| November 26, 1997 #022 | ||||||||||||
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A DrugSense publication
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||
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PROP. 215 ONE YEAR LATER:
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HE WHO HAS THE GREEN RULES!
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Did passing Prop. 215 make any real difference for the patients? You bet it
did. | ||||||||||||
What sets Prop. 215 apart from every other medical marijuana initiative is our cultivation clause which allows patients and caregivers to grow marijuana. Several counties and courts have ruled that private cannabis clubs also qualify as caregivers and can grow marijuana for their patients. As activists Alan Silverman put it, "The rules have changed. It's no longer "He who has the Gold Rules." Now it's "He who has the Green Rules!" | ||||||||||||
Today, medical marijuana patients have access to some of the best cannabis
on the planet. At the Oakland Club, they'll even allow you to charge it to
your VISA card. Those patients who want to grow can buy clones at $3-15 each
with selections that represent some of the best genetics on the planet.
Cannabis Cup winning strains like Bubbleberry, Skunk, Northern Lights, and
Hindu Kush are sold as healthy, bug free, rooted clones. Underground patient
gardens are booming with healthier patients growing several hundred plants
for fellow patients. | ||||||||||||
Sure, we still have terrible problems in the rural areas, where local
sheriffs refuse to accept Prop. 215, but most patients know by now that the
major metropolitan areas are safe. | ||||||||||||
Down at 1444 Market Street, Dennis Peron still greets all of his customers
and spends hours listening to their problems. Although most policy makers
avoid Peron's Club like the plague, everyone know it works magic for the
patients. That, more than anything else, is why San Francisco City
officials tolerate Dennis and leave his club alone. | ||||||||||||
Perhaps Sociologist Jerry Mandel, who received a Drug Policy Foundation
grant to study S.F. Cannabis Cultivator's Club, summed it up best when he,
said:
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"Oh, it terrifies and elates everybody. Even the pro-medical marijuana
doctors don't know what to do with it. How can you say that the ideal
medical facility is also the Oktoberfest! But there it is. And one of the
things it does: Anybody who's sick loves to be there. And there's nothing
like happiness if you're sick."
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Proposition 215 has made the lives of thousands of seriously ill
Californians a little bit happier. | ||||||||||||
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Steve Kubby is a 23 year survivor of cancer, author of two books on medical
marijuana and was a key player in the the Prop. 215 campaign. Steve is also
the Libertarian candidate for Governor in CA. | ||||||||||||
For more information on Steve's campaign please visit
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Heroin Study
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Bethesda, Md. (AP) - Heroin addiction is a medical problem that can be cured
if doctors are freed from heavy-handed restrictions on the use of methadone,
a federal scientific panel concluded Wednesday. | ||||||||||||
The report by a committee at the National Institutes of Health supports an
earlier White House call for more physician control of dosing and
distribution of methadone, a synthetic narcotic used to wean addicts from
heroin. | ||||||||||||
Committee chairman Dr. Lewis L. Judd of the University of California, San
Diego, said physicians are reluctant to treat heroin addiction because of
mountains of paperwork and "onerous" regulations imposed on the use of
methadone by federal agencies and state governments. | ||||||||||||
"We know of no other area of medicine where the federal government intrudes
so deeply and coercively into the practice of medicine," Judd said. "If
extra levels of regulation were eliminated, many more physicians and
pharmacies could prescribe and dispense methadone" and make the treatment
more readily available. | ||||||||||||
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International News
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Amsterdam's cannabis festival, the UK 'Change The Drugs Law' tour - and
support from the European Civil Liberties Committee. | ||||||||||||
AMSTERDAM plays host to the annual cannabis festival next week, and
Independent on Sunday readers are invited to take part. There are still
places available on a special package that provides two nights hotel
accommodation, all travel and entrance to various seminars and gigs for just
=A3110. | ||||||||||||
Adam Peters of the Oxford-based International Study of Ecological Agriculture Netherlands group, said: "We have held a number of places open for IoS readers. This is a unique educational adventure. We have lined up a range of special speakers and performers that include the authors Kevin Williamson, Howard Marks, Brian Barritt and Fraser Clark." | ||||||||||||
Coaches will pick up travellers at various points around the UK but for an extra =A3100 readers can forego the ferry for a return air trip. | ||||||||||||
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The RCMP has launched an investigation into Ottawa's underground medicinal
marijuana network with hopes of laying drug charges against a man who
provides free marijuana to AIDS and cancer patients. | ||||||||||||
"If there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe an offence is being
committed, as in any case, we would pursue charges," said Cpl. Louis
Chiasson of the RCMP's drug squad, who is leading the investigation. "We
have to do this. Certainly, we have received directions to do so, so we are
following up on it."
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SYDNEY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Australian swimmer Scott Miller, who won a silver
medal at the 1996 Olympics, is contesting an allegation of drug-taking, his
lawyer said on Saturday. Australian media said Miller had failed a drug test
for marijuana. | ||||||||||||
"It was a test made some months ago when he was out of training with a shoulder injury," Miller's lawyer, Chris Murphy, told Australia's Channel Nine television network. "We'll be defending it vigorously." | ||||||||||||
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates said on Saturday
three athletes had returned positive tests for banned substances but gave no
further details. | ||||||||||||
Miller, 22, has not competed at a major meeting since he took the 100 metres butterfly silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics last year. | ||||||||||||
A niggling shoulder injury kept him out of the Australian trials in Brisbane
last month, automatically ruling him out of January's world swimming
championships in Perth. But the Sydney swimmer hopes to make a comeback for
next year's Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. | ||||||||||||
Two years ago Miller spent a night in jail after intervening in a fight
outside a nightclub during the Pan Pacific championships in Atlanta. Earlier
this year he was expelled from the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra
for missing too many training sessions. | ||||||||||||
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SINGAPORE - (Associated Press): Drug traffickers and hard-core addicts will face harsher punishment in Singapore, where authorities said Wednesday they are determined to press on with their "zero tolerance" policy on drug abuse. | ||||||||||||
Though the government believes in rehabilitation for drug offenders "who are
genuine in their desire to turn over a new leaf," the minister of state for
law and home affairs said addicts who continually relapse will face long
prison terms. | ||||||||||||
New laws will soon make repeat offenders face mandatory terms of seven to 13
years in prison plus caning, Ho Peng Kee said. | ||||||||||||
More than half of the some 3,000 addicts admitted for treatment last year
had been there at least three times before. | ||||||||||||
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Medical Marijuana
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For the most part, law enforcement officials don't bother with the Green
Cross Patient Co-op in Seattle
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Seattle--It's not advertised on billboards, and it's not on any list of
health plan services, but people with AIDS, cancer and other diseases know
where to find marijuana: Green Cross Patient Co-op. | ||||||||||||
"They're not doing it for profit," said a partially paralyzed man picking up marijuana he said he uses to control muscle spasms. "This is a service." | ||||||||||||
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TERRY PARKER SAYS WEED CONTROLS HIS EPILEPSY BETTER THAN PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
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Terry Parker, the unlikely hero on whose slight shoulders this country's medical marijuana hopes squarely rest, answers the door in that ever-present psychedelic sunburst T-shirt, ponytail and the affectionate | ||||||||||||
"Hey, bud" he often uses. | ||||||||||||
His Parkdale digs high above the lake on the 22nd floor haven't changed much
since my visit last July -- except that the cops haven't been through and
left everything turned upside down. | ||||||||||||
And the landlord still hasn't got around to fixing the front door they
bashed in before hauling 73 plants out of Parker's place. He was charged
with possession for the purpose of trafficking and cultivation after someone
spotted some of the green growing on the balcony. | ||||||||||||
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By Alan Gathright
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San Mateo County supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to craft a proposal
to dispense contraband marijuana for medicinal use at public clinics while
resuming a ban on private "cannabis clubs."
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Board President Mike Nevin, who proposed creating the country's first
government-run medicinal marijuana program, hoped to have a proposal by
early next year. The plan for a one-year trial of the county dispensary will
be presented to state Attorney General Dan Lungren, an arch-foe of cannabis
clubs who has shown enough interest in Nevin's idea that he has assigned a
staff attorney to work on the proposal. | ||||||||||||
A public dispensary would require special state legislation. Nevin said he contacted state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, Tuesday, asking him to include the county project in legislation for a three-year study on the effectiveness of medicinal marijuana. Lungren supports the legislation. | ||||||||||||
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Needle Exchange
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Heroin users in Scotland are being urged to smoke the drug rather than inject it in a pilot scheme to prevent the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV. | ||||||||||||
Yesterday the Scottish Drugs Forum started a campaign to move heroin injectors towards a safer method of drug use. The group hopes it is the first step towards getting the addicts off the deadly drug. | ||||||||||||
The pilot programme was first researched in London, where a two year community study was carried out into the effects of smoking heroin. Kathleen Travers, of the Scottish Drugs Forum, believes lives could be saved by users' substituting rolled-up cigarettes for the dangerous needles. | ||||||||||||
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Trials & Sentencing
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Also published in: Colorado Daily
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NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- Donned in a traditional black robe, gavel in hand, Judge
Jorge Simon gravely summons four drug defendants before his imposing wooden
bench. | ||||||||||||
"I think you know why I brought you up here together: You're moving onto the
next level in the program," he says, breaking into a smile. "All of you have
surpassed my expectations. I'm very proud."
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The courtroom breaks into applause, the judge jumps down from the bench and
gives each defendant a bear hug and a certificate. | ||||||||||||
"And you, Perry," Judge Simon says, slapping one of them on the back.
"You're going to have to smile more if you're going to be ready for what's
coming."
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This is judicial action, Connecticut style. While much of the country is coping with the increasing number of drug felons by building new prisons and imposing tough new mandatory sentencing laws, Connecticut has decided it's time to take a new tack: treating drug addiction as much as a public-health challenge as a criminal-justice problem. That has put the state at the forefront of a fledgling national grass-roots movement that is rethinking the "get tough, lock 'em up" approach to dealing with drug use. | ||||||||||||
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War on Drugs
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Newport officer tells of fear and loneliness that surrounds an undercover
cop. | ||||||||||||
NEWPORT BEACH -- Sworn to duty secretly in the back of a car in November
1996, a policeman began his career in Newport Beach and for the next year
never set foot in a squad room. | ||||||||||||
He lived in a cramped, termite-infested studio in West Newport and lurked in
bars from Corona del Mar to Mariner's Mile. His companions were coke heads,
bookmakers, and professional kneecap-breakers. Only a handful of cops even
knew he existed. | ||||||||||||
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Efforts continue after teen shot, patrols halted
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WASHINGTON - U.S. troops plan two major construction projects along the Texas-Mexico border that officials say will help anti-drug efforts. | ||||||||||||
Starting in January, about 600 Marines and Army soldiers will upgrade roads,
build a helicopter pad and add other improvements requested by the U.S.
Border Patrol, said Maureen Bossch, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force 6 in
El Paso. | ||||||||||||
The task force has coordinated a number of such projects along the border as
part of the Pentagon's effort to support Border Patrol and Customs agents.
The construction projects, including a recent road project in California,
have continued despite the suspension of military reconnaissance patrols
along the frontier. | ||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||
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New Book: Hemp Horizons by John Roulac
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California's Hemptech has released a new book called Hemp Horizons, The Comeback of the World's Most Promising Plant, by John Roulac. Hemp Horizons is a 212-page book on industrial hemp's tranformation into a valuable resource for the 21st century. Highlights include sustainability, farming, processing, politics, business opportunities and resource section. | ||||||||||||
You can find out more about Hemptech and the book, Hemp Horizons, at:
http://www.hemptech.com/
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"Legalize! USA" Web Site
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Our goals are education and social action in the area of drug politics. We
believe in a rational approach to harm reduction and hold the opinion that
any form of criminalization of substance abuse not only is ineffective but
harmful and inhumane. | ||||||||||||
For more information please visit: http://www.legalize-usa.org/ | ||||||||||||
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DRUGSENSE TIP OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
Dear DrugSense Member, Subscriber, Activist or Reformer: | ||||||||||||
DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE??
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Given that this is the week of Thanksgiving, The DrugSense board and I
wanted to thank and acknowledge the absolutely incredible membership of the
MAP/DrugSense staff and volunteers. Thanks to YOU we have accomplished more
in the short life of our organization than any of us could have ever hoped
for. | ||||||||||||
Conservative estimates are that DrugSense and MAP volunteers have generated
over **1 million dollars** worth of advertising for drug policy reform in
1997 and this is only counting the items that we can put a dollar value on
such as hundreds of published letters to the editor, Opeds, editorials,
radio and TV appearances, and press conferences. | ||||||||||||
The daily barrage of letters, articles and broadcast efforts that YOU are
generating are beginning to have a cumulative effect and the media is
becoming more educated and balanced every day. This is not to say that we
don't have a long way to go but we are beginning to show significant
results due to your consistent efforts. | ||||||||||||
In addition, the educational value of our ever improving web pages and News Services (both in educating the media and the public) cannot be easily estimated but the value is undoubtedly quite impressive if it could be quantified. Our worldwide network of NewsHawks, who forward scores of drug related news articles to our editor every day, keep hundreds aware, informed, and actively replying to all manner of drug related news. The quick growth and movement wide appreciation that I hear on a daily basis are a reflection of the successful and coordinated efforts of all of you. | ||||||||||||
Go to
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We had a DrugSense staff and board meeting in San Francisco last
Tuesday and Wednesday and I can promise you all without reservation that
"you ain't seen nothin' yet." 1998 will bring some tremendous enhancements
and results and we look forward to working with each and every one of you
to bring about the reform we so desperately need. | ||||||||||||
So in closing we again express a huge and heartfelt thank you to all the coordinated effort of our letter and article writers, broadcast media activists, NewsHawks, and board and staff members. I doubt that any of us fully realize the cumulative impact we are having but you can bet it is tremendous and will continue to improve throughout the coming year. | ||||||||||||
Happy Holidays
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Mark Greer
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DS Weekly is just another of the many free services DrugSense offers our
members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for
you. | ||||||||||||
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We wish to thank each and every one of our contributors. | ||||||||||||
Mark Greer
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