Compiled by
Paul Stanford
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AAP 12/01/94 NEW ACT CANNABIS LAWS WELCOMED BY PERTH USER
By Judy Hughes of AAP
PERTH, Dec 1 AAP - New laws in the ACT which allow possession of marijuana
for medical purposes were today warmly welcomed by a Perth man who claims he
uses cannabis to prevent severe vomiting attacks.
Gordon Huntley, 43, of the Perth suburb of Balga, said the ACT initiative
was wonderful news which heartened him in his own campaign for the introduction
of similar laws in Western Australia.
He said he knew of hundreds of people in WA who used cannabis to relieve the
symptoms of a variety of medical conditions including multiple sclerosis,
cancer and asthma.
"I'm currently forming a group called the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics
to push for marijuana law reform," he said.
Mr Huntley has a complex medical condition which includes multiple
sclerosis.
He said today he used cannabis about three to four times a day, usually in
the form of a tea, because he found it prevented vomiting attacks and helped
stimulate his appetite.
"If I don't use it, over a period of time I start getting these severe
vomiting attacks," he said.
"I stopped using it for about six months and my weight dropped two and a
half stone and I ended up in hospital."
Mr Huntley said he grows marijuana plants for personal use and has had his
home raided by police seven times in the past four years.
He said he had been fined a total of more than $1,000 after being convicted
six times and was due to face court again on January 5 on the seventh charge.
Mr Huntley said the raids were very stressful for him, particularly in view
of his deteriorating health.
He said he had tried other medical treatments to relieve his problem with
vomiting, but they had either failed or had serious side effects.
"With one I lost total bowel control and it was just really difficult for me
to go out," he said.
Mr Huntley said he had used marijuana for 25 years and had not suffered any
side effects from it.
He staged a five-day hunger strike in October as part of his campaign to
press the state government for laws which provided legal access to cannabis for
those with serious medical conditions.
The ACT's Legislative Assembly passed legislation yesterday allowing people
to grow up to five marijuana plants or possess up to 25 grams of marijuana for
medicinal purposes under certain conditions.
AAP jlh/jn/de
AAP 12/01/94 NSW MP CALLS FOR MATCHING CANNABIS LEGISLATION
SYDNEY, Dec 1 AAP - A New South Wales MP today called for the state
government to match the ACT's new marijuana laws, which allows people to
possess the drug for medical purposes.
Upper House Democrats MP Richard Jones said the ACT's lead gave "a
marvellous opportunity" for additional research to be done on the effects of
marijuana prescribed for certain conditions.
He said he was encouraged to see the Liberals combining with the
Independents in the ACT to have the new law passed.
"It is now time for the NSW parliament to look at the legislation and pass a
similar law to enable a legal, controlled study to ascertain the effects of
cannabis on people who are ill and suffering," Mr Jones said.
The ACT's Legislative Assembly yesterday passed legislation allowing people
to grow up to five marijuana plants or possess up to 25 grams of marijuana for
medicinal purposes under certain conditions.
Under the new law, proposed by ACT Independent MP Michael Moore, GPs can
prescribe marijuana for individual patients if they consider there is a
clinical need.
The doctor must keep research notes and make a case report.
Mr Moore said the move was good news for people who relied on cannabis to
arrest blindness caused by glaucoma and for treating nausea caused by
chemotherapy, muscle spasms from muscular disorders and the symptoms of AIDS.
AAP mm/kr/dmb
APn 12/03/94 Marijuana Festival
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- It had all the feel of an old-fashioned state
fair, as growers entered contests for the best crop and traded farming tips
while others attended fashion shows and pop music concerts.
But in this case the crop was marijuana, and the celebration was equal parts
trade fair and drug festival.
Named for the potent marijuana developed and grown in the Netherlands -- a
nation known for high-tech agricultural techniques -- the second annual
Netherweed Festival Friday drew about 2,000 visitors.
The sale and possession of both hard and soft drugs in small quantities are
non-prosecutable offenses in the Netherlands, although technically still
illegal. Police prefer to concentrate on arresting large-scale traffickers.
Ed Rosenthal, a self-proclaimed "marijuana expert" from Oakland, Calif., was
invited to the festival to give a speech on growing techniques.
When he arrived, there was no microphone and no projector for his slides, but
he didn't seem to mind.
"Get me a chair to stand on and a joint, pure marijuana with hashish, and
we'll be alright," he told the organizers.
APn 12/06/94 Australia-Marijuana
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia's capital territory on Tuesday reversed
a decision to legalize the therapeutic use of marijuana.
Last week's vote prompted a storm of protest from federal officials and
police who accused lawmakers of going soft on drugs.
The law would have allowed doctors in the Canberra area to prescribe
marijuana in small amounts for therapeutic use. On Tuesday legislators in the
territory restricted the law to doctors undertaking research.
Independent lawmaker Michael Moore called the amendment shameless
politicking.
"We were only exempting from a $100 ($US 76) fine under the strictest of
conditions people who were dying of AIDS or who had cancer or who were going
blind," Moore said.
UPs 12/08/94 Lawn
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Jack Lawn announced his resignation Thursday as
chief of operations of the New York Yankees.
Lawn, who was head of the Drug Enforcement Agency during the Bush
administration, will become chairman and chief executive officer of the Century
Council, a non-profit anti-alcohol abuse organization based in Los Angeles.
Lawn had been the Yankees' vice president and chief of operations for the
past five years and was in charge of the club's business activities.
UPn 12/08/94 Reno: No evidence on drug allegations
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday she has
no information that would back up allegations by House Speaker-elect Newt
Gingrich that one-quarter of the White House staff has used drugs within the
last five years.
Gingrich, who said he based his allegations on a conversation with an unnamed
"senior law enforcement official," made the comment during an interview last
Sunday on the NBC News television program "Meet the Press."
Reno said she had not received any information that would support the claim,
and "I don't have any insight into Speaker Gingrich's comment." But Reno added
she was sure the Justice Department would be hearing from Gingrich if he has any
specific information to convey.
Gingrich made the comment after being questioned on his earlier
characterization of President Clinton and the first lady as members of the
"counterculture."
The incoming House speaker conceded that, like Clinton, he had smoked
marijuana more than 20 years ago, but "that just meant I was alive and a
graduate student."
Gingrich pointed to delays in granting security clearances to White House
staff as supporting the drug use claim.
Reno said Thursday that the clearance delays by the FBI were caused by the
Democratic administration filling an unusually large number of positions after
12 years of Republican control of the executive branch.
Reno said the administration also was trying to fill 113 federal judgeships
left over from the Bush administration.
"The FBI had a lot to do," she said.
(Written by Michael Kirkland in Washington)
RTw 12/08/94 Japanese man seeks new trial in Philippines
BACOLOD, Philippines, Dec 8 (Reuter) - A Japanese businessman sentenced to
death in the Philippines for drug trafficking says he was framed and will seek a
new trial, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Hideshi Suzuki, the first foreigner sentenced to die since the Philippines
revived capital punishment earlier this year, was convicted by a court in
central Bacolod city on Wednesday of transporting 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) of dried
marijuana leaves.
Suzuki's lawyer, Ernesto Treyes, told reporters he had at least two new
witnesses who could prove the marijuana that police said they seized from the
Suzuki last April at Bacolod airport belonged to someone else.
"We are up against a formidable group," he said. He did not elaborate.
Treyes did not say why the witnesses were not presented in the just-ended
trial.
Suzuki was the 15th person sentenced to death under the new law. The others
were all Filipinos.
REUTER
UPn 12/08/94 Chernobyl zone yields drugs
By KIRILL KOKTYSH
MINSK, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The restricted radiation zone around the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant has proved to be fertile ground for growing drugs, the
Belarus Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine just across the border from Belarus, was the
site of the world's worst nuclear accident in April 1986, suffering a near
meltdown after a fire and explosion that spewed radiation over a wide area of
Europe and left the land around the power plant poisoned and sealed off in a
restricted zone.
Marijuana growers sneaked into the zone and cultivated a crop which they
apparently thought was safely away from the watchful eye of the authorities who
manned checkpoints leading to the Chernobyl zone.
"The Belarus side of the Chernobyl zone is strictly guarded only on the
roads," acknowledged Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei Pivanov. "We can't
keep many people at the place. That's really dangerous for health. We are not
able to block all the way from the forest."
And so people looking for empty fields and abandoned garden plots to sow
their illicit crop managed to slip into the zone and reap a harvest of hot
hashish, poisioned poppy plants and marijuana made in the shadow of Chernobyl.
The Interior Ministry said it conducted a four-month surveillance operation
followed by a crackdown that netted hundreds of suspects and whole fields of
drugs growing in a zone declared off limits for health and safety reasons.
Poppies and their opium product and marijuna were confiscated, and large
areas of planted fields were destroyed, Pivanov said in revealing details of
what the Interior Ministry called Operation Poppy and Operation Doping,
conducted in a 19-mile (30 km) zone around Chernobyl and concluded last month.
The drugs are presumed to be high in radiation since they were grown so close
to Chernobyl in an area deemed unsafe, abandoned by its residents and sealed off
as a danger zone. The drugs were believed to be destined for European markets,
according to the Interior Ministry.
The Chernobyl drug field cases have contributed to a four-fold jump in
criminal cases in Belarus this year, Pivanov said. He noted that of the 1,900
drug trafficking cases filed nationwide this year, 1,365 are in court in Gomel,
a city in southeastern Belarus whose district includes the Chernobyl zone to the
south. He said prosecutors were still working on the cases and he could not say
how many people would be charged criminally in connection with the Chernobyl
drug fields.
Although Belarus authorities suggested that some of the drug farmers may have
slipped into the off-limits zone from the Ukraine side, Ukrainian drug
enforcement officials said they were unaware of the Belarus operation and that
their regular flyovers revealed no such similar activity on Ukrainian lands
around Chernobyl.
Unrelated to the Chernobyl drug connection, Belarus said there is a growing
problem of drugs crossing its borders from the east as Central Asia residents
pass through allegedly bringing drugs grown in their home countries to Europe,
using Russia, Belarus, Ukraine or the Baltics as transit points, though the
former Soviet republics are starting to reinforce their international borders.
And some former residents of the region, mainly the elderly, have been
trickling back to homes in the off-limits zone, homes abandoned in the aftermath
of the Chernobyl accident, returning to live and grow vegetables in their garden
plots.
UPma 12/10/94 Man charged in officers' deaths
GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio, Dec. 10 -- A Warrensville Heights man was charged
Friday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated vehicular
homicide in the deaths of two Garfield Heights police officers.
Anthony Taylor, 26, is being held on $200,000 bond in Garfield Heights City
Jail. He was arrested after a tip led police officers to a home, where Taylor
was hiding in the basement. Police investigators said he had a small amount of
marijuana, a pager and $285 in cash on him.
Patrolman Robert Stefanov and Michael Brown died early Thursday in a crash
that occurred while they were allegedly chasing Taylor. Their cruiser, driven by
Stefanov, hit a car while going through an intersection and flipped over. The
roof of the patrol car was smashed against two utility poles, trapping the
officers inside. It took nearly an hour to remove their bodies from the
wreckage.
Police Chief Thomas Murphy said their investigation would be completed
Monday, but noted the officers did not violate the department's pursuit policy.
Stefanov, 30, had been a patrolman for five years; Brown, 26, for four years.
UPn 12/12/94 Teen survey: Marijuana, cocaine use up
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Marijuana use by teenagers increased nationwide
this year, while one out of every 30 eighth graders has at least tried cocaine,
according to the annual Monitoring the Future Survey released Monday.
It was the third straight year the survey of 8th, 10th and 12th grade
students has shown an increase in marijuana use after a decline in the late
1980s.
The survey indicates that cocaine use, though used much less than marijuana,
increased this year among 8th and 10th graders.
Survey results were announced at the Department of Health and Human Services
by HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, national drug policy director Lee Brown and
Education Secretary Richard Riley.
The survey also indicated that anti-drug attitudes among teenagers are
deteriorating, officials said.
HHS is developing a marijuana prevention campaign aimed at younger audiences
to combat the increase in use, Shalala said, because studies show most drug use
starts with marijuana.
HHS also released a survey from the Drug Abuse Warning Network that showed an
8 percent increase in drug-related emergency room visits by all ages in 1993 for
such incidents as drug overdoses, suicide attempts and drug-related diseases.
The DAWN survey showed no significant changes in several categories,
including cocaine-related emergency room cases, but showed a 31 percent increase
in heroin-related cases, a 22 percent increase in marijuana/hashish cases and a
53 percent increase in "speed" or methampethamine cases.
In contrast, the Monitoring the Future Survey found that among 1994's high
school seniors, 30.7 percent said they had tried marijuana at least once in the
last year, compared to 26 percent of 1993's seniors and 21.9 percent of 1992's.
But the figures remained lower than the survey's historic highs from 1979
(50.8 percent) through 1985 (an average of 40 percent).
The MFS also found:
-- 45.6 percent of high school seniors had used an illicit drug at least once
in their lifetimes, up from 42.9 percent in 1993 (but less than the peak of 65.6
percent in 1981).
-- After remaining static in 1992 and 1993, the portion of high school
seniors who have used cocaine sometime during their lifetimes rose for 8th and
10th graders, but essentially staying the same for 12th graders.
-- The percentage of 8th graders who used cocaine at least once increased
from 2.9 percent in 1993 to 3.6 percent in 1994, and for 10th graders from 3.6
to 4.3 percent. Crack cocaine usage also increased for 8th graders. Those using
crack at least once rose from 1.7 to 2.4 percent over the past year.
-- The percentage of 8th, 10th and 12th graders who perceive cocaine to be
harmful decreased from 62.8 percent in 1991 to 54.5 percent this year.
-- Use of hallucinogens among 10th graders increased from 6.8 to 8.1 percent
from 1993 to 1994.
-- Following a long period of decline, alcohol use remained the same among
seniors in 1994.
The MFS was conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social
Research, under a grant from HHS's National Institute on Drug Abuse. The Drug
Abuse Warning Network survey is based on reports from hospital emergency rooms.
The MFS survey of high school seniors has been conducted annually since 1975,
while 8th and 10th graders were added in 1991.
(Written by Michael Kirkland in Washington)
PA 12/14/94 CANNABIS: THE FACTS
By Teilo Colley, PA News
Cannabis is Britain's most popular soft drug and if its supporters had their
way it would be perfectly legal to light up in public.
:: Cannabis sativa -- also known as Indian hemp, marijuana, pot, tea, weed,
hash, ganja, dope, Mary Jane and countless other nicknames -- is a hardy plant
which grows all over the world and has been in use for thousands of years,
though mainly for making rope rather than smoking.
:: The ingredient which gives users the high is tetrahydrocannibol (THC). The
dried or compressed plant is smoked and, depending on the THC content, induces a
mildly euphoric state.
:: Its supporters claim it is non-addictive and virtually harmless, but
detractors argue that it can impair judgement and lead to harder drugs.
:: Earlier this year, the Home Secretary angered the pro-pot lobby by
increasing fines for possession. His decision also surprised some police forces,
which routinely give just a caution for possession of small amounts.
:: The decriminalisation debate is not new -- on 24 July 1967, 65 prominent
people signed an advertisement in The Times calling for cannabis legalisation.
:: Former Beatle Paul McCartney, a signatory who some years later was deported
from Japan for being in possession, says of pot: "It's a whole lot less harmful
than whisky, rum punch, nicotine and glue."
:: Earlier this year Germany's Supreme Court ruled that possession of small
amounts was not a punishable offence, bringing the country into line with
Holland, which has long tolerated its use and where it is the sixth most
important greenhouse crop.
:: A survey carried out by Time Out magazine last year found that 97% of all
25-year-olds in London had used marijuana. Police say that its cultivation in
Britain is widespread and increasing.
:: Some doctors believe cannabis can help sufferers of a variety of medical
conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and glaucoma.
RTna 01/12/95 Dutch govt to lodge protest over U.S. drug report
THE HAGUE (Reuter) - The Dutch government said Thursday its embassy in
Washington would lodge a protest over a U.S. government report that it said
grossly misrepresented the country's drugs policy.
A report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that said
Dutch authorities condoned the street trade in drugs was described by Foreign
Minister Hans van Mierlo as a "blatant violation of the facts."
"We have instructed our embassy in Washington to point out our opinion of
the report to the U.S. authorities," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman.
The DEA report was entitled "How to hold your own in a drug legalization
debate."
Drugs are illegal in the Netherlands, but the sale of cannabis in
euphemistically named "coffee shops" is tolerated and the possession of small
quantities of heroin and cocaine allowed for personal use.
The Dutch claim this liberal approach has helped contain the number of its
addicts. But France and other countries have heavily criticised Dutch policy,
saying it encourages drug use.
REUTER
UPn 01/16/95 Parental oversight lowers drug risk
DETROIT, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Children whose parents are home or reachable after
school, and who enforce nighttime curfews, are less likely to experiment with
tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs, a study said Monday.
The study conducted by a researcher at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital tracked
the drug-related behavior of 900 third- and fourth-graders in Baltimore.
It concluded that parental monitoring, even among single parents, improved
chances that youngsters would steer clear of drugs.
The study was published in the January issue of The American Journal of
Epidemiology.
"This is the first study that indicates that parents who develop and maintain
consistent guidelines for their children, and make an effort to know where they
are and what they're doing, have an opportunity to prevent their children from
starting drug use at very early ages," said Howard D. Chilcoat, study author and
researcher at the hospital's Department of Psychiatry.
Previous research has suggested early drug use increases the risk of drug
problems later in life as well as involvement in delinquent activities, Chilcoat
said.
More than 900 students in grades three and four, between ages 8 and 10, were
interviewed in 1989 and 1990 for the latest study. They were asked about
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and inhalants.
None of the students tried drugs before the first interview. But 4.2 percent
said they had tried drugs or tobacco by 1990.
Among those interviewed, Chilcoat said, 2.7 percent reported using tobacco
and 1.5 percent used alcohol. Less than 1 percent used inhalants, marijuana or
cocaine, but nearly 2 percent reported use of more than one of the items.
At the start of the study, children were asked about parental supervision,
including after-school and weekend curfews; the presence of an adult within an
hour after the child came home after school; and if the child knew how to
contact parents after they came home from school.
Chilcoat said the study found high levels of parent monitoring in 1989 was
linked to a lower risk for drug sampling over the next year. The children with
the highest level of parental monitoring showed the lowest incidence of drug
use, he said.
Also, the relationship between monitoring and risk of drug sampling did not
change in single-parent families. Although children from single- parent families
reported lower levels of parental monitoring, the incidence of drug sampling did
not differ in single-parent versus two- parent families.
PR 01/16/95 STUDY FINDS PARENTAL MONITORING AFFECTS KID'S EARLY
DETROIT, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents who monitor their child's behavior
and whereabouts reduce the likelihood of the child sampling drugs at an early
age, according to a study published in the January issue of The American Journal
of Epidemiology.
"Recent research suggests that early drug use is linked to a greater risk of
later drug problems as well as involvement in delinquent activities," said
Howard D. Chilcoat, Sc.D., author of the study and a researcher in the
Department of Psychiatry at Henry Ford Hospital. "This is the first study that
indicates that parents who develop and maintain consistent guidelines for their
children and make an effort to know where they are and what they're doing have
an opportunity to prevent their children from starting drug use at very early
ages."
More than 900 Baltimore-area elementary students in grades three and four
(8-10 years old) were interviewed in 1989 and again in 1990 about their use of
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and inhalants. None of the students in the
study had sampled drugs at the time of the first interview. However, in 1990,
4.2 percent said they had tried drugs. The most frequently mentioned drug was
tobacco, with 2.7 percent of all children in the sample using it, followed by
alcohol (1.5 percent), inhalants (0.8 percent), marijuana (0.5 percent) and
cocaine (0.1 percent). Almost two percent reported use of more than one of
these drugs.
At the start of the study, children were asked about the supervision they
experienced at home and the extent to which parents monitored activities and
behavior outside the school environment.
Among the factors included in the report were:
Established rules about when the child should come home after school or on
weekend nights.
The presence of adult supervision within one hour of the child going home
after school.
If the child knew how to contact parents if they were not at home after
school
The study found high levels of parent monitoring in 1989 signaled subsequent
lower risk for drug sampling. The children with the highest amount of parent
monitoring showed the lowest incidence of drug use. When variables such as sex,
age, minority status, level of affiliation with drug using peers and level of
antisocial behavior were considered, the relationship between parent monitoring
and drug sampling remained significant.
Also, the relationship between monitoring and risk of drug sampling did not
change in single-parent families. Even though children from single-parent
families reported lower levels of parent monitoring, the incidence of drug
sampling did not differ in single-parent versus two-parent families.
"Changes in parent monitoring also were related to drug sampling," said Dr.
Chilcoat. "Although it is normal for parent monitoring to decline as children
mature from middle childhood to adolescence, this study indicates that the more
parent monitoring declines, the higher the risk for starting drug use."
-0- 1/16/95
UPma 01/18/95 Marijuana defendant commits suicide
GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A local and state investigation was
underway into the apparent suicide of Keith Wise, 38, of Las Vegas, who shot
himself Tuesday in front of his lawyer's office.
Wise was dead at the scene in the suburban Columbus community one hour before
he was expected to plead guilty to two federal conspiracy charges -- conspiracy
to distribute more than a ton of marijuana and conspiracy to launder money.
Kevin Durkin, Wise's lawyer, discovered his client's body as he walked to his
office from a parking lot. Wise appeared to be shot in his head and a handgun
was on the ground under one of Wise's legs.
Grandview City Attorney Brian Cook said the death is being investigated by
city police detectives, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation, and the Franklin County coroner's office.
Wise was one of 19 people, including Upper Arlington businessman Robert Hill,
indicted in August in connection with a gang that allegedly smuggled more than
three tons of marijuana to Columbus from Tucson, Ariz., during a five-year
period ended in October 1993.
Hill, the alleged ringleader of the smuggling operation, faces up to life in
prison after pleading guilty last week to a drug kingpin charge and one count of
conspiracy to launder money.
DJ 01/18/95 Drug Comeback: One Sad Trend Lost In Shuffle
By Gerald F. Seib
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The new Congress isn't exactly short of things to do, but here's one task
crying out for attention: putting a stop to the backsliding underway in the
national war against drugs.
Subtly, almost imperceptibly, drug use is creeping back up among America's
youth. Worse yet, all the warning signs of bigger problems ahead are flashing.
Use of marijuana, often a precursor of cocaine use, is up sharply among teens.
Simultaneously, young people's perception that drugs are risky is declining, an
attitude change that usually forecasts an actual upturn in drug use.
At least one powerful voice is trying to persuade the new,
Republican-controlled Congress to fix its eyes on this troubling picture. The
voice belongs to William Bennett, the former drug czar, who has been pressing
new GOP members to get drugs onto at least their second 100 days' agenda. His
message, Mr. Bennett says, is simply this: "You cannot ignore it."
In truth, though, ignoring the problem is what a lot of people, in Congress
and out, have been doing. Consequently, the country is in a position roughly
akin to that of a drug abuser who may appear to be recovering but who actually
is in grave danger of a relapse.
Over the last few years, it was possible to conclude that, outside of the
inner cities, broader American society had finally turned the tide in its long
battle against illegal drugs. Studies by the University of Michigan Institute
for Social Research, for instance, showed that drug use among high school
seniors declined gradually but steadily through the second half of the 1980s and
into the 1990s. Not coincidentally, perceptions that regular drug use was risky
rose through the same period.
Now, those comforting trendlines have turned. The University of Michigan
research shows that illicit drug use has been rising, slowly but clearly, among
eighth and 10th graders and high school seniors in each of the last two years.
Particularly alarming was the rise found in the use of marijuana. Over the past
two to three years, the share of students reporting use of marijuana at least
once in the past year has doubled among eighth graders, grown by two-thirds
among 10th graders, and jumped by 40% among high school seniors.
The rise in marijuana use is particularly troubling, because historical trends
show that marijuana is a "gateway" drug often leading to other drugs. Recent
studies by Columbia University's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, or
CASA, document a link between marijuana, as well as alcohol and tobacco, and
later cocaine use. To put a grim human face on the latest statistics, CASA
estimates that the jump in youthful marijuana use means 820,000 more young
Americans will try cocaine in their lifetime, and that 58,000 of them will
become regular cocaine users as adults.
Why is this happening? The best guess is the broadest one. The country is
letting down its collective guard.
For starters, society generally has stopped pounding home the theme that drugs
are dangerous, meaning that a whole new set of young Americans isn't getting the
same kind of clear signal their older brothers and sisters did. "The message is
getting mixed," frets Joseph Califano, the former health, education and welfare
secretary and CASA's chairman. "It's everything from the fact that we're
starting to see pot come back to the movies and the music business, which are
incredibly important to young people, to the fact that Jocelyn Elders is sending
out an ambiguous message."
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-18-95
6 23 AM
RTna 01/20/95 Canadian province to study decriminalizing drugs
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuter) - The Canadian province of British
Columbia said Friday it would look into decriminalizing some drugs like heroin
under certain circumstances in an attempt to combat overdose deaths.
The province's chief coroner, Vince Cain, proposed not prosecuting users
for possessing some drugs and perhaps even providing heroin to some hardened
addicts. His ideas were outlined in a report released Friday on reducing drug
deaths.
"I am recommending the decriminalization of simple possession of specific
'soft' and 'hard' drugs. ... I am suggesting the possibility of providing heroin
to seriously addicted people in a paramedical model," Cain said.
Such moves may reduce drug-related crime and trafficking and encourage
addicts to enter treatment programs, he said.
Such an approach, which treats drug addiction as a health problem rather
than a crime, has been tried elsewhere, including the Netherlands and Liverpool,
England, Cain said.
Overdose deaths have soared in British Columbia on Canada's Pacific Coast
due to an influx of extremely pure heroin from Asia.
Illegal drug use is the leading cause of death in the province for people
between 30 and 44 years old, and heroin was involved in 90 percent of those
deaths in 1993, Cain said.
Cain did not name the drugs he wants decriminalized and said they should be
determined through further study.
Marijuana and hashish are commonly considered soft drugs, while cocaine and
heroin are usually classified as hard drugs.
Government officials announced the creation of a task force to explore the
proposals, and officials said they planned to discuss them with counterparts in
Canada's federal and provincial governments.
"This represents a significant shift in social policy which cannot be
undertaken without national consensus," said British Columbia health minister
Paul Ramsey.
REUTER
APn 01/20/95 Tattletale Son
PONTOTOC, Miss. (AP) -- A 5-year-old home from school with the chicken pox
called 911 five times and got his pot-smoking mother busted.
"The boy was so proud of himself," Sheriff Randy Roberts said Thursday. "He
was tickled to death at what he'd done."
Authorities got five emergency calls in nine minutes on Wednesday afternoon
from the child's home. The caller hung up the first three times, but the 911
system showed where the call came from.
"Then on the fourth call the dispatcher told him that a car was being sent
out to check on him and he said, `Don't send the law,'" Roberts said. "Then he
called a fifth time and hung up again."
Deputies said they arrived at the house and found the woman smoking
marijuana. Her son showed them where to find a small amount of the drug hidden
under a couch, police said.
The mother, whose name wasn't released, faced misdemeanor drug charges. The
child was being cared for by relatives.
RTec 01/22/95 Dutch minister proposes regulating soft drugs
AMSTERDAM, Jan 22 (Reuter) - The Dutch government is considering the
regulation of soft drugs supplied to the country's "coffee shops," where the
buying of marijuana and hashish is tolerated, the Justice Ministry said on
Sunday.
A spokeswoman confirmed comments made by the justice minister in the press
on Saturday, but emphasised that the Netherlands was not proposing the
legalisation of drugs.
"There has been some exaggeration in the media, but the minister is only
proposing regulation and she must have talks with the public prosecutor and
health ministry," she said.
The Dutch tolerate the buying and smoking of small quantities of soft drugs
in the hundreds of coffee shops spread throughout the Netherlands, but the
supply of these drugs is still illegal.
"We must get over the hypocrisy of what is not allowed in front of the (the
coffee shop) door and what is tolerated behind it. It may have worked well in
the seventies, but now it is getting out of hand," justice minister Winnie
Sorgdrager told the de Volkskrant newspaper.
Sordrager said she was looking at the possibility of the state regulating
the supply and production of soft drugs within the Netherlands, which currently
attracts criminal gangs.
"It should be possible to differentiate between what is produced within the
Netherlands and what is produced abroad," she said.
A spokesman for the coffee shops estimated, during an interview on Dutch
television on Saturday, that about half the soft drugs consumed are produced
domestically.
He said there were about 600,000 "regular" users of marijuana and hashish
in the country and around 400,000 "occasional" users.
French authorities have strongly criticised liberal Dutch drugs policies
arguing that they promote drug consumption and criminality. REUTER
DJ 01/23/95 High Court To Hear Case Of Ex-Prisoner Who Accused Quayle
By Paul M. Barrett
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of a former federal
prison inmate who claims that just before the November 1988 election he was
illegally prevented from publicizing his allegation that years earlier he had
sold marijuana to Dan Quayle.
The high court said Friday it would review a preliminary procedural question
in Brett Kimberlin's civil lawsuit against the former director of the federal
Bureau of Prisons. The prison official, J. Michael Quinlan, ordered that Mr.
Kimberlin be held in special detention rather than being allowed to communicate
with journalists.
The case, which is expected to be decided by July, won't address the merits of
the drug-sale allegation, which former Vice President Quayle has denied and
which hasn't been otherwise substantiated.
In November 1988, journalists learned that Mr. Kimberlin, then in a U.S.
prison in Oklahoma on drug and explosives violations, was claiming that he sold
marijuana to Mr. Quayle in the early 1970s when Mr. Quayle was a law student.
The prison warden set up a group interview with media organizations. But after
the Bush/Quayle campaign expressed dismay over the situation, Mr. Quinlan
ordered the press conference canceled and had Mr. Kimberlin placed in a special
detention cell.
Mr. Kimberlin, who has since been paroled, sued Mr. Quinlan, claiming that the
official had violated his constitutional right to free speech. A federal judge
here ruled at a preliminary stage that the suit could go forward. But the
federal appeals court here reversed that ruling and ordered the suit dismissed.
The appeals court set a tough standard for such a suit to avoid early
dismissal: Even before trial, the appeals court said, the plaintiff must provide
"direct evidence" of government officials' intent to violate constitutional
rights.
Mr. Kimberlin appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. The Clinton
administration, asked by the justices for its views, had urged them to use the
case to decide whether direct, as opposed to circumstantial, evidence is
required for such suits to go to trial.
If Mr. Kimberlin wins the case it could go back to the trial court at a time
that could be embarrassing for Mr. Quayle's plans to run for president next
year. The truth of Mr. Kimberlin's allegation against Mr. Quayle wouldn't be an
issue in the trial, however.
(Kimberlin vs. Quinlan)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-23-95
6 18 AM
UPne 01/23/95 Marijuana target of new ad campaign
By TRACY CONNOR
NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Pot. Hashish. Mary Jane. Cannabis. Whatever you
call it, marijuana is the target of a new nationwide public service advertising
campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
At a news conference in Manhattan Monday, partnership officials said studies
have shown that marijuana use by teenagers has risen sharply over the last two
years and positive perceptions of the drug are growing among youth.
"After years of progress and a very dramatic reduction in drug use, a
reversal is now occurring," said partnership Chairman James Burke, who was
flanked by Lee Brown, director of the White House Office on National Drug
Control Policy.
"Leading national indicators suggest a marijuana crisis is now emerging,"
Burke said, introducing seven new television spots.
Dr. Lloyd Johnstone of the University of Michigan, who conducts yearly
surveys of teenagers on drug use, said that although marijuana use declined
steadily between 1979 and 1991, it has doubled among eighth-graders in the last
two years.
Thirteen percent of eighth graders surveyed in 1994 admitted using the drug
in the previous 12 months, up from 6.5 percent in 1992, when the increase began
to be seen. In addition, use among 10th graders was up to 25 percent in 1994
from 15 percent in 1992. And among 12th graders, usage rose to 31 percent in
1994 from 22 percent two years before.
He said the current crop of teenagers faces different attitudes toward
marijuana than in the '70s, when use among minors peaked at 50.8 percent. Many
parents of today's teens used the drug; some popular rap and rock groups
encourage its use; and the five-point marijuana leaf has become a popular design
motif.
"I think it's unlikely things are going to get better in the near future," he
said. "They'll get worse before they get better again."
Allen Rosenshine, chairman of BBDO Worldwide, a noted advertising firm,
created the anti-marijuana advertising campaign at no cost to the partnership,
which is a non-profit coalition of representatives from the communications
industry and anti-drug activists.
He said the creative team behind the ads had to consider several obstacles:
teenagers' perception that most of their peers smoke pot and that marijuana will
help them cope with the daily problems of life, and the common knowledge that
marijuana will not cause any immediate, direct harm to the user.
Instead, the youngsters in the ads talk about their increasing dependence on
marijuana, its role as a "gateway" to harder drugs, and the impact on their
lives.
The campaign does not use any of the slogans the partnership is best known
for, such as the "This is your brain on drugs," line that accompanied a shot of
a messily fried egg.
Allen St. Pierre, deputy national director for the National Organization for
Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that although his group supports legalization for
adults only, the partnership's newest campaign is "misguided."
"You have to ask why they are devoting their enormous resources to a campaign
on teens and marijuana when they could be focusing on crack, cocaine, tobacco or
alcohol, all of which are killing people right now," he said.
Since March 1987, volunteers for the partnership have created over 400 ads,
and the value of air time and print space donated to the group is over $1.7
billion.
AAP 01/24/95 MAIN STORIES IN COURIER-MAIL
BRISBANE, Jan 24 AAP - Main stories in today's Courier-Mail, first edition:
PAGE 1: The state government has sanctioned the clinical use of a derivative
of cannabis (local, exclusive).
AAP 01/24/95 CLINICAL USE OF CANNABIS DERIVATIVE SANCTIONED: REPORT
BRISBANE, Jan 24 AAP - The Queensland government had sanctioned the clinical
use of a derivative of cannabis, according to Brisbane's Courier-Mail.
A new drug called dronabinol, which was identical to cannabis, was given to
a seriously ill AIDS patient late last year, the paper said.
The paper said the permission to prescribe the new drug ended years of
caution about using cannabis and similar drugs for medical treatment.
Health Department public health director Gerry Murphy was quoted as saying
the state could authorise future use on a case-by-case basis while the federal
government considered approving dronabinol.
In the report he said the drug, created synthetically, was used to treat the
nausea suffered by AIDS patients to allow them to eat and gain weight.
AAP hig/srw
End
Compiled by
Paul Stanford