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Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 11:08:08 -0700
Subject:NJ: No Freedom of Speech for Ed "NJweedman" Forchion Up TOC

Newshawk: The gateway to email lists http://www.drugsense.org/lists/
Pubdate: Tue, 20 Aug 2002
Source: DrugWar (US Web)
Webpage: http://www.drugwar.com/pweedmanarrested.shtm
Copyright: 2002 Kalyx com
Contact: ptpeet@drugwar.com
Website: http://www.drugwar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2410
Author: Preston Peet, for Drugwar com
See: the 'Weedman' TV ads at http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/misc_weedman.html
Cited: NJweedman http://www.njweedman.com/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Forchion

NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR ED "NJWEEDMAN" FORCHION

Political candidate and outspoken marijuana legalization proponent Ed
"NJWeedman" Forchion is under arrest again in New Jersey.

He was picked up by police at his weekly parole meeting and booked into the
Burlington County Jail sometime between 3 and 11 PM on Monday, August 19,
2002. Apparently the arrest was for violating his parole agreements by
filming a series of pro-marijuana and First Amendment commercials. Under
the terms of his parole, Forchion is not allowed to publicly discuss
marijuana in any way. Ironically, the commercials, which had been slated to
run in four counties in New Jersey on the Comcast Cable Company, were
barred by Comcast management before they aired.

At this time details about his charges are still a bit sketchy, as the
Burlington County jail refuses to divulge any information about the case
other than that he is in the jail, alleging that they are not allowed to
"release any information to civilians." (The Burlington Co. jail later
amended this statement, telling Drugwar com that we were entitled to have
this information, but only from the warden, who has not returned repeated
calls.)

Forchion has a long history of fighting for the right to use marijuana, and
of paying the consequences for battling prohibition. He'd had a couple of
minor brushes with the law over petty offenses in his early years (but
compared to many of the corporate crooks still sitting pretty without
seeing the inside of a jail cell, he's an angle of propriety). In November
of 1997, having built up a thriving marijuana smuggling business while
working as a truck driver driving his own rig, he was arrested in a sting
operation as he and his brother were trying to pick up a FedEx package
containing 40 pounds of marijuana.

This lead to both brothers, along with a third friend, being the first
people tried in New Jersey under the then-new Omnibus Crime Act, which
allows for anyone convicted of trafficking over 20 pounds of pot, even
their first offence, to do 20 years in prison.

While awaiting trial, Forchion undertook a campaign to bring marijuana
reform into the public consciousness, as well as the right to Jury
Nullification (which is illegal in New Jersey) running unsuccessfully for
office in the US congress and for the office of Burlington County
Freeholder, as the sole member of the Legalize Marijuana Party. Forchion
also undertook civil disobedience, lighting up joints in the New Jersey
State Assembly and at the Liberty Bell, among a dozen or so very public
places. Two years, 15 hearings, and three judges later, Forchion accepted a
plea bargain of 6 months in jail and 27 months in New Jersey's Intensive
Supervised Parole program, after refusing to rat out his marijuana
connections. Reporting to the Riverfront Prison in Camden, NJ, on Jan. 12,
2001, (where prison guards immediately found 10 joints secreted within the
sole of his sneaker), Forchion was informed he was not yet eligible for
ISP, due to his "extensive" criminal history.

He did 15 months inside before finally getting released on April 3, 2002
into ISP. He almost immediately filed an appeal of his sentence, which if
he looses he faces up to 20 years in prison.

"I'm still fighting this conviction," Forchion wrote Drugwar com in an
email a few hours before his arrest Monday. "My parole officer (Tom
Bartlett) also ordered me not to talk to the press. Which I regarded as a
illegal order. Because I knew such a order not to talk to the press was
illegal I gave a few interviews anyway. On May 27th, I stood outside the
Burlington County Courthouse and protested my not being able to see my
daughter because of the Religion [Rastafari] I have chosen. I passed out
fliers and was interviewed by the Burlington County Times and the Trentonian."

On the following day he was placed under house arrest, then was arrested on
June 6 and sat in jail for four days for speaking to the newspapers.

"I was livid," writes Forchion, "this was totally un-American. So I
contacted Peter Christopher of www nextplayvideo com (Activist video) and
asked him if he could help me by making a couple of First Amendment
commercials for me. He did, we made three. I went to Comcast here in Mt
Laurel, NJ, and presented them. They (Comcast NJ) accepted them, had me
sign a contract and I gave them a deposit. The office manager actually
liked them."

"In our standard advertising contract, there is a paragraph that prohibits
habit forming drugs and illegal products from appearing in advertising
spots. so it is a cut and dried situation for the company," said David
Shane, Comcast's vice-president of corporate communications. "The spots
clearly violate the agreement that he signed, so as a result we returned
his $100 deposit, and the company is not running the spots."

When it was noted that Comcast takes money from, and airs commercials by
both the Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Anti-Drug Media
Campaign, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Shane said, "They
don't promote the use of habit forming drugs or drug paraphernalia. Let me
read you the contract, the clause in the contract. 'The following material
is explicitly prohibited. Drugs/illegal products, including habit forming
drugs, drug paraphernalia, or establishments that promote these products.
Also included is advertising for a product of service which is illegal or
has no legitimate use in the country, state, or municipality where systems
franchise area [sic] are located.' So it's pretty clear these spots violate
that portion of the contract."

Although it is clear that marijuana has many different legitimate uses
despite the US prohibitionist rhetoric and laws to the contrary, and may or
may not be habit forming for some people, Shane stuck to his guns, but did
not mention whether or not pharmaceutical companies which market habit
forming drugs on Comcast have to abide by this same agreement.

He did note that "Anybody who advertises on Comcast signs this standard
advertising contract. Again, anything promoting the use of habit forming
drugs or drug paraphernalia are prohibited on Comcast."

"I'm so fucking mad I could spit," Peter Christopher told Drugwar com when
contacted about Comcast's decision and Forchion's subsequent arrest. "We're
trying to get activists to do stuff like this. Sponsor some public access,
shoot their own video. It took about 4 hours one afternoon at Ed's house.
I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how quickly I edited them. We wrote them
for 30 seconds slots, timed them, and tried them. Actually the commercials
were written and edited by a friend of mine. We're trying to influence
people to come out and work with us. I think they will."

Christopher points out how the system has really gone after Forchion,
because he represents the counter-culture, he is very loud about his
beliefs, and is not afraid of the repercussions that have resulted for
standing up for what he believes is right.

"These things go unchallenged every day," says Christopher. "Guys get
tossed around, nobody does anything about it. Why? I think a lot of it is
fear. I'm going to tell you this, and you think about it. It may have never
occurred to you. The problem is the system has turned too many people. Four
out of five people tell them everything they want to know. How can you go
from that situation to being an activist? How can you look other people in
the face and help them change the laws when you've told on them? Eighty
percent of the people arrested tell all. Those are the statistics, they
don't lie."

But Forchion himself refused to roll over and tell all.

On Monday night, Forchion reported for his weekly parole meeting.

At the end, everyone was told they could go except Forchion, according to
Christopher, who spoke at length with Forchion later that night.

Forchion was taken into custody, during which his new commercials were
mentioned as the reason his parole was being violated, then taken to the
Burlington County jail where he now sits. Forchion does not yet have a
lawyer assisting him. He is also seeking help in obtaining enough money to
run the commercials in any venue he can get them on.

"The War on Drugs is being fought by two sides, the Government side and the
winning side," Forchion points out. "Apparently Comcast only wants the
government side's opinions expressed. This is absolute censorship. Yes, I
had a shirt on with a "weed-leaf". Comcast airs far worst! They aired my
campaign commercials three years ago and in those I had a bong and a fake
weed leaves hanging out my suit jacket pocket. It wasn't the shirt, it was
the words they didn't like. I was questioning the War on Drugs and what it
is doing to the principals of freedom this country was founded on. This is
an example."

For more information about Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion at Mapinc org, click
here http://www.mapinc.org/people/Forchion
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:13:35 -0700
Subject:NJ: Marijuana Advocate Jailed For Espousing Legalization Of Up TOC

Newshawk: Libertarians 1 - Drug Warriors 0 - http://www.plylar.org
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: Burlington County Times (NJ)
Copyright: 2002 Calkins Newspapers. Inc.
Contact: http://www.phillyburbs.com/feedback/content_bct.shtml
Website: http://www.phillyburbs.com/burlingtoncountytimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2128
Author: Mike Mathis
Note: BCT staff writer John Reitmeyer also contributed to this story.

MARIJUANA ADVOCATE JAILED FOR ESPOUSING LEGALIZATION OF DRUG

Marijuana legalization advocate Ed "njweedman" Forchion is in trouble with
the law again.

Forchion was jailed Monday night after he violated the terms of the
supervisory program in which he is enrolled, officials said yesterday.

As a result, the Pemberton Township resident could be forced to return to
prison to serve the remainder of his 10-year sentence on marijuana- related
charges.

Tom Bartlett, regional director for the Intensive Supervision Program, said
Forchion violated provisions of the program by advocating marijuana use.

Participants in the Intensive Supervision Program are released early from
prison but must remain drug-free and abide by other regulations.

"He agreed he was not going to promote marijuana use," Bartlett said. "We
tried to get him in compliance and he has not cooperated."

In a telephone interview from the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly
yesterday, Forchion said he was told he violated the terms of the program
by taping three television commercials in which he advocated the
legalization of marijuana.

Forchion said he simply expressed his opinions on free speech and the
nation's war on drugs in the commercials.

"This is America," Forchion said. "I have every right to say what I want to
say. (Parole officials) just don't want me to talk."

Forchion has long maintained that his First Amendment rights are being
violated because he cannot freely practice his faith as a Rastafarian or
state his beliefs.

Forchion was charged with helping his brother and another man pick up a
shipment of 40 pounds of marijuana at Bellmawr Industrial Park in Bellmawr,
Camden County, in November 1997. The marijuana was shipped from a supplier
in Arizona via Federal Express.

Forchion was tried on charges of distributing marijuana and possession of
marijuana with intent to distribute in October 2000 but pleaded guilty to
those charges and two unrelated charges during his trial. He was sentenced
to 10 years in prison in December 2000 and served 16 months in prison
before he was admitted into the Intensive Supervision Program.

Under the terms of the program, Forchion must refrain from smoking
marijuana and must obtain a job. He also must provide regular urine samples
to demonstrate that he is staying clean.

Forchion also cannot advocate the legalization of marijuana.

In each of the three, 30-second commercials that he taped, Forchion wears a
shirt bearing a marijuana leaf and stands in front of an American flag.

In one of the commercials, he advocates free speech. In another, he says
that marijuana has medicinal benefits. In the third, he criticizes the
government's war on drugs.

Forchion tried to buy time from Comcast to televise the commercials, but
the cable company declined to air them.

Comcast spokeswoman Nissa O'Mara said the commercials violated the
company's advertising policy against promoting drug use.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:15:21 -0700
Subject:Canada: Split emerges over releasing marijuana Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A1
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Author: Brian Laghi

Split emerges over releasing marijuana

By BRIAN LAGHI

OTTAWA -- Former health minister Allan Rock defended his decision to put
medicinal marijuana into the hands of chronically ill Canadians -- and got
into a public disagreement yesterday with the current minister, who wants to
wait for clinical trials.

Health Minister Anne McLellan says clinical trials must be done before the
government makes any decision on releasing marijuana -- and she insists she
has not changed her department's policy.

But Mr. Rock said it was alway his intention to provide cannabis while
trials continue.

No trials have begun.

"The second track we were on was speedy access to quality supply, and I
found this just a matter of logic," he said. "If it's right to say they
should have access, then it's right to provide them with lawful and safe
material, and that means somebody has got to produce it, and that looks to
me like the role of government."

The policy of waiting for clinical trials could mean a long wait for
hundreds of Canadians who can legally smoke marijuana for medicinal
purposes, but who don't have a legal supplier. Such users might never get a
supply.

Mr. Rock's comments put into stark relief a split between him and Ms.
McLellan, who has voiced discomfort with providing the drug for medicinal
use.

"To my mind, it was pretty clear," said Mr. Rock. "We allow access to heroin
and to morphine and to all kinds of other drugs which otherwise are unlawful
and actually quite dangerous, but under controlled circumstances, we allow
them."

Ms. McLellan said she wished Mr. Rock had spoken to her before issuing his
remarks.

"I honestly wish that my colleague, the Minister of Industry, had spoken to
me before he decided to make comments in relation to an issue, a policy and
a department that he doesn't have anything to do with any more," she said.

Ms. McLellan said she is not shelving the federal program on medicinal
marijuana by waiting for clinical trials.

"If something is considered a therapeutic drug, that decision and that
representation has to be science-based," she said. "Anybody who thinks we
are shelving our policy is misinformed."

Groups including physicians and U.S. drug officials oppose Ottawa becoming a
marijuana supplier.

Mr. Rock, now Industry Minister, said the government should not construct
its marijuana policy based on the reaction of the United States or by
doctors who don't want to perscribe the drug.

"The conclusion that I came to was that we can't base our policy on social
issues like this on American standards, especially in an area where they're
very conservative," Mr. Rock said.

"We weren't, after all, talking about legalizing the drug. We were talking
about compassionate access, and I just didn't think it was appropriate to
take marching orders from Washington, D.C."

Mr. Rock also said that he weighed the concern doctors expressed about side
effects and decided that sick Canadians deserved access to marijuana if it
helped them.

"I compared people who were dying of AIDS who could have relief against the
potential harm to the lungs from inhaling hot smoke," Mr. Rock said. "I
thought that there are side effects to so many medical drugs that we use,
and that, on balance, the risk is justified."

Under Mr. Rock, the Health Department contracted with a company in Flin
Flon, Man., to grow large quantities of the drug.

The marijuana program was one of Mr. Rock's signature policies as Health
Minister, and Ms. McLellan's handling of the file has concerned those who
back the program.

Ms. McLellan said Monday that she was uncomfortable with the program because
she is also charged with helping to reduce smoking among Canadians.

Others who gain the right at a later date will continue to be able to grow
the substance or have someone else do it for them.

It is not the first time that the two ministers have had to deal with the
same controversial files. During her term as justice minister, Ms. McLellan
stickhandled the implementation of Canada's new gun registry after she
inherited the issue from Mr. Rock. Mr. Rock has also taken a far tougher
line with the provinces on medicare than has Ms. McLellan, an issue she is
also now responsible for. The two are also a study in contrasts in policy
development. Mr. Rock has a greater penchant for large projects, but has
sometimes been criticized for clumsy implementation.

For her part, Ms. McLellan prefers to avoid confrontation, and has a
reputation among some for being too unwilling to upset the apple cart.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:01:13 -0700
Subject:US: Pot Is Easy To Find And Buy, Teens Say Up TOC

Newshawk: The War on Drugs IS Terrorism
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Contact: letters@freepress.com
Copyright: 2002 Detroit Free Press
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Note: The full report is available at
http://www.casacolumbia.org/usr_doc/TeenSurvey2002.pdf .

POT IS EASY TO FIND AND BUY, TEENS SAY

It's More Accessible Than Cigarettes, Beer

WASHINGTON -- Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or
beer -- one in three say they can find it in a matter of hours -- but only
25 percent say they've tried it, according to a national survey released
Tuesday.

When the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse polled 1,000 teens
ages 12-17 last winter, 27 percent said they could buy marijuana in an hour
or less; another 8 percent said it would take a few hours. For the first
time since the study began in 1996, marijuana edged out cigarettes and beer
as the easiest drug for teens to buy.

It was also the first time that most teens reported their schools being drug
free: 63 percent said there were no drugs at the schools they attended.

In 2000, 45 percent gave that response. No survey was taken in 2001.

The survey didn't specify whether drugs were easy or difficult to buy at
school.

Student drug use has been dropping for the past four or five years because
communities have begun financing antidrug programs, said Gerald Tirozzi,
executive director of the National Association of Secondary School
Principals.

More than half of students surveyed said they don't drink alcohol in a
typical week, and nearly as many said they have never had a drink.

While one in four students said at least one parent smokes cigarettes, 69
percent said they have never smoked.

The survey also found that:

8 percent of students said there's a teacher at their school who uses
illegal drugs.

55 percent said they'd report someone they saw using drugs at school.

56 percent said they'd report someone they saw selling drugs at school, the
highest level since 1996.

24 percent said drugs are the most important problem facing people their
age, highest among several problems such as crime, peer pressure, sexuality
and the environment.

The survey had a 3.1-percentage point margin of error.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:16:43 -0700
Subject:Canada: Editorial: Ottawa's bungled grow-op leaves patients in the lurch Up TOC

Newshawk: Frank Discussion http://frankdiscussion.netfirms.com/
Pubdate: Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON)
Website: http://www.canada.com/stcatharines/
Address: 17 Queen St., St. Catharines, Ont. L2R 5G5
Contact: pbailey@scs.southam.ca
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/859A26F0-889A-4D33-8EC1-42BE8F103B6B

Ottawa's bungled grow-op leaves patients in the lurch

The Standard
St Catharines Standard

We have long argued in favour of marijuana being made available to patients
who were so ill they had no appetite or could not keep food down, and were
thus not absorbing enough nutrients to regain their health.

But we were skeptical of the government's ability to run a successful
marijuana-growing operation, and it turns out we were right.

After having spent $5.7 million to convert an abandoned mine into a grow-op
to create "medicinal grade" dope, the government failed where any
run-of-the-mill pot head could have succeeded.

All you need are good seeds, water, nutrients and plenty of lights.
Thousands of secret illegal grow operations are succeeding all over the
country.

But the federal version not only produced grass that was unusable, the stuff
came more than six months late, and none of the 250 kilograms harvested has
even reached the patients it was intended for.

In addition, the federal government is paying Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant
Systems Inc. to grow 400 kilograms of marijuana each year for the next four
years.

Not only does that mean more waste of taxpayers' money, but if McLellan
officially declares that none of this grass will make its way to patients,
the company will continue growing an illegal substance for no good reason.
And the more than 800 patients who qualified to receive the drug won't be
able to get it because it remains against the law.

There really is no challenge in finding examples of government mismanagement
and bungling. Something seems to overtake otherwise intelligent bureaucrats
and politicians so that they eventually reach the point where they couldn't
organize a two-car funeral.

This disastrous pot grow-up would be another laughable example, except for
the forgotten patients -- many of them terminally ill -- who once had a ray
of hope their suffering might be eased.

Now they are again in limbo, suffering needlessly while political
incompetence supports a legal multi-million-dollar operation to grow an
illegal substance. There are the makings of a French farce in this episode,
but we don't feel much like laughing.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 12:17:47 -0700
Subject:CA: Scientists Weigh Merits Of Pot As Pain Reliever Up TOC

Newshawk: The War on Drugs IS Terrorism
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: North County Times (CA)
Contact: editor@nctimes.com
Copyright: 2002 North County Times
Website: http://www.nctimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Author: Randy Dotinga
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SCIENTISTS WEIGH MERITS OF POT AS PAIN RELIEVER

SAN DIEGO -- Can you inhale your way past the pain and nausea of diseases
such as cancer and AIDS? Plenty of marijuana advocates say you can, but
scientific evidence has been nearly nonexistent.

Now, scientists are stepping up their research into the painkilling
properties of marijuana and drugs derived from it. Several research projects
are underway at UC San Diego, which is home to the two-year-old Center for
Medicinal Cannabis Research.

However, pain experts from around the globe learned Tuesday that a variety
of obstacles may keep marijuana pills out of medicine cabinets for some
time.

"We've got a long way to go," said Dr. Andrew Rice, a senior lecturer in
pain research at Imperial College in London, in a session before thousands
of attendees at the 10th World Pain Congress at the San Diego Convention
Center.

The conference, sponsored by the International Association for the Study of
Pain, is held every three years in a different country and will last through
Thursday. Several scientists are presenting their research into how
marijuana works and whether it could be a useful painkiller.

The drug itself has been around for thousands of years, Rice said. Humans
first began to cultivate marijuana about 8000 B.C., and Chinese and Indian
people used it to treat pain as early as 2800 and 2000 B.C. The drug
experienced a rebirth in the 19th century when even Queen Victoria used it,
although reports differ as to whether she smoked it or took it in her tea.

But while scientists know plenty about the workings of powerful painkillers
like morphine, researchers have largely stayed away from marijuana because
it's a dicey subject politically.

"The existing evidence (about medical marijuana) is too insufficient in
quality to allow any kind of informed debate," Rice said.

That's changing, however. Six years ago, California became the first of
eight states to allow ill people to smoke marijuana to relieve their
symptoms. And in 1999, the state Legislature allowed three years of medical
marijuana research to begin at UC San Diego and UC San Francisco.

While researchers must go through several hoops to get their research
projects approved, they can bypass federal laws that prevent citizens from
growing marijuana for sale to sick people. In fact, the marijuana for
research projects actually comes from the federal government, which grows
it.

In one UCSD study, scientists are stinging the arms of four test subjects
with capsaicin, the active ingredient in red chili peppers, and comparing
their responses to those after they've smoked some marijuana. More than a
dozen subjects will be enrolled later.

In another UCSD study that hasn't begun yet, researchers plan to enroll 40
cancer patients and test whether they get relief from severe pain by smoking
marijuana.

According to the center, other studies will look at the effects of marijuana
use upon multiple sclerosis patients -- doctors think the drug may reduce
muscle spasms -- and AIDS patients who suffer from nerve pain.

While doctors can choose from a wide variety of painkillers, from simple
aspirin to Oxycontin, many kinds of persistent pain remain immune to
treatment, said experts at the conference.

"We need clinical studies on the medicinal use of marijuana so we can settle
once and for all whether it is a useful medicine for the treatment of
various ailments such a pain, nausea and vomiting," said Dr. Mark Wallace,
chief of the Center for Pain and Palliative Medicine at UCSD.

It will take about two years to complete the capsaicin study, and three
years for the cancer study, he said.

Meanwhile, Rice told conferees researchers are trying to find ways around
the down sides of marijuana -- its tendency to make people get stoned and
its failure to work when swallowed in a pill form.

Researchers are currently looking at a variety of ways to "deliver" the
active ingredient of marijuana to patients without making them high. Among
other things, they are considering inhalers, suppositories and tablets that
you place under your tongue like a heart drug, Rice said.

Considering the early state of research, it's too early to predict when the
public will get a marijuana medicine by prescription, he said.

But UCSD's Wallace says he thinks the day will come. "I don't think it's
going to be a cure-all. That's not going to happen," he said in the
interview. "But it will be another option for us."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: doc
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 16:10:11 -0700
Subject: ME: Hempstock Numbers Down

Newshawk: Plylar - State Congress - http://www.plylar.org
Pubdate: Mon, 19 Aug 2002
Source: Morning Sentinel (ME)
Copyright: 2002 Morning Sentinel
Contact: dcheever@centralmaine.com
Website: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1474
Author: Joe Rankin

HEMPSTOCK NUMBERS DOWN

Attendance Drops 75%; 1 Teen Hospitalized For Over Dose

STARKS - State troopers arrested about two dozen people and one teen- ager
was taken to a hospital after taking LSD during the four-day Hempstock
festival promoting marijuana legalization.

Maine State Police Lt. Dale Lancaster said those arrested face charges
ranging from motor vehicle violations to possession of the drug Ecstasy.

Troopers served search warrants on three vendors on the grounds of Harry
Brown's farm. The three were summonsed on charges of selling drug
paraphernalia, Lancaster said after the festival ended Sunday afternoon.

"We made a concerted effort to take aggressive enforcement on drug
violations," Lancaster said. State troopers, Somerset County sheriff's
deputies, and Maine Liquor Enforcement officers manned roadblocks on State
Route 43 near Brown's farm, handing out flyers warning Hempstock attendees
that if they drove drunk they would likely be picked up at a roadblock on
the way out.

Lancaster said only one person was charged with driving while under the
influence.

Organizers of the festival, sponsored by the pro-marijuana group Maine
Vocals, said the police presence amounted to harassment.

That acknowledged that the roadblocks and the Vocals own efforts to avoid
reaching crowd numbers that would trigger the town's mass gathering
ordinance kept attendance down to levels not seen in years.

In the past the festival had drawn as many as 4,000 people over its
four-day run. This time around only about 1,000 people attended over the
same period. And that included security, staff, volunteers and band
members, said Tara Friend, the daughter of Vocals president Donald Christen
of Madison.

Christen himself was barred by a judge's order from attending the festival
this year.

Christen and the Vocals had failed to get a permit for Hempstock under the
town's mass gathering ordinance. Under an order by Superior Court Justice
Joseph Jabar, Christen faced 25 days in jail and stiff fines if the
organization promoted a mass gathering in the town.

Vocals hoped to get around that by keeping attendance down, and apparently
succeeded.

The town's ordinance defines a mass gathering as more than 750 people for
six hours.

Friend said the number of people attending this year may have hit 1,250 -
over all four days.

"We were used to seeing 4,000 people for the weekend," she added. "It did
not feel like Hempstock."

Friend said organizers sold 578 camping passes in all. Day pass sales
ranged from 63 on Thursday to 300 on Saturday. Sunday people got in for a
donation and perhaps 200 people listened to the music that day, she said.

In addition to fewer concertgoers, there were fewer bands. Instead of the
25 to 30 bands, there were only 18. Friend said there were no complaints
about noise.

Lancaster said one 17-year-old youth was taken to Franklin Memorial
Hospital in Farmington after he showed signs of overdosing on drugs. The
youth was a passenger in a car leaving the property on Friday when a
trooper noticed him.

"It was quite apparent to us that he was deteriorating physically, his
motor skills, his speech, his cognitive ability ... so much so that for his
safety" an ambulance was called and he was taken to the hospital.

At FMH the youth reportedly told hospital workers he had taken LSD. When
troopers visited him the next day "he had recovered," said Lancaster. The
lieutenant said he did not know where the youth was from.

The youth was charged with possession of Ecstasy and hashish, Lancaster said.
__________________________________________________________________________
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MAP posted-by: Alex
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 19:58:46 -0700
Subject: NC: Witness Tells of Stealing Marijuana

Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Tue, 20 Aug 2002
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Webpage: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1651792p-1677933c.html
Copyright: 2002 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact: forum@nando.com
Website: http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: Angela Heywood Bible, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

WITNESS TELLS OF STEALING MARIJUANA

During A Suspect's Trial, Man Testifies About Digging Up 258 Pounds Of The
Drug At The Old Chatham Landfill.

GREENSBORO -- On a cool, moonlit night in October 2000, four men armed with
shovels, flashlights and seed bags toiled in pairs for 2 1/2 hours to dig
up 258 pounds of marijuana from the old Chatham County landfill, one of the
men testified Monday at a U.S. District Court trial.

The men, who planned the theft for a week, followed a map drawn by a county
backhoe driver who helped bury the drugs, said James Benjamin Harris, a
Snow Camp man who pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to sell more than 110
pounds of the marijuana.

"We kind of hurried along to get out of sight," Harris said Monday in his
testimony against David Wayne Stout, 38, of Kernersville. Stout is accused
of conspiring with Harris and Gary Leslie Causey of Snow Camp to possess
and distribute the drugs.

Stout's trial, which began Monday, is part of a 23-month-old drug case that
has caused intense criticism of the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, which
allowed 5,000 pounds of marijuana evidence to be stolen, four-fifths of it
from a surplus Army truck parked behind the department, and the rest from a
shallow pit at the old county landfill. The drugs had been seized in
February 2000 during an undercover sting near Siler City.

On Monday, Harris told the court about meeting Stout, Causey and another
man -- who hasn't been indicted -- at Causey's race shop in Snow Camp at
11:30 p.m. on a clear Friday night in late October. Causey's father, Ted,
who was disabled and has since died, drove the men to the landfill in his
Mazda truck, Harris testified.

When Ted Causey dropped the men off, Stout told him to eat the group's map
of the landfill if the police stopped him, Harris testified. Stout had
acquired the map from Jody Mitchell Brafford of Goldston, a county backhoe
driver who testified Monday that he stole marijuana from the landfill in
broad daylight three times the week after he helped bury it. Brafford
pleaded guilty in May to distributing about 80 pounds of the drug.

Harris, who has worked burying telephone lines for 15 years, said it was
easy to find where the marijuana had been buried because the dirt wasn't
compact. After the men finished excavating the drugs, they filled the
4-foot hole with wooden pallets they found nearby, replaced the dirt and
covered the spot with straw.

Ted Causey, the driver, had returned after an hour to pick up the first
four bags of marijuana, then after another 1 1/2 hours to pick up the men,
their equipment and more drugs, Harris said.

"Me, [Stout] and Gary got in the back [of the truck] again and laid on top
of the marijuana," Harris said.

Back at Gary Causey's race shop, the men weighed the drugs with a scale and
decided to split it evenly five ways, Harris said. Because the marijuana
was caked with dirt and had a little mildew, Ted Causey offered to clean it up.

On Dec. 7, 2000, Harris was caught trying to sell 50 pounds of the drugs to
an informant, said Randall Galyon, assistant U.S. attorney. Harris turned
Causey in to law enforcement, then both men helped catch Stout by
tape-recording conversations with him. The jury is expected to hear those
tapes when court resumes today.

In his opening statement Monday, Stout's attorney, Amos Tyndall, told
jurors they would hear evidence that his client didn't want any part of the
marijuana. Each of the other men, he said, had specific roles in dealing
with the drugs. Gary Causey coordinated the group, his father cleaned the
marijuana, Harris sold the drugs and a fourth man stored them.

"Everybody had a role except Mr. Stout," Tyndall said, "because he had told
them, 'I don't want anything to do with it.' "

Causey, Harris and Brafford all are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 3.
Stout's trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. today.
__________________________________________________________________________
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- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 08:46:19 -0700
Subject: Canada: Editorial: Marijuana Plan Is Taking Too Long

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/7110084F-54D9-4282-818A-EF5C26FF0368
Copyright: 2002 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: letters@thejournal.southam.ca
Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134

MARIJUANA PLAN IS TAKING TOO LONG

Health Minister Anne McLellan admits to being uncomfortable with the idea
of people smoking marijuana to relieve pain and other conditions.

The minister, however, has little choice but to proceed. The courts have
ruled that the sick have a right to take marijuana. Ottawa must either get
on with setting up a system of regulated marijuana use, or give up on
controlling marijuana use altogether.

Ottawa has promised a regulated system, but getting it going seems to be
taking forever.

The government's first official crop, grown in an abandoned mine in
Manitoba, contained too many strains of marijuana to be used in clinical
trials that are key to reassuring physicians about prescribing the drug for
medical conditions.

As McLellan has said, such trials must use marijuana of consistent quality
so researchers know what they're measuring.

Key to the government's regulation plan is use of physicians as the
gatekeepers for who will be allowed the drug. That is a role doctors
rightly feel comfortable with only when there's scientific evidence on
which to base their decisions.

Sufferers who do get their doctor's blessing still face the challenge of
supply. Not everyone wants to grow their own plants and a government supply
seems a long way off. Fortunately, there are more marijuana sources for the
sick than there once were. Groups like Vancouver's Compassion Club, which
supplies pot to 2,000 members, are springing up.

"We exist in the space between the way the law is written and the way the
law is enforced," says

Hilary Black, founder of the Vancouver club. Yet that space can shrink at
any moment. The Toronto Compassion Centre was raided by police last week.

The government must end the legal limbo by determining, once and for all,
the validity of marijuana as a treatment. If the drug meets the test, it
should be made available in a safe, simple way to those who are prescribed it.
__________________________________________________________________________
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- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 09:28:54 -0700
Subject: WI: Olson: Let Medical Users Grow Marijuana

Newshawk: Progressive Dane Drug Policy Task Force
Pubdate: Tue, 20 Aug 2002
Source: Capital Times, The  (WI)
Copyright: 2002 The Capital Times
Contact: tctvoice@madison.com
Website: http://www.captimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Judith Davidoff

OLSON: LET MEDICAL USERS GROW MARIJUANA

Ald. Judy Olson wants users of medical marijuana to be able to grow their
own plants within the city limits.

"This gives people a source of marijuana," said Olson, who plans to
introduce the proposal to the City Council. "They don't have to interact
with the black market to acquire it."

Under current city law, it's a crime to obtain - but not use - marijuana in
Madison.

Olson said she is still working out the details of the proposal with
members of the Progressive Dane Drug Policy Task Force, which is presenting
the recommendations from its year-and-a-half-long study of local drug
policy at a news conference this afternoon.

In addition to backing Olson's medical marijuana proposal, the Progressive
Dane task force is also recommending that city police officers use their
discretion under city law to issue citations for simple marijuana use,
rather than press criminal charges as allowed under state law.

Since 1977, Section 23.20 of the Madison General Ordinances has prescribed
that casual possession of marijuana is not a crime and that no public
record be made of any arrests or violations of the ordinance.

The task force is also calling for local law enforcement officials to be
more thoroughly educated on drug laws and their implications.

"A lot of people who are responsible for passing laws regarding drug policy
and enforcing them weren't aware of specific laws and their ramifications,"
said Stephanie Rearick, chair of the task force.

Rearick said some of the officials the task force met with over the last
year, for instance, were not aware that students with drug conviction
records could be denied federal financial aid.

Olson said individuals with drug convictions can also be denied federal
housing assistance.

The bottom line, said Rearick, is that the nation's misdirected war on
drugs has failed to address the problem of rampant drug use while filling
prisons with nonviolent offenders and trampling on civil liberties.

"It is painfully apparent that we need to redirect our efforts toward
finding solutions that work," she said.

But Rearick added that Madison, despite its shortcomings, still had a more
progressive drug policy than most cities.

"Madison is doing better than most places in the country," she said. "If we
work together and pull in all the different resources, we can and come up
with a deliberate plan as to what we'd like our city drug policy to be.
We'd be all that much more ahead."

Rearick said the purpose of today's news conference was to kick-start a
public discussion on local drug policy as a first step toward developing a
comprehensive approach to drug use and abuse.

The task force supports the City Council's creation of a city committee to
study drug policy enforcement, she said, but the panel's ongoing work
should not be used as an excuse to delay action on more immediate steps.

The task force recommends that:

Addicts undergoing methadone treatment have access to this treatment while
incarcerated in the Dane County jail.

Drug-related property forfeitures be phased out.

Dane County partner with the city in developing a comprehensive hard drugs
policy.

Measures designed to alleviate poverty and create more affordable housing
options be supported as an alternative to the city's defunct loitering
ordinance.

"Harm reduction" programs, such as needle exchanges, drug education for
young people and pill testing at raves, should be implemented.

Overdose victims who call 911 for help will not face prosecution based on
the call.
__________________________________________________________________________
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MAP posted-by: Alex
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 09:29:19 -0700
Subject: Canada: Editorial: Legalized Pot For Medical Use Is The

Newshawk: Join CMAP (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap/lists.htm)
Pubdate: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

LEGALIZED POT FOR MEDICAL USE IS THE PRACTICAL OPTION

Thousands of Canadians who suffer from various health problems still want
to smoke pot to help them handle the symptoms and the pain.  The only thing
that's changed about medical marijuana issue in Canada this week is
Ottawa's mind - health Minister Anne McLellan's decision to stop supplying
marijuana for medical purposes until such time clinical trials are complete.

So in the meantime patients who rely on cannabis to ease their pain will
continue to be between a rock and a hard place: having the ability to
legally own pot, but not being allowed to buy it without breaking the law.
This isn't a very enlightened or compassionate - or sensible - policy.

Insisting that she is "not insensitive to those who feel it helps them in
their final days or acute illness situations," Ms. McLellan says she owes
it to Canadians to ensure that marijuana is safe and effective before
approving its widespread use.

We agree that Ms. McLellan should start the medical trials soon to ensure
that marijuana, like other therapeutic drugs, is safe.  But in light of
anecdotal evidence that cannabis  is already helping thousands of patients
every day, and in view of the fact that they're using it whether she likes
it or not, Ms. McLellan should give the practice her blessing, at least
until the evidence suggests otherwise.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal says in a recent editorial, "The
minimal negative effects of moderate use would be attested to by the
estimated 1.5 million Canadians who smoke marijuana for recreational purposes."

The Ontario courts seem to agree.  Two years ago, the Ontario Court of
Appeal ruled that Torontonian Terry Parker could smoke pot to control his
epileptic seizures.   And the curt gave Ottawa 12 months to amend the law
against possessing marijuana for medical purposes or appeal the ruling to
the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ottawa chose not to appeal and introduced regulations last year to permit
qualified patients to smoke pot.  The feds also hired a firm in Manitoba to
grow medical marijuana.  But on Monday, Ms. McLellan pulled the plug on the
whole project.

Ironically, Ms. McLellan, when she was minister of justice, indicated that
she supports decriminalization for simple possession of marijuana.  So does
the current Minister of Justice, Martin Cauchon.

Now both have done a u-turn.  The reasons, at least as far as we can tell,
are two-fold.  Doctors have be lobbying hard against prescribing pot for
medical use.  And American officials have also been against the idea of
making cannabis more freely and legally available in Canada.

Critics contend that marijuana hasn't been through any double blind tests
to prove its safety and efficacy.  But the fact is a lot of therapies in
the market today haven't been through such tests either. So the requirement
for a double-blind test is a red herring and doesn't help the thousands who
maintain that they need and want marijuana right now.

As far as the American objections go, realpolitik demands that the federal
government tread carefully.  But Ottawa must not be shy to point out to
Washington that 12 U.S. states have already decriminalized possession of pot.

And Ottawa must also let the Americans know that wasting police resources
on making criminals out of otherwise law abiding Canadians isn't a priority
here.

There are two ways for Ottawa to amend the pot laws.  It can decriminalize
possession for personal use or legalize it completely.

Decriminalizing won't solve the catch-22 that many patients are in today:
being able to legally buy pot, but not sell it.  Legalization, therefore,
is the only practical option.

Legalization, however, does raise questions about the appropriate
regulatory framework for production and distribution.  And there are issues
surrounding public health and safety.

These important questions can be dealt with if Ottawa makes the practical
decision to legalize pot.  But as long as ineffectual politicians continue
to dither, some patients will continue to either suffer in pain or skate
around the law, and too many ordinary Canadians will carry the stigma of
having a criminal record.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
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- ---
MAP posted-by: Tom
------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #172
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