restore Sat, 17 Jun 2000 Volume 1 : Number 527 In this issue: Crunch Time Now! OR: Alzheimer's Disease Covered Under Medical Marijuana Act WA: Democrats' pot plan NV: Euro 2000 Tournament Still Smokin' Ann McCormick on Peter's death Peter McWilliams Jurors dismissed, Doug Bruce tainting alleged Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill (part 2 of 2) US: Roger Ebert's review of "GRASS" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 02:44:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Gary Thomas To: restore@crrh.org, hemp@goldentroll.com Subject: Crunch Time Now! Message-ID: <20000616094426.14869.qmail@web701.mail.yahoo.com> As of 5pm today, Friday, it is T-minus 3 weeks & counting until we MUST turn in enough OCTA petition signatures to get on the ballot in November. Coast-to-coast, there are several hundred thousand peace-loving individuals who are locked away....incarcerated for non-violent drug "offenses". I volunteered last January to open CRRH's Restore Hemp Store. Lately, I've been petitioning quite a bit and have turned in several hundred signatures the past couple of weeks. I can tell you, the people on the street want this to happen. We have the support to win. But we need the resources to get enough signatures to put this on the bellot first. We are very, very close to making it onto the ballot. We have over 63,000 signatures and we need 67,000 good ones and over 80,000 to qualify. All we need is just enough funds to pay for the signatures we've already gathered & about 20,000 more. That's about 10 thousand dollars. That's not that much in the cosmic scheme of things. If you can pitch in and help, DO IT NOW! Please? I've watch and donations and resources here are being carefully and properly used. If you can volunteer, PLEASE, THIS WILL SAVE US MONEY BIG TIME. Is there anybody out there who was recently released from school? Every signature we gather from a volunteer is 50-cents that we don't have to pay (& presently do not have). My question is this: If not now, when? if not you, who? We need help right-now!, Gary Thomas HempLiberty1@yahoo.com www.geocities.com/collegepark/dorm/4529 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 11:45:57 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: OR: Alzheimer's Disease Covered Under Medical Marijuana Act Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000616114533.05595220@mail.olywa.net> Newshawk: Sledhead Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 Source: Oregonian, The (OR) Copyright: 2000 The Oregonian Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 Fax: 503-294-4193 Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/ Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/ Author: Oz Hopkins Koglin ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE COVERED UNDER MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT State health officials say the drug can be used to treat the agitation patients suffer, but experts say there's no evidence it will help The agitation caused by Alzheimer's disease has been added to the list of medical conditions covered under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. The drug is not going to help the loss of memory and other intellectual capacities associated with the disease, said Dr. Grant Higginson, state health officer, but it may ease the agitation often associated with Alzheimer's. The Oregon Health Division added agitation from Alzheimer's to the list after reviewing the recommendations of a seven-member panel of mental health specialists and a patient advocate. The Health Division also considered testimony, the medical literature and one research trial of 11 Alzheimer's patients who were treated with marijuana. Oregon is one of only a few states to allow certain seriously ill people to use marijuana for medical conditions. This is the first time a mental health condition has been added to the coverage list. "This is a strong step forward for advocates for patients with mental health conditions, to see that they are being taken seriously under the law," said Amy Klare, the patient advocate panel member and a lobbyist for a group that supported the medical marijuana act. But representatives of the Alzheimer's Association, the only national voluntary health organization dedicated to the disease, say they have found no research supporting the use of marijuana in its treatment. "It is too early to recommend or deny" the use of marijuana, said Liz McKinney, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association, Oregon Trail Chapter. The treatment of Alzheimer's disease requires extensive scientific study that would reveal both the drug's positive and unwanted effects, she said. "That clearly has not happened, and we really couldn't endorse it at this point," McKinney said. The Health Division is required to review any serious petitions seeking to add to the list of debilitating diseases that can be treated with marijuana, Higginson said. The division rejected petitions Wednesday that would have led to approval of marijuana treatment for other mental conditions: anxiety, bipolar (manic/depressive) disorder, schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, post traumatic stress, insomnia and adult attention deficit disorder. In Oregon, an estimated 68,000 people have Alzheimer's disease. Many of them suffer from agitation, which is the inability to settle down, restlessness and pacing that can lead to combativeness. Bill Thies, vice president of medical scientific affairs for the Alzheimer's Association headquarters in Chicago, said that without clinical trials, "There is no way to make a benefit-risk analysis on marijuana in a patient." Marijuana is not the only drug whose benefit for Alzheimer's disease hasn't been tested specifically. Typically, Alzheimer's disease causes the kind of behavior that mimics other kinds of psychiatric conditions, so many doctors prescribe psychoactive drugs that have been approved for conditions other than Alzheimer's disease. "There is a limited amount of clinical trial data, so there is actually an ongoing debate about whether those are useful," Thies said. Before agitation from Alzheimer's was added, eight conditions had been approved for medical marijuana use: cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, cacheixa, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures and persistent muscle spasms. Under the 1998 act, Oregon doctors may write a statement supporting the use of medical marijuana for approved debilitating conditions allowing patients to get a registration card from the Health Division verifying that they can legally use marijuana. More than 700 patients have registered since May 1, 1999, and about 350 doctors have participated by writing supportive statements. "So this is not a fringe medical issue," Higginson said. "This is something that a number of physicians are participating in, and we are unaware of any criminal prosecutions of people who have registration cards." You can reach Oz Hopkins Koglin at 503-221-8376 or by e-mail at ozkoglin@news.oregonian.com. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck www.mapinc.org CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like alcohol, allow doctors to prescribe cannabis through pharmacies and restore the unregulated production of industrial hemp. *Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp* mail: CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA email: crrh@crrh.org phone: (503) 235-4606 fax: (503) 235-0120 web: http://www.crrh.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 11:51:09 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: WA: Democrats' pot plan Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000616114721.05587cd0@mail.olywa.net> This is an editorial in today's Seattle Times regarding the Washington State Democratic Party's new plank in their platform favoring regulation of the sales of marijuana, in essence endorsing CRRH's Cannabis Tax Act plan. Letters to the editor can be emailed to opinion@seattletimes.com, faxed to 206-382-6760 or snail mailed to Letters Editor, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 From the Seattle Times; Friday, June 16, 2000 Democrats' pot plan Delegates to the state Democratic Party convention must be dipping into the funny stuff. How else to explain a resolution favoring legalization and sale of marijuana through cafes, bars and liquor stores? This dumb idea sends the wrong message. Parents do their best to keep kids away from drugs of all kinds. Then along comes the wacky wing of the Democratic Party with a conflicting message. A party chairman walks a delicate line at a convention, trying to manage fringe elements and inspire passionate party members to work hard on behalf of candidates. Party Chairman Paul Berendt suspended good judgment in pursuit of an issue that might appeal to a certain segment of party members. The platform adopted last week favors decriminalizing marijuana. A convention resolution, passed by a narrow margin, calls for legalization of pot sales to people over age 21 through cafes, bars and liquor stores. State voters in 1998 approved a medical marijuana initiative that makes sense because the pot is used for specific medical needs. It doesn't then turn up at the corner coffee shop. If Democrats were worried about inordinately long sentences for nonviolent drug offenders - hundreds of thousands of them fill prisons at a considerable cost to taxpayers - the party should have made that clear. That is a legitimate policy debate. But legalization is the wrong statement from a party that has worked hard to prove it is more centrist than in years past. Apparently fearful that the party will have a difficult time energizing supporters for fall elections, Berendt let the passions of the liberal wing fly - over the edge. It is bad politics to send signals that confuse young people and alienate moderate, sensible suburban voters. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 12:02:00 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: NV: Euro 2000 Tournament Still Smokin' Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000616120131.055872c0@mail.olywa.net> Newshawk: Sledhead Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 Source: Las Vegas Sun (NV) Copyright: 2000 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. Contact: letters@lasvegassun.com Address: P.O. Box 4275, Las Vegas, NV 89127 Fax: (702) 383-7264 Website: http://www.lasvegassun.com/ Forum: http://www.vegas.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi Author: Ron Kantowski's Note: Ron's column appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088. EURO 2000 TOURNAMENT STILL SMOKIN' The Euro 2000 soccer championships have literally gone to pot. This year's tournament, second only to the World Cup in popularity in soccer-mad Europe, is being held in Belgium and The Netherlands, where smoking marijuana is legal. However, the Dutch coffee houses where pot is openly sold and smoked had to win a political war to remain open during the tournament which began last weekend. During the squabble, the marijuana growers and merchants apparently convinced Amsterdam officials that they should not only allow the pot shops to stay open during the soccerfest, but that they should encourage fans of a sport known for its rowdy fans -- and that's putting it mildly -- to patronize them. "Fortunately, we have made them see sense," said Roland Dam, founder of Amsterdam's Cannabis College (isn't that where Snoop Doggy Dogg got his degree?), which studies the industrial, medicinal and recreational uses of marijuana. "We are not saying that fans should come and smoke," Dam stressed. "But we are saying that smoking a joint is likely to contribute towards a peaceful tournament. People will be very relaxed, they will be more objective about the games and they will also become a bit more tolerant if their team loses." Dam may have a point. After England, which leads the free world in hooliganism, blew a 2-0 lead to Portugal and lost 3-2 in its opening-round game, nobody got shot, stabbed or so much as whacked upside of the head with an empty pint of Guinness. It makes you wonder how sports might change on this side of the pond if marijuana came in packs instead of little plastic baggies. 7th-inning stretch replaced by 5th-inning nap. "This Bud's for You" takes on an entire new meaning. Commissioner Woody Harrelson. Goodbye Weedeater Bowl. Hello Weedgrower Bowl. Bob Marley Classic replaces The Players Championship as golf's "fifth major." John Fogarty's "Centerfield" gradually gives way to Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys Room" as baseball's unofficial anthem. Bong sales cut off after seventh inning. Jamaica becomes powerhouse in Summer Olympics. Cleveland Dogpound mellows out. "Yo, Mon" surpasses "Hey, batter" as baseball chatter catch phrase. Instead of a cigar, victorious coaches fire up a "fatty." Snack cakes and chips added to ballpark menu. Marlboro 500 replaced on auto racing schedule by E-Z Wider Grand Prix. Industrial strength smoke detectors installed in all NBA locker rooms. Kentucky Bluegrass replaced by California Sinsemilla. Roach clip with team logo overhauls Beanie Babies as ballpark giveaway item. Penn State unveils tie-dyed football jerseys. Bullpen cart replaced by Jeff Spicoli's van from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Cheech Marin becomes Al Michaels' sidekick in the Monday Night Football booth. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: greg www.mapinc.org ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 12:05:36 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: Ann McCormick on Peter's death Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000616120446.05588520@mail.olywa.net> Ann McCormick is the mom of Todd McCormick, the imprisoned medical marijuana patient with whom Petter McWilliams was and Renee Boje is being prosecuted/persecuted. ------Original Message------ From: Ann To: a LIST moms Sent: June 16, 2000 4:33:58 AM GMT Subject: MOMS Peter's death I just got off the phone with Todd. He's mad, he's sad. He kept breaking down as we talked. I'm still trying to get my mind to accept that this really has happened. I can't believe we'll never see him again, talk to him.. There won't be any witty emails from Peter when I turn on the computer in the morning. It feels so unreal. We were so very concerned about him for so long, and recently, he was so happy that his viral load was down again. I spoke with him on the phone when I was in NM on the Global Peace Walk and he was in such good spirits and full of plans for writing projects. In Peter's words, "Hey! I'm going to LIVE!" He was psyched. We talked about his sentencing and he commented that one of the benefits of being a writer was he could write anywhere, even in jail. He and I were supposed to do a radio interview with Renee Boje and Dick Cowan Monday night and they couldn't reach him on the phone. By then, I hadn't heard from him since Thursday night and I was getting uneasy about that. I had left a few phone messages over the weekend and sent him some emails. He never responded. Here is the most updated news I have. Don Wirshafter wrote: Here are the details I have been able to gather. It turns out to be a double tragedy. Last Sunday, Peter had a major fire in his house. It burnt up the entire downstairs including his computer and backups. Peter was just weeks away from finishing his book on the ordeal he has gone through. He was quite excited about it and motivated to finish it. I heard the firemen had to rescue Peter through his upstairs bedroom window. The loss of this work threw Peter into shock. He was not able to talk to anyone these past few days. The loss of his book was overwhelming to him. Peter was found in his bathroom choked on his own vomit. Readers may recall his posting a few weeks back where he described in detail the routine he had worked out to quiet his stomach so it would not reject the cocktail of pills he was prescribed for his AIDS. Medical marijuana worked perfectly for this purpose, at the time of his arrest his viral count was down to zero. Federal Judge George King ordered him not to use medical marijuana while he was on federal bond. Because his mother and brother had put up their houses for this bond, Peter felt obliged to follow this order. But it meant he could not keep down his medicine and his viral count. Over a period of time Peter developed a routine of bedrest and other precautions so that he could keep down his medicine. See: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n344/a04.html?159127 His health began to return but he asserted that there was not way that he could follow this routine in jail. He hoped the judge would understand this and sentence him to a period of house arrest. Peter choked to death due to the lack of a proper anti-emetic. Forgive me for my anger, but it feels to me that he died as a direct result of the bullshit he was fighting so hard. California voters passed an initiative so that seriously ill patients like Peter could use medical marijuana. Because the federal government is unwilling to face the reality that marijuana is a medicine, Goliath had to crush innocent patients like Peter. For lack of an proper anti-emetic, Peter died. I hold the feds responsible. I pray that somehow a copy of Peter's unfinished work surfaces so that the world can hear his final message to us. As a movement we need to find some way of honoring Peter and his work. And we need to redouble our efforts to keep our own government from killing more innocent victims. With deep respect and loss, Don Wirtshafter --------------------------------------------------------------- Press Release NORML 1001 Connecticut Ave., NW Ste. 710 Washington, DC 20036 http://www.norml.org June 15, 2000 Medical Marijuana Advocate, Libertarian Author Peter McWilliams Dies Los Angeles, CA: Peter McWilliams, a best selling author who suffered from both AIDS and cancer, passed away in his home in Los Angeles on June 14th. He was 50 years old. McWilliams, who was an out-spoken advocate for the medical use of marijuana, was arrested along with Todd McCormick in 1998 in a high-profile case for cultivating marijuana in a Bel Air, CA mansion. Both men said the marijuana was intended to supply "buyers' cooperatives" that serve patients in California. At the time of his death, McWilliams was awaiting sentencing on those charges. His story was featured last Friday by John Stossel on the ABC-TV news program 20/20. He is survived by his mother and brother. No details are yet available regarding the funeral. ______________________________________________ To Post a message, send it to: compassionatemoms@eGroups.com To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: compassionatemoms-unsubscribe@eGroups.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:23:29 -0700 From: "Jess Williams" To: "Church of The Universe" , "V3-The Come.to People" , "restore Hemp" , "Steve Kubby" Cc: "Paul Giroux" Subject: Peter McWilliams Message-ID: <006901bfd718$6c711340$8b11410c@SpiritWorld> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0063_01BFD6DD.A87F6160 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To all that I know. I got this and would like to pass it out: I am sad to report that Peter McWilliams, the persecuted activist, author and subscriber to this list has passed away. J.Paul Stanford I would like to find out what we can do to help this MARTYR?? Where do we send the responses to, and we all need to send them. Can we send them to the Judge that killed him. He died for us, and we have to do something to let them know that we wish to live in peace. I can't do anything but let you warriors know that we have lost a MARTYR. He was killed by the LAW that is suppose to protect us. 2,000,000 of us that their killing. Please help work this one out. Please send us some address to send out our regards with Sorrow. Thank You all. Love Jess/Fat Freddy ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:14:19 -0600 (MDT) From: Jury Rights Project To: Jury Rights Project Subject: Jurors dismissed, Doug Bruce tainting alleged Message-ID: http://www.csindy.com Colorado Springs Independent June 15, 2000 Jurors dismissed, Doug Bruce tainting alleged by Cara DeGette JUNE 15, 2000: Accused of tainting a pool of potential jurists, Colorado Springs landlord and state Senate candidate Douglas Bruce was dismissed from jury duty this week after he distributed a stack of leaflets claiming that jurists need only follow their conscience -- and not the law -- when deciding a case. [Note from JRP: The reporter incorrectly uses the word 'jurist' in this article to refer to jurors. A jurist is an expert in law, usually used to refer to a judge.] At least one potential juror -- who spent several hours going through the courthouse orientation process before he was sent home -- did not appreciate the interruption. "I was absolutely furious," said Colorado Springs resident Matt Barton. "It was a waste of my time and Doug Bruce assumes I'm not intelligent to make my own decision as far as the law. He feels it's up to him to come in and disrupt what should have been a normal process." Barton said Bruce handed the leaflets out to about 150 potential jurors who had been summoned. Of them, Barton and about 50 others were dismissed on Tuesday after lawyers complained their views had potentially been contaminated by Bruce's literature. The leaflets were prepared by a group called the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA), whose literature claims juries have "final veto power over all acts of the legislature that may come to be called laws." Called jury nullification, the concept is that jurors can find defendants not guilty if they don't agree with the law they are accused of breaking. Bruce, an anti-tax activist, authored Colorado's 1992 Taxpayers Bill of Rights, enacting tax and spending limitations. A onetime prosecutor with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, Bruce has not previously publicly weighed in on the issue of jury nullification. Campaign uninterrupted Bruce is currently running a tough race for the Colorado senate against state Rep. Ron May. If he had been selected for jury duty, he could have spent several crucial weeks of his campaign empanelled in a courtroom. Bruce could not be reached for comment as of press time, however, Barton said other jurors were angry at the disruption as well. "I don't think anyone was happy having Doug Bruce decide whether we were competent jurors or not," he said. Court administrator Victoria Villalobos said the action -- dismissing jurors because their judgment was potentially contaminated -- is highly unusual. In her 16 years on the job, she said, she has never witnessed a similar incident. District Judge Thomas L. Kennedy said the jury pool was dismissed after a defense lawyer in a first-degree sexual assault trial scheduled to begin Tuesday complained. When Kennedy learned that Bruce was distributing the pamphlets, he asked him to cease. However, he said, Bruce had already handed them out to the entire jury pool. "It wasn't confrontational at all," Kennedy said. "[Bruce] has a free speech right to hand out the leaflets, whether we tell him he can or can't do that. I just asked him not to hand out the leaflets, but it was already over." Ripple effect The judge then advised the attorneys for both sides of the disruption, and, after the defense lawyer objected, the entire panel was dismissed, causing a two-week delay in the sexual assault trial, and a ripple effect among other scheduled trials, Kennedy said. The judge could not estimate the cost to taxpayers of the delays, including having to contact a new pool of jurors. Kennedy said he finds the debate over jury nullification fascinating, but said the courtroom is the wrong place to debate it. "[Jury nullification is] an interesting topic and there certainly is a time and place to discuss it, but to inject it into everyday court life made it an incredible hardship for jurors -- and for the people who wanted to get their day in court," he said. "It was the issue in the manner in which he did this. We don't debate the law in the courtroom -- that's done in the legislature," the judge said. "We apply the laws as written -- that's the oath I've taken and asked jurors to take." Pot vs. violent crime In recent years, the concept that juries have the right to decide whether a law is unjust or tyrannical has been promoted by the FIJA and other groups. FIJA activists cite the basis of the Common Law Jury that was established in the 13th century as the basis for our current justice system. "Because a jury's guilty decision must be unanimous, it takes only one vote to effectively nullify a bad act of the legislature," FIJA's literature states. "Your one vote can hang a jury, and although it won't be an acquittal, at least the defendant will not be convicted of violating an unjust or unconstitutional law. The government cannot deprive anyone of liberty without your consent." The argument has mostly been used in cases where jurors have questioned the legality of drug laws. One of the highest profile jury nullification laws involved a Gilpin County, Colorado woman, Laura Kriho, who as a juror argued the legality of marijuana laws and eventually was jailed for contempt of court. Kennedy said he has never heard jurors similarly argue against laws against sexual assault, as was the case that was to be heard in his courtroom on Tuesday. "I have had on occasion in a drug prosecution a juror who believes the marijuana laws are unjust and the person says [they] cannot apply the law, and they would be excused from jury duty," Kennedy said. "But when you look at it in context, most jurists agree we need laws for violent crime." The Independent 121 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 455 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 tel 719.577.4545 fax 719.577.4107 Email: letters@csindy.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Re-distributed by the: Jury Rights Project Old Web page: New Web page: To be added to or removed from the JRP mailing list, send email with the word SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the title. The JRP is dedicated to: * educating jurors about their right to acquit people who have been accused of victmless crimes and thereby veto bad laws; * protecting jurors from judicial and prosecutorial tyranny; * educating citizens about the history and power of juries; * distributing current news related to jurors and juries ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:20:12 -0700 From: Marijuana Policy Project To: mppupdates@igc.topica.com Subject: Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill Message-ID: <0.700001013.1292523368-212058698-961172412@topica.com> Dear Friend, On Wednesday, June 14, Governor Ben Cayetano signed into law a measure that allows seriously ill people to grow, possess, and use marijuana if they have their doctors' approval. The new law also protects doctors who recommend medical marijuana use, as well as caregivers who provide marijuana to sick family members or friends. This legislation -- passed by the Hawaii House on April 11 and the Senate on April 25 -- is the first of its kind to be enacted by a state legislature, rather than through a ballot initiative. Since 1996, similar laws have been put on the books in five other states -- Alaska, California, Maine, Oregon, and Washington state -- all of which were passed at the ballot box. Voters in Colorado and Nevada are expected to pass similar measures this November. The enactment of the new law in Hawaii has brought with it a wave of positive media coverage for the Marijuana Policy Project and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, the lead organization that spearheaded the multi-year lobbying campaign which led to this landmark victory. Please see below for MPP's news release, news articles, and an op-ed that MPP distributed to 100 newspapers nationwide. I want to thank everyone whose generous financial support made this legislative victory possible. Sincerely, Robert D. Kampia Executive Director Marijuana Policy Project ====================================================================== HAWAII GOVERNOR SIGNS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL Reuters wire service Wednesday, June 14, 2000 HONOLULU (Reuters Health) - Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano signed a bill on Wednesday legalizing the medical use of marijuana, making his state the first to pass such a law through the legislature. Seven other states -- Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Maine and California, as well as the District of Columbia -- have similar laws on the books, but they were passed as voter initiatives and never tested by lawmakers. Medical marijuana advocacy groups hailed the Hawaii law -- which makes it legal for seriously ill people to grow, possess and use the drug -- as "landmark legislation" that they predicted would eventually sweep the nation. "To have the legislature and governor do this sends a very strong message," Chuck Thomas, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project said after Cayetano signed the bill passed by the state Senate in April. "We think it's not going to be a lot easier to get bills passed in other states," Thomas said. "Our goal is to have a checkerboard of states (legalizing medical marijuana) and ultimately put the federal government in a position where they pretty much have to change federal law." Marijuana possession, cultivation and use remain offenses under federal law, but enforcement is generally carried out at the state and municipal levels. Thomas said opponents of medical marijuana had long said that voters in the other seven states were "tricked" into approving the measures, an argument that could not be made in Hawaii's case. Thomas said the bill would allow seriously ill people to use marijuana if they get approval from their doctor. He said the law spelled out the nature of serious illness and the means by which the patients could grow and use the drug. "We wanted to make sure we can really help patients but do so without any loopholes," Thomas said. ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:25:39 -0700 From: Marijuana Policy Project To: mppupdates@igc.topica.com Subject: Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Bill (part 2 of 2) Message-ID: <0.700001013.174875851-212058698-961172739@topica.com> [continued] MEDIA COVERAGE The following print media coverage can be found at : * Associated Press article featured MPP and the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii (6/15). * "The New York Times", "The Washington Times", and newspapers across the country ran the aforementioned AP article (6/15). * Reuters wire service ran two articles featuring MPP (6/14). * CNN's Web site featured MPP (6/14). * The "Honolulu Advertiser", the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin", and all network TV stations ran stories in Honolulu (6/14 and 6/15). * Representatives of MPP appeared on "Talk America Radio Network" and radio stations in Boston and New York City (6/15). * MPP's Chuck Thomas appeared on "America's Voice", a nationwide cable TV program (6/14). CBS's "Up to the Minute" also ran a story late last night. ====================================================================== MPP NEWS RELEASE http://www.mpp.org/Hawaii MPP OP-ED http://www.mpp.org/oped0615.html ====================================================================== HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT MPP is funded entirely by the contributions of its dues-paying members nationwide. To support MPP's work and receive the quarterly newsletter, "Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual membership dues to: Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) P.O. Box 77492 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20013 202-232-0442 FAX Because MPP devotes 100% of its efforts toward influencing public policy, contributions are not tax-deductible. The following on-line membership form allows you to make tax-deductible contributions: ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 13:23:33 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: US: Roger Ebert's review of "GRASS" Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000616131142.0559c250@mail.olywa.net> Fri June 16, 2000 Chicago Sun Times GRASS June 16, 2000 Unapix Films presents a documentary produced and directed by Ron Mann. Narrated by Woody Harrelson. Written by Solomon Vesta. Running time: 80 minutes. Rated R (for drug content). BY ROGER EBERT It is agreed by reasonable people that one of the results of anti-drug laws is to support the price of drugs and make their sale lucrative. If drugs were legalized, the price would fall, and the motive to promote them would fade away. Since anyone who wants drugs can get them now, usage would be unlikely to increase. Crime would go down when addicts didn't have to steal to support their habits, and law enforcement would benefit from the disappearance of drug-financed bribery, payoffs and corruption. All of this is so obvious that the opposition to the legalization of drugs seems inexplicable--unless you ask who would be hurt the most by the repeal of drug laws. The international drug cartels would be put out of business. Drug enforcement agencies would be unnecessary. Drug wholesalers and retailers would have to seek other employment. If it is true (as often charged) that the CIA has raised money by dealing in drugs, it would lose this source of funds free from congressional accounting. Who would benefit if drugs were legalized? The public--because both drug usage and its associated crimes would diminish. Despite the logic of this argument, few political candidates have had the nerve to question the way our drug laws act as a price support system, and encourage drug usage. "Grass," a new documentary by Ron Mann, traces the history of the laws against one drug--marijuana--back to their origins in anti-Mexican prejudice at the turn of the century, and forward through periods when marijuana was seen as part of the Red conspiracy. When New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia commissioned a study of the weed, his commission found the "sociological, psychological and medical" threat of the substance was "exaggerated." He called for its decriminalization. Many years later, so did President Jimmy Carter--until he had to lay low after an aide was nabbed on cocaine charges. Other presidents, of course, have enthusiastically supported anti-drug laws (Richard M. Nixon going so far as to swear in Elvis Presley in the war against narcotics). "Grass" traces much of our national drug policy to one man, Harry J. Anslinger, the first drug czar, who like J. Edgar Hoover created a fiefdom that was immune to congressional criticism. "Grass" is not much as a documentary. It's a cut-and-paste job, assembling clips from old and new anti-drug films and alternating them with pro-drug footage from the Beats, the flower power era and so on. The narration by pro-hemp campaigner Woody Harrelson is underlined by the kind of lurid graphics usually seen on 1940s coming attractions trailers. The film is unlikely to tell many of its viewers anything they don't already know, and unlikely to change our national drug policy. The situation will continue indefinitely, [says Ebert] corrupting politicians and whole nations with billions of dollars of illegal profits. Those who use drugs will continue to do so. Others will abstain, die or find a way to stop, just as they do now. Prohibition proved that when the government tries to come between the people and what the people want to do, laws are not effective; statistically, Prohibition coincided with a considerable increase in drinking. Am I in favor of drugs? Not at all. Drug abuse has led to an epidemic of human suffering. Grass seems relatively harmless, but I have not known anyone who used hard drugs and emerged undamaged. Still, in most societies throughout human history, drug use has been treated realistically--as a health problem, not a moral problem. Have our drug laws prevented anyone from using drugs? Apparently not. Have they given us the world's largest prison population, cost us billions of dollars and helped create the most violent society in the first world? Yes. From an objective point of view--what's the point? ------------------------------ End of restore V1 #527 ********************** * ------ CRRH's Oregon petition now has over 63,000 signatures and needs 66,786 valid voters' signatures by July 7th to qualify for a Nov. 7, 2000 vote. ------ To subscribe, unsubscribe or switch to immediate or digest mode, please send your instructions to . ------ *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/