CIA Pursued Anti-Drug Ties, Despite Possible Links To Cartels LIMA, Peru -- The CIA paid the Peruvian intelligence organization run by fallen spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos $1 million a year for 10 years to fight drug trafficking, despite evidence that Montesinos was also in business with Colombia's big drug cartels, Knight Ridder has learned. Montesinos, in jail near Lima on corruption charges, is now dragging the CIA into his legal battles, asking Peruvian court officials to interrogate two CIA officers as part of his defense against charges that he helped smuggle guns to guerrillas who allegedly provide protection to drug cartels. [continues 1271 words]
Colombia: Some Say The Herbicides Are Sickening Farmers And Poisoning Rivers BOGOTA, Colombia A fleet of planes and helicopters took off from a southwestern airfield Tuesday to resume aerial spraying of drug crops, part of U.S.-backed eradication efforts. Bogota Judge Gilberto Reyes had ordered on Friday that the fumigation be suspended until the Colombian government responds to health and environmental concerns, but his office clarified Tuesday that the suspension applies only to Indian lands in the Amazon rainforest. Anti-narcotics chief Gen. Gustavo Socha then said he ordered the fumigation to continue in accordance with the judge's decision. [continues 279 words]
Courts City Attorneys Pursue Appeals To Jail Drug Offenders Caught With Paraphernalia The Anaheim City Attorney's Office is taking a tougher stance on Proposition 36 cases than most jurisdictions, saying that misdemeanor offenders caught with paraphernalia as well as drugs do not qualify for drug treatment under the initiative. The city's tough interpretation is spurring complaints from supporters of the initiative, which took effect July 1. They say the clear intent of the law is to put nonviolent drug offenders in rehab, not behind bars. [continues 186 words]
City Attorneys Pursue Appeals To Jail Drug Offenders Caught With Paraphernalia. The Anaheim City Attorney's Office is taking a tougher stance on Proposition 36 cases than most jurisdictions, saying that misdemeanor offenders caught with paraphernalia as well as drugs do not qualify for drug treatment under the initiative. The city's tough interpretation is spurring complaints from supporters of the initiative, which took effect July 1. They say the clear intent of the law is to put nonviolent drug offenders in rehab, not behind bars. [continues 187 words]
Officials In Brixton Say Crack Cocaine And Heroin Are Bigger Problems. LONDON There was no mistaking the aroma wafting over the market stalls Monday in the south London community of Brixton. It was the odor of marijuana, accompanied by the heady whiff of freedom. This teeming, underprivileged corner of London, already notorious as a haven for drugs and crime, has been chosen to pilot a small but significant experiment that could open the door to the decriminalization of marijuana in Britain. [continues 219 words]
Big savings in jail costs touted by advocates of Proposition 36 could prove elusive in Orange County after the initiative takes effect Sunday. Backers of the measure told voters that requiring drug offenders to receive treatment instead of jail time would save counties $50 million a year. That translates to about $4 million for Orange County. But after spending $103 million on jail operations in the fiscal year that ends today, the Sheriff's Department expects to spend $107 million in 2001-02. [continues 204 words]
Providers Of Medical Marijuana Are Cautious In Wake Of Supreme Court Ruling The U.S. Supreme Court decision that denied the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative the right to claim a medical necessity defense under federal law on behalf of its patient-members left California's medical marijuana law (and the similar laws in eight other states) intact. But it created areas of uncertainty and possible vulnerability for patients and their caregivers that could take months or even years to sort out. [continues 1565 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that folks can't use marijuana to relieve suffering from medical conditions ["Medical marijuana exception ruled out," Front Page, May 15]. Well, I know places where the gendarmes can rake in thousands of these "drug addicts" without hardly lifting a finger. Probably half the patients undergoing chemotherapy at southern California's cancer-treatment facilities are using marijuana. I know, having gone through the ordeal of my 80-year-old mother's treatments for breast cancer. I ended up spending a lot of time inside those clinics' waiting rooms. [continues 261 words]
The first thing to understand about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on medical marijuana is that it was an interpretation of federal law. California's Proposition 215, passed by a 56 percent majority of the voters in 1996 and now Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code, remains the law in California. The Supreme Court's decision specifically acknowledges that it was not ruling on California law. California officials are obliged by the California constitution to uphold and enforce California's medical marijuana law unless and until a federal court rules that it is invalid because it conflicts with federal law and federal law must reign supreme. That did not happen Monday and it is unlikely to happen. Despite a plethora of chatter, nobody in the five-plus years since the initiative passed has filed a federal action that would bring that issue before a court. [continues 522 words]
Task force calls for more treatment centers. The number of children and teen-agers arrested for methamphetamine-related crimes in Orange County rose nearly 38 percent from 1998 to 1999, signaling a need for more prevention, enforcement and treatment, police and social scientists say. Juveniles accounted for 260 arrests for crimes involving the synthetic drug in 1999, up from 189 a year earlier. The number of adults arrested for dealing, possessing or making methamphetamine dropped more than 79 percent during the same period. [continues 408 words]
Regarding the editorial, "MODIFYING THREE STRIKES" on May 1: The war on drugs warehouses drug users. This punitive policy weighs heavy on the taxpayer and is a failure. California has about 163,000 prisoners and more than 3,000 non-violent offenders have been sentenced under the "Three Strikes" law. Approximately 700 were sentenced for minor drug possession to a minimum of 25 years to life at a cost of $27,000 a year. On the other hand, drug treatment costs about $5,000. [continues 181 words]
Even to somebody self-consciously aware that the grandeur is in part designed to impart a sense not just of solemnity but of near-sacrament to the activities of nine ordinary human beings, an oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court is impressive. Before Wednesday I had not observed one as a member of the press on an issue of concern to me, though I had attended a couple just to be able to say I had done it when I lived here 20 years ago. [continues 1485 words]
Is medical necessity a defense for use of marijuana? That was the central question weighed by eight U.S. Supreme Court justices yesterday as they heard United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. We attended the one-hour session to hear how the justices viewed marijuana distribution by clubs or cooperatives for use against medical conditions and diseases such as cancer, AIDS and chronic pain. We believe patients who say marijuana provides some measure of relief for them and that there should be some reasonable way to provide the drug. [continues 924 words]
Lawsuits Filed By Users And Recalls Targeting District Attorneys Are Growing Lawsuits and legal actions alleging abuses under California's Compassionate Use Act are becoming more common as medical marijuana users continue to balk at what they say are arbitrary rules enforced by local anti-drug warriors. At the same time, more medical marijuana users appear to be fighting criminal charges, rather then settling for reduced charges. Already one district attorney, Paula Kamena of Marin County, faces a May 22 recall election over her allegedly "inhumane" interpretation of Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996. [continues 334 words]
The medical marijuana case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this Wednesday will not give the high court the opportunity to rule on whether California's medical marijuana law (Prop. 215, now Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code) or the similar laws passed in eight other states are valid. But it comes at a time when intellectual and political ferment over the country's drug laws is more active than anytime in my memory, and it could have a powerful influence on drug law reform in the near future. [continues 1449 words]
Lawsuits Filed By Users And Recalls Targeting District Attorneys Are Growing. Lawsuits and legal actions alleging abuses under California's Compassionate Use Act are becoming more common as medical marijuana users continue to balk at what they say are arbitrary rules enforced by local anti-drug warriors. At the same time, more medical marijuana users appear to be fighting criminal charges, rather then settling for reduced charges. Already one district attorney, Paula Kamena of Marin County, faces a May 22 recall election over her allegedly "inhumane" interpretation of Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996. [continues 336 words]
It has been more than four years since California's medical marijuana law passed. More than three years since Orange County's first cannabis co-op volunteer was arrested. Two years since its director went to state prison, and nine months since he was released on bail pending appeal. "All this time, and they are still denying us the right to use Proposition 215," said Marvin Chavez, director of the Orange County Patient, Doctor, Nurse Support Group Cannabis Co-op, who was convicted of selling pot after a judge denied him the right to mount a defense based on the medical marijuana law. [continues 213 words]
Researchers Hope To Resolve Some Of The Controversy About The Therapeutic Value Of The Drug. The University of California is beginning clinical investigations into marijuana as medicine, hoping to end the roiling controversy over its medical usefulness once and for all. "It's very exciting -- a first in the country," said Drew Mattison, co-director of the newly formed Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, headquartered at UC San Diego. Last month, the center announced the first of $3 million in research grants. Researchers at UC San Diego and UC San Francisco will examine marijuana's effect on HIV- related pain; on the spasticity caused by multiple sclerosis; and on the driving abilities of patients with AIDS and MS. [continues 519 words]
Part-time Orange County resident Steve Kubby and his wife Michele have won as close to complete vindication as possible under the circumstances in their medical marijuana case in Placer County. On Friday Judge John Cosgrove reduced the two counts on which Mr. Kubby had been convicted from felonies to misdemeanors and dismissed the case. Judge Cosgrove also dismissed the case, as well as the separate case brought against Michael Baldwin, an Auburn dentist who is a medical marijuana patient. The prosecution does not plan to refile charges. [continues 353 words]
WASHINGTON - A U.S. narcotics official said Friday it was too early to confirm a reported plunge in opium production in Afghanistan, a drop U.N. officials are attributing to a ban the Taliban militia imposed last year against poppy cultivation. Even if American officials substantiate the drop, "I'd be more interested in why this is happening," Steven Casteel, the Drug Enforcement Administration's chief of intelligence, said in an interview. Last year, Afghanistan produced nearly 75 percent of the world's supply of opium, the milky substance drained from the poppy plant and converted into heroin. But a team from the U.N. Drug Control Program found so few poppies during its two-week search that officials predicted little opium would come out of Afghanistan this year. [continues 168 words]
Attorney General John Ashcroft, declaring that the large Senate vote against him won't inhibit his conservatism, announced Monday that Justice Department task forces will try to increase gun prosecutions and combat drug abuse, particularly among schoolchildren. He also said he will meet civil-rights division officials later this week, his first meeting with a department division. The scheduled lunch with civil-rights enforcers and the gun and drug task forces are the first steps on Ashcroft's three priority issues. [continues 306 words]
Former San Jose Police Chief Joe McNamara Fights A New Battle PALO ALTO - Joe McNamara spent more than half his life as a cop. Like his father, brother and several cousins, he walked the beat in New York City almost from the time he graduated high school. The profession was a family tradition he could no more escape than the thick accent that still marks him as an Irish-American from the Bronx, where he grew up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. [continues 753 words]
One of the more important things California voters did this year was to pass Proposition 36, which changed sentencing laws so that most non-violent drug-possession offenders will receive at least a chance at drug treatment before being put in prison, by a whopping 61-39 percent margin. It may well be the most significant event of the year 2000 when people look back on it five or 10 years from now. Taken in conjunction with similar measures passed and decisions made in other states, it could represent a turning point in the country's approach to drug use and addiction. But there will be numerous opportunities for mistakes and wrong turns along the way, and no doubt many will be made. [continues 659 words]
The local chapter of the American Medical Marijuana Association on Thursday planned to hand Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona a copy of the city of Oakland's guidelines for allowing certain patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. Association Director Doug Scribner said city and county police in Orange County frequently jail marijuana possessors who have a doctor's letter stating that the drug is part of their medical treatment. "We want Carona to make a statement that says, 'Yes, we will be supporting these guidelines, or some of these guidelines,' " Scribner said. Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Carona was in meetings and would not be able to receive the documents. [end]
Courts: Dollar Rent-A-Car Owes $4 Million After Jury Says It Knew Worker Who Caused Wreck Used Drugs. Dollar Rent-A-Car must pay $4 million for allowing an employee with a known drug habit to drive home from work while impaired, an Orange County jury decided Friday in a wrongful-death trial. Workplace experts said the verdict sends a strong message to companies, which generally are not held liable for what a worker does on the job unless the company knew - or should have known - about illegal behavior. "It appears that there were some dumb people here who did some dumb things,'' said Richard Danehy, a human-resources consultant in San Diego who testified at the civil trial in Santa Ana. [continues 557 words]
A jury in the Placer County trial of medical marijuana patients Michele and Steve Kubby came in with an 11-1 "hung" verdict on most of the charges against the part-time Orange County residents. Michele Kubby was acquitted of all remaining charges. Steve Kubby will face sentencing on two minor charges Feb. 2. There is no indication yet whether the prosecution will refile charges. A decision might not be forthcoming until February. "The most important aspect of this case," Steve Kubby told us Thursday, "is that in this most conservative of counties 11 members of the jury voted for acquittal on the basis of the Oakland guidelines for medical patients." Mr. Kubby had been charged with growing plants for commercial sale, but he contended he was following guidelines set up by a panel in the city of Oakland that allowed for indoor "grows," 144 plants, in different stages of development, per patient to provide a year's supply. [continues 108 words]
Michael Levine worked as a federal narcotics officer for 35 years. He worked undercover in a Brazilian drug cartel. His brother, David, was a junkie who killed himself after 19 years of addiction to heroin. David's suicide note explained, "I am sorry. ... I can't stand the drugs any longer." His son, a New York City cop, was murdered by a drug addict who was out on parole for two previous homicides. Levine could be the last man you would expect to contribute to a book critical of America's war on drugs. Yet, he wrote a chapter for "After Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century," published by the Libertarian Cato Institute and edited by Cato analyst Timothy Lynch. [continues 498 words]
The Prison Industry Politically popular in Sacramento and Washington, tough-on-crime laws have filled our prisons to historic levels. But at what costs? Part of the price tag for keeping more than two million Americans behind bars can be counted; part is hidden. Taxpayers, businessmen and prison reformers each pay a different price. Higher Taxes As the prison population goes up, so does the tax bill to build new prisons, hire extra guards and feed and house more inmates. In 1997, California taxpayers paid $4 billion to operate correction facilities for 157,547 inmates - up from 24,569 prisoners in 1980. But taxes tell only part of the story. [continues 607 words]
The '70s rock song "Sweet Leaf," a homage to marijuana, begins with the singer coughing repeatedly. It's a given: You smoke pot, you cough. Now researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and elsewhere have found a way that a marijuana-like chemical in the lungs actually stops people from coughing. Their work appears today in the journal Nature. Dig this: The chemical is a neurotransmitter, a little messenger that occurs naturally in your body and tells your nerves what to do. It's one of a group of neurotransmitters called anandamides. [continues 210 words]
Republican senatorial candidate Rep. Tom Campbell visited our Editorial Board Thursday to give us an update on his campaign and his chances. His first priority was to remind us that Sen. Feinstein was a co-author (with Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch) of a methamphetamine bill that would give the government a foot in the door to control freedom of speech on the Internet and shut Web sites down on the say-so of a bureaucrat. We've deplored the bill before and hope it doesn't pass. [continues 362 words]
When former Laguna Beach resident Steve Kubby goes to the courtroom on Halloween for the continuing trial of the state's most high-profile marijuana case, the jury will be dressed up in costumes, Kubby enthusiastically told The Buzz on Friday. That's right -- witches and clowns and goblins and ghosts and maybe a Johnnie Cochran, for good measure. The Placer County jury made the unusual request of Judge John L. Cosgrove, who said, more or less, Cool. "When we heard that, we thought, 'We won!,'" said Kubby. "If the jury was going to convict people, would they want to dress up?" Kubby, a cancer victim and former gubernatorial candidate, and his wife, Michele, are on trial for possession, cultivation, sale and possession for sale. The Kubbys say the pot was for medicinal purposes, as allowed under the initiative approved by voters in 1996. Both have notes from doctors recommending that they use it for medical conditions. [end]
U.S. Senate contenders Dianne Feinstein and Tom Campbell clashed sharply Friday on drugs, economics and immigration as raucous Green Party protesters rushed the television station where they debated and demanded their candidate be allowed to participate. There were no injuries. After the hour-long debate, Feinstein left the building through a rear entrance to avoid some 100 protesters who remained jammed in the building's lobby. Supporters of Green Party candidate Medea Benjamin began their protest on the sidewalk in front of KRON-TV, then pushed into the station's lobby. [continues 396 words]
SACRAMENTO -- Actor Martin Sheen was cracking jokes and signing autographs for dozens of giddy fans of TV's "The West Wing" on Friday when the mood suddenly sobered. "Can you write, 'Congratulations on your two years of sobriety?' " asked one woman as she sought an autograph for her husband. "I've been clean 19 years this November," another woman later told him. "Now you're bragging," joked Sheen, who said he has been sober nearly 12 years. Sheen shuttled from Sacramento to Oakland to Santa Monica on Friday, rallying opposition to a Nov. 7 ballot measure that would require treatment instead of prison or jail for many drug users. He also will appear in an opposition ad that will air during Wednesday's "West Wing" episode. [continues 420 words]
Proposition 36, the "Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000," would provide that people convicted of simple non-violent possession of illicit drugs would receive probation and mandatory drug treatment rather than jail. It would be an important step toward a more humane approach to addiction and substance abuse. It has received support from most of the medical community. The PBS program "Frontline" (www.pbs.org) recently did a two-part series on drug policy and discovered something striking: "Perhaps the most surprising thread running through 'Drug Wars,'" reads the program synopsis, "is the agreement by virtually every drug enforcement official interviewed that the decades-long strategy of fighting drugs through interdiction and tough sentencing should be replaced with a policy emphasizing drug treatment, education, and prevention." [continues 506 words]
Two Undercover Officers Fired At An SUV After They Thought Someone Tried To Shoot Them An undercover operation had gone sour for Anaheim police masquerading as street toughs while following a drug investigation into a Fullerton neighborhood. After arguing with gang members displeased about the presence of strangers on their turf, the officers decided to cut their losses and leave. As they made their way onto busy Harbor Boulevard from Valencia Drive about 5:50 p.m. Wednesday, the plainclothes policemen feared they were being followed by a white Chevrolet Suburban. [continues 478 words]
On Thursday, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced he would investigate the killing of an 11-year-old boy by Modesto city police a week earlier. The investigation was requested by the Modesto Police Department. An investigation is surely needed. Reported the Modesto Bee, "The shooting occurred Sept. 13 after the SWAT team forced its way into Moises Sepulveda's north Modesto house to serve a federal arrest warrant on drug charges. Shortly after they entered, officer David Hawn shot Alberto Sepulveda while he lay face-down on the floor in his bedroom, as ordered by police. The department repeatedly has said Hawn's shotgun accidentally discharged." [continues 334 words]
We're not sure what upsets us the most: that the county is embracing a new technology that will let officials more closely monitor every resident's home, or the fact that the county Board of Supervisors approved the deal without wrestling with the serious privacy concerns that such an untried system raises. A front-page Register article on Friday reported that "The county government will soon have at its disposal a digital database containing three-dimensional images of every square foot of Orange County…" [continues 474 words]
A little-noted but important bill reforming the asset-forfeiture and property seizure system passed the California Legislature during the end-of-session flurry a couple of weeks ago and awaits a signature from Gov. Gray Davis. S.B. 1866, sponsored by San Jose Democratic Sen. John Vasconcellos, is an important step in the direction of equity and justice and Gov. Davis should sign it. In recent years overuse of the asset-forfeiture or seizure laws in drug cases has been an increasingly contentious issue. Under federal laws, police can seize property and cash from suspected drug dealers, even without charges being filed, and the burden of proof is on the person whose property is seized to prove that it wasn't acquired through illicit activities. [continues 370 words]
COURTS: Forewoman Bemoans The Decision That Overturned A $1 Million Verdict. Kathleen Mahoney and 11 other jurors spent 30 days away from their regular jobs to decide the claim by Merritt Sharp that his civil rights were violated by the Garden Grove Police Department and five law-enforcement officers. "It kind of defeats the purpose of a jury," Mahoney said Tuesday after being informed that Judge Derek W. Hunt had thrown out the $1 million verdict awarded to Sharp. "It was very stressful on us, a big commitment, but it had made me see that what we do as a jury is important. Now the judge does this?" [continues 395 words]
The trial of Steve and Michele Kubby on marijuana possession and trafficking charges, an important case to the future of California's medical marijuana law based on Prop. 215, is scheduled to begin today with opening arguments. Whether it actually begins may depend on whether San Francisco defense attorney J. Tony Serra, Mr. Kubby's attorney of record, is able to get to the courtroom in Auburn, in Placer County. One of Mr. Serra's assistants, Carrie Hagin, told us Mr. Serra is involved in a murder trial in San Jose and that the judge in that case insists that Mr. Serra be in San Jose. Judge John Cosgrove in Auburn insists that Mr. Serra be there. [continues 339 words]
Register Editorial Board discussions with state Attorney General Bill Lockyer are always rousing, given several significant areas of disagreement we have with some aspects of his philosophical outlook and some positions he has taken on state and national issues. Last week's meeting was no different. Mr. Lockyer as usual was genial, well-informed and, with 25 years of experience in the Legislature before winning the AG post, highly knowledgeable about what's going on in state politics. As the state's top cop, he is in charge of police work, crime labs, a variety of prosecutorial efforts as well as defending the state in lawsuits and the information technology used by law enforcement. When we met with him two years ago during his election campaign, he vowed to use his legislative skills to obtain more funding for his department, in particular for poorly performing crime labs. [continues 854 words]
If you read a variety of newspapers yesterday, you found different versions of what the U.S. Supreme Court decided in relation to marijuana use for medical purposes in California. Some accounts went so far as to state that Prop. 215 was all but dead. That would be greatly exaggerated. Here's what happened. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer's amended injunction, which would have allowed the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to distribute medical marijuana to patients who meet a "medical necessity" test. [continues 619 words]
The trial of former gubernatorial candidate (and part-time Orange County resident) Steve Kubby and his wife Michele on 19 criminal counts of possession, cultivation, sale and possession for sale of marijuana begins in earnest today before Superior Court Judge John L. Cosgrove in Auburn, in Placer County. The Kubbys both have notes from doctors recommending that they use marijuana for medical conditions, but the case revolving around 265 plants found at their former home near Lake Tahoe is being prosecuted like a standard drug trafficking case. [continues 313 words]
Although no official spokesman will say so, the encouraging news that Orange County plans a $1.3 million pilot program to treat the substance-abuse problems of some county jail inmates suggests some welcome rethinking of the ill conceived notion that the way to handle addiction problems is to lock people up. Although the program might fall short of the ideal, we hope it is successful and leads to more extensive second thoughts. County supervisors approved on August 1 a proposal to create a separate 64-bed section within the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange for intensive alcohol and drug rehabilitation. "Our hope is that it will reduce recidivism by reaching a substantial portion of those people who would not be having problems with the law except for their dependence on alcohol or drugs," Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt told us. "That can make a big difference to the community. Our studies estimate that people with serious addiction problems commit eight crimes of varying degrees of seriousness for each time they're caught." [continues 497 words]
Much of the coverage of the "Shadow Conventions" that have been held alongside the Republican and Democratic conventions this year has focused on atmospherics and certainly the atmospherics are there. One spokesman told a reporter the get-together at Patriotic Hall in Los Angeles this year would be like a 24-hour "happening," and in some ways it was. Aging hippies mingled with Generation Y malcontents and Yuppies in suits, all talking about the need for thoroughgoing change in the system, change the two major parties weren't likely to address with any degree of seriousness. [continues 713 words]
The insanity over drugs has got to end. Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court voted 7-1 to suspend a federal court ruling which permitted an Oakland 11 "cannabis club" to distribute marijuana to people suffering from illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. The justices may hear oral arguments in the case next term. Californians adopted the medical marijuana law in 1996, by an overwhelming majority, and similar laws have passed in states from Alaska to Maine. Yet the mad zeal of some - who believe they have the right to tell us what we may and may not put into our own bodies - continues unabated. [continues 703 words]
Politics: 'Shadow' Convention provides an alternative forum for those interested in campaign finance reform, poverty and what is being called the failed drug war. John McCain was a hero to the disaffected and disillusioned delegates at this first ever "Shadow" national political convention. But the Arizona senator was interrupted with hisses and boos Sunday when he said that he supports Gov. George W. Bush for president, despite their clashes on campaign finance reform. "The Republican Party is my home," McCain told about 800 activists from across the nation. "I am obliged not by party loyalty but sincere conviction to urge all Americans to support my party's nominee, Gov. George Bush of Texas." [continues 572 words]
Law enforcement officials are ridiculing a Superior Court jury's $1 million verdict against Garden Grove police and California Highway Patrol and Department of Corrections officials for a raid of an auto body shop that they conducted in 1997. The shop's owner, Merrit Sharp, who was put in handcuffs and forced to the ground during the raid, argued that it left him with emotional and physical injuries. "I've never heard that we need to make people comfortable when they are detained," said the attorney for the state parole officer involved in the incident. [continues 565 words]
I've been following the marijuana vs. Marinol letters debate in this section recently. Unmentioned so far is Marinol's cost. In 1993 my mother's oncologist prescribed Marinol as a last-ditch attempt to stop her vomiting caused by breast cancer chemotherapy. The prescription was for a small bottle of 100 capsules. At the pharmacy the pharmacist asked me, "How do you intend to pay for this?" I responded, "With a check, of course. Why do you ask?" He replied, "Because this little bottle of pills will cost you six hundred dollars, that's why." [continues 111 words]
The news that U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer has modified a previous injunction against northern California cannabis clubs tops a week-end of good news on the medical marijuana front. The federal government's previously unyielding wall of marijuana prohibition is beginning to crumble. It's about time. Judge Breyer's ruling almost certainly clears the way for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative to begin dispensing marijuana to certain patients. In addition to Judge Breyer's decision, UCSan Francisco medical school researcher Donald Abrams reported promising results at last week's international AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, on his pioneering studies on the use of marijuana by AIDS patients. Dr. Abrams' research showed no damage to the immune systems of patients in his study, but noted improved appetites and ability to hold down food and medicine. [continues 525 words]
