| December 17, 1997 #025 | ||||||||
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A DrugSense publication
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Table of Contents
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||
The Terry Parker Case: Marijuana for Epilepsy
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Terry Parker, a 42 year old resident of Toronto, has being using marijuana
to treat his epilepsy since he was a teenager. Following an Ontario Court
ruling last week, he can now do this legally and can grow his own plants to
do so. | ||||||||
Terrance Parker was four when he first showed symptoms of epilepsy. Seizures
became a daily event for him, even with heavy doses of dilantin, Librium and
other prescription drugs. At the age of 14, Parker underwent a right
temporal lobotomy on the advice of his neurosurgeons. The seizures
intensified and he experienced his first grand mal seizure in the recovery
room. A second temporal lobe cortical resection was carried out three years
later, but the seizures continued. | ||||||||
It was during this time that an orderly in one of the hospitals gave him
some marijuana, and Parker noticed that the more he smoked, the less
frequent and intense his seizures. On his physicians advice he began to keep
a diary and noted the direct relationship between seizures and not smoking
marijuana. The physician provided Parker with a letter specifying that he
needed marijuana for medicinal purposes.
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"When I feel a seizure coming on, I smoke a couple of joints...and
everything is under control" says Parker. Marijuana is also free of the
side-effects of depression and loss of appetite that come with the
prescription drugs.
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When he doesn't smoke, Parker experiences from three to five grand mal
seizures and a dozen petit mals per week. He has been hospitalized more than
100 times due to accidents during seizures. | ||||||||
In court Parker stated that "When I'm treated only with prescription medicine, my life is very difficult to live and at times truly miserable. When I can consume marijuana every day I'm able to enjoy my life, free from seizures, and carry on in a relatively normal way." | ||||||||
Parker was first arrested for cultivation and trafficking in July of 1996, when 71 plants were confiscated. He was again arrested in September of 1997 and charged with possession; 3 plants were confiscated. Because Parker admitted to giving marijuana to others for medicinal purposes, Judge Patrick Sheppard convicted him of trafficking and gave him one year of probation. Judge Sheppard acquitted Parker on the other two charges on the grounds that both the old drug law (Narcotic Control Act) and the new drug law (Controlled Drugs and Substance Act) are over broad and unconstitutional and violate Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. | ||||||||
In his decision, Judge Sheppard drew heavily on the Chris Clay trial case which challenged Canadian drug laws with respect to the recreational use of marijuana, stating that "Marijuana causes no physical or psychological harm for the vast majority of users." Patrick Sheppard ruled that to deny Parker marijuana amounts to an infringement of his Charter right to life, liberty and security. Judge Sheppard ordered the three plants taken on the second raid to be returned to Parker on the grounds that these were necessary medicine and that Parker, being on disability allowance, could not afford, nor should have to, purchase the marijuana on the street. | ||||||||
The lawyer for the Crown, Kevin Wilson, argued that the medical marijuana exemption should apply only to Parker and not in general. He also requested that the ruling be stayed for six months to give Parliament an opportunity to deal with the decision. He argued that allowing marijuana for medicinal use would cause chaos. Judge Sheppard rejected these arguments and requests, emphasizing the fact that it will be doctors who will be deciding who uses marijuana for medical purposes and chaos is very unlikely. | ||||||||
Parker's extremely competent lawyer was Aaron Harnett, accompanied by Paul
Bernstein of the Chris Clay (who recently challenged law on recreational use
of marijuana) defence team. Witnesses at the trial included John Morgan,
Lynn Zimmer, Valerie Corall (Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana,
Santa Cruz) and Diane Riley. Affidavits were received from Dr Lester Grinspoon
and Robert Randall. | ||||||||
The case will likely next move to appeal. In the meantime, Parker is free to
cultivate and possess marijuana, but other medical marijuana users will have
to take their cases to court until a decision is made by a higher court or
the Federal Parliament moves to change the law. | ||||||||
Parker's comments after the decision were very apt: "When the Supreme Court of Canada decides pot should be approved for medical purposes, then we'll have the victory we truly need to help people who require it." | ||||||||
Meanwhile in Ontario and throughout Canada, numerous other challenges to the
laws regarding medicinal marijuana are in the works. | ||||||||
For further information... | ||||||||
With the help of Diane Riley and Kelly Conlon, Chris Clay posted the Parker decision to the Hemp Nation website. See the new "Focus" section at: | ||||||||
It's missing the footnotes and appendices; a final version should be online
soon. | ||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||
Domestic News
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Adolescents
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People think drug abuse is the biggest single problem facing American children today, according to a survey published on Monday. | ||||||||
The survey, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the
Harvard School of Public Health, found that despite dramatic media coverage
of incidents of child abuse, most Americans do not think it is an
overwhelming threat. | ||||||||
"Three issues dominate the public's concern about the future of children in this country - drugs, crime and home life breakdown," said Robert Blendon of Harvard University, who directed the study. "Almost every other concern about the problems facing children has been overwhelmed by these issues." | ||||||||
Asked what the two or three most serious problems facing American children
today were, 56 percent said drugs or drug abuse, 24 percent said crime, 17
percent said poor quality education and 16.6 percent the breakdown of home
life. | ||||||||
Only 1.2 percent said child abuse and 0.2 percent said sexual abuse were the
most serious problems,
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"These numbers contrast dramatically with what was reported by a Harris
survey in 1986, when drugs were mentioned 52 percent of the time, home life
46 percent, child and sexual abuse 28 percent, poor quality education nine
percent and alcohol abuse nine percent," the foundation, a health care
charity, said in a statement. AIDS and drugs were the top health problems
named by the 1,500 adults surveyed for the poll. | ||||||||
Most thought American children were better off or about the same in terms of
health than 10 years ago, but 53 percent thought they were worse off when it
came to parental care and attention. | ||||||||
The survey of adults nationwide, conducted by Survey Research Center for Harvard, found most believe children's health is the responsibility of parents, but 60 percent said they would personally be willing to pay more taxes to provide health insurance for children who lack it. | ||||||||
[end]
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By Barbara Byrne World Staff Writer
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MANNFORD - John Wiley thought he was doing the right thing when he turned in
a bag of marijuana to school officials. Instead, the Mannford Middle School
eighth-grader ended up being suspended Dec. 2 for six months for possessing
an illegal substance on school property. | ||||||||
"He did the right thing and now he's being punished for doing the right
thing," said John's mother, Lenora Wiley. "He's just not being treated
right."
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The Wileys have filed a letter appealing the suspension, and the appeal will be heard by the Mannford Board of Education on Thursday. "I believe my son," Lenora Wiley said Monday. "It seems to me that with John not ever being involved in any activity like that (drugs), I would think they would take that into consideration - and the fact that he turned it in." | ||||||||
Mannford Middle School principal Molly Gregory said she would rather not
comment until the appeals meeting. | ||||||||
Mannford Superintendent of Schools Tom Stiles said of the suspension, "That
is a confidential matter pertaining to a student. We cannot comment about
that situation."
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John, 14, wrote in a police statement that he took the bag of marijuana from other students "so I could take it to the office." He said he was offered the bag before his first class, and told his first hour teacher that he needed to go talk to the principal. After John completed some class work, his teacher excused him to go to the school office, he said. | ||||||||
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Cannabis Club News
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Appeals Court Rules Herb Can't Be Sold To Patients
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The state Court of Appeal yesterday barred pot clubs from legally selling
the herb despite California's passage of the medical marijuana initiative
last year. | ||||||||
The ruling, which goes into effect in 30 days unless stayed by further
appeals, would close San Francisco's Cannabis Buyers' Club and could
jeopardize similar outlets around the state. State Attorney General Dan
Lungren, who had long tried to shut down the San Francisco pot club, hailed
the opinion by the court in San Francisco. | ||||||||
"This is a very strong decision," said Lungren. | ||||||||
Lungren said state agents will move against the San Francisco operation and others if they do not voluntarily close within 30 days. | ||||||||
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Court Orders It To Shut Down In 30 Days, But Operators, Customers Say
They'll Fight
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With the help of marijuana, Thomas Buskirk has survived chemotherapy and colon cancer. He has survived five years of HIV-related illness. | ||||||||
Now, he says, he's willing to survive jail, if he has to, in order to save what he sees as The City's greatest haven for the ill and dying. | ||||||||
After years of serving patients seeking pain relief through the use of
marijuana, San Francisco's Cannabis Buyers Club is once again in the
cross-hairs of state law enforcement officials following a Friday court
ruling ordering it shut down. | ||||||||
On Saturday, as several hundred clients, many suffering from chronic pain or
terminal illness, lined up under the green-painted marijuana leaves on the
club's windows, it was clear the fight isn't over. | ||||||||
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THOUSAND OAKS - Medicinal marijuana advocates in this affluent suburb may
soon find themselves temporarily zoned out - and not because they
overindulged. | ||||||||
The City Council on Tuesday will consider adopting an "urgency ordinance" barring "medical marijuana dispensaries" for 45 days so that city officials can study and enact new zoning regulations governing such property use. | ||||||||
Deputy City Atty. Jim Friedl wrote in a report to the council that there are countless issues to ponder and court cases to follow after passage of California's 1996 medicinal marijuana initiative - such as the impact of the legal battle surrounding the Cannabis Buyers' Club in San Francisco. | ||||||||
A state appeals court ruled Friday that the club - which was shut down
following a 1996 raid by state agents but subsequently allowed to operate by
San Francisco authorities - had to close again. | ||||||||
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Hemp News
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Delegates to the Kentucky Farm Bureau annual convention yesterday reaffirmed the organization's support for developing industrial hemp. The Nelson County Farm Bureau had asked the parent group to rescind its policy supporting hemp growth, said state Farm Bureau spokesman Roger Nesbitt. | ||||||||
However, a motion to that effect failed yesterday on a voice vote, said Andy Graves, a Farm Bureau member and president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association. Graves said one delegate called on the Farm Bureau not to take a stand on the issue because it is controversial. | ||||||||
Other delegates, however, argued that hemp could provide a new crop for
farmers and that the Farm Bureau shouldn't shy away because of controversy.
Hemp advocates will push a bill in the 1998 General Assembly to legalize
industrial hemp in Kentucky. Industrial hemp differs from marijuana because
it has a negligible drug content. | ||||||||
[end]
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Mandatory Minimums
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Source one: San Francisco Chronicle
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Source two: The Herald, Everett, WA
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In 1994, a pregnant and desperate Kemba Smith finally had mustered the spine
to leave her drug dealer boyfriend, who was hiding in Seattle from the feds,
and return to her parents' Virginia home. She had no prior convictions, no
record of violence. She turned herself over to the feds for questioning. Her
father expected them to release her on bond. | ||||||||
Instead, Smith fell victim to a justice system riddled with draconian drug
sentences, prosecutorial over-kill and judicial malpractice. A court
investigation concluded that, although she had "aided and abetted" her
boyfriend's drug operation, she was not a cocaine dealer. Nonetheless, in
1995 a federal judge sentenced her to 24 years in federal prison. No
parole. | ||||||||
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California's already crowded prisons are projected to add 57,733 inmates by 2003, a 37 percent increase, state officials said Wednesday. | ||||||||
The Department of Corrections said the state's adult prisons now house 155,687 prisoners, compared with 66,965 in 1987. Officials predict that the population will reach 202,855 in 2002 and 213,420 the next year. | ||||||||
[end]
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Medical Marijuana
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KEY WEST, Fla., (UPI) - Harold Baranoff maintains a lifestyle far different from that of Hollywood's portrayal of a drug dealer's life. | ||||||||
"Ziv," as he is known in Key West, Fla., lives in a second-floor apartment
and rides around town on a rusty tricycle. | ||||||||
Facing charges of marijuana possession and intent to distribute, Baranoff
went to court and argued he only sold drugs to AIDS patients as a medical
necessity. | ||||||||
Circuit Court Judge Richard Payne agreed to hear the defense, ruling Baranoff did not have a criminal intent in distributing drugs. Payne's decision prompted Monroe County prosecutors to drop their case. | ||||||||
Advocates for the medical use of marijuana believe it is the first time in the U.S. a judge has been willing to hear that defense. | ||||||||
Prosecutors dropped the case as part of a plea bargain stemming from Baranoff's 1995 arrest for marijuana possession when he operated the Cannabis Buyer's Club across the street from the Monroe County Courthouse. | ||||||||
Baranoff was sentenced to 18 months of probation. | ||||||||
[end]
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Organizers of an effort to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in Washington delivered more than 940 pages of petitions to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics yesterday to put the measure on the ballot. | ||||||||
The measure, known as Initiative 57, needs 17,070 signatures from the city's registered voters -- 5 percent of the total pool -- to be placed on the ballot. The petitions turned in yesterday, with about 20 signatures a page, had perhaps 18,000 signatures, which means there is little room for names to be thrown out as invalid. In addition, the signatures must come from 5 percent of the registered voters in five of the city's eight wards. | ||||||||
A busy weekend of canvassing supermarkets and Metro stations across the city
ended in frenzied activity at the board's offices at One Judiciary Square,
as nearly two dozen volunteers raced to complete and number hundreds of
pages of signatures by the 5 p.m. deadline.
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"This has been a long, hard struggle, and I really hope that we make it," said Steve Michael, of ACT UP Washington, the group spearheading the effort to get the marijuana initiative on the ballot. "But if we fall short, we will immediately start all over again. In the course of this campaign, we met thousands of D.C. voters who are behind this issue." | ||||||||
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DALLAS (Reuters) - The American Medical Association, the influential group
representing U.S. doctors, Tuesday proposed that doctors be allowed to
discuss with their patients the potential benefits of using marijuana to
treat some diseases without risk of criminal charges. | ||||||||
Delegates at the AMA's semi-annual policy making committee in Dallas
approved a resolution that recommends allowing free discussion between
doctors and patients about marijuana use for treatment of diseases such as
AIDS and multiple sclerosis. | ||||||||
"The AMA believes that effective patient care requires the free and unfettered exchange of information on treatment alternatives and that discussion of these alternatives between physicians and patients should not subject either party to criminal sanctions," the resolution said. | ||||||||
It also recommended that "adequate and well controlled studies of smoked
marijuana" be carried out to measure the possible benefits for patients
suffering a range of serious illnesses or injuries. | ||||||||
Those listed included AIDS, wasting syndrome, multiple sclerosis, spinal
cord injury and neuropathic pain. | ||||||||
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Needle Exchange
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In its second progress report, the Presidential Council on HIV/AIDS
criticizes the Clinton administration for failing to demonstrate a "coherent
plan of action" against AIDS, despite the abundance of evidence indicating
the effectiveness of preventative efforts. | ||||||||
Specifically, the panel reports that funding for prevention is inadequate
compared to the cost of medical care; too few Americans have access to
effective medical treatments; and the White House has failed to expand
Medicaid to cover all low-income people in the early stages of HIV
infection. | ||||||||
The panel also urged the administration to encourage removal of the ban on
federal funding for needle-exchange programs. | ||||||||
In response to the report, Sandra Thurman - director of the Office of
National AIDS Policy - attributed the "sense of diminished priority for AIDS
issues" to the fact that the Clinton administration's greatest strides
occurred in the first term. | ||||||||
In fact, overall funding for federal AIDS research has risen since Clinton
took office in 1993. | ||||||||
[end]
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By Alan Sni
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Shannon Behning realizes a controversial needle-exchange program approved 8-3 by the Denver CIty Council on Monday night can't save her life. | ||||||||
But the Denver woman, who got AIDS through unprotected sex with a man she
didn't know was an intravenous drug user, hopes it will stop other people
from being infected with HIV. | ||||||||
"I'm fighting the fight of my life, which may have been prevented by a needle program," the 33-year-old woman told the city council. | ||||||||
Council members grappled with the thorny public-health issue for two hours
before voting to endorse the needle exchange program, which can go into
effect only with the authorization from the state Legislature. Members Susan
Barnes-Gelt, Ted Hackworth and Ed Thomas dissented. | ||||||||
The council majority admitted that handing over a clean needle to a drug
addict may seem distasteful and is not a panacea for a complicated problem.
But they said the needle program deserves a try. | ||||||||
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The countywide Snohomish Health Board will decide today whether to continue
an inexpensive needle exchange program aimed at saving lives. Since lives
are just a valuable now as a year ago, the board should keep the program in
operation. | ||||||||
If the past is any guide, the board will be divided. There are legitimate
reasons for board members to ask whether providing needles somehow endorses
illegal drug use. | ||||||||
Studies show that the fear is unfounded. Repeated examinations of both
needle exchanges and condom programs have failed to demonstrate any increase
in drug use or sexual activity. | ||||||||
Needle exchanges do, however, cut the spread of blood borne diseases,
including AIDS. They also provide outreach workers the chance to educate
needle recipients and move them toward therapy and drug treatment. Those
efforts constitute the true message of the program: a positive statement for
live and for healthy, moral lifestyles. | ||||||||
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War On Drugs
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A recent Knight-Ridder newswire article entitled, "U.S. Strategy on Drug
Certification is Changing," suggests that the Clinton administration may
drop the controversial "certification process" with foreign countries. This
could create the first serious rift in the bipartisan support for our
government's twenty-five-year-old drug war policy. | ||||||||
Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo was highly critical of the U.S. certification process and questioned Washington's moral authority to judge other nations when U.S. demand for drugs corrupts Mexico's institutions. | ||||||||
"They should indemnify us for the filthy mess they leave us," he said in the
article. | ||||||||
On his recent visit to Mexico, President Clinton acknowledged America's appalling drug problem when he told his audience, "...with less than five percent of the world's population, the United States consumes nearly half of the world's illicit drugs." But the President has never come forth and voiced this admission to the American people here at home. | ||||||||
Consequently, an uninformed public continues to applaud a drug war that is clearly a fraud. This policy has created the largest criminal empire the world has ever known and hasn't reduced illegal drug use one scintilla. | ||||||||
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LOS ANGELES - It's quite a trip to visit maverick pharmacologist Dr. Alexander Shulgin and his collaborator and wife, Ann, at their rustic home. It is a warm, secluded place far from any controversy over drugs. | ||||||||
Sasha Shulgin, as he introduces himself, is the proud god-father of Ecstasy,
the hit drug of so many raves. A respected chemist, his relationship with
the substance started long ago, in the 1970s, when a colleague sent him the
1912 German patent for what was then a little-known drug called
methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA). He synthesized and tested the orphan
compound - Merck, the drug company, had never used it commercially - and has
been raving about it ever since. Three years ago, for example, it was Sasha
Shulgin's expert testimony that led Spanish authorities to categorize it as
one of the least harmful drugs. | ||||||||
Sasha Shulgin has invented about a hundred other mind-altering substances,
no mean feat since there may only be around 200 synthetics out there, not
counting nature's own hallucinogens - psychedelic mushrooms, peyote
cactuses, toad venom and the red beans of the Arizona and New Mexico
Indians, among others. And for decades Sasha, 72, and Ann, 66, a writer and
researcher originally from New Zealand, have also imbibed psychedelics. In
the name of science, they have taken assiduous notes on their trips,
especially the benefits, ranging from increased self-awareness, compassion
or spirituality to relaxation and great sex. | ||||||||
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[Full text with photographs now available at Think for Yourself
mall.turnpike.net/~jnr/farright.htm]
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For years, law enforcement officials say, Brian Michael Knoff helped run a
smuggling operation that brought tons of marijuana into the United States,
grossed millions of dollars and, in the end, left at least one gang member
dead. | ||||||||
But Knoff didn't buy yachts and entertain expensive women. He didn't own a house. To all appearances, he didn't live a lavish life. | ||||||||
Instead, officials say, Knoff was apparently sinking hundreds of thousands
of dollars into the extreme right antigovernment movementy money believed to
have been spent on deadly arsenals, movement defense funds and, possibly,
terrorist plots. "I'm not in it for my own personal thing," Knoff once
explained. "I want to get ... big enough where we can, we can help some of
the good people."
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Knoff, a fugitive for two years now, is not alone. | ||||||||
Across the United States, right-wing criminals, who have long relied on such
perilous endeavors as robbing banks and running financial scams, seem to
have discovered a new way to fund their subversive political activities.
While such politically based drug-running was once restricted to
revolutionary groups in countries like Colombia, Mexico and Peru, officials
now believe it has arrived on American shores. | ||||||||
"There's a world-wide phenomenon in which antigovernment and separatist groups are using drugs to buy weapons and finance other activities," says Rensselaer Lee of Global Advisory Services, a Virginia-based firm that investigates the international drug trade. It is only natural, experts add, that drugs' easy profits should attract extremists here. | ||||||||
"Once you get into this (far-right) underworld, it's like any other criminal
enterprise," says Oliver Revell, the retired deputy associate director of
the FBI. "It's like Mafia street hoods. Once you've thrown over any
recognition of (government) legitimacy, then you're going to do what is most
available (to raise funds). | ||||||||
"Drugs today provide that."
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The evidence that drugs are funding parts of the extreme right is growing. In July, Florida deputies busted a $500,000-a-year marijuana operation that local, state and federal authorities believe funded the right-wing underground. In Oregon, officials believe three men convicted of operating a major methamphetamine lab pumped a small fortune into the militia movement. In Georgia, police recently arrested two heavily armed men who may have been underwriting white supremacist activities with a drug operation. | ||||||||
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International News
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TORONTO (CP) - An Ontario judge ruled today that part of Canada's marijuana
law is unconstitutional. | ||||||||
Judge Patrick Sheppard ruled that certain sections of the Controlled Drug
and Substances Act are unconstitutional in cases where marijuana is used for
medically-approved purposes. | ||||||||
Sheppard stayed charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana against 42 year-old Terry Parker, an epileptic who was charged in July 1996 | ||||||||
But Sheppard convicted Parker of trafficking marijuana. | ||||||||
The judge ordered police to return 71 pot plants seized from Parker, who argued he needs marijuana to control epileptic seizures. | ||||||||
Sheppard said Parker's illness is best controlled with a combination of
prescribed medication and smoking marijuana. Depriving Parker of marijuana
is unconstitutional, he ruled. | ||||||||
Extensions should be made to the law for people who use marijuana for
medically-approved purposes he said. | ||||||||
The Crown wants the ruling to apply to Parker alone. | ||||||||
Parker won a landmark ruling 10 years ago when he was acquitted of a
possession charge. The acquittal was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal a
year later. | ||||||||
[end]
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LONDON (AP) - Marijuana should be legalized because it is a largely safe
drug that can alleviate some symptoms of multiple sclerosis, AIDS and
cancer, the sponsors of Britain's first public conference on the issue
declared Thursday. | ||||||||
Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, one of the sponsors, told an
often-rancorous audience of 500 that Britain's current policy regulating
marijuana is "random, foolish and harmful" and "turns the sick into
criminals."
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"It is time to change the law," she said. | ||||||||
The conference, also sponsored by Virgin boss Richard Branson, was brought together by The Independent on Sunday newspaper, which has mounted a campaign to enable Britons to buy and grow marijuana legally. | ||||||||
Some at the conference expressed concern that marijuana use was a "gateway"
to harder drugs, but they were in the minority. | ||||||||
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Many people believe that cannabis use is morally wrong. Clearly cannabis has
some potential for harm. Not too much, but some. In our book Marijuana
Myths, Marijuana Facts, John Morgan and I reviewed 30 years of scientific
studies of cannabis. We concluded from the evidence that cannabis is not
nearly as dangerous as defenders of prohibition insist. For long-term, heavy
cannabis smokers, there is some risk of lung damage, particularly among
those who also smoke tobacco. Cannabis use may contribute to some highway
accidents, but probably not too many. Clearly cannabis is not as
debilitating as alcohol. | ||||||||
There is the problem we see with all drugs: that some people use too much.
This is less of a problem with cannabis than with most other drugs. In fact,
of all the psychoactive drugs that humans consume, cannabis may be the least
addicting. So on balance I would have to say that the harms of cannabis are
not very substantial, but they do need to be counted as costs of its
widespread use. | ||||||||
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A Montreal study finds needle-exchange participants are more likely to get HIV, and experts here say the reason is more services are needed. | ||||||||
Lower Mainland health officials are not surprised by a new study that found
Montreal addicts using needle exchanges are twice as likely to become
infected with HIV than those who don't. | ||||||||
The study contradicts earlier findings that needle-exchange programs are an
effective way of limiting the spread of HIV because they eliminate sharing
of infected syringes. | ||||||||
Vancouver/Richmond regional medical health officer Dr. John Blatherwick said
he has long known that, to be effective, needle exchanges have to be backed
up by other programs. | ||||||||
"Needle exchanges on their own, are not the solution," Blatherwick, who had
not seen the study, said Sunday. | ||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||
Peter Gorman Amazon Jaunt
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Peter Gorman, executive editor of HighTimes Magazine, noted writer,
adventurer and medicinal plant collector will lead three two-week
expeditions to some of his favorite haunts in the Upper Amazon, in and
around Iquitos, Peru beginning the first Saturday of March and April and the
third Saturday of August of 1998. | ||||||||
The trips will focus on ayahuasca shamanism and include river boat travel on the Amazon, jungle hikes and survival techniques, lessons in plant collecting and preservation, a visit to the exotic floating village of Belen and it extraordinary herb market and anything else we can squeeze in. | ||||||||
At High Times Magazine, Gorman concentrates on writing about the drug war, specifically, civil forfeiture, prison privatization, medical marijuana, and mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent offenders. | ||||||||
Full information on this exceptional adventure with Peruvian ayahuasca shaman led by Peter Gorman, visit http://www.aloha.net/~axiom/amazon.html | ||||||||
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South Florida Sun Sentinel Takes Prohibitionist Stand
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The Sun Sentinel (South Florida) is doing a series on how to fight the drug
war better. | ||||||||
It is a strongly prohibitionist slanted series and can be reviewed at
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/drugwar.htm
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After reading the series reformers are encouraged to join in a discussion with James Driscoll, the editorial writer responsible for the series, on Thursday, Dec. 18, 7:30 pm, eastern, on AOL (Keyword: So Fla Chat). | ||||||||
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Information on the Association, the International Journal on Drug Policy
(including back issues) and the Association's annual conference is available
from http://www.ihra.org.uk/
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Proceedings from the 8th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm, Paris, 1997 are now up at www.ihra.org.uk/paris/proceedings. | ||||||||
This site is being updated with more papers as they are submitted. | ||||||||
Ema Kelly
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DRUG SENSE
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November's LTE Contest Winner: Polly Wilmoth of Waco, Texas | ||||||||
Polly Wilmoth of Waco, Texas is the winner of the $100 prize in Rob Ryan's November Letter Writing Contest. Congratulations Polly! Waytogo! Thanks also to Rob Ryan for instigating, funding and following up with this effort. | ||||||||
Thanks to all who participated in the contest and to all those of you who
are out there writing letters to your newspapers and elected officials.
Together we can make a difference!
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Here is the LTE that took the prize... | ||||||||
Waco Tribune-Herald November 3, 1997
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Pot As Medicine
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I was pleased to see the October 18 Anthony Lewis column, "Support is
increasing for the medical use of marijuana." My son is using marijuana
under medical supervision. Friends, family and physicians all agree: my son
is alive today because he uses marijuana. | ||||||||
The American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine and
the National Institutes of Health are among a growing list of professional
organizations urging Congress to allow research and legal access to
marijuana. | ||||||||
Moreover, these professionals are urging open debate of drug policy. Former
AMA president Dr. Lonnie Bristow is a member of Physician Leadership on
National Drug Policy. Similar organizations are forming in professional
circles in Texas. | ||||||||
The Drug Policy Forum of Texas is one such organization. Its president, Dr.
Richard A. Evans, is a member of M.D. Anderson Associates. Evans is
certified by the American Board of Surgery and has been practicing in
Houston since 1978. DPFT is a forum where policy alternatives to the war on
drugs can be discussed by academicians, policy analysts, public office
holders and other interested citizens. | ||||||||
Texas area physicians should contact DPFT in Dallas at (214)827-1514. In
Houston at (713)784-3196 or write P.O. Box 22499 Houston, Tx. 77227-2499.
Log on at: http://www.mapinc.org/DPFT/
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Working together we can treat Washington's 40 billion dollar a year
addiction to the War on Drugs. | ||||||||
Polly Wilmoth
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DS Weekly is one of the many free educational 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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