Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:39:53 -0700
Subject:Canada: Supreme Court To Consider Pot Laws Up TOC

Title: Supreme Court To Consider Pot Laws
Author: Canadian Press
Source: Toronto Star
Contact: lettertoed@thestar.com
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Pubdate: Thursday, September 5, 2002

OTTAWA - Marijuana users who claim the drug is harmless will have their
chance to sway Canada's top judges on Dec. 13 - a Friday. Lawyers for
three convicted pot smokers will argue that federal laws banning
possession, cultivation and trafficking of the fiercely debated herb are
unconstitutional.

The much anticipated case was among 36 listed Wednesday by the Supreme
Court of Canada in its busy fall docket, which begins Sept. 30.

The schedule was announced the same day a Senate committee studying the
issue said pot and hashish possession should be legalized for residents 16
or older, and regulated much like alcohol.

Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the Senate committee
recommendations would be considered and that related laws are outdated.
But the government won't disclose its next move before early next year, he
added.

Ottawa has said it will start clinical trials as early as this fall to
assess the benefits of medical marijuana.

The high court ruling on pot laws won't likely come until several months
after its December hearing.

The appeal covers three cases involving Chris Clay of London, Ont., David
Malmo-Levine of Vancouver and Victor Eugene Caine of Langley, B.C.

All three men argue that pot, if properly grown and used, is harmless.
Moreover, they say, laws prohibiting its personal use infringe the right
to life, liberty and security of the person guaranteed by the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.

Clay, the former operator of a hemp boutique in London, Ont., was
convicted in 1997 of drug possession and trafficking for selling cannabis
to an undercover police officer.

He failed to convince the trial judge that private, recreational pot
smoking qualifies as a fundamental value protected under the charter. The
judge also noted that cannabis is not completely harmless for all users.

Clay lost on appeal.

In June 2000, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled 2-1 to uphold marijuana
possession convictions against Malmo-Levine and Caine.

Dissenting Justice Jo-Ann Prowse said part of the law banning pot
possession did breach the men's right to life, liberty and security of the
person. She said she would have adjourned the appeal to allow lawyers to
make more submissions on whether the breach is justifiable.

The high court is also set to weigh Dec. 4 whether a British Columbia man
has the right to have his triplet sons bear his last name.

Darrell Trociuk was crushed when the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled 2-1 in May
2001 that a portion of the Vital Statistics Act gives mothers sole power
to name their children.

Trociuk and his former girlfriend, the triplets' mother, are now
separated.

The omission of his name on the children's birth registration is an
infringement of guaranteed equality rights, his lawyer will argue.

And on Oct. 9, the top court will consider whether a Quebec man should be
forced to provide a DNA sample to prove the paternity of a child born in
1983. He denies being the father.

It will be the first time the high court has assessed the ordering of DNA
samples in a civil matter.

The Supreme Court fall session includes seven criminal law cases; six
administrative law cases; five civil law matters and four new charter
cases.

Copyright The Toronto Star.



 
 


**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:40:57 -0700

Subject:AZ: US Won't Provide Pot To Arizona Up TOC

Title: US Won't Provide Pot To Arizona
Author: Christina Leonard and Elvia Diaz
Source: Arizona Republic
Contact: Opinions@pni.com
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Pubdate: Wednesday, September 4, 2002

Officials at a federally funded marijuana research farm in Mississippi say
they never agreed to supply sick Arizonans with the drug, despite wording
in the Arizona initiative suggesting that it would come from there.

Administrators say their farm isn't even a feasible option.

Proposition 203 would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana and have the Arizona Department of Public Safety distribute free
monthly doses to the seriously ill.

Under a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the University
of Mississippi's Marijuana Project raises about one acre of research-grade
marijuana annually for approved research, institute spokeswoman Beverly
Jackson said.

"There's no way Arizona can get this marijuana from the University of
Mississippi," said Thomas Hinojosa, a spokesman with the Drug Enforcement
Administration. Not only would Arizona's request not fit the research
criteria, but it would also conflict with federal law, Hinojosa said. And
generally, federal law takes precedence over state law.

Jeffrey A. Singer, a Phoenix physician promoting the Nov. 5 ballot
initiative, said it would be disingenuous for the federal government to
grow its own marijuana for medical research and not distribute it to the
ill.

The initiative states that DPS must send a letter to the institute and the
university requesting "quarterly shipments of marijuana grown at the
University of Mississippi to the Department of Public Safety in such
amounts as are necessary to provide marijuana to all persons qualified,"
beginning Feb. 1.

The institute has been growing pot under tight conditions in Oxford,
Miss., since the 1970s, shipping it to about a dozen research programs
that service several hundred people.

Singer said that if DPS fails to get the marijuana from the farm, the
agency can use confiscated marijuana after screening it. People would also
have the option of growing up to two plants for medical purposes,
according to the initiative.

DPS has opposed the measure. Some patients who say they need marijuana
have spoken in favor of it.

"I'm forced to get marijuana under the nastiest conditions right now,"
said Josh Burner, a Mesa resident who has been using the drug since the
mid-1990s, when he was diagnosed with cancer.

"I have no way of knowing whether the marijuana I buy off the streets is
safe," he said. "I'd rather get it from DPS."

The initiative would allow anyone to register for the drug as long as they
can show a doctor's recommendation or copies of his or her medical
records.

The measure, sponsored by a committee called People Have Spoken, could
create headaches for DPS, an already cash-strapped agency.

"We don't have the money to test the marijuana we seize to see if it's
safe enough to distribute," DPS spokesman Frank Valenzuela said. "We'd be
foolish to not test it and just send it out."

In 1996, Arizona voters approved a measure allowing marijuana with a
doctor's prescription, but lawmakers effectively nixed its use by putting
doctors at risk of losing their licenses for prescribing it.

Two years later, voters again passed a similar law, but doctors still
aren't prescribing marijuana because the federal government has threatened
to take their licenses away, initiative proponents said.

"Despite their political leadership being so opposed for such a long time,
people in Arizona are able to make the distinction between marijuana
decriminalization and legalization," said Allen St. Pierre, executive
director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Foundation, a non-profit group that educates the public about marijuana
policy options.

St. Pierre said the group is keeping close tabs on marijuana initiatives
in Michigan, Ohio, Nevada, South Dakota, San Francisco and Washington,
D.C.

He thinks voters will likely approve Arizona's measure, but that the
Legislature will balk and refuse to create a model for DPS to distribute
the marijuana.

"The real culpability here is in Washington, D.C.," St. Pierre said.

Copyright The Arizona Republic.



 
 


**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:42:33 -0700

Subject:SF Chronicle on WAMM Bust Up TOC

via Jay Cavanaugh, Ph.D.

Santa Cruz officials fume over medical pot club bust
DEA arrests founders, confiscates plants
Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 6, 2002
=A92002 San Francisco Chronicle.

URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2002/09/06/MN212302.DT=
L




Federal agents who raided a Santa Cruz medical marijuana collective
Thursday didn't encounter any resistance as they kicked in the door,
arrested three people and cut down 150 cannabis plants.

But the chain-saw-toting agents provoked a furious reaction from high
and low in Santa Cruz, where voters have enthusiastically endorsed two
measures legalizing medical pot.

While medical marijuana clubs in some jurisdictions have operated with a
nod and a wink from local authorities, Santa Cruz officials have made
their support public. For six years, city, county and law enforcement
officials have cooperated closely with the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana to craft a system that defines who qualifies as a medical
user, issues identification and provides organically grown pot free of
charge.

WAMM founders Mike and Valerie Corral, who helped draft Proposition 215,
California's successful 1996 medical marijuana initiative, were arrested
on suspicion of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute and
suspicion of conspiracy. The Corrals and collective member Suzanne
Pfeil, who also was taken into custody, were released Thursday
afternoon.

"This is an outrageous thing for the federal government to target this
wonderful group of people," said Ben Rice, an attorney representing the
Corrals. "Our sheriff here has even intervened when state enforcement
wanted to come in and eradicate the WAMM garden last year."


CAN'T IGNORE THE LAW, DEA SAYS
Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Richard Meyer acknowledged
that WAMM had operated openly for years with the cooperation of local
officials, but he noted that marijuana remained illegal under federal
law no matter what local law enforcement tolerated.

"They operated illegally for all these years, and finally the law caught
up with them," Meyer said.

Agents seized more than 150 pot plants, a small amount of hashish, three
rifles and a shotgun in the raid, he said.

The first obstacle for the DEA in Thursday's raid came when two dozen
medical marijuana users blocked a driveway with a gate and a car,
demanding that the departing agents hand over the cannabis they had
seized. The plants were a year's supply for more than 200 members of
WAMM.

The federal agents, who had not warned the Santa Cruz Sheriff's
Department of the raid, had to call in local deputies to clear the road
for them. Deputies complied with the request, making no arrests as they
dispersed the angry crowd. But local authorities were left steaming --
and considering their options.

"The people of California and the County of Santa Cruz have
overwhelmingly supported the provision of medical marijuana for people
who have serious illnesses," said county Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt.
"These people (blocking the road) are people with AIDS and cancer and
other grave illnesses. To attack these people, who work collectively and
have never taken money for their work, is outrageous."


VOTERS, GOVERNMENT DEEPLY SPLIT
Hard feelings left by the raid, the latest in a series focusing on
medical marijuana clubs, illustrates the chasm between California voters
and the federal government, which has refused to honor legislation
passed in this and eight other states.

Some of the selected groups have enjoyed clear support from local
governments. A club in West Hollywood raided last year had purchased its
building with loan guarantees from the city. A San Francisco club raided
in February was operating under a plan developed with help from the
district attorney. A Oakland cooperative that was singled out had
enjoyed a formal city sponsorship.

The Santa Cruz sheriff's office has allowed WAMM to grow an annual
marijuana crop for the use of its members for several years, and for a
time the group held its monthly distribution at a city-run community
center.

Members of the collective who are not too disabled help grow and
distribute the marijuana. New members typically are admitted from a long
waiting list only when existing members die.

Santa Cruz sheriff's spokesman Kim Allyn confirmed that deputies had
been called to clear the road for trapped DEA agents.

"We were there to maintain the peace," Allyn said. "We are happy to say
nobody was arrested on our behalf."

But some local police officers were irritated by the federal agents'
actions.

"What a bunch of babies these DEA guys are," said one disgusted Santa
Cruz officer, who did not want to be identified. "They're up there with
all these agents, but they see a bunch of pot-smoking sick people on the
road, and they have to call us for help."

E-mail Maria Alicia Gaura at mgaura@sfchronicle.com.

=A92002 San Francisco Chronicle.   Page A - 1



=



**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:50:27 -0700

Subject:CA: Oak Trib - DEA busts, then releases, WAMM activists Up TOC

from Dale Gieringer <canorml@igc.org>

DEA busts, then releases, pot activists

Medical marijuana supporters plan protests in Bay Area, nation today
By Josh Richman - Oakland Tribune
STAFF WRITER

Federal agents raided a medical marijuana collective near Santa Cruz
and arrested two well-known activists Thursday, the first such action
in Northern California since February's raids in Oakland and San
Francisco.

But by day's end, Valerie and Michael Corral -- who helped write the
state's medical marijuana law -- were home. An official source said
the federal prosecutors had declined to charge them, forcing the Drug
Enforcement Administration to let them go.

Still, medical marijuana advocates across the nation took the raid
and its destruction of 167 marijuana plants as a declaration of war,
promising protests at noon today outside federal buildings in dozens
of cities including Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose.

"My heart's broken," Valerie Corral said Thursday night. "We have 250
members of our collective garden, a lot of people who are sick and
suffering. But they (the DEA) cannot make us stand down. We will
carry on business as usual."

More than 20 DEA agents, some reportedly clad in riot gear and
wielding assault rifles, arrived early Thursday at the Wo/Men's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, off Route 1 near Davenport, 60 miles
south of San Francisco. DEA spokesman Special Agent Richard Meyer
said Thursday morning that the Corrals, WAMM's co-founders, were
arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and possession of marijuana with
intent to deliver.

"We received information from confidential sources that these people
were involved in marijuana trafficking," he said, adding it didn't
matter whether that "trafficking" differed from the alliance's free
provision of marijuana to its physician-screened members.

"That's a myth put out by people who want to legalize marijuana. ...
There is no medical marijuana," Meyer said. "We make no distinctions
because there are none -- people who grow marijuana are marijuana
traffickers. Our job is to enforce federal laws, and we surely will."

Yet by day's end, the U.S. Attorney's office said no indictment or
criminal complaint had been filed against the Corrals, and declined
further comment. An official source elsewhere said federal
prosecutors had declined to file charges.

Valerie Corral late Thursday said she was "told to await indictment,"
which entails prosecutors convincing a federal grand jury the Corrals
should be tried. Michael Corral said DEA agents who released them
said to expect to hear from the government again, "could be in a day,
a week or a year."

The federal government still deems all marijuana growth, possession
or use illegal, even though California voters approved medical use in
1996. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington
have similar laws.

Word of the raid spread fast and far, and distance didn't dilute the
resulting rhetoric.

"These are terrorist actions," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the
Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "If Osama bin Laden sent
squads of armed men into the U.S. to storm medical facilities, seize
confidential patient records and literally take medicine from the
sick and dying, George W. Bush would be promising to hunt him down to
the ends of the earth. If he wants to hunt terrorists, he should
start with his own DEA."

Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative executive director Jeff Jones
agreed: "I can't believe that federal priorities are this out of line
- -- we've only arrested one terrorist in California, but near the
anniversary of 9/11 we have the DEA up to no good, seizing the
medicine of 250 Californians."

WAMM board member and patient Suzanne Pfeil, a paraplegic who uses
marijuana to control post-polio syndrome pain, said more than 20 WAMM
patients went to the farm Thursday to beg DEA agents to leave the
plants, to no avail.

"Now these people have no medicine for this year -- it's being cut
down and it's going to be buried somewhere," she said. "I feel like
my country is waging war against me."

DEA agents in February raided the Oakland home-office of noted
marijuana author Ed Rosenthal; the Harm Reduction Center medical
marijuana club in San Francisco; and other sites, arresting Rosenthal
and three others. Rosenthal on Thursday noted WAMM accepts no money
for marijuana it provides to patients, relying instead on charitable
donations.

"These two people, Valerie and Mike, did not do this for money, they
did this for love," he said. "They're very loving people, and to call
them drug traffickers is just laughable."

Said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the national Drug Policy
Alliance: "This club, of all the clubs that have been raided, stands
out as being the one that was most true to the hospice spirit --
there were no shenanigans, there was no profit-making."

Meyer said agents seized three rifles and a shotgun. Pfeil said the
weapons were unloaded family heirlooms passed down to Michael Corral
by his grandfather.

The Corrals helped draft the state law provision letting patients and
care givers cultivate their own medical marijuana, and Valerie Corral
in 1999 served on state Attorney General Bill Lockyer's medical
marijuana policy task force.

"The DEA under the Bush administration has made it perfectly clear
that they don't care about the will of California voters, who think
medical marijuana should be available for people whose doctors
believe they would benefit from it," Lockyer spokeswoman Hallye
Jordan said Thursday.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department spokesman Deputy Kim Allen
said the DEA never told his department about the raid. Deputies went
there after the fact only to keep the peace between protesters and
DEA agents, he said: "Our concern is to make sure nobody gets hurt."

The department has a marijuana enforcement team targeting illegal
trafficking, Allen said, but meets regularly with the Corrals and had
deemed WAMM in compliance with -- and protected by -- state law.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt said she was "absolutely
appalled" by the raid, and called WAMM "an extremely responsible
collective ... they have operated their business in a way that has
been exemplary."

With Sept. 11 so near, "it is not reassuring to me to know that
federal agents, instead of concentrating on issues of national
security, are running around the mountains of Santa Cruz County
disrupting the work of people who provide a valuable medical resource
to the community," she said.
- -- 
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858  // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attachment: http://www.drugsense.org/temp/part1863.html

 
 


**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:55:11 -0700

Subject:Canada: Liberalized pot laws 'first step'  Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Friday, September 06, 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Website: http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Contact: letters@herald.ns.ca
Author: John Ward / The Canadian Press

Liberalized pot laws 'first step'

It's feasible to decriminalize marijuana now, minister says

By John Ward / The Canadian Press

Ottawa - Decriminalizing marijuana might be a "first step" in reforming drug
laws that seem out of date, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said Thursday.

The marijuana law needs to be changed, he said, and decriminalization -
which would let people possess and use small quantities of cannabis without
facing a criminal record - is a logical option.

"It probably would be feasible as a first step," Cauchon said outside a
cabinet meeting.

"I feel that there is a strong support. I feel that the population is there.

"To keep it the way it is now doesn't make any sense to me in the year 2002.
. . . The legislation in place is sort of disconnected with Canadian
reality."

Cauchon's musing didn't sit well with Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen
Harper, who told reporters he'd rather see his kids drinking booze than
smoking pot.

Harper, father of a three-year-old girl and five-year-old boy, said he
doesn't buy the argument that alcohol is more harmful than marijuana.

"As a parent, I would be more concerned about pot use than alcohol use by my
children, even in moderation," said Harper, an asthmatic who has never
smoked.

Cauchon said he'll have a new policy ready early next year, but first he
wants to see the report of a Commons committee that has been studying the
issue of illicit drugs. That report is expected in November.

A special Senate committee recommended Wednesday that cannabis be legalized,
but Cauchon said that may be going too far.

Legalizing pot - which would allow for the open sale of the drug - might
promote a global ruckus, he said, because Canada has signed a number of
international treaties outlawing various drugs.

"At this point in time, the notion of legalizing marijuana is just not
possible from an international point of view," he said.

"We have to proceed on a step-by-step basis."

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, vice-chairman of the Commons committee on
drugs, said his colleagues don't support the Senate idea of legalization.

"The general consensus is that legalization is not the route to follow," he
said.

The United States disagrees with the Senate report's findings that cannabis
is less harmful than alcohol and causes few, if any, long-term problems.

John Walters, director of the U.S. national drug control policy, disputed
those findings in a statement Wednesday: "We know that marijuana is a
harmful drug, particularly for young people."

Cauchon said he hasn't had any reaction from Washington on the issue and
said he wouldn't be swayed by American policies.

"I'll do what's good for Canadian society."

The Senate report was welcomed by marijuana activists but condemned by the
Canadian Police Association, which said pot is a dangerous drug.

 
 


**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:56:45 -0700

Subject:Canada: No pot of gold  Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Friday, September 06, 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Website: http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Contact: letters@herald.ns.ca

No pot of gold

THERE IS no doubt that outright legalization of marijuana, as a Senate
committee advocated on Wednesday, would solve a number of problems.

The bigger question is whether it wouldn't create more problems than it's
worth. If cannabis went the way of liquor and became government regulated
and distributed, organized crime would no longer be taking in all the
profits. That's a good thing.

Legalization would depress the price of a joint, but taxes - aimed both at
deterring youthful puffers and at generating revenue for government
coffers - would drive it back up again. There would still be plenty of
opportunity to grow cheaper, black market grass. So the organized crime
problem would not disappear into thin air.

There is also another niche criminal gangs would continue to exploit:
smuggling. Much of the pot grown in B.C., for example, is destined not for
domestic consumption (although there's plenty of that) but for the larger
market in the U.S. If some operations were licensed to grow pot in Canada,
the domestic market would shrink for illegal growers. The real money would
be in getting a bigger supply past the 49th parallel. Half of Washington
already views Canada as a terrorist haven. Just wait till it becomes a pot
paradise, too.

Legalization backers point out that as a sovereign country, Canada should be
able to enact any drug law it sees fit. This is true in theory. But American
drug policy matters in the real world. The border - Canada's economic
lifeline - is already a mess. The last thing we need is for the U.S. to
reinforce it with pot patrols.

Legalization of cannabis would certainly reduce the burden on Canadian
courts. About 25,000 Canadians are charged annually and $5 million a year is
spent on prosecuting pot-possession cases. But decriminalization, or at the
very least relaxing the penalties for simple possession, could achieve the
same results with fewer complications.

Here's one such complication: A fully legal product could conceivably be
advertised like beer or cigarettes. How would Canadian parents feel about
pot being pitched in ads? Cannabis may not be a "gateway drug," but it's
hard to argue chronic use isn't harmful to your health.

The Senate committee is right when it concludes that prohibition doesn't
work. But it does not necessarily follow that outright legalization will.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 
 


**




web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:57:23 -0700

Subject:Canada: Judge mulls pot-smoking request  Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Friday, September 06, 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Website: http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Contact: letters@herald.ns.ca
Author: John Ward / The Canadian Press

Liberalized pot laws 'first step'

It's feasible to decriminalize marijuana now, minister says

By John Ward / The Canadian Press

Ottawa - Decriminalizing marijuana might be a "first step" in reforming drug
laws that seem out of date, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said Thursday.

The marijuana law needs to be changed, he said, and decriminalization -
which would let people possess and use small quantities of cannabis without
facing a criminal record - is a logical option.

"It probably would be feasible as a first step," Cauchon said outside a
cabinet meeting.

"I feel that there is a strong support. I feel that the population is there.

"To keep it the way it is now doesn't make any sense to me in the year 2002.
. . . The legislation in place is sort of disconnected with Canadian
reality."

Cauchon's musing didn't sit well with Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen
Harper, who told reporters he'd rather see his kids drinking booze than
smoking pot.

Harper, father of a three-year-old girl and five-year-old boy, said he
doesn't buy the argument that alcohol is more harmful than marijuana.

"As a parent, I would be more concerned about pot use than alcohol use by my
children, even in moderation," said Harper, an asthmatic who has never
smoked.

Cauchon said he'll have a new policy ready early next year, but first he
wants to see the report of a Commons committee that has been studying the
issue of illicit drugs. That report is expected in November.

A special Senate committee recommended Wednesday that cannabis be legalized,
but Cauchon said that may be going too far.

Legalizing pot - which would allow for the open sale of the drug - might
promote a global ruckus, he said, because Canada has signed a number of
international treaties outlawing various drugs.

"At this point in time, the notion of legalizing marijuana is just not
possible from an international point of view," he said.

"We have to proceed on a step-by-step basis."

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, vice-chairman of the Commons committee on
drugs, said his colleagues don't support the Senate idea of legalization.

"The general consensus is that legalization is not the route to follow," he
said.

The United States disagrees with the Senate report's findings that cannabis
is less harmful than alcohol and causes few, if any, long-term problems.

John Walters, director of the U.S. national drug control policy, disputed
those findings in a statement Wednesday: "We know that marijuana is a
harmful drug, particularly for young people."

Cauchon said he hasn't had any reaction from Washington on the issue and
said he wouldn't be swayed by American policies.

"I'll do what's good for Canadian society."

The Senate report was welcomed by marijuana activists but condemned by the
Canadian Police Association, which said pot is a dangerous drug.

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:56:45 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: No pot of gold 

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Friday, September 06, 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Website: http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Contact: letters@herald.ns.ca

No pot of gold

THERE IS no doubt that outright legalization of marijuana, as a Senate
committee advocated on Wednesday, would solve a number of problems.

The bigger question is whether it wouldn't create more problems than it's
worth. If cannabis went the way of liquor and became government regulated
and distributed, organized crime would no longer be taking in all the
profits. That's a good thing.

Legalization would depress the price of a joint, but taxes - aimed both at
deterring youthful puffers and at generating revenue for government
coffers - would drive it back up again. There would still be plenty of
opportunity to grow cheaper, black market grass. So the organized crime
problem would not disappear into thin air.

There is also another niche criminal gangs would continue to exploit:
smuggling. Much of the pot grown in B.C., for example, is destined not for
domestic consumption (although there's plenty of that) but for the larger
market in the U.S. If some operations were licensed to grow pot in Canada,
the domestic market would shrink for illegal growers. The real money would
be in getting a bigger supply past the 49th parallel. Half of Washington
already views Canada as a terrorist haven. Just wait till it becomes a pot
paradise, too.

Legalization backers point out that as a sovereign country, Canada should be
able to enact any drug law it sees fit. This is true in theory. But American
drug policy matters in the real world. The border - Canada's economic
lifeline - is already a mess. The last thing we need is for the U.S. to
reinforce it with pot patrols.

Legalization of cannabis would certainly reduce the burden on Canadian
courts. About 25,000 Canadians are charged annually and $5 million a year is
spent on prosecuting pot-possession cases. But decriminalization, or at the
very least relaxing the penalties for simple possession, could achieve the
same results with fewer complications.

Here's one such complication: A fully legal product could conceivably be
advertised like beer or cigarettes. How would Canadian parents feel about
pot being pitched in ads? Cannabis may not be a "gateway drug," but it's
hard to argue chronic use isn't harmful to your health.

The Senate committee is right when it concludes that prohibition doesn't
work. But it does not necessarily follow that outright legalization will.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:57:23 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: Judge mulls pot-smoking request 

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Friday, September 06, 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Website: http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Contact: letters@herald.ns.ca
Author: Amy Pugsley Fraser

Judge mulls pot-smoking request

Man seeks permission to light up in jail for medicinal reasons

By Amy Pugsley Fraser / Staff Reporter

A Supreme Court judge has delayed sentencing of a marijuana grower while she
ponders his right to smoke medicinal pot in jail.

Michael Ronald Patriquen came to court Thursday fully prepared to go to
prison.

"I had to tell my daughter . . . that I might not be home tonight and that's
not nice. She's very upset, as is my son," Mr. Patriquen said before the
hearing.

The delay means the 49-year-old can take his overnight bag home to Orchard
Drive in Middle Sackville until Tuesday, when Justice Suzanne Hood will rule
on a defence request to adjourn sentencing until Mr. Patriquen gets
permission to take his medical marijuana to jail.

"If sentenced, I will be subjected to a cruel and unusual punishment with no
medical relief whatsoever . . . so we are asking for an adjournment until
such time as pot is available in prison, if that's not too much to ask," Mr.
Patriquen told reporters.

Mr. Patriquen, a leader in the fight for legalized pot, pleaded guilty in
March to conspiring to possess marijuana in Nova Scotia and conspiring to
traffic in marijuana here and in Newfoundland.

A member of the Marijuana Party of Canada, Mr. Patriquen's Bedford company,
Med Marijuana Inc., is soliciting dealers for a food supplement made from
marijuana seeds.

The charges he faces aren't connected with his company.

Mr. Patriquen and his wife, Melanie Stephen, also face proceeds-of-crime
charges.

Their 19-year-old son is charged with possessing marijuana and makes his
first court appearance today.

Mr. Patriquen suffers from severe neuropathic pain as a result of a road
accident in 1999.

Now, armed with two federal licences - one to grow marijuana and the other
to smoke it - Mr. Patriquen inhales up to five grams of pot daily for pain.

"I've returned to a productive life because of the medical benefits of
cannabis," he said.

Robbing him of that right would be "draconian," he said. "I will be sent to
the only place in Canada where I cannot access the only pain relief
available to me - marijuana."

Defence lawyer Warren Zimmer told Justice Hood the issue boils down to
supply.

"Mr. Patriquen is lawfully entitled to possess . . . and produce marijuana.
In jail, he will not have access to his own supply - and that's a breach of
his (charter) rights."

The federal government has started a marijuana-growing operation in an
abandoned Manitoba mine but it isn't at the stage yet where the drug can be
released, Mr. Zimmer told the judge.

Crown attorney James Martin called the defence application a "sentence
stalling tactic."

"Mr. Patriquen does not come before the court as a novice. He's quite an
expert at picking the right time for a court challenge.

"There is nothing in the Criminal Code that says you should adjourn the
sentence until marijuana is supplied."

He said the defence request is premature and that Mr. Patriquen should wait
until he's denied his right to smoke marijuana.

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 09:58:43 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: CA: SJ Merc on WAMM Raid

from Dale Gieringer 

Agents seize couple, plants
POT FARM: STATE VS. FEDERAL FIGHT OVER MEDICINAL MARIJUANA FLARES UP IN 
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
By Ken McLaughlin
San Jose Mercury News - Sept 6, 2002
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4015297.htm

Federal drug agents on Thursday raided a nationally known cooperative that 
grows medicinal marijuana in Santa Cruz County, arresting a married couple 
that founded the organization a decade ago.

Valerie and Michael Corral were arrested at their home in the hills near 
Davenport on federal charges of intent to distribute marijuana and 
conspiracy. But by the end of the day, the couple were released from 
custody in San Jose after the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to file 
charges against them.

It was unclear late Thursday whether the couple would ever be charged, a 
source in the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Agents said they seized more than 100 marijuana plants, a shotgun and three 
rifles in the early morning raid. As word filtered out, AIDS patients and 
other members of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana -- better 
known as WAMM -- who rely on marijuana to relieve pain began to gather at a 
locked gate that leads to the farm.

When about a dozen U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents realized they 
couldn't leave without confronting the group of more than 30 people, the 
agents called the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office. The department, which 
knew nothing in advance about the raid and has worked closely with the 
Corrals to make sure the farm operated within state laws, sent a patrol car 
about 2 p.m.

Sgt. Terry Moore helped arrange passage for the agents after WAMM member 
Daniel Rodrigues talked to Valerie Corral, 49, on a cell phone. Corral told 
Rodrigues to let the agents leave.

The agents then left in a half-dozen SUVs and some U-Haul trucks containing 
the confiscated marijuana.

``Shame on you!'' several members of the group jeered as the agents drove by.

``I hope you rot in hell,'' one WAMM member shouted.

Valerie Corral received national attention for her role in helping to draft 
California's Proposition 215, the 1996 measure that permits patients and 
their caregivers to grow their own pot for medicinal purposes. She and her 
husband have complied fully with the measure, said sheriff's spokesman Kim 
Allyn.

The collective was conceived by Valerie Corral after she discovered that 
marijuana helped suppress epileptic seizures stemming from a head injury 
suffered in a car accident three decades ago.

``To their credit, Valerie and Michael Corral held true and strict to the 
guidelines,'' Allyn said. ``I think how Valerie told the group to move from 
the roadway today shows what kind of person she is.''

Thursday's raid was the latest battle in a war pitting local police and 
sheriff's deputies against federal authorities after the passage of 
Proposition 215 -- which U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft maintains 
violates federal drug laws.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court made it impossible to provide medicinal 
marijuana to seriously ill patients without running afoul of U.S. laws, 
issuing a broad ruling that jeopardized the future of medicinal pot 
programs in California and other states. In an 8-0 opinion, the justices 
rejected a federal appeals court's earlier decision that carved out a 
``medical necessity'' exception to drug laws.

DEA agents have recently cracked down on several pot distribution clubs in 
California -- clubs that had received the blessing of local law enforcement 
agencies. Earlier this year, agents seized hundreds of plants from a San 
Francisco club and arrested one of its suppliers, pot guru Ed Rosenthal.

Thursday's raid was surprising, though, since the cooperative has worked so 
closely with sheriff's deputies. ``We're trying to do the right thing, but 
this puts us between a rock and a hard place,'' Allyn said.

After the U.S. attorney made the decision not to file charges on Thursday, 
a DEA representative could not be reached for comment.

After the DEA agents left, about 50 members of the cooperative and the 
media examined what was left at the farm, which sits on a ridge overlooking 
the Pacific Ocean about three miles north of Davenport.

After seeing the once-flourishing, one-acre garden with a sign saying 
``Love Grows Here,'' several WAMM members wept openly and cursed the agents 
who had wiped out the pot farm.

``This is a nightmare,'' said Diana Dodson, a WAMM board member who uses 
cannabis to counteract the side effects of the drugs she takes for AIDS. 
``I'm numb. I'm still in shock.''

Marijuana, she said, ``keeps me walking.''

WAMM provides medicinal marijuana for more than 230 patients, most of them 
suffering from AIDS, cancer and neurological diseases such as epilepsy. The 
waiting list for terminal patients is a year long, Dodson said.

The cooperative is unique because patients who are well enough share chores 
of planting, weeding, watering and harvesting the plants, said Dale 
Gieringer, California coordinator of the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws.

``I think the federal government may have bitten off more than they can 
chew on this one,'' he said.
Contact Ken McLaughlin at kmclaughlin@sjmercury.com or (831) 423-3115.

- -- 
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858  // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114


CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 10:00:10 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: CA: SantaCruz Sentinel: WAMM Raid

from Dale Gieringer 

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2002/September/06/local/stories/01local.htm
   DEA agents raid medical marijuana farm
By BRIAN SEALS
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
  Santa Cruz Sentinel September 6, 2002

DAVENPORT - Federal agents raided a medical-marijuana club's garden 
Thursday, carting off 130 plants, arresting the club's outspoken director 
and leaving 238 members wondering where they will get their medicine.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents busted the Wo/Men's Alliance for 
Medical Marijuana garden just north of Davenport about 7 a.m.

The cooperative grows marijuana for members, who must have a doctor's 
prescription. The club does not sell to the public.

Alliance director Valerie Corral and her husband, Michael, who live on the 
property, were arrested on federal charges of intent to distribute 
marijuana, DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said.

The couple was released Thursday afternoon.

"We're awaiting indictment," Valerie Corral said that night, promising the 
alliance would continue its efforts.

"We just can't allow this type of harm to be caused," said Corral, who 
smokes marijuana to relieve pain caused by epilepsy. "I'm not going to 
stop. We will live to have another smoke."

Meyer said the raid was triggered by a tip from a confidential source, 
though the club has been in existence for years. Its' been the subject of 
national media stories and has never hid its operation from area authorities.

The Corrals are well known locally and nationally in the continuing debate 
over medicinal marijuana. They helped craft state Proposition 215, a 
voter-approved initiative passed in 1996 that allows marijuana for 
medicinal purposes.

But while Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and 
Washington allow the sick to legally receive, possess, grow or smoke 
marijuana for medical purposes without fear of state prosecution, the 
federal government maintains marijuana has no medical benefits and is an 
illegal drug.

Suzanne Pfeil, an alliance member staying at the Corral's, said she was 
awakened by two-dozen camouflage-clad agents in helmets who pointed 
automatic weapons at her.

"They told me to stand up," said Pfeil, who suffers from post-polio 
syndrome and uses a wheelchair. "I told them I'm sorry. I can't stand up."

She said some weapons seized in the raid - three rifles and a shotgun - 
were unloaded family heirlooms belonging to Michael Corral.

Corral herself was taken to jail in her pajamas.

The bust surprised county law enforcement and word spread quickly though 
the medical-marijuana community.

As agents removed the plants, about 30 alliance members and their 
supporters gathered at a locked gate down a dirt road from the garden. Two 
DEA agents kept tabs on the supporters, who at times taunted the agents and 
sought to engage them in debate on the rights of states and the merits of 
medical-marijuana use.

"I'm just a worker bee," said one agent dressed in black and wearing a 
camouflage hat. "I wish I could solve the problem."

One caregiver carried a sign reading "We Are Not Criminals."

About 2:15 p.m., two deputies with the county Sheriff's Office arrived. The 
deputies sought to soothe the increasingly angry, but peaceful, gathering.

"The process you see here is a federal one," deputy Terry Moore told the crowd.

The crowd threatened to block the road in protest, but Valerie Corral, who 
is revered in the medical pot community, was reached by cell phone and told 
them to let the agents leave.

In return, the Corrals were released from jail.

As the convoy of about 10 vehicles left, including two U-Haul trucks loaded 
with the uprooted plants, the crowd chanted, "Shame on you." An agent 
dressed in camouflage looked out a passenger's side window and laughed.

Once the agents left, the crowd walked up to what was by then a bedraggled 
garden, and alliance members salvaged what leaves and buds they could. Amid 
the stems, some the diameter of a fist, Tibetan prayer flags fluttered in 
the wind.

The plants had grown to about 7 feet tall and were a few weeks from fully 
budding. The buds are the most potent part of the plant.

Alliance members even got to watch the garden's destruction via videotape 
in a nearby shed. A security camera had captured the action on film.

As pot smoke wafted, alliance members wondered where they would get marijuana.

"We have no other source of medicine for our patients," said George 
Hanamoto, a cooperative gardener and a patient.

About 80 percent of the group's members are terminally ill, said Diana 
Dodson, an alliance board member.

"We've lost several members this year," she said. "We lose members constantly."

The patients' stories were similar - cancer, AIDS, epilepsy.

Dan Rodriguez, an AIDS patient, said marijuana eases his nausea and boosts 
his appetite.

"If I don't smoke a little, I can't eat," Rodriguez said.

Like others at the garden, he said he didn't know where to turn now for 
marijuana.

"What are we going to do, go down to the river?" he said, referring to the 
San Lorenzo River levee in Santa Cruz, where illegal drug sales are a 
frequent problem.

Alliance member Hal Margolin agreed.

"I don't know what I will do, I really don't," Margolin said. "I wouldn't 
know where to go on the street. I've never done that."

The cooperative is unique in that it shares marijuana with members, but 
doesn't sell it. The alliance also offers hospice care and support for its 
members and has a months-long waiting list of applicants.

"It is unique," Dale Gieringer of California NORML, a statewide 
marijuana-advocacy group, said of the alliance. "This is the only one I 
know where patients help with gardening."

While patients were shocked and angered, the Sheriff's Office was 
surprised. Under the administration of Sheriff Mark Tracy, the alliance had 
enjoyed cooperative relations.

Sheriff's spokesman Kim Allyn said the department was not alerted to the 
raid in advance.

County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, whose district covers the area, said the 
Corrals operated in an "exemplary" fashion. She called the raid an invasion.

"I am absolutely appalled by the actions ... on the part of federal 
agents," Wormhoudt said.

But Valerie Corral said she knew a raid was always possible.

The DEA has repeatedly cracked down on pot clubs during the past year, 
enforcing federal laws that don't allow for medical use.

In February, agents seized hundreds of plants from a San Francisco club and 
arrested one of its suppliers, pot guru Ed Rosenthal, author of "Ask Ed: 
Marijuana Law. Don't Get Busted."

Federal agents also raided three other cannabis clubs in California, a 
garden in Hollywood, and seized the records of 5,000 medical-marijuana 
users from a doctor's office near Sacramento.

Santa Cruz has been at the forefront of medical marijuana efforts in 
California and nationally.

In 1992, 77 percent of Santa Cruz voters approved a local measure ending 
the medical prohibition of marijuana. Four years later, state voters - 
including 74 percent of those in Santa Cruz - approved Proposition 215. And 
then again, in 2000, the City Council approved an ordinance allowing 
medical marijuana to be grown and used without a prescription.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Brian Seals at bseals@santa-cruz.com.

- -- 
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858  // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114


CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 10:01:45 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" 
Subject: Canada: Legal Pot's Pot Of Gold May Be Elusive

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Fri, 06 Sep 2002
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: letters@edm.sunpub.com
Website: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Doug Beazley, Edmonton Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjparty.htm (Canadian Marijuana Party)

LEGAL POT'S POT OF GOLD MAY BE ELUSIVE

Marc Emery is a rich man. He could be a whole lot richer - but, first, the
feds have to put him out of business.

"I want to be the Martha Stewart of marijuana," said Emery, founder of the
B.C. Marijuana Party and one of the nation's better-heeled legalization
lobbyists.

Right now he's more like the Lois Hole of marijuana. His mail-order seed
business grosses a reported $3 million a year - a business he sees
collapsing utterly if the feds follow through on a Senate recommendation to
legalize marijuana for possession, purchase and production.

Like any budding mogul, Emery's got plans. Sooner or later, he said, pot
will be completely legal under licence in this country - either because of
a shift in federal policy or through a Supreme Court ruling.

When that happens, the real money in marijuana won't be made from selling
the weed itself. It'll be made through selling the ancillary merchandise -
bongs, pipes, papers, clothing, bumper stickers, books and magazines.

"You won't make money from selling grass. You'll make it from selling the
lifestyle," said Emery. That's why he publishes the glossy mag Cannabis
Culture. That's why he's looking to get into retail sales of the stuff.

Starbucks is a relentless merchandiser, hawking everything from deluxe
coffeemakers to board games along with the lattes. Martha doesn't make her
millions from baking cookies - she makes them from selling a lifestyle
people want to emulate. Emery's business plan probably doesn't involve
decorative wall sconces or Pyrex cookware, but you get the idea.

"Right now, pot goes for $225 to $275 an ounce. Legalize it, and that price
drops to $35," he said.

"The business will be divided between very large commodity crop growers and
backyard operations growing for personal consumption. That'll drive down
the price."

But will it drive up consumption? That's the question everyone's asking
this week in the wake of the Senate report.

Will more people be lighting up if reefers become available at licensed
7-Elevens, next to the Slurpee machine?

It all depends on how much rope the feds give to people like Emery.

"Decriminalization" and "legalization" are two very different things, which
is why the Senate report caught many people off guard: no one expected them
to go that far.

"The experience with decriminalization has been that consumption doesn't
tend to go up long-term," said Andy Hathaway, a sociologist at McMaster
University who testified before the Senate committee. Hathaway is citing a
2000 published study comparing decriminalization in 11 U.S. states and one
Australian territory. In both countries, the districts that reduced
marijuana possession penalties to a fine found little or no appreciable
increase in consumption.

Those who weren't smoking grass to begin with weren't encouraged to do so
by decriminalization: they had other reasons to avoid marijuana, mostly to
do with the health risks of consumption.

When people were more concerned about the health risks, the study said,
they were less likely to light up. The risk of being arrested was found to
have little effect.

If the effect of decriminalization on consumption is neutral, the effect on
policing costs is fairly amazing.

South Australia decriminalized in 1987; in 1995-96 it actually made about
$500,000 in fines after enforcement costs. The territory estimates it would
have lost about $1 million on full criminal enforcement had it still been
in place that year.

In Canada, the cost of drug enforcement is pegged at between $700 million
and $1 billion, and marijuana accounted for 70% of drug-related charges
laid in 1999. The fiscal case for decriminalization looks better all the time.

That said, there's a flaw in any scheme to make money off legal marijuana:
how do you persuade people to pay a markup for something they can grow in a
windowbox?

Nobody's going to be able to turn pot into the next boutique cash crop
unless the retailers can do unlimited marketing.

Emery sees himself someday launching a coast-to-coast advertising campaign
to push marijuana as a safer, more enjoyable recreational drug than either
alcohol or tobacco.

"Consumption would go up, maybe temporarily at first," he said. "In a legal
environment, who could stop us from advertising?"

The feds could; they control where tobacco companies advertise, after all,
and they aren't likely to give pot growers carte blanche. Without that,
Emery's business plans might well remain pipe dreams only.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 11:05:36 -0700
From: webmaster@drugsense.org (DrugSense)
Subject: DrugSense Weekly, Sept. 6, 2002, #266

**********************************************************************

DRUGSENSE WEEKLY

**********************************************************************

DrugSense Weekly,           Sept. 6, 2002                         #266

Read This Publication On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm

Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* This Just In

     (1) Federal Agents Raid Medical Pot Farm
     (2) Youth Drug Use Is Up, Study Shows 
     (3) U.S. Steps Up Air Attack On Colombia Coca Crop
     (4) U.S. Won't Provide Pot To Arizona

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

     (5) Legalize Pot, Senate Committee Says
     (6) DEA: Drug Money Funds Terror Group
     (7) Exhibit Ties Drug Sales To Terrorism
     (8) Commentary: U.S. Deliberately Promoting Drugs In Afghanistan
     (9) Feds - Don't Punish Kids Over Drugs

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

     (10) Undercover Drug Deals Require Money -- Lots Of It
     (11) Voting-Rights Restoration Made Easier
     (12) Attorney Questions Precursor Charges
     (13) Drug Task Force Head Arrested

Cannabis & Hemp-

     (14) Marijuana Today: Setting The Record Straight
     (15) The Flin Flon Flip-Flop
     (16) U.S. Drug Fugitive Gets Canadian Pot Licence
     (17) Blunkett's Cannabis Strategy 'Flawed'
     (18) Vandalia Pair's Crusade Continuing In Cyberspace

International News-

     (19) Former Police Commander Gunned Down
     (20) Ecstasy Not Dangerous, Say Scientists
     (21) Tory Plan To Outlaw Drug-Driving
     (22) U.S. Starts Mass Fumigation Of Colombian Coca Farms
     (23) Drug-Testing Scandal Hits Home For U.S. Bridge Team

* Hot Off The 'Net

     White  House  and  DEA  Work  to  Defeat Michigan Drug Initiative
     Cannabis: Our Position For A Canadian Public 
     WAMM Raid Protests
     National Call-In Day to Oppose the RAVE Act
     SSDP's National Conference
     Policy War is Brewing in Colombia
     Report Shows Almost 16 Million Americans Currently Use Illegal Drugs

* Letter Of The Week

     Question 9 / By Alice Lillie

* Feature Article

     What's Up In Canada, Eh? / by Matthew Elrod

* Quote of the Week

     Capt. Chuck Sherer

***********************************************************************

THIS JUST IN
=======================================================================

(1) FEDERAL AGENTS RAID MEDICAL POT FARM

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --  Federal agents raided a marijuana farm Thursday
and  arrested  the  owners,  who helped write the state law legalizing
medical use of the plants.

Officers  seized  more  than  100 marijuana plants, three rifles and a
shotgun,  said  Richard  Meyer,  a  spokesman for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in San Francisco.

Valerie  and  Michael  Corral  were  arrested  on  federal  charges of
intent  to  distribute  marijuana and conspiracy, he said. A spokesman
for  the  U.S. attorney could not determine Thursday afternoon whether
formal charges had been filed.

"These  are  incredibly  compassionate  people  who've  worked closely
with  law  enforcement  to  help the sick and dying in our community,"
said  Ben  Rice,  an  attorney  for  the  Corrals. "This is absolutely
outrageous."

The  Corrals  helped write the 1996 law that allows patients and their
caregivers  to  grow  marijuana for their own medicine. They work with
local  authorities  to  dispense  their  pot  to  people with doctors'
recommendations to use marijuana.

Pubdate: Fri, 06 Sep 2002
Source: Post-Star, The (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Glens Falls Newspapers Inc.
Website: http://www.poststar.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1068
Cited: http://www.wamm.org/
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1664.a08.html

===

(2) YOUTH DRUG USE IS UP, STUDY SHOWS 

Wrong Message Is Sent, A Federal Official Says 

WASHINGTON  --  Use  of  marijuana,  cocaine  and  other illegal drugs
increased  sharply  among  young  Americans  last year, according to a
government survey released Thursday.

The  study  also  found  sharp  increases  in  the  nonmedical  use of
prescription  painkillers  and  tranquilizers.  Only  tobacco  use
declined.

John  Walters,  the  director  of  the  White House Office of National
Drug  Control  Policy,  attributed  the  increased marijuana use to "a
fundamental misunderstanding" propagated by the baby boomer
generation that marijuana is safe and should be legal.

 [snip]

The  good  news,  Thompson  said,  was a continuing decline in smoking
among  people  12-17.  Their  number  is about one-third lower than it
was in 1997.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Fri, 6 Sep 2002
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2002 Detroit Free Press
Website: http://www.freep.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author: Sumana Chatterjee
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1664.a07.html

===

(3) U.S. STEPS UP AIR ATTACK ON COLOMBIA COCA CROP

ROSAL,  Colombia  -  With the full support of the Colombian president,
the  United  States  has begun what American officials say will be the
biggest  and  most  aggressive  effort  yet  to wipe out coca growing.

A  round  of  aerial  spraying  to kill Colombia's mammoth drug crops,
which  resumed  here a month ago, is part of a new phase in the war on
drugs.  U.S.  officials  said  that  it was bigger and more aggressive
than  before  and that if sustained, it could at last make substantial
inroads against coca growing in Colombia.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2002
Source: International Herald-Tribune (France)
Copyright: International Herald Tribune 2002
Website: http://www.iht.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
Author: Juan Forero The New York Times
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1660.a06.html

===

(4) U.S. WON'T PROVIDE POT TO ARIZONA

Officials at a federally funded marijuana research farm in
Mississippi  say  they  never agreed to supply sick Arizonans with the
drug,  despite  wording  in  the Arizona initiative suggesting that it
would come from there.

Administrators say their farm isn't even a feasible option.

Proposition  203  would  decriminalize the possession of small amounts
of  marijuana  and  have  the  Arizona  Department  of  Public  Safety
distribute free monthly doses to the seriously ill.

 [snip]

"There's  no  way  Arizona  can get this marijuana from the University
of  Mississippi,"  said  Thomas  Hinojosa,  a  spokesman with the Drug
Enforcement  Administration.  Not only would Arizona's request not fit
the  research  criteria,  but it would also conflict with federal law,
Hinojosa  said.  And  generally,  federal  law  takes  precedence over
state law.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Copyright: 2002 The Arizona Republic
Website: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Christina Leonard and Elvia Diaz
Continues:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0904POT04.html


***********************************************************************

WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

=======================================================================

Domestic News- Policy
- ----------------------------------

COMMENT: (5-9)

 The  biggest  story  of  the week comes out of Canada, where a senate
 committee  report endorsed the legalization of marijuana. For more on
 the  issue,  see  this  week's  feature  article by Matt Elrod, MAP's
 multi-talented Webmaster.

 At  the  time  of deadline for DrugSense Weekly, U.S. reaction to the
 Canadian  report seemed to be muted. But federal drug warriors in the
 U.S.  seemed  almost  gleeful  while  declaring  the  existence  of a
 pipeline between a methamphetamine ring and middle eastern
 terrorists.  Perhaps  it's only coincidental, but within days of that
 announcement,  the  DEA  opened  a  new exhibit at its museum that is
 supposed  to  show  the  ties  between  illegal  drugs  and  terror.

 The  sincerity  of  the  museum exhibit was called into question by a
 Canadian  journalist  who  says  the  U.S. is not only allowing poppy
 cultivation  in Afghanistan, but actually encouraging even more. And,
 finally,  drug  tests  in  schools  aren't  just  about invasiveness,
 punishment  and  isolation, according to drug czar John Walters. They
 are  also  about  forcing kids into treatment. Walters didn't mention
 it,  but  this tactic will also eventually allow the drug warriors to
 talk  about  how addictive marijuana is - why else would so many kids
 be going to treatment for using pot?

===

(5) LEGALIZE POT, SENATE COMMITTEE SAYS

OTTAWA - A Senate committee said in a report Wednesday that
marijuana should be legalized.

The  Special  Committee  on Illegal Drugs released its final report on
Wednesday  morning,  in which it says the public drug policy should be
of a guiding nature, rather than a restrictive one.

The  committee  also says the government should wipe clean the records
of anyone convicted of marijuana possession.

 [snip]

Webpage: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/04/pot_committee020904
Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Copyright: 2002 CBC 
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1649.a01.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm

===

(6) DEA: DRUG MONEY FUNDS TERROR GROUP

WASHINGTON  (AP)  Federal  authorities  have  amassed evidence for the
first  time  that  an  illegal drug operation in the United States was
funneling  proceeds  to  Middle  East terrorist groups like Hezbollah.

Evidence  gathered  by  the  Drug  Enforcement  Administration since a
series  of  raids  in  January  indicates  that a methamphetamine drug
operation  in  the Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has
been  shipping  money  back  to  terrorist  groups,  officials  said.

``There is increasing intelligence information from the
investigation  that  for  the  first  time  alleged  drug sales in the
United  States  are  going  in part to support terrorist organizations
in  the  Middle  East,''  DEA  administrator  Asa  Hutchinson  said.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Sun, 1 Sep 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: John Solomon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1630/a05.html

===

(7) EXHIBIT TIES DRUG SALES TO TERRORISM

ARLINGTON,  Va.  -  Attorney General John Ashcroft and former New York
City  Mayor  Rudolph  Giuliani  helped  open  a museum exhibit Tuesday
intended  to  show  Americans  that  buying  illegal drugs can support
terrorist attacks.

The  exhibit,  titled  "Target America," includes Sept. 11 rubble from
the  World  Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is housed at a museum in
the Drug Enforcement Administration's headquarters.

DEA  Administrator  Asa  Hutchinson  said  the exhibit aims to educate
Americans about the role drug money has in terrorism.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 4 Sep 2002
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Tallahassee Democrat.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Christopher Newton
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1651/a09.html

===

(8) COMMENTARY: U.S. DELIBERATELY PROMOTING DRUGS IN AFGHANISTAN

 [snip]

An  interesting  picture appeared in Canadian papers not too long ago.
It  showed  a  combat  patrol  in  the  Tora  Bora area of Afghanistan
walking  through  fields of opium poppies. The troops weren't there to
destroy  the  poppies;  they  were  looking  for  members of al Qaeda.
Hadn't  they  heard  the  Bush  administration's  line that supporting
drugs means supporting terrorism?

On  this  side  of  the world drugs are bad. Since September 11th, the
Bush  administration  has  been increasing the number of U.S. military
advisors  in  Colombia.  Their role has been expanded to accompany the
Colombian military to root out and destroy drug trafficking
operations.

Earlier  this  month  the  Bush administration succeeded in having its
candidate  elected  in  Bolivia.  The campaign centered on whether the
coca  crops  should  be  increased.  Their  candidate  was against it.

So,  why  turn  a  blind eye to Afghanistan? The answer is simple. The
U.S.  needs  the  support  of the warlords who really run the country.
One  government  source  has told me the Bush administration paid each
warlord  at  least  $3  million  dollars deposited into various Middle
East  bank  accounts.  Other  sources have said the U.S. has agreed to
increase poppy production.

Opium  poppies  are  a  major  money-making  enterprise.  On  just one
hectare  a  farmer  can  make  ten  times  the  money  of  other crops
including  wheat.  And  the  warlords  will  reap  far greater profits
shipping the crop west as heroin and opium.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 28 Aug 2002
Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canada Web)
Webpage: http://cbc.ca/insite/COMMENTARY/2002/8/28.html
Copyright: 2002 CBC
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1412
Author: Jim Trautman
Note: Headline by newshawk, Transcript ed CBC Radio Commentary

===

(9) FEDS - DON'T PUNISH KIDS OVER DRUGS

WASHINGTON  -  The  federal  drug  director is urging schools to offer
help to students who use drugs, not just toss them out.

Guidelines  in  a  report  released Thursday by the Office of National
Drug  Control  Policy  urge  treatment  and  counseling for drug-using
high  schoolers  rather  than  simply  suspending  or  expelling them.

``The  goal  is  to  say  we  believe we can do a better job of making
kids  healthy,''  said  John  P.  Walters,  who  directs  the  office.
Kicking students out of school without treatment can create
``drug-using  dropouts,''  an  even  bigger  problem, the report said.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Thu, 29 Aug 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Greg Toppo, The Associated Press
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1620/a03.html


=======================================================================

Law Enforcement & Prisons
- -------------------------

COMMENT: (10-13)

 Some  stories published last week offered insightful peeks behind the
 scenes  of  the  drug  war. An article published in Nebraska revealed
 that  money  used  to  buy drugs in sting operations is generally not
 recovered.  Once  again  the  drug  war  helps  the  black  market to
 prosper.

 The  process  for  nonviolent  felons  to  regain their voting rights
 after  serving  prison  and  probation  terms  is being overhauled in
 Virginia.  Before,  it was a complicated task, involving a wait of at
 least  seven  years  for  drug  convict,  and  five  years  for other
 convicts.  Now  it  will  be  a  uniform  three-year  wait, with less
 paperwork.

 In  Oklahoma,  a  defense  attorney  says  police  are  targeting  an
 immigrant  pharmacist  for  selling  legal  drugs that can be used to
 make  methamphetamine.  The attorney suggests his client's only crime
 is  a  lack  of  language  skills and his willingness to sell a legal
 product.

 And, another week, another police official is arrested for
 corruption.  This  time,  it's  the  head  of  a  drug  task force in
 Tennessee.

===

(10) UNDERCOVER DRUG DEALS REQUIRE MONEY -- LOTS OF IT

Officers  often  catch  methamphetamine  dealers  through  undercover
buys.  When  law  enforcement  officers  run  out  of money -- usually
toward  the  end  of  their  fiscal year -- they can't make those buys
anymore.

"This  year,  we  ran  out  with six months left in our year," Norfolk
Police  Division  Capt.  Steve  Hecker  said  of  his  anti-drug  task
force's  investigative  budget.  "Once those funds are gone, you don't
have the ability to make a phone call, make a buy."

For  those  who  want  to  see  law  enforcement  be  as  effective as
possible  in  fighting  drugs,  the  lack  of  funds is a big problem.

 [snip]

Officers  usually  do  not  get  their  money  back after they make an
undercover  deal.  They  could,  of course, arrest a drug dealer right
before  the  money changes hands. But then the dealer could be charged
only  with  possession  of  a  controlled  substance and not dealing."

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 28 Aug 2002
Source: Norfolk Daily News (NE)
Copyright: 2002 Norfolk Daily News
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/627
Author: Sarah Fox
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1623/a11.html

===

(11) VOTING-RIGHTS RESTORATION MADE EASIER

RICHMOND  (AP)  -  Nonviolent  felons  may  apply to have their voting
rights  restored  more  quickly  and easily under a streamlined policy
announced yesterday by Gov. Mark R. Warner.

"When  an  offender  has  served his full sentence and demonstrated he
can  be  a  law-abiding  citizen,  he  deserves  an efficient and fair
process  for  restoring his most basic right," Mr. Warner, a Democrat,
said.

"For  too  many  years,  applications for restoring voting rights have
languished  without  official action. In my administration, applicants
will  receive  a  decision,  one  way  or another, within a reasonable
period of time."

The  previous  process, adopted in 1990, permitted ex-felons convicted
of  drug  offenses  to  apply for a restoration of voting rights seven
years  after  completing  a  sentence  and  any  probation,  parole or
supervised  release.  For  all  other ex-felons, the mandated wait was
five years.

 [snip]

Under  Mr.  Warner's  new  policy, which takes effect tomorrow, anyone
convicted  of  nonviolent  offenses  may  apply  for  a restoration of
voting  rights  three  years  after  completing  his  or her sentence,
suspended  sentence,  probation,  parole  or  supervised  release.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Sat, 31 Aug 2002
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2002 News World Communications, Inc.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1624/a06.html

===

(12) ATTORNEY QUESTIONS PRECURSOR CHARGES

Suspects  were  targeted  by police, according to lawyer. The attorney
for  an  Enid  man  charged  last  week  with  illegally  selling drug
precursors  suggests  authorities  may have been picking on immigrants
during  the  two-year  investigation that culminated in seven arrests.

Defense  attorney  Greg Camp said it appears to him that investigators
took  advantage  of  his client's muddled command of English when they
bought  pseudoephedrine  tablets  from  him  on  two  occasions.  Camp
represents  Young  Tag Cho, 30, who was charged Friday with two counts
of unlawfully selling drug precursors.

Cho  is  one  of  five  people who work at Garfield County convenience
stores  arrested  last  week  on  state charges at the conclusion of a
two-year  investigation  by  local, state and federal authorities. Two
others are facing federal charges.

Five  of  those  seven  people  are not native Americans. None of them
has any criminal history, Camp said.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Thu, 29 Aug 2002
Source: Enid News & Eagle (OK)
Copyright: Enid News & Eagle 2002
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2012
Author: Jay F. Marks
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1611/a11.html

===

(13) DRUG TASK FORCE HEAD ARRESTED

The  Tennessee  Bureau  of  Investigation arrested the director of the
10th  Judicial  Drug Task Force Tuesday night on drug charges stemming
from  reports  evidence was missing from the DTF office in Charleston.

According  to  TBI  spokesperson  Jeanne  Broadwell  in Nashville, DTF
Director  Kenneth  Don Wilson, 53, of 179 County Road 633, Etowah, was
arrested around 11:30 Tuesday night and charged with simple
possession  of  the  Schedule  II  drug  cocaine.  TBI  Special  Agent
In-Charge  Richard  Brogan  arrested  Wilson  and  booked him into the
McMinn County Jail around 1:30 a.m. today.

The  DTF  operates  under  the  supervision of the District Attorney's
Office  and  aids agencies within the District in drug investigations,
as well as conducting independent investigations.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002
Source: Daily Post-Athenian (TN)
Copyright: 2002 East Tennessee Network - R.A.I.D. 
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1673
Author: Ben Benton
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1651/a08.html


=======================================================================

Cannabis & Hemp-
- ---------------------------

COMMENT: (14-18)

 It  is  a  general  rule in teen slasher movies that the psychopathic
 killer  must  be  convincingly  slain  at  least  three times. Reefer
 madness myths have even greater resiliency. Following his
 announcement  last  week that adolescent cannabis use is a gateway to
 "hard drugs", no doubt timed to counter November cannabis
 initiatives,  Drug  Czar  John  Walter's  resurrected  the  tale that
 today's  weed  is  "30 times more potent" than the schwag boomers may
 have  experimented  with  at  Woodstock.  No  mention of the two-toke
 hashish they were puffing by the mud pit.

 Speaking  of  phobias  and fantasies, Canadian author Spider Robinson
 treated us to an entertaining analysis of the discomfort
 court-mandated  medicinal  cannabis  regulations  are  causing  his
 dilatory  Health  Minister. Nevertheless, drug war dodger Steve Kubby
 finally  won  the right to cultivate and possess north of the border.

 In  Britain,  critics  on  both sides of the debate continued to find
 fault  with  David  Blunkett's  tepid attempt to please everyone. The
 police  lobbied to retain some discretion while an academic warned of
 increasing disparities and eroding respect for the law.

 From  Michigan to cyberspace, friends and supporters of slain freedom
 fighters  Grover  "Tom"  Crosslin and Rolland "Rollie" Rohm took time
 to remember and keep their dream alive.

===

(14) MARIJUANA TODAY: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

The  public  debate  over  marijuana has been plagued by difficulties,
not  the  least of which is a lack of accurate information. Any policy
debate  that  draws  activists  promoting  their  cause  is  likely to
suffer  from  confusion.  But  the  debate  over  marijuana  has  been
further  muddled  by  careless  or  gullible media reports. Too often,
journalists  are  fed  misleading  advocacy  information  that  they
swallow whole.

For  instance,  one  columnist  recently  charged that worry about the
increased  potency  of  today's  marijuana  is  wildly  overstated. In
fact,  he  calls such claims "whoppers," because the active ingredient
THC  (tetrahydrocannabinol)  "has  only  doubled  to  4.2 percent from
about 2 percent from 1980 to 1997."

No  wonder  the public has trouble getting a clear picture. His source
for  this  information  is  the  Marijuana  Policy Project, a group of
marijuana  legalizers  relying  on  a  study  that  covers  just those
years.  Unfortunately,  the columnist did not check his facts with the
Drug  Enforcement  Administration,  which  monitors scientific studies
of marijuana.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2002
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Hearst Communications Inc.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: John P. Walters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1625/a09.html
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1625.a10.html

===

(15) THE FLIN FLON FLIP-FLOP

Anne  McLellan's  Reversal  on  Support for Medicinal Marijuana Should
Make Canadians Sick

Recently  I  went  in  hospital  for a test that required injecting me
with  a  radioactive  drug.  I  told  them, as I always do, that drugs
invariably  hit  me  harder than most people, and they nodded and shot
me  up  with  the  standard dose, as always, and I vomited nonstop for
the next eight hours. One of these days I'll write a column
exploring  why  donning  a  white  uniform induces deafness -- but not
today.

This  column's  about  what  they  did for my nausea that day -- which
was  nothing.  They  shot  me  up with four successive drugs, starting
with  Gravol  (a  standard  dose)  and  working  up  to  the mightiest
antinausea  drug  in  the  pharmacopoeia,  without  effect.  I retched
continuously  until  it  was  simply  not  possible  for my stomach to
clench  any  more;  then,  thank  God,  I was able to persuade them to
stop  helping  me,  and  let  me  go.  My  problem  soon vanished. The
impulse  to  vomit  uncontrollably only returned today, when I sniffed
the  latest  mound of media manure from Health Minister Anne McLellan.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2002, The Globe and Mail Company
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Spider Robinson, http://www.spiderrobinson.com/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1636.a04.html

===

(16) U.S. DRUG FUGITIVE GETS CANADIAN POT LICENCE

VANCOUVER  --  A  high-profile  American  fugitive  also  facing  drug
charges  in  B.C.  has  been  granted the right to smoke and grow huge
quantities of marijuana for medical purposes.

Steve  Kubby,  who  fled with his family to Sechelt on B.C.'s southern
coast  to  avoid  a  jail term in California, said he is "cleaning out
our garage to start growing.

"The  Americans  would  do  well  to come up to Canada and see how the
Canadians  are  doing  this,"  said  Kubby,  56,  after  receiving his
exemption.

His  lawyer,  John  Conroy,  who has represented many high-profile pot
activists  in  court, says he believes Kubby is the first U.S. citizen
to  be  granted one of the approximately 800 exemptions that have been
issued  by  Health  Canada  since "He's certainly the first one of the
high-profile pot refugees," said Conroy.

Kubby's  permit  allows  him to grow 59 marijuana plants at a time for
medical  use,  to  store  up  to 2,655 grams of the drug and to travel
within Canada carrying up to 360 grams.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1648.a04.html

===

(17) BLUNKETT'S CANNABIS STRATEGY 'FLAWED'

An  academic  will warn chief police officers that retaining the power
of  arrest  for  simple  cannabis  possession  is a sideways step that
could lead to confusion among officers when the drug is
reclassified.

Tiggey  May,  who  co-wrote a study on the policing of cannabis funded
by  the  Joseph  Rowntree  Foundation,  is  expected  to  tell a drugs
conference  on  Thursday  that  she  fears  that  the home secretary's
decision  to  keep  the  power  of  arrest  when  certain  aggravating
factors  apply  was  a  mistake.  Though  supporters  of the move have
argued  that  the  retention  will  stop  cannabis  users from mocking
officers  by  smoking  in  front  of  them,  Ms  May  believes this is
"hardly a persuasive argument".

 [snip]

Ms  May  said  yesterday  that  there  was  danger  in  cannabis users
"having  laws  forced  upon them that they don't believe in" at a time
when  "crack  houses  are opening up in a number of cities, and heroin
prices  are  continuing  to  fall". She added: "Most officers we spoke
to  did  not  think  that criminalising young people was a good use of
their time".

 [snip]

The  Association  of  Chief Police Officers is, however, struggling to
draw  up  the  guidelines  for  officers  regarding  the  aggravating
factors.  They  are  due  to  be  published in November. Ms May warned
yesterday  that  the  guidelines,  if unclear, could lead to disparity
of practice within and across regions.

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1636.a01.html

===

(18) VANDALIA PAIR'S CRUSADE CONTINUING IN CYBERSPACE

VANDALIA  --  It  all  began back in the early '90s, when Grover "Tom"
Crosslin  bought  the  34-acre  farm  and  an adjoining 20-acre woods.

 [snip]

"We  consider  this  a  war  on us and we are fighting back," Crosslin
once  wrote  on  the  farm's Web site at www.rainbowfarmcampground.com

That  war  ended  with  Crosslin's death at the hands of an FBI sniper
on  Sept.  3,  2001,  and with Rohm's death at the hands of a Michigan
State  Police  sharpshooter  12  hours later. Both were angry over the
ongoing  focus  of  Cass County Prosecutor Scott Teter and Cass County
authorities  on  their  lives  at  Rainbow  Farm,  with allegations of
illegal  drug  use  and  distribution  and  the  loss  of "their" son,
Robert, because of it.

"In  a  way,"  says  local  attorney  Dan French, "it's our own little
Waco."

Rainbow  Farm  Campground's  operation  may  be  no  more on Pemberton
Road.  And  the Rainbow Farm telephone hot line has been disconnected.
But a memorial Web site dedicated to the late Rainbow Farm
Campground  owner  and  his  companion  continues  in  cyberspace  at
www.rainbowfarmcamp.com,  the  successor  to Rainbow Farm Campground's
old  Web  site.  Its  message,  emblazoned  with "In Memory of Rainbow
Farm: Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm," remains as solid as if Crosslin
and Rohm were pushing it themselves.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: South Bend Tribune (IN)
Copyright: 2002 South Bend Tribune
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/621
Author: Peter Carlson, The Washington Post
Related: http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2002/ds02.n265.html#sec5
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm Campground)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1639.a08.html


=======================================================================

International News
- ---------------------------

COMMENT: (19-23)

 The  former head of the federal judicial police in the state of Nuevo
 Leon,  Mexico,  was  killed last week in a hail of bullets. Officials
 linked  the  victim,  who  lead the police in Nuevo Leon from 1992 to
 1994, to the "Gulf Cartel."

 An  article  published  in  a  British Psychological Society magazine
 caused  a flurry of controversy by publicizing a study conceding MDMA
 may  not  be  the  killer  bogeyman  some  claim  it  is. Researchers
 disclosed  previous studies had overestimated the harms of MDMA, were
 misleading,  often  biased;  and  that  data  existed  showing  MDMA
 "exposure  had no long-term effects." Meanwhile, UK Tory MPs, already
 incensed  over a planned downgrade in the classification of cannabis,
 are  striking  back  by  increasing  drug-driving  punishments.  (No
 attempt  will  be  made  to  distinguish  between  cannabis and other
 drugs.)

 With  a  pliant  right-wing  Uribe  regime  firmly in place, the U.S.
 proclaimed  a  new  era  of "mass fumigation" for Colombia. Officials
 optimistically  chirped  that  this  new  tweak  would  turn the tide
 against  coca. Critics note this will simply cause planting to spread
 to a wider area.

 And  finally  this week, the "war" on substances of which politicians
 disapprove  claimed  another collateral casualty: the American bridge
 player  and  silver  medalist  Disa Eythorsdottir was stripped of her
 title after she refused to take a drug test in Montreal.
 Eythorsdottir  (originally from Iceland) evidently had a prescription
 for  a  back  medication,  but had not obtained additional permission
 from officials.

===

(19) FORMER POLICE COMMANDER GUNNED DOWN

MONTERREY,  Mexico  -  A  former  federal  police commander was gunned
down outside his home in northern Mexico, marking the 10th
execution-style  slaying  in  the  past  month  in  Nuevo  Leon state.

Ricardo  Ruben  Puente,  46, was shot four times after he and his wife
pulled  up  to  their  home Saturday night in the affluent city of San
Pedro.  His  wife, who was getting out of the car at the time, was not
injured, authorities said.

 [snip]

Puente  served  as  head  of  the federal judicial police in the state
from 1992 to 1994.

 [snip]

Police said the slain victim had ties to the Gulf cartel.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright: 2002 San Antonio Express-News
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384
Author: Associated Press
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1640/a02.html

===

(20) ECSTASY NOT DANGEROUS, SAY SCIENTISTS

Three  leading  psychologists have provoked an outcry by claiming that
the  dance  drug  ecstasy  may  not  be dangerous and that some of its
ill-effects may be imaginary.

The  drug  has  been  blamed  for  causing  deaths and permanent brain
damage,  but  the  psychologists  are  strongly critical of animal and
human  studies  into  its  effects,  claiming that they are misleading
and  overestimate  the  harm  ecstasy - scientifically known as MDMA -
can cause.

 [snip]

Writing  in  the  magazine  the Psychologist, published by the British
Psychological  Society,  they  claim  that  many  of the studies since
1995  have  been  flawed.  They  also  accuse  researchers  of  bias.

Ecstasy is said to affect cells in the brain which produce
serotonin,  the  chemical  known  to  influence  mood. But the changes
observed  involved  the  degeneration  of  nerve  fibres, which can be
regrown,  and  not  the cell bodies themselves, the psychologists say.

They  accuse  other  scientists  of  minimising  the  impact  of  data
suggesting that ecstasy exposure had no long-term effects.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Sarah Boseley, health editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1630/a07.html

===

(21) TORY PLAN TO OUTLAW DRUG-DRIVING

Driving  under  the  influence  of  drugs  could  be  made  a criminal
offence, under a bill sponsored by a Tory MP.

Shadow  Home  Office minister Nick Hawkins plans to introduce a bid to
get  drug-driving  recognised  as  an  offence  in  its  own  right  -
separate  from  drink-driving - during the next session of Parliament.

 [snip]

Samples  from  Durham  Police  suggested that in 50% of fatalities the
victims  had  traces  of  either cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy or another
prescription drug.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2002 BBC
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1648/a06.html

===

(22) U.S. STARTS MASS FUMIGATION OF COLOMBIAN COCA FARMS

President Uribe Fully Cooperative

Rosal,  Colombia  --  With  the  full  support  of  the  new Colombian
president,  the  United  States  has  begun what officials say will be
the  biggest  and most aggressive effort yet to wipe out coca growing.

A  round  of  aerial  spraying  to kill Colombia's mammoth drug crops,
which  resumed  here a month ago, is part of a new phase in the war on
drugs.  U.S.  officials  said  that  it was bigger and more aggressive
than  before  and that if sustained, it could at last make substantial
inroads against Colombia's coca growing.

 [snip]

Despite the rosy predictions, drug policy analysts and some
lawmakers  in  Washington warn that the intensified program could just
cause coca planting to spread to a wider area.

 [snip]

Although  the  United  States  has  spent  $1.7  billion since 1999 in
Colombia  to  stamp  out  drugs,  the  amount  of coca in Colombia has
increased  25  percent  from 2000 to 2001, according to U.S. estimates
based  on  images  from  satellites  and  projections  by  analysts.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Hearst Communications Inc.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Juan Forero, New York Times
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1646/a11.html

===

(23) DRUG-TESTING SCANDAL HITS HOME FOR U.S. BRIDGE TEAM

MONTREAL--The  world  of  bridge was in an uproar Sunday after a drug-
testing  scandal  at  the  world  open  championships  in  Montreal.

American  player  Disa  Eythorsdottir was stripped of her silver medal
for refusing to take a drug test.

 [snip]

Four  U.S.  team members were chosen for the tests, but Eythorsdottir,
who is originally from Iceland, refused.

Close  to  tears,  she said, "They have taken everything, my medal, my
name.

"I  am  on  a  diet  drug connected with a back condition. I asked the
authorities  whether  the  drug  was  on the banned list, and they did
not know.

"The  drug  is  on prescription, but I did not obtain a certificate to
cover it."

There  are  no  prohibited  performance-enhancing drugs for bridge, so
the  WBF  relies  on  the  list  of  banned substances supplied by the
International Olympic Committee.

 [snip]

Pubdate: Mon, 02 Sep 2002
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2002 The Sun-Times Co.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Patrick Jourdain
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1643/a01.html


***********************************************************************

HOT OFF THE 'NET
- -------------------------------

White House and DEA Work to Defeat Michigan Drug Initiative

By Dan Forbes - posted at Drugwar.com

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1636/a06.html

===

Cannabis: Our Position For A Canadian Public Policy 

The  report  from  the  Canadian  Senate committee that is rocking the
world of drug policy.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/illegal-drugs.asp

DS  Weekly  Cannabis  Analyst  Phillipe  Lucas  will  be disussing the
Senate  Report  on  the  Bill  Goode  Show,  CKNW  Vancouver,  between
1:20-2pm PST today.

http://www.cknw.com/audiovault.html

Phil  writes  "Let's keep up the attention on this important document.
Don't  let  it  become  the  next LeDain Commission! The next 6 months
may decide the next ten years of cannabis policy."

More Streaming Media

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1504.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20020904/pot_legalize_senate_020904/

http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/04/pot_senate020904

===

WAMM Raid Protests - Today Sept 6th!

http://www.wamm.org/protest.htm

===

National Call-In Day to Oppose the RAVE Act

Call Your Senators on Friday, September 6th

On  Friday,  September  6th  thousands of voters will be calling their
Senators  and  urging  them  to  oppose the RAVE Act, a bill that is a
danger  to  free  speech  and public health. Please join this National
Call-In  Day  by calling your Senators on September 6th. Senators need
to know that you oppose this bill. The National Call-In Day
coincides  with  musical  protests around the country in opposition to
the  RAVE  Act,  with raves and rallies in Washington DC, New York and
Los Angeles on the 6th (and in San Francisco on the 7th).

You  can  contact  your  Senators  through  the Capitol Switchboard at
202-224-3121. To find out who your Senators are go to:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm

===

SSDP's  National  Conference  is  quickly approaching and is promising
to  be  one  of  the  largest and most important gathering of drug law
reform activists this country has ever seen.

Please  visit  http://www.mpp.org/conference/  for  information and to
register.

Your  attendance  at  the  SSDP/MPP  conference  is  essential  to the
growth  and  development  of  our  network  of  knowledge,  people and
ideas.

===

War is Brewing in Colombia

by Oliver Houston from www.colombiareport.org

http://www.colombiareport.org/colombia127.htm

===

Report  Shows  Almost 16 Million Americans Currently Use Illegal Drugs
Original online at:

http://www.alchemind.org/News/household_srv_2001.htm

Today  (September  5, 2002), the US government released the results of
the  2001  National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the primary method
of  estimating  the  prevalence  of  illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco
use in the US.

According  to  the  Survey,  in 2001 15.9 million Americans age 12 and
older  used  an  illicit  drug  in  the month immediately prior to the
survey  interview.  This  represents  an  estimated 7.1 percent of the
population  in  2001,  compared  to  an  estimated  6.3  percent  the
previous year.

***********************************************************************

LETTER OF THE WEEK
- ------------------------------------

Question 9

By Alice Lillie

To the editor:

In  regard  to  the  Aug.  24  article  on  the  marijuana  initiative
("Economic Benefits Touted"):

As  a  Libertarian,  I  am  a  strong supporter of Question 9, but not
because  of  any  cash  flow  to the state. "Economic Benefits" really
mean  more  choices  and  purchasing  power  for individuals, not more
money for the government.

I  support  Question  9  mainly  because  it  gives  individuals  more
freedom  to  make  decisions  over  their  own  lives. Adults have the
right  to  decide what does and what does not go into their bodies and
parents  have  the  right to decide this for their children. These are
God-given  rights.  In  a  truly free country people do not go to jail
because they smoke a politically incorrect plant.

Actually,  all  laws  prohibiting  marijuana should be repealed and no
new  ones  enacted.  In other words, there should be a free market, or
at  least  marijuana  should  be  on  the  same legal footing as other
goods and services.

I  also  support  Question  9  because,  like  Yucca Mountain, it is a
states'  rights  issue.  President  Bush, regardless of rhetoric, is a
staunch  opponent  of  states'  rights  just  as  he  is of individual
rights, and he wants all power to be vested in the federal
government (actually in his own hands).

The  Bush  administration  needs a good, sound woodshed experience for
many  reasons  and  Nevada  is  just  the  state  to  give it to them.
Passage  of  Question  9  will  do just that and make me proud to be a
Nevadan.

Alice Lillie,

Las Vegas

Date: 08/27/2002
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233


***********************************************************************

FEATURE ARTICLE
- -------------------------------

WHAT'S UP IN CANADA, EH? 

I  confess,  I was caught off guard by the Special Senate Committee on
Illegal  Drugs  Report  (1). Don't get me wrong. I knew the report was
coming.  I  had  been  looking  forward  to it since the Committee was
founded  in  2000 to study all aspects of illicit drug policy and then
reconvened  in  2001  with  the  narrower  mandate of considering just
cannabis policy "in context."

Nor,  based  on  my own reading of the evidence the committee reviewed
and  heard  from  such witnesses as Gov. Gary Johnson, Ethan Nadelmann
and  Dr.  John  Morgan,  was  I  surprised that the Committee made the
enlightened  recommendations  they  did.  That  the  evidence  and the
experts  were  crying out for legalization seemed as painfully obvious
as  it  always  has.  Still,  on  the  eve  of  the report's release I
confidently predicted that the Committee would recommend
decriminalization,  or  perhaps  legalized  personal  cultivation  and
possession.

I  had  covered  the  work  of  previous  parliamentary committees for
Cannabis  Culture  Magazine  (2).  These  committees  are  struck  up
whenever  Parliament  needs  to  back  burner  a politically sensitive
issue.  Most  recently,  an  Advisory Committee on Medicinal Marijuana
Regulations  has  been  formed  to  ease  the discomfort of our Health
Minister.  Legislators  can  procrastinate  as  long  as some study or
other  is  in  the works; as long as the jury remains out. If they can
stall  long  enough,  then  our  courts  are  forced  to deal with the
problem  and  suffer  both  the  domestic  and  international  heat.

What  I  failed  to take into consideration is that our senators, like
the judges who struck down our medicinal cannabis laws, are
appointed,  not  elected,  and  are  therefore  not  as  vulnerable to
pressure  from  Canadian  and  American  prohibitionists.  The  Senate
Committee  were  able  to  make  recommendations  based on science and
outcomes,  not  sending  symbolic  messages to teens and American drug
warriors.

Not so Parliament's back-up House of Commons Committee on
Non-Medical  Use  of  Drugs  (3),  due  to release their findings this
November.  I  expect their report will redeem my pessimistic powers of
precognition.  In  fact,  they  seem  to  have  already  made up their
minds.  MP  Paddy  Torsney,  chair  of  the  15-member committee, said
there  is  "no  possibility  it  will  recommend legalization of pot."
Vice-chair  Randy  White  added,  "The  general  consensus  is  that
legalization is not the route to follow."

Canadian  prohibitionists  were  also  quick  to  condemn  the report,
perhaps  too  quick.  For  example, the Canadian Police Association, a
trade  union  representing  over  50  municipal  police  boards  and
commissions  across  Canada,  held  a  press  conference  a scant four
hours  after  the Committee released their report. Four hours is about
how  long  it  takes  to  send  a  fax  from  Ottawa to Washington and
receive  a  reply,  not  how  long it takes to carefully analyze a 600
plus page report that was two years in the making.

However,  as  touched  on  above,  this  political  hot potato will be
making  its  way to the Supreme Court of Canada this December. (4) The
Court  has  agreed  to  entertain J.S. Mill's argument that "The State
has  no  business  or  interest  or  authority  to  proscribe  private
conduct  that  does  not  involve  harm  or a definite risk of harm to
another  individual  or  other  individuals or to society as a whole."

Mill  defined  a  "harm  threshold",  a  degree  of  harm that must be
exceeded  before  the  deprivation  of  liberty  inherent  in criminal
sanctions  can  be justified. We aren't talking about the right to get
high,  but  rather,  the  right not to be criminalized for engaging in
relatively  harmless  conduct. If the Court concludes that responsible
cannabis  use  by consenting adults exceeds the "harm threshold," then
they  will  establish  it  so  low  that fast food will fall under it.

What  makes  the  constitutional  challenge  the  most  significant of
these  three  northern  developments is that our Charter of Rights and
Freedoms,  on  which  the challenge is based, only came into effect in
1982.  A  mere  fortnight  on  the  legal  timescale. This will be the
first  time  that  our  Supreme  Court  has  put  the  ghosts of Harry
Anslinger  and  Emily  Murphy  on  the  stand, and now the judges will
have the new Senate Committee report at their elbows.

What  does  all  this mean to our American cousins? The U.S. media has
been  doing  a  remarkable  job  of  ignoring  it,  but  according  to
Canadian  press  accounts,  American  warriors are staying the course.
(5) Last July, when our Justice Minister timidly hinted at the idea
of  studying  the  concept of decriminalization, DEA Administrator Asa
Hutchinson  responded,  "We  have great respect for Canada and Britain
as  well,  and  if  they  start  shifting  policies  with  regards  to
marijuana  it  simply  increases the rumblings in this country that we
ought  to  re-examine  our  policy.  It  is  a distraction from a firm
policy on drug use." (6)

I  hate  to  say  it, but Hutchinson is right. Unlike the Netherlands,
Canada  is  too close, both geographically and culturally, to dismiss.
Unlike  Colombia,  we are too white to fumigate, arm and/or invade. Of
course, if the DEA were confident that cannabis law reform
invariably  leads  to  ruin, then you would expect them to welcome our
proving their hypothesis.

So,  at  a  minimum,  the  Senate  Committee's  unequivocal  call  for
legalization  should  make  lesser reforms, such as decriminalization,
more  palatable.  It should increase "rumblings" in the U.S. that they
too  should  re-examine  their  policy  (note  to MAP letter writers).
Finally,  I  pray  it  distracts the DEA from their senseless raids on
compassion  clubs  and  illegal  interference with ballot initiatives.

Matthew  M.  Elrod,  Metchosin,  B.C.,  http://www.drugsense.org/me/

1) Special Committee on Illegal Drugs,
http://www.parl.gc.ca/illegal-drugs.asp

2) Canada's Farce of a Drug Policy Review Continues,
http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissues/cc08/oppression/fallacy.html

3) Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs,
http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoCom/CommitteeMain.asp?Language=E&CommitteeID=217&Joint=0

4) Canada: Top Court Challenge In Works
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1657/a08.html

5) War On Drugs Is Still On, U.S. Insists,
http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/321A10D3-69E8-4D45-9FBD-A2222C7A1C2B

6) Let's Just Say No To The Drug War
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1088/a08.html


***********************************************************************

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
- ------------------------------------

"We've  been  throwing  money  at  the drug situation for as long as I
can  remember.  There's more drugs out there today than there ever has
been.  I  don't  know if more money would make a dent in the problem."

- -  Capt.  Chuck  Sherer  of  the Columbus, Neb. Police Department. See
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1623/a11.html  for  more  details.


***********************************************************************

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CREDITS:

Policy  and  Law  Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen  Young  (maxharm@maximizingharm.com),  Cannabis/Hemp  content
selection and analysis by special guest editor Matt Elrod,
(webmaster@drugsense.org), International content selection and
analysis  by  Doug  Snead  (doug@drugsense.org),  Layout by Matt Elrod
(webmaster@drugsense.org)

We  wish  to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing  activists.  Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See
http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm  for  info  on  contributing clippings.

===

NOTICE:

In  accordance  with  Title  17  U.S.C.  Section 107, this material is
distributed  without  profit  to  those  who  have  expressed  a prior
interest  in  receiving  the  included  information  for  research and
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===

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------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #187
********************************