouver
describing the latest wrinkle in that city's burgeoning drug problem:
use of underage illegal "immigrants" from Honduras as retail workers.
***
RANDOM DRUG TESTS AT 100 INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
RANDOM drug testing of pupils has been introduced by more than 100
leading independent schools, the Headmasters' Conference said yesterday.
Heads now assumed that, in line with national statistics, at least 25
per cent of their GCSE pupils had experimented with illegal drugs and
about 10 per cent took them regularly.
[snip]
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Contact: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk
Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Pubdate: Wednesday 7th October 98
Author: By John Clare, Education Editor
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n882.a02.html
***
POLICE CHIEFS PLAN BIGGEST BLITZ YET ON DRUG DEALERS
McLeish heralds crackdown backed by initiatives aimed at reforming addicts
SCOTLAND'S eight chief constables are preparing to launch the biggest
crackdown on drug dealers in the country's history.
Police will work hand in hand this winter with customs officers,
benefits agency workers and The Inland Revenue, targeting not just the
criminals but also their assets, tax dodges and benefit frauds.
[snip]
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Pubdate: 8 Oct 1998
Author: Jenny Booth Home Affairs Correspondent
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n883.a06.html
***
BAR WARNS STRAW THAT HIS REFORMS COULD BREAK LAW
THE Bar set itself on a collision course with the Home Secretary at the
weekend with a warning that Jack Straw's criminal justice plans could
fall foul of the Government's own human rights law.
Heather Hallett, QC, chairman of the Bar, said that reforms in the
pipeline - such as confiscation of property without a criminal trial -
could be challenged under the new Human Rights Bill, soon to reach the
statute book. "It would be a dreadful irony if the very first
challenge in the courts was to legislation passed in the same session
by the same Parliament," she told the annual Bar conference in London.
"If the reports of some of the proposals emanating from the Home Office
are accurate, that is exactly what will happen."
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 05 Oct 1998
Source: Times, The (UK)
Contact: letters@the-times.co.uk
Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author: Frances Gibb
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n868.a06.html
***
BELIZE'S QUIET DESPAIR
Tiny coastal nation plagued by misery brought by crack cocaine addiction
Orange Walk, Belize
The center of this little town looks so wholesome that you expect to
see Andy Griffith come whistling around the corner. There's a small
white church near the town hall and a shaded park where girls in school
uniforms gather after class to gossip and giggle.
[snip]
Bales of cocaine sometimes wash ashore by accident, dumped by boats
fleeing authorities or spilled while being transferred from one ship to
another. The drug is also left behind as payment to local middlemen.
Wherever the coke winds up, people try it. Like a nasty virus, cocaine
refuses to respect political boundaries or cultural traditions,
destroying lives indiscriminately.
There are now crackheads; among the blacks of eastern Costa Rica, the
Miskito Indians of Nicaragua, the Spanish-speaking fishermen of
Honduras, the Garifuna Indians of Guatemala and the Creole-speaking
people of Belize.
[snip]
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Pubdate: Mon, 5 Oct 1998
Author: Edward Hegstrom Chronicle Foreign Service
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98.n873.a03.html
***
TASK FORCE TACKLES DEALERS
Immigration Ca