Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:31:57 -0700

Subject:Canada: Legal Pot Up TOC

Newshawk: Join CMAP (http://www.mapinc.org/cmap/lists.htm)
Pubdate: Mon, 09 Sep 2002
Source: Northern Daily News (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002, OSPREY MEDIA GROUP INC.
Contact: ndnews@nt.net
Website: http://www.northernnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2315

LEGAL POT

A Senate committee has come out unanimously for the legalization of
marijuana in Canada with government licensed production and sale of the
drug to any Canadian citizen over the age of 16.

The findings echo those made in 1974 by the Le Dain Commission. The
difference between then and now appears to be society is prepared to accept
decriminalization as a government policy.

What committee members have done is finally admit a fact the public has
known for a generation - consumption of illicit drugs cannot be contained
by law if the public will is not there to support it. In effect, the
committee has thrown in the towel when it comes to fighting the Pot War.

If, indeed, the government moves on the Senate recommendation, it will come
at a time when the government is doing its best to stem the use of another
legal drug - cigarettes. Can we now presume the government will take the
billions of police dollars it used to fight the marijuana wars to finance
another war against cigarettes AND pot?

The justification being used in making pot legal is that the funds
allocated to police to fight soft drug pushers can now be turned to
fighting hard drug pushers. By making marijuana legal it seems, somehow, to
undermine the war on hard drugs.

Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, chairman of a special committee
that conducted a two-year investigation into the use of cannabis agreed
with the Senate committee co-chairman that more harm than good is being
done by making marijuana possession a criminal offence. It simply turns
21,000 kids a year into criminals - kids that normally behave themselves.

On the law-keeping side of the issue, the legalizing of the drug will ease
the load now being carried by police. Or will it?

Presumably being impaired by marijuana will still be a part of the Criminal
Code much the same as alcohol.

The new twist proposed by the Senate committee is that the government will
license the production and sale of marijuana.

But how will that be done? Wasn't the production of marijuana posing a
quality problem as commented on by a judge out West in the case of an AIDS
victim who wanted the stuff to ease the effects of the disease?

Since marijuana in the raw varies in terms of quality, how much research
will be required to get a plant that has a consistent chemical content when
it comes to the necessary qualities that makes that plant so beloved by its
users? Then there's another issue. If marijuana is legal, where will it be
smoked - in public? In restaurants? What if non-pot users object? Does this
mean all forms of smoking will be banned in public places? It seems the
latest action by the Senate is posing more questions than answers.

The government will likely act on the committee's recommendation, but what
we are hoping is that it will avoid any hoopla over it. It is not any kind
of victory. It is simply an admission the government was not able to
control it.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens

 
 


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

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Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:33:30 -0700

Subject:WA: Misjudging Marijuana Up TOC

Newshawk: Ric
Pubdate: Tue, 10 Sep 2002
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Section: Editorials & Opinion
Webpage:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134532221_meded10.html
Copyright: 2002 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409

MISJUDGING MARIJUANA

The Bush administration has escalated its assault on state
medical-marijuana laws from civil actions to raids on growers.

So far, the raids, including the one on nationally known Oakland Cannabis
Buyers Cooperative in Santa Cruz, last week, have been confined to
California. But eight other states, including Washington, have similar
laws, and could be next.

The only remedy to Drug Enforcement Administration Director Asa
Hutchinson's arsenal of raids, criminal charges and forfeitures is federal
legislation to eliminate the disparity between federal laws, and states'
acknowledgement that some seriously ill patients benefit from using marijuana.

In July, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank introduced the States'
Rights to Medical Marijuana Act to permit distributors of medical marijuana
in states where it's permitted to be free from federal prosecution. It
would also move marijuana to a drug category that would permit it to be
distributed through pharmacies.

Joining the liberal Democrat at a press conference supporting the measure
were two Republicans, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of
California.

The group shows that medical marijuana has widespread support from people
of many political stripes, despite its unfortunate, high-profile support
from groups who want to decriminalize all marijuana use.

Voters in eight Western states and the Hawaii Legislature have been
persuaded by mounting medical evidence that marijuana can assist people
suffering from AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease and many terminal illnesses, and
have passed laws permitting its use. In 1999, a White House-commissioned
study by the Institute of Medicine concluded marijuana did have medical
benefits. Washington voters approved their initiative in 1998 with 59
percent approval.

The problem is ensuring that marijuana actually is used for medical, not
recreational, purposes. Oregon recently tightened its law when it was found
that one doctor was writing 40 percent of the prescriptions. Congressman
Frank's legislation is the right way to go. It resolves this federal
assault on people trying to assist the seriously ill, and gives this
valuable tool for physicians and patients the respect and regulation it
deserves.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth

 
 


**




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

------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 19:13:41 -0700

Subject:CA: Marijuana Proponent Kills Himself Up TOC

Newshawk: The War on Drugs IS Terrorism
Pubdate: Mon,  9 Sep 2002
Source: Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, CA)
Contact: editor@tahoedailytribune.com
Copyright: 2002 Tahoe Daily Tribune
Website: http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/443
Author: William Ferchland
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

MARIJUANA PROPONENT KILLS HIMSELF

Keith Whitaker, a Garden Valley man who has appeared in El Dorado County
Superior Court numerous times on marijuana charges, committed suicide by
hanging himself on a tree branch, authorities said.

Shelly Arnold, a South Lake Tahoe medical marijuana proponent, said she was
surprised to get a call from Whitaker on Wednesday because she thought he
was still in jail.

"He said no matter what, he was facing prison time," Arnold said. "He was
pretty bummed. He called to say hello and let me know his trial was starting
(this week). I think that was pretty much him saying he was outta here."

Whitaker sounded detached and his voice was flat, Arnold said.

Lisa Whitaker, his 35-year-old widow, reportedly woke up about 5 a.m. and
noticed her husband missing from the bed. She searched the house and finally
saw her husband hanging from a tree.

She attempted resuscitation but her efforts failed. Whitaker killed himself
on his youngest son's 13th birthday and also left behind a 16-year-old son,
Arnold said.

Lisa Whitaker would not comment on Friday.

"Right now is not the time," she said. "I can't talk about it right now."

Whitaker's trial for felony cultivation and offering to furnish marijuana
was supposed to begin Tuesday in Placerville. He faced up to three years and
eight months in state prison if convicted.

Jury selection at South Lake Tahoe was twice planned but struck down after
mistrials. The matter was sent back to Placerville, in part to accommodate
witnesses.

"I don't think he was going to state prison if he was convicted," said
prosecutor Eric Schlueter, deputy district attorney for El Dorado County.

Whitaker, 33, and his wife Lisa, who were both accused of growing 40 plants
illegally but have a doctor's prescription to grow, were taken into custody
Sept. 12, 2001.

However, Whitaker faced 11 years and four months in state prison for an
alleged assault on a school bus when he reportedly used his car in attempts
to ram the bus off the road in April.

After the bus stopped at a parking area near Emigrant Trail School and
Sierra Ridge Middle School, Whitaker allegedly sped around the grounds of
both school sites.

Whitaker then played chicken with a patrol car and stopped his escapade when
he halted his 1985 Toyota pickup, deputies said. El Dorado County sheriff's
deputies reportedly found less than a pound of marijuana in the truck.

He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, willful harm or injury to
a child and transportation of marijuana.

Whitaker spent about four months in jail after his April arrest and was
recently released.

Trial was set for Nov. 4 on the assault case.

Deputy District Attorney Richard James was the prosecutor for the assault
case. Jones saw a clean and communicative Whitaker for pretrial motions a
little more than a week ago while he was substituting for Schlueter, the
prosecutor for the marijuana case.

"He seemed to be in good spirits and didn't give any indication that
anything was wrong," Jones said.

A hearing today will decide if the marijuana case will be continued against
Lisa Whitaker or dismissed, Schlueter said.

Arnold said the recent court appearances and past charges on marijuana
cultivation and spousal abuse may have worn Whitaker down. She also
referenced a deteriorating mental condition in Whitaker and said
prescription medication did not help.

"I think he really felt the judicial system had him caught up in the
machinery," Arnold said. "Once you get in, it's hard to get out."

 
 


**




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

------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:09:45 -0700

Subject:Nevadans Asked To Blaze Trail For Legalization Of Pot Up TOC

Newshawk: Jane Marcus
Pubdate: Mon,  9 Sep 2002
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2002 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact: letters@sltrib.com
Website: http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Dan Harrie

NEVADANS ASKED TO BLAZE TRAIL FOR LEGALIZATION OF POT

That could be the new Nevada tourism pitch if voters approve a November
ballot measure to legalize marijuana. With prostitution and gambling
already sanctioned by the state, some argue that lawful dope smoking is the
next logical step in making this the nation's "getaway" capital.

Utah voters, of course, have no say in the laws of their more unbuttoned
neighbor. But a change in Nevada drug enforcement could provide some Salt
Lake Valley and St. George residents one more enticement to make weekend
forays to Las Vegas, or even quick trips to Wendover or Mesquite.

To tourists with a buzz on, those cheap buffets might seem downright
scrump-tious.

But even Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who previously has suggested
support for decriminalizing marijuana, is quick to predict such a change
would never be allowed to cross the Utah state line.

"It'll never happen here," Anderson says.

Although he expresses sympathy for Nevada's proposal -- "I actually am in
favor of experimenting with all sorts of different solutions" -- he says
Utah needs to take a different path, expanding drug-prevention and
anti-abuse programs.

Regardless of Utahns' sober skepticism, marijuana legalization has found a
sizable reservoir of support among Nevada's conservative but
independent-minded voters. Some 110,000 residents signed petitions to
qualify for ballot status in a record 40 days. The state's largest
newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, has endorsed the measure, and
polls have shown it with about an even chance of passage.

But it would be premature for anyone to begin lighting up doobies in
celebration just yet. Because the initiative is a proposed amendment to the
state constitution, it must win voter approval in back-to-back general
elections. Should it pass Nov. 5, it will automatically come back around
for a revote in two years.

If ultimately approved, the amendment would make Nevada the first state in
the nation to make possession and private use of marijuana legal for all
adults. Up to 3 ounces of cannabis would be allowed for people 21 and older.

Driving stoned or smoking pot in public would still be illegal, as would be
transporting marijuana into or out of the state. Advertising of weed would
be banned, and the Legislature would be required to establish a system for
production and distribution, either through state stores, like Utah's
liquor agencies, or licensed private outlets.

The result would be a boon for individual rights and common sense, or a
recipe for increased crime and addiction, depending on who is doing the
predicting.

Driving the pro-pot campaign is a group calling itself Nevadans for
Responsible Law Enforcement. The name tells a lot about the message
advocates are trying to get across -- that legalizing limited amounts of
marijuana would actually improve drug and crime enforcement.

Initiative leader Billy Rogers says there are comparisons with marijuana
laws and the failed policy of alcohol prohibition.

"In a regulated marketplace, marijuana will be less available to children,
and underage use will decrease," Rogers says. "Drug dealers don't ask for ID."

Until a couple of years ago, when it legalized medicinal marijuana and
toned down penalties for possession of small amounts, Nevada had the
toughest pot laws in the nation. Possession of any amount was a felony.

"In one year, law enforcement officers in Nevada arrested about 4,000
people for possession," Rogers says. He calculates that that translated to
about 10,000 hours of police man-hours that could have been better spent on
serious crimes such as kidnapping, murder and rape.

The argument seemed unassailable when a group representing nine police
unions came out in support of the measure last month. But just days later
the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs retracted its endorsement and
ousted its president.

Most politicians are staying out of the fray, too, including popular
Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Guinn appears poised to glide into his second term. But he has taken no
position on the marijuana initiative because he wants to see what voters
think, said spokesman Greg Bortolin.

The behemoth of Nevada politics also has been pointedly mute so far.
Despite competing claims by initiative forces that the multibillion-dollar
gambling industry would be helped or hurt by the legal marijuana, casinos
have stayed on the sidelines.

"It's not an issue that has our focus," says a spokeswoman at the Nevada
Resort Association. "We just haven't gotten involved."

Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick has no such qualms.

"We're playing with a dangerous drug here. It's 10 times more powerful than
it was a few years ago," Gammick says. "They throw out that marijuana is
not addictive. That's bull----."

The tough-talking cop-turned-prosecutor has emerged as one of the few
elected officials speaking out publicly against the initiative.

Where are all his political colleagues?

"You don't have to be an Einstein to see where they're coming from," says
Gammick, whose bid for re-election is unopposed. "They're afraid of the polls."

An Elko native, Gammick says he resents Nevada being targeted as the
laboratory rat for a national group out to reform U.S. drug policy through
a state-by-state campaign.

"I am highly offended we've got all these outside people coming here to
legalize drugs," Gammick says. "They just want to smoke pot."

Rogers insists he is not a smoker, but estimates up to 150,000 Nevadans are
and deserve to be left alone so long as they are responsible.

"Our initiative protects people in the privacy of their own homes, and
that's what we're going to be talking about," Rogers says. "We have zero
tolerance for public use and zero tolerance for use by minors."

He cites a Zogby poll earlier this year indicating that 61 percent of
Americans believe people should not be arrested for possessing small
amounts of marijuana.

"The fact is, 80 million Americans have tried marijuana at one time in
their lives and they didn't go onto harder drugs and they aren't homeless."

Many people see "no difference between somebody who gets off work and
unwinds by going home and having a beer and somebody who unwinds by going
home and having a marijuana cigarette."

Although he disputes that Nevada is the subject of a "grand experiment,"
Rogers acknowledges that if marijuana is legalized here, he would hope to
see similar reforms in other states.

The nonprofit organization behind the Nevada initiative is the Washington,
D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, whose stated goal is to "bring an end
to our nation's war on marijuana users."

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement has been accurately described as a
subsidiary of the national group. That is borne out by looking at its books.

The Marijuana Policy Project has provided all but $275 of the $575,275
raised so far for the Nevada campaign. Proponents have spent most of the
cash already, doling out $387,000 to petition passers.

Rogers, who is officially on leave from his job as the national
organization's director of state policies, won't say how much more money is
available from the same source. A news release from the group last January
said its budget for 2002 was more than $1 million, thanks to contributions
from some major donors.

The largest of those, according to Rogers, is Peter Lewis, multimillionaire
chief executive officer of the Progressive Corp., of Ohio.

Meanwhile, the opposition has not even formed a political action committee,
let alone raised money to counter the initiative.

Eric Herzik, political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno,
predicts the marijuana ballot measure will fail.

"I don't know if Nevada is willing to go that far," Herzik says. He
estimates that one-third of the voters are opposed because they think
"marijuana turns the mind to powder," and another third are undecided and
will come down on the side of caution.

But Herzik says if the campaign turns into an effective media blitz by
proponents against dead air by the opposition, "that could pump up" the
initiative enough to pass.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Alex

 
 


**




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

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:00:09 -0700

Subject:CA: Margaret Sanger of Marijuana Arrested Up TOC

Newshawk: Please Contribute - Help us Help Reform
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Fri, 06 Sep 2002
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Media Institute
Contact: letters@alternet.org
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
Author: Ellen Komp, AlterNet
Cited: Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana http://www.wamm.org/
California NORML http://www.canorml.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Corral

MARGARET SANGER OF MARIJUANA ARRESTED

On September 5, D.E.A. agents arrested epileptic patient Valerie
Corral and her husband Michael in Santa Cruz, Calif., on charges of
cultivating marijuana for distribution.

The Corrals have made no secret of the fact that their Women's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana cooperative serves the needs of
seriously ill Californians who have recommendations from their doctors
to use marijuana for medicine. W.A.M.M. operated under state law and
with the blessing of local officials, but has become the latest victim
of an alarming pattern of heavy-handed federal interference in state
policy.

The arrest of the Corrals is reminiscent of the 1916 arrest of birth
control activist Margaret Sanger after she opened the first birth
control clinic in the U.S. At the time, New York state law prohibited
even the distribution of information about birth control. But Sanger,
a public health nurse in the poorest communities of New York, could no
longer stand to witness the suffering of her patients and flouted the
law.

In those gentler times Sanger faced only local authorities and a
30-day jail sentence. Today, the Corrals face federal charges carrying
mandatory minimum sentences of five to ten years or more, despite the
fact that federal authority over the matter is highly
questionable.

California Health and Safety Code 11362.5, passed by the voters of
California as Proposition 215 in November 1996, exempts Californians
from laws against possession and cultivation of marijuana if they have
their doctor's approval. The county of Santa Cruz approved a similar
measure in 1995. Since then dozens of cooperatives like W.A.M.M. have
bravely opened their doors across the state to meet the needs of
patients unable to cultivate adequate supplies of medicine for
themselves. Valerie Corral is an especially well-respected and
well-spoken advocate for her cause, and her arrest led Dale Gieringer
of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws) to declare, "This means war."

According Gieringer, a federal campaign has been mounted against
small-time marijuana growers, particularly those who claim a medical
exemption. "The feds are targeting honest providers who openly supply
medicine to sick people under state law rather than large-scale
criminal traffickers who clandestinely supply the recreational
market," he said. Gieringer says medical marijuana accounts for fifty
percent of the 21 federal marijuana cases filed in the U.S. district
court in San Francisco this year. Half the medical marijuana cases
involve fewer than 300 plants; only two or three more than 1,000. But
only one arrest for terrorism is known to have been reported in
California during this time.

DEA agents have moved against medical marijuana gardens as small as
six plants, over the protests of local district attorneys. In at least
three cases, federal officials have arrested patients already
acquitted on state charges because of their medical needs. So far,
over a half-dozen medical marijuana growers have been sent to federal
prison this year for activities they had reason to believe were legal
under state law. The latest is Brian Epis, who was convicted for
growing marijuana for a patients' group in Chico, Calif., and faces
sentencing in Sacramento on Sept. 23.

In a case similar to the Corrals, Ventura County residents Judy and
Lynn Osburn are currently in federal prison in Los Angeles after being
arrested by the D.E.A. for growing a small personal-use medical
garden. The Osburns were targeted for their past involvement in
supplying the 800-member strong Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center.
That center's closing was protested by the local sheriff and other
public officials, but to no avail.

In the state of Washington, which also has a medical marijuana law,
U.S. attorneys in the western district have announced that they will
no longer adhere to the Clinton administration's guidelines of not
prosecuting cases of fewer than 100 plants. Seattle defense attorney
Jeffrey Steinborn says that prosecutors told him that they are under
orders from Attorney General John Ashcroft to target medical marijuana
providers. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Oregon
have also passed medical marijuana laws.

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north are taking a decidedly different
tack. Under Canadian law, Steve Kubby, a U.S. citizen and medical
marijuana user, is permitted to grow 49 plants and possess 6 pounds of
processed marijuana by judge's order while he is in Canada. And on
September 4, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs
endorsed the establishment of "compassion clubs" as an alternative for
serving medical users. The 600-page report -- the result of a two-year
study -- urges Parliament to amend federal laws to allow for the
regulated use, possession and distribution of marijuana for
recreational and medicinal purposes.

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is
substantially less harmful than alcohol," the report states. "It
should be regulated by the state much as we do for wine and beer,
hence our preference for legalization over decriminalization."

Gieringer doesn't see any relief in these matters in the U.S. unless
perhaps the Democrats re-take control of Congress and hold hearings on
medical marijuana. He also looks forward to the results of an upcoming
University of California study on the efficacy of marijuana as
medicine and hopes to hold public officials to their pledge to follow
its findings. A National Academy of Science study commissioned by then
drug-czar Barry McCaffrey failed to produce a change in policy,
although it found many promising medical uses for marijuana.

For now, however, it seems more medical marijuana martyrs will be
seeing the inside of U.S. prisons.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

 
 


**




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

------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:01:18 -0700

Subject:Canada: Law More Harmful Than Marijuana Up TOC

Newshawk: Join CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap/lists.htm
Pubdate: Mon, 09 Sep 2002
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact: mdhletters@medicinehatnews.com
Website: http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinions)

LAW MORE HARMFUL THAN MARIJUANA

The special Senate committee which recommended legalizing marijuana
possession reminded us again that current laws prohibiting its use do
not work, have not worked and will never work.

That's because the current law is flagrantly ignored. Millions of
Canadians smoked pot last year, according to the committee's research.
Millions will smoke it this year. And millions more in the years to
come.

Despite this widespread use, we continue to pretend something can be
done about it. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on enforcing
an unenforceable law. We saddle young people with criminal records
that do far more harm than marijuana itself.

If anything, our attempts at prohibition have made the illicit drug
trade worse. Our efforts to stem the flow of marijuana in the face of
an undiminished demand has raised prices and brought in a violent
criminal element.

What the committee is recommending is radical. Legalization is a far
cry from the decriminalization that the LeDain commission recommended
30 years ago. It means acknowledging that marijuana is no more harmful
than alcohol or tobacco.

That won't sit well with some people. Why add yet another "acceptable"
vice to the mix?

Research shows the health risks of marijuana are less than those of
either tobacco or alcohol. And even if they were not, the fact remains
too many people simply do not care.

The radical nature of the recommendation also means running the risk
of angering our neighbours to the south, who are waging a war on drugs
without thought to the consequences of their actions.

Washington may not be pleased if we legalize marijuana, but
legislators there don't seek our counsel before drafting laws and
neither should we.

There is another way of looking at this risk, though. When the U.S.
foolishly attempted to prohibit the use of alcohol and Canada didn't,
our example eventually helped show American legislators the error of
their ways.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

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: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:07:33 -0700

Subject: Marijuana Use: Rein in Runaway Immune System

Pubdate: Fri, 06 Sep 2002
Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC)
Section: Health
Copyright: 2002, West Partners Publishing Ltd.
Contact: edit@kelownacapnews.com
Website: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294
Author: Tom Spears, Capital News contributor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MARIJUANA USE: REIN IN RUNAWAY IMMUNE SYSTEM Up TOC

OTTAWA -- Smoking marijuana several times a week leaves a lasting effect on
a healthy person's immune system, a new study from Florida says.

This finding may actually boost opportunities for the medical use of marijuana.

The effect of marijuana smoking suppresses the immune system by altering
the molecules on the outside of some of our cells, and suppressing
inflammation at the same time.

This could be a useful tool in combatting diseases where the immune system
runs out of control and causes painful, and sometimes dangerous
inflammation in our bodies, say scientists at the University of South
Florida and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Arthritis is the most common form of inflammation caused by a misdirected
immune system.

By attacking our own healthy tissue, it causes inflamed and sore joints.

Lupus, though less common than ordinary arthritis, is another condition
caused by our immune system attacking our own bodies.

People with lupus are given immune-suppressing drugs to fight the disease.

Now Thomas Klein, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at
South Florida, says marijuana may do a similar job.

His study of 10 healthy marijuana smokers, all of whom smoked at least
several times a week, and 46 non-drug users found molecules called
marijuana receptors were more numerous on marijuana smokers' white blood
cells-part of their immune system.

The findings were reported in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.

Marijuana's influence on the immune system has been hotly debated. While
there's a lack of information on humans, Klein says animal studies show
that marijuana and its psychoactive compounds, known as cannabinoids,
suppress immune function and inflammation.

"This suggests marijuana or cannabinoids might benefit someone with chronic
inflammatory disease, but not someone who has a chronic infectious disease
such as HIV infection," he said.

If that's true, "this property might be harnessed to treat patients with
overly aggressive immune responses or inflammatory diseases like multiple
sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

"The bottom line is you cannot routinely smoke marijuana without it
affecting your immune system," he said.

"However, because of the complexity of the immune system, we can't say yet
whether the effect we've observed in humans is good or bad."

Receptors are places on the outside of a cell where a chemical such as a
drug or hormone can latch on.

Receptors that latch to THC, the compound in marijuana that produces a
high, have been found in tissues throughout the body and in the brain.

In fact, the body also produces a "cannabinoid" chemical similar to THC,
which latches on to the same receptors, suggesting that the body's own
cannabinoid system plays a role in our immune systems, Klein said.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl


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: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:06:57 -0700

Subject: New York Times: Ill Americans Seek Marijuana's Relief in Canada Up TOC

Pubdate: Sun, 08 Sep 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Clifford Krauss
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/renee.htm (Boje, Renee)
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marc+Emery (Marc Emery)
http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve)
http://www.mapinc.org/people/Steve+Tuck (Steve Tuck)
http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)
http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

ILL AMERICANS SEEK MARIJUANA'S RELIEF IN CANADA

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Four decades ago, a wave of American
draft dodgers fled to Canada rather than fight in Vietnam. Some turned
to planting marijuana seeds to make a living and spurred an
underground industry that is now booming across British Columbia.

Over the last year or so, a new generation of Americans has flocked
into western Canada, fleeing the Bush administration's crackdown on
the clubs that say they provide marijuana to sick people, particularly
in California.

A handful who face drug charges and convictions in the United States
have applied for political asylum. Hundreds more American marijuana
smokers live underground existences here, local marijuana advocates
say.

Canada is in the awkward position in which it either must stand up to
the United States - and encourage more refugees and asylum
applications - or evict people who say they suffer from cancer and
other deadly diseases.

While general use of marijuana is illegal in both countries, Canada
has been far more tolerant of its use for medical purposes.

"It's an exodus," said Renee Boje, 32, a California fugitive from drug
charges who has applied for refugee status. "Canada has a history of
protecting the American people from its own government like during the
Vietnam War, and the Underground Railroad that protected American
runaway slaves."

Most of the Americans here do not face charges at home, marijuana
advocates say, but came because they can get the drug more cheaply and
easily here now since the American clubs were shut down. "Compassion
clubs" thrive in several Canadian communities to serve what they say
are the medical needs of severe pain sufferers.

"In the last year the number of Americans coming and intending to stay
has skyrocketed," said Marc Emery, president of the B. C. Marijuana
Party, who provides legal aid to the Americans. He estimated that the
number of recent arrivals was "in the hundreds."

Some of them work on farms, living a countercultural life not very
different from that of the previous generation of American refugees.
Others are living on the street, or moving from couch to couch in
homes of Canadian marijuana users. Some have gone into businesses like
herbal medicine stores or work in marijuana cultivation.

To Bush administration officials, the American fugitives are simply
lawbreakers.

"It's regrettable that people who are charged with criminal offenses
in the United States don't face justice here and put a burden on
another country," said John Walters, President Bush's drug policy chief.

He said that there was no evidence that smoking marijuana was an
effective medicine, and that the agenda of many who argue for
medicinal marijuana is to legalize drugs.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Drug Enforcement Administration
director, Asa Hutchinson, have stiffened enforcement against marijuana
clubs that had grown around California after an initiative called
Proposition 215 passed in 1996, making marijuana legal for treating
some sick people. Asserting the superiority of federal antidrug laws,
federal agencies have raided some clubs, and others have closed or
gone underground.

Steven W. Tuck, a 35-year-old disabled veteran of the Army, fled to
Canada pretending he was going fishing after his club was repeatedly
raided and he faced drug charges. He was arrested for overstaying his
visa and, fearing deportation, applied for refugee status.

Sitting recently in Vancouver's Amsterdam Cafe, where smoking
marijuana is allowed, he was sweating and shaking awaiting a friend
who had gone out to buy some. "I have to have marijuana to stay
alive," said Mr. Tuck, who said his torment began in 1987 with an Army
parachuting accident that caused spinal and brain injuries.

If he is sent home and denied marijuana, Mr. Tuck says, he fears he
will die "choking on my vomit in jail."

The Canadian Justice Ministry will not discuss refugee cases. To grant
asylum, Canada would have to determine that the Americans would face
unwarranted persecution at home.

The cases come at a time when the cabinet and Parliament are
discussing whether to decriminalize marijuana, with many Canadians
arguing that American attitudes are overly restrictive. [On Sept. 4, a
Canadian Senate committee recommended that the country legalize
marijuana use for people over 16.]

There is also a cabinet debate over whether the government should
provide marijuana to chronically ill Canadians or conduct clinical
trials first.

"We can't base our policy on social issues like this on American
standards, especially in an area where they're very conservative,"
said Industry Minister Allan Rock, a former health minister who
believes that chronically ill patients should have access to
quality-controlled marijuana.

The most prominent American fugitive here is Steve Kubby, 55, the
Libertarian Party candidate for governor of California in 1998.

He and his wife, Michele, have an Internet news program on marijuana
issues.

They fled California last year for the rural British Columbia town of
Sechelt after the police found 265 marijuana plants, a mushroom stem
and some peyote buttons in their house. Mr. Kubby had been sentenced
to four months of house arrest and three months of probation, which he
feared might eventually lead to a prison term in which he would be
denied the marijuana that he says he needs to treat his adrenal cancer.

"If I don't smoke pot," he said, "my blood pressure goes through the
roof and would either burst a blood vessel or cause a heart attack."

He appealed his sentence, then brought his family to Canada. He was
arrested here, and he could be deported.

Meanwhile, he applied for permission to cultivate and possess
marijuana for his own medical use. He provided Canadian authorities
with a letter from a University of British Columbia doctor who
substantiated his need "to continue to use cannabis to control the
symptoms caused by his disease."

The government recently granted him the right to grow and possess a
limited amount for a year, which advocates viewed as a major victory.

"It's threatening to the whole ideology of prohibition," Mr. Kubby
said, "which says any marijuana use is criminal."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake


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: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 08:11:05 -0700

Subject: Marijuana Still Befuddles Law-makers Up TOC

Newshawk: Peter Webster http://www.psychedelic-library.org/
Pubdate: Sept 7, 2002
Source: New Scientist (U.K.)
Page: 6
Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2001
Contact: letters@newscientist.com
Website: http://www.newscientist.com/
Author: HELEN PHILLIPS


MARIJUANA STILL BEFUDDLES LAW-MAKERS

TWO conflicting reports on the effects of cannabis seem set to push the 
drugs policies of the US and Canada in opposite directions.

The Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs will release a 
report this week that is expected to recommend consideration of some form 
of legalisation. The committee has already produced a discussion paper 
stating that there is no convincing evidence that using cannabis makes 
people more likely to abuse harder drugs.

The committee points out that of loo adolescent users, just 10 will 
continue to use the drug regularly into adulthood and 5 will progress to 
other drugs. It also suggests that criminal sentences may be the most 
damaging result of marijuana use.

In stark contrast, a report released last week by the US Substance Abuse 
and Mental Health Services Administration, based on annual surveys, says 
that the younger children are when they first use marijuana, the more 
likely they are to use cocaine and heroin and become dependent on drugs as 
adults. It concludes that postponing people's first use could prevent 
progression to other illicit drugs.

"These findings are of grave concern because studies show smoking marijuana 
leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by cocaine, heroin 
and alcohol," says Charles Curie of the administration. "Heavy marijuana 
abuse impairs the ability of young people to retain information during 
their peak learning years when their brains are still developing."

Decriminalisation will make cannabis more available, more acceptable and 
cheaper, adds David Murray of the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, making it more likely that younger people will try it.

"Decriminalisation of marijuana, I believe, is not only weak drug policy, 
it is from a public health perspective a deep mistake," he says.

The US report has been met with scepticism from many researchers, who point 
out that a statistical correlation does not prove the physiological 
"gateway" hypothesis that cannabis use leads to harder drugs. Nor does it 
prove that preventing cannabis use will reduce the risk of later drugs 
problems. "It's embarrassing that officials are still spouting this 
nonsense," says Mitchell Earleywine of the University of Southern 
California, author of Understanding Marijuana.

The only evidence for brain differences is that people who start taking 
marijuana before age 17 or so have less grey matter, he says. But it's 
impossible to know whether this is a result of drug use or a reason why 
they took up the drug. "They are picking out evidence that suits the 
political agenda rather than being truly objective," he says.

The report also shows that 91 per cent of marijuana smokers had previously 
used alcohol or cigarettes. "Whatever's most available gets used first," 
says Earleywine. "That maybe a more parsimonious explanation for the 
staging of drug use than anything else."

The Canadian and the US studies do agree on one thing: drug policies make 
little difference to the number of people who try the drug - around 45 per 
cent of young adults. "That should be the real headline," says Bruce Mirken 
of the Marijuana Policy Project in the US, which advocates policies aimed 
at minimising any harmful effects.



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: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 02:42:59 -0700

Subject: Can Canada Can Cannabis Canards? Up TOC

Newshawk: Jane Marcus
Pubdate: Fri,  6 Sep 2002
Source: Reason Online
Copyright: 2002 The Reason Foundation
Contact: letters@reason.com
Website: http://www.reason.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/359
Author: Jacob Sullum
Note: Jacob Sullum is a Reason senior editor. He is the author of a book on
the morality of drug use, forthcoming in June from Tarcher/Putnam.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

CAN CANADA CAN CANNABIS CANARDS?

American college students already head north of the border for drinks and
lap dances. Could they soon be going up to Canada to smoke pot as well?

This week the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Drugs issued a
600-page report calling for the legalization of marijuana. The document may
simply join the dusty pile of calm, measured drug policy assessments that
governments have routinely ignored for the last century. But as the work of
a legislative committee (albeit one drawn from a chamber whose members do
not face election), it is remarkable both for debunking canards about
marijuana and for recommending bold changes in the law.

Among other things, the report concludes that "cannabis itself is not a
cause of other drug use" or of crime; that "most users are not at-risk
users" liable to addiction; that "cannabis alone, particularly in low
doses, has little effect on the skills involved in automobile driving"; and
that "cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol." In language
strikingly similar to what one hears from American critics of the war on
drugs-although almost never, as in this case, from members of the national
legislature-the committee says "the continued prohibition of cannabis
jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the
substance itself." It also argues that prohibition "undermines the
fundamental values set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

The report's policy proposals, unanimously endorsed by the committee, are
courageous as well. Rather than merely recommend that the government stop
arresting pot smokers, as England has more or less done, or tolerate retail
marijuana sales while keeping the business technically illegal, which is
the policy in the Netherlands, the committee calls for a system in which
"persons over the age of 16" could "procure cannabis and its derivatives at
duly licensed distribution centers." This sounds similar to the arrangement
envisioned by reformers in Nevada, except that the minimum age there would
be 21. The committee recommends that growing marijuana for personal use
also be permitted and that Canadians convicted of pot possession receive
amnesty.

"We have come to the conclusion that [marijuana] should be regulated by the
state much as we do for wine and beer, hence our preference for
legalization over decriminalization," the committee says. "Whether or not
an individual uses marijuana should be a personal choice that is not
subject to criminal penalties." It's a sad commentary on the ossified state
of drug policy in the United States that Canada-home of socialized health
care, strict gun control, and speech restrictions-has something to teach us
about personal choice.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Tom

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/

------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #190
********************************