Compiled by
Paul Stanford
UPwe 11/10/92 2213 Judge to decide on probation termination
SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- A judge said Wednesday he will consider terminating the
probation of a man infected with the AIDS virus who cultivated and used
marijuana to stop nausea and other symptoms of the deadly disease.
Samuel Skipper, 39, of La Mesa, pleaded guilty in 1991 to cultivating
marijuana and was placed on three years probation. Skipper said he and his male
lover had AIDS and used the drug for treatment.
As a condition of his probation, he was ordered not to use marijuana.
But Skipper continued to use the drug and was charged again with marijuana
cultivation. He was acquitted Oct. 15 marijuana cultivation charges after he
used the "medical necessity" defense.
Skipper's attorney told San Diego Municipal Court Judge Charles Rogers that
Skipper should be allowed to cultivate marijuana since the jury accepted his
explanation that he needs the drug.
"All Mr. Skipper wants is to be left alone," argued Juliana Humphrey. "This
is a very unique situation."
Deputy District Attorney David Williams told the judge not to terminate the
remaining year of probation.
The judge will make his decision on December 10.
RTec 12/05/92 0958 DUTCH PREMIER SLAMS FRENCH MINISTER FOR DRUGS ...
DUTCH PREMIER SLAMS FRENCH MINISTER FOR DRUGS COMMENTS
THE HAGUE, Dec 5, Reuter - Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers condemned as
"infamous" and "scandalous" a French minister's charge that the Netherlands was
too lax on drug abuse, Dutch media said on Saturday.
The Dutch government plans to lodge a formal protest with France at the
comments made by Interior Minister Paul Quiles in London earlier this week, a
foreign ministry spokesman said.
Quiles was reported as saying that the Netherlands' lenient approach to drug
abuse was blocking a European Community plan for a new Europe-wide police force.
He accused the Dutch of obstructing the scheme by refusing to allow its first
phase, a Drugs Unit, to be based in Strasbourg, France.
"That was a scandalous remark," Lubbers was quoted as saying by the Dutch
ANP News Agency. It was "unacceptable, untrue and infamous" and "impermissible
language among member states."
The Netherlands and Italy have submitted The Hague and Rome as potential
headquarters sites for the project, known as Europol, which will work along the
lines of the Interpol international police organisation.
"The problems in France are far worse than here," Lubbers was quoted as
saying by Dutch daily Trouw. "The number of deaths from drugs is far higher in
France than here...We are at least equally active and effective."
Both hard and soft drug use is illegal in the Netherlands, but small-scale
drug use is tolerated in a belief that it is easier to control if kept visible.
Soft drugs like marijuana are openly sold in so-called "coffee shops"
throughout the country and the heroin substitute methadone is distributed free
to addicts from special buses.
RTw 12/09/92 2144 DESIGNER CANNABIS GIVES DUTCH OFFICIALS A HEADACHE
By Ben Hirschler
AMSTERDAM, Dec 10, Reuter - In thousands of glasshouses around the
Netherlands a new crop is ripening.
Home-grown "designer" cannabis, carefully cultivated for maximum potency, is
estimated to be the country's sixth biggest crop after tomatoes -- and output is
growing fast.
Known as Nederwiet (Dutch weed), it is replacing imported cannabis as the
drug of preference among discerning smokers in Dutch "coffee shops," where soft
drugs are sold openly.
It is proving a major embarrassment to the Dutch government, already under
fire from neighbouring countries who say its lax policy will let criminals flood
the European Community with drugs when internal borders are opened in January.
Dutch growers counter that they are actually driving crime out of the drugs
trade since their superior home-grown product is grabbing market share from
foreign drug barons.
"It's taken a long time to convince people that Dutch marijuana is a top
quality product but the message has finally got through," said Alan Dronkers,
whose Amsterdam-based seed firm has seen sales more than double in the last two
years.
"The Colombians and other drug traffickers have lost a market. They can't
sell their stuff anymore," he said.
His company produces a glossy catalogue offering 19 different hybrid
varieties -- each selected for indoor, outdoor or glasshouse use -- the fruit of
15 years cross-breeding of plants from around the world.
Most popular are the "skunkweeds," so named because of their strong smell.
First produced in the United States in the 1970s, they have since been carefully
cultivated to a potency many times that of conventional varieties.
According to police figures, Dutch marijuana now contains nine to 27 per
cent of the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), compared with 0.5 to
14 per cent in imported drugs.
Health workers say the super-strong cannabis can be a shock to the system
but there is no evidence it is any more dangerous than other types of marijuana.
"There have been some passing intoxications but we have seen no serious
accidents," said Giel van Brussel, head of the drugs unit at the Amsterdam city
health authority.
"Those who suffer may experience a period of anxiety and the feeling that it
was too strong, but it only lasts a few hours. It's a mild problem," he added.
The National Criminal Intelligence Service (CRI), however, believes designer
cannabis is a potential goldmine for the mob, and fears it is only a matter of
time before drug cartels turn the Netherlands into a major drug exporter. There
have already been reports of Nederwiet entering Britain.
"We've been warning all along that it will be a major export product. If you
allow it to be produced, people will grow it and export it," said the CRI's
Ernst Moeksis.
He says there are already ominous signs that production is being scaled up
as bigger operators move in.
"It's become much, much more professional in the last few years," Moeksis
said.
In 1990 police dismantled five substantial cannabis nurseries. Last year the
number of sites jumped to 54, producing crops with an estimated street value of
204 million guilders ($116 million). That 1991 total has already been surpassed
this year -- and police admit this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Although all drugs are technically illegal in the Netherlands, possessing or
producing up to 28 grammes of cannabis for personal use was reduced from a crime
to a misdemeanour 15 years ago.
Furthermore, growers routinely escape prosecution by claiming their crops
are for legitimate agricultural use, such as the production of birdseed or fibre
for making rope.
Controversy over the relaxed Dutch policy was ignited again last week in a
public spat with France over the location of a planned new Europe-wide police
force, to be known as Europol.
French Interior Minister Paul Quiles, lobbying hard for Europol to be based
outside Strasbourg, accused the Dutch of pursuing a lenient drugs policy which
would undermine Europol efforts to tackle drugs trafficking.
Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, who wants Europol to be based in The
Hague, said the allegation was "scandalous."
At the same time the Dutch have shown signs of bending in the gale of recent
criticism. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch-Ballin hinted at a tougher Dutch stance
in future -- at least on Nederwiet.
"More intensive police attention must be paid to large-scale Nederwiet
cultivation. The Netherlands really cannot permit itself to become the
laughing-stock of Europe in this already precarious policy area," Hirsch-Ballin
said recently.
Officials say no firm decisions have yet been taken, but the government is
studying a CRI proposal for a licensing system requiring growers to prove that
their cannabis is destined for approved agricultural outlets.
"Licences are one possibility. We have to take some measures, but what they
will be is still an open question," said Justice Ministry spokesman Victor
Holtus.
REUTER MJM KG SJ UPce 12/10/92 1558 Corrections investigating drug overdose
CHESTER, Ill. (UPI) -- Illinois Corrections officials want to know how a
Menard Correctional Center inmate who died of an apparent drug overdose last
month managed to smuggle a syringe into the maximum- security prison.
DOC investigators are examining the Nov. 29 death of Michael LeCrone, 34, a
convicted killer who was serving an 80-year sentence for a Champaign County
murder and other crimes.
Passing inmates found LeCrone dead on the floor of his one-man cell in the
Southern Illinois prison. Randolph County Coroner Neil Birchler said the dead
inmate had a makeshift tourniquet tied around his arm and there were needle
tracks on his hands and feet indicating he was a longtime intravenous drug
abuser.
Also found in LeCrone's cell were a syringe and several rubber bags
containing a white powder believed to be cocaine or heroin. Birchler believes
LeCrone died of a drug overdose but won't make an official ruling until lab
tests confirm the identity of the drug.
Corrections officials acknowledge pills, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs
often are smuggled into the state prison system, sometimes by guards and other
times by visitors or prison workers.
But intravenous drugs are rare and deaths from overdoses are almost unheard
of, said Michael Mahoney of the prison watchdog group the John Howard
Association.
State law makes it illegal for any Illinoisan, in prison or out, to possess a
hyupodermic syringe without a prescription unless they are a health-care
provider.
DOC policy also bans needles in prisoners' cells and says all inmates must go
to prison infirmaries to receive injections.
The state's most publicized prison drug overdose was in 1987, when a Pontiac
Correctional Center inmate choked to death on a packet of cocaine as he tried to
hide the drugs from guards who were moving him to another cell.
Prison gangs blamed guards for the inmate's death and killed Pontiac
Superintendent Robert Taylor in retaliation for the incident. The gang leader
who ordered the assassination and two inmates who carried it out were sentenced
to death for the crime.
UPma 12/13/92 0715 Federal agents arrest wrong person
LOGAN, Ohio (UPI) -- The mother of five children said her arrest on major
drug charges, which turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, was "the most
humiliating experience" of her life.
U.S. marshals from Columbus arrested Sandra Kranz at her home in Logan,
believing she was a person identified as Lisa Marilyn Allen, who is sought by
federal officials in Portland, Ore., on eight counts of trafficking in
marijuana.
Kranz, who said she doesn't smoke and hasn't had a drink in three years, said
she was in bed when the marshals came to her home Friday and told her that she
was Allen.
"I told them I waem my ID," Kranz said.
She said marshals insisted she was Allen and told her she could tell her
story in court.
Kranz said she had to leave her two daughters, 22 months and 2 months, with
her 17-year-old son.
When she reached U.S. District Court in Columbus, about 40 miles north of
Logan, she was placed in a fourth-floor holding cell.
Kranz said she told her story to Stephen K. O'Leary, who handles retrial
services for the U.S. District Court.
"If it weren't for him, I would have been there through the weekend and who
knows how much longer," Kranz said. "He listened to my story, my denial and my
story from birth through today."
Kranz said marshals never informed her of her rights or allowed her to make
telephone calls.
"It was like I was a major criminal and I had no rights," Kranz said.
Kranz said she got a free lunch but had to arrange her own ride home.
"I held up well under the situation and pressure, but after I got on the
phone I broke down and cried," Kranz said.
The charge against Allen involved two marijuana shipments from Thailand, one
of 8 tons and one of 7 tons, for distribution on the East Coast, authorities
said.
RTw 12/16/92 1131 DUTCH POLICE SWOOP ON DRUG-PEDDLING COFFEE SHOPS
AMSTERDAM, Dec 16, Reuter - Amsterdam police swooped on the city's infamous
"coffee shops," arrested 193 people and seized 10 kg (20 lbs) of hard drugs, a
police spokesman said on Wednesday.
More than 600 of the marijuana-selling coffee shops have sprung up over the
Dutch capital in the last 15 years with the tacit acceptance of the authorities.
But police suspect that half of the shops are also centres for an illicit
trade in hard drugs, firearms and stolen goods.
Tuesday's raid on 21 coffee shops led to the arrest of 48 people for
possessing hard drugs and firearms. A further 145 people were detained on
suspicion of being illegal aliens.
Police Commissioner Foeke Wagenaar told a news conference that police would
continue their crackdown. "We are determined to continue along this path, on a
smaller scale but with great tenacity," he said.
All drugs are technically illegal under Dutch law, but 15 years ago
possession of up to 28 grams (one ounce) of cannabis for personal use was
reduced from a crime to a misdemeanour.
REUTER HDJ CAB PAE
UPce 01/07/93 1633 Pinckney man sent to prison for 7 years for growing...
Pinckney man sent to prison for 7 years for growing marijuana
DETROIT (UPI) -- U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds slapped a Pinckney man
with a 7-year prison term and a $3,000 fine Thursday for cultivating more than
900 marijuana plants at a farmhouse in Addison.
George M. Dudek, 30, pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct. 6. In addition to
the prison time and fine, Edmunds imposed a 4-yer period of supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg, who prosecuted the case, said agents
with the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 900 marijuna plants
when they raided the farmhouse on Jan. 7, 1992.
Hydroponic growing equipment and technical literature on marijuana
cultivation also were seized, he said.
Dudek pleaded guilty to one count of possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute.
UPne 01/28/93 1803 Tugboat union head, daughter charged with selling pot
NEW YORK (UPI) -- The 77-year-old president of a local tugboat union and his
daughter were arrested Thursday on charges of conspiring to buy more than a ton
of marijuana from an undercover drug agent, federal prosecutors said.
Abe Klein, president of AFL-CIO local 333, the United Marine Division,
representing tugboat workers on Staten Island, and his daughter, Sheryl, 43,
both of Staten Island, were charged with drug trafficking.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Otto Obermaier said the two were indicted Jan. 7
along with a third individual known as "Ben" who currently is a fugitive. The
three were charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to
distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana since 1989.
Prosecutors said the Kleins allegedly negotiated to buy several thousand
pounds of marijuana on a regular basis from an undercover Drug Enforcement
Administration agent.
The trio allegedly obtained a one-pound sample of the pot from the agent as
part of the sale negotiations.
Klein and his daughter were scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 4. in U.S.
District Court.
If convicted, both face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a
maximum term of life in prison, as well as more than $4 million in fines.
APn 01/28/93 1224 Anti-Oregano
Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Cooking Italian could endanger your freedom in
Arkansas. A bill introduced in the legislature could make possession of oregano
illegal, and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The bill in the state House of Representatives would make it a felony to
create, deliver or possess "counterfeit" marijuana.
Under the proposal, coupled with definitions in current law, a person could
be arrested if the "counterfeit substance" looks like marijuana and is packaged
in a manner normally used for delivery of the drug -- usually a plastic bag.
Dried, crumbled oregano leaves look much like marijuana, and the flavorful
herb has occasionally been passed off as the costlier marijuana.
And oregano is sold in bulk at health food stores, where customers package it
in plastic bags.
"That's insane," Gary Eklund, owner of Beans and Grains and Things in Little
Rock, said of the proposed legislation.
Supporters of the bill contend that an arrest would occur only if someone
were trying to sell oregano as marijuana.
But Deputy Attorney General Jack Gillean said that such a representation
wouldn't be required.
"If the police found someone who was involved in the (drug) trade and they
happen to be in possession of oregano packaged that way, clearly conditions
would be met," Gillean said. "He is going to have to convince police he is
making a big pot of spaghetti or something."
Sensible application of the law would depend on the common sense of police
and prosecutors, Gillean said.
Conviction could bring a sentence of three to 10 years in prison and a
$10,000 fine.
UPma 01/28/93 0806 Man indicted on drug charges
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- An Allegheny County man has been indicted by a federal
grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge involving narcotics violations.
Robert Hazlett, 44, of Natrona Heights, was named Wednesday in the one-count
indictment.
Hazlett is charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana
plants.
If convicted, Hazlett faces a possible sentence of not less than 10 years in
prison to a maximum of life and a fine up to $4 million.
UPce 02/05/93 1643 Chesterton man arrested on marijuana charges
INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) -- A 25-year-old was arrested Friday on charges he was
growing more than 100 marijuana plants at Bloomington.
The federal grand jury indictment of Joseph Lee Hunt, currently of
Chesterton, came down Jan. 5, but the information was not released until his
arrest.
U.S. Attorney Debroah Daniels said a tip from Hunt's Bloomington landlord led
to the investigation and indictment of the man.
If convicted, Hunt faces a possible prison term of 40 years.
APn 02/06/93 0109 Marijuana-Birds
Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- This marijuana is for the birds. All 608 tons of it.
That's the amount of marijuana seeds imported last year -- all of it legal --
to feed pet birds.
Packers say the seeds are high in protein and fat and make for shiny
feathers.
"It is not used to excite the birds," said Kathy Schneider, technical service
coordinator for Kaytee Products in Chilton, Wis., which packages marijuana seed.
"It is a nutritional source."
The Drug Enforcement Agency allows six U.S. companies to import marijuana
seeds that end up as feed for parakeets, parrots, cockatiels and pigeons.
Pigeon owners favor feeding their birds the seeds before shows because they
improve appearance, Schneider said.
The seeds aren't the kind that would intoxicate a bird, let alone a human.
But to discourage would-be pot gardeners, the DEA makes sure the life is baked
out of them in a heat treatment before they hit U.S. shores.
Under DEA rules, the seeds must be "non-viable," or incapable of producing
marijuana plants, when they arrive in this country. If tests show they are
viable, they get another heat treatment.
Schneider said a few seeds will bloom into plants even after the treatment,
but won't mature or bear seeds.
Most of the seeds are imported from Hong Kong and mainland China, said Joel
Fries, deputy chief of the drug operations section of DEA's Office of Diversion
Control.
Why not let the seed companies grow marijuana and harvest the seeds? That
would be illegal, Fries said.
So would using seeds confiscated in drug busts, because the seeds are often
viable.
"Anyway, we destroy the stuff as fast as we can and it's hard to store," he
said.
WP 02/07/93 For Ex-Defendant, The Nightmare Continues
BY COURTLAND MILLOY
Harry Davis had been in bed that morning a year ago when he heard a knock on
his apartment door in Fort Washington. He got up, put on his pants and opened
the door. Fifteen police officers, carrying assault weapons and dressed in black
garb that looked like some kind of ninja outfits, stormed in, knocked Davis to
the floor and held him there with a shotgun to his head.
"They run through the house and pull my girlfriend out of bed with no clothes
on, and then they spread her legs out like she was hiding something up in her,"
Davis said. "I'm wearing pants and no shirt and she's naked, and they open the
windows. It's winter. We're freezing. Then they proceed to destroy the place."
Davis was arrested in a crackdown on the "P Street Crew," an alleged cocaine
distribution ring operating in Northwest Washington. Last week, U.S. District
Court Judge Stanley Sporkin dismissed the case against him.
"The evidence did not have him in any actual drug transaction," said Justin
Williams, an assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the case. "All I can say is
that there is nothing further pending against him."
Except harsh recollections of the United States mocking its constitutional
ideals.
During the raid on Davis's apartment, police tore out the walls and crushed
family photographs in their frames. They confiscated his automobile and seized
his car-leasing business.
When the charges were dropped, Davis asked for his car and was told that it
had been forfeited back to the bank because he had not kept up his monthly
payments.
He was told that his business papers would be returned, if government clerks
could find them. But he would not be compensated for the damage to his apartment
and personal belongings.
Police had charged that Davis, 49, used his business to launder $100 million
in drug money. Inside his apartment, they found $8,000 in deposits from
customers who had leased cars from him. There were no drugs, no guns or any
evidence of the dirty millions that he was supposed to have washed.
Nevertheless, then-Attorney General William Barr held a spectacular news
conference at the Justice Department and announced that 450 law enforcement
officials from as far away as New York had smashed the notorious P Street Crew.
Davis was implicated as the mastermind and portrayed on television every night
for nearly a week as yet another so-called black coke kingpin in handcuffs.
The law does not always respond this way. In 1989, Anne Arundel County police
seized seven pounds of cocaine, more than 60 pounds of marijuana, five pounds of
hashish, $70,000 in cash and numerous weapons from the home of two National
Security Agency psychologists. They did not destroy the house, nor confiscate
property.
In fact, police were careful to allege that the drug operation was run by the
couple's 21- year-old son. The parents were not charged.
To add insult to Davis's injury, police then transported him and the other 17
P Street defendants across state lines to have their cases tried in Virginia,
where juries are whiter and reputedly harsher on black defendants. U.S. District
Court Judge Albert V. Bryan saw their arrival for what it was, a charade, and he
ordered the defendants returned to D.C.
Before his arrest, Davis had worked part time as an amateur boxing referee
and trainer at a gym in suburban Maryland. There he met some of the youths who
also were arrested and later plea bargained for three-year sentences in the P
Street case.
Davis said he had tried to help one of the youths "get his act together" by
giving him a job as an office cleaner and messenger in his car-leasing company.
According to Davis's attorney, the relationship was distorted by an informer who
was bargaining with police in a desperate bid to keep himself out of prison.
After being released on bond, Davis found work as a car salesman.
"A customer recognized me as `that man from the P Street Crew,' " Davis
recalled. "My employer checked my record and found this `felony arrest.' "
He was fired.
During court proceedings dismissing the drug charges last week, prosecutors
reserved the right to refile charges against Davis.
"I'm still a suspect?" Davis asked.
"It's not a word we would be using," Williams said later.
Judge Sporkin had said that refiling charges against Davis would be "unwise."
But the request by prosecutors had the effect of leaving Davis's innocence in
question. That the government had acted immorally, however, was beyond the
shadow of a doubt.
"What about my reputation? I have done nothing wrong," Davis said in court.
"You break into my home, humiliate my friend, destroy my business and after
investigating me for a year, just drop the charges. What can you say to me?"
"You're free," the judge told him. "Next case."
UPn 02/08/93 0016 As Rasta culture spreads, faith may be waning
By JOHN OTIS
KINGSTON, Jamaica (UPI) -- Ridiculed for their beliefs, feared for their
matted, ropy dreadlocks, and jailed for smoking marijuana, Jamaica's
Rastafarians used to be social misfits.
These days, however, members of the religious sect have become doctors,
teachers and lawyers. Rastafarian-tinged reggae music blares out of boomboxes
around the globe. In Kingston, dreadlocks are more common than neckties.
Yet even as Rastafarian culture goes mainstream, many observers say the
religion's original tenets are being left behind.
"The faith has become very diluted. For many, it is just a hair style," said
Flo O'Connor, a human rights activist who has worked on behalf of Rastafarians.
The movement began when Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican back-to-Africa advocate,
forecast the crowning of a black king in Africa. Garvey's statement resonated in
Jamaica, a former slave colony where 78 percent of the population is black.
When Haile Selassie I was named Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, thousands of
Kingston slum dwellers declared him the black savior. They became known as
Rastafarians, after Selassie's baptismal name, Ras Tafari Makonnen.
Many Rastafarians let their hair grow into long, unruly tresses and
considered marijuana a sacred herb. They called Jamaica "Babylon," or hell on
earth, and pledged to return to Africa.
Police considered the movement subversive, and they jailed hundreds of Rastas
on drug and vagrancy charges. Yet with its tenets of self- sufficiency and black
pride, the faith caught on and helped propel the island's black power movement
in the 1960s.
"They persuaded the society to look in the mirror and confront their
blackness. They gave the black struggle tremendous impetus and pushed it along,"
said Rex Nettleford, a professor at the University of the West Indies in
Kingston who has written a history of the movement.
Through the music of reggae stars like Bob Marley -- a devout Rastafarian --
the faith took hold in the United States, England, Japan and Africa. Abroad,
more people recognize the red, green and gold Rastafarian banner than the
Jamaican flag.
Still, those who believe in Selassie's divinity are a tiny minority compared
with the legions who have plugged into the faith's cultural trappings.
Jamaica's image as a Rasta paradise is so pervasive that self-styled
"rent-a-dreads" hang out at the tourist resorts offering marijuana- laced tours
of the local nightlife. Tony Soyemi, a reggae producer, said he has run into
snags cutting deals with U.S. record company officials because he wears short
hair.
"The first thing they say is, 'He ain't got dreadlocks,"' Soyemi said with a
laugh.
Mutabaruka, a Rastafarian poet, observes, "You see Rasta flashin' them
dreadlocks on MTV. You see Rasta all over the place. But when you start telling
people Haile Selassie is God, they don't want to hear that."
Because the movement lacks structure and a defined hierarchy, no one knows
just how many true Rastafarians exist in Jamaica or elsewhere, said Abraham
Peddie, chairman of the Rastafarian community in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, violence and famine in Ethiopia have led many Rastas to view the
pilgrimage back to Africa as more of a metaphor than a goal, and Selassie,
overthrown by Marxist rebels in 1974, is viewed by many Jamaicans as a hapless
autocrat.
In years past, many Rastas lived in tightly knit communes on the outskirts of
Kingston. Elders exercised a moral authority, and those who strayed from the
code of conduct had their dreadlocks shorn off.
But Jamaica has an oral tradition, and the elders rarely put anything on
paper, O'Connor said. Furthermore, as Rastas moved up the economic ladder, many
moved out of the communes.
"Most people don't know the roots," said Minnie Phillips, a Rastafarian who
runs an Ethiopian restaurant in Kingston. "Our forefathers were more spiritual.
They weren't interested in money. They did not mix with society."
Peddie denies the faith is waning. Even so, he wants to revitalize the
original teachings by publishing a series of Rasta texts written in the 1930s,
as well as a new manuscript called "The Rastafarian Bible."
But for now, pop culture -- the music, the attitude, and the aura surrounding
the sect -- remains the most effective way of spreading the faith, according to
Sandra Alcott, a Rastafarian lawyer.
"It helps open the door," Alcott said. "We have to take advantage of the
magnetism."
UPne 02/13/93 1911 Parish apologizes for marijuana charges
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (UPI) -- Boston Celtics center Robert Parish on Saturday
apologized to his team and his fans for allegedly having possession of marijuana
at his Weston, Mass. home.
Parish, playing with the Celtics on the road in San Antonio, read a statement
in which he apologized to his team for what he called a "stupid mistake."
"I made a mistake, and I've embarrassed family and friends of mine," Parish
said.
Parish, 39, and a female companion, Heather Graves, 24, of Atlanta, face
arraignment on March 3 in Waltham District Court, on one count each of
possession of marijuana.
If convicted, Parish could face a maximum of six months in prison, and-or a
$500 fine.
Officials say they doubt the nine-time NBA All-Star will be sentenced to
jail, because it is his first offense.
A 2-ounce package of marijuana addressed to Parish was found at a Federal
Express office in San Francisco Wednesday by federal Drug Enforcement
Administration agents.
The unopened package was flown to Massachusetts where another drug- sniffing
police dog confirmed the contents before a warrant was obtained to open it. The
package was then delivered to Graves at Parish's home early Thursday afternoon.
Police returned to the house about 10 minutes later with a search warrant and
found the package inside, along with another 3 ounces of marijuana, a spokesman
for the Middlesex County District Attorney said.
APn 02/13/93 1206 Drug Forfeiture
Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By JOHN ENDERS
Associated Press Writer
MORGAN HILL, Calif. (AP) -- When Carl and Mary Shelden sold their home and
agreed to carry a $160,000 note, they had no idea they were about to be trapped
in a government web that would cost them almost everything they owned.
In 1979, the Sheldens made the mistake of selling their $289,000 house in
Moraga, Calif., to a man later convicted under a federal law that permits the
government to seize his property as the product of his ill-gotten gains.
The fact that the Sheldens had nothing to do with the crimes and were the
legal owners, courtesy of the unpaid mortgage, meant nothing. After a 10-year
court battle, they are virtually bankrupt. They got back the house, but it was
so badly damaged that it made little difference.
"Everything we worked for was in that house," said Carl Shelden, 52, a
disabled shoe salesman. "And this is the United States. We don't know whether we
want to stay in this country anymore."
The Sheldens are not unique. Authorities across the nation are coming under
fire from citizens whose homes, cars, cash and other property were seized in
America's War on Drugs.
Prosecutors and law enforcement officials insist the program, included in the
Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, is helping them fight the drug war.
They say the seizures hurt dealers where it counts -- in the pocketbook.
"This is a very powerful law enforcement weapon," said Cary Copeland, who
heads the Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture at the Justice Department in
Washington, D.C. "We think it is being operated well."
But alleged abuses make big headlines. A small-town Southern sheriff seizes a
Rolls-Royce from a drug dealer and uses it as his personal car. Local police in
Little Compton, R.I., net $3.8 million in a drug bust and outfit their cars with
$1,700 video cameras and heat detection devices for a police force of seven. The
owner of a sailboat loses the craft after a crew member is caught with a small
amount of marijuana.
Since 1985, federal authorities have confiscated almost $3 billion worth of
cash and other property under the 9-year-old federal Asset Forfeiture Program,
according to the U.S. Justice Department. Under federal civil forfeiture
statutes, police may seize money and property presumed to be connected to
illegal drug profits.
But a growing number of critics, including citizens, defense attorneys and
civil rights advocates in California, Missouri, Florida and other states, say
the law violates the U.S. Constitution and a basic tenet of the criminal justice
system.
They say people whose assets are seized are treated as guilty and must prove
themselves innocent to get their property back.
"Once the American public finds out what's been going on under their noses
without them knowing about it, they are going to be horrified," said Brenda
Grantland, a San Francisco attorney who spent 10 years defending forfeiture
victims in Washington, D.C.
Grantland serves as counsel to a group called Forfeiture Endangers American
Rights, or FEAR, with chapters organizing in New Jersey, Virginia, California
and Massachusetts.
"They treated the criminal better than they treated the innocent lienholder
in this case," said Grantland, who is representing the Sheldens in their damage
suit against the government.
Another case involved Jorge Lovato Jr., a computer reseller in Morgan Hill,
Calif., and Rey Sotelo, a motorcycle shop owner in nearby Gilroy. Both have
previous drug convictions, once had ties to a suspected drug dealer and probably
do not elicit much sympathy from most people.
They say they, too, have been victims of a law that is out of control.
In July, agents swept down on Sotelo's home and both men's businesses,
seizing company records and a Harley-Davidson motorcyle for sale on consignment
at Sotelo's bike shop. They later seized $120,000 in cash from a safe-deposit
box rented to Lovato.
Police said they suspected the money was illegal drug proceeds and the
motorcycle was stolen.
Neither Lovato nor Sotelo was charged with a crime.
Lovato said he keeps large amounts of cash available because he deals in cash
purchases. He and Sotelo both think police targeted them because of their former
ties with the key target in the raids -- a man with whom they were partners in a
failed export business.
Five months and $10,000 in lawyers' fees later, Lovato got his money back.
"If you have a good lawyer, you have the power to fight them," he said.
Sotelo, too, is bitter. "I'm not the most desirable person to look at," he said.
"I have tattoos, long hair and drive a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. After this
ordeal, I believe no one is safe in this country."
Lovato says publicity surrounding the raid has hurt his business. And Sotelo
claims the emotional trauma caused his pregnant wife to miscarry the day after
the raid. Both threatened to sue the government.
According to Department of Justice statistics, seizures have increased
dramatically each year since the forfeiture program began. In fiscal year 1991,
the federal government gave $289 million to local and state agencies under the
program.
Although prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, civil
forfeiture can occur when there is probable cause to believe the property was
connected to a crime -- a far less rigorous standard.
Christy A. McCampbell, in charge of the regional office of the California
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, said the law is a great tool for law enforcement
and most people who claim to be innocent are not.
"We don't seize assets unless we can connect the drug dealing to those
amounts of either cash or properties," she said. "If they can show the money was
gained legitimately, then the money is returned."
In the case of Lovato and Sotelo, she said, "We had a lot of evidence
connecting them all, but the district attorney felt there was not a solid enough
connection."
Attorney Dave Michael, who specializes in getting forfeited property returned
to its owners and who represented Lovato last year, said the problem is the law.
"It completely shifts the burden of proof," he said. "Law enforcement just
runs willy-nilly."
This and other cases are part of a wave of opposition to the law that appears
to be sweeping the nation.
Several legislatures are considering changes to their state forfeiture laws,
most of which are modeled after the federal statute.
In September, a hearing before the House Government Operations Committee,
chaired by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., heard testimony from a number of the
law's victims.
Listening to their stories, Conyers said last month that he was "outraged"
and plans further hearings in late February or early March and to eventually
introduce legislation to change the law.
"The cornerstone of our system of justice is a presumption of innocence until
one is proven guilty. As far as I know this is the only part of our criminal
justice system that ignores the presumption of innocence," Conyers said. "The
time has come to change the law."
RTw 02/16/93 0148 Australian farmers given a legal taste of cannabis
Copyright, 1995 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report may
not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior
written consent of Reuters Ltd.
By Belinda Goldsmith
SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuter) - Farmers in South Australia are being told to take
a long, hard, legal stare at cannabis, which is being touted as the most
environmentally sound crop of the 1990s.
South Australia on Thursday became the second of Australia's six states to
give the green light for trial plantings of industrial hemp, which is already
grown in some other countries.
South Australian Health Minister Michael Armitage said the hemp was a close
relative of the marijuana plant but with low doses of the narcotic ingredient
THC and is ideal for making fibre for rope, clothing and paper.
"In due course these trials may pave the way for new primary and processing
industries in this state," Armitage said in a statement on Thursday.
Laws governing marijuana vary between Australian states and territories
from being totally illegal to allowing a person to possess enough for personal
use.
Hemp was widely used around the world until the 1920s for a variety of
purposes, including ship sails, in medicines and as a fuel in lamps. Hemp lost
much of its popularity as the smoking value of the plant sparked anti-drug
campaigns, which eventually saw the plant outlawed in many countries, including
Australia.
Now, Armitage said, the South Australian government, following the lead of
island state of Tasmania, recognises the need for agricultural diversification
where farmers have been fighting one of the nation's worst droughts.
"It (hemp) competes very favourably with cotton as a fibre producing up to
three times more fibre than cotton without the attendant requirement of
intensive irrigation and pest control programmes," Armitage said.
Hemp has been widely hailed as the super crop of the 1990s as no pesticides
or chemicals are used in its growth and the amount of chemicals used in
processing is cut by 80 percent.
Managing Director Marco Bogaers of Australia's largest cannabis clothing
company, Slaam Streetwear, said the plants used to produce cannabis cloth are
genetically altered to promote long woody stems superior for making fibre and
less foliage and seeds and, importantly, less THC..
"The level of THC in the cloth is extremely low, about 0.01 percent, and
you'd have to smoke about five pairs of jeans to feel any effect," Bogaers told
Reuters on Thursday.
"But people have this fear the plant is a drug and would be exploited if
grown commercially," he said.
Bogaers said cannabis cloth is becoming increasingly popular in Australia,
Britain and the United States for jeans and tops.
He said the use of oil from the plant's seeds in cosmetics, shampoo and
even as a fuel was becoming popular.
Slaam, which set up two years ago with a cannabis leaf motif on its
clothing, has an annual turnover of A$2 million (US$1.5 million) and now exports
to Japan and New Zealand.
Bogaers said Slaam imports its cannabis cloth from Hungary and India with
cloth also available from Afghanistan and China, but is looking at investing in
a plantation in Vietnam.
"We use the fact it's made of cannabis as a marketing ploy," Bogaers said,
"and people come and smell it and taste it.
"But really it's just another fabric but stronger and about 15 percent more
expensive than cotton."
REUTER
RTw 02/18/93 0943 BRITISH FARMERS TO GROW CANNABIS -- LEGALLY
LONDON, Feb 18, Reuter - The British government said on Thursday that its
farmers could grow cannabis, as long as it was the variety known as hemp, used
to make rope and paper products.
The Home Office (interior ministry) said this would bring Britain into line
with other European Community farmers who have been cultivating hemp, a member
of the cannabis sativa family, for more than 20 years.
Home Office minister Michael Jack said in a statement that the crop would
be subject to strict licensing controls to minimise the risk of illegal cannibis
cultivation.
He said strains which met EC requirements -- those bred to contain low
narcotic levels -- had been grown in continental Europe for more than 20 years
without any problems.
One British company has already applied for permission to grow hemp.
Farmers will even be able to claim an EC grant of about 250 pounds ($360) an
acre (nearly half a hectare).
REUTER SB PAE
WP 02/18/93 Valentine Day Massacre
By Richard Cohen
NEW YORK - On Feb. 14, 1929, several of Al Capone's gang, some of them
disguised as cops, wheeled into the Chicago garage used as the headquarters of
the rival Bugs Moran organization, simulated a police raid and gunned down seven
men with sub-machine guns as they faced the wall waiting to be frisked. "I'm
gonna send Moran a Valentine he will never forget," Capone had said. Never mind
Moran, it was America that did not forget. The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
remains a staple of gangster lore.
But precisely 64 years later - on yet another Valentine's Day - six people in
the Bronx, all Hispanics, were lined up face down on the floor and shot once in
the head, execution style. Three of the dead were adults, three were teenagers.
In a way, this most recent Saint Valentine's Day massacre was even more horrible
than its Chicago predecessor. It appears that the motive was drugs. It appears
also that only one of the victims was involved in the drug business. The others
were innocent bystanders.
"They probably just didn't want to leave any witnesses," the brother of one
victim told the New York Times.
Maybe my knowledge of American gangsters has been romanticized by Hollywood,
but I doubt even Capone, a sociopath if there ever was one, would have murdered
five innocent bystanders. Many victims of drug battles are innocent bystanders,
including the teenage girlfriend of one of the murder victims. Yet, this
particular massacre was hardly New York's worst. In 1984, 10 people were slain
in Brooklyn's East New York section. It was another holiday: Palm Sunday.
The repeal of Prohibition largely put an end to bootlegging and the
inter-gang warfare for its profits - an estimated $50 million a year to Capone
alone. Now, the lucrative contraband is drugs, and America has made the same
mess of it that it once made of illegal alcohol - by treating it as mostly a
criminal problem. If anything, though, the profits now are even greater, and the
weaponry is both more lethal and more easily available. The consequences of such
a policy are all around us: an incredible toll in lives lost and the corruption
of our youth as they have become inured to violence.
From time to time, someone or some organization questions the logic of such
a policy, and for a moment or two the nation discussed de-criminalizing what are
now illegal drugs. Either that, or someone wonders if we are not placing too
much emphasis on law enforcement and interdiction and not enough on
rehabilitation. Almost always, though, the debate is brief, and the critics are
dismissed as either kooks or cranks. But whether the proposed prescription is
decriminalization (at least, say, of marijuana) or whether it's changing the
funding mix so that education and rehabilitation get more money, the debate is
always short-lived. By framing drug usage mostly in moral terms and invoking
martial metaphors - War on Drugs, for instance - we have produced a debacle.
It's certainly not a success. The availability and usage of drugs fluctuate
- and not, it seems, in relation to any government policy. Worse, the American
system of justice has been corrupted by a national panic about drugs. Laws have
been strengthened to the point where they do violence to the spirit of the
Constitution; Draconian mandatory sentences are handed down for what, sometimes,
are petty offenses; property is seized before trial, as if the guilt of the
suspect was already determined, and politicians casually propose the death
penalty for drug-related crimes - as if drug pushers were not already operating
in an environment where capital punishment, unencumbered by lengthy appeals, is
commonplace.
But maybe the most pernicious aspect of our national drug policy can be
gleaned from two newspapers. The Times played the story of the Bronx massacre on
the front page. But it was a local story and on a slow news day at that. The
Washington Post, by contrast, gave it all the prominence of a bus plunge in
Bangladesh, six paragraphs on page A10. The conclusion is inescapable: We have
become so accustomed to a truly horrific level of violence - especially in the
inner city - that we pay scant attention. (Imagine, though, if six white
suburbanites had been massacred.)
In comparison, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre outraged the nation. The
federal government, spurred by President Hoover, ultimately got Capone on tax
evasion charges, and shortly thereafter Prohibition was repealed. Since
Prohibition, we have tolerated a substantial alcohol-abuse problem, however most
of us see it as a health, not a moral or criminal, problem.
But the most recent Saint Valentine's Day massacre has stirred little
interest and no real outrage - certainly no calls from politicians to reconsider
our national drug policy or even to wonder whether it has contributed to the
incredible violence of our inner cities. Instead, to the tune of about $12
billion a year, the federal government wages a so-called war on drugs in which,
as the Bronx massacre shows, the victims too often are innocent bystanders and
the greatest damage has been done to our capacity for indignation.
RTw 02/18/93 2207 CANADA CALLED HOTHOUSE FOR GOURMET MARIJUANA
By Jon Ferry
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb 19, Reuter - It is widely accepted that
this Canadian port city has one of the most scenic mountain backdrops of any in
the world, but police say Vancouver has a high of another sort -- the world's
most potent marijuana.
They say the basements and spare bedrooms of the community of 1.7 million
house cannabis plants genetically engineered to produce a gourmet drug, the Maui
Wowee of the 1990s, sought up and down North America's west coast.
Police say the average commercial-grade marijuana grown out of doors
contains between two and five per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active
ingredient in marijuana.
But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recently seized marijuana in an
indoor Vancouver "grow house" that had a THC content of 29 per cent. "It's a
phenomenally high rate. I don't know of any that has been higher anywhere in
North America," says Staff Sergeant Jack Dop, a 20-year veteran of the war
against drugs.
Dop says buyers in San Francisco have been trading two pounds (0.9 kg) of
Canadian cannabis for one pound (0.45 kg) of cocaine. "This is the first time
that I've heard of people trading cannabis for cocaine in a major way," he says.
Marijuana now is believed to be British Columbia's biggest single cash crop
and Dop says children as young as 10 are using the powerful new drug, grown with
sophisticated hydroponic gardening methods.
"It's kind of a gateway drug. There are 10-year-old kids who have access to
it. Everybody just throws C$5 (US$4) in for a gram of hydroponic," Dop says.
Dop says the growers "breed" their plants meticulously. They discard the
leaves and stalks, from which cannabis used to be made, and retain the buds.
They pick only female plants which they improve through a cloning process.
The business is hard to police because the artificial lights and beds do
not require much space. "We've even seen marijuana being grown in a covered-over
trench in a backyard," he says.
Sergeant Jens Linde of the Vancouver city drug squad says police have found
warehouses with thousands of plants. "The Vancouver area is known as the hub of
marijuana cultivation in North America. The drug lab says the indoor pot is
triple, quadruple, the THC strength of even the old, good stuff like Maui
Wowee," he says.
One former grower told a local radio station she made C$50,000 (US$40,000)
annually, tax-free, during the four years she ran her basement plantation of 200
smaller plants.
Describing herself as a well-educated, 50-year-old professional, the woman
said most growers are not involved in organised crime. "I wouldn't deal with
people that, you know, have guns or cheat or steal or lie or any of that," she
said.
But Dop believes the woman has seriously underestimated both her profits
and the evil of the marijuana trade. "They're criminals, they're not ageing
hippies. They're not just people growing some dope. Weapons are involved to
protect your crop, to try to collect debts that are owing," he says.
He says marijuana profits are enormous. "You're looking at an average
profit on maturity of C$1,000 (US$800) ) a plant and you can do it (grow a crop)
every three or four months," he says.
Allowing for 10 per cent of the plants to be spoiled, a grower with a
100-plant operation can earn more than C$270,000 (US$215,000) a year, he says.
Criminologist Neil Boyd agrees marijuana-growing is a big local industry.
"There are literally just thousands of people in the city of Vancouver who make
their living from the distribution and growing of marijuana," he says.
But the Simon Fraser University professor disagrees the high-strength pot
is as harmful as police are making it out to be. "There is no evidence the
damage is multiplied," he says.
Boyd says enforcement of anti-drug laws in North America is clouded in
hypocrisy. A high percentage of lawyers, judges and policemen have used
marijuana and know it is benign.
"It's much less dangerous than either alcohol and tobacco," he says.
Boyd says official U.S. figures estimate 350,000 Americans die prematurely
from tobacco and 150,000 from alcohol each year. Fewer than 100 die from
marijuana.
He says that in the Netherlands where marijuana has been decriminalised for
years, casual use has declined. Cannabis possession in Canada is still
punishable by up to seven years in jail and traffickers can receive life in
prison.
In 1991, 27,000 Canadians were charged with simple cannabis possession.
"That's three-quarters of all drug charges. So basically the war on drugs is
fundamentally a war on marijuana possession," he says.
Lincoln Clarkes, a 35-year-old Vancouver photographer, says he has smoked
marijuana since he was 13. "I grow it. I smoke it and I'm not afraid to say so.
Marijuana is less harmful than tobacco and Twinkies (pastry). I think a lot of
people should actually be smoking it. It would straighten them right up," he
says.
Clarkes does not grow his marijuana hydroponically, but has visited a
hydroponic operation and agrees the pot is incredibly strong. "One toke and it's
there," he says.
REUTER JF ZM
UPwe 02/18/93 2006 City official arrested
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Federal authorities arrested the assistant general
manager of San Francisco's Social Services Department and two others Thursday
for their alleged part in a conspiracy to import 40,000 pounds of marijuana from
Southeast Asia.
A DEA spokesman identified the city official as Michael Hancock, 52, who was
taken into custody in his City Hall office. The two others were identified as
Glenn Boisselle, 42, and Paul Leake, 43, both of San Frnacisco. The men face up
to life in prison and a $4 million fine.
The three were among 13 people named in a sealed indictment returned by a
federal grand jury in San Francisco last year.
RTw 02/18/93 1256 COURT UPHOLDS BAN ON MARIJUANA MEDICINAL USE
(Eds: Updates with news conference on potency)
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuter) - A federal appeals court Friday upheld the
Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) decision in refusing to make marijuana
legally available for medical purposes.
In a 3-0 decision written by Judge James Buckley, the court rejected the
challenge by three private groups which had opposed the 1992 decision by the
head of the federal drug enforcement agency to keep marijuana from patients.
The groups -- the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, the Drug Policy
Foundation and the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws -- had
argued that marijuana should be reclassified to allow doctors to legally
prescribe it.
The reform organisation later held a news conference to contradict reports
that the marijuana of the 1990s was more potent than that grown previously.
They said marijuana has eased nausea in cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy, has lessened muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis and has
reduced eye pressure for glaucoma patients.
The groups cited testimony from a number of patients and physicians who
said that marijuana can be used safely and effectively.
The first request by the groups to make marijuana available for medical
purposes was filed in 1972, and the case has produced four previous decisions by
the appeals court.
Buckley in the 12-page opinion rejected the argument that the DEA chief had
been unfairly biased, reflecting the agency's long history of anti-marijuana
prejudice.
He said DEA's decision did not appear unfair on the grounds that there was
only anecdotal evidence rather than rigorous scientific proof supporting the use
of marijuana.
The DEA's decision "recites the testimony of numerous experts that
marijuana's medicinal value has never been proven in sound scientific studies,"
he said.
David Fratello, a spokesman for the Drug Policy Foundation, was unable to
say if the ruling would be appealed, but added, "This puts the ball into the
Clinton administration's court."
He noted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced it would
review the issue and said, "DEA is the wrong agency to make these sorts of
decisions."
Later, Richard Cowan, director of the National Organisation for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws told a news conference that the reports of a more powerful
marijuana result from an alleged government propaganda campaign.
John Morgan, a medical doctor and professor of pharmacology of the City
College of New York, told the news conference that marijuana potency has
remained relatively stable.
Morgan produced a report from the University of Mississippi that has
conducted marijuana potency studies for the U.S. government since the 1970s to
dispute the potency contentions.
The study, Morgan said, shows that of 20,000 samples of seized marijuana
analysed since 1974, the average potency level as measured by a chemical,
delta-9-THC, found in marijuana has been 2.93 percent.
The highest year for potency was 1984 at 3.96 percent and the latest full
year, 1992, was 1.9 percent, Morgan said, displaying the study.
REUTER
[End]
"Why of course the people don't want war... It is the leaders...who determine
the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along...all you
have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for
lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in
any country. -- Hermann Goering
From: (MORRISR@ucs.indiana.edu)
End
Compiled by
Paul Stanford