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Marijuana Laws Inching Leftward (The Aspen Daily News covers NORML's 1999
legal seminar, continuing through Saturday in the Colorado resort town. R.
Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws, told an audience made up mostly of lawyers that "For the
first time in 20 years, the political tide is moving ever so slowly in our
direction. People say they are worried about crime, but they mean violent
crime, not somebody smoking a joint in their home.")
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 09:38:48 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Colorado: Marijuana Laws Inching Leftward
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Pubdate: Fri, 28 May 1999
Source: Aspen Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 1999 Ute City Tea Party Ltd. dba Aspen Daily News
Contact: Jburrus@aspendailynews.com
Address: 517 E. Hopkins Avenue
Fax: (970) 920-2118
Feedback: http://www.aspendailynews.com/contact_us/form.htm
Website: http://www.aspendailynews.com/
Author: James Burrus
MARIJUANA LAWS INCHING LEFTWARD
It may not seem like our country's laws, attitudes and public policy are
getting softer on marijuana, but reports from the legal trenches show a
distinct, albeit subtle, shift.
"Politically we are making some substantial progress," said R. Keith Stroup,
executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, to the approximately 55 men and women -- mostly lawyers -- gathered at
the Gant Thursday for the group's 1999 legal seminar.
Stroup pointed to last November's general election, which saw five out of
five states pass ballot initiatives allowing medical use of marijuana.
Oregon voters, too, shot down by a 2-to-1 margin an attempt to make
marijuana possession a criminal offense as opposed to warranting just a
ticket.
"For the first time in 20 years, the political tide is moving ever so slowly
in our direction," Stroup said. "People say they are worried about crime,
but they mean violent crime, not somebody smoking a joint in their home."
NORML's legal seminar runs through Saturday and covers a wide array of
topics -- from pretrial investigations and picking a jury to cultural
defenses in drug cases and cross examination of snitches.
Thursday's session started off with a rollicking stand-up state of the legal
union address by Aspen attorney and erstwhile defender of Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson, Gerald H. Goldstein.
In 45 minutes, Goldstein blazed through a panalopy of issues, injecting
several one-liners and asides that kept the counselors in stitches.
Taken on their face, many of the legal decisions and political stands
reported on by Goldstein could hardly be seen as funny. But it must hae been
the delivery that brought laughs at such items as the bill proposed recently
by the Mississippi legislature calling for the removal of a body part for
violation of the state's controlled substance law. Or the citizenry's
diminishing right of privacy at the hands of police using ever more
sophisticated technology.
"There is an inverse relationship between the police's increases in
technology and our diminishing expectation of privacy," Goldstein said. "We
need greater protection as technology advances."
Other presentations of the day included "Ethical considerations when
defending juveniles: Kids say the darndest things," "Defending against
charges of child abuse" and "Pretrial investigations: The most important
part of the case."
In the latter talk, Phillip Russell, a former prosecutor in the Bronx, New
York City, said pretrial investigation is where defense attorneys lose most
of their cases.
"They have police departments, we have secretaries," Russell said.
He proceeded to offer examples of how to use the blizzard of paperwork
generated by the legal system to one's best advantage. From knowing where
and how to get all the 9-1-1 tapes of an incident to asking for all the
negatives of photos taken by police at a crime scene, getting the whole
story can often make the difference between winning and losing a case.
And when dealing with prosecution "experts" of any kind, Russell reminded
his audience to be vigilant in maintaining "presumption of bullshit anytime
a government expert testifies."
Perhaps the most prescient of the presentations, in terms of the
organization's ongoing effort to reform marijuana laws, was John Kenneth
Zwerling's "Voir Dire (jury selection) in a medical marijuana case."
Zwerling offered tips on how to question potential jurors that enables them
to give honest answers, how to follow a line of questioning to its logical
conclusion and how to subtly "educate" jurors about the issues they will be
dealing with.
But at one point in reviewing a transcript of the medical marijuana case in
question, Zwerling deftly broached the issue of jury nullification -- the
ability of any juror to decide independently of any instruction from the
judge that a law is not just or fair, and decide accordingly.
Judges never discuss jury nullification and, in fact, if mentioned by a
defense attorney during a trial, can be grounds for a mistrial.
However, as a tool for overturning heavy-handed and oppressive drug laws,
its power should not be underestimated.
"The debate is beginning to focus on law-abiding citizens who want to smoke
a joint instead of having a cocktail," Stroup said. "They are law-abiding
citizens and contribute to society. Three to four years from now you will
see public policy come closer to where public opinion is.
"A jury should reflect community values, but if policy doesn't start
changing in the next three to four years, I think you will begin seeing a
lot of juries nullifying cases," Stroup said.
Jury nullification gained national attention in 1997 when Laura Kriho, a
juror in a drug possession case in Garfield County, was charged with
contempt of court. First Judicial District Chief Judge Henry Neito found her
guilty Feb. 10, 1997.
Her attorney said she was found guilty solely because she did not volunteer
how she felt about drug laws and for exercising her constitutional right as
a juror, by acting independently and going against Judge Neito's
instructions by considering all the aspects of the case, including the
potential punishment.
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Hemp: It's Rope, Not Dope - Farmers, Activists Seek To Legalize Crop (The San
Francisco Chronicle says a small corps of techno-savvy activists based in
Lexington, Kentucky, is playing a big role in the national campaign to
legalize industrial hemp. Using e-mail, faxes and cell phones, and in
friendly, easy-going Southern style, the Bluegrass group, whose members
include actor and part-time Kentuckian Woody Harrelson, have been doggedly
educating state lawmakers and activists across the country who are pressuring
the government to lift the hemp ban.)
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 13:56:11 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Hemp -- It's Rope, Not Dope Farmers, Activists Seek To
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Newshawk: Frank S. World
Pubdate: Fri, 28 May 1999
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A1
Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Author: Leslie Guttman, Chronicle Staff Writer
HEMP -- IT'S ROPE, NOT DOPE FARMERS, ACTIVISTS SEEK TO LEGALIZE CROP
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- In the quiet heart of the conservative Bluegrass
state, a small corps of techno-savvy activists is playing a big role in
the national campaign to legalize industrial hemp, a crop the activists
call an economic life preserver for U.S. farmers but which the federal
government says is a dangerous drug.
The tall, cane-like hemp plant was cultivated throughout the United
States for decades to make clothing, rope and other items but lost its
respectable reputation in 1937, when the government banned marijuana -
and hemp along with it.
However, it isn't illegal to import hemp from countries like China, and
right now, hemp is an eco-celebrity of the green movement, used to make
everything from diapers to dashboards, shampoo to sneakers. Nut butter,
fuel, lip gloss, horse feed - the list is as long as the hemp stalk.
In 1997, North Americans spent $75 million on hemp products, up from $3
million in 1993, according to John Roulac, founder of Hempbrokers, an
international hemp-seed product supplier in Sebastopol. He estimates
that annual sales could approach $1 billion within the next five years
or so.
Using e-mail, faxes and cell phones, and in friendly, easy-going
Southern style, the Bluegrass group, whose members include actor and
part-time Kentuckian Woody Harrelson, have been doggedly educating state
lawmakers and activists across the country who are pressuring the
government to lift the hemp ban.
Their mission is to enable U.S. farmers to grow a profitable,
sustainable, pesticide-free crop that will keep rural towns thriving -
and benefit the environment with what they believe is the soybean of the
new millennium.
``We knew we´d have to grow the word before we could grow the
crop,´´ says Lexington hemp activist Joe Hickey.
The hemp seed is tiny, almost birdseed-like, with a gray-brown hull that
develops when the seed matures on the flowering plant at summer's end.
Inside the glands of the female flowers, a low level of the chemical
delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is produced; this is the
mind-altering compound found in marijuana. The flowers' sticky resin can
cling to the seed hulls, leaving traces of THC.
Marijuana, hemp's botanical cousin in the cannabis family, contains
about 5 to 20 percent THC; hemp usually contains less than 1 percent,
way too little to get a person high, say hemp activists and numerous
scientists.
The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington answers
queries on hemp with a three-page fax that classifies marijuana and hemp
as the same plant because both contain the psychoactive compound. At the
Drug Enforcement Administration, officials say it's not their job to
make or change the law, just to enforce it.
Bob Weiner, spokesman for National Drug Policy Director Barry McCaffrey,
says the government fears that legalizing hemp would send the wrong
message about drugs to young people. He adds that law enforcement finds
it difficult to tell the difference between hemp and marijuana ``from
the sky´´ (via helicopter) when it comes to pinpointing illegal
fields for eradication.
``We´re open to new research ... we have no objection to hemp as a
product, we just don´t want to see a drug culture come in through the
back door,´´ says Weiner.
``The DEA says, `We can´t tell the difference between industrial hemp
and marijuana,´ ´´ says Hickey, ``Well, that´s the difference
between poppy seeds on a bagel and poppy seeds in heroin.´´
Some hemp activists say the federal opposition arises in part from fears
of budget cuts for law enforcement. In Kentucky, as in other states,
wild hemp - also known as ditchweed - is routinely eradicated with the
same vigilance used against marijuana fields. According to a 1996 report
from the Vermont state auditor's office, 78 percent of the marijuana
that was destroyed in the state, and 99 percent destroyed across the
country with federal money, was ditchweed.
Weiner denies any budget fears and calls the activists ``paranoid.´´
He also questions the market potential for hemp: ``We want to make sure
farmers with economic problems aren´t given a silver bullet that´s
not real.´´
Hawaii Rep. Cynthia Thielen, however, sees hemp as the eventual savior
to Hawaii's eight-year economic slump. Thielen introduced in the state
Legislature a bill to permit growing industrial hemp; it recently passed
the House and Senate. The governor is expected to sign it into law in
June. The bill calls for test plots, which would be monitored by the
Drug Enforcement Administration.
``Sugar is dead,´´ Thielen says of Hawaii´s ex-cash cow and the
state´s inability to compete with the bargain-bin prices of sugar in
the global marketplace. ``Every day that passes, and we do not allow
farmers to grow industrial hemp, means agricultural workers are
unemployed. And our land lies fallow.´´
Other states are pushing hard for hemp. Last month, North Dakota became
the first state to make growing and selling industrial hemp legal.
(Growers will apply for DEA permits to do so.)
Pro-hemp legislation has either passed or is brewing in at least 11
additional states. (No hemp legislation is pending in California,
although the Democratic Party passed a measure endorsing industrial hemp
April 3 at its annual convention.)
Nearly all the states' pro-hemp legislators and advocates have consulted
the Bluegrass activists at one time or another. They have become hemp
authorities - reeling off history, factoids, scientific research
results - from the amount of information they have gathered in their
efforts to legalize hemp in Kentucky.
``The Kentucky group is key; they are the leaders,´´ says Thielen.
``They are helping everyone else.´´
Across the gently sloping hills of Lexington and surrounding towns, hemp
grows tall and wild, a reminder of when the plant and the state's
economy were intertwined as closely as mint juleps and Derby Day. Even
Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser and a beloved native son, was a hemp
farmer.
The state was a top hemp grower when the crop was legal (this includes a
brief time during World War II when the U.S. ban was lifted in order to
allow rope to be made for the military). Kentucky lore has it that hemp
seed is what made the canaries in the coal mines sing.
The current Kentucky hemp movement started in 1993 and moved into
national focus in '96, when Harrelson joined forces with Hickey,
Lexington tobacco farmer and businessman Andy Graves and others. They
also brought in Jake Graves, Andy's 76-year-old father, to educate
farmers on the issue. Jake Graves, a pillar of Lexington society, was a
leading Kentucky hemp farmer in the early '30s.
Harrelson decided to join up with the feisty Bluegrass contingent
because ``they were full of vision and energy,´´ he says. He adds
that the state´s hemp history made it the logical place to do battle.
A suit challenging the state ban is currently before the Kentucky
Supreme Court, filed after Harrelson planted four hemp seeds on his
small Lee County property in 1996.
As far as the state fight goes, Graves says the government's moral
stance on hemp doesn't make sense because Kentucky already ``raises all
the vices -- thoroughbred racing, whiskey and tobacco.´´
The activists are plotting their next move on a federal suit that was
dismissed in March. It will either be appealed or a new suit filed,
possibly arguing that the hemp ban violates the North American Free
Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade by
putting U.S. farmers at a disadvantage to those in hemp-growing
countries.
While Harrelson and the Kentuckians regularly travel around the United
States giving hemp sermons -- as they did at the University of
California at Berkeley campus last fall -- a crucial part of the
effort's success has been the techno-campaign. Without e-mail and a Web
site (www.hempgrowers.com), the word would not have spread so far and
fast.
The activists point to Canada as a model of what could be. The country
legalized hemp last year, and about 6,200 acres were planted, yielding a
crop that sold for approximately $450,000, according to Robert L'Ecuyer,
general manager of Kenex Ltd., Canada's largest hemp grower and
processor. L'Ecuyer says he doesn't know yet how much hemp will be
planted across Canada in '99, but it may be five or six times as much as
last year.
In the center of Lexington, at Tattersall's Tobacco Warehouse on the
first day of the annual tobacco sales last fall, the auctioneer reeled
off the bids in a gravelly Southern streak as farmers waited to see how
much multinational tobacco companies would pay for their harvest. The
sweet, almost choking smell of tobacco from hundreds of huge,
honey-colored sample bales filled the dim warehouse. Underneath that
aroma was something else: the smell of fear.
It's unclear how much of the nation's tobacco settlement - more than
$200 billion - will go to U.S. farmers whose lives, towns and families
thrive only as long the tobacco plant does. The fate of the quota and
price-support system is also uncertain. Tobacco farmers fear the rise in
cigarette prices will lead to less demand, and foreign competition from
countries like South Africa lies ahead. Tobacco currently sells for
about $6,000 an acre, compared to $300 an acre for corn.
Throughout the battle to legalize hemp, the priority for Hickey, Graves
and the other hemp activists in Kentucky is the future of U.S. farmers
of tobacco and other crops with depressed prices, such as wheat.
The Kentucky tobacco farmers, like those in other states, are one of the
most conservative groups in America, and yet they are also behind hemp.
Farmers like Jimmy Sharp, who remembers his father growing fields of
hemp in the '30s. ``I don´t have a problem with it,´´ he says,
leaning over a bale at the auction during a break.
Standing next to him, tobacco farmer Graves adds, ``Everybody´s daddy
or grandaddy grew hemp. It helped support a way of life around here. As
long as it makes money, they´ll grow it.´´
Hickey believes hemp will grow rural economic development across the
country. He envisions local processing plants for items as bold as the
car made from plastic hemp that Henry Ford once built - plants like the
one a Canadian firm just announced will be built in northwestern
Manitoba.
Change in federal policy might be afoot. Although the DEA maintains
official silence about the future of industrial hemp from its public
affairs office in Washington, Rep. Thielen in Hawaii says she is hearing
a different tale.
She says DEA Chief of Operations Gregory Williams told her recently that
the agency is working on revising security regulations to permit U.S.
farmers to plant hemp because of the commercial interest. A DEA
spokeswoman for Williams wouldn't comment other than to say the office
is reviewing Hawaii's request on ending the hemp ban.
Change can't happen soon enough for the Bluegrass hemp team. Says
Harrelson, ``The argument has been that hemp sends the wrong message to
our youth. What about cigarettes, alcohol and tobacco? What kind of
message do they send? Those are the real drugs. Hemp isn´t.´´
HEMP AS AN INDUSTRIAL CROP
Although industrial hemp is currently illegal to grow in the United States
without a permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration, it is legal to
import hemp to make numerous products. Here are some of the plant's diverse
uses:
Uses for the leaves
-- Animal bedding, mulch and mushroom compost
Uses for seeds/hemp oil
-- Food: Granola, protein-rich flour, salad oil, margarine, food supplements
-- Health products: Soap, shampoo, bath gels and cosmetics
-- Other uses: Birdseed, oil paints, solvents, varnish, chain-saw
lubricants, printing inks, putty and fuel
Uses for hemp stalk
-- Clothing: Fabrics, handbags, denim, diapers, socks, shoes and fine
textiles from the cottonized fibers
-- Other textile uses: Twine, rope, nets, canvas bags, tarps and carpets
-- Paper: Printing paper, fine and specialty papers, technical filter paper,
newsprint, cardboard and packaging products
-- Building materials: Fiberboard, insulation material, fiberglass
substitute, concrete blocks, stucco and mortar
-- Industrial products: agro-fiber composites, compression-molded parts,
brake/clutch linings and caulking
HEMP AND MARIJUANA
Both are varieties of the species Cannabis sativa. Marijuana contains about
5 to 20 percent of the mind-altering chemical delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), while hemp contains less than 1 percent.
Source: Nova Institute, 1995/Courtesy of Hemp Horizons by John Roulac
(Chelsea Green Publishing)
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Colleges Report Increases In Arrests For Drug And Alcohol (The Chronicle of
Higher Education says its annual campus crime survey shows arrests for
illegal drugs and alcohol at the nation's colleges and universities increased
7.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, from 1996 to 1997. The increases
mark the sixth consecutive year such arrests have increased. As in past
years, many campus police officers and safety experts attribute the increases
not to increased alcohol or drug use by students, but to more aggressive
enforcement efforts and toughened policies restricting drinking on campus.)
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 17:44:46 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US: Colleges Report Increases In Arrests For Drug And Alcohol
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Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: M & M Family
Pubdate: Fri May 28, 199
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, The (US)
Copyright: 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
Contact: editor@chronicle.com
Website: http://chronicle.com/
Author: JULIE L. NICKLIN
COLLEGES REPORT INCREASES IN ARRESTS FOR DRUG AND ALCOHOL VIOLATIONS
Experts Differ On Whether Trends Reflect Tougher Enforcement Or More
Substance Abuse
Arrests for violations of drug or alcohol laws at the nation's
colleges and universities increased 7.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent,
respectively, from 1996 to 1997.
The increases mark the sixth consecutive year that arrests for such
violations have gone up, according to an annual campus crime survey by
The Chronicle.
As in past years, many campus police officers and safety experts
attribute the increases not to increased alcohol or drug use by
students, but to more-aggressive enforcement efforts and toughened
policies restricting drinking on campus. They also say many of the
arrests involve outsiders who were visiting campus.
However, some health researchers point out that more and more college
students who are drinking alcoholic beverages are doing so in order to
get drunk, and as a result are behaving in ways that result in arrest.
A new study suggests that illegal drug use on the campuses is also
rising.
The Chronicle's survey of nearly 500 of the nation's largest colleges
and universities also showed that arrests for weapons-law violations
grew significantly from 1996 to 1997. The number of reports of
forcible sex offenses, such as rape and fondling, increased slightly.
However, the number of non-forcible sex offenses (incest and statutory
rape), along with murders, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries,
and motor-vehicle thefts,institutions categorize them, & also the
order they appear in story. jln) decreased, reflecting reduced rates
of such crimes in urban areas around the country.
The Chronicle's annual survey, which has been conducted for the past
seven years, is based on the crime reports that colleges are required
by federal law to disclose annually. The most recent survey is based
on the reports of 483 four-year colleges and universities with more
than 5,000 students.
Experts on campus safety warn against using the data to make
comparisons among campuses, or to conclude that a campus with a
relatively low number of reported crimes is safe, while one with a
high number is dangerous.
The survey showed that in 1997, arrests for liquor-law violations --
including illegal possession or transportation of alcoholic beverages
-- totaled 17,624, up from 17,019 in 1996. The 3.6-per-cent increase,
however, was smaller than the 12.2-per-cent increase recorded from
1995 to 1996.
Five institutions -- the State University of West Georgia, followed by
the Universities of Minnesota (Twin Cities) and Oregon; Clemson
University; and the University of Georgia, reported increases in
alcohol-related arrests of 120 or more.
For the second year in a row, Michigan State University reported the
highest number of alcohol arrests -- 633. That figure, however, is
down 10.2 per cent from 1996's total of 705. Michigan State's figures
for both years also include liquor-infraction tickets, which officials
consider arrests.
Tony Kleibecker, a spokesman for Michigan State's Department of Police
and Public Safety, says the decline from 1996 to 1997 suggests that
students are responding to the university's efforts to curb drinking,
at a time when the state has tightened its alcohol laws. "Students are
definitely being more careful about where they drink," he says.
"They're saying, 'I don't need the infraction, so I'm going to stay
inside and not cause trouble.'"
Michigan State officials, he adds, are not concerned that the
institution has twice topped the list of alcohol arrests. The
university enrolls more than 40,000 students, he points out.
What's more, Michigan State plays host to five or six football games
every fall, each one bringing in 75,000 people -- many of them
underage -- who attend tailgate parties before, during, and after the
games. University officials could not determine how many of the 633
arrests in 1997 were of non-students, but they say that traditionally,
the proportion has been about half. "Football Saturdays alone can
really spike our numbers," says Mr. Kleibecker.
In the past year, alcohol has helped to fuel two riots involving
Michigan State students. Seventeen students were arrested in May 1998
during a riot prompted by the university's decision to ban alcohol at
a popular campus tailgating spot. This past March, about 5,000
Michigan State students and others set fires, overturned cars, and
smashed windows near the campus after the university's team lost to
Duke University in a semifinal game of the National Collegiate
Athletic Association's basketball championship.
The greatest increase in alcohol arrests from 1996 to 1997 occurred at
the State University of West Georgia, where the number rose from 62 to
265.
Thomas J. Mackel, director of public safety, says the university
"beefed up" its patrols of residence halls to cut down on students'
parties and carousing. Three "really aggressive" officers on bicycles
patrol areas near residence halls and parking lots from 7 p.m. to 3
a.m. daily, he adds. "We actually have more people looking for the
violations. It wasn't like all of a sudden our students started drinking."
Clemson reported the fourth-largest increase in liquor arrests, to 200
in 1997 from 68 in 1996. Heather Burkett, a records clerk in the
public-safety division, explains that the number grew because
officials began counting arrests of "minors in possession" of alcohol,
a statistic that the federal law calls for reporting. Previously,
officials had counted only arrests for public intoxication, disorderly
conduct, and violations of open-container laws.
Campus-safety experts say the total of 7,897 arrests in 1997 for
violations of drug laws, a 7.2-per-cent increase over 1996, also can
be largely explained by tougher enforcement. The increase exceeded the
5-per-cent rise from 1995 to 1996.
The University of Oregon reported the largest increase in drug
arrests, from 21 to 106. Thomas R. Hicks, associate director of the
Office of Public Safety, says the increase resulted largely from a
decision in 1997 to broaden the types of drug violations reported.
Under federal law, institutions are required to report only the number
of actual arrests for such violations, which is what the university
had been doing. Under Oregon law, possession of less than one ounce of
marijuana is considered a "violation," subject to a fine. But
possession of the same amount in some other states would result in
arrest. Accordingly, the university decided to include such violations
in its annual crime report, Mr. Hicks says. "We felt we needed to be
consistent with what other campuses might be reporting."
Four other institutions -- the Universities of Akron, Arizona, and
California at Riverside, and Washington State University -- also
reported increases of more than 45 drug arrests from 1996 to 1997.
In 1997, the University of California at Berkeley reported 179 arrests
-- more than any other institution -- for drug-law violations. That
figure, a campus police official says, includes citations, which
technically are "arrests," even though no one is taken into custody.
The university also ranked No. 1 in the category in 1996, with 193
drug arrests and citations.
In recent years, says Lieut. Adan Tejada, of the university's police
department, officers have stepped up their patrols on the south side
of campus, including People's Park, where drug dealing, panhandling,
and drinking had become more common. In 1997, campus police officers
made about 40 narcotics arrests in the park, few of them involving
Berkeley students, he says. Most of the arrests were for the
possession or sale of cocaine, heroine, LSD, or marijuana, he says.
While police officials say tougher law enforcement may be driving up
the number of drug and alcohol arrests, some health researchers say
worrisome trends among college students may also be to blame.
Henry Wechsler, director of college alcohol studies at Harvard
University's School of Public Health, points out that even though
research shows a drop in the number of college students who are
consuming alcohol, those who do drink are consuming more than ever
before.
A 1997 study of drinking at 116 colleges by Mr. Wechsler and other
researchers found that the proportion of students surveyed who
reported drinking alcohol to "get drunk" increased from 39.4 per cent
in 1993 to 52.3 per cent in 1997. "There is more drunkenness, and
along with that are more problems," he says.
What's more, a forthcoming report, based on a survey by Mr. Wechsler
and others, concludes that there has been an increase in drug use by
college students from 1993 to 1997. The survey, he says, shows that a
large cohort of college students began using drugs in middle school
and have continued doing so. He declined to divulge further details
until the study's release this year. "Unless things change," he says,
"the increase in drug use should last for a few more years."
In 1997, institutions reported a total of 951 arrests for weapons-law
violations, up 4.4 per cent from 1996. The total had declined by 14.2
per cent from 1995 to 1996.
Some campus police officials and safety experts say the statistic
fluctuates so much each year that it doesn't necessarily reveal any
trend. Others, however, say the increase reflects the fact that
growing numbers of children, teenagers, and adults are carrying
weapons -- either to protect themselves or to feel powerful.
Arizona State University reported 32 arrests for weapons-law
violations in 1997, more than any other institution.
Stewart F. Adams, crime-prevention coordinator for the university's
Department of Public Safety, says the majority of those arrested were
not Arizona State students. Thirteen of the arrests were of students
attending an alternative high school for troubled teenagers near the
university's East Campus. Most of the remaining 19 arrests were of
local gang members who "cruise" through the main campus at night, he
says. Most of the weapons confiscated were semiautomatic handguns that
were found during routine traffic stops.
"We still feel the campus is fairly safe, because we don't have a
whole lot of violations occurring during class hours," Mr. Adams says.
Campus and local police officers are working together to curb the
presence of gang members on and around the campus.
S. Daniel Carter, vice-president of Security on Campus, a non-profit,
campus-watchdog organization in King of Prussia, Pa., says that even
if crimes are committed by outsiders, "it is ultimately the
responsibility" of campus officials to provide a safe
environment.
While some campus crimes increased substantially from 1996 to 1997,
the number of reports of forcible sex offenses grew at a much slower
rate, 0.4 per cent. From 1995 to 1996, the number of forcible sex
offenses had risen 14.6 per cent. Experts say sex offenses continue to
be the crimes least likely to be reported by victims.
Mr. Carter says the 1996 figures might have been inflated because in
May of that year, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to
institutions reiterating which crimes needed to be reported. After
that, he says, many institutions became more diligent about reporting
crimes.
Saginaw Valley State University in 1997 saw the number of forcible sex
offenses reported on its campus rise to six, from one in the previous
year.
Craig T. Maxwell, Saginaw Valley's director of public safety, says the
university has tried to help students overcome fears that they might
have about reporting sex crimes. The department's staff includes a
female officer who is a rape specialist, and students have been made
aware, through campus programs, that she can help victims of sex crimes.
Many safety experts and police officers believe that the sharp
29.5-per-cent drop in non-forcible sex offenses on the nation's
campuses from 1996 to 1997 results from more and more institutions'
finally reporting such crimes correctly.
Based on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's definition, which
institutions are supposed to use in reporting their crime statistics,
the category should include only incest and statutory rape. However,
many colleges also have included sex crimes such as indecent exposure,
lewd behavior, and others that do not involve force.
At Oregon, for example, reports of non-forcible sex offenses fell from
seven in 1996 to zero in 1997, because officials stopped including
instances of public indecency.
The total number of murders on the nation's campuses also fell, from
19 in 1996 to 13 in 1997, following an increase of four from 1995 to
1996. Aggravated assaults were down 0.8 per cent in 1997, burglaries
dropped 8.1 per cent, and robberies and motor-vehicle thefts each fell
by 9.2 per cent. In cities and rural areas nationally, the F.B.I.
reported an overall 2.4-per-cent drop from 1996 to 1997 in violent or
property crimes, including aggravated assault, burglary, and
motor-vehicle theft.
In October 1998, a number of federal legislative changes were made to
push institutions to be more diligent -- and open -- in reporting
those and other crimes.
Under the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990, and a
1992 amendment to the act, colleges and universities are required
annually to report crimes in 10 categories: murder; forcible and
non-forcible sex offenses; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary;
motor-vehicle theft; and arrests for liquor-, drug-, and weapons-law
violations.
Under a provision passed during the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act, colleges are now also required to include in their
reports arson and manslaughter, and to record the number of people
referred for campus disciplinary action for liquor-, drug-, and
weapons-law violations.
In addition, colleges must report the number of hate crimes that
result in "bodily injury." Previously, institutions had to report only
the number that involved aggravated assault, murder, or rape.
About 40 per cent of the 483 institutions in The Chronicle's survey
noted, in some way, whether hate crimes had occurred on their
campuses. Only about a third had done so in the previous survey.
About 330 institutions responded to The Chronicle's written request
for copies of their crime reports. The remaining reports came in after
subsequent telephone calls. Many institutions also are making their
reports available on World-Wide Web sites.
"For years, there were a whole lot of people who didn't believe -- or
chose not to believe -- that these crimes occur on the nation's
campuses," says Max L. Bromley, an associate professor of criminology
at the University of South Florida, and a former official of the
university's police department. "The reports raise the whole dialogue.
People can no longer bury their heads in the sand."
Michelle Carroll provided research assistance for this article.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada Grows More Pot Than Parsley (According to the Calgary Herald, the
first-ever RCMP report on Canada's $18-billion illicit street-drug trade
estimates at least 800 tonnes of marijuana was grown domestically last year.
By comparison, Canadians last year sprouted 727 tonnes of parsley, which, of
course, by weight is mostly water. "This estimate appears overwhelming," the
report states, and, in fact, investigators believe it's "quite
conservative.")
Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 12:05:19 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: CANADA:
Canada Grows More Pot Than Parsley
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Kathy Galbraith
Pubdate: Fri, 28 May 1999
Source: Calgary Herald (Canada)
Contact: letters@theherald.southam.ca
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Author: Mario Toneguzzi and Ian MacLeod
CANADA GROWS MORE POT THAN PARSLEY
More marijuana was grown in Canada last year than parsley, with the criminal
crop increasingly taking root in Ontario and Quebec. And it has become a
"major problem" in Alberta, said RCMP Staff Sgt. Birnie Smith, Calgary drug
section commander. Some observers claim Alberta is third only to British
Columbia and Ontario for the quantity produced.
"We've noticed that Alberta has turned into a producing area as opposed to
an importing area," said Smith, adding the trend has taken place over the
past seven or eight years.
"It is a major problem in this country and especially now in this debate
about its (marijuana) medical uses."
An RCMP report on Canada's $18-billion, illicit street-drug trade estimates
at least 800 tonnes of pot was grown domestically last year - the first time
the Mounties have made such a calculation.
The results have surprised even them. By comparison, 727 tonnes of parsley
sprouted in Canada last year.
"This estimate appears overwhelming," the report states, and, in fact,
investigators believe it's "quite conservative."
RCMP Leo Vaillant, one of the report's authors, said, "It's sort of
mindboggling but that's what the situation is."
Smith said he had "no idea where we stand in production" compared to other
areas of the country but believed the magnitude of the problem is likely
"population based".
"There is a lot of major cultivation in Alberta," he said. And because it
remains illegal, "there's the black-market angle and all the baggage that
comes with it," said Smith.
Many Alberta growers have moved from basements to industrial parks so the
large use of electricity is less conspicuous. Or they have moved to rural
underground locations to hide their operations.
The release of the report follows a call in April by Canada's police chiefs,
and quickly backed by the RCMP, for Ottawa to decriminalize possession of
small amounts of marijuana.
The chief's policy recommends giving police officers the option of ticketing
people caught with 30 grams or less of marijuana sparing them a criminal
record. They argue the move, which stops short of legalizing the weed,
could free up police resources to tackle more serious crimes.
The marijuana estimate is based, in part, on the more than one million pot
plants police seized across the country last year, up from about 690,000 in
1997. (A more efficient RCMP system of tracking cross-country seizures in
1998 accounts for part of that increase.)
Still, police estimate 4.7 million plants were harvested, with each mature
plant producing an average 170 grms of "marketable substance".
After coffee, alcohol and tobacco and certain prescription drugs, cannabis
is the most popular psychoactive substance in the nation, says the Canadian
Centre on Substance Abuse. But after a decade of relatively stable use, it
says pot smoking is gaining in popularity again, especially among the young.
Then there's the money to be made.
In British Columbia, Canada's chief pot-growing region, a kilogram of
potent, hydroponic pot - with a thc strength of 15 to 20 percent - is
reported to be selling for more than $6,000 to middlemen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
'Mindboggling' Marijuana Crop Tops 800 Tonnes (The Ottawa Citizen version
inclues the URL to the RCMP report.)
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 17:02:37 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: 'Mindboggling' Marijuana Crop Tops 800 Tonnes
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Friday May 28, 1999
Source: Ottawa Citizen (Canada)
Copyright: 1999 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Author: Ian MacLeod, The Ottawa Citizen
'MINDBOGGLING' MARIJUANA CROP TOPS 800 TONNES
Canadians Harvest More Marijuana Than Parsley, Rcmp Report Says
More marijuana was grown in Canada last year than parsley, with the
criminal crop increasingly taking root in Ontario and Quebec.
A new RCMP report on Canada's $18-billion illicit street-drug trade
estimates at least 800 tonnes of marijuana was grown domestically last
year.
It's the first time the Mounties have made such a calculation and the
results have surprised even them. (By comparison, 737 tonnes of
parsley sprouted in Canada last year.)
"This estimate appears overwhelming," says the report, and, in fact,
drug investigators believe it's "quite conservative." Adds Leo
Vaillant, one of the report's authors: "It's sort of mindboggling, but
that appears to be what the situation is."
The release of the report this week follows a call last month by the
association representing Canada's police chiefs, and quickly backed by
the RCMP, for the federal government to decriminalize the possession
of small amounts of marijuana.
The chiefs' new policy recommends giving police officers the option of
ticketing people caught with 30 grams or less of marijuana, sparing
them a criminal record. They argue the move, which stops short of
legalizing the drug, could free up police resources to tackle more
serious crimes.
Yesterday, Mr. Vaillant stressed the marijuana (and other narcotics)
estimates in the report are not a police attempt to exaggerate the
problem. In fact, he said, police went out of their way to be
conservative.
"We didn't want to put a number out there (that would cause people) to
say, 'here go the police again, they're going to try to spook us.'
(With) all the figures, we're always using the lowest estimates."
The marijuana estimate is based, in part, on the more than one million
marijuana plants police seized across the country last year, up from
about 690,000 in 1997. (A more efficient RCMP system of tracking
cross-country seizures in 1998 accounts for part of that increase.)
Still, police estimate 4.7 million plants were harvested, with each
mature plant producing an average 170 grams of "marketable substance."
And production is up, say police, because demand appears to be growing.
After coffee, alcohol and tobacco and certain prescription drugs,
cannabis is the most popular psychoactive substance in the nation,
says the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
But after a decade of relatively stable usage rates, it says marijuana
smoking is gaining in popularity again, especially among the young.
Then there's the money to be made.
In British Columbia, Canada's chief cannibis-growing region, a
kilogram of potent, hydroponic marijuana - with a tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC) strength of 15 to 20 per cent - is reported to be selling for
more than $6,000 to middlemen.
High-grade hydroponic marijuana represents only about 10 per cent the
total amount grown in Canada, but hydroponic operations with more than
3,000 plants are not uncommon, says the report. The rest is
organically grown, with THC values under 10 per cent, says Mr. Vaillant.
So much potent B.C. weed is now suspected of being smuggled into the
U.S. that the U.S. State Department this month cited it as one of the
obstacles to a more open border with Canada.
The profitability of the B.C. growing and smuggling operations has
also caught the attention of eastern producers, notably in Ontario and
Quebec.
"Why should it be limited to (British Columbia)? People are realizing
there's profits to be made by this type of cultivation and they're
getting into it," says Mr. Vaillant, of the force's drug analysis unit.
In the latest of dozens of busts by Ontario and Quebec police over the
last couple of years, Quebec police this month swooped down on five
residences and farm buildings in the Labelle area, about 60 kilometres
north of Sainte-Agathe, and seized 7,250 marijuana plants with an
estimated street value of $7 million.
And although it is still a developing market, the report says it's
likely that marijuana is being smuggled into the United States across
all land border points, including by organized crime groups in Quebec.
Mr. Vaillant believes another reason for the boom are the sentences
for people convicted of cultivating marijuana. "We have a bit lighter
sentencing. It's quite severe in the United States, (where) the judge
has no latitude to determine the sentence."
Other highlights of the RCMP's 1998 drug report include:
-At least 100 tonnes of hashish, 15 tonnes of cocaine and six tonnes
of liquid hashish are smuggled into Canada annually.
-One to two tonnes of heroin are required each year to meet the demand
of Canadian heroin users.
-Drug trafficking remains the principal source of revenue for most
organized crime groups. In Canada, the drug trade has the potential to
generate criminal proceeds in excess of $4 billion at the wholesale
level and of $18 billion at the street level.
-Italian-based organized crime is involved in upper-echelon
importation and distribution of many types of narcotics.
-Asian-based groups are active in heroin and, increasingly, cocaine
trafficking at all levels.
-Colombian-based traffickers still control much of the cocaine trade
in eastern and central Canadian cities.
-Outlaw motorcycle gangs play a major role in the importation and
large-scale distribution of marijuana, cocaine and chemical drugs.
The RCMP report is available on the force's website at
www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/html/drugsituation.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue No. 92 (The Drug Reform Coordination
Network's original drug policy newsmagazine features these stories - Thanks,
and another special offer through June 30; Medical marijuana activist
convicted in federal court: jury not allowed to hear evidence of medicinal
use; Four guards charged in beating death of Nassau County inmate; Senate
juvenile justice bill passes in wake of Colorado school shooting, would
dramatically increase surveillance and drug testing; New York assembly
speaker says no to Rockefeller drug law reform . . . or does he?; Policy
change may allow for non-government funded medical marijuana research.)
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 01:08:53 +0000
To: drc-natl@drcnet.org
From: DRCNet (drcnet@drcnet.org)
Subject: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #92
Sender: owner-drc-natl@drcnet.org
The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #92 - May 28, 1999
A Publication of the Drug Reform Coordination Network
-------- PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE --------
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line "signoff drc-natl" in the body of the message, or
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this list, visit http://www.drcnet.org/signup.html.)
This issue can be also be read on our web site at
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html. Check out the DRCNN
weekly radio segment at http://www.drcnet.org/drcnn/.
If you haven't yet signed the following legislative petition
alerts, please visit them and join the thousands who have --
and be sure to use the Tell Your Friends page to get the
word out to as many reform supporters as possible!
Asset Forfeiture Reform: http://www.drcnet.org/forfeiture/
HEA Drug Provision: http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Thanks, and Another Special Offer Through June 30
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#thanks
2. Medical Marijuana Activist Convicted in Federal Court:
Jury Not Allowed to Hear Evidence of Medicinal Use
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#smith
3. Four Guards Charged in Beating Death of Nassau County
Inmate
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#inmate
4. Senate Juvenile Justice Bill Passes in Wake of Colorado
School Shooting, Would Dramatically Increase Surveillance
and Drug Testing
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#juveniles
5. New York Assembly Speaker Says No to Rockefeller Drug Law
Reform...Or Does He?
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#nyspeaker
6. Policy Change May Allow for Non-Government Funded Medical
Marijuana Research
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/092.html#medmjresearch
***
1. Thanks, and Another Special Offer Through June 30
THANK YOU: DRCNet would like to thank all of you who
donated in response to our one-day special offer of
Shattered Lives. Many aspects of our work, especially our
exciting lobbying projects, are dependent upon non-
deductible membership donations. Without these, our
effectiveness would be severely diminished. Thanks also for
the wonderful words of encouragement that we have received.
Your moral support keeps us going.
For those who did not take advantage of the special offer,
we are extending another offer that is almost as good, from
now through the end of June: Donate $30 or more to receive
your free copy of Shattered Lives. Or, donate $70 or more
and receive a free copy of the video Sex, Drugs and
Democracy, on the Netherlands' approach to social policy --
or $100 or more and receive both! Visit our secure
registration form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html or
call (202) 293-8340 or fax (202) 293-8344 with your credit
card information. Or just send your check, made payable to
DRCNet, 2000 P Street, NW, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20036.
(It helps us if you fill out the form to print out and send
in with your check.) Thank you for your support!
***
2. Medical Marijuana Activist Convicted in Federal Court:
Jury Not Allowed to Hear Evidence of Medicinal Use
Operating out of a playbook that is fast becoming their
strategy of choice, federal prosecutors have once again run
an end-around, disregarding the will of California's voters
and elected officials by charging and prosecuting B.E.
Smith, a medical marijuana user and activist, in federal
court. Smith, who was growing marijuana with the explicit
knowledge of the local sheriff's office, was not allowed to
present any evidence of the medicinal nature of his use, and
now faces up to 10 years in federal prison for
"manufacturing" marijuana.
Smith, who did two tours of duty in Vietnam, uses marijuana
to combat the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a
condition that had previously driven him to alcohol abuse.
Since beginning to use marijuana, Smith has ceased using
alcohol entirely.
Smith is one of a growing list of medical marijuana
activists targeted by the federal government since medicinal
use was legalized (under state law) by California voters in
1996. Steve Kubby, former Libertarian candidate for
governor, Peter McWilliams, a best selling author, Todd
McCormick and the proprietors of various buyers' clubs
throughout the state are all facing federal charges as well.
Barred by District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. from
presenting any evidence regarding his medical condition or
his use of marijuana to treat himself, Mr. Smith's defense
was limited entirely to character witnesses. One of these
was actor/activist Woody Harrelson. Harrelson drew the ire
of Judge Burrell when he mentioned Smith's medicinal use on
the stand, in response to a question as to whether he was
surprised to see Mr. Smith standing trial. Prosecutors'
objection to the question was sustained, but Harrelson
responded anyway, saying, "Certainly, for a medical
marijuana case, I consider it odd."
In response to Harrelson's remark, the judge warned him to
obey the rulings from the bench. Harrelson replied, "I'm
just wondering why you're keeping the truth from the jury."
At that point, Judge Garland immediately sent the jury from
the courtroom, after which he lectured Harrelson on a
judge's legal right to control the proceedings. "I didn't
think you had much respect for the law" retorted Harrelson.
At that point, Judge Garland refused to allow further direct
testimony by Harrelson, and excused him from the stand.
"How do you sleep at night?," Harrelson asked the judge, as
he stepped down.
Todd McCormick, who is also facing federal charges, and for
whom Harrelson has posted $500,000 bond, told The Week
Online that Smith's case fits a pattern of strong-arm
tactics by the federal government in dealing with medical
marijuana activists in California.
"B.E. Smith had permission from his local sheriff's office
to grow marijuana. He wasn't being covert. The federal
government, having lost and lost badly at the polls, has
decided to put its boot on the throats of medical marijuana
activists. How can a judge rule that Smith's reasons for
growing the marijuana are irrelevant for a jury to hear?"
McCormick continued, "The federal government is engaged in a
campaign of intimidation, not only of activists but of every
Californian who uses marijuana medicinally, their doctors
and caregivers. They have systematically and blatantly
ignored the will of California voters. And where is Bill
Lockyer, our new Attorney General? When he was elected, he
made it clear that he intended to protect California's sick
and dying against the tyranny of the federal government, but
as soon as the feds threatened to arrest him, he tiptoed
away from the issue with his tail between his legs. In so
doing, he essentially gave the feds the green light to step
up their prosecutions. So much for integrity."
Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Attorney General Lockyer,
told The Week Online that their office is attempting to
resolve the conflict with federal authorities in a way that
will be most effective.
"If the Attorney General of a state is going to take on the
federal government in an area where there is a conflict
between state and federal law, he's going to lose every
time, hands down," he said. "What we have in California,
frankly, is a poorly-written initiative that gives no
direction to how the law is supposed to work, and a lot of
people running around making it up as they go along. As
long as the federal government is set on enforcing federal
law, there's nothing that anyone can do about it."
"John Lockyer, as the Attorney General of California," he
continued, "took an oath to uphold the law. He has been in
contact with the Attorney General (Reno) and the Drug Czar,
and they are aware of the problem that we're facing here.
The response that the Attorney General has received from
those offices would have to be characterized as very
positive. We believe that a strategy of taking on the feds
at every turn on this issue would be extremely
counterproductive and could set the process back by years."
Smith's attorneys plan to appeal his conviction.
***
3. Four Guards Charged in Beating Death of Nassau County
Inmate
Thomas Prizzuto, a methadone patient, was serving the second
day of a 90-day sentence when he was allegedly beaten to
death by guards at the Nassau County (NY) jail after asking
repeatedly for methadone. Four corrections officers have
been charged in the attack. All have pleaded not guilty.
Methadone patients who are abruptly cut off from the
medication suffer serious withdrawal symptoms, including
vomiting, cramps, sweating and diarrhea. Prizzuto
apparently refused to stop calling out to guards for
methadone, which led to his beating. Left in his cell over
the weekend, Prizzuto suffered a seizure and died of a
ruptured spleen.
Guards Ivano Bavaro, Edward Velazquez and Patrick Regnier
were charged with the beating, while a fourth guard, Joseph
Bergen, was charged as an accessory after the fact for
allegedly falsifying a prison record to indicate that
Prizzuto's injuries were sustained in a fall in the shower
room. Another prisoner, however, who was in the cell next
to Prizzuto's, will testify that he heard him being beaten
on the date in question.
Ernest Peace, attorney for Regnier, told The Week Online
that there is little evidence that the guards beat Mr.
Prizzuto.
"The guy was taken to two different doctors between January
8th and January 11th when he died. Neither doctor found
anything wrong, and he was sent back to his cell. Prizzuto
himself claimed he fell. Maybe he was beaten up by another
inmate. My client spent four years in the Navy, he's been a
guard for six, and he's never had a complaint against him."
But Peter Neufeld, who, along with Barry Scheck and Johnny
Cochran is representing the Prizzuto family in their civil
suit, disputes Mr. Peace's assertions.
"This investigation has lasted four months, and involved
forty federal agents. You don't just get an indictment of
prison guards without evidence. It is our understanding
that two other guards have come forward and are cooperating.
As to what doctors saw Mr. Prizzuto, our information is that
the only time he was taken to a hospital was after he went
into seizures. He died in the hospital two days later
(January 13th).
"We are hoping to force the Justice Department to undertake
an investigation into the long history of abuse of inmates
and the practice of refusing to provide adequate medical
care at the Nassau County Jail."
Joycelyn Woods, director of the National Alliance of
Methadone Advocates, told The Week Online that while there
are still very few methadone maintenance programs currently
operating in a US jail (there is one at Rikers Island in New
York and one at the Suffolk County Jail), many correctional
systems will at least detoxify inmates (give them
diminishing doses of the drug for a short period of time),
rather than force them into severe withdrawal.
"It's inhumane, to say the least. People who are using
methadone are, by definition, in recovery. They get their
methadone from licensed programs, there's nothing illicit
about it. But it happens all the time (denying methadone to
people at the Nassau County Jail), and the only reason that
this case has gotten attention is that they beat him to
death and because his wife, who's a methadone patient
herself, was brave enough to seek justice."
"Many of the people who are in jails in this country are
simply awaiting trial, and haven't been accused of anything.
Is it moral to deny these people a medication that they're
taking under a doctor's supervision, leaving them in pain?"
Donna Schoen, patient advocate for the Long Island Jewish
Medical Center's methadone program, who wrote an article in
1995 detailing problems at the Nassau County Jail, told The
Week Online that the problems are endemic.
"In 1995 I heard about a methadone patient, who also had
AIDS, who was left suffering for over a week, twisting on
the floor, having seizures, vomiting. It wasn't until
pressure was brought by a state agency that he was
medicated. Once I started asking around, people came out of
the woodwork telling their stories. In June of 1998, I sent
a letter to Thomas Gulotta (Nassau County Commissioner),
including the article and a list of other people I had heard
from. I told Mr. Gulotta that until there was a methadone
program in place in the county jail, these problems were not
going to go away. He wrote me back and told me that he had
sent my letter on to Joseph Jablonsky (Nassau County
Sheriff), and that I would be hearing from him. Well, it
took him nine months, and the death of this poor kid, before
I heard back."
Schoen said that she is hoping that Prizzuto's death will
not have been in vain.
"People go in to the county jail and get sick. They're
chained to beds for days on end, or beaten, or left to
suffer. What's needed is a program to provide methadone and
a doctor there that understands the medical problems of the
people who are there. Until that happens, more people will
suffer and die there."
***
4. Senate Juvenile Justice Bill Passes in Wake of Colorado
School Shooting, Would Dramatically Increase Surveillance
and Drug Testing
Scott Ehlers, Senior Policy Analyst, Drug Policy Foundation,
ehlers@dpf.org, http://www.dpf.org
On May 20th, exactly one month after the Colorado school
shootings, the Senate passed S. 254, the "Violent and
Juvenile Offender Act." Approved by a vote of 73 to 25, the
massive bill not only seeks to increase penalties for
violent and juvenile offenders, but also promises to expand
suspicionless searches, drug testing, and the use of
surveillance technologies in America's schools.
The drug testing and locker-search provisions contained in
the bill are the brainchild of Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI),
one of Congress' top cheerleaders for the war on drugs. His
"School Violence Prevention Act" (Sec. 1611) opens up funds
under the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant program to be
used for "testing a student for illegal drug use or
inspecting a student's locker for guns, explosives, other
weapons, or illegal drugs...." Sen. Abraham was courteous
enough to require the searches and drug testing to be
consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,
and also mentions parental consent, but does not require it.
Additionally, S. 254 includes a provision (Sec. 1656) to
establish in New Mexico the School Security Technology
Center at the Sandia National Laboratories, in partnership
with the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology
Center. The center would be a joint venture between the
Justice Department, Department of Education and the
Department of Energy, with the Attorney General in charge of
administration. Although initially proposed in S. 638 by
Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), appropriations for the center were
incorporated into the Violent and Juvenile Offender Act.
If the center is kept in the legislation, America's schools
promise to be on the cutting edge of surveillance and drug
detection technology. According to the May 6th issue of the
Drug Detection Report, Sandia Laboratories has developed
instruments known as "surface acoustic wave devices or
integrated acoustic chemical sensors" that can detect
illicit drugs on the skin. The sensor system can reportedly
detect trace levels of airborne drugs as well. The center,
proposed to receive $11.4 million over three years, will
also promote onsite testing of students' hair, according to
the Report.
S. 254 would appropriate $30 million over the next three
years for grants to local schools for security assessments
and technical assistance for "the development of a
comprehensive school security plan from the School Security
Technology Center."
A House version of S. 254 has not been introduced yet, but
stay tuned to the Week Online for news on any movement of
the bill.
The text and status of all federal legislation can be found
online at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
***
5. New York Assembly Speaker Says No to Rockefeller Drug Law
Reform...Or Does He?
For years, Democratic lawmakers in New York State have
sought the repeal of the notorious Rockefeller Drug Laws,
some of the harshest mandatory minimum laws in the US.
Recently, bipartisan support for reform has grown,
culminating this month in a proposal by Republican Governor
George Pataki calling for modest reductions in the laws.
But late last week, the New York Times reported that the
Democratic leadership in the Assembly would not consider any
proposals to scale back the Rockefeller Drug Laws in the
current session. Citing concerns about appearing soft on
crime, an aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said there
were "no plans by the Assembly leadership to address the
governor's proposal."
Reform advocates were shocked at the news. "Most of the
people I've spoken to have people who are incarcerated, and
their hearts just sank when they heard the news," said Terri
Derikart, director of the New York chapter of Families
Against Mandatory Minimums. "They felt like they had been
betrayed by their elected officials."
Assemblyman Silver's office did not return repeated phone
calls requesting comment on the story, but an article in the
Albany Times Union today suggests that the Speaker may have
softened his stance somewhat after fellow Democrats
expressed their dismay. On Thursday (5/27) the Times Union
reported that Silver told a closed-door Democratic
conference that he opposed only Governor Pataki's plan,
though he did not say what other proposals, if any, he does
support.
While reform advocates consider the governor's plan a
positive step toward reforming the laws -- Pataki is the
first governor to formally propose a change in the laws
since they were enacted under Governeor Nelson D.
Rockefeller in 1973 -- most have criticized it as not going
far enough. Currently, even non-violent, first-time
offenders charged with selling two or more ounces or
possessing four or more ounces of a drug face fifteen years
to life in prison. Pataki's plan would reduce the minimum
sentence by just five years, subject to approval by an
appeals judge, and in return for this concession the
governor wants to severely limit parole for all offenders.
Randy Credico of the William Moses Kunstler Fund, which
organizes protests and vigils in support of Rockefeller Drug
Law repeal, said Pataki's proposal was an acknowledgment of
the strength of the reform movement. "He's hoping to snuff
out a popular uprising," he told The Week Online. "He's
trying to cramp the growing grassroots movement, what you'd
call a ground war, which is what is really required to
change these laws." That movement rejects Pataki's
proposal, which, Credico said, "would take New York from
being the state with the worst drug laws to being the state
with the worst drug laws."
Nevertheless, there is a growing consensus that something
must be done. Adding to the momentum for repeal are a
number of reports documenting the effects of the laws on the
state's overburdened prison system and their disparate
impact on Black and Latino New Yorkers. Among the facts:
* Drug offenders now make up roughly one third of the
state's 70,000 inmates.
* In 1998, 46% of the nearly 6,000 drug offenders sentenced
to prison in New York were convicted of drug possession, not
sales.
* At the current level of incarceration, drug offenders in
New York prisons cost taxpayers $715 million dollars per
year.
* In 1997, 77.5% of drug offenders in New York had no prior
convictions for violent felonies, and 50% had no prior
felony drug convictions.
* More than 94% of drug offenders in New York prisons are
Black or Latino.
(source: New York Correctional Association fact sheet)
Numbers like these have prompted calls for reform from
diverse quarters, including New York's Chief Judge, Judith
Kaye, who earlier this year proposed a plan similar to
Pataki's. This spring, Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrion
Aubry introduced a more radical bill that would repeal the
Rockefeller Drug Laws by returning discretion to sentencing
judges, and increase funding for drug treatment programs.
The bill also includes a clause that would allow current
inmates to have their sentences reduced.
There are also several proposals from a range of advocacy
groups that have not yet been introduced in the Assembly,
many more conservative than Aubry's, but still substantial
enough to mitigate the worst excesses of the Rockefeller
laws. The issue seems "hot," which is why the claim from
Speaker Silver's office that the Democratic leadership is
worried about looking too soft on crime sounded odd to many.
"In New York, I don't see how anybody needs any political
cover beyond the Governor stepping forward and saying
something has to be done, the chief judge of the state
saying something has to be done," said John Dunne, a former
Republican state senator who, along with the bipartisan
Campaign For Effective Criminal Justice, wants the law
changed to double the amount of drugs required to constitute
each level of crime. "There are plenty of people to share
the blame as well as the glory for any change that might be
made."
The public seems to share that opinion. In a Zogby
International poll conducted at the end of April, 63% of New
Yorkers surveyed said they would not consider a politician
who voted for reducing mandatory drug sentences "soft on
crime." And nearly 30% of the respondents said that they
favored giving judges more discretion to decide on
sentencing in individual cases. An overwhelming majority
(73.8%) said they favor treatment over jail for minor drug
offenders.
If more cover were needed, Silver may be relieved to hear
that even the conservative think tank The Manhattan
Institute also favors Rockefeller reform, and is expected to
publish a report to that effect in early June, penned by the
notoriously prison-friendly John DiIulio.
Given all this, there is still a good deal of hope among
reform advocates that there will be movement on the laws
this year. Robert Gangi, director of the New York
Correctional Association, a prison watchdog group, told The
Week Online, "It's clear from the polls and from our
political sense, based on newspaper stories and editorial
board comments, that we've won the public debate." Gangi
said his group will move ahead with plans for a lobbying day
in Albany next month.
Terri Derikart said that FAMM and the other activists she
works with will not take no for an answer. "They are
already contacting their legislators," she said. "They want
meaningful drug law reform to be passed this session. They
don't agree that it's going to be shelved. They want to
keep everything to keep moving. So rather than accepting
it, they're raising their voices across the state to say,
'this is wrong, we need these laws reformed now, not just
for our family members, but for those who are about to be
incarcerated.'"
Learn more about the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the movement
to reform them at these web sites:
The Lindesmith Center, http://www.lindesmith.org
New York Correctional Association, http://www.corrassoc.org
The William Moses Kunstler Fund For Racial Justice,
http://www.kunstler.org
Families Against Mandatory Minimums, http://www.famm.org
***
6. Policy Change May Allow for Non-Government Funded Medical
Marijuana Research
(from the NORML Foundation, http://www.norml.org)
May 25, 1999, Washington, DC: Department of Health and
Human Services officials announced new regulations Friday
that may allow researchers access to medical marijuana for
non-federally funded research. The policy change, scheduled
to take effect on December 1, 1999, adopts recommendations
of a 1997 National Institutes of Health (NIH) panel that
urged officials to supply medical marijuana for non-NIH
funded research.
"This is a step in the right direction," NORML Executive
Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. said. "But it is also
further evidence that the wheels of change grind exceedingly
slowly for medical marijuana reform." Health officials said
that the new policy will facilitate medical marijuana
clinical trials. "The goal of this program must be to
determine whether cannabinoid components of marijuana
administered through an alternative delivery system can meet
the standards enumerated under the federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act for commercial marketing of a medical product,"
the guidelines state.
Present NIH policy allows only those funded by the agency to
use marijuana for research purposes. Under the new
guidelines, non-NIH funded researchers must still submit
their protocol to institutional peer review, secure a DEA
registration to conduct marijuana research, reimburse the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for the cost of the
marijuana, and gain NIH approval for their study.
Researchers who wish to conduct human trial
